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PHILOSOPHICAL J OURNAL,

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exercisers VIEW OF THE
PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

IN THE

SCIENCES AND THE ARTS.

CONDUCTED BY

ROBERT JAMESON,

REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY, LECTURER ON MINERALOGY, AND KEEPER OF
THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 5

Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh ; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy ; ofthe
Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark ; of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin ; of thé 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, Wernerian Natural History, Royal Medical, Royal
Physieal, 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
ihe Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanical Arts ; of the Geologicai
Suciety 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, &e. &e. &e.

APRIL 1852. .... OCTOBER 1852.

VOL. LIIL.
TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY.

| EDINBURGH:

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK.
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS, LONDON.

1852.

mate

ee

ie ; EDINBURGH: © )
PRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, OLD FISHMAREE'T.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Art. I. Observations on Drift ; on the Causes of Change

in the Earth’s Superficial Temperature; the

Doctrine of the Progression of Animate

Beings ; the Doctrine of Progression with re-

spect to Inanimate Matter :- being part of the

Address delivered at the Anniversary Meet-

ing of the Geological Society of London, on

the 26th of February 1852, By Witiam
Horxiys, Esq., President of the Society, 1

1. Drift, ‘ t : , :
2. On the Causes of Change in the Earth’s
Superficial Temperature, :

3. Doctrine of the Progression of Organic Forms
during Successive Geological Epochs, 27

4. Doctrine of Progression with respect to Inani-

mate Matter, 28
II. Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal, &c, By Dr
Buisr of Bombay. (Continued from vol. li. .
p. 352), : ; ; : 32
ITI. Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics.
y Professor Gusray Biscuor of Bonn, 38
IV. On the Physical Geography, Geology, and Com-
mercial Resources of Lake Superior. By J.
J. Brassy, M.D., late British Secretary to the
Canadian Boundary Commission, &e., 55
1. Physical Geography, . ; ; 55
2. Geology, < : 56
V. On the Heating Effects of Electricity and Mag-
netism. By W. R. Grove, Esq., M.A.,
F.R.S., ; : j 62

CONTENTS.

Art. VI. On the Recent Progress of Ethnology, being

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

the Annual Discourse for 1852. Read before
the Ethnological Society, at the Annual Meet-
ing, on 14th May 1852. By Ricuarp Cutz,
Esq., Honorary Secretary. (Communicated
by the Ethnological Society),

Chemical Report to the Lords of the Committee
of Privy Council for Trade, on the Cause of
Fire in the eae Amazon. By Professor
GRAHAM, : ' :

On the Foliation and Cleavage of Rocks of the
North of Scotland. 0 DaniEL SHARPE, sel A
F.R.S., &c.,

On the Structure of the Iguanodon, and on the
Fauna and Flora of the Wealden Formation.
By G. A. MantE.1, Esq., LL.D., F.RB.S.,

. On the Clouds and Equatorial Cloud Rings of

the Earth. By Lieut. Maury, of the Ameri-
can National Observatory, °

On the Blackheath Pebble-Bed, and on Certain
Phenomena in the Geology of the Neighbour-
hood of London. By Sir CHartzs Lyext,

On the Great Principles either suggested or
worked out by the late celebrated Dr William
Prout, F.R.S., &. By Dr Dauseny, Profes-
sor of Botany, ‘Oxford: (Communicated by the
Author), y , :

The Cambrian and Silurian Discussion,

1. Professor Sedgwick’s Answer to Sir R. I, Mur-
chison’s Letter, inserted in the Literary Ga-
zette, and at page 355 of the Vifty-second
Volume of the ene See ta Jour-
nal,

to

. Sir R. I. Murchison’s Comments on Professor
Sedgwick’s Letter (No. 1),

co

. Professor Sedgwick’s Reply to the ames
Letter of Sir R. I. Murchison,

PAGE

67

79

84

87

92

CONTENTS. ili

, PAGE
Art. XIV. On the Ethnography of Akkrah and Adampé,
Gold Coast, Western Africa. By Witiiam
Daniett, M.D., F.R.G.S., Assistant-Surgeon
to the Forces, &c. SrA heaps “i the Eth-
nological Society), : 120

XV. On the Supposed Analogy between the Life of an
Individual and the Duration of a Species. By
Epwarp Forses, Esq., &c. (Communicated
by the Author), . ; ; ; . 130

XVI. Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition
of 1851, delivered before the Society of Arts,
Manufactures, and Commerce, at the sugges-
tion of His Royal Highness Prince Albert, Pre-
sident of the Society, . : 135

I. Sir Henry de la Beche.—1. Amount of Pritish
Iron. 2. rer $ of Lead. 3. Plum-
bago, . . . 136-137
IJ. Professor Owen. 4, Bholidgs. of the Sheep.
2. Baleen. 3. Ivory. 4. Feathers and Down.
5. General Remarks on Materials from the

Vegetable and Animal Kingdom, 137 = 144
III. Dr Lyon Playfair—al1. Iron Smelting.
2. Soap. 3. Perfumery, ; 3 144-147 .

IV. Professor Lindley.—1. Australian Wheat.
2. Tobacco. 3. Typha Bread. 4. Preserva-
tion of Vegetables in mee i a 5. Pre-

served Meats, 5 : 147-154
V. Professor Royle.—l. ents Collection a basis
for Schools of Design, . ‘ 154
XVII. Anatomy of Doris, ‘ ; : ; 156

XVIII. On Three Important Chemical Discoveries from
the Exhibition of 1851—(A.) Mercer’s Con-
traction of Cotton by Alkalies—(B.) Young’s
Paraffine and Mineral Oil from Coal—(C.)
Schrotter’s Amorphous Phosphorus. By Dr
Lyon Prayrair, C.B., F.R.S., : : 160

XIX. On the Spiral Structure of Muscle and the Mus-
cular Structure of Cilia, as determined by
Dr Martin Barry, ; : 4 : 168

CONTENTS.

PAGE
XX. Letter from Mr Stevenson Macadam to Profes-
sor Jameson, on M. Chatin’s Observations on

the General Distribution of Iodine . ; 169

~XXI. Upon Animal Individuality. By Tuomas H.

Hux ey, F.R.S., R.N., 172

XXII, Screntiric INTELLIGENCE :——

1. A Letter to Sir John W. Lubbock, Bart.,
F.R.S., “On the Stability of the Karth’s Axis of
Rotation.” By Henry Hennessy, Esq., M.R.I.A.,
&c. (Communicated by Sir John Lubbock).
2. Influence of Oil on Water. 3. The Salt
Lake of Utah. 4. Mud Volcano near the Salt
Lake Utah. 5. Mount Ararat. 6. Mr Peter-
mann and the Franklin Expedition. 7. Pheno-
mena of Vision. 8. Vision under Water,
9. Colours most frequently hit during

Battle, 177-183

XXITI. List of Patents granted for Scotland from 24 h
March to 18th June 1852, __—_.. ; 184

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Art. I. Biography of Berzelius. By Professor H. Ross
of Berlin, ; . ; : : 189

II, Some Observations on the Ova of the Salmonide.
By Joun Davy, M.D., F.R.S., &. Com-
municated by the Author, . ; 221

III. On the Condition and Prospects of the Aborigines
of Australia. By W. WESTGARTH, Esq.,

1. Present Aboriginal Population, . 225

2. Their Decrease, and the Causes to which this
circumstance is attributable; their Present

Condition, and Means of Subsistence, ; 9298
3. Infanticide, ° . : ; 932
4. Intermixture of Race wid the Whites, 933
5. Physical Aspect, } : é ; 934 -
6. Language, . f ; 934
7. Religious and Social Institutions Customs, and
Manners, : ‘ 935
8. General Giaret:, and pede of acer
for Employment and Civilisation, . 938
IV. On the Geysers of California, ‘ ; 241

V. On Meteorites. By Cuartes UpHam SuHEparp,
M.D., Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy.
Communicated by the Author,

1. Tuttehpore, Hindostan, Nov. 30, 1822, © 945
2, Charwallas, 30 miles from Hissar, India, June

12, 1834, : i 5 4 ‘ 946
3. Meteoric Iron, County — Ireland. Fell

August 10, 5 P.m., 1846, 5 > 246
4. Description of a pie Stone of the Linn Co.,
’ Towa, fall of Feb., 25,1847, . ‘ Q47
5. Meteoric Stone of Waterloo, Seneca Co., N. Vii

fell in the summer of 1826 or 1827, - . 248

6. Specific gravity of two meteoric irons, 949

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Art. VI, Chemical Examination of Drift-Weed Kelp from. ;

XI.

XII,

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI,

Orkney. By Gzorce W. Brown, Esq. of Glas-
gow. Communicated by the Author,

Analysis of Orkney Drift-Weed Kelp,
Analysis of Insoluble Salts,
Quantitative Analysis of Insoluble Salts,
Analysis of Soluble Salts,

Quantitative Analysis of Soluble Salts,
Results of Analysis of Soluble Salts, .

Table of Per-Centage ee a of = ea
Kelp.—Insoluble Salts,

Soluble Salts,

. On the Colours of a Jet of Se
. Report upon the Alleged Adulteration of Pale

Ales by Strychnine. By Professors GRAHAM
and HorrmMann, :

. The New Metal Donarium is Thorine,

. Chemico-Geological Researches on the Sulphurets

which are ea sene i Water. By E.
FRemy, :

Analysis of Indian Ores of tai es and of
some Scottish Zeolites. By Dr A. J. Scorrt,
H.E.1.C.S. Communicated by the Author,

On the Erratic Formation of the Bernese Alps,
and other parts of Switzerland. By Cuarizs
Mactaren, Esq., F.R.S.E., F.G.S., and Mem-
ber of the Geological Society of France. Com-
municated by the Author. With Map and

engraved Illustrations,

Infusoria, the earliest Larval state of Intestinal
Worms, according to Professor AGassiz,

On the General Distribution of Iodine. By Mr
Stevenson Macapam, Teacher of Chemistry,
Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh. Com-
municated by the Author, ;

Some Additional Observations on the Superficial
Colouring Matter of Rocks. By Joun Davy,
M.D., F.R.S.S., London and maria: Com-
municated by the Author,

On the Place of the Poles of the Ness ; sa
the Reid Theory of Hurricanes. By Professor
C, Prazai Smyru, ; ; ‘ 4

275

277

285

314

315

- 326

330

CONTENTS.

er
Basch “KVIL On the Ethnography of Akkrah and Adampé;
Gold Coast,- Western Africa. By Witi1am
DANIELL, M. D., F.R.G.S., Assistant-Surgeon
to the Forces, &c. (Communicated by the Eth-
nological Society). Concluded from p. 130,

eel Defence of the Doctrine of Vital Affinity, against
the Objections stated to it by Humboldt and
Dr Daubeny. By Dr Attson,

_XIX..On the Blood-proper and Chylo-aqueous Fluids of
Invertebrate Animals. By Tuomas WILLIAMs,
M.D.,

XX. The Future of Geology,
» XXI. Divisibility of Matter,

XXII. On two New Processes for the detection of Fluo-
rine when accompanied by Silica ; and on the
presence of Fluorine in Granite, Trap, and
other Igneous Rocks, and in the Ashes of
Recent and Fossil Plants. By Grorezu WIL-
son, M.D.,

XXIII. On the Presence of Fluorine in the Stems of
Graminez, Equisetaceze, and other Plants;
with some Observations on the Sources from

which Vegetables derive this element By °

GeorcE Witson, M.D.,

_ XXIV. Observations on the Relation between the Height
of Waves and their Distance from the Wind-
ward Shore; ina Letter to Professor Jameson.
By Tuomas inn ipepl oe 4» E.R.S.E., Civil
Enginecr,

XXV. Additional Observations on the Green Teas of
Commerce. By Rospert Warrineton, Esgq.,
F.C., : ; ; :
_XXVI. On the Distribution of Granite Blocks from Ben
; Cruachan. By Witiiam Hopxins, Esq.,
: F.R.S., President of the Geological Society,
XXVIT, On Fish destroyed by Sulphuretted Hydrogen in
r the Bay of Callao. By Dr J. L. Burtt, U.S.N.
“XXVIII, M. Melloni on Dew, .
: Distribution of Dew in different Hbichy

uC soni | Copiousness of Dew in Tropical Countries,
Want of Dew in: Polynesia,

333

340

342
344
348

349

356

308

368

362

363

364
366
367
368

iv CONTENTS.

Want of Dew on Ships bthaig the vast soli-
tudes of the Ocean,

Dew becomes more abundant as we approach
the Equator, :

Presence of Dew makes pikes the proximity
of Masses of Water concealed from the Eye,

Intense Cold during the rae in the Great
Desert, ‘

Artificial Freezing of Water in pane:
XXIX. Obituary, Professor Macaitivray, .

XXX. Screntiric INTELLIGENCE :—
METEOROLOGY.
1. Meteorological Society at the Mauritius. 2.
Great Fall of Rain in India, 3. Annual
Amount of Rain at Alexandria, . 372

GEOLOGY.

4, Examination of Rocks by means of the Mi-
croscope. 5. On the Relative Conducting
Power of Rocks for Heat. 6. Tertiary Coal
in India. 7. Examination of Soils by the
Microscope. 8. Rock Salt of the Punjaub in
India. 9. Mountain Systems of Europe.
10. Survey of the suppositious Submarine
Bridge of the Norwegians. 11. On the
Pterodactyles of the Chalk Formation. 12,
On the Remains of a Gigantic Bird from the
London Clay of Sheppey. By J. 8. Bower-
bank, F.R.S. 18. Map of Switzerland. 14.
Salt Lake of Utah. 15. Suggestion that all
Africa has a grand Basin-like arrange-
ment, . ‘ F . ‘ ; “ee

ZOOLOGY.

16. Agassiz appointed Professor of Comparative
Anatomy in the Medical College of the State
of South Carolina, A x

“MISCELLANEOUS.
17. Galvani and Volta. 18. Sir Charles
Lyell’s Visit to North America,
Books and Maps Published and to be Published,

XXXI. List of Patents granted for Scotland from 22d
June to 22d September 1852, :

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

PAGE
368
369
370

370
371
372

, 373

376

377

378
379

—63881

Mr Henwood’s communication we are affraid will require to be illustrated is
expensive plates. Mr Smith’s interesting communication is somewhat in the
same predicament. Other communications unsuitable for the Philosophical

Journal will be returned to the authors.
ERRATA.

Page 46, foot-note, 1st line, for sine read eine, and same line, for
gesamten read gesammten, 2d line, for Ertes read Erstes,
Page 358, for in pari casu, read in similar circumstances,

THI

EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

Observations on Drift; on the Causes of Change in the Earth's
Superficial Temperature ; the Doctrine of Progression mith
respect to Animate Beings; Doctrine of Progression nith
respect to Inanimate Matter: being part of the Address
delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the Geological
Society of London on the 26th February 1852. By WIL-
LIAM Hopkins, Esq., President of the Society.*

GENTLEMEN,—In the wide range which Geology now presents to
us, it has not been without some perplexity that I have determined
on the form of the Annual Address which I am now called upon
to make to you. The more frequent precedent afforded by similar
addresses would suggest a general analysis or review of what has
been done, especially in our own Society, during the past year ;
and this appears to me one obvious and useful object of such ad-
dresses. At the same time I think it right that each of your Pre-
sidents in succession should judge for himself as to the manner in
which he may best fulfil his mission, and adopt that course which
he may feel himself capable of rendering most subservient to the
progress of our science. You will recollect that during the past
year we have been much occupied in discussing the superficial ac-
_ cumulations now generally designated as “ drift.” Our Quarterly
Journal of the past year contains a considerable number of papers,
_ and some elaborate ones, bearing more or less immediately upon
it. Itis a branch of our science, too, which has been making of
late great progress, but in which much yet remains to be done
before we arrive at a complete knowledge of the phenomena, and
those sound theoretical views which may command something like
unity of assent. For these reasons I have determined to make

* From a copy of the Address presented by the Author.
VOL. LIII. NO. CV.—JULY 1852. A

2 On Drift.

this subject the leading one of my address. In doing so I shall
not restrict myself to a mere analysis of the communications which
have been made to us. I shall venture to criticise them with such
freedom as may, I trust, require no further apology than that
which the desire of advancing our science may afford. I shall
also, before I enter on this more detailed analysis, endeavour to
bring before you a general view of some of the more important
parts of the subject, under the aspect which it now presents to us.
Papers also on other subjects have been brought before us, which
are far too important to be omitted in any general review of our
proceedings, and to which I shall in the sequel direct your atten-
tion.

I. Drift.

If the period of the drift involved only a repetition of the action
of those geological causes which we recognise in earlier geological
periods, it would still have an especial interest, as approximating
to our own times, and as less likely than those earlier periods to
have the nature and character of its operations and phenomena
masked by those of succeeding periods. But besides this, we have
reason to regard it as a period of peculiar conditions, and of phe-
nomena referable to peculiar causes, the study of which has opened
to us entirely new views respecting the agencies which have so
marvellously modified the face of our planet, by the continual
transference of matter from one part of its surface to another.
The study of this period has also led us to a knowledge of climatal
conditions not before suspected, and to various researches into the
causes which may have produced those conditions; and thus we
have extended our knowledge of one of the most interesting branches
of terrestrial physics.

There is perhaps no branch in which speculative geology has
recently made more satisfactory progress than in theoretical views
respecting the agencies by which the larger masses associated with
the drift, the erratic blocks, have been transported from one loca-
lity to another. At the same time, no subject, perhaps, has been
more characterised, in passing through its various phases, by ex-
treme hypotheses and premature conclusions. When water alone
was recognised as the means of transport, hypotheses were some-
times made respecting the magnitudes of single waves, and their
passage even over elevated mountains, which nearly all of us should
now agree in condemning as extravagant; and effects were attri-
buted to them which, from the transitory character of any single
wave, were not only improbable, but perhaps physically impos-
sible. In the abandonment ‘of such extreme hypotheses we have
made a most salutary step. Nor was the introduction of the
glacial theories of transport, by glaciers and floating ice, unattended
by hypotheses, which might be deemed extreme hypotheses with

On Drift. 3

as much propriety as those which were condemned as extravagant
in the agency of water. It is manifest, however, that these ex-
treme views are gradually but surely giving way in favour of those
more moderate, and, as I believe, sounder views to which we ap-
pear to be rapidly converging.

The glacial theories of transport of erratic blocks made rapid
progress among us soon after their first announcement, although
received by many geologists in the first instance with great reser-
vation. One reason of this reserve was, I imagine, the difficulty
of conceiving a change of temperature such as required by those
theories, exactly opposite to the changes which the geologist had
ever contemplated—a change after the glacial epoch from a lower
to a higher temperature. Increasmg knowledge, however, of the
causes affecting climatal conditions have enabled us to remove in
great measure this source of doubt. Another reason for hesitation
in accepting these theories was, perhaps, to be found in the incau-
tious manner in which their claims were asserted by some of their
first advocates, and the unlimited application which was made of
them to account for the phenomena of transported materials of all
kinds. Whatever truth might belong to the facts adduced in sup-
port of these theories, it was clear that much of the reasoning’
founded upon them was untenable. Overstrained applications,
however, of physical theories, are almost the necessary conse-
quences of their early reception by minds animated by an ardent
zeal for the discovery of new scientific truths; and perhaps this
tendency, in certain stages in the progress of science, may be almost
necessary to counteract the hesitation of those whom natural timi-
dity, or posstbly severer mental discipline and more accurate phy-
sical knowledge, may have rendered too slow in the recognition
of the germs of new theories, while supported, perhaps, by little
of demonstrative evidence. All doubts, however, as to these
theories being founded in truth, whether there might be more or
less of exaggeration in the advocacy of them, soon gave way before
the evidence collected by northern voyagers respecting the action
of icebergs, and that supplied by Agassiz, Charpentier, Forbes,
and others, who devoted themselves to the study of the constitu-
tion and motion of glaciers. Almost all geologists, I conceive,
now agree in the opinion that both floating and terrestrial ice have
played their part to a greater or less extent in the transport of
erratic blocks.

The theories of Agassiz and Charpentier as to the causes of
glacier motion have been refuted by the exact admeasurements
made not only by Professor Forbes, but by those of Agassiz him-
self; and the speculative views of the latter philosopher on the
former extension of glaciers over the surface of a large portion of
the northern hemisphere are no longer received. But, gentlemen,
geologists would be ungrateful if, while they acknowledge, as we

A2

+ On Drift.

all do, the great value of the researches of our countryman Profes-
sor Forbes on the Alpine glaciers, they should in any degree forget
the debt they owe to the distinguished Swiss naturalist and his
countryman, who were the first to point out the effects of glaciers
in smoothing and striating rocks, to urge their effectiveness in the
transport of blocks, and to indicate phenomena of a past epoch
similar to those of the present time, in such a manner as to com-
mand the attention of geologists, and finally to lead to the adoption
of our present views respecting the glacial epoch. It is especially
to M. Agassiz, and his ardour in the pursuit of scientific truth, that
we owe the first knowledge of this subject in our own country.
His visits here, and the personal favour with which he was received
among us, gave him frequent opportunities of expounding his
views ; and I cannot refrain on this occasion from expressing the
delight with which I call to mind the open-hearted hospitalities
which he exercised in the deep recesses of the Bernese Alps, and
from testifying to the perfect unreserve with which he communi-
cated his views to those alike who favoured or opposed them.

I have already remarked that water was formerly almost the
only recognised agent in the transport of erratic blocks. On the
introduction of the glacial theory it was superseded, and appeared
to be almost forgotten; nor does it still seem to have regained
what I conceive to be its just claims, in the minds of many geo-
logists. On the abandonment, however, of some of the unreason-
able claims of the glacial theories, and the distinct recognition of
large portions of drift as subaqueous phenomena, the importance
of currents as agents of transport gained more attention, though
there are probably many persons who yet fail to realise in their
own minds the enormous power which such currents may possess,
even without greater velocities than may be easily allowed them.
This power arises from the fact, which I have elsewhere demon-
strated, that the moving force of a current, estimatéd by the
weight of a block of any assigned form and material, increases as
the sixth power of the velocity of the current. It is this which
accounts for the circumstance that the same atmosphere which in
one state of motion constitutes a summer breeze, but just sufficient
to move the leaf or the flower, exerts at other times the almost
irresistible force of the storm. It is on this account, too, that,
reasoning from the power of ordinary currents of two or three
miles an hour, we are liable to miscalculate so entirely the force
of a rapid current.

I consider the distinct recognition of these three agencies of
transport—glaciers, floating ice, and currents—as essential to the
final establishment of sound theoretical views on this subject, and
the great majority of geologists are probably prepared to recognise
them to a greater or less extent. It is equally essential that we
shonld be prepared to assign to each of these agencies its share in

On Drift. 8)

the great work of transport according to the characters of the
transported materials; for it is alone by a careful study of these
distinctive characters that we can hope to decide by what agent
the transport has been effected. On this point there appears to
be still much discrepancy of opinion, when the test has to be
applied to individual cases. These differences of opinion seem to
manifest themselves principally on questions relating to the action
of water, either with reference to the form in which currents tend
to deposit a general mass of drift, or to their effect in rounding and
wearing the individual component parts of it, as compared with the
tendency of other modes of transport to produce similar effects. .
It may be that we have not yet studied these effects as referable to
different causes with sufficient care, or that we are still too much
influenced individually by preconceived notions; but it is certain
that different persons do draw very different inferences as to the
mode of transport of a given mass of drift, from the characters
which its component materials present. In some cases such in-
ferences will probably ever remain doubtful, but in others there
can be no reasonable grounds for doubt. Most geologists appear
now to agree about what may be regarded as the two extreme
cases, and admit small rounded pebbles as a proof of long-con-
tinued aqueous action, and very large erratics with perfectly un-
worn angles as equally indicative of transport by ice. If there
be any among us not glacialists to this extent, I recommend them
to the personal study of these blocks. I well recollect, in my
own case, that after resisting all verbal arguments in favour of
glacial theories, I stood at once convinced under the silent appeal
of the Pierre & bot on my visit to that magnificent erratic of the
Jura. In almost all the cases intermediate to these extremes, I
fear we have much yet to reconcile before we come to any unity
of opinion. And here, gentlemen, let us ask ourselves in the
spirit of candour, whether one cause of this may not be found in
our natural tendency to hold too pertinaciously to preconceived
opinions. It will not be denied by any one, I imagine, that it
would generally be the necessary consequence of a transitory cur-
rent driving a mass of drift over a level surface, to spread it out in |
an approximately equable layer; while such a result could generally
be regarded as only the accidental consequence of transport by
floating ice. Such a layer would indicate the latter as a possible
mode of deposition, the former as a highly probable one. When
the glacialist contends for the possible rather than the probable
mode, let him examine himself strictly whether he may not be
unconsciously under the dominion of preconceived theoretical
views. Again, the polishing of rocks and their striation in de-
finite directions may be generally regarded as the necessary con-
sequences of the passage over them of a large mass of ice, pre-
serving its general direction of motion in defiance of merely local

6 On Drift.

obstacles. Such effects might also be produced by the passage of
masses of detritus. The former is a probable, the latter a possible
mode of producing these phenomena. When the opponent of the
glacialist, therefore, urges the latter against the former mode of
action (except under some particular condition), let him also
institute a self-examination as to whether he is exercising his
unclouded and unprejudiced judgment. Gentlemen, I would
exhort you earnestly to prosecute your researches and speculations
with a fair and liberal feeling towards the views of others, and
especially with an unflinching obedience to the laws of inductive
philosophy. Every geologist, who takes an impartial review of
the history of his own mind with reference to geological opinions,
will probably feel that what is termed consistency of opinion would
frequently have been in his own case persistency in error. I feel
the more entitled to make these remarks, from the consciousness
of having resigned much of my own early convictions respecting
the glacial theory; and I make them in immediate connection
with the subject before us, because I believe that much remains
to be done in these superficial deposits before we can completely
interpret them; and I believe also, that for our progress towards
sound opinion and unity of view respecting them, ability and
fidelity in the observer will scarcely be more necessary than that
fairness and candour without which he will assuredly fail to bring
his observations .as true tests of the different views with which
the subject is at present perplexed. Let us not seek for mere
possibilities in support of antecedent opinions, but submit our
views constantly to the test of enlarged experience and careful
induction. There may be, doubtless, a stage in the progress of
science in which new views, thrown out at random, and the advo-
cacy of individual opinion with somewhat more than philosophical
pertinacity, may be effective in the development of truth; but
there is assuredly also another and more advanced stage of science,
in which such habits of mind can only retard and embarrass its
progress, and impede our arrival at those ultimate truths which
it may be our object to establish. At this latter stage I believe
the science of geology to have arrived; and if by these remarks I
should induce one speculative geologist to watch with increased
rigour the reasoning by which he arrives at his convictions, I shall
perhaps have done more for our science than. I can do by any
detailed information which an occasion of this nature may enable
‘me to bring before you.

I shall now direct your attention to some of the leading cha-
racters, of the great mass of drift which extends over so large a
portion of northern Europe. And first I shall speak of the striw
which so abound in the northern part of the region in question.
When regarded with reference to a limited area, their directions
might be described as characterised by the law of parallelism; but

On Drift. 7

when regarded with reference to the whole region, we find them
really characterised by the law of divergency. To those observers
who had not examined the striz on the shores of the North Sea,
some point lying to the north of those shores,-and nearly in the
direction of Spitzbergen, seemed best to represent the centre of this
divergence; but subsequently M. Bohtlingk observed striz de-
scending from Kemi eastward to Onega Bay, on the shores of which
it is situated ; and on the northern coast of Lapland he also ob-
served them descending from the high lands northward to the sea.
These observations have also been corroborated by other observers.
Around the district comprising the mountains of Scandinavia striz
appear to exist, directed to almost every point of the compass, and
the characters of their divergency generally for the whole region
‘ may be considered as established.

The directions in which the detrital matter has moved in its
transport across a particul. locality cannot, of course, be ascer-
tained with entirely the sam accuracy as those of the strie; but
the erratic blocks can in numberless instances be identified with
the rocks of a particular locality, and thus the mean direction in
which a particular block has travelled, can be determined with
great accuracy. All the blocks, however, originating in the same
locality have not been transported in the same direction. M. Du-
rocher has noticed especially a granular granite, easy to be recog-
nised, of which the original site is in the department of Vibourg in
Finland. The extreme directions in which the blocks have proceeded
from this spot comprise an angle nearly equal to two right angles.
The mean direction, however, of these blocks, and that along which,
or nearly so, the greatest number have proceeded, is very approxi-
mately coincident with the directions of the strie along the same
line. A similar law holds with respect to other blocks which can
be traced to their respective original sites. It may, therefore, be
asserted as a law in this region, that the general or mean direc-
tions of transport are approximately coincident with the directions
of the striz.

If we refer to the analogous phenomena of Scotland, we find the
general law which characterises them is exactly that above enun-
ciated ; but when we examine the details of this latter case, it ap-
pears that the general law is only approximately true, for the law
of divergency does not accurately hold with reference to one gene-
ral centre, but with reference to a number of particular centres.
This I have proved in the memoir on the granitic blocks of the
South Highlands of Scotland, inserted in the last Number of our
Journal, with respect to the granitic nucleus of Ben Cruachan, and
that of the group of mountains immediately on the west of the
northern part of Ben Lomond. To complete our knowledge of the
Scandinavian striz, it is necessary to ascertain whether such par-
ticular centres are found also in the mountainous district of that

8 On Drift.

region. ‘This is one of the points to which I would especially di-
rect the attention of observers.

So long as we restrict ourselves to the Highlands of Scotland,
we easily recognise the circumstances which have determined the
particular directions which the blocks have taken. They have fol-
lowed the valleys which must have existed previously to their dis-
persion, wherever those valleys were sufficiently defined to govern
the operation of the transporting agents. And this would appear
also to have been the case in the more immediate vicinity of the
Scandinavian chain. We may consider the striaw, then, to repre-
sent the general direction of transport, and we find them, as laid
down on the map of M. Sefstrém, exactly coinciding with the di-
rections of the river-valleys descending from the mountains. So
perfect a coincidence leaves little doubt of the influence of the pre-
existing valleys in the direction of transport. But as we recede
from the mountainous district, even in the limited space between
the Highlands and the eastern coast of Scotland, the configuration
of the country no longer presents, in many parts, those determin-
ate features which would necessarily give a definite direction to the
masses transported across it; and how much more is this true
with respect to the wide-spread plains of northern Russia and of
northern Germany! And yet, in all these cases, the directions of
the strize obey, with wonderful regularity, the same law of diver-
gency as those nearer to the central chain. We may easily under-
stand how glaciers would descend down the mountain-valleys, and,
after reaching the level of the sea, how the ice would float along
the submarine continuation of the same valleys, leaving striz along
them, without the power of deviating from a fixed direction ; but
after having escaped from the valleys on the immediate flanks of
the central mountains, what cause can have operated to drive for-
ward through the more open sea these masses of ice, or the masses
of other materials which may have been the striating and groov-
ing agents, in the same continuous direction, and with such a force
and determination that they could not be turned aside by the nu-
merous projecting bosses of solid rock on which they have so ef-
fectively engraved the record of their transit? According to the
hypothesis which we shall probably all be ready to adopt, the more
elevated parts of the Scandinavian range must, at the period we
are referring to, have formed an island, round which ordinary
ocean-currents may possibly have passed in any direction; but the
notion of such ordinary currents diverging in such various direc-
tions radiating from the central portion of this Scandinavian island,
can only be spoken of as an absurdity. And yet no other force
has ever been suggested, or is perhaps conceivable, except that of
currents, as efficient to drive large icebergs or a mass of looser
materials in a determinate direction, in defiance of numerous op-
posing obstacles. It appears to me, therefore, that we are driven
to the alternative either of rejecting all theory on the subject, or

On Drift. 9

of adopting that which would attribute these currents to waves of
elevation, resulting from frequent, sudden, but not extensive ver-
tical movements of the central range of elevated land; movements
which we may conceive to have been thus repeated while the mean
movement of the whole region was one either of gradual depres-
sion or of elevation.

And here I would make an observation which may not perhaps
be without its theoretical value. Adopting this view of the sub-
ject, we may conceive the centres of the elevatory movements to
have been different at different times, and consequently the direc-
tions of the corresponding currents produced by them to have
been different, as in fact they would appear to have been from the
different directions in which the transported matter has been
driven from the same original site. But the movements which
would send forth the greatest quantity of floating ice would be
those which more immediately affected the line of coast; and the
coast being deeply indented, as it must have been, by the present
river-valleys when submerged, torrents would be simultaneously
discharged from their mouths which would determine, in a mate-
rial degree, the resulting current in the open sea; and since these
valley-currents would necessarily have always the same directions,
they would tend to impress approximately the same constant
direction on the resulting ocean-current, whatever might be the
precise centre of the elevatory movement. This influence, however,
would, of course, be principally felt at points least remote from
the then existing coasts.

When we pass to the great field of northern drift which the
continent of North America presents to us, it is not perhaps
without some feeling of disappointment that we find the directions
of the striz and those of transport without any distinct character
of divergency either from local centres or from a general one.
The observations described in Dr Bigsby’s paper on the “ Erratics
of Canada,” were made before the importance of striated and.
polished rocks had been recognised, or we should doubtless have
obtained much valuable information respecting them from so care-
ful an observer. We learn, however, from the American geo-
logists, that the striz preserve an approximate parallelism in a
north-westerly and south-easterly direction over the north-eastern
part of the North American continent, and that the erratic, blocks
and other transported matter have come in the same direction.
In northern Europe, when the striating agents had quitted the
Scandinavian mountains, they met with no other mountains of
sufficient magnitude to impede their general course, or materially
modify the directions of movement; but in America the striation,
according to the American geologists, has been carried not only
transversely but obliquely over some of their highest mountains,
without material deviation from its normal direction, except along

10 On Drift.

or near the bottoms of some of the valleys, in which cases the
direction of the striz nearly coincides with those of the valleys.
This coincidence of direction in the lower parts of the valleys
is exactly what we should expect, and is accordant with the cha-
racter of the like phenomena in Europe; and the persistency of
transverse oblique directions in the striz over the upper parts of
elevated tracts presents no difficulty; for so long as the striating
agent (as an iceberg) should only come in contact with those upper
parts, its operations could not be influenced by the depths of the
valleys below. But what takes place at intermediate heights
between the bottoms of the valleys and the tops of the mountains ?
It is impossible to suppose, if the side of a mountain were striated
in every part, that while the strize at the bottom should be parallel
to the lateral valley or axis of the mountain, and those at the top
should be, for instance, perpendicular to it, the striz at inter-
mediate heights should not have some intermediate directions in
passing from one extreme limit to the other. Careful observations
ought to be made on this point. The height to which the strice
preserve their parallelism with the valleys below, and the distance
from the tops of the higher ridges across which they preserve
their transverse directions should be most carefully noted. Nor
ought any geologist, in a delicate question of this kind, to trust
to vague measurements and general impressions. Every direction
ought to be carefully taken, and as carefully laid down on a good
physical map, together with the dip and strike of the striated
surface. The general configuration, too, of the immediate vicinity
should be described, with reference to its probable influence on
the motion of any mass to which the strize may be attributable.
Again, it has been said that in many cases the lee side and storm
side of an elevated ridge are sometimes equally marked by striz
transverse to its direction. This seems entirely at variance with
our observations on this side of the Atlantic, except in those cases
in which the striz are attributable to local action, in contradis-
tinction to that more general action of such agents as masses of
ice, for instance, driven in one direction over the whole region
from NW. to SE. Ihave not hitherto been able to represent
to myself the physical possibility of striz on the lee side remote
from the top of the ridge, having been produced by the general
action just referred to. May they not have been more frequently
due to local action than has been suspected? The glacial theories,
on* their first introduction, did not, I think, make so much im-
pression on the minds of American as on those of European geo-
logists, and many of the recorded observations of striated rocks
were made, if I mistake not, under impressions very unfavourable
to those theories. Let me not be thought by this remark to cast
a reflection on American geologists—men to whom our science
owes so much, and from whom it expects so much more in the

On Drift. iB

noble field in which they are labouring; but we shall all do well,
gentlemen, in learning to doubt the completeness of our observa-
tions on difficult and controverted points when made under the
strong impressions of antecedent convictions. What I am espe-
cially anxious for is to see the American geologists resuming their
observations in all possible detail on this interesting subject, and
with candid reference to the different physical causes to which
smoothed and striated rocks have been attributed. There are few
phenomena more likely to elucidate the mixed and perplexing
operations of the period to which they must be referred. In
northern Europe M. Sefstrém has set us an admirable example,
by his careful and exact manner of making his observations, and
of mapping the results of them. There is still much room for
following out similar observations in the Scandinavian regions.
In our own islands, too, in Ireland, we have a field in which much
yet remains to be done. The observations on these points by my
friend Mr Griffith were made, as he has told me, a considerable
time ago, and incidentally rather than as forming a leading object
in his researches. It is not, therefore, to be expected that they
should be sufficient to satisfy the present requirements of the
science. If by these remarks, gentlemen, I should perchance lead
any geologist to reflect on the geological importance of this sub-
ject, and to make and record his observations upon it with more
than ordinary accuracy, I feel that I shall be attaining one of the
best objects for the accomplishment of which an address of this
kind may be rendered useful.
I shall now proceed to make a few observations on the arrange-
‘ment of the materials which constitute the drift of Northern Europe.
Though in many cases this arrangement seems very confused, as
we might expect it to be, there does appear to be frequently a de-
cided predominance of finer material in the lower, and of coarser
material in the upper portion. The lower mass frequently con-
sists of fine argillaceous and arenaceous sediment, sometimes mixed
with rolled pebbles, and reposing immediately on the polished and
striated rocks. Taking the whole area of deposition in Norway,
Denmark, Sweden, Northern Russia, and Northern Germany, the
materials above described constitute the great mass of the drift;
and on this mass generally the large erratic blocks are superin-
cumbent, though many blocks are also found imbedded within its
mass. The submarine origin of the general mass is rendered une-
quivocal by the organic remains which it is found in various loéa-
lities to contain. |
The boundary of the area over which this enormous mass of
detrital matter has been deposited proceeds from a point east of
the White Sea towards the south-east, until it touches on one
point only on the Ural Mountains, whence it proceeds south of
Moscow to the Carpathian Mountains, and includes the whole of

12 On Drift.

Northern Germany. Throughout Russia and Poland it is laid
down in the map which accompanies the “ Geology of Russia.’’
Independently of its zigzag irregularities, it may be considered
approximately as the circumference of a circle, having its centre
near the northern extremity of the Gulf of Bothnia. A very
large majority of tlie blocks dispersed. over this immense area can
be distinctly referred to their Scandinavian origin, thus shewing
in a remarkable manner the centrifugal or radiating action already
mentioned of the forces by which this dispersion has been effected.

The granite-boulders seem to have been in this, as in so many
other cases, the best travellers. They constitute the greater part
of the blocks in the external zone of the drift. But it is of more
importance to remark, that whatever may be the nature of the
blocks, they become almost universally smaller and more rovinded
as we approach the external boundary above indicated. This
seems to me conclusive as to the nature of the transporting agency
in this outer zone. I can conceive water alone to be capable of
giving these characters to the transported materials. On the con-
trary, as we approach the central portion of this region of drift,
we find the blocks of enormous size, perfectly angular, and not
unfrequently imbedded in masses of fine drift, indicative of the
absence, at the time of its deposition, of any violent currents
capable of moving the blocks imbedded in it. In this we recog-
nise the transport by floating ice. And again, on the central land,
we recognise glaciers as the source of the floating ice, and the
means of transporting large angular blocks from their original sites
on the mountains to the level of the ocean.

You will not suppose, gentlemen, that, in stating these conclu- —
sions, I regard myself as opening new views to you. My object
is merely to present the subject to you in a general but compen-
dious form, in the hope that I may thus lead you to contemplate
its various points collectively, and to see how much they are
brought into harmony with each other by a distinct recognition of
the three causes above mentioned, and a due allotment of the
varied phenomena of the drift to their respective modes of trans-

ort.
; The authors of the ‘“ Geology of Russia” consider the present
boundary of the region of the drift in North-eastern Russia as indi-
cating the approximate boundary of the glacial sea in that region
during the drift-period, and this conclusion appears to me per-
fectly legitimate. They also consider the low, flat lands of North-
ern Asia to have been, about the same period, under the sea.
In favour of this view, there appears to be the unequivocal, though
not perhaps abundant, evidence of marine remains. ‘There seems
to be no evidence, however, of a submergence of this region ap-
proximating in depth to that of many parts of the European con-
tinent; the present low lands were probably covered only with

P On Drift. 13

shallow water. And hence we may conclude that Northern Asia
was in a state of comparative repose during the period of much
greater oscillation, and probably of more frequent and compara-
tively violent disturbance of the European area. Again, no traces
of former glaciers have been detected on the Ural Mountains, or
on the projecting headlands which run out to the northward from
the high lands of Northern and Central Asia. This former absence
of glaciers during our glacial period, in a region now so much
colder than Europe, appears at first sight a great anomaly. It
presents, however, no real difficulty, because those very causes
which I believe to have produced the glacial cold of Europe would
necessarily diminish the cold of Northern Asia, and more especially
that portion of it immediately east of the Ural chain, as I have
explained in my paper “ On the Causes of Changes of Terrestrial
Temperature.” This effect would be due to the extension of the
Atlantic Ocean to the eastward, so that the region of the Ural
would become part of the western shores of the old continent, and
would experience climatal influences similar, though far less in
degree, to those now experienced in our own region. Hence what
I have termed the line of 32° F. would be higher in North-western
Asia than at present. On the other hand, the extension of the
ocean to the eastward would lessen the great difference which now
exists in Northern Asia between the summer and winter tempera-
tures ; and on this account the height of the snow-line above the
line of 32° would be diminished. Consequently the absolute
height of the snow-line would be increased by the first cause and
diminished by the second, and would probably be not very different
from its present height, though it might possibly be somewhat
less. Now, since the configuration of the mountains was probably
very nearly the same at the glacial epoch as now, the existence of
glaciers upon them would depend upon the height of the snow-
line; and, that height not being materially altered, there is no
more reason why glaciers should have existed there at the more
remote than at the present epoch; and at present we know that
there are none in the Ural chain as far as the 70th degree of lati-
tude,* and none on the mountains of Northern Asia descending
nearly low enough to reach the level of the shallow sea, which we
suppose to have covered the low lands of that region during the
glacial period.

This former absence of glaciers, and the comparative repose of
Northern Asia during our glacial epoch, are sufficient to account
for what appears at first sight extremely anomalous—the fact, that
while on the west of the Ural mountains we have a district covered
with enormous erratic blocks, there is scarcely a single block to be
found on the east of that chain at any distance from its original

a

* Geology of Russia.

14 On Drift.

site, the whole mass of detrital matter, too, being very small, and
principally referable to merely local causes.

I cannot quit this part of our subject without reminding you of
the lucid manner in which the authors of the ‘ Geology of Rus-
sia’ have pointed out how well the above state of Northern Asia
accords with the supposed existence of Mammoths during the gla-
cial epoch, and how happily Sir Charles Lyell and Professor Owen
explained the capabilities of those animals to sustain the hardships
of a cold climate. But before the publication of Dove’s Map of
Isothermal Lines, we had no adequate means of accurately esti-
mating the effect of such conditions as those above assumed on the
climate of North-western Asia. The extension of the Atlantic
Ocean nearly to the foot of the Ural chain would heighten consi-
derably the mean annual temperature of the neighbouring land,
especially if the height of that chain was lower than at present, as
Sir R. Murchison supposes it to have been at the period in ques-
tion. But the great effect would consist in the lessening of the
enormous existing difference between the summer and winter tem-
peratures already alluded to. The winter temperature would, doubt-
less, be very much moderated: and, therefore, any difficulty of
conceiving how great Pachyderms could exist through a Siberian
winter is in a great degree removed. Again, a much more ade-
quate reason is thus assigned for their subsequent disappearance
from that region. The cause to which this fact has been attri-
buted, is an increase of cold, arising from some additional elevation
of the Ural chain, and a rise of the region in general to the amount
of a few hundred feet. I believe it, however, to be certain that
these causes alone could produce but little influence on the cli-
mate; but, if we unite with them the withdrawal of the ocean
from the Ural chain within its present limits, we have an adequate
cause for changing the climate from one much more equable than
at present to the extreme of a continental one ; from a climate in
which the mammoth might exist, to one in which its existence dur-
ing the winter would be no longer possible. This would seem to
afford a very adequate cause for the disappearance of the mam-
moths from the Siberian region; why they should not still have
sought a refuge in lands somewhat more southerly, which must
still have been open to them, may be a question of more difficult
solution.

With respect to the order of events connected with the glacial
epoch, conclusions have sometimes been drawn which do not ap-
pear to me altogether warranted by the observed phenomena. The
striated and polished rocks, as fixed rocks in situ, must necessarily
be subjacent, where they exist, to the lowest beds of the drift, fre-
quently consisting of fine argillaceous and arenaceous matter. It
has been hence inferred that the process of striating and polishing
these subjacent rocks must have been altogether anterior to the

On Drift. 15

whole process of deposition of the finer matter, each of these pro-
cesses occupying distinct and separate intervals of time. No one
would, of course, suppose that the matter reposing on a given sur-
face of striated rock could have been deposited there before that
surface became striated; but the real question is, whether these
two processes of striating and depositing were not going on simul-
taneously in the region generally, though not absolutely the same
points. If the striz be due, as some geologists have supposed, to
detrital matter driven by a rapid current, the two processes must
of necessity have been simultaneous, the one where the current
was most rapid, the other where it was less so. Or if we refer the
strice in the lower and flatter regions of the area of the drift to
floating ice, how was it that the icebergs and the currents which
impelled them onwards bore no detrital matter at that time, and so
much ata subsequent time? I conceive the two processes to
have gone on simultaneously. No agency for the production of
striated and polished surfaces has ever yet been suggested which
would not almost necessarily be accompanied with the transport, and
consequently with the deposition of detrital matter. Currents and
small icebergs might deposit from time to time detrital matter on a
given rock-surface, but the first iceberg that succeeded, large enough
to reach down to that surface and grind over it; would clear away
the detritus previously deposited upon it, and smooth and striate
the rock itself. This might be repeated for a long period of time,
during which the process of striating the projecting surfaces might
be contemporaneous with that of permanent deposition at points
almost immediately contiguous, but at lower levels. Finally, sup-
posing a continued subsidence of the general area, the projecting
striated bosses would sink below the reach of the icebergs, and the
transport of matter still continuing, would become permanently
covered up. As the general area re-emerged it would be subject
to denudation, which might be expected to lay bare again some of
the striated rocks, and leave others permanently covered with de-
trital matter as we now find them. ,

Again, with reference to the combined operations of floating ice
and currents, it is not unworthy of remark that the former would
necessarily deposit least of its freight, ceteris paribus, in its unim-
peded motion over deeper waters, and a greater part in its impeded
course over shallow bottoms. On the contrary, currents would
deposit least on the shallow bottoms, where, ceteris paribus, their
velocity would be greatest, and most in the deeper waters; and,
moreover, it would be in these deeper waters that the finer matter
would be deposited. Thus the existence of beds of finer and in
many cases stratified deposits, having more tumultuous deposits,
possibly both above and below them, as in some parts of North
America, does not necessarily indicate a cessation in the more en-
ergetic action of the forces of dispersion, but may merely indicate

16 On Drift.

deposition in a deeper sea. If also, large angular blocks from dis-
tant sites should be imbedded in this mass of finer matter, we see
an additional indication of a deep sea, in which a floating iceberg
would, perhaps, at distant intervals, drop a portion of its freight.

There is also a consideration conneoted with the process of
transport by certain currents alone, which, with reference to our
inferences as to the succession of events, is of some importance. I
have mentioned it in my memoir ‘“ On the Granitic Blocks of the
South Highlands of Scotland,” which appears in the last Number
of our Journal. Currents attending waves produced by sudden
elevations, greater or less, are necessarily transitory, and each can
only carry the materials it may transport to certain distances, de-
pending, ceteris paribus, on the magnitudes of the component in-
dividual masses, the large blocks being carried but to small dis-
tances, and the smaller particles to much greater distances. + Thus
the first wave would produce a layer consisting of the larger blocks
near their source and of fine detritus at the remoter distances. The
second wave would produce a similar effect, and would also carry
the blocks of the first wave to a somewhat greater distance, and so
on for successive waves. The effect, then, of a succession of simi-
lar waves would be the formation, over the more remote parts of
the area of deposition, of a bed of finer matter, in the upper por-
tion of which would exist blocks rounded and waterworn by their
transit. Thus we should have the phenomena of fine detrital matter
below and blocks above, apparently referable to several successive
periods of time, during the first of which one kind of agency should
have transported the finer sediment, and during the second another
and much more powerful agency should have transported the blocks
and coarser detritus, while, in fact, the whole phenomena would be
really referable to a repetition of precisely the same agency during
the whole period of transport. That period, therefore, except in a
limited sense, and not with reference to the whole area of trans-
port, could not, in the case now supposed, be divided into two, but
must be regarded as one single period.

I do not mean here to assert the opinion that the actual glacial
period recognised by geologists was characterised by a uniform suc-
cession of exactly similar events producing erratic dispersion.
There might be particular portions of that period in which acci-
dental circumstances produced a greater or less prevalence of each
particular mode of transport ; but I am satisfied that some of the
attempts which have been made to subdivide the glacial period
have been made without due regard to such considerations as those
which I have given above.

Let us now turn again to the drift of North America. The
American geologists appear for the most part to recognise three
distinct periods into which the whole period of the drift may be di-
vided. ‘The first period was one of the transport of blocks and

On Drift. iV

coarse materials; the second one of tranquil deposition ; and the
third was again a period of transport of large blocks and coarser
matter, This generalization appears to have been principally
founded on the characters of the drift of Lake Champlain and that
of the general valley of the St Lawrence, where the beds of the
second period not only consist, in great part, of finer matter, but
are also, in many instances, distinctly stratified, and filled with or-
ganicremains. But before we can adopt these subdivisions of the
general period with reference to so many distinct modes of action
of the transporting agencies, or of the different degrees of intensity
with which they acted, it will be necessary to prove the above-men-
tioned succession of beds to be general and not merely local. If local,
I should be disposed to refer the tranquil deposition of the fossili-
ferous and associated beds, partly at least, to the condition of a
deeper sibmergence than at the periods of the transport of the
coarser beds and blocks above and below the finer beds. I see no
reason, in local facts of this kind, to infer that there were three dis-
tinct periods with reference to the intensity or mode of action of
the dispersing forces. I may here observe that Dr Bigsby de-
tected no evidence of this subdivision of the drift in the region
which he examined further to the west.

Some of the American geologists appear to have entertained the
opinion that the Mastodon existed in that region after the latest
period of the drift, and seem to refer its final déstruction to some
upheaval of the American continent. It may be doubted, how-
ever, whether any evidence has been offered of the existence of
that animal later than the latest drift in which its remains are
found; nor do I understand how the cause just assigned could ef-
fect its final extinction. If, however, we admit the submergence
of that continent to the extent which many geologists are now dis-
posed to admit; there can be no difficulty in explaining the ex-
tinction of any of the great pachyderms which might have pre-
viously inhabited that region.*

II. On the Causes of Change in the Earth’s Suparsiowy
Temperature.

The next paper to which I shall call your attention, although
not directly on the subject of the drift, may be considered as closely
associated with it, one of its principal objects beimg to account for
the peculiar climatal conditions of the glacial period—that period
to which geologists now universally refer the general phenomena
of drift. I allude to the paper which I have myself brought re-

* To this account of Drift, there follow in the Address, numerous details re-
garding the drift of North America, Europe, and Australia, for which we have
no spare space at present. The alluvial gold of the Diggings—the curse of our
time—is noticed as to priority of discovery. Geologists appear to have had
little to say in this business—and so much the better.— Editor.

VO. Lil, NO, CV.— JULY 1852. B

18 On the Causes of Change in the

cently before you, * On the Causes of Change in the Earth's Super-
ficial Temperature.’ You will recollect that, until very recently,
the only change of climate which had been recognised by geologists
as having taken place during the earth’s geological history was one
from a higher to a lower temperature, and, for those who believed
in the primitive heat of the globe, that heat afforded one obvious
cause for this higher temperature at remote geological epochs.
When, however, an examination of the phenomena of the glacial
epoch rendered it necessary to recognise a change of climate in our
own region of the globe from a lower temperature during that
period to a higher subsequent temperature, new conditions were
“added to the problem, which rendered the cause formerly assigned
manifestly inadequate for its solution. Two other causes, how-
ever, had been previously suggested, which might possibly ac-
count, not only for a change from a higher to a lower superficial
terrestrial temperature, but also for oscillatory changes. One of
these assigned causes rested on the hypotheses of motion of the
whole solar system in space, and the variable temperature of the
different regions through which it might thus pass ; the other cause
assigned was the influence of different configurations of land and
sea on the climatal state of particular portions of the earth’s sur-
face. Thus of the three causes above alluded to, speaking of them
with reference to the earth’s surface, one was internal, another ex-
ternal, and the third superficial. No attempt, however, had been
made to examine the efficiency of these different causes to account
for all the phenomena which may be referable to them. It was
to remedy this defect that I undertook the investigations contained
in the paper of which I am speaking.

Assuming the primitive temperature of the globe to have been
very much greater than at present, there is manifestly no difficulty
in accounting for any higher superficial temperature’ than the pre-
sent, at past epochs, provided those epochs be sufficiently remote.
They must, however, be exceedingly remote to enable us thus to
account for a variation of temperature which should sensibly affect
the climatal conditions in any part of the earth. The terrestrial
temperature, to the depth of about 70 feet, varies with the pro-
gress of the seasons, the variation becoming less as the depth is
greater, until, at about the depth just mentioned, it is no longer
sensible, so that a thermometer placed there would indicate a con-
stant temperature during the whole year. A second thermometer
at a greater depth would also indicate a constant temperature
throughout the year, but higher than that indicated by the pre-
ceding one. If this second thermometer were placed at a still
greater depth, it would indicate a still higher constant tempera-
ture ; and the increase of temperature between the two thermo-
meters would be proportional to the distance between them, 2.c.,
the temperature in descending below the first thermometer would
increase at a constant uniform rate.

Earth's Superficial Temperature. 19

Again, if the cooling of the earth were to continue for an inde-
finite period of time, assuming the temperature of external space,
the sun, and the earth’s atmosphere, to remain as at present, the
superficial temperature would approximate indefinitely near to a
certain limit. The difference between that limit and the earth’s
present superficial temperature is the effect due to the remains of
the primitive heat. Now theory gives us a simple relation be-
tween the amount of this effect and the rate of increase above-
mentioned as we descend below the earth’s surface.* Consequently,
knowing the one, we can immediately determine the other, and
thus, having ascertained the above rate of increase, we know the
amount of superficial temperature which is now due to the earth’s
primeval heat, assuming always that heat to be the cause of the
existing internal temperature of the globe. This amount is thus
provéd not to exceed about the 1,th of a centesimal degree, so nearly
has the earth’s superficial temperature approximated to that ulti-
mate limit beyond which it could never descend, supposing exter-
nal conditions to remain the same. It was calculated by Poisson
that, to reduce the superficial temperature by one half of the above
amount, or 5th of a centesimal degree, it would require the enor-
mous period of one hundred thousand millions of years. It would,
doubtless, require us to go back into the past some such immense
period as this to arrive at the epoch when the superficial tempera-
ture should have exceeded its present amount by even one or two
degrees. At the same time the rate of increase of temperature in
descending beneath the surface would be much more rapid than at
present. If the superficial temperature amounted to 2° C. above
its ultimate limit, instead of being th of a degree, the rate at
which the temperature would increase in descending would be about
sixty times as great as at present, i. ¢., there would be an increase
of 1° C. for little more than one foot of depth.

It must be recollected that this state of terrestrial temperature,
if due to the cause we are considering, could only have existed at
times which, even in a geological sense, must have been extremely
remote. The important peculiarity of this state of the earth would
seem to consist in the simultaneous existence of a superficial tem-
perature, and therefore of climatal conditions, very nearly the same
as at present, with an internal temperature at the depth of a few
_ hundred feet and upwards, immensely greater than at present. If
we suppose the process of sedimentary deposition to have been then
going on, we may understand how great an effect might be pro-
duced by this internal temperature in the metamorphism of the
earlier sedimentary beds.

; = If f denote the excess of the present superficial temperature above the final
limit to which the temperature would descend in an indefinite period of time,
and g the rate of increase of temperature mentioned in the text, we have

Fp, where b is nearly equal to unity.

B2

20 On the Causes of Change in the

The temperature of any point in stellar space is that which
would be indicated by a thermometer at that point receiving the
heat radiating from all the stars composing the universe. The
temperature of all bodies must necessarily be affected by this
radiation, and in different degrees, according to the positions in
space which they may occupy. Hence Poisson was led to adopt
the notion that the actual temperature of the earth, whether super-
ficial or internal, is due to the circumstance of the solar system
having passed through a warmer region than that which it now
occupies, in the course of that motion by which astronomers gene-
rally believe it to be constantly moving from one part of space to
another. What may have been the possible effect of this cause m
the lapse of indefinite time, it is impossible to say; but I cannot
understand how it could be very considerable without a totally
different distribution of the group of stars to which the sun should
belong, or the near approach of the solar system to some indivi-
dual star. The latter hypothesis, however, would be inconsistent
with the integrity of the solar system as it now exists, if we sup-
pose the proximity to any single star to become such as to produce
any material modification of terrestrial climate; and perhaps it
may be difficult to conceive how the first hypothesis should escape
a similar objection. At all events, it may be regarded as certain,
that according to neither of these hypotheses can any considerable
effects have been produced by this cause on terrestrial temperature
within the later tertiary period, and that we cannot thus account
for the cold of the glacial epoch.

In considering the influence of the third cause,—that of the
configuration of land and sea,—I have endeavoured to ascertain
approximately what would be the climatal conditions, more espe-
cially in western Europe, in the four following hypothetical
cases :—

1. The configuration of land and sea the same as at present,
but without the Gulf Stream.

2. The Gulf Stream the same as at present, except that its pro-
gress into the North Sea is supposed to be arrested by a barrier of
land, extending from the North of Scotland to Iceland, and thence
to the coast of Greenland.

3. The basin of the Atlantic from the Tropic to the North Sea
converted into land, uniting the old and new continents.

4, Large portions of the continents of Europe and North Ame-
rica submerged beneath the surface of the ocean, and the Gulf
Stream directed into some other course.

By a study of Dove’s admirable Map of Isothermal Lines, we
easily recognise the masses of land in the northern parts of the
old and new continents, and the Gulf Stream as the principal
causes of the abnormal forms of the isothermals in the higher
latitudes of the northern hemisphere. In like manner the irre-

Earth’s Superficial Temperature. 21

gular forms of the known isothermals of the southern hemisphere,
extending to about the latitude of 50°, may be seen to be attri-
butable to similar causes, more especially, perhaps, in this case to
well-known ocean-currents; and a knowledge of these causes
enables us to draw the isothermals in such hypothetical cases as
those above stated with approximate accuracy. This is what I
have first attempted to do in the memoir before us,

Taking the first case, I arrive at the results embodied in the
following table :—

At pra: Differ- || Without the | Differ-
Gulf Stream. ence. || Gulf-Stream.|] ence.

nf | |

The Alps.
Temperature for January, . . . 38 F. = 34 F. i
a yi zie aa msi 73 35 73 39
Mean annual temperature, . . . 55:5 53°5
Snowdon.
Temperature for January, . . . 38 F. 23 F.
oe he Tt ere 61 23 61 38
Mean annual temperature, . . . 49°5 42
Northern Extremity of Scotland.
Temperature for January, . . . 36°5 F. 12h
~*~ MRL 21 ta lodoge day 2s 56 19-5. 56 44
Mean annual temperature, . . . 46°25 34
Centre of Iceland. |
|
Temperature for January, . . . 30 F.) | 59 —4F, 50
aes PTY is. tN. d 52 ; 46
Ss a | 21

ite sical vidbho tal
Mean annual temperature,* |

In the case in which the Gulf Stream is supposed to exist, but
its progress into the North Sea to be arrested by a continuous
barrier of land, I have shewn that the winter temperature of the
coast of Iceland would probably be increased 6° or 7° F., and that
the January isothermal would probably run nearly north and
south from Iceland to the latitude of Central France. You will
recollect that .a former littoral or sub-littoral communication be-
tween the western coasts of Hurope and the eastern coasts of
_ America is rendered probable by a certain community of specific
forms in those localities. My object in considering the effect of

* This is deduced from the mean of the monthly temperatures. The mean
annual temperatures above given for the other cases are almost identical with
those deduced from the monthly temperatures. The discrepancy of 3° in the
case of Iceland may be attributed to local peculiarities.

22 On the Causes of Change in the

the configuration of land above-mentioned, is to determine how
far it might afford this littoral communication with a temperature
of the ocean sufficiently high to admit of the dissemination along
it of the species alluded to.

The next case is that in which the basin of the Atlantic should
be converted into dry land, so as to unite the old and new conti-
nents. This would give to our own region the extreme continental
climate of Northern and Central Asia. According to my estimate,
we should then have for Snowdon,

Temperature of January .. 7° F.
a DULY sc9<: >, 00-50

i Diff. '73°°5
Mean annual temperature . 29°°75

The summer temperature would be increased 5°-5 F., but the
winter temperature would be reduced 45°, and the mean annual
temperature 20°.

In discussing the fourth case, in which the Gulf Stream is not
supposed to exist on our own shores, and a great part of Europe
is assumed to be submerged beneath the ocean, I have shewn that
the mean annual temperature would be very nearly the same in
western Europe and in the latitude of Snowdon, as in the case
above considered of simply the absence of the Gulf Stream. The
conditions under which the Welsh and Irish mountains would be
placed, supposing them extant above the sea while the neighbouring
region was submerged, would be very similar to the existing
conditions of the Falkland Islands, and the island of 8. Georgia;
and a comparison with these islands leads me to conclude that the
estimate above given of the mean annual temperature of Snowdon
(42° F.) is two or three degrees too high. I have considered 39°
or 40° F. to be a nearer estimate. In fact, a great part of the
misconception which has existed respecting the possible past tem-
perature of this region has arisen from our- regarding its present
temperature as the normal temperature for our own latitude, and
that of places lke the island of S. Georgia, in corresponding south
latitudes, as the abnormal temperature ; whereas the exact reverse
of this is the actual case.

Having determined the positions of the isothermal lines for any
particular hypothetical case, we can determine, for that case, the
mean annual temperature at any assigned place. The object
which I have next preposed to myself in this paper is more espe-
cially to determine the conditions under which glaciers would exist
in those parts of western Europe where traces of their former
existence have been observed. The principle on which I have
proceeded is easily explained. The snow-line is that line on the
side of a mountain which forms the highest limit to which the
boundary of the snow ascends during the year. It bears an im-
portant relation to all glaciers, being that limit below which the

Earth’s Superficial Temperature. 23

glacier receives no permanent superficial increase. Below this
limit the destructive begin to prevail over the productive agencies.
The distance to which the glacier descends below it depends on
local circumstances; but we find that nearly all glaciers, large
enough to be considered of the first order, descend to levels lower
than the snow-line by an amount varying from about 4000 to
5000 feet. In smaller glaciers the descent is proportionally less.
Again, the snow-line bears certain relations to the line which I
have defined as the line of 32° F., or that along which the mean
annual temperature is equal to 32°F. At certain places in suffi-
ciently high latitudes this line will lie at the level of the sea. In
lower latitudes it will lie at higher levels, and in still higher
latitudes the mean annual temperature will be less than 32°. It
is found that at the equator the snow-line lies about 1000 feet
below the line of 32°, while in the higher north latitudes it lies
above’ the latter line, the vertical distance between them being
very variable. A continental climate, in which the atmosphere
contains comparatively little moisture, and the variation from
summer to winter temperature is very great, is favourable to a
relatively high position of the snow-line; while an insular climate,
in which the quantity of moisture is comparatively large, and the
annual variation of temperature comparatively small, superinduces
a relatively low position of this line. Thus in the north-eastern
part of Asia the snow-line is probably from 4000 to 6000 feet
above the line of 32°, while in Iceland its height above the latter
line does not exceed a few hundred feet. A knowledge of these
facts enables us to estimate approximately the vertical distance
between these lines in any proposed hypothetical case. To esti-
mate the absolute height of the snow-line above the sea-level, we
have only then to calculate the height of the line of 32° at the
place proposed. For this purpose we must estimate the mean
annual temperature there by means of the isothermal line passing
through the place, and then calculate the vertical height to which
we must ascend to reach the point at which the mean annual
temperature is equal to 32°; and to effect this we must know the
height which corresponds to a decrease of temperature of 1°.
Humboldt and others have shewn that this height may be taken
as varying from about 320 to 350 feet in ascending steep moun-
tains, or vertically in a balloon; but Humboldt has also shewn,
from his own observations, that, in an ascent presenting a suc-
cession of high and extensive table-lands, the increase of height
for each degreé may amount to 450 or 500 feet. This is an im-
portant distinction.

In this manner, then, the height of the snow-line above the
sea level can be estimated at any proposed place, with any hypo-
thetical distribution of land and sea. If a mountain rise a few
hundred feet at least above the snow-line, and the configuration

24 On the Causes of Change in the

of its summit to be favourable, glaciers will be formed upon it, of
which the magnitude will depend on circumstances. If large, we
might expect them to descend 4000 or 5000 feet below the snow-
line, and to a distance proportionally less when the glaciers should
be small.

As an example, we may take Snowdon, in the case in which the
Gulf Stream is supposed to be absent from the shores of western
Europe, and a large portion of that continent submerged beneath the
ocean. I have shewn that the temperature of Snowdon would pro-
bably not exceed 39° or 40° F. Assumeit 39°. Taking a decrease
of temperature of 1° in ascending 320 feet, the height of the line
of 32° would be 2240 feet. The climate would be entirely an in-
sular one, and therefore the height of the snow-line would probably
not exceed that of the line of 32° by more than 200 or 300 feet. If
we suppose this additional height to be 260 feet, the absolute height
of the snow-line would be 2500 feet, or 1000 feet less than that of
the present summit of the mountain. If we assume the mountain
to subside 400 or 500 feet with the surrounding region, it would
still rise 500 or 600 feet above the snow-line, a height sufficient to
admit of the formation of glaciers, which might descend to the level
of the sea. If, in addition to the hypothesis of the absence of the
Gulf Stream, we adopt also that of a cold current from the north, the
mean annual temperature might be reduced 3° or 4° F. lower than
above supposed, which would reduce the height of the snow-line to
1200 or 1500 feet. This would admit of the formation of glaciers,
not only on Snowdon, but also on the lower mountains of Ireland.
And I may here remark, that if we can thus account satisfactorily for
climatal conditions consistent with the existence of glaciers in the
south-west of Ireland, the subject presents no difficulty with refer-
ence to any other part of western Europe, in which we observe the
traces of glacial action.

For the application of the same method of investigation to the
other hypothetical cases of the distribution of land and sea, I must
refer to the memoir of which I am speaking. I have selected the
above case, not only because it seemed best calculated toelucidate the
subject, but also because I consider it that which has far the highest
claim to our acceptance as the real one of the glacial epoch. It
involves, as we have seen, the absence of the Gulf Stream as an
essential condition, the explanation which it affords of the existence
of ancient glaciers being rendered more complete by the supposition
of a cold current from the north. On these points it remains for me
to say a few words. .

I need scarcely remind you that the evidence of the submergence
of a very large portion of the North American continent during the
Drift period is similar to that for the submergence of Europe. <A
subsidence of less than 2000 feet would render the ocean continuous
from the Apalachian chain, on the east, to the Rocky Mountains on

Earth's Superficial Temperature. 25

the west ; and there seems reason to believe that the subsidence may
possibly have attained to a considerably greater amount. Now itis
manifest that the Gulf Stream is reflected in a north-easterly direc-
tion across the Atlantic, by the continent of North America, which
arrests the north-westerly course by which the current reaches the
Gulf of Mexico. But when that continent was submerged, as above
supposed, the current would necessarily continue its north-westerly
course, and probably along the foot of the Rocky Mountains directly
into the Arctic Sea. This is the manner in which I conceive the
Gulf Stream to have been diverted from the shores of western
Europe. ‘This diversion of the current is not to be regarded as a
mere hypothesis adopted to account for any particular fact, but as
a necessary consequence of that submergence of the North American
continent.

Again, if this enormous current discharged itself into the Arctic
Sea, it would seem extremely improbable that it should not give
rise to some great determinate counter-current out of that sea. Now
it appears highly probable that a considerable tract of land must
have existed at the period of which we are speaking in the present
region of north-eastern America and Greenland. If this were the
case, the only practicable outlet for a great current from the Arctic
Sea would be across the submerged portion of northern Europe, or
along the present North Sea, between Greenland and Norway; for
the passage through Behring’s Straits, even with a considerable
subsidence of the land on either side, would be neither sufficiently.
wide nor deep to form a considerable outlet. Under such circum-
stances, it would scarcely seem more necessary that the Gulf Stream
should hold its original north-westerly course over the submerged
continent of America, than that it should complete its eircuit by
passing through the Arctic Sea, and returning to the Atlantic
across the submerged land of Europe, as it now completes a more
circumscribed cireuit by being constrained to pass along the northern
portion of the Atlantic itself.

The effect of this diversion of the Gulf Stream from its present
course, would not be less remarkable in elevating the temperature
of the northern shores of America and Asia, than in reducing that
of western Europe. I have shown that the mean annual tempe-
rature of Iceland is increased 18° or 20° F., and the January tem-
perature 34°, by the influence of this important current. Now
the distance from the Gulf of Mexico to Behring’s Straits is very
little greater than the distance between that gulf and Iceland, and
_ the passage of the stream along the flanks of the Rocky Moun-
tains would be more direct, and probably less impeded by counter-
currents than it is at present in its transatlantic course. There
can be no reasonable doubt, therefore, of its raising the temperature
of the north-western coast’of America, from the Mackenzie River
to Behring’s Straits, by an amount at least equal to that by which

26 Change in the Harth’s Superficial Temperature.

it now elevates the temperature of Iceland. Further, it is highly
probable that the principal course of the current in the Arctic Sea
would not be far from the coasts of northern Asia, the temperature
of which would thus be affected in a manner similar to that of the
coast of America eastward of Behring’s Straits, although in a
smaller degree for greater distances on the west of the Straits. The
temperature of winter immediately east of the Ural Mountains
would also be considerably moderated, as already stated, by the
extension of the European sea towards their western flanks. The
climate of the low lands of northern Asia would thus differ from
the present climate of that region, as much as the existing climate
of the western coast of Norway differs from that which would de-
solate that region in the absence of the Gulf Stream.

According to this view of the subject, the former existence in
northern Asia of the immense numbers of large mammalia indi-
cated by the abundance of their fossil remains no longer presents
the slightest difficulty; and the theory receives a still further
confirmation from an observation made by Sir John Richardson
in his “Arctic Searching Expedition,” * just published. The
author observes—‘‘ The existence of these numerous testimonials
of an ancient fauna is suggestive of many curious speculations,
and geologists seem hitherto to have failed in explaining the cir-
cumstances under which accumulations so vast could occur in
such high latitudes. The difficulty is increased when we consider
that these bones have not been detected to the east of the Rocky
Mountains in high latitudes.’’ This increased difficulty, however,
is at once removed by the theory now proposed; for the region in
which these remains are not found must either have been covered
with the waters of the ocean to the foot of the Rocky Mountains
at the period when these mammalia occupied the region to the
westward, or, if land existed on the north-east of the present
American continent, it was probably too cold to be inhabited by
them. Their disappearance from the country bounding the Arctic
Sea, from the Rocky Mountains to the Ural, would be the conse-
quence of the withdrawal of the Gulf Stream from the more
eastern, and of the European ocean from the more westerly portion
of that region. Fossil plants, also, belonging to a comparatively
warm climate, have been found east of the Rocky Mountains, on
the coast of the North Sea; and extensive beds of lignite exist
along the eastern flank of those mountains. So far as these
phenomena may be of pleistocene origin, they may be at once
accounted for by this theory. Its more complete verification
must, however, be left to future observation. It will not fail, I
hope, to attract the attention of American geologists.

* Vol. ii., p. 210.

.
ee

Progression of Animate Beings. 27

Ill. Doctrine of Progression with respect to Animate Beings.

The discovery in a single year of so much incontrovertible evi-
dence of the extension of reptilian remains into some of the lowest
fossiliferous strata is very remarkable, and calculated to add
greatly to the interest of the discussion of the theory of the pro-
gression of organic forms during successive geological epochs,
which has lately occupied the minds of geologists.*

It will be recollected that the advocates of the doctrine of pro-
gression, as well as the distinguished geologist who has been their
principal opponent, distinctly repudiate the idea of the progression
here spoken of involving any notion of the transmutation of
species, a theory to which, as you well know, they have been most
strongly opposed. They merely assert their belief that there has
been upon the whole “a gradual ascent towards a higher type of
being,” + from the earliest to the latest geological periods. They
would also contend for a certain progression in the physical state
of our planet, ‘‘a gradual improvement in the style and character
of the dwelling-place of organised beings.’’{ These are the pro-
positions which your late distinguished President combated in the
two addresses which he delivered from this chair.

It would be absurd to contend that either the first of these
propositions or its negative have been yet established by demon-
strative evidence. The advocate of progression can only reason
on the confessedly imperfect evidence which we at present possess
respecting the extent and variety of organic beings which existed
at the earliest geological period to which we can refer the organic
remains with which we are acquainted ; and so far as his opponent
proves to us more clearly the incompleteness of this evidence, and
thus inspires us with due caution in forming our opinions, he
renders service to the sound progress of speculative views on the
subject. But if he goes further than this, and asserts the truth
of the opposite proposition, he places himself in a position at least
as untenable as that which he combats. If land existed when
the earth first became the abode of animate beings, it would seem
probable that animals adapted for such a dwelling-place should
have been then created, and possibly in much greater numbers
than the organic remains of the earlier geological periods might
at present seem to indicate; nor need we be surprised at any

* The discovery of reptilian remains, alluded to by Mr Hopkins, refers to the
impression of a reptile in the so-called Devonian sandstone of Elgin, and of
reptilian footprints in the Potsdam sandstone of North America. We may
remark, in regard to these statements, that the formation at Elgin has not been
proved to be Devonian, and that the footprints in the Potsdam sandstone Pro-
fessor Owen now considers as crustacean, not reptilian.—Hditor.

t Prof. Sedgwick—“ Discourse on the studies of Cambridge,” Preface, p. cliv.

tT Mr Hugh Miller —“ Footprints of the Creator.”

28 Doctrine of Progression

future discoveries tending to support this view. Every fresh dis-
covery like those above-mentioned brings us a step nearer to that
ultimate limit to which our evidence can finally hereafter attain ;
but even if we make many more such additional steps, we must
still be cautious how we adopt the opinion that that limit will
indicate an absolute equality between the organisation of the
earliest created beings and those which now exist—exclusive, I
mean, of man, whose recent introduction on the earth is admitted
equally by the contending parties. It is not here my purpose to
advocate the one view or the other in mere special reference to
organised beings, or to analyse the evidence which has been ad-
duced with so much ability both in favour of the doctrine of pro-
gression and in opposition to it; but to insist on that philosophic
caution and reserve which may leave us unshackled in our future
speculations, and free to modify our opinions so far as future evi-
dence may call upon us to do so.

IV. Doctrine of Progression with respect to Inanimate Matter.

So long as we restrict our speculations on the question of pro-
gression to organic life, we are in no danger of adopting conclusions
inconsistent with what we know of the operation of natural causes,
because we are ignorant of those laws by which the succession of
organic life has been regulated since its introduction on the earth.
Progression in organic structure, or the entire absence of it, may,
for aught we know, be perfectly consistent with those laws. But
the operations of nature have revealed much more to us respecting
the laws which have been appointed for the government of the
inorganic world, and it becomes us to examine how far these laws
may “be consistent with the doctrine of non-progression in its ap-
plication to the inorganic matter of our planet, or how far they
indicate a necessary tendency, in the language above-quoted, to
“a gradual improvement in the style and character of the dwelling-
place of organised beings.”’

And here I would remark, that the doctrine of non-progression,
in the sense in which I use the term, is independent of that theory
which would attribute all geological phenomena to causes acting
with no greater intensity than those of which we now witness the
operation around us. By progression, as applied to the inorganic
matter composing our planet, I understand a change, continuous
or *discontinuous, by which that matter has passed, in the long
process of time, from a primitive to its- present condition, and
may still pass to some ultimate and different state, a change by
which, regarded in more especial reference to the question be-
fore us, the surface of the earth has been rendered more fit for
the habitation of the higher orders of organised beings. This
permanent change of state may have been effected or accompanied

with respect to Inanimate Matter. 29

by either paroxysmal or gradual and uniform action of the forces
which have modified the earth’s surface. By non-progression I
understand, not the absence of periodically recurring changes, but
of that permanent change above mentioned, The periodical changes
in this case, equally ith the permanent changes of the former
case, may have been produced or accompanied by either paroxys-
mal or uniform action. The theory of non-progression 1s essen-
tially different from the theory of uniformity; and thus while we
might allow the justice of the appeal to the Alps, made by my
‘distinguished predecessor in this chair, in proof of non-progression
as indicated by an apparent equality of intensity in the more recent
and the more remote geological action, we might reject the appeal
if made to prove that the forces which elevated the Alps were of
no greater intensity than bie which have been in action during
the historic period.

It is not then, I conceive, to the phenomena of elevation, or of
denudation and deposition, as indicating more or less of paroxys-
mal or tranquil action, that we must look for any demonstrative
evidence to decide the question before us. But there is one most
important agent which has doubtless been most active, not only in
producing the phenomena of elevation, but also in modifying the
characters of the inorganic matter composing the crust of the globe,
and it is extremely difficult to conceive how the activity of that
agent can have consisted with non-progression. The agent I speak
of is heat. I assume the truth of the simple proposition, that f
a mass of matter, such, for mstance, as the earth with its waters
and its atmosphere, be placed in space of which the temperature is
lower than its own, it will necessarily lose a portion of its heat by
radiation, until its temperature ultimately approximates to that of
the circumambient space, unless this reduction of temperature be
prevented by the continued generation of heat. If there be any
propositions in experimental science which may be deemed incon-
trovertible, this, I conceive, is one of them. Now we know that
the interior temperature of the earth is higher than that of its
surface; and, in order that this state of terrestrial temperature
may be consistent with non-progression, it must either be a per-
manent one, or must belong to a series of changes recurring perio-
dically, but producing no permanent change or progression from
a higher primitive to a lower ultimate temperature. If the present
temperature be permanent, it must be maintained by some cause
constantly acting within the earth, and generating a quantity of
heat exactly equal to that which is lost by radiation into surround-
ing space. No external cause, such as solar or stellar radiation,
could produce an absolutely constant, stationary temperature,
which should increase in descending beneath the earth’s surface.
Chemical action might produce this effect, possibly, for a finite
time, but philosophers, I imagine, would no more believe that or

30 Doctrine of Progression

any other internal cause capable of producing such an effect for
an infinite time, than they would believe in perpetual motion, in
the ordinary sense of the expression. I cannot conceive, there-
fore, the present state of terrestrial temperature to be a permanent
state. Can it belong to a perpetually recurring series of changes ?
I would reply, that no internal cause could account for any such
mfinite recurrence, more than for unlimited permanence of tem-
perature. Such infinite recurrence could only be attributed to the
external causes—solar and stellar radiation. If to the former, the
quantity of heat radiating from the sun must be subject to enormous
periodical changes, but still without permanent diminution; if to the
latter, it might be attributed either to similar periodical changes
in the radiation of the stars, or more probably to a change in the
position of the solar system with reference to them, as I have ex-
plained in my paper on Terrestrial Temperature. But we shall
probably all agree in regarding such hypotheses as extremely un-
satisfactory, and utterly unfit to be made the foundation on which
a great speculative theory may rest. But however unsatisfactory
they may be, I repeat that we have no other alternative but that
of adopting one of them, consistent with the most fundamental
properties of heat, if we maintain the theory of non-progression in
the strict sense in which I have used the term. And, having
placed the theory in this point of view, I might leave it there with-
out venturing into those speculations which assume the properties
of the matter constituting the stellar universe to be the same as
those which characterise the matter of our planet. Views founded
on such assumptions ought to be advanced with diffidence, and
held with cautious reserve; but if, with such reservation, we as-
sume the sun and the stars to have the same properties as our own
planet, with respect to the generation and emission of heat, we
must conclude that those bodies must be subject to permanent
changes of temperature, as well as the earth itself, from the effect
of radiation. In such case even solar and stellar radiation must
necessarily fail to preserve the earth from that permanent change of
temperature which would constitute essentially a state of progres-
sion. In fact, adopting the assumption just stated respecting the
nature of the sun and stars, and reasoning from all we know of the
properties of matter and of heat, I am unable in any manner to
recognise the seal and impress of eternity stamped on the physical
universe, regarded as subjected to those laws alone by which we
conceive it at present to be governed.

The rejection of the doctrine of progression, both with respect
to animate beings and inanimate matter, would seem to lead almost
necessarily to the opinion, that the sequence of periodical changes,
similar to those which have happened within the period of which
we can trace the geological history, has been of infinite duration.
It would appear to involve the rejection of the notion of a begin-

ae ny

EE

with respect to Inanimate Maiter. ol

ning of the actual physical condition of our planet. If not, the
earth must have been created at once, at some finite distance of
time, as fit a dwelling-place for organic beings, as it has been
rendered, according to the theory of progression, only by a long
series of superficial operations. In other words, phenomena must
have existed as the immediate act of creation, and anterior to the
operation of physical causes, which it is the very essence of geology
to account for by reference to those causes. This would be to sap
the foundations on which alone geology can rest as a physical
science.

I would again, gentlemen, carefully remind you that I have been
discussing these theories with reference to my own definitions of
the terms which designate them, and which others may not have
accepted in the same rigorous sense. Still I believe that, if they
are to bear a determinate meaning, they must ultimately be re-
ceived in the sense which I have assigned to them. In that sense,
leaving the question entirely open respecting the organic creation
to be decided by future research, I feel it impossible to adopt any
other view than that of progressive development of inorganic matter
from some primitive to its present state. I have already remarked
that we do not know sufficient of the laws which may regulate the
succession of organic life on our planet, to assert that the one of
these theories or the other is most consistent with these laws ; but,
with respect to inorganic matter, the theories of uniformity and of
non-progression appear to me incompatible with our most certain
knowledge of the properties of heat—that ever-active agent in the
work of terrestrial transformation.

It is far from my purpose to enter into a discussion of the evi-
dence which might be deduced from recognised geological pheno-
mena in favour of the theory of progression, but merely to insist
on that which depends on the most immediate and simple inferences
from the properties of heat. And here it should be remarked,
that this argument cannot be refuted by any reasoning which may
appear to establish an approwimate general uniformity or non-pro-
gression in the character of geological phenomena since the earliest
geological epochs, because the progressive refrigeration of the earth
from some high temperature to its present temperature is perfectly
consistent with such approximate uniformity or non-progression
for enormous periods of time. Climatal conditions, for instance,
may, consistently with the earth’s continual refrigeration, have re-
mained sensibly unaffected by the internal heat, as I have else-
where explained, for millions of centuries ; and the very theory
which tells us that these conditions can never be sensibly altered
in all future time (external circumstances remaining the same)
essentially involves the hypothesis of progressive change towards
an ultimate limit.

32 Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal.

Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal, §c. By Dr Buist of Bombay.

(Continued from vol. lii. p. 352.)

The volcanic forms the terminal point of Southern Arabia,
where the shore, after having inclined gently from Ras-el-
Hudd, 21° north lat., at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, to
12°, stretches almost due west, till it turns up the Red Sea.
At no great distance of time it has obviously been an island,
and is now connected with the mainland by a low sandy spit
four miles long. and half a mile across, only a few feet above
high-water mark: the whole shore, indeed, consists of sandy
downs or swamps, only a little above the level of the sea,
and wearing the aspect of recent emergence. The peninsula
itself is an irregular oval, five miles in its greater, and three
in its lesser diameter. There are numerous little headlands
with sandy bays between, all around it. There is at the head
of each little bay, and on several points of the shore besides
a level expanse of rolled gravel and sea-shells, evidently an
old sea margin, brought to light by the same upheaval that
converted the island into a peninsula, and raised the isthmus
above the level of the sea. The rocks themselves are all
lavas of various descriptions, more or less vesicular, and the
volcano affords a vast diversity of igneous minerals. There
seem to have been from time to time a number of craters in
the mountain, one of very considerable magnitude beyond
the coal depot betwixt Ras Moorbut and Ras Tar Shagan,
having been blown outwards, and now remains as a valley
ascending from the sea. The edge of the principal crater is
near the centre of the peninsula. The crater itself occupies
the eastern half. It is exceedingly well-defined indeed, and
at once indicates its origin to the spectator. It is about one-
and-a-half mile in diameter, and is nearly circular, affording
a circuit of five miles. Of this, half-a-mile has been blown
out right down to the level of the sea. The bottom of the
crater, on which stands the town of Aden and the British
cantonments, is covered with a bed of rolled gravel and sea-
shells, proving that there has been no trace of eruption since
the last general upheaval, which produced the sea-beach all
along these shores, but which is still believed to have been

Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengat. 33

within the human, perhaps even the historic, period.* The
Shum Shum range, which forms about half the wall of the
erater, reaches an altitude of about 1760 feet. There isa
huge crack or slip which cuts above a third off the eastern
side of the volcano, and through a portion of this, constitut-
ing a narrow gorge or pass ten feet wide, and twenty or thirty
high, the road from Steamer Point enters the crater and
leads to the cantonments. Dr J. P. Malcolmson supposes
this to have been the remains of the latest great eruption, of
which the effects are chiefly manifest on the table-land on the
eastern buttress of Shum Shum. By this the ancient crater
was shattered nearly through its centre from the northern
to the seuthern pass, breaking into pieces, and separating
the whole of the eastern side, of the edge of which Sheera
Island is a fragment; and in these views I concur. (Lond.
As. Trans., 1846). On the one side of this which remains,
the wall of the crater subsides from 1700 to 600 feet, and
then breaks away altogether. The reft probably occurred
when the side of the crater was blown out and demolished.
The walls of the crater, as now existing, when-seen from the
cantonments, present the most magnificent view that can be
imagined ; one semicircular precipice, five miles in circuit,
ascends some 1776 feet from the plain. It is, in most cases,
perpendicular. The cliff is of a rusty dark-brown colour, and
full of caverns and recesses, like the altar-sereen of a Gothic
eathedral. Great streams of lava may be observed from
point to point; as if the fiery cataract had been arrested in
its progress and congealed as it flowed from the lesser rents
of the principal crater. On many parts of the rock, 500 feet
above the level of the sea,—to the level of Shum Shum so far
as I know, but the altitude just named is all to which I have
examined it,—great masses of volcanie ashes are strewed
amongst the crevices of the rocks, these generally abounding,
as does the surface all around, with sea-shells in a state of
great decay, to all appearance borne up by the volcano on
its last emergence from the sea.

* See Report of the Society of Civil Engineers, May 20,1851. Also Miss
Fanny Corbeaux’s Letters; Atheneum, June 28, 1851.

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.— JULY 1852. Cc

3 Volcanoes in the Bay of Rengal.

The minerals found at Aden are very numerous. We have
almost every variety of lava, compact, earthy, vesicular,
amygdaloidal, and porphyritic ; obsidian in all its forms,
from dull coarse green and blush green to beautiful jet
black. Pumice is found, but it is not plentiful. It is mostly
of a dark reddish-brown colour, and is heavier and more
coarse in its texture than the mineral of commerce, and less
suited for the finer purposes of the polisher. Sulphur is
sometimes found, but rarely. Rock crystals in veins next,
and crusts are very plentiful everywhere. On many parts of
the voleano chalcedony in various forms abounds; in some
cases it appears in thin crusts, in button-shaped encrusta-
tions, or in drops or studs, occasionally covered over with
delicate rock crystals. They are of a beautiful bluish-white,
and take a prominent place in any cabinet. On these are
occasionally found small erystals of purple fluor-spar, from
the size of a mustard seed to that of a small pea. Carbonate
of lime appears as calcareous spar, frequently filling veins and
cavities of a slightly-crystallized veined variety of marble,
of various tints of brown, exactly like the Gozo marble seen
at Malta, and the portions of the rock of Gibraltar from
which ornaments are mostly cut. Sulphate of lime is found
in veins in the form of beautiful fibrous gypsum, semi-trans-
parent, and colourless. It also occurs in plates. Specimens
of all the minerals here described I have in abundance in
my own cabinet. They have been mostly collected for me
by Dr Malcolmson, Mr Moyes, and Mr Adie; the duration
of my own visits to Aden precluding me from procuring the
rare minerals.

Right across the bay to the westward, at a distance of
five miles, are the magnificent remains of another crater,
called Gibbel Hasson. It is nearly of the same size and form
as Aden, but rests on the mainland. The centre peak at-
tains an altitude of 1237 feet, and on sailing round it from
Aden, it, in certain aspects, presents the appearance of a
stupendous Gothic cathedral. Two peaks of 700 feet, close
beside each other, have obtained the very unpicturesque
name of “ The Asses’ Ears,’ from the appearance presented
by them far out at sea; while 7 miles beyond this, and 17

Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal. 35

from Aden, another fragment of a cone of smaller size, but
considerable beauty, rises up to the altitude of 700 feet, and
projects about 3 miles into the sea; while half-way betwixt
this and the strait, Gibbel Kurruz, or St Anthony, apparently
a voleano, reaches an elevation of 2772 feet; Barren Peak
and the high range of Gibbel Arrar, or the Chimney Peaks,
just opposite the strait, being all set down by the surveyors
as hills of volcanic origin.* The range bends northward,
and follows the line of the Red Sea shore.

From Aden to Bab-el-mandeb, indeed, the rocks along the
Arabian shore seem to be wholly volcanic for a distance of
above 100 miles. On the African shore a singular cove at
the upper end of the Bay of Tadjoura, called Joobul Khareb,
seems the crater of an old volcano. It is connected with
the bay by two narrow channels, the whole width across, from
coast to coast, being about three quarters of a mile, with a
small island near the middle. One of the channels is 40 yards
wide, with 16 fathoms water ; the other 350, with 3 fathoms.
The cove inside is about 13 miles in diameter, by six. The
western portion is volcanic. At its extremity is a basin, or
erater, 300 yards in diameter, surrounded by precipitous
voleanic cliffs; though the sea makes its way to the water
inside, the entrance is dry at low water. Lava and scorie
abound everywhere around.{ The waters of the cove are
said occasionally to be violently agitated and disturbed with-
out apparent cause, probably by the emission of gas from
below,{ the volcano being scarcely yet asleep. Off the outer
bay the hills are of limestone, and rise to the height of 2000
feet.

The rocks around the salt lake Assal, whose waters are
now nearly dried up and encrusted with salt, and are 590

* The whole of this information is taken from the Charts and Survey Notices
of 1836-40. Aden is the only volcano here I have myself examined, the others
I have merely seen from sea. They have all the appearance of being correctly
described, and, considering the ability of the surveyors, I have no doubt that
they are so.

+ Captain Burke’s paper. London Roy. Geog. Trans., 1848.

{ Harris’ Highlands of Ethiopia, vol. i., p. 17.

36 Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal.

feet beneath those of the sea, are all volcanic on the eastern
side. A bed of lava, containing several deep fissures, separate
the waters of the lake from those at Gubat-el-Kherab, of
which it appears to have been a continuation.* The lake is
11° 38 12” N., and 42° 306” E. It is about 7 miles across
in its larger diameter, and 570 feet below the level of the
sea. For about 300 miles westward into the interior the
whole country seems volcanic. To the south-westward of
this, near Shoa, is the voleano of Gibbel Abida, about 4000
feet high, its crater opening to the NW., and about 23 miles
in diameter, and further on the still higher peak of Aiullo.
Here there is an even plain about 30 miles in diameter,
studded with small cones, of which as many as twenty may
be counted at once, each exhibiting a distinct and well-formed
crater. The lava everywhere around is fresh and glossy, but
no tradition exists of any eruption having occurred within
the memory of man.

Returning to the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb, we find the
volcanic peaks of the High Brothers. On the far-extended
African shore, the island of Perim, which occupies a portion
of the straits near the Arabian side, with the Bab-el-mandeb
Peak on the mainland close by, are masses of lava. Along
the African shore, from lat. 11° to lat. 14°, and from long.
42° to long. 44°, the series of volcanoes is uninterrupted for
the space of 400 miles, running into the interior about 10°
N. towards Ankobar, long. 40° E.t How far the volcanic
district extends into the interior along the African shore,
within the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb, does not appear. A
range of hills above 14 miles from the sea, to which it is nearly
parallel, is set down on the chart as mostly volcanic. There
is a second chain of very high mountains parallel to this
again, about 50 miles further to the west, but its character
does not appear to have been ascertained. On the Arabian
shore, from lat. 13° to lat. 15° 40’, for a distance of nearly

* Dr Kirk’s Journey from Tadjoura to Ankobar, 1841. Royal Geographical
Trans, 1841, vol. x. The paragraph is given verbatim. Jbid., and more ex-
tended, Bombay Geographical Transactions, vol. iii., 1841-44.

1 Dr Kirk, ut sup.

Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal. 37

200 miles, a range of hills of volcanic origin is set down on
the map about 20 miles from the shore, with a second range
behind them, undescribed, like that on the African side. The
lower range is a continuation of the Aden volcanoes, thus
extending in a continuous line for above 300 miles along-
shore. There can be no reasonable doubt that the whole
basin of the Red Sea,—here about 100 miles across from the
Arabian to the African chain of peaks,—is volcanic, studded,
as the intermediate channel is, with cones, now in a state of
activity; so that the ascertained area of this region, from
Aden to near Ankobar, from this to Gibbel Teir, is 350 from
E. to W., and 450 from S. to N. Within the channel of the
Red Sea, the most conspicuous peaks are the Haruish Islands,
and Gibbel Toogur, betwixt lat. 18° 40’ and 14°; the Zey-
beyar Islands in lat. 15°; and Gibbel Teir in lat. 15° 30’. A
violent eruption of short continuance occurred in the Zeybeyar
Islands on the 6th of August 1846. Gibbel Teir has for
nearly a century been known to be in a state of constant ac-
tivity. It was visited by Bruce in 1774; it then gave out
smoke, and was said occasionally to emit flame and stones ;
the masses of lava he describes as having shells imbedded
in them, a circumstance that has not, so far as I have observed,
been noticed by any other traveller.* It was visited by
Captain Elman, when engaged in survey in 1838,+ and by Dr
Kirk in 1841. The island is circular, about 73 miles round,
resembling, on being approached, a hill of considerable eleva-
tion, rising from a plain, terminating in a bluff steep on the
eastern extremity. The summit of the hill is about 300 feet
above the sea-level,—there are no soundings close in-shore,
at 150 fathoms, so that the visible portion is merely the
summit of a hill, at present 1100 feet high, or 1900, if the
altitude of 900 assigned it by the chart be correct, the base
of which is hid by the waters.{ The whole surface is covered
with ashes, lava, and cinders; near the summit, there are
about fifteen small open craters, from several of which steam
and hot air are continually issuing, and occasionally smoke.

* See Travels, quoted in Geog. Society’s Report for 1850.
{ Ihave taken Dr Kirk’s description, shortly abridged.
{ Dr Kirk makes it 300, Bruce 500 ; in the Survey Chart it is set down at 900.

38 Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal.

Streams of indurated lava are seen to proceed from these
chiefly towards the east side of the island. It is said to have
been on fire about 1828 or 1830. One of the peaks in which
it terminates, exhibits the remains of two craters of about
25 feet in diameter,—both have fallen in. A single crater
of much more recent formation than the others, appears in
the northern peak of Gibbel Teir, seems the northernmost of
the voleanoes in the Red Sea, and probably limits the band.

We have no information whatever, so far as I know,
as to any volcanoes in the interior of Arabia, or to the
northward. In his description of the sulphur mines of
Cummer (Khamir) opposite Kishmi, in the Persian Gulf,
Lieutenant Jenkins* does not state whether the country is
voleanie or gypseous, or both; and Lieutenant Fullarton,
who. presented specimens of crystallized sulphurt to the
Bombay Asiatic Society in 1851, leaves us equally im the
dark. We know that gypsum abounds in it. An extinct vol-
eano, called Mount Nimrod, is described by M. Chaucourtois, +
as existing near the Salt Lake Vau, in Armenistan, on the
frontiers of Persia, between the 38th and 39th degrees of
latitude. On the banks of the Euphrates, near the city of
Hit, in the region of the Petroleum wells, Dr Winchester
found scoriz on the summit of a detached hill, about 80 feet
above the level of the plain; but no other volcanic appearance
was observed.§

Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics. By Profes-
sor GustAV Biscuor of Bonn.|| This Communcated by
the Author.

Our earth moves in a space which must be at least as
cold as the polar zones during the winter season. If at the

* Notice of the Sulphur Mines of Cummer, by Lieutenant Jenkins, Bombay
Geographical Transactions, vol. i., 1836. |

+ Report of the B. B. R. As. Society, September 1851.

~t Report of the Academy of Sciences, 17th November 1845. JIbid., Edii-
burgh New Philosophical Journal, April 1846, p. 377.

§ Bombay Geographical Trans., vol. ii., p. 30.

|| Translated, under the superintendence of Professor Bischof, from the
Allgemeine Monatschrift fiir Wissenschaft & Literatur, Feb, 1852, by Dr Paul.

Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics. 39

creation it had the same low temperature as cosmical space,
then it would have been gradually heated from the exterior
inwards, by the influence of the sun, and would now present
either an equal temperature throughout, or a decrease from
the surface towards the centre. But precisely the contrary
is observed ; for at every part of the earth where, either in
mining operations or by boring, any considerable depth has
been reached, an increase of temperature presents itself.
This is a fact which, since the time when Trebra, Saussure,
and d’Aubuisson first directed attention to it, has been fully
established by numerous observations. The earth, then,
had, at the time of its formation, a higher temperature than
cosmical space, and gradually lost a part of its heat to a
certain depth below the surface. But in its interior it still
preserves its original temperature, either not at all or ina
very slight degree lessened ; for in a body of such a magni-
tude as the earth, and consisting as it does of bad conductors
of heat, the process of cooling is one of extreme slowness.
Some years since I took great pains to shew,* that warm
Springs occur in very great numbers in all rock formations,
in all latitudes, at all heights above the level of the sea, as
well as beneath it, if we consider as warm springs all such
whose water is but one degree, or even less than that, above
the mean local temperature. It is necessary that the ‘signi-
ficance of the term ‘‘ warm springs” should be thus extended,
for the mean temperature of cold springs is a function of
the mean temperature of the air at the place of their occur-
rence. Every excess of heat, however minute, cannot there-
fore originate from this temperature, but must be owing to
some other cause. A phenomenon so general as the occur-
rence of thermal springs can only be the consequence of a
general cause. Since, now, the springs are warmer in pro-
portion as they rise from a greater depth, since the water
which fills and generally overflows the borings is warmer,
the deeper the boring is extended, it is clear that the cause
of this temperature exceeding the local temperature can

* See Physical, Chemical, and Geological Researches on the Internal Heat
of the Globe. London, 1841.

40 Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics.

only be sought in the increasing heat of the earth towards
the centre. The temperature of springs ranges from a few
degrees above 32° Fahr. to the boiling point ; consequently at
a certain distance below the surface there must be a tempe-
rature of 212° Fahr.

So long as the few springs, which have a very high tem-
perature, such as those of Carlsbad, Aix-la-Chapelle, Wies-
baden, &c., alone attracted the attention of physicists, it was
not difficult to consider them as consequences of local con-
ditions, as for example the burning beds of coal or iron
pyrites. But since it has been shewn that an excess of
temperature of only one degree demands explanation fully
as much as the boiling temperature of the Iceland springs,
it has become evident that it is only in rare cases that the
phenomenon of hot springs depends upon local causes.

Volcanoes are phenomena which indicate the existence of
a temperature in the interior of the earth very much higher
than that of the hottest springs. |

Davy’s important discovery of the metals of the alkalies
and alkaline earths led him to put forward a not very pro-
bable explanation of the high temperature which is possessed
by the lava streams and ignited stones thrown out during
an eruption. As these metals, even at ordinary tempera-
tures, decompose water with considerable evolution of heat,
it was possible, assuming the existence of these substances
in the metallic state at certain depths, and the penetration
of water, to conceive volcanic phenomena to be consequences
of this decomposition and the heat thus developed. But ad-
mitting such to be the case, the hydrogen liberated would
naturally issue from the craters in a strongly-heated state,
and, coming in contact with atmospheric oxygen, burn there,
giving rise to lofty flames, which would form a part of all
volcanic phenomena.

While several observers will not admit the existence of
such flames, still others have sometimes recognised them.
However, if the oxygen of the alkalies and alkaline earths
which constitute such a considerable part of lavas were de-
rived from the decomposition of water, the evolution of by-
drogen should be a very common phenomenon, and the quan-

Geology, as illustrated by Chemisiry and Physics. 41

tity enormous. Moreover, the flames which have actually
been observed appear to have been those of burning sulphu-
retted hydrogen, whose formation presupposes the existence
not of metal, but of metallic sulphurets.*

Besides this, the assumption of the presence of these
metals in the interior of the earth has very little probability.
They could not in any case be situated in the limestone
strata, which for example the crater of Vesuvius has broken
through, nor indeed in any strata which have been formed
by deposition from the sea, but must be supposed to exist in
the primitive rocks which lie beneath all the sedimentary
strata. Jt is not my intention here to speak of other diffi-
-eulties which this hypothesis encounters.| The celebrated
originator of it himself subsequently expressed a decided
opinion that the increase of temperature towards the interior
of the earth furnished a much more simple explanation of
volcanic phenomena.

Wherever chemical processes attended by a development
of heat takes place, the products of the action are found.
Thus, in combustion smoke and ashes present themselves.
If lava had been melted by such a process, then long before
its flowing from the crater smoke must have issued as from
our furnace chimneys. Where coal strata burn as at Duttwei-
ler, near Saarbriicken, either melting masses of rock or heat-
ing them to redness, smoke ascends from fissures or through
the planes of stratification. Nothing of this kind is seen to
issue from the craters of volcanoes before the lava is poured
out, for the vapours which ascend from them are of a totally
different nature. It cannot, therefore, be subterranean pro-
cesses of combustion which cause the melting of lava. Now,
since the only other conceivable chemical process—a com-
bustion of the metals of the alkalies and alkaline earths—is
in the highest degree improbable, then, according to the
present state of chemical science, there remains no other
such process by which volcanic phenomena can be produced.

* Naumann Lehrbuch, d. Geognosie, Bd. i., p. 123.
t See Physical, Chemical, and Geological Researches on the Internal Heat
of the Globe. London, 1841, p. 297, et seq.

42 = Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics.

We are then compelled to return to the assumption of the
pre-existence of melted matter in the interior of the earth,
for it is this assumption alone which is supported by fact—
the increase of temperature towards the earth’s centre—all
other hypotheses are destitute of such a basis.

The celebrated undertaking of the French Government in
sending out the expeditions of Bouguer, Condamine Jussieu,
d&e., to Peru (1735) of Maupertius, Clairaut, Camus, Lem-
monier, &e., to the polar regions of Lapland (1736), for the
purpose of measuring degrees of latitude, and the subsequent
measurements of degrees of longitude and pendulum obser-
vations, have demonstrated the flattening of the earth at the
poles. By this means, the earlier views of Newton and Huy-
gens, based upon the law of universal gravitation, and the
centrifugal force of the rotating earth, as well as upon the
assumption of a previous fluid state of the earth, were fully
confirmed. As a consequence of these investigations, the
question arose as to whether this former fluid condition of
the earth was one of igneous or aqueous liquidity, whether,
therefore, the earth at the time of its creation, was a melted
or pasty mass. The state of igneous liquidity presupposes
that a greater part of the water of the ocean, rivers, &c., if
not the entire mass of water, was diffused throughout the at-
mosphere in the form of vapour ; for, upon a melted surface,
it could only have retained its liquid form under a most enor-
mous pressure. This pressure can only be ascribed to the then
existing atmosphere, constituted chiefly of aqueous vapour,
and the gradual condensation of this vapour as far as the quan-
tity which still exists in the atmosphere to the gradual cooling
of the earth’s crust ; if, on the contrary, the earth was a pasty
mass, then the water which had penetrated the solid mate-
rials must have gradually ascended from the interior to the
surface ; for in rocks, and especially crystalline rocks, water
is either not found at all, or only in extremely small quanti-
ties, and as far as observation extends, this water has always
been derived from the surface. If, therefore, the different
rocks had originated from a pasty mass, the water must have
separated by evaporation, somewhat in the same manner as
it now separates from moist clay. The increase of tempera-

Geology, as wlustrated by Chemistry and Physics. 43

ture towards the centre of the earth, would facilitate the ex-
planation of drying of the earth’s crust by this means.

Although we cannot altogether contradict the assumption
that the earth was in a pasty condition at the time of its for-
mation, still, the existing state of its interior, so far as we are
acquainted with it, but little favours such a view. It is diffi-
cult to imagine the drying of the earth from the centre to the
surface. On the other hand, the opinion that the interior of
the earth is still in a pasty state, is opposed by the fact of
the high temperatures indicated by hot springs and volcanic
phenomena, as well as by the great density of the earth (5:44
or even 5°67), which leads us to infer that its interior must
consist of much denser substances than its exterior crust; for
any considerable quantity of water in the interior would
lessen the density.

if, therefore, the flattening of the earth at the poles is as-
sumed to be a consequence of its former liquid condition, then
it is especially the condition of igneous liquidity which is the
most in conformity with what we know of its interior.

But is it possible to entertain any rational doubt of the
former liquidity of our earth and the other planets? If, bya
calculation based upon an hypothesis, results are obtained
which approximate closely with those obtained empirically,
then this hypothesis acquires greater probability in proportion
as these results correspond more accurately. Setting out
from the assumption that the earth was formerly liquid,
Newton obtained for the ellipticity of the earth a value which
was somewhat greater than that which the subsequent mea-
surement of degrees afforded. Huygens obtained a much
smaller number. But these deviations cannot appear strange,
since the theory presupposed many conditions which in reality
could not have existed. The calculation acquired greater
certainty through the theoretical investigations of Maclaurin,
Clairaut, Legendre, and Laplace. The latter found the
ellipticity 45. Finally, Ivory subjected the problem to a
thorough investigation, as much as possible free from limit-
ing assumptions, and estimated the flattening of the originally
liquid terrestrial spheroid at 335, a result which corresponds
as exactly with that obtained by Bessel from the ten most

44. Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics.

trustworthy measurements of degrees, 3}5, aS can possibly
be expected from the difficulty of the calculation. The hypo-
thesis of the former liquid state of the earth acquired by this
means the highest degree of probability.

Liquid substances, in consequence of the extreme mobility
of their particles, obey with the greatest readiness the action
of forces which tend to alter their external configuration.
Among these forces, gravity is that which, in comparison
with all others, is so preponderating as almost entirely to
obscure their action. It is only by observing very small liquid
masses, in which the relative action of gravity is much en-
feebled, that the influence of other forces upon the configura-
tion of these masses can be recognised. Thus small drops
of water and melted metals aggregate into spheres upon solid
surfaces when the mutual attraction of their particles is
greater than that between them and the surfaces upon which
they rest. If it be desired to study larger masses of liquid
bodies in their proper freely-assumed figure, we must con-
sider the earth and the other planets in the forms which
they have acquired through the united action of attractive
and centrifugal forces while in their original liquid state.
Theory points out that these masses must have assumed the
forms of more or less oblate spheroids, and observation
teaches us that such is really the case.

Plateau, professor of natural history in Ghent,* conceived
the ingenious idea of placing large masses of fluids in cir-
cumstances which would neutralise the action of gravity
without their ceasing to be subject to the other forces which
tend to alter their exterior form. He effected this in a very
simple manner, by introducing a fatty oil, such as olive-oil,
into a mixture of water and alcohol, having the same specific
gravity as the oil. The influence of gravity on this oil was
entirely neutralised, for, as both liquids had equal densities,
the oil only occupied the place of an equal mass of the sur-
rounding liquid, Since fatty oils do not mix with a mixture
of alcohol and water, the former remained floating in the
surrounding liquid, and had perfect freedom to assume what-

* Poggendorf’s Annalen, Erganzungs, band ii., p. 249, e¢ seq.

Geology, as tilustrated by Chemistry and Physics. 45

ever exterior configuration the forces acting upon it might
tend to produce. This was confirmed by experiment; for the
mass of oil, however large it might be, always assumed a
perfect spherical figure while floating in the alcoholic liquid,
and, as it were, imitated one of the planetary bodies suspended
in cosmical space. By means of a simple centrifugal machine,
Plateau succeeded in causing such a sphere of oil to rotate,
and found that it became flattened at the poles, and spread
out at the equator. When a considerable velocity was given
to the sphere, it rapidly assumed the maximum of flattening,
. then it became hollow round the axis both above and below,
and continued to extend more and more in a horizontal direc-
tion. Finally, it changed into a perfectly regular ring, and
resembled that of Saturn. By modifying the experiment, he
even succeeded in making a sphere of oil remain in the in-
terior of the ring. Still Plateau recognised nothing more in
this experiment than a scientific curiosity; for the circum-
stances which determined the result had evidently no simi-
larity with those which have contributed to the formation
of Saturn’s rings.

Thus both theory and experiment lead to the inference
that the earth and other planets have been formed from
liquid masses. If there were a common solvent for all the
substances existing upon the earth, it might be conceived
that they had existed in such a solution at the creation. But
such an assumption would be in contradiction to chemical
laws. And as the assumption of an aqueous pasty condition
is likewise an hypothesis which has but little foundaticn,
there remains only the condition of igneous liquidity which
is probable.

In favour of this, there are also analogies in the meteoric
stones. If these, as Chladni conjectures, are older forma-
tions, which have long existed in some form or other in cos-
mical space, or if they have originated from pre-existing
materials. only a short time previously to their falling, the
view that they are of cosmical origin is the most probable of
all those which have been contrived for their explanation.
According to all observations, they reach our earth in a more
or less heated state—sometimes even red-hot. Many pre-

46 Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics.

sent impressions from which it may be inferred that they
have been in a soft state. This view is also supported by
the fact that some fire-balls appeared spherical only at first,
and afterwards assumed a lengthened form.

[ believe that I have sufficiently proved * that the heating
of meteorites cannot, as Chladni assumed, be caused by the
air, compressed in consequence of the immense velocity with
which they move in space. Their heat cannot, therefore, be
derived from without, but must stand in some kind of casual
connection with their formation. The high temperature
which, from the occurrence of hot springs, voleanic pheno-
mena, and the polar flattenings, we infer our earth to have
possessed at the creation, and still to retain in its interior,
we now observe in the meteorites, which are probably frag-
ments of exploded cosmical bodies.t A liquid state of cos-
mical bodies, caused by high temperatures, has then analo-
gies in the meteorites, which, moreover, correspond in their
composition with the formations upon our earth.

The lava which was thrown out during historical periods,
and even before our eyes flows from volcanic craters, is very
similar to that which, in prehistorical ages, flowed from ex-
tinct or still active voleanoes. The lava from old streams
of Vesuvius, AXtna, and other volcanoes, the scorie, rapilli,
and the volcanic ashes of these still active volcanoes, are not
to be distinguished from the products of the extinct volcanoes
in the Eifel and the neighbourhood of the lake of Laach.
Upon Mosenberg, near Manderscheid, upon Falkenley, near
Bertrich, &c., the transition of scoriz into lava, and into
actual basalt, can be traced. Nothing was therefore easier
than to regard that basalt also which is found in other places,
and far from either active or extinct volcanoes, as a lava-like
production. The old lavas of Iceland, and the island Ischia
near Naples, so perfectly resemble the trachytes which rise
above the surface in steep cones, as in the Siebengebirge,
near Bonn, that there was in this case also no reason to
doubt a similarity of origin.

* Populare Briefe an sine gebildete Dame tiber die gesamten Gebiete der
Naturwissenschaften. Jrtes Bandchen, 1848, p. 96, et seq.
{ Ibid, p. 102, et seq., and p. 126, et seq.

+

eS ee —s

Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics. 47

However, notwithstanding the perfect mineralogical and
chemical similarity, phenomena sometimes present them-
selves in basalt, which warn us not unconditionally to infer
from this resemblance an entirely similar formation. Berger
and Maculloch describe basaltic dikes of a few inches, and
even less, in thickness, occurring upon the islands of Anglesey
and Barra, and intersecting the rock in all directions.

Let us imagine a mass of matter in igneous fusion, which,
after solidifying, yields a basaltic rock ascending in a fissure
by volcanic agency, it must not be forgotten that this solidi-
fication would take place the sooner the narrower the fissure
was. The flowing or ascent of masses in igneous fusion
would therefore cease the sooner, the narrower the fissure ;
for the narrower it is the greater is the cooling action of the
eold surfaces of the adjoining rocks. The width of a fissure,
and the temperature of the ascending melted mass, therefore,
determine the possibility of a penetration. If the fissure be
too narrow, and the temperature of the mass too low, the
penetration is no longer possible.* But there is yet another
circumstance to be taken into consideration. The more
rapid the solidification, the less is it possible for a melted
mass to assume a crystalline form. If it takes place too
rapidly, and this would be the case in proportion to the nar-
rowness of the fissure, then only scoriaceous masses are
formed. Therefore, even if the penetration can be conceived
possible, still, if the circumstances are of such a nature that
a slow solidification cannot take place, and the mass filling
the fissures also appears as a true basalt, then it is necessary
to be very cautious in assuming the crystalline basalt to have
been formed by igneous agency. It must be left to the Eng-
lish geologists to ascertain, by an accurate revision of the
narrow fissures and veins filled with basalt; how far the geo-
logical relations existing there can be reconciled with the
_ laws of the crystalline solidification of melted masses.

Before attempting to include the basalt of all localities
among the products of melted masses, endeavour should
have been made to remove these and other difficulties. But

* Lehrb. der Chemischen u. Physik. Geologie, vol. ii., p. 740, et seq.

48 Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics.

these were lightly passed over. An unrestrained speculation,
wandering far beyond the limits of strict scientific investiga-
tion, went still further. What was supposed to have been
proved basalt of one species of a large class of crystalline
rocks was extended to all crystalline rocks.

In the case of basalt, the analogy which it has with lava,
and the transition of the one into the other, still remains a

leading fact. But this analogy is wanting in other crystalline ~

rocks; for nowhere has a transition of lava, whether it comes
from extinct or still active volcanoes, into granite been met
with.

Before taking such a bold venture as to declare granite,
syenite, and similar crystalline rocks, to be products of a
very gradual solidification of melted masses, the question
should have been asked, whether the order of successive
formation of the several mineralogical members of these
rocks represents their solidification.* If crystals of different
kinds, and different fusibility, were formed from a melted
mass, it is evident that the least fusible would be formed
first, and the most fusible last. Therefore quartz, the least
fusible member of granite, would have crystallised first ;
feldspar and mica, being more fusible, would have crystallised
last. The latter two would naturally have occupied the
space left by the quartz. But, with the exception of the
graphic granite, in which quartz and feldspar appear as
simultaneous formations, precisely the contrary is found to
be the case; the quartz occupies the space left by the crystals
of feldspar. Consequently the more fusible feldspar solidified
before the less fusible quartz. Fournet endeavours to re-
move this contradiction, by the assumption of a so-called
condition of superfusion, according to which the less fusible
quartz 1s supposed to remain soft at temperatures far below
its melting point. But nothing is gained by this, more than
the support of one hypothesis by another. The one falls
with the other.

But it is not for this reason alone that the hypothesis of
the igneous origin of granite falls to the ground. Other and
no less important evidence is opposed to it.

* Lehrb. der Chemischen u. Physik. Geologie, Bd. II., p. 923.

Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics. 49

Quartz has never yet been found in a lava, or in any vol-
canic product immediately, after the solidification, as a sepa-
rate and not accidentally enclosed constituent. Such a fact
could only have been overlooked by a volcanic zeal running
wide of all physical and chemical laws. It was not until
long after the hypothesis of the igneous origin of granite
had been regarded as established, that some of the more
moderate Plutonists were found to direct attention to this
circumstance, and to admit that it could not be brought into
harmony with the plutonic origin of granite, without, how-
ever, renouncing the general hypothesis.

The Plutonists found abundant occupation in explaining
the formation of gneiss, a rock which, like granite, consists
of quartz, feldspar, and mica, but differs essentially from it
in possessing an evident stratification. The constituents
of gneiss, then, speak in favour of a pyrogenous formation ;
according to the views of the Plutonists, its stratification
indicates that it is a deposit from the sea. This contradic-
tion separated the Plutonists into two different parties. The
one consisted of those who did not question the sedimentary
origin of gneiss but assumed a subsequent metamorphosis
into crystalline rock to have been effected by igneous agency.
The cause of this igneous metamorphosis they could not find
in the sedimentary rocks themselves, but were compelled to
seek for them in the adjoining rocks. This led to the hypo-
thesis of plutonic metamorphism, according to which an
amorphous sedimentary rock is supposed to be heated by
contact with a melted mass ascending from the interior of
the earth, and then to acquire a crystalline texture ehiting,
the gradual cooling.

The other party consisted of those geologists who con-
sidered that the stratification and parallel structure of gneiss,
and other stratified crystalline rocks, furnished no reasons for
_ regarding them as other than pyrogenous formations, since
_ their phenomena are equally marked in some lavas.* These
views are opposed to all the evidence which exists against

* Naumann, Geognosie, p. 741.

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.-JULY 1852. D

50 Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics.

the formation of rocks by igneous agency, which has been
partially mentioned already, and will partially follow.

The doctrine of plutonic metamorphism certainly found a
feeble support in the transformation of glass into the so-
called Reaumur porcelain. It was imagined that an uncrys-
talline sedimentary rock might, by ignition and gradual
cooling, pass into a mixture of different crystalline minerals,
in the same way that glass packed in sand is transformed by
a red heat and gradual cooling into a crystalline mass.

It was also attempted to explain the metamorphism of
rocks by the upward progression of the higher temperature
in the interior. If, for example, a deep marine basin is
gradually filled by sediment, the temperature of the original
bottom would be raised. That such is really the case, is
shewn by the increase of temperature in the sedimentary
rocks formed in this manner. If the temperature increases
at very great depths in the same proportions as in depths
which can be observed, then at a depth of 115,000 feet in
such a rock there would be a temperature of 1000°R. Such
a heat may indeed exceed that by which glass is converted
into Reaumur porcelain. At such a depth there would be
no difficulty in conceiving a transformation of an amorphous
sedimentary rock into a crystalline, if such a change actually
does take place at a red heat.

Finally, it was imagined rocks might be so metamorphosed
by the vapour and gaseous exhalations rising from craters,
and in their neighbourhood, that crystalline rocks might be
formed from amorphous strata.

There is no want of opportunities for the Plutonists to
study the changes which rocks undergo when exposed to the
continuous action of high temperatures. ‘There are coal
strata which have been burning for centuries. Argillaceous
sandstone, clay, and slate clay, which form the roof of these
burning strata, have, during this long period, been exposed to
a very high temperature, and have been more or less altered.
But they shew no other alteration than that observed in
bricks after burning; they appear fritted, half vitrified, and
scoriaceous. There has never been a crystalline mineral
met with in them, such as feldspar, which occurs in all crys- —

Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics. 51

talline rocks which are supposed to have been formed by
plutonic metamorphism. But if, after the lapse of centuries,
there does not appear to be any tendency to a separation of
feldspar, then there is but little hope that they would be
formed even after thousands of years. *

Another opportunity of judging the action of heat is afforded
by the fragments of sedimentary rocks imbedded in scoria-
ceous masses. In the Eifel, the neighbourhood of the lake of
Laach, at the Rodderberg, near Bonn, &c., such phenomena
occur very frequently ; for instance, fragments of slate and
eraywacké imbedded in scorie. But here also, we recognise
nothing more than a similarity to burnt bricks. The lake
fragments frequently appear brick red, blistered at the edges,
sometimes like pumice-stone, and in some cases vitrified.

The blistered character of such fragments shews that they
had been half melted ; from the large size of some of these,
we may infer a very gradual cooling ; Fakenberg, near Ber-
trich, 160 feet high, containing innumerable fragments of
slate-clay imbedded in it, may, according to an approximative
calculation, have required twenty-two years for its cooling.
More favourable circumstances for a plutonic metamorphosis
—a partial conversion of clay-slate into feldspar, the elements
of which it contains—could not be found, were such a change
possible, and still there has not even been a microscopic
crystal of feldspar found in these fragments.t| Every unpre-
judiced person, who is not blinded by attachment to an hypo-
thesis, will doubt the possibility of such a transformation, and
must do so until such a discovery shall be made.

For these reasons, we are not justified in assuming such
a metamorphosis in sedimentary rocks, at depths where per- _
haps the central heat of the earth may have produced a very
high temperature, such as these scoriaceous masses possessed
in their former melted state ; since, as regards the action of
heat, it is indifferent whether they are of one or the other
origin. The thickest sedimentary formations, clay-slate
and graywacke, have undoubtedly a very considerable thick-

* Lehrbuch der Chem. u. Physik. Geologie, Bd. IL., p. 354,
t Ibid., p. 733.

by Be

52 Geology, as tllustrated by Chemistry and Physics.

ness. Itis possible that they reach the depth of 115,000
feet, and perhaps exceed it, for these strata have not been
penetrated at any part of the earth. But if it were possible
that clay-slate could at this depth be converted into a crystal-
line rock by the central heat of the earth, then a rocky mass
must be removed to nearly such a depth, in order that the
metamorphic rocks should be accessible. The frequent deep
erosion of river valleys shews that considerable masses of
dry land may be removed and carried into the sea by running
water. If masses have been deposited at the bottom of the
ocean to the thickness of several miles, then it is evident that
equal quantities of debris must have been conveyed to the
sea by this means. From this point of view, the hypothesis
of a metamorphosis of the central heat of the earth would
encounter less difficulties, if it were at all possible to regard
such an hypothesis as a correct one.

With regard to the favourite hypothesis, according to
which aqueous vapours are supposed to be the agents which
cause the transformation of sedimentary into crystalline rocks,
abundant opportunities are presented in nature, as well as in
chemical laboratories and metallurgical furnaces, for acquir-
ing a knowledge of their action upon rocks. During a space
of 190 years, aqueous vapour has issued from fissures in clay-
slate above the burning coal strata near Duttwiler, in such
quantities, that in cold moist weather, the mountain valley is
enveloped in dense clouds. Atmospheric air mixed with aque-
ous vapour and sulphurous acid at a temperature of 80° to
158° R., issues from some fissures. But besides a red colour-
ing of the slate-clay throughout its mass, making it resemble
burnt brick, besides sublimation of crystallised sulphur and
chloride of ammonium, no other changes are recognisable.
At other places, where plastic clay lies very near the focus of
the combustion, this has been converted into porcelain jasper.
The suffiont of Tuscany cause no other alteration in the
adjoining jasper and hornstone than destroying their red
and dark grey colour, and making the rock friable. At Ter-
ceira, aqueous vapours decompose the trachyte to white clay,
silica is extracted and again deposited as hyalite.* Accord-

* Lehrbuch der Chem, Physikal. Geologie, Bd. II., pp. 353 and 354.

Geology, as tllustrated by Chemistry and Physics. 58

ing to Jeffrey’s experiments, aqueous vapour decomposes
feldspathic rocks at the melting point of cast iron, and coats
the roof of the furnace with a porous covering of silica. Aque-
ous vapours, therefore, act only as decomposing agents, and
in no case produce crystalline formations.

Gaseous exhalations from the interior of the earth,—carbo-
nic acid the most frequent, sulphuretted hydrogen the less
frequent, sulphurous acid and hydrochloric acid, which are
rare and occur only during volcanic eruptions,—exercise also
a decomposing influence.

Although no trace of feldspar crystals has yet been found
in the slate fragments imbedded in scoriaceous masses, still
they occur in sedimentary formations ; for instance, at many
places in the Swiss Alps, far distant from all crystalline
feldspathic rocks. Thus, according to Studer,* white quartz
rocks, which pass into gneiss, lie in Churwalden in Biindten
upon grey slate beds, several thousand feet in thickness, whose
organic remains distinctly prove their sedimentary forma-
tion. Upon this quartz follows, as the uppermost covering,
grey slate again. Here, therefore, the metamorphic gneiss
is separated from crystalline rocks, as well as from the high
temperature of the earth’s interior, by thick strata of un-
altered rocks. Neither those crystalline rocks, if supposed
to have ascended eruptively, ¢. e., in a melted state, nor the
central heat of the earth, could, in this and many similar
cases, have effected the metamorphosis, even if such a change
were possible.

The wandering fancy of those geologists who maintained,
and still maintain that the metamorphosis of sedimentary
rocks was effected by their contact with crystalline rocks,
went so far that they affirmed such an action to take place
even at distances of 6000 feet, as if heated rocks acted like

miasmas.t ‘These same geologists, in many other cases, freely
admit that the action of eruptive rocks upon the contiguous
strata, either cannot be at all recognised, or only in a very
slight degree. Studer, who, among other great merits, has

* Lehrbuch der Physikal. Geographie und Geologie. Vol. ii., p. 187.
{ Lehrbuch der Chem, u. Physikal. Geologie. Bd. II., p. 353,

54 Geology, as illustrated by Chemistry and Physics.

that which is indeed not the least of having, more than any
other geologist directed attention to the difficulties involved
in the explanation of geological phenomena, by the hypothesis
of plutonic metamorphism,* has observed, that at Mettenberg,
near Grindelwald, limestone strata of scarcely more than an
inch in thickness, surrounded on both sides by gneiss. neither
lose their gray colour, nor their uncrystalline sedimentary
character, and that distinctly preserved fossil remains (Be-
lemnites and Ammonites), were situated almost at the sur-
faces of contact.

Should not this single fact have been sufficient to have
shewn that this gneiss could not possibly have been formed
by plutonic metamorphism, without the thin strata of lime-
stone being at the same time altered, their colour and the
fossil remains destroyed? Nevertheless, the more such facts
are accumulated, the more do the plutonic notions of meta-
morphosis reappear again in a new form.

Such extravagancies in empirical sciences are but little
adapted to inspire respect for the investigation of nature in
the public mind. Would it not be more creditable for
scientific men at once to admit their inability to explain com-
plicated phenomena, than to contrive hypotheses which stand
in contradiction to all sound reasoning? What kind of idea
would be formed of the geologists of the nineteenth century,
should these pages be read a century hence, and it should be
seen that views such as that of plutonic metamorphism
were maintained, and cost so much trouble to disprove ?

That metamorphic processes go on uninterruptedly, as
well in the inorganic as the organic kingdom, is an indisput-
able fact. If these cannot be explained by the action of heat,
other methods must be adopted. I must now leave it to a
future occasion to point out how far it has been possible to
discover such.

* Loc. cit., pp. 135, 158.

55

On the Physical Geography, Geology, and Commercial Re-
sources of Lake Superior.* By J.J. Biasspy, M.D., late
British Secretary to the Canadian Boundary Commission,
&c. Communicated by the Author.

I. Physical Geography.

Lake Superior is included between W. longitude 84° 18’ and 92°
19’—and N. latitude 46° 29’—49° 1’. It is to the east of, and
near to, the swell of high land which, stretching from the Rocky
Mountains to Lake Superior, in wide undulating plains, divides the
waters of the Mexican Gulf from those of Hudson’s Bay ;—and
then, bifurcating, one fork proceeds on the north side of Lake Superior
eastward towards Labrador, in groups of broken hills, while the
other fork passes south-east as a rough and high country into the
lowlands of the United States. It therefore occupies an oblong
crescent-shaped hollow, with a general direction rather to the north
of east. Ithas literally thousands of lakes on its north, and hundreds
on its immediate south. It is 1750 miles round, 420 miles long,
and 163 in extreme breadth. It is 597 feet above the Atlantic.
Its greatest known depth is 792 feet. Soundings of 300, 400, 600
feet are common; but extensive shallows and flats prevail in parts.

The hydrographic basin of Lake Superior is singularly small,
particularly on the south shore, where the tributaries of the River
Mississippi and Lake Michigan often approach within 5 and 10 miles
of the lake. It seems to be its own fountainhead.

The water is clear, greenish, extremely pure, pleasant to the
taste, and soft from the nearly total absence of limestone from these
regions. An imperial pint only contains sooth part of a grain of
mineral matters—carbonates of lime and magnesia, sulphate of lime,
peroxide of iron, and the oxide of manganese.

The average annual temperature of the water is 40° F.; being
about the same as that of the ocean at certain great depths. In
June, the lake is often covered with ice; and in the middle of July,
the surface-water freezes in the morning—with patches of snow in
the clefts of the rocks. At this period of the year, or a few days
later, the smaller lakes on the north are steadily at 72° and 74° F

Lake Superior is not undergoing secular drainage. It is lowest
in April, and highest by a few feet, in September. The great annual
variations of rain of these countries produce corresponding changes
of level. There are no tides, and no cycle of years for lake-levels.
Barometric changes produce curious local oscillations of level.

a The statements in this communication are partly derived from the able
reports and charts of Messrs Bayfield, Logan, Foster, Owen, and others in the
service of the Governments of Great Britain and the United States, Dr Bigsby’s
own researches on the northern shores of the Lake, for 440 miles, having sup-
plied the remainder.

t Read in the Royal Institution.

56 Dr J. J. Bigsby on the

Thus the furious rapids, called the Falls of St Mary, on the river
of discharge so named, are sometimes left dry. Messrs Foster and
Whitney have seen the oscillation come from the centre of the lake
in a wave 20 feet high—curling over like an immense surge, crested
with foam, and breaking on the shore, diminishing as it approached it.
On this occasion (Aug. 1845) it was the harbinger of a violent storm.*

The amount of water leaving the lake is small ; for its outlet is
often shallow, and the current weak.

The Climate is more arctic than temperate, although the lake is
but little to the north of Milan. It is much colder than Sikla in
Russian America, 10° further north ; because the latter is screened
from polar winds. Winter begins in the middle of October by a
succession of gales and snow storms; and from November till May
the ground is covered with close packed, granular snow ; but the
earth is not frozen deep, so that, in spring, before all the snow is
gone, the forest is in leaf. The annual range of the thermometer
is 125° F. the mean 42° 14’ F.; the lower extreme—31°, the higher
94°; all these observations having been made by good observers,
with excellent instruments. August is the hottest month.

On a mean of 12 years, the winds blow about equally from all
quarters ; from the NW. the most frequently—from the south the
least frequently.

The scenery of Lake Superior is striking ;—its features are large
and opeu (of which an example was shewn in a Sketch on the East
Coast). The eye ranges over high lands and shoreless waters.
The scanty and dwarfed woods of the north coast, the rocks, isles,
and rivers full of cascades, have an impress of their own—not warm,
soft, and umbrageous, like those of Lake Erie; but rugged, bare,
and chill—arctic. The scene is oceanic,—the waves are large and
high. Some of the plants, the Lathyrus maritimus and the Poly-
gonum maritimum, for instance, on the beaches, and many of the
insects disporting about, are those of the distant Atlantic.

In winter, Lake Superior might be called the “ Dead Sea ;”
every living thing is gone, save the shivering inhabitants of some
few white settlements. The Indian and the wild animals have re-
treated to the warm woods far away; and the sun looks down, from
a bright blue sky, on the leaden waters, now narrowed by huge fields
of ice—a small dark speck on an almost illimitable expanse of snow.

On the south shore, there are in the extreme east, high terraces
and treeless plains of blown sand for many miles inland and along
shore, succeeded by the high sandstone precipices, called the Pictured
Rocks, battered into fanciful shapes by the violence of the waves.

Then comes a low Tocky coast for 200 miles or more, backed by

* A violent ae of wind, concurring with a local rise of level, will some-
times throw large stones or logs of wood 150 to 200 yards inland, and 30 to 40
feet above the usual water margin—as in three instances seen by Prof. Agassiz
(LL. Superior, pp. 95 and 106), and by Dr Bigsby. (Jour. Roy. Inst. xviii. 15:)

-

Geology of Lake Superior. 57

dense forests, often mountainous, as at the Huron, Bohemian, and
Porcupine Mountains. The scene is dark with the verdure of
northern evergreens, and is here and there diversified with small
clearings, and the smoke of distant mines ascending among the
uplands. ‘The bays are often deep, full of little iron-stained streams ;
and the promontories stretch for miles into the lake.

The eastern and northern shores are different—more naked,
steeper, ever abounding in dome-shaped hills, or in ridges, rising
by steps, scantily covered with trees either stunted or scorched with
fire. (Large sketches were exhibited representing the lofty basaltic
country about Fort-William, and the softer hill-scenery of Black
Bay.)

With the exception of the Fur trading stations, there are no white
settlements on the north shore; and this from its general barren-
ness. At the Peak River, soil was imported in bags with which to
raise a few potatoes.

The Fauna and Flora of Lake Superior are semi-arctic, or sub-
alpine. Professor Agassiz has treated of both in his late valuable
publication on this lake. He found twenty-three new species of fish,
and states that Lake Superior constitutes a special ichthyological dis-
trict. The reason of this evidently lies in the coldness and extreme
purity of the water, its slow departure towards the ocean, and the
absence of weedy bays, and of lime rocks.

It would seem that some portion of its animal life are waifs and
strays from grand geological periods long passed away—as we see
in its herrings, minnows, and the new genus Percopsis. Connected
with this subject, Prof. Agassiz conjectures that much of North
America was dry land when the rest of the world was under water ;
and that thus its physical condition was less altered than elsewhere.
Dr Bigsby was inclined to believe this ; for had Canada been as long
under water as other large tracts, we should probably have had in
some part of its vast extent, a member or two, at least, of the meso-
zoic rocks ; but there is no such thing—not a single relic of lias,
oolite, or chalk, in the extraordinary heaps of debris which overspread
these countries.

Il. Geology.

The rocks of Lake Superior have been arranged under three prin-

cipal heads, as follows :—

1. The Metamorphic.—Greenstone, chloritic, taleose, clay, and
greenstone slates, gneiss, quartzite, jasper, rock and saccha-
roid limestone.

2. The Aqueous.—Calciferous sandstone, Cambrian sandstone
and conglomerates.

3. The Igneous.—Granite, Syenite, Trap, in various states.

The place and extent of these rocks having been pointed out on a

map, Dr Bigsby stated that the geological system of Lake Superior

58 Dr J. J. Bigsby on the

is a consistent and closely connected whole, forming a beautiful and
easily read example of geological action in moulding the surface of
our globe. !

The lake may best be presented at once to the mind as a trough
or basin of Cambrian (or Silurian) sandstone, surrounded and
framed, as it were, by two orders of rocks, in the form of irregular
and imperfect zones ; the inner consisting of trap, with its conglo-
merates ; and the outer, of metamorphic, flanking igneous rocks.

1. The Metamorphic rocks, with the exception of quartzite and
jasper, are the oldest in the lake, and support great sheets of the
above-mentioned sandstone unconformably ; all these rocks being
upheaved and altered by the intrusion of igneous rocks in instances
innumerable. This group of rocks is entirely destitute of the traces
of animal life.

The country they occupy on the south shore, with a general
NNW. dip, may be best described as a rough table land of the
various slates, out of which short hills of granite, gneiss, trap, &c.,
emerge in great numbers, with an almost constant east and west
direction.

On the east and north shores the metamorphic rocks have a W.
and WSW. strike, when visible. The slates of the north side of
Michipicoton Bay ran WNW., NW., and N.

The jasper and quartzite are merely altered sandstone and there-
fore younger than the other rocks of this group.

2. The Aqueous Rocks.—The youngest of these is calciferous
sandstone. It exists as a broad band on the south-east shore, resting
on the sandstone soon to be noticed. It is highly magnesian and
siliceous in parts. A patch of it in Grand Island contains shells.
(Logan.)

The Cambrian Sandstone seems to be the floor or basement of
nearly all the lake, for the following reasons :—

1. Wherever it occurs, whether in immense sheets on the east
and south shore, or in smaller areas on the north coast, it
invariably dips towards the centre of the lake.

2. It can be recognised, paving the lake for some miles from
the main in many places.

3. The soundings of Captain Bayfield exhibit, for large spaces,
the uniformity of level to be expected from the presence of
horizontal strata.

4. Because it constitutes Caribou Island, 40 miles from the
nearest main land.

This sandstone is very ancient; and is supposed by Mr Logan
to be Cambrian on the north shore, and lower Silurian on the south—
a supposition, the latter clause of which, though extremely probable,
is not yet established.

It has no fossils ; but its ripple marks, impressions of rain-drops,
and sun-cracks, are plentiful and perfect. —

9

or

Geology of Lake Superior.

It is more commonly red, and is composed of the debris of gra-
nitoid rocks, in nearly horizontal strata, except near intrusive rocks,
when it rises to a high angle, hardens, and even passes into true
jasper, porphyry, gneiss, or quartzite. There is reason to think
that this sandstone is interleaved with trap. (A Landscape was ex-
hibited of the Sandstone Rocks, south shore.)

The conglomerate is of the same age with much of the sandstone ;
and is almost invariably placed between it and the trap.

The conglomerates of Keweenaw and Isle Royale, consist of
rounded boulders of trap, with a few jaspers, cemented by red iron
sand; but those of Memince and Nipigon contain also granites,
quartzites, and sandstones ; thus indicating a difference of age.

3. Igneous Rocks.—Granite everywhere forms the nucleus of an
anticlinal axis, in two parallel lines running E. and W. on the south-
east side of the lake, flanked by metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.
Both it and syenite are plentiful.

Trap Rocks.—The ancient lavas of the lake are in very large
quantities, and are well displayed. They are the great depositories
of copper. For convenience sake, they may be divided into three
principal forms.

Ist. The highly crystalline mountain masses,— sometimes anti-
clinal and syenitic.

2d. The bedded trap, at various angles of inclination.

3d. Dikes intersecting igneous and metamorphic rocks.

They are all portions of one long series of volcanic operations.

Trap creates the great headland of Keweenaw, with its lines of
stair-like cliffs and hills. (It was shewn ina large diagram and
described as typical of the trap of the whole lake.) The trap of
Keweenaw is met with in three contiguous and parallel belts, going
WSW., and separated by bands of conglomerate, sometimes very
thin, often numerous, and prolonged sometimes for 40 or 50 miles.
These three belts have been named the outer, northern, and southern ;
the last being highly crystalline, or syenitic, and abounding in chlorite.
It is an anticlinal to the rocks on both sides. The other two belts
are bedded traps, and with their interleaved conglomerates dip

northerly. They all coalesce at Portage Lake, and after proceeding
to Montreal River, 130 miles in the whole, soon after disappear
under horizontal sandstone westwards.

The north belt is the most metalliferous ; and contains the cele-
brated Cliff and other rich mines. In the Keweenaw district it is
the cross vein which yields the native copper—either in sheets and
blocks or mixed in with the usual crystallizations, such as datholite,
prehnite, stilbite, quartz, &c.

On the Ontonagon River the metalliferous veins run with the strike.
The copper is pure, and has interspersed through its substance scales
of pure silver; but without chemical union.

60 Dr J. J. Bigsby om the

The copper is confined to the trap, as a universal rule.

The north shore of Lake Superior is eminently trappose; and
especially about Fort-William, where a region at least 120 miles
long consists of basalt, amyg edaloid: porphyries, jasper, conglomerate,
and sandstone in the same mutual relations as on the south shore,

The trap dikes, traversing granites and other crystalline rocks
indifferently, are a singular feature on the north shore, and abound
chiefly from Written Rocks to the bottom of Michipicoton Bay. By
their dark and undeviating course through the gray, red, or green
rocks of the rugged coast, they strike the eye of the most incurious—
if only as ruined staircases, crossing bays and headlands and climb-
ing hills for miles. Their size, number, and direction are irregular.
They may be solitary, or twenty in company—sometimes all parallel
and close together. They often run with the general trend of the
coast.*

Mr Logan divides them into three varieties, according as they are
homogeneous, syenitic or porphyritic.

Professor Agassiz distributes the dikes of the whole lake into six
systems—each with its own mineral character and direction—its
own epoch of upheaval; and each he announces to have been an
important agent in giving shape and direction to the district in which
it occurs. He truly says that the general outline of the lake is the
combined effect of many minor geological events taking place at
different periods. With some truth in it, this theory does not seem
to take into sufficient account the pre-existing metamorphic and
granitic rocks, and it overlooks the variety observed in the directions
of the dikes in the same neighbourhood.

Dr B. stated that if he might be allowed to hauerd an opinion, it
would be, that this curious assemblage of dikes—abounding as much
in the §. as on the N. coast pervading all the crystalline rocks
indiscriminately, had ascended independently from the unseen, dis-
tant mass of trap beneath. They appear in many ways peculiar,
and have no visible connection with the traps he had been describing.

Before the emergence of either traps or granites, Lake Superior
received its great outlines from the metamorphic rocks,—thrown
into their present position by still earlier upward movements: for
on the eastern half of both shores of the lake they strike E. and W.
with little variation; while on the western half, these far extending
rock-masses strike WSW. and SW.,—giving thus to the lake
a general eastward direction, with a gentle curve to the north, as
stated before. This done, Cambrian sandstone slowly took posses-
sion of the trough of the lake—just as we see a certain shell marl
is doing now. ‘The anticlinal granites, which appeared afterwards,

ee ee —— a re et

* Vide Quart. Journal of Roy. Inst. vol. xviii., p. 244. Bigsby on Lake
Superior.

Commercial Resources of Lake Superior. 61

only concurred in the same effects; shaping and elevating the ad-
jacent lands.

In after-geological times important modifications arose in the form
of the lake. Promontories were pushed out, and islands raised up
by successive outbursts and overflows of trap from separate fissures
of great length—those for example of Keweenaw, Thunder Moun-
tain, and Isle Royale—all intercalcated with conglomerates, formed
in agitated seas between eruptions ;—at different and most probably
distant times, judging from the fact that some of the conglomerates
are altogether trappose, while others abound in granite and other
boulders.

We thus obtain the general order of all these events, and little
more; but the knowledge is worth having. From the position of
the uplifted mural cliffs, we see that the upheaving impulse came
from the south-east.

Drift—T he groovings and striz are almost always northerly here.
New proofs are daily accumulating to shew more decisively the
northerly origin of the foreign drift of Lake Superior. One of these
is the fact that the limestone boulders on the north shore are upper
Silurian,* and derived from the large calcareous basins some hundreds
of miles north of Lake Superior: from whence Dr B, had brought
characteristic fossils. Another is found in the occurrence of boul-
ders of iron ore, in heaps, on the north side of certain cliffs, but
which are absent on the south side—the original site of the ore
being to the north of the cliffs, and near Lake Superior.

A Sketch was exhibited of a Wisconsin prairie, dotted with northern
blocks dropped from icebergs.—From Dr D. Owen.

Jil. Commercial Resources.

Agriculture will only be carried on in parts of the south shore.
Large quantities of white fish and of furs are annually exported.

The chief staple of Lake Superior is native copper. For ages
before the appearance of Europeans in America, this metal was sup-
plied from hence to the Indian nations far and near. The tumuli
- of the’ Mississippi, &c., contain the identical copper of this lake.
Traces of ancient mining in Keweenaw, Ontonagon, and Isle Royale,
are abundant, in the form of deep pits (a ladder in one), rubbish,
stone mauls, hammers, wedges, and chisels of hardened copper. In
a native excavation, near the river Ontonagon, with trees five hundred
years old growing over it, lately lay a mass of pure copper 81 tons
in weight, partly fused and resting on skids of black oak.

Modern explorers have hitherto only found two centres of metallic
riches on the south coast,—that of Keweenaw and of Ontonagon.
In the first are the valuable mines of the Cliff, North American,

* Containing Pentamerus, Spirifer, Leptena (alternata) atrypa, various
corals, minute trilobites, orthocerz, and some cytherine.

62 W. R. Grove, Esq., on the

North-Western, and other companies. In the Ontonagon centre are
the Minnesota and fifteen other mines.

At the Cliff mine three large steam engines are employed (1852) ;
with 250 men ;—and at the ‘North American mine, two engines,
with 160 men. Most of the other mines, forty in number, are -
assisted by steam-power. ‘Three thousand miners are in work alto-
gether, and the general population is fast increasing. Native copper
is the principal object. Silver is always present, and occasionally in
masses of considerable size. According to authentic accounts, dated
February 1852, many new mines have been opened lately ; and all
are worked more systematically than heretofore,—generally by con-
tract.

There are now in the Cliff mine masses of pure copper within view
estimated to weigh 700 tons in the whole ; and on the lands of the
Minnesota Company, one block weighing 250 tons. The copper
shipped in 1851 was about 1600 tons, valued at £130,000. This
copper is stated to be of great excellence in the manufacture of wire,
ordnance, and ship-sheathing.

The large beds of specular and magnetic iron ore, on the south-
east side of the lake, are as yet only worked on a small scale.

At this moment the business of mining has ceased on the Canadian
side of the lake. There is little doubt, however, but that profitable
deposits will, sooner or later, be discovered here.

On the Heating Effects of Electricity and Magnetism.*
By W. R. Grove, Esq., M.A., F.R.S.

In the early periods of philosophy, when any unusual phenomenon
attracted the attention of thinking men, it was frequently referred to
a preternatural or spiritual cause ; thus, with regard to the subject
about to be discussed, when the attraction of light substances by
rubbed amber was first observed, Thales referred it to a soul or
spiritual power possessed by the amber.

Passing to the period antecedent to the time of more strict induc-
tive philosophy, viz., the period of the Alchemists, we find many
natural phenomena referred to spiritual causes. Paracelsus taught
that the Archzus or stomach demon presided over, caused, and regu-
lated the functions of digestion, assimilation, &c.

Van Helmont, who may be considered in many respects the turn-
ing point between alchemy and true chemistry, adopted with some
modification the Archzus of Paracelsus and many of the opinions of
the Spiritualists, but shewed tendencies of a more correctly inductive
character ; the term ‘ Gas,’ which he introduced, gives evidence of

* Delivered in the Royal Institution, February 13, 1852,

Heating Effects of Electricity and Magnetism. 63

the thought involved in it by its derivation from ‘ Geist,’ a ghost or
spirit. By regarding it as intermediate between spirit and matter,
by separating it from common air, and by distinguishing or classify-
ing different sorts of gas, he paved the way for a more accurate
chemical system.

Shortly after the time of Van Helmont, lived Torricelli, who, by
his discovery of the weight of air, was mainly instrumental in chang-

_ ing the character of thought, and inducing philosophers to introduce,

or at all events to develope, the notion of fluids as agents which
effected the more mysterious phenomena of nature, such as light,
heat, electricity, and magnetism.

Air being proved analogous in many of its characters to fluids as
previously known, the idea of fluids or of an ether was carried on to
other unknown agencies appearing to present effects remotely analo-
gous to air or gases.

Sound was included by some in the same category with the other
affections of matter, and as late as the close of the last century, a
paper was written by Lamarck to prove that sound was propagated
by the undulations of an ether. Sound is now admitted to be an un-
dulation or motion of ordinary matter, and Mr Grove considered that
what have been called the imponderables, or imponderable fluids,
might be actions of a similar character, and might be viewed as
motions of ordinary matter.

Heat was at an early period so viewed, and we find traces of this
in the writings of Lord Bacon. Rumford and Davy gave the doc-
trine a greater development ; and Mr Grove, in a communication
made by him at an evening meeting of this Institution in 1847,
shewed that what had hitherto been deemed stumblingblocks in the
way of this theory of heat, viz., the phenomena presented by what
have been called latent and specific heat, might be more simply ex-
plained by the dynamic theory.

In this evening’s communication, he brought forward some experi-
ments and considerations in favour of the extension of this view to
electricity and magnetism, an extension which he had for many years
advocated, and which was, in his opinion, supported by many analogies,

The ordinary attractions and repulsions of electrified bodies present
no more difficulties when regarded as being produced by a change in
the state or relations of the matter affected, than did the attraction
of the earth by the sun, or of a leaden ball by the earth; the hypo-

thesis of a fluid is not considered necessary for the latter, and need

not be so for the former class of phenomena,

In the cases of heating or ignition of a conjunctive wire or eon-
ducting body through which what is called electricity is transmitted,
we have many evidences that the matter itself is affected, and in
some cases temporarily, in others, permanently changed ; thus if a
wire of lead is ignited to fusion by the voltaic battery, the fused lead
being kept in a channel to prevent its dispersion, it gradually shortens,

64 W. R. Grove, Esq., on the

and the molecules seem impressed with a force acting transversely to
the line of direction of the electricity ; at length the lead gathers up
in nodules, which press on each other as do, to use a familiar illustra-
tion, a string of figs.

With magnetism we have many instances of the molecular change
which a ferreous or magnetic substance undergoes when magnetised.
If the particles are free to move, as for instance iron filings, they
arrange themselves symmetrically. An objection may be made
arising from the peculiar form of the iron filings, but Mr Grove in
the year 1845, shewed that the supernatant liquid in which magnetic
oxide had been formed, and which contains magnetic particles not
mechanically but chemically divided, exhibits when magnetised a
change in the arrangement of the molecules, as may be seen by its
effect on transmitted light ;—a molecular change is also evidenced by
the note or sound preduced by magnetism, and by other effects.

Assuming that the molecules of iron change their position inter se
upon magnetisation, then by repeated magnetisation in opposite di-
rections, something analogous to friction might be produced; and
just as a piece of caoutchouc when elongated produces heat (as it was
on this occasion experimentally shewn to do), so a bar of soft iron
might be expected when subjected to rapid changes in its magnetic
state, to exhibit thermic effects.

With the aid of the large magnet of the Institution and of a com-
mutator for changing the direction of the electricity, a bar of soft
iron was alternately magnetised in opposite directions; and in a few
minutes a thermometer placed in an aperture in the iron shewed a
rise of temperature of 1° 5’ Fahrenheit; the bar being separated
from the magnet by flannel, and the magnet being at a notably lower
temperature than the bar, this heat could in nowise be attributed to
conduction.

The effect of electricity in the disruptive discharge as in the voltaic
are and the electric spark, would seem at first sight to offer greater
difficulties of explanation on the dynamic theory. The brilliant
phenomenal effects of the electric discharge, and the apparent ab-
sence of change in the matter affected by it, would at first lead the
observer to believe that electricity was a specitic entity.

With ordinary flame or the apparent effects of combustion how-
ever, the idea has, to a great extent been abandoned, that such visual
effects are due to specific matter, and it is regarded by many as an
intense motion of the particles of the burning body. So with elec-
tricity ; if in regard to the disruptive discharge it can be shewn
that the matter of the terminals or of the intervening medium is
changed, the necessity for the assumption of a fluid or ether ceases,
and, to say the least, a possibility of viewing electricity as a motion
or affection of ordinary matter is opened.

To make evident to the audience the relation of the electrical dis-
charge to combustion and the fact that the terminals were themselves

Heating Effects of Electricity and Magnetism. 65

affected, the voltaic arc was taken, first between silver and then be-
tween iron terminals; in the first case, a brilliant green-coloured
flame was produced, and in the second, a reddish scintillation or spur-
fire effect, just.as in the ordinary combustion of the metals.

So with the discharge of Franklinic electricity between the same
two metals, a strip of silvered leather gave the bright green discharge,
while a chain of iron gave the spur-fire effect.

The known transport of particles of the terminals from one pole
to the other,—the different effects of different intervening media on
induction, as shewn in Faraday’s experiments,—the polar tension of
such media, &c., were instances of the train of molecular changes
consequent upon electrical action.

Hitherto the polarity of the gaseous medium existing between
the metallic or conducting terminals of the electrical circuit was only
known as a physical polarity, and not shewn to have an analogous
chemical character with that existing in electrolytes anterior to elec-
trolysis ; but Mr Grove stated that in a recent communication to
the Royal Society he had shewn that mixtures of gases having oppo-
site electrical or chemical relations, such as oxygen and hydrogen, or
compound gases such as carbonic oxide, were electro-chemically
polarized, or had their electro-negative and electro-positive elements
thrown in opposite directions: thus, if a silvered plate be made
positive in such gases it is oxidised, if negative the dark spot of oxide
is reduced; and an experiment was shewn in which such a plate was
thus oxidised and the spot reduced in gaseous media.

Here, as in the other experiments, was an effect on the terminals,
and an effect of polarization of the intermedium. In the experi-
ments hitherto shewn, solid terminals were used; it became impor-
tant to examine what would be the effect of liquid terminals, for in-
stance water; the spark or disruptive discharge of Franklinic elec-
tricity was readily obtained from its surface, but hitherto no voltaic
battery had been found to shew a discharge at any sensible distance
from the surface of water.

Mr Gassiot had procured to be constructed 500 cells of the nitrie
acid battery, the combination discovered in 1889 by Mr Grove, and
| first shewn at this Institution in the year 1840. The cells of this
battery were all well insulated by glass stems, and as regards inten-
sity of action it was probably far the most powerful ever seen. Mr
Gassiot had kindly lent this apparatus for the illustration of this
evening’s discourse, and by its aid Mr Grove was able to shew an
experiment which he had first made when experimenting with Mr
Gassiot some time ago, and which produced the effect .he had long
| sought for, viz., a quantitative or voltaic discharge at a sensible dis-
tance from the surface of water. The experiment was made as fol-
| lows :—a platinum plate forming the anode of the battery was im-
| mersed in a capsule of distilled water, the temperature of which was
| raised. A cathode or negative terminal of platinum wire was now

VOL. LIIT. NO. CV.—JULY 1852. E

66 On the Heating Effects of Electricity and Magnetism.

made to touch for a moment the surface of the water aud imme-
diately withdrawn to a distance of about a quarter of an inch; the
discharge took place, the extremity of the platinum wire was fused,
and the molten platinum attached to the wire, but kept up by the
peculiar repulsive effect of the discharge, was exhibited, as it were,
suspended in mid-air, giving an intense light, throwing off scintilla-
tions in directions away from the water, and only detaching itself
from the wire when agitated.

Here water in the vaporous state must be transferred, for the im-
mersed electrode gave off gas, without doubt oxygen, and the mole-
cular action on the negative fused platinum resembled, if it were not
identical in character with, the currents observed on the surface of
mercury when made negative in an electrolyte.

It may be objected to the theory proposed, that electrical effects
are obtained in what is called a vacuum, where there is no intermedium
to be polarized ; but this objection, though not applicable to the pro-
jection of the terminals, could hardly be discussed until experimen-
talists had gone much further than at present in the production of a
vacuum. The experiments of Davy and others had shewn that we
are far off from obtaining any thing like a vacuum where delicate in-
vestigations are concerned.

The view of the ancient philosophers, that nature abhors a vacuum,
which had been much cavilled at, and was supposed to be exploded
by the discovery of Torricelli, Mr Grove thought had been unjustly
censured: giving the expression some degree of metaphorical license,
it afforded a fine evidence of the extent and accuracy of observation
of those who were unacquainted with inductive philosophy as a sys-
tem, but who necessarily pursued it in practice. Whether a vacuum
was possible might be an open question; experimentally it was un-
known.

Lastly, in answer to those who might ask, To what practical results
do researches such as these lead? what accession of physical comfort
or luxury do they bring ? Mr Grove took occasion to offer his humble
protest against opinions now perhaps too generally prevalent, that
science was to be viewed only or mainly in its utilitarian or practical
bearings. Even regarding it in this aspect, were it not for the de-
votion which the love of knowledge, which the yearning anxiety to
penetrate into the mysteries of our being and of surrounding exist-
ences induced ; the practical results of science would not have been
attained ; the band of martyrs to science, from Socrates to Galileo,
would not have thought and suffered without a higher incentive than
the acquisition of utilitarian results. Without disparaging these results,
indeed regarding them as necessary consequences of any advance in
scientific knowledge, be considered that the love of truth and know- —
ledge for themselves was the great animating principle of those who
rightly pursued science; that, based upon an enduring quality of
our common nature, this feeling was rooted in far firmer foundations, —

On the Recent Progress of Ethnology. 67

that it led to greater and more self-sacrificing exertions, than any
capable of being induced by the hopes of augmenting social acquisi-
tions, and was an attribute and an evidence of the non-transient part
of our being.

On the Recent Progress of Ethnology, being the Annual Dis-
course for 1852. Read before the Ethnological Society, at the
Annual Meeting, on 14th May 1852. By RicHARD CULL,
Esq., Honorary Secretary. Communicated by the Ethno-
logical Society.

We may congratulate ourselves on the continued and in-
| creasing interest which the educated classes of society are
| taking in ethnological knowledge. It is now practically
| admitted that the science of Ethnology is worthy of being cul-
| tivated. It is true that its claims have been tardily admit-
| ted ; but we must remember that, in commercial countries,
| a science which does not promise to be pecuniarily profitable,
| has not those attractions which insure the devoted attention
| of crowds of students.

The desire of the public for systematic knowledge of our
| science, is evinced by the steady demand for the standard
} works on Ethnology, by the publication of so many new ones,
} by the popularity of lectures on the subject, and by the fre-
| quent introduction of Ethnology as a topic of conversation in
| general society.

Considerable attention was drawn to our science during
| the last year by the appearance of so many foreigners in
| London, who came to visit the Great Exhibition. And to
| witness the many varieties of man, assembled from every
j region of the earth in the Crystal Palace, calmly studying
| the productions of each other, was not the least of the won-
| ders of that fairy-like creation whose physical existence is
} now about to pass away from us.

The differentia, both physical and non-physical, in the
| varieties of man, are so patent to observation, as not only
| to attract attention, but to rivet it, and absorb it. Some
| B 2

|
|
|
|

68 Richard Cull, Esq., on the

students, indeed, are unable to advance beyond the study
of these differences. They constitute, however, only the
threshold of our temple. Resemblances must also be
studied. This tendency of the mind to fix itself on the differ-
ences in the varieties of man may be called the student’s bias
of mind. We occasionally find this bias of mind remaining
in after life, and manifesting itself in over-estimating the
value of those differences in relation to the resemblances.

Ethnology is a science of yesterday. Daubenton’s obser-
vations on the situation of the foramen ovale, and Campers’
on the facial angle, were the result of researches to discover
a physical index to the mental capacity. In 1790 Blumen-
bach published his Anatomical Description of Ten Skulls, in
order to shew how certain varieties of man differ from each
other in cranial form. In 1820 Blumenbach completed his
work, having altogether described sixty-five skulls.

In 1791 Dr Gall published the first part of an extensive
work, in which we see the spirit in which his researches
into the moral and intellectual nature of man were con-
ducted. The great and fundamental principle was the com-
parison of cerebral form with the manifestation of mental
qualities. In 1796 Dr Gall began to lecture at Vienna; and
in 1798 we find him complaining, in a letter to his friend,
Baron Retzer, that he was called acraniologist. ‘‘ The pro-
per object of my researches is the brain. The cranium is
only a faithful cast of the external surface, and is conse-
quently but a minor part of the principal object.” In this
letter he speaks of national heads in relation to national
character. And to Dr Gall and his disciples we are most
indebted for collecting crania, casts of crania, and casts of
heads of the several varieties of man.

Ethnologists have much yet to do in collecting crania from
various countries, and still more to doin ascertaining the re-
lationship of these crania to each other, both in time and space. |
The mere geography of certain forms of cranium is but the
first step of a great inquiry. We seek to know if one form
of cranium passes into another. If so, under what circum-
stances, both physical and non-physical, does a mutation of
form take place? Our Society might, perhaps, with advan-

Recent Progress of Hthnology. 69

tage, draw attention to those ethnological questions which
require solution to enable us to advance to higher general-
izations.

The literature of Ethnology like that of other sciences,
may be conveniently considered under two general heads,
viz., as that which—

1. Advances Ethnology ; and

2. Diffuses a knowledge of Ethnology.

It is quite true that a work written to advance the science,
does also, to a certain extent, diffuse a knowledge of the
science; but a work that is written to teach the science does
not necessarily advance it, and hence the distinction. Dur-
ing the past year, works have been written with both these
objects in view. I proceed briefly to notice them.

Three works on Ethnology from the pen of one of our Fel-

lows, Dr Latham, have appeared since last May. “The
Ethnology of the British Colonies and Dependencies” is a
small work, which represents a course of lectures which Dr
Latham delivered at the Royal Institution, Manchester, dur-
ing February and March 1851. “ Man and his Migrations’’
is another small work, and which also represents a course of
lectures which the author delivered at the Mechanics’ Insti-
tution, Liverpool, in March 1851. These works being de-
voted to the teaching of what is known, 7.e., to the diffusion
of Ethnological knowledge, require no further notice on this
occasion.
_ Dr Latham’s edition of the Germania of Tacitus, with
Ethnological dissertations, is a valuable contribution to our
science. The object of the work, is to exhibit in detail, the
Ethnology of ancient Germany. The means of effecting this
object is the study of the different languages of the families
and nations descended from and allied to the Germans of
Tacitus. We all know the difficulty of reconciling the Eth-
nology of Germany at different epochs in the historic period
with the Germania of Tacitus. The question, as Dr Latham
notices, is not whether certain nations of the Germanie are
rightly placed therein, but whether Tacitus’ test of German-
ism was the same as ours; and whether, if different, more
correct.

70 Richard Cull, Esq., on the

We know that nearly the whole of that part of the Ger-
mania of Tacitus east of the Elbe, as well as certain parts
west of the Elbe, were, at the beginning of the proper his-
torical period, ¢.e., in the reign of Charlemagne not Germanic
but Slavonic. Did Tacitus confound Slavonians with Ger-
mans? Did the German population of Tacitus entirely aban-
don that tract of country, and a Slavonian population take
its place? These are questions which Dr Latham has treated
in detail with great ability. The country east of the Elbe
was only dimly sketched by Tacitus. The period when it
became known in detail, and from personal knowledge, is
the reign of Charlemagne. Accurate geographical knowledge
of this region was scarcely possible to Tacitus.

It is not enough, as Dr Latham remarks, to know how a
modern writer classifies the varieties of man. The reader of
Tacitus must also know the view that the ancients took of
those varieties. The ancients had clear notions of the dif-
ferences between the group to which they themselves be-
longed, z.e., the Classical group, and the groups to which the
so-called BasSagou belonged. This notion, clear as it was, was
limited to one direction. It comprehended only the points
of difference. Modern science has extended the notion to
comprehend points of resemblance also. The resemblances
which brought the Slavonians and Goths into the same group
with the Classical stock—the great group called Indo-Euro-
pean, were utterly unknown to the ancients.

“The Unity of the Human races proved to be the Doctrine
of Scripture, Reason, and Science. By Thomas Smyth,
XD."

This work, which appeared in Edinburgh late last autumn,
is a reprint, revised and much enlarged by the author, of the

American edition. The American edition grew out of three |
discourses, and various articles by the same author, which |

appeared in several Theological Journals in the United
States ; and which were written to controvert the position of
Professor Agassiz, that the origin of the human race is mul-
tiform. Professor Agassiz is well known as a profound na-
turalist, whose opinions are entitled to much respect. Asa
naturalist, the Professor declares there is no common or se-

a eS

Recent Progress of Ethnology. 71

veral centres of origin for the lower animals, but that they
were all created in the localities which they naturally occupy,
and in which they breed, either in pairs or multitudes. The
same is asserted of man. There is no common central ori-
gin for man, but an indefinite number of separate creations
from which the races of man have sprung. The Professor
fortifies this opinion by an appeal to the Holy Scriptures. He
says the Biblical history of the creation of man is that of only
one race, viz., that of Adam; and that Adam and Eve were
not the only pair created, nor even the first created of hu-
man beings.

Professor Agassiz thinks there was a distinct origin and
separate creation for eachrace. And that each creation took
place in that locality which the race naturally occupies.

On these views Dr Smyth joins issue; and in some very
able controversial writings and lectures, has strenuously ar-
gued for the unity of the human race. Those controversial
works have formed the basis of a systematic work in which
he labours to shew, that Scripture, reason, and science con-
eur in proving the unity of the human race. Dr Smyth’s
eloquent and forcible book partakes in some degree of the
controversial spirit, but even with that drawback, it is well
worthy the attention of ethnologists.

Dr Smyth devotes three chapters to the statement of the
Historical and Doctrinal Evidence of Scripture on the unity
of the human race. ‘This doctrine, be it observed, Scripture
teaches us, not as a matter of scientific knowledge, but as the
foundation of all human obligation, and of the universality of
all human charity.”—(P. 112.) But as regards ethnological
details, “‘ the tenth and eleventh chapters of Genesis are un-
questionably the best ethnographical document on the face of
the earth.””—(P. 100.) The importance of the doctrine to
Christianity cannot be overrated; for, “it will be at once
perceived that the gospel must stand or fall with the doc-
trine of the unity of the human races.”—(P. 112.)

With so high an estimate of the importance of this doc-
trine to our highest interests, we are prepared for the ur-
gency with which it is advocated. Asa theologian, Dr Smyth
places in the front rank his Scripture evidence. “ The truth

72 Richard Cull, Esq., on the

and certainty of the unity of the human races has now, we
believe, been established as an incontrovertible fact. It rests
upon the unmistakeable evidence of the infallible Word of
God, who, in the beginning, made of one blood all the nations
of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.’ But with-
out bating a jot of the value of his theological argument,
Dr Smyth boldly enters the ethnological arena, fully con-
vinced that ethnological conclusions must be drawn from
ethnological data; and, accordingly, he discusses the ques-
tion “ of the nature and philosophy of species,” and then
ably argues that, “The unity of the races is proved by the
unity of the species ;” that “the unity of races is proved by
their common fertility, and by the infertility of hybrids,” and
then grappling with the philological argument that, “ the unity
of the races is proved from the universality, nature, and con-
nection of languages.”

Dr Smyth then quits the scientific data and reasoning, to
callin the aid of history and tradition ; and thence he appeals
to experience, and the insensible gradations of the varieties,
as arguments for the unity of the races of men. Dr Smyth
does not evade the difficulties which surround his view of the
question. Professor Agassiz and other mere naturalists, lay
great stress upon the fixedness of the physical characters
of the several varieties of man, that these characters have
been fixed certainly from the earliest dawn of history ; whence
it is argued that the races of men have always been separated
by the same amount of differences. Dr Smyth fairly states
the argument of the Professor, and devotes a chapter to the
‘Origin of the Varieties of the Human Species,” and this chap-
ter is well worthy of attention. Amongst the interesting
portions of the book is an appendix, “‘ On the former Civilisa-
tion of Black Races of Men ;’’ and a note “ On the Veddahs
of Ceylon.” .

In several respects Dr Smyth’s is a remarkable and valu-
able work. It may be considered as a contribution to the
bibliography of our science. It is a compendium of all that
has been written on that side of the question. His authori-
ties are duly cited, without any parade of learning, without
egotism, without any assumptions of superior sanctity ; and
with strict impartiality does he state his opponents’ views.

Recent Progress of Ethnology. 73

There is with all this so much originality and deep interest
in the subject, that the reader is carried along, without at all
_ thinking of the author himself.

Our associate Mr Logan’s Journal of the Indian Archi-
pelago and Eastern Asia continues to record most important
information of the Malay and other peoples of that Archi-
pelago. The history, antiquities, languages, and ethnology
of the Malays is graduaily being brought to European know-
ledge by Mr Logan, and his band of contributors living
at and around Singapore, who are so praiseworthily labouring
for science in that distant region.

Mr Logan’s extensive knowledge of Malay dialects gives
a peculiar value to his philological researches, and his inti-
mate knowledge of the physical, intellectual, and moral cha-
racter of the Malays give him great vantage-ground in his
ethnological researches of the Indo-Pacific islands. The
ethnology of the central Malay nations is now becoming
more distinct, and is assuming a more definite outline, which
will clear the way to a fuller appreciation of the facts con-
nected with the outlying tribes and offshoots which are so
widely scattered over the islands of the Pacific. I commend
to your especial attention Mr Logan’s researches, which you
will find recorded in the 4th and 5th volumes of his Journal
of the Eastern Archipelago.

Captain Denham is now about to sail with an expedition
which is placed under his command to make a survey of
certain groups of islands on the east of Australia. We may
therefore expect new and valuable details of the Ethnology
of that region.

I think the time has now arrived when a report on the
Kthnology of the Pacific Islands might be drawn up, by
which means special attention would be drawn to the nature
and amount of our ignorance of the details of that ethnology.

We all regretted the early death of Captain Owen Stanley,
who died in command of the Rattlesnake, while on her sur-
veying voyage. Mr Macgillivray, the naturalist to the expe-
dition, has written an account of the scientific results of the
voyage. Very important knowledge has been collected in
various departments of science. Amongst others, some

74 Richard Cull, Esq., on the

valuable contributions have been made to Ethnology. The
survey of Torres’ Straits was important in a commercial and
maritime point of view. The Ethnology of this district, in-
cluding both sides of the Straits, Timor, &c., is most impor-
tant in relation to the great questions of the route of migra-
tion of the Malays to people the islands of the Pacific, and
that of the black race (Papuans?) to people N. Australia.
Materials are now fast collecting, which will, it is hoped, ere
long enable us to form some connected view of the Ethnology
of this region.

““Steene Bille’s Bericht der Reise der Galathea um die
Welt.” |

This book is an account of a voyage of discovery round
the world of the Galathea, a Danish corvette, commanded by
Captain Bille.

The great object of the expedition was to obtain more
accurate and positive knowledge of the Nicobar Islands, a
Danish colony in the Bay of Bengal, with a view to that
Government’s decision as to the expediency of retaining the
colony. The Galathea proceeded by the Cape of Good Hope
to Madras, Calcutta, and these islands. Thence she passed
through the Straits of Malacca, to Batavia, the Philippines,
China, the South Sea Islands, and home by Cape Horn.

The Danish edition is in three volumes, the German, by
omission of an appendix and other curtailing, is compressed
into two volumes. I have only seen the German edition.
The voyage occupied two years, from 1845 to 1847, and the
delay of publication was caused by the political events which
have so much agitated Europe for the last four years. The
chief value to us is the very complete account of the Ethno-
logy of the Nicobar Islands. The appendix contains voca-
bularies of the Nicobar and Negrito languages, which I regret
are not in the German edition, and the scientific (ethnological)
part has evidently been abridged also. This I regret; for
while German is generally read, we find but few who read
Danish.

We are indebted to another of our fellows, Dr Daniell, for
gathering important details of the Ethnology of Western
Africa. Dr Daniell has resided for several years on the

Recent Progress of Ethnology. 75

Guinea Coast, where he has laboured for the advancement of
several sciences. His paper on the natives of Old Callebar,
printed in our first volume, established his reputation as an
ethnologist. His recent papers on Akkrah and Adampé will
sustain that reputation. He has filled up lacunee in our know-
ledge of African Ethnology; and we may confidently look for
more knowledge as the result of new investigations which he
will enter upon on his return, at the end of the month, to
Africa. And let me add, that he will have our best wishes
for the preservation of his health, and that he may be spared
to return to us, and to increase his reputation by enlarging
still more the boundaries of our ethnological knowledge of
West Africa.

We may also expect additions to our African ethnology
from Dr Overweg’s expedition.
_ * A Manual of Geographical Science. By the Rev. C. G.
Nicolay.” The several articles of this manual are written
by various authors. The article Physical Geography is
written by Professor Ansted. The section on the distribu-
tion of animals in space and time occupies 48 pages; that on
Ethnology occupies 25 pages; so that a very fair proportion
of space is allotted to our science. But in so small a space
there can only be a sketch of the subject. The sketch is a
compilation, chiefly from the works of Dr Prichard and
Colonel Hamilton Smith; and, as might be expected, the
sketch is more a description of the geographical distribution
of the human family than a manual of Ethnology. |

Our science has been advanced, and most valuable mate-
rials have been collected for others to advance it, by the
Bible and the several Missionary Societies. The philolo-
gical and other knowledge which those societies have collected
together to further the high and noble objects which they
have in view, has also been of incalculable value in advan-
cing ethnological science. I need not enumerate the many
unwritten languages which the missionaries have been the
first to study and reduce to writing. Nor is it necessary to
enlarge upon the great patience and ability which is required
So to acquire, and afterwards to write ; for the works them-
selves speak louder than any praise of mine. The labours

76 Richard Cull, Esq., on the

of the missionaries have greatly contributed to advance the
bounds of our knowledge in both glossology and grammar.

Colonel Rawlinson has read another memoir to the Royal
Asiatic Society, on the Babylonian and Assyrian Inscriptions,
part of which, occupying about 150 pages, has recently been
published in the Journal of that Society. The memoir is
upon the Babylonian translation of the Great Behistun In-
scription. The memoir consists of—I1st, The text and an
analysis of the Babylonian inscription at Behistun; 2d, An
indiscriminate list of Babylonian and Assyrian characters ;
and, 3d, On the Babylonian alphabet, of which we have only
the beginning now published.

It can be shewn, beyond all doubt, that a very large pro-
portion of the Assyrian signs, ¢.e., the arrow-headed charac-
ters are polyphones. ‘‘ But although I can thus shew the
probable reason of the employment of cuneatic polyphones—
although I can explain the fact of the character $<, the
ideograph for a ‘country,’ being invested with such discre-
pant phonetic values as mat and kur, by referring to the
Semitic synonyms rp in Chaldee, and x,,5 in Arab. (cog-

nate with ywea),—the practical inconvenience of such a
variableness of power is excessive. ‘The meaning, for in-
stance, of an Assyrian or Babylonian word may be ascer-
tained determinately, either from the key of the trilingual
inscriptions, or from its occurring in a great variety of pas-
Sages with only one signification that is generally applicable ;
but unless its correspondent can be recognised in some
Semitic tongue, it is often impossible, owing to the employ-
ment in it of a polyphone character, to fix its orthography.
In the multitudinous inscriptions, again, of Nimroud, of
Khursabad, of Koyunjik, and of Babylon, of which (although
their general application can be detected without much diff-
culty) the details require for their elaboration a minute phi-
lological analysis, this orthographical uncertainty presses on
the student with almost crushing severity. On the one side,
in working out his readings, he can only employ philological
aid,—+that is, he can only compare Hebrew or Chaldee cor-
respondents, after being assured of the true sound of the
Assyrian and Babylonian word ; while on the other, he must

Recent Progress of Ethnology. 77

depend on his acquaintance not Semitic vocables to fix the
fluctuating cuneiform powers.”

The recovery of a long-lost language like the Babylonian
is, of itself, a matter of deep interest, but the consequences
of that recovery, in enabling us to read the numerous in-
scriptions containing ancient records of Babylonian history,
and enabling us also to trace the philological relationships
of that language, are consequences of great interest and
value to us as ethnologists. It appears that the Babylonian
is a Semitic language, and that Biblical Hebrew and Chaldee
are the two languages greatly used by Col. Rawlinson to
illustrate it. I take this opportunity to refer you to a re-
markable passage in the Divinity Lectures of the Rev. W.
Digby, Dean of Clonfert. I quote from a copy printed in
Dublin in 1787. In Lecture V. the Dean is engaged in
shewing that the confusion at Babel was not of language in
its ordinary sense, but about religion.

“ That the whole earth was of one religion, and that the
true one, immediately after the flood; when but eight per-
sons were left alive, is not to be disputed. That there was
also but one language then spoken; and that a variety of
languages did not immediately take place upon the confu-
sion at Babel, but was the slow, gradual, and natural effect
of the dispersion, is fairly to be collected from the book of
Scripture. Nay, more, that but one language was spoken
for several ages after, will, I think, appear from the follow-
ing circumstances. ’

“ Tt is allowed on all hands, that Canaan, the son of Ham,
spoke the same language with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It appears further, that Nimrod, who was grandson to Ham,
spake the same language with Asher, the son of Shem: the
former in Babylon, the latter at Nineveh.”

The Dean carries on his argument to shew that one lan-
guage only was spoken up to the time that Joseph was
carried into Egypt. And he argues that this universal
language was the Mosaic Hebrew. I have quoted the Dean
not to follow his argument in detail, upon which, on the
present occasion, I pass no opinion, but to shew that some
ground exists why we, as modern philologists, might have

78 Richard Cull, Esq., on the

been justified in assuming, a prior?, that should the Baby-
lonian language be recovered, it would be found to be cog-
nate with the Mosaic Hebrew.

It was proposed some years ago to appoint a distinct Sec-
tion for the cultivation of Ethnology in the British Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science. The proposal was
negatived by the committee of the Association. It was, how-
ever, felt, that Ethnology is worthier than to occupy a mere
subordinate place in the section of Natural History. It has
accordingly been removed from that section, and now is
united with Geography, which has been removed from Geo-
logy, and they together form one section. If by such a union
Ethnology were to be degraded into the science of the geo-
graphical distribution of the human race, I should never
cease to raise my voice against its union. At the Ipswich
meeting last July, Section E, for the cultivation of Geography
and Ethnology, met for the first time, and you were duly in-
formed of the results of that meeting at the opening of the
Session.

I have now rapidly glanced at the progress of Ethnology
during the past year. In relation to the whole science, that
progress is fragmentary, but so is the annual progress of
every other science. One of the chief uses of reviewing our
progress is to draw attention to what is well known, less
known, and unknown ; for our knowledge and ignorance are
so blended as to make a chaos. And, in reviewing our posi-
tion, it would be well to draw up special reports in order to
affix the boundaries of our knowledge, so as to exhibit in its
full magnitude our ethnological ignorance, both in relation
to space and time.

Common experience in the progress of knowledge shews,
that in proportion as the number of students of a science in-
crease, so does a larger number of persons become interested
in the advancement of that science, and we find it advance.
The history of Mathematics, of the Physical Sciences, of Che-
mistry, of Geology, of Geography, and other sciences, all con-
cur in shewing that a rapid advancement of the science, both
by extension of knowledge, and a fuller comprehension of the
laws of nature, invariably follows a wider diffusion of what

Recent Progress of Ethnology. 19

isalready known. Such being a law of relation between the
advancement and the diffusion of knowledge, I take the liberty
of asking you to aid us in advancing Ethnology by diffusing
as widely as possible a knowledge of it amongst your friends,
and thus to awaken in them an interest in our pursuit. In
this way, however small our knowledge may be, and however
unable immediately to enter upon original researches our-
selves, we may still indirectly conduce to the advancement of
our science. And let us not hesitate to pursue our inquiries,
lest they should land us in scepticism ; for that which refuses
to investigate in case of such a result, is a scepticism of the
worst kind ; for it is a scepticism whose assumption is, that
the words of God are at variance with His works ; and will,
therefore, continually place Religion and Science in antagon-
ism. Let us remember, in the beautiful language of Spur-
zheim, that “‘ genuine philosophy and genuine religion are
very nearly akin. The one explores the elder volume of
nature—the other investigates the later volume of Divine
revelation. Both unite in their practical results; both pro-
mote the present improvement of man; both conduce to his
ultimate felicity.”

Chemical Report to the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council
for Trade, on the cause of Fire in the Ship Amazon. By
Professor GRAHAM.

My Lorps,—In reply to the questions arising out of the disas-
trous loss of the Amazon by fire, which are proposed to me for a
chemical opinion, I beg to submit to your Lordships the following
statements and conclusions.

The practice of mixing together the various stores of the engineer,
consisting of oils, tallow, soft-soap, turpentine, cotton-waste, and tow,
and placing them in heated store-rooms contiguous to the boilers,
must be looked upon as dangerous in no ordinary degree, for several
reasons. Although oil in bulk is not easily ignited, particularly when
preserved in iron tanks, still, when spilt upon wood or imbibed by
tow and cotton-waste, which expose much surface to air, the oil often
oxidates and heats spontaneously, and is allowed to be one of the
most frequent causes of accidental fires. The vegetable and drying
oils used by painters, are most liable to spontaneous ignition, but no
kind of animal or vegetable oil or grease appears to be exempted from

80 Professor Graham’s Chemical Report on the

it ; and instances could be given of olive-oil igniting upon sawdust ;
of greasy rags from butter, heaped together, taking fire within a
period of twenty-four hours; of the spontaneous combustion of tape-
measures, which are covered with an oil varnish, when heaped to-
gether, and even of an oil-skin umbrella put aside in a damp state.
The ignition of such materials has been often observed to be greatly
favoured by a slight warmth, such as the heat of the sun. I am
also informed by Mr aca that the great proportion of fires at
railway stations have originated in the lamp-store, and that in coach-
works also, when the fire can be traccd, it is most frequently to the
painter’s department, the fire having arisen spontaneously from the
ignition of oily matters. Lamp-black and ground charcoal are still
more inflammable, when the smaliest quantity of oil obtains access
to them, and should not be admitted at all among ship’s stores.

The stowing metallic cans or stoneware jars of either oil or tur-
pentine in a warm place, is also attended with a danger which is less
obvious, namely, the starting of the corks of the vessels, or the actual
bursting of them by the great expansion of the liquid oil, which is
caused by heat. These liquids expand in volume so much as one
upon thirty, by a rise of not more than 60° of temperature, or by
such a change as from the ordinary low temperature of 40° to a blood
heat ; the latter temperature may easily be exceeded in an engine-
room. It is remarkable that the burning a few years ago of a large
steamer on the American lakes, which even surpassed in its fatality
the loss of the Amazon, was occasioned by the bursting, in the man-
ner described, of a jar of turpentine placed upon deck too close to the
funnel, by a party of journeymen painters who were passengers.
This steamer was also on her first voyage, and being newly varnish-
ed, the flames spread over her bulwarks and extended the whole
length of the vessel in a few minutes.

The bulk-heads of coal-holds appear to admit of obtaining con-
siderable security from fire by being constructed double where close
to the boiler, with a sheet of air between the two partitions. The
tendency of coals to spontaneous ignition is increased by a moderate
heat, such as that of the engine-room, from which they would be pro-
tected by the double partition. I have obtained instances where
coals took fire in a factory, on two different occasions, by being heap-
ed for a length of time against a heated wall, of which the tempera-
ture could be supported by the hand; also of coals igniting after some
days upon stone flags covering a flue, of which the temperature was
not known to rise above 150°, and of coals shewing indications of
taking fire by being thrown in bulk over a steam-pipe. These were
Lancashire coals, which are highly sulphureous ; but the same ac-
cident occurred with Wallsend coals, at the Chartered East Com-
pany’s Works in London, where the coals were twice ignited through
a two-feet brick wall, of which the temperature was believed by Mr
Croll not to exceed 120° or 140°.

Cause of Fire in the Ship Amazon. el

The surface of deal in the partition opposed to the boiler, would
probably be better protected from fire by impregnating the wood with
a saline solution, which diminishes combustibility, such as the zine
solution of Sir W. Burnett, rather than by coating the wood on the
side next the boiler with sheet iron. Indeed, this use of iron ap-
pears to introduce a new danger. The iron being a good conductor
of heat, the wood below is heated nearly as much as if uncovered,
and wood in contact with iron appears to be brought by repeated
heating to an extraordinary degree of combustibility, and to become
peculiarly liable to spontaneous ignition.

Mr Braidwood, who has been led to that conclusion, gave an in-
stance of wood covered by sheet-iron igniting spontaneously in a
wadding manufactory. The numerous occasions, also, on which
wood and paper have been ignited by Perkins’ heated water-pipes,
equally exemplifying the dangerous consequences which may arise
from moderately heated iron, in long contact with combustible
matter.

The most obvious precautions for guarding against the sponta-
neous ignition of coal stowed in ship’s bunkers, appear to be the taking
the coal on board inas dry a condition as possible, and the turning it
over, if there be room for doing so, as soon as the first symptom of
heating is perceived. An obnoxious vapour is described as always
preceding the breaking out of the fire, and affords warning of the
danger. ‘The ignition of Newcastle coals in store, is not an unfre-
quent occurrence at the London gas-works. It appears always to
begin at a single spot, and is met by cutting down upon and remov-
ing at once the heated coals. Long iron rods are placed upright in
the coal heap, which can be pulled out, and indicate by their warmth
the exact situation of the fire. Steam can be of little avail for ex-
tinguishing the fire among coals in bulk; and water, although it may
_ extinguish the fire for the time, is too apt to induce a recurrence of
the evil. |

For extinguishing a fire occurring in berths or cabins in the im-
mediate vicinity of the boiler and engine-room, steam might be more
advantageously applied, means of turning on the steam being pro-
vided upon the upper deck, or other distant place of safety. Steam,
however, can only be said to be efficient in extinguishing flame, or
a blaze from light objects, and is not to be relied upon beyond an
early stage of a fire. Upon a mass of red-hot cinders the extinguish-
ing effect of steam is insensible.

An essential condition of applying steam with success to the ex-
tinction of a fire in the engine-room, would be to prevent the rapid
ingress and circulation of air at the same time, which is occasioned
by the draught of the fires. This could only be done completely by
valving the chimneys; for the quantity of heated air passing off by
the funnels, greatly exceeds in volume the steam produced by the
boilers in the same time, and would rapidly convey away the steam

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.—JULY 1852. F

§2 Protessor Graham’s Report on the

thrown into the atmosphere of the engine-room, and prevent any
possible advantage from it.

The fire in the ‘‘ Amazon” appeared to the witnesses to take its
rise either in the small oil store-room situated over the boiler, or in
a narrow space of from three to eleven inches in width between a
bulk-head and the side of the boiler, immediately under the same
store-room. No substance remarkable for spontaneous ignition,
such as oiled cotton-waste, was actually observed in the store-room
or the space referred to. The wood itself of the bulk-head, which
was within a few inches of the boiler, may have been highly dried
and sensibly heated by its proximity to the latter, but is not likely
to have acquired any tendency to spontaneous ignition; for when
that property results from low heating, it is an effect of time, re-
quiring weeks or months to develop it. The same observation ap-
plies to the decks in contact with the steam-chest, which encased
the base of the funnel.

Nor does it appear probable, that the coals in the coal-hold of the
vessel gave occasion to the fire by heating of themselves, and then
burning through the wooden partition of the oil-store, with which they
were in contact.

The coals were from Wales, and are not remarkable for this pro-
perty. They are also said to have been shipped in a dry and dusty
state, and not damp, a month or two previously.

Their ignition would also have been preceded by the strong odour
before referred to, which does not appear to have been remarked,
although the coal-hold communicated directly with the boiler-rcom.

Oil was seen to drop from the floor of the store-room upon the
top of the boiler, but not in greater quantity than might be acci-
dentally spilt in drawing the oil from the tank for the use of the
engineers.

A parcel of twenty-five newly-tarred coal-sacks, which had been
thrown upon the boiler, also obtained, it is supposed, some of the
same oil. This oil appears to be the matter most liable to the pos-
sibility of spontaneous ignition, which was noticed near the spot
where the fire commenced.

But the sudden and powerful burst of flame from th store-room,
which occurred at the very outset of the conflagration, suggests
strongly the intervention of a volatile combustible, such as turpen-

tine, although the presence of a tin can of that substance in the

store-room appears to be left uncertain. It was stated to be there
by two witnesses, but its presence is denied by a third witness. I

find, upon trial, that the vapour given off by oil of turpentine is

sufficiently dense at a temperature somewhat below 110° to make
air explosive upon the approach of a light. Any escape of turpentine
from the heated store-room would therefore endanger a spread of

flame, by the vapour communicating.with the lamps burning at the —

time in the boiler-room, or even with the fire of the furnaces.

Cause of Fire in the Ship Amazon. 83

The fire appears not to have begun in the tarred sacks lying upon
the boiler; although, from their position, which was close to the
store-room, they must have been very early involved in the confla-
gration, and contributed materially to its intensity. The sacks
appear to have been charged each with about two pounds of tar,
thus furnishing together fifty pounds of that substance, in a condi-
tion the most favourable that can be imagined for rapid combustion.
The freshness of the tar, and its high temperature would make it
ignite by the least spark of flame, although not prone to spontaneous
ignition. The burning of a group of newly-tarred cottages in Dept-
ford, which came under the notice of Mr Braidwood, arose from their
being set on fire by lightning, while the sun was shining upon them,
and the tar liquified by the heat.

The origin of the fire must. remain, I believe, a subject of specu-
lation and conjecture; but the extreme intensity, and fearfully rapid
spread of the combustion, are circumstances of scarcely inferior in-
terest, which are not involved in the same obscurity.

The timber of the bulkheads and decks near the engine-room is
reported to have been of Dantzic red wood, or Riga pine, and such
was the character of a portion of the Amazon’s timber which was
supplied to me for chemical examination. The wood has had its
temperature drawn off, and differs in that respect from pitch pine.
The Dantzic red wood is, in consequence, less combustible than pitch
pine, but more porous and spongy. Oil paint is absorbed, and dries
more quickly upon this porous wood than upon oak and other dense
woods. After the paint is well dried, pine and other woods cer-
tainly acquire from it some protection from the action of feeble and
transient flames, which might kindle the naked wood. But the
effect of paint—especially of fresh paint—appears to be quite the
reverse when the wood is exposed to a strong, although merely
passing, burst of flame. The paint melts, and emits an oily vapour
which nourishes the flame, and soon fixes it upon the wood. There
can be no doubt, therefore, that the timber of the Amazon was in a
more inflammable state than ship-timber usually is, from being
recently painted, and also, probably, from its newness and compara-
| tive dryness.

But the circumstance which appears above all others to give a
character to the fire in the Amazon was its occurrence, not in a
close hold or cabin, but in a compartment of the vessel where a
vigorous circulation of air is maintained by the action of the boiler-
fires and their chimneys. The air of the engine-room must be

renewed, under this influence, every few minutes, and would be so
although full of flames rising above deck through the hatchways ;
for a portion of these flames would always escape by the funnels, and
add to their aspirating power instead of diminishing it. The com-
bustion of bulkheads or decks, once commenced in this situation,
would therefore be fanned into activity, and powerfully supported.

F 2

84 Mr Sharpe on the Foliation and Cleavage of

The destruction of the floor of the oil store-room, and the over-
turning, in consequence, of the-oil-tanks and combustibles into the
well of the boiler-room, was probably the crisis of the fire. A mass
of combustible vapour would speedily be generated, and shot about
on all sides, of which the kindling power upon the new and painted
timber of the bulkheads and decks would be wholly irresistible.

The burning of the Amazon impresses most emphatically the
dangerous and uncontrollable character of a fire arising in the engine
or boiler-room, where the combustion is animated by a steady and
powerful circulation of air, and the danger of collecting combustible
matter together in such a place. The removal of the oil stores to a
safer locality is, fortunately, generally practicable, and is the measure
best calculated to prevent the recurrence of any similar catastrophe.
I have the honour to: remain, Sir, &c.

TuHos, GRAHAM.

To the Lords of the Committee of
Privy Council for Trade.

—The Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society, No. xvii.,
p-. 34.

On the Foliation and Cleavage of Rocks of the N orth of Scot-
land. By DANIEL SHARPE, Esq., F.R.S., V.P.S.G.

Mr Sharpe, in a paper read to the Royal Society of Lon-
don on the 15th January 1852, applies the term, cleavage or
lamination, to the divisional planes by which stratified rocks
are split into parallel sheets, independently of the stratifica-
tion ; foliation, to the division of crystalline rocks into layers
of different mineral substances; slate, to stratified rocks in-
tersected by cleavage; and schist, to foliated rocks only
which exhibit no bedding, independent of the foliation.

He considers that no distinct line can be drawn between
gneiss and mica schist, chlorite schist, &c., which pass from
one into the other by insensible gradations ; have the same —
geological relations, and foliation subject to the same laws.
He states that their boundaries have been laid down arbi-
trarily on the published maps of Scotland. The quartz rock
of MacCulloch includes two formations ; the one a quartzose
variety of gneiss, included in this paper under that head ;
the other, a stratified sandstone altered by plutonic action. _

The author treats the foliation of gneiss and schist as a

Rocks of the North of Scotland. 85

series of simple curves, obtained by observing the general
direction, and disregarding the minor and more complicated
folds. The convolutions are usually greatest where the dip
is slightest, but where the foliation is vertical, or nearly so,
it usually follows true planes without contortion ; thus the
most correct observations are those taken where the foliation
is vertical.

When the foliation of gneiss and schist is traced over ex-
tensive areas, and the minor convolutions disregarded, it is
usually found to form arches of great length, and many miles
in diameter, bounded by vertical planes, between which the
inclination increases with the distance from the axis. Hach
arch is succeeded by a narrow space, in which the dip is irre-
gular, and beyond which another arch commences of a form
Similar to the first. Portions of two adjoining arches seen
without the rest form the fan-like structure observed by seve-
ral geologists. The arrangement of the foliation in arches
corresponds with that of the cleavage of the true slates pre-
viously described by the author, except in the greater convo-
lution of the gneiss and schist.

Along the southern border of the Highlands, a band of
stratified clay-slate rests on mica schist ; at the junction, the
foliation of the schist conforms to the cleavage of the slate,
and the two together form an arch, but there is no connec-
tion between the stratification of the slate and the foliation ;
moreover, the divisional planes cross from one rock to the
other, without change of direction, being planes of foliation
in the mica schist, and of cleavage in the slate; these facts
confirm Mr Darwin’s opinion, that cleavage and foliation are
due to the same cause.

The author describes the parallel arches of foliation which
cross the Highlands, illustrating his description by sections
and a map, on which they are laid down, and tracing in
detail the vertical planes which bound the arches. Com-
mencing on the south, the first vertical plane runs about four
miles within the Highland border, with a mean direction of
about N. 55° E.: it crosses more than once the junction of
the clay slate and mica schist. South of this plane the
cleavage of the slate forms the beginning of an arch, which

86 Mr Sharpe on the Foliation and Cleavage of

ends abruptly at the junction of the slate with the old red
sandstone.

To the north of this vertical plane four arches run across
the Highlands ; the most southern of these, with a diameter
of ten or twelve miles, is formed partly of the cleavage of the
slate, and partly of the foliation of the mica schist. The
hills on the south side of Loch Tay coincide with its central
axis. The vertical plane which forms its northern boundary
crosses Ben Lawers, and has a mean direction of N. 50° E.
The next arch northward, consisting principally of gneiss, has
a diameter varying from twenty-five to thirty miles; its axis
runs for some distance along the central ridge of the Gram-
pians. The granite of Cruachan and Ben-Muich-Dhui inter-
feres with the regularity of the foliation of this district, and
the lines are thrown to the north by the granite of Aberdeen-
shire ; the line which bounds this arch on the north crosses
the Spey near Laggan, and runs N. 40° E. through Corbine
into the Monagh Leagh mountains. To the north of that
line, the foliation of the gneiss forms an arch only ten miles
wide, bounded on the north by a vertical plane running N.
35° E., which crosses Coryaraick. This plane forms the south-
ern boundary of an arch, varying from fifteen to twenty-five
miles wide, entirely of gneiss, bounded on the north by a band
of vertical foliation which runs about N. 30° E., from Glen
Finnan through the middle of Ross-shire, and across Ben
Nevis. To the north-west of this band there is half an arch
in the foliation, varying from twenty to thirty miles wide,
which ends abruptly at a line to be drawn from Loch Eribol
and Loch Maree, on the west of which the gneiss is uncon-
formable to that hitherto described, but agrees with that of
the island of the Lewis, forming a series of arches which run
about NW.

From the want of parallelism in the lines of foliation of the
Highlands, they would all nearly converge between Lough
Foyle and Lough Swilly among the mica schists of the north
of Ireland.

The most rugged and elevated hills are usually on or near
the lines of vertical foliation ; the axis of the arches are ge-
nerally found in high land, and the principal valleys occur
between the central axis of the arches and their vertical

Rocks of the North of Scotland. 87

boundaries. Thus the main physical features of the High-
lands are connected with the foliation of the gneiss and schists;
but the granites and porphyries which have broken through
those rocks, and disturbed the regularity of the foliation, have
also greatly modified the surface of the country.

The contortions of gneiss and schists being unaccompanied
by fracture, must, the author considers, have been produced
when the matter of those rocks was semifluid; in this state
the mineral ingredients appear to have separated and re-ar-
ranged themselves in layers according to their affinities, while
the whole was subjected to pressure acting along certain axes
of elevation, which raised those layers into arches.

On the Structure of the Iguanodon, and on the Fauna and
Flora of the Wealden Formation. By G. A. MANTELL,
Esq. LL.D., F.R.S.*

The geological phenomena of the south-east of England, compris-
ing the lithological characters and organic remains of the Diluvial,
Tertiary, Cretaceous, Wealden, and Oolitic deposits, were described
in two Lectures delivered to the Members of the Royal Institution by
Dr Mantell in 1836 and 1849. ‘In those discourses the fauna and
flora of the Wealden were cursorily noticed, and the Iguanodon and
other gigantic terrestrial reptiles, whose fossil remains have invested
the strata of Tilgate Forest with a high degree of interest, were briefly
alluded to. The present lecture was restricted to a consideration
of the fauna and flora of the countries whence the deposits consti-
tuting the Wealden districts were derived; and the osteological
characters of the most remarkable fossil Saurians peculiar to this
geological epoch were especially illustrated.

After a concise exposition of the characters of the various forma-
tions which have succeeded, and now overlie, or, in other words, are
of more recent origin than the Wealden—namely, the Drift, or
Diluvium, containing bones of large mammalia, as the mammoth,
mastodon, rhinoceros, horse, deer, &c.;—the Eocene, or ancient
tertiary strata of the London basin, abounding in marine exuvie of
special and for the most part extinct types ;—and the Cretaceous or
chalk-formation, comprising the white chalk of the North and South
Downs, and the chalk-marl, galt, and greensand of Surrey, Kent,
and Sussex, the whole characterised by innumerable marine shells,
- zoophytes, fishes, reptiles, &c. of extinct species and genera ;— Dr

* Read in the Royal Institution on March 5, 1852,

88 Dr Mantell on the Structure of the Iyguanodon,

Mantell proceeded to illustrate the structure of the Iguanodon as
exemplified by the isolated parts of the skeleton hitherto discovered,
and of which numerous examples were exhibited on the tables of
the Institution.

The perfect germ, and the ele tooth, of the Iguanodon, are
characterised by the prismatic form of the crown, which is traversed
on the thick enamelled face by three or four longitudinal ridges, and
has the lateral margins denticulated, and the summit finely crenated ;
in this state the teeth resemble those of the living Iguana of the
West Indies—a resemblance which suggested the generic name of
Iguanodon. But the fossil teeth are of enormous size in comparison
with their recent prototypes; for the teeth of the Iguana are as
small as those of the mouse, while those of the Iguanodon are often
one inch wide, and three inches in length. Specimens exhibiting
the above characters are, however, rare; the summit of the crown
is usually more or less worn away by use, and the fang removed by
absorption from the pressure induced by the upward growth of the
successional teeth. In the first example discovered by Dr Mantell
(in 1820), the crown was ground down so as to present on its inner
face a smooth oblique surface with a cutting edge on the summit,
and the marginal crenations were worn away. In this state the
fossil so strikingly resembled an upper tooth of a rhinoceros, that
Baron Cuvier pronounced it to belong to a species of that genus.
Numerous teeth in different stages of growth and detrition were at
length obtained, and the reptilian character of the animal to which
they belonged was satisfactorily determined. ‘Three years since,
the first specimen of the lower jaw was discovered by Captain Lam-
bart Brickenden, in the same quarry in Tilgate Forest trom which
the earliest known tooth was obtained; and subsequently a portion
of the upper jaw with teeth has been procured from the Hastings
strata.

Referring to his various memoirs on the Iguanodon in the Philo-
sophical Transactions, and to his recent work on the Organic Re-
mains in the British Museum,* for details, the lecturer stated, that
while the compound structure of the lower jaw, and the mode of
dentition, established the reptilian character of the original animal,
the maxillary organs presented a nearer approach to those of certain
mammalia, than is observable in any other reptiles. The teeth in
the upper and lower jaw were arranged in a sub-alternate order as
in ruminants; the face of the crown, or that having the thickest
coat of enamel, is placed mesially or on the inner side of the lower
teeth, and on the external surface of the upper. The anterior part
of the lower jaw is edentulous, and its symphisial extremity forms

* “Petrifactions and their Teachings, or a Iland-book to the Gallery of
Organic Remains in the British Museum, ’ one yol. 1851, published by H. G.
Bohn.

and on the Fauna and Flora of the Wealden Formation. 89

a scoop-like process, which resembles the corresponding part of the
inferior jaw of the Edentate mammalia, as for example the Mylo-
dons: and the great number and size of the vascular foramina of
the jaw indicate a greater development of the lips and integuments
than occurs in any existing animals of the class Reptilia; the sharp
ridge bordering the deep groove of the symphysis, in which there
are likewise several foramina for the exit of nerves and bloodvessels,
evidently gave attachment to the muscles and integuments of the
lip; while two deep pits for the insertion of the protractor muscles
of the tongue, manifest the mobility and power of that organ.
There are, therefore, strong reasons for supposing that the lips in
the Iguanodon were flexible, and, in conjunction with the long, fleshy,
prehensile tongue, were the chief instruments for seizing and crop-
ping the leaves, branches, and fruit, which, from the construction
of the teeth, we may infer constituted the food of the original. The
mechanism of the maxillary organs, as elucidated by recent disco-
veries, is thus in perfect harmony with the remarkable characters
which rendered the first known teeth so enigmatical; and in the
Wealden herbivorous reptile we have a solution of the problem, how
the integrity of the type of organisation peculiar to the class of
cold-blooded vertebrata was maintained, and yet adapted, by simple
modifications, to fulfil the conditions required by the economy of a
gigantic terrestrial reptile, destined to obtain support from vegetable
substances; in like manner as the extinct colossal herbivorous
Edentata, which flourished in South America, countless ages after
the country of the Iguanodon and its inhabitants had been swept
from the face of the earth.

The structure of the cervical, dorsal, and caudal vertebree, of the
ribs, the pectoral and pelvic arches, the sacrum formed of six anchy-
losed vertebree, the bones of the extremities, and certain dermal
appendages, were successively described, and illustrated by drawings
and specimens. From the facts adduced Dr Mantell infers that this
_ stupendous reptile equalled in bulk the largest herbivorous mam-
malia, and was as massive in its proportions; for living exclusively
| on vegetables, the abdominal region must have been greatly de-
veloped. Its limbs were of proportionate size and strength, to sup-
port and move so enormous a carcass ; its length, as proved by re-
cent discoveries, was of crocodilian proportions, for there is no doubt
| that the tail was very long; and the largest Iguanodon may have
attained a length of from fifty to sixty feet.

fhe Hyleosaurus, Megalosaurus, and several other genera of
reptiles were severally noticed, and reference made to the specimens
in the British Museum. The Pelorosaurus was next described
somewhat in detail, and the characters of the stupendous humerus,
or arm-bone, (43 feet long), scapula, clavicle, vertebree, sacrum, and
pelvis, werespointed out, with a view of illustrating a most interest-

90 Dr Mantell on the Structure of the Iguanodon,

ing discovery made but a few days previously by S. H. Beckles, Esq.
of St Leonard’s.

With much labour and skill, Mr Beckles had succeeded in extract-
ing from a block of Wealden sandstone lying on the Sussex coast,
and which was only visible at low water, the perfect radius and ulna
(bones of the fore-arm), and humerus (arm-bone), of a gigantic rep-
tile, which Dr Mantell pronounced to be a new species of Peloro-
saurus, and proposed to name Pelorosaurus Becklesii. The generic
identity and specific difference between this humerus and that of the
Pel. Conybeari, which was placed beside it, were pointed out, and
the remarkable modification of structure presented by the ulna was
explained. ‘The arm-bone of the P. Conybeari is 54 inches long,
the corresponding bone of a Gavial or Gangetic Crocodile 18 feet
long, in Dr Grant’s Museum, is but 113 inches; the humerus dis-
covered by Mr Beckles is 223 inches in length, and the bones of
the fore-arm are 16 inches long. A portion of the scaly cuirass
which covered the limbs, and is composed of hexagonal plates, was
exhibited.

The lecturer then took a rapid view of the other reptiles that
were contemporary with the Iguanodon, enumerating the Pterodac-
tyles or flying lizards, and several genera of Crocodilians and Che-
lonians. Examples of marine and fresh-water turtles are not un-
common in the Wealden deposits; and the strata near Swanage
have furnished many beautiful specimens to the researches of Mr
Bowerbank.

Of Fishes there are nearly forty known species in the Wealden,
which are chiefly referable to the Ganoid and Placoid orders. The
fishes most abundant in the rivers of the Iguanodon country were
two or three species of Lepidotus,—ganoids closely allied to the
Bony or Gar-Pike of America; their teeth and scales are every-
where to be met with in the Tilgate strata.

The Invertebrate Fauna comprised many genera of Insects, a
few Crustaceans, and numerous fresh-water Mollusca. The Insects
(for a knowledge of which we are mainly indebted to the scientific
acumen of the Rev. P. Brodie) amount to several hundred speci-
mens, comprising between thirty and forty families or genera, and
are referable for the most part to the orders Coleoptera, Orthop-
tera, Neuroptera, Hemiptera, and Diptera. Among them are
several kinds of beetles, dragon-flies, crickets, May-flies, and other
familiar forms which are closely allied to species that inhabit tempe-
rate climates.

Mollusca.—The most numerous shells belong to the genera Cy-
clas and Paludina ; of the latter, which is a genus of fresh-water
snails, there are a few species that abound in the Wealden clays
and Purbeck beds, and form extensive strata of shelly limestone, the
compact masses of which are susceptible of a good polish, and are —

and on the Fauna and Flora of the Wealden Formation. 91

well known by the names of Sussex, Petworth, and Purbeck Marble ;
the latter was in great request in the medieval ages, and is the ma-
terial of which numerous tombs and monuments, and cluster columns
in our ancient cathedrals are constructed. Two common inhabitants
of our pools and streams, the Planorbis and Limneus, also occur.
Several species of Unio, some of which rival in magnitude the pearl-
mussels of the Ohio and Mississippi, likewise abound in the Wealden
deposits. Fresh-water Entomostraceans, Cyprides, of several species,
swarm in many of the clays and ironstone beds of Sussex and the
Isle of Wight.

The Frora of the country of the _Iguanodon appears to have been
as rich and diversified as the Fauna. Forests of Conifere, refer-
able or closely allied to Abies Pinus, Araucaria, Cupressus, and
Juniperus, clothed its hills and plains: with these were associated
arborescent and herbaceous Ferns, comprising upwards of thirty
species ; together with many Cycadeacee, and trees allied to the
Dracena, Yucea, &c. Equisetaceous and Lycopodiaceous plants
also abounded ; and even the common inhabitants of our streams,
the Chare, flourished in the rivulets of that marvellous region.

As examples of the vegetation of the Wealden period, Dr Mantell
described the petrified forest of Coniferae and Cycadez in the Isle of
Portland: the accumulation of fossil firs and pines exposed on the
southern shore of the Isle of Wight; and the coal-field of Hanover,
which entirely consists of the carbonized foliage, trunks, and branches,
of coniferous trees, drifted from the country of the Iguanodon.

The facts thus rapidly noticed prove that during the deposition of
the Wealden, Oolitic, and Cretaceous strata, there existed an exten-
sive island or continent, diversified by hills and valleys, and tra-
versed by streams and rivers teeming with fishes, crustaceans, and
mollusca, closely allied to types which at present inhabit the fresh
water of temperate regions; and that with these were associated
fluviatile turtles, and crocodilian reptiles, whose living analogues are
restricted to tropical climes. Colossal herbivorous and carnivorous
saurians, differing essentially in structure from all known existing
forms, were the principal inhabitants of the dry land; and _ these,
together with flying lizards, and possibly a few birds, and very small
mammalia, constituted the vertebrate fauna of the country, or coun-
tries, which supplied the materials of the Wealden strata, and of the
fluvio-marine deposits which are intercalated with the purely oceanic
beds of the oolite and chalk.

Thus it appears, according to the present state of our knowledge,
that the classes Mammalia and Aves, which constitute the essential
features of the terrestrial zoology of most countries, were represent-
ed through a period of incalculable duration solely by two genera of
very diminutive mammals, and a-few birds ; while the air, the land,
and the waters, swarmed with peculiar reptilian forms, fitted for
aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic existence.

92 Lieutenant Maury on the Clouds and

Admitting to the fullest extent the effect or causes that may be
supposed to have occasioned the absence of mammalian remains in
the secondary deposits, yet the immense preponderance of the rep-
tile tribes is unquestionable. Some authors have attempted to
account for this anomaly by assuming that antecedently to the
Eocene period, our planet was not adapted for the existence of mam-
malia, in consequence of its atmosphere being too impure to support
higher types of animal organisation than the cold-blooded vertebrata.
But the certainty that some forms of marsupial and placental mam-
malia inhabited the countries of the Megalosaurus and Pterodactyle,
—that birds in all probability existed with the Iguanodon,—and the
fact that insects and mollusca, and trees and plants, which now in-
habit regions abounding in birds and mammalia, flourished during
the ‘* Age of Reptiles,” demonstrate that the physical conditions
of the earth, and the constitution of the atmosphere and of the
waters, differed in no essential respect from those which now prevail,
and that the laws which govern the organic and inorganic kingdoms
of nature have undergone no change.

That the class Reptilia was developed during the periods embraced
in this discourse, to an extent far beyond what has since taken place,
appears to be indisputable ; nor can any satisfactory solution of the
problem be offered from the data hitherto obtained. Future disco-
veries may however shew that coeval with the country of the Iguano-
don there were regions tenanted by birds and mammalia; and that
the almost exclusively reptilian fauna of the lands whose zoological
and botanical characters have formed the subject of this lecture,
was but an exaggerated condition of that state of the animal kingdom
which is exhibited by the present fauna of the Galapagos Islands.*

On the Clouds and Equatorial Cloud Rings of the Earth.+
By Lieut. MAuRy, of the National Observatory.

Sailors have opportunities of making observations on clouds, and
the various phenomena accompanying them, which no other class
enjoy. The sailor, bound in his ship to the southern hemisphere,
enters the region of the north-east trade-winds, and frequently
finds the sky mottled with clouds, but generally clear; continuing
his course south, he observes his thermometer to rise as he ap-
proaches the equator, until entering the equatorial region, he finds
the weather to become murky, close, and oppressive. He then
enters the south-east trades; and on looking at his log-book, he is

* See “ Wonders of Geology.” Sixth Kdition, p. 893.
t+ The above is an abstract of a paper read at the meeting of the American
Association, Albany, by Lieutenant Maury.

Equatorial Cloud-Rings of the Earth. 93

surprised to find that, notwithstanding the oppressive weather of the
rainy latitudes, both his barometer and thermometer stood lower in
them than in the clear weather on either side of them. In _pass-
ing that rainy latitude, he has passed a cloud-ring which encircles
the earth.

Lieutenant Maury then proceeds to give a description of the va-
rious changes which this great equatorial cloud-ring undergoes, and
of its effects on the climate over which it hangs, the laws which con-
trol its shifting, sometimes to the north and sometimes to the south
of the equator, and the accessions it receives from the more tem-
perate latitudes, while the ring itself is the great source of supply
of moisture to the regions of the earth very distant from the
equator. Thus this cloud-ring modifies the climate of all places
beneath it; overshadowing at different seasons all parallels from
5° south to 15° north. It may be asked, where do the va-
pours come from which are condensed and poured into the sea as
rain? They come from the trade-wind regions under the cloud-
ring, then rise up, and as they rise they expand, and as they expand
they grow.cool and are condensed. There is, therefore, a ceaseless
precipitation going on under the cloud-ring. Evaporation under it
is suspended nearly the whole year round. This ring is formed by
the meeting of the NE. and SH. trade-winds; the vapours which
each bring from northern and southern regions meet and ascend.
Our knowledge of the laws of nature will tell us, therefore, that the
atmosphere will be cooler under this ring than on either side of it,
without consulting the thermometer. Were the clouds which over-
hang this belt luminous, and could they be seen by an observer from

one of the planets, these clouds would present an appearance not un-

like the rings of Saturn. He would also observe that this ring had
an apparent movement contrary to that of the earth; for though it
moves with the earth, the motion of the ring is relatively slower, and
the earth slips from under it, giving the ring an apparent slow mo-
tion from east to west. This ring would be unlike those of Saturn
in another respect : its edges would appear very jagged, and rough,
and uneven.

Navigators are now learning to tell by the barometer when they
have passed the cloud-ring. In the log-book of an American Captain
in a voyage round the world, in 1850-51, recently forwarded to the
National Observatory, I find the following remarks :—“ I here pre-"
dict,” he says, before reaching the equator, ‘* the barometer will re-
main below 380 in. until we get without the influence of the rainy
latitudes.” After having crossed a belt of five or six degrees of lati-
tude, within which such remarks are frequent, as ‘‘ Warm and sul-
try ;” “ Heavy rains ;” “ Very murky and close at times ;” “ Quite
oppressive,” “ Rain,’’ &c ;—on the seventh day he remarks, “ As-
suming the settled weather of the trades, only requiring a rise of
barometer to assure me of that fact.’’ The day after, I find in his

94 On Blackheath Pebble-bed, and-on certain Phenomena

column of remarks, “ Fine weather, every appearance of trades—ba-
rometer up.” This remark is made the 5th March 1850, in 6° south
lat. Had he passed this cloud-ring in August, he would probably
have made the same observations in 6° north lat., indicating that he
had passed from under the influence of this equatorial cloud-belt.

It is thus we arrive at a new application of the barometer, which
thus informs the navigator, when other means fail, when he leaves
and when he enters the trade-winds.

On the Blackheath Pebble-bed, and on certain Phenomena
in the Geology of the Neighbourhood of London. By Sir
CHARLES LYELL.*

There are two kinds of fiint-gravel used for making roads in the
neighbourhood of London, both of them in certain places superficial,
but which are of extremely different ages. The yellow gravel of
Hyde Park and Kensington so often found covering the ‘* London
Clay” may be taken as an example of one kind ; that of Blackheath,
of the other. The first of these is, comparatively speaking, of very
moderate date, and consists of slightly rolled, and, for the most part,
angular fragments, in which portions of the white opaque coating of
the original chalk flint remain unremoved. The more ancient gravel
consists of black and well-rounded pebbles, egg-shaped or spherical,
of various sizes, exhibiting no vestige of the white coating of the ori-
ginal flints, yet shewing by the fossil sponges and shells contained in
them that they are derived from the Chalk. In the pits of Black-
heath and the neighbourhood, where this old shingle attains at some
points a thickness of 50 feet, small pieces of white chalk sometimes
occur, though very rarely intermixed with the pebbles. If we meet
with thoroughly rounded flints in the more modern, or angular
gravel, it is because the latter has been in part derived from the de-
nudation of the older bed.

The researches of the Rev. H. M. De la Condamine have shewn
that the sand and pebble-beds of Blackheath and Greenwich Park
inclose in some of their numerous layers fresh-water shells of extinct
species, such as Cyrena cuneiformis, &c., agreeing with fossils which
characterise the Lower Eocene beds at Woolwich. At Lewisham
the pebble-bed passes under the London Clay, and at Shooter’s Hill
this clay overlies it in great thickness. 3

At New Charlton, in the suburbs of Woolwich, Mr De la Conda-
mine discovered a few years ago a layer of sand in the midst of the
pebble-bed, where numerous individuals of the Cyrena tellinella
were seen standing endwise, with both their valves united, the pos-
terior extremity of each shell being uppermost, as would happen if
the molluses had died in their natural position. Sir Charles Lyell

jf Sve Read in Royal Institution of Great Britain, on April 1, 1852.

in the Geology of the Neighbourhood of London. 95

described a bank of sandy mud in the delta of the Alabama river at
Mobile, on the borders of the Gulf of Mexico, where, in 1846, he
had dug out, at low tide, specimens of a living species of Cyrena,
and of a Gnathadon, which were similarly placed, with their shells
erect, a position which enables the animal to protrude its siphons
upwards, and draw in water to lubricate its gills, and reject it when
it has served the purposes of respiration. ‘The water at Mobile is
usually fresh, but sometimes brackish. Sir Charles examined lately
the Woolwich beds with Mr Morris, and they verified Mr De la
Condamine’s observations, observing there several dozen specimens
of the Cyrena éellinella in an erect position, From this circum-
stance the lecturer infers, that a body of fresh or river water had
been maintained permanently on that spot during the Eocene period,
and the presence of rolled oysters in the associated pebbly layers,
with other marine shells, mixed with species of Melanopsis, Melania,
Cerithium and Neritina, demonstrate that the sea occasionally invad-
ed the same area. To an overflow of the pebbly sand in which the
Cyrene lived by salt water, may probably be attributed the poisoning
of the molluscs which left their shells uninjured on the spot where
they had lived. .

The stratum called ‘‘ the shell-bed,”’ which contains at Greenwich,
Woolwich, Upnor, near Rochester, and other places, a great mass of
fresh water, brackish water, and marine shells, especially oysters, is
observed everywhere to underlie the great pebble-bed. Its mode
of occurrence implies the entrance of one or more rivers into the
Eocene sea in this region. Other rivers draining adjoining lands
are indicated by @ similar assemblage of fluvio-marine fossils near
Guildford and at Newhaven in Sussex. The vicinity of land to the
south and west of Woolwich is shewn by the occurrence at New
Cross, Camberwell, and Chelsea, of Paludina and Unio in strata
evidently a prolongation of the Woolwich beds, and by fossil leaves
of dicotyledonous trees and layers of lignite in some of those loca-
lities. On the other hand, at the junction of the ‘* London Clay,”
and the subjacent “ plastic clays and sands,” when followed in an
opposite or easterly direction towards Herne Bay and the Reculvers,
all signs of the fresh-water formation disappear, and the pebble-bed

is reduced to a thin layer, often a foot or a few inches in thickness.
The origin of this shingle may have been chiefly due to the action of
waves on a sea-beach. Its accumulation in great force at certain
points where fresh-water shells abound, seems to imply the entrance of
rivers into the sea, which brought down some flints, and arrested the
progress of others travelling as beach-pebbles along a coast-line,
in a certain direction, determined by the prevailing currents and
winds. The spreading of the pebble-bed over a wide area may
be accounted for by supposing a gradual subsidence of land, and the
continually shifting of the coast-lines upon which shingle accumulated.
This same subsidence is required to explain the superposition of the

96 On Biackheath Pebbie-bed, and on certain Phenomena

London Clay, a deep-sea deposit to the Blackheath or Woolwich beds
which are of shallow water or littoral origin. One of the rivers of
the Lower Eocene period swept into the sea at Kyson, near Wood-
bridge in Suffolk, the bones of a monkey of the genus Macacus, of a
marsupial quadruped allied to the opossum, of a Hyracotherium,
and other mammalia, which have been determined by Professor Owen,
and which throw light on the inhabitants of the land, at an era an-
tecedent to the deposition of the London Clay.

Sir C. Lyell then exhibited some sections, recently published by
Mr Prestwich,* illustrative of the geology of the environs of London,
and gave a rapid sketch of the successive Eocene groups from the
London Clay and overlying Bagshot series, with its nummulites to
the Barton and Hampshire fresh-water formations, with their fossil
quadrupeds. He then alluded to the tertiary strata next in the
ascending order which he had recently studied in Limburg, Belgium,
which are not represented in England, and next to the Miocene
faluns of 'Touraine and the Pliocene strata or crag of Suffolk, and
lastly to the still more modern glacial period and the brick-earth
of the valley of the Thames. The last-mentioned formation contains
the bones of extinct quadrupeds mingled with shells of recent species,
terrestrial and fluviatile.

The numerous and important changes in the fauna of the globe,
attested by these successive assemblages of extinct species, belonging
to different tertiary eras, attest the vast lapse of ages which separate
the time when the fresh-water beds of Woolwich and Blackheath were
formed from the human period. But revolutions of another and no
less striking kind have taken place conteniporaneously in the physi-
cal geography of the northern hemisphere, revolutions on so great a
scale that the greater part of the present continents of Europe, Asia,
Northern Africa, and North America, with which the geologists is
best acquainted, have come into existence in the interval of time
here alluded to. It may also be confidently affirmed that the colos-
sal chain of the Alps is more modern than the tertiary shingle of
Blackheath. There was deep sea at the period when the London
Clay was forming, precisely in the area where the loftiest mountains
of Europe now rise into the regions of perpetual snow. In proof of
this the lecturer referred to the works of several modern geologists,
especially to those of Sir Roderick Murchison, and to a lecture de-
livered by Sir Roderick in the Royal Institution, to shew that the
nummulitic formation which belongs to the Eocene period, and not
to the very oldest part of that period, attains an elevation in some
portions of the Swiss Alps of 8000 or even 10,000 feet, and enters
into the structure and composition even of the central axis of the
Alps, having been subject to the same movements and partaking of

* Prestwich, Geological Enquiry respecting the Water-bearing Strata
around London, &c. Van Voorst, 1851.

in the Geology of the Neighbourhood of London. 97

the same foldings and contortions as the underlying cretaceous and
oolitic strata.

Sir Charles Lyell next proceeded to shew that a great series of
volcanic eruptions had occurred in Europe since the older Eocene
strata of the neighbourhood of London were deposited. Not only
Vesuvius and Somma, as well as Etna and the extinct volcanoes of
Southern Sicily, but the trachytic and basaltic eruptions of the ex-
tinct volcanoes of central France, are more modern than the London
Clay. The evidence consists not only of the superposition of igneous
rocks several thousand feet thick, to lacustrine strata of the middle
and upper Eocene periods, but also to the absence in the pebble-beds
constituting the base of the tertiary series of Auvergne, Cantal, and
Velay of any pebbles of volcanic origin.

The lecturer concluded by stating that the formation of every
mountain-chain and every elevation and depression of land bears
witness to internal changes at various depths in the earth’s crust.
The alteration has consisted sometimes of the expansion, and some-
times of the contraction of rock, or of the semi-liquefaction or com-
plete fusion of stony masses and their injection into rents of the
fractured crust occasionally manifested by the escape of lava at the
surface. Every permanent alteration therefore of level may be re-
garded as the outward sign of much greater internal revolutions tak-
ing place simultaneously far below. Even the precise nature of the
changes in the texture of rocks produced by subterranean heat and
other plutonic influences since the commencement of the Hocene
period can be detected in a few spots, especially in the central axis
of the Alps, where the disturbing agency had been intense. The
table might be covered with specimens of gneiss, mica schist and quartz
rock, once called primitive, and once supposed to be of a date ante-
rior to the creation of living beings, which nevertheless were sedimen-
tary strata of the Eocene period, which assumed their crystalline form
after the flints of Blackheath were rolled into shingle, and even after
the shells of the London Clay and the nummulites of the overlying
Bagshot sands were in existence.

Yet however remote may be the antiquity of the Blackheath
pebble-bed, as demonstrated by the vast amount of subsequent change
in physical geography, in the internal structure of the earth’s crust,
and in the revolutions in organic life since experienced, its origin is
probably as widely separated from the era of the Chalk as from our
own times. For the fossils of the Chalk differ as much from those
of the oldest tertiary strata near London, as do the last from the
organic beings of the present era. Nevertheless the white Chalk
itself, with its flints, is considered by every geologist. as the produc-
tion of a modern era, when contrasted with the long series of ante-
cedent rocks now ase each formed in succession when the globe
was inhabited by peculiar assemblages of animals and plants long
since extinct.

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.— JULY 1852. G

98 On the Great Principles either Suggested

On the Great Principles either Suggested or Worked out by
the late celebrated Dr William Prout, F.R.S., §c. By Dr
DAUBENY, Professor of Botany, Oxford.* Communicated
by the Author.

In noticing the advances made to our knowledge of the
functions of life, through the instrumentality of chemistry,
as illustrated by a new discovery of Baron Liebig’s, of which
he had given a short account, Dr Daubeny could not refrain
from dwelling a little upon the scientific merits of an old and
valued friend of his own, now deceased, who led the way in
this path of research, and deserves to be commemorated, both
for his important contributions to chemistry in general, and
likewise for the light which his researches first cast upon many
obscure processes of the animal economy. He alluded to Dr
Prout, whose labours, however, in the cause of science, he
would not take up the time of the Society by particularising,
inasmuch as a pretty faithful and detailed abstract of his
principal papers had already been given to the world ina late
number of the Edinburgh Medical Journal.t He would, how-
ever, briefly allude to two qualities which eminently distin-
guished his philosophical character, and which, by their happy
combination, enabled him to render subservient to the unfold-

ing of grand general truths those minute pathological inquiries
which his profession prompted him to undertake, but every
one of which, when once entered upon, was worked out by him
with the patience and exactness of a philosophical problem.

The first of these characteristics was that capacity for ac-
curate observation, which, coupled as it was in him with the
most conscientious regard to truth, inspired such a confidence ©
in his published results, that their correctness has seldom
been impugned by those who, with the lights of improved
knowledge, have since followed in his footsteps. Itis, indeed,
the great boast of Liebig, that he has so improved the method
of analysing organic bodies, that a young man of ordinary

* Read before the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, February 3, 1852,
t+ July 1851.

or Worked out by the late Dr Prout. 99

attainments can now, after a few months’ training, complete
an analysis, which may be appealed to with confidence, and
received as the basis of further research; whereas before,
only adepts in chemistry were capable of bringing out results
upon which any reliance could be placed.

Yet the greater part of Dr Prout’s analyses were made
with an apparatus of his own, which, however ingenious it
might be, was far more difficult to use, and required for its
success many more precautions than that at present in the
hands of chemists, and hence the precision to which he at-
tained is the greater subject for commendation. Add to
which, that these delicate investigations were carried on by
him, unassisted, amid constant.interruptions, at intervals
snatched from the daily demands made upon his time by pro-
fessional engagements.

The second characteristic of his genius was that power of
generalisation, that aptitude of combining into an harmonious
whole, a number of isolated and independent facts, which led
him to seize upon the remote consequences deducible from
the results of his own observations, as well as those of others,
and at the same time to shape his inquiries in such directions
as might lead to the development of great principles in
science. Thus, for instance, so far back as the year 1815,
he published that remarkable paper, “On the relation be-
tween the Specific Gravity of Bodies in their Gaseous State,
and their Atomic Weights,” in which he pointed out, within
a few years after the promulgation of the Daltonian theory,
that the atomic weights of all other bodies may be regarded
as multiples of that of hydrogen,—a position which, after
being disputed by Berzelius and other great authorities, came
at length to be contirmed with respect to three of the most
important elements—carbon, oxygen, and azote—by the re-
searches of Dumas and others.

Thus, at a later period, his delicate method of weighing
the air enabled him to suggest a cause for the prevalence of
the cholera then raging in London—namely, the addition of
an ingredient to the ordinary constituents of the atmosphere,
which increased the specific gravity of its lower strata over
that locality.

G2

100 On the Great Principles either Suggested

It may be mentioned, as a proof of that admirable caution
which he evinced with regard to facts, even when tempted
by the support they would have yielded to any of those in-
genious speculations with which his mind was ever teeming,
that although he was understood to have continued the me-
teorological researches alluded to during the whole period of
the visitation of the cholera in 1832, he delayed their publi-
cation until they could be still further corroborated. Unfor-
tunately, when the cholera broke out a second tiie, in 1848,
his health was too much enfeebled to allow of his undertaking,
in addition to a large medical practice, a similar course of
laborious investigations, so as to satisfy his own scrupulous
mind as to their truth.

Dr Prout also suggested an explanation of the differences
existing between those organic bodies, whose constituents
had appeared identical, by the interference of infinitesimal
portions of certain extraneous substances intermixed with
their predominant ingredients; and started the idea, which
Liebig has followed up with so much success, that these
latter may be of essential use, inasmuch as they render the
body itself suitable to be assimilated by animals, owing to
their counteracting in it those chemical affinities between its
particles which would otherwise be too powerful for the
antagonistic forces of life to surmount.

Substances so constituted he called merorganised, and the
introduction of these foreign matters he regarded as the
cause of that new arrangement of their particles which im-
parted to them properties altogether distinct from those
which before characterised them. Thus, starch he regarded
as merorganised sugar, and considered the latter body to be
incapable of assimilation, until it had undergone an altera-
tion of this kind within the body.

Dr Prout also led the way towards the establishment of
that beautiful classification of substances subservient to
nutrition which Baron Liebig has lately brought so promi-
nently forward, and made the foundation of so many striking
and interesting speculations. His paper “On the Ultimate
Composition of Simple Alimentary Bodies” shews that they
are divisible into three kinds, namely, the saccharine, the

or Worked out by the late Dr Prout. : 101

oily, and the albuminous, and likewise that the milk which
nature has provided for the support of the young in mammi-
ferous animals is alone capable of sustaining life, because it
contains all three.

Thus, while the former inquiry of Dr Prout’s contains the

germ of one great principle so insisted upon by Liebig ;
namely, the necessity for those minute quantities of mineral
matters which are found to be present in plants, the latter
suggested the groundwork of the Baron’s other great work,
in which he has explained so luminously the nature of the
proximate principles required for the nutrition, and for the
maintenance of heat, in animals. With regard to inquiries
more purely medical, Dr Prout first gave a clear idea of the
constitution of the urine, and shewed that the secretion of
urea took place in the bloodvessels, whilst it was merely
eliminated by the kidneys. By ascertaining that the urine
of reptiles consists wholly of uric acid, he took the first step
towards pointing out the relation between that body and
urea, which latter Liebig supposes to be produced in warm-
blooded animals, through the oxygenation of the former
compound.
While by this train of research he threw so much impor-
_ tant light upon the physiology of calculus, and other urinary
disorders, he advanced at the same time our knowledge of
digestion itself, by his discovery that the stomach in a
healthy state always contains free muriatic acid. Hence
probably the necessity of salt for all the higher animals.

Such are a few of the great principles, either suggested
or worked out by Dr Prout—contributions to physiological
science Important enough to establish his reputation as a
great original thinker, as well as an accurate and scrupulous
experimentalist. His two principal publications, namely,
his Bridgewater Treatise and his work On the Stomach and
Urinary Diseases, are each characterised by a very high,
although a distinct order of merit. The former not only
evinces a thorough mastery of the details of his subject, but
also much ingenuity in unravelling the mysteries which beset
us when we attempt to speculate on the intimate constitution

102 The Cambrian and

of matter. While soaring into this elevated region, he
caught a glimpse of those views respecting the distinction
between physical ond chemical atoms, from the development
of which Dumas has since derived so much celebrity.

On the other hand, in his latter work, dedicated to the
relief of human suffering, he has abstained as much as pos-
sible from such speculations, and has evinced an exemplary
caution in confining his practical deductions strictly within
their legitimate limits, at the same time that he has dis-
played a profound sagacity in the discrimination and treat-
ment of the diseases which fell within his province.

The Cambrian and Silurian Discussion.

In the fifty-second volume of this Journal we inserted, at
pige 305, from the Literary Gazette, Professor Sedgwick’s
classification of the Paleozoic Rocks, in which he describes
the position and extent of the Cambrian and Silurian groups
of that great series. Sir R. I. Murchison, in a letter to the
Literary Gazette, inscribed at page 355 of the same volume
(fifty-second volume) of this Journal, objects strongly to
Professor Sedgwick’s views.

The discussion did not terminate with this letter, for in
the present number of our Journal we have to insert three
additional letters smce published in the Literary Gazette.

Were we not convinced that this discussion would form
an interesting episode in the history of English geology, we
might be blamed for occupying so many of our pages with
controversial matter. 3

The following are the three additional letters :—

1. Professor Sedgwick's Answer to Sir R. I. Murchison’s Letter
inserted in the Literary Gazette, and at page 355 of the Fifty-
second Volume of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal.

Cambridge, 5th April 1852.

An absence from Cambridge during two weeks prevented me —
from seeing your ‘ Literary Gazette’ of March 20, at the time of —
its appearance ; and it is through the kindness of a friend that I

Silurian Discussion. 103

have become at length acquainted with Sir R. I. Murchisun’s com-
‘ment on an abstract (‘ Literary Gazette,’ March 6) of a paper
lately read by myself before the Geological Society of London.
Had this comment been merely an exposition of certain general
views of classification or nomenclature which differed from my own,
it would have passed on my part without any further notice; but
it contains assertions that are founded in mistake, and, I believe,
contrary to fact; and it ends with a poetical squib, which may
perhaps, among persons more open to mockery than to argument,
have helped to raise a minute’s laugh against me. Squibs are,
after all, but sorry arguments. They seldom promote the cause of
truth, and they never minister to good temper. I think I know
my poetical antagonist—exv ungue leonem—and I forgive the lion.
His roar, like that of the illustrious Bottom, is as gentle “as the
note of any sucking dove.’”’ I am told that he is ‘‘ a profound
naturalist ;’ and, if I am right in my man, this is true to the
very letter, and beyond the letter. But has he ever cast a philo-
sophical view over all the older rocks of Britain, so as to be a
good judge on a general question of classification and nomencla-
ture bearing upon the distribution of the oldest physical groups
in this island? I might, perhaps, have answered this question
in the affirmative, as a matter of belief or of courtsey, had I not
read this poetical illustration of his mistaken nomenclature and
narrow creed. He is a naturalist and a poet, and in this instance,
more of a poet than a naturalist; for poets deal best in fiction.
Martial’s weapons are too fine for geology ; if my poetical friend
means to be a geologist, Vulcan’s hammer will serve his purpose
better.

When he tells me that “ Silurian beds we in myriads number,”
I tell him, in reply, that in Cambria I can outnumber his beds
when five times told, though I begin my reckoning below any
rock which has ever had its place fixed in a true Silurian section ;
and when he adds that of ‘‘ Cambrian strata stat nominis umbra,”’
I retort upon him, that it is he who has put them in the shade by
daubing his own mistaken colours over them. Let him leave
them where nature placed them, and they will then shine forth in
their true colours—the grandest, the best-marked, and most
glorious objects of the whole British paleozoic series..

He, it seems, has been inverting Nature’s history by reading her
story backwards ; by adopting a scheme in which he names the
palzozoic ancestors after their paleozoic progeny, instead of the
progeny after their ancestors; by building his garrets in the air
before he has so much as thought of the lower stories of his
fabric ; or (to leave figures) by giving a name to the great Cam-
brian series, borrowed from a newer country in which that series
is not found ; and by vindicating this name by a ‘“ downward de-
velopment,” such as mocks the whole order of nature’s laws and

104 The Cambrian and

workmanship. Schemes of development and nomenclature worked
out on such a plan must inevitably disfigure science by loading it
with incongruous names; and, worse still, must hinder its true
progress, by flattermg a very mischievous spirit of premature
generalization.

He twits me with “lagging behind” my best fellow-labourer
and friend. It may be so; but I have not clung to the skirts of
his garments, or hindered ‘his progress ; for we have not worked
together among the Silurian and Cambrian rocks of England since
1834. But when the author of the squib seems to tell me that I
am trying ‘ to stifle” my friend to serve my own selfish purpose,
he insinuates what is unjust to myself, and is unworthy of his pen.
J have for thirty-four years kept my neck pretty steadily in the
geological collar without ever having known a task-master, and
for nearly thirty years I have devoted no small labour to the older
paleozoic series, especially in the British Isles. For every year
which the author of the squib may have toiled among these rocks,
I believe that I have toiled ten ; and whatever may be thought of the
result of my labours, be it great or small, or nothing, this at least
I do afirm, that I have stood in the way of no man, and that I
have ever done my best to stifle any spirit of premature generali-
zation that might rise within myself, lest it might minister to my
personal vanity rather than to the lasting cause of truth. Hence
I have never been over-anxious to give names to ancient groups
of strata; and where I have used such technical names, I have
willingly changed them when the occasion seemed to call for it ;
and by these very changes, made in deference to others, have I
more than once been led into great errors of nomenclature. So
far as regards the great Welsh series, I venture to affirm that,
from first to last, my Cambrian sections were right in principle ;
and that I never misinterpreted my upper groups except when I
endeavoured, hypothetically, to adapt them to the lower Silurian
groups, which, in the end, were proved to be wrong im principle.
When this was at length made out, it would have been an act of
downright folly and moral cowardice not to adhere to my original
classification of the great Welsh series. I believe my classifica-
tion will stand, because it is but a transcript of nature’s true pro-
gressive development; and that my nomenclature will stand,
because it is geographically true, and is built upon the common-
sense principles announced in the opening words of the sixteenth
chapter of ‘ The Silurian System,’ and because (though a matter
of far less moment) my names have the right of priority. Herein
I dare to ‘* appeal to the sense of mankind ”’—not in the language
of poetical mockery and fiction, but in plain prosaic words, which
are the honest transcript of my belief.

To take away from that wnbra which has eclipsed the vision of

Stlurian Discussion. 105

my poetical friend, I advise him to read my last geological paper,
should it be printed, not by the glare of his own fireworks, but in
the light of day ; and then, should he think a single paragraph of
it worth discussing, to discuss it with me in plain prose.

Before I notice one or two statements of my friend, which are
undoubtedly erroneous, let me, shortly as I can, call ihe attention
of the reader to some preliminary facts and principles which vir-
tually settle the whole question in debate.

We began our labours independently in the summer of 1831.
In July 1832, I exhibited before the British Association a section
through the undulating system of Carnarvonshire, with the excep-
tion of a single doubtful group near the Menai. I then determined
the true succession of the several subordinate groups of my section
and I have never changed it since. During the same summer
(1832) I completed one or two parallel sections, from the Menai
to the edge of Shropshire, which determined, I believe, correctly
the general relations of the whole Cambrian series of Carnarvon-
shire, Merionethshire, and Denbighshire. In the autumn of the
same year I made two or three rapid traverses through South
Wales, which, however imperfect as to details, enabled me to de-
termine with absolute certainty that all, or nearly all, the eastern
portions of the great undulating system of South Wales (lying to
the east of Cardigan Bay) was superior to to the Bala limestone.

In 1833, my friend exhibited before the British association some
of his best sections through a district two years afterwards called —
Silurian. I followed him with an explanation of my sections,
above noticed, across the great series of North Wales. What was
then the state of our knowledge, and how far were we agreed ?
At that time the overlying flagstones in the north of Denbighshire
offered no difficulty. They were the undoubted equivalents of the
overlying flagstones near Welsh Pool, afterwards called Upper
Silurian. Neither at that time did the coarse sandstones and
conglomerates at the base of the Denbigh flags offer any difficulty
of interpretation. They appeared to represent, very naturally, the
shelly sandstones, &c. (afterwards called Caradoc), of the sections
exhibited by my friend. But there was a difficulty in the inter-
pretation of my groups on the east side of the Berwyns. Left to
my own sections I should, without hesitation, have placed these
groups nearly on the parallel of the calcareous slates east of Bala,
and called them a part of my Upper Cambrian series; but this
conclusion seemed to clash with my friend’s interpretation of the
plan of some shelly sandstones (Caradoc) near Welsh Pool.
Hence I concluded by asserting “ that there must be an overlap of
our sections on the east sides of the Berwyns, which could only
be explained by a joint interpretation made by us in the field.”

I have noticed the previous facts in historical order, mainly for

106 The Cambrian and

the purpose of laying down a principle of common sense and com-
mon justice—viz. that if (in the region where the ‘ overlap’ took
place) I had blundered in my sections, and mistaken the relations
of my upper groups, I was bound to expunge them from my Cam-
brian series, and give them up to my friend. On the other hand,
if he had misinterpreted the relations of his lower groups (Llan-
deilo flags, &c.), while I had given their equivalents a right place
in my Cambrian sections, he was bound, by the same principle, to
give up those lower groups to me. In laying down this principle
(in plain prose and not in the language of poetical mockery), I
also “appeal to the sense of mankind.”

My friend tells me (Literary Gazette, March 20, and at page
355 of vol. li. of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal) “that geo-
logists must adhere to his nomenclature, founded on data which
have proved to be true.” I reply, that my position in this contro-
versy is defensive, and not offensive; that I maintain the nomen- .
clature first agreed upon; and that my friend’s nomenclature
cannot be now adopted, simply because the data on which it was
constructed have, out of all question, proved to be untrue. In
1834 we visited together (and for the express purpose above men-
tioned) what we supposed to be the most typical Silurian country
both of South and North Wales. And what were the results ?
The base line of the Silurian system, to the south of Welsh Pool,
was then, I believe, laid down by my friend very nearly as it was
afterwards published in his great work. I dictated not a single
point of it. And this line was not laid down at random, but on
the supposed evidence of sections, as interpreted by himself.
Along the whole base line, so far as it was explained to me, the
rocks he coloured as Cambrian were supposed by himself to be
inferior to his lower Silurian groups; and that he did not change
his views on this material point during the four or five years
which followed, is demonstrated by many passages of his great
work, among which I may refer to those found in pages 256, 317,
319, 348, 356, &c. &c, I then took this line on trust, and there
was but one single point of it which we critically examined together.
I now know that he misinterpreted his own transverse sections,
and that he made a double mistake—first, in uniting the Llandeilo
and Caradoc groups; secondly, in making them both superior to
the rocks which in his great map are coloured as Cambrian. I
made no mistake as to these Cambrian rocks; for on the evidence
of my own section I simply affirmed that they were superior to
the Bala limestone.

We then examined together the beds on the east side of the —
Berwyns. My friend pronounced the Meifod beds to be (as they _
were soon afterwards called) Caradoc sandstone, in its most typical
form; and from these very beds he has derived some of the good

Silurian Discussion. 107

Caradoc fossils which were figured in his work. Ona Silurian
question I believed him infallible; and on the principle of common
justice above laid down, I struck out the calcareous slates, east
of the Berwyns, from my Cambrian series, and coloured them as
they afterwards appeared in the first great Silurian map. This I
did without reserve, though I thereby threw my own upper Cam-
brian sections into inexplicable difficulties. How completely I
was misled by this misinterpretation of my friend, and when, and
by what means, I afterwards returned to right views, which con-
firmed my original sections, cannot be discussed here.

Finally, we visited the Bala limestone, and on the evidence of
sections (though a single eye-glance was enough to shew that the
Bala fossils were very nearly the same with those of Meifod), my
friend accepted my interpretation of its geological place, and, spite
of its fossils, pronounced it to belong to an wndoubted Cambrian,
and not a Silurian growp. And the conclusion, so long as he
maintained the integrity of his own lower Silurian sections, was
irrisistible. If it has since been proved that the Llandeilo flag is
the equivalent of the Bala limestone, there arises this question,
By whose mistake were these two groups ever separated? I reply,
they were kept asunder by a great fundamental mistake in the
Silurian sections, and by no mistake I ever committed in my Cam-
brian sections. This mistake is stamped on my friend’s great
map, as well as on a page of his first paper that was written after
there arose a controversy between us.* Here, therefore, I apply
the principle (above laid down) of common sense and common
justice, and claim the Bala limestone and the groups immediately
above it, and all their equivalents wherever found, as true and
integral parts of the upper Cambrian series.

In the sense in which our author first used the words Silurian
System, his nomenclature was not only premature, but erroneous.
For the fundamental sections on which his nomenclature was
grounded were untrue to nature; and we cannot have a true
system that is built upon a false base. I think I may again
“appeal to the sense of mankind” in vindication of this last con-

* See Journal of the Geological Society, 1847, p. 167. The section given on
this page is, in fact, the foundation of the whole Silurian nomenclature. But
my friend’s statement is entirely incorrect when he adds, that its lowest beds
were intended only ‘‘to represent certain inferior unfossiliferous rocks, such
as those of the Longmynd.” The section does not at all apply to the case of
the Longmynd; and the inferior (or Cambrian) rocks of his original sections
were not considered unfossiliferous either in 1834 or in 1839, when his System
was published. He knew the contrary. And when he adds, that his sections
were meant to represent what is stated in this page (167), he does not give his
original interpretation of them, but he entirely shifts his ground, and puts upon
them a new meaning, in order to bring them into conformity with a new map
founded on a new scheme of nomenclature.

108 The Cambrian and

clusion. Had the author (when he found that his fundamental
sections were wrong) contracted his system, and based it on the
Caradoc group, which seems to be a natural connecting link be-
tween the true Silurian and the true Cambrian groups, he might
have continued his nomenclature, and maintained it in its true
integrity. For the several groups of his system would then have
been well defined “by the order of superposition and imbedded
organic remains” seen in a series of true typical sections; and the
collective groups of his system might have been very properly
called Silurian, “to mark thereby (using his own words) the
territory in which the best types and clearest relations were ex-
hibited.”

But in 1843 my friend applied a new principle of nomen-
clature to a great series of Cambrian rocks which he had never
examined, and of which I had first determined the true general
relations. They were to be called and coloured as Silurian, be-
cause they contained certain fossils common to the beds he had
called Lower Silurian, yet of which he had, in his fundamental
sections, misrepresented the relations. This principle I have a
right to call new, for it was in direct antagonism with his con-
clusions in 1834, when we were together in the field. It was not
enunciated in the “Silurian System ;” it was not acknowledged,
but rather contradicted, by what I had myself written, and it was
never communicated to myself. I was no consenting party to the
colours placed by my friend on a geological map of England in
1843; nor did I even know of its existence till two or three years
afterwards. We may apply this principle with safety, if it be
derived from an old system which has been perfectly defined, and
of which the several subordinate parts have been already named ;
but as applied to a new and unknown system, such as that of
Wales, it virtually destroyed the sense and meaning of the whole
Silurian nomenclature, for it deserted the principles the author
himself enunciated for his own guidance and the vindication of
his adopted names. Palzontology is not the mistress but the
handmaid of geology; and any new system, drawn from an
unexplored country, is utterly worthless if it rest not funda-
mentally on the evidence of natural sections and natural groups.
Fossil evidence may then follow, but it tells us nothing in a new
system while the groups are undefined.

Out of all comparison the greatest boon, within my memory,
conferred on paleozoic geology was the establishment of the Upper
Silurian groups. The honour derived from this great boon is my
friend’s undisputed right. The establishment of the Devonian
series soon followed by an almost inevitable necessity. We had
long known, through many published works, the general aspect
of the older paleeozoic fauna; and when the Devonian and Upper

Silurian Discussion concluded. 109

Silurian species were removed, it was plain that we had no right
to look for, nor did I ever expect to find, any great succession of
changing organic types in the vast series below the Caradoc sand-
stone. But we have no right to name this vast series from a
single group near its upper surface, My names are geographically
true, and from the first were honestly derived from sections tra-
versing the series from top to bottom. My friend stopped short,
or mistook his way, in the descending series, and then ventured
to blot out the old and true name, and to give his own name to a
great series he had not explored, thereby violating a principle
which teaches us that systems and groups must be established
first, and that names must follow afterwards.

In another sentence of his comment, my friend tells me “ that
these observers (viz. Sir H. de la Beche and the other gentlemen of
the Government Survey) have satisfied themselves that the region
called Cambria, at a time when none of its fossils were described,
is made up of the same strata, and contains the same organic re-
mains, as the lower Silurian rocks,” &c. &c. It is not correct to
say that none of the Cambrian fossils had been described ; but I
will let that mistake pass, as a small matter in comparison of the
enormous misstatements (to be explained only by the incautious
hurry of my friend’s comment) that the older Cambrian groups are
made up of the same strata, and contain the same organic remains
as the lower Silurian rocks! I would venture to stake my life
upon the issue of a question as to the correctness of this assertion.
I will give my friend a descending point two or three thousand
feet below any rocks he has reached in any true section, and the
gentlemen of the Survey will tell him that he may descend 20,000
feet lower still before he reaches the lowest limit of organic life as
seen among the older groups of Wales.

That the Government surveyors have adopted my friend’s
nomenclature is true. But I believe that the director of the Sur-

vey adopted it, not because he thought it best and most true to

nature, but because he believed ‘that I had given up a very good
nomenclature.” I believe he was led into this mistake by a map

(first Number of the Journal of the Geological Society, p. 22),

which was introduced by myself, but not submitted to my revision,
and which, in the explanation of the colours, utterly misrepresents
the meaning of my paper, and of which I therefore disclaim the

authorship. Be this as it may, no authority upon earth can

make the adopted nomenclature either historically just or geo-
graphically true.

I cannot follow my friend in his excursions to distant lands.
The question between us is a question only of the classifica-
tion of British rocks, and must be decided only on British evi-
dence. If he, in arash zeal for a premature nomenclature, has

110 The Cambrian and

been misled himself, or misled others, in giving wrong names and
wrong British equivalents to distant regions, such mistakes belong
not to the fundamental questions discussed in this reply. I have
looked only to facts and first principles, and fiat justitia, without
regard to my own mistakes or those of others, shall be my motto.
And I reaffirm that no authority on earth can make the lower
Silurian sections right, or subordinate to them the great Cambrian
series.

Had I space for the discussion, I could prove that several of
the authorities quoted against me do, when rightly interpreted,
make good weight of evidence on my side; and I have not the
shadow of a doubt that my own seheme of classification will bring
the older British paleozoic groups into far better co-ordination
with the magnificent paleeozoic series of America than they have
ever been brought before, through the intervention of the imper-
fect, and (so far as regards the lower groups) the erroneous sec-
tions of the Silurian system. The comparison of foreign palzo-
zoic rocks with those of Britain has hitherto, I affirm, not been
based “ upon a natural British arrangement ” but upon an arrange-
ment partly defective and partly erroneous, and therefore unna-
tural. The establishment of a better nomenclature, based upon
better sections, will give foreign geologists better terms of com-
parison, and thereby clear away many existing mistakes, and much
present confusion. Harmony and order will inevitably follow the
establishment of a true typical palzozoic series in England; and
the points at issue between my friend and myself by no means
are dependent upon any future questions which may arise re-
specting certain changes in the palzozoic names and colours of
foreign maps, provided my scheme of classification and nomencla-
ture were adopted. The only questions admissible in the debate ©
are those which have a bearing on the truth of the sections, the
natural succession of the groups, and the geographical propriety
of the collective names when applied to British rocks. With the
assertion of this principle of common sense I conclude my reply.

ApAaM SEDGWICK.

2. Sir R. I. Murchison’s Comments on Professor Sedgwick’s
Letter (No. 1.)

April 17.

The letter of my old friend Professor Sedgwick, has not, it ap-
pears to me, at all affected the integrity of the Silurian System, as de-
fined by myself many years ago, and as since understood and received
by geologists. A very brief review of data which my friend seems _
to have forgotten, is alone required. It is beside the question now at
issue to revert to what we respectively did in the field in 1831 and

Silurian Discussion. 111

1832, or to appeal to what he communicated verbally in the latter
year respecting a part of North Wales, the only printed record of
which is comprised in about twenty lines of the first volume of the
Transactions of the British Association,

The first methodical and digested view of a sedimentary succes-
sion beneath the known and fixed horizon of the old red-sandstone,
was presented by myself to the Geological Society in 1834,* as
the result of memoirs of 1831, 1832, and 1833. The four forma-
tions described then as “ fossiliferous greywacke,”’ were, in the
year 1835, named the Silurian System, the two superior (Ludlow
and Wenlock) being termed Upper, the two inferior (Caradoc and
Llandeilo) Lower Silurian, and each being characterised by its
fossils.

In 1836 the word Cambrian was first used, Professor Sedgwick
affirming that the slaty rocks which he so termed, and which laid
to the west of the Silurian region, were all of them inferior to the
strata of my system. This inferiority of position has proved to be
a fundamental misconception, as now demonstrated by the physical
researches of the Government geological surveyors. In their
hands the Cambria of Sedgwick, which was undefined and unknown
through any publication of its fossils, has proved to be identical
in age with the original published Siluria of Murchison.

In 1838, when the detailed descriptions of the composition of
the Silurian System were published, I spoke of the line of demar-
cation on my map, as being provisionally set up between the
Silurian rocks with which I was well acquainted, and a Cambrian
series of which I was ignorant. But the latter being said to be
vastly inferior to all the strata I described, I naturally believed it
would prove, in the hands of my friend, to contain a distinct sys-
tem of former life. Strata, identified by their fossils and infra-
position to a known horizon, were the bases of my classification and
nomenclature ; and no other idea ever crossed my mind than that
the Cambrian could alone be established as a system, by having a
fauna different from my own, and by being inferior to it. Various
passages in my original works clearly expose this view.

My friend says, that in 1843 I shifted my ground, and put a
new meaning upon my views, in order to bring them into confor-
mity with a new map founded on a new scheme of nomenclature.
The recorded facts, he must forgive me for saying, are quite op-
posed to this assertion, and are indeed well known to practical
geologists. The little geological map of England and Wales,
published by me in 1843, at the request of the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, was not issued “ rashly,” but after
much deliberation and examination.

* Proceedings of the Geological Society, vol. ii. p. 13.

112 The Cambrian and

Having ascertained, in the years 1840 and 1841, that, on the
Continent, the Lower Silurian fossils were the lowest fossil types,
I traversed the North Welsh or Cambrian region in 1842, accom-
panied by one of my Russian coadjutors, Count Keyserling, to
ascertain if a similar distribution prevailed in Britain. We satis-
fied ourselves (leaving all physical proofs to the Government geo-
logists, who were then beginning their survey of Wales) that after
many apparent flexures, strata containing the same fossils appeared
on the flanks and summit of Snowdon, as those which we had left
in Shropshire, and to the east flank of the Berwyn mountains, a
country which had been specially mapped and deseribed as * Silu-
rian.” It was, therefore, after foreign comparisons, and after an
actual traverse of the so-called Cambrian region, that I published
the map of 1843, which, though complained of by my friend, has
proved to be correct, and substantially in general harmony with
the final results, physical and geological, of the Government geo-
logical surveyors.

I would further refer to the unambiguous printed declarations
with which I opened both my discourses of 1842 and 1843, as
President of the Geological Society, to prove that I took every
opportunity of publishing my conclusions before I issued that
map. This, for example, is a small portion of what I printed in
1842,—“‘ The base of the Paleozoic deposits, as founded on the
distribution of organic remains, may be considered fairly established;
for the Lower Silurian is thus shewn by Professor Sedgwick him-
self (I was then speaking of a recent memoir of his own) to be the
oldest which can be detected in North Wales, the country of all
others in Europe in which there is a great development of the in-
ferior strata.”’*

As Professor Sedgwick made no opposition to this induction of
the author of the Silurian System, nor to another ample illustra-
tion of it in 1843,+ nothing, it seemed to me, remained to be done
in British Palzozoic classification, except that the Government
geologists, who were preparing detailed maps and sections of
Wales, should decide whether there were, or were not, fossiliferous
strata occupying a lower position than any which had been for-
merly described as Lower Silurian. Their reply, in a stratigra-
phical and physical sense, is what I affirmed in my last letter, not
rashly, but after a careful reference to the maps and sections they
have prepared. Taking the tract east of the Berwyn mountains, »
which I have described as the country of my region, which afforded
the fullest development of Lower Silurian rocks resting upon un-
fossiliferous greywacke, these geologists have proved that the strata

* Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, vol. iii., p. 549.
t Ibid., vol. iv., p. 70.

Silurian Discussion. 113

containing fossils, which lie between the Berwyns and Snowdon,
(the Cambria of Sedgwick), are the same as those I had drawn in
sections, and described in words, in the ‘Silurian System.”

If any one wishes to verify this statement, let him compare my
original coloured map and sections* of the country west of the
Longmynd (Stiper Stones and Shelve), with those detailed maps
and diagrams of the surveyors, which explain all the flexures and
breaks across North Wales, and he will then see that our hard-
working and able contemporaries have demonstrated that nearly
all the fossil-bearing strata of Cambria have their equivalents in
Siluria; and that even the rocks of unfossiliferous greywacke, to
which Sir H. de la Beche and his followers now restrict the word
Cambrian, are more copious and thicker in the Longmynd of my
‘original tract of Shropshire, than in any of the similar North Welsh
masses which underlie the strata of Snowdon. This is not my
statement, but the deduction of the Government surveyors, after
many years of labour in the field.

Supported as I am by such authorities, I can afford to be criti-
eised for two or three mistakes in a large work containing about
240 coloured sections, woodcuts, and views. Relying on the im-
partial judgment of numerous contemporaries, who know how
hard I laboured, and what I did effect in classification, I will not
dispute about a patch of Caradoc sandstone here, or one of Llan-
deilo flag there, since I have laid it down that these subdivisions
are characterised by many of the same fossils. The researches of
late years have, indeed, confirmed the unity of the Silurian System,
by shewing that many of the same species of fossils pervade the
whole series of its lower and upper rocks.

It is this fact which prevents the possibility of a change of
nomenclature, and the application of two unconnected names to
one system of life. In short, the proposed amputation of the lower
half of the Silurian System would, m my opinion, be a violation
of nature.

In the work, Russia and the Ural Mountains, in which a general
view of the whole ascending order, from the lowest to the highest
strata, was given by my colleagues and myself, it was shewn that
the Silurian System, so thick in Britain, has in the north of Europe
so thin a vertical development (though equally divisible into very
rich fossiliferous lower and upper deposits) as to be quite incapable
of separation into two rock systems. But as Professor Sedgwick
does not like foreign parallels, I will conclude this letter by citing
two home geographical illustrations of the effect of his proposed
nomenclature. Let any one cast his eye over my map of the

-* “Silurian System,” map, and pl. 31, fig. 4; pl. 32, figs. 1, 2, 3, &.
VOL. LILI. NO. CV.—JULY 1852.
H

1l4 The Cambrian and

Silurian region, and he will see, that if the Lower Silurian rocks,
which are represented as ranging through Brecon and Caermar-
thenshire by Llandovery and Llandeilo, be converted into Cam-
brian, the Silurian System (hitherto the only published type of
comparison) will be reduced to an almost imperceptible line.
Again, let the inquirer look in the same map at Broad Sound,
in Pembrokeshire, where, to my great satisfaction, I first found all
the Silurian formations, from the Ludlow to the Llandeilo, rising
out from beneath the old red-sandstone, and then tell me if jiat
justitia will reconcile geologists to the abstraction of the half of
what I have proved to be Silurian, leaving me in a corner of one
bay with my Upper Silurian rocks only—the pars pro toto? This
must be the practical British issue of the adoption of the nomen-
clature of Professor Sedgwick.

The geologists and naturalists of the Government Survey, being
satisfied that there is but one series of rocks and fossils in the bay
of Pembroke above cited, have further proved, by admeasurement,
that this same “ Silurian System”’ is spread over nearly all Wales.
To those persons aud their works I again refer my friend. LKsta-
blishing the Silurian System, I applied it to some foreign countries.
The Government surveyors have spread it over Cambria, not
through any mistake whatever, but on the true principle of assimi-
lating things unknown to things which have been described.

I now terminate on my part a controversy which has given me
much pain, yet from which I could not shrink; for mine is not
merely a combat pro aris Silurianis, but the defence of a classifi-
cation which I believe to be natural and indestructible. And
although my old friend has, both in his first abstract (see Literary
Gazette, March 6) and his last letter, used some racy expressions,
and that I have thought it right to speak plainly, I look with un-
diminished confidence to our sliding down the shady slope of life
with that mutual esteem and regard which were formed when
climbing many a hill together both at home and abroad.

In our general geological views we are as united as in days of
yore, Roverick Impey Murcuison.

3.—Professor Sedgwick’s Reply to the preceding Letter of
Sir R. I. Murchison.

Norwich, May 8.
Sir,—My copy of the ‘ Literary Gazette’ for April 24 having
been addressed to me at Norwich, did not reach me until my
arrival here the early part of this week ; and now (after having
been several days indisposed and quite incapable of writing) I send
my final answer to the last Silurian comments of my friend Sir
R. I. Murchison. My replies shall be as specific and as short as

Silurian Discussion. 115

I can make them; and I am writing from memory, without a
single geological work before me, or a single note of reference.

1. ‘It is beside the question (he tells me, ‘ Literary Gazette,’
p. 369) to revert to what we respectively did in the field in 1831
and 1832.” It is not beside the question to have done this.
The comparison of our work (at the British Association in 1833)
led us, by agreement, to a joint examination of the typical Silurian
country in 1834. My friend had most perfect fair play. I did
not contest his base line at a single point. On a Silurian ques-
tion I believed him infallible; and I accepted his interpretation
of the sections not only in South Wales but also in my own
country on the east side of the Berwyns, where he pronounced the
Meifod beds to be his most typical form of Caradoc sandstone,
then called Shelly Sandstone. It was not I that cut away the
Cambrian rocks from the Silurian. It was he that cut off the so-
called Silurian rocks from the general system of North and South
Wales, and declared them to form a distinct and superior system ;
and as such he described them in his sections, and afterwards
coloured them in his map. On no other hypothesis could he give
any real meaning to his nomenclature.

2. In the next paragraph he adds that all the rocks I called
Cambrian, and which lay to the west of the Silurian region, were
agirmed by myself to be inferior to the strata of his own system.
I reply that I cannot consent to have the load of my friend’s
mistakes thrown upon my shoulders. If there bea single true
Silurian rock on the west side of his base line, he has only him-
self to blame for the fact; the mistake is his, and not mine. But
taking the Caradoc sandstone as the physical base of the Silurian
system, we may still affirm that all the rocks to the west of the
true Silurian base are inferior to the whole Silurian system. I
contend that the Llandeilo flag (which is but one single stage in
the Great Bala or Upper Cambrian group) is a Cambrian, and not
a Silurian rock. I determined the place of its equivalent (the
Bala limestone) correctly in my sections. My friend utterly mis-
took the true relations of his Llandeilo flag. Of this I had, as I
thought, good evidence in 1846, when I revisited the Silurian
country ; and taking the new evidence given by the admirable
details of the Government map, we may see at a glance the extent
of the mistakes made by him in the interpretation of his Lower
Silurian groups. (1.) The want of conformity of the upper to the
lower groups is not brought out in the Silurian map; and this led
to a mistaken interpretation of the next inferior group. (2.) The
upper part of the Llandeilo group is mistaken for the Caradoc
sandstone. (3.) The Llandeilo flagstone is made the base of the
system, and is put in every section above the undulatory rocks on
tts western side. There is not one single section in South Wales

H 2

116 The Cambrian and

where my friend has determined the true relations of the Llandeilo
flag to the beds above it and below it, so as to define its place in
a general section of Wales, whether real or ideal. I offer no
criticism “on two or three mistakes »? I affirm that the whole
conception of the relations of the Llandeilo flag to my Upper
Cambrian group was erroneous ; and that all the lower parts of
my friend’s general and ideal sections—the very foundations of
his Silurian nomenclature—were wrong in principle.

3. In the same paragraph my friend adds, ‘ that the inferiority
of position (viz. of the Upper Cambrian or Upper Bala group to
the Llandeilo flag) has proved to be a fundamental misconception.”
True; but with whom rests the blame of this fundamental mis-
conception? Any man of common sense reading this paragraph,
must conclude that the mistake was mine. But what is the fact ?
I made no mistake whatsoever when I affirmed that what I for-
merly called my Upper Cambrian system overlaid the Bala lme-
stone. That the same groups of Upper Cambrian strata under-
laid the Llandeilo flag, was the “ fundamental misconception’’ of
my friend; and he must bear the blame of it. The mistake I
made was the adoption, during fourteen years, of this fundamental
error on the sole authority of my friend.

4. At the end of the same paragraph he adds as follows: ‘“ In
the hands of the Government geological surveyors, the Cambria of
Sedgwick, which was undefined and unknown through any publi-
cation of its fossils, has proved to be identical in age with the
original published Siluria of Murchison.” Any plain, unsophis-
ticated reader must conclude, I think, from such words as these,
that in the interpretation of the Cambrian sections I had made
some great radical mistake, and that the sections of my opponent
were immaculate. Now the very reverse of this is the case. The
Government surveyors have discovered no great fundamental mis-
take in my Welsh sections, while they have completely upset the
scheme on which the two Lower Silurian stages were constructed
by my friend. To say that the great Cambrian groups are
“ identical in age with the original published Silurian rocks of
Murchison,” is so extravagantly inaccurate, that it is no easy
matter to describe its inaccuracy in respectful language. My
friend might just as well affirm that all the vast series of rocks
west of the Berwyns are identical in age with the Bala limestone !
But we may ask, how have the Government surveyors brought
the Llandeilo flag of the Silurian system into comparison with the
great groups of Cambria? By a process of development, both
upwards and downwards, by adding three or four thousand feet of
strata (which had been completely misinterpreted by my friend
and antagonist) above the Llandeilo flag, so as to connect it with
the Caradoc sandstone, and then by adding, in a descending sec-

Silurian Discussion. 117

tion, at least 25,000 feet to its base. The Llandeilo flag, thus
developed and tricked out, becomes the equivalent of my Cambrian
system! But under no interpretation, compatible with the plain
meaning of words, can it be called “the original published Siluria
of Murchison.”

5. I re-affirm, with great confidence, that my friend has utterly
shifted his original ground of classification. In his reply to my
remarks on this head, he has kept out of sight the important fact,
that in 1834 (the last time we were together in North Wales) he
accepted my interpretation of the Bala limestone; and, spite of
its fossils, declared his conviction that, by the evidence of the sec-
tions, it was unequivocally a member of the Cambrian series, and
removed it out of his Silurian system. If he afterwards saw reason
to change his views as to this essential point, he was, I think,
called upon to communicate that change to myself; but no such
communication was ever made tome. Again, it is by no means
correct to say that the Cambrian rocks were undefined, and their
fossils unknown. The rocks were well defined by true sections.
No good general list of their fossils had been published by myself ;
but I stated, again and again, before the publication of the Silurian
system, that many of the Cambrian fossils were of identical species
with the Lower Silurian ; that in the Bala group several fossils
(enumerated by their specific names), and nine species of Orthis,
were identical with known Lower Silurian species, &c. &c. Lastly,
my friend himself, though he called the Bala limestone Cambrian,
did not discover in it a single species that was not also found in
the Llandeilo group. When he afterwards, discarding the evidence
of sections, began to feel his way downwards, and, by help of
fossils only, endeavoured to bring the great Cambrian groups
within the narrow limits of his two Lower Silurian stages, I have
a right to affirm that he shifted his ground, and deserted the ori-
ginal principles of his classification.

6. Speaking of himself and Count Keyserling, he informs us—
“that in 1842 they satisfied themselves that, after many apparent
flexures, strata containing the same fossils appeared on the flanks
and summit of Snowdon as those they had left on the east flank
of the Berwyns, a country which had been specially mapped and
described as Silurian.” As to the country east of the Berwyns,
a part of it was erroneously mapped by my friend, and another
part of it was erroneously coloured by myself, in conformity with
his misinterpretation of the deposits, which he made Caradoc sand-
stone. ‘'T'o have been consistent, therefore, he and Count Keyser-
ling must have regarded the top of Snowdon as Caradoc sandstone,
a conclusion which would have been incontestably erroneous. As —
to the Snowdonian fossils, I had published a pretty good list of
them at least twelve months before the summer of 1842, anda
short list had been previously given by Professor Phillips. They

118 The Cambrian and

were all of them species of the Bala group; but, unquestionably,
that did not prove them fossils of any true Silurian stage.

7. As to evidence derived from foreign regions, I by no means
protest against the reasonable use of it; but I do protest against
its use in determining the proper fundamental nomenclature of
British rocks. Questions of this kind must be decided on British
evidence ; neither can I now (from utter want of documents) dis-
cuss what my friend calls induction, made in 1848. At that time
I did believe that my friend’s lower Silurian groups would be
found to descend as far as the Bala limestone—that the Bala lime-
stone was Caradoc—and that a considerable part of the undulating
groups of South Wales would turn out Upper Silurian. How I
came, in 1843, to entertain, hypothetically, these erroneous views,
and how I got rid of them, are questions I have discussed in a
paper which before this time is probably published in the Quar-
terly Journal of the Geological Society.

8. Lastly, I request the reader to bear in mind that my whole
position is not aggressive, but defensive. I continue to use the
nomenclature mutually agreed upon about sixteen or seventeen
years since. The rocks found in Wales, and not in Siluria, I still
eall Cambrian. All the rocks in Siluria are still called Silurian.

My scheme involves no geographical incongruity, deprives my

friend not of one single rock he is entitled to name on British evi-
dence, and it has the incontestable right of priority. It does not
exclude the Llandeilo flag from the rocks of Siluria. But this very
Llandeilo flag (the Bala limestone) was in 1834 placed by my
friend among the Upper Cambrian groups, and in a region where
the sections were unambiguous and rightly interpreted ; while the
typical Llandeilo flag of South Wales was utterly misinterpreted
by himself as to its geological relations. All this is clear to de-
monstration ; and the conclusions that follow from it are inevi-
table, and settle at once all grounds of difference between my friend
and myself. No man living can have a right to change his no-
menclature by fashioning it to sections which are wrong, while he
discards sections which are right.

In all his argument he seems to think especially of the import-
ance of perpetuating his own premature nomenclature of foreign
rocks; and this view warps his whole argument. His premature
nomenclature is to be vindicated at whatever cost, and without any
reference to the published sections of a fellow-labourer, who had
honestly worked through the vast and most difficult series of true
Cambrian rocks, and knew their relations; while he had himself
barely touched the same series on its outskirts—had only pre-
tended to describe two of its highest stages ; and, as to the lower
of these two stages, had irremediably blundered. Hence he has
been compelled to adopt a monstrous scheme of development, lead-
ing to the monstrous conclusion that his single stage—the Llan-

EE ee ee ee

Silurian Discussion. 119

deilo flag—is, by this new scheme of development, identical in age
with beds at least 25,000 feet in thickness, which undulate
between the Berwyns and the Menai! And a monstrous develop-
ment is to be followed by a new and monstrous nomenclature, in
which a great fundamental group which does not exist in Wales
is to be called Cambrian, while the grand series of the older Cam-
brian rocks are to be called Silurian, though they form the moun-
tains of Wales, and do not exist at all in the typical Silurian re-
gion. No authority, however great, can perpetuate such an incon-
gruous and unwarranted nomenclature; and it is historically as
unjust as geographically it is incongruous.

From the very first, the term Silurian System was used prema-
turely by its author, and against repeated remonstrances on my
own part. For the system had no clear physical or zoological
base. Many of the fossils found below it in the Cambrian rocks,
I affirmed to be of the same species with those in the two lower so-
called Silurian groups. Advancing knowledge strengthened these
objections, and it was at length discovered that the whole system,
according to the author’s scheme, rested physically on a false base.
But there is still a good Silurian system, agreeably to my friend’s
use of the word System, based on the Caradoc sandstone. This
sandstone is a great mechanical and often an unconformable de-
posit, constituting the true connecting links between Cambria and
Siluria. It partakes of the zoological characters of both regions,
At May Hill its fossils seem to be those of the Wenlock stage. At
Horderley they very nearly approach to those of the Bala stage.
Is there any single Caradoc section where these two fossil groups
appear together? If so, are the types blended or superimposed 2?
Some questions of this kind require a careful re-examination ;
though they have already been excellently handled by Professor
Phillips. If questions such as these were completely solved, we
should, I think, need nothing more for a full history of the true
sequence and natural progressive development of the oldest fossil-
bearing rocks of Britain, beginning with the Cambrian and ending
with the Silurian series.

To the concluding words of my friend’s comment (Literary
Gazette, April 24, p. 370), I express my heartfelt concurrence.
When we went round the Highlands of Scotland in 1827, I was
then his superior in physical endurance; but a quarter of a cen-
tury has, alas! made me but a sorry labourer in the field. Still
I am not without hopes of again meeting him in his true Silurian
country, and endeavouring to settle, along with him, one or two
minute, and not laborious, questions of demarcation to which I
have just pointed.

ADAM SEDGWICK.

120) William F. Daniell, Esq., on the Ethnography of

On the Ethnography of Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast, West-
ern Africa. By WiuLiAM F. DANIELL, M.D., F.R.G.S.,
Assistant Surgeon to the Forces, &e. Communicated by
the Ethnological Society.

(Continued from vol. lii., p. 303.)

Deaths—Upon the death of any native, several curious and in-
teresting rites are strictly enjoined, from the performance of which
they seldom deviate. Apparently great consideration is attached to
them, if we may judge from the peculiar customs and celebrations
enacted on such occurrences, not only by the inhabitants of the Gold
Coast, but in most of the countries of Western Africa. Shortly after
life has become extinct, the body is thoroughly washed by the house-
hold women, and every portion of it wel] rubbed over with a ligno-
resinous powder named teufan, procured from the bark of a certain
tree, which possessing an aromatic fragrance, is first pulverised and
then appropriated as a perfume of ordinary use. The head and face
are next carefully shaved, the limbs invested with their usual brace-
lets and other golden ornaments, and the whole body enshrouded in
a number of the richest and most sumptuous dresses that can be
chosen. If the deceased has been a person of consequence, gold
dust is liberally sprinkled over the face and other uncovered surfaces,
on which it is retained by the previous application of Ashanté grease
or the vegetable butter, brought from the interior. The corpse thus
arrayed is then exposed in state for a brief period for the farewell in-
spection of all relatives and friends, and is subsequently enclosed in a
wooden box, and privately interred. In Akkrah the dead are inva-
riably buried in one of the compartments within the house, but the
slaves, unless they are favourites, lie scattered around the environs
of the town, in some convenient spot selected for the purpose. With-
in the coffins of the more affluent are deposited a great variety of
native cloths, gold rings, and other valuable trinkets, and occasion-
ally a few bottles filled with gold dust, while upon their exterior
surface are placed the brass ewer and basin, with the spoon, which
the defunct was wont to employ during lifetime, and which the family
now deemed an indispensable accompaniment towards the comfort
to be attained in the next world. Until within a recent date, the
immolation of human victims at these obsequies was fully authorised
by the institutions of the country, to the end that the deceased might
not be found deficient in the requisite number of attendants as would
be found compatible with the rank he was supposed to keep in another
sphere of existence. It is not many years since, upon the death of one
of the powerful caboceers of Kinka, this sacrifice was consummated
by the offering of two young slaves, who were slaughtered without
compunction on the edge of the grave, and their bodies separately

Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast, Africa. 121

extended, the male below and the female above the remains of their
late lord. Latterly, owing to the strict surveillance of the British
Government, these barbarous rites have been temporarily abolished ;
but there can be little doubt that should these people ever become
emancipated from the jurisdiction of Europeans, they would again re-
vert to the observance of what to them is viewed in the solemn
light of a sacred obligation.

On these melancholy occasions the wives and other near female
relatives lament, in pathetic terms, their unfortunate bereavement,
and affect to deplore, by external manifestations of grief, the irre-
parable loss they have sustained. The hair is totally shaven from
the head, every ornament and personal decoration removed, and
dark and sombre garments substituted in lieu of their ordinary dress,
whose gayer hues were more emblematic of the cheerful days of the
past, than of the gloomy prospects of the present. To evince the
sincerity of their grief, the women studiously observe a solemn
fast, abstain from every kind of food throughout the day, withdraw
from public life, and immure themselves privately within the recesses
of their respectivechambers. For the space of three weeks or more,
during the continuance of the custom that invariably succeeds, these
injunctions are unequivocally obeyed, after which a certain degree of
laxity follows, and the confinement of the wives becomes less restricted,
they being permitted to frequent other divisions of the house and
court-yards, and should circumstances compel an exit from their
seclusion, a grave decorum is still preserved, and those conventional
precedents that denote the mournful character of the duties entailed
upon them, are carefully exhibited. The partial or entire removal
of the hair, as a native testimony of affliction and sorrow, is one of
those remarkable peculiarities that bear a close affinity to the or-
dinances introduced by the Jewish legislator in the 21st chapter of
Deuteronomy, in which it is duly enjoined as follows :—

“Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall
shave her head and pare her nails. And she shall put the raiment
of captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail
her father and mother a full month.”

That this was a usage of great antiquity, and common to many
nations from the earliest ages of the world, long previous to its dis-
semination among the Jews, may be distinctly affirmed. Mention
has been made of its prevalence by Herodotus, who relates that “ it
is elsewhere customary in cases of death, for those who are most
nearly affected, to cut off their hair in testimony of sorrow: but the
Egyptians, who, at other times, have their heads closely shaven,
suffer the hair on this occasion to grow.” * It was also equally

* Lib. 2, c. 36; wide also 1. 6, c. 21.

122 William F. Daniell, Esq., on the Ethnography of

vate misfortune, the women clipping their hair short, and the men
allowing it to grow long ; whereas in their seasons of prosperity the
reverse happens, the women wearing their hair long, and the men
close, as stated by Plutarch. In the country now under considera-
tion, the duration of these indications of mourning are variable, and
are evidently guided more by the social position of the deceased, and
the amount of wealth he has accumulated, than other motives. For
the poorer class of natives and others of limited means, the prescribed
probation is about six months; to caboceers and other personages of
note, one year; while the mulatto grandees, from their assumption of
superiority, exact the dedication of two years and upwards to their
memory. Upon the notification of a death to the inhabitants of the
town, the relatives, family connections, and other intimate friends,
assemble together for the object of establishing a custom or feast in
honour of the departed, the representation of which would rather sug-
gest to the stranger, on first sight, that he was witnessing some popular
exhibition of conviviality, than the preliminary scene of lamentation
and woe. On the day preceding the interment, the populace generally
congregate around the mansion of the deceased (where the corpse, ela-
borately adorned in all its paraphernalia of decoration, is exposed to
view), and these fire off a number of muskets; dances and other
fantastic evolutions subsequently occur, amid a concert of tomtoms
and drums, that lend their aid to enliven the spectators. On such
celebrations, great quantities of rum and other ardent liquors are
quickly consumed, and intoxication is the usual result, which, if
the interpretation of the natives be adopted, is solely induced with
the laudable intention of dispelling the sorrow they then experience
for the loss of their fellow-citizen. Upon the expiration of three
weeks, another display of these ceremonies takes place, accompanied
by the same peculiar exhibitions, after the cessation of which all
further manifestations of respect on the part of his family and
friends terminate, the requisite term of public mourning having
been formally completed. According to the ancient laws of the
country, the wives and other female relatives, particularly the
former, are imperatively bound, at the finish of their allotted com-
memoration, to institute a corresponding custom, of a greater or
less duration, proportionate to the extent of their resources. These
rites ostensibly appear to have been established for the purpose of
religiously enforcing the observance of those obligations due to the
memory of the dead, to denote the dissolution of all prior ties or
alliances, and also to shew that the females are at liberty to form
new engagements (unless claimed by the succeeding family heritor),
or enter into other matrimonial schemes as they find most conducive
to their interest. With reference to the men, a compliance with
these practices is less strictly exacted, and, therefore, such are not
often prolonged beyond the brief interval of a few weeks or months
as the case may be.

Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast, Africa. 123

Pawns, or other individuals who die heavily in debt, are denied the
rights of sepulture; and unless some previous arrangement has been
made with the creditor, are exposed on an elevated platform on the
outskirts of the town, enshrouded by mats or enclosed in boxes, since
the interment of the corpse would render his family liable for the
payment of those bonds which the deceased had contracted when
living. A similar interdict is said to exist in Kumassé and other
Ashanté towns.

It is a somewhat singular fact, that among the ancient Egyptians
an edict almost identical constituted one of the fundamental clauses
promulgated in their judicial code for the regulation of commercial
affairs. Herodotus asserts, that it was first enacted by Asychis, a
king who merited the eulogium of being an illustrious benefactor to
his subjects. The historian remarks that, in his reign “ when com-
merce was checked and injured from the extreme want of money, an
ordinance passed, that any one might borrow money, giving the body
of his father as a pledge. By this law the sepulchre of the debtor
became in the power of the creditor; for if the debt was not dis-
charged, he would neither be buried with his family nor in any other
vault, nor was he suffered to inter one of his descendants.” *

Associated with other peculiar traits of much greater importance
in former periods than at present, must be mentioned the strange
decree, which, grounded on the faith of their primitive traditions,
and the superstitious dread of witchcraft, compels the exhumation
of the bodies of those people who have been suspected of being too
intimately concerned with the supernatural influences during their
lifetime. Natives who have been prematurely cut off, either from
the inroads of some occasional epidemic, or the ordinary maladies
of the season, are frequently supposed to become endowed with the
potent prerogative of generating disease and destroying life; hence
it is not an uncommon occurrence, when two or three members of
the same family die in succession, to attribute their departure to the
agency of the first sufferer or sufferers, the corpses of which, after
satisfactory evidence has been adduced, are summarily removed
from their houses within the sanctuary of which they had been in-
terred, are ignominiously burned on the outskirts of the town, and
their ashes scattered to the winds, amid the mingled groans and
execrations of the populace. It matters not how innocent the un-
fortunate persons might have been, nor yet how long they may have
slept in the calm tranquillity of the grave. The voice of public opinion
is unanimous ; they are branded with the stigma of posthumous
murderers, and the violation of those hallowed repositories in which
they rest is imperiously demanded, and the destruction of their frail

* Lib. 2, e. 136.

124 William F. Daniell, Esq., on the Ethnography of

contents accomplished without either dread or compunction. That
which, under other circumstances, would be estimated as a crime of
no trivial magnitude, is now proclaimed to be a meritorious deed, by
the delay or non-performance of which the safety and welfare of the
whole community are compromised.

Upon the event of the death of any individual in a distant country,
though years should have elapsed since its annunciation had. tran-
spired, the relatives and connections, when a fit opportunity pre-
sents itself, despatch a party in search of the place of interment,
and they, gathering together the mouldering remnants of mortality,
return to bury them under the same roof as those of his ancestors.
This custom,—which appears to resemble a labour of fidelity due to
the memory of the deceased that his bones should not lie among
those of strangers, but be blended with those of his family and
kindred, so that the cherished remembrances and associations en-
gendered in the past, should not be dissolved in the world to come,
—has possibly originated from some of those primitive sanatory
mandates which restricted the burial of the dead within definite
bounds, or in pursuance to family compacts that exacted a compli-
ance with certain intramural regulations of immemorial usance.

Inheritances, &c.—The law of inheritance, 'a conspicuous feature
in the social institutions of many nations of Western’ Africa, must
be distinguished as the grand pervading principle on which are
based the disposition of property and power. This law can only
be appreciated from the fact, that the consolidation or dispersion of
family influence, the position and stability of subordinate branches,
with the control of other kindred interests, are chiefly governed by
the absolute right of a well-defined grade of relationship, ex-
clusively derived through the blood on the female side. Divers
reasons have been assigned for their advocacy of this genealogical
system; but those hitherto brought forward have not proved suffi-
ciently explanatory. No traces respecting its date of adoption or
traditional introduction can be ascertained ; for all that is known in
connection with the subject may be comprised in the brief reply,
that their ancestors transferred it from father to son, from such an
early age that its source has long been lost in the mists of antiquity.
Probably, among the more feasible arguments advanced in support
of its tolerance, is that which refers to the woman the peculiar
privilege of transmitting the family blood in a less uncertain stream
from one person to another ; so that, in its descent, it never could:
be entirely eradicated by an admixture with that from other chan-
nels; for, whatever marriages might be contracted by the mother
or her female descendants, even from one generation to another in a
continuous series, still there would always remain a sufficiency to
ensure the original characteristics of her progenitors from being
destroyed. Again, in further confirmation of these views, it has

Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast, Africa. 125

been asserted, that should the wife be guilty of any criminal inter-
course with other parties, the same observations would apply with
equal precision, inasmuch as the offspring must, at least on the ma-
ternal side, enjoy no inconsiderable portion of the ancestral lineage.
With the husband or male, on the contrary, they remark, that after
a few generations the blood becomes progressively diverted into other
courses, and, proceeding downwards, is ultimately absorbed into the
families of those females to which they have been allied.

It is the scrupulous regard paid to these fundamental distinctions
of consanguinity, that also determines the choice and elevation of the
royal aspirants who may be called to occupy the Ashanté throne.

Upon the death of any individual, his property invariably de-
scends to his brothers and sisters in direct rotation, and not to his
issue, as is the custom in more civilized communities. »Should no
brothers exist, the eldest sister succeeds in full, and subsequently
her children, notwithstanding all her predecessors may have left
large progenies behind them. It may therefore be considered as a
general axiom, that the son seldom, if ever, inherits the estate of his
father, which, from a deficiency in the proper collateral kindred,
passes to the nephew or niece by the next sister’s side. The only
deviations from this rule are when the man has no other heir by any
of his female relatives ; under these circumstances, the first-born male
not only comes into possession of his father’s but even his uncle’s
wealth, should their decease have preceded that of his parent. Of
course it is clearly understood that the son always obtains the effects
and valuables of his mother. But when an inhabitant dies without
relatives to demand his inheritance, the oldest slave is commonly
selected as the representative to supply this void. Several percep-
tible modifications of this law have, however, been effected within a
few recent years, in consequence of the promiscuous alliances of
Europeans and their descendants with the aboriginal women. These
rules of inheritance will perhaps not inaptly be explained by the
following illustration :—Should a freeman, for instance, have sexual
communion with a female slave, and conception take place, the fruit
of it is born in bondage, and, like its mother, is the property of her
owner; but should a smilar result follow where the father is a
slave and the woman free, the offspring belongs to the mother, and,
like herself, is equally free, since it partakes of the same recognised
condition, and is endowed with full rights and immunities as if its
birth had occurred under the most benignant auspices. |

After the interment of the corpse, the next of kin, in the grada-
tion previously assigned, assumes the guardianship of the family in-
terests, by virtue of which he not only acquires the patrimony of the
defunct, but an undisputed right over his wives, children, and slaves,
the former being for the most part superadded to his own establish-
ment if the heritor be a man, while the two latter become incorpo-

126 =William F. Daniell, Esq., on the Ethnography of

rated as component portions of his household. Over the sons and
daughters, therefore, he is supposed to exercise all the functions and
prerogatives of a parent, and in this capacity to administer to their
wants, superintend their conduct, and determine their future settle-
ment in life ; and they in return are bound to yield him the full ex-
tent of their services, and to pay him that amount of submission,
deference, and respect which is due to the position he fills. As their
support and maintenance are solely derivable from the relative in
charge, if it may be so expressed, during the period of their servi-
tude, and implicit obedience required in exchange, it necessarily en-
sues that their treatment is in a great measure guided by the degree
of subserviency rendered ; so that, in fact, until their arrival at the
age of maturity, they gradually degenerate into mere dependents
upon his bounty, and are compelled, in compliance with his man-
dates, to perform such menial and other debasing avocations as he
may choose to delegate to them.

Division of Time, &c.—In the computation of time they rarely
adhere to the systems of more enlightened nations, by the sub-
division of the year into a given number of moons or months, but
rather prefer the adoption of a more primitive formula, derived from
the observance of various climatic changes, the rotation of seasons,
and other physical phenomena, and it is chiefly by such simple
means that not only these but other tribes in Western Africa, are
influenced in the regulation of their year; and it is this distribution
alone that constitutes the fundamental principles on which these
peculiar arrangements are based. Conformably to the established
usages of each country, deviations and distinctions in their primary
division are of common occurrence, and such variations are to be
attributed more to a relaxed or stricter classification of climatorial
agencies than from any artificial distinctions suggested by them-
selves, since an analytic examination into their respective merits would
unquestionably point out that the majority, if not the whole, come
under one prescriptive rule of formation, and proceed from the same
definite basis as those in general prevalence throughout other coun-
tries on the African continent. In Akkrah, and the circumjacent
districts, the year has been partitioned into three grand seasons, re-
ferable to the preceding mode ; and these again, in some localities,
seem to have been divided into still minor fractions. As consider-
able doubt has been expressed in relation to the latter, it is unneces-
sary for me to dilate further upon the subject. The designations of
the primary seasons are thus annexed :

Summer. Boo’ornah. Mar. April, May, June, July, Aug.
Second Summer. G’boh. September, October, and November.
Arrab-attah, said to
Winter. be derived from the
word Harmattan.

December, January,
and February.

Eee a ae ee ee eee

Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast, Africa. 127

The week consists of seven days, which are separately distinguish-
ed by appropriate cognomens, apparently corresponding to the num-
ber of days comprehended in the European calendars, and which
may also be rendered as follows :—

Sunday Haughbah.
Monday Dhu.
Tuesday Dhu-foh.
Wednesday Shau.
Thursday So.

Friday So-ah,
Saturday Hau.

Two of these days may be considered as sacred, viz. :—-Dhu-foh,
dedicated to the propitiation of Ni and the River Sakkoom, the
great national fetish of Akkrah ; and Haughbah, devoted to the mys-
terious rites of Oéyardo, the dreaded patroness of all married women.
It is a remarkable fact, when taken in connection with their reli-
gious duties, that, on the first of these days (Dhu-foh), no fisherman
dare venture to launch his canoe upon the ocean’s surface to gain his
precarious livelihood, but guardedly abstains from those piscatory pur-
suits which might betray him or his family into the infringement of
the superstitious mandates so solemnly enunciated by the priests and
fetishmen. Similar stringent precautions are equally enjoined on the
second (Haughbah) ; and though of a somewhat different character,
are made compulsory on all ranks and sexes, but more exclusively to
that of the female. Under the supposition that some malign potency
pervades the surrounding country on this day, more particularly directed
against the pregnant women, their daily avocations are restricted within
the walls of their domiciles, no egress being tolerated either for the
purposes of travelling or other exterior occupations. Not many people
therefore presume to violate these injunctions by issuing forth early in
the forenoon, and none resort to their familiar haunts in the markets
or public thoroughfares, until the prohibition has been withdrawn by
the well-known sign of a declining sun. In some respects So-ah may
likewise be appended to the two previous days, owing to its being con-
secrated to Kaulé or the salt-pond fetish, which is one held in much
less estimation, and therefore, is not entitled to the same amount of
deference or veneration awarded to the others. The celebration of
these religious obligations differ more or less as to their day of ful-
filment in the various towns where such traditional forms of worship
are systematically maintained.

Currency, &c.—The currency of the Gold Coast is represented by
the Indian cowrie (Cyprea moneta) a small shell originally exported
and carried from the east, and now diffused in vast quantities through-
out the contiguous inland kingdoms and other central regions of

128 William F. Daniell, Esq., on the Ethnography of

Western Africa. For the convenience of transmission or payment,
they were formerly perforated and strung together in definite num-
bers, hence the source of their designations into strings and heads. By
a simple arrangement their fractional division was reduced to a stand-
ard, and found most beneficially adapted to the wants of the popula-
tion. The annexed table will prove duly explanatory of their system.

Number of English value.

Heads. Strings. Cowries. Ee ae 1
4 20 0 0 Of%
Ml 40 Oy. 0,8
my 12 480 Oey,
1 48 1,920 0. .4°° 0
1 ounce of gold dust, or 20 960 38,400 4 0 0

The rate of exchange, when dollars require to be converted into
cowries, and vice versa, will depend upon their current value at the
different outports where the requisition is made. Thus, at Cape
Coast, the dollar is estimated at 4s. 6d., in Akkrah at 5s. currency,
and in other places along the coast, at its sterling price, 4s. 2d. The
equivalents therefore to be given in cowries for each, should amount
to the following.

5s. = 60strings = 2400 cowries.
Dollar at < 4s. 6d. = 654 = do. = 2160+ de!
4s. 2d. =" 50° ‘do: = 2000 “do.

Gold dust, one of the staple articles of commerce exported from
this tract of African coast, is more plentiful at the Fanté towns of
Annamabo and Cape Coast, than in those of Akkrah, It is brought
to the former places by the Akim and Ashanté traders from their
own and the circumjacent countries, and has been considered by
Adams and other European authorities to be much inferior in quality
to that obtained from Apollonia and Dixcove. A great quantity was
annually poured into Akkrah for a series of years previous to the
present date; but this, from a multiplicity of causes, became gradually
diminished, and was ultimately diverted into other channels. This
diminution is to be ascribed to the Ashantés manifesting a preference
for those markets in which were exhibited for choice a richer assort-
ment of merchandise, better suited to their demands, and from the
fact that to the eastward of Christiansburg little or no gold could
be purchased, owing to the soi] being less fertile in those auriferous
depositions than the surface of various localities in the inland and
maritime provinces of the west. The gold offered for sale or barter,
is ordinarily adulterated according to the ingenuity of the vendor or
inexperience of the buyer. These adulterations comprise copper or
brass filings, pieces of impure ore, micaceous earths, and granular
alloys of silver, and other analogous substances calculated to deceive

Ac i

Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast, Africa. 129
the eye. They, however, are detected without trouble or difficulty,
under the customary supervision of a native personage, professionally
denominated a gold-taker, whose services are specially retained in

mercantile establishments for this object. European factors regu-
late their purchases and computations by its artificial division into
ackies and ounces, of which sixteen of the former, valued respectively
at five shillings, constitutes the ounce, that again being equal to four
pounds currency. The country people in their multifarious trading
speculations, are subject to a constant fluctuation of prices produced
by the interchange of commodities among the various tribes with whom
they come in contact.. As these comprehend individuals in every
sphere of life, an enlargement of the scale of equivalents in gold dust
became requisite, and has been fully accomplished by the Fanté and
and Ashanté traders, by their minute subdivision and combination
of the ounce into a minor variety of terms, each of which has its
relative value affixed. This pecuniary method of valuation so far
suffices for the mutual accommodation of all parties engaged in traffic,
and has implicitly guided hitherto the inhabitants of Akkrah,
Adampé, and the more eastern nations in their commercial transac-
tions. It is somewhat remarkable, that the native appellation of
Seekah is known not only throughout every portion of the Gold
Coast, but in Popo, Dahomey, and the distant regions of Yorruba.
The following tables of the gold currency of the Fanté and Ashanté
nations compiled by ‘the late Mr M‘Lean, are equally adopted by the

people of Akkrah and Adampé, and the accuracy of which may be suf-
ficiently guaranteed by the well-known experience of their author.

Tasie 1— Fanté Currency.

Names of Weights. cual awe Value Names of Weights. or eo Value.

£& s. d. £ s d.

| Pessua 1-48th | 0 O 14 || Essien 6 110 O
Simpoah . 1-24th | 0 O 23 || Acandjua 7 115 0
Takufan . 1-12th| 0 0 5 Djua . 4/8 2 0 0
| Kokua 1-8th | 0 O 7% || Sul vis LS Bs 0
| Tako . 1-6th | 0 0 10 Sua-ne-sul c aah atlas s ¢« 6
Suafan 5-6ths |0 4 2 Djuamien £ ane £O. 4
Meaton (or Giri ifs) 1 0 5 0 Essuanu . 1| 2 410 0

| Sua .|1-4-6th| 0 8 4 Djuamiensan 1/8 6 0 O
Agiratjwi (or Gira) 2 0 10''O Hssuasan 1/11 615 0

| Ensan . 3 015 0 Bendah 2 i 8 0-¢
Djuasul . 4 Ly O> Q Perigwan 2\4 9 0 0
Perisul 5 Sa a Entenu 4 | 8 18 0 @

130 Prof. E. Forbes on the supposed Analogy between the

TasiE I1.—Ashanté Currency.

Weight in

Names of Weights. Ee Value. Names of Weights. | 4.) ackies. Value. |

le Rh £ s aa
Pessua .. . .|...|1-64th| 0 O 048] Insuansan .. . |... 23 O11 ga
DAMM isd: sae iyees | breed +|-O0 0 \ LZ Bodouim sini gice ou Wace 23. 012. 6a
meen ss Misa n:| tek Oth, [OO 82 igen oe nt) las 3 015 0)
WORM Ge «es Loco) Seok | 0 60 fe i meee) oo, ober, | oe 017 @
Taku-mienu . .|...{ 1-4th | 0 1 3 Sul 43 12
Takumiensan . .|.../ 3-8ths | 0 1 103 || Perisul 5 1-6 &
Suafen. ou. ‘oo dow) S-4tbs | O- 8 9 Essien 6 lio @
Dumafen =. . | .:c{ll-l2thep @ 2 Fo Dyua ae) one 2 | ee i116 @
Brofan (G0 o4, ROG) of @ 5-0") Amenat ()) G2) ee 119 24
Agiratjwifan . ./.../ ly#,th |} 0 5 5 Ksua . » OA 9 2 5 a
Insuanspfan ...|)+ |\... | Lith 0, 5.10 Suane-sul wen b> LOS 3 7
Bodombufan . .|...| lid 0 £ § Hssua-nu 1 2 410 Oj
ee Crete ce saree. | ee ie. res Essua- san 1 EH 615-0
Dumawira cs oy. fe) Lgth 0 9 2 Essua-san-sul 74 Sas 8 0. @
BPO gure s. 21 a Hott Wie 010 O Perigwan 2| 4 9 0 0
Agiratjwi .. .|...{| 2§th | 0 10 10 Entenu 4) 8 18 0 0

NV.B.—An ackie is equal to 8 Ashanté takus, and to 6 Fanté takus.

(To be concluded in our next Number.)

On the supposed analogy between the Life of an Individual and
the Duration of a Species. By EDWARD ForszEs, Esq.,
F.R.S., &c. Communicated by the Author.*

In Natural History and Geology a clear understanding of
the relations of Individual, Species, and Genus to Geological
Time and Geographical Space is of essential importance.
Much, however, of what is generally received concerning
these relations will scarcely bear close investigation. Among
questionable, though popular notions upon this subject the
lecturer would place the belief that the term of duration of
a species is comparable and of the same kind with that of
the life of an individual.

The successive phases in the complete existence of an
individual are, Birth, Youth, Maturity, Decline, and Decay,
terminating in Death. Whether we regard an individual as

* Read before the Royal Institution of Great Britain on 7th May 1852,

Life of an Individual and the Duration of a Species. 131

a single self-existing organism, however produced, or extend
it to the series of organisms, combined or independent, all
being products of a single ovum, its term of duration can be
abbreviated but not prolonged indefinitely, nor can the several
phases of its existence be repeated. Conditions may arrest
or hasten maturity, or prematurely destroy, but cannot, how-
ever favourable, reproduce a second maturity after decline
has commenced.

Now, it is believed by many that a species (using the term
in the sense of an assemblage of individuals presenting cer-
tain constant characters in common, and derived from one
original protoplast or stock) passes through a series of phases
comparable with those which succeed each other in definite
order during the life of a single individual,—that it has its
epochs of origin, of maturity, of decline, and of extinction,
dependent upon the laws of an inherent vitality.

If this notion be true, the theory of Geology will be pro-
portionately affected ; since in this case the duration of
species must be regarded as only influenced, not determined,
by the physical conditions among which they are placed ;—
and, thus, species should characterise epochs or sections of
time, independent of all physical changes and modifying
influences short of those which are absolutely destructive.
Now, geological epochs, as at present understood, are defined
by peculiar assemblages of species, and the amount of change
in the organic contents of proximate formations or strata is
usually accepted as a measure of the extent of the disturb-
ances that affect them. Yet this latter inference, involving
as it does the supposition that the spread and continuity of
species in time is dependent upon physical influences, is
adverse to the notion of a Life of a Species, as stated above.

If we seek for the origin of this notion we shall find that
is has two sources, the one direct, the other indirect. It is
not an induction, nor pretended to be, but an hypothesis as-
sumed through apparent analogies. Its first and principal
source may be discovered in the comparison suggested by
certain necessary phases in the duration of the species with

others in the life of an individual, such as, each has its com-
L 2

182 Prof. E. Forbes on the supposed Analogy betneen the

mencement, and each has its cessation. Geological research
has made known to us that prior to certain points in time
certain species did not exist, and that after certain points in
time certain species ceased to be. The commencement of a
species has been compared with Birth, the extinction with
Death. Again, many species can be shewn to have had an
epoch of maximum development in time. This has been
compared with the maturity of the individual.

Between the birth of an individual and the commencement
of a species in the first appearance of its protoplast, the ana-
logy is more apparent than real. We know how the former
phenomenon takes place, but we have no knowledge of the
latter.

Between the maturity of the individual and the maximum
development of a species there is no true analogy, since the
latter can easily be proved to be entirely dependent on the
combination of favouring conditions, and during the period
of duration of a species there may be two or more epochs of
great or even equal development, and two or more epochs of
decline alternating with epochs of prosperity. The epoch of
maximum of a species may also occur during any period in
its history short of the first stage. Geological and geogra-
phical research equally shew that the flourishing of a species
is invariably coincident with the presence of favouring, and
its decline with that of unfavourable conditions. Hence there
is no analogy between the single and definite phase of ma-
turity of the individual and the variable and sometimes often
repeated epochs of luxuriant development in the duration of
a species. .

Between the death of the individual and the extinction of
a species there is an analogy only when the former event
occurs prematurely, through the influence of destroying con-
ditions. But in their absence, an individual after its period
of vitality has been completed must necessarily die ; whereas
we have no right to assume that such would be the fate of a
Species so circumstanced, since in every case where we can,
either geologically or geographically, trace a species to its
local or general extinction, we can connect the fact of its
disappearance with the evidences of physical changes.

Life of an Individual and the Duration of a Species, 133

|The lecturer illustrated these points by diagrams and
‘special demonstrations, selecting for explanation two local
cases, the one mnarine and the other fresh water ; the former
taken from the geological phenomena of Culver cliff and the
neighbouring bays in the Isle of Wight, of which a beautiful
and original model had been communicated by Captain Ibbet-
son for the purpose; and the latter from his own recent re-
searches (unpublished) on the succession of organic remains
in the Purbeck strata of Dorsetshire, conducted as part of
the labours of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.]

The second and more indirect source of the notion of ¢he
life of a species may be traced in apparent analogies, half-
perceived, between the centralisation of generic groups in
time and space, and the limited duration of both species and
individwal. But in this case ideas are compared which are
altogether and essentially distinct.

The nature of this distinction is expressed among the fol-
lowing propositions, in which an attempt is made to contrast
the respective relations of individual, species, and genus to
Geological time and Geographical space.

A. The individual, whether we restrict the word to the
single organism, however produced—or extend it to the series
of organisms, combined or independent, all being products
of a single ovum—has but a limited and unique existence in
time, which, short as it must be, can be shortened by the
influence of unfavourable conditions, but which no combination
of favouring circumstances can prolong beyond the term of
life allotted to it according to its kind.

B. The species, whether we restrict the term to assemblages
of individuals resembling each other in certain constant cha-
racters, or hold, in addition, the hypothesis (warranted, as
might be shewn from experience and experiment), that be-
_ tween all the members of such an assemblage there ‘is the
relationship of family, the relationship of descent, and con-
sequently that they are all the descendents of one first stock
or protoplast—(how that protoplast appeared is not part of
the question)—is like the individual, in so much as its re-
lations to dime are unigue: once destroyed, it never reappears.

But (and this is the point of the view now advocated),

134 Professor E. Forbes on Species.

unlike the individual, it is continued indefinitely so long as
conditions favourable to its diffusion and prosperity—that is
to say, so long as conditions favourable to the production and
sustenance of the individual representatives or elements are
continued coincidently with its existence.

[No amount of favouring conditions can recal a species
once destroyed. On this conclusion, founded upon all facts
hitherto observed in paleontology, the value of the application
of Natural History to Geological science mainly depends. |

C. The genus, in whatever degree of extension we use the
term, so long as we apply it to an assemblage of species
intimately related to each other in common and important
features of organisation, appears distinctly to exhibit the
phenomenon of centralization in both ¢ime and space, though
with a difference, since it would seem that each genus has a
unique centre or area of development in time, but in geogra-
phical space may present more centres than one.

a. An individual is a positive reality.

b. A species is a relative reality.

ce. A genus is an abstraction—an idea—but an idea im-
pressed on nature and not arbitrarily dependent on man’s con-
ceptions.

a. An individual is one.

6. A species consists of many resulting from one.

y. A genus consists of more or fewer of the manies result-
ing from one linked together not by a relationship of descent,
but by an affinity dependent on a Divine idea.

a. An individual cannot manifest itself in two places at
once; it has no extension in space; its relations are entirely
with éime, but the possible duration of its existence is regu-
lated by the law of its inherent vitality.

6. A species has correspondent and exactly analogous re-
lations with time and space—the duration of its existence as
well as its geographical extension is entirely regulated by
physical conditions.

c. A genus has dissimilar or only partially comparable re-
lations with time and space, and occupies areas in both, having
only partial relations to physical conditions.

The investigations of these distinctions and relations form

—— a

Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition. 135

the subject of a great chapter in the philosophy of Natural
History. That philosophy contemplates the laws that regu-
late the manifestation of life exhibited in organised nature,
and their dependence upon and connection with the inorganic
world and its phenomena. None teaches more emphatically
the difficulties with which man’s mind must contend when
attempting to comprehend the wisdom embodied in the uni-
verse, and none holds out a more cheering prospect of future
discovery in fresh and unexpected fields of delightful research,

Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, deli-
vered before the Society of Aris, Manufactures, and Com-
merce, at the suggestion of His Royal Highness Prince
Albert, President of the Society.*

The following are the subjects discussed in these Lec-
tures :

I. The General Bearing of the Great Exhibition on the
Progress of Art and Science. By the Rev. W.
Whewell, D.D., F.R.S., Master of Trinity College,
Cambridge.

II. Mining, Quarrying, and Metallurgical Processes and
Products. By Sir H. T. De la Beche, C.B., F.R.S.

III. The Raw Materials from the Animal Kingdom. By
Richard Owen, F.R.S.

IV. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Processes and Pro-
ducts. By Jacob Bell, Esq., M.P.

V. The Chemical Principles involved in the Manufactures
of the Exhibition, as indicating the Necessity of In-
dustrial Instruction. By Lyon Playfair, C.B., F.R.S.

VI. Substances used as Food, illustrated by the Great
Exhibition. By John Lindley, Ph.D., F.R.S., Pro-
fessor of Botany in University College, London.

VII. The Vegetable Substances used in the Arts and
Manufactures, in relation to Commerce generally.
By Professor Edward Solly, F.R.S.

* Published by David Bogue, 86 Fleet Street, London. 1852.

136 Lectures on the Results of the

VIII. Machines and Tools for Working in Metal, Wood, and
other Materials. By the Rev. Robert Willis, M.A.,
F.R.S., Jacksonian Professor in the University of
Cambridge.

IX. Philosophical Instruments and Processes, as repre-
sented in the Great Exhibition. By James Glaisher,
Esq., F.R.S.

X. Civil Engineering and Machinery generally. By
Henry Hensman, Esq.

XI. The Arts and Manufactures of India. By Professor
J. F. Royle, M.D., F.R.S.

XII. On the Progress of Naval Architecture, as indicating
the Necessity for Scientific Education, and for the
Classification of Ships and Steam-Engines ; also on
Life-Boats. By Captain Washington, R.N., F.R.S.

Of these interesting lectures, the first or leading, viz. the
admirable discourse of Dr Whewell, has already appeared
in this Journal (véde Vol. lii. No. 103, January 1852, p. 1).
It would have afforded us much pleasure to have gone fully
into the merits of the other lectures, but our limits prevent
this. The following extracts from some of these lectures
will, however, we think, enable our readers to judge of the
kind of information they afford.

J.—-Sir Henry De 1a BeEcue.

1. Amount of British Iron—The Exhibition may be said to
have given rise to the most complete view of the iron produce of
this country which we possess. Mr Samuel Blackwell, himself an
ironmaster, accompanied the collection of iron ores by a statement
of great value. He estimates the gross annual production of iron
in Great Britain to be now upwards of 2,500,000 tons. Of this
quantity, South Wales furnishes 700,000 tons; South Stafford-
shire (including Worcestershire), 600,000 tons: and Scotland
600,000 tons. The remainder is divided among the various |
smaller districts. The iron of England and Wales was produced
by 336 furnaces in blast in 1850. Though a considerable quan-
tity of British iron is exported, a very large proportion remains to
be variously employed in our own industry.

2. Desilverising of Lead.—As to lead, the illustrations were
chiefly British. There was an excellent exhibition of Pattin-
son’s important process for desilverising that metal—a process

Great Exhibition of 1851. 137

which has been of such service to lead-mining generally, rendering
many lead-mines workable with profit which must otherwise have
been abandoned. The chief ore whence lead is extracted is that
known as galena, or the sulphuret of lead, furnishing from seventy-
five to eighty-three parts of the metal according to purity. It
usually, though not always, contains silver in variable propor-
tions. Upon the quantity of silver often depends the profitable
raising of the ore. Previous tothe invention of Mr Pattinson (of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne), about twenty ounces of silver in the ton
of lead were required to render the extraction of that metal worth
the cost; since then as little as three and four ounces in the ton of
lead will repay extraction. Now, as so many ores contain small
quantities only of silver, the importance of the process is evident.
In a scientific point of view it is one of much interest, as it consists
in so conducting the work that portions of the lead can crystallise,
by which the silver becomes excluded, in the manner in which,
in many crystallising processes, foreign substances are excluded
during crystallisation. . Thus, by degrees, a mass of mixed lead
and silver is left, extremely rich in the latter. When this richness
in silver arrives at the point desired, that metal is extracted in the
usual manner by cupellation. The lead-smelting at the Allenhead’s
mines, and at the Wanlockhead Hills, Dumfriesshire, both excel-
lently displayed, are both founded on Pattinson’s process. While
touching on the Wanlockhead Hills exhibition, we should not
pass over thearrangements by which the fumes from the furnace
are prevented from escape, and from damage to the surrounding
country, while lead, to the amount of thirty-three per cent. from
the deposits or “fume” is obtained.

3. Plumbago.—The importance of plumbago for the arts and for
crucibles is well known. After the Borrowdale mines, Cumber-
land, were somewhat exhausted, it became important, for that
variety of plumbago employed in arts, to obtain some substitute ;
and varieties of compounds were invented, but nothing succeeded
so well as the compressing process presented by Mr Brockedon, of
which illustrations were in the Exhibition. By this process much
of the Borrowdale plumbago dust has been utilised with advan-
tage. It, or any other good plumbago, is ground into fine pow-
der, placed in packets, and then receives a pressure equal to about
5000 tons. ‘To prevent the injurious effect of disseminated air in
the packets of fine powder, it is extracted by means of an air-
pump, and thus the particles themselves can be brought into close
juxtaposition and forced to cohere. Of the application of plumbago
to crucibles there were several examples, some well known for their

quality.
Il. Proressor Owen.

1. Geology of the Sheep.—The recent progress of paleontology,

138 Lectures on the Results of the

or the science of fossil organic remains, remarkable for its unprece-
dented rapidity, adds a new element to the elucidation of this
question, which was so ably discussed by Buffon and the naturalists
of the last century. At present, however, the evidence which
paleontology yields is of the negative kind. No unequivocal
fossil remains of the sheep have yet been found in the bone caves,
the drift, or the more tranquil stratified newer pliocene deposits,
so associated with the fossil bones of oxen, wild boar, wolves,
foxes, otters, beavers, &c., as to indicate the coevality of the sheep
with those species, or in such an altered state as to indicate them
to have been of equal antiquity. I have had my attention par-
ticularly directed to this point, in collecting evidence for a “ His-
tory of our British Fossil Mammalia.’? Wherever the truly
characteristic parts, viz., the bony cores of the horns, have been
found associated with jaws, teeth, and other parts of the skeleton
of a ruminant, corresponding in size and other characters with
those of the goat and sheep, in the formations of the newer plio-
cene period, such supports of the horns haye proved to be those of
the goat.* No fossil horn-core of a sheep has yet been anywhere
discovered ; and so far as this negative evidence goes, we may
infer that the sheep is not geologically more ancient than man ;
that it is not a native of Europe, but has been introduced by the
tribes who carried hither the germs of civilisation in their migra-
tions westward from Asia.

2. Baleen.—I have next to speak of a substance which, though
commonly called “ whalebone,” has nothing of the nature of bone
in it; but it is an albuminous tissue, nearly allied to hair and .
bristles, both in its chemical and vital properties, and its mode of
development.

Of all the creatures which man has subdued for his advantage
and use, that which surpasses every other animal in bulk, and which
lives in an element unfitted for man’s existence, might be supposed
to be the last that he would have the audacity to attack, or the
power to overcome. The great whales, that “ tempest the ocean,”
are able, as many instances—and a very recent one—have shewn,
to stave in the bottom of a ship by a blow of their muzzle, and
crack a boat by a nip of their jaws, as easily as we would a nut—
“ Si sua robora norint!” If they did but know their strength,
and how to use it, pursuit would be in vain, and whales would be-
come the most dreaded, instead of the most coveted, of the deni-
zens of the deep.

* A characteristic fossil of this kind, found associated with remains of the
Mammoth and leptorine rhinoceros in the newer fresh-water pliocene of
Walton, in Essex, is figured in my “ History of British Fossil Mammalia,”
p- 489, cut 204.

Great Exhibition of 1851. 139

The cetaceans, which afford the whalebone, or, more properly,
baleen plates, are of a more timid nature than the great sperm
whales, which commonly cause the catastrophes alluded to: they
have no teeth, but in their place they have substitutes, in the form
of horny plates, ending in a fringe of bristles,—a peculiarity first
pointed out by Aristotle.* Of these plates, properly called “ ba-
leen,”’ the largest, which are of an equilateral triangular form, are
arranged in a single longitudinal series on each side of the upper
jaw, situated pretty close to each other, depending vertically from
the jaw, with their flat surfaces looking backwards and forwards,
and their unattached margins outwards and inwards, the direction
of their interspaces being nearly transverse to the axis of the
skull. The smaller subsidiary plates are arranged in oblique series,
internal to the marginal ones, The base of each plate is hollow,
and is fixed upon a pulp developed from a vascular gum, which
is attached to a broad and shallow depression occupying the whole
of the palatal surface of the maxillary and of the anterior part
of the palatine bones. The base of each marginal plate is the
smallest of the three sides of the triangle; it is unequally imbed-
ded in a compact subelastic substance, which is so much deeper
on the outer than on the inner side, as in the new-born whale to
include more than one-half of the outer margin of the baleen plate.
The form of the baleen-clad roof of the mouth is that of a trans-
verse arch or vault, against which the convex dorsum of the thick
and large tongue is applied when the mouth is closed. Hach
plate sends off from its inner and oblique margin the fringe of
moderately stiff but flexible hairs which projects into the mouth.
The bases of the baleen plates do not stand far apart from one an-
other, but the anterior and posterior walls of the pulp fissure are
respectively confluent with the contiguous divisions of the bases
of the adjoining plates at their thin and extreme margins, which,
by this confluence, close the basal end of the interspace of the
baleen plates, which interspace is occupied more than half way
down the plate by the cementing substance or gum. Thin layers
of horn, in like manner, connect the contiguous plates, and may
be traced, extending in parallel curves with the basal connecting
layer, across the cementing substance.

The baleen pulp is situated in a cavity at the base of the plate, like
the pulp of a tooth ; whilst the external cementing material main-
tains, both with respect to this pulp, and to the portion of the baleen
plate which it develops, the same relation as the dental capsule

* The passage occurs in the 12th chapter of the 3d book of the “ Historia
Animalium,” and has given rise to much speculation and controversy :—“Mys-
ticetus etiam pilos in ore intus habet vice dentium suillis setis similes.” Toa
person looking into the mouth of a stranded whale, the concavity of the palate
would appear to be beset with coarse hair.. The species of Balenoptera, which
frequents the Mediterranean, might have afforded to the father of zoology the
subject of his comparison.

140 Lectures on the Results of the

bears to the tooth. According to these analogies, it must follow
that the only central fibrous or tubular portion of the baleen plate
is formed, like the dentine, by the basal pulp, and that the base of
the plate is not only fixed in its place by the cementing substance
or capsule, but must also receive an accession of horny material
from it.

The baleen plates are smallest at the two extremities of the
series ; in the southern whale (Balena Australis) they rapidly in-
crease in length to the thirtieth, then very gradually increase in
length to about the one hundred and fortieth ; from this they as gra-
dually diminish to the one hundred and sixtieth plate, and thence
rapidly slope away to the same small size as that with which the
series commenced. Besides the external, and, as they may be
termed, the normal plates, which have just been described, there
are developed from the imner part of the palatal gum, in the
Balena Australis, a series of smaller fringed processes, progres-
sively decreasing in size as they recede from the large external
plates ; the small plates clothe the middle region of the palate
with a finer kind of hair, against which the surface of the tongue
more immediately rests; they are also arranged in longitudinal
series, which, however, are not parallel with the external one, but
pass from the inner margin of that series in oblique lines inwards
and backwards.

In the great northern whale, (Balena mysticetus), the balen
plates which succeed the large ones of the outer row are more nu-
merous, and are relatively longer and larger than in the Balena
Australis. Mr Scoresby, who, in his account of the Balena mys-
ticetus, notices only the marginal plates, states that they are
about two hundred in number on each side; the largest are from
ten to fourteen feet, very rarely fifteen feet in length, and about a
foot in breadth at their base. These plates are overlapped and
concealed by the under lip when the mouth is shut. In the
Balenoptere, or fin-backed whales, the baleen processes, internal
to the marginal plates, are fewer and smaller than in the true
whales (Balene.) The marginal plates are more numerous, ex-
ceeding three hundred on each side; they are broader in propor-
tion to their length, and much smaller in proportion to the entire
animal; they are also more bent in the direction transverse to
their long axis.

Each plate of the baleen consists of a central coarse fibrous
substance, and an exterior compact fibrous layer; but this reaches
to a certain extent only, beyond which the central part projects in
the form of the fringe of bristles. The chemical basis of baleen,
according to the experienced Professor Brande, is albumen, har-
dened by a small REYROTOR, of PHOEBE of lime. ys

on te “For the iulerdago ies! ee acters, far Silipe particular s of the baleen plates,
I must refer to my Odontography, vol. i., p. 311.’

Great Exhibition of 1851. 141

The final purpose of this singular armature of the upper jaw of
the great whales, is to secure the capture and retention of the
small floating molluses and crustaceans, which serve principally
as their food. When the capacious mouth is opened, the water
rushes in, and is strained through the fringed surface of the roof
and sides, whilst the small animals are retained, bruised against
the stiff bristled margins of the plates, and swallowed.

Baleen, or whalebone, from its tenacity, flexibility, elasticity,
compactness, and lightness, is applied to a great variety of useful
purposes. These were well exemplified in the collection exhibited
under No. 103, by Mr Henry Horan, which shewed well-selected
examples of whalebone plates from the Arctic whale (Balena mys-
ticetus), which yields the largest and best kind; from the Antarctic -
whale (Balena Australis), which affords the second best kind; and
from the great finner whale (Balenoptera hoops), which affords
the shortest and coarsest plates. With these examples of the raw
material, Mr Horan exhibited specimens of the raw material in
various states of preparation, and numerous and ingenious appli-
cations of the prepared baleen, dyed of different colours, as, e.9.,
for covering whip-handles, walking-sticks, and telescopes, and in
‘the form of shavings for plaiting, like straws, in the construction
of light hats and bonnets. An excellent and instructive series of
preparations of baleen was also exhibited by Messrs Westall, in
which was more especially deserving notice the great variety of
filamentary modifications of the whalebone material for numerous
useful applications. Fine blades of whalebone from the Balena
mysticetus were exhibited in the United States department, under
No. 531, by Mr L. Goddard, and characteristic specimens of baleen
plates from the Balena Australis had been transmitted by Mr G.
Moses from Van Diemen’s Land.

3. Ivory.—tThe same considerations necessarily limited the func-
tions of our jury, in regard to the tusks of animals presenting the
modification of dental substances to which the term “ivory” is
applied. Fine ivory, distinguished by the decussating curved
lines on the surfaces of transverse fractions or sections of the tusk,
is peculiar to the African and Asiatic elephants, amongst existing
quadrupeds; and the best is obtained from the wild individuals ;
domestication of the elephant, in India at least, having been
attended usually by deterioration of the length and quality of the
tusks.

The finest specimens of elephant tusks sent to the Great Ex-
hibition were a pair weighing 325 pounds, from the Elephas
Africanus, obtained from an animal killed near the newly-dis-
covered Lake Ngami, in South Africa. Each tusk measured 8
feet 6 inches in length, and 22 inches in basal circumference. A
single tusk weighing 110 pounds, from the same locality, was

142 Lectures on the Results of the

associated with them. These specimens were exhibited by Mr
Joseph Cawwood. .

Messrs Fauntleroy and Sons exhibited an instructive collection
of elephants’ tusks in No. 135. The largest of these was also
from the African elephant, and weighed 139 pounds. Varieties
of tusks were exhibited from the Gold Coast, the Gaboon River,
Zanzebar, the Cape of Good Hope, Angola, Alexandria, Ceylon,
and the Hast Indies. Of the tusks which possess a dense texture,
but have not the engine-turn markings of true ivory, Messrs Faun-
tleroy exhibit those of the narwhal, the walrus, and the hippo-
potamus; and the Jury regarded this instructive collection as
deserving Honourable Mention.

Fine tusks of the Ceylon variety of elephants were shewn in
the collection from that island; and several examples of the con-
tinental Asiatic kinds were exhibited in the Indian departments.
Amongst the tusks of the Siamese elephants was one which
weighed 100 pounds, and shewed a fine white compact kind of ivory.

4, Feathers and Down.—The most beautiful, the most complex,
and the most highly elaborated of all the coverings of animals,
due to developments of the epidermal system, is the plumage of
birds. Well might the eloquent Paley say—‘“ Every feather is a
mechanical wonder. Their disposition—all inclined backward ;
the down about the stem; the overlapping of their tips; their
different configuration in different parts; not to mention the va-
riety of their colours—constitute a vestment for the body so beau-
tiful, and so appropriate to the life which the animal has to lead,
as that, I think, we should have had no conception of anything
equally perfect, if we had never seen it, or can now imagine any-
thing more so.”

A feather consists of the “quill,” the “shaft,” and the “ vane.”
The vane consists of “ barbs” and “ barbules.”

The quill is pierced by a lower and an upper orifice, and con-
tains a series of light, dry, conical capsules, fitted one upon an-
other, and united together by a central pedicle.

The shaft is slightly bent; the concave side is divided into two
surfaces by a middle longitudinal line continued from the upper
orifice of the quill; the convex side is smooth. Both sides are
covered with a horny material, similar to that of the quill; and —
they enclose a peculiar white, soft, elastic substance, called the
6“ ith.’’

"The barbs are attached to the sides of the shaft, and consist of
plates, arranged with their flat sides towards each other, and their
margins in the direction of the convex and concave sides of the
feather; consequently they present considerable resistance to being
bent out of their plane, although readily yielding to any force
acting upon them in the direction of the line of the stem.

Great Exhibition of 1851. 143

The barbules are given off from either side of the barbs, and are
sometimes similarly barbed themselves, as may be seen in the
barbules of the long feathers of the peacock’s tail.

The barbules are commonly short and close set, and curved in
contrary directions; so that two adjoining series of barbules inter-
lock together, and form the mechanism by which the barbs are
compacted into the close and resisting vane of the quill, or “ fea-
ther,” properly so called. When the barbules are long and loose,
they characterise that form of the feather which is properly called
a “plume ;” and such are the most valuable products of the
plumage of birds in a commercial point of view; as, for example,
the plumes of the ostrich.

The lower barbs in every kind of feather are usually loose,
forming the down, which is increased, in most birds, by what is
called the “accessory plume.” This is usually a small downy
tuft, but varies in different species, and even in the feathers of
different parts of the body of the same bird. The value of fea-
thers, for bed-stuffing, depends upon the proportion of loose soft
down that enters into their composition; and as the “accessory
plume” in the body-feathers of the swan, goose, and duck, is
almost as long as the feather from which it springs, hence arises
the commercial value of the feathers of these aquatic birds.

In the development of plumage, the first covering of the bird is
a temporary one, consisting of bundles of long loosely-barbed fila-
ments, which diverge from a small quill, and on their first appear-
ance are enveloped in a thin sheath, which soon crumbles away
after being exposed to the atmosphere.* These down feathers are
succeeded by the true feathers; to which they bear the same rela-
tion as wool does to hair, or the temporary to the permanent teeth.
In most birds, a certain proportion of the down feathers is retained
with the true feathers, and this proportion is usually greatest in
aquatic birds. It is most remarkable in the Hider Duck (Anas
mollissima), which may be compared with the sheep in regard to
the quantity and quality of the softer and warmer kind of the epi-
dermal covering. The down of the eider combines with its pecu-
liar softness, fineness, and lightness, so great a degree of elasticity,
that the quantity of this beautiful material which might be com-
pressed and concealed between the two hands of a man, will serve
to stuff the coverlet of a bed.

All the varieties and modifications of the plumage of birds, ser-
viceable in manufactures, or valued as ornaments, might be com-
pared and studied with advantage in the Great Exhibition.

* A good account of the mode of formation of feathers is given in a paper
by M. F. Cuvier, entitled “Sur le developpement des Plumes,” in the “ Me-
moires du Museum,” tom. x. 10; or the article “ Aves,” in the “ Cyclopedia of
Anatomy,” may be consulted.

144 Lectures on the Results of the

An instructive and comprehensive collection of feathers and
down, in different states of preparation for bed-stuffing, including
English goose feathers, Irish goose and mixed feathers, Dantzic
feathers, Russian goose feathers, and mixed duck feathers, Hudson’s
Bay goose and duck feathers, Russian down and Greenland eider
down, were exhibited by Messrs Heal & Son. Messrs W. & C.
Nightingale likewise exhibited an illustrative collection of feathers
and down, shewing the effects of their mode of purifying feathers
by steam, without the use of sulphurous gas.

In the Indian department were shewn white and black ostrich
plumes; but these had been imported from Aden. If the ostrich
ever steps into Asia, it is only a little way into the Arabian side
of the Isthmus of Suez: the Struthio camelus belongs to a peculiarly
African genus of the great wingless birds. Tippets, victorines, and
boas made from the down of the young adjutant-crane (Ciconia ar-
gala) were exhibited from Commercolly ; and also beautiful white
feathers of a smaller species of crane from Arrahan.

5. General Remarks on Materials from the Vegetable and Ani-
mal Kingdom.—Whatever the animal can afford for food or
clothing, for our tools, weapons, or ornaments—whatever the
lower creation can contribute to our wants, our comforts, our pas-
sions, or our pride, that we sternly exact and take, at all cost to the
producers. No creature is too bulky or formidable for man’s de-
structive energies—none too minute and insignificant for his keen
detection and skill of capture. It was ordained from the begin-
ning that we should be masters and subduers of all inferior ani-
mals, Let us remember, however, that we ourselves, like the
creatures we slay, subjugate, and modify, are the results of the
same Almighty creative will—temporary sojourners here, and co-
tenants with the worm and the whale of one small planet. In
the exercise, therefore, of those superior powers that have been in-
trusted to us, let us ever bear in mind that our responsibilities are
heightened in proportion.

III.—Dr Lyon Prayrarr.

1. Iron-Smelting.—Let us select the smelting of iron,* as an ex-
ample of the teachings of chemistry. If practice, unaided by science,
be sufficient for the prosecution of manufactures, this venerable art
must be thoroughly matured, and science could scarcely expect to

* Although the smelting of iron is not strictly within the division of Manu-
factures, according to the classification, its importance to this country will
authorise an exception in its favour.

Great Exhibition of 1851. 145

be of much use to it in its present state. But while we find much
to admire in the triumphs of practical experience, there is yet great
room for the improvement of this art. The cheapness of iron ore,
and of the coal used in its smelting, has been so great that, regard-
less of their capital importance to this country, we, like careless
spendthrifts, use them without thought of the future.

The mode of smelting iron consists in mixing the ore with lime
and coal ; the former producing a slag or glass with the impurities
of the ore, while the coal reduces the oxide of iron to its metallic
state. Much heat is required in the process of smelting, but the
cold air blown in, as the blast, lowers the temperature, and com-
pels the addition of fuel, as a compensation for this reduction.
Science pointed to this loss, and now the air is heated before being
introduced to the furnace. The quantity of coal is wonderfully
economized by this application of science ; for instead of seven tons
of coal per ton of iron, three tons now suffice, and the amount pro-
duced in the same time is nearly sixty per cent. Assuredly this
was a great step in advance. Could science do more ?

Professor Biinsen, in an inquiry in which I was glad to afford
him aid, has shewn that she can. We examined the furnaces, in
each portion of the burning mass, so as fully to expose the opera-
tions in every part of the blazing structure. This seemingly im-
possible dissection was accomplished by the simplest means: the
furnaces are charged from the top, and the materials gradually de-
scend to the bottom ; with the upper charge a long graduated tube
was allowed to descend, and the gases streaming from ascertained
depths were collected and analysed. Their composition betrayed
with perfect accuracy the nature of the actions at each portion of
the furnace, and the astonishing fact was elicited, that, in spite of
the saving produced by the introduction of the hot blast, no less
than 814 per cent. of fuel is actually lost, only 183 per cent. being
realised. If, in round numbers, we suppose that four-fifths of the fuel
be thus wasted, no less than 5,400,000 tons are every year thrown
uselessly into the atmosphere ; this being nearly one-seventh of the
whole coal annually raised in the United Kingdem. This enor-
mous amount of fuel escapes in the form of combustible gases,
capable of being collected and economised; yet in spite of these
well-ascertained: facts, there are scarcely half-a-dozen furnaces in
the United Kingdom where this economy is realised by the utili-
zation of the waste gases of the furnace.

Large quantities of ammonia are annually lost in iron smelting,
which might readily be collected. Ammonia is constantly increas-
ing in value, and each furnace produces and wastes at least 1 ewt.
of its principal salt daily, equivalent to a considerable money loss.
With the low price of iron, this subsidiary product is worthy of atten-
tion. As I write, a Welsh smelter has visited me, to say that he
has adopted this suggestion with advantageous results. I might

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.—JULY 1852. K

146 Lectures on the Results of the

adduce other improvements introduced by chemistry in the smelt-
ing process ; but these will suffice to shew you that she has added
to human power by increasing production, while she has also eco-
nomized both the time and the materials employed.

2. Soap.—Soap is probably not older than the Christian era; for
the soap of the Old Testament seems to have been merely alkali.
Profane history, previous to Christ, does not allude to soap; and
in all the detailed descriptions of the bath and of washing, it is
never mentioned. Pliny describes its manufacture, but ascribes to
it as singular a use as that given to the potato by Gerarde, who,
in his ‘* Herbal,” assures us that it “is a plant from America,
which is an excellent thing for making sweet sauces, and also to be
eaten with sops and wines.” So Pliny, in regard to soap, states, that
its main purpose was to dye the hair yellow, and that men used it for
this purpose much more than women. Gradually its use became
more extensive, and its manufacture considerable. Soap generally
consists of a fatty acid, combined with the alkali of soda. This
soda was imported from Spain under the name of barilla, itself the
ashes of plants grown near the sea. As these plants derived their
soda from the sea, near which they flourished, chemistry, though
singularly enough in the person of Napoleon Bonaparte, suggested
that it might be artificially made from sea salt. A process for
this was perfected, and soda derived from salt has now replaced
barilla. From 1829 to 1834, the average annual import of barilla
was 252,000 ewt.; it is now almost nothing. But besides this
substitution, the cheapness and comparative purity of the soda
made from salt is so great, that the manufacture of soap, and con-
sequently of soda, is enormously increased, and probably exceeds
ten times the largest quantity of barilla ever imported in one year
into this country. Its cheapness and excellence have also had a
prodigious effect on the manufacture of glass.

3. Perfumery.—Much aid has been given by chemistry to the art
of perfumery. It is true that soap and perfumery are rather
rivals, the increase of the former diminishing the use of the latter.
Costly perfumes, formerly employed as a mask to want of clean-
liness, are less required now that soap has become a type of civili-
zation. Perfumers, if they do not occupy whole streets with
their shops, as they did in ancient Capua, shew more science in
attaining their perfumes than those of former times. The Jury
in the Exhibition, or rather two distinguished chemists of that
Jury, Dr Hoffman and Mr De la Rue, ascertained that some of
the most delicate perfumes were made by chemical artifice, and
not, as of old, by distilling them from flowers. The perfume of
flowers often consists of oils and ethers, which the chemist can
compound artificially in his laboratory. Commercial enterprise

Great Exhibition of 1851. 147

has availed itself of this fact, and sent to the Exhibition, in the
form of essences, perfumes thus prepared. Singularly enough,
they are generally derived from substances of intensely disgusting
odour. A peculiarly fetid oil, termed “ fusel oil,’ is formed in
making brandy and whisky. This fusel oil, distilled with sul-
phuric acid and acetate of potash, gives the oil of pears. The
oil of apples is made from the same fusel oil by distillation with
sulphuric acid and bichromate of potash. The oil of pine apples
is obtained from a product of the action of putrid cheese on sugar,
or by making a soap with butter, and distilling it with alcohol
and sulphuric acid, and is now largely employed in England in
the preparation of the pine apple ale. Oil of grapes and oil of
cognac, used to impart the flavour of French cognac to British
brandy, are little else than fusel oil. The artificial oil of bitter
almonds, now so largely employed in perfuming soap, and for
flavouring confectionary, is prepared by the action of nitric acid on
the fetid oils of gas tar. Many a fair forehead is damped with
eau de millefleurs, without knowing that its essential ingredient 1s
derived from the drainage of cow-houses. The winter green oil,
imported from New Jersey, being produced from a plant indige-
nous there, is artificially made from willows and a body procured
in the distillation of wood. All these are direct modern appli-
ances of science to an industrial purpose, and imply an acquaint-
ance with the highest investigations of organic chemistry. Let us
recollect that the oil of lemons, turpentine, oil of juniper, oil of
roses, oil of copaiba, oil of rosemary, and many other oils, are
identical in composition ; and it is not difficult to conceive that
perfumery may derive still further aid from chemistry.

TV.—Proressor LINDLEY.

1. South Austrahan Wheat.—If we take the subject of wheat,
which perhaps will be regarded by many as paramount to all others,
I think it will appear that there are some circumstances connected
with this Exhibition which particularly deserve to be brought under
public consideration,,and especially one which, although the corn-
factors in Mark Lane are familiar with it, is by no means a matter
of universal notoriety—the high character and excellence of the
wheat that comes to us from our South Australian colonies.
There is now before us a sample of wheat from Adelaide, for
which we are indebted to the kindness of Messrs Heath and Bur-
rows, which is probably the most beautiful specimen of corn that
has ever been brought to market in any country. It is a white
wheat, in which every grain appears to be, like every other grain,
plump, clear-skinned, dry, heavy, and weighing—what may seem
incredible to those who are only accustomed to common wheat—
seventy pounds a bushel. And it appears that Adelaide is capable

K 2

148 Lectures on the Results of the

of yielding vast quantities of corn of this description, which takes
the lead in the markets of this country over all other white wheat.

It is very true that from Spain there has come a similar kind
of wheat of great excellence also, as is seen by this beautiful
sample from Castile, from the Mayor of Medina del Campo, the
weight of which is unknown, and not easy to estimate, because
it is not a clean sample. This is certainly of great excellence
also; but, independently of its being the produce of a foreign
country, it is almost inaccessible to us, and therefore a matter of
curiosity more than of practical value; because, owing to the
difficulty of transport, it cannot at present come into the markets
of this kingdom. If it could, considering that it sells in Old
Castile at 24s. a quarter, it is not easy to say what might be the
effect upon the English market of the introduction of any large
quantity of it. We find, moreover, that similar quantities of
wheat, growing in the same rich country of Spain, are vendible at
much lower rates.

I have already said, that among the wheats produced at the
Exhibition, that from our South Australian colonies is the best—.
that it is much the best. And here let me make a remark on that
subject. It has been supposed that all we have to do in this
country, in order to obtain on our English farms wheat of the
same quality as this magnificent Australian corn, is to procure the
seed and sow it here. There cannot be a greater mistake. The
wheat of Australia is no peculiar kind of wheat; it has no pecu-
liar constitutional characteristics by which it may be in any way
distinguished from wheat cultivated in this country; it is not
essentially different from the fine wheat which Prince Albert sent
to the Exhibition, or from others which we grow or sell. Its
quality is owing to local conditions, that is to say, to the peculiar
temperature, the brilliant light, the soil, and those other circum-
stances which characterise the climate of South Australia in which
it is produced, and therefore there would be no advantage gained
by introducing this wheat for the purpose of sowing it here. — Its
value consists in what it is in South Australia, not in what it
would become in England. In reality, the experiment of growing
such corn has been tried. I myself obtained it some years since
for the purpose of experiment, and the result was a very inferior
description of corn, by no means so good as the kinds generally
cultivated with us. And Messrs Heath and Burrows, in a letter
which I have received from them this morning, make the same
remark. They say, ‘“ For seed purposes it has been found not at
all to answer in England; the crop therefrom being ugly, coarse,
and bearded.” The truth is, as was just observed, the peculiari-
ties of South Australian wheat are not constitutional, but are de-
rived from climate and soil. It appears, therefore, that wheat
may be affected by climate, independently of its constitutional

Great Exhibition of 1851. 149

peculiarities, but it’ does not follow that wheat is not subject to
constitutional peculiarities like other plants. There are some kinds
of wheat which, do what you may with them, will retain a certain
quality, varying but slightly with the circumstances under which
they are produced, as, for example, is proved by some samples here,
especially of Revitt wheat, of a very fine description, exhibited in the
building by Mr Payne, and which is greatly superior to the ordi-
nary kinds of Revitt that appear at market» This clearly shews
that Revitt wheat of a certain kind and quality is better than
Revitt wheat of a different kind, both being produced in this coun-
try ; so that, circumstances being equal, we have a different result,
owing to some constitutional peculiarity of race. To other ex-
amples of the kind I cannot at present refer, because time will not
permit me to dwell upon such points.

2. Tobacco.—It is not to be disputed that the finest tobacco in
the world comes, as is generally supposed, from the Havannah ;
this was demonstrated by the admirably manufactured samples
exhibited by the house of Cabafias and Carbazal. But there is
only a limited area in Cuba in which that tobacco is produced ; so
that whilst the Havannah tcbacco may be of excellent quality in
general, yet it is only that which comes from a certain part which
is much better than any other. Don Ramon de la Sagra, who
resided many years in Cuba, and published an important work on
that island, has stated that this is undoubtedly the fact,—that the
best Havannah tobacco is the produce of a very small area. The
consequence is, that this little area is the only place known where
the finest kind of tobacco can be produced, and we cannot look
even to Havannah for it with great confidence, masmuch as it is
chiefly used in the island, or as presents, and a limited amount
going into general consumption. Yet we found that the tobacco
from Trinidad did not appear to be in any way inferior to that
from Havannah. Whether or not there exist generally in the
island of Trinidad conditions of soil, and other conditions favour-
able for eliciting the admirable qualities which the best description
of Havannah tobacco has, I cannot say; but, for my own part, I
entertain no doubt whatever that, in that part of Trinidad from
whence the tobacco came which was exhibited in the building, a kind
of leaf quite equal to the best Havannah tobacco might be grown.
Soil, no doubt, and a variety of circumstances of that kind, have
much to do with the quality of tobacco; otherwise we cannot
account for the varying qualities of the samples produced from
various countries. This is strikingly shewn by a remarkable cir-
cumstance: some of the best tobacco sent to the Exhibition came
from the southern Russian provinces. It was fully equal to the
best American tobacco, grown in America under favourable cir-
cumstances; it was tobacco of the highest class. Yet nobody

150 Lectures on the Results of the

could have expected that such would have “been the case with
Russian-grown tobacco. The fact, however, proved how much
climate and soil have to do with the quality of tobacco, and that
the summer climate of some parts of southern Russia is admirably
fitted for the cultivation of this plant.

On the other hand, manufacture exercises a great influence over
the quality of tobacco. In Algiers, where the climate is apparently
most favourable, the quality is such that nobody could be found
to go through the punishment (I must so call it) of smoking an
Algerine cigar. Those cigars were not smokable, because they
were badly prepared; for Algiers is a country apparently favour-
able to the growth of the plant, if proper means were taken to
prepare the leaves.

Then, again, we found that some English-made cigars, are not
to be distinguished from Havannah cigars. I would ask any
gentleman who has the misfortune to smoke, to examine those
cigars made by Lambert and Butler, of Drury Lane, and to tell
me whether they are English or foreign—by the look. They are
not distinguishable by external appearance; and I may add, that
the method which has been employed in preparing them renders
them of very great excellence—-of much greater excellence, in fact,
than many of the cigars imported from Havannah, and paying a
ten-shilling duty as manufactured tobacco. Now, this is a subject
of greater importance than at first sight may appear; for if we
can succeed in making cigars of such quality in England, we im-
mediately create a large demand for labour. The preparation of
cigars is by hand labour, which no machinery can ever supersede ;
and when we recollect that, in the German Commercial Union, in
the year 1842, 605,000,000* of cigars were made, it 1s not neces-
sary to inquire how much labour was required for that production.
But none of the Continental cigars were good, except what came
from Portugal. Those of the German Commercial Union were
very inferior to the best English-made cigars that were pro-
duced; and there is no doubt whatever that it is quite practicable
to make cigars in this country which shall be undistinguishable
in appearance, and not very distinguishable in flavour, from any
except those first-class Havannah cigars which scarcely ever come
into consumption. It is a matter of considerable importance to
establish that fact, because it may open the way to the employment
of poor people, whose physical infirmities render them unfit for
harder labour. I need not say that cigar-making is very light
work,

With respect to the Portuguese cigars, I have only this remark
to make, they were of a very unusual quality. They are, I pre-
sume, made in Portugal from foreign tobacco—perhaps Brazilian.

* 604,898,200, according to official returns,

Great Exhibition of 1851. 151

They appear as if they had been high-dried. The flavour is un-
like that of the best cigars we have, and resembles that of high-
dried snuff. They are very pleasant, smoke exceedingly well, are
mild, and of excellent flavour; but not of the same flavour as
those we are in the habit of getting in this country. Our cigar-
makers will do well to turn their attention to this kind of manu-
factured tobacco.

3. Typha Bread.—There is another very curious substance, for
specimens of which we are indebted to the kindness of Sir William
Hooker, who has sent it from the important Museum belonging to the
Gardens at Kew. These are cakes of typha bread—this from Scinde—
that from New Zealand—where they are articles of food, prepared
fromthe pollen of the common reed, mace, or bulrush of those countries.
The one which is from Scinde, and which is called there boor or
booree, is made from the pollen of the flowers of the Typha ele-
phantina, or elephant grass of the country. The other, which is
called hunga hunga by the people of New Zealand, is obtained from
another species of bulrush, called Typha utilis. I believe these are
the only cases known of the pollen of plants being used for food
under any circumstances whatever; and it is not a little curious
that countries so far apart as Scinde and New Zealand should have
the same most unusual kind of diet. It is also interesting to know
that the value attached to this as an article of food is not imaginary ;
for it appears from the researches of chemists that the pollen of plants
contains an azotozed matter, which, mixed with the starch existing
in pollen in great quantities, and with other matters, will give a
real nutritive value to this curious substance. Whether there is on
record, in the history of ancient times, anything concerning food
made from the flowers of bulrushes, I do not know; but this is certain,
that the bulrush from Scinde, which yields the cakes standing yonder,
is probably the same as that from which the basket was made in
which the infant Moses was placed; for to this day, in Scinde, bul-
rushes are woven into baskets, of the very same nature as we may
suppose them to have been in the days of Moses.

4. Preservation of Vegetables for long voyages.—P reserved samples
of white and red cabbages, turnips, Brussels sprouts, and various
other things, prepared according to Mason’s process, were exhibited.
As to the method of preserving them, it appears to be free from all
objection. First, it is very cheap ; secondly, as we are led to believe
by persons in France who are well informed on the subject, it per-
fectly answers the purpose. The mode of preparing these vegetables
is shortly as follows: They are dried at a certain temperature (from
104° to 118°), which is neither so low as to cause them to dry
slowly, nor so high as to cause them to dry too quickly ; if the last
happens, they acquire a burnt taste, which destroys their quality.

152 Lectures on the Results of the

They lose from 87 to 89 per cent. of their water, or seven-eighths of
their original weight, after which they are forcibly pressed into
cakes and are ready for use. I saw, a year ago, the original of a
letter from the captain of the Astrolabe, a French wheal of war,
speaking in the highest terms of the supply of these vegetables for
the use of that vessel during her voyage. The French navy generally
mentions them in the most favourable terms; and no reason appears
for doubting such statements. The specimens before you are, I
repeat, seen under unfavourable circumstances. They ought to have
been kept in tin and protected from the air; instead of which, they
have been lying about more than nine months in the Exhibition
building, where they have been exposed to considerable dampness.
Yet they are nut injuriously affected, although they are absorbing
moisture, as must necessarily happen in a damp place, and which,
if it were to continue, would spoil them. Now, I think this is a
matter of more consequence than it may appear to be, for the fol-
lowing reason: It is usual to supply the navy with preserved food
of different kinds ; and I am informed by a distinguished officer of
the Antarctic expedition under Sir James Ross, that although all the
preserved meats used on that occasion were excellent, and there was
not the slightest ground for any complaint of their quality, yet the
crew became tired of the meat, but were never tired of the vegetables.
This should shew us that it is not sufficient to supply ship’s crews
with preserved meat, but they should be supplied with vegetables also, _
the means of doing which i is now afforded.

5. Preserved Meats.—Preserved meats are out of favour just
now. We hear of little except condemned canisters, which the
Admiralty, unfortunately, have in store. It is the more proper,
then, to state, that the evidence before the Jury went to shew, that
it is possible to preserve meat in canisters, without undergoing
any change, for a great length of time. We had hashed beef,
which was excellent, dating back to 1836: we had boiled beef
fifteen years old, preserved in canisters, and many other speci-
mens, none of which were changed. It is clear, therefore, that
the canister process of preserving is good, provided you keep a
sharp eye on the contractors, and upon those who act under them.

What is more important than all other preserved provisions, is
the article to which I must next request attention. A great deal
of interest was excited when the contents of the Exhibition first
became known—and it did not diminish afterwards—by a certain
meat-biscuit, introduced among the American exhibitions from
Texas, by Mr Gail Borden. We were told that its nutritive pro-
perties were of a high order: it was said that ten pounds weight of
it would be sufficient for the subsistence of an active man for thirty
days; that it had been used in the American navy, and had been
found to sustain the strength of the men to whom it had been given

Great Exhibition of 1851. 153

in a remarkable degree. Statements were made to us, which have
since been corroborated, that it would keep perfectly well, without
change, under disadvantageous circumstances. Colonel Sumner,
an officer in the United States Dragoons, who had seen it used
during field operations, says he is sure he could live upon it for
months, and retain his health and strength. The inventor, he
says, names five ounces a-day as the quantity for the support of
aman; but he (Colonel Sumner) could not use more than four
ounces, made into soup, with nothing whatever added to it. The sub-
stance of these statements may be said to amount to this, that Bor-
den’s meat-biscuit is a material not liable to undergo change, is very
light, very portable, and extremely nutritious. A specimen, placed
in the hands of Dr Playfair for examination, was reported by him
to contain 32 per cent. of flesh-forming principles ; for it is a com-
position of meat, the essence of meat, ‘and the finest kind of flour.
Dr Playfair stated that the starch was unchanged ; that conse-
quently there could have been no putrescence in the meat em-
ployed in its preparation, and that the biscuit was “‘in all respects
excellent.” It was tasted—TI tasted it—the Jury and others tasted
it; and we all found nothing in it which the most fastidious per-
son could complain of : it required salt, or some other condiment,
as all these preparations do, to make them savoury. This meat-
biscuit, as I said just now, was reported to be capable of keeping
well; and this might well be true, because no foreign matter had

“been introduced into its composition; there was no salt to absorb

moisture, and nothing else to interfere with the property of flour,
or of essence of meat. These biscuits are prepared by boiling
down the best fresh beef that can be procured in Texas, and mix-
ing it in certain proportions with the finest flour that can be there
obtained. It is stated that the essence of five pounds of good
meat is estimated to be contained in one pound of biscuit. That
it is a material of the highest value there can be no doubt—to
what extent its value may go, nothing but time can decide; but I
think I am justified in looking upon it as one of the most import-
ant substances which the Exhibition has brought to our knowledge.
When we consider that by this method, in such places as Buenos
Ayres, animals, which are there of little or no value, instead of
being destroyed, as they often are, for their bones, may be boiled
down and mixed with the flour, which all such countries produce,
and so converted into a substance of such durability that it may
be preserved with the greatest ease, and sent to distant countries,—
it seems as if a new means of subsistence was actually offered to
us. Take the Argentine Republic; take Australia, and consider
what they do with their meat there in times of drought, when they
eannot get rid of it whilst it is fresh—they may boil it down, and
mix the essence with flour (and we know they have the finest in
the world), and so prepare a substance that can be preserved for

154 Lectures on the Results of the

times when food is not so plentiful, or sent to countries where it is
always more difficult to procure food. Is not this a very great
gain ?*

V.—Proressor J. F. Royztz, M.D., F.R.S.

The Indian Collection a basis for Schools of Design.—That I
may not appear singular, says Professor Royle, especially to people
in India, in my estimation of the value of these Indian products, I
would beg, before concluding, to adduce some unconnected and in-
dependent testimonies. For this I may first refer to the articles
in The Times, which were distinguished as much by their talent
as by their discriminative criticism. ‘Turning to the class, ma-
nufactured articles, we find the long-established industries of the
Indian Peninsula asserting their excellence in a manner at once
characteristic and extraordinary. The same skill in goldsmiths’
work, in metals, in ivory carving, in pottery, in mosaics, in shawls,
in muslins, and carpets, was attained by those ingenious commu-
nities which now practise them, ages and ages ago. Yet, in these
things, which the natives of India have done well from time imme-
morial, they still remain unsurpassed.” (April 25.) And again,
‘Yet, in another point of view, these remarkable and characteristic
collections have a value that can hardly be overrated. By their
suggestiveness, the vulgarities in art manufactures, not only of
England, but of Christendom, may be corrected; and from the.
carpets, the shawls, the muslins, and the brocades of Asia, and
from much of its metallic and earthenware products, can be clearly
traced those invaluable rules of art, a proper definition and recog-
nition of which form the great desiderata of our more civilised in-
dustrial systems.” —( Times, July 4.)

I may fitly conclude these quotations with an extract from a
letter of the Government Committee, on the selection of articles
for the use of the Schools of Design, addressed by J. C. Melvill,
Esq., Secretary to the Honourable Hast India Company :—* We
have to request that you will acquaint the Court of Directors,
that, having duly examined the collection exhibited by the Court,
we have found it to contain, beyond any other department of the
Exhibition, objects of the highest instructional value to students
in design, and that we have selected the accompanying list of arti-
cles from their collection, which we express a hope may be
secured for the benefit of the Schools.” The Committee selected
about two hundred and fifty. As some belonged to private indi-
duals, they were able to purchase nearly two hundred articles out
of the Indian collection, for the use and improvement of the
Schools of Design in this country.

* The agency for the sale of meat-biscuit in this country, is 2 St Peter's
Alley, Cornhill.

Great Exhibition of 1851. 155

And we may add that, in the course of his remarks on the fore-
going lecture of Professor Royle, and on the striking examples of
Indian art and manufacture, which, by the kindness of the Court
of Directors of the Hon. East India Company, were exhibited in
illustration of it, Mr Owen Jones, the chairman, observed, that,
with all the artists of England with whom he was acquainted, as
well as with foreign visitors, he had found but one opinion, viz.,
that the Indian and Tunisian articles were the most perfect in de-
sign of any that appeared in the Exhibition. The opportunity of
studying them had been “a boon to the whole of Europe.” Many
have been purchased by Government for the use of the Schools of
Design, and will no doubt be extensively circulated throughout the
country. But it is to be hoped, said Mr Jones, that they will do
more than merely teach us to copy the Indian style. If they only
led to the origination of an Indian style, he would think their in-
fluence only hurtful. ‘‘ The time has arrived,” he added, “ when it
is generally felt that a change must take place, and we must get rid
of the causes of obstruction to the art of design which exist in this
country. Ever since the Reformation, when a separation took
place between religion and art, England has not had anything like
a style of her own. In every country which is under the influence
of a particular religion, there a peculiar style of art is created.
Such is the case with the Mohammedans, Greeks, and others.
There now seems to be a general feeling and desire for art, and
something must be done. I think the Government may be induced
to assist in forming schools throughout the country on a different
footing from that on which they are at present established. We
see in the ornaments and articles from India the works of a people
who are not allowed by their religion to draw the human form ;
and it is probable that to this cause we may attribute their great
success in their ornamental works. Here in Europe we have been
studying drawing from the human figure, but it has not led us for-
ward in the art of ornamental design. Although the study of the
human figure is useful in refining the taste and teaching accurate
observation, it is a roundabout way of learning to draw for the
designer for manufactures. It is to be hoped, as this Society is
assisting in the formation of elementary schools, that it may be
able to find a better means of producing the result in question.”

156 Anatomy of Doris.

Anatomy of Doris.

A paper was read in the Royal Society on March 4, 1852,
entitled, “On the Anatomy of Doris.” By Albany Han-
cock, Esq., and Dennis Embleton, M.D., Lecturer on Ana-
tomy and Physiology in the Newcastle-on-Tyne College of
Medicine in connection with the University of Durham.

The authors have proposed to themselves to describe the
anatomy of the three genera typical of the three groups of
the Nudibranchiate Mollusca. An account of the structure
of Eolis has already appeared in the Annals of Natural His-
tory. |
A detailed description is given of the anatomy of Doris,
the following species of which have been examined, and are
referred to in the paper: D. tuberculata, Auct.; D. tubercu-
lata, Verany ; D.Johnstoni; D. tomentosa; D. repanda; D.
coccinea; D.verrucosa; D. pilosa; D. bilamellata; D. aspera ;
and D. depressa; but D. tuberculata of English authors has
been taken as the type of the genera, and the standard of
comparison for the rest.

Digestive System.—'The mouth, in all the species, is a
powerful muscular organ, provided with a prehensile tongue
beset with silicious spines, which, when the tongue is fully
developed, are arranged in a median and two lateral series.
Certain species possess, besides, a prehensile spinous collar
on the buccal lip, occasionally associated with a rudimentary
horny jaw. The mode of development of the lingual spines
is shewn to be the same as that of the teeth of the vertebrata.

The esophagus varies in length; in some, it 1s dilated at
the top, forming a crop; in others, it is simply enlarged
previously to entering the liver mass. The stomach is of
two forms ; one, asin D. tuberculata, is very large, receiving
the cesophagus behind, and giving off the intestine in front,
and lying in advance of the liver; the other is received
within the mass of the liver, and is very small. The ver
in all is bulky, mostly bilobed, and variously coloured, and
pours its secretion by one or more very wide ducts into the

Anatomy of Doris. 157

cardiac end of the stomach—a small laminated pouch. A
rudimentary pancreas is attached in some species to the
cardiac, in others to the pyloric end of the stomach. The
intestine is short, of nearly the same calibre throughout,
rather sinuous in its course, and terminates in a nipple-
formed anus in the centre of the branchial circle.

The reproductive organs are, male, female, and hermaphro-
dite. The male organs consist of penis and testes; the latter
is connected with the former and with the oviduct. The
female organs are, ovarium, oviduct, and mucous gland. The
ovarium is spread over the surface of the liver in the form
of a branched duct with terminal ampille. The oviduct ter-
minates in the mucous gland. The androgynous apparatus is
a tube or vagina opening from the exterior into the oviduct,
having one or two diverticular spermathece communicating
with it in its course. On the right margin of the body, near
the front, is a common opening, to which converge the three
parts of the reproductive organs. The spermatozoa are de-
veloped within large and fusiform spermatophera, and are
observed in the spermathece, oviduct, and ovary.

Organs of Circulation and Respiration.—The circulatory
organs are, a systemic heart, arteries, lacunze, and veins.
The existence of true capillaries in the liver mass seems
probable. <A second heart, a ventricle, having a portal cha-
racter, is also described. The systemic heart lies imme-
diately beneath the dorsal skin, in front of the respiratory
crown, and comprises an auricle and ventricle inclosed
within a pericardium. In the systemic circle, the blood is
returned to the heart without having passed through the
special respiratory organ. It is that blood only which is
returned from the liver mass that circulates through the
branchiz.

The authors conclude from their observations, that in the
molluscs there is a triple circulation: first, the systemic, in
which the blood propelled along the arteries to the viscera
and foot is returned, with the exception of that from the liver
mass, to the heart through the skin; there it becomes par-
tially aérated, the skin being provided with vibratile cilia,
and otherwise adapted as an instrument of respiration: se-

158 Anatomy of Doris.

cond, the portal, in which venous blood from the system is
driven by a special heart to the renal and hepatic organs, and
probably to the ovarium, where it escapes doubly venous,
with the rest of the blood which has been supplied to these
organs from the aorta, and which is therefore only singly
venous, to the branchie: third, the branchial circulation, in
which flows only the more deteriorated blood, brought by the
hepatic vein, but in which also that blood undergoes the
highest degree of purification capable of being effected in the
economy, namely, in the special organ of respiration. This
triple circulation has not yet, as far as the authors are aware,
been described as existing in the molluscan sub-kingdom.
From the fact of the blood in Doris being returned to the
heart in a state of partial aération, it is clear, they say, that
this animal is, in this respect, on a par with the higher crus-
taceans; and from the blood arriving at the heart in the
same condition, according to the researches of Garner and
Milne-Edwards, in Ostrea and Pinna, the Great Triton of the
Mediterranean, Haliotis, Patella, and Helix, it can scarcely
be doubted that this arrangement will be found throughout
the Mollusca.

From a consideration of the facts cited in the paper, it may
be deduced that the skin or mantle is, in the mollusca, the
fundamental organ of respiration, and that a portion of that
envelope becomes evolved into a specialty, as we trace up-
wards the development of the respiratory powers.

Upon the dorsal aspect of the liver mass is a branched
cavity, that of the renal organ, lined with a spongy tissue, and
opening externally at the small orifice near the anus.

Organs of Innervation.—These are in two divisions,—one
corresponding to the cerebro-spinal division, the other to the
sympathetic or ganglionic system of the vertebrata. The
existence of the latter, it is stated, is now, for the first time,
fully established. The centres of the first system are seven
pairs and a half of ganglia. Of the seven pairs, five are
supra-cesophageal, two infra-cesophageal ; the single ganglion
belongs to the right side, and has been named visceral. There
are three nervous collars around the cesophagus, one of which
connects the infra with the supra-cesophageal. The total

Anatomy of Doris. 159

number of pairs of nerves from the esophageal centres is
twenty-one, and there are also four single nerves.

The sympathetic system exists, and is more or less demon-
strable in the skin, the buccal mass, and on all the internal
organs. It consists of a vast number of minute distinct gan-
glia, varying in size and form, the largest quite visible to the
naked eye, of a bright orange colour, like the ganglia around
the cesophagus, and inter-connected by numerous delicate,
white nervous filaments, arranged in more or less open
plexuses. This beautiful system is connected with both sets
of cesophageal ganglia.

The authors having found the sympathetic nervous system
in several species of Doris, in Holis papillosa, and in Arion
ater, believe it to exist in all the more highly organised
Mollusca.

The supra-cesophageal nervous centres in the Mollusca
are in some instances so concentrated as to have led to the
idea that they form only one mass; in others the ganglia
are more or less distinct, and separated from each other.
Doris has been taken as the representative of one class,
Aplysia of the other; and, on a comparison of both the supra
and infra-vesophageal ganglia of these with each other, there
has been found a close correspondence between them, with
the exception of the visceral ganglion. The single one in
Doris is represented in Aplysia by a pair of ganglia, situated
in the posterior part of the body, near the root of the bran-
chie. The supra-cesophageal ganglia in the Lamellibran-
chiata appear homologous with those of Doris.

Having determined the existence of a true sympathetic or
organic nervous system in Doris, the authors feel themselves
more in a position to trace a parallelism between the cso-
phageal nervous centres of these Mollusca and the cerebro-
spinal system of the Vertebrata; and accordingly they find
there is a strict analogy between them, even to the individual
pairs of ganglia of which they respectively consist; the
general result being, that the whole of the ganglia grouped
around the cesophagus in these Mollusca answers to the en-
cephalon, and a small portion of the enrachidion of the Ver-
tebrata.

160 Lectures on the Results of the

Organs of the Senses —The auditory capsules are micro-
scopic, composed of two concentric vesicles, the inner en-
closing numerous oval, nucleated otolithes. The eyes are
minute black dots beneath the skin, attached by a pedicle to
a small ganglion. They are made up of a cup of pigment,
receiving from behind the nerve, and lodging in front a lens,
having in advance of it a cornea, the whole enclosed by a
fine capsule. The authors believe they have shewn the dor-
sal tentacles to be the olfactory organs.

The organs of touch are the general surface of the skin,
but more particularly the oral tentacles or veil. Taste is
most probably located in the lips and channel of the mouth ;
the tongue being a prehensile organ, and ill adapted as the
seat of such a function.

In conclusion, the authors comment on the high organisa-
tion of the Doridz, and express their belief that the genus,
as at present understood, will require to be broken up into
several groups.

On three important Chemical Discoveries from the Exhibition
of 1851—(A.) Mercer’s Contraction of Cotton by Alkalies ;
—(B.) Young’s Parafine and Mineral Oil from Coal ;—
(C.) Schrotter’s Amorphous Phosphorus. By Dr Lyon Puay-
FAIR, C.B., F.R.S.*

[The following statements and arguments were supplied by Dr
Lyon Playfair, as embodying considerations which he desired to
impress on the attention of the Members of the Royal Institution.]

It is incumbent on those who, like myself, have been connected
with the Great Exhibition, to inculcate its teachings, in order that
it may influence the future, by being a starting-point for industry.
Unless it imparts new life to productive industry, it has failed in
the attainment of its object, and will, in history, degenerate into
the record of a gigantic show, fitted only to pander to an idle
curiosity. All of us have, no doubt, examined it with a higher
object, and have derived lessons varying in character and amount
according to the opportunities which we enjoyed in their acquisi-
tion. Those who have attended to its teachings with regard to
the comparative progress of manufactures in different countries,

* Meeting of Royal Institution, Feb. 27, 1852.

Great Exhibition of 1851. 161

owe it as a public duty to announce their convictions on a subject
of such large social importance.

My official connection with the Exhibition has anatiled me to
give more attention to it than most of those whom I have the hon-
our to address, and convictions unfavourable to our position, as an
industrial nation, have impressed themselves with such force upon
my mind, that you will not be surprised that I seize every oppor-
tunity of directing public attention to them. I have already done
so in a formal manner, on two previous occasions, and I rather
depart from the custom of bringing before you subjects of original
research at these evening meetings, in order that I may advocate
the necessity of a more intimate union between science and practice
in this country, at an Institution, whose proudest boast it is to have
largely advanced the discovery of abstract truths, while it has al-
ways encouraged, at the same time, their applications to the in-
crease of human resources and enjoyments.

In this lecture, however, I shall rather urge this point as a
natural consequence of the subjects chosen for illustration of my
argument than by any doctrinal exhortations, because these are
not needed to strengthen your general convictions.

Our nation has acquired a proud position among the industrial
states of the world, partly by the discoveries of her philosophers,
partly by the practical powers and common sense of her popula-
tion, but chiefly by the abundance and richness of her natural
resources. Our fuel is abundant and cheap, and our iron and the
lime necessary for its production are associated with it, so that all
three may be extracted together under the most favourable cir-
cumstances. These local advantages gave to our country enor-
mous power of production, and, under the favouring influences of
an accidental combination, it supplied its produce to the rest of
the world. Circumstances remaining the same, our industrial
position was secured, and we have been thus lulled into a fatal
apathy; for conditions were in fact varying with great rapidity,
and the world at large was passing through a state of remarkable
transition.

Setting aside the questions of capital and labour, which are not
adapted for discussion in this place, the progress of manufactures
is made up of two factors, possessing very different values. One
of these represents the raw produce,—the other, the intellect or
science employed to adapt it to human wants. As civilization
advances, the value of the raw material as an element of manu-
factures diminishes, while that of the intellectual element is much
enhanced. Improvements in locomotion by sea and land spread
over the world the raw material formerly confined to one locality ;
and a time arrived when a competition of industry became a com-
petition, not of local advantages, but of intellect.

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.—JULY 1852. L

162 Lectures on the Results of the

It was obvious that when improved locomotion gave to all
countries raw material at slight differences of cost, that any superi-
ority in the intellectual element would more than balance the
difference, The Continental States, acting on a perception of this
truth, saw that they could only compete with English industry by
instructing their populations in the principles of science. Hence
have arisen, in their capitals, in their towns, and even in their
villages, institutions for affording a systematic training in science ;
and industry has been raised from the rank of an empirical art to
that of a learned profession. The result is seen in the fact that
we now meet most Huropean nations as competitors in all the
markets of the world. The result is palpably forced upon us by
our actual displacement from markets in which we had a practical
monopoly. The result was obvious in the Exhibition, where we
saw many nations, formerly unknown as producers, frequently ap-
proaching, and often excelling us in manufactures our own by
hereditary and traditional right.

The teaching of the Exhibition was to impress me with the
strongest conviction that England, by relying too much on her local
advantages, was rapidly losing her former proud position among
manufacturing nations; and that unless she speedily adopted mea-
sures to cultivate the intellectual element of production, by instruct-
ing her population in the scientific principles of the arts which they
profess, she must inevitably and with rapidity lose those sources
of power, which, in spite of the smallness of her home territory,
have given to her so exalted a rank among nations.

With these convictions you will not be surprised that I have
chosen subjects connected with the Exhibition, although I have no
merit or part whatever in their discovery. I have selected them for
the following reasons.

We have a great reliance on the practical sagacity or common
sense of our population,—certainly superior to that of any part of
Europe : but we have not strengthened it by communicating scien-
tific knowledge to those who are entrusted with the exercise of this
practical power; and hence this common sense, unaided by the
rules of science, has gradually assumed a sway over our manufac-
tures. In other words, conjectural judgments have usurped the
place of systematic knowledge. Practice and science have been
followed out separately, as having no immediate connection. This
separation, and even practical antagonism, has been fatal to our pro- |
gress in industry ; for manufacturers, as a body, have ceased to per-
ceive that abstract science forms the roots of the tree of industry,
and that to separate them is to sever the tree from its roots. In
order to restore vigour to our declining industry, itis essential that
confidence in the powers of science should be imparted to practice,
and that the latter should be taught that it is, even as a question
of social policy, highly important to encourage discoveries in ab-

Great Exhibition of 1851. 163

stract truths, however apparently remote from practice ; because
science only benefits industry by its overflowings, arising from the
very fulness of its measure.

Every abstract truth, in its due time, adds to human resources
and enjoyments, and it is this text that I wish to inculcate from
examples derived from the Exhibition. One of the last generaliza-
tions of the great Berzelius, was that of allotropism, a name only
eleven years old, and fully explained by him only six years since ;
and yet this generalization, apparently at the time only of ab-
stract interest, entirely remote from practical application, produced
as fruit the three most original, and, I think, the most important,
practical discoveries of the Exhibition.

Having thus introduced the subject of his lecture, Dr Playfair
proceeded to offer certain examples of allotropism. It had long
been known that bodies crystallised in two or more incompatible
forms. Thus, carbonate of lime as arragonite crystallises in prisms ;
whereas as calcareous spar it crystallisesin rhombs. Sulphur also
erystallises in two incompatible forms; so does the garnet. This
is termed dimorphism. When two such forms exist they are
found to be maintained in unequal stability ; it appears, in fact, as
if one form was normal and the other forced or strained. Thus a
prism of arragonite is subject to change into rhombs of cale spar ;
and sulphur crystallised by heat in oblique rhombic prisms passes
in afew days into a mass of rhombic octohedrons. Not only may
the chemical and physical characteristics of such dimorphous bodies
differ, but their colour and their specific gravity. Thus, the sul-
phuret of iron (Fe S,), when crystallised in cubes, is persistent in
the air; but when occurring in a rhombic form, readily passes into
copperas or sulphate of iron.

Applying the preceding remarks to non-crystallised bodies, it was
equally found that many were susceptible of allotropic modification.
Thus cinnabar and vermilion were of precisely similar chemical
composition with the black sulphuret of mercury. Again, the
sesquisulphuret of antimony might be black or orange. Iodide of
mercury is commonly red; when heated, however, it passes into
a yellow powder, which by simple pressure and rubbing with a hard
body becomes red again. Sugar is a remarkable instance of a
solid capable of assuming two allotropic states ; as sugar candy it
is crystallised, as barley sugar it is amorphous; yet the composi-
tion of sugar in either case is the same. Nor are liquids exempt
- from the strange state of allotropism,—sometimes indeed mani-
festing a condition even beyond allotropism (isomerism), and not
allowing us to reconvert them to their primitive state. Thus the
chemical composition of oil of turpentine, of rosemary, of lemons,
of copaiba, are identical, yet no one of these bodies has hitherto
been turned into the other. The steroptane of otto of roses is
identical in composition with coal gas, yet chemists are unable to:
change one into the other. The term isomerism has been com-

L2

164 Lectures on the Results of the

monly employed in relation to bodies of like atomic composition, and
has reference to equality of parts. The term allotropism is a better
denomination, and has reference to thecondition of unlike properties.

The preceding remarks by Dr Playfair were introductory to an
exposition of the respective discoveries of Mr Mercer, Mr Young,
and Dr Schrdotter.

(A.)}—Mercer’s process consists in bringing cotton fabrics in con-
tact with a solution of soda (cold), or a solution of dilute sulphuric
acid, by subjecting it to either of which processes cotton acquires
certain remarkable properties. In the first place, the texture be-
comes very much corrugated, and hence proportionably finer ; it
also assumes acid properties, rendering it more capable of taking
up dyes. The process of induction which led Mr Mercer to his
final discovery was curious. He started from the point of inves-
tigating the laws which determined the flow of water at various
temperatures through minute tubes. From water he proceeded
to aqueous saline solutions; from tubes he proceeded to their
equivalent, namely, closely-folded woven tissue. Selecting for
this purpose a thick reduplication of calico, fold on fold, and em-
ploying on aqueous solution of soda, Mr Mercer found that, by pass-
ing the solution through the calico, soda was removed. This re-
moval he attributed to the act of filtration; but, subsequently
finding that mere immersion of the calico in the same solution
effected a like result, he concluded that the result was due to an
actual combination of the cotton with the soda—a calico-ate of
soda (if the lecturer might be permitted that form of expression)
was generated.

The result of this agency of soda was, as formerly remarked, a
physical corrugation, and an acquisition of certain chemical qualities.
The former change was evident to the eye. Dr Playfair exhibited
two stockings, one of which being nearly double the size of the
other, although both came equal in size from the loom. The
difference had been occasioned solely by chemical not mechanical
agency. Dr Playfair, in developing the numerous practical appli-
eations of this physical effect, shewed that, besides the most ob-
vious one of producing a material of increased fineness, the cotton
thus prepared was far more capable of being dyed. Hot soda solu-
tion would not answer; and this fact was remarkable, and had its
analogue in those salts which deposited themselves anhydrous on
boiling. Instead of soda sulphuric acid might be employed; in
which case it formed, in combination with the cotton fibre, an easily
decomposable conjugate acid.

(B.)—Some years ago Liebig stated that one of the greatest dis-
coveries of chemistry would consist in converting coal-gas into a
solid form, thus enabling it to be burned like a candle. This had,
in a manner, been accomplished by Mr Young. About three years
since, Dr Playfair drew the attention of Mr Young to a spring of

Great Exhibition of 1851. 165

mineral oil, containing paraffine, and occurring in a coal-mine in
Derbyshire. The liquid had been extensively applied by Mr
Young as a lubricating agent; a use which Reichenbach had
long ago suggested. After a period, however, this spring ceased
to flow, when Mr Young applied himself to an investigation of
the theoretical conditions under which it might be artificially
formed. This gentleman saw that it would be difficult to convert -
gas into an allotropic form, whereas it was evident that gas must
first come from a solid; hence he hoped to succeed in procuring
the body before it assumed its gaseous state.

The illuminating portion of coal gas consists chiefly of olefiant
gas, and the latter is isomeric with solid paraffine. But the allo-
tropism does not end here; the peculiar slow distillation of coals
yielding solid paraffine, also yielded another isomeric or allotropic
compound, in the form of a lubricating oil, besides the additional
products of a burning oil, and naphtha.

Dr Playfair now explained, by the aid of a diagram, the slow
distillation process of Mr Young, employed in generating his allo-
tropic form of olefiant gas, and directed the attention of his audience
to some candles made of coal parafline on the lecture table.

(C.)—Schrotter’s process of manufacturing amorphous or allo-
tropic phosphorus was the third in Dr Playfair’s series. The pro-
perties of phosphorus in its ordinary condition are well known. It
is spontaneously inflammable and highly poisonous ; whereas the
amorphous or allotropic phosphorus is neither spontaneously in-
flammable nor poisonous. Hence its great use in the manufacture
of lucifer and congreve matches; an operation which not only im-
perilled the premises wherein it 1s conducted, but also the lives of
those conducting it, causing the most frightful and fatal disease of
the jaws and facial bones.

Common phosphorus, when heated to about 460° or 480°, changes
into the allotropic condition, but a slight increment of heat changes
it back again. Hence the manufacture of this substance, on a large
scale, is attended with difficulties which Dr Playfair had no doubt
would be eventually overcome by the energy of Mr Sturge, the
patentee. The specific gravity of ordinary phosphorus is 1:77—
of amorphous phosphorus, 1-964. Common phosphorus is soluble
‘in bisulphuret of carbon, whereas the amorphous variety is not.
Common phosphorus bursts into flame when brought into contact
with iodine, whereas the amorphous or allotropic variety does not.
Common phosphorus is luminous at very low temperatures, whereas
the amorphous variety only commences to be luminous at a tem-
perature of 500° Fahr. In forming lucifer matches by means of
allotropic phosphorus, there is experienced the difficulty that it
does not ignite by friction ; hence it has to be mixed either with
chlorate of potash, oxide of lead, or sulphuret of antimony, when
friction takes effect and generates flame.

166 Lectures on the Results of the

Having thus discussed the experimental portion of his lecture,
Dr Playfair concluded as follows :—

These three practical discoveries, for I think they are entitled
to be considered as such, and not merely as inventions, have ema-
nated from men all highly educated in chemical science. It is a
proud subject of praise and of congratulation, that the two first
discoverers, Mr Mercer and Mr Young, have, by the aid of science,
raised themselves from the position of working artizans to that of
employers in works involving considerable capital in their prose-
cution. Science has been to them a true power, the more so as in
the arts which they profess, the manufacturers have usually been
men of technical and not of scientific knowledge. The very fact
of their success is a convincing evidence of what an immense de-
velopment our industry might receive, if its sons were able to take
advantage of the knowledge which science is constantly shower-
ing down upon the world.

There is a wide chasm between the laboratory of the philoso-
pher and the workshop of the manufacturer—a chasm which must
be bridged over by those who understand the nature of the foun-
dations on either side. In general it is not the duty of the philo-
sopher to do this; it is more important for social progress, that
he should continue to benefit the world by new accessions of truth,
leaving to others to apply them to the promotion of the comforts
and happiness of the human race. If technical men become dis-
ciples of science, then their acquaintance with the wants and re-
quirements of manufacturers would enable them to derive from its
teachings the knowledge requisite to apply it to the desired ends.
Science should roll on, as it does now, a mighty river, from the
abundant waters of which streams may be derived to fertilize the
lands over which they pass; for in the course of nature, these
overflowings are restored in the form of refreshing showers, Their
beneficial effects will, however, depend upon the skill of those who
construct the channels destined to direct the waters for the uses of
industry.

It is no new truth that science should always be ready to benefit
industry by instructing those engaged in it, rather than by directly °
uniting with it. This truth is as old as the mythology, where we
find no celestial so beneficent to industrial arts as Minerva, al-.
though she always preserved an independent existence, notwith-
standing the passionate wooing of Vulcan, the god of industry.
We have had it inculcated by the sages of all countries, strongly
enforced by our own Bacon, and eloquently advocated in the
theatre of this Institution by Davy.

Abstract science could not, if it would, cause itself and industry
to progress satisfactorily by means of its discovering philosophers.

Great Exhibition of 1851. . 167

There must be other means of conveying its God-born truths to in-
dustry, in order to freshen and invigorate its existence. The results
of continental success indicate that the true way for those requiring
aid is to come to the fountain of knowledge and take that which
they need.

I need not detain you longer on this subject, except again to
urge you to consider what must be the result of the system of in-
struction pursued abroad. In addition to many provincial schools,
France has two central colleges of arts and manufactures, in one
of which 300 of the best youth of France commence their educa-
tion in science just where our colleges leave off, and after two
years, they are poured into the provinces to impart to industry
the principles of science which they have there attained. Prussia,
Austria, Russia, and the Northern States are encouraging the
same kind of education, and even yet more extensively. Need we
be surprised, then, that they are progressing so rapidly in manu-
factures, in spite of their dear fuel and machinery. Recollect
that we have reached that state when in future the competition of
mdustry must be a competition of intellect.

Is England in a prepared state to meet this intellectual compe-
tition? Have we adapted the system of instruction in our schools
to the wants and necessities of the age 2? Has science, or a know-
ledge of God’s works and God’s goodness and wisdom, yet become
an important part of the instruction of our sons of industry, or do
‘we not, by an antiquated notion, preserve the idea that the classi-
eal learning of the thirteenth century is all-sufficient for the re-
quirements of the nineteenth century ?

These questions are truly important if we desire to see England
keep her ground in the industrial struggle of nations. I wish not
to underrate any branch of human learning; but I do vehemently
desire to see banished from our schools the bed of Procrustes, to
the dimensions of which our children are clipped or extended until
they are so changed in their natural aspirations for science, that
it is very difficult, in after life, to communicate that amount which
is necessary for its application to industry. I need not say, there-
fore, that until scientific instruction be added to the general system
of education of our youth, that England cannot expect to be fore-
most in the industrial race of nations.

Already we see our capital largely employed to import foreign
talent into our manufactures, and by this, in many cases, we retain
our superiority. But it does not require much acumen to perceive
the wretchedness of this policy as regards the nation, which, careless
of the education of her own sons, sends her capital as a premium
to the advancement of that intellectual knowledge in foreign states,
who use it as the means of her destruction.

Excuse me if I have expressed my convictions on these points
more strongly than you feel them; but they have taken such strong

168 Dr M. Barry on the Spiral Structure of Muscle,

hold on my mind, that I connot see safety for the future of our
nation unless by a great and comprehensive improvement in the
instruction of her people. Ishall conclude in the language of Dr
Davy, when he addressed you on the benefits conferred by this
Institution both on science and on industry :—

‘There is no country which ought so much to glory in the
progress of science as this happy island. Science has been a prime
cause of creating for us the inexhaustible wealth of manufactures ;
and it is by science that it must be preserved and extended. We
are interested as a commercial people ; we are interested as a free
people. The age of glory of a nation is also its age of security.
The same dignified feeling which urges men to gain dominion over
nations, will preserve them from the dominion of slavery. Natural,
and moral, and religious knowledge are of one family; and happy
is the country, and gueat its strength, where they dwell together in
union.’

The Spiral Structure of Muscle and the Muscular Structure of
Cilia, as determined by Dr MARTIN BARRY.

We rejoice to learn that our distinguished friend, the cele-
brated physiologist, Dr Martin Barry, has so far recovered
from his long illness as to be able to resume his microscopical
investigations, and has lately published an account of his
renewed researches on the spiral structure of muscle.

In the year 1842, Dr Barry, in a memoir published in the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, recorded his
discovery of the spiral structure of muscle. Two or three to
whom he had shewn the tissue with his own microscope
believed what he wrote, but by most persons it was doubted,
by some flatly denied. Dr Barry’s eye-sight became affected,
and for years that instrument remained unused.* But our
friend’s sight was at length improved. He was in the same
city (Berlin) with the celebrated physiologist, Purkinje, and
shewed him that muscle had a spiral structure, and added
the very interesting observation, that célia are no other than ©

* Some observers had also declared, that when Dr Barry saw spermatozoa
within the ovum of the Rabbit, he saw too much. But since Dr Barry’s an-
nouncement spermatozoa have been found in the ovum by others. In papers
laid before the Royal Society, the author of one of them found them within
the ovum of the Ascaris mystax, and the author of the other, who denied the
fact, confessed that he was obliged to cry peccavi, others finding them for him
within the ovum of the frog.

and the Muscular Structure of Cilia. 169

little muscles. He now wrote a fresh paper, containing an
account of his renewed researches on muscle and of the
muscular character of cilia. Purkinje translated that paper
into German and communicated it to Miiller’s Archiv, where
it occupies sixty-eight pages 8vo, with numerous engravings.
Although we cannot, from the number of the engravings, give
this very valuable contribution to science a place in our
Journal, we embrace this opportunity of recommending it to
the particular attention of naturalists. They will find in it
a confirmation of Dr Barry’s observations published nine
years ago, “that the structure of muscle is a spiral struc-
ture,’ and discover (not published before) that cilia have
a truly muscular character and structure; this being de-
‘monstrable, not only in cilia from the gill of the oyster and
the common sea mussel, but in those of the Infusoria. (But
of course if any cilia are muscular, all cilia are so.)

Letter from Mr Stevenson Macadam to Professor Jameson, on
M. Chatin’s Observations on the General Distribution of Iodine.
PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION,
EDINBURGH, 22d June 1852,

DEAR Sir,—A short time ago M. Chatin read a memoir
before the French Academy of Sciences, in which he stated
that he had detected the presence of iodine in the atmosphere,
in rain-water, in soils, &c. His observations led him to
believe that the greater or less quantity of iodine present in
any one district, to a certain extent determined the presence
or absence of goitre and cretinism. With the view to corro-
borate, so far as possible, the results announced by M. Chatin,
I have, this summer, undertaken a series of analyses in refer-
ence to the general distribution of the important element in
question. |

I am not aware that Chatin has published a detailed
statement of the processes which he pursued, or the reagents
which he employed in his experiments ; but from the mention
which he makes of the good offices fulfilled by potash in arrest-
ing ‘‘ the complete decomposition of the iodine compounds pre-
sent in water,” and by carbonate of potash and carbonate of soda,

170 | M. Chatin’s Observations

in rendering the iodine present in soils much more easily ex-
tracted, I was led to think that the fixed alkalies had been
much employed by him. Accordingly, in my first experiments,
I used the alkalies in their caustic condition for the purpose
of fixing any free iodine or compound of iodine which I might
encounter.

I commenced with an examination of the atmosphere. By
the arrangements I employed the air was made to traverse,
1st, a tube containing slips of paper which had been previously
dipped in a solution of starch, and, 2d, a double-necked gas
bottle, containing about three ounces of a dilute solution of
caustic soda. A continuous stream of air was drawn through
the arrangement for some hours. This experiment was con-
ducted in the morning ; in the afternoon a stream of air was
for several hours drawn through the same arrangement,
caustic potash being substituted for soda. The starch papers
did not exhibit the slightest coloration even when moistened
with distilled water. The solutions of potash and soda, how-
ever, on being treated with starch and nitric acid at once ex-
hibited the rose colour characteristic of the presence of iodine
in small quantity. So far my experiments seemed to lead
to the desired conclusion, but when I carefully tested por-
tions of the original alkaline solutions which had not been
subjected to the current of air, I found the iodine present in
them in quantity, to all appearance, as great as it was in those
portions I had used in my experiments. Wishing to trace
back the iodine to its source, I tested samples of the carbonate
of potash, carbonate of soda, and lime-shell, which had been
employed in the preparation of the caustic solutions, and in
all three iodine was present in perceptible quantity. De-
sirous also of making certain that the lime and alkalies used in
my investigations were as pure as other commercial substances
of the same kind, I procured various specimens from different
sources, and in every sample which I have as yet subjected
to examination, I have detected the presence of iodine. So far
then as concerns the determination of iodine in the atmo-
sphere, my experiments were of no value; the alkalies through
which air was drawn undoubtedly contained iodine originally,
and therefore no certain conclusion could be drawn as to the

on the General Distribution of Iodine. 171

probability of their being more highly iodized by contact
with the atmosphere.

In a subsequent experiment the alkalies were dispensed
with, the air being drawn through, Ist, a tube with slips of
starched paper kept somewhat damp; 2d, a gas bottle im-
mersed in a freezing mixture ; and 3d, a gas bottle contain-
ing a solution of nitrate of silver. A continuous current of
air was kept up for fully five hours, commencing about mid-
day, and extending to the evening. At the conclusion of the
experiments the papers were not altered in the slightest de-
gree; the gas bottle (2) contained about a quarter of an
ounce of liquid; and the nitrate of silver (3) had not been
perceptibly changed. Subsequent analyses shewed that
neither the condensed liquid (2), nor the nitrate of silver
(3), contained a trace of iodine.

Experiments made with large quantities of the rain water
which fell in Edinburgh during the last and present months,
have led me to the same negative results.

Iam well aware that consequent on the evaporation of
water from the surface of the ocean, portions of the salts
contained in it are carried up and disseminated through the
atmosphere, ready to be rained down upon inland places, and
that in this way, iodine, most probably as iodide of sodium,
will reach the air. I was accordingly confident that I should
succeed in verifying Chatin’s observations in a district so near
the sea as that around Edinburgh ; either, however, iodine
is less widely distributed than it has appeared to be, or its re-
cognition is more difficult than Chatin’s papers would lead us
to expect. It is greatly to be wished that this able observer
would publish his entire process.

In conclusion, I would merely add that the presence of
iodine in pearl ashes leads me to believe that this substance
will be found more generally distributed in the vegetable
kingdom than it has hitherto been supposed to be, and this
opinion is strengthened by the fact that I have found an ap-
preciable quantity of iodine in the ashes of charcoal.

[ trust that an early opportunity will enable me to write
amore lengthened paper on this subject. I remain yours
sincerely, STEVENSON MacaDAM.

To Prof. JAMESON,

172

Upon Animal Individuality. By THomas H. Huxury,
FASS RoD

The lecturer first briefly described the structure of the Di-
phyde and Physophoride—pointing out the general confor-
mity of these animals with the common Hydra.

They differ, however, in this important respect; that the
body in which the eggs are developed is in Hydra, a simple
process ; while in the Diphyde and Physophoride the corre-
sponding body presents every degree of complication from
this form, to that of a free-swimming, independent “ Medusa.”

Still more striking phenomena were shewn to be exhibited
by the Salpz. In this genus each species has two forms.
In the example chosen these forms were the 8. democratica,
and the 8. mucronata ; the former is solitary, and never pro-
duces ova, but develops a peculiar process the “ gemmiferous
tube ;’ upon which, and from which, the associated Salpze
mucronate are formed by budding.

Each of these carries a single ovum, from which the first
form is again developed.

The Salpa mucronata, which is thus produced from the
Salpa democratica, is just as highly organised as the latter.
It has as complete a circulatory, nervous, and digestive appa-
ratus, and moves about and feeds as actively; no one unac-
quainted with its history would dream of its being other than
a distinct individual animal, and for such it has hitherto
passed. |

But the Salpa mucronata has exactly the same relation to
the S. democratica that the free-medusiform egg-producing
body of Physalia or Velella has to the Physalia or Velella ;
and this free-medusiform body is homologous with the fixed
medusiform body of Diphyes; which again is homologous
with the semi-medusiform, fixed body of a 'Tubularia, and with
the egg-producing process of the Hydra.

Now as all these bodies are homologous with one another,
one of two conclusions is possible; either, considering the

* Read at Meeting of Royal Institution, April 20, 1852.

Thomas Huxley, Esq., on Animal Individuality. 173

Salpa mucronata to be an individual, we are logically led to
look upon the egg-producing process of Hydra as an indivi-
dual also, which seems absurd.

Or starting with the assumption that the egg-producing
process of Hydra is a mere organ, we arrive at the conclu-
sion, that the Salpa mucronata is a mere organ also: which
appears equally startling.

The whole question appears to turn upon the meaning of
the word “ individual.”

This word the lecturer endeavoured to shew always means,
merely, “a single thing of a given kind.”

There are, however, several kinds of Individuality.

Firstly, There is what may be called arbitrary individuality,
which depends wholly upon our way of regarding a thing,
and is therefore merely temporary : such is. the individuality
of a landscape, or of a period of time ; a century, for instance.

Secondly, There is an individuality which depends upon
something else than our own will or caprice; this something
is a fact or law of co-existence, which cannot_be materially
altered without destroying the individuality in question.

Thus a crystal is an individual thing in virtue of its form,
hardness, transparency, and other co-existent qualities; pound
it into powder, destroy the co-existence of these qualities, and
it loses its individuality.

Thirdly, There is a kind of individuality which is consti-
tuted and defined by a fact or law of succession. Phenomena
which occur in a definite cycle are considered as one, in con-
sequence of the law which connects them.

As a simple instance, we may take the individuality of the
beat of a pendulum. An individual beat is the sum of the
Successive places of the bob of the pendulum, as it passes
from a state of rest to a state of rest again.

Such is the individuality of living, organised beings. Every
organized being Aas been formless, and will again be form-
less ; the individual animal or plant is the swm of the inces-
sant changes which succeed one another between these two
periods of rest.

The individual animal is one beat of the pendulum of life,
birth and death are the two points of rest, and the vital force

174. ‘Thomas Huxley, Esq., on Animal Individuality.

is like the velocity of the pendulum, a constantly varying
quantity between these two zero points. The different forms
which an animal may assume correspond with the successive
places of the pendulum.

In man himself, the individual, zoologically speaking,
is not a state of man at any particular moment, as infant,
child, youth, or man; but the sum of all these, with the im-
plied fact of their definite succession.

In this case, and in most of the higher animals, the forms
or states of the individual are not naturally separated from
one another: they pass into one another, undistinguishably.

Among other animals, however, nature draws lines of de-
marcation between the different forms; thus, among insects,
the individual takes three forms, the caterpillar, the chrysalis,
and the butterfly. These do not pass into one another insen-
sibly, but are separated by apparent sudden changes; each
change being accompanied by a separation of the individual
two parts. One part is left behind and dies; it receives the
name of a skin or cast: the other part continues the exist-
ence of the individual under a new form.

The whole process is called Ecdysis : it is a case of what
might be termed concentric fission.

The peculiarity of this mode of fission is ; that of the two
portions into which the individual becomes divided at each
moult, one is unable to maintain an independent existence,
and therefore ceases to be of any importance; while the
other continues to carry on all the functions of animal life,
and to represent in itself the whole individuality of the ani-
mal. From this circumstance, there is no objection to any
independent form being taken for, and spoken of as, the
the whole individual, among the higher animals.

But, among the lower animals, the mode of representation
of the individual is different, and any independent form ceases,
in many cases, to represent the whole individual; these two
modes, however, pass into one another insensibly.

The best illustration of this fact may be taken from the
development of the Echinodenus, as it has been made known
by the brilliant discoveries of Professor Miiller.

The Echinus lividus stands in the same relation to its

Thomas Huxley, Esq., on Animal Individuality. 175

Pluteus as a butterfly to its caterpillar ; in the course of de-
velopment only a slight ecdysis takes place, the skin of the
Pluteus becoming for the most part converted into the skin
of the Echinus.

But in Asterias, the Bipinnaria, which corresponds with
the Pluteus, gives up only a portion of its integument to the
developed Asterias; the remaining and far larger portion
lives for a time after its separation as an independent form.

The Bipinnaria and the Starfish, are as much forms of the
same individual as are the Pluteus and Echinus or the cater-
pillar and butterfly ; but here the development of one form
is not necessarily followed by the destruction of the other,
and the individual is, for a time at any rate, represented by
two co-existing forms.

This temporary co-existence of two forms of the individual
might become permanent if the Asterias, instead of carrying
off the intestinal canal of the Bipinnaria, developed one of
its own; and this is exactly what takes place in the Gyro-
dactylus, whose singular development has been described by
Von Siebold.

But the case of the Gyrodactylus affords us an easy transi-
tion to that of the Trematoda, the Aphides, and the Salpz,
in which the mutual independence of the forms of the indivi-
dual is carried to its greatest extent ; so that even on anato-
mical grounds it is demonstrable that the difference between
the so-called “skin” of the caterpillar, the free Bipinnaria,
and the Salpa democratica is not in kind, but merely in
degree.

Each represents a form of the individual; the amount of
independent existence of which a form is capable, cannot
affect its homology as such.

The Lecturer then proceeded to point out that the doctrine
of the “ Alternation of Generations’ and all theories con-
nected with it, rest upon the tacit or avowed assumption
“ that whatever animal form has an independent existence
is an individual animal,” a doctrine which he endeavoured to
shew, must, if carried out, inevitably lead to absurdities and
contradictions, as indeed Dr Carpenter has already pointed
out.

*

176 Thomas Huxley, Esq., on Animal Individuality.

There is no such thing as a true case of the “ Alternation
of Generations’ in the animal kingdom; there is only an
alternation of true generation with the totally distinct pro-
cess of Gemmation or Fission.

It is indeed maintained that the latter processes are equi-
valent to the former; that the result of Gemmation as much
constitutes an individual, as the result of true Generation ;
but in that case the tentacles of a Hydra, the gemmiferous
tube of a Salpa, nay, the legs of a Centipede or Lobster must
be called individuals.

And if it be said that the bud must have in addition the
power of existing independently, to constitute an individual ;
there is the case of the male Argonaut, which has been just
shewn by H. Miiller to have the power of detaching one of
its arms (a result of gemmation) which then leads a separate
existence as the Hectocotylus.

Without a misuse of words, however, no one would call
this a separate individual.

In conclusion the lecturer stated his own views thus :

The individual animal is the sum of the phenomena pre-
sented by a single life: in other words, it is, all those animal
forms which proceed from a single egg, taken together.

The individual is represented in very various modes in the
Animal Kingdom: these modes pass insensibly one into the
other, in nature ; but for purposes of clear comprehension
they may be thus distinguished and tabulated.

Representation of the Individual.

I. By Successive Inseparable Forms.
Ascaris. A. Forms little different = Growth.
Triton. B. Forms markedly different = Metamorphosis.

II. By Successive Separable Forms.
1. Karlier Forms not Independent.
Cockroach. A. Forms littie different = Growth with Ecdysis. -
Beetle. B. Forms markedly different = Growth with Me-
tamorphosis.
2. Earlier Forms pee Independent.
Starfish.

Scientific Intelligence. 177

III. By Successive and Co-existent Separable Forms.

a. External Gemmation. b. Internal Gemmation.
A. Forms little different. All the forms produce eggs.
Nais. }

Hydra.
B, Forms markedly different. Last forms only produce eggs.

Gyrodactylus.

* a Last Forms produced.

Generally :
Medusa. } Fluke.
Locally :
Salpa. } Aphis.

These various modes of Representation of the Individual
are ultimate facts. One is neither more nor less wonderful
or explicable than another; any theory which pretends to
account for the Successive and co-existent forms of the Aphis-
individual must also account for the successive forms of the
Beetle-individual or of the Horse-individual—since they are
phenomena of essentially the same nature.

When the forms of the Individual are independent it be-
comes desirable to have some special name by which we may
denote them, so as to avoid the incessant ambiguity of the
two senses of the word individual. For these forms the
Lecturer some time ago proposed the name “ Zooid.”” Thus
the Salpa-individual is represented by two Zéoids ; the Fluke
by three ; the Aphis by nine or eleven, &c.

The use of this term is of course a mere matter of con-
venience and has nothing to do with the question of Indivi-
duality itself.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. A Letter to Sir John W. Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., ‘‘ On the
Stability of the Earth’s Awis of Rotation.” By Henry Hennessy,
Esq., M.R.I.A., &c. (Communicated by Sir John Lubbock.—The
author refers to a communication to the Geological Society by Sir
John Lubbock, in which he appeals, in support of the possibility of
a change in the earth’s axis, to the influence of two disturbing causes,
which appear to have almost entirely escaped the notice of Laplace and
Poisson, in their investigations on the stability of the earth’s axis of

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.—JULY 1852. M

178 Stability of the Earth's Axis of Rotation.

rotation :—1. The necessary displacement of the earth’s inter ior
strata, arising from chemical and physical actions during the process
of solidification. 2. The friction of the resisting medium in which
the earth is supposed to move.

With reference to the first of these disturbing causes, the author
states, that in his Researches in Terrestrial Physics (Philosophical
Transactions, 1851, Part 2), he has been led to conclusions which
may assist in clearing up the question. From an inquiry into the
process of the earth’s solidification, which appears to him most in ac-
cordance with mechanical and physical laws, he has deduced results re-
specting the earth’s structure, which throws some light on the changes
which may take place in the relation between its principal moments
of inertia, which relation is capable of being expressed by means of
a function which depends on the arrangement of the earth’s interior
strata.

He then states that he has found strong confirmation of his pecu-
liar views respecting the theory of the earth’s figure, in the experi-
ments of Professor Bischof of Bonn, on the contraction of granite
and other rocks in passing from the fluid to the solid crystalline state.
From the results of these experiments, he has been led to assign a
new form to the function, expressing the relation of the earth’s
principal moments of inertia. Referring to his paper for the mathe-
matical processes by which he arrived at this result, he states that,
from the theory he has ventured to adopt, it follows that, as solidifi-
cation advances, the strata of equal pressure in the fluid spheroidal
nucleus of the earth, acquire increased ellipticity, and each stratum
of equal density, successively added to the inner surface of the solid
crust, is more oblate than the solid strata previously found.

From these considerations alone, he remarks, it is evident that the
difference between the greatest and least moment of inertia of the
earth would progressively increase during the process of solidifica-
tion. It follows, therefore, that if the earth’s axis of rotation were
at any time stable, it would continue so for ever. But, from the
laws of fluid equilibrium, the axis must have been stable at the epoch
of the first formation of the earth’s crust; consequently, it continued
undisturbed as the thickness of the crust increased during the se-
veral geological formations. Thus it appears that the displacement
of the earth’s interior strata, instead of having a tendency to change
its axis of rotation, tends to increase the stability of that axis.

With reference to inequalities arising from the friction of a re-
sisting medium at the earth’s surface, the author observes that they
could not exist, if, as in the manner here shewn, the axis of rota-
tion coincided from the origin with the axis of figure.

Tn conclusion, he remarks, that if we could assume for the planets
a similarity of physical constitution to that of the earth, the theorem
as to the difference of the greatest and least moments of inertia of
the earth would be applicable to all the planets ; and thus we should ©

Influence of Oil on Water. 179

be as well assured of the stability of our system, with respect to the
motion of rotation of its several members, as we are already respect~-
ing their motion of translation.

In a postscript, referring to a third cause of disturbance in the
place of the earth’s axis of rotation, suggested in a letter from Sir
John Lubbock, namely, the effects of local elevation and depressions
at the earth’s ganiace: the author states—lIf, with Humboldt, we re-
gard the numbers expressing the mean heights of the sevetal conti-
nents, as indicators of the plutonic forces by which they have been
upheaved, we shall readily see that these forces are of an inferior
order to those affecting the general forms and structure of the earth.
If the second class of forces acted, so as not to influence in any way
the stability of the earth’s axis of rotation, the former class might,
under certain conditions, produce a sensible change in the position
of the axis. But when the tendency of the second class of forces is
to increase-the stability of the earth’s axis, it would not be easy to
shew the possibility of such conditions, as to render the operation of
the other forces not only effective in counteracting that tendency,
but also capable of producing a sensible change in the place of the.
axis of rotation.—(Proceedings of the Royal Society, Feb. 1852.)

2. Influence of Oil on Water.—Professor Horsford, at the Al-
bany meeting of the American Association, read a paper, entitled,
** On the occurrence of Placid Water, in the midst of large areas,
where Waves were constantly breaking.”

The Professor said he had noticed frequently that there were
spaces of some extent, in places where the waves broke, which were
very smooth; that though the swell, or rise and fall of the water,
was just as great, yet there was no breaking of the waves, no white
crest or comb, but he believed that these smooth spots were occa-
sioned by oil, or oleaginous matter, which had accidentally happened
to be spread on the surface at such places. To test this, he had,
himself, when there was quite a stiff breeze, with waves on the sur-
face of the water, which broke with considerable force off a comb or
crest, emptied a phial of oil on the water from a boat. The effect
was instantly seen. As far as the oil spread, the water was smooth,
and the waves did not break; and what was very curious, the oil
spread over the surface almost as rapidly to windward as it did to
leeward. He had, therefore, inclined to the conclusion, that the
smooth spaces, which might be observed in the midst of places where
waves broke, were owing to the presence of oil, which might either
come from decaying fish, or some other substance from which oil
exuded.

Commodore Wilkes confirmed the statement and observations
made by Professor Horsford. He cited the instance where he had
seen the same effects in a violent storm off the Cape of Good Hope,
from the leakage of a whale ship. He stated it was very curious

180 Salt Lake of Utah.

to observe over what a great extent a small quantity of oil would
produce the effect spoken of.

3. The Salt Lake of Utah.—Lieutenant Gunnison, of the Topo-
graphical Engineers, who has been employed for some time past in
the survey of the great basin in which the Salt Lake is situated,
speaks of the lake as an object of the greatest curiosity. The water
is about one-third salt, yielding that amount on boiling. Its den-
sity is considerably greater than that of the Dead Sea. One can
hardly get his whole body below the surface. In a sitting position,
the head and shoulders will remain above water, such is the strenoth
of the brine; and, on coming to the shore, the body is covered over
with an incrustation of salt in fine crystals. The most surprising
thing about it is the fact, that, during the summer season, the lake
throws on shore abundance of salt ; while, in the winter season, it
throws up Glauber salt in large quantities. The reason of this is
left to the scientific to judge, and also what becomes of the enormous

amount of fresh water poured into it by three or four large rivers—.

Jordan, Bear, and Weber—as there is no visible outlet.

4. Mud Volcano near the Salt Lake Utah—A correspondent
of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser gives the following description
of a mud volcano in the vicinity of the great Salt Lake.

This volcano is in a plain of mud, and on the borders of the lake.
It is composed of mud, and covers several acres. Steam and water
are escaping from some half dozen apertures. The mud is raised
up into cones, the highest not five feet from the general surface.
They are terminated by tubes, some hardened and lined with erys-
tals of sulphur and other substances. One of the cones throws
steam and water ten or fifteen feet into the air. It escapes rapidly,
and with a sound resembling the escape of steam from the pipe of a
small steam-engine ; and it ejects hot and cold water at short inter-
vals. One caldron, some four feet across, boils up until it overflows ;
then sinks several feet, and again overflows. Nothing is seen but
a mass of foam ; the water is strongly impregnated with sal-ammo-
niac. There are other caldrons, from ten to twenty feet in diameter,
filled to within three or four feet with boiling mud, which is occa-
sionally thrown out in every direction. About a mile further off is
another collection of mud cones; and on the opposite side, an island
of voleanic rocks rises to the height of fifty feet ; at the foot of it is
salt in sheets, strongly impregnated with sal-ammoniac ; that from
the lake is pure, and is used by the Californians. In the vicinity of
the volcano, we saw several ledges covered with pumice; and we
met with it in various other places on the plains.—(This, and the
preceding, from the American Annual of Scientific Discovery for
1862.)

5. Mount Ararat.—On Mount Ararat; by M. Abich.—The
Great Ararat stands to the south-east of Little Ararat; and the two

ee ——— a

Mount Ararat. 181

are situated in the longer axis of an elliptic volcanic system, and at
the centres of the ellipse. This system occupies a plain, gently in-
clined to the north-east, which forms the natural slope between the
high plain of Bajazed and that of the Araxes; the former 865
yards, the latter 1608 yards in height. The Great Ararat has in
its upper part the form of a segment of a cone, slightly curved, and
truncated towards the north-east, opening towards the Araxes.
Ararat, viewed on the side of the Araxes, is a broad-backed moun-
tain of imposing grandeur, owing to its breadth, and the wild features
of the crater-shaped cavity it incloses; while on the other side it
has the regular form of a pointed cone.

The gorge of St James impresses upon Ararat the appearance of
a great crater of elevation. The interior structure of the mountain
is here exposed to view, shewing trachytic rocks containing pyrites,
arranged either in irregular beds or in extensive masses of conglo-
merates. There are, however, no modern lavas. These are found
along the longitudinal axis of the system, and form two eruptive
regions at opposite extremities of the line. That to the north in-
cludes a conical mountain of regular form, and the whole region
(called Ripgoell) appears to be a product of successive volcanic erup-
tions. It terminates in a plain having a height of 3248 metres
(3552 yards), which is richly covered with vegetation, excepting a
lava region near its centre. Here are two vast crateriform cavities
near the place of ejection, looking like deep gulfs of subsidence, and
exposing a succession of layers of compact lava beds alternating with
beds of scorie. On the south side, the volcanic action has opened a
large gorge in the flanks of the great Ararat, which may be traced
to the top, making an elongated niche or gorge, which extends down-
ward and enlarges to its base. Below these is a plain like that of Rip-
goell, with a similar crateriform pit or gulf. There is a long series
of cones of eruption upon the eruptive band which communicates
with the aforesaid gorge, several of which are regular cinder or scoriz
cones, and have ejected streams of lava. Other hills of scoriz have
no craters.

The part of the mountain between the two regions of eruptions is
comparatively easy of ascent. M. Abich made his first attempt on
the 16th August 1844, but was repulsed by a heavy storm. Again,
on the 23d, he encountered another terrific storm, accompanied with
electric discharges of great intensity ; and so powerful was the elec-
trical movement, that for a long time small phosporescent flames
were seen going from the extremities of several metallic instruments,
and fluttering from the iron heads of their canes whenever they gave
them a vertical position. A fall of snow continued through the night
till ten next morning, and covered the whole cone with sleet to more
than a foot in depth, making the route extremely slippery, and that
of their ascent thus far nearly impassable. A third attempt was

182 Petermann and the Franklin Expedition.

made on the 3d of September; but was then unsuccessful, on
account of the ice.

Again, on the 28th July 1845, M. Abich made his fourth trial,
and reached the top at noon on the 29th. The top corresponds to the
most elevated part of the west side of a great crater of elevation. This
side has the character of a back, with a gently rounded and undulated
surface, and varied with several low hills, running in a line nearly
north-east and south-west. The two middle hills are the proper
top of Ararat ; the left one was visited by Parrot.

The neck betirese the great and little Ararat is low and flat, and
includes a perfectly horizontal plain, about 550 yards broad. The
debris on the summit of little Ararat consists of fragments of a rock,
like the Andesite of South America.—(P. 265. March 8, 1851.
American Journal, Vol. xiii., No, 38, Second Series, p. 269.)

6. Mr Petermann and the Franklin Expedition.—We have just
received a copy of an interesting publication, entitled ‘“‘ The Search
for Franklin; a Suggestion submitted to the British Public, by
Augustus Petermann, F.R.G.S.; illustrated by a coloured chart of the
Polar Basin.” We regret, from the late hour when the publication
reached us, we are prevented from entering into a detailed notice of
Mr Petermann’s proposal, for a spring expedition through the open-
ing between Spitsbergen and Nova Zembla, as the best entrance
into the Polar Basin, in some part of which, Mr Petermann thinks
Franklin and his companions may still be found. We recommend
this ‘‘ Suggestion” to the attention of the geographical and general
public.

7. Phenomena of Vision.—The special function with which the
retina is endowed being the perception of light, a marvellous range
of phenomena is open to the inquirer. It is indeed a wonderful thing
to have ascertained beyond doubt, that in perceiving the tint of the
scarlet geranium our eyes are affected by undulations recurring from
four hundred and eighty-two millions of millions of times in a second :
that before we can appreciate the tint of the yellow blossom of the
gorse or laburnum, five hundred and forty-two millions of millions
of vibrations must have taken place; and that to discriminate the
colour of the violet, not less than seven hundred and seven millions
of millions of movements must have been communicated to the fibri-

leee of our retina! Whilst such facts almost transcend the powers.

of human conception, their establishment is a striking triumph of
human intellect. But how great ought to be our admiration of that
Omnipotence which has endowed the eye with the gift, not merely
of appreciating one colour, but of distinguishing, in all their shades,
the inexpressibly complicated vibrations which mark the hues of a
parterre of flowers, and characterise the gorgeous plumage of the
birds which give animation to a tropical forest. The sense of sight
in its ordinary acceptation, may be defined as the recognition by the

Vision under Water. 183

mind of certain impressions made upon the retina, and communicat-
ed through the medium of the optic nerve to the encephalon; a
sound condition of each and all of these parts which may be con-
sidered as the media of communication, so far as one sense is con-
cerned, between the external world and the mind, is indispensable
for perfect vision. Light may fall upon the retina, and the images
of objects may be there depicted ; but should the optic nerve be un-
sound, or certain portions of the brain be disorganised, no responsive
image is called up before the mind; the eye may gaze upon the
noonday sun, but all is dark within.

The natural stimulus of the retina is the luminous rays; the ap-
preciation of light and colour its active condition ; and its state of
repose suggests the appearance of darkness ; but besides light, any
other excitement applied to the retina or optic nerve gives rise
to the same result, the production of luminous appearances. Pres-
sure upon the eyeball, the electric current, or vascular congestion,
all excite this special phenomenon. Occasionally, too, irritation of
the brain has the same effect ; and many are the waves and corrus-
cations, the fiery clouds and flaming spectra, which haunt the amau-
rotic when certain morbid complications exist. ‘The phantasms of
fever, and the illusions of the dying, are to be placed in the same
category with the above.—(Todd’s Cyclopedia.)

8. Vision under Water.—Vision under water is attended with
some curious consequences, the result of what is termed <‘ internal’
reflection. Aneye placed under perfectly still water, as for instance,
the eye of a diver, will see external objects only through a circular
aperture (as it were) of 96° 55’ 20” in diameter overhead. But all
objects down to the horizon will be visible in this space; those near
the horizon being much distorted and contracted in dimensions, espe-
cially in height. Beyond the limits of this circle will be seen the
bottom of the water, and all subaqueous objects reflected and as vi-
vidly depicted as by direct vision; and, in addition, the circular
space above mentioned, will appear surrounded with a rainbow of
faint but delicate colours. In the eyes of fishes, the humours being
nearly of the refractive density of the medium in which they live,
the action of bringing the rays to a focus on the retina is almost en-
tirely performed by the crystalline lens, which is nearly spherical,
and of small radius in comparison with the whole diameter of the
eye; there is also a very great increase of density. towards the
centre, whereby spherical aberration is obviated, the corneal refrac-
tion having little influence. —(Ibid.)

9. Colours most frequently Hit during Battle.—It would appear,
from numerous observations, that soldiers are hit during battle ac-
cording to the colour of their dress, in the following order :—Red is
the most fatal colour ; the least fatal, Austrian grey. The propor-
tions are,—Red 12 ; Rifle green 7 ; Brown 6 ; Austrian bluish-grey 5.

184

List of Patents granted for Scotland from 24th March to
22d June 1852.

1. To Cotin Maruer, of Salford, in the county of Lancaster, machine-
maker, and Ernest Rotrrs, of Cologne, in the kingdom of Prussia,
gentleman, ‘‘ certain improvements in printing, damping, stiffening,
opening, and spreading woven fabrics.”—-March 24, 1852.

2. To Ricuarp ArcHisaLp Broomany, of the firm of J. C. Robertson
and Company, of 166 Fleet Street, in the city of London, patent-agents,
‘* improvements in presses and in pressing in centrifugal machinery, and
in apparatus connected therewith, part or parts of which are applicable to
various useful purposes ;” being a communication.—March 24, 1852.

3. To James Metvitue, of Roebank Works, Lochwinnoch, in the
county of Renfrew, North Britain, calico-printer, ‘‘ improvements in
weaving and printing shawls and other fabrics.”—-March 29, 1852.

4. To Atexanper Forrar, of Milnathort, in the county of Kinross,
Scotland, builder, ‘‘ improvements in ventilation, and in the prevention
of smoky chimneys.”—March 29, 1852.

5. To Josern Jones, of Bilston,-in the county of Stafford, furnace-
builder, “‘ certain improvements in furnaces used in the manufacture of
iron.”—March 29, 1852.

6. To Sir Joun Scorr Lititz, Companion of the Most Honourable
Military Order of the Bath, of Pall Mall, in the county of Middlesex,
“certain improvements in the construction or covering of walls, floors,
roads, footpaths, and other purposes.”—April 2, 1852.

7. To Witi1am Watson Pattinson, of Felling, New House, Gates-
head, manufacturing chemist, “ improvements in the manufacture of
chlorine.” —April 2, 1852.

8. To Gxorcr Mitts, of Southampton, in the county of Hants, engi-
neer, ‘‘ improvements in steam-engine boilers, and in steam-propelling
machinery.”—Apri) 2, 1852.

9. To AtexanpEeR Heprarp, of Rue Tait-Bout, Paris, France, gentle-
man, ‘‘ certain improvements in rotary steam-engines.’’—April 5, 1852.

10. To Josrru Pintortt Oates, of Lichfield, in the county of Stafford,

surgeon, ‘‘ certain improvements in machinery for manufacturing bricks,

tiles, quarries’ drain-pipes, and such other articles as are or may be made
of clay, or other plastic substances.’”—April 6, 1852.

11. To Srureis Russet, of No. 8 Bishopsgate Street, in the city of
London, merchant, ‘ improvements in weaving looms.’’—April 8, 1852.

12, To Ricuarp ArcuiBaLp Brooman, of the firm of J. C. Robertson
and Company, of 166 Fleet Street, in the city of London, patent-
agents, ‘‘ certain improvements in the preparation and treatment of fibrous
and membranous materials, both in the raw and manufactured state, in
applying electro-chemical action to manufacturing purposes, and in the

List of Patents. 185

manufacture of saline and metallic compounds ;” being a communica-
tion.—-April 10, 1852.

13. To Tuomas Baxnett, of the town of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the
county of the same town, grocer, ‘“‘improvements in machinery for grind-
ing wheat and other grain.”—April 13, 1852.

14. To Cuartes Wixtiam Siemens, of Birmingham, in the county of
Warwick, engineer, ‘‘ an improved fluid meter, partly his own inven-
tion.” —April 15, 1852.

15. To Ricuarp Roserts, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster,
engineer, ‘“‘ improvements in machinery or apparatus for regulating and
measuring the flow of fluids; also for pumping, forcing, agitating, and
evaporating fluids, and for obtaining motive power from fluids.”—April
16, 1852.

16. To Wittiam Wuittaker Coxuins, of Buckingham Street, Adel-
phi, in the county of Middlesex, civil engineer, ‘‘ certain improvements
in the manufacture of steel.”—April 16, 1852.

17. To Joun Fiack Winstow, of the city of Troy, in the State of
New York, and United States of America, iron-master, ‘‘ improvements
in the machinery for blooming iron.’’—April 16, 1852.

18. ToWitt1am Hyatt, of Old Street Road, in the county of Middle-
sex, engineer, “ improvements in obtaining and applying motive power.”
—April 19, 1852.

19. To Marryn Jouwn Roserts, of Woodbank, Gerard’s Cross, Bucks,
Esquire, “‘ improvements in galvanic batteries, and in obtaining chemical
products therefrom.’”’—April 19, 1852.

20, To Francois JosepH Bretrrune, of Paris, in the Republic of
France, engineer, ‘‘ improvements in the manufacture of bottles and
jars of glass, clay, gutta percha, or other plastic material, and caps and
stoppers for the same, and in pressing and moulding the said materials.”’
—April 19, 1852.

21. To Jonn Watrter ve LoneuevitLe Girrarp, of Serle Street, Lin-
coln’s Inn, barrister-at-law, ‘“‘ improvements in fire-arms and projec-
tiles.” —A pril 19, 1852.

22. To Wit11am Gorman, of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, North
Britain, engraver, ‘‘ improvements in obtaining motive power; which
improvements, or parts thereof, are applicable for measuring and trans-
mitting eriform bodies and fluids.”——A pril 20, 1852.

_ 23. To Witt1am Epwarp Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66

Chancery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, civil engineer, “ improve-
ments in the method of, and apparatus for, indicating and regulating the
heat and the height and supply of water in steam-boilers ; which said im-
provements are applicable to other purposes, such as indicating and regu-
lating the heat of buildings, furnaces, stoves, fire-places, kilns, and ovens,
and indicating the height, and regulating the supply of water, in other
boilers and vessels ;”” being a communication.—April 23, 1852.

VOL. LIII. NO. CV.—JULY 1852. N

186 List of Patents.

24. To Atrrep Vincent Newron, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chan-
cery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, mechanical draughtsman, ‘ im-
provements in the manufacture of lenses;’ being a communication.—
April 26, 1852.

25. To Mattuew Witwin Sears, of 36 Burton Crescent, in the pa-
rish of St Pancras, in the county of Middlesex, commission agent, ‘“ the
improved construction of guns and cannons, and manufacture of cartridges
for the loading or charging thereof.”—April 26, 1852.

26. To Srewart M‘Guasuan, of Edinburgh, Scotland, sculptor, ‘ the
application of certain mechanical powers to lifting, removing, and pre-
serving trees, houses, and other bodies.”—April 28, 1852.

27. To Tuomas Bett, of Don Alkali Works, South Shields, “ im-
provements in the manufacture of sulphuric acid.””—April 28, 1852.

28. To Atrrep Vincent Newron, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chan-
cery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, mechanical draughtsman, ‘“ an
invention for preventing the incrustation of steam-boilers ; which inven-
tion is also applicable to the preservation of metals and wood.”—April
28, 1852.

29. To Atrrep Vincent Newron, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chancery
Lane, in the county of Middlesex, mechanical draughtsman, “ improve-
ments in the method of manufacturing, and in machinery to be used in
the manufacture of wood-screws, part of which improvements is applicable
to the arranging and feeding of pins and other like articles; and also
improvements in assorting screws, pins, and other articles of various
sizes ;” being a communication.—April 30, 1852.

30. To Grorct Frepericx Montz Jun., of Birmingham, “ improve-
ments in the manufacture of metal tubes.”—May 3, 1852.

31. To WitiiaM Gittespis, of Torbane Hill, in the county of Lin-
lithgow, Scotland, ‘‘ an improved apparatus, instrument, or means for
ascertaining or setting off the slope or level of drains, banks, inclines, or
works of any description, whether natural or artificial, or under land or
water.” —May 5, 1852.

32. To Witt1am Tuomas, of Exe Island, in the county of Devon-
shire, engineer, “ certain improvements in the construction of apparatus
and machinery for economising fuel in the generation of steam, and in
machinery for propelling on land and water.” —May 5, 1852. ©

33. To Jutian Bernarp, of Guilford Street, Russell Square, in the
county of Middlesex, gentleman, ‘“‘ improvements in the manufacture of
leather or dressed skins, of materials to be used in lieu thereof, of boots
and shoes, and in materials, machinery, and apparatus connected with,
or to be employed in such manufactures.”—May 10, 1852.

34. To Jonn CampBeELt, of Borofield, in the county of Renfrew, North
Britain, bleacher, “ improvements in the manufacture and treatment or
finishing of textile fabrics and materials, and in the machinery or appa-
ratus used therein.”— May 10, 1852.

List of Patents. 187

35. To Ricuarp Curistopner Manse, of Ashford, in the county of
Kent, ‘‘ improvements in the construction of railways, in railway rolling
stock, and in the machinery for manufacturing the same.’’—May 10,
1852.

36. To Gzoree Leorotp Lupwie Koraut, of Christopher Street,
Finsbury, London, engineer, “improvements in fire-arms,”—May 11,
1852.

837. To Davip Dick, of Paisley, in the county of Renfrew, North
Britain, machine-maker, “improvements in the manufacture and treat-
ment or finishing of textile fabrics and materials.”—May 11, 1852.

88. To Cuartes Ewine, of Bodorgan, in the county of Anglesea,
steward and gardener, “ an improved method or methods of construction,
applicable to architectural and horticultural purposes.’’—May 11,1852.

39. To AntHony Granara, of Leicester Square, in the county of Mid-
dlesex, hotel-keeper, “‘ improved apparatus for lubricating machinery.” —
May 14, 1852.

40. To Cremence Aveustus Murtz, of Manchester, in the county
of Lancaster, manufacturing chemist, ‘‘an improvement in all prepara-
tions of every description of madder roots and ground madder, in or from
whatever country the same are produced, also in munjeet in the root and
stem from whatever country.”—May 17, 1852.

41. To Witiiam Wart, of Glasgow, in the county‘of Lanark, North
Britain, manufacturing chemist, ‘‘improvements in the treatment and pre-
paration of flax or other fibrous substances, and the application of some
of the products to certain purposes.” —May 17, 1852.

42. To Peter Farrzairn, of Leeds, in the county of York, machinist,
and Perer Swires Horseman, of Leeds, aforesaid, flax-spinner, ‘‘cer-
tain improvements in the process of preparing flax and hemp for the
purpose of heckling flax, hemp, china, grass, and other vegetable fibrous
substances.”—May 17, 1852.

43. To Witt1am Epwarp Newron, of the Office for Patents, 66
Chancery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, civil engineer, ‘“‘ improve-
ments in the manufacture of coke, and in the application of the gaseous
products arising therefrom to useful purposes.”——May 19, 1852.

44, To Joun Harcourt Brown, of Aberdeen, in Scotland, and Joun
Macintosu, of the same place, ‘‘ improvements in the manufacture of
paper and articles of paper.”—May 24, 1852.

_ 45, To Cuartes James Pownat, of Addison Road, in the county of
Middlesex, gentleman, “ improvements in the preparation and treatment
of flax and other fibrous vegetable substances.” —May 28, 1852.

46. To Joun Weems, of Johnstone, in the county of Renfrew, North
Britain, tinsmith, ‘improvements in the manufacture or production of
metallic pipes and sheets,”—May 31, 1852.

47. To Auexanper Jonnstone Wanrpen, of Dundee, in the county of

188 List of Patents.

Forfar, Scotland, manufacturer, ‘“‘ improvements in the manufacture of
certain descriptions of carpets.”—May 31, 1852.

48. To Josrrn Swan, of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, North
Britain, engraver, “‘ improvements in the production of figured surfaces,
and in printing, and in the machinery or apparatus used therein.”—
June 10, 1852.

49. To Grorcr Srarsy, of Chelsea, in the county of Middlesex, de-
corator, being a communication from abroad, ‘‘ certain improvements in
apparatus for cutting and carving metal, stone, and other substances.”’—
June 11, 1852.

50. To Joun Freerson, of Birmingham, “ improvements in cutting
shaping, and pressing metal, and other materials.”—June 14, 1852.

51. To Tuomas Twe ts, of Nottingham, manufacturer, “ certain im-
provements in the manufacture of looped fabrics.”—-June 14, 1852.

52. To Anprew Futron, of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, North
Britain, hatter, ‘“‘ improvements in hats and other coverings for the
head.”—June 14, 1852.

53. To Witt1am Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chancery
Lane, in the county of Middlesex, civil engineer, being a communication
from abroad, ‘‘ improvements in machinery for weaving, colouring, and
marking fabrics.’—June 15, 1852.

54. To James Epwarp Coteman, of Porchester House, Bayswater, in
the county of Middlesex, gentleman, being a communication from abroad,
“ improvements in materials and apparatus to be employed in parts of
railways, of engines, and of carriages, and in the application of such
materials to those purposes, and to the manufacture of textile and other
mechanism.”—June 16, 1852.

55. To Witt1am Hinpman, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster,
gentleman, and John Waruorst, of Newton Heath, near Manchester,
cotton-dealer, ‘‘ certain improvements in the method of generating or
producing steam, and in the machinery or apparatus connected there-
with.”—June 16, 1852.

56. To Ricuarp ArcHiBALD Broomay, of the firm of J. C. Robertson
and Company, of 166 Fleet Street, in the city of London, patent-agents,
being a communication from abroad, “a reaping machine,’”’—June 17,
1852.

57. To Wru11am Grarrrx, of Salford, in the county of Lancaster, dyer
and printer, “ certain improvements in the production of designs upon
cotton and other fabrics.”—June 17, 1852.

58. To James Epwarp M‘Conne tt, of Wolverton, in the county of Bucks,
civil engineer, ‘‘ improvements in steam-engines, in boilers, and other
vessels for containing fluids, in railways, and in materials and apparatus
employed therein or connected therewith.”—June 18, 1852.

THH

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

Biography of Berzelius. By Professor H. Ross of Berlin.*

On the 7th of August, in the memorable year 1848, died at
Stockholm, BERZELIUS, after long and painful suffering, in his
69th year.

Distinguished men, who, during a long and active career,
have enjoyed a great reputation, may have achieved this in
various ways.

When a teacher, by his theoretical and practical instruc-
tion, by an overpowering force of convincing eloquence, draws
round him a circle of students, whom, by his animating ex-
ample, he inspires with enthusiasm for his doctrines,—or
when, by an extraordinary talent for illustration, he renders
even the most difficult branches of science accessible to the
inquiring public, or when, by a talented combination of
__ known facts, he opens the way to the most fruitful ideas, such
aman may contribute to the general diffusion of a scientific
spirit, and otherwise exercise the most beneficial influence.
But when at the end of his career, we examine whether by
his removal a void has been left, it will often be found that
_ Science would, upon the whole, have preserved the same
boundary if he had not laboured for it. It will often be
“found that his influence upon science, although considerable,
has only been indirect.

* Delivered at the Public Meeting of the Academie der Wissenschaften, in
Berlin, on 3d July 1851; it will appear in the course of next year in the Me-
moirs of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

VOL. LIII. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. O

196 Biography of Berzelius.

On the contrary, there are other specially-gifted men, who,
possessing in a high degree the talent for investigation, récog-
nise with marvellous penetration where the aid of experiment
is needed, and frequently, by a few apparently very simple
facts, clear up our views in a Surprising manner, overthrow
long-established prejudices, and advance science with gigan-
tic strides.

It is rarely that men of the latter kind follow up pnd com-
plete their scientific conquests. They. generally content
themselves with haying shewn, by their discoveries, in what
direction the study of details is to be pursued, and, after
having pointed out the course and the method of filling up the
gaps, resign the execution of the work to others:

Such a man was Humphry Davy... There are none who
will not acknowledge that at the commencement. of, this
century, chemical science received through him, by. ,the
discovery of the metallic nature of the alkalies, a, most, ex-
traordinary impulse. But, however industriously, and. in-
cessantly he occupied himself for years with experiments. con-
nected with his great discoveries,—experiments which led to
the development of entirely new views, and enriched) in /a
remarkable manner many branches of the science, still he
was unable to cultivate it in its entire extent... During his
unfortunately too brief career, while advancing from) dis-
covery to discovery, he had neglected to give his attention, to
the details of the science ; and when he attempted to: combine
chemical facts into a system, and to publish an elementary
work on chemistry, it soon became evident that he was, not
fully equal to this undertaking; and of his ‘“ EKlements , of
Chemical Philosophy,’’ only the first part of the first volume
appeared.

But when a man possessed of the most remarkable powers
of investigation enriches all branches of his science with the
most important facts, distinguishes, himself equally in em-
pirical and in speculative researches, embracing, the whole
in,a philosophic spirit, while, at the same time, bringing the
details into complete systematic order, and, lastly, occupying
the lofty position of a practical and theoretical teacher, of an
inquiring circle of pupils, he fulfils the highest requirements

Biography of Berzelius. 191

of his'science in such a degree as. to remain in after ns a
brilliant type of his class.

Such was Berzelius. /It is seldom that all these qualities
are found united in one man in so high a degree of perfection
as they werein him. In this respect, and in chemical science
at least, he has been exceeded by none.

Since the death of Berzelius several biographies) of “him
have appeared, especially in Sweden. All tell how, in his
Jehildhood and’ youth, he had to struggle with care and
‘poverty,—how he gradually overcame all obstacles,—how,
in spite of his unpropitious external circumstances, he opened
a way for himself, and entered upon the career for which:he —
was destined.

In an academic eulogium, however, it is before all things
‘appropriate to point out the scientific merits of the dé-
‘ceased member, to shew how much science has been ‘ex-
tended by him, and how great is the loss it has suffered in
“his death.

It was exactly at the commencement of this century that
Berzelius first appeared as an independent investigator.
‘Volta had just constructed the electrical pile which bears his
‘name, and its astonishing effects occupied in a high degree
‘the attention of the men of science of the time. The unex-
pected chemical phenomena produced by the pile excited the
‘interest of chemists fully as much as. that of physicists,
“and induced them to multiply experiments with this — re-
‘markable apparatus. The first investigation made public by
Berzelius was upon. the effects of the electrical pile upon
‘saline solutions. In the year 1808, there appeared in Gehlen’s
Neuem. Allg. Journal der Chemie an important paper on this
subject, the joint production of Berzelius and Hisinger: How-
ever manifold and remarkable were the results which had
hitherto been obtained with the Voltaic pile with regard to
‘chemical decomposition, still no one had succeeded in dis-
“covering the laws of these phenomena. Berzelius was the first
to find the thread which could lead with certainty through this
‘labyrinth of complicated phenomena. He shewed that sub-
‘stances which are liberated at the one pole, have in other
“réspects a certain analogy, that all combustible bodies, alka-
02

192 Biography of Berzelius.

lies and earths, were carried to the negative pole, and on the
contrary, oxygen, acids, and highly oxidised bodies to the
positive pole. But what particularly proves the admirable
Sagacity of Berzelius is the circumstance that he did not
allow himself to be led astray by the appearance of the same
body, sometimes at the positive, sometimes at the negative
pole, as, for instance, the appearance in the decomposition
of nitric acid, of nitrogen at the negative, in the decompo-
sition of ammonia at the positive pole. It was, on the other
hand, clear to him even at that time that the antitheses be-
tween the constituents of a chemical compound were only
relative, and that one and the same body may behave as a
base to a second, and as an acid to a third.

Three years after Berzelius had made this important in-
vestigation public, viz., in 1806, Davy developed similar views
ina memoir upon some effects of electricity, which has become
very famous. He extended the experiments considerably,
prosecuted them with very ingenious apparatus, by means
of which he succeeded in disproving many erroneous views
as to the effects of the electric pile, which had at that time
become general. He particularly explained the peculiar and
remarkable mode of the transmission of substances from
one vessel into another; but in his memoir he does not
make any mention of the views of Berzelius, which corre-
sponded with his own; and Pfaff, who translated Davy’s paper
for Gehlen’s Journal, felt it necessary to remark that three
years previously Berzelius and Hisinger had made known
all the fundamental principles which Davy now brought for-
ward as entirely new. 4

In 1807, Davy received the prize of 3000 francs, offered
by the Emperor Napoleon for the best set of experiments
made during that year on the subject of galvanism. The
merits of Berzelius and Hisinger were unnoticed.

After Davy had made known, in October 1807, the im-
portant discovery of the metallic nature of the alkalies, and
thus excited in a high degree the attention of scientific men,
Berzelius also occupied himself with the separation of the
alkaline metals by means of the voltaic pile. In the spring
of 1808 he formed, at the same time as Seebeck, who was then

Biography of Berzelius. 193

living at Jena, the happy idea of employing mercury as the
negative pole in the decomposition of the alkalies, which
were placed at one side in contact with it in a moist state, and
at the other in contact with the positive conducting wire.
Berzelius made these experiments in conjunction with
Pontin. In this way he succeeded in obtaining amalgams
not only of potassium and sodium, but also of calcium and
barium. Davy had in vain attempted to exhibit the metals
of the alkaline earths by the methods which had for-
tunately yielded him the metals of the fixed alkalies; he
could only obtain barium, strontium, and calcium, from
amalgams prepared according to the method communicated
to him by Berzelius.

But the most surprising results were those which Berze-
lius obtained on decomposing ammonia by the voltaic pile,
likewise employing mercury as the negative pole. He ob-
tained the ammoniacal amalgam, respecting the nature of
which he even then entertained correct views. He had em-
ployed in this experiment caustic ammonia, while Seebeck,
at the same time, and in a manner quite similar, obtained
the amalgam with moistened carbonate of ammonia. Troms-
dorf also, in conjunction with Gottling, obtained this amal-
gam at about the same time as Seebeck.

While at the commencement of his scientific career, Ber-
zelius thus occupied himself in experimenting with the vol-
taic pile, he was also led to form a theory of this pile in
some respects at variance with that of its famous discoverer.
Volta, in constructing his theory, had not taken into account
_.the chemical activity of the pile, regarding that merely as
as an effect, and not as the cause of electrical action. Ber-
zelius as a chemist put forward the opposite view, that the
electricity of the pile results from the chemical action of the
_ moist conductor and the positive metal. This chemical
theory of the pile found great support, and it is still enter-
tained by many distinguished physicists, and among them
even by Faraday. Berzelius, however, unbiassed by preju-

| dice, candidly returned again to the original view of Volta,

after having convinced himself of its accuracy by a lengthened

series of experiments. Long previously to the introduction of

194 Biography of Berzelius.

the batteries of Daniell and Grove, he had constructed one
of zinc, copper, and two liquids, in such a manner that
the zine was not attacked by the liquid in contact with it,
while the copper was briskly oxidised by the other. If now
the oxidation of one of the metals were the cause of the elec-
tricity, the copper would have been positive, and the zinc
negative; consequently the poles of the pile would be reversed.
Before the circuit was closed, the copper was violently oxi-
dised and dissolved; but, when the poles were connected, this
action ceased immediately, and metallic copper was precipitat-
ed from the liquid upon the copper plate. This experiment
rendered it obvious to Berzelius that chemical activity could
not be the cause of the electrical phenomena ; for the former
ceased when the poles were connected, and the direction of
the current was that indicated by the principle of contact-
electricity. These experiments were instituted by Berzelius
before many physicists had commenced to adopt the chemical
theory of the pile, and especially long before Fechner en-
deavoured to prove the truth of the contact theory by his in-
genious experiments.

It was not, however, these experiments with the voltaic
pile which alone, or even principally, occupied the attention
of Berzelius at the commencement of his career. — At the in-
stigation of Hisinger, who had a particular partiality for the
chemical part of mineralogy, and to whom, as a geognost
and mineralogist, Sweden owes so much, Berzelius early
directed his attention to the quantitative analysis of minerals.
He candidly admitted in after years, that in the first in-
stance, when the law of combination in simple definite pro-
portions was not yet established, he did this chiefly on
Hisinger’s account. But the very first result: of an in-
vestigation of this kind, carried on in conjunction with
Hisinger, was of the most brilliant kind: it was the dis-
covery of a new metal, Cerium, during the year 1803, in
the so-called tungsten of Bastnis, near Riddarhyttan' in
Westmanland.

It must be admitted that the discovery of a new casita 19
often the result of mere chance. But it is not every chemist
who is able, even when greatly favoured by chance, ‘to ‘re-

Biography of Berzelius. 195

cognise in.a substance obtained in the course of. an, investi-
gation, a hitherto unknown element. This requires sucha
perfect knowledge of the known elements as can only be ac-
‘quired by many laborious , inyestigations.and long expe-
rience. | For, this, reason. new, elementary bodies. are not
-easily| discovered by, young chemists, not.even by, those .of
high talent. The discovery of cerium, which Berzelius
‘madeiin his twenty-third, year, shews, therefore the. great
rand \rare sagacity, which he displayed even, in his. first. in-
vestigations.
Klaproth investigated the tungsten of Bastnais simulta-
‘neously with Berzelius and. Hisinger, and declared thatthe
oxide which it contained|in combination with silica was new.
) But he overlooked its metallic nature, and, although he ob-
-tained.it of a reddish-yellow colour, regarded it as an.earth,
which he called Ochroit earth. , The investigation of Berzelius
'and Hisinger was evidently carried out with more precaution
than that of Klaproth. Not only did the latter overlook the
partial solubility of the oxide in solutions of alkaline earbo-
nates, he did not even remark the disengagement of chlorine
on treating the ignited oxide with hydrochloric acid... It was
-not until afterwards, when, for the second time, he made
- known his investigations upon cerite in the fourth volume of
his “ Beitrige zur chemischen Kenniniss der Mineral .Kor-
‘per,’ which did not appear until 1807, that he mentioned
the evolution of oxy-muriatic gas on treating the, ignited
oxide with muriatic acid, still, however, without. attaching to
the fact any great weight. Berzelius and, Hisinger, on, \the
contrary, justly considered this of very special importance, as
unequivocally pointing out two different stages of oxidation,
_-vat that time one of the principal means of, distinguishing jhe-
/ tween metallic oxides and earths, which were then regarded
--as simple bodies. Gehlen also directed attention to this point
© ina remark upon the paper of Berzelius and Hisinger.., Fur-
other, he-was fortunate enough to accomplish, with the aidof
Hyjelm, the reduction of the oxide, and to obtain the metal in
e — isolated, although not in a melted. state.
«When Berzelius subsequently undertook the detoantiamlaon
OF the equivalent weights of almost.all the, elementary bodies

106 Biography of Berzelius.

by means of a long series of experimeats, he resigned the
estimation of the equivalent of cerium to Hisinger, and did not
occupy himself more specially with this metal. Thus pro-
bably the discovery of the oxides of two other metals, accom-
plished by Mosander, thirty-six years after that of cerium,
escaped him,

Besides the examination of cerite, Berzelius undertook at
that time the investigation of other new and interesting mine-
rals.. But during the first period of his scientific activity he was
chiefly occupied in an entirely different branch of chemistry.
Berzelius’ first avocation in the world, by which, poor as
he was, he had to earn his livelihood, was that of physician.
He naturally sought in this profession for those occupations
especially in which sound chemical knowledge was indispen-
sable. Thus he examined several of the natural mineral
waters of Sweden, and these investigations, although inferior
to those of a similar nature which he subsequently carried
out, especially that most excellent of them all on the Carlsbad .
water, still in every respect belong to the best of their time.
In consequence of these investigations he established in Stock-
holm a manufactory for preparing these waiters artificially.

But it was quite natural that as physician he should be
induced to take up the study of animal chemistry. What
he achieved in this branch of chemistry, and indeed within a
short space of time, is extraordinary, opening: as it were an
entirely new field in this department of organic chemistry.

Before Berzelius’ time animal chemistry was treated nearly
in. the same manner as that of inorganic bodies; the con-
stituents of the animal body were arranged in certain classes,
and described merely as objects of chemical decomposition,
perhaps with a few general remarks as to their functions
in animal life. This mode of treatment is, in a scientific point
of view, totally valueless. Berzelius endeavoured to com-
bine anatomical with chemical investigations, so as to’ tend
to, a common end, in order in this to give to experiments
a higher scientific connection, and to direct the attention of
the chemist to the physiological aspect of the subject.

In this spirit he investigated almost all parts of the animal’
body, solids and fluids, certainly only qualitatively, as at the

Biography of Berzelius. 197-

commencement of this century there did not exist the most
remote knowledge of those methods for the quantitative ele-
mentary analysis of organic substances, which have only been
subsequently brought to a high state of perfection, especially
by the labours of Berzelius himself, and afterwards by those
of Liebig. But the investigations in animal chemistry car-
ried out at that time by Berzelius, remain as examples for
imitation at the present day, and have never been excelled.
It. is scarcely credible how much the very accurate results
of his investigations differ from those which were obtained
at the same time by other chemists, and solely because their
investigations were undertaken from a one-sided point of view,
and without any high scientific purpose. Beside Berzelius,
the only chemist of that time who entered upon these inves~

- tigations from a physiological point of view, was Foureroy,

but his results vary the most widely of all from those of Ber-
zelius, since from scattered, uncertain, superficial, and often
wholly incorrect observations, he drew general and extended
inferences, although certainly in a very ingenious manner,
and by his attractive illustration led the way to the greatest

errors. . In order to recognise the high superiority of Berze-

lius over Fourcroy in this respect, it is only necessary to
compare the investigations of the latter upon blood, especially
its red colouring matter, with. that instituted by Berzelius on
the same subject only a short. time afterwards.

Berzelius made known his investigations in animal hier
mistry in the form of lectures, the first of which appeared

in 1806; the second in 1808. Besides this, the most 1m-

portant examinations of separate, animal substances. ap-
peared i in the Afhandlingar « Fysik, Kemi och Mineralogi,
and in Gehlen’s Journal. .He gave a masterly review of his

labours in animal chemistry, compared with what was. pre-

viously known, on the subject,.in a speech delivered upon the
oceasion of his vacating the presidentship of the Stockholm
Academy of Sciences. [tis there the custom annually to select
from among the members of the Academy, a new president,
who, in vacating his office, must deliver.a scientific disser-
tation, which is printed.. This is, indeed, frequently the only
means, of compelling members to publish their researches...

198 Biography of Berzelius.

Within the first period of Berzelius’ scientific activity, two
other investigations were carried out, which for that time
were of the greatest importance. ‘They were on the reduc-
tion of silica, and the composition of cast iron. |

Although Berzelius had succeeded in obtaining the ett
of the alkaline earths in combination with mercury, by means
of the voltaic pile, he was unable to separate in a similar
manner the radical of silica from its oxygen. In. order,
however, to satisfy himself that silica had a composition
similar to the earths, he instituted a series of interesting ex-
periments for the purpose of uniting the radical of silica
with metals, especially iron, by mixing iron filings with
carbon and silica, and exposing the whole to an intense heat,
by means of which he obtained reguli which contained, toge-
ther with silicium, carbon. He then found approximatively
the quantity of oxygen present in silica, by estimating the
quantity of iron and carbon, the latter certainly by a some-
what unsafe method. The remark which he makes at the
close of his paper, published in 1810, is well worthy of no-
tice. After having described his numerous experiments on
the quantity of oxygen in silica, which throughout had not
given very closely corresponding results, he concludes with
these words: “I consider it moreover as unimportant to
determine with precision the per-centage of oxygen or
radical in silica, smce I am unable at the present time to
perceive either theoretical or practical advantage to be
gained by this accuracy.” <A few years later he would not
have expressed himself in this manner. 6

Another investigation important for this period was into the
composition of crude iron. At the commencement of the
present century, singular ideas of its composition had been
formed. It was supposed that oxygen generally existed in iron
associated with carbon ; and, indeed, an Essay, in which the
quantity of oxygen in crude iron was supposed to have been
demonstrated, obtained a prize. This view was principally
founded upon the circumstance, that on treating crude iron
with non-oxidising acids, less hydrogen was: obtained than
with an equal weight of malleable iron. Berzelius proved
that in this case an oleaginous hydro-carbon was produced,

Biography of Berzelius. 199

and shewed, with the greatest certainty, there could not pos-
sibly be any oxygen in crude iron. He determined the quantity
of carbon by converting it into carbonic acid, Subsequently
he attempted to estimate the carbon directly, by dissolving
the iron through the agency of chloride: of silver or chloride
of:eopper. At that time attention had not. been directed to
the difference between the chemically combined and the me-
chanically intermixed carbon or graphite. This was not re-
ecognised until subsequently by Karsten, who also proved
that graphite consisted of carbon alone, and contained. no
iron. While prosecuting the analysis of crude iron, Berzelius
made several interesting observations ; thus, among others,
he was led to propose the use of benzoic acid as a means of
separating: peroxide of iron from protoxide of manganese and
magnesia, instead of the then’ more costly succinic acid re-
ecommended by Gehlen.. He further shewed, that on treat-
ing crude iron with nitric acid, an extractive substance, having
the ‘most perfect resemblance, to the extract of vegetable
mould, is produced from the carbon of the iron. He also
aceidentally discovered during this analysis the interesting
double salt of persulphate of iron and sulphate of ammonia,
the composition of which he was the first to determine qualita-
tively with accuracy. This salt he at first regarded as alum,
“on account of the form, though he found no alumina in it.
‘He moreover pointed out that the silica which he obtained
-after the solution of the iron did not exist in the crude iron as
‘such, but as silicium. However important the various facts
ascertained during this investigation might be, still Berzelius
»was not fully satisfied with the results obtained, since he could
not rely upon the correctness cf the method which he had
employed for the quantitative determination of carbon nor of
‘magnesia, whose presence in the solution of crude iron he had
sproved:,, On this account, he published his investigation
runder the modest title of Attempt to Analyse Crude fron.

vil i now, come to the most important period of Berzelius’
seientific, activity. His previous achievements were owing
emore’ to, fortunate, chauce than. to any leading ideas. He was,
|to, a, certain. extent, incited by the scientific interest. of the
time!to, take up the, galvanic, investigations, by the friendly

200 Biography of Berzelius.

intercourse with Hisinger to enter on the chemico- mineralogi-
eal, and, finally, by his professional position to engage in those
on animal chemistry. Towards the end of the first decennium,
however, he was led, especially by the investigations of Davy,
to the study of the simple chemical proportionsin which bodies
generally combine with each other, and from this time ap-
plied all his energies to this subject. The activity which he
now developed, under the guiding influence of a great idea,
was in fact gigantic; for, after the lapse of only a few years,
he established, to the amazement of his contemporaries, the
complete theory of combining proportions, a subject the
details of which he laboured constantly in perfecting and
improving during the remainder of his life. It may safely
be affirmed, that it was only from this time that che-
mistry became in truth one of the exact sciences; for from
the collection of empirical facts which had hitherto borne
the name of chemistry, the universal law now first developed
itself, according to which bodies enter into chemical com-
bination. |

Berzelius is not, properly speaking, the first discoverer of
the doctrine of chemical proportions. It generally happens
in all sciences that great laws are not suddenly discovered
by one investigator, but are gradually recognised.* .

* * * * * * %

During the previous century chemists who had. occupied.
themselves with the phenomena of the so-called chemical
affinity, made several observations which incontroyertibly,
proved that there was a strict uniformity and order in the.
chemical combination of bodies. These men were especially.
Bergman in Sweden, Kirwan in Dublin, Wenzel in Dresden, .
apd, above all, Richter in Berlin. The latter two had indeed ,
come to the conclusion, that acids and alkaline bodies must.
combine in definite proportions, because in the double de-,

composition of neutral salts neutral products are formed.

OO Ve viii tebe mt Viod FTO vars yw od

Bilge J

* Owing to the great indistinctness of the MS., a long sentence, which By tit
pears very involved and confused, is left out. The want of it, howey er, “does

not affect the sense of the text. (it Dou

Biography of Berzelius. 201

But when it was attempted to prove this preconceived law
by demonstrating the composition of the decomposed salis,
all the proofs brought forward were either altogether in-
sufficient or very incomplete,—a circumstance resulting from
the then imperfect methods of separation, by means of which
it was impossible to attain to such accurate analyses that
the calculated results of the decomposition of two neutral
salts could correspond with experiment.

The attention of chemists was soon diverted from this
subject when in the eightieth year of the past century the
theories of Lavoisier gave a new direction to the whole science.
The attack upon the phlogistic theory, and the establishment
of the antiphlogistic system, took undivided possession of all
thinking minds. None had time to occupy themselves with
any other than the qualitative changes which bodies under-
went by their mutual decomposition. It was also necessary
that Lavoisier’s theory should have gained a complete ascen-
dency before the doctrine of simple chemical proportions could
be fully recognised and appreciated.

In addition to this, the development by Berthollet, one of
the most gifted chemists of the time, of a theory apparently
in total opposition to that of definite chemical proportions,
tended to withdraw attention from the latter. Berthollet
endeavoured to prove, that bodies which possess an affinity:
for each other are capable of combining in all proportions
between certain maximum and minimum quantities, and that
when the combination took place in definite proportions this
was owing to special circumstances, particularly the power
of crystallising or of cohering in any form, in consequence of
which compounds could separate from a solution, as precipi-
tates or crystals ; or else owing to the expansion taking place
on passing into the gaseous state, by which they removed
themselves from the sphere of action of solid or fluid
bodies. The most important law established by Berthollet
- was, however, that of the so-called chemical mass, according
to which the deficiency of a body in chemical afhnity may be
replaced or made up for by increasing its quantity: and it 1s
indisputable that this law, although it has latterly been more
and more forgotten, is perfectly correct.

202 Biography of Berzelus.

The first of these principles, established by Berthollet, viz.,
that all chemical combinations are possible between a certain
maximum and minimum, and in indefinite proportions, was
immediately disputed by Proust, who endeavoured, by means
of many ingenious experiments, to shew that every chemical
combination took place in definite proportions, and that
between it and the nearest allied combination there ‘was
a certain interval within which there was no ener ase
stage.

Berthollet’s views were at that time apparently supported
by the numerous erroneous representations of the composi-
tion of the most important compounds. Likewise the ex-
periments which he made, or caused to be instituted, in order
to disprove the assertions of Proust were far from being ade-
quate. Proust’s experiments were certainly in most cases
more correct, although not in such a degree as to place’ his
views beyond all doubt.

However, sometime after the analogy in composition be+
tween the alkalies and metallic oxides was proved by Davy’s
important discovery, the attention of Berzelius was also
drawn to the quantitative relations in which bodies com-
bined with each other. It was the chemical nature of am-
monia, which, in the first instance led him to enter upon this
gigantic investigation. After the discovery of oxygen in the
alkalies, the conjecture that all saline bases, and consequently
ammonia, contained this element, was not unnatural. This
view received a still greater probability by the gees of
the ammoniacal amalgam.

Berzelius now commenced a series of investigations for
the purpose of determining the quantity of oxygen in alkalies
and earths, by oxidising with water the basic metal in’ a
weighed quantity of the amalgams which he first learnt how
to prepare, then combining the oxide produced with hydro-
chlorie acid, and in accordance with the then received views
of the composition of chlorides, found the quantity ofacid in
the salt, and by the loss the quantity of oxygen in the Bane
itself: 4

On subjecting ammonia to the same process he was ist,
able either to isolate the ammoniacal metal, or to combine it

Biography of Berzelius. 203

with the mercury in such a quantity as to obtain a result.
He then endeavoured to attain his purpose by the direct de-
termination of the oxygen supposed to exist in ammonia. He
wished to make an application of the discovery made. by
Bergman in his work ‘‘ De diversa phlogisti quantitate in
metallis,” that when one metal separates another in a metallic
state, from solution in an acid, the metal suffering solution
yields precisely the same amount of phlogiston as the one pre-
viously dissolved requires in order to assume the metallic
form; that.a certain acid in dissolving metals expels equal
quantities. of phlogiston from the different metals; or to ex-
press the same in the language of the antiphlogistic system,
that when a certain quantity of any acid combines with dif-
ferent metallic oxides, forming neutral salts, the oxides must
eontain.an equal and invariable quantity of oxygen.
. But, in order. to be able to apply this law of Bergman with
perfect certainty, unassailable proofs of its perfect accuracy
were necessary. Those, indeed, which Richter. had. given
could not be regarded as at.all admissible. Berzelius now
compared his analyses of potash, soda, and lime with Bucholz’s
analysis of oxide of silver, and that made by my father. of
oxide of mercury; and he found in fact that the quantity of
these bases which saturate the same quantity of hydrochloric
acid, forming a neutral salt, contained, with very slight devia-
tions, the same quantity of oxygen. But when he came to
examine other metallic oxides and combinations with muriatic
acids, the results obtained were so much at variance (perhaps
_ on account of many erroneous premises which he assumed)
with the principle of Bergman, that he was compelled to
ascribe the want of correspondence either to his own, want of
dexterity in experimenting, or to.an erroneous application of
-Bergman’s laws. Since, however, careful repetition of his
experiments) gave results corresponding closely with those
first obtained, he began to entertain doubts of the correctness
of Bergman’s law... When, again, he subsequently found that
metallic sulphurets, on being perfectly oxidised by nitric acid,
yielded neutral sulphates of the oxide, without any éxcess
either of, metallic oxide. or, sulphuric acid, he felt compelled
to return.again to.the opinion which he had. abandoned.» At

204 Biography of Berzelius.

the same time he observed that metals unite with double
(exactly or very nearly) as much sulphur as oxygen, and that —
by a simple rule of three, the capacity of combination of any
metal for sulphur may be calculated from its oxide, or the
contrary. He was now again led to study the mutual de-
composition of neutral salts, and he finally succeeded in prac-
tically demonstrating, from the composition of several salts,
the neutrality of those resulting from their decomposition.

I feel myself justified in mentioning the following cir-
cumstance, although somewhat of a personal character. Ber-
zelius, after being unable to prove by calculation the neu-
trality of salts mutually decomposing each other, while basing
his calculations upon the data of incorrect analysis, was
often nearly abandoning the perplexing subject, but was in-
duced by a paper of my father, upon the relation of the
constituents of neutral muriates (published by him in 1806,
a year before his death, in the 6th volume of ‘ Gehlen’s
Neuem. Allg. Journal,” p. 22), to persevere.. My father had, |
in the first place, by at least one example, practically demon-
strated, that by the decomposition of two neutral salts, mu-
riate of baryta and sulphate of soda, according to his own
analysis of them, and of the two salts resulting from the
decomposition, and by calculation, results were obtained,
which proved that the neutrality could not be disturbed.

Berzelius now considered it necessary, in order to attain
to certain results, to investigate anew the composition of the
most important compounds with extreme care, repeating the
analyses several times before venturing to employ their re-
sults in the extension of his views. He remarked very justly,
that, on account of the unchangeable neutrality of two salts
decomposing each other, it was only necessary to ana-
lyse, with sufficient accuracy, all salts formed for example
by sulphuric acid, and all those whose base is baryta, in
order to be able, by a simple rule of three, to calculate the
composition of all other salts, because these two series con- —
tain the three numbers which are necessary in order to find —
the fourth. |

Berzelius now ventured upon an herculean task, which he
prosecuted for many years with the most indefatigable in-

Biography of Berzelius. 205

dustry, and for a long time without any help. He re-exa-
mined every important chemical compound with the most
admirable care and exactness. In this work, especially, he
displayed rare talent, selecting, with the most extraordinary
acuteness, those bodies which were the best adapted for in-
vestigation. He published an account of his labours, or
rather the commencement of them, in the third part of the
« Afhandlingar i Fysik, Kemi och Mineralogi” for 1810.
They first appeared in German in 1811, in Gilbert’s Annalen.

In these investigations, theory was constantly the touch-

stone employed to test the accuracy of the results, to at-

tain which he was frequently obliged to vary his experiments
almost endlessly. He was, in the first instance, compelled to

_ improve the analytical methods, and to abandon many of

those in use at that time, and by this means he was gradually

_ led to those views which are now received by all chemists.

The most distinguishing characteristic of Berzelius’s mode
of working was, that with the most insignificant means at
his command, he still succeeded in obtaining the most bril-
liant results. When he entered upon his great investigation,
he was in possession of very small pecuniary means, he was
in a condition almost of want, and without public support,
which, considering the isolated situation of Sweden, must have
been especially depressing and unfavourable. The difficulties
against which he had then to contend were, in fact, enormous.
At that time it was not possible to purchase in Stockholm
pure reagents, as in Berlin; scarcely any chemical manufac-
tories existed in the country, and, to import reagents from
abroad, for instance from Germany, was often scarcely pos-
sible, on account of the difficulty of communication, especially

during the war, and was at all times expensive and tedious.

I have myself been a witness how Berzelius, even during the
winter of 1820, while carrying out his important investiga-
tion of ferrocyanogen and ferrocyanide of potassium (which
had long been procurable in Germany for a. small sum per
pound), was obliged to prepare this salt by the gramme, and
indeed from a very bad material, the very impure Prussian
blue of the shops. He was obliged to distil the spirit, the
use of which in lamps he introduced, from ordinary brandy,

VOL, LIII, NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. P

-206 Biography of Berzelius.

and to prepare the most important acids PEED or, to, purify
those which could, be bought, ,,,.), rdmun
But. it, seems_as,if it, was precisely Piates pet swhieh
would kg discouraged and overcome any ordinary, mind, that
urged him on more persevere: in his course. This is, more-
over, a circumstance which has often occurred, and especially
in, Sweden. 1 need only call to, mind Scheele, who jalmost
| made impossibilities possible,

sn Berzelius, i in the first place, altered the methods, m Kile
\proth, which at that, time were the best, in so far especially
that, he employed CORSIRSTARD smaller a _,. The
mists _w; was rather-more than fiye eranames ; ; Besaelin never
_ took more than, two or three grammes, generally less, deter-
mining, this quantity, of course, according, to, the nature.of
the constituents of the, body to be examined. By. employing
more delicate balances, which Berzelius first introduced into
use in chemistry, and by adequate. care, results are obtained
with a small quantity, which are at least, quite as PoaRRAEP:
while they are obtained in much shorter times,..),.) (5),

The spirit-lamp, with double draught, was. ipa rere
duced into use by Berzelius., Formerly the, -ignitiom eyen, of
the smallest, quantities of a_substance;was effected over,a
charcoal fire, He was also the first; to, make, use of, the
small platinum crucible in which substances.could be both
ignited and weighed, and by the. use of, which considerably
greater accuracy was insured, and the absorption of moisture
as far as possible prevented. The filter, containing the preci-
pitate was always burnt when possible, and the, ignited, sub-
stance weighed together with the ash of the paper ;,a, saving
of time and trouble for which we are indebted to. Mr d’ Ohsson,
who worked in Berzelius’ laboratory. It was on this. account
that a paper was, employed which. left after, combustion |
but a very minute quantity of ash, and which was made of
excellent quality, in Sweden, because there are springs: there
rising through granite, the water of which 18 almost, ‘free
from fixed substances. The general introduction , of. this 4
Swedish paper, to the manufacture of which Herel paid
great attention, is also owing to hime: + 1: ddoraal dl euoimod

Biography of Berzelius. 207

CnThe use of appropriate funnels, &c., as well’as an irnimense

number of other convenient applications’ originating’ with
him) have contributed to render the results’ of analyses much
‘more exact, and have much simplified the methods them-
te " :

“Berzelius had moréover—and it is no slight Herittrans-
taepea chemical investigations in which charcoal fires were
not necessary, from the damp kitchen, or cellar-like cold
aboratory; into the comfortable dwelling-room.: The present

“geneiation have ‘scarcely an idea of the discomforts which
“Were then connected with chemical researches. It certainly
‘Yequired’ no little ‘Scientific enthusiasm, during the severe

“winters of ¢ our northern climate, to remain in a place where

} “there: was ‘the greatest absence of comfort, and which was
“even! ‘prejudicial to the ‘health.’ But it was at that time

| thought” that a laboratory with a stone floor was indispen-
Saawtl fledé’sary even for trifling: chemical operations. —

“The small caoutchouc rte by méans ‘of which experi-
“ments with gases may be so easily and safely conducted, and
which, indeed, alone render many inquiries possible, were
early émployed by Berzelius in'his investigations. | Whoever

“has in former times conducted the disengagement of a gas will
“remember the unpleasantness ‘of working with brittle glass
‘tubes, “and how sage an’ experiment miscarried from’ the
‘slightest: want of care.” It was Berzelius who first rendered
‘glass tubes, ‘as it were, flexiblé; and’ they could’then be em-
‘ployed’ in constructing the most’ complicated apparatus. -

~ Possessing’ only the most scanty means, he was led to all
“those improvements by actual necessity. He took’ advantage
“of every opportunity to’ perfect ‘himself in ‘mechanical art.
‘He was master of ‘glass-blowing, which he ‘learnt from’ a
‘travelling Ttalian ; he was familiar with turning, glass- -grind-
ing, &e. ‘He made the greater part of his own ‘instruments ;
“and” ‘Hotwithistanding the isolated’ position ‘of his’ native
“country, was thus enabled’ to construct: ‘those ingenious
“forms of apparatus by means of, which he, So Bano ad-

_yanced the study of chemistry, ay asin

torious Klaproth in his ‘Chemical AG apE dh Boll? labile only
P2

208 Bi ography 0 f B erzeli us.

ba onde his latter years, in the summer of ‘1816, “when his
labour *s were often interrupted by repeated attacks of illness.
I was. ther efore enabled, while afterwards working: for several
years in the labor: atory. of Berzelius, to compare the different
manner in which Klaproth and Berzelius, worked. “Their
methods had exactly the same relation to each other a as ‘the
respective accuracy of their results.

Even previously to Berzelius, Dalton had, in his new ‘Sys-
tem of Chemical Philosophy, attempted to express numerically
the relative quantities in which bodies generally combine, and,
as he regarded bodies as consisting of atoms, by this means
to establish as it were the relative weights » of the, ultimate
atoms, "Thus originated the doctrine of § 80- -called atomic
weights, le Terpalh. | > ahintenla CRIES So ae

mp Kee Dalton, therefore, ‘belongs Ms great, merit oe one
given, the correct idea, of that which i 1s NOW EMU ae

oho!

ere ct

to. ‘express the different Matte ‘of acid and ‘base, which
combine together, forming salts ; however, his idea was ‘not
so.material as that of Dalton, and this character was necessary
for giving it that perfect clearness, indispensable, if @ a theory
was to be founded upon it.. The long and obstinate opposi-
tion which was. made to the idea of atoms, such as must be
employed in chemistry, by German philosophers, and the war
waged against the atomic view of the composition, of, bodies,
with all the weapons of logical acumen, for a long time rather
obstructed than favoured the advancement and ‘spread of
the exact sciences, especially chemistry. Now that the atomic
theory, 1s adopted by all, every one will certainly make use of
the word atom, in order to explain the phenomena with ¢ ease
and simplicity. sa

. Dalton assumed that simple substances combined i in ‘equal
atoms, and, indeed, atom with atom, when there was ‘only
one compound of the two elements ; if several, one atom of
one substance combined with one, two, three, or more atoms
of another. The first conception of these go- -ealled multij le
proportions originated properly with Higgins, who made it —
known as early as 1789, in a work on the subject. But ‘the

Bi ography of Berzelius. 209.

most important experiments, by which the theory of Dalton
was proved, were instituted by. Wollaston, who published 3 in
the 3 year. 1814 his ingenious scale of chemical equivalents.
ry ‘When the numbers made. use of .by Dalton are compared
with, those which Berzelius deduced from his. own accurate
experiments, differences are found similar to those existing
between these latter and those given by Richter. The num-
ber-of analyses upon which Dalton had founded his arguments
was too small, and moreover they had not been executed with
very great accuracy.

in the election of ‘a substance which should be taken as

recyery

é 7
4 § t 7

oxygen. *’Dalton ee hydrogen, and took it as =1 since its
atom is the Jightest of allthe elements. _Many chemists fol-
dowed his example on this account, especially after Prout had
‘subsequently’ attempted to shew that the atomic weights’ of
‘all simple bodies were multiples of that of hydrogen. Richter
had long before entertained a similar view, inasmuch as he as-
‘sumed that, the equivalents of all bases form an arithmetical,
‘those of acids a geometrical j pr ogression. N évertheless, Ber-
‘zelius and Wollaston took oxygen as unity, because it was the
‘most widely- di stributed of all the elements, and existed inmost
“compound substances. By adopting oxygen as unity, all eal-
“culations : were greatly simplified. Berzelius took it as = 100,
‘Wollaston ‘= ‘= 10. Berzelius remained trué to ‘his opinion
to the last, and always declared himself against that of Prout,
even \ when i in, 1840, it” ‘was again ‘adopted by Dumas, who ‘at-
tempted to prove. ‘its truth for at least a few eleménts by
actual experiment. Tt is “true that, the’ atomie weights ‘of
“several of the non- metallic. elements appear to be multiples. of
‘that of hydrogen, but it has not been possible to ‘maintain
_, Prout’s views as regards others. So long as we are ignorant
mits whether this correspondence i 1s inerely accidental, or r actually
5 2 law. of nature we must suspend a decision.
_In the determination of the number of atoms in compound
“Dedies, . Berzelius proceeded with great caution. “Dalton and
others, \ who had put, forward the view that substances com-

Pine, especially i in such proportions that one atom of the one

210 Biography of Berzelius.

element) unites with one atom of another, assumed,also that
when, ifor example, several oxides: ofan element existed, the
oxygencatoms.of the higher oxides'were multiples of, thesoxy-
gew in ithe lowestoxide. But when: only yone! :oxide,was
knowns vit; waso obviously. very, hazardous! to ‘assume >that) it
eonsistedoof ;equal: atoms of! both: eléments, without) taking
any! notice: of: the other ‘relations:of this:compound,,»Berze-
lius studied all the circumstances withthe greatest,attention 5
andthe caution; as; well! as; penetrating, tact with. which’ he
proceeded, are evident, fromthe fact; that, when, )subse-
quently, Mitscherlich; by ‘his important; discovery, of Isomor-
phism; farnished an) admirable meansi of recognising with
certainty bodies having: similaratoniic composition,itwas not
necessary for Berzelius' to maké-any alterationin his,views})
Only uponocone! oceasion did: he !feel! himself compelled to
modify hhisiviews; regarding» the arrangement, jof,;atoms, in
compound bodies’: On the first establishment. of-his system,
hecwas of opinion that:in the simple:compounds,! such as
oxides, there must be the most simple proportion, and: that,of
two atonis of the radical to three of oxygen appeared: toshim
tocbe tooicomplex.:. Since inthe oxides of ironnthe oxygen
was in the proportion:of two to:three;sheoassumed that per-
oxide’ of iron’ consisted of one,atom of metal!andthreeiatoms
of oxygen; the: protoxide and all thoseo similar: tot as .¢on-
sisting of one atom metal. and\two\ atoms oxygen. )-It was
not until later in the-year 1827, that: Berzelius; particularly
influenced by the: proportions of the’ elements in the ioxides
of ‘manganese, chromium, and sulphur, decidedoupon:assum-
ing, that, in the ‘strongly basic,’ or so-called: electro-positive
oxides; ‘there’ was? but! ohne atom. of ‘metaland ‘one atom) of
oxygen, and, consequently, thatithe atomic weights formerly
adopted by him ‘must be: reduced ‘to°one half..«:The higher
oxides,’ such ‘as’ peroxide? of iron, would then: contain three
aitortis of oxygen to two atoms of metal:

At that’ time,’ Berzelius' adopted the view, thialt sbherit a
BhpTe body is ¢onverted into the gaseous state, onenvolume
of thé gas'¢orresponds ‘to an‘atom.’’ For this veason, water
was alywis regarded by him‘ as ‘beings composed of one: atom
oxygen wid “two'atoms hydrogens He’ held this) copiion

Biography of Berzelius) 211

firmly; andodisputed the hypotheses of Thomson, Dalton; and
other chemists; who ‘assumed that:im two. volumes of thydro«
gem there werejas many atomsas'in' one:volumevof soxygen;
Subsequentlyj;when by the direct determination ofthe spe-
eifies weightsof sulphur, ‘phosphorus, and ‘mercury vapours,
made’ by Dumas“ and* Mitscherlich; this: assumption of Bers
zelius was not generally confirmed; he: sir at tt ae
to the: pernianent’ gases alone): |

| He owas! on’ this’ aecount scala anally a assume
twovatoms ‘where! other chemists'assumed only onevatom,
He'therefore introduced! double: ‘atoms: in those icases ‘where
they were! the equivalent: for one atom of :another substance;
Many'chemists,) especially ini Germany, have not followed
this “views ‘and Lieop.: Gmelin; “in! the’ last’! edition: of :his
“ Handbueh,”aswell'as Liebig and ‘his followers, have ¢om-
menéed “to take ‘the ‘atomic ‘weights ‘of hydrogen,’ nitrogen,
ehlorine; bromine, iodine, fluorine,and:phosphorus,' as double
those'adopted by Berzelius; and many'French chemists also
lentertain this view. The assumption that the:so-called.equi-
‘valents are identical in’ meaning with ithe term atoms, has
indeed so much probability, that the agreement-of)so ise
‘chemists in this: respect: cannot be remarkable: 2
«Notwithstanding this; Berzelius ‘continued: to the last: ae
adhere to:his:oldvatomic! weights; and theo reasonsowhich, jin
the last edition of his: Lehrbuch, thes hasassigned ifor doing
thisareiso strong; thatthey cannot: well be: set aside: These
the derives especially from the -isomorphism of; perchlorates
-and-permanganates as: proved by Mitscherlich, and from,which
iti follows:that, ai double atom of chlorine,can replace ja,double
latomiof manganese: Since, however; manganese is,in its com-
ypounds? isomorphous with! iron! and) chromium, for, instance,
in the aluins, and since chromium in:chromates-has the same
’ forin as:sulphates, ai simple atom, of chlorine, must, be able.to
replace an atom of stlphur. -But;if perchloric acid consists
fofra double: atom of, chlorine,!combined.with seven. atoms of
oxygen; then the hypochlorous acid. contains. only,one atom
‘oxygen, combined with the same, quantity, of chlorine.as, in the
sperchlori¢; and,as,hypochlorous,acid consists of two yolumes
sehlorine amd jong volume oxygen, the volumes,ofi the two_ele-

212: Biography of Berzelius.\

ments must.correspond with ‘the simple atoms! («Moreover,:
since it appears to have been proved, by \oftentrepeated ex-
periments with organic bodies, that their) hydrogen: can: be!
replaced by jan/equal:volume;of chlorine, iaxsimpley and notea }
double, atom: of) hydrogen'must:be able to hectic one atom |
of, oxygen, or sulphur: imteds dailgad

Even, if it does/sometimes happen that iwe not! find ein plants
sions \of this kind confirmed by :.experience, if im the replace+»

mentof, one:bedy by another in) compounds, an element; as

for) instance! potassium,: may» be «replaced by:cay compound!

radical sucho as: ammonium, still it \asiinoteadmissibleritos

assume -that such: substitutions as «maybe; theoretically! ins;

ferred) from the) similarity im atomic: weight, om atomic vo»

lume, really do take place, without the authority of repeated :

experiment.» It\is;certainly convenient to: regard:equivalent:

and.atom as synonymous terms; paige not, iliac aippron

priate in a scientific view. | f asw alodmye

For: the: purpose of Saekssin gr the vrsipesiicil in ‘which’
bodies; combine chemically; Berzelius,: socearlyasothe “year «
1815, employed:certain) signs: as’ symbols for the» different:

elements: Such signs were: employed) Jong before this) iis

chemistry, or rather ialchemy,: although) they 'were:then of.

little value. These symbols: undoubtedly owed their origin '
to the mysterious relation between planets cand metals as=4
sumed! by the alchemists,.and the pleasure which theyitook |
in expressing themselves inia manner unintelligible to the'>

peoples»; Berzelius would not adoptethe olds symbols, not

only, becausethey were, in fact, destitute of; all significance; 9
but likewise because it; is» certainly easier to write the ab-1'
breviation of a word than to draw.a figure. ':The symbols of!)
Berzelius, however, serve'to express the.chemical combining w
proportions, and. the chemical, formule furnish oa means ofo'
representing, the. numerical results) of) an) analysis» with alls

the simplicity. of an, algebraical formula.

The system of symbols introduced» by Berzelius tas mare
with, such universal recognition, on, account, ofits: extraor=
dinary, convenience, that, there is probably no, chemist:whoo)
does. not now employ it; and this renders it the more remark->.

7

able, that the opposition made to this innovation wasiati first;| —

Biography of Berzelins: 213-

so/eonsidérable:io A French philosopher'exchanged the sym+"
bols proposed "by “Berzelius;' foro the initial letters’ of the’
French names for the élements.° But it was in England that’
the! greatest opposition was) made to :the) adoption of the
chemical formule of Berzelius::) ‘Evenoso late: aso 1822; an
English chemist, speaking of them, said, “they are caleulated
moreito produce «misunderstanding ‘and: mystification' than
clearness, since they aresof:‘a nature: totally different from
algebraical formule ; ‘it would: bes easier to express oneself
imordinary words thawiwith these: symbols; which-only make’:
a kind: of: mathematical’ parade.’ Berzelius replied to ‘the
partly ‘rudeand’) uncourteous objections with: dispassionate:
clearness) and composure. «Who would now: consider’ it pos=
sible:to:dispense with the ‘use of these “abominableisym-+:
bols’’:of Berzelius; as they:werestermed by the editor ofan
English journal ?¢:'The:opposition'to the introduction of these
symbols was the more remarkable, since Dalton, in putting:
forward chisi:atomic: system: :in-i808; had» felt: the urgent
necessity ‘of representing: the:atoms| of elements! by means
of rsynibols, which did’ not: then meetowith any opposition, |
although atothe same’ time;with novimitation\in Kngland.
The symbols» of Dalton are, however, far less appropriate:
than those df Berzelius;’ moreover they sufficed only to ex-
press simple combinations, and:not ‘very complicated ‘ones:
‘Theointroduction of Berzelius’ symbols: first : enabled the’:
chemist to! construct: chemical formule: |
)When Berzelius sbegano'to prove ithe lawoof ‘chemical:
proportions: by experiment, he was so firmly /convinced) that
in inorganic ‘bodies ‘only the most° simple ‘relations obtained)! ©
_ that:-he even doubted ‘the aceuracy of ‘his own experiments,”
when‘ their) results \gave~ complicated ‘relations.’ It: was”
_ long before he could allow himself to admit that ‘simple sub-:
stances! could combine: with three, five, and’ seven atoms’ of?"
oxygen, because these numbers were not’ mitiltiples) of each"!
other: »He therefore assumed, that im-phosphorié'acid ‘there
were four atoms of oxygen,'in the arsenious'and arsenic acid
four and six atoms,/and in oxide of antimony and antimonie ’
acid ‘the same number; ‘and long after’ he had ‘convinced’.
_ himselfiof the elementary nature of chlorine, he doubted the ©

214 Biography of Berzelius\

correct statement of Stadion, pea h Paks generis: acid: contained:
Seven atoms of oxygen.s #6 Dol! ai anoisoqorg sttanef

The examination of the oxides of ibe presented consi-
debabbe difficulties'to hime .As' ammonia was analogous tothe
fixed alkalies, and, under the influence of galvanicvelectricity:
yielded-anjamalgam-with mercury, thereiwas:a’ possibility)of
assuming that this was a process of reduction, and that ammo-
nia consisted of a metal and oxygen!) But when ammonia was
decomposed, no oxygen was obtained, but: onlyonitrogen' and
hydrogen; the oxygen must therefore, Berzelius inferreds be
concealed in these gases; and one or both must:be oxides of

the same radical;!and this radical the metal ammoniunio But —

if, nitrogen) alone-were the:oxidised body,.then the metaliams
monium! must consist of: the) radical of: nitrogen’ and hydro-
geny « Then, again, at that time several chemists, especially
Gay-lussac ‘and ‘Thénard, assumed that potassium’ andso+
dium-contained hydrogen ; ‘however, in the controversy which
arose!on. this point between these chemistsvand’Davy;'!who
Sought to disprove their:view;’ Berzelius immediately decided
im favour of: the latter,,and: supported him! with: very strong
arguments.°' He also assumed, om thisvaccount,/the presence
of oxygen inv hydrogen, ‘and this’ as’ well as nitrogen» were,
according ‘to: his view; oxides of the metal ammonium:o1The
different stages of! oxidation were, according 'to him, the’ fol:
lowing: hydrogen, protoxide! of ammonium (the present ami-
dogen combined with potassium), ammonia;:nitrogen} nitrous
acidjnitric acidjand finally water, the) highest :oxidé? of the
radical; which, however, must; oni this viewphave contained
72 times as much oxygen as the lowestioxideshydrogens iio"

Berzelius was led 'to-adopt this! extravagant but ingenious

view by) too great: faith:in the: doctrine’ of ;proportionsian -

the form in which he then :conceivedsit! oSomewhat later:he
_ retracted the opmion that hydrogencwasyan oxide, and|de-
monstrated ‘the elementary nature: ‘of this ‘body: by weighty
arguments; ‘but he still:continued to regard nitrogen as con-
tainmg:oxygen, and endeavoured afterwards to prove this» by
means of its oxides.)};Evenin:1818;in: a:paperiupon the na-

ture of nitrogen, hydrogen, and ammonia, he said) ‘% Dven- —

ture tolassert; that:the; compound nature of nitrogen: must

Bioyraphy of Berzetius: 215,

not:be regarded, as ‘ai mere hypothesis, but, if the doctrine of
definite proportions is admitted, as a:demonstrated truth.”
Herassumed that:am unknowmradical—nitricum—existed, to
which heoassigned: the «symbol-N, subsequently retained:for
nitrogen, whichywas ithen: regarded ‘as thesuboxide: of !this
supposed: radical; andithe highest cuentas bay weruianes eons
taiming sixiabomsiofioxygen - i

eedt was;chowevery im truth; ‘it neh ee WP diet ttt )pro-=
portioncofitheyoxygen! incnitrous acid: to that) an | nitric: acid
waslas3 ito 5;;whiclilalone misled: :himiso yobstinately:to:!as-
sertothecexistence of) oxygenoin mitrogen, im which ecasethat
proportion:would have: been as !4:t0'6) 0) Whew asshort:time
afterivards he made. vhis’ researches: ‘oni thes composition: of
phosphorous:and phosphoric acids, in'whichihe found;:almost
sitaultaneously;with Dulong, that the iquantities:of Joxygen
werdin; the proportion! jof)dnto 2d, and) after having :in-vain
atiempted to:detect oxygen in phosphorus, his views respect-
ing@/the, cdmpoundi nature of) nitrogen were shaken,: and che
finally) rdlingtished them, :-aftershaving convinced: himself
that: ® similat relation! obtained: between! very many; :wemay
perhaps; now.}say most, : ofo the ndifferent: oxides 2of2 simple
bediesawhichi form Acids: : Subsequently; he sometimes; made
thé remark; «without, however; assignings any: particular im-
portance: tolit,}that!from:the production of nitrogenous :com-
pounds dim the organisms: of sherbivorous animals, whose: food
frequently cappears motto .correspond :inv/composition: awith
thems the existence of oxygeniin Hitrogen might beiinferred.
(However, in:the ast edition of: :his ssi ?veven ths
remark do¢snotioceursoyo! sii an o 28 eocait Q
euThig too @reat:faith m inves E-aipabeco podiinglicity of labiedions’
eombining|proportions!indueed Berzelius;in:some! other; in-
stances,/tovassume the) existence: of) oxides (whichvhad sno
reality: Inithe investigation of the:oxidesof;|tins|heassumed
‘that the oxidecobtaitiedofrom) they Spiritus Libavii, whichcer-
tainly: differs: greatlysinaits) characters from that obtained: by
Means of onitric -acidy-was, liniuwreference!)to the quantity of
oxygen whichiit; contained, Sintermediate -between the prot-
oxide! sndijoronifleninShnontlyp afterwards;Gay-Lussac shewed
that itidedmot differ:from the oxide prepared witl: nitric-acid

216 Biography of Berzelius,

in its quantity, of oxygen. After, Berzelius had, convinced.
himself,of the, truth of, this remark, he shewed how much the.
two, differed in their characters, , This was. the. inet example,
of Isomerism,.. .; )/, ae pee
-» Berzelius, connected the ia chemical doctrine with that
of, simple; definite pr oportions. _ it was. very, natural that, he,
should apply the phenomena presented by the voltaic pile,
and; especially the, facts; which, in, his, first, paper, he had;so
convineingly..explained. to, the. ordinary, chemical processes,
He.assumed, that,in every,;chemical process there, was anes
tralization of, opposite electricities, j AR, CODSPAMENEE, ebairbich
heat,and. light. were produced. in; the »same ,way; as, in, the dis,
charge of a Leyden jar, the, galvanic, battery, or, lightning,
with, the difference, that these phenomena, were not, always
accompanied by chemical, combination, ., a otodw? aeded
Even, at, the very, first; Berzelius did nity ner from. him-
self the difficulties, which this. theony inyolyed ed. ; , He anne”
that, the atoms possessed »electrical polarity,.u upon. whieh de le-
pended the electro-chemical, phenomena attending - their.c Se
bination.,; Thus the atoms of, oxygen were, regarded as haw;
ing..a| preponderance. of, negative selectricity.;, sthose of potas:
sium a preponderance of positive... ‘The unequal. Antensity, of
the. electrical polarity in, the, atoms of, different, ; hodies,. de-
pendent, partly, upon their temperature, was regarded. as. the
cause of, the difference of force with which, affinities are eX-
ercised.. He altered his, views, of this Subject at, different
times, and, finally admitted that it was very, possible that, he
was, in, error. ie f lepilasots ae
In ireatestaiey ‘bodies as Bs ee and, electro- “hega-
tive, Berzelius regarded, oxygen, andthe elements, re esembling
it, as, electro-positive,. Subsequently, howewver,. he altered the
nomenclature, and more correctly, called,.them electro-nega-

tiye,;, Oxygen alone he regarded as.absolutely, clectro-nega-

tive, all other bodies being only relatively,negative or, posi-

tive; just as, they, would. be;related to each..other, when jtheir

compounds were, exposed to, the, influence of,.the. electric —

pile. | en

These views of an ciins have,, been. ‘eounegial dapniae a
And in truth, the phenomena, attending .the, greater, number —

,

Biojraphy of Berzeviris. a7

of ‘ordinary ° themiieal processes, in which bodies ‘act upon
eile ‘other oily when in immediate contact, are different from
those “which occur’ ‘during the ‘discharge of an electric’ pile
where bodies act at a distance. It is only in some ‘chémical
processes, Such as the arborescent deposition of metals, that
theré is 18 a Yexemblance't to the dao wae effected! by the
pile: atid
Dench: ‘Tater! Berzelius assumed ‘the existence’ of another
force,” ‘althotigh' only’ ‘as regaided’ some’ special” chemical
changes—the' catalytic’ force. ‘The evolution’ of ‘light’ and
heat according to the eléctro-chemital theory could only result
from ‘the’ combination’ of ‘bodies opposite in their’ chatacters’:
but When they“ oedut onthe décoitposition of Bodies!’or® annda
éétnpounds are ‘decomposed and’ new ones ‘formed, without
the body, whose presence causes this change; taking part in
ify Betuelius ascribed this effect to the force’ of catalysis.”

MUAY has beet brought forward in opposition tothe ‘aw:
sumption of this new hypothetical force.” But it'is ‘not justly
cénsutable® that, in’ an’ imperféct science like’ chemistry, ‘all
plienoinena “which stand isolated, for which no‘ suitable’ ana~
logwés dan be found) and which appear as it were wonderful,
should: ‘provisionally be ascribed t5 a peculiar cause or force,
SO as openly’ to‘adinit, that in’ thé present state of the Science
it is more’ ‘appropriate not to" explain ‘a chemical ‘process at
all than’ ¥o'do' So ii'a forced “dnd fastidious manner.” “With
the ‘adVanide of thé’ sdienee thie" number of phichoniena ea
ing ‘to such’ éategories Will always becdine Smaller.’

After Berzelius had laboured uninterruptedly during “a
; ‘space OF ten’ years in’ the investigation of the-atomic weights
‘of the élementsand thei compounds, and had’ ‘these so’ far
e éstablished that all experiments dorresponded’ to within small
‘and’ lanalvoidable’ errors, ‘he. was ina position in’ 1818°to pub-
Tish tables’ containing the atomic eects 3 — ait ca
‘and! compound bodies! (i110 %
Popthis had Berzelius essed’ as’ it) were? die eiseasfoldhit
(Of his? system, atid he “now! conimenved” to supply the) defi-
ciencies which he had “Bogle been mies to pass over,
‘and thus to plandut' the! whole. °
°° Soitie'time’ before, in 1814, he had also extended his’ inves-

218 Biography of Berzelius.

tigations to organic substances, and: published 4 vey itipor-
tant paper‘on the definite proportion/in' which the elements
arercombined in organic nature. He there shewed ' at Jéngth,
that: however ‘different organic bodies might ‘at’ first’ sieht
‘appear to be from: inorganic, in regard to “their “eleinetitaty
composition,’ still the only°eertain) clue by which we® éould
hope to’ arrive at acorrect: conception of the nature of ‘the
composition of ‘those ‘bodies which’ are ‘produced ander the
influence of ‘vital ‘processes, was what was already known 6f
the composition of inorganic bodies.’ (He ‘had therefore the
great merit of having extended ‘the doctrine! of the Ximple
chemical “proportions ‘in which bodies” hecaaaiait to’ sk po c
bodiesisin 59 | it bas Bs
“The first accurate experiments 8 on ‘the cent —

vious to'the appearance of ‘this paper, by Thénawad lea: Gay-
Lussac, in 1811) Nevertheless; they'contented’ themsélvés
with drawing no other inference from ‘their results than that
a vegetable substance’ is"always ‘acid“when it! contains oxy-
gen ina proportion greater than is: necessary to form water ;

that, by an excess of hydrogen, resinous,’ oléagitious, or ‘al-
coholic substances were! formed }°and ' lastly, that whet oxy-

gen and hydrogen ‘were present inthe sameé proportions’ as
in’ water, these substances were neither acid nor resinous,
‘but analogous to sugar,’ eum) ‘starch, milk sugar, or ‘woody
fibre. These eonbiuavond! were correct, “only for the” Sub-
stances which they examined, ‘and ‘proved tintenable when ‘a
greater number had been studied.” From the results of! their
investigation of animal ‘substances, they could not dvaw even
similar inferences’; they contented théemsélves with: remark-
ing, that they contained a greater quantity of hydrogen than
was necessary to form water with ‘the oxygen ‘present, and
that it was united ee nitrogen’ in ds forin of ammonia,

eih ts

staan! but his mode of ¢onibustion was incomparably’ more
advantageous. “Hé had” already become convinced that it
was necessary to estimate the carbonic acid’ THe Te

Biography of Berzelius. 219

weight, and not,by the volume.» This:was not: always observed
afterwards; jon which, account;the analysis of organic: bodies
did. not yield accurate régults until afew y earsosince; when
Liebig. introduced the extremely.advantageous potash! appa-
ratus, which; rendered it possible, to-weigh the carbonic acid
rwith ACCU ACY Moreover; Berzelins estimated the hydrogen,
notin.the, indirect, way, like, Gay-Lussac and; Thénard, but
-he weighed. it directly after; it;had: been converted:into water,
ywhich gaye,the. results of -his investigations a ifar ac dues
accuracy, in jrespect|to this element: or
ojo Lhe number, of organic; a iabkenions inbestigeted i Rave!
Hus, was,not very great, bécause the construction;of ;appara-
tus, and the novelty of the subject, presented many diffi-
culties, But,although afterwards the methods jof ‘analysis
_were.greatly) simplified: and, improved, still the analytical xe-
sults/obtained by him in; his: investigations of ; sangaaices sub-
-stances,have-. proved: to-be remarkably aAccuratel ai ogeam
ie¢He, shewed.that,/not.only, the organic, acid, but-also tive
indifferent, substances; combined, withsinorganic oxides:inde-
finite, proportions, forming, compounds, resembling salts;-by
-PREags ; of, which. their,atomic weiglits; could-be determined, as
in, the, case of inorganic, bodies. This, observation, ledito:the
view, which, regards organic, bodies as.oxides, whose! radicals,
however, are (compound, while, in. the) inorganic | bodies,they
Are, simple... This view,at;first,attracted little notice among
chemists,.and, was not,till long afterwards recognised as,cor-
rect ;by.many,, after, the number; of..fantastic ideas of; the
composition of organic: bodies had created,an,earnest desire
for. a rational and consistent.theory. (i499 intareinl
»1t,cannot, but, bea subject of regret, that. it. was es ae
ed, to, Berzelius to, liye to.see,several of, the. radicals; -hypothe-
| tically. assumed. by, him, actually obtained, and, dpalensh but,a
very short, time after his death. ive
. ROPE after. the establishment of the, pare eee 3y8-
en Berzelius applied _ the theory of chemical, proportions
,to othe and put, forward a mineral system,) based upon
x “chem eal. principles... If the minerals oceurring in, nature are
regarded as ‘haying. compositions, similar;to the, substances

JOTI tT

artificially prepared in the, laboratory, sucha mineral. system

220. ino wBiography of Bergelinsi\. viol x

is) 'indeed, very appropriate.|' Every ‘man’ of scienée mist,
however, admit; that in this case-another system of classifica-’
tion must ‘come into use'in Mineralogy than is adopted in Bo-

tanyand Zoology.’ The inorganic substances with which that!
science has to do consist of a large number—more than 60—

simple bodies: the organic substances, on the contrary, of very

few—-only three or four: Since; moreover, the intimate con-.

nection existing’ between theochemical: ebmipodienomoamalant
the external characters of minerals cannot be detected, it 1s’
obvious that:mineralsimight: be! more “easily-and ‘certainly’
recognised, distinguished, and. classified,,as soon as their

chemical composition was studied; but not so plants and

animals, in the case of which we do not yet know that there

ig Such.an intimate connection, and. which, notwithstanding

the greatest, diversity, in form, have.almostall thesame com-

position. Were it possible, likewise, to recognise their spe-

cies: by meansrof! any easy chemicalcanalysis; we should. eall

every botanist: and:zoologist:one-sided who neglected to avail’
himself of this means: ofirecognitionye 01!) 0} @uigroled yitoq

Before; Berzelius’) time! its hadvoften’ been» attempted. ‘to:
classify minérals according to:their constituents, but.-before-
the: doctrine of definite proportions; and the!correet views of
the composition of bodies were) known; thist couldonly be!
imperfectly effected. Such systems were those| which Karsten
had'put forward: in ‘his mineralogical ‘tables; and Hauy, >in’
his'‘mineralogy, but: the achievements of Berzelius°in this
respect, caused the attempts of his a to b he, ——
forgotten: ais)

»- The mineral; system put Sieve by Beriéling’ met witli
opposition, especially from:those; who followed: the; 'S0- aiid |
natural systems. ) 9 inosom Jaen |

in the natural systems: of reid Alesis iii seiciosiia are all
placed according to them similarity im external: characters:
But all these systems differed from eachother; because they’ —
were: constructed in accordance with subjective principles. !" _

Werner had, in addition, based» his) natural) systemy ‘to ‘a!
certain extent, upon chemical principles, which were not car- —
ried out very consistently, as indeed was impossible, consider-
ing the state in which the science then was. But Mohs. | put

Dr John Davy\on the Ova ofthe Salmonide. 221

forward, the fundamental, principle, that mineralogists:should
only, pay/attention, tothe natural history characters of:mine-
rals, such, as, crystalline, form, hardness; specific gravity, and
not; to; such as cannot. be observed. without causing a sensible
alteration;in.the substance....If it ever -happens,—continues
Mohs,—that,a braneh of. natural. history :as mineralogy, em-
ploys such;characters in,its, method as these Jast mentioned,
it; then,exceeds, its legitimate bounds; becomes entangled with
other jsciences,,and hampered: with all those’ difficulties of
whieh mmineralogy-has long been’ a warning example:

odd 26 (To be concluded in our next.)

Pfs ashi

SomeObservations on the Ova of the Salmonide. By Joun
“fi Si_lep Cah D., F -RUS:, ‘&e- Communicated by the Author.

aa ‘Neat, in: ae able me indo rhe work or ‘the Eribry:
tats of the, Salmonide, has- pointed outsa remarkable pro~
perty belonging to the ovaof these fishes,:viz., that of hav
ing their fluid: contents coagulated by admixture with water.
—Thus,ias he states; :‘‘Lorsqu’on: créveoun oeuf dans’ l’eau,
on voit l’instantaméme,la-masse enticre du vitellus se trans-'
former en, une maticreblanchatre, lactée, opaque et filamen-
teuse, qui! n’a,plus| aucune ressemblance avec: la substance
vitellaire! de;:l’oeuf intacte..-Voulant: m’assurer ‘si c¢’etait
réellement l’effeti de eau; j’ouvris um oeuf au foyer du micro-
seopeet j’y mélai- une goutte d’eau, pendant que-j observais
le vitellus: partout ov les deux liquides entrérent en:contact
ili en, résulta:a/linstant mémeune quantité de petite granules
opaques,-qui furent) affectés: pendant: long tempsd’ uncmouve~
ment molleculaire trés pronouncé. Ces granules’etaient'si
petits que:sous mon plus fort grossissement, ilsme m’apparu-
rent que: comme de: petits points foneés etleur: nombre con-:
sidérable»me prouva,\suffisament» que) cern’etaient:pas: des!
nucleolulesdevenus, libres par) Leffet) de: ass ‘qui auraient
faitcerevertles paxoie des cellules. Tol

Beetroot des, lau, par. °C; nah; p. Ll, in vol. is, of. M. pemete

AE

oa of Presh-W ater Fishes, Neuchatel, 1842. rs
“VOL. Lit. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. Q

222 Dr John Davy’'s Observations on the

The. observations of M. Vogt were made. principally,on
the ova of the Palée (Coregonus Palea, Cuy.) of the Lake of
Neuchatel.,,, Those which Ihave to offer, have been. made in
most part.on the mature: ova\.of the Charr, of ,Windermere.
These, it maybe. right, to. mention, are commonly spherical,
about two-tenths.of, an inch in, diameter, weighing, aboutia
grain, each (the fluid contents about, 98 of a grains) the mem-
branous) shell, about)*02 ‘of .a grain), of -the specific, gravity
1095, or thereabouts,—being suspended in a solution of com-
mon salt of this density. The contained fluid—the vitellus—+
is slightly viscid;..of a light yellow, hue, from) oil particles. of
this colour diffused through it ; and slightly alkabaes ag in-
dicated by its effects. on test papers. terest

Having premised thus much, I shall) briefly alii the) 8
sults of the experiments which I have, made.;,,and,, BEY Est On
the action of water on the vitelline fluid, | [hobisok

When about equal parts of the fluid of, the egg. a; Rater
‘were mixed, the result was an immediate coagulation,, exactly
similar, to. that described. by.M. Vogt in the instanceof the
vitellus of the Palée. If the proportion. of water. was very much
less, the two. fluids mixed, without, coagulation, either; at; the
instant or afterwards. The mixture was capable. even. of, dis-
solving a minute quantity of coagulum obtained. by the action
of a larger quantity of water.. When a puncture was made;in
the egg under water, the little fluid that issued was, instantly
covered with a delicate pellicle, and was shortly, wholly |
coagulated, as were also, gradually and pretty rapidly, the en- —
tire contents. :

Secondly, Of the action of heat.—Contrary to rsh meh :
have been expected, heat, even a temperature, of 212°
Fahrenheit, did not coagulate the vitellus., Eggs. placed
in a dry tube immersed in boiling water, shrunk and became }
shrivelled from evaporation, but, not opaque; and, when
evaporation was arrested by the presence of steam, gene- —
rated from accompanying moist. cotton, even this change |
was, prevented ; after immersion of the tube from five. to
ten minutes in boiling water, the yitellus remained fluid,
coagulable, however, as before, on admixture with water. 4
Heated in water, the effect was SEAN different, At, 160)

> OVE ‘of the Salmonidee.> “298

‘Fabrs he: coagulation took place pretty rapidly $° at''120°,
‘more: slowly 3 > ‘and slower still at lowér temperatures 5 ‘at
100°;'the’ time required ‘for éoagulation to take place was
about half ‘an how The’ higher the temperatiire ‘ati which
the coagulation was effected, the greater was the firmness of
the coagulum 3 at the boiling température; continved for a
few minutes, it was as firm nearly as the ‘yoke of ‘the ege of
the common fowl ‘similarly treated. That; in all these in-
stances, water’ penetrated and ‘mixed with ‘thé ‘vitellus ‘can
hardly be doubted ; at'100°) it may be mentioned in ¢onfir:
‘mation; that! the coagulation extended gradually, spreading
alniostfrom''a point.'° These ‘trials were made with wnim-
pregnated eggs. Repeated‘on others that had been subjected
to the’ influence of ‘the spermatic! fluid by admixture about
thirty-six hours previously, ‘the ‘effect’ of coagulation was
decidedly slower in taking place, i i. é., the fluid resisted longer
incipient’ ‘coagulation ; but when’ it’ commenced, it ‘seemed to
proceed: as rapidly % in one iiistatice’as in the other. i
TT hirdlys OF the action of alkalies and salts. £0 Armonia oF
potassa,, ‘or ‘the’ sesquicarbonate of either: alkali, i in ‘solution,
added i in every minute quantity to the fluid vitellus, did not pre-
vent ‘its edagulation ; put, if of moderate strength, no obvious
éffect. Was \prodticed, “either at the instant of admixture ‘or
afterwards : ; moreover, if coagulated ‘vitellus;’ obtained” by
thé action a ae, was added, a certain portion of it was
disvolved. | weieuah | de:

AOR Lnvahicg ‘Salt} muriate'of lime, ihuriate of ammonia, mi
_ riate of barytes, nitre, phosphate of soda, sulphate of magnesia,

alum, acetate ‘of lead, in solution, acted very similarly ; when
weak not preventing coagulation, but preventing it when

ot much: diluted. In the instance of common salt, a solu-
, in 80 weak’ as to be of the ‘spécific gravity 10,045 to water

48°10,000, on addition tothe vitellus; didnot impair its
fluidity} “it required to be reduced to’ the specific’ gravity
10;029 +8! effedt coagulation. The stronger saline solutions,
in the bathe manner as the alkaline, weré found capable: of
dissolving ‘a eertain quantity of the coagulated vitellus. “~

2 Folirth it y, OF ‘thie! action of acids and some other agents.—
| The fluid of the vitélhis was not ‘coagulated ‘by thé tartaric,

Q 2

224 Dr J oh Davy's' Observativirs on the

oxalic, or acetic acids, either strong or very much diluted: ‘By
strong muriatic acid it was inspissated, the acid and fluid not
ied entity? The’ inspissated ‘mass wa’ ‘transparent }'on
tlie ‘addition of water it became opaque and ofa milky white-
Hess; the ‘colour Of! the’ ordinary coagulum!' ‘The effect’ of
Strong sulphuric acid’ was but little different ;° whilst’ the
greater portion of the vitellus was inspissated, a very small
portion was dissdlved, as indicated by its becoming’ milky ‘on
the addition of water, after having’ been decanted. “Nitric
acid, whether strong or weak, coagulated the vitellus.’ A'solu-
tion of corrosive sublimate had a like effect, as had'also alcohol.
The results of these experiments ‘séem 'to'shew that’ the
fluid the subject of them ' possesses ‘properties distinct from
those of either the albumen’ or yolk ‘of the eggs of birds,
or indeed ‘of ‘any other ‘form of albuminous’ ‘fluid’ ‘hitherto
described ; and, in ‘consequence, may lit’ not be held ' to bea
Species or variety apart, as much so as ‘the albumen’ of ‘the
serum of blood, or the coagulable a of the same Asay eq
of the other species of Salmonide 5 2 T have not yet haan
opportunity, except in an imperfect manner, in the instaticeé of
those of the trout'and salmon. "The results obtained: few as
they were, as also on the ova of the pike and perch, were’ simi-
lar, leading to the conclusion, so favoured by analogy, that the
ova of all the several species will be found alike in their pro-
perties ; and further, that the ova, if not of the cartilaginous,
at least of-the other species of osseous fishes, will not be found
dissimilar. But, however probable this may be, it is desirable
to have it determined by exact experiments, especially as in
the instances of the ova of several of the cartilaginous fishes,
comparing one with the other, there are marked differences,
both.as regards .their component parts, and probably\as re;
gards also the qualities. ofthose, parts;\'Thus, from such
observations as I have made, the eggs of the viviparous fishes
of this order appear, to be destitute of a white, which those
of the oviparous possess. The, Torpedo and Squalus squatina
may be mentioned as belonging to the former ; the Squalus
catulus and acanthias, and the Raja oxyrinchus, clavata and
aquila to the latter.. The yolk of the egg of all these: fishes,

oii vo Qua of theSalmonide...). 60 225

both; of those; which, have, and.of, those which haye. not.a white,
seems, in, its general properties, ‘tobe ,very similar,to that. of
birds ;.1.can state confidently, that, .it;is mot coagulated. by
-water....'The white (the glairy, fluid corresponding, im situa-
tion, to the; albumen, oyi.of, birds) will, probably. .be., found to
possess (properties: differing from, those.of the white of the
jbird’s egg. .. In, the instance. of; that of the Squalus, catulus,. I
found it, was neither coagulated by nitric acid nor by heat... In
a.note, dated..Malta, 1832, 1 have,described it “as.a;trans-
parent viscid, fluid; unaltered. by,boiling during .two,minutes,
in which, time. the. yolk had become hard, and NERA HERS
by, the addition.of nitric acid.’ 3

cool here; is), a. tendency of. the mind to seek an ay cone
some end in.all that we; witness—a final cause——in) accord-
ance; withthe, maxim,;that Nature, does nothing in.yain.

Reflecting . onthe, property. of the ova of the, Salmonide,—

how;,s0,long. as they.retain, their vitality, they remain trans-
parent,—how,, on ‘losing, their vitality, on the undue, admis-
Sion.of, water, they,become opaque,-—it has occurred to me that
eyen,this, difference: may, not be;without use.-.The transparent
‘ova,are, less) easily, seen, than, the opaque.white, the living
than the, dead,;,,and,,in,consequence, the latter may be more
attractive, more, liable tobe preyed on than, the former ;,and
the ; cixcumstance , that, the , opaque; coagulated..ova.. resist
change, and; keep in. water, a;long, time, even several months
without, undergoing any perceptible alteration, is in favour
of the. conclusion, _that they, are»specially intended for, becom-
ing, food, serving as lures, and thereby in a manner protect-
ing the transparent, those retaining vitality, and in, course of
beina hatchet from being devoured by, birds.and fishes,; |

On “thi ‘eri ho and! 1 Preapases of the’ LAerigies of
fowa su " Atistralia. By’ W. WastGarti, Esq.°'% ©

aodei avorsgi u Present Aboriginal Population.

oes obi seed ‘under ‘this head is exhibited, for the sake of
Bresiter ahaa in'a- tabular’ fof. ERE returns, ie aa in?

b & The writer bas « confined, his “attentions } in ike ‘hice: pag ces, almost ex-
elusively ‘to the information regarding the Aborigines that has been published
Within thedastitwotytars, whieh is)dngeneral;, of a more! practi¢al character

' 7 7 :
WIEN NENT) 8" rod By 7)!

226 On the Co nciiion and Prospects
complete as regards the whole colony of New South With: are
yet valuable in several respects, as affording some estimate of the
ratio. of population to extent: of country, the proportions of the!
Sexes, and of the children and adults of the aboriginal tribes. )

According to Mr Parker’s estimate, by a census taken partly in’
18438, and partly in 1844, the total number of the Aborigines:
throughout the district. west of the river Goulburn is 1522. This)
district runs westward to the South Australian frontier, and north
from Mount Macedon and Mount William to the Murray. The ~
‘tribes on the banks of the Murray, still very numerous, are not ~
included. Mr Watton, in the district or country around Mount
Rouse, comprising about 20,000 sq take. miles, estimates mee aniim-
ber of the Aborigines at 2000,

From the annexed table, it would appear that. the praportioe of
males to females, of all ages, is about 1-56: 1, or tTather more
than 3 to 2, The disproportion-of the sexes is greater among the
children than the adults; the proportion of male to female adult
may be estimated at’1:55:1, and that of male to female children
at-1°8: 1.° The proportion x adults to childrén is 2} to 1. ‘That Sg
proportion of the territory of New South Wales that may in a ge- |
neral sense be termed ‘ occupied,” extends oyer.an area of. about=
320,000 square miles, and may be estimated to contain above.
15,000 aborigines. Allowing 80,000. square miles of this area to A
Port Philip, and assuming Mr Rubirison’s’ estimate of 5000 ‘abo-
rigines, there will be 1 aboriginal inhabitant to each 16 square |
-miles for that district, and 1 to 24 for the remainder of the colony 3* |
>the average for all New South Wales being 1 pa inhabitant, ‘
to 212 square miles. dj

‘Considerable numbers of the aborigines were met_with by Dr |
Leichardt.and his party on ‘their route to Port Essington, more: ‘par- |e
ticularly throughout- Northern Australia. The banks of the rivers _
of the locality appeared comparatively well inhabited, andthe tra-_
vellers encountered native fisheries, numerous wells a fresh water, |
and the remains of vegetable food prepared for preservation. Cap-
tain Sturt gives an interesting account of numerous tribes of the
aborigines which he met with towards the central regions of Aus-
tralia, thickly planted along the grassy banks of a large creek, ‘the
bed of:which was about the size of that of the Dragging.

seuss

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CPug.eu*

Vagpo.rpa
n " —

than the observations of preceding writers, The object here proposed being to
exhibit the-condition and prospects of the Aborigines with reference to their _
civilisation, or to any degree of benefit that it may be possible to confer upon Be |
them, the various and endless Mythologies (if they may be so dignified), of the © ty
different tribes are very slightly alluded to, and theoretical inggities a as ee: the Z
primeval origin of the race are not considered.

227

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228°: Om the Condition and Prospects»

‘Judging from thé comparatively numerous: aboriginal population»
inthe earlier years of the colony, the present average ywratiocof abo='
riginal inhabitants to extent: of territory for the entirésAustralian:
continent might ‘be anticipated greatly to exceed: the:veryslender:
estimate above given for New South Wales. But the explorationsy
of Captain Sturt, Mr Eyre, and other travellers, shave made) knéwn
the existence of such extensive tracts of ‘steril country throughout)
Central and North-west: Australia, that: it: may be sone if that:
estimate can be much exceeded. wice oil

2. Their, Decrease, and the.Causes. to which this cireumatance,. is,
attributable ; their Present Condition, and Means of. Subsist-;
ence. a a

The diminution of) his number, andthe final ‘extinction of savage’!
man, as he makes room for the civilised occupant of his territory; "is4
a feature of which Australia furnishes’ neither the:first:nor the only
example. ‘The ‘uniform -result: of call ‘inquiry ‘on the) subject of the!
numbers of the Australian ‘aborigines exhibits a decrease in’ the po»
pulation of those districts which “haveobeen) overspread by colonial)
enterprise. | The ratio of decrease is variously given itor different
parts of the country.’ The causes of ‘this gradual extinction appear!
to be tolerably ascertained ; their own mutual wars); their hostile >
encounters with the whites; the'diseases and vices:of Huropeamso- 4
ciety; unusually destructivevin their effects, from irregularity: inthe }
mode of life;,and the want of proper ‘medical treatment’; the! com-i«
mon practice? of infanticide; ‘and,: more remotely, perhaps, byothe’
gradual disappearance of various animals! used as:tood, and of other’)
sources) of their support, (>The ‘causes ‘of “decrease! alluded .to:by'’.
Count. Strzelecki: are: of a stvikingo and important ‘nature..):‘The”
Australian aborigines donot! appear, in general, “to: wait for goody
humour and contentment; but to one who is:accustomed to the come
forts of civilised life, their condition, in other respects, — toi
have reaclied the lowest extreme of misery.

The ae estas Mahroot states, that, in’ his yeulllectinn, ‘in Gora ")
vernor Macquarie’s time, there were about four hundred individualeta c
of his tribe occupying the! southern ‘coast of Port Jackson.) Theres»
are now lut four remaining, namely, three women and ‘himself.0/\ 019

At the Lake Macquarie Mission, the Rev. Mr Threlkeld laboured:
to acquire the local language, in order to translate the Scriptures, ov
and learn the aborigines of that locality to read; but, in the midst«s
of these efforts, the aborigines themselves, the objects of his exer-
tions, were rapidly disappearing, ‘and, eventually; scarcely any re=o" .
miined:to reap the fruits of his zeal. atic

Assistant’ Protector Parker estimates the ‘decrease: among the!’
tribes of the Loddon andthe Goulburn at five per cent. only for! thes»
last five years ; the Chief Protector’s estimate forthe: entire district: >
for the last: six ‘years’ is twenty ‘per cent. °) By)a! census taken at/ the?!

of the Aboriginesof Australias 229°

closéxof )1839;:\thes Yarrax‘and: Western:Portitribés numbered, syd
individuals, sarbpg with J five isurviving» children} subsequentiys borns:
makera: total of 212: «The:present! number (Sune: 1845)3i is: eels
bys — OL nearly: ene cae par xe centi ey - tthe ale a-half
yeamsisiolgxe onli gud ft
aibiiicals avan,y and olisilisien oul, he er Mins common jqaido
thecrestvof ‘mankind, inoall \stages of civilisation; the! vicissitudes of}
aboriginal: lifeohre ‘still:further diversified by: a warfare.!ci Mr
Robinson estimates that an annual lossef-onednitwenty ofsthecabo=:
rigines is due to this cause, independently of their conflicts with the,
whites, Ten’ years ago, observe thé Goulburn magistracy, the ‘tribes
in that ‘neighboiirhdod were always at war} they are now, However,
much diminished in number, and mingle together as one tribe’ ; and
itis: necessary) that »two,;or three tribes: should ise ie aang fon! wen
performance: ofi4 vorrobboree.’
,Out-of twenty-one! tribes, Kentaatag 421. sokiat aia Teeatest bis
tween! the Campaspecriver and the \west: side of; the: Pyrenees, theres
occurred) twenty-five: deaths within:a, period:of two-and-a-halfsyears, ~
ten iof which resulted from: ¢ollisionswith aborigines; one \with Hus
ropeans,’ ithe ‘remaining: fourteen being die ito cnatural eauses.:yAisio
there; were:ten: surviving»:childreio born.duritig this; period,;!:the net¢
decteasé amounted: to (fifteen individuals, lor, about-coné+and-a-half;
per cents per: annum. iy Mr: Parkerilintimates:the satisfactory: results:
thatino aboriginalnative has. beeni-shot: within the lasti three aE
andaohalf, :though:.considerable numbers had, been thus: sacrificed:
befdrey the establishmentnof the: protectorate,’: Theses outrages; oni
the part of} the colonists, - are still.:practised ‘upon: the tribes of :the:s
Murray, whose: territories ‘are situated! beyond the: influente of thes.
Protectorate, «oT hecdecrease!amongithese blacks, during theiJlast ifive')
yéars;; he} estimates .atitento twelve; per) cent);-and iin ithe district”
west of the Pyrenees, where miany have; béen ‘killed ‘by: the) salamintsyt
atcthe: higher .proportion of; twenty! per cents gi |
The number of blacks whoyhave been killed by: the velit: thvesiatedal cf
outothe:Moreton|/Bay District :cannots be. ascertaitied 5 :butcas:about
fifty: whitésshave already perished-at the hands, of the. pharjeilde si thesy
destruction has’ probably been:very:considerable. Max: Robinson -ap- to
prehends that the settlers, have} nots serupled;,onoceasions,.to maker.
usé-of :pdisoh! in| ordér:té getitid:of, the aborigines:;; and Mr Dredge
vehemently accuses! the former: of; dpedrideeen elie ng ipa vig ah
unfortunate beings! ; heox of yeileeol ay soda odt §
Diseases.+In the. rset Cay among’ tie miseriesothat: hatio'i
resulted: to the: aboriginal population fromotheix intercourseavith thoi
whites, must be placed the introduction! of, thati) great; scourge :6f.m
the vices :ofimankind—+the venereal: diseases; Some doubts} haveyin-
deed, heen, expressed, in opposition to the general opinidnethate thigm
disease- was’ originally introduced.into Australia, by the’ colonists. o The: «!
Rey. ‘Mr Schmidt;;in reply to a, question jon this; aaksietshepihaetbie

230 On the Condition and Prospecis

the Committee, intimated). that he: found \this malady: among’ ithe
Bunya Bunya tribes, some of whom! had never been sin communica-
tion with the: whites. » He could not, however, form any opinion
whether or not these tribes had this disease: before: or since theoar-
rival of Europeans; nor could the aborigines, themselves. giveoany
information. on the subject... But. the agency of the colonists: has
been terribly effectual: in disseminating this disease,among ‘these
wandering outcasts of the soil, In. the various communications to
the committee this destructive; malady stands prominently forward
among the more immediate causes; to which the: decrease im the
numbers of the aborigines is attributable; and its attacks are ren-
dered unusually -virulent:and. distressing, from) the exposedand ir-
regular manner of aboriginal life, and the absence) of sproper:medical
assistance.* Mr Thomas relates the shocking and frightful.extent.to
which this complaint prevailed throughout the Port, Philip district
on the arrival of the Protectors. ‘Old and young,’’says lie; even
children at: the breast, were affected) with it..)\I have known hapless
infants brought into the world literally rotten) with this disease.’? |)

Chiefly remarkable amongst. the other diseases of the aborigines
appears the leucorrhoa, a very prevalent complaint, which rages:with
great severity. It is. a: curious) circumstance, attested by,.various
experience, that the introduction of this affection among uncivilised
races appears to be contemporary with the arrival, of European
females in the country... It is apt to!-be mistaken for aerentee y
symptoms, or a modified elephantiasis\} »’

A great proportion of the aborigines,:a as stated by the bench: of
magistrates at Goulburn, have died from. pulmonary, affections, iin-
duced from exposure after intoxication, the effects! of which, \together
with: frequent severe rheumatic affections, carry them off in,about
twelve months after they are attacked. These and other vicissitudes of
their mode of life, may be supposed considerably. ito abridgé/the usual
term of human existence.,)0‘: One of the men,” says | Mr, uplop,
speaking’ of the Wollombi blacks, ‘‘aged 55, is blind from-old.age.”
Mr Thomas ascertained from returns:he has forwarded Jalf-yearly
to the government; of the births and deaths. of aborigines, that ‘there

are at least eight deaths to one birth.

Infant mortality.—The great. mortality during infaney.i is, des a
remarkable feature among the aborigines.» This circumstanee;is;in-
dependent of the well-authenticated practice of infanticide, by, which

* One of the cures practised by the aborigines for this disease is abstinence
from animal food and drinking gum water.

1 Strzelecki, p..347.—The remarks of this writer on the aborigines are e al-
ways original, forcible, and far-sighted. This is probably the disease alluded to
by Dr Lang.as having broken out among the aborigines soon after the founda-
tion of the colony. It resembled the smallpox, and rapidly reduced the num-
bers of the black population, which had ‘been previously very considerable;—
(Lang’s History, second edition, i., p. 36,)

1084

of the Aborigines of Australia. 231

additional: numbers of \the ‘helpless ‘offspring are sacrificed to the
superstition ‘or‘barbarism of their! parents and tribes,:. Very few -
women have more ithan two children; and the great: proportion of
the*infants;do not survive the ‘first month)’ Of the: children’ born
‘among the Yarra and Western Port tribes during the last six years
there isow but one remaining alive.): Among: the aborigines in-
habiting between the river Campaspe and the Pyrenees hills, num-
oberi ing 42) individuals; the surviving children born during the space
of two years‘and\a half were only five: males and five females; a
much larger number were’ brought forth, most of whom did not sur-
-vivecamonth::

“al Count? Strzelecki:has mentioned 4 remarkable physical: law;)'in
“eonnection with the rapid decrease: of these ‘aboriginal races; which
>is! but«too’ ominous of ‘their final destiny. »°It has been ascertained,

‘with reférence to'various aborigitial tribes, including those of) New

“Zealand, New South Wales, and Van Diemen’s Land, that. the

aboriginal woman, after connection with a European’ male,» ‘loses
the power of conception’on a renewal of ‘intercourse with the: male

eof cher own ‘race, retaining’ only that of procreating with the white
cman?

Bis siGionctition eed means of support,—T heir present, condition and
Fouibiaio of ‘subsistence appear too be well ‘ascertained.’ In those» lo-
“ealities where fish are to: be obtained: this description of food isin
(principal use. ‘° Mahroot states that: his tribe lived generally-on fern

_ root, and the fish caught at the’sea-coast; the tribe never quitted the
loselastoast: The subsistence of the natives about’ Moreton Bay fis de-

~trived-entirely, from the sea. Various’ roots are ‘also resorted to; :par-

ticularly that called the murnong, a small root of a nutritious:cha-

“racter, having ‘a leat like: that of a\parsnip, of which: they ‘are ‘very
loft :

Mr Malcolm ‘thinks: that sis grazing of :sheep and. cattle ins
siplently reduced the growth of this root. Mr Thomas;:on therother
hand, asserts that it is a mistaken notion that the sheep tend to de-
Ustroy ‘this roots “The native, he says can readily find it: out,:éven
» without the guidance of the flower. » The indigenous roots used by
the aborigines are mostly bulbs, very firm in the ground, and, with
° the exception of pigs, not likely ‘tobe destroyed by any animal... The

~“supply of most other descriptions of their food: has beem either dimi-
“nished! or’ entirely taken away by the: occupation:of: their country ;
_the kangaroo, for example, and various other animals and birds; and
_. the supply, of gum has, also been much decreased, in consequence of
the extensive exportation of mimosa, bark. "

The ‘niatives’ must’ suffer’ severely in ‘the winter ‘season. |The
women, with their young infants on their ‘shoulders, may be’séen

Sts for grubs on mimosa gum.;, and. sometimes, when they are

perhaps ‘suckling infants, they’ willi be -half.a.day or night in.the
water spearing eels. To European'minds, the condition of the-abo-

232 Qn, the Condition and, Prospects

rigines, generally suggests the idea, of the lowest possible stage:
wretchedness. : d

3. Infanticide.

The general prevalence of infanticide is established beyond any
reasonable doubt.. The half-caste infants appear, to be the mostiex-
posed.to this fate, Among, many tribes, they seem to, be regularly
murdered, either. immediately) or very soon after, birth, unless saved
by the interference, of, the whites.,, The female infants, appear, in
the mext degree exposed, to. this. fate... Occasionally,, male/and ,fe-
male are despatched alike, According to,Mr Lambie,,, this, practice
is, unknown in Maneroo,

The ;unnatural coldness on, the,part; of .a , mother, that might, ne.
expected; to accompany such a practice, does.not .appear} to..exist as
a necessary associate ; at least, there is,on occasions no, want,of;ma+
ternal feeling, notwithstanding the apparent. inconsistency of,such,a
circumstance, The Moreton Bay blacks have a great affection. for
their children,; but;. nevertheless, says Mr Simpson, they eat.them
when they die from natural, causes. ..If .infanticide.exists.at jall,
says Mr Dunlop, it must; be;very rare,.and, occasioned only by the
deepest, misery and want, ,He.:instances, their, strong .maternal, af;
fection.

Of Half-Castes.—It: is,a,rule,with the aborigines to destroy their
half-caste children immediately after birth, and instances, of the kind,
at the hands of the mother, Mr Schmidt, says, have come, under his
own.notice. On the Manning river, where there are many half-castes,
the mothers appear to havea repugnance to;them, and several in-
stances are known. there, in which, they, haye destroyed these, chil-
dren, immediately after, birth., On one, occasion,a mother, in, ex;
cuse for destroying her half-caste child, assigned as the reason, that
it was half white. Half-caste boys, say the magistrates at Dungogs
are believed to be always murdered, Infanticide, says Mr Robinson,
exists in Port Philip to a limited extent... The, victims have been
invariably half-castes ; but of late some. tribes have.spared this class
of their offspring. Mr, Smythe knows of no half-castes living in his
district... “Several have been born, but they have. invariably, disap-
peared. Mr Parker fears, the natives have been hitherto justly.
charged with the practice of murdering their half-caste children ; but
a better feeling, hesays, now seems to be prevailing, at. least.among
some of the tribes, and he thinks,that these,children are, in some
cases, regarded even with more affection than the pure native... Ac-
cording to Mr Flanagan, the half-castes in the Broulee district, ge-
nerally disappear about the age of puberty, and are supposed. to. be
destroyed by the other blacks. There are at. present. about yi
in that locality, and all young,

Of Females,—In New England, where this crime is general, is
victims are the half- castes and female infants, neyer, the; male.: My,

“Of the Aborigines of Wustraha. Y38

Whomas, whoconsiders that’ infanticide is increasing, states’ that' the
blacks were accustomed to destroy the female till a male’ infant was
born; but now he has reason:to,believe that male and female are
alike destroyed. Mr Dredge mentions the practice of murdering all
infants of a lighter hue, dina the first-born child, if of the female sex.

AOTC general. —In' ‘the 'Broulee ‘district, athte infanticide is very
éorhmion; in the dase of twins, one is’ always'sacrificed. “Mr Parker
states, that’ the’ practiée' appéars to’ have nearly ceased’ among ‘the
Loddon and ‘Goulburn’ tribes, where the Protectorate influence ‘is
falt)) No instance, to his knowledge, has occurred among the Lod-
don’ tribes’ during’ (the last? two years; but, “‘ to the ‘westward the
practice prevails in its grossest and most fr ight fil character.’ A well-
authenticated instance was lately’ made known to me, in which an
infant was’ killed,’and ‘eaten by its’ mother and her’ other children.”
Captain Fyans is’ convinced that infanticide is a common occurrence,
and Mentions’a case’ that occurred close to his own residence, where
a’nativé man took°the child by’ the legs and dashed its head’ in' pieces
against a tree. Mr Thomas speaks’ despairingly of the prevalence
and even iiiéreasé of thé crime. One of the chiefs acknowledged he
had no power to stop'the practice. The blacks say they have now
no y country, ‘and‘are therefore unwilling to keep their children.

T jot XC » 4) Intermiaxture of Race with the Whites.

bmivoeltcacaeaie the squalid aspect of this population, the evidence
sist ade ‘to’ ‘the Committee shews a prevalence of illicit ‘intercourse
between the aboriginal females and the colonists, chiefly those of the
labouring ‘classes. This has been’ a fruitful souree’ of misery to the
aboriginal population, both from the disease that it introduces among
tHént and from ‘the ‘hostile feeling with which the male blacks of the
tribes ‘are’ justly’ inspired. ‘There are no instances, the Newcastle
Bench states, of the union of whites with the’ female aborigines, but
the ‘labouring classes are in the constant practice of cohabiting with
these females, and there appears to be no repugnance on either side.

‘The number’ of ‘half-caste children would doubtless have been
much greater than it appears to be at present in the colony, but for
the well-ascertained practice with many tribes of putting to death all
infants ‘of this class. In thé Scone District, the majority. of the
aboriginal children’ aré half-caste, who are living with their mothers,
There are many on the Manning river. “ On: Stadbroke Island there
are. several; in’ the Picton District’ eleven, namely, one man, one
woman, three male and six female children, who are all Jiving rafter the
manner of the aborigines. Of four half-castes in the district around
Brisbane ‘Water, two are ‘adult females, and are married to white
men ; the other two are children, and living with the aborigines. i‘
According to the Chief Protector, there are probably not more than
twenty or thirty ‘half-castes in the Port Philip District, who | are > liy-
ing with and“after thé muinér of ‘the aborigines. |”

234 On the Condition and Prospects

5. Physical Aspect.

The aborigines of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Zncmdy
observes Strzelecki, bear respectively the stamp of different families,
together with such variations as the nature of the climate and other
conditions of life might impress upon the human frame. )0° :

Thus, in New South Wales, where bathing is a luxury, and' heat:
promotes perspiration, the hair is smooth and glossy, the:skin: fine,
and of a uniform colour ;; whereas in Van Diemen’s Land,from thd
greater coldness of the climate, the skin appears scaly, subjectto cutas.
neous disease, and weather-beaten, and: the hair’ a prey to filthiness.::

The. facial angle ‘is between 75° and 85°, the forehead low,: eyes»
large and. far apart, nose broad and flat, mouth wide, withlarge:white
teeth and thick lips, the lower jaw: unusually short, and: widelyex-
panded anteriorly, The ‘mainmee of the’ females are:ndt spherical!
in shape, but pyriform, and soon after» marriage they become =
and elongated.

The Australian native is adroit aa flexible in the: motions! “a8 his

body ; in. the act. of striking or throwing'thespearhis attitude is:

extremely graceful. ‘* In his physical: appearance, nevertheless, ‘he:

does not,exhibit any features: by which his: race: could be:classed or®
identified with any) of the generally known families of aiankind.2?* o:

The natives of Australia, states Mr Eyre, present a striking re-
semblance, to each, other in physical appearance and structure; and.in
general character, habits, and pursuits.+

|
aD.

6. Language.

No. feature is. more conspicuous among the Australian, didi

than their great. diversity of speech.;,every considerable tribe appear=

ing to have a distinct.language of. its own... Undoubtedly, the! great»
proportion of these varieties are-to be classed {as mere dialects, they
branches of primary, stock, which have! deviated more or less widely:
from their common original, and from one another; according: toiva- |
rious accidents in connection. with the, rarity of intercourse thatpre='
vails one, with another among, the respective:sections of the popula-«
tion. But whether or not any of these diversities of speech are |)
traceable respectively) to amore remote and independent origin, is\a

question as yet by no means decided.

1 |

Mr Dredge, after alluding to the effect of the separate and dis- |

* Strzelecki, p. 334.

+ Paper on the Aborigines of Australia, read before the Bthiiblopteal” si”
ciety. Captain Sturt, during his late hazardous expedition to Central Australia,
met with aborigines more tall and more handsomely formed than those of pe
of the tribes hitherto encountered. Like the aborigines of North Australia, as
observed by Dr Leichardt, they made use of food prepared by bruising, ‘and
baking seeds,

of the Aborigines of Australia. 235

tinct character of the respective tribes in varying the language of

each, remarks, ‘ that although there are sufficient evidences of the

common-origin of their language, even tribes separated from each

other by comparatively limited spaces, scarcely retain the means of.
common conversational intercourse.” He instances one curious ¢us--
tom or superstition, prevalent amongst some of the aboriginal popula-

tion; the continuance of which throughout ‘successive’ ages, must at

length introduceextensive diversities into the language of each of

the} separate: tribes. This is the practice of never ‘again’ ‘uttering

the)namies) of ‘individuals: of the tribe after their decease, especially:
in cases where death: has occurred through violence. On one ocea-"
sion, an individual of a tribe, whose name’ was the term for fire, was

murdered: by:one of avdifferent tribe; and, im accordance with ‘the

usage: just alluded: to; the word: representing fire was thenceforth

discontinued,:and anew term createdi: It is easy to conceive hat |
such. altenictinnk might occur frequently.*

Count Strzelecki is of this opinion, however, that there has been”
tooimuch haste: and eagerness in deciding: on’ the affinities of the
languages ‘of -the: various ‘tribes, and referring them all ‘to one com-
mon root. |):The: three natives who‘accompanied Captain Flinders”
and Captdin King, and:those who accompanied himself, were unable
to os amg one word: — by the tribes of other districts:+

aff siBeliitaas anid Social Institutions; Gastonia, amd Muna: |

Religious Ideas.—The nature of the religion and. government of
the Australian aborigines, remarks Count, Strzelecki, is still involved
in mystery. They certainly recognise a God, whior they call
‘Great oMaster,” regarding: themselves as’ his savor and hence,
probably, they ‘entertain no ‘feeling of obligation ‘or pratitide for the
giftcof life, or their other enjoyments, considering that it is the Great
Master’s duty tosupply them with these.” They believe in a future
immortality of happiness, and° place ‘their. heaven in the locality ‘of:
the stars. « They: donot ‘dread the Deity... Their fears are reserved”
forthe evil:spirit; who counteracts the ‘work of the Great Master,
and. ee ean: the former's is the object to whom ‘their ‘worship Oe .
directed.

sAccording to Mr Eyre, the s natives “of the Mulnsi) entertain the
belief that there are four individuals called Nooreele, who live among

* Dredge, p.7. a

Tt Strzelecki, p. 337.—Mr Hull brings forward some curious coincidences of
sounds, and meanings in aboriginal Australian words with those of several
languages, ancient and modern, of the northern hemisphere., But these for-
tuitous or isolated facts can lead to no definite results ; unless, indeed, to shew
that some branch of the Australian tongue may approach, in the possibility of

accidents, more nearly to Greek or Latin, than to the ever-changing dialesta of
its own stock ——(Remarks, &c. p. 7.)

236 On the Condition and Prospects

the clouds and never die. Of these superior powers, the Father, |
who is omnipotent, and of .a benevolent character, created the darth
and its various objects. The Nooreele ave jomed by the souls
(literally shadows) of men after death, and they are thenceforth
immortal.*

Social Institutions.—Strzelecki observes there are. three social
gradations or classes among the aborigines. These successive steps
are attained through age and fidelity to the tribe, . The highest class,
consisting commonly of the aged few, is the only, one that is initiated
into the religious mysteries, and the regulation of the affairs of the
tribe. The meetings of this class.are of a sacred and secluded cha-
racter, On one of these occasions, he himself, was warned off from
the vicinity, and could not, without personal danger, have approached
within ten miles of the meeting.

The aborigines are divided into a number, of tribes, some much
more numerous than others, but the greatest of them seldom con-
sisting of more than two or three hundred individuals. But these
tribes, whether large, or small, weak or powerful, are always perfectly
distinct, separate from and independent of ene another, each inhabit-
ing a tract of country of its own. The general control and manage-
ment of their affairs appears to be, by mutual consent, in the hands
of the adult males respectively of each tribe.

Manners and Customs.—tThe result of this exclusive feeling is a
narrowness of mind, arising from inexperience and want of informa-
tion, Each tribe denominates as “ wild black fellows’’ all others who
are beyond the limits of its acquaintance, Every stranger who pre-
sents himself uninvited among them, incurs the penalty of death.
This sanguinary custom is traceable to a superstitious belief that the
death of any member of a tribe is occasioned by the hand of some
enemy, who has come upon him unawares ; and hence any stranger
found in the camp is suspected of being upon this hostile mission.
So general is this exclusive and hostile feeling, says Mr Thomas, that
measures should be adopted to prevent any parties from taking blacks
out of their own districts.

This belief or superstition has originated the. practice, on the oc-
easion of a death in the tribe, of sacrificing some individual of a
neighbouring tribe, who is supposed to be the murderer. The plan

* Phe description given by the aborigines of their religious ideas appear
vague and undefined, and different among the separate tribes. In pursuing in-
quiries on this subject, there must be great difficulty on both sides in compre-
hending the precise nature, both of the questions and the answers. The caves
and paintings discovered by Captain Grey are a curious cireumstance in the
religious indications of the aborigines, and betoken more of system and reflec-
tion in their minds than might be expected from their appearance and general
characteristics. —(See Mr Hull’s “‘ Remarks,” p. 28, where sketches of the paint-

ings are given.) ‘

1,

: gry aien east qoT

Ties taken by any insect near the body, and to follow their prey
in that particular direction.*

Count Strzélecki confirms this statement, in an interesting account
he gives of his rencontre on one occasion with a tribe of aborigines
‘in ‘Gipps: Land. The tribe was seen encamped around a pond; and
‘as the traveller had been several days without water, he would have
instantly pushed forward to quench his burning thirst. - But his guide
earnestly prevented him, and they sat down near the encampment.
“After an interval of a quarter of an hour, a piece of burning wood
was thrown to them, with which they lighted their fire, and proceeded
6° ook’ an’ opposum they had in store. The guide then begari gnaw-
ino the ‘Stick, ‘occasionally stirring the fire, at times casting his looks
shy Presently a calabash of water was brought them. After
appeasing hunger and thirst, the traveller was about to close his
weary eyes, when an old man came out from the camp. The guide
tet him half way, and a parley ensued as to the object of the Count’s
wandsring..” ‘The old man having returned with the answer, a thril-
ling’: and piercing voice was next heard relating the eet to the
tribe. Silence ensued for a few moments, after which the travellers
wére ordered ‘to réturn whence they came. | There was no appeal.

Connected with these: wary and distrustful’ feelings of the abori-
gines 1 is, ‘perhaps, to be considered the strong repugnance they mani-
fést to ‘Yevisiting a ‘Spot where one of their tribe has happened to die.
At’ the) German mission, after many abortive attempts, several natives
were at, length induced to clear some ground and’ erect slab huts for
their own résidence. A few weeks afterwards, however, a death 0c-
curred amongst the group, which caused the huts to be deserted, nor

could any abteebt or the Dre i of the weather, tempt them to
they

Fel

o% Smythe, 2) ) Similar information was given to the writer several years ago,
regisdna, the natives.of, the Colac district. .'The occurrence. of a. death,-even
though from accident or natural causes, is attributed to some party. of a neigh-

bouring tribe, who has secretly abstracted the kidney fat of his supposed victim,
this being a favourite morsel among the blacks, and frequently plucked out and
devoured-from the living bodies of their enemies. Their manner-of proeeeding
is to bury the body in the ground, carefully smoothing the surface, so that it may
exhibit the direction; taken by any: animal;or living creature, over,the ,grave.
The tribe, immediately, starts. off. in the, direction: first, indicated, and, the. first
strange. native who,is met, with) becomes.the victim.;; [tis mae perhaps to be
wondered: at, that, under the influence of superstition, which,exerts such power-
ful. and inexplicable effects, even. upon. civilised man, the fact.of the entire out-
ward. aspect, of; the body, of the comrade thus. avenged, andthe, actual presence
of .the untouched fat, itself, should not in any wise affect the. case, . The .Colac
tribes are now, much. reduced. in number ;.and the thickly planted pastoral set-
tlements of that romantic and beautiful country, have probably had the effect
of blunting the edge of their zest for these senseless barbarities.

VOL. LIL. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. R

238 On the Condition and Prospects

of the district and the age of the deceased. ‘One process is by simple
burial; another, the burning of the body ;' a third; drying ‘the body
in'the'sun. 'The lamentations for the dead are frequently prolonged
beyond the time of burial, and the‘cries of the women’ may be heard
by the traveller during the midnight hours, as they issue ye sbeanige
and Wvaried effect from the lonely woods.*

Amongst’ these: wandering tribés, it is curious to find that the: rite
of circumeision is practised, and, to’ all appearance, ‘very generally,
throughout Australia’ “Dr Leichardt; in‘his Journal, mentions that
all' the aboriginal tribes that were met with by his ‘party around the
Gulf of Carpentaria, practised this‘rite.' It is also’ practised by the
aborigines of the Colony of South Australia, whichis situated at the
opposite part of the country.f Cannibalism does not“appear to pre-
val sare nite throughout Australia ;- it exists in some . ~~ tribes. if

80°General' Character, and Dag of Aptitude jo Employment
and. Civilisation:

The qualities and capabilities of the aboriginal mind are > the subject
of considerable diversity of opinion. . By those who have most. ex-
perienced its workings, the aptitude for civilised” life, and the per-
ception of moral obligations are in general portrayed in very dis-
couraging colours. There is, indeed, with the aborigines, a facility
of immitation of European manners srl habits, united to. a simplicity
and docility of character, arising actually froma prostration of spirit
and quiescence of the higher departments of the mind, that are ever
apt, to give favourable impressions to an ardent disposition.§. The
most tractable and the most promising, wearied out, after a period, by
the monotonous. ayocations of civilised life, or earn aside from a
course of apparent well-doing by some ancestral custom or supersti-

* The Port-Philip aborigines ‘plaster the face and hair of the hia with
white clay, when mourning for the death of a;member of the family.) / ©

t Mr, Hull’s “ Remarks on the Probable Origin and Antiquities of the Ave
rigines,” (just published) page 16, where he describes the manner of perform-
ing the operation.

{ The aborigines of the southern parts of Australia are said to make use of
human skulls as drinking vessels,—a statement, however, which the writer, has
not heard properly confirmed. Every. gin or wife, it is stated, possesses this
description of calabash, which she usually fabricates herself ; and the aborigines
appear to have practised the art of fashioning these vessels “feom time immemo-'
rial, According to Professor, Owen, this is the first instance of \the habitual,
conversion of a part of the human skeleton to a drinking vessel. Fle

§ Yet Mr Eyre describes the character of the Australian as frank, open, ‘and
confiding, and, when once on terms of intimacy, marked by a freedom and)
fearlessness that by no, means countenance thei impression so generally) enter-)
tained of his treachery. . The apparent inconsistency here is,in Caps tinct: eo
the native the same rules of thought and motives of action that prevail w
civilised man, atid regarding as treachery that conduct which is simply ne! i
sult of a radically unchanged mind and habits,

of the Aborigines of Australias 239

return with. unabated, zest to his native woods. and his:original bar-
~~ Degree of aptitude for the\employments of Owilised lifer—In.a
country like New, SouthWales, where there,,is, generally a, great
demand for,labouring, population, the most,-fayourable. opportunities
constantly. offer! for introducing | the aborigines within / the, pale, of
civilisation; and.enrolling them in; the ranks of the’ Jabouring..¢om-
munity of the-country,; :But all.attempts,:to effect this.object lave,
generally speaking; proved; a failure. ;,.Aeccustomed to habits.and pur=
suits and. ideas; altogether different, those; exhibited by, Huropeans
appear)to {them incomprehensible, and. they cannot, be induced; to re-
main steadily at any particular occupation. They soon exhibit symp-
toms, of impatience,\ and: a)sensation, of irksomeness, under the mono-
tony of ordinary daily labour.:\,Although, they seem as intelligent,
comparatively speaking, as the working people around them, speak
English in some instances, remarkably well, have a full knowledge of
the value of money, and are quite competent to form notions of the
comforts of civilised life, yet they appear totally indifferent to these
attractions, and prefer their own misery and wretchedness. =
~ But amidst the thousand variéties of émployment useful and neces-
sary to society, it is not to be expected, but that even the. wildest
passions and the most unruly habits may find some ‘fitting sphere
of. congenial activity. . A number of the aborigines have been
formed into a body of ‘* Native Police,” for the protection of the
interior districts, and appear to have even exceeded expectation in
this capacity. According to Mr’ Powlett, about forty natives of
the tribe Sout of the Yarra, are’ employed in this ‘police force.
They are of great utility to travellers, from “their knowledge of
locality, quickness of perception, endurance of fatigue, and their
facility. in procuring water,and,sustenance.”’.. The Messrs;.M‘Arthur
employ two aboriginesas shepherds, who receive the: usual wages
of that class 5 and ‘according to Mr Powlett, about fifteen or twenty
are similarly employed in his district, who are remunerated, by. sup-
pliesiof:rations'and clothings ‘The: Berrima: tribes,-during «harvest
tithe, aré generally employed in’ reaping, which’ they’ perform “very
well, and are remunerated partly in money and partly in’ clothing,
_ and.tea, sugar,.and- tobacco: «But though:active enongh»for a: while,
and indeed ‘frequently the ‘best labourers’ inthe field, “they are not’
enduring. , Only a few can be induced to work at a, time, and, these
but. for a, short period... When, fatigued,.they -will not, work for any
consideration,; ‘The: Revi: Mr! Schmidt, who» also notices’ their want’
of Steadiness, though qiiite ablété pérform all kinds of manual labour
without, difficulty, remarks. that from. five to seven weeks,, at,.one,

; atidsa Dae my RUBibsr s to dye

240 On the Condition and Prospects

time is the longest period he has known natives to continue: at | work
in one place. bas bwoad

Though legislative’ enactments may do little, PER. Mr, Rol-
leston, y et much may be accomplished individually with the abori igines;
and he instances his own black servant, whom he feuds more service
able in ever y respect than a ‘white man, HW tod

Moral character.—The Rev. Mr Schmidt farlingly Bint ithe
want of gratitude in the aborigmal mind. At the Missionary: station,
notwithstanding every kindness, the natives would: stealioalk:they
could get at. Those on whom'the missionaries had ‘bestowed. the
greatest attention, appeared to have turned out the worst of all, cand
were in reality the ringleaders in mischief ‘and wickedness. | One‘of
them speared one of thé missionaries,’ who narrowlyescaped: being
roasted and devoured. They have occasioned great destruction, of
property at some of the stations, independently of: what: they con+
sumed, “ In fact, they have, although they have:been fed, and re-
ceived wages at our station, attacked and plundered the gardens, and
taken away whatever they could.’ Mr Massie) instances/a hut-
keeper* who was invariably kind to the aborigines, but;whom. ge
treacherously and barbarously murdered.+ | [isisie

“The female aborigines,” remarks’ Mr Dunlop, who: appears ie
have considered the’ subject with the warm interest and the;inspiring
hopes of a religious mind,“ ave as modest: in-demeanour, and quite
as morally conducted as the’ native, or otherwise free women.» There
is no instance of their leaving their athe, or connecting | themselves
with the white labouring population.”

Aptitude for mstr et —Testimony has been concen dhe fur-
nished that-there-is-no general defect or incapacity in the aboriginal
mind with regard to memory, quickness of perception, or even the
acquirement of thé usual’ elenients’ of education! @Lhis is abun-
dantly exemplified. in the success:of the present experimental school
for aboriginal children at.the Meri Meri Creek, under the direction
of Mr Peacock. This quickness of the aboriginal children is alluded
to by Mr Dredge, in regard to’ the facility with which'they learn to
read; and he farther remarks: the readies’ with which the yyoung
men take up various branches of pastoral labour... Mr Massie states
that,a young half-caste boy he hag in charge, is rapidly advancing
in his education, and exhibits even greater aptitude for learning than
is generally mét with in a white boy of his own age.) 0) VO"!

Mental capacity.—But ‘the symptoms are more doubtful ‘with re-
gard'to the higher mental indications. | Apt in many,departments of

* The servant at the squatting ont-stations, who ucts as'eook, &¢!, is usually
so called,im contradistinction to those who, go, forth daily with the sheep Bs ry

t With, characteristics of this description, it is rather amusing to undér-
stand that they entertain an insuperable spjcetion to wearing any slop clothing
that resembles) the convict dress. —Dunlop, 12... . dirom oft HO™

mee,

of the Aborigines of Australia. 24k

knowledge, minutely) observant, of, transactions, often amazingly
shrewd and intelligent, the untutored savage shines with a. lustre of
his'own, which: appears! in some respects, as. much; superior, as: in
others itis manifestly inferior, in the! comparison. with, the civilised
man.i°The casual observer, is: perplexed. by seeming. inconsistencies.
But it is here that these two-classes of mankind, most,widely diverge.

‘Inmanswer to.a question froin the Committee on this,subject; the
Revi:Mr, Schmidi/admitted that any high, degree, of intelligence can-
not bélcommunieated to any black in-one generation. He. regards
the aboriginal Australian as. the lowest,/in the, scale of, the human
pace that has: come’ under: his notice, .:‘¢, They, have, no. idea, ofa
Divine Being; the impressions, which we sometimes thought we .had
made upon them prove quite transient,-.. Their faculties, especially
their memories, are: in some: respects |very good ;. but, they appear. .to
have ‘no unidebstaindirig of things they commit! to) memor al mean
eonnected with: religion.” There. i is, he,continues,.either something
wanting in:their minds that) occasions this,.defect, of , understanding
upon abstract) matters, “ or/it is ‘shimbenng so deeply, that, nothing
but! Divine: power,cam awaken it.” |The testimon; y of, Mr, Parker is
to a similar effect. The conveyance of truth, says, he, to,the mind
of an Australian, savage, is attended with fcmulable, he might. al-
most /‘say insuperable, difficulties;, .“*,What,can be .done witha
people whose language knows, no.such terms as justice, sin, guilt,
es; and:to whose: minds the-ideas: conveyed by. such are utterly
foreign and inexplicable.”

(To be concluded in next Number.)

~anrde ee On: the Geysers of. California.

°° Brofessor Forest Shepherd, in a Communication “published
in: Silliman’s Journal, September 1851, gives an account of
Some remarkable geysers. discovered, by him north-west of
the Napa Valley, California. Mr Shepherd having noticed,
‘what he conceived to be, a line of thermal action inthe: Napa
Valley, especially near the foot of Mount St Helena, deter-
mined to trace it, and find its seat or focus of greatest inten-
‘sity. With this object in view, he travelled, in company with
‘@ select party, ina direction north-west. of the) Napa; Valley,
and -afterencamping.one_or_two nights in the rain, and
wandering through.almost impenetrable thickets, reached the
summit of. a a on the morning ‘of the fourth day)» 'The
scene presented: from this. point. is described. as, follows :—
“ On the north, almost immediately at’ our feet; there: opened

242 On the Geysers of California.

an immense chasm, apparently formed by thé rending ofthe
mountains in a direction from west to éast. ‘The sun’s rays
had already penetrated into the narrow valley, and so lighted
up the deep defile, that, from'a distance of four or five inilés,
we distinctly saw clouds and dense columns of steam rapidly
rising from the banks of the little river Pluton. “It was'now
the 8th of February, the mountain peaks in the distance were
covered with snow, while the valley at our feet wore the ver-
dant garb of summer. ‘It wis with ‘difficulty ‘we could per-
suade ourselves that we were’ not’ looking down upon sdnie
manufacturing city, until, by a tortuous descents we arrived
at the spot where at once the secrets of the inner world opened
upon our astonished senses. “Inthe ‘space of half’ a mile
square we discovered from one to two ‘hundred openings,
through which the steam issued ‘with violénce, sending’ up
columns of dense vapour to the height of one hundred and fifty
to two hundred feet. The roar of the largest tubes would
be heard for a mile’ or more, andthe sharp hissing’ of the
smaller ones is still ringing in my ears. Many of them would
work spasmodically, precisely like high-presstire’ engines,
throwing out’ occasional jets of steam; 6r ‘Volumes of ‘hot
scalding water, some twenty or thirty feet, endangetitig the
lives of those who rashly ventured too neat.’ In some’ places
the steam and water come in contact so as to produce a ¢on-
stant ‘jet d’eaw’ or spouting fountain, ‘with ‘a dense eloud
above the spray, affording vivid’ prismatic hues ‘in’ the “sun-
shine: ‘Numerous cones are formed’ by the accumulation of
various mineral ‘salts and ‘a'deposit of sulphur crystals with
earthy matter, which often harden into crusts of greater or
less strength and thickness. ° Frequently’ the ‘streams? of
boiling water would mount up to’ the top ‘of the cones with
violent ebullition. Some of the cones appear to be itimense
boiling caldrons, and you hear the lashing and foaming
gyrations beneath your feet as you approach’ them. /It'is
then a moment’ of intense interest—curiosity impels you
forward—fear holds you back; and while you hesitatethe
thin crust under your feet gives way, and*you find yourself
sinking into the fiery maelstrom below. The writer, on one
occasion, heard the rushing water under his feet. “He struck

On, the, Geysers of California. 243

—_

down anjaxe, which; on the;first blow, went through into the
deep, whirlpool the whole length of the helve.. He withdrew
litjamd/cut an,opening, which revealed a stream of angry, water,
boiling, intensely, » and, of unknown, breadth; and depth,., He
continued to. enlarge, the opening until the stream was seen
tobe fiyejor six,feet in breadth, leading on an Hae into
the,dark.caverns beneath the, mountains. __ 7
i At the, base. of the cones,;in the bottom of the ravines, and
in, the, bed. and, on. the north, bank of the river Pluton,, springs
_almost, innumerable. break out, which are of various qualities
‘and, temperatures, from, icy coldness up to, the boiling point.
>You, may,,here, find; sulphur, water, precisely similar to, the
celebrated; white. sulphux of, Green, Brier County, Va., except
Atsiiey, coldness.; ct also red, blue, and even black sulphur water,
both, cold and, hot;;, also. pure limpid, hot water without. any
sulphur, or; chlorine salts, calcareous hot waters, magnesian
‘chalybeate, &e +> 1 an almost endless variety, Where the
heated, sulphuretted hydr ogen gas is evolved, water appears
tobe suddenly, formed, beautiful crystals of sulphur deposited,
not, sublimed, as by. fire); and. more. or ;less. sulphuric, acid
-generated...; In some, places the acid was, found so, strong as
.te turn. black, kid,.gloves almost, immediately. toa deep, red.
-Where,the heated gas, escapes in. the river,Pluton, such;is
_the amount,,of , sulphur, deposited,, that the, whole bed,of the
pstream: is made white, for.one or, two miles below. Notwith-
standing that the, rocks;.and, earth, in many places are .so hot
»as,to burn. your.feet, through,,the. soles of, your, boots, . there
disyyet no appearance of a-volcano in this extraordinary, Spot.
» Were. the action.,to cease, ; it. would be, difficult, after a. few
uyears, to. -persuade .men that it ever existed. There is No
jappearance, of lava,, You find yourself not, ina solfatara,
.nor,,one.of the salses, described by, Humboldt,,.. ‘The rocks
around you.are rapidly dissolying under. the, powerful meta-
-morphic, action going. on. _ Porphyry. and. jasper are trans-
formed, into a, kind_of Ane S_.clay.. Pseudotrappean, and
. Magnesian rocks are consumed much like wood in a slow. fire,
yjand, goto, . forme sulphate, of. magnesia ‘and other. products.
_ Granite i ig. rendered so soft. that you may crush it between
yyour fingers, and, cut, it as, easily as bread, unbaked, _.The

244 On the Geysers of California.

feldspar appears to ‘be converted partly into alum!” Inthe’!
mean time the boulders and angular fragments brought down
the ravines and river by the floods are being cemented into
a firm conglomerate, so that’ itis, difficult ‘to dislodge'even’ a-
small pebble, the pebble itself sometimes breaking before the
cementation yields.

“The thermal action on wood in this place i is also highly
interesting, In one mound I discovered the stump of a large
tree, silicified ;,in another,.a:log changed to lignite or natch
coal. Other fragments appeared midway between’ 'petrifac-
tion and carbonization. In this connection, finding some
drops of a very dense fluid, and also highly refractive, I was
led to believe that’ pure carbon ‘might, under such circum-
stances, erystallise and’ form the diamond. “Unfortunately
for me, however, I Jost the precious drop in attempting to
secure it. |

‘A green tree cut down and obliquely inserted in one of the.
conical mounds, was so changed in thirty-six hours, that its
species’ would ‘not’ have been recognised, except from the
portion ‘projecting outside, around which beautiful crystals
of sulphur had already formed. |

« From the thermal exhalations andthe Amount of sulphur
deposited; it might be supposed that the progress of vegeta-
tiom would be retarded ; but such is not the fact, on the con-_
trary, itis greatly facilitated: The Quercus semper virens, “or
evergreen oak, flourishes in ‘beauty within fifty feet of tke”
boiling and angry geysers.’ Maples and ‘alders, from one’ to
two feetiin diameter, grow within’ twenty or thirty feet of
the hottest steam pipes.’ This, however, may’ be accounted ©
for by the cold surface water flowing down'from the’ adjacent ,

mountains. Multitudes of grizzly bears make their beds on”

the warm grounds. Panthers, deer;hares, and squirrels, ‘also
take up their winter quarters in the very midst of the geyser”
mounds. Farther down’ the’ stream, on’ the terraced’ banks
of the limpid Pluton, vegetation actually runs wild ; and the”
winter months exhibit all the fancied freshness of primeval |
Eden. I have traced the influence—of—this#thermal-action—
from two to three hundred miles on the, Pacific, coast, in, Cali-
fornia, but only in this place have I been permitted to witness”

Professor C. U. Shepard on) Meteorites. 245°

its,astonishing intensity. The metamorphic: action) going: on
_is, at/this. moment, effecting important: changes in the struc"
ture and.conformation of the rocky strata. tis not stationary,:
but.apparently moving slowly-eastward.in the Pluton Valley.’
—(American, Annual-of Scientific Discovery; for/1852)) |

On. Mbicwrites: ‘By CHaRtEg PHAM SHEPARD, M.D.; Pro-
ofessor of Chemiistry and Mimeralogy. Communicated ‘by
~ the: Author.* : BOE

sTOe {

eT. “Tutichpore, Hindostan, Nov. 30, 1822,

‘This stone, SO far as Lam informed, has,not been desarihedc |
It, 28 barely mentioned by Prof..Partsch, in the. Appendix}:
Pp: 14 2, of | his Catalogue of Meteorites in the Imperial; Collees}
tion at Vienna (1843), as not yet brought into Europe. } While:
in Edinburgh, last. year, 1 was) intormed, by.Mr Alexander
Rose, that a fine specimen, of this locality, existed.in,the cabinet
of "Thomas M‘Pherson. Grant, Esq.,..by,;whom:, Iwas: very::
obligingly presented with a fragment, and the means of mak-
ing the present communication.

The fall took place inthe eyening at, Tuttehpore, whigh 3 is
situated seventy-two miles from Allahabad, on the Cawnpore:
} road, in, Jat. 25°57. N., and long. 80° 50’, BK... The! meteor!
from. which the stone was ejected, was, of large size, surpass+'
ing, the full, moon in, apparent, magnitude, aswell as osplen=«
dour, . _It,passed from south-east to north-west.:: A:nuniber
of, stones, fell,,the largest of which, weighed) 22lb., but: that’
in the possession of Mr,Grant was'the.only one in an/entire!’
state. which was, found.,, It, was brought) from India: ess iia
Tytler, by. whom. it. was, presented. to, its present owners

The , stone, is),oval,,.slightly, compressed,,! indented; aratl
possesses, a, brownish- black, crust..;. Its, weight is about 2 Ib.
It. is fine-grained, trachytic, and, resembles, most Closely the”
stones, of Poltawa ee ee 12, vee and. of SaMtinis None 20,
Mb ehe ‘RP gr.= 35352, [ie didi: W

5

*|Rehd’ ‘before the American Assbetaton por the Advancement of Science, at

New Haven, Alugust! 18509) (990 |

246 Professor)C,,U.,Shepard on Meteorites,

2. Charwallas, 30, miles from Hissar, India, Jung, 12, 1834s,
This: is:another. stone of which the/only notice I have:met
with is found,in the Appendix of tle above-mentioned work
(p. 143), Prof. Partsch remarking that no portion; ofthe mass
had made its way into: Europe..; The entire stone is finythe
possession of Prof. Jameson, to, whom it had been, presented
—for ithe: Museum of;Natural History. inthe, University of
Kdinburgh—by a gentleman ie in) India-at the time,of
its fall... :Itsiexact weight I,am not able/to gives but Tshaye
the impression that it-eannot/fall short,of 7, lb.or 8.1b..,.Lowela
slice of it to the kindness of Professor Jameson! from, an exa-
mination of which Iam ableto give: the| following, déseription.
It iscone of the toughest! stones,: ifiwe excepto those of
Chantonnay (Aug./5, 1812) and-Cabbarras Co.; N.C. (Oct.)31,
1849),:with: which: T-am acquainted,, ) It; is filled (with-iron
rust, like certain weathered; fine'granular granites, in) conse-
quence of which, and the smallness of the particles! of com-
position, itis impossible to) récognise! the) mineral species
(with the exception» of the nickeliferous iron), ofwhichi it: is
made up, although olivinoid, and one of the feldapat cies.
appear to be the leading ingredients: fossqstoZI 4
On exposure to the air, it deliquesces, yielding chlgnile of
iron; but this does not'prove chlorine to| have beem an! 6ri-
ginal ingredient of the stone, since the mass; asin the!case of
one of the Iowa (Feb.25,1847) stones, may have been sineeits
fall in‘some situation where chlorine: has beenimparted to-it.
JIts specifie: gravity is'3°38. It;contains)15:07/ percent, of
nickeliferous iron, with traces of sulphur. ,'The stony part.con-
sists) of! silica, magnesia, ga 204 of: iron, aluatinall and, ine.
3,..Meteoric, Tron, County Doves Foslike “Fell August 10,.
, OP, Mey 1846, H adol d ros
Horie a knowledge of this sitet Ijam indebted t 60 my
friend Dr John Sconler; Prof. of the Royal Dublin! ‘Institu-
tion, who wrote-me as follows, respecting its;fall,in Februaity
1848.) < lbelieve L must give you the. credit, of, having: dis-
covered another meteorite in Ireland, or in other words, but
for you L would, not have been at the pains, of) finding»it; dut.
The stone or stones fell in 1844, in.thenorth ofthe county

Professor C!' U? Shepard on- Meteorites. 247

of Down, and'were Seen to'fall by ‘some’ of the ‘coast-guard.
Wouewill find two small specimen) of this: ‘stone along with
theother specimens‘in the box.??) “Owing to’ an “accident in
the“transmission of ‘the box, ‘thei specimens were not. re-
esived until withinva few months, and ‘hence «the delay in
makino ‘known! this interesting falloofsmeteorie iromo:The
only ‘additional information concerning theoevent; which—I
auPoat present able! to:eommunicate; sis: the circumstance
nientioned inthe label! ‘accompanying the’ specimens, that
the’name of thedman who saw brie Mass! pany and! who ie
if up fiwas°Gibbon””:

odThe: following’ is! an that i ane side at & seishorik to iene
known‘ concerning ‘the mass.'+ It-is'malleable, homogenedus,
and. amygdaloidal. “Specific obanits variables; vesicular por-
tions =5°9.0°Crust thick,’ sometimes one-third of an inch)}and
consists: ofomixed oxides‘of2iron;somewhat coated? by blue
phosphatesof iron (vivianite). (In: moist air;the'chlorideofiron ~
deliquesces in little! drops. colt does notafford the: Widman-
stattian peur ‘It: does'not:contain nickel; cobalt,or mE
Bk 919 o¢ Tht

4, + Description of a Large Stone af she rae Cols Tous, fall of:

40 ty indetileba Sih A842 ot nt uid
7. soDhis itoné, sein 201b.3 has lately come dint my hands
through the agency of Rev:‘R: Gaylord;:of Hartford,:Towaj
thesameigentleman whoprocured for me the specimens which
were picked‘up'at the: time cof) the explosion’ of the meteor,
and ofowhich an account'was'given ata former meeting of the
Association: | (See volviv:, 288; 289, of Silliman’s:Journal\) ic
©The following statement ‘respecting it is: fromthe Rev:’/Mr
Gaylord’s letter of July 3,1850. “ It was found (in the sum-
mer of 1847) in Hooshier Grove, by Abner Cox. “He was in
company with John Hollis, of whom I obtained two fragments
three! years<ago. “'They‘have had the!stonetwo years or:more
and by lying’in the loft: of a smoky:eabin; itcis. somewhat
dingy in appearance!) This: John’ Hollis isother man .who
ground up soomuch'of ‘theostones ‘that were seen! to fall,4ih
order to get silver: “He wasthe means, however; of ‘the care-
ful preservation of the present mass.’ Dr mane wie ola
had'the*stone, and wrote mne'respecting it: Zt

248 Professor C. U: Shepard on Meteorites.

“The three pieces into which it broke on striking the
ground fit together exactly,.so as to reproduce ‘the original
stone, with a complete coating over the whole, except on one
sidé, where several small fraginents were broken‘ out by the
fall. These were gathered up ¢arefully, and sabia he ae
finder.”

This stone is perhaps ‘the’ most’ remarkable ‘one® Bln fat
described, for its highly regular prismatic’ fieure, which ‘at
once suggests the idea of a’ portion of ‘@ basaltic! column.
Nor can the gévdlogist’ look upon it without feeling ‘almost
certain that it once formed part of some oNeLISEVE! formation
in the world from whence it-eame! ) 10 SMODIeOT ,

5. Meteorie Stone of Waterloo, ee Co, Ns XH 3 Walia Wy ae
summer of 1826, or 1827. :

For my first knowledge of this remarkable stone, E ari in-
* debted to Prof. O. Root of Hamiltom College; from whose
letter, dated Clinton, N. Y., Jan'26;:1850, the» following
abstracts are made. “ On receiving your’ note, I wrote -to
my friends in Geneva, for the meteorite: mentioned>im my
letter to President Hitchcock. Judge*Watkins very willingly
gave the specimen, and it is now’ in my possession, subject
to your order. ‘The piece is not large (it weighs about 1000
ors.), as the original mass’ had been divided; two: or three
times. Not being familiar with such productions, my opinion
concerning its genuineness is of no value. Judge Watkins,
however, is a gentleman of high respectability,-and T have
confidence in what he relates of the history of this stone.
My attention was directed to the subject in the following
manner: A’ year or two ago, while shewing some gentlemen
a fragment of the Otsego meteoric iron, one of them observed
that he remembered a report many years back of a stone
falling through a roof in Waterloo, or in that vicinity.
After many inquiries, I at last found the stone, or a frag-
ment of it, with Judge Watkins.’ He relates that a hole
was discovered in the roof of his mill, directly over a bin of
wheat,. that, the opening was made through the shingles
where the roof-boards were about five inches apart (although
a piece was split from the roof-board on one side), and that

Professor C...U,, Shepard jon Meteorites. 249

under, the; hole, there; appeared, a, depression in the grain,
whieh Jed,to an,examination that) resulted inthe. discovery
of the stone.. The Judge inferred. thatthe, stone;had fallen
through the roof, as its size was.too, great.to have, allowed
its admission, into the |bin,along with the grain. which was
raised by means of elevators. He also supposed it to, have
béen of atmospherie, origin, as, the mill was four, storeys high
and as the nature of the stone was unlike any of the mineral -
productions of, the region, ‘the rock, in situ. at. Waterloo
being, the Seneca, limestone... He was, not positive, whether it
was found in 1826 or 1827., ‘The; stone, was, divided for Dr
Hale, President of Geneva. College.’’*

The specimen presented me by Prof. Root had been: left
for upwards of twenty years in the garret of Judge Watkins,
where it appears to have been mistaken for something edible
by the rats; who have: left numerous, markings of their incisor
teeth’ upon’ its surface.) Indeed, in, colour and; texture, it
nearly resembles ‘common; rhubarb. Its,:colour is light. buff
or yellow.’ It:is: slightly coherent, and may, easily, be,crushed
between the fingers: Its‘sp. gr.=2'30.,,.But a, small portion
of: the original crust/remains, which) is reddish-brown. ...'The
stone contains: in small quantity, blackish particles attracted
_ by the:magnet:'+A surface produced by, being cut,with, a.saw,
shews waved parallel lines| of greater, hardness than the rest

of the:stones a It:consists,of f . PO ase SEO
ae Sirepul ovley on to ei zaonouinnog etf8i@ro000
wed . Perexidéibflirpmyqeo: dsoidl ts noltee B lvowod
rote Alumina, a) : . ¢ oot * ig 6°28 jae Gada g
WOLTERS: footdite od} of fotootih ere cottons ol
Woks 5708 x roche + x . 98: 55 ARM
Dime and aon i equal ate and Joss WAS ro pi)
efoje « 1 | ioomoaiod ded
ya ies iy ded Is i 100 00. ull
“OBIT Oss Specigi seated ve: two meteor ie irons, Sh its
sod S Mietborietinlon of Pittsburg} PA, oobul tives 13980, tooo
to aid Meteorie iron.of, Salt, River) Ky... 45) a) f.8°885--

AOL *O

PP edireasea « a Tete ia inquiry ‘to Dr H., who informs ine that the specimen
dane sortie time been’ eat vache of' in ‘the ‘attegs collection, It ovody
1G. id b itd foabte : a ROK ;

250 On the Chenical Examination. of

Chemical Examination of Drift- Weed Kelp from apie, By
Grorcn W. Browy, Esq. of Glasgow. Communicated by
the Author, through Dr R. D. THomson,; and — before
the Philosophical Society of Glasgow.*

Drift-weed kelp is derived from the scatecuibe hic grow
on the rocks at the bottom of the Atlantic: Ocean. '’ These
plants, being torn from their native soils bythe force of,tides
and. currents, are drifted, tothe north .and,, north-west coasts
of Seotland..and) Ireland, on, which they, arethrown by,thes
surge, and being, gathered) are /burnt,-either ,in -kilns| or, in,
depressions dug in the ground.{ By this process most of, the
organic matter is removed, although in the specimen, of kelp
investigated and described in this paper, a smalliportion of
carbon and nitrogen still remained.: The most ‘important
constituents of kelp are’ the’ iodine and potash salts. °' The
carbonates’ were formerly used by the Siler and’ the®
insolublé salts for the manufacture of bottleelassi!’ ©. 98°

Previous Analysés\— Although the composition of the kélp®
salts is well known, in a ee point of view, to the profes-
sional chemist, it) does not appear, from any experiments”
which have been recorded, that they have been made the
subject of recent. minute investigation... Mr Kirwan, in the
end of the last century, published a paper, (Memoirread at
the Royal Dublin Society, and Annales de Chimie1793, tom.
18, page 163), On the Alkaline Substances ‘employed in
Bleaching Linen.” The following is his analysis of what he
calls sweet barilla, from Spain, which corresponds with kelp
in its physical characters.

Carbonic acid, .. , Pen par Weep Fh
Uithan ne eg ee
Lime, ; : aig ‘ : as ae
Magnesia, ne rie Siena 1) RESEYLB EG

* The author conducted the “ Examination,”

intendence of Dr Thomson; >> © supedT *
+: History and Description of the Kelp Manufactory. Proddedings 3 pee
gow Philosophical Society, vol. ii, page 241: By Mr Glassford: ©) 6°" + to

wee insihetck

under the immediate super-

Drift-Weed Kelp from Orkney. 251 -

Clay, P rt F ; 4 : 2:27
» Silica, ; eho tee ins , a ee
“ “Soda pure, a, Spgenieaides pr aneien ie feos 14°63

yd bo IGodsimpave? <OZAGW IQ .pedt, AW QU .VA-Bs

s10to0Soda with: common’ eal] i 14 dovordd 1BVOL
Sulphate of soda, sy po 0:/)) ? lsoidqo®oba9g
Chloride of sodium, . : ‘ : 1:21
© Earthy a id. » boviieb ab. 584

gzodT Watets5O -nitas : : j di 4e23:23,

“Tn andthe’ volume of the Annalés dé ‘Chimie there is‘a
paper by Me Gay-Lussac, (Annales de’ Chimie for1828; tom:
395!" pp. 1594163); ‘on’ The! Potagshées of Coiimerce”” in’
wy isa an a anallysis = ae sales GE ‘Weare; a is. ee
Be serin Oe potas: Teqodily \bovparor, 222

to mo! Ghloride of Leese nidt at bodivoeoh bar 2b%8r0
re. ctycGhloride. of sodium, le i aporeyaesn 58:2.

»fhis appears to,beya, ees miata of the,constitution
of, ;the,, soluble. , salts only..,,;Dr,.Ure,,.in..,his Dictionary, ‘of.
the Arts and, Manufactures, published .in 1840, gives i
extremes ‘0f his, analyses, of kelp, as follow. :—,

vif Sulphate vof soda, trieq \oxonog.s of) 8:0c 19:0

.} Carbonate, of soda sh oth BBD |

F Sulphuret of sodium, ba ear bae. aad 4

i “Muriates of potash and soda, SERS 3 eS ct ae

oat sr Carbonate of lime)” Sees! aa eee

ts bsorSileajoM) seqeq s, bodealduq..yiwtg@s9 tesloags. to bias

_ Nu a8 + unin, with oxidhs obi iota stoi008GildO-Onyosl odd
oun of limes > wotlotih oat ot? GOP Bead .2t

ve +, jp Sulphur, and Joss, osetia i, tm OO. Bal ee

ReANS de «apd <i
ee

Giga Giiw enwioqesTiod Moliw .disqa £ “T0908 “F002
The peculiarity of those results is in the presence: 1g oe
large quantity of alumina, and the absence of phosphate of
lime and. alkaline phosphates, which are at variance with the
~ analyses, tocbe described in this paper.* iaorrosM.
_ There are analyses of the ashes of some end of f fuci, VIZ,

“toque otarbor 4” et bots if.

* is pusnisy’ of Bicantiete of Time 5 a psi tea diea with what De Mee: fi
terms:alumina.:|, It, would be difficult to.explain the-source, of ‘such an-amount
of this earth, as alumina rarely,or never,enters into the.constitutiom ofthe »
vegetable kingdom. .

'

252 On thé Chemical Hxamination of

F. digitatus, FP. vesiculosus,:F.:nodosus, ‘and: E.serratus, in
Liebig’s Annalen, vol. liv., p. 350) by MraJ ..Godechens: of
Macher. published in 1845. _ The POT ATEN table gives the
calculated mean of these analyses : — |

Potash, . : ; : : 11°67
Soda, Sree raaie Sie ; : 12°54
Lime, : . i i uma 11:32

Magnesia,’ 2 heprn9as 2 ar goiwolie29q I

Baas of 1fon, ),. ties ofderlos dj cow PAriatdh
Chloride.of.sodium,, . . noceX. kn akaathoncelh oan

iodide of sadipm, a.
Sulphuric acid, 1 GC) 1 BEERS: Oe
Phosphoric acid 8 fil apw Mopepglacv al
Silieap oe. st ontiledie oaonte e.ciirw Js@H yiov
Carbonicagid; esooossodiee to -enoitaog ASPET dtiw
Carbon, . Soa ea 5 lila aie LT FF uc eeeist

ooere
ndlebolypbia of Gainde Bai Weed. cK be

For the specimen ‘6f' kélp subjected’ vhesiontail Tam
indebted ‘to’ W. Paterson, “Es¢,,“alkalitnierclaint;' Glasgow.
The investigation was conducted in the laboratory 6f the’Uni-
versity of Glasgow, ‘under ‘the superintendence "of DrRD

Thomson: In' making these analyses the fist [pomts’ to be
determined were) the quantity of Soluble atid insolablesalts .
‘and water. To effect’ the ‘first ‘object, a portion ‘Of ‘the kelp
was digested ‘in water, the Solution and residue’ thrown ‘ upon
a weighed filter’ and washed) till all the soluble salts were
removed. The insoluble salts were sheen dried at 212° F :—

Soluble Salts imal Salts, ‘Soluble Salts

Insoluble Salts. ber pe per cent. and Water
a per cent.
400 grains gave .114:80 28520. 28:700. 71-3
500 i 155°49 34451 31:098 ~ 68-902
1000 oe 294°10 705°90 29'410 ~~ 7059:
Mean, 29-736 70-264

Water.—The quantity of water was estimated by oe
the kelp at a1g" ae till it ceased to loose weight: aes
| Water. sie Water per cent.
200 grains gave 13°60 . 6 8B. ‘Torrid

If the quantity of water be subtracted from ‘the abt

Drift-Weed Kelp from Orkney. 253

‘salts.and water, the real amount: of ‘soluble salts will be ob-
tained, which is as follows :—

Insoluble Salts. Soluble Salts. Water.
29°736 63°464 6°8

Analysis of Insoluble Salts.

The’following is the description of analyses. and results
obtained from the insoluble salts.

Testing Analysis of Insoluble Salts.—Before proceeding to
the quantitative analysis of the insoluble salts, a qualitative
investigation was made. The kelp under, examination was
very hard, with a strong alkaline taste, and greyish colour,
with black portions of carbonaceous matter interspersed
through it. It was partly soluble in water. ‘That which re-
mained.undissolved in water was a greyish powder, which,
when ignited, became perfectly white. On addition of acid
to the insoluble matter, carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydro-

«gen were evolved, and.the greater part of the salts dissolved,
that, which remained being silica. . The portion thus dissolved
injacid gave, jon, addition. of ammonia, a,copious precipitate,
which proved.on, examination, to be phosphate; of lime....To
» prove, the presence of phosphoric. acid it; was, converted into
-phosphate-of iron by Berthier’s, method, and the phosphoric
- acid, precipitated, as ammonia phosphate of magnesia, the
iron. being detained by. tartaric acid, with a trace of iron. On
the phosphate of lime being separated by filtration; the filtrate
gave, with oxalate of ammonia; a white, pulverulent precipi-
tate, proving the presence of lime, which must originally have
existed as’ carbonate or sulphuret.., After the oxalate of lime
had been removed, phosphate of soda and ammonia produced
a ‘white erystalline precipitate, indicating the presence of
‘magnesia.

BEVOw sy

Quantitative Analysis of Insoluble Salts.

i Eatination of Organic Matter. —As has been already men-
tioned, the specimen of kelp under examination had not been
entirel y: freed from nitrogenous matter, . This was discovered
_pwhile deflagrating a Portion of the kelp with nitre, when a
VOL. Lill. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. s

254 On the Chemical Examination of

strong smell of ammonia was given out. At first it was sup-
posed that, this might originate from the, decomposition of
the nitre; but on further investigation it was observed that
the kelp when ignited without the nitre, produced the same
odour. A quantitative determination of the nitrogen, pate
gen, and carbon, was therefore made) >: . HOST Honda
2Hstimation of Nitrogen.—The nitrogen was dotupebiaral in
the:usual manner by combustion with soda‘lime; ‘and passing
the:ammonia through muriatic acid) ‘The muriate of ammo
nia’ thus formed was precipitated, by means of the'bichloride
of platinum; as ‘the'yellow ammonia-muriate of the bichloride
of platinum, which was ‘thrown ona weighed filtery washed:

with ‘alcohol; and dried at:212° Fahraos vievoivorg od? bovom
tee zm ‘Yellow Saltic .bga4 ¥-saili Nitrogen

| Ne HCLP OM. ee _-per ¢ cents a
20 grains gave 21 "1317 ita. ‘6585: |

Sthitbon and Hydrogen. aan) prepare the carbonaceous mith
ter for analysis, 300 grains of dhexkelp were carefully»washed
with distilled water; by which ‘process the‘soluble:salts were:
removed. ¢ (The) matter: which! owasocinsoluble im water, i was
digested in dilnte acid; when! thevinsolubleosalts were talten
up; ‘and organic matter with silica remained unacted'ont: >The
carbonaceous matter and°silica in'300 grains were! equal to!
14-46 grains. This residue was then subjected to combustion!
with oxide of copper.«.The following ave the results :—

Nie S1Barbon’
Carbon. » per, cent.
Amount of carbonic acid obtained ,10°12 296 1 7920.
ries 9] whee. q
Hydrogen. per cent.

Water obtained 3°47 . _ 7433 . ) aes 144”

When the’ matter inwoluble: in! water was pres tdi
ignition in a platinum crucible it lost in weight from"the®
dissipation of the organic matter; but along with organic
matter a minute quantity of sulphur and carbonic oxide from
the decomposition of the carbonate of lime were also'driven’
off, which rendered the results, ‘as fait a aw condertis the organie”
matter, not strictly accurate. 6 ydgiletstsew ditw bodasw bas

Drift-Weed, Kelp, from, Orkney. 255

que esw ti deri J 10 Ihoss! by Ignition: 00110 _ oss by Ignition,

per cent=
sa Sat “£00 Mwaihe gave PHOT SAQA HOO TUGIN BLOy. gg 3
tedt beyooedo as: oltsoih@ekei vod aadgzitia ocd
earee o00hs90ubard [1 2Q>b53; 3143 Iyiox oc
orbvd : | Mean, Wa.

Ree eadion , of Silica pre Sand: —Ai\portion,of'the kelp was
weighed. out; and the soluble salts. washed /out ,with: boiling
water: ‘When: this, .was accomplished the) insoluble: salts
weredried;and the carbonaceous matter removed: byignition;
after which théy, wererdissolved: in, muriaticyacidy whichi took
upithe\ansoluble salts; and left: the; silicas ands sand: iicLhis
residue was! then: boiled :with carbonate, of )séda, nwhichirés
moved the previously combinéd Silica; and:the:sand reniainedy

Silica, Sand,
per cent. per cent.

400 grains gave 13:24. 7°01. 623 175... 1:55
2) 13°52 sien ~~ 6°40 at aa 2
NBO BPITOSD RAO Rd ro] _Mean,. A TAL} 1685... 1: 575
» Lstimation of ards Acid. ‘The carbonic acidiwas deter~
mined “by introducing: the insoluble, salts: into aoflask from
which a ‘tube: passed into-another! flask) containing . barytes:
water. ©The carbonic acid: was disengaged: by the addition of:
weak muriaticacid to:the: kelp. : The: gas passing through
the ‘barytes solution. cena a soles e of carbonate: of
peeericmbicht was weighed. .

aia Silica & Sand. Silica, wo//Sand.

‘yp | F : Cachort: ese
Carbonate of Barytes..’ “Carbonic Acid: per cent.

500. grains gave 102°05 22°91 4-580

‘Estimation of Sulphur—The sulphur was estimated by
means of the same apparatus as was employed for the esti-
mation of 'the carbonic acid; but instead of barytes a solution
of arsenious acid in caustic soda was used, ..When the
sulphuretted hydrogen was evolved, by means of muriatic acid,
_ ib;conyerted, the, arsenious iesidy into; the; nee jof
arseniGe s(t} (fois: le. .& at coidiore’

olmagio dtiw “AsO, 3 Siz AAS: fe BHO... Ta? rs
afBltestbrewhplsune’ of arsenic, was held, in, pe aS 2 the,
soda ;;but when muriaticjacid wasjadded the yellow, tersulphu;
ret fell... This. precipitate was, then thrown on.aweighed filter,
and washed with water slightly acidulated with muriatic acid,
82

y mort [lag

256 On the Chemical Examination of

F Tersulphuret ‘ “Sulphur,
of Arsenic. aie . be
500 grains gave 5:16 1°932: oinod1e'386

Bastin} tin of Phosphate of Lime.—The insokUld salts hav-
ing been dissolved in acid and the silica separated, the phos-
phate of lime was precipitated by ammonia.

Phosphate Phosphate of Lime,
of Lime. - per cent.
10400: grains gave 42°84 10°71
TT RMP Nt a 1510 Se 10°50

HOOT |..3 52°30 “1046
a. }okee Mean, 10°556
Estimation of Alumina. —To:ascertain if the phosphate of

lime contained alumina, it was dissolved in acid, and: ‘then
boiled in An excess of strong caustic soda, which. would re-
dissolve any alumina., It was found that it contained) a

small quantity, which was probably accidentally introduced
by the caustic soda, or other reagents.

A] Alumina, a
Alumina.
per cent.
400 grains gave *T48. ee
. SO Rig ——-§ 09-109
midan,é Ww £44050 ofT

“Determination of Lime.—To ‘the’ liquid from ‘ ‘which “the
phosphate of lime had been separated oxalate: of ‘ammonia
was added, when oxalate of lime fell. This precipitate being
washed, and, heated to redness was converted into pt en

Carb. of Lime, | Lime. Shits ih:
robuper- gents [drslos
600 pvains gave. [for BBS (AL: 755, | of “BBL. viso

Estimation of Magnesia. — Having; Homoved . pie a —
‘filtration, ithe magnesia !was precipitated, by, means, of ,phos-
phate of soda andcammonia,:as the, ammonia-phosphate. of
magnesia; which when heated was converted. init the, diphos-

si of magnesia |[2(MgO)POg} so borsocqneib sevewod
| “i BOMGO)POS sodagnesibo vl aor '
500 grains dave 8018 6 43-700 Dbe oL5-60q SZ
"ine results of the preceding ' énalytes are: conpretentd
“inthe following table :— (989) | odie
Mittoyerew ‘tovli+ lo, otawin nodW. | 6585
Hydrogen, | : ‘ ra fork tine SAt4o adi

» Carbon, ., ; ryrtiy® 7920, “ig

Drift, Weed Kelp from Orkney, eal

tai ih Ohi ea att em cris A ATOR
ad C0 eee aoe Yn. 5 fans A DYD

ene acid, : Olé: » sveo enifeo 80

d at ubshutoscri - eee ths a ACR 386
Ve ., Phosphate. of Lime, ie eres) ECP OU
~ Alumina, * ‘bidbaiads coArehatt ge Rae datas 6 os
ee ee INS Ig BBW. CREO LC

ats Magnesia,’ i), Soedqeod 1. ; PH
see 28/1990

Car- Phos) |) ¢
AAA} i J ae bonic | phoric | Silica.
- : os esta. | Acid. | Acid.

Lime.

'O) Gadrbondte of Hine, |! 0 259D)ae451!] 2. ohaad
mdcPhosphatejof lime, | 10: 5.56. |: if 376

Sulphuret of garcia, *1:093)

OF Silisate/ofdimew. .ch3s24}

Baines magnesia, 6554

é . re toro oe,

ho Saari ¢ viletnebissr99¢dackerd pew
Bogen,” OU aEn Ge. inane ere Sy: PGT aah noe ann ee a

Nitrogen . . . BOE PSSOT TONIO l10,..8008. 91 kURD Sdd..vd

Oxygen, SSimnlL | 11591 | ,.. i ; as

tno seas sy

beri

‘aVaw x

oor 29-067) Vn LN sloped pray

The oggepn was, aaaiaed by calculating the quantity
»heeessary to, form water, which th a to the nitrogen,
siwould not, be driven;off.at 212° F.. .

ti GIT -10 SUBLAGAONC
; © Analysis of Soluble Salts, °°‘
-938modiso od

Testing, daakjes of Soluble Salts. Those salts whieh wére
soluble’ in water were, before procééding to the quantitative
analysis, tested qualitatively. “The followitg aré the results.

‘On ‘addition ‘of miriatic acid to the: solution, of the salts, an
“effervescenvé took place; with evolution of carbonic, acid and
wes © sulphuretted hydrogen!) Sulphuriemacid:produced a,dark
~eolour’ in the: solution ofrom the? liberation: of | iodine... This,
however, disappeared on heating the) liquids fumes; of, iodine
being. _evolvedi: After precipitating the sulphurets by sul-
phate of copper, the addition of a small,quantity, of, sulphuric
boacid' made the liquid slightly.tarbid from the precipitation of
sulphur, preving the presence of a small, quantity, ¢ of hyposul-
phurous' ‘acid. When nitrate of silver was added: to a solu-
tion of the salts, a black precipitate fell fromothe !formation —
of sulphuret of silver; but after a portion of the salts had

ye 2 MI9 cf 3tet tigis ys og &

258 On the Chemical Hxamination of

been ‘boiled with nitric! acid) the precipitate, with nitrate of
silvers was white and ‘curdy, indicating the ‘preséneé of
chlorine.’ Chloride of barium gave a white precipitate, part
of which ‘being dissolved ‘with effervescence ‘in (nitric acid,
indicated the presence of carbonic acids’ a white powder re-
mained unacted on by the nitric acid, shewing thatthe salts
éontained sulphuric acid!’ “After'“aportion ‘of ‘the salts ‘had
been heated to redness, the addition of bichloridé of platinum
produced a yellow precipitate, proving the existence of potash
salts in the kelp. Oxalate of ammonia caused a slight pre-
cipitate of lime ; and phosphate of soda and ammonia, after
some time, a precipitate of ammonia- phosphate of magnesia.

Quantitative Analysis of Soluble Salts. :

- Estimation of Sulphuric Acid.— Having separated by filtra-
tion a portion of the soluble from the insoluble salts, the
sulphuric acid was precipitated in the soluble salts, by the
addition of chloride of barium and muriatic acid, to dissolve
sulphites and phosphates.

Sulphate of Sulphuric Acid,’
Barytes, per. cent.
100 grains gave 14-21 4°89
100 bos 14°34 494 ©
Mean ‘per centage, 4/915

istimation of Sulphurous Acid.—To a solution of the
soluble ‘salts, chloride of barium was added, which preci-
pitated the ‘sulphuric, sulphurous, carbonic, and phosphoric
acids, as salts ‘of ‘barytes: ‘This precipitate was thrown on
a filter and washed with hot water. The sulphate, sulphite,
and carbonate of barytes, which were on the filter, were
then treated with nitric acid, which converted the sulphite
into sulphate, and dissolved the carbonate. The sulphate
of barytes was then washed with'water and weighed. The
difference between the weight. of this precipitate, and that
of the sulphate of barytes previously obtained, indicated the
amount. of sulphate. of barytes formed, by the action of the
nitric acid on the sulphite.... From, this the sulphurous acid
was calculated.

Sulphate of Sulphuric Sulphuric Acid Dif- Sulphurous
Barytes. Acid. before obtained. ference. Acid.
100 gts, gave 15°76 5°40 4°915 "485 *392

\ Drift. Weed, Kelp. from Orkney, 259

jo Estimation,,of -Hyposulphurous, Acid.--The, soluble salts
‘being, separated by.means,of cold.water from,.the insoluble
salts, othe’, sulphurets,,and, carbonates jwere. removed, by, sul-
phate.of;copper.5 After separating this, precipitate by, filtra-
tion, sulphuric acid was added.to,thejliquid, which decomposed
the, hyposulphites,. sulpliurous;acid{ being ,evolved,, and, jsul-
phar ;precipitated.,\;This paApAAT v was Ah gm, washed,.dried at
212° Fahr., and, oun RS + peo, id moa

dagtog to 999194

Oe H Lente ttewes Hy posaliphuroue
“91g doalle & boats , Sulphur. y ‘Acid. Acta, Nek cent,
118 400) 0" gtains give TB Ee 6g 135"
SIBoM'oOR Mm lq-siacomrins te

Doe eacstion, of, Sulphur, —The quantity of sulphur in the
soluble , salts was estimated by deflagrating a portion of, the
ke elp with nitre. _ By this, process all the, sulphites, hyposul-

phites, and, sulphurets were, converted into sulphates. , The
sulphuric. acid was then precipitated. by chloride. of barium,
as sulphate of barytes, which was weighed, andthe sulphuric
acid.contained in it calculated. It is obvious that the sul-
phuric‘acid thus obtained comprehended all the sulphur exist-
ing as sulphurets, and sulphur acids in the original kelps.
If we subtract from. it, the sulphuric acid found to exist as
Such in. the; kelp, .we have remaining the sulphuric acid
‘equivalent to the sulphites, hyposulphites, and sulphurets.in
the kelp, If, again, we subtract, from, the; last, result the
calculated, quantity of sulphuric acid, equivalent, to the sul-
phuronus- -hyposulphurous ., acid, ,and, the sulphuret, of,; the
insoluble salts, the. remainder. will be the sulphuric. acid,

Sanirmleatt to, the eb of, the soluble salts,

oasis ga ofl .otanodtso sdt bovio tedqiue odar
ofl horlviow bre 4 ‘Galpleites ne Ar » Sulphusie _ Sulphuric, Acid,
; i ae tet Barytes. mY ee eee ae" per cent,
7 300 grains gave 4655 oO 16 Oro naire 8:02,
ty Original sulphuric acid,’ ''4°920 ~
*Sulphiiti acid = " Sulphuroug acid, 490° hes i
bise evotudgine ok dyposalphurows/acid,rd 91d ao bios oriia
Sulphur, insol. salts, °965 yolso asw
pai Total calculated sulphuric acid, 1°446

bis? oo Sulphuric. acid. = ‘Sulphur of sol. ‘salts, 1:654
ces © Sulphur, ‘soluble salts,'per cent., \ 6 6616

260 On the Chemical Examination of

Estimation of Phosphoric Acid.—To the solution from which
the sulphuric acid had been precipitated by chloride of barium
and muriatic acid, after separation of the precipitate, | am-
monia,was added, when phosphate of barytes fell.

Phosphate of Phosphoric Phosphoric Acid,
Barytes. Acid. per cent.

200 grains gave —- 202 Hy A POAO 8245

Estimation of Carbonic Acid.—The) carbonic! avid ino theid
soluble salts, was, determined, in|, the)same!amamnnér asin ther
insoluble, .salts, , by ;passing the. gas) evolved by :muriatice!
acid from, the, solution of-the salts, through caustic barytesi)
dissolved in; water....The,. carbonic! acid:precipitated) the!
barytes .ascarbonate;) from, which the carbonic acid ‘was |
calculated. | t isties yiiaoupot

Carbonate of Carbonic Carbonic fervie ie
Barytes. Acid. percent,
500 gr ains gave 48: 62°" 10° gS 2: 180

Estimation of Chlorine. —A solatign of | kes solulihi sities
was, boiled with, nitric acid,.to convert, the sulphurets: intois
sulphates ;) the, chlorine was then Srna i: nitrate of |
Silver. 5) ellec to obrroldo vd botadiqiss1q

et i Chloride of. otudiie. vd be | Chlonine, onted
Silver. per cent.
: ] tll old att posvonioy
15 @rains pave Pepe 3°52 | 23°40 |

bLPaore. 10 93 15°5 SVHYUXS alld PHB HIO
Mean, ° 24-365)

Estination of Todine.—This, which. i is one, na the Tost:
valuable constituents of kelp, was determined by. the follow. ;
ing method, which has yielded results yery satisfactory :_ :

A’portion of the kelp was exhausted of its iodides, by.< di. is
gestion Several times in ‘alcohol. The alcholic, solution Was.
then’ evaporated to dryness, and. to convert. any sulphuret, bs
which might have been taken up, by alcohol into sulphate,
was déflagrated with chlorate of potash, and kept. at a, ‘red.
heat’ till’ any iodate that might have been formed by, the...
action of the chlorate of potash, was decomposed. ‘The mass a
was then dissolved in water, and the iodine precipitated in
means of chloride of palladium, as iodide of palladium, which .
was dried at'212° Fair, and weighed :

Bi

Tp

LV

rredtmos 4 a

Dr sie Weed mp from On roney. 261

i (UOTE LiGads ,
tadtiXe

mioitsd io sbriolis yd Der PidataMl ‘Eddi. Oe Sper Gent.
1000’ gaits gave QL EIE TAZA gMIO® OATS
1000 list: IGA / 10 4395 Geng USAGE DIM “Syorrr”
om. =| De ee te or -287
aia arcana : nod geod tran iodine, per cent., 2992

Separation of Bromine and Iodine.—To effect the separa-
tion! of theiiedinecand bromine, ‘a pound of kelp was treated

Toate. {4

with alcohol, which dissolved“ out’ the bromide’ and iodide.

Thesaleoholiwas then driven off through the aqueous solu
tion) ofthe salts; (Chlorine was passed in order to decompose ~
theliodide:and»bromide; theiodine and bromine being set free.”

This/liquor, holding solution of fréé iodine and bromine, was
frequently agitated with ether in a stoppered bottle.’ The
aqueons’ ‘solution gradually became clear on standing, and
ether containing the bromine and. iodine floated, on..the)sur-
face. This ethereal solution was then decanted, and satu-
ratedwith soda, ‘after which it was evaporated to dryness,

and cheated ‘to: redness; to" destroy any iodate or bromate.
The residual (salts were dissolved in water, and the iodine.
precipitated by chloride of palladium. The iodide of palladium ~

being separated by filtration, the | excess of palladium was
removed, from the filtrate. by sulphohydrate of ammoniaz | It
was foundin this experiment that sulphohydrate of ammonia
answered !better than sulphohydric acid for removing the
excess of palladium ; because when, sulphohydric acid is em-

ployed, part, of the ‘sulphuret of palladium i is dissolyed by;the...
acid rata was previously, united, to. the palladium, which ,,,
was set free by the sulphohydric acid. Having removed, the
excess. of sul hohydrate of, ammonia by boiling, chlorine was. <
op through ‘the solution, to decompose bromide, 3
The Biointiic which | was set free. was taken, up, by ether (this bi
had’ aye low. colour, ‘probably : from the. presence of a, small ...
gui of bromine). The ethereal solution. was then: new.
Bree a soda, ¢ evaporated to dryness, and heated to redness. }.
he Aqueous. solution. of the residue gave a white precipitate ai

again passe

nitieat n itrate ‘of 5 silver, which consisted principally. of chloride

my

of silver. But. ole the colour of the ether, it was, evident, ;

that it contained a small quantity of bromine.

2 ot ee a ee

re converted into Saaiad of lime... | | 00°0 | sizer gent Yo stedgls
i pos mil to stsiqhs

: | Carbonate of | St a | Lime; ‘0 bee
Lime. | | / ite! enti glu: eon
400‘grains gave 1°49 805-5 | eT? ean

500 Zee 2°33 1:300°" -260

| Mean lime, per cent, 12300 20d

ammonia, as ammonia-phosphate of magnesia, which’ was ' on
converted by; heat into the diphosphate of magnesia.

262 On, the Chemical Examination of

Estimation of Potassium. —To determine accurately the
any shade that lel exist as sulphate into es which
was effected in the following manner. From the:solution of
the salts/the sulphuric acid was precipitated bychloride of
barium, and the sulphate of barytes separated by filtration.
The excess of barytes was then thrown down by carbonate
of ammonia.) The liquor, after the carbonate of barytes had
been remoyed, was evaporated to dryness and heated to red-
ness, to expel the ammonia. The residue was, dissolved in,
water, and the potassium precipitated by. the addition ot the
sodium bichloride of platinum, as the potassium bichloride
of platinum (KCI PtCl,). |

ldufoe

- (KCLPtCR) Potassium. hi cord
80 grains gaye 31:0 5:071 16-

Estithation of Lime.—This was determined. by precipita-_—

Tian

tion; as oxalate of lime; the precipitate, when heated} WAR

| Kigsshasion of neat —The magnesia was precipitated
from the solution of the salts by phosphate of, soda, and oii

srceor to sbi
Diphosphate of | | Magnesia | Magnesia,
or ve or PP RMF t0 obion
: 500 sai same id Bris OMI

400 we 3°00 1:071 267
me ee Mean: magnesia, per Gent. ,\ 1277

Results of Analyses of Soluble Salts.

Sulphuric acid, . 7 - . ie ate Ae OL
Sulphurous acid, . : : ; rurale
Hyposulphurous acid, . , 5 { 135.
Sulphur, , »; > : vettadiite s sini hPae@

Phosphoric-acid, . “*B245

Drift-Weed Kelp from Orkney. 263

ie acid, 8 ese PRC Te EO at &
aa ha ‘Chlorine 24885
doidw Fodine: 9 Oso! sieaqiye as Jalxo JOST Isls. gd
to aor ele cial ‘1 nor ..soomRon ostiwollo US i! trace.
to Srna age tiqisotg asw bios oFmdglye 00H sa 9
: PIED coecttens

moister ve i yf eotyied To otedqiua’odd efi

ae iH bo 222s as ae ane ae is A 277
9tRgoodTse YG AwoD wot iTS BADE SOs, EE Se “sh
bed Bods sd ‘to ofsnod189 ait sodts stoupil odT gquzpg crams
hay 8 deficiency’ here i is the zoday 8 as ‘may ‘be seen by the two.
schpring ‘Tables, i in which the acids and bases are united

according. to their affinities ; ; and the result of the examina-

tion of a hundred parts of kelp is given, comprehending both
soluble and insoluble matter :—

I Sul-/ |) Usal- Hypo- a § YS rit
su Sul- Chlo- | Potas- 7: : Mag-
_| faci MAC phurous phur. rine. | sium. Sodium. acai nesia.

Acid.

apy of ee [2 058 ods ser] [FR O8S bb peo Ress me
ulphate of soda, ~. | 2000 ee Nee in ae NES nahh tales
ulphate of magnesia, | 0°693 fi 3M YO 231
ulphate of lime, . | 0°164 ae 115
ulphite of soda, | os °261
ly posulphite:of soda, ss 058
ulphuret of;sodium, << -9894) F

ities Phos

0d phorie) |),

, ee ‘Acid. |
hosphate of'soda, . | °3245rpo -is 162
Car-
bonic
eietiqnotd pads:
arbowie: of f Souda, .» | 2°180 it : 1-846
bloride of potassium)| 9.2" 1, Of12-584 |13! 943
hloride of sodiam,, |o.5...:. sys ideleemO home (ae 764,
hloride of calcium, PN gy A line RS atta (Sh we 116. ‘
GIES Tpdiael PO. Od Gi AT OF LLY F9! st j

dide of magnesium, 292° "040

Pit ete Bt iTS QF Biv Bro-. |
minés2pmesie
omide of nidicstim, trace, Ses

y Ladle of: Saaions ‘orspsihics of Orkney Kelp.

: Insoluble Salts. . gate
Carbonate of lime, . a, 2-591
Phosphate of lime, : . ° 10556
Oxysulphuret of calcium, ‘1-093
Silicate of lime, 3 : : 3°824 ~
Carbonate of magnesia, . 6-554:
eer emis hh Ses +S eB BTN

964 On the Colowrs of a Jet of Sted

es Alumina, : : ae ; S 142” a a doudw
IT J Carbon, eno yf mah : ; tr F c a 920 “a T ay =
“4 “Hydrogen, . wi iq - f A! Us 88] ‘144, oveorl < oe
ETIPOROR Se ee tu Fe mi 152°" : oe rea ¢eb
Oxygen, ye stn ay” 65g | uo 3

| A it to® ad ¢ i ‘99:209''° 1
ae ce | Soluble Salts, Sa K : mit of ne
on Sulphate of potash, Te nae! Oe, | anaes

_cSulphate of soday nye tt et OUD ei ais
ov te ,.Sulphate of ‘iia REC hte. Jaws eed ese ein
“y.:,),Sulphate of magnesia, =. a pe a = ch nies
bédleton ePIPRARG OL Stes yen er ee ae ee towne
S Hyposulphite He soda, 0s fae ee “an ul
somuippunet.ofsodium, , ... ,. L651 7 ® is
qeagspuate of soda, ee EO, ne

\ lad atuarbonate of sodas. S.No ea oS 0G Mie zinta
do con Eploride ‘of potassium, © 2... \26"49T° Toul sere
1. Chloride of BOGUITIN Fou igta «ce cciaa 19334" "a paagee wri

oT ona ; , | Pe | ny 4 or 2 rE P .
Fares Chloride of calcium, ace cae 20 «229. qo J) ope |
aia I ti} 9701 One 16 TSDOA0 .

2 eee Todide of magnesium, 2 ‘OLO Oceeaee site
lone BW IO jyoloo mi 9ymer0

~ Bromide of magnesium, re He, “tpadd
Be Na ae (ews 6800" seri! orl ee
LSM10 a devoid ‘ont onrornrbe fh

> OMI 6 IBT “48 dnote OT & TO’ & 090" 1 fg 92

sie e sont ia t ol AGO: 00-209" ds

sid stom ‘ood yar

9599 iJ if DS Is9qqsé TWOiv9
dw dedi ,3 On oe Colours of a Jet of ees aidT ee
“Professor J. D: Forbes, some “years ago; obsérved: that ‘a jet of
‘steam absorbed ‘the more ‘refrangible ‘portion of white: Tights loot
happened, during some’ experiments, that a blue jetof steam caught
my attention, and further experiments soon’ assured ‘me: ¢hat it was
“easy to obtain a fet OF almost anyeedloaro?'» isdis 2odiol 101

A blowpipe jet was screwed on a T- -piece, ‘and. tig opposite’ open-
ing” of the’ T-piece ‘was supplied’ with a’ stopeock, while*the third
opening of the 'T-piece communicated, by ‘means’ of a tubes swith the
cock’ of the boiler.” The blowpipe jet had ais orifice about: efiths of
-an inch diameter, and’ its axis was elevated about? 28% above the
horizon. The stopcock on the T-pieté was ‘furnished ‘with little
_ contrivance for preventing the’ steam that ‘it discharged from “‘inter-

fering’ with the appearance of the steam discharged bythe*blow
_ Jet; the use of this ‘stopcock was’ to blow off the water ate
densed in’ the ‘steam "passages. “A pressure) was mesa inthe

boiler of about 40 lbs. on the inehy) “8°20. ja voids Tai
On fully opening the cock of the boiler a jet of steam was obtained

* Philosophical Magazine, 8. 3, vol. xiv., p. 121,
i 5 ; P

On the Colours of a Jet of Steam. 265

which appeared blue in nearly every position in which it could be
viewed. Looking end-on from below, the steam jet caused that part
of the heavens obscured by it to appear feebly orange coloured. The
day was bright,.but the sky at this quarter was overeast.: On look-
ing through the,jet of steam from below upwards, but in a direction
inclined: about 11° to the axis of the jet, in which position a portion
only of the steam-cloud could -be, viewed by the direct light of the
clouds, the remaining portion being sheltered by the side of the win-
dow, one part, ofthe jet appeared orange red, namely, that part
which transmitted.the direct light of the clouds, ORS the other por-
tion was blue. , ‘The blueness of the jet increased with the above-
mentioned angle. until the angle was perhaps 30°, after which the

blueness somewhat diminished, but was, far from Delng extinguished
at 90°.

By partly mae the cock of the boiler, and so HAE sino steam

from the jet of, perhaps, not a higher pressure than 10,1b. on the
‘inch, I could obtain.a jet of steam, which, looking end from below,
was Blue. It was rather difficult to obtain ate blue jet, and when ob-
tained, it kept alternating with violet. On-now viewing this blue jet
under an angle as before (192) of about 20°, it appeared reddish-
orange in colour; this colour was not visible at almost any angle,
like the reflected, blue (192).
Looking end-on, and adjusting the pressure, I have oecasionally
seen for a moment at a time a bright green jet ; also, and commonly
a blue-purple. In the reflected tints I am not sure that I have seen
any thing more than orange-red, violet, and blue. The transmitted
cOlour appeared in my experiments more intense than the reflected
tints. This, perhaps, \has’ its explanation) in\ the) fact, that when
iolooking . exid-bos the, eye receives light which; has shone.through a
jlcolummar arrangement, whose length is much greater than its diameter,
jcwhile the>reflected lights would. only, ;.be, seen. by looking qn, the con-
owex isurface-of\the, columnar, stream, of particles. ;.

Prof. Forbes, after discovering, the red, colour. of a jet ‘of steam by
_transmittedclight,- connected the red,.colour .of the clouds.with this
pact ;/and the truth, of, thisyeonnection,,is.beyond:dispute., » So, far,
orhonievers as} I; have:been able, to.go, the colours of the; steam. jet, are
jomanifestly,oonly, instances. of. ordinary, interference;. greatly, resem-
sobling; that: produced by, thio transparent plates; the transmitted ; ray
>| being always complementary to the reflected... Thus in} 92 the trans-

smitted dight, is red, asin Prof..Eorbes’s experiments, but. the reflected
slight| isblue. (It is therefore tobe inferred. that all, the colours, of
othe (clouds originate in.interference. caused, by.minute,drops of water,
orlthe; size, of which, determines.,their colour.; .while the, blue jet Ah?)
is, I think, Sarat geplneean to. the blue. hyd #

he onist¢ Ic

roger

., |.® Phil. Mag,, nae i

266 Prof. Graham and Hoffmann on the Alleged

‘ tid odT .dlee oillze
Repbetes sok: the dlegedn Aquilvodsiort of ‘Paleo Ales by
Strychnine.':, By Professors'GRAHAM and pet te

Having undertaken, at:the request of Mr Allsopp, an 1 in
quiry into the purity, of bitter beer, with particular reference
to,its alleged adulteration, by strychnine, we now, submit the;
results which we have obtained upon the subject...

Strychnine or strychnia, the alleged substitute for the hop,
is a fine crystallisable substance, extracted, from Nue: YOMICAy
and belonging to the class, of vegetable principles termed Bil
kaloids, of which quinine from Peruvian bark, and morph
from ;-opium,, are the. most, familiar examples; , hese, sub-
stances, although, susceptible of the most valuable medigal,
application. ; in small doses; are; generally, speaking, remark,,
able. for their energy.as poisons, and for theintense; bitterness |
of their'taste; two properties which, are developed,in stryeh-,
nine in the highest. degree. ; Half. .a, grain of,the latter sub-;
stance would poison, and the bitterness,of (the; same | minute;
quantity is perceptible in every, drop, of -six;or| oun gallons
of, water in which it is dissolved.)|{¢or2 od} to owdxierbe od!

It.may be stated at once, that. the; omer of, wiesalinitech’
which we find necessary,to impartto.beer the: degree of, bit-)
terness; possessed by, pale ales, is. for-a gallon .of, beer }.one|
grain, of strychnine, or; double the fatal dose: The price: of>
strychnine is,about sixteen shillings the! ounce;: which does,
not-amount to,so-much as,one penny per grain: | Estimating:
the annual production of pale ale in: Burton:at:200;000:barrels,5
the strychnine required as,a bitter) would» however, ‘amount
to 16,448 ounces,,andi cost |£13,158 while mobody believes»
that so much as 1000 ounces.of strychnine:are' manufactured «:
over the whole world, ‘The: bitterness: obtained’ by means of:
strychnine is equalin degree to that of the hop, but-very differs «:
entin kind; and, easily distinguished when, the two bitters) axe!’
compared. /The -bitter,of the hop is mmediate insits:action)
upon the palate, is accompanied by a fragrant aromapand!)
soon passés off ; whilst that iof strychnineyis*not sooinstati-
taneous ;: but when the impression is..once made! it is:morels
lasting, and becomes,:from its:persistence, like that: of aame=!

Adulteration of Pale Ales by Strychnine: 267

tallic salt. The bitter of strychnine is, indeed, easily distin-
hadnt from that of the hop, when deliberately tasted:
Still it:would be: highly :désirabletto! be! able: tocidentify
str yehnine i in beer, by the actual extraction of the substance,
and the application to it of a chemical ‘test of ‘absolute cer-
tainty. Fortunately those poisons whith have the most viot
lent actiott upon the:animal: economy, possess often also ‘the
best marked yeactions, or ‘their physiological and chemical
pidperties are equally salient.’ Thus, arsenic’ and hydrocy-
aiiie acid ‘are the most easily detected of chemical substances +
and | nea pa ¥6 ve = gti wis heme axa in ahs hat re-
spect 0%" TK .2wIKC i
-dueqiazatily of calpain not. (ikedéttie® To 1,288 of i a orain! da
tested And ‘rédoenised'to be’ sttychnine i in the: following man!
nér. “The powder is. moistened With “a” single “drop of undi-
lated silphuvie acid, and a'small fragment! of dhvomate: of
potash placediinthe liquid. A°beautifal atid most’ intense”
violet tintimmiediately'appedrs ‘at the points of. contact): and’
is ispeedily diffuved lover the! whole’ liquidio’ Althowgli most?
intense, the:colourdisappears entirely again ina few minutes.
The admixture of the smallest quantity of ‘organie mattér,
however, interferes with the suecess of the process. In‘order
tolapply the:test) in operating upon @ complex liquid like beer,”
the strychnine must: first be’ extracted from ‘the Tiquid and”
obtained ima purecor nearly pure condition! “This difficulty,:
which ‘appears) at) first considérable,' maybe “readily! ‘sur-¢
mounted, and the:strychnine, if it'really exist in beer bese"
parated, and its nature established in:the most certain manner:
) For this»purpose, twor ounces sof*ivory' black, or‘animal °
charcoal were shaken!in half! 4: gallom:of beer, towhich half
a/graimof strychninehad been purposely added:« After stand+'!
ing over night, the: liquid was'found' to be nearly deprived ‘of ©
_ albbitterness'; the strychnine bein~»absorbed bythe! charcoals”
The: liquid was now passed through a paper filter} upon which
papain ore the; ocr was: riggs ‘and?
drained: mors Jae TOL: 9 LOG C09 ir .od } noqn
-The next bios was to: gebatatd: Alte btedeiinthe ieoeen the
charcoal. | 'This:was readily effected: by boiling’ the mixtures:
for half }anhourin eight ounces:of cordinary spirits: of wind;.'

268 Prof. Graham and Hoffmann on the Alleged

ayoiding loss of alcohol by, evaporation. The spirits which
now contained the strychnine were next filtered, and after-
wards submitted to distillation. A watery fluid remained
behind, holding the strychnine in solution, but not sufficiently
pure for the test... The final purification was accomplished by
adding a few drops of potash to the watery fluid, and then
Gikne it, with an ounce of ether, A portion of the ethereal
Tatton evaporated upon a watch glass, left a whitish solid
mass_of intense bitterness, and this was recognised to be
strychnine, by giving the violet tint previously described
upon the application to it of sulphuric acid and chromate, of
potash.

Having satisfied ourselves. by repeated experiments with
samples of beer, to. which strychnine had been previously
added, of the never-failing efficiency of the above method ,of
extraction,. we now proceeded to the actual examination
of the commercial article. With this object a series of
samples were taken indiscriminately from the stores of a con-
siderable number of the London. bottlers, TNOARE the
public with Allsopp’s pale ale.

It may be stated that with the exception ,of a orictae :
the casks from which these samples were taken, had all been
received in London before the 20th of March, 2. e. , the period
when the possible use of strychnine in the manufacture of
bitter beer was first brought before the English public. _.

Not, one of these varieties of beer, when tested with. ‘the
greatest scrupulousness, gave the slightest evidence of the, pre-
sence of strychnine.

The charge of adulteration of beer by strychnine has been
proposed in a manner so vague, that it is, difficult to. fix. it,
and. try, its, validity.,, The existence. of the adulteration. is
not,alleged in any, particular sample of beer, nor the practice
ascribed to any, individual brewer or dealer, An English
journalist adopts the charge, upon the report that such an
opinion is entertained and expressed by a French chemist of
distinction, M. Payen, in his public lectures at Paris. _From
this gentleman we have since obtained explanations . which
define more closely the, kind of charge which was actually
made by him... The late M. Pelletier, the well- known mann ;

Y Aautieration of Pale Ales by Strychnine. 269

‘Yacturer of organic products i in France, had received atone
time a an ‘order eo an extraordinary quantity of strychnine, of
E yhich the destination was at first unknown to him but which
heat afterwards | learned had been entirely exported’ te England,
ant sed, a8 hé informed M. Faye, to completed the Dit of
‘cer ain kinds of beer.
. We have ‘Feagon to know, lndeage it i not Stated: raed M.
Paye OS , that: these remarks of Pellétier refér'to’a period ‘ten
dF beets years past ; and further, although not informed ‘of
inl ‘m mount of the order, we have got good authority to state
‘that fifty ‘or A huindted duncey would ‘have ‘been! donsidéred’a
large order for strychnine at that time. The calculation
bis dy given Shiews how utterly insignificant such’ a’ Supply
strychnine would be for its imagined application 4 in the ‘pale
oo cr eran “Tt is likewise known that the manufactiire” of
Stryehning ‘has! not been” on the” increase in Fratiee og Tate
19 ears, & dogjdo aiid ad NOTIB LB 1m09 ods to
“Mt. Payen oxdlised” his stateinents’o on 1 thé Agnare that sifiilar
‘Suspicions a are conveyed ina ‘French’ work ‘On ‘Adulterations
a Falsifications,” by Chevallier, ‘published neatly 9a year
ot _ but which have not hitherto recéived any formal ¢ontra-
amrsile ti Eni land.’ Notwithstanding’ the “latter “¢iteum -
baa our aistiguithd correspondent concltides by éxpress-
‘ing ‘his’ reget that he evér ‘said’ * thatthe fraud! appeared’ to -
have ‘heen’ practised, »" Aithough ‘he had added thé tmark ‘at
‘the’ time, that this falsification Had no doubt ceased.” f
“Tt thus appears, that ‘the chargé which ‘ha’ ‘been ‘put’ into
the mouth of M. Payen, was never made at’ all by that’ gentle-
‘nan; 80 far’ as it applies’to thé present practied “of English
brewers, and with reference to anterior times, that thé’ charge
“Feposes “simply ‘and ‘exclusivly: upon thé’ privately expressed
“4 ‘opinion of a ‘deceased ‘chemist, the’ grounds of ‘which’ ate “én-
Ss ntively i nknown to the world; arid mist ever rémali ‘86°
"* Tn' conclusion, it is’ scardély necéxsary'to refer to’ thé sifting
“nature of the rg ‘Seto whieh thie "beer" on Meésers
A “108 nd ile establish their inéontestible ia igageds no
he Who has’ witnessed, as we have done, the aad manner

VOL. LIII. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. an

270 Prof. Graham and Hoffmann on the Alleged

their, establishment; would entertain; the idea for a moment
that,any, practice involving contealment) was/possibles:/) But
even in, the ,absence.of all. such scrutiny, the idea of; strych-
nine being mixed with beer anywhere, or in,anyicircumstances;
involves.an amount of improbability which might well: cre
all suspicion on the subject.

There is an Act of Henry VII., which prohibits the sited.
teration of ale by brimstone or hops. «oThe place lof the hop
was then supplied by sage, horehound, chamomile;and other
indigenous bitter plants.» Since that period, the:character of
the national beverage must have ‘undergone wsilentorevolu-
tion; for:all:varieties of beer, both pale and: brown; now owe
their distinctive properties tothe hops which are cboiled’ im
the malt infusion, and fermented along with it, as'‘completely
as wine owes its peculiar character to the grape 5 substitute
any other bitter for the hop, and the fermented: wort soll
no longer be recognised as beer. {109

Were mere bitters all that is vor it woulda 0: cabaag
to‘prove that the extract of quassia’ would’ supply a bitter
which is perfectly harmless and eae eins and ee Tess
expensive than strychnine. whats:

Bat the process of brewing pale ale is one in which ot Ribl
but water, the best ‘malt,and hops’ of the firsti quality are
used, and is an operation of the greatest delicacy and ‘care;
which ‘would ‘be’ entirely ruined “by any tampering with the
materials employed: Strychniné could not'failto be rejected,
from the ungrateful ‘metallic’ ‘character of its bitterness, in-
dependent of all’ objections of a more ‘seriot® kind. “This
peculiarity of taste is‘ also calculated |to betray its preserice!
Small, too, as the proportion of strychnine ‘may be; whieh is
necessary to impart the degree of bitterness of pale ale; the
quantity rises, as’ has been'séen, to'a poisonous dose’ in half
a gallon ofthe fluid and as 'this poison is one of those which
are known to accumulate in the system, its poisonous action
would inevitably follow, in occasional ‘cases, upon ‘the con-
sumption of much smaller portions of beer when’ continued
for’many days without intermission: © The ‘violent ‘tetanie
symptoms of poisoning by strychnine are also such as_could
scarcely fail to excite suspicion,.and alarm... Add .to these

Adulteration of Pale Ales by Strychniine: 271

disadvantages, the © certainty’ of the means of “detecting
strychnine” in |beer’ by “the chemical tests described ‘above,
which ‘any medical man or:practical chemist’ can°apply,and
the chance ‘of the use! of so dangerous a Substance''for ‘atly
purpose of adulteration, pesomient im seh last my ree
i.

qo vofPhe following lether onthe sinatigll sid tdration of bitter
beer; fromo Professor Liebig» to Messrs mc it oe in
the<Times, will interest our readers.|

ofé Lhet unguarded remark of ia Det seach état the

Sigtaine imported: invEngland,-is' employed: in | part’ asoa
substitute for shops’ in; the:»manufacture; of; beer; has! lately
spread. alarm among the! lovers: of pale ale. - Having been
appealed: to -by,you.to express my opinion on this) subject,
which appears to.me.to be, inva dietetic point: of view;! one of
considerable public interest, .L now, offer the following brief
statement, ,

aos About a » quarter of a century, ago,a brewer in West:
phalia. fell:into, the practice of adulterating his beer with Vaw
vomica,from which it is well known that.strychninetis obtained,
The peculiar morbid, symptoms, however, which resulted from
the consumption of this adulterated, beer, speedily led,to the
detection. of, the fraud, .The effects produced, by, Mem ,vomica
and strychnine, are so characteristic, that,every medical; man
will,readily. detect; their, origin.,,,/ The French, novelist, Alex;
andre Dumas, has ‘deseribed. ¢hentt, though ;with.morejimagi+
nation than) truth, in his romance of, “,Monte; Christo.’,,,1448
possible. that the, Westphalian, case,-which, from being made
thejsubject.of a criminal, trial, obtained,.great notoriety, has
given/rise, to; the, assumption, that. in: England.the strych-
nine imported;is, used for, the.purpose ofmixing: with: beer.
But. nobody at.al] -acquainted) withthe (great, breweries. of
that, country: could): ‘Seriously entertain the suspicion of -an
adulteration. of beer with. strychnine or, any deleterious sub-
Stance.,... It.is practically impossible, that. any, operation. of a
doubtful, character could, be carried; out;in these extensive
929%) Quarterly Journal ‘of the Chemica? Society, voli vi, No. 18)°p. 178/16

T 2

272 ! Professor Liebig on the

establishments, on account of the large number ‘of workmen
employed in them. Any attempt on the part of the brewer
to impart to his beer in an illicit manner’ qualities which are
not'to be obtained from malt or Hops, would necessarily lead
to his ruin} as ‘he would: be obliged ‘to communicate his
secret to too matiy persons, and to employ too many Accor
plices!’ The draymen themsé¢lves} ‘as good ‘connoissieurs’ in
beer; would protest against any manipulation ofa suspicious
character. The case has’ even occurred of an eminént brewer
not venturing to make use-of a method suggested to him, for
the purpose of clearing his’ beer’ more: effectually, because
the addition of a ‘new santa to the wort might’ have in-
duced a suspicion in the minds of his' workmen’ that it was
an illicit proceeding, and this would’ have endangered the
good reputation which his beer enjoyed: He stated to me at
the same time that no improvement ‘could be introduced into
a brewery, the object of which was not pericey ae rena to
every body.

“During a sojourn of several days at Burton-on-Trent, I had
an opportunity of becoming intimately acquainted ‘with ‘the
method pursued in the manufacture’ of pale ale.’ Iconvinced
myself that the qualities of this excellent beverage depended
mainly upon the care used in the selection of the best kinds of
malt and hops,and upon the ingenuity exhibited in conducting
the ‘processes of mashing and fermenting. ’ Our continental
brewers have much to learn in these points to come up to the
English brewers. I have no hesitation in saying, that Eng-
land possesses the greatest adepts in malting. I know posi-
tively, that the chief brewers of Munich, who undoubtedly
produce the best beer in Germany, have gone through an ap-
prenticeship in Burton. This‘ may account for the predi-
léction entertained’ by thé’ general “public! as’ well as’ 'by
medical men, for these varieties of beer; for the instinet of
humanity and experience appear to be as good guides in the
choice of things that contribute to health and enjoyment as
the profoundest philosophy. |

** Professors Graham and Hoffmann, in the excellent report
already addressed to you upon the alleged adulteration of the
pale ale by strychnine, have indicated a very simple process

Adulteration of Pale Ales by, Sirychnine. 273

for, detecting. the, most, minute, quantity, of strychnine|con-
tained, in| ;beer... 1, have satisfied myself of ;the; great) eon-
yenieiice,, and. accuracy, of. their; method, .and jhave, further
assured myself, by, an analysis of. several specimensjof pale
ale obtained,.from London jhouses, supplied. by your establish-
ment, of the.utter groundlessness.of the imputation, that.this
heer, was, poisoned with. strychnine.;, I,am, positive, and,.am
supported in my, views, by, the concordant, analyses, of all
chemists who.have» occupied, themselves, with the examina;
tion of /beer,, that. the poisoning. of. pale ale with strychnine
has. never, occurred... believe; I may,safely add,.that, it
never . will take places: for; although,.an ignorant | brewer

mi ibe, induced from interested, motives to add; Naz
one. of, om most onde poisons, that, whoever. ye heard
anything | about strychnine at.all, is sure, to. be aware of this,
By adulterating: his beer with strychnine, the. brewer. would
be knowingly committing a crime which, in the present state
of science; must, be. followed "Bd immediate. detection; and

punishment.

po Mer Ka Merck of Darmstadt, one of. the most eulcusit
strychnine. manufacturers, in Europe, informs me that this
substance. ig peculiarly adapted. to. destroy. vermin of. all
kinds, In many parts of Germany it is the popular poison
for x rats, and. mice... This. fact fully accounts for, the. large
amount. of, the drug: that, has lately been introduced. into
commerce. .

-_“ The specimens ‘of your ae ale sent to me bane afforded
another opportunity of confirming its valuable qualities... a
am myself an admirer of, this beverage, and_my.own. eXpe-
rience enables me. fo recommend it, in, accordance with, the
opinion of the most, eminent English, physicians,,as avery
agreeable and efficient. tonic, and.as,a BERET a DaATABS both
for the AoNPHid and the robust... | He
a6 tere vf ai : lias ae {9
es Padineen ite, 6, 1852.” :

274

The New Metal Donarium is Thorina.

A few months avo, M. Bergemann’ discovered’ ‘an’ oxide’ ‘in’ a
mineral from Langesundfiord, near Brevig; in\ Norway, which he
considered to be new... He gave the name Donarium to the metal,
and Dr Krantz that of Orangite to the mineral.

| Daniour has since! examined a'specimen of! otangite. ’ Its withthe
gravity:was 5°19, Bergemann found 6:39!0 On comparing jhis;ana-
lysis with that of Bergemann, and also the; properties, of the jsup-
posed new oxide, M. Damour concludes, that the oxide of donarium
is nothing less than impure thorina ; Bergemann’ S analysis does not
enumerate oxide of lead and oxide of uranium among ‘the ' consti-
tuents. ’’ M. Berlin of Lundy has also ‘found ‘that’ the oxide of dona-
rium is thorina mixed with minute} traces of oxide of uraniuinyoxide
of iron, vanadic acid, tin, and perhaps a, little BOER acd. The
following are the analyses : --

P ee OR
DME 42ILBaALs

Damour. | Busia ee ee

Silica, é : . 1%52 |. Silica, : RIOR: YC A
Thorina, : : 2 Oo F165 | 1 horns, Soe ee rae 3.29
Lime; . . 03 F590 bihime, bozoqmoosp ote ae 92
rede of ee Oe ew 0°88 |..Oxide of Uranium, iWon niet
Oxide of Uranium, 113 | Peroxide. of Iron,” mags + 9 6
Oxide of Manganese, . Oe Pine >. ee ne
Peroxide of Iron, . : 0°31 Vanaidium, sdt Ile to apiteon

Magnesia, .. ; : traca )+Watetl co oft Yo coitwoantoke
Alumina, ... : : 0-17 gsi (om
‘Potash, é ; O14 TEN ge OC OO
Soda, . . 0:33 ditseeb won IiwI 4
Wrster withsracedt irae Acid, 6:14 : I {low at's]

ae |
GP res)

100°14

Damour deduces, from his analysis the formula 3 Th O ny Si 0°
+ 2H. O. Berzelius assumed that thorite consisted of several silicates,
but principally of a silicate thorina, of the formula 3 Th O + Si-O? +
210. Damour is of opinion that Berzelius’s analyses do not lead to
any definite proportion’; but they prove that orangite and thorite are
- (identical, and, that the metal donarium. must. be struck from,,the, list
of simple bodies. Berlin also calculates from his analysis the formula

3ThO+ $1024 2H O: auasta ot bel

and is likewise of opinion that orangite is only a purer thorite. ’ He
also draws attention to a peculiar property of thorina, Ita’ stated
that) calcined thorina is insoluble ‘in acids. :;This is: correct as far\as
regards the earth) obtained|by, calcining the hydrate, but not, for that
obtained by igniting the oxalate, which dissolves slowly in hydr ochloric

acid. (Central, Blatt, June 93, 1852; and translated i m Philoso-
phical Magazine, vol. iv., No 93) Ath Séries, p! 156500 Biter

275

“Py

, Chemico- Geological, Researches,on the Sulphurets whichpare
af doidw Decomposables oy Water,‘ By Ex. F REMY.)

The. Theach of this paper, says. “the, Comptes. Rendus, for
duly,ds :1852,, As, to, make known the production, and, principal
properties of aclass of sulphurets;:hitherto little examined,
and the study of which is alike interesting to chemists “and
‘geologists, from the light which it throws on thé formation
bid mineral, waters.

sucW hen! we consider} says Mr Fremy, the action of mail on
the sulphurets, we find that these: compounds may be divided
into thrée ‘classes’: “the first coniprises the sulphurets of thie
alkalies and of the alkaline earths which dissolve in water; the
Second i is formed of the insoluble sulphurets; the third consists
of 1 the sulphurets of boron, silicon, magnesium, and aluminum,
cwhich are decomposed .byiwater; these latter are scarcely
known, owing to their preparation having hitherto been acom-
‘panied with great difficulties. In order to a thorough inves-
tigation of all the questions’whichiare connected: withthe de-
“composition of the sulphurets by water, I first sought’ for ‘a
smethod by which they might be epeily prepared. This method
I will now describe. shud

It is well known that sulphide skbith no action upon siliéa,
boracic acid, magnesia, and alumina... I imagined it might be
possible to replace the oxygen in these substances by sulphur,
by 1 the intervention of'a second affinity, ‘as’ that'of carbon for
oxygen. ‘Such decompositions, produced by two affinities, are
not rare, in chemistry.;and,in,some,yet. unpublished experi-
ments onthe fluorides, I had observed that the: sulphuret:of
‘carbon completely decomposed ‘the: fluoride of‘ calcium mixed
‘with’ silica, producing sulphuret'of calcium. Iwas therefore
led to presume that) the sulphuret of ‘carbon, acting by its
two elements upon the preceding, oxides, would remove ;the
joxygen, by means ofthe carbon. which it contains, and.would,
_catithe:same:time;' form. sulphurets'} this’ suppositionl:found
‘confirmed by experiment. ° ‘Tn fact,T have’ obtained ‘the ‘sul-
phur tf urets © P Sof boron, ‘Silicon, 1 magnesitim, ‘and aluminum, by sub-
mitting boracic, acid, silica, , magnesia, and alumina, to. ‘the

276 Researches on Sulphurets Decomposable by Water.

action of sulphuret ‘of carbon at‘a high temperature: To
facilitate the reaction, and remove’ the sulphuret from ‘the
decomposing action of the alkalies contained in the porcelain
tubes; it is sometimes useful to mix thé oxides ‘to ‘be re-
dused with charcoal, and to form them into little balls'similar
to those which are used in the preparation of! pass Chines’ of
silicon. |

I have ascertained by analysis that these sulphurets cor-
respond to the oxides from which they have beén derived. :

T will now say a few words on the sulphurets obtained by
the above method. The sulphuret of silicon hail been ob-
tained in small quantity by Berzelius in the reaction of’ sul-
phur upon silicon, and by ‘M. Piérie in’ the décorniposition of
chloride of silicon by hydrosulphurie acid. I have’ obtained
this substance with the greatest ease, by passing the vapour
of sulphuret of carbon over pellets of charcoal and gelatinous
silica, placed in a porcelain tube heated to bright red. The sul-
phuret of silicon condenses in the tube in beautiful white silky
needles, which are not very volatile, but are hee: carried
along by the vapour.

To shew the interest which attaches to the éxamination of
this stibstatice, it will suffice to mention ‘here ‘two ‘of ‘its re-
actions.” When sulphuret of silicon is heated in’a eurrent of
moist air, it is decomposed, and furnishes silky crystals of'an-
hydrous silica ; it is evident that we may explain, by means
of this experiment, the natural production of certain filamen-
tous crystals of silica. The sulphuret.of silicon in the pre-
sence of water is decomposed with a brisk.evolution of hydro-
sulphuric acid into silica, which remains entirely dissolved in
the water, and is not deposited until the liquid is evaporated.
It is impossible not to connect! this curious property! with
those natural conditions under whieh certain mineral waters
and siliceous incrustations are‘ formed.

‘As ‘the sulphuret. of. silicon ‘is’ probably’ nncdenbil in all
those cases where silica is submitted to the double action of
a binary compound which cedes’ sulphur to it, and at the
same time appropriates its oxygen, this sulphuret is probably
not so rare as has been hitherto thought; and, byadmitting
its presence in those rocks in which’sulphurous' springs ocenr,

Analysisof Indian Ores of Manganese. 277

we miyght,explain the simultaneous, existence of-silica.and
sulphuretted, hydrogen in, the principal, sulphurous waters:
This hypothesis is im. some. measure confirmed, by the inte-
resting observations of. M. Descloizeaux, which shew that, the
siliceous) springs of: the, Geysers, of Iceland contain;).a large
quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen.

I content myself with submitting these a ae to
geologists,;merely observing that in explaining the for mation
of sulphurous and. siliceous, waters. by, the; decomposition. of
the sulphuret, of silicon, [,am only extending the ingenious
theory proposed by M. Dumas, to. explain, the formation, of
boracic acid. )

Lhe; -sulphurets of boron and Poca were prepared, ‘iho
the: ‘sulphuret of silicon,..and;.are,; likewise lenompased by
water. 5 |

_ The sulphuret, of. magnesium, I, obtained, by passing. vale
rad carbon.over pure, magnesia ;, in, this, case, the. pre-
sence, of charcoal. does, not appear, to, be of, any use.,..This
sulphuret crystallises,; and) is, soluble,in cold water. .. When
its solution is kept at the ordinary temperature, there is, but
a feeble, disengagement of. sulphuretted. hydrogen ;, but when
heated \to -ebullition,, a, lively, effervescence of ,sulphuretted
hydrogen takes place, and there is an immediate) deposition
of magnesia.
annsi yd 0

ep rt 4. or o> * ~
CLO CEE ;
BES2 OED: ba OEE

Antes iy Tndian’ Ores of a anol and of some Scot-
tish Zeolites. By Dr A. J. Scort, HELC.S.” Commu-
. chicated PY. the Author.

ial a ieee of eieeniin a e, were. kindly. deat i
sme;by Dr.Alexander Hunter of Madras ‘from different; loca-
lities in India, I have examined.several during the: course of
last winter,in.the laboratory of; Dr Anderson of, Edinburgh,
jand, under his immediate: superintendence. |, Those, which
-present most interest, in.a- mineralogical, point,.of view Jare
two manganese ores found at Vizianagram, and Bimlapatam,
un the! northern, Circars. It; would, seem. that the former
occurs.in very large! quantities. .. A description of it by Dr

278 Analysis\of some Indiam Oresof Manganese.

Hunter has appeared in several of the Madras journals; but
as no analysis: of it: has‘as'.yet) beem published) ‘and as‘it
belongs ‘to a class of ‘manganese minerals of! rather crare
occurrence, ‘a short notice of it) may not be devoid: of in-
terest. ideluoles bexen
It occurs in large irregular masses, some of heh described
to be of several’ tons weight. \I/am not acquainted with the
geological formation in which this mineral is met with, never
having visited that part of India, but, generally speaking, the
prevailing rock in the Indian Peninsula, especially of the
Carnatic,.in which many minerals containing. iron,or man-
ganese. occur, is. that, which is,commonly known. by, the; name
of .“‘ Laterite,”, a rock; peculiar.to that,country, and. of, which
an excellent, detailed description, has, been already. ublished
by, the late Captain Newbold .of the Madras army. :
The mineral under consideration presents,a highly aeealic
lustre of, .a..bluish-black,.colour, interspersed; here,and;there
with,.dull., greyish, spots,. which; latter. possess the, external
character. of Psilomelan, ... It; breaks with difficulty, and when
split. with a chisel presents; an. imperfect. rhombohedral, clea-
vage.,... Its specilic gravity.is 4: 50.
solves, readily in hydrochloric oie with. the, evolution, of
chlorine gas, and on;eyaporation forms a gelatinous mass .of
a deep. yellow, colour. Itsanalysis was. performed. by dis-
solving it in. hydrochloric acid, evaporating to dryness, and
heating, strongly, in order to, render the, silicic acid, inso-
lnble, and effect its separation. The iron was separated. from
the manganese. by, suceinate of -ammonia.;, the atter metal
being. then -precipitated by hydrosulphuret of ammonia, was
afterwards redissolved and thrown: down, by carbonate. of
soda, and; ultimately reduced, to red oxide by subjecting it to
a.strong, heat, in which state, its weight was ascertained.
The other ingredients, were determined, in the usual manner.
The quantitative constitution, of the mineral, was found to he
as follews :--Silicic acid, 8:300 ;, peroxide of iron, 12- 910 ;
magnesia; }2:3395 water, 0:539; red oxide of manganese,
73°786 ; oxygen, 1:864; total, 99-735... The quantity. of; me-
tallic manganese in the above analysis amounts to 53-428

|
|
|

Analysis\of some Indian Ores.of Manganese. 279

per cént.;:and: thestotal quantity of oxygen combined there-
with to: 22'219 iper cent:,/ which corresponds very closely to
theiconstitution of:sesquioxide; or ofa mixture of nearly equal
quantities of protoxide and: peroxide;:asishewn by: thevan-
nexed calculation.

Dedroesb meds to gnx0; 4ea8iT TK { it BYTOS
efMn!}' 537428 Mn ©); 89:050 ie}: Mn, 80:2686:+0» 8°7814
ai 22: sa Mn Bok 36:597 ie, Mn 231594 +0 13:4376

8 ee © 15647 53428 09)! aep19
“On comparing ‘the’ composition of this mineral with those
Coritainin g manganese, of which analyses‘have been already
published, it ‘is found to agree ‘most’ néarly -with’a-‘man-
ganese’ dré called Marcellin from St Marcel’ in Piedmont;
and which has béén investigated by Damour. This observer
Considers the mineral he analysed to be a mixture of Braunite
and: silidate Of the’ ‘protoxide of manganese ; but’ Rammelsbérg
very properly remarks, that if it possessia distinct crystalline
fort, ‘which | it’ appears to'do; it cannot’ be ‘a mixture, ‘and
Suggests) as more probable, that the crystals may be Brauitite,
and that the analysis has —- ae Ni a specimen’ ‘con-
taining’ impurities. tae
°° "The | manganese ore ‘from ‘Bimlapatam, a station’ not far
distant from’ ‘Vizianiagyam, i is very similar, 1f not identical to
the for epoinig” in its extérnal and ‘chemical’ characters.» It
differs from ‘it, however, to some’ slight peett and was
found’ ‘to contain lime, whith the other does. not.’ Its" quati-
titative’ analysis gave the following results :—Silicic ‘acid,
9:09; peroxide of iron, 11°72; lime, ‘1-244 ; magnesia, 0° 668 5
‘water, '0'432°; ‘red oxide ‘of’ manganése, |'76-177; oxyg en,
0655; ‘total, 99- 986. The quantity of metallic manganese
indicated in the above quantity of red oxide’would be'54929,
that of the oxygen of the same; together with the free oxygen
added; 'to'22-558, whereas, in order to constitute: Sesquioxide,
23-904 ofc oxygen would be required for the same ‘quantity of
metallic manganese. It would thus appear that ‘the! thetal
in this‘cise must be ina Tower's state of Gard anor Logue in pos
Viziahagratn’ Spédimen: | : Dre

280 Analysis of some Scottish Zeolites.

Analysis of Scottish Zeolites.

Pectolite.—The first of the series is.a. mineral which-occurs
in the Island of Skye at Storr, which, in its external charac
ters, bears a considerable resemblance to dysclasite, for which
I at first took it. It.is met with in compact fibrous masses,
composed of radiated needles, of extremely minute size
and silky lustre. It is exceedingly tough, and breaks. with
difficulty. Its specific gravity is 2-784. Before, the .blow-
pipe it fuses, without intumescence, into a bead, and,also,
gives slight indications of the presence of alumina. and. man;
ganese. [tiv

On comparing it with an undoubted specimen of ree
however, it evidently presents a much higher lustre than that,
mineral possesses, although in other, respects ..there .is but
little or no observable difference in the external appearance
of the two minerals. It is partially soluble in hydrochloric
acid, with the aid of heat, viscid flakes of silicic acid being
separated ; and in this particular it agrees with Von Kobell’s
account of a specimen of pectolite from Monte. Baldo, of
which he has published an analysis. On a qualitative exa-
mination, it was found to contain silica, lime, soda, alumina,
and water; and its quantitative analysis was very simple,
the results being as follows :—-Silicie acid, 52-007 ; alumina,
1-820; lime, 32°854; magnesia, 0:396; soda, 7-670; water,
5:058=99°805. If we exclude as unessential the small quan-
tities of alumina and magnesia found in this analysis, the
oxygen of the silicic acid, lime, soda, and water, is in the
ratio of 12: 4:1: 2, and would indicate that'the mineral is a
compound of a neutral silicate of lime, with a basic silicate
of lime and water, giving for its formula,

Na 0 Si0,+ (4 Ca 0:3 8i0;) 42 HO.

The calculated results of this combination are,

Silicic acid, 4 atoms, 181'°2 — 52-6
Lime, 4¥0,. = 112;0 & 382°4
Soda, ae 31:3 — O91
Water, Pane. 18’. -— 69

3842°5, 100°0

Analysis of some Scottish Zeolites. 281

This calculation presents a very close agreement with the
_ experimental results in all the constituents, with the excep-
tion of the soda, which differs to some extent, but still so
little’ as to li ei it obvious that the above must be its for-
mula!’ ©

“T have dalled this mineral Pectolite, because its chemical
Ridp SHEE and its external character, so far as they can be
determined by the description given in books, agree very
closely with those of the mineral described by Von’ Kobell
utider that name ; but not having seen a specimen of the
true ininéral from Monte Baldo, I cannot pronounce upon it
with absolute certainty. Analyses of the true pectolite, and
of another mineral occurring at Royal Island, in Lake Su-
perior, in North America, have been already published, and
their ag are as follow :—

S99 TRIS!

iy
ry rercye rao -

Monte Baldo. Royal Island.

oo > 2 2 Yon Kobell. A. B.
~ +; + ~ySilieie acid, .......51°30 53:45 55:66
La Dis g1°9]. .= 39:86
8 Alumina, . “2” 0°90 494 1°45
ex9 ovibeddsup 8 1 8:26 7°37 731
; s+ _Potash, DIT I* of 1°57 ig. 7.4
Beet ater 2%, 7 O89 oy 424279 2:72
OTE rey vl ne oe | 3
socierttsls YOo:¢ 99°69: =" 99°69. 100:00

‘These Be ies i aresomewhat conflicting’; but the first, by-
Von Kobell,, approximates: very nearly to my ‘analysis of
the Skye mineral.|,-From the former Berzelius has deduced
the. somewhat.complicated formula :—

“° 3'(Na 0 Si0,) +43 (a0 2.810.)43H0

The calculation of which gives—

Silicie acid, LL atoms) =: 508°442' =" 52°603

Lime, 12 = 337°584 = 34:927

Soda, 3 M098 BILLS 667

Water, 3 =. O73 = 909793
966°560

which certainly does not agree by any means so well

282 Analysis of some Scottish Zeolites.

with the experimental results as the formula.I have given
above. As far:as the Royal Island mineral‘is concerned,
however, the concordance is anything but’ satisfactory,
the quantity of silicic acid being much in excess of that
contained in either the:Monte Baldo or Skye mineral. It
appears to me that there can be little doubt that the mineral
I ‘analysed is actually pectolite'; at the same time I should
not wish to express too decided an opinion'on the subject, as
a late’ experimenter (Frankenheim) has stated ‘that’ pectolite
is: an anhydrous mineral, and that the proportion of water
varies in different specimens, and consequently, in-his opinion,
hygrometric. However this may be, the Skye mineral is cer-
tainly ‘an’ hydrated one, according to my analysis, and’ several
determinations always shewed the same amount of water.
The discovery of this mineral in Skye forms an interesting

addition to the mineral species of Scotland, where it HEE not

before been observed.*

‘Scolezite—The next is a mineral which is found in the
Island of Mull. It occurs in long radiated needles, of great

beauty and high lustre, contained in greenstone or ‘trap-
rock, with crystals of epidote disseminated through it.

*y

It presents the characteristic properties of a zeolite, curl-
ing up before’ the Boia into’ a vermicular shape. Tt is

completely soluble in hydrochloric acid, and is partially 80. in,

aw Solution of oxalic acid, oxalate of lime being precipitated, :

Its external and chemical characters correspond with those.

of scolezite, and its quantitative analysis generally agreeing
withthose of that mineral, as obtained by Fuchs and Gehlen —

Silicie' acid, 46*214 ; ‘alumina, 27 00; line, 13: 450 ; water,
13'780—100-444.

There, is.a slight excess,of alumina, but, with shbacoabap-
tion, the analysis accords with the formula of seolezite-+!

Ca’0'Si0; + A105) 81.0, +3 HO,

4

its calculated constitution being as follows:

* This species occurs, although rarely, in cavities of he rocks, on ae belie

of the Clyde,—Zdit.; N. P. Journal.

7 >.
a ce

—_ a a es

Andlysis of some Scottish Zeolites. 283.

1IgViS Silici¢'acid, 2 atoms = 92°444 = 46°47
bom’ Alumina, Lovee = 61°344° = 25°81
. Lime, Live 2= 28:132.—,14'14
Water,” 3 = 97 = 13°58

198:920° 100°

2 ay aca analyses of this mineral. have.been already pub-
lished, and are contained in the mineralogical works of Ra-
melsberg, Von; Kobell, and others, on comparing which.with
the, results LL obtained fromthe Mull. specimen, they will.be
found. to. agree generally, with the whole of. them, | but most
closely with, those of Giilich and Gibbs ofthe Iceland variety,
of Domeyko of the Cachapual specimen, ,and..of Fuchs and
Geblen of the mineral from Staffa.and Faroe. .

_ Natrolite. —This mineral was. found. during.,the formation
of a. railway, tunnel near Bishoptown, Renfrewshire. : The.
specimen which I analysed was composed of beautiful needle-
shaped crystals, about.two inches in length, of a pure white
colour and satiny, lustre, interlaced. into, a felty) mass... It
occurs in juxtaposition; with: another mineral, which was.at;
first supposed. to, be. identical, with, it, consisting of Jong rar,
opie} needles, with crystals of calcareous spar disseminated
to. the scolezite watch I had previously, analysed. A quanti-,
ws analysis, of. this mineral has ;since: proved it; to,,be

lesolite,. or, lime. and ‘soda, mesotype:, The three minerals
in question indeed seem to be isomorphous, and. bear such a,
resemblance to one another i in, their external ,character)as to,
render it exceedingly, difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish:
them from each other, without subjecting them, .to ;chemical
analysis.

~(P found the: ‘Specimen first “mentioned ‘to: be entirely and
readily solable’ in a ‘solution of oxalic ‘acid, at‘once proving
the absence of lime, a, distinguishing characteristic of na-
trolite. if | |

Its quantitative analysis was as follows: Silicic acid,47-626;
alumina, 27:170; soda, 15°124; water, 9:780=99-700, ee
corresponds with the well- known formula of natrolite.

Na 0 SiO, +Al, O,, Si 0, +2 HO.

284 «4\ ofnalysis of some Scottish Zedlites!’ ols

On comparing this analysis with those of the mineral al-
ready published, it will be found. to approximate yery, closely
to the most of them, and to agree, with. the sacle eom-
positionof the f ‘oregoing formula.

inoororo .esocmexr to
Silicic acid, 2 atoms, =“'92°444°'L' 47997129 bie
Alumina,,, 1. ,, = J1;844 = 2660), nol Tp
Soda, ‘ae = 3l173 = 16° ‘ng
Water, - a ar = oar a = aahoh ue

aL aabomnoniiee. An analysis of Laumonite from’ Suizort in
Skye has been already published by Connel ; but that which
I have examined i is from Storr, in. which locality. it occurs, in
the, form. ofa yein of| from) two, to four inches -in thickness
traversing -the |trap-rock.'Itis associated: with: stilbite; and
sometimes lies in immediate! contact with i it, "having been
sopposed to be hypostilbite by’ some | persons.” ‘Analysis, how-
ever, proved it, to be Jaumonite, y with the 8 SuARBOL REF of. which

mineral it, algo QSBECR; bobivib od yacr alzinolooe .ingeorq te dud
nite lo atts no bod mRit srT98wW ett: blued on sol ove viled oflw

ot al .yiisuppiaielaetd “§st 048°) | ‘poe? ) + bil oid dite
mi aisod diode Attiminallueopegaglissq pq -ygidw eojom atoll S
0 Taine 09676 ovina 6384 bin sian th nws

‘2 Water; cood 14°6390 ile OFilovon, 10 Yilsaigria

EST ) oes eer o oda ot aged esi

100° 306: 98" 1625 cr102 2 giiveiug S9LOY

My analysis varies ‘but: yung from that, ‘of, Connel, the
amount of silica and alumina being greater in, mine, dtumay
be remarked, however, that: in ‘his’: aie ties theres’ a defi-
ciency of about one-and-a-half per cent. dst ony .€

The formula which agrees best with the canalySis ‘of lau-
monite is that given by Gerhardt, although at. the;same- time
it must be admitted, that it is far.from being. parece”

3 Ca 02 Si 0,+3 (ALO, 2'Si 0,5 $42 HO,”

its calculated constitution being, Silidie acid, bre 53; “alumina,
21-49 ;' Rigi) 11:92; water, 15;06 ;= 100, |

BRWISTO

lis GY

i Witvure.
me } Jan wt ei dotdw io

dX) apor oO basin isqioaiig ont. ¥ aVin L

>}

(94x9 Jeon 8AF 10 OMe

qFoT ly OK“ LLL doy =

Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Evraties of the Alps. 285

On: the Erratic Formation of the Bernese Alps, and other

fi parts of Switzerland. By CHARLES MACLAREN, Esq.,
F.R.S.E., F.G.S., and Member of the Geological Society
of France. Communicated by the Author. With Map
and engrayed Illustrations.

The erratic blocks, or. ‘‘ travelled stones,” of Switzerland have
long afforded matter of speculation to geologists, though they are
rarely noticed by the crowd of fashionable tourists who ramble over
its mountains every, summer, These blocks are extremely nu-
merous, and present themselves in singular and unexpected situa-
tions; they are often of vast size, in some instances as large as a
house ; and they are occasionally found at the distance of fifty or a
hundred miles “from! the parent’ rock. The mode of their trans-
portation ‘constitutes,.a problem: about. which volumes have been
written, and which ;can scarcely yet. be.said to have received a:sa-
tisfactory solution. Fifty years ago, the fayourite theory was, that
they had been forced along by currents of water. More recently,
soine have conjectured that. they were floated on currents of mud ;
but at present, geologists may be divided into two categories, ends
who believe that the boulders were transported on rafts of floating
ice, and those who hold that they were conveyed by glaciers of vast
size, which had at one period covered all the low country. In the
following notes, which are partly the result.of two short tours in
Switzerland, and partly derived from:works written on the subject,
originality or novelty‘of \view has not been aimed at. My object
has been to shew how the phenomena present themselves to a tra-
veller pursuing some of the common routes, and to indicate how the
facts are explained by the prevalent hypothoaos,

“Map I., representing a part of the Bernese Oberland, well known
to'tourists, is copied from the map of Keller.

‘T, the east-end of the Lake of Thun.

B, the Lake of Brienz.

i, the Lake of Lungern, in Unterwalden,

Br, the Village of Brienz,

7 F, the Faulhorn group of mountains.

M n, the Village of Meyringen,

= d, the Village of Grindelwald.

& R, the Pass of the Grimsel, leading from the Valley of Hasli to

| oe sources. of the Rhos (0.0) in,the: Valais.
rr r’, the upper part of the River Aar, which, after a course of
25 miles in the Valley of Hasli, flows through the Lakes of
Brienz and Thun, and thence proceeds northward to the Rhine,
of which it is the largest tributary. :
J WN SV, the principal mass of the Bernese Oberland, comprising
one of the most extensive groups of snow-clad mountains in the
VOL. LIII. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. U

286 Charles Maclaren, Esq.;\on the

[ tye suchas the Jungfraw (J); Wetterhorn (W), Engelhorn¢N ),

“Schneehorn®(S), Viescherhorn (V2! The: south-edst;portion of

* the map) coloured ‘red, is oceupied by crystalline(rocksjothiefly
abies adie and gneissi<<It! is) bounded , by the :linerdan ws} ‘The

ole distriet beyond that ‘lineton the:north«west ‘consists entivelycof
io limestone This well-marked vboundarycbetween the two spe-

«9 \ocies of rocks. pives jus a key to thecorigin andomovements of the

tesobouldersiAlb crystalline blocks :found inthe ‘limestone,region

» “have evidently°been carried to aidistanceo from theirvorigival

| ite; which wagon ‘the southseast: sider of, theslineyd.an \nj or
’ perhaps, in some fewocases,atiacmore distant localitiywnis ei:

© We-beginour journey at Interlaken: This) village; to !which:mul-

tittrdes of English ‘resort every summer, is of small size; but contains

about.a dozen of large hotels,:- where: strangersiare boatdédarid lodged
at the low charge of five ox-six francs a head per day. « It stands,
as the name-implies, between two lakes,..those-of,Thun and Brienz,
in a beautiful plain about two miles long and a'mile and a half broad.
It is scarcely possible to imagine a more lovely situation. With its
trim verdant fields, its numerous orchards, its hedgerow trees, and
its little pime groves, the plain looks like a patch of rich English
landscape set: down, amidst the magnificent scenery of the Alps.
Mountains of limestone, two thousand feet in height, rising up like
gigantic walls, overlook and shelter it-on the north and south, while

‘othe*picturesque lakes of Thuncand Brienz form its western: and/east-

ern boundaries:! These) mountains) display great: vertical; faces of

bare:rocky separated iby belts: of :pine) or birch, or: plots:of, fresh, green
herbage, ‘rising: oneivabove! another, and sonietimes| the covering of

woods ascends to thé! topdin dark: unbroken»masses.) |, The;trayeller,

“asthe rambles through theoplamy comes unexpectedly upon hamlets

‘and villages,' which are'hid)amongst'the trees; jand:though :builtiof
wood !dnd not: over! clean; ithehouses shave,the: ‘shugness,and, pic-
oturesque appearance: commom too Swiss cottages: oLhe, crowning
‘feature of the ‘scene is) the, Jungfrau, $13,700. foot in ee oni
~ over: the valley of Lauterbrunnen,,and lid

vig’.

tc Soaring snow-clad through its native spo T eee Z
In us ies ore he ase majesty.’ . ¢ S08 d

rr af

odit! is seen fectin: every part of: thes steagaling me png owing

probably tothe transparency :of :the» atmosphere, :looks as, if it. could

ocbe(vedched im half an hour, though it is,actually, eleven. miles, dis-

‘tant in‘a direct line. :The-optieal illusion producing these i ae
© ideas :of distance is:ecomnion inthe: Alps.s

bh icia h
Mw

Shortly.after, my arrival at Interlaken; \wishing |to get. ai view of

othe’ environs, I:climbéd to: the: top of.a projecting “rock: ‘on. the,north
» side of theoriver: (at) qin the map), alittle westwardjof| the wooden

bridge.: ‘Hervé I-stumbled upon, half.a-dozen-blocks of granite. jand
gheiss in a! situation where [,little expected. to, find ;them,..5The

\\ .oHenatics ofthe WA boss s:\0 287

limestone ‘rock! (L/in:thel:small/séction;:figure cl :below);is-washed at
thetfoot bythe Aian(r); whichvit overhangs, and the:surface-om which
the blocks)(b)restsisyextréemely steep; [To ithe: aipper ones}; about
800 feet aboverthe:river, Eicould onlylascend, by using) boths hands
‘and 'feetzs Somevofithem!contained:one:or ‘two cubic yards)of stone,
and were in situations: fromowhichiarslight foréé would)2predipitate
thete tortheobottoins owaso agreeably ssurpriséd,» for} didnot ex-
_ (pecttomeet with facts illustrative of thé:erratid formation| so jeasily.
‘The granite blocks came‘from: g, or isome place ywithin,the boundary
dinew om mssthatcis, they hadstravelled, twenty milésior more. In
this simple!fact Inhad'presumptive evidence that: the, -agents; which
transported them:were:nét currentsiof /water;:cfor,currents-strong
senough tobring: then: hither«would, not;have deft. them on.a/steep
edge oftrock from whieh aislight inipulse would detachsthem. } sod
ebnate tin sysh req be: A & Sigs! 1 2?.gi¢ evil: to suvenlo wol odt 4

eNMOricl DAB one
;

F¢
4"
4A £fU3
ym meye
ils> rhereas
a os e
dahon |
ASGSE SULA 9 SS
pe ay v
ore ya Al
eOU LA € |
Po ,
odil or
sii kh

GlUNOW .Ooroe Dr TIOIL 7 lO di Tod lotic Te AUOTIOVO .CLLaW 9! |
-ies At in:the map, on the'south'side of ithéedake, near the village of
1 Bonigenythere isa projecting mass!ofa: conical form;:which leans
‘against the mountain, “asdf sito wereo an couter) portion? of thesrecks
‘cabove) which,! having lost its: hold; (had:slid downward; and in sliding
“Wdownward‘had been:pushed outward:s) The hollow above it: has some
eivesomblance tooaccorryy eThis) semi-cone’ is»:600) or! 700; febt.cin
‘cheight ;/its:basesprojects perliaps0 1000: 'feet: from the»side, of the
~onmountain; and its cireumference:may! beinearlyoaomile. ):Threende-
“ipressionsdike terraces; onevabove another; arerseencon its\surface,
2owhich! ig everywhere! covered. witheelay, earth, or: gravel; thoughithere
is in all probability a nucleussofidisplacediixock'cbelow.y oFigure 2
above, is a section of the lowest of the three terraces ; B, the lake of
Brienz ; L, the limestone, ofthe, hill,.assumed to be the nucleus of
the cone; 0, blocks resting at various heights on its surface. Ascend-
Sane by'theeast: side, Demet with a block oficvranite 3 cyards long, 3
blyroad pand Pbyards thick; im eastiring Oficourse about /10 cubie/yards,
“Sian@ weighing twentyotons)! Ttvwas restingcon! ther sil; 01200 feet
evalbove theeplain;: on the "side ‘of <aiideclivity dippingyiat 50° ors60°
—so steep, indeed, that?dfitdiad’ fallencevencfromila height of
to Sfeet; iftwouldinfalliblyhaveslid or rolled:to the -bottomiot It had
Sitpavelled 200r 30 ‘niiles; but the agent! which transported:dtorust
aohave set’ it down’ as:cautiously aga nurse depositsiasleepingochild in
Sojtseradle.!o Ttscposition saggests'the idea either that it nmsbi-have
90 been"stranded’ here byofloating’ icé, or thatiit’andthe soibunder it
U2

988 Charles Matlaveny Esq.,\on the

forined! part! ofthe kiteral inoraine ‘ofia er) whichowas°themsub-
siding under the effect’ of partial fusion:* 9 The highest !blocksal saw
here were about 200 or 250 feet above hs plain and the lake, but
I have no doubt that there were’others at a greater elevation. The
upper ground was pretty carefully fenced, and Tididnot choose to
become a trespasser. .

A bank of loose materials extends from the west side of this cone
along the foot-of the mountain nearly to the opening of the valley of
Ljutchen at @ im the map. It is from 50 to 200 feet in height and
half a mile in Jength. »‘Fhe:breaches madé in it by transitory tor-
rents rushing down from the’hills above, shew that it is composed of
gravel and sdnd-or-elay,and-many-errati¢s of granitesor other crys-
talline rocks are lying on the surface. Figure 3 represents one
of these, .b;°whieh is12 feet high 10" feet longj:and 10‘broad; ‘and
must’ wad’ 60 6¥°60 tons. \ Iti standocon ste edge sofa very steep
declivity: Of soilSO feet in’ height, X.\ This longs bank of :sandiand
gravel witli the boulders'resting on ity is apparently‘an: ancient; mos
raine.. While T was ‘sketching the shape and'position:of the plock; ia
man of rvatheruncouth appearance, with a largei rusty sword at, his
side, ‘came up.’'T attempted’ to get into conversation with: him, but
in'vain.\ He knew no’ French, and I was deficient: in -eolloquial:Ger-
man °Pwas only able to mialesioutithat hedwasce policeman'; and
whet Tpointed to "der @ross stein?” and manifested: curjosit yvabout
its: history; his reply was’ * icebergs—icebergs.”" ‘The popular opinion
here (ifthe policeman’ maybe takencas its ‘expositor)>séems cto: be
that the travelled stones were transported-by ‘floating dogivorg. orld to

Blocks ‘of granite and eneisscare rare Ww the plainiat Interlaken
kind Aséwhere ih Switzerland; but\they) may! hayecexisted formerly.
They avé the best building stone of the countrys and their disappear+
ancéis supposed to°be! accounted forjby the use:made)ofithem in’ the
construction of bridges and other substantial:works.) «'The Swiss cot-
tages ‘ard’ of wood wale a/foundation of SHONB| a fuot or two in height,
for watieh any] sof of rook suffices tai sicesgA —.onmso Jmogs gaivom

A Sniall steatiter' carries! the traveller’ to ‘Pracht 6 fi), ‘near Brienz
(Bri in the tnd be the east ln ih sy duke, Ag sharp ridge of lime=

I MO DEDMBII2 ' _OT6

NPR. VSAN VO"
% cas of the, rocks flanking a, glacier. valley, asain by, frost or
avalanches of snow, fall. down and collect on the two sides of the | glacier, and
are carried’ slowly downward ‘with' ‘the ‘ite.’ These ‘are called“ Pineevad ‘po*
raines.”?° Inca eomipound glacier formed by the union of two tributary glaciers,
the; two inner tJateral moraines, unite and.constitute a.third) longitudinal, row.of
fragments resting on the middle, which is¢éalled a “medial moraine.” One formed
of three/or four tributary glaciers has two or three medial moraines. And if stich
a glacier has it9 Vreadth much cotitracted® in passing through'a tarrow gorge)
the dateral and) medial moraines} are generally blended,;and spread,over the
whole surface... These fragments, arriving at the lower end of the, glacie: fad

over and collect, in front of it, and are called its *‘ terminal moraine.”

a glacier recedes it generally’ has several terminal saben: one béhind can
im the formu of ridges of bloeks:with clay;and sands 9) oniiioy i) base binow

¢

ia
Y

I Sr ee

Vo tinratics of the Vil los; BAL 289

‘aosausiscss here to, the| height jof.200.01, 250; feet, behind; the Croix
Blariché; Hotel, and ex¢beds*a, farlongiimzlengthefhs ody yehav omibia
dud .odsl odd bas aig slg ot [t ovods toot OGE ro OOS suods stew oxed
oT 0Tt8V slo tetsore ¢ os elSesc fey Oe w 919M

PDR | ate | Cig oe ey ae
I TBAT JONOD Of SYRO
Ot 2005 tour

TAO teqaqu

bd o ~ “44

9288 ee & 9MoD0d

909 aid ‘to gi
Io volisv odd te

’ UL

1-9200 to daed Pmt

“103 yiolans|s vd |
to beaogmnos di ti
“avid 19lio bic A ee te I
So addeezsiqo% @ 9x HY nets . off ony 18 eioor onilled
Sa ignved is Dmiyaadichasirblbe, feat. ae ae lik east, andig its
weste ends; «The dots atiia andjunder;/ f and giare travelled, blocks
bvestitig on ‘theltop! andosides'} h 58 thei hotel, ada mimic, wooden
temples iodigure [5; isi a; Section across; ‘the ridges, odLs,the! footjof the
dimestone mountain, mille rises to the. height! of, 2000, feet; Ry athe
nidges bacand bp boulders of granite or, gneiss resting, on, the, steep ac-
elivities:or! the top seh ‘the positiom of; the hotel; and B; the,lake of
Briénizis The bouldersiatezof; ally sizes up; tocthree,yards in length,
and the:danger; oneswhave itheir, angles: quite sharps -One. of eight
feet! imylength:ab:a-0n the: south side;-restson surface, so highly, in-
clineds thatcfs; whéh lodged: here, it-had-been, dropped from. a;height
of two or threeifeets i it would, certainly, have, deseended,to the} \ bottom
of the precipice. i Many dsmalb blocks -of granite, may, be:seem built
into; wavall below); ».They are generally, rounded; and,some of, them
Sesetbprbeoushe from thetopior uppenpart.2 Lhe, west-end of
therndgelgis the broader, and is covered iwithi soul as welhas boulders|;
atithe eastiend)(¢).the-bare tock: ‘projectssand: theres bittle, sou and.,ne
boulders. sIitlis the: pheriomenon of { Crag and Tail’? s0.well known
in! Seotlandywthe crag appropriately. facing ithe (point, frorio which, ithe
moving agent came. Agassiz informs{us that: whena projecting r ock
rises through, ay gladier: and} reaches: its, surface,or:stands Outsa little
above ‘its:some-ofithé large stones! which strew, the; top of the glacier
are stranded on the rock, and remain perched on its summit (restent
perchés sur la pointe de rocher), or are deposited on its shelving
sides, “a forming: a Ying or ‘coronet routid the ‘stint. iol # ied seen
OB . Forsglo ong
i well: this, applies . to, the, pr resent, Case... 3 » Evidently ie} by sica al
agent ysoiadmirably : adapted for placing iboulders,in: these singular
ositions' as’ 'a"Blaciers < 9d ‘Gliding’ onwards °in® “its irresistible course,

with. a, amo tion. 50, slow, e as, to, be. ‘inappreciable 1 ‘By: tHe. senses” ‘(one @ Or
twonfeet.pen day.) the delicacy, and.steadiness.ofi its. “pressure must. be
aeeaae olit istonly'by'suclr ‘aneagent: thatowe ‘einseonceivera «mass
Of roc ky Weighing ‘tenor tw W twenty tons,” to be’ Todgéd on : a i Pore or dé-
clivity, where it. ‘is so.nigely, balanced, | that, the.force of.a, man’s hand
would send it rolling to thedottonrs itvactsowithebhbi ‘same: delicacy

ob eee admoe

by ow o>

sabe bas lovere

290 Charles ‘Maclaren Esq!; on the

in Withdrawitié asin ‘applying its pressure! Wher the thild weather
comes, the surface of the ice melts and evaporatesy, film by film; and
thé ‘glacier subsiding at ‘the rate of one’ or two inches por day) (as
shewn by My Charles’Martins} ‘in his’ reséarclies ‘on? the? Paulhorn
glacier), ‘withdraws its support; as it were, by grains or scruples,’ ‘in
a mannér which’ even thé most cautious hand could scarcely intitate.
It is plain that a mass of floating’ ice’ Joaded With “stones “could not
act’ with the' same nicety: Diifted): as'it would be, by winds, tides} ‘or
currents, it would encounter fixed objects with a shock which might
break it in pieces, and throw the stones it bore violently to the bot-
tom. Or supposing an ice-floe, with a boulder resting on or frozen
into it, to be stranded on.a projecting rock like R, the: ‘boulder would
not be deposited till it lost its hold by the partial fusion’ of _the ice,
and then its fall would be sudden and violent. I have e nlarged én
this pointy betadiise the two agents; floatingsicesandeglacier-ice; which
have been called in hypothetically to explain.the Erratiophénomiena,
‘have much in‘common in their mode of ‘acting, and it is difficult to
find characteristic facts to distinguish the agency of the ‘one fron! that
of'the other. (See Charpentier, Hssat; sect, 51.)y) o1ed bis! mood
‘ Opposite to' Brienz, on the soath sien of ules ick isthe (iess-
bach (gin thé map), a famous waterfall. which all travellers visit, \It
is ‘a ‘Suecession of cascadés, or cataracts, by which: aolarge volume! cof
water descends along 'a steep acclivity froma greatiheight. (Lt has
éut‘achatinel: in® the side’ ofthe mountain! frony 50t0!:460: feetcin
depth; and to add) to its’ picturesque ‘béeautyothe ‘thunderswofirche
‘nearer ¢ascades; blended: with the: echoes of the more;distant ones,
“roll on the ear amidst'a little foresttof pines, ‘Ieclambered upcthe
acclivity to’ the ‘height’ of about 300 ‘feet;' and found»estraggling
blocks of granite; eneiss, or mica slate, as'far’as/1 ascended; either
‘in the bed or on the ‘sides of. the torrent. “Someof:them were masses
of six or eight cubic'yards, and I'noticed one about forty feet above
‘the'lake, whose situation, on° the’ verge. ofa: little »precipice; again
suggested the inquiry, wi agency could bring iti there:without pre-
cipitating “it into the water?! Erratic blocks: undoubtedly exist at
many othér points’on the shores of the lake.) ‘Those ‘mentioned; fell
in my way when Iwas storey visiting ‘the lovblitibs hei: visited
by travellérs.

In the preceding cases I had met‘with cepeisilis bhi tes ho
‘greater elévation’ than 300 ‘feet. My next: excursion .was)to the
mountain of Abendberg (c in the map), about two .miles south-west
from Interlaken! » Dr Gaggenbuhl, a’ benevolent: German ,*has:an
establishment’ for cretins on °this~ hilb-at the height: of 1800:feet
above the plain: In the ascent to it I found the boulders: up tooan
elevation of 700° or' 800. feet, beyond which: the surface «isi so»wery
steep that large ones ‘could ‘scarcely rest-on it >: I saw two blocks !of
gieiss Or mica slate; the one’ four yards long, the:other five; |whiich
had perhaps been originally united, and must! them: hayewonstituted

ee

\) rraties of the, Alps. |.) 291

asmass, of, fifteen, cubicy yards,,..... Abe: blocks; wpe cuigengrally asi
but some were jrounded, ogsve bie etfoor oot oi? to soctiue ot 22 Oro:

2e)Rather, 3 more,than,a mile, south- ai from this lsaahix,: there.t 1g) 12
great, deposit, of alluyial.matter,ii any ithe. xalleyyof: Lutehem at, dd. “The
Walley, is less, than half, a,,mile in width,.,and: is, bounded by,:pres
Gipices iof limestone, rock, wearly;,yertical, and 1,000\.fect in height.
Zhe river euns,along the; west.side,of the, valley,,.sometimes. close tp
the.rook, andthe deposit, is wna the east sidew. jokhe, Agusnibelyiy ig,

ACCHIONyidw dooda s aire atosido bexit rodauoons bluow ji .edaonty:

“od ot of ylinoloiv e10d di eon Big. wi W ond bas daa “i ; asad

ST IO an rey 1329s

ce a 9c Bs ipindiins, representing the bed ne the xivers swhich & rises
gradually! tothe: south. of f d
ot mym.o, p. ii The alhivial depbat, sean. re sar “gsarale and
‘boiilders, extending nearly, a\mile along’ the valley. |)-Its;interior has
been laid bare by(the streams) »whichs having | cut channel: through
ibovery dear the: western velll ofthe valley, haseverywhere a, talus
1a debris:on/itsseasternis bank) The,height: ‘of the mass; of; debris,, if
‘takenvaolittle behind the top | ofthe: talus: may: be about -200, feet at
em, 100 atiodnd50 atin; ibutvitcis three times|,greater near; the
ceastern) walbiof) the alley, andthe! mean, depth, of; the, whole. mass
ofromomrto!piwill exceeds 200 feetso.i great proportion; of the gnate-
vials isccomposed: ofthe debris; anil detritas|of | ithe adjacent, lime-
ostone, butblocks lof granitéicgneiss) ahd; /mica) slate, many of, them
emeasuring)fromh 10: to030 cubic) yards; are,jdistributed, through, it,
samderesp‘omthe Surfacelin-thougandsi:;; Now, these blocks, must have
etravelledsalong the valleyiof the White: Lutchen from), or thatof the
eBlack Lutchen from: m,) aodistance, of ten, or, twelve tuiles..,;, The
‘onigim ‘ofthis smalssiis ndt difficult-to explains ts form, and.) compo-
sition indicate that it: consists, of) asseries|.of terminal. moraines, left
jatthe eridcof the-glacial period, by the-glaciers jof,the Lutchen; Val-
ley during: thew) gradual retreat, fromi, the; low: country, to, the, re-
mote récesseseinithe | mountains which they-now oeCUPY as y Much, of
the west side has no doubt been ener aided by the river, patorgs it
ohath excavated dts! presentichannel, hs) I - aq ¢
oft Thereaderi must snow accompany, moto: ie little, inden of Ie Lungern
ieainithe map), north-east from; Brienag; . Setting out with; my: com-
fpamon. from: Lucerne—a little town ina »romaaitic situation, and,com-
jomianding an utirivalledilandscape—swe proceeded, by. boat.and-carriage
to0A Ipnachhand) Sainén, and from Sarnen tothe jlake of; Lungern, At
(thisolittle avild:Jake:iw ergot on horseback;iand crossed) the, Pass, of the
\cBrunig (h)ibyva breakneckjroad to, Meytingen:(M).in, the, walley,; of
Hasliov Thecsummit-of thei Pass -iso1 600 English! (feet above the, lake
bof Lamgern; and 1/740 above the. valley of Hasli. This. is. the lowest

29286 Charles: Maclaren, Esq: oh the
point inythe erest,of the ridges; which rises elsewhere tovaiv elevation !
of nearly, 8000) feet, ° Boulders:-of, /crystallines:rock|'were! 'thinly!
strewed/ all along thes valleys of Sarsien:and:| Lungern; up: ito thes
sumanait, of} the Pass. \ Having crossed ity:we found them*stilk moreo
numerous.on the, south side; of thes eresty andof larger size: seve
for{instance, from: 10 to» 20.feét in. length, and generally angular); !
affording evidence that the stream of blocks procééded ‘from: south)?
to.north, Lhe water; ice; or'whatever ¢artied the blocks and!poured
them,into the valley of Lungern; mustitherefore hase filled thesval- |
ley..of | Hasli:to a\height little short, of 2000 feet06 guinisinos aon

-On-the: opposite | side’ of the valley, of Hasli (at a in ‘the :map))2a
large. stream, coming from, the south-west, ;pours over the lintestonw!
ridge}; and-eonstitiites thé::celebrated: waterfalb! of! the’ Reichenbachw!
.Here also, on the — of the cea oie ede and granite”
blocks abounds: qe oenqiA movt enibastze yollev edT

7 roto iT zvinsed trereo

dw .atiormoue s1en3
5

do vi oll = in nia
dé bas youls id [F¢ } 1 D&T owofl , poow oii f ro1t
Thejabove Gia aiistie section: -acrosscthe: ieee of! HHasli2n ‘Es (ig rit
the. limestune mountains on the two sides) of. thewalley; | Ry’ cheperedesy
of the; Brunig Pass;-b; blocks;én the-northisidé of) the:Pass; forme:
ing part, ofa straggling line which éxtendsito the laké of the'Four’
Cantons, fifteen, miles distant.3,.b5Blocks om!the: southside: sab ribet
Pass,,.whicly are-more numerous! alia nfore closelyngrouped 3! ky ithe |
opposite, or-south wall of the valley,'at the opointywwhere theichhinels:
of the Reichenbach |stream- crosses jit» :b’’y numerous boulders of crys+*\
talline,rock, lying onthe declivity| tp to the very:browy My sapebese
sion,is, that the height, of the rocks at is about the same: with those!
at R, but) I have no ascertained rneasurement to rely ‘onsio: While!R, \
“ Seeapedi is thetop of a. narrow ridge, keis: the: lowerend of: a Beeliodi
vity, which extends)south-west-five miles ;to:the Scheideck Pass i(p in)
the map),, where it, attains’ an;elevationcof 4400:féet above ithe val-)sv
ley of, Hasli at, Meyringen.;o Now, when!-I! state thatoverall the ‘0
five miles primary boulders oceur} it must! not!be:condluded: that theys>:
came fromthe uppér part of the valley of Hashi. |They travelled: byies'
a different route. |. The, two, glaciers iof| Grindelwald giving birth “toj9.
the two, rivulets at, W lin, the imap,and the glacier! of Rosemlaui«at gic
N, have their,termination in. the limestone ridge WN, butsthatio!s
ridge,j 1s, Darrow; and these glaciers have their origin in/an extensive;y!

\) Brratics of thes Alpselis 293-

Latbintions ofsgneisso behind at: Wiellearn>this'from'the map of Ma
Desox}:the fellow-traveller-ofisA gassiz, in his “* Nouvelles Excursidns®
et) Sejours:dans les: Glaciers; £845.% ‘These gladiersy or rather'the’
muchilatgeronés which oecupiedstheir places! at some!remote’ period,
must have: beencthée agents which carried the priwary boulders adress"
the: limestone! ridgey ands distributed them over ‘a great part ofthe:
space) fromthe! WengernoAlp,.«, tovaipoint nedr hi10lOn the east’
sidevof tlieslower|¢lacier of Grindelwald, 100: yards’ from thé dey
I founds bldcl of « 'gheissimedsuring: 35: feet by'20)and 12 in‘thick“
ness, containing 300.ieubie) yards,iand: weighing 600 tons. olTt! was!
mest delicately:poised ion:ia steep declivity! of soil 800; fect above |
therrivulet} arid well exemplified- how nicely:the glacier regulates its”
fontectindd positing: ithe —_ it laces on'its wins srsaarort were’ otliers"
neatolie bias eeion

The valley Steines Wien rateiant to Bitaheite has bsieras of!
great beauty. The mountains are high, and feathered with wood to
their summits, while their declivities abound in groves and glades of
the freshest green, and lower down are a few cultivated fields, chalets,
villages, and the.two sweet lakes. In looking ndithward the eye
rests on the giant forms of the Rigi and Mount Pilatus, the one
rising 4480, the other, 5570 feet above the lake! which bathes their
feet. The day, unluckily for us, was wet, andjwe| began the ascent
of the Brunig in a heavy: rain. But it abated greatly before we
reached the summit, and we anticipated a delightful view! of the beau-
tiful valley of Hasli, and the mountains beyond it. When we emerged
from the wocd, however, and looked southward, the valley and the
nee tiiniitheait idisappéared;|iatdthereowas nothing ‘before as “but ‘a
vastcexpatise’bf :snow-white! clouds, above'which we! stood’ “like ship>\""
wrecked mariners oi désertiicoast.2% oSucloa! séene’ “has aitouely of” c
the sublime. io Thereds aimystical charm cin! the: feeling of intérise
lonelinéss < sbiddkinlya awakened! in the traveller's mind! when ‘an amiage 2
of chags is thusoconjured up:@found: him;'akin’ toowhat® Noah may"
have:felt:in the arkiwhen jeasting higséye over the boundless waste of
waters; ‘andthe illusionvis the preaterafthe traveller is in a strange
country:i But ourccliaos) was not of: long’ duration®® Ifa little while*:
the Ollchihorn reared jits:héad right in: front of‘us;'and was: ‘followed
by other horns and peaks;irisingslowly ‘from: shecesanl bf ‘oud, °
likeitocks: and castles émerging from the canvas® iv dissolving views, *
tilliwe hadsBeford)us\an archipelago ofiislands:|wAfter the niass' ot i.
vapour rdlledvaway: fromthe mountaimtops; it settled on'the’two! Sides
of the | greatrovalidy cof) Haslio(the.vbottom of! whieh. we ‘had’ now
reached) leaving: theomiddle clears: i Herevit clung to the rotks like a”
festooned curtain; ‘affording’ us, \through’ rents: and ‘openings in’ its*®
upper parts,omany delicious little fairy? landscapes, pine woods; re H
cipives;; waterfalls, bright:oreen lawns,‘all ‘placed in a setting of wWiiite?: ds
clouds! sand: suspetided hightover:our‘heads/as*if belonging to°an <”~
- uppev world, o\The scenery! of the:Alps hasomany’ phases, atid! those’

294. Charles\ Maclaren, Esq.,\on the

who} have not seen.them in shower .as well: “aS! caheniie (timed
of their grandeur and) beauty.;5 11) ;- . page A

Figure, 7 above, conveysan)jidea fs the sat. Peace a the dane
valley. of Hasli,(Nieder, Hasli) -in cross. section.» The, bottom, about
three-fourths. of.a,inile: in) breadth,/is,level,or a dittle: raised, in}the
middle,; and. entirely composed: of swater-worn, grayel,or,,sandy giz.
(At, one or both: sides, there is| generally, a,vertical ; precipice, of,..lime-
stone; one; two, or three hundred feet high; with a talus,of, debris, at
its foot, the wrecks: probably of a lateral, moraines; Onthe top of the
wertical precipice! at-1,18 generally .»,sloping shelf covered; with
bright green herbage or shrubs. Behind this is a second. pregipice,
also vertical:or nearly so, and crowned witha second, grass (plot, 2.
Above this is a third, and ‘even fourth! precipice, but.the, upper rocky
surfaces slope backward-more rapidly.|; By-such steps-the wall of the
valley rises to a height of 2000,or, even, 3000 :feet, .withy patches of
grass occurring at intervals, up,to the, line; of. perpainal sisal ie
saw no heather in the Alpsix« we

At the sites a, 6, Br, and.giin, the, maps the. travelled bloaiee: were
met with only 200 or 300,feet,above the bottom, of, the, valley, ; but
if, I hadibeen ablesto search the;,ground- high abowe, there, is. little
doubt that. would have-found them at as (great,an, elevation, as at
h or k—that is, ey or +1800 fest Nor jis, this, the extreme height
apts have siteinctia ial oAT

A little above “yn the he of the ‘Aa is s barred by. amidge
ofl limestone of considerable height, through, which, .the;river, has. cut
a very ‘natrow channel, |): The,top,.of this ridge, is. much smoothed,
and atione place, very distinetly, striated, A. considerable number, of
granite | and «gneiss! boulders, were ;resting jon the top, the large.ones
generally jangular,:the small; onés, rounded,, but.on, the, south face, of
thevridge which looks,.up- the valley they,were lying, in, hundreds.
Granite has.a° great economi¢ value; in, Switzerland;; and. —— ot
these blocks, L was told, were carriedi#to; Berne some years,ago
distance <of fifty «miles,):to serve./as -building materials for, the. new
bridge;: But, «independently of } the. boulders,,the..ridge,, itself dsja
curious bhiants lt:is nearly a mile,in, length, measured, along,.the
valley,:and,500,feet.in heights:,and, being apparently.of the same
rock: with that, which’ bounds) the.valley)aboye and: below, the question
suggests itself how the/agent, whatever it was, which. scooped out the
rest of the channel! to,so! great depth, and. gave, it a, slope. of such
unbroken uniformity (of probably 1 foot in 200 or 300), should have
suspended its work here, and left this mound of rock in its place # Pt
seems probable that the two lateral valleys y and 2, which join the
main valley here; had.some. connection with the existence of the mound
in question. If each of these had: its glacier; the'two, lateral glaciers
must have modified the action of the principal one. “They. might: ob-
struct its, downward, march, by pushing forward masses of ‘debris,
or they might raise a solid barrier of ice like that which shut, the

Ny
ou

- Gallley "Whose ‘séction at this polhbisya a:

o\) ON Hereticsiof the A Ipsied0 295

Walleyof? Bagnés i V818,\in thefornr of sacdikep500: feet: high.
(Agassiz, Etudes, p. 156.) In either case; ther placieriof) the! Aar
would be be aiiFested ii its downward'courseycor-elsé compelled to
iHoUht: above and overtidéothe barrier, ‘and !in this“way’the rock: ime
mediately behind thé barrier would! be protected from a ‘large shake
6ftthe deniidation ‘the’ parts ‘of the-valley ‘above and ‘below'must have
undergone?’ IEf this view be adopted) the Kirchet may be ‘considered
ds° a portion’ of & ‘more aneient bottom “ofthe valley,’ and it may
he infétréd that the deeper “channel ‘on! both’ gidesof? it; which de-
Beehds Heatly ‘500 feet lower, hastbeen excavatedoby; the glacier cof
hel Avr! Dm0098 & al ar it nided 2duide to ogsdied moore 3 Lotad
< Ta thé dithexed figure 'theoheavy line 02 y! 100 Rig! 8iyioy onle
WG We,18 W evo’s ‘section “of the wallep of fr TT aa
‘Hasli, eitherabpve or below the Kirehets "ae
‘a fre, thé Kirthet) stretching across. the

* oan Da
: re A! 7

fec; and f is the fissure, narrow and
WaT sian! a sh ele cs ats si eT eS St epee | ge See
. iudusyin which ‘theriver Aar now flows; s 4
tees allo ott}
This fissire, tu

is “fi doubtedly cut by thei river tself, indicates :both ithe
“mbde"anid' the extent ofits! excavating power; andin ‘contrast! with
‘it the large?! opéning°ad °é, ‘shews'‘thevastly greater power ofuthe
‘giciént acertthe mlgéige .toot OO8L 10 OOVE .2k tsdi—d 40 §
_ The Kirchet is the boundary between the uppéroand lower alleys
of Hasli (Ober and Nieder'Haslix) o/A bout'two miles above it there
‘i aii aiidieitterminal’ moraind) consisting (of ovastopilesof!-boulders
ehiehy of sranite’and: srieiss) mixed with! soilj-andprobably:200 feet
\ay height.°\Tthad'formed a bank across the valley;obut andeep |pas-
°siiperhas béen cit’ throught by theriver:) |vAr little:beyond this;the
‘qimestone ix’ siicéeéded: by ‘oneiss and ‘mica ‘slate, ‘and! about twouniles
fatther up ab Guttaneny the gneiss is’ succeeded by granite; iwhich
‘eotitintes t6 the'Giimsel,@ distance of eight miles: (Studer, Geologie
“der Schweiz, ps ¥78).™— Fron the point’ where the crystallinesrocks
"Gommerice the valley eontracts,the flat bottom; :so'striking @ feature
“lower down disappears) the aseent beedmesomuch:morél rapid) ithe

réad' perilous, andthe seenery wildy © Striated’and grooved rocksy:so

“rare ‘in’ the liniéestone districts: are ‘now! seemceverywhere. yo! The
(ee Howpice,’ ’ Or hotel of the*Grimsel (at? Ri in the map); standsramidst
Savage rocks; at°an elevation of 6158 feetabove the seaziand:close to
the Pass‘which conrécts the valley ‘of Hashiewithsthatiof the ‘Rhone,
oven Dluoda (00 10 00S ai toot I-yvidsdoiq to) vtiorictiay modordny

tL S ogplee v-

BAL

Oe

5 * The first volume of the Geologie der Schweiz was published in 1851, in 12mo,
With a small map of the ‘Alps and Northern Appenines! "The'sécond, which will
“complete the work,'is expected to appear before) the end, of the present year,

_ -and, will, be accompanied) Ayia map.on a,larger scale, carefully coloured, A
Protein the Geology of

é 1 > se) tO AYetoleat ra k
rofessor,
98d

deology Switzerland from the hands of the eminent Bernese
Bi regarded as a great ‘acquisition by ‘all’ Who’ cultivate the
en¢e,” florrw ten? Sot tat ? roy : ' hei oT : irons wort? -_

296 Charles! Maclaren; Esq.) on the

oo. ~ In-this dismaband desolate! resion, with much 'siiow still bi! the
ground (24th July); we had comfortable meals; Seeved up by’ thie
landlord’s daughters; three’ respectable youns’ wonién; 2ivith “thé'ap®
Pearance and manners of ladies. Our fellow-lodgers Autiiberéd About
forty,and though the! building’ seems low and small, and is ass‘rade’
as the s¢ene around it, theo wholé were (siippliéd with Beds Sy is
wonderful how much’is doné'for the traveller's coiifort! itt’ Switzer
land.) Asod specimenvof the eliniate!: Mr Muitins inforins ‘us that fit!
the six months from’ November 1845 toAptil 2846; Ho" less than’
fifty feet-of snow! (fifty-three feet English); Gquivalent! to” ATty-Ave
inches ofwater;ifellcat the! Grimselp" «291142 9AL! eamoo OU pAgIUIolg

oThethead:of the valley of Hasli'is about! three! miles aWvést of the
hotel. boHere Ifound the inighty agent whose operations T ha traced’
over alinesof :forty! miles, still ‘at work,° though ' sadly Shrunk fron
what: mustshave been ‘his piisting dimensions?’ THe Taree Yladier “of
the: Unter-Aar was before’us) and thé figtrd below 4s & fronit-view of
its: lower ‘end, taken from the left°side! atid foreshortened in the'hori2

y di i beside amideb od T X od 8 mot
zontal direction; ; j2 arideb on LX, Zt i
boi g [810 | aciiet soitneqiued) isdw
| wola odd yd .vlotsmitles
fomglw .bas sowol
fF. oclirr- : ean
it Ppliso.e1s Jjoot
Tika... 1 ;
“eres ci omivorg bre rowol
: tgnol
: < et ey P Bets of vai |’
T I i EA EROS HN | POLO OL i
Ss _=S—S——_— sO, ate ah, nar 1% r
: j Pt a Re —— Se ee Fnge Fabs TO tL W olad
a BD ecnhend J ec
ca Viste tas Zin neh iit tae rr eer eet Os oi aloo old

G Gy the:twowalls-or:sides! of the valley, formed of sey granite
which vise labruptly:to atheightof 1000‘or'l 500! feet}: at’ an ‘angle!
of. BO5oer(BOfw onidetloq ont ditiw |: STD Dits ae

od: Uy The top, as seen from below; covered witly blocks and frag2’
ments-ofi variousisizessio The same! materials ostréw thewhole front:
down toob!b, exceptithe space !maiked #°%j wliére? the ice is Seen in!
very: distinct «strata, averaging, probably jab out two! yards: it? thick!
ness) )Itolhas been «shewm by Professor Forbés othat!what sean 1
“ strata’? ina glacierare curved) lamine of 4 conoidaP forni’ gene-°
rated: by; the: unequal anotion- of theice-the ‘middle! movitig: faster ~
thanthe sides, and thé top'faster than the bottom) The left or totth
side,of: the:glacier.d'pis*higher thanithe right a,’ and fully 800-feet®
above theogravelly bed of the streams at the foot ofthe glacier. Y Peet
breadth from Gito' Gin) M.Desor’s' plan |(1842) is’ about 1600 feet)”
or nearly one-third of ‘a mile ;~but the glacier being formed by the”
junction’ of two-others ((those*of the Finster‘and Lauter Aav)jis' five’
miles long if measured back tothe point where they unite, and: at’ une!
higher end has!a breadtheof 4000 fect: The glacier of the’ Finstér”
Aatwas)sounded! by yM_) Desor? to: the depithe of °7 618 feet, Without"
being; sure thatile hadi reached the bottom. The parti of the feoritae®

ee / TEM aN
(01399 > ,cmot Jooqes a190l)

—

Lryatics,of the td lpstiasd 297

dealin ityli%, Consisting, of jice,, was, nearly. vertical nes
agyil the annexed section 5. sebile the,part hehe are
di, qandyo (Eig..9).on, the, north, side, -was, entire->i =="
ly. covered with, blocks;- and. in¢lined, probably:at«
an,angle of/,30° or. 35%, Oming:, tothe; analy
of the blocks <0 parece insecure, footing, wer
ascended, by, thesside, of -.the. fixed, rock and, patilipud r BES
upon. it, and.walked about a, mile;along the’ \surfacevin the: direction
d,¢,|, Its; appearance was new and: strange, quite unlike anything T
had, previously,seen, on glaciers. No icejwasivisiblemo: groups of
picturesque cones like spires, none,,of,:the|jhugélstransverse rents:
called crevasses 3, from,; side,to. side.the surface, wasia sheet)dfofrag-
ments, greatjand, small——resembling. a dry river channel covered with’
stones, and, confined by,walls of, rock above 1000, feetoin iheight.s Yet
the coating of stones, though, massive; in appearanceslwas: really:thin'y
for,.on., shoving aside/two, or.three of, the, smaller fragments the iee:
generally, came, into, views and no, doubt coustituted.-the entire mass!’
rom ¢ to f. The debris spr ead over the surface in thia way,iforming
what Charpentier terms the “ superficial moraine,’’ are all carried
ultimately, by the slow progressive:‘hovement of the glacier, to its
lower end, wherethey drop over" ‘the declivity, and, resting at its
foot, are called the “terminal moraine” (d). The, fusion at the
lower end proyrnts itis Sprogrecrlee motions feomt aceing | ta the glacier’s
length. ! ¥
ithe glacier Dis ‘miéans: GE he ak, = Side ale which lie
below it, or adhere ‘to its under part, polishes,’ S$¢ ratches, and grooves
the rock in contact -withits sides and bottom. “The scratches and
grgqowes, csibelencrpengl the cline lofi the bglacier’ss motion++that «is,
they, are J grizontal{jor, nearly)go, éven! upon: vertical: sirfaces,and:
their aspect, form, and direction, with the polishing whichiaccom-°
panies them,! are so; peculiar, canduelkatacheristios that, when! they are
found; in, anyvalleynow mever:visited by permanent ices or snow,"
they,,afford .decisiye,evidence ofthe: former existence-of glaciers at”
the place; ;. forthey,jareo such; |as.cnoy other agent..known!ininature’
produces. in,suehi localities. ‘Lhe’ litiestone- ofsthe Alps, atleast that
of the,valley of.Hasli, wastes too rapidly :to retaim the:scratches and”
grooves, unless wherenit is| well» coveréd witho soils but: they? presents
themselyesin abundance.as séon.as) wereriter ithe) regioncof” ange
it and.sgneiss.,|| Nows, these! characteristic: marks! of: glacier: action “are!
met with;,not only, in; the neighbourhood: of the! presenty glacier, axis
onthe same level. withat,but teh, miles dower down) inithe ‘valley,’ and:
more than,1000 J feetJabovelit ini ventical : height. io Agassizdescribes'0
ofr BFE? Yer In the, yalley,of: Qber+ Haslicas:from an:inch to w foot!in|
breadth.) There, are, many, (of jthem, however! two feetuin' breadth,
some, even. n,three or four, and this,on0surfaces:oforock almost vertical; «
and 1500 feet above the,traveller’s headia(! They exist) in. anti
ne and ,are\so, conspicuous) that,in: wet. weather, their glittering’ aspect’

PES

pan > aw Fy a
- w - 7

298 Charles Maelaren; Ksqi; on the

constantly attracts the:eye. Between! the hospice of) the:Grimsel
ard the ‘present»glacier' there are several places where you may. find
a ‘precipitous face! of rock, of the extent of ancacre,all grooved with
broad shallowhorizontal:groovesy but marked: offo intocoblongspaces
by darky verticalyand ‘horizontal lines) caused by fissuresin the, rock:
As*the-granite here is‘in stratapresting on’ theiriedges,accvording to
M: Desor, the verticalfissures \must be seams) arid thechorizontal
ones’ joints.(\2 When’ the surface of the broad grooves is sufficiently
near theeye to! be examined, it presents) fine striae’ These mayobe
seen at the: large smoothed» area, calledotheHellenplatz (figured:in
Agassiz’s 16th Plate),a little above the Handeck Waterfall) and with
the aid of a pocket’ telescope ‘even a ‘better view may be got, — of
the grooves and strie‘on.a rock onthe opposite sideof the river.

) Holding ‘itthem asestablished;' that’ distinctly-erooved: Smoksot in
Alpine valleys ave sure marks of the action of glaciers)‘theonext
question is: To what altitude above the present bottonr of the valley
of Hasli aré theseamarks found? Now;omthis point qwechave-a!dis-
tinct: (statement) from) Agassiz, <e ascertainedoby: barometrical
measurement, that on theoSiedelhorn, which flanks the glacieron
the south, the striated rocks rise to the height of 2762 feet (Hnglish)
above the valley at‘the foot ‘of the existing glacier. (Etudes, p. 254.)
There ‘are estimates even »higher!thanothis, foro Klie!de Beaumont
admits thatthe upper limitsof theerratie:zone (marked: by-polished
‘rocksoor travelled boulders) im the: Alpine valleys:indicateia: depthiof
800) or: 10009 metres.—+~(Remarques surideux points: -de lav Phéorie

ydesGlaciers, 1842.) )Weoare ‘safe then inassuming . thatiacglacier
22500 feet.or:morein depth occupied: thewvalley of Hasli‘atancancient
opeviod: » With:such a depth: we can:wellcunderstandcthat ‘the river
ofice might transport: blocks of gramite across the:Brunig: Pass into
»thewalley of Sarnen;:which-had:then of :course! a glacierof ‘its own,
uwith amnortherly:'motion.:: Theglacier:of the Aarihad then: ioecupied
itheswhole ofthe: Alpine:portion of: the:valley; fifty miles imlength,
>whichends at Thunjand must haveextendedsheyondit into the:plain,
‘as'far as Berne; where'the remmants of amoraine:still existio’ What
theyminimum of cinclinationcis necessaryito' give motionto a glacier
willobe afterwards considered.) Fromothei:lower' end ‘of theepresent
glacier to Brienz the:fall\is.one foot:in thirty-foury or'andnelination
rather under two degrees jfrom the: a bate to a ‘it issone

foot: in sixty>four, or fifty-three minutes. soon 2% &,stone V
” The sum of ‘the oarsions ner from! thal ‘preceding — may
be thus stated _ { OOo! S sidiw +i : il i101

| There:arée/two facts diarhetguilien of ites Maxjers i in the Allps.
First, They ‘carry down ‘from the higher ‘parts of: the valleys masses
of rock often ofsvast: size,vand deposit them: onthe sides of the lower
parts of these valleys,vorcat theircterminations, Secondly; They

polish \and «striate! the «rocks in! contact»withothem:! (Now; ih the —

valley of Hasli, which we have been examining, we'find aoglacier at

ae et ee -
ee a ee ee ee ee ee

at arene an

\ Hrnedéesiof thes Mlpsiies 299

thempperextiemity, performingsthesé functions+—transporting:boul-
dexs,and polishingvand» striating.the: rocks! in contact:withyitto the
height.of.300 ifeetsabove the :visible bottom of ithesvalley. iq Butyin
thecsame:valley;: both 4t thecpresents glacier and: many atiilés lower
down,owe find the. Samiehcharacteristic: marks of gladier action sc/atya
niuchi greater elevation, ‘we find) largesbouldérs; and these.genérally
angular; ‘not\:rdundedor water-worns:trafisportedfroim the supper
valley and: Lodged.on thesides; of, the} lower! at-a height: nob: much
sliort.of 20.00 feet, .and nie: find>:polishedy and» striated orocks atthe
same, elévationy Oaniwe doubt ithatothe same effects: in both cases
procdeded from: thie Sanie:cduses+that the agerit:which now deposits
boulders ‘ands polishes; rocks at 800: feetcofelévation;oalso ideposited
the.:boilders land)’ polished; the srocks:at £700 :or::2500: feet: Pein! a
Words thatpacglacien:2500 feetiinidepth! atosome: former «period! oc-
cupied:the-xalley of Hasli, ahd textended to: Thun, -or! beyondyit\?
Where thé parallelism: isoso, complete,: it! would belagainstialbisound
philosophicalyprinciples!to:account. for: the -phenomena by: calling tin
lacdifferent agency: rand:one, 666, ‘ purelys ph abeiireai to? atanperseite
-~ ivoat ie in: lopatationl ‘before:ourr. hen fio dsdd ddomertseso:
(Heiko nich) ef
( pac sq 29h iran sporrtation o) Aline, Bloat to. erp i
SnoWe:ltave thus! good evidence! that! glaciers: dikeithe present, short tof
imich greater! dimensions, i afford./a ‘satisfactory explanation: of: the
itransference:ofgranité blocks from the: highér Alps t0 the lower.ends
sof thé valleys:in:the liméstone district-that-iss to the borders of ‘the
slevelecountty. oTt:remains to.be considered /how/ far: the. same agency
pwill:account ifor! the : transportation of oblockS frome the: Adkps( aCrdss
«the level icountry:to: Mount! Juras» heseblock& were long abpuzzle
oto! geold gists): dnd arecstill ajmarvéb tolotduristsz:0 Lhey!are of; gra-
mite »gnéiss;; and: other rocks belongine:!tothe: Alps} ‘andothey dre
bséenolying.in thousands on ithesisoutherii’ faceyof :thelliniestone chain
of Suira, tol which they! must:have sbeem carridd, actossothe plaini of
Switzerland over ay spaceb of fiftyrmiles: or:morev:! ‘They! ave! foind
jaaot/ merely, atithe:foot;nor: én theslower déclivities of Juray but*high
nOncits sides;atan elevation of 2000 feet above the country theyoliad
totraversed; }Theo firstohint ofthe théory'which -attributes the! ¢on-
aveyancerof: the, granite) boulders to glaciers wasigiven' by our towns-
oman thelaté Professor Playfairs; Itowas afterwards; broached by M.
Venetz, a Swiss engineer,..whoxprobably-wais not awarerthat his'idea
had: beer anticipateds ii Itiawasonext) adopted: by Charpentier, “who
fortified it with a oreat variety of evidence in a menmioirproduced in
edi834,{iand erepublished:incam enlargediform*ini 1840)3:and it. has
eoreceivedofurther support:from: A gassiz:and (Guyot:of: Neuchatel
sowoMap Te -represents) the awesterm portioncof: Switzerlando i to
yod 1G; theclake, andigs:the:Down bf Genevazyolicy oe > at
od} B Dydhe Bernése:@Oberlandio:The ore of: Thun and Briont a are
de yolosseen nearaD..: Oni MR2 x9 meod ‘overl-6¥ lwestlasi tous {OHSY

300 Charles Maclaren, Esq) on the

N, the Lake of Neuchatel.
Bi, Mont.Blane,, ..
. t’.t,, the, Pennine Chain. which bounds. the Great Valley 0 on ithe
south,
vu u,,the opposite rae which divides the Bernese Oberland, Sndin
|, the,Great Valley.
macgdup n yb, the dotted, space thus maihale is oe Valley
of .the Rhone (which, for. distinction |sake, | I shall;'call the
Great, Valley.), | It.is shut,in om all,sides, by high mountains,
except. at ¢, where the river escapes through a broad and. deep
opening, The ‘true, breadth, of | -the, Great Volley iso much
greater than, that |shewn in the map,
gf «hick, the western, part of the, Plain, of Switzerland! and the
southern declivities of Mount Jura, over all which; erraticscon-
sisting of blocks of granite, gneiss;| serpentine, &e., are disirhs
buted, which have, been proved. to \be) derived coed the! Great
Valley above mentioned. The area over which the:transported
materials are spread extends from Mount Sion (S), on the south-
west to a point, near Soleure (A), on, the east. Its length is
about,110, miles, its. breadth, from k.to f 30, and. the. blocks
ascend on the side of Mount.Jura, at 7, to:a height,,above ‘the
plain which hasbeen. variously stated, but which,,on the;au-
thority, of Elie de Beaumont, I, put down at 3450. English) feet
(1050 metres) above. the, sea,,or 2015 above: the lake of. Nauk
chatel. :
It.is by means of certain rocks. of a-marked lithologieal i ohcice
and therefore easily recognisable, by|a. good) mineralogist, that, the
travelled. boulders. ‘strewed. over, Jura and the Plain of Switzerland
haye.been. traced to their. primitive sites, and the course they. pur-
sued in| their, migrations ascertained. . The. phenomena lare much
more complicated here,.than,in the Valley of Hasli, and also.oma
much grander scale. ‘The Great | Valley;.7 @.¢ q;. &ic, .; is 100 miles
long and 50 broad, and, every part of it-has furnished its contingent
of blocks and fragments, M, Guyot deduces from an. elaborate in-
vestigation of the phenomena, that the boulders are: not scattered
promiscuously over Mount |Jura.and the Swiss:plain, but that. a cer-
tain order prevails in their, distribution, similar to, that which pre-
vails among. the materials brought down by glaciers, in the shape of
lateral, medial, and terminal moraines. (Bulletin dela Societé des
Sciences, Naturelles. de, Neuchatel, Seances. Mai, Nov., and) Dee.
1845,).,, The travelled masses, relied, on as\ evidence aire, with one
exception, all, igneous or. metamorphic—namely, granite of three
varieties, gneiss, chlorite slate, euphotide eclogite, serpentine, and’
a, peculiar ;conglomerate,,. These,being spread, over .a- district)

(gf hi k),,.composed,, of ) rocks entirely . different) ,(sandstoné! and)

limestone), are, casily, discriminated,,.,.And' even. the precise locality’

from which.a.block came can in-some, cases be ascertained) © <yeson

nt .WOYV

“=
x

a
q

x

\ 0 Brraties of the Alps 301

The boulders attain their greatest elevation 6n Juraf atthe hill of
Chasseron (f in the map), precisely opposite the‘valley’ (e), through
ewhich they must’have'passed)” Apthis spot, granite blocks’ from the
east shoulder of Mont Blanc (w) are found 2000 feet above the plain.
Fron; the boulders-cotitinve to' present'themselves 0it thé declivities
eastward, but at lower and lower elevations, all the way*to°h; where
wthey descend tothe level of the plain:> They céntinue also #etivard
eto 9, witha! similar: ‘change“in elevation) 'so’ thateif: a Yection were
-made\ialong' ‘the south face of Jura, it would fh an are; ‘of which
the middlewould be probably°1500 feet higher: then? the’ éxtremities,
‘Supposing: the factto be well® ascertained, ‘Charpentiéi”’ justly con-
siders it as strong evidence) to'shew thatthe ‘bouldérs' were transport-
ced by glacierso*! For, in ‘this. case, ‘the® primary movemient ‘of the ice
(aosemifiluid) mass," bls itipemetibéred) would be ‘in°thédiréétion of
theevalley (¢) from! which it’ isswed—that: is) right’ t& fi Te would
indeedtend'to ‘diffuse: itself laterally : as soon ‘as it réachéd'the low
country;<but! the dynamie pressure, so: far’ as'it ‘acted dn’ the mass,
would: opérate. mostistronely in the direction°ef. °' The progiess of
the! ‘glacier wouldebe stopped by the'niountain at'f, which’ would then
‘becoimeca’ secondary centre of dynamic! pressure, ' ‘dnd ‘accélerate the
motion towards? = and Ai; ‘and' the! semifluid? ice “thus actéed’on, and
obeying the. law! of gravitation, wotldhave its sttface gently’ iflelined
toothesestopointss “The boulders resting oi Tura would°thus be
depwsitednat: lowe and: lower- levels; in’ proportion as the ‘places they
rested on were farther and farther from f. If, on the contrary, we
assumethat the bouldérs’ were transported ‘on ‘floating’ iéé, \Is° it not
evident! that they would ‘have:been found’ at'as High’ lével at 'g and
has atsf ? forwater| unlike'a viscous fluid;"would find’ a true level
over) ayspacedike this in afew hours-or days)! while the great’ ‘number
ofthe boulders'shew ‘that their distribution must have extended over
thousands ofiyears:!| (Charpentier, Hssai; sect: 53.) POG OS

eoMy Guyot) states) that ‘on the /déclivities! of Tura? onthe’ Bernese
Oberlitsdypfebin’ ke toil and even in' the’ iirc aia bé plainy ali nec”
arrangement of the blocks and fragments’ may béetraced, sich sexist?
inomoraines) (and “a ‘distribution’ in*harmony: withthe laws 6f glacier
motion.)6«! AT hus, fragments derived: fron the right bank of the Great!
Valley: (@ ¢ gylane found ‘on.(thé-right side°of the’ basin (k' 2D) while’
those|dérivéd fromthe left‘bank!(y np), are'foutid On the tert side’ .
ofthe\basin (f and towards h),andthose derived from: the’ ‘upper left:
bank! (b+), occupy the/middle'of the ‘basin, ‘and’aré: fouiid in the space
between and:h, where they: constitute what M: ‘Guyot’ cals the fron-
tabwor terminal moraine ofthe eastern’ glacier? "There is'a huge°
boulderoftaleose® oranite “resting on° a low eminence ‘at Steinhoff,”
ten'tiles south-east'fram Seleure’(near h), containing: 61,000’ cubic®
feet:( French) andi weighing more 'than5000 tons.° (Tt wil give’ a
betterrides of its magnitude'to state that it is equalin bulk toa mass
measuring forty feetin length; breadth; and depthoas large, in short,’

VOL. LIT. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. x

302 Charles Maelaren; Exy.) on the

as a soodly “house ‘of 'thrée ‘storeys 1° Now, Me Charpentier aseeriy®
tained from its composition; that’ the boulder is‘a portiom of a! rock on
the’ south-east part of the valley (near ¢). “From ‘this? -point it’ had)
travelled round by the valley, ¢, (for there isono other outlet); \ per

forming & journey of Y50 miles! toh, where it now liés; a mbnumenti*
of the vast powérs ‘Which “nature® has at: her eptariandy! and cof the
mighty physical changes which this part of Europe Yas: ‘undergone

We have firther ériduitee: of ‘glacier’ agency in the-fact thatthe

bloéks aiid debris on the two'sides ‘of the Rhonearekept:wonderfullys
distinct.’ The valley of Entremont, for'example; at -p,cand the val-o
leys of St Nicolas and Saas between b'and w,° bring dowm fromothe's

Pennine chain or southern ‘ridge (¢ ¢), thousands of fragments greato
and small, of the rocks’ ‘pecular’ to each, ‘talcose granite; chloritien
gneiss, diated and serpentine. |’ These abvoiirnd along the? left! sides

of ‘the valley, and are diffused far and: wideoverthe Swiss plain(;:
but what on a first view seems strange, none of thenrhave been cars’
ried across the valley'to'c or gi! “Those from 6, for/‘instanee, lared

found high on the slopes of Jura°at'f,.a ‘hundred ‘miles:from) their
parent rock, while'they are ‘not found onthe ridge (vv) just: opposites!
Now, a similar law of distribution is peculiar toa glacier.’ The dess
bris which collects on its right and leftoflanks,:forming ats lateral
moraines, may be carried many@niiles ddtiniwardes and yet. (unless
they ate forced together ‘ata narrow’ gorge) hota! block! will pass!
from the'‘one side to the‘other, though the space whicli divides them
may be small.” Had the blocks been ‘transported: ont masses of float)
ing ice, and-acted upon, of course, by windsoand —o Tes
markable separation could not have been*maintained. -iormmiue © diiw
“While the larger portion of the fragments: derived: fedin thie Gavlois
Valley went eastward, and were diffused over the space kif ht, another!
portion, and at-a later period; as Mi Guyot thinks): went inithesopso
posite direction, and foriied the western glacier, whdgel.ednrse was:
through the Lake of Geneva (G),'to the western’ part of Juranr Its’
right moraine was midway between fand:y; its. left, ramoalong they
south shore of the lake, and its frontal or terminal morainewas ateS.o
Td me, however, it'appears that the whole! ridge of Jura:from 8 bet hi
should be considered ‘as part of the termmalomoraine.1'6 xo s9lin9q
The blocks on the middle region of Jura, from ve weicnanas oer
above the Lake of Neuchatel (N), from two zones... The upper
reaches an elevation of 2000 feet ; the elevation of the lower is from
500 to 1000 feet ; and between them is a zone 1000) feet broad,
nearly destitute of blocks. The granites of Mont Blane from wu, and
the various rocks of the Pennine chain from ¢/to p, constitute the
higher zone almost»exclusively. They,are.found in the lower zone
also, but mixed with others. Though Jura is the extreme boundary
of the erratic basin, the blocks are maeh more numerous on it than
in the plain—a faet quite in’ harmony with: the glacier hypothesis,

for the plain would only receive the blocks which shappeéned, to/;be, =

> .bsoid soot

\\Erratics of the Alps. .\...4.) | 303),

spread. overithe surface/of theglacier at, the: moment of its dissolution,
while|.Jura |being:the,cite.of a frontal,moraine, would be a, landing,
place for blocks, perhaps for thousands.of years, (Charpentier, Essai,),
p. 267,)io\Had.they been’ borne on: floating-ice the order,of distribu,
tion would have: béen reversed ; they would have been most abundant
near) the source:of: supply, that isi about. G 4,\ scarcer, at m0, , and,
very: scarce.on Mount Jura. |;
oThe: Steinhoff! boulder, containing’ 61 0.00 a fae ‘han eon
mentioned, but;thereare some others forthe of special notice, One
of. the miost:celebrated :lies.on Mount Jura at:a,,-some hundred, feet;
above: Neuchatel (N), and {being of, easy access, has -beenvisited by,
crowds of tourists: [t)is;called; Pierre \.a,Bot (or toadstone), andy
measures 50ifeetin length, 20,in. breadth, and 40 in; heighty,... This,
gréat block:is iof: granite: from the morth-east.shoulder of Mont, Blang..
(u)s:and hasybeen icarried to a distance,of 80 miles, from, the parent
rocks :Iowas prevented by-,accident:; from seeing. the ;Pierre a; Bot, d
butcl sawcmany. of the:smaller size in, the vicinity... 5,1;
» Ati Orsieres,! near) Martigny, there,is, a granite adidas petal
tosscontain: 100,000. cubic ‘feet, jand,) weighing consequently, 8000
ton$. o//It is. astravelled: block;-for it, rests.onja pemaatane mmountaiay,
batritprobablyihas’not travelled far. 3,
2eAlt::Monthey «(near :¢): there. jis.-a: remakkable group. “of, ‘granite.
blocks, amidst which J spent) some;hours.; ‘They. lie, ona. sort,of ters,
race; about 400 féet above the bottom of the.valley,.and form,a belt
fronv'800-to- 800: feet:in breadth, accordingto, M.; Charpentier, and
amileandiachalf inJdength, yOne,-called, Pierre: des. Marmettes,,:
with a summer-liouse: on: its::top, -is,63 feet long, 32,.broad,.and, 30
incheight: | -Another;onamed Pierre (a | Mourguets,.is 65, me long.
There:are: many-others: whose ‘solid: contents, are. from.300,.to 400
cubicoyards.)::-The- large ones have’ their/angles.almost always sharp,,
shewing that: they, havéonot been» rolled; or,exposed to, attrition, and
this holds true of::the travelled; boulders ,on, Jura, and in the Alpine |
valleysigenerallyio! All the! large blocks: at Monthey. are of one spe,
ciés}.andybelongo to the granite |of thie. north-east) shoulder, of Mont.
Blanicc(near'w);: from which they are now 27 miles distant... Char-:
“Spe "ae bhein depositation heré by; a pacar a as Falloard es A
bose .bts bi mn | Pige 10." bint edt sto atoold 4 iT
Teqqu om beclor eA See TE ads pond,

bas 36 mort

eds 9diidita:

Qffos iswol :

yish muod sateih

fisds ti no evoismmint otont it

Ges Cross ssitidn ofl sea oe icthoibrs, oceupying the ale (at ey
indthd map) between theemountains, Ai Ber sino bluow ale |

“x2

0 iT

304 Charles Maclaren, Esq.; on the

1g 6, The upper surface of the glacier.

eid, A pile of blocks forming part of a medial moraine, =e
on ‘the surface of the glacier, but a little raised :aboveuity! The
covering of stones protects the ice below, while: :the utiéovered part
being exposed to fusion and evaporation, wastes: away, and:the mo-
Paitie is thus found riding on a ridge of icey which nein Hoxtes
informs us is sometimes 80 fect high. M ovodA

When the glacier was in progress ‘towards final dintelestiin, its
surface a b gradually subsiding, wouldarrive) in ‘course of ‘time ‘at
the line e, and the blocks c’ d’ would then be deposited ¢ on_the.ter-
race, in, the position ¢ d where. we find them, 400 ‘feet. ‘above the
bottom of the valley, except a few which | slid over” e declivity.
This explanation appears to me satisfactory, though our distin-
guished countryman, Sir Roderick Murchison, has, raised” some ob-
jections to it. We learn from Elie de Beaumont’s Memoir that
there aré glacial traces on the hills near Monthey, at an elevation
of 2350 feet (English) above the present bottom of the valley. The
left lateral moraine, therefore, of the) great; glacier, would, be, ab. a,
‘probably 2000 or 3000 feet westward; from 00 the «1 |

Having sketched \the distribution of the travelled blockinw we recur
to the grand question—What were the means of their, transporta-
tion ? And as we found that Charpentier’s theory affords a plausi-
ble ‘explanation of the erratic phenomena in the valley of the’ Aar,
let us inquire whether it is applicable to those we have been deserib-
ing. The inquiry then presents itself in this’ form+—whéther the
magnitude and’ position’ of the ancient glacier which “occupied the
Great Valley of the Upper Rhone, were such as, in accordance with
the laws’ of glacier motion, would enable it to transport the’ Alpine
blocks from their primitive sites to the Swiss plain, and the'decli-
vities of Mount Jura?
oe The data for the solution of this problem are, not. so ample a as
might be desired. The most important, so far as my information
extends, are supplied by the Memoir of Elie ‘de ‘Beaumont -pre-
viously referred to, in which he gives the greatest elevation at which
polished rocks and erratics have been found at several points in the
Great Valley and across the Swiss plain to Jura.: These :traces in-
dicate the height-and depth ofthe ancient glacier, and, when: con- |
nected by measuring the intervening spaces, enable;us to deduce the
slope or inclination, which determined its progressive motion.' The
following is Elie de Beaumont’s) table, with the metres re

r

into English feet :— di boteb
Upper linnint of Polished Rocks and Erratics above the Sou

gid

M104 w tifestly q

1. Near the Grimsel (r in the map), ov sl 8 teds Ted a

2. Near Aernen(between randsd), ob. WY ”. once, (nore n 5848

Evvaties of the Alps!" 305

- Sarge English
onitast eons O tue tis / . feet.
oy Near Brieg (d), tod iatosly edd ‘te + 4988

nidy NearcMartigny dy wo » A707
obs Near Great Saint Bernard (on ride abore P) sore 82038
206i: Mountain. of Plan-y-Beuf (p),. 6 os ody 6 6804
7. Above Monthey (ce), - «x 31 O8 aomitostoe chen eroieee

2i8.0Chalets' of Playau:(near £)yioou oi. asiosla ods aokQ10
teQar ‘Chasseron on Mount Jurac(f), 0% ‘ sbe'ro « 3444

~The: traces at, Nos. 5 and 6 belong to tributary or confluent gla-

ciers,. Setting these’ aside, and putting the spaces from I to 2 and
24 to 3 together, the slope or inclination, from’ the head 7, of the an-
cient lacier, to its ‘north-west termination fis given by M. we
Beaumont as follows : —

noite: lone je. . ( . _ Slope or Inclination, .
9 e ~ In degrees
“and minutes. In forts

From’ othe Grinisel to Botsg (‘to b),: solstsg? Gfsio}tfoohine TG

en T

Breig to Martigny'(b to'd), >". ato QUUS, yidehdag
1997 » Martigny to Playau (d to ky. LBdodb22 ociveH 938
. Playau to Chasseron (k tof), . 12hosd bags 08285

eae a out Monthey, there.is,a constant fall;.as,the table.shews,
ae one station. to. another, but,at; rates.generally varying, From
the Grimsel to Brieg it is,1 foot; in, 51.,.From Brieg to Martigny
dt is extremely. small ;:in.the,.two, following, intervals itis SERB
though. still,below the first. ...
oor Dividing . the whole space, 132 mile in length, ce two. sections,
the, inclination is :—_..... |

F from. the Erimsel to Martigny (r to d), 24° 1 fovk in 143
a ~Martigny | to Chasseron (d to /), Eo Ee ee
ite f Vom

29 Or taking, the whole in.one continuous line :-,,,.. ‘ Pi
From the Grimsel to Chasseron (7 to Ts. 28’ 1 foot in “160

“oi But the gliFiors which occupied: the valleysat. Plan-y-Beuf, and
ofthe Val de Bagne; at tp and u,:must; not be:overlooked: » They

ate dateral valleys indeed; but, their size and! elevation; and the: posi-
_ dich they occupied;:nearly:in.-a: line).with’ the opening,.¢,-through

- twhiehothe grand glacier)debouched: into; the plain, must have oren-
_ dered them powerful auxiliaries. Descending from) a great-elévation
__ along a steep surface, falling perhaps 1 foot in 12, itis probable, that,
instead of joining, the; principal, glacier laterally, they would,.over edie
_ its;and increase its height by many hundred feet. We know, in fact,

* thatrit was from the valley of Ferrex, on the west side of Plan-y-

%. Béeuf, that a large proportion ofmthe! highest’ blocks onJ urai(those
* at’@hasseron) came. M. de Beatmont :has:iaccordingly recognised

306 Charles Maclaren, Esy., on the

the impor tance of those glaciers, and calculated the inclination of the

line a ee them with Jura, which is as follows :—— pe
Minutes. vf feet.
From Plah¢y-Beuf to Chasseron (p to f), ee 1 eu in 156
St Bernard to Chasseron (¢’ to /), 4.0’ vodinoM. 86

The data, however, on which these caléulations Wi are open to
some objections. When the glacial traces consist of’ polished rocks,
which are seldom continuous over great spaces, it may happen that
the highest have escaped notice. ‘Thus’ M.'de Beaumont puts! down
2300 metres as the upper limit néar'the Grimsel Pass but! Agassiz
and Desor subsequently. found polished rocks on the mountain which
forms the western side of that Pass, the Siedelhorn, at 2447 metres
‘of elevation (Desor “* Excursions et Séjours,”p.:242,)) Thus 482
“feet were’added to the difference of ‘level between 7 /and fj:and.the
seneral slope was raised from ‘1 foot in 160 to b footin 153. .Again,
‘when’ the difference ‘of level between the! traces at Brieg: and Mar-
tigny (6 and d), a distance of fifty miles, was put-down at,70imetres |
or 229 feet, should not ‘some allowance be made for the:effect. of the
‘great olaciers which descended from ithe: lateral valleys of Saas, St
Nicholas, Annivier;/and “Erin (at 1 and'y),:in enlarging the princi-

“pal glacier and forcing it to expand upward at:points bélow,Brieg.
‘Inthe ‘next place; glacial traces may. once have existediat: a-greater
‘elevation, and been subsequently:obliterated.| Nonesarécmarked. in
LOND? a8 Beaumont’s tablecas occurring im thati long: spacevof fifty miles,
but'as the rocks on‘ both’ sides'are of limestone, which wastes) rapidly,
few polished or striated “surfaces ‘could ;be expected.) Moraines, jin-
deed, may exist, though ‘they also are liable to obliteration): ,,On the
whale, we cannot be sure that the traces now: ees at acon Indgadity
si the highest which have existed, | |

Depth of the Ancient Glacier. (1°
Py [+ ni ali

The enormous depth of ithe ancient glaciers i is still more nednehs
ing than their length or breadth, and to.this.element we can approxi-
mate with the aid of Keller’s map, which gives the height not only
of the mountain tops, but of sundry points in the bottom of the |
valleys. Thus the elevation of the upper limit-of erraties at Aernen _
(between 7 and 0) is 1813-metres above the sea, in the table, and \|
that of the town standing at_the bottom of the valley, according 107)
‘Keller's map, is 2990 French feet. Converting the measures th
dar own, and (deducting the latter fromthe former, the depth of the
glacier is found to be 2756 English feet... The whole:calculatéd in
this way are as follow +4 } o (oe toh

= ~~

{ oilt to {0 oltod oii ef

7
:
:

ly woLtnnatics of they lps. B07
oft to Birt dist Th ire: nilahaial aban hie Fa Depth or tee
i En Pap appealed srs Pe Sears VEOlld 10 UMS AG Gidré
At Aerrien; “WOO! 2s gi Hoinw .siul filw moos oni2paG maid
deeBrieg (b)gi.1ia\ ; : : : 2662="*
O6I A! Martigny' (a), e109 ) mosozesd) of two-y2delF morF
08 | .. Monthey (), - ¢€\ 028 ‘S) nenge : bren~eegd....

ot nego Playau (*), assuming with Che ae that ag
Avot “horthe, Take, of. ‘Geneva was cover red. with ce, p27
sods moqq@h which, the glacier floated, : Tee :
awoll fthe glacier: filled, the, bed; of we lakes ta. He oe ‘ts in
siopposite: the Bane would be ,about 3290, feet. Baek:
Hoidw isin rs000
goijom YALE js on “ Breadth of the Glacier.
£8) WER the: ‘phacips -of\the? Rhone-hads a ‘depth of 3000. ie its
olbreadth\ would probably fot exceed:8,0r 0. miles.;,...It,,will be seen
-%acthe map thatothe Peniiine;Chain [¢.¢: throws. out: transverse ridges
~“L6R “spurs,” Separating thelvalleyspdniyvbj éach.of which would have
29jte distinct glacier, bat valkoof them tributary: to. the igrand glacier.
ocTheseridves terminate: northward|in peaks rising, 5000;0r,6000 feet
:Pabovethe t bottom ofthe valley,and consequently.2000-or-3000.above
“the stop! ofthe:grand:iglaciérss “The space (between) these -peaks and
-o¢he northern chain'v v;:which defines the breadth of the grand glacier :
‘varies *fronil0: tocld) miles, but would {not-lexceed, He or,.10/ at, the
‘igurface of thecice’’ But after escaping from, the. vailey of the Rhone
20rnto ‘the! Swiss: ain its: breadth would dilate|te 30.miles, it reckoned
“from fe toefjrortovl LO.df- reckoned: from Sito he, TLhe.dimensions of
“Clgh@ ancient oldcier-which: spreadothe debris of the Alps-oyerithe.plain
odlofiSwitzerland ‘and the decliyities: of Mount, Jura, apay therefore be
(estimated approximately asofollows :+—): ,

Length from r to Mount Jura at. va 132 miles; red Yr. de aah
east terminal moraine at A, 160 miles; and to ine south-west one
at 8S, nearly the same,: Breadth i in. the Great Valley from 8 to 10
miles, in the Swiss Piain 30 miles in one direction, and 110 in an-

-ilepeheas © Depth in: the GreaticoValley: from 2600: to,3000 feet, near
eden ‘the bee aes sea thenee tol f aie feoral 4 500 to: 12090, sot.
yitio tom idviod i diiw eisai

ae Big. 11.

put for a i Seal cry is double ‘that ae the, OPW aad the
elevations here are in French feet above the sea.

t’, The Great St Bernard—height 9000 feet above the sea.

At o, glacial traces exist at a height of 7794 feet.

308 Charles Maclaren, Esq.,on the

_ P, Mountain Plan-y;Beuf—where traces ‘exist: at 445. feet.\:

a, Martigny——height, 1480. feet, above, the sea. .dtone

e, The.bottom. of the valley at.Monthey. : 16 Od dont o

.o@,, Lake. of Geneva, 1150 feet above the.sea.

~ ke, Hill: where Chalet of Playau stands teanenh at 9760 £ oot

N, Lake. of Neuchatel: 1340 feet. 199 8 of

Ff Mount, Jura-—traces at 8444 feet.) . »bi

Lhe; dotted, outline fromm. to. indicates the position of thd saben
tains forming, the eastern boundary of the valley, d:@5) 2 :isothe Dent
de Morcles, 8940.EFrench feet intheight; 2, the fails nonéhiegass trom
Lausanne.

The, parallel lines, in the. figure. indicate the position 6; the) sedi
formations, ...At f on Mount Jura, the limestone dips: south-east at
a pretty high angle. From N to G the Molasse, a sandstone, varies
much, but has generally .a slight,,dip to, the,south-east ;,fromoG! to
¢ the rocks consist of limestones.and/slates.of, different ages from the
chalk; to, the Paleozoic. series, with, masses, of, granite: or:gneiss
(marked by closer lines);intercalated) at, P,and.d@. The stratified
rocks here are highly inclined, and sometimes vertical.) The:tigure
is intended; merely to convey)a general idea of, the form of the sur-
tace over which the glacier glided, and. the lines of, Pf, domot)in-
dicate the true inclination of its surface, but one:very much) greater.
The line o f dips, at.,an angle of .5°,.while the tre dip of a Time
passing from the one position to, the other i is only 40°.

Slope of the Ancient. Glacier.

‘Would the inclination before mentioned, of 22’ or one Bert mn 156,
suffice to generate. progressive motion ina glacier ?-—Positive data
for the solution) of, this question do not,exist, but there are facts
from. which inferences, may be drawn by, analogy... To any one: who
knows nothing more of glaciers than what, the eye tells, it.»may seem
strange to say that, these masses of .ice are, plastic, and havea; mo-
tion like that of a;semi-fluid body, such as tar or, wet mortar.!/ The
lower end of; a glacier is generally a precipice of -rce, ten, twenty,
or thirty feet high; and, in some;cases, where it, emerges, from the
valley, and projects into the plain, it has the form of a mound, very
steep, both on the sides and front,,,,On the, upper surface, are seen
fissures two or three yards wide, and. fifty ora hundred, long, with
vertical sides, and the lower end often presents, galleries, many yards
in length, with upright walls, and large enough, to, permit; a man td
walk in them, To admit the plasticity of a, body of this description
seems somewhat like renouncing the testimony of our senses. That
such, however, is really the constitution’, of. glacier. ice, has. been

proved in Professor Forbes’s able and well-known ‘“ Trakeille | in the,

Alps,” to which the reader is referred for ample details,» He. de-
scribes glacier i ice as traversed, by an, infinity of capillary fissures,
and forming, in fact, a ‘‘ congeries of tightly-wedged polyhedrons,”?

eee 2S eee

Erretics of the Alps « 309

of thesmost irregular: figures, and ‘often thréeinehés or" Snore~ in
length. According to Agassiz, it ‘consists of fragments from chalf
an inch to an inch and a half’in breadth, increasing to ‘three inches
at the lower end of the’glacier.“° The fissures, ‘Says Professor F orbes,

admit. the free infiltration-of ‘water to: great aepths and inipart to
the mass “a certain rude flexibility within “narrow limits.” «As
evidence of this flexibility, it- may be'sufficiént’ to mention’ two ‘facts.

First;:the middle’ of a> glacier moves faster than the? sides, shéwing
that ithe ‘constituent’ polyhedrons of ‘the ive ‘separate “froin; aiid glide
over} or passione anothers’ Secondly; a: glacier” LHe Gb og ASP itself
to the dimensions of its bed ; it contracts its breadth when it'has to
pass through narrow goreé, and expands again when the bed widens.

- Its motions) in’short;: resemble shoes of tar or mortar or mud onan

inclined plane:

o!The extreme facility:with which water obex the law’ of otic attt
is'welb known. ‘The “ rapid’” Rhone, according to M. de Beaumont,
has aomeanfallof only°1’°54’ or ‘about’ 3 feet ‘per mile, from Ty6As
to Arles: «Nay, there ‘are portions of the Rhine and’ the Seine; he
says; ‘where the dechivity 1 is'80'‘small as’8} or ‘even 4 séconds—that
isa fall of one foot ‘in 25,000°or 50,000. © Sir Charles Lyell states
that: the surface of the Miadkcippi, at its:junction with the’ Ohio, ‘has
am tlevation of io more than?200'feet above the Gulf ‘of Masia!
The round) number of 200 may ‘raise ‘a doubt whether it\is the result
of careful measurement; ‘but’ if''so, the’ fall must be only about
2 inches per mile; for the length of the river, below the junction,
including all its sinuosities, is estimated in ‘‘ Darby’s” Lousiana at
1175 miles. © The*component parts of ‘a\ glacier, however, want the
mobility’ of the molecules ‘of water, and the motion of the: former is
better illustrated by the trouglis filled with plaster of Paris in’ Pro-
fessor Forbes’ s’ ingenious ak periment: We have another illustration
in the flowing’ ofa lava current, which, like the olacier itself, has the
advantage of being on a grand ‘scale. Ede Beaumont, in his-yalu-
able Memoir‘on Mount Etna, gives a table of the déclivities or slopes
of a great’ number of currents ‘in. active’ or extinct volcanoes. — In
22ofithese'the slope was under 8 degrees; in 10 it was under 2
degrees ;/in S°under 1 degree (that ‘is, less than 1 foot in 57), ‘and
imthe vast: currents! “which flowed’ from ‘the Icelandic’ volcano of
Skapta: Jokul in the terrible eruption of 1783, to'an extent of 50
miles, the slope ‘was’ only’30! minutes, ‘or a fall of “1 foot’ in’ 114.
This'was the mean slope, and at some parts the! actual fall must
have; been ‘still less. “Now, the ‘fluidity of lava is Much’ Tess perfect
than that ‘of water, even ‘at’ the ‘moment when it issues from the
crater, and when passing’ through the’ pasty condition before it” be-
comes solid, ‘as in the lower part of'a couleé, may fitly bear a. com:
parison’ with glacier’ icé)) “In its’ ‘most’ liquid ‘state, a‘ large stone
thrown upon it|floats on its'sui'face, asa loaf floats on honey, which
it resembles in consistency. ~ A eottlee” eight feet broad, which I saw

310 Charles! Maclaren, Esqy on the

om the ‘top of Vesuvius, flowed sluggishly, according to,my,estimate,
oat the!rate ofa foot iin, fiye, or six,seconds, sand had, morsels of. solid
lava floating-on lit. \In,the eruption, of,1631,) Mr Auldjo; found. the
lava! the day. after its|eruption, advancing in the low, ground, at. the
‘slow rate,of ten feet per hour. The, coulées of Etna are ona grander
‘scale... Mr Scrope saw one, ‘¢.slowly progressing) at the rate of about
-a-yerd per day; nine months after, it, had issued from, the. flank, of
the mountain .andother currents are described by Ferrara and) Dolo-
camein» ‘as still moving); on; ten, years after, their emission,? clear
‘evidence of a pasty! condition, and very slow motion like that of a, glacier.
The pasty condition which laya\assumes is, further. exemplified inthe
stringy forms andi strange shapes into which it, is drawn out or) twisted,
nesembling coils of rope, horns, festoons, &¢., and still better, perhaps,
in the:multitudé of cells{it: contains ,curiously elongated in the direction
of its motion.|.Mr. Serope applies tojit the terms, ‘ viscous, glutinous,
ductile; semi-solid. on ( Considerations on Volanoes, p)102,) Again,
there iss similarity, even inj the; external. form. of the glacier,and the
slavaicoulée,, . Lhe latter moves on between, two ridges of, scorize, jor
solidified portions. of its.own substance,jas a, glacier advances between
lines of fragments torn, from the rocks. it,has, been..in, contact with.
Both; are. resisted by friction, on, the. sides and, .bottom of their
channels;) in both, owing to,this resistance,/,the middle, moves ;faster
vothan the sides:and ,bottom,.and, the upper sunface- is, raised into: con-
vex form. Further, the parallel flutings, (cannelures) noticed, on the
‘surface by, M.de Beaumont, are the counterparts of Forbes’s,<‘ blue
bands,” and like-them. arise from the different parts of the-current or
bulges moving with different velocities,,|..In short, widely unlike as
\ithe'ssubstances are, there is;no,doubt that,,grayitation acts. upon
them very nearly, in the same manner,, and that if ja mean. slope of
30’,or,one/ foot in 114, suffices to carry a deep,coulée, of, lavay over
at: line of; 50; miles, there is; ao reasonable presumption, that, with a
sodeclivity \equally small; a glpsien: 2500 feet GEAR might adranse fe from
| Martigny to Chassenon:
Professor Forbes, jan exodilod authority,on such yin ley: con-
,{siders it certain tht the law which regulates, the motion of the more
» perfect: fluids, such) as water, is applicable tothe more imperfect,.such
(as glacier’ ice(L'ravels:in ithe Alps,.p. 385, first. Ed.), Che effect, of
that law, in reference to the dimensions of stream; isthus concisely
enilsiciatedsortt A stream of twice the,length,,.breadth;,and,depth of
another, will flow on,a-declivity half,as. greatj, and one,of ten, times
the dimensions! upon one-tenth of the,slope.”,.; Now, the, mean slope
of the |Glacier de Bois over a, space of three miles where. it was. most
level,,was found by, the same author to be 43.degrees, or about, 1 foot
lb 13,5 its, dépth, near the upper dimit, of that space, was) reported to
be.350 feet ; but this, was. believed, to. be, the, extreme depth, and the
mean for "ive three, miles| may, perhaps. be, taken ;at 250. feet.,\/1ts
rate of motion vavies from day to,day—small in winter,. greatest, in

a eee

Bypaties of the Alps’ — S11.

waitin and'wet weather At acdistance of 100 yards fromthe) side,
iP was fond to be 488 -feevper’annum; ‘atid in’ theomiddledt was
estimated At: ‘two-fifths more, or 676.'° Now, if a slopecof' 4} ‘degrees
gives motion td’a ‘glacier 250 feet deep, it follows from the rulevlaid
“dowii, that’ a ‘slope only one-tenth of this—viz., of 27 minutes (or 1
Fee i in 127), would ‘suffice for ‘a glacierten’ times asodeep'(and'wide
‘Gn’ pe popartion): such'as the oné which has left traces of its) éxistence
“Bl 0 féet ‘above Martigny; and 2780 fest ‘above the Lake of Geneva
“at the Chalet of Playau. | The question’ put was; whether a slopevof
“22 ‘minutes would ve adequate and the result obtained (2'7°);ds'suf-
“ficiently néat to shew ‘that’ there is*little force’in the objection drain
mn ‘thé stitall’differerice of level between the point. Py whence the
Blocks! icome; ‘and the point) f;'to whieh’ they-were celiptodkc ‘Ttiomust
‘pe: ‘Kept in’ find: 'to6) that thé ‘relative ‘heightsof oP and! fvhave mot
“yet! been: caeberinined geometrically. Professor‘ Forbes spoke! from
“eaiteful considération when ‘he said“ We cannot admit it to beiany
‘sufficient argument against’ the extension “of ancient ‘glaciers oto:the
“Jura, that they-must have moved witha suiperficial’slope of one degree,
“Orin some parts’ evencof av half ora quarter of that'amiount, whilst-in
tg glaciers’ the slope is*seldom or never under three degrees.”
HOME! heré'is’no other large glacier? whose mechanical constitutiomand
'Gyotions have been studied with ‘the same ‘care as those of: the Glacier
“de Bois) but some’ ‘ntéresting facts are’given by ‘Agassiz: and Desor
ig respectitig’ the great glacier of the Lower Aar.'“In‘a length of 7000
‘metres froii the Hotel Neuchatelois (a'cave) to the toprofothe ter-
aa Ri deélivity ; theisurface falls 4862 metres (Desor, “¢ Excursions,”
242) indicating’an angle of!3° 58’, ora slope of ‘one footsinv 143
eer According to M. Martins; the lower part of the: glacier/in
lo yeaa advanced 128° English feet per annum, the middle: 233 feet,
Tanid the upper parti246£ “he morerapid.motion of¢the Glacier de
& Bois is}'no doubt, chiefly the consequence’ of: its greater inclination,
cigspaeladly ‘at ‘the lower end. “Of the depth ofthe glacier of the Lower
Aar, we have no very satisfactory account ; ‘for Agassiz’ was “unable
““§6 bove toa greater depth than 150 feet, and thé depth obtained by
olgeanding pela a natural opening’ (“moulin”) cannot be entirely
‘odependéd on. °“'The ‘vertical “height ‘above® the® bed’ of ‘the stream) at
loghe Tower end. (from d’ to b, fig’8) was wie ‘Dy cache be ‘96
U mmétres,26r 315° English feat: M91

to Te has “been shéwn ‘that? various: iene dotiirecbed pris the

“trans transportation and dépositation “of \boulders‘are better ‘explained « by
othe 16 ‘glacier,’ thin’ by the icebergs, (hypothesis) The Jatter’ seems
seas ul dotted when applied ‘to’ the ‘case “of striated and ‘grooved
looks!” Granting-that’ in’ certain’ circumstances floating’ ice might
od produce’ korizontal striz ‘or groovings Yon ‘even surfaces, how shall
otlwe! account for the very contmon ‘case of those’ groovings Which in-
*i/line*doWnward following the slope ‘of the’ valley ;°or those*veca-
1! seonially: seen! rw Hil point upward ; ‘or ‘those “traced on the curved

312 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the

surfaces of hollow recesses, into which a large iceberg or floe could
not enter? The glacier, on the other hand, striates rocks under
these various circumstances before our eyes. A more radical dif-
ficulty yet applies to the iceberg theory. Whence did the water
come on which the ice floated? Shall we say, from the sea? This
would amount to the very bold assumption that the Alps had been
submerged to the depth of 6000 or 7000 feet for many thousand
years, and then raised up again, within the post-tertiary period !
Passing over other objections, the assumption is refuted by the fact,
that the Erratic Formation, or ‘ Terrain Morainique’’ of the Swiss
plain, rests, not upon marine beds, such as the sea in its supposed
long sojourn should have left there, but upon a stratified deposit
called the ‘‘ Alpine Diluvium,” which in its upper part contains the
bones of the existing Swiss Mammalia, and at the bottom those of
Elephas primigenius associated with fresh-water shells. Pictet, the
learned paleontologist of Geneva, holds that the formation of this
Diluvium belongs to the modern or current period, that its fauna
was essentially the same with the present one, no new. species hay-
ing been added, but merely a few having died out. He thinks,
however, that the Diluvium of Switzerland is more recent than the
deposits bearing that name in Europe generally. (Pictet, Memoire
sur des ossements trouvés dans les graviers stratifiés des environs de
Mategnin. Geneve, 1845; C. Martins et B. Castaldi, sur les Ter-
rains Superficiels de la Vallée du Po comparés a ceux du Bassin
Helvetique, 1850). Perhaps it may be said that the icebergs floated
ona natural lake. But if so, we ask, with Forbes, what were its
boundaries, and where were the barriers which maintained a vast
sheet of water at a level of 2000 feet above the surface of the coun-
try ? “ Such barriers cannot be pointed out, consistently with what
is known as to the unchanged condition of the superficial deposit in
Switzerland generally, since the period of the transport of erratics.”’
On asurvey, then, of all the facts known respecting the distribution
of the Swiss boulders and the constitution and agency of glaciers,
the evidence seems decidedly to preponderate in favour of Charpen-
tier’s doctrine, that the Alpine blocks found on Jura and in the
plain were transported by glaciers. There are no doubt some dif-
ficulties attending this conclusion, but these may be removed by
future research.

Ancient Glaciers’ Rate of Motion.

Several questions present themselves respecting the glacial period
in the Alps, to which satisfactory answers cannot be given. We
cannot tell what caused it, or how long it endured, or what length of
time has elapsed since it ceased—that is, since the glaciers retreated
from the plain to those higher valleys in the mountains which they
now occupy. - Agassiz thinks that a fall of mean temperature equal
to 8 degrees centigrade, or 144 of Fahrenheit, would give the glaciers

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-stodt blsow situ l ao beqqoib sebluod daxit odT sortions: ay :
moitstiedqeb odd Lite dud Ji baided bas wwe atedio nae ae 610.
eif bluoo as yxem 2s ylao ,bsaoqqua boaqa ot ts 101 ,wole od bino
ezoilt has <1sey 8 xi botizogab od bluow toot 008 t¢ dfonol’s

dedi .003 sxodarome: taunt oW .eogtwwea oldstebianoo ¢ 191
Io ail gaol odd r9v0 ylao tom bexotisoz o1s eqlA odd mot adoold
0008 yl1son to so1s a8 .nislL eaiwe aieteow ard Ils too: ud
hotispet od yltnebive bluow etsy to ebnsavoslt to eolin ©

*

Erratics of the Alps. 313

the requisite extension to carry the Alpine blocks to Jura, but the
conclusion rests on hypothetical grounds. Charpentier holds that no
unexampled intensity of cold is necessary, that 700 or 800 cold and
wet years like those from 1812 to 1818, would be sufficient—an
opinion in which probably few will join him. To determine the
duration of the glacial period, it would be necessary to know the
number of transported blocks, the distance which each travelled, and
the velocity with which it moved—elements all beyond our reach.
We are, however, able to say, that many of the blocks have travelled
a hundred miles or more, and we may form a rude idea of the rate
of their motion from data furnished by Forbes and Agassiz. The
velocity depends mainly on the slope of the glacier, and its magnitude
(or the area of its section), a greater slope compensating for a smaller
sectional area, and a greater area for a smaller slope. On the most
level part of the Glacier de Bois the motion at the middle was com-
puted to be about 676 feet per annum. On the Glacier of the
Lower Aar, Agassiz found that his tent travelled 64 metres (210
feet) in one year, and a comparison of older with recent observations
shewed that a block had travelled 8 kilometres in 183 years, or 197
feet per annum (Martin’s “ Revue de deua Mondes,’’ Mars 184°.)
Anything like precision is unattainable, but 500 feet may be taken
hypothetically as a rough average of the annual motion of the middle
part of the ice (for the sides move much more slowly) in these two
great glaciers. Now, in a great glacier extending from the Pennine
Alps to Jura (P to f, fig. 10), the slope would be ten times less, and
would go to diminish the rate of motion in some such proportion ;
but the sectional area, or measure of size, being ten times greater,
would have precisely an opposite effect. Assuming, therefore, that
the one would counterbalance the other, let us suppose that the blocks
_ travelled on the great ancient glacier at the rate of 500 feet per an-
num. Then, by measuring the distances on Keller’s map, we find that
a block carried from the east shoulder of Mont Blanc to Chasseron
(u or p to fin the map) would spend 740 years on its journey ;
one from the valley of Saas or Nicholas (y) to the same spot would
spend 1000 years; and the huge boulder which made the “ grand
tour” from ¢ to Steinhoff, near A, must have been 1600 years upon
its travels ! It is true, the medial and lateral moraines do not consist
of isolated blocks, but of rows or trains of blocks, generally pretty close
behind one another. The first boulder dropped on Jura would there-
fore have many others near and behind it, but still the depositation
would be slow, for at the speed supposed, only as many as could lie
on a length of 500 feet would be deposited in a year, and these
spread over a considerable surface. We must remember, too, that:
the blocks from the Alps are scattered not only over the long line of
Jura, but over all the western Swiss Plain, an area of nearly 3000
square miles. Many thousands of years would evidently be required

314 On ‘the, Kvrraties of the .Alps.

for'the threefold operation—-of, detaching the fragments, small jand,,.,
great from the. parent rock. by, the; slow.,action of the. elements— ;,
enabling them to perform such, long journeys—and_ redistributing ..
them over so wide a space.

Traces have been found of the former existence of glaciers in Mount”
Jura,’ in the Vosges, in Wales, Scotland, Norway,and Sweden ;:and ©
therenis ‘mo reason to doubt that) the glacial, period,.in,all, theses»
countries was coincident with that of the great. ancient extension. of.
glaciers in Switzerland, ‘The aspect during that.long period, of all. .
Europe northward of the Alps, or perhaps the Pyrenees, must have
resembled that of Sweden in the gloomy months of winter!’ |The”
genial powers of nature lay benumbed under! a! perpetual windings w
sheet of snow:and ice, covering mountain and valley; spreading death
and, hopeless sterility over, the aikioks north, and the plains, of. Britain, 5
France, and, Germany, where flocks and herds now pasture, and rich ,
harvests bloom, and mighty cities teem with millions of industrious
men living in security and comfort. :

The question remains, “ What length of time separates’ the Aten: 0
period from:that in which we liver?’ ‘To this! questiom no» definite
answer can be given, but. it, may be, safely; said that the glacial period,
had passed away long before the appearance of Man upon the earth...

od

Infusoria, the earliest Larval state of, Intestinal Worms,
according to Professor AGASSIZ.

Although for want of time, says Agassiz, in a letter to
Mr Dana, my investigations on intestinal worms have been
limited, I have arrived ‘at one ‘important’ result. “You may~
remember a paper I read at the meeting at Cambridge
(America), in August 1849, in which’ I shewed 'that’the em-
bryo, which. is hatched from. the egg of a Planaria, isa
genuine polygastric animalcule of the genius Paramecium,
as now characterised by Ehrenberg.>>In Steenstrup’s work’)
on alternate generation, you find ‘that in the extraordinary
succession of alternate generations ending with the produc-
tion of Cerceria, and iis metamorphosis into, Distoma, a~
link was wanting,—the knowledge of the young hatched from.
thei egg'of Distoma.. |The! deficiency) I ,can now fill. .It.is.;
another infusorium, a genuine Opalina:: With such Gaol
before us, there is no longer any doubt left respecting the
character of all these»Polygastrica’;''they ‘are the earliest

;
|
t ‘
;
:

i}

On the General Distribution of Todine. 315:

larval condition of worms: And? since’ I have ‘ascertained:

that: ‘the’ ‘Vorticellie ” are true Bryozoa, and” botanists lain ©

the Anentera as ‘Alge, there is not a single type of thesé mis"

croscopic, beings.left,, which hereafter, can, be considered as

a élass: by! itselfnin. the animal; kingdom: » Under whatever, |.

name and whatever circumscription, it has appeared or «may»:

be Fetainied to this’ day, the Class of Infusoria is now entirely

dissolved, and of Ehrenberg’s remarkable investigations, the

descriptive details. alone, can),be) ayailable in, future ; ith. *

wholeisystematic arrangement: 1s gones,

This result‘has: another interesting iioncriang ‘f idee it wieten fe

ry

the correctness of Blanchard’s view respecting the Plomurie; ne

their. close relation to the intestinal worms under the name vad

natural, aes

Usitnot: Eaaliiegh: that the’ itl boeck ofthe animal higto
domi Tong ‘eonisidered’ as°the fundaméntal ‘supporters of the

théowy” of spontaneous generation should have ‘finally been”

brought into so close connection ; and that one of them—the

Infasoria—should in the end turn out to be the earliest lar-—
val condition of the other, —the intestinal worms being the

parents of the mesHore.*

oF ToiTo! : Mm SiaseA ayse
m9ed 4 OaVR PATTO" r fp

On, the, Generel, Distyibestion: ae iota ag Mr STEVEN ‘SON :
Macaam, , ,Teacher.of Chemistry, Philosophical Institu-..

tion, Edinburgh, Communicated by; the. Author.

The present. ‘investigation: ‘owes its: tigi’ to: some ' observations”

lately made by M.°Chatin of sdate and gic a sey to fila

French Academy! of Sciences.2190 09

\Chatinris:of opinion that; in‘; ithe, tetremind ae dn, 7ain., ome ie ,
in soils, there, is) an, appreciable amount, of iodine ; that-the quantity.
of this | element present in one district, differs from that in,another ;__
g that. the Yelative amount, of iodine i in any one locality, determines

tod great’ extent, thé presence or absénice of ‘certain diseases.” "For |

instance, in’ the’ district ‘of’ country which’ he. classifies under) :the!}
general titlevofiithe Paris;,zone; \the; quantity, ofiodine, presenti jin, .

tesiiues of} o%*sVide Silliman’s Journal, May, 1852. to ‘odoated

316 Mr Stevenson Macadam >on the

the. atmosphere, a qn the rain water, and in the ‘soil, is comparatively
great, and-to this he-ascribes the absence of! goitre ‘and °erétinism ;
whereas in the zone corresponding to that of the Alpine valleys, the
amount. of iodine Has: diminished:to one-tenth: ofthat' found inthe
Paris zone; and to this) scarcity of the element, he attributes the pre-
valence of goitre and cretinism, which in ‘thatozone ‘are! endemie. i%
Considering that the subject’ was) one’ of great importance; more espe-
dially if. the conclusions.arrived at by Chatin——in ‘reference ‘to the
funetions fulfilled by iodine, :in preventing the ‘occurrence ‘of ‘the: dis-
eases referred to—could be legitimately deduced fromthe experiments
which he performed; Ihave recently undertaken) a'series' of analyses
in) reference) to: the general) distribution of the element) in question.

My. attention was principally directed to the:atmosphere, ‘and’ ‘to
rain water, both of which; apart from: the:observations of ‘Chatin,
I had. reason to believe aenla contain iodine, It! is well known: that
‘consequent on the evaporation of water fromthe surfaceiof the ocean,
portions of the salts contained in it are carried. up, and disseminated
through the:atmosphere, ready to ‘be ‘rained:down uponiinland|places,
and that from this source iodine—principally as-iodide) of soditirm——
will most) probably reach the air.) ‘This constant) supply willbe fur-
ther augmented by the iodine: vapour which is disengaged from°many
mineral springs, and) which; amongst other possible: compounds, ‘will
more especially exist in the atmosphere ‘as iodide of ‘anmonium.
Independently, therefore, of any experiment, Iothought it? in’ the
highest. degree probable, that iodine would be'found present ‘in’ the
conditions referred to, viz.,; as iodide of sodium and iodide’ of ammo-
nium, and it only vaitained to determine whether or not'the queintity
of iodine was so greatas to come within the range of our most delicate
tests. lei

I. commenced, with the atmosphere. The preonens MelidWHa wii
identical in’ principle with that pursued by Chatin.°> From statements
made in different parts of one of his memoirs, it would appear that
the apparatus.he employed was a series of Liebig’ s bulbs containing
a solution of carbonate of potassa, and attached to an aspirator by
means of which air was drawn through the liquid}: Inthe sy tina
ment I employed, the air was made to traverse,—

1. A wide tube, containing mips of paper moistened with solution
of starch ;, and,

Dach diablo necked gas bottle, containing Ehiee ounces fof a dilute
solution of caustic alkali. 3

At the commencement of the experiment, caustic soda was 1s placed
in the bottle (2) and not less than 150 cubic feet of air drawn through,

The soda was then replaced by caustic potassa, and a similar volomig
T19GKe

* Comptes Rendus, tome xxxiy., p, 51; and Edin. New Phil, Journal, No. os,
+ Comptes Rendus, tome xxxii., p. 669. 3:

General Distribution: of Todine. 817

of air, passed through it, » Atithe: conclusion, the papers, over which
- 300. cubic feet of\air had been 'drawny were cardfallly inspected, but
_ not. the slightest indication: of iodide of starch could be detected, even
4 when moistened with: distilled) water.» The» soda ‘and: potassa were
_Separately, treated withostarch and nitric acid, and both exhibited the
*“rose-colour-charaeteristic of the :presence of iodine in’ small quantity.
At.this,stage of; the inquiry, I entertained great hopes of being’ able
_ to verify,,Chatin’s: observations ;° but, on analysing portions of ‘the
original alkaline solutions through whicloaihairhad been ‘drawn,’ I
-found.iodine present ‘in them in ‘quantity,:to alloappearance, as great
2S, it; was in: those portions ofthe liquids used. in my: experiments.
The caustic’ alkalies:employed by me, were therefore contaminated
swith. the very substance I was. searching for in the atmosphere, and
it remained to inquire into the original source of this impurity! With
this, view, I tested ‘samples of the carbonate of potassa, ‘carbonate of
soda, and lime-shell, which had:been employed in the preparation of
the caustic! solutions, and. in all three,:iodine was present im percep-
tible quantity. 4 Desirdus of making ‘certain-that the agents used’ by
me. were as pure as other. commereial substances of ‘the same kind,
various | Specimens of each were obtained and submitted to the process
to. be. afterwards. detailed. The samples. first tested’ were’ those
jusually to be purchased in Edinburgh and other: places, but: subse-
quently genuine and authenticated specimens were procured ‘from
trustworthy sources; and from every sample of carbonate of ‘potassa,
carbonate of soda; and: lime-shell, which I have as yet subjected: to
examination, I have obtained distinct indications of the presence of
lodine... It:became, therefore, quite evident, that socfar as the de-
termination, of iodine in-the atmosphere was concerned, ‘the experi-
ments as yet referred to, were of no value, and that it was requisite,
in, any future -experiment upomthis subject, to avoid the introduc-
tion; of the alkalies, which so invariably contained) this: element ‘as a
foreion, ingredient. °
»«'Accordingly,/in the, next experiment the silleatios were dispenedd
with, , and their place was-oceupied by nitrate of silver: ‘The appa-
ratus also, was somewhat! modified—the air being drawn through=+
1. A tube with slips: of:starched: paper, kept somewhat damp.
-o2./A gas bottle immersed)in a freezing mixture ;' and,
3. A gas bottle containing a solution of nitrate of Silver,
-)Do enable, the condenser (2) to doo its work thoroughly, and to
guard against any of the liquid in the gas bottle (8) being carried
away by,excessive evaporation; they were) buried® in soilowhich ‘was
saturated with water. »> A.continuous current of air was kept up for
fully), five -hours,,commencing) at mid-day. At the:conclusion of this
experiment the papers were not altered in the slightest degree ; the

& f gas bottle (2) contained about a quarter of an ounce of liquid; and

_ the’ nitrate of ‘silver (3) ‘had ‘not been perceptibly changed, ‘The
__ condensed liquid was neutral to test-papers—a drop of starch was
VOL. LIII. NO. CVI.— OCTOBER 1852. ¥

‘B18 Mr Stevenson Macadam on. the

added.:to it} and. subsequently, hydrochloric acid; and) nitrite cof ,po-
tassa, which together forma most.delicate means of detecting iodine
the result was negative. The nitrate) of silver, solution was. eaul-
tiously evaporated to nearly a quarter of an ounce, a stream of /sul-
phuretted, hydrogen: passed through to precipitate the silvers jand
liberate ‘as hydriodie acid, any iodine which might()be) spresent—-the
liquid: raisedin temperature, carefully avoiding ebullition, and. fil-
tered... The) filtrate;son the: addition of starch, hydrochloric. acid,
and nitrite) of potassa, did not exhibit, the sliphitest trace of iodine.
I therefore concluded; that in the large volume) of, air-—upwards of
300: cubic feet-—which had been drawn through: the, atrangement,
there had not been:an appreciable,amount of iodine, either, in a free
state (in which case ithe starched: paper would-have bheen{acted upon),
or combined with a metal or base (in which, condition it would, haye
been detained by the nitrate of silver, forming, iodide, of silver).

The experiments referred to, were made. at, different eiges

on Arthur) Seat, and, their negative, results | led. to arrangements —

being made for a trial ona larger scale.|; Through the kind permis-
sion of the proprietor of Kinneil Iron-Works,| I, was enabled; to pro-
ceed to, Borrowstonness and: attach) my apparatus, to) the receiver
from which the air under great pressure is forced, into the’ blast-fur-
naces. By means of a stopcock fixed, in the receiver and along
flexible tube, the air was conducted to the following arrangement:
“1. A-wide tube, containing slips of paper dipped in starch...)

2. A condensing worm, nine: feet. in length, surrounded’ ie a
freezing mixture, and attached. to a receiver,

3. A tall jar, containing: chips: of pumice-stone,, and, a few iton
filings, with sufficient water to cover them.

4, A similar jar, with pumice-stone, scrapings of clean Saad and
a solution of acetate of lead.

5. A condensing worm, nine feet in length, immersed in ja wes
ing mixture, and sdknehed to a receiver.

By this arrangement it was expected that the first condenser (2)
would retain the water, vapour, and. salts, which the airexperi-
mented upon held in suspension, and should the accumulated liquid
be sufficient to fill the tube, the excess would be projected into; the
receiver, and thus be kept from passing into other parts, of the appa-
ratus. » The jar (3) was capable, of retaining any, free, iodine; and
was intended as an auxiliary to the papers (1).| .The chips of, pu-
mice-stone enabled the air, as it gurgled through the several layers,
to come in contact with the reagents contained in the jar. |The
office to be fulfilled) by the solution of lead, in jar (4). in) retaining

* Quarterly Journal of the’ Chemical Sorbetyi vol. iv., p. 155. {Be Pri¢e
says, “In this manner I have ideteoterl the ita part of iodine} dissolved) in
water, as iodide of potassium.”

General’ Disiributiow of -Lodine. B19

arly compound oft iodine; will ce -at' once apparent." The condenser
-(5)p was’ intended to liquefy any watery! vapour which might; dentin
the experiment) be carried from the jars (3)vand(4). vif
-lveThe air, under @ pressure of 3:1b.°0n the square inchy was allowed
‘totraverse the arrangement for fully four hours, daunfing which: time
cupwards of 4000' cubic feet had‘ been brought:in contact witl the reé-
-agents'employed.® ‘The apparatus’ was then'taken asunder, and the
Sontents of the(vessels being placed in stoppered bottles, ‘the. whole
was brought to‘Edinbur gh for‘examination. .The'slips: of paper (t)
were ‘not ‘sensibly altered‘in tint, and did’not betray the slightest’ in-
dieation of even a rose colour: then moistened ‘with ‘distilled water.
oThe: condensers’ (2 and 5) contained each) a veryosmall: quantity of
liquid, which, on being! tested, did) not shew a trace of iodine. «The
seontents of the jar (3) were thrown on @ filter 'and washed with cold
water. To ‘the filtrate was added some drops of a solution of car-
“bonate of potassa, and the liquid thus rendered alkaline: was evapo-
*rated° to a quarter of ‘an’ ounce’; no iodine was present.» The car-

~bonate of potassa used in this trial was prepared by calcining cream

of tartar at‘a white heat, and was so far free from iodine, that none

seould be detected in two ounces ofa’ dilute: solution; of: whichpin

-testing the contents of the jar, I employed less than half an ounce.
eThere was, therefore, no likelihood of a'perceptible quantity of iodine
~being ‘added: in. the minute portion of alkalisused, even though
the analysis of the contents cf the jar had shewn ‘its presence. .. The
sja¥((4)owith the lead: solution was treated in the: sameomanner as
described in a former part of this paper, when referring to: the:em-
“ployment of silver;°and the result’ was also negative:
Notwithstanding the large ‘scale on which this experiment was
heonducted, I still felt disinclined’ to pronounce adecided opinién on
the subject, and resolved to make another trial ona much: larger
~seale than ‘either of those yet referred toy cAccordingly I fitted 1 up
an apparatus of a larger sizeand’ more durable nature; which «was
‘eartied to’ Kinneil; and attached,°as° before, to>the:condensed. air
or At this ‘time the air was passed, through—
“1. A eapacious double-necked gas’ bottle, about two-thirds lod
“tte distilled water. ad
“£92.°A wide tube, containing starched papers.
bu 3. A capacious gas bottle, containing pumice-stone, distilled water,
~fron filings; and a little sugar.
BIS NV similar bottle with pumice-stone, and solution of adetatero!
lead. »
© "The object in’ passing the ‘air through the distilled water was to
ised it with aqueous vapour, so that it should have less influence
in causing evaporation of the liquids in 8and 4. The sugar added

_ *to the bottle (8) wa®intended to» preventithe oxidation of any pro-

“tiodide of ‘iron | which | “might ‘be formed, and! which: decomposition
VBI 28 rots

320 Mr Stevenson Macadam on the

would have risked the loss of iodine.* The other parts of the
arrangement need no comment. mh. Compl

For six days the air unceasingly traversed the arrangement, and
at the conclusion not less than 100,000 cubie feet of élastie fluid had
passed through. I was unable to watch the experiment through:
out the entire period of its continuance, so that, after securely ar-
ranging the apparatus, and witnessing the commencemént of its
action, I confided it to the charge of Mr John Bege, the intelligent
manager of the iron-works, who kindly’ ‘took eave of it till the ‘close
of the period mentioned. IT then dismantled the arrangement, and
transferred it to Edinburgh, where the results of thé experiment
were ascertained. The gas bottle (1) was destitute’ of liquid.” “At
the lower part and around the’ sides saline matter in’ small quantity
was attached.” On’ rinsing with ‘distilled water, this «was easily
washed’ out, and starch, hydrochloric’ acid, and nitrite of ‘potassa,
were added to it. No iodine was present. ‘The starched papers (2)
were not sensibly altered in tint. The contents of ‘the bottles (Siand
4) were severally tested, as in the’ previous experiment, and’ ‘no
iodine was present. A | ebb aur ataly

From these results it was apparent, that’ in’ the large volume of

air subject to examination, there had not been ‘an ‘appreciable’ quan-

tity of iodine. ‘Fheoretically there is every probability: of iodine
and bromine being present in the atmosphere; the latter in much
greater quantity than the former; and it is only after such re-
peated failures that I have come to the conclusion that the quantity
of iodine in the atmosphere is frequently too minute for’ detectiom by
the ordinary methods of testing. 7 BNE raptoatts

The weather during each of the experiments was favourable to the
object I had in view. Several sunny days preceded each of the trials,
and in general the wind was north or north-east; in other words,
blowing from the Frith of Forth Jandwards. The volume’ of air
experimented upon was in every case larger than that used by Chatin.
So far as I can gather from his papers, he eniployed 4000 litres’ of
air at Paris, which contained 325th of a milligramme of’ iodine.T
This is equivalent to 880 gallons of air producing 35 9% qa th of a
grain of iodine, or ss o\o9 oth of a grain of iodide of sodium. ‘The
volume of air employed in the first unexceptionable’ experiment
which I made, viz., that where nitrate of silyer was used, was 300
cubic feet,.or about’ 1870 gallons, which, calculating from Chatin’s
observations, and considering the delicacy of the test I used, ought
to have given satisfactory indications of iodine, “ In''thé ‘first ‘OF
the Kinneil experiments, 4000 cubic feet, or 25,000 gallons of “air
passed, through the arrangement, and this, according to the same
standard, ought to have’ given very distinct proof of the presence ‘of

eee. dace 77

: : fontsois This
* Gmelin’s Handbook of Chemistry, Watt’s Translation, vol. V., p, 248.
+t Comptes Rendus, tome xxxii., p. G69. ts

A

ee ee a LS

en al ae Se i ee
i alles Feat
ee. *% = 7
> ;
, Vs . y

General Distr Mtton of | lodine. 821
eat cit my ‘task Monat gate I ‘subjected. to examination
100,000. cubic feet, or 625,000 gallons, I ought at, the same. rate; to
have ‘obtained. several, ounces ‘ofa, ‘liquid,.every, drop. of which. should
have, attested, the presence of iodine. ./.;..,,
scAbthe.t intervals which elapsed, between. the trial ae ee exper i
ments, I Was, examining, large. -portions of the, rain, water which. fell
in, Edinburgh during; this summer, Iwas careful, not to employ the.
\kalies; in any ‘shape, although, I wag led, to infer from Chatin’s
papers. that, potassa had:been used by, him.* In the first experiment
I added. to three gallons. of the,water some. ounces of a solution. of ace-,
tate of lead; ‘On standing. twenty-four hours, a precipitate , had fallen,
to,the. bottom, from which the liquid wag doen, off, The precipitate
Was, treated, asdescribed in a) former part ofthis paper, and no iodine
was. detected, As, the iodide of lead is slightly soluble in. water, cand,
might. have been, present in the liquid whieh had_,been. removed. “ om.

‘the. precipitate, this liquid was evaporated toone. ounce, and after-

wards. tested. for, jodine, but, none,was: found, A second experiment
was tried with a similar volume of rain water, viz., three gallons,
substituting nitrate. of: silver for acetate of lead; a precipitate was
observed , after standing twenty-four hours, but neither. it nor the
liquid: contained .a.trace. of iodine. -, To; a third quantity of twelve
gallons, L,added acetate of lead, and without separating the preci-
pitate. from the liquid, the whole was evaporated down to one ounce,
and tested for. iodine, but without giving a positive result... An=
other experiment, made. with. three gallons of rain water, which had
been collected at Unst, in the Shetlands, and to which acetate of
lead was added, gave Ae a negative: result.
|The. proximity, of, Edinburgh to the sea, the direction, of the pre-
=e winds, and the falling of the rain used in these researches
after, somewhat lengthy droughts, all tended to make the rain water
of the district in.a condition highly fayourable for the object in view.
This remark, applies with special force to the water received from
Unst whieh had fallen in the immediate vicinity of the ocean, | Cha-
tin announces that the proportion of iodine in rain water is very
variable., At onetime 10 litres of water collected at Paris, gave
one: fifth o of a. milligramme, and at. another time, the same quantity, of
water. produced half’ a. milligramme. _ Did all-rain water contain as
mueh.as the least: of these quantities, then.a. very distinct coloration
would be exhibited by. one gallon evaporated to a quarter of an ounce.
dn my) researches Just detailed, three and even twelve gallons were
found insufficient to-give the faintest indication.
So far, then, as my investigations on the presence of iodine in the
atmosphere and in»rain water are concerned, I am forced to believe
that at the time I experimented, there was not a sufficient quantity of
this element present it in either, to respond to the Gahear test I em-

ifon

* Comptes Rendus, tome EXxi., Dp. 282,

329 MY Stevenson Macadam on the

ployed. At the same time I‘ admit’ thé? possibility that atother
seasons of the year, and at other districts of the country than those in
which T experimented, there may be an appreciable‘amount of iodine
naturally distributed in the way’ referied ‘to, and when time ‘and
opportunity present themselves, T shall’ not ‘fail to’ continue: ies ‘ins
vestigations on this department of such an important’ sabjecti™

The locality being unknown to me from which’ the Ninloskiel li eni+
ployed in the preparation’ of the’ caustic alkalies had been procured,
I afterwards obtained ‘specimens from’ Burdichousey Kirkcaldy,
Charleston, and Bathgate, and examined them! according’ to the fol-
lowing process. ‘To a portion of each was ‘added about'a gallon of
distilled water, which was’ well agitated at’intervals ‘till it’ was
completely saturated with lime. © The’ liquids thus “obtained “were
nearly neutralised with pure ‘nitric’ acid, and separately evaporated
to. one half‘ounce. On being treated with starch, hydrochloric acid,
and nitrite of potassa, distinct evidenice was obtained of the aap
of iodine in each of the four specimens.

In a former part of this ‘paper, reference was rails to lacuna
samples of potashes in which iodine had been discovered) experimen-
tally. Altogether, I tested six different’ specimens‘; two of ‘crude
potashes, one of them from the United States, and the:other from
Canada; two of refined, or what is ordinarily’ termed ‘carbonate
of potassa, and two of bicarbonate of potassa. ‘°They were alb ex-
amined in the same way. A large quantity of the salt was drenched
with distilled water, cautiously raised in temperature and allowed to
cool. This served to separate the larger portion of the carbonatecof
potassa, as well as any impurities present in the crude samples. The
liquid containing the iodide of potassium, was transferred to another
vessel and evaporated to dryness.” The ‘resulting’ salt) was othen
powdered, alcohol added, raised in temperature, and filteredo‘The
filtrate was again brought to dryness, the residue digested in a very
small quantity of water, and the solution thus obtained treated with
starch, hydrochloric acid, and nitrite of potassa.’ In eachvease;ia
very distinct coloration was obtained. The’ crude’ potashes contain
in fact, a considerable quantity of iodine which déeteases at nah
refinement. lk

Six samples of soda ash were examined in’ the same ‘way. Like
the potash specimens, two were of the crude soda’ash, two of the ordi-
nary carbonate of soda, and two were bighivenste of ‘soda. The
crude, variety contains the most iodimé, and the others less of this
impurity according to the refining they have undergone. qatoo

From the presence of this element it potashes, I am ‘inclined ‘to
believe that it will be found more generally distributed in the vege-
table kingdom than it has formerly been’ supposed to bey »''The ‘pot-
ashes from the States, and, from Canada, are principally” the dried
lixivium of hard woods; such asthe maple and birch ; but; a
much the greater portion is ‘so, itis probable) that ‘the: patties in

las

ee

General Distribution of Lodines 323

charge,; are; not||wery.,scrupulous, as to,,the, plants,.they employ,
aind-do not, |hesitate occasionally -to-,add all vegetable matter which
comes in the way,||It,may. therefore..be objected. to, the. statement
that forest:trees|contain iodine, that the iodine, found in the pot-
ashes :may be deriyed.from, succulent herbs and shrubs, and not from
the trees,themselves.;,, but,this objection will be at.once removed when
‘itvds! (stated, that in, the ,lixivium. of, charcoal, I have. found very
distinet traces of-iodine. |; The,charcoal sold and. used in this country,
isiprincipally.oak,| with, a little,beech, birch, elm, and ash ;, and.after
obtaining: satisfactory. evidence that the. ashes. of, these woods burned
indisériminately, contained, this ingredient, I burned large quantities
ofthe first three-kinds, viz.,.oak, beech, and, birch, and treated the
ashes jin the sameway as ithe potashes,:; Lodine was distinctly pre-
‘sent: in;all three. ... Lhe amount of iodine in forest trees must be com-
panatively small: When,jexperimenting with, potashes,,one is apt
torforget ‘the, small, bulk,into, which a large. quantity of timber
falls, when the organic matter is.expelled, and the saline ingredients
fare, aloe left. So,faras.can be estimated from, the present quali-
-tative experiments, the, relative, quantity of iodine in forest trees is
ofaneh less than that in succulent plants growing in marshy, places.
io The: constant; presence of iodine in potashes; will lead to some
Mibaidralie alterations in the methods generally. followed for the
detection,of the former, by. a process which necessitates the use of
the dlatter.,, The process for iodine.in cod-liver oil, where potassa | is
‘added, ‘to isaponify, the oil;:* that for iodine in sea-water where po-
‘tassais|addedito precipitate the alkaline earths :} that for iodine in
-coal where potassa, is added to.the ammoniacal liquor for the pur-
an of fixing this element as iodide of potassium >} and. amongst
sethers; that for.iodine.in soils where potassa is added for the purpose
o0f morereadily extracting the iodine from them,§—must all be modi-
vfied. |
(\i»Por'some time. back| I have also been engaged 1 in collecting and
etestinga large number. of ,plants growing. in different places, Al-
athough: it is now generally recognised, that iodine is a constituent of
‘some fresh water, and,even a few strictly land plants, yet still the
volatilization of the iodine renders the success of such an investiga-
otion so,uncertain, that the namesof few plants have as yet been
-published,,in which, iodine.has, been detected... The difficulty hes
oprincipally ‘in. properly burning the plants to ashes. _ When iodide
sf potassium, is, heated strongly alone, it volatilises, whilst if ac-
companied -by carbonaceous matter, carbonate of potassa is formed,
obbda isiive Rap owS escapes. ...From experience, I feel certain that

eh

wi De Daschts on} i Gnsbdainer Oil, translated by . Dr Carey.

a Dr, Schweitzer on the Analysis of Sea-Water as it exists in the English
bh Be near- Brighton ; Lond. and Edin. Phil. Mag., ee XV., » Pe sii L2G
X eM. Bussy ; Comptes Rendus, tome xxx. pub38.00w | mturvixt!
‘) Ms Chatin ; ‘Comptes Rendus, tome xxxiy., p, 52. 1s ef

324 Mr Stevenson Macadam on the)

a great many of the failures to find iodine are to be attributed
to this—and \thatonot\ only\in \ the ‘analyses ‘of: plants, but also in
testing for iodine in cod and skate liver oils, where the practice
has,, been, toy add), caustic. potassa and. incinerate\ at‘va\\high tem-
perature. In such cases, notwithstanding that the oil probably con-
tained iodine, and that it was certainly present in the potassa, yet,
after examination, it has not .been detected in the asheso. To avoid»:
theiloss:oficiodine: thus sustained, Chatin' recommends ‘the addition °”
of ‘potassa to the plant previous to incineration.* .. But this, Wo
it will no doubt, to.a certain extent, hinder the volatilisation , of |
iodine, will not ensure its retention'; and moreover, the! saturation
of the plant with ordinary potashés, ‘necessar ily causes the “addition”
of the very element that the experimenter is in search of... The. sales
safeguard which I have adopted is to burn the plant:in' a chambero*
with a small quantity of air, and where there is little draft.” In this _
process it can hardly be said that the plants are burned—the term,
should rather be that they. are charred. They ares then: finely:
powdered, digested im hot»'water, ‘and’ filtered ; the lear’ liquid: is”
evaporated to dryness and subsequently treated like the potashes, oo.
In the following list of plants there are representatives; from, differ...
ent districts and from different altitudes. In the majority-of eases:
a large quantity of the plant was used in the examination, arid ‘so faye?
as auld be inferred from the depth of the rose or blue, tint, assumed _
by starch, the quantity.of iodine. in‘ different plants was very
various. 0! Bat as no attention was paid to the weight of the hae F
bundles of dried plants, or even to that, of, their ashes, I woul re- 304
frain from, speculating.as. to any law which might regulate the —
crease or decrease of iodine: in plants belonging to different natural ©
orders, or grown in dissimilar situations. Moreover, there are ‘a 4
number of plants in which I have failed to detect iodine;..and whilst, :
it is probable that some'or most of themsmay be destitute of : hint ioe! 3
ingredient, yet, considering the many ways in which so vette? gi!
substance could have escaped, I propose to make other trials with...
those negative plants, before L.announce their names, andthe localis 6
ties trom which I received the specitnens worked upon.)°'° “8” ia
As having some connection with the subject treated of, 1 would yl
intimate that.1have obtained distinct.indications of the, presence of .
bromine, ins crude potashes. «It is unfortunate that our tests for’
bromine are’ so much inférior in delicacy to those for iodine, that it is
necessary to.operate upon very large quantities before the indica+ (-")
tions of the former element are distinct.’ There is no doubt that, from’
the presence of bromine in trees, it will be found in greater abun- (a
daneé in tlie more” succulent plants ; but the few trials I have yet
made have been unsuccessful in determining its presence in at aoe ein}
the crude Canadian and American potashes. mere

Oe eS Saw Wee Cre eee eee eS See Mh Tae Tee Lo eee ts ee LY nS

,
ria) @

* Comptes Rendus, tome xxx., p. 344.

General Distribution of Todine.’ 325
Bodudiids
ai odiableso He Plants i im v the Ashes of whitch Todine: is ie esent.
eoidosig oli otodw al :
(Aijaln the, sling Paints wich to mknown to \contatn’ Toes I Wianlt detect
-f109 yi dis aq lio odd todd wit, stress rs @ 61 IJB19G
oy sAgiaiog, of soe heehee \ He Tocality of Specimens Examined,
Ranunculus. Equaciiinac set Emimdabpis och:
dai nligindsa.2 | 655 pp oooy Langleyswéll,one of the juli utero of the sbeltiveby
ue vulgaris. . < _.Dry, slopes at Grey Mare’s Tail, Dumfriesshire.
seas ~ Langley well, one of the tributaries of the Leithen,
weruim bs -Cockburn’s grave, ‘St Mary’s Lock. fi pe
Achillea Millefolium. - yo7om bas -Des adr dust x
Senecio Jacobexa, toasts sald Valley of. the Leithen,. and (2) Clogkbisnt’
Beko pe _ _grave,.St Mary’s Loch, _ Pee Pa
Cenfautea nigra.” MOISE OL Bl way Ur ie verthen. YS we aa ae xi
Vacciniuny Myrtillusic. |; oc!) o Wibdlestraw Law. O visto
aads -; Nitis-idea... | if ai erodt odie ba up | a igiv
Menyanthes trifoliata. ia At Duddingston Loch, _ | ry pe5004
. Myosotis\ alustris. - Ac oarie Do. (eee Re Oa Sr ee PY
Digitalis a. ie 4 Valley of thé Leithen. a) OR
_ Veronica Beccabunga. . » |.oy-Ditches;in the) ae of tie either!
p Mentha sativa, dt-onit | , Duddingston Loch.
Empetrum nigrum.” yen “Windlestraw Law. |
—s Betulaalbai or enlthaadac “Unknown.” ;
Fagus,sylvatica,) io reson oft al Doss,
; Quercus | Ro bur et ay caer Do. | D
ie J a se con Tomeratus. eae " _ Marshy places on banks of “the Leithen.
J ee i, atts UE i Sead taal gi eae ~ and
; Yiev eaw aiasig ino !(2)ishoves of St Mary’s Loch, 98° Ot
| 9] “peSquarroses. » } ido Hy (A). Do. do. opand (2) my

Sparganium ramosum. is », Quair, stream, south side of the Tweed.,

Potais ton-densus. ’ Dunsappie Loch.
Care 9581 R01 or ode 1 Quair'stream), south side of the Tweed. ri
Equisetum,arvense.) : oi (Cultivated: places on the banks of the Leithen,
: lim: mosum, se -“Duddingston Loch...» eng bi
4 Lata Wich aad sce KElibank, sputh ‘side of the Tweed.
Athyriti MPURsrtiia,e! Jootob qyghotic 7b oa ell
Asplenium Ruta-muraria. «9. navatiend ‘of ve anise Liochs: 2°.
Pteris aquilina,. OS aCe Ser aa ) Valley.of the Leithen, and 2) Valley of. lost
. Pei i), |) MOneb waters, - ° bade
q Chard! vulgaris." J TOLIO SASH Pynsappie Loch: 3 es
Sphagnum acutifoliom.°9°'°° \ Windlestraw Law.? | 3
_ Trichostomum lacie satiow Do.»
Polyt ichum commune. a ah ee
BypubliPitabattne” aad ‘\ Langley well, one GF the tributaries of the wees
510 oui ae » TO Elibank burn, south side of the Tweed, ~~
Usnea, plicata.; aus ab an Growing on trees ofthe natural: order Conifer;
if Evernia p prpnastr ae, I in Glenormiston woods, Peeblesshire. ,

— (B.) > ee the presence of Foden in the following plants; in which it has
te Tote eS 8 Seu’ 8 other, ore oen bri The. esariie anes fesenri from: goon
loca Bais

‘ Nasturtium officinale, Bn “d) Marsby i on ile hanks, of the Leithens a

a Sie Hate RL NED Duddingston Loch, re:
Tris Péewd-acorus, 9919 © oh pete tie Loch, :
Phragmites communis. SR WL9Ti9 Mi

And_in the ashes of Coal, representing the Fiora of the Carboniferous era.

cry
tj eK K az

326 Dr Davy’s: Observations on theo

The Preater ‘number’ of! the experiments ‘connected with this im-
quiry were conducted in: the laboratory of; Dr George Wilson,>to,
whom I am deeply indebted for. the kind manner,in which, he has af,
forded me, every assistance in his. power, during the whole course, of
the investigations. , Ri

Some Additional Observations on. the Superficial Colouring
Matter of Rocks. By Joux Davy, M.D., F.R.S.S. Lond,
& Ed. , Communicated by the Author.

Inan excursion recently made into the wilds of Clonméniata
my attention was recalled to the superficial colouring matter
of rocks, from certain marked, contrasts of colour observable
in adjoining, rocks of the same quality, but differently situs
ated. These contrasts presented, themselves: most ‘conspi+
cuously in the beds and banks of certain streams;and onthe
shores of certain lakes, especially at and near their margin:

Of the first mentioned, a good example occurs in the bed
and. banks of the: small mountain-torrent. which. falls} into
Singalla Lake, immediately below Flynn’s or Half-way-house
(the designation on the map, of , the county, Galway) on ‘the
road between the town of Galway and Clifden. 5:There} in
the bed of the, stream,.on the same rocks—aj variety of mica
slate—at least four distinct colours, are noticeable... Of these
one is almost white, in localities exposed to,the full force) of
the stream when highest;and of most) force,, or when swollen
after heavy rains; a,colour. belonging to the: rock. in its worn
and weathered state... Another,is of a. light,red or reddish-
brown. hue, which appears on rocks in, the middle ‘of the little
stream, such as.are commonly under water; and where:the
water runs _rapidly,—a, hue .owing, in. this instance) to! a
slight deposition of peroxide of iron, constituting a superfi-
cial stain. A third is black and glistening, noticeable more
partially, in spots here and there, towards the margin of the
stream, and amongst the pebbles in its marginal rocky hol-
lows,—-a.colour resulting also from: a superficial: stain, but
produced chiefly by adhering peroxide of manganése. An- |
other; the fourth colour, is also black, but with little or no
lustre, occurring on the marginal rocks of the, stream,.sub- _
ject to alternations of wet and dry, according, to the ‘state of

i

Superjicial, Colouring Matter:of Rocks. 327

the stream, whether high: orslow ;:a colour,;:mot like the: tivo
preceding, owing to a mineral stain,’but to the growth au
death’ ‘of minute cryptogamic plants.* |

” On the shores of the lakes of this pre-eminently lake dis-
trict, the differences in the superficial colouring of the rocks
are chiefly two or three, and depending mainly on the cryp-
togamie vegetable covering. Black is the prevailing colour
of the rocks, at the ver y margin of the lakes, whilst white,
in many instances, is as bss Sele prevalent in the higher
adjoining \situations, out of the’ reach of water, whenthe
lakes:are attheir greatest height.’ On the shores and islets/of
Derryclare Lake ‘so distinguished for its beauty, and on those
of ‘Lough Inagh,'a neighbouring lake, good examples are: to
bey-seen ‘of crocks ‘thus coloured; ithe white by a lichen,
Lichen lacteus'; thie black by one or moreof the lower eryp-
togamia undergoing decomposition,’ and ‘acquiring ‘a peaty
éharacter, to which, in‘ all of this tribe under the influence of
moisture and'a comparatively low temperature, there appeat's

toibe'so great a disposition, as’ is indicated in the vast éx-
tent ‘of bog’ for which Ireland generally, and Galway eapes
sce is'so remarkable# 0° '~

oIn the examples mentioned; the instances of the séveral
pind of superficial colouring are well defined, occurring 'to-
gether; In other’ localities, occasionally only oné ‘colour ‘is
found’ predominant, as different shades of-red where the rocks
and gravel are’stained by the peroxide of iron} or of brown
and black® whére ‘they are ‘stained’ both’ by the ‘peroxide of
iron and by the peroxide of manganese.’ Of the former a good
example offers in the bed of the ‘river descending through

Glen or initio bite lake of the same name; and of the latter,

efioque

ORT, In as bed of the same rivulet, nearer the lake; where its :course is less
Apia: an example occurs of a conglomerate rock in the act of formation, which
may be’ ‘worth méntioning,—the pebbles washed down, and there resting,
finding as:it-were a matrix in: the’ clay into which they are cemented by car-
Popate of lime... The induration of this conglomerate is not considerable 3, but

itis easy to imagine how it may bergreatly increased, either bythe deposition

of more carbonate of lime, the proportion present being. very small, only just
ient to effervesce slightly age an 1 acid, or r by the action pa heat, or - other
metamorphic: agency. ii ae Mb

328 Dr Davy’s PU seRons on the Se
in the beds oft many of the small streams ‘empty sing sel &
into Lough Oured, and the Lake Singalla. di i oak ‘i Resscinonty
The Gai by which. I have ascertained ‘the ‘nature of, the.
colouring: matter, are of, the simplest kind. pi shall “bri iefly
mention them, as, without. such aids, merely by inspection,
the quality of the matter imparting the adventitious colour,
could bardly be determined. The principal means) Hi shaye;
employed have been an acid, strong. muriatic, ‘the blow-
pipe, and the microscope. Immersed in. the “acid | proof .is,
afforded of the presence of black oxide. of manganese by. the,
solution of the colouring matter investing - the - pebble or. frag-.
ments of rocks subjected, to the trial, and by, the evolution, « of
chlorine ; and of peroxide of iron by a, slower solution of. athe,
colouring matter, without the disengagement “of. chlorine,
but with the production of the odour. belonging to ‘the per,
chloride of iron in solution. Under the microscope, the struc-
ture of the vegetable matter is distinctly brought into view 5,
whilst by the blow-pipe, the. former 18, either destroyed, or if
the apparent. structure be retained, iti is as a 2 skeleton in the,
residual ash. ; nocd
I have spoken ‘of the vegetable ‘colouring coaster being.
owing to ceryptogamia in ‘a state, of decomposition, . or, of,
transition into peat. This is probably true in most instances.
In some, the black hue may be produced in a different 1 man-,
ner, if not natural and belonging to, the plant, Viz.9, by, the.
entanglement of peaty. particles amongst the green, leaflets.
and fibres. of the. plants. Instances of the a I have seen.
distinctly when examining the vegetable matter, with. a low.
power, as with a one-inch object- glass; then, some Portions
of the plants haye appeared ofa healthy bright green, whilst,
others adjoining have been quite black. Indeed, in the ma-_
jority of instances, as,seen under the microscope, the aps,
pearance of the vegetable matter, is not uniform, but 1 more.
or less varied, a part only being black, —brown and greenish
fibres being commonly intermixed ; ‘though, as seen with ‘the.
naked eye, the whole appears black. I may add in confirma.
tion that the line used i in fishing i in these lakes had acquired,
even in a few days, a grey discolouration, r dnold fh ae 3
In a former note, I haye supposed the black stain imparted

——

.
' :
:
.
.
4

Superficial Colouring Matier of Rocks. 329

_ by the peroxide of Jnanganese, to the, rocks and pebbles i in
the’ beds of ‘rivers on _which it i is found, to be owing to the
pree eon. of the oxide from its state of solution as a sub-
oxide, on its becoming. ‘saturated with | oxygen, and_ passing
into. “that! ‘of the. ‘peroxide, after the analogous manner in
which the stain by iron is produced i in similar localities, and
under oa HAL ‘circumstances. The. further observations I
have had an un ‘Opportunity’ of making seem to. corroborate this.
sh dj
Superficial | discolouration of rocks ‘from the causes
ds igne od is, I believe, of wide extent, and consequently not
uilinportant, considered ‘merely 1 in ‘relation to the aspects , of
nature. * rhe” mineral’ ‘stains—the ‘ochry of iron, and. the rich
black OF manganese, “may ‘be expected to be seen wherever
water “impregnated: with carbonic acid gas,—as all rain water,
the fe oder of § ‘springs, | ‘more or. ‘Tess ‘is, percolate through, |
before “a ippearing ‘at ‘the “surface, ‘strata, containing. these
metals oft the state of ‘suboxide. “And. the, dark vegetable
sta, ‘that resniting’: from ‘the ‘partial and peculiar decom-
position: essential to ‘the formation of peat, may be looked
aia wherever the circumstances of average moisture and
ey aati of climate are favourable to the production, of

at—a wide. extent, comprising most parts of England,

Tee sand | Scotland, and the _ greater, portion \ ‘of the north,

isfartt sagan
of J arope. . These. are | ‘not ‘merely. theoretical inferences ;

eae ‘accordance ‘with many observations made both
“the Lake District of ‘England and in the ‘Highlands | of

Se st and,” and i in. ‘the: former ‘much extended, as to localities,
sinc 73 made. the first communication. on the ‘subject, ‘pub.
lished’ in a former. number ony the. ‘Philosophical Journal.
8 re regal tds ‘the’ “dark: discolouration from decomposing ve-

gti, matter, tn may add that I have found it not only on

q mai oon the ‘shores of Jakes and_ moors, where. the circum-

tt have ‘favoured, “put also. on, the ‘sea-shore and on.

nland_p precipices, dire ‘there has. been’ a growth and de-

97'o DAR nmwoyT i(} (ti 9( j ¥.

position of min ute cryptogamic plants. a “good example.
oeey sind ma y be mentioned ¢ 2s occurring in the, neighbour-

ig igo r Pou hs ‘the’ entrance of ‘Loch. Etive, i in Argyleshire..

Specimens of ‘rocks, so. discoloured superficially as to be of a

| dead black, brought from, thenee, which a collected ” my ‘self,

HaTiay ni Tet & HORI

330 Oh the Plivce of the Poles of the Adnosphere.

some from the shore, ‘within ‘reach of the’ ‘salt ‘spray and
occasionally washed by.the waves, and some from a moist
inland cliff not far from. the sea, close to the town, examined
in the manner described above, afforded similar reswlin-b Bozog
LESKETH How, AMBLESIDE, ‘)\''! 60F ff YILIdGsAOTG

August 30, 1852. ;

On the Place of the.Poles, of the Atmosphere; and, the Reid
Theory of Hurricanes. By Professor Oh Pics SAISDMYMHod {

This), is. merely a, notice ,on| some of the recent, discoverios; and
generalisations, by Lieutenant, Maury, U.S.N.;, on the, motions. of
the.atmosphere,. It had, been clearly proved by the extensive, re-
searches of Lieutenant Maury, that the. trade-winds, when. rising, at
the equator, do, not, as previously.held, return, to.their own poles,
but- cross over to cs opposite-ones ; om thus traverse the extent_of
the whole. earth from. pole,to pole, in) a,,curvilinear, direction, on
account of|the effect. of the rotation of the, earth..,. The whole atmo-
sphere thus partakes of a general,movement,, the upper half moying
towards the poles, and the lower/ towards the equator, or vce versa,
according to the latitude of the, place; the former occurring. between
the parallels of 0° and 30°, and the latter between 30° and 90°. At
0°. and.30° two nodes, soto speak, of the upper, and. lower currents
take place; at the former ascending, and, indicated by a low baro-
meter; at the latter descending, and. marked by increased, barome-
tric pressure. . At the point of 90°, the pole, or thereabouts, the re-
yolution of the currents and their change of direction for N. and S.,
and vice versa, with another node, takes place, and marked, Lieut.
Maury thought, by a calm region, asthe two nodal, zones of 0" and
30°. most/undoubtedly. are.

As to the. place of this calm. polar point, which, we shall Boban
long want observations to determine, Lieutenant Maury, did not
place it over the poles of rotation of the world, but over the mag-
netical poles, without, however, sufficient reason. Indeed, he
much. lamented, that. after. the admirable, developments, made by
Lieutenant Maury of the motions of the atmosphere, he should have
thus brought in merely the name of magnetism to clear up one ob-
secure point, Meteorology pursued on the system, of strict mechani-
cal and scientific inquiry was now disclosing a most interesting and
understandable series of phenomena,.and promised a, legitimate) har-

arti

* In some instances, the black hue which I have attributed above to the de-

composition of the vegetable matter in transition to form peat, ' ag bein great

measure the natural colour of the species of cryptogamia’ covering the rock.

Fi

4

On, the Place of the Poles of the Atmosphere. dol

west of more..; But the, history. of.this:.science in times past, points
to; so_many occasions when rational trains,of observation were im-
e ed by the gratuitous i introduction of a magnetic or electric élé
ment, and thought’ to ‘be “needless ‘thereafter, that the author sup!
posed: that it iniightbe ‘of some service to (shew that:there was no
probability in the present case, either from, actual.,observation; or
natural considerations, that such a force should: be; looked. to for ex-
planation. |
~Tst, Of actual observation. The poles-of any force -should-bear-a
certain known relation to the equator thereof; and if we find the
thagnetice. eqtiator coincident with that) of the sitttio phone? which may
belidonsideréd ‘as marked» out! bythe line: of equatorial calms) we
might reasonably suppose a connection between their poles. But
we do not. “The mean positions of these equators ‘arée°very different
from each other, and are subjéct' to such’ totally different movenients
through the year, that’ we cannot legitimately expect any nearer
coincidence i in their polar ‘points.
9d, Of natural considerations: “Mechanical force’ may anes
"be Jaman ¢ as the cause,'and not as the consequence, of the magnetic
‘or electric currents by which itis accompanied. ‘ Certainly in the
éase “of ‘an electrical machines the electric spark ‘may 'be made to
prodiice mechanical energy, as shewn in’ knocking’ small light pith
‘balls ‘about ; but ‘how incomparably less is’ this force/ to that em+
ployed to turn the machine round in the first instance to er
‘tit electricity. ©
“Now, thé atniosphere enveloping and rubbing over the world; may
be taken as & large’ electrical machine; and does ‘produce deste and
magnetic forces; but these, although startling enough’ when wit-
nessed by us, little pigmies of’ ‘men, are of infinitely small monient
compared tothe force required to keep the whole atmosphere in'mo-
tion, ‘and’ to overcome its friction and inertia!
bs “Again, with regard ‘to the intensity of terrestrial magnetism, it is
found with one of Gauss’s large bars for determining the horizontal
force, by being suspended by two wires separated ‘in the direction of
its axis, that the whole magnetic force amounts to less than 100,000th
part oe the weight of the bar, that is, the force ‘or attraction of
gravity. | .
Yd Similar experiments might’ be adduced, to shew that‘ when a body
i8 heated, though ‘electrical currents may be produced, and may have
a certain: mechanical power, that yet'the ‘quantity of this is almost
infinitely small’ wend aca to what might be produced by seat
the heat directly.”
~’Hencé) ‘there ¢an be ‘no’ reasonable doubt; that’ the pitinligal
movements of the aye must_be- owing to mechanical _and

z
“Si

= Ran, a detailed, eegaet of Tadatousat Maury? s. speculation, wde, Kdinburgh

New. Philosophical Journal, vol. li. p. 271 to 292.

332 « . \y wdturrieanes.

thermotic. causes,.and, only.the smaller, features to alspinis and. thag-
netic. currenis.

A. parallel case of the proneness of men to.run font an ay cn laa
to «magnetism, occurred in, the, early history of the development. of
the law of storms, and has not yet, so, far.as I am. aware, been dis-
tinctly refuted by the public, or withdrawn by its promulgator.

In Colonel Reid’s.first work (1838) on-the-revelving-motion- of
the hurricanes, after having, in the earlier portion, detailed, in the
most satisfactory manner, the laws of the phenomena, he. sives, in
the latter portion, a glimpse of a theory'of them, or at least; details
an experiment. in which, on the surface of a magnetised iron ‘shell
representing the earth, a rotation in opposite directions was _pro-
duced in helices in either hemisphere of the ball. This was thought
very interesting, as the hurricanes are found to revolye in opposite
directions in either half of the world; and it was further stated
that in St Helena, where the magnetic intensity is.small, hurricanes
are unknown; while in the West Indies, where hurricanes are s0
rife, the magnetic intensity is at a maximum,

Here it will be observed, is no attempt to, shew whether the
magnetic power is suficient to cause the observed, effect, or has any
power in that way at all, nor even. to trace whether this particular
coincidence at two points, in the tropical belt of the earth, prevailed
at all others also; and in the Colonel’s last publication (1848) the
question and the experiment are withdrawn altogether.

When, however, we examine the subject more extensively, we finda
pretty general rule to prevail all round the world, yiz., that hurricanes
are most frequent in the western parts of those seas ‘where the. trade-
wind is suddenly stopped by the occurrence of Jand, and is unknown
in the eastern part of the seas where it begins. Thus, not only is
the placid climate of St Helena fully accounted for by being in the
eastern position of the South Atlantic, but equally the similar freedom
from revolving storms of the Cape De Verd Islands, the NW. and
SW, coast of Africa, with California and Peru on the eastern shores
of the Pacific,

And again, while the West Indies are pointed out as likely places for
hurricanes, so.are Rio Janeiro, Canton, the Mauritius, and Madras,
and, in fact, almost every place where hurricanes have been met with.

The stoppage; then, and interference of the~trade-wind,; a purely

mechanical question, is the cause of the hurricanes, and, according
to\the greater or less force of the trade-wind, and the greater quan-
tity of air struggling to get over the barrier, as observed in the case
of water when a river is in a flood, or on a sea-coast at spring-tide,

so.are more numerous. and. more violent eddies found, and. they. re-

volve in different directions in either hemisphere, because the diree

tion of the parent trade-wind is also different in each.*

* I have just;met with an, at, first sight, anomalous instance, in the account

ee Ag Oe Rate Sr aS

On the Ethnography *y Akkrah and Adampé. “B33

»-'These mechanical causes, we (may be cértain, are acting, ‘and must
have the chief share in the effects which we observe, and’ should
ithérefore’be followed ‘out in ‘all their! eonséquences, before weé attempt
itodintroduce any ‘problematical ’ ‘forces whieh * digg sa “possibly” have
alnelopif ena hig Kapaa ‘nt ecg jt thie echt Mey DD RSI Eh

-
re |

iv
en per
Ve

ae rir be

On the, -adeaami tn af Akkwah cued, ahd ‘@toldh Const,
elicWestern - Africas: ByoWimiiaM'Fe Dawmpyp)MDi,
ORR: G. 8: “Assistant ie, oe to” ‘the: aoe Bo bi

atieoc igo aa Ovlovs 28 shia TOTNS WS
Concluded from, Pe 130): sitia’ Th enee 9 ub

hats de #9¢i hart ¢

- ppaNtll9 8% ‘Be. The er and. villages that, lie eet ‘along

the ‘margin of the’ coast ‘from Cape St Paul’s to the Rio. Sakkoom
Ht exceed, botli in size and population, those. ‘located 1 ‘in,the

Ghland districts, “Rocky. plateaux or projecting headlands, . OY emi-
be ee itdated in in, the aa of the or aati salt water Cain or pee

answer sither'd as articles of food or of traffic. From a rude Hedin
of fishermen? S ‘huts, they, i in the course of time, became transformed
into’ places of constant resort, by the progressive ‘development: of their
commercial | resources,. ‘and the gradual addition of new. habitations,
réndered obligatory” by the influx ‘of enterprising ‘traders and other
people belonging to the: cireumjacent ‘countries... ‘From the absence
of any: definite plan or’ system -of arrangement, the” érection of the
towns | was confined within’ very circumscribed limits ; the. buildings
béing | $0 compactly grouped, and in such: dense masses.as to occupy
apparently but ‘a'small ‘extent of ground. With the exception ‘of
the main thoroughfare and a few open clearances at, irregular inter-
val s;° the! streets ‘were. necessarily narrow, tortuous, and intricate ;

the ‘close proximity: of the | various domiciled produeiig a perpen

asi W Gol

wel — stofnt ‘sxpenientea by. the Recall Lhe” Up tHE under
Captain Wilkes in the néighbourhood ‘of! the Cape De*Verd Islands,'a similar
igattada. to, the, West Indies, buton ‘the “wrong”, side Of the )Atlantic, and
oreover: revolving with the hands of a watch, “ wrong” also. But. the parent
wind j n this case is described to have‘ been SE., which explains everything ; ;
vei shéews that'the whole phenomenon is an affair of mechanical conditions iti the
currentsof airat the place); that these being reversed, the hurricane phenomena
are reversed also, and that; there i is no magnetic, or other virtue residing) im either
hemisphere, and compelling air to circulate 1 in any particular direction oi. reason
of its place. ~~~
i PPocéedings of the Royal’ Society of Edinburgh. Session’ 1851-2.

VOL. LUI. NO. CVI.— OCTOBER 1852. Z

334 William F) Daniell, Esq), on the Ethnography of

diversity of bypaths, that, in similitude, approached ‘the dubious
windings of some mysterious labyrinth. \ Formed by) the:contracted
Spaces between the opposite walls) and projecting roofs, their «due
ventilation and cleanliness was more or less impeded 5: consequently,
they always continued in a dirty condition, and were: likewise subject
to that fetid effluvia, generated by the accumulation of filth and\other
domesti¢ refuse thrown out by their occupants, who, froma ¢onstitu-
tional indolency or love of easey were neither; impressed with»the
necessity of adhering to any sanatory precautions, nor) yet! endeas
voured to obtain the salubrity that would spring from tige removal
of such morbifie agents.

The housés are constructed of swish,'a name bcletaleeiel on i com+
positions of mud or other loamy soils, well triturated with water, for
such appliances. In style of architecture they resemble: the: mud
cottages which still prevail in most of the rural districts: of England.
The foundations invariably consist of small fragments: of sandstone,
embedded in an earthy cement, and elevated two or threesféet above
the ground, sloping obliquely inwards, ‘so:that the» base: may: corre-
spond to the eaves of the roof, and the:rain; as/it pours from above,
may fall on substances sufficiently durable to'resist its:solvent effects,
Upon this elevation the compost is placed in successive layers, each
of which is allowed to harden in) the*san: previous to any farther
depositions, which continue to be superadded in regular: gradation,
until the height of ten or fifteen’ feet has been attained.) Its covering
is completed by a thatch specially provided for) this-purpose, whose
close adaptation renders it impervious: to the heavy torrents: of the
rainy season. ~The doors, framework, beams, window sills, and the
neat’ jalousies fitted therein, are executed, with all other wooden fix-
tures, by native artificers, after European designs, and confer an aspect
both of modesty and comfort, which externally assimilates them tothe
humbler dwellings of more enlightened communities, They are usually
built in an-oblong or quadrangular form, having an unroofed) ¢ourt-
yard in the centre, around which the: different compartments of the
household are distributed: Should the central area'be of such magiii-
tude as to admit of its twofold partition, it:is:conveniently separated
into an inner and outer yard by meansiof adivisional septum of swish.
When this takes place, the latter is'allotted to the slaves and family
dependents, or portions of it are converted into cookhouses or kitchens,
workshops, and other indispensable purposes, The rooms: ‘selected
for the appropriation of the owner and ‘his: near relatives, have, in
their internal embellishment, a greater share of consideration devoted
to them than the others. The walls are whitewashed, and frequently
adorned with coloured prints or coarse engravings, and with a scanty
array of home furniture is sometimes intermingled a miscellaneous
assortment of foreign articles of a more refined manufacture, An
interesting question may here be mooted, whether the, peculiar style
of architectural configuration at present in vogue among thesé people,

_—_ —_—— |

.

ie S| ot , Fn
le et i i ee,

Akkrah and. Adampé, Gold Coast, Africa) 385

claims its derivation from primitive sources, or +has..been' adopted, in
consonance ‘to! the dictates of modern improvements, The result,;of
inquiries: willogo far to, shew the probability of its. being.an innovation
induced) by some) of those moral. revolutions that have terminated, in
the entire subversion of all preceding conventionalities. It .is a,remark-
able:fact: that theofetish-houses! in every locality are) of a. \circular
form, which; owing to the arbitrary doctrines of theit religious code or
othericonventional: prejudices, have. stood the test of centuries. un-
ehangedi» Coeval in origin and in similarity of outline, the native tene-
ments»may bersaid to have/conjointly descended down, the stream, of
time with them, until the period when the transformation. of the for-
mer) cameo gradualy into public, repute,).:'That such . was, the! case
there)can be: but» little: doubt, since, within the, memory jof- existing
generations, conical, mud-hutsowere: known not: to beuncommon, in
the: suburbs: of :Akkrah; while in» Pranipram; Ningo, \and,-other
Adampé towns, ‘they are | yet: to be -seen sin their pristine simplicity,
though fast receding before: the progress: of what is now considered, a
more rational system of architecture.

oy Theresidencesjof the white:and/ mulatto merchants and, the sitiadae
tiab nativesare erected. on a-much grander. scale; and of .more,ex-
pensive materials» Isolated from each other, theirsnow-like exteriors,
and dignified altitude, soon «stamped them as the most conspicuous
objectsof: a diversified landscape, and .presented at the, same timea
striking’ contrast ‘to the low and» dusky, habitations «by .which they
‘were’ surrounded.:| | Composed of stone, hewn fromthe neighbouring
quarries, andowood brought from the colder. climates, of ;the north,
they, by a skilful subserviency of means, united, strength, and solidity
withecomfortiand convenience. Built after, the’ commodious. plans
‘socprevalent in ‘tropical countries, by. haying arched. balconies., or
eorridors in front: and: rear, answering not only for. pleasant prome+
nades, but serving as a. protection against the rays of a, fervid sun,
andolikewise ‘reduced:to:a mellowed softness the disagreeable glare
‘and temperature that would otherwise pervade the internal partitions.
These apartments are: lofty, capacious, and) well. ventilated,..and
laccording to the:affluence of the inmates, are provided with a, suffi
ciency of domestic luxuries and other, ornamental refinements, alone
tobe found in» the higher: coteries: of civilized jlife.|. From two to
three storeys in height, with flat: roofs, they are in general of large
{dimensions, containing, independently of other quarters, various wings
‘or enclosures, partially monopolized by the females, junior, branches
lofithe family, and their numerous attendants}, | On,the. first, storey
‘are ranged the reception, dining, and private chambers,; and, on the
ground floor immediately underneath, are those, set.apart, for.mer-
scantile purposes and.as depots for foreign and: country stores. »Con-
nected» with: the:main edifice: are séveral, petty outhouses, or offices,
theewholesof; which are encompassed bya, strong stone wall, varying
frony12:to. 18: feet in» elevation. . Within this boundary,.admission

Z 2

336 William, F’.. Daniell, Esq., on the Hthnography of

is only,to be. gained by means of a solitary, entrance or doorway,
sheltered bya porch fitted with wooden, benches for, the accommodation
of those seryitors. who,are attached to the demesne. Although. of
regular occurrence at Cape Coast, where the aboriginal tenements
rise. to the altitude of two storeys, here they seldom advance beyond
the ground floor, saye in a few instances which are to be, noticed, as
exceptions to the general rule, ,,Their compartments are. “mostly of
limited dimensions, and. are more or less filthy, from neglect ang the
accumulation of impurities,

In proximity to Jamestown, Christianburg, aud Prampram, may
be observed separate salt water lakes, each of which are distinguished
by certain appellations ; those in the,environs. of the first, two towns
are recognised by, the terms of Kualé and Clorté, and: from super-
stitious motives are deemed. sacred, Of the three, that. of Pi ames-
town or English Akkrah is the most.extensive. All teem, with an
abundance of crabs, shell-fish, and a species of small round fish, eX-
tremely prolific, the young fry of which are eaten with avidity ; ; “and:
from their rapid reproduction, compensate the poorer classes for that
deficiency in similar kind of food to,which, their poverty, subjects
them., Io each of these towns is,also appended a reservoir of fresh
water, which, during the prevalence of the rains, is always, filled to
its full extent ; but from subsequent use and constant. evaporation,
the fluid eventually becomes diminished to one half, and forthe
greater part,of the year remains, in a stagnant and impure state ;
nevertheless it is exclusively retained, from. the facility, i it, affords for
personal ablutions and purification.

Forming a direct communication between the three ‘Alderahs and
the rural hamlet of Fredericksburg, are roads, maintained in excellent
order chiefly through the exertions of the European residents. . Por-
tions of them are fringed at intervals by the tamarind, chashew, and
other ornamental trees ; while in several of the suburban avenues are
planted rows of the Hibiscus populneus and.a species of Ficus or
umbrella tree, so designated from the umbrageous. canopy which its
leaves produce. On the verge of the footpaths that radiate from
the outskirts on different sides may be met the indigo, eastor-oil,
and cotton shrubs, with fences of Cacti and Euphorbe even as the
magnificent Bombaz flourishes amid thé masses of human habitations,
in conjuction with the tapering coco-nut tree, that waves its feather-
like branches o’er the precincts of the same dwellings, as if in grateful
acknowledgment of, the tender nature which their protection yielded
to its early growth. ‘The streets and thoroughfares of the Adampé
town and villages are stated to be much superior to those of Akkrah,
being more cleanly, spacious, and‘of uniform width. —

Markets—Markets are held on every day of the week, ‘save on
such as are dedicated to, religious observances, The situations
usually adopted are either at the entrance’ or termination of one. of
the principal streets ‘adjoining some cleared space of ground, or” in

he ee ye a

,

VP ory

re Aue SN Adampeé; Gold Coast,. Afyica. i, 334

localities’ habitually frequénted by. a concourse of people.” Oceasion-
ally ‘the Stray’ exhibition of a few articles’ may be’ Noticed “opposite
the’ domiciles of the vendors, or along’ the walls in the more secluded
passages. Compared to insite places of resort elsewhere'mn Western
Africa, they’ present an impoverished appearance, from the meagre
pittances' of food and éther indigénous ‘products which are offered for
sale in such ‘limited quantities, The whole are vended ‘under the
patient instriiinentality of women and ‘children, who, squatted ‘in
regular | lines along the sides of the. streets, or beneath the shade’ of
the adjacent houses, dispose their effects to the ‘greatest advantage, in
assorted lots, spread. out upon niats or in ‘CAlaBashes: around the spot
on which they are stationed. These collocations of edibles ‘and other
necessary articles; for the most part comprise plantains, ‘bananas,
peppers, limes, oranges, ground nuts, Malaguetta pepper; native soap,
pine apple, ‘and other kinds of flax, tobacco cut in small pieces, ochr Os,
dried and. fresh cassada, kankies baked or boiled,‘and other pr epara-
tidtis ‘of © maize, pine apples, soursops, a few ‘Yhiraculous berries,
shallots,‘ ‘palm oil, -and shea butter, kola nuts, dried and fresh. fish,
smoked deer, and goats flesh, &c., with beads, ‘oattighwate, anions
ramals, guns, copper basins, gia variety of native and foreign
cloths, suspended on lines attached to the different houses above the
heads of the anxious dealers, &c.

“Harvest Festivals —The great annual festival of the Akkrahs
termed Homowaw, is one celebrated with much pomp and dissipation.
Numerous and important are the ceremonies enacted on these memo-
rable holidays, and multiform are the scenes that attest the vigour

and éexultation of their commemoration. . By every family in town or

country proparations on a proportionate scale are carried. into effect
long antecedent to the period of their commencement, which in
tay te occurs early i in the month of September, Friday being the
that announces ‘their wished-for arrival... In the year 1850 the
anniversary fell: ‘on the 6th of September, and the peculiar observances
attending 1 the initiation were of the same determinate character as
t 1080 « on previous occasions. The ordinary duration of these popular
orgies” seldom exceeds ten days or a fortnight (a week being the
allotted. term’ of fulfilment) ; but should a continuous supply of
potables, and other accessory, ‘stimulants, be furnished, or as long as
they ‘possess - ‘the means. to purchase them, their prolongation is
J
ine on with undiminished vigour, until it finally ceases, from an
exha austion of their pecuniary resources, According to the reports
of! résidents and other local authorities, this particular season has
been consecrated by the blending, of various religious and social
rites ; 3.8 series of cesses concessions that. ae the pe

ae 30 eto ‘the. Seiblance ‘considered to exist between elie a

338 William F. Daniell, Esq.; ov bie thiog raphy of

those hospitable entertainments of Europeans in their own country,
though at another season, it has acquired’ the designation of the
Akkrah’* Christiias” (On Soah, the first’ day of its’ celebration;
the Occhds and other influential personages of ‘the town, bestow
liberal donations of cloth, beads, and other desirable articles, on their
wives, families, and near relatives; and at the same time, transmit
to their patrons and respective fathers-in-law a large log of wood,
which to the latter is an acknowledgment of their consanguinity:”
The door-frames, window-sills, and other wooden work of the houses)
are now partly covered with a red ochre, and in honour of the dead
their family graves are equally adorned by the same florid colour.
In former years a thorough’ purification of the houses, with other
sanatory measures, appear to have been instituted ; but latterly, this
and the preceding custom are imperceptibly falling into disuse, and
doubtless ere long will become obsolete. :
During the continuance of this festival a remission of all piiblic
business occurs, and the daily avocations of the labouring classes are
almost suspended, one predominant train of thought alone pervading
every grade, both high and low, rich and poor, viz. , the unlimited gra-
tification of their passions, and ant anxious deterdithation to avail
themselves of every opportunity for self-indulgence which this interval
of jollity and relaxation can afford them. The men, dressed in their
best attire, with fillets of cloth or twisted haridketvhiafs encireling
their heads, parade through the town in noisy communities, accom-'
panied with drum and horn ; and, as if mimicking the bacchanalians
of old, exhibit the most equivocal dances and grotesque attitudes.
The women, left to their own resources, assemble in picturesque
groups, and, like the men, express a similar delight in the participa-
tion of these enjoyments ; they also perambulate the streets, visit
their friends and connections, and elaborately decorate themselves in
their favourite costumes of silk and chintz, Gold rings and chains,
fancy beads of every hue, bracelets, and armlets of divers construction,
with the conspicuous aid of white and yellow figures or patches of
paint, to ornament the features, contribute to gratify their self-
esteem, and sufficiently testify to their love of finery, desire of con-
quest, and that mherent vanity characteristic of the sex. |
Among the men, intoxication, committed to excess, from copious’
libations-of rum, constitute in their estimation, the summum bonum
of happiness ; and they who have not, the means of thus distinguish-
ing themselves, when passing abroad or elsewhere, conceal, their,
poverty by carefully imitating the gait and erratic vagaries of their
drunken compeers.' In conformity with the primitive ordinances of
the country, a species of large fish named Chillé, caught at this
period of the year, and until now prohibited from public use by
the fetishmen, furnishes the chief constituent in their palm oil and
other soups, being eaten with a certain pudding, or rather meal,
termed Kou, made from ground maize mixed with palm oil and a

- all sy ae ee Co ee eee —_—————— SS

_Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast; Africa:;;;,, 839

few, ochros. ., At. this,season, these edibles obtain a temporary prefe-
rence’ beyond. others ;, and since..some; care and trouble is lavished
in.their culinary preparation, they naturally become the favourite
dishes, which all ranks seek and partake of with avidity.

(On Saturday or;Hau, the termination of the old year, oblations
hapvataxed to the manes of their ancestors: portions of the preced-
ing, kinds, of ;food being .placed around. their. graves in the different
compartments,of the mansion.* , Haughbah or Sunday is.the most
venerated, on account of its being the first. day, of the new.year; the
birth, of which, is ushered in by,a, strange medley of congratulations
and laments, the latter more exclusively emanating from the female
sex; who, with pathetic exclamations and a profusion of tears, bewail
those members, of the family. who, during the intervening period
between the past and :present.custom, have departed this life for the
regions of, another world.

‘About this time the congenial rehearsals of feasting and. dissipa-
tion attain their zenith, and although their most disgusting features
are seldom openly displayed, yet, within the walls and. inner courts
of the larger. domiciles, the vociferous chanting, boisterous mirth,
and clamorous bickerings of their intoxicated inmates, bear ample
testimony to the dissolute revels performed therein.. To. the, philo-
sophical observer, these indications. of moral degradation create
melancholy reflections, and excite in him impressions of painful sur-
prise, how.a people like. the present, after the lapse of so many cen-
turies, should have so partiallyemerged from the depths of primitive
barbarism, when endowed with these important advantages, that
accrue from an eligible position, fertile country, and the intimate
alliance with more enlightened Europeans who haye resided so long
amongst them, and have. constantly reciprocated their. commercial
wants for so great a number of years.

The. Tuesday following is.a day more exclusively dedicated to the
performance of certain religious ceremonies to which the natives are
much addicted; and as they are more or less interpolated with most
other public eaeitee. they, in general, compose the. most solemn
and impressive portion of them. By all grades of people, therefore,
a considerable amount of deference and awe is paid to these supersti-
tious. observances, inasmuch: as.they believe that some. mysterious

® ‘A-similar custom was observed by the Romans, on the celebration of their
feasts, called Silicernia, in which food was provided for the dead; and deposited
on their graves. It is alluded to.in Ovid, de Fastis, lib. 2, 533, as follows :—

“ st honor et tumulis. animas placate paternas ;
Parvaque in extinctas munera ferte pyras.
Parva petunt manes, pietas pro divite grata est
y Munere. non avidos Styx habet ima Deos.
~ ‘esula projectis satis est velata coronis ;
Et sparse fruges, parcaque mica salis :
; Inque mero, mollita Ceres, violaque solute.”

340 Defence of the Doetrine of Vital, Afinity.

potency originates from them, which: has; been:/supposed: to, exert a
specific influence, either-for) good ‘or badj over the future career: of
those: that | become) suppliants \fors their, protection, or; fail to :offer
the. requisite: degree) of :propitiation..». The peculiarity of thisimode
of worship is chiefly characterised by ablutions of the whole -bedy
with water, which: hasbeen’ previously sanctified by the -priests, and
in which the leaves of some plant shave been: steeped either in‘ the
fetish or, their» own houses, :To this:liquid they, attribute manifold
prophylactic virtues, and, fromvits! reputed’ efficacy, \they.imagine
that exemption from death or other dire misfortunes is:thus securéd
for the ensuing: year; through the! interposition: of ‘the deity whose
all; pervading) power) they have submissively invoked.!-' During «the
exhibition ‘of these sacred: observances, the fetishmen /reap-a bounti-
ful harvest; as ‘a. compensation) for-their successful, predictions, and
the labours, they now incur ;for.when any. individual, with his wives
or children, require these ‘abluent' ‘purifications; or become ;desirous
of gaining an: insight: into the depths. of -futurity, the) request; is
always accompanied by a regulated fee, proportionate, to his:position
in the country; «The prices, therefore, fluctuate. from a)few strings
of cowries or bottles of rum to other articles:several \dollars in value.
From’ the peculiar rites:that» characterise this. day, it) bbs dpieined
the appellation:of the Sakkoom fetish-day.y | \s9 Sw)

In Ossu and :Labadde ‘these: holidays: commence, bout ten dais
subsequently to those in’ Englishoand Dutch: Akkrahj and, like'them,
are maintained with equal-energy and display., With ithe two former
there is merely this difference, that the first day oftheir, inaugura=,
tion is invariably held on a Wednesday, in conformity! to the ancient
regulations of these localties.

\

Defence of the Doctrine of Vital Affinity, against the objec-
tions stated to it by Humboldt and Dr Daubeny. By Dr
ALISON.

The object-of this paper was to fix attention on the oreait bhisthas
logical discovery which’ has» been: gradually effected during the pre-
sent century, of the mode in which certain of the elements contained
in the earth’s atmosphere, under the igfluence,of light and of a cer-
tain temperature, are continually employed) in) maintaining that great
vital, circulation, of which vegetable structures, animal, structures, |
the air, and the soil, are the successive links ; and to! point out that:
the most essential and fundamental of the changes here effected,
particularly the formation of the different.organic compounds inthe
cells of vegetables;—are strictly chemical. changes, at least as clearly.)
distinct from any chemical, actions yet known to.take, place in inor-))
ganic matters, as the vital contractions of muscles are distinet from any!:
merely mechanical ¢auses of motion; and justifying the statement of

ee ee SE ee mS
”

Defence of the Doctrine of Vital Afinity. 841

Dr Daubeny,:that there appears to be as power, residing: in living
‘matters’ and’: ‘producing chemical effects,—in fact manifesting: itself

‘most unequivocally: by the chemical’ changes which result from:it;—
SP ‘distinct, at least in By effects, 0 ordinary chemical and physical
forces’?
onBut: after ndving haalie this statement, Dr arbiny according to the
author of this paper, has thrown a degree of mystery over thesubject
which “is quite unnecessary and) even unphilosophical,: by refusing
to admit—and quoting Humboldt, who ‘has changed’ his’ opinionon
the'subject}'and now likewise declines to ddmit-« that these:changes
are to be regarded as vital: both ‘authors (as ‘well; as:‘several: other
recent: English authors) maintaining, that as!we:do not:know all the
conditions/under ‘which ordinary: ‘chemical: affinities’ act in’ living
bodies, we are not entitled to assert that these affinities may not yet
be’ found adequate to they production of ‘all: the chemical: changes
which: living bodies present’; and that until this negative proposition
is proved; it*is unphilosophical and delusive to suppose the existence of
any such’ power; as that to which. the term: VitaloAffinity hasbeen
applied by the author’ of this paper ‘and severalcother physiologists.
-o.Inanswer to this, itis here stated, that:as'we cannot strictly speak-
ing, define Life or Vitality, we follow the'strict-rules.of philosophy, in
describing what we call living bodies, whether vegetable or animal,'and’
then applying the term Vital or living, as the general expression for
everything which is observed to take’ place only in them; and: which:
issinexplicable by’ the physical laws; deduced: from the ‘observation:
of the other phenomena of nature 5 that-according to this,~-the only’
definition of whichthe'term vital-admits, or by which the objects‘ of
Physiology can be defined,—Dr Daubeny has» already admitted, in’
the expressions above quoted from him, that chemical as well as me-
chanical changes in living bodies, fall taulor the Upncdunation’ vital ;
and as the rule of, sound logic. is“ afirmaniibus incum bit; pro-
batio,”’—and_ as, it, is just. as “probable & priori, that,, with.a view
to the great objects of the introduction of living beings | upon earth,
the laws of chemistry, as those of mechanics, should be modified or
suspended by’ Almighty Power,—this:author maintains’ that)we are
asfully justified in referring all great essential chemical phenomena,
which are peculiar to living ‘bodies, to peculiar affinities, which ‘we
term vital, as Haller was to ascribe the: peculiar: mechanical move-
ments of: living’ bodies to the; vital property of Irritability; and ‘to:
throw onthe mechanical physiologists of /his day the burden of :prov-
ing, if they'could, that the laws of motion; Joa aaah in dead matter,
were adequate to explain them. «
oIn illustration of the: importance, bothicin Physiology ‘and Pathio- |
logy; of this: principle: being held ‘to ‘be established, Dr’ Alison ad-
duced two examples, first, the utter failure. ofthe, very: ingenious -
theory‘of Dr: Murray to-explain;'‘om<ordinary chemical prineiplesy °
the simplest and most essential phenomena of healthy:Secretion ;/and,

342 Dr Williams. on the Blood-proper.and.\

secondly, the now generally admitted inadequacy of any. theory.of
Inflammation, which does not regard a modification of. the afinities
peculiar to life, and here termed vital, as the, primary and essen-
tial change, in the matter concerned in that process.*

On the Blood-proper and, Chylo-aqueous Fluid of Inver-
tebrate Animals. By THoMas WILLIAMS, M.D.

In this paper the author, as stated in the Official Report on it»
in the Proceedings of the Royal Society for March 1852, has accu-
mulated numerous observations, founded upon dissection and micro-_.
scopic inquiry, to prove that there exist. in mwertebrate animals two
distinct kinds of nutrient fluids; that in some classes. of this sub-
kingdom, these two, fluids co-exist in the same organism, though
contained in distinct systems of conduits, while in others they become
united into one... The author proposes to distinguish these two
orders of fluids under the denominations of the blood-proper and
chylo-aqueous fluid, The former is always contained in definitively
organised (walled) bloodvessels, and haying a determinate circula-
tory movement; the latter with equal constancy, in chambers and
irregular cavities and cells communicating invariably with the peri-
toneal, space, having not a determinate circulation, but a to-and-fro
movement, maintained by muscular and ciliary agency.. He then
adduces evidence, derived from dissection, in proof of the statement.
that the system of the blood-proper does not. exist under any form, .
the most rudimentary, below the Echinodermata; that, in other
words, the system, of the true blood, or of the blood-proper, begins
at the Hchinodermata...The author then shews that. below the:
Echinodermata, namely in the families of Polypes and. Acalepha,
the digestive and circulatory systems are identified, and that conse-.
quently the external medium is admitted directly into the nutrient
vessels. He considers that. this circumstance constitutes a funda-
mental distinction between the chylo-aqueous system and that of the
blood-proper, into which, under no conditions, is the external inor-
ganic element directly introduced.

He conceives that his observations suffice to establish the law, with
reference to the chylo-aqueous fluid, that in every class in which it
exists, it is charged more or less abundantly with organised. cor-
puscles... This is an invariable fact in the history of this fluid. . His,
inquiries shew that these corpuscles are marked by distinctive mi-
croscopic characters, not in different classes and genera only, but in),
different species, entitling these bodies to great consideration in the)
establishment of species. |

The paper then. proceeds to demonstrate, the proposition, 1 that. j in

t Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Session 1851-2.

ae ee eee
2

Chylo-aqueous T'luid of Invertebrate Animals. 348

thosa classes, as in the’ Echinodermata, Entozoa, and Annelida, in

which; in the adult animal, these two orders of fluids coexist, though

distinct, in the same individual, there prevails between then, as re-
spects their magnitude or dotelopitient; an: inverse proportion : that
while, as instanced in the Echinoderms, the chylo-aqueous fluid filling
the ciliated space between the stomach and integument is consider-

able in-volume, the blood-proper and its system are little. evolved ;

that while, as in the Entozoa, the chylo- aqueous fluid is still the
most important fluid element in the organism, the blood system is
proportionally rudimentary ; that in the Annelida, especially the
higher species of that class, the chylo-aqueous fluid almost disap-
pears, while the system of the true blood acquires, illustrating the
law of inverse proportion, a correspondingly augmented development.
The author then states, that the system of the chylo-aqueous fluid
does not exist in the adult, but only in the larva state of the higher
members ‘of the articulated series, such as the Myriapoda, Insecta,
and Crustacea,

In myriapods and insects, he has observed that the peritoneal
space is occupied by a fiuid which does not communicate with, and
is distinct in composition from, the contents of the true BISSARSSETS!

“This peritoneal fluid, however, in these classes, disappears at a
subsequent stage of orowth, Thus the author thinks, that a con-
tinuous chain through the medium of the fluids, is established be-
tween the Echinoderms at one extreme, and the Crustacea at the
other. These classes he proposes to connect together under the de-
signation of the double fluid series, corresponding to the radiate and
articulate series of systematic zoologists.

‘Returning to the standard of the Echinoderms, where the system
of ‘the blood-proper first’ appears in the zoological scale, he shews
that at this point the’ Molluscan chain diverges from the radiate and
articulate chain, and may be indicated in contradistinction from the
latter, as the single-fluid series. The author’s observations lead him
to believe, with Professor Milne-Edwards, that in all Molluscs; from
the Tunicata to the Cephalopods, the chamber of the peritoneal is
continuous with the channels of the circulation, and that consequently
the fluids observed in these parts, are one and the same fluid, esta-~

blishing the singleness of the fluid system of the body ; and this con-—

clusion is corroborated by additional evidence drawn from “micro-
scopic examinations.

He then recapitulates the results of his researches, and maintains ~
that the base of the invertebrated kingdom of arith als’i8 formed of
all those inferior Series which rank below the Echinoderms ; and that
this series. is distinguished from the Molluscan, in which’ alge’ eh®
fluid system is ‘single, by the important circumstance ‘that in the
former, unlike the Mollusca, the digestive and circulatory systems are
identified, or confounded into a ‘single system; that at the Echino-
derms, the series-divaricates into the-double-fluid~series and~single-

344 The Future of Geology.

fluid ‘series, the former coinciding with the radiate and ‘articulate
class, and joming' the Vertebrata through the Crustacea ; the latter
running parallel with the Molluscan order, and connecting itself to
the ‘Vertebrata through the Cephalopods.

~'The'fluids of the “zoophytic series’ are invariably ‘corpusculated,
but the corpuscles cannot yet be reduced to any definite type. of con-
formation. “In the! Medusari seriés, these bodies’ become ‘more de-
finitively organised. The author thee demonstrates, that, through-
out the whole’ radiate and articulate classes, wherever it is found, the
chylo-aqueous fluid is richly corpusculated, or in other words, charged
with floating morphotic elements, which, from the constancy of their
characters in different species, become ovounds for specific distinie-
tions. It is ‘stated, that, throughout the Echinoderms, Entozoa, and
Annelida, in whieh: éven in the adult animal, the blodd-proper and
the diylolaqadbus fluid, though separate, coexist, the latter fluid only
is corpusculated, the true blood being invariably limpid and perfectly
fluid’ (incorpusculated), and almost’ always the seat of the colour,
the latter existing as a substance dissolved in the fluid; while in no
instance does colour develop itself in the chylo-aqueous "Anid” Kian

The paper then shews, that at the point where ‘the’ chylo-aqueous
system disappears, namely, at the Myriapods, the true blood be-
comes the vehicle of the corpuscles.

And lastly, the author adduces a great variety of observations i in
confirmation of the statement, that throughout the whole Molluscan
series without exception, coinciding with his ‘* single fuid s series, 8
the fluids are richly charged with corpuscles.

The. Siheiiti of Gatogin

A-system in Geology is'like a genus in Zoology and: Betanp_ae
arbitrary division for one person, an attempt to express a natural group
for anotherand: more philosophical head. It is consequently ‘a term
of very different value in the writings of one geologist; to that'which’
it enjoys in the works of) another: . What one calls a formation; his’
neighbour calls.a system. | Yet/each; if he’ be aiming, as| we presume’ ‘is
the purpose in-most instances, at the establishment of a natural oroup
in time, is really treating of the/same'order of(thing, with ’a-differ-
énce only in degree. It would be desirable, doubtless, that we should
have;one uniform: terminology ; “but ‘the age’is not ripe’ for suchan
invention yet.’ We are working towards it, but must not*hurry. “An
idea isogradually being evolved) out ‘of the efforts “at thé discovery’
and defining of geological subdivisions. It is the idew of facies.’ The
faunas and floras that have succeeded ‘each other, interlacing in" their
succession, during the course of geological ages, exhibieed from time
to time peculiar combinations of forms, affinities, and analogies, which,

The Future of Geology. 345

taken in their totality, imprinted.a recognisable facies on: each as-
semblage, of organisms—on the population of the earth and sea during
successive epochs or groupsof ages... When a paleontologist. is shewn
a ‘number of unknown fossils froma distant. and unexplored country;
2» recognises. almost. , instinctively an aspect,.in the collection.which
induces him to: declare. them, with little hesitation, to. be palzeozoie;
or) -ovlitic, ¢ or. whatever the. form maybe... The pure geologist. seizes
with, avidity, on. this. determination, and. assigns to_the..rocks.from
whence the specimens have. been, obtained:a definite. position. in his
scale, of f formations, Tf the naturalist recognise a previously deter-
mined, species, . his colleague i is the more certain. of .his decision, and
from. the shell. or. plant, or coral, that. is known, decides .upon.the,
age 0 ‘of. the rock. and region that are. unknown, Nevertheless, it is
more. than questionable whether. identity of species in two,or more
very, distant, localities should imply synchronism of age, of the, strata
wherein. they occur; indeed, it is less than improbable, that the.in-
ference drawn from the fact should be exactly the reverse... If.,so;
what. becomes of the hard: horizontal, lines drawn on our tables and
diagrams, between systems and formations? They have: been. as-
sumed, it is true, from the consideration of facts—but facts of a local
character, and important only in connection with limited reguons. In,
reality we are often endeavouring to apply a_scale which, in, its. sub-,
divisions, is true. only in Britain and part of Europe, to the whole
world., The pRAoHS eA epee has been too often performed by,
geologists. 6
‘Regarding, then, ae eat seale of formations as an artificial
scheme, founded on local considerations, although an instrument and
standard of comparison. of great value when used judiciously,—the
questions have still to be answered, which demand whether the terms
of its graduation be required,)and whether, such as we have them,
they are complete. There are reasons for believing that they are
far from: being so, and.that future research will, intercalate te
unrecognised. stages.
---See.those-broad stripes of | Reedobeiidod painted. on every geitopicall
diagram between ithe terms, palzeozoic and ‘secondary, ‘secondary and
tertiary. Those lines are popularly understood to mark the boundaries:
between a complete cessation.of one great ‘system: of typés:of species,
and, the commencement of an,entirely new-series of creatures, animal
andjvegetable. . They. really. mark. prodigious gaps \in our: knowledge:
of the sequence. of formations and the procession» of life. , One of
tat Supposed impassable .barriers : or boundaries, that) between
“‘tertiary’” | jand, ‘‘ eretaceous,’’ threatens rapidly to give ways and to:
vanish in‘due time as Speedily as artificial.social distinctions in society.
In/France, in Germany, in Belgium,in England, there are symptoms
ofan intergrowth between the long-separated “chalk”: and. “ eocene.’?
Strata, are (coming .to, light..which,.rudely ,.insist.:on: finding» elbow=-
room among. onr, neatly-packed. systems and, formations,: | Janus-like

346 The Future of Geology.

fossils are turning up with twosets of features.’ Our preconceived
notions of what ought to be, are sadly disconcerted. Aw already ex=
tensive terminology is threatened with an tendered of new ra
too necessary to be evaded.

If we are not greatly mistaken, ‘there are’ little’ ototehs rising on
the geological horizon that indicate revolutions elsewhere in the series|
That narrow black line drawn on geological diagrams: between the
words “ Trias” and ** Permian” has more meaning in it thaw its thin
dimensions indicate. ° The line between *« Eocene” and *°Cretaceous”
has swollen out, broken up, and is enlarging fast ‘into intermediate
sections.» But all its changes and increase will'be as:nothing com?
pared with those which must take place by and by,*in‘its representa-
tive lower down. “If we interpret aright the signs indicated by extinet
organisms preserved to us'in paleeozoie rocks, and the comparison of
them with others contained in the lowest mesozoic or secondary strata,
there is a gap in our knowledge of the succession of formations, the
extent of which it is almost disheartening’ to think upon.’ Although
the palewozoic fauna and flora are assuredly portions'\of the same
unique system of organised nature with the assemblages of creatures
of after-date in time, they exhibit differences in detail so great that,
on superficial consideration, we might almost’ ‘be ‘inclined to regard
them as belonging to some other world than our ‘own’ These : dif
ferences are such as at present set all our calculations respecting the
climatal conditions of the primeval ‘(palzeozoic)epochs: at’ defiancet
But that’ these oldest of creations were linked with those that came
after, and those amidst’ which we live, is’ evident) in ‘the* number’ of
generic types common to all, and expressed yet more strongly in the
presence of straggling representatives of types of life, characteristically
paleozoic, among the very lowermost strata of the secondary period:
All analogy, however, teaches us that there is a graduation of one geo-
logical epoch into another; and every day’s advance im research goes
to confirm this belief. The facts to which we have alluded indicate
evidences of such a graduation of paleeozoic into secondary.’ But the
stages of that graduation, the intermediate formations, have not yet
been discovered. Calculating from the amount of’ the blank in’ the
series of organised types, there must have been'a vast interval? of
time intervening between the Permian and Triassic epochs, during
which, doubtless, sediments were being deposited in seas, sea=beds
upheaved, animals and plants flourishing, generations and genera-
tions, nay more, creations and creations (we use the popular and
hypothetical term, for want of a better), appearing, succeeding, and
disappearing ; and yet of all these mineral accumulations, and or-
ganised assemblages, there has not been. as yet a fragment. found:

“They are but ill discoverers,” wrote Lord Bacon, “that ‘think
there is no land when they can see nothing but sea.” Columbus
had fewer signs to warrant his belief in a new continent than we
have to indicate an unexplored, and as yet unseen, geological world.

on

3
San

Se ea ere

=

WimgigyaS

The Future of Geology. 347

Suchosigns cannot be dissipated by any appeal to the series of strata
already investigated.» The answer to that appeal would. be, favour-
able to.our hypothesis: moreover, in the present, state of our, know-
ledge of comparative geology, it would be folly.to claim infallibility
for geological. scales founded upon, the. examination, partly minute,
a ip superficial,,of) regions, chiefly, confined,to the land.of, the
northern hemisphere.) If we jot out,on.the map.of.the, world those
portions which have been sufficiently examined, at once. paleontolo-
gically and gedlogically, the space covered by our, ink) makes. but a
poor show ;' yet,only, about,.such districts can, we lay, claim) to suffis
cient knowledge,—if, indeed, -knowledge be. ever | sufficient... Our
hope, lies, in the fapidlp-edvancina progress of comparative geology,
especially through the aid.and sure operations of organised surveys;
All over Europe, such -surveys are! in ,progress,..or- about to.com-
mence, sanctioned, as aha oaaht to! be, by, governments| of ae
aliade of opinion:.

Some three or four “years ago it; was \publicly. declared hate ihe
eelice of England was completed;.a-plausible announcement, since
almost every: corner of the country had, been subjected to the tramp
and hammers of) geologists.,.. Yet, if we are| not greatly. mistaken,
pregeis geology of England-has still to be done, : It is ably sketched
Out; «portions of it have: been developed with skill.and ability ;*,, but
by nh the greater! part! will, yield)a luxuriant. harvest. of discovery
to,thos¢) able. and,-willing to.enter, upon the task., Compare. any
sheet of ‘the Ordnance map) of, England, after, it. has been. re-issued,
with, the geology laid. down upon it by. the Government.surveyors, with
any pre-existing geological, map. of the ‘district, and see there, what
ai amount,of fresh detail. has been educed, by the patient labour.and
unhurried. ‘explorations of those. geologists to whom, under. the. su-
perintendence of ‘Sir, Henry de: la-Beche, the work. is.due.,,. The
economical. value.-of geological. researches. depends mainly.on.such
works, The!/nearer we. come to. geologizing’ by square, miles or
leagues the.-more, interesting. will .be the, results, of. our. labours,

Ages, however, must elapse before we can hope to obtain’ similar re-

sults, from/all, countries of the earth. . And yet until we do, not even

the geology of Hngland, small though it, be, can fairly be.said tobe

completed ;, for not until/we have obtained a full.and minute, know-
ledge,.of comparative. geology, can we understand clearly one-half
the facts and. phenomena exhibited in the structure of any country,
however limited; inthe world.—Vide Westminster Review, July
1852, for further expansion of} this topic.

rn NAcove ’ * :

* The geognostical characters of the Old Red Sandstone, the so-called‘ De-
yonian or Caledonian ‘group,—of, the Greywacke or Silurian system,—of? the
Clay Slate or Cambrian system, are still under discussion in Hngland.— Editor,

aw fi

Dlaow

348).

Divisibility of Matter.

Many years ago; a curious calculation was made by, Dr
Thomson, to shew to what, degree matter could, be diyided,
and still be sensible to the eye, .,.He dissolved ,a grain. of
nitrate of lecal in 500,000, grains of water, and passed through
the solution ,a| current, of sulphuretted hydrogen, when the
whole liquid became, sensibly discoloured, ,. Now, a grain of
water may be regarded as being about equal to a drop of that
liquid, and a drop may be easily spread out so as to cover a
square inch of surfaee. But under an ordinary microscope,
the millionth of a square inch may be distinguished by the eye.
The water, therefore, could be divided into 500,000,000,000
parts. But.the lead in a grain of nitrate of lead weighs 0°62
grain ; an atom of lead accordingly cannot weigh more than
a0-o00- pou th of a grain, while the atom of sulphur; which
in: combination with the lead.rendered, it, visible, could not
weigh more than » SSI? that is the two, billionth Baha of
a grain.

But what isa billion, or rather, a ain acucaiiaan can. we
form of such a quantity ?. We may say that a billion is,a
million of millions, and. can easily. represent it thus :—
1,000,000,000,000.... But, a, schoolboy’s, calculation. will shew
how entirely the mind is :ncapable of conceiying such num-
bers. | If a person.were, able to count,at the rate of 200 in
a minute, and to work without intermission twelve hours in
the day, he would take to count.a billion 6,944,444 days, or
19,025 years 319 days.,, But, this may be nothing to the divi-
sion of matter... There are living creatures so minute, that
a hundred millions of them, might be, comprehended in the
space of a cubicinch. . But these creatures, until they are
lost to the sense of, sight,,aided, by the most powerful in-
struments, are seen to possess organs fitted, for collecting
their food, and even capturing their prey. . They are, there-
fore, supplied, with, organs, and these, organs consist. of tis-
sues nourished by circulating fluids, which circulating fluids
must consist of parts or atoms, if we please so to term them.
In reckoning the size of such. atoms, we must, speak not of

eS ee eh ie i:
DS ee ee —

es ee es

a ae

=

ee

at

ie. 52 eae
ag Pe ee ah

On the Detection of Fluorine. 349

billions, but perchance of billions of billions. And whatis a
billion of billions ?.The\ number is.a quadrillion, and can be

easily represented, thus: 1 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ;

and the same schoolboy’s calculation may bé-émployed to shew
‘that tocount a quadrillion atthe rate of 200 inthe minute, would
require all the inhabitants of the globe, supposing them to bea
‘thousand millions, to count incessantly for 19,025,875 years, or
for | more than’ 3000 ‘times’ the’ period ‘for ‘which the human
race sl been’ i supposed to be i in existence.—-Professor Low.

i Bi ag

‘On iwo New Processes for the detection of Fluorine when
nn accompanied by Silica ; and on the presence of Fluorine
in Granite, Trap, and other Igneous Rocks, and in the
. _ Ashes of Recent and Fossil Plants. By GEORGE’ Wit-
SON, M -D.* | :

Oth igeperat’ communications made to this Society ai to the
“British Association, TI have announced the results’of a series
of observations on the distribution of Fluorine throughout
the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. ‘To myself,
the least’ Satisfactory part of these investigations “has ‘been
‘the i inquiry into the présence of fluorine in plants, for T have
‘been more fréquently foiled than successful in my attempts —
to detect it in them. Others have not, appareritly, been
‘more successful: ' Daubeny was as’ unable ‘as Sprengel atian
‘earlier ‘period had been; to obtain evidence thatthe element
‘under notice is present in vegetable structures; and Willof
Giessen, the discoverer of fluorine in “plants, speaks only of
*é traces” of it having “been detected in ‘barley... Later 'ob-
“servers” ‘have’ not ‘spoken more confidently concerning: its
“‘wbuiidance i in vegetables’; and inthe many analyses: of the

‘ashes of plants which have ini) been signi it ‘sel-
‘dom; if ever, finds ‘a place.
“That oné cause of this apparent ‘apy of fluorine in vege-
tables, i is the small extent to which it occurs’ in-them is ‘cer-
‘tain ; ‘but I sone never dollbted — the chief reason be: it
9 <9" Read before the Royal Nociety of Hdinburgh, AprilI9, 152.0% o/
VOL. LIII. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. 2A

350 Dr George Wilson on the Detection of Fluorine

appeared to be so scanty a constituent of plants, was its
occurrence along with silica, which makes its! recognition
very difficult. I had given up, accordingly, all hopes of satis-
factorily demonstrating its wide distribution, till better pro-
eesses than are at present in use, were devised for its detec-
tion when aecompanied by silica. .

For the same reason I have thought it hitherto useless to
endeavour to trace back fluorine from the plants, animals,
natura] waters, and the more accessible strata which are the
main seats of life at the present day, to those earlier rocks
and geological formations which have furnished our soils,
and have contributed the chief soluble matters which are
found in the lakes, rivers, and seas of the globe.) The more
ancient rocks abound in silica, and, with our present’ pro-
cesses, the prospect of discovering fluorine in trap and simi-
lar siliceous masses, was not encouraging. A representation,
however, from Professor Jameson, as to the importance at-
taching to the detection of fluorine’in the most ancient rocks,
led me to reconsider the geological and mineralogical interest
which the mquiry possessed ; and within the last ‘six weeks
I have put in practice two methods of pohceiniciores > which I
shall now explain:

The processes at present i in use for the separation of fluo-
rine from silica, are in many respects satisfactory; but they
imply the rejection of glass apparatus, and the use of vessels
of platina, which, from their costliness, cannot be employed
of any considerable size, and, from their opacity, render the
observation of phenomena occurring within them’ impossible.
They are thus inadmissible for operations where large quan-
tities of materials must be dealt with : and to the impossibi-
lity of employing glass and porcelain vessels; must be largely
attributed the comparatively limited extent of our informa-
tion as to the distribution of fluorine. |

The following processes, which, in the’ meanwhile, are
offered) only as qualitative (although I hope to sueceéed_ in
rendering the second of them quantitative), may be carried
on inthe ordinary glass and porcelain vessels of the labora-
tory, and admit of everything visible being observed. They
are applicable toall siliceous compounds or mixtures contain-

when accompanied by Silica. 351.

ing fluorine, provided: it: be-present in: the form of a fluoride
which admits of: decomposition by oil of vitriol at its boiling
point. The first stage of the process consists, in both cases,
in heating the silicated fluoride in a flask along with strong
sulphuric acid,»so’as to occasion the evolution of the fluoride
of silicon, Si F,. This gas is conducted: by a bent tube into
water, where it deposits a portion of gelatinous:silica:; and
the liquid, after filtration (which, however, is ‘not essential),
is treated as follows :—

edn the first process, lL adopted one of Berzelius’ wells sete
aimethods for the isolation of silicon: . The filtered liquid was
neutralised. with. potass: and the resulting gelatinous preci-
pitate of fluoride of| silicon and potassium (2. Si. F, +3 KF),
after’ bemg, washed, was dried, and transferred to a: small
metallic: crucible, in which it was heated with potassium, so
as to separate and set free the silicon, and convert the whole
-of the: fluorine into fluoride of, potassium. This fluoride was
then» dissolved. out. by water, evaporated to dryness, and
‘treated in the ordinary way. with oil of vitriol, so-as to evolve
¢dydrofluoric acid, which,could be made to. record its evolu-
tion by the etching which its vapour occasioned ona plate of
waxed glass, with lines written on it through the wax.

.o) This process, is necessarily tedious, and is liable to several
objections... The. most jserious of these is. the impossibility
of -effecting the; complete. decomposition of the: fluoride: of
‘silicon, and potassium, by potassium, so as to liberate, the
whole of the ‘silicon;,.and the risk of the. latter undergoing

oxidation into silica during the washing of the ignited mass.

Accordingly, though this method gives good results, and has
enabled. me’ to detect fluorine in. coal, in which I-could, not
“previously detect’ more than, the) faintest. traces) of it, yetiit

_almost, unavoidably, necessitates. a loss of the element in

question, and is much inferior in simplicity and certainty to

-the process which I am about to describe.

«| Inthe second process, as in the first,| the sifineden ike asia
‘examination i is heated with, oil of : vitriol, so: as to. yield fluo-
_ride of silicon, which is conducted: into water. The resulting
solution, (with) or without; filtration) is, neutralised with; am-
-monia instead of;.potass,.and, then, evaporated. to’ dryness,

2Z2A2

8382 Dr George Wilson on the Detection of Fluorine

which has, the effect of rendering the silica produced, insoluble,
On, digesting water.on the residue, fluoride of ammoniumis
dissolved, and the solution requires only to be evaporated to
dryness and moistened with sulphuric acid to give off hydro-
fluoric acid, which readily etches, glass... The Pees the
ammonia, process are thus :—

Ist, Distillation of the substance with oil of nao, 80 as
to produce fluoride of silicon; Si F,.

2d,, Neutralisation, of the aqueous solution of the atlas
with ammonia in excess,,so as to produce fluoride of silicon
and ammonium, 2 Si F;+3NH,F.

3d,, Evaporation, of Has ab earth liquid 1 a dati d 80 as
to. separate silica, and render it,insoluble....

4th, Exhaustion. of the residue with water, and amie
to. dryness, so as to leave fluoride of ammonium.

5th, Moistening of the ammonio-fluoride with) oil of tac
so as to liberate, hydro-fluoric;acid, which will act upon glass,

I have tried this process with Aberdeen .and Peterhead
granite ; with three trap rocks from the neighbourhood of
Edinburgh, namely, basalt from Arthur Seat, greenstone
from Corstorphine Hill, and clinkstone from Blackford, Hill ;
with a; deposit from the boiler of the Atlantic steamer, Ca-
nada; with a fossil bone; with the ashes of. charcoal, of
barley-straw, and of hay ; and in all with such. success, that
the applicability of the process to the end proposed is certain,
The pieces of glass, etched by hydrofluoric acid evolved from
the substances. referred, to, which I lay upon. the table, are
not. selected successful specimens, but, represent the whole of
the trials made by the ammonia, process., .The etchings. on
the majority of them are as deep,as could be obtained from
pure fluorspar. and oil of vitriol; and, with, the experience
which I have now, acquired, I have no, doubt, that I shall,be
more, successful in succeeding trials. with vegetable ashes,
which, for reasons to be presently mentioned, require more
precautions than fragments of rock do.

The examination of a hard crystalline mineral, such, 2 as
granite or an unweathered trap, presents no difficulties. , It
must be reduced toa tolerably fine powder, and employed, in
considerable, quantity... A. little..sulphurous, acid, is, always

oe Baer

eS EL

hen aecompaniel By Silica O20 “B58

evolved during thé action of the il of vitriol; fron® the dust
which is gatheréd during:a protracted process of powdering 5
but’ the ‘presence of ‘this ‘acid 'in’ small quantity is of no im-
portance, and the powdering’ of the rock is the most siete
somé ‘part‘of the investigation.

It is otherwise with weathered granite and Has whieh
contain ‘chlorides and carbonates, and give’ off hydrochloric
and carbonic acids when treated with sulphuric acid: These
gaseous acids materially interfere’ with’ the’ processes de-
Scribed by the’ frothing’ which they occasion, and by their
tendency to sweep away the hydrofluoric: acid ‘which’ may
accompany them. ~'In my earlier trials, accordingly; T treated
the powdered pieces of rock with hydrochloric’ acid; and
washed them with water, then dried them, ‘and heated them
with oil of vitriol: The preliminary treatment, however,
risked, and, TI’ have no doubt; occasioned, the loss of the fluo-
ride S present in the mineral, which were soluble in water or
in ‘hydrochloric ‘acid, and latterly I abandoned this’ process.
T refér to it here only because it explains’eertain of the less
perfect’ etchings which are exhibited. ERR
Tn later trials; ‘a simpler and more satisfactory process has
been put in practice. The powdered rock has been added ‘to
oil of vitriol in’ the cold, in’ small quantities at’a time, so as

to prevent any great’ rise in’ temperature. ‘So 'long’as the
heat evolved is not considerable, there is no risk ‘of ‘fluorine

escaping, either as hydrofluoric acid or as fluoride of ‘silicon,

whilst any chlorides or carbonates present are decomposed,
and the hydrochloric or carbonic acids evolved ‘are carried.

away before their escape can interfere with the evolution of
fluorine. “When the oil of vitriol is‘afterwards ‘raised to its
boiling point, the fluoride of silicon’ is’ liberated; ‘and —
eeaiy attends its collection and identification. |
aig ashes of plarits’ aré’ somewhat’ less easily examined:
They almost invariably ‘contain charcoal, which occasions the
evolution of sulphurous’ acid with ‘hot oil of ‘vitriol. “Sul
phurous acids Howéver, does ‘tot very materially ‘interfere
with the detection of fluorine) as it’can be’expelled by heat:
ing the distillate before adding ammonia, which is the pro-
éé6sa’ T Have! Hitherté ‘generally followed.’ “It may ‘also>be

-

354 Dr George Wilson on the Detection of Fluorine

converted into sulphuric acid by the cautious addition of
nitric acid, and then its presence is quite immaterial. But
in several quite successful trials no steps were waitin to
separate the sulphurous acid.

The specimen laid upon the table, of glass wished ‘by fluorine
from barley-straw, will illustrate the applicability of the pro-
eess to plant-ashes largely charged with silica, and which
yielded with oil of vitriol, carbonic and hydrochlorie acid,
besides much sulphurous acid,

The glass etched by the fluorine of ‘charcoal-ashes is still
more deeply corroded, although they were subjected to no
preliminary process to remove the volatile acids which they
contained, or to set free or separate the sulphurous acid
which they yielded. .

In truth, the ammonia process has succeeded uk every
substance upon which I have tried it. The worst result has
been with the ashes of hay, but they had been washed with
water and hydrochloric acid to remove chlorides:and car-
bonates ; and, in former papers I have shewn: that. such
washings remove fluorides. Notwithstanding this, the evi-
dence of the presence of fluorine: in hay, afforded: by the
specimen, is such as has not hitherto (so far.as I am aware)
been afforded by any analyst, and the omission of the wash-
ings will, I have no doubt, yield a still more satisfactory
result on a repetition of the analysis. The same remark
applies to coal-ashes, by the fluorine of which I have only
one etching to shew. It is not a favourable: specimen; the
ashes were washed with a considerable volume of: hydrochlo-
ric acid and water; the product of distillation was tested by
the less perfect potassium-process; and the lines etched by
the hydrofluoric acid were drawn too fine. Experience has
taught my assistants that the wax should be spread thin, and
the lines through it be made with a broad point, if a distinet
etching is to be obtained. But, withal, the results with coal-
ashes are sufficiently marked. |

I have further tested the sufficiency of the ammonia pro-
cess in the following stringent way. A fossil bone from the
Himalayas, which I had already ascertained to contain a
fluoride, and which was full of crystals of carbonate of lime,

ag eee ne ee ee

when accompanied, by, Silica. 305

was reduced to powder, and mixed with powdered, glass so.as
to‘ add to: it excess of silica... It was then subjected.to the
ammonia, process, and has yielded an etching as deep, as, the
purest fluorspar could have given with oil, of vitriol.

» The result, is so marked, that I should) recommend the de-
liberate, addition,of , silica; to, bodies suspected.to.,contain
fluorine, as a, provision for permitting, such, substances to. be
analysed, in.glass\ vessels, in which the largest quantities;may
be subjected to examination without risk of missing, the ele-
ment in search, or permitting it, to escape. |

Five points;call,for further notice. :

,olst; Whenj a silicated, fluoride, as: I may, for, the. sake ,of
biaxity, eallit, is ‘distilled, with oil..of vitriol,,the whole, of
the fluoride of silicon comes away as gas, assoon.as the oil of
vitriol has reached its boiling-point. » It is not necessary, ac-
cordingly, to subject a body supposed to, contain: fluorine | to
any lengthened ebullition ; and, in the ease of plant-ashes;
itis desirable:to arrest the boiling as soon, as all the fluorine
has-been evolved, for protracted ebullition only occasions evo-
lution of sulphurous acid. Besides the ultimate glass-etching;
the escape of fluorine is rendered manifest by the appearance
of a white gelatinous body in the water, through which the
gas evolved) (Si F;): is passed; and by the production of.a

gelatinous, floeculent’ precipitate, when the solution of this

gasis neutralised with potass.» ‘The coal-ashes gave all those
results. |

» 2dpltappears exceedingly probable, that much of the silica
oceurring in the forms of quartz, chalcedony, opal, sinter and

the like, which is generally supposed to have been deposited
from aqueous or alkaline solution, has owed its origin to the

decomposition of fluoride of silicon by water, or has otherwise

been‘related to fluorine as its solvent or transferring agent.
This, or rather the less precise notion of fluorine conveying

silica, has been suggested by my friend Mr A. Bryson, and
by Dr H. Buchanan, E.I.C.S.

3d, The occurrence of fluorsparin drusy cavities in gréeen-
babdcoe, along with silica, as in the specimens obtained from
Bishopton, on the Clyde; the similar occurrence of apophyl-
lite in the cavities of trap ; the association of topaz, pycnite,

356 Dr George Wilson on the: Presence:of Fluorine

lepidolite; and most of the other compound. fluoridés, ‘with
granite, gneiss, and mica slate, will acquire additional signifi-
cance from the discovery that fluorine occurs in the ecks
which form their matrices. sibal Yes
4th, The presence of fluorine in plants is now rendered
doubly probable, as it may enter them alike in combination
with a metal such as potassium, sodium, or calcium, or) in
association with silica: Lod
5th, ‘The presence of fluorine in animals may now ‘Ke fully
accounted for ; as it not only enters their bodies in the water
they, drink, ‘Se is contained in the vegetable food, by which,
directly. or indirectly, the whole.animal kingdom is,sustained.
The prosecution of these views, however, will be + pe in
succeeding papers. : .

On the Presence of Fluorine in the Stems of Graminee, Equt-
_ setacee, and other Plants ; with some Observations on the
Sources from which Vegetables derive this element. ~By
GEORGE WILSON, M.D.* : L89-1k2UA

Table of Plants examined for, Fluorine... .The numbers represent
grains of ashes, eacept in the case of Tabasheer and Wood Pat
The blanks imply that the weght was not known.

o Has es Name of Plant.
in Grains,
200 Horsetail (Equisetum limosum), _. ; Distinct, etching.

Common bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea),
Charcoal (derived chiefly from oak, and to a

smaller extent from birch), ;
Coal, © :
Barley straw, . : : : : : eee
Hay (Ryegrass), ; ‘ : : ¢ tee
35 Equisetum variegatum, ; [ : » vo Paint icing.
19 —hyemale, > . é 5 i :
255 = palustre, . . : 3 , ote
Tussae grass (Daetylis pepspitosa), ,
99 Elymus arenarius, ;
495 Sugarcane (Saccharum oficinarum), -
1040 African teak, . : P ; , . fe:
Smilax latifolia, : , : No etching.

Common rosemary (Rosmarinus 6itiinatis);
235 Nepaul bamboo (Bambusa Nepalensis), : “Gp
Common Fern (Polypodium vulgare), . . : HON I, DLITY

* Read to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh; July 1852.3 to sat

vin the: Stems of Graminece, Hquisetacewy Ye. 357

(1587, EBieerMem,boirogmos. todto oft to . rf . No etching!
-Ai24Phalanis arundinacea. 7:0. s4oforccins : ol icra
240 Malacca cane, . es : : : : » aap
“2°50 Cocoa-nut: bel? ° 4 a : ID 9 MIT
127 Indian teak (Tectona grandis), SOMITR OMS Tanne
o°80,,Tabasheer,; 5). ; : p = Ss
“1680 Wood opal, . : Ltt cas

(On this' table the author remarked, that: the siliceous: stems’ which
Zo had found to abound most in fluorine, were exactly those which
contained .most,, silica; . In. particular, deep etchings, were | procured
from the Equisetacez (horsetails), and from the Graminez (grasses),
especially the common bamboo. The last was known to contain
silida in such ‘abundance that ‘it collected within ‘the joints in’ white
masses, néarly ‘pure; and had long, under the name of 'Tabasheer,
been;;an> object of interest.to natural, philosophers... The horsetails
were scarcely less remarkable, for the amount of silica contained in
their stems, which had led to the employment of one of them (Dutch
rush, Equisetum hyemale), in polishing wood and metals. The
African teak, which, like the bamboo, is known sometimes to secrete
sili¢a, was also found to contain fluorine, though much less largely
than the plants named ; whilst the strongly siliceous stems of barley
and ryegrass also yielded the element in marked quantity. © The
sugar-cane, however, gave less striking results than might have been
expected, and the same remark applied to the Malacca cane. Two
Specimens of silicified wood’ and one of Tabasheer gave no evidetice
of the presence of fluorine. So far, however, as the plants named in
the preceding Table, are concerned, the author does not wish it to
be inferred, from the negative results which are detailed, that ‘the
plants i in question are totally devoid of fluorine. With larget quan-
tities of their ashes, positive results would in all probability be ‘ob-
tained.

The author’s general conclusions were as follow :—1st, That
fluorine occurs in a large number of plants; 2d, That it occurs
in marked quantity in the siliceous stems of the Gramince and
Eiquisetacee ; 3d, That the quantity present is, in all cases very
small, for although exact quantitative results.were, not. obtained, it
is well known that a fraction of a grain of a fluoride will yield, with
oil of vitriol, a quantity of hydrofluoric acid ‘sufficient--to—etch’ glass
deeply, so that the proportion of fludrine present, even ‘inthe plant
ashes which contain it most abundantly, does not probably amount
to more than a fraction per cent. of their weight. “The proportion
of fluorine appears to be variable, for different specimens of the
same plant did not yield concordant results.

In this, however, there. is nothing, anomalous, for some Bamboos
yield. rishi cals largely, | whilst. others,are,found -to,.contain none.
It-seems-not—unlikely that—soluble_fluorides_ascending the siliceous
stem of a ‘plant, on their way to the seeds: or fruits in which they

358 On the Relation between the Height of Waves

finally,accumulate, may be arrested by the silica, and converted into
insoluble, fluosilicates (fluorides of silicon and of a metal); and a
Bamboo, for example, secreting Tabasheer, may effect this change
where one less rich in silica eannot determine it. ‘The slow or quick
drying of a stem may also affect the fixation of ‘fluorides im’ the
stems or trunks of plants. |

The sources, of the fluorine found in plants,may be edad sa as.
pre-eminently two,—(1.) Simple fluorides, such as that of calcium,
which are soluble in water, and through this medium are carried
into the tissues of plants; and (2.) Compounds of fluorides with
other salts, of which the most important is probably the combination
of phosphate of lime with fluoride of ‘calcium. This occurs in the
mineral kingdom in apatite and phosphorite, and, in the animal king-)
dom, in. bones, shells, and corals, as well as in blood, milk, and
other fluids, )

The recent discovery of the author’s communicated to the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, (page 49) has shewn that fluorides ‘are much
more widely distributed than is generally imagined, and that the trap
rocks near Edinburgh, and in the neighbourhood. ofthe Clyde, as
well as the granites of Aberdeenshire, and the ashes of coal contain
fluorides, so that the soils resulting from the disintegration of those
rocks cannot fail to possess fluorides also. All plants, accordingly,
may be expected to exhibit evidences of their presence, in the fol-
lowing portions of their tissues or fluids :—

1, In the ascending sap, simple fluorides.

2. In the descending sap, in association with the albuminous
vegetable principles, and in the seeds or fruits, in a similar state of
association, fluorides along with phosphates.

3. In the stems, especially when siliceous and hardened, fluorides
in combination with silica. The investigation is still in progress.

Observations on the Relation between the Height of Waves
and their Distance from the Windward Shore ; in a Letter
to Professor Jameson. By THOMAS STEVENSON, Esq.,
F.R.S.E., Civil Engineer. .

EDINBURGH, September 16, 1852.
DEAR Srir,—In designing a harbour or sea work, the en-
gineer, in order to avail himself of the advantage which is to
be derived from past experience, must endeavour, to the best
of his power, to institute a comparison between the given lo-
cality and some other which he supposes to be in pari casu.

Such a similarity, however, of locality and other physical

peculiarities is hardly, if ever attainable, and all that he can

and their Distance from the Windward Shore: 359

do in such circumstances is to select an existing work which
is as nearly as possible similarly exposed. Perhaps the most
important element in such a comparison is what may be
termed the. line of maximum exposure, or in other words,
the line of greatest ‘‘ fetch” or reach of open sea... This line
can. be measured from a chart, and in this manner the differ-
ence of exposure at the existing harbour and at the place where
the new one is to be built, may be ascertained, but the en-
gineer still does not know in what ratio the height of the
waves increases in relation to any given increase in the
line of maximum exposure.

~ As’ this inquiry is one of great importance in the practice
of marine engineering, and has not, so far as I know, been
in any way. investigated, I have, during the last two years,
been making occasional observations on the subject when
favourable circumstances occurred, and when my professional
avocations would permit me. The localities selected were a
small; fresh-water loch, the Frith of Forth, and the Moray
Frith.

These observations have been but limited in extent, and I
have thought it proper therefore to avail myself of your far-
spread Journal, in directing the attention of others to the
prosecution of this inquiry, which can be perfected only by
multiplied. trials: So far as my own observations have as
yet gone, the waves seem to increase in height most nearly
in the ratio of the square root of their distances from _ the
ere shore.—I remain, yours faithfully,

| THOMAS STEVENSON.
‘Professor JAMESON.

360 Robert Warrington, Esq.; on the

Additional Observations on:the Green: Teas of Commerce.
By RoBerRT WARRINGTON, Esq., F.C.

Since the publication of my last communication on this
subject, read before the Society, May 19, 1851,* a, series
of microscopical and chemical examinations have been pub-
lished in the Lancet of 9th August 1851, which have induced
me to institute some additional experiments, the results of
which may not be without interest to our readers, ‘particu-
larly, as they tend to remove a curious anomaly that has
lately arisen. In the series of examinations alluded to, it is
stated that several of the specimens of the green tea sub-'
mitted to investigation, were coloured with indigo mixed
with porcelain clay ; and this is followed by an examination of
some of the colouring materials themselves used at Canton for
this purpose, and which had been obtained from the Museum
at Kew Gardens.’ As I had stated} that, up to that period, no
sample in which indigo had been employed as an artificial
colouring agent for green teas had come under my notice,
I felt it incumbent on me to investigate the matter. For
this purpose I applied to Sir W. Hooker on the subject, and’
he allowed me in the handsomest manner to take from the
cases in the Museum, small portions of the materials for ex-
amination, and also favoured me with the loan of the manu-
script journal of Mr Berthold Seeman, by whom the speci~.
mens had been collected while at Canton, as naturalist of
H. M. Ship ‘ Herald,’ then on a survey in that quarter of
the globe. As these documents have been since published,
and as the subject opens some interesting particulars, I have
taken the liberty of appending his account in his own words.{

* This Communication is transfered to our Journal, vol. li., p. 240. [Zd.
Edin, Phil. Journ.) |

t Quart. Jour. Chem, Soc. iv,, p. 156.

t Hooker’s Journal of Botany, and Kew Garden Miscellany, No. 37, for.
January 1852. “ Inthe Manual of Scientific Inquiry, you ask, whether, in the
northern provinces of China, indigo or any other vegetable dye is used,in®
colouring green tea? Whether different processes of dying are pursued in the. |
north from those of the south I cannot say, but it is certain that around Canton,»
whence great quantities are annually exported, the green teavisodyed with!»

Green Teas of Commerce. jos! 361

Mr Seeman here distinctly states, that around Canton the
green tea is dyed with:Prussian: blue, turmeric, and gypsum;
that in the manufaeture he: inspected, ithe: dyes above men-
tioned were added; and he. gives their proportions. That
there was no “concealment or mysterious proceeding; that
one of the. great merchants conducted him over his own, and
also another manufactory, and that everything was conducted
openly, and exhibited with great civility. And yet, strange
to say, Mr Seeman appears to have been deceived notwith-
standing all this ; for on submitting these materials to the

Prussian blue; turmeric, and gypsum; all reduced into fine powder. || The pro<
cessis well described by Sir J. F. Davis (‘The Chinese,’ iii., 244), who, however,,
falls into the strange mistake of supposing the whole proceeding of colouring
to be an adulteration, and leaves his readers to infer that it is only occasionally

_ done in order to'meet the emergency of the demand, while it is now very well

known: that all the green tea of Canton has assumed that colour by ‘artificial
dying. . I had heard so much about tea, copper plates, picking of \the leayes,.
rolling them up with the fingers, boiling them in hot water, &c., that I became

anxious to see with my own eyes the process of manufacture, of which the

various books had given me such a confused idea, Oné of the great-merchants’
conducted'me notonly to his own butialso to another establishment, where the

preparation of the different. sorts was going forward. There was no conceal-
ment or mysterious proceeding, every thing was conducted openly, and exhibited

with the greatest civility ; indeed, from all I saw in the country, I am almost

inclined to conclude that either the Chinese have greatly altered, or their wish
to conceal ‘and mystify everything, of which so much has beat said, never ex-

isted, .
“The tea is brought to Canton cp aan ; after its arrival it is first. sub-

jected to cleaning. _Women and children are employed to. pick out the pieces

of twigs, seeds, and other impurities with which it happens to be intermixed.

The only sorts which may be called natural are those gathered at different

seasons ; the rest are prepared by artificial means.

“‘ Without entering into a description of all these processes, it may suffice to
take one as an example. A quantity of Bohea Saushung was thrown into a
spherical iron pan kept hot by means of a fire beneath. These leaves were
constantly stirred about until they became thoroughly heated, when the dyes
above mentioned were added, viz., to about twenty pounds of tea, one spoonful
of gypsum, one of turmeric, and two or even three of Prussian blue. The'leaves
instantly changed intoa bluish green, and having been stirred for a few minutes,
were taken out.’ They, of course, had shrivelled and assumed different shapes .
from the heat, The different. kinds were produced: by sifting. The small
longish leaves fell'through the first sieve and formed young Hyson, while those:
which’ had ‘a‘roundish eee ee fell ee last;,and constituted Choos»
cha or Gunpowder.”\0e12 o0) Doimog: pola

362 On the Distribution of

action of chemical tests, there could be no doubt that they
consisted of indigo of a very inferior quality, and leaving a very

large proportion of inorganie matter by calcination, and of

porcelain clay. It is also curious that the very-case selected
by Mr Seeman to illustrate the processes, is the conversion
by means of this facing or glaze, of a low quality of, black
tea (Bohea Saushung) valued at about 4d. to 6d. the pound,
into high quality green teas valued at from 1s. to 1s. 6d. the
pound ; but although Mr Seeman does not allow this to be
an adulteration, yet surely he cannot deny. that it isa fraud.

Another very good method which I have lately employed
of removing the colouring matter from the surface of. green
teas for the purpose of microscopical investigation, and one
attended with very little trouble, is to take a piece of cream
coloured wove paper, or paper free from blue: colouring ma-
terial, and having breathed on its surface or rendered it
slightly damp, to pour the sample of tea under examination
from the containing paper or vessel upon it. On then re-
moving it back again a quantity of the facing powder will be
found adhering to the surface of the paper; and on placing
it under the microscope it will be found studded with the
colouring materials used, and the blue particles can be sub-
jected to the action of chemical tests with the greatest ease,

by placing a minute drop of the reagent on the granules with ”

the end of a small stirring rod or slip of glass, and noting the
effect.—(The Quarterly Journal of the. Chemical. Society,
Vol. v., No. 18, July 1852, p. 139.)

On the Distribution of Granite Blocks from Ben Cruachan.
By WiuuiAM Hopkins, Esq., F.R.S., President of the
Geological Society.

Mr W. Hopkins exhibited at the Meeting of the Bri-
tish Association at Ipswich, in 1851, a map of the ‘lochs
and mountains around Ben Cruachan, with the distribu-
tion of the trains of granite blocks, to which he had
alluded last year at the Edinburgh meeting. He had for-

Granite Blocks from Ben Cruachan. 363

merly been unable to explain by what means the granite
blocks, supposed to have been derived from Ben Cruachan,
had crossed the mountain group between Loch Fyne and Loch
Lomond, so as to gain access to the latter, and form a stream
extending to the Clyde and Glasgow. Since then, he had
discovered, inthis very mountain group, a granitic tract, not
marked on the geological maps, in the immediate vicinity of
Loch Sloy, at a height from 1500 to 2000 feet, and agreeing
in mineral character with these travelled blocks, which may
therefore have descended Loch Long and Loch Lomond, with
the same facility that the granite blocks of Ben Cruachan
have entered Loch Awe, and those of Loch Etive have
reached Oban and Kerrara. They are dispersed along the
sides of the valleys, to the height of 300 or 400 feet. Mr

-Hopkins then referred to the possible causes of the disper-

sion of the granite blocks ;—if by ocean currents, then the
country must have been depressed nearly 2000 feet, as Wales —
is believed to have been about the same period ; if transport-
ed by floating ice, independently of glaciers, then also the
country must have had a lower level: terrestrial glaciers
may also have been agents, if their existence was allowed.
The character of the blocks,—being at first large and angu-
lar, but: becoming smaller and more rounded,—was opposed
to’ the supposition that floating ice or terrestrial glaciers
were the principal agents in their removal. If floating ice
had been the cause, then the sphere of dispersion would
probably, also, have been much greater.. In Glen’ Wray he
had observed indications of what he had considered true mo-
raines. He was inclined to believe that more than one of
these causes had been in operation in the dispersion of these
blocks from their respective centres.

On Fish Destroyed by Sulphuretted Hydrogen in the Bay of
Callao... By Dr. J. L. Burtt, U.S.N. (Proc. Acad. Nat.
Sei. Philad., vi. 1.)

_ One occurrence always. excited much interest, whenever

there was an evolution of sulphohydric acid gas (a frequent

occurrence) from the bottom of the bay of Callao. The first

364 M. Melloni.on Dew.

premonition of what was to produce a remarkable destruc-
tion among fish, was the discoloration of, the water of. the
bay, from a marine green to a dirty milk-white hue, followed
by a decided: odour of the gas; so much of it being present
on many occasions as directly to blacken a, clean piece of
silver, and to blacken paint-work in a few hours.,

The fish, during this evolution, rose in vast numbers fr om
the bottom, and ahs struggling for some time in conyul-
sions upon the surface, died.

I was particularly. struck by this fact, that all of them,
during the time they were under its influence, acted i in pre-
feats the same manner. The first thing noticeable with
regard to its effect upon them was, that on coming . near the
surface, they seemed to have much difficulty in remaining
below it at all. They then rose completely to the surface,
struggling vainly to dive beneath. This was followed by a
violent springing and darting in various directions,—evident-
ly without control of direction—for they moved sideways, or
upon the back, and sometimes tail first, with great velocity.
After a little time their motion became circular, and upon
the back, the circle of gyration constantly diminishing, and
the rapidity of the motion as constantly increasing, until
there was a sudden cessation of all motion. The head then
floated above the surface, the body being in a perpendicular
position. A few convulsive movements shortly followed, and
they were dead.

I have watched thousands of them so dying, and in ey ery
instance such was the mode of death. Having taken them
at the moment of death, and immediately after, a rude exa-
mination shewed in all the same appearance. The intestines
and brain were gorged with blood, much darker than natural.
The gills were almost black, and the air- -bladder ruptured.

M. Melloni on Dew.

Dew is not.an immediate effect, of the cooling produced, by
the nocturnal, radiation of vegetables on the vapour of. the
atmosphere, as. most, treatises on physics, and. meteorology

Metin ae Dou. “8B

‘assume, but the ‘yesult of a series of actions and reac-
_tions between the cold due to the radiation of plants, and
- the cold transmitted to the surrounding air, The grass

: is. cooled but little below the temperature of the air, but

it Very quickly communicates to it a portion of the ac-

uired cold; ‘and since the difference of temperature be-
“tween | the radiating body and the surrounding medium is in-
“dependent of the absolute value of the prevailing temperature,

the grass surrounded by a colder air still further lowers its

‘temperature, and communicates a newdegree of cold to the air,
‘ which reacts, in its turn, on the grass, and compels it to ac-
“quire a temperature still lower, and so on in succession.
_Meanwhile the medium loses its state of equilibrium, and

acquires a sort of vertical circulation, in consequence of the
descending motion of the portions condensed by the cold of

“the upper foliage, and the ascending motion of the portions
which have touched the surface of the earth, Now, the gra-

dual cooling and the contact of the soil evidently tend to
augment the humidity of the stratum of air, and thus bring

Ags by degrees towards the point of saturation, Then the
feeble degree of cold produced directly by the radiation of

bodies, suffices to condense the vapour contained in the air

which surrounds them; and since the causes which give
; rise to the circulating movement, and to the humidity of the

air, continue through the whole of the night, the quantity. of
water deposited on the leaves increases indefinitely.

__ The greatest part of the nocturnal cooling is due to the
development of the leaves, which presents to the sky an. im-
mense number of thin bodies having large surfaces, and
almost completely isolated; this is the reason why the dews
are so feeble in winter, and less copious in the nights of the
early parts of spring, than in the equally long nights of au-
tumn. Dew is also more abundant in autumn, because the
days being then warmer than in spring, and the vapour in-
creasing more rapidly than the temperature, the same degree
of cold (such as the invariable depression of the temperature

vf plants below’ that of the atmosphere) condenses a greater
4 quantity of vapour: The’ slightest breath of ‘wind ‘disturbs
‘the circulation ‘of the lower atmospheric¢ stratim, and neéces-

VOL. LILI. NO. CVI.—OCTOBER 1852. 2B

366 M., Melloni on Dew.,

sarily diminishes the accumulation of dew. | A strong wind

impedes, its formation, by bringing fresh supplies of heat,

and, especially by renewing) incessantly, the stratum, of, air

comprised between the summit of the plants and the surface

of the earth, and thus taking away from it the, possibility of,
gradually acquiring that high degree of humidity;necessary..
to the precipitation of the vapour, by reason of the small de-

gree of cold which the plants contract with regard to the sur-

rounding medium.

The differences of the, quantity of dew on different. sub-
stances all arise, either from their. difference, of emissive
power,.or from the diversity, of their situation with regard. to
the heavenly vault, or from the hygrometric condition of the
Surrounding space, or from the greater or less, obstacles
which retard the descent of the air, and thus more or less
favour its frigorific reaction ; or, lastly, from the proximity
of the soil, which permits the return of the air on. the ra-
diating substances, and gives rise to that aérial circulation,
whence result the gradual cooling and successive augmenta-
tion of humidity in the lower stratum of the atmosphere.

Distribution of Dew in diferent Regions.

To complete the study of our subject, it now only remains
for us to examine the intensity of the nocturnal radiation, and
the distribution of dew in the different regions of the globe.

Many observations have been made to determine the diur-
nal temperature in different parts of the world, but very few
with the object of determining the nocturnal heat; so that
we are almost| entirely ignorant as to what are the true pro-
portions between the temperatures of day and night in dif-
ferent latitudes and. seasons of the year. .In accordance,
however, with the preceding remarks, it is seen that in calm
and clear seasons, the difference between the temperature of
the day and of the night ought to be so much the greater, as
the yegetation is richer and the night longer; and we have.
already, observed, that in the nights of the, early part of
spring, vegetation being but little developed, the tempe=
rature is.less lowered than in the latter part of autumn,
when the plants still preserve a part of their foliage. We,

M» Melloni on Dew: 367

shall now add, that in these’ countries where the foliage’ is
generally narrow and vertical, like that of New Holland, the
nocturnal temperature ought to be less diminished; relative
to the diurnal temperature, than in places of the same lati-
tude covered with plants analogous to those which oe in
other BoaHttes:

Copiousness of Dew in. Tropical. Countries.

But, laying aside everything depending on the alternations
of the seasons in our temperate climates, and on the differ-
ences of vegetation in countries situated under the same la-
titude; it’ is easy to convince ourselves, that the greatest
difference between the temperature of the day and that of
the night will occur under the torrid zone, and that there also
the dews will, in general, be more abundant than in any
other part of the globe. In fact, in cold and temperate coun-
tries, the two principal elements of nocturnal radiation pro-
ceed (so to speak) in opposite directions ;. since the night is
long: when the earth is destitute of vegetation, and short when
the plants are richly clothed with foliage. But under the
equator, vegetation never fails, the night is always long, and
almost entirely without twilight ; and in the neighbouring
countries forming the torrid zone, properly so called, when the
night time slightly exceeds the period of daylight, the rain falls
in torrents, and plants are more richly clothed with leaves
than at any other season of the year. The greatest difference,
then, between the temperature of the days and that of calm
and clear nights will occur in the ‘equatorial regions, a short
time after the rainy season; and as there will then: prevail
in the atmosphere a high degree of humidity, the dew itself
also''will’be very abundant at this’ season. On ‘the other
hand, ‘since’ the ‘torrid ‘zone’ possesses ‘the highest known
atmospheric ‘temperature, the nocturnal cooling ought to
precipitate there a larger quantity of water than in any other
country, by reason of the divergence above mentioned between
the progression of the vapour and ‘that of the temperature.
Infact; the dews are so copious in the equatorial regions,
that’ M. de’ Humboldt’ does not ‘hesitate i compare ‘their
effect with those°of rain itself.

2B2

368 AG Ballone ce Dew

: i
' Monte ht
j

Want of Dew in Polynesia. "

A. curious fact, and one not. much known, which seems at

first. sight, to contradict, what we haye been saying, is ‘the
extreme feebleness, -or, the absolute non-existence of dew i in
that extensive assemblage of smal] islands in the torrid z zone,
generally fertile, and more or less rich in plants, which feo-
| graphers denominate Polynesia.
But, with a little attention, it will soon be seen ‘that this
: apparent anomaly affords one of the most striking. confirma-
tions of the truth of the theoretical views. unfolded _ in the
course of this memoir. In . fact, whatever may be ‘the ‘hue
midity of these small islands, scattered here and ‘there in ‘the
vast ocean like oases.in a desert, and their tendency ‘to. the
cooling produced by the long nights and luxuriant -yegeta-
tion, Aa small extent of their territories renders the. atmo-
spheric, column superincumbent on each of them easily per-
meable even to its centre by the air of the surrounding sea.
This invasion is, moreover, favoured — by the trade-winds
which, prevail constantly, in, those, latitudes.....Now we know
that the air in the midst of vast seas preserves a nearly
uniform temperature. The stratum of air cooled by, the
contact of the soil will then be warmed by mixing with the
air, which is constantly reaching it from the sea, and the
difference between the temperatures of the day and night
being extremely small, dew can scarcely be formed at alll, Or,
at any rate, in very slight quantity.

TT

Want of Dew on Ships traversing the vast solitudes' of the Ocean.

Perfectly analogous causes prevent the formation of dew
on ships which traverse the vast solitudes of the ocean. “But,
what is truly singular, is the appearance of the phenomenon
on board these same ships on arriving afterwards in the
neighbourhood of terra firma. ‘Thus the navigators who
proceed from the Straits of Sunda to the Coromandel Coast,
know that they are near the end of their voyage when they
perceive the ropes, sails, and other objects, placed | on the
deck, become moistened with dew during the night (Le. Gentil,

M. Melloni on Dew. 369
- yi VO $04. 2), \y Tete

Voyages, tome i., page 625.) The reason of this strange
phenomenon will readily, be. seen,. if. we start from the fact
et mestablishod be experience), that, in = <cone

é.

be sett removed from eee! point’ of saturation | and that

vs OR DIIO?T or!
the reverse is the case with regard to the air. on arn which,
= 8) 9 ro

‘in the day time, is drier than the air of tlie Bea, but which,
in. t the night, may readily acquire, in countries sufficiently

“abounding i in, water, or near enough to the coast, a much
> Ti* TH

greater ] humidity, in consequence of the frigorifie : actions ‘and

“reactions of which we have before spoken. Now, the land

wind, which. always, blows by night on the borders of tropical
‘countries, when 4 the ky i 18 clear, transports this humid | air

“to a certain distance out at sea. Then, the feeble degree

Bi979"

‘of. cold. ‘acquired by substances ‘freely exposed on the ‘deck,
~Onnihe Ont
totally unable, as it is, to condense the vapour of the sea

om fave

atmosphere, 1S nevertheless sufficient to precipitate that of

-894

ehehE has been i in nocturnal contact with the soil.

ra]

A

2 Détv becomes More abundant as we eipprodel thé Eyuator:
yi Ti ore

gg ga that dew, feeble or non- existent towards the
“poles, by reason of the extreme brevity of the summer nights,

iw nay

be comes | more ‘and more abundant as we approach ‘the

svat £

, equat of: ‘that, notwithstanding the general course ‘of, the

DAK

“Phenomenon i is very much modified by the extent, the nature,
‘and the position of the land, according as it is ‘more “or less
surrounded by the sea, more or less covered by mountains,
asia lakes,, meadows,.marshes,.or running streams... The
borders of Egypt, of the Red Sea, of the Persian Gulf, of
Chili, and of Bengal, are celebrated for the richness of their
age the Voyages. de ‘Volney, t , iy p p BL: of Burck-
hardt, p. 423; of Niebuhr, p. LUiiot Ker Porter: il., p. 193 ;
“of Le. Gentil, t. i, p- 624 ; of ‘Buppel, Ps 186) ; the deserts

YO ira
athe en tral Africa, and the interior. Provinges of, Bahia ; of
wi is ope Oy
fy mboue, Urmia, and, Mazandecan, in. Brazil and Persia,

>VOYV WOm>

almost total absence, of this ‘nocturnal phenomenon.

th e alr

Vayages of. Spear and Martius, m Bie p- 624 ; 20k: Oliver, in

ii"

ersid, t. 1., pp. 123, 145; of Ker Porter, t. il. , pp: 63, 69.)

of
da:

370 M..Melloni.on\ Dew.

HIG

nil ; : : . Loy ry AOIKRA I (y
Presence,of Dew makes known the proximity. of , Masses. of .Water

: concealed from the Eye, at ie
The appearance of dew may’ serve, in’ certain -cases, to
make known the proximity of ‘a mass of ‘water ‘concealed
from the eye of the observer. Thus the dew, which is almost
completely wanting in certain steril valleys traversed by
the Euphrates, becomes of sufficient intensity to form visible
drops of water, whilst at a distance of some miles from the
borders of this river, concealed by the land (Oliver.,t. 11.,.p.
225)..And Major Denham says, that independently of the
suffocating heat, and of| the, intense cold, that, he) endured
during the night in his memorable journey across the, Sahara;
he also suffered from the extreme dryness, of, the air,;until
he reached. a certain distance from Ischad, |where, though
there was not the slightest appearance of water on any, part
of, the horizon, ‘the dews began, to, appear, feeble at first,
then more and more copious, and so abundant. on arriving
near the banks of this great, African, lake, that, the, clothes of
those persons who remained sometime outside the tents. were
completely, soaked with it.—(Denham, Narrative, p.A49.)...

Intense Cold during, the Night in the Great Desert.

With regard to the intense cold experienced by this in-
trepid traveller, Denham, during the night in the Desert, it, is
occasioned (in my opinion), neither by the extreme clearness
of the sky, nor by an excess of cutaneous perspiration, but
from the great, nocturnal calm of this desolate region, which
allows, the soil to;act strongly on the air, and to. receive with
equal force the reaction of that fluid., Observe, first, that a dry,
flat, monotonous, horizontal, and uniformly extended, country,
like this immense plain of Northern Africa, so well charac-

terised| by! the Arabs under jthe mame. of, the Sea without.

water (Ei baar billa mda), presents no cause capable of dis-
turbing, during the night, the equilibrium, of the air; so,that
this must remain in a state of almost absolute rest. some time
after the setting of the sun. The soil. of the Desert being,
moreover, composed of dry, sandy earths, of bad conducting
quality, can receive from the interior but a very poor com-

NE ne tS ee

M. Melloni on Dew. 37 1

pensation in exchange for the heat it has lost. The solid
body radiating by night towards space, and the surrounding
medium, will therefore be unmoving and isolated, and thus
be in-highly. favourable, conditions.for reacting, with energy
6n/each other, and considerably lowering their temperature.

id boevovesArtifcial Freezing of Water, m Bengal. |

* Another phenomenon resulting from: the combinatiom of
the two frigorific actions, successively excited in: the radiat-
ing body, and the medium which:envelopes it, is the congela-
tion of water,°produced artificially’ in’ Bengal, during the
calm and clear nights. “It would’ be superfluous: to repeat
here ‘the ‘details’ ‘relative to this process, a ‘description: of
which ‘may be found in all treatises on physics. It will be
sufficient to call to mind, ‘that the vessels; very shallow and
uncovered, containing the liquid to be frozen, are placed at
the bottom of certain excavations made in the'soil, and sur-
rounded by a border of earth, four or five inches in height ;
that the water, whose emissive power is nearly equal ‘to that
of the leaves of plants, and of lamp black, does not descend
even two degrees lower than a covered thermometer placed
by its side, and that frequently the ice is formed when the
thermometer, elevated four or five feet, marks 5° or 6° above
zero; which leads to the immediate inference, that the water
lowers gradually its temperature down to the zero of the
thermometric scale (centigrade), by means of a series of ac-
tions and reactions, perfectly similar to those’ which’ pro-
duce, under the same circumstances of calm and clearness of
sky, the nocturnal cooling of any other radiating matter ‘ex-
posed to the free air, and the decrease of the’ atmospheric-
temperature, in proportion as we approach the earth’s surface.

‘It is in consequence of these same frigorifie actions that
the buds of plants, and the shallow waters of ditches-and
ponds, scattered here and there over the country; often freeze
during the calm and clear nights of spring, whilst’ the ther-
mometer° marks several degrees higher than ‘the freezing
point.—(Hetracted from Melloni’s Memoir on. Dew:—Richard
Laylor's, Esg., FSUAL Se. Scientific Memoirs, V olov., Part
xx! April/1852, p. 543.) tify

ely, f *) ld

en ORMNGTH acre eae i

We. regr et to.announce the death of a aie BP highly
accomplished naturalist, William Maegillvray,: Professor ‘of
Civil and: Natural--History,..Marischal\\College, » Aberdeen.
Dr Macgillvray, originally,-we: believe; from: the! Island of
Harris, was for many years assistant to Professor J: ameson,
‘in ‘the’ University of Edinburgh, He Was “aftérwards: ap-
pointed Conservator of the Anatomical and Surgical Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, This office
he resigned on being appointed to the Chair of Civil History
and. Natural, History in; MarischalCollege, Aberdeen. . He
lectured for: many) years. with great, success: td enthtsiastic
classes of students, and increased the intérest’and utility of
his excellent academic prelections by field lectures and ex-
cursions. His extensive acquaintance with all the branches
of natural history, and his eminent talent as a writer, occa-
sioned great demands on his time’; and it is well:known‘that
considerable and important works connected with natural
history owe their chief value and charm to his learning and
genius,

Ornithology, botany, and geology, were ith hin Brunke
pursuits: His great and beautiful work, entitled “A History
of British Birds: Indigenous and Migratory,” &e., in’ ‘five
yolumes octavo, with numerous characteristic engraved illus-
trations from. his own. beautiful, drawings,..is universally
known and esteemed. He translated several’ volumes.on
Botany ; but published no original work in that department
of Natural History. In Geology, however, he contributed in-
teresting memoirs to scientific societies, and to ‘scientific
journals of the day ; and published a manual of that popular
science, which, although incomplete, is on a. better, plan
than that adopted in some similar works of greater pre-
tensions.

- :
i IA ALB a

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

METEOROLOGY. | to dormiw

1. Meteorological Society at the Mauritius.—It, is, pleasing to
learn that a Meteorological Society has, been formed last; summer at

Scientific Intelligence-Meteorology—Geology. 373

the Mauritius under the auspices of the Government, which, from
the names of its Councillors, and the very good regulations which it
has:issued,* promises. to ‘obtain much novel information from ‘that
ag andthe surrounding ocean:

SQ EGreat Fall of Ramin India.—Professor Oldham, ‘in writing
ito Sir: BR! I) Murchison from, Churra Poonjeesii in the Kihasspay Hills,
sare of | Caloutta, states that;therain-fall is there,about 600 inches,

83 fathoms, per.annum ; 550 inches-ef which descend: in the six
rainy months commencing in May ; ; and that in one day he measured

a fall of 25° 5 inches.

e, Po aasial Amount of Rain at Alewandria. “The neraal amount
ap rain at Alexandria stands in contrast. to that mentioned-as occtr--
3 ing i in'sonié places in’India ;'the'quantity at the formér’ being only
Pkanches.ic This- quantity; indeed}*might:be expected to beismall,

»from;jour {knowledge of the fact,.that, three or; four, degrees, to. the
south, the country is nearly rainless...

or ce GEOLOGY.
=BIOO
jsdta SF nksikenon off Rocks, by means, of | the AGoraneoee. fo Many
[Years ago; we |strongly recommended. the use ofthe microscope. in
, examining the structure of rocks, especially of quariz rock and sand-
stone ; also of compact rocks, as basalt ‘and clinkstone. Very lately
this important subject has engaged the attention of Naturalists,-as
sisishewn by the circumstance’ that, at the’ meeting of ‘the British
_ Assoéiation jin|the year, 1851, at, Ipswich, a-memoir was; read.on
_linology ; and.that,.at/the meeting of the British Association in
the. present year at. Belfast, the examination of rocks by means of
‘the’ microscope was BC and illustrated in’ a very interesting
Uniiinner: by several of the more distinguished ‘members of’ the’ Ac-
‘sociation...’ We' trust that‘ere long the results:of these examinations,
; which so.deeply; excited the. curiosity, and attention of the FSSARE®,
; will be. laid before the public.

99)),0.;-On the Relate Conducting Power of Rocks. for rate hie
i G. Be Helmersen, in a setof pean a on the relative conducting

wig

16. Ler itary "Coad in India.—In the Sylhit district in Bengal there
is a deposit of tertiary nummilitic limestone connected with a deposit
of coal and ironstone. _The coal is called by the reporter true coal.
What is meant by true coal ? Geologists enumerate three sets of
coal, viz., anthracite or glance coal, black coal, and brown coal. To
which of heen are we towefer the true coal ?

o7eHaamination: of Soils by the Microscope:_—The microscopic
te examination, by Ehrenberg, of the black earth or soil (Schwarzerde)

374 Scientific Intelligence—Geology.

of Tachernosem in Russia, remarkable for its fertility, and which
covers 60,000 geographical square miles of country to a'depth from
halfa yard to two yards and a half, is'a fine exampleé'of the utilit
of microscopic ‘examination of soils. This black’ earth was’ proved
by this examination to be a fresh-water deposit, and’ that probably
its extraordinary fertility was in some degree connected with ‘its
abundance of microscopic fossil animals and plants, and their ré-
mains.

8. Rock Salt of the Punjaub i in India.—Dr. Andrew Fleming,
in the medical service of the Hon, East India Company, has ascer-
tained the geological position of the salt in the North Punjaub to be
below the carboniferous limestone, in the form of,a bed or beds, . Geo-
logists consider this geological dudcovery as one of great importance,

9. M. Elie de Beaumont, in his first memoir, read to the Frbidh
Academy in June 1829, on Mountain Systems in Europe, inditated:
four systems ;, soon after he indicated nine, then twelve, and laterally:
twenty-one. He now considers it probable. that before long, if the
study of this department of geology is continued, that the number
of systems will be above a hundred.

10. Survey of the suppositious Submarine Bridge of the Nor-
wegians.—The survey of the so-called long “sea-bridge”’ (Havbroe),
which was supposed to range along the coast of Norway, is finished,
and shews that the Jutland bank stretches west and north to about
61°, but is separated from the Norwegian bank by a channel nearly
200 fathoms deep ; that the fishing grounds between Stal and Chris-
tiansand are not so distant from the coast as was supposed, and are
completely separated from the Jutland bank; and hence the tradi-
tion of the existence of a continuous submarine bridge between the
coast of Norway and the Continent is a fable. These banks prove
to be, in fact, as every geologist would @ priori suppose, the repre-
sentations, under the sea, of the detached ‘‘Osar” of the Swedes;
and the Skyergaarden of the Norwegians, as seen in the water-
worn gravel ridges of the present continent of Scandinavia.—(Ad-
dress at the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society,
24th May 1852. By Sir R. I. Murchison, p. 42.)

11. On the Pterodactyles of the Chalk Formation.—Mx Bower-
bank, at, the meeting of the British Association at Ipswich, in 1851,

exhibited drawings and restorations of remains of these winged rep-

tiles, shewing that the great species of the chalk (P. Cuvieri) must
have had a spread of wing equal to 16 feet 6 inches ; whilst a second
large species (R. compressorostris) was estimated at 15 feet. .,The
largest species from the lias, previously well known, the P. macronia
of Buckland, was_ only computed at. 4 feet 7 inches from..tip to EP
of its expanded wings,

12. On the Remains of a Gigantic Bird from the London cig

ee a a

Scientific Intelligence—Geology: 375

of Sheppey., By.J. S. Bowerbank, F.R.S.—The specimen: described
is a‘fragment of one, of the bones of the extremities: It‘is 4 inches
long, and. l, inch in, dianreter .at/ the longer \end, and is! somewhat
three-sided with rounded angles. .) The thickness of its walls:is' from
3 of a,line to; 14, line\;, its microscopic structure exhibits the charae-
teristic bonercells of animals of the,bird tribe,: The specimen indi-
cates, the, bird to. have been: at least the size of a full-grown albatross:
—(British Association Report for 1851.)

13. Map of Switzerland.—In speaking of the progress, which
has been made in the topographical survey of Switzerland, I would
specially direct your attention to four sheets of the cantons of, Ap-
penzell and St Gallen, which M. Ziegler of Winterthur, who has
drawn and executed hank” has just presented to us. , They form part
of a survey on the same large scale of 23 inches'to a mile, or 353,55;
which is also in:the course of application to the cantons of ‘Zurich
and Schaffhausen. To give full effect to these four sheets only; M.
Ziegler passed six consecutive summers in the mountains and valleys
of ‘St Gallen and Appenzell, the geometrical measurements of which
had been made under the direction of M. Eschmann. The inspeec-
tion of the results wili, I am sure, lead any of you who have ' studied
map-making to agree with me, that they are examples of a, fidelity
to nature which has rarely been attained. M. Ziegler soon found
(M. Leopold yon Buch and M. Escher von der Linth being, his
counsellors) that every class of rock has a peculiar ‘ facies,” and
hence he became convinced, that no really good topography, can be
made by suryeyors who neglect geological data. Thus, in these
sheets, the eye of a geologist at once seizes the rugged escarpment, of
slaty rocks, the undulations of limestone, or the bosses of conglomerate
or nagelflue ; ; whilst, from. personal inspection of a portion of, the
difficult region here represented, I can tr uly say, that I never, yet
saw a map more completely ready to receive the colours of a field
geologist. The lights are all thrown in perpendicularly, so that. the
defects of the maps of Geneva and Vaud, as proceeding from oblique
shading, are avoided, and the altitude of each terrace, valley, or mountain
top, is inserted in numbers on a most exquisitely finished lithographic
relief. Jam authorised by M. Ziegler to say, that, if the large scale of
2.8, inches to a mile had not been determined upon, he could have
délineated as effectually all the same features on a scale of about 1
inch to a mile. In these works we perceive at a glance the value of
good hill-shading; and when the map of the magnificent mountain
of ‘Sentis, which stands out to the low countries of Germany as the
great sentinel of the Swiss Alps, is forwarded to us, you will see in
it how perfectly such a work may supersede the want of any model
whatever.

‘The largest part of the cantons of the Grisons and of Tessin has
been surveyed ; but detailed maps of this mountainous region are
still wanting, as well as those of large. portions of Berne, which are

376 Sei entific In telligence—Geology.

constructing on the scale of the general Swiss map directed by
General Dufour, or 5%4~ inch'to the milé.'' It“is‘mtich’ to be regretted
that the scale of thése Swiss'‘maps varies in differ ent catitons,”” Tn
the meantime, we are much indebted to M. Ziegler fora small; “use-
ful, general map of Switzerland, which he has published, and which
will, I. am, assured, be soon, coloured geologically by Professor Studer
of Berne, whose acquaintance with the structure of. the Swiss Alps
is. more extensive.than that of any other living geologist, —(Address
at the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, 24th
May 1852, by Six R. I, Murchison, p., 45.)

14, Salt Lake, of Utah—While engaged upon this. duty, ie fre-
quently enjoyed the luxury of bathing in the water of the lake. ‘No
one, without witnessing it, can form any i idea of the buoyant, proper-
‘ties of this singular water. A\ man may, float, stretched at full
length, upon, his. back, having his head and neck, both his legs tothe
knee, and both arms to the, elbow, entirely out ie the water, ian a
sitting, position be, assumed, with the arms extended to preserve the
equilibrum, the shoulders ite remain above the surface. The water
is nevertheless extremely difficult to swim in, on account, ‘of the ton-
stant, tendency of the lower extremities to rise above it. The brine,
too, is so. strong that the least particle of it getting into the eyes
produces the most acute pain; and if accidentally swallowed, rapid
strangulation must ensue. I doubt whether the most expert swimmer
could. long preserve himself. from. drown ning, if’ exposed “t to the action
of a. rough sea.

Upon one occasion a man of our party fell overboard into the’ lake,
and, although a good swimmer, the sudden immersion caused him to
take in-come monttruta of water before rising to the surface, The

‘effect_was a violent paroxysm of strangling and vomiting, and the man
was unfit for duty Ho a day or two afterwards. He wold Rave in-
Atien Sn yhety it is necessary to. wash the skin’ with fr esh wate}! So
prevent the deposit of salt arising from evaporation of the bri ine, "Yet
a bath in this water is delightfully refreshing and invigorating. i

The analysis. of this water by Dr Gale, has shewn that it’ contains
rather more than 20 per cent. of pure ghloride of sodium, and not
more than 2 per cent. of other salts, forming “* one of the purest and
most concentrated brines known in the world.” Its specific gravity
was 1°17, but this will slightly vary, with the seasons, being doubt-
less affected by immense floods of fresh water which come rushing
down into it from the mountains, in the spring,’ caused by the melt-
ing of the snows in the gorges. —(Stansburg's Kapedition to ithe

Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah, p. 212.)

15, Suggestion that all Africa has a grand Basin- like Asie
ment.—Sir R. T.Murchison, in “his Address at, the” Anniversary
Meeting of the Royal Geographic ‘al Society, on the 24th May Ri

under the head, Comparative View of Africa im Bay ie an
ly mes ae

4C QT

Seientifc Intelligence —Zoology. 377

Modern, T; imes, ‘gives an interesting statement of the direumstances
which . haye, led him, to the important, general: suggestion of , the
Sige like arrangement of all Africa, ;

ay iw DIS pone UG eae 38 ZOOLOGY:
a gene pari Professor of a ei fit in

LL, . was, alee se elected Professor of Comparative, ie
Bey, with the distinct understanding that the collegiate expenses of
he student are not to be inéreased by this addition ‘to the course.

an ese lectures. are therefore free to the medical students, the College

‘paying, from ‘their funds, the, Professor.

» A sketch of Professor Agassiz’s intended course is here’ Subjoined.
| he « course will consist of a sketch of the natural classification of

‘he ‘Animal Kingdom, with full illustration of the fundamental differ-

_ences of, their four great types, the Radiates, Molluses, Articulates

and Vertebrates. Confident in the doctrine that the essential func-

tions, of life are performed by systems of organs, which differ funda-
mentally i in the different types, of animals, the professor will describe

_their. structure separately, in the successive classes, and not follow

‘the ordinary course of connecting in one series the various apparatus

performing similar functions. Beginning with the Radiata, he will

shew how, the plan of their structure, as well as the structure itself,
differs, entirely from that ofthe other three great types, as these also

_ differ ¢ among themselves. Taking the Polyps as the lowest class, he

will. illustrate the theory of the cellular structure of all animals, by

_@ comparison of the microscopic structure of the various tissues of

higher. animals in the progress of formation, with that of the. pecfect

and. permanent, condition of the lower ones. The class of Medusee
will afford him. an opportunity of illustrating the phenomena of alter-
nate generation, and also of testing the foundation of the natural rela-

_ tionship. between animals, upon which their. division into classes is

based ; whilst the study of Echinoderms, and their position at the
head. ‘of Radiata, without the possibility of a transition to either

M Rolluscs or Articulates,, will afford ample evidence that there is “no

“one gradual ‘series. among animals, from the lowest to. the highest.

on aide type of. Molluscs will lead to general considerations, respect-
“ang the, bilateral. symmetry of animals, and the different tendencies
_ manifested i in the type of Articulates, “yee contrasted with Molluscs.

The characteristic peculiarities of structure of these two important

_diyisions of the animal kingdom will, be. fully illustrated, and their

_ respective. position as natural. groups investigated. The Molluscs

‘owill lead particularly. to an. ‘inquiry into the communications between

= inter nal cavities. of these animals and the surrounding media, and be-

tweenthe different systemsof organs themselves, The Articulates again

378 Scientific Intelligence—Miscellaneous.

will lead naturally to the consideration of metamorphoses in general,
and the successive changes through which particular types of animals
pass during the different periods of their life. The importance of
tracing these changes throughout the animal kingdom, in order fully
to appreciate the relative standing of the different families in each
class, will also be made prominent. A full account of intestinal
worms will complete the history of Articulates.

Particular attention will finally be given to the structure,of Ver-,
tebrates, their affinities and homologies, and the natural progressive
gradation which may be traced between their four classes, from
Fishes through Reptiles, Birds and Mammalia, to Man. Besides
considering the structure of these animals in their adult condition,
full information will be given upon their embryonic growth, from the
first, formation of the egg to the final development of the germ;
thus affording another opportunity of tracing the remarkable paral-
lelism. which exists between the different stages of growth of animals’
belonging to the same great type, and the different degrees of de-
velopment which. their different families present in their ect Fant
condition.

Constant reference will be made to the structure of the human
body, in order to prepare the student more fully for a correct under-
standing of its peculiarities and the functions of its organs. . The
lectures will be illustrated by numerous diagrams, and the exhibi-
tion of natural specimens.

This Course of Lectures was delivered to a very crowded and en-
thusiastic audience.

MISCELLANEOUS. ;

17. Galvani and Volta.—No one who wishes to judge impartially
of the scientific history of these times and of its leaders, will consider
Galvani and Volta as equals, or deny the vast superiority of the
latter over all his opponents or fellow-workers, more especially over
those of the Bologna school. . We shall scarcely again find in one
man. gifts so rich and so caleulated for research as were combined in
Volta, He possessed that, ‘* incomprehensible talent,” as: Dove has
called. it, for separating the essential from the immaterial in eompli-
cated phenomena; that boldness of invention which must. precede
experiment, controlled by the most strict and cautious mode of ma-
nipulation ; that unremitting attention which allows no circumstance,
to pass unnoticed; lastly, with so much -acuteness, so much simpli-
city, so much oruhdeut of conception, combined with “such depth of
thought, he had a hand which was the hand of a workman.

18. Sir Charles Lyell’s visit to North America.—Sir Charles
Lyell has just left England for North America. , The objects, of the
journey are the examination: of the geology of some extensive.tracts
of country in the United States, andin Canada, and yof, delivering
courses of lectures on geology in that country, lo Shn89

Scientific Intelligence. 379

Books and Maps published and to be published.

19. Dr Thomson's Narrative of a Journey through the Moun-
tains of Northern India during the years 1847-8,—This valuable
and deeply interesting work, of which more on a future occasion,
we very earnestly reconimnend to the attention of Naturalists and |
Geographers, Many of the books of travels supplied by the press
are harmless evanescences, forming a striking contrast to the endur-

ing pages of Dr Thomson.

20. Professor Charles Upham Shepard's Treatise on Miner-
alogy.—The mineralogies of Gliacelpnidy Alger, and Dana, are well
known, and highly esteemed in this country, and so also ‘is that “of
Professor Shepard. . We have now before us Part Ist of the 3d edi-
tion of that valuable work, which we strongly recommend to the stu-
dents of Mineralogy, with the remark, that the course pursued by
Professor Shepard in his Mineralogy, is worthy of adoption by other
mineralogists at no great distance from us.

21. Humboldt’s Cosmos——All will rejoice to learn. that the
illustrious Humboldt has recovered from his late indisposition, and
that this extraordinary man, although about 83 years of age, is now
actively employed in preparing the fourth and last volume. of his
renowned work, Cosmos.

22. Silurian System.—Sir RB. I. Murchison is preparing a new
work on his Silurian System.

23. Bischof’s Chemical Geology.—An English. edition of this
celebrated work will soon appear under the patronage of the Camden
Society.

24. Professor Bischof’s Work on Natural Science.—A third
edition of this excellent popular view of Natural Science has just
appeared in Germany.» A translation of it would, we are convinced,
be ‘favourably received by a numerous class of readers in this country.

“Dp. Map of the Distribution, of Plants.and Anmals. — Professor
Edward Forbes exhibited and explained to the meeting of the British
Association i in Belfast, a very interesting map illustrative of the dis-
tribution of Organic Beings throughout the, land ;and.waters. of, our
planet. This map, we understand, is to, be engrayed and publishes
by ae Keith, Johnston of Edinburgh.

Smithsonian Contribiitions to Science—'The third and fourth
Dee. ofthis valuable work; presented by the Smithsonian Insti-—
tution to the Wernerian Society, have just been received. The con-
tents of these volumes are as follow :—

380 Seientific Intelligence.

Vou. III., 4to, 1852. |

1. Observations on Terrestrial Magnetism. By John Locke,

M.D.

Researches on Electrical Rheometry. By A. Secchi.

Contributions to the Natural History of the Fresh Water

Fishes of North America. By Charles Girard.

4. Nereis Boreali Americana, or Contributions to a History of
the Marine Algz of North America, By William Henry
Harvey, M.D.

5. Plantes Wrightiane Texano Neo-Mexicane. By Dr Asa
Gray, M.D. Part I.

6. The Law of Deposit of the Flood Tide: Its Dynamical Ac-
tion and Office. By Charles Henry Davis, Lieut. U. 8. Navy.

7. Description of Ancient Works in Ohio. . By Charles Whitt-
lesey.

8. Occultations visible in the United States during the your

1852, Computed by John Downes, Esq.
. Ephemeris of Neptune for the year 1852. By Sears C.
Walker, Esq.

a

co

Vor. IV.; 4to, 1852.

A Grammar and Dictionary of the Dakota Language. Col-
lected by the Members of the Dakota Mission. Edited by
Rev. S. R. Riggs, A.M., Missionary of the Am. Board in —

Foreign Missions.

The Smithsonian Institution announce that shortly a fifth quarto
volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge will appear.
The papers in this volume are,—

1. Plante Fremontiane ; or Descriptions of Plants collected in
California by Col. J. C. Fremont. By John Torrey, F.L.S.

2. On Entophyta in Living Animals. By Dr Joseph Leidy.
Ten Plates.

3. On the Winds of the Northern Hemisphere. By Prof.
J. H. Coffin. With 27 Plates.

4. Onthe Fossil Vertebrata of the Fresh-Water Hécene of
Nebraska. By Dr Joseph Leidy. Ten Plates.

5. On the Nervous Anatomy of Ranapepiens. By Dr Jeffreys
Wyman, Two Plates. he

6. On the Fossil Cetaccans of the United States... By Prof, L.
Agassiz. .

‘7, Qn, the Structure of the Coral Animal. By Prof. L.

Agassiz. Six Plates.

27. Espy’s Second Report on Meteorology, &c.—This valuable
work, in 65 pp. fol., with numerous coloured charts, has just reached
this country. Also the Smithsonian Report.on Recent Improve-
ments in the Chemical. Arts, by Professor James C, Booth and
Campbell Morfit, have been received by the Wernerian Society.

List of Patents. _ Jl

» past Ph ot aa granted jor Scotland from 22d June to
22d September 1852.

4 dy To JonN. Dae Monrrrs Senne. of Black Grange, N. B., Esq.,
“certain alloys. and, combinations of alloys.’ 22d June 1852,

to 925) To! Anrrep; Vincent Newton; of the Ofiée: for Patents; 66 Chan-
-cery Lane,| in/the ‘county of ,Middlesex, mechanical,draughtsman, ‘‘ im-
provements in separating substances of different speeific eremabee,” being
»2/communication, —-23d;/June 1852.

3. To Jonn Henry Jounson, of 47 Linéoln’s Ti Fields, in the
county of Middlesex, and of Glasgow, N.B., gentleman, “improvements
Jn. steam-engines,” being a communication, 28th June, 1852.

4 Po! Joun \Lintorn /ARrasrne Simmons; of No: 67 Oxford Terrace,
Hyde Park, in the county of Middlesex, captain in the Royal Engineers,

and Taomas; Wanker, ofthe Brunswick Iron ;Works,;Wednesbury, in
the county of Stafford; Esgq.,,‘fimproyements:in, the’ manufacture of ord-
“nance,-andyin the, construction and manufacture of carriages, and: traver-
sing apparatus for manceuvreing the same. ”—28th June 1852.

5. To Freperickx Sane, of 58 Pall Mall, in the county of Middlesex,
artist in. fresco, ;‘‘ improvements, in machinery, or apparatus for,cutting,
“! Sawing, grinding, and polishing,’’—30th June, 1852.

)6..To Pzrrer Brourr;.of; Ipswich, in the. county af. Saffolk, civil
engineer, ; improvements in the construction of the permanent way of
rail, tram, or other roads, and in.the rolling stock or ppparatus used
"therefor. P—— 5th July 1852.

bee f To Groner Laycocx, late of Albany, in. the United Statesr of
papal dyer, but now. of Doneaster, in the county of York, tanner,

p. -* umprovements in unhairing and tanning skins,” —6th J uly 1852.

/)\ 8f To Ropert Joun Smiru, of Islington, inthe county of Middlesex,
“¢certain improvements in eenaaed or sree for AtPeRNE ships and
» other. vessels. rortaet hr July 1852. a ee

9. To James Hicem, of Mind dite in’ Neg .niéBabty} of Lancaster,
/omanufacturing ‘chemist, “certain:improvements: in heres and scowr-
ing woven and,textile ‘fabrics and yarns.” “8th July.1852.\/_

(10. To Wa. Baoxett Jounson, of Manchester, in the wat} of Lan-
caster, managers for Messrs Ormerod and’ Son;’engineers'and iron-foun-
_iders; “ improvements'in railways and in apparatus-for oa steam.”
—12th July 1852. [2260

J 4p Ts Riemann Panis, of Long Acre,‘in the ‘county’ of Middlesex,
modeller, ‘‘ improvements in machinery 6r eee for’ oe and
» shaping cork.” —12th July. 1852. | 2

bode 12. To Perer ARMAND LE Comte br Fontaine Mekuad, 6P No. £ South
“Street, Finsbury, eet in the ‘county of Middlesex, mand 39 Rue deFBx-

bie vou. LM. No. cyi.—ocronEr ria AY Paplttenaae Ae Beni

382 List of Patents.

chequier, Paris, patent agent, ‘“‘ improvements in the apparatus for knead-
ing and baking bread and other articles of food of a similar nature,”
being a communication.—13th July 1852.

13. To Atrrep Vincent Newron, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chan-
cery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, mechanical draughtsman, ‘‘ im-
provements in machinery for cutting soap into slabs, bars, or cakes,”
being a communication.—15th July 1852.

14. To Ricuarp Lamina, of Mill Wall, in the county of Middlesex,
chemist, “ improvements in the manufacture and the burning of gas in
the treatment of residual products of such manufacture, and of the dis-
tillation of coal or similar substances, and of the coking of coal, and in
the application of a certain substance which may be obtained from such
treatment to the manufacture of paper.” —19th July 1852.

15. To Emery Riper, of Bradford, in the county of Wilts, manu-
facturer, “ improvements in the manufacture or treatment of india-rub-
ber and gutta-percha, and in the applications thereof,” being a com-
munication.—19th July 1852.

16, To Cuartes Aveustus Pre.ter, of Abchurch Lane, in the city of
London, gentleman, “improvements in the preparation and preservation
of skins and animal and vegetable substances.” —19th July 1852.

17. To Wm. Rein, of University Street, electric engineer, and Tuomas
Watkins Bensaman Brett, of Hanover Square, gentleman, ‘ improve-
ments in electric telegraphs.” —19th July 1852.

18. To Perer ARMAND LE ComTE DE Fontaine Moreau, of No. 4 South
Street, Finsbury, London, in the county of Middlesex, and 39 Rue de
V’Exchequier, Paris, patent agent, ‘‘ certain improvements in railways
and locomotive engines, which said improvements are also apphigebig to
every kind of transmissions of motion.”—21st July 1852.

19. To RicHarp ARCHIBALD ‘Brooman, of the firm of J. C. Robertson
and Co., of 166 Fleet Street, in the city of London, patent agent, “im-
provements in the purification and decoloration of oils, and in the appa-
ratus employed therein,” being a communication.—2I1st July 1852.

20. To Witt1am Sertimus Losn, of Wreay Syke, in the county of
Cumberland, gentleman, “ improvements in obtaining salts of soda.”—
21st July 1852.

21. To Josrrn Mavupsuey, of the firm of Maudsley, Sons, and Field,
of Lambeth, in the .county of Surrey, engineers, “improvements in
steam-engines, which are also applicable wholly or in part to pumps and
other motive machines.” —21st July 1852.

22. To Roserr Heskern, of Wimpole Street, St Marylebone, in the

county of Middlesex, “improvements in apparatus for reflecting bere
into rooms and other parts of buildings and places.” —22d July 1852.

23. To Epwarp Mairtanp Srartey, of Cheapside, “improvements
in cutting mouldings, tongues, and other forms, and in planing wood,’a
communication.— 22d July 1852. j

24. To Josven Havruornt Reep; late 17th Lancers, Harrow Road, in

eee eee 2 ee

:

List of Patents. 383

the county of Middlesex, sit il 8 papemeniee in propelling ves-
sels,”—2d August 1852.

25. To Wittiam Epwarp Newron, of the Office for Patents, 66
Chancery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, civil engineer, ‘‘ improve-
ments in the construction of wheels for carriages,” being a communica-
tion. —3d August 1852.

26. To Joun Geratp Porter, of Over Darwen, in the county of
Lancaster, carpet manufacturer, and Marturw Smira, of the same place,
manager, “certain improvements in the manufacture of carpets, rugs,
and other similar fabrics.” —August 5, 1852.

5627 .0To Rave Errineton Riptry, of Hexham, in the county of
Northumberland, tanner, “improvements in cutting and reaping ma-
chines.” —5th August 1852.

28. To Witi1aM Acroyp, of Birkenshaw, near Leeds, ‘‘ improve-
ments in the manufacture of yarn and fabrics, when cotton, wool, and
silk are employed.”—6th August 1852.

29. To A. V. Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chancery Lane, in
the county of Middlesex, mechanical draughtsman, “ improvements in
the manufacture of metallic fences, which improvements are also appli-
cable to the manufacture of verandahs, to truss frames for bridges, and to
other analogous manufactures,” being a communication.—i3th August
1852. ow

30. To Rosert Harpmay, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the county of Lan-
aster, mechanic, ‘‘ improvements in looms for weaving.”—18th August

1852.

31. To James Pixtuine, of Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster,
spinner and manufacturer, ‘‘ certain improvements in looms for weay-
ing.” —~20th August 1852.

32. To Josera WittaM Scuuisincer, of Buxton, in the county of
Surrey, gentleman, ‘‘ improvements in fire-arms, in cartridges, and in
he manufacture of powder.” —26th August 1852.

"33. To Freprrick Sane, of No. 58 Pall Mail, in the county of Mid-

dlesex, artist in fresco, ‘‘ certain improvements in floating and moving
vessels, vehicles, and other bodies on and over water.” —26th August
1852.

34. To Joszern STs ae of Prestwick, in the ‘county of Lancaster,
gentleman, “ certain improvements in machinery, or apparatus for ma-
nufacturing looped terry, or other similar fabrics.” —26th August 1852.

. 35. To Atexanper Parkes, of Birmingham, ‘“‘ improvements in sepa-
rating silver from other metals.” —26th August 1852.

~ 36. To James Warren, of Montague Terrace, Mile End Road, gen-
tleman, ‘* improvements applicable to railways and railway carriages,
and improvements in paving.”—26th August 1852.

37. To Taomas Ricwarpson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, ** improvements

384. List of Patents.

in the manufacture and preparation of magnesia and some of its salts.”
—26th August 1852.

38. To ALexanper Srewarr, of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark,
North Britain, manufacturer, ‘“‘improvements in the manufacture or
production of ornamental fabrics.” —27th August 1852.

39. To Sir Jonn Scorr Littiz, Companion of the Honourable Order
of the Bath, of Pall Mall, “ certain improvements in the construction or
covering of walls, floors, roads, foot-paths, and other surfaces.”—31st
August 1852.

40. 'To Pirrre Istporz Davin, of Paris, in the republic of France,
machinist, ‘‘ certain improvements in the method of bleaching, and in
the apparatus connected therewith.”—I1st September 1852.

41. To Josuua Crockrorp, of Southampton Place, in the county of
Middlesex, gentleman, ‘‘ improvements in brewing and brewing appa-
ratus.”— 2d September 1852.

42. To Tuomas Witxes Lorp, of Leeds, in the county of York, flax
and tow machine maker, “‘ improvements in machinery for spinning, pre-
paring, and heckling, of flax, tow, hemp, cotton, and other fibrous sub-
stances, and for the lubrication of the same, and other machinery.”—
6th September 1852.

43. To Epmunp Morewoop and Grorcr Roerrs, of Enfield, gentle-
men, “‘ improvements in the manufacture, shaping, and coating of metals,
in applying sheet metal to building purposes, and in the means of ap-
plying heat.’”’—6th September 1852.

44. Gzorcr Wriaut, of Sheffield, and also of Rotherham, in the
county of York, artist, ‘“‘ improvements in stoves, grates, or fire-places.”
—11th September 1852.

45, To Tuomas Hont, of Leman Street, Goodman’s Fields, in the
county of Middlesex, gentleman, “improvement in fire-arms.”—13th
September 1852. |

4
46. To Atexanper Mitts Drx, of Salford, in the county of Lancaster,
brewer, :‘certain improvements in artificial illumination, and in the
apparatus connected therewith, which improvements are. also applicable
to heating and other similar. purposes.”—16th September 1852.

47. To Jonn M‘Conocuie, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster,
engineer, “improyements in locomotive and other steam-engines and
boilers in railways, railway carriages, and their appurtenances, also in
machinery and apparatus for producing part or parts of such improve-
ments,”-—20th September 1852.

si

1: Daniell, William, M.D., on the ethnography of Akkrah and Adampé,
“Gold Coast, Western Africa, 120-833.

—

INDEX.

Agassiz appointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy, 377.
Ales, report. on the alleged adulteration of, by Professors Graham
and Hoffmann, 266.

Alison, Dr; on the Defence of the Doctrine of Vital A finity, against
the Objections stated to it by Humboldt and Daubeny, 340,
Australia, on the condition and prospects of the aborigines of, 225.

Barry, Dr Martin, on the spiral structure of muscle, 168.

Berzelius, Professor, biography of, 189.

Bigsby, Dr J., on the physical geography, geology, and commercial

| resources of Lake Superior, 55.

Bischof, Professor Gustav, on geology, as illustrated by chemistry
and physics, 38.

Bischof’s Chemical Geology, to appear under the patronage of the

Camden Society ; and his work on Natural Science recom-
mended to be published in English, 379.

Brown, George W., a chemical examination of drift-weed kelp from
Orkney by, 250.

Buist, Dr, on volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal, 32.

Cambrian and Silurian discussion, 102.

Cull, Richard, Esq., on the recent progress of Ethnology, 67.

Davy, Dr John, observations on the ova of the Salmonidae, by, 221 ;
observations on the superficial colouring matter of rocks, 326.

Daubeny, Professor, on the great principles suggested by the late
celebrated W. Prout, 98.

Dew, observations on, by M. Melloni, 364.

386 Index.

Donarium, new metal, account of, 274.

Doris, anatomy of, 156.

Drift, observations on, by William Hopkins, Exsq., President of the
Geologicol Society, 1.

Espy’s Report on Meteorology noticed, 380.

Ethnology, its recent progress, by Richard Cull, Esq., 67.

Ethnography of Akkrah and Adampé, Gold Coast, Western Africa,
120-333.

Exhibition, Great, lectures on the results of, 135.

Fish, destruction of by sulphuretted hydrogen, 363.

Forbes, Professor Edward, on the supposed analogy between the life
of an individual and the duration of a species, 130; new map
on the distribution of plants and animals, to be engraved and
published by Mr Keith Johnston, of Edinburgh, 379.

Fremy, Mr E., chemico-geological researches on the sulphurets
which are decomposable by water, 275.

Galvani and Volta compared, 378.

Geology, the future of, 344.

Geology, as illustrated by chemistry and physics, by Professor Gus-
tav Bischof, of Bonn, 38.

Geysers of California, 241.

Graham, Professor, on the cause of fire in the ship Amazon, 79.

Grove, W. R., Esq., on the heating effects of electricity and mag-
netism, 62.

Hopkins, William, Esq., on drift, 1, on the distribution of granite
blocks from Ben Cruachan, 362.

Humboldt’s Cosmos, the fourth volume in preparation, 379.

Huxley, Thomas, Esq., on animal individuality, 172.

[odine, its general distribution, by Mr Stevenson Macadam, 169-815.
Lake Superior, its physical geooraphy, geology, and commercial’

. resources, by J. Bigsby, M.D., 55.
Lyell, Sir Charles, on the Blackheath pebble-bed, 94.

Index. 387

Macadam, Stevenson, Mr, a letter from, to Professor Jameson, on
M. Chatin’s Observations on Jodine, 169.—On the General
Distribution of Iodine, 315.

Macgillvray, Professor W. obituary of, 372.

Mantell, G@. A., Esq., on the structure of the Iguanodon, and on
the Fauna and Flora of the Wealden formation, 87.

Map of Switzerland, account of, by Sir. R. I. Murchison, 375.

Matter, divisibility of, 348.

Maury, Lieutenant, on the clouds, and sesame cloud-rings of the
earth, 92.

Meteorites, account of, by Professor Shepard, 245.

Mountain Systems, remarks on, 374.

Murchison, Sir R. I., onthe Cambrian and Silurian discussion, 102 ;
new work on the Silurian system in progress, 379.

Muscle, its spiral structure, by Dr Martin Barry, 168.

Patents, list of; granted for Scotland, 24th March to 18th June
1852, 184; from 22d June to 22d September 1852, 381.

Playfair, Dr Lyon, on the contraction of cotton by alkalies—on pa-
rafine and mineral oil from coal—and on amorphous. phos-
phorus, 160.

Pterodactyles of the chalk formation noticed, 37 4,

Rain, fall of, in India and Alexandria, 373.

Rocks, examination of, by means of the microscope, 373.

Rock Salt of India, its geological position, by Dr Andrew Fleming,
374. .

Salt Lake of Utah, observations on, 180-376.

Scientific intelligence, 177, 372.

Scott, Dr A. J., analysis of Indian ores of manganese, and of some
Scottish zeolites, by, 277. 3

Sedgwick, Professor, on the Cambrian and Silurian discussion, 102,
114.

Sharpe, Daniell, Esq., on the foliation and cleavage of rocks, 84.

Shepard, Dr Charles Upham, on, meteorites, 245; his Treatise on
Mineralogy recommended, 379.

Smyth, Professor C. Piazzi, on the place of the poles of the atmo~
sphere, and the Reid theory of hurricanes, 330,

388 Index.

Smithsonian contributions to science, vols. iii. and iv. noticed, 379. —

Soils, examination of, by the microscope, 373.

Steam, on the colours of a jet of, 264.

Stevenson, Mr Thomas, observations on the relations between the
height of waves, and the distance from the windward shore,
308.

Submarine bridge of the Norwegians noticed, 374.

Teas, green, of commerce, observations on, by R. W. Warrington,
Esq., 360.

Thomson, Dr, his Journey through the mountains of Northern India
characterised, 379.

Volcanoes in the Bay of Bengal, by Dr Buist, 32.

Westgarth, W., Esq., on the condition and prospects of the abori- —
gines of Australia, 225.

Williams, Dr Thomas, on the blood-proper and chylo-aqueous fluid
of invertebrate animals, 342.

Wilson, Dr George, on two new processes for the detection of fluorine
when accompanied by silica, &c., 349; on the presence of fluo-
rine in the stems of the Graminee, 356.

END OF VOLUME SEVENTY-THIRD.

NeiLu & Co., Printers, Edinburgh.

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