e “a omy ‘ ’ . 2. * xe 4 aes ; . 2 : ay = bt 2 : ; oa <= 4 - , > . ' F v2 = a } i Tae ny a, ae ee UR 5) eer le BRE Sar Of (andl Won “ipinal Picture Uv Ys te 7 a i bee oo ned) é ss en ee ee ich ae ¢ Ae, Me lof Jondon Vv) ¢ danburgh: x Ws Publishil by A.Tilloch Carey Street May 2.2802. Se <<. & he i = OF PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE: COMPREHENDING THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF SCIENCE, THE LIBERAL AND FINE ARTS, AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE. a BY ALEXANDER TILLOCH, MEMBER OF THE LONDON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, ETC, ETC, EE eee ‘< Nec aranearum fane textus ideo melior, quia ex fe fila gignunt, Nec nofter vilior quia ex alienis libamus ut apes,” Just. Lres, Mozit. Polit. lib. i. cap, z. VOL. XI. . oN <0" re tA Wi” al ee ee LONDON: Paintep FoR ALEXANDER TILLOCH; And Sold by Meffrs. Ricnarpson, Cornhill; Cavett and Davies; Strand; Desxerr, Piccadilly; Murray and Hicuiey, No. 32, Fleet-ftreet ; Sy monps, Pater-nofter Row; Bert, No. 148, Oxford-f{treet; Vernor and Hoop, Poultry ; Harpine, No. 36, St. James’s-ftreet; Brii and Braprurs, Edinburgh; Brasn and Rew, Glaigow ; and W. Gitsext, Dublih. [Wilks and Taylor, Printers, ChangprysLane.} , ' ¥ a 45 : » : gue rh dee tae Pie, hit ee! redae ahi coat ; ‘ f reat v* ’ J Mal as i Py ae x per ainalty ui ty > bee 6 Re CONTENTS TWELFTH VOLUME 1. DESCRIPTION of the Arfeniates of Copper und of Iron. By the Count de BoURNON - Page 3 Il. On preferving Frefb Water fweet during long Voyages. By SAMUEL BENTHAM, E/9. - 12 Ill. Defcription of a Machine for rarfing Water. By Mr. H. Sarseant, of Whitehaven, Cumberland - “pl4 IV. Obfervations on the Ipomea Hifpida, and fome other Plants of the Family of the Convolvulus. By Pruix FONTANA . - - a SED V. An Examination of C. Crover’s new Proce/s for making Caft Steel from Bar Iron by means of the Decom- pofition of Carbonic Acid. By Davin Mousuert; E/y. of the Calder Iron Works - =. 29 VI. On the Strength of Acids, as indicated by the Specific Gravity, and by the Areometer of M. Baume. By Ro- - BERT BINGLEY, B/g. King’s Affay Mojfler, Mint, Lon- don - - - = VII. Obfervations on the Plant by which the Indians of a rica preferve themfelves from the Bite of Venomous Serpents. Communicated to Count Rumrorp. ly Don Pepro pD’ORBIES y VARGAS - - 36 VIII. Account of a fingular Method of bunting Wild Swine in the Ifland of Sumatra. By Mr. JouN, Miffionary at Tranquebar - - - 39 IX. Inquiries into coloured Light, by a Collation of the Experiments and Ob/fervations made by Sir Ifaac Newton on that Subjet; togwther with fome additional ones. By Governor POWNALL - - 42 X. On a new Combination difcovered in Zaffer, which Brugnatelli confidered as the Cobaltic Acid, By C. Dar- RACQ - - - - 49 XI. Method of making Lime cryflallize. By TRoMMs- DORFF - - - - 53 XII. Refult of the Obfervations of the new Star difcovered on the 1ft of January 1801, at the Royal Objervatory of Vout. XII, No. 48. a Palermo. CONTENTS. ‘Palermo. ByJoseru P1azzt, Direéor of the Obfervatory Page 54. XIII. Reflections on the new Primary Plainet fu pied to exif? between Mars and Jupiter, and now in all Proba- bility difcovered. By Baron Von Zacn, Lieutenant- Colonel in the Sceele) af the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, and Di- reGtor of theDucal Objervatory at Seeberg - 62 XIV. Some eoneeat: beret the new Planet Ceres Ferdinandea 80 XV. Defcription of a i damoisliciepead Aftronomical Infiru- ment, for placing Globes in a proper Situation, by means of the Sun, without the Help of a Magnetic Compe or other » Infirument. By Mr.B.M. Forster , 83 XVI. A few Particulars ah /pedting Mr. Boaz’ s Patent Telegraph . 84 KN. Notices refpeciing Nee Publications - a XVII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. - XIX. Intelligence and Mi ifcellaneous Articles - HA XX. An Examination of C. CLOUET’s new Procefs for making Caft. Steel from Bar Iron by means.of the De- compofition of Carbonic Acid, continued, By Davip Muvsnet, E/g, of the Calder Iron Works, - 97 XI. Es pestment made with a.Galvanic. Belt, or Chain, by Mr. RicHarbD TEED, Methelits Lancajte Court, Strand © , 105 XXIL. Inquiries ito: ee, Ti ght, by a Collation, of the Experimen ts and Ob/ervations pas by Sir Ifaac Newton on that Subject; together with je additional ones. _ By Governor POWNALE- 5 107 XXIL. Hiflory of Affronomy for ‘the Year 1801. By Jz- ‘ROME LALANDE )ckI2 XXIV. Some Account of the Pad ifonous ‘en Tajurigus Honey of North ‘America. “By Benjamin SMITH BaRTON, M.D. 12 AXV, Defeription, of .the Aifeniates bf Gepper ghd of Iron. By. the Count de BOURNON 135 XXXVI. Analy/is of the Arfeni, tes of L Copper and of tee. By ..RicHAaRD CHENEVIX, E/fq. POR.S. MOR. 1. Ay I4s KXVIL. On the apparent Elev tin of Objects above the Hort- ..xon.. By. Profefor DE Luc | 148 XXVIII. Defeription and Natural Hijo of he Wild Goat .. of the Alps. By M. Bentuout Van BERCHEM jun. 153 KXIX. Account of the Refults of fome comparative Experi- ments made with the Teylerian EleSrical Apparatus and Volta’s Metallic Pile, ~By Van Makum and Prarr. Communicated to Profe, effor Vouta in a Letter dated No- vember CONTENTS. vember 18601. Abridged by LUKE HowaRnb, E/y. from Journal de Chimie dy J. B. Van Mons _ Page 161 XXX. Copy of a Letter from M. Dz DreEE, Brother-in- Law to M. pe Dorominuy, to Profefor Prorer, of Geneva - - - - 165 XXXI. Notices relative to the Sciences and Arts in France 167 XXXII. Objervations on Maddering ; together with a fimple and certain Proce/s for obtaining, with great Beauty and Fixity, that Colour known under the Name of the Turkey or Adrianople Red. By J. M. HAUSsMAN - 170 XXXIIL. Notices refpeting New Books = 175 AXXTV. Proceedings of Learned Societies - A81 XXXV. Intelligence and Mifcellanéous Articles 184 XXXVI. On the Fufion of M Heéable Iron wit: darious Kinds of Glajs; being a Continuation of the Examination of C. CLoveér’s Procefs for making Caf? Stét. ‘By 41D Musuet, E/y. of the Calder Irin Works = A*¥92 XKXVII. Hiffory of Ajironomy for the Year 1801. By . JEROME LALANDE - 408 SXXVIII. Analyfis of the Arfeniates of Coper and of Iron. By Ricuarp CHENEVIX, E/q. F.R.S. M. RTA. 212 XXXIX. Comparifon of the Definitive Metre with u Standard of the Englifh Meafures, ‘carried from London to Paris by » M. A. Picrert, Proféeffor of Philofophy at Geneva 229 XL. Letter from Count MorozZo0 to C. LACEPEDE, 7é- Jpeting a P rrot hatched at Rome; together with Jome Obfervations on the Ditration of the Life of thefe Birds 235 ALI. Defcriftion ‘and Natural Hiftory of the Wild Goat of the Alps. By M. Bertraout VAN BercueEM jun. 24 XLIT. On the Spiral Vibration of a Stick or Rod. ri G. F. F. Coiapni ; - . a e@6O XLIII. Objervations on Madajring ; together with a fimple and certain Procefs for obtaining, with great Beauty and Fixity, that Colour known under the Name of the Turkey or Adrianople Red. By J. M. Haussmann - 260 XLIV. A new Method of feparating Silver alloyed with Copper in Bullion, By,C. NAPLonE - 266 XLV. Defcription of the Duke of Bridgewater's Drain Plough - ret. ei - 259 XLVI. Defcription of Mr. Knicut’s Drill Machine for Sowing Turnip-feed - - 27t XLVII. Notices refpecting New Books - 273 XLVI. Proceedings of Learned Societies - 277 XLIX, Intelligence and Mifcellaneous Articles - 284 LI. Bio- ‘> is CONTENTS. LI. Biographical Account of the late Dr: PULTENEY. By J. Atkin, M.D. - Page 289 Lil. Analy/fis of the Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron. By Ricuarp CuHenevix, E/g. F.R.S, M.R.LA. 302 LIT}. Communications on the Subje& of: Navigationy from _ Joun Cooke, E/g: M.R.I.A. Mid Ge) LIV. On the Nature of Heat. By a Correfpondent 317 LY. Qn the different Proportions of Carbon which conflitute the various Qhalities of Crude Iron and Steel.’ By Davip Musnet, E/g. of the Calder Iron Works - 322 LVI. On the Fate and Charader of the Monk RoGER - Bacon. By Governor Pownaur. Read before the Literary and Philofophical Socicty, Bath - Ee ys VIL. Obfervations which feem to preve the Neceffity of ob- ferving and meditating a-long Time before any decifive Opi- giov.is formed in Philofophy in general, and particularly in # yard to the Caufeof Earthquakes. By COURESOLLES LVIII. Odfervations on an Optical Phenomenon glee Moon-light in the Vapours of the Atmofphere. By Profeffor WREDE - - - 346 LIX. “Note upon a peculiar Vegetable Principle contamed in. Coffee. . By Ricuarp Cuenevix, E/g. F.R.S. M. RL. A. - - - 350 LX.. Biographical Account of Josera DE BEAUCHAMP, the Afironomer. By DE LALANDE - 353° LXI. Notices refpecting New Books - 356 LXII. Proceedings of Learned Societies - 360 LXIDL. Intelligence and Mifcellaneous Articles - - 374 THE ——————————————————_————— ee THE PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE, I, Defcription of the Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron. By the Count de BoURNON*. SECTION I, Arfeniates of Copper. Tue natural combination of the arfenic acid with copper, and the different afpe€&ts under which this combination ap- pears, according to the proportions in which thefe two fab ftances are united, were among thofe objeéts of mineralogy refpeéting which our imperfect knowledge required the aid of ftudy and obfervation. A new copper mine, lately worked, called Huel Gorland, in the parifh of Gwennap, in the county of Cornwall, having, within the laft two years, enriched the cabinets of London with fome very fine fpecimens of thefe arfeniates, I. have been induced to pay particular attention to them ; and I offer the refult of my obfervations to the Royal Society as an acknowledgment of that gratitude which I and all Frenchmen, faithful to their king, ought to feel and pro- fefs to a country which has diftinguifhed itfelf as the protector of honour and loyalty. Although there appears, according to fome German au- thors, reafon to think that arfeniate of copper has been found in Silefia, its much greater abundance, as well as the various afpeéts under which it exifts, in the county of Cornwall, may entitle it to be confidered as one of the many mineral fub- flances which are peculiar, or nearly fo, to England. — Of the various works on mineralogy lately publithed, there are few which have not mentioned ws Nea: of copper among the ores of this metal. It feems, however, that fome of their authors had no knowledge of this ore, except from the very imperfect account communicated by the celebrated wee in 1787, in the Schriften der Gefellfchaft Naturfor/chender Freunde, vol. vii. in which he has given an interc{ting {ketch * From Tran/adtions of the rey Society of London for 1804, 2 .¢) 4 \ Defcription of the Arfeniates of the mineralogy of the county of Cornwall, as far as it was then known. Others feem to have poffeffed only imperfeé fpecimens of arfeniate of copper, as none of the forms which they attribute to its cryftals can belong to it. Befides, they all confound with this ‘ore thofe cubic cryftals, of a very beautiful green colour, which are found in Muttrell mine, contigucus to Huel Gorland mine; and which, according to the analyfis, made with the greateft care and ability, by Mr, Chenevix, are of a nature totally different, and cannot properly be clafled among copper ores, as they contain but a very inconfiderable quantity of that metal. The-exiftence of arfeniate of copper feems, however, even at this day, to be an objeé& of doubt among the French mi- neralogifts; for the abbé Haiiy does not mention it in the 28th and following numbers of the Journal des Mines, al- though they contain an interefting extract of a fyftem of mineralogy, which he was then preparing for the prefs; not has M. Fourcroy even hinted at it, in his Sy/feme des Con- noiffances Chimigues, lately publifhed. It is now above twenty years fince arfeniate of copper was difcovered in the county of Cornwall ; it was firft found either in Carrach mine, in the parifh of Gwennap, or in Tincroft mine, in the parifh of Allogan. Its matrix, like that of almoft all the copper ores of this country, was filiceous, and confifted of a decompofed granite, of which the greateft part of the feld-fpar had pafled into the {tate known by the name of kaolin. It was accompanied with gray vitreous copper ore, frequently in confiderable maffes ; alfo with much black oxide of copper; and with various oxides of iron. The arfeniate here fpoken of, which had never been found in large quantity, had ceafed to exift in the above-mentioned mines, when Huel Gorland mine, lately wrought, began to enrich mineralogy with this uncommon fubftance. The ma- _ trix of this is likewife filiceous; fometimes cryftalline; and fometimes in an amorphous mafs. Here and there we find mixed with it, in greater or lefs profufion, all the known oxides of copper ; -many of the argillaceous oxides of iron; alfo gray vitreous copper ore,; y;fenical pyrites; and the rich deep-coloured yellow copper ore. This laft is often found differing from its ufual appearance, in a manner which, I believe, has not hitherto been taken notice-of. I think it fhould make a diftiné variety among the deep yellow copper ores, under the name of yellow hematitic copper ore. When the combination of copper with iron and fulphur is rich in metal, (for, when it is poor, it is only a martial pyrites mixed with a little copper,) its appropriate one when of Copper and of Iron. 5 when a piece is frefh broken, is a deep yellow; and this yellow colour is: more deep in proportion as the quantity of copper is more abundant. In its richeft ftate, it aflumes a more or lefs greenifh tint. The furface of a frefh fracture is very brilliant, and appears rather uneven, as if compofed of fmall lamin crofling one another in an irregular manner. When it begins to decompofe, its furface is covered with the tmoft beautiful colours; among which the moft predominant are, violet, blue, and green: this has caufed it to be com- pared to a pigeon’s breaft. -When thefe colours are- very deep, and occupy the whole furface of a piece, we commonly - perceive, here and there, fome little points in the ftate of red oxide of iron; and others of a green colour, in the ftate of green carbonate of copper, ~ This kind of copper ore is fometimes of a deep yellow colour, which inclines the more to green, as it is deftitute of brilliancy. It is very compaét, and, when broken, the frac- ture appears fmooth, fometimes a little conchoidal ; its fur-— face, however, has a very fine grain, which, when viewed with a powerful lens, refembles the aggregation of a very clofe compaét mafs of the fineft fand. [ts moft ufual texture is that of thin layers or plates, lying one upon another, and being very clofely united, fo as to fe fcarcely perceptible to the naked eye; but they are very readily diftinguifhed with the lens, Thefe layers, however, do not adhere very ftrongly, as they may always be feparated by the ftroke of a hammer. ’ This ore frequently affumes a mamillated form; the ma- mille being of different dimenfions, from the fize of a man’s head, and eyen larger, to that of a fmall pea.. In the latter cafe, the mamille are very often united, as in that kind of iron ore which is called clufter, botryoid, or kidney hematites. Sometimes ‘the furface of the mamillz is covered with {mall points; but more frequently it is fmooth, fo as very much to refemble a piece of polifhed metal; and, as the furface of the mamille inclines rather to a brown colour, they have the appearance of antique bronze. ‘The green oxide of copper, which fometimes. is obferved on it, completes the illufion, by affuming the afpeét of that fine patina which often covers ‘pieces of 8p bronze. This ore is likewife found in the ‘form of {mall cylinders, often placed one againft the other, and fometimes ramified, in the fame way as is obferved in fome kinds of hematites. When the broken furface of it is expofed for fome time to the air, it affumes the colour of tarnifhed gold. It acquires alfo, by the decompofition of its furface, the fame violet, : A 3 blue, 6 Defcription of the Arfeniates blue, and green colours, as the kind already deferibed; but, although thefe colours are frequently very deep, they never are fo brilliant as in that kind. It is very uncommon to find pieces of this ore that are not mixed, and frequently even penetrated, with gray vitreous copper ore. That which accompanies the arfeniate of Huel Gorland mine, offers, in this refpeét, an uncommon and very particular appearance. The yellow ore is mechanically mixed with the vitreous ore, fo as to form a compound, in which, by the affiftance of a Jens, the {mall particles belong- ' ing to each of thofe two ores may be very clearly diftinguifhed. The fpecific gravity, as well as the quantity of copper, in this ore, varies confiderably, according to the proportions in which the yellow copper ore and gray vitreous copper ore are mixed together; fometimes they feem to be mixed in equal propor- tions, or nearly fo. Nature has eftablifhed very remarkable differences between the arfeniates of copper; and thefe take place not only in their forms, but likewife in their hardnefs and fpecific gra- vity. Thefe differences arife, either from the manner in which the arfenic acid is combined with the copper, or from the different proportions in which thefe two fubftances are combined. I have been naturally led to follow the fame order, and to divide the arfeniates of copper into four different fpecies: and the very intere(ting analyfis of this fubftance, made by Mr. Chenevix, has afforded me the moft fatisfac- tory fan@tion to this divifion. It is thus that the chemift and the naturalift, by freely uniting their labours, without jealoufy or prejudice, ought in all cafes to proceed, in order to attain that certainty which is the defirable recompenfe of their endeavours. Firlt Species. —Arfeniate of Copper in the Form of an obtufe Gaedron. The moft fimple form under which this fpecies sapee is- a very obtufe o¢taedron, formed by the united bates of two tetraedtal pyramids, with ifofceles triangular planes; and this appears to be its original form. This o¢taedron has, in each of its pyramids, two oppofite planes more inclined than the other two; which gives a paralielogrammic form to their common bafe, (Fig. 1. Plate I.) The two planes more in clined than the others, meet at the apex of each of the py- ramids, in an anglé of 13 °°; and at the common bafe, in one of 50°. The two planes which are lefs inclined, meet at the apex, in an angle of 115°; and at the bafe, in one of 6 5 efe of Copper and of Iron. 7 Thefe planes are commonly fmooth and bright; fome- times, however, they are ftriated in a direétion parallel to their edges. The four planes feldom terminate in one and the fame point: more commonly the apex is formed into a ridge, the octaedron being lengthened, parallel to its lefs inclined planes s the bafe is then a fquare, or at leaft approaches very nearly to that form. (Fig. 2.) Thefe two varieties are the only ones I have obferved in the form of the cryftals of this fpecies, ome I have had the opportunity of examining a great number of fpecimens. _ This arfeniate is very light; its average {pecific gravity, taken on fix pieces perfectly pure, was 2,881. Its hardnefs is likewife very inmenifidersble ; iteafily feratches calcareous fpar, but makes no impreffion on fluor fpar. It-is feldom perfectly tranfparent, but has generally a cloudy afpeé. ; The ufual colour of this fpecies (for this-character is as ef- fential in metallic fubftances as it is immaterial in ftones) is a beautiful deep fky-blue; fometimes, but very rarely, it inclines more or lefs to Pruffian blue. It is frequently of a very fine grafs green; the cryftals have then a much more beautiful tranfparency. I have feen fome which were of a fine apple green; others white, having a flight blue caft. In one picce, the cryftals of which were of a green colour, and lefs tranfparent than they commonly are, I difcovered, on breaking them, that the colour of their central part, for about half their thicknefs, was blue. From the obfervations made by Mr. Chenevix in his analyfis of thefe arfeniates, it appears that the variation in their colour principally de. pends on the quantity of water which enters as a conftituent part into their formation. ; This fpecies is found mixed with all the other kinds of arfenical copper ore; but that which moft commonly accom- panies it, is the prifmatic triedral {pecies. I have never difcovered in this fpecies any thing which could induce me to fuppofe it fufceptible of decompofition, or even of change. Second Species.—Arfeniate of Copper in bexaedral Lamina, with inclined Sides. This fpecies is commonly found in very fine hexaedral lamin. The fix narrow fides of thefe laminz have an in- clined pofition, alternately in a contrary direction, on the two broad planes, in fuch a manner that each of the planes is encompaffed by three fides, which are inclined upon Ag it, 8 Defeription of the Arfeniates it: (Fig. 3.) As far as the fmall fize, and more particularly the thinnefs of thefe cryfials, has enabled me to judge, two of thefe three inclined fides form an angle of about 135% with | ae broad planes on which they incline; and the third, one of 115°. ~ The two broad planes are fmooth, and have a very bril-° liant luftre. The fix narrow fides are rendered very dull by the great number of ftrize with which they are covered ; moft of which are very prominent, and all are parallel to the edges of the broad planes. In confequence of this, thefe eryftals may be divided, parallel to the planes, almoft as eafily as cryftals of mica. This ftruéture prevents the cryftal from being confidered as a modification of the otacdron: that which would be. produced by an increafe of the inclined fides, would only be afecondary cryftal; and none of the fpecimens I have feen give me reafon to fuppofe the exiftence of fuch a variety. ~The colour of this fpecies is a fine deep emerald green ; fometimes, though rarely, it is found of a lighter colour. The luftre of its broad planes, which are the only parts of the. cryftal that forcibly ftrike the eye, give it pretty much the appearance of thofe coloured metal plates which are known by the name of foi/. . This fpecies is ftill lefs heavy than the preceding, its fpe- cific gravity being only 2,548. It-1s alfo lefs hard; it eafily feratches gypfum, but not calcareous {par. - When its cryftals are very thin, they are very tranfparent 5 but their tranfparency is diminifhed when they have any degree of thicknefs. : : W hen expofed to fire, this fpecies decrepitates very ftrongly. This arfeniate, the matrix of which is generally quartzous, is occafionally found mixed with fome other arfeniates of copper, and particularly with the acute oétaedron in the ca- pillary or fibrous fiate. (Spee. 3. Var. 1 and 2.) But the ore moft commonly found with it is the red copper ore, which is frequently very abundant. I have never obferved in this fpecies any appearance of decompofition. Third Species.—Arfeniate of Copper in the Form of an acute O@aedron. sant The moft fimple form in which this third fpecies is found, 1s likewife an o€taedron ; byt this o€taedron, inftead of being obtute, like that of the firft fpecies, is flightly acute. It has, like that, in each of its pyramids, two oppofite planes more inclined _ Fally a beautiful tranfpareucy. 6 of Copper and of Iron. 9g : 8, . - inclined than the other two. The more inclined planes meet at the apex in an angle of 84°; and at the bafe, in one of 96°: the other two meet at the apex in an angle of 68°; and at the bafe, in one of 112°. (Fig. 4.) In this oGaedron it fometimes happens, that the planes which compofe its pyramids tend to one and the fame point, in order to form the apex; but it is much more common:to find it extended in a line parallel_to the lefs inclined planes of the pyramid. (Pig. 5.) The cryftal is fill more frequently found in the form of a long tetraedral rhomboidal prifm of 84° and 96°, terminated by a diedral apex, with ifofceles tri- angular planes, which are placed on the angles of 84°, and meet in an angle of of 112”. (Fig. 6.) Moft commonly, both in the perfe&t and the lengthened oétaedron, the angles of 96° are replaced by a plane, which is equally inclined on the adjacent fides, (fig. 7.) and is fre- quently very broad: (fig. 8.) then the tetraedral prifm of 84° and 96°, is changed into a flat hexaedral prifm, having two angles of 84°, and the other four of 138. I never faw the anoles of 84° replaced. The average fpecific gravity of this arfeniate of copper, taken on five pure pieces, was 4,280. It is fufficiently bard to fcratch fluor fpar, but is not hard enough to feratch glafs. Its ufual colour is a brown, or bottle green, fo dark that the cryttals appear of a blackifh colour, when they are not oppofed to the light: fometimes, but very feldom, in tne re- gular cryftals, which happen to be rather thicker, this colour is a clearer green; in other fpecimens the cryftals have a yel- lowith cat, and the furface then often reflects the light of a golden tint. ‘ _ The tranfparency of this {pecies is generally pretty great. It is not always cryftailized in a determinate form, but is an abfolute Proteus, both with refpeét to the different forms in which it appears, and the various colours it exhibits. [ - have obferved the five following varieties of it: ‘ Variety 1. Capillary, of a determinate Form. In this variety, the cryftals are extremely flender, yet pre- ferve their form, which is that of a very lengthened oé¢tae- dron. The fmall flender cryftals fizalfonth themfelves into a confufed group; fometimes, however, they form {mall ma- milla, by the divergence of a nuthber of them from a com- mon centre. Their colour is either a fine grafs green, or a yellowith green, or a golden yellow; and they have gene- _ Variety to Defcription of the Arfeniates Variety 2. Capillary, of an indeterminate Form. In this: variety, the very thin needle-like cryftals are not terminated by the diedral apex of 112°, reprefenting two planes of the oétaedron, but gradually become fmaller, and terminate in a very fharp pyramid. This variety has the fame colours as the preceding; and its very flender cryftals are grouped in the fame manner as in that. Subftances in a cryftallized ftate, in pafling from a deter- minate form to an indeterminate or fibrous one, frequently affume an intermediate form, in which the cryftal infenfibly terminates in a very acute pyramid. Variety 3. In Cryftals perfeétly regular for a Part of their Length, and fibrous at their Extremity. . In this variety, the cryftals are perfect during a part of their length; but their fubftance infenfibly divides as it ap- proaches the extremity, which very often is in faét nothing but a clufter of extremely delicate fibres, the colour of which always appears lighter than that of the folid part of the cryftal. Variety 4. Amianthiform. This variety is compofed of fibres as delicate as thofe of amianthus, of the flexibility of which they frequently poffefs a certain degree. Thefe fibres are either parallel or divergent from one cémmon centre, in which cafe they nearly refemble a hair pencil. Their colour varies confiderably: I have feen them of different fhades of green, from a grafs green to a dark brown green, of a golden brown, of a ftraw colour, of a ogee yellow, of a greenifh blue colour; and even per- fectly white, having frequently the luftre of fatin. The fibres are fometimes fo delicate, fo fhort, and fo con- fufedly grouped together, that the whole appears like a dufty cottony mafs, the true nature of which is difcoverable onl by the lens. At other times, this variety appears in fmall thin lamine, rather flexible; fometimes fcarcely perceptible to the naked eye, fometimes tolerably large, and perfectly like amianthus papyraceus. 1 have feen the laft-mentioned form of this variety, of a light green colour, and alfo of a very delicate white. ake Variety 5. Hematitiform. This variety is in layers, either flat or mamillated; and is of a fibrous texture; but is rendered compact by -the clofe manner in which the fibres are united to each other, in the fame way as is obferved in many martial hematites, and more particularly in that kind of tin ore which is known by ° - the : : | | eee eS ee ee ee ee of Copper and of Iron, li the name of wood tin, to which fome pieces of this arfeniate of copper have a very great refemblance. Yet it fometimes happens, as in many aggregate pyrites of a globular form, that the furface of the {mall mamillz is covered with little rough points: thefe are the diedral apices, which terminate the little cryftals fuppofed to contribute to their formation. This hematitic variety is found with the fame diverfity of colours as the preceding, or amianthiform variety. Fourth Species. —Ar/eniate of Copper in the Form of a triedral Prifm. The primitive form of this fpecies is a triedral prifm, the bafes of which are equilateral triangles, (fig. g.): this prifm is often confiderably lengthened in a direction pa- rallel to one of its bafes. (Fig. 10.) This form is one of the moft rare in cryftallography. The cryfals have all their fides fmooth and brilliant; yet there are obfervable in fome of them, when examined with a magnifying glafs, tran{verfe firie on the fides of the prifm, all of which are parallel to the edges of the bafes. It is therefore chiefly on the planes of si that the cryftalline laminz appear laid upon one another, to produce either the increafe or the modification of the primitive cryftal. As the eryftals of this fpecies are feldom fufficiently de- tached to be eafily perceived, and indeed are very frequently fo {mall as to efeape the obfervation of the naked eye, I think it neceffary to defcribe here all the various forms in which I have feen them, with the progrefs obferved in their_ paifage from one form to the other, however fmall the difference between thefe forms may appear. Such a defcription wilk _ lead to a better knowledge, not only of the primitive cryitak itfelf, but alfo of thofe forms of it which feem to be the mof diftant from its original one. Very frequently the triedral prifm paffes to a tetraedrak modification by the fimple replacing of one of its edges by a plane equally inclined on the adjacent ones. This plane is either very narrow, (fig. 11.) or of a more confiderable width, (Fig. 12.) Sometimes the width of the plane is fuch, that it reduces the primitive adjacent planes to extreme narrownels. (Fig. 13.) In this laft cafe, the cryftal appears under the form of a rectangular plate or lamina, having two of its nar- row oppofite fides or planes inclined, in one and the fame direétion, on one of the two broad planes. It fometimes happens, in this variety, that the two broad _oppofite planes os more or lefs to a fquare form. (Fig. 14.) 1 have alfo feen fome cryftals in which the two other edges of the prifm t On preferving Frefh Water frveet. rifm feemed to have likewife very flight fecondary planes § i. when, that happens, they are always very narrow, efpe- cially when compared with the fecondary plane of the third edge. This modification, in its various forms, is the moft common one of this fpecies. Sometimes one of the folid angles of the triedral prifm is replaced, on one fide only, by a plane that is much inclined _ to the edge of the prifm on which it is fituated ; but the cryf- tals are always too {mall to admit of being meafured with precifion. (Fig.15.) This plane, affuming a more confi-. derable extent, replaces the fame edge of the prifm by an- other plane, much broader at one extremity than the other, as is thown by the lines of large dots in the fame figure. Sometimes it has a very confiderable extent, as is reprefented in fig. r6. It then reduces one of the bafes of the triedral prifm to the form of a very narrow trapezium, while that of » *the oppofite bafe remains very broad. By a ftill more confi- derable increafe, the plane of this bafe totally difappears, and the cryftal is terminated at that extremity bya ridge. (Fig. 17.) In this variety, the eryftal is often feen placed upon one of its fcalene triangular fides, and then prefents the other at its upper extremity; an appearance which is apt to puzzle the obferver, particularly when he perceives, among the trian- gular fides which moft generally terminaté the cryftals, no- thing but equilateral triangles. This modification, in all its forms, is much Jefs common than the preceding one; it 4s, however, occafionally met with, [To be continued.] 4 Il. On preferving Frefo Water fweet during long Voyages. By Samoe. Bentuam, Ej/q.* bas E Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. navigit thought proper to offer a premium in order to afcertain, for the ufe of the public, the belt mode of preferving frefh water. {weet at fea, 1 requeft you to lay before the Society an ac-_ count of the method which I have employed for this purpofe on board two fhips, and which has been attended with all the fuccefs that can be reafonably expeéted. The mode in which I conceived frefh water might be pre- ferved fweet, was merely by keeping it in veffels of which the interior lining at leaft fhould be of fuch a fubftance as * From the Trdnfaétions of the Society of Arts, @c. Adelphi, London, . for 1801.—The Society awarded their gold medal to Mr. Bentham for * this communication. fhould On preferving Frefh Water fweet. i3 _ fhould not be a&ted upon by the water, fo as to become 4 caufe of contamination. Accordingly, on board the two fhips heve alluded to, the greater part of the water was kept, ‘not in cafks, but in cafes or tanks, which, though they were made of wood, on account of firength, were lined with me- tallic plates, of the kind manufactured by Mr. Charles Wyatt, of Bridge-ftreet, under the denomination of tinned copper-fheets ; and the junctures of the plates or fheets were foldered- together, fo that the tightnefs of the cafes depended entirely on the Jining, the water having no where accefs to the wood. The fhape of thefe cafes was adapted to that of the hold of the fhip, fome of them being made to fit clofe under the platform, by which means the quantity of water ftowed was confiderably greater than could have been ftowed, in the fame fpace, by means of cafks; and thereby the ftow- age room on board fhip was very much increafed, The quantity of water kept in this manner on board each fhip was about forty tons, divided into fixteen tanks; and there was likewife on board each of the fhips about thirty tons fiowed in cafks as ufual. , As the ftowing the water in tanks was confidered as an experiment, the water in the cafks was ufed in preference 5. that in the tanks being referved for occafions of neceflity, excepting that a fmall quantity of it was ufed occafionally for the purpofe of afcertaining its purity, or when the water in the cafks was deemed, when compared with that in the tanks, too bad for ufe. ' _ The water in thirteen of the tanks on board one fhip, and in all the tanks on board the other, was always as {weet as when firft taken from the fource; but in the other three of the tanks, on board one fhip, the water was found to be maore or lefs tainted as in the cafks. This difference, how= ever, is eafily accounted for, by fuppofing that the water of thefe tanks was contaminated before it was put into them; > for in fact the whole of the water was brought on board in cafks for the purpofe of filling the tanks, and no particular’ care was taken to talte the water at the time of taking it on board. After the water, kept in this manner, had remained on board a length of time which was deemed fufficient for expe- riment, it was ufed out, and the tanks were replenifhed as occafion required: but in fome of the tanks, on board one fhip at leaft, the original water had remained three years and a half, as appears by the certificates herewith inclofed. About twenty-five gallons of the water, which had remained this length of time in the hip, are fent to the Society, in two vef- iels : 4 ‘ 14° Machine for raifing Water. fels made of the fame fort of tinned copper with which the tanks were lined. I am, Sir, { , Your obedient fervant, ee SAMUEL BENTHAM. A certificate from captain William Bolton, commander of the faid veffel, dated Sheernefs, 28th of June 1800, accom- panied this letter, ftating, that the water delivered to the Society was taken from a tank holding about feven hundred allons, and which his predeceffor, captain Portlock, had informed him had been poured into this tank in December 3796, except about thirty gallons added in 1798, and had remained good during the whole time. The fignatures to the above accounts were certified on the 28th of June 1800, by the Rev. C. Thee, minifter of Sheer- nefs. > In a letter dated January 27, general Bentham alfo ftates, that the water which had been preferved fweet on board his maje(ty’s floops Arrow and Dart, and of which he had fent fpecimens to the Society, was taken from the well at the king’s brewhoufe at Weevil, from whence fhips of war lying at or near Portfmouth are ufually fupplied with water for their fea {tore, as well as for prefent ufe. Ill. Defcription of a Machine for raifing Water. By Mr. H. Sarseant, of Whitehaven, in Cumberland*. SIR, AM fenfible that the little engine, a drawing of which accompanies this letter, can lay no great claim to novelty in its principle ; neverthelefs it is refpectfully fubmitted to the confideration of the Society, how far its fimplicity, and cheap- nefs of conftruétion, may render it worthy of their attention, with a view to its being more generally known, and ufed in fimilar cafes. Irton hall, the feat of E. L. Irton, efq. is fituated on an afcent of ‘fixty or fixty-one feet perpendicular height; at the foot of which, at the diftance of about 140 yards from the offices, runs a fmall ftream of water. The obje& was to raife this to the houfe for domeftic purpofes. To this end a dam was made at a fhort diftance above, fo as to caufe a fall of about four feet; and the water was brought by a wooden trough, into which was inferted a piece of two-inch leaden pipe, a part of which is feen at A. (fig. 1. Plate IT,) * From the Tranladions of tbe Society of Arts, Sc. Adelpot, London, for v501.-—The Society awarded their filver medal to Mr. Sarjeant. P oy) Machine for raifing Water. | 15 The fiream of this pipe is fo directed as to run into the bucket B, when the bucket is elevated; but fo foon as it begins to defcend, the ftream flows over it, and goes to fup- ply the wooden trough or well in which the foot of the foreing pump C ftands, of three inches bore, D, is an iron cylinder attached to the pump rod, which paffes through it. It is filled with lead, and weighs about 240lbs. This is the power which works the pump, and forces the water through 420 feet of inch pipe from the pump up to the houfe. At E is fixed a cord which, when the bucket comes to within four or five inches of its loweft projection, becomes ftretched, and opens a valve in the bottom of it, through which the water empties itfelf. I beg leave to add, that an engine in a great degree fimilar to this was ereéted fome years ago by the late James Spgd- ding, efq. for a lead mine near Kefwick, with the addition of a fmaller bucket, which emptied itfelf into the larger near the beginning of its defcent, without which addition it was found that the beam only acquired a libratory motion, with- out making a full and effective, ftroke. To anfwer this purpofe in a more fimple way, I conftruéted the {mall engine in fuch manner as to finifh its flroke ({peak- ing of the bucket end) when the beam comes into an hori- zontal pofition, or a little below it.- By this means the lever is virtually lengthened in its defcent in the proportion of the radius to the cofine, about thirty degrees, or as feven to fix nearly, and confequently its power is increafed in an equal proportion. It is evident that the opening of the valve might have been effected, perhaps better, by a projecting pin at the bottom ; but I chofe to give an exact defcription: of the en- gine as it ftands, It has now been fix months in ufe, and completely anfwers the purpofe intended. The only artiffs employed, except the plumber, were a country blackfmith and carpenter; and the whole coft, ex- clufive of the pump and pipes, did not amount to 51. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, Warwick Court, Holborn. H, Sa RJEANT,. Mr. Charles Taylor, In another letter, dated Whitehaven, April 28, 1801, Mr. Sarjeant further obferves, that the pump requires about eighteen gallons of water in the bucket to raife the counter- weight, and make a freth flroke in the pump; that it makes three 16 Obfervations on the Ipomea Hifpida. three {trokes in a minute, and gives about a half gallon inte the cittern at each ftroke. [He adds, ‘I fpeak of what it did in the dryeft part of laft fummer; when it fupplied a large family, together with work-people, &c. with water for all purpofes, in a fituation where none was to be had before, except fome bad water from a common pump, which has been fince removed. But the above fupply being more than fufficient, the machine is occafionally {topped to prevent wear, which is done by merely cafting off the firing of the bucket valve.” P.S. LT have juft been informed that a drawing of the ‘engine, which I had communicated to a perfon in this neigh= bourhood, was fent to a colliery near Swanfea fome months -ago, and that it has already been applied to ufe there; it is not, however, fufficiently powerful for the coal-works in this nejghbourhood. The following Certificate accompanied thefe Letters. T do hereby certify, that the water engine, conftruéted near my houfe under the direction of Mr. Sarjeant, has been eight months in ufe, and fully anfwers the purpofe intended. | i Epmunp L. Inron, Trton Hall, March 18, 18or. I do alfo certify the above to be true. Rosert WILKINSON, ‘ One of his majefty’s juftices of the peace for the county of Cumberland. March 13, 1Sor. IV. Os/ervations on the Ipomea Hifpida, and fome other Plants of the Family of the Convolvulus. By FELIX FontTana*, I. Ta E ipomea hifpida, and other plants of the cov volvulus kind, haye the property, as they grow up, of twift- ing themfelves around bodies in the neighbourhood with which they come in contaét. They exercife this fingular pro- perty on every kind of body, whether vegetable or mineral, ereat or fmall, even when they are as flender as a thread. II. The fpirals formed by thefe plants are loofe, and at a diftance from each other, when the diameter of the body which they embrace is of a confiderable fize. If it decreafes they become clofer, and approach each other more, in fuch * From Mémoires de la Société Médicale d’Emulation. Quatri¢me année. Paris 1801. @ manner Obfervations on the Ipomea Hifpida. 17 # manner that one is fometimes tempted to believe that they are in contaét. I have prefented to thefe plants metals, ftones, and the branches of trees, fometimes green and fometimes dry, the figures of which were infinitely varied, and always obferved that the fpirals they form adhere, by immediate contaé&t, to the whole length of thefe bodies. I tried to change the direétion of thefe fpirals, to make them afcend or defcend from left to right, if they inclined before from right to left; and they always yielded to thefe changes with facility in a very little time. II. When they are abandoned to themfelves, and find no bodies near them to which they cati attach themfelves fo as to climb around them, they creep along the ground, fall back on themfelves, become interwoven in a thoufand dif- ferent ways, and force themfelves into the ground: they ex- tend to a great diftance on every fide, and form a net of {pirals clofely united. IV. After having long ftudied the character of thefe plants, I muft confels that 1 am acquainted with no mecha- nical: principle by which the movements and fingular pro- erties which they exhibit can be explained. This kind of inftin&, which makes them fearch for neighbouring bodies to affift them to rife; thofe {pirals, which they conflantly form as they grow up; thofe angles and thofe folds, which are found always proportioned to the figure of the bodies they meet with; the facility with which their ftems, even when exceedingly hard and robutt, can fall back upon themfelves, and form angles fo much the fmaller as the bodies to which they attach themfelyes are flenderer: all thefe phanomena, abfolutely contrary to the reétilineal progrefs affected by the fibres of plants, as well as»by their veffels and the liquors they contain, make me fufpeéct,:in thofe which we examine, a new principle of fenfation and life. V. It mutt not be believed that the ipomea hi/pida thus twifts round upon itfelf merely becaufe it 1s formed of {piral fibres, and that all its movements are only a neceflary effect of its interior organization. Such an opinion is entirely void - of foundation. It would indeed be fruitlefs labour to fearch for thefe pretended f{piral fibres by the help of the microfcope, for that inftrument exhibits only reétilineal fibres and canals, Befides, I have always found by experience that the direction of thefe plants may bé changed at pleafure; that, if the {pirals they defcribe around any body are formed on the right, they may be immediately turned to the left, and vice ver/a. Their movements, therefore, can be afcribed neither to any peculiar Vou. XI. B mechanifm, 18 Objervations on the Ipomaa Hifpida. mechanifm, nor to local circimftances ; and they feem equally capable of moving on all fides. . VI. Ivy is the only plant, and perhaps the only body, with which they do not fympathize: they are not fond of uniting with it, or twifting themfelves around it.” If any external power unites them to that plant, and forces them to deferibe around it a certain number of circumvolutions, they endea- vour to avoid it, to difembarrafs themfelves from it, and they remove from it as foon as circumftances will permit. VII. Ifa branch of the plants in queftion be fufpended in the air, it continues to defcend in a perpendicular direétion, unlefs it be very flender. In that cafe, it abandons the ftraight line which it followed, and bends itfelf contrary to the laws of gravitation, raifes itfelf up, and returns to its own ftem, that it may defcribe around it the ufual fpirals. VIII. Sometimes the extremity of thefe plants, after having twifted itfelf feveral times around different neighbouring bo- dies, abandons the fpirals it had begun to form, and recedes feveral inches; efpecially if deranged in its progrefs, either on purpofe or by the effect of fome local circumftances: but, by a very wonderful mechanifm, it almoft always falls back towards thofe bodies which it embraced, fearches for them as if by natural inftin&t, and again twifts itfelf around them, following the fpirals it defcribed before. Thefe fpirals are fituated in a direction from the top to the bottom, or from the bottom to the top, according to the pofition of the point which terminates them. Indifferent to every kind of direc- tion, they conftantly follow that given to them, without obeying either the laws of gravity, or thofe by which other — plants feem to be regulated. IX. All thefe phenomena eannot be explained by fimple mechani{m: they feem to be the effeét of a principle of fenfa- tion and life;-a principle which I difcovered feveral years ago in the ¢remel/z of Dillon, and fome other fmaller plants, as yet little known, of the family of /i/crons, and of which I have demonftrated the exiftence by evident proofs, as may be feen in my different works. Thefe proofs have never yet been contefted by any obferver or philofopher. X. Life and jenfation are found to be obfcured among certain animals which have very little analogy with man and with common animals, and to becomne the lefs apparent as their organization difiers from ours. Sometimes, even, it is difficult to believe that they enjoy real life; and this difco- very can be made only by the laborious refearches of the phi- Bofophic obferver. Several of thefe animals are a ; the a Obfervations on the Ipomaea Hifpida. xg the organs of hearing, fight, tafte, and fmell. There are whole families which have not the organ of voice, that pow- erful mean for difcovering fenfation ; and the fenfe of touch itfelf is fometimes fo obfeure by the abfence of thofe fenfible movements and violent agitations manifefted by other ani- mals in confequence of any firoke, that it cannot be known whether it is produced by fenfation, or by any other principle unknown, and merely mechanical. Even the organs of di- eftion, which in other animals are internal, can be fupplied. in the family of the polypes by the external organs, and even by the fkin itfelf. It is well known that thefe animals form a kind of elongated bag, if they are turned, like the finger of a glove; the {tomach becomes fkin, and performs the func- tions of it, while the fkin becomes ftomach, and digeftion continues, XI. It was formerly thought that, to afcertain whether an organized being belonged to the animal or vegetable king- ~ dom, it was futlicient to divide it into feveral parts; but at prefent we are acquainted with a multitude of animals which may be divided. without deftroying them, and which even multiply, like fome plants, in proportion as they are divided. XI. The little analogy, therefore, which exifts between our organs and thofe of plants, and even the abfolute priva- tion of certain organs, will not permit us to obtain certain and evident proofs of the life and fenfation of vegetables, For, if we fuppofe that all plants are endowed with fenfation, and that it iseven much more exquifite than our own, how can we afcertain whether their mode of living and feeling be dif- ferent from ours, if their organs have no relation to our or- gans, and if they are obits deprived of thofe. which could aét upon ours? But though we cannot prove directly, and in an evident manner, that plants feel, it by no means thencé follows that plants are incapable of feeling as well as animals, and even in a much more exquifite manner. We cannot without temerity, and without expofing ourfelves to the danger of falling into error, refufe to nature a power which the ex- ercifes, perhaps, over all organized beings. XIIL. Motion, perhaps, is the moft certain chara¢ter by which animals are diftinguifhed, and that which rarely aban- dons them: without it we fhould be obliged to confider as inanimate an infinite number of beings in whom life is ma- nifefted in the moft evident manner by the rapid movements of their different parts; movements which can in no manner be afcribed to mere mechanifm, but which are neceflarily cha sry by fenfation; and yet thefe movements fometimes me fo flow, and fo obfcure, that they are capable of ex. Ba ‘havfling > 2d Obfervations on the Ipomzea Hi/pida. haufting the patience, the fagacity, and the talents of the moft indefatigable philofophic obferver. XIV. But if the vital movements ate obfcure im a very great number of animals, they become almoft imperceptible tn plants. I do not hete fpeak of thofe movements, fo well known, of the fenfitive plant, the bedy/arum gyrans, and the ‘dtamina of feveral others, which, as foon as touched, move and contraé themfelves. . It would be difficult to prove that thefe movements are really vitalg and that they arife from fenfation : they‘appear to me to be purely mechanical, though we may be ignorant of the real mechanifm which produces them; and they havea great analogy to thofe which depend ‘on the elafticity or {pring of certain machines which, when once wound up, wnbend themfelves, and continue.to move as long as the force and principle by which they were put im ‘ation exifts.’ XV. The indefatigable botanift Dillon ftudied with great care athe fnall tremella, but he did not difcover thofe movements which it confiantly manifefts to the eye of an attentive philo- fopbic obferver. Adanfon went ftill further, but without ob- ferving in it any thing that depends on a real principle of life ‘and feAifation. Having become the object of my refearches, it “exhibited to me a great number of movements {till unknown, and of the greafe{t importance. After having carefully exa- mined, and, as I may fay, analyfed them, it appeared to me, ‘a3 may be feen in my works, that they might conduét to a real principle of hfe altogether different from mere mecha- nifm. But I muft confels there are only two plants the life ‘and fenfution of which I was able to demonftrate in an evi- dent manner, and fo as to leave no doubt; and thefe two plants are very fmall, and even microfcopic. They ‘have Jitde'if any analogy with other plants ; and though they ex- Aibit all the properties by which vegetables are characterized, ome even may clafs them in the animal kingdom. But whatever may be the cafe, and however important the quei- ‘thon may appear, it cannot deftroy truths founded on facts »and oblervations. It is much to be withed, for the progrefs ‘of fcience, that the life and fenfation of common plants could be proved,’ and that it were poflible to fhow that thefe quali- ‘ties, fo wonderful, and at the fame time fo obfcure, do ‘not exclafively belong to‘animals, but that they are extended to ‘all organized beings. ' XVF. I opened the entrance into this laborious and difi- ‘cult path by fome obfervations, which were indeed very im- perfect, on the convelvuli ;-a kind of plants which are very darge, and well known to eyery body. Animated sec od \ a dehire Ob/fervations on the Ipomea Hifpida. Qn a defire to be ufeful, obfervers abler than myfelf, and more favoured by circumfances, will no doubt finifh what I have only fketched out. XVII. To encourage them, and fhow them the probabi- lity of the moft brilliant fuccefs, let me be permitted to fay a few words refpeéting two properties equally common to animals and vegetables, from which life and, fenfation feem to flow—I mean generation and refpiration, fo necetlary to thefe two kinds of organized beings. XVIII. Air is an element fo neceffary to animal life, that it becomes weakened, and is at length extinguifhed, when entirely deprived of it; and from my own obfervations I am induced to believe that no animal can live without air, and without a quantity, more or lefs confiderable, of oxygen ; though we are but imperfectly acquainted with the manner in which it aéts, how it is refpired by the different animals, and by what means they are able to feparate it from the dif- ferent fubfiances with which it is united, and which can more or lefs alter-its purity. 4 XIX. What is certain is, that fmall eels, fufceptible of being recalled to life, die if deprived of air, or if care be not taken to renew it; and it would be loft labour to attempt to veanimate them, if the water in which they are immerfed is not in contaét with refpirable air. They live only a very fhort time in every kind of water deprived of that air.” They die in hydrogen and nitrogen; though thefe gafes are not prejudicial to them of themfelves ; and do not occafion to them fudden death, like the greater part of the other gales, without even excepting carbonic acid gas. It appears, then, that oxygen contains the vital principle ; and the principle it has of maintaining and preferving life, induces us to believe that if it does not communicate it direly, it can at leaft awaken it, and put it in actions The fmall animals above mentioned are an irrefragable proof of this affertion. They remain dead as long as they are deprived of oxygen, but its prefence immediately reftores them to life and motion. It may therefore be faid that it contains the direct principle of _ Jifey which it infufes into them; or.that their vital organs, in order to be reanimated, ftood in need only of this aliment, of which they were deprived. a) XX. The abfolute need which plants ‘have of air Jn order to vegetate and be preferved, renders it highly probable that it ferves for the fame purpofes among animals; and that it ought to be confidered in thefe two clafles of beings as a principle from which life flows, in’ the fame manner as an effect from its caufe, Befides, vegetables are organized as a y well - 42 Odfervations on the Ipomaa Hi/pida. well as animals; they increafe alfo by nutrition; and though - this funétion in both follows laws different in their details and application, we may however affert, that plants have in general more refemblance to our fmail eels, than the latter have to common animals. A plant, indeed, may be dried to a certain degree, fome even may bé reduced to a ftate of perfe& deficcation, without’ lofing the property of vegetating as before; whereas the flighteft deficcation of animals is, in general, fufficient to deprive them of life for ever. The di- verfity of thefe phenomena is, no doubt, owing to the fim- plicity of the organs of plants and of our microfcopic eels, and, above all, to the facility with which the latter can be dried, which prevents.the corruption and diffolution of their organs; while this diffolution is unavoidable among common animals which have a very complex organization, and whofe humours naturally tend to corruption, This, however, in no manner deftroys the great analogy which exifts between thefe two fpecies of beings; an analogy founded in particular on the circumftance of both having equal need of oxygen for their exiftence. i § XXI. Generation, that myftery, fo obfcure in its princi- ples, which belongs no lefs to plants than to animals, forms the fecond kind of analogy between the two claffes of organ- ized beings, and induces us to believe, that where the organs are the fame, and have the fame ufes, we ought to find alfo an identity of wants. Vegetables and animals have diftiné& — parts of feparate fexes, male and female organs in ifferent individuals, and. exhibit efforts in thefe different fexual parts to confummate the act of fecundation. Since, the fexual organs, and the manner of reproducing themfelves, are common to the two grand families of organized beings, do they differ in fenfation? And this difference, fo impro- ' bable between beings fo like in other refpects, and the only one of the kind, perhaps, that can be found in nature, on what is it founded? Is it on our organs and mode of fenfa~ tion not being in harmony or unifon with that of plants? Was there ever any reafon weaker, or lefs philofophical ? XXII. The movements of the male organs of plants which perpetuate their fpecies, and the manner in which they prepare for that grand work, feem to me to deferve par- ticular confideration, and further refearch. I propofe to un- dertake this lab or rather to continue it; for I have al- ready been employed on this objeét under various circum- fances, and I am of opinion that the fum of my obfervationsis fufficiently decifive to enable me to affert, with fome founda- tion, that the movements by which different beings repro 6 : uce Obfervations on the Ipomea Hi/pida. 23 duce themfelves, are not the refult of mere mechanifm, but that the grand aét of generation is executed by a principle of fenfation which regulates and directs it: it, however, appears that this fenfation abandons plants as foon as the end of na- ture is accomplifhed. Thus we fee different kinds of ani- mals die when they have enfured the reproduétion of their fpecies. -XXIII. It is then highly probable that plants as well as animals enjoy a principle of life and fenfation, whatever be the nature of that principle, and notwithftanding the differ- ence it exhibits in thefe two families of organized beings; a difference which is neceffary, fince their ftruéture is not the fame. The abfolute need of oxygen, which is equally felt by both; the fimilitude of their organs; the analogous moye- ments in the ufe of thefe organs; and, in the la{t place, the inconvenience there would be to refufe life and fenfation to other plants, while we are obliged to acknowledge it in the two microfcopic plants which I examined, befides thofe alluded to in this memoir;.are all proofs on which the life and fenfibility of plants are founded. It muft, neverthelefs, be confeffed, that the little analogy which there is between their organs and ours, will. not permit fis to eftablifh thefe proofs on facts, and to give them the evidence of demonftration. It appears, however, very furprifing that nature grants to ve- getables a force and an energy which it feems to have refufed toanimals, I allude to the property which the former pof- fefs, not only of decompofing every kind of bodies, but of col- le&ting the‘elements to form new compounds, and thus to produce foffils and even metals. Animals are deftitute of this property, or at leaft enjoy it only in a weak degree. XXIV. Life and fenfibility, however, in different_ani- mals exhibit degrees fo various and different, become weaker, and decreafe by gradations fo infenfible, that the philofophic obferver can fearcely fix their limits, and afcer- tain where they begin and where they end. It even appears that fenfibility, to judge at leatt by its effects, is not altogether of the fame nature in the different kinds of animals. The numerous obfervations and experiments, which I have made for years, on the fenfibility of animals, particularly the cold-blooded, and on the return ef fome of them from a fate of death to that of life, leave mo doubt. that there are 4 great many of them in which the feyereft wounds occafion neither fenfation nor pain, For example, if the head of a fy r e * The naturalift and real philofopher will not be furprifed to fee the author fix his attention on a fly, an infeét confidered by the vulgar as con- temptible. The fimallef infeét enjoys life and fenfation as well as the B4 Jargeft 24 Odjervations on the Ipomea Hifpida. be cut off, it continues to fly about, to walk, to leap, and to, climb as before; its regular and uniform motions, fometimes flow and tranquil, fometimes quick and animated, exhibit nothing convulfive, nothing that refembles thofe violent agi- tations which accoinpany pain. Ina word, the number and rapidity of thefe movements, as well as the time that thefe flies can live, are fubject to no fixed rule. ' Let us ftop for a moment to confider the movement of their legs ; they are equally various and wonderful as thofe by which they can move the whole of their body. — XXV. To appreciate properly the different movements per- formed by an animal in a ftate of health or of difeafe, it is neceffary to have an exact idea of the cireumftances in which it is placed, of the motives and impnifes which in general induce it to move; in a word, we mult be acquainted with its natare and character. | This being premited, it is eafy to obferve, that of the nine kinds of movement to which thofe executed by flies in a itate of health may be reduced, eight ftill fubfift even after they have been deprived of the head. Scarcely has a fly been decapitated when it is feen to move its hind legs for a Jong time, and at different periods to crofg them, either ftanding up or flying, to rub them along its body, to hook the one into the other in the form of a wheel, and to agitate them in a thoufand ways with wonderful rapidity and regularity, All thefe movements, which conftitute the firft kind here treated of, are abfolutely fimilar to thofe per- formed by a flv, when, polleffing perfect health, and. being harafled by no fear or want, it appears to move only for its own pleafure. Thefe movements, then, feem to be produced in thefe two ftates, fo oppofite, by the fame principle, that is, fenfation and volition. duh” XXVI. The fecond kind of movement refults from their hind legs, which they raife up towards the interior edge of their. wings ; fo that by thefe. means they are elevated, and placed in diffegent directions. The object of thefe movements, ex- ceedingly varied, though conffant, feems to be, to rub, beat, and polifh their wings.’ Their hind legs can execute a third kind of movement, no lefs varied, when, conveying them above their wings, which they keep extended, they rub them, beat them, and polifh them, as in the preceding cafe. Their middle legs alfo are often obferved to be twifted around thofe behind, and to fab each other muutually; which forms two new kinds of motion different from thofe we have exa- mined, , largeft animals: thefe properties belong as much to microfcopic and infu- fion animals, as to the elephant and whale.. Nothing is contemptible in the eyes of the philofopher ; every thing in nature is great and wonderful, XXVIII. \- Objervations on the Ipomea Hi/pida. 25 ' XXVII. They can alfo. move their fore legs, and twift them in the form of a wheel; wh:ch forms a fixth kind of movement, fo various and multiplie: that the eye can {carcely follow them. The feventh and ei ht kinds refult from the union and interlacement of their middle legs with thofe be- fore. What feems furprifing is, that thefe eight kinds of movement are perfectly fimilar to thofe voluntarily performed by the animal, and as it were for pleaiure, before its head is cut off, and when it enjoys perfect health and tranquillity. In the laft place, flies perform a ninth kind of movement by | conveying their legs and thighs around their head, which they rub and polifh in various directions. It is evident that this movement cannot take place after they have been de- eapitated, XXVIII. Flies certainly would not exhibit thefe phzno- mena if they experienced as acute pain as warm-blooded ani- mals when fubjeéted to decapitation, which is conttantly followed by fpeedy death. Will it be faid that thefe different movements fuppofe, on their part, neither pleafure nor recrea~ tion, but rather a need which they experience of rubbing and polifhing their legs, their wings, and different parts of their Podies But if this be the cafe, we mutt be forced to confeis that decapitation does not prevent them from being fenfible to finall privations and old habits, which are by no means neceflary to their exiftence ; a manifeft proof that it occafions no pain to them, or at leaft that it is exceedingly flight; otherwife they would not attend to things of fo little import- ance. XXIX. Cold-blooded animals could fuppiy me with many examples of a fimilar kind; but I fhall content myfelf with mentioning only one, furnithed by the tortoife. If the head of this animal be cut off, or, what is fill better, if its brains be feooped out with dexterity, it feems to be fearcely fenfible of the operation; it continues to walk as before, it afcends and defcends, avoids thofe obftacles which it meets with, turns itfelf to different fides, lands up on its hind paws, and performs movements of every kind; and though its paws are -eoyered with a bard and fealy fkin, if they are flightly touched even with a feather when Tt is walking, or has been a little irritated, it immediately draws them back, and remains fome ‘time at reft: ina word, its fenffbility feems to be fo little altered, thut it feels the {malle{t impreffion made on its fhell. Tortoifes live in this manner five or fix months without any change being observed in their movements or habits: there are even certiin movements which they execute with move readinefs and furcty than in their flate of integrity. Such is ; that - 26 Obfervations on the Ipomea Hi/fpida. that by which they turn themfelyes on their belly, and ftand “upon their hind paws. They at length die at the end of fix months; but it appears that their death ought to be - aferibed rather to hunger than to the operation to which they have been fubjected, fince thofe on*whom it has not becn performed die in the fame time if deprived of nourifh- ment. If the tortoife in this ftate experiences real pain, were it even very flight, it would certainly not feel the weak im- preffious made on the fhell which covers it; for it is well known that a very ftrong impreflion entirely effaces that which is very weak. XXX. The facts I have eftablithed will, no doubt, find many oppofers. This muft be the cafe. They are furprifing ; have even fomething of the marvellous; and tend, in parti- cular, to deftroy errors hitherto confidered as inconteftable truths, f . XXXI. We, however, know that fenfibility is very weak im animals at the time of their birth; that it is gradually expanded with their organs; and, when come to its highett degree, tt begins to decreafe by infenfible gradations until it is at length entirely extinguifhed, when the animal dies. It is eafy to obferve thefe ditterent degrees of fenfibility in ani- mals attacked by difeafes, or fubjected to experiments of this kind. : XXXII. I might here add, that no naturalift is now igno- rant that the fmall eels which have been the object of my obfervations, and which are found in different kinds of the gall-nut, can pafs infenfibly from the. ftate of death to that of life; die again, to be afterwards revived, if circumftances admit; and that the number of thefe different refurreétions is ftill indetermined. It is more than. twenty-fix years fince { publithed, in different journals, the obfervations whic firm thefe truths; and I have demonftrated, in the moft evi- dent manner, that thefe fmall animals may be revived at pleafure; that they enjoy this fingular faculty as long as they are hermaphrodites, but that at the moment when they allume a fex they returnto the common law, and, when onee dead, can no longer be reviyed. I have even found the means of giving them a fex at : ee and thefe means are thofe employed by nature for perpetuating their {pecies*. V. An * Thefe truths and feveral others are explained and illuftrated in ‘a work, which J intend to publifh, on the life, death, and fenfibility of animals. This work, feveral fragments of which have been communi- cated, for more than twenty years pafl, to different learned men in Europe, will be enriched with above 200 engravings, and will form twe large ua ' fumes tiny] “ VY. An Examination of C. Crouet’s new Proce/s for making Cafi Steel from Bar Iron by means of the Decom- pojtion of Carbonic Acid. By Davip Musuer, E/7, of the Calder Iron Works *. ie the prefent extenfive ftate of the iron trade in Britain, which exceeds in that manufacture alone the collective exer- tions of all Europe, every difcovery which miay lead to elu- . ¢idate the principles of this art, and place them upon a per- manent foundation, or which may remove thofe local dilad- vantages, the inevitable confequence of the ufe of pit-coal, become highly interefting. To counteraét the inferior effects produced by this otherwife invaluable combuiftible in the convertion of caft into malleable iron, and to produce Britith bar iron equal in quality for all purpofes, ftecl-making in- cluded, to the foreign fabrics, would be an attainment of much national importance. Multiplied beyond precedent have been the modes devifed within the laft fifty years; but as they have been merely modifications of each other, with no effential change of principle in the operation, the refults have been confequent to the unvaried nature of the means. _ Every new idea, therefore, ought to be feized with eagernefs, accurately examined, and put to the teft of experiment. Ul- timately great improvement may be drawn from a hint loofely thrown out, or even derived from experiments, which, though at firft fight engaging, may neither carry with them convic- tion of principle, nor be produétive of eventual utility. Im- preffed with a full conviction of thefe truths, the procefs for converting iron into fteel, communicated by the French che- mifts in the Journal des Mines, No. 45, appeared to me de-~ ferving of a fair examination. To this procefs [ alluded in, my laft communication, and to it I fhall now particularly attend, The report of citizens Guyton and D’Arcet to the French National Inftitute, announcing this difcovery, fets forth, that C. Clouet, among other inventions, had devifed a method of converting iron"into fteel by means of the de- ,compofition of the carbonic acid in lime. To prove this, lumes in quarto, I have need only of a few moments of philofophic Ici- fure to put the laft hand to it; but, can I hope for it after having been perfecuted with as much injuftice as barbarity + * Communicated by the Author.—In Mr. Muthet’s paper given in ou ee Number, Vol. xi. p. 289, line 16, for /late of ftcely read Dale of ftcel, feveral 28 New Procefs for making feveral experiments are detailed with a degree of minutenefs bordering upon demonftration. os The report flates, that a 3d part of carbon is fufficient to convert iron into fteel: a quantity of it, equal to ith of the weight of the iron, gives a quality of fteel more fufible but ftill malleable; but beyond that term it approaches to catt iron, and has no longer fufficient tenacity. By increafing the dofe of carbon you increafe the fufibility, and it pafles at length into the ftate of gray caft iron. . In purfuance of the proportions here laid down, we find the report prefcribes, that a mixture of carbénate of lime and argil, comprifing 2-3ds the weight of the iron, muft be em-= ployed, viz. 1-3d the weight of the iron of carbonate, and the fanie proportion of argil. Thefe are to be introduced into a crucible along with fragments of iron, expofed to heat for a time fufficient to effect fufion, and that the refult will be found fteel. . That C. Clouet applied the proportion of 1-3d of carbonate of lime, from a calculation of the quantity of carbonic acid it contained, and thence the quantity of carbon difengaged by its probable decompofition, will appear very evident from an analyfis of the experiments performed by citizens Guyton, D’Arcet, and Vauquelin. The quantity of iron cperated upon in this experiment was 6914 grains. Admitting, according to Clouet, that 3:4 part of carbon was fufficient to convert this quantity into ftee], then 216.6. grains of carbon are requifite for this pur- pote. We find that one-half of the flux ufed amounted to 2304 grains of carbonate of lime. If we fuppofe this united with 36 per cent. of carbonic acid, then the refulting quantity of acid will be 829°44 grains. Granting, according to La- voifier, that the component parts of carbonic acid are 72 of oxygen and 28 of carbon, then by the following formula we 82944 X 28 1coO have = 232°5 grains of carbon, nearly. Grains. Contained in this portion of lime : - 2395 Quantity of carbon neceflary to fleelify the iron at : the rate of ;',d part - - - 216° 4; 3, ae ge This fmall difference is eafily accounted for by fuppofing the lefs difference to have exifted, as to the quantity of carbonic acid contained im the lime ufed by Clouet. : I think it probable, from the coincidence here pointed out, that the other proportions of Clouet were fixed by the fame fiandard of calculation; at leaft, the detail of experrments which a Caft Steel from Bar Iron. 2g which T fhall bring forward relative to the various parts of this theory, as formerly ftated, will bear certain evidence that the whole had been founded upon one feries of experi- ments, the juftnefs of which may be gathered from what follows. ; Grains, Exp. 1. Four pieces of malleable iron, weighing 1457 were tntroduced into a Stourbridge clay crucible, and the following mixture added, being the exact propor- tions pointed out by Clouet: ; 1-3d of Balerochan raw lime, or 486 grains ; 1-3d of Stourbridge clay (old pot), or 486 grains. The pieces of iron were imbedded. in, and completely covered by, the mixture of earths. The crucible was expofed for 35 minutes to a high heat, when the mix- ture was fuppofed to be reduced. The refult was a fine dark green glafs, tranfparent towards the edges, covering a perfect regulus of metal. Upon clofe exa- mination, a few traces of imperfea cryftallization were vifible upon the upper furface. The under furface was marked with deep pits or honey-combs, but nothing which betokened any great degree of divifion having taken place while the metalwas fluid.—This product weighed - - - - 1434 ; Loft in fufion 20 equal to .",d part the weight of the iron introduced. From the dark colour of the glais [ inferred that a quantity of iron equal to the deficient weight might eafily be diffufed through- out the mafs. The quality of this metallic button was minutely examined, _ and the following charatteriftics rigidly afcertained : The mafs was partially cut bile with a chifel, and with difficulty broken cold over an anvil. The fraéture difplayed a confiderable quantity of fibre ; a few imperfeét granulations, of no determinate form, were alfo vifible, bunt poffeffed of a fmall degree of comparative lufire. One-half of the button was forged at a cherry heat. It drew into a fquare fhape with facility; but the action of the hammer, even at this low heat, expreffed a confiderable number of fparks. The folidity of the bar, notwithftanding the fufion, was far from bein complete. At a high red feat: a flight hammering diffipate ' the particles of metal like caft iron: One end of the bar was plunged into water at the ordinary heat for fieel. This produced no alteration, and the bar bent feveral times without breaking. When agam hammered, it was plunged at a bright red: the furface then fhaled a little, 4 and, 30 New Proce/s for making and, upon being touched by the file, felt perceptibly harder. The fracture of the piece thus hardened was of an open re- gular grain, approaching fomewhat, in point of colour, to malleable iron. A fraéture from the unhardened part of the bar was precifely that of bar iron made in the puddling pro- cefs ;.a dark blueifh fibre breaking thort acrofs, without tear- ing out in groups. But before I allowed myfelf to draw any conclufion from this experiment, I deemed it neceflary to repeat it as follows: ) Exp. 11. The quantity of iron now operated upon Grains. was - - - - 1331 ‘To which wére added 1-3d of the fame carbonate of lime, or 443 grains; 1-3d of Stourbridge clay (old pot), 443 grains. Y This mixture was arranged as in No. 1. The cru- cible was introduced into the furnace, and in 30 mi- nutes I judged the fufion entire. A metallic button, as in No. 1, was found, beneath a dark green glafs, which weighed ~ - - 1312 1% Loft in fufion 19 equal to 7.th part of the original quantity of iron introduced, The glafs obtained in this experiment, upon comparing fragments of equal thicknefs, was found one fhade lighter than in No. 1. The upper furface of the metallic button exhibited a more perfeé&t approach to cryftallization than in No.1. This fuppofes a more perfect fufion had been ef- fected. The under furface contained one large pit, the in- terior furface of which was ftrongly marked with a ftreaky eryftallization. The fra@ture was alfo brighter, and the grain more diftinétly formed than in No. 1. A bar forged from one-half of the button drew into a fhape at a low red heat, Ata white heat it ftood a few blows; but, in returning through the intermediate heats, diffipated like hot fand. This comparifon was made in September. laft, ‘and |the temperature about 60. . Having a flock, of acid of the fpecific gravity 1435, a little diftilled water was daily added,,.and the gravity taken the day after each addition of the water 5 then. the areometre de Baumé was immerfed with the follow- ing correfpondence. It will be eafy to underftand: and cal- culate the degrees of Baumé both aboye and below thofe al. ready compared and examined. [had no, acid, of higher gravity than 1435, nor did I defcend lower than 1150; which as a weaker acid than ufed in moft metallurgic operations. - The areometer, or pc/e-liqueur, is graduated from © up to 5°- Specific Gravity. Strength by the § Water taken as 1000. Areometers 65 1S (435 1416 1400 1383 1367 » 1358 1350 1342 — soe 1312 1300 1283 1275) 1267, 1250 . RBS i 1216 1167 . ' 1150 ~ ‘VII. Obfervations on the Plant by which the Indians of Ame- rica preferve themfelves from the Bite of venomous Serpents. Communicated to Count RUMFORD by Don PepKO D'OR- BIES yY VARGAS *. I HE abundance of venomous ferpents found in the warm diftricts of America has rendered it neceflary for the * From the Biddiorkéque Britannique, by Profeffor Paster. unfortunate a Prefervative from the Bite of Serpents. 37 unfortunate Indians and negroes, who traverfe the woods almoft always barefooted, to fearch out the moft efficacious Femedies for the difagreeable effects produced by the bite of thefe avimals. Of the remedies hitherto difeovered, none is ~ equal to the juice of a plant of the creeping kind called vejuca s du guaco; for it not only cures the maladies arifing from the bite of ferpents, but preferves from thefe effects thofe wha have drank of it before they are bitten; fo that the negroes and Indians acquainted with this plant, lay hold, with their naked hands, of the moft venomous ferpents without fuftain- ing any injury from them, This knowledge, of which they, formerly made a great myltery, gave them much importance in the country; and there is no doubt that they gained a great ‘deat of money, both from thofe who were bitten by ferpents, and froni thofe who were defirous, through curiofity, to fee them handle thefe dangerous animals. Being born in the kingdom of Santa-Fé, belonging to South America, Ishad often heard the inhabitants boatiiog of the great ability of thefe negroes, whom my countrymen call empirics. But'as in the capital, where I was educated, which lies in'a cold diftrict, there are no venomous ferpents, Phad no opportunity cf feeing any till the year 1788, when, - being at Margerita, | heard of a flave who had a great re- _putation-as being invulnerable to ferpents, and who belonged to'a gentleman of that place. As I was refolved to examme him myfelf, | begged his mafier to fend for him, with a fuf- nine provifion of ferpents; which he readily confented to do. On the goth of May, the fame year, the-negro came to the houfe where I refided with one of the moft venomous serpents of the country, which he had put into a calabath ; a kind of veflel employed by thefe people for the fame pur- pofes as bottles are employed in Europe. . Having informed bim that [ was defirous of feeing a fpecimen of his talents, he replied that he was ready to gratify my curiofity, and, taking the ferpent from the calabath, handled it with fo much confidence and compofure, that 1 imagined he had’ eno deprived it of its teeth that contained the poifon. therefore caufed him to open its mouth: but I faw that it ftill had its teeth ; and was convinced that the negro poffefled fome fecret for foothing it, for it appeared as tame and harm- lefs as the molt innocent animal could have been. After a long converfation with the negro,-of whom I afked feveral queftions, to which he gave the moft pertinent anfwers, I informed him how much I {hould be-gratified if I could be enabled to handle ferpents with the'fame fecurity ; and, find- C3 ing 38 Obfervations on the Vejuco du Guato. ing that he was not averfe to procure me that fatisfaction, I offered him a recompenfe, with which he feemed fatisfied. Next morning he returned with the leaves of the plant in queftion, which he moiflened, and, having bruifed them in my prefence, made me drink two large fpoonfuls of the juice. He then made three incifions between my fingers in each hand, in which he-inoculated me with the fame juice: he performed a fimilar operation on each foot, and on each fide of my breaft. When thefe operations were finifhed he in- ‘formed me that I might lay hold of the ferpent. I made feveral obfervations to him in regard to the ddecnenahie con- fequences to be apprehended in cafe I fhould be bit by the animal; but finding that he feemed confident in his fkill, I refolved to take it into my hands without any fear; which I did feveral times, the animal never making the leaft attempt to do me any injury. One of the individuals, however, who were in the houle, being defirous to run the fame rifk, was bit by the ferpent the decond time he took it in his hand; — but without any further inconvenience than a flight inflam~ mation in the part. Two of my domeftics who had been alfo inoculated, en+ ‘couraged by this firft attempt, went out into the fields and foon brought with them another kind of ferpent, equally ve~ nomous, without fuftaining any hurt from it. . In a word, I have caught feveral fince that time without any other pre+ paration than that of having drunk a little juice of the ve7uca du guaco; and after repeating thefe trials, either on my- felf or my domeftics, and always with the completeft fucs cefs, I refolved,in 1791, to give a memoir on this remarkable antidote in a periodical paper publifhed every week at Santa-. Fé. L added a defcription of the plant, and every thing that appeared to me neceflary for rendering public and general this difeovery {fo ufeful to mankind. An account of all my experiments, and of the perfons who were prefent, will be found in that paper, dated Sept. 30, 1798. I fhall here only obferve, that the tradition current among the Indians and negroes of the vice-roythip of Santa-Fé, re- fpeéting the manner in which the virtue of this plant was difcovered, 1s as follows :—A bird of the kite kind, defcribed by Careiby under the name-of the /erpent-bawk, feeds chiefly upon fnakes in the hot and temperate regions of that part of America. ‘This bird has a,monotonous cry, fometimes very difagreeable by its repetition, which imitates the articulated ae guaco, on which account the inhabitants have given it that name; and thefe people fay, that when it cries it is to call forth the ferpents, over which it exercifes ,a certain kind fo) “ - Singular Method of bunting Wild Swine. 39 of authority. They add other extravagant fables: but it is certain that the gwaco purfues them wherever it finds them 5 and that the Indians and negroes, who {pend the greater part of their time in the forefts and open fields, affert, that to take them with more fafety they prepare themfelves by eating fome leaves of the plant in quettion. This may be true; they may have difcovered the virtue of it, and experienced it with fuccels. In this cafe, as in many others, the inftinét of animals has been of ufe to us. In regard to the plant, its genus has not yet been claffed in any book of botany I have ever feen; and for that reafon I fhall venture to give a defcription of it as well as I can, taking advantage of the memoir above men- tioned. The root is fibrous, and extends in every direc- tion. The ftem is ftraight, perfectly cylindric when the plant is tender, but when old becomes pentagonal, that is to fay, acquires falient angles. The leaves which grow on the fiem ftand oppofite to each other; are fhaped like a heart ; have a dark green colour intermixed with violet ; are f{mooth on the lower fide, rough on the upper, and fomewhat vel- vety: its corymbiferous flowers are yellow, flofeulous, and have four fleurons in each common calyx. The corolla is monopetalous, infundibuliform, with five indentations; and contains five ftamina, united by anther in the form of cy- linders, which embrace the ftyle. The ftyle has a ftigma deeply divided, and the calyx contains feveral broad feeds, each with a filky aigrette. | The plant is vivacious, and is found in the hot and tem- perate regions of the vice-roythip of Santa-Fé; it is, in ge- -neral, fond of growing on the borders of rivulets and in fhady places, rather than in the open plains. Nature has not pro- duced it in the elevated or cold difiriéts of this continent ; and for 'this reafon, no doubt, that its virtue would be ufelefs, as there are no venomous ferpents but in the countries where it grows. t ne a a ————_——_—_—_—_—= —_ VILL, Account.of a fingular Method of bunting Wild Swine in the Yland of Sumatra. By Mr. Joun, Miffonary at » Tranquebar*. ] . Tranquebar, Feb. 10, 1797- N the kingdom of Siak,. in the ifland of Sumatra, which lies oppofite to Malacca, there are two kinds of wild fwine: - one kind live in the forefts on roots and fruit; their fleth is * Prom Der Gefellfcbaft Naturfrfebcnder Freunde xu Berlin Nene Sebrifleny vole iis ; C4 exceedingly / 4o Method of hunting Wild Swine exceedingly well tafted, but they are not numerous, The other kind frequent the impenetrable bufhes and marfhes on the fea coaft, where they live on crabs and roots. They are not fo large as the European fwine, are ofia grayer colour, and keep in large herds. The latter, at certain periods of the year, in herds of fometimes a thoufand, fwimi from the one fide of the river Siak to the other, at its mouth, which is three or four miles in breadth, and return to the former at ftated periods. This paffage takes place -alfo in the fmalk iflands, by their fwimming from the one to the other. .On fuch occafions, thefe {wine are hunted by a tribe of the Ma- lays, who are not Mahometans but heathens, and who are held in great contempt by the other Malays, who will neither | fuffer them_to inhabit among them nor to approach them. On this account they, were obliged formerly to live more at fea than on land, in fmall boats covered with mats, until the king of Siak lately permitted them to eftablifh_ themfelves in the uninhabited diftrits on the fea coaft. They are called in the Malay language the Sadettians, and by the Dutch the Lard Malays. ‘They are better made and of a brighter colour than the other Malays; have only one wife each, whereas it is well known that the other Malays admit of polygamy. , pot The women are faid to be remarkably well made, and to retain their charms much longer than thofe among the other Malays and inhabitants of the fea coaft; fo that at the age of forty they look as well as the latter at twenty. They go. half naked, and wear only a-piece of cloth wrapped round their Joins, which. hangs: down: to. their knee. They are much addiéted to ftrong liquor, particularly arrac; and when they fee an European veflel, their firft inquiry is after that beverage, for which and tobacco they-give every thing they have, and fometimes even their daughters and neareft con- ‘nections, to be kept for a certain time as fervants, but not flaves. They are much more attached to the Dutch than to any other nation, and have the greateft intercourfe with them. They are much afraid of other nations, and particu- larly the Malay pirates; becaufe the latter carry them away and fell them as flaves. x f - On fuch occafions they defend themfelves with great bravery by méans of flings, with which they hit a mark very accurately at a great diftance. They can ule alfo, with great dexterity, a fort’ of javelins made ‘of: very hard wood, with which’ they’can {trike fifh at ‘a’ confiderable diftance at. the furface of the fea.» When:thefe javelins are to be ufed againtt robbers, they harden the points of them in thefire, raps é) Oe theny in the T/land of Sumatra. 41 them in lemon juice, by which means the wounds they ine iliét prove highly dangerous, and! often mortal, irik Some of the Salettians inhabit alfo. feveral {mall iflands, not frequented by the other Malays, which lie in the ftraits of Sinkapoor; but thefe are not fo civilized.as thofe who live near Siak, and often while out fithing, or hunting {winey carry off many Portuguefe and other fifhermen, whom they fell as flaves. : ; They hunt the fwine at fea at different periods, when thefe animals, through natural, inftin@, emigrate as above men- tioned, The Salettians, on thefe oecafions, fmell the {wine long before they fee them, and make ready their boats. They then fend out their dogs, which are trained to this kind of hunting, along the ftrand, where, by their bark- ing, they prevent the fwine from getting on fhore to conceal themfelves in the buthes, . During the paflage, the boars go firft, and are followed by the female {wine and the young ones, all in regular rows, each refting its fnout on the rump of the one before it. Thefe animals, fwimming in long rows clofe to each other, form a very fingular {pectacle. The Salettians, men and women, meet thefe {wine in their {mall flat boats. The former row, and throw large mats, made of the long leaves of the pandamus odoratifjima interwoven through each other, before the leader of each ‘ row of fwine, which ftill continues to fwim with great firength ; but, foan pufhing his feet into the mat, gets fo entangled that he can no longer move them, or moves them only in a very flow manner. The re(t of the row, however, are neither alarmed nor difconcerted, but keep clofe to each other; and none of them leave the row, or the pofition in which they are placed. The Salettians then endeavour ta row towards them in a lateral direétion ; and the bufinefs of piercing the {wine is configned chiefly to the women, each of whom is armed with a long large javelin, in the form of a fpontoon, headed with iron, and with which they ftab as many of the {wine as they can reach, always drawing: back the weapon. Befides this inftrument, they have alfo a number of fmallcr javelins, about fix feet in Jength, without iron points, which they carry in their arms, and which they throw to the diftance of 30 or 40 paces, in fuch a manner | as to kill thofe which they cannot reach with the long javelin. As it is impoffible for them to throw mats-before all the rows, or to kill all the fwine in fo fhort.a time, the reft of thefe am- mals {wim off in good order, and in regular rows, towards the place where they are taught by inftin& that they thall find Gover nourifhment, and for this time efcape the ah u 42 _ Inquiries into Coloured Light. till they return to their ufual place of refidence. As the {wine which have been pierced float every where around, they are picked up and put into larger boats, which follow for that purpofe, . ve | If thefe hunters fall in with any veffels belonging to the Chinefe, of whom a great many are fettled at Malacca, and who on fich occafions become ready purchafers of their ooty, they. fell to them their fwine, and receive for thofe that have an inch and a half thicknefs of lard on the breaft at the rate of a piafter a-piece. It may readily be believed ~ that none of them are purchafed by the Malays; for, being Mahometans, they abhor fwine’s flefh, and, confequently, thefe pagan fwine-hunters; to whom they do all the mifchief they can, by deftroying their huts, robbing them of their pro- perty, and often affaffimating them, without ever being: called | to an account by any one for their depredations. © Of the fwine which they cannot fell, they firft cut off the head; they then fkin them and cut them up, chiefly for the fake of the lard, but fave as much of the flefh as may be ne- ceflary to feed their dogs, and throw the reft into the fea. They then row. their boats, laden with lard, to a folitary place on the coaft unfrequented by the Mahometan Malays, where they melt the lard, and preferve the greafe in large earthen veffels, or dojans, which are manufactured in Siam. This greafe they fell to the Maki Chinefe; and it is ufed not only by the common people inftead of butter, as long as it is not rancid, which is feldom the cafe in Malacca, but alfo for burning in their lamps inftead of coco-nut oil. IX. Inquiries into Coloured Light, by ‘a Collation of the Ex- periments and Obfervations made by Sir Ifaac Newton on that Suljeét; together with fome additional ones. By Governor POWNALL*. ° ‘ sem To Mr. Tilloch. . SEND vou my paper on colovred light; an hypothetic theorem inftituted to prove, not affuming to have proved, that there is but one primary colour in our folar fyflem, and that all the reft in the prifmatic image are, on one fide of the fcale, only gradations of that colour towards pure ai 3; and, on the other fide the fcale, merely degradations from light towards the aclual abfence of it; and that green exilts only as an intermediate compound between the two. * Communicated by the Author. The Inquiries into Coloured Light. 43 The procefs of this theorem is founded on the experiments actually made by Sir Ifaac Newton, and on fome further 2 gh eS -and reafoning, which his queries fuggeft. wifh this imperfect attempt may excite fome real philo- fophers to take up this point of inquiry. IT appearing from Dr. Herfchel’s obfervations, publifhed in the Philofophical Tranfaétions 1796, that the folar light does not proceed from the fun as an igneous body, but appa-~ rently from inflammable and inflamed vapours floating on the fisphacie of its atmofphere ; and it having been long known that this white lucid light could be decompofed into a num- ber of coloured rays, each homogeneous, as has been fup- pofed; each “ originally endued,” as Sir Ifaac Newton fays, *¢ with its refpeéctive colour ;’’ or, as he otherwife exprefies the fame fact *, «* with that which each is originally difpofed to exhibit ;”’ it occurred to my mind, on reading this in the year 1797, that thefe obfervations of Dr. Herfchel, if finally found to be true in nature, and followed up by an sreidbidan of combining facts, might lead to a difcovery of that property of light which hitherto appeared to me to be inexplicable, at Jeaft unexplained, viz. that every the minuteft ray of which it confifis is a compound of feven, or three, principal primary homogeneous coloured rays, each originally endued with its re{pective colour, as conftituent elements of this lucid white light. § It occurred to me, .that if /imilar coloured lights, arifing from the aérial inflamed vapours, or flames of bodies com- bured in our terreftrial atmofphere, fhould be found to obferve the fame refraétions, and by thefe refractions, as they never are purely homogeneous, fhould in their decompofition ob- ferve and be affected by the fame laws as operate on the folar light; the folar light may, by direét analogy, be fuppofed to be only a compound of inflamed vapours taking the refpec- tive colours of their flame, and being endued with their re- fpective refractions, according to fuch attractions as the re- {pective fubftances from which they arife are liable to. Whilft I confidered this, I recollected that I had read in, and learned from, Sir Ifaac Newton, fpeaking of flame, according to an expreffion which he ufed at that time, ‘ as fmoke red hot,” that, ‘* according to the nature of the fmoke, the flame is of * There are fome phenonrena in the different colours of the fixt {tars which feem to indicate that the coloured light of their fyfem may differ froin that of the folar one. ; various 44. Inquiries into Coloured Light. various ‘colours, as that of fulphur, blue; that of copper. opened with fublimate, green,” &c. Pes; eye To inveftigate this analogy according as the various lights which come to our fenfes prefent themfelves to us, J] here directed my inquiry, 1ft, To learn what colours the various inflamed vapours of terreftrial bodies combured in our atmo- fphere throw out: adly, Whether thefe colours were homo- geneous; and if not, 3dly, How far they obferved fuely finti- lar refractions in their decompofition as the folar light doth. Fyrom the ground of a fpeculative opinion, which I havé long. entertained in my own mind, that, although the white lucid: light of the fun is only a compound, yet light as light exifts in a lucid, homogeneous, elementary, white and uncompound- ed ftate, and only becomes otherwife by mixing or palling through oxygenous and other airs, or fuch vapours as refuel from combuttion; and, by being fuffufed with the colours furs: nithed by thefe, becomes lefs and lefs pure, and, eonfequently, ' tainted with colours. I applied my obfervations firft to the electric fpark. From the inftantaneous and tranfient nature of this light, the decompofition could not be examined? it is known, however, that electriclight paffed through an exhaufted receiver exhibits tremulous rays of various colours fomewhat fimilar to the aurora borealis; fo that it comes out that this light isa compound. The next light which met my attention) was that of the fparks of iron deflagrated in vital air. Although T could not examine this by experiment for the fame reafon as before, yet I may venture to pronounce that, this being: nothing but the white heat ef fufed iron, it muft be a.cdin- pound light. The next was the very brilliant light of phof-) phorus burnt in vital air, fo blazingly bright, that no eye, can ftand the firft ftroke of it. The next was the lucid light of camphor inflamed by. fpirit of wine, whole blue. may be fuppofed, in fome degree, to tinge the brilliancy of ‘the white: thefe decompofed into a faint fpectram of the rincipal colours. The next was the light of {permaecti Lest in Argand’s lamp, wherein. the fmoke i in ‘great meafare confumed. This was faid by Dr. Franklin to come> the neare(t to day-light of any other terreftrial light. This decompofes into red and yellow, fomewhat greenih, as: it riins-into the blue. «The flame of wax was the next light:, this has a’fuffufion of yellow, and decompoles into.a red and greenifh yellow and blue. The flame of tallow was the next, » which Sir Ifaac Newton calls yellow: this decompofed inta a red, a blueifh green, and blue. « From the ground of a reafon which will be given below,” I. began Peer 4 ss bh eer Oe ee Inquiries into Coloured Light. 45 ~ Ebegah in examining coloured lights by that of red-hot iron *. This viewed through a prifm decompofed into a deepiv tinged red, and a deep blueith green only; the gradations of blue, if they are not abforbed in the deep green, are fo ra- pidly abforbed in darknefs as to be hardly if at all vifible. I had read in Lavoifier of a red light, but was not able to afcertain the fact: fome time after, I met with a patlage in a tranflated edition of Layoifier, inferted by-the editor, wherein he mentions an example of a red light produced by the vapour of (trontian inflamed by fpirits of wine, and re- prefents it of a deep blood colour. In trials which [had an opportunity of fecing, and of making mytelf, this light, which, mixed. with the inflamed vapour, appeared to my eve to give out a hght by intermitting flathes tinged with rather a car- mine red; and [ lcarn that, nitrate of ftrontian gives to the flame of {pirit of wine a bright carmine red. Dr. Gibbes + fhowed me another inftance of muriate of ftrontian giving a fuffufion of red to the flame of {pirit of wine. Nitrate of ‘dime, formed into the falt called Baldwin’s phofphorus, does the fame. I am taught that nitre, diftilled with half its weight of ful- phur, gives a_yel/ow ¢ acid liquor yielding red fumes. Hydrogen. and carbon, unnted with oxygen in the con- fiituent parts of animals and with azote in_ vegetables, form oil and fat: the flame of- thefe is yellow or yel- lowith, as the flame of fulphuric and bituminous bodies is blue fuffafed with green; the yellow of theformer runs into | reddifh fumes, the blue of the latter into greenifh fumes. The oleaginous parts of bitumens being yellow, explains the reafon why thejr blue flame is difpofed to green. Verdearis inflamed with {pirit of wine gives out a green flame; but this decompofes into a red and blue, with an imtermediate blue-green. Although thefe coloured flames and vapours are not ho- mogencous, yet they obferve, according to various attractions which the aériform fubftances, their refpective bafes, are lia- ble to, the fame laws of refragtion and decompofition as the folar light doth, the primary colours of which are not them- felyes homogeneous. . ° . . . er iS * Although there is no decided fame in this cafe, yet whoever views _ apiece of red-hot iron along its fides will fee a waving tremulous vapour. + L beg here to acknowledge the obligations I reccived from Dr- Gibbes, in the arrangements of any matters conneted with chennftry which 1 had occafion to refer to. ‘ts t Seaumay be worth noticing, by the by, that as this ycllow liquor gives, in its adriform ftate, a red fume; fofulphur, yeliow inate dolid form, gives out, in its acriform flate, a blue flame. As 46 Inquiries into Coloured Light. As fubftances acidified by oxygen ‘‘ differ from each other only according to the feveral natures of the oxygenated or acidified bafes,’? why may not this be the cafe of coloured flame or vapour? Their colour differs only according to the nature of the bafes thus illuminated by their combination with light. . re 1 In examining and obferving upon thefe fats *, both by prifms and lenses, in this comparative view, it appeared thele terreftrial coloured flames and aériform vapours combured in our atmofpheric air, obferve the fame laws of refraétion and decompofition as the folar light in every inftance which can be brought under experiment. And that, as the folar light proceeds from inflamed vapour on the :furface of the fun’s atmofphere, as Dr. Herfchel ftates, this folar light muft arife from vapours haying fimilar bafes as thefe terreftrial coloured lights have, allowing for an apparent different purity; and mutt, having the fame properties, be of the fame nature. So that, although the folar light, coming to our fight in its compound ftate, 1s a bright lucid light; yet, being decompofed by the different refractions, which the feveral fubftances or bafes from which it proceeds are liable to, it is refolved, exactly as the terreftrial hights above examined are, into the conflituent coloured lights which the feveral bafes give out. I will not venture, on the ground of the obfervations ftated, aud on the reafoning ‘attached to them as above, to lay it down. as a propofition abfolutely proved; but will hazard t it as a quere, open to further inye(tigation, ; May not the fun, an unignited body, and fimilar to. our terreftrial globe in all its cig appearances, (but poflibly of variety in its mineralogy,) produce an atmofphere of more %* Tt is hardly worth while to deferibe the method I obferved to do this, yet it may not be’amils. 1 had prepared a tall long box, painted black on the infide, with a fliding door in the front, in which was bored a hole about half an inch diameter: the ufe of this fliding door was to raife or lower the hole to the height of the coloured light which [ had occafion to try. There was alfo a door on the fide by which to put in the lights, and a valve at the top to let out the fmoke when | fhould obferve that it af- feéted the light. By applying a prifm to this hole, I obtained from all the lights, except the blue, a prifmatic {peétrum : the light of the blue was fo weak, that J could not obtain a fpeétrum from it coming through the hole ; I therefore drew up the fliding-door entirely, and fo turning the prifm as to dircét the refra€ted rays down upon the ground near under the table, on which the box ftood, and into the dark, obtaincd, yet imperfeétly, the fpec- trum above noticed. By lenses applied to the hole, the differences of the different focuses were as the refractions inveriely. + This I ftated to Dr. Herfchel by letter, dated March 17, 17975 and had afterward a convertation with him. at Slough on this fubjeét of the coloured rays of the folar lighr. fublimed ’ Inquiries into Coloured Light. 49 fublinied and purer vapours than our earth does; and fo exe hibit purer and more homogeneous coloured lights than the terrefirial inflamed vapours do, although in every other re- {pect of a fimilar nature? May not this explain the reafon why fome of the fixed ftars, allo funs, appear of a green or red colour? for, if their bodies confift of a different mine- ralogy, and the vapours of their atmofpheres be thus difpofed to throw out different, as for inftance green and red lights, in a greater proportion than the other.colours, they will thus, of courfe, have this or that appearance of being green or red;_ which is a known phenomenon. Nay, even the white lucid light of the fun, apart all confideration of circumftances which may affect it as it comes through our atmolphere, gives out at times a fomewhat differently fuffufed white, according as this or that conftituent of its compound light may be in a greater or lefs proportion. May not the moon, producing an atmofphere vifible where no light of the fun can reach, and therefore not a reflected light, poflefs, as a planet, an atmofphere very different from what thofe funs produce, perhaps of a phofphorefcent nature, which exifis with little heat? And may not the vifible atmofphere of Venus, confifting of enlightened vapours, be of the fame fort? I will ftrengthen the propofition of this quere from the opinion of Dr. Herfchel'on this planet: ‘It cannot fhine (he fays) by a borrowed light, fo that this faint illu- mination muft denote fome pholphoric quality in the atmo- {phere of Venus.” ; Thus far [ proceed in my refearches on the ground of the folar light being a compound of various rays, dominated to be originally difpofed to exhibit feven or three primary colours ; which colours are alfo fuppofed to be homogeneous. A doubt, however, has always occurred to me, firll, whether this opi- nion of the homogeneity of the feven primary colours be founded in faét: and, in the courfe of examining this firft doubt, a further doubt arifes, whether there are /even or only three principal colours, as Sir Ifaac Newton exprefles it; or whether there be more than fwo, and perhaps not more than one. Stating then what follows as a doubt followed up by inyeftigation, it appears to me, that the fpace which each prifmatic primary colour (as it is called) takes in the prifmatic {pectrum, has not one only angle of refraction within its ex- tent, but a fucceffive feries of angles of refraétion, and a fuc- -ceffive feries * of innumerable circular or orbicular images of | the fun (as Sir Ifaac Newton ftates the fat), fo clofely inter- ” Optics, experiment 5, p. 32¢ Fide fig. 15. plate 3. of booki. part i. fecting 48 Inquiries imto. Coloured Light. fecting each other, that the point of interfection is hardly perceptible to a commion eye unaffifted, if at all. Although, therefore, the centres of thefe circles may approach to each other at an infinitely fmall diftance; yet they are placed under different refraGtions, and muift, of courfe, give a fueceeding tint more refraéted than the preceding :. and as thus through- out the fpace of the commonly called homogeneous colour, fo’. mut the indifcriminate feries of tefraGtions, and of the inter- fe&ting images of the fun, proceed gradatim, and not per faltum, into the next {pace o the next primary colour; and ‘fo through that into the next; and in like manner throughout the whole.» The angle of refraction at the point where’ the fpace in the fpectrum, which contains the red, is fuppofed to end, exceeds that which is on the outfide of the fame fpace, where it commences, in a much greater decree than it doth the next contiguous and continuous feries of angles of refraction of the fpace which contains the orange. And the fame holds good of the laft-angle of refraGtion at the point where the orange ends, or is fuppofed to end, and where the yellow com- mences, or is fuppofed to commence ; and fo through all the — gradations of colours. Sir Ifaac Newton, in the hypothefis of his theorem inftituted for experiment, fo flates it. As . therefore the angles of refraction at the centres of the innu- - merable* circles or orbicular images of the fun in the prif- matic fpectrum, as ftated by Sir [faac Newton, which form any one of the principal colours, homogeneous as they have been called, thus differ in their degrees, fo muft the tints in each fuch colour differ in a feries of gradations ; and cannot therefore, however they may to a tranfient or undifcrimi- nating view appear, be abfolutely homogeneous: “ for, the light which I here call homogeneous (fays Sir Ifaac Newton) being not homogeneal, there ought to arife fome little change of colours from its heterogeneity t.”” The red, by fuch a fuc- ceflive feries of tints;.is heightened towards and expanded into the orange; the orange, by a like fucceliion of tints, into | the yellow; and the yellow, in like manner, into the white. - As thefe coloured lights on this end of the {fpectrum heighten by gradations of tints more and more illumined, as if purging themfelves from the fuffufion of colour into pure light:. fo the blues at the other end of the fpectrum, by a like gradation of tints, or rather hues, deeper and deeper, weaker and weaker, go. off into darknefs, in ‘a continued feries, according to their degree of refrangibility .” | * Vide fig.-1¢. 0° plate 3. book i. part i. Newton’s Optics. + Newton’s Optics, book i. part xii. prop. 11. p. 107. } Newton’s Optics, p. 32. pha Having New Combination difcovered in Zaffer. 49 Having thus ftated the idea of the fucceffive gradations of the prifmatic colours, contrary to what is commonly fup- pofed, of each being homogencous; let us now refer to the joa, as it actually exifts.. But before we .examine the two adations here ftated of the red and blue (if blue be a coe ur), we will examitte thé irtermediate green. a [To be continued. J X. On a@ néw Combination difeovered in Zafer, which Bru- gnatelli confidered as the Cobaltic Acid. By C. Dar- RACQa*, : ee ; Bavenaretct, in a paper publithed in the Annales _ de Chimie for the mionth of Pluviofe, year 8, mentions fe- veral experiments on zaffer, or the gray oxide of cobalt, in which he thought hé had difcovered a new acid. T thall give an account of fome of thefe experiments, and alfo of he properties afcribed to his cobaltie acid. Having fuffered zaffer to remain fome time with ammonia, after a few days dizeftion in the fin, he dbtained a red liquor known under the name of ammaoniure of cobalt, which he filtered, and evaporated tu drynefs. The concrete refiduum obtained appeared to him to be compofed of two diftinét fub- ftances; one of a dark red, aind the other of a pale yellowith colour. The red part diffolved in water, aiid the ycllowith temained in the filter. This refiduum he found to be pure, okide of cobalt. The part foluble in water was evaporated, and depofited, on cooling, fome fmall eryftals, which Bru- gnatelli found to be ‘a combination of the new cobaltie acid with ammonia, The fupernatant liquor ftill poffeffed an evident character of acidity. The autWor obferves, that his acid could be obtained co- loured or without colour, according to the means employed to obtain it. When the evaporations are effected by means of fire, they leave a refidaum, which, when diffolved in water, py cobaltic acid almott colourlefs ; while thofe effeéted in the fun give it always more or lefs red. Brugnatelli, de- firous to afcertain whether his acid was formed during the operation of which I here fpeak, or whether it exifted quite formed in the zaffer, boiled for twenty-four hours fx pounds, of this fubftance in eight pounds of water. Fle filtered the liquor while warm, -and then caufed it to evaporate. When * From the Annales de Chimie, No, 12%. Vor. XII. D reduced x) New Combination difcovered in Zafer: reduced to one-half it became turbid: the-eraporation being continued till ‘there remained only one-third of the liquid, it was taken from the fire, and it then depofited a white matter, which was colleéted on the filter. The liquor, which pafled through had a yellow colour and a.tafte fenfibly acid, and exhibited ‘the fame phenomena in every thing as the cobaltic acid obtained by the procefs before indicated. The following are fome of.its properties, which Brugnatelli _ confiders as charaéteriftic : iit, It precipitates a folution of filver. ad, It precipitates lime water in a white coagulum, info- Juble in water and in excefs of acid. x\iai 3d, It can be feparated by alcohol from its aqueous folution.- 4th, It precipitates acetite and muriate of barytes. I fhall now defcribe the experiments I made on this fab-_ ject, and I fubmit the confequences I have deduced from them to the examination of the Inftitute. ft hreuiy F Exp. 1. I formed ammoniure of cobalt by fuffering am- monia to macerate, in the fun, over zaffer. I took care to ftir the mixture, which was contained in a matrafs: it foon affumed a red colour, and, forty-eight hours after, a bright red colour. I remarked in this liquid a pretty abundant . cryftallization under the form of white and brilliant needles, This cryftallization was permanent until the fun had again heated the liquid. It then difappeared, and diffolved in the liquor. In this ftate the ammoniure of cobalt was filtered, and put into a retort: as it was heated it affumed a violet red celour, which.became darker till it aflumed a beautiful red wine colour. When the greater part of the ammonia was evaporated the mixture acquired a greenifh colour, and, by reft, there was precipitated a matter of the fame colour as the folution. The liquid being then filtered while warm, and evaporated to drynefs, there were obtained the rudiments. of cryftals, the form of which could not be determined. White and brilliant particles were remarked. The reft of the matter had a yellowith colour. I poured water over this refiduum, ftirring it with a platina fpatula. The part leaft. coloured diffolved entirely, and communicated to the water a ftraw colour. This liquor was acid, and poffeffed fome of the properties announced by Brugnatelli. I fhall defcribe hereafter the experiments to which I fubjected it, and the refults of which, carefully examined, prove that it was not an acid formed by cobalt. he two refiduums obtained in ’ this experiment, one of a green and the other of a yellowifh colour, were found not to be pure oxide of cobalt, as Brugria- telli fays, but a-combination of that oxide with arfenic acid. Exp. New Combination difcovered in Zafer. 52 Exp. Il. Having prepared a. new quantity of ammoniure of cobalt, as in the firft experiment, | fubjeéted it to fpon- taneous evaporation im a place where. the fun accelerated the volatilization of the ammonia. In proportion as the liquid evaporated, there was precipitated 2 flaky matter of a whitith rofe colour, which fenfibly increafed till the ammonia was evaporaied. The liquor emitted no odour, but it bad re- tained a fufficiently beautiful rofe colour. The liquor was - again evaporated to drynefs, and the remaining matter was diffolyed jin diftilled water. This folution, of a light rofe co- lour, was acid, and pofleffed the properties of the acid obtained in the firft experiment. The refiduum left on the filter was carefully examined, and found to be arfeniate of cobalt. Exp. 11, I took, as the author of the memoir did himfelf, a kilogramme of zaffer, which was reduced to an impalpable powder. . I boiled it, for half.an hour, in three Jitres of di- ftilled water. The liquor, which I filtered while warm, had a light colour and a fenfible favour; and, being evaporated in. a porcelain capfule, the liquid, towards the end of the opera- tion, became turbid. I then continued till there remained only about a hectogramme of the liquor. By-cooling [ obtained a cryftallization in needles. Having filtered the mixtures, ftirring them, the cryftals remained on the filter, end the fu- ' pernatant liquor pafied through, yery tranfparent, of a bright yellow colour, . Brugnatelli, in making this experiment, did not remark the cryftallization; he only obferved a white matter, whicli affumed a rofe colour by coming into contaé with the air, and which he found to be oxide Beeohalr The needle-formed cryftallization which I obtained produced, as foon as it was heated, a confiderable difengagement of arfenic. When carefully examined it was found to be arfeniate of cobalt, and not pure oxide, as had been announced. The fact is of little importance, no doubt, in regard to the dif- covery of Brugnatelli; but it may ferve to fupport my opi- nion, if the refults of. my experiments were not more than fufficient to prove that the cobaltic acid does not exift. The liquors of the firft, fecond, and third experiments, found in ihe acid, and of the fame nature, were fubjected to the following proofs, and comparatively with the arfenic acid: it, Thia liquiby was precipitated of a yellow colour, like that of orpiment or fulphuret of arfenic, by fulphurated by- drogen and alkaline bydrofulphurets. This precipitate was indeed fulphuret of arfenic, and not fulphur precipitated, as believed by Brugnatelli. ad, It precipitates ammoniure of copper of a blueith green. Da This ’ 52 New Combination difcovered in Zaffer: This property is that of the arfenic acid. This combination is known under the namé of arfeniate of copper. 3d, Sulphate of copper mixed with this liquor gives a pre- cipitate of the fame colour as the ammoniure of that metal. The arfenious acid poflefles this property alfo, though not in fo high a degree as the pretended cobaltic acid; but a fimilar precipitate may be obtained by making ufe of artificial arfeni- ‘ate of cobalt. The refults then are the fame: no difference - can be perceived between them. 4th, It precipitates nitrate of filver white. The arfentc acid poffefies this property. 5th, It precipitates nitrate of mercury of a ftraw colour. It is well known that the arfenic acid exhibits the fame phe- nomenon. . 6th, It precipitates lime Water in a white coagulum in- “foluble in water, but not infoluble m excefs of acid, as Bru- “gnatelli fays; fince it, indeed, rediffolves with the fame facility “mm the pretended cobaltic acid as in the arfenie acid. The “error of Bragnatelli, in my opinion, arofe from his not having _employed a fufficient quantity of acid. 3 ath, It precipitates acetite and muriate of barytes. I af- “fured myfelf that this precipitation arofe from fome atoms of falphuric acid contained in the acid called cobaltic. The “arfeniate of cobalt alfo difguifes its folutions. —— 8th, With tinéture of galls newly made it forms an abun- “dant yellowith precipitate. It is well known that the arfenio acid produces the fame phenomenon, ~---gth, This laft experiment feems to have been confidered ~by Brugnatelli as the mot chara¢teriftic of his cobaltic acid: “he obferved that alcohol feparated his folution from its aque- ous folution, and the arfeme acid, diffolved in alcohol, pof- feffed the fame property: by thefe procefles he obtained his “concrete acid. ‘This property of the cobaltic acid at firtt altonifhed me; but, prefuming that I might find an explana- tion of it by examining the acid thus precipitated, I fubjected “it to the following experiments : I, When heated on charcoal at the flame of the blowpipe it emitted white vapours, which were evidently arfenic. © If. A fmall portion, heated with borax, communicated to ita violet colour, * civ *+ IIL. This acid, being precipitated only by alcohol, T exa- mined the liquor after having feparated it by the filter. Sul- phurated hydrogen produced in it an abundant yellow preci- “pitate, found to be fulphuret of arfenic. 4 IV. The acid, when feparated, was fearcely foluble in Were ee OU eS : a1 SR a : V. When Method of making Lime cryftallize. 53% -V. When mixed with fome drops of arfenic acid, it dif~ - folved completely, and reappeared with its firft properties. After thefe trials I] concluded that the acid of Brugnatelli- could be only arfeniate of cobalt diffolyed in excefs of acid. To afcertain this, I diffolved pure oxide of cobalt in arfenic — acid. 1 evaporated the folution to drynefs, and added to the refiduum di(tilled water.. After ftirring the mixture, it was, filtered. The liquid obtained had a light rofe colour, and~ pofleffed all the properties of the cobaltic acid. 4 This liquor, mixed with alcohol, was abundantly precipi- tated: this precipitate, when collected, exhibited all the phe- nomena obferved in concrete cobaltic acid. sia se It appears then certain, from the refults here giver, that. no cobaltic acid exifts: that the combination of the - 219 43 0 Tnclination - ~ - 10 34 0 Log. dift. of the perihelion - 0°3713077 Pafiage of the perihelion July 1801 - "6985 As thefe elements, however, did not agree with other ob- fervations, I tried another parabola combining other obferva- - tions, and experienced the fame difficulties. Reflecting after- wards, that to make the two obfervations, that of the 1ft of January and that of the 11th of February, agree, it was ne- ceffary to fuppofe 0°26 of difference between, the radius vector correfponding to the firft, and the other correfponding to the D4 fecond, 6 Refult of the Obfervations fecond, I deferibed mechanically my firft parabola 3 and ap- ’ plying to it the longitudes and latitudes thus calculated and obferved, it was ealy for me to afcertain that the motion of this ftar could not; indeed, be reprefented in the are of a pa~ rabola fuch as is nearly defcribed by comets. 19193 III. From parabolic hypothefes I proceeded to circular, and, having made a few fuppofitions, [ found two radii, viz. 2°7067 and 2°6862, with each of which the obfervations could be reprefented much better than with any parabolas for, as the planets defcribe ellipfes more or lefs eccentric, and not circles, it is to be fuppofed that our planet will not deviate from this law. T ought therefore to have continued my calculations on an ellipfs; but as the obferved arc was very {mall, the refalts would have been uncertain, aud the labour tedious and painful. | On this account I preferred the circle, efpecially as the elements obtained from the ellipfe to determine the place of this flar do not appear to me to be more certain than thofe afforded by the circle. IV. On the roth of January the ftar, from being retro- grade, became direé&t. Setting out, therefore, from the ob- jervations of this day, I endeavoured to find its elongation while ftationary, which was 4° 4°; whence we have for mean radius of its orbit 2°9352. But the difference between this radius and the other, obtained by the motion of the ftar be- tween the 1{t of January and the 11th of February, feems to indicate a great eccentricity, whereas ‘the feries of the ob- fervations feems rather to indicate that the eccentricity ought to be fmall: on the other hand, the diameter, deduced from the elongation of w planet while ftationary, can never be very exact, and particularly in the prefent cafe. V. During the firft obfervations, bringing the ftar under — the horizontal thread of the telefcope, it remained, as it were, entirely covered; and, as the thread fubtends to the eye an angle of about 6”, [ judged the diameter of the ftar to be fomewhat greater, that is to fay, 7’. During the laft obfervations E was not able to form any judgment of its dia- meter, on account of the darkened ftate of the atmofphere, VI. RESULTS. Radius of the orbit < - + 26862 Motiop in the orbit from January 1ft to» | February 13th Wie - 9 Af 2g" Epoch 1802 +4) uy - 9°, 8.46 22 Motion in 100 days - ee (0.2% 6 33°F. Longitude 8 =." “ 2 20 46 48 Jnclination of the orbit. . - =tygt 10 51 12 ; Mean of the newly difcovered Star. 59 ‘Mean diftance deduced from the time of being ftationary - . 2°935% Tropical revolution, deduced from the mean diftance according to the law of Kepler - - years 5°03 _ Sidereal revolution from the motion in the orbit - a days 1628°27 Apparent diameter at the diftance of the earth from the fun 2 - 19" Magnitude, 13d that of our earth, _ Oppofition, about the 1ft of March 1802. VII. Table of the Mean Time, Right Afcerfion, and Declination of the new Star as obferved; together with the Longitude of the Sun, and the Loganthm of its Di- ftance from the Earth, a Te CT ; 2 Ten y Log. E de 4 ¥ “Bart s ofthe arene Day in| Right Ascension. Declination. Sun's Place- Month.) mean ‘Time. _ —————_—_—_—_ I 3635 gi? 47! 48-75% 374 43°5” Nj g8 11% 2! 33°1/495992617 2 | 3606 43 27°7: 40. 5°5 12 2 31°7 |9,992629 3 | 3577 39 303: 44 31°6 13 3 30°2 19,992641 4 | 3547 35 47°2 47 57°6 14 4 29°O |9,992652 1o.| 3378 - 23. «-1'53:{16 IO 32°0 20 10 29°5 |9,992768 Ir 3350 22 26°0 14 30, eft. 21 Fr 29°5 |9,992794 | 13 3295 22 34'S 22 49°5 23 14 28°0 |9,992348 5| 14 3268 Boy 5578 Denes, 24 14 2773 |9,992882 5] 17 27 3538 4° «13°0 —————— _|—_—_—- 2/138 | — 28 45:: a —— |-—-——— “| 49 | °3236 32 2° 49 16°1 29 39 14°1 ]9,993060 21 | 3084 38 34°0 538 35°99. |TO 12K 2°5 199993152 22 | 3959 2 2093 |T7 | 3 k8°§ 2:21 55°1 19:993196 23 | 3033 46 43°5 tess 3 22 45°4 199993242 24) | St 45: aA sed ——_ | 28 | 2909 [52 13. 38°3 32 54°t 8 26 45°5 191993522 30 | 2860 29 2*h 43 «Ir to 28 10°6 92993645 3 | 2837 34-188 |) 48 21"5 1x 28 55°5 19199370 ml | 2833 4x 48:0:| 53° 36°5 12 29 36°6 |9,993773 a| 2 | 2789 49 45°9 58 57°5 13 30 17°O 14199385! She4e [ec 1537 45% _—- aaa Bl 5 | 2719 1§ go*s |18 15 1° 16 32 13°9 19,994083 YF} 8] 2650 23° 99994328 Ir 2533 154 rh ‘ *z 19,994588 N. B. The obfervations marked with two points (:) are a little doubt- fal; thofe marked with (:+) very uncertain, VII. 58 Refult of the Obfervations VIII. Table of the Geocentric Longitudes and’ Latitudes oft the.new Star, both by Obfervation and Calculation; to- gether with their Differences.’ an of the UGeocentrie Longitude. _ ‘| Differ. | Geccentrjc Latitude. . *| Diflex, Month. Observat. , Calculat. SETVIte I _ Caleylat- 5 yr bbe 1 j18.23° 22/ 85115 23° 21! sora cg°33% 6! 3274130 6! sora + 17°8! 2 1g 44°8 18 gor2 |—64°6 21371 2) 2577 |# 266 3 16 49°3 T5 47°1 |—62°2 |2 57,589.12 58 6°3 [4.774 4 14 16°5 13 18°9 |—57°6 |. 53 4475 | 53 48'4 |* 379 10 7 59°4 7 19°S |=39°9 | 28 509 | 28 31°8 [197 P| rn 3 237 7 43°94) |-42°3 |) eee Oe 5} 13 9 58°0 9 38°99 |—19°t | 16 497 | 16 21° |—28'0 >| 14 6 31 32°6 T—ag0 |) 12.4771 |. 13 23° |-23%9 S| 19 25 494 25 59°§ |# 2°E |r 53 28°3 | 53, a°3 | re7"O zt 34 218 34 2374 |+ 16 | 45 58°9 | 45 31°6 |—27°3 22 39 «18 39 87 }+ 4°9 42 18°7 | 41 593 |= 27"4 23 44 15°6 44 17°4 |+ 18 | 638 39:2 | 38 rasa ym26'9 28 | 24 15 160] 24 ‘15 281 |+ 1271 | 20 58°7 | 20 32°0 |—26°7 30 3° 54 30 23°0 4476 | 14 5°3 | 13 4375 288 31 38 8:6 38 20°5 |+ 1179 |. 10 45°0 | 20 2014 |= 22°6 I 46 19°6 46 38°0 [+ 384 1 7 23°83 7 3°6 |—2072 ¢ 2 54 55°6 $5 r2°8 |+17'°2 4 OTT 374770 p37 ia] 5 | 25 22 43°5 | 25 22 §2°8 4 973 |0 54 Ty°0 Jo 54 96 |= 93 3 8 53.179 53 ts6|— 2°3 | 44 42°7 | 44 509 |* Bz “| Pat 26 26 26'r! 26 26 24°38 !— 1°73 25 479 35 S04. (% 2°5 IX. The correfpondence of the obferved longitudes of this ftar with thofe calculated according to the circular hypothefis; its motion in the zodiac, from which it deviates only a little in its greateft latitudes; and its pofition between Mars and Jupiter; feem to leave no doubt that it is a real planet, and, in all probability, the very fame deduced from calculation in the year 1772 by profeffor Bode, and announced to the Aca- demy of Sciences of Berlin. That it was not then obferyed, though the zodiac was diligently examined by the beft aftro-_ nomers, ought to be afcribed chiefly, in my opinion, to its — fmallnefs compared with its diftance from the earth and with its greateft latitudes ; though it is-not improbable that it was feen by the abbé De la Caille or Tobias Meyer. In the ca- talogues of the ftars made by thefe two aftronomers there are fome obferved only once; which I have not been able to _ find, though I fearched for them repeatedly and at different times. If the original obfervations of Meyer are preferved at Gottingen, and thofe of the abbé De fe Caille at Paris, they may poffibly, be yet difcovered. In the end of my work on the pofition of the fixed ftars, the printing of which, through the munificence of our gracious fovereign, is alread far advanced, there will be given a catalogue of the lo ftars, by which this refearch will be greatly facilitated. Bas » it of the newly difcovered Star. 89 X. Tt is the opinion of many aftronomers, and I am in-- clined to agree with them, that there are feveral other pla- nets of the like kind ftill undifeovered. But as aftronomers either feldom obferve ftars beyond the 7th magnitude, or are fatisfied with obferving them once, or at moft twice, there is reafon to doubt whether thefe planets will be eafily difeo= vered. Had I not been accuftomed to obferve ftars four, five, or fix times, and. even more, I fhould certainly not have difcovered the one in queftion. Re-examining, as was the cafe, after a lone time, the obfervations of the 1ft and ad of January, and finding that they did not agree, I fhould have fearched in the fame place of the heavens for this new ftar, and, not finding it, fhould have claffed it among the number of the doubtful ones; a thing T have been too often obliged to do with others, the obfervations of which I was prevented from continuing by the inclemency of the weather. ’ XI. Oriani, Bode, and Von Zach, had fearcely feen the obfervations of the 1ft aud 23d of January, which I commu. nicated to them on the 24th, ‘adding at the fame time that on the roth the ftar from: being retrograde had become direét, when they were of opinion that it was anew planet; and they next concluded that its elements were the fame as thofe which I-had conjef&tured. But as the ftar after the 23d began to decreafe fenfibly in magnitude and in light, being uncer- tain whether this ought to be afcribed to its receding rapidly from the earth, or rather to the flate of the atmofphere, which after that period became more overcaft and obfcure; I began to entertain fome doubts refpeéting its nature, and to believe that, in all probability, it was a comet and not a planet. It was only by calculating all the obfervations that my doubts were at length diffipated; but, on account of other avocations and the bad flate of my health, I was not then able to pay proper attention to them. Finding myfelf fome- what better in April, I refolved to calculate’ my obfervations; but having brought on a fecond indifpofition while fixing the meridian of the metropolitan church, and being reduced to a weaker ftate than before; being uncertain at what time I fhould be able to refume my ftudies, and anxious to com- municate my obfervations to the above-mentioned meritorious aftronomers, I tranfmitted them to Lalande at Paris, Oriani at Milan, and Bode at Berlin. As yet, however, I have re- ceived no anfwer but from Bode, who, on fecing my further obfervations, is more and more confirmed in his firft opinion, and only feems a little furprifed that, as I was much inclined }2 my firft letter to Oriani,to confider my new ftar as . Je ou 60 Refult of the Obfervations I fhould afterwards have confidered it rather to be a comet. a But had I communicated to him alfo the circumftance re- fpecting the diminution of its light, he would, perhaps, have entertained fome doubts of the fame kind. XII. As this far has not been lately feen, fome doubt will remain in regard to its nature; and it may be-difficult to difcover it again on account of the uncertainty of the ele- ments of the orbit which it defcribes, and more particularly: - its very fmall fize. At prefent it remains above our horizon’ the greater part of the night, being in the fign of Cancer 5: but it is at too confiderable a diftance for me to hope that I fhall be able to diftinguifh it: and, on the other hand, Iam deftitute of the inftruments neceffary to fearch for it, with any, certainty, out of the meridian. About the beginning of No- vember it will be much eafier to difcover it; and as the firft. days of March, the time of its oppofition, will be the moft convenient period for obferving it with advantage, I entertain great hope that it will not efeape the refearch of aftronomers., XIII. However, whether this new planet be found again by myfelf or by any other aftronomer, I fhall be the more gratified, as, after the example of a Halley, a Hevelius, a Bode, and a Herfchel, who have infcribed in the heavens the glorious names of a Charles II. a Poniatawfki, a Fre- deric, and a George III. all illuftrious patrons of aftronomy, T think I have an equal, and perhaps ftronger reafon, for in- {cribing in indelible charaéters, that of the auguft and mag- nanimous founder of this obfervatory, our fovereign Ferdi- nand, conjoined with that of the indigenous deity of this part of his kingdom, which he renders more lively and happy by his prefence. I have therefore informed thofe aftronomers who are my correfpondents that I have given to this new ftar the name of Ceres Ferdinandea. Telluris patria du€tura 4 Principe nomen Aftra inter, Siculis fulfit ab axe Ceres, , Michael Angelus Monti, Scol. Piar, SUPPLEMENT, This fhort memoir not being yet publithed, I fhall here fubjoin, the fubftance of a letter which I received from my efteemed friend Oriani, dated Milan, July 25, 1801, in which he communicates to me the refult of his calculations, accorn- panied with thofe of fome other aftronomers who have done . me the honour to employ their talents on my obfervations. Oriani, who calculated in a parabola, found i 8 : - - - % 21° 4d Inclination - . eee Perjhelion : . of thé newly difcovered Stat. 6% Perhielion - - - 4° 10° 16’ Diftance of the perihelion vel . 2° 1045 Paffage of the perihelion June 1801 - 21°07 Mr. found alfo in a parabola, & = - - a> 20° 50! Inclination - - - 9 41 Perihelion - - - + gts 8F 38) a5 Diftance from the fun - - 2°21883 Paflage of the perihelion June 1801 fe Yat ahi Te The difference of the three parabolas calculated by Oriani, Mr. , and myfelf, none. of which reprefent all the obfervations, confirm {till more that the motion of this ftar cannot: indeed be reprefented in a parabolic arc, as I have faid in my preceding memoir. . The fame perfon who calculated the fecond parabola tried * to make ‘the obfervations agree with a circle. His elements are: Radius ° te . - a74 Epoch 1801 - - a8 BR 6). 20! - - -- 2 20 15' 0 Inclination - - @ If 21! 0 Sidereal revolution - : years 44, In this circle the errors in excefs amount to 2’ 30’, and thofe in defect to as much, Burckhardt calculated in an ellipfe, and found : 2 - ~ - 2° 20°68! 30/7 Inclination - - O19, 47 io Aphelion - - a 8F.59)\ 37 Paflage of the aphelion Jan. 1804 - 1°3328 Eccentricity - - - 0°0364 Log. of the el femi-axis - » 0141060586 Sidereal revolution - - years 4°13 In this ellipfis the longitudes and latitudes of five obferva- tions are reprefented pretty well, there being only the differ- ence of a few feconds between calculation and obfervation. The aftronomer who calculated the parabola and: circle above mentioned, and whofe name I was not able to make out, in the few leaves printed in German with which Oriani favoured me, fufpected that there might have been fome error in the copy of my obfervations tranfmitted to him. This was really the cafe in the firfi; but I afterwards fent another taubrested. copy, as well as to Lalande, Oriani, and Bode, all correfponding exaétly with that on which I founded my ‘own calculations. However, that my exertions may correfpond with the in- tereft generally taken in my difcovery, whatever the refult 4 may 62 Refle&tions on the new Planet. may be, and to leave no doubt in regard to the obfervations, I have again examined them; and in fome places which -were rather uncertain, and which J employed in my firft calculations, I fub{iituted others. I have alfo made an al- lowance for the deviation of the inftruments, and em- ployed all thofe precautions which are ufual when great precifion is required, The refult of all thefe has been onl a {mall difference in fome of the right afcenfions, whic ean haye little or no influence on the ultimate refults of the. calculation, and for which reafon I did not think great exactnefs neceffary in. the firft reduétions.. Accord- ing to this Jaft rigorous examination, 1°5// are to’ be de- duéted from the frtt four right afcenfions, and 1°5// to be added to thofe of the roth, 41th, 14th, roth; art, 23d, 28th, goth, and 3rft of January, and the 1ft. of February ; and 3! mut be taken from thofe of the 5th and 8th of Fe- bruary. With the tranfit inftrament the obfervations were made, different times, with all the five threads; and thefe I always preferred to thofe made with the circle. I ufed thofe by the circle when I failed with the tranfit inftrument; as on the firft four days; and on the 13th of January, when the obfervations were not made with all the five threads, I took a mean of the obfervations made with the circle, and another of thofe made with the tranfit inftrument. The difference between thofe with the former inftrument and thofe with the latter, was never greater than o*2 in time, except on tlic 19th of January, when I,found 1’ in time -more by. the circle. In regard to the declinations, I have found no cor- rections to be made. Should any aftronomer, for his oreater fatisfa€tion, be defirous to fee the original obfervations, I fhall be happy to communicate them to him. They will be publithed in the fixth book of the Specola Aftronomica, toge- ther with all my other obfervations made figce 1794. te XIII. Reflections on the new Primary Planet fuppofed to exift between Mars and Jupiter, and now in all Probability dij- covered, By Baron Von Zacn, Lieutenant-Colonel in the Service of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, and Direétor of the Ducal Obfervatory at Seeberg *. Th E-exiftence of a primary planet, which, on account of the faintnefs of its light and fmall fize has hitherto remained uudifcovered, was, as far as I know, firlt conjectured, or at * From Monutlich Correpondens ur Befirderung der End-atnd Him- melfunde, Jane 1Sor. : - lea ft RefleBions on the new Planet. 63 teaft publicly mentioned, about forty years ago by the im- mortal Lambert. -Tn/his Cofmological Letters on the Uni- verfe, which appeared at Augfburg in 1761 *, the following remarkable paflage occurs, towards the end of the fir letter: “* And who knows whether, fome planets may not be loft, from the wide {pace between Mars and Jupiter?” . This idea was no doubt fuggefted to Lambert by comparing the dif- ’ ferent diftances of the saci that the diftance between M. proportion to the and he muft foon have found Mars and Jupiter is too great in reft. © To’ fill up this vacancy hé placed in it a new primary planet; and as it had’ not been obferved during the courfe of two centuries, ‘tion o that is, fince the inven- the telefcope, he fuppofes it to have been torn from the powerful influence of the fun by a deftru@tive comet, round which it revolves in infinite {pace as a fatellite; and concludes with this obfervation: ‘ Is the cafe the fame among the celeftial bodies as on the earth, that the ftronger exterminate the weaker; and, are Jupiter and Saturn deftined merely to prey upon others ?”” What might tend more and more to confirm aftronomers in the idea of the exiftence of fuch a planet, was a certain relation which they had obferved in regard to the diftances of the fix primary planets from the fun, and which was con- firmed, in an unex planet beyond the or This remarkable relation was feffor Bode in the fecond edition of hi in 1781. eted manner, by a feventh primary - Bit of Saturn difeovered by Dr. Hertfchet firft adopted by pro- s Introduction to the Knowledge of the Starry Heavens, publifhed in 1742, from profeffor Tilius’s tranflation of Bonnet’s Contemplation de la Nature, Amft. 1764. To reprefent this relation by fmall num- bers, which can be eafily compared if the diftance of Saturn from the fun be divided into 100 equal parts, the diftances of the planets from the fun in fuch parts will be as follows : 1. Mercu %. Veriie:” 3. Earth 4. Mars 5. Hera or Juno 6. Jupiter 7. Saturn - 8. Uranus or more generally 4 fuch parts from the © ee Rea! 4+2.3=10 4+ 2.2.3 = 16 44.2.2.2.3 = 98 442.2.%12.3 = 52 4.4:212.2.2.2.3 = 100 4 4°2.2.27.2.2.2.3 = 196, &e. Be. the nt planet, reckoning from the fun, is ” A French tranflation of thefe letters, by Darquier of Touloufe, was printed ot Amfterdam in 1801 by Hulft van Keulen, with notes refpecting the Jatek difeoveries was undertaken in confequence of my recommendation, by J. M. C. Utenhove, of Utrecht, This edition diftant 64 Refleftions on the new Planet. diftant from that body 4 + (=. * 3): or, if we exprefs, as profeffor Wtirm has done*, the mean diftance of the firft planet by a, the difference between the diftance of the firft and fecond by 4, and the mean diftance of the earth from the fun by 1, the mean diftance of the n'® planet from the fan will be = @ + (2°77 42). This law is founded on ho known theory, at leaft it has never yet been demonftrated mathematically, and is merely deduced empirically from «nalegical conclufions. \n no {ci- ence have the powers of the human mind, merely by mathe- matical reafoning and the acutenefs of géometrical reflection, produced fo many, fo certain, and fo pure truths as in aftro- nomy. When we confider the immenfity and exalted nature of the objects on which this {cience is employed, and the infignificance of man and his terreftrial habitation, together with the endlefs variety and concatenation of the celeftial phenomena, which all take »place in. comfequence of one general very fimple law of nature, that of gravity, diffufed throughout the whole creation; and when we reflect what abftrufe mathematical formule and methods mutt be invented to fubjeét thefe fo varioufly combined phenomena to cal- culation, and to obtain a uniform and continual correfpond- ence of thefe calculations with what aétually takes place in the heavens, it muft be acknowledged, that no fcience does more honour to the human genius; that in no fcience have more difcoveries been made 2 priori; and that no fcience i founded on more incontrovertible proofs than the pe | {cience of aftronomy?+. Ai Pees The mathematical aflronomers, for there are fome who are not fo, do not readily adopt any thing that cannot be mathematically proved. However great, therefore, might be the probability that the above-mentioned relation, in regard to the diftances of the planets, taking it at leaft as an ap- proximation, exified in nature, there were aftronomers who doubted the confequences of this undemonftrated law, and the exiftence of an invifible planet between Mars and Jupiter. * Berlin Aftron. Jahre Buche, 1790; p..168. + La Place, that eminent analyfty inthe preface to his excellent work, - Speaking of the progrefs of the modern chemifiry, lays Et ce ne fera qu’au moment oii les loix des affinités chimiques feront fufifamment obtervées, pour y appliquer ‘analy fe, que cette fcience (lachimie) aura le degré de per- fection auquel |’aftronomie s’eft elevce par la decouverte de la gravitation univerfelle, Théorie dz Mouvement et de la Figure edliptique des Planétes, 3784. tt 2 P It ” RefleGions on the new Planet. 65 It is worthy of remark, that the aftronomers of no nation but Germany adopted this conjecture in their aftronomical books, or wrote any thing on the fubje&. How is this to be accounted for? Does the fpirit of an eminent German, the fpirit of a Kepler, ftill hover over Germany? I do not here mean to affert that the Germans believed uncondition- ally in the exiftence of this planet, or acknowledged it as proved. Profeffor Bode has mentioned it in all his valuable works on aftronomy, and in all the editions of them publifhed fince 1772; but he always fpeaks of its exiftence as founded on conjecture or analogy, and not as a demonftrated truth. About fixteen years ago I employed myfelf in analogical calculations of the elements of the orbit of this latent planet, as may be feen by the letters I wrote to profeflor Bode from Drefden, in September 1785, which were printed in the Berlin Aftronomical Almanac for 1789. But I fpoke of thefe re- fearches as mere dreams, and called my calculations chimerical. T even ridiculed them, and compared them to the refearches of the adepts who endeavour to find the art of gold-making. In the year 1798, when, in confequence of Lalande’s vifit to Gotha, I had the pleafure of feeing my highly efteemed friend Bode, this fubject formed part of our converfation. That worthy veteran Lalande had no great faith in the exift- ence of this planet; he has not faid a word of it in any of the three editions of his Aftronomy which have been pub- lithed: and I ufed to call thofe who entertained a ftrong belief of its exiftence, a/fronomical adepts. In the year 1787 profeffor Wurm was engaged with fimi- Jar thoughts on the poffibility of other planets and comets exifting in our fyftem. Thefe ideas he communicated to the public in, the Berlin Aftronomical Almanac for 1790, and in that of the following year, where he extended them to the fyftem of the fatellites. But he obferved at the fame time, that he was far from wifhing to make any one adopt his aftronomical vifions, as he exprefsly terms them. Aftronomers had the greater reafon for being on their guard again{ft analogical conclufions, as the remarkable inftance of our great mafter may ferve to fhow that too much confidence muft not be placed ina lively imagination. Poets may be allowed fome latitude in this refpeét ; but we mutt refufe the fame indulgence to a certain cla{s of naturalifts and philofo- phers, who think they can catch nature in the flippery paths of myfticifm ; who fubftitute an unintelligible jargon for a Janguage generally underftood ; and who attempt to explain a difficulty by obfcurity. Kepler, who often indulged in fuch aftronomical dreams, Vou, XII, E ! and s ~~ 66 Refleétions on the new Planet, and gave full {cope to his ardent imagination, thought he had made a great dilcoyery by fuppofing that the five regular bodies would fit exactly into the vacuity between the fix planets known at that time; and their diftances indeed, ac- _cording to the lateft obfervations, correfpond very well with this rule. But unfortunately, as has been remarked by pro- feffor Wurm, Euclid and Nature left no regular body for Uranus; and I may add, that none remains for Hera: fo that Kepler’s ingemious idea falls at once to the ground. b Should the queftion propoled on the difcovery of Uranus be here afked—Why was not this planet difcovered long _ago? we might give the fame anfwer to it as given by Lich- tenberg *, who confidered it of the fame kind as that of Lelio’s fervant in Leffing’s Treafure, who wifhed to know why his father had returned on a certain day, and not a year fooner or later; which he thonght would have been much lefs incomprehenfible. The moft natural way is, as profeffor Bode has done in his Illuftration of Aftronomy, to conjecture that this planet, being {maller than Mars, and at a confiderable diftance beyond it, reflects too little light from its furface ; and hence it has _efcaped the keeneft-fighted obfervers. But who knows what the nature of its furface may be? We are acquainted with _celettial bodies which exhibit different colours, {hades of red and green; as for example Mars, and the double ftar y im _Andromeda, the light of which increafes and decreafes ; and others which even difappear from our view. Kant and Wunfch, in their Cofmological papers, affert therefore that this planet does not exift by itfelf, but that it is incorporated with Jupiter; which is therefore of greater ,4ze than it ought to be according to the fuppofed rule, and con- fequently fupplies the place of two planets. Kant afcribes the 4dmall fize of Mars, and its want of fatellites, to the fame caufe. But this hypothefis was not neceflary to explain the inyifibility of this planet, as it can be done in a much better manner, and more agreeable to the laws of nature. How long did Uranus remain concealed from our fight! And yet it was not only -in the heavens, but, as we now know, was feen and obferved 20, 30, and go years before Herfchel’s difcovery of it, bya French, a German, and an Englith aftronomer. How.then could profefior Wunfch, in the fecond edition of his Cofmo- logical Converfations, publifbed in 1791 +, confequently ten years after the difcovery of Uranus, afk the following gue!- tion: “ What kind of a body mutt that be which, though * Gotting. Tafchenbuch, 1783- +. Vol.i. p. 599. @ io i i Refleftions on the new Planet. | 67 fo near, cannot be found by the beft telefcopes, though every fmall {pot in the heavens is every night examined with the greateft diligence? But if this planet fhould once be difco- vered, or if it be really difcovered, it will be eafily compre= hended why, as a telefcopic ftar, it could have remained fo long concealed among the innumerable multitude with which the heavens are covered*. Profeffor Wunfch thinks, that as the fatellites of Saturn and Uranus, which fhine only with a pale faint light, can be feen by means of good telefcopes, this concealed planet might alfo have been feen. But pro- feffor Wunfch does not refleé&t, that to fearch for an exeeed- ingly {mall moveable luminous point, that changes its place in the immenfity of the heavens, is much more difficult than to fearch for a fatellite, which always remains in the neigh- bourhood of its primary planet, and muft even be found in the field of the obferver’s telefcope. As profeffor Wunfch is a good mathematician, he may calculate the probability and poilibility of the difcovery of a fatellite and of fuch a planet. At is poflible that this planet, as was the cafe with Uranus, may haye been feen feveral times; but itis alfo poflible that it 1s not always vifible. For, fince it appears only as a tele- feopic ftar during the time of its neareft approach to the earth, at its greateft diftance from us it may efcape the beft inftru- ments and difappear entirely ; which renders the finding of it ftill more difficult and uncertain. All thefe impediments might in part have been forefeen ; and it was only by an accident, or fyftematic regulation, that ithe difeovery of this planet amongit the immenfe number of telefcopic ftars was poflible. In the year 1787, when I un- dertook, at Gotha, a new revifion of the ftarry heavens, my . view was to fearch for this planet, to which I was particu- Jarly encouraged by the auguft founder of the obfervatory of Gotha. I therefore confined myfelf merely to the zodiacal flars, and made a catalogue containing the right afcenfion of thefe ftars, under a conviction that it was poflible by thefe means alone to fall upon this concealed planet. In the autumn of Jatt year, when I had the pleafure of undertaking a fhort aftronomical tour to Celle, Bremen, and Lilienthal, and of {pending a few agreeable weeks in the company of fome of the ableft German aflronomers, thefe * On the difcovery of Uranus Lalande made the following refleétion : Le nombre des étoiles de feptieme grandeur eft fi prodigicux qu’on auroit regardé comme inipoflible et inutile de les obferver toutes, et a plufeurs reprifes; cela efit eté cependant néceffaire pour favoir s'il n’y en avoit pas quelqu’un qui edt un mouvement. LFpbemer. des Mouv. celef. vol. Viiis p- 88.—Lalande here alludes to ftars of the 7th magnitude, but Hera ap- pears as a ftar of the 8th or th. ” E2 eminent 68 Reflefions on the new Planet. eminent men were of opinion that it was not poffible for one or two aftronomers to examine all the telefcopic ftars of the whole zodiac in fearch of this concealed planet. Six aftro- nomers then aflembled at Lilienthal refolved therefore, on the 21ft of September 1800, to eftablith a fociety of twenty- four practical aftronomers difperfed throughout different parts of Europe, for the exprefs purpofe of fearching out this planet fuppofed to exift between Mars and Jupiter. They elected Mr. Schréter as their prefident; and I had the honour of being chofen their perpetual fecretary. The plan of the fo- ciety was to divide the whole zodiac among the nee el members, each of whom was to have afligned to him, by lot, a zone of 15° of longitude, and of from 7 to 8° of north and fouth latitude. Each member was to conftruét a new celeftial chart of his department, comprehending the fmalleft ftars, and, by repeated examination of the heavens, to afcer- tain the true ftate of his diftri€t, and whether it contained that wandering body. By this inftitution we entertained hopes that this ftar, which had fo long eluded our refearches, would be at length traced out. In the name of the fociety I wrote to feveral of the moft celebrated praétical aftronomers in Europe, inviting them to concur in this general objeét ; and almoft all of them agreed to the invitation with great readinefs *. Some of the members, who have already begun their labours with great diligence, have tranfmitted, for our infpection, very interefting information; and though our infant fociety may be deprived of the honour of firlt difeover- ing this planet, not only is the fuppofed difcoverer of it among the number of its members, though the uncertain ftate of conveyance by poft or by fea, in confequence of the war, has hitherto prevented us from tranfmitting our invita- tion to Palermo, but the fociety has already contributed a great deal, and will Rill contribute more, towards correcting our catalogues of the ftars: and as this is not the only ob- ject of the fociety in the extenfive province of aftronomy, its labours, by being continued, mutt be of confiderable utility. In the month of February, this year (1801), I received a letter from Lalande at Paris, in which he informed me, that Piazzi, aftronomer at Palermo, had difcovered, on the 1ft of January, a {mall comet in the fhoulder of Taurus ; it appear- * The only aftronomers who beggcd to be excufed were profefior Snia~ decki of Cracow, and profeffor Wurm of Blaubeuern. The former, be- caufe, the univerfity of Cracow being fuppreficd, he was confequently obliged to leave the ob{ervatory > the latter, on account of the want of in- ftruments. But this difficulty was removed by princely munificence, The duke of Gotha fent profeffor Wurm a 7 feet reflector by Herfchel, and the duchefs an aftronomica! clock. $53 ed Reflections on the new Planet. 69 ed like a ftar of the 8th or gth magnitude, without any nebula or tail: but as nothing elfe was {aid of its pofition or courfe, it was not poffible to find it; and therefore, in expectation of more correét information, I paid no further attention to it. In April I received a letter from Bode of Berlin, dated the 14th of that month, in which he told me that he had re- ceived a letter from Piazzi, dated Palermo, January 24, lating, that on the 1{t of January he had difcovered a fmall comet in 51° 47! right afcenfion, and 16° 8’ north declina- tion. On the 11th of January, from being retrograde, it had become direct; on the 23d, its right afcenfion was 51° 46’, and its northern declination 17° 8’. He hoped:he fhould be able to obferve it during the whole of February; it was very fmall, like a ftar of the 8th magnitude, and without any ne- bulous light. Profeflor Bode added: ‘ On reading Piazzi’s letter, I was much {truck with the appearance and motion of this f{uppofed comet; and I immediately wrote to him to fend me the fequel of his obfervations. In the mean time I can- not help mentioning that I have found, by a well-known and eafy calculation, that the two obfervations of the 1ft and 23d of January, and the ftationary ftate of the ftar on the 11th of the fame month, agree excellently with the fuppofition that it is not a comet, but perhaps the hitherto unknown planet between Mars and Jupiter, taking its diftance at from 2°75, to 2°80. What do you fay of it? It is much to be regretted that we have not a third obfervation, But, as the ftationary {tate agrees very well with the given places, it has become to me a matter shied importance. Send me a few words by the next pott refpecting your opinion. I may err, and wifh for information; but the correfpondence is very remarkable.» Do you know any more obfervations refpeéting this fingular comet ?”’ On reading this letter, I immediately had recourfe to my old calculations of the years 1784 and 1785, and fhowed to pro- feffor Pafquich, whowas prefent when I received the letter, that my elements of the orbit of this planet, calculated from analogy in the year 1785, and infertedin the Berlin Aftronomical Al- manac for 1789, gave as its diftance from the fun 2°82, and as its period of revolution 4°74 years, or 4 years g months, Profeflor Bode, from Piazzi’s ehieiyaktons, had found the di- ftance 2°75, and the revolution the fame as [ had deduced from analogy, viz. 4 yearsg months. I immediately fent an anfwer to profeffor Bode’s letter, and informed him, that my two ele- ments of the orbit of this fo long concealed planet, calcus lated, provifionally, fixteen years before, amidft my analogical dreams, and which I had depofited in his hands in a fealed E3 note 70 Reflections on the new Planet. note-in O&tober 1785 *, when I had the pleafure of forming a perfonal acquaintance with this worthy friend at Berlin, correfponded perfectly with his own, and confequently with thofe of Piazzi. I was therefore not only of opinion that the fuppofed comet might be the invifible planet fo long fought for in vain, but found that Oriani of Milan, from whom I received a letter two days after, entertained the fame opinion, that this ftar was the planet fuppofed to exift be- tween Mars and Jupiter. Piazzi himfelf, even in January, (Piazzi’s letter to Oriani is dated on the fame day as that to Bode, viz. the 24th,) informed Oriani that he confidered this ftar, which he firft fuppofed to be a comet, as a real planet. The honour, therefore, not only of having firft difcovered this ftar, but that alfo of having firft afcertained it to be a planet, cannot be refufed to Piazzi; and one might almoft fufpe& (though we can hardly afcribe fuch a motive to him) that he wifhed to retain to himfelf likewife the honour of having fir calculated its orbit, @s he communicated his obfervations in fo {paring and imperfect a manner. Profeffor Bode announced this difcovery and conjecture to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and caufed it to be pnblifhed in the Berlin Gazette of May 12, the Jena Lite- rary Gazette of May 6, and in the Hamburgh paper of the 13th, from which it was copied into other journals. Two days after I received profeflor Bode’s letter, and before I could return an anfwer I received one from Oriani, dated April 7, in which he fays: “TI have received a letter from Piazzi at Palermo, which contains information highly worthy of your attention and of all aftronomers, He writes me, that on the 1ft of January 1801 he had obferved a ftar, of the 8th or gth magnitude, in the fhoulder of Taurus. On the ad of January he found this ftar had advanced about 3’ 30% further towards the north, and about 4 min, towards o Aries. The two following days, the 3d and 4th, he found nearly the fame motion. On the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and gth, the heavens were fo obfcured that he could make no obfervation, On the roth and 11th be again faw the ftar; and afterwards on the 13th, 14th, 17th, 18th, igth, arft, aad, and 23d of January. From the 1oth to the y1th its motion, from bein retrograde, had become dire&t. He adds, that on the firt day of obfervation (Jan. 1ft) its right afcenfion was 51° 47’, and its declination 16° 8’north. On the 23d of January he found R. A. 51° 46’, and N. D. 17° 8’.. He writes alfo, that he firft announced this ftar as a comet; but, as he alwavs * Thefe elements had been communicated alfo to the duke of Gotha, to count Bruhl at London, and Kohler at Drefden. obferved . RefleBions on ihe new Planet. aE obferved it to be without any nebulous ring, and to have a: very flow motion, he had feveral times conjectured it might be a planet. This letter, written on the 24th of January, was unfortunately 71 days on the road; it was therefore difficult, from the only two pofitions given by Piazzi, to conjecture the place of this wandering ftar after fo long a period. I have, however, endeavoured to take advantage of the circumftance, that on the roth of January the ftar from being ‘retrograde had become direét, and, on the fuppofition of a circular orbit, have found that its diftance from the fun mutt be three femi- diameters of the earth’s orbit; fo that this {tar may beanew planet, the orbit of which will fall between thofe of Mars and Jupiter. There is reafon to think that the orbit of this planet, like thofe of all the reft, will have a perceptible eccentricity *, and confequently the hypothefis of a circular orbit, which } fuppofed, mutt be improper for reprefenting its motion and geocentric place after fo long a period: we mutt therefore wait for the remainder of Piazzi’s obfervations, which he no’ doubt has continued. The heavens with us, fince the receipt of Piazzi’s letter, have been always overcaft: you, perhaps, have a {ky more favourable for aftronomical obfervations than ourst. In this perfuafion, [ fend you my elements of the orbit, calculated, as you will fee, fron: thefe imperfe& obferva- tions, by which you will be able to calculate the planet’s place nearly. Heliocent. long. of the fiar at noon, Dec. 31, 1800, 2° 6° 54’; heliocent. motion in long. in 100 days 18° 19’. Longitude of the afcending node, 3° 8° 32’. Inclination of the orbit, 3° 50’. But, as already faid, thefe refults are fubject to great doubts; for they are founded only on two very imperfeét obfervations, and on the very infufficient hy= pothefis of a circular orbit.. I, however, flatter myfelf that this letter will foon reach you; and, before the ftar be loft in the fun’s beams, you will perhaps be fo fortunate with your fuperior inftruments as to find it, and to be able to’ give me more correct information refpedting it.” Immediately after I received Oriani’s letter, I calculated the place of the planet with its elements, and fearched for i¢ in the heavens on feveral ferene evenings; but, unfortunately, the information bad arrived too late. This {mall ftar had already advanced too near to the fun, fo as to be loft in its * According to,my comjed?ural calculations, a very great one, 0'14; the greateft next to that of Mercury. Time will fhow whether I was right. + At the botrom of che Thuringian forefts, two hundred per cent. worfe than Mila! How badly my friend was informed refpecting our April weather! It is a common proverb at Gotha, shat during the brighteft and finelt Wcather onc mutt not go nee Without a great coat or umbrella. rayg 4m Refieétions on the new Planet. rays and the vapour of the horizon. I afterwards found that Oriani, in confequence of his great hafte and anxiety to com- municate to me the intelligence as foon as poffible, muft have committed an error in the calculation of thefe preliminary elements, particularly iu the 9, and in the inclination of the orbit. But even had there been no error I fhould not have found this fmall wandering ftar; for when I received the in- formation the obf{curity was too great, and the {tar too near the horizon. Profeflor Bode alfo, as he informed me in a letter dated May 12, had fearched for it feveral evenings, but in vain. As no hope now remained of being able to obferve this fingular and remarkable body till its return from the fun in Auguft or September, I made a calculation of its orbit as sak as pofible from fo imperfeét and fcanty obfervations, not with a view of finding it again in the courfe of two or three months (for before that time I hoped Piazzi, by con- tinuing his obfervations, would give us better and more deter- minate data and conclufions), but merely that I might have by me fome conjectures to enable me with better grounds to believe in the attual exiftence of a planet between Mars and Jupiter. The obfervations given by Piazzi for calculating the orbit are partly imperfeé&t and partly infufficient. ft, His two obfervations which are known, are only for minutes, and announced as nearly. 2d, For calculating the orbit of a planet or a comet, ¢4ree obfervations at leaft are neceflary. 3d, The times of the obfervations are not affigned. In regard to the firft, we may admit, that at leaft the neare/? minutes of the obfervation are given right. In regard to the fecond . difficulty, Piazzi perhaps, as already faid, may have purpofely withheld the ¢4ird obiervation, that he might calculate firft himfelf the orbit of this planet *; for he confidered it as fuch before the 24th of January. But if this were the. cafe, he betrayed, in fome meafure, his having made a third obferva- tion; as he’ mentions that the planet from the 1oth to the aith of January was fiationary. Oriani and Bode took ad- vantage of this cireumftance, and I employed it myfelf to calculate an approximate orbit of this planet from thefe feanty obfervations. The third difficulty was obviated by. the following conjectures : -Piazzi, as is well known, is employed in the conftruétion * The celebrated French aftronomer J. N. de l'Ifle went ftill further. Having difcovered, at the oblervatory of Paris, the long announced, long expected comet of 1759, he kept ita long time fecret, obferved it jp pri- vate, and ordered his pupil Meffier to fay nothing of his difcovery. : es o Reflelions on the new Planet. “3 ¢ of a large celeftial chart*. He had alfo, in part, the good fortune which I hoped to enjoy while preparing my catalogue of the ftars, and with the view of which the Lilienthal Afiro- nomical Society was formed; and the planet would certainly not have efcaped them, even if it had not been difcovered by Piazzit. Piazzi is furnifhed at his obfervatory with an ex- cellent tranfit inftrument, and a complete meridian circle by Ramfden, by means of which he no doubt fell upon this {mail wandering ftar. This ftar mutt have culminated on the 1ft of January, the day when difcovered, about nine in the even- ing. At that time of the year and hour it is perfect night at Palermo; and therefore Piazzi could very well obferve this fmall ftar, of the 8th or ninth magnitude, with a day tele- fcope. It wasy however, full moon; and as the moon had rifen three hours above the horizon of Palermo, the night qnutt have been very bright. But the moon was four hours, or about 68° diftant from the ftar; and this circumftance alone converts my conjecture into certainty, that Piazzi muft have found this fuppofed comet not with a comet-fearcher, but with his meridian inftrument. The above-mentioned right afcenfions of the wandering ftar, converted into time, were confequently the time of its culmination in fidereal time: thefe I again converted into mean folar time, and thus brought out the true moments of the obfervations of the far. By thefe, and the obliquity of the ecliptic 23° 284 pace ’, Ihave obtained the following data for calculating the orbit: \ Place o1 © Log: Dist. Mean Time | Geocent. Long. of Geocent. u la at Valermo. the P an. Lat. South. ae 20 © SP —_——_— ror. Jan. 1ft{8" 43! 15/115 23% 29/ gol] 2° 377 5) gh 11° 17 401l9°9926158 23di7 16 41 \t 23 43 golr 38 so |jro. 3 22 28 j9°9932251 As the ftar on the roth of January became ftationary, I found its elongation for that time 7° 26° 41° 41’, and, by means of Keil’s propofition, that the tangent of the clonga- tion is equal to the femidiameter of the orbit divided by the fquare root of that femidiameter, + 1. I found this femi- diameter = 3°071, and, by Kepler’s principle, the revolution * Laft year he publithed his large catalogue, comprehending 5500 ftars. + It was really fortunate that Piazzi difcovered his ftar on this day 5 for, had he fallen upon it eight days later, it is poffible it might have efcaped him; for, as this wandering ftar about that time becaine ftationary, he would not, from the obfervations of next day, have remarked its motion. It is very fingular that this new planet, if its being fuch be really confirmed, was difcovered and feen in the dhoulder of Taurus, as Uranus was 20 and 110 years ago. (3°071)} 7h RefieGions on the new Planet: (3°071)} = 5°3817 years. By the ufual methods, T obtained the following approximate elements of the orbit: Epoch of the mean heliocentric longitude for the commencement of 1801 = Be B55 40% Long. of the afcending node —- + 0) Bho@ais argo Mean annual motion —- ~ =1 2 vei ageqgag Fnelination of the orbit — -. - - 7-47) 40 Semidiameter of the orbit 3°071 Synodical revolution: - 5°3806 Thofe who attentively contider and compare thefe elements will no doubt remark, that the diftance and periodical time of Piazzi’s flar are exaétly the fameas thofe of the celebrated eomet of 1770, the calculation of which gave fo much em- ployment to aftronomers, and the orbit of which Lexel could no otherwife reprefent thanun an ellipfe of 5} years, Pingré alfo found its diftance = 3°09, and the period of. revolu- tion 5°4 years *. Burckhardt, who lately obtained) the. fe- cond prize propofed on this fubject by the National Inftitute, could not reduce this fingular body from new obferyations into any other than an elliptical orbit of 5+ years. Was the comet of 1770 the fo long concealed planet? or was Piazzi’s ftar the comet of 1770? In eithercafe, whether 1 was a comet or planet, Why was it not oftener feen, or before difeovered? The canfes, fome of which we have alread mentioned, may have been various. But to confine stare to a probable way of explaining this point, let the reader only look into Schroéter’s Obfervations on the Comet of 1799, publifhed in the third volume of his Collections in regard to the lateft Aftronomical Difcoveries +, The mot fingular phe- nomena of the accidental variable modifications of the ne- bulous light furrounding the comet, and alfo the, well-known atmofpheres of the planets, and even the fun, will be found there explained. In the nebulous light which furrounded the comet of 1799, Mr. Schréter obferved not only occa- fional, but fadden and difproportionably great changes both in the extent and ftrength of the photofphere, Dr, Flerfchel not long ago prefented to the Royal Society a paper on the ftruGture ot the fun, ‘in which this eminent aftronomer ex- plains the folar fpots by fuppofing an elaftic and not lumi- pious gas difengaged from the opake furface of the fun’s body, which divides the farrounding luminous fluid or photofphere, by which means we then fee dark parts of the body, which we confider as {pots. Is it not therefore poffible that we fee ftars at one time * Cometographie, part ti! p. §9. + Allgem. Geograph. Ephemerid, vol. iti. p. 432. / which - RefleEtions on the new Planet. 98 which idifappear at another? We are acquainted with many which have periodical changes of light of greater or longer duration; as, for example, thofe numerous changeable ftars ealled Stella mirabiles. | What has become of the celebrated Tycho Brahe’s ftar in Caffiopeia of the year 1572, which at one time fhone as bright as Sirius, and even exceeded Venus and Jupiter when im thet perigeum; fo that it could be feen in the day with the naked eve; fince which time not the fmalleft traces of it have ‘been found? We learn by the old chronicles, that in the ume of the emperor Otho I. about the year 945, and alfo in 1264, a new and motionlefs ftar ap- peared between Caffiopeia and Cepheus. Some afironomers; therefore, conjectured that this might be the ftar of 1572,which appeared periodically in the courie of about 300 years +. Had it any affinity with the celebrated ftar difcovered by Kepler in 1604 in the foot of Serpentarius, which feemed at one time fo bright that it exceeded in fplendour ftars of the firft magnitude, became invifible next year, and has never fince appeared? What are Herfchel’s planetary nebule? Did not Sehroter { find that whole traéts of luminous nebule difap- peared from the heavens?) What are our large fire-balls, which move with a velocity a hundred times greater perhaps than that of a cannon bullet, emit a bright light, burft, and then difappear? It is proved that they are bodies belonging to the univerfe, and not to our atmofphere. This was the opinion of Montanari § in 1676, who, in his Fiamma vo= Jante ||, calculates that one of thefe fire-balls, feen throughout all Italy in the above year, was at the height of forty Italian miles, All our readers muft remember the large fire-ball feen in the year 1783 in every part of Europe, and pretty well obferved. It was calculated by fome of the Englith aftro- nomers that the height of this immenfe body of fire was 60 Englith miles, and that its greateft diameter was’ 1/th mile. In feven minutes it would have pafled over a {pace equal to the femidiameter of the earth Why may not comets appear fometimes luminous and at * Leovit. apud Tychon. lib. i. p. 441, Licer. lib. v. cap. 12. + See Laplace's hypothefis on this fubjeét in his Lapofit. du Sifime du Monde, hiv.1, p. 347, au. 7» the only real edition in quarto acknowledged by the author, t Beytrage, p. 232. § Halley and Hevelius confidered them alfo as cofinical bodies. {| La Fiamma volante, gran Meteora veduta fopra I'Iralia la fera de 31 Marzo 1676, Speculazioni fifiche et aftronomiche efpreffe dal Dott. Geminiano Montanari ,.... in una Lettera all, Ill. Ecc. Sgr. Maretiefe Federico Gonzaga, Bologna 1676. 95 pages quarto: a very fcarce work, for which 1 am indebted to the kindnefs of profeffur Blumenbach, and which Dr. Chladni, who has collected on this fubjeét with fo much care, was never able to obtain, others a vie) Reflections on the new Planet. others dark? The comet of 1770, therefore, might exit’ fometimes in an opake, and fometimes in a phofphorefcent ftate ; and hence perhaps, and from the perturbative power of the larger and more denfe bodies, the unfrequency of their return may be explamed, They come back, and we do not fee them; they are prefent, and we do not obferve them. To draw conclufions, from the identity of the elements of the orbit of a body, refpecting the identity of the body itfelf, gives, as all aftronomers know, but a high degree of proba- bility *, among the ninety-one comets, confirmed by only one hypothefis }, which certainly may be true taken direéily but not inver/ely. Two comets, however, whofe orbits have not the identical fame elements, may be one and the fame body. This, as far as I know, has never been explicitly afferted by any one: but Lexel mentioned it implicitly, when the fol- Jowing objection was made to him on account of the five vears elliptical orbit of the comet of 1770: Since the period of the revolution of this comet is fo fhort, why was it not feen oftener, and long ago? Lexel was of opinion, and per- haps {o was the great Euler his matter, under whofe infpec- tion he Jaboured, that the influence and perturbation of the large body of Jupiter, to which this comet approached very near on the 27th of May 1767, and the 23d of Auguft 1779, might have entirely changed its orbitt. Burckhardt was of the fame opinion in his memoir written on the fubjeét of the prize already mentioned. But how frightful is the mere idea of calculating the per- turbation of fuch a body! Would not fuch a calculation exceed the powers of our analyfis? The difficult theory of the moon would be mere elementary calculation compared with the variable orbit of fuch a body, It were to be withed that fo ftriking a phenomenon would produce the neceffity of giving to our calculation, in regard to perturbation, a new direction, that the theory of fo complex an approximation might be more improved, and that the influence of the fuc- ceffive integrations on neglected quantities might be better and more accurately determined. But the geometrician, who can reprefent all the co-ordinates of the motion of each ce- leftial body in {peedily approximating feries of fines and co- fines of the angle depending on its real motion, does nat, perhaps, exift on our earth, * Monat. Correfpond. vol. iii. p-414 + The fo called Halley’s comet, the fifth and laft obferved return of which took place in.r759, and which will appear again in 1835. + «* M. Lexel penfe, que fon orbite peut avoir été sotalement changée par \’aétion de Jupiter.’”’ Pingré Cometograph. part ii. p: go. See alfo Meém. de Paris 1776. p, 648. 4 Many & Refle&ions on the new Plenet. > Many no donbt will confider the tail which, according to Meffier’s exprefs obfervation *, attended the comet of 1770, as a proof that it could not be a planet. But, is it proved that planets cannot have a tail? We have planets with fa- tellites, and others without thefe attendants; why therefore fhould there not be planets with tails, to prove, in a vifible manner, that they are nothing elfe than planets? This dif- ference in the appellation originated in the periods of igno- rance, and muft now be admitted to our language to di- ftinguifh thofe bodies, the appearance of which 1s of fhorter duration, and which do not remain vifible throughout their whole orbit t, from thofe which are always vifible, except when they approach too near to the fun. The circumftance which feems to be peculiar only to comets, that fome of them move retrograde, while all the planets move direét, is only apparent. The reader is referred to the explanation which Laplace and Lalande have given of this point in regard to the retrograde fatellites of Uranus t. Lalande fays the word retrograde impofes by its expreffion, but in reality is nothing. Kant, in his Al/g. Nat. und Theorie des Himmels, original edition, publifhed in 1755, conjectured that the retrograde motion of fome comets might be only an opucal illufion, like that of the geocentric motion of the planets. Every newly difcovered object muft have a new appella- tion. Though a name in itfelf is of no great importance, we have feen in regard to Uranus how difficult it is for all man- kind, from the Thames to the Neva, to be unanimous in this refpect. If the ftar lately difcovered by Piazzi be really the fuppofed planet between Mars and Jupiter, a great and auguft patron of aftronomy, the founder of the obfervatory of Seeberg, gave it, im my opinion, a very appropriate name fifteen years ago. Uranus has afforded us a ftrong right, on the fcore of uniformity, to affign to this new planet, as has been the cafe with the old ones, a name borrowed from the heathen mythology. The duke of Gotha propofed, therefore, that of Hera, “Hza, or of the deity ftyled by the Romans Juno, the daughter of Saturn, and the fifter and wife of Jupiter §: Jupiter therefore would have his father and grand- father above him, and his wife and children below him. * Mém. de Paris 1776. p. 597. - + The new planet, perhaps, is not vifible in apogeum, as already ob- erved. 2 Allgem. Geograph. Ephemerid. vol. ii, p. 170 and 259. See alfo Laplace’s Expoft. du Sy/léme du Monde, p. 342. § Called alfo Saturnia. The duke at firlt propofed Rhea, the wife of Saturn; but this name has already been applied to the Earth, Th ¢ 98 Reflggtions on the new Planet. The Greek name Hera is to be preferred to the Latin name Juno, ift, Becaufe the latter has been already applied to the planet Venus. Pliny fays*, ‘¢ Infra folem ambit ingens fidus, appellatum Veneris ......... Alii enim Junonis, alii Tidis, alii matris Detim appellavere.” St. Auguftine f calls Venus, Stellam Junonis; and Apuleius } fays, ‘* Junonia, immo Veneris ftella cenfetur.”. Hera is always involved in clouds, and our planet kept itfelf a long time concealed. This name, therefore, will full be appropriate even if the new ftar fhould not be the fuppofed planet: in that cafe, inftead of the deity we have embraced a cloud§. 2d, Here is at the fame time the name of a.city in Sicily, by which means the difcovery made on that ifland, and the RA DN te name of the difcoverer of this eighth primary planet, will be eternized and preferved as long as tradition and hiftory exift on the earth. The city of Herz, fituated, as well as Pa- lermo, on the coat of Sicily, was. called allo Hybla Minor, and is the fame mentioned by Paufanias, Cicero in his Let- ters to Atticus, and Antoninus in-his Itinerary. In the laft place, Hera is the mother of Vulcan, who has his workfhop in the burning mountain of tna in that ifland. The objection already made in regard to Uranus, that all the planets have Roman and not Greek names, muft be of lefs importance, as the Greek name Oupavas has been retained to that difcovered by Herfchel, though it would have been more agreeable to analogy to bave called it Calus. All the old planets, the difcovery of which is loft in the obfeurity of time, may retain their Latin names; but the new planets, the hiftory. of the difeovery of which willbe handed down to the lateft pofterity, with the names of the difcyverers, ought, by way of diftinction, to have Greek names. What feems here an interruption of analogy will be only harmony. Since the creation, like, the Creator, has no bounds, fhould another planet be difcovered beyend Uranus, its hieroglyphic ap- pellation ought to be Greek. At will be neceflary alfo to invent an appropriate character for this planet. To.amew planet we may affign the character ofa new metal. This idea has been followed in regard to Uranus; but awe have thereby committed an error, or rather eftablified a monument of our ignorance refpecting the com- ponent parts of platina. It was a much ‘better propofal to diftinguith this planet by 7, the under part of which repre- * Hitt, Na‘. Ib. ii, cap. 6. +, De Civitat. Dei, lib. vii. cap. ts. t De Mundo, p. 252. edit. Bipont. § Nubes et inania captare. sit fents RefleGious on the new Planet. "9 fents a planet, and the upper a fixed ftar: it fhould, indeed, denote a fixed ftar become a planet. But as this character has been already introduced in the Vienna Ephemerides, in order to prevent mifconception it ought to be inverted. The characters of the Earth 5, and Venus ¢, have the fame affinity, as well as thofe of Mars ¢ and Uranus 2. POSTSCRIPT. While the lat theet ‘of this paper was printing we received from our worthy friend Dr. Olbers, of Bremen, the following . elements of the orbit of Hera, which he calculated in a circle from the obfervations communicated to him by. Piazzi: Semidiameter of the orbit - - 2'Q51 Loneitude of the afcending g - OP wa99o ge! Inclmation of the orbit - mi ON 7 50 Helhocent. long. Jan. 1, 1801 = 2 9 45 Sidereal revoluuion - 1851°6 days = 5°0694 years. Daily heliocent. metion - - 11’ 39°95 Yearly motien ~ - - PEO. Tok This orbitas very infufficient, as it is calculated on the hy- pothefis of a circle: the very imperfect obfervations were only 22 days diiiant from each other; and, as Dr. Olbers very well oblerves, the lines of fight do not lie advantageoufly. Dr. Olbers is alfo of epinion that thefe elements are not fuf- ficient to calculate a planet fo long before, in order to be able to find it again on its reappearance in the morning in Auguft, In the month of Auguit it will pafs through the whole fign of Cancer, and muft be fought for in the equino@ial point. From the rft to the 31ft of Auguft, a zone of ithe heavens from 115° to 230’ of right afcenfion, and from 22° to 24° north declmation, muft be carefully {earched; for this will be the diftrict of the heavens where the planet will, in al} probability, be found im that month. Ju the oldeft periods. Latin verfes have been invented to denote the order of the planets in regard to their dittance from the fun. Thus, for example, we have the old well- »known veries : Sarurni atque Jovis Sidus, Mars, Sol, Venus alma, Mercurius, claudit ultima Luna choruin. On the difcovery of Herfchel’s plovet, Poinfinet de Sivry wifhed to have it called Cyde/e or Cybelle, after the wife of Saturn, the neareft planet below it; and exprefled the order *of the feven planets in the following three Latin verles: - - J ~ . Ambir Solem Hermes, Venus hunc, mox Terra, Diana, Mars fequirur. Pergit rex Jupiter, Hune Saturnus, Omnes hos orbes amplectitur alma Cubelle. - One 80 Particulars refpefting the new Planet. One of my friends, poffeffed of a poetical vein, has expreffed the order of the planets, now increafed to eight, in the fol- lowing four lines, and not unhappily : Mercurius primus: Venus altera: Terra deinde, Mars pofthac: quintam fedem fibi vindicat Hera. Jupiter hanc ultra eft. Sequitur Saturnus: at illom Uranus egreditur, non aufim dicere f{ummus. XIV. Some Particulars refpefting the new Planet Ceres Ferdinandea. Iw the two preceding papers our readers are put in poffef- fion of every thing relative to the difcoyery of this planet. The following are fome of the obferved places of the Ceres Ferdinandea, upon its being redifcovered lately, and the times noted are mean time. ; 1801. Dec. 7. Obferved by Dr. Zach of Saxe Gotha, under fome uncertainty of its being the planet. M. T. R. A. Dec. N. at 18° 48’ 10” = 978° 33/31" 21° 41’ 307 1802. Jan. 5. By Dr. Olbers, at Bremen, a7) GO 185 43 Ed Boro 11. Again, by Zach, ab rp eet IF 186 45 50 TDuao' te 26. By Mechain, at Paris, at16 10 48 188 24 49 12° ‘ous Feb. 3. By the aftronomer royal, Greenwich, at16 IL 15 188 43. © {12 39 oO 42 ati7 25 ~46 188 43 0 12) 440 Ig mae abisg: | ah ie 188 30 o 19.390 9 On the 7th of February and fubfequent days, it was ob- ferved by Dr. Herfchel at Slough, and alfo by Alex. Aubert, efg. at his obfervatory at Highbury Houfe. he ftate of the weather at Slough did not admit of Doétor Herfchel’s feeing the new planet. till Monday night the 8th current, he having previoufly received diftin& notice as to its place from his frend Dr. Mafkelyne, the aftronomer royal, who for the firft time obferved it, like a ftar of the eighth magnitude, on the 4th current, in the morning. On the gth and roth of February at night, Dr. Herfchel again traced the planet, and perceived its motion. It was not however till the morning of the fucceeding day, that through a much clearer air, and ata more favourable altitude, with lefs obfiruGion Particulars re/peiing the new Planet. 81 obftrudtion from the moon-light, he obtained a diftin@ view of it fora fhort time. Through his ten feet reflector, with a magnifying power of fix hundred, and higher powers, he perceived its difc, though very fmall, yet diftin@ly round and well defined; but faw nothing further which denoted a ring or acoma, or a fatellite. The favourable ftate of the air appear- ing then very precarious, Dr. Herfchel did not attemptto afcer+ tain the apparent diameter of the planet by means of his lamp- micrometer, as fome preparations and adjaftments would have been neceffary before he could have availed himfelf of that curious apparatus. But in order to form fome efti- mate as to a point of fo much importance, he adopted a happy expedient, and very fuitable to the urgency of the moment. The Georgian’ planet being fituated near at hand, in the fame region of the heavens, he direéted his telefcope firft to it, and then to the other, with his attention fixed upon making a comparative eftimate of the apparent diameter of each difc. In order to this, and to avoid as much as poffible certain fallacies to which this method is more or lefs liable, he was careful to form eftimates over and over again, according as his telefcope was laft turned from the greater dife to the “mailer; and vice verfa. From fuch obfervations, frequently repeated, he concludes that the apparent diameter of the Ceres Ferdinandea is about a fourth part only of the ap- parent diameter of the Georgium Sidus. By applying there- fore the proper calculation, Dr. Herfchel has inferred that the real diameter of this newly found primary planet, called Ceres Ferdinandea, is only a little more than half of the diameter of our moon and Jefs than 5-8ths of it. The fmallnefs of the planet, together with the great inclination of its orbit, are peculiarities which may probably lead to other difcoveries in the folar fyftem. ’ The following are fome places of the planet calculated forward in foreign journals, but corrected by the lateft cb- fervations, fhowing nearly where the planet may be expected to appear: computed for 12" or 155 Greenwich time. 1802. R.A, Dec. N. Feb: 17. 188° 15/ ge 23. 187 39 14 49 March 1. 186 50 2, i I The planet will be in oppofition to the fun about the 13th of March. The following are the elements of the planet as calculated by M. Gaufs, of Brunfwick, for an elliptic orbit. Epoch 18cr, Jan. 0, or Jan. 1, which of the two is un- certain - - - a" 17° 36° 34” Vou, XIf, F Aphelium \ , $2 Particulars refpedling the new Planet. Aphelium . SAN cat =e ss HP ota 38" Aicending node, - = - O70 2a Oe Va Inclination of orbit = a 9. TOL BO. Bi» Eccentricity 0,0825017 to its mean diftance unity. . Mean diftance from the fun 2°7673. : Mean diurnal heliocentric and tropical motion, fay, , 12/ 50.914!". tee = Periodic time 1681 days, or 4 years 7 mouths. _, Baron Von Zach, direétor of the obfervatory of Gotha, writes as follows to C. Mechain, adminiftrator of the obfer- vatory of Paris: | an «* M. Schroter of Lilienthal: has feen, with his large tele- fcopes, the new planet Ceres, under a difc of nearly 2". He fufpects that it has two fatellites. The planet is enveloped in avery thick atmofphere, for it appears to be {urrounded with much nebulofity. Iam very anxious to learn what Dr, Her- {chel will tell us réfpeting it: in the mean time I thought it my duty to write you this in hafte.” . Elliptic elements of the new planet, corre&ed by M. Gaufs from his Jaft obfervations : Diurnal tropical heliocentric motion 770°7376". Tropical revolution, 1681¢ 13" g™. . do ; It is a curious circumftance that the difcovery of this planet has been long expected, and even in fome meafure predicted, Profeffor Bode, of Berlin, in his Kurzer Entwurf der Afiro-. nomufchen Wiffenchaften, Berlin'17945 § 387, has the follow- ing paflage : ste < = 1) RON Kilkenny marble - 2024 grains, » ghotteed t Stourbridge clay, old pot 2024 grains... 4) This proportion of earths is 6 to 1 of that prefcribed by C. Clouet. The mixture was expofed for nearly 50 minutes, when I judged from the degree of heat that the fufion was complete. When cold, I found a large mafs of glafs refting upon a very perfect {mooth- fkinned metallic button, which was found to weigh 989 @ Loft in fufion — 23. equal to =*,th part of the original weight. The fra¢ture was fo like that of the former, that they were not eafily diftm-. guifhable from each other. The fame fimilarity in point of uality, when forged and put to various tefts, was alfo evi- q poy § P > Vy ent. The colour of the glafs was as much alike to No, 10 as were the qualities of the refpective metallic produ€ts, Grains. Exp. Xil. Swedifh iron - - 878 Kilkenny marble. 1756 grains. From the purity of the Kilkenny marble I judged it ‘ requifite to expofe this mixture to a very high degree of heat, which continued nearly one hour. [ found a perfect fufion of the lime, and a very fine button of metal, The latter weighed’ ms - 828 Loft in fufion —_§0, “Soe I ° oa Sas wee . equal to —th part of the original weight. The form, ; iL oe 5 ; ti appearance, and denfity of this button exaétly correfponded: with. that of No. g, when. Italian marble ,was fufed along with iron. Its fraéture was in moft ref{pects fimilar, and the fubfequent trials proved that its quality was alfo the fame. The lofs in metal was. greater in this experiment than. in No. g, probably arifing from the iron being longer expofed under a high temperature before the carbonate, by reafon of exceffive purity, entered into fufion. The glafs produced by the fufion of this marble in contaét with iron was of a black colour, and poffeffed of no great degree of luftre in fracture. When pounded fmall, it affumed a fhade of dirty green,’ differing materially from any of the former, . I have avoided entering into a detail of the various appear-: ances which thefe three laft products aflumed in for ne, Fa aA; aie Caft Steel from Bar Tron. . 1or "Their fimilarity and identity with thefe deferibed in Nos. 7, 8, and 9, rendered fuch a defcription unneceflary. Suffice it to fay, they were applied in the fame. fhapes to the fame fpecies of labour, and found equally inapplicable to the pur- pofes for which they were intended. Neither i’ the experiments recorded in this paper, nor in thofe which accompanied the former communications, was there found any product refembling fteel, or poffefled of any of thofe properties which iron derives from its combination with carbon: on the contrary, the refulting produét in all of them was found debafed, in point of ftrength and elafticity, below the ftandard of common malleable iron. The uniform quality of the various metallic maffes, though fufed in contaé with widely different proportions of earths, leaves little room to-doubt that the latter are entirely néutral; nor does it ap- _ pear, upon a review of the experiments performed with a mixture of carbonate and argil, that the lofs of metal is. de- pendent upon the quantity of earths fufed in contact with it, as the following table will fhow: the fame review exhibits a triple lofs of metal in thofe experiments wherein the car- bonate of lime was fufed alone with the iron. ’ Experiment No. 1. lofs.was one 73d part, ee i Be ye en Dee ie ik ee pare teeta RS Tae? 19 0 7 8 ae - 48th aes - 54th To. - - 53d nearly thar - 44th ‘ Average lofs in fufion = one 56th part. The three firft fufions feem to have experienced a fmaller Jofs in metal than the fubfequent ones. This I am apt to attribute to a comparatively imperfect fufion, as the buttons obtained in Nos. 1, 2, and 3, were confiderably pitted, and every way lefs denfe than thofe afterwards produced, when [ had learnt to regulate the neceflary heat to a certainty, Experiment No, 6, lofs one 17th part A hata pti, Te me EB > Average lofs in fufion one 203d part. Tt appears alfo that the quantity of carbonate ufed, and the lofs of iron fuftained, were not analogous to each other. To verify this, No, 6 and 12 may be compared, ys G 3 In To New Procefs for making In the-courfe of making the feries of experiments from which the foregoing are felected, I had occafion to remark that the mixture of argil and carbonate, when moderate pro- portions were ufed, entered into fufion in 10 to 15 minutes from the period of being introduced into the furnace, and from 15 to 20 minutes before the iron melted. A few cru- ~cibles were withdrawn at this early ftage of the procefs; the glafs was found perfectly pure and tranfparent. The pieces of ron were more or lefs welded together, but poffeffed their original fhape and quality. And though it may feem fome- what foreign to the prefent fubject, I fhal] further remark, that fo long as the pieces of iron remained unfufed or fufing, a continual bubbling took place upon the furface of the liquid glafs refembling the difcharge of an elaftic body. I foon learned to prejudge the degree of perfeClion in the fufion by the furface of the glafs. In imperfect rednétions this was ‘completely covered, with various fized bubbles, many of which were concentric: on the contrary, when the metallic button was found poffeffed of fmoothnefs and uniform denfity, the furface of the clafs was either entirely fmooth, or at moft prefented one folitary bubble exaétly in the centre, through which it is prefumable, at the time of its fixing, had been . difcharging the laft portions of the gafeous fubftance for- merly alluded to. In purfuing the inveftigation of this fubject, I had pre- pared a variety of other experiments. The fufion of the fame Swedifh iron with deacidified carbonate and argil, in various degrees of mixture, and with the former alone, formed a diftiné head. The fimilarity of the refults, ex- cepting an alteration in the colour of the glaffes, renders thefe experiments no longer interefting. Others, however, performed with Britifh cold fhort iron, made in the ftamping procefs, are more worthy of notice. Be 3 Various weights of iron were fufed with mixtures of argil and carbonate, and with the latter alone. In every cafe, a much greater quantity of metal difappeared than in any of the former experiments, and a fimilar difference in the ap- ‘pearance of the glafs. ue ift, In two experiments performed with cold fhort iron and an equal mixture of 1-3d each of Kilkenny marble and Stourbridge clay (old pot) in the one, and double the weights of the iron of each in the other, the lofs of metal was ;4,th [ and ;1,th: average, . The accompanying glafs was pof- ol feffed of an uncommon degree of luftre and denfity, Its frac- ture prefented a polith and colour fuperior to black marble ; very e+ a oe ag Caf? Steel from Bar Iron. Ios very thin fplinters, however, difplayed a rich amber-green colour, . Spent yy eT Ie ad, 1000 grains of Kilkenny marble and 500 grains of cold fhort iron were fufed, with a lofs of “.th of metal. The glais was of a deep gral prem colour, BED PUL pe oer 3d, Equal mixtures of 1-3d each of Ttalian marble and clay pot fufed with 1000 grains cold fhort iron, a lots of atih part was fuftained, . | tte 09 Leupe ic “itslletoet 4th, 2000 grains of Italian marble and 1000 grains. of cold fhort iron were fufed together: a very black, fmooth, fhining glafs was obtained, and a lofs of 1-gth of,jronpwas experienced. ee CaN EN 5th, I welded feveral pieces of this cold fhort iron ;. drew, itinto a bar; cut the bar acrofs; welded the: pieces, and again drew it into. fhape.. The iron feemed confiderably, improved. 1000 grains of this iron were fufed with 666 grains of an equal mixture of Italian marble and Stgurbridge clay pot: the lofs in metal only amounted to ies pare of Bur 1011 20 the original weight of the iron. ) sad The foregoing experiments are, I conceive, in. point of variety and accuracy, fuflicient to demonftrate, that. im, no pereon: either alone or in mixture, does carbonate o ime, by the decompofition of its acid, or otherwife, com- municate carbonaceous matter to iron fufed in contact with it. In feeking, therefore, for.an explanation of the pheno- mena which have fo completely deceived the Parifian che- mifis, the two following reafons occur as being molt proba- ble. The crucibles ufed may haye contained a, portion of carbonaceous matter, or the reporters haye been deceived by the ignorance or intention of their artifis. If the latter has been the cafe, then the concluding paragraph of my com- munication in January will apply with peculiar force: if the former, the following experiments will how how eafily the deception might have taken place. nag dt-—~x Oo lsups uit Experiment with black lead crucibles. e Grains, ~~ Swedith iron BEES WEE TIO3S GAY TO Vas Calcined carbonate of lime 1750 grains;' Stourbridge clay pot. = - ~—- 1750 grains. This mixture was eared to a degree of heat capable ~~ of fufing a friall portion of caft ftecl, and in an hour I found the contents completely reduced. “When the crucible was withdrawn, and cooled, I found an ingot of metal; the upper farface of which was beautifully G 4 coloured, 104 New Proce/s for making , . Bit Grains. | CF aot] . Brought over 6959 coloured, and cryftallized in the moft perfect radii, feathered tranfverfely. The under furface was confi- derably honeycombed, and the concaves poffeffed mi- . nutely, cryftallized interiors. The mafs weighed 4058 % Gained in fufion — 99 equal to =4,th part nearly of the original weight of the iron employed. ~The glafs in this experiment was milky blue inclining to azure ; denfe, and very tranfparent. * The' ingot was cut into three pieces, each of which was drawn into a neat bar. .The caution neceflary was great, as the produ upon the firft operation difplayed an mtimate connection with fleel, and proved to be fteel very highly fa- turated with carbon. A razor and feveral penknives were made from this refult, all of which hardened to excefs with a low fhade of red. '. A-fair inference from this experiment is, that the carburet of iron which entered into the compofition of the crucible, here united in part with the iron, and formed very highly fa- turated fteel. The precaution ufed by introducing deacidified Jime leaves no doubt upon the fubject of the carbonic acid. * ad Experiment with black lead crucibles. Grains. hy In this experiment I ufed of the fame iron’ - 3514 % = = Of calcined lime ~~ —- 440 grains, i ‘ Old clay pot - + 440 grains. A very beautiful button of fteel was obtained in this fufion, the cryftallized furface of which was fo pro- | minent as to leave a very perfect impreffion upon the under furface of the incumbent glafs. The weight was found to be - ean a RAO: 3567 ge Gained in weight ~~ 53 equal to eth part of the original weight of the iron. The ; To : j t quality of the fteel now obtained was fofter than that pro- uced in laft experiment, and more fuitable for the ordinary purpofes to which caft fteel is applied. ., >. 3d Experiment with black lead crucibles. Grains, Swedifh iron» - Since [hate 3630 _ Calcined lime - 2.20 grains, Stourbridge clay pot - 220 grains. From this mixture another elegant button of metal ry covered Cajt Steel from Bar Iron, 105 Grains. ; Brought over 3630 covered by a thin layer of glafs was obtained, which weighed - - “F 3623 Loft in fufion 7. I 51835 . ‘This fteel was, in point of quality, fofter than any of the former; and from this circumftance I inferred that the earths fo far contributed to the fteclification of the iron by fufing upon the furface of the metal, and preventing the efcape of the carbon. It appeared alfo further adducible, that if the - iron was prefented with a fufficient dofe of carbon to make allowance for wafte, fteel fhould be formed without the addi- tion of any portion of earth. 4th Experiment will juftify the firft inference. Grains. Into a black lead crucible was introduced - 3710 of the iron employed in former experiments. A tight lid was fitted to the crucible, and the iron expofed to as high a heat as I judged the crucible capable of {uf- taining. This continued, from firft to laft, for 38 mi- nutes, when the crucible was withdrawn. When cold, I found that the iron had funk to the bottom, forming an imperfect ingot of fteel of a proper degree g ; equal to th part of the weight of the iron employed. of faturation of carbon at the under part, but almoft of the nature of malleable iron towards the upper fur- ; face. It weighed - -" - 369% Loft in fufion 18 equal to -4,th part of the weight of the iron: The latter inference was juttified in the courfe of fome hundreds of experiments with various carbonaceous fub- fiances and iron, the ultimate refult of which proved that excellent caft fteel could be formed in crucibles deftitute of carbonaceous mixture by the fingle addition of carbon. XXI. Experiment made with a Galvanic Belt, or Chain, © by Mr. Ricuarnpd Trep, Jeweller, Lancafler Court, _ Strand, To Mr. Tilloch. Tan, i Feb. 4, 1802. HAVE not obferved, in any publication on galvanic leétricity, that material benefit has been as yet attained by this new difcovery, and therefore | fhall beg leave, wry < the 106 Experiment with a Galvanic Belt. the medium of your valuable Magazine, to fubmit the fol- lowing experiment to the confideration of your readers, with the hope that others will be induced to try it, and alfo that it may afford relief to fome labouring under fimilar complaints. For a confiderable time paft I have been much troubled with a conftant pain in the fmall of my back and Joins, and, although it refembled'the lumbago, it was fearce ever fo vio- lent; but I always felt it moft after fitting long in a reclined or writing pofture; fo that, if I arofe:fuddenly, it was with much difficulty. This complaint continued for eight or ten months, and lately with increafing inconvenience. The idea of a galvanic belt or chain, compofed of zinc and copper, had often occurred to me, and 1 waited only in hopes of hearing it had been applied in fimilar cafes : bt the exneri- ments of fcientific men taking a different direction, 1 made a belt confifting of fifteen fmall fquare plates of zinc, and connected each with two links of plated copper wire, faften~ ing the two ends with a common hook and eye, fo that there was a perfect chain or circle of metal round my body, and by that means no interruption of the electric fluid could take place. I alfo covered about three parts of the chain with jeather, leaving the remainder to come into contaét with the part where I felt the moft pain. I had not worn this belt twelve hours before I found fenfible relicf, and the pain gra- dually left me. In three weeks I had not the leaft return, and after wearing the belt three months [ concluded it had anfwered all my expectations. But, to put the experiment beyond the poffibility of doubt, I difcontinued it, and had no pain whatever in my back for two months, when at times I perceived the fame pain return. I again had recourfe to the belt, and am now wearing it, which,’ as at firft, has re- moved all pains in that part, and I feel no inconvenience whatever. A hort time after ufing the belt I obferved a confidera- ble oxidation on the zinc, which, I fuppofe, was occafioned by the perfpiring matter from my’fkin,. and which, I con- clude, was the medium or exciting agent, as is the cafe with the diluted nitric acid in the galvanic pile. By feraping off the oxide, which I conftantly did once in three or four days, I believe the effect became greater. In giving you this plain but cireumftantial account, I trutt, a difcovery fo valuable will not be fhghted, but that unpre- jediced perfons will alfo make the trial; and I particularly recommend it to the attention of thofe who have complaints of the fame kind, XXII. In- {107 ] XXII. Inquiries into Coloured Light, by a Collation of the Experiments and Obfervations made. by Sir Ifaac, Newton on that Subject; together with fome additional ones. By Governor POWNALL. [Concluded from p. 49. ] Tue green prifmatic tint is fuppofed to be homogeneous, becaufe confiiiing of angles of refrangibility in the yellow and > in the blue fo exaGly connected in degree at the point where they coalefce, that no prifm nor any fucceflion of prifms have as yet decompofed it. It is, however, in various other in- ftances decompofed ; in the circles of colours arifing from the refractions of light paffing between two lenses, as alfo in the rings of colours exhibited on bubbles of water. In thefe inftances its conftituent parts, which combined form the compound green, emerge as yellow on one fide and blue on the other. ~ Sir Ifaac Newton, in Obferv. iv. part 1. book 2. marking the order of colours in the circles produced by the refrac- tion of light between two lenses, fays, ‘* the green was very copious and lively, inclining on one fide to blue, on the other to yellow :” and again, in part ii. book 2. p. 202. he fays, ‘the green exhibited is principally conftitated of original green, but not without a mixture of blue and yellow:’’ again in part i. book 2. p. 190. he fays, ‘ then after a lively orange followed an intenfe bright and copious yellow, which was alio the beft of all the yellows; this changed firit to a greenifh yellow, then to a greemfth blue; but the green between the yellow and the blue was very little and dilute, feeming ra- ther a greeni/h white than a green: the blue which fucceeded became very good.”’ In this obfervation made on the rings _ of colours on bubbles, notice the increafing intenfenefs of the light; alfo fucceffive gradations; alfo the gradual pro- 4efs of the compofition of green and of its decompofition, which is given in the next obfervation, p. 18g: “ After the red fuccecded little or no yellow, but a copious green, which at firft inclined a little to yellow, then became a pretty brifk and good willow-green, and afterwards changed to a blueifh colour; but there fucceeded neither blue nor violet.” In the firft inftance, the yery Jittle and dilute greenith white, as well as the willow-green in the fecond, was the dominancy of an intervening white, as will come out hereafter; and in both inftances the yellowith green and blueifh green mark the compound, partaking on each fide of the yellow or st . Uey 108 Inquiries into Coloured Light... Lot, as the one or the other predominated in the compo~ tion. Sa Aig , 2 A i nf But to put this matter out of all doubt, the /2& comes out on experiment, that when the gradations of the colour take fuch an a¥rangement that there is no interfeétion of the yel- low orbicular images ayith thoie.of the blue, and fo ne €oa- lefeence of thefe colours, there is no green. Oblery. iv. part i. book ii. p. 174. Sir Ifaac Newton fays, ** the colours reckoned in their order from the centre were, black, blue, white, yellow, red; here the blue and yellow not interfecting or coalefcing, but feparated by an intervening white, there was 7» green in this gradation of colours: if they had approached {omewhat near to an interfection of their circles, there might have been, as above, a whitith or willow-green bordered with yellowifh and blueifh green: Phe fame: fac is ftated in Obfervation: ix. p.181 2 the order of this gradation was, ‘violet, blue, white, yellow, red.” Here oe an interverting {pace of white excludes the exifts encéofigreen. The fame fat of an intervening white be- tween ‘the yellows and the blues, excluding the green, comes outin fome experiments and obfervations made by G. W.J.* im_addition to thofe made by Sir Ifaac Newton, where, in p#99- he ftates, that ‘ diluted purple and blue hues appear completing, with the external yellow and red, and an zmter- vening white, thefe formations of thefe fringes.” I will venture to add, in confirmation of all this, one amongft fe- weral obfervations which I made on thefe faéts. Viewing, through a prifm, the folar light as it came through a fafh window, and taking the {peCtram in the line of refraction as itseame from above, the following cireumftances appeared :— The frames of the fath were dark, and gradations of colours ptoceeded from them. The gradations of blue on the upper fide; thofe of the red, orange, yellow, from the lower* fides The gradations proceeded from the upper fide in this order— deep, blue, and, in fucceffion, the feveral lighter tints, or hues of blue till they vanithed in the folar light. .From the under part they proceeded in this order—deep red, then a brighter, going into orange, and the orange fucceflively brightening into yellow, which melted off into the folar light: no-gra- dations of blue jucceeded cither order, becaufe there was ho going off of light into fhade when the fpectrum was thus tranfparent to the folar light ; and as there was no blue:to ins termix with the laft yellow, there was 70 green. In proof that this is the reafon, it may be obferved, that if the light itfelf \* A very ingenious work publifhed by Cadcll 1799. ia: through Ingu iries into Coloured Light. 509 through which, the fpectrum is viewed, decreafes, in any con- erable degree ofits brightnefs, there will come on blueith _. hues; and a yery faint intervening greenifh one. ‘Lo try: this - «iretunftancé more decidedly, 1 threw up the fath, and made an afliftant hold @ broad rule, fo that I might view the fpec= ‘=trum as it proceeded from the two edges in the fame manner as from the frames of the fath: I then direéted my afhifiant . to lower the rule down to the bottom of the window, till the *. yellow in the under gradations inter/ected the bottom. The 4 ellow of this pofition not going off into tranfparent light, i fhade, the blue hues appeared in very decided tints es yaaa all their gradations; and where blue, fucceeding to the yellow, interfeéted it, a decided green intervened. _ Althoush ne common eye, a eerie in the ufe and ar- rangement of colours and their various tints, can difcover in the fpaces of the prifmatic colours called homogeneous, when thrown on an opaque furface, any gradations of tints; yet when thefe colours are viewed by the prifn through an oper light fo as to be tranfparent, the gradation of fucceffiye tints in each homogeneous fpace becomes evidently obfervable to, thé moft common eye. The obferver may difcern the fadty : that no one of thofe prifmatic colours which are called ho- ». mogeneous is abfolutely fo, but that, as according to the , y theorem ftated by Sir Ifaac Newton himfelf, they confit of a fucceffive feries of innumerable circular or orbicular images of the fun; the tints of the commonly called homogeneous colour, red, vary according to the innumerable fucceeding: angles of refraction,’ heightening gradually towards orange, and going gradatim into the orange; and that the orange heightens in the fame gradual fucceflion of tints going into : yellow, and the yellow, in like manner, into pure light: alfo that the blues of the other gradation of colours are an -indifcriminate fucceffion of tints or hues. Conformably to what is here ftated of the heightening of the, gradations of the colours at one end of the fpeétrum into Ij ht; _of the blues going off, by alike gradation at the other end, into fhade or dark; Sir Ifaac Newton (Opties, book t. ' prop. v. exper: 16. ps 85.) flates, that. the moft luminous of the prifmatic colours are the orange and the yellow; next’ the green; and that blue ts a faint and dark colour, and the indigo and violet the weakelt and darkett of all colours.” Now from a more decifive examimation of the fa& by aétual experiment we fhall be led to fee demonttrably that thefe apparent hues, which are called blue colours, are not colour, he a mere modification of light going off into thade, @ partial and Jucceffive deprivation of light. In 116 Inquiries into Coloured Light. In the firft place, it is known by Sir Ifaac Newton’s ex- periment, (Optics, book ii. part iii. prop. 7. p. 236.) * that blacks are inclined to a blueifh colour may be feen from illu- minating white paper by light reflected from black fubftances, for the paper will appear of a blueifh white.” In confidering this obfervation on a fact as made by Sir Ifaac Newton, the method to try the effect of throwing a partial por- tion of light on a fhade occurred to me. I darkened a room peak letting ina beam of light of five or fix inches breadth y Opening one of the fhutters. I then threw the fhade of aruler, by the intercepted light of a candle, on a fheet of paper: I then held this paper, with this fhade fo formed on it, in the beam of light. The effect of this portion of day-. light thus thrown on the fhade of the ruler was, that the fhade exhibited a pale but decided blue. As I removed this paper, with this fhade of the ruler thus thrown on it, further back from the entrance of the light, but ftill in the fame beam, this blue, without the alteration of any one circumftance but a further deprivation of light, became of a ftronger, more decided, deeper blue; and fo on gradually as I removed this paper and fhade {till further back, making a further depriva- tion.of light of a deeper and deeper but decided blue till it . went off into a black. This fhade, fuffering this gradual de- privation of light, exhibited all the gradations called blue which are feen in the prifmatic fpeétrum. Here, then, the fa& ftands afcertained, that blue is the effect of a partial light, and that a gradual deprivation of light gives all the gradations of blue as they go off into dark. Mountains and hills, and even unelevated land, in the ho- - rizon exhibit, by the going of or deprivation of light, blue tints in the moft diftant, though fuch are not the natural tints of thefe objects; and as thefe objects fuffer more and greater deprivations of light in the evening, or from any other inci- dental circumftance, thefe hues go through all the gradations of blue. This any one may fee every day; and the painter, if he is an artilt, knows how to copy this phenomenon in the arrangement of his colouring. Another circumftance in the landfcape of nature is ftill further to be obferved. As the fhade of evening comes on, the blue in the diftant horizon not only becomes deeper, but, when the departing light fkirts the line of the horizon, ~ this blue, without any change in the ftate of the refractions, or of the aétual colour of the objects, becomes a ftrong vivid purple. The dark blue of the clouds juft above this fkirting of departing light, changes in like manner. The rays of the reddifh-yellow light and thofe of this blue coming in coin- ” cidence ‘ Inguiries into Coloured Light. ‘4it eidence at the fame time to the eye, caufe that fenfation in the optic nerve. The fky alfo, the lefs that clouds and refle&ting vapours are mixed with it, abforbs the light, and gives out only this blue hue, which is a reflection deprived in part of light *: the more clear the fky, the deeper the blue: in the higher regions of the atmofphere this blue becomes of a deep hue going off into dark. is circumftance takes place and prevails in the claro- ob{curo of all figures. A true artift knows, that if he would copy the real fe@ in nature, he muft tint the going off of light not with gray and black but with gradations of blues, and give a faint fuffufion of green in the firft going off. Zincke, the famous painter in enamel, underftood and copied this faét: he worked an almoft infenfible green into the blues of the firft going off of his lights. If one may then aflume the fact here grounded on the experiments and obfervations of Sir Ifaac Newton, with ad- dition of fome further ones on the cafe as exifting in nature, that the gradations of blue are mere effeéts of the privation of light as it finks into fhade or darknefs; and then, from the teftimony of the vifual fenfes, which are the only teft in the experiments above related, that the gradations of the red even in the prifmatic fpace, wherein it is fuppofed to be ho- mogeneous, of the orange likewife, and fo of the yellow, are only gradual and fucceflive tints of the oxe primary colour, red, heightening, by an innumerable and infinite feries of angles of refraction, into a more and more brilliant approximation of pure light, as they purify from the fuffufion of colour which they had received in their combination with folar or “ terreftrial gafes and yapours ; it will, on this affumption thus grounded on faéts, ftand demonftrably proved (although I do not venture to announce it but with every diffidence) that there are not feven, nor three, nor two, but ONLY ONE PRI- MARY COLOUR—a compound bafis of all the tints of red; orange, and yellow: that green, as an adlual and uncom pounded primary colour, has no exiflence: and that the blues are only hues arifing from a partial deprivation of light as it goes off into darkne/s. . That all the phenomena of colours produced by the re- * This circumftance, alfo, makes the ditfereace of the blue of diftant parts of the landicape as reflected from valleys and lower parts, or from the higher: the deprivation of light, by its being abforbed by the clearer air in the latrer cafe. gives a deeper blue than thac which is refleéted from the air hanging over the lowes parts. This a true artift, who paints from Nature, knows, : fraction 11% Hiftory of Aftronomy for the Year 1891. -fraétion of prifnis or of lenses, or by thin plates of air or water between lenses made to approach each other, or by the rings on bubbles, or by reflections or inflections of light, may be explained from the facts contained in the above pro-~ pofition. All the experiments, obfervations, and reafoning above, refpect only coloured ight. 1 dare not venture, on theory, to allart any thing as to the exiftence of an elementary, pure, uncoloured, uncompounded white light; yet that fome fuch elementary fubftance exifts, combined with one or more of the principles of our atmofphere, and alfo in combutftible and incombuftible, and perhaps animal and vegetable fub- fiances, feems to be probable; for it can be feparated from fuch in various operations of nature and art. 7 However, although light may principally exift, combined with caloric and other fubftances, in a gafeous form, yet it may, and it is very generally admitted, that it does alfo exift, independent of caloric, in folid bodies and fluids of various kinds; and heat, it cannot be denied, exifts fenfibly in both combuftible and incombuftible bodies which exhibit no vi- fible light. Indeed, that light and heat are two difting& exift- ing principles is now finally and demonftrably afcertained and roved by Dr. Herfchel’s curious experiments of the faét, f{howing that heat as well as light are each liable to different and peculiar refractions, by which they are feparated from each other; and take a feparate and diftin& exiftence im dif- ferent fpace. Quod reftat defideratum eft. XXII. Hiffory of Aftronomy for thé Year 1801. ' By JEROME LALANDE, if commencement of the 19th century was diftin- guifhed by an aftronomical event, the difcovery of a planet at Palermo in Sicily, by M. Piazzi, on the 1ft of January *. Tt was as fmall as a ftar of the Sth magnitude: he obferved it during forty days. The obfervations he fent me arrived too late for us to be able to follow it, and we were obliged to calculate its orbit from his own obfervations alone. Burck- hardt, Olbers, bode, Piazzi, and Gaufs, have found that to reprefent thefe obfervations it is neceffary to fuppofe that * | here employ the calendar of all nations, being perfuaded that the French government will foon renounce the new calendar, which is not underftood, and cannot be adopted either by our neighbours or by the majority of the French themfelves.—L. it Hiftory of Afironomy for the Year 1801. 113 it revolves in four years. The following are the elements found by Burckhardt and Gaufs: ° “Inclination --~- - 10° 47'\Inclination = 10° 36% 59! Node = - ~~ 23 20° 58|Node - - 2 21.044 Aphelion - 2% g o|Epoch -- - .= 2° 16° 287 Paflage of the aphe- Mean anom. -. 3 15 lion Jan.1,1801 8 hours §jAphelion —_10°_ 26 277 38" Eccentricity - | 0°0364.. |Eccentricity - 0°0825017 Semi-axis - - 2°574 Equation - =, - 9° 38 Revolution - 4°13 years |Diftance - - -. 2°7355 The difference of thefe elements appeared to me to throw fome doubt onthe reality of this orbit of four years; but in the beginning of the year 1802 it was perfectly confirmed, and we now have a ninth planet. On the 25th of October we received a printed memoir of Piazzi, with his obfervations and calculations. As he hopes _ that this ftar will be acknowledged to be a planet, he has given it the name of Ceres Ferdinandea, in honour of the ing of Naples; and Bode withes it to be called Juno: as for my part, I {hall call it Piazzi, as I.gave the name of Her- fchel to the planet difcovered in 1751. The pagan deities are no longer interefting, and adulation pleales only the ~ perfon who 1s the objeét of it. On the 12th of July, in the evening, Meffier, Mechain and Bouvard, each found a fmall comet near the head of the Great Bear; and it appears that it was feen the preceding y ww night by Pons, concierge of the obfervatory at Marfeilles. The Board of Longitude has given him the 600 franes which I depofited in the hands of a notary for the perfon who fhould difcover a comét; the three able aftronomers of Paris having themfelves judged that the artift ought to be encouraged, John Louis Pons was born at Peyre, a village in the de- partment of the Upper Alps, on the 24th of December 1761, and has refided at the obfervatory of Marfeilles fince the d of February 1789: his conduct, addrefs, and intelligence, Tess procured him much efleem from the direétor of the obfervatory. He conftructed the night-telefcope, with which he difcovered the comet of the itth of July 1801, on the model of a telefcope by George Adams, which is at the School of Navigation, Mar(eilles. The Board of Longitude have fent him a better one. I have had a.new proof of the utlity of the fifty thoufand fiars which I have procured to aftronomy, and of the exaét ofitions which my nephew Lefrangois has fixed for the ftars rmerly obferved. Several of them have ferved to determine the places of the new comet, which Meflier, Mechain and | Vor. XII. No. 46. 6 Bouvard 6 114 Hiffory of Aftronomy for the Year 1801. Bouvard followed with affiduity, and the orbit of which will be very well determined, though it appeared only ten days. Thulis has fent me feven obfervations, from the 12th to the a1ft of July, deduced only from the azimuths and alti- tudes, without having been able to compare them with ftars ; but we were more fortunate at Paris, and Mechain had fuf- ficient data to calculate the elements in the following manner by a firft fketch : Inclination - 25° Perihelion > 65 17° Node oF { Dittanc e 0 3 Paffage Auguft 7, 15 hours. This fmall comet, found almoft at the fame time by four perfons, proves that it is not difficult to difcover comets. Three or four have been feen in the courfe of a year; and if a few amateurs would employ themfelves in fearching for them, it is probable that the number would rapidly increafe. This is full a defideratum in aftronomy; it 1s humiliating for us, that we do not know whether it ts by thoufands or tens of thoufands that comets ought to be counted, and whe- ther they return, or lofe themfelves in the immenfity of the univerfe. , Nothing is neceffary but a common telefcope to fearch for and find comets, and to point out their fituation to aftrono- mers. I fuppofe that the obferver is provided with a wooden quadrant of two feet radius, which any carpenter can make, and that a meridian has been traced out with a large circle on the floor; that the circle is divided into degrees, and that the inftrument is directed towards the place where the comet is. Both the altitude and diftance from the meridian will be thus found for the time of obfervation. Nothing more will be neceffary to enable aftronomers to find a comet which may have been announced. To find comets, it is not necef- fary, therefore, to know the ftars. But there are a hundred nebule which have fome refemblance to fmall comets. Thofe who wifh to diftinguifh them muft have recourfe to the Ce- leftial Atlas *, where they are all marked. This ftudy will neither be long nor diffeult. The Atlas of Berlin is mach more complete: we fhall give an account of it hereafter. The night-telefcope employed by Meffier, and with which he has sleealy found twenty comets, is two feet in length, and has an aperture of 2; inches: it has three eye-glaffes. The firft next the eye has a focus of 2+ inches, and 10 lines of aperture; the fecond g, and the third g} inches. There are 10 lines between the two, and 5 inches between the pre- * A Paris, chez Lamarche, ruc du Foin- 4. ‘ ceding Hiflory of Aftronomy for the Year 1801. 115 ing and the fecond. There is a diaphragm of 14 lines ween the firft and the fecond eye-glafs, at the difiance of 2 inches from the former, and 3 from the fecond. This telefcope magnifies only five times, but it has a field of four degrees. One of the fame kind may be conftructed for 70 or 80 francs. Burckhardt alfo has calculated the orbits of the comets of 1763, 1771, and 1773; and for the fecond he has found a hyperbolic orbit. The comet which Meffier difcovered on the 14th of June 1770, refpeéting which Burckhardt. made long and learned calculations, feems to have a {mall circular orbit of five years feven months. However, this comet was not feen before 1770, nor has it appeared fince. This can be afcribed only to great changes In its orbit. Muft we then, after having afferted, in the 18th century, . that all the comets return, aflert in the 19th that comets do not return, that of 1759 excepted? wee On this account I no Jonger think but of comets; I fpeak of nothing but comets; and the only thing I recommend to ‘my correipondents is to fearch for them, as I write to them that the only thing wanting to aftronomy is the knowledge of thefe bodies. On the 15th of May I had the pleafure of receiving the firft copy of my Hiffoire Celefte Frangoife, the fruit of twelve years labour, which terminates the 50,000 ftars, on which my nephew Michel Lefrangois has employed the beft part of his ge It contains alfo obfervations made by D’Agelet be- re he fet out on his voyage round the world; and thofe by which Darquier, aged 83 years, terminated his glorious aftro- ‘nomical career. The obfervations of Tycho, Flamfteed, Picard, Lacaille, and Mafkelyne, have been the foundation of all the progrefs made in aftronomy. The moft profound theories and the moft Jearned calculations cannot do without them, and can- not difpute with them in regard to importance or duration. Obfervations alone will furvive us; and obfervers, whom mankind too often affect to undervalue, may confole them- felves, that they will be the only aftronomers to whom, long after their death, the praifes and gratitude of our fucceflors and of pofierity wili be addreffed. Lefrangois Lalande, my nephew, continues his obferva- tions, together with the calculation of 3000 declinations and 1000 right afcenfions of the principal flars, each obferved feveral times. Thefe long and painful labours have obtained for this able obferver a A ae in the National Inftitute, mi H 2 the 116 Hiftory of Ajironomy for the Year 1801. the 26th of December madame Lefrancois Lalande continued the reduction of the 50,000 ftars; an immenfe labour, to which fhe has devoted herfelf with courage, and which her pregnancy even has not interrupted. Their fon is preparing to tread in their fteps, and already calculates with fome fuc- cefs. I hope that Ifaac Lalande will be the third aftronomer of his name. Delambre has obferved feveral declinations with the mul- tiplying circle. Piazzi has announced to us a catalogue of 400 ftars, which he obferved at Palermo; and Cagnolt is preparing a catalogue of 500 ftars, which he obferved at Paris and Verona with particular care, . Vidal, whofe courage and exaétnefs I have fo often cele- brated, has fent me the continuation of the auftral ftars, which are not well feen at Paris; the cireum-polar ftars which were wanting, and a very fingular ¢riduwm. On the a3d of April and the following days he obferved all the — planets every day. He has jomed to them obfervations of Mercury and the fun at the two folftices with an ingenious compafs, which he employed to make a great number of ob- fervations on the declination of the magnetic needle. Bourg, an aftronomer of Vienna, who gained the prize propofed by the Inftitute on the inequalities of the moon, continues to employ himfelf on that fubject. He has re- calculated, with 3000obfervations, the 24 inequalities of — the moon; and has added new ones, which were pointed out to him by Laplace according to his theory. Thefe tables arrived on the 8th of December; the errors do not amount to 15//; and the prize of 6000 francs, propofed by the Board of Longitude to the firft who fhould make good lunar tables, will be well merited by this able and courageous aftronomer. The Board of Longitude is ftill employed in verifying them ; but all the obfervations lately made at’ Gotha confirm the exaétnefs of thefe tables. ~ For it was at the obfervatory of Gotha, the fanétuary of aftronomy in Germany, that M. Bourg finifhed his labour. Baron von Zach had in- vited him thither, that he might enjoy all the comforts and conveniences he could defire. : What remains to be done in regard to the theory of the moon depends, perhaps, on fome terms in which the higher powers of the eccentricities and forces muft be employed. Burckhardt is now engaged in refearches on that fubject. Arabian obfervations of the roth century had been em- ployed for the motions of the moon. ‘The manufeript which { fortunately found among the papers of Jofeph Delifle made us defirous of obtaining he original, which was at Leyden ; an Hiflory of Vaicsiomy for the Year 1801. 119 “and the Batavian minifter fent it to us. C. Cauffin exa- mined this manufcript: but it is not complete; it contains only obfervations already known. We found in it none of the information fo much wifhed for refpeting the inftru- ments of the Arabians, and their method of obferving; but it has furnifhed us with fome interefting correGtions for our copy, which is now printing in Arabic and French at the _printing-office of the Republic by order of the minifter of the interior. The obfervations of the fummer folflice have again affured to us that the obliquity of the ecliptic is 23° 28/ 61, being 5’ more than in my tables. The multiplying circles give us the truth within a fecond; and I think we can with certainty fay that the diminution, which has occafioned fo much difpute, is 33! per century; very far from that which C. Caflini affigned from bad obfervations made at the ob- fervatory with bad inftruments. The winter folftice gives us 8 lefs; but there is reafon to believe that this arifes from the refraction, which is not yet well enough known for fmall altitudes. Though the obli- quity is nearly decided, the Academiy of Berlin has ftill pro- ‘pofed this variation as the fubject of a prize for the year 1802. It requires the moft interefting refearches and explanations in regard to this fubjeét, where feveral points ftill remain to ‘be cleared up. All the planets have been eclipfed by the moon in the ‘courfe of this year, as has been obferved by Reggio in the Ephemerides of Milan. This phenomenon is rare. We were not able to make a good obfervation but of the eclipfe of Venus on the 13th of May. We were, however, indem- “nified by the eclipfes of that beautiful ftar the Virgin’s Spike, obferyed in many places on the 3oth of March and the 24th of May, which enabled me to verify the longitudes of feveral countries. Eclipfes of four flars of the firft magnitude are phenomena of very great importance for all determinations of this kind. Ihave continued to difcharge the tafk, which I impofed upon myfelf forty years ago, of calculating all the eclipfes of the fun and (tars hitherto obferved, and from which aftro- nomers had ueylected to draw conclufions on account of the Jength of the calculations. I have correéted the longitudes ‘of Rome and Middlebourg, and of the new city of Wath- ington in America. ; . M. Ledue of Sermonetta, Gictani, and Conti have fent me obfervatiens from Rome. M. Ciceolini has fent me fome from Florence; and the day on which the king of Etruria came to the Inftitute, I had the pleafure of prefenting - H3 to , 118 Hiftory of Aftronomy for the Year 1801. to him a determination of the longitude of Florence, which had been very badly determined, notwithftanding the cele- brity of that capital, and the great number of eminent men it has produced. . M. Kautfch, a piarift of Leutomifchel in Bohemia, has finifhed an immenfe labour on the eclipfes of the fun. He has calculated, for the whole of the 19th century, charts in which are feen all the circumftances of thefe eclipfes for every _ country of the earth where they are vifible, in the fame manner as they have been inferted in our Ephemerides fince 1750, and at prefent in the Gomsoifiance des Temps by the care of C. Duvaucel. I wifhed to have the means of publithing the labour of M. Kautfch, whofe zeal and ability deferve every praife. C. Goudin has alfo publifhed an analytical method for eclipfes: he has applied it to the eclipfe of 1847, which will be the moft confiderable of this century, and has calculated all its circurnftances for the whole furface of the earth. The conjunétions of the planets are not interefting to aftronomers, but they afford a fpeélacle to the public, efpe- cially when connected with other events. Meffier, therefore, semarked, that when the cannon announced to us the hap- minefs of peace on the 3d of O&ober, the Mocn, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, were near that beautiful ftar in the Lion’s heart. We no longer live in times when fuch phenomena are confidered as of importance, but in 1186 the aftronomers ° announced terrible revolutions in confequence of the con- junction of all the planets. I engaged C. Flauguergnes to calculate this phenomenon exactly by our new tables, and he has found that on the 15th of September at 5h. 2m. all the planets were between 6 figns, and 6 figns 10 degrees of longitude. Thefe are not complete conjunGions ; exaét conjunétions of all the planets are incalculable; a fketch of thefe returns, in which I employed only days for the duration of the re- volutions, gave me 17 millions of millions of years as the interval between one conjunétion and another. What would the cafe have been, had i taken into account the hours and minutes ? As the tables of Mars were the moft incorre@t, C. Le- frangois has been employed on them fix months; he has calculated all the obfervations, and has employed all the new perturbations. He has carried his precifion to tenths of feconds, and has at length conftructed tables of Mars, which will leave very little to be wifhed for, and which have appeared Hiftory of Aftronomy for the Year 1801. 11g peared in the ConnoifJance des Temps for the year 12. have feen, with pleafure, my immediate fucceffor and deareft pupil purfue the labour which my mafter Lemonnier made - me undertake, fifty years-ago, in initation of Tycho Brahe, who began his refearches on the planet Mars, and who put Kepler in the way of making his difcoveries by means of the fame planet. He will foon employ himfelf on tables of Venus, taking into.account her perturbations. ; For Saturn, the error has been found + 1” in longitude and — g’ in latitude. Delambre has made new refearches to correct the error of 30” in the tables of Jupiter, but it has been found in the obfervations made for 60 years: we miuft therefore fearch for the caufe of it in the theory, and in fome new irregularities. Bouvard has terminated his calculations of all the per- turbations of the planets, each by the action of all the reft, according to the theory of Laplace. The refuit will be new tables, which will be ftill more correct. ' C. Burckhardt has made an analytical and numerical cal- culation of the terms of the fifth order, which were not be- fore taken into account in confequence of the length of the calculations. He has found that thefe terms increafe the great irregularity of Saturn by one minute. C. Chabrol has calculated obfervations of the fun, and has found that 7’ muft be deducted from the longitudes given by our tables. But Delambre has undertaken to cal- culate 7 or 800 obfervations of Bradley, applying 8 or 10 new equations furnifhed by calculations of the attraction. _ The eccentricity of Jupiter and the earth give equations for the fun which amount to from 8 to 9’. We thall therefore foon have new tables of the fun {till more correét than thofe publifhed by Delambre ten years ago, and to which it ap- peared that nothing could be added. For mercury, the error in my tables did not exceed 10’. An obfervation of Venus on the 24th of May gave me an error in the tables of + 30. This feems to indicate that we ought to deduct 12” from the epoch, but that the equa- tion of the orbit is good. The Connoiffance des Temps for the year 12 (1804), which has juft appeared, contains every thing moft interefting that has occurred in regard to aftronomy during the laft year, Curious refearches refpecting the theory of the moon, by Laplace; new tables of Mars, by Lefrangois-Lalande; a new catalogue of {tars reduced, making the number 11,300, ing a continuation of thofe in the preceding volumes ; unportant obfervations, tables, and stialateaees by Me- H4 chain, 120 Hiflory of Aftronomy for the Year 1801. chain, Delambre, Chabrol, Vidal, Thulis, Flauguergues, Ciccolini, Duc Lachapelle; Burckhardt, Bernier, Humboldt, Quenot, and feveral calculations by myfelf; with a notice of the moft important works that have appeared in the courfe . of a year. . _ The Ephemerides of Vienna for 1802 contain a fourth feries of longitudes determined by Triefnecker, who has cal- culated all the eclipfes of the fun and ftars which have been obferved ; a confiderable and important labour, ‘which re- mained to be undertaken. M. Triefnecker has given us at the fame time a table of all the preceding refults in regard to the pofition of towns where eclipfes have been obferved. - The third volume of the Memoirs of the Inftitute, the eighth volume of the Memoirs of the Italian Society, the Ephemerides of Berlin for 1803 and 1804, thofe of Milan for 1801, and the Journal of Baron von Zach during the whole year, have continued to furnith interefting obferva- tions and new memoirs. Baron von Zach has procured the obfervations made by Liefganig at Vienna from the year 1755 to 17743 and thofe which Niebuhr made in the Le- vant in 1761, and which he did not publith. We have re- ceived the Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin for 1796 and 1797, and the fixth volume of the Memoirs of Turin; but they contain nothing on aftronomy. The obfervatory of Paris, having acquired new inftru- ments, has been put into activity by Mechain and Bouvard ; and the Board of Longitude intends to print the obfervations of 1801 in the fame form as thofe of Greenwich. Caroché having finifhed the telefcope of 22 feet, Tremel is employed in conftruting a ftand to fupport it; and the platform on which it is to be placed is already in a ftate of great forwardnels. On all occafions we have enjoyed the happinefs of having for minifter a man Jong celebrated by his attachment to the feiences, and who, in order to be | ufeful to them, wanted only that influence of which he is fo worthy. The tranfit telefeope which Jofeph Delifle had, in 1748, erected at the hotel de Clugny, and with which TI as well as Meffier made my firft obfervations, had become almoft ufelefs by ruft. The Board of Longitude wifhed that it fhould be’ reconftrnated with platina, and our colleague Meffier will have new affifiance for his ufefal obfervations. ‘ Lenoir has fhown at Paris, during the public exhibition of the year-9, that the French induftry is not inferior to the Enolifh; he received from government one of the twelve gold medals diftributed to the moft meritorious of our a ne part of the fifth volume of the American Tranfaétions, On the Poifonous Honey, €$8c. 12 The Board of Lengitude has fent a quadrant to Flauguergues at Viviers, and one to Dangos at Tarbe, to enable them to make more correét and more continued obfervations. Jauguergues has already employed his obfervations to de- termine the latitude of his obfervatory 44° 29’ 22’, greater by 18” than what was given by the triangles; he has affiduoufly continued to obferve the eclipfes of Jupiter’s fatellites; he has obferved the fpots of the fun, which were frequent this year, and has calculated a great many pofitions of the ftars. - Chabrol has communicated to us a new analytical method for eclipfes, and has calculated feveral; he has alfo verified the tables of Mars and Mercury by obfervations in the pre- fent year. He has reduced 600 obfervations of the ftars, and has calculated 600 longitudes in the fundamental cata- Jogue: in a word, he fhows himfelf a young zealous co-ope~ rater, curious and void of ambition, who is entitled to our grateful acknowledgments. C. Mougin, curé of La Grande-Combe-des-Bois, in the mountains of the department of Doubs, has fent us a large table of preceffions; that is to fay, of the annual changes of the ftars in right afcenfion, according to the data with which I furnifhed him, For thirty years paft we have received from this worthy paftor marks of zeal, application, curiofity, and courage, very rare, efpecially in the deferts. Dr. Mafkelyne has fent us his obfervations of 1800, a con- tinuation of the valuable collection he has been making fi 36 years; and he has announced to us the Nautical Alman of 1806. [To be concluded in our next. ] XXIV. Some Account of the Poifonous and Injurious Honey of North America. By BENJAMIN SMITH Barton, . D.* In the year 1785 I had an opportunity of obferving fome of the difagreeable effects of our wild honey upon feveral perfons who had eaten of it, in the weftern parts ot ymca heer near the river Ohio. From thefe effeéts I was perfuaded, that a fubftance which is generally confi- dered as entirely innocent, is capable of doing much injury to the conftitution. I was, therefore, induced to pay fome * Read before the American Philofophical Society, and communicated to the Editor of the Philofophical Maguzine by the author. It will form attention / 122 Qn the Poifonous Honey attention to the fubject. The refult of my inquiries I now communicate to the ’hilofophical Society. It is not neceflary to make any remarks on the fabric of honey... It may be fufficient to obferve, that the honey will always partake, in a greater or a -Jeffer degree, of the {mell, the tafte, and general properties, of the flowers from which it is obtained. This obvious fact fhould have folicited more of the attention of thole whofe employment it is to raife large numbers of bees for the. purpofe of obtaining the pacts product of thefe little infects. But, in this country at leaft, hardly any attention has been paid to the fubject. _ Perhaps, the following loofe hints, by pointing out fome of the fources from which an ill-flavoured or pernicious honey is obtained, may be of fome fervice to the new or remote fettlers of our country. ; I mutt obferve, that in thefe hints [.do not mean to in- clude among the difagreeable confequences of the eating of honey, the occafional effect of its purging: for although, as I fhall prefently obferve, a purging is one.of the common effeéts of. the poifonous honey, yet the moft innocent honey will often induce the fame ftate of the body, when it is eaten in Jarge quantities, or when it meets with an irritable ftate of the bowels. The honey which I call deleterions or poifonous honey, produces, as far as I have learned, the following fymptoms, refleéts: viz. in the beginning, a dimnefs of fight or ver- tigo, fueceeded by a delirium *, which is fometimes mild and pleafant, and fometimes ferocious ; ebriety, pain in the fiomach and inteftines, convulfions, profufe perfpiration, foaming at the mouth, vomiting, and purging; and, in a few inftances, death. In fome perfons, a vomiting 1s the firft effect of the poifon, When this is the cafe, it is pro- bable that the perfons fufler much lefs from the honey than when no vomiting is induced. Sometimes the honey has been obferved to produce a temporary palfy of the limbs; an effect which I have remarked in animals that have eaten of one of thofe very vegetables+ from whofe flowers the bees obtain a pernicious honey. Death is very feldom the confequence of the eating of * An intelligent friend of mine related to me the cafe of a perfon who, for a fhort time, .was feverely affected from the eating of wild honey, in Virginia. He imagined that a perfon feized him rudely by one arm, and then by the other. After this he fell into convulfions, fiom which, how- ever, he recovered in about an hour. It was imagined that this honey was obtained from a kind of poifonous muihroom, + The Kalmia latifolia. this - ee oe eS ee of North America. 123 this kind of honey*. The violent impreffion which it makes upon the ftomach and inteftines often induces an early vomit- ing or purging, which are both favourable to the fpeedy re- covery of the fufferer. The fevér which it excites is fre- quently relieved, in a {hort time, by the profufe perfpiration, and perhaps by the foaming at the mouth. I may add, that as the human conftitution refifts, to an aftonifhin degree, the effects of the narcotic and other poifonous vegetables that are beft known to us, fo we need not wonder that it alfo refifts the effets of the deleterious honey which is procured from fuch vegetables. It deferves to be mentioned, that the honey which is formed by two different hives of bees in the fame tree, or at a httle diftance from each other, often pofleffes the moft op- pofite properties. Nay, the honey from the fame individual comb is fometimes not lefs different in tafte, in colour, and in its effects, Thus, one ftratum or portion of it may be eaten without the leaft inconvenience, whilft that which is immediately adjacent to it fhall occafion the feveral effeéts which [ have juft enumerated. I have taken fome pains to learn what are the figns by which the deleterious honey may, at firft view, be diftin- guifhed from innocent honey. I am informed that there is no difficulty in the matter. The poifonous honey is faid by fome to be of a crimfon colour; by others, it is faid to be of a reddifh-brown colour, and of a thicker confiftence than common innocent honey. Thefe are the figns by which, I am told, the moft expe- rienced hunters in the fouthern parts of North America are enabled to diftinguifh pernicious trom innocent honey. On a fubject fuch as this, I feeb every difpofition to pay a: ood deal of deference to the experience of an American unter. Even philofophers may obtain much ufeful in- formation from hunters, however wandering their life, how- ever rude. their manners. It is in the power of our hunters to enrich natural hiftory with many important fa@s. But we ought not, I prefume, to confide implicitly in every thing they tell us. I have good reafons for doubting whether the figns which I have mentioned will enable us, in every inftance, to deter- mine whether honey be poifonous or innocent. The honey of the®bec, undoubtedly, fometimes partakes of the colour of the flowers from which it is gathered. The bees gather honey from many flowers of a crimfon colour, * We hall afterwards fee that not one of Xenophon’s men died from the deleterious honey which they had eaten, in large quantities, on the fhores of the Euxine fea, and 124 On the Poiforious Honey and from many flowers whofe colour is a reddifh brown. In thefe cafes, it is probable that the honey will fometimes bor- tow, in fome degree, the colour of the flowers. Yet there are many crimfon-coloured and reddifh-brown coloured flowers that are perfectly innocent. The honey obtained ’ from them will, I prefume, be innocent alfo. Mr. Bruce fays he was furprifed to fee, -at Dixan, in Abyffinia, “ the honey red like blood; and nothing,’” he remarks, ** can rave an appearance more difgufting than this, when mixed with melted butter *.”” Nothing is faid, by this author, that can lead us to fuppofe that the Dixan honey was poifonous. From the manner in which it is mentioned, it is pretty evident that it was not poifonous. Linnzeus informs us, that in Sweden the honey, in the autumn, is principally gathered from the flowers of the erica, or heath, and that this honey is of a fomewhat reddifh colour; and ac- cordingly, he obferves, thofe provinces of the country that are deftitute of the heath, fuch as the province of Oelan- dia, furntfh a white honeyt. The great ‘maturalift’ fays nothing concerning the properties of the beath honey. However, we may prefume, when we recollect the minute accuracy of Linnzus, that this honey did not poffefs any dangerous properties, otherwife he would have noticed the circumftance. Whilft I refided-in Edinburgh I had the honey from the Highlands frequently brought to my table. E often remarked that this honey had a dirty brownifh co- lour; and I was told that it was chiefly procured from the different fpecies of erica, perhaps principally from the << blooming bather t,”’ which abound in the Highlands, T never heard the people in Edinburgh, although thev con- fume large quantities of this honey, complain that it pof- fefles any noxious property. If it were a€tively porfonous or jnjurious, the quality would have been long fince obferved. ¥ well remember, however, that, for two years that I ufed it, it almoft always rendered me drowfy. Sometimes, indeed, it compofed me to fleep as effectually as a moderate dofe of Jaudanum would have done. A foreigner, who had not been aecuftomed to eat anodyne honey, was better capable of re- marking the effeé&t- which I have mentioned than the natives, who had been in the habit of ufing it from their infaney. I do not find that this fingular property of the Scots honey has ° been noticed by any writer§. I ha¥e therefore related it, ; though * Travels to difcover the Source of the Nile, vol. v. or Appendix, p- 151. quarto edition. + Fauna, Suecica. ‘ ‘ (2% t+ Bnins. 5 m § Dr. Withering fays, bees extract a great deal of honey from the flowers of North America. 123 though it rather oppofes any objeétion to the fins employed by our hunters to diftineuith poifonous from innocent honey. But he who is ftudious of truth fhould relate ufeful fa&ts as they are, without regarding what is their connection with a ; ote favourite fyftem or opinion. The learned Jofeph Acofta fpeaks of a gray-coloured ho-= ney-comb which he faw in the province of Charcas in South America. The honey of this comb, he fays, is * fharp and black.””. He fays nothing further of its properties *. An ingenious friend of mine +, to whom the public are indebted for a variety of valuable information concerning the natural productions of various parts of North America, in- forms me, that, in the Carolinas and Floridas, the poifonous honey is often fo fimilar in colour, tafte, and odour, to the common or innocent honey, that the former cannot be di- ftinguifhed from the latter. It is owing, he fays, to this cir- cumi{tance that fo many accidents daily happen from the ufe of the wild honey. He was informed that it is experience alone which enables the hunters and others to determine whether the honey which they find in the woods be poi- fonous or innocent. They have obferved that the injurious effects manifeft themfelves in a fhort time after the honey is taken into the flomach. They are accuftomed, therefore, to eat a fmall quantity before they yenture to fatisfy their appe- tite. Should this produce any difagreeable effects, they do not think it prudent to continue the ufe of it. But if, ina fhort time, it fhould occafion no inconvenience, they think ri may, with perfeét fafety, indulge their appetite to the full. ; I have been informed that the poifonous honey, by boiling and by ftraining, may be rendered as innocent as any honey whatever. It is likewile faid, that by long keeping it becomes harmlefs. The honey of which I am treating is poifonous to dogs’as well as to men. Hitherto I have not been able to obtain any certain in- formation concerning the means to be purfued in the treat- ment of perfons labouring under the effects of the poifonous honey. It is faid that the Indians, and fome of the whites, ule cold bathing with advantage. It is probable that this flowers of the erica vulgaris, or common heath; and he remarks thar, “ where heath abounds, the honey has a reddith caft.” A Botanical Ar- rangement of Britifh Plants, Ac. vol. i. ; : © The Naturall and Morall Hiftorie of the Eaft and Weft Indies, &e. P+ 393- ¢ Mr. William Bartram. : 6 practice 126 On the Poifonous Honey practice has been ufeful. As the effects produced by this honey are fo fimilar to thofe produced by feveral narcotic ye- getables that are well known to us, fuch as opium, hen- bane*, thorn-applet, &c. it is probable that the fame means of treatment will be found ufeful in both cafes. . Of thofe means it is not neceffary to make particular mention in this place. : It would be curious to afcertain whether the bees are ever injured or deftroyed by the quaffing of the neétar of the flowers from which they prepare the poifonous honey. It is probable that they are; and, perhaps, fome of the difeafes of thefe little infects may arife from this fourcet. It is true, indeed, that there are fome poifonous plants the nectar of which the bees will not touch. This is the cafe with the fritillaria imperialis, or crown imperial §. I do not remem- ber to have feen bees in or immediately about the flowers of the common rofebay or oleander ||, in the tube of which there is a fluid which deftroys thoufands of the common houle flies, But what is called inftiné& is not always fure. The bees may prepare an honey from plants that are very injurious to them. The excellent Mr. Evelyn, {peaking of the elm, fays, ‘© But I hear an ill report of this tree for bees, that, furfeiting of the blooming feeds, they are obnoxious to the lafk4, at their firft going abroad in fpring, which endangers whole flocks if remedies be not timely exhibited; therefore it is faid, in great elm countries they donot thrive; but the truth of which I am yet to learn **.”’ In South Carolina, in Georgia, and in the two Floridas, but more efpecially in Eaft Florida, the inftances of injuries from the eating of wild honey are more numerous than in any other parts of North America that are known tous. —- There is a traét of country included between the rivers * Hyofcyamus niger. + Datura ftramonium. + Dr. James E. Smith afferts that the honey or neétar of plants is not poifonous to bees. Syllabus to a Courfe of Lectures on Botany, p. 23. I have fome good reafon to believe that, fometimes at leaft, the contrary is the cafe. § Linnzis, {peaking of this plant, fays: “ Nulla, excepto Meliantho, copiofiori melle fcater planta, quam hec; fed apes id non colligunt!” taleétiones in Ordines Naturales Plantarum, edidit Gifeke, p. 287. amburgi 1792. || Nertum oleander. G This is one of the moft mortal difeafes of bees. It is beautifully des feribed, and the remedies *for it mentioned, by Virgil, Georgic. lib, ivé l; 251280. ss) Silva, or a Difcourfe on Foreft Trees, &c. p. 133 and 134. Dogtor Hunter’s edition. b. of North America, 127 St. Ilia and St. Mary’s, in Eaft Florida, that is remarkable for abounding in vaft numbers of bees. Thefe infetts, which were originally introduced into Florida by the Spaniards *, have increafed into innumerable fwarms, from the facility with which they procure their food, in perhaps the richett flowered country ot North America. Jn this,tract of country the alarming effects of the wild honey are often experienced by the fettlers, by wandering hunters, and by favages. It is highly probable that this poifonous honey is procured from a confiderable number of the flowers of the countries which I have mentioned. A complete lilt of thefe flowers would be acceptable; but fuch a lift it will be difficult to procure at prefent. Perhaps my hints may induce fome in~ telligent native of the country to favour.us with his obferya- tions on the fubject. Meanwhile, I am. happy to have it in my power to mention fome of the vegetables from whofe flowers the bees extract a deleterious honey, not only in the country between the St. Hla and St. Mary’s, but alfo in fome other parts of North America. - Thefe vegetables are the falmia anguftifolia and latifolia of Linneus, the kalmia birfuta of Walter t, the andromeda marianu, and fome other fpecies of this genus. I. Every American has heard of the poifonous properties of the kalmia anguttifolia and latifolia. The former of thele plants is known, in the United States, -by the names of dwarf- Jaurel, avy, lambkill, &c. It has long been known, that its leaves, when eaten by fheep, prove fatal to them. The fol- Jowing fact will thow that the flowers likewife are endued with a poifonous property. : About twenty years fince, a party of young men, folicited by the profpe&t of gain, moved, with a few hives of bees, from Pennfylvania into the Jerfeys. They were induced to believe that the favannas of this latter country were very fa- vourable to the increafe of their bees, and, confequently, to the making of honey,, They accordingly placed their hives in the, midit of thefe favannas, which were finely painted with the flowers of the kalmia anguftifolia. The bees increafed rodigioufly, and it was evident that the principal part of the Ser which they made was obtained from the flowers of the plant which I have juft mentioned. I cannot learn that there was any thing uncommon in the appearance of the honey: but all the adventurers who ate of it became intoxicated to a great degree. From this experiment, they were fenfible * See Tranfactions of the American Philofephical Society, vol. iii. nO. 31. + Flora Caroliniana, p. 138. ’ that 128 On the Poifonous Honey that it would not be prudent to fell their honey; but, unwil- ling to lofe all their labour, they made the honey into the drink well known by the name of metheglin, fuppofing that the intoxicating quality which had refided in the honey would be loft in the metheglin. In this refpeét, however, they were miftaken, The drink alfo intoxicated them; after which they removed their hives. b ods In North-Carolina, this fpecies of kalmia and the andro- meda mariana are fuppofed to be the principal vegetables from which the bees*prepare the poifonous honey, that is common in that part of the United States. II. The kalmia latifolia, known in the United States by the names of laurel, great-laurel, wintergreen, fpoon-haunch, fpoon-wood, &c. is alfo a poifon. Its leaves, indeed, are eaten with impunity by the deer*, and by the round-horned elkt. But they are poifonous to fheep, to horned-cattle and to horfes. -In the former of thefe animals, they produce con- vulfions, foaming at the month, and death. Many of Ge- neral Bradock’s horfes were deftroyed by eating the leaves and the twigs of this {hrub, in the month of June 1755, a few days before this unfortunate general’s defeat and death. In the fevere winter of the years 1790 and 1791, there appeared to be fuch unequivocal reafons for believing that feveral per- fons, in Philadelphia, had died in confequence of their eating our pheafant{, in whofe crops the leaves and buds of the kal- mia latifolia were found, that the mayor of the city thought it prudent, and his duty, to warn the people againft the ufe of this bird, by a public proclamation. I know that by many perfons, efpecially by fome lovers of pheafant-fleth, the cir- cumftance juft mentioned was fuppofed to be deftitute of foundation. But the foundation was a folid one. This might be fhown by feveral well-authenticated facts. It is fufficient for my prefent purpofe to obferve, that the collection of a de- leterious honey from the flowers of this fpecies of kalmia gives fome countenance to the opinion, that the flefh of pheafants that had eaten of the leaves and buds of this plant may have ~ been impregnated with a pernicious quality§. * Cervus Virginianus of Gmelin. + Cervus Wapiti, abe. + Tetrao Cupido of Linneus. § It is not a new fufpicion, that the fiefh of animals that have eaten of the leaves, &c. of deleterious vegetables is fometimes endued with a poi- fonous property. Georg. H. Welfchius, a very learned German writer, quoted by Dr. Haller, (fee Hiforia Stirpium Indigenarum Helvetia In- choata, tom. i. p. 443.) fays, that the fleth of ahare which was fed with the leaves of the rhododendron ferrugineum proved mortal to the guefts. This fpecies of rhododendron is a native of Switzerland, Siberia, and other . parts of the Old World, I have 7 of North America. 129 T have been informed, that our Indians fometimes inten- tionally poifon themfelves with a decoction of the leaves of this kalmia. The powder of the leaves has been employed (but I fufpeé with little advantage) in the inflammatory ftage of certain fevers. From experiments made upon myfelf, I find that this powder is fternutatory. To fome conftitutions the flowers of the kalmia latifolia, even externally applied, are found to prove injurious. IIT. The kalmia hirfuta appears to poflefs nearly the fame properties as the two fpecics which I have juft mentioned. . This pretty little fhrub is a native of South-Carolina, Georgia, — and Florida, | In Georgia and in Florida, this {fpecies of kalmia is fup- pofed to be the principal vegetable from which the delete- rious honey in thofe parts of our continent is procured, IV. The andromeda mariana, or broad-leafed moorwort, | is a very common plant in many parts of North America. : The leaves are poifonous to fheep. The petioli, or foot-ftalks of the leaves, and the feeds within the feed-veffel, are covered ___with a brown powder, fimilar to that of the kalmiz. This q ponder applied to the noftrils occafions violent fneezing*. : rom the flowers of this plant the bees extract confiderable { quantities of honey ; and it deferves to be mentioned that this _ honey, as well as that obtained from fome other American fpecies of andromeda, has frequently the very fmell of the flowers from which it is obtained. I have already obferved, that it is highly probable, that the American poifonous honey is procured from the flowers of a confiderable number of the plants of the country. I have mentioned but a few of them. But there are many others which I have fome reafons for fufpeéting are alfo capable of affording an injurious honey. Indeed, every flower that is poifonous to man, and is capable of affording honey, may * For fome information relative to the properties of the andromeda ma~ riana, fee Colleétions for an Effay towards a Materia Medica of the United States, pages 19, 20,47- Philadelphia, 1798. + In juftice to the fine genus of andromeda, I mutt obferve, that all the ies do not furnifh a pernicious honey. The andromeda nitida or lucida artram affords an abundance of neétar, or honey. The flowers of this ies are called by the country people of Carolina and Georgia, ** honey- owers,” not, néWever, merely from the circumftance juft mentioned, bur from the regular pofition of the flowers on the peduncle, which open like the cells of a honey-comb, aud from the odour of thefe flowers, which greatly _ refembles that of honey, This fpecies grows abundantly in the {wamps * called bay-galls. The inhabitants of Carolina are univerfally of opinion, that it affords the greatet quantity of honey, and that of the beft quality. i: Vor. XII. No. 46. I produce 130 On the Poifonous Honey produce an honey injurious to man; fince the properties of this fluid are fo dependent upon the properties of the plants from which it is procured. There is, therefore, more poetry than philofophy in the following lines of Mr, Pope: “¢ In the nice bee, what fenfe fo fubtly true “ From pois’nous herbs extraéts the healing dew °” Effay on Man, Epiftle i. lines 211 & 212. T have been informed that in the fouthern parts of our con- tinent, there is a plant, called hemlock, from the flowers of which the bees prepare a honey that is poifonous. The flowers are faid to be yellow, and the root a deadly poilou. J do not know what plant this is. Moft probably, it 1s fome umbelliferous plant, perhaps a cicuta, an angelica, or a fcandix. Some fpecies of agaricus, at Jeaft fome fungous vegetables, that grow in the fouthern ftates, are extremely poifonous. As accidents from the ufe of deleterious honey have happened in the fame countries in which thefe poifonous fungi grow, it has been fuppofed, and afferted, that the poifonous honey is prepared from a dew that collects upon thefe fungi. Perhaps, this fuppofition is not entirely devoid of foundation*, I fhall now mention a few vegetables from the flowers of which, I think, it will be found, that the bees colle& a poi- fonous or injurious honey. Thefe are: * If the celebrated author of the Recherches Philofophiques fur les Ame- ricains be ftill living, this account of our poifonous and injurious honey (fhould my memoir fal! into his hands) would afford him fome entertain- ment: I would advife him to connect the faéts, which I here communi- cate, with the remarks concerning our infeéts contained in the firft volume of the Recherctes (fee p. 169 and 170.) I hope, however, that Mr. De Pauw, who, notwithftanding his love of fyftem and his many errors, is cer- tainly a man of great reading, will recolle&t, that the Greek and Roman writers (as we fhall afterwards fee) have faid much concerning the poifon- ous honey of various parts of the Old World, And now let me add, that in America there is as good honey as in any other parts of the world ; and there is not a fcarcity of this good honey. The honey which is colleéted from the flowers of the tulip-tree (liriodendron tulipifera), the buckwheat Cpolygonum fagopyrum), the red maple (acer rubrum), the clover (trifo- lium), and many.other plants, is excellent. The Abbe Clavigero fays the bee of Yucatan and Chiapa makes “ the fine clear honey of Eftabentun, of an aromatic flavour, fuperior to that of all the other kinds of honey with which we ‘are acquainted.” The Hiflory of Mexico, vol.i.p. 68.+ Per haps on fome future occafion I may communicate to the Philofophical So- ciety a lift of thofe indigenous vegetables which, as furnifhing an innocent and excellént honey, are worthy of prefervation in the neighbourhood of apiaries. “The lift is an extenfive one, + This fine honey, according to the Mexican hiftorian, is ‘* made from a fragrant white flower like jeifamine, which blows in September.” I. The of Nort America: 123i I. The rhododendron maximum, or Pennfylyania mountain aurel. This belongs to a very active genus of plants. We have already feen, that one of the fpecies, the rhododendron ferrugineum, was, long ago, obferved to produce the fame effets which have been afcribed to the kalmia latifolia. Another fpecies, the rhododendron cryfanthum, has been found a powerful medicine, and has been ufed, in Ruffia, with much advantage, in the ifchias, in chronic rheumatifm, and in other difeafes ; and we.fhall immediately fee that from another fpecies a poifonous honey has been procured in the neighbourhood of the Euxine Sea. The footftalks of the leaves, and alfo the feeds, of our rhododendron maximum are covered with the fame brown powder as I obferved covered the leaf-footfalks and the feeds of feveral of the andromede, and the kalmiz. This powder in the rhododendron, as well as in the andromedz and kalmtie, excites fneezing, and it is curious to obferve that a {neezing is mentioned by Diofcorides among the fymptoms produced by the honey about Heraclea Pontica. That honey, as will be prefently fhown, is pro- cured from the rhododendron ponticum. II. The azalea nudiflora. This fine fhrubyis well known in Pennfylvania, and other parts of the United States, by the name of wild honeyfackle. Of its properties I know nothing certain. It has, however, too much of the family face, and is too frequently found in company with the rho- dodendron maximum, and the kalmiz, not to make me fuf- picious that it partakes alio of the characters of thefe delete- rious vegetables, Moreover, a fpecies of this genus, the azalea pontica of Linnzeus, is fuppofed to be the egolethron of Pliny, who mentions it as the plant from which the poifonous honey about Heraclea Pontica is prepared. The tube of the flower of our azalea is perforated by the large bee, called bumble-bee. III. Datura ftramonium. This plant is known by a variety of names, fuch as Jameftown-weed, gymfin, ftink- weed, French-chefnut. Its active and poifonous properties are now pretty generally known. Children have often been injured by eating the feeds. The tube of the flower contains a confiderable quantity of honey. ‘This honey is bitter, and has much of the poifonous {mell. Bees quaff it. But ad- mitting that it is of a poifouous nature, it does not follow that our cultivated bees (if I may be allowed to ufe this ex- pteffion) will colleé& fo much of this honey as to prove in- jurious to thofe who eat of it. But, in particular places, where this plant has been permitted to increafe to a great degree, large quantities cf honey may be collected from os e. 7 la an 132 On the Poifonous Honey and I cannot help fufpecting that the ufe of this honey may prove injurious*. Some of the ancient writers of Greece and Rome have re- lated inftances of the deleterious properties of the honey of certain countries. The botanift Diofcorides, fpeaking of the thododendron ponticum, a fpecies of the fame genus to which our mountain laurel belongs, has the following words: «© About Heraclea Pontica, at certain feafons of the year, the honey occafions madnefs in thofe who eat of it; and this is undoubtedly owing to the quality of the flowers from which the honey is diftilled. This honey occafions an abundant fweating; but the patients are eafed by giving them rue, falt- meats, and metheglin, in proportiow as they vomit. This honey,’’ continues the Greck botanift, “is very acid, and caufes fneezing. Jt takes away rednefs from the face, when pounded with coftus. Mixed with falt or aloes, it difperfes the black fpots which remain after bruifes. If dogs or fwine. {wallow the excrements of perfons who have eaten of this honey, they fall into the fame accidents}.” ' Pliny has alfo taken notice of this poifonous honey. In fome years,”’ fays the Roman naturalift, ‘‘ the honey is very dangerous about Heraclea Pontica. It is not known to authors from what flowers the bees extra& this honey. Here is what we have learned of the matter, . In thofe parts, there is a plant called zegolethron, whofe flowers ina wet fpring acquire a very dangerous quality, when they fade. The honey which the bees make of them is more liquid than ufual, more heavy, and redder. Its fmell.caufes ineezing. Thofe who have eaten of it fweat exceffively, lie upon the ground, and call for nothing but cool drinkst.””? He then makes the very remarks which I have quoted from Diofco- rides, whofe words, indeed, as Mr. Tournefort obferves, he feems to have merely tranflated. The following remarky however, appears to belong to Pliny. ‘ Upon the fame coa(t of the Pontus, there 13 found another fort of honey, which is called menomenon§, becaufe thofe who eat of it are rendered mad. It is fuppofed, the bees collect it from the flowers of the rhododendros, which is common among the forefts.. The people of thofe parts, although they pay the Komans a part of their tribute in wax, are very cautious how they offer them their honeyf.” * See the late Dr. Samuel Cooper’s Inaugural Differtation on the Pro- pertics and Eifeéts of the Datura Stramonium, p. 33. Philadelphia, 1797. + iD.otcorides, as quoted by Mr. Tournefort. + C. Piimii Secundi Naturalis Hiftor:e Lib. xxi. cap. 13. § From the Greck verb wawouas, infanio, > Lbid, “The ¢ “* 4 z * {S of North America. 133 The Greeks and the Romans have often deferibed the various plants that were known to them, in fuch dark and obfcure terms, that the botanifts of modern times are fre- quently at a lofs to determine, not merely the fpecies but alfo the genus the ancient writers have mentioned. With refpect, however, to the plants which I have juft mentioned, the dif- ficulty does not feem to be great. Mr. Tournefort has, I think, dhown, in a very fatisfactory manner, that the egole- thron of Pliny is the chamzrhododendros pontica maxima, Mefpili folio, flore luteo of his In/iztutiones, a plant fince de- feribed by Linnzus and by other botanifis by the name of azalea pontica. Mr. Tournefort haslikewife flown, that the other plant called by Pliny rhododendros is his chamzrhodo- dendros pontica maxima, folio Jaurocerafi, flore caetuleo pur- purafcente*. This is the rhododendron ponticum of Lin- nus. It is confiderably allied to the azalea pontica. Xenophon has recorded the remarkable effeéts of fome poifonous honey, in his celebrated work called Memorabilia. When the army of the-ten thoufand had arrived near Tre- bifond, on the coaft of the Euxine or Black Sea, an accident befel the troops, which was a caufe of great confternation. *« As there were a great many bee-hives,” fays the illuftrious general and hiftorian, ‘* the foldiers did not {pare the honey. They were taken with a vomiting and purging, attended with adelirium, fo that the leaft affected feemed like men drunk, and others like mad men, or people on the point of death. The earth was ftrewed with bodies, as after a battle; not a perfon, however, died, and the diforder ceafed the next day, about the fame hour that it began. On the third and fourth days, the foldiers rofe, but in the condition people are in after taking a {trong potiont.” The fame fact is recorded by Diodorus Siculus. Mr. Tournefort thinks there is every probability that this poifonous honey was fucked from the flowers of fome {pecies of chamzrhododendros, or rhododendron. He obferves that all the country about Trebifond is full of the {pecies of this plant, and he remarks that Father Lambert, Theatin miftion- ary, agrees that the honey which the bees extraét from a certain flrub in Colchis or Mingrelia, is dangerous, and caufes vomiting. Lambert calls this fhrub oleandro giallo, or the yellow rofe-laurel, which Mr. Tournefort fays is, without difpute, his chamzrhododendros pontica maximay- * Inftitutiones, &c. + Thefe are nearly the words of Mr. Tournefort’s tranflation. I am forry that I have not the original work of Xenophon at hand, . Mefpili 134 On the Poifonous Honey of North America. Mefpili folio, flore luteo*; the azalea pontica, already men~ tioned. There are feveral paffages in the Roman poets, which plainly fhow, that they were no ftrangers to the poifonous properties of certain kinds of honey. It is not neceflary to mention all thefe paflages. But the following are worthy of notice. Virgil cautions us not to fuffer a yew tree to grow about bee-hives ; Neu propius teétis taxum fine. — Georgic. Lib. iv. 1. 47. In his gth Eclogue, the fame philofophic poet fpeaks of the yews of Corfica as being particularly injurious to bees. Sic tua Cyrnzas fugiant examina taxos, 1. 30. The honey of Corfica was, as Dr. Martyn ftrongly expref- fes it, ‘ infamous for its evil qualities.” The raifing of bees, for the purpofes of procuring their honey and their wax, may, at fome future period, become an object of great importance to the United-States. Surely then it would be a matter of confequence to attend to the cultiva- tion or prefervation of thofe vegetables which furnifh an in- nocent and a well-flavoured honey, and a good wax. But even in a more limited view of the fubject, fome knowledge of thefe vegetables feems to be indifpenfably neceffary. And in the new fettlement, whither the fettler has carried his bees, * See’ Tournefort’s Voyage into the Levant, vel. iii. p. 68. Englith tranflation. London, 1741. + See his tranflation of the Georgics of Virgil, note to line 47, in book. _ iv, Dr. Martyn’s criticifms and annotations always demand attention. I greatly doubr, however, if the taxus of Virgil be the common yew, or any fpecies of that genus. Martyn himfelf allows, that ‘it does not ap- pear from other writers (befide Virgil), that Corfica abounded in yews.” i have been affured, that the yew is not an indigenous vegetable in that ifland, and that it is even rare among the foreign vegetables. It may, in- deed, be faid, perhaps it was common inthe time of Virgil. I would ob- ferve, that the yew js much lefs poifonous than has been commonly fup- pofed. I know not that any modern writer has pretended that the bees procure a pernicious honey from its flowers. Thefe facts give rife tomy fufpicion, that the taxus of Virgil was not the yew, or taxus of the modern botanifts. If not the yew, what vegetable was it? Perhaps, the buxus virens, or box. This vegetable abounds in Corfica, where to this day itis known by the name of saxo. The gentleman from whom I received this information affured me, that the bees of Corfica are very fond of the flow- ers of the box, and that the honey from this fource is reputed poifonous. The box is, unqueftionably, a poifonous vegetable. But there is {till a dif- ficulty in the cafe. Virgil mentions both taxus and buxus. I think there can be no doubt that his buxus (fee Georgic. lib, ii. 1. 449.) is the buxus of the modern botanifts. ; where On the Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron. 125 where improvements are ftill very imperfect, it cannot be deemed a trivial tafk to have pointed out fome of thofe vege- tables from which an injurious honey is obtained. The ancients, who, in fome refpeéts at leaft, were equal to the moderns, appear to have paid much attention to this fubjeét. Virgil* and Columella have both told us what plants ought to grow about apiaries. It is unneceffary to repeat, in this place, what the two Roman writers have faid on the fubje&t. The Georgics of the Mantuan poet are in the hands of every man of tafte; and the work of Columellat Jbould be read, wherever agriculture engages the attention of gentlemen. The proper management of bees may be confidered as a fcience. it is not fufficient that bees merely make honey and wax. Their honey may be injurious or poifonous, and their wax may be nearly ufelefs. To affift and to direct the Jabours of theie Jitile infects, the knowledge and the hand of man are required. Let, then, this interefted being be at leaft attentive to his own benefits and pleafures. Let him care- fully remove from about the habitations of his bees every fetid or poifonous vegetable, however comely its colour or its form. In particular, let him be careful to remove thofe vegetables which are noxious to himfelf. In place of thefe, Jet him fpread the “‘ marjoram and thyme,” and other plants, “the love of beest,” and his labours will be rewarded. He may, then, furnifh his table with an honey not infe- rior to that of Mount Hermettus, or of Athens; nor to that of Sicily, to which Virgil has fo handfomely alluded in the feventh Eclogue: Nerine Galatea, thymo mihi dulcior Hybla, Candidior cycnis, hedera formofior alba. L, 37, 38, XXV. Defcription of the Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron. By the Count de BoURNON,. [Concluded from p. 12.] + E modification which we have juft feen the primitive eryftal affume at one of its folid angles, and only on one fide, fometimes takes place alfo (only on one fide) at its two other angles. Then, if the act of cryftallization has conti- nued fo long, under the fame mode of increafe, that the new * See Georgicorum lib, iv. 1. 30o—32- + De Re Ruttica, libri xii. $3 Armftrong. 14 edges, 136 Defeription of the Arfeniates edges, as AB, (fig. 15.) produced by the replacing of the folid angles, unite together, and give birth to a new equila- teral triangle, placed in a direction contrary to the primitive one; and if, at the fame time, the cry{tal has fuch-a length that the fecondary planes terminate at the oppofite bafe, and are very acute ifofceles triangles, the cryfial will prefent the ap- pearance of a kind of truncated hexaedral pyramid, the bafe and apex of which will be equilateral triangles. (fig. 18. Pl. IV.) The fix triangular planes which compofe the pyramid of this cryftal, are always acute ifofceles triangles; but three of them have their acute angle much fmaller than the three others. The fides of the bafe of this kind of pyramid are oppofite to the leafi acute angles; and its truncated apex is oppofite to the moft acute ones; the triangular planes being placed al- ternately in an oppofite direCtion. I have feen feveral in- ftances of this form; but I never faw fuch intermediate va- rieties as the fecondary plane, reprefented by the dotted lines in fig. 15. would give, if it exifted at the fame time in the three angles. By a longer duration of the aét of cryftallization, under the fame modification, the plane correfponding to the trun- cated apex of the pyramid (fig. 18.) becomes progreftively {maller; the moft acute ifofceles triangular planes, which anfwer to the fecondary ones, encroach on the leaft acute, all which are the primitive planes of the cryftal, and the py- ramid becomes truly triedral at its upper extremity, whilft it yemains hexaedral at the bafe, on account of thofe parts of the three planes of the primitive cryftal which are fuill pre- ferved. (Fig. 19. By a ftill more confiderable duration of the a& of cryftal- ‘lization, the pyramid would become completely triedral, and would not be truncated at its apex. I have never met with this modification fo complete; but I have feen the variety reprefented in fig. 19; which, however, as well as fig. 18. is very uncommon. The triedral prifm is fubje& to a fourth modification, which takes place at the three edges of one of its two bafes or terminal furfaces only, and replaces each of thofe edges by a plane, much more inclined on the fide ‘of the prifm on which it is placed than on the terminal furface, (Fig. 20.) I have not been able to determine, in thefe cryftals, the angles formed by thefe new planes, either with the fides of the prifm or with the terminal furfaces; but the varieties. belonging to this modification demonftrate that thefe angles are the fame as thofe which the fecondary planes of the folid angles make, either with the terminal furfaces, or wi edges of Copper and of Iron. 137 edges of the prifm on which they are inclined. When thefe new planes have acquired an increafe of fufficient extent to make the primitive planes of the prifm totally difappear, and to replace them, the cryflal is changed to a triedral pyramid with a truncated apex; the bafe and truncated apex of ‘which are equilateral triangles. (Fig. 21.). When it happens that the cryftal has, at the fame time, gone through this modification and that which replaces the folid angles of its other extremity, and thefe two modifications have commenced at the very origin of the formation of the cryftal, there is a particular period of its progrefs, in which the cryftal is lengthened into a hexaedral prifm, with acute triangular ifofceles planes, having for their bafes two equi- Jateral triangular planes, perfeétly equal. (Fig. 22.) After this period, if the a& of cryftallization continues, the cryftal affumes the appearance of an extremely acute rhomboid, the acute folid angles of which are replaced, more or lefs coms pletely, by an equilateral triangular plane, (fig. 23.) and finifhes at laft by taking the form of a perfect rhomboid. (Fig. 24.) All thefe varieties, though lefs common than thofe of the firft modification, are yet frequently to be met with, except- ing that of fig. 22. which is extremely rare, and of which I have feen only two or three cryflals: in general, however, the cryftals of thefe varieties are very fmall, and their form cannot be well feen without the affiftance of a magnifying lafs. . It frequently happens that two of the elongated triedral prifms (fig. 10.) are clofely united to each other by one of the fides of the prifm; whence refults a kind of macle (fig. 25.) the form of which is a rhombeidal tetraedral prifm ' of 60° and 120°; but there is always difcernible, on the ter- minal furfaces of thefe prifms, a very fine tranfverfe line, AB, on the fmall diagonal of the rhomboidal plane of thefe furs faces; this line {hows the place of union of the two cryftals of which the macle confifts. _ Sometimes the two component. cryftals. of this kind of macle belong to the triedral prifm, which has a fecondary plane in the place of one of its edges; it then has the form either of a hexaedral prifm that has four of its fides (two and two in oppofition) broader than the others (fig. 26.), or of one that has only two oppofite fides broader (fig. 27.), or of a regular one, according to the width of the fecondary planes : in all thefe forms, the line AB, indicating the place of union of the two crytials, is perceptible. It is not very common, as I have already obferved, to 5 meet ¥3 Defeription of the Arfeniates meet with fpecimens of this fpecies in which the eryftals are fufficiently detached to let their form be diftinétly feen. In general, the cryftals are grouped together in great numbers, and feem to penetrate each other, fo as to form mamille, more or lefs round; or they form a kind of indented cylin- ders, which have fome refemblance to the trundle of a mill. In that cafe, the part of the cryitals which appears at the furface of thefe aggregations, commonly belongs to one of the fides of their prifm, either the broad or the narrow one. But, when thefe aggregations form cither a kind of cylinders, or of mamillz in clufters diverging like a fan, there may be feen, at the two edges of the cylinder, or at the fummit of the clufters, the whole of the equilateral triangular terminal planes, or trapezia, of one part of the component cryittals. The {pecific gravity of this fpecies of arfeniate of copper is nearly the fame as that of the preceding one; I found it to be 4,280. Its hardnefs, however, is not fo great; it is with difficulty that it can be made to feratch calcareous fpar. The cryftals of this fpecies, when they have not undergone any change, are tranfparent, and of a very beautiful blueifh- green colour, or deep verdigrife; but their furface eafily be- comes decompofed, and turns black; the cryfals are then totally opaque. It is indeed very feldom, and only in cavi- ties recently expofed, that cryftals can be found which retain their tranfparency and colour, Yet, as the change they undergo commonly takes place only at the furface, rarely penetrating to any great depth, their original colour may eafily be reftored, merely by flightly fcraping the furface with a fharp inftrument. The above is the only change I have had occafion to re- mark in this {pecies. Sometimes, but very rarely, this fpecies is found in the orm of {mall hair pencils, with very delicate fibres; and as, in the {pecimens in which I obferved this variety, the little fibrous tuft had preferved its beautiful verdigrife colour, no~ thing could exceed the beauty of their appearance. I have likewife obferved this fpecies in a mamillary form, with a compact texture; but this variety, like the preceding, is extremely rare. The matrix of this arfeniate of copper is the fame as that of all the preceding {pecies; and that {pecies which is moft frequently found with it, is the arfeniate in obtufe octaedra, It is alfo frequently accompanied with that kind of ore which » is known by the name of azure copper ore. SECTION CS eee pS of Copper and of Iron. 139 SECTION II. Arfeniates of Iron. Muttrell mine, which is immediately contiguous to Huel Gorland mine, in the county of Cornwall, has produced fome {pecimens of arfeniates of copper exa@ly fimilar to thofe defcribed in the former part of this paper. But this mine is ftill more interefting to mineralogifts, on account of a combination found therein, of arfenic acid with iron, and alfo a double combination of that acid with both iron and copper. The firft-mentioned of thefe arfeniates feems analogous to thofe cryftals, or cubes, of a fine green colour, of which fome fpecimens had already been found in Carrarach and Tincroft mines, and which Klaproth, in his Memoir upon the Mine- ralogy of Cornwall, confidered as belonging to the arfeniates of copper; but, according to the analyfis made by Mr: Che- nevix, with all the care which his extenfive knowledge and extreme Zeal for fcience would naturally lead him to employ, it appears to be a true arfeniate of iron, containing only a fmall quantity of copper; and even that quantity feems to be merely an accidental mixture. As, in the fpecimens from the old mines of Tincroft and Carrarach, the greaté{t part of the cryftals adhered to vitreous gray copper ore, it is pof- fible that fome particles of that ore remained attached to the cryftals; or, as | have frequently found to be the cafe, that fome fuch particles had penetrated into the cryftals, and that Mr. Klaproth had been thereby deceived, by finding in the button left by the blowpipe a much greater proportion of copper than this ore really contains. The natural decom- pofition of this arfeniate, which produces an oxide of iron of a fine reddifh yellow colour, ftrongly confirms the refult of Mr. Chenevix’s analyfis. Gmelin, in his Principles of Mineralogy, printed at Gét- tingen in the year 1790, had already fuppofed that thefe cryf- tals could not belong to the fubftance which, in mineralogical publications, had been called arfenical copper ore. He had confequently feparated them, leaving them, however, among the ores of copper, under the name of wiirfel ertz. The double combination of the arfenic acid with iron and copper, although it had appeared to exilt in the arfeniate jutt fpoken of, in the mines of Tincroft and Carrarach, had not excited the attention of mineralogifts. It is however offible that the tranfparency, the brilliancy, and the pale lue colour of its cryftals, might occafion them to be miftaken for cryftals of a ftony nature, Befides, their fmallnefs se ealily 140 On the Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron. eafily caufe them to efcape the notice of common obferva- tion, particularly when they are not in pretty large groups. _ The matrix of thefe two arfeniates is exactly the fame as that of the arfeniates of copper; confifting, like that, of quartz, mixed with yellow, gray, and vitreous ores of cop- per, with oxides of iron, and with mifpickel. The mines of Huel Gorland and Muttrell, although not fituated in the difirict of the tin mines, have yet produced fome fpecimens of tin, the cryfials of which are covered with thofe of the arfeniate here {poken of. Two fpecimens of this kind are in the collection of Sir John St. Aubyn.’ Species I. Simple Arfeniate of Iron. This fpecies cryftallizes in perfect cubes, (fig. 28.); fome- times, though rarely, they are a little flattened ; their fides are fmooth and brilliant. : The only modification I have obferved in this form is, that four of the eight folid angles of the cube are replaced by an equal number of equilateral triangular planes, fituated in fach a manner, that every one of the fides of the cube becomes an elongated hexagon, having two angles of go” each, and four of 135°. (Fig. 29.) Cryftals modified in this way are very fearce. I have never feen but one fuch fpecimen, which is in the collection of Sir John St. Aubyn. The cryftals of it are pretty large, and very well defined. The fpecific gravity of this fpecies is 3,000. Its hardnefs is jut fufficient to feratch calcareous fpar. Its cryftals, which are tolerably tranfparent, are of a dark green colour, with a brownith tinge; fometimes they are rather yellowifh; and there exift fome fpecimens of a brown yellow colour like refin. I have never feen this fpecies in any other ftate than that of perfect cryfiallization. Sometimes, indeed, a decompofition takes place, which caufes the cryftals to pafs into the ftate of a pulverulent oxide, of a fine reddifh yellow colour. In this cafe, as the bulk of the cryftals is confiderably diminifhed, there is perceived, upon breaking them, a confiderable number of {mall cavities in their-fubftance. Thefe cavities are analogous to thofe which appear in the cryftals of the fpathofe ores of iron when they have pafied into a fimilar ftate of decompofition. Species II. Cupreous Arfeniate of Iron. The eryftals of this fpecies are of uncommon brilliancy, and are perfectly tranfparent. Their form is a rhomboidal tetraedral prifm, having two of its edges very obtufe, and the other two very acute: but, owing to the minute nae of thele On the Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron. 141i thefe cryftals, I have not vet been able to determine the meafure of their angles. The prifm is terminated at each of its extremities by a tetraedral pyramid, which is pretty harp; and its planes, which are fealene triangles, unite by pairs, forming elongated ridges, which join the acute edges of the prifm: in the other direétion, they unite, alfo by pairs, fo as to form a ridge which is lefs elongated, and joins the obtufe edges. Very often the obtufe edges of the prifm are replaced by planes (of greater or lefs extent) equally inclined upon the adjacent ones. (Fig. 31.) Sometimes the acute edges are alfo replaced in the fame manner, but always by planes of lefs extent. (Fig. 32.) The above are the only varieties I have obferved of this arfeniate. Its cryftals feldom occur fingly, being generally grouped together, in a very irregular manner; fometimes, however, they are fo united as to affume a mamillated form, having the pyramids of the cryftals which compofe the ma- millz all placed upon the furface thereof. The fpecific gravity of this arfeniate is 3,400. Its hardnefs is rather greater than that of the fimple arfe- niate of iron: it fcratches calcareous fpar with greater faci- lity, but does not feratch fluor fpar, or heavy fpar. Its colour is that of a very faint fky-blue; fometimes the blue colour is a little deeper. I have feen fome cryftals which had the fame brown refin colour as the preceding fpecies ; but they are very rare. Hitherto I have never met with this fpecies in any other form than that of a perfeé cryftal. XXXVI. Analy/fis of the Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron, By Ricuarp CuHenevix, E/y. F.R.S, M.R.LLA* sEcTION I. Arfeniates of Copper. HE endlefs diverfity which the hand of Nature has dif- fufed through all her works, even when fhe makes ule of the fame primitive materials, muft fufficiently convince us, that, whatever accuracy we may attain in the knowledge of the latter, the means which fhe employs to form her combina- tions are ftill fecret. The intellectual eye may indulge in the contemplation of hypothetic fyftems, which itfelf has cre- ated, and which it alone can behold; but how far removed * From Tranfuctions of the Rayal Society of London for 1801. muft 342 Analyfis of the Arfeniates mutt they ever be from truths evident to our fenfes, and fupported by palpable experiments ! To follow Nature through the minutiz of her labours, and behold her reproducing the fame primitive materials in many different fhapes, has always been deemed a lefs fplendid achievement of fcience, than to difcover one more of thofe fimple fubftances, by the union of which fhe forms the com- plicated effects we daily admire. Yet to me it appears, that in. no inftance is {he more truly wonderful than in the un- bounded variety which fhe has fometimes produced from a fmall fund of original refources, and when we can fairly follow a few primitive fubftances through a feries of com- binations infinitely multiplied. In addition to the two chemifts who, as is mentioned in the preceding paper by the Count de Bournon, appear to have had fome knowledge of the exiftence of a natural arfe- niate of copper, [ muft name M. Vauquelin. In a letter to me laft year, he communicated the difcovery of fuch a fub- ftance in France. Of the different varieties which thefe gen- tlemen, Meffrs. Klaproth, Prouft, and Vauquelin, have exa- mined, I thall have occafion to fpeak in the courfe of thefe experiments : but it was referved for the Count de Bournon to ftate, in the faid paper, with his ufual talent and perfpi- cuity, the feientific detail of the external charaéters, parti- cularly of the cryftalline forms, by which he had identified their nature. The free accefs to the extenfive collections of the Right Hon. Charles Greville and of Sir John St. Aubyn, alfo the eafy communication with the native foil of this mi- neral, were the peculiar advantages, which enabled the Count de Bournon and myfelf to purfue the mineralogical and che- mical refearches which are ftated in thefe communications to the Society. When the Count de Bournon had completed what ap- peared to him to be the mineralogical claffification of thefe copper ores, he gave me fome fpecimens of each kind, num- bered indifcriminately, for the very purpofe of excluding pre- judice; and it was not till my tafk was ended that we com- pared our obfervations. If ] had been admitted into any previous knowledge of the arrangement diated to him by the principles of cryftallography, I fhould have been afraid that I had merely thought true what I wifhed to be fo. But T can, moft confcientioufly, indulge in the fatisfaction which the according refults of different means to prove the fame propofition naturally excite; and which is juftly due to the truth of the outward marks, however delicate, yet {till to be . perceived, of Copper and of Iron, 144 reeived, that Nature has left vifible to thofe who will ob- erve her. . , I fhall now proceed to offer the refult of a chemical ana- lyfis, undertaken with a view to determine what confidence the cryftallographical arrangement, adopted in the preceding paper, might merit; and to fhow how far fciences fo nearly allied may receive new licht and confirmation from reciprocal aid. I fhall confine myfelf to detail onty thofe general proceffes which, upon frequent trial, have been found preferable. By reducing to powder any of the arfeniates of copper here {poken of, and then expofing them to heat in a platina crucible, the water of cryftallization was quickly diffipated. But, as too great a degree of heat volatilized fome portion of the arfenic* acid, it was found neceflary to moderate the heat ; and, in order that every particle of water might be finally expelled, to prolong it. When the diminution of weight was alcer- tained, the refiduum was diffolved in acetous, or, {till better, in dilute nitric acid, and nitrate of lead was poured in. Arfe- niate of lead and nitrate of copper were thus formed, by double decompofition ; but, when more nitric acid had been ufed than was ftriGtly neceffary to diflulve the arfeniate of copper, no precipitate appeared till the liquor had been eva- porated. When the evaporation was puthed too far, part of the nitric acid, contained in the foluble nitrate of copper, flew off; and that nearly infoluble cupreous nitrate, firtt * There is no doubt that philologifts, who do not confider the princi- ples of the new methodical nomenclature, may, at firft fight, think the term arfeaic objeGtionable ; particularly as previous cuftom and analogy had given another denomination, arfenira?, which is ‘the natural adjeétive of the fubftantive arfenic. ‘They may fay that the difference of accentu- ation alone marks the diftinflion between the fubftantive and the new ad- jective. But every chemift will fet the weightier confiderations of method and order before fuch objettions. In French, the termination in ic, for the fubltantive, and in que, for the adjeAlive, obviares all confufion. One remark t fhall beg Icave to offer to the confideration of thofe chemifis who have laboured to adapt to the Englith language a literal tranflation of the French nomenclature. It is the genius of the former language to throw the accent as far back as poffible; fo thar, in trifyllabical nouns, the firit or fecond fyllable is ufually accented ; while, in the French language, the accent is generally thrown upon the laft; thus, we fay fulphie i¢ acid, but they fay acide fulpburique. It was very natural therefore, as in the latter cafe, to make the accented fyllable be that which fhould denote the parti- cular ftate of the fubftance of which they fpeak. Thus, fulphurique, fu- phuretix; nitrique, nilreax ; Sulphate, fulpbite; nitvaie, niirite. Bur, without offending the radical orthoepy of our language, we cannot make the fame method fubfervient to that purpofe; for, when we with to mak the diftin€tion in that manner, we are obliged to wreft the word from its Proper pronunciation, and to fay, m/mric, nitréns, Sulphureots, Bic. mentioned. 144 Analjfis of the Arféniates mentioned by Mr. Prouft*, was produced. To obviate both inconveniences, alcohol was added, immediately before the liquor was quite evaporated, and long after the precipitate had begun to appear; in a few minutes, all the arfeniate of lead fell to the bottom, while the nitrate of copper was held in folution. Thefe new produés being feparated by filtra- tion, the fpirituous liquor was diftilled ; and, from the nitrate of copper, the quantity of that metal contained in the ore was obtained by boiling the folution with potafh or foda ty i oO * Annales de Chimie, vol. xxxii. p. 26. + By potafh and foda, I mean thofe alkalies pure, obtained according to the method prefcribed by Berthollet.. I know of no other. It is not that I have any predilection for thofe identical terms; yet, whatever me- lioration fubfequent improvement may introduce in particular cafes, if principles are to be adopted, they fhould, in general, be ftri€lly adhered to. But it muft be a violation of them to apply a word, appropriated by common confent to defign a pure, and as yet a fimple fubftance, to fuch heterogeneous mixtures as lapis caufticus, carbonates of potafh and foda, &c. It is indeed much to be defired, that the epithets caufitc, pure, fa- turate, &c, fhould be regarded as tautology, which they really are. There is no potafh purer than potafh. When it is not pure, we fhould fay, in- ftead of “I took fo much potafh,” “ I took fo much of a mixture of potafh, and whatever other fubftance is mixed with it.” Thus, inftead of calling lapis caufticus, cauftic potafh, or potafh, as is often done, we fhould fay, ‘* I took fo much of the mixture of potafh, fulphate, muriate, carbonate, afd fulphuret of potafh; filiceous and aluminous earths; iron and manganefe ;” for fuch I find, by analyfis, lapis caufticus to be. To all this is added, by apothecaries, a little lime. Yet this is the fubftance fometimes called potath. M. Lowitz’s manner does not give potafh pure enough for delicate ana~ lyfes of ftones. I have never feen any prepared by his method, in which I could not difcover iron, filica, alumina, and carbonic acid, To the proofs given by Dr. Kennedy, (in his paper intituled ‘«¢ A Chemical Analyfis of three Species of Whinftone and two of Lava,” in the Edinburgh Tranf- actions for 1799,) of the efficacy of his method, I propofe the following objeétions: That chemift fuperfaturates by nitric acid, and examines by nitrates of barytes and of filver. This will be a fufficient teft for fulphuric and muriatic acids; but carbonic acid may have been prefent before fatu- ration. He then evaporates, and, if all is rediffolvable, concludes there is no filica or alumina; but, after faturation by an acid, ammonia is a more delicate teft than evaporation for {mall portions of thofe earths. By treating Dantzic potafh, or, ftill better, pearlafh, with lime, and evaporating in a well plated copper veffel, a white mafs is left. This mafs, diffolved as far as it can be in alcohol, and the liquor diftilled to drynefs in a plated alembic, gives an alkali of a perfeét whitenefs. If this ftate it is dangerous to touch it, its action on animal matter is fo fud- den and fo violent. It attacks all {tones with the greateft eafe and rapidity. Diffolved in water, it makes not the leaft cloud in barytes water, or in 2 folution of nitrate or muriate of that earth; and may be ufed as a very delicate and fenfible reagent, to diftinguifh it from ftrontian. By fatu- rating with an acid, and then feeking filica or alumina, by ammonia, no trace of them can be found, nor indeed of any thing elfe. Ido not fay, however, that the potafh is perfeétly free from every other fubftance; I » believe of Copper and of Iron. — 145 To the ufe of alcohol, in order to get rid of the excefs of acid, as mentioned above, there is not the fame objection that there might be to evaporation, or to an alkali: it can combine with that acid only which is free; and an excefs of it can, in no way, affect the metallic falts. I have given the preference to lead, above every other me- thod of combining arfenic, to determine its quantity in any other body, having found arfeniate of lime, which has been hitherto recommended, as well as all other earthy arfe- niates, to be nearly as foluble in water as fulphate of lime. Lead prefented alfo much facility as to the proportions of its arfeniates; and a few experiments, inftituted to arrive at them, aflorded fufficient accuracy. But, firft, it was necef- fary to afcertain how much acid a given quantity of metallic arfenic could afford ; and, finding that it was in vain to afpire at a greater degree of precifion than that which Mr. Prouft had obtained, I have adopted his refults. By them it ap- pears, that 133 of white oxide and 153 of acid, contain each 100 of real arfenic, the reft being oxygen. But, 100 of metallic arfenic, acidified by nitric acid, neutralized by an alkali, and precipitated by nitrate of lead, gave 463 of arfe- niate of lead; that is, 100 of arfeniate of lead contain 33 and. a fraétion of arfenic_acid; and, on the other hand, my own experiments informed me, that lead, diffolyed in nitric acid, and precipitated by arfeniate of ammonia, gave a proportion of 63; and 4 were expelled by heat from this falt. The compofition of arfeniate of lead, therefore, is, Arfenic acid — = - 33 Oxide of lead - - 63. Water = - - - 4 a 100 This experiment, repeated feveral times, never gave I per cent. difference in the refults. Another method, which may be deemed thorter, and perhaps even more accurate, to ana- lyfe arfeniate of copper, is as follows :—After the quantity of water has been eftimated, the remainder may be treated by either of the fixed alkalis, which will combine with the acid, and leave the brown, the only real oxide of copper, in the fame fiate as that in which it exifted in the ore; the al- kaline liquor may be neutralized as above, and the propor tions determined in the fame manner. believe it containy a little carvon, produced by the decompofition of the alcohol, and is therefore a fubcarburet of potafh; but carbon can be of no conlequence, in the geverality of experiments, in humid docimaha. The fame method, employed with carbonate of foda, is the only one to procure foda in a ftate of equal purity. Vou, XIL. No. 46, K No. I, id 146 Analyfis of the Arfeniates No. T. Third fpecies of the preceding paper. One hun- dred parts, expofed to a low red heat, loft nothing of their weight. Diffolved in dilute nitric acid, decompofed by ni- trate of lead, and precipitated by evaporation, and then by alcohol, they left a white powder, which, well wafhed and dried, weighed 121. But 121 of arfeniate of lead contain ; 39,7 of arfenic acid. The nitrate of copper, boiled with pot- { afh, left a precipitate, which weighed 60. Therefore, there. j are in this variety, Oxide of copper - - 60 Arfenic acid - e u 3957 — 3 No. Il. Fourth fpecies of the preceding paper One hun- dred parts, expofed to a low red heat, loft 16. Treated as above, they yielded a quantity of arfeniate of lead, corre- fponding to 30 of arfenic acid; and I obtained 54 of oxide of copper. Therefore this variety contains, - Oxide of copper - - 54 Arfenic acid = - - 30 Water -- 4 te - 16 100 No. Ill. Var. 2 of the third fpecies. One hundred parts, expofed to a low red heat, loft 18 of water. The 82 re- maining, boiled with potath, left a refiduum of a blackifh’ brown colour, which weighed 51, and which, examined by the different reagents, was found to be oxide of copper, without mixture. he fupernatant liquor, and the hquor which wathed the 51 precipitated, being neutralized and evaporated together, left a precipitate, by nitrate of lead, which weighed88, and, by the proportions of arfeniate of . Jead, eftablifhed above, indicated 29 of arfenic acid. The proportions in this variety are therefore as follows : Oxide of copper - = TNR Arfenic acid - - -. 29 Water - Bt é 2 18 98 No. IV. Var. 5. of the third fpecies. This gave, by one or other of the two methods, already defcribed and applied, as. follows: s Oxide of copper fo Mb Ga Arfenic acid = is a 29 - a1 Water = . pee of Copper and of Iron. 147 No. V. Second /pecies of the preceding paper, This is the variety which, according to the defcription I received from M. Vauquelin, he had analyfed. Jn his letter to me, he gave no particulars .of the method he had employed, but merely ftated his refull*. By that, it appears to contain, wit Oxide of copper. eS loi Arfenic acid = SN rat ah | oa hein _ Before the reception of his account, I had found, , Oxide of copper rk 1 area Arfenic acid’ - - -- 21 ‘Water - - ay ee or i foe) This induced me to repeat the analyfis with the greatett care and attention ; for I thought, that to differ from fo great a mafler mutt be to differ from truth; but I conftantly found 21 of water, and 21 of arfenic acid. This apparent difference muft, therefore, depend on the flate of drynefs in which he obtained his acid; or perhaps he eftimated it with the water; and, if fo, I am happy to find I agree with him fo near as one per cent. A greater precifion, as every perfon familiar with analyfis well knows, 1s not within the power of chemical exactnels. No. VI. Firft /pecies of the preceding paper. One hun- dred parts, expofed to a low red heat, loft much more than any of the other kinds; the deficit amounted to 35, The ufual: treatment, gave 49 of oxide of copper, and only 14 of arfenic acid. I repeated this analyfis with fome portions which had not been expofed to heat, and never found more than 14 of arfenic acid. This arfeniate contains, : Oxide of copper - = 49 oh Arfenic acid . + ~ ae 7 | Water - as e . 35 9 | [Vo be continued. } )® Yai analyac, ces jours derniers,.une mine de cuivre d'un. vert clair ‘erittailin, en, lames bexaddres, fe divifant en lames menus, 1 legérement fieaibies, comme le mica; et c’eft pour cela, que Ics naturaliftes l’avoient nommé mica vert. J'ai trouvé que ce mineral étoit ‘compo d’environ 59 doxide de Cuivre, tt de gt d’acide arfenique; et c'eft de vérirable tarfeniate de cuivre. Parisy Auguit 30, 1799.) +! mew to tye = Koa XXVII. On { 148 ] XXVII. On the apparent Elevation of Objedts above the Hori-- zon. By Profeffor DE Luc*. I; is well known, that on the borders of lakes, the banks of broad rivers, and the fhore of bays, a certain optical illu- fion often takes place when the fpectator is ftationed ina high point of view. The oppofite bank, under certain circum- fiances, isfeen as it were floating in the air; and this pheno- menon Is aferibed to refraction: but in my opinion. it proceeds from a different caufe. About two years ago I obferved the phenomenon in qnef- tion in one of thofe extenfive turf moors that orcur fo often among the heights in Bremerlande, through which I was then travelling. The trees which bordered this moor, to- wards the horizon, appeared to me to be floating in the air. I at firft conjectured, according to analogy, that there mutt be a Jake or river at the end of the turf moor; but the poftil- lion who drove the carriage aflured me that this was not the cafe. ; In the month of July this year, being in the fame diftrict, T faw a fimilar phenomenon, and under circumftances which induced me to examine it with more attention. I was on the road between Bremervorde and Brederkefa, proceeding “in a north-eaft direction, It was about nine in the morning 3 the heavens were covered with light clouds, yet the fun ap- peared through them a little behind me on the right, and over a turf moor which extended to the horizon, and was bor- dered with a row of trees. When the phenomenon firft ap- peared, I was travelling down an eminence on a road adjacent to the edge of the moor, which entered it a little way, and then proceeded up an oppofite hill, The variations which I obferved in the phzenomenon as I advanced flowly down the hill, indaced me to difmount, that I might be able every now and then to turn back. What I obferved on this occafion was as follows : At the moment when I was about to defcend, I could fee and obferve from the higheft point of the hill a very large furface of the turf moor, which extended itfelf with increafing breadth towards thé horizon; the diftance of which I efti- mated at a German mile. From this pretty high point of fight, I could perceive that the trees at the extremity of the -moor did not ftand exactly in a line, but that they formed a fort of wood, which extended backwards on the other fide, * From Der Gejfelljihaft Naturforfobneder Freunde xu Berlin Neue Sebriften, vol. iil, 1001, i ~ ~ - . and, Elevation of Obje&ts above the Horizon. 149 and, on the fide next to me, had fome projecting curves, but in fuch a manner that the row feemed uninterrupted and continued. The firft thing that ftruck me as I defcended, was, that at the bottom of this row of trees, and near the extremity which was oppofite to me, there appeared an aperture where there feemed to be no trees, and where I thought I could per- ceive the heavens under a line of trees which I confidered as further diftant, becanfe their colour was not fo dark, and becaufe they appeared fmaller than the trees of the firft row between which I faw them. This feparated part of the row feemed to be completely floating im the air; the horizon in the interval of the trees of the firft row was bounded by the furface of the turf moor, and I imagined that J faw the hea- vens between this extreme furface of the moor and the row of the moft diftant trees. It was at this moment I alighted: I then turned back, af- eended the hill a little, and faw the trees which attraéted my attention gradually affume their former appearance. The whole feparated part again funk down tothe earth, recovered their former dark colour, and alfo their former height; fo that I was fearcely able to diftinguifh this part from the re- - mainder of the row. Some traces, however, of the former transformation remained. I was therefore induced to examine the whole row throughout with the greateft attention ; and, on doing fo, I imagined that I obferved fome parts which lay a little more in the back ground, and which, as I conjectured from certain figns, would appear transformed in the hike manner when viewed from a fomewhat low point of fight. In regard to the loweft ground line of the row of trees, it appeared, on account»of the diftance and thicknefs of the atmofphere, too undefined to perceive bendings in it: [ was not able to obferve the trunks of the trees, which I diftinguifh- ed from the furface of the moor merely by its brown colour being rendered lefs pale by the intervening ftratum of air, by the trees having a higher pofition, and by their being feen through a purer ftratum of the atmofphere. On again defcend- ing, | faw thofe parts of the row which I confidered as the molt remote, gradually raife themfelves above the horizontal plain; fo that they feparated themfelves from the row in which they ftood, and feemed to float in the air behind the row which now had the appearance of being broken, When I reached the valley, where | was however fomewhat elevated above the level of the moor, thefe phanomena began to appear in the foremott row, where the firft breaking appeared. I again thought L faw the heavens below the trees at the ex- K 3 treme 150 On the apparent Elevation treme edge of the:moors Thefe trees alfo appeared to be floating in the,air, but they did not elevate themfelves above the ground fo much as thofe I firft obferved. As I advanced further in the valley, my horizon did not any more change in a perceptible manner; though my pofition in regard to cer- tain parts of the row of trees was confiderably altered, which produced feveral modifications of the phenomenon. The elevation of the trees above the horizontal furface increafed the further I proceeded, but gradually decreafed in thofe parts from which I receded, and where it had firft begun, and at length the whole difappeared when I afcended the oppofite hill. This circumftance of the phznomenon led me to an obfervation, from which I. concluded that refraction had no ;fhare in.it. The mafles of the diftant trees which raifed themfelves from the ground, were fituated between parts of the foremoft row, which for a confiderable time did not change their pofition; and thefe unchanged parts gave me fixed points, by which I was enabled to eftimate the ele- vation of the objects ; and it was this eftimation which con- ducted me to a knowledge of the nature of the phenomenon. - The intervals where, im confequence of my _ progreflive motion forwards, the heavens appeared under the moft di- ftant trees, raifed themfelves more the lower my ftation became on the hill, and the further I advanced in the valley: but the fummits of the floating trees were not elevated ; on the contrary, they feemed fomewhat depreffed in comparifon of the foremoft trees. The mafles became fhortened below, but at the top they remained on the fame level. I had fuffi- cient opportunity to confirm this circumftance, as, by chan- ging my pofition in a vertical and horizontal direction, I faw three different maffes fo totally difappear, that, in the interval which they before occupied in the row of trees, nothing more was to be feen but the pure heavens. On one of thele matfies difappearing in this manner, when I retired back from my pofition, there firft appeared towards the heavens fome brown {pots, which were the higheft fummits of the trees 5 and the more I reeeded, the more it feemed as if a curtain dropped down which concealed the part of the heavens before feen. But with whatever attention I looked towards the {pot where this curtain fell down, and where the fum- mits of the trees atlength difappeared, I could obferve nothing but the pure heavens. Had a perfon, without fufpeéting any thing of this optic transformation, {een from the valley the row of trees in the horizon evidently broken, and had again feen from the ill without obferying the gradual change 6. "during ae ae Oe PEERS eccaie= S oes Sep of Objeéts above the Horizons ~ ASK diiring the time of advancing, the fame row once more in the horizon entirely whole, without any interval or break, he would certainly not have believed his own eyes. Between this phenomenon and that where the coafts ap- pear elevated in the like manner, I could obferve no difference in regard to the caufes which produce them; and the fame identity is applicable to thofe phenomena which. I obferved in another moor in the fame neighbourhood about two years before; only that the trees which formed the horizontal boundary ftood actually in a line, fo that the whole row feemed floating in the heavens at once, and not in portions atatime. All thefe phanomena then are identically the fame, and it follows from the circumftances here deferibed, that they do not depend on refradlion. The caufe alone lies in the rays of light reflected from the vapours, which in con- fequence of this reflection appear fo dazzling to the eye, that they conceal the objects fituated below, and prefent the fame appearance as the heavens. The fun, as already faid, was towards that fide where I faw the phenomenon, and his al- titude was con(iderable, as I obferved the above transformation on the 18th of July, between the hours of g and ro. While I obferved from the valley feveral of thefe broken parts of the firft row of trees, the fun was in a perpendicular direction over them. The elevation of the mafies above the ground in- creafed in general more and more as my fituation became gradually lower, and according as each mafs of the objects to be changed approached nearer to a perpendicular pofition under the fun, m confequence of my advancing in a hori- zontal direction. As I defeended, I had between me and the objects a ftratum of the atmofphere, which was always denfer, and confequently more proper for reflecting the rays. When I advanced in the horizontal plain, this reflection took place more in a ftraight line; and when I came into fuch a pofition that the vapours threw back the rays of light to the level of the fummits of the moft diftant trees, I faw nothing but this _duminous vapour, which lof itfelf in the heavens, and formed with them one continued field. When I had reached the loweft point of the plain, where | found a favourable point of view, fome of the foremoft trees could then raife themlelves from the ground, becaule they were nearer tome; and to com- nfate for this greater proximity, the rays of light muft ave penetrated a much thicker {tratum of the atmofphere, - and mult have proceeded from a point fo much nearer the __. ‘perpendicular pofition under the fun. - ? The prefence of the fuiis.the principal condition of this < phenomenon : 152 Elevation of Objeéts above the Horizon. phenomenon: without the action of the fun’s beams, the wapours would not be denfe enough to conceal the objects: it is by means of the folar rays that they are made to difap- pear from theeye. Thefe rays, however, can be tranfinitted to the eye only under a given angle, in the fame manner as a certain angle is required in order to produce the rainbow by refraétion. The ftratum of air which is fufficiently denfe to effe& this reflection of the fun, rifes to a certain height, but it can be perceptible to the eye only when the vapours ac- tually throw back a great number of rays. /s foon as the point of fight correfponding to this effeét is obtained, the eye fees only the fhining yapour, which it cannot diftinguith from the heavens. This difappearance, however, takes place in regard to diftant as well as to near objects, and rather at the lower than the upper part of the objeét, becanfe, in the firft cafe, the direétion of the line of fight pafles through a larger mafs of vapour, and in the fecond through a denfer ftratum. The lefs denfe part of the vapour, which did not refle&t rays of the fun, but which always grew denfer the lower my ftation became, acting like a veil, which interpofed itfelf between my eye and the trees which had not yet difap- peared, made me obferve their diftance, and contributed to caufe the elevated trees to appear asif floating behind the row, In regard to the circumftance that the tops of the diftant trees did not raife themfelves above thofe of the foremoft, though their lower parts feemed to rife above the ground as I defcended, and that thefe tops on the contrary feemed fome-+ what depreffed; it arofe from the decreafe in the elevation of my point of ftation having a greater ratio to the lefs di- ftant than to the moft diftant trees; by which means, the former were raifed more in the fame proportion above the horizon. When this phenomenon is obferved on the banks of large pieces of water, and when the objects are at different diftances from the obferver, the truth-of the principles here advanced may be confirmed by remarking, that the phano- ‘ menon is modified by a change of pofition; but if the ob- - ferver can move about in a horizontal direction, it will be of great ufe to obferve the changes of the object ina vertical dire&tion, fuppofing he has opportunity, on any gradual de- clivity, of afcending and. detcending. If the vertical mea- furement of the objeéts then changes, fo that their total height decreafes the more the objects feem to rife from the. oe. when the obferver defcends the declivity, this is a fufficient proof that the whole image is not elevated, but that . its On the Wild Goat of the Alps. 153 its loweft part difappears from the eye, behind a mafs of va- pour fo condenfed that it cannot be diftinguifhed from .the fky above or the water below. I entertain no doubt, that this is the real caufe of all the phenomena of this kind, as I have never been able to com- prehend how fuch phenomena could be produced by re- traction. When the objects which are feen under water appear ele- vated in different degrees, it may be readily conceived that the rays of light proceed from the water, which is very denfe, into air, which is much rarer. When we fee the celeftial bodies above the horizon, while they are actually below it, we may eafily conceive that the rays of light, proceeding in an oblique direction, fometimes pafs through rarer and fome- times through denfer ftrata of the atmofphere. But, in the prefent cafe, there is no difference in the {pecific denfenefs or rarity, and the correfponding power of refraction of the medium through which the ray of light is tranfmitted to the eye; and if an actual elevation takes place by refraction, the action muft be equally great from water or from a lake, and on the objects oppofite to them: confequently the whole mafs _ of thefe objects muft appear equally elevated, without any in- terruption being obferved in them. ; I thall here add, that I have been very often deceived in thefe moors, fo that I thought I faw at a great diftance lakes and rivers, where my drivers afflured me there was nothing of the kind. This was always the cafe in the morning, and when the fun by ftanding over the obje& gave rife to the illufion, Had not the horizon on thefe occafions been bor- dered with a row of fmall hills, 1 thould certainly have be- lieved that I faw not only a piece of water, but even the heavens. The hill prevented me from feeing at one view the heavens and the luminous vapour, and the vapour feen alone appeared to me as an extended piece of water illuminated by the reflection of the heavens. ee ————————————— ————————————eoeeoeeooooooooaoaooaooaooaoaaooaoSoooaooaoooaooaooaaaahD—=—=[_[—> —E—™E™*=Z=*=7ZZE™ZE=:=E_ Sd XXVIII. Defcription and Natural Hiflory of the Wild Goat of the Alps. ByM.Bertuour Van BercuEM jun.* ; [ HE wild goat of the Alpst is ftill little known to natural- ifis, though mentioned by feveral authors, As it lives on the " From Mémoires de la Société des Sciences phyfiques de Laujanne, vol. i. + Capra ibex, Erxleben Sift. Reg. p. 261. Linn, Hitt. Nat. p. 96. Le Bouguetin, Buffon, vol. xii. p. 136. fummits ¥54 On the Wild Goat of the Alps. fummits of the higheft mountains, it has been obferved only v3 thofe employed in ee it, who in general are men fond of the marvellous, and therefore their relations are filled with abfurd tales. in) Its figure, however, is better known: yet the defcription of Daubenton* ‘was taken from a very young individual, and the engraving which accompanies it is not correct. Weare indebted indeed to profeffor Pallast for a very minute and very good defeription of the wild goat of Siberia, but this animal feems to differ from ours in fome of its characters. Befides, profeffor Pallas docs not fpeak of the Siberian wild goat at its different ages, and has not defcribed the feniale, which is {till unknown. All théefe reafons have induced me to make refearches refpeGting this inhabitant of our lofty Alps, and I flatter myfelf that’ f fhallrender a fervice 10 naturalifts by making it better known. ! Having learned that M. de Watteville, governor of PAigle in the Pays de Vaud, had in his poifleffion’a live young goat, I eagerly embraced that opportunity, and undertook a jour- ney to |’Aigle to deferibe and make a drawing of it. (See Plate 'V.) M. de’ Watteville was fo kind as to give me every accommodation for the purpofe, ‘and to him 1 was indebted for feveral interefting details refpecting the habits and manners of this animal in its ftate of captivity. ) be ~ But to know it in its ftate of nattire, as the domefticated ftate always occafions a confiderable change in the manners of all animals, it was neceflary to confult the wild goat hunt- ers. With that view I proceeded to the country where they live, that [ might obtain more certain information, ‘and be able if poflible to feparate truth from falfehood ;»but T {hould have lof much time in fruitlefs refearch, had I not had'the good fortune to addrefs myfelf to one of the ‘ableft hunters, a man who to ereat veracity added the’ fpirit of a’ good ob- ferver, Th The wild goat of l’Aigle, the ‘fir time T faw it} in the {pring of 1784, was two years of age, _It came from the val- . Tey of Oft, and had been purchafed when about five or fix months old: it was fuckled by a-comnion goat, to which it was ftrongly attached: its mild phyfiognomy announced the gentlenefs of its charaéter and of its manners: its hind legs were higher than the fore ones, and its four cloven feet indi- cated its aptitade for climbing the rocks. Its Jarge and.ex- tenfive horns, which fhaded its {mall head, and its large limbs * Hitt: Nat. de Buffon, vol. xii. p. 166. + lbex Alpium Sibivicarum, Pellas, Sp- Zool. p, 3% and ato, ia Qe On the Wild Goat of the Alps. 355 and mufeles, feemed to fhow its ftrength and its means of defence. On the firft view, it had fome refemblance to the fheep in regard to the head, but in the whole of its figure it had more relation to the goat. In comparing it with the latter, it appear- ed larger and thicker; its forehead was narower and more elevated. Thefe laft characters difiinguifhed it from all animals of thefame kind. Its head was proportionally fmaller, the fore- head was a little arched before, the eye was quick and of a moderate fize, the pupil contracted in the fun like that of the fheep, forming a rectangle, the bafe of which ftood in the direction of the greateft Tength of the eye; the forehead and upper part of the head were thickly covered with hair; it had no vellige of beard. But on my fecond vifit fix months after, that is to fay, when it was two years and a half old, it had a {mall one at the diftance of an inch and a half from the ex- tremity of the muzzle; it was black, and turned backwards. Its horns were very difierent from thofe of the goat; they were large, near each other at the roots, and at a confider- able diftance at the points; bent back and outwards in an arch; they were fourteen inches in length, and eight inches ‘in circumference at the bafe ; the two longitudinal ridges, be- tween which was the anterior face of each horn in the old goats, were not both very fenfible; the interior one was the moft perceptible; it had two or three large and very promi- nent tubercles. Thefe tubercles in the large horns of the wild goat terminate the tran{verfal ridges of the anterior face; but here the tranfverfal ridges were not yet diftinétly marked, though they were perceptible. The pofterior face of the horns was round and {mooth; but the fecond time I faw it they had confiderably increafed. The anterior face and lon- itudinal ridges. were well marked. Near the bafé there were por tranfverfal ridges very prominent, and elevated nearly half an inch: on the interior longitudinal ridge there were fix tubercles, and the others went on decreafing to more than half the length of the horn. The animal was then three feet and a half in Jenoth: it ap- oa to me proportionally higher on the legs than the goat; ut this was on account its being not then well formed, for the old wild goat has fhort lecs in proportion to its length: it had a thicker and fhorter neck than the goat, the rump was lighter and rounder, the body more plump, and the legs thicker; it had no callofities on the knees, which in the common goats is one of the marks of its domefticity : its ears were large, almoft-bare in the infide; but the edges were furnifhed with whitifh hairs: the animal always di- rected them backwards, It 156 On the Wild Goat of thé Alps. It had two kinds of hair: one a white down, very thick, frizzled and woolly ; and large hair, very coarfe and thick on the whole body. It was longer under the neck, and on the anterior parts in general; it had not, like the com- mon goat, a fort of mane of long hair on the back; the hair on the body was of a fhining gray fawn colour, and that below the chin, darker than that on the body, inclined to brown. At the lower part of the flanks there was a flripe of browner hair which began about the thigh, and extended on the fide as in fome fpecies of the antelope ; the belly and in- fide of the four legs were white or whitifh. That black ftripe on the fpine found in all wild goats was not obferved on this animal in the fpring; but im the month of October it reappeared, beginning at the diftance of about four inches from the root of the horns, and extending to the tail. The black firipe at the lower part of the flanks was alfo better marked, and the hair of the body was of a brownifh gray colour ; the hair on the parts below the tail was white, as in the greater part of antelopes. The tail itfelf was brown above and white beneath ; it was very fhort, and covered with long hair: the hair of the body was directed towards the rump, and that on the thighs downwards. The hoofs of this animal were very long ; the fore legs were fenfibly thicker than thofe behind, and the thighs were ftrong and flefhy; its feet were of a rounder form than thofe of the goat, and better determined ; each hoof had a fort of talon very apparent ; the lower face of the hoofs which touches the ground was con- cave, and terminated by a falient edge, principally on the outfide, asin the chamois. The horn of the hoofs was pliable and elaftic, and equally durable as tiofe of the fheep, Dimenfions of the Wild Goat at the Age of Two Years, feet. in. Length of the whole body from the point of the muzzle to the root of the tail - 3°43 Height before =! - = 2 6 Height behind = . Pitre ak: Length of the horns according to their bending I 2 Circumference of the borns at the" bafe S o 8 Length of the tail = Mf oa Qo 5 Dimenfions of the Wild Goat at the Age of Three Years, feet. in. lin; Length of the whole body from the muzzle to the root of the tail - - +3. i6 “@ Height before - - - Bid am Height behind - - - RDI Length On the Wild Goat of the Alps... 157 fect. in. lin. Length of the horns according to their bending I 4. 6 Circumference of the horns at the root - 9 0° oO Length of the beard - - 3 Ieacy he} After having defcribed the wild goat of ]’Aigle, I fhall now give fome remarks on wild goats in general. The length of the horns varies. D’Aubenton gives the dimenfions of a pair of horns preferved in the king’s collection, which were 2 fect g inches in length, and g inches in cir- cumference at the roots; they had 20 rings or ridges: this is the greateft length known of the horns of this animal. Their diftance from each other varies alfo. Sometimes they diverge a great deal, at others very little ; their colour is reddith or blackifh, but when the animal becomes old they affume a dirty white colour, It is to be obferved, that on the large horns of the wild goat the largeft and moft prominent tranfverfal ridges and tubercles are towards the roots. This may be eafily conceived, if atten- tion be paid to the increafe of this kind of horns, which takes place at the bottom ; that is to fay, the increafe of each year day upwards that of the preceding year, fo that the young orns at the end of fome years form the upper part of the large ones: and as thefe horns always acquire more fize and breadth at the bottom, the tranfverfal ridge or ring of each yearsbe- comes always lefs prominent. The young are brought forth covered with their firft woolly hair, but in autumn they begin to be clothed with their long and {tiff hair: the horns appear in the firft month, and the animal immediately acquires the black {tripe on the fpine. In {pring, towards the month of May, all the young and old goats change their hair; that on the back they lofe firft, and that on the thighs laft: the black {tripe difappears in moulting time, and afterwards re-appears, as we have ob- ferved: they then acquire red hair inclining to yellow, which, as the feafon advances, becomes dark brown mixed with gray ; fo that in the month of September they are almoft entirely of that colour, or at leaft the upper parts of the body, but in win- ter and towards {pring their hair becomes reddifh gray. The belly remains white, and the black ftripe is always feen in the flanks: on growing old they become gray. * The bunters can tell the age of the wild goats by the num- ber of tranfverfal ridges on the anterior face of the horns, Every year they fay one is produced ; and it is by thefe alone that the age can be determined, and not by the other knots or wrinkles with which the horns are covercd. But this / 4 method 158 On the Wild Ooat of rbe Alps.” method in my opinion is not very certain, fince the wild goat of Aigle, when I faw it in the mouth of O&ober 1784, had four tranfverfal ridges, and two large and extenfiye knots, which were to form ridges. According to the calculation of the hunters, therefore, this animal ought to have been four or five years of age, and yct it is certain that it was only two years and a half. Hence, it is not by the horns that the age ef the wild goats can be determined with certainty, but by means of the teeth, as is done in regard to fheep. It appears that the wild goat lives to a very great age, but not fo long as might be fuppofed from the report of the hunt- ers; for, according to them, it grows to the age of fourteen or fifteen; and as it is known that all animals live feven times the period of their growth, it would thence follow, that the wild goat might attain to the age of ninety-eight or one hundred and five years. We {hall foon fee that this calcula- tion is very much exaggerated. OM deine FN From what I have already faid, it,is evident that the hunt- ers are miftaken when they fay that the wild goat grows to the age of fourteen or fifteen: what has led them into an error is the number of tranfverfal ridges, which is always greater than the number of years, and, eonfequently has made the animal appear older than it really was. Another method, therefore, muft be employed to deter- mine the period of their growth, The wild goat is not ca- pable of producing its fpecies before the-age of two years, or two years and a half: if that of Aigle produced at the age © of two years, this ought, perhaps, to be afcribed to the more abundant nourifhment with which it was fupplied in its ftate of fervitude, which haftened prematurely its procreative fa- culties. And, as it is known that quadrupeds cannot en- gender before the time when they have nearly attained to their full growth, we may prefume, with fome fort of founda-' tion, that the wild goat grows to the age of four years, and perhaps more. This will give 28 or 30 years for the dura- tion of its life, which, in my opinion, is much more natural than that affigned by the hunters. The horns inereafe in length almoft during the whole life of the animal, but in fize it grows only till the age of 15 ct 16 years. The largeft have 20 or go tranfverfal ridges, The female wild goat, called vulgarly éfagne, 1s a third lefs than the male; it is alfo thinner, and lefs flefhy. Its. horns have very little relation to thofe of the male wild goats they are like thofe of the common. goat, and are very {mall; I have feen fome at Chamonix which were only eight inches in length. They have no anterior face; and, like thofe be the On the Wild Goat of the Aips. 135 the coniinon goat, are furnifhed only with one longitudinal ridge. They are fomewhat thicker than thofe of that animal, and have a few finall knots on the ridge. The female, in fhape, habit of body, and the fieure of its - horns, has a great refemblance to a commion he goat that has been caftrated. When fuckling, it has two teats like the common fhe goat; and the feet are fmaller m proportion than thofe of the male; they are fharper, and not fo round. The female wild goat has no beard : according to the hunters, the males are not always provided with one; and, when they are, it is not more than two inches in length. Thisis one of ihe differences which appear to’ exift between our wild goats and thofe of Siberia; the males of which have always a very large beard, and the females a fmall one. The wild goat has different cries; the moft common js a fhort flrill whiftle, very like that‘of the chamois, but with this difference, that the whiftle of the latter is longer: fome- times it makes a noife by breathing through its noftrils ; and, when young, it has a fmall kind of bleating, which it lofes as ‘it grows old. The wild goat which f faw at ) Aigle was exceedingly gentle and tame: its attachment to the common goat, which fuckled it, was very ftrong, though it no longer fucked: often when’ it was on the top of the houfe, or in other places inacceffible to the commion goat, and when the latter fecmed uneafy, and called to it by her bleating, it immediately returned. This animal has not a lively and aétive look; its ftep is flow, and it feems to poffefs great curiofity; all its’ move- ments feem to be direéted by a fpirit of reflection, and it eet never to decide till after mature deliberation, Has it this in common with mountaineers, who differ in ‘fo many refpects from the inhabitants of the plains? Confidering the agility of this animal among the rocks, it appeared on’ the firft view as if oppreffed with, the ‘weight of the atmo- fphere of the level country, and. aftoniflied to'find itfelf on round for which it was not formed. ~ But, when it had to Slithb, that heavy and émbarraffed air feemed entirely to dif¥ appear: it became agile, and all its movements ‘were per- a in a graceful manner; it leaped on the tops ‘of fhe, hidtifes and on walls with the ereateft lightmels and eafe. beheld it with admiration, in one of the interior colirts of the cafile of l’Aigle, at two leaps mount ‘a* wall, without any other fupport than the fmall projection of {tones left by the mortar having dropped off; and, at a third leap, jump upon another wall, which formed a right angle with the for- mer, It began by placing itfelf oppolite to the {pot sie ? i 160 On the Wild Goat of the Alps. it wifhed to reach, parallel to the wall along which it intended to proceed, and examined it with great attention; then, as if it had renounced its defign, it began to traverfe, with flow fteps, the court in which it was. confined; but, returning from time to time, it took its ftation oppofite to the place it had in view; and fometimes balanced itfelf on its hind legs, as if to try their elaflicity: at laft, having repeated this pre- paration for fome time, it at once formed its refolution, darted itfelf forwards, leaped along the wall as already men- tioned, and foon reached the fpot it intended. It has been feen ftanding on the upper edge of a door. It chofe for its lodging a place under the roof of the higheft tower in the caftle. This animal was not mifchievous; and if it often prefented its horns, it was only that they might be feratched, of which it feemed very fond. It knew thofe who feratched it, and often prefented its head to them for that purpofe. When it withed to firike with its horns, it never did fo direétly for- wards, but by rifing up on its hind legs and ftriking fidewife, As it occafioned fome damage by its leaping about, it was found neceflary to tie its lees. This ftate of reftraint appeared to me to have had an influence on its phyfical conftitution, as it afterwards became meagre. Born to enjoy liberty, this animal cannot endure confinement: I fhould even have ima- gined that a part of its docility arofe from its weaknefs, had T not known that this gentle and fociable animal can be eafily tamed. The following trait, which fhows how fufceptible it is of being tamed, deferves to be known: A guide of Chamonix, being employed to condué to Chanuilli, for the menagerie of the prince of Conti, two wild goats which he had reared, they followed him merely through their attachment to him. When he arrived near the town of Befangon, they were frightened by a herd of cows, im- mediately betook themfelves to fight, climbed up the fteepeft rocks in the neighbourhood, and abandoned their guide, who was under great embarraffment: he, however, went after em, and, having called to them, they foon returned, and ollowed him as before. _ I thought it neceffary to enter into thefe details, to deftroy that prejudice which reprefents this animal as wild and un- ‘tractable. What I have faid proves, on the contrary, the do- cility, familiarity, and attachment, of which it is fufceptible, [Teo be concluded in next Number.] . XXITX, iMe- ctor >} XXIX. Account of the Refults of fome comparative Experi- ments made with the Teylerian Electrical Apparatus and Volta’s Metallic Pile. By Van Marnum and PFAFF. Communicated to Profeffor VoLTA in a Letter dated No- vember 1801. Abridged by LUKE HowarpD, E/y. from Journal de Chimie dy J. B. Vun Mons*, A PILE of 200 pairs of metals was conftruéted in the ufual method of Volta. The metals employed were Dutch three florin pieces of nearly 1; inch in diameter, and corre- fpondent pieces of ziné. The firlt experiments were directed to charging the jars of a large battery containing 5! {quare feet of coated furface a-piece. A fingle jar was firft charged, afterwards different numbers connected, and fucceffively aug- mented to 25. In fithe rft, and in each fucceeding experiment, the charge was effected by mere contact for as little time as poffible with the pile. The difcharge in every cafe produced a divergence of the gold leaves in Bennet’s electrometer, amounting to ‘ths of an inch, which was alfo found to be the degree of intenfity (ten/on) of the pile itfelf. The whole coated furface of 137: fquare feet was next charged, at'feveral times, by-a pile augmented at each charge. With 4o pairs of metals, the divergence of the electrometer was perceptible. The increafed divergence caufed by the pile itfelf at each addition, was equally producible by the battery when charged by it. No difference was perceived in the effects of the negative and pofitive fates of the battery in this refpeét. The fenfations producible by the difcharges under the laft- mentioned arrangements were as follow : With 20 pairs of metals, the paflage of ele@tricity was fen- fibly felt in both hands, each being wetted, and grafping a copper conductor of 2 inches diameter. Sixty pairs affeted the elbows. With 200, ftrong thocks were received, extend- ing to the fhoulders. ‘They concluded that the force of the battery in this refpeét was in all cafes only half that of the pile; which indeed was to be expected. They next proceeded to a comparative examination of the charge communicable by momentary contaét of the battery with the conduétor of an electrical glafs plate apparatus of 31 inches diameter. Precautions were ufed to fecure the conduétor from receiving more than a momentary charge from the plate. It was found, by repeated trials, that fix * Communicated by Mr. Howard, Vou. XII. No, 46. L, repetitions 16% Experiments in Ele&ricity ‘ repetitions of the contact were required to bring the charge of the battery to that degree of intenfity which the pile com-__ municated at one. They were of opinion that the fenfation of the difcharge diflered nothing at equal intenfities, whether the battery were charged by the pile or the plate apparatus. In fhort, they confider the two as mere exciters of the fame electricity ; and confequently, that the {ippofed galvanic fluid has no exiftence diftinét therefrom. * Van Marum obferves, that the rapidity of the current of eleGtricity in the pile muft be inconceivable, fince, by a con- taét lafting only 1-20th ‘of a fecond, it will charge com- pletely 137 fquare feet of furface; an @feét excecding, in his opinion, the power of every known eleétrical apparatus, ex- cept the large one in the Teylerian‘mufaum! © - This pile was very carefully infulated on a plate of gum Jac, and fupported in its vertical pofition by flicks of fealing- wax. Cloth foaked in folution of muriate of ammoniac was ufed to feparate the pairs of metals. They conftructed a fecond pile with 5-inch fquare plates of copper and zinc. This proved much more powerful when arranged in 32 pairs perpendicularly, than when, by laying . down four pieces in contaét at once, the height was reduced to ‘eight pairs, and the furface in each quadrupled. The former pile melted five inches of No. 16. (:ron wire) into globules, and reddened feven inches. In attempting to carry it higher, the weight of the fuperior part, expreffing the liquid from the inferior, deftroyed the effect. They remedied this by con- necting four fhort piles, and thus obtained the joint action of r10 pairs of the latter metals. In order to determine whether there exifls any perceptible difference between the fpark given by the pile to any conduét~ ing body, and that which it receives therefrom, ‘* we em- ployed (fays Van Marum) a bowl of quickfilver fuitably con- nected by a wire with the fuperior plate of one of the outfide piles, and we brought to its furface one while the point of a needle attached to the wire of communication, then the - blunter point of the latter. We next connected the quick- filver with the other extremity of the piles, and, repeating this feveral times, we could fee, in one inftance, the fpark pais from the conducting wire into the quickfilver, in the other from the quickfilver to the wire.” The refult fatisfied them, that there is not the leaft perceptible difference be~_ tween the pofitive and the negative fparks: but this trouble was compenfated by the view of a very beautiful and interefting phenomenon. “ When we touched (fays Van Marum) the 4 furface, and Galvanijm. 163 furface of the quickfilver with the end of the fine wire, the combuttion was fo ftrong, that it difperfed on all fides fparkles which’had the appearance of thoufands of rays, conftituting very fine funs of feveral inches diameter. By flowly lower-. ing the wire as itconfumes, this fpectacle may be continued at pleafure. The No. 16. wire, of ~+,5 inch diameter, fucceeds moft certainly; but wire of 4 inch makes a more brilliant fhow. When it is too thick to burn, the {parks form fpots of oxide on the bright furface of the quickfilver. The end of a platina wire, of about ,+, inch diameter, was melted into a globule by the difcharge. The fparks given by the wire of communication, when the latter was large enough, exceeded ;*, inch diameter. They thought much depended on a proper degree of hu- midity in the fubftances interpofed between the metals; and they advife a cold faturated folution of muriate of ammoniac to be ufed, in preference, for this purpofe. . The intenfities of two columns containing an equal num ber of plates appeared equal by the electrometer, although their diameters were fo different as 1 and 5 inches. On taking feveral repeated {hocks from each, their powers in this refpect feemed alfo to be alike. In the fufion of wire, how- ever, the larger diameter had an evident advantage; which was attributed to the greater velocity of the current of elec- tricity flowing through the metal. By diminithing the diameter of the humid condu@ors be- tween the plates, the force of the pile was leffened in propor- tion. On fubftituting water, or folution of fea falt, to that of fal-ammoniac, the fame pile which before melted four inches of wire could not be made to redden a fingle line. Whence arifes the fuperior effect of the ammoniacal falt? Is it becaufe it oxidates the metals more? It appeared, in- deed, that the aétion of this pile diminifhed in proportion as the oxidation of the metals did fo: but, on the other hand, from the refult of feveral comparative experiments with the fulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, they conclude that the prompt oxidation produced by thefe means is fo far from in- _ creafing, that it rather leffens the power of the pile in all re- fpects. Neither did ammoniac, which was alfo tried fepa- rately, produce an effeét at all comparable to that of the neu- tral falt*. The oxidation of the metals, therefore, although it * The author does not fay whether folution of pure ammoniac, or of the carbonate, was ufed. In either cafe, it does not appear to us that it could _ be applied in fuch a degree of concentration as to atford a fair-comparifon La of 164 Eleftricity and Galvanifm. ; it muft be allowed to contribute fomething to the effect, does not exclude the cooperation of fome other property which may refide in the ammoniac. This opinion feemed to the authors to receive fupport from a fubfequent experiment, in which a faturated folution of potafh exhibited a decided fu- periority over water when both were fucceffively ufed in the fame pile, although it did not at all tarnifh the metals. Still further to elucidate this point, the authors proceeded to examine the comparative action of a pile in vacuo m oxy- gen and in other gafes. ‘ _ Having placed 60 pairs of zine and filver, with a proper metallic communication, under the receiver of an air-pump, and exhaufted the latter to a preffure of five lines, they found the action of the pile in no way changed. Air was admitted, and again exhaufted, and the pile left in vacwo for an hour, the effect ftill continuing the fame. Carbonated hydrogen was now admitted into the receiver, and, being afterwards exhaufted, was replaced by azote, without any perceptible variation, in either cafe, from the ufual appearances. Laftly, having again exhautted the receiver, it was filled with oxygen gas from manganefe. The fhocks now became ftronger, and the {parks much larger, brighter, and eafier to obtam. On exhaufting the oxygen they were furprifed to find the pile now really affected by the vacuum, and acting with much lefs force than in either of the preceding cafes. The atmo- fphere of oxygen, and the vacuum after it, being once more repeated, left no doubt as to the reality of this increafe and diminution of effect; the pile alfo returning nearly to its or- dinary ftrength on being reftored to the atmofpheric air. The letter concludes with ftating the effect of increafing the 5-inch fquare pile to 200 pairs; the difcharge of which melted 23 inches of wire, and entirely reddened 33 inches: alfo three other experiments, which prove that, in order to augment the power of Volta’s pile, it 1s neceffary to increafe the number, but not the furface, of the plates it is compofed of, "of the effeét of ammoniac, pioperly fpeaking. -It is not extraordinary that fuch diverfity fhould be found among liquids as among folids in their — powers of condudiing eleétricity.—H. [ 165 ] XXX. Copy of a Letter from M. DE Dree*, Brother-m- Law to M. pe Dotomixu, ¢éo Profeffor PictEt, of Geneva t. ® 6 U_requeft me to give you fome particulars refpe&ting the valuable friend whom we have juft now loft. I {hall fa- tisfy you with pleafure, for however afflicting may be the recollections which fo recent a lofs excites every moment, I experience a kind of fatisfaétion by communicating them to a friend filled with the fame fentiments as myfelf for this worthy man, Yes, Sir, it was at the moment when he enjoyed, in the highelt degree, the tender affeétion of all his friends, when he called to mind, with pleafure, the particular marks of it which he had received at Geneva; and when he felt, in the livelieft manner, thofe teftimonies of refpet of which he had been, and {till was, the object, that he was fuddenly fnatched from his numerous friends. It was at the moment when he feemed to have acquired a new zeal for geology, that fcience for which Nature makes us pay very dear, fince fhe does not fuffer her recefles to be explored but at the expenfe of the lives of thofe who have the courage to force their way to her. You can already reckon two friends among the number of her victims {. It was at the moment when he was preparing to undertake a journey which, as he told me, was to complete his knowledge, and enable him to render his labours and refearches ufeful; in a word, ata moment when his exift- ence became more and more interefting to the fciences, which he promoted with as much attachment as poffible. He has left very numerous notes refpecting his travels and va- rious facts he had obferved ; together with fome manuferipts on mineralogy, the fruits of his meditations and captivity, But thefe works, however interefling, had need of being ar- ranged and illuftrated by the fame {pirit which collected the obfervations. During the three weeks he remained with us, we every day made a lithologic tour. I had difcovered to him a kind of treafure in this way, which is found in a fmall circum- ference around my habitation, and which prefents fome very * M. de Diée is a very intelligent amateur of mineralogy, who pof- felfes, at Paris, one of the beft collections of this kind belonging to an in- dividual. He married a fitter of Dolomicu ; and it was in his houfe at Chateauneuf, in the department of Saonc, that this celebrated naturalift breathed his laft.—P. + Communicated by profeffor Pictet. } M. de Sauflure and Dolomieu. L3 interefting Se) 166 Letter from M. de Drée to Profeffor Piétet. interefting geological facts; and he had made large collec- tions for his friends. He poffefled an excellent ftate of health, and we ‘both enjoyed the ttrongeft reciprocal friend- fhip. He was cheerful, and forefaw no other chagrin than that. of his fpeedy departure to Paris, when he was attacked by that dreadful malady, of which he had fo little expecta- tion, that, on the forenoon of the day on which he fell ill, he afked me where we fhould go a-mineralizing in the after- noon. The violence of the fever firft attacked the brain ; and we made hafle to call in the affiftance of art, but, unfortu- nately, without fuccefs. The firft period of the malady pro- duced agitation and pain: his head was fometimes confuled. The fecond period, which may be dated from the 4th day, was marked with an almott continual dejection, which al- ways increafed till the laf moment. Duning the laft period he experienced no pain; he found himfelf eafy; and an hour | before he refigned his tender and fenfible foul into the hands of his God, he ftill faid he was well. In a word, he ceafed to live by an infenfible gradation, and like a lamp which becomes extinguifhed for want of aliment. However, after he was attacked by the difeafe he forefaw the danger which threatened him; and he beheld his laft moment with that coolnefs and tranquillity which belong to great minds, like his own. He was much more in pain for the grief he was about to occafion to his fifter, than for his own fituation; and the only object of regret which feemed to affect him in his laft moments was that of not being able to bid adieu to all his friends: You, Sir, were among the num- ber of thofe for whom he had the greateft affection; and he no doubt teftified to you the regret he experienced on hearing Rin you was not to pafs this way on your return from Eng- and. - If the courfe of his life has been tempeftuous and agitated, by troubles occafioned to him in confequence of that jealoufy which always attends merit, his laft moments formed a ftriking contraft with that agitation; for he gave vent to no complaint againft thofe who, by the moft rigorous treatment, had attacked in him the principle of exittence; and his foul feems to have taken its flight from the world with calmnefs and fatisfaétion, and as if it were fmiling at the picture of life which it furveyed at the moment of its departure. Madam de Drée and myfelf learned, with great fenfibility, the proof of attachment which you as well as fome of your countrymen have given to the memory of Dolomieu, in re- quefting to be at the expenfe of having a portrait of that ce- lebrated man engraved from the excellent painting in the pof- feilion oa - ‘On the Arts and Sciences in France. 167 feffion of La Metherie. This idea occurred alfo to that friend, and was at the fame time my own. I have written to him, that, your with in this refpeét having been the firft expreffed, we are far from oppofing this impulfe of your hearts, fo flat- tering to the memory of our coinmon friend. In regard to my/elf, [ expect, with the aid of that portrait, and another very like in the poffé(fion of his fifter, to have a buft formed, which I fhall have the honour of fending you as a mark of my acknowledgement for the fnendthip you teftified towards him. And as his dear remains reft with me, the laft granite we broke together is deftined to be a tomb, which will fhow, till the latelt periods, the fpot where he em- ployed himfelf in his Jaft mineralogical labours. _ XXXI. Notices relative to the Sciences and Arts in Francé, Tue mufzeum, the gallery of antiques, and that of Apollo, in Paris, are open to public view on the 8th, gth, and roth days of each decade. The other days are deftined for the ftudents. Foreigners, howeyer, are admitted daily from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon, on prefenting their paffports; and this indulgence is extended to all perfons arriving from the provinces, and who are provided with pafl- ports. Thefe exhibitions are gratuitous. The gallery of Apollo contains the drawings which belong- ed to the late king. Five hundred of them, framed and glazed, are exhibited atatime. The collection confifts of about twelve thoufand. Among thefe are thirty by Raphael, and a confiderable number by Julio Romano, Tiuan, Paul Veronefe, Carachi, and in general by all the great maiters of the three fchools. f Such in Paris is the quantity of pictures brought from every part of France and Italy, from Flanders, Brabant, PANY: Piedmont, &c. &c, that, to get rid of a part of them, fifteen new mufeums are now eftablifhing in as many principal cities of France. In proportion as the ‘buildings prepared for thein are ready for their reception, the paintings, drawings, ftatues, &c, are forwarded. The piétures in the grand mufeum in Paris confit, one Aalf of the Italian {chool, one fourth of the Flemiih, aad one fourth of the French. Befides this, there is amufzum of the rench {chool in the Palace at Verfailles. Twenty of the apartments in the palace are dedicated to this purpofe. In addition to the pictures of the French {chool, there are man others by the belt mafters of the Italian and Flemith {chools. L4 This (3168 On the Aris and Sciences in France. This mufeum is open every day. The cielings of three new apartments, to be added to the galleries of antiques, are now painting. One of them is deltined for the reception of Egyptian antiquities.—In this mufeum will fhortly be exhi- bited the tomb of the mufes, feveral antique altars and chan- deliers, two fuperb ftatues by Michael Angelo, one by Puget (Mars repofing), and feveral ftatues of the French {chool. There is ftill a French academy at Rome. Three prizes for painting, feulpture, and architecture are awarded yearly 5 and the three fuccefsful candidates are fent to Rome to re- main there four years at their government’s expenfe. By this regulation there are conftantly twelve French ftudents at Rome, each of whom is obliged, in the courfe of his ftay there, to feud home.one produétion at lealt. Thefe produc- ‘tions form a part of the mufzum of the French fchool at Verfailles. ‘ The Paris exhibition of the works of living painters, feulp- tors, and architeéts, is opened yearly in the months of Sep- tember and Oétober. The national library in Paris, comprehending the cabinet of medals and antiques, is open to public view on the 3d, 6th, and gth days of each decade from ten till two o’clock. The other days, with the exception of that of the decade, are fet afide for the ftudents. The library confifts of about ninety thoufand volumes, and upwards of eighteen thoufand manuicripts, in all languages. There is, befides, a library of engraved antient and modern mufic. The colleétion of medals is immenfely rich. In the year 1800, the entire colleGtion belonging to Pius VI. was added together with a great part of his gems, the Ifiac table, an feveral Egyptian ftatues in bronze, bafaltes, granite, &c. Here are given annually and gratuitoufly, courfes of public le&tures on the Oriental and European languages, chemiftry, natural hiftory, botany, antiquities, mythology, &c. by the moft celebrated profefiors. The Hotel des Monnoyes (mint) contains a very fine cabi- net of mineralogy. Public lectures on that {cience are given every other day, and the cabinet is daily open to the public. The garden of plants is alfo open daily. During the fum- mer, courles of practical botany are given by the moft noted profeflors.—The cabinet of natural hiftory is one of the com- pleteft in Europe. It is open to the public five days in the decade: the intermediate days are for ftudy, and for the ‘courfes of public lectures. f A great collection of antiquities is expected in Paris from Italy. Upwards of five hundred cafes filled with ie a On the Arts and Sciences in France. 169 of every defcription, which had been feized by the Neapoli- ‘tans on the banks of the Tiber, are to be reftored to the French by virtue of the laft article of the treaty of peace with the king of Naples: for this purpofe two commiffaries have been feut to Italy ; one of them the fon of Chaptal the mi- nifter for the home department, the other Dufourny, an ar- ehiteét. / The inftitute for deaf and dumb perfons, conducted by Sicard, is perhaps one of the moft ufeful eftablifiments which Paris can boaft. The progrefs made by the pupils under their able and benevolent profeffor'excites an univerfal admi- ration. Maffieu, the favourite of the abbé Sicard, and the mott intelligent of his pupils, aéts as fecond matter. Some time ago a lady afked him in writing what was gratitude: | to which he replied without hefitation, Tbe memory of the heart. \t was impoffible for any one of the fpeétators, gifted with all his fenfes, to have replied with more juftnefs, ‘truth, and delicacy. The manufacture of porcelain at Seves, near Paris, is open daily to public view; asis alfo that of the Gobelins in Paris. In the latter, a number of artifts are now employed in copy- ing in tapeftry the moft pleafing fubjeéts which can be feleét- ed ;—landfcapes, cattle pieces, pieces of fruit, flowers, &c. ‘Some of thefe are intended for prefents; the others are fold in proportion as they are finifhed. The national inftitute of mufic, which was eftablifhed in 1793, and which is now ftyled the confervatory of mufic, is under the adminiftration of five perfons, who are lodged in the building, each with a falary of five thoufand livres. The profeflors, feventy in number, have each a falary of fifteen hundred livres. The number of pupils, males and females, - amounts to about five hundred. The prizes are diftributed annually with great pomp; and the fuccefsful candidates fing or play publicly the pieces which have been crowned by fuccefs. From ‘fix to eight concerts are given an nually, to excite an emulation in the pupils, and to difplay their talents. XXXII. O4- i cid | XXXII. Obfervations on Maddering ; together with a fimple and certain Proce/s for obtaining, with great. Beaaty and Fixity, that Colour known under the name of the Turkey or Adrianople Red. By J.M. Haussmann*. ] HAVE already indicated, in the Annales de Chimiet and ' the Journal de Phyfque, that earths and nictallic oxides bave more or Jefs the property of attracting and retaining the colouring parts of vegetable and animal fubfiances ; aluminie and the oxide of iron pofiefs it in a greater degree than the _oxide of tin; but the attractive force of the latter far furpafles that of the other earths and metallic oxides in regard to the colouring parts of the fajd fubftances. — Alumine and metallic oxides do not retain, with the fame force of adhefion, the colouring parts of all animal and vege- table {ubfiances indifcriminately; that of madder adberes much ftronger than thofe of the other colourmg fubflances, which may be clafled in the following order: kermes, co- chinea],* logwood, yellow India wood, woad, quercitron, Brazil wood, red India wood, yellow berries, &c. The gall- nut, fhumac, and other aftringent colouring fubftances, act principally by means of the gallic acid, and, in regard to their degree of fixity, may be placed immediately after madder: the cafe is not the fame with the Pruffic acid, which commu- nicates acolour to different metallic oxides, from which it can be feparated cold by alkaline leys. To judge of the fixity ofscolours arifing from animal and vegetable fub{tances, the beft method is to employ a ley of oxygenated muriate of potafh or foda, with exces of alkaline carbonate. The longer or fhorter refiftance which the colours make in this ley, will indicate what they. will make when, acid, alkaline, faponaceous, and other reagents are employed. | In the art of dyeing, and that of cotton-printing, the name of maddering is given to that procefs by which the colouring parts of madder are transferred, by means of water with the aid of heat, to alumine, or to the oxide of iron fixed in any kind of ftuth. . * From the Annales de Chimie, No. 122. + We mut here mention, that C. Chaptal, minifter of the interior, a good judge in matters of this kind, when he communicated to us thefe obfervations, wrote as follows: * C. Hauflmann, manufaéturer of printed cottons at Laglebach, near Colmar, in the department of the Upper Rhine, well known among thofe chemifts who applythe difcoveries of fcience to improvements in the arts, tran{mitted to me the annexed memoir. In my opinion it will be of utility to make it known in your Annals, and the an.hor op my requeft has confented to its being publifhed.” Note of the Editors of 42e Annales de Chimie. Th A 9 e Obfervations on Maddering. 171 — The brightnefs and fixity of the colours obtained from mad- dering depend not only on the procefs, but alfo on the ftate and purity of the water as well as of the madder. It is therefore abfolutely neceflary to avoid or to render inadtive every acid, alkaliné or faline fubftance that may be contained in the water, or in the madder itfelf. I have fhown that, b adding carbonate of lime, (pounded chalk,) madder which [ fufpected to contain gallic acid was corrected; but that my friend Charles Bertholdi, profeffor in the central fchool of the Upper Rhine, afterwards found that it was fulphuric acid united to magnefia. The important difcovery of this addition of chalk, which I made twenty-five years ago, has given birth to many manu- factories, and improved all thole eftablified near. waters which do not run over or hold in folution this earthy falt, without which it is abfolutely impoffible to obtain beautiful and fixed madder colours. This chalk fince that time has become a new object of commerce ; and as the price is very moderate, I have not yet deterniined the juft propor- tion to be employed: in general, I take one part for four, five, or fix, of madder. In order to obtain the brighteft madder colours, it is not fufficient to attend to the quality of the water and of the mad- der: it is neceffary alfo to obferve the degree of the heat of the bath: a low temperature will check the attraction of the colouring parts, and prevent them from being extracted, while one too high will favour the adhefion of the yellow articles of the madder, which obfcure and tarnith the {hades intended to be produced. The only colour which gains by increafmg the heat is black, I have always obferved, that on withdrawing the fire from below the boilers, when the hand can no longer be held in the aqueous vehicle which they contain, if the maddering be then continued for two or three hours, the moft fatisfactory refults will be obtained, as the furnace {till retains a {ufficient quantity of beat to main- gin the vehicle at the fame temperature, ‘efpecially when, ac- ording to cuftom, large boilers are employed. Befides, it ‘would be very difficult to fix a determinate degree of heat by the thermometer when the furnaces are large. The yellow parts of the madder as well-as of other colour- ing fubliances are, it is probable, nothing elfe than the co- louring parts themfelyes combined with oxygen. ‘The pro- duct of this combination, by acquiring greater folubility, fuffers itfelf with more difficulty to be taken away by clearing, if the heat has not been properly regulated during the procefs of dyeing. 1 have often obferved that madder and other co- | Jouring 172 Obfervations 9n Maddering, Jouring fubftances, when long expofed to the atmofpherie air, do not give colours of the fame intenfity andthe fame brightnefs as before; either becaufe thefe fubftances abforb the oxygen of the atmofphere, or that they procure this radical from the water which they attraét, or which they naturally contain as a conftituent principle, and which is: decompofed by a flow and infenfible fermentation. The expofure, on the grafs, of cotton or linen dyed a dark madder red, might fup- port the idea of a change to a reddifh yellow; for this dark colour becomes clearer but fainter by the expofure, and then aflumes a more agreeable fhade of crimfon. I have fhown, in a memoir on indigo, inferted in the Journal de Phyfique for the year 1788, that nitric acid changes this blue fecula into a yellowith fubftance: a fjmilar change takes place by expofing, on the meadow, the fame fecula fixed on any ftuff whatever; and the yellow refulting in thefe two ways 1s ‘more foluble in warm water than in the fame liquid when cold. It however appears that the combination of oxygen is not the only caule of the change Of colours, fince curtains of any ftuff dyed or coloured any fhade whatever by vegetable or animal fubftances, and expofed to the light, lofe their colour entirely in the courfe of time on the fide expofed to the folar rays, while the oppofite fide retains it for a confiderable time. If the rays of the fun then give more vigour to living bodies of the animal and vegetable kingdom by difengaging from the latter oxygen gas, it appears that they act with deftrac- tive influence on the fame bodies deprived of life, by decom- pofing their conftituent principles. In all cafes it will be proper to preferve the colouring ingredients in dry places: theltered from the hight, which aéts upon thefe bodies per- haps only by decompofing the conftituent aqueous part, the oxygen of which may join the carbon to form carbonic acid, Refinous and oily fubftances fhould be preferved in the fame way. Thefe conjectures prove at Jeaft that the action of the fun’s rays, or of light, on thefe bodies,in general prefents a vatt field for interelting experiments to be undertaken. If in maddering brighter celours are obtained by carefully regulating the heat, a fucrifice 1s made at the fame time of a fmall portion of the colouring parts of the madder, which cannot be entirely exhauticd except by then increafing the heat to ebullition; but as the colours thus obtained are de- graded more or lefs in the ratio of the qugn'y of the mad- der, the gail-nut or fhumac ufed, this “method mutt be employed with caution, and principally for common effects, either in regard to cotton or linen. To avoid as much as poffible the lols of madder after the maddefing of Nelgh ‘ cles -and Dyeing Turkey Red. 173 cles has been terminated, and before the common ones are put into the boiler, powdered ¢ eall-nut or fhumac mutt be added, with a new but fmall portion of madder: the procefs mutt be managed alfo in fach a manner, that the ebullition fhall not take place till two hours after. - I feveral times tried to exhauft the madder by fimple ebul- lition, and without adding any thing elfe than chalk; but I found that this was unfavourable to all colours, Black ex- cepted: it evén appeared that the effet of the madder was much lefs than when the heat was moderately applied, and when the accumulated caloric eafily decompofed the colour- ing fubftance. It is this tendency to be decompofed, and particularly by fermentation, however little it be moiftened or diluted with water, which has hitherto prevented me from obtaining a fubfantial colour, pretty dark, and fufficiently fixed to be applied on any kind of tiuff. I sbfeeved alfo, that if the heat was carried too far the firft time, in circumftances when it was propofed to madder a fecond and third time, it prevented me not only from obtaining bright and agreeable fhades, but alfo of the requifite intenfity. The aqueous ve- hicle of the madder, at too high a temperature, never fails to weaken the adhefive force of the alumine and the oxide of iron to the ftuff, and to take from it a portion, which an ex- perienced eye may eafily remark on examining the bath. I thall here repeat, that for common and low-priced articles it is indifpenfably necetlary to employ gall-nuts or fhumac, which will fave one half and even two thirds of the madder; but the colours obtained are neither fo fixed nor fo bright. The addition of chalk, however, muft not be omitted; other- wile the gallic acid will carry away a portion of the alumine | and coloured oxide of iron, which will weaken the fhades, and, by tarnifhing the ftuffs, will alfo attack the white which may have been preferved in ‘them. Without the addition of Fat acts or fhumac, it feemed to me impoffible to exhautt the madder entirely of its colouri ing parts; which made me prefume that their adhefion is favoured hy the vifcid nature of the tanning principle of thefe aftringént fubftances, which carry away and combine with themfelves the colouring parts. I thal obferve alfo, that gall-nuts as well as fhumac Tofe the eenty of dyeing black; and acquire, on the other hand, that of dyeing or colouring alumine yellow, oxide of iron olive green, by the addition of ehalk, the calcareous bale of which unites itfelf to the gallic acid. ~Do thele yellow and olive- -green colours arife from any peculiar fubitance con- tained in the gall-nuts and fhumac, or are they indebted for 4 their m 94 Obfervations on Maddering. their origin to the tanning principle? This remains to be examined, Y The quantity of madder to be employed in dyeing ought not only to be proportioned to the extent of the furfaces to be maddered, but allo to the concentration of the liquors of the acetite of alumine and iron, improperly called mordants; that is to fay, to the greater or lefs quantity of alumine and oxide of iron which thefe faline liquors, either infulated or mixed ether, when they dry on the articles to be dyed, may have left or depofited there by the evaporation of the acetic acid. If the objects to be dyed are not numerous, and, in parti- cular, when bright {hades only are to be produced, they may be maddered only once; but when they are numerons, and intended to have dark thades, the maddering mutt be repeated twice, and even thrice. Three quarters of a pound of madder of a good quality are fufficient for dyeing a piece of white In- dian cloth of ten ells in length and three quarters broad, in- tended to exhibit only a few coloured objects: the quantity of the colouring fubltance muit be increafed in the. ratio of the mafs of alumine and oxide of. iron, fixed on a piece of ftuff of the above dimenfions. . It may be extended to 6, 8, 10, and even 12 pounds, for a ground well covered with a lively and. very intenfe colour. Intelligence and practice in the management of a dye-houfe will not fail to indicate nearly the proper proportions. Whatever care may be employed in maddering to avoid the adhefion of the yellow parts, the colours obtained will . be far from having all the beauty and fixity which they might acquire by clearing, preceded by very long ebullition in exceedingly pure water, This ebullition alone, by the ‘addition of bran, will ferve to brighten the colour: more rofy reds will be obtained by employing foap with or without the addition of bran; carbonate of potath or of foda, fubfti- tuted for bran, will make the reds incline to crimfon; but I muf obferve, that unlefs the workman choofes to run the rifk of making the reds entirely brown, and in fuch a man- ner that it will nét be poffible to reftore: them, it will be neceflary, before feap and alkalies are applied to the ftufis, to expole them to the action of the ftrongeft heat that can be communicated to water. This operation will be attended with fuccefs, if as little paflage as poffible be afforded to the fteam, and if the boilers employed be converted into a fort of digefiers. The fixity of the colours will be proportioned to the time employed in expofing them to the aétion of the boiling water. It is needlefs to obferve, that there is no danger » Notices refpefling new Books. 375 danger of fpoiling the colours by foap and alkaline carbo- nates, when the maddering, inftead of being directed with a moderate heat, has been carried to ebullition, as is prac- tifed in many dye-houfes; but, in this cafe, the colours ob- tained are more difficult to be cleared. As water charged with oxygenated muriatic acid ealily carries away the colouring parts of madder, as well as other vegetable and animal {ubltances, by decompofing them; and as acids more concentrated may, in their turn, take from the ftutls the colourlefs alumine and the oxide of iron, it is im- poflible for me to adopt the idea of a chemical combination of the colouring parts with alumine and metallic oxides, which, in my opinion, when fixed and coloured on any ftuff, form only compound ageregates. The clearing of objects printed on a white ground requires modifications, which I {hali detail on a future oceafion, when I find leifure. Ie will therefore be fufficient at prefent to fiate, that after continuing for fome time my experiments on the Turkey red, inferted in the Annales de Chimie for the year 1792. [I at Jaft found a red much more beautiful and durable than that of the Levant, by fixing alumine on cotton, thread, and linen, by an alkaline folution of this earth mixed with linfeed oil. The following is the procefs I employed. [To be continued. | XXXII. Notices re/pefing New Books. Ausfihbrliche Gefchichte der Theoretifch Praktifchen Ubrmacher- - kunfi, &ce. A Hiltory of Clock- and Watch-making, both Theoretical and Praétical, fince the earlieft Method of di- viding the Day to the End of the 18th Century, By I. H. Moriz Popes, 1801. 8vo, 564. p. 8. Tae author of this work having publithed, in 1797, An Effay towards a Hiftory of the Origin and Progrefs of Clock- and Watch-making, confifting of fix fheets; it met with fuech a favourable reception, that he was induced to improve and enlarge it to its prefent fize. He acknowledges the obligations he is under to profeflors Kaftner and Beckmaun,, who affilted him with their advice and information; and who, on account of their learning and extenfive reading, were able to fupply him with much ufefal information, The whole work is di-- vided into ten chapters. 1. ‘The olde/t method of dividing the day, and the invention of Jun-dials The period when fun-dials were invented ? as ittle 176 Notices refpefting New Books. little known as the country where, and the perfon by whont. The author, however, has collected from the oldeft authors what is to be found on the fubjeét, and examined it with cri- tical accuracy. The earlieft account of inftruments deftined to mark the lapfe of time by the fun’s fhadow is to be found in the Bible and in Homer. A fun-dial conftruéted according to the defcription of Vitruvius was found in the year 1741, among the ruins of a villa on the Tufculan bill at Rome. A fun-dial of the fame kind is {till to be feen at Athens, ftanding on the fummit of a rock, to the right of an edifice built by’ Thrafyllus.. IL. Ue of fun-dials, and the divifion cf the day inio hours, among different antient nations; gradual improvement of the art of confiruéting and ufing them to the prefent period.— The Indians, Siamefe, Tartars, Perfians, Chaldeans, Egyp- tians, and Chinele divided the day into 60 hours, and each hour into 60 minutes, &c. Thefe people even employed a gnomon for the purpofe of placing their temples according to the principal quarters of the globe. We know from hiftory that the Chinefe made ufe of gnomons 12 or 15 centuries perhaps before the birth of Chrift. The old geographers, by examining the length of the fhadows of gnomons of equal height, determined the latitude of places, and the obliquity of the ecliptic. Berofus brought to Greece from Afia the di- vifion of the day into twelye hours; and the firft {un-dial. Anaximander, about fix centuries before Chrift; made an im- provement in fun-dials, as did alfo Anaximenes. Eudoxus, four _centuries before Chrift, conftruGted a flill more perfe&t fun- dial, under the name of arvchne. Apollonius of Perga, about acentury before Chrift, invented the pharetra. Patrocles found out the pelekinon, Dionyfiodorus the fun-dial in the form of a cone, Cleanthes the hemifphere or /caph , Parmenio the proftapiftorumena, Theodofius and Andreas the pro/panklima. Vitruvius makes mention of three other fun-dials ; gonarcha, engenaton, and antiboreum, without defcribing them or nam- ing the inventors. The author defcribes all thefe fun-dials with as much precifion as the accounts of them remaining will allow, and with literary and technical accuracy. There were public fun-dials both at Athens and Sparta. Eratofthenes and Archimedes employed dials very accurately divided for aftro- nomical purpofes ; and all the cities of Greece of any confi- deration foon had public inftruments of this kind. Ring-di- als foon began allo to be ufed. A dial of this kind was fuf- pended in the large flip of Hiero; but the Grecian navigators, for meafuring the fiate of the fun, the time of the day, and the ftars above the horizon, employed rather the hodometer defcribed ~~ Notices refpefting New Books. " 177 - defcribed by Vitruvius, which feems to have furnifhed the fir hint for our meafurers of time, con{tructed with wheel-work. It was very late before the Romans had real fun-dials. . They employed in their fiead obelifks, to which good gnomons were applied. The largeft of all the gnomons of modern times was that of Ulug Beigh, erected at Conftantinople in the 15th century, which was 183 feet inheight. The Bononian obclitk, 83 feet high, erected by Caflini, that of Paris, andthe one which Pope Clement XI. cauled to be conftruéted, are alfo celebrated. In the antient gnomons, the hours were indicated by the fhadow of a ftyle; in the modern ones the fame thing is done by the fun’s rays pafling through a hole. The Greeks and Romans employed perfons of both fexes to announce to them the hours, as indicated by the public gno- mons. Trimalzhio caufed the hours to be announced to him by a trumpeter. This was afterwards cuftomary at the tem- ples. Itis not known, however, whicn portable fun-dials came into ufe. Some of thefe infirnments, after being buried more than 1500 years, were found between 1730 and 1740 in the territories of Rome: of thefe remains of antiquity the author gives a defcription. That Purbach, an aftronomer of Vienna, introduced-fun-dials into Germany about 300 years ago 1s not probable, as the Germans, no doubt, obtained them by their intercourfe with the Romans. In the 16th century artifis took great pains to conftruét fun-dials in a great many ingenious ways; about the fame period lunar and aftral dials were invented. ‘There is a fun-dial at Befan- gon which is feen only when the fun fhines. This is alfo_ deferibed, as well as the dial below the roof of the council- houfe at Ingoldfiadt. Another at Alencon, ftill more ingeni- ous, is connected with wheel-work, and indicates true and mean time. In the mufxum at Gottingen there is a collec- tion of fun- dials, and other works of art of a fimilar kind, pre- ferved in a box. IIL. Olde/l method of dividing the night. Invention of water-clocks and fand-glaffes, and the progreffive improvement of them to the prefent time.—Vhe circumfiance of fun-dials be- ing of no ufe in the night-time, and during cloudy weather, gave occafion to the invention and improvement of water- clocks ; traces of which may be found among the oldeft na- tions, the Chaldeans and Egyptians. They were in ufe alfo at an early period among the Chinefe. ‘They were employed by the Egyptian aftronomers for meafuring the diameter of the fun. In their firft flate they were called cle{/ydra, be- caufe the water iffued from them drop by drop. ‘The defeat, in regard to the inequality in the efflux was at firft remedied by the fmall {tick of the Indians haying a hole bored in it, Vou. XII. No. 46, M and 178 Notices refpeéting New Books. and which floats fome time on the water, but which after @ certain period, difcovered by repeated trial, becomes immer= fed. It was afterwards contrived to keep the water-clock al- ways full, by fuffering the fame quantity of water to run iu as that which flowed out, that equal portions of time might be indicated by an equal fall. A funnel of inverted pyramid was then celttovel in which the water defcended in unequal parts, but through equal degrees marked out on a feale.. In the courfe of time the knowledge of aftronomy was applied to thefe clocks, and fome were conftru€ted in a very ingeni- ous manner: of this kind was the anaphoricum, which the author defcribes; alfo the retrograding clock, and winter water- clock. Plato brought the firft water-clock to Greece. The firft that ever appeared at Rome was fhown by Scipio Nafica, about the year 157 before Chrift : but foon after thefe clocks were common, not only at Rome, but in other towns of the Roman empire. When Julius Cefar invaded Britain, he found that the inhabitants had water-clocks. In general they were more prized than fun-dials. Athenzus conftruéted a clock which indicated the hours by the hiffing noife of the air forced through a narrow hole by the preffure of water. Together with public fun-dials, public water-clocks were alfo foon introduced. Thefe were eftablifhed even in the palaces of the great. That the hours as announced by thefe water-clocks may be more eafily made known to the public, the Turks have criers pofted on high towers,—and the Chinefe, perfons who ftrike on large bells. The Japanefe employ burning matches to indicate the time, and announce the hours in the fame manner as the Chinefe. The ufe which Hipparchus and Ptolemy made of water-clocks contributed to their im- provement: they were much improved by Hero, but during the next feven centuries nothing was done in this refpeét. The clocks of Boethius, that which Harun al Rafchid fent as aprefent to Charlemagne, and that of the philofopher Leo of Conftantinople, were much celebrated, though the in- vention of clocks with wheel-work rendered water-clocks un- neceflary. The latter, however, continued fome time after in ufe; and about the year 1660 water-clocks in the form of adrum, which are thofe called properly at prefent water- clocks, were invented it is probable in Italy, but rather for curiofity than for real ule. The obfervation that the water foon evaporated, may have given occafion to fand being ufed in fuch clocks inftead of water. The period when this change was made is not known. There is reafon only to conjecture that the Egyptiansand Chaldeans had hour-glafles. In the Monachal Laws the word 4lepfammidia occurs only in wril- ings of the eighth century; and it was not till a much later pa 4 - ; period Notices refpeing New Books. 179 period that attempts were made to conftruct hour-glaffes. in an elegant and ingenious manner. Many of them are de- feribed by Francis de Lanis, as well as by Schott and Oza- nam. Rivault employed fuch fand-glaffes for aftronomical obfervations; and likewife Tycho Brahe, who ufed alfo clocks conftruéted with quickfilver. : IV. Ingenious «water-clocks and other machines, the moving principle of which was different from that of our common clocks that go by wheel-work.—Under this head. the author {peaks of the machine which king Gonebaud received.as a prefent from Theodoric king of the Goths. He gives alfo a deferip- tion of the before-mentioned clock fent by Harun al Rafchid to Charlemagne. At that period the eaftern princes prefent- ed clocks to the weftern; at prefent this mode is reverfed. This chapter contains alfo.a defcription of fome other inge- nious clocks from Schott, Kircher, Ozanam, Martinelli and de Lanis ; alfo Perrault’s pendulum-clock, which was moved by water, and a Chinefe one which Y-Hang caufed to be conftructed. [To be continued. | Traité Blémentaire du Calcul Differentiel et Integral, ec. An Elementary Treatife on the Differential and Integral Calculus, preceded by fome Reflections on the Method of teaching the Mathematics, and appreciating in Examina- tions the Knowledge of thofe who have ftudied them. By $..F. Lacroix. Paris, An. 10. THE author of this work is well known by his large trea- tife on-the Differential and Integral Calculus, in three vols. quarto, in which he has given a complete view of every thing taught on the fubjeé&, and which ought to be ftudied by thofe who are defirous of enlarging the boundaries of this feience. The time devoted, ufually, to a courfe of analyfis being far from fufficient to follow with the proper atten- tion fo many objects, the author found it neceflary to make a felection. This publication, however, is not merely an extract from the above large work ; it is a new treatife, which cannot fail of interefting thofe who are in the pof- feflion of the other. It is founded on the fame principles, and will form an excellent introduction -to the ftudy of the more learned works, Elements of Chemiflry. By J. Murray, Leélurer on Che- ' miflry, Materia Medica, and Pharmacy. 2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh 18or. ’ THIS work will be found very ufefal to the chemical ftu- dent, The author has given a correct view of the prefent I aA he Ma ftate 180 Notices refpe&ting New Books. ftate of the fcience of chemiftry, and beftowed a proper de- gree of attention on the praétical faéts and applications, which ferve to illuftrate and eftablifh its general principles. A Statiflical Account of the Population and Cultivation, Pro- duce and Confumption of England and Wales, compiled from the Accounts laid before the Houfe of Commons and the Re- ports of the Board of Agriculture; together with Obferva- tions thereupon, and Hints for the Prevention of a future Scarcity. By BENJAMIN Pitts CappER. 8vo. Kearf- ley. 1801, THE title of the prefent work very well deferibes its na- ture, and renders it unneceflary for us to fay any thing re- fpecting it, further than that it is an interefting little work. The following fummary is extracted from it : The total number of population appears to be - 9,500,000 Number of inhabitants in the capital - - 715,002 Number of parifhes, churches, and chapels in England - 10,500 in Wales « 1,100 11,600 Number employed in agriculture - - 157373675 Number as tradefmen | Wales, - 55,887 Vion bse: and mechanics - } England Betts 29992495 Number of families - - - - 15,917,232 Number of perfons to each family - - 3 Number of houfes inhabited —- - - 1,598,278 Number of perfons to each inhabited houfe Re Number of houfes uninhabited = - - - 58,962 So that there appear buildings fufficient. to : contain perfons - - - 430,187 But by making an allowance of 45,000 houfes, that we may fuppofe will be occupied by 250,000 perfons, when the army and navy ‘are reduced to a peace eftablifhment, the number of uninhabited houfes will then remain - = - - - =. aa 83,968 The number of marriages appear to be an- _ nually - - - - 1 in 134 We underftand that Dr. Gruber is at prefent engaged in tranflating C. Guyton’s traét. on the means of dis-infecting the air, preventing contagion, and checking its progrefs; which will appear in a few days. : eS “ XXXIV. Pro- a eet ae XXXIV. Proceedings of Learned Societies. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. y February 25. A letter from Mr. Schroter, of Lilienthal, refpecting the planet Ceres Ferdinandea, in- formed the Society that he had obferved a nebulofity round the new planet fomewhat refembling that of a comet: the diameter of the true dife being 1°8”, and that of the nebula 2°6"; but the diftin€tion was not always equally ob- fervable. Mr. Schréter confiders this body as of a hybrid nature, or a medium between a planet and a comet; but he imagines the apparent nebulofity to be owing to an atmo- {phere, and that, according to the different ftates of this at- mofphere, the light reflected from the planet is either white, blueith, or reddith, A table of obfervations of the fame planet was alfo com- municated by Mr. Mechain, through Sir Henry Englefield. In the meetings of the 25th of February, 4th and 11th of March, a paper which has been expected for fome time oc- cupied the attention of the Society ; namely, Mr. Howard’s, on the aualyfis of ftones that have fallen from the clouds. Mr. Howard begins with a hiftorical detail of the various relations of this kind which are found on record, and par- ticularly refers to the eflays of Mr. King, and _profetfor Chladni, and to various authors quoted by them.’ But the firft inftances with which chemiftry has interfered are thofe of a ftone prefented to the French Academy by the abbé Bachelay in 1768; and another examined afterwards by pro- feffor Barthold. The ftones from Sienna in 1794; the large ftone of 56 lbs. weight which fell in Yorkfhire in 1795, and was exhibited foon after in London; and the fubftances which fell at Benares in 1798, are the immediate fubjects of Mr. Howard’s invefligation. All thefe agree in the general ap~ pearance of an alh-gray flony fubftance, mixed with fpangles of pyrites and of native iron, und externally of a dark colour, covered with a femi-vitrified and bliftered cruft. The abbé Bachelay’s was {uppofed to contain 8} fulphur, 36 iron, and 55 earth; and fome of the others were ee confilt of fimilar ingredients. ‘The {tone which fell near Mr. Topham’s houfe in Yorkfhire, penetrated twelve inches deep into the earth, and {ix more into a chalk rock: its fall was accom- panied with noifes like a difcharge of artillery. A very par- ticular and perfectly authenticated account is given, in the words of Mr. Williams, of feveral fubftances which fell about M 3 twelve 182 : Royal Sosiety of London. twelve miles from Benares, and penetrated fome inches into the earth in feveral fpots within the diftance of too yards 5 their fall being accompanied by a very vivid light. Mr. Howard proceeds to mention another fpecimen from the Mufzeum Bornianum, now in the poffeffion of Mr. Gre- ville, faid to have fallen in Bohemia, which agrees with the reft in its characters. A mineralogical defcription of thefe ftones by the Count de Bournon is fubjoined. They appear to confift principally of fub{tances of four kinds, befides the dark cruft which furrounds them : the firft of thefe fubftances is in the form of dark grains, of a conchoidal fracture, from _ the fize of a pin’s head to that of a pea; the fecond is a kind of pyrites, the third is metallic iron, and the fourth a gray earthy fubftance, ferving as a cement to the reft. The pro- portions of thefe fubftances appear to differ in fome meafure -in the different fpecimens, the iron abounding moft in the fpecimens trom Yorkfhire and from Bohemia. Mr. Howard has afcertained, by a chemical analyfis, that filica, iron, mag- nefia, fulphur, and‘nickel, are contained in the different parts of thefe dubftances. The globular bodies and the cementing earth each contained about 50 filex, 15 magnefia, 34 iron, and 2° nickel. ite saa From 150 grains of the earthy part of the ftone from Si- enna, Mr. Howard obtained about 70 filica, 34 magnefia, 52 oxide of iron, and 3 oxide of nickel; the contents of the {pecimens from Yorkfhire and from Bohemia were not ma- terially different. Mr. Howard proceeds to inquire into the caufes of the difference im the refults of his analyfis and thofe of the foreign chemifts, with refpeét to the {pecies of the earths. After having fhown the ftriking analogy between thefe fubftances, and their total diffimilarity to other mineral products, Mr. Howard examines into the form and contents of various fpecimens of native iron: obferving that Mr. Prouft deteGed nickel in a large mafs of native iron found in South merica; Mr. Howard difcovers a portion of the fame metal in every fpecimen that he has examined from different parts of the world, peared, therefore, fufficiently obvious that a perfect glafs was formed before any difpofition to fufion was indicated on the part of the iron. Reafoning in this manner, I could diftin- guifh no difference of fituation betwixt iron expofed in contact with a glafs formed by an union of clay and lime, and be- twixt the fame fubftance expofed to fufion in contaé with window or bottle glafs. If an alteration of quality is effected, and this as being the confequence of an affinity exerted upon the glafs by means of the iron, then it appeared probable that the affinity would exert itfelf in both cafes, and be produétive of fimilar effeéts. In fhort, fince the carbonate of lime had failed in forming fieel, it Was conceived that the refults of the fame iron fufed in contaét with glafs, would be analogous to thofe obtained with a mixture of iron, lime, and clay. The following experiments are felected from a great variety performed to afcertain this pvint. Exp. 1. Fragments of the fame Swedifh iron for- Grains. merly ufed - - - -- 1312 Bottle glafs - 1312 grains, ° From this mixture was obtained a very perfect fufion, accompanied with a denfe, fmooth-{kinned button of iron, which weighed - - - 129% Loft in fufion 20 I diy : f ‘ equal to Gs ‘Part of the original weight of the iron. -The fracture of this button poffeffed a fmall regular grain of a light blue colour, more refembling the original fracture of * Communicated by the Author. “Vou. XIl, No. 47. N the April 180%. 194 On the Fufion of Mateable Tron the iron than any formerly obtained. One-half of the piece’ drew eafily into fhape, and formed a folid handfome bar This was fubjected to various tefts, in all of which it exaétly refembled the produéts obtained with the clay and carbonate formerly defcribed. The glafs in this experiment, when compared with a mafs of the fame fufed per /e, was of a darker green colour, poflefled of an additional fhade of amber. A beaie Exp. U1. The fame experiment, attended with fimilar re- fults, was performed with equal portions of matter, and a lofs of ,‘-th part fuftained, Grains. Exp. U1. Fragments of the fame Swedifh iron - 1103 Bottle glafs - . 55t4 grains. The refult in 20 minutes was a finely formed button, weighing - “* “ < 10ge pt Lofs, equal to ,{,th part, 13 This experiment was performed to afeertain if the quality of iron was affected by a reduction of the vitrid matter. Nothing materially different as to quality could be inferred. The fracture of the button approached to a regular cryftal- lization, in which fome very perfect cubes of th inch upon the fide were formed. _ Grains. Exp. IV. Fragments of Swedifh iron = = 875 Bottle glafs = - 1750 grains. There refulted from this mixture a very perfect fufion, aceompanied by a very beautifully cryftallized button of metal, weighing . “ + ee’ ' 860 Loft in fufion. Is equal to qth part of the original weight of the iron. The fraéture of this produc prefented groups of large flat granu- Jated cryftals refembling in point of colour No. 3. One-half of the button forged with. every appearance of foftuefs and malleability, and formed a folid bar. In fubfequent tefts, no fhade of diftin&tion could be found betwixt this and the qua- lity of the three former refults. It would therefore appear conclufive, that Swedith iron, by fufion with bottle glafs, forms a fpecies of ca/? malleable iron exactly fimilar in its appearance and properties to that for- merly obtained when earbonate of lime and argil were ufed. It is further inferable that the refulting produéts are not ma- terially affected by various proportions of glafs, feeing that an equal portion, a half, and even a double portion, by weight, to the iron, were productive of no perceptible altera- tone - abith various Kinds of Giafsé ' 19% tion. Neither does it appear that the quantity of deficient metal is in the ratio of the quantity of glafs employed. Grains. Equal portions of glafs andiron. = Lofs in metal 65°5 Ditto ditto Ditto = 85 Glafs half the weight of iron. Ditto - 85 Glais double the weight of iron. Ditt0o <= 583 Average lofs equal to ue 3305 oi ats? ; Grains Exp. V. Swedith iron - - - goo Flint glafs pounded = 960 grains. This mixture was expofed to a pretty high heat, which effected a very perfect reduétion. The glafs was fmooth and denfe upon the furface.. The buttonofiron - 855 ; tx yen . Loft in fufion 45 equal to th part of the original weight of the iron. One- half of this button drew pleafantly into fhape, and formed a found bar, which, when fubjected to various trials, indicated none of that want of tenacity defcribed by Clouet, but im every refpeét refernbled the qualities of metal defcribed in my two laft communiéations. . The xlafs obtained in this experiment was of a greenifh, blue lead colour, a little tranfparent when broken into thin fragments. Beneath the button of iron I found afmall mafs of revived lead which weighed 135 grains, al to zz th part of the weight of the flint glafs. © Gs Exp. Vi. Swedith iron - = 3500 Flint glafs 4; or 1750 grains. The mixture was expofed for an hour to a violent heat. A fufion was obtained, and the button of metal weighed - - - 3386 equal to oo Loft in fafion 120 equal to ap part of the original weight of the iron. This product was cut into two pieces, one of which was drawn into a folid bar, under a pretty bright red heat. It after- wards flood hammering, with caution, at a welding heat, but was fo completely red-fhort that it would not turn at on! thade above a faint red. The fracture of this bar, when cold, was partly granulated and partly filky fibrous, of a very light colour. The glals approached more to a perfeét green than that of No, V; ftill, however, faintly tinged with a thade of : N43 a lead, 196 On the Fufion of Malleable ron lead. Under the iron was found of revived lead 38 grains, equal to ath part the weight of the flint glafs. To ; Exp. Vil. Swedith tron - an Crown window glafs = ~-882 grains. From this mixture refulted a very complete fufiorr. © - The metallic button was minutely but regularly cryf- | tallized upon its upper furface. I found it to weigh 868 Loft in fufion 14 . Grains. 882 - T equal to ——;th part the origmal weight of the iron employed. 515 The fra@ture of this metal was filvery white, parting in la- min, deftitute both of fibre and grain. This appearance was quite new, and more like zinc than any fraéture of iron: | F had ever before feen. Suffice it to fay, that when fubjected to trial its quality was preeifely the fame as found im the former refults. The glafs was light green, refembling that of No. IU. Grains. Exp. VAIL. Swedith iron - - 560 Window glafs double in weight, or 1420 grains. This mixture was reduced to a perfeét fufion, anda _ eryftallized button of metal obtained marked with various prifmatic fhades. “Tt was found to weigh 553 oA BEF ROB W101 Loft in fufion > equal to ,\,th part the weight of the iron. The fraCture of this button was granulated, and in point of appearance and luftre ‘differed confiderably from No. VII. ‘It drew, however, eafily into fhape, and felt foft and very duétile under the hammer. T ventured to double-weld the end of the bar; which it ftood pretty well, a few edge.cracks excepted. The glafs was of a’ blueith green caft, abounding with waving lines of a faint garnet colour. Thin fragments, however, difplayed a grafly green, confiderably tranfparent. It feems decifive, from thefe experiments, that the quality of the metal obtained by the fufion of bottle glafs, flint glafs, and crown glafs, with the fame quality of iron, was productive of exaétly fimilar refults to thofe defcribed in for- mer papers, where Swedifh iron was ufed with various pro- portions of argil and carbonate of lime. None of thefe pro- duéts exhibited any properties of fieel, but all of theni con- fiderably altered. The caufe of alteration flill remains to be developed. If glafs has an affinity to iron, this muft have been exerted in all thefe fafions alike, whether the glafs was % introduced with various Kinds of Glafs. 197 introduced already formed into the crucible, or afterwards produced by the fufion of one or more earths. In all, fimilar deficiencies of weight have been experienced. This accords not with a combination of glafs, which ought to have added weight to the refults. Having thus minutely ftated the refults of various experi- ments here detailed, and claffed their qualities with that of others obtained by different nixtures, and communicated in two former papers, I fhall next exhibit fome experiments with Britith cold-fhort iron, wherein fome refults approach very nearly to that defcription of ca/? mallea! le iron defcribed by Clouet as combined with glafs, and"incapable of diftend- ing under the hammer. Grains. Exp. UX. Britith cold-fhort iron - - 1750 Bottle glafs - _-1750 grains. . There refulted from the fufion of this mixture an cle- gantly eryftallized button of iron, weighing - 1663 Loft in fufion, equal to south part, 87 1 This button, without being broken, was put under the ham- mer, but would not draw into fhape at the loweft red heat. Again this was repeated as follows: Grains, Exp. &. Britith cold-fhort iron - - 3500 Bottle glafs .- 3500 grains, A very perfeét fufion alfo refulted from this mixture. The button was lefs perfectly cryfallized, and weighed 3320 a Loft in fufion, equal to vga th part, 180 This mafs was alfo found to be utterly incapable of diftenfion under the hammer at any degree of heat. Grains. _ Exp. XI. Britith, cold-fhort iron - - 875 , Bottle glafs_ = - 875 grains. Another elegantly cryftallized button was here ob- tained, which weighed - - $31 Loft in fufion, equal to th part, 44 o This button was as incapable of hammering and diftenfion as the former, The accuracy of thefe refults may be inferred from the refpective deficiencies of the weight. The quality of the whole feems to be nearly that defcribed by Clouet. Hs j Grains. Exp. SUD. Britith cold-thort iron - - 875 Bottle glafs = - == 4377 grains, ; N3 A very 198 On the Fufion of Malleable Iron ; | Geena re ,; pertte Brought over 875_ A very fine eryftallized button was obtained from this mixture, which weighed === 808 Loft in fufion, equal to ,*,th part the weight of iron, 67 The fraéture of this button was completely deftitute of grain, laminated, fmooth, and of a filvery white colour. With much caution one-half of it was drawn into a fmall bar; but in endeavouring to form it into a point, it became loofe, and incapable of further diftenfion. It felt confiderably harder under the hammer than the produéts from Swedith iron, This refult, upon the whole, was more duétile than any of the former, and the quantity of glafs ufed lefs. "Grains. Exp. XIII. Britith cold-fhort iron - - 875 This was expofed per /e to a very high heat, and a at perfect button of metal was obtained covered by a thin film of brown glafs. ‘The iron weighed - 805 : Ls é : Loft in fufion, equal to 7 ath part the weight of iron, 70 This button poffeffed a brilliant, flat, granulated fra€ture. One-half of it was drawn into a very folid bar poffeffing duc- tility and foftnefs in an eminent degree. The quality of this iron was fo completely cold-fhort Before fufion, that a ftout bar of it was eafily broken by a blow from a hand hammer. It now poffeffed the oppofite extreme of red-fhort, and was fo pliant when cold, that a bar nearly “ths fquare folded clofe by the compreffion of the vice, and afterwards opened fairly, and was bent backwards and forwards feven times before it cracked. Grains, Exp. XIV. Britith cold-fhort iron - - 500 Bottle glafs = - ~~: 1000 grains. ine A very beautifully cryftallized button was obtained by the fufion of this mixture, which weighed = 473 Loft in fufion, equal to —th part of the weight of iron, 27 The fracture of this iron difplayed a double row of very perfect cubes inferted in each other. The colour was a filky light blue, not fo dazzling as in the former experiment. One-half — of this button was fmooth filed upon the fracture, and forged at a low heat, to endeavour, if poflible, to obtain a folid bar. It however cracked confiderably, and became loofe and fhaly. The hardened fraéture poffefled a flat, crowded, indiftin& grain, of a dazzling filvery colour; the furface turned up a gray {potted fhale, refembling that of caft fteel. ! . t with various Kinds of Glafs. 199 _ Tt would appear from thefe experiments with bottle glafs and Britith cold-fhort iron, that a quality of caft malleable iron is obtained, different, in general, from the products ob- tained with Swedifh iron; that the leaft duétile iron is formed when equal portions of glafs and iron are ufed; and, that the moft ductile tate refults from fufing the iron per /2. It cannot, however, be inferred from this, that the general want of duétility is owing to a combination of glafs with the iron, feeing that when Swedifh iron was employed under fimilar circumftances no want of ductility was perceptible ; I would rather infer, that the difference betwixt the fufed re- fults was charaéteriftic both of the fpecies of the iron and the nature of the manufacture. ; The following experiments were performed with flint and window glafs, to prove whether any part of the difference, in point of quality, arofe from the nature of the glafs ufed. Grains. Exp. XV. Britith cold-fhort iron - 875 Flint glafs °- 875 grains. The metallic button refulting from this fufion was denfe and very fmooth fkinned, entirely free from traces of cryftallization. It weighed - - 792 ‘ I Loft in fufion, equal to ren? part, 83 The fraéure of the button was compofed of large facets, bright, and inclining to a cubical ftru€ture. One-half of the button drew into a loofe fhaly bar, confiderably cracked upon the edges. In point of quality it rete itee produéts XIT and XIV. A button of foft lead was found beneath the iron weighing 133 grains, equal to a part the weight of the + phe, afs. Grains. Exp, XV1, Britith cold-fhort iron - - 3500 Flint glafs £) or 1750 grains, A perfeét fufion of this mafs was obtained in an hour,’ The metallic mafs weighed - - 3317 1 1345 The fracture of this button was a mixture of granulated cryf- tals, and bright laminated facets, fomewhat inclined on edge, The half of” the button drew into fhape, and formed a bar fomewhat loofe and cracked. Upon the whole, the differ- ence betwixt XII, XIV, XV, aid this, was fcarcely per- N4 ceptible, Loft in fufion, equal to th part, 183 200 On the Fufion of Malleable Iron ceptible. The quantity of revived lead amounted to a part the original weight of the flint glafs *. Grains. Exp. XVIL. Britith cold-fhort tron Metin 875 Window glafs - 875 grains. From this mixture, in half an hour, was obtained a fine fufion accompanied by an elegantly cryftallized metallic button weighing = - - 836 Loft in fufion, equal to =. th part, 39 The frafure of this button was compofed of irregular cubes. inferted in each other. A bar forged from the half of this button was loofe, and cracked in the edges... Its quality was much akin to Exp, XVI. Grains. Exp. XVIII. Britith cold-fhort iron - - 500 Window glafs - 1500 grains. The button obtained from a fufion of the mixture weighed - - " - 453 ; I Loft in fufion, equal to jon th part, 47 The quality of the metal now obtained was equally incapable of being forged as that in Exp. IX and X. From the nature of the refults of thefe experiments it can- not be fatisfactorily concluded that even the fufion of Britith cold-fhort iron with glafles is uniformly productive of the fame quality of metal. But it may be fairly deduced that it invariably is productive of a caft malleable iron, harder and much leis duétile in every particular than the refults from Swedith iron fimilarly treated, The mott probable caufe of this irregularity of quality in the cold-fhort iron I conceive to be cryftallization. Jn the bar, this quality of iron always prefents cubes more or Jefs diftiné&t. When fufed, and allowed to cool under the cir- cumftances neceffary to produce)this effect, a large perfectly eryftallized fracture is the confequence. This does not in- variably happen ; but in two experiments out of three, I have. found it to be the cafe. In a button of 10 to 1200 grains, thefe cubes are found meafuring a full quarter of an inch upon the facet; and fuch fometimes has been the degree of divifion of the fluid, and a confequent perfect cryftalliza- * In this paper I have repeatedly ftated the faét of oxide of lead being revived when no carbonaceous mattcr (that in the iron excepted) was prefent. 1 fhall pafs over any inference to be made from this circumftance, until a fubje& more immediately connetted with this curious faél is brought forward in its preper place. = 2 ‘ . ao: Se aE Se eT ae Te with various Kinds of Glafs. 201 tion, that they appear to have to each other a very flight bond of union, It appears therefore to me obvious, that when a mafs fuch as is now defcribed is put under the hammer, the parts will tend to repel cach other, unlefs that precife degree of heat could be afcertained which would co- alefce the cryftals without either parting or diffipating them. In thefe experiments four various fractures of cait malle- able iron have been obtained : regularly granulated, more or lefs, on edge: laminated, parting fometimes entire, at other times in large flat facets: cubical, more or lefs perfect ; mixed, compofed of the former three. The firft of thefe, except in one inftance, was peculiar to the Swedifh iron; the fecond were common to both; the third peculiar to the cold-fhort iron, one inftance excepted ; the fourth was common to both. . Grans. Exp. XTX. Britith cold-thort iron - - 875 Kilkenny marble - 875 grains, Stourbridge clay (old) pot 875 grains. A beautiful fmooth-fkinned button was obtained from a fufion of this mixture, which weighed - 813 : I , : Loft in fufion, equal to ath part the weight of iron, 62 1° This button fplit in circular lamine, and exhibited, in fome refpects, an entirely new appearance. It forged with more facility than any of the buttons obtained with glafs, and was now uncommonly tough when cold, Grains. Exp. XX. Britith cold-thort iron - “ 500 Kilkenny marble - 750 grains, Stourbridge clay (old) pot 750 grains. A very perfect fufion was the refult of this expofure, accompanied by a very {mooth button of metal, on which were impreffed fome faint traces of the ufual eryftallization. It weighed - - - 468 Loft in fufion, 32 I vt af , equal to Trath part the original weight of iron. The frac- ture of this was poffeffed of a revularly granulated form, the eryftals flat, and placed confiderably on edge. It did not in the leaft refemble the former product, but in forging afforded np mark fufficient to diftinguifh any difference betwixt their qualities, In all thefe experiments we invariably find that the change upon the quality of the iron is great. Iufion invariably com- miunicates a great degree of red-fhortnefs to all qualities; but. with, rom 7 202 On the Fufion of Malleablé Iron, €c, with cold-fhort iron, theextent of the change is by far the moft confiderable. Its lofs by weight is alfo much beyond that fuftained by Swedith iron. I meant to have inferted ‘a few experiments with iron un- commonly red-fhort; but the number already adduced will, T am afraid, have the appearance of prolixity. Suffice it to fay, that I have obtained data fufficient te be able to profe- eute, with fome hope of fuccels, an inveftigation of the caufes of red- and cold-fhort properties in malleable iron. I fhall conclude this fuwbje¢t with the following remarks :—Iron-fufed with window glals always has its upper furface impreffed with « beautiful cryftallization, often coloured. This circumftance never takes place when flint glafs is ufed. When bottle glafs is ufed, the cryftallization is not fo frequent, and fel- dom fo perfect, as with window eglafs. Cryftallization is ftill jefs frequent, and lefs perfect, when a mixture of clay and lime is employed. When carbonate alone is fufed with iron, the fame want of cryftallization takes place as when flint glafs is ufed. ~ The fufion of malleable iron is produétive of the difen- ragement of an elaftic fluid, the efcape of which, I am in- clined to think, is one of the chief caufes of the alteration of its quality. In moft cafes, when the cover was ftruck off while the matter was ftill red-hot, a burft of whitith blue flame iffued from the mouth of the crucible. In others, where the fufion had been of fhort duration, or lefs perfect, the upper furface of the glafs became covered with thin tranf- parent bubbles, each of which appeared filled with a dull lambent blue vapour. Thefe were eafily perforated with a pin point, and a flight explofion was heard from each, ac- companied by a momentary combuftion. In burning, this fubftance refembled hydrocarbonate *. Experiment, which was omitted in the former commu, nication, to prove that the carbonic acid was neutral in the fufion of iron, or at leaft was not productive of fteel. Grains. Ttalian raw marble - - 606 é Steel oxide, from the tilt anvil] block - 50 This mixture was reduced to a fine powder, and completely triturated. It was then introduced into a Stourbridge clay pot, and expofed to a heat fufficient to fufe it. When cold, * This faét may lcad toa more fimple explanation of the formation of inflammable air than that adopted by Dr. Prieftley or Mr. Cruikthank. Bar iron with a mixture of glafs, without the addition of carbon or its acid in lime, are here produétive of an elaftic fubftance poffeffed of fimilar pro- pervies as that obtained in their experiments, gs eae tb the Hiflory of Aftronomy for the Year 1801. | 204 the vitrid mafs was minutely examined, but no metallic globule was vifible. The mixture before fufion was mag- netic, owing to the oxide. ‘This property was now en- tirely loft. : The heat of this experiment was urged moderately, that time might be given for the exertion of any affinity, if fuch exifted, betwixt the iron and the carbonic acid, or betwixt. the oxide of iron and the carbonaceous part of the acid. No portion of metal being revived, I conceived this a moft con- clufive proof of the nondecompofition of the carbonic acid, RXXVII. Hifiory of Afironomy for ihe Year 1801. By JEROME LALANDE. [Concluded from p. 121.] M. BODE, of Berlin, has publithed the laft part of his Jarge Celeftial Atlas in twenty fheets, which contains all the old confiellations, with feveral new ones, and fome thoufands of ftars, with which I furnifhed him; an immenfe labour, of which the aftronomers had need. This beautiful work may be procured at the Collége de France. On the 27th of September the Helvetic republic adopted the French meafures. This is the firft of the European ftates which has been fenfible of the importance of this univerfal meafure to the general good of civilized nations. Guglielmini, of Bologna, has made three new experiments on the fall of bodies, to prove the rotation of the earth: he has found the fame deviation from the fouth within a line, though it is not given by theory; but the deviation from the weit he has found as it ought to be. Preparations are making for obfervations of the fame kind at Hamburgh from the tower of St. Michael, at the height of 326 feet. The obfervatory of Cadiz, during feveral years, has fur- nifhed us with a feries of important obfervations; but for fome time it has been negleéted. General Mazzaredo has caufed a new one to be built in the Ifle-de-Leon, and he has attached to it four afironomers, officers in the navy—Rodrigo Armefto, Maximo-Lariva Aguero, Julian Canela, and Jo- feph Cuefta, who have refided there four years. For ten ears paft, a nautical almanac has been publifhed in Spain. i hope navigation and aftronomy will be benefited by it. The telefcope 25 feet in length, made by Dr. Herfchel for Spain, will be fent off in the month of January; and Du- pont will go to Spain to mount it. M. Travaffos, ° - 204 Hiflory of Afironomy for the Year 1801. M. Trayefios, feeretary of the Academy of Lifbon, has fent me obfervations by M. Ciera, which have confirmed the longitude of that city; the Nautical Ephemerides pub- hifhed 4o 2803, and various works of the Portuguefe Academy, of which we had no idea, and which the National, Inttitute of France recetved with much intereft. This negotiation was conducted by the chevalier d’Aranjo. fiartind 7S Aftronomy was long in a langutthing condition in, the - Batavian republic: M. Fokker has eltabifhed,, at his own expenfes, an obfervatory at Middleburg; be has purchafed anftruments, and fent us feveral obfervations made between 1797 and 1801. M. Fokker, during the revolution of 1795, was member of the committee of public fafety, and at that time obtained a tower in the abbey; but the revolution of the 12th of June 4796 interrupted his plans for the improve- ment of the obfervatory. He is now engaged in the finance department of Zealand; but his fpare time is employed on aftronomy, and he has fent me {feveral interefting obferva- tions, In Germany aftronomy continues to be cultivated with eat affiduity. Baron Von Zach’s tour to Bremen and Li- fienthal has produced new activity; and the fociety formed for the purpofe of fearching the heavens are fill occupied with that object. He obferves the moon with great diligence ; and gives me reafon to hope, that I fhall fee next fummer a part of the German aftronomers affemble in an aftronomical congrefs at Gotha, as was the cafe in 1798, Amidft the horrors of war, the French attronomers fignalized their geal for aftronomy. General Moreau, being at Cremsmunfier, where there is a celebrated obfervatory, caufed a bill to be pofted up denouncing the punifhment of death againft every perfon who fhould be guilty there of any depredation; and neither the obfervatory nor the convent of the Benedictines futtained any injury. It is flattering to the French to have officers who diftinguith themfelves by a tafte for the fciences. it will no longer be faid that military men, in confequence of their fituation, are ignorant and ferocious. The Academy of Peterfburgh has requefted an obferver, but Burg and Wurm haverbeen retained by their fovereigns; and this beautiful obfervatory is fill ufelefs, notwithftanding the number of excellent inftruments with which it is fur- nifhed. » C, Henry has had the fatisfaction of ereGting the large mural guadrant by Bird, and of. making fome obfervations with it. Eias%s , The irregularity in the degreés of the earth hitherto mea- ant ts fured,’ # wv; Hiflory of Aflronomy for the Year 1801. 205 fured, gave reafon to fufpect fome error in that of Lapland meafured in 1736. M. Melanderhielm, therefore, has ob tained permiffion from the king of Sweden to undertake 2 new meafurement. In the month of April Mefirs. Ofverbom and Swamberg fet out for Tornea, where they erected fignals and built fmall obfervatories.. When the ice on the river is thawed, they will meafure a bafe with the rules fent them by the Inftitate.. A multiplying circle, made at Paris by Lenoir, will ferve them in the fpring for meafurmg the angles; and next fummer we {hall’ have the folution of this old difficulty. ry . M. de Mendoza, a Spanifh officer, has publithed two large collections of tables; one at Madrid, in 1800, entitled Cod- leccion de Tablas; and another at London, in the month of April 1801, which contains tables for the reduction of di- ftances by the addition of five natural numbers: he has made a new ufe of the verfed fines, which renders numerical opera~ tions fhorter and eafier. Thefe tables confift of 407 pages ‘arto. M. Garrard has publithed tables in thirteen pages only ; but his method is neither fhorter nor fo accurate. Mr. Vince, an able Englith aftronomer, has publithed the fecond volunie of a large treatife on aftronomy. The ftereotype tables of logarithms, publithed by Firmin Didot in 1795, have been again corrected. M. Vega, who has caufed to be printed in Germany the largeft collection extant, has verified the French tables, and fent us feveral faults, which are going to be correéted: in all probability they will be the laft, and we may depend in future on correct tables. This is a ereat benefit for calculators, who have fometimes loft whole days in revifing calculations, which did not agree, in confequence of an erroneous figure. But as the fmall manual tables are moft frequently em- ployed, I have caufed them to be printed in ftereotype : fe- veral perfons have corrected them; and im three months £ ean give all calculators the moft correct, moft conveinent, and moft elegant edition that has ever appeared. C. Verniqnet has finifhed the engraving of his Jarge plan of Paris in 72 fleets ona feale of half-a line to the toile, which in corre¢ctnefs furpafles every thing of the Kind. A project was long ago formed and undertaken for making ‘a lunar globe reprefenting all the mountains and craters. Mr. Rufiel has aceomplifhed this object in England 2yhis Junar globe, mounted on an ingenious ftand, expreffes all the circumftances of the moon’s libration, and thowsethat _ body as the ought to appear in the different pofitions of the ‘earth 206 Hiflory of Aftroriomy for the Year 180i. earth and moon, as well as the variations of the equator and orbit. irk M. Philippides; born at Mount Pelion in .Theffaly, who attended the courfe of aftronomy at the Collége de France in 1794, and who is now at Jaffi with the hofpodar of Mol+ davia, propofes to publith in Greek the Abridgement of my Aftronomy: he has already publithed various works, for the purpofe ‘of endeavouring to propagate inftru@tion m his country. . ote Three-fourths of the two Jaf volumes.of Monticla’s Hif- tory of the Mathematics are printed. This work will con- tain the hiftory of aftronomy, optics; and mavigation; to which I have been obliged to make great additions in confe- quence of the too premature death of the learned author, M. Von Murr, of Nuremberg, who lias manufcripts of Regiomontanus, the firft reftorer of aftronomy before 1500, . has caufed a page to be engraven, an exact fac-fimile of the ehara€ter of the manufeript: he offers to fell thefe manu- fa for 2400 francs; they would be a treafure to a large ibrary. The aftronomical poems of Ricard, Lemiere, and Foritanes, had before fhown how far a view of the heavens is capable of exciting poetical enthufiafm. C. Gudin has again proved it by a poem, which contains both the hiftory ofeereditinny and a de(cription of the heavens, and which difplays as much correétnefs as elegance. - This year geography alfo has made confiderable progrefs. Tranchot is conitru&ting a map of the four united depart- ments on the fcale of a line to 100 toifes: a furvey is taking of the country between the . dige and the Adda, Piedmont, Swabia, and Swifferland; and the minifter at war caufed the details to be inferted in the Moniteur of Auguft 14; C. Henry, who has been invited to Munich to eonftruét the map of Bavaria, informs me in a etter that the topographical part is in great forwardnefs; a bafe of 21,649 metres or 11,108 toifes has been meafured: it is the longeft ever meafured. The large triangles around the capital are already in part clofed.. There are fome the fides of which will be from 15 to 20 leagues, and even more. He has already fwept the horizon feveral times with his circle, and with aflonifhing » precifion. The laft fweep was compofed of fix angles; the fum of which when reduced was not jn excels, but 8-1oths - ofa fecond in 360 degrees; and yet the circle he ufed was not very good. To make up as much as poffible for what may be wanting in regard to precifiou, he multiplies his ob- fervations ; he never makes lefs than 15 conjugate obferva~ Eiflory of Ajironomy for the Year 180t. G07 flons, and he often carries the number to 20. The triangles which Caffini affumed in the neighbourhood of Munich are badly chofen, and the meafurement of them is very incor- rect. Without employing his trianglesy Henry has already difpofed a feries of 14 triangles, the meafure of which will give us that of an arcof the meridian of fomewhat more than a degree: he hopes that it will {till be poffible to prolong this are, which will pafs at a little diftance from Ingoldftadt, and which will afcertain the pofitions of a part of Germany. The travels of ‘baron Von Zach and feveral of his co-operators have alfo fapplied ns with new information and new pofi- tions, which will improve the geography of Germany. Co- lonel Je’ Cocq continues his map of Weftphaliay Baron Von Ende, member of the fupreme council of ap- peal at Cette, has publifhed a volume on the determination of feveral places in Lower Saxony : it is filled with obferya- tions and calculations. The geography. of difiant couritries has affamed alfo a new -adtivity. Captain Baudin, whole voyage of difcovery 1 before announced, left the Canaries on the 24th of November, and the [fle of France on the 22d of March. We have reafon to hope that he has already made interefting difcoveries in New Holland; the only country of the earth which is almoft un- known tous, though it is 2000 leagues in circumference. Bernier, the aftronomer who accompanies him on the expe- dition, a man of intelligence and courage, leaves nothing to be wifhed fof on that head. Im the month of June the French government granted paffports to the Englith veffels, the Inveitigator, captain Flinders, on the point of proceed- ing ona yoyagevof difcovery to the Sonth Seas, and to the Lady Nelfon commanded by licutenant Grant, who is to ors the Inveftigator, in exploring the coafis of New BleSwiits 2R ASI C. Deguignes jun., arrived from China, where he refided from 1784 to 1797, will, in all probability, when he pub- lifhes the journal of his voyage, give us fome information refpeéting that beautiful part of the world. Baroni Humboldt, an enlightened and intrepid philofopher, has gone to South America, where he has travelled 1300 leagues in the deferts, with great labour and amidtt terrible dangers, to make us acquainted with the geography and na- tural hiltory of thofe countries which are {till new to us. __M. Deferrer has fent me obfervations which give the pofi- tion of Natchetz in Louifiana, and of Guaira ii South Ame- rica; for the former, lat. 31° 33/ 48”, difference of meridian 6" 15’ 24"; and for the latter 10° 36'40” N. and 4" 37’ 104, C. Nouet 208 Hiftory of Aftronomy for the Year 180. | C. Nouet has fent us from Egypt an almanac calculated for that country, and feveral pofitions of cities even in Upper Egypt, notwith{tanding the climate, the dangers, and incon- ceivable labour which fuch obfervations require. The value of the degree is.56,880 toifes; the Egyptian ftadium 712 feet; the Egyptian cubit 21°33 inches; the Greek ftadiuin 4877543 feet, and the cubit 19°5017 inches. In a word, he has arrived himfelf, and brought us the continuation of his labours, accompanied with young Ifaac Mechain, the fon of one of. our moft celebrated aftronomers, who was his com- panion and co-operator in Egypt. C. Fourrier has brought us drawings of the zodiacs of Upper Egypt, which atteft the high antiquity of aftronomy; and he proves that the forma- tion of the conftellations goes back 14,000 years, as Dupuis prefumed. C. Marquis, prefect of La Meurthe, has fent to the Board of Longitude obfervations and manufcripts of P. Barlet, a jefuit of Nancy, which contain interefting things. I mutt here fay a word of meteorology. C, Lamarc has | publifhed a meteorological journal, in which he gives a great many obfervations, and indicates the variations of the feafons which may be fuppofed to take place m the courfe of the year. The mini(ter of the interior has eftablifhed a meteorological correfpondence to multiply obfervations; and Lamarc, who folicited this eftablifhment, will make it advantageous to the feience, which is ftill in its infancy. - C. Burckhardt, alfo, has written a long and curious work on meteorology. He has examined 15,000 obfervations of the barometer, that he may be able to calculate the influence of the winds; and he has found that the fouth wind gives for mean height 27 inches 11°3 lines, while the eaft gives 28 inches 19 line. He has found alfo that the height on the borders of the Mediterranean fea is 28 inches 3°2 lines, and on thofe of the ocean 28 inches 2°8 lines. Weil placed weather-cocks are very rare at Paris. There is none at the obfervatory, though I requefted one on being appointed diregtor; and I have thanked, in name of all ob- fervers, C. Bois, tinman, who having built a houfe on the Quai des Auguftins, has ereéted there a lofty and very move- able weather-cock, with letters indicating the four cardinal points, which will be on a line with a meridian I have traced out on the quay. Aftronomers, when they go to the Infti- tute or the Board of Longitude, will have an opportunity of feeing conveniently the direétion of the wind; and the fame advantage will be enjoyed by the inhabitants of that vaft qray, of the Louvre, and the furrounding houfes, bier 1a Hiflory of Aftronomy for the Year 1801. 209 had not a fingle weather-cock in their view, but a great many conduétors, which are not very iuterelting. On: the 3d of November there was in the Baltic a terrible ftorm, which deftroyed fome veffels, and was felt even at Breft. On the 7th. there was a ftorm in Provence, which produced 73 lines of water in 2. hours by a wind at S.S.E. At did very great damage at Marfeilles; feveral perfons pe- rifhed in the neighbourhood, and the lofs amounts to fome millions. C. Thulis has found fome memorandums of the ftorms of July 12, 1748; September 4, 1764; and Septem- ber 15, 1772: but no perfon had any remembrance of a ftorm like that of the prefent year. The plain of the Po was expofed to an immenfe inundation. The Clafs of the Phyfical and Mathematical Sciences on the 16th of April chofe three aftronomers, who were pre- fented to the general affembly for the place of affociate, va- cant by the death of C, St. Jacques, viz. C. Vidal, Sepman- ville, and Bernard. The firft is an uncommon obferver, who has alone made more obfervations of Mercury than all the aftronomers of the world fince 2000 years. The fection of aftronomy had prefented alfo C. Pi&tet of Geneva, Chabrol (de Riom), and Quenot, officers in the navy. I even made out a lift of the aftrono- mers known in France, which contained C. Henry, returned from Peterfburgh; Nouet and Beauchamp, returned from the Levant; C. Deratte and Poitevin, of Montpellier; Ber- nier and Biffy, who embarked with captain Baudin; Cheva- lier, in the department of foreign affairs; Kramp, of Co- logne; Duvaucel, at Evreux ; Guerin, at Amboife ; Mongin, at la Grand-Combe-des-Bois; Maingon and Lancelin, at Breft; Jacotot, at Dijon; Planpain and Degrand, at Mar- feilles. If we add to thefe the fix aftronomers affociated at the Inftitute, it will be feen that this [cience, the moft un- profitable and the moft neglected, {till furnithes fubjeéts in Bec As foon as the happy event of peace exalted the _ hopes of literary men, [ took advantage of it to folicit from a quarters, that aftronomy might participate in the benefits of it. ___ The Academy of Peterfburgh has tranfmitted to me a fmall __ prefent, which it has been accufiomed for thirty years to ‘ Fond me for the good of-aftronomy; and the emperor of Ruffia has approved the defire of the Academy in that refpec. _ The king of Etruria has promifed to patronize aftronomy _at Florence. The obfervatory is already provided with exeel- Tent infiruments, and Falroni has aflured me that an ob- ~ ferver will be placed in it: he has requefted one of my pu- Vor. XII. No, 47. O pils ; 210 Hiflory of Aftronomy for the Year 180r. pils; and this circumftance makes me regret that I have not a greater number, , af General Jourdan gives me reafon to hope that the obferva- tory of Turin will be put in a proper ftate; and C. Vaffalh, prefident of the academy, affords me hopes alfo. ‘ “The minifler of the marine has given orders that new ob- fervations fhall be made at Breft on the tides, according to my requeft, im order to complete my Trait: du Flux et du “Reflux de la Mer, which I wrote to confirm the exeellent theory of Laplace in his Méchanique Céle/ic, and to afcer- tain what influence the wind has on the tides. We requefted the firft conful to procure us from Spain two thoufand pounds weight of platina, to conftru& a tele- fcope of 36 feet; and we have reafon to hope for it.. Our telefcope will, perhaps, furpafs that of Herfchel. The obfervatory of Paris has acquired C. Agouftene. The minifter of the interior, C. Chaptal, has agreed that the Board of Longitude may increafe its expenfes for this new affifant ; and I have obtained C. Giroult, whofe youth and afliduity give me new aid, and leave me no other regret than that of not being able to procure a greater number. In my Hiftory of Aftronomy for 1800, I mentioned the fofs which aftronomy had fufiained on the 5th of November that year by the death of Ramfden: to him we have been indebted, during the courfe of twenty years, for the beft and largeft inftruments, the moft perfeét telefcopes, and the moft ingenious ideas. ‘Troughton, at prefent, is the moft cele- brated artift in England, and is preparing to indemnify us for this lofs. He has already made excellent inftraments ; and C. Pidtet, of Geneva, lately brought us fome of them. On the roth of February we loft C. St. Jacques de Sylva- belle, director of the obfervatory of Marfeilles, who diftin- guifhed himfelf by theoretical refearches in 1753, as may be feen in the Philofophical Tranfations, and then by ufeful obfervaticns: he was 79 years of age, and was ftill ufefully employed. His culogy will appear in the journal of the Ly- ezum of his department. , He has been fucceeded by Thulis, who has long been af- fiftant director of the obfervatory. The latter made profelytes — and pupils C. Planpain and C. Degrand; but they have both left us, to the great lofs of aftronomy. Fe In the month of December 1800, Matteucci died at Bo- Joona: to him we are indebted for the laft volumes of the-_ Ephemerides of Bologna, which go as far as 1810. He has ~ - been fucceeded by C. Ciccolini and Guglielmini, who pro- mife new activity in the obfervatory, which Manfredi, Za- notti, — Hiftory of Aftronomy for the Year 1801. Q1E notti, and Matteucci, have rendered interefting for a century ne a ae Chraligni died lately at Madrid; he had long made ob- fervations and calculations, by which he has been known with advantage as an aftronomer. M. Chevalier has died at Prague: he made ufeful obferva- tions at Lifbon in 1759, and at Bruffels. On the 8th of Oétober, Gabriel de Bory died at Paris, aged 81: he undertook a journey to Spain in 1751, and in 1758 went to Portugal and Madeira to determine their pofi- tion. His obfervations are in the Mémoires of 1768, p. 270, and in thofé of i772, partli. In the Mémoires of 1770 he gave.a defcription of a portable obfervatory, and in the third volume of the Savans Etrangers an obfervation of the tranfit of Mercury in 1753. In 1751 he publifhed a deferip- tion of a marine oétant: he diffufed a tafte for obfervations through the royal navy: being chef d’efeadre and governor ef the windward iflands, he had means of contributing to excite emulation, and he always employed them. In 1765 he was therefore elected a free affociate of the Academy of Sciences, and in't798 member of the Inftitute. The Academy and Inftitute have always been fenfible how much need we have of enlightened fellow-labourers to im- prove our knowledge of navigation, the moft difficult of all arts, and the moft important of all {ciences for the profperity and greatnefs of ftates. . But the greateft lofs fuftained by aftronomy is that of Jo- feph Beauchamp. He was born at Vezoul on the 29th of June 1752. His obfervations at Bagdad in Perfia, and on the Black fea, were as laborious to him as they were im- portant to us. He fet out in 1795 as French conful for Mafcate in Arabia; and he wrote to me on his departure as follows : ‘‘ Remember my attachment to you and to aftro- nomy.” He left indeed, with fome regret, a couniry and family who were dear to him: he is certainly one of the martyrs to aftronomy. He fet out for Conftantinople on the 25th of September; we expected him with the greateft im- patience, but he had fcarcely arrived in Provence when he fell a prey to a malady of which he had not been properly cured. Le died at Nice on the 19th of November 180%. Eight days before his death the fection of aftronomy had pre- fented him to the vacant place in the Inftitute. I publithed @ notice of his labours in the Moniteur of Dee. 15, 1801. Oz XXXVIII. Ana [ -axa a ‘ XXXVIIL Analyfis of the 'Arjemates of Cop ser and of ‘Trotte | By Richarp Cuenevix, E/g. F. RS. MARLA. ; -[Continued from p. 147.] Nown Yellow bematitic copper ore*. (See page 4.) _ One hundred parts of this ore, boiled with dilute nitrie acid, left.a yellowith white refiduum, which weighed 17. Thefe 17, expofed to a degree of heat fufficient to volatilize the fulphur, left 5, which were filica. The liquor from which this refidaum had been feparated by filtration, upon being tried for all the different metals, and particularly for arfenic, afforded no traces of any thing but copper and iron. A co- pious precipitate took place by the affufion of ammonia; the copper was rediffolved by adding an excefs ; and then obtained by volatilizing that alkali, and boiling with potafh, after the ‘filter had feparated the iron already precipitated. The contents are, ; Sulphur - - - - 12% Silica - = - = = 5 Copper, which I believe to be in the metallic ftate 30 . Oxide of iron - - ~ * 53 ——— 100 In this ore, I believe, for the following reafons, that the metals are in the ftate I have marked, Firft, the propor- tions in the ore announce it; for I always had an excefs of weight in the total refult, if I did not deduét fuch a propor- tion of oxygen as might be contained in 30 parts of copper. Secondly, there is a confiderable difengagement of nitrous as. i Thirdly, the ore does not attract the loadftone. And, fourthly, the greater part of the iron (but none of the copper) is diffolved in muriatic acid, forming a green muriate of iron, without difengagement of hydrogen gas. No. VIII. Gray vitreous copper ore. (See page 6.) There are many intermediate ftates between this ore and the yellow” hematitic copper ore; but they are not fair objects of che- ‘mical analyfis, being merely mixtures of both kinds, in dif-. fereut proportions. The mineralogift, indeed, may dwell upon them, as interefting in ftudying the produéts of nature, — but they are unfatisfaCtory fubjects for the chemift. * This and the following (No. VIII.) being the matrices upon which the arfeniates of copper and of iron are generally found, I thought it right to give an analyfis of thein alfo. Gray | On ihe Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron. 213 Gray vitreous copper ore, when obtained in its greatett purity, is by many degrees the richeft cupreous pyrites known m nature; and, in the large way, the metal may be extracted by the eafieft procefles. 100 parts of this ore, in dilute ni- tric acid, left 2, which were fulphur. Ammonia, poured in exceis into the nitric folution, rediffolved, with the ‘ex- ception of 4, the whole of the’ precipitate which it had formed; the 4 were iron; and, from the ammoniacal liquor, 105 of black oxide of copper, equal to 84 of metallic’ copper; were obtained by evaporation, and then boiling with potath. Sulphur Z “ u 12 Copper - os - 96 484 Tron =) - - 4 100 lsdend Although I have mentioned, in the preceding ftatements; only a fingle analyfis of each fpecimen, it is‘by no means’to be imagined, that fo fmall a number would be fufficient to fatisfy inquiry. _ None of the above refults have been taken into account, unlefs confirmed by frequent repetition ;" and the probationary experiments have been diverfified,”as much as lay in my power, by many different tefts, and various che- mical reagents. iy stick! With ‘regard to the colour of fome fpeciinens of arfeniate of copper, it is eafily to be accounted for upon chemical prin- ciples. The miffake under which we have long laboured; that the green is the real oxide of copper, has happily’been rectified By M. Prouft*, He has proved it to be a particular fubftance, (to which he has given the very improper name of hydrate o copper t,) endowed with pect properties, and compofed of the brown oxide, and of water, in a flate of combination, From his experiments, and from what I my- felf have feen, I am inclined to draw the conclufion, that we have never yet obtained by art any real falt of oxide of copper. An examining, for inftance, fulphate of copper, we find it to afford blue cryftals; and to contain’ a known’ quantity of water of cryftallization, and of what we formerly called the oxide. But that oxide {till retains a‘ quantity of water, of which when it is deprived it paffes to a very dark brown, and changes its chemical nature and properties. - / * Annales de Chimie,’ yol. xxii. p, 26. + Copper is not the only metal capable of a fimilar combination, Co- It, nickel and uraniim, enjoy the fame property. This may, in fome fure, explai the change of colour which the liquid muriates of fome Of thefe metals undergo by’ getitle heats it may likewile throw fome light upon the fympathctic ink of ‘cobalt. 03 If, 214 Analyfis of the Arfeniates . .°) If, upon that brown oxide, a-fufficient quantity, of dilute fulphuric acid is poured, it yields a blue falt, but in a pro- portion greater by about 24 per cent. than ifithe green fub- fiance had, been employed. . I imagine, therefore, that the fir operation of this brown oxide is, to affume the quantity of water neceflary to conftitute a hydrate; and, that the com- dination, of fulphuric acid takes place, not between the oxide, but between the hydrate and that acid, to form a falt, which, when cryftallized, has taken another portion of water in the act of eryftallization. It is a well: known fact, that there is a ftate of concentration, when an aqueous folution of muriate of copper, gently heated, will change froma blueifh green to a beautiful brown, which, upon cooling, or by the affu- fion of water, refumes its former tinge. This brown liquor is probably a folution of muriate of copper; while the blue liquor, like every green. or blue folution of a eupreous falt, is a,combination of the acid and the hydrate, or (as we fhould fay,in this cafe) a muriate of hydrate of copper. It is true, I have not been able to produce, fo often as I could with, this change of colour... I can, howeyer, adduce the following in- fiance, as being much in fayour of my opinion. | _» It is, evident that oxide of copper eo fol fhall henceforth call the brown fubftance) has a very ftrong affinity. for water; — becaufe. the, fixed alkalis, (unlefs when boiled upon it,) and their, carbonates, all of which. cafily decompofe the falts of copper, cannot difpoffefs the hydrate of copper of its water. »» Lhis led. me to imagine that I could.perhaps, by fire, dif- fipate not only the water of cryftallization, but that contained in the hydrate; and leave the acid, if a potent one, fill in the {alt.. But I found that the affinity, of the alkali, acting upon the acid, had, in the. humid way, determined an order of combination not to be effected by heat ; for even fulphuric acid was expelled before the water of the hydrate could be — completely. diffipated. Upon reflecting onthe fixity of acids, I could find none fo proper for this experiment.as the phof- phoric, I therefore prepared fome artificial phofphate of © copper, by precipitating the nitrate of that metal by phof- — phate offoda. When, wafhed and dried, it was.in,the form of,a fine blueith green. powder, among. which. many cryftals — were difcernible yet to the naked eye, * ' One hundred parts of this, expofed to-a gentle red heat, — became of a much paler ereen, but paffed entirely to brown — when the temperature was fufficiently elevated. “TI had then a brown phofphate, not of hydrate, but of oxide of copper, and from which no acid had been. volatilized. Its Hi of weight was wholly from the water which had been a ang | of Copper and of Iron. 215 and amounted to 15,5. Its other proportions. I found, by further analyfis, to be 35 of phofphoric acid, and 49,5 of _ oxide of copper. It is not, however, to be concluded from a ¥ 7 4 2 y a 7 x this, that there are really 15,5 of water of cryftallization, in blueifh green phofphate of copper. We mutt recolleét that it is a phofphate of hydrate of copper, and that 49,5 of oxide demand 12 of water to exift in that ftate: 3,5 therefore are the amount of the water of cryftallization ; and its order of union may, with more propriety, be thus itated : ali is 4945 } forming hydrate of copper - 61,5 Phofphoric acid - - ‘ > 35 Water of cryftallization - - ¢ 395 100,0 And this is the order which fhould be adopted in the ftate- ment of all analyfes of falts of copper. I could eafily produce, by the fame method, a pale green, or a brown arleniate; and, in nature alfo, the colour of the ore accurately correfponds with the proportion of water, as may be feen by comparing together any of the foregoing analyfes. Having thus convinced myfelf, by analyfis, that copper is found in nature united with arfenic acid in different propor- tions, I next wifhed to aicertain whether art could effec fimilar combinations. For this purpofe, I poured into arfe< niate of ammonia, a folution of nitrate of copper. ‘the me- tallic arfeniate was immediately precipitated im cryftalline grains, of a blue colour, rather more intenfe than the phof- poste already mentioned; and the liquor, which remained lue, was decanted. The colour which this latter retained, T imagined, was due to the prefence of a greater quantity of nitrate of copper than was neceflary to precipitate, from its alkaline bafis, the arfenic acid combined with the copper. After a partial evaporation, I poured in alcohol; and found, to my furprife, that the odhiiealstiece was another precipitation, which was much increafed by allowing the liquor to remain. Cryftals ftill miore rich in colour than the former, and very evidently rhomboidal, even to the naked eye, were gradually formed. Imagining there muft be fome effential caufe of the greater folubility of the one than of the other, I refolved to examine them apart. One hundred parts of the firft of thofe precipitates, expofed to a low red heat, loft 22. Boiled with potath, there remained undiffolved a blackith brown powder, which, well wafhed and dried, weighed 50, The fupernatant liquor, faturated with ‘tds O4 nitric 216 Arialyfis of the Arfeniates nitric acid, and: evaporated, Was precipitated by nitrate of lead. Upon filtration, 82 were left, which indicate 27 of arfenic acid, Therefore this arfeniate of copper contained, - Copper = = Us 50 ’ Arfenie acid: - - 27 Water” «= - - 22 an ote pet eat ye Si, cael The fecond artificial “compound, which was mentioned above, was evidently more foluble than the latter; and ana- logy might lead us to fufpect, in arguing from the generality of falts the bafis of which is faperfaturated, that it contained an‘excefs of acid. It was analyfed in the fame manner as the laft, and afforded, Oy Oxide of copper - - 35 Arfenie’acid ~~ - - 3955 Water =" - - ee. fart 8, Thus then have we two artificial arfeniates of dati one of which intimately correfponds with one of thofe which we have recognized among the productions of nature. ‘The other poflibly will be found, ‘but we are not yet in poffeffion of it; for I thall prefently mention the reafon why No. I., although containing 39 of acid, cannot fairly be efteemed as fuch. . T-have not yet been fo fortunate as to form the other com- binations, but do not doubt that art may one day fucceed in obtaining them. ' eu REMARKS, Before I conclude this fection, which hitherto has had for iis object a particular account of certain kinds of copper ore, as wel] as of their matrices, it imay not be fuperfluous to offer a few remarks, not foreign to the prefent fubje&t, upon fome methods generally ufed im the docimattic art... To prove the prefence of different fubitances in foffils, is an object of deli- cate refearch: but, to determine proportions with accuracy, is the moft, difficult operation of analytic chemiftry, and often cludes inveftigation. Ii is rather a pleafing reflection to think that we are in the infancy of chemical exactnefs; and that we may fee the day of improvement, when. the errors which we now commit will require all the aid of felf-compla- cency to be in the leaft excufed. And it may be of more rea] utility to ftate with franknefs, although we cannot account for them, thofe anomalous appearances which fo frequently occur, than to court the phantom of rigid accuracy, Bd ? of Copper and of Iron. 217 ality of which we can as yet, ‘but in a few inftances, be fure we have attained. For every obfervation, however trivial, of this kind, will haften the arrival of that moment when we fhall be enabled to approach a little nearer to truth. I have, for many reafons, preferred boiling the nitrate of copper with either of the fixed alkalis, to the method gene- rally recommended, which is, to precipitate all the copper from its folvent, by carbonate of potafh or of foda; then, to rediffolve in muriatic acid; and to precipitate, in the me- tallic ftate, by a plate of polifhed iron. . Firft, when an alkaline carbonate is ufed, the precipitate is a carbonate of hydrate of copper; and this fubftance is fo- luble in an excefs of the precipitant.’ [ once evaporated fome very beautiful blue liquor, obtained in an operation of this kind, and found a cryftallized falt, which I became defirous to examine. But, as the folution contained another falt, formed by the acid (which originally held the copper in fo- Jution) aud the alkali employed, I found it neceflary to form fome hydrate of copper direétly for the purpofe. Some hydrate of copper was therefore prepared, by decom- pofing the nitrate of that metal by a very dilute folution of potath, and well wafhing and drying the precipitate : it was that fine powder formerly well known as the oxide of copper. Some of this fubftance was thrown into a folution of car- bonate of potafh, through which a current of carbonic acid had been made to -pafs for a long time, and they were then _ flightly heated together. One ‘part of the hydrate became of the fame colour as the real oxide; the other was diffolved, and the liquor was converted into a greenifh blue folution. Thus, one part of the hydrate had yielded its water to the other, in order to favour this quadruple, or rather this double combination, of carbonate of potafh and hydrate of copper: the liquor, when reduced, afforded a mafs, which, repeatedly tediffolved and evaporated, with difficulty affumed any deter- minate form of cryftallization. This falt is a carbonate of potath, holding a little copper. It is of a pale blue, and varies in colour according to the quantity of water of cry{- tallization, and of dikul: It is flightly deliquefcent, and foluble in about three parts of water, at 60°, but requires much lefs water when the water is boiling, It cryftallizes by cooling, much like carbonate of potafh. It is foluble in a large quantity of alcohol. It lofes about 43 per cent. of carbonic acid, by folution in a flronger acid; and, prepared in the manner I have mentioned, contains no more than 5 ” cent. of oxide of copper; although carbonate of potath, when poured into a folution of any falt of copper, appears atin tu ~ 218 Analyfis of the Arfeniates to retain a much greater quantity. This, therefore, is a fuf- ficient proof of the inaccuracy of attempting to precipitate copper from its folutions, by an alkaline carbonate ; for car- bonate of foda has, like carbonate of potafh, the property of diffolving and eryftallizing, as a triple falt, with hydrate of copper. In addition to this fource of error, we may add, the very uncertain operation of one metal upon the faline combination of another, whatever may be their affinity for oxygen. In- deed I have fo often remarked’ this very great uncertainty, that I was pleafed to find the. obfervation had occurred to Mr. Prouft; and I have conftaintly found that more depend- ence can be placed upon the method I have adopted, than upon any attempts to precipitate the metals by each other. With regard to efficacy and promptnels, tin or zinc is pres ferable to iron; but, with any of the three metals, a phano- menon occurs, for which I have not been able to account in any manner the Jeafi fatisfactory. As the effects are more ftriking with zinc than with the other metals, I fhall enter into particulars refpecting the ufe of that metal only. When a bit of zine (or tin, or iron,) is immerfed' in a fo- lution of muriate of copper, a precipitation begins, and all the copper is finally feparated in a few hours*: but, ifa little muriatic acid is added to this folution, and the zine then immerfed, a violent effervefcence takes place; hydrogen gas is difengaged, and, in lefs than two minutes, the copper is fo completely precipitated in the metallic ftate, that neither ammonia, nor even fulphurated hydrogen, can.difcover any veltige of its prefence. It would appear from this, that hydrogen is, in this cafe, the real. reductive and precipitant of the copper. Yet, how can we reconcile the evident contradiCtion, that, in one cafe, zine with muriatic acid will decompofe water, that is, that zine and muriatic acid will attract oxygen more ftrongly than hydrogen can, yet that, in the other cafe, hydrogen, whofe affinity for oxygen is weaker than that of zinc and muriatic acid, will be more fpeedy and powerful than zinc and mu- Tiatic acid, in attracting that oxygen from copper? Again, how is it poffible that zinc and muriatic acid will, in pre- ference to taking oxygen immediately from the oxide of cop- per, decompofe water, the hydrogen of which will unite with the oxygen of the oxide of copper, again to become water, which it originally was?» All this appears to me, I confefs, as contradictory as to fay, one. is lefs than two, two are les * Jf any quantity of neutral fale is prefent in the folution, the precipi- tation is much retarded, and is feldom compiete. Rae dine - of Copper and of Iron. 21g than three, yet three are much lefs than one. This opinion, that hydrogen is really the reduétive, is the more extraordi- nary, as it is not founded on the fingle experiment above mentioned, If a bit of zine (or tin, or iron,) is thrown into a folution of oxide of arfenic in water, no change of any kind will be _ effeéted, even after a confiderable time: but the inftant that muriatic acid is added, effervefcence and precipitation com- mence; a few minutes fuffice to obtain all the arfenic in its metallic ftate. It may be objected here, that muriatic acid (as muriatic acid) produces. fome: hitherto unknown modi- fication in the order of eftablithed affinities. This objection is not plaufible; and I ‘can adduce fo clear an anfwer to it, as to {how that it is of very little moment. If aqueous arfenic acid is ufed inftead of the above felution, the fame pheno- mena of effervefcence and precipitation enfue as when mu- riatic acid had been ufed in the former cafe ; and that precife quantity of metallic arfenic is thrown down, which can yield fufficient oxygen to the.zinc to combine with the remaining acid undecompofed. . The precipitate which is formed, is a mixture of metallic arfenic with arfeniate of zinc; and thefe may be feparated by muriatic acid, which will diffolve the metallic falt, without acting upon the arfenic. If, inftead of muriatic acid, fulphuric acid is ufed, the fame phenomena take place, in a lefs degree. But, if the €xperiment is tried with nitric acid, there is no difengage- ment of hydrogen gas; and the metals effect a precipitation with much lefs rapidity and certainty than in the former cafe. It is very true, that hydrogen, in its nafcent ftate, may have properties with which we are yet unaequainted; and may determine combinations, which it can in no other ftate produce. But the decompofition of water, in the firft in- ftance, in order that a new recompofition may, at that mo- ment, be effe&ted by the fame’ agents, is in itelf fufficiently paradoxical. The faéts laft mentioned are fomewhat analogous to, and feem even confirmative of, a theory propofed fome time patt by Mrs. Fulhame; but | fhall withhold my full affent, both to her explanation and to any I could give, until thelé evie dent contradiétions can in fome way be further elucidated. In the analyfis of every ore in which) the metal is com- bined with fulphur, I have found much variation in the quantity of the latter which may be obtained, even in expe- riments upon the fame fpecimen. If nitric acid is uled not fufficiently ftrong, part of the ore: remains untouched, and will require fabloquedl treatment, always difadvantag cous in delicate 220 Analyfis of the Atfeniates delicate operations. If the acid is too ftrong, a great part of the fulphur is converted into fulphuric acid; fo that, in either cafe, there is room for error. I thought that, to avoid this, (except in cafes where any metal which, with fulphuriec acid, forms an infoluble falt, was prefent,) {trong nitric acid might be ufed, and all the fulphur converted into acid.. If potafh, foda *, or ammonia, are ufed as precipitants of the different metals, the quantity of fulphur may be eafily afcertained. Ttook’a given weight of fulphur, and converted it into ful- pburie acid by means of nitric acid. I then neutralized and evaporated it. Nitrate of-barytes, poured in, gave a precipi- tate which, in one experiment, indicated a proportion of fulphur equal to 14,4, and in another to 14,6, contained in one hundred of fulphate of barytes. A difference fo trifling need not be regarded. According to M. Lavoifier, fulphurie acid contains 71 of fulphur, and 29 of oxygen; and, accord- ing to the fynoptic tables of M. Fourcroy, fulphate of barytes contains 33 per cent. of fulphuric acid: therefore, by this calculation, one hundred of fulphate of barytes contain 23,43 of fulphur, inftead of 14,4, or 14,6. TI do not pretend to account for fo great a difference in thefe refults +; but that very difference led me (by exciting me to donbt thofe which I had obtained, and inducing me to frequent repetition,) to _ @ more pofitive conviction of the proportions 1 have men- tioned. 'M. Lavoifier obtained his proportions by combufs tion; and, admitting even that nothing was loft, it muft have been rather difficult to obtain the fulphuric acid in a tate proper to value the quantity. Indeed I do not know of any direCt experiments which prove, in a fatisfaGtory manner, that we have ever obtained that acid perfeétly free from water; unlefs when combined with an earth, or an alkali, in fome falt, and that falt calcined in avery ftrong red heat. ‘To afcertain the quantity of metallic arfenic in mifpickel, arfenical pyrites, &c. the moft advantageous method is, to acidify it by nitric acid, and then to combine it with oxide of lead. This arfeniate of lead (containing, ‘as was before {aid, 33,2 per cent. of acid,) may be eftimated to contain 22 per cent. of metallic arfenic. If both fulphur and arfenie are prefent, lead may be equally ferviceable, after both have been acidified ; for fulphate of lead is not materially foluble in any acid; whereas, on the contrary, arfeniate of lead is very much fo. * See note In page 144. . + | was particularly cautious in afcertaining that, during that experi- ment, no fulphureous acid had been produced, the formation of which would have eafily accounted for any difference. F When of Copper and of “Iron.. 22%, _. When copper and iron are to be feparated, one. fingle affu- fion of ammonia will jot always fuffice. . That two may be ometimes neceflary, is an objection to the method I propofe for the fubfequent ebullition with potath. But, when I ufe that of precipitating the copper by iron, it requires no pre- vious precipitation by any alkali. ‘It is fufficient to add mu- riatic acid to the original folution of the ore in nitric acid, and evaporate to dryneis. The nitric acid is diflodged from the oxide of copper, and the muriatic takes its pipes: Ifa fingle evaporation is not fufficient, a fecond (for the operation is very fhort, and caufes no-lofs upon fillers, &c.) maybe attempted; and when the iron ufed for the purpofe of re- vivifying the copper is put in, the liquor may be made to boil; by which means the procefs is rendered much more certain and expeditious. Some iron will neceffarily be dif- folved, and the yuantity muft be noted. The liquer, which contained muriate of copper and of iron, now contains only the latter. Boiled with a little nitric acid, it will become red; and then ammonia, or potath, will give a red precipt- tate, which, well wafhed and dried, will reprefent 61 per cent. of metallic iron. All thefe metals having thus been precipitated, no conftituent part of the ore, except the ful- phur, which, in the fir treatment, had been converted into fulphuric acid, is contained in the liquor; and from it, when neutralized, this latter may be precipitated by nitrate of ba- rytes, which will reprefent 14,6 per cent. of fulphur. The abfolute necetfity. of conftantly ufing pure alkalis, in this method of analyfis, is too evident to be infifted upon. GENERAL VIEW OF THE FOREGOING ANALYSES. In taking a retrofpective furvey of the experiments above related, upon the various natural arfeniates of copper which we have examined, we fhall find, Firft, That natural arfeniate of copper exifts in three dif- ferent ftates of combination ; the firlt containing 14 per cent., the fecond 21 per cent., and the third about 29 per cent. of acid. Secondly, That each of thefe may contain different propor- tions of water, either as conftituting a hydrate, or as water of cryflallization. Thirdly, That, upon lofing its water, arfeniate of copper will pafs from blue to pale green, and finally to brown, as in No. I. Fourthly, That No. I. is the only real arfeniate of copper, all the others being arfeniates of hydrate of copper. Fifthly, That No, I, is not to be admitted as an arfeniate ” of . 222 Analyfis of the Arfeniates of copper containing 39,7 per cent. of acid. For, if we put it on the fame footing with the others, in admitting a due proportion of water into its compofition, we fhall, by calcu- lation, reduce it to that clafs containing 29 per cent. Sixthly, That in beginning with that kind which contains the leaft quantity of acid,. and rifing progreffively to that which contains the greatett, we fhall find the order to be thus: No. VI. contains - 14 per cent. No. V. - - - 21 per cent. Nos. [. III. and IV. - 2g per cent. ' No. IT. feems to be a particular fpecies. It confifts of a much greater proportion of oxide, with a lefs quantity. of water, (and this its external colour announces,) combined with/nearly the fame. proportion of arfenic acid. Indeed, if certain:charaéters did not fpeak fo ftrongly in favour of this divifion, I thould not have hefitated to clafs it with the laft- mentioned kinds. But it is found in many ftates; which feems to indicate, that the water is by no means in the fame degree of intimate combination that it is in the others ; and this alone may ferve to diftinguifh it to the eye of the mineralogift. _If, to the above natural arfeniates, is added the fecond ar- tificial arfeniate, we fhall have another proportion of acid, at the rate of 40 per cent. Here then we have two fimple fub- ftances combined in four different proportions, and producing feven diftin€& combinations. But, what is not the leaft to be admired, is the wonderful accordance in the order which two fciences, operating with. very different in{ftruments, have allotted to the fame fubftangees. By that, not only the fagacity of Nature becomes very ftrik- ing; but, from the acknowledged accuracy of one method of inveftigation, the reliance to be placed upon the other is rendered more confpicuous; and each receives additional ftrength and confirmation. Chemiftry has long been in the habit of aiding the fcience of mineralogy, of which it laid the foundation; but it was not till lately that cryftallography could form a judgment of its own, much lefs confirm the truth of the fource from which it fprung. Secrion II. Arfeniates of Iron. The arfeniates of iron remain now to be examined. In- cluded, formerly, among arfeniates of copper, they have been” feparated from them upon the authority of chemical analyfis. For, although to recognife, by external character and form in all their modifications, fubftances already known, 1s par- : ticularly of Copper and of Iron. 223 ticularly the province of cryftallography ; yet he who would expect that it fhould declare the nature of thofe fubftances which it beholds for the firft time, would exact more than it ever has promifed; or ever could perform. Among foflils, it may clafs, and find new {pecies ; but chemical analyfis is the bafis of al] arrangement among metallic ores.. In them, to feparate, is the talk of the one; to-affign a place, is the bu- finefs of the other. Cupreous Arfeniate of Iron*. One hundred parts. of this arfeniate, expofed to a low red heat, loft 12, which were pure water. Nitric acid was poured upon the refiduum; and, finding that it was diflolved with difficulty, the ebullition was continued during feveral hours. The liquor was then filtered. Sixty parts, which fhall pre- fently be examined, remained undiflolved. Into this filtered liquor, nitrate of Jead was poured, which occafioned a preci- pitate, as ufual; but the operation was difcontinued until I fhould obtain all the arfeniate of copper which I imagined to be contained in the ore. For this purpofe, I had re- courfe to the 60 parts mentioned above. They were in the form of a greenifh gray powder, very hard and gritty, which had eyery appearance of filica, contaminated by a {mall por- tion of copper interpofed between the molecules of that earth. I refolved to treat it in the fame manner as all filiceaus ftones, and proceeded to boil it with potath. In Jefs than three minutes it became of a very red brown, from the greenifh gray which it originally was; and feemed confiderably attcnuated in its particles: The liquor was de- eanted, and examined. It was found to contain arfenic acid ; and the precipitate, which had refifted the action of the pot- ath, was proved to be a mixture of iron and copper. Thefe preliminary experiments were fufficient to indicate a ready method of analyfis. 100 parts, boiled with potath, immediately became of a deep reddith brown, The liquor was feparated from the refidaum by filtration; and, after the ufual neutralization, evaporation, and affufion of nitrate of lead, (all of which operations were detailed in the firft part of this paper,) gave a precipitate correfponding to 35,5 of * This fpecies had been mentioned by Mr. Prouft, but in a manner which, as it was a new fubftance, and demanded particular attention, docs not ‘give all the fatisfaction which that chemift generally affords. No doubt the -{earcity of the ore prevented his making every neceflary re- fearch; and I may dec myfelf fortunate in having been fo near the {pot in which it is found. My friend Mr. Hatchett very obligingly gave me a Specimen of this ore, which he had received from Dr. Pallas, who had brought it with him from Siberia, where it had becn found, . arfenic 224. Analyfis of the Arfeniates ? arfenic acid. _ The firft refiduum weighed 53. Diffotved, as far as they could be, in muriatic acid, there remained 3, which, upon examination, were found to be really, filica. Ammonia, poured in excefs into the muriatic folutiony re- diffolved 22,5, which were copper; and 27,5 of iron re- mained hehind. The proportions were,. “J Silica i = > 3 Arfenic acid = 2 3395 Oxide of iren = w 2755 Oxide of copper °- - 2255 Water us 3 - 12 98,5 a None of thefe experiments were fufficient to determine, whether this ore is in the ftate of a triple falt, or merely a mixture of two arfeniates. As, in a ternary combination, the proportion of acid might vary, it cannot be juftly called in to aid us in our inquiry. The folubility of one part of the ore being much greater than that of the other, and in dif- ferent quantities of each falt, incline more to the opinion that it is but a mixture, . Simple Arfeniate of Iron. This arfeniate, expofed to any degree of heat, gave but an cunfatisfactory refult, with regard to the quantity of water. The arfenic acid is volatilized from this ore with peculiar facility, for which I fhall attempt hereafter to account. Some fubfequent experiments, however, have induced me to fix the quantity of water at about 10,5. One hundred parts, boiled with potath, left 58,5. The liquor, treated, as ufual, by nitrate of lead, gave 31 of arfenic acid, The 58,5 left four, which muriatic acid could not diflolve, and which were filica. Ammonia diffolved 9; and. .there remained 45,5 of iron. This analyfis prefents the fol- lowing refult : Sili@aieiisi j~ - - 4 Arfenicacid - - : 31 Oxide of iron - - 4535 Oxide of copper = - 9 Which will leave for water 10,5 100,0 This ore appears to be a pure arfeniate, mixed accidentally with a little copper; as fome of the copper arfeniates cafually give traces of iron. This is the kind mentioned by Mr. — Klaproth as an arfeniate of copper, and the firft sh under of Copper and of Iron.» 226 ‘wnder ‘that denomination. © Heating it’ on charcoal, before’ the blowpipe, he perceived a fmell of arfenic, and, at length, obtained a metallic button, which was found to be copper. ‘That there is copper in this ore, is evident from) analyfis. But the mere arfenical fmell was not a fufficient ground to affert: that it contained arfenic acid; for this metal might, with as? much probability, have been in any other ftate. Tf, indeed, ’ that very accurate and able analy{t had, upon trying the ore with the blowpipe in a platina {poon, perceived no fumes, he might then have concluded that the arfenie mutt be in’ the ftate of acid, and that charcoal was neceflary to operate: a partial reduction, to which the arfenic owed its volatility: and its fmell. But no fuch experiment is reported. It is alfo rather extraordinary that Mr. Gmelin. fhould: have taken this ore out of the clats of arfenical/ores, and left it as an unknown fpecies of copper; when, in fact, it is an arfenical ore, but not an arfenical ore of copper. I examined fome cryttals which are commonly attached the {pecimens of this ore. They were thofe which, according to M. de Bournon, are in a ftate of decompofition. By this fpontaneous decay, they become of a deep brownith red, not unlike the fub{tance called colcothar ; but they till retain: their cubic form. They contain a little acid and water, owing, perhaps, to their having efcaped from total decompo- fition. The fame theory that accounts for the difficulty of afcertaining the quantity of water will account for the red colour they thus aflume. When green fulphate of iron is expofed in a crucible to a red heat, it is well ‘inped that fulpbureous acid is difengaged in great quantities; and that,, if the operation is continued long enough, there remains a red powder. In this cafe, the’ green oxide of iron has taken up oxygen trom the acid; and! this latter has been partly decompofed, and almoft totally volatilized. Now, in the fpecies here fpoken of, the iron, as in the green fulphate, is in the ftate of green oxides therefore capable of receiving an additional portion of oxygen, But arfenic acid will, at a high temperature, lofe a part of its _ -oxygen, and, retrovrading to the ftate of white oxide, will be volatilized ; and {till more eafily will thofe changes take place, when oxide of iron, ready to receive, and arlenie acid, ready to yield oxygen, are in contaét, A lefs degree of heat, therefore, will fuffice to drive off this acid, from green arfe- “Miate of iron, than from arfeniate of copper. But we mult not fromethis conclude, that the affinity of the latter metal _ for arlenic acid is fuperior to that of the former; for, the at- traction of green oxide of iron for oxygen, aud of caloric for Vou. XII, No. 47. P white 226 Analy/fis of the Arféniates white oxide ef arfenic, determines a new order of divelling affmities. ivr But. moft. of the mineral, acids that have been tried have been found capable of uniting with irom jn two flatés 3 im the fiate of green oxide, and im that of red oxide,, the refi- duary powder above meiutioned. I was defirous: to know whether I could, im any, manner, imitate, by art, the laft natural produéts I have examined, as I had already imitated, in fome degree, an arfeniate of copper. . For this purpofe, E decompofed green fulphate and red fulpkate of iron, by arfe- miate of ammonia; and, having well wafhed and dried the precipitates, proceeded to examine thems : The green arfeniate was, acted upon by heat, in the fame manneér as the natural one, and exhibited: the fame appear- ances. By the ufual! methods, I found its proportions to: bes. Oxide of iron - B Arfenic acid - 38 Water - RO Ag LOO This is not the fame proportion of acid that is contained! in the natural arfeniate;. however, I ftate them both as I found them. The other artificial arfeniate, which is of a: pale greenifh red, afforded, Red oxide of iron - = 36,5 Arfenicacid - ~~ 41,5 Water’ =-* - - 20,0 8,0 Thele falts agree with the generality oF the known: falts of iron; all of which contaim a greater quantity of oxide, as! the oxide itfelf contains lefs oxygen. By boiling with nitric acid, 1t was eafy to convert the greem arfeniate of iron into the red; and fuch is the cafe with all the falts of green oxide of iron. As, during the courfe of thefe experimentss I had occafion to make fome remarks upon the divers habitudes of this metal, which, as far as I know, have not all been obferved, I {hall terminate the whole of thefe analyies (as I have already done that part of them which treats of arfeniate of copper in all its known varieties) by fimply {tating what has oecurred to me. I happened to boil fome muriatic acid upon, a) greater quantity of iron than the acid: could diffolve. 1 found a per- feétly limpid and colourlefs hquor remain, which, neverthe~ lefs, was a folution of muriate of iron. .This colourlefs liquor being decompofed by arfeniate of ammonia, the precipitate was Bbc b Li of Copper and of Iron. _ 999 Was of 2 gteenith whité, and foluble in a great quantity of Water; but, paffing to a much deeper green, quickly fell to the bottom. A praffiate or a gallate poured into thé faid folution, occafioned fo change till it bad fiood a confiderable time expofed to the contact of the air. By potafh, and by foda, a white precipitaieé was thrown down, which quickly affumed a ¢reen ting’; and fhat tinge increafed fo much as to become a very deep grafs green in a few minutes. Am- monia o¢cafioned a white precipitate, which was rediffolved by an excefs of the precipitant. The afimoniacal folution affumed the fame ereenifh tinge, and ‘{peedily depofited an oxide of iron, which was firft of a deep green, but inftan- taneoufly became black, with fome yellowifh ochrey parti- eles on the furface. If, however, thefe precipitations were effected in a bottle well flopped, and defended from thé con- tact of the atmofphere, no change of colour took place ; and that portion which was diffolved by an excels of ammionia rémained in the folation. In endeavouring to diftil, or to evaporate, the water of this colourlefs folution, in order to obtaity ctyflals, it became of a light green, the intenfity of Which duemented, as the diftillation was continued. T coul not, tlierefore, hope to procure this falt in a cryftalline form. Hence, it is evident that we have a white muriate of iron, which, as well as the oxide it contains, is vety fufceptible of afluming an addition of oxygen; for to thet alone I attri- bute the precipitation caufed in a folution of that falt, into which the different reagents above mentioned had been poured; 2 precipitation which did not take place till after it had been expofed itr a fituation where it could abforb the quattity of oxyven necéffary to produee a change in its prin- ciples. This folution of white muriate of iron, when expofed to the air, becomes green, and is thet’ in the ftate of green niuriate, well known. Ata ecrtain degree of oxidation, I have obferved the precipitate formed, to be foluble in the car- bonates of potafh and of foda, and nore fo in that of ammonia; buat, upon abforption of oxygen, to be quickly abandoned by them, and then to fall to, the bottom, in a blackifh powder mixed with yellow, If into a folution of hw wuriate of ifom nitric acid is poured, both liquors cing cool, and not too concentrate, the mur will become ‘ecipitated uble in of 4 blackith brown, hot unlike malate of iron. | by the alkalis, it vields a black powder, no longe em, but which refembles, in every refpect, coi oxide of iron. , soe ff this ¢reen muridte of iron is further éxpofed to the pi P2 © 228 On the Arfeniates of Copper and of Tron. the liquor becomes red, but ftill gives a blackifh green pre« cipitate; but, if it is boiled with nitric acid, it then is con~ verted into.a red liquor, which yields a red precipitate, by alk the alkalis and earths capable of caufing a precipitation, From thefe obfervations, upon the different combinations of iron with oxvgen, and of oxide of iron with muriatic acid, fome conclufions may be drawn interefting to mineralogy as_ well as to chemiftry. The variety of colour in many ftones in which -iron has been found, is a fact which, although we cannot deny our affent to direct experiments, has never been accounted for in a fatisfactory manner. In white, green, yellow, black, red; i a word, in foffils of every colour, iron, with fometimes the help of manganefe, and lately of chro- mium, has been regarded as the colouring matter of every fhade; but it feems almoft paradoxical, that the fame fub- ftance fhould affume and communicate fo many tints. In mica, kaolin, amianthus, afbeftos, rock cryftal, and,.all white fiones, I believe it to exift as the white oxide; and that ftate is its firft degree of combination with oxygen. In them, this metal is not very abundant; for, if it were, I have fome reafon (as fhall be proved immediately) to think that they would obey the loadftone ftrongly. In lapis ollaris, ferpentines, and many green fiones, we have the green ox- ide; and moft of thefe are magnetic; nay, as Mr. Humboldt has obferved, ferpentines enjoy the property of polarity. And thence I conclude, that the rarity of this metal, in the firft clafs, prevents them from participating that quality. _ This I believe to be its fecond ftage of combination with oxygen. In the ftate of black oxide it is frequently found, and 1s too well known to need further comment. I believe this to be its third ftage of oxidation. But there is a red liquid muriate, which gives a very dark greenifh precipitate, approaching to dark brown. What the ftate of that precipitate is, I have not yet determined ; but I imagine it to be a mixture of black and red, Brown and yellow oxides, I am confident, are mix- tures of fimple oxides, and neither of them is an oxide /uz generis. The red oxide is the extreme of oxidation, and af- fords many beautiful colours in nature and.in art. It is much to be defired, for the advancement of analytic chemiftry, that experiments upon the proportions of oxygen with which metals are capable of uniting, under different cir- cumflances, and upon the combination of thofe oxides with all the known acids, together with many others of their pro- perties, would attract the notice, and engage the labours, of accurate manipulators. Experinients of this kind have been defpifed, from an idea of their refembling a mere mechanical employment ; - . Cimparifon of the Definitive Metre, Bc. 249 ‘employment; but, fo far is that from the truth, they may juftly be confidered among the moft difficult problems of “chemiftry ; and it is only from the rigid and conftantly “fimilar refults of fuch experiments, ‘that we can hope to at- “tain an intimate knowledge of the principles with which na- “ture has originally operated. : Me +i [To be continued. ] XXXIX. Comparifon of the Definitive Metre with a Standard of the Englifh Meafures, carried from London to Pars by M.A. Picrer, Profeffor of Phelofophy at Geneva*. A S the meafurement of the earth, and refearches refpect- ing the figure of it, had, at various times, and in different ‘countries, during the courfe of the 18th century, been’ an object of the labours of the moft diftinguifhed philofophers +, when an idea was lately conceived im France of deducing from ‘the dimenfions of our globe a ftandard of unity, to which | every thing fufceptible of meafurement or weight could be referred, it was neceflary to make an effort proportioned to the importance of an enterprife become a national concern. In the midft, therefore, of a long and deltructive war, and ‘famidft a thoufand difficulties of every kind, a feries of tri- angles was eftablithed between Dunkirk and Barcelona, com- prehending the tenth part of an arc of the meridian extend- ‘any from the equator to the pole, that is to fay, the fourth part of the whole circumference of the globe; and the ten ‘millionth part of this are fo determined was adopted as re- prefenting the unity of the whole metric fyftem. This plan was executed with ftandards compofed of {ubftances capable of refifting the influence of the weather; and by then efta- ‘blifhing, as was carefully done, the exact ratio of the length of the metre to that of a common pendulum which {wings feconds, on the borders of the fea, in a given latitude, the determination of this unity was rendered independent of any ' cataftrophe that might alter or deftroy.its types, in the con- ftruétion of which all thofe refources prefented by philofophy and the arts, now brought to a very high degree of perfection, were employed. - , On the other hand, geodefian operations, defigned to fur ' © From Bihdictoeque Britannique, vy profcilor Pigtet, No. 148 4+ Swedith aflronomers ave pow employed in again meafuring a degree OF the meridian, which was meafurcd sin Lapland under the polar circle by the French academicians above fixty years ago. 4 af 3 nifh . 230 Compavrifon of the Definitive Metre nifh materials for a new map of Great Britain, were under- taken, about 25 years ago, in England, and have been car- ried on fince that time. Thefe labours, begun by the late general Roy, have been conduéted with a great deal of fa- gacity and precifion, and the refults of them may afford in- terefting data in regard to the figure of the earth. A diftin- guifhed member of the Royal Society of London, Sir George Schuckhurgh, has employed himfelf, with fuccefs, in re- fearches calculated to eftablith the precife length of the ftandards, which have ferved as a bafis to all the geodefian measurements made in England. : Z. . It was therefore to be regretted that labours fo analogous in their nature, carried’on ip two neighbouring countries, and fufceptible of acquiring, by comparifon, a new degree of in- tereft, fhould remain unconnected for want of a real {landard of the meafures of one of thefe countries, viz. England, We experienced this regret in a very lively manner at different periods; and we can with truth aflert, that if the hope o precuring this mvan of comparifon was not the only motive of the journey undertaken by one of us to England, jt was a firong inducement towards it. Our colleague, profetlor Piet, when he arrived at Paris, took fome fteps to obtain an authentic metre, in order that he might fubout it to examination before the Royal Society of London, of which he is a member;, but, in confequence of the fhortnefs of his ftay in Pans, thefe fleps were not at- tended with the defired etleét. He, however, took advantage of a longer refidence in England to procure from ‘Troughton, an artift celebrated for his accuracy in conftructing and di- yiding geometrical and afironomical inftruments, a ftandard exaclly fimilar to one he had conftructed, for Sir George “Sehackburgh, and to which that philofopher referred the principal Englith meafures in the memoir aboye mentioned, Our colleague allo caufed to be conttructed by the fame artift the comparative apparatus of Sir George Shuckburgh, confifting of two excellent microfcopes, one of which is far- nifhed with a micrometer that divides the Englifh inch into ten.thoufand egual parts. Ga his return to Paris he took the earlicit opportunity of laying thefe articles before the Minifier of the Intertor and the National Inftitute. This learned body named three of its members to proceed to.a “yegular comparifon of the definitive metre with the flandard jult mentioned. This Jabour, of a fimpler nature than it might at firft appear, employed the commiffioners during five fittings of four hours each, and was conduéted with all the care and attention that the nature of the object required. C. Prony, with the Standard of the Englifh Meafures. 233 &. Prony, to whom thefe refearches were particularly intereft- ing, as it is to him we are indebted for a French tranflation of general Roy’s memoir on the firft trigonometrical meafure- ments made in England,: noted down the refults 3 and it was in the cabinet of that learned man, and by the affiftance of a comparative apparatus belonging to him, that the principal operations were made. He was fo kind as to tranfmit to us an authentic copy of the report given in to the Tnfitute ; a pro- duction thought to be fo generally interelting, as to be read in the public fitting of the Jaft quarter. He, adds,),‘¢ that this report will be foon followed by a memoir, in which he, will _ give more circumstantial details refpecting the obfervations he made; together with a defcription and drawing of his comparative apparatus.” In the mean time we dhall lay before our readers the report, afluring them that, we have taken every poflible care, in revifing the proofs, to avoid ty- pographical errors. ea DT waiho NATIONAL INSTITUTE. _Eatrad from the Regiflers of the Clafs; Sitting of the 6th Nivofe, Year 19 (Dec. 27, 1801,) A member, in name of a commiffion, read the following report on a comparifon of the ftandard metve of the Inftitute with the Englith foot : i3) is “°C. Pigtet, profeffor of philofophy at Geneva, fubmitted to the clafs, in the month of Vendemiaire laft, ‘an interefling collection of objects relating to the feiences and the arts, which he procured during his travels in England. ** Among thefe objects was a flandard of the Englifh mea fures on a brafs ruler, ftrong and well polithed, about 49 Englith inches in length, 36 of which make the Englith yard, and divided along its whole length, by lines exceedingly fine, into tenths of an inch, . * This flandard was conftruéted, at the requeft of C. Pictet, by Troughton, an arti(ft of London, who has the well-earned reputation of dividing inftruments with gveataccuracy : it was companed at London with another {tandard made by the fame artift for Sir George Schuckburgh, and it was. found that the difference between thefe two ftandards was no more than the difference between each of the divifions, that is to fay, quantities abfolutely infenfible. ** The flandard of C, Piétet, then, ought to be confidered as identical with that of Sir George Schuckburgh: a detail of the experiments which afcertain the exactnefs of the latter, may be feen in the Philofophical Tranfactions for 17y8. ° ** C, Piétet had Iaid before the Inftitute, together yr P4 the 232 . Comparifon of the Definitive Metre * the above rule, divided into tenths of an inch, ‘a‘comparer or inftrument' proper foreftimating the {mall differences between the meafares, conftructed by the fame artilt, and of whieh the following is a {hort defcription: “© The comparer is compoted of two ii dnetelises sith threads, which are! pliced ina‘ vertical fituation.' “The'faces - of the rule to be examined being horizontal, and at’a con- venient ‘diftence from each ‘other, | by making them move along a metal’rod'with divifions, one of the microfcopes re mains fixed near one of the extreme lengths of the point to be compared, and’ ferves’ to affure the immobility of that point; the fecond’ microfcope is towards the other extremity of the fame length, and fixed alfos but the frame which bears ‘thefe threads may be moved by means of a micrometer ferew ‘the threads of which are equal'to ./.th of an inch Englith ; and the plate patied over by the index being divided into an- other 100 parts, gives... th of an inch “Englith for every divifion of the plate. By means of this. arrangement, if the microfeopes.are firft, placed in fuch a manner ihat the inter- fetions of their threads corre(pond to the extremities of any length intended to be compared with another which differs from it’ by ‘a quantity lefs than'1 roth of an inch,’ the dif- oference of ‘the two. Jengths,) by ‘employing the ‘micrometef, may be eftimated in 10.000th parts of an inch. “The threads } ‘placedyin) the focus are difpofed oblignely - an regard tothe dines of divition, {o'that a correfpondence is nown: tovhave taken place when a line of idivifion divides into two equal parts’ the ~acute! angle formed by the two threads. o). § We fhall here obferve, that, in the year 1485, R Ruveddoh employed,.in the like manner} two. microfeopes, adapted to an inftruthent he had invented -to-meafure the dilatation of metals. General Ro ry gave a defeription ‘of this inftrument in the 75th volume of the Philoféphical Tranfaétions. “C, Pictet offered to entraft the clafs: with'the Enelith ftandard and the comparer above defcribed, to enable: them to determine the ratio of the metre to the Enelith foot: the ‘clafs aecepted this offer with: gratitude, and charged C. Le- ‘gendre, » Mechain,) and! myleif, (Prony,) to! join’ with (Ce: Piétet. an orders to determine the ratio’ between’ the ftandard of. the platina metre: and ‘the Englith: ‘foot. "The followimg: is a hort account if) therrefult of the labour undertaken on this fubjeét at the houte’ of Lenoir for .@ firft comparifons, rite ‘* The: 49 inches of the Englith rule terminate at divifions traced out on one of the- faces of that rule sand the ii ay 6 © with the Standard of the Englifh Meafures. 1093 *of platina and iron of the [nftitute have no divifion, the Jength ‘of the metre being given by the diftanice between their ex- ‘tremities, This cireumftance prevented, on the one hand, the length of a metre from being taken immediately on the ftandards with the microfeopes; and, on the other, did not ‘permit the immediate efimation of the metre of the Inftitute an Englifh inches, by the procefs employed for fixing the ftandard of the new mesfvres; a procefs which: confifts in refling the extremity of the metal rule fubjected to examina- ‘tion againft the knee of a fixed gauze, and applying to the other extremity a fliding knec, conftructed for eftimating the difference between the meafures, the ratio of which is to be determined, or the identity of which is to be afcertained. “© The artift Lenoir tried to furmount thefe obftacles by employing a copper rule, a metre in length, cut at its extre- mities into a very fharp bevel, in fuch a manner, that this “rule could be compared with the ftandard of the Inftitute according to the ufual method of extreme contad, and which being placed above the Englith ‘rule, the edees of the bevel produced on the furface of that rule the effeét of divifions- ‘parallel to thofe delineated upon it. By thefe means, the microfcopes could be ufed for eftimating in inches, and ten - thoufandth parts of an inch, the diftance’between thefe edges. «¢ By this method, the ftandard metre of platina, and an- other metre of iron, both belonging to the Inftitute, were compared with the Enelifh foot; the two former meafures being conftruéted in fuch a manner, that at the temperature of melting ice they are equal to each other and to the ten millionth part of a quarter of the meridian. It was found ‘that at the temperature of 15°3 degrees of the centigrade ‘therniometer the platina metre was equal to 39°3775, and ‘the iron metre to 39°3788 Enelifi inches, meafured on the rule of C, Pittet. _» But thefe fir obfervations made known to the eommif- fioners that the procefs they employed might leave fome un- ‘certainty, in confequence of the great difficulty of placing the interfeétion of the threads at the exaét extremity of the bevel of the rale, which ferved as aterm of comparifon. A reflec- tion or irradiation of light which took’ place at that extremity, ‘prevented our clearly diftinguifhing whether the optic axis of the microfcope was exactly tangent to the fmall furface which terminated that bevel. : * To remedy this inconvenience, one of the commiffioners * Mott ; ; © This method, as fiiniply 6 invenious, was propofed by. C. Prony ; and 'C. Paull of Geneva, who was acc icntally prefent, carried it into execu- tions it was attended with complete fuccels, propofed 234 Comparifon of the Definitive Metre, Se. propofed the following method, which was adopted :—It contifled in tracing out, on a fmall flip or rule of metal, of the fame thicknels as the Englifh rule, a very delicate line perpendicular to the length of the rule. . This piece of metal was made to reft againit a fixed knee, aud the microfeope with fixed threads was brought to the line above mentioned : the piece of metal containing that line was then removed, © and the metre to be compared was put in its room, with one of its extremities relting againft the fixed knee, and the piece of metal placed at the other. It is here evident that the lime traced out on the piece of metal was im this new pofition at the exact. diftance of a metre from its, former pofition when refting agaimt the fixed knee; and, by making the threads of the fecond microfcope correfpond with this line, the di- fiance between the points of interfection, of the two threads was exactly a metre. To efiimate the metre in Englifh inches, nothing then was neceflary but to put into its room the divided rule, to place-a line of one of its divifions under that of the interfection of the threads which was fixed, and to eftimate at the other extremity, by means of the micro- meter, the fraction of divifion, which with the whole num- ber of thefe divifions gave the length of the metre. * The compariion was repeated on the 4th of Brumaire at the houfe of one.of the commiflioners by the method here defcribed ; and after feveral obfervations, which correfponded in a very fatisfactory manner, it was found that, at the tem- peratyre of 12°75 degrees of the centigrade thermometer, the platina fandard of the metre was 3973781, and the jron ftandard 39°3795 Englith inches. ities “« The iwo metres having been conftructed to be equal at the temperature of freezing, the operation from iB the preceding relults were obtained may be verified by finding what the ratios would be at that temperature. For this de- termination we have the correct experiments of Borda, and the commiffion of weights and meafures on the dilatation of platina, copper, and iron, from which it refults, that for one degree of the centigrade thermometer, platina dilates 9700000856, iron o'9@001156, and copper 0'o0Q90%783); and from thefe data it is found that, at the temperature of freezing, the platina metre of the Inflitute is equal, to 39°38280, and the tron metre to 39°38265 Englith inches, mieafured on th¢ ftandard of C. Pictet. * The difference 0'00015 between thefe two lengths, lefs than The female fat for forty davs, and on the 25th of July one of the eges was hatched; but the young one died next morning. As M. Pafferi was defirous to confirm the fact of a parrot being hatched at Rome, he carried it to the hofpital of San- Spirito; but putrefaction being too far advanced, it was thrown away. It was feen, however, by feveral of the young furgeons at that inftitution. The fourth, or rather the fifth time, that the female laid, (for the had laid once befides the three times above men- tioned,) was in the'prefent year 1801. She depofited three eggs in the fame veflel filled with afhes, which ftood in the fame place as before. » The incubation lafted forty days, and on the 24th of June a young one was hatched: fome days after, the other eggs were thrown away as unfruitful. This young parrot is at prefent in good health, and as large as a pigeon. i remained almoft naked for the firft fortnight, being co- vered only'with foft down: the {mall gray tubes of the quills . then began to appear, and from thefe iffued, like a {mall bruth, the green feathers, which grew progreffively to fuch a degree, that on. the 2oth of Auguft, that is to fay, at about the end of two months, it was completely clothed. © On the 12th of July, that is, on the 18th day, the young parrot began to emit cries for the ‘fir{t titne. » + On the 14th, that is, on the 20th day, it began to open its eyes, * © Teis very common for birds to lay ‘a fecond time, when their eggs . have been broken or carried away. - * e 4 On —. - » : ‘ * 4 a 238 Accothrtt of & Parrot hatched at Ronie. On the 20th of Auguft, wher it was well covered with feathers, the mother, which had conttantly flept in’ the neft with its young, abandoned it, and flept by the male as ufual. On the 25th of Augult, the young parrot flept out of the nett. Il. Habits of thefe Birds—their Attachment—Method of rearing their Young. . It has not been obferved that thefe parrots fpeak more in fummer than in winter. They did not feemy to fuffer any inconvenience from the heat: yet they wath themfelves in fummer, and, when the fun is ardent, place themfelves in the fhade: on the other hand, they feek for the fun in winter. They feem much affected by a change of weather ; and during ftorms they are under great agitation, and fend forth loud cries. No particular time of their moulting has been remarked + it takes place gradually in the courfe of the year. Thefe birds copulate only once a year, in the fpring: it was always in the latter end of March and beginning of April that they fhowed figns of it. At this time, the male redoubles his careffes to the female, which returns them by marks of the greate(t fenfibility. They kifs with their bills, fcratch each other, and firoke, one by one, the fmall feathers of the head. Sometimes the male, prefling his throat, by a fort of rumination throws up fome morfels he has {wal- lowed, and prefents them with his bill to his companion, which eats them with great avidity. After thefe preludes, they copulate like pigeons, They co- pulate feveral times a day: they have been-feen to copulate even three times in a morning, and it is to be prefumed that they did fo feveral times more in the courfe of the day; which proves that they are exceedingly warm. According to our obfervations they conftruc& no neft, They collected no feathers,, bits of ftraw, or any other hight bodies within their reach. The female depofited. her eggs in the fame veflel, without carrying any thing to it. The eggs are as large as thofe of a pigeon, and. are entirely white. As fome authors have obferved that the eggs of the Amazon parrot are {potted with gray, while thofe of the parrot in qneftion were white, there is reafon to conclude that the ftate of ddémefticity has an influence on the colour of the eggs, as it has fometimes om that of the plumage. This obfervation did not efcape Ariflotle *. » , . The number of eges was always two, except-oncey when * * Wut. Animal. lib, vi, ce. 2. x . j oes £ Account of a Parrot batched at Rome. 2315" there were three. Though thefe eggs were oftem handled, the female never made the leaft hefitation to fit upon them *. Of the eggs laid this and the preceding year, only one was hatched. The female alone fits on the eggs. The’ period of incuba- tion is forty days. The female fearcely ever leaves them, except to drink, or for any other neceflary purpofe ;.and them fhe immediately returns. During that time, the nrale ftands fentinel at a little diftance: he is very attentive to the leaft noife, and never flirs from the fpot but to carry food to the female, which he always breaks with his bill during the in= cubation. When the young parrot is hatched, both the old ones carry it food. The young one did not begin to eat alone till the 7oth day. The old ones continued to cut the food with their beaks for more than ten days. They gave to the young one the fame food as they ufed themielves. Being acecufiomed to every thing, they ate rice, meat, patie, Turkey corn, hemp-feed, and fraits; but they were fondefi of the {feeds of the turnfole, carthamus, melon, and cucumber. The following fact is highly worthy of attention:—The owner feeing that his young parrot increafed in fize, and fearing that the vetlel would be too {mall to contain the. mother and her young one, he put into a bafket fome linen rags and feathers, depofited it. in the fame place where the veffel ftood, and conveyed the young parrot into it: the mother immediately repaired to the batket, and feenied highly fatisfied with her new habitation; but fome hours after, fhe began to’ cut with her beak one edge of the batket: im three days fhe finithed: her -work, having made an aperture in it four or five inches im width and fix or feven in height. ‘The twigs were cut as neatly as if by the fharpeft inftrument.— It appears to me that this faét can be explained only in two: ways. The mother, feeing her young one grow big, cut the edge of the batket, that when it was’ in a ftate to go abroad it might have no occafion to climb over the edge, which was about fix inches in height. Til. Defcription of the Male, the Female, and young Parrot, im order to afcertain to what Species they belong. Had ornithologifts left us exact deferiptions, it would be eafy to compare different {pecies: thefo defcriptions are: very often deficient and imperfect, and very often the male alone,. * Buffon made the fame obfervation, vol. ix. Svo. p. 287. + Buifon fays that the male and female Aiazon parrots fit alternately. - 4 or . B40 Account of a Parrot hatched at Rome. or the female, has been delineated. It is well known that ° there is a diflerence among birds according to their fex; and ' this has produced great ambiguity, of which many inftances might be produced: thecafe has been the fame, in my opi- nion, with the male in quettion. : The.male is as large as a pullet of four months old: its length from the root of the bill to the extremity of the tail is 14 inches. The top of its head is of a beautiful yellow colour, which extends to the throat and the lower part of the neck. On the head, the feathers appear to have an orange tint, becaufe there is a double row, the longelt of which are yellow, and the fhorteft of a rofe coloun. The reft of the neck, the upper part of the back, and the cover of the wings, are of a brilliant green.» The breaft and belly are of a yel- lowith green, and the tip of the wings of a beautiful yellow intermixed with orange. The plumes of the wings are varie=' gated with blue, violet, and very bricht red. The two: exte- rior feathers on each fide of the tail have their internal barbs’ red at the origin of the quill, and of a'dark green at the ex- tremity, which is yellowifh green: the other feathers are’ of a dark green, terminating with a yellowifh green. On the: thighs it has very thick yellow feathers, like breeches @ da Suiffe: the bill is of an ath-gray colour, black at the tips the iris of the eye is orange: the feet are gray, and the claws black. According to this defcription it appears that, by the head and tips of the wings, it may belong to the family of the criks; but its fize, and the plumage of the back and belly, feem to give it a refemblance to the firft fpecies of the yel- low-headed Amazon of Buffon. The large yellow breeches’ & la Suiffe, as far as I know, have been‘defcribed by no or- nithologift; and this peculiarity is fufficiently remarkable to- make a feparate clafs: befides, the iris of the eyes of the par-: rots in queftion is orange in{tead of yellow, as in the criks ; and the bill is afh-coloured; while that of the Amazons is red at the bottom, and that of the criks white. - ; The female, which is fmaller than the male, is as large:as: a pigeon: her length from the root of the: bill is only 114 inches. The top of the head is yellow, and the tips of the wings of a bright red. The plumage has a perfeét refem- blance to that of the yellow-headed Amazon of Buffon : it is certainly the Pfittacus major, viridis alarum, cofta fuperne rubente, the Amazon parrot of Barrere*, and not the P/t-' tacus macrourus viridis, genis nudis, bumeris coccineis, Pfit-' ** France Equinoxiale, p, 144. tacus Account of a Parrot hatched at Rome. 241. “tecus nobilis of Linnzeus*. In my opinion Linneus alluded to fome {pecies of Ara, as the individuals in queftion have not their cheeks bare. There can be no doubt that the female is the real Amazon, but it is dificult to determine to what {pecies the male belongs. It is poffible that the latter may be the male of this fpecies, and that ornithologifts may have examined and defcribed only the female, and may have fup- pofed both to be perfectly fimilar; which, however, is rarely the cafe. It cannot be claffed either with the fpecies ap- proaching the yellow-headed Amazon, and known under the uame of the baftard Amazon, or démi-Amazon; for none of thefe have yellow breeches on the thighs: to obtain, there- fore, a complete hiftory of thefe birds, it would be neceffary to defcribe always both the male and the female. The young parrot, when examined at the third month, had thé head and lower part of the neck yellow, like the fa- ther: its length from the root of the bill was about ro inches, and, at four months, 11 inches. The body is exaétly like that of the father; but its plumage is of a much livelier and more fplendid green. The tips of the wings are orange, the {mall red feathers being interfperfed with yellow; it has the _ yellow breeches, but lefs tufted than thofe of the father; the fame legs, gray feet, and black claws: the bill is gray, and blackifh at the point. The eye till the third month was gray, and the iris of the fame colour; but it gradually changed, ‘and at the fourth month it was yellow. I have no doubt that it will become orange, like that of the father. Its tongue is very black, and the noftrils well marked: the progreds it has made in fize during the courfe of four mouths, induces me to think that it will {till grow, and become larger than the father. This living individual may afford an opportunity of making many important obfervations, which it would be interefting to follow. } aft, To know at what age it will attain to its-full growth. ad, Whether any change will take place in its plumage. 3d, At what age it will be in a ftate to procreate. 4th, How many years it will live. I have requefted the owner of this parrot_to attend to the ‘three firft articles; for, in regard to the duration of life, as 1 believe it to be very long, it can be known only to the fecond or third generation after us. I have begged him alfo to note down to what age the mother will lay. At prefent the muft be about twenty years of age, for it is about fifteen * Linn, Hitt. Nat. ed, 10. p. gv, eds 13. p. 140. Vol, XII. No, 47. Q fince g42 Account of a Parrot baiched at Rome. fince fhe came into his poffeffion; and, as fhe was then of the full fize, fhe muft at leaft have been five years of age. I begged him likewife to be attentive during the next year, and to obferve whether one egg alone will produce, and whe- ther the reft will be equally fruitful, TV. Inflances of fome Parrots which have laid in Europe. The parrots beth of the old and new continent never pafs the tropics, and feem confined to a zone of 23 degrees on each. fide of the equator: in their wild ftate they never pals thefe mits, which nature feems to have prefcribed to them. When tranfported beyond thefe latitudes, they live, and are fenfible to love, notwithftanding the difference of climate. We have fome inftances therefore, but very rare, of parrots producing young in our temperate countries; though it often happens that they lay ege¢s without any germ. Buffon aflerts, on the tettimony of the Gazette de Litterature of the 17th of November 1774, that M. de la Pigioniére had a male and a female parrot in the town of Marmande, in Angumois, which for five or fix years never failed to lay eggs that produced young, which were reared by the father and the mother. Thefe parrots were of the fpecies called the jaco, or afl-coloured parrot of Guinea, Pfrttacus cinereus fen fubceruleus of Al- drovandr. He quotes father Labat, who fpeaks of two par- rots which feveral times produced young at Paris; and the abbefs of Beaumont-les-Tours, who had two young parrots hatched in the mouth of January; but the cold foon killed them, Thefe are fingle fats which give us no information re- fpecting the habits of thefe birds either during the time of their laying or incubation. We, however, no where find that the:Amazon parrots, or any others of America, ever produced in Europe. Though the climate of Rome is not fo cold as that of Paris, as the mean temperature at the end ef March and the com- mencement of Aprilis 17 degrees of Reaumur *, I am not of opinion that this was the principal caufe of thefe parrots pro- ducing ; as the fame thing muft-have oftertaken place in Sict- Jy, Malta, and other countries lying more to the fouth: but of this we have no inftance. Lam_ therefore induced to think that the parrots in queftion produced at Rome, becaufe they had been long together, were exccedingly fond of each other, when they became acquainted, and always enjoyed the com- pleteft liberty ; becaufe they were probably of the fame age, * Tab. Meteorolog, de Rome, par l'abbé Scarpellini. _ r an Account of a Parrot batébed at Rome. 243° aiid becaufe the owner, finding that the eggs were not clear like thofe of the preceding year, but contained a germ, thought proper to leave them in a detached chamber expofed to the fun, gave the parrots more liberty and abundance: of food. I am fully perfuaded that thefe caufes contributed much more than the climate to their producing. If inftead of one young one, which I believe to be a male, there had been a female alfo, it is _very probable that a breed might have been eftablifhed at Rome, We may hope for it the next year. Conjeftures refpefting the Duration of the Life of Parrots, deduced from the Time of their Incubation, and compared with that of other Birds. Salerne afferts that he faw a parrot 60 years of age ftill alive and aétive; M. de la Borde fays that he faw one which was more than 46 years, and I myfelf have feen one which had been in the famie family 75 years. Though Olina, an excellent obferver, was of opinion that the life of parrots, taken at a medium, did not exceed twenty years, I ata of opinion that he was deceived, having, per-. haps, had an opportunity of obferving only a fmall number of individuals. All naturalifis agree in affigning a long life to parrots, to which Linnzus gives the epithet of lomgevr. This fact, then, is inconteftable. The parrots in queftion furnifh a new proof of it. According to the calculation already made, the age of the female cannot be lefs than 20 years; for, as it is five fince fhe firft laid, it thence refults that fhe was then 153 but if in the order of nature thefe birds begin to lay at that agé, this would be another proof of their longevity, fince we know that the large birds, with which we are beft acquainted, are capable of Jaying before they are a year old, and that they live at leaft nine or ten times as long: we may thence con- clude that thefe parrots muft live 130 or 150 years. It may be objected, indeed, that it fometimes happens that the fe- males do not become mothers till an age greater than that eftablifhed by nature: but this is rarely the cafe among quadrupeds, and. ftill. lefs fo among birds. The parrots in gueftion lived together ten years without laying, though they enjoyed the fame liberty and the fame facility of copu- lating as they afterwards had; and therefore we may fuppofe that nature was not difpofed for it. Buffon thinks that the life of birds is longer in proportion than that. of quadrupeds, according to the ume employed in their growth, As we can obtain certain data refpecting the Qz time 244° " Ascotnt of a Parrot hatched at Rome. time employed for the whole.growth only in regard to a {malt number of individuals, let us try whether we cannot, by in- du€tion, difcover that the longevity of birds is proportioned to the duration of their incubation. _ I fubjoin the following table in order that the reader may fee, at one view, the period of the incubation of different birds, and the duration of their life in the next column. I muft however obferve that the time of incubation is not al- together the fame in all climates: in warm climates it is acce- Jerated, and in cold climates retarded. But the difference 1s sory fmall, and can occafion no fenfible difference in the table. Table of the Period of Incubation, and of the Duration of Life of feveral Birds. Names of the) - Incubation. Duration of Life, . spat Birds, Days. Years, as ae The fwan - 42 = - - g0onearly - Aldrovandi. Parrot -. - 40 - - = 100 nearly - Wolmaer. Goofe - - 30 - - - 80and more Willughby. Eagle .- - 30 Buttard - - ah Never obferved by any naturalift. : Duck - - 30 Turkey - - 30 Peacock - - 26 to 27 - 25 to 28 - Ariftotle. Pliny. Pheafant - 20 to 25 - 18 to 20. - sive pad sass Crow - - 20 - - = too and more Hefiod. Nightingale 19 to 20 - 17 to 18 - Buffon. Pullet - - 18 to 19 - 16 to 18 - Buffon. Pigeon - - 17 to 18 = 161017 - Several obfervat, Linnet - - 14 - - = 13 to 14 = Willughby. — Treatif theft Canary bird 13 to 14 - 13 to 14 - "Birds, a Goldfinch - 13 to 14 - 18 to 20 '|- Buffon. ~ We fhall here obferve, that it appears by this table that the fwan and parrot, which employ the longeft time in in- cubation, are not thofe which live longeft: the longevity of the former of thefe birds has been carried to 200 years, and that of the latter to 100. In regard to the oftrich, the life of which the antients carried beyond 100 years, we can find no relation’ between this period and that of the incubation, as the female feldom fits on the eggs, which are hatched by the heat of the fun. ‘The cafe is the fame with the crane and the heron, to which the 6 Account of a Parrot hatched at Rome. 245 the antients affigned a life equally longs. but we have no ob- fervations in regard to their incubation *. The goofe, which employs thirty days in incubation, lives beyond the age of 80. The eagle, buftard, turkey, and duck, are the next in the table in regard to the period of incuba- tion; but it has never yet been compared by any one with , the duration of their life. gird » All the other birds mentioned in the table, live nearly in proportion to the time of their incubation ; but, as thefe -obfervations were made chiefly on domettic or captive birds, it is probable that there may be fome difference between thefe and thofe which are in the wild ftate. r “ We know befides,” fays M. de Buffon, “ that we never give time to our domeftic birds to go through the complete period of life affigned to them by nature.”’ ' In regard to birds in their wild ftate, it is almoft impofhible to obtain any correét information, Very few ornithologifts, - therefore, have {poken of the duration of their life; and when they are caught in fnares, they endeavour to judge of their age by marks which are very ambiguous. (See Ari/fotle.) The conftant ratio which I have obferved between the time of incubation and the duration of the life of birds, fug- nee to me the idea of examining what relation there is etween the duration of the life of quadrupeds and the time pnpleyed in geftation; and 1 have made out the following table: Table of the Period of Geftation and of the Duration of Life of feveral Quadrupeds. Names of the Geftation. | Durat. of Life. ° Animals. Months. Years. Authors. Elephant - - 24 '- 150 to 200 - Ariftotle. Camel - - - 12 - 40to 50 - The fame. Buffalo - - 12 - 20to 25 - Cajetano. Afs- - ‘- - 12 - 25 to 30 - Buffon. Mare - - - 11} - 25 to 30 - Ariftotle, Cow - - - 9 - 14to Is - The fame. Sta g: : New Treatife on Ye egies ME: «Seni haa Hunting. Roebuck - - 5: - 1i2to 158 ~ Buffon. Sheep - - - 5 - 13210 15 - The fame. Goat - - - 5 = 31 to 13 + The fame. Me LR) Leh mer 15 - The fame, yh comparing thefe two tables a very great analogy will be found between the time of the geftation of quadrupeds * Sec Paulus Jovius. Q 3 and 246 Account of a Parrot hatched at Rome. and that of the incubation of birds, in regard to the duration of life. Thus we obferve that, among quadrupeds, the ele- phant, which lives from 150 to 200 years, goes with young 24 months; and that the camel, which goes with young 12 months, lives 40 or 50 years. Among birds, the fwan, which fits 42 days, and the parrot, which fits 40 days, are thofe which live longeft, their life exceeding 100 years. Th looking over this table, the fame relation appears to be pre- ferved. The borfe and afs, which have the fame period of gefiation, live nearly the fame time} that is to fay, 26 or 30 years. The domeftic fowl and pigeon, which have nearly the fame period of incubation, attain to the fame age; and the cafe isthe fame with ‘the goat and the fheep, as well as with the canary-bird and the linnet. I muft, however, confefs, that in thefe tables there are two very itriking exceptions. The ftas, among quadrupeds, goes with young a month lefs than the mare, and vet lives about ten years longer: and, among the birds, I obferve that the crow, which fits only twenty days, lives fag beyond 100 years, according to Hefiod and feveral other obfervers. Thefe exceptions ftili further prove that our knowledge re- fpe&ting this part of natural hiflory is very limited, and prove the neceffity of making more obfervations. Befides, the dif- ficulty of alcertaining the exaG duration of the life of qua- drupeds is equally great as that experienced in afcertaining the duration of the life of birds, fince thefe obfervations can be made only on’a {mall number.of individuals, taken, for the moft part, in a ftate of domefticity; and M. de Buffon fagely remarks, that man, wifhing for contintal enjoyment, fhortens the period. If, notwithftanding thefe exceptions, fome relation has been {uppofed to be found between the time employed for . perfect growth, and the duration of life, it appears, from a view of this table, that there isa more direct connection be- tween it and the time of geftation: nature alfo feems to have preferved a kind of connection between the time employed in geflation and that of incubation in regard to the duration of the life of birds and quadrupeds. The period of the incubation of the parrot, which no na- turalift had before obferved, has led me into confiderations fomewhat prolix; but ideas fuggefted merely as hints, when aided by experience and more correét obfervation, often con- duct to important truths, XLI.. De- pe {247 J XLI., Defcription and Natural Hifiory of the Wild Goat of the Alps. By M. Bertuour Van BERCHEM jun. [Concluded from p. 121.] Bor having faid enough in regard to this animal in its confined ftate, Ne us now haften to reftore it to liberty: it is on the fummits of the fteepeft rocks, fafpended, as we may fay, between the heavens and the earth, that it ought to be confidered, as it is there that it difplays all its ftrength and agility. It is particularly imterefting to fee the eafe and fa- cility with which it traverfes the moft awful rocks, the bare fight of which infpires terror, and which are inacceffible to man. When it leaps, it does not feem to take a fpring; it direéts its fight with the greateft precifion to the place it ~ wifhes to reach, and never miffes its aim. When tranquil, it generally carries its head low; but when running, it holds it elevated : it even throws it fomewhat back, which heichtens the agreeablenefs of its figure. When it withes to raife itfelf to the top of a perpendicular rock fifteen feet in height, it does it at three leaps, or rather three fucceffive jumps, of five feet each: one might fay that it fearcely found any point of fupport on the rock; and it appears to have touched it only that it might be thrown higher, with the fame force that an elattic ball would be if impinged againft a hard body. It never makes more than three leaps in this manner. If it be between two rocks ftanding near each other, and wifhes to get to the top, it accomplifhes its object by jumping from the one to the other, It traverfes the glaciers alfo with great rapidity, but only when chaced: when its courfe is volun- tary it avoids them, and does not feem to walk on them with fuch confidence as among the rocks. I {hall now give an account of the manner in which the wild goat lives when peaceably fuffered to follow its natural habits, when not molefted in its retreats; and fhall then de- feribe the manner in which it is hunted. We fhall fee in what manner man, who of all beings is the moft deftruéctive, penetrates into the almoft inacceffible places which nature has afligned to this animal, and where, as appéars, it ought to be fheltered from his rapacity. We fhall fee how, at the rifk of his life, and braving the moft imminent dangers, he purfues it, and has diminifhed the number in fuch a man- ner, that, though it was formerly difperfed over all the high mountains of Swiflerland, Savoy, and the Valais, it is now found only in fome places, and even in fmall numbers. Q4 Thefe 248 On the Wild Goat 6f the Alps. ’ Thefe goats feed during the night in the higheft woods, : and never further than a quarter of a jeague from the fum- P mit; but, when the fun begins to illuminate the tops of the mountains, they leave the woody regions in flocks, afcend the mountains as they feed, and proceed fometimes to very confiderable heights... They feek the declivities turned to- wards the eaft and fouth, and lie down in. the higheft,and moft elevated places, But when the fun has got through ; three-fourths of his courfe they defcend to the woods, feed- ; ing as they proceed, in order to pafs the night. When it @ — threatens to fnow, they defcend alfo into the woods for the : fake of fhelter. | % ’ Thefe animals affemble in flocks of 10, 12, or 153 for- merly they were more numerous, but at prefent they are often in fmall numbers. All the males fix years of age, and thofe above it, always remain in higher places than the fe- males or the males that are younger. The older they are, they are the lefs fond of living in fociety. They become hardened againft the cold, froft, and all the feverity of the feafons. Very often thefe old goats have the tips of their ears withered, and, as it were, dead. Severe cold muft ne- ceffarily produce this effect on extremities where it is well known the circulation of the blood is eafily checked. They jead a folitary life on the fleep fummits, and never defeend from them. To conclude what we have to fay in regard to their habits, we fhall here obferve, that in winter they are accuftomed to place themfelves on’eminences oppofite to that part of the horizon from which the ftorm proceeds, and to remain there like ftatues: they only go from time to time to feed in the neighbourhood, and then return to their fta- tion. The females and young have not this habit; they re- main at all feafons in places lefs elevated. As the fore-legs of thefe animals are fhorter than thofe behind, it is natural to fuppofe that they can afcend with more facility than they defcemd. Nothing but the feverity of the weather can induce them to remain in the low di- ftriéts; and, if a few fine days take place in winter, they immediately quit the woods and afcend the mountains. Winter is their feafon of love, and the month of January that of their greateft heat. All the goats, of whatever age, then mix together; the males combat, and the females be- long to the victors; after which they return to their ufual order. The females go with young five months, and bring forth in the laft week of June or firit of July. They produce only one ata time, of the fize of a cat, and which, like the young chamois, walks as foon as dropped. An hour after 1tS On the Wild Goat of the Alps. 249 its. birth-it can conceal itfelf among the rocks *. When the female is delivered the licks its eyes, head, and neck; teaches it, at an early period, to leap; and beitows on it the care of an attentive and vigilant mother. While fuckling, fhe remains in the holes of the rocks. She calls her young by bleating; but the hunters think they have remarked that it is by gef- tures that {he ufually exprefles her defires. As it often happens that flocks of wild goats, chamois, do- meftic goats, and {heep, pafture at a {mall diftance from each other, 1 endeavoured to find whether thefe animals fome- times intermixed and produced in that ftate of liberty; but I could obtain no certain information refpecting this fact, which would be of great importance to natural hiftory. | It only appears that the wild goat and the chamois never inter- mix in their natural ftate. , The beft time for hunting the wild goats is towards the end of fummer, aud in autumn, in the month of Auguit and September. It is then that they are in befl condition. This {pecies of hunting is exceedingly dangerous and fatiguing, and therefore can be undertaken only by the inhabitants of the mountains. The hunters, befides refolution to look down without fear from the greateft heights, muft have fufficient addrefs and fteadinefs of foot to get out of diificult paffes, and to take accurate aim. They muit allo be endowed with great ftrength and vigour to endure hunger, cold, and the greateft fatigue. The moft determined hunters refide in the moun- tains of the Lower Valais: almoft all the peafants of Servant follow * Ahounter one day furprifed a female chamois while bringing forth her young one on a rock: afentiment placed by nature in the breaft of all mankind retained his arm, and prevented him from killing her: he viewed this interefting fpectacle for fome moments, and faw the mother lick her kid, He then prepared to fire, but the chamois and her young one both inftantly difappeared, and concealed themfelves among the rocks. + The village of Servan is fituated in the mountains of the Lower Va- lais, and at the diftance of two or three leagues from Martigni: its fitua~ tion is the wildeft and moft piéturefque I ever faw. It ftands on the de- clivity of a chain of mountains which borders on the weft that part of the valley of Trient, which is only a continuation of that 6f Orfine, in Upper Faucigny. At the bottom of this valley runs the watér of Berard with a roaring noife, and, uniting itfélf to the Trient, aflumes its name. ‘Lor- rents, which dafh down on every fide from the fummits of the mountains in fuperb cafcades, contribute to enlarge its ftream. That filence of nature, that calmnefs, at the fame time awful and delightful, which is experienced in the middle of a foreft during a fine {ummer’s night, never prevails in this abode. The air is continually agitated by the noife of the torrent which flows through the middle of the valley, and by that of the numee rous cafcadcs which join it. But this continual and hollow roaring of the water is often increafed by the tumpling down of large maffes, and the fall 250 On the Wild Goat of the Alps: follow this occupation; and as the animal is not found in their mountains, they go to hunt in the Eaft Valley, having firft obtained permiffion from the inhabitants for that pur- pofe. A hunter never goes out alone; he generally affociates with himfelf one or two others, furnifhed with rifle guns * and a bag of provifions. They affociate for the purpofe of gain, but dangers and perils unite them ; and indeed there are many reafons why two hunt- ers fhould be united. Being obliged to fpend the night among the rocks, and at very ereat heights, they conftruét a wretched hut with pieces of turt, where they fleep without fire or bed- clothes, and on their awaking often find the entrance of it blocked up by two or three feet of fnow. When furprifed by night while in the purfuit of a wild goat, it frequently happens that, not being able to difengage themfelves from the rocks, they are obliged to pafs the night ftanding in of the rocks, which, attacked by the flow action of the moift elements, crum- ble to pieces through age, and choke up the bottom of the valley. Thefe torrents, by tearing open the fides of the mcuntains, unveil to us their in- terior ftructure. Jn this country, every thing prefents the image of de- firuétion: it is inthe middle of thefe degraded forefts of firs and pines, of thofe accumulated rocks which pafs through all the ftates of decompofition to fand, and frorn the ftate of fand to that of mould, that the geologue dif- covers the compofition of mountains, and collvéts faéts for the theory of the earth. But in the midft of this diforder one may difcover the hand of man and the labour of indufiry : excited by his wants; theltered from all quarters by the rocks, and in a good expofure, the inlabitants have col» Jeéted a little earth, which they cultivate and fow with corn to fupply them with food. Of all the cafcades with which this valley is decorated, the moft inte- refting for rhe naturalift and the painter is that, no doubt, of Maupas, be- tween the village of Finio and that of Servan. The torrent of the Trieve, the white foaming waters of which dafhing againft the rocks, which they break and carry with them to their bed, form feveral cafcades; between very high rocks, a plank laid acrof$ ferves as a paflage, and from this tre- mendous bridge the torrent is feen precipitating itfelf from one fall to an- other, and flying to a diftance below the feet: before is a rock cut into rhe form of a peak, and which fcems to be an infurmountable barrier; but a {mall narrow path, cut out in a zig-zag form and furnifhed with a parapet, enables the traveller to pafs over it, and to confider this fublime and mag- nificent view, which the horrid noife of the torrent renders ftill more fiiking. The more you advance towards Servan, the lefs fteep the de- clivity of the mountain becomes, while the valley becomes broader and better cultivated. But in traverfing this wild country one is not aftonifhed that the inhabitants fhould feck for and be fond of thofe dangers to which they expofe them{e]\es in hunting the chamois and wild goats: they are bred up to this occupation ; the rocks and precipices are, as we may fay, their element, and when they quit their habitations they find no perils to which they are not accuftomed. = Thefe pieces can tire twice without being reloaded; but they have only one barrel, with two locks, See a defcription of them in De Luc’s Recherches fur Atniofpberes each F & : } 4 On the Wild Goat of the Alps. eT 9 each other’s arms, that they may remain awake: thefe are fituations which none can have an idea of but thofe who have traverfed the rocks. I cannot here help making one reflec- tion: It is among the inhabitants of thefe wild and horrid mountains that | found the greateft honefty and friend{hip ; in a word, all thofe virtues which render men worthy of efteem. ; As thefe animals afcend to the higheft regions early in the morning, the hunters muft get to thofe places before them. The goats are then feen coming to patture, and, though their fmell is exceedingly acute, they do not fmell the hunters, who, concealing themfelves behind the rocks, fuffer them to approach within 30 or 4o paces before they fire. The following appear to be the moft natural caufes why thefe animals do not {mell the hunters :—In the morning the fun heats and rarefies the upper regions of the air, while the lower ones are {till cold and condenfed. From this want of equilibrium there muft neceffurily refult a current which pro- ceeds upwards, and which confequently carries in that direc- tion the emanations proceeding from the hunter, who is above the goats. This effect, indeed, muft take place during the greater part of the day; for the fun, by warming the de- clivities of the mountains, muft produce along them an afcending current. Befides, as thefe animals feed as they ga along, their noftrils become filled with dew, which muft have a very great influence on their fmell. However, it is effenually neceffary to get to the heights before the goats reach them ; if they anticipate the hunter, they fmell him, and make their efcape: it would in that cafe be of no ufe to follow them}; for, when once put to flight, they never ftop till they get to a very great diftance, and when they think they are beyond all danger*. It is fingular that the animal never flies till it {mells the hunter; for if it only fees him it * The reader will not be difpleafed to fee here an account of the manner _in which the inhabitants of the ifland of Crete hunt the wild goar, as de- feribed by Belon:—Some of the peafants who live on the fummits of the high mountains are fuch dexterous fhooters with the bow, and principally around the mountain of Spachia and Madara, that they pierce them with their arrows at the diftance of 25 paces; and, to be more fure of them, carry females, which they have bred up and tamed from their youch, and tic them up in fome paffage of the mountains where the males are accul+ tomed to pals. The hunter conceals himfelf behind the buthes oppofite to the wind, knowing that the male goats have fo acute fmell, that they could fmell them at the diftance of 100 pacese The male finding the fe- male in his way ftops, and the pealant then difcharges his arrowe—OL/erv. Soh. 14. Verfi . 18 252 On the Wild Goat of the Alps. =. ~ is fatisfied with whiftling and Jooking at him, but as foon as it fmells him it takes to flight. " The female never abandons her young, unlefs fhe is hunted: if it cannot follow her fhe leaves it, and the latter _ conceals itfelf in the burrows of the marmot, or other holes of the rocks ;, fometimes at the depth of fix feet. When the danger is over fhe returns to call it, and fearches till fhe finds it: but if fhe remains too long, the young goes to look for the mother ; it iffues from its hole, calls its mo- ther, and enters fome other hole with fear and emotion, and with figns of the greateit uneafinefs. If it fees the mother it runs up to her; but if fhe is wounded, and lying, as foon as it fmells the blood it betakes itfelf to flight; then returns, approaches with the fame eagernefs, and again retires for the fame reafon. It can hardly be confoled for the lofs of its mother; fearches for her a long time, and never quits the place where it was brought forth and where it loft her. When a wild goat is wounded, all the reft make their efcape and abandon it: they are feized with fear and terror, and fly with the utmoft rapidity. The hunter can diftinguith the wild goats that have been wounded, by their walk, which is flow. They fuffer their heads to fall fometimes to the one fide and fometimes to the other, and they foon after lie down, even when the wound is flight. b * Man, though the greateft enemy and principal deftroyer of thefe wild goats, is, however, not the only 6ne whom they have to dread. The wolves and eagles purfue their voung*. The mothers, on thefe occafions, efeape with them to caverns or hollow places in the rocks, make their young enter firft, and then, having entercd themfelves, prefent their head to the aperture in order to face the enemy. There are few animals the natural hiftory of which is dif- figured with more fables by fuperftition, and more-errors by ignorance, than that of the wild goat. The naturalift, as already obferved, is obliged to truft to the hunters, and thefe indemnify themfelves for the labour and fatigue they have experienced by the falfehoods which they propagate: be- fides, an animal the hunting of which is fo painful, ought, in the eyes of the vulvar, to have fomething of the marvel- lous conneéted with it. Hence the property afcribed to the | horns of the wild goat of deftroying the force of poifon;: and hence the opinion of the hunters, that if their pieces are rubbed with certain herbs they cannot hit the mark. We fhall * See an account of the combats of the Jammer-geyer and the chamois in Cox's Leiters on Swifirvland, Vol. i. p. 267. not aa eae sellieliminks = > On the Wild Goat of the Alps. 253 not enlarge on thefe popular tales, but we think it neceflary to refute two opinions which are very much believed among naturalifts: one is, that when the wild goat or the chamois is purfued by the hunter among the rocks, they return, attack him, and pufh him down the precipices: this is a miftake : it fometimes happens that, if one of thefe animals is wounded, it endeavours to efcape when the hunter approaches it, and, as it always rufhes towards the precipices, it overturns the hunter if he happens to be in its way; but it never fearches for him, and, on the contrary, avoids him. Its faid alfo that the wild goat throws itfelf down precipices, falls on its horns, and rarely fuftains any injury. But I can affert that it always leaps from one rock to another; and that it is fo expert, and fo fure of its aim, that it has never any %ccafion to throw itfelf on its horns: that if this ever happens, it is by accident; and befides, it is fuflicient to look at the animal to be convinced that it could not take fuch leaps with im- punity. It has a long body, its legs are fhort, its limbs are thick, and it weighs nearly 200 pounds: how, then, is -it poflible that it fhould throw itfelf from the rocks without being torn by their fharp points, or dafhed to pieces by its fall? I have been more particular in regard to this fact, be- caufe the fame error is not only related by moft naturalifts, but is received alfo among the Tartars*, who are hunters of wild goats, like the people of the Valais of Swifferland ; and becanfe this conformity of opinion among people fo di- ftant might induce fome to believe in the reality of the fac. But is it not well known that the fame prejudices are found among different nations? Ignorance is every where the fame, and every where the fame objects have given rife to the like errors. Thofe naturalifts who are fo fond of final caufes, withing to give utility to the large horns of the wild goat, have adopted this opinion; and it is thus that the mania of withing to explain every thing injures the caufe of truth, and otien perpetuates popular tales.. M. Pallas, deceived by the accounts of the Tartars, mentions, as a proof of this affer- tion, a wild goat which he faw having one of its horns broken t: but this, in all probability, was-owing tp another eaufe, Their large, thick, and almott ulfelefs hornsmre often broken by the tumbling down of the rocks; and on thefe occafions they are often killed themfelves. for this realon, the inhabitants of Cormajor traverfe the bottoms of the mountains to colle& the horns carried down by the fndw. M., Pallas fays, alfo, that the wild goat is of fo favage a na- * Pallas Spoil. Zool, fast. ri. p. $a. t Spicil, Zool, fo) 4) 7 ture 254 Ox the Wild Goat of the Alpss ture that it never can be tamed. If he alludes to the old wild goats, he is right; but the inftances above mentioned prove that, if the wild goat be caught young, it is fufceptible of education: and this opinion is confirmed by that of Belon, who fays, that in the ifland of Crete this animal is tamed when young. When one of thefe’ animals has been killed, it-is left on the {pot till it becomes cold. The entrails are then taken out, and the blood is put into the flomach. In confequence of this method it never acquires a bad fmell, which. takes place when this preeaution is neglected. Large wild goats, without the entrails, weigh 180 or 200 pounds, of 18 ounces. The female from 70 to 80 and go pounds. The flefh of this animal is excellent; it has the taite of mutton, but is more fucculent. The tkin can be dreffed exceedingly well: it becomes very pliable, and refembles that of the goat. It is employed for manufaaturing fhamoy leather. Various {mall articles are made of the horns, fuch as cups and goblets. The blood is ‘employed in falfe pleurifies ; but, as its properties are owing to the plants on which the animal feeds, that of the common goat and ram, when fed’ in the fame manner, has the fame efficacy *. The fale of thefe goats is liable to many variations: it de- pends on the weight of the beatt, and the eagernefs of the purchafer. Formerly they were cheaper, becaufe more com- mon. At prefent they are fold fometimes for four louis- @ors. The chamois alfo is fold for one louis-d’or, The wild goat is fond of falt: it licks the rocks which contain Epfom or Glauber’s falt, and the waters which hold it in fo- lution. It feeds chiefly on the wild plants that grow on the higher Alps, fuch as filky wormwood, antemifa glacialss but in winter it eats the lichens and young thoots of the trees. Like that of Siberia+, it prefers thofe places which abound with the dwarf birch, the Alpine willow, the tha- lictrum, faffafras, rofe-wort, rhodiola, the willow-herb, epz- lobium, &c. . Thefe animals are much fearcer than they were formerly ; they aresfound at prefent only in fome mountains of Savoy and the Valais, whereas formerly they were difperfed through- out all the higher parts of Swifferland t. But this is not ationifhing 5 * Hift. Nat. par Buffon, vol. xii. p. 164. + Spicil. Zool. fase. xi. p. 49- ‘ My friend M. Wittenbach, firft paftor of the church of St. Efprit at Berne, who has travelled over and defcribed the mountains of Swiffer- land with the eyes of am enlighteyed naturalift and the fpirit of a good ob- d ferver, ae a> On the Wild Goat of the Alps. 255 aftonifhing ; nature, man, the beafts and birds of prey, are all:enemies with which they are furrounded, which perfecute and deftroy them, and againft which they have no other re- fource than fpeedy flight: but this rarely preferves them. This animal, therefore, is now confined to a fmall number. » of the fteepeft fummits. It is found in the valley of Cormajor, to the fouth of Mont- Blane, on the fouthern declivity of that chain of mountains, in the diftri€ between Mont-Blanc and the frontiers of the Valais; but it is never feen in the chain oppofite to that of Mont-Blanc, and which forms the other fide of the valley of Cormajor. It exifis alfo in the mountains which form the Val-Savaranche. But it is among the mountains of the valley of Cogne, which is the frontier of the valley of Pont, in Pied- mont, that it is now moft common, and always on the de- clivities expofed to the fouth. It is no longer found in the Valteline, the frontier of the Valais; but it muft {till exift in the mountains between the valley of Sefia and that of Vieche. It was hunted, about 30 oF 40 years ago, in the mountains of Upper Faucigny : but the breed is now entirely deftroyed in that quarter; and it is probable, if the hunters continue to purfue it with the fame ardour, that the race will become totally extin@. In refle@ing on the fury with which thefe animals are pur- fued and deftroyed, the cafe of it appears to me to have been the great abundance which there was of them formerly ; and, though a fingle goat did not produce much, as a great many were killed during one hunting excurfign, the gain was con- fiderable. At prefent, fince the number has greatly de- crealed, and fince the hunters often go a great way without finding any, their ardour ought to be relaxed in confequence of the dangers to which they are expofed : and befides, the inhu- manity of perfecuting and tormenting a mild and timid ani- mal, which has no other refources to defend itfelf but flight and ferver, has furnifhed me with the foliowing notice :—* There were for- merly wild goats in our Alps, but none of them are now to be found. I have fren at Unterfeven two fuperb horns of thar animal, which is faid to have been killed formerly in the Alps of Lavterbrinn. Thefe animalm were deftroyed by the hunters, as well as the caftors, which formerly fre- quented the borders of lake Brientz, and along the Arr towards Thun. Tam certain M. Bourrit is miftaken when he fays that he faw onc traver{e the chain of mountains that feparates Lauterbrunn and Grindelvald, fince none of the hunters of that country ever fell in with any during their ex- cu s. Itis afferted that wild goats are {till found, but rarely, in the Mountains of the country of the Grifons: for my part, I never faw any in my travels, and none of the hunters were able to give me any ceftain information refpeéting them.”’—Letter of M. Wittendach to M. Van Berchem jun. Berne, May 27, 178s. > add refe, 256 On the Wild Goat of the Alps. addrefs, a motive, indeed, of little importance to a being who thinks himfelf the fovereign of animals, but who is only their tyrant, and knows no other laws than thofe of the ftrongett, the-hunters ought to confider, before they leave their wives and families, that they not only expofe themfelves to be killed, or maimed during the remainder of their lives *, but negle& their property and affairs, and, if they perifh, their families are reduced to beggary. If thefe confiderations are not fufficiently ftrong to deter them from this kind of h ing, let them reflect, that they can entertain no hope! of making their fortunes ; fince no one acquires riches by this occupation, but, on the contrary,.they are often lamed, and: drag out their exiftence in mifery. Butfuch is the’force of habit and the power of illufion, that the accidents which happen to the hunters do not deter them; for they are {carcely cured when they return to the fame occupation f. The wild goat of Siberia, as may be feen by the deferip- tion of Pallas {, feems to differ from that of the Alps ye a few * The elegant tranflator of Coxe expreffes himfelf in the following manner in regard to hunting the chamois:—*¢ A great number of men lofe their lives by this kind of hunting: the thick fogs of the Alps, which fuddenly envelop the country with a dark veil, make the hunters wander into the glaciers, where they perifh with cold and hunger. Sudden ftorms moiften the rocks, and render them fo flippery, that the hunter, however furnifhed with cramps his fhoes may be, cannot attach*himfelf to them ; and fometimes the heat has fo dried their {corching faces, and covered them with duft of fo moveable a nature, that the wretched hunter who clambers up them is obliged to moiften them with his blood, by making large wounds in the foles of his feet and his legs.” Cowe’s Letters on Swiffer- land, p. 273. M. Ramond, the tranflator, adds, that the abbé d’Engelberg congratulated himfelf that he had loft only five men in one year by hunt- ing the chamois; and his diftri€t is, at moft, but a hundredth part of the Swifs Alps. _ + One of my friends traverfing the mountains one day with a guide, the latter fhowed him a {pot where the year before he had remained mo than fix hours with his thigh broken, and without any hopes of relief, A young fhepherd, by the greateft accident, heard the reports of his fufee, which he fired as a fignal of diftrefs, and at laft went to call affiftance. ‘This accident happened to him white hunting the chamois, and yet it did not difguft him with the occupation, ; + The wild goat of Siberia is no longer found in the Uralian Alps and the civilized countries of Siberia: it inhabits the fteepeft mountains of that chain, which unites with the Taurus between Eaftern Tartary and Sibe- ria. It is found alfo in Eaftern Siberia beyond the Lena, and in the countries of Kamfchatka. It is believed likewife that it frequents the de- fert forefts bordering on the middle country of the Tongufians, to the eaft ot the Jenifiee and beyond the Lena; but thefe animals are every where few in number, and frequent the moft inacceffible places. Spici! be fasc. xi. p. 32.52. The old goats in that country are called tegné orteke; the females brag, and ‘the kids d/tfvinja. But M. Pallas thinks page . thefe On the Wild Goat of the Alps. a67 & few flight characters, which, however, are not fufficient to make them two diftin& fpecies. The former has always a very large beard; while that of the latter is very fhort, and fometimes it has none. The hair of the Siberian wild goat feems, in general, to be longer and thicker than that of the Alpine wild goat; but the moft ftriking difference, though not very fpecific, is that found in the horns. The anterior face of the horns of the Siberian wild goat is not fo flat, it is More convex; and is not comprehended between two lon- gitudinal ridges, as in the wild goat in queftion: the tranf- verfal knotes are not terminated by a falient tubercle on the internal border of the face. In other refpects, thefe horns have a perfect refemblance. The Cretan wild goat, according to Belon, is certainly of the fame fpecies as the Alpine wild goat: but it appears that there are two kinds of it, one of them perhaps the ewgagrus*. The chamois is much more common than the wild goat, though it is hunted ftill more ; but it is more widely difperfed, as it inhabits the lefs elevated mountains ; befides, being more reftlefs and fhier than the wild goat, it is more difficult to catch it. It is found in all the high mountains of Swilflerland, the Valais, and Savoy. ; M. Perroud has given a very good account of the manners of this animal, which has been inferted in Bufion’s Natural Hiftory +: we fhall add to it a few obfervations. We are affured that in the mountains there are two fpecies of the chamois: oneywhich is much fmaller than the other, keeps in the higher diftri€ts, and afcends to the fame elevations as the wild goat. The large fpecies, on the other hand, frequent the lefs elevated regions, and live chiefly in the woods. Thefe two fpecies, however, are only two varieties, or rather two conftant races, which can mix and produce. The large chamois have two holes behind their horns, which are not found in the fmaller kind. Thefe holes penetrate ‘to the or- . of the head. The males of this large {pecies weigh from to 100 pounds, and the females from 60 to 70; whereas the males of the leffer fpecies weigh only 60 or 70 pounds, thefe’ names are corrupted from thofe which the Moguls and the Cal- moucs give equally tothe wild goat avd the domeftic goar. The latrer call the male sakja, the female jama, and the kid ¢fizga or idfoyja. The Chinefe alfo call the male wild goats /a/ja; and they employ their horns, a the Tyarks do, for their war-bows. The fhavings of thefe horns are ufed in medicine. Id. p. so. * We found two different kinds, as we made appear by the diverfity of their horns, brought from Cyprus, and Crete, which we prefented to M. John Choul, bailiff of the mountains of Lyons, &c.—Belon, fol. 14. + Vol. xii. p. 160. "Vor. XII. No. 47. R and ‘ 968 On the Wild Goat of the Alps. and the females no more than 40 or 50. The large kind are fond of being alone, and in fmall flocks. . Their limbs and body are fhorter, and confequently thicker in proportion than the {mall kind, which are longer and flenderer. Re: The males can produce at the! age of two years. The rut~ ting time is in November and December, and they bring forth their young in June, The large chamois bring forth fometimes in May. ‘hey generally produce ‘one at a time, and rarely two. Thefe animals are hunted in the fame man- ner as the wild goats, except that dogs are fometimes em- ployed. They are always in fear; have their eyes and ears on the watch. They never feed in tranquillity. They crop a little grafs, then raife their heads; and while they eat, look on all fides around them: if one of them perceives any thing, the whole flock take to flight; whereas a flock of wild goats. all whiftle before they fet off. In regard to the fentinet which, it is faid, they poft to give them notice of danger, it appears to be a mere fable, founded on the timidity of thefe animals. Both races of the chamois exift in the moun- tains of the country of Hafli, of Grindewald and Lauterbrun, as well as in thofe of Savoy and the Valais. It might here be proper to examine, with Mefirs. Beffon and Pallas, to what wild animal the goats are indebted for their origin; whether to the wild goat of the Alps, as Buffon thinks, or to the capra agagrus, according to Pallas; and whether the chamois and Alpine wild goat are the fame, or two diftinét fpecies. Thefe interefting queftions would require to be exa- mined at full length *, but in the mean time f fhall mention my own opinion. I have endeavoured to examine thofe of Buffon and Pallas with that impartiality which every one who fincerely fearches for truth ought to employ, and efpecially when hedifcuffes the opinions of men fo juftly celebrated. I agree therefore with Buffon, that the Alpine wild goat ought to be confidered as the origin of all the goats. The con- formity of their manners and figure, and the circumftance of thefe breeds intermixing and producing, are fufficient proofs of it. In my opinion, the capra egagrus and the capricorn are yaricties in the fpecies of the wild goat, and have con- curred with it to form the different races of our goats. But, I think, with M. Pallas, that the chamois cannot be of the fame fpecies as the wild goat, fince they do not mix ina ftate of nature, and I confider it as an intermediate fpecies between the goats and the antelopes. * T difcuffed this queftion in the naturai hiftory of the jackall, which ‘appeared in the Journal de Phyfigue tor November 1706. XLII. -Oz { 289 J XLII. Ox the Spiral Vibration of a Stick or Rod. By G. FL F. Cuiapni*, Tue vibrations hitherto known of a ftick or rod, that’ is to fay, of an elattic body extended in a certain direction, are either tran{verfal vibrations, where the rod or the parts into which it divides itfelf vibrate fidewards, in fuch a man- ner as to form a great number of curved lines; or longitudinal vibrations, where the rod or each of its parts contracts and extends itfelf according to the dire&ion of its length, fo that it fometimes refts againft one and fometimes againft the other of the vibration nodes. The former kind of vibrations were firft determined by Daniel Bernoulli, and afterwards, in a more complete manner, by Euler, in the Tranfaétions of the Imperial Academy of Sciences for 1769: but the latter were firft made known by myfelf in a paper on the longi- tudinal vibrations of rods and ftrings, publithed at Erfurt in 1796, and which may be found alfo in the Tranfactions of the Electoral Academy of Sciences of that city. For fome time I have obferved, that, befides thefe two directions of vibrating motion, there is a third, where the rod, or each part into which it divides itfelf, turns alternately to the right and left in a fpiral form, while the vibration nodes or the boundaries of the vibrating parts remain motionlefs, as in the other kinds of vibration. Such fpiral vibrations may be produced with moft eafe on a fufficiently long cylindric rod, the furface of which has been made as fmooth as poffible, if the rod be held gently between two fingers at the place where there is a vibration node, and if it be rubbed in a {piral di- rection in a vibrating part with a piece Of woollen rag held between the fingers of the other hand. When the rod is of wood or metal, the rag muft be previoufly ftrewed over with tefin; but when a glafs rod, or, what is the fame thing, a thermometer or barometer tube is employed, it muft be moiftened with water, or be ftrewed over with very fine fand. The ways in which a rod, when it is either entirely free, or fafiened at one end and free at the other, or faflened at both ends, can divide itfelf into vibrating parts, and the pofition of the vibration nodes, are entirely the fame as in the cafe of longitudinal vibrations. The fharpnefs and flatnefs of the tone depend alfo on the fame laws; and therefore, to avoid_all un- neceffary prolixity, I fhall refer to the above-mentioned eflay * From Der Gef Wfchaft Naturforfcbender Freunde xu Berlin Newe Schriftemy vel. ii, 1799. R2 on 260 Ob/fervations on, Maddering, on longitudinal vibrations. There is this difference, however, that, as far.as I have obferved, the tone, when the whrations’ take place in a fpiral direction, is a fifth lower than when the rod vibrates in a Jongitudinal direction under the fame cir~ cumftances. * By the fpiral vibration one phenomenon, which I have: mentioned in my difcoveries refpecting the theory of found, but refpeéting which I formed an erroneous opinion, ean be explained. On a prifmatic rod, one end of which was faftened in a vice, when I rubbed one of its edges, in a diagonal di- rection, with a violin bow, and ftrewed fand over one.of its horizontal fides, there appeared on this fide a line proceeding along its Iength, where the fand, which was thrown from the other parts by the vibration, remained-at reft; and this ap-. pearance took place on cach fide of the rod when held hori- zontally. The reafon of this is, becaufe at the edges which, are further diftant from the axis the range during the vibra- tions is greater than in the middle of each fide ;, and on this, account the fand which is thrown from the nearer places. to thofe on the edges muft accumulate themfelves longitudinally, in the middle of each fide,neareft the axis where the vibra-. tions are weakeft. a ee oe ——— XEAMT. Odfervations on Maddering; together with a fimple. and certain Procefs for obtaining, with great Beauty and Fixity, that Colour known under the Name of the Turkey. or Adrianople Red. By J.M. Haussmann. 4 [Concluded from p..175.] The Froce/s. Acre making a cauttic ley of one part of good common potath diffolved in four parts of boiling water, and half a part of quicklime, which I afterwards flaked in it, I diffolved one part of powdered alum in two parts of boiling water; and while this folution of fulphate of alumine was {till warm, to avoid re-cryftallization, I fpeedily poured into it fucceffively, always flirring it without interruption, the above-mentioned cauftic ley, till the alumine it had at firft precipitated after faturation to excefs with fulphuric acid had been rediffolved. I left at reft this folution of alumine, which exhaled ammonia, and which, on cooling, formed a precipitate of fulphate of potafh in very fall cryfials. I then mixed a thirty-third part of linfeed- aa | an and Dyeing Turkey Red. 26 finfeed-oil, with which the alkaline fulution of alumine formed a kind of milky liquid *, 4s the oil gradually fepa- rates itfelf from this niixture under the appearance of cream, it mult not be employed till it is again fhaken. The fkains of cotton or linen ought to be fucceflively immerfed in it, and equally preffed, that they may be then expofed to dry on a pole in the order in which they have been taken from the mixture. They muft be dried under fhelter from rain in fummer, and in a warm place in winter, and be left in that ftate for twenty-four hours: they mutt then be wafhed in very pure running water, and be again dried; after which they are to be immerfed in an alkaline ley, prefled and dried a fecond time in the fame manner as the firft, taking care, however, to recommence the immerfion in the ley with thofe fkains which have been laft in the oily mixture, becaufe the firft never fail to carry away a Jarger portion than the laft: it will be proper alfo to confume the mixture each time, that it may not have leifure to attract the carbonic acid with which the lower region of the atmofphere is always charged, efpe- cially in manufactories; for the alkali, by paffing to the ftate of carbonate, fuffers the alumine to be precipitated, and lofes the property of mixing with the oil. Two immerfions in the alkaline folution of alumine mixed with linfeed-oil will be fufficient to obtain a beactiful red ; but, by continuing to impregnate the fkains a third and even a fourth time with the fame circumftances as the firft, colours exceedingly brilliant will be produced. -The intenfity of the red propofed to be obtained will be in proportion to the quantity of the madder employed. By taking a quantity of madder equal in weight to that of the fkains the refult will be a red, which, by clearing, will be changed to a rofy fhade: on the other hand, fhades of crim- fon, more or lels bright, will be obtained by employing two, three, and even four times the weight of madder, without ever forgetting the addition of chalk, if the water employed does not contain fome of it. Four parts of this colouring fubftance will produce a red too intenfe and beautiful to be employed in commerce, as it would be too dear to find pur- chalers. By making an oily alkaline folution of alumine with two or three parts of water, and impregnating the fkains twice, and even four times, in the manuer above mentioned, bright fhades will be produced without the nfe of much madder; but they will not have the fame intenfity as thofe procure * In fact, a faponaccous liquor is formed containing alumine.—-Eprr. ; R 3 with 7 262 Obfervations on Maddering, with even as little madder by means of the fame folution concentrated. | The beft method of obtaining fhades lively as well as ; bright, is to expofe the dark reds for a confiderable time, when they have been cleared, to the aétion of a ley of oxy- genated muriate of potafh, or of foda with excefs of alkaline carbonate, in order to have fuch a degree of fhade as may be required: but it may readily be conceived that this method would be expenfive. To have the oily alkaline folution of alum nearly in the fame ftate of concentration, it will be neceffary to employ an areomcter to determine the degree of ftrength of the cautftic ley before it is employed for the folution of the alumine. ft This cauftic ley muft be made with the beft common potath ¢ that can be procured, and the degree it gives by the areo- & meier muft be noted, in order that, if potafh of an inferior quality be afterwards employed, the ley obtained may be carried to the fixed degree by evaporation. Cauftic ley made with four parts of good common potafh* cannot contain a large quantity of forcign falts. By making it on a large feale, when the limpid part bas been decanted, it will be neceffary to fhake the depofit, for fome time, twice every day, that the reft of the alkaline liquor may be de- canted; and that none of what ftill remains in the depofit may be loft, it « ught to be diluted with more water, which may be aftefwards employed to lixiviate the cotton, which mutt be well purified and cleaned before it is dyed; which may bevdone by lixiviating and foaping, or merely boiling it in water and then rinfing and drying it. As wringing with the hands may derange the filaments of the {kains of cotton and linen, and confequently weaken the thread, it will be proper, in operating on a large feale, to fqueeze them by means of a prefs. In regard to thread or linen to be dyed of a beautiful dark and fixed red, it muft be well bleached, and impregnated at leaft four times fucceffively with the oily alkaline folution ; becaufe, not only alumine and metallic oxides adhere with more difficulty to linen than to cotton, but becaufe thefe mineral fubfiances, when coloured, abandon linen much eafier than coiton when clearing. It fill remains to exa- mine whether, between each impregnation with the oily alkaline folution of alumine, cotton or linen thread requires to be Jeft at reft for a greater or fhorter time before it 1s rinfed and dried. ty * I have no doubt that, whcre pot..fh cannot be procured, foda might be r employed.—Tue AuTHOR. a All and Dyeing Turkey Red. | 263 “All fat oils may be employed in the mixture with proper ae but linfeed-oil mixes better, and remains longer ufpended in the alkaline folution of alumine: I never tried fifh-oil, which, perhaps, would be preferable. It is probable alfo, that in operating on a large fcale, it would be beft to diminifh the quantity of linfeed-oil in the mixtures with the alkaline folution of alumine; for I have had reafon often te obferve that too much oil hurts the attraction of the colour- ing parts of the madder: a thirty-third part of linfeed-oul always produced the beft effe@ in my trials on a fmall feale. In regard to the procefs of dyeing cotton and Tinen thread, fufficiently charged with alumine, by the oily alkaline folu- tion of that earth, the fkains muft firft be difengaged from every faline fubftance, as well as from the fuperfluous oil, by rinfing them a long time in very pure running water; after which they muft be arranged, without drying them, on an apparatus, which the operator may conftruct according to the form of the boiler,—in which it is to be placed im fuch a manner, that during the procefs of dyeing the fkains may be continually fhaken and turned, in order to catch every where, and in an uniform manner, the colouring particles. The bath muft be compofed of madder, mixed with a fixth of pounded chalk, and diluted with about 30 or 40 parts of water. The heat mult be carried only to fuch a degree that the hand can be held in the bath for an hour without being fcalded; and it is to be maintained at this degree for two hours, either by diminifhing or increafing the fuel. Three hours dyeing will be fufficient to exhauft the madder: the ikains when taken from the bath muft be wafhed in a large quantity of water to cleanfe them ; they are then to be cleared by boiling them a pretty long time in water containing bran inclofed in a bag, adding foap and alkaline carbonate to give the red a rofy or carmine fhade. As I never had occafion to dye cotton or linen thread on a Jarge fcale, 1 employed a {mail boiler, which ferved me at the fame time for the procefs of clearing: in the latter operation { confined myfelf to boiling the fkaiys, properly arranged, in water containing a bag filled with bran, for eight hours fuc- ceflively; and, that [ might not interrupt the ebulliuon, I replaced the evaporated part by the addition of more boiling water. In this clearing | employed neither foap nor alkali ; yet I obtained a red fuperior in beauty and fixity to that of the Levant, and which, in every refpeét, will bear a come parifon with the beft colours Syeda Krance, R 4 For 264 Obfervations on Maddering, For dyeing my red, J employed three parts of the beft madder for one part in weight of dry cotton thread. - With the precaution I took to obtain an uniform fhade I could have dyed at one time, but I fhould always recom- mend perforu ing this operation at two diferent times, taking each time half a portion of madder and of chalk, if the fkains eannot be continually turned in the boiler: it may ferve alfo for clearing, by adapting to it a cover fo as to fuffer very little of the vapours to efcape, becaufe it would be too expenfive to replace the part evaporated by more boiling water. By ope- rating on a large feale, and concentrating the heat m the boilers, keeping them almoft clofe, there, perhaps, would be no need of employing eight hours ebullition to clear and fix the colours. [I have every reafon to belieye that this clearing of the Turkey red gave rife to the idea of bleaching with fteam: it mutt have been feen that colours by being cleared lofe confiderably in regard to their intenfity; and perbaps it has been obferved at the fame time that the packthreads em- ployed for arranging the fkains were bleached during the clearing, efpecially when alkalies were added, A great variety of colours and of different fhades may be obtained by following the procefs here defcribed for obtain; ing beautiful and durable reds. In this cafe, the oily alkaline folution of alumine muft not be employed till the required fhade of oxide of iron or indigo blue has been given; but whatever may be the colour or fhade which you with to give, before you fix the alumine on the fkains of cotton or linen, thefe ikains mutt always be firft well boiled, by which means the adhefion of the indigo fecula as well as that of the oxide of iron will be increafed in the fame manner as that of alumine coloured by the colouring parts of madder when fubjeéted to the action of the heat of boiling water before they are im-~ pregnated with the oily alkaline folution of alumine. As the method of dyeing indigo blue in all its {hades is well known, it is needlefs to detail it; and as to ¢iyinga rufly yellow colour, which may be done at little expenfe, nothing is neceflary but to moiften the fkains well with a folution of the fulphate of iron, to prefs them equally, and then to immerfe them in a cauftic ley of potath, which will precipitate and fix the oxide of iron of a difagreeable colour, but which will not fail to aflume a rufty yellow fhade by attraéting and becoming fatu- rated with the oxygen of the atmofphere: thus yellow will be more or lefs dark according to the quantity of the fulphate of iron in folution, More intenfity and even more equality: may bé given to the rufty yellow by moilicning the fkains a : fecond 4 and Dyeing Turkey Reds * 265 fecond time in the ferruginous folution, and immerfing them in the cauftic ley. Care, however, muft be taken not to ufe foda for this operation, becaufe it generally contains fulphur, which blackens oxide of iron by mineralizing it. The fkains coloured blue and rufty yellow, treated with oily alkaline folution of alumine, will produce, by maddering, dark purple and chamois colours, violet, lilac, puce, mordoré, &c. It may be eafily conceived, that if, inftead of maddering, the fame {kains prepared for maddering be dyed with kermes, cochineal, and Brazil wood, logwood, wood of St. Martha, woad, yellow wood, quercitron, yellow berries, &c. a great variety of colours will be obtained: the fhades may even be varied ad infinitum by mixing the colouring ingredients with each other in different proportions. The affinity of adhefion of the colouring parts of all thefe ingredients varies alfo to fuch a degree, that the fhades arifing from a yellow or olives green will be changed or totally metamorphofed by a fecond dyeing with madder, kermes, cochineal, or Brazil wood ; and will farnifh orange fhades, capucine, carmelite, burnt bread, bronze, &c. As the preliminary preparation of the {kains by the oily alkaline folution of alumine might be too expenfive for fome of thefe colours, the procefs [ deferibed in the Annales de Chimie for the year 1792, p. 250, may be fubs ftituted in its ftead. This procefs confifts in treating the fkains alternately with foap and fulphate of alumine, the excefs of the acid of which has been faturated with one of the alkaline carbonates or with lime: this method is very expeditious. In the courfe of a day, cfpecially in fummer, the fkains may be prepared and dyed red as well as other eolours ; which, for the moft part, may be fubjected to ebul- lition, and will bear clearing with bran for a quarter or half hour, and even fome of them for a whole hour. — It is alfo to be obferved that there are none but madder colours, the alumine and oxide of iron bales of which have been fixed on the {tuffs by means of the oily alkaline folution, that can acquire perfeét fixity by the aétion of heat of boiling water ; and that the fixity is very inferior in all madder colours the earthy and ferruginous bafes of which have been applied to fiuffs by means of acid folvents. Alumine, fixed in abundance on cotton or linen fluff by means of a highly concentrated alkaline folution, attraéts very eafily the colouring parts in the procefs of maddering. The cafe is not the fame when the fame earth is applied by the moft highly concentrated acetic folution of alumine; and it is abfolutely impoffible to finifh maddering at one timey even when a profufion of madder is employed, and the opera- i) tion o 266 New Method of feparating Silver tion is repeated three and even four times *. This circum- fiance will give rife to new and interefting experiments; but my obfervations prove in the mean time that maddering, in general, requires to be managed with the niceft attention. XLIV. 4 new Method of feparating Silver alloyed with i - Copper in Bullion. By C. NAPIONE fF. ETALLURGISTS well know that argentiferous cop- per, which does not contain half its weight in filver at leatt, cannot be fubjeéted to cupellation. In that cafe, recourfe is had to an operation, called /iguation, with lead; but, un- happily, it is attended with inconveniences which in many cafes render it impracticable. To extract filver from copper completely, in one liquation, practice has fhown in the founderies where this operation 1s performed on a large feale on black copper, that for a quintal of the latter there muft be at leaft 70 or 80 pounds of copper, and more than 8 or g ounces of filver; and in this cafe the proportion of lead to the copper ought to be 11 parts of the former and 3 of the latter. But as in dillon (bafe) money the filver generally forms from i-12th to 1-4th of alloy, and fometimes more, it is evident that feveral liquations muft be repeated to impoverifh the copper; for though in the firft the lead carries with it a great deal of filver, it is not always in the fame proportion, and the latter portions are more difficult to be extracted. > If we fuppofe that four fucceflive liquations are fufficient to extra& the filver of our di//on money, which is of the qua- lity of 3 deniers ro grains, eftimating it at the loweft, we fhould have 55 livres for the whole expenfe of the feparation for each quintal of that money. . If the procefs of the celebrated Cramer, of which M. Jars has given a {hort account in the third volume of his Voyages Metallurgigues, can be attended with any advantage, it would, however, be of very little ufe to us. C. Napioné, knowing that fulphur has a greater affinity for copper than for filver, conceived the idea of reducing into feorie a large quantity of rich copper by combining it di- reétly with fulphur, in the hope of obtaining, by this kind of dry depart, the filver concentrated in a portion of the copper * Concentrated acetic folution.of oxide of iron is attended with nearly the fame difficulties. + From the Aunales de Chimie, No. 122. Py alloyed with Copper in Bullion. 267 fo as to be able to réfine it immediately by cupellation, and to obtain at the fame time fcoriz, lefs rich, for amalgam- ation, The experiments which he relates prove that he was not deceived in his expectation. He took a pound and fix ounces of argentiferous copper of the quality of 3! deniers the marc, and, haying fufed it in a crucible, mixed with it two ounces of fulphur. Having feparated the mat#te or {coriz, he repeated the fame operation twice on the cupreows regulus; and after the three operations he obtained r pound 5 ounces and 22 deniers of matte, and 4 ounces 16 deniers and 12 grains of metallic regulus, which, though pretty ductile, fplit at the edges when fiattened with the hammer. The trial made on mattes or {corize of three meltings united, fhowed that they contained only 11 pounds 3 ounces of filver in the docimaftic quintal, and the quality of the regulus was 7 deniers 16 grains per marc; a quality at which it may be fubjected to cupellation without any other procefs. After having well pulverized the mates, and mixed with them muriate of foda in the’proportion of 12 to 100, and the fame quantity of quicklime, and after calcining it for four hours under a muffle, he amalgamated the mixture. The refult of this amalgamation and of a fubfequent one procured him only a very fmall quantity of filver, He again calcined it, for three hours and a half, with 1-10th munriate of foda; and after three calcinations of the fame kind under the fame circumftances, and three alternate amalgamations, his mattes contained no more than 1 ounce and 18 deniers of filver per quintal, | . C. Napioné obferves, that if his firft calcination had been “carried further, he could have extracted the whole of the filver in three amalgamations. Having repeated, indeed, the fame operation at the mint, employing the fame proportion of fulphur, he was able, after three fucceffive calcimations and three amalgamations, to obtain a refiduum, which con- tained only an ounce and a half of filver per quintal. The filver extraéted on this occafion was of the quality of 11 de- niers and 22 grains. It was of importance, after this laft trial, to undertake the experiments on a great feale. ‘On a hearth prepared with light bra/que*, as for the re- fining of common copper, and which C. Napioné had placed in a fituation where there was a current of air, a bafon was dug capable of containing about a quintal and a half of melted matter: the chimney was difpoled in fuch a manner, ® A lining or coating of a mixture of clay and pounded charcoal-— Eprr, that 268 Jew Method of feparating Silver, Be. that a proper degree of heat could be given to the bafon and the fufed metal. The dra/que being very dry, a quintal of our dillon money was fufed in the bafon through charcoal 5 and the charcoal being then removed from the top, ‘a work- man, furnifhed with a long iron {poon, threw fulpbur on the melted mafs, while another workman ftirred the matter with a clay rod. In proportion as fulphuret of copper was formed, the furface of the mafs was fprinkled with a bruth dipped in water, and another workman, with an irdén fork, removed in plates the maties as they became fixed. There was ob- tained in this manner, after the operation, a cupreous but- ton, and mattes nearly in the fatie proportion, and contain- ing the fame quantity of filver, as in the trials on a fmall feale. A quintal and a half of matter was thus fufed. at once, ‘and it is probable that a greater quantity might be fufed in the fame manner. The mattes, well pulverized, were fubjected to calcination with muriate of foda and lime in a cupelling furnace art ranged for that purpofe. a - After a calcination of ten hours, the matter was amalga* mated in one of thofe mills commonly ufed in the mint fof extracting filver and gold from the refufe of different opera- tions. After the firll amalgamation, which lafted only 14 hours, the third part of the filver contained in the oxide was extracted ; and, as it is in the fecond amalgamation that the greater part of the filver is attacked by the mercury, we may conclude, without any danger of being deceived, that three amalgamations will be more than fufficient to extra, on & large {cale, the whole filver of the matées. ; ‘ Thefe mills, which contain from 26 to 30 pounds of mat- ter, may be put in aétion, to the number of forty, by a finglé water-wheel: befides this advantage, their capacity may be augmented. ' By the procefs of C. Napioné, not only filver but the gold | united with it may be extracted from argentiferous copper$ and this may be done by one liquation. As the water of the wathing of the firft amalgamation con- tains a great deal of fulphate of copper, the metal may be extracted from it by cementation with iron, or by precipi+ tating it by carbonate of potath, which will produce cupreous carbonate of a bright green colour. The fame water after- wards evaporated gives fulphate of foda in abundance. The water of the fecond wafhing and the third amalgama- tion is colourlefy ; and there may be extracted from it, with advantage, by evaporation, muriate:and carbonate of foda. . The oxide of copper freed from the filver may he fent to Sails the Defeription of a Drain Plough. s6g: the: fmelting-houfes. at the copper-mines to be reduced along with the ores, and refined: by the common method. . _ €. Napioné, having calculated the expenfe neceflary for his procefs when executed on a large feale,, concludes thaty. in the prefent circumftances, it will never amount to a fifth part of that which refining by common liquation: requires. ————— = - = a = = = ~ XLV. Defcription of the Duke of Bridgewater's Drain Plough *. , SIR, AM favoured with yours of the 15th inftant. The model of the guttering-plough fent you, was a prefent to the Society from his Grace the Duke of Bridgewater, made by Robert Tomlinfon, one of his Grace’s conftant workmen. I procured the following account this morning from the duke’s farmer :—In clay or {tiff land that lies flat, the plough cannot go too deep; but if it lies on a declivity, about five inches deep is fuficient. In foft light foil, the plough. fhould o as deep as it can in all fituations, becaufe the fides moulder ito the gutters. The beft time of drainmg is about Mi- chaelmas, or as foon as the grafs is eaten; and the whole fhould be accomplithed betwixt that time and Chriftmas. In clay ground that has never been drained, fix good horfes. will be requifite to draw the plough. In every following year the plough fhould be rnn through the fame gutters, and four horfes will then be fufficient. I am, Sir, Your moft obedient fervant, Tuomas Bury. P.S. The fhare of the plough mutft be well ftecled, and fhould be ground fharp. Worfley, September 18, 1800. Mr. Charles Taylor. *,* At Broughton, in the neighbourhood of Manchefter, confiderable quantities of ftiff clay, pafture, and meadow land, have been much improved, under the infpeéction of the Se- cretary of the Society, by the ufe of this plough. After the cattle were houfed for the winter, three horfes * From the Tranfadions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. t8ou—The thanks. of the Society were this feflion voted to his Grace the Duke of Bridgewater for a model of this drain plough, pre- fented by him to them, and fent with the above aianiateation trot his Grace's agent, Mr. Thomas Bury, of Worfley Mills, near Manchefter. The model, which is made upon a fcale of one inch to a foot, is placed in the Society’s repofitory for public infpection. were 240 Defeription of a Drain Plough. were employed to form drains with the plough at proper iit tervals: the {mall drains were made at the diftance of about’ nine yards from each other, in old furrows of the ground, and about five inches deep: the fod, when cut out by the plough, was of a wedge-like form, and turned out by it upon the ridges of the land, entirely feparated from the drain-or ratter. Thefe fods were afterwards divided acrofs, by a Frail, into lengths of about two feet each, then toffed by a pitchfork into a cart, and placed in a heap in the field, along with ftrata of quicklime in a powdery ftate: the whole mafs was reduced to a compott by the froft during the winter, and in the following {pring was laid upon the furface of the land, and formed an excellent top-dreffing. The water from the fmall drains was directed into larger drains, made by lowering the fhare of the plough to the depth of nine or more inches. Little or no lots of land arofe from the {mall drains, as natural graffes were produced there- _ in early in the fpring... It will be highly advantageous to re- peat the operation every winter: it is eafily and expeditioufly performed ; and no perfon, without an aétual experiment of the fact, can form a fufficient judgment of the great benefit arifing to vegetation by the removal of cold ftagnant water, during the winter, from land of every defeription. Defcription of the Duke of Bridgewater's Drain Plough, (Plate VII. fig. 1.) AB, the beam of the plough. CD, the handles, E, the fhare or fock. F, the coulter, or firft cutter of the fod; which coulter is fixed to the fhare. G, the other coulter, or fecond cutter, which feparates the fod from the land, and directs it through the open fpace be- twixt F and G. This coulter is connected with the fhare and the beam. HI, the fheath of the plough. K, the bridle or muzzle, to which the fwingle-tree is to be fixed. LM, two wheels of caft iron, which may be raifed or lowered by {crews at N prefling upon the flat irons OO, to which the axis of each wheel is fixed. Thefe wheels regu- late the depth which the {hare is to penetrate into the earth, P, a chain with an iron pin, to moye the {crews at O. XLVI. De- Pw reten] ALVI. Defeription of Mr. Knreur’s Drill. Machine for Sowing Turnip-feed*. STR, HAVE fent you a fmall infrument for fowing turnips, which I have tried on feveral different foils, and think I can venture to affert, that it will fow the feed and cover it per- fe&tly well in any foil that is nearly in a proper ftate to re- ceive it. It is neceffary either to‘harrow the ground acro/sy or to roll it, previoufly to the inftrument being ufed, that the labourer may fee the rows hé has made: but I have al- ways found the crop to fucceed better after the roller than after the harrow, though the ground has been very {trong. The inftrument is fo extremely fimple m its conftru€tion, that it is almoft unneceffary to give a defcription of its mode of action ; but as parts of it may probably be broken in car- riage, I have added the following fketch: See Plate VII. fig. 2. —A, the iron wheel, which, running on its edge, formed by two concave fides, makes the groove into which the feeds fall. I have fometimes ufed a wheel with ftraight fides; but [ think that concave fides, when well executed, are to be preferred in ftrong fotls, and indeed in any foil. B is a wheel moving on the fame axis with A, and turning the wheel C (which gives out the feed) by means of a ftrap. I have feveral fizes of the wheel B, in order to increafe or diminith the ra- pidity of C; and confequenily ta fow more or lefs feed. D, the tube through which the feed pafles, and falls into the - channel made by the iron wheel. E, the feet of the inftru- ment. F, fix lengths of jack-chain; which I find cover the feed remarkably well. The chain is perhaps preferable to any kind of harrow, becaufe it can never become encum- bered by loofe ftraw, which is almoft always found on or clofe to the furface, when the ground has been manured ; and the iron cutting-wheel has a fimilar advantage over any kind of fhare. GI, the feed-box. HH, the handles of the machine. The labour of ufing the inftrument is very fmall. My workman ufually accomplifhes four ftatute acres, or fome- thing more, in a day; and laft night, with the one 1 fend, he fowed an acre and a half after fix o’clock in the evening. There are two holes before the axis of the great wheel, to re= ceive two pieces of cane, which point out the proper width * From the Tranfadtions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. 1801.—The filver medal was this feflion yored to Plomas Apdvew. Knight, Efy. of Elton, near Ludlow, for this invention. A complete machine was prefented by him, and is placed in the Society's repolitory. P oO 472 —_—~Drill’ Machinelfor [wih Turnip-feed. of the intervals between the rows. I ufually place my rows at eighteen or twenty inches’ diftance; and I wifh my plants to fiand not more than fix inches apart in the row; for 1 find that three fmall turnips weigh about as much as one large turnip, are more folid, and I think more nutritious, and certainly are much lefs apt to fuffer by, unfavourable weather. The ground between the rows is, of courfe, worked with the hoe. Should the Society, at their next meeting, approve of the inftrument, and will afford it a place in_ their Fepofitory, I will beg them to accept it; if not, I will re- queft you-to return it at your Icifure. I am, Snr, Your moft obedient fervant, Rige nese hution, THomMAs ANDREW KNIGHT. June 22, roo. Mr. Charles Taylor. N. B. The angle which forms the edge of the wheel A, muft be made more or lefs acute, and the inftrument more or lefs heavy, proportional to the ftrength of the foil. I have fome- times added weights of lead over the axis of the wheel, but it will rarely be found neceffary. I have tried the inftrument on different foils, and I think it will anfwer on any. A great advantage may be derived by fowing turnips with it, ata time when horfes, now commonly ufed for the fame purpofe, are engaged in other employments. A few days are fre- quently of importance in fowing turnips, which by fortunate rains have got a wonderful fiart of thofe which have been fown a day or two later. : ’ Fig. 3. is a feGtion, on a larger feale, of the feed-box G, in fig. 2. The wheel marked C, is alfo the fame as in that figure: it is fixed upon the axis of the cylinder I, which is pierced upon the furface with holes at K, for the feed. This cylinder turns round within. a groove at the bottom of the box, and is fo well fitted therein, that no feed falls from the box But what is delivered by the holes K. A fmall broth, marked L, rubs againft the cylinder, to clear out any. feeds’which may remain in the holes. The feeds fall into the tube underneath the cylinder, and from thence into the channel made by the indenting rim of the iron wheel. The loofe chains which follow, cover the feeds with earthy, as before mentioned. Fig. 4. a front view of the wheel, exhibiting its edge. XLVII. Notices { 273 ] XLVII. Notices re/peGing New Books, Manchefter Tranfaétions. 6 Wee Second Part of Vol. Vv. has juft made its appear ance. The following are the contents : Qn Tragedy, and the Intereft in Tragical Reprefentations : an Efflay. By the Rev. George Walker, F.R.S. and Pro- feflor of Theology in the New College, Manchefter.—Ex- periments and Obfervations to determine whether the Quan- tity of Rain and Dew is equal to the Quantity of Water car- ried off by the Rivers and raifed by Evaporation; with an Inquiry into the Origin of Springs. By Mr. John Dalton.—. Experiments and Obfervations on the Power of Fluids to conduct Heat; with Reference to Count Rumford’s Seventh Effay on the fame Subjeé. By Mr. John Dalton.—Ex- periments on the Velocity of Air ifluing out of a Veffel in different Circumftances ; with the Defcription of an Inftru- ment to meafure the Force of the Blaft in Bellows, &c. By Mr. Banks, Lecturer in Natural Philofophy.—-Effay on the Beautiful in the Human Form ; and Inquiry whether the Grecian Statues prefent the moft perfect Beauty of Form that we at prefent have any Acquaintance with. Communicated to the Society from a Correfpondent through the Rev. George Walker.—A Defence of Learning and the Arts, againft fome Charges of Rouffeau. In two Effays. By the Rev. George Walker, F. R.S.—Obfervations on the Nervous Syftems of different Animals; on Original Defeéts in the Nervous Syf- tem of the Human Species, and their Influence on Senfation and Voluntary Motion. By John Hull, M.D.—Experi- ments and Obfervations on the Heat and Cold produced by the Mechanical Condenfation and Rarefaction of Air. By Mr. John Dalton.—Account of fome Antiques lately found in the River Ribble. By Mr. Thomas Barritt.—Experimental Effays on the Conttitution of mixed Gafes; on the Force of Steam or Vapour from Water and other Liquids in different Temperatures, both in a Torvicellian Vacuum and in Air; on Evaporation; and on the Expanfion of Gafes by Heat. By Mr. John Dalton.-—A Review of fome Experiments which have been fuppofed to difprove the Materiality of Heat. By Mr. William Henry.—An Inveftigation of the Method whereby Men judge, by the Ear, of the Pofition of Sonorous Bodies relative to their own Perfons. By Mr. John Gough.—On the Theory of Compound Sounds, By Mr. John Goygh.—Meteorological Obfervations made at Man- Vou, All, No, 47. S chefler, 244. Notices refpecting New Books. ‘chefter. By Mr. John Dalton.—Appendix. 1. Explanation of a Roman Infeription found in Caitle field, Manchefter. By Mr. Thomas Barritt: with a Note on the fame Subjeét by Dr. Holme.—Lt. Note to Mr. W. Henry’s Paper on Heat. Ausf brliche Gefchichte der Theoretifch Praktifcben Ubrma- cherkunft, Sc. A Hiftory of Clock- and Watch-making, both Theoretical and Praétical, fince the earlieft Method of dividing the Day to the End of the 18th Century, By }. H. Moniz Pores, 1801. 8vo. 564. p. 8. [Continued from p. 179.] V. The invention of clocks moved by wheels and weights, and their progreffive improvement till ihe middle of the feven- teenth century.—The invention of clocks moyed by wheels. and weights, as well as the period of the invention, is totally unknown. The author, however, has collected the refearches of learned men on this fubjeét, and refutes the opinion of thofe who make the invention to be not older than the 14th century, The invention, however, was not very great, as the more per-,, fect water-clocks were before that period furnifhed with. wheels, fo that the only improvement was the fubftitution of afolid body to act as a moving weight inftead of water. The, principal point was to produce uniformity in the action of, thefe weights; and.in this refpect the firft clocks moved by. weights were deficient till the time of Huyghens, Its not therefore to be wondered at, that the application of weights to clocks as a moving power fhould excite fo little attention, as to be fcarcely thought worth notice by cotemporary, writ- — - ers: water and fand were indeed more convenient than a, folid weight, which requires too much room for its motion. The author is of opinion that the origin of clockswith weights. is as old as the 11th century, and adduces..very probable - grounds in fupport of it; but it is not properly afcertained,. whether the inventor was an European ora Saracen. The . oldeft complete clock moved by weights, of which there is any certain teflimony, is that fent by the fultan of Egypt in . the year 1232 to the emperor Frederic II, the value of which. was at that time eflimated at 5000 ducats. In the 13th cen-: tury, many of the church-fieeples in Italy were furnifhed with clocks moved by weights that firuck the hours. About the fame time the well-known clock-houfe at Weftminfter-, hall was furnifhed with a clock that ftruck the hours; the ex- penfe of which was defrayed by a fine impofed. on one of the judges. The clock moved by weights of the abbot. - Richard of Wallingford, which by many has been confidered) - as the ones was confirugted in the 14th century, In the year Noiices refpefting New Books. 275 a 1394 Padua obtained the firft clock, fuppofed to have een conflructed by the. celebrated pbilofopher, phyfician, aftronomer and mechanift James Dondi.. That fuch clocks might be introduced into England, Righard IIT. gave a patent to three Netherlandevs, in the year 1368. Courtrai in France had aclock that &ruck the hours fo early as the year 1332: it Was carried away iti that year by Philip the Bold of Burgundy, and conyeyed to Dijon, where it is ftill to be feen. The firft large clock at Paris was erected in 1364 by a German artift, Henry von Wick, who received daily fix French fous, together with free lodging in the tower ef the Palais, to which the clock was: removed in 1370. Bologna obtained the firft oe clock in 1356; Pavia, in 1402; Breflaw, by Schwel- elin, in 1368; Straiburg, in 1370; Augfburg, in 13985 Nuremberg, in 14623 and Venice, in 1497. The firft clocks were expenfive, and many cities, defirous of haying fuch _ machines, were not able to raife money to purchafe them. In the year 1 523, the fines levied from the fiudents at Oxford were employed to defray the expenfe.of the clock ereéted on the church of St. Mary. Private individuals, however, about this time began to obtain clocks. The firit inftance of a clock with weights being employed for atironomical purpofes oc- eurs in 1484, when Walther, as he fays, with a well regu- lated clock, made an obfervation of Mercury. Tycho had three of thefe clocks, which fhowed minutes and feconds: he found, however, that they were expofed to variations from. the influence of the atmolphere and wind; on which account he caufed to be conftructed a quickfilver clock,.in which diftilled quickfilver, inftead of fand and. water, fhowed mi- nutes and feconds. To produce an uniform fall, fo much quickfilver dropped from another veffel into the hour-veffel as was fufficient to keep it always at the fame height. As the fiudy of aftronomy required more accurate meafurers of time, we are indebted to that {eience for the improvement of thefe inftruments, the conftruction of which does fo much honour to the human genius. VI. Invention of watches and table-clocls --Hele of Nurn- berg is generally confidered as the wyentor of watches or ing-clocks, as they ought properly to be called; the firtt of which he is faid to have cont{tru¢ted in the year 1500. According to others, Halbrecht of Strafburg was the in- ventor: but his firft clock was confiruéted in 1520, and con- fequently twenty years later than Hele; who, it is certain, made fmall fpring-clocks or watches fo early as 1500. ~ Nurnberg and Augiburg were the firft cities of Germany in which watches were made. Hele’s watches not only indi- $2 cated 276 Notices refpefting New Books. cated the hours, but ftruck them alfo. Andrew Heinlein, who trod in Hele’s footfteps, made fmall clocks in the {mell- ing-balls which were ufed in his time. In the architectural office at Augfburg there is a watch, above 200 years old, which firikes the hours: it is contained in a cry fial date; and was made by Bufchman. There were ftriking watches in France in the time of Louis XI. The oldeft watch in England, that goes ftill pretty well, is of the year 1540, and is preferved in the palace of Hampton Court. VIL. Invention of the fufee, pendulum, and /pir al fpring. _ The fufee was in al] probability invented in England about the end of the 16th century, by whom is not known, and was thence introduced into Germany. It was examined geometri- cally by Varignon and De la Hire, in order to determine the moft advantageous form; which, however, does not always avail, on account of the inequality of the fpring, and therefore advantage i is taken of other mechanical means: of this kind is the balance, by means of which the power of the {pring can be adjufted, and which undoubtedly was invented in Swiffer- land about the beginning of the 18th century. In the firft watches with fufees, the diameter was fmall, and the box Jarge and broad. The catgut, by which it was wound up, pailed cight or nine times-around the fufee. This made the watch clumfy and ill-fhaped. The catgut, however, was foon exchanged for a chain, which confifts of {mall plates of fteel united together with great labour. In the middle of the 17th century, Huyghens i invented a better method of regulating the movement of clocks, In the year 1657 he applied the pen- dulum as a regulator to large clocks moved by weights; and, fome years after, recommended the balance {pri ing for w ditches: Before that period fome had ufed, inftead of the {poon-formed balance, one in the form of a ring, or employed a {mall fly wheel ; and Hautefeuille ufed at firft a fwine’s briftle, and then a weak; ftraight, fteel {pring, for regulating the balance, In the year 1674 Huyghens cauled a watch with a fpiral ba- lance fpring to be conftructed by Turet at Paris. Dr. Hook esd nits d difpute with Huyg ghens i in regard to this inven- tion, and proved that he had invented fuch a watch: for Charles I]., which had the infcription Robert Hook invenit 1658, Tompion fecit 16753 and that he had folicited a patent for fuch watches in 1660, but did not obtain it till 1675. [ To be continued. ] XLVIII. Pro- Bi ag74] XLVIII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. Ox the rft of April a fhort notice was communicated to the Society of fome obfervation, made by M. Bode of Berlin, relative to the Ceres Ferdinandea. He makes the oppofition of that planet to have been on the 17th of March laft at 4° 36’ mean time. The reft of the evening was taken up in reading the remainder of Count Bournon’s paper on corundum, noticed in our laft. The reading was continued on the 8th, but without getting through the paper, of which, from its nature, being chiefly a defcription of the forms of cryftals, we can give no account in a {hort notice. . On the 15th and 22d there was no meeting, owing to their falling in Paffion week and the Eafter holidays, FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE. Account of the labours of the Mathematical and Phyfical Sciences during the fecond quarter of the year Io. Mathematical Part, read by C. Delambre, fecretary, Aftronomy—Piazzi’s Planet—New Lunar Equations. About the beginning of December Baron Von Zach ob- ferved Piazzi’s {tar in a group of others; but, having nothing to diftinguith it from them, he was not able to find it again, and to aflure himfelf that he had feen it, till towards the end of that month. Dr. Olbers had obferved it alfo‘at Bremen about the fame time. ‘The difficulty which aftronomers ex- perienced in finding it, muft be afcribed to its fmallnefs and the unfavourablenefs of the weather; for, according to the ¢lements which M. Gaufs deduced from the obfervations of Piazzi, an inftrument could be eafily directed to the altitude of this ftar, and in two minutes it would have been in the middle of the telefcope. Before we received this intelligence from Germany, we endeavoured to take advantage of every moment when the {ky was favourable. C. Mechain, whofe refearches were lefs interrupted, and who had obferved all the {mall {lars among which the planet could reappear, per- ceived it, for a moment, on the 23d of January; but day having furprifed him too foon, he could only examine in hafte the configuration of the ftars which occupied the field of the telefcope. On the 24th, however, he examined it with more accuracy. On the 25th he communicated to us his obfervation, There remained then no more difficulty, In $3 the 278 French National Inflitute. the evening, when the planet was difengaged from the vapours of the horizon, I obferved it with a parallactic inftrument, and followed it for fix hours without interruption to affure myfelf of its motion. By a great deal of attention | was able to fee it on the meridian, where! miffed it the preceding even® ing in confequence of foreign circumftances. After’ that pe- riod we followed it clofely, and always obferved it when the weather would admit; that is to fay, about five times in thirteen days; for from the 25th of January to the 31ft of March, I could fee it only twenty-fix times on the meridian. Tt now paffés a few minutes before the Georgium Sidus; and this proximity facilitates a comparifon of the two planets with which aftronomy has been enriched in our time. That of Herfchel appears as'a beautiful ftar of the fifth or fixth magnitude, and may he eafily diftinguifhed by the naked eye. That of Piazzi efcapes the beft eye, even when it attempts to find it in the place indicated by the telefcope, in which it has been obferved. It is indeed only of the feventh magnitude : owing, however, to an union of circumitances in this feafon, “it appears in all its fplendours for it is at its,neareft diftance to ee earth, and ata fmall diftance from its perihelion. — It was much: lefs brilliant when found ; it can never now be loft. C. Flaguergues, aflociate, has fent us obfervations he made at Viviers. Among thefe is a new determination of the la- titude of that place, which he has found to be 18” further north than marked m the Connoiffance des Tems 3 allo, ob- fervations of feveral fpots, and particularly two which have reappeared at the fame place after oné!or two revolutions of the fun around his axis. . - C. Laplace has communicated to’ the-clafs his labouts for improving the theory of the moon. He has announced that; inftead of one ‘equation of a long period, of which there was fome reafon to fuppofe the exiftence, he has difcovered two, This complication rendered the labour more diffieult. \ Be- fides, thefe analytical calculations are fo embarraffing, and depend on fubftitwtions fo delicate, that it is proper to:call in the aid of obfervation to fix the precife value. But as the pe- riod of thefé new equations is more than 180 years, we cannot flatter Ourfelves with the hope of knowing both with com- plete accuracy until one or more periods have been obferved. ' Enperiments which prove that all bodies, of whatever na- ture, are fubje to the magnetic influence, by C. Coulomb. The new experiments undertaken by Coulomb, and which he repeated before the Inititute, induce us to believe that the action of -magnetifm extends throughout all nature, fince of all the hodies hitherto tricd none of them has efcaped the in- fluence French National Infiitute. 279 Awence of the artificial Magnet. But this action, though ‘¥Feal, has not the fithe force i all bodies; and inthe greater part it is neceffarily very folall, finee it has hithéito eluded the notice of philofophers: C. Coulomb gave to each of the bodies which he tried the forin of a cylinder or fmall bar: in this ftate he fulpended them by a thread of filk, fuch as it 1s when taken from the cod, and placed ‘hem between the oppofite poles of two ‘bars of fteel. The fiik thread can fuftatn no greater weight than eight or ten granimes without breaking ; it was there- fore neceffiry to reduce to verv fmall dimentions the needles formed of the different bodies fubje&ted to experiment. C. Coulomb made them of from feven to cight millimetres in thicknefs: thofe of metal he made only one-third of that fize. ; For thefe experiments he placed the bars of fteel in the fame ftraight line, their oppofite poles being diftant from ‘each other five or fix millimetres more than the length of the needle which was to ofcillate bétween them. The refult of thefe experiments has fhown, that of whatever matter the Needles confifted, they always arranged themfelves exactly in ‘the direétion of the two bars; and that, if removed from this direction, they always returned to it by. ofcillations, the number of which was often thirty in a minute. The weight and figure of the needles being given, it was therefore eafly to determine the force which produced thefe ofcillations. ' Thefe experiments were made in fucceffion with fimall plates of gold, filver, copper, Tead, and tin; fmall cylinders of glafs, a bit of chalk, a fragment of bone, and different kinds of wood. — Phyfical Part, read by Lacepede, fecretary. Chemifiry and Mineralogy.—C. Monge has given an ac- count of feveral important oblervations in regard to the theory of the earth, and which he made during his travels in Italy and Eeypt. C. Ramon has viven obfervations on the -ftruéture of the ‘mean and inferior mountains of the valley of Adour, one of the mot interefting in the !’yrenees. C. Lamarck has publithed an interefting work entitled Hydrogeology, or Refearches on the Influerice which the Wa- ters have on the Surface of the Earth, on the Caufes of the Exijflence of the Bafon of the Seas, its Difpl.cement, ec. ~ C. Seguin, affociat, read two memoirs refpecting cinna- bar; in which he endeavours to prove that ethiops and cin- nabar afe only covipounds of falphir and mereury, without oxygen and hydrogen: that thefe two fubftances differ,from S 4 each 280 French National Inftitute. each other only in the proportion of their principles, and par- ticularly in the degree of the union of their molecule ; that this proportion and this degree of union are invariable in the cinnabar, and, on the other hand, very variable in the ethi- ops: and, in the laft place, that cinnabar is compofed of thirteen parts and one-third of fulphur, and eighty-fix parts two-thirds of mercury. C, Seguin has written a third memoir on colophonium. After having fhown that good colophonium is nothing but refin completely purified from effential oil, and from which a portion of its hydrogen has been taken; and after having proved that the colophonium ufed in commerce is more or lefs deficient, he indicates a new procefs for obtaining it of a good quality. Mineralogitts had hitherto confidered the oi/anite or ana~ tafe of Haiiy as a peculiar kind of flone. But Vauquelin, by fubjeéting this mineral to analyfis, has found that it is cry{- tallized oxide of titanium. The anatafe, therefore, muft hereafter be clafled among metals, and in the éitanium genus. However, as the form of this mineral is not the fame as that of native oxide of titanium, Vauquelin thinks there is rea- fon to prefume that the anatafe holds in combination fome fubftance which has difturbed the common order of cryftal- lization; and this he propofes to verify when he can procure a fuficient quantity of this matter. C. Sage has defcribed in a memoir proceffes by which he was enabled to feparate, in the dry way, filver from cobalt, and to purify the latter fubftance, as well as nickel, in fuch a manner, that thefe two femi-metals, when fufed into thin plates, could be eafily magnetized according to Coulomh’s method; and that, when Bip aces by a filk thread, they indicated the poles, and exhibited the magnetic phenomena obferved by Klaproth, Haiiy, and fome other philofophers. The fame chemift read another memoir on the alteration produced by licht on fulpburated red arfenic, known under the name rea/gar. He has fhown that this realgar and onpi- ment, or yellow ore of arfenic, are only the fame fubftance differently coloured; that light changes realgar into orpi- ment; and that the latter mineral, which paffes to the ftate of realgar by the action of fire alone, returns to that of orpi- ment merely by the contact of light. Botany.—C., Ventenat bas prefented the fixth and feventh number of his Defcription des Plantes rares du Jardin de Cels, &c.; which C, Redouté jun. has enriched with his drawings. —. In the fitting of the National Inftitute held on the 5th of Germinal (26th March), C. Lalande, having requetad eave French National Inftitute. 28t leave to fpeak, addreffed the Inftitute as follows :—** Citizens colleagues, the Royal Society of London decrees every year a prize, founded by Copley, to the perfon who has written the moft important work in regard to the {ciences. *< T requeft permiffion from the In{titute to place in the Mont de Pieté 10,000 francs, the intereft of which fhall be employed for giving a gold medal, or the value of it, every year to the perfon who fhall have made the moft curious ob- fervation or written the moft ufeful memoir relating to aftro- nomy in France or elfewhere, whether belonging to the In- ftitute or not, according to a report of commiffioners whom the Inftitute fhall choofe from the fection of aflronomy or the analogous feétions. “ Failing an obfervation or memoir fufficiently remarkable, the commiffion fhall have the right of decreeing the medal, as an encouragement, to any pupil who fhall have given proofs of his zeal for aftronomy. They may allo referve it to be doubled the next year. ** If the Inflitute, before it accepts this foundation, thinks it has need of the permiffion of government, I beg it may requeft it. I fhall be indebted to it for being able to refiore’ to afironomy a part of what I have received, and of what I have been hitherto able to make.” The Inftitute received this propofal with great fatisfaGtion, and decreed that commiflioners fhould be nominated from the three claffes to fee it carried into execution. We may here add, that there is at the fecretary’s office of the Inftitute a will, dated February 3, 1768, by which C. Lalande bequeathed to the Academy of Sciences the whole of his property for the purpofe of giving annual rewards for the improvement of aftronomy; but at that time there was no aftronomer in his family. In the public fitting of Germinal 15, (April 5th,) C. La- lande read a memoir on the ninth planet. C. Toulongeon, a memoir on the eftablifhment and found- | ation of new colonies. C. Champagne, an account of the life and writings of C. Creuzé Latouche. C. Mongez, a memoir on the agricultural implements of the antients, and particularly their ploughs. C. Cuvier, an account of the life and works of C. Darcet. The following prize fubjects have been propofed by the Inftitute : é; 1ft, Ancient Languages.—A critical examination of the Greek and Latin authors who have written on Egypt fince the earlielt ages to the time of the crufades. The 585. Mufzuin of Natural Hiflory, Paris. The prize will be a gold medal of the weight of five heéto-+ grammes, and will be adjudycd in the public fitting of Ni- Vofe 15, vear 12 of the republic — Papers will be received till the 15th of Vendemiaire, year 12. &. Hiftory —W hat has been the influence of the reformation of Luther on the political fituation of the different flates of Europe, and the progrefs of knowledge ? The prize will be a medal of the fame value, and will be adjudged in the public fitting of Metfidor 15, year 11. Papers will be received till the 15th of Germinal, year 11. | Chemijiry. —The Clafs of the Mathematical and Phyfical Sciences had propofed, in the year 8, the following queftion : «© What are the charaéters which in vegetable and animal matters diftinguith thofe which att as a ferment and thofe in which they product fermentation?” ; But as the memoirs received did not fulfil the conditions, the Clafs avain propofed it for the year 12. The prize will be a gold medal of the value of a kilo- gramme, and will be adjudged in the public fitting of Ger- minal 15, year 12. Painting —What is the influence of painting on the arts of comniercial indufiry? To make known the advantages which the {tate derives from this influence, and that which it has reafon to expect? The prize will be a gold medal of the weight of five Hetta= grammes, and will be adjudged in the public fitting of Ni- vole 15, year 12. MUSZZUM OP NATURAL HISTORY, PARIS. A letter from C. Martin, dated Cayenne, 28th December, contaiis very fatisfactory details respecting the cultivation of the {piceries : he only waits for the favourable feafon to urider+ take {ome trials in regard to that of the pepper plant. Viétor Hugues, agent of government, has affigned to him a piece of ground for that purpofe. The objeét is to afcertain what are the trees fitteft for ferving as props to the pepper plants, giving preference to thofe which, being fufceptible of multi- plication by flips, havea thick fpongy bark, and which rifing to a fmall heieht have, however, a long duration. But this is not the only refit which it is wifhed to obrain by thefe trials. The ifland of Cavenne is the difttri@ which was firft cultivated in that colony; the foil in fome parts is ‘ex- haufied, and it is neceflary to leave it at reft before any other plants ean be comtitted to it with hopes of fuccefs: béfides this incotvetiience, it is expofed to a feourge ftill ‘more prejudicial to eultivation,-it is ravaged by ants, Phe . eyour Mufeum of Natural Hiftory, Paris. 283 devour every thing. There are fome' places where it. is im- poffible to prevent the deyaftation dccafioned by thefe infects, and many diftri€ts are abandoned to them. But fince the introduction of the pepper plant it bas been obferved that they do not feem to touch the leaves of that fhrub. Some plants feattered throughout the different eftates have been {pared by them. If this fat is confirmed in regard to large plantations, the foil of the ifland will be gradually renewed, and its produce will increafe in the fanve proportion. C. Martin tried to propagate the female nutmeg-tree by layers. Jf the operation:fucceeds, it.will, no doubt, be the fpeedieft and fureft means of propagating this fpicery 3 for among the nutmegs which are fown, and which germinate exceedingly well, there is a much greater number of male than of female individuals.. He propofes alfo' to graff the latter on the males, and to tty for this purpofe the different proceffés likely to produce a fatisfatory refult. In regard to the bread-fruit trees, they thrive in an ad- mirable manner. C. Martin announces that he will foon have twelve new layers to feparate from their parent ftock. Some of them have already fuckers, and the reft will have them foon. He has obferved, that layers in general, if the branches are fomewhat ftrong when they are buried, will produce fruits the fame year. A letter has ‘been received from C. Reidlé, the gardenet who accompanies, captain Baudin, dated {fle de France, April 20, 1801. The following is an extract from it: » & We arrived here on the 14th of February, five months after our departure from Paris. Our paflage from the ifland of Teneriffé took up more than four. You have no doubt learned the accident which I met with ,two days before I quitted the ifland. I fell from a.rock about 45 feet in height, in confequence of which I was confined to my bed during three months. I flill fuffered from my wounds on my. arriva at the Ifle offrance; and I entertained great fear that this misfortune would have prevented me from labouring during the remainder of the voyage. But, thank God, I evened and now trayerfe the mountains as before. I have already collected 255 {pecies of plants, without reckoning double {pecimens Be the herbal of the mufzeum. , ‘¢ T have made a catalogue of the colonial garden. I have marked thofe trees which are found in the Mufzeum of Paris, and thofe which are wanting there: the latter are in number fixty. C. Ceré has promifed to give me plants on our return from the South Sea. I have given him in exchange the fol- lowing trees : two free olive, two pears, two apples, a cherry, an 284 Briti/b Mineralggical Society. an apricot, a peach, an almond, a cheftnut, two wild cheft- nuts, eight fmall walnuts; making part of the collection of trees entrufted to my care when I Jett France. «¢ He made me tafte fome of the fruit of his bread-fruit trees, which I found delicious. He diftributed fome to the principal inhabitants of the colony, to induce them to culti- vate them. That which we ate weighed eight pounds. Eight ftill remain on the trees which have produced. Thefe trees are 18 inches in circumference and 15 or 16 feet in height. They would have been higher had they not been broken at the top by the wind. «© ] cannot fufficiently exprefs the civilities I have expe- rienced from the inhabitants of this ifland. I have vifited their gardens, and every where left feeds of the pulfe and flowers of Europe. During our paflage I planted walnuts, and raifed a multitude of young plants. I have difiributed about thirty in the colony, and have fent feveral to the Ile . de la Reunion. << T cannot inform you whither we fhall go when we leave the Ifle de France. This day we have received orders to ga on board, and we are ready to fail. But every thing in our expedition has been greatly changed: our touching here has been hurtful to it in more than one refpect. The failors have deferted to go on board privateers. Some of them have been eaught. The captain has landed two fick officers. Several of the naturalifts feem determined to go no further: as for my part, I thall proceed with the vetlel whereyer it goes.” By a fecond letter, dated the next day, C. Reidlé an- nounces that the departure of the veffel was fixed for the 23d of April; he thinks that they were bound to New Holland. “BRITISH MINERALOGICAL SOCITY. In the beginning of the year 1799 a few gentlemen attached to the {tudies of mineralogy and chemiftry, with the view of illuttrating an interefting department in the natural hiftory of their native country, which bad hitherto been paffed over with flight regard, agreed to form an affociation for this purpole under the name of the Britifh Mineralogical Society. They faw, with regret, while inftitutions of this kind were multi- plying in the ftates of Germany and other parts of the con- tinent, that the Britith iflands, among their general and pro- vincial focieties, pofefed none whofe attention was fpecially direéted to this important object. Without being jealous of foreign interference, they were forry that Enelifhmen fhould be almoft wholly indebted to ftrangers for an acquaint- ance with their own mineral treafures, and that the names of Britifh Mineralogical Society. 285 ef Ferber, Klaproth, Rafpe, Jars, and Faujas de St. Fond, fhould ftand the foremoft among thofe who have illuftrated the mineralogical geography of Britain. Induced by thefe fentiments, and confcious that every acceflion of facts, how- ever fmall, in fo extenfive and fo little explored a department, was not only of intrinfic value, but might ferve as the founda- tion and commencement of wider inveftigations, the original members, though few in number, hefitated not to commence a fociety, whofe objects, in their full magnitude, can only be adequately effected by length of time and liberal affiftance. They have quietly employed themfelves for more than three years in the gratuitous analyfis of {pecimens, in the gradual acceffion of members both capable and well difpofed to exert themfelves, to the beft of their abilities, in furthering the in- tentions of the Society; in arranging correfpondencies, and forming various internal regulations, which, uninterefting as they may be to the public, are eflential to the profperity of the Society. Having overcome mott of the difficulties which at firft prefented, and having received from various quarters unequivocal aflurances of cordial cooperation, the Society feels itfelf called upon to make a public official ftatement of its objects; and to communicate from time to time fuch abftracts of its proceedings as may contribute in any degree to the advancement of {cience or the arts, and convey to the correfponding members a brief but faithful record of the la- bours of their affociates. One of the primary objeéts is to obtain as much informa- tion as_poflible concerning the local or geographical minera- logy of Britain. On this account the Society is ftrenuoufly exerting itfelf to obtain lifts of mines, quarries, and mineral fprings, from the different counties, together with fpecimens and fuch particulars as the proprietors may be willing to com- municate. From many of the correfponding and ordinary members, the Society expects alfo, with confidence, to receive accounts, as accurate as circumftances will allow, of the pre- valent rocks and firata in various mineral diftriéts, their ex- tent, direction, and other particulars which may hereafter ferve as materials upon which to found a general hiftory of the mineral topography of the ifland. Among other valuable communications already received for this purpole, a manu- rae map of Cornwall deferves efpecial notice. very ferious obftacle to mineralogical inquiries is the want of an uniform nomenclature among thofe who are ac- tively engaged in the working of mines: the fame fubfiance is not unfrequently called by different names, or the fame name is applied to different {ubftances even within the fame 4 mineral 286 Britifh Mineralogical Society. mineral diftri&; the fcientific and technical terms are pet= petually at variance, and give rife to innumerable errors. A reform in the language of the miners, how defirable foever, is yet wholly impracticable ; but the Society expects to render no fmail fervice to future mineralogifts, by collecting from Cornwall, from Wales, from Derbyfhire, and other diftriéts, full and accurate lifts of the miner’s terms, accompanied by illuftrative fpecimens, the former of which, in due time, will be laid before the public, and the latter will be preferved in the Society’s cabinet.as authorities, to which a liberal accefs will at all times be allowed. When it is recolleéted how often valuable ores, by appear- ing under an vnufual form, or by prefenting difficulties in » their analyfis that are not to be overcome by the common methods, are negleéted and thrown afide; it will not be deemed a trifling object in the Mineralogical Society to un- dertake the analyfis of fpecimens of this defeription. All fach will be gratuitoufly analyied, provided the conditions already fpecified in the circular letters of the Society * are ftrictly complied with. . The above are the leading views of the Britifh Mineralo- gical Society, and will always occupy the principal part of its attention. It is by no means, however, intended to neg- leét other objeéts: the examination of minerals which have been either not at all, or but imperfectly inveftigated, will occafionally form a part of its employment, and every occur- rence that throws light upon the difficult fubjeét of chemical. analyfis will be carefully regiftered in the books of the Society. LIST OF MEMBERS. A. Aikin, prefident. W. H. Pepys, fecretary. C. R. Aikin, fecretary for correfpondence, Members in Ordinary. W. Allen. BAVC: A. Tilloch, P. Sandman, R. Knight. R. Stocker. Th. Coax. C, Lynam. Dr. Babington, R. Bingley. R. Phillips. pan Correfponding Members. R. Kirwan, Efq, P.R.1.A. Dublin. W. Henry, Efgq. Manchefter. D. Mufhet, Calder fron-Works, N, B. L. Dillwyn, Efq. Walthamftow. » % See Philofophical Magazine, vol. vie p- 369, and vol. ixe ps 982. Rey. __——.~ 4 * Afironomy. \ 289. i Rev. W. Turner, Newcaftle on Tyne. : J. Williams jun. bfg. G. Overton, Efq. H. Campbell, M.D. M. Tupper, Efq. G. Yeates, M.D. Bedford. J. Taylor, Efq. Taviftock. XLIX. Intelligence and Mifcellaneous Articles. ASTRONOMY. Another new Planet difcovered. A 3 M. OLBERS, a celebrated aftronomer of Bremen, writes 4 to C. Burckhardt that he difeovered on the 28th of March a | new comet or planet which refembles a ftar of the 7th mag- nitude. It had 184° 56’ of right afcenfion, and 11° 53’ of north declination, at 9" 25’. He obferved it feveral days fucceflively, and the ift of April, at 8" 1’, it had 184° 15 of right afcenfion, and 12 54! of declination. << T have learned that prince Henry of Wurtemberg, who refides at Hamburgh, has purchafed the beautiful aftrono- mical inftraments made at Paris by Megnié, one of our ableft artifts. “* This prince is brother-in-law to the emprefs dowager of Ruffia; and there is reafon to hope that the emperor Alex- ander, whofe munificence in every thing that relates to the fciences is well known, will favour the etiablifhment of the obfervatory projected by the prince of Wurtemberg, and which is wanting to the large city of Hamburgh, so ‘“* LALANDE,” In the above notice, which we have tranflated from the French official journal (the Monzteur), our readers will ob- ferve announced a difcovery of Dr, Olbers. On the fame fubject we have received the following notice from an able: afironomer, to whom we have been indebted for feveral va-, Juable communications : ) «¢ The following are the obferved places of a new celeftial body difcovered by Dr, Olbers, at Bremen, and conjectured, to. be a new planet: : 1802. R. A. Declin. N. March 28, 184° 56! go! -. 11° 33! 30! ag, 184.46 36 = 11 52 59 B0s-. 184.535 132i) 19, 12. 4g. 08” Ds. 288 Antiquities —Untommon Difiafe, Sc. Dr. Olbers’s planet-has, we underftand, been feeti in Eng‘ Jand by Mr. Stephen Lee,.. of Hackney, and Mr. Aubett, of Highbury, who both »agree that it has a greater refemblance to the old planets than Ceres Ferdinandea. pigsty tig ANTIQDITIES! bis A fuperb: ftatue*of Achilles, nine Roman palms and a half _ in height, and “in: perfect prefervation, ‘has been. lately dug up inthe environs of Oftea. The hero holds a metal lance in his right hand and the parazonium ({word) in the left: the helmet, which covers his head, has a large plume fimilar to that of the celebrated ftatue of the Villa Borghefe, which is not of fo excellent workmanfhip. This production, the work of one of the beft feulptors Greece ever produced, is not infcribed with the name of the artift. The infcription VYotiva Marti, engraved.on one of the legs,.proves that it was confe- crated to the god of war. UNCOMMON DISEASE. The thigh of a woman, who lately died in Geneva, has been fent to the Medical Society of that city, as exhibiting a very extraordinary phoenomenon. It is ftuck quite full of {mall thorns, which the woman, it appears, had been in the habit of fwallowing, and which gradually making their way through the inteftinal canal and the blood-veflels, ulti- mately lodged in the femoral mufcles. C, Albert is appointed to draw up a report upon the circumftances of this fingular cafe. A cafe fomewhat fimilar occurred fome years ago in the infirmary at Nottingham. A woman was admitted as a pa- tient, from one of whofe breafts a number of pins were dif- charged with excrucjating pain; and the difeafe was by her ignorant neighbours afcribed to the effects of witchcraft. The breaft was obliged to be cut off, and the woman reco- vered perfectly ; but, ftrange to tell, inftead of being cured of a habit of putting pins in her mouth when undreffine, and with which fhe often went to fleep, in fome time after, fhe returned to the infirmary, and was obliged to lofe the other breaft. We do not recolle& whether fhe recovered after this fecond operation. VOLCANIC ERUPTION. By letters from Banda, one of the Spice iflands, intelli- gence has been received at the: Hague ofa dreadful explofion of the burning mountain in that jfland. For fome time be- fore, the air had been humid, accompanied by fubterranean noifes; but fo violent ani explofion has not been known for many years. All the plantations were entirely devaftated; a great many inhabitants’ loft their lives, and the country, to the extent of feveral miles, was as inundated by the lava. I Ar oo ‘[ 289 J LI. Biographical Account of the late Dr.Puttenzy. By J. Atkin, M.D. Roicuarp PULTENEY, M.D. F.R.S. L. & E. was born in the year 1730 at Loughborough, in Leicefterfhire. His parents had thirteen children, of whom he alone arrived at the age of maturity. From early youth he was of a delicate habit, and fuppofed to be inclined to a confumption; and it was by means of rigid temperance, which he obferved during his whole life, that he maintained himfelf in a tolerable ftate of health. He has recorded (in Mr. Nichols’s Hiftory of Leicefterfhire) his obligations to his uncle, Mr. George Tom- linfon, of Hathern, who poffeffed fome property in that vil- Jage, and adorned an obfcure ftation with virtue and fcience. ** Thofe (fays Dr. Pulteney) who remember and intimately knw the fubje& of this memoir, will not, it is believed, judge it otherwife than impartial, though, confeffedly, a tri- bute from his neareft relative, one who reveres his memory with the trueft affection, who, through the early ftage of life, received from him, as from a father, the genuine fetates of wifdom, virtue, and religion; all of whigl were truly exem- plified in his own conduct throughout the whole of his life.” From this rélation he imbibed his tafte for botanical ftudies; and it was probably throuch his inftigation that he was de- ftined to the medical profeffion. ’ The youth’s firft fituation in a profeffional capacity was that of apprentice to an apothecary in Loughborough; an humble Echool, which, however, his induftry and talent for obfervation were able to render inftruétive. He paffed through the ufual courfe of a country education, and then complied with an invitation to fettle at Leicefter. ‘That town, like moft provincial capitals, was divided into two political and religious parties ;, and it was that of the diffenters (to which his parents belonged) whence Mr. Pulteney received his fupport. His fphere was ftill further narrowed, by the limitation of praétifing only as an apothecary; for it was thought due to the confequence of the party, to poffefs a furgeon of their own as a feparate profeffional character, which office was filled by Mr. Cogan, a man of merit and agreeable manners. Few remarks can be neceffary on the hardthip of placing perfons of abilities and Jiberal fentiments in fituations fo un-_. favourable to the acquirement of that reputation and thofe ~ Vou. XIT. No. 48. 1 emoluments May 1802. ~ 290 Biographical Account of emoluments which are juftly due to profeffional fuperiority ; and in which they mutt be reduced to an unworthy and de- grading dependence upon a few party-leaders ! Mr. Pulteney was of a timid and cautious difpofition ; and, though his mind was by no means formed for fhackles, his temper was not firm enough to enable him effectually to affert his freedom. It would be an unpleafant tafk to dwell upon the fhare he had in thofe “‘ {corns which patient merit of the unworthy takes ;”’ or of the ftruggle he maintained with nar- row circumftances, which obliged him to contraét habits of rigid economy, rendered more neceffary by the paffion for buying books, to which he was content to facrifice every other inclination. Science was, indeed, his great refource under the difcouragements of his fituation, ue it eventually proved the means of raifing him from obfcurity. To his private friends he was known as one who had inquired largely and thought freely on a variety of topics. To the public he firft appeared as a votary of the pleafing ftudy of botany. He became a correfpondent of the Gentleman’s Magazine at an early period; and communicated to it, anonymoufly, a feries of valuable letters concerning the poifonous plants of this country, and a differtation on Fungi, contained in the xxvth volume of that mifcellany. To the fame publication he fent, in 1757, a tranflation of a curious paper in the Upfal dme- nitates Academice on “ the Sleep of Plants.” This fubjeét he purfued more at large in a paper inferted in the Ith volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions, for 1758, entitled “© Obfervations on the Sleep of Plants, with an Enumeration of feveral Plants which are fubjeét to that Law.” He had before appeared among the contributors to the Philofophical Tranfaétions by a ‘ Catalogue of the rare Plants of Leicefter- fhire, with Botanical and Medical Obfervations;” vol. xlix. for 1756. This paper he gave to Mr. Nichols, in an im- proved ftate, in 1795, who has inferted it in the firft volume of his hiftory of that county. In 1758 he printed, in the Gentleman’s Magazine, a tranflation from the fame Amoe- nitates, of the inftructive paper entitled “ Pan Suecus,” giving a catalogue of plants which, from experiment, were found to be either chofen or rejected as food by the different fpecies of domeftic quadrupeds. This he adapted more particularly to Englifh readers by referring to Englifh authors; and he fubjoined to it fome notes and obfervations, Its utility caufed him afterwards to annex it, in a more enlarged form, to his ** View of the Writings of Linnzus.” He diftinguifhed himfelf in a manner more purely profef- fional by a paper publifhed in the Philofophical bie elt 77 vol, li, a the late Dr. Pulteney. 291 vol. lii. for 1761, giving an account of a fingular medical cafe attended with palpitation of the heart and other uncom- mon fymptoms, and which, upon diffeétion, exhibited a pre- ternatural enlargement of that organ. In .762 he received the honour of being elected a fellow of the Royal Society. His name was now affociated to thofe of men of fcience in various departments; and his perfonal merits were becoming known to a wider circle™of acquaintance, to whom he was endeared by his modeft worth, and the good fenfe and dif- cretion which peculiarly charaéterized him. Nor can it be doubted, that, even with his original difadvantages of fitua- tion, he would have attained a refpectable fhare of bufinefs at Leicefter, though ftill in that inferior branch of the pro- feffion on which he had at firft entered, to which, however, he had added the practice of midwifery. But it was his lot to poffefs a friend whofe ardent and enterprifing fpirit was an admirable correétive of his own diffidence, and who efteemed him too much to acquiefce in his continuing in a rank and employment beneath his merits. This was Mr. Maxwell Garthfhore, then eminent in medical praétice at Upping- ham, in Rutlandfhire. By means of a common friend, much revered by both, they were made acquainted in the year 1758, and this acquaintance foon ripened into a warmth of friend- fhip which death alone could extinguifh. As it was Mr. Garthfhore’s own plan, after a refidence for fome years at Uppingham, to take the degree of doétor at Edinburgh, where he had received his medical education, he ftrongly urged Mr. Pulteney to accompany him thither, and offer himfelf to the examinations of the univerfity, though he had never enjoyed the advantage of deddctiniad! taitnatiich there or elfewhere.’ His reluctance was at length overcome; and the two friends fet out upon their expedition in the fpring of 1764. Mr. Pulteney was already known by reputation at Edinburgh, particularly to Dr. Hope, the profeffor of botany; _ and he had the benefit of his companion’s extenfive connec- tions in the place. He paffed through all the neceflary pre- liminaries with credit, and in May. received the honours of graduation. The fubjeét of his inaugural differtation was . © De Cinchona,” or, On the Peruvian Bark; of the natural and medical hiftory of which important article he gave a very fatisfa&tory and inftruétive account. The botanical deferip- tion is particularly accurate, and is illuftrated by a plate; and his Thefis has been thought worthy of reprinting ina collection of the moft valuable compofitions of the kind which the medical fchool of Edinburgh has produced. A circumftance relative to ‘hii graduation, ee "4 T2 uinfelf, va 292 Bugrapbical Account of himlelf, but,affordiny, matter of refleCtion relative to the con- duct of public bodies, ought not to be paffed over in filence. The univerfity. of Edinburgh had now for a.confiderable time been rifing in reputation as a {chool of medicine, and its de- grees in that faculty, became of courfe more and more refpeét+ able. It is well known that the univerfities of Scotland, mo- __delled upon thofe of the continent, have adopted the, practice of conferring degrees upon oe ee without requiring in the candidates a, previous refidence in their own feminaryy or, indeed, in any other. In fome of them the examination itfelf has been. difpenfed with, and the requelied diftinction has been betiowed upon perfons at a diftance, in confequence of mere recommendation. It is no wonder that fuch a laxity fhould have thrown oceational diferedit upon academical ho- nours; nor that the public fhould have been prone to con- found the degrees conferred at univerfities fimilarly confti- tuted, in one general note of difefieem,, The Edinburgh me- dical ftudents jufily confidered themfelves entitled to be re- garded among thole of the profeffion who had received the greateft advantages of education, and were the moft deferving of thofe teftimonials of competency which titular diftinctions imply. _ They had therefore begun to remonftrate againft a mode of conferring degrees which might confound them with perfons altogether unworthy of the honour; and their dif- content had been aggravated by fome late inftances of noto- rious incapacity in Edinburgh doctors by favour. Thinking their complaints not fufficiently ‘attended to, fome of the ftudents of the longett ftanding had. entered into a mutual engagement publicly to oppofe every future attempt at deco- rating with the degree of doctor of phyfic at Edinburgh any: perfon who fhould not have ftudied there, and*to take their own degrees elfewhere in cafe their oppofition fhould prove unfucceisful. It happened that Mr. Pulteney was the firft candidate under thefe circumftances, after this refolution was adopted. The fub{cribers handfomely exprefled to him their concern that a perfon of his acknowledged merit fhould be the’ objeét of their oppofition; but they adhered to their determina tion. His reputation and interefl carried him through the. conteft; but he was. (I believe) the laft in favour of whom the condition of ftudying at that individual feminary has been violated. And fo fenfible have the Edinburgh pro- feffors fice become, that augmenting the credit of their uni- verfity’s degrees, and the difficulty of obtaining them, was conducive to their own perfonal emolument, that they have extended the period of requifite ftudy there from two to three years, the late Dr. Pulteney. 293 years, and made it comprehend every fet of lectures which gan poffibly be conftrued as belonging to a complete medical courfe ! As Dr. Pulteney had now affumed a new rank in the pro- feffion, it was advifable that he fhould look out for a new fituation. The firft plan which fuggefted itfelf to his London friends, was to procure him an introduétion to the celebrated earl of Bath, then in a very declining ftate of health. This was effected ; and the earl, upon infpection of his pedigree, recognized his defcent from the antient family of which his own was a branch. [Je alfo, upon converfing with him, was fo favourably impreffed with his profeffidnal and literary merits, that he refolved to attach him to himfelf in the cha- racter of domeftic phyfician. He propofed to fettle upon him an appointment of 4007. per annum; and the connection would probably have bee attended with mutual fatisfaction and advantage, had not the death of the earl followed fo fpeedily, that Dr. Pulteney received only one quarterly ad- vance of his intended falary. Not long after this event, a medical vacancy happening at Blandford, in Dorfetthire, he was urged by Dr. Watfon, Dr. Baker, and others of his friends, to go'down and occupy it. Provided with their warm recommendations, but an utter ftranger to all the inhabitants of the town and its vicinity, he fixed his abode in that fpot which was to be his refidence during the whole remainder of his life. A fmall country town, in the midft of a neighbourhood compofed of the ufual ingredients of provincial fociety, was. not, perhaps, exaétly the fituation moft defirable to a mai whofe mind was enlarged by free {peculation and feientific purfuit: but it was now Dr. Pulteney’s bufinefs to eftablifh himfelf in his profeffion ; and to that object, prudence required that facri- fices fhould be made. This is, indeed, the condition of all who have their way to make in the world; and perhaps a juft fenfe of true dignity of character, as well as regard to pecuniary advantage, fhould lead a man to place before him, as his primary object, the attainment of fuccefs in the pro- feffion which he has chofen; and to confider as fecondary and fubordinate all reputation or gratification derived from other fources. Dr. Pulteney, therefore, feems to have fat down with the refolution, not only of fulfilling his medical duties with the utmoft punctuality, but of avoiding every thing which might in the leaft degree involve him in differ- ences with thole on whofe good opinion he was to depend, He was fenfible that by his removal he had entirely changed his latitude; and though he was not a man to fhift his fen T3 timents 294 Biographical Account of timents and language according to his company, yet he was conftitutionally cautious, and could, without much efforty, practife the allowable policy of filence. ‘* Commune with thy heart and be ftill,”” was the maxim of 36 years of his life. That it exerted its natural influence upon his character, will not be denied ; but it did not prevent him from being a very amiable, ufeful, and refpe¢table member of fociety. The fituation of Blandford had not hitherto afforded any great {cope for medical pralice; but Dr. Pulteney foon ex- tended its limits. His reputation fpread through the cireum- jacent country, and he received profeffional calls from the market and trading towns in a compafs of twenty or thirty miles round his centre, as well as from many of the country families of principal diftinction in that part of the kingdom, As his induftry was great, and his expenfes were moderate, he began to accumulate property. He continued to live in a ftate of celibacy till O&ober 1779, when he married mifs Elizabeth Galton, of Blandford. He could not have chofen more fortunately for domeftic happinefs; and the addition this connection made to his comforts was proportionable to the want he had previoufly felt of that fociety which alone can intereft the heart. No children were the fruit of this union; but in the additional fociety of an amiable young relative of Mrs. Pulteney he enjoyed the pleafure of an adop- tive parent. He continued to employ his leifure in occafional writings on topics of medicine and natural hiftory. In 1772 he o dreffed a letter to his friend Dr. Watfon (publifhed in the Philofophical Tranfactions, vol. Ixii.) concerning the medi- cinal effects of the Génanthe crocata, an umbelliferous plant of a poifonous nature, the juice of which was exhibited, b ‘miftake, inftead of that of the water-parfnep. In the Ixviiith volume of the fame colleétion, for i778, he gave an accurate account of the bills of mortality for the parith of Blandford during forty years paft, with obfervations. To the London edical Journal, vol. v. he communicated an account of the poifonous effects of the Hemlock Dropwort, (the Zinanthe crocata above mentioned.) . He had hitherto appeared as an author only in detached memoirs inferted in periodical publications. But in 1781 he ventured to offer to the public a feparate volume, on a fubject, indeed, with which no man could claim a more in- timate acquaintance. This was “‘ A General View of the Writings of Linnzus,”’ 8vo. The purpofe of this work was to afford an exact fynopfis of all the labours of the great Swedith naturalift, who appears to have been the object of his ihe late Dr. Pulteney. 295 | his warmeft admiration. Along with the account of his works, memoirs of his life are interwoven, chiefly extracted from the different writings of Linnzus. In the prefatory advertifement Dr. Pulteney {peaks with great modetty of his performance, which, however, was very well received by the friends of natural hiftory, and obtained for him the prefent of a medal from Stockholm, as an acknowledgement of the juflice he had done to the fame of the illuftrious Swede, Many judicious obfervations and valuable points of informa- tion are interfperfed in the work. It concludes with a fynop- tical account of all the papers contained in the firft feven volumes of the Amenitates Academica. Some years afterwards a more extenfive and original work proceeded from Dr. Pulteney’s pen, and which muft have coft him much varied refearch in its compofition. This was his “« Hiftorical and Biographical Sketches of the Progrefs of Botany in England, from its Origin to the Introduction of the Linnzan Syftem ;” 2 vols. 8vo. 1790. He paid a jut tribute to fcientific merit in dedicating the firft volume of this performance to Sir Jofeph Banks; and a grateful return to long friendfhip, in inferibing the fecond to Sir George Baker and Dr. Garthfhore. The work itlelf is highly valuable, as an example of that union of the hiftory of men with that of an objeét of their common purfuit, which is fo peculiarly interefting and inftruétive. It has likewife made an addition to national biography, which will be duly prized by thofe who are attached to their country’s reputation. It is marked throughout with that candour and difpofition to commend which always characterized the amiable author. Whilft he was thus tracing the progrefs of his favourite [cience in books, he was by no means inattentive to the volume of nature as it lay difplayed before him. The county in which he refided is confiderably furnifhed with objeéts worthy the notice of the naturalift, efpecially in the foffil kingdom. How well he had made himfelf acquainted with thefe treafures, the prefent writer obtained a proof, which laid him under a particular obligation. ‘This was a brief but matterly account of the produéts of Dorfetfhire, communicated to him for the ufe of his little work entitled England Deli- neated.”” He afterwards#enriched the fecond edition of Mr. Hutchins’s “ Hiftory of Dorfetthire’’ with a catalogue of the birds, fhells, and plants obferved in that county; and during his Jaft nels he had under revifal a plate of Dorfetthire foffils communicated by himfelf. The formation of a mufeeum was the amufement of many years of his life. By gradual addi- tions, he accumulated a {tore of natural produCctions in Various T4 clafles, 296 Biographical Account of claffes, which was to him a perpetual fource of pleafing con- templation, and will, doubtlefs, become to many ftudents of nature a means of inftruction, in the poffeflion of the Lin- nan Society, to which it was bequeathed. Dr. Pulteney, in his latter years, frequently expreffed a with to retire frrom bufinefs, and take up his refidence in the metropolis, for the fake of the {cientific advantages with which itis fo amply furnifhed; but his habits of life were become too {trong to permit him to refolve upon fo great a change. He continued, though with diminifhed ardour, to follow his profeffional avocations, till he was attacked with a pleuritic complaint, which, after great fufferings, put a period to his exiftence on Oétober 13, 1801, at the age of 71. By his laf will he gave a fignal proof of the deep impref- fion which his early friendfhips had made upon his mind, and which no fubfequent connections of common acquaint- ance could obliterate or equal. After a handfome provifion for thofe who on every account were entitled to-the firft place in his remembrance, the remaining objects of his liberality were fome of the friends of his early days, and even the fons of thofe friends. He likewife paid a due attention to the claims of charity by bequefls to the Salifbury, Leicefter, and Edinburgh infirmaries, and to the poor of the parifh of Bland- ford; and he difplayed his regard to fcience by fimilar boun- ties to the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and to the Linnzan Society. Such are the brief memoirs which I have been able to col- le& concerning Dr, Pulteney ; whofe life affords, indeed, but little biographical variety, but prefents an encouraging pic- ture of modeft merit gradually making its way to fuccefs, and fcience, even of the moft retired kind, becoming the paffport to public efteem and reputation, I am happy in being enabled to enrich this article with fome interefting anecdotes relative to the early life and ftudies of its fubjeét, obligingly communicated by Dr. Arnold, of Leicefter, in whofe words they will be the moft fatisfaCtorily perufed. ; . Lo Dr. Aitkin, Belle Grove, Leicefter, DEAR SIR, e April 19, 1802. IT is with pleafure I fit down to make you acquainted with fome particulars relative to the friend and tutor of my youth the late Dr. Pulteney, with whom I had the happi- nefs and the benefit of enjoying the moft familiar intercourfe for the fpace of more than two years and a half, from the beginning of March: 1760, to the middle of Otober 1aR33 a8 that the late Dr. Pulteney. 297 that is, from about the goth to the 32d year of his age; during which time I was a boarder in his houfe, for the fake of his inftruétion in pharmacy and botany, as a preparation for my medical ftudies-at the univerfity. He was born at or in the neighbourhood of Loughborough, was much at Hathern, with his uncle Mr. George Tomlinfon of that place; and ferved an apprenticefhip at Loughborough to an apothecary, whom I well knew’ in my youth, of the name of Harris; aman of fome humour, but of fmall abili- ties in his profeflion, from whom he derived little information but in the common proceffes of pharmacy: for every thing more than this, he was indebted to his own genius and in- duftry. eae for botany he imbibed almoft in his infancy, from his uncle Tomlinfon, who was a botanift of the old fehool. His firft attention to this purfuit was merely the effe&t of imitation. Seeing his uncle fearching for plants, as. they walked together in the fields; feeing him take them home, examine them by the defcriptions of Gerard and Ray, at that time the fole, or at leaft the beft, and certainly the only good guides in Englifh botany, and compare them with the rude wooden cuts of the former ; difplay fome of them upon paper, prefs and dry them, and fit them for a place in his Hortus Siccus she began to do the fame, to afk his uncle the names of pl to make imitative collections, to draw up infantile catalogues and defcriptions of the plants which he found within the circle of his botanical excurfions and refearches ; and fometimes he added figures of fuch as he admired for their beauty, or efteemed for their rarity. How early he was a botanift appears from what he fays under the article Campanula patula in his ‘ Catalogue of fome of the more rare Plants found in the Neighbourhood of Leicefter, Loughborough, and in Charley Foreft,” in- ferted in the ac ie part of the firft volume of Mr. Ni- chols’s Hiftory of Leicetterfhire, at p. clxxvil., where he has this note; In the drier parts of Buddon Wood, and the hedges and lanes adjoining, _Firft difeovered in England by - Mr. Brewer, in 1726, near Worcefter, as recorded by Dr. Dillenius, Next in this place (Buddon Wood) by the writer of this catalogue, in 1742, who a few years afterwards com- municated the feeds to the gardens of Chelfea and the Britith Mufeum *.” Of * Let me here obferve, that I have found the Campanula patula between .the fourth and fifth mileftones, under the hedge, on the left fide of the old carricr’s road from Birmingham to Coventry; and have obferved it there, 298 Biographical Account of Of his youthful catalogues above mentioned I have feen and examined feveral, with defcriptions and coloured draw- ings of the moft remarkable plants, in very fmall books. They were drawn up at different times, and, like the different edi- tions of a book, were progreffively improved and enlarged as his experience in botany and his knowledge of the plants in the neighbourhood were improved and enlarged. Some of them were, I believe, made as early as when he was only eight or nine years of age; and [ particularly remarked that of the Campanula patula, which, as we have feen, had not been many years known to be an indigenous plant of this iland, and which he himfelf had difcovered in and near Buddon Wood in the year 1742, that is, when he was only twelve years old: there were repeated coloured drawings in the moft recent of them ; done, indeed, in fuch a ftyle of me- diocrity as might be expected from a boy of that age, but af- fording a very good likenefs of the plant which they were in- tended to Nel. This tafte, once implanted in his mind, grew and flou- rifhed, and was ultimately productive of extraordinary im- provement in the fame way. Imitation gave a turn to his purfuits; and excellent abilities, united with indefatigable diligence, led him on to that perfection in both the fcien- tifical and practical knowledge of botany, a fiudygat that time but rarely cultivated, to which he afterwardsvattained, and which at length raifed him high in the eftimation, and drew to him the frequent correfpondence, of the moft emi- nent botanifts of the time. He was early in the habit of examining plants in their feveral native places of growth, of being moft exact in the invefligation of them, and in noting their minuteft differ- there, invariably, for about twenty years ; where ten ora dozen plants are amually to be found, in the month of July, exaClly about the fame fpot ; from whence, fome years ago, I collected feeds, which I fowed in my garden, of which this beautiful plant forms a confiderable ornament every year from the beginning of July to the lawter end of Oftober. I have alfo found it in the road from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield; and about a mile from Stourbridge, in Worcefterfhire, where, befides the common purple fort, T faw one or two plants of a beautiful fnowy white. "This plant is nor only rarely to be met with; but I never found it grow- ing pleatifully but in Buddon Wood. In general, it is feen very thinly fcattered within a imall circumferibed {pot. It is to be obferved thar Buddon Wood is not a great way from Ha- thern, where he firft imbibed a tafte for botany ; or irom Loughborough, ‘where he ferved his apprenticefhip; and that none of thefe places are far remote from Charley Foreft, where many of the rare plants were colleéted; and that at Leicefter he was for feveral years fettled as an apothecary, where he remained till his thirty-fecond year ; all which places were the chief fcenes of his early or more mature herborizations, and furnifhed plants for his catalogue, ences ~~ the late Dr. Pulteney. 299 ences.and varieties ; in drawing up lifts of thofe which he had inveftigated ; in making memorandums of the places in which he had found thofe which were lefs common, and of the natural habitations of all; and drew up, oceafionally, botanical tables, as well illuftrative of the Linnzan fyftem, as of other matters interefting to the accurate botanical ftudent. But while he attended fo diligently to the improvement of his knowledge in botany, he was not lefs diligent in the ftudy of the theory and practice of medicine, aa chemittry, and of every branch of {cience which could contribute to the advancement of his knowledge of that profeffion to which he had dedicated the moft ferious bufinefs of his life, and in which his fuccefs was no lefs remarkable than in his bo- tanical purfuits. His moft favourite medical writer was the celebrated Fre- deric Hoffman, whofe voluminous works he, read over and over with indefatigable attention and perfeverance. Indeed, in whatever ftudy he was engaged, his diligence was intenfe. I have often known him to fit, when the engagements of his profeffion did not call him from his ftudies, and have often fat with him, for whole days together, without interruption, but by the neceffary interpofition of meals, to which, on fuch occafions, we ufually turned with reluétance. Sometimes, when he was very intent upon a fubjeét, he had a habit, not to be commended, of overlpreading his pillows with books, of reading, and referring from one to another; in fhort, of ftudying in bed till very late, fometimes till long after mid- night. . Thele habits of clofe application, both by day and night, ferved to render more delicate an originally weak conftitu- tion; and rn have been ferioufly pernicious in their con- fequences had they not been frequently interrupted, and fometimes for long intervals, by the neceflary bufinefs of his profeffion, which, though not great, was not inconfiderable, and by long botanical excurfions, which we ufed to make on foot, once or twice a week in the fummer months, and not rarely in thofe of {pring and autumn. He took great delight in the hiftory of feieyee and litera- ture, and of {cientific and literary men; in which he was @ mot diligent inquirer, and had collected a ftock of informa tion, both publithed and original, of which few men are pols feffed, But nothing feemed to give him fuch exquifite plea« fure, or fo to excite in him the ardour of enthufiafm, as the lives and travels of naturalifts ; and efpecially the herborizing adventures, the great fatigues, the hair-breadtlr efcapes, the difconragin 300 Biographical Account of difcouraging difficulties, and the happy fuccefs, fo common and fo interefting in the narratives and hiftories of the bo- tanift who engages in travels of difcovery. He read the modern Latin books of medicine and natural hiftory with great facility; and was particularly converfant with the works of Hoffman, Van Swieten, Ray, Rumphius, Van Royen, Linnzeus, and of fome other eminent medical and botanical writers: but had little ftudied, and read with difficulty, the claflical Roman writers of antiquity ; and thofe of Greece not at all. In the French language he was com- pletely verfed, and read a good deal. The acquifition of a new book of merit gave him the moft fenfible pleafure. The joy which he expreffed on the firft arrival of the fecond volume of the fo greatly enlarged tenth edition of Linnzus’s Sy/fema Nature, which was publitfhed at Stockholm in 1759, of which I was a witnefs, I fhall never forget. He feized upon it with eagernefs, ran over it with avidity, and could fearcely quit it till he had drawn up an analyfis of the whole, which, I think, he fent to the Gen- tleman’s Magazine, as he had before fent an analyfis of the firft volume to the fame valuable repofitory. His conftitution was from his birth fo delicate that his parents found difficulty in rearing him; and experienced great anxiety about him, as he was an only child. At the time when I was in his family ‘he had frequent illneffes, very commonly from fatigue, efpecially from riding on horfeback, which always, even after fhort journeys of perhaps ten or twelve miles, very much difcompofed him, and after jong rides brought on a confiderable degree of fever. He had frequent ulcerous fore throats of a very uncommon kind ; being accompanied with great debility, but very little fever ; fcarcely any fwelling, and no great inflammation of the throat, tonfils, or uvula; but large floughs, commencing and running from thefe parts, which were very rapid in their pro- grefs, but foon yielded to the ufe of the Peruvian bark and proper gargles, without producing any alarming fymptoms or great fuffering. I was then very young in the knowledge of phyfic; but thefe ulcerous, fpreading floughs appeared to me, as they did to him, very fingular ; and I have never met with any thing like them fince. Great as was his attention to medicine and natural hiftory, his reading was not: confined to books in thefe branches of knowledge only. ..He was well read in hiftory, morals, and. the philofophy of the human mind; to the latter of which he paid particular dpplication ; and, while he ftudied with diligence the appearances of external nature, and the ftructure : and ~ » the late Dr.. Pulteney. gor and offices of the human body, did not overlookthe opera- tions and mechanifm (if I*may ufe fo bold a metaphor) of the human miad ; on which I have often heard him difcourfe, not only with energy and eloquence, but with great profun- dity of argument and accuracy of difertmination. Among his early correfpondents were the celebrated Dr. Hill, Mr. Hudfon, the author of the Flora Anglica, and Dr. Watfon, F.R.S., befides others both regular and occa- fional. And among the early refpe&able friends whom his medical merit had acquired, were Sir George Baker and Dr. Garthfhore, who then refided in this neighbourhood ; the latter at Uppingham, as you well know, and the former at Stamford. — This acquaintance and correfpondence with Dr. Watfon began before or about the time of his firft entrance upon bufinefs. Having long been in the habit of reading the papers of that eminent botanift in the Philofophical Tranfactions, in the xliid volume of which, No. 471, for November and December 1743, his firft botanical paper was publithed, being an ‘* Account of Dr. Haller’s Enumeratio Sterpium Helvetiz, extracted and tranflated from the Latin,’ &c., and, to which he had continued to contribute frequent botanical as well as electrical and medical papers; and hav- ing, therefore, long admired him as an experienced and firft- rate botanift, he conceived a ftrong defire of cultivating his acquaintance, took opportunities of fending him. botanical’ communications by letter; and at length, having occafion to make a journey to London, introduced himfelf to him per- fonally ; and, being kindly received, from that time a regular correfpondence, and friendfhip commenced between them, which did not ceafe till the death of Dr. Watfon.. This in- timacy, [ have good reafon to believe, commenced foon after he had finithed his apprenticethip; and not only opened to him the moft unreferved intercourfe with Dr. Watfon when- ever he had occafion to vifit London, but was the means of Ahis introduction to the acquaintance of many other men of eminence, as philofophers and naturalifts. At the time when I was, his pupil, his Hortus Siccus of Britith, plants, was very large; and was particularly copious in the. order of graffes, in the collection and invefligation of which he hadbeen fingularly indefatigable, He not only corresponded with; but was vifited by, the moft eminent philofophers and naturalifis. Among thofe who vifited him while I was an inmate in his houfe was the earl of Mac- clesfield, then, { think, prefident of the Royal Society, who, I remember, was uncommonly pleafed with his large and beautiful collection of Englith grafles. { have 302 Analyfis of the Arfeniates I have now mentioned the moft material circumftances which have occurred to me concerning our late refpected friend. There are feveral of them which I have related rather becaufe they were facts, (and every fact relative to a de- parted friend feems interefting to his furvivors,) than becaufe { thought them of fufficient importance to be laid before the public. Iam, dear Sir, With great efteem, Yours very fincerely, THomas ARNOLD. LII. Analyfis of the Arfeniates of Copper and of Fron. By nie a Cuenevix, E/g. F.R.S. M.R.LA. [Concluded from p. 229. | Secrion III. Analyfis of the Red Ofaedral Copper Ore, in which the Metal exifis in a State hitherto unknown in Nature. In the courfe of the experiments which have been ftated in the preceding fections, I have had occafion to examine a great number of copper ores, and particularly of copper ores from Cornwall; but the only one which has afforded any intereft- ing refults, is the well known fpecies called red copper ore, cryftallized in regular and brilliant oétaedrons. It has been fo long known, and fo often mentioned by mineralogifts, that it may excite our wonder when we refleét, that its chemical nature has never been afcertained. For it would be an in- juftice to that very accurate and ferupulous analyft M. Vau- quelin, to fuppofe that he meant to pronounce decidedly upon that point by the fingle experiment which he had made*, and which is mentioned by the abbé Hauy in a fhort extraé& of his cryftallographical arrangement of mineral fub{tances, publifhed in the Journal des Mines. Romé de Lifle, the baron de Born, Lametherie, the abbé Hauy, and indeed every other mineralogift, concur in calling this fubftance red calx of copper; but fome of them affert that it contains a portion of carbonic acid. Among the many analyfes which have been made of this ore by Fon- tana, Monnet, De Born, Renovantz, and others, I could not find one, that in the proportions, or even in the ingre- dients, refembled what I had found to be its contents. The * He merely poured muriatic acid upon the ore; and, as it was entirely diffolved, without effurvefcence, concluded it to be an oxide, and not a car- bonate, of copper. 'ay higheft ef Copper and of Fron. 303 higheft amount of copper (that given by Fontana) does not exceed 66 per cent., and is far fhort a“ the real quantity. The remainder, as he ftates, confifts of water and of pure and fixed airs. The difference in the refults [ had obtained, together with fome new facts, which I had occafion to ob- ferve during my experiments, induces me to treat the fubje& at fome length; referring for its external characters to thofe mineralogifts above mentioned, who have amply defcribed the ore, and confining myfelf entirely to its chemical ana~+ lyfis, and fome analogous experiments. One hundred parts of very pure and regularly cryftallized red copper ore were reduced to a fine powder, and diflolved, without the affiftance of heat, in nitric acid. During the operation, a very violent effervefcence, accom panied by a difengagement of nitrous gas, unufually copious and rapid, took place. When thefe phenomena had fubs fided, the folufion was blue, like every other nitrate of cop+ per; and the ore had entirely difappeared. The liquor, per- feGly limpid, was evaporated to drynefs; muriatic acid was poured in, and the nitric acid was expelled by a fecond eva+ poration. Into the muriate of copper, which remained be- hind, a plate of polifhed iron was immerfed, which, after the ufual phenomena, gave a precipitate that was found; upon examination, to be copper, and amounted to 88,5. In order to complete the hundred parts, it would be necel- fary to add 11,5. But fire expelled from the ore neither water nor any other volatile fubitance ; nor did the weight of a given quantity appear either to diminifh or to inereafe by long expofure to a moderately elevated temperature. The only oxide of copper with which I was acquainted, as exift- ing in nature, contains 20 per cent. of oxygen. I had there- fore 8,5 of copper exceeding the quantity I fhould have ob- tained had the ore been wholly compofed of black oxide of copper. And, on the other hand, as | had convinced myfelf that no lofs of weight had been occafioned by any part of the metal remaining unprecipitated by the iron from its folution, I could not conclude the ore to be in the ftate of native cop- per. I was led, therefore, to imagine, that it might be a mixture of thofe two fubftances; and that muriatic acid, by diffolving the one, and leaving the oiher untouched, would be the moft effetual means of producing the feparation I defired, and of determining the proportion of each. Upon too parts of the ore a fufficient quantity of ftrang muriatic acid was poured. A total folution was effected, ave companied with difengagement of caloric. The liquor was, at firlt, of a very deep brown, approaching fomewhat to the tings 304. Analyfis of the Arfeniates tinge which water will receive when ftrongly impregnated’ with the colouring matter of dried vegetable fubftances ; but, upon being expofed to the air, and boiled fome time, it be~ came like every other muriate of copper; and a plate of po- lithed iron precipitated 88 of metallic copper. From this laft éxperiment it was evident that no metallic copper was con- tained in the ore. But ftill the deficit to be fupplied by oxy- gen amounted to no more than 12; while the copious dif- engagement of nitrous gas, in the firft experiment, indicated that the metal was not at its maximum of oxidation; and the rapidity with which it feized upon an addition of oxygen, fufficiently fhowed how ftrong was the affinity of that prin- ciple for copper, in that particular Rate in which it exifts in the ore. I imagined it would be expedient to attempt fome precipi- tations by other reagents, and make fome _ experi- ments, °For this purpofe, I diffolved fome more of the ore in? ftrong muriatic. acid; and, when I thought that the acid had taken wp as‘much as it could contain, and that the co- lour had arrived at its deepelt tinge, I gently drew off the elear liquor, ufing all the precaution which the nature of the experiment allowed, to preferve it frony the contaét of the atmofphere, and proceeded to examine it. Knowing this folution ‘of muriate of ‘copper to be very concentrate, I at- tempted to dilute it; but what was my furprife, when, upon the firft affufion of water, I faw the liquor become turbid and milky; and a very abundant heavy precipitate, of a white colour, fall to the bottom ! Struck with the novelty of this appearance, I proceeded to colle&t-as much of the fubftance as [ could, in order to give it a thorough examination, For this purpofe, I decanted the fapernatant liquor, and continued to*wafh the precipitate. Upon every fubfequent addition of water, I perceived that the precipitate lolt a little of its whitenefs, and drew towards an orange colour, not unlike the precipitates of platina. I foon found, therefore, that by this method I had no chance of obtaining, in a permanent and conflant ftate, this muriate of copper, fit to be fubjeéted to experiments proper to deter- mine its internal nature and proportions. I then attempted to make nfe of alcohol, as precipitant, inflead of water; but I found the falt to be foluble in it, when the excefs of acid neceflary for its folution in water was prefent. Nor was I more fuccefsful, when, after having precipitated by water, I wafhed with alcohol; for the colour of the falt paffed gra- dually from very white to a fhade of orange; lefs rapidly, it is true, in this cafe, but ftill fo as to convince me that I could ~ of Copper and of Iron. 305 could not even thus procure, in a ftate conftantly fimilar, the falt I withed to examine. The only conclufion which all thefe experiments entitled me to draw, was that, in the firft inflance, water precipitated the muriate of this particular ox ide of copper from its folution, but in a manner very different from that in which muriate of antimony, of bifmuth, and fome other metallic falts are acted upon. When into either of thefe muriates water is poured, a precipitate enfues, but it retains a very finall portion of acid, if any; whereas, in the eafe before us, it is a falt, and not an oxide of copper, that is thrown down. In order to effect in this falt a decompofi- tion fimilar to that which takes place in muriate of bifmuth, or of antimony, it is neceffary to draw off the firft liquor, and then proceed to wafh cuopioufly. The precipitate will by de- grees affume an orange colour, which, as we fhall prefently ee, is the real appropriate colour of this oxide of copper, prepared in the humid way. It is evident alfo, from this precipitation, that this oxide of copper combines with muriatic acid by a very flender af- finity. As it did not appear to me, that I fhould obtain any thing very fatisfaGtory from this combination with muriatic acid, L refolved to try fome other acids. Sulphuric, phofphoric, ox- alic, citric, acetic, tartareous, and acetous acids were each poured upon known quantities of the ore, and kept in bottles completely filled and well ftopped, in order to prevent any abforption of atmofpheric oxygen. The liquors generally became blue; and, upon trial, were found to contain the common and well known falts of copper, compofed of the refpective acid, and the oxide of copper containing 20 per. cent. of oxygen; while a large portion of the ore appeared to remain in its original ftate.. But, as I was certain that there could be no decompofition in moft of thefe acids, under the above circumftances, and moreover, that no oxygen could be taken in from the atmoffhere, it became a matter of no {mall intere(t to examine from what fource the metal diffolved had acquired the neceffary quantity of oxygen to favour its folu- tion, and afford the ufual {alt of copper, in which it is oxidated in the proportion of 20 per cent. I repeated, with all the above acids, the experiments tend- ing to fatisfy that inquiry; but, as the refults from all were nearly fimilar, I fhall mention that only which proved to be the moft ample and the moft conclufive. One hundred parts of the pulverized ore were introduced into a fall phial, and dilute phofphoric acid was poured in, fo as to fill it. A ground-ftopper clofed it completely ; and Vou. XII. No. 48, U in 306 Analy/is of the Arfeniates in that ftate it was fuffered to remain three days, during which time the bottle was frequently fhaken. The acid be- came at firft of a light blue, and increafed in colour by re- maining upon the ore. At the expiration of the above term, the liquor was decanted ; the refidaum was well wafhed and dried, and weighed 42. The blue liquor contained merel common phofphate of copper, held in folution by an excefs of acid. Upon the 42 parts of refiduum, ftrong muriatic acid was poured, which did not appear to produce the f{malleft change or effect. It was evident, therefore, that fome pre- vious alteration had been produced ; for, if it had remained in its original ftate, muriatic acid would have aéted upon it, as in thecafe already mentioned. To operate more effectu- ally, nitric acid was added, and the whole gently heated. A complete folution followed, during which much nitrous g's was difengaged. The remainder of the nitric acid was expelled by evaporation; and a plate of polifhed iron, im~ merfed in this muriate of copper, afforded a precipitate of metallic copper, weighing within one part as much as the weight of the firft reiduum. Tt was evident, therefore, that a partial reduction of the ore had taken place; and, what is_ fiill more ftrange, bad taken place by means of the prefence of an acid. ’ In many obfervations which bave prefented themfelves in the courle of various analytic experiments, fomething fimilar had before occurred to me. 1 have known metallic oxides yield a part of their oxygen, one to the otuer, in favour of fome particular folvent. When the metallic oxide 4, for inftance, containing 25 per cent. of oxygen, is in contact with the metallic oxide B, containing 10 per cent. they will each remain quiefcent in their retpective ftates. But, if the folvent C comes to be added, and if the fubftance B, at 10 per cent. of oxygen, has ‘no affinity for C, but at 15 of 20 per cont. has a very powerful affinity for it, then may the oxide 4 lend a part of its oxygen, in‘order to favour the com- bination of B, at 15 or 20 per cent. with the folvent C. In- deed, as foon as I faw: the phofphoric acid affume gradually a blue tinge, and the undiffolved powder begin to wear a more brilliant appearance, [ imagined [ fhould not fail to recognize the fame fact in this cafe. When phofphoric acid has remained long enough upon the pulverized ore to diffolve all it can, the oxygen 1s concentrated, as it were, to the amount of 20 per cent. in the part which is diffolved; and _all that which could not be diffolved has (through the two- fold affinity of copper: for oxygen, to the amount of 20 per sent. audof phoiphoric acid for that oxide of copper, at that degree of Copper and of Tron. » 307 degree of oxidation,) yielded up its entire thare of oxygen, to» favour the combinations which take place in a new order, the only one which can exift among the fubftances now pre- fent. It is, therefore, to the difpofing affinity *, caufed by the prefence of the phofphoric acid, which feeks to combine with black oxide of copper, that the reduétion of 42 per cent. of this ore is entirely to be attributed. All the acids above mentioned are capable of producing the fame change, but in a manner, perhaps, not quite fo diftingt or fatisfactory. ~ From the foregoing experiments it appears, that copper exifts in this ore in a {tate hitherto unknown in nature; and that it contains much lefs- oxygen than has ever been fuf- pected in any oxide of copper; for, from the quantity which was precipitated in the metallic ftate by iron, it appears to be combined in the proportion of about 11,5 per cent. To con- firm this idea, and afcertain, as nearly as I could, the precife quantity, I diffulved roo parts in nitric acid; then boiled with potafh, and filtered, One hundred and eleven remained upon the filter, which, as they had combined with a new portion of oxygen from the nitric acid, were in the ftate of blaek oxide, and correfpond exactly to 88,75; fo that I be- lieve I thall be within one per cent. of the truth, in afferting the proportions to be, . Copper - - 88,5 bt Oxygen - - wis 100,0 When, into a folution of muriate of fuboxide of copper, liquid potafh or foda is poured, a bright yellow precipitate, not unlike the precipitate of platina, takes place. This pre~ cipitate differs only in colour from the original ore; for it is foluble in muriatic acid, and affords the fame folution and precipitation by water, and the fame appearance with alco- hol. It is likewife foluble in nitric acid, but with difengage- ment of nitrous gas, and gives the fame appearances with the other acids above enumerated. The difference of colour feems to arife merely from the tenuity of its molecules, com- pared to the mechanical pulverization of the natural oxide. When alone and dry, it is much more permanent in its na- ture than when combined with muriatic acid; but any part * As the term predi/pofing affinity has been objeéted to, I bave ufed the term difpofmg, which, Lteuft, will not be thought improper. When in two bodies which, while together, remwin in their original {tave, thevquie librium of their principles comes to be broken by the prefence of a third, we cannot but allow chat it is this third which has difpofed them to the rupture of that equilibrium; and, moft certwinly, be the fact explained as it may, whatever difpofes may be called difpofing. P 2 fs) 308 > Analyfis of the Arferitates of it that happens ito be in conta& with a filter, becomes | green, and then blackifh, leaving a mark of the fame fhade upon the paper. Were it not for this property of changing, it might be of ufe in the art of painting; for the colour is» extremely beatiful, and would be highly valuable if durable. The precipitate caufed m the nuriate of copper by the car+ bonates of potafh and foda, is of a brighter yellow, and is a) real carbonate of fuboxide of copper. But, if ammonia is> poured, at firft ima {mall quantity, into the above folution, | the precipitate is blue; and, upon adding an excefs of the precipitant, the whole is rediffolved, and the liquor is like» any other ammoniacal folution of copper. isd In order, however, to determine in what ftate the copper) was diffolved by that alkali, I poured fome ammonia upor 100 parts of this fuboxide in a well-clofed phial. | - The liquor» became blue; and I expected to find that part of the ore had’ been reduced, as with phofphoric acid; but the refiduum was) entirely foluble in muriatic acid, with the ufuab phenomena.’ A fpirituous tingture of galls, poured into murtate of fub=" oxide of copper, afforded no precipitate, owing, I fuppofe, to the excefs of acid; but fulphurated hydrogen gas threw: down a black, and: pruffiate of ammonia a hghtith brown, precipitate. onary ods J endeavoured to obtain muriate of fuboxide of copper by evaporation, and by diftiWation. in a retort; but, as I could perceive the liquor conftantly affume a blueifh tinge, I could not reckon upon the purity of the falt, fufficiently to fubmit itvto analyfis. A _ Such were the principal experiments, which the fleeting’ and precarious exiftence of the falt allowed me to make upon it. But, from fome properties which L had remarked, I could perecive that this ore was a natural oxide of copper, nearly in’ the fame flate as tbat artificial oxide: whicly Mr. Prouft had found in the white muriate of copper, obtained by pouring a recent folution of muriate of tin mto a folution of muriate: of capper. . If, however, by the very mature of the fubftance, (which, as I faw it ever changing, I thonght it would be lofs of time to examine further,) I have been turned afide from more cer- tain refults, I have beer more fuccefsful in imitating by art the ftate of this natural product. . By expofing oxide, hydrate, or carbonate of copper, with~ out addition, toa violent heat, in an open crucible, I fre+ quently obtained the fuboxide, which then prefented all the properties already recognized in the above fpecies of copper ore. Inone inftance, I fo far fucceeded, that, upon the very firft infpection, of Copper'and of Iron. 2. > 306 infpeGtion, the well-experienced eye of the Count de Bour- non recognized a lump of it to be a mafs of femi-fufed, ar- tificial, red copper ore. sre Bap s But I have found a method of producing at pleafure, in the humid way, all.the new falts, and the oxide above de- deribed. . As I had found about 11,5 percent. of oxygen to be the quantity contained in the ore, I took that quantity of lack oxide of copper which correfponded to 1,5 of oxygen; (57.5 of black oxide was the proportion thus indicated ;) on the-other hand, I took 50 parts of metallic;copper, which had been precipitated by iron from muriate of copper, and which was in a {tate of tenuity not inferior to the finett pow- der. — Thefe were well mixed, by trituration ina mortar, and put, with muriatic acid, into a well ftopped phial. A vio- dent difengagement of caloric took place; the liquor became tof the fame. colour, as, with, the ere, and contained a falt in every refpect fimilar'to that afforded by the ore; while a por- tion of metallic copper, remained, ,wath all its luftre, at the Aottom of, the phial. The folution was decanted, andthe refiduum, of metallic copper weighed 7,5... Confequently, 42,5 bad been. diflolved,, which, with 57,5 of black oxide, complete the hundred parts. ' » \No experiment could prove, in a manner more fatisfaGtory, ithe quantity of oxygen contained in 100 parts of this fub- exide; nor could any afford, refults more important, or more conclufiye.. The paflage of a portion of oxygen from one part of the metal to another, to favour its folution,, as already ftated, is proved beyond the. poflibility of doubt; and is doubly interefting, as it is the inverfe of what happens to the ore when treated by phofphoric acid. In the experiments of Mr. Proutt, he has eftimated the quan- tity of oxygen, contained in,109 parts of thjs oxide, to be 17. This proportion was, calculated upon the deficit of a fingle analytic experiment, made upon the falt of mauriate of fub- oxide of copper, after having determined the quantity of acid, of water, and of metallic copper. But, firlt, the falt cannot eafily be obtained (as | have before obferved) in.a flate fufi- ‘ciently certain to be relied on, in an experiment of this na- ture; and, in the next place, it is probable, as happens in almott every analyfis, that the deficit was greater than the real quantity, of oxygen, For, the agreement between the analytic and {ynthetic experiments | have jufi fated, feems to confirm i1,5 to be more exactly the proporuen. , When, in the dry way, the above proportions of metallic copper and of black oxide of copper, Or, when metallic cop- per with a correfponding AsTypariion of hydrate or of carbon. , a ate 310 On the Arfeniates of Copper and of Iron. ate of copper, were intimately mixed; and heated'at @ low red heat, the oxygen feemed to be equally diftributed through all the mafs; and every particle feemed perfectly homoge- neous. . bea. In the ore here fpoken of, it is by'no means rare to find Jarge pieces of real native copper; and, whether we confider it mineralogieally or chemically, it certainly is an interefti fubftance. — But; bow much more will it be efteemed, if it’ regarded with a view to public utility ! } The Baron de Born has mentioned a gray cupreous pyrites, which, he fays, contains go per'cent. of copper. I have ana- lyfed a fimilar one from Cornwall, (gray vitreous copper ore, p-212,) which I found to contaim’$6 of the fame metal. Bit af we reflect, not fo much on the quantity as upon ‘the ex- ‘treme purity of ‘this copper, and the wonderful facility with which this ufeful metal may! be extraéted, it will be found much foperior to every copper ore hitherto difeovered. Tt would be well worth the: attention of miners, to keep ‘a con- ftant look-out for this fubftance, which, I am informed, ‘is not rare in Cornwall. Tt contains no iron, and no fulphur; the abfence of which latter is a peculiar advantage. It ista fact not generally known, I believe, that there is hardly fuch a thing in commerce, as copper which does not contain a little fulphur ; at Jeaft, I have ‘rarely met with any fuch; and it requires but a very minute portion of fulphur to inereafe the fufibility of copper. The advantage of obtaining copper free from fulphur, ts too obvious to require to be pomted out; and that advantage does this ore poffels. bane To work it feparately, if ever it fhould be found in fufficient quantity, would well repay the labour it would coft ; and a very {mall mixture of any difoxidating fubstance would; in a fhort time, reduce immenfe quantities. yas From the foregding experiments we may perceive into how many errors we may be drawn, if, in arguing from the refults which we obtain, we pronounce too haftily upon the ftate in which a fubftance exifts, in the fubjeét of any analyfis. After what has been thown, with regard to the aétion of muriatie acid upon a mixture of metallic copper and black oxide of copper, both reduced to powder, and of the action of phof phoric acid upon the ore itfelf, it may be ftill a doubt whet ther this ore is really a fuboxide, of a mixture of metallic copper and oxide of copper, at 20 per cent. of oxygen. But, as fimilar proportions of both, after having been made red- hot, prefented ‘all the properties’ and ‘appearances of the ore niueh more ftrongly than when ‘imply mixed, ‘it is fair to conclude that it is a real fuboxide.. Had not muriatie acid been On the Subje& of Navigation, 311 been ufed, the natural coneclufion would have been, that the dre was a mixture, or at moft a combination, of thefe two! fubftances ; for fuch did it appear to be by the teflimony of the other acids. The truth is, we are but little acquainted’ with the exaét ftate in which fubftances exift in many na- tural combinations. However, in the mineral kingdom, fucly fallacious conclufions are Jefs frequently to be dreaded than in the vegetable and animal kingdoms. | But, in every re- fearch, it is important to leave as little room for them as pof- fible; and he who would indicate a fure and confiant method of afcertaining whether, in many cafes, what we deem a com- ponent part, ts not, in faét, a product of the operation, would render to fcience a fervice, the real value of which is, per- haps, not now entirely forefeen. LIII. Communications on the Subje& of Navigation, from Joun Cooks, E/g. MR. 1A. SIR, Dublin, April.2s5, 1802, ‘ REQUEST permiffion to communicate to the public, through your Magazine, the inclofed attempts to advance the art of navigation; they confift of methods of meafuring diftance at fea, and of difcovering currents, with the plan of a new fea chart. My object in publifhing them is to offer them to the confideration of others who are more capable of de- tecting their imperfections and of fuggefting remedies than myfelf, for which [ fhall be thankful; but, as I intend to make experiments, and to follow up thefe inventions, I do not wifh to have it underftood that I relinquifh my exclufive right to them by this ftep, or that any perlon may make ufe of them without my confent. Iam, Sir, Your moft obedient fervant, To Mr. Tilloch. Joun CookRr. THE diftance through which a fhip fails is the produéct of the time and velocity of its progrefs; the time is eafily af- certained by well-known methods, and the log-line exhibits _ the degree of motion during the experiment with tolerable certainty : but, fince the motion is perpetually varying, this method would require an uninterrupted fucceflion of experi- ments to afford an accurate meafure; therefore tt is a defide- ratum in navigation to obtain fome eafy method of regifter- ing the feveral changes of velocity which take place in fail- ing, with the intetvals of time between cach ; which objects, U4 with 4 312 On the Subjeé of Navigation. with a practical contrivance for finding the diftance at any time by thefe data, are aimed at in the following fcheme. Let a fmal] globe of metal be attached to the end of a line which is to be paffed over pulleys fixed in the ftern-poft of a fhip, in fuch a manner that this globe may be drawn through the water after the fhip at fo low a level as not to be affected by the fhip’s wake or the motion of the rudder, and fo that the other end of the line may be conduéted into the veffel, where it is to be joined to the end of a ftrong fpiral {pring of fufficient fize and elafticity to exprefs, by diftinét expanfions and contractions, every variation of refiftance which may affe&t the immerfed globe. If a fhip, furnifhed with fuch an inftrument, move at fea with an afcertained degree of velo- city, and if the expanfion of the {pring, at the fame time, be marked on a fcale annexed, this degree of expanfion will be peculiar to that degree of velocity; and if the feale be filled with al] the ufeful graduations taken from actual experiment, the fhip’s rate of motion may be known thereby at any time, whatever the law of hydrodynamic refiftance may be. Then fuppofe a cup, with a fmall perforation in the bot- tom, containing that fort of metallic fand which is ufed for hour-glaffes, to be joined to the extremity of the fpring, the ftream of fand which iffues from it will have a common mo- tion with the fpring, fo that the point of the fcale on which this ftream falls will mark the rate of progrefs, and (fince fand* flows equably) the quantity which falls upon that point will mark the time, the produét of which quantities is the diftance paffed over during that time. Therefore, if there be a receiving veffel for the fand, divided tran{verfely into feveral compartments, fo that the partitions between them may be at the fame diftances afunder as the graduations of the {cale, the fum of the produéts arifing from the multiplication of the quantities of fand received in all of them, by the velocities de- noted by the compartments which hold them refpectively, will be the diftance failed at any time. However, though this method furnifhes quantities from which the diftance may be computed, confiderable delay mutt arife from the meafurement of each feparate portion of fand, and the multiplication of each of thefe by its refpective degree in the feale; which difficulty may be removed in the following manner : It is evident, from the nature of the feale, that the orifices of the compartments of the receiver muft be unequal; but if * Tt hes been proved, by experiment, that the difcharge of fand in this cafe will be the fame in equal times, whether the fuperincumbent weight be great or {mal!,—contrary to the eftablithed laws of fluids. they } 4 i | 4 . ; 4 : Sn Ox the Subje& of Navigation. 313 they be made to diverge as they defcend, fo that they. may be equal at the bottom, the unequal fcale will be changed into a fcale of equal parts, the fand received into it will be fo dif- ‘tributed thereby, when lodged at the bottom, that the diftance of each portion of it from the end of the receiver will be as the fhip’s velocity when it fell; and, confequently, the {um of the products arifing from the multiplication of the quantity in each compartment, by its diftance from the end of the re-= ceiver, will be as the diftance failed. But the fum of thefe products is equal, to the fingle product of the diftance of the common centre of gravity of the fallen fand from the ex- tremity. of the receiver, by the weight of all the fallen fand ; and, if the receiver be furnifhed with a \falling handle, this centre of gravity may be found at any time by finding tenta- tively that point of the handle by which it may be fufpended, fo that the receiver containing the difcharged fand may, not incline to either fide: and if this experiment be made with the hook of an ounfel containing a feale graduated for the purpofe, the weight or quantity of fand amen may be known; alfo, if the falling handle be graduated mto_ equal parts, correfponding with the divifions of the compartments at the bottom of the receiver, and marked with numbers re- prefenting the rate of failing which thefe divifions denote, the number on this handle at the centre of gravity, multiplied by the number on the fcale of the ounfel, will {how the di- ftance failed at any time. In order to adapt this inftrument to the feaman’s ufe, it is neceflary to confider the irregularities of motion occafioned by the waves, and to provide againft their effects. Thefe are of three forts. _ Firftrollimg, or a motion about the longitu- dinal axis of the fhip, which does not feem capable of dif- turbing the operation of the inftrument. Secondly, dee-way, which takes place when a fhip moves in any insur except that of her keel» in this cafe, the ftring, being drawn tran{- verfely, will not have its full effect on the ia at the bot- tom of the ftern-poft, but will aét as an oblique force, and confequently the diftance will be peprelenipa too little; to remedy which, the lower pulley muft be formed fo as to have a motion like that of a caftor on the foot of a table, whereby it may be turned by the line into its own direétion, and then the aétion of the ball will produce the required effeét. Thirdly, pitching, or a vibrating motion about the tranfverfe axis, which, if the {tring to which the ball is faftened be fhort, in an high fea, would give a ferpentine motion to the ball, that would reprefeat the diftance greater than it fhould be; to prevent — 314 On the Subject of Navigation. prevent which, the ftring is to. be of fuch a length as to ren- der the angle through which it vibrates very minute, whereby its tendency to deflé& the ball from’a rectilinear path will be diminifhed ; and if (as Mr. Boyle and others affert) the eateft height of a natural wave be no more than fix feet, iv will not require a very long radius to ‘render the angle fub- tended by a fine of fix feet fo fmall, that the divarication occafioned ‘by it may become inconfiderable. 7 Phishiay'h e fubjected to experiment in an eafy manner: Jet a boat, with the inffrument annexed, be drawn on a canal through fitch a ferpentine line im an horizontal plane as it would defcribe in a vertical plane in paffing over waves, and the effe€tion the ball will be the fame in both cafes ; by which pe it will ‘be poffible to find the error occafioned by pitch- ine, and the length of ftring neceffary to reduce it. ; " Temay occur as’an objection, that the immerfed ball can- hot be kept at the fame depth at'all times, and that it may receive different degrees of refiftance from the fame velocity at different depths, which muft ocvafion error: but the expe- riments of ©. Coulomb, publifhed in the Phyfical Memoirs of the French National Inflitute during the third quarter of the year 8, tome in. p. 288, prove the reverfe; his words are— L’on peut conclure de cette expérience que lorfqu’un corps fubmergé fe meut dans un fluide, la preffion ou la hau- teur dn fluide au deflus du corps n’augmente pas fenfiblement fa refiflance.”’ But the ereateft difficulty attending this feheme is to form the feale of the {pring that is to afcertain the feveral degrees of preffre which a globe of certain dimenfions meets from the feveral requifite degrees of velocity. For this purpofe; let a’man be furnifhed with a flender chain one yard in Jength, fo faftened between his fhoes as to limit the length ‘of his fteps; let him keep his eye fixed on the vibrations of a pendulum, and, by fepping'to the full length of his chain in time with the ofcillations, his motion will be equable, and the rate of it will be exactly known. | If a man fo prepared fhould draw a boat along a ftagnant canal, the rate of the boat’s motion will be equable alfo, and afcertained; and this . rate may be varied to any required rate within certain limits ‘by altering the length of the pendulum: then if the inftru- ment be attached to the boat, the expanfion of the {pring at ‘each degree of celerity with which the man proceeds may be ‘marked on the feale: for the higher degrees of velocity the man’s motion muft be increafed by fome mechanic power, as the axle in the whcel, whereby additional force may be eon- Birr: Pha verted 4 On'the Subje@ of Navigation 315 verted into velocity, and the degree of velocity afcertained by the power of the machine. This experiment fhould be made ina wet dock filled with fea water. iv It thould alfo be obferved that thefe experiments will afford a feale which will anfwer only for balls of thedame dimenfion as that with which the original experiment was: made, and therefore the mould of the original ball fhould be preferved; but this is not the cafe of the fpring, for the fcale of any pring may be eafily found when’ the feale of one is graduated in this manner: + hig Naune ; » Let the extremities of the new {pring and ofthe original fpring be joined, fo that they may aét againfteach other; then pull them afunder until the index of the original {pring fhall touch fome graduation, and then ithe! feale of the new fpring may be marked where its mdex’ then ftands;: with the degree ‘of ‘velocity at which the index of ‘the original {pring ftands; and in this manner all the necefiary graduations may be’transferred from one feale to another, though the fprin fhould be of very diflerentpowers’; -becaufe, fince the ball 1s to be the fame, the force exerted by each degree of velocity remaiiis unaltered. Len of However, in a very high fea‘ this method may be attended with fome inconvenience :! the firing. may be frequently broken, and a certain degree of error will attend a very ftrong pitching motion; in which cafe the following method may be ufed to afcertain diftance by means of thefe waves, which interrupt the operation of the inftrument : » Let any {mall floating fubftance be thrown out a-head of a {hip at fea, and let’ the numberof times be noticed when it is feen diltinéetly onthe top of a wave ; alfo let'the interval of tume between the ‘firft and laft of thefe elevations be ob- ferved by a flop-watch ; which’ time being divided by the number of elevations will be the time in which a:wave paffes through its own breadth, (becaufe the floating body as not ‘protruded “by the action of the waves:) “But a wave paffes through its breadth iw the fame time in which:a pendulum whole dength is equal to that breadth performs one vibra~ tion *: and tables are or maybe contiructed to fhow by the time’of vibration the lenethvofi the pendalum 3. which tables will of courfe fhow, by ithe 1tmme of ‘undulation, the {pace through which any’wave moves in that time, and alfo the breadth of the wavert. ‘Pherefore, if a fhip failing right be- fore the wind were to aecompany the fame wave through the * Quatre, whut ¢fleét dias.a current in difturbing this law of the waves? + Or the breadth and Velocity of the” waves may be found by an expe- rinent with the loy-line. its fea, 316 Gu the Subje& of Navigation fea, her rate of failing would be ‘known by the time of the wave’s undulation: but, fince the fhip receives’ the impulfe of the wind more powerfully:than the wave, it moves fafter and makes more way than a wave by the breadth. of all the waves which. it pafles through; and fince:a {hip pitches on pafling over each wave, and fince the number of pitches may be re- giftered, withdut trouble, by an ofcillating infirument,: (like the watch which: fhows the number of fteps which the wearer -makes,) the numberof waves; whofe breadth is to be added to the progrefs deduced from the tabular :rate is known; whereby the diftance: made by a thip, /ailing before the xvind may be found, iprovided,the time of undulation be afcertained whenever there: is| reafon/ to fufpect a change in the motion of the futface of thefea..| Butswhen a fhip fails wpon aicvind, the ‘diftanée: deduced» from thefe data reqnires correétion. Suppofe two, fhips placed on) the fame wave, and that one runs-direétly: before the wind and keeps time with thts wave, and: that the other fails.in a coufe which | formsiam angle with thé idireGtion of the wind, retaining, however, her place omthe fame wave; itis evident that then the fpace deferibed by the former will be to the fpace deferibed, by) the latter, as thercofine! of this angle-to) radiussialfo, if thefe fhips, pur- fuing) thefe, courfes, pafst over thé fame waves, or the fame numberof. fimilar wavesy the direct. path -of -the former in paffing thefe waves is tothe oblique path of the latter as the cofine ,of the fame angle to;radius:alfo: therefore, in failing upon a wind, the -relult which, this method ,of calculation gives, is to the true diftance as the! cofine of the angle which the rhomb forms with the-direction of the wind is to radius, and may be corrected accordingly: ‘or, if this angle be ;af- famed as a;courfe, and the refult obtained by. this smethod be taken.as difference of latitude, the corrected dittance will be found in the diftance column of the common nautical tables. (3 But both thefe methods muft prove erroneous where the fhip is-borne away by a current; and the common, method of eftimating the effect of a current by the apparent motions of 4 funken body is fallacious; .becaufe the boat may be in -quiefcent water, and the current may exift only: below 3. or the upper.and lower ftrata of water may be parts of the fame -eurrent flowing in) the fame direction with different degrees of velocity: therefore any theory which pomts to.a true mea- fare! of eurrents fhould be announced, though it may require Jong experience to perfect it. ~ Let two fhips /ie-o at a confiderable diftance afunder (fup- pofe twelve miles): ‘if'a gun be fired from each from a fitua; tion On the Nature of Heat. Eby tion which may be four yards above the water, it may be feen from the other at an elevation of fifteen yards above the water; and confequently, the interval of time between’ the obfervation of the flafh and report of a gun from either veffel may be obferved at the other at this diftance, which time,’ atcording to the laws of found, will be about 55% feconds : and, if there be no current, each will obferve the fame in- terval of time between the flafh and the report of the fhot from the other; but if they float on a current which runs at the rate of feven knots an’ hour, for inftance, one veffel ad- vances 570 feet towards the point whence the found iffued during the paffage of the found, and will confequently hear it half a fecond' fooner than if fhe remained at reft; whilft the other, by receding from the former veffel, lengthens the {pace through which the found is to pafs by 570 feet, and therefore will bear it half a fecond later: therefore there will be an entire fecond of time difference between the obferva~ ttons of the two fhips: and in fuch cafe it may be inferred that the fhip which obferved the fhorter interval floats om a current which runs fowards the other fhip, and vice verfa: fo that two fhips, making this experiment in feveral points, will detect the exiftence of a current, and the true direction of it; and, if it be not too much to expeé& from the accuracy of future obfervers, that the fubdivifions of a fecond fhould be diftinguifhed, the rate of the current may alfo be found from the diftance between the {hips and the time of the found’s paflage from one to the other, provided this portion of time can be meafured with fufficient accuracy. {To be continued. ] a LIV. On the Nature of Heat. By a Correfpondent. ° Ir has long been a queftion whether the fenfation we expe- rience, called seat, arifes from a fubflance of a diftiné nature per fe, or whether it is generated from an intenfe vibratory motion of the infenfible particles of bodies. In reafoning on this fubject, our arguments can only be founded on the effeéts that are produced by this unknown caufe; for it feems more than probable that the degree of accuracy of experiment neceflary to render our conclufions certain with regard to its mtrinfic nature, is incompatible with the prefent means of aur knowledge. The following obfervations are intended therefore, by direéting the attention to a confideration, of fome of the chief phanomena of heat, to (how that we -— fee 318 On the Nature of Heat. feck for an explanation of them in no way fo fatisfaCtorily as by fuppofing them to originate from the univerfal prefenve of a very fubtile fluid called by the French writers calorique, which. penetrates, without exception, all bodies, and is equally .diffufed through all fpace. . That heat is only a property of common matter, a fpecific motion of the particles of bodies, is an hypothefis perfeétly inadequate to the folution of the phenomena alluded to. Lord Bacon is the firft modern philofopher who attempted to elucidate at length any theory on this fubjeét; and we find him, in a treatife written exprefsly for this purpofe, and en- titled De Forma Calidi, deducing, from an enumeration of the feveral phenomena and effects of heat, its general pro- perties, and hence defining it to be an expanfive undulatory motion in the minute particles of the body, by which they tend with fome rapidity towards the circumference, and at the fame time incline a little upwards. This fyftem,. which evidently confiders heat not as an ori- ginal inherent property of any particular fort of body, but as mechanically producible in it, was adopted by moft of the mechanical philofophers of that age, by Boyle, Newton, and Defcartes ; and has been fuppofed to have received no incon- fiderable thare of weight from the Jater experiments of Count Rumford and Profeffor Pictet. Before, however, we acknow- ledge the truth of this hypothefis, it is neceffary we thould firft afcertain if it is capable, in its application, of accounting for the various phenomena of nature; for, unlefs thefe are found to admit by it of a fimple and obvious interpretation, we are juftificd in concluding that it is unequal to the pro- vince affigned it. That the theory under confideration will not ftand the teft that is here fubmitted as the criterion of its truth, cannot be well doubted after an attention to the fol- lowing facts:—1If a thermometer be placed under the receiver of an air pump, and the air be fuddenly exhaufted from it, the thermometer will fink feveral degrees, and very quickly after will rife again to its ufual height. Now if heat confifts in vibrations, according tu the tenets of this hypothefis, it may be afked, How comes it to pafs that the fmall quantity of matter that remains within the receiver is firft infufficient, and afterwards fufficient, to maintain the temperature orisi- nally indicated by the thermometer? This is a fact which no reafoning can fatisfactorily account for fimply on mechanical principles, and can only be reconciled on the fuppofition that there 1s {uch a fluid as caloric poffefled of a nature peculiar to itfelf. | The univerfal power of expanfion that heat poffeffes (for we On the Nature of Heat. 319 we are Entitled to prefume that, where a contrary effect is witnefled, it proceeds from the expulfion of fome fluid or matter foreign to the fub{tance on which it aéts,) is another fat wholly inconfiftent with the theory -in review. Thus,’ when we perceive that heat, applied to any fub{tance, invas, tiably occafions its dilatation, we are juftified in concluding: that it is enabled to produce this effect only by virtue of its; own proper extenfion; and if we allow that it is capable off extenfion, we cannot refufe our afient to its being a bodily: fubftance. If we fuppofe this effect to be produced in any other way, as by the impreflion of any mechanical motion on the parts of the fubftance, it is difficult to conceive how this could produce a lafting expanfion of the particles; it would excite, indeed, an undulatory or vibratory effect, occa=i fioning a change in the fituation of the particles for the times: but there would ftill bea tendency in them to return agaim to their former fituation, and an ofcillatory effe&t only would be produced, perfectly difttnG from extenfion. It is, hows ever, impoflible to reconcile this faét with the fuppofition that heat is a quality, or an adventitious and acceflory pro» pes refulting from the intefiine motion of the particles of odies, and not a fubftance of itfelf. “ Whenever,” fays Mr. Locke, ‘ we perceive a’ number of qualities always ex~ ifting together, we are warranted in the conclufion that there is fome fubftance which. produces thofe qualities.” If heat! depended on motion, it is natural to expect that it would di¢ i a greater facility in its paflage through elaftic bodies than thofe that were more denfe; yet we find that no rule of this fort obtains, but that it paffes through the former equally flow with the latter. Again, if heat be generated by motion, it is reafonable to expeét that its laws of propagation would be always analogous to the latter; yet it is hardly neceflary to obferve how few things we are more ignorant of than the rule which takes place in the progreflion and communication . of beat in bodies of unequal temperatures. Thofe who have adopted the theory of vibrations have af- furned a pofition which there is no fatisfa€tory evidence to jettify their doing; for it does not appear in se one inftance that we are able to demonftrate the exiftence of vibrations in heated bodies, while certain founds will caufe the mott folid furftances to vibrate perceptibly without any heat being ap- parently produced. The ingenious experiments of Count Rumford, it will not be difputed, have at leaft proved that fluids are very imperfect conductors of heat. . That they are, as aflumed by the Count, perfeét non-conduétors, is an ina fereuce that. cannot legitimately be drawn even from. his own 5 reafonings ; 320 On the Nature of Heat. reafonings; and, from the later experiments of Dr. Thomp-=" fon, and Mr. Murray of Edinburgh, is perfectly inadmiffible.’ If, however, the experiments of Count Rumford to prove: that heat is conveyed with much ¢reater difficulty downs. wards than upwards, be allowed to be fufficiently conclufive,’ how is this phznomenon to be reconciled. by the theory of thofe who make all heat to be generated by motion? The’ effect is not at ‘all proportionate to the caufe; for no good reafon can be fhown, according to this hypothefis, why heat fhould with more difficulty be made to defcend in bodies than to afcend in them; for the fame motion will be com- municated to the furrounding medium in all dire€tions. Js) not this faét irreconcileable with the do&rine alluded to? If, however, we affume the theory that heat ts a peculiar ethe- real fluid; ‘all the difficulties that have before been enume- rated will admit of an eafy folution, and the phenomena of beat will be reconciled in a fimple and beautiful manner? indeed, on-any- other principle it would be extremely difficult to account for moft of the operations in chemiftry, and it would introduce a degree. of uncertainty into the theory of that ference that would go very nearly to deftroy it altogether. Thus, if we do not confider caloric as a fubftance, we are no longer at hberty to conceive that it ts capable of attraction. Oxygen gas, we are told, is oxygen combined with heat and light ; and thus we find that, when oxygen enters into eom- bination with any body, the two latter are always evolved. If oxygen gas and phofphorus be prefented to each other, the oxygen combines with the phofphorus, and the ealoric flies off. This is readily accounted for on the fuppofition that caloric is a fluid /uz generis, and therefore capable of attrac~ tion ; and confequently we find this opinion very generally adopted by chemitts, as alone able to afford an adequate {o- ution of the phenomena in gqueition. The names of Boer- haave, Lavoifier, Black, Crawford, and Foureroy, are among the moft celebrated partifans of this doctrine, which, for its - beautiful fimplicity, its perfpicuity, and the eafe with which it/is applicable to all the pbaznomena of heat, is much fupe- rior to that which {till divides in opinion many of the philo- fophers of Europe. The ftrongeft, and indeed the only ar- gument of weight that has been adduced againft this theory, 1s that of Count Rumford, arifing from fome experiments made by him concerning the fource of the heat excited by friction. From the:accuracy with which thefe experiments were conduéted, .and the nature of the refult, it certainly is not very eafy to draw any inference that is perfectly fatislac- tory. Itis evident that a change of capacity.in the body, as ; has On the’ Nature of Heat. 29% has been fuppofed by fome, could not have effeéted the phe- nomena defcribed: for no fuch change could ‘be difeovered to have taken place; and if it had, it ought to have been fuf- ficiently great to have accounted for al} the heat that was produced. In refleting on this experiment, we cannot but_ admit, that with the prefent means of our knowledge we are incapable of explaining the effet that is produced; yet it would not be very philofophical to conclude, that any fyftem was abfolutely falfe, which, though it readily folved the chief phenomena required, might, in fome infulated inftance,’ be found apparently incompetent to the tafk*. Shouid we not, if our fyftem be previoufly founded on a broad and folid in- duétion, and eftablifhed on the firm bafis of experiment, be Jed to attribute rather any deficiency of explanation in any patioular inftance, to a want of knowledge of fome minute inks in the chain, than as involving any infuperable obftacle to the doétrine itfelf? And fhould it not lead us, inftead of abandoning, to review our theory with more circum{pection and a greater caution ? No one will be inclined, perhaps, to difpute the Newto- nian theory of gravitation, yet there are phenomena which it is difficult to conceive how it accounts for. Thus it would feem a contradiction to the eftablithed principles of our great philofopher, to fuppofe that a body divided into parts, how- ever minute, can poflibly afcend in a fluid {pecifically lighter than itfelf. A little acquaintance with the operations of che- miftry will fhow that this is a fact that occurs in the folution of various folids, and that without any motion being com- municated to the veffel containing them; the folid becoming diffufed throughout the fubfiance of the difolving fluid, and appearing to overcome the natural tendency of bodies towards the centre of the earth, and to have fome new yower of afcent impreffed on its particles. . . To conclude, then, it appears that we are entitled to con- fider caloric, in the prefent fiate of our knowledge, as a fub- fiance fui generis, not becaufe we can fenfibly demonftrate the truth of our opinion, but becaufe it is the leaft excep- tionable theory of the two, and becaufe the phanomenon of heat admits from it an interpretation more fimple and ob- vious, and more agreeable to the analogy of nature. Pi © Tf our correfyondent had attended to this faét, that inthe experiments alluded to, the! Count, with all the care and precuution he employed, hed not faceeeded in infulating fromthe contaét of caloric the bodies fubjectid tq friéuion, he, would pot have found jthém Gand atiallin the way of his argument, Was not the apparatus wholly imméried in a bath of caloric— the atmofphere ?-—Eprty Yor. XH. No. 48. X LV. On [ 322. J LV. On the different Proportions of Carbon which conftituts the various Qualities of Crude Iron and Sieel. By Davin Musnet, E/g. of the Calder Iron Works *. I; is of confiderable importance to the manufa&urer to afcertain the abfolute portion of charcoal which in his pro- cefs becomes united with the metal to form caft iron. Having once admitted the faét, that it is in the ratio of the carbon prefented to the metallic particles that he obtains a deter- minate quality of crude iron, experiment will enable him to deduce, that in manufaturing the richeft natures of iron his -produce from the ore will be more, by the extra quantity of earbon neceffary to conftitute this quality, than when the in- ferior numbers of iron are produced. In all cafes, therefore, in making caft iron, confiderable quantities of the coal be- come united with the iron, forming, by weight, a portion comparatively great. From the ufual proceffes hitherto employed in manufac- turing bliftered ficel, the pofitive quantity of carbon which became united with the iron never became an objeét worthy of the attention of the manufacturer. It was fufficient to him that his bars poffeffed blifters fufficiently Jarge and prominent to affure him that his fteel was fufficiently converted. The unerring teft of practice through a long feries of operations confirmed the correétnefs of this deduction; and it mutt have appeared a matter of little importance to the formation of fteel, that its direct operation of principle-fhould be deve - loped, or the laws which regulate its affinity in cementation. No additional fact was neceflary to the produétion of caft feel. The fimple fufion of bar fteel, regulated by fuch cir- cumftances as practice, and the various ufes to which this fteel is applied, was all that was neceflary to be known; the affinity of iron for ‘carbon, and the various proportions in which it exifts with the metal, forming the different qualities of fteel, here met with no elucidation. On the contrary, we ftill find that the union of iron and charcoal to form fteel, is a matter of doubtful opinion among manufacturers, and the weight gained by its cementation generally denied. It is only lately that a procefs has been brought into ufe for making caft fteel, which has for its bafis or principle the dire proportions of carbon neceffary to form fteel, illuftra~- tive at the fame time of that beautiful phenomenon of afii- * Communicated by the Author. nity On, the different Proportions of Carbon, €8c. 323 nity betwixt iron and carbon which conftitutes the endlefs varicties of this metal. To inveftigate this fubje& with accuracy, it appeared to me that a feries of ‘exp¢riments, made by the fufion of bar iron with well prepared charcoal of wood in veffels completely air-tight, would be productive of the greateft nicety of re- fult. With this view, the proportions of iron and charcoal recorded in the following experiments were each of them in- troduced into crucibles of Stourbridge clay while the cla ‘was yet moift. The top was accurately clofed upon the con- ‘tents, and the crucibles fet afide to dry for eight or ten days, Previous to the introduction into the melting furnace they were baked in a common annealing fire to bring them to an ordinary red heat: from this furnace, while hot, they were | fucceflively placed in the affay-furnace for reduction. The following are the details of thefe experiments; Grains. Exp. I. Pieces of Swedith iron - - 4173 / Charcoal 4, or - gre. 5815 The mixture was expofed to a moderate degree of beat for 70 minutes, when the crucible was withdrawn. When cold it was carefully exa- mined, and found free from cracks. Charcoal untaken up, of a deep black colour, 310! Charcoal difappeared in the fufion - 271 equal to 48 per cent. of the original quantity. The button obtained was fuperearbonated crude iron, and weighed - - * - 1233 Sa mad Gained in weight, by the combination of carbon, 60 equal to "th part fully of the firftt weight of iron. The fracture of this button was exactly that of No. I. pig iron, towards the upper furface largely granulated ; and be- low, a fubftratum of {mall grained metal refembling No. TIL. pig iron. Grains. Total weight of the mixtures s 17544 Charcoal remaining 310! grains, ; Iron obtained + 1233 grains. 1543 ’ ue rseras rod ( | Total lofs in fufion 212. The quantity of charcoal which difappeared in this operation was eqiidl to th’ part the weight of the iron, * “Exp. Ti. Swedith bat iton - - Charcoal +, or ~ gr8. 2735 Xa Grains. 10993 The 324 On‘ the different Proportions of Carbon a 8 95) ; : ; 1Grejocdk Grs: Brought over 2734 1093 The fufion of this mixture was-effected.in fifty . sminutes.. When cold, the crucible was found entire, and containing of charcoal not takenup gol 4ooo1Bi Loft in the fufion 183. equal to 67 per cent. of the original weight of char- coal, A. fine button of fupercarbonated crude iron) +) awas found, which weighed - = e “1143 Gained in weight by combination of charcoal 50 - equal nearly to j,d part the weight of the iron employed. The fracture of this button was inferior in point of luftre and prominency of ceryftal. It was, however, fimilar to the ufual run of the No. I. iron of the manufacturer. The quantity of charcoal which difappeared in this experi- ment was equal.to th part the weight of the iron. — Grains. The ageregate of the mixture weighed 1366+ Charcoal remaining go+ grains. Tron obtained = -. 1143 grains. © 1233% Loft in weight upon the whole 133 Exp. WH. Swedifh iron in pieces - - 1143 » Charcoal 2th, or - gts. 190" This mixture was fafed in thirty minutes, and was allowed to:cool to a low red heat before it was removed from the furnace. When cold, oii +the-crucible was found without cracks, andthe eharcoal not taken -up weighed - is bocgm 4.0 . Charcoal difappeared, equal to 71 per cent. 135° -The metallic button now obtained was fuperbly car-" bonated fo as-to relemble a mats of ‘carburet of iron. It weighed - ‘exiz - - ODT 98 : Original weight of the iron - ="? aah 4e . el Gained by combination of charcoal 50 sequal nearly to .';d part the weight of the iron, All the fur- face prefented by this button was uniformly covered with a rich’ and lufirous coating of carburet, indicating a fuperior quality of crude iron, .. The quantity of charcoal which dif- - : : I 5 Appeared on this fufion was equal: to rz part the weight of the iroa_employed. odT The ‘which confitute Crude Iron and Steel.” 325 ati ror Grains: The aggregate of mixture here weighed Se AS. Charcoal not taken up 55 grains. Iron obtained = - ~— 1193. grains, , 1248 ; Total lofs in the melting 85 It is worthy of remark, that the lofs of charcoal in thefe experiments, together with the general lofs in fufion, diminith in a feries proportionate to the quantity of charcoal intro- duced, bearing no perceptible relation to the quantity of iron, The weight gained by the metallic buttons refpectively, indi- cate nearly the fame degtee of faturation of the carbonic prin- ciple, whatever difference of appearance exifted as to external appearance in No. III. It therefore appeared a matter of fome curiofity, worthy of inveftigation, what became of the extra lofs of carbon in No. I. and II. beyond that fuftained in No. I. when the richeft iron was produced. Charcoal difappeared No TI, II. IIL. 1 it I 1 taahiec E 4s 6 2 = 4 I I 1 I Gained by iron - —— —— — Average —d part. ° ae pes ame i Agile ° General Jofs in fufion 211 133 85 Grains. Exp. TV. Swedifh iron - - - 1060 . Charcoal jth, or 106 grains. From this mixture a yery perfect fufion was obtained, in which all the charcoal difappeared except about + grain, compofed of fmall granules poffeffing a rich deep black colour. .The metallic button weighed 1093 Gained by the combination of charcoal 33 equal to ,',d part the weight of the iron employed. In addi- tion to the weight of the button, the fides and top of the crucible contained a confiderable number of minute {pheres of iron poffeffing prifmatic colours. The furface of the pre= fent produét was cryflallized in radii. The fraQure was: that of highly blown crude iron of a pale: filvery white colour, marked with an imperfeé cryftallization. The quantity of charcoal which difappeared in this operation was» equal to yzth part the quantity of iron at firft introduced; | Grins. The aggregate weight was - - 1166 Charcoal remaining 4 grain, and iron obtained 1060. "1060%. . Total lofs in this fufion 105! Exp. V. Swedith iron - . - 1000 Charcoal ;',th, or - - 66 This fufion was found complete after half an hour’s expofure. X 3 ‘+ The 326 —- On. the different Proportions of Carbon, &c. The charcoal had totally difappeared. The metallic buttott was regularly cryftallized, and weighed 1000 grains, being exactly the fame weight introduced. Befides the button, fome thoufands of metallic globules entirely covered the fides and concave top of the crucible. It was found impracticable to colleét them all. By eftimation they appeared to be from 15 to 20 grains. The fraéture of this button was whitith blue, clear, and poffeffed a luftre fimilar to the fracture of zinc. An approximation to grain was vifible, and, from mi- hute comparifon, a very early ftage of fteel was indicated. ; Grains. The aggregate of the mixture weighed + ‘1066 Button of iron tooo, globules taken at 20, = 1020 oe Total lofs in the fufion 46 Exp. V1. Swedifh iron = - - 1035 Charcoal th, or - 51} grains. The mixture yielded, by fufion, a metallic button partially cryftallized, weighing - - 1032 Loft in fafion, equal to -1,th part, 3 The charéoal had entirely difappeared. The fracture of this button difplayed a very regular erain, fimilar to that of fteel. In fabjeGing it to forging and other tefts, it proved to be fteel of a foft quality. Grains. Original hal of mixture - 1086+ Iron obtaine - - - 1032 Total lofs in fufion 54% Exp. VU. Swedith iron m + “s 1055 Charcoal {th part, or 35 grains. A very perfe& fufion was obtained from this expo- fure. The metallic button was found beneath a co- vering of aor poffeffed of a white ftreaky furface, the mafs of which was of the tranfparency and colour of a fmoky topaz: it was found to weigh ‘ 1052 Loft in fufion, equal to .£+ part the original iron 3 In this experiment, alfo, the charcoal had completely dif- appeared. The prefent produét was minutely examined, but pave no indications of fteel. After being deeply cut with a chifel, it was broken with very great difficulty acrofs the anvil. It was then forged, and plunged hot into water; but did not harden. It generally refembled thofe qualities of iron obtained by fufion with earths and glaffes. This experiment was repeated four times, and always attended with a pier reluit 5 Fate and Charaéter of the Monk Roger Bacon. 327 refult ; fo that it feemed deducible from it, that = th part of carbon in addition to any quantity of iron was infufficient to form fteel ; and, referring to the refult of No. VI., it appeared that even .th part formed a fteel much too foft for the ge- neral purpofes of manufacture. This conclufion, however, being at variance with faéts I had already eftablifhed upon the Dre of caft fteel in common crucibles, was here inadmiflible. It was therefore neceflary to feck for an ex- -planation of the phenomenon of the charcoal difappearing in clofe veffels, formerly alluded to, before any certain know- ledge of the exaét quantities of charcoal could be afcertained, which were neceffary to form either caft iron or fteel in vef- fels made impervious to the air*. I uniformly remarked in the prefent experiments, that when the quantity of charcoal introduced was from ,',th to 4,th the weight of the iron, a portion of glafs was conftantly formed upon the furface of the metallic button, The quantity generally increafed as the proportion of charcoal decreafed ; fo that, in fome experi- ments, 300, 350, and 400 grains of amber-colour glafs was obtained. The upper furface of this glafs was frequently of phy pearly white colour. In one experiment, where >,th of charcoal was ufed, I obtained a large quantity of glafs cel- lular throughout. Each cell was furmounted upon the top with concentric circles of pearly lines, forming a curious and pleafing effect. Having fully fatisfied myfelf that operations performed in clofe veflels thus prepared were fubject to uncertainty, arifing as well from the formation of glafs as from fome unknown affinity exerted upon the charcoal; and having performed fe- veral experiments with well filled open crucibles, with char- coal alone, wherein I found little comparative lofs, I per- formed a very accurate feries of experiments, which fhall be forwarded for the next number of the Magazine. LVI. On the Fate and Chara&er of the Monk Rocrr Bacon. By Governor Pownart. Read before the Literary and Philofophteal Society, Bath. > Ts ERE has been much buftle about learning in the world: every age has had its learning; the produce and growth of a defultory activity of the imagination, according to the fathion of thinking prevalent at the time: whilft the * This inveRigation will form a feparate pap-r for July, ft Communicated by the Author, X 4 flow 328 On the Fate and Charaéter flow filent progrefs of the reafoning power is hardly ever no- ticed in its operations, and feldom received in its effeéts when they come forward, becaufe not underftood at the time. It would be a curious detail were we to enumerate the va- rious fancies and follies which have been. called Jearning,. which have been ftudied and applauded as fuch in every age and eyery country ; but it is at the fame time a humiliating. truth, that knowledge, which it fhould feem is congenial to the right operation of the human intellect in the inveftigation. of truth, has come forward to men but flowly and fparingly, and at epochas of very diftant periods, and at the intervals of very diftant centuries: and what is more humiliating in the hiftory of man is, that, when at any time it appears, it comes into the world.as an enfant trouve, and is received as fuch, rather than nurtured by thofe whofe relation to it fhould be in practice, as it is in nature, congenial to it. True know- ledge is therefore generally either defpifed by the conceit, of the learning in fafhion, or more generally fufpected as dan-.- gerous ; which, indeed, it always is to the falfe and artificial authority which afiumes and takes the lead in the world. It is with pain that I have to notice feveral eminent ex- amples of this melancholy truth in the courfe of my ftating the character and fate of the monk Roger Bacon, who is the fubjeét of this paper. When Socrates came forward to the world, the powers of the human mind, abforbed in the falfle learning of Greece, had been employed to propagate the fophiftry and fupport the fophifts of the time, whofe iyftem and bufinefs. were to keep mankind from true knowledge by an avowed principle of fuch ignorance as was incapable of attaining truth; the purport of which fyftem was to hold men in a feryile obedience to authority, as'thofe who had the command of that SLAY thould impofe it. Socrates in his theology taught only thofe truths which had been known to the antient philofophers of Greece, and which they had brought from the eaft. What they afieéted to conceal he taught openly, fo far.as went to eftablith the knowledge of a moral /y/tem connecting the di- vine and human nature. Here be was original: this was a new truth brought forward to the world.* In this, as it is truly faid of him, he brought down truth frofn heavenj and eftablifhed it on a moral foundation on earth. ics ae As to his manner of teaching, he with great addrefs, in accommodation to the learning of the time, profefled: to commence in ignorance. But whilft the fophilts led, in fynthetic reafoning, from ignorance to a total incapacity in man for truth; be, commencing his theorem from, ftated 9 ignorance, of the Monk Roger Bacom 329 ignorance, proceeded by analytic induétion to the eliciting of truth: as the algebraifts have fince done, from a theorem ftated on an unknown quantity, bringing out the true one. He thus not only brought truth to light by reafon, but by the very mode of his reafoning taught the ufe, the extent, and the right of human reafon. This was fufficient to decide the fate which both the teacher and his doctrines experienced. His doctrines were defpifed, and attempts were made by the wits of the time to ridicule his knowledge: it was reprefented as evolved from the clonds*. But, as truth will ftand the teft of ridicule, nothing remained but ¢o decide by authority that the truths which he taught were inadmiflible; and they were therefore interdifled ty power: and Socrates himfelf was profecuted and condemned to death as a falfe teacher, as a corrupter of men, an heretic, unbeliever, and defpifer of the gods! What is {till more humiliating to the character of man, the doétrines which he taught, and the truths which he publithed, were perverted where received, and even by his difciples. The homely fimplicity of his doétrines was fophifticated and corrupted, in a line of learning, to ufes per- verfive of their nature. I will not here glance, although it is in my mind’s eye, at the fimilar fate of a Divine teacher who came forward in the world to enlighten man, and to inftruét him in his moft effential duty and intereft. Purfuing therefore the fate of Socrates, which is not irre- lative to the matter of this paper, I fhall proceed to ftate that Plato, his favourite difciple, who was a really great mathe- matician, and particularly converfant in the analytic proce/s of that {cience, and who followed the fieps of induction | marked out by Socrates, mixed fo many myftic conceits and theories, that he fublimed and fubtilized truth to a mere learned vifion, fuch as the Jatter Platonifts afterward taught. Ariftotle, on the other hand, a diftinguifhed difciple of Plato, converted the knowledge of phyfics, both material and intellectual, into an artificial fyflem of axioms, data, and maxims, and formed thereon a logical frame of fynthefis; which gave occafion to his immediate followers and to the Peripatetic fehool to found their learning on the authority of teaching, inftead of being founded on ¢ruth led by experience to knowledge, to the dilgrace of human intelleét, and the perverfion of true paiplep yy It is lamentable to refleét how many theories and myfle- fies, divine as well as natural, fprang from this foul ground ; # Vide the Nubes Ariftophanis. which, 430 On the Fate ‘ana Charaédler which, like meteors, blazed in the regions of learning for 2 time, but, like fuch meteors, not deriving from true and per- manent light, from proper fources, were foon extinguifhed, Truth, however, was purfued with great energy, occulto velut arbor im evo, in the fludies and labours of thofe few votaries of it who were called mathematicians; and many de- tached unconneéted difcoveries were made, which hardly ven- tured to fhow themfelves, or, where they did, were imputed to magic. At Fetipait: after many ages of darknefs, Roger Bacon, that great luminary, was born in 1214. He, like another So- crates, in the fpirit of truth, in the analytic line of true knowledge, endeavoured to ftate the Impedimenta fcientia, the Caufas ignorantie, and to remove al] the obftructions which {hut up the road to truth: he then, explaining by fact and example the Usilitas /cientiarum, advanced, by an experimental inveftigation of nature, and by an analyfis of truth, to his Re/fauratio bumani intelleétis, and his Inflauratio Seientia. Reafoning, however, above the fcale of the learning of the age in which he lived, his doétrines were neither mI Bere nor received ; and, where they could not be repreffed by the learning of the time, they were interdited by the ruling au- thority of it. Although the truths which-he difcovered, and endeavoured to difelote to the world, were liftened to by feveral men of knowledge, and fome of them in power *, and though they were received even by the /upreme + authority, held infallible; yet, by a fin againft the holy [pirit of truth, they were unacknowledged, and fuffered to languifh in ob- fcurity. ‘They, with the teacher, were delivered over to per- fecution ; truth was extinguifhed, and the difcoverer and teacher imprifoned for the crimes of magic and herefy. Here again, on the ftage of this world, was truth devoted to filence and darknefs, and the difcoverer and teacher of it thrown back into obfcurity, and his doétrines loft in oblivion, except what ignorance rakes up to memory in difgraceful tales of tradition. The. ftream, therefore, of this original fpring, whence the knowledge of latter times derives its fource, ran, like the Rbone, concealed and unknown for three or four centuries; whilft in the mean time various empirics in philofophy, various bafelefs theories, (amidft which the ingenious fables of Defcartes more efpecially,) took the lead and afcéndancy in the learning of the world. This ftream, however, hke the Rhone, emerged again to light on the face * Bifhop Grofthead. + By the Pope. ‘ a of of the Monk Roger Bacon. 331 of the earth, when its courfe became directed with happier fuctefs, and under more fortunate aufpices, by the energy and fpirit of another Bacon, the great lord St. Albans, who, although perhaps an original alfo, was a fecond and more fortunate one; yet even not generally known and acknow- ledged as fuch till near half a century was elapfed from the time in which he wrote. Akhough Sir aac Newton had made the chief part of his difcoveries on hight and colours, and had written the firft parts of his Treatife on Optics, and, ** at the defire of fe- veral gentlemen of the Royal Society, fent them to the fe- eretary of that fociety, where they were read in 1675; and although the other parts were added about 12 years after; yet to avoid, as he lays, being engaged in difputes about thefe matters, he delayed the printing and publifhing of them to 1704; and would ftill have delayed, had not the impor- tunity of fome friends overcome the repreflion which he ex- perienced from the jealoufy of fome authoritative leaders.” Such is the invariable fpirit and temper of man even in an enlightened age, and fuch is the unavoidable fate of thofe who would enlighten and aflift the knowledge of the world. Such, at leaft, were the feelings of this great and humble fpirit; fuch was his conviétion, that the age in which he firft made his difcoveries was neither willing to receive nor capable of poffefling them, to the purpofe of truth, that the world might have been deprived of them for ever, as in fact it is at this moment of fome difcoveries which he had in view and in pur- fuit, but which he ceafed to follow up, and has fuggefted only in queries. What a lofs to mankind that thefe fug- geftions, except in fome particular inftances, have not been purfued! For, whatever and howfoever great the difcoverics which have been brought forward by the new philofophic chemifts may be, yet thefe important fuggeftions would, as they have done in fome inftances where they have been taken up, have led to great and interefiing philofophic facts hardly at prefent conceivable. It was from the fame opinion of the temper and want of ualification in that age, perhaps alfo from an opprefiion of dike which he felt, that on another oceafiop, when con- fulted by Dr. Bentley, at the time of his being appointed to preach the Boyle’s leétures, Sir Haac fays in his letter, «* There is yet another argument in proof of the Deity, which I take to be a very {trong one; but until the principles on which it is grounded are better received, [ think it more ad- vifeable to let it feep.”’? Such has ever been the fate of know- ledge, both to the difeoverers and to truth itfelf, on its firft appearances th. 332 On the Fate and Charaéer appearances amongft thofe who hold the lead of learning. Shall we then wonder at the fate which this true and real philofopher, the monk Roger Bacon, experienced in an ig- norant, fuperfitious, and fervilely debafed age? To point ont the real merit and character of this wonderful mian, which is the purport of this paper, I fhall now pro- ceed to a review and general analyfis of his doctrines as ftated in bis Opus Majus. tA I treft it will be found to be an amazing extenfive plan; founded in experience of nature and on the analyfis of truth ; condnéted by the moft penetrating inventive faculties-of in- duftion, and the moft exact precifion of combination; that itis, as I faid before, a Re/fauraiio bumant intelledis, and an Inflawratio [cientia. 5 I. Fe Girt ftates the caufes of error,. and then clears the ground of them ; difcards all pretenfions to knowledge which obtrude themfelves under the form of learning. Sufficit nobis in inguifitione proprii intellectis ut, quan- tum poflimus, caufas et occafiones erroris extraneas longius a debilitate fenfas nofiri relizamus. Quatuor vero funt max- ima comprebendenda veritatis offendicula, que omnem guemeunque fapientem impediunt; et vix aliquem permit- tant advorftm titulum fapientiz pervenire. imo. Fragilis et indigne authoritatis exemplum. Mark here the ground on which, in thofe days of ecclefi- aftical and civil tyranny, the crime of herefy againft the church, and of treafon againft the ftate, might be imputed, and which was the real ground of his perfecution and im+ prifonnsent. gdo. Confuetudinis diuturnitas. gtio. Vulgi fenfus imperiti. ato. Propriz ignorantia occultatio cum oftentatione fa- plentiz. His omnis homo involvitur, omnis ftatus occupatur. Hi. Thefe four points he examines, explains, and difcuffes fgecially and at full Jength under their feveral heads. The nd thus cleared, and the foundations thus laid, he pro- ceeds im the /econd part in analyfing grammar to its ele- sents; wherein he not only goes to the art of language, but to the powers and operations of the mind, by an inquifition into the human underftanding, as Mr. Locke, and Mr. Harris im his Hermes did afterward. Then, paffing by the commonly received mode of reafon- img,.a3 it moves in the trammels of logic, which this great orginal ftates to be not only perverfive, but at beft a mere icft- handed hold by which we take truths already difcovered ; by of the Monk ‘Roger Bacon. 7 333 by which we lock them up in an artificialfyftem, and which is of no ufe or aid in the purfuit and the difcovery and in- vention of truth ; he then treats of the virtue, power, and ufe of mathematics, properly fo ¢alled, both analytic in the ‘in- veftigation of truth, and fynthetic in condutting it to prac- tical fcience. ' 4. By this condu&tor he goes firft through the inveitiga- tion, and next through the didaétive explanation and proof of ‘the powers and operations of nature, by the principles of the laws of motion, attraction, gravity. Guided by thefe principles he proceeds to the laws of vifion, perfpe&tive, and optics in general; and to the laws by which light is aéted upon. And here he goes'to the mechanical and inftrumental, fo'as to explain the prattical part, bringing forward many improved ufes and applications leading to new difcoveries. 5. He proceeds hence to aftronomy, in an invyeftigation of the phenomena of the heavenly bodies. In this part fome remains of aftrological prejudices not yet eradicated obiftruct his inftitute. 6. The heads above ftated take up five parts out of fix into which his Opus Majus is divided. He then, in the ith part, comes to the main ground and true bafis on which the Inflauratio /cientie is founded and built up, which is experi- mental induétion. This he explains in detail, and illuftrates by example; recurring again and again to the phanomena. of nature terreftrial and celeftial :—* Duo funt modi cognof- cendi, fcilicet, per argumentum et experimentum. Argu- mentum concludit, et facit concludere queeftionem ; fed non certificat, neque removet ‘dubitationem, ut quiefeat animus in igtuitu veritatis, nifi-eam inventat vid exnerientie. Et quia hee {cientia experimentalis 2 vulyo fiudientium eff penitis ignorata, ideo non poflum perfuadere de ejus utilitate, nifi fimal ejus virtus et tang oftenduntur, © Whoever, divefted of preoccupation and prejudice as they {pring from the Con/uetudinis + diuturnitas, and the fafcina- tion of received fafhion in thinking, reads this great work, with comparative reference to the Inflauratio fcientiarum ot the fecond Bacon, the Jord St. Albans, will find both works fimilarly grounded, and fimilarly conduéted, as to the method aud form; both alike built up on an inftitute of induétion Dy experimental fcience; both m the execution purfuing the ‘fame line to'the fame point; and mutt conclude either, ac+ cording t6 the old proverb, “that great wits jump,” or that ‘the'latter Bacon, although perhaps equally an original as the * Cap. 1.and 2; pars one, de Scicneia expeyimentall, gro! + Explained in the fecond head of paris ~ firft, - 334 Ox the Fate and Charager firft, had read and received a reflected ray of illumination from the works of the firft Bacon, our philofopher. , Thefe works of the monk had been buried, amidit the ma- nufcripts of fuch Jcarning as is never read, for three or four hundred years before the time in which the lord St. Albans wrote; and continued in the fame ftate for near a century after, to.1733,’ when they were publithed by the. learned editor Dr. Jebb; yet they might not have efcaped the {cru- tinizing, induftrious, inquifitive genius and informed ftudies of the fecond great philofopher.. But let me heve repeat, that whatever caufe or chance firft wrought this fecond great genius into operation, he was equally an,original as the firft. for, whoever confiders the procefs of the operations of Bie leét, and. the origin and progrefs of knowledge, will find it difficult, if not impoffible, to mark what that {pring, internal or external, is which firft becomes.a caufe from a coincidence of ideas that gives courfe to it... . lik As it hath become an almoft, generally received opinion, that the inftauration of true philofophy in the prefent age derives its fource primarily and folely. from Bacon, the lord St. Albans, I cannot but think, it juft in thispaper to en- deavour to reftore to the fiz/i original that portion of merit which is due to him; and fairly to appreciate the former, without derogating from the latter; and to recommend to this fociety to trace back the origin of their philofophy to a more remote fource, arifing within the bounds of the county in which, this fociety is eftablithed *; from a fpring which, however. il/audatus, unhonoured, and almoft Joft in anti- quity, will always be a peculiar honour to this county, as generally fo, in every extent and degree, to the Britith nation at large. +) Almoft all focieties, originally from fuperftiuon, but fince from the habit of cufiom, have adopted fome fuppofed patron faint. Inftead of adopting a.patron, let this fociety avow as their pattern the philofupher monk. Though no faint, it would be an honour to any philofophic fociety to adopt his principles, and to follow his example. in ut, To adopt his principles by an independent. fpinit of philofophizing, which will not be repreffed or kept down by the authority of any name howfoever great; will not be re- Rrained within the bounds of any fociety or fect howfvever refpeCtable ; will not fubmit to any dominant lead, but, with- out oppofition or faction againft.others, will unabated follow the fteps of truth with undeyiating inveftigation; by an ar- * ‘Roger Bacon was born néar Ihchefter.: te, “" dour en of the Monk Roger Bacon. 335 dour which knows no repulfe, yet with an humility of difi- dence which knows no prefumption, adly, By a temper which repels.every tinGture of fathion howfoever honoured by the times or coniecrated by antiquity, confuetudinis diuturnitate, 3dly, By ajudgment which, whilft it refpeéts the expe- rience of mankind, defpifes the prejudices of the vulgar, great or fmall. . 4thly, By a true pride, which, confcious of what it is ca- parle of, knows how to commence its firft fteps to knowledge, y feeling and acknowledging its ignorance; and not by a falfe fhame attempting to hide it, and with a ftill more ridi- culous yanity labouring to clothe it in the femblance and under the garb of learning, Of this tribe of learned gentle- men our monk fays, ‘* dpparentia folim tenet eos, non Cth= rant quid /ciunt; fed quid yideantur {cire coram multitudine infen{ata.” Having thus adopted his principles, let us follow bis eae wpe alfo in the mode of philofophizing; 1ft, By a patient induétion and cautious combination of particulars, without being hafty to form them into fyftems on the firft flattering femblance of difcoyery: 2d, That we do not fuborn affumed experiments to bear falfe witnefs to. fuppofed fa&ts; butte take more merit from the truth difcovered than from the dif- covery ;, and to eradicate, if it be poflible, all vanity from the heart, ef veritatem fine dote querere. Lafily, It will not be beyond the fcope of this paper, and, { would hope, not offenfive to this learned fociety, to fu as whether amongft their other learned ftudies and oiglnoee refearches there may not be many a commenced, though in- terrupted, inftitute of experiments; many a glimpfe of dif covery not yet aie out to open day in the works of this great original philofopher, well worth their attention for exae mination at leaft: yet Non jurare in verba magiftri. I fhall not here take notice of the difcovery of Jenses, nor of their firft ufes in magnifying objects, and particularly as reading-glaffes; becaufe the refraétion and reflection of light, and of the rays of the fun, by lenses and mirrors, were known to the antients *, though I do not meet with any mention of their ufe to aid in recding. But, I believe the antients wrote in fuch uncials as fuited the powers of the eye without this aid. © Another reafon why | do’ not take notice of this as a difcovery to be imputed to! Bacon is, * Vide Scholiaft to the Nubes of Ariftophanes. h that 336 = Fate and Charaéter of the Monk Roger Bacon. that he mentions the power and operations of elaffes on light, (if 1 * remember and underftand him aright,) rather explain- ing thefe operations already in ufe, than as a difcovery made by himfelf. I think, however, that it is clearly a fact, that, like Sir Ifaac Newton, and like our Herfchel, ‘the honour of the prefent age, he made thofe arrangements which produced the telefcope ; and that, like them, he applied his improve- ments to aftronomical obferyations. He particularly men- tions a previous trial which he made, as our common me- chanic opticians do, ‘of reading fmall writing at a very great diftance. Ido not mention the difcovery of gunpowder as-imputed to our monk, becaufe, although het gives the mode of making this powder; and defcribes its explofive and coruf- cant power; and clearly points out that he had in his mind a deftructive ufe to. which it might be applied in combura- tion, made to burn at a great diftance: yet he withholds himfelf from explaining thzs w/e; and does not in any part mention its explofion, as applied by the in/lrumentality of tubes to a projectile force that was to throw the miffile wea- pons of cogles or balls. Which application of it renders it {pecifically gunpowder. His words are: “‘ In omnem di- antiam, quam volumus, poffumus artificialiter componere ignem comburentem ex fale-petra et ahis.”” What thele other articles are he mentions in another part of his works, namely, Sulphur and charcoal. ' I cannot reftrain. myfelf from mentioning the idle. tradi- tional ftory of friar Bacon’s brazen head, which was to {peak and announce time, becaufe I think it founded in a real though miftaken fa&t. From confidering what one may elicit out of the nonfenfe of it, T have perfuaded myfelf that it was an experiment in horology, and the model of a clock meafuring time by the ofcillation of a pendulum, ‘and b various movements in the face of this head, (as is actually the exifting fact in the clock at Bafle,) marking the divifions of time, together with a mechanifm that fhould announce by found thofe divifions, which, in allufion to the face and head, was called {peaking ; fimilar to the crowing of the cock on the clock at Strafbourg, or to the cuckoo on the wooden clocks which the Germans fel] about our ftreets. There remains {till to be mentioned, inconteftably to his unrivalled honour, that he was the firft difcoverer of the error of meafuring time by a falfe period of the year; and the , int projector of the reform of the calendar and other * Removed from my books, J quote from memory. + Invhis traét De Secretis Operibus Artis et Nature. tables On the Caufe of Earthquakes. 337 tables of time, founded on his.own aftronomical obfervations); which reform he propofed to pope Clement V,.,,; It was the fate of this propofal to be neglected ;, whilft the imperfect Gregorian reckoning, which it hath, been found neceflary, fince to correét, was adopted. I will,clofe this paper with a tranilation of the words of Dr. Jebb, the learned editor of the Opus Majus, as they, ftand in his preface :—*‘ The. propofal made by Bacon to the pope Clement was one of, the nobleft efforts of human induftry : confidered in all the.circumftances under which it was. framed,:and) compofed,.it is one of the moft tupendous inftances of the.force of human genius which hath been recorded ; and will do honour to our learned coun- tryman.as long as the {un and moon endure,” LVII. Obfervations which feem to prove the Neceffity of ob- Jerving and meditating a long Time before any decifive Opi- nion is formed in Philofophy in general, and particularly in regard to the Caufe of Barthquakes. By COURESOLLES*. However painful may be the refearches neceffary for difcoyering the c2ufes which Nature employs in her opera- tions, we muft obferve with great attention and indefatigable affiduity in order to colle& thofe fa&ts which are properett for conducting us to the attainment of this obje&t. “Tt does not belong to men to invent caufes; they exift in nature, and it is their bufinefs to difcover them. “Tf in the exact feiences the precifion of a refult efcapes us, and if we cannot extend our conception but to that term where incommenfurability of dimenfions ftops calculation, how can the creators of fyftems pretend to the privilege of penetrating to the bottom of the abyffes where Nature has concealed her primitive caufes? Nothing then but experi- ence, obfervation, and comparifon, guided by geometrical method, can conduét us with wifdom in our refearches. ’ Senfible of this truth, I have thought it my duty to follow this progrefs in my obfervations on every thing that may re- late to the caufe of earthquakes ; for it WapldtBe imprudent to affign one before a variety of faéts are eftablithed. This method is the more certain, as Nature often fpontaneoufly unveils herfelf: but a long time is neceffary to colleé& good obfervations: and we ought never to be precipitate in mak- ing them appear, becaufe in the ftndy of the fciences there is an age at which the paffions blind us by a too ardent defire * From the Yournal de Phv/ique, Pluvigle, an. 10. Vov. XII. No. 48. + of 448 ’ On the Caunfe of Earthquakes. of acquiring an'early reputation ; and, when we have obtaitte? #t in that manner, too great a degree of felf-love ‘obliges 15 to thaintain our erfors, and to cover them with darknefs, that we may preferve them from the attacks of tréth. | From this weaknefs of the haman mind, we may judge how dan- gerous we becoine to thofe defirots of bein initragted, when, under the fhield of a reputation, we employ every means ir our power to perpetaate an erroneous opinion. Men would be much happier than they are, if thofe whofe documents they follow had proceeded only fep by ftep in their te- fearches, and had been able to free themfelves from thofé tranfports of pride which they improperly confound with that kind of felf-love which conducts to good. They ought to have the courage to retract their errors; bat unfortanately we have no {choo! to teach us to employ a few words fo Ge ficult to be pronounced—-** [am in the wrong.” The habit of refle&ting on, and consparing For a long time, agreat number of facts refpecting earthquakes, might em- bolden me to pronounce in regard to the manner in which fubterranean matters inflame, either by the decompofition of water and pyrites, or by other caufes; neither the nature nor movement of which is perceived. . 1, however, acknowledge my infufficiency to be fuch, that I dare not venture to decide on the eae of earthquakes. Had I liftened only to the voice of felf-love, I fhould foon have fabricated a fyftem ; but I cannot do better than. ficbmit my remarks to the exa- mination of the moft acute philofophers, who, perhaps, will fucceed much better than I could have done. _I fhall there- fore give an extract from a very extenfive work which I com- poles on earthquakes, but which having been lof bythe burning of Cape Francois, I canjonly mention the principal obfervations, which may ferve as data. to thofe employed in fimilar, refearches, 1. Earthquakes are more ftrongly felt in all parts which front the wett, than in thofe which have a different fituation, 2. The earthquakes felt in diftri€ts of great extent which face the north haye never occafioned fhocks fufficiently flrong to throw. down, boufes. 1 fia? F gent . 3: Diftricts which face the fouth have frequently emperi- enced thofe violent thocks which occafion great damage ;..but this. fituation,,is. lefs dangerous than that of difiriéts which ront the wet, _ 4« Dittricts which look towards the eat are fometimes Fubject, to, fight. earthquakes... (18 Sys Op bs uarge iflands, fuch as Madagafcar, Borneo, Ceylon, Java, .Celebes, ‘the “Moluccas, ‘the Philippines, the Japan pee | 4. . 2 +e e' : 3 a On the Caufe of Earthquakes. 339 ifles; the Great Antilles, and all the other extenfive iflands of the globe, experience earthquakes in the fame manner as vontinents ; that is to fay, with more violence in the diftriéts which front the weft and the fouth, than in thofe which look towards any other quarter. 6. Small iflands, in confequence of their fmall extent, feel the effects of earthquakes almoftin an equal manner through- out all their parts: it is obferved, in particular, that the moft violent fhocks are always towards the weft and fouth. 7. Parts of the earth confined between two feas, as the ifthmuses of Porto Bello, Suez, and feveral others, experi- ence the effects of earthquakes on the two oppofite fides. | 8. In a great extent of coaft which looks towards the north, when changes of direction occur fo as to look towards the weft, as that of the northern part of Africa towards Oran, or as that of the gulph of Marecaybo, earthquakes are accom- panied with peculiarities analogous to their pofition; that is to fay, thofe parts of the coafis which look towards the weft are fubje& to very violent earthquakes. g- Small iflands lying to the weft or fouth of continents, or of other iflands much larger, experience very violent fhocks. Several iflands which were in this fituation have difappeared in confequence of violent earthquakes, by which they were fwallowed up in the fea. zo. Among the coafts which face the weft or the fouth, there are places where earthquakes are felt with more violence than im others: it is almoft always in thefe places that the moft violent {hocks are repeated. 11. Great earthquakes are almoft alwavs preceded and fol- Jowed, fome time before and after, by {mall thocks. 12. Two earthquakes have often taken place on the fame day at two places at a confiderable diftance, and feparated from each other by fea or by intermediate lands which have not experienced the leaft fhock. . 13. Great earthquakes almoft always take place after long ‘rams. 14. Earthquakes have often been followed by malignant fevers and epidemical difeafes. 15. Earthquakes are fometimes preceded or followed by ‘hurricanes. 16. We had a very violent hurricane at Cape Francois about an hour before the famous earthquake on the 3d of Jone'1770. This hurricane came from the mountain called ‘La Charboniere, more than 40 leagues diftant from the Cape. The earthquake overturned this mountain, fo that many of the inhabitants, negroes, and cattle, were {wallowed up. Ya 17. The 340. On the Caufe of Earthquakes. | 17. The water barometer eftablithed in my great/meteo: rograph indicated on 4hat day a depreffion of two inches. eight lines: in general, it fell only two inches during the greateft variations, wit by ow i \ Asia 18. The ftorm experienced throughout the whole ifland of St. Domingo in 1788, proceeded allo from the mountain De la Charboniere.. This I afcertained in-the following manner; A few days afier the ftorm, having made a tour through the ifland on a particular miffion, I faw in every place where I paffed that the trees overturned by the hurricane were lying in the direction of radii proceeding from the fummit of the mountain to the different places which I vifited, though al- moft all diftant from its bafe 15, 20, and 30 leagues. As certain winds oceafion rain, while others occafion drought, it will be neceffary that I fhould mention. their meteorological effects, to be able to judge of the influence which they have on earthquakes and volcanoes. ' 1g. It is well known that when two contiguous parts of the atmofphere are of different denfities, the denfeft part, which confequently has the greateft: elafticity, moves to- wards that which has the lefs, forming a current of air, which extends towards the fide where there is the leaft re- fiftance. 20. The current of the trade winds at fea follows the courfe of the fun; but it changes its direction near iflands and continents. Bo _ 24. The eaftern part of the ifland of St. Domingo receives the trade wind without changing its direction. 22. The whole north coatt oF the fame ifland changes the direction of the trade wind; and, inftead of fuffering it to continue its natural courfe to the weft, attraéts it, and makes it incline towards the land, to form a compound current pro- ceeding from north-eaft to fouth-wett, enevit 23. The weftern part, from Port 4 Piment to. Port ay Prince, attracts the air of the weft towards the eaft, in a di- ‘rection altogether contrary to the trade wind, and to that of sthe eaftern part, or of Samana. pt 24. The fouthern part of the fame ifland attracts the trade wind, and makes it change its natural direction from eaft to welt, to form a current of air proceeding from fouth-eatt to -north-welt. ' 25. All changes which take place in regard to the current of the trade winds arife, in all probability, from the fun dart- ing his rays in the folid parts of the ifland, which imbibe them in the ratio of their denfities, and even of their coon: 20.) * On the Catife of Earthquakes. 34% !96. All thefe warm bodies dilate the ambient air of the atmofphere by which they are covered. 97: The vapours of the fea, being attrafted around all the coatts towards the centre of the ifland, according to the 20th, att, 22d, 23d, and 24th obfervations, produce an afcent of the clouds much’more confiderable on land than at fea. This elevation of the vapours appears in a very remarkable manner in all the iflands of the ‘torrid-zone, when one is at the di- ftance of fix or eight leagues from them, and even more. Experienced mariners employ this indication fometimes to determine the proximity of land. 28. All the different breezes here mentioned change their direction in the night-time: they decreafe in velocity from fan-fet tog, 10, or 1r at night. After which a calm takes place for fome moments; the land wind then prevails during the whole night, in confequence of the condenfation of the vapours of the atmofphere, which being cooled, and acquir- ing gravity by the abfence of the fun, in their defcent expel’ the ambient air, which they prefs on all fides from the centre towards the circumference, that is to fay, from the interior of the ifland towards the fea: this is what is called the land breeze. ; ‘29. Of all the breezes here mentioned, the-eaft and north winds are more frequent in the countries of the torrid zone than thofe of the weft and fouth, except in the diftriéts men- tioned in the 23d and 24th obfervations. - 30. The mountains form fo many dikes that oppofe the eourfe of the clouds which are there accumulated, and, be- ing condenfed, fall down in rain on the fides and at the bot- tom of the mountains. : 1. The plains on the fide where the clouds are accumu- lated are fertile, and thofe on the oppofite fide are dry. Thefe mountains therefore divide ‘thefe. countries into two different ' climates. 32. Earthquakes are much more frequent in arid countries than in diftricts watered by rain; becaufe, in all probability, the vapours of the interior part of the country are there col- Jeéted, and proceed thither more than to thofe where the rains render the earth compact. 33. The faces of mountains which look towards the north and the eaft, are more cooled by the rains than thofe which look towards the fouth and weft. 34. In the Spanifh plains, fituated in the centre of Saint Domingo, there are feveral infulated mountains, which, not- withftanding their finall extent, exhibit the different tempe- ratures indicated around their fides by fhades of verdure ana- a Y 3 logous 34% On the Caufe of Earthquakes. logous to the coolnefs or drynefs occafioned by thefe different pofitions. ; 35. The mountains of countries fubjeét to great rains abound, in general, with very hard rocks which rife abrupt ly; the places which are lefs fieep are covered with compact, red, black, and fat earth, which produces vigorous trees of a dark green foliage, loaded with creeping plants, and furrounded by herbaceous {hrubs, and heaps of manure urifing from: the rotten leavés and trunks. 36. The niountains of arid countries, being compofed of a great deal of light earth, are rounded at the fummuits; they have in general a more gentle declivity than thofe of rainy countries, and, when too rapid, fragments of them crumble down: the trees which grow on thefe mountains produce very hard timber, and fcarcely any creeping plants are found near them. 37. The earth of mountains watered by rains being com- pact, as obferved in the 35th obfervation, does not permit the rain water to penetrate them; it trickles down the fur- face, and flows into the ravines, at the fame time that it falls from the heavens. - det 38. The mountains in arid countries are in general co- véered with calcareous earth or chalk, and the fragments of other tender ftones mixed with the powder of dried vegetables, which altogether form a fpongy light earth. This earth is eafily penetrated by rain water, and it retains it in the bofom of the mountains or of the eminences by which they are fur- rounded. This water efcapes merely by a flow filtration, which produces continual {prings that maintain the ftreams in the ravines; and thefe, in their turn, fupply the rivers that fall into the fea. Jt is for this reafon that thofe parts of St. ‘Domingo towards the weft have more ravines and running: flreams than the northern and eaftern parts of the ifland. The cafe is the fame in the Great Antilles. a9. The calcareous flones found. on the mountains of the weit part of St. Domingo exhibit the empty nefts of the po+ lypes by which they were formed. ‘Thefe foffils are found in all the mountains of St. Mare and the Gonaives in fuch. abundance, that when broken with a large hammer it is more difficult to find any without the impreffion of a madre- pore than thole from which it is effaced *, 40. In * To aftertain with certainty whether thefe foffils have been left in confequence of the furface of the fea becoming lower, I caufed a well ta be dug at the bottom of a rock on a plantation which I had oppofite to the Cape Town, in order to eredt there a machine 1 had conftructed at a great ‘ expenfe, On the Coufe of Earthquakes, 343 .. 40. Inthe north-eatt, part of St. Domingo it is obferved that the calcareous ftones of the mountains are very hard, nd exhibit no traces of their origin: they mutt be polifhed Before is poffible to diftinguith in them, as in other mar- sles of the fame kind, corals, the polypiers of madrepores, and the other characteriftic marks of calcarcous ftones. -. 41. The diftricts which front the welt are thofe where volcanoes manifeft themfelves in preference to others. ~ 42. Next to the diftrits which front the weft, thofe which look fear the fouth are thofe where fubterranean fires ofteneft produce volcanoes. _. 43. Extenfive diftritts which look dire@ly to the eaft have no volcanoes, unlefs,a continent or large ifland be to the eat of the place where they might manifelt themlelves. 44. The volcanoes of Sicily, according to feveral obferva- tions made on different eruptions, feem to be only ramifica- — tions of Vefuvius fituated to the north-eaft of Aitna, Lipari, and the other fpiracles in the weftern part of the kingdom of Naples. 45- There are only two or three volcanoes in all thofe aig of the globe which are known, that incline towards the fouth-eaft: they are thofe of the ifland of Bourbon and of Kamt{chatka. 46. In no part of the known world is there a volcano ina fituation that looks towards the north. | 47. Of the great number of volcanoes found in fituations looking to the weft, there are 42 in the courfe of 400 leagues expenfe, that pofterity might know it in a pofitive manner; but, being in hafte to fer out for France, in confequence of my being appointed a de- puty of the colony, and as my conftituents pretended that the affembly of the ftates-general would be ended before my arrival if J did not {peedily depart, I was obliged to leave this machine in May 1789, without being able to finifh it. It confifted chiefly of various’ movements which turne four large copper cylinders, each fix feet in height, with their floats and other apparatus, according co the form of my meteorographs, in order to mark che height of the tides each day, every month, and every lunar year for a century. The rifing and falling of the fea was to make the water enter and flow out by a canal a foor in breadth: a {mall aperture of fix lines only in dia- meter placed at rhe butrom of the well was to receive the water of this cana} {p as to fuffer it to rife and fall only ina very gentle manner. A Jarge float of copper hermetically fealed was to ferye as a moving power to wind up this clock each tide by means of a kind of feapement, But unfortunately at the time the Cape was burnt my houfe was plun- dered, and all the copper, iron, and fteel work of this machine were car- ried away ; fo chat [have been told no veftiges of it avé left. A large cheft fall of manyleripts, the fruit of thirty years labour in the arts and fcicnces, ufeful to the colony, fhared the fame fate, 2 4 in 344 On ibe Caufe of Earthquakes. in the Cordilleras, which extend along the South fea from Chilito Panama, “fearon ae ee * 48. There are réckoned to be 30 of 35 volcanoes on the coaft of New Spain which looks towards the fouth-weft on the fide of the Pacific ocean, ° re 49.’ The volcanoes fituated on lakes or deep gulphs, and which have a narrow mouth, manifeft themfelves fometimes differently. That of the Jake of Nicaragua is fituated on an ifland to the eaft of the ifthmus which feparates that lake from the South fea, or to the north-weft of the other parts of the continent. apa “50. Volcanoes are more violent after long and heavy rains, than after and during the time of drought. — 51. When sain falls in an cqual quantity on all the parts of a mountain, that which falls on the fummit muft naturall run down and penetrate very little into the earth ; while the fides receive not only that of the heavens, but that alfo which comes from the fummit. nes 2. The fides of a mountain become plane in proportion as they bécome lower, and to their diftance from the fummit. 53. The lowett parts of the fides of a mountain muft*he- ¢ceflarily imbibe more water than the higher parts. The quantity imbibed muft be greater as the inclination of the fides decreafes in approaching the bafe. ae 54. In the interior part of ‘fteep mountains there muft be places to which the water cannot penetrate. Thefe places, in all probability, are thofe which approach neareft to the vertical line, proceeding from the fummit and terminating perpendicularly towards the middle of the bafe. 55. If the filtration of rain water through the earth on the fides of mountains ftops up the pores, and if the fubterranean vapours do not find room to efcape through thefe fides, they mutt proceed towards thofe parts which approach the ver- tical line drawn from the fummit, which is the place where they can find a paffage by foaking through the pores of the dry earth which mutft be there found, _ 56. If gas and fubterranean fires are thrown towards the axis of the mountain by the intermiffion of waters which ftop up their other paffages, the elafticity of thefe fluids ac- cumulated at the centre muft neceffarily increafe. It appears that, from this obfervation, we may deduce the reafon why yolcanoes often break out after long continued rains, 57. Whether it be the decompofition of water, or any other caufe, that makes the fire of volcanoes be difengaged, this fire muft neceffarily, as already faid, purfue that route where, ns it On the’ Caufrof Earthquakes. 0 345 it’ finds ‘the leaft refiftance to its free paffage. | It appears, then, that this routematt be that where the waters have not flopped-up' the pores of the earth. It is for this reafon, ‘pro- bably, that’ volcanoes ‘manifeit themfelves atthe fummits of mountains. © ; & 58.-The crevices of ‘volcanic mountains incline oftener from their centre towards the weft or the fouth than towards the other fides. It is always towards thofe parts that volca- noes throw out their Java. The reafon of this feems to be explained by the 31, 32d, 334, 34th, 35th, and 6th ob- fervations, and in particular by the 37th and 38th. 59. The mioft violent volcanoes almoft always manifeft themfelves in the higheft mountains, : 60. It would appear that the ice on the fummits of thefe mountains ought to feéure the earth found there from being penetrated by the fnow water which the temperature of the air may fometimes diffolve; and, as this temperature aéts only on the furface of the fnow, the ice below ought to throw off that which is melted towards the fides where the -declivity is, and by thefe means prevent the water from penetrating the earth of the fummit to moiften that at the centre of the mountain. ae 61. Volcanic mountains which are not very high, or which are not fituated agreeably to the general pofition to which fubterranean fires feem to proceed, have in general only weak volcanoes, which often in the end become extinct. ' 62. Many of the extinguifhed craters have become lakes, or refervoirs of rain water, at the fummit of mountains ; fprings commonly manifeft themfelves around their fides, | and ferve to fertilize the lands at their bottom. 63. Hiftory makes mention of many lakes which have been fermed by mountains being fwallowed up: all countries fubjeét to earthquakes have a great'many of them. 64. The earth has been feen to fwell up fo as almott to form a hemifpherical mountain, and to burft feddenly, with a horrid explofion, and leave'nothing but a lake in the place. 65. Many iflands have emerged from the fea: fome of thefe have exified for a long time, others have gradually dif- appeared ; and fome, iu confequence of a continual undula- tion, occafioned by fubterranean fire, have difappeared after being flowly confumed. It is here proper to obferve, that a'l thefe events take place in continents or iflands the pofitions of which are analogous ‘to thofe mentioned in the 1ft, 3d, and gth obfervations. Though this memoir is only a very fhort extract from a manufeript lott during the troubles of the Cape, I think it nie 346 Opiical Phenomenon by Moon-hght my duty to publifh the moft ftriking parts of that work which my memory has enabled me to preferve. It is poffible that among thele obfervations there are fome particulars which require to be reétified: but I fhall leave to thofe who may be defirous of employing their time on fimilar refearches to exa~ mine them with attention, and to increafe the number. fo as to form a complete work founded upon facts. ; ~ fa LVIII. Od/ervations on an Optical Phenomenon produced by Moon-light in the Vapours of the Atmofphere. By Profefir WREDE*. Asour fifteen minutes paft ten at night on the 14th of December 1800, I obferved above- the horizon of Joachims~ thal, in the Ukermark, a very fingular kind of reflection of the rays of the moon’s light, and fuch as I had never before obferved. The temperature of the air, in confequence of a thaw, was extremely moderate, and towards the fouth and weft the {ky was perfeétly ferene, fo that ftars from the firft to the third magnitude, notwithftanding the great {plendour of the moon’s light, could be clearly diftinguifhed an the,blue ground of the atmofphere. Towards the eaft and north, however, it had a milk white colour, and there appeared near the horizon in the north-eaft quarter a few ftreaked clouds, which the common people generally confider as an indication of wind. But thefe as well as the other cloudy parts were fo tranfparent that feveral of the circumpolar ftars, fuch as the Great and Lefs Bear,Cepheus, and Caffiopeia, could be obferved. The lower parts of the atmofphere, as well as thofe ftrata in which the above clouds floated, appeared on the firft view to be entirely at reft. The moon feemed to be nearly m the weft-fouth-weft quarter, and was fo bright that the {pots of her illuminated fide could be eafily diftingiithed. In regard to her aftronomical pofition fhe was near the ftar x in the eaftern band of the Fifh, a little to the weft of Mars, and much further from Jupiter. In this pofition fhe was furrounded by two very eccentric rings, the{maller of which, © being concentric, had the form of an ellipfe; but the larger was circular, as reprefented in the annexed engraving, (Plate VII1.)—The principal axis of the ellipfis lay fouth and north, and the conjugate axis eaft and weft. It was interfected in the former direction by the eccentric circle, : From Der Gefell/chaft Naturforfchender Freunde xu Berlin Neue Schrifien, vol. iii. 1805. : . . which in the Vapours of the Atmofphere. 347 which at the fame time pafled apparently through the middle of the moon, and its centre lay to the eafiward in the zenith of the obferver near Capella in Auriga. The extent of this large circular ring, the apparent thicknefs of which was {earcely equal to the half of the moon’s diameter, covered about the following places of the heavens: The band of the Fifth, the head of Andromeda, a part of Frederick’s Glory and the Dra-.. gon; the feet of the Leffler Bear, Alioth in the tail of the Great Bear, the Small Lion, and the neck of the Large Lion, fo that Regulus ftood about two or three of the moon’s dia- meters without the circle. It then proceeded between the Crab and the Water Serpent, above the Unicorn, under Orion’s belt, ahove the Brandenburgh-Sceptre, Evidanusy, George’s Harp, and the Whale’s Back, to the band of the. Fifth. The ellipfe extended, according to its greater diameter, from. the ftar @ to the northern arm of Andromeda, to the. {tar r in the Whale, and then ran eaft above the tail of Aries, fo that Mars was included by it near ¢ of that conftellation on the weft fide it extended nearly to the equinoétial colure 5, on the fouthern and northern edges the ellipfis appeared to be double, and fometimes triple. There were feen here pale fhining rings in pairs, one pair of which had a greater tranf- verfe axis, and the other a {maller, than the principal ellipfis. The latter was the cafe, in particular, towards the end of the phenomenon. It fometimes appeared as if the two exterior rings formed a particular ellipfis, which was concentric with the piney one, but which had a fmaller conjugate axis, and interfeéted the bright, luminous, elliptical ring in four places. Where the latter was touched by the circular ring there appeared two ftriking parafelena, the northern one of which, about eleven o’clock, exhibited a few faint prifmatic colours; but the fouthern one did not difperfe the light in the fame manner, only that at its circumference it had a fome- what yellowifh white appearance. The points where the falfe Aliets interfeéted the large circular ring, did not exhibit the fmalleft appearance of prifmatic refraction. The proper elliptical ring from the moon towards, the north-weft was very ill defined, and fcarcely uninterrupted; and this was the cafe alfo with the large ring towards the neighbourhood of the Unicorn, where there were fewer vapours, and where the fky towards the horizon was perfeétly ference. In other refpects, both rings appeared very diftinét, and of a white co- Jour; but this character was loft by the large one within the ellipfis, and the nearer it approached the moon, which over~ powered and ‘obfcured it by her fplendour, At this place, alfo, its thicknefs-appeared to be as great as in the neigh dua 00 348 Optical Phenomenon by Moon-light hood of the Unicorn: in other places it was quite uniforny. © The elliptical ring towards the eaft exhibited a very white and thicker part, which became deranged, and no longer coincided with the ellipfe the nearer the phanomenon approached to its end. This happened a few minutes palt elevert o’clock, - after both the rings had loft their colour, and when the moon began to be furrounded by a yellow nimbus. At twenty mi- nutes paft eleven both the circle and ellipfe had difappeared ; but the nimbus around the moon had fo increafed, that, ac- cording to the eye, it was equal to fix diameters of the moon, or about three degrees. The vapours in the atmofphere were at this time no longer diftributed in an uniform manner, but thrown together in maffes of different denfities, which formed regular clouds, and in which fome motion was obferved, Nei- ther fnow nor rain, however, followed, but the weather as well as the temperature of the atmofphere continued the fame. About eleven o’clock the following evening a little cold rain fell; but the drops were exceedingly fine, and it did not leng continue. “Having finifhed the defcription of this phenomenon, it” might naturally be expected that I fhould give fome explana- tion of the canfes which produced it; bat I have not fuffi- cient confidence in my own abilities to undertake fo difficult atafk. As far as can be deduced from the principles of optics and the doétrine of light, it may be aferibed to fome infulated clouds of different thicknefs and denfity, or to fe- veral {trata of clouds lymg near and above each other. The henomenon of the parafelena, where both rings apparently interfected each other, gives us reafon to conjecture that they actually cut each other; and that therefore we may admit as the caufe the firft cafe, that is to fay, one fingle ftratum of clouds of unequal thicknefs and denfity. It is not improbable -that, In regard to the elliptical ring, the cafe was the fame as with the lenticular elevations in common window glafs, which diftort objets, extend them in length, and give to round things an elliptical form. But, in my opinion, it is more difficult to explain why the larger ring was perfeétly circular, and appeared fo eccentric; why the image of the moon lay at the end of the radius in the periphery. It is very probable, as has been already remarked by various ob- fervers, that during this phenomenon there were in the thick vapours of the atmofphere feveral hollow cones or funnels which, bordering on the bafis of the image, formed feveral rings; for the latter occafioned, in the places of interfeétion, an appearance of the prifmatic colours. Should this con- jeture be agrecable to truth, the higher.geometry, and par ridin 5 ticularly le % -anthe Kapours of the Atmofphere. : 349 ticularly the doétrine of conic fections, might be employed for explaining fimilar phenomena. But refpeéting this point time mu(t determine. moran ’ But that the above obferved phenomenon, may in fome meafure be ufeful to meteorologifts, I fhall here add a few remarks. If we eftinate the tranfverfe diameter of the el- lipfe at.60, and the diameter of the circular ring at more than 120°, it muft be admitted that the whole phenomenon was at no great height in the atmofphere, elfe it muft have comprehended fewer of the conftellations: the vapours in which it appeared floated therefore in a very low fituation, and near the obferver’s horizon. It thence follows, that this phenomenon could be vyifible to no other perfon, unlefs he had the fame ftratum of clouds over him, and beheld the moon through it; and it is probable that the phenomenon might have remained unnoticed had the obferver been a mile towards one fide from the pofition in which he then ftood.. We may admit, not without reafon, that all fuch circles with which the fun and moon are fometimes fur- rounded are not at a very confiderable diftance from the fur- face of the earth, and therefore are not vifible in a greater extent than 40 or 50 miles, If the higheft clouds over the fea can be feen only at the diftance of about 20 geographical miles above the horizon, how much more mult a phzno- menon which takes place in far lower diftticts,of the atmo- {phere efcape the notice of different obfervers whofe pofitions are at a great diltance from each other, and particularly when its yifibility depends on the angle under which an object mutt be viewed to obferye that peculiar image which is pro- duced! We never fee the rainbow in a cloud, or rather in the falling drops of rain, when the fun is either too high or too low. “In the high Alps of Swifferland it fometimes hap- pens, that iftead a bow there is feen a complete. circle of the prifmatic colours in the drops precipitated fromthe at- mofphere. In the fame manner, the vifibility of various other phenomena in the atmofphere depends on the point of fight which is favourable for the obfervation. We Hebe fore ought not to affert thatfuch or fuch phenomena feldom occur; we ought rather to fay that they have been feen by individual obfervers, and in particular geographical points of fight. : : wuovY & Wk [ fhiall'embrace this opportunity of ‘making fome-obferedl tions‘on an affertion’ which appeared in one of the public journals of lat year. S geo ofa rainbow: produced by moonlight, whict: was obfenved on the sth of September 1800 from the obfervatory, of Gotuiogen, the account cone ' with ’ ) — 45° Vegetable Principle contained in Coffte. ith afferting that this very rare phenomenon had been ob- Eval fince the period of Ariftotle only eleven times, and in Germany only once, by Weidler, in 1719. I can, however, produce two inftances of a lunar rainbow feen in Germany. Tn the year 1799 or 1798 I obferved in Pomerania, at a vil-- Jage in the neighbourhood of Wollin, a rainbow of this kind, even though the moon was not rit If my memory does not fail me, it was then a mild harveft evening, and at moft only eight o’clock. The fky was pretty clear, and the moon was about 30 or 4o degrees above the horizon towards the eaft. Towards the weft I obferved a cloud at about the fame height, and in this was feen the rainbow, the colours of which were exceedingly lively. Its ends only were pale, and very faint. It was larger than a quadrant, but did not form a complete femi-circle. The livelinefs.of the colours did not long con- tinue after it was firft obferved; for a weft wind drove the cloud before it, and a fmall fhower fell. In the month of Oober 1798, about eleven at night, I faw a fecond Junar rainbow, during a fhower, ina field of Joachinrfthal. ‘The moon was in the eaftern quarter, and at a confiderable eleva- tion. The extent of this rainbow*was about 180 degrees, and it ftood with both its extremities on the ground. Its colours, however, were exceedingly faint; but the refraction was fo apparent, that a fecond pale rainbow was obferved neartoit. I have mentioned thet two obfervations to fhow that it is improper to fay that thefe pheenomena feldom oc¢- cur; we ought only to fay that they have been feldom deli- neated and made known. [f the friends of natural philofophy gould make obfervations in every place where fuch pheno- mena.occur, or were thofe feen by accidental obfervers, who often, through indifference, confider fuch things as hardly worth notice, communicated to them, there is no doubt that ty affertion would be confirmed. LIN. Note upon .a ipeculiar Vegetable Principle contained in Coffe. By Ricuarnp Cugenevix, E/g. FOR.S, M-R.L.A.* pire Iw a veffel calculated to confine the vapour of water, ‘I heated .a contiderable portion of that liquid upon about a ‘pound of raw coffee imported directly from: Mariinico, and wf the qualities of which I was well affured. I then filtered the liquor, and reduced it nearly to drynefs, in a glafs eva~ * Communicated by the Author. ~ - ’ vrs porating® Vexetable Principle contained in Coffee. 35% peratibg dith, at a gentle heat. By this means I obtained a mall quantity of a clear yellow refiduum like the moft tranf- oie horn, and of the confiftence of honey. This refiduum id not deliquefce, or feem to be fubject to change, by expo- fure to the atmofphere. It was foluble im alcohol.” Tt did not manifeft either acid or alkaline properties. By fome ex- ha ntl 1 perceived it to be a fubitance differing effentially m all the vegetable principles with which I was acquainted $ and, finding that I could obtain it pure by the method which Prouft ufed to procure tannin, I proceeded in the following manner : ~ T poured a folution of muriate of tin into fome water which had been made to boil upon coffee, and obtained a precipi- tate, which I colleéted upon a filter, and wafhed.. I then put it into water, and caufed a current of falphuretted hydro- gen gas to pafs flowly through the liquor. By this procefs the oxide of tin combined with the fulphuretted hydrogen gas ; and the fubftance originally contained in the coffee, but which, as I fhall immediately fhow, had combined with the metallic oxide, was difengaged, and remained in the liquor; while the hydrogenized fulphuret of tin was precipitated. It then remained only to evaporate the liquor to obtain the vegetable principle. In this fate it exhibited nearly the fame appear- ance as before it had been combined with the oxide of tin; but feemed of a lighter colour, and more clear and tranf- arent; ‘being freed, as I fuppofe, from all extractive or other matter, Imagining it now to be fufficiently pure, I diffolved it in a very fmall proportion of water, and examined it chemically. The folution was of a bright horn colour, and had a bitter tafte, though not unpleafant. It was neither acid nor alka- line. Solutions of potath, of foda, or of ammonia, poured into the liquor, changed its colour to a bright garnet red. Nitric acid produced a fimilar effect. Very concentrate folutions of the alkaline carbonates did fot caufe a precipitate, as in'a folution of tannin. Sulphuric acid became of a dirty brown colour with the folution ; but no other change was apparent. With muriatic, phofphoric, and the vegetable atids, there was no change, even of cele, : _ With muriate of gold, of platina, of copper, there was not any change, but what would naturally refult from a mixture of the colours of both liquors. _ With any folution of iron, in which there was not myer ° : : 352 Kegetable Principle contained in Coffce, of acid, the; liquor pafled to a beautiful green; and, if it, was concentrate, there was a. green precipitate.» Salts formed of the red. oxide> of iron fucceeded, the werte and the.reciprocal action of this. principle and iron is almoft as delicate as that of either gallic acid or tapnin,.and iron. ate, eat: With muriate.of, tin, there was a very abundant yellowith precipitate, which was a combination of the. new ,vegetable principle, with oxide of tin. , Both, this. precipitate and that with iron, are foluble in all tie acids, and the liquors lofe their colour. : ) beset flac Lime water did not caufe any precipitate in this liquor nor did dirontia water, Barytes water gave a fawn-coloure precipitates, With lime water, tannin gave,a blueifh green precipitate; and nearly the fame with ftrontia water, as alfa with barytes water. . : aca He tai A folution of animal gelatine did not give any precipitate with this vegetable principle. The effect of tannin. upon gelatine is well known. sed oii By the-above experiments it appears that this principle bears fuflicient characters to. diftinguith it from tannin,;or any other vegetable principle, with which we are acquainted, The only property which it pofleffes in common with tannin, . is its affinity for oxide of tin; while it is clearly diftin® from tannin in every other refpect. ' It is evident that coffee before it is roafted does not con tain tannin. A {olution of gelatine poured into, a decoétion of roaited coffee, gives, however, an immediate precipitate ; and this'precipitate is the combination of tannin with gela- tine. Mefirs. Prouft, Seguin, and Davy, have obferved that heat develops the tanning principle in many vegetables, In _ a commercial point of view, it would be effential. to examine. whether thofe vegetables are not fuch as, before being heated, contain this new principle, Although I did. not perceive that the principle, when infulated from the entire vegetable, was converted by heat into tannin, yet the prefence of the other component parts of the vegetable may influence the diftribution of elements in fuch a manner as to produce com- binations different from what the feparate principles woul afford. cocina’ I haye not had an opportunity to look for this new prin- ciple‘in other vegetables. - _ d Git Swiss ok ee Te - LX. Bio- {366 3 LX. Biographical Account of JosEpH DE BEAUCHAMP, the Aftronomer. By De LALANDE. OSEPH DE BEAUCHAMP was born at Vezoul on the 29th of June 1752. In 1767 he entered into the order of the Bernardins, of which his uncle Mirandeau had a regular abbey. The latter having been appointed bifhop of Babylon in 1774, deftined his nephew to participate with him in his functions, and fent for him to Paris that he might fit him- felf for that purpofe hy ftudying the Arabic, theology and medals, of which the bifhop was exceedingly fond. . Youn Beauchamp, who had a decided tafte for the {ciences, attend the College de France, and made a rapid progrefs. I feconded his turn for aftronomy by fhowing him how ufeful he could be to us in Afia. In 1780 he made it his chief ftudy, and was of great fervice to us. Soon after he fet out for the Eaft, and on the 15th of September 1781 arrived at Aleppo with his uncle, who was not able to continue his journey. Young Beauchamp, therefore, proceeded alone to Bagdad to dil- charge the epifcopal nf Hd In 1781 I obtained from the minifter of the marine in- ftruments which I fent to him, and which he employed with grt advantage. An account of his journey from Aleppo to agdad was publifhed in the Journal des Savans for 1784: his obfervations made at Bagdad, and fome notices refpect- ing the Turks and the Arabs, may be found in the fame work *. In the month of January 1784 he fet out for Baf- fora: a chart of the courfe of the Tigris and the Euphrates from Diarbeker to the Perfian gulph, that is to fay, for an extent of 300 leagues, which he conftruéted on that occafion, is in my poffeffion; and I publithed a fhort account of this journey in the Journal des Savans for 1785+. The different volumes of this journal, as well as the Memoirs of the Aca- demy, contain a great many obfervations made by Beau- champ; fuch as the paflage of Mercury over the fun’s difk, May the 4th, 1786 tf. I have alfo a map of the country round Babylon which he conftruéted. He brought to the abbé Barthelemy drawings of monuments, infcriptions, and medals, found at the antient Babylon, as well as Arabic manufcripts. In his firft jour- ney, having embarked on board a {mall Arabic veffel, it was * Yournal des Savans 1784, p. 332 and 470 + For the month of May, p. 246 and 28s. t Yournal des Savans 1787, p. 361. For an account of the eftablifh- ment of his obfervatory fee p. 301 and 498. Vor, XII. No. 48. Z overtaken 8 354 Account of Jofeph de Beauchamp. overtaken by a calm at fea; and, being fhort. of water; he was expofed to the fcorching heat of the tropical fun for forty = eight hours without a drop of water to cool his mouth; in confequence of which he was feized with a violent fit of ill- nefs on his return to Baffora.’ ' In 1787 I induced him to undertake a journey to the Caf- plan fea, to fettle the queftion in regard to its fituation, and to determine the longitudes in that part of Perfia, in re- gard to which there were from five to fix degrees of un- certainty. The refult of his obfervations I publithed in the Memoirs of the Academy for 1787. During this journey he was maltreated and plundered, and he was thrown into a fever which lafted eighteen months. He however conftru@ted a chart of his route, which Baron von Zach has publifhed. He obferved an eclipfe of the moon at Cafbine on the 30th of June 1787: it was one of the moft important ever ob- ferved. He returned from his Perfian voyage to Bagdad on the 14th of January 1787 *. Obfervations of Mercury, which are fo rare in France, were among thofe things ‘which I had particularly recom- mended to him; and he did more in this refpeét than all thé European aftronomers together, and than was ever done fince the origin of aftronomy: he faw Mercury nearer the fun than was ever before obferved: I publithed feveral of his ob fervations in the Memoirs of the Academy; and to him I was indebted for the principal affiftance I received in con- firucting the tables which I publithed of that planet. He ~ obferved alfo fome ftars which could not be feen at Paris ; and his manufcripts which he left to me will furnifh a fup- plement to the immenfe collection of ftars I have publithed in the Hi/toire Celefte. Baron von Zach, in his excellent journal, has ntade' fre - quent ufe of Beauchamp’s obfervations; and he caufed to be engraved for it his map of Perfia. Beauchamp had under- taken a general review of the heavens to rectify the pofitions of the ftars, and he had afcertained that of feveral thoufands, when he learned that the department of the marine had with drawn the annual gratification of 2000 livres which he en- joyed, and without which he could not fubfift at Bagdad’. He therefore left Bagdad on the 1ft of December 1789, and arrived at Paris on the 3d of September 1790. In 1791, end the following years, I did not ceafe to folicit the minifterg of the Bininal Atari that he might be fent * An accoum of this journey to Perfia may be found in the Yournal des Savans for Janvery 1790, p. 746. For his notes on the Babyionian anu- gvities fee the Journal for 1799, p. 746. 5 back Acctount of Jofeph de Beauchamp. - 3B6 back’ to Bagdad to refume his obfervations. In the month of February 1795 I obtained from the Convention, through the means of Gregoire, an indemnification for him; and on that occafion Beauchamp faid, “I fee that you draw upon me a bill of exchange which [ can pay only in Turkey. I fhall therefore fet out; but if any misfortune befalls me you muft remember my devotion to you and to aftronomy.”’ He indeed quitted, with fome degree of regret, a country and family which he loved, and by which he was beloved. But it was not till the 3d of March 1795 that I obtained, by the aid of C. Volney, his nomination to the confulfhip of Maf- cate, in Arabia. He came to Paris on the 27th of March, but was obliged to proceed to Italy to procure a fhip bound to Confiantinople: he encountered various impediments, and in the month of April 1796 was ftill in Italy. He at length fet out, went to make fome obfervations in the Archipelago, and did not arrive at Conftantinople till the 22d of Novem- ber 1796. Towards the end of May 1797 he undertook a | journey from Conftantinople to Trebifonde, which was of great importance to geography, as he reétified the charts of the Black fea, which were exceedingly erroneous. On the gth of December the fame year he returned from the Black fea, and made preparations for proceeding to Mafcate; but the war rendered this voyage dangerous and ufelefs. In the month of March 1798 he was fent to Egypt till he could find an opportunity of proceeding to Mafcate, and, to- wards the conclufion of that year, offered to Bonaparte to go as a negotiator for peace to Conftantinople; but he was ar- refied as well as all. the other French, and remained three . years in confinement. L Being at length fet at liberty, in confequence of the peace, he quitted Conftantinople on the 23d of September 1801, though {till indifpofed, and had fearcely arrived at Nice when he expired on the rgth of November. A few days be- fore, he had been appointed by the firft conful commiflary- general at Lifbon; and he lived long enough to learn that ine diftinguifhed mark of favour had been conferred upon im, Few men have employed the fhort courfe of human life to fo much purpofe. Beauchamp poffeffed knowledge and merit of various kinds: the duties of religion were not neg- lected by this philofopher, and the congregation of the Pro- paganda at Rome teitified its fatisfaction with the zeal he ad difplayed in his apoftolic funétions. I requefted his uncle to endeayour to procure for bim the reverfion of his | bifhepric, which he promifed to do; but he died in 1798 Ne 4, 2 the 356 Notices re[peéting New Books. the hofpital of incurables, after having interfered, ta no pur-: pofe, in the epifcopal revolution. Never was aftronomer expofed to fo many hardfhips im making obfervations. By the exceffive heat of Bagdad he was reduced fometimes to a ftate of the greateft debility, and. his laborious and dangerous journeys always brought on fevere illnefs. He died a victim to his zeal; and it increafes our re-. gret, that the numberof the martyrs to aftronomy is already, fo great. (The annexed engraving reprefents Beauchamp in his Arabian drefs.] LXI. Notices refpeeting New Books. Ausfibrliche Gefchichte der Theoretifch Praktifchen Ubrma- cherkunji, Sc. A Hiftory of Clock- and Watch-making, both Theoretical and Practical, fince the earlieft Method _- of dividing the Day to the End of the 18th Century, By I. H. Moriz Pores, 1801. 8vo. 564 pages. [Concluded from p. 276. ] VII. FURTHER progrefi of the theoretico-pra€lical part of clock- and watch-making till the end of the 18th century.—In order to render the ofcillations of the Jarge clocks ifochronous, Huyghens invented the cycloidal plate ; and De la Hire affures us, that this cycloidal pendulum clock, though often com- pared with the motion of the fixed ftars, did not differ in eight days but a few feconds from the mean motion of the fun. But Huyghens himfelf foon found that the plate could not be made in a cycloidal form, and that the filken threads by which the pendulum was fufpended did not anfwer the: purpofe, but that a pliable fpring could be ufed in their ftead. He then invented, for the purpofe of more perfect regula- tion, that fingular pendulum called pirouetie, which has a, cruciform motion, This, however, was alfo rejected. About the end of the 17th century, Derham and Hook conceived. the idea of making the pendulum fwing in fmall arches, and applying heavy lenticular weights. This method was adopted by Le Bon and De Rivaz at Paris, and by Clement in Lon-. don, who alfo invented the fo called Englifh pallet. The author here gives an account of the difcovery, that the pendulum does not every where vibrate with the fame velo- city, its vibrations being quicker near the pole and flower towards the equator; on which account, clocks that go well in one place alter their rate of going when brought near to me Notices refpecting New Books. . 357 pole or the equator. He alfo mentions the difadvantages at- tending the {topping of the balance-wheel in watches; and relates what Sully, Hook, Hautefeuille, and Du Tertre, in- dividually did to obviate this topping; and alfo the experi- ments of Le Roy, Tompion, Flameville, and Facio, in this refpect, Berthoud taught the method of cutting the teeth in the balance-wheel mathematically. John Prier of Lon- don, and Samuel Anguilins, a Swede, made refearches alfo on the fame fubje&t. The author mentions alfo Schott’s pro- pofal in regard to moderating pendulum clocks, as alfo thofe of Du Tertre and Le Roy. The recoil feapement, invented by Clement in 1680, was changed by Graham for a dead fcapement, according to which the feapement-wheel at each fall of the pallet remains at re(t. Graham alfo made the {capement in watches to reft by means of the cylinder and pallet-wheel; by which the friction was leffened, and the machinery rendered fitter for greater and eafier vibrations. This fcapement, however, requires oil, which is often hurt- ful. In order to leffen friction ftill more with the dead {capement, Berthoud improved an invention of Mudge, which confifts in this, that the balance-wheel is not checked by the balance itfelf, but by a particular catch which the balance lets loofe, by which means the balance continues its ofcilla- tions while the wheel is retained by the catch. The balance makes two vibrations, one forwards and another backwards, fo that the tooth brought to reft is fet free at the fecond vi- bration. This kind of fcapement, which is a ftriking proof of human ingenuity, is called the free. The author here defcribes, in an interefting manner, the different kinds of free {capements invented by Magellans, Platier, Rendal, Ro- bins, Grant, and Breguet. From the end of the 17th cen- tury, celebrated mathematicians employed themfelves in en- deavouring to difcover a general theory for all the parts of watches, of which the author gives a particular account. Another difficulty to be overcome in regard to clocks and watches, was the influence which heat and cold has upon the expanfion and contraction of metals, and which alters the motion of the whole. Graham is confidered as the firft who made experiments with a view of freeing the pendulum from fuch changes. He firft conceived the idea of makin pendulums of ebony, fir-woud, walnut-tree, &c.; but found that the moifture of the air produced other inconveniences. Experiments of the fame kind were afterwards made by Ma- gellan, Fontana, Ludlam, Schréter, Croftwaite, and Kibler, Graham next conftruéted a pendulum of an iron tube, which was filled to a certain height with quickfilver, Troughton, inftead 358 Notices refpecling New Books. inftead of an iron tube filled with quickfilver, employed one of glafs, having at the end a bulb like the tube of a ther- mometer. But ftill happier was Graham’s idea, to conftruc&t a pendulum of feveral rods of different metals, fo combined, that the expanfion of the one fhould be fully compenfated by the contraétion of the other; and this gave rife ‘to the grid- iron pendulum. Before Graham, however, Short, Caffini, and Ellicot had entertained a fimilar idea of a compound pendulum ; and the plan of a gridiron pendulum was firft car- ried into execution by Harrifon in the year 1726. The au- thor here gives a defcription of the pendulums propofed by Graham and Flarrifon; and mentions the experiments of Berthoud, Grenier, and Syffert, for improving them. He fpeaks alfo of Ellicot’s lever pendulum, Grenier’s lever pen- dulum, and the pendulum with the fmall gridiron; as alfo Rivaz’s tubular pendulum; and the fimpleft compenfation pendulum of all, invented by Faggot, a Swede, about the year 1740, and which Schmidt the watchmaker, of Stettin, has lately employed with much ingenuity. The higheft de- gree of perfection, however, to which watch-making has at- tained, is in the conftruétion of the nautical time-keepers, for the invention of which large premiums were offered in England, France, Holland, and Spain. Huyghens and Sulley made attempts for this purpofe, but they were not attended with fuccefs; and the ingenious propofals of Leib- nitz were not found fufficient. Harrifon’s firft time-keeper, which he prefented to the Royal Society in 1736, was regu- lated by balancing rods placed crofswife over each other, with circular fprings at the ends, which retted againtt two plates, which by the dilatation of the circular {prings, in confequence of heat, feparated, and on their contraétion by cold approached each other. The frition alfo was leffened, and the time- keeper was fufpended like the mariner’s compafs. In a voyage of twelve weeks, the error in going amounted only to 36 fe- conds. A fecond one, conftruéted in 1749, which was fmaller and more convenient, furpafied the firft. To a third, conftructed in 1753, he applied a balance with a fpiral {pring, and a compenfation rod of brafs and fteel. In 1761 he confiruéted a fourth, which, on a voyage of experiment that Jafted 81 days, erred only 1 minute 54% feconds. A fifth, finifhed in +764, erred only 54 feconds in fix weeks. Dr. Mafkelyne, however, to whom it was afterwards re- ferred for trial, did not give fo favourable a report of it. Berthoud and Le Rov made attempts alfo to conftrué time-keepers ; but the firft were not fuccefsful. In the year 1741 Le Roy’s time-keeper, which in fix weeks erred only half a degree, was preferred to that of Berthoud, which " the, . ame Notices refpeGiing New Books. 359 fame time erred 34 minutes 36 feconds. The author gives an account alfo of Rivaz’s experiments. The time-keepers of Arnold, Rendal, and Mudge, were found to: he exceed- ingly corre&t. Mudge conttructed only three; the firft of which was tried, in’ the year 1774, by Dr. Mafkelyne, Hornfby, Count Bruhl, Von Zach, and Campbel. The other two were tried by Dr. Mafkelyne in 1777..’ One of them, in the courfe of 93 days, was found to have exceeded the mean time by only 1 minute 1°8 fecond. It fhowed the longitude between London and Oxford within 1-6 fecond. The balance vibrated altogether independent of the wheel- work, and always received from the moving power a new impulfe, which at each vibration was uniform. The balance had two fpiral fprings, which produced avery uniform action. Befides this, the machine was furnifhed with a compenfation balance. In imitation of the nautical time-keepers, pocket chronometers were conftruéted. Thefe ferve for determining the geographical longitude at land. In thefe the free feape- ment of Mudge is employed. Emery, an artift from Neuf- chatel, made the firft, which, after a paflage of four weeks, gave ihe longitude of St. John’s, Newfoundland, correct within fix feconds. Another, conftruéted by Mudge, in a voyage of 14 weeks, erred only 17 feconds. Mudge never made but two pocket chronometers. Arnold made above. 00, of various conftruétions. His chronometers of the beft ind, with gold cafes, coft 120 guineas, with filver cafes, too. In the year.1500 the art of clock- and watch-making in Germany became a particular branch of bufinefs. The author here gives an hiftorical fketch of the origin and. progrefs of watch-making in Swifferland from the year 1679 to the pre« fent time, particularly in Neufchatel and Valengin, whicl will be read with great intereft. In both thefe difirias there are at prefent 3634 clock- and watch-makers. One Abra- ham Robert invented there an inftrament which ferves for adjufting the teeth of the wheels and pinions. The fame artift conceived the idea alfo of a dead feapement. Perrelet invented the inftrament for placing wheels ftraight ; and Re- corder watches, which wind themfelves up. The moft ce- lebrated watch-maker in Chaux de Fond, where there are above 400, is James Droz, who has obtained great cclebrity - by the confiruction of fome very curious automata, XI. Machines moved by clock-work.—Under this head the author deferibes, with great minutenefs, all thofe works moved by clock-work which are not employed for meafuring time, The reader will here fee, with pleafure, how much can be produced by haman ingenuity ; but it 1s not poflible to give Z4 a proper ' é°. . + 360 Royal Society of London. a proper idea of it in an extra&t. We fhall only obferve that. the author here gives an account of planetariums; the moft remarkable town clocks by Hahn, Mollinger, Dienel, and the works of Jacob, the celebrated Huttig, a weaver of Bunzlau, and of Droz; alfo the automata of Vaucanfon, &c. together with waywifers, pedometers, and other objeéts of the like kind. X. Bibliography of clock- and watch-making.—The author under this head mentions not merely the titles of books, but gives an extraét of their contents with critical remarks, LXII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. a He following letter from Baron von Zach to the pre- fident Sir Jofeph Banks, contains fome interefting informa- tion refpecting the planet Ceres Ferdinandea. DEAR SIR, Seeberg Cbfervatory near Gotha, Feb. 20, 1802. I had the honour to fend to you my obfervations of the new planet Ceres Ferdinandea made in January here. I take the liberty of fending the continuation made in February. el Mean Lime in Ap. Right Atcen, App. Dec. Seeberg. oblerved. obferved. 40! 35!’ S, 188° 42/ 13°05!12° go! 5” N. 36 41°4 |188 42 36°30 515 32 45°71 1188 42 30°15 [12 50 25 9115 16 43°77 | 88 38 3:90|13 14 18 14 34 467 '187 58 27°90 |14 20 3 Dr. Gaufs has correéted his elliptical elements of the orbit upon my obfervations; here is what he has found fince my Jaft letter to you. Epoch for the beginning of the year to the meridian of ~ Seeberg - ie 77° 27 36%5!4 apieien } both fidereal ifs nd 3 ce Greateft equation of the centre - 9 2 80 Inclination of the orbit - -. 10 37 56°6 Logarithm of half axis major 0°4424742 Eccentricity of the orbit - o'0814064 — Mean diurnal heliocentric and tropical motion 769°7924 With thefe elements of the orbit, all the obfervations made by Royal Society of London, | 361 by Mr. Piazzi in Palermo, from January 1, till February XI, £801, agree perfectly well, and within a few feconds; and my obfervations are reprefented by them thus: Seeberg obf rv. R.A. galeulated.| Differ. - Declin. calcul. | Differ. —— ee 1801, Dec. “178 33” 2972!!! ean 1802, Jan. 11/186 45 47°6 |— 23 16/187 27 38°8 —14'4 22/188 6 182 |— 7°6 25|188 20 37°2 |— 2°0 [11° 56’ 58°4") 435-4" 26/188 24 37°O |—12°5 281188 31 25°7 |—I2°l 112 9 55°6 |+14'3 29|188 34 14°1 |— 4'0 30|188 36 38°4 |— 5°5 |12 19 19°8 |+19°4r 311188 38 38-3 |— 71 |12 24 15°3 Feb. 3|188 42 7°38 |— 5°2 '12 39 53°6 |—11°4 As thefe .elements agree hitherto fo well with the hea- vens, the following ephemeris, calculated upon them for the next month, will probably do the fame; fo I annex it here to point out to the Englifh obfervers the place where they have to look for the Ceres. . Pofition of the Ceres for Midnight Mean Time in See! erg bfervatory. R A. in Degrees.}i 1802. ><. N.J R. Alin Time. March 1] 186° 41’ 4} 186 1 7} 185 39 15° 30/12" 26’ asi! Th 50/12 24 45 16 10/12 22 36 Io} 185 13) 184 16) 183 19) 183 22! 182 25; 181 a8 181 31) 189 April 3) 180 6| 178 This planet will come in oppofition to the fun, March 19, in the afternoon. At the fame time this heavenly body will be 362 Royal Society of London. be in its greateft proximity to the earth =: 1,6025, and there~ fore the moft favourable time to look for its fatcllites, if there are any, tomeafure its diameter, and to examine its nebulofity. About this time the planet will alfo be in its greateft geocen- trical latitude = 17° 9’, and a little later fhe will have her greateft retrograde motion, about 13/ in right afcenfion per day. The north declination will increafe till the beginning of April, and about t ninth of the fame month the motion in declination vil omen to the fouth. It appeared to me that the Ceres has fome change of light. I imputed it at firft to our hazy atmofphere this wimter; but Mr. Schroeter of Lilienthal, and Mr. Olbers of Bremen, fent me word that ihey have obferved the fame, and they believe that it is the Beret which is fubjeé to fuch changes of light. Mr. Her- el will tell us beft whether it is fo. -I have fome hopes to find the planet in antient catalogues of flars. Mr. Melfier was very near it in the year 1779. The famous comet of that year ran jufl over the northern wing of Virgo, as now, and the new planet was not very far diftant. If the comet had attained two months fooner the completion of Virgo, Mr. Melfier muft infallibly have obferved the Ceres then, becaufe he determined all the little flars in the vicinity of the comet; the planet would have been in the way of the comet, and fo, of courfe, he would have catched the little planet in Seated obfervations are acceptable to you, dear Sir, only a little hint, and I fhall continue, with pleafure, to give you ‘further intelligence. Lam, with the greateft efteem and regard, very refpectfully, moft honoured Sir, , Your obedient humble fervant, Francis Baron DE ZACH, Lieut. Col. and Direétor of Seeberg Obfervatory, near Gotha, Saxony. On the 29th of April and the 6th of May, the reading of Count Bournon’s paper on corandum was eontinued, and on the 13th of May was concluded. It furnifhes a complete and {cientific mineralogical defcription of that fubftance. On the 6th and.13th of May there were read two papers communicated by Dr. Herfchel, giving an account of his obfervations during the late fine weather upon the two new celeftial bodies difcoverec M. Piazzi of Palermo, and Dr. Olbers of Bremen, and by them refpectively called Ceres Fer- dinandea, and Pallas, In our Magazine for March laft, fome account was given of a former paper by Dr. Herfchel, where- in he formed an eflimate of the magnitude of Ceres by com- paring Royal Society of London. 893 paring its apparent dife with that of the Georgian planet. It was then thought very extraordinary that the calculations, founded upon fuch a comparifon, and upon the moft proba- ble diflance of Ceres from the fun, made the real diameter of that newly-difcovered celeftial body certainly lefs than 5-8ths of the diameter of our moon. By Dr. Herfchel’s fubfequent obfervations, however, detailed in the firft of the two paper above mentioned, and which were made in much more favourable weather, the diameter of Ceres was found much fmaller than what he inferred it to be from his former obfervations of the 11th of February. His later obfervations confifted chiefly in his taking repeated meafures by means of his lamp-micrometer; an apparatus long ago contrived by Dr. Herfehel, and publithed in the Philofophical Tranfac- tions, for eftimating the extent of angles much fmaller than a fecond of a degree. By fimilar obfervations he found the apparent diameter of Pallas to be lefs than that of Ceres; and from thofe apparent diameters, and the beft data for the di- fiances from the fun, Dr. Herfchel has computed their real diameters to be about 160 miles for Ceres, and about 80 for Pallas; from which it appears, that out of the quantity of matter which the planet Mercury contains 73,839 fuch bodies as Pallas could be formed. The exiftence of fuch relatively minute bodies in the heavens belonging to the folar fyftem, and moving according to the law of gravitation, is a circum- fiance which appears to us extremely interefting; the know- ledge of which muft ftill further diftinguifh the prefent era of altronomy, which has already been rendered {fo illuftrious by Dr. Herfchel’s own labours in the field of difcovery. “In his paper of the 6th of May he gives an account of feveral obfervations of a fmall coma or hazinefs which fur- rounded both Ceres and Pallas, the appearance and extent of which feemed to vary according to the ftate of the air. An account is alfo given of the method he followed to fatisty him- felf that thefe two ftars have no {atellites belonging to them. In the fame paper Dr. Herfchel points out the advantage of diflinguiflifmg fuch new celeftial bodies from the planets and comets by fome appropriate name which will admit of a full and precife definition. By reafon of their differing fo much from planets and comets as {earcely to be perceivable from minute fixed flars, even by very good telefcopes, Doctor Herfehel has adopted the term aferoids to denote them; but yeferving the liberty of fubftituting afterwards any other ap- pellation which he may think more appofite, and to which the precife and copious definition aid down in his paper may equally apply. He next remarks, that from the nature of ajlervids thes 364 Britifo Mineralogical Society. afferoids the difcovery of fuch bodies in the heavens neceffarily requires a particular method of obferving, which hitherto aftro- nomers have but feldom purfued. On account of their minute- nefs, they fo far lie beyond the power of good telefcopes to di- ftinguifh them, that Dr. Herfchel in his five different reviews of the zodiac detected none of thofe concealed objects; where- as, had they lefs refembled very fmall telefeopic ftars, he muft have infallibly detected them. It is therefore, he fays, only by a diligent and accurate attention to minute ftars, in the view of difcovering amongft them /uch as may be in motion, that afteroids can fuccefsfully be diftinguifhed from the mul- titudinous collection of telefcopical fiars which fo much abound in the heavens. A fearch of this kind, from its na- ture, cannot be carried on except in obfervatories furnifhed with fixed inftruments, which, it is well known, make no | part of Dr. Herfchel’s apparatus. In the conclufion of his paper, honourable notice is taken of the affociation of twenty- four aftronomers in Germany who have portioned out the zodiac into as many parts, in order more effectually to explore it. As this new method of fearching, in the hands of Piazza . and Olbers, fo quickly produced important difcoveries, Doétor Herfchel thinks it highly probable that more celeftial bodies of the clafs of afteroids remain concealed, which may fooner or later be found out in confequence of their obferved motions. On the 2cth, the reading of a paper, by Richard Chene- vix, Eq. on the chemical analyfis of corundum, was begun. The chemical faéts delivered in this paper, with Count Bour- non’s mineralogical account of the fame fubftance, already alluded to, will perfe& our knowledge refpecting corundum. BRITISH MINERALOGICAL SOCIETY. Defcription of the Satin Spar, by A. Aikin. The fatin fpar, characeriftic fpecimens of which have been prefented to the fociety’s cabinet by the late Mr. Mohr, and Mr. Richard Phillips, is a mineral as yetypeculiar to the neighbourhood of Alfton Moor, in Cumb d, where it lies fo near the furface as to be occafionally thrown up by the plough. Its colour is a pure white, fometimes ftained by an ochrey yellow tint of more or lefs intenfity. e It occurs in thin ftrata from one to three- or four inches thick, traverfed by thin irregular feams of pyrites parallel to the direétion of the ftratum. Its luftre is between pearly and fatiny, confiderably cha- toyant. ' Its & Britifb Mineralogical Society. 365 Its perpendicular fra&ture is ftraight or flightly waved.. fibrous, difeovering an obfcure fine ftratification parallel to the direction of the whole ftratum: hence, the varying or chatoyant luftre is obferved only when moving it in the di- rection of the fibres. The crofs or parallel fracture requires .a ftronger blow to effe&t it than the former, and prefents a compact, broad, fplintery furface. When broken, it flies into flattened fibrous fragments. In thin pieces it is femi-tranfparent. Can juft be feratched by the nail: is brittle: non-elaftic: fp. gr. 2°709 to 2°721. It may be polifhed to almoft a mirror- hke furface, and is then exquifitely beautiful. Its proper place in a mineralogical arrangement feems to be between compact ftalactite (dichter kalkfinter), and flaty {par (/chiefer/path). Analyfis of the Satin Spar, by Mr. H. Pepys junior. Preliminary Experiments. A piece of about 400 grains was expofed to a red heat for two hours. It loft near 1-4th of its weight, and was much. altered in its appearance, having loft its fmooth feel. Upon immerfion in water, it imbibed it with a bifling found, be- came hot, fell to powder, and a portion of it was diffolved. The folution was rendered turbid by carbonic acid. The undiffolved portion effervefced flightly with acids, and had obtained an hepatic fmell from fome adhering pyrites. A portion of the crude fpar, carefully freed from all ad- hering pyrites, diflolved completely in nitric acid, with effer- vefcence. This folution was examined with the following re-agents: On adding fulphuric acid to a portion of the folution, the two fluids became nearly folid, and much heat was extri- cated; proving the prefence of lime, ftrontian, or barytes. Strontian water gave a precipitate of a brown colour, which was again foluble in nitric acid. Barytic water gave a precipitate of rather a darker hue than the ftrontian: this was alfo foluble in the nitric acid. _ Tin&ture of galls, pruffiate of potafh, and ammonia, gave Aight traces of the prefence of iron. A folution of fulphate of foda gave the fame granulated precipitate as with a folution of nitrate of lime. 100 grains of the picked fatin fpar were expofed to the aétion of 200 grains of nitric acid of fp. gr. 1°25 in a veffel of a conical form furnifhed with a fmall glafs worm on the top, that, fhould any fluid be carried up by the gafeous pro- duct, it might be depofited in its paflage. This and the veffel were 366 Britifh Mindibepicel Society. were previoufly weighed. A {trong effervefcence enfued upott mixture: the gas produced was heavier than atmofpheric air 5 extinguifhed flame; produced a clouded precipitate in lime, ftrontian, and barytic water. 200 grains of the acid being found not fufficient for the folution of the fubftance, 100 grains more were carefully added: effervefcence again took place, and more of the fame gas was liberated. It was then expofed to a heat of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Upon cooling, it had loft.46 grains. 250 grains of the moft perfe&t part of the fatin fpar were not foluble in 500 grains of nitric acid of the fpecific gravity 4°25: upon the addition of 250 grains more, there was ob- tained a folution nearly colourlefs. It was then diluted with diftilled water, and evaporated to the confiftence of a ftrong” fyrup, without exhibiting any fymptoms of cryftallization, though the evaporation was fufpended, and the folution fet to cool, thrice during the procefs. The concentrated folution’ became flightly yellow. 106 grains in folution in nitric acid, left to fpontaneous evaporation in a warm, dry place, after ftanding two months: exhibited no cryftals. Analyfis. A. For the carbonic acid.—250 grains of picked fpar were . diffolved in 757 grains of nitric acid of the fpecific gravity of 1°25: the gas produced was received over merenry, It changed the colour of tincture of litmus red, and was ab- forbed within one-hundredth of the whole by barytic water, giving a copious precipitate, which was foluble, and effer- vefced upon the addition of diluted acid. 119 grams were given off by this treatment, equal to 47°6 per cent. B. For the calcareous earth—The nitric folution A was diluted with an equal quantity of diitilled water: upon the addition of diluted fulphuric acid it became nearly folid: it was then further diluted and filtered. The precipitate, dried in a heat of 212°, weighed 433 grains. It was then brought to a red heat, after which it weighed 330 grains, C. For the iron.—The folution B was then, treated with cauftic or pure ammonia, which gave a flight red florulent precipitate. This precipitate, being filtered and dried, weighed 3 grains, one to about 0°3 of metallic iron. D. The {olution C was then evaporated, during which, previous to the formation of any cryftals of fulphate of am: - monia, 7 vrains of crytials of felenite were depofted of a filky needle-fornied appearance. E. The felenite B and D, = 337 grains, were dpc y a@® Britifh Mineralogical Society. 367 by a folution of carbonate of potafh. The carbonate of lime thus obtained, being feparated by the filter, and expofed to ignition in a black-lead crucible in a furnace for two hours, gave 125°2 grains of lime. : : ens weer Satin fpar, 100 parts contain, arbonic aci ; . Lime, B D, Mi 48 } Carbonate oflime - 97°680 Iron, C - - - - - O12 Lofs (probably water of cryftallization) - 2°308 i Tt 100°000 - Having repeated the experiments with a very perfeét piece of the fpar, [ was not, ditring the whole procefs, able to de- te&t the {malleft portion of iron. I did not, in this inftance, decompofe the felenite formed, as it rated when ignited at 49°5 per cent. of lime. The minute portion of iron detested in the firft analyfis muft therefore have been produced from fome {mall pyritic grains in the fubftance of the fpar then employed. Its quantity, as may be obferved, was only about a thoufandth of the whole. . Remarks on the Affinities of Lime, Strontian, and Barytes. Previous to the foregoing analyfis it was neceffary to in- ftitute a few experiments on the affinities of the above-men- tioned fubftance: as the refults may perhaps be ufeful to others, they are here fubjoined. A folution of nitrate of lime in diftilled water, is partially, but not immediately, precipitated by a folution of cauftic: ftrontian. On joining the two, the mixture aflumes a fizey appearance. A precipi takes place alfo in a folution of nitrate of _ lime, when a folution of cauftic barytes is added. The pre- cipitate falls down much fooner in this cafe, and in more confiderable quantity, than when the folution of ftrontian is, employed. mn is immediately decompofed Nitrate of barytes in f fulphate of foda, which pro- by pouring into it a foluti duces a copious precipitate. Nitrate of firontian in folution is alfo decompofed by ful- hate of foda whem a folution of the latter is poured into it, bot much flowé n the nitrated barytes. . A folution of nitrate of lime, upon having a folution of fulphate of foda added to it, does not inftantly give a precipt- tate, but in a very fhort time after yields a granulated preci- pitate of a more confiftent form than any of the before men- tioned. The fe 368 Society of Arts, Manufa&ures, and Commerce, ec. The fatin fpar has been ufed in ornamental jewellery, fuck as aer pendents, rings, &c. ; and from its wavy and chatoyant appearance, with the brillant polith of which it is fufcepti- ble, feems well calculated to be employed as a fafhionable appendage to the fair fex. SOCIETY OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE, LONDON. This Society had its annual diftribution of premiums and bounties for improvements in agriculture, chemiftry, the po- jite arts, manufaétures, &c. on the 25th of May, his Grace the Duke of Norfolk in the chair. About forty candidates were honoured with gold or filver medals, the filver pallet, or pecuniary rewards for ufeful improvements, or as badges of meritorious exertions in the different branches of the fine arts. The meeting was numerous and fplendid, many ladies of the firft rank and fafhion being prefent. Qur limits do not allow us to infert at this time a lift of the fuccefsful candidates: we cannot, however, clofe the pre- fent article without mentioning that this fociety, to which the nation owes fo much for bringing forward numerous va- luable difcoveries and improvements, was the firft to award, fome months ago, an honorary and pecuniary recompenfe to Mr. Henry Greathead, of South Shields, for his conftruction of a life-boat, by which the lives of many perfons fhipwrecked have already been preferved. The life-boat is now coming into general ufe; and, from the exertions making by the gentlemen at Lloyd’s, who have devoted 2000]., and other patriotic individuals, who are con- tributing their money and exertions to t ablifhment of them on every part of our coafts, we have the pleafing pro- {pect of many thoufands of valuable lives being preferved to their families and to the community by this inettimable con- . trivance. The reward of the Society to Mr. Greathead was their gold medal! and fifty guineas. IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF THE SEARCHERS INTO NATURE, be year 1803 : ieee 1. Germany produces a confiderable quantity of umbelli- ferous plants endowed with medicinal Mierties, which are as vet unknown, or known but imperfeétly or from conjecture. Only a few of thefe have been admitted into the new difpen- fatories, and into Murray's Apparatus Medicamentorum. The number The following prize queftions have ropofed for the Imperial Academy of the Searchers inio Nature. 369 number of the umbelliferous plants growing wild in Germany may be reckoned to be about 115: of thefe, Ehrhart, in the feventh volume of his Colleétions, names forty-four as offi- cinal, which he has extracted from different difpenfatories : but there are many of them the virtue and efle@ts of which are not fufficiently or accurately determined, which were adopted in the old difpenfatories, but which are no longer confidered as medicinal. Murray, on this account, makes the number of thofe which ought to be reiained twenty- eight; a number fiill leflened in the difpenfatories of other countries, but which comprehends {pecies which, in general, may be accounted medicinal. The academy wifhes, there- fore, to have determined—Whether there are any of the German umbelliferous plants not yet admitted into the Ma- teria Medica which potlefs confiderable yirtue in medicine? What thefe virtues are? In what difeafes, and in what man- ner, thefe plants, or individual parts of them, can be ufed? Thofe who employ themfelves on thefe quefiions mutt fele& at leaft five fpecies befides thofe mentioned by Murray, in order to afcertain, by chemical and medical experiments, the ufes and purpofes to which they can be applied. It will be agreeable to the academy, if thofe authors who have fur- nifhed any hints towards thefe refearches be pointed outs; but the writers muft not content themfelves with mere quota- tions. II. The phenomena which have been obferved in the ef- fe&ts produced by the Voltaic pile afford the moft pleafin prospect of future difcoveries in chemiftry, phyfiology, acl medicine, and even gi ive reafon to expeét fome conclufions in regard to the obfeure fecret of life and organization. Though we are ftill too far from having difcovered the grounds of thefe phenomena to entertain a hope that fuch conclufions can be foon obtained—as an attempt to arrange and to reduce into a {y{tematic form the many and various obfervations which have been made fince the invention of the above apparatus by the induftry and fpirit of refearch, and particularly of the German chemifts, might contribute to bring us nearer to the object in view, the Society propofes as the fabjedt of a prize a treaule on this difcovery, and re- quires: ‘1ft} That the author will colleé& all the obfervations made before the beginning of the ht 1803, and deduce from a? a feries of principles fyfiematically arranged, quoting the names of the obfervers, and alfo the works which con- tain an account of their obfervations. ad, That he will make new experiments in regard to thofe Vou. XU. No. 48. Aa principles 370 Society of the Sciences at Flufbing. principles not fully proved, and, if poffible, form from them fome decifive conclufion. . et ie ad, That in eftablifhing thefe principles he will make decifive experiments in regard to the action of the-Voltaic pile on unorganized bodies, on pure water, alkalies, acids, metals, &c.; then on organized bodies, and particularly on dead bodies (in promoting or preventing putrefaction) ; and on living, in regard to fhocks, pricking fenfation, tafte, luminous appearance, &c. 4th, That the author will attend in particular to the fup- pofed identity of the galvanic power and eleétricity ; and will mention and give an opinion on the explanations of the phz- nomenon offered by others, and particularly on thofe of M. Ritter. It will be agreeable alfo to the academy if the author will make experiments and obfervations of his own to confirm or refute the hypothefis of M. Ritter; and if he will employ Lavoifier’s theory to explain thefe phenomena. - sth, That he will apply the principles and conclufions in the rft, 2d, 3d, and 4th articles, to the practice of phyfic in particular; and endeavour to determine theoretically how far, and in what manner, the ufe of the Voltaic pile in me- dicine may be falutary? That he will colleét, arrange fyf- tematically, try, and give fome opinion of the obfervations already made by Grapengieffer, Hagenbach, Huber, &c. That he will make experiments of his own on the fubje&, and defcribe their confeyuences, both negative and pofitive, with fidelity and without prejudice ; and will always mention the mode of application, for example, the pofition and number of the metallic plates, and whether formed into one or more piles connected together, &c. The papers, written in Latin, German, or French, ac- cording to the ufual regulations, muft be tranfmitted to the prefident of the academy, at Erlangen, before the 1ft of Oc- tober 1803. ( The prize is a gold medal of the value of 25 ducats, and will be adjudged to the fuccefsful candidate on the 5th of January 1804. SOCIETY OF THE SCIENCES AT FLUSHING... ¢ Some years ago, a ftone having been found at Domne, in the ifland of Walcheren, containing an infeription ‘in which mention is made of a certain female divinity named Buronina, the above Society have propofed the: following queftions : ; tet “Si Who was the goddefs Buronina, who feems to have been worlhipped by the antient inhabitants, or by foreigners. tes . refide Aftronomy. 371 refided among them? » Are there any traces of this deity {till remaining? The prize is a filver medal. The’ anfwers, writ- ten in Dutch, Latin, or French, mutt be tranfmitted, pott “paid, to A. Dryfhout,' of Middleburg, before the 1ft of Ja~ nuary 1803. \ LXIII. Intelligence and Mifcellaneous Articles, é; ASTRONOMY. In our lait we mentioned Dr. Olbers’s difcovery of a new celeftial body, and laid before our readers its obferved places on the 28th, 2gth, and 3oth of March, and on the 1ft of April. In the fciences, when a way is once opened to great and important difcoveries, it fometimes happens that they foon follow each other in fucceffion. It is now only about twenty years fince the celebrated Dr. Herfchel made a difcovery of which we have no previous inftance in hiftory, viz. of a new primary planet. On the 1ft of January 1801 another was dif- covered by Piazzi; anda year after, a third new one has excited the curiofity of the public. On the 28th of March an account _ was publifhedin the Reich/azeiger, No. 98, that Dr. Olbers, of Bremen, equally celebrated as a phyfician and an aftro- nomer, had been fo fortunate as to obferve a moving ftar in the north wing of Virgo, perfectly fimilar in its form and light to the Ceres Ferdinandea; {carcely diftinguifhable from a fixed ftar of the feventh magnitude; without any nebu- lofity, and retrograde like Ceres, but increafing much more in its northern declination. After obferving this ftar for three days, and afcertaining that it had a motion peculiar to itielf, he fent notice of his difeovery to Baron von Zach, of Gotha. The latter immediately found this fmall ftar, ob- feryed it on the 4th and 5th of April at the obfervatory of Seeberg, and found Dr, Olbers’s obfervations confirmed in the, fullef, manner. ‘This ftar, to which he was inclined to give the name of Padlas in order to diftinguith it from Ceres, appeared to him to be fomewhat lefs bright than the latter, Mr. Schroter, of Lilienthal, who, in contedtienee of the in- formation communicated to him by Dr. Olbers, obferved this ftar with his 13 feet tclefcope, confiders it to be fome- what larger and better defined than Ceres: its diameter he eftimates at 4! feconds, whereas that of Ceres is only 4. Lut the obfervations made by Dr. Olbers and Baron von Aaa Zach 37% Afironomy.. Zach are ftill too few in number to admit of any decifive opinion being formed refpecting the nature of this interefting body. If it be confidered as a comet, its regular motion and whole appearance oppofe any idea of this kind; but there i¢ every probability in favour of its being a planet, though its orbit muft have an uncommonly great inclination to that of our earth. Dr. Olbers ventures to confider it as a new pri- mary planet of our fyftem, moving between Mars and Ceres in an orbit very much inclined to the fun. Its period of re- volution he makes three years, its mean diftance from the fun 2,.th of the diftance of our earth from the fun, and the place of the afcending node 5° 20°. Mr. Walker, lecturer on aftronomy, has obferved this body, and deferibes it as being of a pale red colour, very faint, and lefs brilliant than the Ceres, vifible with a defin- able dife with a magnifying power of 100 times. As the diftance of this fmall body from the earth is in- ereafing, and its light decreafing, aftronomers muft hafien to make good obfervations if they are defirous of determining its orbit in an accurate manner: it will otherwife be difficult to find it again. . The following notice from the aftronomer Burckhardt contains fome further ufeful information on this interefting difcovery : ‘¢ The ftar difcovered by Dr. Olbers on the 28th of March has fo great a refemblance to a planet, that it was natural to fuppofe its orbit to be fomewhat eccentric. I have placed it fucceflively between the earth and Mars, between Mars and Piazzi’s planet, and between the Jatter and Jupiter. I have employed the eccentricities of one and of two tenths (thofe of Mars and Mercury), but neither of thefe fuppofitions has fueceeded. It is eafy to make a very fmall eccentricity an- fwer to the longitudes, but the latitudes do not indeed begin to approach each other but by fuppofing it to be very great, (four fixteenths). ** Thefe refearches feem to me to prove that we muft fup- pofe a very eccentric orbit; and I have begun to calculate a parabolic orbit as for a comet, and the elements I have found are as follows : 4 Inclination of the orbit - - LF a ie

2947 356 Water. To preferve {weet during INDEX. long voyages, 12: Impurities of, to correct, for the purpofes of dyeing, 171, 261 Wild goat of the Alps dcicribed, 153 Wild fuine. Singular method of _ hunting, in Sumatra, 39 Wollaflon’s galvanic experiments. Remarks on, 89 Yarn. To dye, 265 Yellow colours. On dyeing, 1715 264 Zafer.. A new combination dif- covered in, n4 Zoonic acid only a compound of acetic acid and animal matter, 192 END OF THE TWELFTH VOLUME, YT 2 eee cee lala els x The Binder is defired to place Dr. Purrsney’s Head at the Beginning of the Volume, and the other Plates at the End. cs “VS 2 are a ee Printed by Taxror and Wires, Chancery Lane, Proilo.Mag.Pl.Il. Vol XT. Lowry weulp. ye 2 tee en ~— Philo.Mag Pl Hl. Vol.ATT. Low ry s ulp $ 9 Signal -box Private ~ a Ea fa Ea fa Philo .Mag.Pl IV. Vol AN. bnos ALMOT dimes rae OY) SW SS NS SON WAN RASS ie VLA », Set, aN y : \ yn \yt Te Cope: ony “7°A (Add “WX 1°4 Lawry sculp. The Ibex, or Alpine Wild Goat. ; S : : cy S