Pisetays

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No. 219.

Soir 1816.

AES
| Month.

‘

* Pablised 0 whe Tos in Ly in ae
eG Ce PRICE 2s, + 6a)

q ‘

THE
’ PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE
Se AND JOURNAL:

‘COMPREHENDING,
THR VARIOUS BRANCHES oF SCIENCE,
x | *) THE LIBERAL AND FINE ARTS, =
ewes GEOLOGY, oo
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»

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= Fe . rs 4: * y ‘ rhs ae

Fe _ NUMBER CCRIX.

rar sis.

4 ed Tayi te iat r ee)
ey pie See Por J ULY 18:6. pean Ses
ys CONTAINING THE FOLLOWING ENGRAVING: _
Ge bees. XK Quarto Plate ‘of the Strand or Waterlod Bridge exected over
bee? er

_the iif ames at the naYOYs London. ;

ey BY: y ALEXANDER TILLOcH, &

Sota MRA. FS,A. EDIN, AND PERTH, ETc. CARR Ke

ee ard ene Saar asec

"LOND on:

Aaah by. PR and. aviest Can! PONG Res,
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anc Gipert and lie ea me

Ki TO ELECTRICIANS, fer Bae ee

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- VERY Elegant ELECTRICAL MACHINE, the largest in 7 Bogs, a
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A NEW and CORRECT MAP he UNITED STATES of 4
NORTH AMERICA, on six Bice, exhibiting the Counties, |
Towns, Roads, &c. in each State, pretaly compilid from surveys and
the most authentic Documents. : agi

By SAMUEL LEWIS. Re ae 3
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x

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scopic Camera Obscura and Microscope.—Count Rumrorp’s improved
Coffee-pots.—Mr. Goss’s Instrument ‘to. work Addition of Numbers
with Accuracy and Dispatch,—Mr, Davis’s hanging Scaffold; and f
Mr. Martin’s Method of relieving a Horse from a Cart when "fallen
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count of the Situation and Means of raising the Royal George-—A Plate}
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of Beams, Blocks, &c. and on the Polygon of Forces.—A Pilate to illustrate
“Mr. Srezvens’s Acconat of 2 Meteor seen at London and other Places in
March last.—A Plateto illustrate Mr. Macnevy’s Annular Saw. -

Vol. XLIL. A Plate containing Professor Lesvir’s Atmoneter ‘ahd
Figures to illustrate Dr. Wottaston’s Paper on the elementary Particles
of certain Crystals——A Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java which
contains the natural Lake of Sulphuric Acid.—Interior of Volcano in the
Island of Java, and Figures to illustrate Mr. WaxkeEr’s Paper on the Elec.

ric Fluid—A Plate to illustrate M, Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy o} off 5
lants, and Dr. Wottasron’s Cryophorus.—A third Plate to. illustrate
M. Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of Plants—Mr. T.J ONES’S |
graph,—a new Instrument for dividing right Lines into dual. Baste, nae rs
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NUMBER’ CCK:

Sar ‘SEPTEMBER 1816.

- ConT AINING’ THE ZOLLOWING dweRavinet
, UA large Quarto, Plate to iustrate Mrs, Asaaeney ’s Paper
Beh ne on the Ph ystology of Vegetables..

28% ae

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MRL A. r SA. EDIN. AND PERrH, BIC, '

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: go) ae ak This Day is published, te Ps on <h
| SCVNPERIMENTS ON THE RESISTANCE WHICH BODIES |/
experience when propelled in a straight Line through. Water, made :

Hon By. ¥, Hi. DE CHAPMAN i" Nee eh eee
Admiral and Superintendant of the Royal Dock Yards of Sweden, &c. &c,
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Translated and printed for Captain Lewis Granholm, R.S.N. Re

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Vol. XL. A Plate to illustrate the Foundation of Mr, Witi1aAM Jongs’s
‘temporary Corn Rick.—Mr. Steruens’s Method of dividing Bricks.
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toillustrate Mr. Souruern’s Essay on the Equilibrium of a Combination -
_of Beams, Blocks, &c. and on the Polygon of Forces.—A Plate to illustrate |
Mr. Stesvens’s Account of a Meteor seen at London and other Places in.» |
~ March last.—A Plate to illustrate Mr. Macuevy’s ‘Annular Saw.

Vol. XLIL.. A Plate containing Profetsor Lesziz’s Atmometer, and |
Figures to illustrate Dr. Wottaston’s Paper on the elementary Particles
of certain Crystals—A Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java which — f
_ contains the natural Lake of Sulphuric Acid.—Interior of Volcano in the }
Island of Java, and Figures to illustrate Mr. Watxer’s Paper on the Elec- |
tric Fluid. —A Plate to illustrate M. Lrxx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of |
~ Plants, and Dr. Wotrasron’s. Cryophorus.—A third Plate to illustrate _
*M. Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of Plants.—Mr. T. Jonrs’s Secto- {|
raph,—a new Instrument for dividing right Lines into equal Parts; measure |
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- ing Angles, and inscribing Polygons in the Circle, &e.

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CONTAINING THE FOLLOWING ENGRAVING: Rae!

. ‘A Jar e Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs, Insersoy’s Paper
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‘ 1 iy

BY ALEXANDE ER TILLOCH,

MRA. F.S.A. EDIN. AND PERTH, Bi

Lean Lonpow elas

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Vol. XL. A Plate to illustrate the Foundation of Mr. Witt1am Jonzs’s
temporary Corn Rick.—Mr.. Sreraens’s Method of dividing Bricks— =
Section of Mr. Wittiam Jones's temporary Corn Rick.—Mr. WaIsTELL’s)
‘Improvement on fhe Acorn Dibble.— A Plate to illustrate Mr. Tawnfy’s: ~~
New Thrashing Machine. —Two Octavo Plates descriptive ‘of a New Ma-.
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: i . : , Vinge Stes fA PbS, aoe

* Vol. XLII. Perys’s Merewial Voltaic Conductor.—Lesiiz’s Dif-

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» Cotfee-pots.—Mr. Goss’s Instrument to work Addition of Numbers -
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count of the Situation and Means of raisins t+ Royal George A Plate’ ~,

‘to illustrate Mr, Souruern?s Essay on the Equilibrium of a Combination
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| Mr, Stervens’s Accotat of a Meteor seen at London and cther Plates in Ft
March last.—A Plate to illustrate Mr. Macneru’s Annular Saw.) +
Vol. XL. A Plate: containing Professor Lisure’s Atmometer, and +
Figures ‘to illustrate Dr, WoLcas'ton’s Paper on the elementary Particles’

-of certain-Crystals—A Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java which —

sontains the natural Lake of Sulphuric Acid.—Interior of Voleano in the
Foland of Java, and Figures to illustrate Mr. Warxker’s Paper on the Elecs”
tric Fluid.—A Plate to illustrate M. Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of
Plants, and Dr. Woitaston’s Cryophorus.—A third Plate to illustrate |
M,-Link’s Memoir on the Anatomy of Plants.—Mr. T. Jowes’s Secto-
graph,-—a new Instrument for dividing’right Lines int6 equal Parts, measut

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XK

NUMBER COXXIM. mae

BY. ALEXANDER TILLOCH,

MR. P.3.4. EDIN. AND. b PERM, ZTE,

ie LONDON: AK,
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NUMBER COXXIV.
“Bor DECEMBER 1816,

CONTAINING TEE FOLLOWING ENGRAVING:

A Quarto “Plated to illustrate Mrs: Peaeennt s- Paper, on the
’ Physiology of Vegetzdles zr and. Mr,° Moknay’s. Mass of
; ‘Native Iroa found in Br asil. AMT MO cee POSTE RR

ee ee om

ar BY ALEXANDER TILLOCH,

_M. BLA. F.S.A. etree AND PERTH, RIG.

LONDON:
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scopic ‘Camera Obscura and’ Micr ascope. —Count RumForn’s improved.

Coifee-pets. —Mr. Goss’s Instrument to work: Addition of Numbers -
with : Accuracy and Dispatchg—Mr. Davis’s hanging Scaffold; and." —

Mr. Marvix’s Method of SoGeuie se Heorsé from ‘a Cart when “fallen
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count of the Situation and Means of raising the Royal George-—A_ Plate
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| Price $1, 185,.6d.in Boards, © ©

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Mr, Stxevens’s Accovat of a Meteor seen at. London and other Places i in #

March last-—A Plate to illustrate Mr’ Macheny’ s Annular Saw.

Vol. XLU. A Plate containing. Profassot Lysuie’s Atmometer, cy

Figures to illustrate Dr. ‘Wotvaston’s Paper on the elementary, Particles ‘§
of certain Crystals —A. Sketch of that Part of the Island of Java.which

* contains the natural Lake of Sulphuric Acid.—nterior of Volcano in the — %
Island of Java, and Figures to illustrate Mr, WaLKer’s Paper onthe Blec-- -

tric Fluid: —A Plaic to illustrate M, Linx’s Memoir on the Anatomy of

Plants, and Dr. Woxrtasron’s Cryophorus.—A third Plate ‘to illustrate Pi

M. Livi’s Memoir, on the Anatomy of Plants—Mr, T. Jomne’s Secto-
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iss Aogle and ial ets malrerne in Ae Circle, aan es yee |

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BY ALEXANDER TILLOCH,
M.LR.LA. F.S.A. Eoin, anp Pertu, &c.

«¢ Nec aranearum sane textus ideo melior quia ex se fila gignunt, nec noster
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etisa,
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we OL. XLVIII.
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and DECEMBER, 1816.

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' its, ' )
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Ta Ae ee ealioas, ie ei aig, GY AYE oe
. Fats 5

CONTENTS

OF THE FORTY-EIGHTH VOLUME.

SOME brief Particulars respecting the Strand or Waterboo
Bridge, erected over the Thames, at the Savoy, London. 3

The original Inhalitants of America shown to be of the same
Family and Lineage with those He Asia; by ty a Process of
Reasoning not hitherio advanced. ve

Notes of a meteorological Tour. as os ae :

Some Observations and Experiments made on the Torpedo of
the Cape of Good Hope in the Year 1812... he
On the Cosmogony of Moses. .. 18, 111, 201, 276, 3

On the Diving- Bell, as a Means for curing Dea eas a

Further Experiments on the Combustion of explosive Mixtures
confined by Wire-gauze; with some Observations on Flame. 24

Account of a Calculus voided by a Female. «'. as OS
On Meteoric Stones. “P af a ee) 28
On the Accumulation of Heat by Friction. my sre ae
On the Ventilation of Mines. °.. - yy ae), ee
On Errors in the Nautical Almanac, Se. ai es Vie

Experiments with Sir H.Davy’s Safe-Lamp. . 36
Account of the Method of ere or seen Beef a at Sais
burgh. -. 3

Thirteenth Report of ie ere se for ee and main-
taining the Caledonian Canal. Dated May 17, 1816. 39
A few additional practical Observations on the Wire-Gauze
Safety-Lamps for Miners, €8c. ak a dey ad
Extract of a Letter from Dr. O.zers, F.R.S. of Bremen, re-
specting a New Comet ; with an Account of a Work of Pro-
Jessor BESSEL. .. oe oe Pie pina po

On Sir H. Davy’s a a ‘ie ae sol

A. Letter to the Dublin Society, relutive to Experiments on
Wheel-carriages. oe ee ee oe o*

Vol, 48, No, 224, Dec. 1816, a

CONTENTS.

Report of the Committee of Natural Philosophy, appointed by
the Dublin Soviety, on the Experiments mor Wheel-car-
riages. . : vis yan en

On the Anatomy of Vaastatles ie ne coe |S
On Optic ass with a few Remarks on the Cosmagony of
Moses. : ve °

Description utube Weiner ip tiel Cabinets a Public ibe ies
of Copenhagen, and ia the Gr ene ZA Christiania in

Norway. sa Pe
Account of some arte Electrical Eperiments ly M. DE
Neus, of Mechlin. .. ; ai hed
Instructions issued by the Trengh ietislabus we obtaining G
Patent (Brevet d’Invention) in France... ee nh 8O
On Fiorin Grass. ¥e os ee ao ted
Experiments relating to the Impurities of paikake as it is.
commonly obtained. ae ‘ 138

Letter to the Right Hon. the Countess of Gash: on the Spe-
culations of Theorists, particularly of the Neptunians. 361

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates; in Reply to Mr. Dx Luc’s
Objections to the Doctrines maintained by the Author. 165,255

Onthe Physiology of Vegetables. +s iy) epee
On Sir H.“Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines. ae er 189

On certain Experiments with Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp, re-
ported to have been made at the Gas Establishment in Dor-

set-street. os ° os bs: oe BOG
Suggestions Pe gee pet of Wi ire-Gauxe Dn in
their working State, in Mines. <a bas iy A ee
On Magnesio- Sulphate of Soda, a ie asa 20g
On Vulgar Fractions. ., ive o's hy ee

~ Observations on the Hypothesis ot some pS n Writers, that:

~ Ameri¢a has been peopled by a distinct Race of Men and Ani-
mals; with some Proofs arising from the Natural History and
Appear ances of the new Continent in favour of the Mosaic
Account of the Deluge. ze ee og Sc) ae

On a new Species of Caloulus. ¥ ae og) eee

Extract from a Memoir read to the Institute on the \3th of
“May 1816, on the Possibility of making the Mollusce of
fresh Water live in Salt Water, and vice verst. .. 223

On the Precipitation of the Oxide of Gold by Potash. 227°
New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy, «+ +, 241,342

‘

ee ere

CONTENTS.

Letter to the Right Honourable the Countess of Gosford, on
the Similitude, and” Difference, in the original Formation
of the Island of St. Helena, and the Basaltic Districts in the
County of Antrim; with the Similitudes and Differences of the
posterior Operations of Nature performed upon each. 246

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates ae Ne 255

Essay on Agriculture, as a aie subdivided into separate.
Departments. as ae ee RR! T-

Extract from a Memoir on ie Combinations of Phosphorus
with Oxygen. te ie ie s wa Aad EL

A new View of Vegetable Life. Pa
On Sir Humphry Davy’s Safe-lamp, al on Plame, 286

Abstract of a Memoir by M. Leopotp DE Bucu on the Limits
of the perpetual Snows in the North. i es, 209

On Cast Iron and Steel ; with Experiments to ascertain whether
_ Manganese may be alloyed with Iron. ot Pcie Fat nh

On Planetary Influences on the Atmosphere. .. sa i ae

Some Observations on the Salt Mines of Cardona, made during
a Tour in Spain, in the Summer of 1814. .. peu wees
Observations on some Combinations of Azote with Oxygen. 331
Experiments and Observations to prove that the beneficial
Effects of many Medicines are produced through the Medium

of the circulating Blood, more particularly that of the Col-
chicum autumnale upon the Gout.” . : : et oes

An Appendix to a Paper on the E ects of the Colchicum au-
tumnale on Gout. : 340

On the Action of detached Leaves of ante
Controversy respecting oe y- -lamps.

ee ». 340
ee ai 348

On Vision. ae : aS
On the Possibility of ation ying ae ‘peal Mangunesa 354
On SRO RR REE RE Seger ec
On the Circle. .. a ep ae daly Sue oe
On the Origin of the Atomic ree Ben wits’ -» 363,408
Observations of the late Solar Eclipse. .. 3871, 440, 442

Inquiries into the Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Liquids, and
elastic Fluids, and on the exact Measurement of Tempera-

lures... oe os ae .. 373, 442
On the Physiology of Fidetabia ve : -- 401
An Account of the Discovery of a Mass of Native Iron inBrasil.

417

CONTENTS.

Observations and Experiments on the Mass of Native Iron
found in Brasil. ae : by -. 424
Remarks and Suggestions, for further oe and applying
to Use, the Government Rem Survey of Great

Britain. is Mi ya ais Lia Clipe
Some Particulars connected weak the late Earthquake in Scot-
land. .. sie at in - Adtk

Remarks on the Aisle - ' Sivenath of Materials,” published in
Dr. Rees’s New Cyclopedia, vol. xxxvi. parti. .. 433

On the Ventilation of Coal Mines... ay: .» 437
New Theorems applicable to the Value of Annuities. .. 449

On Safety-lamps, and the Barrier oe ly Wire-gauxe
against the Passage of Flame, 4 hh wintaea, oe

Notices respecting New Books. 62, 140, 229, 300, 381, 455
Proceedings of Learned Societies. ais 70, 141, 388, 457
Inielligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 72, 144, 230, 313, 384,

460
Ligt.of Patents. \ 0. \ we 4 EO 03) W715 286; BAB, GOS
Meteorological Table. .. «.. 80, 160, 240, 320, 400, 473

THE

THE

PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE
AND JOURNAL.

I. Some brief Particulars respecting the Strand or Waterloo
Bridge, erected over the Thames, at the Savoy, London.

Wir our present number we have given an engraving, by
Porter, of this elegant and highly useful embellishment of the
metropolis*. The foundation stone was laid on the 8th of Octo-
ber 1811, and the ninth and last arch was finished on the 28th
of November 1815, having thus occupied very little more than
four years, a space during which no work of such magnitude was
ever known to have been executed in ancient or modern times.
Indeed many smaller works of the kind have been several years
more in building.

The superstructure only remains to be executed; and when
the avenues on the north side from the Strand through the
Savoy, and on the south or Surrey side to the Obelisk in St.
George’s fields, are made, the bridge will be opened for car-
riages and foot passengers promiscuously. This part of the
work, however, will require great skill, and cannot be executed
without a most serious expense: it will require much ingenuity,
for instance, to make the road on the Surrey side of the river, as
it is intended, for the sake of easy ascent, that the road shall
pass over a series of arches almost as far as the Obelisk ; while
on both sides of the river the compensations demanded of the
Strand Bridge Company for the buildings necessary to be pulled
down are enormous beyond all precedent. Eight hundred thou-
sand pounds have been already expended, and the least cost of the
completion of the design will be two hundred thousand pounds
more, which we trust there will be no difficulty in raising.

The whole structure is of beautiful Cornish granite, and the
arch stones are mostly from 5 to7 tonsin weight. Blackfriars-
bridge, as our readers already know, is of Portland stone; and it

* To avoid too smail a scale, only one half of the structure oceupies the
plate: the other half being precisely the same.

Vol. 48, No. 219, Judy 1816. A2 is

4 Identity of Race im the American and Asiatic Man.

is highly to the credit of the Strand or Waterloo Bridge Com-
pany that they have adopted the former more durable material ;
for, had mere profit been their object, the Portland stone would
certainly have been preferred for its cheapness.

We need scarcely add that this magnificent structure is a
theme of admiration for beauty of form and exquisite masonry to
all persons of taste or skill in architecture. The celebrated Ca-
nova in particular, when lately in London, pronounced it to be
the grandest work of the kind in the world.

Il. The original Inhalitants of America shown to be of the same
Family and Lineage with those of Asia; by a Process of
reasoning nol hitherto advanced. Ey Samurn L. Mircui.1,
M.D., Professor of Natural History in the University of
New-York; in a Communication to De Wirr Ciinton, Esq.
President of the New-York Philosophical Society, dated Neu-
York, March 31, 1816*. ;

ba ie view which I teok of the varieties of the human race, in
my course of Natural History, delivered in the University of New-
York, differs in so many particulars from that entertained by the
great zoologist of the age, that I give you for information, and
without delay, a summary of my yesterday’s lecture to my class.

I denied, in the beginning, the assertion that the American
aborigines were of a peculiar constitution, of a race swt generis,
and of a copper colour. All these notions were treated as fanci-
ful and visionary.

The indigenes of the two Americas appear to me to be of the
same stock and genealogy with the inhabitants of northern and
southern Asia. ‘The northern tribes were probably more hardy,
ferocious and warlike, than those cf the south. ©The tribes of
the lower latitudes seem to have been greater proficients in the
arts, particularly of making clothes, clearing the ground, and
erecting works of defence.

The parallel between the people of America and Asia affords
this important conclusion, that on both continents the hordes
dwelling in the higher latitudes have overpowered the more ci-
vilized, though feebier inhabitants of the countries situated to-
wards the equator. As the Tartars have overrun China, so the
Aztecas subdued Mexico. As the Huns and Alans desolated
Italy, so the Chipewas and Iroquois prostrated the populous set-
tlements on both banks of the Ohio.

The surviving race in these terrible conflicts between the dif-
ferent nations of the ancient native residents of North America,

* Cotamunicated by the Author. :
is

Identity of Race in the American and Asiatic Man, 5

is evidently that of the Tartars. This opinion is founded upon
four considerations,

1. The similarity of physiognomy and features. His excel-
ency M. Genet, late minister- plenipotentiary from France to the
United States, is weil acquainted with the faces, hues and figures
of our Indians and of the Asiatte Tartars ; and is perfectly satis-
fied of their mutual resemblance, Mons. Cazeaux, consul of
France to New-York, has drawn the same conclusion from a
careful examination of the native man of North America and
Northern Asia.

Mr. Smibert, who had been employed, as Josiah Meigs, esq.
now commissioner of the land office of the United States relates,
in executing paintings of Tartar visages, for the grand duke of
Tuscany, was so struck with the similarity of their features to
those of the Naraganset Indians, that he pronounces them mem-
bers of the same great family of mankind. The anecdote i pre-
served, with all its cireumstances, in the fourteenth volume of
the Medical Repository.

Within a few months I examined over and again seven or
eight Chinese sailors, who had assisted in navigating a ship from
Macao to New-York. The thinness of their beards, the bay
complexion, the black lank hair, the aspect of the eyes, the con-
tour of the face, and in short the general external character,
induced every person who observed them, to remark how nearly’
they resembled the Mohegans and Oneidas of New-York. é

Sidi Mellimelli, the Tunisian envoy to the United States in
1804, entertained the same opinion, on beholding the Cherokees,
Osages, and Miamies, assembled at the city ef Washington du-
ving his residence there. Their Tartar physiegnomy struck him
hl @ moment.

2. The affinity of their languages. The late learned and en-
terprising Professor Barton took the lead in this curious inquiry.
He collected as many words as he could from the. languages
spoken in Asia and America; and he concluded, from the nu-
merous coincidences of sound and signification, that there must
have been a common origin.

3. The existence of corresponding customs. I mean at pre-
sent to state that of shaving away the hair of the scalp, from the
fore part and sides of the head, so that nothing is left but a tuft
or lock on the crown,

The custom of smoking the pipe, on solemn occasions, to the
four cardinal points of the coripass, to the heavens and to the
earth, is reported, upon the most credible authority, to distinguish
equally the hordes of the Asiatic ‘Tartars and the bands of the
American Siaux,

A 3 4, The

6 Identity of Race in the American and Asiatic Man.

4. The kindred nature of the Indian dogs of America and the
Siberian dogs of Asia.

The animal that lives with the natives of the two continents,
as a dog, is very different from the tame and familiar creature of
the same name in Europe. He is either a different species, or
a wide variety of the same species. But the identity of the
American and Asiatic curs is evinced by several considerations.
Both are mostly white. They have shaggy coats, sharp noses
and erect ears. They are voracious, thievish, and to a consi-
derable degree indomitable. They steal whenever they can, and
sometimes turn against their masters. They are prone to snarl
and grin, and they have a howl instead of barking. They are
employed in both hemispheres for labour: such as carrying bur-
thens, drawing sleds over the snow, and the like: being yoked
and harnessed for the purpose, like horses.

This coincidence of our Indian dog with the Canis Sibericus
is a very important fact. The dog, the companion, the friend or
the slave of man in all his fortunes and migrations, thus reflects
great light upon the history of nations and of their genealogy.

II, The exterminated race in the savage encounters between
the nations of North America in ancient days appears clearly to
have been that of the Malays.

The bodies and shrouds and clothing of these individuals have
within a few years been discovered in the caverns of saltpetre and
copperas within the states of Kentucky and Tennesee : their entire
and exsiceated condition has led intelligent gentlemen who have
seen them to call them mummics. They are some of the most
memorable of the antiquities that North America contains, The
race or nation to which they belonged is extinct; but in pre-
ceding ages occupied the region situated hetween lakes Ontario
and Erie on the north and the gulf of Mexico on the South, and
bounded eastwardly by the Alleghany mountains, and westwardly
by the Mississippi river.

That they were similar in their origin and character to the
present inhabitants~of the Pacific Islands and of Austral Asia,
is argued from various circumstances,

1, The sameness of texture in the plain cloth or matting that
enwraps the mummies, and that which our navigators bring from
Wakash, the Sandwich Islands, and the Fegees.

2. The close resemblance there is between the feathery man-
tles brought nowadays from the. islands of the South Sea, and
those wrappers which surround the mummies lately disinterred
in the western states. The plumes of birds are twisted or tied
to the threads, with peculiar skill, and turn water like the back
of a duck,

3. Meshes

Identity of Race in the American and Asiatic Man. 7

3. Meshes of nets regularly knotted and tied, and formed of
@ strong and even twine.

4. Mockasons or coverings for the feet, manufactured with
remarkable ability, from the bark or rind of plants, worked into
a sort of stout matting.

5. Pieces of antique sculpture, especially of human heads and
of some other forms, found where the exterminated tribes had
dwelt, resembling the carving at Otaheite, New Zealand, and
other places.

6. Works of defence, or fortifications, aveispacldine the fer-
tile tract of country formerly possessed by these people, who
may be supposed capable of constructing works of much greater
simplicity than the morais or burial-places, and the hippas or
fighting-stages of the Society Islands.

7. As far as observations have gone, a belief that the shape ”
the skull and the angle of the face in the mummies correspond
with those of the living Malays.

I reject therefore the dectrine taught by the European na-
turalists, that the man of Western America differs in any ma-
terial point from the man of Eastern Asia. Had the Robertsons,
the Buffons, the Raynals, the De Pauws, and the other specula-
tors upon the American character and the vilifiers of the Ameri-
can name, procured the requisite information concerning the
hemisphere situated to the west of us, they would have disco-
vered that the inhabitants of vast regions of Asia, to the number
of many millions, were of the same blocd and lineage with the
undervalued and despised population of America. ‘The learned
Dr. Williamson has discussed this point with great ability.

I forbore to go further than to ascertain by the correspon-
dences already stated, the identity of origin and derivation to the
American and Asiatic natives. I avoided the opportunity which
this grand conclusion afforded me, of stating that America was
the cradle of the human race; of tracing its colonies westward
over the Pacific Ocean, and beyond the sea of Kamschatka, to
new settlements ; of following the emigrants by land and by wa-
ter, until they reached Europe and Africa; and lastly, of fol-
lowing adventurers from the former of these sections of the globe
to the plantations and abodes which they found and occupied in
America. 1 had no inclination to oppose the current opinions
relative to the place of man’s creation and dispersion, I thought
it was scarcely worth the while to inform an European, that on
coming to America, he had left the mew world behind him for
the purpose of visiting the OLp. It ought, nevertheless, to be
remarked, that there are many important advantages derived to
our reasoning from the present manner of considering the sub-
ject. The principles being now established, they will be sup-

A4. ported

gx: Notes of a meteorological Tour.

ported by a further induction of facts and occurrences, to an ex-
tent and an amount that it is impossible, at this moment, fairly:
to estimate. And the conclusions of Jeiferson, Lafon, and others
favourable to the greater antiquity of American population, will
be daily reinforced and confirmed. :

Having thus given the history of these races of man, spreading
so extensively over the globe, I considered the human family un-
der three divisions :

First, the Tawny man, comprehending the Tartars, Malays,
Chinese, the American Indians of every tribe, Lascars, and other
people of the same cast and breed. From these seemed to have
proceeded two remarkable varieties ; to wit,

Secondly, the White man, inhabiting naturally the countries
in Asia and Europe situated north of the Mediterranean Sea ;
and, in the course of his adventures, settling all over the world.
Among these I reckon the Greenlanders and Esquimaux,

Thirdly, the Black man, whose proper residence is in the re~
gions south of the Mediterranean, particularly toward the interior
of Africa. The people of Papua and Van Diemen’s Land seem
to be of this class.

It is generally supposed, and by many able and ingenious men
too, that external physical causes, and the combination of cir-
cumstances which they call climate, have wrought all these
changes in the human form. [ donot, however, think them ca-
pable of explaining the differences which exist among the nations.
There is an internal physical cause of the greatest moment, which
has searcely been mentioned. This is the generative influence.
If by the act of modelling the constitution in the embryo and
foetus, a predisposition to gout, madness, scrofula, and consump-
tion, may be engendered, we may rationally conclude, with the
sagacious D’Azara, that the procreative power may also shape
the features, tinge the skin, and give other peculiaritics to maui.

Yours truly,
SAMUEL L. Mircuirt.

*
Il. Notes of a meteorological Tour ; by Tuomas Forster,

E.L.S., in company with the Hon, J. 3, Percivan and Mr,
ParKeER, in 1816.

April 26, 1816.—P ive spring morning, but no leaves out
yet. Features of sondercloud and stackencloud. We left Edin-
burgh in the evening, and proceeded to
_ Lyyirrucow. Fine still evening. The jackdaws flying round
in large flocks, and very clamorous about the ruins of the old

abbey,

————————

Notes of a meteorological Tour. — 9

abbey. The lower atmosphere was damp and hazy. Swallow
(Hirundo rustica) first seen, and the bat seen.

April 27.—We left Linlithgow at 5 A.M. Fair morning and .
warm, with curleloud, and some stackenelouds, &c. I had oc-
casion to notice a large number of swallows from the tower of
Doon Castle. We arrived to dinner at Callender in the High-
lands. I noticed in the evening, after a fair day, that the cumudz
which had previously only lodged on the mountain tops, de-
scended lower and lower, till I saw them dissolve into fallcloud,
or fog, and fill the valleys. I never had an opportunity of seeing
this process so perfect before. The squalling of the peacocks in
the evening, and the increase of clouds aloft, indicate rain. Ben
Leddi is still covered at the top with snow, and few trees have
any’appearance of verdure yet. There is a striking similarity
between the general face of the country here and that of part oi
Merionethshire and other parts of North Wales. There is said
to be a great resemblance between the inhabitants of mountainous
countries, but I observe a striking difference between the High-
land Scotch and the North Welch. The former have a greater
disposition to acquire knowledge, but are more circumspect, and
not of so warm a disposition in general.

April 28.—Cumuli creeping up the hills. They were capped
with clouds all the way we travelled by Loch Ern to Crieff.
Some of these clouds however were higher, and there were fea-
tures of sondercloud and curleloud higher up. ‘The manners of
the people change very much as one advances from the capital
towards the Highlands. The dress too of the Highlanders, with
their plaids and kilts. The style of building of the old towns
resembles somewhat that of the old towns on the French coast.
We saw water-dorkers about the lakes ; also the water-ouzel.

April 29.—Clouds on the hills; and then continued showers
of gentle rain. We proceeded to Perth—Here again the man-
ners of the people are more anglicized. The twainclouds and
rainclouds rested on hills not more than 1000 feet high, which
is very low for these clouds.

April 30.—Leaving Perth early, | noticed the lowness of the
clouds. Their height cannot be so well found in a flat country,
as here where they are seen interposed between hills of known
height. The rainclouds or nimbi sweeping the sides of the hills
through the valleys often did not condense into drops of water,
till within 2 or 300 feet of the ground. We passed through Dun-
keld and Cupar of Angus, and slept at Forfar. The afternoon was
very rainy. We observed abundance of gulls, particularly the
black-headed gull on the ploughed grounds near Cupar. I saw
the martin, for the first time this year, flying over the Tay by
Dunkeld’s bridge,

May

10 Notes of « meteorological Tour.

May 1.—Clouded morning with a mist. I noticed to-day
between Laurencekirk and Aberdeen. a curious phenomenon, not
very common in England. The cumu/i in mauy places rolled
along with their bases on the flat ground, involving us occasion-
ally in obscurity, and there being to all appearance a fog, but in
the profile at a distance I saw their cumulated forms. I noticed
also the vapour condensed in many places about a foot from
ploughed ground, so as to appear like little sérati or fallclouds,
forming here ope there close to the earth. I should ebserve
that the cumuli touching the ground were going into the nimbi-
form state, and that others at some distance were actually con-
densing into small rain a few feet from the ground. When we
got to Aberdeen a white and wet mist was involving the whole
town and its neighbourhood. In the fine intervals by day,” the
different modifications were seen in very indistinct features.

May 2.—Fine spring morning, but no leaves on the trees yet.
Light gales. Cumudli and the lighter modifications higher up.

, We left Aberdeen, and passing through Ellon came into Peter-
head at night. Fleeey cumuli evaporating, and the new moon
seen at intervals. In passing along we saw various kinds of gulls
and the heron flying after sunset. Among other birds I saw the
curlew (Scolopax arcuata) flying over the town of Ellon.

May 3.—Letft Peterhead again almost immediately after taking
refreshment, about one in the morning, and passing through Cul-
len, Fochabers, Elgin, Ferres and Nairne, arrived at Inverness
laté at night. The country through which we passed was bar-
ren, except a few large plantations of pines and firs. The
weather was showery with wind, and the air cool, with not the
least appearance of spring. The inhabitants of the towns through
which we passed were very different in appearance from the High-
landers. On inquiring at the different booksellers in our route,
what works on the subject of meteorology were known here, I
found that the works of Professors Leslie* and Jamiesonf were
the cnly Scotch works, relating to this science, known in this

art of the country.

May 4.— Fair with various clouds; much ariostratus or
wanecloud in a lofty region towards night.

May 5.—(At Inverness.)—I had an opportunity this morning
of observing the formation of matutine cumudi or stackenclouds *
in the convalleys of the mountains, at a time when others in a
higher region were producing rainclouds by inosculation. These

* Professor of mathematics at Edinburgh, a gentleman to whose inven=
tive genius meteorologists are indebted for many very interesting disco-
verics, and the construction of curious and useful instruments.

+ Professor of natural history, author of one of the most usefui works
on mineralogy in Great Britain.
little

Notes of a meteorological Tour. 1!

little czmuli formed in the valleys had the hills for a background,
and were very distinctly seen. They manifested the same pro-
cess as cumuli which form high up over flat countries ; many
small ones being lost as if by evaporation, while the larger were
increased and crept up the hills and got aloft. Gentle rain came
on in light showers, with warm air. The spring begins to ap-
pear. The distances were clear, and I could distinctly ken Fort
George as I crossed the water into Ross-shire. By comparing
the account of persons with whom [ have conversed, I notice
the average temperature is greater here than at Aberdeen.

May 6.—I noticed some nascent cumuli on the hills, the
upper atmosphere being also thickly clouded. In general, to-
day, the clouds were higher.’

We travelled along the western margin of Loch Ness to

Fort Aucustus.—Showers came on in the evening, but I
observed that the streams of rain were formed higher up in the
air than was the case yesterday morning. Walking out among
the mountains at night after the rain, I heard the shrill: ery of |
some waterfowl near the loch. The heron was sailing leisurely
over the loch as we passed along this evening, not far from the
Castle of Urquhart, whose ruined towers are mouldering away
by degrees, and their stones rolling down the precipices into the
loch below.

May 7.—Proceeded to Fort Wiit1am. I had oceasion to
observe a range of cumuli (approaching in nature to cumulo-
stratus) in the valleys below Ben Nevis, and the contiguous
mountains extending irregularly yin ds. Some portions were
detached, aud went up the sides of the mountain. Higher up
were cumuli of more scudlike and nimbiform texture ; during
this time it was raining, a circumstance which enabled me to
see the formation of those nascent ewmuli which feed showers
from below during the actual falling of rain. Viewed with the
high hills of Ben Nevis and its range of mountains behind them
as a background, I could distinctly see and compare the dif-
ference in colour and density of these clouds and nimbiform
clouds higher up.. I noticed too that certain floceulous masses
of thin clouds apparently evaporated, and the greater masses in-
creased, while some portions seemed attached to the tops of the
hills, which were comparatively clear, In the evening while
rowing on the water, I saw the clouds rolling along much below
very low hills, while others which sat upon higher ones had fine
cutmulous tops, and a nimbiform or dense wanecloud much higher
up moved off with the direction of the wind and left a dingy
horizon at sunset. I found ascending to the top of Ben Nevis
quite impossible from the depth of. snow. Herring gulls flying
in flocks about the water, Air mild. Spring advancing. By

night

12 Notes of a meteorological Tour.

night the sky was clouded with large clouds in different altitudes.
I had to day a fine opportunity of confirming, by processes I saw
going on about the mountains, the opinion I have long had of
the electrical agency concerned i in producing the forms of clouds,
of which I shall treat more largely elsewhere. .

May 8.—Left Fort William early, and crossing the ferry,
proceeded through Glenco to Dy ndarum. The clouds still on
the hills, and gentle showers in the morning. | observed to-
day one of the peaked mountains of Argyleshire involved about
its base in small rain, while its pointed summit was capped with
the raincloud in a less watery state. What struck me as re-
markable was this, that the cloud did not terminate in rain by
degrees, but there seemed a distinct boundary between the cloud.
at the top, and the rain surrounding its lower part and descend-
ing to the ground. In the evening most of the clouds were
much higher, and the air got sharper. I met Hogg the Etick
shepherd and poet at a small public-house near the glen.

May 9.—We proceeded to Stirling by way of Callender ; the
weather cold, cloudy, and windy.

May 10. = Returned to Edinburgh. Cold, windy, and cloudy
day.

May 1).—(At Edinburgh.) The weather still bearing the
character of winter. Hard showers of snow, hail and sleet, with
fair intervais. The frondescence is very little advanced yet ; and
an Englishman would suppose it March instead of May.

May 12.—Fair day, with common dayclouds, and some fea-
tures of the light modification, particularly the cirrus in the
morning. The air warmer than yesterday. The swallows are
by no means common yet, only a few stragglers here and there.

May 13.—Left Edinburgh, and came at night to Jedburgh,
by way of Melrose. Fair morning, and clouds high ; cold night.

Muy 14.—I proceeded to Carlisle; the weather cold in the
shade, with fine diurnal stackenclouds. I saw the Hirundo ur-
bica at Jedburgh abbey, and first saw and heard Hirundines
apodes at the same place.

May 15.—1 proceeded by Keswick to Ambleside*. Fair
morning with much waneclouds ; in the evening rain among the
mountains all the way along Ulswater to Ambleside. I noticed
among other things, that being high on the hill there was no rain,
but only a thick mist, or cloud scarcely wetting me. As I got lower
down the mist became small drops of rain, producing however
the obscurity of fog; and when I got to the valleys below it was
become regular rain in streams. The watery particles seem to
collect into larger and larger rainstreams in descending.

* Perhaps the best drawn clouds of any I have seen, were those shown
to me by Mr. Greene, an artist of Ambleside,
May

Notes of a meteorological Tour. 13
May 16.—Dr. Spurzheim joined me at Ambleside. The

morning was warm, and the spring advancing rapidly. Towards
three in the afternoon rain came on in continued showers, and
je al] the evening. Gusts of wind at night.

May 17. —Walked from Ambleside in Westmoreland to Kes-
wick in Cumberland. Chiefly cloudy. Helvellyn was cloud-
capped all the morning; and at length the cloud hanging over
its sides seemed to descend in rain, whose streams acquired pro-
gressive magnitude in descending. In the evening I noticed
the clouds getting higher. There arose also clouds in the valleys
and from the sides of the hills which crept up them and passed
off in the form of cumuli of the floccose kind. In the same
manner the nourishing cumzi2 of showers form and feed them
from below. I had thus an opportunity of observing distinctly
the formation of cwmuli in the eventide, and of their rising up-
wards, as an indication of the fine weather of the following day.

May 18. (At Keswick.)—Early in the morning high masses
of cloud showed a sondercloudiness of form; a fine day with
light cumzuli followed and some small evaporating cirri. To-
wards evening the cumuli enlarged, with continuous common
bases, and obscured the top of Skiddaw. I noticed several of
the green cormorants and wild ducks while I rowed on the lake
called Derwentwater.

May1\9. Sunday. (At Keswick. Je fine day, we ascended
the mountain Skiddaw; on the summit whereof the cumu/i
lodged. In the evening the clouds were high, but in greater
quantity. When on Skiddaw in the morning, 1 noticed cirro-
stratus in the distance at nearly the same altitude as we were ;
but it was hanging over level grounds. I also observed that when
the cumuli got a continuity ‘of_base with greater density, be-
coming cumulostratus they lodged on the mountains; but after-
wards simple cumuli became ragged and descended down by the
sides of the mountain in particular places.

May 20.—Proceeded to Penrith in the afternoon, after sailing
on the lake. Clear day, cold in the wind, and hot in the sun,
with cumuli and light clouds in general.

May 21.—1 came to Manchester by Kendal.’ Fine morning
and cloudy night, with some rain.

May 22. (At Manchester.)—Dry dusty clear day; ciro-
. stratus, &c.

May 23.—Went by way of Chester to St. Asaph in North
Wales. Fine clear day and night.

May 24,.— Travelled through Denbeigh and Llangollen to
Oswestry. Fine still spring morning, and very warm, Clouded
over with a breeze at night,

May

14 Observations and Experiments

May 25.—Proceeded to Bath. Weather showery and cooler
again.

May 26.—(At Bath.)—Fine day, with cumuli, &e.

May 27.—¥ine day, with cumulus and other clouds. Clouded
over in the afternoon.

May 28.—Fair, with some showers ; fine spring weather.

May 29.—Fair spring weather, with nimbification, &c.

May 30.—Fine warm weather.

May 3\1.—Fair day, with various clouds.

June 1.—Left Bath and returned to Clapton. Fine warm
spring day, the morning was particularly clear.

1V. Some Observations and Experiments made on the Torpedo
of the Cape of Good Hope in the Year 1812. By Joun
T. Topo, late Surgeon of His Majesty’s Ship Lion. Com-
municated by Sir EVERARD Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.*

Wiansr the Lion was stationed at the Cape of Good Hope,
the seine, as is the custom throughout the navy, was frequently
employed in procuring fish for the use of the ship’s company,
and besides the more edible kinds, many of the torpedo were
caught. In this manner the opportunity was afforded me of
making the following observations, some of the imperfections of
which I must be allowed to attribute to the ‘ manus nuda” of
my situation. The fish were generally caught early in the
morning, and examined as soon after as possible. When this
could not be done, they were placed in buckets of sea-water,
where they sometimes remained alive fer three, and in one in-
stance for five days.

The torpedo is seldom met with to the eastward of the Cape
of Good Hope. Hence, whilst I rarely failed in procuring them
in Table Bay, I never but once succeeded in doing so in Simon’s
Bay, although the opportunities were the same in both places.
It was never caught but by the seine, although the hook and
line, with bait of every variety, were as often made use of exactly
in the same situations. It differs in no respect, as far as | have
been able to observe, from the same fish of the northern hemi-
sphere, except that it was never found so large ; being never
more than eight, nor less than five inches in length, and never
more than five, nor less than three inches and a half in breadth.
The colour of the animal is various ; the upper surface being gene-
rally hazel grey, reddish brown, or purple; the under surface
greyish white, yellowish white, or white with black patches.

* From the Philosophical Transactions for 1816, parti,

The

on the Torpedo of the Cape of Good Hope. 15

The columns of the electrical organs were larger, and less nu-
merous in proportion, than those described by Mr. Hunter, in
the torpedo caught at La Rochelle. When separate and unin-
fluenced by external pressure, they appear to be of the form of
cylinders, as is shown as nearly as possible by suspending them
by one of their extremities. The different forms which they
exhibit in a horizontal section of the whole organ, are produced
by their unequal attachment to one another by the intermediate
reticular substance.

The electrical organs are so placed within the curvature of the
semilunar cartilages of the large lateral fins, as to be entirely
under the influence of the muscles, which are inserted into these
cartilages. So that in any lateral motions of these cartilages to-
wards the trunk, or in any increase of curvature of these carti-
lages, the electrical organs must be compressed. There appears
also to be a muscular structure, which connects the anterior
part of these cartilages to a process projecting from the anterior
part of the cranium, the action of which must tend to increase
this effect.

The inferior and fosteriot terminations of the small lateral
fins are covered with laminz of osseous matter, which are en-
veloped in the epidermis.

A much larger proportion of nerves is supplied to the electrical
than to any other ergans. This has appeared to others so im-
portant an observation, that it may be repeated with propriety.

The shocks received from the torpedos which I examined,
were never sensible above the shoulder, and seldom above the
elbow-joint. The intensity of the shock bore no relation to the
size of the animal (sensation being the only measure of intensity),
but an evident relation to the liveliness of the animal, and vice
versa. The shocks generally followed simple contact, or such
irritation as pressing, pricking or squeezing, sometimes imme-
diately, and sometimes not until after frequent repetition. Not
unfrequently, however, animals apparently periectly vivacious
suffered this irritation without discharging any shock. There
appeared no regularity of interval between the shocks. Some-
times they were so frequent as not to be counted; at other times,
not more than one or two have been received fede one animal ;
and, ina few instances, it has been impossible by any irritation
to elicit shocks from some of them. When caught by the hand,
they sometimes writhed and twisted about, endeavouring to ex-
tricate themselves by muscular exertion, and did not, until they
found these means unavailing, discharge the shock. In many
instances, however, they had recourse to their electrical power
immediately,

The electrical discharge any. in postcdls accompanied by an

evident

16 Observations and Experiments

evident muscular action. This was marked by an apparent
swelling of the superior surface of the electrical organs, particu-
tarly towards the anterior part, opposite to the cranium, and
by a retraction of the eyes. It was so evident, that when the
animal was held in the hand of another person, I was often able
to point out when he received the shock. In this, however, I
was also sometimes deceived ; and I think I have received shocks
(particularly when the animal has heen debilitated, and the
shocks weak), without having been able to observe this muscular
action. :

Two of these animals, as nearly alike in every circumstance as
possible, being each placed in a separate bucket of sea-water,
from one of them frequent shocks were elicited by irritation, viz.
simple contact, or pricking, &c.; the other was allowed to re-
main undisturbed. The former became languid, the intensity
of its shocks diminished, and it soon died; the last shocks being
received in a continued succession, producing pricking sensations
“never extending above the hand. The latter continued viva-
cious, and lived until the third day. This experiment was fre-
quently repeated with the same results; and it might be observed,
im general, where there was no direct comparison made, that
those which parted with the shocks most freely soonest became
languid, and died; and those which parted with them most re-
huctantly, lived the longest.

Two torpedos being placed exactly in the same circumstances
as the last mentioned, from one shocks were elicited until it be-
eaine debilitated. It was then allowed to remain until the fol-
lowing day. When they were both examined, it was found that
the animal from which no shocks had been previously received,
discharged them very freely; but it was with the greatest diffi-
culty that they could be procured from the other.

Having made an incision on each side of the cranium and gills
of a lively torpedo, I pushed aside the electrical organs, so as to
expose and divide their nerves. The animal was then placed in
a bucket of sea-water. On examining it in about two hours af-
terwards, I found it impossible to elicit shocks from it by any
irritation ; but it seemed to possess as much activity and liveli-
ness as before, and lived as long as those animals from which
shocks had not been received, and which had not undergone this
change. .

Two of these animais being procured, the nerves of the elec-
trical organs of one of them were divided after the manner above
described. They were placed each in separate buckets of sea-
water, and allowed to remain undisturbed. This was performed
ia the morning, and when examined in the evening, it was 1m-
possible to distinguish between the liveliness or activity of cither.

Of

on the Torpedo of the Cape of Good Hope. iy

Of two of these animals, the nerves of the electrical organs of
one of them were divided. Being placed each in separate
buckets of sea-water, they were both irritated as nearly alike as
possible. From the perfect animal, shocks were received ; «fter
frequent repetition it became weak, and incapable of discharging
the shock, and soon died. The last shocks were not percepti-
ble above the second joint of the thumb, and so weak as to re-
quire much attention to observe them. From the other no
shocks could be received; it appeared as vivacious as before,
and lived until the second day. This experiment was frequently
repeated with nearly the same results.

The nerves of one electrical organ only being divided in a
lively torpedo, from which shocks had been previously received,
on irritating the animal it was still found capable of communi-
eating the shock. Whether there was any difference in the de-
gree of intensity could not be distinctly observed. One electri-
eal organ being altogether removed, the animal still continued
capable of discharging the electrical shock.

Having divided one of the nerves of each electrical organ in a
torpedo, from which shocks had heen previously received, I still
found the animal capable, after this change, of communicating
the shock. ;

Having introduced a wire through the cranium of a torpedo,
which had been communicating shocks very freely, all motion
immediately ceased, and no irritation could excite the electrical
shock.

1 never received a shock from a torpedo, when held by the
extremities of the lateral fins or tail.

The preceding account appears to me to afford grounds for
the following conclusions. .

1. That the electrical diseharge of this animal is in every re-
spect a vital action, being dependent on the life of the animal,
and having a relation to the degree of life and to the degree of
perfection of structure of the electrical organs.

2. That the action of the electrical organs is perfectly volun-
tary.

3. That frequent action of the electrical organs is injurious
to the life of the animal; and, if continued, deprives the aninial
of it. Is this only an instanee of a law common to all animals,
that by long continued voluntary action they are deprived of life?
Whence is the cause of the rapidity with which it takes place in
this instance? Or is it owing to the reaction of the shock on
the animal ?

4. That those animals, in which the nerves of the electrical
organs are intersected, lose the power of communicating the
shock, but appear more vivacious, and live longer than those in

Vol. 48, No, 219, July 1816, B which

18. On the Cosmogony of Moses.

which this change has not been produced, and in which this
power is exerted. Is the loss of the power of communicating
the shock to be attributed to the loss of voluntary power over
the organ? Does this fact bear any analogy to the effects pro-
— by castration in animals?

. That the possession of one organ only is sufficient to pro-
anes the shock.

6. That the perfect state of all the nerves of the electrical.
organs is not necessary to produce the shock.

And, 7. From the whole it may be concluded, that a more
intimate relation exists between the nervous system and electri-
cal organs of the torpedo, both as to structure and functions,
than between the same and any organs of any animal with which
we are acquainted. And this is particularly shown, Ist, By the
large proportion of nerves supplied to the electrical organs :
and, 2d, By the relation of the action of the electrical organs
to the life of the animal, and vice versd.

V. Reply to Dr. Pricuarp on the Cosmogony of Moses.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Wire commendable prudence, Dr. Prichard passes
lightly over the tender ground of his inconsistent assertions ;
affirming, in allusion tothe direct proof I had given of them, that
I am “still determined to find contradictions between proposi-
tions which have no relation to each other,” and that I guarre/
‘* even with the words in which they are expressed.”” If these
two affirmations be not absolutely correct, they are, at least, in
correctness absolutely equal. He cammot “ stay to notice mere
cavils,”’ \vut hastens to exhibit “ a specimen of the mode of rea-
soning adopted by” his * perlinacious critic.’ 1 shall now en-
deavour to show whether what he has produced for that pur-
pose be a specimen of my logic or of his own fairness; and in
this attempt as well as on simijar oecasious he will, I trust, have
the goodness to endure repetitions which he has rendered un-
avoidable.—“ In my last paper,” says he, “ I hinted at the in-
stance of St. Matthew and St. Luke, in order to prove that in-
spired writers have chosen to avail themselves of historical do-
cuments, when such sources of information were to he found.
Mr. F. E. seems to allow the force of this example, but denies
that it leads to any inference with respect to Moses; and the
exception he takes against it is to the following purport. St.
Matthew and St. Luke found pre-existing documents, which it
only

On the Cosmogony of Moses. 19

only required in them human sagacity to adopt ; but Moses, it
seems, had nothing but the light of revelation to guide him;
conseguently he made no use of records. Now there is,’’ con-
tinues he, * one grand objection to this conclusion ; viz. that it
takes for granted the chief thing intended to be proved.” There
is also, I would remind Dr. Prichard, one grand objection to the
whole argument ; viz. that itis not exactly mine. My exception.
rests on the want of analogy in the cases: in the one, inspira-
tion appears to be superfluous, iu the other indispensable. ‘The
compilation of a genealogy, of which the materials were we
know recorded in Scripture, needed no inspiration, The manner
of the creation could be known with certainty to no human ~
being, not even to Moses, except by a revelation. Besides,
there is in Scripture neither hint nor trace of any revelation con-
cerning the creation, anterior to Moses; nor is there any other
ground for the belief of inspired documents or traditions of which
he might have availed himself, than that of vague and visionary
conjecture*, But waiving this consideration, and supposing that
there may have existed in the time of Moses documents or tra-
ditions of such a primitive revelation ; there could, if he was
inspired with regard to the creation, be no possible motive for
his having recourse to them. In such circumstances it is quite
idle to talk of an inspired writer choosing to avail himself of
other authorities in preference to the immediate authority of

Heaven. The version of my argument, therefore, should not
have been generally, that ‘* Moses had nothing but the light of
revelation to guide him; consequently he made no use of re-
cords:’’ but that, with regard to the creation, Moses haying the
light of revelation to guide him, there is no assignable reason
why he should be made to have recourse to assumed records or
traditions. 1 do not perceive that the one grand objection ap-
plies to this conclusion.

_ Dr. Prichard disclaims the merit which he erroneously con-
ceives I intended to ascribe to him, of having formed the “ in-
genious imagination” of circuitous inspiration. I am, indeed,
ignorant to whom this not recent invention is due; but as an
ausiliary whom he esteems “ perfectly well informed respecting
the points in controversy}? had employed it in his favour, |
coifess that by showing its insufficiency in the case to which it
was applied, I intended to prevent its adoption by the principal.
Of his protest against the pretensions of those who, like me,
“talk largely about circuitous inspirations, and immediate in-
spirations,”’ I can merely express an unconsciousness of enter-

* Dr. Prichard, however, esteems it most unrelentingly inquisitorial of
me to require any better proof of this assumed primitive revelation.
+ Sce Phil. Mag. No, 216, pp. 241 and 242.
B2

taining

20 On the Cosmogony of Moses.

taining any pretensions to which it can allude. 1 acquiesce in
his estimate of the superior weight of ‘¢ fair inference from his-
torical facts,” to that of ‘* hypotheses concerning sorts of in-
spiration.” The points in discussion do not, however, require
that I should offer any opinion on the historical facts which de-
termine him to believe that Moses was not the original author
of the Cosmogony ;”’ it is sufficient that 1 have shown some of
the consequences which result from such a supposition. I shall
only add, that his hypothesis, which gives the Hebrew, Hindoo,
and Etruscan Cosmogonies a common but unascertained origin
of higher antiquity than Moses, will scarcely be thought caleu-
lated to induce any very strong belief that the hidden source of
this common origin was Heaven.

I am charged with having unfoundedly insinuated that Dr.
Prichard rested his interpretation of the word day, solely on the
authority of Josephus and Philo. If what I have written admit
such a construction, I most explicitly disavow it; but if it be
found that what I said, so far from containing such an absurd
insinuation, contains no insinuation whatever, Dr. Prichard may
possibly retract his imputation. I had replied to some of his ar-
guments adduced in support of the figurative sense of the word
day, when he reminded me that I had overlooked the authority
of Josephus and Philo. My answer to this contained nothing
that it did not directly.express : ‘ If,” said I, ‘* he rest the me-
taphorical sense of the word day on their authority, he must
also on the same authority admit a figurative sense of the
whole first chapter of Genesis.” Why this answer should have
the misfortune to displease him I know not, since he avows that
it has been his “ endeavour to show that every part of the first
chapter of Genesis is more or less metaphorical.” I really have
no distinct conception of the modification here intended by the
words “* more or less; but if ‘* every part’ be metaphorical,
the whole it may be presumed can be neither more nor less than
allegorical. =

In his zeal to establish his coincidences, and to apply to some
useful purpose his discovery of the true sense of the 20th verse of
the first chapter of Genesis, Dr. Prichard with the stroke of a
pen deprived myriads of animals of /ocomotioa. When it was |
afterwards objected to him, that even his own version of this
verse “ does not exclude testacea from the fifth day’s creation,”
a considerable portion of the order being indisputably endued
with locomotion ;” instead either of acknowledging or defending
his error, he is pleased to say, that he “ shall not enter further —
into the inquiry what place corats and bivalves hold in the scale
of creation, whether THEY ARE, AS F. E. DECLARES, LOCOMOTIVE
ANIMALS, or approach to the character of vegetables:” gravely

adding

On the Cosmogony of Moses. : 21

adding that “ the guestion has been decided in his favour by a
third person,’? competent and impartial, to whose satisfactory
remarks he refers. It is indeed true, that in the remarks re-
ferred to, there are unsupported assertions that the order of
testacea is destitute of locomotion: if this, therefore, be suffi-
cient, the question is certainly decided against me. Having,
however, a presentiment, that, notwithstanding the ‘‘ cramle
repetita,’’ Dr. Prichard will condescend to honour this letter
with some notice, I am desirous of appealing from this decision,
even to himself, and would venture directly to ask him, whether
the whole order of testacea le destitute of locomotion*? If on
recollection, after consulting naturalists, it be found that an af-
firmative answer cannot be given, he will, it may be supposed,
be constrained, at the expense of his coincidences, to restore at
least a part of the order to the fifth day’s creation. I have yet
one other question, to which it more nearly concerns him to re-
turn an explicit answer. He peremptorily and tauntingly af-
firms, that I declare coraLs and bivalves are LOCOMOTIVE ANI-
MALs. Of the part of this assertion which relates to bivalves
I ask for no explanation, though it may easily be perceived that
some of them were meant to be included in the portion of the
order of testacea excepted from being “ indisputably endued
with locomotion +; but 1 am entitled to ask where Dr. Prichard
found, either directly or even by inference, the declaration he
attributes to me, that CORALS are LOCOMOTIVE ANIMALS? My
assertion respecting locomotive animals (as has just been seen)
instead of extending beyond, did not even include the whole or-
der of testacea; and with regard to corals, as comprehended in
zodphytes, it will be seen that the motion which it cannot be

* The genus Janthina (for example) “ formed by Lamarck on a single
shell described by Lister, Brown, Forskal, and other naturalists; which
derives its claims of distinction from Helix, not so much from the charac-
ter of the shell as from that of the animal, which differs in its structure
materially from the animal of the Helix, since it is furnished with a curious
‘apparatus (being an inhabitant of the sea) for swimming, instead of that for
crawling, with which the Helices are provided.”—Sce Nicholson’s Encyclo-
pedia, article Shell.

+ Some bivalves, even of the genus Ostrea, give indisputable proofs of
locomotive powers, ‘ Scallops leap out of the water to the distance of half a
yard.” (Nicholson’s Encyclopedia.) Speaking of the same bivalve, Bur-
row in’ his Conchology, page 80, says, “ Strong locomotive powers have
been attributed to the Pecten, which are, it is said, exerted in a most
singular manner. A very rapid progress is effected by the sudden opening
and closing of the shell.” This is done with so much muscular force as to
throw it four or five inches at atime. In the water an equal dexterity is
evinced by the animal, in raising himself to the surface, directing his course

oa libitum, aud suddeuly, by the shutting of his valves, dropping to the
otlom,”

B 3 denied

22 ‘On the Diving- Beil

denied they possess, was admitted to be different from locométior?.

‘As Dr. Prichard had not displaced forest trees, shrubs and li-
chens from the third day’s creation, although in sérictness none
of them come under the description of * grass, seed-bearing
herbs, or fruit-learing trees: —‘‘on-the same principle,” |
observed, ‘‘ it may be thought that zoophytes might be permitted
to remain in the fifth day’s- creation, being moving creatures that
have life, although their motion does not precisely accord with
the idea which, in opposition to the received translation, Dr.
Prichard thinks the Septuagint and the original convey.” So
far is this passage from containing any assertion of the locomo-
tion of zodphytes, that it contains two admissions of the con-
trary. First, it is admitted by inference, that they do not iz
strictness come under the description of locomotive animals ;
and afterwards it is acknowledged that their motion does not
precisely accord with the idea (of locomotion) which Dr. Pri-
chard thinks the original text of Genesis conveys.”

A subtle or complex argument may, in-consequence of mis-
conception, be misrepresented ; but of the process by which a
simple assertion is converted into a declaration totally different,
I do not pretend to anticipate the explanation.

I am, sir,
3 Your very obedient servant,
Bath, July 10, 1816. F, E——s.

VI. On the Diving- Bell, as a Means for curing Deafness. By
Dr. Hamet, of St. Petersburgh.

To Mr. Tilloch.

oh
Sirn,— W HEN visiting the harbour which is now building at
Howth, near Dublin, I wished to make myself acquainted with
the manner in which the diving-bell for constructing the mason-

work under water is used, and obtained permission to descend.
When the mouth of the bell was about two feet under wa-
ter, I began to feel pain in both ears, occasioned by the pres-
sure of the condensed air against the membrana tympani; the
air in the inner cavity of the ear being of less density. Fear-
ing that this pain might become troublesome at a considerable
depth, I made exertions to admit air through the Eustachian
tube into the ear. I happened to accomplish this at first only
on one side, the air rushed into the cavity of the right ear, and
the pain ceased instantly. As the bell continued going down,
the pain returned; but as I repeated my exertions to open the
Eustachian tube, the air at intervals found its way through it,
and

as a Means for curing Deafness. 23

and re-established the equilibrium. Through the left Eustachian
tube no air had yet passed, and the pain in the left ear was
gradually increasing. When about fourteen feet under water, the
sensation was as if a stick was forced into that ear from without.
At last, during one of the exertions to open the mouth of the
Eustachian tube on that side, the air forced its way with consi-
derable violence through it, and I was relieved of the pain also
on that side.

After examining the mason-work of the pier at the bottom of
the sea, I began to ascend. Here I soon felt pain again, re-
sulting from the air in the inner cavity of the ear expanding, as
the external pressure diminished: but this pain was more easily
relieved, the air gushing at very short intervals without any
voluntary exertions in small portions from the ear through the
Eustachian tube into the mouth.

Noticing this, it occurred to me, that the diving-bell might be
used for curing deafness in those cases where it depends on
an obstruction of the Eustachian tube. The patient would
have to go down in a diving-bell and make those exertions
which open the mouth of the Eustachian tube, atid then the
pressure of the condensed air would force its way through the
extent of the tube, and by that means clear the passage. It is
well known, that slight obstructions have been frequently re-
moved, by forcing air or tobacco-smoke from the cavity of the
mouth into the ear. When I was in the diving-bel!, and made
my exertions to admit air into the Eustachian tube, 1 was not
aware of the simple way in which it is effected. Dr. Wollaston
informed me, that nothing is wanted but to swallow the saliva,
as may be seen from the following simple and easy experiment.
Close your nostrils with your fingers and suck with your mouth
shut; air will come through the Eustachian tube from the
ear, and you feel pressure on the membrana tympani, which
prevents you from hearing distinctly. As the end of the Eusta-
chian tube nearest to the mouth acts like a valve, this sensation
will often remain even after you have ceased sucking. To remove
it, nothing is wanted but to swallow saliva, whereby the action of
the muscles seems to open the end of the Eustachian tube, and
then the air rushes in to re-establish the equilibrium. This ex-
periment shows on a small scale part of what I experienced in
the diving-bell; where, to admit the air into the ear, one must
merely swallow saliva, and at one of these exertions the air will
rush in, if the obstruction be not very considerable,

I was anxious to know, whether men that had been in diving-
bells before, had noticed the same sensations as myself, and 1 made
them describe to me what they had felt. Among other things
they stated, that when at a great depth it had been to them “as

if

24 Further Experiments on the Combustion of

if a shot was fired through their brain.” This was evidently the
rushing in of the air through the Eustachian tube.

There are now several diving-bells in use. Besides the one
at Howth, there is one at Holyhead, one at Ramsgate, and one
at Plymouth. They are constructed under the superintendance of
Mr. Rennie, on Mr. Smeaton’s plan, entirely of cast iron, in the
form of an oblong chest open at bottom.—(See Dr. Brewster’s
Encyclopedia, article Diving Bell.)

The one in which I descended is six feet long by four feet wide,
and six feet high, with twelve patent glass-lights, as used in ships’
decks, on the top. A descent in a diving-bell of this construc-
tion may be undertaken without any inconvenience, except the.
above described sensation in the ears. I was for half an hour
under water more than twenty feet deep, and had light more
than enough to write and read. A constant supply of fresh air
is given by means of a forcing pnmp, and the respiration is not
in the least affected. The signals to the men, who manage the
bell above the water, are given by means of striking with a ham-
mer once, twice or more times against the inside of the bell.
The number of strokes tells them in what direction you wish to
be moved. A diving-bell of the above dimensions may held four
men.

I wish much that some deaf person or persons, whose deafness
is owing to the cause above stated, might try the diving-bell; and
should they be benefited by it, hydraulic or other pressure en-
gines might be constructed to obtain the same end in houses or
hospitals.

VII. Further Experiments on the Combustion of explosive Mix-
tures confined by Were-gauxe ; with some Observations on
Flame. By Sir H. Davy, LL.D. F.R.S. V.P.RL*

I HAVE pursued my inquiries respecting the limits of the ‘size
of the apertures and of the wire in the metallic gauze, which I
have applied to secure the coal miners from the explosions of
fire-damp. Gauze made of brass wire =, of an inch in thick-
ness, and containing only ten apertures to the inch, or 100
apertures in the square inch, employed in the usual way as a
guard of flame, did not communicate explosion in a mixture of
one part of coal gas and 12 parts of air, as long as it was cool ;
but as soon as the top became hot, an explosion took place.

A quick lateral motion likewise enabled it to communicate
explosion.

Gauze made of the same wire, containing i4 apertures to the

* From the Philosophical Transactions for 1816, part i.
inch,

explosive Mixtures confined by Wire-gauxe, Sc. 25

inch, or {96 to the square inch, did not communicate explosion
till it became strongly red hot, when it was no longer safe in
explosive mixtures of coal gas; but no motion that could be
given to it, by shaking it in a close jar, produced explosion.
fron wire-gauze of 35, and containing 240 apertures in the
square inch, was safe in explosive mixtures of coal gas, till it
became strongly red hot at the top.

Iron wire-gauze of ;1,, and of 24 apertures to the inch, or of
576 to the square inch, appeared safe under all circumstances
in explosive mixtures of coal gas. I kept up a continual flame
in a cylinder of this kind, eight inches high and two inches in
diameter, for a quarter of an hour » varying the proportions: of
coal gas and air as far as was compatible with their infamma-
tion; the top of the cylinder, for some minutes, was strongly red
hot; but though the mixed gas was passed rapidly through it by
pressure from a gasometer and a pair of double bellows, so as
to make it a species of blast furnace, yet no explosion took
place.

I mentioned in my last communication to the Society, that a
flame confined in a cylinder of very fine wire-gauze did not ex-
plode a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, but that the gases
burnt in it with great vivacity. I have repeated this experiment
in nearly a pint of the most explosive mixture of the two gases :
they burnt violently within the cylinder; but, though the upper
part became nearly white hot, yet no explosion was communi-

cated, and it was necessary to withdraw the cylinder to prevent
the brass wire from being melted.

These results are best explained by considering the nature of
the flame of combustible bodies, which, in all cases, must. be
considered as the combustion of an explosive mixture of inflam-
mable gas, or vapour and air; for it cannot be regarded as a
mere combustion at the surface of contact of the inflammable
matter: and the fact is proved by holding a taper or a piece of
burning phosphorus within a large fame made by the combustion
of alcohol, the flame of the candle or of the phosphorus will ap-
pear in the centre of the other flame, proving that there is oxy-
gen even i its interior part.

The heat communicated by flame must depend upon its mass;
this is shown by the fact that the top of a slender cylinder of
wire-gauze hardly ever becomes dull red in the experiment on
an explosive mixture, whilst in a larger eylinder, made of the
same material, the central part of the top soon becomes bright
red. A large. quantity of cold air thrown upon a small flame,
lowers its heat beyond the explosive point, and in extinguishing
a flame by blowing upon it, the effect is probably principally

produced

26 On the Combustion of explosive Mixtures.

produced by this cause, assisted by a dilution of the explosive
mixture.

If a piece of wire-gauze sieve is held over a flame of a lamy
or of coal gas, it prevents the flame from passing it, and the
phenomenon is precisely similar to that exhibited by the wire-
gauze cylinders; the air passing through is found very hot, for
it will convert paper into charcoal; and it is an explosive mix-
ture, for it will inflame if a lighted taper is presented to it ; but
it is cooled below the explosive point by passing through wires
even red hot, and by being mixed with a considerable quantity
of air comparatively cold. The real temperature of visible flame

is perhaps as high as any we are acquainted with. Mr. Ten-
nant was in the habit of showing an experiment, which demon-
strates the intensity of its heat. He used to fuse a small fila~
ment of platinum in the flame of a common candle; and it is
proved by many facts, that a stream of air may be made to ren-
der a metallic body white hot, yet not be itself luminous. P

A considerable mass of heated metal is required to inflame even
coal gas, or the contact of the same mixture with an extensive
heated surface. An iron wire of ', of an inch and eight inches
long, red hot, when held perpendicularly in a stream of coal gas,
did not inflame it, ner did a short wire of one sixth of an inch
produce the effect held horizontally; but wire of the same size,
when six inches of it were red hot, and when it was held per-
pendicularly in a bottle, containing an explosive mixture, so
that heat was successively communicated to portions of the gas,
produced its explosion.

A certain degree of mechanical force which rapidly throws
portions of cold explosive mixture upon flame, prevents explosions
at the point of contact: thus on pressing an explosive mixture
a coal gas from a syringe, or a gum elastic bottle, it burns only

st some distance from the aperture from which it is disengaged.

Taking all these circumstanees into account, there appears no
difficulty in explaining the combustion of explosive mixtures
within and not without the cylinders; for a current is established
from below upwards, and the hottest part of the evlinder is
where the results of combustion, the water, carbonic acid, or
azote, which are not inflammable, pass out. The gas whic! h
esiters is not sufficiently heated on the outside of the wire, to be
exploded; and as the gases are no where confined, there can be
no mechanical force eg currents of flame towards the same
point.

It will be needless to enter into further illustrations of the
theoretical a of the subject: and I shall conclude this paper
by stating what I am sure will be gratifying to the Society, that

the

Account of a Calculus voided by a Female. 27

the cylinder lamps have been tried in two of the most dangerous
mines near Newcastle, with perfect success ; and from the com-
munications I have had from the collieries, there is every rea-
son to believe that they will be immediately adopted in all the
mines in that neighbourhood, where there is any danger from
fire-damp.

VIII. Account of a Calculus voided ly @ Female.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — A FrEw weeks since I was requested by a respectable
surgeon to examine a fragment of calculus voided by a female
patient of his. The fragment weighed about three grains and
a half, had somewhat of a rhomboid’ figure ; was evidently con-
vex on the one side, and concave on the other. The convex
surface was considerably nodulated, but the concave was smooth.
When viewed with a magnifier, it showed distinct marks of strati-
fication of alternate layers of a grayish and dirty yellow coloured
substance. On being heated to redness before the blowpipe it
lost nearly ‘5 of its weight; that is, after it had been kept in the
heat of boiling water for some time: by urging the heat still
further it fell to powder, lost its former colour, and gained a
slight tinge of red, losing more than ‘1 more of its weight.

I was then induced to try the effect of acids on this substance,
and accordingly took a portion of it which had been treated
as above, and found it to dissolve in muriatic acid without ef-
fervescence, leaving but the smallest possible quantity, which I
conceived to be animal matter. I then teok a portion of the
substance as it was voided, which dissolved also in muriatic acid,
but with considerable effervescence. I was at first unwilling to
attribute the effervescence to carbonic acid ; but upon examina-
tion by letting up lime-water into the gas in a test tube standi: ng
over mercury, | was convinced of its being the case. The solu
tions were next examined, and were found to contain lime, plios-
phoric acid, and iron. Therefore the calculus is composed of
carbonate and phosphate of lime, and oxide of iron, with a very
minute portion of animal matter; for when the residuum, which
was found to be insoluble in muriatic acid, was separated and
heated to redness on aslip of platina, it exhibited distinctly the
peculiar smell of burnt feathers or other animal substances*.

I am not exactly aware, whether the carbonate of lime has

* From the figure of the fragment, as well as that which I have since
received, it bas eviflently been detached froma nucleus apparently of
S-4ths of an jnch in diameter.

hitherto

28 On Meteoric Stones.

hitherto been found to exist in human urinary concretions, at
any rate, in the large proportion it seems to be in this; yet i
have some faint recollection of having heard or read of the same
thing having been noticed by Vauquelin (I believe). You must
pardon me if I am incorrect, *

Since I] examined the above, I have received another portion ;
2 more correct analysis of which I shall give you for insertion in
your next number.

I remain, dear sir,
Very truly yours,

76, Drury Lane, July 13, 1816. Joun Tuomas CoopERr.

1X. On Meteoric Stones. ‘By the Rev.T. DRumMMonp.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Unwituxe to trespass on your pages by a long letter,
I forbore to notice in my last, that it appears on the authority
of Pliny, that meteoric stones or aérolites were supposed to have
fallen from the body of the sun; your pages record that some
modern philosophers have imagined them to have been projected
from the moon. I will not trouble you at this time with any
arguments in support of an opinion, that they are generated in
the regions between our earth and the nearest planets; but since
¥ do not remember that any of your correspondents have no-
ticed the circumstance, I wish to mention that the same author
records a report that Anaxagoras Clazomenius had predicted
the fall of a meteoric stone, and that the prediction was verified.
[Lib. ii. c. 58.]

If, sir, we admit the report to have been correct, may we not
infer that astronomical calculations and a regard. to planetary
influences must have led the philosopher to deduce his inference ?

If it be merely to gratify curiosity, I hope your readers in the
different parts of the civilized world will transmit to you an ac-
curate statement of the precise time in which the phenomena
occur in future. Our pride in modern science must be hum-
bled by every indication of the attainments of the ancients, unless
we can refute, or equal, or excel them.

' Yours respectfully,

Norwich, Gray Friars’ Priory, T. DrumMMonp.
July 6, 1816.

X, On

[ 29 j
X. On the Accumulation of Heat ly Friction.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sm, — Tur principal arguments that have been advanced
against the existence of a material fluid of heat, are those de-
rived from the experiments on the generation of heat by friction:
from these experiments it is inferred, that the quantity of heat
contained in a given piece of metal is inexhaustible. No di-
rect experiinent, however, has been made in support of this
opinion ; but because a piece of metal connected with and sur-
rounded by conductors, continued to give out heat as long as
friction was applied, the author of the experiments concludes,
* that any thing which any insulated body, or system of bodies,
can continue to furnish without limitation, cannot possibly be a
material substance.”

If heat be a material fluid, the effect of force on a body con-
taining it would be similar to the effect of force on a body con-
taining any other fluid diffused through its pores in a similar
manner. Water being a fluid which in many instances produces

. . . ‘ my
effects similar to those produced by heat, it appears best adapted
to illustrate the generation of heat by friction.

I procured a piece of light and porous weod, three inches in
length, two in width, and one in thickness; and having im-
mersed it in water till it was saturated, I fixed it firmly over a
vessel filled with water, the lower end being about half an inch
below the surface of the water, and then moved a piece of hard
wood backwards and forwards on the upper end, with a consi-
derable degree of pressure. 1 thus found that water could be
raised through the pores of wood by friction. The process is
easily understood: the rubber, or piece of hard wood, as it is
moved along, presses the water out of the pores, and closes
them, driving the water which is pressed out before it; but
when the rubber has passed over those pores, the water from
below rushes into them to restore the equilibrium.

The action of the blunt borer in Count Rumford’s experiments
appears to have produced a similar kind of effect; the heat
having been forced out of the pores of the metal by the borer,
its place would he supplied by the heat from the adjacent parts.
Gun-metal being a good conductor, the neck which connected
the cylinder with the cannon would be capable of giving passage
to all the heat that was accumulated from the cannon, and the
other conductors with which it was connected,

Count Rumford considered it improbable that the heat could
have been supplied by means of the small neck of metal, be-
cause heat was given out by it during the whole of the experi-

ment 5

30 On the Ventilation of Mines.

ment ; but one body may give out heat to another of a lower
temperature, and yet be in the act of conducting heat.

If some imperfect conductor could have been substituted for
the neck of metal, a difference in the quantity of heat generated,
in a given time, woud no doubt have been the consequence ;
but, unfortunately, this mode of varying the experiment did not
eccur to Count Rumford.

: I am, sir, yours, &c.
; X.

XI. On the Ventilation of Mines. By James Warr, M.D. of
Glasgow.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Tax late success of science, in obviating the danger
from deleterious gases in mines, must be grateful alike to the
philosopher and philanthropist. If you judge the following ideas
conducive to the completion of a design so important, your in-
sertion of them will much oblige the writer.

The merit of.Sir Humphry Davy’s lamp seems to justify its
high character. Previous to this invention, the existence of the
deadly explosive gas was detected in most cases only by the sad
experience of its destructive effects ; now, the danger may be
safely detected and easily avoided. This lamp, however, does
not prevent the production of the gas, nor render the workings
safe where it greatly abounds. Nor does it prevent the danger of
explosion in other cases, as when a fire is used, at the bottom
of the upcast pit, to promote the ventilation. Besides, this
lamp is not calculated to clear the mine of the carbonic acid gas,
which, though detected with less danger than the other, is also
deleterious to the workmen. Indeed, the principal merit of
Davy’s invention is, that it enables the miner to detect, by his
light, the explosive gas, with equal safety and certainty as he
formerly discovered the presence of the other. , The most pro-
per use of the discovery in both cases will be the same,—to make
his escape, with all practicable expedition, till by the aid of
ventilation the enemy be dislodged.

It is evident then, that though a complete method of ventila-
tion would supersede the use and necessity of all such contri-
vances as Davy’s lamp, however ingenious and sublime; yet no
such invention could supersede the necessity of ventilation. To
find a plan of ventilation, as practicable and as effectual as pos-
sible, is therefore an object of high importance.

In mines which are furnished with several shafts, a degree of
ventilation is for the most part insured by the different tempe-

ratures of the atmosphere above and in the interior of the mine.
In

On the Ventilation of Mines. 31

In the heat of summer the current is likely to descend by the
shaft whose top stands highest, and to make its exit by the shaft
whose top stands lowest. In the cold of winter this current will
be reversed. When the temperature is equal above and below,
and where the current is too feeble, it must be promoted by fires
or other artificial means.

To direct this current through all parts of the workings,
various contrivances have long been used. These seem to be
all superseded by Mr. Ryan’s plan described in your last num-
ber, and the plan of Mr. ‘Menzies, which is somewhat similar.

The immediate object-of both these plans is to obtain from
all parts of the interior of the mine an uninterrupted ascent of
the roof, to the wpcast pit, through which the current ascends.
If such an ascent can be obtained, the explosive gas will cer-
tainly be discharged by its own specific levity, But such an
ascent in the roof of a mine is sometimes prevented or destroyed
by depressions in the roof, and by large masses of the roof which
fall, leaving cavities to be receptacles for large quantities of ex-
plosive gas.

Besides, these plans, at least that of Mr. Menzies, is not so
. well calculated to ensure the discharge of the carbonic acid gas,
which is itself a great object in ventilation. This gas is spe-
cifically heavier than common air, and lies in the most depressed
parts of the mine.

Inequalities in the roof or floor of the mine provide for the
retention of one or other of these gases, even in spite of a cur-
rent of air passing through the mine. This may be illustrated
by a transparent arched tube, transmitting a current of coloured
fluid or of air. Let an air bubble, or bead of air, occupy the
highest part of the arch, while a stream of coloured fluid is forced
through the tube. This air-bubble will be seen keeping its
place, or, if pushed out of it, regaining it speedily. Again, let
the arch be inverted, and let a bead of coloured fluid occupy its
lowest part ; while a stream of air is forced through the tube ;
the coloured fluid will always speedily regain its situation in the
lowest part of the arch. In this illustration, the stream of fluid
in the one case, and the stream of air in thie other, represent the
current of air ventilating the mine, while the bead of air in the
highest part of the arch, and the bead of coloured fluid in the
lowest part, represent masses of the two foul gases retaining their
situation in cavities in the roof and floor of the mine. It is true
that a forcible current of air will dislodge tiese portions of foul
gas; but the ventilating current is often not sufficiently powerful
for this purpose.

But though this ventilation were complete when once esta-
Llished, the danger from deleterious gases must be guarded against

during

,

32 On the Ventilation of Mines.

during the operations, before the communication for the venti-
lating current can be effected, and before the mine and roof could
be subjected to the plans of Ryan or Menzies.

Even where the works are complete, a change in the tem-
perature of the atmosphere may occasion a change in the di-
rection of the current, so that what was the wpcasé shaft may be-
come the downcast shaft*. Against this case, I think, Mr. Men-
zies’ plan makes no provision.

A stream of water falling down through one of the shafts is
frequently used as a means of ventilation. This expedient is
suited, I think, to the ease where only earbonic acid gas is pre-
sent; and besides, as the water must be lifted afterwards, this
mode of ventilation is too expensive to be practicable, except
on extraordinary occasions.

It appears then that a mode of ventilation by mechanical
means, and completely under control, would be highly eligible
in a great variety of cases.

Ventilation by mechanical means must be effected by a blowing
apparatus of some sort. This apparatus must be applied, either
to force a quantity of air z2fo the mine, by which the foul gases
may be displaced, or to extract these gases out of the mine,
while common air will replace them spontaneously. In either
case, a tube should Saishil from the blowing apparatus to that
part of the mine in which ventilation will be chiefly required and
most useful. The mode of ventilation by extrac/ion seems most
eligible, for two reasons: Ist, The extracting tubes can be di-
rected to any spot in the roof or floor of the mine where the foul
gas is lodged, and this gas only needs to be removed ; but by
blowing into the part, a quantity of harmless or salutary air must
also be foreed away. 2dly, By the mode of extraction by a tube,
the foul gas is kept in a state of separation in its progress through
the mine and up the shaft; but if it were to be discharged by
blowing inward, it might come in contact with the lights in its
progress, and explode, or prove otherwise dangerous or dis-
agreeable.

The extracting or blowing tube would be the most expensive
part of this apparatus. It should be flexible, or otherwise fitted
to apply to and feed from either the roof or floor at pleasure ; but
it might be formed of the cheapest materials: and in works in
which there is a spare shaft, this shaft may be employed to
form so much of the ventilating tube.

The best sort of blowing apparatus for ventilating mines: is

* This, if we rightly understand Ryan’s system, can never happen where
itis employed. His upcast and downcast shafts are, we believe, never
suffered to alternate.—Epir.

evidently

On the Ventilation of Mines. 33

évidently that which will, in a given time, éransmit the greatest
Quantity of air, with the least expenditure of power. Furce of
blast, or compression; are in this case no object: mere trans-
trisston is all that is required. The comnion bellows have been
Proposed to extract from the mine, by a tube descending from
the valve into the mine*. But here much power would be
wasted in rendering the blast forcible, and time in discharging
it. An air-pump with a piston has been also proposed; but
against it the same objections are valid; beside the additional
waste of power in overcoming the friction of the piston. A large
vessel, or rather a number cf vessels, inverted in a receptacle of
Water, and alternately raised and lowered by an axis revolving,
and furnished with cranks, or otherwise producing its effect,
would form a powerful blowing apparatus.

But the principle of the Fay or FANNER,—the WINNOWING
APPARATUS, seeins free from all objections, and possesses the
greatest advantages. It transmits a great quantity of air. Its
Moveiuent is rotative, and hence it can be attached to the gin
or gig employed in raising the iinerals, and even placed on the
Same axis, so that the expense of construction will be trifling,
It acts by a centrifugal principle, and hence its powers of trans-
mitting air can be augmeuted to any assignable degree, It is
only needful to increase the diameter of the circle and the power,
and to make the entrance and exit for the air of suitable capa-
vity. It can feed either from one end of the axis, or from both;
hence, either end may be inclosed, or tubes may extend from
both ends to different parts of the mine. The fan, as has been
said, may be placed on the same axis as the gin or gig, above
gfound, and wrought by the same power. It may be placed in
any convenient situation below, and wrought by the power of
men, horses, asses or oxen. It may stand vertically or horizon-
tally, and it may feed by numerous tubes ‘extending to either
end of its axis, from different parts of the roof or floor of the
mine, while it discharges into a spare shaft, or into the lower
end of the shaft employed for liiting the water, by one large tube
extending from the cireumference of the box containing the
fan. In this way the expense of a tube would be saved by using
this shaft ; for the explosive gas, at least, being introduced into
the bottom of the shaft, would ascend by its own specific levity.
The fan, thus employed, might obviate all danger both while the
works are forming and afterward: and it is fitted to obviate all
the interruption of ventilation from inequalities in the roof or
floor of the mine. It is even suited to supersede the necessity

* As far asT know, this idea was first suggested by a Mr, Davidson, a
lecturer on natural philosophy, who has been blind from lis ehild-
hvod.—J. Wy

Vol. 48, No. 219, July 1816. € and

34 On Errors in the Nuutical Almanac.

and expense of forming more shafts than one to a mine ; at,
least, for the purpose of ventilation; for this might be effected
by means of a tube carried down in one side or angle of a single
shaft, and extending to the various parts of the excavation be-
low; and in extensive mines, several fans night be used with
combined effect.

Mr. Editor, I am aware that the fan has been used to llow
down a shaft a short way, but I am not aware that it has been
employed in the above mode for extracting the foul gases from
mines. Nor do I know that the vessels inverted in water have.
been used or proposed as a blowing apparatus. The powers and,
capabilities of the fan will appear to any one who has seen Mr..
Sadler inflating his exhibition balloon.

The above ideas, on employing the fan, were lately read to the
Glasgow Philosophical Society at two of their weekly meetings.
The members present recommended that they should be given
to the public through some of the scientific journals.

I am, sir,
Your obedient servant,
Glasgow, 16th July 1816. James Watt, M.D.

XII. On Errors in the Nautical Almanac, &c.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Mocu has been lately said respecting the comparative
merits of the Nautical Almanac, and the Connaissance des Tems :
and attempts have been made to show that the computers of the
latter work have borrowed very considerably from the former.
There are two facts, however, which I have recently discovered,
that will (1 think) evidently show that the computations in those
works are carried on independently of each other. These facts
relate to Jupiter’s satellites.

The configurations of those satellites, as set down in the Nau-
tical Almanac for the last month (June), are almost all of them
wrong ; as I found from actual observation, and as may be readily © .
proved by calculation: many of them likewise are incorrectly
stated for the ensuing month of August. In the Connaissance
des Tems, however, the positions are truly stated.

On the other hand, the eclipses of those satellites are all cor-
rectly computed in the Nautical Almanac: but, in the Con-
naissance des Tems the eclipses of the first satellite are set down
very incorrectly; there being a constant error, which sometimes
amounts to sia minutes of time, either in excess or defect. This
mistake runs through the whole of the years 1815, 1816 and

© 1817;

On Errors in the Nautizal Almanac. 35

1817; and has arisen’ (I presume) from an error in Lalande’s
Tables at the end of the first volume of -his Astronomy, p. 250,
where the Argument C is erroneously stated 3000 too great, in
the mean conjunctions from 1812 to 1820; an error which has
been carefully avoided by Mr. Vince in his edition.

Whilst I am upon the subject of the Nautical Almanac, may
I be allowed to ask whether any of your readers can inform me
why the very excellent and useful preface which usually accom-
panies that work, has heen omitted by the present Astronomer
Royal, in the publications for the years 1817 and 1818. The
tables from which that work is computed have been successively
improved ; and an account of the same, together with a state-
ment of the tables used by the computers for the time being, has
been hitherto preserved in the preface above alluded to. Buta
person who may now be desirous of ascertaining the correctness
of any of the calculations, would be at a loss to know to what
tables he shouldrefer. This is the more to be regretted, as it is
notorious that there is a considerable variance with correspond-
ing calculations in other similar works. . .

For example, the times of new and full moon, as given in the
Nautical Almanac, and in the Connaissance des Tems, for the
present year, differ frequently (after allowing for the difference
of meridians) many minutes, and oftentimes many hours from
each other. This inequality in the results must, however, be
attributed to some other source than the use of a different set of
tables ; all of which boast of considerable accuracy: yet, as it
shows the necessity of a computation from the tables themselves,
when any nice calculation is required, the knowledge of the
identical tables made use of in the formation of the ephemeris,
might lead to a detection of the error; as we have already seen
in the case of Jupiter’s satellites.

I shall not, however, intrude further on your indulgence, at
present; my object. being merely to call the attention of your
readers (who may have more leisure) to an investigation of the
subject: and I shall be happy if it be the means of correcting
any errors which at present exist, or which in future may be likely
to occur in those truly valuable works.

I am, sir,
Your obedient servant,
July 21, 1816. ASTRONOMICUS,

XHL Ew-

QO
nw

r SX HSH Ff

XII. Experiments with Sir H. Davy’s Safe-Lamp. By
Dr. Hasrzr, of St. Petersburgh.

Saux time ago J] had an opportunity of trying Sir Eemphey
Davy’s lamp in a coal-mine near Holywell in ‘Bilntshine: I de-
scended (along with Mess. William anid Edward Roscoe) the pit
of Deebank colliery, 140 yards deep, and then proceeded hori-
zontally in one of the nietal-drifts, where in one place the in-
flan:mable gas was bubbling with considerable force threugh the
water, covering the bettcm of the mine. The ventilation here
being so complete as to prevent any danger from explosion, I
kindled the gas with a common candle. It continued burning
with a flame about 1} foot long. Sir Humphry Davy’s lamp
held in the same current would not set fire to it. We now went
to a place near the end of the working, where in the roof of the

nine there is a considerable excavation constantly filled with
carburetted hydrogen, issuing from a fissure in the roof on that
spot. Holding the urbe in the lower part of this exca-
vation, where the inflammable gas is always mixed with atmo-
spheric air, a succession of slight explosions took place in th
inside of the lamp; but when raised into purer inflammable gas,
the whole of the cylinder was filled with a faint blueish flame,
through which that of the wiek was distinctly visible. On lifting
it still higher mto the purest carburetted hydrogen, the lamp
appeared extinguished, but rekindled spontaneously when in+
stantly withdrawn into atmospheric air.

Having convinced myself that the lamp would not set fire to
the gas (and having been breathing the same for some time, to
try its effects when taken into the lungs), we approached it with
a common candle tied to a long stick. The gas took fire with
considerable explosion, the lowermost stratum being mixed with
atmospheric air, and the remainder continued burning for some
: time, filling three-fourths of the mine with an undulating blaze.
The appearance was awful, and gave me some notion of the man-
ner in which those unfortunate persons perish, who meet with
their death from accidents of this kind.

The lamp with which we made the experiment had a cylinder
of brass-wire gauze. It had become very hot during our trials
with it, and I think the flame was greener than is common to
carburetted hydrogen from coal-mines. I should suppose brass
or copper wire would not stand so long as iron-wire gauze.
Mr. Buddle writes me ‘ that he has had several lamps with iron~
gauze cylinders for three months in daily use, without being in
the slightest degree impaired although they have been frequently
red hot for a considerable length of time.” The chief doubts ,
remaining in my mind with regard to the complete safety of the

lamp,

Method of preparing or smoking Beef at Hamlurgh. 37

amp, were, that particles of coal, which generally fly about where
the men are working, might stick in the meshes of the gauze,
and by giving out a fame might kindle the gas.

I had ‘an idea, that by putting over the gauze cylinder a se-
eond one of glass or gauze, this danger might be avoided ; but
on mentioning my doubts to Sir Humphry Davy, he showed ime
some experiments in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, by
which it appeared that coal-dust, even when laid on the top of
the lamp and hecoming red hot, or when blown through the
gauze cylinder, whilst filed with the flame of burning gas, would
not inflame the surrounding explosive mixture. Sir H. Davy’s
discovery of the property of wire-gauze is great: it has rendered
philosophy triumphant over an evil that had long baffied the
united efforts of the man of science and the philanthropist.

XIV. Account of the Method of preparing or smoking Beef at
Hamburgh. By M.Prenarn, Captain of Engincers*.

Hassurce or smoked beef is in general estimation through-
out Europe; not only is it most agreeable to the taste, but it
has the property of being preserved a much longer time than
beef preserved in any other way.

The preparations necessary, are in the first place a salting-
house, some trays or tubs proportioned to the size of the pieces
of meat, and a drying-room in which they are to be placed when

roperly salted. ;

In the salting-house is a kind of table made of oak, on which
the tubs are placed, and each has a coverlid, with a handle to
it. They are besides most carefully hooped, te prevent any waste
of brine. The salting-house is generally a cellar, on account of
the temperature being cooler.

The drying-place is generally part of a barn, into which en-
ters the flue from a small chimney. To the roof are affixed two
or three wooden beams or frames from which the meat is sus-
pended by hooks. The height of the drying-room above the
fire intended to give the necessary smoke, is generally from twelve
to sixteen metres, in order that, during its ascension ito the
flue, the smoke may be freed from a great part of the substances
which constitute the soot, and thereby less bitterness be commu-
nicated to the meat which is to be dried.

In order to regulate the dispersion of the smoke over the
meat, a trap or to-fall is fitted to the aperture, which serves as
an outlet for the smoke: on the two opposite sides of the drying-

* From the Annales des Arts et Manufiuctures, August 1815,
C3 foom

38 On the Method of preparing or smoking Beef at Hamburgh.

room apertures are made about thirty centimetres diameter:
and at one end, one or two other apertures of fifty centimetres in
breadth by seventy in height are made, which may be closed at
pleasure by means of a shutter.

In large establishments, where not only pieces of beef of all
sizes are smoked, but also hams, sausages and tongues, the drying-
or smoking-room is erected over the salting-room, and the smoke
is introduced through apertures made in the floor or in the sides,
and which apertures may be opened and closed according to
the quantity of smoke wanted.

The method generally pursued, in order to prepare smoked
beef, consists in first salting the meat before subjecting it to the
action of the smoke in the drying-room. After having chosen
the pieces of beef which contain the fewest bones, they are
allowed to remain untouched for two or three days, that the
meat may become more tender, taking care to place them in a
very cool place, not humid, and defended from the rays of the
sun. Care is taken not toemploy too lean meat, because it takes
salt badly, and the larger pieces of fat are removed, because they
on the other hand are prejudical. Pieces which weigh from eight
to twelve kilogrammes are preferable to smaller, which contain
always more or less bone, notwithstanding the operation of taking
out the bones to which they are subjected. When they smoke
pieces of beef which weigh from four to eight kilogrammes, it is
with a view to use them soon afterwards, and in this case they
are smoked much less than when they are intended to be kept
longer.

Winter is the period when the greatest quantities of smoked
beef are prepared, because putrefaction is less to be guarded
against at this season, and at the same time the meat is always
most tender.

Old salt (clean muriate of soda) is regarded as the best, and
it is used grated or pounded. New salt being generally deli-
quescent is less adapted for salting, because it communicates a
bad taste to the meat, renders its colour dull, and does not give
it the consistency requisite to its preservation.

In order to salt meat, the pieces are placed on the oak table
before mentioned, when salt is strewed over them, and they are
afterwards rubbed on all sides with a flat stone, in order that they
may impregnate the more. This operation is repeated until the
meat absorbs salt no longer. There is no fear of oversalting ;
for it can only absorb a certain quantity of salt, and it is easy to
freshen it by steeping it in water before using it. When this
operation is terminated, the beef is heaped up in layers in a tub,
at the bottom of which some brine has been put. This brine is
prepared by boiling salt with seven or eight times its weight of

water,

Report of the Commissioners of the Caledonian Canal, 39

water, or simply water strongly impregnated with salt. The
whole is concluded with a strong layer of salt, and the pieces
are covered with a lid, on which a weight is placed sufficient to
plunge them in the brine.

In about three weeks, more or less, according to the bulk of
the pieces, salt, and the time which it is wished to preserve them,
they are withdrawn from the tubs: they are suffered to drip,
and are then carried to the drying-room, where they generally
remain fifteen days, or three weeks, to receive during that time
the action of the smoke of a fire, which is kept up with only
three or four pieces of oak chips, very dry. It has been re-
marked, that the smoke of resinous woods makes the meat con-
tract a very disagreeable taste, and that those pieces which re-
mained longest in the drying-room exposed to a feeble smoke
were capable of being kept longer, because a more intimate com-
bination took place between the smoke and the constituent prin-
ciples of the meat.

When it is wanted to produce what is call scarlet smoked
beef, the meat is only left seven or eight days in the tubs before
drying it, or rather care is taken to rub it with a mixture of
three parts of common salt and one of saltpetre ;_ but if the lat-
ter gives a colour to the meat, it also renders it harder,

The beef when smoked is preserved in a dry and well aired
place, and it is exported by placing it in layers in well-joined
chests, and by filling with new ashes or chaff the vacancies be-
tween each layer.

The beef is generally dressed with vegetables, such as cab-
hages, potatoes, or carrots, after having been first washed in
warm water, and steeped afterwards for twenty-four hours in
cold water to freshen it: aromatics are sometimes thrown into
the dish to disguise the smoky taste, which does not please all
palates.

XV. Thirteenth Report of the Commissioners for making and
maintaining the Caledonian Canal. Dated May 17, 1816.

Tue works of the Caledonian canal have now advanced'to such
a state, that in every part of the line it is become necessary to
calculate the application of labour and machinery, so that no -
obstacle may singly retard the completion of the canal, when the

rest of it shall have become navigable throughout ; and it is for the
consideration of parliament, whether it may not be a real cecono-
my to augment the annual grant for the two next years, rather
than continue it for three years at the usual rate of fifty thou-
sand pounds per annum, Not only will any delay retard. the
C4 receipt

ra

40 Thirteenth Report of the Commissioners for making

receipt of tolls, which, according to the best information we have
been able to procure, may probably produce forty thousand
pounds per annum, when the benefit of the canal passage shall
have become thoroughly understood ; but even the present loss,
resulting from delay, is not inconsiderable, because the number
of labourers and workmen is diminished, while the expenditure
on management and superintendence remains unaltered. The
degree in which this disproportion takes place, may be estimated
by comparing the number of labourers and workmen now em-
ployed, with the highest average number in any former year ; and
the average number in the last twelvemonth having been four
hundred and ninety, shows a decrease of four hundred and sixty-
nine in nine hundred and fifty-nine, or almost half. The largest
number we ever employed was during the three months of June,
July, and August 1811, averaging at fourteen hundred and four.
Even this number was not felt. as an inconvenience by our super-
intendents, not even at Corpach, where the extraordinary accu-
mulation mostly existed, in consequence of a depression of trade
at that time, and a consequent stagnation in all branches of
employment at Glasgow.

A comparison of the sum of money then and now expended
in labour, gives nearly the same result. In our ninth Report
the sum appears to have been fifty thousand pounds, in our pre-
sent Report thirty thousand; which again will be much di-
minished in our next Report, unless a larger grant than usual
shall be assigned to this service in the present session of parlia-
ment.

This will be understood, when we state, that after it became
evident to us in the year 1814, that oak timber of proper dimen-
sions for the posts and bars of Jock gates, was no Jonger pro-
curable on any terms, and we had thereupon determined to ap-
ply cast iron to that purpose,—no time was lost in employing
skilful. persons in forming models for this new application of
what from its many and increasing uses in this country, may be
called a British material; and after proper experiments by the
modellers and iron founders, they became able to furnish a sup-
ply from the iron-works at Butterley in Derbyshire, some part of
which has already been used at Clachnacharry, and from Pont-
eysylté in Denbighshire, for the Corpach district of the canal,
of which none is actually arrived, though a freight is now daily
expected,

‘Thus the respective iron foundries being now fairly in action,
ean: furnish any quantity as soon as required; and the Jabour
and time necessary for planking and hanging the gates, after the
arrival of the cast-iron work materials, makes it desirable to us,
for the regular progress and uniform completion of all the canal

works,

and maintaining the Caledonian Canal. a

works, that a sum of eighteen thousand pounds should be ap-
propriated to this expenditure on iron castings in the next en-
suing twelvemonth from the date of this Report: nor will this
be doubted when we state, that sixteen pairs of lock gates of this
kind might at this time be hung in their respective places, if
ready, no more than two pairs being as yet in action: these
however serve to prove satisfactorily the facility of their motion,
two men being able to open or to close them, although no water
js in the lock to lighten their weight and pressure. We shail
postpone any particular description of these newly invented lock
gates, until their actual use shall bave enabled us to state all the
details.

Adding to the above eighteen thousand pounds, four thousand
pounds for the current expenditure on timber and machinery of
various kinds, and three thousand pounds for management and
miscellaneous expenses, it will appear that no more than tw enty-
five thousand pounds will remain for expenditure on labour, and
that we should be compelled to dismiss many of our experienced
workmen, much to the detriment of the work, in case the quar-
tity of labour should afterwards again be increased, as indeed
could not fail to happen.

Estimate. We have endeavoured to ascertain the total ex-
penditure which will be necessary before the Caledonian canal
can become navigable throughout; and we are of opinion, that
the sum of one hundred and sixty or one hundred and seventy
thousand pounds will be sufficient ; and as we have twenty-five
thousand pounds remaining of the last year’s grant, two grants
of seventy-five thousand pounds each, or three grants of fifty
thousand pounds each, will amply cover the expenditure.

Being aware that our present estimate is not conformable to
what might have been expected from our calculation founded
on Mr. Telford’s estimate of October 1813, we have called upou
him to explain the difference, no change of prices having been
alleged to have taken place since that time; and it appears
that to his estimate of two hundred and thirty-five thousand
pounds, not. including payments for land and for management,
we added for these purposes eighteen thousand pounds, which is
so short of the truth, that the payments for land and quarry
rents will probably exceed that sum: but it is obvious, that we
could only venture to state the amount of valuations, bit that
we could not control the opinion of a jury; much less could we -
foresce that the intervention of any jury would become necessary,
the expense of which in itself amounted to more than a thousand
pounds. In effect, twenty-seven thousand pounds would not
have been too much to have added to Mr. Telford’s estimate,
considering that the expense of management from that time may:

extend

42 Thirteenth Report of the Commissioners for making.

extend to six years instead of three, at the rate of about fifteen
hundred pounds per annum.

Mr. Telford has omitted to add the usual ten per cent. upon
engineering estimates, which is more than usually allowable in a
work of unexampled dimensions, and which would have amounted
to twenty-three thousand pounds ; as also the expense of steam-
boats for towing large vessels,—and of moorings to be laid down
in the lakes, estimated together at ten thousand pounds*. Thus
the estimate of October 1813 should have been two hundred
and ninety-five thousand pounds; since which time one hundred
and twenty-four thousand pounds have been expended, leaving
about one hundred and seventy thousaud pounds as the largest
supposable estimate, from which ten thousand pounds will be
deducted, if we succeed in placing the locks at Fort Augustus in
the bed of the river Oich. A large portion of the per centage
is in reserve for this contingency, but the greater part may be
deemed to have been consumed in the unexpected occurrence of
hard ground and rock cutting at Strone aud at Muirshearlich
(hereafter to be described in this Report) and in dredging ope-
rations, of which no experience existed, and which were. certainly
under-estimated by Mr. Telford.

Srare or THE Works. Before we enter into any particular
description of the present state of the works along the whole
line of the canal, from Inverness to Fort William, it will be con-
venient to advert to certain general points of information con-
nected therewith.

Our two superintendents have extended their care to the north
aud south ends of Loch Oich respectively; the deepening of the
loch by dredging machinery will be assigned to the Clachna-
charry establishment, because experience in that art has been
acquired by them in the similar loch of Doughfour.

The communication between Clachnacharry and Fort Augustus
is maintained by means of a sloop of sixty-five tons burthen,
which habitually navigates Loch Ness ; and we take this occasion
to observe, that her voyages with an adverse wind are usually
made in about twenty-two hours; ; that she has not yet experienced
any material detention from the weather, and that the squalls of

* Mr. Telford’s estimate, October 1813 - - £234,734
Land and damages. - - - - - - 18,000
Management, six years) - - - - - 9,000
Per ceutage for contingencies - - - - 23,473
Steam-boats and moorings = either’ IA 10,000

Total - - 295,207

Deduct expended since October 1813 - = 124,000

Presentestimate,May1816 - - - - 171,207
wind

and maintaining the Caledonian Canal. 43

wind supposed to be so frequent and so dangerous, have not
been found to exist in any prejudicial degree. ;

A smaller sloop of forty tons burthen performs similar service in
‘Loch Lochie with respect to the Corpach establishment, and has
‘experienced no difficulty in navigating that lake; a sloop still
remains at each end of the canal, for the occasional carriage of
afreight of stone or provender, and the same crews which na-
vigate the sloops on the lakes are then borrowed for that pur-
‘pose.

The circumstances attending the navigation of the Corpach
‘sloop in Loch Fil, and the Linnhé loch, are worthy of notice,
because those lochs differ in nothing from Loch Ness and Loch
‘Lochie except in containing salt-water instead of fresh. In-
‘spection of any map of Scotland will show that the Linnhé loch
‘isin fact a continuation of the great valley which extends from

Inverness to the Western Sea.

The Corpach sloop was built in the year 1804, and for ten
years navigated these salt-water lakes without intermission, bring-
ing free-stone from Cumbraes in the Firth of Clyde, and rubble-
stone from Fassefern ; lime from Lismore, and provender from
Appin. In all this variety of service and length of time, neither
the sloop nor any one of her crew have sustained the least
injury. Indeed the facility of navigating the Linnhé loch is
fully established by this simple fact ;—that the freight and
insurance of cargoes to Fort William from Glasgow or Ireland
costs no more than to Oban or Tobermory, which are south of
this Linnhé loch ; into which vessels of three or four hundred
tons burthen frequently run for protection, and obtain it there
with such certainty, that not one has been lost since the canal
works commenced in the year 1803. Large vessels of the

“above burthen are now built in Loch Eil, an active and intelligent
‘shipwright having very successfully formed an establishment close
‘to the sea entrance of the Caledonian canal at Corpach.

At the other end of the canal, no difficulty of navigation was
anticipated by those who apprehended danger and detention in
the lakes; and in fact the head of the Murray-frith (more pro-
Per'y called Loch Beauley) must be deemed a well protected

arbour from Fort George to Clachnacharry.
_ From this statement we may venture to conclude that all former
‘objections to navigation of the Caledonian canal have now been
Temoved by experience ; and that the advantage derivable from
eae the dangerous passage northward by Cape Wrath and

e Orkneys, will suffer no subtraction in the short and expe-
ditious passage which will be open to vessels of all sizes when
the Caledonian canal is fully opened and in use.

4 The absence of alternate tides, and indeed of any perceptible
si current

44 Thirteenth Report of the Commissioners for making

eurrent in the fresh-water lakes, might appear to threaten deten-
tion in calm weather; such weather however is not common im
a mountainous region ; and were it otherwise, we are not with-
out expectation of giving motion to the largest vessels, by an
expedient which can hardly fail of success. We here allude to
the new application of the steam-engine fer propelling vessels
through the water; a practice which has been carried to such
extent on the Clyde and elsewhere, that we have heen led to
consider how far any such machines might be rendered useful
for saving horse- labour in towing heavy vessels along the Cale- |
donian canal, and for occasionally assisting them in the lakes,
We are not without hope that the various steam-engines which |
we now possess, especially two of great power, may hereafter be
applied to this purpose with much advantage ; and we shall cause
this subject to be carefully investigated without delay.

The weather during the last twelvemonth, especially the win-
ter half-year, has been remarkably unfavourable, as indeed ap-
pears from the daily register of the winds and weather [inserted
in the Appendix, and which when it has answered its imme-
diate purpose of showiug that the winds on the line of the canal
are as variable as elsewhere, may be applicable for the purposes
of general information.] From the 12th October 1804 to the
present time, this register has beea kept at Clachnacharry, at
Fort Augustus, and at Corpach, and may be relied on, especially
as to the first and last of these places, for the most. perfect
fidelity, and as much precision as the subject admits.

We have not considered it to be necessary to repeat in the
Appendix to this Report, the map which was inserted in the Re-
port, of last year ; which may be referred to in reading the followe
mig description of the present state of the works along the en-
tire line of the canal, as no alteration affecting the map hag
taken place.

Cracayacnarry Districr. The present scene of operations
being much cenfined to the Middle District, our description of
the state of the works at the two ends of the canal will exhibit
little variation from the Report of last year.

Beginning as usual at the Inverness end of the canal, we have
to state that the entrance lock (commonly called the Sea-lock)
and its gates are in a perfect condition, and that the banks which
are advanced into the sea four hundred yards, in order to obtain
deep water for the position of this lock, are protected from the
action of the waves by a coating of refuse stone brought from th
neighbouring quarry; and as far as the experience of last winter
proves any thing, the safeguard is likely. to be effectual.

Above the high-water mark, the continuation of these banks
is of course no further necessary, and at a very small distance

was

and maintaining the Caledonian Canal. 45

| was found a spot of indurated clay, on which the second lock is
placed, and by means of it, the level of the canal becomes raised

quite out of the reach of ordinary tides. The gates of these
two locks are made entirely of wood, as being liable to the ef+
fects of the salt-water, and more subject than any others to be
struck by vessels which enter from the sea-ward.

“The temporary dam outside the entrance of the first lock has
been partly removed, though not to the full depth hereafter ne-
eéssary for large shipping, and the excavation of the earth be-
tween the first and second locks has proceeded to a correspond-
inig level, so that the entrance of coasting vessels would expe-
rience no obstacle.

The Culvert, which, with a back drain, was found necessary
fer draining the low lands of Muirtown, has been finished, and
discharges into the sea, halfway between the high and low-water
marks.

The Muirtown Bason extends eastward from the Clachnacharry
or second lock, terminating at the Muirtown wharf and the ad-
joining bridge. Here the temporary wooden bridge still con-

_ tinues in use; but the iron castings for completing those already

- prepared for the iron turn-bridge, have been shipped at Gains-
borcugh, and probably have been landed at Clachnacharry before
now; the motion of this bridge, and of all others on the Cale-
donian canal, will be horizontal, consitituting what is usually
called a turn-bridge, as distinguished from a draw-bridge, which
is raised vertically.

‘The four Muirtown locks being connected together, as well as
with the bridge and wharf, will require no more than five pairs
of gates, each pair consisting of two leaves or valves, as usual.
Of these the upper pair is finished, and as being more exposed
t@ concussions than the others, is wholly made of timber; this

~ upper lock gate is hung in its place, and has been caulked and
pitched. T'wo of the other gates below (both of the iron-framed
kind) are also fmished and hung in their respective places; one
leaf of the fourth gate is set up and is now receiving its planking;
- the iron castings for the fifth and last lock-gate are arrived, and
ali the five Muirtown lock-gates will be ready for use before the
_ end of July next. .

- From this place to the bridge at Bught, distant above a mile,
the canal is finished; this bridge, hke that at Muirtown, awaits,
the iron castings, which will furnish means for substituting an
iron turn-bridge in place of the wooden bridge now in use. Half
& mile southward from this bridge the canal takes a more westerly
direction under the steep bill of Torvaine: the operation by
which the river Ness was diverted from its former bed for the

length

46 Thirteenth Report of the Commissioners for making

length of half a mile, to make room for the canal and the canal -
bank, has been described in our third Report; and the public
road has since been turned from the confined and dangerous
situation which it heretofore occupied between Torvaine and the -
river Ness ; it now passes behind the hill, thus avoiding danger,
and shortening the distance, at the expense of a moderate ac-
clivity: for these purposes the new road extends nearly to the
burn of Doughfour.

We shall not repeat our former Reports as to the operations
which have secured the course of the canal from Torvaine to the
regulating lock, a distance of neariy three miles, throughout
which the canal is complete, and awaits only the admission of
water to become navigable.

The foundations of the regulating lock were of necessity laid |
close to the river Ness, whose ordinary level was about twenty
feet above the necessary excavations for the lock pit: this diffi-
cult task having been accomplished and the masonry afterwards
completed in July 1814, the lock gates ought to have been hung.
long since; but by an unlucky mistake in freighting vessels from
Gainsborough, part of the cast-iron materials for the lower gate
is not arrived, though now daily expected. ‘The upper gate is
in its place complete, andaffords security against the occasional
floods of the river Ness, which might otherwise by breaking
through the dikes above, rush into the yet unfilled canal, very.
much to its injury.

The process of deepening Loch Doughfour and the passage
which connects it with Loch Ness, is highly important, and was
contemplated with some anxiety until the successful operation of»
our dredging machine had been ascertained, as mentioned in our
last Report. The entrance of the canal from Loch Doughfour
we described to have been then cleared to a sufficient depth for
small vessels, and since that the shallows near Castle Spiritual
have been the chief scene of operation; the result of which is
that ninety thousand tons of gravel have been lifted and re-
moved within the last twelvemonth, and thereby a passage of
nine feet depth is now open into Loch Ness. 'The most im-
provable river channel was found to be on the west side of the
Gravel island, so that it became necessary to remove a part of
the point of land on which the ruins of Castle Spiritual will con-
tinue to stand close to the brink of the deepened water.

A depth of nine or even of ten feet will appear very inadequate:
for the passage of large shipping into Loch Ness; but not only
the channel will be more regularly deepened before the dredging .
machine is removed to the Middle District, but the formation of
a dam across the river at the lower end of Loch Doughfour will

maintain

/ a

and maintaining the Caledonian Canal. = — 47

maintain that loch at a high level, and afford the twenty feet
depth of water which is to be established throughout the Cale-
donian canal.

At present nothing hinders coasting vessels from navigating
into Loch Ness from the sea except the want of the lower gate
at the regulating lock, and two lock gates at Muirtown. Our
own sloops, one of which is now on Loch Ness, one at Clach-
nacharry, will be the first to profit by the opportunity, and will
convey materials to the works in the Middle District at a much
less expense than at present; and no doubt coal and lime for the
district of Strath-herrick will be imported largely, and landed at
the pier of Farigag, constructed for this purpose at the termina-
tion of the Inverfarigag road.

Mippte Disrricr. At the upper end of Loch-Ness exists
the only considerable obstacle we have to encounter ; for all the
other works require merely labour applied to objects wherein
from experience we expect no extraordinary difficulty to occur.
But at Fort Augustus a situation is to be found for the chain of
four locks, or rather for the lowest lock of the four; for that
once finished and a drainage thereby established, the upper locks
may be constructed with certainty of success. The situation in
which our attempts have hitherto been exerted is at the small.
island about two hundred yards above the bridge, or twice that.
distance from Loch Ness. It was not difficult, to turn the river.
course wholly to the north side of the island by means of proper
dams ; but when this had been effected, the island itself was:
found to be so penetrable by water that even a steam-engine pit.
could not be sunk without the greatest difficulty.

It was accomplished however to the requisite depth of twenty-
eight feet, soon after the date of our last Report, and prepara-
tions for affixing the great steam-engine were forthwith put in
progress: the necessary piling and platform was finished and the
engine-house erected Jast autumn; and since the weather has:
permitted masonry-work to proceed in the present season, the.
two large boilers have been fixed, and the cylinder, working-
beam and cisterns are now placed in their proper situations.
This great steam-engine, whose cylinder is four feet in diameter, .
will begin to work immediately, that is before the end of June ;°
and as its power is that which is inadequately* computed to be
equal to that of thirty-six horses, it will lift and discharge an .
immense quantity of water; we hope sufficient to permit the-
lock-pit to be sunk, and the future masonry in it to proceed

* This manner of estimating the power of steam-enzines is understood
to express the power they are cayable of exerting; but as they may be ©

_ made to work throughout the twenty-four hours, they-do much more work

than the number of horses at which their power is. estimated.
without

48° Thirteenth Report of the Commissioners for making

without molestation. Still we have another engine of twenty
horse power, which if necessary may be brought from Parpacts
and in the last resort the locks may be placed on the rocky bank
north-side of the river Oich. This event however may be con-
templated as extremely Ppa nie

Until the precise situation of the locks at Fort Mienenis can
be determined, the course of the canal immediately “connected
with them must also remain unsettled } for which reason no
commencement of excavation has yet taken place in the Govern-
ment land, which extends six hundred yards above the River
island whereon the great steam-engine is erected, and by the
south-side of which the lower lock will be placed. The four
connected locks will occupy a space of two hundred and sixty
yards in length.

Beyond the march or boundary between the Government land
and the Lovat property, the canal has been carried on to comple~
tion for the space of four miles, excepting only the Cullachie
lock, and the additional earth-work which became necessary
from the change of its situation described in our last Report. It
is remarkable that the rock on which this lock is built, is found
to extend no further than was necessary for the purpose. The
masonry of the lock.itself is nearly complete, and the walls of
the recess below the lock are commenced, the lower platform
having been bolted down to the solid rock.

’ The Glengarry property intervenes between Lovat’s southerit
koundary and Loch Oich, and in this space, about one mile and
an half in length, the canal is not commenced, the attention of
our superintendent in this part of the line being at present oc-
cupied in preparing a dredging barge for clearing a passage
through Loch Oich. This operation, though from our expe+
rience in Loch Doughfour we may now pronounce it to be sure
in effect, is slow in execution, and unless speedily commenced
in Loch Oich, the navigation of the whole canal may perhaps be
retarded by this obstacle when all others are removed. For this
reason the carpenters began to work on the dredging barge in
INovember last, and she is now ready for eaulking. The dredging
machine which is destined to float in this barge is in store at
Bona, and will be bronght up Loch Ness when necessary. We
have reason to expect that this engine is on an improved con-
struction in comparison with that now at work in Loch Dough-
four, advantage having been taken of the experience there ac-
guired. Four discharging boats or punts, which must be in
constant attendance on the dredging barge, are in preparation
at the north end of Loch Oich. .

At the south end of this loch, which is almost four miles in
length, the excavation is commenced, and for the first seven

hundred

and maintaining the Caledonian Canal. 49

hundred yards is as deep as the summer level of the water in
Loch Oich; for the next five hundred yards the ground is
opened, br it the excavation is not so much advanced. At the
termination of this twelve hundred yards, is the summit of the
Great ridlgib which is occupied by the Caledonian canal and by
- Jakes from Inverness to Fort William. Here for three hundred
yards in length the ground is not yet opened ; but from thence to
Loch Lochine, nearly a mile, there is no interval in the excava-
tion, which in this space averages at about eleven feet in depth.
Tn the deep cutting at the summit of the land, horse-labour will
be required for removing the earth, and a wood-framed stable
with a barn have been erected, sufficient to contain eight horses
and a store of provender. :

Between Loch Oich and Loch Lochie one-third part of the
excavation is finished.

Corpraca Disrraicr, We have had occasion to state in our
former Reports, that the level of Loch Lochie will be raised se-
veral feet when the canal at the head of the loch is ready for
use, and the regulating lock which is to be placed there, has been
completed, and its gates hung. The river Lochie, which issues
from the lower end of the lake of the same name, will then be
turned into the new bed prepared for it at Mucomer, and the
regulating lock adjacent to the present bed of the river will serve
to dam up the passage of water and raise the present level of the
lake.

This lock is in a state ready to receive its gates; at a short
distance below it, the south bank of the canal is placed in the
bed of the river Lochie, which is made to take a new passage
outside the canal bank; but the excavation necessary for this
purpose at the confluence of the rivers Spean and Lochie, has
not produced earth enough to finish the southern bank of the
canal, which for the space of two hundred yards remains to be
raised eight feet in height by means of earth brought across the
canal from the high ground north of it; and this is now in
operation. The outside of the canal bank which is washed by
the river, required some protection, which has been afforded by
a coating of rubble cut out of the bottom of the canal. The
rocky nature of the ground was indeed the reason for placing the
canal in the former bed of the river. From this place through
the farms of East- Moy, West-Moy, and Eracht, two miles in
length, the canal is completely finished, comprehending the back
drain for intercepting the mountain brooks, the inlet of fiye
arches at Moy, the parks, and the masonry abutments of Moy
bridge.

The last and easy dediantan of puddling, or rendering water-
tight the banks of the canal over the great aqueduct of Loy is

Vol, 48, No, 219, July 1816. D now

50 Thirteenth Report on the Caledonian Canal.

now in progress; but the rocky ground at Strone is not yet ail
removed, still remaining nine feet deep for the space of one hun-
dred and sixty -yards in the bottom of the canal. From Strone
to Muirshearlich, a full mile, the southern bank of the canal is
formed of earth brought from the deep cutting of the latter place,
which has been a very tedious and expensive operation, and will
not be finished until the close of the present season. Last year
“we had reason to form the same expectation ; but the earth near
the bottom was unexpectedly found to be unusually hard, and
the weather has been extremely unfavourable for this kind of
work from the beginning of November almost to the present’
time. The action of the horses which remove the earth by
means of rail-ways, becomes circumscribed as the work draws
towards its close, and their number is consequently diminished
from thirty to twenty-three; they are the property of the con-
tractor, and maintained by him.

From the deep cutting at Muirshearlich through Shangan,
Upper and Lower Banavie, to the chain of eight locks, a space of
two miles, the canal is perfectly finished ; as also from the chain
of locks to the sea entrance at Corpach, about a mile distant,
including therein the two Corpach locks and the bason between
them and the sea entrance.

The whole of the masonry of the five several aqueducts of Loy,
Muirshearlich, Shangan, Upper Banavie, and Lower Banavie,
with the road-ways under each of them, remain as before re-
ported, perfect and uninjured by floods or other accidents, The
great chain of locks rising from Corpach Moss, and the two
Corpach locks, require only the addition of lock-gates for their
completion. The sea-lock, with its gates, which are of wood,
is quite ready for use; but the coffer-dam which surrounds the
entrance from Loch Eil cannot be removed until the lower gate
of the Corpach locks is hung, the bottom of the platform there
being four feet lower than the level of low water in Loch Fil.
The iron materials for these gates are now daily expected, having
been prepared at Pontcysylté in Denbighshire, and embarked at
Chester.

It remains to be mentioned that in the Corpach district we
have caused to be planted at Upper Banavie, at the chain of
locks, and near Corpach, not less than a hundred thousand seed-
lings of fir and larch and thirteen thousand young trees in the
present spring; and we shall not fail to plant the entire banks
of the canal as fast as we acquire means of protecting the young
trees from injuries of every kind.

PurcHasE oF Lanp. We have much satisfaction in stating
that by the payment of eight thousand pounds with the interest
due thereupon, to Colonel Macdonell of Glengarry, in full for the

: land

On ihe Wire-gauze Safety-lamps for Miners. 51

land purchased of him at the two ends of Loch Oich, our trans-
actions relative to the purchase of land have been terminated,

The amount of rent to be paid by us for the Redcastle quarry
is to be determined under the direction of the court of session
by William Fraser Tytler, esq. sheriff depute of the county of
Inverness,

Accounts. The amount of our expenditure to the end of
April 1816, appears to have been five hundred and ninety-four
thousand pounds; twenty-five thousand pounds in full of the
grant cf the last session of parliameut is now payable to us at
His Majesty’s Exchequer. :

The account inserted in the Appendix is similar to all our pre-
ceding accounts; and the series is in such form as to embrace an
extensive classification, and always to show the expenditure of
the preceding twelvemonth, as well as of the total expenditure
to the present time. “

Mr. ‘Telford’s accounts and vouchers have been examined and
passed by our accountant to the 12th day of August last ; ever
part of our expenditure which does not pass through Mr. Tel-
ford’s hands, is paid by ourselves, and audited under the direction
of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury.

CuHar.rs ABBOT.
N. VaNsITTART.
May 17, 1816. W. Grant.
CASTLEREAGH,
MELVILLE.
BInNING.
CHARLES GRANT.
I. H. Browne.

LE SS SE ST SS ES RES one

XV1. A few additional practical Observations on the Wire-
Gauze Safety-Lamps for Miners. With some Evidence of
their Use. By Sir Humpury Davy.

I HAVE already published an account of the researches which led
me to discover that explosion and flame aré‘incapable of passing
through tubes and apertures, which are nevertheless very perme-
able to both light and air, and [ have described several contri-
vances for lighting coal-mines, in which inflammable air is disen-
gaged, all founded on the same principle of security.

The lamp which has been found most convenient for the miner,
is that composed of a cylinder of strong wire-gauze fastened round
the flame by a screw, and in whichthe wick is trimmed by a wire
passing through a safe aperture.

Lamps of this construction have been commonly used in the

2 most

52 Additional practical Observations on the

most dangerous mines in England for nearly five months, during
which time no accident has happened, and no inconvenience oc-
curred.

Since I first published the account of the wire-gauze safe-lamp,
I haye made a number of experiments on flame, which have led
to some new philosophical views of this curious and important
subject, and to some practical results, which I hope will be use-
ful to the miner: these last will forin the subject of the follow-
ing pages.

I ind that double cylinders of wire- -gauze, so arranged that the |
wires are parallel to each other, occasion very little loss of light,
and very much diminish the heat when the fire damp alone is
burning within the cylinder; so that with double cylinders I have
never observed the wire-gauze to become red hot. The double
cylinder lamp, therefore, is preferable to the single one, whenever
it is necessary to preserve a light for a long time in a highly ex-
plosive atmosphere, and it has likewise twice the strength of thé
single cylinder lamp,

[f objections, which have heen made, probably by persons who
had never seen the lamps, against the weakness of the wire, had
really been valid, it would be easy to double the thickness of it,
or to have treble, or even quadruple folds of wire, with bars per-
fectly parallel. Layers of wire-gauze, for instance, of 25, 26,
and 27 apertures to the inch in the cylinder of the common size,
when arranged with a little care, intercept very little more light
than a single layer.

[ have had two lamps made of cylinders of copper perforated
with numerous small apertures ; but they are more expensive
than cylinders made of copper wire- gauze.

I have had a lamp made of double wire-gauze with an exterior
copper chimney, which can be raised or lowered, so as to con-
sume larger or smaller quantities of fire-damp. This lamp, I find,
may be made to burn ina highly explosive atmosphere without
producing considerable heat, for any length of time ; and it offers
a convenient form of a lainp for destroying the fire damp.

It does not appear, from Mr, Buddle’s con:munications, that
the iron wire rusts in common use; should this be found to be
the case in certain mines, copper wire may be used ; the addi-
tional expense of this material is trifling ; and even wire plated
with silver would not be so costly as to be an object in the price
of the lamp. In the double cylmder lamp, the copper wire will
never become red hot ; and 1 have had lamps made in which the
inner cylinder was of iron and the outer one of copper wire,

Whenever a single wire lamp is made to burn in a very explo-
sive atmosphere, the heat soon arrives at its maximum, and then
diminishes ; and the idea of the wires burning out, is shown to

he

Wire-gauze Safety-lamps for Miners. 53

be unfounded ; the carbonaceous matter” produced from the de-
composition of the oil, tends not only to prevent the oxidation of
the metal, but likewise revives any oxide already formed ; and
this coaly ‘matter, when the fire-damp is burning in the lamp,
choaks the upper apertures of the cylinder, and gradually di-
minishes the heat, by diminishing the quantity of gas eonsumed.

In my early inquiries on this subject, I though t that some vi-
treous incombustible composition might be used as a. coating to
prevent the rusting of the wire, and | made some experiments
on this subject. I find that a fusible compound of boracie acid
and the earth called baryta, answers the purpose of a coating
very well; and if in any case experience should prove that such
an application i is necessary, it may be easily made,

It is obvious, that as long as the principle of security (whieh i is
to admit no aperture in a lamp of more than 3!, of an inch square)
is preserved, the construction may be almost infinitely varied,
and the fire-damp may be burned throughout the whole of a ey-
linder, or inflamed at certain surfaces only, and the light trans-
mitted from other surfaces through horn, or mica, or glass. I
long ago had alamp made of glass, in which the fire- damp burnt
round the wick only, from a circular surface of wire-gauze, and
whica, i in an explosive wixture, produced very little more heat
than in the common atmosphere ; but the facility with which
glass is broken, and horn and mica injured, prevents me from re-
commending any lamps in which these substances are used for
the common purposes of the miner.

I have tried a chimney of brass cappéd with a double wire-
gauze cylinder, having two-thirds of its circumference opposite
the flame open, and covered with wire-gauze. This, in an ex-
plosive mixture, produced very little heat, though it gave a tole-
rable light, and by i increasing the surfaces impermeable, or by di-
minishing those permeable to air, the heat may be reduced in
any degree*,

Whatever construction is adopted, too much attention cannot
ve paid to the form of the screw by which the cylinder or chim-
ney is fastened to the lamp; it ought to be strong and deep,
and to consist of at least three turns.

When the fire-damp is inflamed in the wire-gauze cylinders,
coal dust thrown into the lamp burns with strong flaslies and

/

* TheRev. John Hodgson, whose zeal and activity in promoting the ob-
jects of these researches I cannot praise too highly, has had a lamp made
upon this plan, having a thick plate of glass in a metallie chimney opposite
a wire-gauze feeder, in which the supply of air is regulated by means of a
slider. I found a model which be sent me to answer very well; the only
objection is, the chance of the glass being broken by a fall, or by a drop of
water when hot,

D3 scin-

54 Additional practical Observations on the

scintillations. It appears that the miners were at first alarmed
by an effect of this kind produced by the dust naturally raised
during the working of the coals. 1 have made a number of ex-
periments on this subject; but though I have repeatedly thrown
coal dust, powdered rosin, and witch meal, through lamps burn-
ing in more explosive mixtures than ever occur in coal mines,
and though I have kept these substances floating in the explo-
sive atmosphere, and heaped them upon the top of the Jamp when
it was red hot, yet | never could communicate explosion by means
of them. Phosphorus or sulphur are the only substances which
can produce explosion by being applied to the outside of the lamp;
and sulphur, to produce the effect, must be applied in large quan-
ise and blown upon by a current of fresh air,

t will be unnecessary to caution the workmen against heap-
ing sulphur, or gunpowder, or pyrites, which afford sulphur by
distillation, upon their lamps; and such dust from these sub-
stances as can float in the atmosphere cannot produce inflam-
mation; for minute particles of ignited solid matter have no power
of inflaming the fire-damp ; and I have repeatedly blown fine,
coal dust mixed with minute quantities of the fivest dust of gun-
powder through the lamp burning in explosive mixtures without
any communication See ag + and supposing danger with re-
" spect to gunpowder, the steel-mill must be much more liable to
inflame that substance than the wire-gauze lamp: and the dou-
ble cylinder lamp offers perfect security agaiast the inflammation
of any matter that can ever exist in coal mines.

In adopting from 30 to 26 a apertures to 7 inch 4 oe 909 to
676 i in the square inch) and wires of from — to =’; of an inch
in thickness, even single lamps are secure in all atmospheres of
fire-damp ; and double cylinder lamps are perfectly safe under all
circumstances even in atmospheres made explosive by coal gas,
which, from the quantity of olefiant gas it contains, is much more
inflammable than fire-damp. W hen indeed a strong current of
coal gas is driven from a blow- pipe, so as to make wire- gauze of
676 apertures strongly red hot in the atmosphere, the flame from
this pipe may be passed through it whilst it is strongly red hot ;
but this is owing to the power which wires strongly ignited pose
sess of inflaming coal gas* ; and they have no such effeet on ge-
nuine fire-damp ; and a stream of gas burning in the atmosphere
acting on a small quantity of matter, is entirely different from an
explosive mixture, which is uniform within the lamp,

* Olefiant gas contains twice as much charcoal as light carburetted liy-
drogen, and is mach more easily decomposed by heat; the density of its
flame, as I shall show on a future occasion, depends upon solid matter pro-
duced by its decomposition in the process of combustion, and which be-

comes ignited ; and the same circumstance holds good of all flames afford-
ing intense light,
tu

Wire-Gauze Safety-lamps for Miners. 55

‘In a ease where human life is concerned, and by which human
happiness may be affected, 1 have thought it right to take no-
tice of the most trivial and insignificant objections, even when

’ they have arisen from ignorance, or have been prompted by me2-
levolence ; but I do not think it necessary to name the indivi-
duals by whom they have been made, for I would willingly con-
sign to forgetfulness those who do not deserve to be remembered.

The evidence of the use of a practical discovery is of most va-
lue when it it is furnished by practical men, -1 shall therefore
annex two communications, which I am sure will have due weight
with all persons who are acquainted with the northern collieries;
and my motive for publishing them is the hope of inducing the
coal owners in other parts of the island to lose no time in adopt-
ing these simple methods of preserving their workmen from dan-
ger *, i. D,

A Letter on the practical Application of the Wire-gauze Sufe-
lamp, from Joun Bupp.e, Esq. to Sir H. Davy.
Walls-end Colliery, Newcastle, 1st June, 1816.

S1r,—After having introduced your safety-lamp into general
use in all the collieries under my direction, where inflammable
air prevails ; and after using them daily in every variety of ex-
plosive mixture for upwards of three months, I feel the highest
possible gratification in stating to you, that they have answered
to my entire satisfaction.

The safety of the lamps is so easily proved, by taking them into
any part of a mine charged with fire-damp, and all the explo-
sive gradations of that dangerous element, are so easily and sa-
tisfactorily ascertained by their application, as to strike the minds
of the most prejudiced with the strongest conviction of their
high utility ; and our colliers have adopted them with the great-
est eagerness.

In the practical application of the lamps, scarcely any difficulty
has occurred. Those of the ordinary working size, when pre-
pared with common cotton wick and the Greenland whale
oi], burn during the collier’s shift, or day’s work of six hours,
without requiring to be replenished ; and the safety trimmer an-
swers the purpose of cleaning, raising, and lowering the wick
completely.

The only inconvenience experienced arises from the great quan
tity of dust, produced in some situations by working the coal,
vlosing up the meshes of the wire- gauze, and obscuring the light;

* Models of the double cylinder lamp, which I recommend in all col-
lieries where explosive mixtures are common, as well as models of the single
aL may be had of Mr. Newman, Lisle-street, Leicester-square, Lon-

on.
DA 2 but.

56 Additional practical Olservations on the

_ but the workmen very soon removed this inconvenience by the
application of a small brush,

e have frequently used the lamps where the explosive. mix-
ture was so high as to heat the wire-gauze red hot ;» but on ex-
amining a lamp which has been in constaut use for three months,
and occasionally subjected to this degree of heat, 1 cannot per-
ceive that the gauze cylinder of iron wire is at all impaired. I.
have not, however, thought it prudent, in our present state of
experience, to persist in using the lamps under such circum-
stances, because I have observed, that in such situations the par-
ticles of coal dust, floating in the air, fire at the gas burning
within the cylinder, and fly off in small luminous sparks. This
appearance, I must confess, alarmed me in the first instance ; but
experience*soon proved that it was not dangerous. As it is, how-
ever, possible that some other light combustible substance, ca-
pable of inflaming at a red heat, may occasionally float in the
atmosphere of the mine, I have thought it prudent, for the pre-
sent at least, to discontinue the use of the lamps where the gauze
is subject to that degree of heat, especially if for a length of time
at once,

Our colliers have found it most convenient to hang the sta-
tionary lamps from small wooden pedestals; but on observing,
that where the sides of the lamps have been suffered to come in
contact with the pedestals, the wood is charred to a considerable
depth by the heat of the lamps; I have thought it right to use
small iron pedestals instead of the wooden ones.

Beside the facilities afforded by this invention to the working
of coal mines abounding in fire-damp, it has enabled the direct-
ors and superintendants to ascertain with the utmost precision,
and expedition, both the presence, the quantity, and the correct
situation of the gas. Instead of creeping inch by inch with a
candle, as is usual, along the galleries of a mine suspected to con-
tain fire-damp, in order to ascertain its presence, we walk firmly
on with the safe lamps, and with the utmost confidence prove;
the actual state of the mine. By observing attentively the several
appearances upon the flame of the lamp, in an examination of,
this kind, the cause of accidents which have happened to the most
experienced and cautious miners is completely developed ; and
this has hitherto been, in a great measure, matter of mere con-
jecture.

When the discharge of inflammable air is regular. and the den-
sity of the atmosphere continues uniform, the firing point may.
be judged of, and approached with safety by a common candle.
But when the discharge of inflammable. air is irregular, or the
atmosphere is in an unsettled state, a degree of uncertainty and

danger attends the experiment of ascertaining the state of-a mine.
With

Wire-gauzxe Safety-lamps for Miners. 57

With the safe-lamp; however, it is reduced to the utmost cer-
tainty, the actual presence and position of the gas is not only
ascertained with the greatest precision, but also every alteration
of circumstance or position is distinctly perceived.

By placing a lamp near the spot where a quantity of infam-
mable air is issuing, and mixing with the circulating current of
atmospherical air to the firing point, it will be seen that very re-

‘mote causes frequently produce pulsations in the atmosphere of
the mine, which eccasion the gas to fire at naked lights; thus
showing clearly the instability of the element with which we have
to deal, and the reason why so many explosions have occurred
where lights have not approached the place where the gas was
lodged within a considerable distance.

Objections have been made by some who have not had expe-
rience of the lamps, to the delicacy of the wire-gauze, under the
apprehension that it may be very soon impaired by the flame

_within the cylinder. Of this, however, I have no reason to com-
plain, as, after three months constant use, the gauze has not, in
the hands of careful workmen, been perceptibly injured by the
action of the flame ; but the outer top gauze of one or two of
Newman’s making has been worn through by the friction of the
rivet* on the bottom of the swivel, to which the finger ring. is
fastened ; but this only happencd to the lamps used by the waste-
men, whose business it is to travel daily in the various avenues of
the mines, for the purpose of keeping the passage for tle current
of air free from obstructions: nothing of the kind has happened
to the stationary lamps used by the colliers. In short, I do not
apprehend that the gauze can be injured by any ordinary cause
without being observed in time sufficient to prevent accidents ;

and that we have no danger to apprehend, except from the gross
negligence of some heedless individual, or an accident of a very
unusual description occurring to injure the gauze.

I find that I have extended my letter to a greater length than

_lintended ; but I trust, Sir, that you will excuse me for having
gone so much into detail, as I feel peculiar satisfaction in dwell-
ing upon a subject which is of the utmost importance not only to
the great cause of humanity, and to the mining interest of this
country, but also to the commercial and manufacturing interests
of the United Kingdom: for I feel convinced that by the happy

eezention of the safe-lamp, large proportions of the coal mines of
the empire will be rendered available, which otherwise might
have remained inaccessible—at least without an invention of si-

_milar utility, it could not have been wrought without much loss

‘pfthe mineral, and risk of life and capital.

* This rivet is now fixed. Wd, D.
{t

58 Observations on Wire-gauxe Safety-lamps for Miners.

It is not necessary that I should enlarge upon the national ad-
vantages which must necessarily result from an invention caleu-
lated to prolong our supply of mineral coal, because I think them
obvious to every reflecting mind ; bit | cannot conclude without
expressing my highest sentiments of admiration for those talents
which have developed the properties and controlled the power of
one of the most dangerous elements which human enterprise has
hitherto had to encounter.

I have the honour to be, &c. Xe.
To Sir H. Davy.- Joun BuDDLE.

Extract of a Letter from Mr, Pri. to Sir H. Davy.

Colliery Office, Whitehaven, 6th July, 1816.

- [rake the liberty of adding a further statement on your invalu-

able safe-lamps, in the Whitehaven collieries belonging to the

earl of Lonsdale, since the first application of them in February
last. f

With us, the general use of the lamps in consequence of the
good state of our ventilation is confined to leading workings, or
trial drifts ; and in two of these, lately going on in one of the
pits unusually infected with fire-damp, and which previously were
lighted by means of steel-mills, we applied the lamps with great
confidence and security.

In May last in these drifts an extraordinary discharge of fire-
damp burst from the pavement of the mine, and the ventilation
being at that time unavoidably obstructed, the atmosphere be-
came so charged with fire-damp as to be nearly throughout an
explosive mixture. In this situation we derived the unspeakable
benefit of light from the lamps, and, notwithstanding the explo-
sive state of the mixture, with the most perfect safety.

In several other places in the collieries the lamps are used with
the same confidence: yet the discharge of fire-damp being mo-
derate, they are not much exposed to explosive mixtures.

In all the workings showing the least appearance of fire-damp,
the miners are supplied with lamps, and are particularly cau-
tioned to use them on first entering when beginning to work,
where, being satisfied of security, they occasionally resort to can-
dles afterwards. This application of the lamp,alone, is of the
greatest utility, and prevents many slight explosions, and the
miners from being burned; besides superseding the necessity of
depending on the judgement or discrimination of any individual
to prove the existence of the fire-damp, as in the old method, by
the candle flame.

From the repeated proofs made with the lamps, we cannot too
strongly express our confidence in their security.

By experiment, a pint of oil, value six-pence, will about sup-

ply

Notice respecting a new Comet. 59

ply a lamp for six days, the ordinary time of a man’s working,
so that they are cheaper than candles.
If my humble testimony can in any degree promote the speedy
use of the. Mt in other places, it w ill give me great pleasure.
- T remain, &c.

To Sir H. Davy. JoHN PEILE.

XVII. Extract of a Letter from Dr. OLwErs, F.R.S. of Bre-
men, respecting a New Comet; with an Account of a Work
of Professor Besse. Communicated by a CORRESPONDENT.

Avrer a long silence I profit by the permission which you
once gave me to address you in German, not being able to ex-
press myself readily in English, though I read the language with-
out difficulty. My present object is to request a favour of you,
which may give you some trouble, but which I hope the import-
ance of the subject will induce you to grant me :—it is, that you
would undertake to collect subscriptions for a work of Professor
Bessel, of KGnigsberg, of which the prospectus is inclosed. I
am willing to hope that an undertaking so essential for the ad-
vanceinent of astronomy will be particularly enconraged in’En-
gland, especially as it is entirely founded on the observations of
your incomparable countryman Bradley. According to the pre-
sent course of exchange, the price of the book will not exceed
about a guinea and a half; and it will be printed as soon as a
sufficient number of subscribers shall be found to afford a rea-
sonable prospect of the repayment of the expenses.
I discovered a comet last year on the 6th of March, and gave

immediate notice of the discovery to Dr. Herschel, as well as in
_ the public papers. This comet was observed in Germany until
the 25th of August ; and it is very remarkable for the shortness
of the period of its revolution. Several of our astronomers,
and in particular Mr. Nicolai, now Director of the Observatory
of Manheim, have calculated its motions in an elliptical orbit ;
and the results of their calculations agree extremely well with
each other; but none of them has exhibited greater diligence
and address in the inquiry than Professor Bessel.’ These are his
elements, determined for the 26th April 1815;

Time of the perihelion, 1815 April 25- Pint mean time at Paris.
Longitude of the ascending node...... 83° 25’ 33°63”
Inclination of the orbit.............. 44° 29% 54°59”
Distance of the perihelion from the node 65° 33’ 22:29”
Logarithm of the shortest distance.... 0°0838109 ,
MRCENUICIVG Ss ets cc ct oct eet voess OooToIUGS

Greater semi-axis, or mean distance, 17°63383

PETION vv ccvcuveccssevecdesiecre 404913, Motion direct.
The

60 Notice respecting @ new Comet;

The longitude of the ascending node is calculated from the
mean place of the equinoctial point on the Ist Jan. 18155 and
the inclination relates to the plane of the ecliptic at the same
time. In this determination the perturbations derived from the
action of thé planets, during the time that the comet remained
visible, have been taken into the calculation; and it is derived
from a comparison of nearly 200 observations. According to the
doctrine of chances, it is probable that the error of the time of
revolution does not exceed -++*27657 of a year, or about 101
days.

The indefatigable Bessel has also calculated the perturbations
which this comet will undergo before its next return. Accord-
ing to its regular elements it ought to come again to the perihe-
lion on the 14th May 1889; but, on account of the perturba~
tions, this event will take place S24- 51 days earlier, that is, on
the 9: h February 1887 ; consequently our successors may expect
its return three or four months before or after the 9th February
1887.

If this comet should have been accurately observed in En-
gland, you will much oblige me by sending me the particulars of
the observations. In France it has net been done with’much
precision ; and we have only been able to obtain, in addition fo
the German observations, some which have been made in Russia
and in the north of Italy.

In the first part of the Philosophical Transactions for 1814 is
an exellent essay by your great mathematician Mr. Ivory, who
is also so much esteemed in this country; it is entitled * Ona
New Method of deducing a first Approximation to the Orbit of
a Comet.” I had great. pleasure in observing the striking re-
semblance between this method aud that which I myself pub-
lished some years ago, and which has since that time been much
used on the Continent; and the coincidence was the more in-
teresting, as Mr. Ivory ‘obtained the same solution, from his al-
gebraical investigation, which I had deduced from a more geo-
metrical consideration of the problem. My method may easily
have escaped Mr. Ivory’s notice, as it was for a long time only
to be found in German publications: at present he will have
found it in Delambre’s Astronomy, and perhaps also he may be
acquainted with the new aud very convenient form which Pro-
fessor Gauss has given to it in the Gottingen Transactions. I
send with this letter two copies of my Jittle work ; one I beg you
to honour with a place in your library, the other to transmit to
Mr. Ivory, with the assurance of my particular respect.

I am very desirous of being informed if Troughton’s new circle
at Greenwich, with which Mr. Pond now makes his observations,
is situated very near to Bird’s quadrant, with which the principal

part

with an Account of a-i¥ork of Professor Bessel. 61

part of Bradley’s were made. Bessel finds the latitude of the
quadrant, from 2000 observations of Bradley, exactly a second
greater than Pond makes that of his circle; and it is natural to
‘quire whether a part of the difference may not depend on the
different situation of the instruments.

Bremen, 15t!) June 1816. Witiiam OLBERs.

oH te

Professor Bessel’s work will be entitled Fundamenta Astro-
nomice pro Anno 1735, deducta ex Observationilus Virt incom-
parabilis J, Brapiey. It is the result of the labour of seven
whole years, and contains a number of determinations of the ut-
most importance to astronomy. ‘The extreme accuracy of Brad-
ley’s methods of observing, combined with the excellence of his
instruments, made it possible for him to attain a degree of pre-
cision, which is of so much the more value, as half a century is
now elapsed since the period to which they relate. All the ele-
ments which have any influence on astronomical observations are
here deduced from Bradley’s observations alone.

The séctions of the work are these: I]. Examination of the
instruments, and of their corrections. II. Observations of the
equinox. III. Latitude of Greenwich. IV. Refraction. V. Ap-
plication of the latitude and refraction to the observations of the
solstice and the equinox. VI. Examination of the old mural
quadrant : law of its variations new examination of right as-
censions. VII. General and special tables of aberration and
nutation. VIII. Kegister of the clock from 1750 to 1762.
1X. Annual parallax of some of the fied stars: constant multi-
plier for aberration. X. Catalogue of all the stars obseryed by -
Bradley; 3166 which are found in later catalogues, and 108
observed but once, and not elsewhere noticed; some of which
may possibly have been planets, but the Georgian planet oceurs
but once among them. XI. Precession of the equinoxes. XII.
Proper motion of the fixed stars. XIII. Comparison of the re-
sults with other observations.

The work is written in Latin, and will contain about 400
pages in folio: the price to subscribers will be ten dollars, con-
ventional currency, to be paid on delivery. The only reason for
soliciting a subscription is to contribute to the advaneement of
science. The author would readily have renounced all hopes ef
remuneration for his labours; but so little encouragement is
given in Germany to works of the kind, that no bookseller
could be found to undertake the expenses of the publication. A
‘hundred subseribers will be sufficient to enable the author to
meet these expenses; and their names will be published as be-
-nefactors to the science of astronomy.

*,* The Editor of the Philosophical Magazine has been re-

quested

62 Nolices respecting New Books.

quested to receive the names of subscribers to this work, and
will forward them to Dr. Olbers’s correspondent, who has under-
taken to be responsible for its delivery.

XVIII. Notices respeciing New Books.

Remarks on the Art of making Wine; with Suggestions for the
Application of its Principles to the Improvement of domestic
Wines. By Joun MacCuttocnu, M.D. Longman. pp.261.
12mo.

D,. MacCvuiiocn’s name as an author in the sciences of che-
mistry and mineralogy is deservedly in high estimation, and he
has added considerably to his reputation by the above publica-
tion. It is a practical treatise on a subject which is likely to be-
come daily of more interest in this country, and it has been an
object of peculiar attention with the Caledonian Horticultural So-
ciety, who have the merit of being perhaps the first public body
which has awarded premiums for the best specimens of British
wines.

Dr. MacCulloch’s ideas were first thrown into the form of a
memoir for the Transactions of the above Society, and the en-
‘couragement they received in that shape induced him to ex-
tend his researches, and to compese a useful portable volume on
the subject. The author’s treatise is quite practical: the im-
provements in modern chemistry have enabled him triumphantly
to explode the gross errors which had crept into most of our fa-
mily receipt-books for making- wines. On the subject of the
absurd and deleterious practice of adding alcohol or brandy
to home-made and foreign wines, professedly to make them
keep longer ; but in reality to render them more palatable to the
depraved appetites of English wine-drinkers, the author is pecu-
liarly happy. , Alluding to the undefinable light and quick fla-
vour so characteristic of the French wines, and so opposite to the
mawkish, dull and heavy taste of the wines of Spain and Portugal
(particularly that called Port), imported into this country, Dr.
MacCulloch ascribes the wretched taste and bad effects of the
latter to the admixture of brandy or spirits. We shall select
this part of the work, as being a specimen of its real value, and
as likely to be useful both to the consumers and makers of wines
in this country. ‘

*¢ This practice (that of mixing brandy or alcohol with wine),
universal in the wines of Spain, Portugal, and Sicily, which are
intended fer the English market, has also been introduced into
our domestic wines, under the mistaken notion of preventing
them

Notices respecting New Books. 63

them from turning sour, and with the idea that it enabled them
to keep for a longer time. As this is a question of some im-
portance, both as it regards the perfection and the economy of
~ our domestic manufacture, I shall make no apology for entering
somewhat largely into it.

<¢ It'had been long thought, from the vain attempts of che-
Mists to separate the alcohol which j is a constituent part of wine
by other chemical processes than distillation, that this substance
existed in it, either in a far different condition from that in which
we know it when in its separate state, or that the intoxicating
substance contained in wine was not alcohol. This opinion ap-
pears to have originated with Rouelle, who imagined that alco-
hoi was not conipletely formed until the temperature was raised
to the point of distillation. More lately the same doctrine was
revived and promulgated by Fabbroni in the Memoirs of the
Florentine Academy. His opinion was founded on the following
experiment. Wher alcohol is added to new wine, he observed
that he could by the introduction of subcarbonate of potash in
sufficient quantity separate the added alcohol, while the spirit of
the wine remained attached to it as hefore these additions, and
could only be obtained by subjecting it to distillation. Hence
he concluded, thatthe alcohol was formed by the action of heat

on the elements of wine, or that it was a product of distillation.
«¢ But the experiment was not attended with similar results in
the bands of other chemists, unless in cases where the added al-
cohol bore a very considerable proportion to the wine, and it
consequently left the question respecting the formation of alcohol
in wine in the same state as before. I need not point out the
laxity so apparent in Fabbroni’s reasonings, as it would lead to
discussions too minute for thisessay. But the attention of other
chemists has been excited towards the same object, and ‘con-
elusions the reverse of his have been the consequence. If sub-
acetate of lead be added to wine, and the clear liquor be then
saturated with subcarbonate of potash, the alcoho! will be se-
parated. It also appears from the experiments of Gay Lussa¢
that alcohol can be separated from wine by distillation at the:
temperature of 66, and indeed from the trials of Fabbroni him-
self, this separation was produced at 63. More recently by the
aid of a vacuum the distillation has been effected at 56, a proof
that alcohol is not produced by the action of the heat required
for boiling wine or wash on the elements which these substances
éontain. It must therefore be considered as one of the elemen-»
tary constituents of wine, and whatsoever phenomena it may
therefore present with reagents or as a subject of chemical in-
quiry, must, as far as they may differ in different wines, arise
from differeuces in its mode of combination with one or more of
the

64 Nolices respecting New Books.

the other ingredients which enter into that compound fluid. Al-
though therefore alcohol is ascertained to exist ready formed in
ai! wines, so much of the experiment of Fabbroni is still true as
to be an object of utility in the subject we are now examining ; -
while the conclusions to be drawn from it appear of importance
in explaiing the different effects of simple wines and wines with
which brandy has been mixed. It is presuming much too far
on our chemical knowledge to imagine that we are acquainted
with the nature of alcohol. It is possibly subject to varieties of
composition, analogous to those which are found in the very va-
riable substances included under carburetted hydrogen gas, and
which, although thev have not been appreciated by chemical!
actions, merely per haps beeause the subject has been supposed
to be already understood, and the substance itself imagined to be
in all cases chemically identical, may be ascertained hereafter
by more refined experiments in the hands of acuter chemists, to
whom this subject is here pointed out as calling for investiga-
tion. It is otherwise impossible to understand the differences
which appear in its effects on the nervous system when taken
into the stomach under its different forms. Where its specific
gravity, and consequently its imagined condition, is in different
specimens absolutely equal, yet these specimens, produced un-
der different circumstances, operate on the nervous system in @
manner so tota'ly different as to point out some radical differences
of which specific gravity is no eriterion. The comparative ef-
fects of new and of old rum, of equal proof, of Dutch gin and
of diluted alcohol of equal strength, are too well known to re-
quire more than a bare mention. It has been supposed, for
want of better means of explaining these effects, that they were
due to the essential oil contained in the different varieties of
spirits used as beverage. But of these we know nothing. We
are sure that they are in very trifling quantity, since they cannot
be separated by water, except in the single case of gin, where a
foreign oil is purposely introduced. Neither are we acquainted
with any oils of this class whose qualities are deleterious, except
that of the bitter kernels, their analogous kindred laurel, and
a few other bitter vegetables, whose poisonous qualities besides
appear to be subject to no modifications, being, where not
deadly, almost unproductive of any effects. Moreover that spirit,
alcoliol, from which by careful rectification the essential oil
seems to have been most carefully removed, is more injurious
than those which like rum and brandy. are known to contain it.
¢ Dilution does not remove the injurious effeets of these noxious
spirits. When spirit of any sort is mixed with water it requires
some little time to effect the union of the two substances. Thev

ultimately become combined. Yet the effect of the one kind of —

spirit,

'
;

Notices respécting New Books. 65

spirit, although combined with water, is still different from that
of the other on the human bedy. They are both very-different
from that of pure wine in which either chemical reagents or
distillation have ascertained precisely the sane proportion of al-
cohol. In other words, the same quantity of alechol applied to
the stomach under the form of natural wine, and in a state of
mere combination with water, is productive of -effects on. the
body, not only immediately but ultimately attended with consi-
derable differences. These are well known to physicians. ‘They are
equally well known to those whose habits of observation either on
themselves or others have led them to compare the moral effects,
if we may so term them, produced by intoxication with different
Wines, with champagne and claret, or with port and sherry, the
elevation of thought produced by the former, with the sedative:
effects of the latter; or who have had an opportunity of wit-
hessing the stupidity produced by ale and the ferocity which re-
sults from intoxication with spirits. The nervous system is here
a test of differences which elude the ordinary resources of che-
mistry. Yet the reagents which have been applied to the in-
vestigation of these differences, although they have done little,
still show that some chemical distinctions may really exist. - It.
has been perhaps hastily said of Fabbroni’s experiment, that it
was useless since it produced no consistent results. On the con-
trary it appears to be a test applicable to some of the least tena-
cious combinations of alcohol, and the censuie unjustly passed
on it has originated in want of attention to the subject, and to
those delicate circumstances in the combinations of alcohol, on
which its various effects, as it exists in wine and other potable
liquors, depend. Could we discover an additional number of
such reagents differing in their various powers of separating the
different combinations under which it-is found, I have little
doubt that chemical means would shortly illustrate, by corre-
sponding differences of effect, the different powers which these -
beverages exert on the nervous system. The experiment. of
Fabbroni is perfectly valid to a certain extent, and the causes of
the supposed irregular results appear to be abundantly obvious.
If aleohol be mixed with water in any proportion, it may be se-
parated by carbonat of potash. If it be mixed with wine in the
same manner, it is, with due attention and in particular cireum-
stances, equally separable. But if an attempt be made to se-
parate the adventitious aleohol from those wines to which it has
been added by the manufacturer, the experiment will sometimes:
succeed and sometimes fail. The cause is mentioned in various
parts of this essay, and is apparently this. If the aleohol or
brandy be added before the fermentation of the wine, or at some
subsequent stage when that fermentation can be artificially re-
Vol. 48. No. 219, July 1816. E excited,

66 Notices respecting New Books.

excited, it then enters either entirely or partially into a more
perfect combination with the wine than that which it forms after
a uiere admixture; or a portion of it at least, proportioned to
the degree of fermentation which takes place aiter its addition,
hecomes thus combined. Here the test indicated by Fabbroni
fails, although reagents of higher powers are still capable of ef-
fecting the s¢ eparation. In ali such cases the wine is imperfectly

yineus, the brandy being almost always sensible to delicate pa-
lates, and. its effects ou the stomach are proportionably injurious. -
The test is therefore of real use in ascertaining the correct fabri-
cation of ‘those wines to which brandy is added, and it will in-.
variably be found that the worst wines of the growth of Portugal
aud Spain are those which are the most sensible to it, or in other

words, those which contain the greatest quantity of uncombined
aleohol. But to return to the consequences which arise in the
liquor itself from the admixture of alcohol. It decomposes the
wine. However slow the effects of this decomposition may ap-
pear, they are not the less certain. The first and most con-
spicuous effect, is the loss of that undefinable lively or brisk fla-
venr which all those who possess accuracy of taste can discover
in French wines, or in natural wines; and a flatness, which must
be sensible, by the principle of contrast, to the dullest palate
which shall compare the taste of claret with that of port, or that
of heck, or grave with lisbon or bucellos. It tends equally, al-
though in a greater length of time, to destroy the union of the
colouring principle, which is well known to be deposited in port
w.nes, and apparently, in a great measure, from the action of
this foreign substance. It may not be useless at the same time
to consider the influence which it must have on the quality of the
wine as a beverage. The habitual use of wine containing, as
many of the wines of Portugal so often do, a large portion of
brandy, must be manifestly equivalent to the habitual use of
spirits, or rather, to the use of spirits and wine together. ‘To
this cause we may doubtless attribute the great difference in the
effects produced by an immoderate indulgence i in port and sherry,
or by a similar use of claret and other French wines. Even the
immediate effects are sensilly different, as 1 have said before,

aud the transitory nature of the one with the permanence of the
other are too well known to be insisted on. But the ultimate
consequences appear to be of a more serious nature. It is well
known to physicians that diseases of the liver are the most com-
mon and the most formidable of those produced by the use of
spirits. Itis equally certain that no such disorders follow the
inteuperate use of pure wine, however long indulged in; and
to this cause, the concealed and unwitting consumption of spirit,

as it is contained in the wines commonly drunk in this country,

is

: : Fy . : 5 . t
Notices respecting New Books. 67

4 . . - 2 2 :

is doubtless to be attributed the excessive and increasing preva-
lence of hepatic affections, diseases comparatively little known
to our continental neighbours. It is suificient to have touched
on this most important subject, on which the proposed limits of
the present essay will not allow me to dwell. It is more to my
pTesent purpose to show, that the use of brandy in the manu-
facture of wine is founded on a mistaken principle. Having
shown that it is injurious to wine in general, by destroying its
liveliness and hastening its decomposition, I might strengthen
this assertion by mentioning that it is not used in any of the
wines of France or Germany, and that the finer wines, claret,
burgundy, and hock, are totally destroyed by it. But it is also
proper to point out its insufficiency for producing the effects ex-
pected from it, the preservation of the wine, and the retardation
of the acetous process. The former parts of this essay having
fully explained the nature both of the vinous and of the acetous
fermentation, I need not here again describe them, except to re-
mind the reader, that the avetous process cannot take place
while there exists between the leaven and the sugar a dispropor-
tion in favour of the latter, and that the fermentation cannot be
re-excited if the leaven has been entirely separated by the usual
processes of racking, fining, and sulphuring, should even the
sugar have disappeared. Such wine can therefore have no ten-
dency to vinegar, and the addition of brandy if intended to pre-
vent that effect is at least superfluous. It is now to be inquired
whether brandy has any power to prevent the acetous process
from taking place, supposing that the circumstances favourable
toitare present. If brandy in small quantity be introduced into
vinegar during the acetous stage of fermentation, the process
goes on as before, and the alcohol is acetified, the produce be-
coming a stronger vinegar. This has indeed been lately denied
by Mr. Cadet, in whose hands the addition of alcohol in small
quantities appears to have had no effect on the acetous process.
From his experiments it would also appear that the addition of
alcohol in a quantity exceeding 1-17th of the fluid suspends the
acetification. In the state of ignorance in which we are re-
specting the chemical nature of that process, it does not appear
easy to reconcile these contradictory experiments. Admitting
that the experiments of Mr. Cadet are unexceptionable, it remains
certain that wine can be, as it daily is, brought into the acetous
fermentation by proper treatment or under certain natural cir-
cumstances, although containing a far greater proportion of al-
eohol than that which appeared to him sufficient to suspend the
process. It is certainly possible that the state of combination
above described, in which the alcohol exists in the wine, may,
when contrasted with the mere mixture which may possibly take

: E 2 place

68 Notices respecting New Books.

place in his experiment, account for this difference of effect ;-or
it may even happen that the action of alcohol on a process al-
ready commenced may be sufficient ‘to account for the difference,
the same alcohol applied before the commencement of the pro-
cess being susceptible of the incipient changes, and being thus
ultimately capable of entering into the final ones in common
with the rest of the fluid. But this subject is yet obscure. A
correct and varied repetition of these experiments would be ne-

cessary to render this subject thoroughly intelligible, and they

may be added to the general list of desiderata in this depart-
ment of chemistry which have already heen enumerated.

‘© I must therefore proceed in the examination of this subject
on the basis of former experience, omitting any exceptions to be
drawn from these experiments, as being for the present incapable
of application ; the more so that they do not appear strictly ap-
plicable to the case under review, the prevention of the change
irom wine to vinegar. If brandy and milk are mixed together,
the acetous process establishes itself speedily, and the produce
is vinegar, We have here then ample proof that brandy, in
these cases, so far from checking the acetous process, increases
it, and therefore, that its use, as a preservative to wine, is founded
in error. I have dwelt the more on this subject because this
view is opposed to all popular opinions and practices, opinions
most assuredly founded on erroneous and vague analogies, drawn
from some supposed preservative power residing in spirits. I
am the more. particular in calling to this subject the attention
of those who may engage in the manufacture of domestic wines,
because a notion is prevalent, that these wines are above all
others deficient in durability, and cannot exist without. this ad-
mixture. The effect, on the contrary, is to destroy the brisk-
ness of these wines, often the only meritorious quality they pos-
sess, while it increases their expense and diminishes their salu-
brity. If taste or prejudice require that wine should be stronger
than it can be made naturally, or if for temporary purposes it is
desirable to mix brandy with wine, it may be done, but under
certain restrictions which I shall presently point out, when I
have occasion to speak of the diseases incident to wine and their
remedies,”’ )

The Philosophical Transactions, Part 1. for 1816, has just. ap-
peared, and the following are its contents :
I. On the Fire-damp of Coal-mines, and on Methods of,

lighting the Mines so as to prevent its Explosion. By, Sir H._

Davy, LL.D. F.R.S. V.P.R.I.—II. Account of an Invention for,
giving Light in explosive Mixtures of Fire-damp in Coal-mines,
by consuming the Fire-damp. By Sir Humphry Davy, LL.D.

F. Buds

Notices respecting New Books. 69
F.R.S.V.P.R.I.—IL1. On the Development of exponential Func-

tions; together with several new Theorems relating to finite
Differences. By John Frederick W. Herschel, Esq. F.R.S.—
IV. On new Properties of Heat, as exhibited in its Propagation
along Plates of Glass. By David Brewster, LL.D. F.R.S, Lond.
and Edin. In a Letter addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph
Banks, Bart. G.C.B. P.R.S.—V.. Further Experiments on the
Combustion of explosive Mixtures confined by Wire-ganze, with
some Observations on Flame. By Sir H. Davy, LL.D. F.R.S.
V.P.R.I.—VI. Some Observations and Experiments made on
the Torpedo of the Cape of Good Hope in the Year 1812. By
John T. Todd, late Surgeon of His Majesty’s Ship Lion. Com-
municated by Sir Everard;Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.—VII. Direct
and expeditious Methods of calculating the excentrie from the
mean Anomaly of a Planet. By the Rev. Abram Robertson,
D.D. F.R.S. Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the University
of Oxford, and Radclifian Observer. Communicated by the
Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B. P.R.S.—VIII. De-
moiistrations of the late Dr. Maskelyne’s Formule for finding the
Longitude and Latitude of a celestial Object from its Right
Ascension and Declination; and for finding its Right Ascension
and Declination from its Longitude and Latitude, the Obliquity
of the Ecliptic being given in both Cases. By the Rev. Abram
Robertson, D.D. F.R.S. Savilian Professor of Astronomy in the.
University of Oxford, and Radcliffian Observer. Communicated
by the Right Hon. Siz Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B. P.R.S.—
1X. Some Account of the Feet of those Animals whose pre-
gressive Motion can be carried on in opposition to Gravity. By
Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.—X. On the Communication
of the Structure of doubly refracting Crystals to Glass, Muriate
of Soda, Fluor Spar, and other Substances, by mechanical Com-
pression and Dilatation. By David Brewster, LL.D. F.R.S.
Lond. and Edin. Ina Letter addressed to the Right Hon. Sir
Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B. P.R.S.

Mr. William Phillips will publish in the course of this month,
a new edition of his Outlines of Mineralogy and Geology, revised
and improved. ‘This elementary book is designed chiefly for the
use of young persons. To this edition will be added, some ac-
count of the geology of England and Wales, together with a
coloured map and section of ‘the strata; which is intended also
to be published separately, for the purchasers of the first edition.

The Third Volume of the Transactions of the Geological So-
ciety will be published in the course of this month. It will be
illustrated by a large number of highly-finished plates, chiefly
coloured, E 3 XIX, Pro-

70 j
XIX. Proceedings of Learned Societies.
ROYAL SOCIETY.

June 27.—Sir E. Home furnished a supplement to his former
paper on the structure of the feet of animals which have pro-
gressive motion contrary to the action of gravity. Mr. Bauer
having made very accurate drawings from highly-magnified views
of the feet of such animals, Sir E.. has thus been enabled to correct
his former observations, and even to extend them to insects. It
appears that many of these animals have from one to three
suckers on each foot, which, making a vacuum, enable the ani-
mal to proceed securely along a cieling with its back towards the
earth. Some species of insects, particularly grasshoppers, have
their fect supplied with another apparatus, that is, round elastic
balls, which yield on pressure, and serve to break the violence of
their fall from long leaps. On examining the structure of the
flea’s feet no balls were discovered, as this insect’s kody is sa
light as not to require them. Sir E. thinks that this structure
of the feet of insects must furnish a new and important basis of
the classification of insects; and he anticipates great advantage
to science from the researches and discoveries of Dr. Leach, of
the British Museum, in this department of natural history,

July 4.—J. Barrow, Fsq. communicated a paper on the means
of arresting or destroying the contagion of the plague, by Dr.
Bernardo Antonio Gomez. The Portuguese government being
anxious to prevent the plague from entering Portugal, encouraged
Dr. Gomez to make some experiments, chiefly with the yiew cf
ascertaining whether the common methods of fumigating letters,
or immersing them in vinegar, if received from countries where
the plague was supposed to exist, were sufficient to destroy any
contagious matter which might adhere to them. Dr. G. pro-
eceded to examine the effects of fumigating a sealed letter with
chlorine, having first ‘made two or three longitudinal cuts in it;
and the result proved that such fumigation must be perfectly
sufficient, as every part of the letter retained the odour of the
gas, which was even stronger a day or two after than at the time,
He next made some experiments with vinegar, which, as well as
the chlorine, changed the colour-of the ink, He related the re-
sult of more than 22 experiments made with sulphuric, muriatic,
and nitric acids, with burning sulphur and nitre together, &c.
In order to ascertain the effects of these different acids, he
caused letters to be impregnated with the odour of putrid flesh,
which he found that they expelled completely ; but the chlorme
he considered as the best and most efficacious of these applica-
tions, even should the letters not be cut or perforated, The fu-

migating

Royal Sociely of Edinburgh. 7

migating process of Guyton Morveau he found the most conve-
nient. But in cases of letters coming from parts where the
plague actually exists, he considers it proper either to make cuts
or punctures in the letters.

Two mathematical papers, of a nature not fit for general
reading, were laid before the Society, which then adjourned til
Thursday, Nov. 7.

ROVAL SOCIETY OP EDINBURGH.

Papers on the following subjects have been read since cur last
notice ;

On the Analysis of Sea Water ; by Dr. Murray, In this paper
the result is given of an analysis of a salt formed in the large
way from the brine of sea water, and which seenis hitherto to have
escaped observation. {t is a sulphate of magnesia and sada, ¢ry-
stallized in very regular rhombs, but sometimes with truneated
edges and angles. It contains considerably less water of erystal-
lization than either sulphate of sotla or sulphate of magnesia, -is
less nauseous, and differs in other properties. It has not been ap-
plied to use, but may perhaps be employed as a purgative. Dr.
Murray has also furnished a paper containing 2 general formula
for the analysis of mineral waters, the object of which is to give
ane method applicable to the analvsis of all waters, instead of
the various methods before employed. :

On the Ancient Geography of Central and Eastern Asia, with
‘ustrations derived from recent discoveries in South India; by
Mr. Hugh Murray. The author conceives that the ancients knew
more respecting this quarter of the world than is generally sup-

osed. The modern discovery respecting the course of the rivers
of the Punjab, and their junction before falling into the Indus,
only restores Ptolomy’s map of these rivers. He endeavours, anc
with an appearance of some success, tO shew that Ptolomy’s
statements, carefully analysed, give a pretty correct outline of
central and eastern Asia; and that the prevailing systems of
@Anville, Gosselin, &c. are founded on an undue contempt of
ancjent authorities, and some delusive resemblances of name.

Dr. Brewster has furnished papers—on a new optical and rmi-
neralogical property of Caleareous Spar; and on the commulii~
eation of double Refraction to Glass and other substances thet
refract singly, by mechanical compression and dilatation; anda
notice respecting some new discoveries on Light. In the notice
alluded to, he mentions that he has found that water exists in ni-
trate of potash in the state of ice, ;

Dr. Gordon communicated observations to prove that the ap-
pearance called the buffy coat or inflammatory crust is occa-
sionally seen on arterial as well as oa yencus blood ; also obser-

EA yations

“2 _ . Malleable Platina.

vations on the muscles of the living human body during surgical
operations—on muscles of limbs immediately after amputation—
and on the muscles of some of the lower animals. The result is,
that the muscular fibre during its contraction does not exhibit
any appearance of ruge, but remains straight ; and is not er
ceptibly enlarged i in its transverse diameter.

A criticism, by Mr. Mackenzie, on the tragedy of Bertram.—
A memoir, by Mr. Alison, on the Life and Writings of the late
Lord Woodhouselee ;—a paper, by Mr. Cadel, on the lines that
divide each semi-diurnal are into six equal parts ;—a paper, by
Dr. Jackson, containing an elementary demonstration of the
composition of\ pressures ;—additional remarks by Dr. Murray
on a lamp for illuminating coal mines ;—and a proposal, by Mr.
Kennedy, to introduce a bell-shaped bulb of glass, attached to
a spiral spring fastened to the top of the barometer tube, to

render the instrument less liable to damage by the concussion of
the mercury,

XX. Intelligence and Miscellancous Articles.

MALLEABLE PLATINA,

Lia the Journal of Science and Art, published at Florence, the .

Marquis Ridoli has given a new process for purifying platina.
Having observed the fact that no person had been able to com-
bine sulphur with platina, he conceived the idea that, by con-
verting all the other metals found in crude platina into sulphn-
rets, it would be easy to purify that metal. His process is very
simple. He first separates from the crude platina some of the
extraneous substances usually mixed with it, and washes the re-
mainder jwith nitro-muriatic acid diluted with four times its
weight of water. He then melts it with half its weight of pure
lead, throws it into cold water, and thus obtains an alloy, which
he pulverizes, mixes with an equal pertion of sulphur, and throws
into a white-hot Hessian crucible; covers the crucible stay
and keeps it-in an intense heat for ten minutes. _ When cold,
- brittle metallie button, composed of platina, lead and ae is
found beneath the seoria. This button he fuses with a small
addition of lead; the sulphur separates itself with fresh scoria,
and there remains only an alloy of platina and Jead, This alloy
he heats to whiteness, and in that state beats it with a hot ham-
mer on a hot anvil, which forces out the lead in fusion. If the
alloy be not at a white heat when beat, it will break. The pla-
tina thus obtained is ductile, thalleahle: and as tenacious as that
obtained from the ammoniacal muriate, He was able to make
wire

7
4

Singular Phenomenon— Africa. 73

wire with it, and leaves almost as thin as gold leaf. Its specific
gravity was 22-630. ;

In repeating the process different times he did not always find
the platina in one lump at the bottom of the crucible. It was
sometimes scattered in globules among the dross. In this case
he treats the mass with a little diluted sulphurie acid: the glo-
bules are soon liberated from the dross, and sink to the bottom
of the crucible. They are then to be collected and washed, and
submitted to the same operation of the hammer as if the platina
had been found in one button with the lead.

SINGULAR PHENOMENON.

The following is a description of a curious pheenomenon which
was observed by the Honourable Company's ships Fairlie and
James Sibbald, on their late passage to Calcutta :—** On the Ist
October, our jatieusle at noon was 13° 25’ S, longitude 84° E.;
we observed quantities of stuff floating on the surface of the
water, which had to us the appearance of sea-weed—but we
were quite astonished to find it burnt cinders, evidently volcanic.
The sea was covered with it the two next days. Our latitude on
the 3d October, at noon, was 10° 9’S. longitude 84° 20’ E. ;
the surface of the water was so completely covered with the vol-
canic matter, that I should think it very unlikely to have been
drifted any considerable distance, as it is probable it would have
been much more seattered. In an old chart I had on board
there is 2 submarine volcano placed in the same longitude, and
latitude about 8° 30’ S.; and from the great distance from any
land where we found this curious phenomenon, I think there
can be no other way of accounting for it than the probability of
wsubmarine volcano existing in that neighbourhood.”

In the month of July 1814 a similar phenomenon was ob-
served in the gulph of St. Lawrence. We were informed of it
by a letter from an intelligent military officer, who sent us some
of the sea-water, with a sample of the ashes swept from their
deck. The sea was black like ink, and for two days the sun
could hardly be seen; and when seen, his light was so much
obscured by the thick atmosphere as to appear like blood. We
laid the letter aside, expecting that a few weeks would bring us
accounts of the breaking out of some volcano in North America,
or some dreadful, conflagration in the forests; but no such ac-
counts arriving, the letter was forgotten, till recalled to memory
by the above occurrence,

By advices received from the Gold Coast of Africa, it appears
that General Daendels, governor in chief of the Dutch forts in
that countr y; has been surveying the river Ancobar, and has re-

ported

74 The Niger—Sieam Engines in Cornwall.

ported to his government the expediency and practicability of
acquiring land, by purchase of the natives, at a very low price 7.
and has therefore recommended that extensive purehases shoald
be made with a view to convert the same into plantations of cot-
ton and coffee, and that he has already made considerable pro-
gress in clearing the land of wood, &c. The general further
states, that the river Ancobar is navigable as far as the centre of
the Dinkiva country, the first province of the king of Ashantees
and he adds, that it is certain this river was navigable in the
time of Bosman. The general then refers to ancient Dutch
Maps, copied from the Portuguese, to show that formerly the
Portuguese had several establishments on the Ancobar, at which.
were convents of monks and christian churches, above 40 leagues
m the interior of the country. The gencral suggests, that were
the British and Dutch to agree to establish forts on each side of
the river, with the consent of the king of Ashantee, not only
might the whole commerce of that country be attracted, but also
that of the country on this side of Long Mountains. The ex-
pense of such a project to the two governments, the general
thinks, would not exceed 10,0002. sterling, as he conceives the
king of Ashantee would supply a number of workmen to carry
wood, stones, and lime, of which there is am abundance in the
neighbourhood. ————
THE NIGER,

By the following extract of a letter from India, it appears as
if the Niger did not lose itself in the interior of Africa, as gene~
rally supposed :

“ Sarat, 96th Nov. 1815.

“In my next I hope to give you an account of the discovery
of the mouth of the Niger, certainly of some very large river
in Africa, of which the report given by the natives is, that, after
sailing six months upon it, you come to a part of the country
where while men are found, or resort. The mouth of this river
18 insignificant, as is the ease with many large streams in India;
even the Burrampooter, the Ganges, and the Indus may he
quoted as examples; but my informant entered it in his boat,
and ascended it about 60 miles, and found the stream increase
in magnitude the further he advanced.”

STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALN,

The average work performed by thirty-three engines in the
month of May was, according to Messrs. Leans’ Report for that
month, 20,897,040 pounds of water, lifted one foot high with
each bushel of coals consumed. During the same month the
work done by Woolf’s engine at Wheal Vor was 49,555,244 ;
and by his engine at Wheal Abraham 56,917,312 pounds, lifted
one foot high with each bushel of coals,

Steam Explosion. 79

By Messrs. Leans’ Report for the month of June, the average
work of twenty-eight engines was 20,854,326 pounds lifted one
foot high with each bushel of coals ; and during the same month
Woolf’s engine at Wheal Vor lifted 43,161,819, and at Wheal
Abraham 51,476,482 pounds of water one foot high with each
bushel of coals consumed,

—_—_———_-

STEAM EXPLOSION.

We have again to record an instance of culpable negligence
followed by a most melancholy result, in the explosion of a steam
boiler by Ipading its safety-valve so as to prevent the possibility
of the steam escaping. ‘The load on the lever of the safety-
valve was slipped to its outer extremity, and left to itself. We
need only remark that the lever should never be of such a length,
or, vice versd, the weight so heavy as to occasion the least dan-
ger when placed furthest from the valve, In other words, no
weight should ever be used that ean by any accidental change
prevent the steam from lifting the valve whenever it acquires a
certain measured power.

Extract of a Letter from Marietia (UnitedStates), dated June7,
1516.

Hornip Accrpent.—We have a painful duty to perform,
in recording an unparalleled scene of human misery and anguish
which occurred on board the steam-boat Washington, lately built
at Wheeling, (Va.) and commanded by Capt. Shreve. She
started from Wheeling on Monday last, and arrived at this place
on Tuesday evening following at abeut 7 o'clock, and safely
eame to anchor opposite Point Harmer, where she eoutinued until
Wednesday morning. The fires had been kindled and the boilers
safficiently hot, preparatory to her departure, when the anchor
was weighed and the helm put to larloard, in order to wear her
and place her in a position to start her machinery; but having
only one of her rudders shipped at the time, its influence was not
sufficient to have the desired effect, and she shot over under the
Virginia shore, where it was found expedient to threw over the
kedge at her stern to effect it.

This being accomplished, the erew were then required to haul
tt again on board, and were nearly all collected on the quarter
for that purpose. At this unhappy, fatal moment, the end of
the cylinder towards the stern exploded, and threw the whole
contents of hot water among them, and spread death and torture
in every direction. The captain, mate, and several others were |
knocked overboard, but were saved (with the exception of one’
man, who is still missing,) by boats from the tewn, and by swim~
juing to the Virginia shore,

The

76 Death of M. Guyton de Morveau.—Late Rainy Weather.

The whole town was alarmed by the explosion ; every physi-
cian, with a number of the citizeus, went immediately to their
relief, On going on board, a melancholy and really horrible
scene presented itself to view—six or eight were nearly skinned
from head to foot, and others slightly scalded, making, in the
whole, seventeen. In stripping off their clothes the skin pealed
off with them to a considerable depth: added to this melancholy
sight, the ear of the pitying spectator was pierced by the screams
and groans of the agonizing sufferers, rendering the scene horri-
ble beyond description.

The cause of this melancholy catastrophe may be accounted
for, by the cylinder not having vent through the safety-valve, which
was firmly stopped by the weight which “hung on the lever having
been unfortrnately slipped to its extreme, without beimg noticed,
and the length of time occupied in wearing before her machinery

could be set in motion, whereby the force of the steam would

have been expended—these two causes united, confined the
_steam till the strength of the cylinder could no longer contain
' it, and it gave way with the greatest violence.

The steam-boat was warped across the river and safely moored
in deep water at Point Harmar, where it is probable she will
stay several weeks, till her boiler can be repaired.

As her cylinders were all on deck, the boat has received no
material i injury from the explosion.

By this accident 19 people were wounded ; 9 of them slightly,
10 so severely that 6 are since dead, and one man is missing.

M. Guyton de Morveau, the celebrated French chemist, died
at Paris in January last. He was born at Dijon in 1737, and
educated to the French bar: he held the office of advocate ge-
neral to the parliament of Dijon for twenty-two years. Having
a turn for the sciences, and particularly chemistry, Guyton de
Morveau in 1776 founded a lectureship on chemistry, minera-
logy, and materia medica, and gave the course himself for thir-
teen years. After publishing his nomenclature he was invited
to Paris, and made a member of the Institute. His most suc-
cessful discovery was that of fumigating infected places.

THE LATE RAINY WEATHER,

In Yorkshire, as appears by the subjoined letter, the effects of

the late rains are not considered as likely to be disastrous.
York, 27th July, 1816.

We have accounts from different parts of this kingdom, as

well as from the continent, that the quantity of rain has been

excessive, and the thunder-storms unusually heavy. There has

not howeyer been, with us, a greater quantity of rain than is

usual

List of Patents for new Inventions: 77

usual at this season—the showers, though more frequent, have
been less violent than in ‘hot summers, and not a single thunder-
storm has passed over this city. . The spring was’ unusually dry;
down to the end of June the country was greatly in want of rain;
and it was actually prayed for in churches so lately as the 30th
of June. The showers which have fallen during the present
month have not exceeded the supply which the country weeded 5.
nor have they yet injured the hay, except in seme low evounds ; ;
bur they have doubtless retarded the commencement of the hay
harvest, aud even prevented any hay from being got. We sub-
join a statement, in inches and tenths of an inch, of the rain
fallen during the three simmer months for the last six years.
The account for July‘1S16 is only taken to the 26th inst.

May. | June |. July. | wsenes.

INCHEs.| INCHES. | INCuES.| Total.
POU 25, 2) 6 4: 2:0 3:0 8-5

1812..., 2-0 | 37 Boe fs BD :
| 1S! S38 | Bho 30 9-1
114; 5. 06 | 1-7 1-4 37
1815. 3°] | 1-4 2:8 7:3
1816... 14 loud is 2:9 3'6
—<

LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS.

To Thomas Ruxton, of the city of Dublin, esq., for a lock’
for fastening doors, gates, drawers, desks, trunks, boxes, port-
manteaus, and other things requiring fastenings.— 14th May,
1816.—2 months.

To Richard Francis Hawkins, of Woolwich, in the county of
Kent, gent., for a method, plan, or principle by which a tunnel
or archway may be édunt fteeked or effected under the River
Thames, or other rivers, for the passage of cattle, foot passengers,

and other purposes.—l4th May.—6 months.

To Daniel Wilson, of Usher Street, in the city of Dublin, che-
mist, for certain improved apparatus to be employed i in the di-
stillation of animal, vegetable, and. mineral substances, and nr
various other processes.—1l4th May.—6 months.

To William Simmons, of Wigan, in the county of Lancaster,

writing-master and teacher of accounts, for certain improve-
ments applicable to. keyed instruments‘to which’ keys: arevorsmey .
or can be affixed.—1l4th May.—6 months: ;
- To Francis Richardson, of Queen Street, duane est,
for improvements on the locks and barrels of fire-arms; and*also
aii improvement or addition to bayonets.—25th May.—6-mons
To Philip Taylor, of Bromley, in the county of Middlesex, mer-
chant, for his new method of applying heat to liquors used in the
processes

78 List of Patents for new Inventions.

processes of brewing, distilling, and sugar refining. —25th May
— 6 months. :

To Christopher Dihl, of New Bond Street, esq., for his im-

provement or improvements in the making mastic cement or
e)mposition, and in the mode of working and applying the same
touseful purposes, which cement or composition he denominates
** Dihl’s Mastic.” —25th May.—15 months.
_ To George Dodgson, of Shadwell, in the county of Middie-
sex, pump and engine manufacturer, for a method of simplifying
and improving the constructicn of extinguishing engines and
forcing pumps.—27th May.—2 months,

To Isaac Hadley Reddell, of Orange Court, Leicester Square,
engineer, for improvements in or on the means of lighting the
interior of offices, theatres, buildings, houses, or any place where
light may be required.— 27th May.—6 months.

To Rokert Kemp, jun. of the city of Cork, smith and brass-
founder, for improvements in the making or manufacturing locks
and keys. —27th May.—2 months.

To John Heathcoate, of Loughborough, in the county of
Leicester, lace-manufacturer, for certain improvements upon a
machine or machinery already in use for making hosiery or trame-
work knitted, commonly called stocking frame.—s0th May.—
15 months.

To James Ransome, of Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk,
izonmonger, for certain improvements on ploughs.—Ist June.—
6 months.

To William Shand, of Villiers Street, Strand, artificial limb-
maker, for certain improvements in the construction of artificial
legs and feet made of leather and wood, acting by a lever and
spiral spring.—Ist June.—2 months.

To John Foulerton, of Upper Bedford Place, Russell Square,
for various improvements in beacon-buoys, can-buoys, nun-
buoys, mooring-buoys, and life-buoys ; which improvements are
applicable to other useful purposes.—1 1th June.—6 months.

To Edward Light, of Foley Place, professor of music, for cer~.
tain improvements on the instrument known by the name of the
harp-lute, which he intends to denominate the “ British Lute
Harp.”—18th June.—6 months.

To John Burnett, of Bristol, iron-founder, for his convolving
_ jron axletree, for the reduction of friction and animal labour,
by the application of which wheels of carriages of every descrip-
tion are prevented trom coming off whilst travelling, and car-
riages are drawn with ies; animal labour.— 20th June.—2
iments.

METEORO-

Meteorology. 79

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON,

LINCOLNSHIRE.
—<a—
[The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.
a
ge oi| | : Ory
the }Lhcrmo-| Baro- |State of the Weather and Modification
Movnj meter. | meter. of the Clouds.

cen acpi enn eeneeeneescsaaahe

19 | 57° | 30°15 |Fair
20 | 52° | 30°15 \Fair
21.| 59° | 30°10 |Very fine
22 | 69° | 30° {Very fine
23 | 63° | 30°10 ;\Very fine
24 | 67° 30°20 \Very fine
25 | 71° | 30°22 |Very fine
26 | 66° | 30°42 |\Very fine—began to rain in the
evening and continued all night,
27 | 60° | 29°85 Rained violently, with gale from
the NW.
8 | 59° | 29°95 |Fair
new| 68° | 30°12 \Very fine
1 {| G2: | 29°85 |Very fine
g | 63° | 29°89 |Very fine—thick fog came on in
the evening from the East
3 | 63: | 30°19 |Very fine—Do Do
al 30°20 |Very fine
5 Very fine
6 | 59° 29°82 |Rain
* ie Ni Pd 29°35 |Fine
8 | 63° | 29°93 |\Rain
9} 60° 29°84 |Showery, with Thunder
10 | 62° | 29 90 |\Very fine—a thick fog at night
11 | Gl: | 29°93 |Showery—rained hard in the evens
12 | 67°5 | 29°76 |Cloudy—Showers in the morning
13 | 64°5 | 29°78 \Rain—Thunder at a distance
g| full | 67°5 | 29°75 |Fine—Wind S.SE.
10| 15 | 62° | 29°78 |Rain—with Thunder
11] 16 | 62° | 29°70 |Rain
191 17 | Gir | 29°81 {Rain
13} 18 | Gl- | 30° |Fair—a slight Shower at noon
14} 19] 61: 29°92 |Rain
15| 20 | 63° | 29°75 |Showery till noon—fine afternoon,
with the wind at E,

METEORO-

80

Meteorology.

METEOROLOGICAL TAELE,

By Mr. Cary, OF THE STRAND,

For July 1816.

Days of
Month.

|
|
au ee

June 27
28}

L her mometer.

hippos
Bo Seen):
oa" A | oe
ies) “

54 | 58 | 54
52 | 68 | 55
55 | 72 | 61

59nd. | op
55 | 66 | 56
59 | 69 | 55
56 | ‘68 | 54
56 | 60 | 52
54 | 66} 55
55 | 66 |-'54
62 | 66 | 55
61 | 68 | 56
57 | G6.) 55
58 | 67 | 56
OY. | COs ao
52 | 66 | 59
55 |-65 | 56
59 | 66 |°55
Ee} 7 fal ASLAM ae

56 | 60 | 55
59 | 68,| 56
57 | 63 | 56
56 | 60 | 62
62 | 74 | 66
64 | 68 | 56
60 | 69 | 56
60 | 66 | 60
58 | 63 | 56
60 | 62 | 57
58 | 66 | 58

Height of
the Barom.
Inches.

|

ness by Leslie's

Deercesof Dry-
Hygrometer,

& Od.
@

58

Weather,

Cloudy
Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair
Stormy
Fair

Fair
Stormy
Stormy
Showery
Showery
Showery
Showery
Showery
Showery
Rain
Rain
Rain q

| Fair

Rain
Fair
Stormy
Fair

Showery |
Showery
Showery
Haines

N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clock,

4

a mr re

[ 81 J

XXI. On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-Lamp. By Dr. Urn, M.D.
Professor of Chemistry, ce. Bc.

To Mr. Tilloch.

DEAR Sir, — Perawit me to join my voice, to the decisive testi-
monies already published, in favour of Sir H. Davy’s safety-lamp.
I was lately present at several experiments, which placein a con-
spicuous view, its wonderful power of giving protection against
the explosion of fire-damp, so often fatal to the miner. During
a visit which I paid a few weeks ago to Dublin, my ingenious
friend Richard Griffith esq. mining-engineer to the Dublin So-
ciety, requested my assistance in preparing and exhibiting some
experimental illustrations of the lamp, for his deservedly popular
course of lectures on geology. Two lamps were tried. The
cage of one was formed cf iron-wire, each mesh being 1-20th
of an inch in width ;—the other cage was of copper-wire, its
meshes were each about 1-30th of an inch wide. A table with
raised edges, painted so as to hold water, and a large glass re-
ceiver of the capacity of a cubic foot and a half were provided :
the water was about an inch and a half in depth.

Things being in this state, a glass syphon was introduced un-
der the edge of the receiver, and the atmospherical air was sucked
out till the water rose within, to a certain mark, corresponding
to a known ratio of the whole volume. A gasometer filled with
the compound combustible gas obtained from acetate of potash
by heat, was connected by a flexible pipe, with a brass tube which
was fixed tight in an aperture made through the table under the
receiver, and gas was slowly introduced into it, till the water was
again displaced.

Various proportions of air and gas were used in different
experiments. When the lamp with its cage screwed on, was
introduced into the receiver containing eleven parts of atmo-
spherical air and one of carburetted hydrogen, the flame en-
Jarged, but continued moderate and of a blue lambent appears
ance. When six parts of air and one of gas were used, the
flame was more vivid, filling the whole cage ; and when the com-
bustible gas constituted 1-5th of the whole, the flame of the
wick was extinguished very soon after the lamp was introduced,
but the gas continued to burn with great violence within the
cage, and its wire became distinetly red hot: yet the flame did
not communicate through the meshes, so as to kindle the large
volume of combustible gas by which the lamp was enveloped.

_At the end of the experiment the cage was found to be distorted,
from its free expansion being counteracted by the strong parallel
wires that constitute the exterior frame, and which serve to
connect the metal plate at top with the body of the lamp below.

Vol. 48. No, 220. August 1816, F Similar

82 On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-Lamp.

Similar experiments were made, with the gas obtained by ex-
posing charcoal, in an ignited iron tube, to the action of steam.
This, being mixed in the above proportions with atmospherical
air, exhibited nearly the same phenomena, only the flame was
much fainter, It is probable that the fire-damp of mines, re-
sembles this species most nearly, being, like it, produced by the
action of water, on carbonaceous matter.

Coal gas was afterwards tried. With 1-12th of it in the re-
ceiver, the lamp burned very vividly; but when it constituted
1-7th of the whole contents of the receiver, the ignition became
furious, verging on a white heat. In one experiment of this
kind the violent expansion of the included gas, forced up the
receiver suddenly from the flat surface of the table, and gave an
appearance of explosion: but when free egress to the water was
given by resting the under edge of the receiver on three slips of
wood, no explosive sound could be perceived, though the com-
bustion was exceedingly intense : it was evidently ali confined to
the wire cylinder. The receiver in these last experiments vi-
brated loudly, emitting tremulous musical tones. These mixtures
of coal gas possess an explosive force incomparably greater than
any native fire-damp; for the gas was procured froin cannel coal,
and therefore contained a considerable quantity of olefiant gas,
which | believe is never present in coal-mines.

After these experiments with the lamp had heen exhibited,
to the great satisfaction of a crowded and highly respect-
able audience, another of a simpler, though perhaps a still
more instructive kind was performed. A flat slip of wire-cloth
about six inches square, having meshes of the same size with
the cylinder of the lamp, was held at a little distance before a
gasometer-pipe, from which issued a copious stream of unmixed
coal-gas. <A lighted candle was then placed on the other side
of the sieve-cloth, and the gas as it passed through the meshes
immediately kindled ; but in no position, either horizontal, verti-
cal, or inclined, would the flame communicate through the in-
terstices, so as to set fire to the gas flowing from the pipe on the
other side of the wire. The converse of this was shown, by
kindling the effluent gas at the pipe; aud on presenting the gauze
plate, a part of the gas passed through unconsumed.

It is impossible to conjecture, to what new philosophical
researches, this singular phenomenon may lead. The lamp,
though simple in structure, is as marvellous in its func-
tions, as the storied lamp of Aladdin, realizing its fabled
powers of conducting in safety through “ fiends of combustion,”
to the hidden treasures of the earth. If we consider how much
the commercai energies of Great Britain depend on its fuel, it
will be hard to name a public recompense too great for this
purely scientific invention of our illustrious chemist, which ae

ers

Letter to the Dublin Society on Wheel-carriages. 83

ders the deepest and most valuable coal-mines securely accessi-
ble to the workmen. If the Romans decreed a civic crown, to
the man who saved the life of a single fellow-citizen, what grati-
tude is due to him, whose genius has afforded the means of saving
hundreds from a horrible death, and their families from hopeless
indigence! Iam, dear sir,
Your very obedient servant,
London, July 29, 1816. ANDREW URE.
=<

The engraver of the wood-cut of
Sir H. Davy’s lamp has not been
able to represent the decussations of
the wire-cloth. KK are the rings
by which it is suspended to the belt
of the miner; H is the metal disc
at top, to which is attached the
short cylinder of wire-cloth G,
which embraces closely the longer
eylinder FI, rising from the bottom
B. D is the wick; C an inclined
tube by which oil is supplied to the
body of the lamp; and E is a wire
passing up, pretty tightly through a
small tube, nearly in the middle of
the lamp. This wire is bent at top, »
so that when it is worked with the
hand applied to its lower extremity,
the wick may be readily trimmed
without unscrewing the cage.

Such lamps may now be had at
the chemical laboratory of Messrs.
Aecum and Garden, for seven shil-

lings.

XX. A Letter to the Dublin Society, relutive to Experiments
on Wheel-carriages. By Ricu. Lover: Epceworrs, Esq.

To the Committee of Natural Philosophy of the Dublin Society.
GENTLEMEN, —I nave the honour to return to you a Report

of the experiments tried by me, under your directions, at the
F2 latter

84 A Lelter to the Dublin Society

latter end of last May; to which I beg leave to subjoin such
practical observations as have occurred to me on the subject.

For the accuracy of the facts, the public will of course impli-
citly depend upon the Report of the committee. For the de-
ductions that are here drawn from them, I alone am answer-
able.

The first experiments that were tried, were to ascertain the
friction of three different axle-trees :

A straight axletree,

Collinge’s patent axletree,

And an axletree belonging to Messrs. Bourne, mail-coach
proprietors.

These experiments were tried with two-wheeled carriages,
moved by weights and pulleys. The carriages were placed first
upon a road of wood, afterwards upon one of iron, perfectly
horizontal: the amount of the weight which put each of them
in motion, was considered as the measure of the friction.

The weight of the wheels of each carriage was deducted from
the gross weight, because their weight does not affect the fric-
tion of the axletree on which they turn.

The weight of each carriage; after this deduction was made,
was 7 ewt. 3qrs. 23]lbs. that is 890 pounds avoirdupois; the
weight of the wheels and axletree may be taken at a medium at
250 pounds.

On the
wooden road. On iron.

The carriage on the straight axletree
was drawn by .. .. «- «+ I9Sbs. —— 11 Ibs.
The carriage on the patent axletrec,
drawnby .. .. oe oe of 5 tbs. —— I1 Ibs.
Ditto on Mr. Bourne’s axletree, drawn
DW ae Milage ee tae ce as! ae Toes 12]bs.
The differences that appeared in these experiments upon the
wooden and iron roads, arose from the position of the tire of the
wheels, which caused the tire to sink into, or adhere more or
less to the wooden road; the difference where running on the
iron road was inconsiderable between the compared axletrees.
The wheels of the two former carriages were common dished
wheels; the latter with Mr. Bourne’s axletree had wheels with
spokes inclined in opposite directions, or, as they are called,
double-dished wheels*. To estimate the power necessary to
overcome

* Where wheels are so dished or splayed, as to throw the sole of the
wheel, as it sets upon the ground, beyond the line let fall perpendicular!y
from the end of the arm of the axletree to the ground, the box of the nave
will pinch the under part of the ari of the axletree near the linch-pin, aud

wai

relative to Experiments on Wheel-carriages. 85

overcome the friction of these axletrees, when compared with
the power necessary to draw the whole Joad upon a common
road, the effort of the horses must be stated as being equal to
some given weight acting with a given velocity. Each horse
drawing a mail-coach at the rate of seven English miles per hour,
upon an ordinary road, may be considered as exerting a power
equal to one hundred pounds. Sometimes a horse exerts nearly
three times this power, and sometimes, on good roads, much
less; but, perhaps, one hundred pounds may be taken as an
average *,

We may fairly state, that as eleven pounds were necessary to
overcome the friction of the arms of the axletree, when the car-
triage was loaded with 890 pounds, if the arms of the axletree
were loaded as in a mail-ccach, with something more than four
thousand pounds, it would require fifty pounds to overcome the
friction of the axles; for the power of four horses drawing a
mail-coach on ordinary level roads, may be estimated at four
hundred pounds, one-eighth of which, viz. fifty pounds, may be
considered as the resistance occasioned by the friction of the
axletrees.

Creeping.

In most carriages the arms of the axletrees are bent a little
downwards, so that the wheels are four or five inches further
asunder above than below. Besides this, in some carriages the
arms of the axletrees are bent forwards, so that the wheels are
nearer together before than behind.

To determine the effect of this construction, which by work-
. men is called the creep of the wheel, the following experiment
was tried:

A two-wheeled carriage, with the axletree bent downwards in
the common manner, was drawn on iron by }4lbs.; on wood by
144. When the wheels were 44 inches nearer together at the
front than behind, it required to draw the same carriage on
wood 26 lbs. and oniron 20lbs. Hence it appears that it is of
great consequence in the formation of a carriage with bent axle-
trees, to secure the axletrees in their proper situation, and to

will pinch the upper part of the arm of the axletree near its shoulder.
Double-dished wheels are not liable to this defect. ‘The amount of super-
fluous friction that arises from the circumstance here alluded to, may be
calculated by any mechanic, in any given position of the wheel, arising
from the obliquity of the road, or fram its sinking into holes.

* A variety of opinions upon this subject are held by different authors,
and by different practical mechanics. As to the conclusions which T mean
to draw, it is of little consequence whether the force of a horse in drawing
a carriage be estimated higher or lower than what I have assumed.

F3 prevent

86 A Letter to the Dublin Society

prevent them from being forced out of their proper direction by
the effort of the springs, or the giving way of any part of the
work, which fastens the axletrees to the carriage.

The apparatus with which the following experiments were
tried, is fuily described in the annexed Report. By the liberal
supply of men from the commissariat, I was enabled to carry on
the experiments with facility.

Part of the weight in the following experiments on two-
wheeled carriages was sustained by the guide-pole; the quantity
of this weight was determined from time to time by a steelyard.
It seldom varied; but to ascertain the ratio of any inaccuracy
which might arise from this circumstance, when the carriage
was loaded with nine hundred and three quarters, and when
twenty pounds were placed on the guide-pole, it required four-
teen pounds to draw it. When forty pounds were placed upon
it, it required fourteen pounds and a half to draw it.

There could not have been a difference of more than three
or four pounds in the weight upon the pole in any of these three
experiments, which could not affect the draft to the amount of
more than two ounces.

Of the Effects of Springs on two-wheeled Carriages.

Two carriages of similar construction, except that one had
no springs, and that the other had grasshopper springs, were

compared.
cwt. grs. Lbs.
The carriage without springs weighed .. .. 3

Ditto, with springs im aye) sales Aone pin fsa ad OER
To the carriage with springs, was added vo” Su Snead
Making in\ the whole’.0).0!) % 0) ul yy Dyce aay
The carriage without springs weighed .. .. 3 1 O
Amdtearieda weiptitiobe (G8 ve 40 Gin be i)! see 2 Syme
Making inthe wholes... et eel So 6 SB

It appears that the carriage with the springs carried 2cwt.
Sqrs. 2! lbs. more than the carriage without springs, yet on trial
it rather preceded the other.

The same carriages were again compared, substituting elliptic
for grasshopper springs; 2qrs. 7 lbs. were added to the carriage
without springs, to ake up the additional weight of the elliptic
springs, and the springs beiug prevented from acting by blocks,
the two carriages kept together.

The springs being permitted to act, there was added to the
carriage with springs Zewt. Iqr. They then kept ee A

hen

relative to Experiments on JVhcel-carriages. 87

‘Then 2 qs. being added to the carriage with springs, it preceded
the other carriage, the elliptic springs being thus brought more
perfectly into play.

The gross weights of each carriage, when reduced to pounds,
were nearly as follows:—The carriage with springs 1008lbs.
The carriage without springs 623lbs. From these experiments
it appears, that in the first place there was but little difference
between elliptic aud grasshopper springs, except what arose from
the difference of their weight; and in the next place it appears,
that the gross difference of weight carried by the carriages, with
and without springs, was nearly as 19 to 6.

But to show the exact advantage of springs in these experi-
ments, the weight of the wheels and axletrees of both carriages
must be deducted from the gross weight, because the wheels and
axletrees were moved independently of the springs, only the
weight inetimbent on the axletree and wheels being liable to the
effect of the springs. The medium weight of the wheels and
axletrees of each of these carriages was nearly 250}bs. which
being deducted from the gross weights of each carriage, leaves
758 lbs. for the one, and 373lbs, for the other; the proportion
being nearly 1 to 2.

Comparison of wooden with steel Springs.
cwt. grs. lbs.

A carriage with wooden springs, carrying .. 3 3 O

DIRT WVIEHOUGSDTNES, aid van ye ae onln yy 8s jae Se

To each of these must be added the weight of the carriage,
after deducting the weight of the wheels and axletrees, viz. 145!bs.

Making the carriage with wooden springs .. .. 9SG2lbs.

That without, springs. os siyise aey vscerm as wi) army, AO SIDS
Nearly in the proportion of 3 to 4; and in this state the car-
riages kept together when moving with a velocity supposed to
he about five miles an hour.

At the slow rate at which a horse draws a loaded cart, the
carriage with wooden springs carried 3Jcwt. 2 qrs. Olbs. being
one quarter less than when moving at a quicker rate.

Hence it is apparent that the steel springs had some advan-
tage over the wooden springs, aud that when the force of a man
was employed to draw a carriage with and without springs, the
advantage was not only seen but felt.

Experiments upon four-wheeled Carriages, with and without
Springs.

Two four-wheeled carriages, as nearly similar as might be,
were placed upon the wooden platform. They were constructed
in such a manner, that the load on either of them might be
placed within eighteen inches of the ground, or raised to the

F4 height

88 A Leiter to the Dublin Society

height of three feet and a half, or even eight feet above the
road.

The distance between the fore and hinder axletrees in these
carriages was nine feet nine inches.

These carriages were so made that either of them could be
shortened, so as to bring the hind and fore axletree within six
feet of yay other. They were also so framed as to be stiff and
strong in’ every direction. Of these two carriages one had the
springs allowed to play, the other had not.

cwt. grs. Tb.

The first was loaded with .. .. aim, Liisa HC aa
Which, added to the weight of the carriage, made 17 0 0
The other .. .. nassdic (top ieheub-ia- il SO

Which, added to the weight of the : carriage, made 15 O O

Both were connected with the peirameter, and the carriage
with springs, carrying the eight hundred weight, preceded the
other. To show that these carriages were similar to each other,
the springs of the former carriage were now prevented from
acting, and the carriage was loaded with 6 ewt.

The springs of the other carriage were then allowed to play,
and the carriage was loaded with 8 cwt.; when the carriage pre-
ceded in the same manner as the first had done.

The springs of both carriages were then made free, and the
axles of one of them brought within six feet of each other; the
other remaining at mine feet nine inches asunder. The weight
of both was brought to an equality, and both were loaded at
bottom.

cwt. grs. lb,
The carriage with the short perch was loaded with 6 O O
The other with the long perch was loaded with .. 5 2 O

When put in motion they kept together.

The load in the short perch carriage was then placed at the top.

They both kept together.

The springs of both were then prevented from acting.

cwt. grs. Ib.
The short carriage had aloadattop, .. .. 6 0 O
The long carriage, loaded at bottom, .. .. 5 3 O

The long carriage rather preceded.

These experiments were not performed under favourable cir-
cumstances, as the position of the hinder axletree in one of the
carriages had been accidentally deranged; but I beg leave here
to report the result of experiments which had been repeatedly
tried with great care at my own house.

Both these carriages with the wheels at equal distances, and
the springs prevented from acting: one loaded at top, the other
at bottom.

The

EE ees

relative to Experiments on IWheel-carriages. 89

The carriage loaded at bottom carried 1579 lbs.
The carriage loaded at ¢op carried 1505 lbs.

Both carriages were then tried with the springs in action ; but
no difference appeared.

From all this I conclude, as far as my experience goes, that,
ceteris parilus, there is very little difference in draft between
long and short, and between high and low carriages.

It may be remarked, that the advantage of springs did not
appear to be so great in those four- wheeled carriages as in the
experiments on two-wheeled carriages, which I have formeriy
mentioned. This arose from the weight in the four-wheeled
carriages not being heavy enough to bend the elliptic springs,
upon which they were supported, with sufficient facility*.

Comparison of Roads.

Two roads were formed, one of loose gravel, the other of
broken stone.

The carriages without springs were. drawn by horses attached
to the peirameter, one running on the loose gravel, the other on
the broken stone ; the former having an additional load of seven
hundred weight.

The second carriage running on broken stone, carrying four
hundred weight, besides the weight of the carriage, wheels, &c.
They kept nearly together.

The same carriages were made to run, one on the broken
stone, the other on the well made pavement of the court.

The carriage on the broken stone carried .. .. Sewt.
The ditto on the pavement carried .. .. .. I7ewt.

The latter preceded the carriage running on the broken stone.

The differeice between pavement and a road of broken stones,
in this experiment, however enormous it may appear, corre-
sponds with others which I have repeatedly tried. If, however,
the stones are broken sufficiently small, not larger than an inch
and half diameter, they will oppose no very great obstruction to
the motion, either of a horse or of a carriage.

It is therefore of great consequence, in making a road, to have
the stones broken small; and this may be effected by purchasing
broken stones by measure, and not by weight. For workmen
may be soon convinced, by "the evidence of their senses, that it
is for their interest to break stones small, when they are paid
for them by measure, as the additional falvous which is necessary

* Tt was not thought expedient to try the patience of the spectators hy
a reiteration of experiments, which required considerable time for eac h
repetition. Indeed, experiments of this sort require more time and a
greater attention to minutia than are suitable to a public exhibition.

for

a6 A Letter to the Dublin Society

for the purpose is amply paid for by the increase of bulk that is
thus obtained. This I have found to be the case upon the mail-
coach road between Edgeworthstown and Longford. Over eight

niles of this road I have been for some years supervisor, and
during that time I have had no reason to complain of the size
to which the workmen break the stones with which it is re-
paired.

In the Report of the committee, a machine which I have con-
trived for giving an accurate section of a road is alluded to.

It consists of arail of deal, twenty-one feet long, three inches
wide, and five inches deep. On the top of this rail a frame of
wood, eighteen inches long, slides freely: one of the perpendi-
cular sides of the rail is covered with paper.

An arm of wood, eighteen inches long, two inches wide, and
an inch thick, is connected with the ae of this sliding frame,
by means of a common wood screw, upon which this rod turns
freely at one end, as upon a centre. Near the other end of the
rod a piece of fine black lead or pencil moves horizontally, in a
small pencil case, in which it is urged forward by a slender spiral
spring. This long rail is to be laid on any road, the section of
which is required. The moveable frame, which slides upon the
rail as it is moved forward by the hand, permits that end of the
moveable red that carries the pencil, to lie upon the ground;
where, as the frame advances, it rises over every obstacle, and
sinks into every hollow in the road, in the same manner as the
wheel of a carriage rises and sinks; the black-lead at the same
time marking the rise and fall of the rod upon the paper, as the
frame advances.

Besides this contrivance, a similar machine has been employed,
for the purpose of delineating the path which that part of a
carriage which is upon springs describes ; and at the same tinie,

the path which the axletree which is not upon springs describes.

A slip of paper several yards long, and five inches broad, was
attached to one of the vertical sides of the guide-rail, which is
five inches deep, and is in the middle of the platform. A per-
pendicular rod was fastened to the axletree of the carriage, so

2s to rise and fall with the motion of the axletrec, as the wheels
went over any obstacle, or sunk into any hollow. A black-lead
pencil, pressed by a slender spiral spring, was so placed at the
bottom of this rod, as to mark its progress, with all its undula-
tions, upon the paper. A similar rod was attached to the body
of the carriage, which body was upon springs. This rod was
furnished in like manner with a moveable pencil, which de-
scribed the path and undulations of that part of the carriage
which was on springs ; so that, as the pencils were close to each
other,

ee ee eae

Fa en eT a a

Sey

a

relative to Experiments on Wheel-carriages. 91

other, the curves and inequalities of these two paths were accu-
rately delineated, and could be examined and compared at lei-
sure.

By means of those contrivances various problems, relative to
the motion of carriages and the effect of springs, may be resolved
at leisure, which could not, by any other means that I am ac-
quainted with, be subjected to accurate investigation.

Upon the whole, I beg leave to observe, that the chief thing
to be attended to is, without any comparison, the goodness of
the road.

That the difference in length and height of carriages, within
moderate limits, does not much affect the draft of carriages.

That carriages may therefore, except where they are obliged
to turn in narrow streets, be cf such a length as to permit the
foremost wheels to lock round, without touching the body of the
carriage.

That by lowering the centre of gravity of carriages, by placing
the luggage at the bottom of the carriage, the draft is not im-
peded, whilst great additional security is necessarily obtained.

That no very great saving of draft can be expected from the
different forms of axletrees.

That every means of saving absolute weight, in the construc-
tion of a carrizge, should be adopted. This caution will be at-
tended to by every person who considers, that in going up a hill,
the ascent of which is one foot in twenty, the horses that draw
the carriage must exert a force equa! to one-twentieth part of
the weight of the carriage and of its load, which, in a common
stage-coach, is often equal to two hundred weight, and so in
proportion to the acclivity of any hill.

That the application of springs to carriages, either for carrying
burdens or for pleasure, tends not only to the ease of the tra-
veller, to the safety of goods that are carried, to the preservation
of the roads, and to the duration of carriages themselves, but
that they also materially facilitate their draft.

That the form of those springs, provided they are properly
elastic, is of no great consequence. By properly elastic, | mean
adapted to the medium weight with which it is proposed to load
them: for where the springs are strong, and the carriage not
sufficiently loaded, much of the advantage of springs is found to
be wanting.

It is therefore much to be wished, that some means may be ob-
tained of proportioning the pliability of the springs to the different
weights with which they may be loaded at different times. Who-
od has travelled alone in a mail-coach has felt what I al-

ude to,

And

92 Report of the Committee of the Dublin Society

And lastly, that wooden springs may be advantageously ap
plied to common carts.

I have employed them in four one-horse carts, that have been
in daily use, for nearly four years, These carts are usually loaded
with fourteen hundred weight, and are much employed in car-
rying stones for the repair of roads.

I have tried straight and elliptic springs, and have employed
‘both sorts successfully. '

A piece of common tough ash, five inches and a half deep in
the middle, two inches deep at each end, and three inches broad,
mounted on fixed shackles at one end, and with linking plates at
the other, is cheap and durable.

The iron work of the shackles may last for many years. The
wooden springs may be renewed at any time for about ten shil-
lings; and I am well satisfied that these springs will soon be in
common use among common carriers.

I have the honour to be, gentlemen,
Your obliged and obedient servant,
Ricu. L, EpGEworrTH.

XXIII. Report of the Committee of Natural Philosophy, ap-
pointed by the Dublin Society, on the Experiments upon
Wheel-carriages, made ly Mr. EnGEwortn, on the 28th
of May 1816, and succeeding Days, at the Dublin Society’s
House, Kildare-street.

Dx. Lrrron having kindly undertaken, at the request of this
coinmittee, to take notes for them of the Experiments on Wheel-
carriages,

Your committee proceeded to form a Report thereon; but Mr.
Edgeworth having favoured them with some observations on
these experiments, your committee were of opinion that such
comments, with a statement of the experiments, in conformity
with the notes of Dr. Litton, would answer the object of the
Society better then a mere Report by the committee ; they there-
fore beg leave to lay the statement and the comments before the
Society.

The apparatus employed in these experiments was as follows:
A pulley seven feet in diameter, mounted upon a carriage which
ean be drawn forward by men or horses. It turns upon a small
centre, and has been executed with such precision as to have
nearly the accuracy of a balance. Mr. Edgeworth has given
the name of peirameter to this machine. ‘To determine the
friction arising from the motion of its axis, and the bending of

the

oh Experiments upon Wheel-carriages. 93

the rope which goes round it, the whole machine was so raised
as to place the wheel in a vertical situation, and one hundred
weight being suspended at each end of a rope that went round
this pulley, their equipoise was overcome by placing half a pound
on either one side or the other.

To compare the draft of two carriages by means of this wheel,
one end of a rope passing round it must be fastened to one car-
riage, and the other end to another; if, then, the peiraméter be
drawn forward, the carriage which moves the easiest will get
before the other, and by adding weights to that which gets fore-
most, until both proceed together, the weight thus added be-
comes a measure of the advantage in the construction of one of
these carriages over the other, or of the roads upon which they
move. It must be observed, that the draft of carriages thus
compared, is not to be determined by one of thein preceding the
other, but by the weight which produces an equality of draft.

Two parallel roads, or trackways of deal plank, were laid so
as to be level in every direction ; all the carriages used in these
experiments were guided upon the roads by a guide-rail placed
between the planks. The pole of each carriage was provided
with brass rollers, which ran on each side of the guide-rail to
prevent the friction, and uncertainty of flaunches, aud guide the
carriage when drawn forward.»

To overcome the vis inertie@ of the carriages before they were
brought into competition, a detent was applied to the peirame-
ter, so as to prevent it from revolving till the carriages had ad-
vanced some yards. Pieces of wood, five-eighths of an inch in
height, were nailed upon each of these trackways, to represent
the mean inequalities of a road, which had been ascertained by
Mr, Edgeworth, by a contrivance of his invention, to be equal
to that height.

Comparison of Axletrees by means of the Peirameter.

A carriage with a straight axletree, greased with anti-attrition
composition, was compered with a carriage having Collinge’s
patent axletree, each weighing 3 cwt. 3 qrs. 7 lbs.

cut. Qrs.
The straight axletree was loaded with .. 3 “0
Collinge’s with .. Ais ap wel hace. a
When drawn forward on the smooth plank road, by the peira-
meter, they kept together.

Comparison of Axletrees by means of a fixed Pulley.

A carriage of equal weight, mounted on wheels, of Messrs.
Bourne, was compared with the two forincr; each was loaded
with 6 cwt.

On

94 Report of the Committee of the Dublin Society

On the On the
wooden road. tron road.

A carriage with straight axletree, was 19lbs. by 11 Ibs.

drawn by .. e ia ee
Ditto, patent axletree, .. 15Ibs. — 11 Ibs.
Ditto, Messrs. Bournes’ axletree 21lbs. — 12 lbs.

N.B. Messrs. Bournes’ wheels were of the kind called double
dished. .

Comparison of the Modes of Greasing.

The patent and straight axletrees being brought to an equality
of draught, when drawn forward by the peirameter, and grease
being substituted for anti-attrition composition on the straight
axletree, the patent, though loaded with two quarters of a hun-
dred more, preceded the straight.

Your committee cannot vouch for the accuracy of this experi-
ment, on account of the pressure of the crowd.

On the Effect of bending the Arm of the Axle downwards,
so as to produce what is termed a Creep.

A two-wheeled carriage with the axle bent downwards, was
drawn on iron by 14lbs.; on wood by 1l4lbs. or 144 ]bs.
The axle of this carriage was so altered as that the horizontal
gather in front was four inches and a half, and the points of the
circumference, of the wheels in front, nearest to each other,
were six inches above the road. ‘The carriage was then just
drawn on wood by 26 lbs.; on iron by 20 lbs.

On the Effects of Springs on Two-wheeled Carriages.

Two carriages of equal weight and similar construction, were
tried by the peirameter, one having grasshopper springs, tive
other without springs; that with springs carrying 8 ewt. 2 qrs.
preceded the one without springs, carrying 4 ewt. 2 qrs. 7 lbs.

The same carriages were again compared, substituting elliptic
for grasshopper springs; 2 qrs. 7 lbs. being added to the carriage
without springs ; when the springs were prevented from acting,
the carriages kept together ; the springs being permitted to act,
there were added to the carriage with springs, 2 cwt. lqr.—they
then kept together; on 2qrs. being added to the carriage with
springs, it preceded ; the springs being by this brought more.
perfectly into play.

Comparison of wooden with steel Springs.
cwt. grs. Ibs.
A carriage with wooden springs, carrying .. 3:3: 0
A carriage without springs .. “f oe) 2 ana
were

on Experiments upon Wheel-carriages. 95

were of equal draft, moving at a quick rate. At a slower rate
judged to be about 24 miles an hour; the wooden springs car-

ried 3 cwt. 2 qrs.—being | qr. less.
The Efficacy of Springs in aiding Animal Exertion.

A man drew, with his utmost exertion, a two-wheeled car-
riage with wooden springs blocked, which was loaded with 2 ewt.
a given space in nine seconds ;—1 cwt. 2 yrs. were added and
the springs permitted to play ;—with a similar exertion, he drew
it over the same space in 84 seconds.

N.B. It isto be observed, that in all these experiments the
load on the guide-rail was made as nearly the same as could be
judged by lifting ; but in order to ascertain how far a difference
in this respect might affect the results, the following experiment
was made.—In a carriage having the entire load Qewt. 2 qrs.
7 Ibs. the weight on the guide-rail was 40 Ibs. ; the carriage was
just put in motion by a weight passing over a pulley of 144 lbs.
when the load on the guide-rail was only 20 lbs. the carriage
was put in motion by 14 lbs.

On Four-wheeled Carriages.

Two four-wheeled carriages, as nearly similar as possible, were
placed on the wooden platform. Thev were constructed in such
a manner that the load on either of them might be placed within
eighteen inches of the ground, or raised to the height of three
feet and a half, or even eight feet above the road. he distance
between the fore and hind axletrees in these carriages, was nine
feet nine inches, and they were so made, that each of them could
be shortened so as to bring the fore and hind axletrees within
six feet of each other. Of these two carriages, one had the
springs allowed to play, the other not. The first was loaded
with Sewt. the other with Gewt. Both were connected with
the peirameter, and the carriage with springs carrying the 8 cwt.
preceded the other.

The springs of the former carriage were prevented from act-
ing, and the carriage loaded with 6 cwt.; the springs of the
other carriage were made free, and it was loaded with Scwr.;
when this carriage preceded. This experiment proved that the
draft of these carriages was the same.

The springs of both carriages were then made free, and the
axles of one of them brought within six feet of each other ;
those of the other carriage remaining at nine feet nine inches
asunder. The weight of both was brought to an equality, and
both were loaded at bottom,

The

96 On the Anatomy of Vegetables; intended to substitute

cwt g7rs
The carriage with the short perch was loaded with 6:0
That with the long perch with -e ee o3 jae

When put in motion they kept together.

The load in the short perch carriage was placed at
the top. They both kept together. .

The springs of both were then prevented from acting.
The short carriage hada load at topof .. .. 6:0

The long carriage was loaded at bottom with cee oO
The long carriage rather preceded.

Comparison of Roads.

Two roads were formed, one of gravel, ‘the other of broken
stones; two carriages without springs were comected with the
peirameter, one running on gravel, the other on stones; the

former having a load of 7ewt. the other of 4cwt.; they kept

nearly together.
The same carriages were made to run, one on the broken
stones, the other on coarse pavement :
The former hadaload of .. .. % 5 ewt.
Phe latter: i sate ap oe the ooo vows.
The latter preceded.
In another experiment,

The Ist had a load of ite 3% ifs lewt.
The 2d of Ss wi its 10ecwt.
They kept together.

Experiments were also tried in order to ascertain the advan-
tage of covering the stones with straw, but little advantage
seemed to result.

Your committee cannot close this Report without returning

their sincere thanks to Dr. Litton, for the zeal and intelligence

with which he attended and reported these experiments; and

also their perfect approbation of the unwearied attention and

skill with which Mr. William Edgeworth conducted the detail.
R. B. Bryan.
THomas Brown.
F. Fox.

XXIX. On the Anatomy of Vegetables; intended to substitute
many important Truths in Phytology. By Mrs. AGNEs
IBBETSON.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sin, — Havine now completed the foundation of vegetable
life, I shall hope to send youa more regular series of dissections,
corrected from many of the errors, doubt and astonishment which

(often

ee ee Se ee

ee

many important Truths in Phytology. — 97

(often while learning) were too apt to disorder the clearness and
conciseness of the picture. So frequently has the whole now
been renewed; so continually have 1 gone over the same yearly
arrangement, that I can with more perfect perspicuity, and I
hope certainty, show the manner in which plants are formed ;
the mechanisin they possess; the impossibility of their being a¢
all sensitive; show the power which food has on plants, the
variety cf alterations it will produce in their appearance, and
how truly each change is adapted to the situation, soil, and
aspect for which it was made.

But before I commence this account, I owe to myself and to
the public, to show the manner in which my whole studies have
been regulated—that they may be proper judges of the eredit
due to me, whether I deserve the confidence I have ventured to
claim, since my offering is, I understand, thought to be asystem 5
instead of that which it really is, an exact and unaltered daily copy
of what Nature truly presents each year én the interior of a plant,
and which any person possessing a common microscope may
see, provided they will follow the picture as I have done, by
a daily review of the increase of the interior of each vegetable,
from the first of its commencement to‘its decay.—In explaining
the manner in which I have followed the study for the last six-
teen years, I may without exaggeration say, that | believe no
one has ever dissected or watched plants with the unwearied
diligence and patience that I have; taking upa fresh plant of the
same kind every three days for nearly four years following, watch-
ing the interior picture, and pursuing each ingredient from its
first formation to its perfection, and hence to its destruction.
Convinced that a plant was only to. be well known by this pro-
gressive picture, I (besides all other dissections) submitted Lo ¢hts;
and have gained more knowledge, and profited more, by this
method, than by any other previously tried. 1 have been re-
peatedly told that my dissections are admirable, but that my
system is not admissible. 1 have no system. I think I may ven-
ture to say, that any one who should see the natural specimens
I could show, would be convinced in a moment, because they
explain themselves. Howis it'possible that the specimens can be
true, and yet the facts they elucidate, and bring to light, FALSE?
I have with the greatest care avoided forming any system, lu¢
that which the dissections themselves plainly establish. To
prove this, I shall bring as an example “ the seeds formed in
the roots,” and mention the different specimens, and give the
drawings as they naturally appear in the tree, and as I took
them, and ask my reader whether any other explanation can be
given of sucha series of plain facts? In September 1810, laying
open the whole root of a beech, and lime, I discovered a quantity

Vol. 48. No, 220, August 1816. G of

98 On the Anatomy of Vegetables ; intended to substantiate

of powder forming in the extremities of the side-roots. (Plate I.
fig. 1.) Continuing to open a fresh tree as the season advanced,
and following up the ingredient in the interior, I saw ¢hat
powder soon coagulate and form into balls, which, increasing by
degrees, nioved in a few weeks through the root in every direc-
tion, till they all centred in the different vessels of the alburnum
(fig. 2), and then mounted in a slow movement, tied together by
a slight thread of the line of life. Continuing my exatnination,.
I suddenly discovered that the balls had left the alburnum cylin-
der, and were collected around different buds at the extremity of
the last year’s shcot (fig.3). In my next specimens I saw that
the balls were entirely left to themselves, while all the buds were
in the very act of running up into the new shoot. In the fol-
lowing specimen they were regularly fixed there, the shoot
being just formed by the fresh flow of the sap, and completed
by this process. The next appearance showed the balls collect-
ing at the bottom of the new shoot, aggregated into the figure
of a mulberry (fig. 4). I now redoubled my attention, impatient
to see what would follow; when I found that a vessel had been
formed (while the balls were collecting),and had dipped into each
separate bud (0,0,0). The next process was the running in of
the balls into this vessel (see MM), when so many were regularly
dropped into each pericarp, drawn in by degrees by means of
the line of life which tied all the balls together (fig.5). As soon
as the balls entered the seed-vessel, a part surrounded them and
seemed to fix them in their appropriate places, and the seed-
vessel elosed; but on cutting it open several times within the
next fortnight, no further change had taken place; but a very
great alteration in the flower, which had gained its calyx and pe-
duncles. In less than a fortnight more the flower was sufficiently:
advanced to commence the fructification of the seeds; and the
line of life passing through each ball, a figure began to be per-
ceived in the interior (see Lime-seed) , which was undoubtedly the
embryo of the plant. And the following specimen showed most
plainly, that those very balls, formed at the extremities of the
side-roots, running through the middle roof to the alburnum,
and fixed in the seed-vessel, were really the heart of the seed,
since the progressive picture finished by the growth of the emm-
bryo in the ball.

Is this a system? or, Is it not rather the exaet copying of the
interior progress of a plant, in which neither the imagination nor
even the reason of the dissector has aught todo? I have blindly,
I think, followed my copy; my specimens exactly show the dif-
ferent pictures I have explained. How then can they be just,
and the explanation false, since they are regularly traced to the
fructification of the seed? And how can they be nourishment,

since

many important Truths in Phytology. 99

since we follow till the embryo grows within, and till the seed
puts on all its outward cover? Between the commencement of
this picture and the completion, above twelve specimens are
drawn and exhibited, showing them in each different state. How
can any one forge all these, and make them exactly agree with
the plant? And if they are acknowledged to be true, how can
such plain facts be otherwise explained? I have given this exam-
ple, merely to show the manner in which I study: it is as nearly
that adopted in chemistry as possible; since in botany you fol-
low with your eye the object from state to state while growing,
and must therefore perfectly understand the manner of its com-
position ; while in chemistry the matter is decomposed and re-
composed again. Both means can admit of true facts only, and
each that I wish to establish will be given with equal clearness
and precision. The following propositions 1 shall first clearly
explain, as they are absolutely necessary to the obtaining a
thorough knowledge of the forms and nature of vegetable life 5
and may be called fundamental maxims, which ought first to be
proved true, to open the way for more practical laws. These will
show what a plant is; and indeed, in describing and drawing up
the comparative anatomy of an animal and plant, in this Maga-
zine for August1815, I exactly fixed those marks of division which
this and the next letters will more clearly illustrate.

The chief truths I have hitherto endeavoured to make known
are these ; the proofs of which I shall enforce with as much ex-
pedition as possible.

1. That there is no perspiration in plants.

2. That there is no circulation of sap.

3. That the spiral wire is the muscle of the plant,

4, That the leaves are the lungs of the plant.

5. That the different divisions of the leaves are formed of the
elongations of the bark and inner bark vessels.

6. That the hairs and instruments of that kind are the means
which Nature takes to form the different juices according to their
various affinities. That these figures were taken for perspiration,
but are in reality liquids received from the atmosphere and flow-
ing into the plant, not a juice running from it.

7. That the root is the laboratory of all plants.

8. That the heart of the seeds is formed in the extremities
of the side-roots.

9. That the flower is also formed in the middle root, and the

ollen in the tap root.

10. That the corolla of a flower is formed by bubbles of water
placed in rows, and owes all its beauty, and the lightness of its
tint, to the refraction and reflection of the sun on the drops of
water which form its pabulum.

G 2 11, That

100 On the Anatomy of Vegetables; intended to substantiate

il. That the roots and leaves of a plant will mast exactly
mark not only what is the soil in which they originally grew,
but the situation from which they came, whether a water plant
or a dry plant, a rock or a valley plant, &c.

12. That the water, and semi-water, and rock plants alone
can be said to have direct air-vessels, though I have found thenr
in parasite and early spring plants, such as the crocus and hya-
cinth.

13. That the leaf owes all its mechanism to the gatherer
alone.

When I have shown the absolute truth of all these proposi-
tions in a way, I hope, that cannot well be contradicted, [ have

many more with which constant dissection has acquainted me,
which will altogether (1 flatter myself) exhibit a regular
system formed by Nature, and established in truth; which may
at last force conviction even on those learned hotamcts: who
have such a holy horror of committing themselves, that they dare
not trust their superior minds to hold the scale between truth
and falsehood, and try the argument by a fair examination, and
by the complete consistency of the opinions.

My first proposition is,“ That there is no perspiration in plants.”
I have already said much on this subject. 1 shall now therefore
only recapitulate the simple facts, and the manner in which |
prove that there is none. I shall first show the difference be-
tweeen perspiration and evaporation, since to comprehend terms
clearly, e/ucidates a subject beyond any other means. Perspira-
tion is a matter thrown off in its liquid state, from apertures
contrived for the purpose, being a matter injurious to health,
and therefore necessary to be repelled: it is often seen in drops
of water on the skin. But evaporation is merely a sign that water
exists there. It flies off in vapour unseen; and whether it is or is
not condensed again, depends on the presence or absence of one
of its constituents, hydrogen, which, the moment it appears, has
such an affinity for oxygen that they directly join and recompose
water. Now the chief proof which Hales gives of the perspiration
of plants is, that if you place a vegetable in a bell- glass, drops of
water will soon run down the interior surface. This is true ; but
is easily explained. Oxygen flows in quantities from every healthy
plant: it is taken from the decomposed water in the vegetable,
and the hydrogen is secreted. But when a plant is oppressed.
and sick, it parts with this gas; and this is shown by the damp
clammy feel it acquires. As soon therefore as confined under a
glass without free air, it begins to lose its hydrogen; which im-
mediately flying to the oxygen it had before given out and con-
fined, they again combine aud form water. But turn a strong
magnifier on the plant while under the glass, and not one drop

of

many important Truths in Phyiology. 101

of water will be seen to ooze from the plant, though (if any
escaped) the magnifier would make the bubbles as big as over-
grown peas. But it escapes in air; and the joint gases again
compose the water, and which runs down the glass.

The philosophers of the last century, not being in the habit of
examining plants with the microscope, thought all those figures
discovered on the cuticle of the leaves were uncovered bubbles
of water, because they appeared clear and pellucid. But all
these figures are éither cuticles formed by balls standing on high
pedestals, or figures of a still more curious make, resembling retorts,
cucurbits, and cylinders of various sorts and sizes, divided by re-
gular valves, and formed to produce vacuums, to separate water
into its component parts; in short, established for every purpose
of chemical affinity ; by which means the juices are received from
the atmosphere, and changed to the many compounds necessary
to compose the various juices of the plant. That balls standing
on stalks or long retorts cannot be perspiration, every one will
readily own:—but to make the matter plainer still, take two
plants of the same sort, expose one to the open atmosphere 3
shade the other above. The first will be probably covered with
dew ; the other will remain perfectly dry, not the smallest drop
appearing on the leaves. Where then isthe perspiration ? Place
this plant in a room, and it will receive dust like any other fur-
niture; nor will that dust agglutinate or thicken: on the con-
trary, the smallest breath of wind will disperse and blow it all
off, leaving the leaves perfectly clear :—a positive proof that no
water can ooze from the leaves, or they would exactly resemble
the plant when disordered with the honey-dew, and be as nasty
in appearance as they then are. And how deformed Nature
would be! for one of its greatest beauties is the vivid green and
cleanliness of its shrubs and trees. Would not the dust stick on
every part, and spoil all its beauty; or roll off in large balls,
smearing the leaf as it passed? It is astonishing that this ob-
jection should not occur as so very obvious.

The next proof [ shall give of the impossibility of perspiration
is, that every vegetable possesses an impervious skin, through
which not a drop of water can pass. To understand and be cer-
tain whether plants do or do not possess a skin capable of shut-
ting out all outward moisture, independent of the figures or hairs
already mentioned, I procured with great labour near thirty
different specimens of this impervious cuticle, in which however
1 must observe that the pores were most conspicuous. ‘The skins
were taken from the outward cuticles of leaves, stems, and petals
of various plants. Placing them on a glass, with the interior
side upwards, I rubbed with the greatest care, with my finger
covered with very fine cambric, and soon found that my con-

G3 jectures

102 On the Anatomy of Vegetables; intended to substantiate

jectures were right; that the mark was only that of the open-
ing pabulum below, impressed by constant motion on the upper
cuticle ; since after friction it left behind neither pore nor pat-
tern, but an impervious skin so very fine that not even the solar
microscope could display its net-work. Their skins were almost
all alike, though some were thicker than others :—some indeed
are so very transparent that the liquid appears uncovered, till you
touch it, and prove that it is contained in a vessel, which, though
so thin, is also so strong as repeatedly to bear defonation. Just
the same is the cuticle with which most of the sand plants are
covered, which take in so much nutriment. Just the same is
the skin which covers most plants, but which is so very transpa-
rent, that I am often obliged to place a hair with it in my sliders to
mark that there isan object there,—as it is tobe seen by thenaked
eye only when placed in a cross light. With such a skin, then,
how can the water pass in and out of the vegetable, but by
means of the hairs? And if there was no such cuticle, how would
the decomposition of water be effected? since the liquid would
leave it at one pore, as fast as it entered at the others :—whereas,
secured by this skin, it is to be seen under the cuticle bubbling
into air, just as it does when exposed to the Galvanic wire in a
glass tube, when water is decomposed. It is by the coasistency
of my plan that the truth of the whole should be tried. One pro-
position proves the next—till, copied from Nature, it forms one
circle of facts, my mind was wholly incapable of suggesting, ex-
cept by being led through them by living specimens. Sure no
more reasons can be wanting to prove the mistake which philo-
sophers have made in this respect. But there are two or three
more as convincing.

The sand plants, the rock plants, take almost all their nutri-
ment from the atmosphere, their roots being incapable of be-
slowing any, or at most a very trifling quantity. But if they
are to lose again in perspiration the greatest part of what they
receive, how are they to be nourished? It is the want of the
impervious skin in the rock plants, which leaves them open to
imbibe all the nutriment they require, being almost without
hairs, but receiving the dew, &ec. direct as it fal/s. But the
sand plants, having a quantily of hairs and instruments, have
the impervious cuticle, absorbing through these hairs an exces-
sive quantity of nourishment, which thus enters the plant. It
was these plants that were said to perspire so much, and it was
this liquid collected from the broken instruments that they called
perspiration; whereas it is all to be seen entering the plant from
every hair, and thus meandering in vessels made for the pur-_
pose.

Of what use could perspiration be to plants that have little or

no

many important Truths in Phytology. 103

no heat, no exercise, that deserves the name? What is the use
of perspiration to animal life? To free the blood from its re-
‘dundant water; to expel from the body those particles which
from repeated circulation’ have become acrimonious. But there
being no circulation, there is no matter to become hurtful ; and
as fresh matter is hourly sent into the plant in every way, it can-
not want cooling; since the highest heat the plant knows is
during fructification, which never exceeds 13° above atmospheric
heat at that time, and can therefore be in no danger from so
trifling an increase of temperature. What then is that matter
which philosophers collected, and called perspiation? It is a
matter which, instead of proceeding from the plant, is wholly
drawn in from the atmosphere, and taken from the broken hairs ;
and which may be regularly traced descending from the points
of the hairs, and thus from valve to valve, till it enters the plant.
Had simple nutriment alone been necessary, a naked pore would
have been sufficient. But to form the jueces according to che-
mical affinity, and specific gravity, wanted more instruments, far
more preparation; and this is the reason of the very curious in-
struments constantly seen on the leaves, and the strange figures
presented to our view: few of the hairs that are not double ; few
that have not many valves, to alter the juices by degrees as they
meet.

I could add many other reasons against this established idea
of the perspiration of plants,”’ did I not fear to tire my reader,
and did I not also consider that I have given amply sufficient to
convince all those who are not resolved not to be convinced. J
am sorry to say, In botany there appears such a holy horror
of changing established maxims, that scarcely mathematical evi-
dence against them will suffice. This must at once put anend to
every improvement in the science. And yet no one can be more
against admitting facts without strict evidence than | am. But
examination should always be bestowed.

I now turn to my second maxim, “ That there is no circula-
tion in plants.” When reading again (and with still stricter at-
tention) the excellent work of Sir J. E. Smith on Botany, (the
best compendium I know of what Phytology is at this time)
I, to my great surprise, discovered that Mr, Knight considered
both bark juice and sap as the same liquid, and forming but
one sort. This at once accounts for the strange mistake Lelween
us, concerning the sap, and its return through the bark. I shall
not stop long to consider how he can esteem as the same, two
liquids so diametrically opposite in every respect, and which when
analysed are so essentially different: the one formed of a sort of
gluten and albumen extracted from the earth, and probably
proceeding in part from the underground vegetables, of which

G4 the

104 On the Anatomy of Vegetables; intended to substantiate

the earth is full; the other drawing its foundation from the at-
mosphere, and composed of the narcotic principles, tannin, oils,
extractive matter, gums and resins, &e. &c. Thus they are as
various i their effects as unlike in their appearance ; the one
tanning leather, the other having no effect of this kind But
this confusion has arisen from the firs, where the turpentine is
apt to spread not a little into the wood, and thus mix with the
sap, which, in this case, loses a little. But its overrunning its pro-
per bounds is no reason for reckoning the two juices the same:
the one is compounded in the leaves of the tree, the foundation
taken from the atmosphere ; the other proceeding from the
juices of the earth, and to be considered as the liquid of the
ground rather than the juices of the plant.

I shall first show how the bark juice is formed. It is composed
in the pabulum of the leaves, to which the juices (taken by means
of the hairs from the atmosphere) constantly contribute ; ; and
when the pabulum is completed, the rest of the juices flow. in
jarge vessels from the leaf-stem to the bark. Now this is what
Mr. Knight calls ‘* the return of the sap.” But there is not a
drop of sap in it, and his mistake arises from taking the muscles
for sap-vessels. However, when once this is proved a mistake, all
the fabric must fail with it. That the muscles which run from
the wood to the leaves, and which are commonly called the spiral
wire, are incapable of carrying sap, is easily shown; two of them
are perfectly without aperture; and the middle one, though hol-
low, contains nothing but oil to humect and lubricate the. spiral,
that it may not contract, and thus let out (by continual agi-
tation) the most important part of the plant.

The sap has but two ways of flowing up the tree: tue first is
up the alburnum vessels, which continue to run up the tree for a
whole week or longer, twice in the year, and which is called the
barking time, because, in running in its place between the bark
and wood, it detaches one from the other, and by separa ing al-
lows time for the sap to coagulate and form a new row of wood ;
while the sap also pushing back the bark prepares a fresh row
of alburnum, allowing the wood-vessels to lengthen, and by thus
increasing runs through the new wood. A large collection of
sap is always to be discovered at the bottom of the root at this
time, serving as a reservoir for the alburnum; which plainly shows
‘that this ascension of the sap is managed by a different law
than the flowof the sap in the wood,” since that has no reservoir
below.

The next manner of the flow of the sap is up the wood-vessels.
This is a constant rill, which is however much quickened in the
morning or evening; but continues more or less throughout the
year,

p Sir

many important Truths in Phytology. 105

Sir J. E. Smith is perfectly right i in saying that the wood can
be divided into such diminutive pieces, it is impossible that they
should form sap-vessels. They are not sap vessels, but sap va-
cancies; which convey the liquid up the tree with more freedom
than vessels could, as the escape of the buds horizontally would
be apt by moving the vessels to twist them, and thus impede the
sap; whereas the vacancies formed in the wood, move to and
fro with it, only tied together every inch by a spiral wire which
surrounds the top of the aperture (see Plate I. fig. 8), and by
contracting and dilating brings them again to their proper places,
after they have been disturbed by the “passing out of the bud;
and as the aperture or passage for the sap is really very large,
it will bear a little reducing, without injury to the flow of the
liquid. The spiral also prevents their deviating too far from
their proper situation. Let a piece of wood be cut quite straight
and horizontal, and it will (if much magnified) easily show the
spiral vessels passing from one aperture to another (see fig. 8),
preventing the wood from warping too much, or obliging it to
return to its proper situation.

I shall now show Mr. Knight’s opinions (as far as I can un-
derstand them), and contrast them with my own. We certainly
both agree as to the existing vessels, though differing in the pur-
pose for which they are intended. It is astonishing that, not
dissecting progressively, he should so well have ascertained the
vessels; this I think wonderful :—but it is only by tracing them
daily, from their first existence, that their purpose can be really
proved,

Mr. Knight believes that the sap flows up the spira/ vessels i in
theiwood; that they are the sap- -vessels, which convey all this liquid
up the tree; and that, arrived at the branches, they run up to the
bottom of the leaves, and convey the returning sap to the bark
downwards. 1 (on the contrary) am convinced “ that the spirals
are the muscles of the tree, can convey no sap, that they mean-
der in every part of the leaf to accelerate its motion; and that
the large vessels meeting the spirals, at the bottom of the leaf,
are the inner bark- daaucht running downwards, filling the bark
anew which was lost by the late winter, and which is all formed
in the leaves.

My first reason against Mr. Knight’s opinion is taken from
the size of the spirals, ‘That so small a vessel should be chosen
for the purpose of nourishing a great tree, when sixty spirals
would searcely make a small ‘thread, seems preposterous. The
next reason against it is its extreme dwisting and e/ernal agita-
tion, which in so diminutive a thread must continually impede
the progress of the sap. Place. a stem of a plant or tree in a co-
Joured liquor; the spirals run only in the three or four last rows of

the

106 On the Anatomy of Vegetables ; intended to substantiate

the wood. How comes it then that the whole wood is stained with
the liquor, and in the root (where the spirals are stopped) double
the quantity of coloured wood is discovered ? If the spirals alone
received the sap, the wood should be coloured only where the
run; it would stop entirely in the root, and only half the wood
would ke coloured.

I have shown that the sap runs in wood vacancies instead of
sap-vessels, and how this reconciles the admirable observation
of Sir J. E. Smith concerning the splitting of the wood. Now
again, if the spirals carry the sap to the leaves, why put in re-
quisition the largest vessels in the tree to carry the sap on from
the leaves downwards to the bark ?,why such an increase of
vessels to convey the same quantity of liquid?—Surely there is a
contradiction here (see fig. 9). But the whole return of the sap
may be refuted by the simple truth, that a half pint cannot con-
taina gallon. Mr. Knight supposes that all the quantity of sap,
which in mounting occupies ten times the size of the bark, in
descending again runs into the bark-vessels filled already with
their own liquid, yet does not increase their size. Thus a...ais the

bark, and ........ .b the wood. 0 is added to aa, and yet remains
the same size ; nor in any degree enlarges,or doubles its number of
‘vessels. Let itdescend inever such small quantities, it must all still
pass through the stem of the tree, which is infinitely too narrow
in its bark and too small to admit it; besides that it has but its
inner bark vessels descending ; all the ‘others pass round the tree;
nor could I ever discover a vessel in the bark containing sap:
and there is certainly no confusing together twa liquids dif-
fering so much as the bark juice and sap.

That famous trial which is always mentioned so triumphantly
as proving the descent of the sap, much better shows the descent
of the bark juice. 1 mean cutting a gash in the tree, and its
increasing in the upper and not the lower orifice of the wound,
Now if the whole /wmp formed is cut off and dissected, it is found
to be “a collection of coagulated bark juice, which of course
could not proceed downwards; lumps of resin congealed, sap,
and half-rotten buds. The sap drawn there by the lymphatic
vessels, on account of the injury done by the cut, and the buds
drawn there by the increase cf nourishment*”’. How, if it had
been sap, it could be prevented running down, I cannot con-
ceive: but the bark juice coagulates in a moment, and the air
would soon accelerate this effect. But a more thorough proof
may still be given that there is no circulation of sap, by showing
that the vessels which Mr. Knight has chosen for the purpose are
muscles, and can therefore.contain no sap;, and that the large ©
vessels are inner bark vessels. Innumerable authors, both

* See Phil. Mag. for Aug. 1815, p. 93.
French

many important Truths in Phytology. 107

French and English, are of this opinion, and call them so. But
dissecting progressively, it is impossible tomistake the ingredients.
From the birth of plants to their end, from the first of their for-
mation to the last, the spirals perform but one part, that of
proving the strength of the tree, and its cause of motion.—I now
therefore turn to my third proposition.

HI. That the Sptral Wire is the Muscle of the Plant.

To prove that the spiral wire is the muscle of a plant, and
acts on and for the plant exactly as the independent muscle does
for the animal body,—I shall first draw up the physical resem-
blance, showing in how true and perfect a manner every part
suits. In the first place, muscles are to the animal body, the
strength of motion. Like the wood of the vegetable, the bone
may lay claim to support the figure; but the muscle is the only
source of real strengthin both. Wherever strength and motion
are required, there is the muscle found; and wherever strengthand
motion are requisite in the plant, there the ‘spirgl wire is dis-
covered. As it is involuntary motion only that can be compared
to the vegetable, it is that only which | refer to in animals. I
showed in my Comparison of animal and vegetable Life*, that the
latter had neither brain nor nerves, and could not therefore have
any voluntary motion ; but that, to make it amends for this ap-
parent privation, it possessed in a very superior degree that in-
voluntary motion to be discovered in animals; that motion
which is called the vis insita of the muscles, belongs to no other
part; which, when the muscle of an animal is completely di-
vided from every other ingredient, will convulse it and keep it in
a continual agitation for a time, especially if the light. shines
on it. This has been called the vis insita of the muscles. The
cause of this vis zmsida in animal muscles is unknown; but in
the spiral wire it is certainly ight, and moisture, that act on it;
since the moment it is exposed to the light (especially after being
detained some time in the dark), its motion is excessive, though

_perfectly mert before. Nay, | have in my sliders placed an ani-
mal muscle in one, and a spiral wire in the other, and they have
both on being presented to the light moved much; but the
spiral infinitely more than the animal muscle :—still both light
and moisture seemed to affect each, though in an unequal degree.
Thus the eause of motion, the means of strength, to both muscle

‘and spiral wire, both possessing the same vis insita, who can
deny that the spiral is the muse/e to the plant? It appears to
me to be so positive a proof as to require no other, since the vis
insila is the very sign of the muscle. But I shall not trust to
that evidence alone, but prove also that it is the source and

* See Phil. Mag. Aug. 1815, p. 81.
‘ Cause

108 On the Anaiomy of Vegetables ; intended to substantiate

cause of all strength and of all motion to the plant. View that
weak and fragile thing called the corolla of a flower: how beau-
tiful is each petal formed! but so frail, it would seem capable of
being destroyed by breathing on it:—and yet it will fold and re-
fold into different forms, when passing frony a bud to a full-
blown flower; will bear exposure to an evaporating atmosphere,
without being hurt; will support the change of weather, rain,
and even a storm ; and such is its strength, that take the lovely
convoivulus tribe, and press the petals with your finger, and you
will find a ‘resistance beyond all conception of its force: run a
thread through it to/preventits folding; and if your thread is ever
so strong, it will either break it, or tear the corolla to pieces;
but it will by no means prevent your corolla from closing. Ex-
amine what causes this strength; dissect the stripes in which the
force is evidently jixed; you will find from four to seven spirals
concealed within them. The petal being monopetalous, there
are three or four stripes to each apparent ‘division, and it is im-
possible not to see that the strength resides in them only. What
astonishing force to be found in the flower of some salvias! View
its high raised banner formed to defend the stamen and pistil
from injury ; press it with your finger, it is to the stripe alone
it owes the preservation of its shape, the force it possesses. This
flower has strength enough to oppose a young hornet. I saw the
searlet salvia attacked by one; it had entered the flower, and was
attempting to reach the secret nectary below; but it was very
near paying with life for its temerity ; fer, having inserted its head
and shoulders within the inward bend of the petals, they were
visibly contracting, and began to close above, and in a few mi-
nutes the creature would certainly have been drowned ; for the .
juice within increased each moment, pressed up from the secret
nectary below:—it was just dead when I took it out, but soen
revived enough to be dangerous. It is certain that many flowers
have the power of defending their secret nectary by closing; since
during my constant watching of plants I have several times found
insects thus confined; the muscle thus contracting from the
heat of the insect’s body, which has quite caloric sufficient to in-
fluence a spiral wire, though perhaps not our thermometers*.
The force ef the spiral is not only discovered in the flower, but
still more in the leaf, as the whole health of the plant depends
on the constant motion of the leaves of the trees, which merits
them the name of lungs to the plant, though they have few or
no air-vessels within them; but the constant motion in which

* The insects, fecl cold to us, because they are so infinitely colder than
our skin; and we feel the cold, beeaice we part with somuch heat to them;
but in reality it has more war mth than the vegetable even during tructifi-
gation—as I shall show in my next letter,

‘ the

many important Truths in Phytology. , 109

the spiral wire keeps them, aided by the wind, produces an eter-
nal change in the air around each tree. But for this, the oxygen
they give out would remain (owing to its weight) under the
plant: but the muscles agitating its multiplied little fans, mix
all the different gases together, and keep them when the wind
fails in eternal agitation. All the mechanism of the leaf is ma-
naged not only by the same stripes as the petals, but by the
mechanical contrivance of the leaf-stalk. It is the gatherer on
each end of the peduncle that is the chief source of motion in
the leaves. It is but watching this for a few hours, to see all its
different motions, and to be convinced it is to the spiral it owes
them, and all its strength also. The stem of the plant, possesses
not one-tenth part of the motion of the peduncle, nor has it a
quarter of its spiral wire, its portion of muscles being exactly
equivalent to the action it is obliged to exert. In those leaves
that must necessarily turn, follow the motions of the sun, open
and close in the morning and evening, there are always more
muscles than in the plants that do not open and close. Those
plants that do not move their leaves have no spiral wire, such 2s
the firs, lichens, sea weeds, &c.; but the confervas, that move
like a worm and twist in every direction, are, like the tendrils,
composed almost wholly of muscles. Take the spirals out of the
peduncle; nay, take only a few of them, and the leaf turns no
more: take them out of the tendril, and it becomes perfectly in-
ert:—but the spiral you have taken from thence, moves on the
glass for hours.

Can more and stronger proofs be given? Those leaves which
have most motions have most spiral wire, and have it most twisted ;
and if the spiral is taken from the plant, it is perfectly inert, °
while the part taken from it moves eternally. These proofs, add-
ed to the vis insita of the spiral, must, I think, be allowed to be
as positive evidence as we generally are able to procure of that
which is allowed to be true; and therefore sufficient to enable
me with confidence to say that the spiral wire is proved to be
the muscle of the plant; and that therefore Mr. Knight’s idea of
the return of the sap must be a mistake, since the vessels he
fixed on for the purpose are incapable of carrying any liquid ex-
cept a little oil—being the muscles of the plant—and that there-
fore there is no circulation of the sap; but that the larger vessels
are bark-vessels, which can convey no sap, but are full of bark-
juice:—that on a thorough examination of the bark, there are but
the inner bark-vessels which run down the tree, all the rest
moving round it. I hope, therefore, I shall be thought to have
proved the three propositions I undertook to show.

In my next I shall show the three following, with the same
degree of truth. I should apologize for the s/yle; but it is dit-

ficult

110 On the Anatomy of Vegetables.

ficult to unite clearness with elegance : to be exactly understood,
and to prove the propositions I advance, is ali.I aim at: to fix
the exact foundation of the anatomy of botany, is my only wish:
completing this, I think I shall die in peace, and in the hope
that I have not lived quite in vain for the science I so highly
prize, and to which I have dedicated so many years.
I am, sir,
Your obliged servant,
Dawlish, July 2, 1816. AGNEs [BBETSON.
—— 5

Explanation of the Plate.

In giving the few specimens, though for want of room I shall
not be able to give the twelve; yet I hope I may draw a series
sufficient to thoroughly explain the formation of the seed in its
regular process. ist. The view of the radicles and the passage
of the powder into ball: the part from ato 0 being generally
lost in the earth when the root is taken up, if great care is not
had to prevent the accident, but they are always to be found
in the ground. Fig. 1, natural size, is made rather too
large. Fig. 2 is the vessels running through the root, and all
centring in the alburnum vessels, and proceeding up to the dif-
ferent buds, but not entering them. The buds are then seen to
forsake them, and to pass up into the new shoot just formed, by
stalks growing under each bud, as in fig. 7, and thus running up
to their proper places in the new shoot, This is the reason why
the new wood is always grooved, even when that shape is lost
in more advanced age—the stalks growing within the groove.
Fig.4 is the new shoot round which the buds have arranged them-
selves, and a vessel formed to convey the balls from bud to bud,
dropping so many at each pericarp ; which then closes on them,
while the collection’ from which they run at LL decreases
hourly till itis all exhausted. In the arwm, when the seeds are
about to enter the seed-vessel, if a specimen is taken horizon-
tally, the seeds may be seen for the next hour to move into the
different pericarps up the stem of the flower at fig. 4, drawn
in by the line of life at dd. Then follows the last scene, the
seeing those very balls fructified, which had moved from the root
upwards, and the embryo growing in the ball. The ball is cer-
tainly only the heart of the seed, and reaches from z to w, at
fig. 6. I know not how these specimens can be otherwise ex-
plained. The fructification proves it the seed; besides that I
continue to follow it up till the seed puts on its cover and drops
into the earth. And there is no reason brought against these
numerous facts, except that it was never discovered before, and
that the flower-bud is made (Mr. Knight supposes) in the bark.
That the leaf-bud is formed there I have always shown; but that

the

On the Cosmogony of Moses. 111

the flower-bud is formed in the interior is so true, that no peeler
or barker but would laugh at us for thinking it doubtful: be-
_ sides that it has so many different changes, all of which I have
exactly traced, that it is impossible 1 should be deceived : fol-
lowing the interior of a plant every three days, and taking up a
fresh one for the purpose, I know not how | can miss the truth
in so close an investigation, and that for near four years fol-
lowing.

Fig. 8 discloses the different manner in which the sap-vessels
appear when the specimens are cut horizontally, or perpendicu-
larly. The hollow of the vacancies in which the sap runs at
bbb, fig. 8, and the manner the spiral is carried round at ddd,
are most plain, and account for the warping of the wood and its
motion back again.

Fig. 9 is a specimen of the swmach, showing the bark-vessels
at kk, and the spirals or muscles at ss: the one to move the
leaf, the first to convey the juice made there to the bark. Surely,
when it is recollected what excessive investigation all plants
have undergone for the last sixteen years, my discovering so
much will not be considered as a proof of their falsehood: for,
in truth, plants had never before been dissected; for what is
cutting a plant two or three times in a year, when compared with |
following its interior formation day by day? And if you are to
know how a watch is made, how can it be known, but by ex-
amining and studying all its parts and taking to pieces all its
wheels? And here is a more difficult formation ; for it is not only
a piece of mechanism, but one that alters its appearance though
by slow degrees. Yet I again say, no one will or can know or
understand a process, but by daily following each ingredient, and
not allowing a single week to intervene without the examination
of the interior increase of the vegetable he is studying.

[Exratum.—P. 96, in two instances for substitute r. substantiate. }

XXX. On the Cosmogony of Moses ; in Answer to F. E
By Dr. PricuarD.

To Mr. Tilloch.

5.

Sir, — My unwearied adversary F. E——s professes in his
last letter to have a presentiment that it will call forth a reply,
and, like one of the old augurs to whom he bears more than one
point of resemblance, has taken care to ensure that his pre-
diction may come to pass. In fact, he has brought a charge
azainst me of having violated the jus belli, the law which cus-
tom has imposed on such combatants as him and me. He ac-
cuses me not only of taunting him, which was very ill-natured

and

112 On the Cosmogony of Moses.

and perverse on my part, but of putting words in his mouth
which he never uttered. I must endeavour to get out of this
scrape as well as I can, though I fear it will be at the risk, which
I am loth to incur, of ruffling still further the serenity of my
adversary’s temper.

He challenges me to produce a passage from any of his let-
ters, in which he has athrmed, either directly or by inference,
that corals are locomotive animals. As I have no chance of
finding a thing so ridiculous asserted fot?dem verbis, | shall con-
tent myself with collecting it by inference, or rather from syno-
nymous expressions. But first I beg to remark, that I never
supposed F, E——s to be so beside himself as seriously to main-
tain such an absurdity; and I should not have condescended to
notice a verbal error, however extraordinary, if he had not first
introduced that captious method of carrying on the controversy
between us.

In a paper which was published in May (Philosophical Maga-
zine, xvii. p. 348), F. E——s has asserted that zdophytes
are moving creatures that have life*. These words, in the rela-
tion in which they occur, must convey to the mind of every
reader precisely the same idea as locomotive animals. I have
never heard that any motions have been proved to belong to
zoophytes different from the motions of mere irritability, which
are common to this class of beings and to plants, and which
therefore cannot. be thought to be alluded to as characterizing
any department of animated nature. The phrase in the text,
‘* moving creatures that have life,”’ being clearly intended to
distinguish animals, it would be mere quibbling, to assign it a
sense which is equally applicable to animals and vegetables. I
cannot then be censured for not suspecting F. E——s of such a
trick or play upon words, as imputing to this expression a mean-
ing that will apply to sensitive plants, and more or less to every
vegetable tribe. If however this was the sense in which he af-
firmed zoophytes to be moving creatures that have life, I was
mistaken in saying that he called them locomotive. I was not
aware that he was playing upon words, and therefore misappre-
hended his meaning.

But F. E s affirms that he had precluded any misappre-
hension of his words by a restrictive clause. He says he had
acknowledged that the motion of zdophytes ‘‘ does not precisely
accord with the idea (of locomotion) which Dr. Prichard thinks

* Lamarck, to whom F. E——s appeals in his last letter, as to a high
authority, excludes zoophytes from all share even in sensibility, and terms
them apathie animals. The propriety of this term may be questioned, but
the opinion which led to its adoption seeins to be founded on very strong
facts,

the

EEE ETE

On the Cosmogony of Moses. 113

the original text of Genesis conveys.” If these words (of loco-
motion) were to be found in the original passage referred to,

I should acknowledge that the sense now imputed to it might
be discovered ; but as they now make their appearance for the
first time, the case is somewhat different. In my preceding letter
I had defined the sense which I attributed to the Hebrew words
more strictly than before, and had mentioned that they convey
the idea which the LXX express by the phrase Gia égerd. It
was natural that I should suppose that F. ER——s referred to
this passage, and not to my first letter, in which I had adopted
the less definite translation of “ locomotive animals.”

I had hopes, as Mr. Horn seemed inclined to enter into the
controversy, of escaping any further trouble on the question,
whether the testacea are locomotive animals; but as F, E——s
still perseveres in urging that point, I must inform him that he
has been fighting all this time against a mere man of straw, a
phantom of his own imagination. In my first paper on this
subject, I observed in general terms that zdophytes and testacea,
not being locomotive animals, are excluded from a place in the
creation of the third day.

_ I was fully aware that there were some exceptions to this re-
mark; but as they are known to every body, and bore no relation
(as I shall presently prove) to the question in which I was inter-
ested, I did not think it necessary to notice them. If F,E——s
had at first candidly conceded the truth of my observations as
far as they applied to zoophytes and the greater number of the
testacea, I should immediately have saved him the trouble of
auy further discussion on this topic. But on account of the
character which the controversy between us speedily assumed, I
thought it quite superfluous to make any explicit answer to his
remarks. Since, however, he perseveres, and at length asks me
a categorical question on the subject, I have only in reply to
congratulate him on having made it appear, afler consulting
authorities, as he says, that sNAILs craAWL. I willingly con-
cede the point, and beg to assure F, E s that I never enter-
tained any doubt upon the subject.

But F. E. has gained no advantage over me by proving that
some of the testacea are locomotive animals. In order to form
an exceptien to the coincidences I have traced between the
succession of epochas in Nature and in the Mosaic Cosmogony,
it would be neeessary to show that vestiges of these creeping
testaceous animals are to be found in those formations which |
have referred to the first period of the organized creation. . This,
I believe, he will find a difficult undertaking, The fact is, that
although many bivalvular shells are contained in the rocks which
belong to this era, there are very few univalves, and those which

Vol, 48, No. 220. August 1816, H have

114. On the Cosmogony of Moses.

have been found are of the class termed pelagian or oceanic, and
appear evidently from their structure never to have furnished a

dwelling to creeping mollusc. If F. E——s can mention one

which properly belongs to the class designated in the 2Ist and

22d verses of the first chapter of Genesis, or which contained a

progressive, walking or creeping animal, I shall admit the case

to be an exception to the coincidences I have pointed out.

It is evident that these coincidences depend, in a great mea-
sure, on the sense of that passage in the Cosmogony which re-
fers to the creation of aquatic animals. In the first period the
vegetable tribes were produced; to which I suppose some animal
species exhibiting the phenomena of animal life in a low degree,
to have been associated, but only such as are very remote in’
their nature from the orders of aquatic animals, which are de-
signated as beginning to exist in the next period. These last
are whales or fishes, and those creatures which are termed in our
English translation ** moving creatures that have life.”

T have compared most of the passages in the Hebrew Scrip-
tures in which the words thus translated are to be found, and I
find their sense to be somewhat more definite than I at first ap-
prehended, being misled by the authority of the version above
mentioned. The exact meaning was pointed out in my letter
published in the Philosophical Magazine for April, and is clearly
expressed by the words used by the LXX Cha égmera. This j;
shall now prove by a sufficient number of references.

The passages in which the creatures are designated, whose
nature is the subject of dispute, are the twentieth and twenty-
first verses of the first chapter of Genesis.

In the twentieth verse we read

2s WH) YA Cort wy"
which in the literal translation of Pagninus is rendered “ reple-
ficent aque reptile anime viventis.”

In the twenty-first verse the creatures which had been pro-
duced are termed

: COT WW WR AODW MT W523 bs
“ animam viventem repentem quam repere fecerunt aque.”

The distinguishing terms are YY in the twentieth verse, and
Mw" in the twenty-first.

- The word YW in the twentieth verse is rendered by the LAX
by the Greek word tgrera. The exact meaning of it is disco-
vered in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus, verse 20th, which is
rendered in the English translation, ‘‘ All fowls that CREEP,
going upon all four, shall be an abomination to you.” Here also
the LXX use the word égzera.

The sense is equally displayed in the twenty-ninth verse of
the same chapter, which is translated, ‘‘ These things 0 be

unclean

On the Cosmogony of Moses. 115

unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the
earth ; the weasel, the mouse, the tortoise after his kind.” __

In Genesis vii. ver. 21. it is rendered ‘ creeping things’’ in
English, and épmerév in Greek.

The term applied to these aquatic animals in the twenty-first
verse, viz. WO, occurs in the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and
thirtieth verses of the same chapter, and in each of these places
is rendered by the LXX fgrera, and ‘‘CREEPING thing” in the
English translation.

it is found in Psalm civ. ver. 20. * It is night wherein all the
beasts of the forest do CREEP forth.”

It occurs in Deuteronomy iv. ver. 18. ‘* The likeness of any-
thing that CREEPETH on the ground.” In the LXX we have
égmerov 6 Egmes enh THS Vis.

Both words occur in Leviticus xi. ver. 44.‘ Neither shall
ye defile yourselves with any crenPING thing that crEEPETH
upon the earth.” The noun is PW and the verb WO). The
LXX have ra éemerd, ra xivovprivee enh rig ys.

It thus appears from parallel citations, chiefly from the Pen-
tateuch, that the terms employed in describing this part of the
fifth day’s creation mean strictly * creeping or walking animals.”
We advance on safe grounds when we make an author the in-
terpreter of his own words.

This interpretation is further confirmed by the old versions
made before the Hebrew language was altogether extinct; viz.
those of the LXX and of the Targumists, if, indeed, the latter
can be called versions. I have already shown that the LXX
eonstantly use the word égmera. Both the Targums, Onkelos,
and Jonathan translate WN) and YW by the Chaldee word
WT which also occurs in Genesis vii. ver. 8. and in Levit. v.
ver. 2, where it corresponds with the Hebrew words rendered
** creeping things.” ‘

It seems therefore unquestionable that the animals which
Moses asserts to have been called into existence in the waters
during the fifth period, are designated by him as whales (viz.
fishes), and all the creeping things or reptiles which inhabit this

-element.
It is very remarkable that M. Cuvier has shown in the course
_ of his wonderful geological researches, which entitle him to the
highest rank among the naturalists who have yet lived, that the
remains of oviparous quadrupeds, or reptiles properly so called,
make their first appearance in the crust of the earth exactly in
the same period with those of fishes, This is another instance
of the remarkable coincidences which display themselves be-
tween the records of Nature and those of Moses; and I am per-
suaded that the more these records are scrutinized, the more
H 2 Rar agreement

116 Ou the Cosmogony of Moses.

agreement will be found between them, by those persons whose
minds are not too contracted to be capable of comprehensive
views, or of surveying facts on a great scale*.

(ga s has observed, that the points in discussion do not
require that he should offer any opinion on the historical facts
which determine me to believe that Moses was not the original
author of the Cosmogony. This seems to me somewhat strange.
Let us suppose the fact to he conceded, in the proofs of which
F.E s is in no wise interested, that a record of the creation
existed before the age of Moses, which contained nearly the same
account as that in Genesis, and let us consider what inferences ne-
cessarily follow from this concession. First, if the latter was
derived from revelation, we can scarcely refuse to allow the same
origin to the former, when we consider how nearly they agree.
Let any person compare the Etruscan Cosmogony cited in
p- 114, vol. xlvii. with that of Moses, and say if they were derived
from distinct sources. But if a revealed record of these events
already existed, where could be the necessity of a new revelation ?
The old precept, ** Nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus in-
ciderit,”’ forbids such a supposition. Again, if such a record
existed, derived and known to be derived from revelation, there
is no essential difference between the case of Moses, who com-
piled his narration from it, and that of the Evangelists, who
framed genealogies from previously extant documents. St.
Matthew could no more ascertain infallibly the correctness of
the documents from which he compiled, than Moses could un-
erringly discriminate what was authentic from what might be
superadded in the revealed record transmitted by the Patriarchs.
The cases are parallel, notwithstanding F. E s’s repeated at-
tempts to prove the contrary. To suppose either or both of
those writers endowed with an infallible power of discriminating
the true from the false, is to attribute to them that very sort of
inspiration against which F. E——-s, from some unaccountable
reason, has so particular an objection. For my own part, I can
as readily admit one sort as the other; and I observe that most
of the divines who have considered the nature of the historical
testimony of the Scriptures adopt the hypothesis which I have
just stated.

Thus far concerning the consequences which flow from the
faets which F. E——-s does not care to dispute. On the pro-
bability that the history of the creation was known before the

* Tam, however, by no means disposed to maintain that there can be
no exceptions. Some facts have recently come to my knowledge, which
seem likely to furnish a real exception, which, if it be confirmed, I shall not
fail to avow. It is however totally in a different region from that in which
F, E——-+ has been employed, '

time

On Optic Vision. 117

time of Moses, it is scarcely worth while to comment. It is cer-
tainly as probable that it should be revealed to the patriarchs in
the first ages, as to Moses who could not have any particular in-
terest in it. The most important point is the proof of this posi-
tion. In my paper published in February (vol. xlvii. p.111 et seq.)
I.adduced facts which appeared to me to warrant the conclu-
sion I drew from them; and I am confident that any person who
will consider them will not find them without force. I could
have adduced a greater mass of evidence, but I thought it un-
necessary. If however any of your readers is disposed to investi-
gate the subject, I refer him to a work in which, since my last
letter appeared, | have seen it amply discussed, I allude to the
Rey. Mr. Faber’s work on the Origin of Pagan Idolatry; fifth
chapter on Heathen Cosmogonies.

Perhaps it is scarcely worth while to remark, that F. E Sy
who has prudently declined entering into this question, has in
his last letter so far forgotten himself, as to pronounce at once
the whole ground of the opinion I maintain to be a vague and
visionary conjecture. On this proceeding I shall make no com-
ment. .

I am, sir,
Your obedient servant,
Bristol, August 11, 1816. J. C. Pricnarp.

XXXI. On Optic Vision; with a few Remarks on the Animad-
versions of F, E——s on the Author's former Communica-
tions respecting the Cosmogony of Moses. By Mr.AnpREWw
Horn.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Is the prosecution of my inquiries into the Mosaic
Cosmogony, the subject of vision, in connexion with an inquiry
into the agency of light and production of colours, greatly en-
gaged my attention. Almost every thing of antiquity that has
reached us on vision, is hypothetical. Nothing truly scientific
appears to have been known, relative to the manner in which
it is accomplished, before Alhazen, in the twelfth century, pub-
lished his Treatise on Optics. Porta and others afterwards con-
tributed to advance the science, by discovering the use of certain
parts of the organ ; but the mathematical genius of Kepler
made the capital discovery, that the retina isthe canvass upon
which the picture of the external objects is painted. Schiener
shortly after demonstrated its truth, by publicly exhibiting mi-
niature pictures of the cig objects upon the retina of an

H3 eye,

118 On Optic Vision,

exe, stripped behind of its sclerotica and choroid membrane.
The retina being considered a propagation of the substance of
the optic nerve, its claims as the true seat of vision were never
questionéd till Marriotte, from his investigations into the struc-
ture of the orgati, and optical experiments, rejected them in fa+
vour of the choroides. Hence the famous controversy com-
menced between him and Pecquet, who vindicated the rights
of the retina against his hypothesis. The experiments and ar-
euments were so balanced, that scientific men were for a time
divided in their opinions. The hypothesis of Marriotte, how-
ever, at length fell into disrepute, and the general opinion ever
since has heen, that the retina is the proper seat of vision.
However, after a careful examination of the various parts of
the organ, and close investigation of the phenomena attending
various and repeated experiments, I have been induced to assign
the chief function in vision to the base of the optic nerve, and to
conclude that the optic images are formed by caustic reflection,
and exhibited in the middle of the vitreous humour; and thus
the optic impression and position of the tangible object are re-
conciled*. Among a variety of reasons and experiments, I have
adduced the well known experiments of Daniel Bernoulli and
Le Cat, but especially the famous experiment of Marriotte made
with the patches upon the wall, as confirming the theory almost
beyond the shadow of a doubt. Since the publication of my
work, [ have understood that some have questioned the truth of
the theory. As a further confirmation of it, I made the follow-
ing experiments upon Marriotte’s principles. I fixed three cir-
cular white papers, at the height of my eye, upon a wall of a
pale green colour; the middle one was ten inches in diame-
ter; the two others were each about two inches in diameter,
and placed at two feet from the centre of the middle paper.
On retiring with my right eye closed, and the left eye directed
to the paper on the right hand, when at the distance of nearly
four feet from the wall, the obscurity of ‘the middle object was
first indicated by the dise becoming invisible except a small
White ring; but from the unsteadiness of the eye in its distorted
state, I found it very difficult to make the ring appear perfectly
annular; its sphericity would now be seen interrupted in the
upper part, in an instant it would change to the lower part, and
in the next instant the interruption would be on one side or the
other. When | had retired about three inches further, I lest
the object entirely; and the whole wall between the two extreme

* See a small Treatise published by me, “The Seat of Vision deter-
uiined by the Discovery of anew Function in the Grgan ;” or the last edition
of Dr, Hutton’s Philosoph. and Mathemat. Dictionary, article Vision.

objects,

and Cosmogony. 119

objects, which were still visible, appeared of a uniform colour.
Knowing that the pupil is always, except in myopes, dilated in
ebscure light and when viewing dark objects, I now darkened
the chamber to a considerable degree ; and instead of the white
central paper of ¢en inches, used in the former experiment, 1
substituted a lack paper sixteen inches in diameter. Retiring
as before, I arrived at the former distance of four feet, which I
had.marked, and now completely lost sight of the central black
object; while the wall and the extreme papers were seen the
same as in the former experiment. if any thing were wanting
to confirm the truth of the theory, nothing can be required
more demonstrative than this experiment ; which shows, what I
have already proved in the work itself, that the pupil is the
cause of this defect in vision, and not any insenszbility in the
tase of the optic nerve; an hypothesis that introduces a most
unaccountable anomaly into the nervous system.

Before iiay down my pen, allow me to make a few remarks upon
the animadversions that have appeared in the Philosophical Ma-
gazine, upon some minor parts of my former communications.
1 confess [am by no means partial to “the cramlbe repetita,”
with which your correspondent F. E s so fondly anticipates
being treated. It has generally been found, where the appetite
for this dish has been indulged, it has ended in an incurable
eacoethes, When replies and recriminations are multiplied,
without any thing new being elicited, it is pretty evident that
one of the parties, at least, is ; prompted by something else than
regard for truth. Mr. F. E s, in his reply to Dr. Prichard*,
has imputed to me the opinion, that Moses in writing the Ge-
nesis was influenced hy ‘‘a circuitous inspiration ;” a charge
which I defy all the art of sophistry to extract from any thing:
I have written. I shall not fatigue your readers by bringing them
over the accumulated rubbish, t through which they have been so
often dragged already, in order to determine in whose premises

error lies ; but shall point out the particular parts in the ground-
plan which have been infringed. Moses, inso many words, has
declared that the universe had a beginning, and that this earth,
_ with all its inhabitants, was formed within so many periods of
time. The necessary inference is, that these events never could
have been known, but by a revelation from the Creator himself.
‘But heathen nations, as well as the Hebrews, were, at the time
Moses wrote, in possession of certain accounts of ‘the origin of
‘the world. From this grand principle, common to the Cos-
emogonies, in connexion with a few less remarkable coincidences,
-it has been inferred, that some account of the beginning of things

p4/4ys . * Phil. Mag. No. 219, p. 19.
H 4 had

120 On Optic Vision,

had been communicated by the Creator to some person or per-
sons before the age of Moses. Mr. F, E s here calls for direct
proof: “ There is in Scripture,”’ he says, ‘* neither hint nor trace
of any revelation concerning the creation anterior to Moses.”’
Thus, by throwing the onus probandi, in this negative shape,
upon the shoulders of those who believe a revelation to have been
given anterior to the time of Moses, he imagines that he has
relieved himself of some portion of the difficulties under which
he labours in his attempt at proving the Genesis a fiction. But,
in the present case, he demands a species of evidence which the
subject by no means requires. The question is, which of these
propositions is the more probable,—that different nations have
without a revelation obtained the notion that the world had a
beginning, or that they derived this notion from some common
source, which Moses did not think necessary to mention? Stu-
pidity itself would blush to hesitate between the two proposi-
tions.

I now remark that the reasoning of F. E——s upon reve/a-
tion and inspiration is altogether fallacious. He argues as if
the terms really were synonymous and equivalent. Luke was
inspired to write the Acts of the Apostles; and, like Moses with
respect to the Pentateuch, he was an eye-witness to many of the
facts which he relates ; but there was 2o revelation made to him.
I could perhaps conceive, in one sense or another, what a per-
son meant, should he tell me of a circuitous revelation; but
when he talks of ** a circuitous inspiration,” I candidly confess,
I do not comprehend what he intends by the terms. The sacred
history informs us that ‘* Moses was learned in all the learning
of Egypt ;” and therefore it may fairly be supposed that he was
conversant with the Egyptian and other heathen Cosmogonies ;
and he certainly was also acquainted with the account of creation
current among his own people. Now whether we suppose the
revelation, by which this subject became vulgar, to have been
made to Noah, Enoch, or Adam, though the tradition might not
have been greatly corrupted or altered among the worshippers
of the true God; yet we can scarcely suppose it to have been
transmitted through so many ages, to the time of Moses, entirely
perfect. If Moses then, under these circumstances, had chosen
of his own accord to have written a Cosmogony, he was perfectly
at liberty to have made what use he pleased of the knowledge
he had acquired :—he might have related the Egyptian, or any
other Cosmogony, in preference to the rest; or he might have
recited the Hebrew Cosmogony with its partial errors; or he
might have borrowed from all, and composed “ a beautiful my-
thos,” by an ingenious arrangement of truth and fable. But
when he was inspired by the Creator, to record the origin of ee

worl

and Cosmogony. 121

world and formation of the earth, he was no longer left to his
own judgement or fancy. Still, though thus restrained,’ it was
not necessary that his previous ideas should be erased. His
mind was now so controlled by divine influence as to relate truth
only, so disposed as implicitly to make whatever additions or
ablridgements the Creator thought proper to dictate. If any
person chooses to call this @ circuitous revelation, I will not
quarrel with him, because there is a sense in which I can under-
stand it; but if he will term it ‘‘ @ ctrcuitous inspiration,” I pro-
test against this as alsolute nonsense, and appeal to the king’s
English.

I have to apologize to Dr. Prichard, for having inadvertently
exposed him to heavy censure from his opponent, who, it seems,
has fortunately discovered, through the medium of Nicholson’s
Encyclopedia, that “ the whole order of testacea are not desti-
tute of locomotion.”’ Now any child, that ever saw a snail crawl,
or a crab walk upon the sea-shore, could have told him the
same thing; though he might not indeed have been able to say,
how far certain species of the genus Ostrea can leap out of the
water, without consulting that scientific work, I have indeed
said*, “the production of zdophytes and testacea is justly re-
ferred by Dr. Prichard to this epoch, because they are destitute
of locomotive powers, which Moses positively assigns to ad/ the
productions of the fifth period. But where is it asserted by me,
that “the order of testacea is destitute of locomotion?” the |
language which Mr. F. E——-s has attributed to met. He
readily perceived, that to use the simple term éestacea would, in
this instance, be of no service to his tottering—fallen hypothesis ;
for, if but some species of testacea are destitute of locomotion,
my phraseology is correct, though hke Moses I may not have
been specific enough for so minute a philosopher.

When Mr. F. E s can no longer obtain ‘‘ the crambe re-
petita” from the twentieth verse of the Genesis of Moses, I
would recommend him to a similar case in the sixteenth propo-
sition of the third book of Euclid’§ Elements.

Here he will find something precisely to his taste; for though
the proposition is fairly demonstrated, yet several impossible
things seem to be demonstrable consequences of it. He will
thus have the honour of proposing a few paradoxes to that ob-
stinate class—the mathematicians. Let him however beware.—
Euclid has his admirers as well as Moses. I can assure him, he
will find their cramle repetita quite as high-seasoned, and much
harder of digestion than any he has had from the cosmologists.
But would any rational person attempt to bring into discredit

* Phil. Mag. No, 217, p. $41. + Thid. No, 219, p. 21.
the

122 Description of the Mineralogical Cabinets

the Elements of Euclid, merely on account of the difficulties at
tending that sixteenth proposition? Here then is a striking
proof, from the most certain of the sciences, of what I have
before asserted, that no author can endure the test to which
F, Es wishes to subject the Genesis of Moses. The Sy-
stema Nature must be exploded for its vague classification, and
the Elements for contradiction—Euclid condemned as a sciolist,
and Linnzus reprobated as a pretended physiologist, at this tri-
bunal.

Dr. Prichard will readily excuse me for not taking his advice,
of exercising myself upon the hypothesis of the German pro-
fessor and our erudite countryman; although [ do not think it
impossible to show, from the positive declarations of Scripture
and the extensive signification of the terms, that God did not
found the Jewish code upon the laws of the Egyptians, or any
heathen nation whatever. He must perceive that I am engaged
upon subjects that afford me much greater ‘ amusement,” and
more satisfaction than even the total overthrow of ‘their ‘hypo-
thesis could bestow*.

I am, sir,
Your very obedient servant,
Wycombe, August 10, 1816. AnpreEw Horn.

XXXII. Description of the Mineralogical Cabinets and Public
"Libraries of Copenhagen, and of the Gymnasium of Chris-
tiania in Norway. By Lropvoip Von Buc ft.

Taz collection of minerals belonging to, the University of Co-
penhagen isin fact very considerable, and, as might be expected,
every thing belonging to the north is found here in extraordinary
beauty. Arendal’s epidote, of an extraordinary size ; scapolite,
erystals of yellow titanium. There fossils are first seen here in
perfection. I never saw such beautiful and large zircon crystals
‘from the syenite of Friedrichsvaern as in this collection. All the
pieces are excellently kept, which is seldom the case in such
large collections ; ; and it may not be amiss to inform those who
before were ignorant of that circumstance, that Professor Wad,
whose merit is so great, belongs to the Wernerian school.

The royal collection in Rosenburg is also one of the most re-
markable and distinguished; not froin the plan of the institution,

* In my last. communication, ‘No. 217, p. 339, instead of “ the three
articles,” it should read © the third article. m

+ From Travels through Norway and Lapland, éconisletea by J. Black,
with Notes by Professor Jameson, 4to. 1813.

for

and Public Libraries of Copenhagen. 123

for it is within these few years only, or, more properly speaking,
since the direction of Professor Wad, that the enlargement and
arrangement of the collection have been conducted on any thing
like a scientific principle ; but on account of the monstrous and
colossal size of the specimens. ‘There are pieces of f Kongsberger
native silver, a foot in length, and from six to eight pounds in
‘weight. A thass of silver in ‘ts natural rock, said to be worth
ten thousand dollars, is in truth by no means iagvatkales But
the calcedony of Iceland is of a most extraordinary magnificence.
The drops of calcedony hang from the top to the bottom of the
piece, like inch thick pillars | behind one another. Many remain
in the middle, and do not reach the bottom*. The quantity of
zeolite is immense. <A piece of amber from Jutland, placed on
a velvet cushion, is little inferior in size to that in the Berlin col-
lection. Large pieces of gevser sinter, which the collection
lately received from Iceland, were almost in the state of con-
ehoidal opal. Besides these magnificent specimens, the collee-
tion possesses as great a treasure of choice and well-preserved
northern fossils from Arendal'as the cabinet of the University,
since the beautiful collection of Manthey, the counsellor of state,
was purchased and brought to Rosenburg. This department is
so complete, that it is almost unequalled. It were to be wished
that the same provision was made for those who wish to obtain
by means of ocular inspection a knowledge of the composition
of the mountains of the Danish dominions, which are better
known. But we look in vain for specimens of rocks in any col-
lection of Copenhagen. The appearance of the lime-stone used
ii Jutland or in Faxo ; the stone in which the Kongsberg mine
was formerly wrought ; or the figure of the large rocks on the
west coast of Norway at Bergen or in Nordland, we seek in vain
to discover cither from a series or from individual specimens ;
and yet it would be so easy, and at the same time so princely,
to form in a royal collection something like a picture of the in-
terior of the whole dominions.

Professor Schumacher has also made a very beautiful and com-
plete collection of Norwegian fossils; among them he has many
things which are not to be found in other cabinets. I should
‘doubt the possibility of showing more beautiful and distinct spe-
éimens of the leucite of Friedrichsvarn. The crystals are as
large as the leucite of Albano; we can easily recognise the
double octahedral pyramid with four terminal planes; and the
white colour gives it a still stronger resemblance to the Roman

* The calcedonies of Iccland and Feroe are remarkable, not only on
account of their magnificence and extraordinary beauty, but also for the
Various curious and interesting forms they exhibit, all of which, even the

lactitic, I consider to be crystalline shoots.—J,

leucite.

124 Description of the Mineralogical Cabinets

leucite. They rest insulated on hornblende in the syenite, which
contains zircon in such abundance. Yet in France there is a
conviction that these crystals are not leucite, but analcim (Wer-
ner’s cubicite).. The difference between these two fossils exter-
nally is indced very trifling, and consists principally in the greater
hardness of the analcim, and its less frequent tendency to foliated
fracture. But in the chemical analysis they differ more. Leu-
cite contains twenty-four pro cent kali, and analcim, on the other
hand, ten pro cent of soda. I cannot omit noticing that the
appearance of this ample collection of Arendal put me always in
mind of the fossil: of Vesuvius. The analogy between them is
great. Here and there new and wholly unknown fossils were
contained in primitive stones ; and those which were known ap-
peared in forms seldom hitherto observed. But in both places
they are numerous, and heaped together to a degree which we
seldom find in an existing bed; and were we to find all that the
country of Arendal produces in such uncommon perfection at a
distance from their first beds, and heaped together on the decli-
vity of a volcano like Vesuvius, we should be as embarrassed as
we now are at the appearance of so many druses of nephelin,
meionite, vesuvian, hornblende and felspar, in the granular lime-
stone on the sides of Vesuvius. The first beds of these masses
may therefore have been the same as a bed in micaceous slate,
or gneiss like that of Arendal ; and in this case, it must be sought
westwards in the sea, or in Sardinia and Corsica ; for towards
the west, the primitive rocks are to be found on the Italian
coasts.

The exotic articles possessed by M. Schumacher in his collec-
tion are numerous, but of no great importance.

The treasures of the Great Royal Library are well known, But
the excellent collection of books of Classen, which no stranger
in Copenhagen can examine without envying, is much less
known than it ought to be. General Classen bequeathed not
only his books to the public, but also a sufficient fund along with
them, part of which was dedicated to the erection of a suitable
building for the reception of the books, and the remainder to
provide a revenue for the increase of the collection. He chiefly
possessed historical books. But the directors of the new insti-
tution had the good sense to give up this department entirely to
the Great Library, and to confine themselves solely to natural
history, the arts, and travels. They wisely judged that in this
way alone it was possible for them to attain any thing like per-
fection; and every one who wishes for other books, may find
them with more certainty in the Great Library. The conse-
quence is, that in Classen’s library we not only find the most.
expensive botanical works and original travels, but also a more

complete

and Public Libraries of Copenhagen. 125

complete collection of even the most fugitive German and foreign
publications connected with these departments, than is any where
else to be met with. This library possesses a yearly revenue of
four thousand rix dollars ; which is more than that of the Great
Library, and indeed than that of most of the public libraries of
Europe.

In Copenhagen therefore there is no want of assistatice from
books; and in this point of view it is worthy of the capital of
an extensive state.

That the town is in general beautiful and well built, all travel-
lers are unanimous in stating; and of this we become soon con-

-yineed. After every fire, which has consumed whole streets,
they have been always rebuilt more beautiful and wide, and alto-
gether on a more convenient plan, so that the town bears in
many places no resemblance to what it was before 1728, 1794,
and 1807. Another species of magnificence cannot fail to strike
the inhabitant of a flat country, which is little noticed in the
descriptions of Copenhagen. The streets are almost every where
at the sides paved with large oblong granite flags, and many of
the canals are wholly lined with flags of a monstrous size. I
conjectured at first, that they had been brought from some quarry

in Norway; but I was assured by M. Wad that this immense

“quantity was all derived from large masses on the coast of Zea-
land. This is a remarkable circumstance, and deserving of at-
tention. If so many large blocks are found in Zealand, they
must necessarily have made their way over the sea; for there

“are no granite mountains in Zealand. In whatever manner
‘these blocks may have been driven over to Zealand, we may
easily conceive that they have been brought in the same manner

to Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Brandenburg. Large granite
and gneiss blocks are even seen on the smaller islands; for in-
Stance, there are many on Femoe at Laaland. These are still

‘further proofs that all the granite of the plains in the north of
Germany, however great the distance, has been torn from the

“Rhorthern mountains, and not from the hills of Saxony or Si-

Tesia. We are not in possession of facts sufficient to enable us

_to develope the wonderful revolutions of nature, by which this

“May have been effected; but every observation brings us nearer
to the causes, and in a few years perhaps they may be disco-

_-vered,

~The Gymnasium in Christiania, which bears the modest ap-

pellation of school, may be mentioned with distinction as a public
establishment for education. Jts merits are proved by the abili-
ties of the teachers, and the progress made by the scholars. It
supplies to a certain extent the want of a university in Norway,
which has been so often warmly, but, however reasonably, always

fruitlessly,

126 Gymnasium, Library, Military Academy, in Christiania, —

fruitlessly. demanded by the Norwegians, as a literary centre in —
the interior of a remote kingdom, which constitutes more than a
third part of the whole monarchy. The school, which is situated —
in the best part of the town, is a large building, and has a serious —
and dignified external appearance. It contains, besides the —
rooms adapted for tuition, several collections, which are not very —
distinguished, and the library, which is not more ornamental —
than useful and profitable to the town. This library is open to —
the citizens, and contains perhaps not many rare, but a num-
ber of useful works. It owed its origin chiefly to the collection
of Chancellor Deichmann, who died about twenty years ago, and —
who distinguished himself by his works on the modern history of
Norway. This patriotic individual,bequeathed his library to the —
town of Christiania, well judging that it would there be pro- ~
ductive of the greatest benefit. In the same spirit several other —
more recent libraries have been incorporated with it, for which |
they are partly indebted to an Ancker; and they now continue —
unremittingly to procure the most important productions of the |

by no means scanty, will allow them. How few towns of the —
same extent, or in the same situation, can congratulate them-_
selves on such a library! And as it is not suffered to remain:
idle, we can hardly doubt that it will greatly contribute to the?)
diffusion of knowledge.
The excellent Military Academy, which directly fronts the |
school-house, is an object no less remarkable. It is certainly |
one of the best institutions in the Danish state, and has been the |
means of supplying the Danish army with a great number
useful and accomplished officers. _ It is a pleasant sight to see
the hundred cadets, who generally receive an education here 4
either assembled together, or in the streets. ‘Their vivacity, |
their blooming complexions, and their dignified behaviour, dispel
the building that it is a much nobler institution than similar |
schools for cadets generally are: yet the imstitution is almost
wholly supported by the contributions of wealthy individual
‘The academy is indebted for the house (an elegant httle palae
and»perhaps the most beautiful in the town,) to the liberality of
the Ancker family, by whom it was formerly inhabited ; their |

instruments and hooks are legacies; and only two years agi
it received from the Chamberlain, Peder Ancker, the rich library
and instruments which devolved to him on the death of his hro-
ther Berndt Ancker. By these means they have been enabled
from a mathematical school, which was the origin of the insti-
tution, to convert it into an academy, in which the young officers.
besides the mathematical sciences and drawing, are diligently
instructed

7

Account of some further Electrical Experiments. 127

instructed in history, natural philosophy, natural history, and
foreign languages. During several days of the week they prac-
tise leaping, climbing, rope-dancing, swimming, and other ex-
ercises, which Professor ‘Treschow in Copenhagen very appro-
priately calls the luxury of education; but a good officer will
perhaps not regret the time he spent in such exercises. It is an
excellent regulation, that the cadets neither lodge nor eat in the
house ; they are boarded with respectable people of the town,
for the purpose of avoiding the monkishness of a secluded edw-
cation. They wish to bring the young people as much as possi-
ble into contact with the world, and to break them at an early
period of the narrow-mindedness which so circumscribed an oceu~
pation as that of a soldier has a necessary tendency to produce.
The correctness of these principles has been confirmed by ex-
perience, even in the short space of a few years. So long as the
state of Denmark deems it necessary to keep up a great army,
and to dedicate so much of its attention to that object, it weve
heartily to be wished that all the Danish officers found such 2
school for their formation as the Military Academy in Chris-
tiania.

XXXHI. Account of some further Electrical Experiments
by M. Dz Neus, of Mechlin.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — I HAVE lately made an experiment which tends to
prove the simple current with an apparatus not insulated by
disks.—On placing the chain which conducts the fluid to the
ground, in communication with a large plate of lead placed on
the table of the apparatus, and applying the hand during the
detonations of the small bottle, we feel a succession of smal!
shocks: it then occurred to me to place the other hand on the
_ lower cushion of the apparatus, when I instantly felt the fluid
running towards the disk. Here | said to myself, Chance has
_ confirmed to me the circle of circulation, announced to me
fourteen years since by M. Lugt, a Dutch philosopher, in con-
sequence of several very ingenious experiments made by an ap-
paratus perfectly insulated. ‘The apparatus of Mr. Singer is
very well adapted for repeating the two first experiments of Mr.
Lugt, which seem to me to prove incontestably, that the floor
does not furnish the fluid to the disk, but that the wood of the
table, and that which supports the disk between the cushions,&c.
are the invisible conductors, which refurnish the fluid excited by
friction,

128 Account of some further Electrical Experimenis.

friction, and make it a continual circle by the intermediuin of
the conductor, while the rotation of the apparatus lasts.

For the first two experiments, it is only necessary to fix a
large copper wire with a well polished knob in the lower metal
of the conductor, which is supported on the column of glass ;
and a second similar wire in that which supports the cushion on
the second column of glass. These copper wires in a perfect
state of insulation ought to bend on the side opposite to the
handle, in order that we may remove or bring close these
knobs to the distance proper for the experiments. For instance,
for the first experiment, which seems to prove that the best iso-
lated apparatus produces the same number of sparks, and at the
same degree of strength, as when the cushions communicate
with the floor, we bring the kuobs to the distance at which we
obtain the strongest sparks. If we turn the cylinder for a whole
hour, neither the number nor strength of the sparks will be di-
minished; and, as I have observed, it will be the same when we
communicate alternately with the cushion and the conductor.

In the second experiment Mr. Lugt places a bottle on an in-
sulator: a crooked wire which communicates with the external
coating of the bottle, presents as in my experiment its knob be-
fore that of the interior coating, in order to obtain a detonation
at the time of each saturation. Present in the state of insula-
tion the knob of the copper wire which communicates with the
cushion, against the stalk of the exterior coating of the bottle,
and that of the conductor against that of the interior. If the
distance of the knobs is proper for obtaining the strongest de-
tonations, their force and their number will neither augment nor
diminish any thing in the insulation of all the apparatus, except
by making a communication alternately with the ground, either
by means of the cushion or the conductor: consequently Mr.
Lugt concludes, the floor contributes nothing to the charge of
the Ley den phial; and the attraction which acts, is owing to the
disk, which tends to resume its equilibrium, and attracts towards
it the fluid excited: by friction. In a note Mr. Lugt compares
this circulatory action to the Voltaic pile.

When I mentioned, in two of my letters to M. De la Metherie,
the experiments of the Leyden philosopher (and which were

ublished in the Dutch language in two small volumes in 1802
and 1803), I also admitted the theory of the two fluids: I en-
deavoured in consequence to make them bend to the two cur-
rents. ‘Several subsequent experiments have made me abandon
this theory for that of Franklin modified.

What gives me most pleasure is to find a confirmation by facts,
of the theory of elective attractions, and the tendency which all

bodies

Account of some further Evectrical Experiments. 129

bodies have to attract the ignited bases which they have lost
either by fermentation, friction, or simple contact. I am glad
therefore that I had delayed putting the finishing hand to the
account of my experiments, because the theory of the Leyden
phial by the action of a single fluid becomes thereby much sim-
pler, as well as many other facts. 1 think I shall be able by the
end of October to send a full account of my principal experi-
ments. In the mean time I shall describe the way in which I

‘arrange a non-insulated apparatus.

I place a wine bottle or flask on an insulator having two stalks
and knobs bent inward, to charge on one hand the interior coat-
ing, and on the other to detonate on the knob of a third stalk
screwed into the metallic stand of the insulator. Instead of
placing there a tube with metal wires and water, place in con-
tact a copper red to which a chain is to be fixed to draw away
the fluid on a laminated plate of lead two or three feet long.
At the end of this plate fix with wax a large copper knob as
high as the rod of a Leyden jar, of the same size with the first,
in such a way that its knob may present itself facing that of the
roll of lead. We begin by searching for the’ distance, in order
to obtain the strongest detonations from that which communi-
cates with the first conductor: afterwards, having attached with
soft wax a gold or silver wire to the metal of the rubber, ii order
to fix in the same way the other end against the exterior coating
of the second bottle ; we leave a separation of about a line be-
tween the interior knob and that of the roll of lead. This ar-
rangement establishes the circle, which | obtained by my two
hands.

If we turn the disk or the non-insulated cylinder of a com-
mon apparatus with a supporter and a wooden table, on which
the roll of lead is placed, the fluid which we shall see incessantly
passing along the chain will not pass to the floor, but will pro-
ceed by affinity or elective attraction by the metallic circle, al-
though the latter is interrupted in the first place by the space
between the two copper knobs, and afterwards by the thickness of
the glass of the second coated botile. This passage charges it
with sufficient strength to exhibit the spark set out by an ex-

. citer, aud to give the commotion to make it be felt with force.

It appears to me, that this experiment is one of the best adapted
for demonstrating the elective affinities. There is at every jet

. a stronger spark between the two knobs; but it appears to me

worthy of remark, that after a feeble charge, the attractive force
can no longer overcome the resistance which the glass of this
bottle opposes to the current by the gold or silver wire, and that

_ it takes its ordinary course by the wood of the table, and that

which supports the disk. From that instant not the least fluid
Vol, 48. No, 220, August 1816, / is

‘

130 Instructions issued by the French Legislature

is seen between the knobs, until the moment of detonating the
second bottle. Ought not this fact to induce us to suspect that
the glass takes up a superabundance of fluid in what is called
the Leyden charge?

Iam, &c.
July 10, 1815. De NELIs.

XXXIV. Instructions issued by the French Legislature for
obtaining a Patent (Brevet d’ Invention) in France*,

te

Motives which gave rise to the System of Patents.

1, has been always admitted, that it was as just as it was use-
ful to the progress of the arts, to secure to inventers the pro-
perty of their discoveries ; but to accomplish this in an advan-
tageous manner for themselves and for the public was not so
easily arranged. Some wished that exclusive privileges should
be granted them, the duration of which should be unlimited,
while others thought that those privileges ought only to be tem-
porary. Lastly, according to a third opinion, it was preferable
to decree rewards to them, and to render their discoveries in-
stantly open to all. The administration frequently had recourse
to this plan; but as it involved the state in considerable ex-
penses, and did not always satisfy inventers themselves, it was
necessary once more to inquire if there was any possibility of
conciliating all interests. This object was at length attained by
the laws of the 7th of January and 25th of May 1791, which
established brevets. Titles of this description now secure, on
the one hand, to artists the exclusive enjoyment of their disco-
veries, and give on the other, at their expiration, a very important
guarantee, 7.e. that of the preservation of several inventions,
which without this plan would be imperfectly known, if not hid
from the public altogether.

Formalities toe be observed by those who solicit Patents, and
Amount of the Sums which they must pay.

The patents delivered by the present French Government bear
no resemblance to the exclusive privileges which were obtained
under the ancient monarchy: they are merely a certificate given
to an individual, of the declaration which he makes of having
invented a machine, or a process, from the employment of which

* Now that a free intercourse subsists between the two countries, it is
to be presumed that these instructions will be found highly useful to those
British patentees who wish to extend their invention, and secure the emo-—
luments resulting from it in France. .

anew

Sor obtaining a Patent in France. 131

a new branch of industry is the result. Three kinds of brevets
are issued; viz. invention, perfectionury, and importation.

Patents of importation are granted to those who procure for
our industry a process or machine known in foreign countries
only. The laws of the 7thof January and 25th of May not
having determined in a positive manner the duration of these
patents, an imperial decree of the 13th of August 1810 ordains
that it shall be the same with that of patents of invention.

Improvements in the arts often form an invention as impor-
tant as the primitive discovery. It was therefore proper to give
an extensive property in them by a patent, But if the French
laws have gone this length, they do not regard on the other
hand as improvements, any ornaments or mere changes of forms
and proportions. There must be an addition to the discovery.

Several discoveries cannot be included in one brevet: each
must be the subject of-a particular petition. In order to ob-
tain a title of this kind, the compliance with different formalities
is indispensable.

The claimant must, in the first place, deposit at the general
secretariat of the prefecture of the department where he resides,
a sealed packet, containing

1. His petition to the minister of manufactures and commerce,
to the effect of obtaining a brevet for five, ten, or fifteen years,
according as he pleases.

2. The memoir describing the means which he uses.

3. Double sets of drawings signed by himself, or a model of
the object of his discovery.

4. An inventory, in duplicate signed by him, of the pieces
contained in the packet.

He must besides pay a tax, more or less considerable, ac-
cording to the duration of the brevet, which cannot exceed fif-
teen years.

Three hundred frances (137. 10s.) are paid for a brevet for
five years. 7

Eight hundred franes (36/.) for ten years.

Fifteen hundred francs (67/. 10s.) for a brevet for fifteen years,
besides fifty francs (2/, 2s.) for the fees of making out the pa-
tent.

The law admits of the duration of brevets being extended: but
‘in order to obtain this favour, which is but rarely granted, a
royal decree is necessary. A new sumis then paid in the above
proportions,

The claimant must pay as a deposit with his papers, one half
of the tax. He is allowed six months to pay the other half:
if not paid then, the patent falls to the ground. If patentees
wish to make any changes in their original petition, they must

12 deposit

132 Instructions issued ly the French Legislaturé

deposit the description of their new method in the secretariat
of the prefecture and pay a second tax, which is twenty-four
francs (20s.) for the chest of brevets, and twelve franes for the
secretariat of the prefecture. The minister for manufactures and
commerce then delivers a second title, which is called Certificate
of additions, changes and improvements.

Article 10, title Ist, of the law of the 25th of May regulates
the destination of the sums raised from the obtaining of brevets:
in the first place they go to pay the expenses of the making out
and publishing the brevets, afterwardsto pay the expenses of print-
ing and engraving the brevets which have expired; and if there
is any surplus, it is to be employed to the advantage of the na-

_tional industry.

The secretary-genersl of the prefecture draws up a procés-
verbal on the back of the packet placed in his hands, and he
delivers to the petitioner a certificate of having so received it.
The whole is afterwards addressed by the prefect to the minister
for manufactures and commerce.

Principles established by the Laws in the Deliverance of
Brevets or Patenis.

It has been seen above, that in France there is nothing else
than the certificate delivered to an individual of the declaration
which he has made, of having invented a machine or process
giving rise to a new branch of industry. The administration
does not judge, in fact, of the merit of the inventions for which
patents are solicited. Whoever has eomplied with the, forma-
lities prescribed by the laws of the 7th of January and 25th of
May 1791 may obtain them, as these laws enact expressly that
they shall be granted on a simple request, and without previous
examination. ‘Thus they may be applied for, for a process known
to every body; the legislature having determined that they are
null, and even prejudicial to those who have obtained them, if
‘ the object for which they have been granted has no existence;
or if it has been known or praztised before the date of the bre-
vet. In fact, if the discovery be purely imaginary, the expenses
which the patent has cost are wholly lost. If the process was
already known, Article 16 of the law of the 7th of January pro-
nounces its nullity, The rights conferred by brevets are: there-
fore conditional only, i.e. they secure an exclusive enjoyment
only if the patentee is really an inventor. At the first glance,
it may be thought strange that titles of this nature should be '
given without previous examination; but on reflection. it will
appear that it. would have been very difficult to have found a
mode better adapted to the end in view. . Several motives dic-
tated this line of proceeding ; on the one hand, it was proper to

save

for obtaining a Patent in France. 133

save the administration the embarrassment of a long and difficult
examination, and the responsibility of a judgement which, if it
had been unfavourable, might have given rise to charges of par-
tiality or malignity: and on the other hand, to spare to inven-
ters the necessity of a communication, the abuses of which they
might dread. In fact, the previous examination would have
been completely to the disadvantage of artists, since they must
have communicated, without any pledge of success, processes
the property of which might have been snatched from them.
It would have been necessary to have submitted these processes
to commissaries following the same career with themselves, and
whose private interests, prejudices, or spirit of rivalship, might
sway their judgements. In the most favourable point of view,
the previous examination would therefore have had for a result
to dissipate some absurd projects and some futile inventions;
but the public, if they had been allowed to appear, would soon
have done justice to them; and if the invention had been useless,
the patentee would have thrown away the expense of his brevet.
This motive is sufficient, we apprehend, to diminish in the mmds
of artists, generally not very rich, the partialities which they
have for their discoveries, and prevent them from presenting pe-
titions without any object.

It remained to provide for the case in which a patentee should
make a dangerous use cf his brevet, or one injurious to the
health or morals of the public. The laws of the 7th of January
and 25th of May have in this case provided the means of de-
priving him of a privilege which he might abuse, and even of
punishing him if he does. They have likewise pointed out the
steps to be taken to deprive hit of a right which he has usurped
over some thing already known, :

Nullity of Brevets, and Authorities which decide upon them.

.The nullity of brevets is decided, according to circumstances,
by the administrative er judiciary authorities. The minister of
manufactures and commerce decides upon it when the patente2
has not paid the balance of his fees, and when the inventor
(without assigning a good cause for his delay) has not brought
his discovery into use within the space of two years. The tri-
bunals are to judge upon the disputes which may rise between a
patentee whowishes tomaintain his privileges, and any individuals
who pretend that his invention was known previously to the date
of his patent, either by being in use, or by description in a
printed work. The interested parties must therefore use all the
necessary and usual means to obtain a decision. In ordering
this measure to be pursued, the Jaw considers the patent as a
property of which no person can be deprived without a due ob-

13 servance

134 Instructions issued for obtaining a Patent in France.

servance of the established forms. Articles 12 and 13 of the
law of the 7th of January, and 10, 12, and 13, of Title II. of
the law of the 25th of May, regulate the method of proceeding.
According to these articles, the infringers of a patent must be
brought before the Juge de Paix, who, after hearing parties and
their witnesses, pronounces his decision ; which, if there be no
appeal, is forthwith executed.

Arrangements made since the Promulgation of the Laws of the
7th of January and 25th of May 1791.

The laws of the 7th of January and 25th of May are not the
only ones which have been issued upon brevets. There exists
another law, dated the 20th of September 1792, which prohibits
all granting of brevets for any other objects than those connected
with the arts. Petitions for patents for financial and commercial
operations gave rise to this prohibition. Subsequently a decree
was published, which merely concerns the mode of delivering
brevets. Previously they were granted by the supreme authority,
but thenceforth by the minister for manufactures and commerce.
The certificate of the petition which he gives is only a provisional
title: but it becomes definitive by the transmission to the pa-
teutee of the article in the royal decree which applies to his in-
vention, when the brevets delivered in the course of every four
months are published. Difficulties having arisen, whether, upon
receiving the certificate of the application, the mfringers of a
patent might be prosecuted, or if it was necessary to wait until
the patent had received the publicity procured to it by His Ma-
jesty’s proclamation,—a decree of the 25th of January 1807
puts an end to these doubts, by enacting “ that the duration of
a patent begins to reckon from the date of the certificate which
establishes provisionally this privilege.” The same decree has
decided that the priority of invention, in case of contestation be-
tween two patentees for the same object, is acquired by him
who has been the first that has deposited at the secretariat of
the department the documents which ought to accompany the
claim for a patent. An arrangement in article 14 of Title IT.
of the law of the 25th of May had prohibited the obtaining of
brevets by what is termed actions. This was abrogated by a
decree of the 25th of November 1806, on the representations of
some individuals that it would prejudice the interests of inventers,
inasmuch as it would deprive them of an easy method of taking
advantage of their discoveries.

It sometimes happens that patentees address themselves to
Government, in order to obtain recompenses as the authors of
important discoveries. It is impossible to listen to all their de-
mands in this respect. Article 11 of the law of September 12,

3

On Fiorin Grass. 135

1791, prohibits the granting of particular encouragements to
those who have provided themseves with a patent. This reso-
lution was adopted, upon the consideration that no recompense
is due to those inventers who reserve to themselves the exclu-
sive enjoyment of their discoveries ; and that those persons only
merit favour, who render their discoveries of free and common
use, and thus add to the welfare of society, which all govern-
ments ought to seek incessantly to ameliorate.
Paris, Oct. 30, 1813. Count D. Sussy,
Minister of Manufactures and Commerce.

XXXV. On Fiorin Grass. By Witt1aM Ricwarpson, D. D.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — I YESTERDAY received, through Mr. Farey, the 217th
number of your valuable Magazine, containing a geological letter
of mine, addressed to my friend The Countess of Gosford, com-
municated to you by Mr. Farey, who, I suspect, received it from
my worthy and much lamented friend Mr. Johnes, member for
Cardiganshire, lately deceased.

That letter was nearly limited to facts—while ‘the observa-
tions to which these facts give rise, and the inferences to be
drawn from them, were reserved for another letter,” as 1 there
state.

This second letter to my noble friend, I now transmit to you,
conceiving the first would be imperfect without it.

Mr. Farey has been pleased to add, and you to publish, “ Some
preliminary remarks and illustrative notes:””—upon these | must
request you to indulge me in a few observations:

Mr. Farey, after some very flattering expressions, is pleased to
lament ‘that my attention should have been entirely diverted
from geology, my proper pursuit, in order perseveringly to at-
tempt the conversion of English farmers,—a vain attempt.”

Vain enough no doubt, but not entirely desperate; for, while
the great body of the English agriculturists are obstinately pre-
judiced against any thing they are not used to, and reject no-
velty with contempt,—yet still there are a few

“

quibus arte benigna
Et meliore luto finxit precordia Titan.”

We must not therefore complain,
“ Si reliquos fugienda patrum vestigia ducunt.”
My exertions too have not been entirely fruitless. Our own

East Indies enjoy the luxuriance of this succulent grass. St.
I Helena

136 On Fiorin Grass.

Helena cultivates it successfully. Denmark, with avowed grati-
tude, exults in the complete establishment of this vegetable,
equally productive in their cold climate and in our own,
Russia too sent a Sgavant to Clonfecle to learn Fiorin culture.

You must forgive me for obtrudiag a few words on a subject
which, though not in your immediate department, was intro-
duced in your own Magazine; and for showing that, although
it may not be entitled te the Maite of science, yet it has always
been: treated by me scientifically.

You, Mr. Tilloch, who have occasionally published my geo-
logical papers, know that my methed is simple. [ first establish
Facts,—then proceed to the inferences that follow divectly from
them. In agriculture I pursue the same line; for, when my ob-
ject was to introduce the culture of Fiorin grass, by impressing
on the world an high idea of its value, I commenced by esta-
blishing its curious properties as my facfs; and then showed the
important consequences that must vecessartly follow its pretty
general culture.

As Mr. Farey states that I have faz/ed, he brings the question
to issue between the English farmers and me. 1 must therefore
first show that my_facls were well established.

Seldom indeed has such a mass of evidence been produced.
It is now eight years since | first publicly invited inspection at
Clonfecle; and every year since I have been visited by numbers,
and among others by many ef the nobility and prelates of my
country, who have unanimously in the face of the public borne
testimony to the truth of my facts, that is chiefly, immensity of
produce, and superior quality of my hay.

I have now a better opportunity than ever of convincing those
who are disposed to doubt the truth of my facts. The liberality
of the Irish Farming Sociely has held out as encouragement,
magnificent premiums for the best Fiorin crops in 1816. i know
of several candidates; and am myself one, though with little pro-
spect of success, as the premiums are limited to mew crops, aa
my good grounds are all long under Fiorin,

“Here inereduli ity will be deprived of its usual excuses; care-
less inspectors,—partial to me—and chosen by myself! "But i mm
this instanee, the facts, that is, quantity and quality of produce,
will be established by persons nominated by the Farming Society,
and jealous competitors will take care that I do not deceive.

Secure of respectable judges, I shall avail myself of the
wretched ground I am limited to, and brave the English farmers,
who, as Mr, Farey tells us, are nat to be convinced; and I now
in June tell them, that in October I shall exhibit crops of hay,
of superior quality, treble and eyen quadr uple the quantity they

themselves

Se PO ee

ee

On Fiorin Grass. . 137

themselves are used to raise, with all their boasted agricultural
skill, from their best grounds; while much of mine shall be found
growing on land, from most of which that same great agricultural
skill of theirs cond not extract any Hroduce—‘to wit, cold,’
wet, peaty ground, burned down (for greed of ashes) to a tough,
viscid, incombustible moory clay ;—and also peat moss twice
cut out for turf, and now brought down to within twelve inches
of the perpetually stagnant water, and often flooded.

My inspectors also will see, and I hope report (though
not for competition) that the rest of my meadows retain their
usual value, and that my meth and tenth suecessive crops of
Fiorin, growing on light dry upland ground, have not ih the
least fallen off,

_ L like to taunt incredulity, and therefore tell these unbelieving
farmers of Mr. Farey’s, that the grass they reject, thrives, and
luxuriates equally on the tep of the mountain and bottom of
the valley; thanks to my noble friends the Marquises of Hert-
ford and Abercorn for enabling me to establish this important
| fact, on their respective mountains. Nor, taking the question
a priori, is it unreasonable to ask these sceptics to concede that
this same Fiorin grass, already in possession, and almost ex-
_clusively, of every green mountain in our islands, must,.when
fostered by man,—stimulated by manure,—and protente from
_ its enemies, thrive and luxuriate in the same soil and elevation
where it grows spontaneously without any of these aids.

Had Mr. Farey’s obstinate friends the faculty of drawing con-

clusions, they would soon find to what stupendous consequences
_ this hardy habit of Fiorm must necessarily lead.
e Our mountains are desolate, because they will not produce
‘food for man without manure—nor winter sustenance for his do-
" mestic cattle, to afford him manzire and milk. Give him hay in
“abundance (as Fiorin will rapidly and cheaply), all his difficuities
vanish. Hay produces mi/k and manure. Hence potatoes, rye,
- black oats.

Great proprietors may soon restore the population of the
“mountain Highlands of Scotland. Enable the holders of small
tacks to supply themselves with hay, they cease to be claimants

n shares of the widely extended pastures, or rivals of the wealthy

Raster, and sheep feeders. A very few acres in the glens and

valleys will enable them to feed themselves, and to derive their
Mihe: necessaries from their domestic industry.

What a field is here opened for the establishment of a manu-

facturing population! Cheap land—food easily raised—fuel in

dance. Nor is weighty capital required :—the attentive eye
and fostering hand of the proprietor are nearly all that is re-
quisite,

But,

138 Experiments relative to the Impurities of

But, Mr. Tilloch, I am wandering from your proper depart-
ment, and from what Mr. Farey is pleased to call my own pro-
per pursuit. I must return to it. And as he requests me ‘‘ to give
an attentive reading, and consideration, to his paper on the —
Strata of Antrim, in your xxxixth volume, and that I will, ere
long, furnish you, at some length, with my candid and free re-
marks on this paper, compiled chiefly from my own writings :’”— t

I reply, that I shall be happy to do so, so soon as you or he
ean furnish me with the paper referréd to, which in my remote f
and retired situation has not reached me. |

Ny
Moy, Ireland, June 1816. W. RicHARDSON. ;

XXXVI. Experiments relating to the Impurities of Hydrogen —
as it ts commonly obtained. By M. Donovan, Esq. |

Read to the Kirwanian Society of Dublin, May 15.

Tux process employed for obtaining hydrogen is the decom- —
position of water by means of a metal. For this purpose zinc
and iron are commonly used, with dilute muriatic or sulphuric |
acid*. But the gas thus produced is variable in some of its —
properties: its odour, and the colour of its flame, are not al-
ways the same; it therefore contains foreign matter.
Experiments which required very pure hydrogen compelled
me to pay some attention to its common impurities, and to the |
best means of removing them. :
A very small Woulfe’s apparatus was arranged, the first bottle —
containing caustic ammonia, the second lime-water, and the —
third common water. A long continued stream of hydrogen —
was passed through this series, from the vessel in which it was —
generating ; and the pressure of several inches of water was ap-
‘plied. By this process, the ammonia acquired a fetid smell. —
When mixed with muriatic acid, it exhaled the odour of sulphu- —
retted hydrogen; and paper moistened in acetate of lead was |
blackened, when held over the fluid. The lime-water contained —
carbonate of lime; and when the clear fluid was poured off,
and mixed with muriatic acid, a minute quantity of white pow-_
der was deposited, which when separated burned blue like sule_
phur. The smell of the hydrogen obtained was, by these means, |
altered: it had now an odour precisely like phosphorus. lee
burned with a fine green flame ; whereas before it burned blue, —

—

= errs

* The gun-barrel process is so very troublesome and difficult to manage,
that, I believe, it is seldom resorted to. It affords, however, a very pure
hydrogen.

Wishing

Hydrogen as it is commonly obtained. 139

Wishing to try if hydrogen, procured by means of zinc, con-
tain sulphur, I repeated the experiment with that metal. Sul-
phuretted hydrogen and sulphur were obtained as before; and
the gas gave the same smell and flame as the former.

By repeating the process, with muriatic acid, it was proved
that the sulphur had not been afforded by the sulphuric acid,
And trials on different specimens of iron and zinc offered the ve-
sults already stated. :

Thus common hydrogen contains an admixture of sulphuretted

_ hydrogen which is not absorbed during the passage of the gas
through the water in which it is received; and this admixture
affects both its smell and the colour of its fame.
From these facts, it appeared that the water resulting from
the combustion of common hydrogen should contain sulphuric
acid. A large quantity of hydrogen was therefore collected in
new dry bladders provided with pipes and stop-cocks, and the
combustion was suffered to go on slowly, in a new and perfectly
clean globe, kept cool under water. The water produced was
tested with muriate of barytes, which caused a precipitation ; it
also reddened water tinged with violets.
' ‘The experiment was repeated with this difference, that the
gas, previously to its reception into the bladders, was suffered to
yemain oyer water for twenty-four hours, and was frequently
agitated. In this case, the water produced did not afford a pre-
cipitate with muriate of barytes.
During the revolution which took place in chemistry towards
the end of the last century, there was a controversy concerning
_ the product of hydrogen burnt in oxygen. The advocates of the
new doctrine stated that the result is water. The opposite party
maintained that an acid is the product. Acid was, in some
€ases, certainly found; but it was conceived by the framers of
the new system tobe formed by the combustion of a little azote,
from which it is difficult to free oxygen. In other trials no
trace of acid could be detected. The foregoing statements ren-
der it probable that, when acid was produced, it might have been
the sulphuric, but so much diluted as to be difficult to recognise ;
and when there was no trace of acid, the hydrogen had perhaps
lain so long over water that the sulphur was taken up entirely.

The hydrogen, which had been freed from sulphur and car-
bonic acid, had a remarkable smell of phosphorus. This might
be really owing to phosphorus, for some kinds of iron have been
| proved to contain it; or.it might be owing to arsenic. Hither
of these would be acidified by passing the impure hydrogen
| through nitrous acid, and the gas might be obtained in a state

of purity. .

A long continued stream of the gaswas therefore passed through
; a series

140 Notices respecting New Books.

a series of Woulfe’s bottles, the first containing lime-water, the
second nitrous acid, the third water, and the fourth dilute solution
of sulphate of iron: from the last bottle proceeded a tube which
plunged deeply in the water-cistern. At the end of the process —
the iat bottle contained carbonate and hydro-sulphuret of lime;
in the second the nitrous acid was rendered colourless; the water
of the third prevented the passage of nitrous acid vapour inta
the solution of sulphate of iron; and this solution in the fourth
detained a quantity of nitrous gas, as was shown by its olive co-
jour. The hydrogen which came over when agitated with water,
was destitute of smell. When a jar of it was kindled, it burned
gradually, but the light was so faint and rare that it had no co-
jour. I was not prepared to take the specific gravity of this
purified gas.

The nitrous acid did not manifest the least traces of arsenie
or phosphoric acid. When evaporated to dryness, it left a por-
tion of matter too minute to ascertain the nature of.

From the foregoing it appears that, in order to obtain pure
hydrogen, we must first agitate common hydrogen with lime-
water during a few minutes, next with a little nitrous acid, after-
wards with dilute solution of sulphate of iron; and lastly, with ©
water. The gas is now entirely deprived of smell. ,

For this purpose, a funnel the throat of which is fitted with a —
ground glass rod, its pipe being ground to fit the mouth of a _
large bottle, will be a convenient apparatus. When the fluids are
to he poured out, it must be done by inverting the bottle under
water, and withdrawing the funnel,

XXXVI. Notices respecting New Books.

Mk. Accom has in the press * A practical Essay on Chemical i
Reagents or Tests, illustrated by a Series of Experiments.” ;
The work will comprehend a summary view of the general
nature of chemical tests ;—the effects which are produced by the ©
action of these bodies 3-~the particular uses to which they may —
be applied in the pursuits of chemical science;—and the art of ©
applying them successfully. A List of those substances for which —
there exist any appropriate tests will be added; and a portable
chemical chest, containing all the chemical tests and apparatus
necessary for performing the experiments described in this
Treatise, may also be had with the work, which will be published

early in September.

The Rev. T. Maurice, the learned author of Indian Antiquities,

has in the press “ Observations on the Ruins of Babylon.”
Mr. Mauric

Royal Medical Soctety of Edinburgh. 141

Mr. Maurice intends in the course of the work to prove that
the famed Tower of Babel was a Temple to the Sun, and the
whole of that vast city was constructed upon an astronomical
basis—showing also the high advance of the ancient race of
Fire-worshippers (its founders) in metallurgic science, in archi-
tectural design, in geometry, in mechanics, in hydraulics, in the
art of engraving, colouring, &c. Together with strictures on the
Babylonian bricks, and their inscriptions, preserved in the British
Museum—On the ruins of Persepolis, or Chelminar; including a
dissertation on a lately discovered Persepolitan monument, of
high importance to astronomers, and supposed to contain a por-
tion of the ancient BAnyLONIAN SPHERE—On the presumed An-
tiquity of the Arch, no where to be found amid these ruins—On

__ the Origin of Alphabetic Writing, and various other subjects con-
_ nected with the history of the most ancient periods, With il-
| lustrative engravings.
The work will be published by subscription, Price one
guinea.
Subscriptions received by the Author at the British Museum ;

also by Mr. Murray, Albemarle-street; and Mr. Richardson, 23,
Cornhill.

Mr. Ryan, who lately obtained the prize of 100 guineas with
_ the gold medal from the Society of Arts, for his new system of
ventilating coal-mines, has in the press A Treatise on Mining
and Ventilation, and embracing in a particular manner the sub-
ject of the Coal Stratification of Great Britain and Ireland; with
the most approved methods of discovering, working, and venti-
lating the same.

Mr. Forster is collecting subjects for a work he tends to pub-
lish, On the generic Forms of the Crania in Animals,

A new Edition of the Rev. Mr. Harmer’s Observations on va-
rious Passages of Scripture, with many important additions and
corrections, by Adam Clarke, LL.D. #.S.A., will be published
in a few days, elegantly printed in four octavo volumes.

tn

XXXVIIL. Proceedings of Learned Societies.

ROYAL MEDICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.

Fis Society has proposed the following as a Prize-question :
** What are the chemical changes produced in the air by the
growth of plants? anddo they on the whole purify or deteriorate
_ the atmosphere ?”

A set

342 Kirwanian Society of Dublin.

A set of books, or a medal of five guineas value, will be given
annually to the author of the best dissertation on an experimental
subject proposed by the Society; for which all the members,
honorary, extraordinary, and ordinary, will alone be invited as
candidates.

The dissertations are to be written in English, French, or
Latin, and to be delivered to the Secretary on or before the Ist
of December of the succeeding year to that in which the sub- —
jects are proposed ; and the adjudication of the prize will take —
place in February following.

To each dissertation must be prefixed a motto; and this
motto is to be written on the outside of a sealed packet con-
taining the name and address of the author. No dissertation
will be received with the author’s name affixed ; and all disser-
tations, except the successful one, will be returned, if desired,
with the sealed packet unopened.

KIRWANIAN SOCIETY OF DUBLIN,
Dec. 13, 1815. A paper was read by D. Wilson, Esq. “ On

some Liquid Combinations of the Oxymuriatie Acid, and their —
Application to the discharging of Turkey Red in Calico-printing.”

The Turkey red is not discharged by any of the oxymuriates —
hitherto employed, but for this purpose oxymuriatic acid has
been used. This produces many inconveniences. It is highly _
deleterious tothe workmen. By acting on the metals of the press _
employed in printing with it, black spots are occasioned in the ~
stuff, and its texture is injured. Mr, Wilson found the dis-
charging power of the oxymuriates to be in proportion to the
weakness of affinity between their constituents. Hence he found
oxymuriate of alumina to answer the purpose, even in a shorter —

time than the acid, and without any of its inconveniences. It |

has been since pretty extensively used. He prepares it by de- —
composing clear solution of oxymuriate of lime with solution of
alum. In the same manner he recommends various other oxy- —
muriates to be prepared for the purposes of the arts, and points
out their application. ‘ me

May 15, 1816. A paper by M. Donovan, Esq., Secretary, —
was read, “ On the Impurities of Hydrogen as it is commonly —
obtained,” and the experiments were repeated before the Society.
It is unnecessary to give any abstract of this paper, as itis in-
serted in full in the present number. ‘K

LIST OF THE KIRWANIAN SociETY 1816.

President.
Right Hon, G. Knox, F.R.S. M.R.1LA.

Vice-

Kirwanian Society of Dublin 143

Vice- Presidents.
J. Ogilby, M.D. M.W.S.
R. Blake, M.D. M.R.I.A.
Secretary and Treasurer.
M. Donovan, Esq.

Council.
S. Witter, Esq. A. Carmichael, Esq. M.R.I.A.
D. Wilson, Esq. J. Tardy, Esq.

J. Patten, Eq.

Honorary Members.
B. Higgins, M.D. F.R.S.
Professor Jameson, F.R.S. F.L.S. F.S.A. M.R.1.A.
Richard Chenevix, Esq. F.R.S. M.R.I.A.
Sir Charles L. Giesecké, Prof. Min. Dub. Soc.

Non-Resident Memters.
J. Murray, M.D. F.R.S. E. &c., Edinburgh.
Rev. T. D. Hincks, M.R.1.A., Cork.
J. Templeton, Esq., Belfast.
J. M‘Donnel, M.D., Belfast.
Rey. W. Richardson, D.D., Moy.
T. Allan, Esq. F.R.S.E., Edinburgh.
Rey. G. V. Sampson, M.R.1.A.
Rey. T. Dubourdieu, Dromore.
Rev. W. Drummond, D.D., Belfast.
W. R. Clanny, M.D. M.R.I.A., Sunderland.
A. Bruce, M.D., New-York.
Capt. T. Brown, Forfar Militia.
J. Hamel, M.D, F.S.A, Mem. Imp. Acad. Petersb., &e.

; Ordinary Members.
5. J. Dowel, Esq. Right Hon, Earl of Charleville,
J. Macartney, Esq. F.R.S. M.R.LA. F.S.A.
R. Everard, Esq. M. Le Chevalier MacCarthy,
E. G. Hudson, Esq. M.R.1.A. .
W. Houghton, Esq. R. Carmichael, Eq. M.R.1.A,
E. Houghton, Esq. M. Dubbadie, Esq.
. Higgins, Esq. F.R.S. W. Burke, Esq.
M.R.L.A. J. Gamble, Esq.
H. Hamill jun. Esq. A. Jones, Esa.
J. Jameson, Esq. J. Comerford, Esq.
A. H. Rowan, Esq. J. O. Reardon, M.D.
A. Jameson, Esq. H., Clements, Esq.
A. Meyler, M.D. H. Hamilton, Esq.
A, Johnson, Esq, R, Griffith, Esq.

J, Acheson,

44d Aérial Navigation. — *

? J. Acheson, Esq. _ J. Tardy, Esq: ;
~ Col. Rochfort. M. J. O’Kelly, Esqs sa
C. Williams, Esq. - C. Croker, Esq. .
B. Blood, Esq. M.R.1.A. - R. Graves, Esq.
T. Nugent, Esq. Hill Clements, Esq.
J. Brown, M.D. k. Stephens, Esq.
J. Sealy, Esq. L. Wall, M.D.

'

XXXIX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.

AERIAE NAVIGATION.

Ix consequence of Sir George Cayley’s communication; inserted |
in our number for May, we have been favoured with a letter from 9
a gentleman of distinguished literary and scientific reputation. |
He is ‘¢ inclined to believe that something useful to mankind on |
the subject may be either positively or negatively ascertained, |
under the conduct of men of science.”” He is willing to con-
tribute fifty pounds for furthering any plan which may obtain the —
sanction of a few men of the description to which he alludes.
Sir George Cayley has requested us to correct an error in the
title prefixed to his last article, in which F.R.S. was affixed to
his name by mistake. The fact was simply this: The Editor;
who was obliged to leave town for a few days, sent the commu-
nication without any title, along with some other articles to the”
_printer to put to press in his absence ; and trusting to memory |
instead of looking at Sir George’s previous communication, the
printer committed the error complained of.
CORRESPONDENCE OF M. VAN MONS, CONTINUED*.
Brussells, July 1816.
I have of late paid particular attention to the manner in which _
‘the solutions of salts are decomposed by reduced metals. We |
see a liquor thicker than water, separated from the solution and —
approach the metal: then it disappears, and at the same instant.
the reduced metal: shows itself in a state as if it had undergone
fusion. It is not to be supposed that the acid quits for some
time the oxide, to admit of the latter taking up the oxygen by
the decomposing metal ; for this would be granting too much ;
and besides, the solution reacts at no period on the blue colou
with which we stain it. We ought rather to conceive that the

* In the translation of the letter of M. Van Mons, given in our number
for March, pp. 214 and 215, the muriate of lead of Derbyshire is said to
consist of lead and “ phosphoric acid;” the latter ought to have been
“phosgen acid.”

Correspondence of M. Van Mons. 145

water of the solution, displaces from the decomposing metal hydro-
gen, which approaches the decomposed salt, to place itself in the
room of its equivalent under the form of water, and peculiarly to
the water of oxidation of the oxide of this salt, whereby this
oxide is reduced, and that the acid adhering to this water is
substituted for the hydrogen, or takes the place of this principle,
and thus forms in every respect the new salt. It is impossible
that the case can be otherwise. The metal is not fused, but it
is newly composed. It is the action which takes place under
the pile, and wherever oxides are reduced without their oxygen
being hot enough to pass to another body. When the solution is
saturated with salt, the decomposition is slow or null: this is
because the metal precipitated has not a free motion: but is this
requisite? I sav no: but free water is requisite for it, and par-
ticularly water of solution which is separated from the salt; then
it requiries the caloric with which this water is supercomposed.
The metals which are oxidated by water are not separated or —
reduced, and when they are so they form no arborescence.

It has been discovered in Italy, that the tincture of salt of
tartar dissolves phosphorus without decomposing it, or forms a
liquid phosphuret of its alkali: and caustic lixivium, diluted in
alcohol operates the same solution. [Here we have in the first
place the defect of water, and afterwards the affinity of water for
alcohol, which hinders the phosphuret from being decomposed
as soon as it isformed. But add more water, and particularly
warm water, and instantly phosphuretted hydrogen gas appears.
The alcobol contracts a very intimate union with the strong al-
kalies, and the alcoholate of potash, if not the potassate of alco-
hol; for I think that in this union the aleohol acts like an oxide,
and the potash like an acid, and becomes very intensely hy-
drated. I once found large erystals in a very old tincture of
salt of tartar: they were neuter on the vegetable blues: to the
last they were at first salt and bitter, and afterwards very corro-
sive. Inthe open air, when I wished to dry them they deli-
quesced, giving out a smell of alcohol, and nothing but canstic
potash remained. The little difference between the intensity of
the alcohol and of the potash, makes this salt be so easily ‘de-
composed, but it is hydrated in the ratio ef the combined energy
of the elements. Its hydrate is already liquid. I have thus ob-
tained in a crystalline form oxygenate of potash. This salt was
furnished to me by treating caustic potash with red oxide of
mercury.

] have succeeded in depriving ink of its principle of corruption
by infusing the gall-nuts in common beer vinegar. They are to
be broken into a coarse powder, and infused two or three days in

Vol. 48. No. 220. August 1316. Ix a retort

146 Correspondence of

a retort closed with a piece of paper. The infusion is then
passed through a woollen sieve; the residue washed in cold
water, decanting all that remains suspended in the water; the
latter portion is then to be infused in the same manner in pure
water, and both infusions are to be mixed. The whole is to
be heated for an instant, and then allowed to subside for twenty-
four hours, when it is to be filtered again: gum and sugar are
then to be added ; and when they are dissolved, the whole is to
Bé otice more passed through the sieve. The ink is then to be
thixed with the oxide or red sulphate, but neither the acidu-
lated nor oxidulated sulphate ought to be used. The whole being
then shaken, may be put into a stone bottle and corked with a
paper stopper.

Not only is the ink thus prevented from being corrupted, but
it loses another bad property, namely, that of thickening. The
acid of the vinegar is combined as a mucous kind of acetate with
the mucilaginous matter, and precipitates it ; the vinegar is very
much softened in this infusion by the connexion which its acid

arts form with the mucus. The thickening of the ink arises
rom the sulphuric acid rendered free, precipitating this body.
The mucus of the gum arabic scarcely undergoes this change at
all. I consider myself fortunate in having so well succeeded
in this preparation.

I lately made a very singular experiment. _I was directing on
some red oxide of mercury scarcely heated to 50° of Reaumur, a
jet of hydrogen gas from a bladder. I wished to obtain water,
but did not obtain any, but the red oxide became white. I
heated it more fiercely, and it was red hot before the steam of
the water appeared; and then instead of reduced mercury there
reinained black oxidulate, which I had much difficulty in de-
oxidating. I forgot to say, that during the process the matter
instead of becoming of a dull purple colour becamie yeliow only.

‘Having repeated the experiment at a low red heat, I obtained
water and concrete reduced mercury which resisted the fire along
time, giving out hydrogen and liquid metal. I operated.with a
double crucible, the upper one being of glass. My first idea of
this phenomenon was incorrect; for I had, like Dobereiner and
Davy, made of the mercury a new metal concrete even in the
fire, by incorporating an overplus of hydrogen at first with its
oxide, and afterwards with the reduced metal.

Hence came a metal more intense, and which will not be more
deoxidable in the fire, if it does not remain decomposable in the
hydrogen added. We may regard this super-hydrogenation,
when it takes place upon the oxide, as a mineral organization,
and the same with that which carbon undergoes in plants, and

e azote

M, Van Mons, 447

azote in air and animals. The irreducible silver which Richter
procured from an alchemist was silver organized by water, and
_ thus become a new metal, more intense on account of its oxida-
‘tion by water instead of oxygen, and without depositing or se-
parating hydrogen. Tellurium and arsenic are organized by.
water, and converted either into new oxides of metals, or into
kinds of acidifiable combustil;les, in those hydrogenated bodies
and in the teljurated and arsenicated hydrogens. I ought to
have reflected that in the first experiment I had only obtained
mercury, oxygen and water: this first experiment was so. far
particular, that i in order to be reduced the mereury became sub-
oxidated, which in common cases does not take place; but it is
true that the second oxygen was here taken up by the hydrogen.
The new metal does not appear susceptible of any but one de-
gree of oxidation.

You must doubtless have perceived that the double acidifiable
combustible which with hydrogen forms prussic acid, and which
scientifically ought to be called Prussium, (hence prussiated hy-
drogen gas, prussiate, prussure, &c.) is with respect to azote:
what the alcohol of Lampadius (and which we might also with-
out much impropriety call lampadium, and hence lampadiated
hydrogen gas, lampadotes, lampadures, &c. not to say sulphuret-
and azoturet of carbon, which would be false,) is with respect to
sulphur. The two compounds have the same physical and che-
mical properties: they are very gasifiable, colourless, and dia~
phanous; dry oxygen cannot resolve them into the acids of
their elements, and without water we could not decompose them.
We see, in short, that one of the combustibles acts with respect
to the other, in the rooin of water; so that this last is not only
reduced, but subtracted in the portion of hydrogen which
composes its oxygen into water. If therefore one of the come.
pounds is the alcohol of sulphur, the other is aleohol of azote; -
and in both, in their solution by hydrogen, the carbon goes for
the first proportion of this principle; and the one ought already
to be considered as hydrogenated sulphur, and the other as.
azote hydrogenated, but by carbon instead of hydrogen,

You must know that iodine receiyes reduced metals in ex-
change for its oxygen, and forms, like the dry fluoric and mu-
riatie acids, combustibles salifiable by oxygenation ; for instance,
by the oxidation of their metals. The hydrogen does not dis-
place the metal from them, but composes the metallo-iode into
iodure of reduced metal, by producing actually acidifiable com-
bustible from the iodic acid.

The oxygenated iodine which Sir Humphry Davy obtained by
treating iodine with exygenated chlorine, is not eu-iodine, hut

Ke ube

148 Correspondence of

sub-euiodine, or iodine simply oxygenated, the euiodine being
considered as hyperoxygenated. The combinatious which this
body contracts with the acids are analogous to those which it
eontracts with water. It is probable that the light will se-—
parate the oxygen from it, as well from the sub- euiodine as from
the iodine, and will leave the two acids as it were with analogous
engagements to the fluorico-boric, carbonico-muriatic gases,
&c,. These compounds are very curious. What has been
hitherto regarded as insulated euchlorine, is in the same wa¥
culy oxygenated chlorine, the euchlorine being hyperoxy genated
chlorine. The dry acid in this compound is at all times free
enough, by its subsolution by the acid of the oxygen, to unite
with the oxiduiate of mercury, without adding to its degree of
oxidation.

Lam informed that Sir Humphry Davy has undertaken a la-
borious inquiry into the de- -hydrogenation of the fluoric acid into
fluorine, availing himself of iodine with this view. I shall ven-
ture to predict that his researches will be fruitless. Ihave made
many experiments with the same view, but I never perceived the
slightest prospect of succeeding. The fluoric acid is not oxy-
genable into fluorine, and it is not perhaps any more hydrogen-
able into fluor ; but it will rather be the latter than the former,
since already it prefers the most feeble reduced metals to those
most strongly oxidated. Gold, platina, &c. separate it from
lime: it is upon those compounds of dry fluoric acid and upon
reduced metals, or upon the metallo-fluors, that all attempts
must be made to dehydrogenate this acid. But according to my
first results, there are formed fluures very much hypercomposed
of metal, and from which the fluor does not appear separable.
We must find out a metal not susceptible of /laurisation, and
it would be fortunate if we could find it among the volatile me-
tals, at least if the fluor be not volatile, and then act on the
metallo: fluor of this metal, made red hot by means of a stream
of hydrogen gas. It is singular that the hydrargyro- fluor is not,
any more than the two hydrargyro-mures, or hydrargyro- chlores,
volatile in the fire. If there existed a metal nearly ‘inoxidable,
we night expect that its flworic would be given up to the oxy-
gen, the metal remaiping untouched, and then the fluorine will
be produced. With the fluors of ordinary metals, the metal is
oxidated, and dry fluate results from its combination with the
fiuoric. [call fluoric the dry fluoric acid, or fluoric acid gas
without any water; fluorine when it is freed from oxygen; and
Sfluore when freed from hydrogen; and dry fluates when ‘freed
from their oxides. This dry acid has no insulated existence, any

more than the muriatic, iodic, sulphuric, azotic, &c. It is a
‘ body

M. Van Mons. 149

hody naturally less burning (comburant) than oxygen, which is
the element of all comburation, but more burning (comburant)
than water, since it burns reduced nietals, and since water serves
it for an oxide, in the ordinary acids, waich on that account I
have named fluate, muriate, sulphate, &c. of hydrose, not to say
of water.

[ have made several additional experiments of late, which have
confirmed my opinion, that the ashes of the metals are acids or
oxidules more or less combined with reduced metal, which makes
it necessary for the acids to be heated, in order to Bice them,
or in order that the oxidated part may be separated from the
reduced part, and that they should share it in those two parts in
the solution, which without caloric could not take place if the
oxide be not already in existence. The combinations between
the oxidules and the oxides, and between the latter and the hy-
peroxides, form the degrees called intermediate of oxidation, and
which intermediate degrees some authors have not yet ceased
to admit. T call hyper-oxide every oxide which ought to de-
posit oxygen, in order to be capable of being dissolved in the
acids, and which consequently gives chlorine with muriatie acid.
Several of the organic substances are combinations between
oxides and oxidules; avd as the affinity is weak, both the one
and the other is easily engaged in excess ; and when we analyce
these substances, we frequently do nothing more than nee
them with the reagents; and then, instead of educis, we hav
products which we mistake for new principles. The fine ana-
lysis of the oxalates by fire has proved, what I always said, that
the vegetable acids have for their common fixed base carbonous
acid, and for a varying principle water. This analysis has yielded
out HG the oxalates with weak metals, carbonic acid and metal
reduced after having allowed the escape of water. There are
carbonites therefore. The same salts with stronger oxides have
yielded water, and the carbonites remaining have been resolved
into gaseous oxide of carbon; and the oxalates with very stroug
metals are decomposed, after the manner of the acids alone,
into water, acetous acid, carbonic acid, oil, carbonated hydrogen
gas, with hydrogen and carbon as the residue.

Not only is the residue of the sulphurie ether.an acidinulated
sulphate of ether, but also, what is singular for an acid which
changes its own water with tiie oxides, and forms dry salts, that
of the ether by the fluoric acid is an acidinulated fluate of ether,
which in these salts exists in the state of gas, and the excess of
acid is therein hydrated. From the new alcohol, neutral com-
pounds are made, which the fire once more resolves into insulated
ethers, and into avidinulated salts. These salts are not decom-

K3 posed

150 Earthquake in Scotland.

posed by the alkalies ; but, by saturating the excess of acid, they
so act that the sulphate or fiuate of ether, become neuter, may
still be divided into isolated ether and acidinulated salt.” The
stronger acids assume with the oxides of any of these neutral
or acidinulated salts the place of weaker acids. [Ether is not
separable from the acidinulated salts, but by its destruction.
Boulay has confirmed that the ethers are subhydrated aleohel:
I say confirmed, because I said so a long time ago. The car-
bon and hydrogen are there in the same absolute ratio, but less
organized by water. It is not astonishing that an oxide so en-
ergetic as the ethereous gas contracts with the acids equally
strong engagements. In short, when we say “ there is in che-
mistry nothing but hydrogen, metals, oxygen, combustibles and
acidifiable comburans, oxides, acids, and salts,’ we have em-
braced the whole science, simplified the course of things, and
placed as it were an astronomical station.
[Yo be continued. |

EARTHQUAKE IN SCOTLAND.

About eleven o’clock on the night of the 13th of August a
tremendous shock of an earthquake was felt in various parts of
the north of Scotland. At Aberdeen, Perth, Montrose, and In-
verness, its effects were most remarkable; but although many
houses in all these places were shaken from their foundations
and partially shattered, we are happy td add, that from the du-
rable and massy architecture of the houses in Scotland, no hu-
man lives were lost. Several bridges in the district thus visited
also suffered severely, but the most singular phenomenon at-
tending the awful concussion is the effect which it produced oa
the spire at Inverness. A letter from this place thus describes
part of the devastation there in the following terms:

«© Chimney-tops were thrown down of damaged in every quar-
ter of the town. The Mason Lodge, occupied as an hotel, was rent
from top to bottom, the north a stalk of the chimney partly thrown
down ; one of the coping-stones, weighing, I should think, from
fifty to sixty pounds, was thrown to the other side of the street,
a distanée not less than sixty feet. The spire of the steeple,
which I think one of the handsomest in Scotland, has been se-
riously injured, and must in part be taken down. The spire is
an octagon; and within five or six feet of the top, the angles
of the oclagon are turned nearly to the middle of the fiat
sides of the octagon immediately under it. What is more won- —
derful than any thing attending the memorable event, notwith-
standing the vast quantities of stones and bricks that have been

thrown fromm such immense heights, not one person has received
any hurt !” :

—

Intense Heat.—Steam- Engines.— Expedition to Africa, 151

INTENSE HEAT.

Our chemical and mineralogical readers will be glad to hear,
that by means of a blow-pipe for burning the gaseous constituents
of water, in a state of high condensation, and which is con-
structed by Mr. Newman, of Lisle-street, Leicester-square, a
degree of heat may be produced greater ee that of the most
powerful Galvanic battery. Professor Clarke, of Cambridge,
who is engaged in a series of analytical experiments with the
blow-pipe, has already succeeded in the decomposition of the
earths; having obtained metals from barytes and strontian,
which do not become oxided by exposure to atmospheric air.
The metal of barytes is ductile, and has the lustre of silver. An
account of these experiments will be shortly before the public.

A correspondent in Sussex has remarked the very rapid and
great evaporation from the earth’s surface during the clear in-
tervals of the late showery weather,—a circumstance which may
account in some measure for the continuance of so much rain,

STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL.

By Messrs. Leans’ Raport for July, the average work of twenty-
seven engines was 20,142,363 pounds lifted one foot high with
each bushel of coals consumed.

During the same month the work performed by Woollf’s en-
gine at Wheal Vor was 47,610,798 pounds lifted one foot high
with each bushel. His engine at Wheal Abraham that is in full

work, lifted during the same month 51,923,679 pounds one foot

with each bushel. His other engine at the same mine, not yet
at her full load, lifted 23 794,469 pounds to the same height

with every bnishal ot noe

The last mentioned engine has a 60-inch cylinder, but is only
loaded 2 lib. 9 per square inch ; while his other engine at the
same mine (with a 45-inch cylinder) bas a load of 15 lib. 1 per
square inch ; that is, a great portion of the coals consumed with
the 6)-inch cylinder engine goes only to the motion of the en-
gine. PAIL SLE

MAJOR PEDDIE’S EXPEDITION TO ARRICA.

The spring transport which carried Major Peddie and his
eompanion Capt. Campbell to Africa, arrived after a tedious
passage at Goree ; but the death of the surgeon who was to have
accompanied theo: which took place on the 8th of December
at Senegal; and the troops which were to have arrived from
Sierra Leone in December not joining till the 25th of February,

unavoidably delayed the department of the expedition from the
coast ‘till too late for the season. ‘This delay will, however, be

K 4 attended

152 ”™ Japan or Varnish.

attended with advantages, as it will enable Capt. Campbell, who
will make the necessary astronomical observations, to settle the
position of many places 9n the coast of Africa with more pre-
cision than has hitherto been done. He had in the menth of
February last made a great number of observations of distances
of the sun and moon, and moon and stars, from which he found
the longitude of Senegal different from what is given in the
tables; the latitude Capt. Campbell fixes from his observations
at 16° 2/30” N. He was, however, anxious to avail himself
of a greater number of observations before he finally fixed the
longitude of the town; which as soon as he has done, he pro-
mises to transmit for the use.of navigators. The expedition has
been fitted out with several good sextants, principally of Mr.
Carey’s make, and two of them contain a contrivance for taking
single altitudes by means of a level contrived by the late Lieut.-
gen. Brown, under whose management the astronomical part of
the expedition was fitted out. Besides sextants, Capt. Campbell
has barometers (principally Mr. Arnold’s), and a small transit
instrument ; but the latter is so badly made, that the captain
Says, in a jetter to his friend in England, he cannot make any
use of it. As this expedition was planned rather late in the
spring of last year, and gréat fear was entertained of losing the
season, the astronomical apparatus was as well as many other
parts hurried. Mr. Troughton would no doubt have been em-
ployed; but the shortness of the time, and the engagements of
this excellent artist, deprived the expedition of the benefit of his
superior instruments ; and although this circumstance has occa-
sioned some regret to the astronomer employed, he has however
great satisfaction in believing, with the exception of the transit*,

all the other instruments are very well executed. It was per-
haps impossible forGovernment to have selected two gentlemen
better qualified to undertake this arduous enterprise; and from
the care which has been taken in the equipment, the public may
‘look forward with great probability to the full accomplishment of
the object of the expedition.

RECIPES FOR MAKING JAPAN OR VARNISH.

The following recipes for making japan or varnish are given
in a contemporary journal, as having been recently imported
from Germany. These compositions are described as rendering
all articles to which they are applied impervious to wet without
destroying elasticity.

White Japan.—This japan never changes its colour, and with-

* The transit instrumeut was not of Mr. Carey’s making. Mr. Carey
attempted to improve it; but its original bad construction, it een would
not admit of it.

stands —

Edinburgh Dissection of the Brain. 153

stands all the chemical agents that blacken other white pigments
used in japanning. It is obtained in the following manner :

Let some artificial carbonate of barytes (obtained by decom-
posing or pouring into a solution of native carbonate of barytes
a saturated solution of subcarbonate of ammonia) be ground up
with a sufficient quantity of white oil varnish, and apply it sue-
cessively upon the leather. This being done, the finishing coats
are given to the article with a japan composed of carbonate of
barytes ground up with white copal varnish; and when perfectly
dry, the leather is polished with a piece of felt and finely levi-
gated pumice-stone powder, and the last or finishing polish is
applied by means of a sponge or soft brush and burnt hartshorn
powder.

Yellow Japan.—To obtain a clear transparent yellow, the
leather must of course be white, and a yellow dve is given to it
by means of woad or French berries and alum; and when per-
fectly dry the japan ground of patent yellow is applied in the
manner above stated.

Red Jupan.—For this purpose the base of the japan ground
must be made up with madder lake ground up with oil of turpen
tine ; this forms the first ground. When perfectly dry, a second
coat must be applied, composed of lake and white copal varnish;
and the last, with a coat composed of a mixture of copal and
turpentine varnish ground up with lake.

Blue Japan.—The first coat must be given with artificial car-
bonate of barytes ground up with oil varnish ; the second with
prussian blue, ground in copal varnish and finished as before
stated.

Black Japan is obtained by applying finely levigated ivory
black ground up with linseed oil varnish ; the second coat must
consist of the same pigment ground up in copal varnish.

EDINBURGH DISSECTION OF THE BRAIN. p

A considerable interest having been excited in Edinburgh for
some time past, about the discoveries of Gall and Spurzheim,
relative to the structure and functions of the brain, Dr. Spurz-
heim at length made a dissection of that organ in one of the
anatomical dissecting rooms of the University. Besides the re-
gular students muny of the professors were present, as well as
other scientific persons interested in these new and important
discoveries. Dr.S. succeeded in making the most perfect dissec-
tion of the brain, and received the approbation of those who
were present. Many persons who had previously opposed the
new method of dissecting this organ, testified to the superi-
ority of Dr. Spurzheim’s new mode of developing the hitherto
unexplored structure of the brain and nervous system.

NEW

The Nautical Indicator.

NEW NAUTICAL INSTRUMENT.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Srz,—In order that the instrument offered to your notice may
become as useful to mariners and travellers as the problem on
which it is grounded was tothe inventor and his shipmates in the
years 1813 and 1814, he respectfully solicits the publication of
this in your very useful Magazine.

The instrument alluded to is called a Nautical Indicator, and
is a representation of the circles and arches of the natural hemi-
sphere, as far as they are necessary to the seaman and traveller,
and when set to observe altitudes of the sun, or of a star, at any
time of the day or night, gives a distinct view of the meridian
altitude; zenith distance; azimuth; amplitude; true time ;
length of the day, and variation of the needle at the place of
observation, without the possibility of (unwilful) error; by placing
the whole under the eye of the observer in their natural positions.

To a traveller by land, no other accompanying instrument
than a spirit level is necessary, to ascertain all the abovemen-
ttoned articles. At a time when perhaps the wind is too much
agitated for numerical calculation, it will in two or three minutes
remove every wucertainty with respect. to place gt one observa-
tion.

To the curious in his study, it will readilyselve many important
problems in both geography and astronomy as well as naviga-
tion, among which the progressive variation of the magnetic
needle is not the least.

To the teacher in his school, this instrument will be of much
benefit, in detecting the errors of his pupils, and giving them a
elear demonstration—that, with the observed altitudes, the in-
terval of time between each, and the known declination at that
time, the sun is precisely at the same distance from the meri-
dian, and that the meridian altitude can be no other than that
given by the instrument, as also all the forementioned objects
indispensably necessary to navigators.

To merchants this invention must be of the utmost. conse-
quence, since by death, sickness, or casualties, the charge of
their ships and cargoes often devolves on those whose knowledge,
through want of proper education, is far from being adequate to
the trust.—The instrument is of the most simple’ construction,
and the application may be understood by almost any capacity
in a few hours—by a mariner at first sight.

Any gentleman willing to patronize this invention, will please
to address to James Hunter, No. 9, Leicester-street, Leicester-
square, London; or at Mr. John Thin’ S, architect and rien
Edinburgh.

hows
Ces
-~

DISEASES,

he See

—-

be Saha

Sata Se ee

dep eben aes.

Diseases of Dogs. . 155

DISEASES OF DOGS.

In_a work recently published, entitled ‘ Instructions to young
Sportsmen,” by P. Hawker, Esq. we find the following recipes
for treating the diseases and accidents to which these useful ani-
mals are subject. ‘The author’s long and extensive experience
enables him to speak with confidence on such tcpics, and we
have no doubt we shall confer a benefit on society at large, by
making public the means which he prescribes.

“* Distemper.—To enumerate the various recipes for this
sometimes incurable disease would require a volume; but, of all
that I have yet tried, none has answered better than the one I
shall here give; and, as the remedy is so innocent, it may be
safely administered where there exists even a doubt as to a dog
having the distemper.

“ Recipe*.
FOpjum *.. “s “ Be .. oO grains.
Emetic tartar (an invaluable medicine) .. 5 grains.
To be given at night.

** Repeat the dose, every third night, till the dog is recovered;
taking care to keep him in a warm place, and always fed with a
warm liquid diet, such as broth, gruel, &c.

“ Tf the nostrils should discharge, have them washed, or sy-
tinged, twice a day, with a lotion of alum, or sugar of lead;
putting about half an ounce of either to a pint of water.

“€ The following is a recipe, which no bribe could tempt the
vender to part with; but, by means of some very clever chemists,
I have ascertained it to be simply as follows ; after some trouble
in discovering the proportions, and discarding the ingredients
by means of which it was disguised in a pill.

“ Recipe.—For a half-grown Pointer.
*€ Jalap powder 25 grains. Calomel 5 grains.
Made into a pill with a little gum water.
“ For a full-grown Pointer.
“¢ Jalap powder 30 grains. Calomel 8 grains,
Mixed as above.

“One of these doses, mixed with butter, or in a small piece
of meat, should be given to the dog every morning, on an empty
stomach. The food should be light, and easy to digest; and
the lotion, if required for the nostrils, should be observed here,

as before mentioned.

** Notwithstandirg the trouble we had to discover this simple
recipe, I should prefer the one first given, because there is less
chance of a dog taking cold with that, than any kind of mer-
eurial preparation.’’

* “ The following prescriptions are each about a dose for a full-grown

pointer. ae must, of course, be increased or diminished in proportion
to the size and strength of the dog.” ;

156 Lectures.

LECTURES.

Royal Institution —Mr. Brande will commence his extended
and practical Course of Lectures and Demonstrations on Che-
mistry, on Tuesday the Ist of October, at Nine in the Morning.
The days of lecturing are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

London Hospital.—On Tuesday the first of October, Mr.
Richard Phillips will commence a Course of Lectures on Che-
mistry, at Half past Seven o’clock in the Evening, to be con-
tinued every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Two Courses will
be given in the Season, which commences in October, and ter-
minates in May. Further Particulars may be had of Mr. W.
Phillips, George-yard, Lombard-street, and of Mr. Jenkinson,
Apothecary, London Hospital.

Medical School of St. Thomas’s and Guy’s Hospitals.—The
Winter Course of Lectures at these adjoining Hospitals will
ommence as usual the first of October ; viz.

At St. Thomas’ s.—Anatomy and the Operations of Surgery, by
Mr. Astley Cooper and Mr. Henry Cline.—Principles and Prac-
tiee of Surgery, by Mr. Astley Cooper.

At Guy’s.— Practice of Medicine, by Dr, Babington and Dr.
Curry.—Chemistry, by Dr. Babington, Dr. Mareet and Mr. Allen.
—Experimental Philosophy, by Mr. Allen.—Theory of Medi-
cine, and Materia Medica, by Dr. Curry and Dr. Cholmeley.—
Midwifery, and Diseases of Women andChildren, by Dr.Haighton,
— Physiology, or Laws of the Animal GEconomy, ‘by Dr. Haighton.

N. B. These several Lectures are so arranged, that no two of
them interfere in the hours of attendance ; and the whole is cal-
culated to form a Complete Course of Medical and Chirurgical
Instruction. Terms and other particulars may be learnt from
Mr. Stocker, Apothecary to Guy’s Hospital.

St. George’s Medical, Chemical, and Chirurgical Schools.—
The Courses will commence the first week in October :

1. On the Laws of the Animal G2conomy and the Practice of
Physic, by George Pearson, M.D. F.R.S. Sen. Physician to St.
George’s ‘Hospital, &c. &e.

2. On Therapeutics with Materia Medica and Medical Juris-
prudence, by George Pearson, M.D. and W. T. Brande, F.R.S.,
Peatcsent at the Royal Institution,

3. On Chemistry, by W. T. Brande, F.R.S. Professor of Che-
ani at the Royal Institution.

4, Ou the Theory and Practice of Surgery, by B. C. Brodie, a

F.R.S. Assistant Surgeon to St. George’s Hospital, &c.

Note.—Sir E. Home will continue to give Lectures on Sur- |

gery gratuitously to the Pupils of St, George’s Hospital.

See Tt ee

Reeth p 4

ary

Lectures. 157

Dr. Clutterbuck will begin his Autumn Course of Lectures on
the Theory and Practice of Physic, Materia Medica, and Che-
mistry, on “Wednesday, October the Second, at Ten o’clock in
the Morning, at his House, No. 1, in the Grestent, New Bridge-
Street, where further Particulars may be had.

Theatre of Anatomy.—Mr. Taunton’s Leetures on Anatomy,
Physiology, Pathology, and Surgery. The Autumnal Course
will commence on Saturday, October 5, 1816, at Eight o’clock
in the Evening precisely, and be continued every Tuesday,
Thursday, and Saturday, at the same hour.

Particulars may be had on applying to Mr. Taunton, 87, Hat-
ton Garden.

Theatre of Anatomy, Medicine, &c. Blenheim Street,
Great Marlborough Street.—The Avtumfial Course of Lectures
at this School will. hegin on the following Days :

Anatomy, Physiology, and Surgery, by Mr. Brookes daily at
Two, on Tuesday, October 1, 1816. Dissections as usual.

Chemistry and Materia Medica, &ec. daily at Eight in the
Morning.

Theory and Practice of Physic at Nine, with Examinations by
Dr. Ager, on Monday, October 7.

Three Courses are given every year, each occupying nearly
four months. Further particulars may be known from Mr.
Brookes, at the Theatre; or from Dr. Ager, 69 Mee es Street,
Cavendish Square.

—2_——-

Meteorological Observations kept at Walthamstow from
July 14 to August 14, 1516.
[Between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M.]
Honr. Therm, Barom. Wiud.
July
14 62 29:90 8S, --Cloudy and sun ; rainy afteriioon.
15 59 29°60 S.—Rain ;-—showers and sun. Evening
clear s—cirrostratus NW.
16 59 29-60 E. var.—Very rainy day and evening.
17 58 29:53 NW. var. —Clouds and wind; sun and
showers; clear. Moon last quarter.
18 52 29-40 S,. var.—Sun and clouds; showers and sun ;
clear and clouds.
19 55 29-40 SE,.—Very rainy until after 6 P.M.; cloudy.
20 63. 29-70 S.—Clear and clouds, cirrostratus; hot
sun, and wind ; at 8 P.M. remarkable
cirrocumuli NW.; clear and clouds,
July 21.

15s
Nour. Therm, Barom.
Juli
21 65 29:45
22 “57 29°70
23 60 29°60
24 56 29°61
25 60 29-60
26 56 29:70
27 59 29:88
28°56, 29°51
29 59 29-70
30 59 29-70
3! 48 29°56
August
1 59° 2950
2 51 29:80
3 51° 29°82
4 58 29-90
5 66 29°75
6 53 29-90
7 62 29-90 :
8 63 29°80
9 59 29-72
10 55 29-91
11 60 30:00
12 59 30:00
13 55 30:00
14 54 29-80

Meteorology. ©
Wind.

S.—Showery all day; clear and clouds.

SE.—Hazy; fine day; showers; clear and
clouds. ,

SE.—Showery day. |

NE.—Clear and clouds; great darkness
at noon; clear and clouds; hazy;
new moon.

SE—N.—Showery; clear and clouds.

NW—S.—Sleet showers ; sun and wind;
clear and clouds.

S—SE.—Clouds and sun; showery.

NW.—Sun and winds drops of rain; star-
light. i

N.—Fair morning ; slight showers; clear
and clouds.

N.—Sun and clouds ; showers; star-light,

W.—Sunshine and hazy; fine day; clear
and clouds.

N.—Clear and clouds; fair day; small
drops of rain ; clear and clouds.
$.—Sun ; showers; clear and clouds.
S.—Sun; fine day; moon-light; cirro-
stratus N. Moon first quarter.
S.—Sunshine; very fine day; moon and
Stars.
E.—Hazy; clear and clouds; sun; cloudy
and dark.
NW.—Sunshine; sun; showery; rain.
SE.—Rain ; hot sun ; showery.
S.—Sun and clouds; fine day; shower at
7 P.M.
S.—Sun; showers ; cloudy.
NW.—Gray; fine day; clear and clouds ;
Moon full.
SE.—Clouds and sun; small showers ; fine
day; cloudy.
NW—S.—-Cloudy; showers and some sun;
clear and clouds ; stars and moon.
NW.—Clear and clouds; very fine day;
star-light. .
NW.—Gray ; showery ; cloudy.

METEORO~

Meteorology. 15$

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT aT BOSTON,

LINCOLNSHIRE,
—=a 5
(The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.]
; —a—
1816 Baro- |State of the Weather and Modification
meter. of the Clouds.

29°80 |Fair

| 29 60 |Fair

20°54 Showery

29°52 |Rain

29°81 Showery

Fine morning—P,M, showery, and
gales from 8.

Rain

Rain

Rain

Rain

Fair

Fair

Showery

Fair

Fine till noon—a violent storm of
hail and rain at 1 P.M.

Fair

Rain

Fair, but cloudy

Fair

Fair

Very fine till evening, then rained
violently

Showery

Fair till noon—then showery

Rain

Showery

Fair

Showery

Fair

Fine

14 29°85 |Showery

Aug.

There has hardly been a day for the last month, in which it has not rained
more or less towards the evening,

Days of
Month.

July 27
28

Meteorology.

METEOROLOGICAL TABLE,

By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND,

For August 1816.

Thermometer. ae
Zec| = ,| Height of | 32 2
SG =| 3 |= Ithe Barom.| “ »€
OE} S |2! Inches. | 2
es AZ | o4 ae 2 =
foo] - Q am
58 | 66 | 56 | 29°92 47
567): 654 52 is 42
54 | 60 | 54 “58 45
54°} 61 52 -50 AO
52 | 64 | 54 *43 49
54 | 66 | 55 “60 52
55 | 64 | 55 °80 41
54 | 69 |-55 83 45
56.|70 | 57 86 51
57 frou + 56 90 48
56°| 68 | 57 gl AQ)
57,07. | o6.- 85 36
56 || 70.| 57 73 55
56 | 66 | 56 “74 50
57 | 67 | 55 | 30°00 57
58 | 68 | 56 “02 49
SF N66 | 555 03 50
59 | 64 | 56 | 29°88 49
58 | 65 | 57 76 40

57 | 66 | 56 55 36
57 | 65 | 56 “75 46
56 | 61 | 55 *80 37
54 | 66 | 55 99 46
55 | 68 | 56 | 30°13 54
57 | 60 | 50 "10 50
52 | 63 | 56 *20 55
BG 6491257 || 14 40
SZ 03.) ST dua 832 86
57 | 65 | 50 “13 46
50 | 66 | 55 "22 54
52 | 63 | 52. +18 50

Weather,

Fair
Cloudy
Showery
Showery
Fair
Fair
Showery
Fair

Fair
Showery
Cloudy
Showery
Fair
Showery
Fair
Cloudy
Showery
Showery
Showery
Showery
Fair
Showery
Fair

Fair

Showery
Fair
Cloudy
Cloudy
Cloudy
Fair
Fair

N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clock.

(+ + eee

[ 161 ]

XXXV. Letter to the Right Hon. the Countess of GosForD, on
the Speculations of Theorists, particularly of the Neptunians.
By Witttam Ricuarpson, D.D.*

Ix my former letter to your ladyship, I stated the arrangement
of our materials in a very considerable portion of Ireland, be-
ginning with its northern extremity, and stretching 130 miles
along its eastern side, including a considerable breadth :—my
object was to state facts in the reach of your ladyship and every
one, from which it must appear that in the original arrange-
ment of the materials of our world, the speculations of theorists,
and more particularly of the Neptunians, received no support
from the present order of things and the disposition of our strata
as we now find them, upon the principles they lay down, and
under the suppositions these wise philosophers make.

Hence they are reduced to the necessity of assuming various
changes to have taken place, of which we have no record, nor
even tradition; and of introducing agents, for whose existence
we have no authority, but the ipse diwit of these gentlemen.

Thus they, as well as other theorists, are used to get over all
difficulties embarrassing their favourite theories, by calling in the
aid of revolutions and convulsions, which, as they say, have de-
ranged and disturbed every thing: but an attentive examina-
tion of any of our little systems, upon which I dwelled in my
last, will soon show that if, at least, has never been revolu-
tionized, and but very slightly disturbed ; a faint, yet steady and
uniform change, in the inclination of all the component strata,
probably at first horizontal, now slightly inclined.

The loeal circumstances of each separate stratum, and its
junction with those contiguous to it, without any interruption
of the continuity or solidity of the heterogeneous materials, show
plainly that they have not becn acted on by any violent cause,
‘since their consolidation.

From the local circumstances of our precipitous northern
coast, I once showed in controversy, that these powerful instru-
“metits, revolutions and convulsions, so necessary to theorists, had
never been in action in my country:—in reply, by way of com-
promise, it was offered to me by the Huttonians, that I should
model my own country as I pleased, if 1 would not interfere with
the rest of the world, but leave it to them to arrange.—I de-
elined the terms.

Nor are the particular circumstances of our arrangements re-
concileable to the general positions of the Neptunians, as I shall

* Communicated by the Author.

Vol. 48. No, 221, Sept. 1S16. L be

162 Letter to the Right Hon. the Countess of Gosford,

be happy to show when they venture to state them; and that
our strata, as we find them, could not have’ been formed by che-
mical precipitation, or mechanical deposition, from the waters of
the chaotic fluid, as Mr. Kirwan supposes. This respectable
countryman of ours, who hazards himself further than any other

Nepiunian I know, supposes the chaoti¢ fluid to have been a
mighty menstruum, from which our strata have been precipitated.

That this menstruum, holding all the materials of the world in
solution, must have been very powerful at first, but gradually
abating in energy, as its materials were precipitated : :—hence
we should expect to find a perpetual gradation in the materials
of our strata, the upper parts differing from the lower, in each
separate stratum.

Nothing like nature; for we find the most decided uniformity
take place in all parts of the same stratum.

Mr. Kirwan’s theory is still more irreconcileable to the for-
mation of a mass, or accumulation of strata, always passing into
each other per saltum; and utterly incompatible with the for-
mation of alternate stitites a most common arrangement.

Admitting the chaotic fluid to have been the grand matrix of
our strata, and that agents we know not had altered the preci-
pitating powers of the same fluid; the order of succession in the
strata would have been still the somes and having the material
of one stratum, we could tell that of the next it rested upon,
and so on.

Thus mining, where the material we seek for is disposed in
strata, (as coal,) would be the simplest science we have :—on the
contrary, we have not ascertained any regular order 1n our strata
in a vertical direction; and instead of pointing our efforts to act
cumulate facts from different. : and distant places, we recur to
theory, assume modes of original formation, and thence deduce
rules to which Nature shows she is not subjected, even that of
Specific gravities, giving us not the least assistance.

I know that those conversant with the subject, state certain
indications, from which they infer the proximity of coal strata;
but from our total ignorance of original formation, we have no
clue to the order of arrangement, and cannot pronounce posi-
tively in any case, that we have coal strata beneath us.

There seems to be a broad belt in our northern hemisphere,
through many parts of which coal strata are found at various
depths; but the difficulty of determining where we may expect
them is very great; I fear insurmountable, if we look for cer-
tainty.

Coal, ever since Marco Polo told us the Chinese burned black
stones, appears to be an article of the greatest importance, and
in some manufactures of prime necessity. Indeed the time seems

to

on the Speculations of Theorists. 163

to be approaching when this valuable species of fuel will be con-
sidered as such in many parts of the north of Ireland: hence
great proprietors, and among the rest my friend the Earl of
Gosford, are anxiously inquiring into the probability of finding
coal on their estates.

We have mountebanks under many forms, and I know none
more ignorant, or more likely to inislead, than those who claim
to be coal-finders.

I shall take the liberty of recommending to those proprietors
who are anxious to fd coal on their estates, to consider the sub-
ject as a question of fact, not of theory and speculation; and
to act accordingly.

That is, to make the experiment at the least possible expense,
to find how Loring can be executed in the cheapest manner ;
and then to try in as many different places as may be found con-
venient, not under the direction of persons who claim to be
adepts; but of plain honest men, who, without speculating on
the subject, will report facts as they find them: these may
be transmitted for opinion to those most experienced in such
researches, and I know not any one who has taken so much
pains to make himself master of the subject, as my able friend
G. B. Greenough, Esq. late President of the Geological Society.

Some do not use such violent agents, but quietly elevate our
mountains and high islands, in the direction of an axis perpen-
dicular to the horizon; leaving to others to investigate the pro-
truding cause.

The Neptunians wrap their mantle-formed strata about small

_ elevations, until they accumulate them into mountains.

Whoever discusses questions with theorists, should be very cau-
tious 2s to the terms he permits them to adopt in stating their
opinions: they are fond of using the words may and might; they
should be told that in argument these should be changed into
did and must. The terms possible and impossible must also be
erased from the vocabulary of theorists; from the former no
eonclusion can be drawn, and the latter is quite too self-sufficient
for such novices in the art of world-making to hazard.—They
should be limited to facts; and, in their deductions, subjected to
the rigid rules of logic.

I have been charged with being contentious and quarrelsome,
in having so often encountered these vain theorists; for, fully con-
vinced of my own ignorance of the early operations of nature, I
could not bear to see gentlemen as ignorant as myself, claim to
be adepts in the art of world-making, and therefore amused my-
self in exposing their fooleries.

My late friend, Earl Macartney, compared me to a person
at football, who, never daring to hazard himself by kicking the

L2 ball,

164 Letter to the Right Hon. the Countess of Gosford.

ball, watched for an opportunity of tripping up those who ven-
tured themselves boldly.

I have not always been so cautious; for although I gave up
all hopes of explaining the earlier processes of nature, in the
formation and arrangement of the materials of our globe, I have
inquired carefully into the operations that have been performed
upon it since its consolidation, and particularly into the forma-
tion of its present surface, so curiously diversified.

My sentiments on thissubject have been heldstill more wild than
the theories of those whom I have taken the liberty to laugh at.

{ have sustained that the surface of our original world was
once elevated above the tops of our highest mountains, That
some mighty agent had acted upon our then surface, (probably
uniform,) and had carried off its materials, irregularly and in
immense quantities, reducing the globe to a smaller size with
its present surface, without disturbing the materials left behind.

According to this position, the question of the formation of
our mountains vanishes ; they are no longer the stupendous mo-
numents of powerful agents, or the results of grand operations
of Nature, but merely the seattered remnants of a diminished
world.

All this, your ladyship will say, is much wilder than any of the
theories I have been ridiculing; but I must request you to distin-
guish: all these are mere matters of opinion; while my positions
are given as matters of fact. The philosophers I allude to, claim
to be acquainted with their agents, and show how they might have
acted. 1 admit I know nothing of mine, but that he did act ;——
the results, that is the natural appearances, or facts, these gentle-
men, bring forward, or decline to notice, are at variance with,,
and irreconcileable to their respective theories. The facts to
which [I call attention, and in general the face of nature, where-
eyer laid bare to us, afford as clear demonstration of the truth
of my positions, as any theorem in Euclid is capable of receiving.

The question of original formation has been long abundantly,
discussed. Let us take new ground, and try to develope from
existing facts the operations that have been performed on our
globe since its final consolidation:— appearances which will
justify the position, that our world did not come thus as it now
stands from the hand of Nature ;—that important changes must
have taken place—-that mighty agents, unknown to us only by
the marks they have left behind them, must have acted upon it.

I shall slightly mention a few of the appearances that seem to
countenance these wild suppositions : :

1. The irregular diversification of our surface, quite uncon-
nected with original formation, and the arrangement of our

strata.
2. The:

= oe 4

eng.

PIR

On the Excitement of Voltaic Péates. 165

2. The isolated and highly elevated stratified hammocks, found
in many countries, and especially in basaltic districts.

3. Whyn dykes, very lately brought into notice, but now burst-
ing upon us in different parts of the world, in the form of walls
of terrific altitude, and most regular construction.

4. Caverns, so abundant, especially on the confines of sea and
land, and in calcareous districts, grand and beautiful grottoes,
bearing irresistible marks of posterior excavation, not to be ex-
ecuted by any agents with which we are acquainted.

5. The line of demarcation between sea and land, and the for-
mation of the basin of the ocean.

It has pleased Nature to lay bare the northern district of
Antrim, and I may say its whole coast, to disclose her secrets to
us, and to expose her arrangements to the naked eye; it is in
our magnificent fagades, so numerous, and so kindly extended
along a great line of coast, that we are enabled to distinguish
between original formation and posterior operations; and to
pronounce upon the quiet state in which these original materials
have remained since their final consolidation; notwithstanding
the numerous revolutions and convulsions so confidently ob-
truded on us. oe

I shall in my next request your ladyship to accompany me
to a new field, where the original arrangements of Nature seem
to be the same with those in Antrim, and where posterior opera-
tions also bear a strong resemblance, and of course where my
arguments drawn from facts receive further confirmation; I
mean the island of St. Helena, upon which the attention of the
world has been lately much fixed from causes unconnected with
its natural history.

I am, with much respect,
Your ladyship’s most obedient humble servant,
Clonfecle, Moy, W. Ricuarpson, D.D.
February 25, 1816.

XXXVI. On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates; in Reply to
Mr. De Luc’s Objections to the Doctrines maintained by the
Author. By J.D. Maycocx, M.D.

To Mr, Tilloch.
Barbadoes, May 23, 1816.

Sin, — y BEG to convey to Mr. De Lue my apology for not
having noticed at an earlier period his observations on two pa-
pers, which Mr. Nicholson did me the favour to publish in his
valuable Journal *. In July 1812, I left England for the West

* Phil, Journal, vol. xxix. and xxxi, 4
Indies,

166 On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates.

Indies, and until the latter end of last March, not having had
xn opportunity of obtaining the subsequent numbers of his Jour-
nal, I was unconscious that what I had written had particularly
interested Mr. De Luc.

I have carefully perused the papers which have been published
by him subsequently to my quitting Europe, and have renewed
my acquaintance with those which had been previously given to
the world. In doing so, I have derived no small degree of plea-
sure, and much interesting and important information: but as
I suppose the several points of excellence, with whatever defects
they may be blended, will be sufficiently obvious to the scientific
reader, | have confined the following remarks exclusively to
those parts of his writings which have been urged against the
doctrines contained in my papers; and I have etdeavoured to
observe such an order as will put the several points of difference
between us in the strongest light. Had I remained in England,
the particular train of thought into which I had casually fallen,
would probably have led me to further speculations on the sub-
ject of electricity; but situate as I am, in an atmosphere ex-
tremely unfavourable for electrical experiments, without the
means of obtaining philosophical instruments, except after the
lapse of several months, from Europe, and with access to very
few philosophical books out of my own circumscribed collection ;
I have no new matter with which to enrich your pages, and it
is with much diffidence I presume to occupy the time of your
readers.

Mr. De Luc considers that he had published nearly twelve
months previously to the appearance of my Essay on Chemical
Affinity*, a refutation of Sir Humphry Davy’s hypothesis relative
to the principles of chemical affinity, and the decompositions
produced by Galvanism. It will be remembered that this hypo-
thesis supposed that the elements of all compounds naturally
possess different electrical sfales or energies, the one component
particle being post/ive, the other negative; that this difference of
electrical state isthe immediate cause of chemical union; but
that, when the compound is subjected to a Galvanic battery in a
sufficient state of excitation, the particles possessing the negative
energy are attracted by the positively, and repelled by the nega-
tively electrified wire; and the particles possessing the positive
energy are attracted by the negatively electrified, and repelled
by the pesitively electrified wire ; and that the force of these at-
tractions and repulsions of the Galvanic wires to the component
particles of a compound body, when greater than the attraction
between the component particles arising from the difference of

* Phil, Journal, vol. xxix.
their

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates. 167

their electrical energies, is sufficient to subvert the combina-
tion*,

The experiments to which Mr. De Luc alludes, as particularly
affording a refutation of this hypothesis, are the third and tenth,
contained in the first part of his analysis of the Galvanic pilet,
and to this paper I beg to refer your readers. Now, sir, 1 do
not think that the result of these experiments invalidates in the
slightest degree the hypothesis in question; as a knowledge of
the general principle in electricity, which has been termed in-
duction or the law of induction, will enable us to reconcile the
apparent disagreement. Upon this principle I will contend that
the electrical states of the points lL. 2.3.4. were not such as
Mr. De Lue supposes, but that 1. aud 5. must, under every va-

riety of the experiment, have been posattare’ 2 and 4. negative.
] am aware that the application of this law to the particular
case in question has been objected to. Mr. Singer considers it
impossible for this law to operate, ‘‘ unless the bodies be sepa-
rated by anon-conductor, the resistance of which is sufficient to
prevent the passage of electricity from one to the other {,” and
therefore, that it is altogether inapplicable to the phenomena of
the “ interrupted circuit ;” the objection to its application being,
that water is a conductor and incapable of affording such resist-
ance. The experiments of Mr. De Luc§, however, very plainly
demonstrate that there is such resistance in water as occasions a
retardation and residua of electricity; in other words, such a
resistance as prevents a free passage of electricity. That the
situation of bodies being such as to enable electricity to pass
from one to the other does not prevent the operation of this law,
is fully established by the early experiments on the subject || 5
and I will contend that it is as fairly applicable to the inter-
rupted circuit in Mr. De Luc’s experiments, as to any pheno-
mena of electricity: consequently I do not conceive that the
reasonings of Mr. De Luc, founded on the result of his third and
tenth experiments, are admissible; and | am inclined to consider
the arguments contained in my Essay, the first valid cbjections
opposed to Sir H. Davy’s opinions ou the subject of chemical
affinity and decomposition ; and, in fact, the first if not the only
refutation of them.

Having stated the results of my experiments with the Voltaic
plates, 1 observed that they are subversive of the most com-
monly received opinion of the manner in which a Voltaic pile is
excited, which originated in the phenomena of these plates, and
** rests on the assumption that dissimilar metals while in con+

* Phil. Trans. 1807. + Phil. Journal, vol, xxvi. t Ibid. vol. xxxi.
§ Phil. Journal, vol. xxvi.’ {| Sce Priestley’s Hist, of Electricity, pt. i.

per. x sect. v.
L4 tact

168 On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates.

tact are in different electrical states ;’—in other words, that @
difference of electrical state is produced by the contact of these
plates. That the Voltaic plates indicate no degree of excite-
ment whatever while in contact, but that excitement becomes
evident after their separation, is not a supposition, but a fact
demonstrated by the irresistible evidence of our senses; as much
a demenstrated fact, as that all bodies of whatsoever nature fall
through a given space in vacuo in the same time—the one alto-
gether as unconnected with any particular hypothesis concerning
the remote cause of electrical phenomena, as the other is un-
connected with any speculations relative to the remote cause of
gravitation. But Mr. De Luc has promised to show the conyerse
of my statement ;—“ to demonstrate by a great number of experi-
ments, that these effects (the excitement of the Voltaic PLATES)
exist only during the contact, and that it is owing to extraneous
circumstances that any effect remains after their separation*.”
1 have naturally looked with much eagerness for this promised
demonstration ; but I have not been able to find one single ex-
periinent which militates in the slightest degree against my
statement relative to the Voltaic plates, and which indeed, as it
is a bare expression of facts, I do believe, will for ever remain
incontrovertible. It however appears, that Mr. De Luc’s pro-
mise to demonstrate the inaccuracy of my statement, has ori-
ginated in his having unaccountably mistaken it; for he repre-
sents me as having asserted that excitement of the pile cannot
be produced while the metals are in contact : whereas every one
who has the slightest knowledge of the science of electricity, is
aware that, in the more ordinary combinations for the pile, two
metals have always been in contact; and, that, in the kind of
trough which was until lately used, two metals are soldered to-
gether. J am sorry that my observations should have been so
misunderstood; as it has occasioned Mr. De Luc much pains to
refute an opinion, which I could never have advanced in open
defiance to common experience, and has induced him to sup-
pose that I am unacquainted, not only with his experiments,
and the very ordinary phenomena of the pile, but with the
earliest and simplest facts relative to the science on which [ had
written. In truth, sir, his experiments with the pz/e have no
reference whatever to mine with the plates. Let it be granted,
that excitement took place in every dissection of the pile, in the
manner and degree he describes, 1 yet affirm that there is no
analogy between the circumstances necessary for the excitement
of the Voltaic p/aies, and those necessary for the excitement of
the pile; and that the hypothesis which attempts to explain the

* Phil, Journal, vol. xxxii.
excitement

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates. 169

> . . . .

excitement of the pile, by supposing that different metals ac-
guire a difference of electrical state by contact, is not only un-
supported, but actually subverted by the phenomena of the Vol-
taic PLATES.

In another instance, Mr. De Luc misapprehends in a most ex-
‘traordinary manner the tenor of my observations, “I filled,”
eaid I, “ one of the new porcelain troughs with an acid fluid, so
that the metallic plates and their connecting ares were com-
pletely covered. In this state a trough of ten pairs of plates
three inches square decomposed water rapidly’”—“ I placed the
metals connected by the bar in a trough without partitions, and
no action ensued*.”” The result of this experiment was to me
anomalous and unexpected. But Mr. De Luc has endeavoured
to explain it, by taking as data, that ‘* when the plates were im-
mersed up to the bar in liquid,” “ the effect was reduced to that
of one single pairt;” or, as J] suppose, no perceptible action
ensued. By a reference however tothe experiment, he will find
that such was the state of the apparatus when it decomposed
water rapidly. He has therefore misunderstood the statement
of the fact, but in no degree explained itt.

I indeed regret that Mr. De Luc has misundersteod any thing
that | have written; but I am altogether distressed at his ques-
tioning the accuracy of my experiments with the Voltaic plates;
not indeed in consequence of having founded, as he supposes, a
* Galvanic system’’ ou them, which I am not aware of having
attempted, but because I value, above all other qualifications of
an author, impartiality and fidelity in narration. Mr. De Luc
thinks some extraneous cause must have operated in my experi-
ments, otherwise one single contact and separation of my plates
could never have produced a sensible divergence of the gold-
leaves : hut he does not hint at any extraneous cause in particu-
lar, which he conceived likely to be the one ;—and as the ape
paratus employed and the manner of performing the experi-
ments were minutely described at the time the results were given,
any extraneous cause attached either to the one or the other
might easily have been detected and exposed. Mr. De Luc
States that in M. Hatiy’s experiments it required ten contacts
and separations of plates the size of mine before the gold-leaves
were sensilly affected. Inthe repetition which he made of these
‘experiments with smaller plates, it required twenty repetitions
hefore the effect on the gold-leaves was visible. Now, sir, I
have expressed in my Essay, and so I wish to be understood,
that a single contact and separation did not produce a sensible

* Phil. Journal, vol. xxxi. + Ibid. vol. xxxiii.

1 I should Jike to know whether the result of the experiment, as stated
above, bas been obtained by other experimenters,

but

170 On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates.

but a very considerable divergence of the gold-leaves. What
must be the impression on the mind of your readers from this
discordance of statement? Either that Mr. De Luc’s and
M. Hatiy’s experiments were very coarsely performed, or that I
have grossly exaggerated the result of mine. Of the accuracy of
my own experiments I cannot doubt, and it is in the power of
any gentleman at a trifling expense to repeat them, and decide
for himself. But, sir, you must be aware that I am not the only
person who has obtained such results. I can at this time par-
tieularly refer to M. Volta for support. A description of his ap-
paratus, manner of experimenting, and the result of his experi-
ments, are contained in the following quotation: Ces plaques
ont trois pouces de diamétre: les metaux doivent €étre trés-polis, ©
bien dépouillés d’humidité, et appliqués Pun sur l’autre de ma-

niére 4 manifester une cohésion sensible. L’un d’eux doit éire

isolé, et lautre doit cammuniquer avec le sol. On doit les sé-

parer d’un seul trait et perpendiculairement: on fait toucher

ainsi celui qui a été détaché au chapeau d’un électrométre, et

ow doit quelquefois un écartement des fils*.” Volta’s plates _
were three inches in diameter, mine five; and as the areas of —
circles to each other are as the squares of their diameters, it will
be seen that my plates were nearly three times as large as M.
Volta’s: hence one sufficient reason why the results in my ex-
periments were so much more evident than in his ;— another
reason is however to be found in the extreme delicacy of my
electrometer t. But how comes it that in Mr. De Luc’s experi-
ments it required twenty cantacts and separations to produce
the effect obtained by M. Volta by ove contact and separation,
although the plates of these philosophers seem to have been very
nearly of the same size? But, what is more extraordinary, how
comes it that fem contacts and separations of M. Haiiy’s plates,
nearly three times as large as M. Volta’s, were required to pro-

* Hist. du Galvanisme par Sue, tom. 1. p. 254.

+ This electrometer consists of a glass tube about 4% inches long, its in-
ternal diameter a little more than an inch, capped with metal at each ex-
tremity. By one cap it is fixed to its pedestal; in the other cap there is a
hole through which a small glass tube, an inch and half long, passes, and is —
fastened so that one half is within the body of the electrometer, the other —
without. The external and internal surface of this tube is coated with in- —
sulating varnish, and through the tube passes a wire, to one end of which —
may be adapted plates of any size: to the other is fixed a small pair of —
forceps which receive the gold-leaves. These are 14 inch long and very ©
narrow; their extremities are a full inch from the pedestal, anda little more ©
than half an inch from the tinfoil—Now the circumstance which, indepen- —
dent of the size of the instrument, contributes to make it more delicate —
than electrometers of this kind generally are, is the gold-leaves being con-
nected with nothing but the wire—not with the cap, as is generally the
case.

duce

'

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates. 171

dace an effect equal to one contact and separation of M. Volta’s
plates, and an effect very far inferior to one contact and separa-
tion of my plates, to which they exactly correspond in size?
Some extraneous cause must, indeed, have operated in the ex-
periments of M. Haiiy and of Mr. De Luc. Probably their elec-
*rometers were not very delicate; possibly they did not pay due
regard to those circumstances on which depends the full action of
the plates.

In reference to the production of Galvanism, I also observed
that the Galvanic apparatus can only be excited by a decom-
posable fluid. This 1 meant to be equally applicable to the pile
and the trough:—it is a fact which has been generally believed,
but which Mr. De Luc thinks he has demonstrated to be false.
With due deference to him, the following appear to be conclu-
sions fairly deducible from his analysis of the pile, in reference
to this subject.

1. The necessary combination for the greatest excitement,
consists of two dissimilar metals with a moist substance inter-
posed between them.

2. If this condition be observed, although zo two metallic
surfaces be in contact, but merely connected by conducting
points, as in the first dissection, the effects will be the same, or
nearly the same, as if the pile had not been dissected, but had

‘remained continuous, in which state the different metallic sur-
faces are im contact.

3. If the pile be so dissected that two metallic surfaces be in
contact, but the moist substance in contact with only one of

' them, if that one be the most oxidable metal, the powers of the
pile will only be diminished ; but if the metal in contact with
the moist substance be the least oxidable, then will the power of
the pile entirely cease.

_ 4, Asolution of sea salt is capable of exciting more power-
fully than common water, The same pile which when excited by
‘water was only capable of affecting the electrometer and pro-
ducing decomposition, when excited by a solution of muriate of
soda affected the electrometer, occasioned decomposition, and
afforded a shock.

5. The power of vegetable and animal substances to produce

_ excitement is, cceleris paribus, in proportion to their moisture ;
® pile excited by new cloth, which had stood some time in a
‘yoom in which the hygrometer was at 40°, being only capable
of affecting the electrometer, while the same pile excited by wet
cloth affected the electrometer and produced decomposition*.

Mr. De Luc, in spite of these natural inferences from his own

* See Analysis of the Galvanic Pile.
experiments,

i ae

172 On the Excitement of Voliaic Plates,

experiments, and without giving the grounds for his opinion,
contends that the action of the pile does not depend on a sepa- ~
ration of the binary groups of metals by a liquid or wet body, —
but requires only that the separation be produced “ by the best
non-metallie conducting substance.””? He thinks that in writing-
paper he has found such a substance: but let me remind him —
that all paper attracts moisture very powerfully, that it is ex- —
tremely difficult to deprive it entirely of moisture, and that, when
it has been perfectly dried, it very soon reacquires moisture. —
Thus in an experiment (mentioned by Mr. De Luc) in which the
paper had been completely dried, the pile did not even affect —
the electrometer, until during the time occupied in earrving it ©
from one room to another it acquired some degree of moisture: —
it then affected the electrometer in a very shght degree. In
fact, I believe it might be stated, that whatever conducting power ~
paper may possess, is. dependent on the moisture it contains. —
Thus in every instance of excitement, moisture (‘he decomposable —
Jiuid) has been present: and from this view of the subject, I am _
somewhat inclined to think that the spontaneous electric column —
might be employed for hygroscopic purposes.

I would wish, sir, your philosophical readers to ascertain the ©
legitimacy of the inferences I have taken the liberty to draw”
from the experiments contained in Mr. De Luc’s analysis of the
Galvauic pile, and to declare whether there are any facts dedu- |
cible from those experiments, which tend to show a necessity —
for two metallic surfaces to be in contact to produce excitement; ~
whether the facts do not establish a contrary opinion; and —
whether the results of all his experiments do not tend to prove, —
that “the Galvanic apparatus can only be excited by a decom-~
posable fluid.” Nevertheless, Mr. De Luc states the elementary © 4
principles of the pile to be as follows : a

1. **In each binary group the xinc plate takes some electric —
fiuid from its associate the copper.”

2. “ Ineach group also the zivc plate communicates through —
the paper some of its excess of the electric fluid to the copper of the
next group on its side.” f

The first position is in direct opposition to my experiments 5
the second, M. De Lue draws from his thirty-fourth experiment:
yet, as far as I ean understand it, that experiment simply proves,
that, the pile being excited, an insulated conductor will convey
the charge of either extremity to the electrometer.

[To be continued. ]

XXXVIL. On

Wale of eee
XXXVI. On the Physiology of Vegetables. By Mrs. Aexzs

IBBETSON “,

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — The strange inconsistencies that subsist in the few facts
that have been acknowledged to be true in the physiology of
plants, must show that they are in many respects false, since
they contradict each other. Thus, plants are supposed to per-
spire, and also to give out oxygen... It is well known that the
water they take in is decomposed, and reduced into its compo-
nent parts for the purpose. How then can they give it out in
oxygen and water also, when that water has been changed to air?
But they also admit that the cuticle takes in nutriment, and ail
from the same skin, This is really giving the cuticle more offices
than Nature can perform, especially as they are all eontradic-
tory. Then it is supposed that the blood circulates,—though
the juice is evidently expended, as it rises, in forming the parts it
is ordained to complete. If it does circulate, it must do so in
absolute opposition to the whole order of Nature; since even
no animal respires by a particular organ, except those that have
a real circulation: for even in animals or insects there is vo
circulation where there is not a single heart, to which the blood
constantly returns, as the vessels that contain the liquid are so
disposed, that it cannot arrive at the other parts till it has
passed through the lungs. This of course cannot take place in
vegetables, which have no heart, nor in animals that have several
hearts.—See the admirable Cuvier.—Again, in the herbaceous
nts they may be generally opened close to the root, and the
wers discovered aggregating there:—How then can the flower
but be formed at the top of the plant, and come out in a few
days also, without any preceding bud? And in trees and shrubs,
| if the flower-buds are all cutoff when first appearing, a quantity
_will very soon succeed ;—eut these away also, and another set
| Will reappear: this may be done two or three times. Is it
+ possible that all these flowers can proceed, or le formed, in the
few buds that were found at the exterior in that place ? No: they
are merely the vehicle through which the flowers in trees are
introduced to the exterior; and the first flowers are there de-
tained in the bud till the weather is sufficiently favourable to per-
Mit them to pass outwardly. This is only learnt by dissecting
progressively, and pursuing the various facts throughout all their
‘appearances.
_ There is certainly a great difference between the tree and

_ * Erratum.—In Mrs. [bbetson’s paper in onr last aumber, in the title,
for the word “ substitute” read “ elucidate.”
herbaceous

174 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

herbaceous plant, in the progress of the flower-bud. They both
form it in the root; but in trees and shrubs they make several
stages,—in herbaceous plants but two.
The first of the propositions selected for this letter, and which
I engaged it should in a manner prove, zwas, ‘ that the flower-
_bud was formed in the root, and of course that the root was the
laboratory of plants;” since I before showed that the seeds were
also protruded there. There are so many curious dissections
appropriated to this subject, rai it is peculiarly by specimens I
must prove the truth of the fact. I shall first show fnerelines
by a series of prints (taken in eee order from the plants), —
how the flower-bud passes in trees and shrubs, from the moment —
of its formation to its decay; that the reader may be as capable
of judging as if he had the plants before him, in regular suc-
cession; since the specimens are the exact prololypes of the
interior of the vegetable from: which they are taken. And
though every single specimen will not be given, on account cf —
their number, yet I shall show the principal points of most of ;
them, as they succeed each other.
A soft ball appears in the middle of the root traced regularly”
from its first formation, by opening a fresh plant every third day,
This ball is then in a little time seen to. pass up the line of life —
(a circle of cylinders discovered between the pith and wood), and —
which only enlarges at the flowering season for this purpose. —
This is never observed till a month or. six weeks before or after —
flowering time. By degrees each specimen shows the ball é
moving up towards ‘that aperture from which it is to break 5
while the cylinders naturally swell, and increase in size, ac) 4
cording to the quantity of buds ready to pass up (Plate I. fig. i.) ~
When they reach the part of the line of life from whence
they are to be ejected from their place of concealment, the cy- se
linder then opens, and one or two buds protrude, just opposite
the ready made scales in the bark, which is in future prepared —
to receive them, when they shall have passed the /7gmum part.
It is now they begin their passage through the wood, drawing a
long string behind them (see fig. 2.). This may be seen, and dis-
posed in different specimens in so many various ways, that a per-
son must be blind or incredulous in the extreme, not to be con
vinced. In the first specimen the bud may be caught moving:
on, and drawing a string behind through the beginning layers.o
wood: then by cutting fresh specimens horizontally, and keep.
ing them on the table a few hours, the bud, if then placed une
der the microscope, will pass (while under your eye) out of the
wood. In a specimen of new wood, if the bark is taken o :
gently, all the buds (being still incased in the wood) are left
there, and the scales alone remain in the bark; and in fig. *,
t

+
ye

f
3

“i

On the Physislogy of Vegetables. 173

the division between the bud and the wood, occupied by the
juice, is plainly seen preparing its way: and every person on
viewing this figure, and who is apt to notice what they see, will
recollect this perpetual mark in the wood (0), which is nothing
more than the passing flower-bud: but the bud (as I have be-
fore shown) does not force its passage, for the juice precedes it,
and has the power of bending the wood twigs both ways from
the bud, forming a complete covered way for it, that with the
help of the liquid it may pass without pressure: but a3 soon as
the bud has passed, the wood part recovers its usual situation,
and is restored, by the help of the returning action of the mns-
cles, to its usual position. There is scarcely indeed a more cu-
rious process in the formation of plants than this: that so soft
a body should be able to pass (without injury) through so hard
a substance, is most wonderful! But does not the basket-maker
wet his twigs before he attempts to bend them? and do not the
sticks (if a wet sponge is placed between them) soon by a curve
leave each side of the sponge hollow, as the twigs have done at
fig. 3? and does not the juice before mentioned act for the same
purpose? Thus all is iz nature. Before the bud reaches the
end of the wood (which it is some time in doing) the cradle or
winter bud (which is still empty) becomes covered with a thick
and glutinous liquid, varnishing her scales, to defend the interior
{or that which will soon become so) from the cold. This I have
generally found to be the signal ‘‘ that the embryo of the flower-
bud has entered her case.’’ Several specimens must be taken
about this time, each day, that the flower-bud may be well as-
certained to have entered her new habitation: her string will
still attend her, for she loses all power of continuing her journey
if it breaks. Much pains appears to be taken to prevent the
bud being hurt at this time; for though it is much covered with
seales, it must still be more exposed than it can be in the interior
ofthe plant. 1 have repeatedly cut specimens perpendicularly,
when the bud was preparing to pass within its new habitation
and to arrange itself there; and no part of the process can be
plainer: in some plants a part of the wood accompanies the bud,
and does not permit the bark to approach it:—this is the case in
the marvel of Peru. No alteration is discovered in the next
few dissections: the flower-bud remains for a short time per-
fectly torpid in outward appearance, though the interior of the
bud is preparing for its next change. ‘Then is formed that cu-
rious specimen exhibited in my last letter, and in this at fig. 4.
This part must be pursued with great exactness, taking up a
fresh plant every day for dissection. It. will then be observed
that the bud is again moved, and thrown up into the new shoot. I
should never have discovered this, had I not observed the buds
. throw

176 On the Physiology of Vegetables. -

throw off their scales as they passed up under the screw (fig. 4.)
which divides the new from the old-wood: any one may’ see the
scales fall off, and again renewed as soon as the bud has’ passed
up into its place i in the new shoot. Hence probably the reason
why the new wood of every tree is always grooved, whether the
old wood is so or not. The peduncle, after throwing up the bud; ©
generally gets incorporated with the stem: but if the bud is torn
down some time after, it again stops at the same place | from
which it proceeded, by tearing down to that place, or ‘at’ Jeast
in an‘exact line to that part of the screw under which it dipped :
the flower has then only to protrude a common flower-stalk, as.
soon as it has quitted the bud, and to open; and this ends it |
whole history, at least that which belongs to the flower-bud of
the tree and shrub.

I now turn to the bud of the annual and herbaceous plants,
or those which rise each year from the earth. The difference
is essential; since, instead of having a settled bud apparently —
visible for months, and as a promise of: future flowers, the —
bud does not appear in general till just as it is going to break —
into flower, and tll it has travelled to the top of the plant. Can —
it be supposed then that Nature, which in the tree makes the
perfecting the flower a long process, should in the herbaceous —
plant complete it directly, without preface and without prepara~—
tion, though it -has literally the same process to fulfil? Does —
’ this appear natural, or even probable? thus to form the whole, —
and bring it forth without any time to mature its buds and juices? —
Impossible! Is it not strange that the curiosity of botanists —
should not have tempted them to tear open a plant from one end |
to the other, to seek the time when these flowers are formed, ©
when they have already discovered the flower in the dudb, and _
that -in the water-lily it leaves the root when quite large, and is.
to be seen with the naked eye? And in the saxifraga crassifolia
it is quite as visible as in the crocus; and in the violet the |
flower-bud comes out of the root so much finished, that no person |
can doubt what it is, if they will but look. Its manner of |
Mounting in yearly plants, yields specimens of wnxcommon beauty. |
Unlike the tr "ee, the whole texture of the plant is infinitely looser, —
yet still consisting of imumerable cylinders one within the other;
instead of being stretched tight, as at fig. 11, forming one only:
the thin tater doubles in, and produces i sintiiticl able apertures
at fig. 19, these folds afford a place of refuge for many. flowers,
indeed for whole bouquets: and if an herbaceous plant is cut
horizontally with a very sharp razor, and then laid on the ta=
ble for a few hours, the flowers will stand up alove the cylinders, ¢
and thus exactly distinguish the difference between the cases

and the buds, which from the extreme thinness and delicacy’ of
“the”

On the Physiology of Vegetables. 177

the matter, is not easy to do; for the cylinders are so folded in
double or treble folds, that to an eye unused to the sight, they
would all appear like the most beautiful papier maché flowers,
only extremely small and delicate, and pertectly without colour,
But I have found another means of distinguishing the case from
the real buds: it is the dark or Llack shade always attending the
eylinders alone, as they are seen in contrast to the apertures,
which being then empty, most plainly appear: but when the
flowers mount them, they fill up the holes so thoroughly as to
leave no dark shadow to set them off. I shall give a specimen
of cylinders without flowers (see fig. 6); and flowers without cy-
linders, at fig. 7 ; also fig. 13, joining both together, and showing
(though very badly) the apertures up which the flowers mount,
When you cut perpendicularly, and happen to remove the soft
covering sufficiently to leave the flowers open to view, then they
show admirally ; for they are generally torn enough to remove
the thin matter, leaving the various sorts of vessels discoverable
between the cylinders. Of these vessels I can say nothing, but
that ] have most exactly copied them; but what they are for, ex~
cept to support the flowers, I cannot tell; but we must truly
imitate till we can wnderstand. These large bouquets of flowers
adorned with hanging spirals, and adding grace and beauty to
the picture, I have truly delineated. But I must observe that
they are too smail to show all the defects the tearing might
produce, though sometimes observable ; and only exhibit the
beauties arising from pressure, &c. which the opening and
closing flowers produce. The most perfect pattern-drawer would
be left far lehind in this case: for so excessive is the variety,
and so astonishing the beauty of these bouquets, that I in yain
endeavour to do them justice. When some corollas half open, they
appear like finished flowers: see fig. 8,9, 10. The wnan-
the, the angelica, and the hieracium spondylium, will give an
idea of some of these pictures: but to complete it I must show
the different specimens from which each part is taken in the
plants, as fig.8*, fig.9*, and fig. 10*, are a sextant of each speci-
men, just cut at the top of the root, that the reader may be a
proper judge of the curious manner in which the flowers are
arranged even in that situation. The root must be cut slanting,
It must be remembered, that when the first specimen is ob-
served, and when the flower-buds (in trees) leave the root, they
run directly into the cylinders of the line of life. This is the
saine in the plants that rise each year from the earth: they also
run into the same vessels, and are formed and conducted so far
in the same manner;—but here ends the resemblance.

{ have shown how different the formation of the line of life is,
and how much looser all the matter as given at fig. 11*, the

Vo}, 48, No. 221. Sept. 1816, M variety

178 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

variety of cuticles being divided into layers, and each showing
such a number of apertures, through which the flowers shoot
(see AA), instead of a plain and regular set of sheets (OO) as in
trees. But there is often, as I before observed, a thing which
seems to confine this flexible matter, and give the part the ap-
pearance of different shaped vessels, as at fig. 8, 9, and 10.
This I cannot well understand; but I have given each exactly
as it appeared to me; subjecting both copy and original to the
opinion of many, who confirmed and reassured me as to the truth
of the likeness. However, when the flower rises above the root,
in herbaceous plants, each separate division shows again a more
marked line of life; and if then the round stem is cut a little
slanting, this vessel will appear again with its bouquets, as it has
passed from the root upwards, (see fig. 12). After remaining a
time in this situation, a large collection of flowers begins to
gather in the middle of the stem, and you gradually see those
of the line of life begin to empty: it generally takes five or six
increasing specimens to complete the whole process; it is then
discovered that most of the flowers have left the vessels of the
line of life to gain this repository, (bv). But it is not one only,
but two or three, according to the-size of the plant. Here they
receive their seeds and pollen, and visibly increase in size, and
then rise into perfect flowers by the growth of the stem (ccc.)
Their passage from aaa to bbb is most plain, and easily traced,
for the first hour after you have cut the plant; but it requires
the eye to be accustomed to the microscope, to see it well; and
“the moment the seeds enter the seed-vessels, they prove them
the flowers.

Can I then by any labour, or in any way, trace this series of
facts in a more convincing manner? These specimens were all
taken from plants of the same kind ina series, as they appeared
a few days older than the preceding ; and the progressive mo-
tion from bud to flower, from flower to fruit, is not plainer with-
out, than it is in the interior. The difference between the tree
and herbaceous plant is just sufficient to account for the winter ,
bud intheformer. It will be remembered that this is the fourth ip
year I have taken up plants in this manner:—The first year I cut i
eighty-six trees; the second, seventy-eight; and soon: andsuch
loads of herbaceous, beginning long before they appeared above
ground, that I have learnt all their winter process. I am sure
I have cut many thousands within the last two years, subjecting
every part to the microscope. Does there appear then any
room in this picture for self-imposition or mistake? I well know
how false reasoning is ; but I reason not, I only trace a series of
pictures presented in regular gradation by Nature: and though
exhibiting so many different parts, which it would seem almost

impossible

¥ :
a
x

On the Physiology of Vegetables. 179

impossible to conciliate; yet, when joined together, they appear
so consistent as not once to contradict or confuse each other :—
the God of Nature alone could do this. That I have in vain for
the last two years gone over and retraced every part :—the more
I dissect, the more absolute my belief becomes. And where are
the facts strong enough to make us sufficiently incredulous to
deny our eyesight? Nowhere, but in a few mutilated propositions,
most of them showing their faésehood by contradicting each
other. e

It is impossible to give to the public a complete series of facts,
copied from Nature, and which forms a quarto in itself, in a
more disadvantageous manner than the present, since the first
letter is forgottet: before the second is read, especially as these
facts (like a mathematical problem) all hang on each other, and
depend much on their general consistency for the proof of their
truth:—but I have already sacrificed sixteen years, and to hazard
fortune on the publication also, is too much. Before I close
my proposition respecting the ‘flower-bud, I must add one
proof, which I have shown tomany. When a quantity of young
buds have just appeared above the stalk (suppose in umbelliferous
flowers), if the first set are cut off, the aperture in which the
flowers ‘are rising up, is often so hollow and clear, that, look
down near halfa line, and you see the other flowers and buds
coming up to supply the place of the dilapidated ones, or those
which have died away. Sure this also cannot be vain; it must
prove the flower is formed below, or all Nature is a deception!
But we prefer gaining by reasoning, rather than. by our eyes ;
the latter often much more just, and more to be trusted to. [
must add, that experiments made on the living tree (if it is to
stop any vessels, or alter the course of nature) are not to be trusted.
I experienced this in cutting off half a bean, and replacing it in
the earth: the root, instead of coming out at the top, at the same
orifice as the stem (as it always does), took a shorter road, and left
the bean at the place it was cut. In this manner Nature will
deceive us—if the proper passage is stopped, it will form a new
one for itself. But watch her, and she will ever be found the
same: and if I only lay open a plant (without attempting to stop
its vessels), it will, though languidly, continue its motions for
near an hour, because its functions are all lengthways; and I shall
not have impeded any of its actions, but only displayed them,
The flowers therefore will continue to rise for a short time, owing
to the motion of the muscles.

I now turn to my second proposition; ‘ That the leaves are
the lungs of the plant.” This is universally allowed ; yet 1 never
heard a zeason given “why they are so.”’ For the leaves

2

M 2 forming

180 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

forming oxygen by the decomposition of water, is no reason af
ald for such an appellation; and it is certain that the leaves
contain vastly less air in their interior, than any other part of
the plant, and are mot therefore a vehicle for air, But though
they have no air within, they still merit the name they have ac-
quired, by being the constant cause of the motion of air at the
exterior; so that the very oxygen the leaves give out would pro-
bably remain almoséi siationary, on account of its weight, under
the treés, rather than circulate around, were it not for the in-,
numerable little fans that by their incessant motion produce an
excessive circulation, which is rarely stopped, and is most violent,
in the lowest spots, ‘and where the general stagnation of air is
most likely ¢o exist. But the motion of the “leaves not only
changes the gases (which descend from the higher regions by
the help of the currents of alr), but increases also the natural
evaporation of the leaves. How exquisitely beautiful is then the
arrangement of the lungs of the plant, when they are considered
as set in motion by the spiral wire or muscles of the plant, in or-
der to disperse the oxygen ! and that motion exactly propor-
tioned by Nature to the situation of the ground, and the neces-
sities of the sort of country in which they are placed! On the
high hills of Scotland or Sweden, where no putrid air is disco-
verable, the firs grow, which give but little oxygen; for they have
no swamps to rectify, no animal breathing to purify: the na-
tural motion of the air is therefore exercise enough for them,
and to disperse their pollen. Hence the firs have no spiral wire
in their leaves, and in ¢heir leaves no motion, and fewer muscles
(except in their w ood) than any other plant. But behold the con-
trast :—The low and swampy grounds loaded with aquatic plants
and trees, where constant motion is necessary to the purifying
of the air—Here Nature not only bestows a quantity of oxygen
(which its trees emit continually), but she has loaded the
peduncle of the leaf with a quantity of spiral wire, which keeps
its leaves in per petual motion. View only the dbele, or the black
poplar. It is not because its leaf-stalk is broad one way and
thin the other (see fig. 14), that the leaf is for ever moving: this
shape would cause its constant action, when the wide part of
the leaf was facing the wind. But what (but the muscle) could
keep it constantly in that position? Tine muscles alone could
do this, by contracting and dilating it, according to the dryness
or moisture of the wind thal blows. It is by this means the
leaf-stems of all the poplars are a trifle more or less turned to the
wind, and in this position they will ever be found. Those plants
have most spiral wire which grow in swampy grounds; those
trees have most motion that are buried in low valleys, where

both

On the Physiology of Vegetables. 18]

both air and water at times would almost become stagnate if it
were not for the spiral wire in the leaves. But so beautifully has
Nature contrived her laws, that the very moisture of the water, by
causing constant motion in the leaves, gives also increased mo-
tion to the water, and that water additional freshness to the air;
while the deep valleys, which have quautities of aquatic plants,
Walit (more thoroughly than any other) to have the oxygen
mixed with all other gases, to purify the atmosphere. How ex-
quisite then is this continual interchange of benefits !—how de-
lightful then the discovery, ‘ that not only the quantity of oxy-
gen is doubled in those vegetables found in low grounds, but the
spiral wire is also increased in an equal degree!’ Thus botanic
physiology pertectly agrees with atmospheric chemistry, to e7-

force the welfare and establish the happiness of each animal

that lives and breathes; and not only of those whose scent and
wholesome breathing is thus secured; but of those inanimate
beings who receive health and nutriment from the very spoiled
air that is thus drawn off, and imbibed by them for their benefit.
Hydregen and fixed air being in small degrees serviceable to
plants in general, though they will not grow in that air alone,
their absorption is of the utmost use to man and animals. Thus,
if the spiral was not the muscle of the plant, how could all this
be brought about ?—how could the leaves be moved in stagnate
situations ?—how could the oxygen get thoroughly mixed in the
higher regions? It would remain under the trees, to do harm to
the vegetable world: and so far from curing the bad vapours m

‘ow morasses, they would be left in their putrid state, to give

death to those who entered the valley. As the moist winds act
on the leat of the poplars, | so do they also on the corolla of
flowers, turning the back of the antirrhinum and pea-flower to
defend the pollen from the moist winds. How exquisitely sen-
sible are the muscles of the plant! If a moist wind blows, they
will lengthen more and more, till they have lost all the twist of
their spiral wire:—if a dry north or east wind is felt, the muscle
will contract to half its length. If there is no muscular’ con-
traction, what makes the mada flower in certain dry winds push
off the whole of its corolla, by contracting the calyx to such a
degree as absolutely to pinch off the petals altogether? | have
often seen above twenty flowers thus forced off, one after the
other, in an over-dry season. ‘Those who do not look on the
epiral wires as the muscle of the plant, but as sap-vessels,
should show us how a flower is opened and shut ; how the ten-
drils twist, both within and at the exterior of the flower ; how
those tendrils twist, that cover the whole surface of a plant in
the way of hairs ;—but particularly how the wood warps. They

M 3 proceed

182 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

proceed evidently all from one cause. What power acts on it! ;
What action remains so long after the death of the tree? We
do not believe in witchcraft, and an action must have a cause.
A being dies: all motion ceases after death, except one, which is
involuntary y muscular motion. The wood warps after death, it
is full of spiral wire: it is this which most evidently causes its
motion, since, if you take a part of it out, all motion ceases, and
that part taken out moves continually. If this is the case, it
must be the muscle of the plant: and the warping is at once ac-
counted for, being the only part of the animal which moves after
death; it is also ‘the only part of the vegetable which retains its
action after the vital power is extinct. We are not to judge
a living being by the laws of non-existing matter; that matter
which is made and joined molecule to molecule, may increase
by heat, which divides these parts by separating them at a
greater or smaller distance. Thus tron is increased by the
quantity of caloric introduced between each molecule. But how
can this law be carried into a diving body? Vitality is actuated
by a totally different power, and “partakes completely of the
animal i in this respect, increasing in continuity; and forced to
action by the power of the muscles only, after vitality should be
dissolved.

I think I have so exactly marked the difference (with the help of
Mirbel’s ingenious idea) between the animal, vegetable, and mi-
neral, that they can no longer be considered as flowing into each
other, or making a series of steps, but perfectly disjointed, and
different from each other, and peculiar in all their parts. The
animal having life, brain, nerves, muscles, voluntary and in-
voluntary motion. The vegetable life, but neither brain nor
nerves, but irritability of muscle even superior to animal life*,
these serving instead of nerves. Hence in death the vegetable
cannot be considered as a being to be contracted or dilated, as
iron or water, and which is removed by heat molecule from
molecule ; but as @ living creature, which has muscles to move,
and which, when dead, can only be subservient to the action of
the muscles for a time, and which are, like al] vegetable muscles,
set in motion by the powerful change of light and moisture, but
subject to no other contracting or dilating power. And if in
such full proof we want an additional one, to show that the spiral

* This irritable or contractile power, is that property by which mus-
cles recede from stimuli; it is independent of the nerves, and so little
connected with feeling, that upon cutting away all the nerves and stimulat-
ing the muscle with a ‘sharp- pointed instrument, or a caustic, or directing
the electric spark through it, the muscles instantly contract, as "does also the
vegetable,

18

On the Physiology of Vegetables. 183

is the muscle of the plant, we shall find it in the great discovery
of Havvsr, in stimulating the muscles of animals by caustics
and sharp-pointed instruments: the spiral wire being equally
affected by both, retiring (if quite fresh and in health) from
the accession or touch of either.

By means therefore of the muscle of the plant throwing the
leaf into action, the leaves are most properly denominated lungs
to the plant. But this is not all the office of this part of the
vegetable. In the leaf is mixed that juice of the bark by che-
mieal affinity which contributes to altering the colour of the
blood of the plant, so changing by means of the oxygen the dark
resinous thick blood into a fresher liquid of a more florid colour,
and thus reducing it also into a thinner juice, which enables it
to run with speed down the inner bark vessels at the bottom of
the leaf, which lead directly down to the bark. The first part
of this is exactly what our lungs do; and this alone would en-
able the resinous juice to flow with ease to the bark, when first
made in the leaves of the vegetable.

I shall now turn to the third and last proposition I am to
give in this letter, which is equally new, and taken from the dis-
section of plants. It is “that the corolla of a flower is formed
by bubbles of water placed in rows, and owes all the beauty and
lightness of its tints to the refraction and reflection of the sun
on the balls of water which compose its pabulum.”

The corolla, to be known, must be taken to pieces. There is
some art required to do this; for, if the petals are at all pressed,
they are destroyed ; they soon break their bubbles and spill their
liquid, and thus spoil the whole specimen (as may be seen by
pressing one). But it is possible to take the petal of each dif-
ferent corolla, and, splitting it, draw off the upper and under cu-
ticle, and, leaving only the middle part to be examined, “ that is
the pabulum,’’ to gain the most exact result ;—since the dif-
ferent cuticles will then (if placed in the microscope) properly
so arrange themselves (according to their true and focal distance),
that, though there are several separate layers, yet they are so lit-
tle divided, each will rise to its proper height, and evade the
eye to distinguish them from each other, and not in any man-
ner confuse their parts together. Taking the corolla in this man-
ner, the pabulum is soon discovered to be balls of water laid in
rows; and this even the naked eye in some flowers will show ;
and these bubbles of water (covered only by an extremely thin
skin) lined by an impervious one, so clear as often scarcely lo
appear to the naked eye.

The petals of most flowers differ from leaves in many respects,
but particularly in one essential point:—in leaves, the slau!

M skin

184 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

skin is within, the while is without. But in flowers, the pabulum
is white, and the upper and under cuticles coloured. To the
pabulum the petals of flowers are indebted for their brilliant ap-
pearance, and not to the juice which inflates them (which is
generally of a dull and livid colour); but the bubbles receiving
the rays of the sun, and returning them to the retina through
these colours, paint them with a vivid glow impossible to ex-
press in words; but easily shown by throwing the light of the
sun through a small glass bubble on the dullest colour imagi-
nable, and it immediately returns the brightest of tints. Thus
these bubbles receiving the rays of the sun (which strike each
drop of water) are enlivened and enlightened by the reflection and
refraction of that bright ray of light seen in every bubble, and
striking the retina, by which means the whole flower would be-
come a blaze of light too violent for the eyes, had not Nature,
to soften it, covered it with a cuticle of a gauze-like texture,
which, refracting each ray, gives it a softness and beauty seen
only in flowers. This being their form, it must stand to reason,
that, in spite of the upper cuticle, much heat must be evolved ;
and yet it did not occur to me to measure it, till I received a
letter from SirJ. E. Smith, in answer to one [ wrote to him, re-
specting the raising the thermometer during the fructification of
the seeds; when he requested me to see whether the polished
surfaces of the petals were not the cause of heat still more than
the seeds. This immediately set me to work ;—the only trial
T have ever seen on the subject was one made by the excellent
Mons. Hubert in the island of Bourbon; butit is given by Mons.
St. Vincent in so strange a way, that I cannot make it out. In
the first place he says that the maximum of the heat was at sun-
rise. ** That Madame Hubert, who was blind, was much struck
by finding the plant fee? hot to her hand; and that when the
thermometer was applied to the spadixes of the plant, it rose to
30° of Reaumur, the standard thermometer being 18°.”’ Now
this in Fahrenheit would be 50° and 62°. Now how could Ma-
dame’s hand, which even supposing her seventy, could not be less
than 75° in that climate, feel 62° hot to her hand; when it
was thirteen degrees cooler thai her own flesh, and would there-
fore be cold to it?

I cannot help thinking that there was so much handling, and
cutting, and placing the plant round the instrument, that the
hand must have communicated much of the heat it possessed to
the vegetable it held. It certainly was neither the corolla nor
the seeds that gave it; since the male and female were cut to
pieces and disposed round the thermometer, and all motion must
soon have ceased in thus dismembering the plant. However, we

are

On the Physiology of Vegetables. 185

are not fair jadges without trying the same plant the same way.
When he tried the common arum in the interior of the corolla
in the sun, it gave 6 or 7 above the state of the atmosphere.
I never got Hubert’s account till after my own trials were com-
pleted; but I have since tried to cut the spadixes of the arum,
and place them in the manner directed ; but it had no effect on
the thermometer.

I shall now explain the trials | made both before and after I
received Sir J. E.Smith’s letter: every thing that could be done
to guard the plant from receiving any heat from the hand was
done. Having arranged the approaches round the flowers to be
tried the evening preceding, a stick was placed to which the
thermometer of comparison was affixed, and a contrivance which
enabled me to slip on or off a paper cover, when I wished to try
the seeds, that I might not, when the pericarpium was below the
flower, be obliged to pass the instrument through the corolla,
but into the seed-vessel at once, without the bulbs being exposed
to the atmospheric air: some sticks were so placed that 1 could
run the thermometer into the flower without injury, by the help
of a pair of long pincers, and the whole was covered with a large
umbrella to be turned off and on, as required. I began at
seven o’clock in the morning.

Therm.of Therm.of Therm.of Therm.of

Comp. Trial. Comp. Trial.

In the San. In the Sun.

Tris .. 572 635 | Arum -. O38 61
Arum ~.. 552 64 Hyacinth .. 56 62£

Arum .. 9554 674 | Iris rar) 68

Hyacinth.. 49 58 Rose Sy! 64
Rose Spee 2A 644 | Honeysuckle 55 634
Honeysuckle 55 634 | Arum fet BOR 66+
Seeds flower in Paper. Seeds flower in Paper Cover.
Arum See 57% | Arum Ae MD 564
Rose eM oye 60L | Iris miss dee 614
Iris nig OL 59 Rose oe yp Oe 65+
Honeysuckle 59 624 | Hvacinth .. 49 51t
| Lily oa ee 634
| White lily .. 60 634

When I tried the seeds, the bulb was placed in the midst of
them, without passing through the corolla. The result may, I
think, therefore, be fairly stated; that the greatest part of the
heat (which was supposed to result from the seeds ouly) cer-
tainly comes from the corolla: for, cover the thermometer when
taken from the open air by any thing, and it will rise nearly one

degree ;

186 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

degree; the seeds gain only 21; if indeed it is any thing, the
quantity of caloric must be very small, and only at the time of
fructification, which may arise from the quicker motion of that
season; since it is certain that at no moment the seed is liable
to so hasty a revolution, as when the inside of the heart first
forms itself. But the heat the corolla gives is a decided heat ;
aud it is to be discovered in every flower that will admit the
bulb; and 1 should suppose intended to accelerate the fructifi-
cation of the seeds, the completion of the juice of the pistil, which
for the purpose above mentioned may require to be raised to a
certain temperature before it is fit to pass down the pistil into
the seeds. I always shaded those flowers that were afterwards
to be exposed to the sun, till two or three minutes before the
experiment began, or probably the heat would have been higher.
But it is not certainly owing to the polished surfaces of the pe-
tals, for nothing can be less smooth in the microscope: but it
is owing to the balls of water that compose the pabulum, which
reflects heat from each bubble of water and light; and if the sun
is hot enough to decompose the water (which it certainly does
in those petals that have hairs), it of course must reflect great
heat from the pabulum; and this may always be increased by
taking off the upper cuticle. But it is not to one sort of form
the corolla is confined, though, except the Everlasting, the pabu-
ums are all formed of bubbles of water. But there are wet pe-
tals, such as the hyacinth, which, though they are so filled with
liquid, it is quite wonderful how the skin can keep it from
oozing, yet detain the liquid in such a manner as not to wet the
hand on which it reposes. This is really 2 wonderful thing, and
shows in how great a perfection Nature has made these skins,
which not only may be so filled with liquor as to be greatly in-
fated, but also so thin as to appear perfectly transparent, yet
cover the water sufficiently to keep it from too great an evapo-
ration, and enough to allow it to decompose water, which the
corollas that have hairs certainly do.

There are still more curious corollas, one sort in particular,
which we have so exactly imitated in forming velvet, that it is
impossible not to be struck with the similarity of the formation.
The upper coloured cuticle is formed of a vessel carried up and
down in scollops, and then cut at the top ;—this appears to pro-
long the ray of light which falls on it, instead of absorbing or
repelling it suddenly. 1tis thus it acts on feathers, it is this which
gives them so exquisite a softness. It is this also in miniature-
painting which makes a stroke so much softer than a dot. It
is this on the cheek of beauty when the soft down shades it,
which is so exquisite to behold, and whieh paint so wholly de-
stroys. The thick petals, which are mostly flowers belonging

to

On the Physiology of Vegetables. 187

to a hot country, have probably their corolla formed. of greater
consistency, that the water may not too soon evaporate in. the
bubbles. When the corolla is thick or thin, it is the increase or
decrease of their pabulum only to which that circumstance is
owing,—every other part is the same.

The Everlastings have the pabulum made of powder intetend
of water, and certainly give no heat whatever, but retain their
form and beauty for a long time, not fearing the general enemy
of flowers evaporation,—dust being their only destroyer.

But the most curious plant in respect to dissection is the
ranunculus ficaria and buliosus, which have their pabulum co-
vered with a brilliant white powder, which seems not only to re-
fract great light and feat from the bubbles, but from the pow-
der also. But such was the badness of the weather, that I have
not been able to try the heat they give; the flower is indeed al-
most too small to introduce the bulb of the thermometer.

I shall now touch, though gently, on the means by which thése
flimsy bodies (the petals of flowers) are sustained and strengthened,
so as to bear much pressure and much ill usage, and to preserve
their elegant shapes in spite of wind and rain. No one would for
amoment doubt that the spirals governed the petals of flowers,
if they would watch them for a few minutes as I have done for
days, nay weeks together.— How often have I seen one of the pe-
tals contract its motions before the rest were at all sensible of the
impulsion ; twist and furl its sail-like wings, lay them fold on
ong exactly according to the drawing of the spiral! I know not

better means to show the muscles, and how completely the
Bphead is that part of the vegetable, than exposing them to a va-
riety of temperatures—both extremes of heat and cold will act
equally on them; they contract, then lengthen, and at last be-
come vapid and dead, lose all the stiffness of their spiral, which
untwists and breaks, aud the water immediately evaporates from
the bubbles:—you then plainly see the skins in which the water
was confined: and I do not think I ever was more surprised than
to find that each bubble was opened and shut by a spiral wire:
but they are not smaller than the eyes of many insects, in which
so much mechanism is discovered.—But we are ‘for ever to be
reminded, that to Almighty power there is no small or great.

In the corolla Nature seems to have sported with a vivacity
valculated to exhibit her powers: and beautiful is it to follow the
pea or the bean in its various species, which discover a variety
quite as astonishing; and when the simple direction of the mus-
cles is not sufficient to manage its folds, a certain piece is formed
like the strengthening piece of an instrument, being a treble
fold of the pabulum, from which the vessels are allowed to take

their

188 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

their exit as from a centre, and it serves as a strong part to ac~
celerate and fortify the powers before given to it by the muscular
foree. I think, any one who will examine the strength of the’bean
banner on the back of the red antirrhinum with care, can never
attribute such force to any thing but a muscle pervading all ve-
getable life. The foldings of the last-mentioned flower are art-
ful and powerful, and the springs so admirably contrived as to.
merit peculiar attention ;—most of the flowers of that kind have
two stde-springs to connect the two parts of the corolla together;
taeyv are unusually strong muscles. Try their strength, and they
will be found powerful; they lock one within the other: but when
the flower is dead, if the spring is examined, all the spiral will be
found dead and unwound, and broken in various places.

I shall in a future letter give some beautiful specimens of the
mechanism Nature contrives in the opening and closing of the
flowers. The mechanic power is eustly seen, so plain and sim-
ple as to explain itself. I shall also give a guess, “ why Nature
does so at such different hours.” It is a curious subject: but
a few general principles will be found to disseminate their powers
in a such a manner throughout all vegetable life, as to be fully
compelent to manage the whole ; and I hope by continuing my
dissections, and trusting to Nature only to prove her own work,
she will bring conviction of this important truth, and that I have
nothing to do in it, but obey and follow her.

I an, sir,
Your obliged servant,
Dawlish, Sept. 1, 1816. AGneEs IBBETSON.
—<z

Sketch of the Plate.

Fig. 1. A specimen of the cylinders, which always enlarge at
top and spread when cut; the flowers rising in them, and ar-
rauging themselves in a bouquet, when no longer pressed by the
vessels.

Fig. 2. Dissection of the wood, cut perpendicularly, showing
the buds AAA running to the bark.

Fig. 8. The bud in the wood, showing it running through the
wood, with the juice surrounding it so as to guard it from being
touched by the hard part.

Fig. 4. and 4*. Both showing the manner in which the bud
is thrown up into the new shoot, and the cause of every new
shoot being grooved.

Fig. 5. Manner in which the vessels of the line of life in trees
are often formed, marking a great contrast in those of the her-
baceous, which are in innumerable folds.

Fig,

On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines. 189

Fig. 6 and 7.—6 being the manner in which the platform
appears, or apertures through which the flowers pass; and
fig. 7. shows the buds without the platform: and fig. 6 and 7
both together at AA. ‘ ;

Fig. 8, 9, and 10, are the three specimens, showing the very
curious manner the folds of the thin matter will draw in: and
fig. S*, 9*, and 10*, are specimens of the root of the ewnanthe,
the angelica, and the hieracium spondylium ; out of which the
foregoing figures were taken.

Fig. li. and 11* are. the specimens showing the manner the
line of life is formed, when folded in trees either so or in fig. 5:
and 11* the manner it is folded in herbaceous plants..

Fig. 12. Manner in which flowers mount in the stem of her-
baceous plants: first in little bouquets, then collecting in large,
as at eee, when the stem lengthens, and they open.

Fig.13,showing theapertures through which the flowers mount,

Fig. 14, the stem of the leaf of the poplars.

Perhaps I had most wisely avoided giving the figures described
at figs. S, 9 and 10, as carrying so little probability in their ap-
pearance ;—but when I first began to dissect and imitate the
vegetable tribe, I most absolutely determined that I would li-
terally draw all I saw, without exaggeration and without dimi-
nishing the objects presented to my sight, let them be ever so
extraordinary. No one had before taken a review of these ob-
jects,—all that was supposed to be known, was very little more
than conjecture, except the seeds: no one had attempted to
take the specimens progressively—what the interior was, there-
fore, “ was (till now) a secret ;” and after sixteen years constant
dissection I cannot be accused of ignorance. With this observa-
tion | leave it to public opinion.

ae <

a

KXXVIII. On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines. By
Joun Gzorcr CuitprEn, Esq. £.R.S.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — I READ with some degree of indignation, in the Annals
of Philosophy for July last, a paper by a Mr. Longmire, calling
itself Remarks, &c. on Sir Humphry Davy’s Safe-lamp for the Col-
liers; and I addressed a letter to Dr. Thomson on the subject.
That letter the learned Editor of the above Journal has thought
fit to suppress ;—nor should I have considered it worth while to
take even this brief notice of so weak an attempt to injure one
of the most important inventions with which enlightened genius
has ever blessed the world, but have left it to perish in its own

ilsig -

190 On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines.

insignificance and be forgotten, had I not found the subject pur- —
sued ina letter from a Mr. Holmes, in the succeeding number —
of the same publication. The avowed intention of the author
of this paper, and the experiments on which he pretends to |
ground his objections, seem to me to require some animadver-
sion, not indeed from the liberality of the former, nor the re- —
liance (as I shall show presently) that is to be placed on the fi-

delity of the latter, or the inferences deduced from them; but —
from the possibility that, if they pass altogether unnoticed, an
Opinion may prevail, among those who have not sufficiently con-
sidered the subject, that they are founded in truth. As the re- —
sults of Mr. Holmes’s experiments are diametrically the reverse
of similar ones by Sir Humphry himself, I thought it right in
the first place to examine their accuracy; and with that view I
submitted the safe-lamp to the mest rigorous trials, and under
circumstances as analogous to those which prevail in the coal-_
mines as I could devise. For this purpose, I caused a cylinder —
of strong tin plate to be constructed fourteen inches in length
and five in diameter, having four tubes in the bottom half an_
inch wide, and one inch long each, placed two and two opposite
one another and one inch from the circumference; and three —
other pairs of similar size, fixed in the sides of the cylinder, each _
tube on the same level being opposite to its fellow. The lowest
pair were three inches from the bottom, the middle six, and
the upper pair nine inches distant from the same point. By
means of these tubes, could expose the lamp to atmospheres of
various degrees of infammability, and I could also force the gas
into the cylinder with greater or less violence, and at different

heights, from bladders connected with stop-cocks, as well as
project into it such substances, in fine powder, either above, be-

low, or ona level with the flame of the lamp, as might be thought

likely to communicate explosions, through the wire-gauze, to

the atmosphere surrounding it ;—and I could distinctly observe —
the phenomena through small squares of glass fixed in the sides,
so as to afford a full view of what passed in the interior of the

lanthorn. Not having any of the real fire-damp of the mines,

I substituted for it the more inflammable gas obtained from the
distillation of coal, and consequently the trials of the safety o

the instrument became so much the more severe. ‘The lamp I
employed was made by Mr. Newman of Lisle-street. It is nine_
inches high, and the gauze cylinder, which is constructed of
simple iron wire, is 14 inch in diameter—the diameter of the

wire being ;',d of an inch, and the apertures, of which there are

960 to the square inch, ;!,th. This lamp gives an excellent

light with spermaceti oil, which continues undiminished many

hours. —I will first briefly mention Mr. Holmes’s experiments,

an

On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines. 19]

and then state those which I made. I should perhaps have
rather given the credit of these experiments to Mr. Ryan, as it
seems it was he who first made them; but as he * practised on
a lamp of only one inch diameter,” he ccincided with Mr. Holmes
in opinion that his trials were unfair; and Mr. Holmes having
procured a lamp from Newman, the following experiments were
made by himself and Mr. Ryan, partly at the gas-works in Dorset-
street, and partly at a chemist’s, in the presence of four other
gentlemen.—I quote Mr. Holmes’s words:

*¢] tried it first over a small gas tube, with coal-dust and
powder, which ignited the gas outside; next with coal-dust alone,
which after repeated trials produced the same results, and left
an inflammation at the end of the tube.”

*¢ On inverting a teacup over the cylinder so as to produce
a slight compression of the gas, it exploded from coal-dust se-
veral times.”

** We then went to a chemist’s and forced some gas from a
bladder against one side of the cylinder, while gas from another
bladder was gently pressed on the opposite side: in a short

time the gas on the outside inflamed ;—this f compare to a

blower, although the power we were able to use was very in-

_ ferior to what would be given by the velocity of a blower under

ground.”—* I found that the flame of the wick would not pe-

_netrate the gauze cylinder, but the inflammation of the gas
would, when acted upon by a strong current of air.”

?

I shall now state my own experiments:—I suspended the safe-
lamp in the centre of the lanthorn, at about two inches from the
bottom, the four bottom apertures and the top of the lanthorn
being open—I then forced coal-gas, from a bladder, with all the
violence I could into the lanthorn through one of the lowest side

apertures, an assistant at the same time throwing in atmospheric

air from another bladder, through the middle aperture, on the
opposite side, the other lateral apertures being closed. In a few
seconds, about two inches of the wire gauze became red hot, and
by continuing the blast from each bladder it rose almost to white-
ness, the heat being greatest at the side opposite the jet of at-

_mospheric air.—At this point the exterior gas exploded. Ina
former experiment of the same kind, in which the heat of the

Wire was not raised above a low red heat, no explosion ensued.
Mr. Holmes says he “ cannot find that even’ this distinguished

chemist” (Sir H. Davy) “has been able to explain why flame

will not flow through small apertures.”
Mr. Holmes cannot have taken much pains in his search ; for

In the first part of the Philosophical Transactions for the present

year, at page 117, Sir Humphry says as follows :

_“ If a picce of wire-gauze sieve is held over a flame of a lamp
or

192 On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines.

or of coal-gas, it prevents the flame from passing it, and the
phenomenon is precisely similar to that exhibited by the wire-
gauze cylinders; the air passing through is found very hot, for it
will convert paper into charcoal; and it is an explosive mixture,
for it will inflame if a lighted taper is presented to it, but 7 is
cooled lelow the explosive point by passing through wires even
red hot, and by being mixed with a considerable quantity of air
comparatively cold. The real temperature of visible flame is
perhaps as high as any we are acquainted with—Mr. Tennant
was in the habit of showing an experiment, which demonstrates
the intensity of its heat. He used to fuse a small filament of
platinum in the flame of a common candle; and it is proved by
many facts, that a stream of air may be made to render a me-
tallic body white hot, yet not be itself luminous.’’—I forbear to
quote more of this interesting paper, though I recommend the
whole to the careful perusal both of Mr. Holmes and the other
opposers of the ‘* wonderful lamp.””—The experiment I have de-
tailed is correctly explained by the above reasoning. Eyen at
a red heat the wire cooled the gas below the point of inflamma-
tion,—but not when the heat nearly reached to whiteness, and
accordingly explosion then ensued. Mr. Holmes has not, after
all, made any great discovery in finding that the inflammation
of the gas will penetrate the wire-gauze when reacted on by a
strong current of air—for Sir Humphry Davy has stated it
himself in his ‘ Additional Practical Observations,” printed
first for distribution amongst the miners, and which may also
be found in the Philosophical Magazine for July last.—I quote a
few lines from that paper on the subject: ‘* When indeed a strong —
current of coal-gas is driven from a, blowpipe so as to make

wire-gauze of 676 apertures strongly red hot in the atmosphere,

the flame from this pipe may be passed through it whilst it is
strongly red hot; but this is owing to the power which wires |
strongly ignited possess of inflaming coal-gas, and they have no-
such effect on genuine fire-damp; and a stream of gas burning.
in the atmosphere acting on a small quantity of matter, is en-

tirely different from an explosive mixture, which is uniform

within the lamp.”

But the more serious charges against the lamp are the ex-
plosions likely to be oceasioned by the fine coal-dust, &c. floating
in the atmosphere of the mine; for against this evil, no caution
could provide a remedy ; whereas, from what has been stated, it.
js.evident, that most extraordinary carelessness must co-operate
with most extraordinary circumstances, to make an explosion
possible from the mere flame of the fire-damp burning in the
lamp. We must therefore inquire how correct the experi-
ments of Mr. Holmes are; and we shall see presently, that’

' when

On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines. 198

when fairly stated and rationally investigated, not one of
them militates in the slightest degree against the perfect safety
of the lamp.—And here it may very probably be urged, and
with perfect truth, that all this was known before, from Sir
Humphry Davy’s own experiments, and consequently that mine
are quite superfluous.—] readily admit it. Sir Humphry, at the
first suggestion that danger was apprehended by the miners from
the coal-dust, immediately submitted the lamp to rigorous trials,
to prove how well or ill their fears were founded. He repeatedly
threw coal-dust, powdered rosin, and witch meal, through
lamps burning in more explosive mixtures than ever occur in
coal-mines ; and though he kept these substances floating in the
explosive atmosphere, and heaped them upon the top of the
lamp when it was red hot, yet he never could communicate ex-
plosions by means of them. Phosphorus and sulphur only pro-
duced that éffect by being applied to the outside of the lamp,
and even they required to be in large quantities and blown upon
by a current of fresh air.—Vide Philos. Magazine, vol. xlviii.
p. 04. The liberal and enlightened will not be disposed to
question the truth of this statement, from one whose candour
and accuracy are equally acknowledged ; and to such all further
evidence is work of supererogation,—to them I do not write: —
but we have seen, unhappily, that all are not of that class; and
though I do not hope to reclaim the perverse and malicious, I
notwithstanding am anxious, as far as my feeble efforts can assist,
to prevent others really desirous of the truth, from being misled
into the path of error and unfounded scepticism. Feelings of
attachment towards a man whom I glory in calling my friend,
cannot but create in me a warm interest for all that tends to
exalt the lustre of his well-acquired fame;—but beyond the feel-
ings of friendship, or the fame of my friend, | am anxious for
the prevalence of truth, and that one of the greatest benefits
science ever conferred on humanity should shed the full influence
of its blessing, spite of the malicious insinuations of ignorance
and envy.—I return to the experiments.

Exp. 1. I suspended the lamp in my lanthorn and threw in
the coal-gas from a bladder as before ; and when the gauze cy-
linder was filled with flame, a mixture of about three parts of
finely levigated coal-dust and one part of gunpowder-dust was
thrown into the lanthorn, which occasioned an abundance of
sparks within the gauze cylinder, but no explosion of the ex-
terior gas.

Exp. 2. 1 fixed a small tray of very thin copper-plate, con-
taining the mixture of coal-dust and gunpowder, about three
inches above the wick of the lamp within the gauze cylinder,
suspended the lamp in the lanthorn, and threw in the gas as

Vol. 48, No, 221, Sept, 1816, N before.

194 On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines.

before. The mixture took fire in the tray as soon as enveloped
by the inflamed gas, and burnt with a very large flame mixed
with innumerable scintillations ; but no explosion (though the
experiment was continued till all the gas of a very large bladder
was expended) could be produced.

Exp.3. The lamp and lanthorn being arranged as before, the
gas was thrown in at one of the lowest side apertures, and the
coal-dust and gunpowder at an upper one, and a current of air
forced on the inflamed gas from another bladder through the
opposite middle opening. The whole burned with a very full and
‘strong flame, and the sciutillations were so violent as almost to
resemble the tail of a sky-rocket, and the wire-gauze soon be-
came red hot, but- no explosion ensued. Had I continued the
.experiment till the wire-gauze became nearly white hot, an ex-
plosion of course would have followed ; but it would take place
as certainly without the coal-dust. It is therefore fairly esta-
blished that coal-dust cannot communicate flame to the external
air, when the lamp is immersed in the most explosive mixtures.

‘I repeated the last experiment with the double lamps, and also
without the coal-dust, and used every endeavour to produce an
explosion, but without effect. I raised the wire-gauzes toa dull
red heat, but could not get them hot enough to suffer fame to
pass through. In every case possible, therefore, the double lamp
is perfectly secure; aud, unless in the hands of an idiot or a mad-
man, the single is hardly less so;—nothing but a current of air,
directing the flame with considerable force to one point, can
heat the gauze sufficiently for flame to traverse it ;—and should
such a current be met with in the mine, it must inevitably ex-
tinguish the Jamp, and thus be itself the safeguard from its own
danger.

' Mr. Holmes, however, caused explosions by holding the lamp
over a small gas tube, and projeeting coal-dust and gunpowder
and even coal-dust alone, on it; and I understand the same ef-
fect has been produced in the laboratory of the Royal Institution.
In those experiments, I am told the lamp was held nearly hori-
zontally over the pipe of the large gasometer (and consequently
the full heat of the flame from the wick of the lamp con-
stantly directed to one point), and coal-dust thrown on the top
of the gauze. Mr. Holmes does not state in what direction he
held his lamp. In this arrangement it is obvious that a current
of fresh air round the lamp is established, the coal-dust is
heated red by contact with the wire-gauze, and its ignition in-
creased by the current of air; and thus it reaches the tempera-
ture at which it can explode the circumambient gas; but this
will not happen, without that partial current, which can never
prevail in the mine; nor I believe will it happen at all, if the lamps

be

On Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp for Mines. 195

be held vertically; at least I made repeated attempts to produce
an explosion with the lamp in that position, the gas being
thrown into it in the free atmosphere in vain, although I kept
the whole cylinder a considerable time completely filled with
flame, and the powdered mixture constantly projected into it 5
but when inclined, I succeeded. A mixture of gunpowder with
the coal was however necessary; without it I could obtain no ex-
plosion, nor with it could I always sueceed ; never, indeed, till
after the gas had been thrown in tong enough to heat the wire
very hot; but,—and it proves the accuracy of the reasoning on
the experiment,—when once an explosion was effected, it might
be repeated at pleasure, provided the gauze cylinder was not
suffered to cool. With the double lamps I could not by any
means produce an explosion, whatever position it was held in,

I placed coal-dust and gunpowder on the top of the wiree
gauze cylinder suspended in the lanthorn, and threw in the coal-
gas. The whole cylinder was filied with flame, and the upper
part became red hot. The mixture burned, and threw off sparks,
but occasioned no explosion. On putting a lighted match into
the lanthorn the gas immediately exploded with violence.

The same experiment was repeated with the addition of a jet
of atmospheric air thrown from a bladder with a small blow-
pipe on the ignited coal and powder dust—but neither in this
case did any explosion ensue.

A few words more, and I have done. Mr. Holmes seems in-
clined to hint that Sir Humphry Davy has borrowed the idea of
his lamp from Stevenson’s, and talks of the * alteration” he has
made on it, “by weaving the holes instead of having them
punched.” If Mr. Holmes were acquainted with the progress
of the investigation by which Sir Humphry was led, step by step,
from successively established facts to the present perfection of
the instrument, he would know that Sir H. borrowed no idea
coucerning it from Mr. Steyenson or any one else. It was early
in last October that Sir Humphry communicated in confidence
to me the discovery of the principle which was the base of his
Subsequent reasonings, viz. the narrow limits in which the pro-
portions of atmospheric air and fire-damp can be combined so
as to afford an explosive mixture ;—and on the following day
he showed Mr. Brande and myself the experiments which con-
firmed its accuracy. Like every thing else that Sir Humphry
has done, this lamp is the result of consequences most sagaciously
deduced from causes most ingeniously and diligently inquired
into ;—and is it to be borne, that the labours of such a man are
to be made the subject for every envious caviller to vent his spleen
on? or that it should be insinuated, that their results are pla-
giarisms and pilferings, from the accidental (however happy) dis-

N 2 overy

196 On certain Experiments with Sir H. Davy’s Safe-lamp.

covery of one who (confessedly even by Mr. Holmes himself) is
ignorant of the principles of his own invention ?

Mr. Holmes’s last paragraph is calculated only to excite feel-
ings. I will not indulge in, and I shall not give it any other no-
tice than to observe, that I believe the assertions it contains are
as inaccurate as they are illiberal,

I have the honour to remain, sir,
Your very obedient servant,
Joun GEoRGE CHILDREN:

P.S.—I should have made this communication earlier, had
not absence from home obliged me to defer the experiments till
too late for its insertion in your Jast number.

XXXIX. On certain Experiments with Sir H. Davy’s Safe-
lamp, reported to have been made at the Gas Establish-
ment in Dorset-street. By Wiutiam Knicur, Esq. the
Manager of that Establishment.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, fl) | HOPE you will permit me, through your excellent publi-
cation, to endeavour to remove any unfavourable impression which
may have been made by a paper on Sir H. Davy’s Safety-lamp, in
the August Number of the Annals of Philosophy, by a Mr. Holmes,
relative to some experiments conducted at the Gas Establishment
in Dorset-street, with which I am connected.
Mr. Holmes speaks of a visit to the works for the purpose of
trying experiments on Sir H. Davy’s safety-lamp, and mentions
persons who were present at the trials. Does Mr. Holmes publish
their names, to attach importance to his liberal investigation ?
If he does, it is fair to ask what credit his experiments derive
from the presence of Mr. Wheatcroft, who is employed here to
pay the workmen; Mr. Morris, who superintends the works by
night; and Mr. May, of whom I never heard before he ob-
tained importance in Mr. Holmes’s letter. How Mr. Holmes
had access to the works, | know not ; nor would I or any other
proprietor knowingly lend ourselves, or the establishment, to ex-
periments not openly conducted. Whenever gentlemen, who
are men of science, have wished to visit the works, an applica-
tion has been usually made to me as engineer, and I have al-
ways been ready to afford free inspection, and give every facility
to experiments ; but in this instance [ never heard of Mr.
Holmes or his visit till 1 saw his own report in the Annals of
Philosophy, and that only yesterday, when the last number was
put into my hands. As the active partner and manager of the
' establish:

Suggestions arising from Inspections of Wire-gauxe Lamps. 197

establishment, and having my name and credit more immedi-
ately connected with the works than any other proprietor, I feel
myself called on to disclaim participation in any experiments con-
ducted there by Mr. Holmes, with results so opposite to those of
other persons, who with liberal motives have felt anxious to prove
the security which Sir H. Davy’s discovery promises, aud with
the benevolent hope of its application to the safety of the mem-
bers of a valuable class of society. After what I have seen and
heard of Sir H. Davy’s lamp, my conviction of its security is
not shaken by Mr. Holmes’s report, which looks more like an
endeavour to serve his friend Dr. Clanny than the public.

Any means which our works in Dorset Street can afford to
scientific and liberal men, of investigating further the applica-
tion of Sir H. Davy’s or any other discovery, will be granted
with pleasure by, Sir,

Your obedient humble servant,

City Gas Works, Dorset-street, Salisbury-sq. Wo. Knienr.
London, 20th August, 1816.

XL. Suggestions arising from Inspections of Wire-gauxe
Lamps, in their working State, in Mines. By Sir H. Davy.

Tus inspection of a number of wire-gauze safe-lamps, that have
been long in common use in coal mines, and the examination
of the effects of different explosive atmospheres of fire-damp
upon them, enable me to offer a few suggestions, which I hope
will be of use to the miner,

The wire-gauze cylinders ought never to be taken out of the
screw-piece in which they are fixed; and in the lamps cone
structed at Newcastle, which have not the same rim of wire-
gauze as those of Newman’s construction, the wire-gauze ought
to be soldered to the screw-piece, or fixed to it by rivets.

The wire-gauze is easily cleaned without being detached, by
a brush of the same kind as that used for cleaning bottles, and
one of these brushes ought to be furnished with every lamp.

The wire-gauze in several lamps in the collieries, which had
been in use six months, and cleaned by careful workmen with-
out being removed, was as good as new ; whereas the gauze in
some, that had been used for a much shorter time, and taken
out of the lamp and cleaned roughly, was injured at the bottom,
and, if not actually unsafe, becoming so.

In one instance, I found a lamp which had been furnished to
a workman without a second top. This is a gross and unpar-
donable instance of carelessness in the maker, who, if any acciy

dent had happened, would have been guilty of homicide.
N3 All

198 Suggestions arising from

All the lamps that I have examined have at different times
been red hot ; and a workman at the Hebburn colliery showed
mea lamp, which, though it had been in use about sixteen hours
a-day, for nearly three months, ‘was still in excellent condition:
he also said it had been red hot sometimes for several hours
together. Wherever workmen, however, are exposed to such
highly explosive mixtures, double gauze lamps should be used,
or a lamp in which the circulation of air is diminished by a tin-
plate reflector placed in the inside, or a cylinder of glass reaching
as high as the double wire, with an aperture in the inside; or
slips of Muscovy glass may be placed within the lamp, and in
this way the quantity of fire-damp consumed, and consequently
of heat produced, may be diminished to any extent. Such lamps
likewise may be more easily cleaned than the simple wire-gauze
lamp; for the smoke may be wiped off in an instant from the
tin-plate or glass*.

If a blower or strong current of fire-dampis to be approached,
double gauze lamps, or lamps iv which the circulation of air is
interrupted by sls of metal or glass, should be used ; or, if the
single lamp be employed, it should be put into a common horn or
glass lanthorn, the door of which may be removed or open.

The wire gauze is impermeable to the flame of all currents of
fire-damp, as long as it is not heated above redness ; but if the
iron wire be made to burn, as at a strong welding heat, of course
it can be no longer safe; and though such a circumstance can
perhaps never happen in a colliery, yet it ought to be known and
guarded against. And if a workman, having a single lamp, should
accidentally meet a blower acting on a current of fresh air, he
ought, on finding his lamp becoming hot, to take it out of the
point of mixture, or screen it from the current.

I have had an excellent opportunity of making experiments on
a most violent blower, at a mine belonging to J.G. Lambton, esq.
some of them in the presence of Mr. Lambton: in most of them
Mr. Buddle assisted. This blower is walled off from the mine
and carried to the surface, where it is discharged with great
force. It is made to pass through a leathern pipe, so as to give
a stream, of which the force was felt at about two feet from the
aperture in a strong current of air. The common single working
lamps and double gauze lamps were brought upon this current,
both in the free atmosphere and in a confined air. The gas fired
in the lamps in various trials, but did not heat them above dull
redness, and when they were brought far into the stream they
were finally extinguished.

* Models of the different modifications of the wire-vauze safety-lamps
£ y Pp

may be seen at the shop of Mr. Coxe, brass-founder, in Gateshead, by
whom they were made. .
A brass

Inspections of Wire-gauxe Lamps. 199

A brass pipe was now fixed upon the blower tube, so as to make
the whole stream pass through an aperture of less than half an
inch in diameter, which of course formed a most powerful blow-
pipe, from which the fire damp, when inflamed, issued with great
violence and a roaring noise, making an intense flame of the
length of five feet. The blowpipe was exposed at right angles
to a strong wind, and the double gauze lamps and single lamps
successively placed in it. The double gauze lamps soon became
red hot at the point of action of the two currents; but the wire
did not burn, nor did it communicate explosion. The single
gauze lamp did not communicate explosion, as long as it was red
hot and slowly moved through the currents; but when it was
fixed at the point of most intense combustion, it reached a weld-
ing heat, the iron wire began to burn with sparks, and the explo-
sion then passed.

In a second and third set of experiments on this violent blow-
pipe of fire-damp, single lamps, with slips of tin-plate on the out-
side or in the inside, to prevent the free passage of the current,
and double lamps, were exposed to all the circumstances of the
blast, both in the open air and in an engine-house where the
atmosphere was explosive to a great extent round the pipe, and
through which there was a strong current of atmospheric air 5
but the heat of the wire never approached near the point at which
iron wire burns, and the explosion could never be communicated,
The flame of the fire-damp flickered and roared in the lamps, but
did not escape from its prison.

There is no reason ever to expect a blow-pipe of this kind in a
mine; but, if it should occur, the mode of facing it and examin-
ing it, with most perfect security, is shown; and the lamp offers
a resource, which can never exist in a steel-mill, the sparks of
which would undoubtedly inflame a current of this kind.

Arguments have been stated as to the weakness of the lamps.
In a board or gallery in the Wallsend colliery, Mr. Buddle and
myself, with some of the viewers, endeavoured to injure a single:
gauze lamp by throwing large pieces of coals upon it, and striking
it with a pick; but we never perforated the gauze; and the lamp,
after these severe trials, burnt with perfect security in a.small ex=
plosive atmosphere made by Mr. Buddle at the bottom of the
shaft for the purpose of trying the lamps.

T made with Mr. Buddle and his viewers some experiments on
the comparative light of the lamps, the common miner’s candle,
and the steel mills, in a gallery in the Wallsend colliery. We
judged of the intensity of the light by the square of the distance
at which a small object was visible ; and made repeated trials on
each species of light.

N4 The

200 On the Wire-gauxe Lamps.

The light of the miner’s candle was - - 49 5,
That of a lamp furnished witha tin plate reflector for di-
minishing the circulation of the air, and facing a

blower, was ~ - - - 49.
That of a single common lamp - - 39.
That of a double copper wire lamp - - - 2.
That of the steel mill, very unequal and uncertain ; but

at its greatest intensity of light - - - 25.

It may be proper to observe, without reference to the supe-
riority of light, that coals may be worked nearly twice as cheap
by the wire gauze safe lamp, as by the steel mill.

The pleasure of seeing the wire gauze safe lamps in general
use amongst the miners, and adding to the security and happi-
ness of this useful class of men, amply repays me for the labour
of twelve months devoted to their cause, and for the anxiety
which I have often experienced during the progress of the in-
vestigation.

Newcastle, Sept. 9, 1816. H. Davy,

P.S.—I have shown in a paper printed in the Transactions of
the Royal Society, that the power of heated wire-gauze, to permit
the passage of the flame of coal-gas, is directly as the size of the
apertures, and, toa certain extent, as the velocity of the current:
I] say to acertain extent, because, by a current of a certain velo-
cily, flame is extinguished. A very slight motion will pass the
flame of coal-gas through wire-gauze having less than 400
apertures to the square inch, even when it is heated to dull red-
ness ; but a very strong current and an ignition above redness,
visible in day-light, is Tequired to pass the same flame through
wire-gauze having above 700 apertures to the square inch: and
I have neyer been able to pass the flame of coal-gas or any car-
bonaceous flame through wire-gauze having more than 1600
apertures to the square inch, by any means.

The experiments above detailed on the blower, are the first I
have made upon currents of fire-damp. They prove what I had
inferred from its other properties, and they offer simple means
of rendering wire-gauze lamps perfectly safe against a// cireum-
stances, however extraordinary and unexpected, and of placing
their security above the possibility of dowlt or cavil.

XLI. On

f 201 ]

“XLI. On the Cosmogony of Moses; in reply to Dr. PricHarD.
; _ By F.E 5.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — > ees Prichard confesses that he ascribed to me a
declaration J had not uttered, and which he never supposed I
meant to make. Neither this confession, nor his ingenious at-
tempt, by what he calls ‘* synonymous expressions,” to extract
from my words something equivalent to the imputed declaration,
needs any commentary. Nor do I deem it necessary to offer
more than one or two short observations on the other parts of
his Jast communication.

Although obliged to abandon the exclusion of the whole order
of testacea from the fifth day’s creation, Doctor Prichard still
considers his coincidences safe, so long as it is not demonstrated
that the portion of the order which he persists in excluding, en-

~ joyed the power of creeping, or progressive motion, It would seem,

however, that it was incumbent on him to have proved the want
of this species of motion in the excluded testacea, before he
assigned it as the reason of their exclusion. But even the ac-
complishment of this not easy task* would avail him little :
‘much jess equivocal distinctions than that founded on particular
modes of motion, preclude testacea from a place in the third
day’s creation, in which nothing in the waters, nor any thing
‘animate on the land, is said to have been called into existence.
It will scarcely be contended that between land and waier,
between animate and inanimate, the distinctions are not infi-
nitely wider aud more important, than between dissimilar
modes of animal motion. Nor can it be maintained that the
testacea which the coincidences of Doctor Prichard require to be
excluded from the fifth and included in the third day’s creation,
do not bear an incomparably closer analogy to those testacea,
which he is obliged to acknowledge cannot be excluded from the
Jifth day, than they do to the grass, seed-bearing herbs, and fruit-
earing trees of the third day’s creation.

Here I am willing the discussion should close, being content
to submit to the decision of those who may have attended to its
origin and progress, whether I have exhibited the captious cavil-
ling spirit, andother estimable qualities, with which the liberality
of my opponent has endued me. | am, sir,

Your very obedient servant,
Bath, 11th Sept. 1816. * F, E——-s,

* Had the scallop (for instance) happened to be what is, perhaps not
very properly, termed an oceanic shell, it may be presumed that from its
inspection Dr. Prichard never could infer the powers of progressive mo-
tion which that bivalve is known to enjoy.

g XLII. On

XLIL. Ow Maynesio- Sulphate of Soda. By Mr. J, Heauss.

To Mr. Tillach. .
Srr,— A COMMUNICATION, I observe, has been presented to
the Royal Society of Edinburgh, by Dr. Murray, on the analysis
of sea water, the first part of which was read April the loth,
and the conclusion on the 20th of May last. It is there shown
by this excellent chemist, that the brine or mother-liquor of
sea-water abounds with a salt, which, he says, “seems hitherto
to have escaped observation. It is a compound of the sulphates
of magnesia and of soda, which together crystallize in very re-
gular rhombs, occasionally truncated on some of the edges and
angles; and this compound salt contains a much smaller quan=
tity of water of crystallization than either of the sulphates of
which it is formed; is less disagreeable to the taste; differs”
from both in all its other properties; and has not hitherto been —
applied to any useful purpose, but may probably form a very ex-—
cellent purgative salt *.”’

This aperient salt has certainly been Iong in use, although
we find no exact account of its qualities or any description of its
composition published. It was sold, I am informed, many years
ago under the name of Lymington Glauber’s salt; it was then
considered as an adulteration, and therefore brought an inferior
price in the market. At that time, the true Glauber’s salt was
very costly, and chiefly obtained in the process for muriatic
acid; but the improved methods of preparing the crude muriate
of ammonia have greatly reduced the value, so much so that the
Lymington salt is no longer sold as a substitute for Glauber’s, or
the sulphate of soda. ,

Whether the extensive works at Lymington furnished this salt
simply by evaporating the brines, or by mixing the two sulphates —
in some certain proportions, I cannot determine ; I have, however,
seen an old prescription for preparing it, which consists in mixing
two parts of sulphate of soda with one of the sulphate of magne-
sia, and in the usual way proceeding to crystallize the product. —

That this compound salt, which for the present may be called the
mognesio-sulphate of soda, is the chief ingredient in many of the
natural saline aperient springs, and gives the purgative quality to
sea-water, lL have scarcely any doubt; and when its composition —
shall have been more attentively examined, we shall probably
find that in every case it will consist of definite proportions of
its three components,—sulphuric acid and the two bases, vid.
soda and magnesia.

The analysis of a mineral water, as Dr. Saunders justly ob-
serves, had better be incomplete than inaccurate; and Dr.
Fothergill’s experimental inquiry concerning the Cheltenham

* New Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 294

On Magnesio-Sulphate of Soda. 203

water, although incomplete, is so far valuable that it describes

the dowl:le sulphate as one salt, while all other analytical writers
have stated the quantities of sulphate of soda and that of mag-
hesia separately.

' Perhaps the more accurate statement would be to estimate
first, how much of the triple salt exists, and then put down the
quantity of that sulphate, whether of soda or magnesia, which
is In excess.

In the analysis of the Kilburn water, both by Mr. Bliss and
Mr. Schmeisser, the two sulphates are estimated as existing se-
parately; which cannot be correct, since in their mixed state
they possess new and peculiar properties. These gentlemen do
not exactly agree in the estimate of the two salts; this difference
may however have been occasioned by one of them not making
his analysis at the same season.of the year.

As the subject is now in such very able hands, we shall probably
soon be favoured with Dr. Murray’s analysis of this very useful
and commodious purgative salt ; I shall therefore forbear en-

tering upon particulars at this time. Still, however, I must notice

that it is an article of which I have long had some knowledge, and
have witnessed its peculiar properties, having had, during the five

t years of my residence with Mr. Hume of Long Acre, very fre-
quent opportunities of observing many of its habits as a chemical
composition, and also of its efficacy asa medicine. That a mixture
of the sulphate of soda with that of magnesia requires less water
of crystallization, and that the compound salt proves more pur-
gative than either of the two constituents in the same propor-
tion, were, among other remarks, first noticed to me by Mr.
Hume. I know he has long ago sold and recommended this
salt to many of the first professional men in London, and urged
its being admitted into the pharmacopeeia as astandard remedy.
_ This salt, in the proportion of about one ounce or more to a
gallon of water, forms the best substitute for Cheltenham water.
There ean be no chalybeate property obtained from the true
Cheltenham water so as to be soluble and useful in the salt re-
maining after evaporation, notwithstanding the plausible and re-
peated adyertisements which endeavour to insinuate to the con-
trary; for, the iron or, as it is popularly termed, steel with which
nature has impregnated many mineral waters is nearly always
held in sclution hy carbonic acid; this compound is therefore in-
tantly destroyed by evaporation. But when the addition of a
ereente is required, there are many obvious ways of effecting
that purpose, of which no medical ian can be ignorant, and
such variation, when made with judgement, must often produce
the happiest effects. I am, sir,

. Yours respectfully,

Burton Crescent, Sept. 14, 1816, J. HEALEs,

[ 204 Jj
XLUI. On Vulgar Fractions.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sim, — 1 your Magazine for May, are some remarks by Mr,

Farey senior, upon what he considers a singular property of vul-
gar fractions, but which upon minute examination will be found
nothing more than what is deducible from the rules of arithme-
tical proportion.

No fractions can be added, without first being reduced to a —

common denominator, and then the numerator is only increased
in quantity, the denaminator remaining as before: but upon
My. F’s proviso, both numerator and denominator are indivi-
dually added to the corresponding ones, and that without being
reduced to a common value; consequently we must refer to the

integers which compose the fractions, and not to the fractions —

collectively, for the properties Mr. F. has pointed out.

Now, if any four numbers be in arithmetical proportion, the
sum of the means will always be equal the sum of the extremes,
e.g. If we take the numbers 5, 4, 3, 2, then will 54+ 2=4+3;
or in the numbers 5, 4, 4, 3 (which are still in proportion, though

the two means are equal, for the difference between the Ist and 3rd

is equal to the difference between the 2d and 4th), .°.54+3 =
4+4=4x2. Now, if we take the fractions =) A
which are a part of Mr. F’s series, it is evident 5 +3 =4 x:

F 141
and the numerators being equal, 14+ 1=1 x 23 or em

1x2 2 sn I aie
7.6 a which is of the same value as —, both terms being

multiplied by the like common number: or if we take the num-= —

Pu)
bers em ee
down: for, if the fractions are reduced to a common denominator,

4

the series will be sahaiod. Ip

be in progression, and the denominators equal: or, if we take

15 28 18 2 _ 39 28 26
52? 972 457“: = Joa? 97? 90?
30426 _ 28x 2 56 ond
1044-90 97x 2 ~ 194
so on, for any other series laid down according to the rule
given.

part of the series &c. both terms

are in regular progression : therefore

I am, sir, yours respectfully,
Wakefield, August 31, 1816, 8. Aj

XLIV. Ob-

=; the result still agrees with the principles laid

6 ae
» where the numerators only will

[ 205 j

XLIV. Observations on the Hypothesis of some modern Writers,
that America has been peopled by a distinct Race of Men and
Animals; with some Proofs arising from the Natural History
and Appearances of the new Continent in favour of the
Mosaic Account of the Deluge. By HueH Wi.tiamson,
M.D. of New-York™.

W: observe a regular systematical change in the colour, shape,
and features of men, to the nortn and the south. From the
climate of a fair skin, fine shape and pleasing feature, going to
the northward, the skiii becomes of a blackish brown, the figure
clumsy, and the features coarse. Going to the southward, in the
same manner, we alter the complexion, shape and features, until
the skin becomes perfectly black, the shape in some countries
less graceful, and the features coarse: the colour being altered,
according to the soil, situation and climate, by the most regular
and insensible deviations and shades.

Those faets being considered; it being also observed, that

every change is most proper and best adapted to the climate, or
that itis the natural effeet of such climate; there can be no
moral or physical proposition more certain, than that all those
people are descended from the same family.
_ The philosophers, who discovered several races of men on the
old continent, have not failed to plant a new and distinct race
of men in America. In support of this opinion, they allege that
the American Indians do not differ from one another in colour,
like the inhabitants of the other continentt: their colour also
is different from that of any other people: that the American
has no beard; that he is more frigid, more weak and more
cowardly than the inhabitants of the old continent.

This humble and subordinate character of the American sa-
vage has not always been urged as a direct proof that he be-
longs to a separate race of men, for it has occasionally been ad-
vanced in the pride of country; a species of pride that will not
suffer children to equal their ancestors; that makes it impossi-
ble for them to obtain such equality, because there is something
in America, as they allege, “that is less favourable to the
strength and perfection of animal creation.”

The complexion of the American savage, or the sameness of
colour that is observed among those people, forms the most re-
markable trait in their character. When we observe, in the old

* From “Observations on the Climate in different Parts of America,
compared with the Climate in corresponding Parts of the other Continent.”
New-York, printed 1815.

+ Raynal’s Phil. and Polit. Hist,

continent,

206 On the peopling of America.

continent, all the varieties of shades, from perfect white to per-
fect black, we are naturally surprised that in the new world,
which extends to a higher degree of north and south latitude,
including every habitable region, there should not be a black
man, nor one, as it has been alleged, who is perfectly white.
The natives are generally of a reddish brown. Their colour ~
seems to be a mixture of white and black, reddened by paint, or
by the blood appearing through the skin, which is not thick.
This again receives a brownish cast by more or less exposure to
the weather. vy

On the whole continent of America, there is not a black In-
dian, nor is there a spot for which a black skin is required. No
winds prevail in America that rise on a hot surface or a sandy:
desert; nor is there any large tract, within the tropics, that is —
remarkably hot. The greater part of this continent is divided —
by a long chain of mountains, that extends from north to south.
These mountains, the highest in the world, have an astonishing _
effect upon the climate, on both sides of the continent. They lie
across the trade winds, and cut them off; for they rise above the
winds. They are generally distant about seventy or eighty miles _
from the Pacific Ocean, within the tropics ; but the whole space —
between those mountains and the Pacifie Ocean is so far from
heing parched by a hot vertical sun, that the inhabitants enjoy
the most pleasing temperature. There is a sandy desert, nearly —
one hundred miles in extent, between Sachara and Lima, about
the seventh degree of south latitude. Such an expanse of dry
sand, under a vertical sun, in any part of the other continent,
would produce great heat, and give a sable colouring to the peo-
ple in its vicinity. But in the provinee of Lima it can produce
no such effect, because the wind in those regions ought to blow
from the east; but there are mountains in that direction, at no
great distance, covered with perpetual snow.

The trade winds to the eastward of the Andes are checked by
those mountains; there they deposit all the water with which
they had been charged. The quantity of rain in that region
being great, the process of evaporation must also be great,
whereby the heat of the atmosphere is moderated. A reddish
brown, with a tawny cast, is the darkest colour that can be ex-—
pected in such a climate. America, on both sides of the Andes,
above the tropics, should produce, as in some parts of the old
continent, in similar latitudes, a brown or dusky race of men, until
we reach a high degree of latitude; and it is very questionable,
whether a race of men, perfeetly fair, will ever be found to pre-
serve that complexion for many ages, in any part of America,
to the eastward of the Cordiljeras ; except in high latitudes, and —

‘ near

On the peopling of America. 207

near the coast. There are not any people, on the old continent,
perfectly fair, except those who live in high latitudes, where the
westerly winds come from the sea, at no great distance, so tem-
pered as not to be very sharp nor very dry. This rule applies
to Great Britain and Ireland, to the Germans, Danes, Swedes,
and Circassians *; but going to the eastward in the same lati-
tude, as we depart from the ocean or the Black Sea, having more
dry land to the windward, by which the air is charged with sun-
dry exhalations, the skin changes its colour; it ceases to be
perfectly fair. ‘There is not, in the eastern part of Asia, be-
tween the extremes of heat and cold, a nation perfectly fair.
The best complexions are found near the head of the Ganges,
among the mountains of Thibet. We may discover a concur-
rence of circumstances, in the British isles, and near the German
Ocean, not found in many other places, which are necessary to
afair skin. They are little exposed to the warm sun; they
have little intense cold, and their winds usually come from a
watery surface. Their westerl y winds are from the ocean, and
their atmosphere is loaded with moisture. They have not much
rain, but their showers are of long continuance; they have much
dark cloudy weather, and the rays of the sun are feeble when he
Visits the inhabitants. They never experience that warm clear
sun, which freckles or tans the skin; nor those long intense
colds, which injure the cutaneous nerves, and produce a reddish
brown. While America remained a great forest, inhabited by
savages, under the constant dominion of westerly winds, there
‘vas not any climate on the eastern coast in which we could
expect a fair skin.~ By the progress of cultivation, the general
course of the winds is materially affected in the middle and
Northern states ; and in the process of time we may expect such
a prevalence of easterly winds, near the coast, in those states, as
shall prevent that tendency of complexion to the clear brunet,
which prevails in temperate climates, in other parts of the
world.

* Although no part of America is fitted to the production of a
black skin, vor would many parts of this continent be expected
to produce a skin perfectly fair, among the original inhabitants ;
we are not to believe, as some writers have alleged, that the
American Indians are all of one colour. Their skin is tinzed
with a variety of shades between white and black; but there are
Indians, as we are told, above the latitude of 45 degrees north,
who are nearly white ; and there are Indians in Guiana and
Brazil, at a distance irom the coast, whose skins. are very dark.

* London in latitude 51°, Prague 50°, Copenhagen 55°, Circassia 45°,
having the Black Sea and the Sea of Asoph to the soutli-vest and north.
west,

1 was

208 On the peopling of America.

I was informed by the Little Turtle, who is a chief of the Miami,
tribe of the lakes, and has an extensive acquaintance with the
Indians, that the northern Indians are much fairer than those
who live in warm climates ; except that Indians, who live near
the lakes, and are much exposed to the sun, in fishing and
swimming, have darker skins than other northern Indians. He
understands that Indians who live northward from the sources
of the Mississippi, are fairer than those of his own nation who
live in the opposite direction.

The Indians at Matagrassa, as we are told by Condamine, are
of different shades, aceording to the elevation of the country,
some of them being almost fair*. The testimony of Molina is
also very explicit on this subject. ‘ The natives of Chili form
but one nation, that is divided into various tribes, who have a.
similar physiognomy, and speak the same tongue, which may be
called. the Chilese language. It is soft, harmonious, regular,
and abounding in words that in all cases are fit to express not
only physical but moral and abstract ideas. Those people are
of a brown coppery colour ; but the Boroani, who are situated
in the centre of the province of Arauco, in the thirty-ninth de-
gree of south latitude, are white and red, with blue eyes and
fair hair, like the Europeans, who are born in the middle of the
northern temperate zone. Their features are regular, and some
of them are beautiful +.”

When South-America shall be well cultivated, the timber cut
down, the quantity of rain diminished, stagnant pools dried, and
the rivers contained within their proper banks, the easterly
winds being checked by the warmer surface of cultivated lands,
a dusky race of men, nearly black, are to be expected in Brazil,
about the latitude of Cape St. Roque; for that is the only part
of America in which the progress of industry may darken the
skin, notwithstanding the effects of civilization.

As no proof can be given, that the American Indians are a
new race of men, I shall consider the other trite allegation, that.
< animal nature degenerates in America.” This opinion, ad-
vanced by the eloquent Buffon, and supported by many argu-
ments, has also been repeated by Dr. Robertson, the Abbé Ray-
nal, aud by other writers. The most remarkable appearance is
that “ all animals in America, including those who have been
naturalized to the climate, are commonly inferior in size to those,
of the old continent. Nature appears, in that new world, to
have finished her works upon a smaller scale,

* Voyage de Condamine.

+ Compendio de la Historia geografica natural y civil del Regno de Chile.

Por el Abate Don Juan Ignatio Moiina.—I have not seen the Italian ori-
ginal, but I presume that the Spanish translation is correct,

‘“* There

|
-
}
>

On the peopling of America. 209

*¢ There seems therefore to be, in the combination of elements,
and other physical causes, in this new world, something that is
opposed to the amplification of animated nature. There are
some obstacles to the developmént and perhaps to the formation
of great germs.

** Although the savage of America is nearly of the same sta-
ture with men in the other continent, this is not a sufficient ex-
ception to the general contraction of animated nature through
that whole continent. The American savage......hasno hair,
no beard, no ardour for his female. Though nimbler than the
European, because he is more accustomed to running, his
strength is not so great. His sensations are less acute, but he
is at the same time more timid and cowardly. He is without
vivacity or enterprise *.” —

** America gives birth to no creature of such bulk as to be
compared with the elephant or rhinoceros, nor that equals the
lion or tiger in strength and ferocity. The same qualities, in
the climate of America, which stinted the growth and enfeebled
the spirit of its native animals, have proved pernicious to such
as have migrated into it voluntarily, from the old continent, or
have been transported hither by the Europeans.

‘© Most of the domestic animals with which the Europeans
stored the provinces when they settled there, have degenerated
with respect to bulk and quality, in a country whose tempera-
ture and soil seem to be less favourable to the strength and per-
fection of animal creation +.”

The whole of this description is poetical and imaginary; for
it has no foundation in nature. It is not from any vice in the
climate, nor-the want of proper food, but from the happy state
of our country, from the general ease with which men have sup-
ported themselves in America, that domestic animals have been
supposed to degenerate. Nothing less than necessity has ever
produced diligence in any kingdom or state. The man who has
little to do, acquires ha'yits of idleness, and he does less. In
Europe, where the means of living are difficult, pasturage scarce
and forage dear, the farmer is restrained in the number of his
cattle; for this reason the cattle he keeps are attended with
great care. They are duly housed and fed; the largest and
best are preserved for breed, and every thing is done by which
the size may be increased, and the value enhanced of the few
he has for sale. The forest, in America, supplied the stock with
pasture during the summer, and during the winter, in some of
the colonies, when they were first settled. In the northern co-
lonies, the cattle were fed in winter, but they were seldom

\
* Buffon. + Dr. Rebertson’s History of America.

Vol, 48. No, 221. Sept, 1816. oO housed.

210 On the peopling of America.

housed. Hence it follows, that they were shrivelled and di-
minished, by cold storms, hail and snow, as the human species
have been diminished in Lapland and Siberia. In addition te
those diminishing causes, the first colonists, in most cases, were
inattentive to the size of the male or female from which their
cattle were to spring. We have a remarkable instance, in the
Chickesaw nation, of the bad effects of breeding from diminutive
parents. Those Indians were originally furnished by De Soto
with a breed of Spanish horses*. In that country the horses
provided for themselves, the soil being good and the climate
warm. ‘The Indians, towards the middle of the last century,
discovered that their horses were a valuable article of commerce 5
they could be exchanged for guns, blankets, and other neces-
saries; but the traders, in all cases, bought the largest horses,
and the smallest were left to continue the breed. The effect is
obvious, for the Chickesaw horses are confessedly smaller than
they were fifty years ago. Other causes, sufficiently numerous,
may be given of quadrupeds degenerating in America, under the
shrivelling hand of indolence and neglect ; but it would not fol-
low, from a thousand such examples, that America cannot pro-
duce a race of animals large and vigorous as similar animals in
the old continent. [ do not say that America has produced
greater or stronger animals than ever were seen on the opposite
part of the globe, but we know that bones have been found,
both in North and South America, of sundry animals, granivorous
and carnivorous, that were greatly superior in size to the ele-
phant, the lion, or any other beast now living in the old eonti-
nent. Although the beast, whose bones and claws were lately
found in Green-Brier, in Virginia}, must have been a carnivorous
animal, and greatly superior to the lion in strength, we camot
affirm that he was equally fierce; for it is admitted, that lions
who are found near mount Atlas are neither so fierce nor strong
as those which are nourished on the burning deserts of Nigritia.
From this we infer, that extreme heat conduces to the ferocity
of beasts of prey, and that animals of the carnivorous kind are
less ferocious in America than in the hotter regions of the other
continent. With respect to our domestic animals, whose parents
have been imported from Europe, we should not boast in our
turn, by saying that the present race is larger or stronger than
those who were imported; but we may affirm, without danger
of being refuted, that there are numerous instances of cattle,
lately raised in the United States, full as large as any of the same
kind in Europe. If it should be alleged that animals frequently
© De Soto passed a winter among the Chickesaws, near the river Missis-

sippi, and left some of his horses there.
+ See Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. iv. p. 246.
Fel es improve

/

On the peopling of America. 211

improve under the influence of our happy soil and climate, we
might quote an author of great reputation, who lived in Europe,
in favour of that position*. Speaking of Chili in South Ame-
rica, he says, “ The animals of our hemisphere not only multi-
ply, but improve in this delightful region. The horned cattle
are of a larger size than those of Spain. Its breed of horses
surpass, both in beauty and spirit, the famous Andalusian race
from which they sprang.”

Does the human race degenerate in America? We are much
interested in this question, whatever the fate of quadrupeds may
be. The want of beard, in the American savage, has commonly
been mentioned as a cue that he is of an inferior race of ani-

mals; or that he is greatly degenerated. ‘‘ The beardless coun-
tenance and smooth skin of the American seem to indicate a de-
fect of vigour, occasioned by some vice in his frame. He is
destitute of one sign of manhood and strengtht.” From the
Indian’s supposed want of beard, philosophers seem to have in-
ferred his want of strength, courage, and affection for the other
sex. The Indians, like the Tartars and other Asiatics from whom
they are chiefly descended, have thin beards; but writers who
urge their want of beard, in proof that they are a new race of
men, do not consider that there are numerous tribes or nations in
the eastern parts of the old continent, who, like the Indians,
appear to be without any beard. They constantly pluck it out.
The islanders in the South Sea have beards, as we are told by
Captain Cook ; but many of them pluck it out, or the greater
part of it, as well as the hair from under their arms. Whoever
takes the tronble to make himself acquainted with the subject,
must think it strange that an epinion destitute of truth, without
other foundation than distant and hasty observation, should have
obtained so general a credit in Europe.. At a meeting of In-
dians from different tribes, in the year 1796, I examined near
fifty of them, and there was not, in that number, a single Indian
without a beard. There were Indians of the Chocktaw, the
Chickesaw, the Cherokee, the Creek, the Chipaiwva, and the
Shawanese nations. Their beards in general were shaved, but
some of the chiefs had suffered whiskers to remain on the upper
lip, er they suffered a small portion on the chin to grow to a
considerable lengtht. One of the Shawanese chiefs had strong
whiskers upon his upper lip, and so had a Chickesaw and a

* Robertson's History of America. + Ibid.

t Lawson, speaking of the Indians ona branch of, Clarendon river, in
North Carolina, in the year 1706, says, “ Most of those Indians wear minus-
tachios, or whiskers, which is rare, by reason the Indians are a people that
commonly pluck the hair of their faces, and other parts, up by the root,
and suffer none to grow.”—Lawson’s History of Carolina,

O02 Cherokee

212 On the peopting of America.

Cherokee chief. As the Indians seem to know that they have
been regarded as an inferior, beardless race of men, it is not im-
probable that the custom of wearing whiskers, such as we have
observed, by some of their chiefs, may have originated in pride ;
or it may be considered as a mark of seniority and rank. A dark
skin does not show the beard when shaved, but whiskers are very
conspicuous. The habit of shaving is modern among the in-
dians, and such is probably the use of whiskers, for the ancient
custom was to pluck out the beard. It was pulled out by the |
finger nails, as some of them allege, and others of them describe
other modes by which it was extirpated. The tedious hours of
au idle savage, sitting on the ground more than half his time ;
without work, without books, without converse, and almost
without thought, must have been relieved by the frequent and
trifling exercise of plucking the beard. And it is not improbable
that the desire of some employment, which required little mo-
tion, and little exertion of the mind, gave rise to that other ab-
surd, but very common practice among savages, tatooing, or
marking the skin by various paints and figures. It appears
strange, at first sight, that a custom so unnatural as pricking
the skin, and marking it with different paints, should prevail
among the savage nations in Africa and Asia, in the South Seas
and in America. The Arabs mark their lips, as well as the arms
and body, with blue paint*. Customs like these, which originated
in whim, or rather in the desire of relieving tedious hours by
some employment, produce a considerable change in the exter-
nal form: and that adventitious form is soon regarded as a eri-
terion’of beauty; it becomes general in the nation. The Indians,
like the. Tartars, frequently cut the hair from the greater part
of their head. This custem was prior to the use of scissars
among them. Some old Indians whom I consulted on this sub-
ject, allege that their ancestors, not having sharp instruments,
had recourse to fire, such is their tradition, for removing the
hair. They singed it off with a live coal of hickory, or some
other hard wood. ‘Those observations on the subject of beards,

perfectly agree with the testimony of other people. I have been
assured by traders and gentlemen who have conversed much with
the Indians, and lived among them on terms ef the utmost
familiarity, that Indians, in all cases, have hair, exactly as
white people have it; without any difference, except that it is
thinner. As their taste begins to change, from their acquaintance
with white people, they are less solicitous at present to extir-
pate those hairs which are not supposed, as formerly, to mar the
beauty.

* Pietro della Valle. The savage mountaineers in the kingdom of Ava,
in India, disfigure themselves by tatooing.
: We

-

On the peopling of America. 215

We know that women among the American Indians, are
forced to perform all the hard labour that is necessary to the
support of a family. The husband smokes his pipe, or sleeps in
his cabin, while his wife hoes the corn, with a child at her back.
By this mark of apathy, or unkindness to his female, the Ame-
vican savage is supposed to be distinguished from other men.
“‘ Marriage itself, instead of being an union of affection and in-
terest between equals, becomes among them the unnatural con-
junction of a master with his slave*.’ The author of this re-
mark was not unacquainted with the manners of rude nations in
the old continent ; and if he had sought for a satisfactory proof,
that men are all of the same family, and that the disposition is
not changed by an extraordinary change of climate, he would
have found such a proof in the conduct of the American savage
to his female.

There is no living creature on the old continent, bird or beast,
that is so much distinguished as man, in his uncultivated state,
by the want of kindness to his female companion. The male
bird is most assiduous in helping his mate to feed their young.
Some males among the beasts, when their assistance is not
wanted, neglect their female; but none of them adds to her
trouble, or treats her with cruelty. Man alone is distinguished
by the want of kindness, and by cruelty to his female. Perhaps
Russia may be the only country in which the tyranny of a hus-
band is reduced to a system, and avowed’ im the marriage cere-
mony; but Russia is not the only part of the old continent in
which the wife is a slave to her husband. The Arabian does
not suffer his wife to eat with him; he would, as he conceives,
be degraded by her company; but he compels her to bring wood
and water, to dress his victuals, and to perform every other me-
nial service. His sons are taught to despise their mother. She
is not suffered to eat with them after they are eight or ten years
old. In that ancient nation, we see the character of men, who
are not perfectly civilized, as it may be traced through all shades
and colours, in the old continent, or the islands connected with
it. In many of the nations in Europe, who presume to call other
nen savages, the weak and humble wife continues to suffer un-
der the chastisement of a master. We. have reason to believe
that man is the greatest tyrant upon earth, His strength is the
measure of his conduct. The little despot in his family, and the
great despot on his throne, exhibit the same character. Those
who ‘are weaker may expect tosmart beneath the arm of power.
Women are indebted to civilization alone for the happiness they
enjoy, in some parts of the world. And their situation, in every

* Robertson’s History of America.

: 03 part,

N

214 On the peopling of America.

part, must be improved by the progress of knowledge. We soon
discover that all permanent happiness depends on sentiment and
reflection: The consciousness of giving protection and comfort
to those who place themselves under our care; to those who are
weaker and need our assistance, is the solace and reward of
men who feel and reason; it is the source of their greatest hap-
piness. The pleasure that arises from domestic attachments,
from the constant exercise of kindness to a wife and chil-
dren, cannot be equalled. by all the other enjoyments in life.
The greater part of our species, in the old world, have not dis-
covered this truth. Idle and indolent, governed by passion and
not by reason, they remain inexorable tyrants. If a separate
race of men had been formed for America, in which animals are
said to be less fierce, or less savage, it is probable that the man
of America would have been less cruel to his female than the
tyrant of the old world; but his manners, on this head, give an
additional proof that he is of the old family.

After stating the great resemblance that is found between the
American savage and his savage brother in other parts of the
world, it can hardly be necessary to give many other proofs that
they are too much alike. The American Indians are described
as men who are passionately fond of strong drink. On this head
they perfectly resemble the savage and half savage of the old
continent. The Tartar gets drunk with fermented mare’s milk :
the Mahometan, with opium and the smoke of tobacco: the an-
cient Scythians intoxicated themselves with the fumes of hemp-
seed : the Celtic and Teutonic nations, with ale and mead: the
African gets drunk with brandy. We say nothing of the modern
nations that are more civilized, who, to the reproach of ration-
ality, seem to have a pleasure in resembling beasts. Weary of
decent. deportment, and fatigued with the trouble of thinking,
they deliberately sit down to deprive themselves of reason. ‘The
American savage is equally attached to drinking and gambling
with his European brother.

The nations of America have been represented as men of little
strength ; but as they are known to be at least equal in size te
those of the other continent, they may also be presumed to be
their equals in strength, when they are fed in the same manner,
and equally accustomed to labour. Such of them as, have been
employed, from Nantucket, in whaling, can hardly be matched
at an oar. Activity, combined with strength, renders them ex-
cellent seamen.

The courage of the American savage has been mentioned,
like his other qualities, in terms of reproach; he is said to be
* plus craintif et plus lache *,” more timid and more cowardly.

* Buffon, TI
1e

ee

On the peopling of America. 215

The Indians make war by stratagem, but they are not therefore
to be deemed cowards. ‘They are not very numerous, for which
reason they are not prodigal of life. The point of honour with
an Indian chief, does not consist in facing his enemy in the field,

but in saving his own men. Such is the dictate of prudence,
The Spartan youth were trained to all kinds of stealth and stra-
tagem, that they might the better be enabled to surprise an
enemy; but the Spartans were among the bravest of men. When
it became proper or necessary to face an enemy, they never
turned their backs. It is admitted that Indians have shown the
most astonishing degree of fortitude in bearing torture. This
has been called passive courage ; but the same men are supposed
to be deficient in active courage ; and this strange conjecture is
founded on their art of war, which differs from that of Euro-
peans. ‘The Indian secures himself in battle by a tree or some
other cover. If a cover be a mark of cowardice, our ancestors,
who fought in armour, were deficient in active courege, and so
are the moderns, who avail themselves of trenches or any other
species of fortification. The object of an Indian chief is to de-
stroy his enemy, with as little loss to himself as possible. Having
this object in view, he avails himself of the best means in his
power ; nor is he afraid of reproach, while he adheres to his
purpose. We have seen instauces, too many, of brainless white
commanders, who have sacrificed half of their men in fiuitless
and hopeless actions, only because thev feared lest they should
be suspected of the want of courage. ‘The virtues of Fabius were
not less admired, when he patiently endured the insults of an
enemy, than when he met that enemy in the field. Men are less
afraid of reproach, when they are conscious of not deserving it.
In whatever manner the Indians may think fit to meet an enemy,

they give unquestionable proofs that they are not afraid of deaths,
Surrounded in a block-house, without ammunition, we have
known them perish in the flames, because they would not sur-
render and become prisoners. When I say that the Indian mode
of fighting, under cover, is the dictate of policy, not of fear, [
am prepared to give instances, not a few, in which they have
shown proofs of undaunted courage in the open field, when the
other mode of fighting could not be adopted. It is found that
our woodsmen are rather an overmatch for the Indians, in cor-
rect shooting with a rifle; but our chief advantage, in disputes
with the native savage, must ever consist in superior numbers,
or the use of cavalry. When America was first discovered, the
natives appeared contemptible and dastardly, from their want of
arms. A white man to an Indian was then a giant to a pygmy ;
but an Indian, well provided with arms, is now ‘become a danger-

ous enemy.
04 By

216 On the peopling of America.

By a general view of the human race and its varieties on the
old continent, and by comparing those people with the original
inhabitants of America, we must be convinced that men are all
descended from the same stock, and that America was peopled
from the other continent ; but we have no information concern-
ing the time in which the first colonists were transported. The
great extent of population in America, when Columbus made
his discoveries, about three hundred years ago, is a sufficient
proof that many years had elapsed since the aborigines had come
to this continent ; but the modern date of the largest and mest
populous empires then existing in America, has been supposed
to justify a belief, that the first settlement of America was re-
cent, when compared with that of the other continent. At the
period to which I refer, America was settled in all directions,
from north to south, although no part of it was fully peopled ;
nor had any progress been made in those arts which are the fruit
of necessity in old and numerous societies. Those circumstances,
however, can neither be urged in proof of a very ancient nor a
very recent settlement. Migrations, in the old continent, have
lately been the effect of a crowded population; but migrations
in America sprang from a different cause. The first adventurers,
who were little attached to their native soil, could hardly be at-
tached to a particular part of the land they had discovered. Sus-
tainiag themselves without labour, in a country that abounded
in game, they acquired habits of idleness. When the game be-
came scarce in one part, they removed to another. The same
spirit preduces the same effects, among the present white inha-
bitants of North-America. ~The more adventurous, more fickle,
or more indolent, move to the frontiers, and settle upon new)
lands. _When the range is impaired, or the game diminished,
those very men, or their children, move onward, and follow the
range; for they raise little corn, eating flesh instead of bread ;
whence their habits of idleness become inveterate. As the ocean
yields a supply of food, that is more easily caught than birds or
beasts, it follows that the sea coast was first explored; but the
greater number of inhabitants were found in warm or temperate
climates ; because in such climates the means of subsistence
were easy. In this manner every part of America may have been
visited, and sparse settlements formed, within a few centuries
after it was first discovered. In) this manner too, as we are taught
by civil history, the other continent was originally settled. The
first migrations were not the effect of a crowded population; they
were caused by arambling or adventurous temper. Every country
was first visited hy siagle families, or by small parties, who mi-
grated in the spirit of ambition, discontent or caprice, from young
colonies or new governments. We have the names of men on

” the

On the peopling of America. 217

the other continent, who were celebrated as the founders of go-
vernment ; but those men, in every case, appear to have found a
weak, unconnected race of savages, scattered over the country in
which they fixed their empire. They certainly did not migrate
from a crowded hive, whoever they may have been. When the
small tribes, wiio first settled in America, had destroyed the game
in one place, they removed to another without difficulty or oppo-
sition; but in the process of time, migrations were not effected
without trouble, for all the country was claimed as hunting ground
hy one tribe or another. In that case hostilities commenced,
and men were destroyed, that bears and buffaloes might have
room to breed. The failure of game caused the Indians, in some
cases, to turn their attention to agriculture: aud it appears that
successful chiefs, in the usual spirit of domination, in some cases
extended their authority, by adding weaker tribes to their respec-

_ tive empires. In this manner, the monarchs of Peru and Mexico

were extending their domains when the Spaniards visited this

continent; and in this manner the greatest empires formerly

sprang up in the other hemisphere. But Mexico and Peru may

_ have been well peopled, many a century before there was a mo-
arch in either of those countries.

It has been observed that the American savage, passing over
the shepherd state, was turning his attention, in some instances,

to the cultivation of the soil. From this circumstance it has

been alleged that he differs greatly from the man of the other
fontinent ; but this inference is not correctly deduced, for it is
known that the introduction of new arts and customs is frequently
to be ascribed to what is called pure accident. The casual dis-
covery of gunpowder in Europe gave rise to a variety of new
customs and to the neglect of old ones. The introduction or
discovery of a grain, that was easily cultivated, may have pro-
moted agriculture; or the want of the most useful domestic ani-
‘nals may have caused the employment of a shepherd to be for-
otten. The use of cows, sheep, and goats was known to the
rst family upon the other continent; and that family was also
dastructed in the art of cultivating the earth. The first emi-
nts from the original stock were equally instructed in the se-
veral arts of tilling the earth, tending cattle, and killing game;
but as men always prefer the most easy mode of living, they would
Support themselves, for many years, by hunting alone; for in new
countries, where there is any winter, afamily is most “easily sup-
ported by bunting and fishing. When the game failed, they had
urse, in every case, to the other most easy mode ‘of living,
mee care of cattle ; for the colonists, who were never separated
the parent state by an ocean, could easily obtain a supply

of cattle when they needed them, In the progress of popula-
bb ig tion,

is On the peopling of America.

tion, when pasture failed for cattle; they had recourse to agri-
culture. Thus it was that the shepherd state commonly suc-
ceeded the chase, and that again was succeeded by agriculture,
This succession did not, for it could not, take place in America,
The first planters brought with them the usual stock of knowledge,
but they brought no cattle. They brought the maize*, as I
presume, that we call Indian corn, for it is said to grow in Asia,
if they wished to raise cattie, they could not obtain the species
to which they had been accustomed, but they could raise corn,
for they had the seed: hence it was, that in all cases some de-
gree of agriculture immediately followed the habit of living by
the chase.

The annals of the American savage, like those of every other
nation, have been corroded by the rust of time. When we speak
of the epoch in which they arrived, we find ourselves travelling
in the regions of conjecture, having few marks, and those very
obscure, to direct our course. We discover nothing that may
be deemed certain, except that they came, the greater part of
them, from Asia, and that the time of their arrival is very
distant.

While it was presumed that America was separated from the
other continent by an ocean of considerable extent, various opi-
nions were formed respecting the manner in which this continent
had been peopled; for the ancestor of an American savage, in
his canoe, could not be supposed to have adventured far upon
the ocean’; but the discoveries of late navigators have removed
all difficulties on that head. We learn from Captain Cook and

* Although maize and tobacco are both commonly supposed to have ori-
ginated in America, there is much reason to believe that both those plants
were carried from Asia by the original emigrants. I suspect that the Es-
quimaux Indians, when first discovered, bad not the use of maize ; for their
ancestors came from a part of the other continent in which that grain is
not cultivated, but it is cultivated in Asia. ‘The inhabitants,” says La-
billardiere, ‘sold us ears of maize, still green, which had been boiled.”
This was in one of the Molucca islands. Tobacco, as we are told, is cul-
tivated by the natives in the vicinity of Nootka Sound. But tobacco is a
tropical plant. Tbe seed must have been imported from Asia. The Chir
nese, who seldom change their habits, have long been smokers of tobacco.
Certain nations in India, beyond the Ganges, are slaves to the use of this
~ nauscous plant. The inhabitants of the island Sagalecn, about the 49th
degree of latitude, are also perpetual smokers of tobacco. We are told
by La Perouse, that “they have good large-leafed tobacco, and the pipe
is never out of their mouths.” They ave supposed to purchase their to-
bacco from the Tartars. It has also been observed, that the Tartars on
the continent, nearly opposite to that island, are enslaved by the use of
tobacco. ‘“ Every male of them, young and old, wears a leathern girdle,
to which are hung a little pouch for tobacco, and a pipe.” It is not to be
supposed that all those nations, so distant and lately discovered, imported
their tobacco, or its seed, within the last three hundred years, from America,
others,

On the peopling of America. 219

others, that Asia is not far distant from America. They may
be seen, at the same time, from a ship in the middle passage *.
It has also been discovered, that all the little islands between
the northern parts of Asia aind America are inhabited by savages,
who must have wandered from Asia; and it is not to be supposed
_ that a similar race of men did not travel to America. .Ina word,
the descent of the North-Americaii Indians, or the greater num-
ber of them, from Asiatic Tartars, or their progenitors, is now
so fully established, that I shall not exercise the reader’s pa-
tience, in showing how much they resemble one another in their
features, their scantiness of beard, or their language: but the
_ Tartar did not transport his bance and the want of that animal
has caused many shades of difference in their habits.
In stating that the aborigines of North-America are chiefly
. descended from the Tartars, or from the same stock with the
Tartars, I am supported by common tradition | among those
people, as well as by the obvious facility of the passage. But
some of the northern Indians, as I suspect, emigrated from
Europe. It can hardly be questioned that the Esquimaux In-
dians are the diminutive sprouts of Norwe egian ancestors. It is
fully ascertained, that colonies from Norway settled in Iceland
_and Greenland near one thousand years ago; but the first ad-
venturers who are mentioned in history, foun da race of savages
who had preceded them.
The same adventurers who discovered Iceland, at the period
to which I refer, extended their travels to the Labrador coast,
where they found a race of savages, who appeared also, by their
Janguage, to have emigrated irom Denmark or Norway. When
we consider the distance of Iceland, Greenland, and the Labra-
dor coast, from the British isles, or the northern parts of the
continent, the difficulty and danger of navigating the northern
ocean, in ‘high latitudes, and the contemptible vessels now in use
ainong the Esquimaux, ‘it may appear strange that every island,
and every spot of land in those inhospitable regions, should have
een discovered and settled at the time to which | have referred,
This phenomenon is best accounted for by recollecting that there
must have been a time in which the northern ocean was navi-
ated with less danger than at present; when Iceland, Green-
Jand, and the Labrador coast were much more hospitable, the
soil more productive, and the climate more temperate than they
‘are at present. This allegation may appear somewhat paradoxi-
eal, when it is compared with a former observation, that the
winter's cold has been gradually decreasing for more than 2000
* The distance is not above thirteen leagues. ,
+ The Indians in general in this part of America allege that they came
from the north-westward.
years,

220 On the peopling of America.

years, in the greater part of the world. The fact, however,’ is
not to be disputed. The natives of Labrador, from their want of
letters, can give us no account of the change that has taken
place in that country ; but the ease is very different in Iceland.
‘The inhabitants of that island have preserved their history for
nine or ten centuries, and the change of climate there has been
fully established. I do not say that the numerous population of
Iceland, near one thousand years ago, or the flourishing state
of arts and sciences among those people, at so distant a period,
a to be taken for a proof that the climate was formerly more
emperate, and the soil more productive than at present, al-
parr they add great probability to this opinion; but we find
an argument in the natural history of the island, that seems to
be absolutely conclusive. It is not to be disputed, that in former
ages Iceland produced timber in abundance *. Large trees are
occasionally found there, in the marshes or valleys, that have
been covered to a considerable depth in the ground. ‘Segments
of those fossil trees have lately been exported from the island, i in
proof of the fact alleged. But we are equally certain, that in
the present age timber does not thrive in the island. Its grewth
13 prevented, or the plants are destroyed by the intensity of the
winter’s cold, as in the northern extremities of Asia and America, -
where nothing but shrubs is to be found. The same pejoration
of climate, and a similar degeneracy in the productions of the soil,
have certainly taken place on the Labrador coast that have been
observed in Iceland. ‘

This remarkable increase of cold in high northern latitudes
may be accounted for by reference to a general deluge, the flood
of Noah. I am aware that allegations, in natural or civil his-
tory, are not to be supported by referring to a book whose au-
thority is disputed; but in the present case I must be permit-
ted to allege the certainty of a general deluge, provided it will
account for the several phenomena, and provided those phano-
mena cannot otherwise be accounted for.

Upen the supposition of a general deluge, it will be admitted
that immediately after the flood there could be no ice in any part |
of the ocean. The waters in the northern regions were exactly
of the same temperature as the waters in other parts of the ocean,
for they had the same origin. The fountains of the great deep |

* It is asserted in the ancient Icelandic records, that when Ingulf, the |
Norwevian, frst landed in Iceland, anno 879, he found so thick a growth |
of birch-trees, that he penetrated them with difficulty. Some modern his- |
toriaus, knowing that no trees of any kind grow at present in that island, |
have expressed their fears lest the veracity of the ancient annalists shold HE
be suspected. If they had known that ‘trunks of trees have lately been |
found in that island, buried several feet deep iu the earth, their fears would (a
have Leen obviated. f

were |

On the peopling of America. 221

were broken up. The temperature was thirty or forty degrees
above the freezing point. In that case, the air in Iceland, er
upon the Labrador coast, coming from the temperate surface of
the ocean, was temperate and pleasant. Vegetation in the long
days of summer was vigorous, and the winter was not sufficiently
cold to destroy perennial plants. In the process of time the waters
near the pole lost a great part of their heat, and ice was formed
in the creeks and bays. Large cakes of ice were occasionally
broken off hy storms, and detached from the shore. As the tem-
perature of the ocean decreased, some part of the broken ice
continued to float through the summer. Every succeeding year
added to the size of the floating masses*. They were increased
by rain, by snow, and by the spray of the sea. The northern
ocean is nearly filled at present by those floating islands of
durable ice. The summer winds that reach the coast, instead
of being tempered, as formerly, ky a watery surface, are now
chilled by mountains of ice; and they are become so intensely
¢old in winter, as to be destructive of animal and vegetable life.

It may possibly be alleged, that in the space of three thousand
years, the time that passed between the flood and Ingulf’s arrival
in Iceland, the atmosphere should have been as cold, and the

- aecumulation of ice as great in the northern ocean as they are
at present. It is readily admitted, that when we consider the

present degree of cold which prevails in high latitudes, we con-

elude that a few years would be sufficient to produce vast bodies

of ice. But we are to consider, that in the case referred to, the
water in every part of the ocean was tepid, and the whole face
of the earth was of the same temperature with the water ; whence
it followed, that the atmosphere could not be cold, nor could
there be ice or snow in the longest nights of winter. We have
no data by which we may compute the number of years or ages
that were necessary to abstract so great a body of heat as then
existed in the northern lands and ocean; but a long period must
have been required, for there is no fact in natural history more
certain than that there was more heat, or less cold, in high
morthern Jatitudes, in the eighth or ninth century, than there is

-* Tris a curious fact, and in perfect coincidence with this theory, that
when the first Norwegian colony settled in Greenland, about one thousand
years ayo, they found no difficulty in approaching the coast, and a regular
correspondence was supported with thuse people for many years. That
intercourse was entirely neglected during the dark ages of anarchy and
misrule in Europe. Since the revival of learning, within the two last cen-
turies, sundry attempts have been made to discover the remains of that co-
Jony, who lived oa the eastern part of Greenland? hut no lauding can now
be effected on that coast, by reason of the vast bodies of ice with which it
is pressed. From this it is clear, that within the last seven or eight hundred
years there has been a great increase of ice in high northern latitudes,

at

222 On a new Species of Calculus.

at present; nor isit clear that the beat of the air, earth, or water,.
in those high latitudes, has yet attained its lowest degree*. —

By keeping in mind that there has been a time in which the
climate was temperate, and the soil, for the same reason, was
productive in high northern latitudes, we are enabled to account
for many phenomena which had appeared very e1.igmatical. We
are no longer surprised that any part of our species should have
migrated and settled themselves willingly in Lapland and other
regions near the arctic circle; in regions from which nature, in
the present age, seems to shrink with horror, Those countries,
as we conceive, were all of them settled while the climate was
temperate and the soil fit for cultivation. As the miseries that
are caused by cold weather and a frozen soil increased, the ha-
bits and constitutions of the inhabitants suffered a considerable
change, and they became attached to the land of their ancestors.
They now live, or seem to live, contented, in a country to which
criminals are banished as one of the severest punishments.

By attending to the above-stated changes in soil and climate
in high northern latitudes, we can easily discover how it should
have happened that Norway contained a crowded population
above one thousand years ago, and sent out colonies.

By attending to that change of climate,in higl latitudes, we
can easily account for incidents that have excited general atten-
tion twelve or fifteen hundred years ago. We discover how it
happened that certain countries, which at present are not very
desirable nor productive, had formerly been the officina gentium,
the very nursery of nations ; and why, in the process of time, it
became necessary for those very people to migrate by thousands
in quest of better habitations.

XLY. On a new Species of Calculus. By Mr.J.T. Cooper.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Tx July last I sent you an account of a new species of
calculus, page 27; and having submitted it to a more correct
analysis, 1 now transmit you the result.
Ten grains of it, after being heated to about 220° Fahrenheit,
for the space of twenty minutes, gave of
Carbonate of lime .. 9:3
Phosphate of lime .. 4

Oxide of iron es ae
Loss .. Be ee oe |
10-0

* Vast bodies of ice from the northern seas are thought to haye be-
come more dangerous of late to navigaters, near the banks of Newfound-
land, than formerly, { was

On Mollusce. 223

I was not able to find the least trace of urie acid.

Finding the substance to consist almost wholly of carbonate
of lime, I suggested the probability there might be of dissolving
the calculus in the bladder by the action of dilute muriatic acid.
Accordingly this was had recourse to; and I am happy to add,
that by the injection of two drachms of muriatic acid diluted
with eight ounces of water, heated to about 100°, every day, the
whole of it has been removed, and that in eleven days. Thé
acid during almost the whole period came away nearly neutral.
I think it not improbable that in time a solvent for urinary cal-
culi of every description may be discovered, and render cutting
for the stone, that most dreadful of all operations, perfectly un-
necessary.

I remain, sir,

Yours, &c. &e.

76, Drury-Lane, Sept. 14, 1816, JoH» Tauomas CoorErr.

XLVI. Extract from a Memoir read to the Institute on the

13th of May 1816, on the Possibility of making the Mollusc
of Fresh Water live in Salt Water, and vice versd. By
F.S. Beupant*.

Taz experiments which form the object of this memoir have
been undertaken chiefly with a view to account for some re-
markable geological circumstances, and particularly for the
mixture of sea- and fresh-water shells in the same rock, which
M. Beudant discoyered in 1808, at Beauchamp near Pierrelaye,

m the department of the Seine and Oise, and more recently in
the valley of Vaucluse.

Experiments on Fresh-water Mollusce.

Towards the end of summer 1808, M. Beudant first at-
tempted to convey suddenly fresh-water mollusce into water
charged with 0-04 parts of muriate of soda, as sea-water ge-
nerally is. These animals could not withstand the change ; for
their shells contracted, and they died in a few seconds. The
bivalve mollusc merely resisted the salt-water a little longer, in
consequence of shutting their shells: in a few days, however, they
died also.

Being desirous of accounting for the almost total absence of
fossil shells in the beds of gypsum, M. Beudant tried the action
of water charged with sulphate of lime on the mollusce ; and
with this view he plunged some lymnei suddenly into this mix-

* Annales de Chimie et Physique, vome ii, p. 32. , '
ture.

224 On making Fresh-water Moilusece

ture. They did net appear at first much affected, but in eight
days they were all dead.

As we do not know positively, as yet, if the sete which are
found in certain beds of saccaroidal limestone of transition, and
in certain compact secondary limestones, have lived in the liquid
itself, or have formed those soils chommaslves, or, finally, have been
brought t there accidentally: as, on the other hand, it is very pro-
bable that these kinds of chemical deposits have taken place
oaly by the intermedium of a liquid, the solvent faculty of which
was owing to an excess of carbonic acid,—M. Beudant tried the
action of water charged with this acid on the mollusc. With this
view he employed Seltzer water.—The animals plunged into this
water were quickly suffocated.

Water charged with other mineral acids in very small quai-
tities produced nearly the same effect.

Water charged with 0°02 of sulphate of irow affected im the
same way the molluscz plunged into it ;—in a few seconds all the
species submitted to this test, whether univalves or’ bivalves,
died.

Water saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and afterwards
diluted with its weight of clear water, produced much slower ef-
fects : several mollusc even made various movements init 5 but
in a few days they died, the one after the other.

After these preliminary y trials, it was natural to examine if it
was not possible gradually to habituate the mollusce of fresh
water to live in the waters into which they had been previously
plunged so suddenly. In spring 1509, therefore, M. Beudant
collected 2 great number of fresh-water mollusc in the environs
of Paris: he separated the species, and divided the number of
individuals of each of them into two equal portions, putting each
into a vessel by itself: he thus formed two series of the same
species, each including the same number of individuals: he pre-
served one as a point of comparison in Seine water, and upou
the other he attempted the gradual transition which he had in
view.

M. Beudant had at first employed for several days water con-
taining only one grain of salt per pound, 7. e. about 0-O0011: he
afterwards successively increased the quantity of salt; first by
adding a grain every two days, and then every day; and latterly,
three grains a day. The experiment lasted six months; at the
end of which time the liquid employed contained 0-04 of its
weight of salt, comprising about 0 005 of muriate of lime. — -

By proceeding in this way, most of our fresh-water molluscs
‘were completely habituated to live in salt water, in which they
seemed to be perfectly at ease. But in order to make the ex-
periment precise, and to draw certain consequences from it,

M. Beu-

live in Salt-water, and vice versa. 225

M. Beudant noted carefully the number of individuals which
died, on the one hand, in ivesh water; and on the other, in salt
water: it was in this. way that he ascertained the differences
about to be noticed.

All the species of lymnee and planorbes, the physis of cold
springs; and the patella lacustris-live perfectly well in salt water.
In fact, in the space of five months, there died in the fresh water
fifty- -four of the hundred animals which had been kept in it, and
in the salt water there died fifty-seven of the hundred; the dif-
ference’is scarcely worth mentioning.

On the contrary, the other species of paludines (helix vivipara,
helix tentaculatu of Linneus), and the nerites of the Seine
seemed to suffer from cheir long continuance in salt water, and
more died than in fresh water. Inshort, in the fresh water only
forty of the hundred died; and in the salt water seventy-one of
the hundred died.

All the bivalve mollusez, the anodontes, the mulettes, and the
cyclades, put into salt water died during the experiment, and

before the liquid had attained the degree of saltness which it

was necessary to attain. On the contrary, they lived the whole
summer in fresh water,and continued in it at the end of autumn.
It must be remarked, however, as an important result, that these
same species lived perfectly well in water charged. with only
0-02 of salt.

M. Beudant also resumed the experiment which he had be-
gun with water charged with sulphate of lime, in order to ha-_
bituate the moilusce gradually to live in it. At first he diluted
with a great quantity of Seine water, the water which was
strongly saturated with this kind of salt: afterwards he kept di-
luting it gradually; and lastly, he employed it completely sa-
turated. The mollusce at first lived very well: subsequently
several died, in proportion as the quantity of salt was increased ;
and lastly, the few remaining died when the saturated liquid was
used, This experiment repeated at two subsequent periods gave
the same result.

We now come to the experiments on marine mollusez which
M. Beudant made in 1$12 and 1813.

He collected several individuals of various kinds of marine
testacee, such as the patelle, fissarelle, crepidule, haliotides,

sabots, cerites, buccine, tellines, venuses, oysters, &c. Xe,

Several individuals of the above genera, when plunged sud-
denly in fresh water, contracted within their shells, and died in
that state. Those species only which live habitually on rocks
placed out of the water lived a little longer, but they soon
perished also.

M. Beudant, in order to proceed afterwards to the experiment
Vol. 48. No, 221, Sept, 1816, P proper

226 On Mollusce.

proper for determining the gradual transition of the sea mollusc
in fresh water, also formed two series of the same species. He
preserved one constantly in sea water, and employed for the other
sea water diluted successively with fresh water, Five months
afterwards he employed nothing but fresh water.

By means of this precaution, the marine mollusce were habi-
tuated to fresh water, in which they lived during five months
more with lymnze and planorbes. There were some peculiar
circumstances attending them, which M. Beudant relates ; viz.

The patella of the vulgar species, and the sabots, which are
both sea shore shellfish—the cerites, the columbelle, the ve-
nuses, the oysters, &c. perfectly resisted the experiment. There
died thirty-four out of the hundred individuals constantly kept
in sea water, and thirty-six out of the hundred of those exposed
to fresh water.

But the dragon-headed patella, the fissurelle, the crepidule,
the undated buccinze, the cameos, &c. all died during the ex-
periment. It ought to be remarked, however, that all the species
lived perfectly well in sea water diluted with an equal portion of
fresh water, 7. e. in water containing about 0:02 of its weight of
salt.

Having learned by Lavoisier’s analysis that the waters of lake
Asphaltus contained 0-40 of saline substances*, and as accord-
ing to travellers no organized living body is to be found in it,
M. Beudant was desirous of knowing what degree of saltness
marine animals could support. Consequently he added impure
mturiate of soda to common sea water, and he was convinced
that all the sea mollusce which he had at his disposal lived,
without any apparent inconvenience, in water containing 0°31
of saline matter composed chiefly of muriate of soda, with some
centimes of muriate of lime and muriate of magnesia. But as
often as he increased the quantity of salt, so as that small crystals
were formed on a slight evaporation in the air, the animals
shrunk within their shells, and died.

M. Beudant concludes by drawing the following inferen¢es :

1. Since there is every reason to believe that the same water,
whether fresh, or salt like that of the sea, or even salter, is ca-
pable of supporting all the animals which frequent marshes,
rivers, and the sea-shore, it may be presumed that similar cir-
cumstances have existed in nature, and to these circumstances
it is owing that we see in one and the same stratum sea and

* Lavoisier's analysis gave Water mi. Sad Bits Shee ee
Muriateofsoda - = - = 6°25
Muriate of lime and muriate of magnesia $8°15

100°00
land

On the Precipitation of the Oxide of Gold by Potash. 227

land shells; admitting always, as every thing seems to prove, that
these shells are still in the place where they have lived originally.

2. If we could suppose with some naturalists, contrary to all
appearance, that the strata called fresh-water strata have been
all formed under sea water, the present experiments will ac-
count for the absence (in other respects very remarkable) ef the
bivalve river shells of the genera anodontes, mulettes, and cy-
clades. In fact, we have seen that the molluseze which live in
these shells were not able to live in water charged like that of
our seas, with 0-04 of saline substances.

3. Since it results from experiments many times repeated, that
the mollusce, at least those of fresh water, cannot live in water
charged with sulphate of lime, we can account for there being
no shells in the gypseous mass of Montmartre, and in general in
the old or new gypsums, although they are frequently in layers
subordinate to shelly strata.

4. Since the marine mollusce can live in water almost satu-
rated with muriate of soda, it would seem that the absence of
living organized bodies in lake Asphaltus, if this really be the
case, is owing to the presence of the bitter muriates of lime and
magnesia, and perhaps to that of the bituminous matters which
Lavoisier has not found in his analysis, without doubt, because
they are but occasionally met with and under certain circum-
stances only.

On the other hand, since the sea mollusce perish in water
hypersaturated with muriate of soda, it is not astonishing that
none of their remains have been found in the immense masses of
sal gemma, which are found in various countries.

5. Lastly, if we admit that sea and fresh water mollusc can
live in the same liquid, it would seem to result, that the fact of
living in fresh or in salt water cannot be a reason for establishing
particular genera, unless we can find sufficient and constant
characters in shells, or, what is better still, in the animals which
occupy them, when they are not fossil.

~ XLVIL. On the Precipitation of the Onide of Gold by Potash,
By M. Fiauirr. Extracted by M, Gay-Lussac*,

Gown, the properties of which have been so long too imper-
fectly known, and on which much yet remains to be done to place
its histery on a level with that of most of the other metals, has been
recently diligently examined by M.; Figuicr, an eminent chemist
of Montpelier. Messrs. Vauquelin, Duportal and Pelletier had

* Annales de Chimie et Physique, tome ii. p. 101.
P2 asserted

228 On the Precipitation of the Oxide of Gold by Potash.

asserted that the alkalis did not precipitate the solution of gold
in the ecld way. M, Obverkampf had obtained a contrary result ;
but he thought he could account for this difference by the ex-
cess of acid of the solution, which gave rise, with the precipitat-
ing alkali, to the formation of a great quantity of triple salt, in-
decomposable, at least totally, by an excess of base; for it is
certain that there is no precipitate made in the cold way in the
space of several minutes, even with ammonia, when the excess
of acid is sufficient. The object of M. Figuier is to prove that
the excess of acid of the solution of gold does not prevent the
precipitation of the oxide by an alkali, and that we obtain nearly
as much of it as from a solution as neutral as possible.

** Six grammes of dry muriate of gold,’ says M. Figuier,
** were dissolved in 150 grammes of distilled water ; the solu-
tion when filtered was divided into two equal parts, and put
nto two conical glasses. Into one I poured four grammes of
muriatic acid; I saturated both solutions with caustic potash
dissolved in water: their yellow colour became a deep red. A
short time afterwards, the liquors became turbid: a flaky
precipitate of a gray colour was developed: these precipitates
iticreased after some time and became deeper:—after forty-
eight hours they appeared to be at their maximum of augmen-
tation and colour. I observed no ditference between the two,
only that in order to produce it, we inust employ a greater por-
tion of potash in the acid muriate of gold, than in that which is
less so; but I constantly observed that in both cases it was re-
quisite that the potash should be in excess, in order to make the
precipitates abundant. After having filtered these liquors se-
parately, I put them into small retorts and exposed them to the
action of a moderate heat; new precipitates were still formed
much deeper in colour. I added them to the first, washed them
with pure water, and dried them. When weighed in this state
their weight represented two-thirds of the gold which was in
solution ;—that obtained from the acid solution did not differ
from that which had only a decigramme of acid. The liquors
which had furnished these precipitates still contained gold: they
became yellow hy the affusion of the muriatic acid, and gave new
precipitates by potash, although there was an excess of acid be-
fore the addition of the alkali, so that by treating them alter-
nately by potash and muriatic acid, I succeeded in extracting
the whole gold contained in the muriate, as I have stated in
a former paper.

Note by M. Gay-Lussac.—lf we can separate the whole
gold of the solution by means of the alkalis, it is undeniable that
the triple salts are entirely decomposed by an excess of base:
nevertheless, if the observation of M, Figuier be exact, that in

order

Notices respecting New Books. 229

order to precipitate the whole gold from a solution into which
an excess of alkali has been put, we must add acid and super-
saturate again with alkali, we may easily explain by this cireum-
stance the results of Messrs. Vauquelin and Oberkampf, for they
did not think of the process employed by M. Figuier. In short,
we have such a confused idea of this process, that although we
do not doubt its efficacy, we should like to see it repeated by
other chemists.

XLVIII. Notices respecting New Books.

dae. James Capper has lately published, at Cardiff in South
Wales, a work of considerable merit, entitled ‘* Meteorological
and Miscellaneous Tracts, applicable to Navigation, Gardening,
and Farming, with Calendars of Flora for Greece, France, Eng-
land, and Sweden.” ‘The following subjects constitute the
most interesting part of the work:

Observations on the eause and consequences of the tempe-
rature in different latitudes; and observations on the aurora
borealis, and the frequent occurrence of tempests about twenty-
four hours after its appearance. There are also some curious
remarks on the lunar influence on terrestrial bodies, and some
very useful and interesting observations on the local varieties of
temperature in different parts of Great Britain.

According to the German papers, a. clergyman of Iceland,
named Johnson; has recently translated into “Islandic verse The
Paradise Lost of Milton.

A gentleman at Cardiff is about to publish A Translation into
the Welch Language of Mr. Arthur Young’s Farmers’ Calendar.

Mr. Forster has just published a work entitled ‘¢ Flora Ton-
brigiensis ; or, A Catalogue of Plants growing in the Neighbour-

hood of Tonbridge Wells.

Messrs. Netlam and Francis Giles, of New Inn, London, are
now making arrangements for A Trigonometrical Survey (founded
on the basis of Col, Mudge’s and Capt. Coleby’s Triangles) for
A New Map of the County Palatine of Lancaster, on a scale of.
one inch to the mile; to be dedicated by permission to His
Royal Highness the Prince Regent: and to be published by
subscription, at four guineas in sheets, or five guineas on can-
vass and roller, or half-bound in atlas.”

The survey is commenced, and will be carried on with dili-
gence, P'S

230 New Voyage round the World.

Captain Lewis Granholm, of the Royal Swedish navy, has in
the press a translation from the Swedish of ‘* Experiments on
the resistance which bodies experience when propelled in a
straight line through water.” These experiments were made by
Admiral de Chapman, a distinguished naval officer, and super-
intendant of the dock-yards of Sweden: they exhibit a chain of
research which has led to the valuable and remarkable discovery
of a law of nature regarding water, which could not possibly
have been attained by mathematical induction, or any reasoning
a priort, and which involves conclusions of the greatest import=
ance, not merely as to the Lest form for the construction of
ships capable of moving with the greatest velocity through water,
but even as respects the best form for piers of bridges in rivers
subject to inundation, or where the current is rapid. The work
itself is translated from one of the few copies printed for the use
of the author’s friends ; and the Lords of the British Admiralty
have given their high sanction to the publication in an English
dress.

Mr. Dyer’s work on the Privileges of the University of Cam-
bridge, having much exceeded his original intention, will not ap-
pear ti!l winter, and instead of one will oecupy two large volumes
Svo. Besides the Chronological Tables and Charters of the
University, and corrections of his History, as announced in his
Proposals, these volumes will contain in English (some part of
the work being in Latin) Memorials of the Rise and Progress of
Printing at Cambridge, with an account in’ succession of the
Printers, and the principal books published by them ; the connexion
of its present with its former state of literature, and an attempt
to bring the literary biography of the University down to more
modern times.

XLIX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
NEW VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD.

A Frencu merchant of Bourdeaux has equipped a vessel for
the circumnavigation of the globe. It is described as a strong
swift-sailing vessel of 200 tons burden, called the Bordelais, and
will be commanded by officers of the French navy. The fol-
lowing has been published in the French journals as the projected
track of this expedition. The Bordelais will double Cape Horn,
and will not anchor until she arrives off the coast of Chili: she
will then proceed to California, visit Nootka Sound and the ad-
jaceut shores, trafficking with the natives for peltry ; this track

will

French Colonies. 231

will be continued to Cook’s river along the coast, and as far
north as possible. From Nootka Sound the vessel will proceed
to the Sandwich Islands for pearls and sandal wood, &c. - The
circumnavigators will then proceed to China, and from thence
return to Bordeaux. = -

—_————

FRENCH COLONIES.

The French Government have sent out an expedition to Sene-
gal, with a view to re-colonize that once flourishing settlement.
The French frigate La Meduse, which carried out the governor
and settlers, was unfortunately wrecked, and about 150 indivi-
duals perished in a most dreadful manner from hunger, thirst,
drowning, insanity, and mutual assassination, on a raft on which
they were abandoned for many days to the mercy of the waves.
The following account is given in the French papers of the suc-
cess of the survivors:

Paris, Sept. 22.

The latest intelligence from Senegal announces, that not only
the boats of the French frigate Meduse had arrived at St. Louis,
but that the governor and officers had even saved all their effects.
Part of the ship-wrecked mariners had followed along the coast,
and arrived without any accident, except M. Kummer the na-
turalist, and one of the delegates of the Philanthrupie Colonial
Society. This traveller, having wandered away from his com-
panions to discover fresh water, found an abundant and limpid
spring; but while he was drinking, he was taken prisoner by a
party of Traersas-Moors, to whom he called himself an officer
of high rank, which made them conduct him to the French fort,
mounted on a fine horse. ‘The governor rewarded them hand-
somely. All the instruments of agriculture sent by the Colonial
Society were swallowed up in the waves. This is a heavy loss,
and will retard all attempts at cultivation for at least a year.

The delegates who are in the village of Dacar have already
explored the peninsula of Cape Verd, where they hope to form
their first establishment. This peninsula is not very fertile, but
it has nevertheless all the resources necessary for forming a co-
lony: it has land capable of being ploughed, salubrious water,
a temperate.climate, and good pasturage: it is separated from
the rest of the states of Damel, of which it forms part, by de-
files, where three or four hundred inhabitants of the peninsula
lately arrested the progress of the whole army of Damel, ten
thousand men strong. ‘This African prince seems disposed to
cede a territory in which he exercises a most uncertain authority.
The delegates of the Colonial Society expect to come to an un~-
derstanding with the inhabitants. One of them, M. Parsen, has
drawn up a report on the subject, and transmitted it to Wo a

P4 ‘he

232 Expedition to Africa—Improvement of Rape Oil.

The French have also formed a colonial establishment at’ Rio
Janeiro, but not with the official sanction of the Government.°
This colony is formed of male and female emigrants who were
expatriated in consequence of the late political changes in France.
It consists of 400 persons: they have obtained from the Portu-
guese government three houses, with furniture, and some negroes
as domestics ; they receive daily rations of fish, flesh, fruits, and
Madeira or Bat wine. Every planter receives from ‘the State a
large portion of ground; but this liberality is of little value, from
its being difficult to clear in consequence of the want of in-
struments.

EXPEDITION TO AFRICA.

In our Jast number, p.152, for ‘* Captain Campbell has ba-
rometers (principally Mr. Arnold’s)’’ read ‘* has chronome-
ters,” &c.

We ought to have noticed in the same article that Major
Peddie and Captain Campbell, instead of carrying out barometers
as is usually done, fitted up with frames, for ascertaining the
height of such mountains as they may meet with on their ex-
cursion, took with them a number of plain graduated tubes,
any of which they can fill when occasion requires with mercury,
and by this means obviate the inconvenience often arising from
getting barometers broken on like excursions. Captain Camp-
bell took a dozen tubes, any one of which it requires but little
dexterity to fill, and which. when filled and inverted in an open
vessel is ready for use.

IMPROVEMENT OF RAPE OIL.

A Simple Method of rendering Rape Oil equal to Spermaceti
Oil, for the purposes of Illumination *.
To the Secretary of the Cork Institution.

Sir—Nothing struck me more, on my arrival in Ireland, than
the little use made of the patent lamp, which is in such common
and universal use in England and on the continent. But my
surprise in a great measure ceased, on finding spermaceti oil at
such an exorbitant price in Treland. In London it is sold by re-
tail, in the dearest shops in Bond-street, at seven English shil-
lings a gallon, and here, at twelve Irish shillings per ga allon,—an
extravagant price every one must allow, and fully sufficient to
check the use of this lamp in a very great degree.

I thought I should render the public a very great service,
could I, hy some mode, render any of the cheap oils of our country
effectual for the service of that lamp. Many persons in England
told me, that our oils were of too gelatinous and viscous a nature.
to be drawn up in the capillary tubes of the cotton wick. { there-

* From No, XVIII. of the Munster Farmer's Magazine,
fore

Steam Engines in Cornwall. 233 °

fore perceived the first thing I had to effect was, to deprive them
as much as possible of those two bad qualities. I entered into
a variety of experiments, some of them long and tedious, which
I shall not take up your time by enumerating.

1 began by washing the oil with spring water ; which is effected
by agitating the oil violently with a sixth part of the water, This
separates the particles of the oil, and commixes those of the
water intimately with them. After this operation, it looks like
the yolks of eggs beat up.—In less than forty-eight hours they
separate completely, the oil swimming at top, the water with all
feculent and extraneous particles subsiding at the bottom, I
improved very much on this, by substituting sea-water in the
place of fresh water. I tried whether fresh water impregnated
with salt, may not do as well as sea-water ; but found the light
not so bright, and of a reddish cast.—The oil which I have
washed is rape oil, for which I am charged 4s. 4d. a gallon. I
have now made use of it constantly for two months: it gives no
bad smell, and when burning close to the spermaceti oil is not
to be distinguished.

A friend of mine has calculated the expense of a lamp against
that of a pair of mould candles, and says the lamp is much
cheaper. After this, is to be compared the elegance of the one
against the vulgarity of the other.

Count Rumford estimated one patent lamp to give as much
light as four wax-candles, from the whiteness and brilliancy of
its flame.

By the process of washing, the oil does not lose one-hundredth
part. The experiment can at all times be made in a glass de-
canter. I purpose making it in a churn, with a cock at the
bottom, the water to come up very near to the cock, by which
all the oil can be drawn off, after it has deposited its impurities. ,

I have the honour to be, sir, your very obedient servant,
Trabolgan, March 1, 1816. Epwarp Rocne.

STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL.
By Messrs. Leans’ Report of work done by steam-engines in
Cornwall, it appears that the average work of 20 engines re-
ported for August was 19,908,723 pounds of water lifted one
foot high with each bushel of coals consumed. And that, during
the same month, Woolf’s engine at Wheal Abraham (with a load
of 3 lib. 1 per square inch in the cylinder) lifted 28,933,734
pounds one foot high, and his other engine at the same mine
(loaded 15:1 per square inch) 49,655,962 pounds one foot high
with each bushel ; aud his engine at Wheal Vor (loaded 14:4 per
square inch) lifted 40,008,970 pounds one foot high with each
bushel of coals,
THE

234 The late Earthquake in Scotland.

THE LATE EARTHQUAKE IN SCOTLAND.
Coul, Sept. 9.

The earthquake was scarcely felt beyond lat. 58 deg. nor was
the concussion at all severe southward of the Tay: on the western
coast, it was distinctly felt at Gareloch : more severely at Apple-
cross, and less severely to the southward. Froim éhe interior I
have got no accounts that can be depended on. Two men, who
were travelling eastward from Loch Carron, said to a friend
of mine, that when they were crossing the hill which is nearly
the summit level between Loch Carron and Contin, not far from
2 place called Carnech, the shock threw them on their backs.
If this be true, it proves that it came from the westward; as, if
it had come in the contrary direction, and met them, they would
have fallen forward. Though more damage was done at Inver-
ness than elsewhere, there is no reason for supposing that the
seat of the earthquake was under that town. If we suppose that
the motion was communicated circularly from a centre, and that
the centre was below Inverness, we find that Aberdeen, where
the shock was pretty smart, and Perth, where it was very distinct,
are nearly at the same distance, viz. about 80 or 90 miles, in a
straight ine. Now, the shock was scarcely felt at Cromarty,
and was barely perceptible at Tarbat Ness, which is about half
that distance from the centre. The reason why Inverness sus-
tained so much damage is, that the town is built‘mostly on_
gravel, and partly on mossy ground, the shifting of which might
have done more damage than actually happened. In a moun-
tainous country, the communication of motion must be so much
modified by the mountain masses, that it will probably remain
always uncertain, from underneath what spot the shocks of earth-
quakes proceed. That the late shock had its origin under some
part of Inverness-shire, there is no reason for doubting. I have
remarked, that notwithstanding the very unusual quantity of rain
that has fallen during this season, the rivers of the north are not
at all swollen. In ordinary summers, I have known them reach
to the top of their banks, in consequence of a fewdays rain: with a
greater quantity of late, that effect has not been produced. Some
springs, too, [have observed to be unusually scanty ; but my obser-
vation of springs has not been very general.—From the extent over
which the shock was felt, there is reason to suppose that the blow
was deep seated. Hence, though we may expect other visitations
of this kind, we need not fear the eruption of the internal fire in
our time. From what I have observed in volcanic countries, I
have no doubt that earthquakes are occasioned by the produc-
tion of a vast quantity of elastic vapour, the prodigious force of
which suddenly bursts its confinement. Steam is the most pro-

bable

Lectures. 235

bable agent; though other fluids may also act with sufficient
energy. Whether there has been any connexion between the
uncommon badness of the weather, and the subterraneous phase
nomenon which has caused so much speculation, the imperfect
‘ state of the science of meteorology prevents us from determining,
We already know that there is a connexion between the electri-
eal state of the earth and that of the atmosphere ; but philoso-
phers have not as yet thought the investigation of this subject
worth their pains. The present theory of the atmospheric phe-
nomena does not appear to me satisfactory; and I doubt not
we shall have new theories very soon. The field is open and
wide, and wonderful discoveries may yet be expected.

A hard body, supposed to be of the nature of a meteoric stone,
fell, during a hard thunder-storm, into a window at Glastonbury
about a month ago.

LECTURES.

The following arrangements have been made for Lectures at
the Surrey Institution during the ensuing season :

1. On Chemistry, by John Murray, Esq. to commence on
Tuesday, November 12th, at Seven o’clock in the Evening pre-
cisely, and to be continued on each succeeding Tuesday.

2. On Aérostation, by John Sadler, Esq. to be delivered on
Friday Evenings, November 15th and 22d, at the same hour,

3. On the Principles and Practical Application of Perspective,
by John George Wood, Esq. to commence on Friday the 29th

of November, and to be continued ‘on each succeeding Friday
at the same hour.

4. On Astronomy, by John Millington, Esq. Civil Engineer,
to commence in January 1817.

5. On Music, by W. Crotch, Mus. D. Professor of Music ii
the University of Oxford, to commence in February 18i7.

Mr. Cooper will commence his Lectures on Chemistry in his
Laboratory, 76, Drury-Lane, on Tuesday the 22d of October,
at Eight o’clock in the Evening precisely.

Further Particulars may be had on application as above.
Those gentlemen who wish to attend the Course are requested to
make known their intentions previous to the 15th of October,

Dr. Spurzheim continues to give lectures at Edinburgh to a
very large medical class of professors and others, on the ara-
tomy of the brain,
Mr.

236 List of Patents for new Inventions.
7

Mr. Guthrie, Deputy-inspector of Hospitals, will commence a
Course cf Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Medical
and Operative Surgery, on the first Wednesday in October, at
nine o’clock in the morning, at his house, No.2, Berkeley-
street, Berkeley-square.—To he continued Mondays, Wednes-
days ana Fridays.

Two Courses will be delivered during the season.

The Operations in Surgery referred to in the Lectures will be
shown at the York Hospital, Chelsea, on the Friday mornings,
and the treatment illustrated by such cases as may be in the
Hospital.

Terms of attendance five guineas, which renders the pupil per-
petual.

Medical Officers of the Navy and Army will be admitted to these
Lectures gratis, on obtaining a recommendation to that effect
from the heads of their respective departments.

LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS.

To John Hawkins Barlow, of Leicester Place, Leicester Square,
goldsmith and jeweller, for certain improvements on tea-urns, tea-
pots, tea-boards, or tea-trays.—27th June 1816.—6 months.

To John Barlow, of the town of Sheffield, founder, for a new
cooking apparatus. —2d July.—2 months.

To John Towers, of Little Warner Street, Cold Bath Fields,
chemist, for a tincture for the cure and relief of coughs, asthmas,
and diseases, which he intends to denominate “ Towers’s New
London Tincture.””—11th July. —2 months.

To Henry Warburton, of Lower Cadogan Place, Chelsea, in -
consequence of a communication made to him by a certain fo-
reigner residing abroad, for a method of distilling certain animal,
vegetable, and mineral substances, and of manufacturing certain
of the products thereof.—27th July.—4 months.

To Robert Salmon, of Wooburn, in the county of Bedford, for
further improvements in the construction of machines for making
hay, which machines so improved he denominates Salmon’s new
patent self-adjusting and manageable hay machines.—27th July.
—2 months.

To John Hague, of Great Peare-street, Spitalfields, London,
for certain improvements in the method of expelling the molasses
or syrup from sugars.—27th July.—6 months.

To William Henry, of Manchester, for certain improvements
in the manufacturing of sulphate of magnesia, commonly called
Epsom salts.—3d August.—2 months.

To John Poole, of Sheffield, for his brass and copper plating,

or

Meteorology. 237

or plating iron or steel with brass or eopper, both plain and
ornamental, and working the same into plates, bars, and other
articles.—3d August.—6 months.

To John Chalklen, of 'Tower-street; Seven Dials, for certain
improvements in or on the valve-water closets, and on the fratnes
or stools thereof. —3d August.—2 months.

To John Welch, of the borough of Preston, for his improvement
in the manner of making rollers used in spinning of wool, cot-
ton, silk, flax, tow, or any other fibrous substances.—3d August.
—2 months.

To John Dayman, of Tiverton, Devon, for a method of co-
vering or coating iron, steel, or any other metals or mixture of
metals, with tin, lead, copper, brass, or other metals cr mixture
of metals.—3d August.—6 montlis.

——

Meteorological Olservations kept at T¥althamstow from
August 15 to September 15, 1816.

[ Between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M.]

Nour. Therm, Barom, Wind.
August :
15 57 29:52 S.—Sunshine; showers; bright star-light.
16 57 29°51 S.—Showery; sun and showers; cloudy and
windy.—Moon, last quarter.
17 52 29:73 NW.—Gray morning; wind; some sun;
showers; great shower 3 P.M.; dark
. and cloudy.
18 58 2999 NW.—Clear and clouds; and wind; sun
and clouds; slight showers after 4 P.M.;
clear star-light.
19 55 30-10 NW.—Sun and clouds; cloudy.
20 58 30:10 NW.—Slight rain; fine day; clear star-
light.
21 59 30°18 NW.—Cloudy; sunny day; clear star-light.
22 58 30:10 NW.—Slight rain; sun and clouds; stare
light.
23 59 30°10 NW.—Clear and clouds; some sun; slight
showers; dark and rain. New moon.
24 61 30:10 NW.—Gray morning; black clouds; nimbus
_ NW.; sun; showers; dark night.
| 25 55 30°26. N.—Gray; hazy early; sun and clouds;
star-light.
26 60 30:20 N.—Sun; fine day; star-light.
27 58 30:10 N.—Gray cirrostratus, and clear; wind,
and cirrocumulus; star-light,
28 67 30:15 N,—Sun; fine day; star-light.
August

238

Hour. Therm. Barom. Wier.

August
29 59
30 53
31 54

September

~ | 49

2. 42
3 49
4 49
5 09
6 45
7 359
8 56
9 35
10 57
ll 50
12 52
13 55
14 62
15 59

30°25

30°04

29-20

29°49

29:60

Meteorology.

N.—Foggy; sun and wind; fine day; dark
night. Moon first quarter.

NW.—Clear and clouds; gray day; wind;
dark night.

SE-NW-S-N.—Rain till near noon; sun
and clouds; showers afterwards; wind
variable all day; rainy and-very windy.

NW.—Showers and wind; very showery;
great hail and wind; stormy; showers |
and wind. ;

NW.—Clear; clouds and wind; sun and
wind; cirrostratus NW.; star-light ;
cold evening.

SE.—Sun; clear; hazy; some stratus;
clouds and wind; great shower 44 P.M.;
sun and hazy; cloudy and sun; showers
again.

SE.—Faint gleams of sun; great shower;
stormy; clear and clouds. ;

NW.—Sun; clouds and wind; clear moon”
and star-light.

NW-SE.—Fogegy; sun and hazy; rain after
5 P.M. Full moon.

S.—Cloudy; fine hot sunny day; clear;
clouds and moon.

NW.—Clear and clouds; sun; windy; fine
day; moon and star-light.

S.—Rain; rainy day; cirrostratus or wane-
cloud; rainy; stormy night.

S.—Wind and sun; sun; clouds and wind;
9 P.M. double moon; clear moon and
star-light.

S.—Sun and hazy; cloudy; sunshine; clear
star-light and moon-light.

NW.—Sun ; clouds; fine day; moon and
star-light.

SE.—Sun and hazy; cloudy; slight rain.

SE.—Clouds and sun; fine hot day; clear
star-light. Moon last quarter.

SE.—Hot sun; fine hot day; star-light.

Meteorology. 239

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON,
LINCOLNSHIRE,

[The time of observatien, un

\ge of
1816. the |lhermo-| Baro-
Moonj| meter. | meter. |
DAYS
Aug.15) 92 | 64°5 | 99°57
‘ 16) 23 62° 29:70
17| 24 53° 29°85
18} 25 58° 30°12
19] 26 59° 30°30
20] 27 63° 30°26
21) 28 61° 30°30
22| 29 | 61+ | 30°20°
23\new| 62° 30°25
94| 1 62° 30°25
25
26} 3 65° 30°33
271 4 60° 30°32
Bae 5 65°5 | 30°30
290| 6 60° 30°23
30} 67 59° 30°
3h} 8 57° 29°37

Q| 54 29°55
10} 53° 29°80
1] 53°5 | 29°85
12 | 53° 29°50

Sept. J

13 53. 29°75
full | 54° 30°50
15 | 60: 29°95

16 58: 29°72
17 57° 29°68
10} 18 | 60° 29°70
11} 19] 63: 29°94
12} 204. 57°. | 30°19
13
14

are es ;
less otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.]
ee

State of the Weather and Modification
of the Clouds.

Fair—showers in the evening
Heavy rain

Showery

Fair—showers in the evening
Cloudy

Fine

Ditto—rained at 6 P. M.
Cloudy

Ditto

Showery

Cloudy

Ditto hs rain

Ditto

Very fine

Cloudy

Ditto

Rain—violent storm at night from
the S. E.

Showery—gale from the N. W.

Cloudy but fair

Very fine

Rain accompanied by a storm of
hail

Fine

Cloudy—rain in the evening

Very fine

Cloudy

Rain

Fair—blows hard from W.S. W.

Very fine—showery in the evening

Shower

21 { 57°5 | 30°26 |Cloudy—showery in the evening
22} 68°5 | 30°16 |Very fine’

There has been much less rain this month than the last. The harvest is
now begun generally in this neighbourhood.

240 Meteorology.
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE,
By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND,

For. September 1816.

1K
-

Thermometer. Baste j
Days'of a2 | oe Height of 338
Month: (2.21 cease the Barom.| 2 8 Weather.
% SHANE 2) Inches. | 22 5 ;
5 = eos
— | lh er
Aug. 27} 52 | 63 | 54 | 30°17 50 {Fair
28} 54°] 63 | 50 "19 42 j\Fair
29) 48 | 60 | 55 “10 37. {Fair
30] 52 | 58 | 50 | 29:90 49 |Fair
31) 50 | 55 | 49 10 26 Stormy
Sept. 1] 49 | 57 | 47 °39 oO {Rain
21 46 | 55 | 46 “68 31 4Fair
3| 42 | 55 | 50 73 33 |Showery
4| 46 | 58} 51 “40 99 =«/Hail storms
5} 46 | 59 | 49 °72 «|. 36 «(|Fair
6, 47 | 60 | 56 96 32 |Cloudy
7| 48 | 64 | 56 93 47 |Fair
8| 57 | 66 | 57 "89 54 {Fair
90} 57 | 60 | 57 ‘60 Oo |Rain
10) 58 | 64 | 56 *82 36 (|Fair
11| 55 | 64 | 52 "00 40 |Fair
12} 50 | 65-| 52 | 30°05 57. {Fair
13| 53 | 66 | 60 “17 54 =|Fair
14; 60 | 69 | 60 "10 57. |Fair
15| 61 | 70 | 57 ‘07 58 |Fair
16} 56 | 75 | 58 “09 56 Fair
17| 50 | 68 | 56 ‘01 45 |Fair
18} 56 | 60 |-55 02 33 |Cloudy
19] 55 | 60 | 50 "05 52 |Fair
20) 50 | 60 | 54 ‘06 46. |Fair
21) 54 | 59 | 53 | 29°69 37 |Cloudy
22) 55 | 67 | 54 ‘70 48 |Fair
23| 50 | 63 | 55 "72 55. |Fair
24) 55 | 62 | 55 72 27 _|Showery
25| 55 | 64 | 54 | 30°00 32 «|Fair
26| 50 | 64 | 55 "12 35 |Fair

N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o'clock.

—————E—EE——

r 241 4

L. New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. By Ez.WaLKER, Esq.
of Lynn, Norfolk.

[Continued from vol. xlvii. p. 97.]

M. Dx Luc has favoured the philosophical world with a new
instrument, which he calls The Electric Column. The effects of
this instrument are very wonderful ; for, if we look upon it merely
as a philosophical toy, it excites our astonishment nearly as much
as either magnetism, electricity, or galvanism did, when they
were first discovered: but when the electric column is used as
a philosophical instrument, it may tend to enlarge the bounds of
chensical philosophy; for ithas happened, and not unfrequently,
that improvements in science were at a stand, until some new
improvement was made in the arts.

When we investigate the properties of physical elements,
which produce such an infinite variety of physical effects, we
should be very circumspect in our operations, and not content
ourselves with a single experiment, which may seem to supporta
favourite hypothesis, but vary our experiments ; and if a great
number of them, made with appropriate instruments, prove the
truth of the same hypothesis, that hypothesis may be deemed a
theory, and used as such in all our future investigations.

The only means we have of investigating physical causes, is
by experiment and observation ; for physical certainty does not
admit of mathematical demonstration ; it is entirely obtained by
our senses. We see the sun, and feel his effects,—we view the
moon and all her various changes; but the existence of those
objects eannot be mathematically demonstrated : all the know-
ledge we have of their existence is wholly derived from our senses,
Hence all our experimental knowledge comes under the deno-
mination of physical certainty.

“In ascending from effects to causes we must ever arrive,
upon whatever hypothesis we proceed, at some first cause, which
does not admit an explanation from mechanical principles*.”

Now the first causes or elements, by which the various phe-
nomena in nature are produced, are three; that is to say, gra-
vity, magnetism, and electricity:—gravity is a simple element,
but the other two are compounds. Each pole of a magnetic bar
contains a different clement. In two bars homogeneous poles
repel, and heterogencous poles attract each other. And the same
law obtains in electricity; for, what haye been called positive
and negative electricity are two distinct elements 3—electrical

* Watson’s Chemical Essays, vol. i. p63,
Vol. 48, No, 222. Oct. 1816, Q elements

242 New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy.

elements of the same kind repel, and contrary elements attract
each other.

In a former paper I described some improvements that I had
made in electrometers, and in the modes of insulation. As these
improved instruments are highly necessary in conducting the
following experiments, | shall give an account of them here, to
- save the reader the trouble of turning to my former paper.

The electrometer which I make use of consists of an eight-
ounce phial with a stopple of sealing-wax fitted into its mouth ;
through this stopple a piece of thin music wire passes, and ex-
tends down the axis of the glass about 2} or 3 inches; the top
of the wire standing 3 or 4 inches above the top of the phial.
The lower end of the wire is turned into a small ring, from
which two slips of Dutch metal are suspended ; these are about
3-4ths of an inch in length and 1-10th in breadth, The wire
ts fixed into the stopple; but the stopple itself is not made fast
into the mouth of the phial, but left so as to take out ocea-
sionally.

My insulating stands are made thus :—A piece of thermometer
tube five inches long is fixed to the bottom of a wine-glass (the
top being broken off} with black sealing-wax, and a piece of a
stick of the same kind of wax, about an inch and an half in
length, is fixed upon the top of the tube. The top of the wax
being made soft, is formed into a proper curve for glass tubes to
rest upon. This form is very convenient for making experi-
ments with electric columns; but-a circular piece of glass, hav-
ing its upper surface gilt with gold-leaf, fixed upon the top of

the wax, is more convenient for many other experiments*.

Description of a Silver-leaf Electrometer.

The object of this instrument is to investigate some properties
af M. De Luc’s electric column. The electric machine coliects
two elements by friction; the Galvanic apparatus produces the
same two elements by a chemical process; but the electric co-
lumn, by some unknown process, produces these elements with-
out either friction or chemical action.

In fig. 1. ab represents part of a thermometer tube fixed into
the base of the instrument at a. Ue a cylinder of black sealing-
wax, rather thicker than the tube; and cd a strip of thin crown
glass, about an inch and a quarter in length and a quarter of an.
inch in breadth. 'To the lower end of this glass, a slip of silver-
leaft dp is fixed with gum-water; rq is another slip of silver-

* See Phil. Mag. vol. xlvi. p. 210, for a further account of these insu-
lating stands.
+ There is an article manufactured in imitation of silver-leaf, which
answers much better for this purpose than that which is genuine.
leaf

‘ment, protects the pen-

New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. 243

leaf of dimensions equal
to the former, suspended
from the lower end of the
Wire wr. %Y2% isa piece
of thick music wire, one
end of which is fixed into
a peg of hard wood in-
serted into the base of
the instrument at x; but
the rest of the wire is de-
tached, and vibrates freely
with the least force im-
pressed upon it. The
glass cylinder, standing in
a groove turned out of
the foot of the instru-

dulums dp and rg from
being disturbed by cur-
rents of air.

The thermometer tube
al and one end of the
wire xy are fixed into
the base on the outside of
the glass cylinder: the
other end of the wire yz
and pendulums are sus-
pended within it.

To the lower ends of
the pendulums p and g
two pieces of thin wire
are attached, of the forms
represented in fig. 2.

Tress

ii

Exp. \. An electric column being laid upon two insulating
stands in an horizontal position, an electrometer placed in con-
tact with the zine end of it exhibited only a few degrees of elec-
tricity, nor was any greater effect produced on the electrometer
when it was applied to the copper end. Hence it appears that
the column contains very little electricity in an insulated state.

Exp. 2. The electrometer remaming in contact with the cop-
per end of the column, as soon as a communication was made
between the zinc end and the earth by means of a piece of wire,
one end of which stood upon the table, with its other end in
contact with the end of the column, the leaves of the electro-
meter diverged to an angle of thirty degrees. This electrome-
ter being set aside, and another equally sensible placed in con-

2 tact

244 New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy.

tact with the zine end of the column, it diverged to the same
angle, the wire of communication having been removed to the
other end. Hence it appears that the clements of electricity
came either from the earth or the table, through the wire which
formed a communication between the table and the column, and
that the two elements are of equal mechanical forces, for the two
electrometers were found to be in contrary electrical states.
That element which was received from the copper end of the
column was thermogen (positive electricity), the other electro-
meter received the contrary element from the zine end *.

Exp. 3. Having placed a silver-leaf electrometer in contact
with the copper end of an insulated electric column, and a com-
munication being made between the table and the zine end, the
pendulums vibrated 140 times in a minute. These vibrations
were performed thus: As soon as the pendulum rg became
charged by the column, through the wire wr, it attracted and
charged the pendulum dp. The two pendulums being now
charged with the same element repelled each other; rq di-
verged to the right, dp to the left, and discharged its contents
into the wire at x, which conveyed it to the earth, The pen-
dulum dp being now reduced to its natural state, was again
attracted, charged, and repelled by the pendulum 7q: thus the
vibrations of the two pendulums were continued. But as soon
as the wire of communication was removed from the zine end
of the column, the pendulum ceased to vibrate: hence we may
conclude that the element which put the pendulums in motion
ascended up the wire at the zinc end, and passed through the
column to the copper end.

The electrometer being placed at the zinc end of the column,
and the wire of communication against the copper end, the pen-
dulums performed the same number of vibrations in a given
time as before, but they ceased to vibrate as soon as the commu-
nication was cut off between the copper end and the table. The
pendulums were put in motion at the copper end by thermogen,
the element of heat; but at the zinc end, photogen, the element
of light, produced an equal effect.

Exp.4. Two silver-leaf electrometers, whose pendulums were
of equal lengths, being placed in contact with an insulated elec-
tric column, one at each end, began to vibrate at the same time,
and the pendulums at the zinc end performed the same number
of vibrations in a given time, as those at the copper end.

* Mr. Singer observes, in his Elements of Electricity, that “ the electro-
meter connected with the zinc extremity of the column will be positive,
that connected with the silver extremity will be negative.”

Mr. Singer was probably led into this error by using Mr. Bennet’s elec-
trometer, which is a very imperfect instrument.

Now

New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. 245

Now as these electrometers were put in motion by two dif-
ferent elements, which afterwards descended to the earth at each
end of the column, and as I have four pendulums which have
thus been kept in motion for more than a month; the question
which remains to be solved is, Does the column generate these
two elements as fast as they issue from its ends and descend to
the earth, through the electrometers? or, are they derived from
some other source ?

From the third experiment it appears that the pendulums of
an electrometer, placed in contact with one end of a column, do
not vibrate until a communication be made between the other
end and the earth; and hence we may infer, that the element
which keeps one of the electrometers in motion, ascends through
the other at the other end of the column, and thus a double
current of the elements is passing through each of the electro-
meters:

This inference is not, however, a mere conjecture ; for when
the pendulum dz is placed without the sphere of attraction of
the pendulum rq, let the end p of the pendulum dp be moved
by means of a glass rod, till rg attracts, charges, and repels it,
When p strikes the wire at x, it discharges the element which
it received from g, and receives the contrary element from the
wire. The pendulums being now in a contrary state, attract
each other, and the vibrations are continued ; but let the pen-
dulum dx be touched with a piece of wire, to deprive it of the
element which it received from the wire at x, and the pendu-
lums will instantly cease to vibrate.

Ezp.5. An electrometer, contaming two pendulums which
are each about three inches in length, made as represented in
fig. 2, was placed in contact with the zine (negative) extremity
of a series of columns; and as soon as another electrometer with
pendulums, each about one inch in length, was placed at the
other extremity, the four pendulums began to vibrate. The
long pendulums vibrated 140 times in a minute, and struck the
wire at z with so much force as to produce a fine musical tone,
which was loud enough to be heard at the distance of 26 fect.
And these pendulums vibrated an equal number of times in a
minute, and produced the same strength of tone, when they
were removed to the copper extremity of the series : the short
pendulums being renioved to the other extremity vibrated as be-
fore, about 300 times in a minute. ;

Lynn, Sept. 13, 1816. EzEkIEL WALKER,

[To be continued. ]

Q3 LI. Letter

[ 246 ]

LI. Letter to the Right Honourable the Countess of Gosford,
on the Similitude, and Difference, in the original Formation
of the Island of St. Helena, and the Basaltic Districts in the
County of Antrim; with the Similitudes and Differences of
the posterior Operations of Nature performed upon each.
By W. Ricuarpson, D.D.*

~ ;

W HEN your ladyship persuaded me again to take up my geo-
logical pen ; and, as an inducement, permitted me to address my
speculations to yourself, I intended to have limited them to the
facts exhibited in our own country, part of which I had the
honour of showing to your ladyship.

I then intended to proceed to the application of these facts,
and others within the reach of your own observation, to the.
theories maintained by the Neptunian philosophers, to which
your ladyship hadsrecalled my attention, through a recent pub-
lication of some celebrity,

I find, however, that I cannot stop, but must avail myself of
your permission to carry your ladyship to more distant regions;
. —drawing general conclusions both from the magnificent scenes
I led you through, and from the corresponding features of a re-
mote island, exhibited on a still grander scale.

The similarities of these countries so distant from each other,
and the facts establishing them, shall form the subject of the |
present letter; while the greater part of the next shall be limited
to the conclusions fairly drawn from them. But when rigid de-
monstration can no longer be obtained, I hope your ladyship will
excuse me for indulging my imagination, and wandering into the
regions of probability, and even of conjecture.

I am, with much respect,
Your ladyship’s most obedient humble servant,
Clonfecle, Moy, May 31, 1816, W, Ricuarpson, D,D,

— ee

St. Helena.

It is now some years since my ingenious and philosophic friend
Dr. Macdonnel sent me a small volume he had lately received
from London, which bore strongly on a subject that had been
the topic of frequent discussions between us, and had given oc-
casion to some pleasant excursions which we made together,
with a view to examine with the greatest care and accuracy
the scenes where the objects connected with it were displayed
in the greatest abundance and to the best advantage.

The little hook was entitled “A Description of the Island of
St. Helena.” It was written by a gentleman who spent some
weeks on that curious little spot on his return from India; and

* Communicated by the Author,

had

Geology—St. Helena and County of Antrim. 247

had examined the materials of which the island was formed, and
the manner in which they were arranged, with much accuracy.

My author does not claim to be a scientific naturalist, but he
is obviously a very acute observer ; and though he seems to have
adopted, without examination, the volcanic theory of the origin
of basaltes, which was in fashion when he left Europe, he pos-
sesses a degree of fairness and impartiality which I have seldom
met with in naturalists attached to a particular opinion or
theory. My friend was induced to send me this pleasant little
volume, because the picture it gave of St. Helena bore so striking
a resemblance to the features of the basaltic area in the north of
Ireland, that had so much occupied the attention of each of us,
and to which my own observations on the natural history of my
country had been nearly limited.

It was not only the similitudes in the original arrangement of
each of these districts, which were numerous and obvious, but
also the differences, that strongly arrested my attention; the
former affording demonstration of the exact similarity of ori-
ginal formation, while the latter proved irresistibly that the
posterior operations of nature, which have taken place in St. He-
lena and in our part of Ireland, though in some instances the
same, are very different in others, :

Hence a new field is opened, and new materials afforded for
geological discussion, particularly interesting to me, as the facts
which I observed in my own country, that led me to sustain po-
sitions sometimes deemed paradoxical, are not only exhibited in
equal abundance in St. Helena, but also so diversified as to af-
ford new arguments and further demonstration of the truth of
those positions,

That island has now acquired a new interest—the eyes of the
world are directed towards it and its new inhabitant. The Latin
poet seems to allude to this sequestered spot, as now colonized,
which he describes,

* Ut maris Eewi rupem, scopulosque frequentes
Exulibus magnis P

While the English nation is making such exertions to secure
the comfort of this great exile—let us find amusing employment
for him ; let us direct his attention to the natural history of his
new country, and we shall probably protect him from the misery
into which the exiled Ovid fell; and from disgracing himself by
unmanly complaints, as that poet did, on the harshness of a cli- *
mate nearly as mild as that of St. Helena itself,

I too have prepared a source of entertainment for him, as my
pupil Colonel Wilkes, the late governor, after showing the great
success with which he raised Fiorin grass at Madras, since his

Q 4 appointment

248 Geology—St. Helena,

appointment to the government of this island, not fruitful in pro-
visions either for man or his domestic animals, has taught its in-
habitants how to supply the wants of the latter most abundantly,
by the introduction of this valuable grass, of which he has lately
sent home, to be transmitted to me, some faggnibesnt specimens
raised by himself in this new field.

The emperor Diocletian, a mighty conqueror also, after wield-
ing his sceptre a long time over nearly the same ter ritory with
the emperor Bonaparte, found content and amusement in the
culture of his cabbages.

Let then his successor take cordially to the culture of the ve-
getable he finds just established in St. Helena, and he will pass
the remainder of his time smoothly, showing the world, quite
contrary to their expectations, that he will end his days in
peaceful amusement, and that

“ Finem anime que res humanas miscuit olim
Non gladii non saxa dabunt non tela.”

I shall now return to the natural history of this curious little
island, and shall endeavour to trace the exact similitude in ori-
ginal construction between our own basaltic district and this
temote spot.

The first and most striking point of resemblance seems to be
in the accurate stratification of both countries, and the sameness
of the arrangement of the same materials in each.

Our author, i in his preface, tells us of the *‘ horizontal beds of
basaltes;” and in his 52d page, ‘‘ stratified appearances of the
declivities of the hills, consisting of layers which rise one above
another.”

*¢ All the matters of which the island is composed are placed
in beds, various in their depth, colour, and texture.”

‘© On the steeper declivities, the projecting ends of the strata
resemble flights of steps rising above one another.”

Could I have given a more accurate description of the arrange-
ment of the strata, so beautifully displayed, in both the perpen-
dicular and steep precipices lining so much of our northern
coast ?

Our author talks of the terraced form of St. Helena.—Ter-
races are common with us.—The island of Rathlin is a mass of
terraces; this form arises from original stratified construction,
and posterior removals,

The leading, and I believe the sole material in each, is ba-
saltes ; a fossil upon which Nature seems to have impressed a
peculiar character, wherever she has been pleased (as often) to
form a distinct area of this curious stone,

Our author tells us: ‘the rock which forms the principal

strata

and County of Antrim. 249

strata of the island appears evidently to be basaltes 5 it is always
regularly fissured, and running in distinct layers; these layers
have always somewhat of a columnar appearance.”

<‘ The front of the columns is sometimes flat, but more ge-
nerally prominent and angular.”

Again, ‘‘ We sometimes find a series of columns of equal height,
resembling a piece of artificial work.”

Are not these series the beautiful groups so abundant with us,
to which the country-people give the name of organs ?

There is not any circumstance in our Antrim facades which
has struck me more than the general tendency of the basaltes to
assume a columnar form, though often very imperfect ; and this
not from decay, but from failure in the original effort to obtain
greater regularity.

The same effort of Nature is observable at St. Helena: —“ In
the most irregular masses we can always observe a tendency to-
wards this columnar form.”

The next material I shall mention common to St. Helena and
Antrim, and disposed exactly in the same mafiner in each, is
ocuRB; this bright red substance Mr. St. Fond sustains to be
basalt which has undergone some chemical process of Nature
with which we are not acquainted. In this opinion I have ac-
quiesced: but my author calls it clay, and it seems equally abun-
dant and similarly arranged in both countries.

“¢ Numerous layers of clay; that of a bright red is the most
common, often seen in layers of only a few inches thick; these
red veins traverse the whole island.”

This red matter, with my author clay, with me rock, is dis-
posed everywhere as with us “ In the heart of the rock we find
nodules of clay, and among the clay nodules of rock.”’ »

There is not any circumstance on our whole coast, that al-
ways struck me more forcibly, than the transitions of our strata
into each other in a vertical direction ; for though there be a
great difference between the component rocks, both in material
and in the principle of internal construction, yet they invariably
pass into each other nearly per saltum, and we never find the
solidity or continuity of the so different materials interrupted.
Such, too, seems to be the style of the junctions of the strata at
St. Helena—<‘ The rock in some places terminates, above and
below, in indurated blue or black clay, continuous with it ; but
passing so insensibly into it, that we cannot discern at what point
the stone ends or the clay begins.”

I discovered a very curious fact, sometimes, though rarely oc-
curring with us, in a few distinct strata 5 that is, cavities ; some
now, the rest probably once, filled with pure fresh water, as in a
quarry or stratum, open at Ballylagan, the stratum at Islamore,

and

250 Geology—Si. Helena,

and the 11th stratum counting from the water at Bengore pro-
montory:—in the debris from this stratum, both at Portmoon,
and near the causeway, on its west side, I find such cavities; but
at the causeway itself, or its more contiguous strata, I never found
either water or internal cavity:—at St. Helena this singular fact
also occurs, but seems stil] more rare—‘ In a quarry, the stone
when broken is found to have many large internal cavities,
which contain a pure and wholesome water, shut up in the body
of the rock.”’

The most striking feature of resemblance between the basalti¢
districts of St. Helena and Antrim, is to be found in the whyn
dykes, so common to each ;—these mighty walls, which seem
peculiar to basaltic countries, though they are often found to
extend and diverge into districts formed of different materials,
seem to have excited little notice until very modern times: even
Dr. Hamilton, in his celebrated Letters, which gave the first philo-
sophical account of our curious coast, very slightly notices those
contiguous to Ballycastle ; letting all the otliers issuing from the
precipices on the east and west of the Giant’s Causeway, and
burying themselves in the sea, entirely escape him, though more
magnificent and more decidedly marked than those he men-
tions; nor did he examine in those he notices their singular iu-
ternal construction, the consummate regularity of their masonry,
not less wonderful than their external wall-like forms.

I have always considered our whyn dykes as more curious
than our prismatic and columnar groups, which seem hitherto
to have absorbed most of the attention given to our wonderful
coast ;—regular internal arrangement is not peculiar to basaltes,
nor are the vertical prisms and pillars forming our magnificent
colonnades more wonderful than the equally regular horizontal
prisms of which our whyn dykes are constructed,

For an account of the whyn dykes on our Antrim coast, |
must refer to the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy for
the year 1802. These dykes, when I gave in my Memoir on
that subject, I thought sufficiently grand; but how insignificant
do they now appear, when compared with the St. Helena dykes,
or with those more recently discovered on the rocky mountains,
the range that divides the vast American continent, the divortia
aquarum whence the waters are poured from their elevated
sourees in opposite directions to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans,
at a distance of some thousand miles !

Of the grandeur of the latter dykes we have sufficient evidence,
but want particulars; the St. Helena dykes are well described
by our author; he calls them “ huge vertical strata of broken
and fissured rock, which traverse the whole, from the base to the
summit.”

I must

and County of Antrim. 25)

I must here observe, that wherever our author uses the word
fissured, he means the divisions into pillars or prisms; that
is, the basaltic arrangement, common both to dykes and
facades.—He proceeds: ‘ Resting on the summit of these hills,
we see huge detached masses of rock, which rise several hundred
feet above them:”’ again, “‘ One observes here, besides the hori-
zontal and parallel strata, that they are all penetrated by huge
perpendicular strata of loose and fissured rock.”

«¢ With respect to the perpendicular strata—they are often of
great breadth, and all regularly fissured; the fragments quite
separate and distinct; but as uniformly fashioned, and evenly
placed, as the stones of a building.”

“* Several of these vertical strata rose considerably above the
plane of the hills which they penetrated, and presented the ap-
pearance of huge walls of stone, surmounting their summits, and
descending along their declivities to the base.”

There appears to be an exact similarity between the prismatic
stones of which the St. Helena and Antrim dykes are formed.

« The fragments which compose them are of all sizes, some
of them being six or eight feet long, others only a few inches,
but so regular and smooth, that they seem well adapted to the
purposes of masonry, without the aid of the chisel or hammer.”

I have stated the pillars of our Antrim colonnades to be formed
by the accumulation (in a vertical direction) of prisms, exactly
similar; but that these have no internal principle of construc-

tion, the great joint breaking irregularly, and with a conchoidal

fracture— while the great prisms of which our dykes are formed,
and laid as it were by a mason, in a horizontal position, have
a subordinate principle of construction, breaking, not like the
others, with a conchoidal fracture, but into smaller prisms, al-
ready formed, with their sides brown and polished; and I call,
for distinction, these two descriptions, component and consti-
tuent prisms, a style of construction peculiar to whyn dykes, and
which extends also to those in St. Helena, as appears clearly from
the foregoing passage.

Our author tells us ‘ of masses of irregular rock cemented to-
gether with a ponderous lava.’’ Nothing commoner with us than
masses of sound basaltes, cemented together by a sort of solid
basaltic mortar, the fracture of the former, blue; of the latter
gray, and granular; such is the mass of rock upon which Dun-
luce castle stands.

It cannot be deemed extraordinary that districts formed by
Nature of the same materials, should have these materials simi-
larly arranged in each; but where we find differences, we are
led to inquire whether they arise from a diversity in the original
formation, or are the result of posterior operations; and if

we

252 Geology—St. Helena,

we suspect the latter, by diligent attention we may perhaps be
able to trace the effect to the cause, and so be able to establish
the existence of these posterior operations, and their manner of
acting.

The striking difference between the present appearance of
St. Helena and the basaltic coast of Antrim, seems to consist in
the superior magnificence of the whyn dykes of the former, and
their exhibition of their real form of walls, by their immense ele-
vation above the surface in their proper shape—while our dykes,
as accurate walls as the other, and also of prodigious height,
rarely emerge from the stratified materials they cut through, so
as to show their real form of wall to a careless observer; yet in
some few instances they do exhibit themselves as actual walls,
rising above the surface, and pointing in the direction of the
greater remains of the wall, unequivocally displayed in the con-
tiguous fagade, as at Port Cooan and Portnabaw.

Another material difference occurs between St. Helena and
Antrim.—I have sustained that the latter has never heen the
seat of voleanic fires, nor exhibits any marks of having been
acted upon by that powerful element ;—while the marks of
dreadful combustion are unequivocal over the whole island of
St. Helena. Our author tells us:

<¢ The structure of St. Helena seems to demonstrate that it
is the work of subterraneous fire.”

‘¢ The ancient seat of volcanic fires, and subterraneous explo-
sion.”

How have these fires operated? Not by that instrument we
call a volcano, whose mode of acting is quite familiar to us, ever
since Sir W. Hamilton has been so particular in his account of
our two great European volcanoes :—the combustion of St. He-
lena has been general; fire has acted violently upon its whole
surface, but its intensity seems gradually to abate as we ascend
from the water edge to the highest point of the island; at a low
level the matters are so scorched and scorified, as not to admit
degradation and decomposition into vegetable mould ; hence
the lower parts of the island are black and torrified, naked and
barren, incapable of sustaining plants ; but as we ascend, vege-
tables begin to appear; and where the elevation is great, the
verdure becomes spendid.

Thus we are told—“ the exterior parts of the island, all round
where they border on the sea, present the appearance of a burnt
and scorified shell, black, rugged, and mouldering, without the
least trace of vegetation.”

‘¢ Some of the interior ridges of hills, which are much higher,
are covered with verdure.”

‘* The central ridge is covered to the summit with the most

luxuriant

and County of Antrim. 253

luxuriant herbage, and with groves .of indigenous shrubs and
trees—lower down we observe numerous groups of argillaceous
hills, all perfectly naked; it is indeed near the water’s edge,
and under its surface, that we tind the largest masses of lava,
and of voleanic cinders and scoria.”’

We have abundant proof in our own country, that decomposed
basalt produces a beautiful verdure at the greatest elevations ;—
the little valleys lining the bases of our most elevated basaltic
facades, at Magilligan, Cave Hill, and Monyneeny, are of a bril-
liant green; and the high verdure of the steep precipices lining
Bengore promontory, strikes every one; yet these green decli-
vities are rarely cheered by the rays of the sun, from their
northern exposure, and approach to perpendicularity.

In St. Helena, the basaltes and burnt matters are mixed in
a manner that must be very embarrassing to those who under-
take to account for the formation of this singular island, and
few naturalists can refrain from indulging their wise conjec-
tures.

Our author says, “ All these layers. consist of rock, placed
alternately with deep beds of volcanic matters; this rock is evi-
dently basaltes.”

*¢ The parallel and horizontal strata leave a wide intermediate
space, which is occupied by an irregular mass of agglutinated
volcanic matter,”

‘+ Frequently eight or ten ascents of rock are separated by
these volcanic masses.”

This steady alternation of basaltic strata with scorified mat-
ters, evidently burnt, bears no resemblance to any thing yet ob-
served at any of our known volcanoes. Our author, though he
endeavours to account for this arrangement by successive erup-
tions, is startled when he can discover no remaining craters,
Mr. Demarets too, when he attempted to account for the basal-
tie colonnades in Auvergne, as produced by volcanic eruptions,
admits that in many cases the craters had entirely disappeared,
and in others that the currents of lava had vanished. And our
author tells us expressly, “that in the island itself there are
no sulphureous, bituminous, or inflammable matters.”

In my different memoirs on the subject of our basaltic. country,
I had’ repeatedly asserted that it did not afford a particle of
burnt matter, scoria, or cinder; and that our solid basaltic rocks
did not exhibit the slightest trace of having ever sustained the
action of fire ;—of late, however, a discovery has been made of
some quantity of cinders, and scorified matter ; small indeed,—
but the fact becomes important, when we find that these mat-
ters are disposed in the very same manner in which our author
found similar matters, to an immense amount, at St. Helena;

that

254 Geology—St. Helena, and County of Antrim. ~~

that is, between the strata of columnar basalt, alternating with
them in every variety of thickness.

I have inthe Transactions of the Royal Society given a minute list
of the strata composing the promontory of Bengore. The mag-
nificent stratum forming the upper range of pillars at Pleaskin,
is the tenth, counting frem the sea—this is surmounted by an-
other stratum of massive pillars, (the eleventh,) of greater dia-
meter, coarser material, more imperfect workmanship, and much
shorter.

We have different views of portions of these strata, from Dun-
severic to the cascade at Portmoon, where the upper one is taken
away for a mile; it appears again at the depression west of
Pleaskin, and is often seen for another mile, always resting on
the tenth; and wherever the junction is exposed, these strata
pass into each other per sal/um, without interrupting the solidity
or continuity of the material: so that 1 have no doubt, could we
quarry (as we often do at the junction of other strata), the stones
would not break at that junction, but we would find masses con-
taining the junction, and portions of each stratum adhering so-
lidly.

After being thus connected for nearly three miles, without any
interruption of their continuity, as they arrive at the western
point of Port Knoffer, almost immediately above the Giant’s
Causeway, they are separated for a short space by a layer of
scoria and cinders placed between them, as happens so often at
St. Helena.

There is another remarkable feature in which St. Helena ex-
hibits strong marks of having been acted on by intense fire, to
which I find nothing similar in our basaltic country ;—the heat
has been so violent between the basaltic strata, as to act on the
ends of pillars terminating them, without affecting the middle
of the strata.—Hear what our author says:

‘¢ The middle of the rock, where it has not been injured by
time, or the effects of fires.”

‘¢ We can generally trace somewhat of the columnar appear
ance yet, from the scorification of their bases and summits.”

“The summits and bases of the basaltic rock are always
more or less scorified, cellular, and honeyecombed.”

“* The bases and summits of the columns are so black and
scorified, that they look like trunks of trees burnt to charcoal
at each end,”

These facts are of extreme importance, when we direct our
speculations to original formation and arrangement ; for, first—
in respect to the long received opinion, that basaltic pillars are
of igneous formation: it now appears, that in St. Helena, the
action of intense heat, 12 situ, has tended, so far as it could

reach,

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates. 255

reach, to injure and deface them; and as to the violent vol-
eanic explosion, by which our author supposes this island inay
have been raised at once from the hottom of the sea; the facts
I have just quoted are utterly irreconcilable to such supposition,
and would rather lead us to a long train of alternate operations;
violent ignition, regularly followed in succession by gigantic ba-
saltic formation, and the result a mighty accumulation of steady,
parallel strata, at length laid bare by posterior operations, re-
moving much, but disturbing nothing, and disclosing in the vast
precipitous facades of the island, the early arrangements of Na-
ture, with the materials still retaining the positions in which
they were originally placed.

1 shall now proceed to try if the new matter furnished by this
singular island affords any additional support to the wild posi-
tions I have already sustained, to wit—that our present, is not
the original surface of our globe, but much less elevated, and
greatly diversified by the-action of powerful agents, with which
we are not acquainted.—-That these agents have carried off im-
meise masses of our original materials without disturbing what
they left behind—and that the accumulations of our strata once
reached higher than the summits of the loftiest mountains I have
had it in my power to examine.

The facts from which these positions follow as conclusions,
must be reserved for another letter, in which I mean to gene-
ralize ; and after proving that these positions receive the fullest
support from the facts found in St. Helena, I shall probably
extend my views, and show that similar operations have heen
performed on other parts of the world, which I have not ex-
amined.

And what may appear yet more wild—that there is a portion
of the world still reserved for similar operations.

W. Ricnarpson, D.D.

LIL. On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates ; in Reply to Mr. De
Luc’s Oljections to the Doctrines maintained by the Author.
By J. D. Maycocx, M.D.

[Concluded from p. 172.]

I; has never been my intention to propose a new hypothesis for
explaining the excitement of the Galvanic pile: but as M. Volta’s
(differently modified) appeared to be very generally and impli-
citly received, I noticed in my Essay some objections to which
1 considered it liable; and as it will not take up much of the
time of’ your readers, it may not be amiss to touch on that sub-
ject again.

The

256 On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates.

The fundamental principle of M. Volta’s hypothesis 'is, that
from the contact of two metals the equilibrium of electricity i is
destroyed, and the metals while in contact possess different states
of electricity. This principle was supposed to be fairly deduci-
ble from the phenomena of the Voltaic plates.

In the first place my experiments demonstrate that two plates
of dissimilar metals, not previously electrified, being brought
into contact, indicate no electricity whatever ; but on being se-~
parated a change in their electrical state is immediately percep-
tible, the one being positive and the other negative. A sup--
position that two bodies are in different states of electricity while
in contact, because they are so after separation, would certainly
be gratuitous ; ; but to affirm that two bodies, which indicate no
electricity whatever, are in different electrical states, would be
nothing less than to contend for an absurdity, In the combina-
tion for a Galvanic pile the metals are brought together, they
remain in contact a considerable time, and during that time the.
excitement of the pile commences and continues. How can the
excitement which appears in the pi/e while the metals are in
contact, be referred to the same principle that occasions the ex-
citement of the plates, which never indicate excitement while
in contact—never until they are separated? In the ‘second
place, Mr. De Luc has clearly demonstrated that the efficient
group consists of two metals, not in contact, but with a moist
substance tterposed. How then can the excitement be attri-
buted to an electro-motive property of metals, exerted while they
are in contact, when contact does not appear to be an essential
to excitement ;—nay, when excitement is not evmeced in the case
where contact subsists between the metals, as in dissection the
third; but is fully evident in that, in which contact does not
subsist, as in dissection the first? In the third place the Voltaic
plates do not act unless they are applied to each other at so
many points as to manifest a sensible cohesion; but in the
couronne de tasses, the porcelain trough, and Mr. De Luc’s first
dissection of the pile, excitement is produced, although the dif-
ferent metals are connected by very little more than a physical
point. Again; the Voltaic plates do not act unless their surfaces
be perfectly bright and dry; in the pile the metals, even when
new, are never so clean as the Voltaic plates; in general they
are very much tarnished, and during their action are never dry.
Is there. then any analogy between the circumstances necessary
for the excitement of the pile and those necessary for the ex-
citement of the Voltaic plates? and how can the phenomena
of the Voltaic plates afford a first principle for explaining the
excitement of the Galvanic pile 2

In thus arguing against the hypothesis of M. Volta, I by no

means

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates. 237

Means wish to be understood as supporting the chemical expla-
nation which has been opposed to it. [I am aware that it is,
in its turn, liable to some objections. Nevertheless it appears
to me that a decomposable fluid (moisture at least) is always
present during excitement of the pile, and that chemical ac-
tion is in some way essential to it. In what manner the de-
composable fluid acts in producing excitement, | think still a
question ; and on this account I have observed that all the opi-
nions which have been proposed to account for the excitement
of the Galvanic pile, the Galvanic trough, or the electric column,
are extremely unsatisfactory.

Having laid particular stress on the fact that the contact and
separation of dissimilar metals occasion them to assume different
electrical states, that the difference is not observable while the
bodies are in contact, but becomes evident on their separation ;
and having also stated that excitement is not produced by the
contact and separation of plates of similar metal; and further,
that the law is, as far as experiment has gone, general, and not
confined to metallic bodies*,—I ventured to remark in a second
paper f on the subject of electricity, that the contact and sepa-
ration of successive particles must take place during friction; and
therefore, that if the phenomena of electricity, as produced by
friction, could be consistently explained on the principles which
apply to the excitement of bodies by contaet and separation,
then there would be a fair ground for generalization. By at-
tempting such an explanation I endeavoured to establish as a
position, that the contact and separation of dissimilar bodies is a
cause of electrical excitement, and that the excitement by fric-
tion is referable to this property. I did not, however, attempt
to carry the generalization further: the cause of excitement of
the Galvanic pile I do not consider to be yet known, wherefore
it must be impossible to ascertain what relation it bears to the

cause of excitement by contact and separation. In the rapid
progress of investigation it will no doubt be discovered that the
two causes of excitement, contact and separation, and combina-
tion (if I may so express the means of exciting the pile), are both
referable to one cause, and then the generalization will be per-
fect as far as relates to the facts which at present constitute
electrical science. Thus, as knowledge accumulates and reason
is successfully exerted, the principles of science become less nu-
merous and more general.

Mr. De Luc, however, objects to the generalization I have at-
tempted on two grounds:—the first, the supposed inaccuracy of
my experiments, concerning which I shall add nothing to what

* Phil, Journal, vol. xxix. See Experiments. + Ibid. vol. xxxi.

Vol. 48. No, 222, Oct. 1816, R I have

.

258 On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates.

I have already said ;—the second, the result of his own experi-
ments, which I shall presently consider.

Before I proceed, let me observe, that although I certainly
have used the word electric in opposition to conductor, it was
by no means my intention to imply that “the former only had
the faculty to be excited by friction ;” and lest my mode of ex-
pression should appear to others, as well as to Mr. De Lue, to
involve such an hypothesis, I would wish substituted the word
non-conductor for electric wherever the latter occurs in either of
mv papers.

The experiments, from which is formed Mr. De Lue’s second
ground of objection, are contained in a paper on the electric
effects of friction*, and tend to prove that friction between si-
tilar bodies will produce excitement. Certainly as excitement
takes place from the contact and separation of dissimilar bodies,
and does not from the contact and separation of similar bodiest,
the analogy I have endeavoured to establish will not hold, ex-
cept it appears that electricity is excited by the friction of dis-
similar bodies, and is not by the friction of similar bodies.
That no considerable degree of excitement can be obtained by
the friction of similar bodies, will I suppose be readily admitted ;
and that the fact is generally true, that it is the friction between
dissimilar bodies that produces excitement, the few instances
to the contrary being only exceptions, will also be granted; and
I might therefore urge, that it is not fair to bring a few anoma-
lous exceptions to a general rule, in opposition to strong analogies.
Let me however observe, that if two bodies be precisely similar
in relation to an experiment,—-and if they be made to act on each
other, their action must be reciprocal,—in that action the acting:
surfaces must both be submitted to a like operation, and it is
altogether impossible to conceive how the effect on one can differ
from the effect on the other. Moreover, electrical excitement is,
as far as we know, confined to the surface of bodies. The in-
fluence of dissimilarity of surface in reference to electricity is
sufficiently known, a difference of colour will occasion a bedy to
assume a positive or a negative charge. If a polished tube of
glass be excited by friction with flannel, it will be positively elec-
trified ; but if the surface of the same glass tube be ground and
submitted to the same operation, it will be negatively eleetrified.
Supposing Mr. De Luc’s experiment to have been performed
when the apparatus was new, and when the polish on the glass
rubber and on the glass cylinder was perfect, a very little dif-
ference if the hardness and fineness of the two pieces of glass.
would occasion the surfaces to be differently affected when he

* Phil. Journal, vol. xxviii, ¢ See my Experiments, Ibid, vol. xxix.
* turned.

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates. 259

** turned rapidly the winch for a little while.” I doubt not that
a polished glass surface would easily be excited by a ground glass
surface : for as the grinding of glass so alters the relation it bears
to woollen cloth, that in its polished state it becomes positive,
and in its rough state it becomes negative, by friction with it,—
so do I suppose that the grinding of one of two pieces of glass wiil
so alter their relations, in, point of electricity, to one another,
that friction between them may occasion excitement. Again:
there is a great variety in glass, arising from the materials of
which it is manufactured, and we are not satisfied that the
pieces were in the first instance precisely similar. I think also
that it might be shown that in the experiment with the ribbons
{analogous to those performed a long time since by Mr. Berg-
man with skains of silk), from the manner they were made to act
on each other, there was some difference as to surface. I will
not, however, urge this point any further: I would not wish that
the analogy I have attempted to draw, should be supported by
finely drawn ingenious suppositions; but that, if it be found to
hold generally true, it should not be rejected on account of one
or two anomalous exceptions:—and if it be ascertained that all
considerable degrees of excitement by friction are obtained by the
action on each other of dissimilar bodies, it will not be alto-
gether unphilosophical to suspect that some minute causes, not
cognisable to our senses, or not easily understood, have operated,
and tended to produce the anomaly in those cases, in which very
minute degrees of excitement are observable from the action
on each other of bodies apparently similar.

In explaining the views I had taken of some points of electri-
cal science, 1 cautiously avoided using any expressions which
would involve an hypothesis ; and when I was constrained from
long usage and the want of better terms to do so, I accom-
panied those expressions with one or two remarks, which ] have
been rather surprised to find has been the object of censure.
Mr. De Luc considers not only that “ the existence of an electric
fluid has been demonstrated by a long series of experiments,” but
that it is composed of “ many ingredients,” that “ besides light,
fire, and an odorate substance, there are other ingredients in
the electric fluid, one of which well determined is a most tenu-
ous fluid, which imparts its strong expansibility to the others,
and is the cause of the phenomena called electric influences.”
This fluid is called “ vector, as giving motion to the inexpansive
substance which constitutes the density.” Furthermore, that
it has been demonstrated that electric motions are produced
only by the substance constituting the dénsity, without any par-
ticipation of the fluid producing the electric influences.” I am
fully aware, sir, that Mr. De Luc has written all this, and has

R2 instituted

260 On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates.

instituted many experiments on the subject:—but I am not sa
tisfied that he has demonstrated it. The species of demonstra~
tion to which I have been accustomed, has always carried to
my mind a degree of conviction far more irresistible than any
thing I have ever seen written on the subject of an electric fluid.
I cannot hélp thinking that the points which are here considered
as demonstrated, have been only very ingeniously supposed ; the
suppositions being grounded on their capability (if true) of ex-
plaining electrical phenomena. I do not mean to argue that
they are not true; it might be as difficult to prove their falsity
as their truth; we all know on whom rests the onus proband.
Admit them, and probably they will explain very agreeably a
number of important and interesting phenomena:—Give to
Archimedes a point on which to rest the fulcrum of his lever,
and he moves the earth.

Mr. De Luc also seems to think that the rejection of the idea of
an electric fluid, such as he has analysed and described, involves
the whole field of electricity and galvanism iu obscurity. Now
[I cannot possibly conceive how pausing a little before we enter
into the mazes of hypothesis can have such an effect; at the
same time I am satisfied that by stepping too boldly into the
wide field of speculation we endanger the interest and reputation
of science. I do not consider the remote causes of phenomena
to be the objects of science ; but the generalization of the known
properties of bodies, and the discovery of those properties by
observation and experiment. Thus, I suppose the science of
physical astronomy complete, although the remote cause of gra-
vitation remain for ever unknown; and the science of pneumato-
logy has been carried to a high degree of perfection by those
authors who have made no reference to the essential qualities of
spirit; and I cannot perceive an absolute impossibility for all
phenomena, termed electrical, whether they become evident in
our confined laboratories or in the great laboratory of Nature,
the universe, being generalized and arranged in the form of a
science, independent of any curious inquiries as to the existence
and nature of an electric fluid. However indispensable, it is
certainly not sufficient that the causes to which we refer phie-
nomena be capable of explaining them; they must be known to
have an existence, before they can be supposed to operate.

** It is a dictate of common sense,” says the excellent Reid,
* that the causes we assign of appearances ought to be real,
and not fictions of human imagination ; and it is likewise self-
evident, that such causes ought to be adequate to the effects
which are conceived to be produced by them.” Impressed with
this opinion, I do not think it advisable to interweave with ex-
perimental facts and legitimate conclusions, hypothetical as-

sumptions,

On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates. 261

‘sumptions, however ingeniously they may have been conceived,
or however comprehensive may be their grasp.

Sir Isaac Newton published his demonstrations of the universal
influence of the law of gravitation, in his admirable work De
Principiis; his speculations concerning an etherial fluid are
thrown together in the form of query at the end of his Optics:
but the valuable experiments and discoveries of some philoso-
phers are so blended with hypothetical reasoning, that it is dif-
ficult to separate the one from the other; and this may in some
way account for their having remained without that degree of
attention to which their intrinsic worth entitles them, ‘ meritis
non respondere favorem.”

From the preceding remarks it would no doubt be easy to
eollect the reasons which prevented my making a reference to
those papers on electricity, which had been published by Mr.
De Luc previously to the period at which I wrote; but lest any
mistake should arise, allow me to state them explicitly.

In the first place, I did not conceive that Mr. De Luc had re-
futed Sir H. Davy’s hypothesis respecting the cause of chemical
affinity, although I did not think it requisite to give at that time
the reasons for such an opinion, which being now called upon I
have freely explained.

In the second place, I did not perceive the absolute necessity
of insisting that Mr. De Luc’s experiments with the Voltaic plates
were from some circumstance coarsely executed. I described
my own experiments, and the results; the apparatus employed,
and the cautions requisite to be observed ; arid I was induced to
hope that Mr. De Luc and other gentlemen would repeat these
experiments, and that their observations would confirm mine.

In the third place, In stating some opinions relative to the
excitement of the Galvanic pile, I did uot notice that they were
in opposition to Mr. De Luc’s conclusions, because I felt per-
suaded that all those gentlemen who might honour my commu-
nications with a patient perusal, would also be well acquainted
with the papers of so distinguished a philosopher as Mr. De Luc;
and to their judgement I submitted the difference between our
views on the subject, which difference it would be altogether
impossible for them to overlook.

In the fourth place, I did not notice Mr. De Luc’s experiment
in which a very slight degree of excitement was perceived in con-
sequence of friction between a glass rubber and glass cylinder,
because I did not think it satisfactory in itself; and deeming it
at all events an anomalous exception to a general rule, and not
likely to be admitted in opposition to strong analogy, I left it,
as 1 must now do, to operate with all the force it possesses.

Having endeavoured, sir, to explain and defend, in a candid

R3 manner,

262 Essay on Agriculture as a Science.

manner, those parts of my papers which have heen thought cen-
surable by Mr. De Luc, I cannot omit acknowledging the grati-
fication I have derived from his approbation of the other parts ;
and the more particularly as his principal objections to my state-
ments, those which he thinks supported by his own experiments,
appear to me to have arisen from his having misunderstood the
purport of what I have written. 1 beg leave to express the very
high consideration and respect I have for him, and
I am, sir,
Your obliged and faithful servant,
J. D. Maycocx, M.D.

LUI. Essay on Agriculture, as a Science, subdivided into se-
parate Departments: By W. Ricnarpson, D.D,

J HAVE often lamented that agriculture, far from being consi-
dered as a science, and treated as such, was reduced merely to a
measure of practice, and left in the hands of persons little quali-
fied to advance the theoretical knowledge of this useful branch
of learning, and little disposed to improve its practice, by chan-
ging the usages to which they were most obstinately attached,
or even to admit that their practices were capable of receiving
improvement.

This earliest, and most necessary of all sciences, ought, as I
think, to be considered as consisting of three separate depart-
ments, distinct from each other; the theoretical—the experi-
mental—and the practical.

The first and second are at present quite absorbed by the
third, without any prospect of emerging in their proper and di-
stinct characters.

1 shal] endeavour to describe the qnalities which I conceive
the dormant personages represepting these several departments
ought to possess, and their respective offices.

The theorist should be well acquainted with natural history
in general, as well as with that of the several vegetables we are
used to cultivate for our own consumption or that of our do-
mestic animals ;—their habits, their properties—their seasons
of attaining perfection.—He watches the process of Nature with
attention, and combines his general observations with those he
has made on the particularities of each separate vegetable, and
then speculates, a przor?, on the modes of culture best suited to
them ; and the soils best adapted to them, and likely to.make
them bring forward their produce in the greatest abundance and
highest perfection.

Are the suggestions of the theorist to be immediately adopted

and

Essay on Agriculture as a Science. 263

and earried into practice? By no means ;—they must under-
go the test of experiment. Here the second department of the
agricultural school, as arranged by me, opens, and a new per-
sonage is introduced.

The experimentalist should be careful, patient, and diligent,
without prejudices or even opinions on the subjects before him :
he is to make his experiments on the very smallest scale, so that
he can diversify them without expense, and without having any
interest in their success,—failure is to him exactly the same
thing ; as information is his sole object.

This personage adopts the ideas, and if you please the whims
of the theorist, which he is not to presume to call Utopian—he
gives them a fair and patient trial under different circumstances,
and on a small scale. Shall he discover any thing, in the slightest
degree promising, he repeats, and varies his ex <periments, until
he satisfies himself, either that the measure is a vain one, or that.
it deserves attention. In this latter case the experimentalist
makes his report to the agriculturists, recommends to them to
try the measure on a larger scale, and in actual practice.

Even expense, ultimately so important, is not in an early stage
to stop proceedings; for the object immediately before the school
is to devise by what means the vegetable in their hands can be
brought tothe highest degree of perfection and utility ;—the ques-
tion of expense comes next; this on his diminutive scale, is no-
thing to the experimentalist, —but should it threaten to be
weighty, the ingenuity of all parties is now to be exerted to
find st uecedanea ; and a knowledge of the subject being acquired,
measures may be devised which will attain the object by more
accessible means.

The third character in the drama is the practical agriculturist,
of whom I complain that he has taken upon himself the whole
three characters I mentioned: He treats the theorist with super-
cilious contempt, as presuming to obtrude his wild speculations
into a department of which he considers himself as complete
master.

Hence improvements are discouraged, and discoveries that
might have proved useful are nipped in the bud.

The second character I wish to introduce does not yet exist ;
whence it comes that discoveries which have been forced into
attention rarely meet with a fair trial: they are encountered by
the practical farmer with prejudice, and even with jealousy; they
are considered as obtrusions; and treated as uninvited, unwel-
come strangers.

It is some thirty years since Dr. Lettsom brought mangel wur-
zel to England, and was strenuous in his exertions to teach the

R4 use

264 Essay on Agrieuliure as a Science.

use and value of that excellent root: yet the English agriculturists,
though so fond of house feeding, let it slip through their fingers:

and if, after a japse of many ycars, they have at last become sen-
sible of its value, it was owing to the strenuous interference of
my amiable countrywoman, the marchioness of Salisbury: it is,
at least, to this noble agriculturist that we owe the introduction
of this important vegetable into Ireland; and 1 am proud of
having been an active instrument under her ladyship, who was
so good as for years to supply me with seed.

Sometimes, indeed, the practical farmer persuades icemalt
that he has assumed the character of the experimentalist, and
tells us he has made the experiment ;—that is, he has cultivated
a field in a particular way. But it is not from solitary trials on
a great scale that information is to be obtained; experiments lead
us to knowledge by comparison,—they should be multiplied and
diversified. &

Hence agriculture, asa science, is at a stand ;—the present
possessor of the field, perfectly satisfied with his own attainments,
and in high admiration of his own practices (often very good),
does not admit improvement to be necessary, and indignantly
rejects any innovation.

He is encouraged in his contempt fer theoretical speculations,
by the ridicule which a witty author throws on the agricultural
projectors of his day.

It is just a century since Swift made a bitter attack on the

Royal Society, which he describes as a set of projectors, lately
incorporated by royal patent.

It is not for me to defend this respectable body: a century
has intervened since this wanton attack was made upon them,
and their merits or demerits are best appreciated by their inter-
mediate proceedings and transactions.

My object in referring to the passage in Swift’s Laputa, is ta
throw light on the arrangement | have made in the agricultural
science, and to afford proof of its propriety.

Swift says, “ the professors contrive new rules and methods
of agriculturo—new instruments and tools; all the fruits of the
earth shall come to maturity, at whatever season we think fit to
choose, and increase an hundred-fold more than they do at pre-
sent.”

He states “ the result of all this to be, that none of these pro-~
jects are yet brought to perfection, and in the meantime the whole
country lies miserably waste; by all which, instead of being dis-
couraged, , they are fifty times more bent on prosecuting their
schemes.”

Admitting this to be a fair account of the facts in Swift’s day,

(which

oe.

Essay on Agriculture as a Science. 265

{which I much doubt,) the picture he draws is a necessary result
of his own statements, from which we can infer,

That in his time projectors were wild and speculative—prac-
tical agriculturists not quite so averse from innovations as at
present, but equally tenacious of their practices when once
adopted.

The whole mischief (admitting it to have existed) obviously
arose from Swift’s having omitted a personage in the agricultural
drama, forming a coalition between the wild theorist and
positive practical farmer; omitting the intermediate personage,
the experimentalist, who would have protected them both from
mischief, suppressing the extravagancies of the projector, and
paying every attention to his suggestions that bore the test of
experiment ; and suffering nothing to pass into practice, which
did not afford a reasonable prospect of advancing the agricul-
tural science, and multiplying the benefits derived from it.

Let us try two or three agricultural questicns by the test of
the arrangement I have suggested, and we shall see what pro-
gress the science has made without them, and to what state it
probably would have advanced, had they been adopted.

{ commence with the gramina,a branch of agriculture to which
for twenty years I have paid considerable attention, and which,
for these last ten, I have considered as my peculiar department.

The great importance to us of grassy produce is obvious ;
and nature has been very liberal to us in that line—she has given
us (as botanists tell us) one hundred and fifty varieties to supply
the wants of our cattle, and to exercise our ingenuity in disco=
vering their uses and developing their properties.

What use has the agriculturist derived from this copious stock?
But a solitary one.—He has discovered that rye grass when sown
with clover makes an excellent mixture; into further practice
his knowledge does not carry him: and yet in dogged confidence
he turns a deaf ear to any suggestions for increasing his stock
of grasses, or advancing his knowledge on their subject.

What would probably have been the result, had agriculture
been distributed into the three departments I have supposed,
and the gramina had _ passed through the hands of the rhedriue
and experimentalist, before they reached the practical farmer ?

The theorist, speculating @ priort, would have considered what
were the properties most likely to give value to grass, and by
which it would be made most useful to our cattle: he would
soon have perceived that three were prominent—earliness—lux-
wriance—~and quick powers of reproduction after being cut or
eaten down ; he would have desired the experimentalist to make
many small plots, and to compare the different grasses in these
several points of view.

The

266 Essay on Agriculiure as a Science.

The experimentalist. would soon have discovered that the
grasses possessing all, or the majority of these valuable qualities,
were very few in number, and that rye-grass was not among them.

When I cease to generalize, I shall give a small essay on the
grasses worth cultivation, having ascertained their comparative
values, after much pains, and with great accuracy.

The miserable ignorance of the practical agriculturists on the
subject of the gramina is easily accounted for; they have con-
signed the task of instructing them on all rural subjects to two
descriptions of persons—the Grub-street writers, who, without
ever having cultivated or perhaps seen a farm, maintain them-
selves by furnishing agricultural magazines and newspapers
with essays on such subjects as their employers point out, con-
ceiving them to be popular at the time.

_ The second description of public instructors in the agricultural
line are, the seed- and nursery-men, who, having their goods
to dispose of, take the opportunity of displaying their own great
knowledge, and of puffing theirsaleablecommodities; these gentry
often publish agricultural volumes, which they fiad a very lucra-
tive trade, as the English buy every thing in that line, conceiv-
ing they are purchasing information.

The ignorance of these charlatans is scarcely credible, nor is
it easy to tell to what mischief it may have led ; both the seeds-
men and the books of their predecessors have recipes, nos-
trums, stating mixtures of eight or nine different species of grass,
which they advise agriculturists to throw together in certain
proportions of the seeds, and then to sow one mixture for mea-
dow, another for pasture.

An exainination of these lists by any one who understands the
natural history and qualities of the several grasses, will instantly
discover the mischievous ignorance of these quacks.

I should not have spoken so boldly on this subject, had I not
evidence under the hands of the first seeds-men in London to
confirm what I say.—It is common for improving gentlemen to

sire their seeds-men to send them such a mixture of grass seed
as will suit their soil. The order is instantly complied with, and
the list established by the bill. I answer for it, whoever consults
his bill for this list, will find many worthless grasses, of incom-
‘ patible periods; and that he will find tall oat grass, avena
elatior, recommended, and sent to him.

Now tall oat grass is by far the most mischievous of the
squitch tribe; it has small bulbous roots like the crocus, and is
known in this country by the names of purl grass and knot
squitch; it is reprobated by our farmers as one of our most
troublesome weeds.

Such i is the style of instruction we receive from the present

_ agricultural

Essay on Agriculture as a Science. 267

agricultural authorities; and so long as that task is left in such
unhappy hands, it is no wonder that our knowledge of any par-
ticular branch of this useful science should. be sadly limited; or
that Sir Humphry Davy should complain, that our acquaintance
with the gramina should be confined to two species*.

Better prospects are now opening ; a revolution has fortunately
taken place;—philosophy supported by science has stepped for-
ward, and the Board of Agriculture, with its able chemical lec-
turer, have rescued the gramina at least from the hands of
mercenary ignorance.

This unexpected irruption of science into the peaceful and
productive domain of these indefatigable scribblers has excited
no small uneasiness in Grub-street; one of the gentlemen, whose
name is perpetually occurring in almost every agricultural publi-
cation, shows the alarm that school has taken, at the dangerous
invasion of their territories. He says:

** ] am far from wishing to depreciate the use of science, as
directed to the improvement of agriculture; but the pleasure,
the delight there is in studying Nature through these spectacles,
is greater than its benefit.”

** All that science has done to improve our knowledge of the
value of the grasses as yet, consists in showing which affords the
greater proportion of saccharum:—with those who sing the
praises of analysis, the burthen of the song is saccharum.”

«¢ Can it be reasonably said that the choice of rye-grass, as a
separate grass, was the result of accident? This text that is
quoted from Sir Humphry Davy is not Gospel.”” Again.

‘* This account is miserable, because it is not true; and the
hasty expressions of great men ought to be more carefully re-
pressed, as they are the more widely. diffused.”

I know not any question in rural practice that more requires
the interference of the scientific theorist than the proper period
for mowing, nor any point upon which the practical farmer is
more ignorant or more opinionated—he prides himself on having
saved his hay before others, and boasts of its fragrance and tea-
like verdure.

The theorist, acquainted with natural history, would have teld
him that the juices of all vegetables attain their greatest per-

> Sir Humphry Davy admits two varieties to be in use ; but the second,
cocksfoot, is a recent preachy and the first recommendation of this
luxuriant grass to the practical farmer, will be found in the Transactions of
the Royal Irish Academy, six or seven years ago, in a memoir of mine, on
the useful grasses, with my reasons for strongly recommending cocksfoot,
deduced from its natural bistory.

Whoever has published any earlier recorimendation of this grass to the
agriculturists of his country, is entitled to the credit of its introduction.

fection

268 Essay on Agriculture as a Science.

fection in their infloreseence—that it is at this period alone all
extracts from vegetable substances are taken: and as in the
ease of hay the whole vegetable is preserved, it is of great im-
portance that it should be mowed in its highest state of perfection,
that is, when the predominant varieties of grass are in flower.

The practical farmer knows nothing of all this: he has his own
rules for deciding on maturity, and generally cuts his crop be-
fore either the cocksfoot or the rye-grass (the two earliest of
our predominant grasses) are in flower.

I sometimes feel an ill-natured pleasure when I see the tramp-
cocks of these early gentry collapse considerably for want of
substance, giving evidence of premature mowing, and establish-
ing the inferiority of the hay.

Here the experimentalist would be useful, by enabling us to
compare portions of hay from the same crop, cut at different
periods—even the farmer himself, would he condescend to doubt,
might soon satisfy himself; by leaving the amount of a tramp-
cock uncut for one, two, or perhaps three weeks, later than the
rest, he would probably find his hay firmer and better; he is cer-
tain also, the quantity is somewhat increased.

Was the arrangement | recommend adopted, many agricultural
questions of much importance would receive speedy solutions.—
That of the proper seasons for sowing our several grains has
been much agitated.

Upon this question the theorist would pronounce generally,
that agricultural policy directed the season for sowing each ve-
getable, to be so chosen, that it might remain above ground in
the very best portion of the year, neither exposed unnecessarily
to late frosts in its tender state, nor to premature winter seve-
rities when ripening its seed.

Hence the season for sowing each vegetable should be deter-
mined by the interval between the seed and the sickle, which
Nature has assigned to each species, corresponding with the
period of gestation in animals, and unalterably fixed at the time
of their original formation. Upon this principle it is obvious
that the vegetables of slowest growth should be sown first, while
those of quicker progress should be delayed longer.

The question has now reached the experimentalist, who will
probably sow many varieties in distinct plots, on the same day;
and by accurately observing their times of ripening will make
himself acquainted with their respective periods.

What I recommend here as experiment, is the actual practice
in Egypt, where they sow all their grains, of whatever species, on
the same day, that is, the first moment the retreat of the Nile
gives them access to their land, just relieved from its annual ine
undation,

We

Essay on Agriculture as a Science. 269

- We have Scriptural authority for the result, marking the pro-
gress each separate grain had made in the same time,

Moses tells us that at the time of a particular event, ‘ the
barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled, but the wheat and
the rye were not grown up.’

The experimentalist will now diversify his trials; and by sow-
ing the same grain at different times, in many small plots, he
will soon be able to determine, how far, for the security of the
young tendril, he can delay sowing, without throwing the mature
plant into a season unfit for ripening its seed.

It has been made a question—Whether in choosing our corn
for seed, we should choose our weightiest pickle, or whether the
smaller and lighter might not answer just as well ;—in other
words: From which side of our winnowing heap are we.to take
our’seed—the windward—or the leeward? The fuller, plumper
and larger grain, will not cover so much ground as the smaller,
and is also of higher price; hence by sowing the smaller and
lighter grain, we should save considerably; and Sir Joseph
Banks is of opinion we may safely take-our seed from the lee-
ward side of the heap,

Was the question brought before the agricultural school, ar-
ranged as I suppose ;—the theorist would tell us that the farina
constitutes the whole value of the corn; that this portion of the
vegetable forms no part of the organic construction, has no con-
nexion with the vital principle of the germ, but is merely a mass
of unorganized matter, provided by Nature for the sustenance
of the nascent plant, until by its roots it can extract food for it-
self ;—that the farina in vegetables corresponds with the yolk
of the egg in oviparous animals.

Now we observe that in every thing connected with the pre-
servation of species, Nature is not only liberal, but generally
profuse, and (no doubt to provide against difficulties) often re-
dundant—besides, the provision was made when the vegetable
tribe was left to propagate itself, without any of the facilities
devised by man, which he now gives to assist vegetation and
increase produce.

More farina, it is obvious, would be required under the hard-
ships of a state of nature ; anda greater quantity will be formed
under cultivation, as animals fostered by man acquire a degree
of obesity which they never reach in a state of nature. Thus
it appears, the quantity of farina is increased, and the expendi-
ture of it diminished ; of course it is highly probable, we may
with safety avail ourselves of the redundance ; that is, sow the
lighter, and consume the weightier grain.

The question is now brought before the experimentalist, and
one of the lightest he has to encounter; he need only sow a few

sinall

270 Essay on Agriculture as‘a Science.

small plots with seeds taken from the opposite sides of the win-
nowing heap, and by a careful comparative view of the crops
when ripe, he will be able to pronounce upon the safety of the
measure, and by attention he will soon discover what he will
gain by pursuing it.

The preservation of the vigour of our soils, and the repara-
tion of the waste they sustain by our perpetual ‘call upon them
for crops, and consequent loosening of their texture, by over
irequent cultivation, is a subject of vast importance, and has al-
ready excited much attention.

The mechanical mode is simple ; to renovate, and consqlidate
our harassed and open soil, by mixtures of firmer materials ;
that is, compost formed of strong earth, or pure clay well atte-
nuated : but in loose, light and sandy ground, such consolida-
ting materials are rarely found: the agriculturist is therefore
thrown upon his own ingenuity; and I know not any instance
in which it has been more successfully exerted.

He has found, that by alternating what are known to be ex-
hausting crops, with those that are deemed to be ineliorating—
eulmiferous with root crops—farinaceous with green crops—he
has brought his ground to bear more constant pressure than it
was supposed capable of sustaining :—still the exhaustion, though
much abated, is evidently perceivable, and the Norfolk farmers
complain their grounds are tiring of their favourite turnip.

Mr, Gregg, now become very eminent as a practical agricul-
turist, admits rest to be indispensably. necessary, aud recom-
mends two successive crops of grass,

To make that rest as effective as possible, let us speculate a
priori—Which are the grass crops that exhaust the ground least?
Which are those that will consolidate and renovate it most ef-
fectually? And which, during the period of rest, will yield the
greatest produce? .,

As the question is now brought within my own immediate de-
partment ; when I cease to generalize, I shall on my return to
the gramina, point out those which I conceive best suited to
these purposes, with my reasons, and shall then leave the ques-
tion in the hands of the experimentalist.

It is in adversity, when the vegetables he is cultivating are
attacked by various disorders, that the agriculturist will find the
benefit of the arrangement I have suggested; as it will enable
him to meet with strength, and I may say, discipline, the difi-.
culties he will have to encounter.

But this subject must be reserved for another letter.

Clonfecle, Moy, May 31, 1816. W. Ricuarpson, D.D.

LIV. Ex-

en

[. 271. ]

LIV. Extract from a Memoir on the Combinations of Phos-
phorus with Oxygen.

Read to the French Academy of Sciences on the \st and 15th
of July 1816. By M. DuLone*,

Te chief olsject of this paper is to prove that there are at
least four distinct acids, formed by the combination of phes-
phorus with oxygen. The acid with the minimum of oxygen,
which I intend to call hypophosphorous acid, is produced by the
reaction of water on the alkaline phosphurets. When the latter
are properly prepared, there results from the decomposition which
they make the water undergo, phosphorated hydrogen gas in
variable proportions, and two acids which neutralize precisely
the base of the phosphuret. One of these acids is the phosphoric
acid, and the other is the hypophosphorous acid. By employing
the phosphuret of barytes we may obtain very easily the latter
acid in its state of purity, For this purpose it is sufficient to
separate by the filter the insoluble phosphate from the water
which holds in solution the hypophosphite of barytes, and to
precipitate the base of this salt by an adequate quantity of sul-
phuric acid. The acid solution which remains may be concen-
trated by evaporation ;—pure water only is extricated, and we
obtain a viscous liquid strongly acid and uncrystallizable. Bya
stronger heat we decompose it: phosphuretted hydrogen gas
is developed, a little phosphorus is sublimed, and phosphoric acid
remains in the retort, partly combined with the glass. The
hypophosphorous acid acts, in general, as a very energetic de-
oxidant.

‘The hypophosphites are remarkable by their extreme solubi-
lity. None are insoluble; those of barytes and of strontian even
erystallize with great difficulty; those of potash, soda, and am-
monia are soluble, in all proportions, in highly rectified alcohol.
That of potash is much more deliquescent than the muriate of
lime: they absorb slowly the oxygen of the air, and become
acid: they are decomposed by the action of heat, giving the
same products with the hypophosphorous acid.

We cannot effect the analysis of this acid by direct means,
since none of its combinations can be obtained in the dry state.
In order to ascertain its proportions, I transformed an indeter-
minate quantity of it into phosphoric acid by means of chlore.
The quantity of chlore employed to produce this effect, and the
weight of the phosphoric acid which results from it being known,
as well as the proportions of the latter acid, it is evident we have
all that is wanted to resolve the question, This analysis being

* Annales de Chimic et de Physique, June 1816, p. 141.
very

272. Extract from a.Memoir

very complex, and resting on a great number of data deduced
from experiments, we cannot expect from it a perfect exactitude.
I found by this process, that the hypophosphorous acid was formed
of 100 phosphorus, and 36°5 of oxygen: but according to the
composition of the phosphoric acid, which may be known with
the utmost precision, the number 37°44, which is the three-
tenths of the oxygen contained in this acid, seems to be nearer
the truth. According to this, the hypophosphorous acid must
be composed of :

Phosphorus .. 72°75—100

Oxygen e. 27°25—37°44.

100

These results are calculated upon the hypothesis that the
hypophosphorous acid is a binary combination; but we may
entertain doubts on this method of regarding its nature, and
there are even strong reasons for believing that it is a triple
eompound of oxygen, hydrogen, and phosphorus, forming a new
species of hydracid. ‘This is a question which I shall, by and
by, attempt to resolve.

The acid which is immediately above the latter, results from
the decomposition of the chlorure of phosphorus at the mini-
mum, by water: it is to Sir H. Davy that we are indebted for
this discovery. We obtain this acid perfectly pure by evaporat-
ing in a proper manner the water in which the decomposition of
the chlorure has been effected. The whole of the muriatic acid
is disengaged, and, upon cooling, the acid crystallizes. It seems
proper to preserve to this substance the name of phosphorous
acid, which has been hitherto given to the product, from the
slow combustion of phosphorus, the nature of which, as we shall
soon see, does not agree with such a denomination.

The true phosphites have not yet been described: their solu-
bility is in general much less than that of the hydrophosphites.
The phosphite of potash is nevertheless very deliquescent, un-
erystallizable, but insoluble in alcohol. Those of soda and of
ammonia are also very soluble in water. The former crystallizes
in rhomboids approaching to the cube. All the rest are little
soluble in water : those of barytes, strontian, and lime crystallize
by spontaneous evaporation ; but if we wish to concentrate their
solutions by heat, a division is made in the elements of the salt ;
a precipitate is formed composed of small crystals, similar to the
acetate of mercury:—these are salts with excess of base, abso-
Jutely insoluble in water. There remains in solution a salt with
excess of acid, which crystallizes with more difficulty. Thus
there exist surphosphites, subphosphites, and neutral phosphites.

The phenomena presented by the calcination of the phos-
phites

on the Combinations of Phosphorus with Oxygen. 273

phites are nearly the same with those of which we have spoken
in treating of the hypophosphites.
I have analysed phosphorous acid, of which Sir H. Davy had

already given the proportions, to ascertain how much of chlore

the phosphorus absorbs in or der to pass to the state of chlorure
at the minimum. My results do not differ sensibly from his. I
heve found by this means that the phosphorous acid is formed
of Phosphorus 2. 57°iS—100
Oxygen 229. 42:$2—74:88
: 100

Hence it follows that the oxygen of the hypophosphorous acid
is to that of the phosphorous acid as 1: 2.

The acid produced by the slow combustion of the phosphorus
in the air, to which several phenomena may be referred, is ne-
vertheless very little known. It differs from the foregoing not
only by its proportions, but also by its nature. It is not com-
bined in the way it is with the oxides. The salts which have
been described heretofore by the appellation of phosphites are
not peculiar salts; they are either phosphates, or more fre-
quently a mixture of phosphates and phosphites.

Ought we to consider this substance as a simple mixture of
phosphoric and phosphorous acids? Sir H. Davy merely makes
this assertion, but without any proofs. I do not think, however,
that we can admit this idea ;—for, why should the conversion of
the phosphorous acid into phosphoric acid stop at a certain
point of time ?—wherefore should we find constantly in this
substance the same proportions of oxygen and phosphorus? If
its formation took place in a rapid - manner, we might con-
clude that some particles of phosphorous acid escaped the com-
bustion ; but the tediousness of the process of obtaining it ex-
eludes all idea of an incomplete combination.

We might also suppose that the oxygen of this acid, forming
a binary combination with the phosphorus, is unequally divided
between two parts of the radical by the action of the bases, and
that there would result from this division phosphorous acid and
phosphoric acid: but it seems much more probable that these
acids, even before the action of the oxides, are already com-
pletely formed and combined with each other, like the elements
of a salt. It is by adopting this last opinion that | intend to
eall it phosphatic acid; an appellation which reminds us that
this acid has some analogy with the Pee in its mode of
‘composition. -

M. Thenard has found by direct means that the phosphatic
acid. ought to be formed of 100 parts of phosphorus and 110°4
oxygen. I obtained 109 by a different method. Neither, of

Vol. 48, No, 222. Oct, 1816, S these

274 Extract from a Memoir

these numbers is found in a simple ratio with that of the oxygen
of the phosphoric acid. The simple ratio which they approach
the nearest is that of 9:10, which will suppose 1124 of oxy-
gen in the phosphatic acid. Although the difference between
the calculation and the observation is as much as two centiemes,
1 think it very probable, for other reasons about to be explained,
that these two acids are really in this proportion; and this is
what I purpose, besides, to verify directly in another manner.

It must be observed on this subject, that when, in a series of
binary compounds formed by the same elements, there are two
very much alke, that which is not in a simple relation with the
others ought to be considered as a combination of two more
simple compounds. It is absolutely indispensable to admit this
idea, if we wish to preserve the theory of chemical proportions
in all its simplicity: and this is happily what experience con-
firms in an evident manner. It is thus, for example, that if we
wished to regard the three oxides of iron as primary combina-
tions, we must admit at least six molecules of oxygen in the in-
ferior oxide, and at least nine in the oxide at the maximum;
for the quantities of oxygen contained in these three oxides are
as the numbers 6, 5, and 9: but admitting that the intermediary
oxide is formed of two molecules of red oxide and one molecule
of oxide at the minimum, we are only obliged to suppose that
there are two molecules of oxygen in the oxide at the minimum,
and three in the oxide at the maximum. ‘This ceases to be a
pure supposition when we observe the division into red oxide
and protoxide, which the deutoxide of iron presents in almost
all experiments *.

The exact determination of the proportions of the phosphoric
acid was indispensable for the analysis of the preceding acids ;
and the discordance of the results obtained hitherto by chemists
equally expert, imposed upon me the necessity of searching for
the causes of error which might exist in the processes resorted
to, and to employ others which should be beyond all suspicion.

I examined in the first place the process of the acidification
of phosphorus by the nitric acid, and I saw that it did not merit

* The second number of the Journal of the Royal Institution of London,
which did not appear until after my paper was read, contains an extract from,
or rather a severe criticism on, a work written in Swedish by M. Berzelius,
in which we find an explanation similar to that which I give here. It isa
great satisfaction to me to have coincided with a man of talent so distin-
guished. Although I regard this opinion as very probable, I do not pre-
tend however that it cannot be combated. . But it isnot with the ironical,
injurious and offensive tone which reigns in the whole of the article just
mentioned, that we ought to attack labours the whole object of which is
an inquiry after truth. Ifthis kind of criticism is once introduced inte
the sciences, their progress will be greatly retarded.

any

on the Combinations of Phosphorus with Oxygen. 275

any confidence. We obtain results mnch more constant. by sub-
stituting for the pure phosphorus in the same experiment a
metallic phosphuret, the proportions of which may be determined
very exactly by synthesis, when it is prepared in the way I have
described. By acidifying the phosphorus by the action of the
chlore in contact with the water, and determining the quantity of
chlore employed for this purpose, we may also attain very satis-
factory results. Finally, on examining by synthesis the pro-
portions of the chlorure of phosphorus at the maximum which
corresponds with the phosphoric acid, we may attain very great
precision. Sir H. Davy had already employed this last method.
Our results were so different, that 1 at first suspected there was
some error on my part; but having constantly obtained the same
numbers, | regard the following proportions as very near the
truth. Chlorure at the maximum:

Phosphorus ee Se 15-4—100

Chlore “a Pye 84-6—549°1

100
Hence phosphoric acid :
Phosphorus a oe 44-48—100
Oxygen ee oe 59°592—124°3

100

On comparing the analysis of the phosphorous acid which we
have given above, with that of the phosphoric acid, we see that
the quantities of oxygen in these two acids are in the ratio of
3:5, instead of 1 : 2 as Sir H. Davy has indicated.

According to the series of the combinations of the phosphorus
with the oxygen, we are well founded in admitting that the
phosphoric acid is formed of two atoms of phosphorus and five
atoms of oxygen. On this supposition, and representing the
oxygen by 10, the relative weight of the atom of phosphorus will
be 20-03; that of the phosphoric acid = 90:06, &c.

1 also directed my attention, and even during a very long time,
to the analysis of the phosphates, in order to discover the laws
of composition of those salts. M. Berzelius, from the analysis
of two phosphates only, has concluded that the oxygen of the
acid is double that of the base; but the salts which he has ex-
ainined are certainly not neutral salts. I have analysed a great
number of phosphates, and I am not yet able to explain all the
variations which | met with in some species. I adhered to the
composition of the phosphates, in order to discover that of the
phosphites and hypophosphites ; the comparison of the propor-
tions of those different salts being very interesting in point of

$2 theory.

276 On the Mosaic Cosmogony.

theory. This labour not being yet terminated, I shall confine
myself for the present to saying,

1. That the neutral phosphites are changed into phosphates
without ceasing to be neutral, as M. Gay-Lussac had already
observed.

2. That the neutral hypophosphites become acid phosphates.

3. That the phosphoric acid strongly calcined contains a
quantity of water, the oxygen of which is as the third part as is
the case in some phosphates.

4. That the metallic phosphurets obtained by tne process
whieh I have indicated, correspond with the protoxides soluble
in the acids; that by passing the phosphorus to the state of
phosphoric acid, and the metal to the state of pretoxide, there
results a neutral phosphate, in which the oxygen of the acid is
to the oxygen of the base :: 5 : 2; and consequently, if the meta}
passes to a higher degree of oxidation, there is formed a sub-
ptosphate, in which the ratio of the quantities of oxygen be-
comes that of 5:3 or 5:4,

5. That the phosphites and the phosphates have, with the
nitrites and nitrates, a very great analogy as to proportions ;—that
the same analogy has been already remarked in the proportions
ef the acids with a base of phosphorus and azote.

6. That sulphur and phosphorus do not present so many
points of contact in their properties as generally supposed.

7. That the forces which produce the combinations seem to
flow from another source than those which determine their pro-
portions.

8. Finally: that when one and the same hody can form several
acids with oxygen, the same base produces, with these acids, salts
so much the more soluble the less oxygen there is in the acid.

LV. On the Mosaic Cosmogony. By Mr. A. Horn.
To Mr. Tilloch.

potable ese! having been a principal in the dispute re-
specting the Mosaic Cosmogony,—though it is now terminated,
may I be allowed, as an “ auxiliary,” to make one or two re-
marks upon the subject? I wish the more especially to do so,
because the party that has ostensibly left the field, retires as if
his positions never have nor ever can be refuted.

On reviewing the controversy, thé anti-cosmologist may be
compared to a foreigzner, who presumes to decide upon the me-
rits of our great dramatic poet by a French translation; and

though

On the Mosaic Cosmogony. 277

though repeatedly corrected, and reminded of his injustice to the
author, persists in urging his vernacular proofs, that Shakespear
is a mere playwright, destitute of genius and truth in every plot
and character. Had the anti-cosmologist understood but a lit-
tle of the language in which the cosmogony is written, the pages
of the Philosophical Magazine never would have been the record
of the following unphilosophical conclusion ; ‘ Neither forest
trees, shrubs, nor lichens come under the description of grass,
seed-bearing herbs, or fruit-trees. In this reflection he relies
upon the common version, which makes SW" a generic noun,
contrary to the analogy of the Genesis: the terms that charac-
terize organized beings, except where the rational species is de-
signated, are all general. The eleventh verse literally rns
thus: ‘ God said, Let theearth shoot forth the vegetable (SWIM
NOT PINT), the herb making seed, the tree producing fruit
for its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth.’ The ob-
jection that, if this account were fact, we should have no forest-
trees, is extremely vulgar; as if the oak and the Leech came not
under the denomination of ¢ fruit-bearing trees,’ merely because
their mast and acorns are never found among the nuds and
oranges, grapes and nectarines, that decorate the dessert-table,

The inference, so pertinaciously defended,—that Moses ‘has
confined the existence of the aquatic animals to the fifth day,—is
equally unfortunate. Moses informs us that, at the commence-
ment of this period, ¢ God said, Let the waters bring forth alun-
dant/y the moving creature that hath life.’ Gen. ehap.i. ver. 20.
The author of the Cosmogony never designed here to be under-
stood as if no species of animated beings had before existed.
His language is very different from that in which he describes
the first production of land aninals.—We have the authority of
Moses himself, in another instance, for the import of his lan-
guage in the present case.

In the following passage (Exod. chap. viii. ver. 3.) the mode of
expression is here precisely the same with that above mentioned
in the Genesis: * The river shall bring forth frogs abundantly?
Would it not be a monstrous absurdity to argue from this pass-
age that, because Moses says nothing of their previous existence,
therefore there must have been no frogs in the Nile before this
eveit? though it would be very difficult perhaps to prove the
fact. But as there certainly were frogs in Egypt before this
period ; so, if the same words have the same meaning, there were
‘ living creatures’ in the waters previous to the JSifth day; though
till then they did not so abundantly exist. Besides, a physical
cayse can be assigned for the peculiar expression Moses uses,
which also contains a sufficient reason for the aquatic animals
remaining “unnoticed till this period. The waters had hitherto

$3 been

278 A new View of Vegetable Life. -

been so highly impregnated with the earths, that stratum super
stratum were so rapidly deposited that they proved the grave
rather than permanent habitations for theit tenants. Hence many
of the species perished entirely, and others were vastly dimi-
nished. But in the fifth period the water, being sufficiently
purified by immense depositions, not only permitted the more
perfect orders of aquatic animals to exist, but the Creator re-
plenished the ocean with an increased number of inferior inha-
bitants suited to the improved state of their element.
I am, sir,

Your very obedient servant,

Wycombe, Oct. 9, 1816. Anprew Horn.

LVI. new View of Vegetable Life. By Mrs. AGNES
IBBETSON.

To Mr, Tilloch.

Sir, — Tue very curious fact I have now to exhibit throws
(I think) a new light on vegetable life, perfectly confirms the
truth of all | have hitherto shown of the history of their ge-
neral formation, and renders the commencement conformable to
those universal laws which appear to be established not only in
the vegetable, but in the animal and mineral world; as I shall
show at the conclusion of this letter.

In my last I depicted the curious manner in which the flowers
are developed in the interior, both in trees and herbacecus plants,
the year they are completed at the exterior of the vegetable.
But I am now authorized to suppose that there is a prior for-
mation, both of leaves and flowers, prior to that in which they
are collected and enlarged in the middle of the plant. In the
first 1 was able to follow the formation in a regular series, till
they appeared opening into flower, and making their way out of
the vegetable through the buds in the usual manner; but the
luds in this case are really the vehicles for completing and send-
ing out the bunches of flowers and leaves, and nof (as it was
supposed) the part in which they are formed:—yet to trace in
a series what I am now going to show, ts impossible, as it will
not admit of it. I shall, however, give an exact account of the
whole process, and the consequences that must (I think) result
from such a formation.

Having cut an extremely thin specimen of the wood of the
cupressus longitudinally, and placed it in my slider, under my
best microscope (though using very low powers) I was surprised
to see a sort of running pattern of leaves and flowers adorning
every two or three stripes of the wood, and now and then col-

lecting

A new View of Vegetable Life. 279

lecting in thicker patterns, when the lancet, in passing over the
raised part, pushed them up together, aggregating their numbers.
See fig. 1, Pl. No. 3. [Plate IV.]

After examining many different cuttings, I got a fresh branch
of the elm, the beech, the oak, the plane, and rose, and cut
specimens from each :—still the same object was visible, though
arranged not exactly in the same manner, yet in stripes of
flowers. Convinced I was not mistaken, I made a bold effort at
proving the fact to others, assured that if Sir William Herschel
(who happened to be here) saw it, no one would hazard the con-
tradicting a sight whose perfection was so well acknowledged,
or a judgement so well matured, though they constantly dis-
puted mine. I requested him, therefore, to prove the fact: and
with the generosity and good-nature for which he is so much
loved, he came and examined it directly ; and said, he saw it
most plainly. 1 then showed him an horizontal piece, in which
he also saw the same appearance of leaves and flowers (see fig.6).
Assured therefore it was a truth; the first specimen was allowed
to rest for several days, while I was examining herbaceous plants:
but great was my astonishment when I next viewed it, to find
that it had éhrown off many white and double lines, between
which flowers and leaves did appear to be formed, and that in
many places complete bouquets had also aggregated of a glu-
tinous jelly-like matter ;—in short,that vegetation seemed to have
continued and prolonged itself even on the glass ; for as the wood
had been cut with a pair of scissars, making its edge exactly
even, each addition would be most visible. ‘This was indeed a
fact worth ascertaining ; and after trying it repeatedly, [ again
requested the favour of Sir William Herschel’s assistance. He
gave it me with the same simplicity and kindness as before—di-
rected me to divide the talc into squares, thus regularly magni-
fied, that [ might be sure of the increase of the part; and then
taking an exact drawing of the specimen by that measurement,
there could be no fear of my not knowing the real quantity
added, even toa hair’s breadth. This was completed on Friday;
but on Sunday morning just looking at it, 1 was not a little
vexed to see that (great damps having prevailed in the atmo-
sphere) much moisture had insinuated itself between the two
tales; and would, I was fearful (before Sir William Herschel
came on Monday), destroy that clearness and distinctness of
form for which both leaves and flowers are remarkable. 1 there-
fore prepared two other specimens ruled in the same manner.
In three days, though the wet had, from a renewal of moist
weather, still in some measure injured it, yet the lines and
flowers were perfectly delineated :—indeed, the only harm mois-

° 4 ture

220 A new View of Vegetable Life.

ture does, is to render each individual part /ess distinct : still,
however, they were sufficiently so, to be perfectly perceptible to
Sir William Herschel, who said he thought there could be mo
doubt that it was the continuation of vexetation on the glass.
This was indeed a great matter gained, especially when so
witnessed. Sir William Herschel also did me the honour to see
the first specimen.

Fig. 2 was the spoiled piece, which had however increased to
fig. 3. Fig. 4 was one of the specimens Sir William examined,
which was inereased in three days to fig. 5; and another which i
have not added, fearful of augmenting foo much the number of
specimens. Indeed the collection of flowers on the glass was
evidence sufficient of the fact; for no power but their own could
place them there. The white specimen might be, and was laid
on the glass; but the rest could not be either ¢aken off or put
on, unhurt, without Nature's help.

On further examination I found that, if I watched with great
exactness, drops of moisture were to he seen ejected from the
many cut ends of the line of life; and that when the more dimi-
nutive lines of that part increased in length, wherever the liquid
had fallen, and the double line also passed through it, bunches
of flowers had protruded, till they became either wreaths or
bouquets, running and growing in a fanciful manner as long as
the moisture would sustain or assist in forming them; some-.
times even more than a week. It could no longer be a doubt-
ful fact; for on examining the ¢alcs and glasses I found them
covered with different beautiful patterns, which had proceeded
from all the specimens accidentally thrown on the surface; and
so opposite is the jelly-like appearance of the new propagation,
to the white one presented to examination, that it is not possible
to mistake them, or to take one for the other: the lines, indeed,
are always white, but the flowers and /eaves, | fade require
more than a fortnight to become so: and suclr is the glutinous
power with which they stick to the glass, that nothing but soap
and sand can eradicate them; nay, even a knife is sometimes
required to scrape the wreaths off, as they absolutely almost
indent the tale: yet so high do they lie above the surface, from
the quantity of leaves and flowers in the bouquets, that they are
easily injured. But great care should be taken that a confusion
is not made between ‘the white lines of the increasing vegetation
and those that are formed by cracking the talc, for I have now
discovered that they are very much alike: however, it is the
lines only. It is better therefore to take it on glass. My
glasses are absolutely covered with beautiful patterns, and the
specimens will not only i increase from the ends, but some will.

augment

A new View of Vegetable Life. 281

augment their bouquets, both above and under (if not fixed too
close to the glass), wherever moisture has prevailed; but I have
never seen any part of the wood grow; it is merely the
leaves and flowers, with the double line, which is certainly a di-
minutive thread of the line of life. That this matter on the
glass is a continuation of the vegetable life, and fig. 1. a prior
formation of the preceding year, “T cannot doubt. 1 believe also
it is merely the corolla, pertrarp, and pistil, that carry the
appearance of a flower in the stripes. I have generally found

them round, oval, of)

so extremely diminutive that it is impossible the flower should
(I think) contain any thing more than the parts I have named,
and perhaps the s¢amen cases; and if it is a prior formation pro-
truded the preceding year, it is reason enough to account for
the different ingredients of the flower being all made in a separate
place ;—for, being composed of such various and dissimilar parts,
might not the juices intended to form the pistil be hizhly de-
trimental to the pollen? and thus with the rest. Hence probably
the extreme pains Nature takes to divide the various liquids ne-
essary to vegetable life, and the uncommon arts resorted to to.
prevent the possibility of their meeting, by confining them
within layers of cylinders without any means of communication,

This law is so evident and universal, that it is generally the first
idea with which a dissector is stuck as it is most plain and po-
sitive in every plant. Du Hamel observed it, and has given a
print of it; as well as Du Petit Thouars.

If, therefore, we suppose this part of the flower presented in
fig. 1. to be a prior formation, it is most probable that it should
be protruded ina separate stale, from the pollen and seeds. I
have accordingly laid it down in this manner.

The corolla, pericarp, and pistil, formed the first year, and
followed the next by the insertion of the heart of the seeds and
the pollen; which when so far ready rise up from the root in a
different part of the stem, and after various preparations, regu-
larly to be traced from point to point, enter the pericarp, where
the formation of the flower is complete, and where the whole
process terminates, by the displaying their scents and beauties
in the open air.

The flower-lud and leaf-lbud therefore must be only intended
for the receptacle of the unfinished flowers and leaves, the place
in which those parts are completed, and acquire the last finish to
their respective forms. The flower-bud, when at last fixed in
its proper place, is followed by the flowers which were formed

the

or some form like this: but

282 A new View of Vegetable Life.

the preceding year, now entering the flower-bud for the first
time to complete their forms; by the heart of the seeds when
ready, drawing themselves into the pericarp by means of
the line of life, with which they are tied; and the pollen pow-
der into the stamen. The whole then closing, till near the time
of fructification; when the enlarged flowers acquiring new stalks
(again leaving the flower-bud which falls off, being scales only)
the flowers shoot up into perfection ;—then the seeds fill up
their heart, acquire their outward part; and when the flower
dies, they soon complete their cover, and drop into the earth.
The deaf-bud also, by taking in the leaves, and completing their
edges and upper cuticle (being evidently an after process), and
thus gave the idea of their being formed there: nay, I have rea-
son to think their pabulum is also a late formation, the bark-
Juice being then undoubtedly propelled into the leaf-bud.

Thus this new discovery only more completely establishes all
the facts 1 have hitherto made known of the formation of plants,
and confirms some of the propositions I wished to prove ; viz.
that the seeds, pollen, and flower-lud, are formed in the root: it
shows that also the flower-bud and leaf-lud are a totally different
substance from the flower and leaf; and that the account J have
before given of the passage of the flower-bud through the wood
is a real fact, and which this new discovery by no means invali-
dates. Indeed, it accounts for some trifling contradictions that
did not quite assimilate with the general plan, and for some
difficulties I could not Lefore understand. The first was the
earliest separation of the flower-lud and flower, when in the
root, as every author and every prejudice had taught me to seek
the flower in the flewer-lbud. Now this prior formation com-
pletely clears the whole, and shows that the flower-bud was merely
intended as a case to perfect the flower, not to commence it.
How beautiful are they now made to meet, and the flower to
enter there for the reception of its various ingredients! In the
second place, it showed that what took for the first commence-
ment of the leaf was the weaving of the scales, and the finishing
the leaf: indeed, I never before could account for the little
branches of extremely diminutive leaves 1 found also in the leaf-
bud, with the loose fibres weaving other parts: the latter were
for the scales, the former the real wafinished leaves: while the
leaf-bud is certainly formed in the Lark, as I have before shown.
Thus, though the whole has been discovered by detached pieces,
it all arranges itself in a perfect regular manner, and, like a cué
map, each part fits into the place appropriated for it. If this
does not prove it true, I know not what will, since perfect con-
sistency belongs to God alone: and I feel thoroughly conscious of

my inability to produce or invent such a plan. In short,. every
additional

A new View of Vegetable Life. 283

additional discovery, and evey new view we take, prove, that of
the form and proceedings of vegetable life we before knew
nothing; all our facts have proved false; all our conjectures
mistakes; and that we must begin by banishing every former
idea that respects the real nature of a vegetable; except the
inimitable and well observed sexual system, and the observations
of many authors on seeds, which have been really dissected.
As to the nomenclature and general arrangement of plants, and
all that part of botany, I touch not on them.—lI respect them
as I ought, and only admire. All this will, I fear, appear bold
language, especially in a woman: but it is necessary sometimes to
be bold in the cause of truth; and I am assured I am defending
it. That no person had ever torn down a plant for examination,
or followed a plant in the interior from day to day, and from
year to year, I am perfectly persuaded; and these progressive
steps are the only means of coming at the secrets of nature,
and viewing the rising of its seeds from the first moment of their
protrusion in their mother’s womb, and the formation of flowers
from their beginning. But let me not be misunderstood :—I do
not mean to say that innumerable mistakes will not be found in
this general plan of the foundation of plants. As I enter into
the details, Ihave no doubt there will. But I have watched
with such carefulness, that I hope they will le few. Hitherto
I have been most fortunate in not discovering one gross error ;
since I am so particular not to declare a truth till I have inves-
tigated it in so many ways, and placed it in so many different
lights, that I hope the mistakes will not be serious at least. The
present truth would not (but for so kind and perfect a voucher)
have made its way to the public notice till next year.

It is most curious, that in examining sea weeds I have also
discovered the flowers and leaves either filling up the midrib or
concealed between the cuticles: but they do not run from the
root upwards, they are divided into little separate plants with a
sort of root to each. Seefig.9. the fucus bulbosus, where they
are to be taken from the midrib by numbers, as when that is torn
up a number fall out, and will grow on the glass as long as you
please to supply them with drops of salt water administered with
the fingers. They grow also in the interior of the duJse, or
Sucus pinnatifidus; and if the coralline is first taken off by
scraping it with a knife on each side, the flowers will be plainly
seen ; for, thin as the dulse is, it is covered by a double coralline
and many layers of net, besides having the young plants in the
interior, These evidently take their nutriment from the lumps
of jelly which forms their apparent root, within which grows also
a small piece of sea weed—the whole appearing like Mocha
stone or Egyptian pebble, (See fig. 8.)

At

284 A new View of Vegetable Life.

At the beginning of this letter, I said that the curious forma-
tion just discovered, agreed with the general laws of nature in
the mineral, as well as animal world. But I should rather,
perhaps, have said “they appear to agree*,”’

I shall now explain what I mean by the assertion.—All metals
when first shooting carry the appearance of leaves and flowers.
But when examined they are always to be divided into the re-
gular forms belonging to each separate metal, as octagonals, pen-
tagonals, &c. &c. though they carry the appearance of leaves
and flowers: as is seen in the arborescent silver ore from the
mines of Potosi;—in the common iron ore, when combined with
salt, at Dawlish;—in the arborescent copper, and zine tree.
But they are all (as I said) to be reduced into their primitive
Jorms, and it is merely by their diminutive size, and their at-
traction for each other, that they carry the appearance of a
branch.

But in animal life by what principle are they made to receive
the same form? I have seen the scale of a beetle when broken,
recover and renew itself by the same means, forming branches
thicker and thicker, till the whole became one mass ; yet never
growing beyond the boundary line given it, the creature being
confined for a few days, and regularly examined in the micro-
scope, till the whole scale was completed and restored to its per-
fect state. I found also a shrimp with part of the claw broken,
and evidently renewing in the same manner: but it appeared
to me to resemble the metallic manner: that is, to be divided into
ectaédrons rather than the coral form of lime: but part of it
had grown so thick it was difficult to develop the exact shape f.
A fly also, while I detained it in confinement had a part of its
wing restored in the same apparent way, and one part of it
(some moisture oozing from the interior) absolutely grew after
the creature was dead. But 1 had some most curious trials re-
specting a butterfly that are most wonderful, but too long for
this place. But if any naturalist will try these experiments, he
will, I believe, find them just and correct.

* Some aqua-fortis I had by me, became, in dissolving copper, not of a
blue colour, but a fine green; but adding the mercury, it soon changed to
a beautiful blue, and made a most admirable mixture ; for it might be seen
to vegetate in a few minutes time, and produced ina few hours vigorous
branches of two inches in length: when the branclies are formed, it looks
exactly like Mocha stone. The experiment is certainly important, as ex-
plaining how ramifications are produced in the fissures of slate, flints,
ayates, Florentine marbles ; and, perhaps, even in their very substauce at
the time of their formation, by the intermixture of saline and metalline
particles ; and also how metals dissolved by and incorporated with the sa~
line juices of the earth are formed into branches and seem to vegetate.

+ Of course these, though belonging to animals, must be classed as of the
earths, and divisible into the forms that sort of lime adopts. Still

th

A new View of Vegetable Life. 293

Still the vegetable draws its source from a totally different
power, from the vitality of that line on which its lite and ex-
estence depend. When the wing of the fly grew, it was visibl
from the juice, and began where the juice fell, and joined itself
to the wing afterwards. But the vegetabie requires two things,
the double. line and the liquid, without which it cannot increase:
for I have watched with care where the juice was when no line
came to it, and it evaporated without any increase ; it is there-
fore merely the effect of the moisture on the continued line of
life, that creates and excites it to further growth, and the con-
tinuation of vegetable life.

I am now going to undertake the leaf and _flower-bud.—Va-
rious dissections will be placed before the public, which delinea-
tions will, I hope, clear up the whole of this subject, and make
it impossible for the most unbelieving really to doubt the facts
I have shown, I shall pursue the inquiry in a regular series, by
taking the buds from the first of their appearing till they burst
out into leaf and flower ;—ascertaining every three or four days
the contents, and taking drawings of them every week. For
this purpose, I shall fix on the ash, the lime, and the oak. I
shall also begin this week with the sea-kale and cabbage, to as-
certain the znterior flower of the herbaceous plants,—and the
result will all be laid before the public.

J am, sir,
Your obliged servant,
Dawlish, Sept. 29, 1816. AGNES IBBETSON.

a

Description of the Plute, No. 3. [Plate IV.]

Fig. 1. Aspecimen of the wood of the cupressus cut longi-
tudinally.

Fig. 2, A specimen of the matter which grew on the glass,

Fig. 3. That which increased from fig. 2 in three days.

Fig. 4. The specimen which was drawn and measured for Sir
William Herschel’s inspection.

Fig. 5. The same specimen of the wood of the Scotch fir,
which increased on the glass from fig. 4 to the present size.

Fig. 6. Aspecimen of the wood of the cupressus cut hori-
zontally.

Fig. 7. A specimen of an herbaceous plant cut longitudinally.

Fig. 9. A specimen of the fucus bulbosus growing on the
glass.

Fig. 8. A specimen of the fucus pinnatifidus.

The herbaceous plant has its flower running up from the root
inclosed within a circular yesscl ; which is not the casé in trees

or

286 On Sir Humphry Davy’s Safe-lamp,

er shrubs (see fig. 6, aaa), but it is very difficult to make them
appear within.

+4+ Mrs. Ibbetson is much shocked at a double mistake made by her re-
specting the scale of the thermometer, which was Celsus’s. (p. 184, Sept.)
of which not being accustomed to the scale, and not having her books with
her, she was deceived by the person to whom she applied. It however only
makes the assertion respecting the beat the more impossible to be believed.

ae

*,* In Mrs. Ibbetson’s last communication, p. 181, line 25, for “ higher
regions” read “ lower regions;” and in p, 185, for “ approaches” read “ap-
paratus.”
——— a
LVII. On Sir Humpury Davy’s Safe-lamp, and on Flame.

By J. Murray, M.D.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — 1. has always been my most anxious wish to combat
whatever doubts I may have found to exist on the perfect secu-
rity held out to the miner by the continued use of Sir Humphry
Davy’s safe-lamp. 1 have cheerfully descended into the abysses
of the mine to exhibit my unshaken confidence in, and entire
conviction of, its safety.

That onits introduction prejudice did exist, cannot be denied ;
but this, the offspring of ignorance, was soon dispelled by the
beam of truth. It is difficult to believe that any one nurtured
in the paths of science can for a moment honestly doubt of the
sufficiency of the security. Let them with me enter the mine,
that we may rejoice together.

The extraordinary phenomena presented by this discovery
were on their announcement rashly questioned, and I am glad
of it.—** Vires acquirit eundo.”’ ‘The most sublime discoveries
that have adorned the annals of science have had their ordeal to
pass, and they have risen with livelier loveliness from the cruci-
ble of trial.

In my experiments in the mine I have ventured to place
the lamp in the je¢ of a blower :—this would seem to contradict
the experiments of Mr. Holmes. In the Dee Bank Colliery,
when the fire-damp was flaming in the cylinder, 1 projected
against it a quantity of that highly inflammable powder called
lycopodium; but even this had no other effect than to increase
the intensity of light. Like an enraged and imprisoned tiger,
it simply gratified the admiring eye with the form it presented
and beauty of its appearance. With this shield I could en-
counter the fire-damp in its most terrific form: and when my
services in the cause of humanity are demanded, I think | shall

. not

and on Flame. 287

not be found to shrink from the requirement ;—and it would
rest lightly on me, for the duty will ever please.

Mr. Holmes says that the sentiment excited in my mind by
the sublime discovery, should have been applied to Dr. Reid
Clanny, and not to Sir H. Davy. My former opinion, however,
remains unchanged. Much as I approve Dr. C’s exertions in
the good cause, surely it will not be said that his invention is at
all comparable with the instrument projected by Sir H. Davy,
for the operations of mining. I would not willifigly offend Dr. C.
by hazarding any thing which would detract from its merits—
‘© valeat quantum valere potest ;”—and yet I must, in deference
to Mr. Holmes’s opinion, still say, I feel convinced that Dr.
Clanny’s lamp and the beautiful and perfect instrument of Sir
H. Davy ought not to be associated together, nor ever mentioned
at the same time. I cannot otherwise appreciate the former.—
Independent and essentially distinct, it is unfair to support its
pretension by an endeavour to weaken the suffrages so honestly
won by its distinguished author Sir Humphry Davy,—a discovery
beautifully illustrative of his ingenuity and unwearied persever-
ance and assiduity. I heartily accord with Mr. Children, that
itis not novelty, a boyish plaything, which has won our ad-
miration. ‘That it will be permanent too, I with this excellent
chemist firmly believe; and may hazard, without the prophetie
eye, to pronounce, that it will live to the honour of its discoverer,
when we who now exist shall sleep with our fathers; and, to use
Sir H’s own language, ‘‘ it will be illustrated by discussion, and
be exalted by time.” It is indeed not novelty that attracts our
regard: we are arrested by a discovery as extraordinary as it is
important. It points to humanity for its object, and our hopes
beat high; and in the tone of our exultation we will remember
the discoverer. It attaches the signet of experience, and we are
satistied.—What would we have more than this?

We may now fearlessly approach the prison which confines
the flame of the fire-damp, wondering at its greatness, and con-
fessing our astonishment at the simple means by which its mighty
energies are subdued and made obedient to our wants and wishes;
a simplicity which recommends and endears it the more.—And,
oh! if possible, let no hallowed prejudices prevent its immediate
and universal adoption! Should not legislative enactment here
step in, and raise the voice of authority ?

I feel myself highly honoured by the handsome manner in
which Mr. Children has been good enough to mention my name
in his admirable paper, written as a commentary on Mr. Long-
muir’s remarks.

The idea suggested, as explanatory of the phenomena of the
wire-gauze, by a writer in the last number of the Annals of Phi-

losophy,

288 OnSir H. Davy’s Sefe-lamp, and on Flame.

Josophy, is made*void by my experiments with parallel rods not
intersecting to form meshes. I am happy to afford you a cor-
rect solution, the inference of actual experiment. In the results
of the experiments detailed in a former number of the Philoso-
phical Magazine, I have stated my belief that the phenomena
were neither electrical nor magnetic. I find that if the rod in-
troduced into the flame of a candle approximate the wick, it is
invested with a cloud of aqueous vapour, which fills up the
chasm to which T have alluded. This emanation of aqueous
vapour will suffer condensation by contact with the meshes of
wire-gauze cooled by the ambient atmosphere ; flame cannot
therefore run this gauntlet—for, in fact, the meshes are filled up
by a transparent screen of aqueous vapour. ‘The cause of the
interval between the surface of metal to which I have in my for-
mer paper referred, is now completely and satisfactorily solved.

I have made some experiments with flame—the aqueous par-
ticles seem chiefly disengaged from the sides of the cone of
flame. The upper part of the spire evolves the charcoal and
heated gases. Sir H. Davy observes, that if burning phosphorus
is introduced into a large extent of flaming: alcohol, its flame
will be seen within that of the other: but-I observe, if the base
of the flaming cone is from one to two inches diameter, that
both sulphur and phosphorus, when plunged into it, previously
ignited, are severally instantly extinguished; nor does potassium
even burn i in the interior, I have supposed that probably, when
a larger surface is employed, the uneven undulating surface might
occasion chasms, through which the exterior air might enter and
support the flame: indeed, the following experiment is analogi-
cally in favour of the opinion. I adopted a valve opening up-
wards into the cone, and when the alcoho! was burning, little
puffs of air broke through the lateral surface of the cone.

I am, with high respect, sir,
Your very humble servant,
Stranraer, N. B., Oct. 10, 1816. J. Murray.

P.S.—Respecting the ignition of gunpowder by flame, I sim-
ply alluded to the introduction of it on a slip of ivory into the
cone. The cone of flame is not a solid or uniform mass, but is
hollow within :—this is proved. by pressing the apex by a plate
of glass, and looking down through it ; the mantle of flame sur-
rounding the wick will thus appear not much thicker than a
wafer, J.M.

LVIII. Ads-.

f 289 j

LVIII, | Alstract of a Memoir by M. LEopotp pz Bucu on the
Limits of the perpetual Snows in the North*.

Tu determination of the absolute height of the perpetual snows
in different latitudes is one of the most important branches of
physical geography : this height depends essentially on the climate
or mean temperature of each place; so that in order to attain the
laws of the distribution of heat at the surface of the globe, it will
be sufficient to know the height to which we must ascend under
different parallels in order to attain the limit of the snows.

The observations made under the tropics by Bouguer and De
Humboldt, those of Saussure, the determinations not less precise
of M. Ramond in the Pyrenees,—-have proved that near the equa-
tor, as in the temperate zone, the lowermost limit of the snows
agrees sufficiently with the mean temperature. This is not the
case in the north of Europe, where, according to the most recent
measurements, the limit of the perpetual snows is more elevated
than one could have supposed from the mean state of the ther-
mometer : besides, it is in Norway only that we can immediately
observe it. Although the mountains of Sweden are numerous and
very high, they attain almost no where the height of the perma~
nent snows; so that this phenomenon is in that country as much
unknown as in the greater part of France or Germany.

The observations of M. de Buch were made upon several peaks
of that vast chain of mountains which divides Norway throughout
its whole length, and extends without interruption from the 58th
to the 7Ist degree of north latitudet. The peak of Saletinds,
the elevation of which above the level of the sea is 1794 metres,
exceeds very little the limit of the snows : M. de Buch fixes it at

* Annales de Chimie et de Physique for June 1816, tome ii. p. 183.—
This interesting paper was read by M. de Buch to the Institute in March
1810; but it was not printed until 18)6: at the conclusion of a French
translation (by M. Eyriés) of M. de Buch’s Travels in Norway and Lapland,
We regret that tie limits of this Journal compel us to abridge the present me-
moir: we have taken care, however, to suppress hothing important, and have
adhered as closely as possible to the words of the author.— Note by Messrs,
Gey Lussac, and Arago, editors of the Annales de Chimie et de Physique.

+ This chain yields to very few mountains in Europe in point of height,
and surpasses them all by its extent andmass. When we traverse the Alps
or the Pyrenees, and scarcely arrived at the Passes we commence suddenly
to descend, we know of no pass exceeding a league in breadth. On the
Long Field in Norway, on the contrary, when we have ascended a valley to
its origin, we see a platform or ridge stretching out, the height of which is
almost every where 1400 metres above the level of the sea, and the breadth
eight, ten, and even twelve leagues. It is impossible to traverse the chain
in one day; the inhabitants of the west side, who must pass over these de-
serts to go into the eastern provinces, are obliged to pass the night there,
at the risk of losing themselves in everlasting mists, and perishing of cold in
the midst of tempests and whirlwinds of snow.— M. de Buch.

Vol. 48, No, 222, Oct. 1816, 7 1690 metres,

290 Absiract of a Memoir on the Limits

1690 metres, the latitude being about 61°. This height is less
(only 1597 metres) in the chain nearest the sea, which is called
Folge-Fonden-Field. Finally, the Melderskin, still nearer the
ocean, constantly retains the snow, and yet its peak is 209 me-
tres Jedow the limit at which we observe the same phenomenon
on the Great Chain.

In order to account for this gradual lowering of the limit of

snow in proportion as we approach the ocean, M. de Buch re-
marks that the prevailing winds on the coasts of Norway are al-
ways south-west and south; northerly and easterly winds are there
infinitely less frequent, and feebler. Now the former come from
the warm regions : in passing over the sea they are saturated with
humidity; but being soon cooled by the continents, a part of
the dissolved water is precipitated in the form of mists, clouds,
and, finally, of those torrents of rain which inundate the islands si-
tuated along the’shore*: the sun penetrates but rarely this almost
perpetual bed of clouds, and its rays warm the ground but slightly ;
the temperature of the warmest months ought consequently to be
less near the shores than in the interior, where the sun during
the long days of summer exercises a great influence. There is
therefore every year less ‘snow melted on the mountains which are
near the sea; and the limit at which it keeps unmelted ought to
be lowered much.
_ Another cause, of which Saussure had already perceived the in-
fluence, is the mass of mountains. If the snow occupies a great
extent, it lowers considerably the temperature around, and thereby
prevents the lower snows from melting at elevations at which it
would melt on isolated peaks. M. de Buch finds in the form and
situation of the chain of Fonden Field, something on which to
found a fortunate. application of those considerations to the re-
markable phenomenon which he wished to explain.

If we quit the countries just mentioned, and proceed 10 de-
grees further northward, 7. e. to the extremities of the European
continent, we expect to meet with the snow limit almost at the
surface of the ground ; but the general aspect of the country soon

__* There never falls at Bergen in the space of a year, less than 68 inches
of rain, and frequently 92 have been known to fall: whereas at Upsal, in the
same latitude, but inthe interior, the annual quantity of rain does not exceed
14 inches. The currents of heated and humid air which preduce these
great differences also exercise a remarkable influence in the gravity of the
atmosphere. M. Hertzberg of Kynservig, by using excellent syphon baro-~
meters, never saw, for ten years, the mean annual height of the barometer
exceed 28 inches and half a line (0°7592™). This result is confirmed by the
observations of M. Stroem, under the 63d degree, and by those of M.
Schytte in the 68th: and it will appear still more curious to learn that at Pe-
tersburg, Abo, and Stockholm, in the Baltic, the mean annual height of the
barometer frequently rises to 28 inch. $ lin.=0'7646".—M. de Buch.
shows

of the perpetual Snows in the North. 291

shows that this.is not the case. We find, in fact, under the 70th
degree of latitude, fields and gardens well cultivated ; a numerous
population also covers the shores of the great arms of the sea,
and beautiful forests grow in the valleys. It is towards the ex-
tremities of Lapland that the immense chain of mountains of Nor-
way divides and finally disappears. One of the latter peaks, the
Akka- Sokki, situated in the interior of the Gulf of Alten, was
not covered with snow when M. de Buch ascended it on the 16th
of August 1807, and nevertheless, according to the barometrical
observations, its height above the sea is 1023 metres: but an ad-
joining mountain, the Storvauds Field, retains the snow the whole
vear; its height is 1071 metres :—hence it results that in the 70th
degree the limit sought ought to be nearly 1060 metres. This
height is, as we see, considerable; it equals that of the Puy du
Dome, above the ridge of Clermont, and surpasses the height of
the principal mountains of Germany. Henceforth we ought no
longer to be astonished that at the level of the sea, i. e. 1000
metres below the snow limit, vegetation has still some vigour and
the forests extend to great heights: besides, the heights at which
the various species of trees and shrubs cease to grow are very
clearly defined. The limits of the pines and birch-trees never vary
beyond 30 metres, and exhibit themselves like lines of demarcation
cut along the sides of the mountains. We dwell upon this obser-
vation (in all respects so curious) the more forcibly, as M. de Buch
made use of it to determine the snow limit at the North Cape.

The following is the table of his results : Metres,
The Pine (Pinus sy/vestris) disappears at. 237
The Birch-tree ( Betula alba) - - 482
The Myrtle (Vaccinium Myrtillus) - 620
The Mountain Willow (Salix myrsiniles) 656
The Dwarf Birch (Betula nana) - - 836
The snow ceases to melt at - - i060

There is therefore a difference of 245 metres between the limit
of the pine and that of the birch-tree, and 575 metres between
thelimit of the birch-tree and the snow limit. ‘These relative
differences are the same in Norway and Lapland, although the
absolute heights of the limits are different. Thus we see the pines
disappear at 980 metres; we must rise to 1225 metres = 980
+245 in order to find the limit of the ——-, and the snow limit
will be at 1803 metres = 1225 4-578.
~ We might easily, by setting out fiom these data, determine the
height of the snows on the remotest islands towards the frozen
sea; although, considering the little elevation of the mountain, the
snow does not remain the whole year. Thus near Hammer Fest,
the last city of Europe to the northward, we find birch-trees
under the form of weak shrubs at a height of 227 metres;—at, Ma-

a gerog

292 Abstract of a Memoir on the Limits

geroé (the island where Cape North is) we see no traces above
130 metres: the snow limit will therefore be 805 metres = 227
+578 at Hammer Fest, and 708 metres = 578+ 130 at Cape
North. The rocks of this last point are only 390 metres high, so
that it would require 318 metres more in order that the snow
should not melt in summer.

One remark of great truth we owe to M. de Buch, namely,
that the snow limit ought to depend chiefly on the temperature
of the months during which the snows usually melt ; so that it is
not the mean temperature which determines its height. Thus in
the interior of the Gulf of Alten, the mean degree of the thermo-
meter is less than at Cape North*, and yet the snow limit there
is much higher. This is because one and the same mean annual
temperature may result from very different monthly mean tem-
peratures; as we may be convinced by the subjoined table, which
presents, month by month, the mean temperatures of Mageroé
(an island of Cape North), and of Uleoborg, under the parallel of

Torneo.

Mageroé, - - lat. 714° Uleoborg, lat. 65°.
January, — 5°5° — 13°5°
February, — 49 — 10-0°
March, — 40 — 99
April, — 10 — 32
May, + 11 + 49
June, + 4:5 + 12:9
July, + 81 + 16-4
August, + 6:0 + 13:7
September, + 31 + 80
October, 0-0 + 37
November, — 35 — 5:2
December, — 35 — 10:2
Mean result = + 0:03 = + 0°63

We see that the definitive mean temperatures of the year differ
little from each other in these two places, and yet the mean of the
positive temperature rises at Uleoborg to 10°, whereas it does
not go beyond 4° at North Cape. Those considerations add to
the interest which ought to be excited for the determination of
the snow limit :—if its height infact is only regulated, as we have
said before, by the summer temperature, it will become in some

* The mercury often freezes in the open air at Alten, but never at Cape
North, The thermometer falls every winter at Alten to 25° below zero. At
Cape North it is only —12°, or at most —15°, and —17°05 is the extreme
point. Thus the sea never freezes in those regions. We must be 20 or $0
sea leagues from the latter promontory before we see the islands of ice, and
still they are very far off in the horizon.—M. de Buch.

respects

of the perpetuas Snows in the North. 293

respects a measure for the strength of vegetation, which must de-
pend only on temperatnres above zero.

The height at which the perpetual snows are found under dif-
ferent latitudes, and the distance from their limit to that of the
trees, have been recently the subject of a profound discussion in
the Prolegomena de Distributione Geographica Plantarum of M.
de Humboldt. We shall give in a future number of the Annales
de Chimie et de Physique an extract of that part of the work
which contains some new and ingenious considerations on the di-
rection of isothermal lines. At present we shall confine ourselves
to such of M. de Humboldt’s results as refer to the interesting
question which is the subject of the article.

1, Between the tropics from 0° to 10° latitude in the cor-
dilleras of the new world, the limit of the snow = 4795 metres
(2460 fathoms). The mean temperature of the air at this height
is not zero, as Bouguer and after him all have admitted, but ra-
ther + 15° centigrade.

2. Between the parallels of 19° and 21° of north latitude,
Mexico, at the entrance of the torrid zone, we find perpetual
snow at 4580, metres (2350 fathoms).

3. Under thetemperate zone, on Caucasus lat. 42° —43°, the
height according to Messrs. Englehardt and Parrot is 3216 me-
tres (1650 fathoms).

4. Inthe Pyrenees (lat. 42°1—43°), M. Ramond finds the
permanent snows 2729 metres (1400 fathoms*), At this height
the mean temperature of the year = — 3°5°,

d. The

* We might have been astonished to find a difference of 487 metres (250
fathoms) between the height of the snow on Caucasus and the Pyrenees,
almost under the same parallel, if the discussion to which M. de Buch de-
votes his memoir had not shown how great is the influence of local circum-
stances. The following passage, taken from a letter, now very old, of M.
Ramond, will have the double advantage of affording a considerable degree
of certainty as to the determination of altitude whieh the text contains for
the Pyrenees, and of making known the peculiar causes which in this chain
render the observation difficult.

“ T have remarked that the inferior snow limit descends lower the higher
the mountains rise, and that themountains which form the skirts of a chain
are deprived of snow ata height at which the centre mountains are covered.

“ Thus the Peak du Midi, although 2935 metres (1505 fathoms) high, has
@ permanent snow, if it is not in a ravine exposed to the north-west, and
still it disappears in warm summers, Neouville and Peak Long have perma-
nent snows at 2826 metres (1450 fathoms) only, and these snows contain
glacieres which never appear above them. But in order to have the charac-
teristic limit of the Pyrenees we must go to the centre of the chain, i. e. to
the environs of Mont Perdu, Marboré,and Vigue Male. I remark as follows
in places favourable to those kinds of observations :—there are carpets of
permanent snow above the Port de Pinede, Col de Nivelle, the lake of Mont
Perdu, and above the peaks of Port de Garvarnia, &c, The mean panes

T3 ‘ 0

294 On the Limits of the perpetual Snows in the North.

5. The mean of the observations recently published by M.
Wahlenberg gives for the snow region in the Alps (lat. 45°3
—46°L) 2670 metres (1370 fathoms). At this height the mean
annual temperature = —4”, the mean of winter is— “10°, that of
summer + 6°.

6. The mean temperature of the year, at the height at which
M. de Buch has found the limit of the snows under the 68th de-
gree of latitude, is—6° ; that of winter = — 20°5°, that of summer
+9:°5°,

From the paralle! of Popocatepec in Mexico, to that of Etna,

the inferior limit of the snow has not yet been determined by
direct measurements. According to the researches of M. de
Humboldt, this limit, by the latitude of 28-17°, which is that of
the Peak of Teneriffe, must be 3800 metres (1950 fathoms), but
the height of this ridge is only 3711 (1904 fathoms) ; so that if it
is clear of snow during summer, it is less on account of being
heated (as was thought) by the volcanic fire, than on account of
its elevation, which is not considerable enough.

In order to show how much this department of general physics
has gained latterly by the researches of travellers, we shall sub-
join the heights which Kirwan and all subsequent authors assign

to the limits of snow, and by their side the results which have
been furnished by direct observations :

Thteiads. Height of the Snow Limit Height of the Snow Limit

from actual observation. according to Kirwan.

metres. metres.
0° a 4795 ee 4783
a ay 1 ade _ 4580 oe 4186
45° ee 2729 ee 2343
61° ve 1690 Yeld eaves
62° “e 1582 a 943
65° a sees 48 766
67° ds 1169 ate iso
677° ee 1072 ay 619
70° ee 1060 oe ds os:

of these elevations is about 2632 metres, (or 1350 fathtatoy and all things
“considered, I do not think it ought to be. fixed lower: perhaps it may even
be carried the length of 2729 metres (1400 fathoms), for below this the
carpets of snow are not continued, and their being maintained depends on
local circumstances, of ravines, or exposure, &c. “Besides, nothing is more
dificult than to establish this fact in the Pyrenees, because the whole cen-
tre of the chain is composed of mountains vertically broken: there are
_almost no moderate slopes ; the snows roll down and form heaps which re-
sist the warmth of summer by their thickness, whilst the heights, which
ought to be covered with them, are bare.”

LIX. On

{ 295 j

LIX. On Cast Iron and Steel; with Experiments to ascer-
tain whether Manganese may be alloyed with Iron. By
Davip Musuet, Esq. of Coleford, Forest of Dean.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Ass soon as the following analysis of Swedish iron and
steel, by Bergman, was generally known to the iron- trade of this
country, an expectation prevailed that, by combining manganese
with the ironstones or iron ores used at our own furnaces, or by
the discovery of an iron ore already combined with manganese,
a quality of cast iron would be produced, that might be manu-
factured subsequently into bar iron fit for making good steel.

Plumbago & if 2°2
: Manganese .. a 15°25
Cast iron Siliceous earth.. Be 2°25 100 parts.
TON. as te 80°30
Plumbago ay Ly 50
Manganese as me 15°25
Steel Siliceous earth .. Ae “60 100 parts.
Irony) 2s bi A 83:65
Plumbago ae ae “12
; Manganese .. cs. beta .
Bar iron Siliceous earth .. hg "175 100 parts.
THON.) os $8 one (81 Vitel,

I am not aware of any regular series of experiments having
been performed on the largé scale, to justify the general expecta-
tion. The late Mr. Reynolds used manganese, not in the
smelting furnace, but in the subsequent operation of refining the
cast iron, doubtless with a view to etfect a combination of the
metal of manganese with the iron, corresponding to the above
analysis. ‘The steel manufactured from this iron was in point
of quality, I believe, superior to any formerly made from coke
iron in this country, but I believe that no direct experiment
was made to ascertain whether any metallic manganese, and
what quantity, became united to the iron,

Steel-iron and steel have since been manufactured to some
extent near Ulverston, not with coke but wood charcoal, and
the quantity or fitness of the iron for steel- making attributed di-
‘rectly to a portion of manganese in the ore,

In the above analysis there is a decided anomaly, which of
itself would be sufficient to lead to a suspicion of the accuracy of
the result. If in the first place it is admitted that the original
crude iron contained 15} per cent. of manganese, it is extremely
improbable, from the superior affinity of manganese for oxygen,
that no extra proportion of tthe peyand that of the iron should
e

296 On Cast Tron and Steel.

be wasted or burnt out during its exposure to the blast of the
refinery; and that the resulting bar iron should still contain the
same quantity of 15} per cent. originally in the cast iron.

The French chemists very early doubted the presence of man-
ganese in iron and steel, and subjected some of their best steel to a
rigidanalysis. _I find the following record of their experiments by
Vauquelin, in Nicholson’s Journal, quarto series, vol. ii. p.212.

Steel, No. 864 .. Carbon .. ..: 0:00789
Silex 1.0) is SOUR ES
Phosphorus .. 0°00345
Iron oe es ODBD5T

_—

100000

No, 864 (Large piece) «. Carbon .. .. 0-00683
Silex »» e- 0:00273

Phosphorus -.. 0:00827

Iron ee oe 098217

————

1-00000
No. 977. 4. ‘Carbon .. .. 000789
Silex Se on OT OG ala

Phosphorus -- 0:00791

Tron ott t es « ODDBALL

——— —__

1:00000

No. 1024. .. Carbon .. .. 000631

Silex ee) oe 000252

Phosphorus .. 0:00520

Iron Pure OUyogr

1:00000
The approximation of the results of these experiments to each
other, in which the presence of manganese was not at all disco-
vered, is a strong proof of their accuracy: but as Vauquelin and
Bergman in no case seem to have analysed the same iron, it
does not prove the non-existence of manganese in the Swedish
iron analysed by the latter. Those who consider the excellence
of steel to be derived from the presence of metallic manganese,
may deduce an inference from the experiments of Vauquelin in
favour of their own theory ; as it is confessed in the comparative
experiments detailed in that memoir, that the steel of France
will not stand comparison with the best steel of England: the
latter in this country being always manufactured from the best
Swedish

ies

_
‘ur

areas NE ie ee

eta *

On Cast Iron and Steel. 297

Swedish irons. As far as my own experiments go on the sub-
ject of analysing by deoxidation and fusion the ores from which
the Swedish steel irons are manufactured, I have not found any
indications of a larger proportion of manganese than [ found in
the ores of this country. Nor have I at any time been able to
satisfy myself that the presence of manganese imparted any pe-
culiar excellence to the steel produced in these experiments.

At the time when the alloys of manganese with iron excited
considerable interest in this country, 1 made some experiments
on the subject, which if you consider at this late period fit for
insertion in your Magazine, they are much at your service.

I first attempted to prove whether it was probable that me-
tallie manganese united to iron in the process followed by Mr.
Reynolds.—For this purpose I selected a quantity of cast iron
boring dust, with which the following experiments were made:

Grains,
1. Boring dust oe oe 2% are ia 400

This was fused alone in a clay crucible, and the

result was a mottled button of cast iron, weighing 382
Loss equal to 44 per cent... 18

This experiment repeated (by simple fusion) made the
loss 20 grains, or 5 per cent.

2. Boring dust ds aie ws oe oe 400
Manganese {th (black oxide) .. oe “é 50

A small portion of brown glass was formed in the fusion.
The metallic button weighed 382 grains; loss, 18 grains,
or 44 per cent. of iron,

3. Boring dust .. oe ob ee o's 400
Manganese (black oxide) ith .. ae 213 100

The result of the fusion of this mixiure was a button of
east iron of a white fracture and minute steely grain ;
weighed 375 grains.

Loss 25 grains, or 64 per cent.

The glass was yellowish, opaque, and dense.

4. Boring dust elk ae de és oe 400
Manganese (black oxide)... a “a 200

Result of this fusion a metallic button weighing 367 grs.

Loss 33 grains, or 8} per cent.

Fracture, that of dense hard steel, grain blueish dull, si-
milar to steel made by decarbonation from cast iron. Glass
deep brown, opaque, though in thin fragments possessed of
some transparency.

- The general result of these experiments in close cruci-
bles by no means indicates a combination of metallic
manganese

‘298 On Cast Tron and Steel.

manganese with crude iron; but they prove a decarbonation
from mottled iron to steel, and a loss of matter, by oxida-
tion and decarbonation, of 4i, 5, 45, 63, Si per cent.

f Grains.
5. Boring dust 7 Seni}
Manganese (black cael! =e “had ‘a 22 per
cent. of oxygen ina red heat) jth .. if 50

The metallic button obtained from this fusion was in
fracture perfect white east iron, but possessed of a blueish
glance similar to No. 3; weight 382 grains; loss 18 grains,
er 44 per cent. Glass deep brown with occasional blue

streaks.
6. Boring dust a 7 he on a 400
Manganese deoxidated, 3th =... Ho oe 100

The metallic button obtained, weighed 386 grains; loss
14 grains, or 34 per cent.; fracture, steel-grained, glass
deep brown, opaque.
7+ Boring dust an a bt me os F400
Manganese deoxidated, + - nt 200
Result, a smooth anes button covered with a minute
chequered erystallization; weight 386 grains; loss 14, or
34 per cent. The fracture of this button was uncommonly
dense, and impressed with the same crystallization that
was noticed upon its surface. By comparing this result
with No. 4, where the same quantity of oxide of manga-
nese was used, it appears extremely probable that a portion
of metallic manganese was here united to the iron nearly
equal to 43 per cent. the difference of the metallic waste
sustained in the two fusions.
§. Boring dust ix oe ee nis ee 400
Manganese deoxidated aD oe a 400
A metallic button similar to No. 6, was obtained from
this fusion; weight 369 grains; loss 31, or 7} pet cent.;
fracture, grayish blue, steel-grained. if compared with
No. 4, where only half the quantity of manganese was used,
the metallic oxidation is less } a per cent, rendering it still
more probable that a portion of metallic manganese in this,
as in No. 9, became united to the iron in fusion. But this
quantity seems so small for experiments performed in close
crucibles, that Iam inclined to think, in the refining of cast
iron, as practised by Mr. Reynolds, in an open furnace
with oxide of manganese, that no metallic alloy teck place
with the iron.
With a view to investigate the subject further, and to
prove what effect in the furnace would be produced by mix-
ing

9. Boring dust... A *

10.

ll

On Cast Tron and Steel. 299

ing charcoal with the manganese, I attempted to fuse
- 400 grains of the same boring dust with 40 grains of char-
coal. The result was imperfect, owing to the iron and char-
coal forming a carburet, which was infusible in the highest
heat of the furnace. With 15 grains charcoal and the same
quantity of boring dust, a fine button of carbonated smooth-
faced iron was obtained, weighing 391 grains ; loss 9 grains,
or 2 per cent.; fracture blackish gray.
; Hy ok 400 grs.

Manganese oxide aS ae ee ote 100

Charcoal Salis cant hs ae wife as 40
This fusion afforded a dense button of mottled east iron,
weighing 393 grains; loss 7 grains, or 13 per cent.; there
remained unreduced 10 grains of magnetic black carburet
of iron. In this experiment 2 grains extra of metal are
obtained from the manganese, and a decarbonation expe-

rienced from very gray to mottled cast iron,

Boring dust .. ar te is ae 400
Manganese oxide _.. oe as os 200
Charcoal the a rs 40

This fusion afforded a dense button of white cast iron,
the fracture of which indicated a greater portion of metallic
manganese in alloy than had hitherto been obtained in
these experiments ; weight 401 grains. In the fusion of
400 grains of boring dust with 15 grains of charcoal, 391
grains of iron was obtained: in the present experiment the
result was 401 grains; which is an increase of 10 grains of
metal derived from 20 grains of manganese in consequence
of mixing with it 40 grains of charcoal. This present me-
tallic button may therefore be considered as being com-
posed Of iron A ns oo = 975

Manganese ., ae an 2°5
100 pts.

In this experiment the metallic button was found covered
with a party-coloured glass, milky blue, brown, and gar-
net ; 3 grains of magnetic carburet of iron found unreduced.

Boring dust .. =e pe ve ale 400 grs.
Manganese oxide °° or as oe 400

Charcoal va Sc oe Sn ae 40

The result of this fusion was a fine crystallized metallic
button weighing 390 grains ; loss 10 grains, or 2! per cent.
the effect of the charcoal as to metallizing the manganese
seems to have attained its maximum in No. 10, The glass
now obtained was brownish red, without any carburet on
its surface,as in Nos, 9 and 10,

These

300 Notices respecting New Books.

These experiments make it evident, that metallic manganese
may be united to cast iron by mixing it with a portion of char-
eoal; and it js probable that a similar effect would take place in
the puddling furnace. But as in these experiments with the
charcoal in mixture, the iron was not.decarbonated or refined
enough, it cannot be positively inferred that the metallic man-
ganese would remain alloyed with the iron during the whole pro-
cess of refinement.

Iam, &c.
Davip MusHeEr.

LX. On the Cosmogony of Moses. By J. C. Pricnary, Esq.
To Mr. Tillock.

Sir, — Your correspondent F. E s has vainly flattered
himself with the idea of having extorted from me a confession
which I have not made. Far from allowing that I never sup-
posed him to have uttered the assertion I-had imputed to him,
I pointed out the particular passage in which that proposition is
to be found, and where it is expressed in words the sense of
which can only be eluded by a mere quibble.

Sah s having at length abandoned his attack on all the
points which I have been anxious to defend, and contenting
himself with taking up a position on wholly different ground,
TI am very willing to leave him in undisturbed possession of his
new quarters.

T have the honour to be, sir,
Your obedient servant,

Bristol, Oct. 14, 1816. J.C. PrrcHARD.

LXI. Notices respecting New Books.
Transactions of the Geological Society, vol. iii. 4to. 452 pp.

W: have great pleasure in announcing the appearance of a
volume, rich in matter as well as embellishment (being aecom-
panied with twenty-six plates and maps bound up separately),
so that it cannot but prove acceptable to every geologist. The
contents are as follow:

1. A Sketch of the Mineralogy of Sky. By John MacCul-
loch, M.D. F.L.S. President of the Geological Society, Chemist
to the Ordnanee, and Lecturer on Chemistry. at the Royal Mili-

tary Academy at Woolwich, 111 pages.—II. On the Oxyd of
Uranium,

Notices respecteng New Books. 301

Uranium, the production of Cornwall. By Mr. Wm. Phillips,
Member of the Geological Society. 9 pages.—III. On the Geo-
logical Features of the North-eastern Counties of Ireland. Ex-
tracted from the Notes of J. F. Berger, M.D. Member of the
Geological Soriety: with an Introduction and Remarks, by the
Rev.W. Conybeare, Member of the Geological Society. 75 pages.
—Descriptive Notes referring to the Outline of Sections pre-
sented by a part of the Coasts of Antrim and Derry, Bythe Rev.
W. Conybeare, Member of the Geological Society. 27 pages.—
IV. On the Dykes of the North of Ireland. By J. F. Berger,
M.D. Member of the Geological Society. 13 pages. —V. Some
Remarks upon the Structure of Barbadoes, as connected with
Specimens of its Rocks. By Joseph Skey, M.D. Physician to
the Forces. 7 pages.—VI. Outlines of the Geology of Cam-
bridgeshire. By the Rev. J. Hailstone, F. R. and L.S. Wood-
wardian Professor in the University of Cambridge. 8 pages.—
VII..Some Observations on a Bed of Trap occurring in the Col-
ery of Birch Hill, near Walsall, in Staffordshire. By Arthur
Aikin, Esq. Secretary to the Geological Society. 7 pages.—
VILL. A Geological Description of Glen Tilt. By John Mae-
Culloch, M.D. F.L.S. President of the Geological Society, Che-
mist to the Ordnance, and Lecturer on Chemistry at the Royal
Military Academy at Woolwich. 8 pages.—IX. Sketch of the
Geology of the South-western Part of Somersetshire. By Leo-
nard Horner, Esq. F.R.S. Member of the Geological Society.
79 pages.—X. Description of a Clinometer. By Lord Webb
Seymour, F.R.S. F.R.S.E. F.L.S. Member of the Geological
Society. 47 pages.—XI. A Sketch of the Geology of the Lin-
colnshire Wolds. By Mr. Edward Bogg, Land Surveyor. 7
pages.—XII. On the Tremolite of Cornwall. By the Rev.
W. Gregor, Honorary Member of the Geological Society. 5
pages.—XIII. Some Observations on the Salt Mines of Cardona,
made during a Tour in Spain in the Summer of 1814. B
Thomas Stewart Traill, M.D. Member of the Geological Society.
9 pages.—XIV. Description of a new Ore of Tellurium. By
Professor Esmark, of Christiania. Foreign Member of the Geo-
logical Society. 2 pages.—XV. An Account of the Swedish
Corundum, from Gellivarain Lapland. By C. T. Swedenstierna.
6 pages.—List of Donations, Description of Plates, and Index.
The first paper, by Dr. MacCulloch, displays equal industry
and intelligence. Though modestly given as a sketch it is re-
plete with information, and exhibits many new facts well de-
serving of attention, and which, if properly followed up, will
tend to correct some opinions which have perhaps been too
hastily adopted, {t cannot be doubted, that hypotheses abso-
solutely

302 Notices respecting New Books.

lutely groundless, have often occasioned investigations which
have led to theories founded on truth; but it will not in the
present age be denied that a too ready adoption of systems with-
out sufficient facts to support them has been the bane of science,
and operated to retain mankind in a state of ignorance. The
facts stated in this paper furnish various ‘¢ objections to the com-
monly received arrangement”’ of strata, and ‘‘ enforce on geo-
logists the necessity of drawing their distinctions from real and
not from theoretical [hypothetical] views, and of establishing
criteria which are better founded, and which rest on more satis-
factory evidence than that produced by the mere apparent or
éven real superposition of an unstratified above a stratified rock.”
We regret that our limits do not allow us to offer an enumera-
tion of the new facts established by Dr. MacCulloch’s Sketch of
the Mineralogy of Sky; but his “ detailed description of the
marble of Strath” should he seen by others as well as geologists,
were it only for the ‘* ceconomical uses to which it seems appli-
cable,” and we therefore give it in his own words:

<< The following varieties are the most remarkable of those
which are to be seen in this tract.
6° 1, Pure white marble, the fracture intermediate between the

granular and small platy.
‘2. The same with a scarcely discernible shade of gray.

** 3. The same with variously disposed veins of gray and black,
resembling the common veined marble used in architee-
tural ornaments.

¢¢ 4, The same with narrower veins well defined, and often reti-
culated with a great semblance of regularity: very orna-
mental.

«6 5, The same, distinguished, independently of the veins, by a
parallel and regular alternation of layers of pure white and
grayish white.

«¢ 6, White marble variously mottled and veined with gray, yel-
low, purple, and light green. This is also a very orna-
mental variety.

“7. Marble, exhibiting various mixtures of white, pink, purple,
light green, dark green, and black, of a rich sombre
effect, and highly ornamental.

<8, White marble, beautifully mottled and veined by yellow
transparent serpentine.

«¢ The ornamental coloured marbles here described, searcely
yield in beauty to many of the similarly constituted specimens
of ancient marbles, and like many of the marbles of Scotland
they will be found to owe their colours to serpentine. This is

also the case in Glen Tilt, at Balahulish, and in Iona. But the }
most |

Notices respecting New Books. 308

most obviously valuable variety is the white, which seems to possess
most of the qualities requisite for the purposes of statuary.

“¢ Few substances in the catalogue of those with which cecoe
nomical mineralogy is concerned have excited more interest than
statuary marble, from its rarity, its beauty, and its indispensable
necessity in the art of sculpture. It has at different times’
formed an object of anxious research in this country, and pre-
miums have been held out for it by the Society of Arts. It has
consequently been found in various parts of Scotland, as well as
in Ireland, but no native specimens have yet been introduced into
the arts. As the causes which have impeded their introduetion
have hitherto been such as may be considered adventitious, being
of a commercial nature, and not founded on any experience of
their physical defects, it has been hoped that they might by
perseverance and time be removed, and that those statuary mar-
bles of this country might at some future day supersede the
necessity of importing this article. It will not therefore be a
misplaced inquiry to examine the several properties of those mar-
bles which have at different times held a place in the estima-
tion of artists, and to compare them with our own specimenis,
more particularly with that of Sky, now under review, the most
abundant and certainly the most specious of all those which
have yet been found in Britain. The inquiry is the more ne-
cessary, as the several circumstances in which white marbles
differ, do not appear to have been generally attended to, and as an
undue value seems in some instances to have been fixed on our
own in popular estimation, although not in that of sculptors
themselves,

The value of this substance in those distant periods when
the arts of Greece flourished, occasioned an industrious research
after a material in which the sublime ideas of its artists could be
embodied. Accordingly many quarries have been wrought in
ancient times, of which little has descended to us but the names,
and a few of the works which were executed from their produce,
These marbles were of various qualities, and examples of them
are still to be seen in ancient statues 3 although with regard to
many of them, a species of evidence, often little better than con-
jectural, has guided sculptors and mineralogists in their attempts .
to determine the quarries from whence they were derived,
Among these, the quarries of Parose afforded a marble (the often-
quoted lychnites of Pliny) in which it'is asserted that the cele-
brated Venus was wrought, as well as some others to which we
have not access. But there are many specimens of sculpture in
the British Museum which seem to have been executed in this
stone, or in one at least of analogous character;

6é Of

304 Notices respecting New Books.

<¢ Of the nature of the Parian marble we are enabled to speak
positively, since some blocks of it have been quarried during the
last few years, and are now to be found in the shops of the
sculptors of this city. The grain of this marble is large and
glistening, while at the same time its texture is loose and soft,
and its colour of a yellowish and watery white. It possesses
considerable translucency on the edges, a quality which, how-
ever desirable in statuary marble when of a fine grain, from the
softness which it gives to the outline, only increases the disagree-
able aspect of the Parian, by the anguiar reflections of light
which take place on the pellucid edge and surface, from the
innumerable faces of the small plates. The specimens of sculp-
ture which I am about to quote, will exemplify this fault. It is
certain indeed that the Greek sculptors abandoned the marble
of Paros after the quarries of Luna and Carrara were discovered,
the superior fineness and whiteness of these marbles, which at
present cause them to excel any with the places of which we are
now acquainted, rendering them also at least equal to the best
of those ancient ones of which the native places are now un-
known.

‘«¢ Independently of the injurious effects which the large grain
of the Parian marble produces on the transparent surface of
sculptured works, and the false lights which it thus introduces
into the contour, it interferes materially with the requisite cor-
rectness of drawing in the lesser works, and is thus inapplicable.
to the details of small sculptures in relief. It is nevertheless sus-
ceptible of a good polish, a quality, however, of little value in
the eyes of the statuary, and one which in this variety only serves
to render the defects of its texture more apparent. It is also
said to have been deficient in size, since it was so intersected by
fissures as to be incapable of yielding blocks of more than five
feet in length. I may add, that in the present state of the public
habits with regard to white marbles, there is no demand for
modern works executed in Parian marble. Its celebrity is con-
signed to the metaphors of poets.

“6 It will afford satisfaction to those who are interested in the
arts to point out such works in the British Museum as appear
to have been executed in Parian marble, or in one of similar
character. ;

«© A Cupid bending his bow. This specimen is rather of a finer
grain than the generality. It may perhaps belong to, that mar-
ble called by the Italian sculptors murmo statuario, but this
question cannot be determined without a fresh fracture.

<¢ A bust of Minerva,

‘* Aratus, a bust, This alsois of a fine grain like the Cupid.

) *° A Venus,

Notices respecting New Books. 395

‘* A Venus, of a similar grain, and agreeing with the charac-
ter of the marmo statuario.

« Zeno, a bust, of a very coarse grain.

«¢ A terminal head of Bacchus.

** A terminal head of Mercury.

«* A Jupiter Serapis.

*¢ Bacchus and Ampelus.

** Marcus Aurelius, a bust.

“* There are others, but it is not requisite to enumerate them.
_ © Amarble of a much finer grain, and capable ofa high polish,
is described by the antients, as found near the river Coralus in
Phrygia, as well as in some of the Greek islands : it is supposed
to be the variety known to statuaries by the name of marmo Gre-
co, and some ancient statues are described as being formed of
this marble. It is possible that specimens of it may exist in the
British Museum, but our sculptors are, as far as I know, incapa-
ble of distinguishing it at present, and it is much too hazardous
to assign the place of a particular specimen from the contempla-
tion of a polished and often of a stained surface. Mr. Tennant
has found that the marmo Greco is a magnesian limestone.

** | am equally unable to point out specimens of that variety
known to the Italians by the name of marmo statuario, of which
the quarries are also lost, but which, with greater translucency of
surface, resembles the Parian marble in the largeness of its grain,
unless those which I have conjectured to belong to this variety,
when describing the specimens of seulpture in Parian, do in fact
appertain to the latter.

“¢ The quarries of Luna produce a compact white marble sus-
ceptible of a high polish, and capable of being wrought with the
most minute accuracy. Hence it is preferable for the finer ope-
rations of bas-relief, either to the Parian, of which the aspect in-
terferes with the delicacy of finish and of surface required in these
works, or to the Pentelic, which was subject to accidents from
veins of mica and of serpentine, or to that of Carrara, in which
dark veins are of frequent occurrence. It was accordingly pre-
ferred by the antients, and among many other works, the Apollo
(Belvedere) is said to have been executed in Luna marble. We
have no other knowledge of the marbles of Hymettus and of Ara-
bia than their names.

*< Of all the marbles employed in the works of the antients, and
of which many specimens have descended to our days, that of
Carrara is almost the only one which is at present held in esti-
mation, or is now accessible to modern sculptors. This marble
is of a very fine grain and compact texture ; it is also susceptible
of a high polish when required, and is consequently applicable to
every species of sculpture, except when, as is too often the case,

Vol, 48, No, 222. Oct. 1816. U dark

306 Noiices respecting New Books.

dark veins intrude and spoil the beauty of the work. Notwith-
standing the general apparent uniformity of its texture, it offers
different varieties of aspect. It is always ofa fine granular fracture,
yet this fracture is sometimes combined with a slight tendency to
the flat splintery, in which case the stone is harder and more trans-
lucent than when it is purely granular. When merely granular it
is sometiines dry and crumbly, precisely as if it had been exposed
to a high heat; it then loses much of its tr ansparency, and is
called woolly by sculptors. Its transparency is various, and in
some cases nearly equal to that of alabaster, (granular gypsum).
“‘ The bust of Marcellus in the Museum offers an example of a
very fine grained and extremely translucent marble, apparently of
this kind. The specimen employed in the bust of Messalina is
equally remarkable for the fineness and beauty of its texture. In
a bust of a youthful Hercules in the same collection the identity
of the marble is marked by the dark veins which are to be seen
in it; but it is unnecessary to Guote individual specimens, as the
greatest number of the sculptures in this collection appear to have
been executed in Carrara marble.
<¢ The last of the antient marbles which I shall describe is that
of Pentelicus, of which the quarries are probably still to be found
in the vicinity of Athens, although they have not been investigated
by modern travellers. But we are in possession of numerous
specimens of sculpture in this stone, from which we are able to
determine its qualities; two are to be seen in the British Museum.
Of these there is the bust ofa Philosopher, of, apparently, antient
and very dry workujanship : the other is the celebrated Disco-
bulus. It is known that Myron the Athenian, who flourished
about 440 A.C. executed a work of this character in bronze:
hut we have no evidence respecting the marble statue, and artists
have therefore remained in doubt whether it was executed by him-
self or was a copy by another hand. This question cannot be
positively decided by the sculpture itself, however high its merits.
In the mean time a step is gained by the mineralogical investi -
gation of the material, and thus mineralogy is capable of throwing
light on the history of the arts. The substance in which it is
w rought must therefore be considered a sufficient proof of the an-
tiquity of the copy, if it. be such, as well as of its haying been ex-
ecuted at Athens, since the quarries of Pentelicus were abandoned
im consequence of their defects, as soon as those of Carrara and
Luna were known. Although it is difficult or impossible to de-
termine this period, yet as so few works in Pentelic marble poste-
rior to the time of Phidias and of Myron have descended tous, it
is probable that little use was made of those quarries after the pe-
riod of these artists. We are therefore, perhaps, entitled to con-
clude that the Discobulus of the Townley collection is an Athe-
niaii

Notices respecting New Books. 307

hian work of the best age of sculpture, and not a copy by any more
modern artist ; and that if it was executed neither by Myron him-
self nor under his direction, it is yet not hkely to have been much
inferior to the original, while it may serve, at the same time, as
some proof of the esteem in which that work was held at Athens.
But the most numerous examples of Pentelic marble are to be
found in those works of Phidias which form the collection of Lord
Elgin, and which afford easy access toexamination. In the pre-
sent corroded and tarnished state of the surfaces of these statues
we cannot trace the nature or the defects of this variety, but an
examination of its texture and composition in the broken frag-
ments, serves to excite the deepest regret, that the genius of the
greatest sculptor whom the world has seen, should for want of
better materials have been condemned to bestow its energies on
so perishable and so defective astone. This marble is of a loose
texture and moderate-sized grain, coarser than that of Carrara,
but finer than that of Paros; in colour it is exceedingly imperfect,
being tinged with gray, brown, and yellow, and mottled with
transparent parts, which give it the appearance of having been
stained with oil. But its most formidable defect is its laminated
structure, and the quantity of mica with which it is contaminated :
to this we are to attribute the Corrosion and almost entire ruin of
so many of the specimens, the action of. the weather dissolving
those parts of the stone where the mica is most abundant, and
eating deep fissures through many parts of the work. It is pe-
culiarly unfortunate that the two most admirable specimens, spe-
cimens which are calculated to excite in the minds of artists a
mixed feeling of wonder and despair, the horse’s head and the
Theseus, should be those which have suffered most. Had they
been fortunately executed in the more uniform and durable stone
of Carrara, these works might still have been preserved to us in
all their original perfection of drawing and surface, Even the
hammer of the Turk would have rebounded with little injury from
the marbles of this texture, while the micaceous stone of. Pente-
licus splitting in the direction of its lamine, has permitted the
complete mutilation of many valuable sculptures.
“ We have no geological information with regard to the rela-
tions of these stones. The great resemblance of the Pentelic
marble to that of Glen Tilt-in aspect and composition, renders it
probable that like this it lies in mica slate, forming beds parallel
to and interstratified with that rock : that the others have similar
relations to the primary rocks, we should have concluded.on ge-
neral geological principles, had we not already seen that the white
marble-of Sky which has given rise to this discussion belongs to
the secondary strata.
“¢ We have now to examine the white marbles which have been
U2 discovered

308 Notices respecting New Books,

discovered in our own islands, for the purpose of comparing their
relative properties and the value which they are likely to possess
in sculpture. I am unfortunately unable to give any account of
those found in Ireland, neither having seen their places, nor being
possessed of any specimens.

*¢ That which has been found at Cape Wrath in Scotland, is of »
a grain much larger than even the Parian, and is consequently
useless for the purpose of sculpture; and this indeed is by much
the most common character of the Scottish specimens. Those of
Blairgowrie, of Glenavon, and of Balahulish, are all equally cha-
racterized by this large sparry texture, and are all equally unfit
for sculpture, however applicable to the purposes of architecture.
The marble of Jona has been long since exhausted, and conse-
quently requires no particular notice : however valuable from the
purity of its colour and compactness of its texture, yet the uncer-
tainty of its splintery fracture before the chisel, (that tool without
which no spirited work was ever finished,) combined with its great
hardness, would probably have rendered it useless in the arts, even
if it were still to be procured.

* In a paper on Assynt I have already described the white
marble of that district: itis of avery close texture, and although it
contains no earth but lime, is of unusual specific gravity and hard-
ness. It is ineapable of being polished, a circumstance, it is true,
of no consequence in statuary, since the polish only gives a false
light to the surface and is not admitted of in modern sculpture;
but it labours under the concomitant disadvantage of want of
transparency, producing nearly the same dead effect and dry out-
line as is seen in a plaster cast, a fault in itself sufficient to pre-
vent it from ever being adopted as a good material in the arts:
its extreme hardness also renders it very expensive to work.

** The marble of Sky, the more immediate object of this dis-
cussion, is of a pure white colour, and appears sufficiently exten-
sive and continuous to be capable of yielding large blocks. The
purity of its colour is seldom contaminated ; its fracture is gra-
nular and splintery, and its texture fine, less fine than that. of
Iona, but more so than that of Assynt : its compactness, hardness,
and gravity, are greater than those of the marble of Carrara,
which it in fact resembles in little else than colour. It is appa-
rently well fitted for all purposes of sculpture, as it can be wrought
in any direction, and has sufficient transparency, while at the same
time it assumes even a better polish than is required for statuary.
With these good qualities, however, is combined an uncertainty
arising from its unequal hardness. While some parts of the stone
are nearly as easy to work as that of Carrara, many other speci-
mens turn out so hard as to add a charge of near 50 per cent. to
the cost of working: this appears to arise from the influence of

the

Notices respecting New Books. 209

syenitie and trap veins which traverse it, as I have before men-
tioned, but which however produce no change in its chemical
composition, nor any other effect than that of induration. This
addition of price to the current charge of working is sufficient in
the harder specimens to counterbalance in a great degree the su-
perior cheapness of the material, and the advantages derived from
lower freight duty and insurance, Such are the difficulties which
oppose the introduction of the most perfect marble which has
yet been found in Britain, difficulties which, slight as they are,
ought, together with the prevalence of established habits and of
a commercial routine, to check the extravagant hopes which
have been entertained in this country of superseding by its own
produce the importation of foreign statuary marble. But. it will
not be rendering justice to the marble of Sky if I do not add,
that it possesses a property not found in that of Carrara, and
one of considerable importance, at least in small sculptures.
This is, that compactness of texture by which it resists the bruise
which so often takes place in marble at the point where the
chisel stops, an effect known to sculptors by the technical term
stunning, and of which the result is a disagreeable opaque white
mark, generally in the very place where the deepest shadow is
wanted.

** I have little to add respecting the marble of Glen Tilt, as I
have spoken of it in another place. Except the somewhat larger
size of its grain, it is scarcely to be distinguished from the Pen-
telic: in colour it is precisely similar ; but as the character and
defects of the Pentelic, which I have already given, are equally
applicable to this variety, we may fairly abandon all hope of ren-
dering it useful in the art of sculpture.”

Mr. Phillips’s paper On the Oxyd of Uranium, and his drawings
of the varieties of the primitive crystal and of its various modifi-
cations, forty-seven in number, made from well defined crystals
found on specimens from various mines in Cornwall, exhibit a
degree of patient and minute and accurate investigation of which
but few would be found capable.

Dr. Berger’s and Mr. Conybeare’s papers on Ireland, with
the accompanying maps and sections, are most elaborate and
highly interesting. Plate 9 shows in a very satisfactory manner
the geological connexion between the W. of Scotland and the
NE. of Ireland. Some facts connected with the courses of cer-
tain basaltic or whin dykes are remarkable. The chalk, which
is frequently traversed by them often undergoes a remarkable
alteration near the point of contact. This change extends eight
or ten feet from the dyke. Next to it the chalk is changed into
4 dark brown crystalline limestane, the crystals running in flakes

U3 as

310 Notices respecting New Books.

as large as those of coarse primitive limestone. The next state
is saccharine, then fine grained and arenaceous; a compact va-
riety having a porcellaneous aspect. and blueish-gray colour suc-
ceeds; this towards the outer edge becomes yellowish white, and
insensibly graduates into the unaltered chalk. The flints in
the altered chalk usually assume a gray yellowish colour: the
altered chalk is highly phosphorescent when subjected to heat.
Jn the neighbourhood of Glenarm, where a singular compound
dyke, consisting of three branches, traverses the. chalk, the in-
cluded masses have been changed into granular. marble. Other
instances of this change of the chalk are quoted, as also of
changes effected by the whin dykes on rocks which they traverse,
as of red sandstone to hornstone, of the slate clay of the coal-
measures to flinty slate, and of the coal itself to cinders. The
inference which Mr. Conybeare would draw from these facts,
‘* were it allowable to speculate on subjects. so remote from ac-
tual observation,” is, *‘ that the hypothesis which aseribes the
formation of the flcetz-trap rocks to submarine volcanoes, which
were active at a very remote period before the seas and. continents
had assumed) their present relative level, is both in itself more
consistent, and in its application to the actual phenomena more
satisfactory than any other.

Professor Hailstone’s. paper and Mr. Aikin’s, though both
short, will prove interesting to geologists, Dr. MacCulloch’s
on the Geology of Glen Tilt presents several facts: deserving of
much attention respecting stratification and the necessity of di-
Sstinguishing more precisely than has hitherto been done, the
different species of rocks. But our limits prevent our giving
more particulars respecting these papers: Mr. Horner’s on the
Geology of Somersetshire, and others in this interesting volume.

A Practical Essay on Chemical Reagents or Tesis; illustrated
by a Series of Experiments. By Fredrick Accum, Operative
Chemist, &c. &c. pp. 263. By Callow, Crown-court, Soho.
When it was ascertained that many of the’ substances of na-

ture are compounds of different principles, methods were suc-

cessfully employed to separate those principles by chemical
means; and the name of Reagents or Tests was given to those
substances by means of which their analysis was accomplished.
To those who study chemistry, whether from motives of pro-
fit, amusement, or general information, a knowledge of the action
of chemical tests is absolutely necessary; indeed it constitutes
one of the first objects to which the attention of the chemist
ought to be directed. The practical application of chemical
tests requires is phi but little skill; and no costly ap-
paraius

Notices respecting New Books. 311

paratus and instruments; but the plenomena which these bodies
produce form an assemblage of facts, the knowledge of which

‘38 of infinite service, aud absolutely necessary to the successful
practice of the science.

Mr. Accum’s treatise is drawn up with a view to facilitate the
study of this department of operative chemistry. His aim has
been to exhibit experimentally to the young chemist, a summary
view of the general nature of chemical tests, with the effects
and phenomena which are produced by the action of these bodies
—the particular uses to which they may be applied in the various
pursuits of chemical science, and the practical means, or art of
applying them successfully. To accomplish this object, the au-
thor has in the first place stated separately, and in the sy nthetice
form of propositions, the charactistic powers of each individual
test, and has then exhibited a series of apposite experiments, to

~ illustrate its attributes and peculiar mode of action, so as to
interest the mind of the operator and to imprint the specific
powers of the test under considertion on his memory. The young
chemist may therefore easily convince himself of the action of
gach test enumerated in the treatise, by repeating in his own
closet the experiments pointed out by the author. ‘To accom-
plish this object with facility, Mr . Accum has chosen such parti-
cular experiments only as are easy to be performed, and the ex-
hibition of which requires no other ageuts than those enumerated
in the work, together with a small table lamp-furnace, a few
test tubes, two or three evaporating basons, flasks, &c.* And
as the science of chemistry affords numerous instances which
render it necessary that the substances used as tests should be
applied with particular care, the precautions to be observed,
to guard against deceitful appearances that may occur under
certain circumstances (and without which chemical tests are of
little utility), are carefully pointed out by the author of this trea-
tise, to put the experimenter on his guard, to deduee the effeets
produced from their true causes, and to appl vy tests successfully
in the pursuits of analysis.

A list of all those substances for which there exist any ap-
propriate tests has also been added; together with direct re-
ferences to those reagents, by means of which the substances
exhibited in that list may individually be detected.

From what we have so far stated, it will be obvious that the
aim of the author, in composing this treatise, has been, to furnish
instructions to enable the student of chemistry to apply chemical
tests to original investigations, or to enable him to perform a

* A collection of chemical tests fitted up in a portable case, for per

forming the experiments described in the treatise, may be had as a com-
pauion to the work,
U4 series

312 Notices respecting New Books.

series of easy, amusing, and instructive experiments, in illustra
tion of the affinities of bodies, and most important chemical
changes of which certain substances of nature are susceptible in
their reciprocal action.

Mr. Accum’s name as an author and practical philosophical
chemist is sufficiently known, and we think this treatise (which
was hitherto a desideratum in chemical libraries) will add to his
reputation, The work is clear, and explicit. The peculiar pro-
perties of the individual tests, together with their attributes,
modes of action, aud the rules for applying them, are detailed
with precision, and the series of experiments are well calculated
to answer the intended purpose. :

A scientifie and interesting work on Mental Derangement
and the Treatment of Lunatics, will shortly be laid before the
public, by a Medical Gentleman, who has devoted many years to .
the investigation of madhouses and the cure of diseases of the
brain.

Dr. Duppa has just published, from an original manuscript,
the late Dr. Johnson’s Diary of a Tour in North Wales.

An elaborate work on the Forms of the Cranium has recently
been imported from Germany, with the following title :—** Ce-
phalogenesis sive Capitis Ossei Structura, Formatio, et Signifca-
tio, per omnes Animalium Classes, Familias, Genera et Aitutes,
digesta; Tabulis illustrata Authore J. B, Spix.” This work
contains some very gocd folio plates of sculls, &c. It is pub-
lished at Munich.

Dr. Reade has just published, at Cork, “ Experimental Out-
lines for a new Theory of Colours, Light, and Vision,” in one
volume 8vo.

Dr. Halliday has lately published, at Edinburgh, ‘* A Letter to
Lord Binning, on the subject of Lunatic Asylums ;” in which he
exposes several flagrant abuses. He has been engaged lately in
viewing houses for insane persons, in company with Dr. Spurz-
heim, in Scotland.

A small work also (which has excited considerable interest)
has made its appearance at Edinburgh, entitled “* Prospectus of
the Anatomical Views of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, confronted
with the Edinburgh Review (No. 49. June 1815, Art. X.) and
Dr. Gordon’s Opinions in his System of Human Anatomy and
Surgery, vol. 1. Edinburgh, 1815.” By J. G. Spurzheim, M.D..

The Editors of the new edition of the Greek Thesaurus of.
Stephens have lately purchased the valuable Lexicographic
Manuscripts of Professor Schaefer, which will be a valuable ad-
dition to the work.

LXII. In-

Sead

LXII. Intelligence and Miscelianeous Articles.
STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL.

By Messrs. Leans’ Report for September, the average work
of 28 engines, on the old construction, was 20,672,934 pounds
of water lifted one foot high with each bushel of coals con-
sumed,

The work of Woolf’s engine at Wheal Vor for the same month,
was 44,033,831 pounds; and of his engine at Wheal Abraham
51,348,291 pounds, lifted one foot high with each bushel of coals
—the load 15 lib. 2 oz. per inch incylinder. His other engine
at the latter mine lifted 22,477,408 pounds with each bushel,
her load being as yet only 3°1 per inch in cylinder.

In the same month an engine is reported at Dalcouth to have
lifted 40,749,286 pounds with a load of nine pounds per square
inch, and one at Wheal Chance 44,354,000 pounds with a load
of 12-6 per square inch, with each bushel of coals. We con-
elude, though this is not avowed, that Woolf’s principle of
using steam above the temperature of 212°, and allowing it to
expand, has been in some way applied to these engines ; and we
do so because Mr. Watt has often declared that the maximum
of the best engines on his, which is now the old, principle, is
29 millions of pounds lifted one foot high with each bushel of
coals ; and we know that his statement cannot be controverted.

SOLAR ECLIPSE, NOVEMBER 19, 1816.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir,—As the eclipse of the sun, which takes place on the
19th of the ensuing month, will be the greatest that will happen
in this part of the world for many years, it will naturally excite
considerable attention. It may be necessary however to inform
your astronomical readers, that the first impression of the moon
en the sun’s dise will be 20° from the vertex of the sun, on the
right hand; and not 59° as stated in the Nautical Almanac.
This remark is of importance to those who are desirous of ob-
serving accurately the time and progress of the eclipse. The
visible conjunction is also inaccurately stated in the same Al-
manac, since it takes place full one hour sooner than there set
down. It is no great recommendation to that work, to know
that all the elements of this eclipse are more correctly stated in
Moore’s Almanac.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Oct. 26, 1816, AsTRONOMICUS.

3l4 Chemisiry.

M. Gay-Lussac has, published in the number of the Annales

de Chimie et Physique for May last, the following interesting
observations *‘on the alteration which sulphuric ether undergoes.”
I kept for nearly two years sulphuric ether in a glass bottle which
was half full and which was occasionally opened. I had purified
this ether, by washing it several times with water, then by
leaving it fifteen days on quick-lime, the whole surface of which
it did not cover; and finally, by distilling it in the water-bath,
and collecting only the first portions. Thus prepared, it began
to boil at 35°66°: its density at 24°8° was 9:7119, and it had
no action upon turnsole. Wishing lately to make some ex-
periments on the dilatation of this liguid, I endeavoured to as-
certain if it had undergone anv alteration; and I found that its
density had increased, that it feebly heddertal turnsole, and tliat
its boiling point, little above 35° 6° at the commencement of the
distillation, was removed from it, towards the end, more than
20°. Surprised at these results, I examined the residue, which
was unfortunately very weak, and I recognized the following
properties: its sinell atmounced the presence of sulphuric ether
and acetic ether: it was strongly acid, and united with water in
all proportions :—its taste was excessively hot and acrid. A
portion of this residue, to which I added alittle potash, was eva-
porated to dryness, and the neipeerin acid afterwards sent off
from it very poignant vapours of acetic acid. On another por uion
of the residue I poured concentrated sulphuric acid, and imme-
diately there was separated a very limpid colourless oil, a little
heavier than water, and which remained fluid at the common
temperature, and the taste of which, although very hot, had not
the same characters with that of the residue. I had a globule
of it of the size of alarge pin’s head; and although I had re-
course to the assistance of M. Robiquet, I could not discover if
it had any resemblance with the sweet oil of wine.

On a third portion of the residue of the distillation of the
ether I poured a little hydrochloric acid, and added concentrated
sulphuric acid:—upon cooling it, which I accelerated by plun-
ging the vessel into cold water, the liquid precipitated white
flakes, although its density was far superior to that of the water,
Having raised the temperature, the flakes were dissolved and
united in a globule which had the appearance of melted wax :
upon cooling, the globule became solid and preserved a little
transparency: its texture was fibrous, but it had very little con
sistency.

This substance, evidently different from the oil which I have |

mentioned, has very remarkable properties. It has a peculiarly
etherated smell ; its taste, which is only gradually developed, is very

hot, but less than that of the residue of the ether: it melts at big
65°

‘

i

Chemistry.—Leclures. 315

65°; it is volatilized by means of water, and crystallizes in small
prisms, which grow generallyat rigit angles: its density is superior
to that of water. When thrown upon a hot silver spoon, it is
volatilized, leaving a black spot adhering. The sulphuric ether
dissolves it very easily, and abandons it by evaporation; water
seems to dissolve a small quantity of it, for it assumes the smell
which is peculiar to this substance. Wishing to ascertain at the
same time how a high temperature would act upon it, and if it
contained chlorine, | placed the small globule which remained,
at the bottom of a glass tube; I placed thereupon fragments of
glass, and upon these fragments some very pure barytes. I be-
gan by heating the barytes, then the glass, and finally, the glo-~
bule: immediately there was a violent detonation, which broke
the tube into a thousand pieces, and the report of which resem-
bled the smack of a whip. I could not ascertain by this experi-
ment if the new substance contained chlorine; for the products
of the explosion did not extend to the barytes. Having disco-
vered a small parcel of the substance in the vessel in which I had
kept it, I added a little potash, which has the property of dis-
solving it; I heated it, keeping the vessel well closed; I saturated
the potash with nitric acid, and I added nitrate of silver. A
slight precipitate was soon formed; but I operated upon too lit-
tle matter to be entirely convinced of the presence of chlorine or

_ of the hydrochloric acid in the new substance, although the cir-

-cumstances of its formation render it extremely probable that it
is composed of hydrochloric acid and the oil which I have men-
tioned above, or of chlorine and a peculiar vegetable substance.

The above observations prove at least that the sulphuric ether,
when left a long time to itself, yields also acetic acid, perhaps
alcohol and an oil. I shall not venture, however, to affirm that
this oil had no resemblance with the sweet oil of wine, and that
it had not pre-existed in the ether; for it is very certain that
the best prepared ether and the most recent leaves a very sensi-
ble speck on the glass on which we place some drops to evapo-
rate:—in all cases the new etherated combination which I have
described is very remarkable, and deserves to be better studied,
I recommend the subject therefore to some abler chemists, who
have opportunities of preparing great quantities of sulphuric ether.

We are concerned to learn that Mr. Singer is compelled to
discontinue his public lectures, in consequence of severe illness,
resulting from the rupture of a blood-vessel of the lungs.—Mr.
Singer’s extensive collection of instruments will, we understand,
be shortly submitted to public sale, in consequence of this event.

LIST

316 Lisi of Patents for new Inventions.

LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS.

To James Dawson, of No. 63, Strand, for certain improved
means of producing or communicating motion in or unto bodies,
either wholly or in part, surrounded by water or air, or either
ef them, by the reaction of suitable apparatus upon the said
water or air, or upon both of them.—1]4th March, 1$16.—
6 months.

To Samuel Nock, of Fleet-street, London, for an pet
ment in the pan of the locks of guns and fire-arms.—1 2th Aug.
—2 months.

To Edward Biggs, of Birmingham, for certain improvements
in or on the machinery, used in the making or manufacturing of
pans and stails of various kinds.—1]4th August.—6 months.

To Robert Tripp, of the city of Bristol, for his improved
hussar garter with elastic springs and fastenings, and also elastic
springs and fastenings for pantaloons and other articles,—14th
August.—6 months.

To William Moult, of Bedford, Esq. for certain improvements
en his former patent for an improved method of actmg upon
machinery, bearing date the 23d day of May!$14.—1 4th August.
—6 months.

To James Neville, of Wellington-street, Northampton-square,
for certain new and improved methods of generating and creat-
ing or applying power by ineans of steam or other fluids, elastic
or non- -elastic, for driving or working all kinds of machinery;
{including the steam engines now in “use) and which are appli-
cable also to the coridensing of steam and other aqueous va-
pours in distillation or evaporation, and are useful in various
manufactories and operations where heat is employed as an
zgent, or where the saving of fuel is desirable.—14th August.—
2 months.

To Jean Samuel Panly, of Queen-street, Brompton, for a
machine for ascertaining in an improved manner the weight of any
article.—l4th August.—2 months.

To Anthony Gilchrist, of Worship-square, for a machine for
making of nails, screws, and the working all metallic substances.
— 15th August.—2 monthis.

To Robert Salmon, of Woburn, for his improved instru-
ments for complaints in the urethra and bladder.—19th August.
—-2 months.

To John Barton, of Silver-street, for certain improvements
in pistols. —3 Ist August. —6 months.

To Charles Lacy of Nottingham, and John Lindley of
Loughborough, lace manufacturers, for machinery to be incar-
porated with, added to, and used with parts of certain machines

already

Meteorology. 317

already in use, for the making and manufacturing of lace-net
ealled bobbin or Buckinghamshire lace-net, by the aid of which
the said lace-net may be made with greater facility and less
manual labour than by any machinery or method now in use
and known.—30th September.—2 months.

To Jacob Metcalf,of Great Mary-le-bone-street, brush-manu-
facturer, for his tapered hair or head brush.—30th September.
—2 montis.

Yo Robert Clayton, of Dublin, artist, for his new method of
preparing, making and finishing metal and composition blocks,
plates, rollers, and types and dies, by which various patterns, de-
vices and compositions, can be effectually imprinted and im-
pressed upen cotton, linen, silk, worsted, mohair, and woollen
cloths, or any fabric made of a mixture of any two or more of
them; also on paper, leather, porcelain and earthenware, at a
considerable less expense than by any other process now used
for these purposes.—JO0th September.—2 months,

To John Aston Wilkes, of Birmingham, glass-manufacturer,
for his method cof manutacturing glass icicles, spangles, and
every description of ernamental glass, with a loop or loops of the
same material—30th September.—2 months. :

To Joseph Kirkman, of Broad-street, St. James’s, pianoforte-
maker, for his improved method of applying an octave stop to
pianofoertes.—-1 4th October,

<p

Meteorological Observations kept at Walthamstow, Essex, from
September 15 to October 15, 1816.
[Between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M.]
Date. Therm. Barom. Wind.
September
15 59 30°30 SE.—Very hot sunny day; star-light night.:
16 53 30°30 -E.—Fine hot day; star-light.
J7 52 3050 E.—Hazyand clouds; hot sunny day ; star-
he:
18 55 2990 E.—Hazy; very dark, and low clouds; slight
rain 5 P.M.; dark and slight rain.
19 53 30:50 N.—Gray morning; sun and clouds; stare
light.
20 55 3010 E.—Gray; sun and clouds; bright star-
light.
21°52 «29-75 E.—Gray; slight showers; dark night.—
New moon.
22 57 2970 E.—Sun and hazy; hot day; clear star- -
light.
23 51 29°80 N,—Cloudy; hot fine sunny day; dark

night,

sis - Meteorology.

Hour. Therm, Barom. Wind.
September
24 56. 29:89 E.—Sun and clouds; at noon very black
_ nimbus, NW; hazy; clouds and sun ;.
dark night.
25 56 30:09 .SE.—Gray and hazy; sun and clouds; ;
warm day ; star-light.
26 46 30:10 N.—Foggy morning; sunshine; dark night..
27 53 30-20 .N.—Sun and clouds; sunny day; star--
light.
28. 58 30:10 N—S.—Hazy; windy and clouds; rain from.
| 10. A.M. to 4 P. M.; star-light and.
showery. Moon, first quarter
29 51 29°81 S.—Rain till about 11AM.; high wind and:
; clouds; clear and clouds. | ..
30 43 29:70 E.Sun and hazy; fine day; cloudy. -

1 52 29:58 SE.—Very rainy; sun and clouds; moon-
light.
2 56 29°64 S.—Fog; rainy and winds shiuatis and. .
. sun after 1 P.M.; cloudy and slight. .
rain.
3 48 29:90 N—S.—Sun and hazy; cloudy; rain.
4 58 29:90 S.—Foggy; showers and sun; slight rain,
and very damp.
5 56 29:90 SE.—Cloudy;° sun and hazy; fine day;
very slight rain.
6 57 29:80 E.—Sun and hazy; rain frequent after
. 3 P.M.; slight rain. Full moon.
7 58 29:85 E.—Rainy all day; slight rain.
8 57 29:90 SE.NW.S.—Damp and clouds; gleams of
sun and hazy; fine day; moon-light.
9 58 30:00 SE.E.—Gray; sun and clouds; light but
cloudy.
10 58 30:00 S.—Gray; sun after noon; light, but no
stars visible.
11 56 29:97 SE.—Sun and cloudy; gray fine day; stars
/ and cumuli.
12 49 30:20 E.—Foggy; clouds, and some sun; light
night.
ig "2""'s0°Ts* SES-Gr ay day; some sun; star-light.
14 46 30°10 SE.—Foggy; sun, and cumuli; dark.—
Moon, last quarter.

15 58 30:10 SE,—Foggy; gray day; star-light.

METEORO-

Meteorology. 319

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON,

LINCOLNSHIRE.
. . ;
{The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.]

Age of] —
1816. the |lhermo-
Moon.) meter.

DAYS

Sept.15} 23 | 66:
16, 24 | 69°

17| 25 | 62:

18] 26 | 60

19] 27 | 59

20); 28 | 56
2lilnew}] 57°5

22%) 11] 57

931} 2) 57°5

244 31 60°

25} 41! 60°

26) 5 59°

27, 6] 58

28] 7] 58°

29} 8] 55°

30} 9 | 53°5
Oct. 1] 10 | 58

9) 11.1. 61°

- 3} 12 | 55°
4,13 55.

5] 14 | .58*

6| full | 63°5

7 AG | Soe

q §| 17 | 58°
9] 18} 57°
10) 19 61°5

a 1} 2 60°
12) 21 | 58°

13} 22 | 56:
14) 23 | 59°5

Baro-
meter.

30°15
30°19
30°07
30°12
30°29
30°29
29°83
29°85
29°98
20°94

» 80°23

30°27
30°33
30°05
29°53

29°79
29 40

—=

State of the Weather and Modification
of the Clouds.

Very fine

Ditto

Cloudy

Ditto.

Fine

Very fine

Fair—rain in the evening .

Ditto

Ditto—rain P.M,

Showery

Fog till noon, cleared up and very
fine—heayy rain in the evening

Ditto Ditto

Very fine

Rain

Heavy rain—violent gale at night
from the S.W.

Showery

Heavy rain till the evening

Rainy

Fair

Bain

Showery

Fine—rain in the evening

Heavy rain

Fair—slight showers P.M.

Showery

Fair—rain in the evening

Ditto—but cloudy

'‘Ditto—ditto

Showery

Fine

4
‘No rain
|

J

There has been much more rain this month than the last. The corn all

out yet, and a large proportion of it spoiled. The latter end of the month

there has been hardly a breeze.

—

I

320

Meteorology.

METEOROLOGICAL TABLE,

By Mr. Cary, OF THE STRAND,

For October 1816.

Thermometer. a

Days of
Month.

Po.
| . |S _.| Height of gg
Se) 5 |= \the Barom.| 2 >8
Osl sy Se Inches. | 22 &
on a eo

' oes
55 | 63 | 55 | 30°18 39
55 | 61 | 54 | 29°93 fa)
56 | 60 | 51 *34 iv)
47 | 62 | 55 *72 36
55 | 64] 55 *39 (0)
55 | 61 | 55 *36 0
50 | 55 | 54 so 0
55 | 61 | 50 79 10)
56 | 62 | 57 °79 29
55 | 64 |.55 °79 26
56 | 58 | 55 78 0
57 | 61 | 56 "92 26
56 | 60 | 57 "93 32

57 | 62 | 56 “91 38
55 } 59 | 55 °95 21
50 | 56 | 50 | 30°02 32
50 | 55 | 51 “Ol 27
45 | 60 | 50 "02 36
45 | 58 | 52 ‘02 39
47 | 57 | 50 | 29°85 Ad
48 | 55 | 50 °70 10)
46 | 52 | 49 71 36
47 | 54 | 46 *69 21
46 | 49 | 39 °58 25
42 | 51-| 42 *60 33

46 | 52 | 40 "72 «| «36
37 | 50 | 42 “88 39
46 | 52 | 45 *62 27
47 | 50 | 44 *30 a)

43 | 51 | 48 °50 29

Weather.

Fair
Rain
Stormy
Fair
Stormy
Rain
Rain
Rain
Showery
Do. with Thunder
_{in the night
Rain
Fair
Fair
Fair
Showery
Fair
Cloudy
Fair
Fair
Fair
Rain
Fair
Cloudy
Stormy
Fair
Fair
Fair
Cloudy
Rain
Fair

N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clock.

oS

fr Bbw]

LNIII. On Planetary Influences on the Atmosphere. By the
Rev. T. Daummonb.

To Mr. Tillach.

Sir, — M axzinn has from a very remote period exhibited
two classes of characters,—the credulous and the incredulous.
It has frequently occurred that credulity bas predominated with-
ont evidence or argument to give it sanction, and that inere-
dulity has been cherished without any attempt to investigate the
truth or falsehood of the positicns in question.

The credulous and the incredulous have perhaps in no in-
stance been more tenacious in opinion than on the subject of

‘planetary influence. As the object of this paper is confined to

the consideration of planetary influences on the atmosphere,
it is not necessary for us to investigate the ground on which
philosophers of preceding periods contended for the universal
prevalence of starry influences.

The hypothesis Iam disposed to advocate is of gréat anti-
quity ; we can trace its vestiges in remote periods—its origin
baffles all chronological precision.

The doctrine of planetary influence was the foundation of the
Sabian system of religious worship. It engaged the attention
of Babylonian and Egyptian sages; and in every civilized state
of human existence, as amongst the Perses, the Hindoos, and
the Chinese—people whose antiquity distances all competition—
we find that astrological science was accounted worthy the at-
tention of the most intelligent persons. Modern philosophers
have limited the title ef science to astrononiy, 7. e. the elemen-
tary part; and consigned astrology, i. ¢. the application of ele-
mentary knowledge combiuing observation and inferences, to
disrepute, if not to oblivion.

Indiscriminate ridicule, censure, or contempt, are not worthy
of admission within the pale of philosophy.—Whilst the fabulous
stories of the Pleiades or the Hyades having been the daughters
of Atlas, are mere modern romances, coimparatively speaking, or at
best enigmatical vehicles of some eoncenled truth, and most pro-
bably of Grecian invention,—we must look to the extensively
prevalent Sabian system of theology as far more ancient, and
we may rationally infer that in its primitive reception it was not
chargeable with idolatry.

The etymology of the term is uncertain,—perhaps from Sabos
in Arabia*,—but Sabianism or Sabism is now generally under-
stood to imply the worship of the heavenly bodies,

If

* There can be little doubt, I think, about the etymology of this word.
It is derived from yoy tsaba, commonly pronounced suba, an army or

, Vol, 48. No, 223. Nov. 1816. xX host.

322 On Planetary Influences

If we resolve to reject every doctrine which has at any tine
been misapprehended, or whose truths have by the multitude
been confounded with error, the subjects for our belief will be
very limited.

The opinion adopted by the Perses, the Chinese, and the
ancient Greeks, appears to have been, that a supreme ruling in-
visible Power exists, with whom the planets and stars are so
connected as to be the creative and productive powers, the im-
mediate agents of the Deity. Thence the Chinese of the an-
cient school, at this day worship Tien or Theaven, by which
they understand the supreme power presiding in that vast ex-
panse where the planets and stars have their respective motions.
From the positions of the planets, from the rising and setting of
the constellations, they have time immemorial attempted to pre-
dict the vicissitudes of the seasons; and since every change in the
atmosphere must be the effect of some secondary operating cause,
it isat least decorous to investigate before we condemn a practice
which has received the testimony of ages in its defence.

The Sabian system of worship, wnich enrols the planets and stars
inits ritual as objects of adoration, is to be considered one of the
many instances in which error has tarnished the lustre of truth.

If we refer to the history of the patriarchal families, we find
the primitive religion in its purity ;—in the records of the Old
Testament we perceive that the patriarchs retained those cor-
rect principles of true religion, which acknowledged the unity
and supremacy of the Deity, and limited religious homage to
that one God, whilst the, planetary bodies and all secondary
causes were regarded merely as the ministers of the-will of God.
—An extract from Josephus may serve to testify that the idea
is correct with regard to Abraham :

«‘ Abraham was the first* that adventured to preach up the
doctrine of one Gop, the Almighty Maker and Creator of all
things in heaven and earth: and that for all the comforts we
enjoy in this world, it is to his infinite goodness, not to any

power in ourselves, that we stand indebted for them. This he
~ argued from the orderly course of things, both at sea and land,
in their times and seasons, and from his observations upon the
motions and influences of the sun, moon, and stars; insomuch
that, without an over-ruling and an administering providence to
keep the whole a-going, the whole frame of the universe must
drop into confusion ; and consequently that all we have to trust

host. In the sacred volume the sun, moon, and stars are called the saba,
that is, the host, of heaven (Deut. iv. 19); and the Israclites were expressly
couunanded not to worship the suba, but him who made them, and who is
therefore called JEHOVAH mydy sabuoth—the Lord of Hosts. —EDIr.
* i, ec, amongst the Chaldeans of that period,
to,

on the Atmosphere. 323

to, for matters either of pleasure, profit, or necessity, depends
singly upon the good-will and bounty of the first mover; so that
it is to him alone that we are to render all honour and thanks-
giving, without assuming any thing to ourselves.’’—L’Estrange’s
Josephus, chap. vill.

The Rook of Job is a fair specimen of Sabian theology before
the less refined sentiments of what is now denominated Sabian
worship were introduced.—The beautiful poem, with the argu-
mentative narratives contained in the Book of Job, is of great an-
tiquity ;—no internal evidence assists us in determining the age
in which it was written, nor the author to whom we are indebted
for acomposition which has merited, and will ever merit, the ad-
miration of mankind. The personification of the agent of evil
is a specimen of poetical licence, but the subsequent matter is
simple in its theology and correct in its ethics. The sublimity
of thought and the pure morality contained in this work are
admitted to be superior to the productions of Homer.

Although many allusions are made to the customs of patri-
archal ages, or rather of the early stages of civilization, it may
not be without hesitation inferred that the Book of Job was fa-
bricated beyond the precincts of improved civilization and highly
cultivated talent.—The arguments of the friends of Job are
founded on principles similar to those which have in several
periods of the world formed the bases of academic questions.

Ihave no wish, sir, to fill your pages with theological or
ethical discussions, nor to involve your readers with investiga-
tions concerning the probable writer of that excellent compesi-
tion,—whether Enoch, or any of his predecessors or cotempo-
raries, is of no moment,—the state of astronomical, and, if the
distinction must be observed, of astrological science, at the era
in which the poem was written, is deducible from the mention
of Mazaroth, Arcturus, Orion, and the Pleiades, more espe-
cially from the mention made of the sweet infiuences of the
Pleiades ; whence we must infer that the writer was no stranger
to the prevalent opinion of sidereal influence.

What the writer of the Book of Job appears to have credited,
—what Abraham from the stztements in Josephus appears to
have corroborated,—may, I beg Jeave to presume, be considered
as having constituted a part of that knowledge which Moses
acquired amongst the Egyptians, and in which Daniel and his
associates became proficients in the court of Babylon.

Impelled by a desire of attaining the knowledge of truth, and
with that view desirous of divesting myself of all prejudice, I must
avow that I see nothing in a creed considering the starry host
as the agents of Deity by their mutual attractions and repulsions,
at the same time limiting to the Divine Being all the yuna

X 2 oy)

324 On Planetary Infiuences on the Atmosphere.

ef worship which Jewish prophets may not be supposed to have
adopted, and to which Christian divines may not be allowed to
subscribe. Regarding those astrological atmospherical observa~
tions which have escaped the ravages of time, as the fragments
of a science which was successfully cultivated in many ancient
periods, I presume that the attention of the moderns directed
to the changes in the atmosphere, and to the coincident situation
of the planets, may improve our meteorological knowledge, and
enable us to recover all that was ever known by the sages of an-
tiquity.

The sun is generally allowed to be the exciter of what we call
heat in the atmosphere and on our earth; and it is not requisite
on this occasion to inquire whether the sun emits light and heat,
or whether it excites them in the body of the air and the surface
of the earth.

The moon is commonly supposed to have no atmosphere like
our own; but that it has an influence on whatever constitutes
our atmosphere is generally acknowledged.

The influences of the sun and moon are so well authenticated
by the observances on the periodical flow and ebb of the tides
in the waters encompassing our earth, that no differences in
opinion exist relative to the ordinary causes and effects ; and it
may not be unworthy our attention to inquire, whether extraor-
dinary ebbings and flowings are not imputable to other planetary
and sidereal influences.

No one questions that what is usually expressed by the term
attraction operates between bodies of different magnitudes; and
confining our attention to what is denominated the solar system,
whatever properties or qualities are ordained by the ‘divine
Creator to regulate the movements and limit the approximation
of the planetary bodies, must be conceived to operate in every
part of the space in which they revolve.

It is of no moment in the present consideration how far the
late Rev. J. Wesley was correct in his remark, that astronomers
assuming the magnitudes of the heavenly bodies infer their di-
stances, and assuming their distances infer their magnitudes: the
question is, what plausible reason can be assigned whence we
may infer that their relative situations produce those atmospherical
changes, * the skiey influences” to which we are subjected.

A small ball freely suspended near the side of a mountain is
by an undiscernible influence moved from a perpendicular di-
rection,—a small magnet has a property of produeing an effect
not only at a distance through the intervening portion of air,
but of manifesting its operation, although g/ass, wood, afd a
variety of other substances, intervene ;—yet it is hymany regarded
as incredible that such large bodies as Jupiter and Saturn ean

have

Some Observations on the Sali Mines of Cardona. 325

have any corresponding action or effect. The planetary bodies,
according to modern philosophers, are too remote to act on each
other, or on the atmosphere around us. The varying belts of
Jupiter and the extended ring of Saturn may be atmospheres,
yet not perfectly similar to the aérial envelope surrounding our
earth; but every planet must be surrounded with a fluid, what-
ever its peculiar gaseous quality; and im and through that fluid
the planet, whether by mechanical or chemical attraction or re-
pulsion, must be conceived to rarefy, condense, or otherwise
operate. As the moon is capable of transmitting its influence
through the surrounding medium to the waters and to the earth
which compose our globe, we may infer that each planet has a
certain sphere of operation: and however we may suppose the
energy of that operation to decrease as the distances increase,
or whatever may be the intervening medium, we must allow
planetary is as capable as /unar influence, of exerting its pro-
portion of agency through that medium.

Yours respectfully,

Priory, Gray Friars, Norwich, T. DrumMonD.
Nov. 7, 1816.

LXIV. Some Observations on the Salt Mines of Cardona, made
during a Tour in Spain, in the Summer of 1814. By
THomas STEWART TraiLt, M.D. Member of the Geological
Society *.

Turse celebrated mines occupy the head of a small valley in
the immediate vicinity of Cardona, a town in the province of
Catalonia.

This valley extends about half a mile in length, from the river
Cardonero to the mines, in a direction from east-south-east to

‘west-north-west. Its north-western side is bounded by a very

steep and lofty ridge, the summit of which is crowned by the town
and castle of Cardona. The opposite boundary is somewhat less
elevated ; but both sides are considerably higher than the upper
surface of the fossil salt. On entering this valley, the attention
is arrested by bold cliffs of a greyish-white colour, which are
soon discovered to consist of one vast mass of salt. The sides
and bottom of the valley are composed of reddish-brown clay,
forming a thick bed, from which here and there large imbedded
masses of rock salt projeet in the manner of more ordinary
rocks; especially along the winding ascent which leads up to
the town of Cardona. ‘The summits of the ridges which bound

* From the Transactions of the Geological Society, vol. iii.

x3 the

3826 Some Observations

the valley on each side, are formed of a yellowish grey sandstone
of a coarse texture, and containing many scales of grey mica.

The great body of the salt forms a rugged precipice, which is
retkoned between 400 and 500 feet in height at the upper ex-
tremity of the valley, and is covered by a thick bed of the clay
above mentioned.

The precipitous form is partly owing to the manner in which
the mine has been wrought for a series of ages. There is no ex-
cavation ; but the salt has been procured by working down per-
pendicularly as in an open quarry. “The lowest part of the pre-
sent works has a solid floor of pure salt which is not above the
level of the bottom of the valley where no salt is found; but the
real depth of the bed of salt has never yet been ascertained. The
upper surface of the salt is not level ; but appears irregularly ele-
vated, according to the general outline of the hill in which it
occurs.

The salt has been usually represented as forming an entire
mountain: but though it here appears supplying the place of
common rock, yet from its being confined to this valley, and not
attaining so high a level as the surrounding hills, it w ould seem
more correct to consider it as a mass or bed of salt filling up a
valley, than as constituting a mountain, which according to
some authors* is a league in circumference. These dimensions
could only be oiteineds by considering the neighbouring heights
as formed of this mineral; a supposition not countenanced by
my personal observation, nor by the best information which I
could collect on the spot.

The surfaces of the salt precipice which have been long ex-
posed to the weather are not smooth, but cut into innumerable
shallow channels, runuing in a tortuous manner, and divided
from each other by thin edges, often so sharp as to cut the hands
like broken glass. The channeled surface is evidently, produced
by the action of the winter rains, which have given the whole a
striking resemblance to the surface of a mass of ice, which had
been partially thawed and again frozen.

The general colour of the exposed surface is greyish white, with
here and there a tinge of pale reddish brown, from the colouring
matter of the superincumbent bed of clay. Towards the ex-
tremities of the mass of salt, extremely thin layers of a pure and
plastic clay are insinuated between layers of salt, so as to give
it the waved delineations which often occur in some species of
calesinter. The general mass of salt is however of the greatest

* Introduccion & la Historia Natural y a la Geografia Fisica de Espana,
por Don Guillermo Bowles. —Madrid, 1775,—Dillon, who translates him.
Laborde, Itineraire descriptif, &c.

purity;

on the Salt Mines at Cardona. 327

purity; and in order to be converted into snow white culinary
salt requires no other process but grinding. The greyish hue of
the external surface is owing to the rain penetrating a portion of
the salt, and by diminishing its opacity, depriving it of the white-
ness which the fresh fracture generally presents. At the period
of my visit the surface of this immense mass was perfectly dry,
and in some places, where water had most recently flowed, was
covered with a snow-white efflorescence. This circumstance,
as well as the sharpness of the edges above mentioned, show the
little hygrometric water in the atmosphere of that country, and
the general purity of the salt from earthy muriates,

The fracture of the salt is highly crystalline, and usually ex-
hibits large granular distinct concretions, which give it some-
times the appearance of a breccia, or of containing imbedded
crystals,

A perennial brine spring flows at the foot of the great preci-
pice, and affords a strong proof of the little effect of water on
this very compact salt. The aperture through which the stream
has issued for many years, is not wider externally than two feet,
and suddenly coutracts to a few inches; while the channel worn
in a solid floor of salt, through which the stream has long flowed,
is nota foot indepth. This is partly to be ascribed to the water
being saturated with salt; but during the rainy season the
stream is much augmented, and thus cannot be supposed so
highly charged with saline matter. Notwithstanding this, neither
the solvent nor mechanical effects of the spring seein to have
much effect on the fossil salt of Cardona. The waters of this
spring flow into the Cardonero, leaving in the valley a thick
scaly crust of salt, resembling the ice formed around our brooks
in similar situations. During the rainy season, it is asserted
that the stream carries down such quantities of salt into the
Cardonero as to kill the fish in that river. This assertion rests
upon the authority of Bowles, an able naturalist ; but he un-
doubtedly was Jed into error when he asserted, that the waters
of the Cardonero at some leagues below the mines yield no
trace of salt: from which he inferred, that salt may, /y motion,
be converted into earthy matter. At Manresa, which is about
twenty miles below Cardona, I tested the water of the Cardonero
by nitrate of silver, which indicated the presence of an unusually
harge portion of muriate of soda. ‘The taste of the brine spring
at Cardona is intensely saline ; and the hand immersed in it, on
being exposed to the air, is instantly covered with a filin of salt,
The salt rock near its source is most elegantly veined with deti-
cate waved delineations of an ochre yellow colour.

The clay which covers the bed of salt at Cardona and forms
the sides of the valley, exactly resembles the clay fowid in the

X4 salt

328 ~ Some Observations

salt district of Cheshire, having when dry some resemblance to
shale but becoming plastic when moistened. It is remarkably
pure, and free from intermixture except of salt, large masses of
which are occasionally imbedded in it.

No fibrous salt was to be observed at Cardona; nor did I dis-
cover the slightest trace of gypsum in that neighbourhood; a
remark which was also made by Bowles. On the soil near the
town, a small quantity of a saline efflorescence was however ob-
served, which had the taste of sulphate of soda; but the loss of
the specimen I collected, has prevented a more accurate investi-
gation of its properties.

The salt mine of Cardona is wrought like an open quarry
with pickaxes and wedges, by which the mineral is raised in
considerable tabular masses. The part at present wrought pre-
sents an extensive horizontal floor of pure rock salt; the level of
which is a little lower than the foot of the great salt precipice.
An enormous mass of the same mineral lies between this pre-
cipice and the present mine, the removal of which will, in time,
render the appearance of this interesting spot still more magni-
ficent; for then the vast front of the rock salt bed will at once
strike ‘the eye from the lowest part of the mine.

Like every other publi¢ work in Spain, the mines of Cardona
are in a languid state from the effects of the late war which has
desolated the peninsula. Only two labourers are at present
employed in quarrying the salt, and in wheeling it to the re-
ceiving house. Over these, eight overseers are appointed, who
do duty in rotation ; and ten sentinels are continually stationed
around the mine to defend it from the depredations of the pea-
santry. Several clerks are employed in an office built at the
entrance to the mine, and the whole is under the direction of
an intendente or inspector, who wears the uniform of an officer
in the Spanish army; for the mine is the property of the crown,
and is most rigidly guarded. Notwithstanding the rigour with
which depredators are punished, the peasantry frequently at-
tempt to deceive the vigilance of the guardians of the mine.
When detected, the usual punishment for a peasant is, even on
the first offence, two or three years labour among malefactors
_in some of the public works in the province. A soldier is how-
ever less severely punished when he commits a similar trans-
gression ; he is generally sentenced to a few days solitary con-
finement in a dungeon of the castle. On asking an overseer the
reason of this disproportion in the punishment of different offen-
ders, he replied, that the soldier’s poverty was supposed to ex-
tenuate his crime, while the peasant of Catalonia enjoyed com-
parative wealth, and could afford to purchase salt for the con-
sumption of his family,

Such

on the Salt Mines at Cardona. 329

Such is the boldness of the smugglers and the jealousy of the
government, that it is dangerous to visit the mines without
formal leave from the intendente; as the sentinels have orders
to fire on any one seen loitering about them.

The workmen here receive considerable wages, and are all
free labourers ; each man receives daily twelve reals vellon, which
at the rate of. exchange last year equals three shillings sterling ; 3
lads are paid at the rate of eight reals, or two shillings; and
boys receive six reals, or one shilling and sixpence*. The hours
for work are from six in the morning to seven in the evening
(in summer) ; with the intervals of half an hour, between eight
and nine o’clock A.M., for breakfast, and two hours, from twelve
to two, for dinner, and its usual sequel in Spain, the svesta.

The produce of the mines is pulverized by grinding it in mills,
on the exact construction of our common water mills. This
operation reduces it into an excellent culinary salt of a snowy
whiteness. In this state it is sold to the peasantry of the sur-
rounding districts, at the rate of thirty reals vellon, or seven sh.
six d. sterl per fanega of five arrobas of Catalonia, which equal
116 pounds avoirdupois.

As there are no roads practicable for wheel carriages in this
part of Catalonia, the salt is carried from Cardona on mules or
asses; the only beasts of burden that could travel in safety the
rugged defiles in which this district abounds. It seems a part
of the perverse policy of the Spanish government to discourage
the formation of proper roads, lest it should facilitate the opera-
tions of the smuggler,

It would not be difficult to connect Cardona, by mzans of a
canal, with the ocean; and thus the valuable produce of its salt
mines might increase the revenues of the crown, and the trade
of Barcelona. The channels of the Cardonero and Lobregat
always contain a large body of water, and might easily be ren-
dered subservient to the purposes of inland navigation, Besides
augmenting the value of the mines of Cardona, such a plan, by
facilitating the intercourse with the interior of this fine province,
would stimulate the exertions of a people who only require an
equitable government to become highly industrious.

It yet remains that I offer a few remarks on the nature of the
eountry around Cardona, as materials for its geology.

Its general appearance is mountainous. ‘The mountains are
abrupt, but generally wooded. The valleys are narrow, and,

* This may be considered as liberal wages where the necessaries of life,
with the exception of bread, are cheap; at Cardona, mutton and beef
cost one real vell. per twelve ounces. Bread of the best quality costs one
real vell. per twelve ounces, Wine of the country (a very guod red sort)
is retailed at six quartos per bottle, or about two-pence ster ling,

where

330 Some Observations on the Salt Mines at Cardona.

where the declivities will permit cultivation, they produce abun-
dance of good grapes and some corn. In coming from Barce-
Jona, the traveller leaves, at a small distance on the left, the
majestic Montserrat; and gradually approaches a mounta in
chain proceeding from its northern extremity, which declines as
it stretches towards Manresa, ‘This chain consists of similar
materials to Montserrat; viz. of vast beds of farcilite, composed
of rounded masses of quartz, with angular pieces of siliceous
slate, and fragments of clayslate united by a basis containing
calcareous earth. The fragments of this farcilite become smaller
_ as we go northward, and at last bear a striking resemblance to
coarse greywacké ; fee which formation I am inelined to assign
the paddingstone of Montserrat, and the chain of which it forms
@ part *.

On descending the rugged mountains of puddingstone into the
valley of the Lobregat, before coming to Manresa, we observe
strata of a blueish-grey rock with interposed layers of a softer
material of the same colour, which crumbles into sandy clay by
exposure to the weather. ‘hese strata have some resemblance
to sandstone-flag; but an attentive consideration convinced me
that they o ought to be considered as stratified greywacké ap-
proaching to greywacké slate. Above these we again find the
farcilite, which is the prevailing rock about Manresa. All the
rocks hitherto mentioned effervesce slightly with acids; a cir-

eumstance which connects them in some meastire with ‘the eXx-
tensive limestone country to the south-west of Montserrat; aud-
they all show a tendency to split vertically into columnar masses,
Beyond Manresa the farcilite occurs tll the travelier crosses the
ford of the Cardonero, when it is succeeded by a limestone of a
dirty iron brewn coloury and dull, almost earthy, fracture. Be-
yond the village of Suria, a sandstone, which slightly effervesces
with acids, makes its appearance. This rock constitutes the
sides of the valley which contain the fossil salt.

The immediate vicinity of the salt mines shows no other reck
than a yellowish grey sandstone much charged with scales of
mica.

We find thus that the salt rock of Cardona is accompanied by
elay and sandstone, like our Cheshire salt formation. Lime-
stone also is found near it ; but the usual concomitant gypsum

* Tt may not be improper here to remark, that the common descriptions
of Montserrat are in several respects crroneous. It is not an insulated
_ mountain, as generally represented ; but is the highest point of a considera-~
ble chain. Its insular appearance, as seen from the hizh road between
Teualada and Martorel, has deceived those who have never examined its
north-eastern side. The touchstone, mentioned by Bowles and others, as
entering into the composition of its puddingstone, < appears by its fr actane
to be only a dark coloured common siliceous slate,
appears

Observations on some Combinations of Azote with Oxygen. 331

appears to be wanting, as well as foetid limestone. The great
compactness and purity of this salt merit examination.

Though the country around Cardona is mountainous and
rugged, it is inferior in elevation to the districts between it and
the Mediterranean ; as well as to those which bound it on the

‘north. Immediately behind Cardona the mountains begin to
ascend with increasing boldness until they unite with the grand
chain of the Pyrenees.

I relinquish to others the difficult task of giving a probable
explanation of the formation of rock salt ; contented if my ob-
servations on the mine of Cardona can add any thing to the
mass of facts which should guide us in the obscure but captiva-
ting speculations of geology.

= =

LXV. Observations on some Combinations of Azote with Oxy-
gen*. Read to the French Academy of Sciences on the 9th
of Sept. 1815. By M. Dutone.

Carmistry sometimes exhibits combinations so difficult to
isolate, and the production of which is accompanied by cireum-
stances so complicated, that the most expert and accurate ob-
servers obtain a knowledge of their properties only after long
efforts and successive labours, in wiiich in a manner they ex-
punge all kinds of errors before attaining the truth. Among
those mysterious compounds we may reckon the combination
of azote and oxygen long known under the appellation of vapeur
rutilante (nitrous vapour, or nitrous acid gas). Notwithstanding
the numerous researches on this subject, it is only since M. Gay
Lussae’s last experiments that the true proportions of it have
been known. I had myself made some experiments on the
same subject; and as my results differ in several respects from
those obtained by M. Gay Lussac, I shall submit them to the
opinion of tle public.

When we distil neutral nitrate of lead previously dried, we
obtain a very volatile liquid of an orange yellow, which had al-
ready been remarked by M. Berzelius in his researches upon
the composition of the nitrates; but which was examined more
particularly by M. Gay Lussac, whose researches yielded as a
result that this liquid ought to be considered as the acid of the
nitrites, in which the elements are kept in combination by the
action of the water. The existence of water in the dried ni-
trate of lead, the proportions of which correspond to those of
the nitrates perfectly deprived of water, will present a very sin-

* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tome ii, July 1816, p. 817.
gular

352 Observations on some Combinations

gular exception to the laws of the composition of salts; and as
it is rather by analogy than by direct experiments that Gay
Lussac was led to adopt this opinion, I have endeavoured to
subject this liquid to a rigorous analysis.

We may effect our purpose by placing copper or iron, for in-
stance, in contact with the acid in vapour at a red heat. In
order to avoid the errors which might result from the action of
the acid on the corks employed in the common apparatus, I had
at first made use of a glass apparatus, all the parts of which
were soldered; so that the acid could only be in contact with
the glass and the metal which ought to compose it: but I met
with difficulties during the experiment, which made me recur
to the employment of a porcelain tube with corks. In conse-
quence of some precautions which it is needless to mention here,

“the only error which can result from it is confined to the ab-
sorption of a very small quantity of acid by the cork; every
thing being so arranged that nothing could be extricated which
eould complicate the products of the operation.

The iron or copper in very fine and well polished wires was
employed in great excess, and all the oxygen of the acid was
absorbed by the metal; the gas not absorbed afterwards passed
through a tube of muriate of lime before proceeding under the
bell-glass which terminated the apparatus. It is easy to see
that by determining the weight of the metal, that of the tube of
muriate of lime, before and after the experiment, and the volume
of the gas liberated, we might attain the utmost precision, |
have «ade by this process several experiments, the results of
which have not presented sensible differences.

In one of those analyses the azotic gas was pure, or at least
the quantity of hydrogen which it could contain was below the
limits prescribed by the usual means for detecting it. In general
the proportion of hydrogen was always extremely small. The
following are the details of the experiment in which the propor-
tion of this gas was the greatest, and in which, nevertheless, it
formed only the thirty-two thousandth part of the volume of the
azote:

Weight of the acid analysed .. -. 7°935 grs.
Increase of weight in the iron -. 9660

Do. of muriate of lime oP 2 ot OOET.
Volume of dry gas at 0° B. 0-76™ «- 1°96 lb.
100 parts of this gas contain hydrogen.. 3°22 parts.

This proportion of hydrogen corresponds to a quantity of water
which united to that absorbed by the muriate of lime will only
form six thousandth parts of the weight of the acid analysed.

As this quantity is far inferior to the smallest proportion of
water which we can admit as the essential element of a com-

bination,

of Azote with Oxygen. 333

bination, it appears tovme that it ought to be ascribed to the
humidity of the air, or to that which remains attached to the
yessels, and which it is impossible entirely to get rid of in mani-
pulations which are a little complicated. Besides, this acid is
not exhibited under the orange colour, but when it is anhy-
drated; for I have remarked that the smallest quantity of water
is sufficient to render it green, as will be explained a little lower
down, The liquid acid obtained from the distillation of the
nitrate of lead dees not therefore contain water, nor does
the nitrate of lead dried contain any. On calenlating the
ratio of the azote with the oxygen in the liquid acid according
to the above results, we find that 100 parts of azote are com-
bined with 233-8 of oxygen. These proportions differ very little
from those which we may deduce for the composition of the
nitrous acid gas from the ratio in point of volume which M.

Gay Lussac has given; for we find, on setting out from this
ratio, for 100 of azete, 228 of oxygen. ‘The identity of the ni-
trous acid gas and of the liquid acid obtamed by the distillation
of the nitrate of lead seemed to me at first so extraordinary, that
I thought some error had slipped into the weights ; but after
having repeated several times the same experiment, with results
very little different, there did not remain a doubt as to this iden-
tity. It then became very evident, that the nitrous acid gas
could not be a permanent gas. In order to verify this inference,
I made the following experiment :

[ placed in two cylindrical reservoirs two bell-glasses with
cocks, one containing nitrous gas and the other oxygen gas: by
means of two funnels with stop-cocks, in which water was kept
constantly at the same level, [ regulated the flowing of this liquid
into the two reservoirs, so that the quautity of nitrous gas dis-
placed by the water in one of the bell-glasses was a little less
than the double of the oxygen extricated, during the same time,
from the other bell-glass; both gases severally passed through
along tube partly filled with muriate of lime and partly with
quick lime, and afterwards met in a tube of a larger calibre con-
taining fragments of porcelain: by this arrangement, the gases
mixing perfectly, they are transformed into nitrous vapour al-
most pure, and merely containing a small excess of oxygen. The
gascous mixture afterwards passed into a curved tube, submitted
to an artificial cold of 20° below zero. After having passed
some litres of gas over into this apparatus, I obtained in the
cooled tube a slightly greenish liquid, sending out into the air
very abundant yellow vapours, and which was transformed during
decantation into an orange yellow liquid possessing all the pro-
perties of that which proceeds from the distillation of the nitrate
of lead. This experiment does not allow of any doubt, and we

opght

334 Observations on some Combinations

ought to admit that the compound of azote and oxygen which
is generally known by the name of nitrous acid gas, is not a gas
at the common temperature and pressure of the atmosphere,
but rather a liquid which I shall call in the meantime dry or
anhydrous nitrous acid, to avoid all misunderstanding.

I found 1-451 for its specific gravity, and 28° for the tem-
perature at which it enters into ebullition, the barometer being
at 0-76".

If we have hitherto mistaken the physical properties of this
combination, it is because the vapour which it forms maintains
a very strong tension at the common temperature; and in the
greater number of cases in which it is produced, it is mixed
with permanent gases which prevent its condensation.

We may easily see from this, that the condensation of the
dry nitrous acid will be the more difficult, and that it will be
necessary to employ, in order to produce it, a temperature so
much the lower as the proportion of foreign gas is greater. This
accounts for the differences which are observed in the products
of the distillation of the nitrates. When the base of the salt
has but a feeble affinity for the acid, and when it allows it to be
extricated at a low temperature, the nitric acid is decomposed
only into oxygen and nitrous acid ; and even if we shall suppose
that these two bodies are set free at the same time, the vapour
of the nitrous acid forming at least the two-thirds of the gaseous
mixture, it might be partly condensed, even at the temperature
of 15°: this is what happens with the nitrate of lead. When
on the contrary the base forcibly retains the acid, and precipi-
tates, the having recourse to a very high temperature for the
decomposition of the salt, the greater part of the nitric acid
being then reduced into oxygen and azote, it will require a con-
siderable degree of cold to liquefy even in part the nitrous acid.
Thus by submitting the gases which are liberated during the
decomposition of the nitrate of barytes to a cold of 20° below
0°, I have not obtained a single drop of liquid; because, as
we know, the greater part of the nitric acid was then transformed
~ into a mixture of oxygen and azote.

It is also for this reason, that when it is our object to make
directly with oxygen and nitrous gas dry nitrous acid, we must
so manage as to leave but a feeble excess of oxygen, as I have
indicated above ; otherwise we shall obtain but very little li-
quid.

If we pass into the apparatus described a little higher a mix-
ture of nitrous gas and oxygen gas, in which there is a little more
than four parts of the former to one of the latter, there is still
condensed a liquid in the cooled tube: but this liquid is of a
very deep green, and much more volatile than the fe eoine: I

nave

of Azote with Oxygen. 335

have analysed this liquid by the process which I have described
above for the analysis of dry nitrous acid; and I found that it
was formed of 100 parts of azote and 207 parts of oxygen, in
weight, in one experiment; in anotiver, I found 216 parts of
oxygen for the same quantity of azote. Itis evident, besides,
from the way in which this liquid has been formed, that water
does not enter into its composition. The proportion of oxygen
which it contains is less than that of the nitrous acid; but it is
greater than that which ought to be found in the acid of the
nitrites, which Gay Lussac has denominated pernitrous.

It is probable, according to this, that it is not a homogeneous
combination, but a simple mixture of dry nitrous acid, and an-
other compound of nitrous and oxygen gas, in which the pro-
portion of nitrous gas will be much stronger, and this conjec-
ture is also supported by the manner in which, this liquid acts
during its distillation. In fact, by submitting it toa gentle heat
the green colour gradually becomes weaker as the volatilization
is effected, and there remains a variable quantity of dry nitrous
acid. If the green liquid is not a simple solution of nitrous gas
in dry nitrous acid, it ought to contain another combination of
nitrous gas and oxygen, probably in the proportions of the per-
nitrous acid, which it will perhaps be possible to insulate by re-
iterated distillations, since there exists a difference, although in
truth very feeble, between the temperatures of ebulliticn of the
green and the orange liquid. This is a question which I shall
endeavour to decide on account oi its importance, notwithstand-
ing the difficulties by which it is surronnded. When we place dry
nitrous acid in contact with a great quantity of water, by im-
mediately shaking the mixture it is instantaneously decom-
posed; a proportion of nitrous gas is extricated, which varies
according to the rapidity with which the decomposition is effected.
if we put, on the contrary, a very smail quantity of water with
the same acid, no gas is disengaged; but the acid becomes a very
deep green: this is what happens when we pour, drop by drop,
dry nitrous acid into any mass of water ; because this acid being
heavier than water, it gains the bottom of the vessel, undergoing
the change of colour just mentioned, It is evident, from what
has been said, that the conversion of the orange acid into green
acid, in this circumstance, ought to be ascribed to the decom-
position of a part of the dry nitrous acid into nitric acid which
is dissolved in the water, and in nitrous gas which is combined
with the remains of the non-decomposed acid. Lastly, if we
mix successively with a certain quantity of water various por-
tions of nitrous acid, the extrication of nitrous gas produced by
the same weight of acid will always diminish, until it ceases en-

) tirely, although the liquid continues to absorb nitrous acid, We

then

336 Observations on some Combinations of Azole with Oxygen.

then see the water successively become a greenish blue, a dark
green, and an orange-yellow. These variations of colour are
the same with those which have been so long observed in the
nitrie acid of different degrees of concentration, when we pass
iato it nitrous gas of variable proportions. It seems, therefore,
that this gas acts, in this last case, by bringing back a portion
ef nitric acid to the state of nitrous acid, and passing itself to
this state. As to the nitric acid which is found mixed in very
different proportions with these various combinations of oxygen
and azote, according to the manner in which they have been
obtained, it dees not seem to affect their colours sensibly; at all
events, it will not be correct to suppose that these mixed acids
are only simple mixtures; for the nitrous acid seems to have an
affinity for nitric acid, if we judge according to the recent ob-
servations of Mr. Davy, on the properties of the nitro-muriatic
acid.

The anhydrated nitrous acid, when placed in contact with a
strong solution of potash, is decomposed ; nitrous gas is extri-
eated, but in smaller quantity than when the same decomposi-
tion is produced by water:—unitrite and nitrate of potash are
formed. With liquid ammonia, the action is extremely violent,
and the nitrous gas extricated is mixed with azote ;—this proves
that a part of the ammonia has been decomposed.

When we pass nitrous acid in vapour over dry caustic barytes
placed in a tube at the common temperature, the vapour is
slowly absorbed ; but at a temperature of above 20)° the barytes
suddenly hae incandescent, and no elastic fluid is extricated.
The combination which results melts, and is afterwards very
dificult to dissolve:—we therein find once more nitrate and
nitrite of barytes. It is certainly a very remarkable phenome-
non, and the explanation of which is not very easy, to see the
barytes transformed into nitrate and nitrite, at a temperature
which seems to be very superior to that which will be necessary
to decompose those two salts when once formed.

I have endeavoured to determine the action of the different
eombustible bodies on the nitrous acid when reduced into vapour ;
but all the phenomena which 1 have observed may easily be
foreseen by the theory, and this saves me the trouble of relating
them. I shall merely say, that all these experiments confirm
the opinion that the nitrous acid yields, less easily than the eu-
chlorine, the oxygen which enters into its composition: iode, for
instance, may be sublimed into this vapour without receiving
any alteration from it: sulphur and even phosphorus require, in
order to inflame, a higher temperature than in pure oxygen.

The anhydrous nitrous acid is combined, without undergoing
decomposition, with the concentrated sulphuric acid ; and it is

probable,

;

On the Action of Medicines, Sc. 337

probable, according to the experiments of Gay Lussac, and also
those which I have made known, that the crystalline substance
described by Messrs. Clement and Desormes, in the memoir in
which they have explained the formation of the sulphuric acid,
is nothing but this combination.

Since the ahove memoir was publicly read, 1 have observed
that the nitrous acid may be presented under very different co-
lours, according to the temperature to which it is subjected.
The orange-yellow colour which I have assigned to it in the
course of this paper, is that which it has at the temperature
from 15 to 28: it is deeper the more it approaches its point of
ebullition. At this temperature it is almost red ; and we know
that at an elevated temperature its vapour is of a very deep red.
But below 15° the colour becomes weaker and weaker, down to
0°, then it is no longer of a fawn yellow; at —10° it is nearly
colourless ; and finally, at —20° it is entirely so. We may
éasily produce those different shades by shutting up in the bulb
of a thermometer a certain quantity of dry nitrous acid, the
temperature of which is lowered successively by the evaporation
of ether, or carburet of sulphur. It will be curious to observe
if the same liquid subjected to a temperature of —40° or —50°
will be presented again under a coloured form; and if this co-
lour will be blue, as indicated by the theory of coloured rings :—
this I shall endeavour shortly to ascertain.

LXVI. Experiments and Observations to prove that the bene-
ficial Effects of many Medicines are produced through the
Medium of the circulating Blood, more particularly that of
the Colchicum autumnale upon the Gout. By Sir Everarp
Homey, Barl. V.P.R.S. Communicated by the Society for
improving Animal Chemistry*.

A xwowsence of the readiness with which liquids pass from

the stomach into the circulation, carrying along with them the
impregnation of different medicines; and the readiness with
which such medicines are carried off from the circulating blood,
by the action of the kidneys, led Mr. Brande and myself to an
inquiry respecting the prevention of gravel and gout, upon which
subject he has laid two separate papers before the Society.

In these communications, the action of different substances
on the contents of the stomach has been considered, and those

* From the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1816, part ii.

Vol. 48. No, 223, Nov, 1816. ¥ substances

338 | On the Action of Medicines, &e.

substances most efficient in depriving them of the principal in-
gredient met with in stone and gout, are pointed out.

For the cure of gout, the eau médicinale of Husson has been
most fortunately discovered to be a specific remedy, and -it is
now ascertained, by experiments on different people, that a
vinous infusion of the colchicum autumnale, or meadow saffron,
is equally so, and therefore the two medicines must be consi-
dered as the same.

To ascertain their mode of action, appeared to me an inquiry
connected with the objects of this Society, which are not con-
fined to the knowledge of purely chemical combinations in the
stomach or other parts of the body, but include the effects of
galvanism on the nerves, and of mineral and vegetable solutions
on the blood, so far as they affect the actions of life, or the
synyptoms of disease. :

It has already been determined by experiment, that almost
every mineral, vegetable, and animal poison, if not the whole of
them, is carried into the circulation before it produces its spe-
cific effects upou particular parts, whether these are the sto-
mach, skin, or other parts of the body. The most truly specific
medicine that we have been hitherto acquainted with, is mercury
for the venereal disease; and it is completely established, that this
remedy, when in the circulation, is equally efficient in the cure
of a recent chancre produced by inoculation, and a venereal
sore throat, in consequence of the disease having been carried,
into the circulation.

That other medicines can be received into the circulation,
and, as soon as they arrive there, produce their effects upon dif-
ferent parts of the body, is proved by experiments made by the
late Mr. Hunter, although he had no idea of their being usually
carried there before they produce the different actions so well
known to follow their exhibition by the mouth. He found that
infusions of the following substances received into the circulation
by the jugular vein, iminediately produced the same effects which
more slowly follow their being taken by the mouth. Infusion of
opium brought on drowsiness. Infusion of ipecacuanha vomiting.
Jalap vomiting and purging. Infusion of rhubarb a profuse
flow ofurine. These effects ceased in a few hours, and appeared
to have in no respect injured the animal’s health. Except the
venereal disease, gout is the only one whose local symptoms
have been completely removed by medicine, in so short a time, |
as to put it beyond all doubt that their removal is the effect
of the medicine. The effect of the eau médicinale and of the
vinous infusion of the colchicum autumnale on gout, is indeed

more rapid than that of mercury on the venereal disease, but in all
: other

On the Action of Medicines, &e. 339

other respects corresponds with it ; and if these medicines act
through the medium of the circulation, the only difference may
be, that the one is more quickly received into it than the other.

This power of the eau médicinale, which | have stated to be
exactly similar to that of the colchicum autumnale over the
iocal symptoms of gout, | have ascertained by experiment more
than six times upon myself; at one time the symptoms went
off in six hours, at another in twelve, and at others in twenty-
four hours.

As we know the sensible effects of mercury, whether it is in-
troduced into the circulation by the absorbents, or received into
the stomach, are the same, we conclude, whenever these sensi-
ble effects are met with, that mercury is actually in the circula-
tion,

It therefore occurred to me, that if the sensible effects of the
infusion of the colchicum should prove to be the same, whether
it is introduced into the circulation by the jugular vein, or re-
ceived by the mouth into the stomach, that we might equally
in both cases conclude it to be in the circulation. To determine
this point, thirty drops of the vinous infusion of the colchicum
(made by macerating two pounds of the fresh roots in twenty-
four ounces of Sherry wine, in a gentle heat for six days, the
spirit being previously carried off by heat,) was diluted with a
drachm of water, and conveyed into the circulation of a mo-
derately sized dog by the jugular vein. The dog’s pulse in a
natural state is 140 in a minute.

In five minutes, the dog had a tremulous motion of the mus-
cles and fluttering of the pulse, accompanied with nausea, but
no retching to vomit. In fourteen minutes, the pulse was 180
in a minute and had frequent intermissions. In four hours, the
pulse was 120 in a minute, of its natural strength, and had fre-
quent intermissions. In seven hours, the dog had a natural
motion, the pulse had no intermission, was 140 in the minute,
The dog had a good appetite for food, and appeared in perfect
health.

The same dog at the end of three complete days swallowed
sixty drops of the same infusion, exactly double the quantity
that had been introduced into the circulation. In two hours, he
became languid, the pulse wiry and weak, but 140 in the minute.
In four hours and a half, the languor much less and the pulse
natural. In eight hours, the dog had had a natural motion.
In eleven hours, was in good spirits and very well.

- The sensible effects upon the dog were similar to those pro-
duced upon myself, but in a less degree. Under the influence
of a violent fit of the gout, in the ankle, on the 25d of Decem-
ber 1815, at ten o’clock in the morning, I took sixty drops of

Y 2 the

340 An Appendix to a Paper on the Effects

the cau médicinale; the pain of the gout was insufferable, I got
into bed, aud was so chilly as not fo be able to keep my hands
warm, even under the bed clothes. In two hours, I became
rather hot and thirsty. 1s: three hours, the pain was so much
diminished as to be tolerable, while the limb was at rest. In
seven hours, I had a confined motion from the bowels, and the
pain in the ankle became severe, while the foot was placed on
the ground, but this went off as soon as the foot was again
placed in a horizontal posture. A nausea, or half sickness,
came on; my pulse, which is naturally 80 in a minute, was
lowered to 60, and intermitted. In ten hours, the nausea was
gone off, but I remained languid, the pulse beating 70 in a mi-
nute. I had some appetite for food.

The following morning, my pulse was 80, and having passed
a good night, 1 was enabled to walk as usual, and follow the
duties of my profession.

If these observations shall be confirmed, they must lead us to
conclude, that the different kinds of substances, which produce
specific diseases, are first carried into the circulation, in the
same manner as mineral and animal poisons, and that the
medicines by which they are acted upon, go through the same
course, before they produce their beneficial effects; a material
step will thus be gained in’the consideration of diseases, and the
modes of treating them.

LXVII. An Appendix to a Paper on the Effects of the Col-

chicum autumnale on Gout. By Sir Everarp Hong, Bart.
H.PR.S#

W usw L laid before the Society my paper upon this subject,
1 was anxious to establish what appeared to me to be two im-.
portant facts; one, that the infusion of the colehicum can be
received into the circulation without producing any permanent
mischief ; the other, that it is through the medium of the circu-
lation its beneficial effects upon gout are produced, and there-
fore the sudden relief which is experienced can be readily ex-
plained. Having attended to the effects of the eaw médicinale
and of this medicine for several years in cases of gout, both in
my own case, and in those of my friends, I found, invariably,
‘that they diminished the frequency of the pulse, ten or twenty
beats in a minute, and this effect generally took place about
twelve hours after the medicine was exhibited: I therefore con-
sidered this to be the criterion of the constitution being under
the influence of the medicine; and when I found that the pulse.

* From the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1816, part ii.
was

of the Colchicum autumnale on the Gout. 341

awas affected in the same way by the medicine received into the
circulation, and in a much shorter time, I became satisfied that
in both cases this arose from an effect upon the circulation, and
not upon the stomach, and therefore did not further prosecute
the inquiry; since exhibiting larger doses could only confirm
what is already known, namely, that the medicine is capable,
when injudiciously used, of producing very violent effects.

It has been suggested to me since the paper was read, that
the only mode of proving that the medicine acts through the
medium of the circulation, is to show that when a sufficient
quantity is received into the blood, all the violent effects are pro-
duced, that result from a large dose taken by the mouth; and
as | hail yo object but the pursuit of truth, I lost no time in
complying with this suggestion, and introduced into the circu-
Jation of a dog 160 drops of the same infusion before employed.

The animal instantly lost all power of voluntary motion, the
breathing became extremely slow, and the pulse was hardly to
be felt. In ten minutes, the pulse was $4, the inspirations na-
tural, which are 40 in a minute. In twenty minutes, the pulse
was 60, the inspirations 30 ina minute, a tremulous motion had
taken place i in the hind legs. In an hour, the pulse was 115,
and irregular; the animal was capable of sitting up, but was
in a state of violent tremor, and the inspirations could not be
counted,

In one hour and a half, the tremor had gone off, the pulse
continued the same; the animal made ineffectual attempts to
vomit, and continued to do so for ten minutes, accompanied
with great languor ; the inspirations were 54 in a minute.

In two hours, the pulse was 150, and very weak; the animal
had voided one ounce and a half of water, had vomited twice,
each time bringing up a quantity of mucus tinged with bile, and
had two liquid stools.

In three hours, had vomited again, and had another stool; the
pulse too weak to be counted.

In four hours, continued extremely languid,

In five hours, vomited some bloody mucus, and expired,

On opening the body, the stomach contained mucus tinged
with blood, and its internal membrane was inflamed; the duo-
denum had its internal surface universally inflamed 5 the same
appearance in a less degree was met with in the Jejunium and
ilium, and more strongly marked in the colon than in the ilium.

The facts which I have now adduced, afford sufficient proof
of the action of the colchicum autumnale upon the different
parts of the body, being through the medium of the circulation,
and not in consequence of its immediate eflects upon the stomach
and intestines,

Y3 LXVIII. New

f 342 ]j

LXVII1. New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. By EzeKier
WatkeER, Esq. of Lynn, Norfolk.

{Continued from p. 245.]

Tus electrical apparatus, mentioned in my last paper, consists
of about 3,300 groups of zinc, copper, and paper discs, inclosed
in six glass tubes. These are placed in an horizontal position,
each resting upon two insulating rods, which stand seven inches
high above the common base into which they are fixed. In the
manner of connecting the ends of the tubes there is nothing
new, but in the application of the silver leaf electrometer, there
is a mode which may afford some amusement to those who are
not much acquainted with physical experiments. ,

The wire on the top of the electrometer may be placed either
in contact with one extremity of the arrangement of columns,
as represented in the figure*, or at any more convenient di-
stance. The electrometer being placed upon a table in the
middle of a room, and the electrical apparatus in some remote
place, out of sight, it only requires a thin music wire to connect
the apparatus with the electrometer, to cause the pendulums to
vibrate as freely as if the electrometer and columns were in ac-
tual contact.

It has been supposed by M. De Luc and some other writers
on this subject, that the variable action of two electric columns
upon a pendujum suspended between them, is owing to the
moisture contained in the atmosphere ; but others are of opinion
that the temperature of the air, and not moisture, is the cause of
this variation.

To determine the cause of irregularity in the vibrations of my
pendulums, I made observations several times a-day, for more
than a month, and I find that their vibrations are governed by
the temperature of the air of the place in which the apparatus
stands. The moisture of the atmosphere, I apprehend, could
produce no effect, as the ends of the glass tubes were carefully
closed with sealing-wax.

The following observations show the effect of temperature

upon electric columns :
No. of Vibrations
of the Penduluins

Oct. 1816. Therm. per minute.
Meat OD Ase) ses 60 136
10 at 1OA.M. .. | 62 140
mat. 4) AM. 64 142
eat. ft Pav. 2s | 67 144
Mab. Pant. le 68 148
10 at SP.M. .. | 66 144
* Page 248 of this volume. In

New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy. 348

In keeping a register of the variable action of M. De Luc’s
columns, some attention is necessary in adjusting the pendulums
to the maintaining power; for if the pendulums be too long, or
too heavy, their vibrations will be irregular, stopping at intervals
till the columns have acctmulated sufficient power to put them
again into motion. If the columns be sufficiently powerful to
keep heavy pendulums in regular action when the weather is
cold, their vibrations will agree very nearly with the temperature
of the air at all other seasons; but if the pendulums be very
short, they will vibrate too quickly for observation.

The two elements which keep the pendulums in motion come
from the earth; for when the electrometer is placed in contact
with the copper extremity of the series of columus, no action is
produced; but when a person standing on the floor lays his
finger upon the zine extremity, the pendulums will instantly
begin to vibrate, and continue in motion as long as the com-
munication with the earth shall remain iu the same state. The
electrometer being removed to the zinc extremity, no action
will commence; but let a communication be made between the
copper extremity of the series and the earth, and the pendulums
will vibrate as freely as before.

Although the two elements which keep the pendulums in mo-
tion come from the earth, yet the variable state of the earth’s
electricity has no effect upon them, for they will make the same
number of vibrations in a given time, the temperature of the
air being the saine, whatever the electrical state of the earth
may be.

It is well known to every electrician that his machine acts
much better at one time than at another. ‘This has been attri-
buted to various causes; but the true one is, the electricity of
the earth is variable, not only on different days, but at different
times in the same day.

The method that I use for determining this property of the
earth, is very simple, and yet it admits of considerable accuracy.
I take a barometer tube about two feet long, and after having
drawn it once through a piece of silk held in my hand, ! hold it
over one of my phial electrometers, at the distance of about an
inch.

If the leaves of the electrometer diverge and remain perma-
nent, the angle which they contain is measured, and noted down
as the electri ‘al state of the earth at that time, If the leaves
be not permanently electrified with the tube at that distance, it
is brought into contact with the electrometer, when a perma-
nent effect will generally be produced; and the angle, being
measured, is entered in a column titled contact. But it will
sometimes happen, that the earth contains so little electricity,

Y4 that

344 New Outlines of Chemical Philosophy.

that even contact produces’no permanent effect upon the clec-
trometer. On the contrary, the electricity of the earth is some-
times so strong, that the tube drawn once through the silk as
before, and held at the distance of four, five, or six inches above
the electrometer, the leaves will become permanently electrified.

But to obtain a greater degree of exactness than can be de-
rived from one electrometer only, | make use of five or six, and
after having made an observation by each separately, I take a
mean of their results for the true. 1 have kept a journal of the
electricity of the earth by this mode for more than fifteen months,
and found, during that time, such a correspondence among
these instruments, as gives me great confidence in this mode of
investigation.

Extract from my Journal of Observations on the Electricity
of the Earth, taken at Nine 0’ Clock in the Forenoon.

Mbt ey Pi der ct SDA fey tie Steel
Dist.
| By In- in, | By Con)
1816. | duction | Inches, | tact.
July 11 | 136 | 3 |
19 | 00 aes ee
21 | 060 1 10}
24 00 1 150
28 | 140 l
Oct. 13 | 105 l
14 | 98 i |
134100 2 |
16 > 106 2
17 | 123 9
18, 108 =
19 124 9

When a tube, excited as above directed, is brought into con-
tact with an electrometer, without producing any permanent
effect within it, it is not to be understcod that the earth contains
no electricity, but only that it is in a uery low state.

The experiments, described in my last paper, demonstrate
that the pendulums placed at each extremity of an arrangement
of clectric columns, were kept in motion by two invisible ele-
ments, and I have to add, that these pendulums have now been
constantly vibrating for more than two months. In the year
1813, I ascertained that the electric spark consists of two ele-
ments of equal mechanical forces passing through each other in
contrary directions*. In these experiments, the effect was as

* Phil. Mag. vol. xlii. p. 163.
instantaneous

On the Action of detached Leaves of Plants. 345

instantaneous as the spark itself; but the effect of the same two
elements, brought into action by the electric columns, may be
continued at pleasure for months, or even years.

Now, as all the operations of Nature are produced by general
laws, it is very probable, that all the phenomena of electricity,
chemistry, meteorology, and the living functions of animals and
vegetables, are the effects of these two elements.

This hypothesis (like many others) is easily formed, but the
investigation of a theory is a work of greater labour ; and may
perhaps, in this instance, require the assistance of some instru-
iment not yet invented; for nothing tends so much to enlarge
the native intellectual powers of man as improvements in the
arts.

Lynn, Nov. 18, 1816. EzeKIEL WALKER.

[To be continued. ]

LXIX. On the Action of detached Leaves of Plants. By
T. A. Kyicut, Esq. F.R.S. In a Letter addressed to the
Right Hon, Sir Josern Banks, Bart. G.C.B. PBs

Dear Sir,— Since I had last the honour to address a com-
munication to you, with a request that you would lay it before
the Royal Society, I have repeated great part of the experiments
which formed the subjects of my former letters, with such ad-
ditions and variations, as might probably lead to the detection
of any erroneous conclusions which | might have drawn: but I
have not been able to detect any errors, nor to add any thing
very important to my former observations. I have, however,
been able to ascertain a few new facts, which I] think too in-
teresting to be Jost.

I endeavoured, in my former communications, to adduce
evidence, that the matter, which becomes vitally united to trees,
previously passes through their leaves; and I shall now proceed
to state some facts, which, I trust, will prove that a fluid pos-
sessing the power which | have attributed to the true sap, ac-
tually descends through the leaf-stalks.

A slender knife was passed through some leaf-stalks of the
vine, about two-thirds of an inch distant from their junction to
the branch; and down to that point, the leaf-stalks were divided
longitudinally, and a transverse section, about half an inch long,
was made through the bark opposite the middle of the leaf-stalk.
A similar transverse section through the bark, was made some-
what less than an inch distant below; and these sections were

* From the Transactions of the Royal Sogiety for 1816, part ii.
united

346 On the Action of detached Leaves of Plants,

united by two longitudinal sections through the bark, which ex-
tended from the extremities of the upper tranverse sections ta
the extremities of the lower; by which means, pieces of bark,
about half an inch broad, and nearly.an inch long, were sepa-
rated from the adjoining bark. These were then detached from
the alburnum, and surrounded by two folds of paper coated with
wax on each side; by which all connexion and communication
with the tree, except through the divided leaf-stalks, were cut
of. The insulated pieces of bark, nevertheless, continued to
grow, and extended downwards, and lateraily, and in thickness;
and thin lavers of alburnum were deposited.

Leaves of the potatoe, without any portion of bark being at-
tached to them, were taken from the plants, just at the period
when the tuberous roots began to be formed; and I conceived
that these leaves, consistently with my former experiments and
conclusions, must contain portions of the living organizable
matter, which would subsequently have been found in “their tu-
berous roots. The leaves were, therefore, planted in pots, and
placed under glass, where, being regularly and properly supplied
with water, they continued to live till winter, though without
emitting fibrous roots; and I then expected to find some small
tubers at their bases. In this expectation I was disappointed 5
but the result of the experiment was not less satisfactory, the
bases of the leaf-stalks themselves having swollen imto conte
bodies of more than two inches in circumference, ana being
found to consist of matter apparently similar to that which com-
poses the tuberous roots of the plant. The enlarged parts of
the leaf-stalks remained alive in the following spring; but whether
they are capable of generating buds or not, I have not been able
to ascertain.

Leaves of mint were planted in the same manner as those
above mentioned; which grew, and continued alive through the
winter, and were still living in the end of the last month, having
assumed the character of the thick fleshy leaves of evergreen
trees. Upon examining the mould in the pots, I found it to
contaii very numerous roots, which must have derived their me-
dullary, and their cortical, and alburnous substances from mat-
‘ter which had emanated and descended from the leaves.

I had fresjuently observed, in former experiments, that the
destruction of the mature Jeaves of young plants not only sus-
pended the growth of the roots, but also the growth of the im-
mature leaves; whence I inferred, in a former communication,
that the organizable matter, which composes the young leaves,
has always undergone a previous preparation in other leaves of
the plant, either of the same, or preceding season; and I was
thence led to expect that, under favourable circumstances, the

mature

On the Action of detached Leaves of Plants. 347

‘mature leaves might be made to nourish and promote the growth
of immature leaves, without the aid of roots. Several shoots of
the vine, each about a yard long, were detached from the trees,
and laid over a succession of basins of water, iito which each
of the mature leaves was in part depressed: and thus cireum-
stanced, the young leaves continued to grow, and the points of
the shoots to elongate; and all were alive and in perfect ap-
parent health at the end of a month. The water necessary to
preserve the young leaves must in this case have been derived
from the mature leaves; and | entertain no doubt, but that the
organizable matter which occasioned their growth, was derived
from the same source. Intersection of the bark between the
mature and young leaves was not attended with any injurious
consequences, and the sap must, therefore, have passed to the
young leaves through the alburnum.

Consistently with the preceding circumstances, if the mature
leaves be destroyed, or taken off, the fruit ceases to grow, or, if
full grown, remains without richness or flavour ; and the power
of feeding fruits in winter and early spring seems to be confined
to evergreen plants. The orange and lemon tree, the ivy and
holly, afford familiar examples of this; and where a genus of
plants consists of evergreen and deciduous species, as that of
mespilus and viburnum, the evergreen species alone nourish
their fruit in winter and early spring.

The probable passage of the sap from the mature to the young
teaves and fruit may, I think, be easily pointed out, though de-
cisive proof of its course will probably never be adduced. Having
often detached the bark from the alburnum cf the stems of
young oaks, just at the period when the midsummer shoots were
beginning to elongate, I observed, as others have done, that a
fiuid exuded from those parts of the surface of the alburnum,
which are called (most improperly) the medullary processes, and
from correspondent points of the bark, which resemble the me-
dullary processes in organization. This fluid has been proved,
by its power of rapidly generating an organic substance, to be
the true sap of the tree, part of which I conceive at this period,
to be passing from the bark to join the ascending current in the
alburnum ; which current feeds the young succulent shoots and
growing leaves. Subjecting the alburnum to a slight degree of
pressure at this period, I found that a considerable quantity of
liquid, being apparently the true sap of the tree, issued out la-
terally through the medullary processes, as well as longitudinally
through the cellular substance of the alburnum: but the tubes
of it continued empty, and their position was marked by de-
pressions of the surface of the extravasated fluid. 1 endeavoured
to ascertain, what proportion of water a given quantity of the

alburnum

348 Controversy respecting Safe-lamps.

alburnum of such oak trees contained at this period; and I found
that 1000 parts lost by drying only 371 parts: which is not
more than the weight of the water that the cellular substance
appears capable of containing, entirely independent of the tubes.
That the tubes, nevertheless, are not always empty, but that
they act at other periods of the year as reservoirs for the sap, I
have given an opinion in a former communication; aud I am
now in possession of facts which prove them to perform this
oitice, even in the heart wood, to a much greater extent than
Thad ever at any former period suspected; and which incline
ine to believe, that the durability of the heart wood, as well as
of the alhurnum of the oak, will be found to depend to a great
extent upon the period in which thie tree is felled: but I propose
to make my observations upon these points the subject of a fu-
ture communication.
Iam, my dear sir, &e.
_ T.A. Kyrenr,

LXX. Controversy respecting Safety-lamps.

Viet month, but too late for insertion in our October number,
we received from a respectable correspondent at Neweastle se-
veral articles which have appeared in the Newcastle Courant,
claiming for Mr. Stephenson priority of invention of the safe-
lamp.—When the inveution was first announced, we stated our
opinion that Mr, Stephenson and Sir Humphry Davy made
each their discovery independent of each other. Mr. Stephen-
son’s friends, on the contrary, have expressed an opinion that
Sir Humphry’s was derived from Mr, Stephenson’s; and in sup-
port of their opinion the dates of his experiments have been
brought forward by himself. Sir H. Davy’s friends, resting also
on dates, have shown that Sir H. was prior. Of course, if dates
are to be taken as evidence, not merely of priority of invention,
but as proof that the one who was latest must have borrowed, it
will follow that Mr. Stephenson’s lamp was derived from Sir
Humphry’s.—The following are the articles which have appeared
on this subject in the newspaper to which we have alluded.

From the Newcastle Courant of the 19th of October.

I trust the public, and gentlemen of the coal trade in par-
ticular, will excuse my requesting their attention to a letter from
Robert William Brandling, esq. to the mecting summioned for
the purpose of voting a piece of plate to Sir Humphry Davy,
and to a resolution which he moved at a subsequent meeting,
and which was seconded by Arthur Mowbray, esq. Whether or

not

Controversy respecting Safety-lamps. 349

not the former of these gentlemen is justified in the opinion he
has expressed, and which he has kindly allowed me to publish,
it appears to me may easily be decided; and I shall only add,
that if it can be proved I took advantage in the formation of
the safetv-lamp, of any suggestions except the printed opinions
of scientific men, I deserve to lose the confidence of my honour-
able employers, and the good opinion of my fellow-men, which
I feel an honest pride in declaring, even in my humble situation
in life, is of more value in my estimation than any reward that
generous but indiscriminating affluence can bestow.
GEORGE STEPHENSON.

Copy.
“« Low Gosforth, Aug. 29, 1816.
Sir,—As it will not be in my power to attend the meeting
summoned for the purpose of voting a piece of plate to Sir Hum-
phry Davy for the invention of the safety-lamp, I trust the gen-
tlemen will excuse my adopting this mode of requesting them to
ascertain (previous to their resolving upon a measure which will
convey their decided opinion to the public) whether the merit of
that invaluable discovery is due to that gentleman, or not. The
conviction upon my mind is, that Mr. George Stephenson, of
Killingworth Colliery, was the person who first discovered and
applied the principle upon which lamps may be constructed, so
as to be used with perfect safety in mines charged with hydro-
gen gas; whether that gas is admitted through capillary tubes,
or the apertures of wire-gauze, (which may be considered as
merely the orifices of capillary tubes) does not, I conceive, affect
the principle. In the communications I have seen from Sir
H. Davy, no dates are mentioned, and it is by a reference to
them only that the question can be fairly decided ; for the in-
formation of the meeting, therefore, I shall take the liberty of
inclosing some I received from Mr. Stephenson, to the correct-
ness of which, as far as [ am concerned, I[ can bear testimony.
At the same time I must beg leave to add, that the principle of
admitting the hydrogen gas only in such small detached portions
that it would be consumed by combustion, was, I understand,
_ stated by him to several gentlemen as the idea he had embraced
two months before this lamp was actually constructed.
I remain, sir,
Your very obedient humble servant,
Roper WILLIAM BRANDLING.
To the Secretary of the General
Meeting of the Coal Trade.

The Killingworth lamp with one tube to admit the air, and a
slide at the bottom of the tube to regulate the quantity of air
admicted,

350 Controversy respecting Safety-lampn.

admitted, was first tried in the Killingworth A. and B. pits on

Saturday, October 21, 1815; but being found not to burn well,
another was ordered the same day, wwitls three capillary tubes to
admit the air, and tried in the mine on the 4th of November
following, and found to burn considerably better, and to be per-
fectly safe. On the 17th of November it was tried at [Killing-
worth Office with inflammable air, before Richard Lambert, esq.;
and on the 24th of November before R. W. Brandling, esq.,
C. J. Brandling, esq. and Mr. Murray.

On the 30th of November a lamp was tried in the mine, in
which the air was admitted by means of a double row of small
perforations, and found to be perfectly safe and burn extremely
well ; and on the 5th of December it was tried with inflammable
air, before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne.

N.B. The lamp which was tried on the 21st of October was
a considerable time in making (a month at least), owing ta the
necessity of having the glass made and well tempered before the
lamp could be begun to be made.

' At an adjourned Meeting of Coal-owners, held the 11th of

October 1816, John George Lambton, esq. M.P. in the chair,
Mr. William Brandling moved (seconded by Mr. Arthur Mow-
bray), that the meeting do adjourn until, by a comparison of
dates and an inquiry into facts, it shall be as scertained whether
the merit of the invention of the safety-lamp is due to Sir
H. Davy or George Stephenson ; and the question being put
thereon, the same passed in the negative.

To the Editor of the Newcastle Courant.
High Heworth, Octoher 21, 1816.
Sir,—In answer to the letter and certificates of Mr. Stephen-
son, respecting the Killingworth lamp, in your last week’s paper,

1 will thank you to insert the following notices respecting the.

progressive views and experiments of Sir H. Davy, on the sub-
ject of his safety-lamp.

On the 2Sth of August 1815, Sir H. Davy told Mr. Fenwick,
of Dipton, at Auckland Castle, that he intended introducing a
lamp into the coal mines incapable of inflaming the atmosphere
surrounding it, and constructed of materials not easily injured.

Sir H. continued in the north of England till the 29th of
September following, on which day he wrote to me, requesting
me to send him a quantity of fire-damp from a blower. In this
letter he says, “ I have thought a good deal on the prevention of
explosions from fire-damp, and I entertain strong hopes of being
able to effect something satisfactory on the subject.”

On the 15th of October, he acknowleged the receipt ofthe

re-

Controversy respecting Safety-lamps. 251

fire-damp, and said, ‘‘ My experiments are going on successfully,
and { hope in a few days to send you an account of them. I
am going to be fortunate far beyond my expectation.”

In a letter, dated 19th of October 1815, he says © I have al-
ready discovered that explosive mixtures of mine-damp will not
pass through small apertures or tubes, and that if a lamp or
lanthorn be made air-tight. on the sides and furnished with aper-
tures to admit the air, it will not communicate flame to the out-
ward atmosphere.”

On the 25th of Cctoher he announced his discoveries to the
Chemical Club of London ; but he soon “ gave up the idea of a
safety-lamp dependent upon a diminished circulation of air, be-
cause he found that apertures in the top and bottom only, were
not safe, unless made so small as to occasion a great loss of light
in the flame: 7. e. 1-50th or 1-60th ofan inch; and he adopted
tubes and canals above and below, which proved to be safe by
direct experiment.”” In a letter dated October 30, he describes
a lamp of this kind, and has the following reasoning upon it:
*¢ Atmospheric air, when rendered impure by the combustion of a
candle, but in which the candle will stid burn, will not explode
the gas from the mines; and when a lamp or candle is made to
burn in a close vessel, having apertures only above and below,
an explosive mixture of gas merely enlarges the light, and gra-
dually extinguishes it without explosion. Again, the gas mixed
in any proportion with common air, I have discovered will not
explode in a small tube, the diameter of which is less than 1-8th
of an inch, or even a larger tube, if there is a mechanical force
urging the gas through the tube.” Some manuscript copies of
this letter were taken by professional men of this neighbourhood
on the 2d of November; and on the 6th of that month I read it
fo a general meeting of the coal trade.

On the 4th of November, Mr. Butler, in an oration delivered
at the foundation of the College of the London Institution, no-
ticed the discovery in the following manner:—“ At the instant
1 am now speaking science is advancing towards us with an in-
vention which to the latest posterity will prove incalculably be-
neficial to humanity in general and commerce in particular.
You haye read in your newspapers of the horrid effects of the
firing of a mine. A very recent paper has given an account of
sucha disaster. Now within these few weeks, one of those men,
homines centenarii, as Scaliger called them, who exist but once
in a century, men who elevate the country in which they were
born, and even the age in which they live, our illustrious country~
man, Sir H. Davy, has discovered a process by which this evil
principle in nature is absolutely subdued, and all possibility of
danger from it altogether removed.” j

The

352 Controversy respecting Safety-lamps.

The regular progress of Sir H’s investigations after this time
till he discovered a tissue permeable to fight and air, but im-
permeable to Jiame, may be seen in his publications on the sub-
ject.

In a letter dated from Whitehaven Castle, 20th of September
1816 Sir H. pointed out to me a little book, entitled ‘* Elements
of Chemical Science,” by J. Murray, Lecturer on Chemistry*,
dated June 1815, in which there are several hints for construct-
ing a lamp upon the principle of a diminished atmosphere. ‘* A
lanthorn might be made air tight, and fed through a flexible
tube, &c.” ‘* A division in the tube, or another parallel to it,
would promote a proper current, &c. &c.” Mr. Stephenson’s
first lamp, which dates its origin from October 21, 1815, was
upon the same principle ; so was that of Dr. John Murray, of
Edinburgh, announced in November 1815; and that of R. W.
Brandling, esq. with the bellows on its top, which appeared soon
after.

From the preceding statement, compared with Mr. Stephen-
son’s dates (and even taking into the account the anxious two
months after ‘* he had embraced the zdea,’’) it is evident he was
preceded by Mr. Murray, in the application of one tube, and by
Sir H. Davy, in numerous apertures and tubes above and below,
for ‘admitting the hydrogen gas, only in such small detached
portions, that it would be consumed by combustion.”

I believe Mr. Stephenson to be a very modest and a very in-
genious man; and that the first ideas he had of his lamp were
the effect of his own reflections on the subject: but when it is
insinuated, as it has been, that hints respecting the Killingworth
lamp were clandestinely smuggled to Sir H. Davy, which led
him to the invention of the wire-gauze safety-lamp, the calumny
upon his character is not to be borne. The scientific world are
highly indebted to him for his late discoveries respecting the
nature and properties of flame; and the part-of the population
of this neighbourhood connected with the coal trade, owe him
a-mighty debt of gratitude for the successful application of these
discoveries, to lighting the coal-mines cheaply and securely.
He has, I know, spent a year of great anxiety and labour inf the
service of the coal-owners; it is, therefore, impossible to sup-
press one’s indignation, on hearing that doubts respecting his
claims to these discoveries should have arisen among that body
of men, especially when his enemies in the scientific world have
been held in silence by their astonishment at the novelty and
originality of the invention.

I cannot conclude this letter without observing that I have

* This gentleman has been ove of the warmest advocates for Sir H.
Davy’s lamps.
not

On Vision. 353

not yet seen a lamp, excepting the wire-gauze one of Sir H.
Davy, which in my opinion deserves the name of a safety-lamp 5
and that this is the decided opinion of persons interested in the
coal trade, is evident from the wire-gauze lamp being used in
exclusion of every other kind, in almost every colliery in this
country, in which fire-damp prevails.
I am, sir,
Your very obedient humble servant,
JoHn Hopeson.

LXXI. On Vision. By Mr. W. Pater,
To Mr. Tilloch.

Str, — Mz. Horn, in his Observations on the Cosmogony of
Moses, has been so obliging as to give his ideas on the seat of
vision, concluding ‘* that the optic images are formed by caus-
tic reflection and exhibited in the middle of the vitreous humour,
and thus the optic impression and position of the tangible ob-
ject are reconciled.” J will confess I do not exactly understand
what is meant by caustic reflection, and therefore shall make no
remarks upon it; nor should I have particularly noticed the
other part of the opinion, had it not brought to my recollection
a correspondence I held with an acquaintance of mine, about
five-and-forty years ago, who had formed an idea that the ey
sees objects placed before it without any medium being necessary,
and that light merely renders bodies visible by diffusion over
their surfaces, he having no notion whatever that the light must
pass from the surface, or point illuminated, to the eye, to pro-
duce vision. Now it appears to me that Mr. Horn’s theory is
founded upon some such idea, otherwise where is the necessity
of supposing that the rays are reflected from the nerve to form
images in the middle of the vitreous humour? because, if images
were formed in the vitreous humour, which seems contrary to
the nature of transparent fluids, still the rays of light must be
reflected Lack again from those images to the optic nerve to pro-
duce vision, because vision is a sensation produced by the action
of light upon a nerve, or nerves, adapted to receive excitement

om light. No part of the body is possessed of sensibility but
what has nerves, or is nervous,—the nerves alone being sentient ;
consequently were light capable of being collected in the trans-
parent vitreous humour so as to form images in its ceutre, still,
those images could not be perceived there unless the vi-
treous humour were nervous, which is not the case ; and there-
fore, if these images were formed there, the light must be re-

Vol. 48. No, 223, Nov, 1816. Z flected

Sod Ox the Possibility of alloying

flected back again to the optic nerve to produce vision, or sen
satiou, as nothing but nerves is sensible.

It appears to me, then, that Mr. Horn’s theory demands two
reflections which are neither proyed, nor necessary, nor con-
sistent with the nature of transparent fluids; and therefore I
feel inclined to retain my old opinion, that light acts upon the
optic nerve and excites sensation.

I know the difficulty of getting rid of notions which have be-
come habitual, and therefore I suppose my want of conversion
is owing to my having long thought as I do, and to Mr. Horn’s
reasons and reflections not being sufficiently caustic to reach my
case, and produce in me a new and juster way of thinking: at
the same time I by no means expect that my opinions will pro-
duce any change in Mr. Horn’s ideas: however, there can be
no harm in diversity of opinions on doubtful subjects, if good-
humour be president. I am, sir,

Your most obedient servant,
Skif-haven, Noy. 1, 1816. W. PaTER-

LXXH. On the Possibility of nits Tron with Manganese.
By Davip Musuet, Esq. of Coleford, Forest of Dean*,

I HAVE in your last number shown the difficulty of combining,
to any material extent, metallic manganese with cast iron, by
fusing the latter with the black oxide of manganese and certain
proportions of charcoal. I next attempted to form the alloy of
the two metals by fusing certain proportious of the ore of each
metal in mixture, considering that results obtained under such
a mode of operation, would indicate the practicability of working,
if necessary or advantageous, ores of manganese along with the
ordinary ores of iron smelted in our blast furnaces, either for
the production of good bar iron or steel.

I selected a large piece of argillaceous iron ore, which I pre-
pared by roasting and subsequent pulverization; I then passed it
through a small wire sieve: the oxide of manganese and char-
coal were prepared in a similar way, and the whole kept shut
up from access to atmospheric air, to prevent as much as possi-
ble any irregularity in the results by the absorption of moisture.
The crucibles and lids were accurately ground and fitted to each
other, and entrely free (by being previously baked) of any coaly
or extraneous matter.

No. 1. Fused of the argillaceous iron ore .- 900 grs.
charcoal 1-5th, or .. a ifie ',':

A erystallized metallic button was the result of this fusion,

* Communicated by the Author.

wei ghing

Tron with Manganese. 355

Weighing 223 grains, or 443 per cent.; the earthy matter of the
ore had resolved itself into a brownish opaque glass, partially
transparent in thin fragments.

No. 2. Argillaceous iron ore .. ve -- 500 grs.

Oxide of manganese .. ie ear) LOO
Charcoal ae Pst Ag a. LOO

Result of the fusion of this mixture, a rough irregularly cry-
stallized button of metal, weighing 217 grains, which is a pro=
duce of 43,4, per cent. Glass opaque blackish brown without
any transparency.

No. 3. Argillaceous iron ore .. ae 3» 900 grs.

Oxide of manganese from which 22 per
cent. of oxygen and moisture had heen
extracted .. ws oe -- 100 grs.

. Charcoal 46 ae ce ra Tee

Result—A smooth regularly crystallized metallic button,
weighing 230 grains, ‘equal to 46 per cent. On a comparative
examination of the fractures of these experiments, the following
remarks were made.

No. 1 button possessed a clear metallic fracture inclining to
steel, filed and cut soft, and possessed considerable tenacity.
The grain was flat, confused like steel approaching to cast-iron.
No. 2 broke with a dark gray blue glance, more perfectly gra-
nular than the former, cut softer at first, but possessed less real
tenacity. No.3 was extremely brittle, and disparted on the first
application of the chisel:——fracture different from the former,
silvery gray, crystalline distinct simall grain, and resembled on
the whole some varieties of gray cast-iron. This difference of
appearance and increase of weight may probably with justice
be attributed to a small portion of metallic manganese being
reduced from the roasted oxide. The glass of the first button
was cloudy opaque, though in thin fragments transparent. That
of the second button entirely opaque : but the glass of the third
button with the de-oxidated manganese was amber green,
thoroughly transparent in thin pieces.

The following experiments were performed with au enlarged
dose of charcoal, to compare results with the former.

No. 4, Argillaceous iron ore .. ee -. 500 grs.

Charcoal ith .. ou aa AN aan 45)

The fusion of this mixture yielded a perfect crystallized but-
ton of iron weighing 257 grains, equal to 51} per cent. Glass
lead-milky-blue, veined: eight grains of charcoal mixed with
some brilliant specks of carburet of iron were found unacted
upon. This fusion was so perfect, and the metallic reduction
so entire, that there did not seem to remain in the glass any
appreciable quantity of iron. The addition of 25 grains of char«

‘ o2 coal

356 On the Possibility of alloying

coal in this experiment beyond that in No. 1, revived 34 grains
of additional produce, and in every respect effected a complete
reduction of the ore.

No. 5. Argillaceons iron ore .. as .- .500 grs.
Oxide of manganese .. ae , 1
Charcoal {th of the ore ats a} ea,

A rough metallic button resulted from the fusion of this mix-
ture, w hich with some small globules weighed 245 grains, equal
to 49 per cent. Glass grass green considerably transparent :-—
four grains of charcoal remained unacted upon.

No.6. Argillaeeous iron ore .. a .. 500 grs.
Oxide of manganese roasted .. oa eS
Charcoal ith .. at bie Saige

This mixture was accurately fused, and the result was a per-
fect metallic button weighing 246 grains, which is equal to
49-25 percent. Glass light green but clouded, transparent in thin
pieces; not so bright as No.5, but more transparent than No. 4
The same quantity of charcoal remained over in this as in the
last experiment. From the three immediately preceding fusions
with an excess of charcoal, it cannot be decidedly inferred that
the increased produce beyond that of No. i, 2, 3, was derived
from the manganese; the reverse of this ebnelnsith rather ap-
pears on the face of the experiments, seeing more metal was ob-
tained without manganese than with it, in the proportion of
257 to 245 and 246. Lest any error should have taken place in
the weighing of No. 4, which yielded 257 grains of iron, this
experiment was twice repeated, and the results were 240 and
244, making an average of 2452,—Average of the fusions of
No. 5 and 6 with manganese .. ~» 2455.

On the whole, it appears doubtful whether in these experi-
ments there was any real alloy of manganese with iron; the so-
litary increase of weight in No.8 and _ its peculiar fracture
being the only circumstance in favour of this conjecture. On
dividing and comparing the fractures of the metallic buttons,
No. 4, 7, and & (the same experiment) were exactly alike. In
these no manganese was used ; the quality was white cast-iron,
with a blueish glance, and a grain indicative of an approach to
steel. No. 1 and 2 evidently belonged to the class of steels, so
far as a commencement of grain was visible ; but in respect to
ductility or softness they were still closely allied to the hardest
sorts of cast-iron: the former had experienced an excess of car-
bon, the latter had absorbed all that was presented to them in
mixture. No. 5 and No.6 were much alike, and similar to
No. 5, in which de-oxidated manganese was used. The frac-
tures were of a darker glance than 4, 7, 8, minutely but re-
gularly granulated and crystallized. It appeared, therefore, that

the

Iron with Manganese. S57

the addition of oxide of manganese to the amount of 1-5th the
weight of the iron ore, alters the grain and fracture of east-
iron, where a sufficient quantity of charcoal is present to effect
a perfect reduction of it, though it does not appear to add to, or
impair to any observable amount, the quantity of metallic pro-
duce.
No. 9. Argillaceous iron ore ,. A -- 500 grs,
Oxide of manganese .. at ee '150
Charcoal as in the former experiments 125
The result of this fusion was a crystallized radiated button
weighing 247 grains, 49.1 percent. Glass light blueish green, with
considerable transparency. As part of it had escaped, the ex-
periment was repeated, and an elegant prismatic erystallized
metallic button again obtained, weighing 247 grains, which
proved beyond any doubt the accuracy of the result.

No. 10. Argillaceous iren ore we -» 900 grs,
Oxide of manganese . , 1 -. 150
Charcoal !th.. : ea 5)

Result from this fusion a crystallized button of metal weigh-
ing 240 grains, 48 per cent. ‘Glass light-coloured flinty brown,
with a good deal of transparency. Ten grains of metallic carburet
were found unreduced ; some globules of metal put on a smooth
shining surface resembling iron highly charged with carbon.

No. 11. Argillaceous iron ore we -- 9500 grs,
Manganese roasted ., rs ss | 290
Charcoal !th, or Ba ar ate Wwh2S

Result—A crystallized button and some carburetted globules
weighing 253 grains, equal to 50,6; per cent. It was in this
experiment, for the first time, noticed that some of the globules
were not attracted by the magnet, and this peculiarity was attri-
buted toa high alloy of metallic manganese with iron: the glass
was of a lead-gray colour, transparent in thin fragments: nine
grains of magnetic carburet of iron were found unreduced,

No, 12. Argillaceous iron ore, , at -« 500 grs,
Manganese roasted ,, wd .. 3800
Charcoal ane ts ae o PONDS

The metallic button resulting from this fusion was accurately
erystallized, and attracted by the magnet; there were, however,
nearly twenty globules with smooth carburetted surfaces that
were but slightly affected by the magnet. The whole produce
weighed 260 grains, equal to 52 per cent. The glass was flinty
clouded, but possessed a good deal of watery transparency.

No. 13, — Argillaceous iron ore oe -» 500 grs.
Manganese roasted ., ‘'e »» 400
Charcoal ,, ee au ee 125

Z3 Although

358 On the Possibility of alloying

Although the fusion of this mixture was most perfect, yet the
diminished produce and colour of the glass indicated an excess
of ores to charcoal. The metallic button weighed 243 grains,
or 48.5, per cent. The quantity of resulting glass more than
half filled the crucible; the colour dark grass green, transparent
in thin fragments.

No. 14, Argillaceous iron ore es .. 250 grs.
Manganese roasted .. fe ~- 200
Charcoal en atl va .. 622

A smooth skinn’d metallic button was the result of the fusion
of this compound, weighing 112 grains, or 44,8; per cent.; so
that an increased demetallization of 4 per cent. had taken place,
in consequence of increasing the proportion of manganese, be-
yond that of the last experiment.—-The colour of the glass now
obtained was dark green inclining to amber. From the result of
these experiments it is evident that the alloy of manganese had
reached its maximum in experiment 12, where a metallic return

was obtained of am ye sig .. 260
Average produce of three fusions of the iron
ore per se “i nes ase o. 245%

Increase from 300 grains of manganese, which

is not more than 4,8 percent. .. a

The metal of No. 12 will be composed as follows :
Drona as} aoniws si .. 94-4

Manganese .. bai eta ser apse

No. 15. 200 grains of the black oxide of manganese used in
these experiments were fused per se, and a perfect glass formed
of a ruby wine colour, though not possessed of much transpa-
rency, ;

No. 16. 200 grains of deoxidated manganese were fused in a
similar manner, and a glass similar to the last obtained.

No, 17. Argillaceous iron ore Ms .» 200 gers,

Black oxide of manganese .. ain, pO

This mixture melted into a perfect glass, metallic, and pos-
sessed of a lustre resembling that of a highly-polished razor-
blade.

The three following experiments were made to ascertain the
comparative demetallizatiou of the oxide of manganese with a
given quantity of charcoal, to exhibit the probable effects that
might be produced on the burden of the blast-furnace in the
event of ores of manganese being smelted along with our iron
ores.
No. 18. Argillaceous iron ore .. sia -- 500 grs.

Charcoal ,',th és) a 2 eh ee

142 grains,

Tron with Manganese. 359

The result of this fusion was a smooth button of soft iron

weighing 126 grains, equal to 25-2; per cent. Glass opaque,
shining, and highly metallic.

No. 19. Argillaceous iron ore ae .. 900 grs.
Chareoal .. oe at wat a0
Oxide of manganese .. SA eh 200

Result of this fusion a metallic button weighing 55 grains,
which is only equal to 11] per cent. being a diminution of 71
grains of iron, or upwards of 14 per cent., in consequence of the
addition of 200 grains of manganese. Glass black, shining, me-
tallic, opaque.

No. 20. Argillaceous iron ore ey .. 500 grs.
Charcoal de aH ive i 50
Manganese roasted .. “4 eo E00)

The metallic button resulting from this fusion weighed 60
grains, or 12 per cent. The demetallization therefore occa-
sioned by roasted manganese is less by 2 per cent. than when
raw ore is used: this is of course occasioned by part of the
oxygen of the ore being expelled from it in roasting, leaving so
much less to act upon the charcoal of the experiment ;_ the ex-
teut of the decarbonation in both being measured by the lack
of metallic produce when the manganese was employed. In
No. 19 a metallic deficiency was experienced of 71 grains, a
quantity which required for its reduction 28 grains of charcoal :
and in No. 20, a loss of 66 grains of iron, which would have, ac-
cording to the result of No. 18, required 18 grains of charcoal.

From these facts it appears to me extremely probable that,
should the ores of manganese ever be introduced into the smelt-
ing furnace, a considerable diminution of the carbonating pro-
perties of the coke will be felt; or, in other words, less burden
will be carried, and more coke necessary to supply the waste
occasioned by the combination of the oxygen of the manganese
with the fuel. Experiment and practice alone will determine
the comparative advantages and disadvantages that may resulv
from so novel a proceeding, if ever introduced at our iron-
works,

In most ores of manganese there is a portion of moisture and
oxygen that may be expelled at a low heat; but the greatest
quantity of the latter remains combined with the metal, and from
which the jast portions are not easily expelled even in the highest
temperature of the essay furnace.

The essayist, not having the same means to guide him in fixing
the perfection of his art on the development of a transparent
glass (as is, or ought to be, the case in operating with ores of
iron) is frequently left in the dark, and puzzled to determine
whether he has obtained the whole metallic produce from the
; LA ore

360 On Flame.

ore which is the subject of his experiments, Ores containing
30 per cent. and upwards of manganese, as in experiments lo
and 16, will fuse per se into glasses that will transmit light, and
in thin fragments exhibit perfect transparency. This is not at all
the case with ores of iron; a retention of 5 per cent. of iron will
give an opaque bottle-green glass, and when it amounts to 10 per
. cent. the glass becomes black, shining, and metallic.

Recapitulation of the foregoing Experiments as to metallic
Produce.
1th the weight
of the argil-
laceous ore
of charcoal

No. 1 produced 442 per cent. No manganese
2 do os 44850de 1th manganese
arte Oe Sed ee 4th manganese

(No. 4 produced 51-4; per cent. No manganese
5

donuct 49 do. 4th manganese

ith the weight 6 do. .. 497% do, 2th roasted do

* of the Areil 9 do. .. 49,3; do. +d manganese
gil-

J AD donc 48 do. _43,ths do.

Il do. .. 50,5, do. + roasteddo.

LZ. C04. eee do. &ths do.
13 do. .. 4855, do. #ths do.

10

Beg dow i. 4458n clo equal portions.

laceous ore
of charcoal

LXXIII. On Flame. By J. Murray, Esq.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — pi oe have attached to my name the letters M.D. This
distinction I have not assumed, nor do J covet it. I request
you will rectify the error, lest my more humble efforts in the
cause of truth and science might in some instances, by my im-
perfect details, detract from the superior merits of Dr. John
Murray of Edinburgh*. By a typographical error wnhallowed
is printed ‘* hallowed.”

In some instances, hy introducing iato the flame of a candle
a spatula of ivory with gunpowder, I have withdrawn it in a
moist state; and from the cireumstance that fulminating silver
inserted into the cone of flame has not heen exploded for some
seconds,—I deem it probable that the interior is filled up with
aqueous matter, which emanates from the intericy surface of the
flame, as well as exterior. This medium of aqueous particles

* Identity of name led us into the mistake alluded to, and must plead
our excuse,—EDIT,

would

On Flame. 361

would account for the extinction of phosphorus, &c. when in-
troduced.

In order to corroborate the solution [ have proffered of the
principle of security exhibited in the phenomena of Sir H. Davy’s
lamp, I may remark, that those persons who wear veils are sen-
sible of a glow of heat exceeding the common temperature.
Now in this instance the aqueous vapeur which evolves in re-
spiration fills up the open meshes of the veil, and from the in-
terior surface the caloric is reflected back to the face. Either
this is a correct solution, or it is accounted for by supposing that
the calorific particles radiating in right lines, are interrupted in
their rectilinear path by the fibres of the meshes, and being
thus broken they are confined within the veil: surely the for-
mer speaks more the language of fact.

When the flame of a candle is viewed at a given distance
through a good magnifying lens, it appears composed of a con-
geries of fibres wider at bottom, and approximating towards,
the summit, where they are bundled or tied together, being no
doubt so many jets of aériform inflammable matter expelled by
heat.

Mr. Sym, in the last number of The Annals of Philosophy,
says, that by pressing the apex of the flaming cone the tempera-
ture will be decreased. This may be naturally expected, and is
easily explained. The top of the flame is as it were the focus
where the fibres of flame are connected. By pressing upon the
cone, this focus is destroyed. The fact of not being able to see
objects through the upper part of the flame, while they can be
readily discerned through the lower film, is proof positive that
flame is transparent under certain forms—here it is attenuated.

The blue colour at the base of flame is worthy of particular
notice. Itis likely that the fibres of flame constituting this
cone are so many capillary tubes into which the volatilized mat-
ter ascends by capillary attraction, and that oxygendus air cir-
culates round the individual fibre. As they gradually approxi-
mate when they come towards the apex of the cone, there will
be less and less space for the circulation of oxygen, and conse-
quently the carbon will be more completely consumed toward
the base than toward the middle or summit :—this will well illus-
trate Sir H. Davy’s experiments on flame, which I read with con+
siderable interest.

If an oxygenous medium obtained in the interior of. the cone
of flame, I see no reason why it should not be a solid column.
By igniting alcohol, &c. (without a wick) a hollow interior will
be still found by pressing the apex.

No doubt in the phenomena of combustion and eer

0

362 On the Circle.

of water and carbonic acid gas, the theory of definite propor-
tions is beautifully preserved.

I feel now anxious to detail to you an experiment which may
serve to benefit the cause of humanity—a cause to which I pro-
fess myself warmly attached. I came from the North on the
top of the Glasgow mail, and had * to bide the pelting of the
pitiless storm,” the inside seats being pre-engaged from Carlisle.
On the road we encountered a fierce snow-storm. The coach-
man and myself were nearly blinded by the unintermitting flakes,
and the poor animals the horses were as painfully situated, and
expressed as much. At the immediately succeeding stage I pro-
cured a piece of black crape, and attached it to the lining of the
hat, so that it hung vertically before the eye. This I found
not only to prevent the snow from injuring the visual organ, by
‘ warding it off; but at the same time, by cutting off the adven-
titious rays, I was enabled to obtain a more distinct and better
defined view than I else should have had. This provision also
prevented the eye from being dazzled by the reflection of light
from the surface of snow. Crape being an wneven surface, black
lace work with fine open meshes might serve better.

By mariners at sea, &c. this may be held to merit atten-
tion.

1 am with high respect, sir,
Your obedient servant,
Surry institution, Nov. 15, 1816. J. Murray.

P.S. I was much gratified to find the miners in a colliery near
Ayr, conducting their operations solely by the ight exhibited by
the fire-damp—tormerly so terrible an engine of destruction. -

veo.

LXXIV. On the Circle.

To Mr. Tilloch,

Sir, — A CorRESPONDENY of Dr. Thomson’s (Annals of Phi-
losophy, June i816, p. 46%), has attempted to demonstrate that
no part of a circle is astraight line. It may be supposed that
this proposition is so evidently correct, as to render demonstra-
tion unnecessary. But however absurd the idea that curves are
composed of small right-lines may appear, it is, either directly
or indirectly, the foundation of most of the theorems relating
to curves. A perfect circle can only be imaginary ; there is no

such thing in nature, and art is incapable of producing one,
The

On the Origin of the Alomic Theory. 363

The following is the demonstration above referred to.—‘ In
the are AB of a circle take a small part,
AC, which suppose to be a straight line. Asm CRB
But if AC is astraight line, CB, which 114
is equal to it, must be a straight line. : ‘
For the same reason 2m, which includes 4
the point in which AC and CB are joined, . a”
is also a straight line; and therefore the ie
whole arc AB is a straight line, which is evidently absurd.
Therefore no part of a circle is a straight line. —Q. ED?

But let AC be a part of a regular polygon; then it is evident
that all the conditions required by the
above demonstration are fulfilled, and = a ve B
yet the figure is composed of straight cea
iines.—Besides, when it is assumed
that a circle is composed of small
straight lines, the magnitude of each
line is supposed to be infinitely small
when compared with that of the circle
of which it forms a part. Therefore the proposition does not
appear to admit of a geometrical demonstration. But if such
an assumption be necessary in the investigation of theorems,
there can be no good reason for rejecting it, unless it can be
proved that no part of a circle can be a straight line.

June 5, 1816. oh Lh

LXXV. On the Origin of the Atomic Theory. By Wiiu1aM

HIGGINS.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Sirn,— You will oblige me and every lower of justice by in-
serting in your impartial Magazine the following remarks on alt
article relating tothe Atomic Theory, published in the first volume,
part second, of the fourth and fifth editions of the Encyclo-
pedia Britannica, which article was written by Dr, Thomson.
The Doctor commences by stating, that the most eminent of
the Greek philosophers supposed the ultimate elements of matter
to consist of atoms or particles incapable of further division or
diminution ; and that this doctrine was adopted by Sir Isaac
Newton, and by many celebrated philosophers since his time.
This is perfectly correct ; but they had not the most distant idea
of its application to chemistry in the sense in which | had taken
it up.
The Doctor proceeds by giving a sketch of the progress of
chemistry

364 On the Origin of the Atomic Theory.

chemistry as it passed through the hands of different philoso-
phers. He particularizes Cullen, Black, Cavendish, and Priestley;
whom we must ever revere with grateful feelings for their suc-
cessful labours in the field of science.

To each of those philosophers, except Dr. Cullen, who was
before my time, I had the pleasure of presenting a copy of my
“Comparative View of the Antiphlogistic and Phlogistie Theo-
ries,’ priuted im the year 1788, and published early in the year
1789. d

In writing this work, happily for chemistry, arose during my
investigation of the two antagonist theories the Atomie System,
or more properly speaking the doctrine of Definite Proportions,
in which the elementary particles of matter are capable of uniting
so as to form atoms and molecules *,

My atomic theory ef chemistry is so mathematically correct,
that all visionary hypotheses fell prostrate before it, and it was
from it alone that the phlogistic doctrine received its fatal blow.

When I published the above work, I was the only person in
Great Britain that adopted the antiphlogistic doctrine: and the
attention of the philosophical world was so anxiously engaged
in the controversy itself, that the novel mode of investigation
which I made use of, was at the time in a great measure over-
looked: and indeed I was not much surprised at it, for the
science was not at that time sufficiently ripe for so unusual a
style of reasoning. However, some of the Reviewers of the day
took some notice of it, as the following extract, taken from the
fourth volume of the Analytical Review, page 178, will show:

** This is the first original publication (my Comparative View)
which has appeared in the English language in defence of the
antiphlogistic system of chemistry, which is here very ably main-
tained by Mr. Higgins.” It then proceeds with the division of
the work, and the questions discussed in it. ‘* In the discussion
of this subject Mr. Higgins shows a degree of acuteness in argu-
mentation, and an intimate acquaintance with the present state
of chemistry, which prove him to be eminently qualified for the
task he has undertaken. In addition to those requisites, we
find that he has actually repeated most of the leading experi-
ments ; which valuable circumstance places his book in a much -
higher rank than that of a mere collection of facts and deduc-

* The terms ultimate, particle,atom, and molecule, are indiscriminately
used by Thomson and Dalton. An ultimate particle is the last division of
elementary matter—an atom is a compound of two particles in every pro-
portiou—and a molecule is the compound of two atoms according to the
strict nomenclature of my doctrine. Those distinctions will prevent con-
fusion ; they will be found to accord with the language of definite propor=
tions, and tie internal structure of compounds.

tions.

On the Origin of the Atomic Theory. 365

tions. His style and arrangement is strong and perspicuous, al-
though we here and there meet with inaccuracies which denote
he is not yet familiarized to the art of composition. The che-
mical reader will readily form au idea of the facts contained in
the sections whose titles we have enumerated. They consist in
a great measure of those which we have already mentioned in an
account of the French edition of Kirwan on Phlogiston*:; the
statements however are very different, and the elucidations both
of theory and matter of fact are in many instances original and
striking. We do not therefore hesitate to recommend this per-
formance of Mr. Higgins, as a work well deserving the attention
of chemists: but as it would lead us too far into chemical dis-
quisition to follow him step by step in the enumeration of facts
and display of arguments which cannot be abridged, we shall
conclude this article by another quotation; in which as much
appears to be said and done to establish the composition of
water against the late experiments of Dr. Priestley as the pre-
sent state of the subject appears capable of.”

In about twelve months after my hook appeared, Dr. Priestley
was the only phlogistian in England, and he retained his old
tenets to the last moment of his life. I do not recollect the
exact time Dr. Black recanted, it was after Kirwan. Mr. Kir-
wan, the formidable champion of the phlogistic doctrine, re-
nouneed it as soon as he read my book, and declared in the
-presence of many philosophical g gentlemen now living in Dublin,
that it was that work alone induced him to change his opinion,
and that nothing the French philcsophers brought forward had
any influence on him; this appears from his notes in answer to
the French at the end of the English translation.

Dr. Thomson tells us in the fourth volume of his Annals,
p. 54, that it was the answer of the French chemists to Mr.
Kirwan’s Essay on Phlogiston that decided this memorable con-
troversy. Nothing can “be so incorrect or so unjust as this as-
sertion: for the answer was published before I wrote; and from
the foregoing statement, which is a true one, it is evident that
it produced little or no effect; and it appears by the extract
from the Analytical Review that my demonstrations were consi-
dered as original at the time | had written}. ‘These were my
principal motives for introducing the foregoing subjects.

But to return to the outlines of the Doctor’s history. He at-
tributes, and very justly, the first rudiments of analytical che-

* This edition contains the answer of the French chemists to that works

and that is one of my principal reasons for inserting it here, as will i imme-
diately appear.

t It alludes to the Atomic System.
niistry

366 On the Origin of the Atomic Theory.

mistry to the labours of Margraaf, Bergman, and Scheele. Kir
wan, Bergman, and Wenzel distinguished themselves by the
analyses of the salts. They ascertained that salts and all com-
pound bodies are united constantly in the same proportions of
their constituents.

The foregoing philosophers had written long before me; and
I challenge Dr. Thomson to produce a single page from their
respective works that relates to the atomic theory, or, in other
words, to the definite proportions in which elementary particles
unite so as to form atoms and molecules.

From the foregoing philosophers the Doctor passes to Richter,
who analysed saline bodies with still greater accuracy than his
predecessors. He ascertained the quantity of the earths and
alkalies necessary to saturate 100 parts of different acids. As
the labours of this chemist do not relate to the atomic theory, I
consider it unnecessary to attend to them minutely.

Had Dr. Thomson been a faithful and unprejudiced historian,
he would have had the candour to mention my Comparative
View, and the discovery of the atomic theory, before he brought
forward the labours of Richter, which were subsequent to mine.

Next in the order of this curious history, Proust (no doubt a
chemist of considerable merit) is introduced. From the great
attention which he paid to metallic oxides, he was able to prove
that every metal is capable of forming a certain determinate
number of oxides, and no more. “ Thus, zine unites but to one .
dose of oxygen; consequently there is but one oxide of that
metal: iron, arsenic and antimony form two each: tin forms
three.”

In my Comparative View, written many years before the work
of Proust, it will be found "that I considered metals in general
to be capable of uniting to different doses of oxygen, and that
the force of union was in the inverse ratio of the number of doses
which they took in*. I mention these circumstances merely
to show that I developed principles only, for I had not attended
to the different doses of oxygen to which the different metals
were capable of uniting. These circumstances ought to have
been mentioned : but this would frustrate the Doctor’s purpose,
that of bringing Dalton in as an original discoverer of the atomic
theory.

‘* Such was the state of the subject,’” continues the Doctor,
“‘when Mr. Dalton turned his attention to the combinations of
bodies with each other, alyout the year 1804.” Mr. Dalton’s
first volume of the Atomic Theory made its appearance in 1808.

* I refer to my Comparative View, or to my Atomic Theory, on this
subject.
The

On the Origin of the Atomic Theory. 867

The Doctor acknowledges with wonderful candour, that it
was known at this period that hydrogen unites only in one pro-
portion with oxygen; that carbon, sulphur, and phesphorus
unite in two proportions ; and so he goes on enumerating other
combinations long known before this period.

It would be needless to follow the Doctor through all his de-
tails, most of them being well known; and many misrepresen-
tations are brought forward, in order to prepare the way for his
ingenious friend to take possession of the Atomic System.

The proportions in which inflammable substances and oxy-
gen are found to unite, such as 1 and 1, or 1 and 2, &e. by
weight, “led Mr. Dalton to the lucky idea that the atoms of
bodies unite together ; that the atom of each body has a deter-
minate weight, and that this weight regulates the proportion in
which bodies combine. Let us suppose, for example, that water
is formed by the union of one atom of oxygen with one atom of
hydrogen; it follows, as the oxygen in water is eight times that
of the hydrogen, that the weight of the atom of oxygen is to
that cf an atom of hydrogen as 8 to 1. So that if we represent
the weight of an atom of hydrogen by 1, that of an atom of
oxygen will be 8.”’ The Doctor adduces many more examples
of this kind, which first appeared in my Comparative View, as
shall be presently shown.

‘*But Mr. Dalton,” continues the Doctor, ‘ not satisfied
with this simple and luminous explanation, which threw a new
and strong light around chemical combinations, which afforded
the means of correcting and checking chemical experiments
hitherto conducted without any guide, and promised in time to
introduce mathematical precision and mathematical reasoning
into a science which hitherto has been able only to boast of
analogical and probable conclusions coutrived a set of
symbols to represent the different elements, and make the nature
of the combinations which they form obvious to the eye of the
most careless reader.’’ An engraved specimen of those symbols
is given, so far as they relate to the ultimate particles of hydro-
gen, azote, carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, and oxygen. The
symbols representing the inflammable particles or bases are
united to those representing particles of oxygen in the propor-
tion in which they are capable individually of combining with
that element, that is, either 1 and 1, 1 and 2, 1 and 3, or4, &c.

These diagrams, if diagrams I can call them, are much more
correct than Dalton’s*. ‘They correspond with the proportions
of elementary particles represented by diagrams so as to consti-
tute the same compound atoms in my Comparative View, ex-

* See his work, or my Atomic Theory, where the original symbols are
given.

cept

368 On the Origin of the Atomic Theory.

cept in those of sulphurous and sulphuric acids, which are ree
presented in erroneous proportions, as I had shown in the above
work, and lately confirmed by additional experiments in my
Atomic Theory. There is another error in this table of dia-
grams or symbols which I cannot pass over; that is, the leaving
out an intermediate state of the combination of azote and oxy-
gen between the nitrous and nitric acids, which I represented as
containing one of azote and four of oxygen. Thus the Doctor
takes a stride from 1 and 3 of those elements to 1 and 5. He
falls into the same error respecting some metallic oxides. But
probably those gentlemen had a motive to differ from me, right
or wrong. /

“« It would be easy,” continues the Doctor, “ to multiply these
symbols much further ; but the preceding specimen is sufficient,
we conceive, to make the use of them understood, and even to
make Mr. Dalton’s doctrine more simple to those who are still
strangers to it.’

I agree with the Doctor; and I will go still further, by saying
that they develop the whole essence and spirit of the Atomic
System.

I will now proceed so far, in as concise a manner as possible,
on what J advanced on the very same subject in the year 1788,
twenty years before Dalton published his first volume.

The Union of Oxygen and Hydrogen.

1. Two volumes of hydrogen unite to one volume of oxygen,
and in no other proportion whatever.

2. The two volumes of hydrogen contain the same number of
ultimate divisions or particles that is contained in the one of
oxygen, notwithstanding the difference of their specific gravities;
and this difference depends on the size of their respective par-
ticles.

3. Hydrogen and oxygen unite chemically,—a single ultimate
particle of the one toa single ultimate particle of the other,—to
constitute an atom of water. A diagram representing this com-
bination, with numbers representing the energy or force of union
of its elements, was given.

Have not the foregoing facts clearly shown the weight of an
atom of water ?

Sulphur and Oxygen.

1. An ultimate particle of sulphur unites to a single ultimate
particle of oxygen, and the compound constitutes an atom of
sulphurous acid gas; and as oxygen gas suffers no material di-
minution by the union, and as pure sulphurous acid gas is but
twice the weight of oxygen, it was presumed that the ultimate

particle

On the Origin of the Alomic Theory. 369

particle of sulphur was of the same weight with that of the oxy-
gen, and consequently that the size of the calorific atmosphere
of the acid atom was as large as that of the ultimate particle of
oxygen before the union.

A diagram. representing this combination, with numbers ex-
pressive of the force of uuion comparatively with that of the
constituents of water, is given.

2. An ultimate particle of sulphur is capable of uniting to
two ultimate particles of oxygen, and the compound is an atom
of sulphuric acid. These are the definite proportions in which
those two elements can unite.

3. The two portions of oxygen are united with less energy in
the sulphuric acid than the one proportion in sulphurous acid.
A diagram with numbers representing this difference was intro-

duced.
Metals and Oxygen.

The ultimate particles of some metals,—I instanced iron,—-
attract oxygen with’ greater force than those of sulphur or hy-
drogen do. This superiority of foree was also expressed by
numbers.

The relative forces with which the foregoing inflammable
bases attracted oxygen, and the diminution of this force by double
doses of oxygen, enabled me to calculate the changes and dif-
ferent phenomena which are produced by metallic subtances when
exposed to the action of sulphuric acid, dilute sulphuric acid,
and sulphurous acid. It enabled me not only to point out the
absurdity of the phlogistians, but also the errors of the antipblo-
gistians themselves. What I here assert will be found verified
in my Comparative View, or in my Alomic Theory.

Azote and Oxygen.

1. One ultimate particle of azote and one of oxygen chemi-
cally united constitute an atom of the gaseous oxide of azote.

2 When united to two of oxygen an atom of nitrous gas is
formed. ;

3. When the particle of azote is united to three particles of
oxygen an atom of the red nitrous acid is formed.

4, When the azote unites to a fourth particle of oxygen an
atom of the straw-coloured nitrous acid is the result.

5. When united to a fifth particle of oxygen an atom of nitric
acid is formed, ‘These are the definite proportions of oxygen
and azote.

All the foregoing distinct compounds of azote and oxygen, and
the different forces with which they retain their oxygen, are re~-

Vol. 48, No, 223, Nov, 1816. Aa presented

370 On the Origin of the Atomic Theory.

presented by diagrams; the energy of union gradually and re-
gularly diminishes from the minimum to the maximum state of
oxygenation. Each of the atoms of even the nitrous and nitrie
acids in the liquid mass are distinct from one another, as being
surrounded with their respective atmospheres of caloric.

When the foregoing compounds produced by the union of azote
and oxygen are mixed, a partial decomposition takes place, and
the oxygen is divided between them ; but that which contains
1 and 2 can take none from | and 3, but it will take from
l and 4, and 1 and 5, or 1 and 3 can take from | and 5, but
not from | and 4.

Nothing could be more easy than to deduce the weight of
those atoms from the relative weights of their constituent gases.

This arrangement and calculation of the force of union of the
constituent elements of the nitrous gas, of nitrous acid and nitric
acid, enabled me at that remote period to demonstrate with ma-
thematical accuracy all the chemical effects produced on those
acids hy inflammable bodies, which were not understood before.

Nitrous Acid and Potash.

A single atom of nitrous or nitric acid unites to a single atom
of potash, and this molecule is surrounded with an atmosphere
of caloric which renders each molecule in the saline mass inde-
pendent of each other. This holds good with respect to all
other saline substances.

Metals and Oxygen.

The ultimate particles of a metal unite with different doses
of oxygen: the first dose is retained with greater force than the
second; and this last with greater force than a third dose, ‘Tin
was adduced as an example in my Comparative View.

Metals and Acids.

Metals, or rather their oxides, unite with acids atom and atom
so as to form molecules, and the force of union depends on the
kind of metal. I have shown that the metals first unite to oxy-
gen, and that their ultimate particles are supplied with it at the
expense of the water, or of a portion of the acid itself. To il-
lustrate this point diagrams were produced.

The precipitation of some metals in their metallic state from
their solution in acids by other metals had been explained upon
strict mathematical principles, by means of diagrams, and each
ultimate particle was allowed its full force and effect in the ope-
ration, agreeably to the laws of the’atomic doctrine. When one
metal precipitates another’ metal from its solution in'a semt wee

/ . ra)

Observations on the late Solar Eclipse. 371

of oxidation, it is because the precipitant has less capacity for
oxygen than the precipitated: this was also explained on the
atomic principle.

The foregoing short sketch comprehends nearly the whole of
the atomic theory, or of definite proportions. Its application
in chemical researches is a secondary business. No theory can
be confined to the labours of its author. The great excellence
of a doctrine depends on its capability of being universally ap-
plied throughout the whole range of chemical science,—a task
too great for any individual.

[To be continued. |

LXXVI. Olservations of the late Solar Eclipse. By
S. GroomeripDGeE, Esq.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — I REQUEsT you will be pleased to insert the following
observations of the late solar eclipse, in the Philosophical Maga-
zine; which, from its extensive circulation, will enable those who
have observed the same phases of the eclipse to compare the
different results.
19th of November A.M., mean time.
8? 4’ 29” immersion of moon’s disc 6’ 9” from vertex.
8 10 58 vertical distance of cusps 10’ 32”.

15 2 west cusp from upper limb of sun os ,42’50”
eV ABiis 9 6 <¢ Ty ae i's pgrethsuad
27 AS. oe He lower limb of sun rb: 2B
ee aon “pp its aa np oor 39
ae fan's, aa he PN. a8 tayo ad
49 42 south limb of moon from south limb of sun 10 37
52,84 .% at r wig el 9 55

56 18 occultation of the largest spot.

58 26... ah second large spot.

59 28 .. A third large spot.

2 6 south limb of moon from south limb of sun 8’ 1”

CCSOMDMDNDMHDDNDHDH

7 4 east cusp from south limb of sun dept Lest
9 8 south limb of moon from south limb of sun 6 25
9 11 56 east cusp from south limb of sun a 9 16
ee, ere ins we ok 14 eb 6 25
DAT AS, 014 rt A oe be ral 5 16
92020 .. a4 Ae a gs ie 4 8
9 22 14 south limb of moon from south limb of sun 3 40
Becomes cloudy.
10 12 50 vertical distance of cusps 17’ 7”.
10 19 18 emersion of moon’s disc 12’ 19” from south limb.

Aa2 These

372 Observations of the late Solar Eclipse.

These observations were made with an achromatic telescope
of 46 inches, on an equatorial stand ; and the measures taken
with a micrometer on the vertical diameter of the sun, on the
plane of the equator, These measures being the versed sines
of the sun’s semidiameter 16’ 135, will give the several angles
from the vertex of the sun.

Versed

Sines. Ansles.

6 9” | -8788 | 51e.367!
12 50 | -7915 | 77 58
PS Dbl eOsSBiid (BG BG udev
15 28 | -9532 | 92 41 | mt
14 39 | -9033 | 95 33

14 21 | -8844 | 96 38

immersion.
west cusp.

14 14 *8779 | 97 1| east cusp.
9 TG) ABT FLS IS 2 |S eeery
6 25 Oba HQT sol? BRIG fw"
5 16 -3248 _ {132 28 fst de
Ae. Bich, “QDaB MSSM Bd. asisineatt

1 19 *7995 = }103 55 | emersion.

It was noticed that an error has been published in the Nautical
Almanac, of the part of the sun’s dise, where the first impression
would be made, being 59° from the vertex. The primary con-
struction of a solar eclipse being made on the ecliptic, 1 am of
opinion, that it is computed for the vertex of that plane ; which
should have been so explained. When vertex is mentioned with-
out reference to the plane, we generally suppose it to be the vi-
sual vertex on the plane of the horizon. The immersion hap-
pened about half a minute later than computed, and as the
moon was decreasing in north latitude the impression would be
further from the versex: on the plane of the ecliptic the angle
was 64° 55’, on the plane of the equator 51° 36’, and on the
plane of the horizon 20° 37’.

The undulating stream of light round the dise of the moon
should seem to indicate an atmosphere on the surface of that
body; and also the dise did not appear to be perfect, but ser-
rated; both which circumstances were rendered more observa-
ble from the intense light of the sun.

This eclipse has been total in the northern parts of Russia, on
and near the meridian; since the moon’s diameter exceeded that
of the sun.

I am, sir,
Your obedient servant,
Blackheath, Nov. 22, 1816. 5S. GRooMBRIDGE.

LXXVII. In-

[ 373 ]

UXXVIIL. Inquiries into the Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Li-
quids, and elastic Fluids, and on the exact Measurement of
Temperatures. By Messrs. Dutone and Perit, Read to
the Institute 29th of May 1816*.

DN ces we endeavour to scrutinize most of the questions re-
lative to the theory of heat, our progress is soon arrested by a
difficulty which reappears at every step under different forms.
What are we to understand by the word temperature? and what
is the relation which exists between the indications of the ther-
mometer and the quantities of heat added or subtracted, in or-
der to produce determinate variations in the temperature ? Here
are two questions which must be resolved ere we can find, for
example, the true laws of cooling: and it was, in fact, in order
to solve them, that we embarked in the inquiries, a part of
whieh we now submit to the judgement of the Class.

The construction of all the instruments destined to measure
temperatures rests on the property possessed by bodies of
changing their volume by the action of heat; but these instru-
ments, in order to be rigorously exact, ought to satisfy two con-
ditions equally indispensable. The first is, to be capable of
comparison with each other, i. e, to agree always in their indi-
cations: the second is, to be comparable with themselves, 7. e.
to have a course which shall be in a known ratio with the vari-
ations of temperature.

The first of these conditions may be now obtained with great
exactitude. We know well all the causes which can influence
the justice of the indications of these instruments, and by em-
ploying the proper precautions we may attain a precision suffi-
cient for all observations.

It is much more difficult to satisfy the second condition, which
consists in establishing a graduation in which the equal parts of
the scale answer to equal variations of temperature. In fact, in
order to fulfil it completely, it is not sufficient to determine the
relation of dilatations undergone by the thermometrical substance
which we employ, to the quantities of heat which we communi-
cate to it: we must also ascertain that the capacity of this sub-
stance for heat does not change, or at least keep an account of
this change if it takes place. The extreme difficulty of deter-
mining with precision how the specifie heat of a body varies,
particularly at high temperatures, may be regarded as one of
the greatest obstacles to the direct solution of this question.

Experimentalists, however, have made some attempts to at-
tain it. DeLuc, who was the first, and is perhaps the only one

* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, July 1816, tome ui, p, 240.
Aa3 who

374 Inquiries into the Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Liquids,

who took up the subject, supposed that the capacity of water does
not vary between (0) and 100°; so that, by mixing two equal
masses of this fluid at different temperatures, he took for that
of the mixture the mean of the temperatures of the separated
masses.

Mr, Dalton thinks that it is not equal masses which must be
mixed, but rather equal volumes ; because he supposes that the
capacity of the same mass increases with the temperature in
proportion to the volume which it acquires; or, in other words,
he supposes that the capacity of bodies referred to their volume
will remain constant. It is very easy to prove that the specific
heat of the gases, and even of the liquids, undergoes variations
in the ratio indicated by Mr. Dalton; but we do not find in the
work of this eminent philosopher any experiment in support of
the law which he seeks to establish.

We see that the researches hitherto set on foot on the true
gradations of a thermometer are reduced to very little, and we
may even add that no person has undertaken direct experiments
to ascertain them beyond 160°,

After having compared with each other the different experi-
mental methods which may be employed in order to attain the
solution of this important question, we have thought that the
determination of the quantities of heat, particularly at high
temperatures, was not susceptible of sufficient precision. We
thought it preferable to compure, in the first place, with the mer-
curial thermometer the progress of the dilatation of bodies the
most homogeneous, and of such a nature that the causes which
visibly affect the uniformity of the dilatation should have no
influence over them. These bodies ought evidently to be taken
from among the gases, or from among the solids endowed with a
great infusibility. The experiments of M, Gay Lussac having
taught us that all the gasesare dilated exactly in the same way when
they are placed in the same circumstances, it is natural to con-
clude that the dilatability of one and the same gas ougiit to be
constant, and that consequently, at increments equal in volume
or in elastic force, they ought to answer to equal increments of
temperature.

It was by setting out from this principle that M. Gay Lussac
ascertained that the march of the mercurial thermometer was
regular between the freezing and boiling points.

Experimentalists are pretty generally agreed in regarding the
dilatation of solids which are very difficult to melt as being uni-
form. The experiments of Messrs. Laplace and Lavoisier on
the dilatation of most of the metals between 0 and 100° come
in aid of this opinion.

Now, if bodies so different as the metals and the gases fol-

lowed

and elastic Fluids, and on the Measurement of Temperatures. 375

lowed the same course in their dilatations, it will become extreme-
ly probable that these dilatations will indicate the true tempera-
tures: this is what might besides be verified by the correspond-
ing quantities of heat. By following this course, we shall have.
the advantage of bringing into the determination of the true
thermometrical scale, all the precision which we may now give
in the measurement of dilatations; and these measurements them-
selves, independent of the important consequences which we
might deduce from them relative to the theory of heat, will pre-
sent data which will be useful under several circumstances. Such
are the considerations and the motives which determined us to
commence our labours by the comparison of the dilatations of
the gases and the solids with the mercurial thermometer in high
temperatures.

Comparison of the Dilatation of the Gases and of the Progress

of the mercurial Thermometer.

The apparatus which we used was composed of a rectangular
tub of red copper, seven decimetres long, one decimetre broad,
and a decimetre deep. This tub has on one of its lateral faces
two openings, one of which serves to introduce, in a horizontal
situation, a mercurial thermometer, and the other holds the open
extremity of a tube which is placed horizontally at the same
height with the thermometer. This tube is perfectly dry, and
contains air which is dry also.

The tub rests on a furnace constructed in such a manner as to
heat all parts equally. It is filled with a fixed oil, which
may, as we know, support a temperature of more than 300 de- .
grees without boiling. The tube which contains the air is ter-
minated on the side of the aperture by a short tube of a very
small diameter, which partiy issues from the tub. The quan-
tity of air contained in the exterior portion of this tube, and
which does not participate in the heating of the rest, is not
worth noticing. We ascertained that it never exceeded a two-
thousandth part of the total mass ; and besides, we had the pre-
caution to heat it during every experiment, in order to reduce
the error which might result from it.

The tub is covered by a lid pierced with several holes: some
are traversed by thermometers, which serve to indicate if the dif-
ferent parts of the liquid mass are at the same temperature; the
others have stalks or sticks terminated by vertical plates of cop-
per, which we can turn; we thereby produce in the liquid a
brisk agitation, the object of which is to establish the uniformity
of temperature,

The following is the course pursued by us in every experi-

Aa4 ment.

376 Inquiries into the Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Liquids,

ment. We heated, in the first place, the tub to a temperature
little inferior to that which we wished to obtain, and we after-
wards closed all the apertures of the furnace. The equilibrium
of heat tending then to be established throughout the whole
heated mass, the temperature of the oil still rose some degrees,
and. soon attained its maximum, where it became some time
stationary, and consequently easy to measure with precision.
It was then indicated by the horizontal thermometer, which was
sunk sufficiently in the oil, in order that the whole column of
mercury should be inserted in it: at the same instant we closed
by means of the blowpipe the fine point of the external part of
the air-tube, and we noted the barometrical height. This being
done, we withdrew the tube and carried it into a separate cham-
ber, the temperature of which was nearly invariable: we placed
it vertically, and in such a way that the point entered a mer-
curial bath perfectly dry. We broke this point iw the mercury,
and this liquid ascended until the equilibrium was established
with the external pressure: we left it in this situation a suffi-
cient time to give it precisely the temperature of the room,
which we knew with great precision by means of a very sensible
thermometer suspended beside the tube. When the equilibrium
of temperature was perfectly established, we measured, by
means of a vertical scale fitted with an index, the height of the
column raised in the tube. We observed at the same time the
barometrical height, and the difference of these heights made us
acquainted with the elasticity of the cold air. We then with-
drew the tube, by taking all necessary precaution to retain the
mercury of which the column that had been raised was com-
posed. The tube and the mercury which it contained were
weighed: we afterwards weighed this same tube successively
empty and entirely full of mercury; by subtracting from the
result of this last w eight those of the first two, we adh the weight
of two equal volumes of mercury, the one with the volume of
hot air and the other with the volume of cold air; aud from
these weights we inferred the volumes themselves, which we
afterwards brought to what they would have been under the
same pressure, since we knew the elasticity of the cold air which
had been measured as we have indicated, and that of the warm
air which was equal to the pressure of the external air observed
at the instant of closing the tube.

In order to judge more easily of the degree of confidence which
the results deserve to which we had been led, it will not be un-
availing to give some details relative to the precautions which we
took in every experiment. One of the greatest obstacles which
we meet with in this description of inquiries is owing to the dif-
ficulty of establishing a perfect uniformity of temperature in a

great

*

andelastic Fluids, and onthe Measurement of Temperatures. 377

great liquid mass 200 or 300 degrees warmer than the surround-
ing air. We attain this rigorously when the temperature at
which we operate is, for example, that of the ebullition of the li-
quid which we employ : then this temperature is necessarily fixed ;
but in every other case the progress more or less rapid of the
heating or cooling of the different points of the mass, opposes the
necessary uniformity from taking place. We are of opinion, how-
ever, that the arrangement of our apparatus remedies in a great
measure this kind of inconvenience, and this is owing, on the one
hand, to the copper tub being sunk in the furnace, and composing
withita considerable mass, which is cooled slowly, particularlywhen
it is near its maximum of temperature ; and in the second place,
the liquid being continually agitated, the heat ought to spread
through it more uniformly. In short, to remove all doubts, we
inserted into this tub two thermometers situated horizontally at
the same height ; we had raised the temperature in the same way
as in our ordinary experiments, and we ascertained that by
shaking the liquid the thermometers never differed but by a few
tenths of a degree.

Besides, even supposing that the different particles of the liquid
layer which surround the air-tube were not exactly at the same
temperature, the error will not be so great as at first believed ;
for, in consequence of the arrangement of the apparatus, the bulb
of the thermometer nearly answers the middle of the length of
the tube, and consequently this instrument ought in all cases to
indicate a temperature not far from the mean of the different parts
of the tube. We ought to recollect also, from what has been
said, the necessity which there is, in order to know the true indica-
tions of the thermometer, to sink it sufficiently in the liquid, that
the whole column of mercury should enter it. This precaution,
which appears to be unnecessary in low temperatures, ought not
to be omitted in high temperatures; for then the column of mer-
cury contained in the tube may undergo an increment of very sen-
sible length. ‘Thus we have remarked that, at the temperature of
300° for instance, there was frequently more than 15° of differ-
ence between the indications of one and the same thermometer,
whether the whole of the mercury was in the liquid, or the bulb
only entered it. We might indeed, according to our knowledge
of the dilatation of the mercury, estimate the error which we com-
mit by plunging only part of the thermometer into it; but the
correction to make in this case, bearing on considerable numbers,
will occasion serious errors, because we never know exactly the
mean temperature of the mercury contained in the tube. It ap-
peared to us to be preferable in all cases to place the thermome-
ters horizontally. In order to give a more precise idea of the
various operations of which each of our experiments is composed,

we

378 Inquiries into the Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Liquids,

we shall subjoin a complete series, with all the indications neces-
sary for calculating them.

This series does not comprise any observations for temperatures
approximating 100°, although we have repeated several times the
experiment of the dilatation of the air in boiling water. We did
not propose by any means to verify thereby a determination on
which no doubts can be entertained; but the coincidence of our _
result with that of M. Gay Lussac has been for us the best proof
of the rigorous exactitude of the process which we made use of.

a

gla © ea

a = i aa a 1 a VOLUM E 2e 28
Sot} Zen! £.8 | 2 & |incentimetrecubes| +=5§5
as 3 = 8 Ss. [hehe oz aoe
ert 2 > 2 Ste! 2 ie} —_— eee 2» 3 2s
BU fist, SP iabrate ene seen eet of of i as
Mia Pot sie te . JR) tees
bY ® cold air. jwarmair.| 5 2 6

17°,06 |156°,85|0,6186 |0,7653 63,526 [76,438 | 155°,7

16°,74|197°,53/0,5771 |0,7561 34,8573/43,287 194°,64
18°,25 |249°, 43/0,55695|0,7594 (53,225 69, 862 | 243°,25 |
18°,24 13182, 1110,5252510,7603 \66,1728/92,2875| 309°,7 |

We have made several similar series of experiments and nearly at
the same temperatures. By a very simple interpolation and by
taking mediums, we have formed the following table, which indi-
cates the correspondence of degrees marked by the mercurial
cena and those which are deduced from the dilatation of
the air

Temperatures | Temperatures}.
indicated by |deduced from
the mercurial | the dilatation
thermometer.}| of the air.

Differences.

100° 100° a
150° 148° 70 1° 30
200° 197° 05 2° 95
250° 244° 17 5° 83
300° 2912.7:7, 8° 23

Although the experiments which we have given present a re-
markable coincidence, we thought it right to attempt the attain-
ment of the same results by a different route.

In these new experiments we made use of an air-tube of a
much greater capacity than in the first, and we placed it in the
same way; only the very narrow tube which was soldered to it
was curved at its issuing from the tub, and prolonged vertically

for the length of almost five decimetres : it was heated by aa
a

and elastic Fluids, and on the Measurement of Temperatures. 379

all the precautions which we have mentioned; and when we had
attained the stationary temperature and had noted the baro-
metrical height, we conveyed under the inferior extremity of the
vertical tube a capsule full of very dry mercury : the tube was al-
lowed to cool until the oil had resumed nearly the temperature of
the air. . During the continuance of this cooling, the mercury
ascends into the vertical tube, and does not stop until the air con-
tained in the tube is completely cooled. The elastic force of this
air is then equal to the external pressure of the atmosphere di-
minished by the height of the column raised up : that of the warm
air was equal to the barometrical height observed at the instant
when the temperature was stationary. We might therefore con-
clude, by means of the law of Mariotte, what would have been the
dilatation of the air if it could have been dilated. In order to
render this process completely exact, we ought to have kept an
account of the capillary depression which the mercury undergoes
in the straight tube into which it had risen. This depression had
been measured beforehand, and care had been taken to make
choice of a tube of such a calibre as not to admit of its varying
sensibly.

In the second place, the volume of air did not remain exactly
constant ; the portion comprised in the vertical tube re-entered
in part into the great tube, in proportion as the column of
mercury rose, and this portion of air did not sensibly change its
temperature. It became necessary to calculate the influence of
these two causes, and make our observations undergo the correc-
tion flowing from it. This correction depended on the relation of
the capacity of the large tube with that of the small; the calcu--
lation which gives it is besides too simple to render it necessary
to indicate it. We shall now give the results of one of the series
of experiments made by this new process: all of them agree with
the observations made by the first means, and they have entered
into the determination of the mean measurements formerly re-

lated.

Length of the great tube .. 0 millimetres

a a Correction.
Length of the small tube .. 0 57 4*5.

cS Temperatures
Elasticities | Temperatures | calculated ac-

of the warm air; corresponding | cording to the

corrected from | observed on variation of
the capillary the mercurial | the elastic force
depression. thermometer, of the air.
0, 48,60 919,417 919,417
0,579,45 163°,21 160°,27
0,706,85 | 263°,8 254°,14
0,765,75 | 309°,88 297°,54

380 Inquiries into ihe Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Ge.

The results which we have made known inform us that the
dilatation of the mercury in the thermometer follows a more
rapid course than that of the air ; so that, if we regard the latter
as necessary to serve for the exact measurement to the tem-
peratures, we ought to conclude that the indications of the mer-

curial thermometer are too high in the temperatures superior to
that of boiling water, and the numbers which we have given
might serve to make these indications undergo the proper cor-
rections. Those numbers increase besides in a sufficiently re-
gular manner, in order that we may without sensible error de-
_termine the correction relative to the temperatures interinediate
to those which are comprehended in the table.

This conclusion destroys a doubt which was raised with re-
spect to the law of dilatation of the gases. This law had not
been announced in the same way by Messrs. Gay Lussae and
Dalton, whose experiments on the subject now before us ap-
peared at the same period. The experiments of M. Gay Lussac
proved that the dilatation of the gases referred to the mercurial _
thermometer is for each degree a constant fraction of the volume
at a determinate temperature. Mr. Dalton, on the contrary,
supposed that the increase of the volume is for each equal varia-
tion of temperature, a constant pertion of the volume at the
foregoing temperature. Jn truth, Mr. Dalton does not appear to
have made direct experiments on this head: the only arguments
which he advances in favour of his hypothesis are reduced to the
extreme simplicity uuder which laws in appearance very complex
will then be presented, such as the law of the cooling of bodies,
and that of the variation of the elastic force of steam.

We ascertained, however, that the first of those laws will by.
no means assume a character so simple as he pretends, even ad-
mitting his hypothesis to be correct.

To conelude: It is not by considerations of this kind that we
ean establish laws which observation alone np to furnish. -
The experiments which we have made at high temperatures
completely destroy the hypothesis of the English ‘experimentalist :
for, so far from these experiments pointmg out any thing per-
fectly positive as to the measurement of temperatures, it is at
Jeast very probable that the march of the mercurial thermometer
ought to be more rapid than that of the temperatures, since in
all the other liqnids the dilatability increases in preportion as
they are heated; whereas in the hypothesis which we are at-
tacking, we shall ‘Abd: on the contrary, that the dilatability of the
mercury decreases rapidly i in proportion as it is heated; a re-
sult completely opposite to the very principles on which Mr.
Dalton had founded his theory of the measurement of tempera-

tures. [To be continued. |
LXXVIII. No-

f 3BRNy
LXXVIII. Notices respecting New Books.

2 Second Part of the Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society of London, for 1516, has just appeared, and the
following are its contents:

11. An Essay towards the Calenlus of Functions. Part ii.
By C. Babbage, Esq. Cominunicated by W. H. Wollaston,
M.D. Sec. R.S.—12. Experiments and Observations to prove
that the beneficial’ Effects of many Medicines are produced
through the Medium of the circulating Blood, more particularly
that of the Colchicum autumnale upon the Gout. By Sir
Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S. Communicated by the Society
for improving animal Chemistry.—13. An Appendix to a Paper
on the Effects of the Colchicum autumnale on Gout. By Sir
Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.—14. On the cutting Diamond.
By W. H. Wollaston, M.D. Sec. R.S.—i5. An Account of the
Discovery of a Mass of Native Iron in Brasil. By A. F. Mor-
nay, Esq. in a Letter to W. H. Wollaston, M.D. Sec. R.S.—
16. Observations and Experiments on the Mass of ‘Native Iron.
found in Brasil. By W.H. Wollaston, M.D. Sec. R.S.—
17. On Ice found in the Bottoms of Rivers. By T. A. Knight,
Esq. F.R.S. In a Letter addressed to the Right Hon. Sir
Jos. Banks, Bart.G.C.B.P.R.S.—18. On the Action of detached
Leaves of Plants. By T.A. Knight, Esy. F.R.S. in a Letter
addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B.
P.R.S.—19. On the Manufacture of the Sulphate of Magnesia
at Monte della Guardia near Genoa. By H. Holland, M.D.
F.R.S.—20. On the Formation of Fat in the Intestine of the
Tadpole, and on the Use of the Yelk in the Formation of the
Embryo in the Egg. By Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.—
21. On the Structure of the crystalline Lens in Fishes and Qua-
drupeds, as ascertained by its Action on polarized Light. By
David Brewster, LL.D. F'R.S. Lond. and Edin. In a Letter
addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B.
P.R.S.—22. Some further Account of the Fossil Remains of an
Animal, of which a Description was given to the Society in 1814,
By Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.—23, Further Observa-
tions on the Feet of Animals whose progressive Motion can be
earried on against Gravity. By. Sir Everard Home, Bart.
V.P.R.S.—24. A new Demonstration of the Binomial Theorem.

ay Thomas Knight, Esq. Communicated by W. H. Wollaston,

.D. See. R.S.—25. On the Fluents of irrational Functions.

By Edward French Bromhead, Esq. M.A. Communicated by
J. F. W. Herschel, F.R.S.

Dr.

382 Notices respecting New Boaks.

Dr. Spurzheim has been for a long time preparing for publi-
cation a work on Insanity with the following title, ‘* Pathology of
Animal Life, or the Manifestations of the Human Mind in the
State of Disease termed Insanity.” Every person who is acquaint-
ed with the very distressing conditions of persons afflicted with
diseases of the mind, but particularly the insane poor who are
confined for the security of society in the melancholy cells of a
madhouse, must be glad to hear that any new light is about to be
thrown on this hitherto very obscure and incurable disorder. The
public attention, too, has been particularly drawn towards this
subject of late, by the very intimate scrutiny made into public
lunatic asylums by persons invested with authority, before a com-
mittee of the house of commons:—an investigation rendered ab-
solutely necessary by the shamefully neglected state of insane per-
sons, and the general ignorance of the causes and cure of the
disease itself ;—an inv estigation, too, which has left the public
mind in a state of alarm for the treatment of their unfortunate
fellow-creatures. Dr. Spurzheim, who has devoted many years of
his life, and has exercised the most powerful talents, in pursuing
this disease through all its stages and varieties, and who has
spared neither time nor expense in visiting the principal asylums
for the insane in Europe, has at length determined to lay his la-
bours before the public, with the hope that, since such a consider
able progress in the knowledge of the physiology of the brain and
the manifestations of the mind ina healthy state has of late been
made, a great deal may yet be done for those who suffer from its
partial or general derangement, by a philosophical comparison of
a very numerous collection of cases, with the peculiar organiza-
tion and moral habits of the individuals. The work will be pub-
lished in the course of a few months.

Several copies have recently been imported from Germany of
that immense work on Meteorology, the Ephemerides Societatis
Palatine Meteorologic@, which contains abundant matter for
the meteorological speculators, who have become so numerous of
late in our country, to exercise their ingenuity on. It is remark-
able that a work which contains so much information on a branch
of philosophy now so very popular, ahioure be so little known in
Great Britain.

Mr. T. J. Pettigrew is preparing for publication, Memoirs of
the Life and Writings of the late John Coakley Lettsom, M. and
LL.D. F.R.S. F.A.S. F.L.S., &c. With a Selection from his —
Correspondence with the principal Literati of this and foreign
Countries,

LXXIX, Por-

—

Sabha

LXXIX. Proceedings of Learned Societies.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

Nov. 7. Tae meeting of this Society after the long vacation:
was unfortunately much less cheerful than usual, in consequence
of the indisposision of the President, who has so long given it
life and vigour. A paper by Sir Everard Home (who was in the
chair) was read, relative to the comparative anatomy of the

_ Lumbricus marinus and Lumbricus terrestris, and comparing

their structure and habits with the Teredo navalis. All these
worms have red blood; all burrow in wood or clay; all have
muscular stomachs, and their blood is aérated by tubes in their
-backs. The Lumbricus marinus has a small and searcely per-
ceptible organ, which Sir E. considers tobea heart, near the centre
of its body, where the arteries from the head unite, and where
the veins separate to supply the extremities. The author had in

vain endeavoured to trace their organs or describe their bron-

chie, till aided by Mr. Cliff, who macerated the seaworm in
vinegar; this coagulated its blood, and enabled him to make
correct drawings of al] its parts, and thereby ascertain the exact
point where the arteries and veins ramified. ‘The common earth-
worm has an artery along its belly and a vein along its back; in
the latter are apertures to imbibe air,

Nov. 14. Dr. Johnson, by the hands of the President, fur-
nished a paper On the Structure and Natural History of the
Leech of Rivulets, which he calls Hirudo vulgavis, instead of
Hirudo octoculata of Linneus: his reason for adopting this name
is the circumstance that the Hirudo tessulata has also eight
eyes. The Hirudo vulgaris he describes as living under stones
in rivulets, being from one inch to one inch and a half, is of a
blackish brown on its upper side with spots and greenish under-
neath. It has no heart, but pulsates eight times in a minute.
Dr. J. thinks that the whole of the leech genus are oviparous,
‘This species copulates like snails, is oviparous, and the ova are
quick in three weeks, and break the kind of capsule in which
they are enveloped in about two months. It deposits from six
to twenty or thirty ova, which are frequently destroyed by other
leeches. ‘The author detailed minutely the appearances which
this leech affords in its various stages from the ovum till it is
full grown.

Nov. 21. A paper by Dr. Philip Wilson, of Worcester, was
read, relating some further experiments and observations on the
effects of Galvanism in curing asthma. He stated that spas-
modic asthma is a disease of very rare occurrence, and that Gal-

_ Yanism is of no advantage to it; but that in neryous asthma in

only

384 Belfast Academical Institution.

only one case in ten did it fail to give relief, and in most cases it
was permanent. In galvanizing patients it was from five to ten
minutes before they found their breathing relieved. | He still used
plates of only four inches square ; began with onlya few, and some-
times extended them to thirty. The conducting wires were ap-
plied to pieces of tinfoil placed on the nape of the neck and at the
pit of the stomach, or ‘rather lower, and he recommended the
points of the wires to be moved a little on the tinfoil. He found
that all patients could bear a greater power at first, than after
they had been galvanized several times. Dr. W. ‘assigned no
reason for this fact; but it is evidently owing to the galvanic
fluid blistering the skin on those parts, and thereby increasing
their conducting powers, and at the same time augmenting their
sensibility. In some habits it produces inflammation, and ulcers
which continue open several weeks.

-

BELFAST ACADEMICAL INSTITUTION.

Tuesday, the 22d of October, an election for a Professor of
Natural Philosophy came on in this Institution, when a number
of gentlemen of high respectability and attainments offered
themselves for the appointment. ‘The candidates had all pro-
duced so many honourable documents testifying their qualifica-
tions-for the office, that it became difficult to pot out the gen-
tleman most capable of the appointment. After full deliberation,
the electors proceeded to the ballot, when Mr. Knight of Aber-
deen was found to have the greater part of the votes; and we
have no doubt, from what we have heard, that he will do honour
to himself and to the Institution which has chosen him to the
important charge.

LXXX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.

STEAM ENGINES IN COKNWALL,

Tux average work performed by thirty engines in the month of
October was, according to Messrs. Leans’ Report, 20,920,267
pounds of water lifted one foot high with each bushel of coals
consuined,

Wooif’s engine at Wheal Vor during the same month lifted
39,556,496 pounds; and the one at Wheal Abraham 50,698,138
pouuds, with a load of 15*1 per square inch in cylinder, with
each bushel. His other engine at the latter mine lifted
30,672,254 pounds with each bushel—her load 3:1 per inch in
cylinder.

The engine at Wheal Chance, alluded to in our last, is reported
to have lifted 44,615,511 pounds with each bushel, loaded 13-4
per square inch. THER-

Thermometric Scales. 385

THERMOMETRIC SCALES.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sin,—Referring to the note at the end of Mis, Ibbetson’s
paper in your last number, I beg leave to observe that, not having
immediate access to the work referred to in her preceding com-
munication, I pointed out the error in the reduction of the de-
gree of heat shown by the plant in Mons. Hubert’s experiment,
page 184, under the impression that Reaumur’s thermometer
was correctly quoted.

It now appearing that the circumstance is detailed with re-
ference to Celsius’s thermometer, it must be obvious that instead
of making ‘the assertion respecting the heat the more impossi-
ble to be believed,” it tends to strengthen it, by reducing the
extent of the variation: at the same time that it shows an in-
crease of temperature very evident to the sense of feeling, it
brings the phenomenon more within the limits of probability.

In both Reaumur and Celsius’s thermometers the zero is fixed
at the freezing point of water, the range between that and boil-
ing-being 80° in the former, and 100? in the latter.

In my last* [ pointed out that, according to the quotation in
page 184, the degrees of heat shown by the standard thermo-
meter and plant were
a *S 432 = 721 F. and
rise of 27? F. Now as the degrees of Reaumur and Celsius
bear a relation to each other of 4 to 5, the difference will be
= Say pee 642 F, standard thermometer; ae a BD ex
86 F. heat of the plant: the increase of temperature being 2189
F. which is still very considerable, and fully sufficient to pro-
duce the effect described.

I should apologize for intruding upon your time at such
length on the present subject; but having in the former case
pointed out what I considered an inadvertent error, I feel it in
some degree incumbent upon me to notice that, although ad-
mitted, it has not been rectified.

I have the honour to be,
Your most obedient humble servant,
“Thistle Grove, Old Brompton, P. J. Brown,
Nov. 4, 1816.

* Mrs, Ibbetson’s notice of the error alluded to having reached us be-

fore Mr. Brown's, we judged it unnecessary then to insert the latter, as

the thermometer referred to proved to be a different one from that which
he noticed. His present communication embraces both.—Enit,

sORx9

+ 32 = 991 F., showing a

Vol. 48, No, 223, Nov. 1816, Bb MINES

386 Mines of Saxony.

MINES OF SAXONY.

M.de Bonnard, engineer of the French mines, has recently pub-
lished in French a ‘* Geognostic Essay on the Erzegebirge, or the
Metalliferous Mountains of Saxony.’ The author has substituted
the word geognosy, which is used by the Germans for that of geo-
logy, employed hitherto by the French, because he thinks it bet-
ter adapted to express the science which is confined to the de-
scription of the nature and the peculiar arrangement of soils.

The country which M. de Bonnard has examined, comprises
not only that part of the Saxon territory designated by the name
of the circle of the Erzegebirge, but also a portion of the circle
of Misnia, in the environs of Dresden, as well as the high moun-
tains which separate Saxony from Bohemia, and some points of
the latter kingdom, on the southern slope of the ridge.“ It is
one of the most interesting countries,” M. de Bonnard observes,
“* of all those which a traveller can visit under a geognostic point
of view ; it contains within a very limited space a great quantity
of different soils ; the numerous mining concerns in full activity
facilitate our observation ; lastly, it is the constant theme of mni-
neralogists, who visit it to learn from M. Werner himself the art
of observing nature.”

M. de Bonnard passed several months in Erzegebirge, and per-
sonally explored its stratification in company with some of the
most distinguished mineralogists of the continent. He refers the
whole constitution or arrangement of the Erzegebirge to three
principal groups, each having a particular centre, and composed
of rocks the arrangement of which has no connexion with that of
the other groups, at least as to the primitive soils which consti-
tute them essentially.

_ The first, which he calls group or system of the east, seems to
be composed of rocks grouped around a nucleus of granite, si-
tuated near and to the eastward of Freyberg,

The second, which he calls system of the south-west, is com-
posed of rocks one part of which is visibly supported on the gra-
nite of the north of Bohemia and the south-west of the Erzege-
birge.

The third, to which he gives the name of group of the north-
west, is formed almost entirely of eurite (weigstein), which seems
grouped around a hidden nucleus situated between the Zschop-
pau and the Mulda.

Between these groups of ancient soils we meet with more re-
cent formations, which cover the slopes of the former and fill the
intervals which separate them. M. de Bonnard describes sepa-
rately those three systems of stratification, by examining for each
of them successively the different kinds. of soil which a a
: them.

Mines of Saxony. 387

them. He considers in the examination of each soil, Ist, the
nature of the principal rock, and the interesting geognostic facts
which it presents ; 2d, the swlordinate banks which this rock
contains ; 3d, the veins (filons) which pass through it.

M. de Bonnard’s arrangement confines him to the indications
presented by the external form of the ground; and it has the ad-
vantage of presenting groups very clearly limited, and which dif-
fer from each other, either by the system of rock which is predo-
minant, by the general inclination of these rocks, or by the nature
of the nucleus around which they are grouped. Speaking of the
anomalies which he had observed in the system or group of the
east, M. de Bonnard thus expresses himself: “ 1 ought to men-
tion that the inclinations indicated are not without exception.
Some anomaliesare presented, for example, in the environsof Dip-
poldswalde, Glasshute, &c.; others take place even in the vicinity
of the granitic nucleus. The inclinations which are remarked in
these places, different from those presented as general, may be-

long to some prolongation or hidden branch of the nucleus, or to

other causes which are unknown to us: but it appears to me that
they cannot shake the results drawn from the general observation
of the observed arrangement of the soil.’

M. de Bonnard speaks highly of M. Daubuisson’s work on the
mines of Freyberg, all now at work: they are upwards of 150 in
number, and occupy 5000 workmen, producing annually 50,000
mares of silver, a quantity of lead varying from 3000 to 10,000
quintals, and rarely more than from 100 to 200 quintals of cop-
per. He also mentions, as a new aud remarkable undertaking, the
navigable and subterraneous canal called Friederick-benno-stolln.

They have been obliged to dig this canal from Dorrenthal to

Pfappenrode, a length of 1100 toises, to find the waters of a river
(the Biela) in order to unite them with those which give motion
to the machinery of Freyberg. It is intended to open another,
also subterraneous, of 1600 toises, with the same view. Much
more time will be requisite to finish these useful works ; but they
will give the possibility of working the existing mines of Frey-
berg to more advantage, and of re-opening others which have been
abandoned for want of the means of clearing them of water.
The principal shaft of the mines of Altenburg has been made

by blasting in the stanniferous rock. The working always took
oe by blasting, by means of huge excavations, which were en-

rged without any precaution, until in 1620 there was a general
falling in of all the workings. This disaster produced an excava-
tion of nearly 600 feet diameter by 300 feet in depth. They have
continued to work by blasting in the parts which remained solid,

_ and they have not given up the plan of chambers of large dimen-

sions, These are dug in the parts most abounding in tin ; those
b2 which

°

388 Gas Lights.

which are nearly on a level are connected by galleries, and fori
stages to the number of six, which go to a depth of 140 fathoms.
In old times they seem to have gone 35 toises lower. There ex-
ists an excavation which is 69 fathoms deep, and from 20 to 40
in breadth. M. de Bonnard regards these works as the most
astonishing for their boldness which exist in any mine, but as by
far too large, and therefore inconvenient.

M. de Bounard terminates what he has said on the subject of
the granite of his second system, with a few words on the hot
springs of Carlsbad, a town situated on the Toeppel in a narrow
valley shut in by two granite mountains, and which he conceives
to be very extraordinary. In the valley there is no other species
of rock, and it is from this basin that a spring of boiling water
issues from under a ealeareous arch which it has formed itself by
its depositions, aud under which is an excavation full of vapour
aud water, the depth of which is unknown. In order to account
tor this fact, M. Werner thinks that there is at the bottom of the
valley, under the stratum of vegetable earth, coal in a state of
combustion, which expands the water from the Toeppel, which
filters through subterranean cavities. The waters of Carlsbad are
the most frequented of Germany and Europe. They contain
sulphate and muriate of soda, lime, carbonic acid, and iren: the
sulphate of soda is the most abundant, and is extracted on the
spot. .

M. de Bonnard informs us that “ in the mines of Joachimstadt
there was found, at the depth of 150 toises, a large trunk of a
bituminized tree, with the vestiges of bark, branches, and leaves.
It has been entirely carried off piecemeal for mineralogical cabi-
nets, and numerous specimens have been sold under the name of
“wood of the deluge.’ ”

In a very copious recapitulation he generalizes the observations
made in the course of his paper, and pursues every separate rock
through all the circumstances of stratification under which it has
been presented to him.

GAS LIGHTS.

- The advantages resulting from the application of gas to the
lighting of streets and houses have been recently extended to the
Surrey side of the Thames: and the whole of the Borough of South-
wark, with that part of Blackfriars Road between the bridge and
the Rev. Mr. Hill’s chapel, is now brilliantly illuminated in
this ceconomical and efficient manner. In addition to the Surrey
Institution, nearly all the shops in that district, and the elegant
private residence of Mr. Potts in the Clink liberty, are lighted with
gas, which is found fully to answer every purpose of domestic
ceconomy. The superb dining- and drawing-rooms, with - li-

rary

-

Preparation of Borium.—Herculenean Manuscripts: 389

brary and billiard-room of this splendid mansion in particular,
exhibit a most pleasing and brilliant scene when thus lighted ;
and Mr. Potts has added to the general effect by the introduc-
tion of an efficient system of ventilation, thus precluding all pos-
sibility of any disagreeable effect. The establishment from

which the gas is supplied is situated at Bankside, and is under

the direction of Messrs. Mouro and Co. The premises are the
most roomy that have been hitherto fitted up as a gas-light ma-
uufactory, and the whole arrangements of furnaces, retorts, and
gasometers have been made upon the most correct and scientific
principles. The utmost regularity is preserved in the various
departments of the works, and not the slightest accident has oc-
curred since their erection.

PREPARATION OF BORIUM.

M. Dobereiner has published a new process for extracting
borium from borax.—After melting the borax and reducing it
to a fine powder, one-tenth of its weight of lampblack is added;
this mixture is put into a gunbarrel, ene end of which is closed,
and to the other is affixed a tube for receiving the gas, and the
gunbarre] is then kept at a white heat during two hours. Much
of the gaseous oxide of carbon is disengaged; and when the
process is finished, there remains in the tube a compact mass of
a. blackish-gray colour, which is reduced to powder, and which,
after being washed several times with boiling water and once
with hydrochloric acid, yields a pulverulent greenish-biack sub-
stance similar to borium, except that it is still mixed with a hit-
tle charcoal. M. Dobereiner thinks that the charcoal begins
by reducing the soda, and that afterwards it is the sodium which
decomposes the boracie acid: consequently, he concludes that
a greater quantity of borium might be obtained, if to the borax
half its weight of soda or of potash weye added, and a quantity
of charcoal double of that which is here mentioned,

HERCULANEAN MANUSCRIPTS.

Messrs. Tyrwhitt and Hayter having been employed to unrol,
if possible, the Herculaneum MSS. belonging to the Institnte
of France, by means of a new process, the Lustitute has appointed
Messrs. Visconti, Quatremere de Quincey, Boissonade, and Raoul-
Rochette, to superintend and assist in the operation.

To Mr. Tilloch.
Sim,—Being engaged in a baking business requiring a con-
siderable supply of yeast, and not being at all times able to ob-
tain a sufficient supply, I should consider myself much obliged

if any of your well-informed correspondents would be pleased
Bbh3 to

390 Hydrophobia.—Naiural History.

to state the process of manufacturing that article,—the means
of preserving the quality,—and what treatises in the English or
French language exist on that subject, or on baking bread in
general, G.

[We recommend to our correspondent a perusal of the French work of
the celebrated chemist M. Parmentier on the subject of baking.—Enir. |

DRYING-STOVE.—OVEN.—STEAM APPARATUS.—CHEMICAL
AFFINITY.

To Mr. Tilloch.

S1r,—I shall be much obliged to any of your intelligent read-
ers, to inform me of the most ceconomical and convenient mode
of constructing a drying-stove on a small scale, where the heat
required is above 212° Fahrenheit. What is the degree of heat
applied in the drying of malt? and, that for the drying of wheat
now much practised in consequence of its unripe state? What
is the most ceconomical construction for an oven for baking of
bread, and to what degree of heat should it be raised before the
dough be introduced? Is it important that it be air-tight for
the baking of bread—and that a stream of air pass through for
the cooking of meat? What is the most approved construction
of an apparatus for heating liquids, and drying substances by
steam, on a small scale, calculated for a laboratory or kitchen ;
and can such apparatus be obtained in London ready fitted up,
and of whom? O. C.

HYDROPHOBIA.

A Dublin practitioner states, that he has seen the symptoms
of hydrophobia checked by the application of a tourniquet. A
girl was bitten in the foot, and hydrophobia supervened; Dr.
Stokes applied atourniquet to her thigh, andthe symptoms instant-
ly subsided, His intention was to amputate the limb, but it was
opposed by other medical attendants. One of this physician’s
pupils considers hydrophobia, like trismus, to be a spasmodic
disease, which may be cured by the judicious application of tur-
pentine with other antispasmodics. The effect of the tour-
niquet seems to favour the plan of bleeding ad deliquium.

ARRIVAL OF SOME NON-DESCRIPT ANIMALS IN LONDON.

Four new and nondescript animals are now exhibiting in the
King’s Mews Riding-House: they seem to. be an extraordinary
species of deer, lately arrived from North America. The follow-
ing is a sketch of their natural history.

As these new quadrupeds are natives of North America, which
has now been discovered for more than three centuries past, it
must necessarily excite wonder, ‘that neither the horns nor the
skin of such a fine animal, nor its description, have ever before

reached

‘Natural History, 391

reached Europe, notwithstanding that America was discovered
and settled, and is now occupied, bythe descendants of Europeans,

The persons who have charge of these animals state, that a
German naturalist, who had been employed several years in ex-
ploring that part of Louisiana, called the Upper Missouri coun-
try, brought them from thence over-land to Baltimore, where, as
well as at Philadelphia and New York, they were exhibited for
money.

They are in their nature very timid, and at the same time of
such power and activity when grown, that it is not possible to
take them out of the forest alive ; but some remote tribes of In-
dians having discovered that they were susceptible of domestica-
tion, and of being trained to draw their sledges in winter over the
snow and ice, took them when fawns in nets, and brought them
up in their houses with great care and kindness, thus depriving
them of their wild habits, and making them at last of great value
and importance for their services in harness,

Their flesh in the winter season is so juicy and nutritive that it
is sought after with avidity by the White hunters as well as the
Indians; in consequence of which, the species is threatened with
an early and total destruction.

This animal is naturally inckined to be domestic. In his na-
tive abode he has his peculiar family or fraternity; each family
has its own peculiar range of pasture, and does not intrude into
that of its neighbours; he i is not a rambler: and this family at-
tachment is sostrong, the hunters know that if they can knock
down but one of them they can make sure of the rest at pleasure.

The name of this animal, in the language of the aborigines,
is Wapiti, which has been adopted hy Professor Mitchill, of the
university of New York, and by the late Dr. Barton, of Phila-
delphia; but some naturalists have mistaken his character, and
called him the Elk or Moose, which is an animal with broad pal-
mated i horns, and an uncouth figure, whereas the horn of the
wapiti is round, and his figure elegant.

The age of the male of this species is ascertained by its horn.
till it is full grown; he sheds them annually: the females have
no horns.

The colour of these animals is, in the winter, on the body, of
a peculiar dunnish hue; the neck and legs are a dark brown, the
rump is a pale yellowish white; the eolour extending about six
or seven inches from the tail on all sides, and very distinct from
the general colour of the body. A black semi-circular line of
unequal width (from a quarter of an inch to two inches) sepa-
rates the white of the rump on either buttock, from the dun of
the body.

The head resembles that of the common American deer (Cervus

Bb4 Virginianus)

392 Natural History.

Virginianus) and of the horse, much more than that of the elk
or moose, and is pointed and handsome. The legs are admirably
formed for strength and activity, resembling those of the race-
horse, particularly the hinder; on the outside of each of these is
a protuberance of yellowish hair, which is the seat of a gland that
secretes an unctuous substance, and the animal applies it to
smooth and dress his coat, which is so admirably constructed that
it is thus rendered impervious to rain, or to water if he swims
across a river.

The wapiti has an oblique slit or opening under the inner an-
gle of eacheye, nearly an inch long externally, which appears to
be an auxiliary to the nostril. He has nuvoice like the horse or
the ox, and this organ seems to be given him as a compensation;
for with it he makes a noise, which he can vary at pleasure, and
which is like the loud and piercing whistle that boys give by
putting their fingers in their mouth.

The anatomist and naturalist will find in the structure of this
animal a variety of objects highly deserving their best attention.

Notwithstanding the wapiti has a cloven foot and chews the
cud like the ox, yet he has a bridle tusk like the horse, aud the
lower jaw is admirably fitted to be operated upon by a bridle and
bit. The tongue is remarkable for its softness and smoothness.

The wapiti is esteemed, and justly, the pride of the American
forest, being unquestionably the handsomest and most valuable
native quadruped that has yet been discovered in that extensive
country. He is mature when he is twelve years old, and his full
size is about eighteen hands. The largest of the two males now
in the King’s Mews is full fourteen hands, and that he has but
lately entered his sixth year is manifest from his horns,

Like all other animals that are long in coming to maturity,
they live toa great age; the full extent of their lives is indeed not
perfectly known; but the Indians (who keep no registers) say of
aman, when he is grown in years and inactive, that ‘he is as
old as a wapiti,” which certainly indicates that this animal must
at least equal the age of him to whom he is compared.

The two females appear to be smaller and somewhat younger
than the males; their necks resemble in some degree that of the
dromedary.

The food of the wapiti, ina domestic state, is the same as that
of the cow or the horse; and they are, if properly managed, equally
tractable. Ill usage or harshness makes them alarmed and impa-
tient; but they are very sensible of benefits, and lick the hand that
feeds them.

No quadruped can be more personally clean than the wapiti;
his breath is as sweet as that of the cow. The males are attached
to only one female, and the latter generally produce twins.

The

Alternating Colours of Stars. 393

The Upper Missouri country is in the same latitude as England;
its winters are a little more rigorous and its summers somewhat
warmer; and it abounds in rich pastures of white trefoil, which
the hunters call Buffalo grass.

From what has been stated, we find that these animals were ex-
hibited as curiosities even in the principal American cities, con-
sequently they must be unknown in all the cultivated and settled
parts of the United States.

ALTERNATING COLOURS OF STARS.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Srr,—I Have lately made an observation on the rapid mu-.
tation of the colour of the light of some of the fixed stars, which
I think worth noticing in your Magazine, in order principally to
induce other persons to be attentive to the circumstance. ‘The
first observation of this kind I made was in the month of Sep-
tember, ina warm evening. Ina star of the first magnitude I
noticed a rapid alternation in the colour of the light. The change
was from the ordinary colour to a deep red, and then back again:
to the common colour of the star. From repeated observations.
I found the red colour to last about two seconds, and the or-
dinary colour about three seconds.

That peculiar apparent motion in the light, commonly called
twinkling, was very strong at the time. I observed this phz-
nomencn during the space of above fifteen minutes, when a cloud
obscuring the sky I could no longer see it. I attributed this to
the refraction produced by some terrestrial vapour which might
be rising up in undulatory or intercepted layers, and had no idea
at the time of the possibility that it might depend on the man-
ner of the transmission of light from the star, till I noticed it
again this month in the « Orionis, when the reddish colour again,
alternated with the yellowish, and the alternation was more rapid
and corresponded to the twinkling.

I have merely noticed this circumstance here in a hasty and
cursory manner, to excite others to observe, as I have always no-
ticed it inautumn. But I hope shortly to lay before the public
more accurate minutes of observations on this phenomenon.
Without offering any further comment on its possible cause at
present, | am, in haste, yours, &c.

Clapton, Oct. 16, 1816. n Tuomas ForsTER.

P.S.—If any corresponding observations have been made in
distant countries, 1 shall be obliged by their communication
through your Magazine. 1 hope, with your permission, in a
future number to give minutes of some of my observations which
J have not by me at present,

TELLU.

394 Tellurium.—Ruins of Velleia.

TELLURIUM.

The following description of a new ore of tellurium, by Pro-.
fessor Esmark of Christiania, appears in the third volume of the
Transactions of the Geological Society of London :—

It occurs coarsely disseminated, and crystallized in perfect
hexagonal plates striped on the edges,

It has the whitish hue of tin.

{ts fracture displays a perfect foliation, but only in onedirection.

It has a strong metallic lustre; a moderate flexibility; con-
siderable softness, aud feels heavy.

Before the blowpipe it burns with the colour and smell of tel-
lurium, and has the same action with acids, The precipitate by
water burns upon charcoal like tellurium ; but after its sublima-
tion a small metallic button remained of the colour of silver,
malleable, but too minute for further examination ; for on ac-
count of the rarity of the substance I could only devote a single
grain to this examination.

It is found in the Orndal copper mine, accompanied by cop-
per pyrites, and a small intermixture of sulphuret of molybdenum.
The mine is called Mosnap, and has been full of water for several
years. The vein lies in mica slate. I met with the same ore in
Hungary, in the collection of my friend M. Gerhard, who gave
mea specimen of it; but as he did not know from what part of
Hungary it came, he did not value it. For this reason I omitted
taking notice of it in the journal of my travels through Hungary
and the Bannat of Temeswar.

It is easily distinguished from molybdenum, by its colour and
its habitude before the blowpipe.

‘RUINS OF VELLEIA.
Parma, October 13.

Two Englishmen have been here some time, and have investi-
gated with great attention our monuments of the arts, our
museums, and our libraries ; they visited the ruins of Velleia, and
in assisting at the works discovered an elegant bas-relief which
was placed over a fountain. It represents the two brothers
Castor and Pollux. This bas-relief, which the celebrated anti-
quary M. De Lama, who is appointed to superintend the extri-
cation of the ruins, believes to be Grecian, is in the best taste.
It consists of four figures, and the attitude of Castor is admirable,
having all the grace of the antique. These scientific Englishmen.
have had several conversations with Abbé Derossi, one of the
most learned men in the Oriental languages, and who possesses
an unique collection of bibles. The Emperor Alexander evinced
his willingness to possess this valuable library; but it appears
that Austria wishes this literary monument to remain in Italy.
M. Derossi has refused the offers of those Englishmen, whe
wished to treat with him for his biblical library.

List of Patents for new Inventions, 395

An unusual number of water-fowl, particularly wildgeese, have
been observed early in this month in the marshes near the Thames
and about Hackney: a circumstance which is said to denote a
hard winter. —_———_

Mr. Edward Forster of Clapton has recently found a variety
of the curlew, Scolopax arcuata, of nearly one third more than
the ordinary magnitude and with some variety in the colour, near
Sandwich in Kent.

_ LATEST APPEARANCE OF SWALLOWS THIS SEASON,
Hirundo Apus—August 10.
—_——— rustica—October 11.

— urbicu—October 1+.

—

LIST OF PATENTS FOR NEW INVENTIONS.

To William Losh, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, iron-founder, and
George Stephenson, of Killingworth, Northumberland, engineer,
for their new method or methods of facilitating the conveyance
of carriages and all manner of goods and materials along rail-
- ways and frameways, by certain inventions and improvementsin the
construction of the machine-carriages, carriage-wheels, railways,
and frameways employed for that purpose.—30th September,
1816.—2 months.

To Louis Fauche Borel, of Frith-street, Soho, for his method
of making shoes and boots without sewing, so as entirely to keep
out the wet, which invention may be applied to other useful pur-
poses in leather.—25th October.—6 months, ;

To Lewis Grauholm, of Foster-lane, London, for his method
or methods, process or processes, or means for rendering or mak~
ing articles made or manufactured of hemp or flax, or of hemp
or flax mixed, more durable than any such articles are as now
made or manufactured.—25th October.—2 months.

To Benjamin Smythe, of Liverpool, schoolmaster, for his new
machine, or apparatus, or a new method or methods of propel-
ling vessels, boats, barges, and rafts of all kinds, and also other
machinery, as mill-wheels and other revolving power.—Ist No-
vember.—2 months,

To William Varley, of Hunslet, in the parish of Leeds, in the
county of York, wire-worker, and Robert Hopwood Furness, of
Bridlington, in the said county, soap-boiler, for their improved
method of obtaining or producing saccharic matter or substance
- from wheat, rye, oats and barley, bear or bigg.—1st November.

—f() months.

To Joseph Gregson, of Charles-street, Grosvenor-square, for
his new method of constructing chimneys, and of supplying with
fuel.— 1st November,--2 months.

To

S96 List of Patenis for new Tnwventions.

To Robert Ford, of Crouch End, in the parish of Hornsey and
county of Middlesex, chemist, for his medicine for the cure of
coughs, colds, asthmas and consumptions, which he denominates
**Ford’s Balsam of Horehound.”—19th November.—2 months.

To George Washington Dickinson, of Great Queen-street,
Lincoln’s Itin Fields, in the county of Middlesex, for his new
improved method, means, or contrivance, for preventing leakage
from vessels employed to contain liquids, and for the preventing
the admission of moisture into packages or vessels intended to
be kept dry within.—1st November.—6 menths.

To Simon Hosking, of the parish of St. Phillack, Cornwall, for
his steam engine, on a new construction, for drawing water from
mines, for working different kinds of machinery, and for other
purposes for which steam engines are generally applied.—Ist
November.—6 months.

To William Day, of the Strand, county of Middlesex, for va-
rious improvements in or on trunks, and also in the application
of certain machinery, by means of which they will contract or
expand at pleasure.—I1st November.—2 months.

To William Piercy, of ce for his new method of
making thimbles.—1st November.—2 months.

To John Heathcoat, of Loughborough, for certain improve-
ments upon machines or machinery, invented and in use for the
purpose of making that kind of lace commonly known or distin-~
guished by the name or names of bobbin-net or “Buckinghamshire
lace net.—Ist November.—6 months.

To William Snowden, of Doncaster, for his new improved ap-
paratus or machine to be attached or applied to carriages to
prevent them being overturned.—Ist November.—2 months.

To Robert Stirling, of Edinburgh, for improvements in di-
minishing the consumption of fuel, and in particular an engine
‘capable of being applied to the moving machinery on a principle
entirely new.—16th November.—6 months.

To John Day, of Brompton, for certain improvements and
additions in the construction of piano-fortes and other keyed
musical instruments.—16th November.—6 months.

To Robert Rains Baines, of Myton, in the county of the town
of Kingston-upon-Hull, for his perpetual log or sea perambula-
tor.—16th November.—6 months.

To William Russell, of Avery Farm Row, Chelsea, Middlesex,
for his improvement upon cocks and vents for general purposes,
particularly useful to brewers, distillers, private families, &c.—
19th November.—6 months.

To John Barker, of Cottage Green, Camberwell, Surrey, for
his improvement or improvements in the method or means of
acting.upon machinery.—19th Noyember.—6 months, 2

0

Meteorology. 397

To Walter Hall, of Serjeants Inn, London, merchant, in con-
sequence of a communication from certain foreigners residing
abroad, for his method or metheds of making soft. lead, and of
hard lead, or slag lead.—2Z1st November —6 months:

To James Kewley, of Aldersgate-street, London, for certain
improvements in and on thermometers. 21st November. —b6
months.

Seaham
Meteorological Observations kept at Walthamstow, Essex, from
October 5 to November 15, 1816.
{Between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M.]
Date. Therm. Barom. Wind.
October

15 44 3050 SE.—Foggy; grav dav; star-lght night.

16 43 30°50 SE.—Sun and hazy; fine sunny day ; star-
light.

IJ. 44 29°75... N: Ki oggy; damp and rainy till about 3

‘ P.M.; star-light.

18 45 29-75 NW.—Rainand hazy; sun and cirrostratus;
star-light.

19 37 29-80 -SE.SW.SE.—Hazy; fine gray day; slight
shower ; dark.

20 44 29:60 NW.—Clear; wind and sun; cold wind and
cumulostratus; shower 3 P.M.; sun;
star-light. New moon.

21 44 29°66 NW.—Clear ; sun and wind; gray day;
star- light.

22 44 29°65 SW.—Foggy; fine day; stars bright.

23° 32 29°95 SW.—White frost and sun; fine sunny day;
star-light.

244 41 29°95 SE. —Clouds; sun and clouds; dark and
rainy.

25 44 29:65 SE.—Hazy; rain 21 P:M.; great shower
and very dark ; star-light.

26 39 29°65 SE.—-Sun and hazy ; very “fine day; star-
light.

27 51 29°66 SE.—Sun and wind; cirrostratus; very
fine day; star-light. Moon first quarter.

23 52 29-66 E.—Cloudy; showers; some sun; moon,
and star-light.

29 46 29°63 SE.—Hazy; clear and clouds; fine day;
moon and star-light.

30 50 29-22 E.—Rain till near noon; sun and clouds ;

rainy evening.

31 45° 29°20 SE.—Sun through fog; fine day; very black
and great shower 2 P.M.; showers;
moon and stars and hazy.

Meteorology.

Date. Therm. Barom. Wind.

398
November
L ‘ag
2. Se
ee: 8
4 43
5 49
6 43
7. 36
8 24
9 42
10 35
11.24
12 42
is-".51
14 44
15. 29

29°33
29°35

29°73
29°12

29°72

29°42
29°50

NE.—Hazy; fine day; slight showers ;
light, but no stars visible; foggy.
E.—Great rain till near | P.M.;. some
sunshine ; very rainy till S P.M. ; clear
and cumulostratus ; stars and moon;

hazy.

SE.—Fine day; cumuli ; clear at intervals.

E.—Gray; great shower at 74 A.M.3;
showery; hght, but no stars.

N.—Gray ; slight showers and some sun; —
showery and damp; light, but no stars
at night.— Full moon.

SE.—Clear and cirrostraius ; foggy; clear
and clouds; 34 P.M. showery; moon
and stars bright.

NW.—Sun and wind; very fine day; myr-
tles in bud, and also jessamines ; great
snow at 64 P.M.; bright moon and —
stars.

N—S.—Sun and hazy; fine sunny day ;
snow on ground; clouds and moon.
SE.W.—Snow still visible, but soon went
off; very fine day; slight showers;

clouds ; moon and stars 5 cumuli.

N.—Clear, clouds and wind; snow at 72
A.M. 3 very fine day; great snow at
6 P.M.: cloudy; ground and trees
white with snow.

W—S.—Clear stn-rise; snow on ground; |
very fine day.

N—S. — Showery and windy; snow all
disappeared; fine day; brightstar-light.
Moon, last quarter. — ;

W.—Cloudy; very fine day; star-light and
windy; wanecloud.

NW.W.-—Clear, clouds and wind; very fine

day; fine star-light, and windy.

W.—Clear and cumulostratus; very fine
day; star-light.

* * A correspondent will be happy to have, through the medium
of The Philosophical Magazine, any particulars relating to the
Meteorolite reported to have fallen last autumn at Glastonbury.

METEORO=-

Meteorology. 399

METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON,

LINCOLNSHIRE.
—E

{The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.)

— a

Age of
1816. Oe Thermo-| Baro- {State of the Weather and Modification

Ost. Es
16
17

Moon

meter.

meter. of the Clouds.

30°30 |Fair
30°12 |Very fine
29°90 |Fair
29°90 |Ditto
29°85 |Ditto
29°71 |Ditto
29°80 |Ditto
29°77 |Ditto
30:07 |Very fine
29°82 |Cloudy
29°55 |Ditto
29°85 |Fine
20°87 |Fair
29°80 |Showery

| 29°73 |Fair

29°35 |Cloudy—rained heavy all night
and till 10 A.M.

29°37 |Fine at noon

29°40 |Cloudy—heavy fog all day; rime
frost at night

29°50 |Very fine—heavy rain in the even?

29°62 |Rain

29°85 |Ditto

29°84 |Showery

29°49 |Fair—rained hard in the evening

29°42 |Ditto—gale from N. W.

29°65 |Ditto—rime frost

28°95 |Ditto—rain in the evening

29°60 |Ditto—heavy gale from N.

29°75 |Very fine—A. M. astorm of snow
and rain with gale from S. W.

29°60 |Fair

29°75 |Ditto—heavy nain at night

‘The latter part of the month has heen very tempestuous wit!) yatisllo
winds, Much corn is still out in this neighbourhood,

400

Meteorology.

METEOROLOGICAL TAELE,

By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND,

For November 1816.

‘Lhermometer.

_ Days of
Month.

8 o’Clock,
Morning.

26| 45

N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o’clock,

Height of
the Barom.
Inches.

Noon
11 0’Clock,

48 | 40 41
51 | 47 "62
50 | 48 "58
49 | 40 33
41 | 32 32

47 | 40 “72
47 | 46 °75
51 | 45 91
45 | 39 ‘76
38 | 31 76

30 | 26 “83
39 ; 39 "82
44 | 40 “86

ness by Lestie’s

Degrees of Dry-
Hygrometer.

to G
@

ifs)
oe

Na)
on

26

0

re re

\Fair

Weather.

Fair

Showery
Fair
Rain
Rain

Rain

Fair

Rain

Rain

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair, snow at night

Fair, violent storm
[in the night

Fair

Fair

Fair

Cloudy

Fair

Showery

Cloudy

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Cloudy

Rain

[ 401 ]

LXXXI. . On the Physiology of Vegetables. By Mrs.

AGNES IBBETSON.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — el ye exquisite is this formation! how perfect this
scheme of plants !—Each day adds to the beauty of the system, to
the exquisite development of the vegetable, and renders the plan
still more perfect, more impossible to be confuted, as every part
exactly coincides.

In my last letter I showed that I was completely justified re-
specting all I had written concerning the flowers and leaves form-
ing in the root; and mentioned that Sir Wm. Herschel had done
me the honour to inspect and examine the specimens, and give
his assent to ¢hzs (by far the most difficult part of the plan):
I then proved that the apparent flower consisted only of the
pistil and corolla, and that a specimen having these, if thrown
on 2 glass, would (from the line of life being cut) eject moisture
sufficient to continue the vegetable growth of the flowers as
long as the juices remained; and that [ had known them con-
tinue in moisture sufficient, for nearly a whole week.

But I have now an additional fact of extreme importance to
communicate to the public, which most admirably continues,
nay, finishes the foundation of the growth of plants, in a manner
so complete, and with a simplicity so exquisite, as at once to
declare the plan of its origin to proceed from God alone, for no
human sagacity could have devised or suggested it. Before I
began my promised dissection of the buds, it occurred to me
(being the usual season in which to do it) to examine the seeds,
and see whether they could at all contribute to the showing the
flowers. But | had so carefully dissected them before, that I
despaired: but there is certainly a progressive line in my dis-
coveries over which I have no power. Words will not do justice
to my astonishment at finding that all the interior of the seed
(surrounding the embryo) is filled up either by bladders, which
each contain a separate germ tied together with an extremely fine
line of life, or branches of very diminutive size running all over

the interior of the seed, the embryo excepted. See fig. 1. Plate

No. 4, [Plate V.] a diminutive specimen of the part of the bean
surrounding the embryo. Fig, 2, the seed of the melon after
fructification. Fig. 3, the seed of the buckwheat. Fig. 4, the
interior of the large pea, a specimen surrounding the embryo
before fructification. -This discovery led me to consider and to

Vol, 48. No, 224. Dec. 1816. Ce conjecture,

402 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

conjecture, whether I should not find also a germ in the heart
of each seed while in the roof, and mounting the alburnum ves-
sel? since it must probably Wei in the former the seed would first
take its shoot. But faneying that this must be a very difficult
matter to see, from its extreme minuteness, I prepared my solar
microscope with all its powers, and picked out the most oily of
the firs, as well.as a specimen of the largest heart of the seed:—
the first in the Pinus rubra, the seeds of which are remarkably
clear and full of bark. juice; the second in the Cactus, which
seed has an excessive large heart: and choosing a very sunny day,
I at length discovered the germ, not only in the heart of the fir-
seed while in the root, and in the alburnum; but more obscurely
in the Cactus. The ‘formers indeed, was very plain in six se-
perate hearts, which I placed in one field of view. I perceived
not only the germ to each, but the same species of root, or jelly-
like matter, “before found attached to the beginning sprout of
the sea-w get, and imitated in the buckwheat, (fig. 3,) whichap-
pears also in ‘the heart of the fir, (fig. 5.)

The regular process, therefore, seems to be—that the heart of
the seed mounts with its germ from the root, where it takes it
in, into the seed-vesse/, and proves itself to be the seed not only
by my being abie to trace it through its whole progress to fructi-
fication, but by having the same germ in the heart it afterwards
displays spreading from the primordial branch all around the
embryo, after the seed is fructified: and thus, when the seed is
fit to place in the ground, it is not only the embryo that is pre-
pared to throw up its shoot, but the female flower is also fitted
for its increase, and fixes, by means of the various germs in the
seed, the beginning stripe for each line in the wood, (which I
showed j in my last letter,) and serves as a commencement also
of flower the next year, in each flower-bud. The flower there-
fore, that is the cor and pericarp, is continued from plant. to
plant, while the male is renewed and reproduced yearly in
every tree. This accounts for the bark and pollen in a graft
never joining, while every other part is strictly assimilated. This
proves also that I was right in. saying that the stripes of flowers
in the wood were formed not the year they appear at the ex-
terior of the plant, but the preceding: indeed the appearance of
the two is so dissimilar not only in fox m and size, but in situa-
tion also, that it is impossible to take them for each other; the
first being simply in stripes, but these which are to open the
present year, both in trees and herbaceous plants, are discovered
not only larger, but in all sorts of festoons, wreaths, and bou-
quels, making the richest and most beautiful patterns.

Thus may be now said to have brought the history of the

foundation

eS

_

—_, = es

On the Physiology of Vegetables. 403

foundation of vegetable life to some degree of regularity and per-
fection. The germ which surrounds the embryo cannot grow
till after fructification, because the surrounding part of the heart
does not grow or increase ti!l then; but there appears a little
germ round the vacancy in the heart below the branch from
which it seems 40 shool: these germs always remain white, which
is probably the cause of their not being defore noticed; for there
is such a confusion of richness (if I may so call it) as to render it
extremely difficult at first to distinguish or discriminate each se-
parate ingredient; aud | have several times, in drawing the root of
the drum more than twelve years ago, been astonished with seeing
fiowers, leaves, branches, and seeds in quantities ; and though I
drew it exactly as it appeared, I was too prejudiced then to be-
lieve what I saw—1 could not then credit that the received
opinions could be so very _far removed from truth. Now I ven-—
ture to trust my eves, though still with proper diffidence I hope.
I have since found that in wet plants, in adried specimen of the
arum root, and in the grasses, I can very plainly see the shoot
in the heart of the seed, while in ¢he root, with less powers than
the solar niicroscope ; nay, with rather low ones of the com-
pound : yet-it certainly requires good eves, and the having (as
Sir William Herschel calls it) learned to see, to view it in all
its surrounding parts:—yet old as he is, so perfect are his eyes
that | am sure he would see it with even lower powers; for so
formed are his eyes by custom, so fitted for the purpose of
glasses, that they even now far exceed those of a young person.

I shall now give a sketch of the whole process, that [ may be
thoroughly comprehended—begging pardon for repetitions that,
in so new a case, can hardly be avoided, without danger of mis-
couceptious.

When the seed is first formed in the extremity of the radicle,
it soon (from powder) changes to balls, tied together by a line of
life : for it is the collecting of this powder, and its attraction for
the dine, which is probably the first cause of its aggregating.
The flowers then, which had spread from the first old seed, run
down into the thread roots and enter the radicle just where it
is fastened to the root; and it must be THERE that each heart
of the seed takes in its germ and female. A curious speci-
men which I dissected last year, but could not then comprehend,
proves this:—it was a fresh grown radicle of the Iris. 1 make
it a rude to imitate exactly the pattern specimen (whether I un-
derstand it or not). [left it therefore, assured that Nature would
explain it fo my satisfaction al some future time; which it has
now done (see fig. 6, AA), where the powder first forms into
seeds: it is in this plant of a pink colour, which makes it easily

Cce2 distinguished ;

404 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

distinguished. BB, where the powder forms into balls, still co-
loured. CC, where the female or flower first enters the radicle
from the root and old seed, and breaking off into shoots or sepa-
rate germs they are drawn within the seeds. DD, apart where
the pollen appears to be collected. The ball when first formed
at AA, then consists of the heart of the seed only, composed of
an empty bladder, and a shoot below it; the vacuum is the
part of the coreuwlum which is first filled up, when the heart is
fructified, and brought from the root; and the shoot is certainly
the origin of the primordial branch, which reaches down from
under the layers which form the embryo, and which when the
embryo is completed runs under, to spread all over the interior
surrounding part. When the seed is once fixed in the earth, it
serves as a basis for the stripes of flowers in the wood, and as a
commencement of those which entered the radicle*. But when
the new-formed seeds are thus finished, they rise from the root,
pass through the alburnum; it is then the flowers “of the pre-
ceding year that enter the flower-bud. It is the festoons and
bouquets that are alone forward enough to complete them-
selves, and rise up by the simple growth of their several pedun-
cles, and burst into light and beauty. No tree, therefore, could
flower the first year ; and in annual and herbaceous plants, sea-
sons must stand in lieu of years. It is by means of the com-
parison of one part of the formation of plants we must
judge of another, This is curiously exemplified in another case,
as in the cabbage and many vegetables, whose yearly row of
wood (instead of increasing each year) forms a new specimen
each season. This may be the same with the stripes and bou-
guets. Besides, in quicker-growing plants I much doubt whether
this arrangement is not wholly managed by climate: at any
rate the female flower as well as the line of life is the prolonga-
tion of vital power; and the quantity of matter I have seen
flow into the seeds. at the time of the corolla passing off, and
which I have often mentioned with astonishment, is zow most
admirably accounted for, as most probably forming the innume-
rable new shoots of flowers in each separate bladder, surrounding
the embryo of the seeds just fructified. Vegetables as well as
animal bodies can convert the juices of the atmosphere into
their own substance, and thus angment the number of their
component particles. This operation is certainly as constant as

* This indeed may be another reason why the seed is so long attached
to the embryo and growing plant, not being severed by Nature till the |
germ has fixed its stripes in the wood of the new tree, and till the flowers
have descended into the new radicles to enter the new-made seeds.—W hat
exquisite contrivance ! what admirable invention! a

the

On ihe Physiology of Vegetables. 405

the exertion of that force by which they resist putreseence; for
the absorption of atmospheric matter, its conversion into nutri-
tive fluid, and the trausmission of those juices of the body, és in
vegetables effected by a constant absorption of the external sur-
face. And in plants which increase indefinitely (for though I
have been able to trace the stoppage of the yearly rows of w ood,
yet I never have seen the yearly shooi miss), they do not, like
the animal body, lose on one side what they gain on the other,
Still the internal parts change their condition: it is true the old
and useless parts are thrown out, as 1 have shown in the new
formed bark and wood; but the quantity of wood is still renewed
in the new shoot each season, and the extension of the tree is
increased, and increases in this way as long as life endures ;
though in extreme old age it generally loses, by wind and ace
cidents, on the north and east sides what it gains by new shoots
in the south and west.

However feeble and minute the parts of an embryo may be,
we can certainly, i in vegetables, trace it nearer the beginning of
life than in animals: still it has its origin in the parent tree;
still it takes its line of life and female flower from the original
seed, and from them receives its vital impulse; both have parti-
cipated in the existence of other living beings, and exercised
the functions themselves. Thus then the line of life and the fe-
male germ are the parts which more particular ly support and
convey life in the vegetuble, and continue invariably from plant
to plant; and, like all organized beings, are produced by genera-
tion, grow by nutrition, and are destroyed by decomposition.

I have noticed that at fig.6, DD had the appearance of
pollen between the seeds, being exactly like that which shows
itself in the alburnum. ‘There is still something obscure in the
first growth of this powder, as I have never yet been able to say
* T saw it grow,” as 1 have certainly and most truly done the
seeds and flowers. Therefore there is something more to be dis-
covered in this part: all that shows it passing into the seed-
_ vessel and into the stamen, is as complete as investigation can
“make. it; but its first forming is defective: it is in the first shoot-
ing of the germ of a tree from its see d this ‘must be sought,
and probably its beginning may be traced in one of the inner
folds of the radicle, both in the dap root and side roots. It will
appear uncommonly stupid that, taking up a fresh tree every
week or less, for four years together, I should notshave traced
all it contains. But f know not how it is, I never can attend
to more than one subject at a time; and then all that m: vy aD=
pear, besides the matter sought at that moment, is a dead letter
to me. This is intolerably foolish ;—still, perhaps, it causes
me, by confining my attention, to fix it more completely on the

Cc3 object

406 On the Physiology of Vegetables.

object of my study, and enables me to investigate more deeply.
It certainly, however, makes my progress slower :—but I have
been rather accused of doing too much, than too little; though
I do not know how that can be the case, unless 1 have done
carelessly and ill what I perform or discover.

Perhaps the next thing necessary to the obtaining a thorough
knowledge of the formation of plants, and to comprehend their
real physical nature, is to establish as exact an idea of the sifwa-
tion they hold in the animal and in the inanimate world as
possible. I have already done this in some measure; but I still
think a much more discriminating picture may be presented,—
that by drawing the limits that in vegetables cannot be passed,
and by fixing the boundary lines of such a being as a vegetable
teally is, will at once correct all those false ideas we are per-
petually introducing, though so forezgn to its very nature.

For example: As a plant has no brain, vo nerves, or spine, no
heart, it can have no voluntary motion; it can be moved by its
muscles only, that is, by that vis insita it most truly possesses: it
can therefore have no sensation, no feeling, for sensation and vo-
luntary motion coincide ; nor, when compared with inanimate
matter, can it be moved, as that is, by the intreduction of ca-
loric, by some mechanical agent separating its parts, or some
chemical agent altering its combinations.

If therefore a motion is perceived in a vegetable, it cannot be
attributed ¢o ils air or its juices, to which it is but too commonly
referred, without considering that, swch motion belongs not to
its nature: but the cause must be sought in that which is ana-
logous to its form, which agrees with and appertains to its Lfe.
—Nor can the juices of the vegetable be said ¢o circulate, since
that is against the laws established for that species of being 5
no animal or being having a circulation that is not possessed of a
single heart, through which the whole mass of blood can pass,
and in which it may be said to centre. Nor can the juices of any
animal or being be said to circulate, where its juices are taken
in or respired throughout the whole of their surface. Plants
respire by means of their hairs;—many insects by nearly the
same cause. ** No animal,”’ says Cuvier, ‘* respires by @ par=
ticular organ, except those which have a real circulation; be-
cause in them the blood coming from one common source, the
heart, to which it returns, the vessels that contain it are so dis-
posed, it cannot arrive at the other parts till it has passed
through the lungs.” This of course cannot take place in vege-
tables, that have no heart ; nor is there any place in plants at
all analogous to that part. I have before given innumerable
other reasons why this circulation (on which Mr. Knight so in-
sists) is impossible; and the late discoveries make it still more

sO,

On the Physiology of Vegetables. 407

so. Nor can perspiration be more incompatible to the form
and very nature of a vegetable. No cold-blooded animal per-
spires, and plants may be considered in this light : a being whose
juices never rise 10 or 13° above atmospheric heat, and whose
blood, and that for a very short time, rarely deviates from it,
may be called a cold-blooded being ; aid can never require that
perspiration necessary to cool and regulate the heat of the sy-
stem. The uses of perspiration are to free the biood from its
redundant water,—an operation vegetables certainly cannot re-
quire,—and to expel from the body ‘those parlicles which by re-
peated circulation have become acrimonious. Now I have shown
before that plants have no circulation, of course they require
not this reduction.

But before I close this letter, I must add, that I have had
fresh proofs of the growth of the flowers on the glass ; cutting
seeds hoth before and after impregnation. The.flowers (when
the piece of the seed has been left on the glass) have spread in
almost every instance entirely all round it,—in one specimen at
more than a quarter of an inch distance, in various patterns ; and
that in two of the fir seeds, taken from the rooi, patterns have
been prolonged evidently from the corculum of the seed. (See
fig. 7. and fig. 8.)

But I shall no further extend this letter, but leave to the
opinion of my readers and botanists in general, whether the
foundation of botany is not now so thoroughly delineated, that,
without repeating every circumstance before discovered, [ may
without further prelude dedicate my future time to the consi-
deration of the detail of vegetables, till I shall be able to lay the
whole in one regular picture before the public, which I live
but in the hopes of doing. Every link of the chain is now com-
plete, every division filled up. This last discovery finishes the
foundation, and renders it as perfect as human delineation ad-
mits, and as constant dissection and extreme labour will allow,

I am, sir,
Your obliged humble servant,
Exeter, Nov. 2, 1816. Aces I[BBETsON.
ee

Description of the Plate No.4, [see Pl. V.]

Fig. 1. A diminutive specimen of the part of the bean sur-
rounding the embryo.

Fig. 2, The seed of the melon just after fructification.

Fig. 3. The seed of the buckwheat taken round the embryo.

Fig. 4. The interior of the large pea, a small specimen pre-
ceding fructification.

Fig. 5. Specimens of the heart of the fir seed, now round,
though afterwards a long oval; taken while in the root, before

Coed they

408 On the Origin, of the Atomic Theory.

they enter the alburnum. They may be compared with the
seed when it is first discovered in the seed-vessel, and will give
positive proof that it was the seed in the root, since the same
shoot will be discovered in both.

Fig. 6. The radicle of the Iris.

Fig. 7 and 8. Heart of the seed of the fir when divided,
throwin = out its germ or flower, and growing on the glass: it is
impossible i in this part to draw the flowers small enough to imi-
tate even the magnified specimens.

thie

LXXXII. On the Origin of the Atomic Theory. By WILLIAM
Hiceins, Esq.

[Concluded from p. $71.]

PS next subject which the Doctor introduces, after giving my
theory to Dalton, relates to the doctrine of Volumes discovered as
he tells us by M. ‘Gay Lussac, and published in the year 1809. He
found “ that they follow a very simple Jaw in their combinations;
that one volume of one gas always unites either with one volume
of another gas, or with two volumes, or with three volumes.”
He then adduces a few examples to support this law.

& Gay Lussac also showed that the diminution of volume which
takes place on the combination of these gases, follows as sim-
ple a law as the volumes in which they combine. In nitrous
gas the oxygen and azote undergo no condensation ; accordingly
the specifie gravity of nitrous gas is the mean between that of
oxygen and azote. Frequently one of the two gases retaiis its
bulk unaltered, while the other totally disappears.”

‘‘ This curious law discovered by Gay Lussac, when coupled
with the doctrine of Mr. Dalton, shows us, that there exists a
very simple relation between the weight of the atoms and the
bulk of the gaseous bodies. Accordingly, the weight of the
atoms of these bodies may be deduced with sufficient accuracy
from their specific gravity. This method was employed both
by Sir H. Davy and Dr. Wollaston.”’

The theory of volumes of Gay Lussac was published after
Dalton’s Atomic Theory, therefore the latter could derive no
advantage from it. Now the doctrine of the proportions in
which particles unite to particles, or atoms to atoms, could only
be deduced from a previous knowledge of the specific gravity of
simple gases and of their compounds in the gaseous state, and
of the proportions in which they unite volume to volume. The
whole of my Atomic System was founded on those principles,
and without this preliminary knowledge I could not advance 2:

single

On the Origin of ihe Atomic Theory. 409

single step. The Doctor acknowledges, in the number of his
Annals of Philosophy for December i813, that I anticipated
Gay Lussac’s theory of volumes :—What a loon! yet the Doctor
never mentioned my name in the whole history of the Atomic
Theory. Tihis last circumstance shows a personal and rooted
prejudice. It manifests in the most decisive manner a deter-
mined and wilful neglect, or rather suppression of previous la-
bours.

The specific gravities of the different gases, known when I first
wrote, were ascertained. ‘There were very few added to them
since,

The proportiens in which they were capable of uniting in
volumes were also known.

It was very well known that one volume of oxygen required
two volumes of hydrogen to constitute water; and I had shown
that the one and two volumes contained the same number of
ultimate divisions, and that the difference of the specific gravity
of those gases depended on the size of their respective particles,
making an ailowance for the more expanded state of the hydro-
gen gas. From this statement the weight of the atom of water
was rendered very cbvious.

The proportion in which oxygen and sulphuretted hydrogen,
properly prepared, united in volumes, was also given.

It was stated, that oxygen does not contract by union with
sulphur in any considerable degree, so as to produce sulphurous
acid_gas, and that this gas is nearly double the weight of the

xygen: hence it was inferred that an atom of sulphurous acid
consisted of one ultimate particle of oxygen, and an ultimate
particle of sulphur of the same weight. The quantity of oxy-
gen consumed in saturating the sulphuretted hydrogen, gave on
the above principles the relative number of the particles of hy-
drogen and sulphur in this compound gas. '

It was very well ascertained long since by many chemists, that
the gaseous oxide of azote contains one volume of azote and
half a volume of oxygen; and I have shown that the particles of
azote in this gas are united to a single particle of oxygen; con-
sequently the half measure of oxygen contains as many divisions
as a full measure of azote: and as the difference of the specific
gravity of these gases is very small, we may infer that an ultimate
particle of azote is nearly twice as heavy as that of oxygen*.

* The difference between the weights of an ultimate particle of azote
and oxygen was stated by me for the first time in my Atomic Theory.
Dr. Thomson says, in the article under our consideration, that others made
the same remark, without alluding to me. It might be the case; but I have
not been able to trace it out. T shall always give full credit to the Doctor
when he quotes the passage on what he asserts.

This

410 On the Origin of the Atomic Theory.

This gas is much more condensed than its constituent gases,
and its specific gravity is in proportion to the degree of con-
densation.

Nitrous gas, whose atoms contain one of azote and two of
oxygen, is much lighter than gaseous oxide. This struck me
very much while writing my Comparative View, and in that
work I attributed it to the size of the calorific atmospheres which
surrounded its atoms, This gas consists of equal volunies of its
constituent gases.

Nitrous gas and oxygen gas unite in the proportion of two
of the former to one of the latter to form red nitrous acid, which
contains one of azote and three of oxygen. This proves that
there are as many divisions or ultimate particles in the one volume
of oxygen as there are atoms in the two volumes of nitrous gas.
This gives the weight of.an atom of nitrrous acid.

When I wrote, I was well acquainted with the volumes in
which carburetted hydrogen and oxygen united, viz. carburetted
hydrogen 5:5 and oxygen 7°5; the quantity of this oxygen that
was expended by the hydrogen of the gas was ascertained, and
the remainder was found inthe carbonic acid gas formed. Cor-
rect deductions were drawn from this experiment, viz. that car-
bon unites to two portions of oxygen. It was also ascertained
that there were different kinds of carburetted hydrogen, and that
they required different quantities of oxygen to saturate them *,
The volumes in which azote and hydrogen united were ascer-
tained by Dr. Austin and Berthollet, and the degree of their
condensation were well known.

The volumes in which ammoniacal gas and muriatic acid gas,
ammoniacal gas and sulphurcus acid gas, ammoniacal gas and
carbonic acid gas, unite so as to saturate each other, were well
known to me and to a few more in England, before I published
on the subject of chemistry.

From the foregoing facts it is clear that there was nothing
new in Gay Lussac’s important discovery of his theory of volumes,
as the Doctor is pleased to call it. If he could give it to his
friend Dalton, he would not transfer it to a foreigner,—a fo-
reigner no doubt of considerable celebrity in chemical science.

In this history of the Atomic Theory, the Doctor states that
the celebrated Berzelius, having compared the quantity of oxy-
gen in the base of a salt with the oxygen of its ele found that
they always bore a simple relation to each other. ‘* They were
either equal, or the oxygen in the acid was twice as much as that
in the base, or thrice as much, or four times as much, &c. If

* See Dr. Higgins’s Experiments and Observations on Acetous Acid, &c.
printed in 1786, p. 288. I studied with the Doctor at this time, and as-
sisted in making all the experiments contained in that work,

the

On the Origin of the Atomic Theory. 4\1

the acid contained twice as much oxygen as the base, this was
a proof that the acid contained two atoms of oxygen; if it con-
tained thrice as much, it contained three atoms of oxygen; and
soon. Thus in the sulphates the sulphuric acid contains three
times as much oxygen as the quantity of base which it saturates.
Hence we infer that sulphuric acid is a compound of one «atom
of sulphur and three atoms of oxygen. In the sulphites the acid
contains twice as much as the base which it saturates. Hence
we infer that sulphurous acid is composed of one atom of sul-
phur and two atoms of oxygen.”

This is a singular mode of ascertaining the quantity of oxygen
in the sulphuric and sulphurous acids.

I have proved, in my Comparative View, that sulphuric acid
consists of one ultimate particle of sulphur and two of oxygen;
and that sulphurous acid consists of one and one of its con-
stituents.

I have also ascertained that a fresh-made solution of sulphate
of iron contains in the molecule one ultimate particle of iron,
three ultimate particles of oxygen, and one of sulphur, and that
one-third of the oxygen was supplied by the water.

I will quote the following lines, taken from my Comparative
View, on this subject *.

‘* When potash in solution is poured into a solution of sul-
phate of iron, immediate decomposition takes place, sulphate
of potash is formed, and the iron is disengaged of a darkish blue
colour, united with one-third the quantity of oxygen necessary
to its perfect oxidationt. The iron could not receive this oxy-
gen from the sulphuric acid being found united to the alkali
in its perfect state, otherwise we should obtain a sulphite of
potash.”

When the solution of sulphate of iron is exposed to atmo-
spheric air it attracts oxygen, and acquires a yellowish-brown
colour. ‘This oxygen must unite to the iron, the sulphuric acid
having no affinity whatever to oxygen. During this process a
yellow oxide is thrown down, which | thought at the time |
wrote my Comparative View was occasioned by an union of car-
bonic acid to a portion of the oxide, in consequence of the weak
affinity of the deutoxide of iron to the sulphuric acid. | also
supposed that the acid of the oxide deposited must have been
in a free state in the solution of the sulphate, particularly as the
sulphate exposed to the operation was as neutral as a solution
of a metal in an acid could be made.

But on inquiring into this affair more closely, I found that the

* See my Atomic Theory, pages 70 and 71.
+ At that period (1788) I thought there were three oxides of iron; no-
thing has occurred sjnce to induce me to alter my opinion.
oxysulphate,

412 On the Origin of the Atomic Theory.

oxysulphate, after the deposition of the oxide, remained as satu-
rated as the fresh-made sulphate itself previous to the change.
From the foregoing circumstance, it is probable that a molecule
of sulphate of iron consists of an atom of peroxide and an atom
of acid, and that the proportions of its constituent elements are
three of oxygen, one of iron, and one of sulphur; and that a mole-
cule of oxysulphate consists of an atom of deutoxide of iron and
two atoms of sulphuric acid; consequently its constituent elements
are four particles of oxygen, one of iron, and two of sulphur.
The foregoing facts do not clash with Berzelius’s hypothesis of
the proportions of oxide in the base and acid of saline substances.
This yellow oxide dissolves in sulphuric acid diluted with a small
quantity of water ina moderate heat, and no effervescence takes
place; which proves that the yellow colour of the oxide of iron

is bot occasioned by carbonic acid. This subject deserves more’

attention and stricter investigation. The brown solution or oxy-
sulphate of iron possesses some properties different from the sul-
phate, it is no longer crystallizable, and when evaporated to dry-
ness the mass is deliquescent.

I observed in my Comparative View, that during the solution
of metals in nitrous acid they are first oxidized at the expense
of a portion of the acid itself, and that this oxide is held in so-
lution by nitrous acid, which is formed by a peculiar play of af-
finities during the chemical action of the ultimate particles of the
materials on each other, while at the sane time nitrous gas is
evolved. The atomical demonstrations givep on this subject in
my Comparative View, page 138, or page 126 in my Atomic
Theory, are worthy the attention of chemical readers.

I estimated this acid in metallic solutions to contain three of
oxygen, and the metallic base two. When a solution of potash
is poured into a solution of a metallic nitrate, it takes the acid
with one-half the oxygen from the metal, and the nitrate of pot-
ash thus formed, consists of the straw-coloured nitrous acid and
the alkaline base.

Other curious facts, which I noticed in my Comparative View,
on this subject, are worth relating here. ‘* When iron is intro-
duced into nitrie acid diluted with sixteen times its bulk of wa-
ter it is slowly dissolved, and azote instead of nitrous gas is dis-
engaged. Iron is dissolved in sulphurous acid, aud there is no
hydrogen disengaged; if nitric acid be dropped in, the sul-
phurous acid is disengaged, and the nitric acid unites to the iron
without decomposition of any part of it, for no nitrous gas is
evolved*.” These facts are accounted for on the atomic princi-
ple. The latter fact proves that the atom of nitric acid united

* See pages 127, 128, and 129, of Atomic Theory.
(72

On the Origin of the Atomic Theory. 413

én toto to the ultimate particle of the iron, which afforded it at
once oxygen of calcination and acid of solution. This is a proof
that a molecule of nitrate of iron consists of five ultimate par-
ticles of oxygen, one of azote, and one of iron: or the quantity
of oxygen might be estimated higher, if we suppose that the par-
ticle of iron was supplied with one particle of oxygen at the ex-
pense of a portion of the sulphurous acid during the solution.

This 1 am inclined to believe is the case, from the quantity
of sulphur disengaged in the operation. The solution of nitrate
of iron when exposed to the air is affected like the sulphate of
iron ; it acquires a brownish yellow colour, and a copious yellow
oxide is deposited.

The red oxide of mercury is dissolved by nitric acid without
decomposition of any part of the latter, and the molecule must
contain seven of oxygen. These facts do not agree with Berze-
lius’s doctrine of the relative proportions of oxygen in the bases
and acids of saline bodies.

It was my opinion at the early period in which I brought
forward the Atomic Theory, that an ultimate atom of a metallic
oxide and an ultimate atom of an acid unite chemically, and that
these were their definite proportions. I am still inclined to
think that it is the case, with some exceptions, a few of which
are adduced above: yet it would not be contrary to the laws which
I established that atoms should unite 1 and 2, like the ultimate
particles of elementary matter. We know that sulphate of
potash will unite with two doses of sulphuric acid, that potash
will unite with two portions of acid of tartar, that potash will
also unite to two doses of oxalic acid, although the second dose
is so strongly attached in the above salts, that nothing but che-
mical means will separate them: yet it appears to me that it is
not a chemical union, particularly as those saline substances have
_ an acid taste. It is probably a kind of intermediate influence,
_ somewhat similar to what exists between saline substances and
water, or sugar and water, and gases and water, or aleohol and
water; and the union which takes place between two neutral
salts is of a similar nature.

The supposition that two atoms of one substance will unite to
three atoms of another substance is contrary to the laws of the
Atomic System, as I have shown in my Comparative View, so
far as relates to the combinations of the ultimate particles of
elementary matter ; and I should imagine that the same law ex-
tends to the combination of atoms, for atoms are as distinet or

insulated from each other as particles. Therefore I] am inclined
‘ to differ from the calculation of Dr. Thotason, that aecording to

the analysis of Berzelius of the sulphate of iron, it consists of
two atoms of acid and three of oxide. Now one atom of the

acid

414 On the Origin of the Atomic Theory.

acid unites to one atom of oxide ; the second atom of acid ‘will
attach itself to another atom of oxide, so as to form two distinct
molecules :—how is the other atom to be disposed of ? Itcannot —_
divide itself between the two molecules: therefore there must be |
an error in the analysis or in the calculation, or perhaps in both.
An atom of acid can no more unite to two atoms of its base,
than a particle of oxygen can unite to two particles of azote, or
to two particles of hydrogen, although an atom of the base may
unite to two atoms of acid.

But to return to the history. ‘* After the preceding historical
sketch,” continues the Doctor, ‘ which we thought necessary in
order to do justice to all parties concerned. in this important
branch of chemistry, we shall proceed to lay the Atomic Theory
with the proofs in support of it before our readers *.” The
Doctor then proceeds to give the outlines of the Atomic Theory;
in which it is needless to follow him, for it is a reiteration of my
own doctrine, the outlines of which | have given above.

The Doctor concludes his article by giving tables,

1. Of the weight of the ultimate divisions of elementary
bodies.

2, Of atoms, and the number of ultimate particles they con-
tain.

3. Of molecules of three elements, such as those of the vege-
table acids. Thisis taken from the analyses of Berzelius. Next
come the hydrates, and after thei the whole tribe of saline bodies,
all weighed, and the number of their elementary particles ascer-
tained. His estimate is taken from the analyses of different
chemists, but principally from those of Gay Lussac, Thenard,
and Berzelius. Thus the Doctor has weighed almost all the
different kinds of ultimate particles, atoms and molecules, which
the surface of the globe affords. What is to become of Dalton,
for he has not left him a single atom? It was very unkind to
take from a man what he discovered himself; and if Dalton had
not given them ready made to the Doctor, hew could he witeh
them ?

I felt the importance of the Atomic Theory in my investigation
of the contending doctrines already alluded to, and it was on
that occasion that necessity gave it birth in my mind.

Berzelius availed himself of the lights this doctrine afforded,
in his analyses of saline substances dna vegetable materials; yet
he never claimed any part of the doctrine as his own.

Mr. Dalton, in his work, claims the whole of it in the iden-

* The reader, no doubt, with a moderate share of chemical knowledge,
will be able to judge, from the short sketch which I have given, of the kind —
of justice he has done “ to ail persons concerned.”

tical

i]

On the Origin of ihe Atomic Theory. 415

tical form in which it originally appeared, except that of chan-
ging my diagrams into symbols, and leaving out the numbers in
my diagrams, the importance of which was already explained.
This omission was, no doubt, in order to disguise ; and the same
omission is still continued for the same purpose. It is much to
be lamented that this beautiful doctrine should be mutilated of
its best feature, in order to conceal the marks by which its right-
ful possessor might have laid claim to his property. During
my investigations in my Comparative View, | could accomplish
nothing of any consequence without a knowledge of these relative
forces. In short, they must be restored to the science, in spite of
all interested attempts at their suppression.

Dr. Thomson steps forward as the advocate of Mr. Dalton,
while he himself stands trembling and silent at the bar of justice.
Unfortunately for the Doctor, he embarked in a very unjust cause
which wiil never afford bim credit, but draw on him the disap-
probation of every friend to justice ‘and liberality.

What prevented Mr. Dalton himself from coming forward in
his own defence, when Sir H. Davy, very honourably, first an-
nounced to the chemical world that I was the original author of
the Alomic Theory, or when I published my Atomic Theory in
1814, which claimed that doctrine; or when Dr.Crean, of Boston
in England, took notice of it in the Philosophical Magazine,
some time before the above work was written ?

The Doctor in defence of his friend, in his Annals of Philoso-
phy, asserts many things which he could not substantiate ; and
when he found that Dalton must renounce his pretensions to
the Atomic Theory, or that of definite proportions, he endea-
yours to tear it in pieces, and to divide it betweensBergman,
Black, Cullen, Fordyce, and the Encyclopédie Méthodique.

It was incumbent on the Doctor to produce extracts from
those authors, in order to prove his positions. This no doubt
he would have done very readily were it in his power.

But in the above distribution he takes care to reserve a rem-

nant for his friend Dalton; that is, the weighing of atoms and

molecules which [cut out for him, with the due proportions of
their respective elements.

The Doctor takes great pains, vol. iv. p. 54, of his Annals of
Philosophy, to show that my Comparative View was very little
known or read. The following are his observations, in his own
words: ‘ As far as I have had an opportunity of judging, Mr.
Higgins’s Comparative V: iew was very little known to chemists
in general, till Sir H. Davy published his note, claiming for it
the discovery of the Atomic Theory. I myself met with a copy
of it by accident in 1798. I never met with a single person in
Edinburgh who had read it: nor were any of the London che-

mists,

416 On the Origin of the Alomie Theory.

mists, as far as my knowledge goes, acquainted with it, before Mr.
Higgins pointed it out to Sir H. Davy as containing the outline
of the Atomic Theory.”

I will now pass over part of the quotation, and come to the
conclusion of it.

* For my own part, as | have already said, I met with a copy
of the book by accident, in the year 1798, when I was a student
at the University of Edinburgh; I read it at that time in a eur-
sory manner, and never looked at it again till Davy’s note ap-
peared. I then read it again; and told Davy at the time, that
Tecould not find the Atomic Theory in it. I put the question
soon afterwards both to Dr. Henry and Mr. Dalton, and both
of them assured me they never saw the hook.”

Now Dr. Henry published his Epitome of Chemistry in 1801,
long before Dalton laid hold of my Atomic Theory ; and he quotes
from my Comparative View, second edition, in the 64th page
of his book.

The same quotation is given in his fifth edition of the same
work, published in 1805, page 165. In short, he quotes from
my Comparative View in every work of his that I have seen.

How will the Doctor get over this ?—what could be his motive
to advance such an erroneous statement? It was evidently to
defend Dalton against the suspicion of plagiarism: for he was
aware, if Henry should be known to be acquainted with the
work, that Dalton his neighbour and intimate friend could not
be a stranger to it. My Comparative View passed through two
editions in the course of two years, although it was printed and
published at my own expense; therefore it could not be so much
~« Neglected™as the Doctor wishes to intimate. But suppose a sin-
* gie copy of it had not been-sold, it would not take away from
the merit of the work.

But the most remarkable feature of the Doctor’s conduct on
this subject is, that after having endeavoured to give, every part
of the Atomic Theory which is registered in my F work to those
authors which I have enumerated, he at once transfers it ba¢
again to Dalton, in his history of the Atomic Theory as the fun-
damental princigles of estimating the weight of atoms and mole-
cules.

‘What inconsistency! what prevarication !

I claim nothing but what appears in my Comparative View ;
and it is very evident that the definite proportions in which ele-
mentary particles unite are there stated for the first time: and
I defy the Doctor to adduce a single instance to the contrary,
from any work that appeared before or after mine, except that
of Dalton’s, Then the simple question is—to which of us it be-
longs ? se

But

An Account of a Mass of Native Iron in Brasil. 417

But the Doctor endeavours to persuade the public that the
doctrine consists in the calculation of the weight of particles,
atoms and molecules, and that I had no conception of such a
doctrine,

Thus the Doctor craftily endeavours to throw the fundamental
principles of the system into the back-ground, while he brings
forward its effects or natural consequences as the theory itself.
Any person that reads my Atomic Theory will readily perceive
that I attended not only to the relative weight of the gases, but
also to that of their elementary particles; and the doctrine of
definite proportions could never be brought forward by any other
means, as I have already observed.

Although the Doctor, in defiance of the most glaring evi-
dences possible, has endeavoured to strip me of the doctrine in
question, I entertain not the smallest doubt but his efforts will
prove abortive.

Were the Doctor to confine his assertions to his Annals, ]
should make no reply:—nothing but misrepresentations in a great
national work could induce me to step forward ; and it is to be
hoped that the proprietors of that work will, in their next volume,
or in their next edition, correct the errors and prejudices in the
atticle ‘in question, for in its present state it is a disgrace to
their pages.

As my Comparative View has long since been out of print, I.
refer the reader to my Experiments and Observations on the
Atomic Theory and Electrical Phenomena, where the whole of
this affair is more fully stated. It is sold by Longman and Co.,
London. :
I am, sir,

Your very humble servant,
Dublin Society House, Dublin, : Wo. Hiaeins.*
Nov. 13, 1816.

LXXXIIL. An Account of the Discovery of a Mass of Native
Tron in Brasil. By A. ¥. Mornay, Esq. in a Letler to
-W. H. Woxtaston, M.D. Sec. R.S.*

Dear Sir,— Near five years have elapsedsince | presented
you with a specimen of native iron from Brasil. Particular
reasons prevented me at that time from making it more gene-
rally known; and since then my private affairs have not allowed
me a moment to look into my notes, and give you this short
account of the block from which your specimen was cut, al-
though I have so often promised it you,

* From the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1816, part ii.

Vol, 48. No. 224. Dec. 1816. Dd In

418 An Account of the Discovery

In the autumn of 1810, I discovered near Bahia a spring of
water strongly impregnated with iron, which was esteemed a
most valuable acquisition in that country. This circumstance
called to the recollection of the government, that, about thirty
years before, information had been received of the discovery of
certain thermal springs, situated at the distance of forty or fifty
Jeagues to the northward; and as His Royal Highness the Prince
Regent of Portugal had inquired, during his stay at Bahia,
whether the country possessed any thermal waters, 1 was re-
quested to visit the spot where they were supposed to exist.
The governor-general offered me every facility and protection 5
and in order to induce me to undertake the journey, some of
my. friends described to me an extraordinary stone which had
been found still further up the country, in the same direction,
It had been supposed to be silver or iron, or that ferruginous
agglomeration so common in Brasil, which often envelopes gold,
and I believe sometimes diamonds. On the other hand, some
persons who pretended to have seen it, asserted that it was not
a mass of any metal, but had only the metallic sound on being
struck, common to numerous blocks of stone in the same neigh-
bourhood, called by the inhabitants “ serpent stones,’’ in con-
sequence of their exfoliating by decomposition at the surface.
As the serpent casts his skin yearly, so they suppose these stones
to do.

Some account of the discovery of this extraordinary mass had
been given to the government of Bahia, and through the in-
spector-general of the militia, a man of great talents and con-
siderable learning, I obtained a sight of the papers on the sub-
ject existing at the Government-house. On reading them, I was
decidedly of opinion, that the mass described was native or me-
teoric iron, and I determined to go to see it. But before I relate
my own observations, I will give vou the substance of the notes
which I took out of those papers.

In the year 1784, a man of the name of Bernardino da Mota
Botelho, while looking after his cattle, noticed the block in
question, as being different from all the other stones on the spot,
and informed the governor-general of the province of Bahia of
his observation. His excellency immediately ordered the head
man of a neighbouring village, that is to say, at the distance of
near fifty leagues, to go and examine it. He did so, and re-
ported very marvellous things, calling the mass sometimes iron,
and sometimes stone, but giving to understand that it contained
gold and silver. The governor-general commanded him, in
consequence, to have it conveyed to Bahia. This man returned
to the spot, and after having excavated round the block, so as
to be able to get the ends of four powerful levers under it, he

contrived

of a Mass of Native Iron in Brasil. 419

contrived by great exertion, with the assistance of thirty men, to
turn it on its side. He observed the bed on which it rested to
be of the same scaly substance that was attached to the bottom
of the mass, and about eighteen inches thick.

About the latter end of 1785, he conveyed to the spot a wag-
gon, or rather a truck built for the purpose, and succeeded in
getting the mass of iron iuto it; but having spent three days in
this operation, the men employed were obliged to depart, in
consequence of the neighbouring rivulet being brackish, and not
fit to be drunk. They returned, however, and yoked oxen to
the truck, but they could not move it until they had put on
twenty pair of oxen on each side. You must observe that their
oxen are not of the strength of ours, that the ground was a loose
gravel, and that the truck was constructed on the very worst
plan, the wheels being fixed to the axletrees, and the two axle-
trees remaining constantly in a parallel position with respect to
each other.

They proceeded, however, in this manner to the distance of
about one hundred yards, when they got into the bed of the ri-
vulet above mentioned, called the Bendegé. There it was stopped
by the prominent point of a rock; and as the truck was only cal-
culated to move in a straight line, it was abandoned.

I visited this mass- on the 17th of January 1811, and found
it still on the waggon or truck, where it had been lying for five-
and-twenty years. It is situated near the left bank of the ri-
vulet, but entirely i in its bed, which was then dry, and is very
seldom otherwise.

I send you a very correct outline of this mass. (PI. Vv.) It is
about seven feet long, four feet wide, and two feet in thickness,
besides a sort of foot on which it now stands, of about six
inches in height. The solid contents, however, cannot be
inferred correctly from these dimensions, since the broad part is
hollowed out underneath very considerably. After making due
allowance for the cavities, I estimated on the spot, the solid
contents of the whole mass to be at least twenty-eight cubic
feet, which at 500 Ibs. will make its weight to be 14,000 Ibs.

Its colour is exactly that of a chesnut, and is glossy at the
top and sides, but the hollow part underneath is covered with a
crust in thick flakes, outwardly of the colour of rust of iron, and
staining the fingers. The flakes ave very brittle, and the fresh
fracture is black and brilliant, like some magnetic iron ores.

The glossy surfaces of the block are not smooth, but slightly
indented all over, as if they had been hammered with a-rather
large round-headed hammer.

There are several eavities in it, from the diameter of a twelve-
pound cannon ball, to that of a musket- ball; the larger ones being

Dd2 shallow,

420 An Account of the Discovery °

shallow, but the others much deeper. They all contain the same
substance as is attached to the great cavity underneath, and
some of them also fragments of quartzous stones, which I was
obliged to break in the holes in order to get them out.

The brewn colour of the surface of the block is merely a very
thin coat of rust, for the slightest scratch with a knife produces
a bright white metallic streak ; and yet, wherever the mass is
struck with a steel, it gives out sparks abundantly.

When rubbed with a quartzous pebble in the dark, it becomes
beautifully luminous.

The block is magnetic, and even possesses well marked poles.
In the outline I have indicated their position. The N. pole is
not so well characterized at the shorter point of the same end.

The N. pole of the block lies at present nearly E.N.E.; be-
fore it was removed it lay about N.N.E. I ought to tell you that
La Mota Botelho, who first noticed this object, accompanied
me, and, as he was present at its removal, he was able to give
me much information, being a very intelligent man.

The N. pole is by much the most massive end, and lay deepet
in the ground than the other, :

No part of the mass has the power of attracting iron filings,
whether the spot have been filed to brightness or not.

1 had provided myself with a sledge hammer and tools for
cutting off some specimens of the iron, but it was with the ut-
most difficulty that I could detach the few small pieces which
you have seen, one of which I gave to you on my arrival in Eng
land. The largest I presented to my Lord Dundas, to whomy1
am under many obligations, and who promised to place it in
the collection of the Geological Society. I also presented frag=
ments to vur lamented friend Mr. Tennant, and to Dr. Marcet.
Another specimen, beautifully crystallized, I disposed of to Mr.
Heuland, and I have only some small pieces left. As soon as
the first piece was detached, I was struck with the appearance
of internal crystallization not hitherto noticed in meteoric iron 3
but as your specimen shows this circumstance very well, I need
not describe it.

None of the fragments possess magnetic poles.

No vitreous substance appears about the mass, as in many of
the known blocks of meteoric iron.

Having taken a few reagents with me, for the examination of
the thermal springs which had been pointed out to me, I tried
the malleable part of the mass on the spot, for nickel, and [
thought at the time that. its presence was indicated ; but I am
now satisfied that the phenomena which I noticed, might have
arisen from iron alone.

I have found my specimens more liable to rust, I think, than

wrought

of a Mass of Native Iron in Brasil. 421

Wrought iron generally is; and in a damp atmosphere a liquid
cozes out from the crevices.

I repaired to the spot where the mass was discovered, namely
ona rising ground on the left bank of the river Bendegé, and
caused the soil and gravel to be removed until we came to the
bed described in the government documents. We found it at
less than three feet depth. .I had expected to find in it a con-
siderable protuberance, such as might have fitted the cavity un-
derneath the mass of iron, for I was convinced that the block
itself must have been firmly attached to the bed, otherwise it
would not have required such a considerable power to turn it on
its side.

However, I did not; and thinking that we were not exactly
on the spot, I caused two trenches to be opened down to the bed,
and crossing each other, the one being between two and three
yards long, and the other between one and two. Every part of
the bed that was uncovered was perfectly flat and horizontal,
except where we dug first.; there it was broken, and, according
to the statement of La Mota Botelho, that was done when the
block was removed.

I found no termination to the bed in the directions of the
trenches, and at the spat where the mass had lain, it was about
one foot thick, or hardly so much; but at one end of the longer
trench, not above three inches. i did not break through it any
where else. Nearly the same loose gravel appears underneath
the bed as over it. I brought away specimens of the bed, which
I considered extremely curious, supposing them to contain
nickel. On my return to England I told you, therefore, that I
hoped I had found iron ore containing nickel; for I thought that
the bed, on which had rested the mass, was one of those of
which there are so many all over the province. But as | gave
you some specimens, I will not describe it.

The surface of the soil, or rather coarse gravel, at the spot, is
about ten or fifteen feet above the main granite rock of the
country.

I can only give you an approximation of the latitude and lon-
gitude of the place. The sun was much too high at noon to
take its altitude with a sextant and mercurial horizon ; and the
artificial horizon, which [I had been compelled to construct my-
self, occasioned such a loss of light, as to make it impossible to
observe the southern stars for determining the latitude. Dif-
ferent altitudes of the sun at a distance from the meridian, did
not give me satisfactory results. I had with me an excellent
watch, and having computed the latitude to be about 10° 20” S,
I voncluded the longitude to be 33’ 15” W. of Bahia, after
faakinge every allowance, and comparing this result with those

Dd3 obtained

422 An Account of the Discovery” »

obtained before and afterwards, at the house of Major Dantas,
called Camuciata, near Itapicurt.

The rapidity of growth in plants is wonderful in the neigh-
bourhood of the Bendeg6, although the main granite rock is
so near the surface as to protrude in many places ; and what
lies on it is chiefly a coarse gravel, consisting of rolled fragments
of quartz, felspar and granite of the size of eggs, together with
smaller pebbles and sand, which contains, of course, a great deal
of mica, but hardly any vegetable earth.

At about forty leagues to the southward, ure found hills of
yellow and red sandstone, in which organic remains have not
been found; while to the northward there is a formation of si-
milar hills, i in which are observed most beautiful impressions of
whole fishes and remaius of vegetables.

Between the Bendego and the sandstone hills to the seiuphe
ward, | observed a great dea! of what I certainly take to be ba-
salt. I met with balls from the diameter of two inches to that
of upwards of three feet, and numberless prisms, with three ‘and
with six faces, scattered about ; all of these small, that is to say,
about three or four inches in length, and two or three in dia-
meter.

To the southward of the sandstone hills is a sandy plain, al-
most barren, extending many miles, perhaps sixty or eighty,
east and west to the sea, but not twenty in breadth, where I
crossed it. ‘Small conical hillocks are scattered over it, some
of which, the largest, have flat tops, and appear all to be of the
same height, about twenty fathoms.

Appearances impressed me with the idea, that they were the
remains of a plain which formerly extended over the one on
which I then stood, but which had been washed away in a tu-
multuous manner by a violent current running nearly in an
easterly direction. The larger hillocks appear to be stratified,
but they consist of loose sandy materials, except in so far as they
contain beds of a dark-red iron ore, containing imbedded mi-
nute crystals of magnetic iron ore: the thickness of these beds is
about two inches, and they are exactly similar to those which
are found in the clay hills of Bahia.

The smaller hillocks consist of confused heaps of gravel and
loose stones, interniixed with a very large quantity of the same
iron ore in fragments, and lumps of manganese, very compact,
and of a steel-gray colour, containing arsenic, but apparently no
iron.

The dreary appearance of this plain is increased by the nu-
merous nests of cupim (white ants) standing upright like so
many tombstones. On being viewed nearer, they are conical,
rather compressed, so that the base is elliptic, All those which .

I examined

of a Mass of Native Iron in Brasil. 423

¥ examined were precisely of the same shape. The materials of
which they consist are white sand, whitish clay, and particles of
wood.

Many of them were full five feet in height.

The soil of the valleys and low grounds, which are occasionally
swampy, is abundantly impregnated with sea-salt, which the in-
habitants wash out for their own consumption; but it contains
some bitter salts, which render it purgative to those who are not
accustomed to it.

The thermal springs which were pointed out to me, were se-
veral, but they hardly deserve the name.

One of them was at 86° of Fahrenheit when the atmosphere
was at 81°,

Another was at 88°, when the atmosphere was at 774°; and
also at 88°, when the atmosphere was at 80°.

The water of both of these is the purest I had ever seen.
Many small fish were swimming in the basin of the last, from
which runs, at all seasons, a considerable rivulet.

A third was at 90°, when the atmosphere was at 73°. The
water very pure, ;

A fourth was at 101°, when the atmosphere was at 653°; also
at 101°, when the atmosphere was at 93°. ‘

Taste of the water rather ferruginous, and very brackish, ex-
tremely disagreeable and. nauseous. No peculiar smell, and
very transparent, although it deposits iron and lime, and an
iridescent film is formed on its surface. Contains no sulphuret-
ted gas. The rocks of the neighbourhood contain pyrites not
magnetic.

This spring is called the Mai-d’agoa, and is situated on the
left bank of the river Itapicurti, near the water’s edge, at a short
distance from a place called the Mato-do-cip6.

It was during this journey that I had an opportunity of seeing
that curious plant called Cipé de cunanam. _1t grows abundantly
between Monte Santo and the river Bendegé. It is a climbing
plant destitute of leaves; it was so when I saw it, and I believe
it to be always the same; it bears no thorns ; but often growing
so as to form an impenetrable plica which the cattle will hardly
approach, much less attempt to break through, because when the
juice of this plant sticks totheir hair, it occasions blisters and great
irritation. It contains a milky juice, and I suppose that it is an
euphorbium. When I made a cut at the bush with my hanger,
in the dusk of the evening, the wounds inflicted presented a
beautifully luminous line, which was not transient, but lasted
for several seconds, or a quarter of a minute. Having taken a
piece of the plant, I bent it in the dark until the skin cracked,
when every crack showed the same light, which is of a phos-

Dd4 phorescent

424 Experiments and Observations onthe Mass

phorescent appearance. I continued to bend the twig until thé
milky juice dropped out, when each drop was a drop of fire, very
much like what [ have seen on dropping inflamed tallow. Indid
not observe any particular smell, The milky juice is said-to be
very poisonous; it is caustic, and occasions much itching and
irritation when applied to the skin. It becomes viscous in the
air, and soon dries of a yellowish colour, slightly tinged with
green, when it has the appearance of a gum-resin.

The above account contains all the information that I ‘can
give you on the subject:—should you think it deserving to be
laid before the Royal Soci iety, I would beg of you to add your

observations, as they would render: the “communication inter-
esting.
{ am, with sentiments of the highest esteem and peeeet,
My dear sir,
Your faithful friend and devoted servant,
London, April 27, 1816. A. F. Mornay.

To Dr. Wollaston,
Crees of the eas Society.

LXXXIV. Observations and Experiments on the Mass of Na-
tive Iron found in Brasil. By W. H. WoLLAsTon, M.D.
Sec. R.S.*

“ent pteceding letter from Mr. Mornay, ‘relating ‘to the ‘dis-
eovery of amass of native iron in Bahia, was drawn up at my
request, as a valuable addition to our stock of knowledge on that
Most curious subject ; and-I amin hopes that the results of my
own experiments may contribute something not uninteresting to
the Society.

The specimen of the iron with which Mr. Mornay very li-
herally supplied me for experiment, though it necessarily bears
marks of the hammer by which it has been detached, presents
also other surfaces, not only indicating that its texture is cry-
stalline, but showing also the forms in which it is disposed to
break, to be those of the regular octohedron and tetrahedron,
or rhomboid, consisting of these forms combined.

In my own specimen, the crystalline surfaces appear to have
been the result of a process of oxidation, which has penetrated
the mass toa considétable depth i in the direction of its lamine ;
but in the specimen which is in the possession of the Geological
Society, the brilliant surfaces that have been occasioned by forei-
ble separation from the original mass, exhibit also the same

* From the Transactions of the Royal Society for 1816, part lie
' configurations

of Native Iron found in Brasil. 425

configurations as are usual in the fracture of octohedral crystals,
and are found in many simple native metals.

The magnetic qualities of the fragments, fortunately, enable
us to appreciate rightly those of the entire mass from which
they have been detached 5 for though the mass, when tried upon
the spot by Mr. Mornay, gave indications of having distinct
N. and S. poles, it is pretty clear that these were only so by in-
duction, in consequence of position with respect to the magnetic
meridian. For though the fragments are not in the least at-
tractive as magnets, and have in themselves no polarity, they
are precisely like any other pieces of the best soft iron, and as-
sume polarity instantly, according to the position in which they
are held with respect to the magnetic axis of the earth. When
a long fragment is held in a vertical position, its lower extremity
being then within 20° of the dip of the N. magnetic pole, be-
‘comes N. and repels the N. pole of a magnetic needle: suspended
horizontally. But this power is instantly reversed by being
suddenly inverted. So that the apparent contradiction between
the observed polarity of the mass, and the seeming want of it in
‘the fragments, is thus completely removed.

Although Mr. Mornay reasonably expected that this iron
would not differ from the many others now on record that have
been found in various parts of ‘the world, and from his experi-
ments was led to infer the presence of nickel, it appeared de-
sirable to ascertain this point with more precision than he had
been enabled to do, and to determine also in what proportion
this peculiar ingredient of meteoric bodies might be found to
prevail.

I believe the means which I am accustomed to employ for
detecting the presence of nickel in native iron to be new, and
may deserve to be described, on account of the very small. quan-
tity of the iron required for this mode of examination.

Having filed from my specimen as much as ] judged sufficient
for my purpose, (which need not exceed ,}> of a grain,) 1 dis-
solved it in a drop of nitric acid, and then evaporated the solu-
tion to dryness. A drop or two of pure ammonia was then
added to tie dried residuum, and gently warmed upon it in or-
der to dissolve any nickel that might be present. The trans-
parent part of the fluid was then led by the end of a rod of glass
to a small distance from the remaining oxide of iron, and the
addition of triple prussiate of potash immediately detected the
presence of nickel by the appearance of a milky cloud, which
was not discernible by the same means from a similar quantity
of common wrought iron tried at the same time.

For the determination of the quantity of nickel I employedia

; different

€26 On a Mass of Native Iron found in Brasil.

different method. A piece of the iron weighing fifty grains
having been dissolved in nitro-muriatic acid, the solution was
evaporated to dryness. Ammonia was then added, and the so-
lution again evaporated to dryness, in order that the oxide of
iron might be rendered more dense, and more easily separated
from the soluble portion. A fresh addition of ammonia then
readily dissolved the nickel, and the solution after filtration ap-
peared of adeep-blue colour.

A small quantity of sulphuric acid having then been added,
the whole was again evaporated not merely to dryness, but with
sufficient heat to expel the excess of ammonia, muriate of am-
monia, and sulphate of ammonia. The remainder was sulphate
of nickel, which was then redissolved in water, and after being
suffered to crystallize, weighed 8°6 grains. Having found by
experiment previously made for that purpose, that ten grains of
nickel give 44 grains of sulphate of nickel, I infer that 8°6 of
the sulphate correspond to 1:95 of metallic nickel, which is
nearly 4 per cent. of the quantity of native iron taken for ex-
periment.

By an analysis conducted in a similar manner on 23 grains of
the scaly fiakes of oxide brought home by Mr. Mornay, from
the spot where the mass was found, I obtained 3-1 grains of sul-
phate of nickel, which correspond to 7-05 nickel, amounting to
no more than 3:06 per cent. of the oxidated crust taken for
analysis. But, if we consider the weight which 100 parts of the
metallic alloy would acquire by oxidation, we shall find the two
experiments correspond with a degree of accuracy that may oc-~
casion more reliance to be placed on these experiments than
they really deserve.

96 parts of iron in the state of black oxide will be
combined with 28:3 oxygen

and 4 nickel will take
about 1-1 oxygen,
so that 129°4 of the crust will contain only four parts of

metallic nickel, and 100 ditto will contain 3-1, which scarcely
exceeds the quantity actually found by trial.

From the presence of nickel in this mass we cannot but re-
gard it as having the same meteoric origin with the various
other specimens that have before been found ; and although in
the spot whence it had been first removed, Mr. Mornay disco-
vered a bed of matter from which it appears, by analysis, that
similar iron might be formed by art, it seems by far more pro-
bable, that an opposite change has really taken place, and that
the whole of this supposed ore is the result of ek dpe oxi-

ation,

On the Governmeni Trigonometrical Survey. 427

dation, during a series of years of which we have no’ other evi-
dence, and affords the sole ground on which a conjecture could
be formed of the very remote period at which this problematic
body has fallen upon the earth.

LXXXV. Remarks and Suggestions, for further improving and
applying to Use, the Government Trigonometrical Survey of
Great Brituin—By Mr. Joun Farry Sen.

To Mr. Tililoch.

Sir, — I AM much pleased to observe in a contemporaneous
Journal, that the Trigonometrical Survey of Britain, which has
so long been in progress, is beginning more generally to attract
_the attention of ingenious Men, towards giving to its results,
every possible degree of perfection and usefulness, of which they
aresusceptible. In one of the communications alluded to, dated
October 1816, I read as follows ; viz. ‘* There is also an eminent
Geologist, Dr. MacCulloch, connected with the work: and at
this moment, I believe, going from station to station with Col.
Mudge and Capt. Colby, or with which ever of those Gentlemen
may be now in Scotland.”

It would give me very sincere pleasure to find this latter an-
nouncement to have been correct, but of which I can have little
expectation, from having, when on a survey of the environs of
Edinburgh in the last autumn, been so fortunate, as to have met
Capt. Colby, at his station on the Pentland Hills nearest to
Edinburgh ; when, in a conversation principally turning on the
internal structure of the surrounding District, between a Gentle-
man of the vicinity, whom I met in the Captain’ s Tent, and my-
self, I heard from him or Capt. C. no hint, of such a valuable
addition having been made to the Trigonometrical Establish-
ment.

I the more lament this circumstance, from having always de-
sired, and made frequent attempts at recommending the making,
of a minute Mineral Survey and Map of the Environs of each
Station, since I became acquainted in 1801, with the new Prin
ciples of Mineral Surveying, and with the progress then made
in applying them, in extensive practice, by Mr. William Smith,
for acquiring satisfactory and practically useful knowledge of the
internal structure of a District, from the accurate investigation
and consideration of its surface: an art, for which posterity will do
Mr. S. ample justice, however long interested, Lecturing, Book-
making and Map-making and publishing parties amongst us may
succeed, in suppressing his name and achievements, and in unjustly

appro-~

428 Mr. Farey’s Suggestions, as to

appropriating his labours to themselves, some of them:—but I
must restrain for the present my feelings on this unpleasant sub-
ject, and with the hope of drawing the attention of your scien-
tific Correspondents to the subject of the National Trigonome-
trical Survey, I will beg to transcribe a Letter, which in the last
Spring I addressed to a public Man, whose useful labours have
laid cur country under lasting obligations to him: viz.
a
“ March 26, 1816.
«* Srr,—I am very greatly obliged by your letter of yesterday,
and in consequence of the information (new to me), as to the
intended experiments on a Pendulum, at the principal Trigo-
nometrical Stations, beg permission, without delay, to offer to
the consideration of your very active and superior mind, a few
suggestions connected with this subject.

“ First, | would beg to recommend, that the London pen-
dulum Gbvervation should be made, on the floor of St. Paul’s
Cathedral, or of St. Faith’s church under it, exactly under the
Cross above the dome, which is a most popular and well settled
point in the Trig. Survey, and it will be very desirable, that si-
milar observations be made, as near as possible to (E or W of),
the Transit Instrument in Greenwich Observatory; and that
progressively, these pendulum observations should ‘be made, at
every, or at many, and those greatly distributed, Trig. Stations.

‘© Second, That by the accurate and ready means which éhe
Canals now famaieh: and levellings for such, which have been
accurately made and recorded, when wélleeted, examined and
compared, and by other cress Jevellings from these Canals to the
Sea (none of which would now require to be very long), to as-
eertain the Elevation of each Trig. Station, much more accu-
rately and satisfactorily than has yet been done.

“Third, 1 am extremely desirous, for the interest of Science
and the honour of our Age, that every possible precision should
be given to our Trig. Survey, by employing (at the same time
with the pendulum) the capital Zenith Sector, which the nation
has purchased, and has long and often, I believe, lain wnemployed
in the Tower, in settling the La/itudes, from actual observations 5
so often and carefully repeated, on the Stars, at each Trig. Sta-
tion (and if confirmed by Pole-star observations the better), as
to leave no remaining doubts, on this very important head,

* Doubtless, sir, you are acquainted ‘with the able calcula-
tions and statements of doubts hereon, in the Phil. Trans. by
Don Rodrigue, a few years ago; and perhaps also, with the
virulent and improper attack on the Roy. Soc. for admitting the
Don’s paper, and the refusals given, to repeat observations, or

otherwise, by a proper defence, to remove these doubls, by-a
ts person,

the Government Trigonometrical Survey. 429

rson, too immediately dependent on Colonel M. as head of the

Woolwich Academy, to have been by any means decent or pro*

per, in my estimation, or that of many very ccmpetent persons,
with whom I have conversed on the subject.

** From having, when in the late Duke of Bedford’s employ,
paid considerable attention to the principles, practice and pro-
gress of the Trig. Survey, in and around Bedfordshire, and
having made a very great number of careful observations, with
each of the very admirable Theodolites they use, and yecorited,
and applied these in a multitude of minutely accurate calculations
of intersecting Triangles, and having thus obtained the most
ample and satisfactory checks, on the “results as to Angles (when
often enough observed) and lengths of calculated Lines, I am
able to concur most fully with Don R. who has in another mode
gone over the whole calculations anew, that the zet-work of
lines spread over the surface of our Island by this Survey (in+
cluding the measured bases) are of indisputable accuracy; but
no persons, except some in the Woolwich Acad., who can be
deemed competent, will I think be found to say, that the other
important data, for turning this grand Survey to the physical or
philosophical uses of which it is susceptible, have yet been de+
termined, within any degree of corresponding or sufficient ace
curacy, to these mere Lines, every three of them in different and
almost unknown planes, strictly speaking.

‘* That is, as already (and secondly) observed, there is wanting,

the actual heights of each Station, with reference to a curved
: surface of equilibrium (as yet, of unknown form, exactly) formed
by the Sea, around our Island, and to other nearly similar and
parallel higher curved surfaces, inland, which are followed by the
several Canal-ponds (with some connecting levellings, which are
wanting), in a connected net-work, over the Island’s surfaces
** Fourth, The ascertaining, by very numerous repetitions,
under proper and fully recorded circumstances, of heat, ‘pressure,
moisture, clouds, &c. the apparent angular elevation or depres-
sion, of each Station, with every other visible from it; with
much larger and better Instruments, than have yet been used
for this purpose ; two of which Instruments should, as often as
possible, be simultaneously used in observations, at ‘each end of
- aline between Stations. Calculations from these elevations and
‘depressions, would by comparison with the actual heights, fur-
nish data, now exceedingly wanted by Astronomers and Trigo-
nometrical Surveyors, for determining the Refractions at very
low elevations, some even below the horizontal line (see Phil.
Mag. vol. xlvii. p. 23); and other more considerable elevations,
between Church-Towers, &c. in valleys, near Canals (already
' well

:

430 On the Government Trigonometrical Survey.

well settled in the net-work of Lines) and the Stations on sur
rounding Hid/s, might be selected, for making this series of ob-
served data, as to refraction, join to and blend with the lower
ones already obtained by Astronomers.

“ Fifth, Very carefully ascertaining the horizontal bearings,
or Azimuths, of the lines of Triangles, with the Meridian, at
every Station ; which yet has been done at a few only, and at
fewer still, in a quite satisfactory manner.

“¢ Sixth, The difference of tume, or longitude, to be deter-
mined, by often repeated signal-lights, made and observed at
the opposite ends of all such long lines of the Triangles, as have
nearly an E and W direction. For which last purpose, if two
exactly similar apparatus were provided, and simultaneously used,
in the Pendulum observations, mentioned in your last Letter,
the time or trouble of the same, might not be materially in-
creased, by combining these very important longitude observa-
tions.

“© Seventh, That the Strata, for a circle of three or four Miles
around each station, should be carefully surveyed and mapped,
in connection with Mr. Smith’s Map of the Strata, which may
then sufficiently supply information, as to most of the interme-
diate parts of the Island’s surface.

“ Eighth, That the direction and degree of the genera! dip ‘

of the Strata, at each station, should be carefully ascertained,
and a vertical Secéton in that direction, made through the sta-
tion, of three or four Miles long on each side of the station,

either equally so or otherwise, and other cross Sections, in any |

case where the Station proved to be on, or near to a ridged or
curved plane of strata (as is not very uncommon) ; thus showing
the actual thicknesses and forms, and describing the positions of
the several strata, as deep as could, without any material expense
of sinking on the bassets, be ascertained.

‘© Ninth, That experiments on the specific gravities of Spe=
cimens of the Stones or Earths, &c. formimg each distinct stra-

tum, shown in the Maps and Sections, collected at proper di- —
stances below the surface, at several points in the course of each —
stratum, should be made, on or near to the spot, before the drying

or partial decomposing of such Specimens; and that ample and

numerous duplicates of all such Specimens, should be labelled

and preserved, and deposited in the National Collection (by

Mr. Smith and others) for illustrating the British Strata, now

forming in the British Museum ; together with copies of the
Maps and Sections, having marked on them the exact site of

each of such Specimens.
«* No progress whatever has yet been made by the Trig. Sur-
veyors,

Particuiars connected with the late Earthquake in Scotland. 431

veyors, I believe (although its propriety was strongly urged, and
the means shown for accomplishing it, 14 or more years ago),
in collecting the data mentioned (Seventh, Eighth and Ninth),
although so very important; and such as might, I think, prove
satisfactory, towards calculating the direction of the plumb-line,
as affected by the local attractions of the Strata, near each
Station ; and notwithstanding the same is also so important,
towards settling the lengths of degrees of the Meridian and of
Longitude; and which, thus determined, might secure to this
Nation, not only the honour of first efficiently investigating and
mapping the. surface of the Strata, in any Country (by Mr.
Smith and his pupils) but also of applying this to scientific use.

“< Before I conclude: permit me to express a hope, at the-
same time that our Yard and the French Afetre are compared,
that a not less useful (and corroborative) comparison may also
be made, of our best ascertained or adopted standard Pound,
avoirdupoise, and the Gramme of France.

So amt: die,’?
— Ee

If my leisure would have admitted, of now reconsidering and
rewriting my sentiments on the above subjects, this communica=
tion might have been rendered more worthy of your pages; as
it is, if you are pleased to insert it, and it succeeds in drawing
attention to the subjects I have touched on, my ends will be an-
swered: and I am,

Sir, yours, &c.
37, Howland-street, Fitzroy-square. JoHN Farry Sen.
Dec. 6, 1816.

LXXXVI. Some Particulars connected with the late Earth-
quake in Scotland. By Mr. Gavin InGuis.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Tx addition to the facts already published in your
valuable Magazine, respecting the late earthquake, I send you
the following observations, which, as every thing connected with
such a phenomenon is important, may prove interesting to many
of your readers.

I am, &c.
Strathendry Bleachfield, Kirkaldy, Gavin INGLIs.
Nov. 29, 1816.

. The evening of Tuesday the 13th of August was distinguished
by no particular appearance in this part of Scotland (Fifeshire) ;
but before six o’clock on Wednesday inorning, when my work-

people

432 Particulars connected with the late Earthquake in Scotland.

people were coming to their labour, they all expressed a
considerable degree of astonishment at the extraordinarv num-
ber of every species of swallow, that are common in this quarter.
The number was far beyond any thing ever seen hefore, except
when they assemble before their departure for the season.

The swallows continued to fly about the field for some days,
and then dispersed. They had abandoned their young to
perish. In many nests in the neighbourhood and about the
field, the whole young were found dead; also a considerable
number of the old ones, six of which I opened, and not the
smallest vestige of flies or any other thing was found within
them. They had died of want, the number of flies had been so
much diminished from the excessive rains preceding that date.

But to the earthquake.—It had been distinctly felt in Kirkaldy
and Leslie, but nowhere nearer, nor round Loch Leven, that I
ean learn. But on Thursday morning about nine o’clock an
old man, George Braid, who has lived in this neighbourhood,
and been working as bleacher, waulker, &c. upon the banks of
Leven, all his life, had just come to the field to waulk some
plaidings, and had gone to let down the bye sluice. His atten-
tion seemed quite arrested by some appearance in the stream.
Standing at a little distance, I calied to him, ‘* What’s the mat-
ter, George ?” ‘* Come and see,” was his reply. I went and
observed the water perfectly thickened with moss, clay, sand, and
every description of mud, to a most extraordinary degree. This
was the more remarkable as the women had just finished washing
a parcel of yarns, when the stream was clean and clear as usual.
I observed to the old man,—that the mud and dirt must be the
effect of the millers cleaning out Arnott mill dam, and would soon
goby. ‘ No,” said he, “ that is not Arnott mill dam, nor will
it go by for these eight- and-forty hours at least.”

Seeing his consternation, and the manner in which he spoke,
1 asked, What made him think so? Did he, who had lived so
long on the banks of the Leven, recoliect having ever seen a
similar appearance before? ‘* Never,” said he, ‘* but once; and
that was when an earthquake happened at Comrie: and be as-
sured there has an earthquake happened somewhere, be where
it may.”

Nothing of an earthquake had been felt here, nor had the
slightest knowledge of any such thing reached this place at the
time of this conversation. Struck with the old man’s remarks,
and his manner of making them, I went up the river to the junc-
tion of Arnott mill dam, and found the dam clear as a fountain;
but the river under Auchmoor bridge dirty and foul beyond

‘description, and as far up the Leven as the eye could reach.
Frora

Remarks on the Article ‘* Strength of Materials,’ 8c. 483

From the top of the bridge the appearance of the water indi-
cated the same state of filth. Curiosity prompted a further
survey. The stream was followed to the lake, where the whole
mass of waters was found dirtier, if possible, than the stream
that flowed from it. From pretty accurate experiments, the time
necessary for the water just emptying itself from the lake, to
reach Auchmoor bridge, has been ascertained; and upon that
data we calculated, by the time the mud reached the field, at
what time the shock must have been felt in the lake, and marked
it to have taken place some time between eleven and twelve on
Tuesday night.

Judge then our surprise, when the old man’s remarks were
‘so fully confirmed by accounts from the north in so short a pe-
riod after.

The agitation in the lake must have been dreadful, had it been
day-light to render it visible. The quantity of mud and sand
thrown up from the depth of 80 to 100 feet must have been
very extraordinary, when it continued so long dirty, though it had
the lake itseif and the slow windings of a number of miles through
a flat country to subside in. The water continued to run dirty
for two days; so much so, that we could neither work nor put
our yarns through any operation during that period.

LXXXVII. Remarks on the Article ‘* Strength of Materials,”
published in Dr. Rees’s New Cyclopedia, vol. xxxiv. part i.
By A CorrEsPoNDENT.

Tue author of the article “‘ Strength of Materials,” after stating
that we have two or three theories by different authors, proceeds '
to say, that “ it unfortunately happens that we owe all these
theories to men who have not themselves made any experiments.’
So far, perhaps, as respects Galileo, Leibnitz, James Bernoulli,
Euler, and Lagrange, the authors particularly alluded to, it is
correct ; but it is to Marriotte, whom the author has classed
with the experimental writers, that we are indebted for the first
outline of the true theory; and the whole of his experiments
were made with a view to illustrate and confirm the premises he
had assumed. Marriotte’s mathematical investigation only ap-
plies to rectangular prisms; therefore, his experiments, being
made with cylinders, do not agree correctly with his theory.
Marriotte’s theory was published in his Traité du Mouvement
des Eauz:, sect. v. disc. ii.*

Marriotte and Leibnitaz investigated the strength in a hori-

* See Desaguliers’s Translation, p. 287. London 1718.
£ »P

Vol, 48, No, 224. Dec, 1816. Ee zontal

434 Remarks on the Article Strength of Materials,”

zontal position; Bernoulli, Euler and Lagrange, the strength in
a vertical position: in the former the depth is the variable
quantity, in the latter the length and depth are both of them
variable: hence the theory of Euler differs from that of Galileo
or Leibnitz only in the position of the beam.

Leibnitz, Belidor*, Emersont, and other writers, have fol-
lowed only part of Marriotte’s theory, admitting the extension
to be as the force, but supposing the axis of fracture to be at the
lower side of the beam. Leibnitz and Emerson have on these
principles attempted to determine the strength of triangular
prisms, &c. and have arrived at the most absurd conclusions.

The author treats the subject under three separate heads, and
begins with ‘‘ the direct cohesion of bodies.” The strength of
bodies to resist a strain in direction of their length is stated to
be as their areas; but, allowing the material to be uniform, this
can only be the case under a certain limitation, which is not
even hinted at in the present article, though it is the cause of
the irregularity of Buffon’s experiments on the strength of iron.
As every material will extend in some degree before fracture
takes place, there is a point in the section of fracture through
which the direction of the weight must pass; otherwise, the
section will not be equally strained, and consequently. the
strength will not be as the area.

To determine the centre of resistance, and to find the law
which the strength would follow, when the direction of the
weight does not pass through it, would bea curious as well as an
useful subject of mathematical inquiry.

A want of attention to the direction of the weight is the most
likely cause of the strength in certain experiments not being as
the area (see Phil. Mag. vol. x. p.51). As to the different re-
sults obtained by different experimentalists,—the various qualities
of the same kind of material, the duration of the experiments,
and other physical circumstances considered,—they agree as well
as could be expected; the highest numbers are most likely to be
correct, provided that sufficient time has been allowed for the ex=
periments: bunt the time, in these experiments, -is seldom if ever
specified. The next division is ‘* on the resistance of bodies
when pressed longitudinally,”’ &., which certainly should have
followed that on the transverse strength, not only on‘account of
its-being more difficult, but also because it is only a modification
of the transverse strain in which the deflexion becomies the lever=
age. The author passes over this division of his subject without
even attempting a theoretical investigation ; indeed the * intri+

cate” methods pursued by Lagrange and other continental wri-

© Science des Ingénieurs, liv. iv. chap. 2. Archi Hydralique, tome lil.
¢ Mechanics, props. 77 and 78, Ato, 1773. lati
ters

PT thy : .
a ;

in Dr. Rees’s New Cyclopedia. ‘Ams

r

ters are not calculated to encourage an English author to ven-
ture on the subject.

Were we in possession of a correct and simple theory, —and the
thing is “not impossible, though Euler and Lagrange have failed
in their attempts, —it might ‘be applied to practice e without any
other experimental knowledge than that to be derived from ex-
periments made on beams or bars laid horizontally. Neverthe-
less, it w onld have been interesting to have had the tables of
Girard in English w eights and measures, which certainly ought,
to have been, done, as in its present state it is nearly useless to
the Euglish reader. ‘The manner of giving Buffon’s experi-
ments is s still less excusable, because they would have been better
in their original form eg as they are.

The experiments on the strength of stones, which are taken
from the Encyclo. Brilannica, were published by M. Gauthey,
in 1774, in Rozier’ s Journal dé Physique, and were made in
consequence of a Memoir which M. Patte published in 1770, in
which he expressed his doubts respecting the stability of the
pillars which support the dome of the French Pantheon. The
celebrated Soufflot, having heard of these experiments, con-
structed a machine similar to that used by Gauthey, and Perro-
net made a third ;, but it was perceived, in the course of their
experiments, that ‘the friction and change of position of the
lever were so considerable as to influence the results. To re-
medy these defects a new machine was inv ented by M: Rondelet,
with which numerous experiments have been made. These are
published in his Traité de ? Art de Batir, tome iii. p. 81, to-
gether with-a description of the machine. It is to be regretted
that the direct cohesion of the stones crushed by this machine
has not been ascertained.—But to return to the author of the
article: He says, ‘* We are aware that in different materials a
different law may be observed between the strength’ of direct
cohesion and the resistance of the same body to a transverse
strain.” It would be desirable to have some further particulars
if this really be the fact, but I should rather suspect the writer
to be mistaken.

The third division is “on the transverse strain and strength of
beams.” &c. The theories of Galileo and Leibnitz present such
erroneous results when applied to any other than rectangular
beams, that it is surprising, where a want of space is more Yan
once complained of, so much should be occupied in discussing
them, to the eeiincn of other valuable matter ;—for instance, the
resistance to twisting, and also what Dr, Young calls resilience
and detrusion, might have been introduéed. In the account of
the experiments of Du Hamel there is a shistake, which also oc-

E € 2 curs

436 Remarks on the Article « Strength of Materials,” &ec.

curs in Dr. Robison’s account of them. There were only two
bars cut one-third through, and only two cut half through; see
Du Hamel’s Transport.du Bois, p. 421. Paris, 1767.

The author prepares us for his own experiments and calcula-
tions by observing, ‘ that Galileo is much nearer, if not exactly
conformable to the actual operation.” But without giving a rea-
son for this opinion, he gives a rule founded on experiments
which are not detailed, and it is probable the rule will require
to be varied to suit different kinds of materials, though the only
variables that ought to have place in it, viz. the direct cohesion
and extensibility, are both included. The author must be aware
that arule of this kind, however correctly it may agree with
one set of experiments, will not agree with another; therefore,
such a rule must be empirical. Besides, if it be necessary to
resort to a rule of this kind, it ought to be simple; which cannot
be said of the present one. Several rules have been given at
different times from the experiments of Buffon, and a very easy
one is given in Brewster’s Encyclopedia, art. Carpentry, p. 5083
but were these rules correct for timber newly cut, they would be
incorrect for dry timber. To attempt to include accidental
qualities in a general rule is absurd, yet this must always be the
case with rules founded on experiment.

The author remarks, that the deflexion “ is not a necessary
datum in estimating the strength of timber for any practical
purposes of building.” Had he said, it is the only one that is really
useful, he would have been much nearer the truth. See Dr.
Young’s Nat. Philosophy, vol. i. p. 138; or his paper on Sep-
ping’s Method of Ship-building, Phil. Trans.; or Buchanan’s
Essay on the Shafts of Mills, p. 73.

If we had a correct theory, as far as the direct cohesion and
extensibility of the material are concerned, and four or five ex-
periments, under different circumstances, on each kind of ma-
terial, the material being accurately described, its specific gravity
and extensibility correctly ascertained, and the manner of making
the experiment accurately detailed,—then we should have a series
of results under various circumstances, which would enable the
mechanic to apply the theory to practice, with such limitations .
as a comparison of his material with that of the experiment
would readily point out to him.

As long as the practice of giving mean results without de-
tailing the experiments shall continue, so long may we expect
to remain ignorant of the nature of the resistance of solids. In-
stead of following the methods of Prony or Laplace, the example
of the chemical writers ought to be followed. This will lead us
insensibly to perfection, while that is but a specious covering for
ignorance. > “T tdo

On the Ventilation of Coal- Mines. 437

I do not mean to say, there are no cases where the theory of
' Laplace can be applied with advantage: but they are very rare;
and it ought only to be resorted to when there is not the means

. of obtaining correct information.

LXXXVIII. On the Ventilation of Coal Mines.

W Newcastle, Oct. 5, 1816.

E whose names are undersigned, being persons who com-
posed the meeting held at the Assembly-rooms, Newcastle, on
the 9th of September 1815, observing that Mr. Ryan has af-
fixed the resolution of that meeting, with our signatures, to his
“ Letter to the late Secretary of the Society of Arts,on his Method
of ventilating Coal-mines,” feel ourselves called upon to declare,
that no part of that method was then explained to us, but simply
an application of the inverted siphon to the clearing away of
collections of carburetted hydrogen gas, which may have accu-
mulated in cavities in the higher levels of a coal-mine; which
he illustrated by the common experiment of a bended glass tube
immersed in two fluids of different densities.

In consequence, however, of this general explanation of Mr.
Ryan’s principle,—the particular application of which, at the same
time, he expressly declined communicating,—we thought it right
to give our testimony of general approbation of it, ‘¢ as consistent
with the principles of philosophy;” and, in consequence of his
assurances of its successful application in certain coal-mines. in
Staffordshire, ‘* recommended the propriety of its adoption to
be taken into consideration by persons interested in the coal-
mines.”

On the merit or demerit of the plan now pointed out by Mr,
‘Ryan, we do not feel ourselves called to give an opinion. Our
only object is to state, that no communication of it was made
to us at the meeting above alluded to.

R. W. Grey. Joun Hopcson.

J. H. Biecer. CuristT. BENSON.
WitiiaM Turner. Wm. Crark.

Nat. Joun Wincu. Wm. ARMSTRONG.
Joun Carr. Ros. Wm. BRANDLING.

a

The preceding document would have appeared in the last
number of the Philosophical Magazine, had we not been disap-
pointed of the wood-cut which now accompanies a few remarks,
which we think the subject calls for. “We examined with some
eare Mr, Ryan's plan for ventilating mines: we think we un-

Ee3 derstand

~ 438 On the Ventilation of Coal-Mines.

derstand it ; and being persuaded that it promises many im-
portant benefits to miners, we were not backward to express our
opinion. , The gentlemen who sent us the above would, we are
confident, be sorry, should any statement of theirs retard the
introduction of an improvemeut calculated to add to the secu-
rity of miners; and as we think that Mr.Ryan’s plan of venti-
lation may actually.be compared to the operation of an inverted
siphon, it is possible, if this can be made appear, that the ob-
jection which these gentlemen have taken, to the use made of
the certificate alluded to, will be thought, by themselves, to be
groundless. ;

‘ -
* When necessary, Mr. Rynn- increases the height of the up shaft by
means of inason or brick-work, )

scendmg

On the Ventilation of Coal-Mines. 439

scending atmosphere, owing to its greater gravity, will be, to
take the lowest station, descending along the bottom of the
path or working from ¢ to a, while at the same time the car-
buretted hydrogen by its levity being sent to the roof will pro-
ceed onward to J till the space from J tod be filled with it,
when it will ascend the shaft d—the heavier aériform fluid filling
and occupying the lower station.

Let ABCD represent a ground plan; ig gh,ik, lm, no, in-
clined workings; and pq, 7s, du,vw,xy, the cross w vorkings.
Let the down shaft and the up shaft be supposed placed in the
most fzvourable cireumstances—say, the former at 7 and the lat-
ter at /, and the mine will ventilate itself. But ewmg to some
cause, we shall not inquire what, these shafts shall be supposed.
placed in less favourable cireumstances—sayy the down shaft at
¢ and the up shaft at d. How is this mine to be ventilated ?
By forcing the descending atmospheric air to go down one in-
clined working and up the nest, then down the third and up
the fourth, &e. traversing. the whole workings (the cross work-
ings | being stopped up where necessary) till, after travelling 25 or
30 miles, the atmospheric air blended with and diluting the i in-
flammable air, both be conducted to aud discharged by the up
shaft? No, says Mr. Ryan: take advantage of the law of gra-
vity, the heavier air will take the bottom, the lighter the roof;
and by proper management the lighter may be directed to the
up shaft in an unceasing current, with a velocity proportioned
to the quantity liberated trom the workings, the pressure of the
air in the down shaft, and the artificial means (the application
of heat, “sc.) which in any case may be resorted to. How does
he effect this? Let a gallery ABCD be excavated all round
the workings. Let the cross workings immediately on each side
of the inclined course which descends from k to d be left uncut,
or, what is the same thing, stop them up so effectually that no
air of any kind can reach the eup shaft d, but what must come
from the upper part DC of the air gallery ABCD. In this case
though the gas will have to descend from k to d, before it can
reach the shaft d; the current being once es stablished it will
meet with no impediment, the lighter carburetted hydrogen being
pressed upward by the heavier atmospheric air, descending the
other shaft, and occupying the lower station. Let the course of
the inflammable gas be ever so tortuous, like water discharged
downward by a siphon (however crooked) it will find its place
of discharge upward at the orifice of the longer limb [shaft].

Such we conceive to be a brief outline of Mr.,Ryan’s systems
In such a short article we cannot pretend to have done it per-
fect justice ; much less can we enter into details respecting the
vents and openings, which in some cases may be rendered in-

Eed dispensable,

440 On the late Solar Eclipse.

dispensable, owing to faults and breaks in the strata. We have
only aimed at showing that his system is ‘ consistent with the
principles of philosophy,” and that it is ** simply an application
of the inverted siphon,” discharging upward a fluid lighter
than the one employed to displace it.

We are confident that the gentlemen who signed the above
document will do justice to the motives which have induced us
to add these remarks ; for, having the honour to know some of
them personally, we know that none can more earnestly desire
to see any practicable system introduced which can contribute
to the health or safety of the miners. Mr. Ryan, being almost
self-taught, is by no means perspicuous in conveying his ideas;
and without bestowing much personal trouble in attending his
examinations at the Society of Arts, besides several other meet-
ings with him, we should not, simple as his plan is, have easily
comprehended it. We are therefore not surprised that others,
without the same means, should find it difficult.—But this very
circumstance has made us the more anxious to render it intelli-
gible, in as few words as possible; for, to speak truth, Mr. R.
possesses in a wonderful degree the art of mysterizing what is in
itself very simple; but this should not be allowed to operate to
prevent the public from reaping the benefits which his system
may be calculated to confer.

We have only to add, that the gentleman who sent us the
above document informed us, that it would also have received
the signature of Mr. Dixon Brown, had he not been from home
at the time; his sentiments on the subject being known to ae-
cord with those who signed the paper.

LXXXIX. On the late Solar Eclipse.

To Mr. Tillach,

Srr, — 1 the last number of your valuable Magazine, is a
communication from Mr. Groombridge, respecting the late
eclipse of the sun. In another Journal (the Monthly Magazine)
is a communication from Mr. Evans, relative to the same subject.
On comparing the times, as observed by these two gentlemen, it
will be seen that there is a difference of fourteen seconds in the
time of the commencement, and of twenty-eight seconds in the
time of the ending of this eclipse. As these two observers live
within a mile or two of each other, there cannot be any great
difference in the absolute time at the two places: and as they
have thought proper to publish the result of their phe
- I thin

On the late Solar Eclipse. 44}

I think they owe it to the public to reconcile this singular dif-
ference between them.

The same remark will apply to two other observers in the
town of Ipswich, viz. Mr. Capel Lofft, and Mr. Acton, as in-
serted in the same Magazine to which I have just referred.
Here we find a difference of no less than one minute and a
quarter in the time of the ending of this eclipse, although they
both agree as to the time of the commencement. This dif-
ference appears to be there attributed to the superior power of
one of the telescopes: a very improbable and a very absurd so-
lution of the difficulty. For, independent of the impossibility
of any telescope (however powerful) making so wonderful a dif-
ference in the,ending of this eclipse, it ought to have caused a
similar difference in the time of the commencement. Indeed we
sometimes find that there does exist a slight difference in the
observed time of the commencement of an eclipse, but seldom
any difference in the time of the ending of it: because in the
former case, one observer may catch the first impression of the
moon on the sun’s disc before the other ; but, in the latter case,
they can both follow the moon’s course to the very edge of the
sun’s disc with equai facility and correctness, and thereby tell
exactly the time at which the separation of the two bodies takes
place.

Before 1 close this letter, I cannot help adverting to Mr.
Groombridge’s explanation of the error in the Nautical Alma-
nac, which had been noticed in one of your former numbers,
relative to the point where the moon makes the first impression
on the sun’s disc, in this eclipse. He says that the number of
degrees is right if applied to the moon’s vertex as it relates to
the plane of the equator, and that it ought to have been so
expressed. But surely it cannot be necessary to inform Mr.
Groombridge that in ad/ cases of this kind, the angle is reckoned
from the vertex as referring to the plane of the horizon only;
and that the very design of noticing it in the Nautical Almanac,
was to enable an observer to point his telescope to that part of
the sun’s disc: which could not be done if the vertex related to
the plane of the ecliptic or of the equator. In fact, Mr. Groom-
bridge cannot produce any Nautical Almanac, ever since the
first publication of that work, wherein any other interpretation
of the phrase is intended: neither do I think that he can men-
tion any treatise on the science, wherein any other-mode is given,
for determining the point where the moon first touches the sun’s
disc, than that which measures the angle from the vertex as it
relates to the plane of the horizon.

One word more on the subject of this eclipse. Mr. Groom-
bridge observes that it was total in the northern parts of Russia,

on

442 Inquiries inio the Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Liquids,

on or near the meridian. But, if he will take the trouble to
calculate the path of the moon’s shadow, he will find that the
sun was centrally eclipsed on the meridian in north latitude 43°
8’ 48”, east longitude 29° 41’ 30”; and that the central path of
the moon’s shadow did not, at any time during its whole course,
apter any part of the Russian territories.

I am, sir,

Your obedient servant,
London, Dec. 16, 1816. AsTRONOMICUB.

XC. On the late Solar Eclipse. By E. Warxer, Esq.
To Mr. Tilloch.

Dear Sin,— Tu followi ving opservation on the solar eelipse,
of November 19, 1816, was “taken in. latitude 52? 45’ 24” N,
and longitude 1’ 34”,4 in time, east of Greenwich. (

. The beginning of the eclipse was not observed, but the end
was taken, with a forty-six inch achromatic magniiving forty-
two times, at #9 -» 10% 25’ 14”,5 A.M. per clock.
Clock too fast at 10° 25’ .. 0 3.9 66

_End of the eclipse .. 0 22 4,84 m. time.
-- The air wes very clear during the time of observation, and the.
aperture of the object glass of ‘the telescope being contracted to
two inches, the distinctness gained by this means was more than
oe for the low power l used. And, as 1 had an ob-
servation of the sun’s fansit over the meridian on the same day,
the error of observaticn of the end of the eclipse doesnot, at
bably, amount to more than a second.
Tam, dear sir,
Yours respectfully,
Lynn, Dec. 10, 1816. Ez. WALKER.

XCI. Inquiries into the Laws of Dilatation of Sotids, rit
guids, and elastic Fluids, and on the exact Measurement of
Temperatures. By Messrs. Dutone and Perir, Read to
the Institute 29th of May 1816.

[Concluded from p. $80.] ,
Of the Dilatation of Solids ut high Temperatures.

Tux knowledge of the dilatation of the metals, particularly of

the ductile metals employed in the construction of per aes
an

and elastic Fluids, and on the Measurement of Temperatures, 443

and machines, i is very important in a great number of circum-
stances. The utility of these determinations has been at all times’
felt ; and they have employed methods more and more exact, in
proportion as the want of Decor was felt in physical researches.
We may cite as most deserving of confidence the results of
Smeaton, Ramsden, Lavoisier, and Laplace.

In the labours which have been undertaken on this subject,
we have principally endeavoured to ascertain the absolute dila-
tations from 0° to 100’, and this is in fact sufficient for common
use. Messrs. Laplace and Lavoisier have besides ascertained,
that between the freezing and boiling point the dilatation of the
metals was exactly ii proportion to the indication of the mer-
curial thermometer. Borda also made the same comparison,
but in an extent of thermometrical scale too inconsiderabie to
Warrant any induction relative to the laws of dilatation. Never-
theless the object of his labour was fulfilled, since he proposed
merely to ascertain the variations of length which were produced
by the changes of temperature of the air in the instruments
which were to be employed in the measurement of the meri-
dian,

_. The greatest difficulty experienced by all those who have been
occupied with inguiries into the dilatation of solids, proceeds
from the necessity in which we are of rendering one part of the
system absolutely fixed, which implies much complication in
the apparatus. ‘When we confine ourselves, as Borda did, to
measure the difference of dilatation of two metals, we are merely
obliged to render the instruments inyariable with respect to each
other, a condition which it is much more €asy to perform than
the first,

_ As we only seek to compare between each other the laws of
dilatation of various bodies, it appeared to us that we should
equally well attain this end, by substituting the difference of the
dilatations for the absolute dilatations,

It is chie‘ly from this consideration that we determined to em-
ploy the following apparatus :

This apparatus is composed of two rods, one of platina, the
other of red copper, twelve decimetres long, twenty-five milli-
metres broad; and four millimetres thick : they are connected in
an invariable manner by one of their extremities, by means of
an iron /raverse upou which they are firmly screwed. To the
other extremity are adapted brass rods, which rise at first verti-
cally aud afterwards, bend horizontally. One of these rods has
a scale graduated into fifths of a. millimetre, and the other is
furnished with an index which marks the twentieths of the di-
vision of the scales,-which admits of our appreciating the cen-

tiemes

444 Inquiries into the Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Liquids,

tiemes of the millimetre or the 120,000dth parts of the length
of the measuring rods.

These rods rest on four copper rollers fastened to a bar of
iron. The whole machinery is placed in a vessel of red copper
fourteen decimetres long, fifteen centimetres deep, and ten cen-
timetres broad. We made use of fixed oil in these new experi-
ments as in those which were made upon the gases, and we had
recourse to the same means to render the temperature siationary
during a time sufficient to permit the measuring rods to acquire
an equilibrium of temperature with the liquid. ‘There were also
two systems of metailic plates placed on each side of the mea-
suring rods, and which we might put in motion in the liquid
mass, so as to mix-the different strata, and establish everywhere
a uniform temperature without any risk of the derangement of
the rods. Finally, the copper vessel was furnished with a lid
having four sockets, in which were thermometers which served
to indicate the differences of temperature which were expected
to take place in the various parts of the vessel. A thermometer
placed horizontally between the bars indicated the true tempera-
ture of the liquid.

That we may avoid prolixity, we shall omit several trifling de-
tails, which concurred however to the exactitude of our observa-
tions. It is easy to see from the known dilatations of the platina
and copper, that a change of one degree in temperature ought
to vary the relative position of the index by about a hundredth
ofa millimetre. Now it is impossible to be deceived with a part
of the index, however little a person may be versed in reading
off the divisions. . This precision appeared to us sufficient in the
kind of researches which occupy us. Besides, in order to give
more sensibility to this instrument, its dimensions must be aug-
mented, and then the difficulty of establishing a uniform tem-
perature throughout the whole extent of the measuring rods
would necessarily throw more uncertainty on the true dilata-
tions.

As a point of departure, we have taken the state of the mea-
suring rods in an oil-bath, which remained several days in a
room the temperature of which did not sensibly vary. This
process appeared to us to be preferable to the employment of
ice, which does not present a temperature really fixed, unless we
can agitate it continually, particularly when the surrounding air
is from 15° to 20° above zero.

The oil-bath was afterwards heated to the temperattre of 100
degrees and upwards, with the same precautions as in the foregoing
experiments. The heat of the liquid mass and that of the fur-
nace being here very considerable, the maximum of temperature

was

and elastic Fluids,and on the Measurement of Temperatures. 445

was kept up for ten or twelve minutes, which was sufficient for
the rods being put in equilibrium of temperature with the oil, if
we consider particularly that the agitation of the liquid renewed
every instant the surfaces in contact. (The proof of this was
besides acquired by the invariability of the indications of the in-
dex.)

_ The temperature was afterwards raised to 200, 250, 300°,
and the simultaneous observation of the index and of the mer-
curial thermometer served for comparing the progress of this
last instrument with the dilatation of the metals. On taking
the difference of dilatation corresponding nearly to the first bun-
dred degrees of increment in the temperature, in order to ascer-
tain the value of the degree in our metallic thermometer, we
found that the term of 300° of the mercurial thermometer cor-
responded nearly with 310° of the metallic thermometer. These
experiments, which were repeated several times with results very
little different, prove, contrary to the opinion generally received,
that the metals follow in their dilatation a progress more rapid
than that of the mercurial thermometer. Thus by supposing
that we had regulated, according to the method adopted, the
thermometer in the air, the mercurial thermometer, and the me-
tallic thermometer, when the first shall mark 300° on its scale,
the second will indicate nearly 310°, and the third 320°.

This property of the metals being once well ascertained, we
must naturally inquire if the glass, which we are obliged to em-
ploy in almost all the experiments, does not present the same
phenomenon. We endeavoured to ascertain this by adding a
measuring rod of glass to the copper measuring rod of the fore-
going apparatus ; but a difficulty was then presented, which we
do not meet with in the metals ; the measuring rods ought to be
kept in a position absolutely invariable with respect to each
other, and this cannot be done without a screw. Now all the
world knows that it is impossible to fasten strongly a thick me-
tallic plate against the glass without breaking it, whatever care
be taken to prepare the surfaces which are to come in contact.
We employed in the first place, as an intermediate body, a sheet
of paper which had been previously brought to a temperature of
30!)° by taking care to compress it strongly between two metallic

lates. In spite of this precaution, the glass rod did not appear

xed with sufficient solidity after the experiment, to remove every
‘suspicion of error, We then substituted for the paper very thin
laminz of fine silver ; and for this time the immoveability of the
Measuring rod and of its prolongation appeared to us complete.

_ We have made with this system of measuring rods several
series of experiments similar to the foregoing, and we found

that

446 Inquiries into the Laws of Dilatation of Solids, Liquids,

that the excess of the dilatation of the copper over that of the
glass’ remaiied very nearly in proportion to the indications of
the mercurial thermometer to the temperature of 300° and up-
wards. This result, very different from that which.we had ob-
fained with the measurements of copper and platina, as it ap-—

|

peared to us, could only be accounted for by supposing the glass _

to possess a law of dilatation still more rapid than that of the
metals.

Before us, M. De Luc thought he perceived in this substance a
similar property, although his experiments had not gone beyond
100°. His apparatus ‘was composed of two vertical measur ing
rods, one of glass‘and the other of brass, fastened together in=_
variably at their lower extremities. He gave to these measuring
rods lengths which are in the inverse ratio to their respective
dilatability : the largest, which was the glass one, is kept fastened
hy its upper part; the highest extremity of the copper rod is)
entirely free; and it results from the relation of the dimensions_
of the two Measuring rods, that this extremity cannot undergo
any change of situation at whatever temperature the measuring
rods are exposed, if the dilatabilities of the {glass and of the
copper vary in proportion. Now De Luc had observed that.
when he had established the compensation for a certain change
of temperature, there was no longer any room for greater of
smaller variations.

But we must observe, that the measuring reds were in a vers
tical situation, and plunged into a vessel full of water, of which
the temperature was gradually raised. Although care was taken)
to shake the liquid, it is probable that the inferior strata were®)
always colder than the upper; and as the copper rod occupied
the lower half, while that of glass passed through it in its whole
height, we may ascribe the increasing dilatability which the glass
has presented, to the copper rod being always found at a lower
temperature than the other, and the difference must have ins
creased with the heating. We might besides remove this doubt
by repeating the same observation, the measuring rods’ being}
placed horizontally, or rather by reversing the position of the
apparatus.

M. De Luc, who does not seem to suppose that his appar atus |)
has the inconvenience we have mentioned, employed no means jj
of verification; so that we might fairly entertain some well founded
doubts as to the result of his experiments. ‘With the view of
verifying the consequences which we may deduce from the ob-
servations of this experimentalist and our own, we have endea=
voured to establish this same comparison by a more a ae me-
thod.

:

andelastic Fluids, and onthe Measurement of Temperatures. 447

The march of the mercury in the ordinary thermometer mea-
sutes thé excess of the dilatation of this liquid over that of the
substance which serves it for an envelope: when this substance.
varies, the apparent dilatations of the mercury change; but they
will all follow the same law, if the bodies of which the envelopes
are fotmed have themselves a similar law of dilatation. M.Biot
has already made a fortunate application of this truth to the de-
termination of the real maximum of density of water, and to the
inquiry into the laws of dilatation of various liquids.

It was by resting on the same principle that we endeavoured
to compete the dilatations of the glass and iron at various tem-
peratures. In order to know the apparent dilatation. of the
mercury in the glass, it is sufficient to observe the thermometer
itself: in order to measure this same dilatation in the iron, it is
sufficient to construct a thermometer the reservoir and tube of
which are of iron, We cannot, it is true, estimate directly in
this case the increase of volume } ; but by substituting the mea-
surement of the weights for that of the volumes, the determina-
tions are not less exact, when we operate on a large mass.

The instrament which we made use of consisted of a cylin-
drica] reservoir of hammered iron, very homogeneous, which
might contain about 135 grammes of mercury. It is surmounted
by a cone taken in the same mass, and terminated by a small
hollow steel tube, the interior diameter of which does not exceed
a demi-millimetre. We may screw to the upper part of this tube
another reservoir of the same metal, the capacity of which is
double that of the lower: when the two pieces are joined, the
extremity of the tube enters two or three millimetres into the in-
terior of this cylinder. We see by this arrangement that we
may fill the reservoir and the tube like a thermometer, by boil-
ing at different times the mercury, so as to avoid all suspicion of
the air or humidity having any effect.

When the vessel has assumed the desired temperature, we un-
screw the upper reservoir, and the lower will be found perfectly
filled with mercury. On submitting it afterwards to a higher
temperature, the mercury which issues from the thermometer
of iron may be received into the upper reservoir. By. weighing
precisely the empty vessel, and this same vessel containing the
mass of mercury which filled’ its capacity at the different tem-
peratures observed, we may see by a very simple calculation,
if the supposition of a sintilar law of dilatation in the iron and
the glass will make the results of the experiments agree with each
other.

We could not expect to find in the interval of the first hun-
dred thermometrical degrees a very sensible variation in the ratio
of the dilatations of the two substances which we compared 5

but

448 Inquiries inio ihe Laws of Dilatation of Solids, &c.

but we made the experiment at the boiling point of water, in
order to assure ourselves of the degree of exactness which we
might expect from our_process. By employing in the calculation
the dilatation of iron given by Messrs. Laplace and Lavoisier,
we found the dilatation of the mercury =; for one degree.
We must add an unit to the third cypher significative of the
dilatation of the iron which we have employed, in order to make
our result coincide exactly with that of the same experimentalists
on the expansion of mercury.

Now by exposing the vessel at the temperature of 300° we
find that the quantity of mercury which issues from the iron
thermometer is far superior to that which ought to issue from it,
if the iron and the glass preserved at high temperatures the
ratio of expansibility which has been assigned to them below
100°.—This experiment has been repeated several times, with
results very little different ; so that we may conclude that the
dilatation of the glass does not remain constant at all tempera-
tures, and that it increases more rapidly than that of iron.

It is extremely probable that the dilatation on the increment
of elastic force of the gases remains constantly proportional to the
temperatures. (This is what we shall prove in a subsequent pa-
per.) By admitting this principle, we see that the indications
of the mercurial thermometer will be always superior to the real
temperatures, and the more so in proportion as we rise in the
scale; but experimentalists will doubtless see with astonishment,
the slowness with which these differences increase. This does
not seem to arise from the dilatations of the mercury remaining
nearly proportional to the real increments of temperature, but
from the law of dilatation of the glass being combined with that
of the mercury, and an almost exact compensation being the re-
sult. Besides, we shall be able to verify this completely.

It results also from our researches, that the metallic pyro-
meters, to which we ascribe a regular march, indicate tempera-
tures much too high, when we suppose, as has always been done
hitherto, that the dilatation of the metals remains constantly pro-
portional to the temperatures.

Note at the conclusion of the above Paper by the Editors of the
Annales de Chimie et de Physique.

This memoir is printed precisely as it was presented to the
Institute in 1815. We then expected to have been able to
publish the continuation speedily afterwards.—P articular cireum-
stances having interrupted our labours, and not permiting us to
fix the period at which it will be terminated, we thought it best
to give to the public the results which have been already ob-

tained.
XCII, New

f 449 J
XCII. New Theorems applicable to the Value of Annuities.
To Mr. Tilloch. 3

Sir, — Tue following. correct and new theorems, for deter-
mining in all cases the amounts of annuities certam when in-
creasing in the constant ratio of the natural numbers 1.2.3....7,
and also of the squares and cubes of the natural numbers, may
prove acceptable to many of your readers.

The method of summing of series of this kind is very well
known, but in this instance | was led to them by a process es-
sentially different. However, niy object is not to-discuss methods
and principles, but to detect error with a view to the consequent
establishment of truth ; and as this matter appears not to have
been clearly illustrated by any of the writers on series or an~-
nuities with whom I am acquainted, | am therefore desirous to
announce these theorems in your publication. Mr. Baily, in his
Doctrine of Annuities, has given the investigations relating to
this subject ; but in the several series there made to represent,
respectively, the amount of these annuities, a remarkable incon-
sistency exists, the consequence of which is, that the formule,
thence derived, are of no avail in satisfying the objects of our
inquiry when the annuities are thus annually increasing ; and
further, that they are applicable to this purpose, only on the as-
sumption of the annuities being actually decreasing in the order
specified above. It is therefore proper that the two assumptions
be separately distinguished, and this ambiguity in the for mulze
pointed out: otherwise the adoption of it indiscriminately, may
not ouly confuse and mislead, but produce egregious mistakes.
At the same time, I cannot but express my surprise that an au-
thor, who censures with so much freedom and severity the scien-
tific labours of his contemporaries, should have suffered such
absurdities to deteriorate what in ev ery other respect is a very
useful and popular performace.

I shall now proceed to give the theorems themselves ;_ in order
to which I take X to denote the amount of an annuity increasing
according to the order of the natural numbers 1. ies Pit ae
and Y and Z that increasing by the squares and cubes of them.

Now putting x to denote |r the amount of 12. for a year,
and 7 the number of years ; then these several quantities will be
equal to and truly represented by the following different series:

X=n+(n—1) 2+ (n—2)2*+ (n—3)29 + (n—4)2t+(n—5)x®. . «a7!
Y=n' + (n—1*) 24 (n—2°)x°+ (n—3*) x + (n—4*)a*-+ (n—5*)z*,....0"-!

Z=n? + (n—1*)r+ (n—2?)a* + (n—3')P +(n— Petar —5*)r’... of e
Vol, 48. No. 224. Dec. 1516, And

450 New Theorems respecting the Value of Annuities.

And the analytical expression for the sum of each series will
be respectively :

xv n
X w—I.(1+r—l1l)—n
a (z—])
r+} n+l
ys w—1,. (147-1) —(2n4+147.7+ 1?)
(el? fs
br n+1 Weed ite tad sch phld
Z iat wm L(ltr—1)47.147—rens 134 S(r.mt 124 M424 r.m4 1—r

(x—1)3
As an example in each case when the term is five years, and

rate of interest 5 per cent., we have for

X 16,03825625

Y 57,56850625

Z 232,4440064,
But which numbers, by the erroneous process of computation
given in the work already quoted, would come out successively
for this term and rate of interest:

X 17,13553125

Y 64,03215625

Z 265,19378125.
The difference in each case, between the amounts or the ex-
cess in error, rapidly augmenting as the rate of interest and term
of years increase.

To the formule enumerated above, may be added the follow-
ing: .

eiticn n n—1
r—!. (l4r¢e)47—2)—(2n—1)
StL aka oa isu iin
And this is a general expression for the amount of an an-
nuity increasing according to the numbers |.3.5.7...2n—1.
And if the annuity is supposed increasing in the order of
their squares, the general expression for its amount in 7 years
will be :
nae .
FAT (ero ert ere Gn) Bn
I intend at a future opportunity giving the necessary theorems
for the present value of annuities under the particular circum-
stances just stated, and also some other matter relative to the
determination of the rate of interest in annuities.
5, Haberdashers Place, Hoxton, Jas. BENJ. BENWELL,

Dec. 10, 1816,
XCIII, On

[ 451 ]

XCIII. On Safety-lamps, and the Barrier formed ly Wire-
gauze against the Passage of Flame. Ly J. Murray, &sq.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sin; — Ma. LaNGmIRE, in the last number of The Annals of
Philosophy, pronounces the limit I have assigned to the barrier
against flame—to be inconsistent with the deductions of Sir
H. Davy. By a reference to my paper Mr. L. will find that

this had a relation to simple unexplosive flame, and was intro- .

duced as explanatory of the chasm obtaining between flame
and metallic surfaces ;and if this gentleman will have the good-
ness to place a series of wires on a frame, these wires being one-
eighth of an inch apart, he will find (as I did) that such an ar-
rangement is effectual in cutting off the communication of flame.
If he will please to be referred to the Rev. Mr. Hodson’s. Narrative
in your last number, page 351, he will also discover that Sir H.
expressly names one-eighth; this I hail as corroborating my
inference, and value it the more as it has been for the first time
to me published. —The safety-lamps are constructed of wire-
gauze having 784 apertures in the square inch; and | repeat,
that I do. not consider any danger is to be apprehended, if by
accident the alternate mesh be broken down; for even then, the
intervals would be only distanced one-fourteenth of an inch.

The double cylinder is by no means necessary, and may be in-
jurious where the exterior one is of copper, for the following
reasons:

1. It is violently acted upon by fire-damp.

2. Dissimilar metals being employed, a Galvanic action may
be induced, and corrosion take place. And,

3. The sebacic acid 6f rancid oil acts forcibly on copper,

I will go further than even Sir H. Davy has done, and assert,
that, even should aw explosion occur within the Jamp (the gauze

being formed of loose pliant materials), and the imperfectly con-,

structed cylinder burst, by means of it; even then, no danger
would accrue to the miners, for the eadlinelzon would instantly
succeed the explosion, when confined within the cylinder. In
one of the collieries which I descended, the under-viewers using
a lamp procured from Newcastle, made of fine /rass wire as soft
and pliant almost as common thin writing-paper, the cylinder
loosely connected with the socket, above the serew, and the
seam indifferently joined ;—this impyoper instrument, having
nothing to recommend it but a rude imitation of that most valu-
able machine, lurst in his hands at the joining of the seam ; yet
he was perfectly secure, me i i without the least injutys
1e

452 On Safety-lamps, and the Barrier formed

The seam was stitched together with intervals not less than ith

of an inch; and this had served repeatedly to explore the idine ‘

and ascertain the presence of the fire- damp. These facts are
important to our question, and place it in a new and interesting
point of regard,

It is harsh and unbecoming, I deem, sir, to ridicule this happy
invention ; for myself, 1 cannot make merry when the question
at issue re that of the lives of human beings :—lIs it not too
severe to blend the name of its discoverer with contemptuous
sarcasm ?—intreduce the language of the admirers of this prin-
ciple of security with pantomiinie faree?—and to turn the praise
honestly bestowed on Sir H. Davy, into invectives against him?
I should be glad to know who it is that has done more for che-
mical science than this philosopher (I would not depreciate the
labours of his contemporaries, or undervalue preceding chemists) :
What discovery, I ask, has ever imposed a higher claim than
this safe-lamp, on our tribute of admiration? Mr. Langmire
suspects it is unsafe—I, on the other hand, know that it is se-
cure under every possible circumstance. -‘This language Mr. L.
will pronounce bold and assuming ;—but it has been proved safe
uuder circumstances which can wever oceur in the mine.—A
friend of mine got a small safe-lamp, not more than one half
the size of those in common use, and where the danger was pro-
portionaliy enhanced, this, containing 784 apertures in the
square inch, was plunged into a mixture of oaygen and super-
carburetted hydrogen: the wire-gauze became speedily red hot ;
but it was found even under this severe test perfectly safe. Sit
Humphry Davy is blamed, I think unfairly, for the mere me-
chanical part of the structure ; and the term “‘ lamp making,
and the word “ original,” are ‘associated } ina manner which “is
unfeeling and undeserved. The calm and dispassionate suffrages
of the gentlenien who voted to Sir H. a piece of plate, for the
eminent service rendered to the cause of miners, forcibly re-
pel the unfust attack. Would it not be an insult to their un-
derstanding and good sense, to say that the merits of the dis-
covery had not been fully canv assed, or that they were incapable
of appreciating the benefits rendered to humanity by its means?
1 challenge in the most unequivocal manner Mr. L. to point out
a single accident which has occurred where Sir H. Davy’s lamp,
as constructed by Mr. Newman, of Lisle-street, has been used.
This is the most decisive appeal that I can make, or can be made,
in its favour,—I think I could guaranty with my life its abso-
lute safety. The wear of the materials is a point which none can
prevent—mutability is impressed upon all the works of Nature.
To defy or controul the operations of natural causes, to endea-
vour to stem the ravages of time, is a folly which could never

enter

ta ieet, 2

aye

EAT ae

by Wr ire-gauze against the Passage of Flame. 453

‘enter 4 mind so well fortified by science as that of the emi-
nent philosopher against whom Mr. Langmire has so desperately
wielded the shaft of ridicule-—As to the priority of Sir H.
accused by Mr. L. (indirectly it may be) of acting on the ori-
ginal invention of another, Mr. Hodson’s view of the controversy
will fully confirm: and to that paper I beg that Mr. Langmire
will direct his attention.

None can doubt Mr. Langmire’s scientific merits. His various
papers bear ample testimony of a shrewd and well-informed
mind; and the honourable assurances of his practical knowledge in
mines, which I had the happiness to receive from many gentlemen
respectable for their attainments, render the position unques-
tionable. Mr. Children’s scientific worth stands pre-eminent in
ithe lists of human knowledge, and is universally acknowledged.

It is painful to see the asperities of controversy, and particu-
larly those of superior minds. In the warmth of our feelings,
excited by an ardent love of what we esteem and value and ad-
mire, inadvertent expressions escape, which our cool and calmer
moments of reflection condemn, and wish to recall. For myself,
I own I felt hurt when the admirers of this discovery were told
that they were amused with the “novelty of the thing,” as if
we were children, and the object of our admiration a Dutch toy ;
and nowwe are informed that it maybe esteemed as a “‘curiosity.”
A little while, and the balance of truth, directed by the hand cf
time, will incline the scale, and pronounce a verdict in favour of
the absolute security of Sir H. Davy’s safe-lamp, which the
storms of opposition can never disturb, and which will stand un-
shaken in ‘* proud pre-eminence.”

In proof of the explanation offered by me, for the principle on
‘whic hinges the offered security,—and that it does not depend
on the conducting character of the metallic wire-gauze,—I may
state again, that non-conductors of calorie will cut off the com-
munication of flame. This may be easily proved :—Let a number
of punctures be made in a card, and propel a jet.of carburetted
hydrogen through it; the experiment will decide that the gas
may be ignited on the outer surface of the card, and cut off the
flame from communicating with the orifice of the pipe.

Besides all this, the ambient air is a bad conductor of heat.

I have insulated a flame surrounded by an atmosphere of
steam, and found that combustion would not communicate
through it.

Methinks it is cruel to torture the miner’s peace by raising
suspicions as to the security of the safety-lamp:—for my own part,
I glory in being the advocate of a discovery to illustrious, and
ef one which holds out such important and extensive and lasting
benefits to mankind.

Ff3 I had

454 On Safety-lamps, Bc.

I had imagined that this lamp would have held precedence of
all others, and that there existed no necessity of making a pa-
rade about any other, or raising up a rival. — I see, however, that
Dr. Murray’s safe-lamp forms a prominent article in the last
number of Dr. Thomson’s Annals of Philosophy :+—whether the
merit of priority rests with Dr. Murray or with me, let the fol-
lowing extract from the little volume I published, and quoted by
Mr. Hudson, decide : see page 154.

* An air-tight lamp being formed—a pipe might supply it
from the mine itself, the orifice of the tube receiving the supply
from the stratum of air contiguous to the floor,—the carburetted
hydrogen being /ighter and ascending would occupy the upper
part, and thus could not enter the tube.”

This is conclusive on the subject,—My Elements of Chemical
Science was published June 1815, consequently five months be-
fore Dr. Murray’s paper on the subject appeared and was read
before the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Whatever merit then may
attach to priority in suggesting the structure of an air-tight
lamp, to be fed by a flexible tube from the floor of the mine,
founded on the specific levity of the ascending carburetted hy-
drogen, I must claim as my undisputed right. But realty, sir, I
‘see no use in multiplying safety-lamps, which cannot in their
‘© best estate’? compete for a moment with the one introduced
by Sir H. Davy: by this ¢* sublimely simple” invention, these im-
perfect projections are happily superseded ; and for ny own: part,
I should have consigned the suggestion of my mind to forgetfal-
ness, had it not been elicited from me by Dr. M.’s persisting in
claiming an exclusive fitle to this structure ; and but for this, my
present statement would have never been. I may again detail
to you my plans for getting rid of the fire and choke damps of
‘mines, which has been honoured with éwo voles of thanks from
* the Society for preventing Accidents ii Coa}-niines.””—That
of the fire-damp will require a plate for its better apprehension.

If my feeble Jabours in the cause of humanity should be di-
rectly or indirectly serviceable, it will delight me to reflect, that
at least part of the duties of social and civil lite has been ful-
filled in me,

I am, with much respect, sir,
Your very obedient and most humble servant,
Surry Institution, Dec. 12, 1816. J. Murray.

To Mr. Tilloch.

_ Sir,—Sir Humphry Davy’s claims to a priority of invention
in the safety-lamp being established by the unanimous suffrages
of

Notices respecting New Books. 455

iif a gerieral meeting of the coal trade;—allow me to propose,
seriatim, the following query: -

Has Mr. Langmire made experiments with the wire-gauze
safe-lamp,—under what circumstances,—and what were the re-
sults? If in the mine, has it been submitted to that ordeal
which it is required to pass, and has it been found wanting? If
in the latter position Mr. L, should answer affirmatively, then
he.is required to detail the phenomena connected with it, that
it may be corroborated or negatived by other experimentalists.

Meantime our faith stands undismayed, for it is seated on a
rock.—A mere ipse diail, or bare assertion, unsupported by the
proofs of experiment, the philosopher rejects as “ trifles light
as air.”

I am again, with every réspects sirs ;
Your obliged and very obedient humble servant,
Surry Institution, Dec. 14, 1816. J. Murray.

$< ——

-XCIV. Notices respecting New Books.

Mi. ANDREW Horn, author of ¢ The Seat of Vision determined
by the Discovery of a newFunction if the Organ,’ intends publishing
a work upon which he has been long engaged,—lIllustrations of
the Mosaic Cosmogony and Naochian Deluge. Itis divided into
three parts. The first part contains an Inquiry into the origin
of the notion prevalent among mankind concerning superior
beings; comprising four chapters. I. Concerning an intuitive
notion of the Deity. 11, On theargument @ priori for the being
ofa God. Il. On the evidence for a first cause arising from the
course of nature. IV. Revelation proved to be the only source
from whence mankind have derived their notions concerning the
_ being of a God, and a creation. Part second, concerning Philo-
sophical Cosmology, consists of two chapters. 1. Opinions of the
most celebrated ancient philosophers concerning the origin and
constitution of the world.—II. Principles assuined by the most
distinguished modern philosophers, to account for the formation
and mechanisin of the world.—Part 4 hird, On the Origin of the
World, Formation and Revolutions of the Earth according to the
principles of Moses; this comprises fifteen chapters.—I. Con-
cerning the antiquity of the world and beginuing of things.—Il.
Of space.—II1. Concerning creation and the extent of the Mo-
saiac cosmogony.—lV. On matter, its properties and atomic
étate.—V. Ou the reduction of the atomic mass of this earth to
a sphere.—VI. An inquiry into the existence and agency of an
universal fluid.—§ 1. Concerning the atherial fluid, its laws,
and evidence that it operates under a ¢wvofold modification.—§ ©

Ff4 n

456 Notices respecting New Books.

On the, agency of the ztherial fluid in the production of electrical
phenomena.—§ 5. Agency of the ztherial fluid in Galvanic phe-
nomena.—§ 4, Agency of the. atherial fluid in magnetic pheno-
mena.—§ 9. Agency of the etherial fluid in the production of
light and colours.—§ 6, On the agency of the etherial fluid in
vausing heat.—VII. On the production of the atmosphere.—
VLU. Concerning the formation of primitive rocks.—IX. On the
production of primitive mountains.—X. On the formation of se-
condary rocks,and progress of organization from its vegetable state
to. its perfection in man.—Xi. On the physical consequences of
man’s original transgression.—§ 1. Concerning the nature of
the curse imposed upon the ground.—§ 2. On the origin and
formation of coal.—§ 3. On the origin of rock salt.—§ 4. Con-
tinuation of secondary strata till the ocean ceased to make che-
mical depositions. —XII. Historic and traditional proofs of the
deluge.-— § 1. Mosaic account of the deluge.-—§ 2. Heathen
traditions of the deluge.—§ 3. Proofs from tradition that the
poles of the earth were changed at the deluge.—XIII. Natural
proofs of the deluge and change in the polar axis of the earth.
—§ 1. Longevity of mankind before the deluge.—§ 2. Of the
rainbow. —§ 3. Vestigia of the retreat of the waters into the
abyss. —XIV. Concerning the partial changes which the earth
has sustained, previous and subsequent to the deluge.—§ 1. On
the causes that have contributed to the present appearances in the
crust of the carth.—§ 2. On the formation of metallic and other
veins. —§ 3. Outhe connection between the changes in the crust
of the carth and organic remains found in its strata—XV. On
gravitation, the mechanism of the solar system, and its con-
nection with the universe.—The whole will be comprised in one
volume quarto, of about 500 pages, accompanied with four plates
illustrative of the various theories and phenomena which it em-
braces. Among others, the following theories will appear, found-
ed upon a principle more general than any hitherto proposed: A
new theory of Gravitation, of the Earth, of Light and Colours, of
Combustion, &c. &c.
. The work will be published by Subscription. The price One
Guinea and a Half. It will be put to the Press as soon as the
number of Subscribers shall be competent to cover the expense.
Subscriptions will be received by the Author, High Wycombe ;
Messrs. Gale and Fenner, Paternoster-row, London; A. Consta-
ble and Co., and W. Blackwood, Edinburgh.

An Inquiry into the Effects of Spirituous Liquors on the Phy-
sical and Moral Faculties of Man, and on dt Hiapriten of So-
ciety, will shortly be published. J

‘The

Royal Society. 457

The First Part of Volume IV. of the Geological Transactions
has just made its appearance. The contents are,

I. Observations on the Geology of Northumberland and Dur-
ham. By N. J. Winch, Esq. F.L.S. Honorary Member of the
Geological Society.—II. On a Whin Dyke traversing Lime-
stone in the County of Northumberland. By the Hon. Henry

_ Grey Bennet, M.P. F.R.S. Vice President of the Geological Se- |
ciety.— Ii. Description of an insulated Group of Rocks of
Slate and Greenstone in Cumberland and Westmoreland on the
east Side of Appleby, between Melmerby and Murton. By the
Rev. W. Buckland, Professor of Mineralogy in the University of
Oxford, and Member of the Geological Society. '

XCV. Proceedings of Learned Societies.
ROYAL SOCIETY.

Ta 29th of November, being the anniversary of this Society, the
following election of officers took place for the ensuing year.
~ Onexamining thelists it appeared that the following gentlemen
were elected.
_ The Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G.C.B. President.
_ Samuel Lysons, Esq. Treasurer.

Taylor Combe, Esq. Santertie

William Thomas Brand, Esq. shh fa oa

Of the Old Councit. Of the New Council.

Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, W. T. Brande, Esq.

Bart. G.C.B. J. G. Children, Esq.

John Barrow, Esq. J. W. Croker, Esq. M.P.
Samuel Goodenough, Lord Bi- Chas. Konig, Esq.
shop of Carlisle. Alex. MacLeay, Esq.

Taylor Combe, Esq. Alex. Marcet, M.D.

Sir Humphry Davy,Knt.LL.D. Colonel Wm. Mudge.

Sir Everard Home, Bart. W. H. Pepys, Esq.

Samuel Lysons, Esq. George John Earl Spencer.
George Earl of Morton. Sir John Thomas Stanley, Bt.
John Pond, Esq. Astr. Royal.

Wiiliam Hyde Wollaston, M.D,

Thomas Young, M.D.

_ December 5.—Mr. Todd, through the hands of Sir Everard
Home, communicated the result of some additional experiments
made on Torpedoes at La Rochelle. The subjects he now ope-
rated on were one 8 and the other 18 inches long, but they de-
veloped no new facts. He found the shocks greater, as might be
expected, by improving the conductors, in.applying the one hand

to

458 Royal Society. ;

to the animgl, while the other held the svalpel which was brought
_in contact with the electric organs. The organs, it appears, pro-
ceed fromthe medulla oblongata.

Mr. Hatchett communicated a. process for sweetening musty
corn, in a letter to Sir Joséph Banks. Several years ago this
philosopher was engaged in researches into the guality and pro-
ducts of wheat and barley, in consequence of which he discovered
that musty graiti, which was so bitter as to be totally unfit for
use, and which could scarcely be ground, might be rendered per-
fectly sweet and sound by stmply immersing it in boiling water
and letting it remain till the water became cold. The quantity
of water in this case was always double that of the corn to be pu
rifed. Mr. H. found that the musty quality rarely penetrated
through the husk of the wheat, and that in the very worst cases
it did not extend through the amylaceous matter which lies im-
mediately under the skin. In the hot water all the decayed or
rotten grain swims on the surface, so that the remaining wheat is
effectually cleaned from all impurities, and this too without any
material loss. The wheat is afterwards to be dried, stirring it oc-
casionally on the kiln, when it will be,found improved to an ex-
tent which can scarcely be believed without acttial experience.
The immense quantities of musty corn now in merchants’ ware-
houses or granaries belonging to farmers, render these experi-
ments highly valuable at the present crisis; and it is not doubted
that, whateyer may be the cavils of ignotance and inhumanity,
the good sense of all those interested will lead them to adopt so
easy, cheap, and effectual means of rendering their wheat or other
grain from 10s. to 40s, a quarter more valuable.

Dec, 12.—The President, happily, was again able to resume
his chair, and Mr. Brande read a paper containing the results of
his experiments on a species of Chinese galls, which were given
to hin by Sir Joseph Banks to analyse. It appears that these
gallsarevery valuable for dyeing, or making ink, and that the Chi-
nese use them for their black dyes ; they yielded 75 per cent. of

the astringent principle, containing oxalic and gallie acid, but no’

extractive matter. The residuum was chiefiy woody fibre. As
these galls contain no extractive matter, they are consequently
unfit for tanning, and in this respect they differ from all other
galls, or even from catechu.

Dec. 19.—The President in the Chair. M. Du Pin, through
the hands of Dr. Young, communicated some remarks on naval
architecture, and particularly on the improvements adopted by Mr.
Seppings. This author began by numerous professions ofgratetude
for the civilities which he received during his visit to this country,
and expressed a wish that the paper then read should be consi-
dered as a testimony of that feeling. But seience has neither

passions

Royal Academy. 459

passions nor country, and the language of adulation or of preju-
dice is fortunately unknown in the apartments of the Royal So-
ciety. M. Du Pin then proceeded by claiming to his countryman,
a French shipbuilder, all the merits of Mr. Seppings’ improve-
ments, which he alleged were known in France in 1725; he intro-
duced some mathematical calculations, which were of a nature not
to be publicly read ; and added some remarks on the nature of a
ship’s arching, or, as our seamen call it, hogging; alleging that
vessels always arch most just on being launched, and before re-
ceiving their guns or cargoes ; that their arching augments their
capacity at the two ends, that it is not so near the middle as ge-
nerally supposed, &c., and many other observations, which prae-
tical men will treat as mere theoretical dreams, unsupported by the
evidence of facts and. experience. -

With respect to the origin of the improvements made by Mr.
Seppings, it is probable that this ingenious mechanician will eall
for some more substantial evidence, than that of mere assertion.
In his first paper which was read to the Royal Society, he men-
tioned the French vessels which were built on a different plan; he
also stated in what his improvements consisted, and how materi-
ally they differed from any preceding attempts. He did not in-
deed pretend that transverse timbers were never before employed.
A vessel with vertical planks and horizontal timbers was built at
Archangel in the latter end of the 17th century. But it is among
the Spaniards and Venetians that we are to look for the earliest
and best attempts in naval architecture. The former have always
built excellent ships, and near two centuries ago tried the effect
of diagonal planks, &c. Hence we may find that all which Mr. S.
has adopted from others, was common property in Europe even
before the period of 1725.

ROYAL ACADEMY.

Tuesday, Dec. 10, being the forty-ninth anniversary of the In-
stitution of the Royal Academy of Arts, a Genetal Assembly of the
Academicians was held at their apartments in Somerset-House,
where the following distribution of Premiums took place, viz.

To’Mr. Edward Elton, for the best Copy made in the School
of Painting, the Silver Medal, and the Lectures of Barry, Opie,
and Fuseli, handsomely bound and inscribed, Cat

To Mr. Richard Carruthers, for the next best Copy made in
the School of Painting, the Silver Medal. _ .

To Mr. J. C. Leslie, for the best Drawing from the Life, the
Silver Medal.

To Mr. Thomas Leverton Donaldson, for the best Architectu-
ral Drawing, the Silver Medal, | .

To

460 New Frigorific Mixture.

To Mr. Matthew Shepperson, for the best Drawing from the
Antique, the Silver Medal. *

To Mr. Wm. Behnes, for the best Model from the Antique, the
Silver Medal.

The General Assembly afterwards proceeded to elect and no-
minate the Officers for the year ensuing, when

Benjamin West, Esq. was unanimously re-chosen President.

_ New Council—A. E. Chalon, W. Mulready, T. Phillips, and
M. Shee, Esqrs.

Old Couneil—Wm. Owen, J. Northcote, Esqrs., Sir William
Beechey, and H. Fuseli, Esq.

Visitors in the Painting School—Sir W. Beechey, Sir T. Law-
rence ; J. Northcote, J. Ward, A. W. Callicot, H. Howard, W.
Owen, and T. Phillips, Esqrs.

Visitors in the Life Academy—Sir W. Beechey; W. Mulready,
W. Owen, R. Smirke, H. Thomson, J. Flaxman, H. Howard,
T. Stothard, and R, Westmacott, Esqrs.

Auditors re-elected —G, Dance and J. Farington, Esqrs.

XCVI. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.
NEW FRIGORIFIC MIXTURE.

To Mr. Tilloch.

Sir, — Amone the numerous mixtures which are attended
with a diminution of sensible heat, a very convenient and effec-
tive one seems to have hitherto escaped the attention of che-
mists. It is that ofsnowand alcohol. The greatest effect appears
to take place when equal weights of each are used, and I need
scarcely add, that the precaution of effecting the solution in the
least possible time is necessary to produce the maximum of cold.
The temperature both of the snow and alcohol being 32°, the
solution in several experiments fell to —17°, amounting to
49° of Fahrenheit. The alcohol was not of a very low specific
gravity, so that I imagine it would not be difficult to produce at
least an additional degree. The original communication not —
having reached you, and no memorandum having been preserved,
I cannot now state what its strength was, nor does the season as
yet admit of a repetition of the experiment; since the difference
in the solubility of pounded ice and of snow will sensibly affect —
the results.
You will perceive that this circumstance explains the greater —
degitee of cold generated by mixing snow with our strong wines, —
than by plunging the containing vessel into ice and water. ;
I am, sir, Your obedient servant, .
Blackheath, Dec. 1816, J. MacCuLtocn.

Prehnite.—Steam Engines.— Nautical Ephemeris. 461

PREHNITE DISCOVERED IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

Mr. Bakewell has recently discovered Prenhite in a rock of
Basaltie Amygdalin at Woodford Bridge, near Berkley in Glou-
eestershire. This mineral has not, we beHeve, been found before
in any part of England or Wales, though i it occurs in Scotland and
various parts of the world. The Basaltic Amygdalin of Wood-
ford Bridge contains also decomposing agates, zeolite and green
earth. Itis further remarkable for having in the upper part large
and perfect organic remains of coral, of which Mr. Bakewell
brought away a fine specimen imbedded in basalt. ‘The occur-
rence of marine animal remains in this rock may revive the long

agitated question respecting the igneous or aqueous formation of
basalt,

STEAM ENGINES IN CORNWALL,

Messrs. Lean, in their report of work done by steam engines
in Cornwall, in November, notice an error in their report for.
October. a iver 39,556, 496, the work done by Mr. Woolf’s en-.
gine at Wheal Vor in October , read 40,920,513 pounds lifted
one foot high with each bushel of coals.

The counters of some of the engines have been idle in Novem-
ber. The average work of twenty-six reported was 20,538,498
pounds with each bushel. The others reported are: ,

Woolf’s engine at Wheal Abraham, loaded 10:1 per square
inch in cylinder, lifted 46,648,718 pounds with each bushel of
coals. His other engine at that mine, loaded 3:1 per inch, lifted,
21,460,944.

Another engine of his, at Wheal Unity, load 13°8 per inch,
appears in this report—Work 34,432,825 pounds lifted with
each bushel. An old engine at Wheal Abraham, now under the
management ‘of Mr. Woolf, lifted 34,152,162 pounds per
bushel.

The altered engine at Wheal Chance, alluded to in our two
last numbers, lifted 43,970,893 pounds with each bushel;—load
per inch 13-4,

NAUTICAL EPHEMERIS.

Sir,—It seems rather extraordinary that, whilst so many are
fruitlessly endeavouring to find errors in our excellent Nautical
Ephemeris, no one should have noticed the almost entire omis-
sion (for the last two years) of the occultations of the planets or
fixed stars by the moon. I am the more surprised at this omis-
sion, as no cause has been assigned for it; and the notice re-
specting the notation, as well as the exhortation to mariners and
travellers to observe the occultations as often as possible, are still

continued

AB2 Nautical Ephemeris.

continued in the general explanation prefixed to the Almanac. At
no. time were these observations likely to be of more essential ser-
vice than at the present. Frommthe various anomalies which have
occurred in the course of the great Trigonometrical Survey, it ap-
pears that the latitudes and longitudes of places, determined as-
tronomically, can no longer be considered as accurate expressions
to designate the relative situation of places on the earth. These
anomalies are supposed to arise either from irregularities in the
figure of the earth itself, or from certain irregularities in the den-
sity of its strata, causing a deflection of the plumb-line from the
position it would otherwise assume. In either case a careful com-
parison of the latitudes and longitudes of different places deter-
mined trigonometrically, with those of the same places derived
from astronomical observations, seems to be the only probable
way of throwing light on this intricate subject, and leading us to
a true knowledge of the earth’s figure,

There is, perhaps, no method of determining the longitude
astronomically with greater accuracy, than from the occultations
of the fixed stars by the moon, They are also of frequent oc-
currence ; and as there are many individuals in this country who
possess the means of making these observations with accuracy,
one would wish that every assistance should be afforded that
might invite to it. Until our Astronomer Royal shall again af
ford this, perhaps the insertion in your Magazine of such astro-
nomical phenomena as will oceur during the month may not be
unacceptable to your readers: if you think so, the inclosed (for
January 1817) are at your service, and shall be followed by
others in due time. eats dene
I am, sir, your obedient, &c.

a * * *
Astronomical Phenomena, January 1817.

D. Ho. M. DOH.M. ©

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The New Blow-pipe—Refraction, 463

THE NEW BLOW-PIPE.

_ Srr,—The new blow-pipe, acting by a stream of condensed
oxygen and hydrogen, has deservedly excited mmch interest :
a detail of some experiments effected by means of this power-
ful instrument may prove interesting. 1 am following them up ;
and may merely mention, meantime, that the oxygen was ob-
tained from oxymuriate of potassa, and the hydrogen from zinc,
&c. The proportions, such as form the constituents of water :

1, Pratinum as thick as a stocking wire was instantly fused,
scintillated, and fell in a large glolule,

2. Partapium fused instantly, and slightly scintillated.

3. A WATCH-SPRING melted with most splendid coruscations,
fused into a large globule, and even BortED violently.

4, Pure caustic ALUMINA and MAGNESIA burnt with tnde-
scribable brilliancy, exhibiting a splendour of light rivalled
only by the sun. ,
~ 5, Part of a ropacco-piPe burnt vividly, and was fused inte
GLASS. ;

6. A piece of inpiGo exhibited a beautiful and intense flame,
7. A fine electric TOURMALIN grew red hot, instanily fused,
and flamed.—It did not forgo its electrie powers. e

8. The DIAMOND, in a groove of charcoal, was submitted to
its influence :—In a short time it became red hot, then BURST
INTO FLAME; and, when dislodged from its nidus, it fell upon the
table, and continued a second or two in actual flame.

Through Dr. Clarke, the chemist has received an agent of the
most extraordinary powers of ignition. Anticipation augurs in
‘© breathless expectation” the most brilliant results. Man is
only in the infancy of his being !

] am, respectfully, Sir,
Your most humble servant,
Surry Institution, Dec. 24, 1816. J. Murray,

P.S. A mass of PERCARBURET of iron (plumbago) gave
héautiful minute sparks, and was fused.

Rock crysTat decrepitated violently, At this moment an ex-
plosion of the condensed gases took place, and the instrument
was rendered useless.

This accident suspends for the present a continuation of the
experiments ; but the chemist must smile at danger when such
brilliant results rise up in prospective, J. M,

REFRACTION.

Sir,—It has often occurred to me, on reading Sir Isaac New-
ton’s 14th query at the end of his ‘¢ Optics,” that some interest-
ing

446 Electrical and Philosophical Apparatus—EuharmonicOrgan.

ing experiments might be made on the refraction of light through
media of different densities,

Besides glass and water and atmospheric air, the rays of light
might be directed through vessels of varied sizes and shapes, filled
with alcohol, ether, naphtha, or even the various gaseous sub-
stances, from the heavy carbonic acid gas to the lightest hy-
drogen.

In these experiments the rays of light might also be examined
when separated into their different colours, and thus directed
through these various media.

Perhaps these hints may induce some of your correspondents,
who have the leisure and the conveniencies requisite for the per-
formance of such experiments, to engage their attention to them,
and comriunicate the result to the public. As to myself, I can
only say—Fungar vice Cotis. A Correspondent.

#,* Experiments of the kind suggested by our correspondent
have been made, aud have.even been carried so far that the re-
sults were attempted to be applied some years ago to the im-
provement of achromatic telescopes by a gentleman in Edin-
burgh, though we have not heard with what success. As, how-
exer, his suggestion may induce other experimentalists to turn
their attention to the subject, we have given his well-meant com-
munication a place jn our pages.

ELECTRICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL APPARATUS.

The excelleut collection of electrical apparatus and other
_philosophical instruments, which have been employed by Mr.
Singer in his Lectures, is to be offered to public sale early in
the present season, in consequence of the discontinuance of
those lectures from the illness of Mr. Singer. od

LARGE EUHARMONIC ORGAN.

Messrs. Flight and Robson of St. Martin’s Lane have com-
pleted a large and fine Organ, for the Hast Indies, with com-
ound stops, the first of such which have yet been made, on the
Rev. Henry Liston’s patent plan; in which instrument separate
pipes are provided for every sound (near 60 in each octave) im all
the upper parts of the scale, and shaders tor producing two or
three sounds (differing by comma major) from the same pipe, are
only used in some of the larger ranges of pipes, both for saving of
room, and because it has been found by experience, that in such

lower parts of the scale, the shaders act the best. Ina short tim
Mr. Liston proposes to commence a Course of Lectures on the
musical scale, as now in use by singers, violinists, &c., illustrated
by experiments on all the chords in use, and by performances, on
this large organ. EXPEDI-

i 1

Expeditions to Africa.— Improved Mode of making Bread. 465

a "+ EXPEDITIONS TO AFRICA.

_ Melancholy accounts have, we are sorry to say, been received,
respecting these expeditions. There are two :—the one intended
to penetrate from Senegal through the Deserts to the banks of the
Niger ; the other to proceed by steam-boats up the Congo, under
the idea that the former empties its waters into the Atlantic
through the latter great river, on the banks of which the two ex-
peditions expected to meet ;—the former under the directions of
Major Peddie; the latter commanded by Captain Tuckey, who
proceeded sooner than had been generally reported. Major Ped-
die was at Senegal the end of September. The following is an
extract of a letter from the agent to Lloyd’s, dated Bahia, Oc--
tober 30 :—* You will observe by the list herewith, the arrival of
the Congo and Dorothy, two ships fitted out on the coast of
Africa for a voyage of discovery ; they have put in here from the
Opposite coast, in consequence of the sickly state of their remain-
ing crews, nearly two-thirds having died of the fever, including
the conimander, first-lieutenant, and botanists.”

IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING BREAD. a

Mr. Edmund Davy, of the Cork Institution, has communicated
thé following important facts to the public in The Munster
Farmer’s Magazine.

“* The carbonate of magnesia of the shops, when well mixed
with the new flour, in the proportion of from twenty to forty
grains to a pound of flour, materially improves it for the purpose
of making bread... Loaves made with the addition of the carbon-
aie of magnesia rise well in the oven ; and after being baked, the
bread is light and spongy, has a good taste, and keeps well. In
cases when the new flour is of indifferent quality, from twenty to |
thirty grains of the carbonate of magnesia to a pound of the flour
will considerably improve the bread. When the flour is of the
worst quality, forty grains to a pound of flour seem necessary to
produce the same effect.

_ © As the improvement in the bread from the new flour de-
pends upon the carbonate of magnesia, it is necessary that care
should be taken to mix it intimately with the flour, previous to
the making of the dough.
_ * T have made agreat number of comparative experiments with
other substances, mixed in different proportions with the new
flour. ‘The fixed alkalies, both in their pure and carbonated state,
whenused in sinall quantity, to a certain extent improve the bread
from the new flour; but I have found no substance so efficacious
in this respect as the carbonate of magnesia.
’ The greater number of my experiments have becn performed
Vol. 48, No, 224, Dec. 1816. Gg on

466 Improved Mode of making Bread.

on the worst new seconds flour I could procure. I have also made
some trials on seconds and firsts of different quality, In some
cases the results have been more striking and satisfactory than in
others—but in every instance the improvement of the bread, by
the carbonate of magnesia, has been obvious. It may be neces-
sary to remark, that, in all my experiments, a proper attention
was paid to all the circumstances connected with the accuracy of
the results. The materials were weighed and mixed together,
the dough was made up, and the bread baked, under my own in-
spection, ‘
<The trials I have made have been necessarily on a small
scale ; they have been performed chiefly on quantities of flour not
exceeding a pound in weight. I shall state the results of a com-
parative trial on the worst new seconds I could get, with and
without the addition of the carbonate of magnesia.

<< | made-five small loaves, each containing one pound of flour,
one hundred grains of common salt, and a large table-spoonfull
of yeast. The dough, in all of them, was made up with water at
the temperature of 1U0 deg. Faht. and exposed before the fire for
two hours at the temperature of 70 deg. to ferment.

_ The first Joaf contained no other addition.

The second..........10 grains of carbonate of magnesia.

MS CN 2 So oo oe ote sO FAIS 5, os UO os e's seins nile

HG TOME tec c's cs s (OO PTOMIS ce Oc es oe ep kale

are Gin ee oO orange 6... dO. ss den 2 OO

s¢ After they had been all baked together in the same oven, the
loaves when cold were examined.

“ The loaf without the carbonate of magnesia had fallen in the
oven; it was like a cake, and was soft and clammy, and readily
adhered to the knife.

“ The loaf with the addition of ten grains of the carbonate of
magnesia was improved ; it had risen better than that which con-
tained none, but still the improvement was not very considerable.

«© The loaf with twenty grains was far superior to the one with
ten grains; it was for the most part light and porous ; but still
there was a slight tendency to heaviness. The loaf with thirty
grains was still better than the one with twenty grains, But the
loaf with 40 grains was uniformly light and spongy, of a more re-
gular texture and better colour than any of the others.

«In all my experiments I have used the porter yeast, but @
successful trial has been made with the new barm. I have never
made any secret of the foregoing facts, but have readily commu~
nicated them to a number of gentlemen, to whom I have shown
specimens of the bread made with, and without, the carbonate of
magnesia, and they have uniformly given their assent to this im-
provement,

6] un-

Improved Mode of making Bread.—Van Mons’s Intelligence. 467

¢¢ | understand a number in Cork and in the neighbourhood
have been induced to repeat my experiments ; and they have, for
the most part, been attended with great success. If there should
be any instances of failure, it would not be proper hastily to refer
them to a defect in the method, but to impute them rather to a
want of attention to those circumstances necessary to insure suc-
cess.

“ T conceive not the slightest danger can be apprehended from
the use of such an innocent substance, as the carbonate of mag-
nesia, in such small proportion as is necessary to improve bread
from the new flour. It is well known to be administered with
perfect safety, even toinfants. In order to try the effect of bread
made with this substance on myself, I have used it exclusively for
the last five weeks, without the least inconvenience, in the pro-
portion of sixty, eighty, and even one hundred grains, toa pound
of flour.

“A pound of carbonate of magnesia would be sufficient to mix
with two hundred and fifty-six pounds of the new flour, at the
rate of thirty grains to the pound. And supposing a pound of
carbonate of magnesia to cost half-a-crown, the additional expense
would be only half a farthing in the pound of flour.

<< 1 am not quite satisfied as to the peculiar agency of the car-
bonate of maguesia, in correcting the bad quality of new flour.
It is an extremely light substance, and may probably tend to im-
prove the texture of the bread. The new flour, too, in the pro-
cess of baking, may perhaps be disposed to undergo the acetous
fermentation, and the carbonate of magnesia, being slightly al-
kaline, may correct the tendency of the fermented dough to aci-
dity. .On this part of the subject, however, the experiments I
am now pursuing will, 1 trust, throw some light.

I am, dear sir, yours truly,
“ Cork Institution, Dec. 3, 1816. EymunpD Davy.”

Continuation of M. Van Mons’s Intelligence.

I have learnt from Messrs. Gay Lussae and Arrago, that the
system of chemistry and the names of substances are experiencing
a new revolution, and that in a short time there will not remain
one stone upon another of the existing edifice.

M. Dulong has made some experiments upon nitric acid, which
fully confirm what I long since made known, that the fuming ni-
trie acid is simply nitric acid with nitric vapour interposed, in the
same manner as the fuming sulphuric acid consists of sulphuric
acid with sulphuric vapour interposed. This vapour when set
apart becomes crystallized : Dulong has found that the nitric va="

Gg2 pour

468 French Academy. i

pour is liquefied by cold, and becomes coloured ; he might without
doubt by a cold more intense have crystallized it. You will re-
collect that in the report of my experiments with a cold of 58° R.
J observed that the nitric and muriatic acids, in congealing, pro-
duced two sorts of crystalline concretions, which when liquefied
take a red colour in the nitric acid and a greenish in the muriatic.
I mentioned further, that sulphuric acid dashed with nitric va-
pour, loses its colour before congealing, and recovers it on being
liquefied ; that colour is considerably deepened when the fuming
sulphuric acid is heated in close vessels. I propose during this
winter to submit to the same degree of 5SR. the different com-
pound gases; for which purpose I have still all my apparatus and: .
a great store of muriate of lime.

M. Virey in a communication to the French Academy of
Sciences (formerly the Institute) states that the spur of the rye
is not a champignon of the genus Scleroticum, as M. Decan-
dolle had endeavoured to prove; but that it is a real disease of
the grain ; since there are to be found in it all the peculiarities
of organization of the rye, a degeneration as yet unknown in
its nature, amylaceous fecula, and probably all the immediate
materials of the Cerealia.

Messrs. Beauvois, Thouin, and Thenard have also made a re-’
port to the Academy on two papers of M. Dupetit Thouars,
relative to the effect produced by frost on flowers and young
shoots. M. Dupetit Thouars seems, according to the report, to
have been the first who perceived a small icicle even in the sub-
stance of the calyx of some flowers; but almost all botanical
authors had already noticed this phenomenon in the young:
buds. “In spring,” observes M. Sennebier, ‘the new shoots of
the ligneous plants are extremely tender, humid, and full of
aqueous juices: the frost then destroys them with the herbaceous
plants, because the water which is frozen occupies a greater
space than in the fluid form. Its sudden expansion destroys the
frail organization of the vessels which contain this water : But
these alterations are more or less. disastrous, according to the’
nature of the organs, and their parts. Thus, if those organs and:
those fibres were susceptible of a great expansibility, if they were:
at the same time very elastic, and that they could resume their
first state as soon as the water thawed,-then the dilatation of the’
water changed into ice will dilate the organs of the plants, and
they will resume their first form, without having preserved any
apparent trace of alteration.” The committee are of opinion
that in this way we may account for the little action which:

frosts

Lizards found in a Chalk Rock. 469

frosts seem to havesomctimes, according to M. Dupetit Thouars,
“upon the young shoots, and on the calices of the flowers.
LIZARDS FOUND IN A CHALK ROCK.

Dr. Wilkinson lately presented to the Bath Philosophical So-
ciety a letter he had reveived from a clergyman in Suffolk, rela-
tive to two lizards being discovered by the rev, gentleman ina
‘chalk rock, with some interesting circumstances tending to ex-
plain why all the animals which have been discovered in rocks,
marbles, &c. die on their exposure to the atmosphere. From ob-
servations made, there appeared to be some obstruction in their
respiratory organs. One being placed in water disengaged itself
from this obstruction ; while the other died, from not being en-
abled to liberate itself from the viscous matter lining the throat.
The clergyman in his letter says: “ A pit having been opened in
the summer of 1814, at Elden, Suffolk, for the purpose of raising
chalk, I deemed it a favourable opportunity for procuring fossils ;
accor dingly commissioned the men employed to search for and
-reserve whatever appeared curious. In this search I sometimes
assisted, and had the good fortune to be present at the discovery
of two lizards imbedded in the solid chalk, fifty feet below the
surface. The followiig is the result of my observations :—So
completely devoid of life did the lizards appear on their first-ex-
posure to the air, that I actually considered them in a fossil state :
judge then of my surprise when, on my attempting to take them
“ap, I perceived them move! «1 ‘immediately placed them in the
.sun, the heat of which soon restored them to animation. In this
state I carried them home, and immersed one in water, keeping
‘the other in a dry place. "You may perhaps consider it worthy
your observation, that the mouths of the lizards were closed up
with a glutinous substance, ‘This obstruction seemed to cause
them great inconvenience, which was evident from the agitation
perceptible in their throats, and from the frequent distension of
the jaws, or rather around ‘the jaws and the head ; indeed they
seemed in a state little short of suffocation. The newt which had
been immersed in water, after many violent struggles, was at
length enabled to open its mouth : this afforded it instant relief,
and it evidently derived much satisfaction and comfort from. its
newelement. The other lizard, notwithstanding its repeated. en-
deavours, was unable to open its mouth. [t died in the course
of the night, probably from being debarred the use ofits proper
element. The remaining lizard continued alive in the water for se-
veral weeks, during which it appeared to increase in size, It dis-
liked confinement; and after manyattempts, at length, to my great
mortification, effected its escape, nor could I ever after find ite

Ges CHEMICAL

470 Chemical Tesis.—Lectures.— Meteorology.

CHEMICAL TESTS AND APPARATUS.
_ We are happy to inform experimentalists and scientific per-
‘sons resident in the North of England, that they may be supplied
with Chemical Reagents in a state of purity, subjects of experi-
ment, and apparatus for chemical and philosophical pursuits, by
Mr. William West, chemist, Leeds.

—_——.

Mr. Taunton’s Winter Course of Lectures on Anatomy, Phy-
siology, Pathology, and Surgery, will commence on Saturday,
January 18, 1817, at Eight o’clock in the Eveuing precisely, and
be continued every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, at the
-same hour, at the Theatre of Anatomy, 87, Hatton Garden.

I —
Meteorological Observations kept at Walthamstow, Essex, from
November 15 to December 15, 1816.
[Usually between the Hours of Seven and Nine A.M.]
Date. Therm. Barom, Wind.
November

15 29 29°50 -W.—Clear and’ clouds; cumulostraius ;

fine day ; star-light.

16 29 29:72 NW.—Gray morning; windy; fine cold

gray day; very dark night.

17 31 30-01 NW.—Clear and cirrus; fine sunny cold

day; dark night.

18 47 29:71 S.—Hazy; showers; rainy; star-light.

19 31 29-72 W.—Cirrus SE; cirrostratus NW; eclipse

of the sun visible ; fine day ; dark night.
New moon. -

20 44 29:94 S.—Hazy; cirrus NW.; sun and clouds’;

dark night.

21 41 30:00 S.— Cirrus and cirrostratus; wind and

cloudy; some sun; dark night.

22 38 29:92 E by S.—Gray; fine sun and windy day;

star-light.

23 29 29:72 E.—White frost; gray fine cold day; star-

light. ,

24 19 29:83 E.—Sun; white frost, and hazy; very fine

sun; fog; star-light.

25 29 29-83 E.—White frost and clear; fine day; hazy

at 2 P.M.; rainy evening.

26 42 29:83 S.—-Fog and rain; very rainy and foggy

at noon; cirrostratus, and less rain;

cloudy night. Moon first quarter.
_ 27 85 380-21 NW.—Sun through fog; clear and clouds;
moon through cumeli.

28 43 30:32 W.—Gray; gray day; fine sun, but foggy.

. November

Date. Therm.
November
29 34
“3D a0
December
hes 4
2 Up4
BPE: 34
AM. 3y/
5 40
6 39
7429
Si ae
29
10 39
1l 39
12; 32
13 38
14 34
15 43

Meteorology. 471

Barom. Wind.

30°43

30-61

30°61
30°44
30:43

30°40

30°01
29°51
29°41
29°51

29°65
29°50
29°43
29°43

28-93

29°43
28:82

W.NW.—Foggy; sun through fog ; fine
day; moon and star-light ; but a little
hazy.

NW.—White frost; very fine day; baro-
meter 30°68 at Clapton, one part of the
day; light, but neither moon uor stars
visible.

N.—Gray; fine gray day; clear moon and
star-light.

N.—Clear and clouds; gray day; light, but
no moon nor stars.

N.—Foggy; stratus; but clear above; fine
clear day; (great fog in London ;) light,
but hazy.

N.—Cloudy; hazy at eight; gray day;
visible eclipse of the moon, but not seen
till above half over, because of the clouds
about 10 P.M.—Full moon.

SE.S.—Gray; fine gray day; showers and
wind, after dark.

SW.W.— Fine moon-light morning; fine

sunny day; cumuli and moon.

NW.W.—Clear and windy ; fine day; hazy
at 3 P.M.; clear moon and star-light.

S.—-White frost, and foggy; sun through
fog; some showers, sun and wind ;
clear moon and star-light.

W.—White frost; clear and cirrostratus ;
clouds and sun ; cloudy and windy,

SW.— Clear and clouds; cirrus S; fineday;
dark and windy.

SW.—Fogegy; sun, and cirrostratus; star-
light; snow in the night.

SE.—Some snow on the ground: foggy;
very rainy after 11 A.M. till dark; star-
light.—Moon, last quarter.

W.— Clear and clouds; sun, and great
showers and wind ; star-light.

W.—Foggy; fine day; dark and rainy.

SW.—Windy; clear and clouds; fine sun
and wind; cumulostratus; fine day;
star-light.

METEOROw

472 Meéieorology.

BMETEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT AT BOSTON,

LINCOLNSHIRE.
3 2 eee Se
[The time of observation, unless otherwise stated, is at 1 P.M.]
—
I
\ge of iAbhives
1816. the |Thermo-| Baro- |State of the Weather and Modification
Moon} meter. | meter. of the Clouds,
ee -——
te DAYS

Noy. 14| 25 { 40° 29°85 |Fair—storm of rain and snow in
the evening—frost
15| 26 | 36: | 29°60 |Very fine—snow in the evening
16} 27 | 36°5 | 29°94 |Stormy—snow, sleet, and rain—
wind N.
17| 28 | 37°5 } 30°20 |Fair—snow in the evenines_ ueavy,
rain all night
18} 29 | 46° 29°75 |Rainy—fair—rime frost at night
19}new}] 41° 29:90 |Fair

20 49° | 30°10 |Very fine
a1 49°5 | 30°15 |Ditto
22 39° | 30°01 ee ee at night

35°} 30° [Very fine
36° 30° {Ditto
42° | 30°10 |\Cloudy—thick fog at night, and
~ rain early next morning
27} 81 46° {| 30°29 |Ditto
28} 9 | 41:5 | 30°40 |Ditto—fog—frost at night
29} 10 | 43° |} 30°59 /Very fine—ditto
30] 11 | 36° | 30°76 |Cloudy—ditto
Dec. 1} 12 | 38°5 | 30°74 |Very fine—ditto
13 | 42°5 | 30°52 |Fair—rain at night.

1
g
3
Q3| 4 35° 29°95 |Fair
5
6
7

2

3} 14] 39° | 30°50 |Ditto

4\ full} 40°5 | 30°48 |Ditto

5| 16 | 41° | 30°08 |Ditto—heavy rain at night

6} 17 | 42° | 29°62 |Very fine—frost, snow, and rain at

night
7| 18 | 37° | 29°58 |Ditto ditto
8| 19 | 39: 29°70 |Rain ditto
9| 20 | 38°5 | 29°69 |Fair—heavy rain at night
10; 21 | 39° | 29°65 |Very fine ditto
11} 22 | 39°5 | 29°32 |Ditto [frost at night

19) 23 | 37: 29°37 \Cloudy—heavy rain in even’—rime
13) 24 | 37° } 29°22 |Rain, snow—wind—frost at night
14] 25 | 40° 29°51 Very fine

ke Meteorology. 473
METEOROLOGICAL TABLE,
By Mr. Cary, oF THE STRAND,

For December 1816.

‘hermometer. esa
qe : Aas
=e ob me Height of |}&% 83 :
Peal E 4 S 5 = re Barom, ee Weather.
2S) oe aches, =e Pe
— Sa) oo
so) _™ Q al
es | eee Cnet EE)
Nov. 27| 32 | 47 | 47 | 30°21 22 ~=s\Fair
28) 45 | 45 | 40 24 10 {Cloudy
29| 35 | 45 | 39 *32 15 (Fair 4
30) 36 | 39 | 35 “49 26—s|Fair
Dec. 1] 37 | 39 | 33 “49 16 |Cloudy
2) 33 | 40 | 40 *33 10 (Cloudy
3; 37 | 41 | 38 *30 0 |Foggy
4 33|40|40| 20 0 {Cloudy
5 40 | 42 | 39 "08 0 |Cloudy
6, 40 | 43 | 39 29°50 10 |Fair
7 36 | 40 | 40 *45 12 |Fair
8| 35 | 40 | 36 "49 0 |Showery
9 33 | 44 | 40 "58 12 {Fair
10; 40 | 48 | 46 *20 0 |Stormy
11} 40 | 43 | 36 *20 5 {Fair
12) 39 37 | 48 | 28°90 0 |Stormy
13 37 | 42 | 35 | 29°15 Oo |Stormy
14) 34 | 42 | 42 "05 15 |Fair
15| 40 | 44 | 36 | 28°82 0 ‘Stormy
i6} 33 | 40 | 38 | 29:45 | 10. [Pair
17; 40 | 49 | 40 "2g oO |Rain
18; 39 | 42 | 38 56 6 |Cloudy
i9 34 | 36 | 29 | 30°36 6 [Fair
20} 27 | 35 | 27 ‘41 10 |Fair
21) 25 | 32 | 24 a5 12 Fair
22; 23.| 28 | 25 "02 10 |Fair
23; 32 | 42.| 46 | 29°75 7 Cloudy
24\ 47 | 50 | 44 ot 6 |Cloudy
25; 39 | 43 | 46 ‘70 13 |Fair
26; 48 | 49 | 40 *30 0 |Stormy

N.B. The Barometer’s height is taken at one o'clock,
I

C 474 }-

INDEX ro VOL. XLVIIL.

Acapemy, Royal. Anniversary of,

459

Accum’s Essay on Reagents, 310
Acid of phosphorus, 271
Aerial navigation. On, 144
Africa. Proposal to colonize, 74; ex-
pedition to, 151, 232, 465

Agricullure, considered as a science, 261
dltenturgh. Mines of, 387
America. On the peopling of, 4, 205
Anatomy, Comparative, 383
Anatomy of Vegetables, 96, 173, 278, 401
Animals. Non-descript, exhibiting, 390
Annuities. On value of, 449
Aniiquities. Ruins of Velleia, 394
Antrim, county af, geology of, 246
Architecture, Naval. On, 458
Asia, central, well known to the an-
cients, 71
Asthma, galvanism a cure for, 383
Atomic Theory. On the origination of,
363, 408

Acletrees of carriages, compared, 93
Azote and Oxygen. Combinations of,

331
Beef. On smoking, 37
Belfast Academicat Institution, 384
Beudant. On Molluscez, 223 |

Bituminized tree found 150 toises deep, —

388
Blood. Medicines act through medium
of, 337

Blow pipe, improved, 151; exper.

with, | 463
Bonnard, on mines in Saxony, 386
Books, new, 61, 62, 140, 229, 300,381,

$ 455
Borium, to extract, from borax, 389
Brain. Dissection of, 153
Brandling on safety lamp, 349

Brasil. Mass of native iron in, 417;

exper. on, 424
Bread. To improve, 465
Brevet d’ Invention, Instructions for ob-

taining, : 1380
Bridge. The Waterloo or Strand, 1
Brown on thermometric scales, 885
Buds, Flower, formed in the root, 174

Calculus. A new species of, 27, 222
Caledonian Canal. State of, 39
Canal gales, constructed of iron, 40
Cardona. Salt mines of, 325
Carriages, Wheel. Exper, on, 83
Cast fron. Mushet on, 295, 354

’ Biker, sulphuric, alters by age,

Chemical Philosophy. Walker’s, 241,342
Chemistry. New revolutionin, 467
Children Gn safety-lamps, 191

Circle. ‘On the, 862
Circulation of sap denied, 99, 103, 406
Clarke's blow pipe, 151, 463
Cova! Mines. Ventilation of, 206
Colours of Men. On, 437
Combustion of Explosive Gases, 24, 36, 81
Comet of 1815. On, 59.
Contagion. On destroying, . 70
Cooper on a urinary calculus, Cy fe ae
Copenhagen, cabinets and libraries in,
+125

Corn, Musty, to recover, 458
Corolla of a Flower, how formed, 183
Cosmogony of Moses, 18,111, 117,201,
276

Cranivlogy, 153
Curlew, Variety of, 395

Davy (Sir H.) on explosive mixtures
and safety lamp, 24;°51, 197
Davy (E.) on improving bread, 465
Deafness, the diving bell recommended
for, o) 22
De Buch. On limits of perpetual snows,
' 289

De Luc’s electric column, 242, 342
De Nelis on electricity, 127
Dilatation.

22
Doternier’s process fer obtaining bo-

rium, 389
Dogs. Medicines for, 155
Donovan on hydrogen, 138
Drummond an meteoric stones, 28; on

planetary influence, $21

‘Drying Stove. A quere, 390
Dulong on combinations of phosphorus
and oxygen, 271; of azote with oxy-
gen, 331; on laws of dilatation, 442
Earthquake in Scotland, 150, 234, 431

Eclipse, 440, 442
Edgeuwrth on wheel carriages, 83; re=

port on, 92
Electricity, 127, 241, 344
Edinburgh Royal Society, 71
Electric column, De Luc’s, 242, 342
Electrometer. Walker’s, 242

$l4
Eukarmonic Organ, 446

Exp osive Gases. On, 24, 36; 81, 191,

196, 286

On the laws of, 373, 442
Diving Beil, a: means to cure deafness, _

{
;
y
:

Farey (Sen,) on Trigonometrical Sur-

vey, 427
Figuier on precipitating gold, 227
Fiorin Grass. Richardson on, 135
Flame, Sir H. Davy on, 24; Murray,

J. on, 286, 360
Forster on Meteorology, 8; on alter-

nating colours of stars, 398
Fossil, A singular, 388
French Academy, 468
Freyberg. Mines of, $387
Frigorific Mixture. New, 460
Galvanism a cure for asthma, 383
Gases. On dilatation of, 875
Gas-Lights, The Borough, » 388
Gay Lussac on sulph. ether, 314
Geography, Antient. On, ah
Geological Society, S00

Gevlogy, 161, 246, 300
Gold, oxide of. On precipitating, 227
Gomex on destroying contagion, 70
Gosford, (Countess of) letters to, 161,

246

Gout. Remedy for, $38, 341
Grain, Musly, to recover, 458
Grosmbridge on solar eclipse, 371
Guyton de Morveau, death of, .... 76
Hamel on diving bell, 22; on safety
lamp, 36
Heales on magnesio-sulphate of soda,
202

Heat. On accumulation of, by friction,
29; intense, to produce, 151
Herculanean MSS. Unrolling of, 289
Higgins on atomic theory, 363, 408
Hodgson on safety lamp, 550
Home on feet of animals which move
contrary to gravity, 70; on certain
medicines, 937, 344
Horn ou vision, on cosmogony,
117, 276

Hunter's Nautical. Indicator, 154
Hydrogen, Impurities of, 138
Atéetson (Mrs.) on physiology of vege-
tables, 96, 175, 278,401

ee

Inglis on earthquake in Scotiand, 431
Juk, wiiting. Improved, 145

Jron,on alloying with manganese, 295,
554; Native. A mass of, 417; exper.
on, A424

Japan or Varnish. To make, 152

Kirwanian Society, 142

Knight (1. A.) some opinions of, con-
troverted, 105; on action of detached
leaves, $45

Kinght (Wm.) on exper. on safe-lamps,

196

Lamps for mines, 24, 36, 81,191, 196,

197, 286, 348, 451

72, 141, 983, 451

Varnishes for, 15:

Learned Socielies,
Leather,

toe

475
Leaves, the lungs of plants, 99
Leech, On the, 383
Life, vegetable. New view of, 278
Lizards found in a chalk rock, 469

London. New bridge at the Savoy, 1
MacCulioch on making wine, 62; on
mineralogy of Sky, 500; his i frigorific

mixture, 450
Magnesia. New use of, 455
Magnesio-sulphate of soda, 71, 202

Manganese. On alloying iron with, 295,
354

Marbles, On foreign and British, 3023
Parian, works executed in, 804
Materials. On strength of, 433
Maycock on Voltaic excitement, 165,

255
Medicines. On action of, 337
Mercury, red oxide of. Exper,on, 146
Metals, New ideas on, 146
Meteoric Stones. On, 28
Meteorology, 8, 79157,237,317, 397,470
Mineralogy, 122, 300
Mines. Safety-lamps for, 24, 36, 81,

191, 196, 197, 286 ; in Saxony, 386
Mitchill on origin of the native Ameri-
caus, 4
Mollusce. Exper. on, 923
Mornay on Brasilian mass of native
iron, 417
Murray (Mr. J.) on safety-lamp, 286,
431; on flame, 286, 360, 431

Muscles of vegetables, 105, 107
Nautical Almanac. Errorsin, 34, 461
Nautical Indicator, 154
Naval Architecture. On, 458
Neptunists. On theories of, 161
Neaeman’s blowpipe, 5h
Niger. On its junction with the ocean,
74

Nitrate of Potash contains water in the
state of ice, VA
Oi!, Rape. ‘To improve, 232

Olters on a new comet, and on a work

by Professor Bessel, 59
Oven. A quere, 390
Organ. Improved, 446
Oxygen. Combinations of, 271,331
Parian Marlle, Works executed in,

804
Patents, 77, 130, 236, $16, 395
Pater on vision, 353

Perspiration of Plants denied, 99, 100,

173, 407
Petit on laws of dilatation, 373, 442
Phenomenon, A remarkable, observed

at sea, 10

Phosphorus. Solvent for, 145; on com-
binations of, 271
Phy stslogy of vegetables, 96, 173, 278,
401

476

Pierard on smoking beef, 37
Plague. On destroying infection of, 70
Planetary infinence. On, 321
Plants. Physiology of, - 96, 173, 278;

action of detached leaves of, 345
Prehnite found in Gloucestershire, 461
Platina, New process for purifying, 72
Prichard on cosmogony, lll

Prize Questions, 141
Races of Men. On, 4, 206
Rain fallen in Yorkshire, 77
Rape oil. To improve, 232
Reagents, Chemical Essay on, 310

‘Richardson on fiorin grass, 135; ou
theories of geologists, 161; on the
formation of St. Helenaand Antrim,
246; on agriculture as a science,

; 262
Ridelfi’s process for purifying platina,
‘ 72

Roads for Carriages. On, 89,94, 96
Roots of Plants. On; ~ 99

Royal Medical Society of Edinlurgh,141

Royal Society, 70, 381,457

Ryan's mode of ventilating mines. On,
43°

37
_ Safety-lamps. On, 24, 36, 81, 189,
196, 197, 286, 348, 451

Sali mines of Cardona, 325
Sap Vessels. On, 105
Saxon mines. Account of, 386

“Scotland, Earthyuake in, 150, 234, 431

Seeds of Vegetailes. On, 401
Ship-luilding. On, 458
‘Sxows, Northern. On limits of, 289

Solar Ecclipse of 19 Nov. $13, 371, 440,
442

Springs to Wheel Carriages. Advantage

of, 86
Stars. Alternating colours of,
Steam. Accident by explosion, 75
Sicam apparatus, A quere,

INDEX

Steam Engines in Cornwall. — Work of
74, 151, 233, 313, 384, 468

St, Helena, Geology of, 246
Steet, Mushet on, 295
Stevenson's Safe Lamp. On, 348
Strength of Materials. On, 433

Sulphate of Magnesia anid Soda, 71, 202

Tellurium. New ore of, 394
Thermometric Scales. On, 385
Tudd on ‘Torpedo, 14, 457
Torpedo. Exper. on, 14, 457
Trail on salt mines of Cardona, 325
Trigonometricai Survey. On, 427
Turkey Red. On discharging, 142

Ure on Sir H. Davy’s safety lamp, 8F
Van Mons. Correspondence of, 144,467
Varnishes for leather, 152
Vegetables, Anatomy of, 96, 175, pit ®

Ventilation of Mines. On, 20,437

Vision. Horn on, 117; Pater on, 353
Voltaic excitement. On, 165, 241, 5%

~ B42
Voyages; 230, 23T
Vulgar Fractions. On, 204
Waiker’s Chemical Philos. 241, 342
Weaiker (F..) on Solar eclipse, 442

Watt (Dr. J.) on ventilation of mines;

: + 20
Wheat, Musty, to recover, 458
Wheel Carriages. Exper.on, 83, 92

Wilson’s process fot discharging Tur-
keyred,_ - 142
Wine. MacCulloch on making, 62
Wire-gauxe lamps. On, 24, 36, 81,191,
os 196,'197, 286
Wollaston’s exper. on native iron of
_ Brasil, 424
oolf’s Steam Engine, 74, 151, 233,
313, 984, 460
145

382

Writing Ink improved,
Yeast. A quere,

END OF THE FORTY-EIGHTH VOLUME.

Printed by R. and A. Taysor, Shoe-Lane, London.

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pa, pele ENGRAVINGS,

Vol. XLIIT. A Plate to illustrate a New Transit Instrument invented
by Sir H. C. Encterietp, Bart—A Plate to illustrate the Use of Aire.

| Vessels in Plants. By Mrs. Inserson.—A Plate to illustrate M. Se-

MENTINI’s new Apparatus for producing Oxygen Gas to restore sus-

-. pended Animation—Mr. Reape’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar
P

ays—and Mr. Harcreaves’s Observations on Colours.—A Plate to -

_ illustrate Mr. J, Wuitrorn’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr.

J. Tittey’s Hydro-pneumatic Blow-pipe:+-A Plate to describe Mr,

R. Hucues's Gudgeon for the Shaft of a Water-wheel; and Mr. Pap-
aury's Guard fora Carriage-wheel.—A Plate to describe Captain Peat’s.
Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate of Mr, Samper Jones’s
Sofa Bed.- . . iy ata PE
‘Vol. XLIV, A Plate to illustrate Mr. Hume's Gazometer and Blow.
pipe; a Proposal for an Improvement ofthe Galvanic Trough; and a

_ new Apparatus for preparing pure Muriatic Acid.—A practical Diagram
_ for obtaining the Lumar Distances observed by a Sextant,—Electrical
_ Apparatus to illustrate Mr.. Branpe’s Paper on some new Electrical

Phznomena.---A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs. Inserson’s Paper on the
: per :

- Cuticle of Leaves.—Brunton’s Patent Chain Cable.—Figures relative to

’ Dr. Brewstrer’s Paper on the Affections,of Light transmitted through
Pp § 8

\

‘. erystallized Bodies.—A Plate to illustrate Dr. Brewster’s Paper given ©
in our last Number,

Vol. XLV. A Pilate to illustrate the Nourishment produced to the

Plant by its Leaves. By Mrs. Tsserson.—A Plate to illustrate Mr, _
Baxewerr’s Sketch of the Arrangement of the Rocks and Strata in the
Northern Counties of England.—Plateés to illustrate Mr: Rosertson

_. Bucuanan’s Description of thé Steam-Boats on the Clydé; and Mrs,

Isserson’s Paper proving that the Embryos of the Seeds are formed in~
the Root alone.—A Plate to illustrate Mr. Jonn Watrers’s Improve-
ments in Naval Architecture.—A Quarto Plate onthe Roots of Plants.—
An Octavo Plate of Mr, Sincer’s Electric Columns; Mr. Waxxer’s
Electrometer; Rocuon’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloured
Rays. oe ‘ , eeneM
‘Vol. XLVI. Mr.T. Jones's New Reflecting Compass.—-Mr. Wootr’s

Patent Boiler for Steam Engines and other Purposes.—A_ Plate to illus-
trate Mr..Wootr’s Improvemeiit on the Steam-Engine, by which the

possibility of Steam escaping past the side of the Piston is effectually pre-
vented.—A Plate to illustrate sonte Electrical Experiments by M, DeNetis
of Malines; with an Extension of them by Mr, Sincer and Mr. Crosss.'
——A Plate to illustrate the Electrical. Experiments of M. De Neuis of

_ Malines.—W ootr’s improved Steam-Engine.—A Plate to illustrate Mr.

Evans’s Paper on guiding Balloons through the Atmosphere.—A Plate
illustrative of Dr. Brewster's Paper on Light.—A 4to’ Plate to illus.
trate Sir H. Davy’s Paper on the. Fire-damp of Coal-Mines, and on. Me-

_ thods of lighting the Mines so as to prevent its Explosion; and the Ac~

count of Mr. Srernenson’s: Safe-Lamp for Coal-Mines,
Vol, XLVII. Illustrated with a Quarto Plate describing the. PLante

- spHere of DuanperaAmeA Quarto Plate to-illustrate Mr. Brown’s Paper

on Architectnre.—A Plate to illustrate Sir George Cayxry’s Paper on
Aerial Navigation; and Mr, Lonvon’s Hydrometer.—A Quarto Plate
pf the Temple of Kournon at ThebesmA: Plate of the new Baths .at
Ramsgate, ;

Vor. 48. _ Philosophical Magazine, my Jou 1816,

“Conrenrs OF Numace 219.

Page.
f. Some br ar ashe respecting the § sri or Was ;

terloo Bridge, Hai th over the Thames at the pit Len-
don. ~ :

Ii, The oriehual Inhabitants of Aimerieg shown’ to be of

the same Family and Lineage with those of Asia, by a
Na Process of Reasoning not hitherto advanced. By Samvrt

i: Mireaict, Mv. D., Professor of Natu ral History in the..

ate ey University of New-York; in aCommunication toDewWirr

+ Cuixron, Esq. President of the New- York Philosiphical..
¥* Society, dated New. York, March 31, 18i6. - ey
EIT, Notes,of a meteorological Toor ¢ by Piseres Fou

- : SAY TER, F2L.S., in company Witlr thoHon. J. ABS Pereivay and”
Mr. Parxer,in 1816, . | - = ns afar

TV. Some Observations and Expainentes ade on the. °~

we x Torpedo of the Cape of Good Hdpe i in the Year 1819. By

5 at

Jgoun T. Top», late Surgeon of His Majesty’s. Ship Lion. . -

< Communicated by Siz Evsraap Home, Bart. V.P.R.S. =

V. Reply ss ick ach on the ceeectars of- “Moses.
4 By FL E-

‘ 2 By Dr ets oF S. Patil x.

VII. Further Experiments. on t': Gchicton or Be: Gah
sive Mistiites. confined by Wire-Gauze ; wit!) some Obéerva-

g24/ tions on Flame. By Sir H; Davy, LL.D. F.RS.V.P.RIL 94

Vill, Aecount of a Calculus voided by 2 Female. + 97
IX, On Meteoric Stones. By the Rev. T. Drummonp.” 284)
X. On the Accumulation of Heat by Friction... = -99R
XI. On the Ventilaiién of Mines, By James Warr, - “i oS
M.D., of Glasgow: erie - ‘os

S1f. On Errers i in the Nautical aie ie at

Xi, Experiments with $ it A. Davy’ s Safe-Lamp. BY

? Dr. Hamer, “06 St. Petersburgh. sexe tw

(Mal #33
Ws ee

XIV. Account of the Method.of preparing cr ‘gnokiog

Beef at beastie By M, Pighaee Captain of En-
| gineers.

XV.3 Thirteenth. Repart ahihe Commissioners for maki ing
and maintain: ng the. Caledonian, a ciaeee Dated ie 1 Fay

sn 1816. - *:

a
tee

VILA’ ee additional practical Dbsereroae on. the.
Wire-Gauze. Safety-Lanips for Miners, With some Eyi-

:

dence-of their Use. By Sir Hum PHAY Davx. i oe So

XVIL ®@xtract of a Letter from Dre Ovbers, FLR-S. of
a bie emeny respecting, a New Comet; with an Account of a
Work of Professor pitta Det ag rgotsench by a CoRnse-_~
PSPONDENT. | atte Ree
XVIII. Notices respecting New Books. YR ESE
XIX. Proceedings of Leamed Societies. — >.
XX, Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles.

** Communications for this Work; diddressett to. fhe Editor, %
f Fisker Place, baa sa Baty will meet with every. attention. Woe

ay

ENGRAVINGS, o

Vol. XLIII. A Plate to illustrate a New Transit Instrument invented
by Sir H. C. Exerersexp, Bart.—A_ Plate-to illustrate the Use of Air-
Vessels in Plants. By Mrs. Issetson.—-A Plate to illustrate M. Ss-.
mewtini’s new Apparatus for producing Oxygen Gas to restore, sns-
~ -pended Animation—Mr. Reape’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar
~ Rays—and Mr. Harcreaves’s Observations on Colours.—A Plate to ~
illustrate Mr. J. Wuitrorp’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr.
_ J. Titrey’s Hydro-pneumatic Blow-pipe.— A Plate to describe Mr.
RB. Hucues’s Gudgeon for the Shaft of a Water-wheel; and Mr, Pap...
- Bury’s Guard fora Carriage-wheel.—A Plate to describe Captain Prat’s
Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate of Mr, Samuen Jongs’s *

_ Sofa Bed. ee Lie ear ponent ’ ;

_ . Vol. XLIV, A Plate to illustrate Mr. Hume's Gazometer and Blow-
pipe; a Proposal for a% Improvement of the Galvanic Trough; anda
' ew Apparatus for preparing pure Muriatic Acid.—A. practical Diagram »

for obtaining the Lunar Distances observed by a Sextant.—Electrical
-« Apparatus to illustrate Mr. Branpz’s Paper on some new’ Electrical
__ Phenomena.---A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs. Iszerson’s Paper on the
_ Cuticleof Leaves—Brunron’s Patent Chain Cable—Figures relative to.

_ Dr. Brewsrer’s Paper on the Affections of Light transmitted through
erystallized Bodies.—A Plate to illustrate Dr. Brewsrer’s Paper given
~ dmour last Numbers + PIP tes oP he eae
Vol. XLV. A Pilate to illustrate the Nourishment produced to, the -
Plant by its Leaves.. By Mrs. Izsetson.—A Plate to illustrate Mr,
' Baxewetv’s Sketch of the Arrangement of the Rocks and Strata in the

-_ Northern Counties of England.—Plates to ‘illustrate Mr. Rozertson
_ Bucuanan’s Description of the Steam-Boats on the Clyde; and Mrs,
_. Isserson’s Paper proving that the Embryos of the Seeds are formed in
_ + the Root alone-—A Plate to illustrate Mr.Joun Watregs’s Improve-
“ments in Naval Architecture.—A Quarto Plate on the Roots of Plants.—
- An Octavo Plate of Mr. Sincer’s Electric Columns;: Mr. W.LKER’s
~peidasamg: Rocuon’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloured
- Vol. XLVI... Mr. T. Jonzs’s New Reflecting Compass.—Mr. Wootr’s
_ Patent Boiler for Steam Engines and other Purposes.—A ‘Plate to illus
_ trate Mr. Wootr’s Improvement on the Steam-Engine, by -which the:
possibility of Steam escaping past the side of the Piston is effectually pre«
~ yented.—A Plateto illustrate some Electrical Experiments by M. DeNevis
_. @f Malines; with an Extension of them by Mr. Sincer and Mr. Crosse.
_—A Plate to illustrate the Electrical Experiments of M. De Neuss of .
Malines.—-W oo.r’s improved Steam-Engine.—A Plate to illustrate Mr.
_ _ Evans’s Paper on guiding Balloons through the Atmosphere.—A_ Plate.
_. Mlustrative of Dr. Brewster's Paper on Light.—A 4to Plate to illus.
* trate Sir H. Davy’s Paper on the Fire-damp of Coal-Mines, and on Me-
thods of lighting the Mines so asto prevent its Explosion; and the Ace
count of Mr. Srepuenson’s Safe-Lamp for Coal-Mines.

- -Vol. XLVII. Illustrated with a Quarto Plate deseribing the Prant-
- spnert of Dennera.—A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mr. Brown’s Paper
on Architectnre.—A Plate to illustrate Sir George Cayiey’s Paper on
_ _ Aerial Navigation; and Mr, Lonpon’s Hydrometer.—A Quarto Plate
_- of the Temple of Kournon at Thebes.x—A Plate of the new Baths at
_ Ramsgate. as
Vol. XLVIII, A Quarto Plate of the Strand or Waterloo Bridge erected
over the Thames at the Savoy, London. ;

os

You. Laie gece sie pen Avousr.1816.

CD

ContENTS OF Nomaer 220,

Pa
¥. ‘XXI..On Sit H, Davy’s Safe-Lamp, Hy Dr. One, M. D.
ww & Professor of Chemistry, &t. &c.
WY XXII. A Letter to the Dublin Society, pélative to! Exe
ae Pi ¥ Periments on Wheel garriag cay: ay Rica. ot: Epes.‘
2) WorTH; Esq. -
| » XXII Report of the: Committee of Natural Philosophy, “eH
Ne He appointed by the Dublin Society, on the Experiments upon. .-
AQ te .Wheel-carriages, made by Mr, EpGewortn, on the: th ~ Ress
PANN ‘of May 1816, and succeeding Rae at the Dablin soney = ~ SW
"hy House, Kildare-street. - ~-
mm 86x XIV, On the Anatomy of Vegetables; ‘fatended deans Say !
1h a stantiate 0 Art seen Truths in Phytology.. By Mrs, = A
WY Acnes [sprtson, Ni ze
AQAN\ XXV.-On_ the Cosmogony ue Moses in. Aiswer: to 6 oh 4
i) iF, E-———s. , By Dr, Pascrarn, — Qwe
Bay X XVI. On Optic Vision; with a few Remarks on the a
mM we Animadversions of F, E-———s on the Author’s formerCom- . - BAM
ies mourications respecting the Cosmogony of Moses. By Mr. - {fg |!
Axprew Horn. SAS i
x XXVIT. Description es the Midéralopical Cabinets and 4S WN |
2 BAN Public Libraries of Copenhagen, and of the Gymnasium of at
ise ‘Christiania-in Norway. By Lreorozrp Von Buch. + |
if: 8 XXVIII: Account of some further Electrical ikea
ments by M. De Nexis, of Mechlin. -
@\\\ XKIX. Instructions issued by the French Legislature \\\ Sa
a uN for obtainmig a Patent ( Brevet d Invention) in France. =e)
Ce. xXxXKX. On Fiorin Grass. “By Wm. Ricuagpson, D.D. 5 ee ih \
XXXI+ Experiments relating to the Impurities of Hy- Bx §
Ques drogen as it is commonly obtained. By M, Donovan,iEsq. Ni ts: may
\ .XEXIT. Notices respecting New Books, - -~' 140083 i.
XXXII. Proceedings of Learned Societies. « “ae
: XXXIV. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles : ¢.\
fa Acrial Navigation.-Correspondence of M. Van Mons, con- Bair
lee tinued.—Earthquake in Scotland.~-Intense Heat.—~Steam-
AAS Engines in Cornwall.-—Major.Peddie’s Expedition to Africa.
BN —Reci pes for making Japan or Varnish.—-Edimburgh Dise °
FE | ey N section of the Brain.—New Nautical Teconien obese
igs of Dogs.—-Lectures.—Meteorology. * - 144-160

a \

RICHARD AND ARTHUR TAYLOR; PRINTREB, SHOE LANE; LOpDOW.

Sethu) i,” > ENGRAVINGS; fhe ae

-. Vol. XLII. _A Plate to illustrate a New Transit Instrument invented
by Sig H. C. Excreriexp, Bart.—A Plate to illustrate the Use of Air>
.. Vessels in. Plants, By Mrs. Issrrson.—A Plate to- illustrate M. Se-

-menTini’s new Apparatus for producing Oxygen Gas to restore sus--

pended Animation—Mr. Reape’s Paper on the: Refraction of the Solar
Rays——and Mr. Harcreaves’s Observations. on Colours.—A Plate to

jllagtrate Mr. J. Wuttronp’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches; and Mr:

_ J. Titiey’s Hydro-pneumatic Blow-pipe.—A Plate to describe Mr.
R. Hucues’s Gudgeon for the Shaft of a Water-wheel; and Mr, Pan-
aury's Guard fora Carriage-wheel.—A. Plate;to describe Captain Paat’s

A .

’ Sefa Bed.

pipe; a Proposal for‘an Improvement. of the Galvanic Trough; anda
mew Apparatus for preparing pure Muriatic Acid.—-A practical Diagram
for obtaining the Lunar Distances ohserved by a Sextant.—Electrical
Aipparatus to illustrate Mr. Branpz’s Paper on some new Electrical
» Phenomena.---A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs. Lanerson’s Paper on the

_. Cuticle of Leaves. —Brunron’s Patent Chain Cable, —F iguresrelativeto

-. Dr. Banwsrer’s Paper on the Affections of Light transmitted. through

crystallized Bodies—-A Pilate to illustrate Dr. Brewsrer’s Paper given

© inour)hst Number. a AR elaGe ie
' Vol. XLV. A Plate to illustrate the Nourishment produced to the
‘Plant by its Leaves. By Mrs. Issetrson,—A Plate to illustrate Mr,
_ Baxewucr’s Sketch of the Arrangement of the Rocks and Strata in the

“Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate ef Mr, Samus Joxss'g

Nol. XLIV. A Plate Ma abnorrtie Me Hume's Gazometer and Dai. 4

t

‘

Northern Counties of England.—Plates to illustrate Mr. RogerTson -

»» Isnerson’s Paper proving that the Exbryos of the Seeds are formed .in
_ the Reot alone.—A’ Plate to illustrate Mr.Joun Wacrens’s Improve-

An Octavo Plate of Mr. Sivcer’s Electric Columns; Mr. Warxsr’s
~~ Electrometer; Rocuon’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloured
Rays. ‘ i pane

Patent Boiler for Steam Engines and other Pérposes:—A Plate to illus.

_ vented.—A Plate fo illustrate some Electrical Experiments by M.DeNeuis
_ of Malinesy with an Extension of them by Mr. Since and Mr. Crosse.

i Malines,—W ootr’s improved Steam-Engine.—A Plate to illustrate Mr.
__ .Evans’s Paper on guiding Balloons through the Atmosphere.—A” Plate

+ trate Sir H. Davy’s Paper on the Fire-damp of Coal-Mines, and on’ Me-
_ thods of lighting the Mines so as to prevent its Explosion; and the Ac«
+, count of Mr, Stepuenson’s Safe-Lamp for EScalsMaihes

— - Vol. XLVII. Hlustrated with a Quarto Plate describing the Piani~
_ spnereot Denprra.—A Qearto Plate to illustrate Mr. Beown’s Paper
_. on Architectnre.—A Plate to illustrate Sir Grorcz Cayizy’s Paper on
_ Aerial Navigation; and Mr. Loxpon’s Hydrometer.—A Quarto Plate
_ of the Temple of Kournou at Thebes.—A Plate of the new Baths ar.

“<5

_ over the Thames at the Savoy, London.—A Quarto Plate to ‘illustrate
_. Mrs, Ippsrson’s Anatomy of Vegetables, |

"illustrative of Dr, Baewsrer’s Paper on Lisht.—A 4to Plate to illus. .

' Bucwanan’s Description of the Steam-Boats on the Clyde; and Mrs. .

ments in Naval Architecture.—A Quarto Plate on the Roots of Plants—= -

Vol. XLVI. Mr. T.Jonzs’s New Reflectia ‘Compass.—Mr. Wootr’s

trate Mr. Woocr’s Improvement on the Steam-Engine, by which the.
| _ possibility of Steam escaping past the side of the Piston is effectually pre-

‘is

» —A Plate to illustrate the Electrical Experiments of M. De Neuis of

te, agains . aay
4". VoR XLVI IL A ag Plate of the Strand or Waterloo Bridge erected

Vou. 48, Sabin p Spaeet ‘Magazine, Serremn DER g 1816,

Contents OF Numaer 221.

© Pages.
~ XXXV. Letter to the Right Hon. the Countess of Gos-: 4
FORD; On the Speculations of Theorists, particularly of the :
® Neptunians. By Wicxtam Ricwarnson, D.D. : - - 161 f
XXXVI. On the Excitement.of Voltaic Plates;'in reply fi
§ to Mr. Dz Luc’s Objections to the Doctrines maintained bye
jy the Author. By J.D. Maycocx, M.D. s - - “166 a
RXXV On the fo ecu of eh Saige ‘By “Mrs. ;
Hes Innerson wp 173
. XXXVIIT. On Sir i, Daves s Safe eslarp fot ‘Mines, By ant
Joun GEORGE CuinpRen, ae fe PS ON oa - + 1894
“4 XXXIX. On certain Experiments with Sir H. Davy’s.
Safe-lamp, reported to have been. made at the Gas’ Esta-
: blishment in Dorset-street. By Wintiam Kxicur, Esq. °
My see the Manager of that Establishment « .) + mG en eno 196
ae EL: Suggestions arising from Taspections of Wire-gauze
SN Lamps, in theix working State, in Mines. By Sir H. Davy.- 197
et =~ SLI. On ‘the _Cossaegony of Moses; in reply to Dr. §
‘fy Pricuarn.. By F, E--—s. - by 2 201 a
i XLIt. On “Magnesio-Sulphate of Soda, a Mee ;
ee kieas es i
BITE, On Vulgar Fractions sh hee
XLIV. Observations on the Hypothesis of some macern \
If Writers, that America has been peopled by a distinct Race _
“of Men and Animals; with some Proofs arising from the
: Notaral History and Appearances cf the new Continent i 2
favour of the Mosaic Account of the Deluge. By Hogit Nee,
} Win 1aMson; M.D. of New-York --'. Ree 208 05
XLV. Ona AES Species of Calculus. ‘By Mr. Rue eg
Coorrre = - ee dee 203
3 XLV I, Patract fromw! Memoir peal to the Tustitute ot”
e 19th of May 1816, ou the Possibility of making the Mols \
s oh of Fresh Water i live in Salt Water, and: vice versa. Byoces
ie F. S. BeupAnr ie an a DOS
XLVII. On the Preccipiation of the Gride of Gold byPot-
ash. By M. Ficuren. Extracted by M. Gay-Lussac 227,
XMLVII. Notices respecting New Books’. .- 1
* XLIX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous | Artisles—New.
Bi Voyage: round the World.—French Colonies.—Expedition —
to Africa.—Improvement of Rape Oil.—Steam Engines in
Saiber ~The late Earthquake in Scotland.—Lectnres,— any
ey Patents for New Lene meres, nish 290-240

7 m f \ 4x

#, * Pidigantsaone for this Wor k; addeeael to chs Editor, (
Piclew-Place, Temples Pony will meet with evel? equ

i) Tie rgks ag ae -* ENGRAVINGS, Micah mass ie
~ “Vol, XLIII. A Plate to illustrate a New Transit Instrument ‘invented
+ by Sir H.C. Exoxgriexp, Bart—A Plate to illustrate the Use’ of Aire
~~ Wessels in Plants. By Mrs. Isserson.—A Plate to illustrate M. Sx-
\ qentine’s new Apparatus for producing Oxygen “Gas to restore sas-
pended Animation-—Mr. Reape’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar

-/ Rays—and Mr. Harcreaves’s Observations on Colours.=A Plate ta -

illustrate Mr. J. Wairrern’s mechenical Substitute for Leéches; and Mr.
~« J. Titey’s Hydro-pneumatic Blow-pipe.—A Plate to describMMr.

- R, Hucues’s Gudgeon for the Shaft‘of a Water-whecl; and Mr. Pap:

- «!pury'’s Guard fora Carriage-wheel.—A Plate to describe Captain Prar’s
_. Temporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate ef Mr. Sauurs Jongs’s
>, So¥a Bed: : ered

At “4 $ ran. ) 3
-.. Vol. XLIV, A Plate to illustrate Mr. Hume's Gazomcier and Blow- _

_~ pipes. a Proposal for an, Improvement of the Galvanic ‘Trough ;anda
- new AppPuratus for preparing pure Muriatic Acid.—A practical Diagram
- for. obtaining the Lunar Distances observed by a Sextant.—Electri¢al
* ~ Apparatus to illustrate Mr. Branps’s Paper on some new Electrical
’ Phenomena.--A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mrs. Inserson*s Paper on the_
Cuticle of Leaves.—Baunton’s Paterit Chain Cable.—Figures relative to
_ Dr. Brewsrer’s Paper on the Affections of ‘Light transmitted through’
, crystallized Bodies—-A Plate tc illustgate Dr. Brawsrer’s Paper given
‘Y inour last Number. | : ‘ oy Seber is BA
~~ Vol. XLV. A Plate to illustrate the Nourishment produced. to the
. Plant by its Leaves. By Mr. Inserson.—A Plate to illustrate. Mr,
yy Baxewevv’s Sketch of the Arrangement. of the Rocks and Strata in the
Northern Counties of England.—Plates to illustrate’ Mr.. Roserrson
’ Bucuanan’s Description of the Steam-Boats on the Clyde; ‘and Mrs,
Inszerson’s Paper proving that the Embryos of the Seeds are formed’ in -
© the Root aloxe.—A Plate to illustrate Mr. Joux Waxrenrs’s Improve-

i Plate of Mr. Sincer’s Electric Columns; Mr. Warxer’s Electrometer;
be : T3,

* Rocuon’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloured Rays...”
Vol, XLVI. Mr. T. Jonts's New Reflecting Compass.—Mr; Wootr’s -

_. trate Mr. Wooxr’s Improvement on the Steam-Engine, by which the’
‘possibility or Steam escaping past the side ~f the Piston is effectually pre-

_. =~A Pilate to illustrate the Electrical Experiments of M. De Neuts of:

illustrative of Dr. Brewsrer’s Paper on
- trate Sir H, Davy’s Paper on the Fire-damp of Coal-Mines, and on. Me-
_ ~ thods of lighting the Mines so as,to prevent, its Explosion; ‘and the Ac«
- + count of Mr. Steruixson’s Sate-Lamp for Coal-Mines. th
»-. Vol. XLVIL. Illustrated with a Quarto Plate describing the Pranta’’
~ syxerz of Denvexa.—A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mr. Brown’s Paper
+ on Architectnre.—A Plate to illustrate Sir Groxcn’Cayxey’s Paper on
- | Aérial Navigation; and. Mr. Lonpoy’s Hydrometer.—A Quarto Plate
_ ‘of the Temple of Kournou at Thebes.—A Plate of ‘the new Baths at
4 Rams rate, i SA ea : ; 44
Rte Vol XLVI IA i Plate of the Strand or Waterloo Bridge erected
over the Thames at the Savoy, London.—A Quarto Plate to illustrate
. Mrs«lesetson’s Anatomy of Vegetables.—-A. Quarto Plate to, illustrate

Mrs. Ibbetsop’s Paper on the Physiology of Vegetables,

"s, ments in Naval Architecture.—A Quarto Plate on the Roots of Plants—

Patent Boiler for Steam Engines and oe Purposes.—A_ Plate to illus-

~ -vented.—A Plate to illustrate some Electrical Experiments by M. DeNexis ~
ef Malines; with an Extension of them by Mr. Singer and Mr. Crosss.

soe “Malines.—Wootr’s improved Steam-Engine,—A Plate to illustrate Mrs |
~ Evans’s Paper on cuiding Balloons ire the Atmosphere.——A Plate «© ~
Light.—A 4to Plate to illus. ©

we ContENTs oF NuMBER 222, ©
a I oh “New Outlines vat Chemical Philosophy. By: SS
igs €2. Waranr, Esq. of Lynn, Norfolk = -, 241 SAG

: cn LI. Letter to the Right Hon. the Countess of Givronk, bean’ |
we on the Similitude, and Difference, in the original Formation
) of the Island of St. Helena, and the Basaltic Districts in the
# County of Antrim; with the Similitudes and Differences of
Mf the posterior Operations of Nature performed upon each. _~ 1) it
te By Witiiam Ricuarpson, D.D. =) fete iia - 246.9 =
\ LII. On the Excitement of Voltaic Plates; in-Reply ft
eS to Mr. Dx Luc’s Objections to the Doctrines maintained by: 5 WW
as the Author, ByJ.D.Maycocx,M.D. 0 = os + 255 | ae SS
“ia Bie ‘LIT. Essay on Agriculture, as a Science, subdivide do a f ral
y he into separate Departments. «By Wn, Ricuarpson, D:D: . 262 con ae
°€ LIV. Extract from a Memoir onthe Combinations of WE Bear
NY Phosphoras with Oxygen, Read to the French Academy | \ QAX¥
' f, Sciences on the Ist and 15th of Eyl oats id M. Du- ey

; aH LONG. = - - - - 271%
# LV. On the Mosaic Cosmogony. By Mr. A. Horn. 276

LVI. A new Nine of Vegerable Life, igo Mrs, Acnrs —
mS InpeTson. SN rs — -
Ay LVII, On Sir. Humpury Dave! 's Saelamp, and on

om Flame, By J. Murray, M. 1B Pave penne ‘ 286. ie!
we LVIII. Abstract‘ofa Memoir by M. Lzorotp pe Bucn ‘ ies
on the Limits of the perpetual Snows in the North. + -. 289s
§. LIX. On Cast Iron and Steel; with Experiments to as-_
’ eertain whether Manganese may be alioyed with ‘Iron. _ By,”

& Davin Musuet, Esq. of Coleford, Forest of Dean. «-

LX. On the Cosmogony c of Moses. By J.C. Pricmagp.
LXI, Notices respecting New Books ear hy

By =6LXII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. Nee
re Engines in Cornwall,—Solar Eclipse, November 19,1816. yey
- - hasta it peat Mesa - Py Me SAS ssc ky

. TO CORRESPONDENTS.
‘The Particulars of the Controversy respecting Priority of Discovery
of, the Principle ue the Raferyrlomp;: shall nei ans ie our NGM,

——

ee: +* Communications for this Work, addressed to the. Editor, SY

_»- -B.M. COOMBS'S BOXES, PROOF AGAINST FIRE,

‘7 OTHING has occupied the attention of the scientific world more de-
servedly than the means to be adopted ta prevent the dreadful effects
of Fire; various experiments have been tried to discover a compound which
shall form a barrier to this.destructive element. After much elaborate .
- stady, and many.experiments in the strongest heat of a Baker's Oven,
_ where this mdestructible compound has resisted the intense heat, and
_. proved an effectual security against its ravages,’ & Ne
: ‘B. M. Coompss, the Inventor and Manufacturer of the Firr-proor ~
- exp anv Casu Boxes, most respectfully communicates to the Public, -
> that his boxes are constructed with double frames and hollow sides, top
and bottom; the vacuum of which is filled with this trestle hentia’
- compound, which renders them the only.security for the preservatio’ of — _
Valuable Documents, Books, Writings, and Family Plate, &c. against _
_ The present and expensive mode of fitting up offices of Professioual
Gentlemen has attracted the notice of B. M. Ccombs, who will undertake:
_ to fit up the same apartment at half the usual expense, without wooden
_ . frames or shelves, on a new plan, with the front doors to drop, or open as
_ ¢losets; by this mode, every bundle-of writings is seen without moving
+ the whole, and it most completely secureg the writings from dust, vere
“min, &e, ex GO ae in at pede WL es Rica
_ -The numerous attempts and daily advertisements that are obtruded on
the Public notice in imitation of Coombs’s yaluable discovery, under the
-. denomination of Fire-proof Boxes, render it,absolutely necessary for the .
_ ~ Inventor earnestly to solicit a candid and impartial inspection.

oars §

| Professional Gentlemen are respectfully informed, that a much larger ,

| assortment of Tin and Iron Deed Boxes are kept on sale, than at any

house in London, at reduced prices. Byenaes i
_ _A general and extensive assortment of Kitchen Ranges, and Stoves of.

__ every description, Fenders, Fire-irons, and Kitchen Furniture, in Coppers

_ Tron, Tin, &c. # ear ia. |

Rack + ’ Boxes and Cases made to order at a few hours’ notice.”

WAREHOUSE, No, 66, HIGH HOLBORN, |
Xs Four doors from Red Lion Street, opposite Great Turnstile, London,

‘ENGRAVINGS, ~

- Vol. XLVII, Illustrated with a Quarto Plate describing the. Puaty
- tspnere of Denpera.—A Quarto Plate to illustrate Mr. Brawn’s Paper
-s on Architectnre.—A Plate to illustrate Sir Georce Caytey’s Paper on
_ Aerial Navigation; and Mr. Loyvox’s Hydrometer.-+A Quarto Plate
_ of the Temple of Kournow at Thebes-A Plate of the new Baths at

Ce » ‘

7
1s ae

/ Vol. XLVITI, A Quarto Plate of the Strand or Waterloo Bridge erected
— over the Thames at the Savoy, London.+A Quarto Plate to illustrate
_ Mrs. lnsetson’s “Anatomy of Vegetables.—A Quarto Plate to illustrate
__ Mrs, Ibbetson’s Paper on the Physiology of Vegetables.—A large Quarto
te to illustrate Mrs, Inverson's Paper on a pew View of Vegerable
so RAE Iss Ty ; ree

,% af / " i ’ et

Couicnas OF Nomen 203, io)
e Po >
: xin. On Planetary Influences on vthe Atmosphere, By ae Bs
1 the-Rev. T. Daummoxn, - z 921 Rati
LXIV. Some Observatians 0 on the Salt Mines éf. Cardona,
3 made during a Tour in Spain, inthe Summer of 1814. By
TT HOMAS STEWART Trait, M.D. Member ofthe mth
Wi] Society. | - -

,_ LXV, Obie rdtons on some Conifnationk of Azote Si 8,
2, Oxygen. Read to the Fresch Academy of Sciences on the RS
aa On th of Sept. 1815. By M. Duroxcy Re ee OS BT a
‘ LVI. Experiments and Wbservatians to prove that the: 4 :
SB \ beneficial Efftets of many Medicines aré produced through ‘”

the Mediunycf the civeul: ting Biood, more particularly that
tof the Colchicum attumnale upon thé Gout, By Sir Eye.
racp Homn, Barts V.PRAS, | Communicated by the Saclay t

r improving Asimal Chemistry. 24k a oP

~UOXVI, An uppenat to a Paper on ‘tle Effects of, the a ni &
SEEN Colehicam autumuiizic on Gout. “By Sir Everarb Home, ge
way. Bart. V.PRG. S408 8
Al on LXVIIit. New Guilines’ of Ch emical- Philosophy. By vl Feat
A Ex, Wacker, Esq. of Lynn, Norfolk si 842

. LXIX. On the Action of detached Leaves. ap Plante ae
\By T.A. Enitcur, Esq, ¥,R.S. In a Letter addressed to sa
uy the Right Hon. Sir Joseen’ Banas, Bart. G.C.B.P.R.S, $45 a my
AG Seto Controversy respecting Safety-lamps,- + = 348 Be

LXXI. On Vision. By Mr. W. Parrr, Pa 853 4s

LXXII. On the Possibility of alloying Iron wake Man- ae \
wanese. ay Davio Musuet, eas of Coleford: Forest of ©

A Dean. S ae bi Gro
LXXIII.:On Flame: ‘By J; Muneay, Esq. - $60 %
LXXIV. On the Circle. ;
a LXXY. On, the Origin of the Afatais Theory. ‘By :
BSS Wirriam HrGoins. - = - “363
}. LXXVI. Observations Of the late Solir Eclipse. ‘By ger
5S Groomsrines; Lisq: * 371 Sey

LXXVILI. Inquiries into the Laws of Dilataitan of Solids,
Liquids, and elastic Fluids, and om the exact Measurement: —
~ <4 of Lemperatures. By Messrs. Durone and Perit. Read —
S| to the Institute 29th May 1816, oy we Ms ees
iy -LXXVIII. Notiées respecting New Books - Vg. areal
Dt LXXIX. Proceedings of Learned Societies. - > 8
bs * -EXXX.+ Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles
SS. Stent Engiues in Cornwall. Thermometric Scales. —Mines
ZN of Saxony.=-Gas Lights. —Preparation of Borium.—Her- bi
caehit culanean Manuscript is. —Hydrophobia. — Natural History.
heed —Alternating Colcurs of. Stars.—'P ellupun—+Ruits: of! hy)
Ra? pein een RE se Re Tes Sh 884-400 Perel

ibs i ‘ ont
( <
tee ae
cS

i)

—— ie ot he Pca SR ESS

vate ’ : . ey. om

* ‘Cominninatinns for this Work, at to the Bais SS
Pickett-Place, Temple Bar, “will meet with exery. beeatejiee <2

gee > si) ORNGRANINGRS 2 al)?
s ‘% “Vol. XLII. A Plate to illustrate a New Transit Instrument Sivedtaa

_ by Sir H. C. Engierierp, Bart.—A: Plate to iliustrate the Use. of Air-
>< Wessels in Plants. . By Mrs. Issersov.—A Plate to illustrate M. Se.
* wentini’s new Apparatus for- producing Oxygen Gas to restore. sus-
pended Animation—-Mr. Reaps’s Paper on the Refraction of the Solar
-, Rays—and Mr. Harcreaves’s Observations on Coiours.—A, Plate. to
~ +» Giustrate Mr. I. Waitronn’s mechanical Substitute for Leeches;and Mr, -
| SJeTurrer's Aydro-pneumatc Blow-pipe: A Plate to describe Mr.
- BR. Huewes's Gudgeon for the Shaft of a Water-wheel; and Mr. Pap-
nury’s Guard fora Carriage-wheel.—A Plate to describe Captain Peat’s
» Yemporary Ship’s Rudder.—A Quarto Plate of Mr. Samus: Jenes’s
> Sofa Bed. Pak ds 2 , ~,

mew Apparatus for preparing pure Mnriatic_ Acid.—A practical Diagram
for “obtaining the Lunar Distances observed by a Sextant.—Electrical

\ > erystallized Bodies.—-A Plate to illustrate Dr. Beswsrer’s Paper given ~
ihe , PT eo é rey

fe Vol. XLV. A Plate to. illustrate the Nourishment produced ‘to: the

Fs
2 /

eS hie J ® :
-. Rocton’s Apparatus for ascertaining the Heat of coloared ‘Rays.

fine

Patent Beiler for Steam Engines and other Purposes.—A. Plate to illus
trate’ Mr..Wooxr’s Improvement on the Steam-Enginé, by which. the "

—A Plate to illustrate the Electrical Experiments of M.,De Neuis of
; . Malines.—W ootr’s improved Steam-Engine.—A Plate.to illustrate Mr.

> trate Sir H, Davy’s Paper on the Tiré-damp of Coal-Mines, and on- Me-
* thods of lighting the Mines so as to prévent its Eaploaoe 3 and the Ac-

ne,

Pe Ramsgate..- 3 3) - + De 4 {esta ual ae
» Vol. XLVIIT, A Quarto Plate of the Strand or Waterloo Bridge erected

Ibbetson’s Paper on the Physiology of Vegetables.—A. largas2!
/ Plate to illustrate Mas, ‘Paper on'a new View of Vegemle

ae

» *

-Conrenrs ‘OF Nowiper 224, -
a.
‘Exxxt. On the Phycislogy of Vegetables, By: Mrs ne

Gues Ipserson, ;
LXXXIiv On the Ovtain ae thew tomate Theory. iN
ge Wiriram Hicains, Esq. Feviges sos
SA. LXXXIITT.-An Account 6f the Discovery oft a Mass of.
ya} Native Iron in Brasili By A. F, Moanay, Esq: in a Letter
ay) to W. 11, Wortasron, M.D. Sec, B.S, Bee
LXXXIV, Obscrvations and Experiments on ‘the, Mass\,.
GR of Native Iron found in Brasil. By W. H. Wot nari
: AMD. Sec. RS. , x
) “LXXXV, Remarks ana Suggestions nS further fibror a
ing and applying to Use, the Government Trigonoraetrical *
y Survey of Great.Britam. By Mr. Joan Farty Sen. -
‘LXXXVI. Some- Particulars’ connected. with: the date’ .
‘Earthquake in Seotland. By Mr, Gavin Inctis,* = -

-eQSQ, - LXXXVII. Remarks on the Article « Strength of Ma. - i

Ge De terials,” published in Dr.Rees’s New Ryton, bites XXXIV,
Aud parti. By A CorassponpmnT. — -
iS LEXXVIIL On the V entilation’ efCoal- Mines.

NR LX EXTX. On the late Solar Eclipse. << S AS
NS XC. On theatre Sclar Eclipse. | By Ei? WarkggSsq. MON
Ee, ACR A uguiries into thé Laws of Dilatation of li SN

} Liquiss, and elas Stic ‘Ficrds; and on the exaét “Measur> ent .

‘ex of Temperatures. < By Messr3s Duroxe and Perit. Ru ad

(-¥ge to. the Institute 29th May 1816, 3. - ~ th nae

Se XC. New Theorems applicable to. the ‘Value. poe
rivities. * Pree Ne BLA Sli

XCUT. On Safetyslamps, ‘and the Boe ‘formed bys
Wire-gaze meus the Panetpens Flame. By J, Monhay,” A
ae - at tae
KELV, Notices respecting New Books - eo Phceas Vn
XCV. Proceedings of Learned Societies, 9 -
RY. XCVI.. - Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles: — Sar
co erage Sete Weer a rte bye: inibi

‘
TO CORRESPON DENTS.

Me, Kc op the Safe-lamp, and PRILALETHES, on the s same e Sube
ject, will appear in ovr next.

Mr..Horn oh Vision, shall baye a place as soon as’ room, can hej

» found fori ‘ins diagram h tone of our plates. die at Pay is

Dd. ’s Union of the Electrie Colump with the Ther marbeties Baroneter,-

at iy es ygrometer,. in one Instrument, ‘will also : appear sour,

Mr. LAYER'S Paper: ast ‘Stoves, Gvens,. aud Steam A PRA is un
“der consideration. F

F. ‘on Barometric Pressure! ‘shall have a place.”

Zs Medical PRewstum of diery, Guineas reached us soi fo
Number of our Wee Sts? Satire {Rott i ees

‘Bt Camndniatonk a this ‘Wok! yditecssed to ite re

aya Pickett Place, Geis Bat, | will, meet with ae attention,

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