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THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.
EDITED BY
JAMES SAMUELSON
AND
WILLIAM CROOKES, E.R.
VOLUME I.
ith Allustrations ow Copper, Wood, and Stone.
LONDON:
JOHN CHURCHILL AND SONS, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
Paris: Leipzig:
VICTOR MASSON ET FILS. LUDWIG DENICKE.
———
\~)
MDCCCLXIYV.
HY teas
THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.
JANUARY, 1864.
INTRODUCTION.
Tux readers of a new Periodical are fairly entitled to receive at the
hands of its projectors, not only a statement of the grounds upon which
it has been established, but also some exposition of its intended scope
and objects.
The word “some” is here designedly used, for it is not improbable
that a work of this description, professing to keep pace with the ad-
vancing intelligence of mankind, and even, should opportunities pre-
sent themselves, to serve as a pioneer of progress, may in the course of
time become so modified as materially to change its character. And
as we are fortunately not trammelled by those conditions which in the
commercial world frequently place limits upon a project when it is
first set on foot, we shall reserve to ourselves the right of introducing
amendments, or of supplying deficiencies as our work proceeds, adopt-
ing the old proverb that “ Times change, and with them we shall change
also.” As this may appear a somewhat vague announcement of our
plans, we will shortly conduct our readers to a standpoint from whence
they may obtain a survey of the field of our intended labours, and in
the meantime we would invite them to follow us in a few reflections
which have been the cause of our venturing, at this particular period,
into the ranks of literature.
How does it happen that from the earliest ages of the historic record,
Art has been a favoured offspring of the human intellect, the spoiled
child of man, whilst to Science he has been but a sorry stepfather ?
In his rudest stages, he wooed her favour, painting his own skin if he
could paint nought else, and in the palmy days of his early civilization
he raised her upon a pedestal from which she never descended, although
in the dark ages that followed, her figure was for the time obscured.
Not so with Science. Her youthful steps have always been watched
with jealousy and suspicion, and instead of guidance and support, every
obstacle has been thrown in her path, her grandest revelations being
VOL. I. B
2, Introduction. [Jan.
frequently held up to scorn and obloquy, and twisted and tortured
until they were made to appear the teachings of the Evil One.
We have but to place side by side the artist whose employment has
been to copy the works of nature, and the student who has enunciated
her laws; or the modeller in stone, and the teacher of those truths
which even stones reveal; and what a contrast do they afford! The
labours of the one have been rewarded with a wreath of laurel, whilst
a crown of thorns has ever fallen to the other’s lot.
How is this phenomenon to be explained? Can it be—and we
make the inquiry with due appreciation of her elevating tendencies—
can it be that the ways of Art are elastic and accommodating, and that
without distinction of sect or creed, she has always been the servant
of Theology, doing duty alike for Hebrew and Greek, Mahommedan
and Christian, whilst Science has held aloof from all these denomina-
tions and has walked only with the religion taught by nature? Or is
it that the truths of Science can only be understood and appreciated
by the cultivated intellect, whilst the beauties of Art impress them-
selyes upon the unaided sense ?
We refrain from pressing the inquiry further, lest it be imagined
that we would seek to elevate our mistress at the expense of a sister,
or that we are assuming a petulant tone and an attitude of hostility
towards one with whom we desire to walk hand in hand, and to whom
also our co-operation is daily becoming more indispensable.
Leaving our readers, then, to work out the problem for themselves
as regards the past, we proceed to inquire whether the existing state of
things holds out a more hopeful prospect to Science and her votaries ;
and here the replies are sufficiently plain and satisfactory.
A certain amount of scientific knowledge is now absolutely neces-
sary to men of all ranks, and forms an essential element in a liberal
education. The influence of scientific discovery is becoming daily
more powerful, and is making itself felt in almost every vocation of
life. Science not only succours the wounded on the battle-field, but
without her powerful aid, bravery is of no avail in the General, nor
in the ranks. The loud and fluent tongue of the pleader may seek to
persuade, but without the unobtrusive evidence of the man of science
it fails to convince. The tiller of the soil may labour unremittingly
with his hands, and waste the sweat of his brow, but his neighbour
looks on, smiling, and lets the steam-engine perform his work more
speedily and at a smaller cost. And so it is everywhere,—in the
factory or mine, in the university or schoolroom, in the world of
pleasure as in the world of pain.
It is true that, for the moment, a few theologians and politicians
are inclined to underrate her influence, and even in some instances to
1864. | Introduction. 3
close their ears to her teachings; but these are exceptional cases, and
those who “waste their philosophic pains” in thus endeavouring to
stem the tide of progress, will one day find themselves drifting alone
down the current with which they might have sailed in the company of
their fellow-travellers on the way to Truth.
Scientific knowledge is now eagerly sought, and its possessors are
respected. Here and there a few impetuous workers or thinkers give
utterance to tenets which shock the temperate and cautious, and lead
the pious to believe that another golden calf is about to be set up for
worship; but these are the exceptions, and compared with Theology
and Politics, Science has but few extremists. As, however, her
devotees are rather men of thought and action than of wordy elo-
quence, they are often less appreciated than the fruits of their labours,
and thus it happens that the astute politician or the talented historian
may edge his way on to the Treasury Bench, or arrive at the dignity
of a Peerage, and the eloquent Theologian may succeed in reaping
a Bishopric, whereas the able man of science whose labours have
changed the destiny of nations, or who has given a new direction or a
fresh impulse to the course of civilization, must content himself with
a Knighthood, or declining that, must rest satisfied with the honour-
able letters affixed to his name by his fellow-labourers, and leave it to
posterity to raise an enduring monument to his memory.
Still, as we have said, Science is beginning to exercise a potent
influence in every circle of society, and not only does she reckon
amongst her followers multitudes of the labouring classes (so many,
indeed, that it has been found necessary to organize a special depart-
ment and machinery in the State to aid them in the pursuit of this
species of knowledge), but even lords and statesmen who had pre-
viously bestowed all their favours upon the nurseries of literature, are
now beginning to cast tender glances upon Schools of Science, and
other similar institutions. The discoveries of unwearying investiga-
tors, too, and the explorations of bold adventurers on the earth or sea,
or in the air, are no longer published in ponderous tomes and modest
“brochures,” but find a rapid utterance in special periodicals, and
even in the flying sheets of the daily press,—those great organs of
public opinion without which no man can live the life of the nine-
teenth century.
Thus much by way of preface to the consideration of the present
state of Scientific knowledge; but if, from a theme so noble and in-
spiring, we have been able to derive so little eloquence, what words
shall we find to plead our own cause? As we approach the subject,
we feel as does the candidate for public suffrage, who comes before
the constituency primed with eloquent appeals and telling periods,
B2
4 Introduction. | Jan.
but who, when he sees the crowd of curious upturned faces, concealing
tongues ready to applaud, but equally prompt to hiss, finds that his
labelled sentences are gone, and with them his courage to seek fresh
ones.
Let us, then, be brief.
We have been told by men in every walk of life, that the time is
come when Science may claim for herself a special organ; that not
alone scientific readers, but those of every class, desire to approach the
source from whence this species of knowledge is derived,—to learn in
which direction the current flows, and how it is likely to affect their
material interests or questions bearing upon their eternal happiness.
To supply such a want is a truly ambitious aim, and one which,
we do not hesitate to confess, we should never have proposed to our-
selves had we not been first assured of the co-operation of those whose
powers alone are equal to its accomplishment.
With men illustrious in Science, ready to avail themselves of these
pages as a medium of communication with the public, and to many of
whom we acknowledge ourselves already indebted, both for friendly
counsel and for active co-operation, we now set out, full cf hope and
confidence; and before giving place to those whose words will have
much weight, and whose teachings cannot fail to exercise a beneficial
influence, we invite our readers to advance a few paces with us, to an
eminence from which we may be enabled to point out to them some of
the more prominent farmsteads on the surrounding fields of Science,
where the labourers are to-day busy sowing or reaping, enriching old,
or winning new pastures.
This figurative remark naturally leads us to the consideration of
one or two of the more prominent features in connection with the
Science and practice of Agriculture as they are to-day presented to
our notice; and, perhaps, no subject is more deserving of attention
at our hands than the Drainage and Cultivation of land.
It is, probably, unknown to the large majority of our readers, that
a legislative enactment was passed, a few years since, called the
“Tand Drainage Act,” the object of which was to enable proprietors
of arable and pasture land situated in valleys or level districts more
effectually to drain such land by the acquisition of a convenient access
to what are termed the arterial drains (the smaller streams and rivers);
in fact, to give them what, in the railway world, would be called
“running powers” for a drain through a neighbour's estate.
When they are informed that by improved drainage the rental of
some kinds of land may be raised from 5s. or 6s. to 40s., or even 50s.
an acre, whilst the poorer soils are capable of being enhanced four-
1864. | Introduction. 5
fold, our readers will perceive this movement to be one of great
practical importance. ‘To do our English landowners and farmers
justice, it would appear that they have always been willing to grant
this accommodation to a neighbour, but, owing to the laws of entail
and other conditions of society, this has been but a fleeting privilege,
and should the obliging neighbour die, and be followed in the posses-
sion of his estate by one less accommodating, the outlet might at any
moment be blocked up or otherwise intercepted, and then the owner
of the drained land would have no power to cause it to be cleared or
reconstructed.
Several previous attempts had been made to remedy this evil by
legislative enactments, all of which proved futile; but under the new
Act (which appears to have objectionable as well as advantageous
features) a local Board may now be formed, having power to assess a
rural district precisely as in the case of a ‘ commission of sewers.”
The method by which it is intended to improve the drainage of land
is by doing away with those mill-dams which interfere with the free
current of an arterial drain, as well as through the utilization of others
by which the flow is facilitated ; by collecting and storing up surplus
water, and preserving it for seasons of drought; and pumping stag-
nant water by mechanical power from low to high levels, and thence
directing it into arterial drains. To attain these objects, it is requisite
to secure the hearty co-operation of whole agricultural districts, and
owners of land should not look to their own immediate interests
alone, but should consider the welfare of their neighbours and
posterity.
The promoters of such movements as these will find us ever ready
to advocate their cause and give publicity to their reasonable sug-
gestions.*
But good drainage alone is not a sufficient preparation of the soil
for the reception of the parent seed; deep and constant furrowing are
also requisite, and for this purpose steam is rapidly and advan-
tageously superseding horse-power. 'The work is accomplished more
efficiently and speedily, and there are descriptions of soil, and seasons
when it would be absolutely ruinous to allow horses to tread the land
whilst dragging the plough, whereas no obstacle whatever is opposed
to steam traction. Indeed, the substitution of the latter for the former
has, no doubt, frequently gained a season to the farmer, as his improved
harvesting implements have saved him a valuable crop.
It is hardly needful to add, that with improved drainage and cul-
tivation of the soil, the farmer secures more valuable produce. Light,
* Mr. J. Bailey Denton has been most active in bringing about improved
drainage, and in procuring enactments for the purpose.
6 Introduction. [Jan.
scanty grain gives place to the full rich ear, and succulent grasses and
clovers supplant the poorer kinds; in fact, the “ conditions of exist-
ence” are altered, and the weed no longer finds a genial bed. The
soil prepared, we next come to the seed; and here, too, the agricul-
turist has enlisted science in his cause. Two attempts are being
made to increase the produce of cereals: one by the use of what is
termed “ pedigree seed ;” that is, a seed derived from repeated selec-
tions of the finest ears—the original parent being an ear of great size
—by artificial selection, in fact; the other by artificial fructification.
Our limited space will not permit us to dwell upon either of these
systems, which will probably be treated in detail hereafter by abler
pens than ours; and we must refer to the farmer’s last trouble—
save and except the conversion of his harvest into gold, in which
process he stands in need of other speculations than those of scien-
tific men—we mean the saving of his produce, or, we might almost
say, the conquest of the elements.
The improvements which are daily taking place, to enable him to
expedite and cheapen his harvest operations, deserve, and will receive
a special place with us. The reaping and mowing machines which
have been some time in use in America are now approaching per-
fection in England, and the haymaking machine has already rescued
many a crop that would otherwise have been sacrificed. A little
more speed ; a few more applications of scientific principles ; and the
farmer may defy or wield the weather as he already manipulates and
utilizes the soil.
But whilst the agriculturist turns with disfavour from the time-
honoured running stream, and, pronouncing water-wheels a nuisance,
calls in the aid of the steam-engine to every portion of his rapidly-
progressing work, a leading mechanician steps forward, and warns us
of the necessity of economizing coal and of utilizing water-power, lest
the supply of the former should become exhausted. In his opening
address, the President of the British Association startled the world,
and more especially the geological world, with the announcement,
that should the consumption of coal increase at its present rate, two
centuries only will be the duration of the supply from the North
Country coal-field ; and that, if no greater economy be exercised than
at present, a hundred years will sufiice to bring about this result.
Whatever may be the value of this speculation, its propounder has
been led by the consideration of the subject to practical conclusions,
perhaps not novel ones, but of great importance to the community, in
regard to the present mode of employing this precious fuel. He has
shown that improved machinery, a better arrangement of the fire-
1864. | Introduction. vi
grate, and an easy method of firing, would not only economize its
consumption to an almost incredible degree, but that the inhabitants
of cities would be spared the annoyance and inconvenience of a
vitiated atmosphere. Even in our present fireplaces, he tells us, we
consume five times as much coal as would be requisite in a properly
constructed stove or improved open fireplaces.
As regards the substitution of stoves for firesides, we suspect that
our countrymen would rather dispense with coal altogether and return
to the days of wood and turf, than allow such an innovation ; but, as
we shall have occasion to show hereafter, striking improvements are
being introduced into the construction of land and marine engines,
which herald a constantly increasing economy in the consumption of
coal.
It would appear, however, from the opinions expressed by ex-
perienced practical geologists, that it is difficult at present to estimate
even the exact area of our English coal-beds, and it is believed that
the fields now worked will yield a sufficient supply of fuel to last
nearly a thousand years.*
Leaving this subject, we have now to observe that the exploration
of one new field has already produced results almost as startling, and
certainly not less useful than the speculations of Sir William Arm-
strong. In sinking a shaft at Middlesborough, for the purpose of ob-
taining a supply of fresh water, Messrs. Bolckow and Vaughan, the
enterprising pioneers of the coal and iron trade in that district, were
so fortunate as to discover at a depth of twelve hundred and six feet,
in the Trias, or New Red Sandstone formation, a deposit of rock salt,
which, in August last, had been penetrated to the depth of nearly
one hundred feet, without its lowest limit having been reached ; and
the brine, which was found to contain ninety-six per cent. of chloride
of sodium, has been pronounced by an experienced chemist to be purer
than that of Cheshire.
It is almost impossible for persons unacquainted with the mineral
and manufacturing districts of Northumberland to form any concep-
tion of the importance of this discovery.
Hitherto, the soda manufacture of the Tyne has been entirely
dependent for its supply of salt (from which the various preparations
of soda are manufactured) upon the brine-springs of Cheshire and
Worcestershire, and from these two counties at least one hundred
thousand tons of salt have been conveyed annually, at a cost, in some
cases, far exceeding the value at the works, of the mineral itself.
Should the Cleveland salt-beds prove productive, the Newcastle soda
* For further information on this topic, we refer our readers to an article in
the present number, on the “ Coal Resources of Great Britain,’ by Mr. E. Hull.
8 Introduction. | Jan.
makers will, of course, be greatly benefited, and will compete more
successfully than they do at present with the Lancashire manufac-
turers for the supply of all the western markets.
As to the fortunate ironmasters, they will not only have found an
unexpected mine of wealth in the salt-beds, but in the evaporation of
the brine, they will be enabled to utilize the waste heat from their
puddling and blast furnaces, as well as from their coke-ovens; thus
adding profit to profit, and carrying out in an unexpected manner the
economical principles recommended by the President of the British
Association.
Closely allied to the question of Coal, is that of Petroleam—a
natural product which is likely to exercise an important influence upon
civilization. This hydro-carbon, some forms of which have long been
known in India, has recently been found to exude from certain wells
or springs in Pennsylvania and Canada. It is supposed to arise from
the destructive distillation of a mineral bitumen beneath the surface,
and on reaching the hand of man, it is subjected a second time to the
distilling process, when it yields three distinct substances of consider-
able value. The first is a spirit, which is employed as a cheap substi-
tute for turpentine; the second, a burning oil of great brilliancy,
capable of being used in lamps of an almost nominal value, and itself
procurable at an average price not exceeding half that of rape-oil ;* and
lastly, a kind of grease which is employed for lubricating coarse ma-
chinery. The importation of this substance (chiefly in its distilled
form) is increasing rapidly, and may be reckoned by millions of gal-
lons, and almost the only thing requisite to enable it to rank amongst
our leading commercial staples, is an inexpensive air-tight cask, in
which it may be stored, so as to obviate the enormous leakage which
often causes it to be a ruinous venture to importers and dealers.
These are but two or three of the interesting results or applications
of that geological knowledge, the development of which must neces-
sarily occupy a prominent place in our pages; and being of a prac-
tical character, we have selected them for comment, in preference to
those which bear upon the principles of the science itself, such as the
Origin of Rocks, Earthquakes,t the Paleontological Evidences as to
the Antiquity of the Human Race, and many other subjects which are
now engaging the attention of scientific men.
Before quitting terra firma to follow the researches of Science into
space, we must direct our attention for a few moments to the work of
* The wholesale price of the finest Petroleum Oil is now (November) one
shilling and ninepence per gallon; of Rape or Colza Oil, three shillings and
eightpence per gallon.
+ On this subject, am article will be found in the present number, by Mr. Mallett.
1864.] Introduction. 8)
Geographical Exploration, a subject of great interest in all literary,
scientific, and political circles.
A new era is dawning upon the profession of the traveller, and
those attributes which found their embodiment in the fictitious but
far-famed German Baron Miinchausen, are fast giving place to
scrupulous care and accuracy in the description of places, and great
modesty in the narrative of personal adventures.
This change is due in part to the general diffusion of know-
ledge amongst the masses, which enables men more readily to detect
error and exaggeration; partly to the progress of the photographic art,*
which is incapable of misrepresentation, and in a large measure to that
wholesome competition amongst travellers themselves, which soon
leads to the contradiction or verification of strange and novel dis-
coveries. Amongst those who have earned for themselves a reputation
for bravery and endurance, and who at the same time set an example of
the virtue of modesty in the traveller, are the discoverers of the Source
of the Nile, and the explorers of Central Australia.
It would be impossible for us even to refer to the adventures of
Speke and Grant on their journey from Zanzibar to Lake Nyanza, where
the source of the Nile was discovered, and thence down the great
river into civilized Africa. Their discoveries have been aptly com-
pared by Mr. Crawfurd to those of Columbus, and the practical
benefits which are likely to follow them through the introduction or
improved cultivation of useful products of the soil, and the civilization
of barbarous peoples, will, in this case as in that of Burke and Wills,
recompense the world for the loss of many of its best sons in the ser-
vice of exploration.
But whilst we give a meed of praise to these adventurous tra-
vellers, we consider it right also to inquire whether or not the
governments of civilized Europe, and more especially our own legis-
lators, are bearing their share of the burden, and extending a fair
amount of support to those who risk their lives in the cause of
civilization.
This question will be answered best by a reference to what is
passing in those regions of Western Equatorial Africa which have so
long been the seat of the slave-trade and of human sacrifices. His
Majesty the King of Dahomey must begin to have an elevated
notion of his own importance, as traveller after traveller, and one re-
presentative after another from the Courts of Europe, solicits his
permission to visit him, and to remonstrate with him upon the errors
* No traveller can plead the excuse that photography is difficult of application,
after what was accomplished by Professor Piazzi Smyth, at an altitude of 10,700 ft.
above the sea level, during the Teneriffe expedition.
10 Introduction. | Jan.
of his"ways; and if these numerous visits have brought about no
other improvement in the untutored mind of the sable despot, they
have at least imparted to it diplomatic powers which would reflect
eredit upon any European autocrat. It is quite amusing to ob-
serve how he “cuts his cloth according to his pattern,” flattering
one traveller and slighting another, as the force of circumstances
may direct.
Amidst the conflicting accounts received from Wilmot, Burton,
Craft, and Gerard,* it is difficult to form a correct estimate of his cha-
racter, but a comparison of the narratives of all these travellers, with
that of Speke and Grant concerning the kings on the route taken by
them, leaves but little doubt that, in common with that of most of
these sable monarchs, his every-day rule is characterized by cruelty,
superstition, avarice, and almost every conceivable form of licen-
tiousness and oppression.
Why, then, are our statesmen so delicate in their interference or
non-interference in the internal affairs of Dahomey? Oude was
swallowed at a single mouthful, as an inconvenient neighbour in
India; and Japan and China were pierced to the very centre to com-
pel their peoples to listen to the voice of Kuropean civilization
and open their ports to western trade. Why are our French allies
so characteristically polite towards the slave-dealing King of Daho-
mey, whilst the rulers of Mexico are made to flee before their vic-
torious arms, to avenge the injured honour of France, and to compel
redress for the private grievances of her subjects? The reply is a
simple one, and is furnished to us by our neighbours themselves-—“ Le
jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle.”
Ministers may bestow a few hundreds of pounds upon such a cause,
and may compensate for the small expenditure of funds by a lavish
supply of letters of introduction; but is it worth while, they ask
themselves, to make war for an idea—the suppression of the slave-
trade—when the material result will be an improved supply of ivory
or palm oil, or a small addition to our importation of cotton wool ?
Were the supply of tea (or the demand for opium) likely to be
affected, or if some great semi-civilized nation were to be coerced into
buying cotton-cloths, then no sacrifice of men or money would be con-
sidered too great until the desired end was attained; but, in the mean-
while, Zoological and Geographical Societies and private individuals
are compelled to support enterprising adventurers in their efforts to
reclaim the waste places of the earth, whilst statesmen hold aloof
until the bold pioneer has broken a gap in the hedge, perhaps at the
* From whom an interesting communication will be found in the present
number,
1864. | Introduction. 11
cost of his life, and then they follow slowly and cautiously to plant
the national standard.
Some day it may be found politic for Governments to take the
initiative in such matters, and meanwhile exploring expeditions fitted
out by Societies, and the attempts of isolated travellers, such as those
who have penetrated into Africa, Australia, and South America, will
find a prominent and well-merited place in these pages, and we shall
always be ready to afford them our best aid in their efforts to contri-
bute to our geographical knowledge.
As we pass upwards from earth to air, we still find courageous
adventurers at work in the cause of Science. Here, too, they are
steadily occupied in the task of tracing the operation of Nature’s laws
under what we consider abnormal conditions, and, by positive evi-
dence, supplanting the calculations of experimental meteorologists
whose feet have never left the solid ground.
On these subjects our great atmospheric explorer, Mr. Glaisher, has
accumulated a fund of trustworthy information. He has shown that,
with an increased altitude, we have not always proportionally diminished
temperature, but that the latter is sometimes abnormal to the extent
of from one to twenty degrees, during the ascent ; that the most rapid
decline takes place after leaving the earth, and that the rate of dimi-
nution is less in proportion to the increased altitude. The laws of
hygrometric variation, too, he has studied and defined more clearly ;
and, not content with purely physical observations, he has contributed
psychological facts of great interest. It would appear from his expe-
rience that at great heights every sense becomes more active, and that
impressions there formed are more firmly fixed upon the mind than
those received below. No doubt the novelty of the situation has a
great deal to do with this phenomenon, but altered physical condi-
tions probably exercise a powerful influence upon the nervous system
and the mind.
For the benefit of those who brand men of science as infidels, and
rail at the “intellectual pride” which, they say, causes them to sub-
stitute their own knowledge for the truths of religion, we will quote a
few sentences from a discourse of Mr. Glaisher, on the religious influ-
ence exercised upon him by his aérial flights, and we hope they may
have the effect of removing the false impression as to a want of
reverence in scientific men :—“I have experienced the sense of awe
and sublimity myself, and have heard it on all sides from aéronauts,
who have both written and said the same. For my own part, I am an
overwrought, hard-working man, used to making observations and
eliminating results, in no way given to be poetical, and devoted to the
12 Introduction. | Jan.
immediate interest of my pursuit, and yet this feeling has overcome
me in all its power. I believe it to be the intellectual yearning after
the knowledge of the Creator, and an involuntary faith acknowledging
the immortality of the soul.”
In Meteorology there are many new features which might afford
themes for passing thoughts. The students of Physical Science are
directing their attention to the consideration of the nature of fogs
upon our coast, and an eminent observer* has discovered that they
are either confined to a very limited area, or reach from one to two
hundred miles, whilst none have been observed intermediate between
these in extent. Nothing definite is known as to their immediate
cause. The observations of Admiral Fitzroy upon the course of wind-
currents might further detain us, but we cannot tarry any longer in the
atmosphere, and must pass, if but for an instant, beyond its limits
into the infinite universe, in order to direct attention to one or two
features in Astronomical Science indicative of the character of our
future inquiries.
No subject has of late attracted more attention than the appli-
cation of Photography and of Spectrum Analysis to the examination of
the heavenly bodies. The labours of Mr. Warren de la Rue in the
first-named subject are too well known to require comment; and
although the latter application of physical knowledge is yet in its
infancy, it has already made us acquainted with some of the consti-
tuent materials of the sun, moon, and a few of the fixed stars.
But if the advances made in Chemistry and Physics have placed the
heavenly bodies within the reach of experimental and analytical treat-
ment, pure Inductive Science is not on that account the less active in
the heavens. Only recently it has been busy in our solar system, upon
whose subordinate members new light is likely to be thrown by a
careful observation of the so-called “spots” upon the sun’s surface.
Here, too, the photographie art has been enlisted to perpetuate and
confirm the results of astronomical observation. An able astronomer
has arrived at the conclusion, that there is a connection between the
“behaviour” of the sun’s spots and the configuration and relative
position of the planets, and has photographed those “ spots,” for the
purposes of comparison and inference.
Such experiments as these, and all other matters relating to the
progress of Astronomy, as well as to the improvement in the fabrica-
tion of philosophical instruments already in use, or the introduction of
new ones, will meet with a due share of our attention; and it is only
necessary to refer to the recent introduction of Time-balls, and Time-
* Dr. Gladstone. + Mr. Stewart, of Kew.
1864.] Introduction. 8
guns, and to their employment in such places as London, Edinburgh,
Liverpool, Newcastle, &c., to show how practical is the value of this
branch of Science, and how immediately it affects the comfort and
safety of the community.*
And haying now descended once more to the earth’s surface and
directed our thoughts to man and his surroundings, it is necessary that
we should devote a few pages to the consideration of those subjects
which are more immediately connected with his interests, and which
affect his own character and condition; and with this view we shall
cast a glance at the Natural History Sciences.
One of the most interesting, and certainly the most practically
useful subjects to which we can direct attention, is the transport and
acclimatization of plants and animals.
We have but to refer to the transplantation of the Quinine-yielding
Chinchona-tree from South America to India, and its successful culti-
vation there; to the introduction of British fruits into the Australian
colonies; and to the effort, hitherto but partially successful, to trans-
port British salmon into those colonies for breeding purposes ; in order
to show what a practical and important movement is here taking place,
and how much the influence of pure Science is apt to be underrated,
until its material applications become manifest.
The rapidly increasing demand for quinine was likely soon to have
materially exceeded the supply from South America, but the success
which has attended the acclimatization of the plant in India has re-
moved all apprehension on that head; and the benefits to be derived
from the new industry are rendered more certain and immediate by the
fact that the young tree yields even a larger supply of quinine than it
does in the more advanced stages of its growth.
The scheme of transporting salmon to Australia has not been so suc-
cessful as the foregoing experiment, but as we feel sure that the labours
of the enterprising acclimatizers will ultimately be crowned with
success, and will yield a rich harvest to the inhabitants of the Austra-
lian continent, and, we trust, to the initiators themselves, we shall
devote a page to the narrative of their efforts, and hope that a little
influential assistance may thereby be enlisted in their cause.
We would first observe, that there are few features in the history of
acclimatization so satisfactory as the success which has attended the
introduction of the natural products of Great Britain into Australia.
Those who visited the Exhibition of 1862 cannot fail to recollect the
* It is but just to mention, in connection with this topic, the names of Mr.
Hartnup, of Liverpool, and Professor P, Smyth, of Edinburgh, to whom the scien-
tific world (and more especially the maritime community) is indebied for many
improvements in these instruments and appliances.
14 Introduction. | Jan.
wax models of the acclimatized fruits of that continent. The full ears
of wheat, the long silky locks of wool, and the long-stapled cotton
(the latter introduced into Queensland from various quarters of the
Old and New World), must be equally well remembered by all who
visited the Colonial Courts.
And now we come to the novel, and not less useful, salmon-breed-
ing experiments. This enterprise was commenced as far back as
1852, we believe, under the auspices of Sir George Grey, of whose
efforts to improve the natural productions of the colonies placed under
his charge it is hardly possible to speak in sufficiently laudatory
terms.
The first experiment failed completely, notwithstanding that fifty
thousand ova of salmon and trout were procured and employed in the
attempt; and that every precaution was taken to ensure their successful
transport. The failure is attributed chiefly to the absence of a conti-
nuous stream of water through the hatching apparatus.
For eight years the matter was allowed to rest, no fresh action
being taken, but in 1860 a second expedition was fitted out with the
same object. Owing to the failure of the precautions which were taken
to resist the high temperature of the tropics, and other causes, this
attempt was equally unfortunate, and entailed upon a few private indi-
viduals a loss of 650/. The colonial governments now joined in the
enterprise ; that of Tasmania, in conjunction with two other legisla-
tures, voting an aggregate sum of 3,700/. for a third effort. Careful
preliminary experiments were tried in England by scientific men, and
vessels were then fitted out specially for the transport of the ova, an
apparatus being provided for securing a constant flow of water, as well
as for the maintenance of a suitable temperature.
Again, however, the attempt was unsuccessful; the failure in this
instance being attributed chiefly to the disturbance of the water in
which the young fry, hatched during the voyage, were contained, caused
by the violent rocking of the ship. The young fish were dashed
against the sides of the apparatus and destroyed. It will not be long,
however, before another effort is made to accomplish the desired end,
and it is believed that the experience so dearly purchased, will render
the next attempt successful. There will be no difficulty, it is thought,
in eventually perpetuating the breed of salmon in the antipodes, more
especially in Van Diemen’s Land, where the rivers already contain a
variety of trout; but it is considered doubtful whether this can be ex-
tended to New Zealand, where the streams are rapid, and subject to
violent floods.
Having thus noticed some of the strictly practical applications of
the science, we cannot pass away from the question of acclimatization
1864. | Introduction. 15
without referring to the interesting experiment which has been so
successfully carried out by our neighbours across the Channel.
The “Jardin d’Acclimatation” may be considered an ornamental
and an educational, as well as a practical undertaking; and the
admirable combination of art and nature, displaying as it does, in
the highest degree, the characteristic taste of the French people, is
eminently deserving of commendation. We trust that the time is not
far distant when the inhabitants and visitors in the metropolis will
have an opportunity of participating in as great a pleasure as that
which may now be enjoyed by visitors to the French capital.
All questions regarding man’s origin, or his relations to the lower
animals, and concerning the connection or differences between the
various races of mankind, will receive the earliest consideration of the
writers in this Journal. They are par excellence topics of the day,
and will probably long remain so; and should any of our readers
regard them as mere matters of speculation, interesting only to
naturalists, or doubt their practical bearing upon society, we recommend
them to read the report of the discussion which took place concerning
the Negro, at the Newcastle Meeting of the British Association.
At the close of a paper on “'The Physical and Mental Character
of the Negro,” its author, Dr. Hunt, the President of the Anthropo-
logical Society, summed up his views as follows :—
“Ist. That there is as good reason for classifying the Negro as a
distinct species from the European, as there is for making the ass a
distinct species from the zebra. 2nd. That the Negro is inferior,
intellectually, to the European. 3rd. That ‘the analogies are far more
numerous between the Negro and apes, than between the European
and apes.”
“No man,” he continued, “who thoroughly investigates with an
unbiassed mind, can doubt that the Negro belongs to a distinct type of
Man to the European. This word species, in the present state of
science, is not satisfactory ; but we may safely say that there is in the
Negro that assemblage of evidence which would ipso facto induce an
unbiassed observer to make the European and Negro two distinct types
of man. My second and third proposition must be equally patent to
all who have examined the facts.”
And there appears to have been great unanimity in the opinions
held by the officers of this nascent society, for, in the subsequent
discussion, its secretary declared, in confirmation of the views of his
chief, that wherever intellectual superiority exists in a man of colour,
he is always found to have an admixture of white blood in his veins.
In the section in which these statements were made (the Geogra-
phical and Ethnological), there were unfortunately but few physiolo-
16 Introduction. | Jan.
gists present; and the warmest defender of the poor Negro was a
gentleman of colour, whose remarks had a moral rather than a
scientific bearing. It is possible that there may since have been a fair
discussion on the subject which has escaped our notice ; but be this as
it may, there is no reason why the question should not be fully debated
in these pages ; and it appears to us that the discussion should be based
not upon what is “not satisfactory” in the present state of science,
but upon its acknowledged truths.
For ourselves, we do not hesitate to say that we completely differ
from much that is contained in the foregoing doctrines, and that they
appear to us to be at variance with the opinions and evidence of the
most advanced physiologists. If the term “ species ” be unsatisfactory,
we apprehend that its definition has not been rendered clearer by
those who state that there is as good reason for placing the black and
white man in distinct species, as there is for classifying the ass and
zebra in the same manner, ignoring the question of hybridity ; but, on
the other hand, the admission that an intercrossing of the white and
black races has a tendency to develope the intellectual faculties of the
latter, and elevate the Negro to the level of the white man, seems to
us to be pretty strong evidence that both belong to the same species,
and partake of the same nature.
One of the local journals (which by the way reported the pro-
ceedings of the Association in a manner that has called forth the
admiration of the scientific world*) did not hesitate to hint broadly,
that the gentlemen who thus sought to degrade the Negro race, were
the tools of the Southern Confederacy, and had been enlisted as the
champions of slavery in England.
With regard to man’s relations to the lower animals, and his nature
and condition prior to the historic era, the opinions of some physiolo-
gists are becoming more and more divergent from the views hitherto
entertained by the community ; and stepping past the most extreme
paleontologists of our day in this respect, a new and apparently careful
thinker does not hesitate to present himself to the scientific world,
and declare that he believes the fossil human remains which were
found about six years since in the Neanderthal, near Elbertfield, to
have constituted the framework of a being endowed with no psychical
powers beyond those which would enable it to proyide its food and
shelter, and possessing neither intellectual nor religious attributes.
From the consideration of the highest born creature to that of the
“Monad,” is but a step in the unity of animal life, and the question
* The ‘ Newcastle Chronicle.’ 4 sie
+ See the Report of Professor King’s paper read before the British Association ,
and his article, in the present number, on the Neanderthal Man.
1864.] Introduction. 17
of the origin of man now stands side by side with that of the lowest
living types of existence. An eminent physiologist of our day has
hinted that it may be possible, before half a century has elapsed, for a
man to take inorganic substances such as carbonic acid, ammonia,
water and salines, “and be able to build them up into protein matter,”
and that that protein matter should “begin to live in an organic form.” *
On the other hand a French geologist of note has in a most solemn
manner protested against the presumption of the man who seeks in his
laboratory to compete with the Creator! + Both these writers are
disbelievers in the theory of “ spontaneous generation,” and it is in the
treatment of this question that they have expressed such opposite views.
Whilst we must admit that at present we have grave doubts of Man
being able to accomplish such a feat as is here described within the
prescribed period, if at all, we confess that we regard without the
slightest religious apprehension, any experiments that may be under-
taken with this object. The stronghold of life appears to be as safe as
it ever has been, and most assuredly, all that man can learn or effect,
he is not only justified, but is bound by the gift of an intelligence
second only to the Divine Intelligence, to attempt; and if, through his
chemical, physical, and microscopical attainments, he should one day
become a maker (a Creator he never can become) of living forms, it
will only serve as an additional evidence of his vast destiny; and of
the boundless powers and infinite wisdom of Him who can thus afford
to reveal His secret places in nature to the inquiring gaze of Man. But
at present the evidence which we possess on the subject, although of a
* negative character, is rather adverse to the doctrine of ‘‘ heterogenesis’’}
in any form. A few words will suffice to explain the actual state of
the inquiry.
At present there are three modes by which it is either known or
suspected that living beings may be produced.
First, by “ Spontaneous generation.” That is to say, by the spon-
taneous combination of decaying organic matters, under certain condi-
tions, and according to an unknown law, to form anew living, moving
beings of the lowest known types.
Secondly (an allied form of heterogenesis), by the hand of man.
That is to say, through the artificial application of physical or chemical
forces and agencies to inorganic substances in the laboratory.
Thirdly, through the operation of the parental law only. In this
case the ordinance must have ceased to exist, under which the lower
* Professor Huxley, ‘Lectures to Working Men.’ ye Ue:
+ M. Boucher de Perthes, “* Avons-nous Pere et Mere?” (This isnot said in
reference to any particular observer. ) é ;
{ “Heterogenesis” is a term employed to express the creation or birth of
living beings in an abnormal manner.
VOL. I. Cc
18 Introduction. | Jan.
forms of matter were originally combined to form a living being, and
the sexual law substituted ; one or two pre-existing germs, either active
or in a state of rest, being needful for the production of a new being.
But, lastly, it is possible that all the foregoing laws may be in ope-
ration, inasmuch as no one of them necessarily interferes with another.
The evidence in favour of the doctrine of spontaneous gene-
ration, is found in the appearance of certain obscure moving types,
of infinitely small proportions, in decaying substances, notwithstanding
every effort on the part of man to exclude the germs of life in any
form. That in favour of the artificial production, by man, of the
lowest living types, is of a still more dubious character. It consists
in the fact that out of inorganic substances he has been able to make
a few organic compounds, such as urea, butyric acid, &c.; but our
readers will see clearly that to make an inanimate complex substance
from other inanimate simple substances, though we may call the
former “ organic ”’ (in consequence of their usual origin), and the lat-
ter “inorganic,” is a process widely different from that of making a
living, moving, sentient being. Still the latter is not impossible, and
if man do succeed in making such a being, and it be endowed with
animation by the Giver of Life, he will but have added to his responsi-
bilities, as he every day multiplies them, by the acquisition of fresh
knowledge.
But having thus granted a fair hearing to the advocates of the
“spontaneous generation” theory, and to those who propound the
second doctrine, we feel bound to state that the evidence against
both multiplies day by day. It is found, first, in the constantly
accumulating proofs in favour of the parental law. One after another,
types which were supposed to have been spontaneously generated, from
insects down to infusoria, are found to exist as germs or ova, either in
the water, in other living beings, in decaying bodies or animal sub-
stances, or, as it has been recently shown by French and English
observers, to an enormous extent in the atmosphere which we breathe.
It has been proved, too, that the tenacity of life which these germs
possess is very great ; enabling them to defy the hand of time or the
destructive power of chemical and physical agencies, and these facts,
coupled with the abnormal conditions under which such germs are able
to exist after the resuscitation of life, will probably, for some time,
defy the attempts of even the most careful and conscientious experi-
mentalists to define satisfactorily under what circumstances the lowest
known types first spring into existence.
But we must now take our departure from the field of natural his-
tory, and return once more to the consideration of those topics which
1864. | Introduction. 19
more immediately affect the progress of civilization; and in order to
enable us to do so, we shall be compelled for the present to pass over
many questions of interest in chemical and physical science.*
Amongst these are the discoveries of new metals, such as thallium,
indium, &c., by spectrum analysis ; researches in organic and inorganic
chemistry by eminent English and foreign experimentalists, and the
important and interesting experiments upon the nature of heat, by our
own physicist, Professor Tyndall, as well as all those medical and
chirurgical discoveries which have added to the duration of human
life or alleviated physical pain ; and we shall now refer cursorily to
a few features in the progress of Mechanical Science.
It must often appear marvellous to the uninitiated, that the hand
of man is able to accomplish works in civil or military engineering,
in comparison with which the labours of Vulcan appear puerile and
insignificant. But there is one instrument alone, which, since the
introduction of steam, has afforded almost unlimited facilities for the
employment and fabrication of the coarser metals; we refer to the
steam hammer. When this tool was first introduced, about twenty or
twenty-five years since, the weight of the hammer was about five
hundredweight, whilst that of the instruments now employed in the
forging of guns, large shafts, and similar descriptions of work, in some
cases attains to forty tons. And it is even stated that there is now
one in course of construction at Sheffield, intended for the forging of
armour-plates, of nearly one hundred tons. The rapid development
of this almost superhuman power, then, is alone able to account for
the tremendous results obtained from modern implements of warfare,
and for the obstinacy with which these are resisted by modern armour.
But it is not only in its gigantic features that mechanical science
is making such rapid strides. The various woods which served the
purposes of our forefathers are, indeed, still largely employed, but
they are no longer fashioned by the hand of man. Steam and
machinery now perform every kind of work with greater accuracy
and economy than did formerly muscle and bone, and we have our
mechanism for sawing, planing, grooving, tongucing, carving, and
indeed for every similar operation.
And through the observations and experiments of men, eminent
in physical science, we may calculate upon a greatly increased effi-
ciency of the motive power and its application to almost every kind of
manufacturing industry.
Steam, to which in the eyes of most of our readers nothing
* A full resumé of the progress of these branches of science will, however, be
found in our ‘ Chronicles.’
o 2
a
20 Introduction. [Jan.
can well be added, is itself susceptible, popularly speaking, of a
further development, and what is known amongst engineers as super-
heating, is now daily acquiring a greater amount of favour. The pro-
cess and its effect are simple and easily understood.
In its passage from the boiler to the cylinder, where its work has
to be performed, the steam loses a certain amount of heat ; in other
words, a portion of it becomes condensed into water ; and in addition
to this, a certain proportion of partially vaporized water passes from
the body of that liquid in the boiler along with the current of steam
into the cylinder. The steam thus deteriorated is, according to the
more recent plan, “superheated” in its passage, the result being an
improvement in its quality: for owing to its more perfect vaporization
and its increased temperature on its arrival in the cylinder, it possesses
more elasticity, and necessarily a greater impelling power. 'The super-
heating process is performed by allowing the steam to pass through an
apparatus of tubes, around which the flame or heated gases and
atmospheric air circulate in their passage from the boiler to the chim-
ney, thus converting the water-charged steam into elastic vapour, or
what is technically called dry steam ; and utilizing an amount of heat
which would otherwise have been wasted.
Another equally simple, useful, and interesting improvement in
engineering science, is “surface condensing.” The ultimate effect is
the same as that of the foregoing process, namely, an acquisition of
power without any additional expenditure of fuel. No doubt our
readers will have frequently observed a jet of steam passing into the
sea from the hulls of steam-vessels. This is the partially condensed
steam, after it has done its work in the cylinder; and in order to supply
its place, a fresh stream of cold sea-water is admitted into the boiler.
The object of surface-condensing is to save the steam by converting it
into warm water and returning it to the boiler. The apparatus
somewhat resembles the last-named ; but cold water for condensing
takes the place of steam for superheating. Instead of the cold sea-
water passing into the condenser, there to be mixed with the steam and
pumped off again along with it, the steam alone passes through tubes
in the condenser, and around these, there flows a current of cold sea-
water, which is subsequently pumped out, without having come in
direct contact with the steam. The latter is returned into the boiler,
and thus, instead of cold water charged with saline matter, that vessel
is supplied with distilled water at a temperature of 100° to 120°. The
foregoing observations apply to the condensation of waste steam from the
ordinary low-pressure engine, but a still further improvement has been
added, inasmuch as the steam usually ejected into the atmosphere from
the high-pressure engine is now conducted into the vacuum in the
1864. | Introduction. 21
cylinder of a low-pressure engine, working in conjunction with the
former, and thence through the surface-condensing apparatus back into
the boiler in the form of heated distilled water, thus practically work-
ing two distinct engines. *
These are but two of the improvements which have been introduced.
into a single branch of mechanical science, and if our space allowed it,
we might touch upon many others in its various sections. We could
speak of the advances in railway travelling, especially over short
distances, and underground, instancing the Metropolitan Railway, with
its convenient carriages, excellent system of lighting and signalling,
and consequently the comparative safety with which the trains pass to
and fro. We might refer to the introduction of coal-cutting machinery,
which will, we trust, one of these days, put an end to the destruction
of human beings under the most terrible circumstances that can be
conceived ; to the improvements in machinery for the utilization of
hitherto waste products, and new substances, and which along with
others already named, could not in their turn be accomplished but for
the employment of improved forms of iron, such as the cheaper steels
and semi-steels, homogeneous metal, malleable cast-iron, &c.; but our
readers must be content with these passing remarks on the progress
of Mechanical Science, and pass on with us to the last subject
which demands our notice, and without which our work would be
far from complete.
We now refer, not to any special branch of science or human
industry, but to the progress of scientific education, and that chiefly in
our own country.
Whether this be effected by means of Philosophical Institutions for
the middle and higher classes ; in the University Lecture Hall for
students, or through the machinery of the Science and Art Department
of the State ; it is entitled to, and will receive, our earnest consideration ;
and as far as the nature of our work admits, a warm support will be
accorded to Science instructors of every rank and station; indeed it
will be our earnest desire, however limited may be our influence, to
promote the welfare of all scientific men, from the most illustrious
observer, to the humblest labourer in the fields of Science.
And now, conscious that in this extended but hasty survey, we must
have said much that is open to doubt and criticism, and left unsaid
* Of the two steamers ‘ Hibernian’ and ‘ Bohemian,’ both of which are about
the same tonnage, plying between Liverpool and Canada, the former is fitted
with a surface-condenser, but not the latter. The former consumes 44 tons of
coals per day, and makes 123 knots per hour; the latter requires 55 tons per
day, and steams only 11 knots per hour.
+ Concerning which, some valuable information will be found in the present
number of our Journal,
22 Introduction. | Jan.
many things which readier pens or abler minds would have treated
with accuracy and clearness, we have a few parting words to add to
our readers, and more especially to a large class to whom we look for
considerable support, and who may do much to facilitate our labours ;
we mean ministers of religion.
It would avail us little, if, after intimating, as we have done in the
preceding pages, that the social, and even the political bearings of
Science will not be overlooked, we were to remain silent on the great
question of Theology. To do this, would be simply to arouse suspi-
cion, and lead to misconstructions which a frank exposition of our
views may obviate: and we have less hesitation in approaching so de-
licate a question, from the conviction that however adverse may be the
views of individuals, or even, here and there, of some body of narrow-
minded theologians, a vast majority of our religious teachers look with
anxiety, and without apprehension, upon each new revelation of the
laws of nature, and watch with interest its bearings upon theological
inquiry. Scientific knowledge will never lower man’s religious nature,
nor render it any less devotional, unless it be employed for worldly
purposes, or perverted to private ends by the promptings of passion.
Sound Science must make some enemies, for, as we have already said,
it drives superstition before it, as chaff is driven before the wind, and
it may answer this or that prophet of our day to sneer at its propounders
as self-righteous, or to hold them up to scorn as infidels; but every
sincere and devoted preacher of the Truth, knows it to be not only to
his interest, but that it is indispensable that he should be acquainted
with other branches of knowledge than those immediately connected
with his vocation, and that he should at least march abreast with, if
not precede, the foremost rank of lay intelligence. That many such
inquiring men will be amongst our readers, as they may already be
found amongst our contributors, we have no doubt whatever, and the
question arises, how shall we deal with such subjects as are supposed
to have a more or less direct bearing upon Theology ?
‘There need be no hesitation in furnishing the reply.
Tt would ill serve the ends of truth in any form, if we were to in-
terfere with the free discussion of scientific topics on the ground that
the views enunciated might give offence to the believers in some par-
ticular theological doctrine. Such a course would defeat rather than
promote the ends of true religion, and it may even be necessary that
we should now and then be tolerant of the expressions of what may
appear erroneous or extreme views, for the purpose of ultimately elimi-
nating the truth. Whilst, however, we have too much faith in the good
taste and right feeling of our collaborateurs to suppose that freedom
of discussion would ever be employed as a cloak for irreverence, we
1864.] Introduction. 23
are bound to state that it will not be with our cognizance or sanction,
if any expression in the slightest degree savouring of this quality finds
its way into our Journal; and we add this, not to curry favour with
those to whom these remarks are more particularly addressed, but in
order that persons who are anxious to consult these pages with a view
to the acquisition of sound science for the purposes of religious teach-
ing, may not be driven away, to make place for others of a less
friendly disposition, whose aim will be to detect heresy, or to turn the
revelations of nature into a means of upholding superstition.
The cause of science may be advocated on the ground that it tends
to the comfort and material prosperity of the human race ; or because
it serves to elevate man’s intellect, and to enable him better to fulfil
his brief mission on Earth; but its highest title to a foremost place in
the literature and teachings of the day is found, not in either of these
advantages, but in the fact that by disciplining the minds of men it im-
parts to them a purer and more elevated conception of the Creator,
and prepares them for the comprehension of the highest truths, thus
helping to fit them for a purely spiritual existence.
(dts 1) [ Jan.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
THE COAL RESOURCES OF GREAT BRITAIN.
By Epwarp Hutt, B.A, F.G.8., of the Geological Survey of
Great Britain.
OF all sciences, none, perhaps, is so generally regarded as devoid of
practical application as Geology. The employment of Astronomy in
Navigation is known to all; the numberless uses of Chemistry in the
Arts are self-evident ; Mineralogy is, of course, of value in detecting
minerals; Physics, in laying down the principles of the electric tele-
graph, and Mechanics, in the construction of machinery. But
Geology ! “what can be the use of Geology ?” asks the world. If you
answer that it has served to throw a flood of light on the past history
of our globe, such a reply will not satisfy the utilitarian; and the
“ practical” miner will say (though erroneously) that he can work his
way in the earth in search of the minerals as well without, as with,
a knowledge of Geology. To all such inquiries, as to the practical
use of this science, let me proceed to give a final answer. Pre-
mising that Geology is capable of application in the elucidation of a
number of questions affecting our every-day life, which cannot be
dwelt upon here, I may state that it is pre-eminently useful, and
indispensable in enabling us to estimate the extent of those stores of
mineral fuel which Providence has laid up in the strata of the earth
for the service of man.
The coal stored up in the bowels of the earth is limited in quantity,
and, like the Sibylline Books, when once burnt, is irrecoverable; every
day sees this store diminished; and just as the master of a house, at
the approach of winter, wishes to ascertain the quantity of fuel in his
cellar, so must it be a subject of moment to us as a nation—depending
as we do so largely on the supply of coal for our manufacturing,
commercial, and even political, pre-eminence,—to ascertain as far as
possible, to what extent we may reckon on the continuance of this great
source of motive power. Without the aid of the science of Geology,
such an inquiry could only have ended in disappointment; with it we
have all the materials necessary for the solution of the problem, as far
at least as regards the actual quantity of coal itself.
The strata, or “measures,” containing the beds of coal, belong, for
the most part, to the great Carboniferous System of Rocks. They
occur generally under two modes of arrangement; either as “basins ”
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1864. | Hut on the Coal Resources of Great Britain. 25
or “fields:” and on the threshold of our inquiry it may be well to
give a short sketch of each of these systems.
Fic. 1.—Section of the Forest of Dean Coal-Basin.
1. Coal-Measures. 2, Millstone Grit, 3. Mountain Limestone.
Coal-basin.— The section of a coal-basin is represented in the
above woodeut. The term is used when the beds dip from every part
of the circumference towards the centre. When the basin is elongated
in one direction to a considerable degree, it is called a “trough ;”
but as it is rare for any coal-bearing tract to be even approximately
symmetrical, the term “basin” serves to denote all such tracts,
whether the outline be circular or oval. To this form belongs the
largest coal-tract in Britain—the South Wales Coal-field (No. 23 in
_ Map), as also that of the Forest of Dean (24), and several others.
Fic. 2.—Section of the Yorkshire Coal-Field.
Q Ss < = SSSS = = SSS =
6 oa 4 3
1. Magnesian Limestone, 3. Coal-Measures. 5. Limestone Shale,
2, Permian Sandstone. 4. Millstone Grit. 6. Mountain Limestone.
Coal-field.—In the case of a coal-field, the strata dip (with more
or less regularity) in one direction. Such an arrangement has many
modifications; either the strata dip under those of a more recent
formation, as in the case of the Yorkshire Coal-field (Fig. 2), or they
are cut off along one side by a fault, as in the Anglesea coal-field.
This is the more general form which a coal-tract assumes, and is
often much varied by rolls in the strata, or by dislocations.
Coal-group.—Where the strata of several coal-fields dip towards
each other, and under those of a newer formation, such as the New
Red Sandstone, it may generally be inferred that they are connected
underneath, and that if the newer formation were penetrated, the coal-
measures could be reached beneath. When several of these coal-
fields are thus physically connected, they give rise to what may be called
“a group of coal-fields,’ or simply a “ coal-group.” Under the same
title we also place a number of distinct basins or fields, which were ori-
ginally connected, but have since been dissevered by denudation, as
those of the central valley of Scotland. In this manner the British
coal-areas naturally arrange themselves into four groups, which, on
the map, have been marked as the Northern, Western, Eastern, and
Southern coal-groups. These great divisions refer more immediately
to the present arrangement of the tracts than to that which they
assumed at the time of their formation. Nevertheless there is reason
to believe that out of the four only two were originally continuous
with one another, namely, the eastern and western groups. From this
26 Original Articles. [Jan.
great sheet of coal-bearing strata which once stretched right across
our island from sea to sea, and even farther, the northern and the
southern coal-groups were both separated, the latter by a barrier of
land, the former by difference of age; for we now know that coal was
in process of formation in Scotland while the Carboniferous limestone
was accumulating in the sea-bed over the English area. The follow-
ing are the subdivisions or fields of the several groups.
NortHEerN Coau-Group oF ScoTLAND.*
Comprehending —1, the Coal-fields of Ayrshire; 2, Clyde basin ;
3, Lesmahago basin; 4, Clackmannan ; 5, Fifeshire ; 6, The Lothians.
Eastern Group (England).
8, Great Northern Coal-field of Northumberland and Durham ;
9, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and Notts (only one coal-field).
Western Grove (England and Wales).
10, Lancashire ; 11, Burnley basin; 12, Flintshire; 13, Denbigh-
shire; 14, Poynton; 15, North Staffordshire; 16, Cheadle; 17,
Shrewsbury ; 18, Colebrook Dale ; 19, South Staffordshire ; 20, War-
wickshire ; 21, Leicestershire; 22, Forest of Wyre.
SoutHERN Group (England and Wales).
23, Forest of Dean basin; 24, Somersetshire; 25, South Wales
basin. Besides the above enumerated, there are several small detached
fields, such as those of the Border, on the north side of the Solway
Firth, Whitehaven, and Anglesea.
The two great coal-fields of the Eastern group are, in all proba-
bility, connected by a tract of coal-measures underlying the Triassic
and Permian formations along the east of Yorkshire, as indicated by
the shading on the map. The numerous fields of the Western group
are, without doubt, physically connected underneath the New Red
Sandstone of Cheshire and Staffordshire ; and, as already stated, those
of the Southern group were, in their original state, joined together.
Having thus cleared the way by a survey of the general structure
and arrangement of the coal-groups, we are now prepared to enter upon
an examination of the resources of the more important of the fields
and basins.
Nortruern Coat-crovur.
Having already enumerated the members of this group, we must
content ourselves with treating them as a whole, because, with the
exception of two or three distinct fields, such as that of the Lothians,
Fife, and Lesmahago, the coal-bearing rocks of Scotland are all physi-
cally connected, and the structure of each is too complicated to
allow of treating them in detail within the space at my disposal.
The coal-formation of Scotland belongs, for the most, to the
* The numbers refer to those on the Map.
1864. | Hout on the Coal Resources of Great Britain. 27
lower Carboniferous series, and is therefore of greater antiquity than.
that of England. It occupies the broad valley stretching from the
Firth of Forth te the Firth of Clyde, and is bounded on the north by
the frontiers of the Highlands, and on the south, by the hilly and
wild tract which gives birth to the sources of the Tweed. The coal-
seams are often interrupted by the intrusion of igneous rocks, and in
some places, the older Carboniferous and Devonian formations rise to
the surface, and terminate the continuity of the beds. There is docu-
mentary evidence to show that coal was worked in Scotland from at
least the fourteenth century,* and the Celtic name for the mineral is still
preserved in that of a little tarn, called Lough Glo. The total area of
workable coal equals 1,720 square miles, and the total available supply
of coal to a depth of 4,000 feet, amounts to 25,300 millions of tons.
The quantity raised in 1861, was 11,081,000 tons from 424 col-
lieries.t In this is included the double coal-trough of the Lothians
—the resources of which were calculated with much labour by Mr.
Milne-Hulme and Mr. 8. Nicol, several years ago. It will be seen
from the above estimates, that there is coal enough to last at the present
rate of consumption for about 2,000 years.
Eastern Coa-GRrovr.
The Great Northern Coal-ficld.—The resources of this district have
been more fully illustrated than those of any other coal-field in England.
No less than six distinct estimates having been made, and they all come
to very nearly the same conclusion regarding the available quantity
of coal at the time specified by each.
The coal-field extends from the mouth of the Coquet, on the
north, to that of the Tyne on the south, a distance of fifty miles. The
strata dip generally eastward, and are ultimately concealed beneath
the table-land of the Magnesian Limestone, which is now penetrated
by shafts in search of the subordinate coal-beds. The actual coal-
field has an area of 460 square miles, but to this we must add the area
overspread by the Magnesian Limestone, and other formations of more
recent age—that is, 225 square miles—making in all 685 miles, and
containing about 7,200 millions of tons of available coal. This coal-
field has from the infancy of mining been one of the greatest pro-
ducers; and from its store the Metropolis of the Empire has prin-
cipally been supplied. The consumption is still steadily increasing,
* AMei Sylvii Opera, p. 443.
+ ‘Coal-fields of Great Britain,’ 2nd edit. p.179. I must here apologize to
the reader for quoting myself, which I do for the simple reason that there is
no other authority extant for the resources of all the British Coal-fields, though
there are for a few special ones which shall be stated. The calculations contained
in my work were made with much care, and have been used by Sir W. Armstrong,
President of the British Association. I may here state, in order to avoid the
appearance of dogmatism, that in dealing with so large a question as the number
of tons of coal in any of our coal-fields, the figures do not pretend to be more than
close approximations to the reality, but it would be a useless repetition to place
before each group of figures such words as “ about,” “approximately,” “ nearly,”
&e., which the reader is requested mentally to introduce for himself.
} Hunt's ‘Mineral Statistics of Great Britain’ for 1861.
28 Original Articles. [Jan.
and in 1861 reached 19,144,965 tons. Supposing the amount to reach
20 millions, the supply would last 560 years. The calculation of
Mr. T. Y. Hall, in 1854, was 365 years.
Coal-field of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Notts.—This is the largest
coal-field in England, and extends from Bradford and Leeds on the
north, nearly to Derby and Nottingham on the south, a length of sixty
miles. Towards the northern outcrop, the strata, which had pre-
viously maintained a meridional direction throughout a distance of
about fifty miles, suddenly bend round at right-angles, and trending
eastward, are ultimately lost beneath the Magnesian Limestone which
passes over their edges, and rests on the Millstone Grit. The same
beds again re-appear in the northern coal-field, and there is good reason
for believing, with Professor Phillips, that these two districts are phy-
sically connected beneath the more recent formations, as indicated on
the map by the faint shading.
The general dip of the coal-strata is eastward; but there are
several rolls or troughs running north and south through the centre
of the field. The coal, which is of very fine quality, is known as
* splint,” from its splintery fractures.
In estimating the resources, a considerable addition must be made
to the area of the actual coal-field, for the available coal-ground con-
cealed beneath the Magnesian Limestone and Trias on the east, amounts
to probably one-half as much again. The exact distance to which the
coal-measures extend in this direction is, of course, at present a matter
of conjecture, and will probably never be known, as the overlying strata
increase in thickness the further we proceed eastwards ; but the distance
is certainly considerable. The Permian beds have already been
pierced in several places by collieries, one of the most remarkable being
that recently sunk on the property of the Duke of Neweastle at Shire-
oaks, in which the Permian beds were found to be 66 yards in thickness.
Taking the area of the coal-field at 760 square miles, and that of the
available ground occupied by the Magnesian Limestone at 400, there will
thus be 1,160 square miles with coal, an area larger than the coal-basin
of South Wales, and only less than that of Scotland. The available
quantity of coal will not fall short of 16,800 millions of tons. The
quantity raised in 1861 was 14,490,919 tons, so that at this rate of
consumption there is sufficient to last for upwards of a thousand years.
There were in 1861 about 577 collieries, of which only five passed
through the Magnesian Limestone in 1859.*
Tur Western CoAL-GROUP.
The Western Coal-Group is bounded on the north by the Lanca-
shire coal-field, on the east by those of North Staffordshire, Leicester-
shire, and Warwickshire ; on the south by those of South Staffordshire
and Shropshire, and on the west by those of Denbigh and Flintshire.
The strata of these respective coal-fields have a general dip towards
the centre of this great basin, which is occupied by Triassic and Per-
* As Tam informed by Mr. C. Morton, Her Majesty’s Inspector. There may
have been a few more since that time.
1864. ] Hott on the Coal Resources of Great Britain. 29
mian beds, and there can scarcely be a question that the coal-formation
extends underneath over the whole area (as represented in the map),
though often at very great depths. The following diagram (Fig. 3)
will give an idea of the manner in which the Carboniferous beds rise
from beneath the newer formations at the eastern and western sides of
the basin.
Fia, 3.—Section of the Western Coal-group.
North Wales Derbyshire
Hills. Hills.
Cheshire Plain,
The mineral resources of this vast area, which is not less than 4,700
square miles, are practically inexhaustible were it possible to work the
coal over the whole of it, but such an idea is altogether visionary, as
the overlying formations often attain a thickness of 5,000 feet, which
would have to be passed through before reaching the first seam. I
shall hereafter endeavour to show that such a depth is probably
beyond the reach of mining enterprise, at least with our present
mechanical appliances. I therefore pass at once to the Hoe ociee
of the available portion near the margin.
South Lancashire.—Owing to the creat demand for coal arising from
the extent of population and manufactures in this country, this coal-
field is being heavily taxed. The area of the coal-bearing portion* is
192 square miles. The field extends from Rainford and Prescot on
the west to Ashton-under-Lyne on the east, at which place it bends
southward into Cheshire, and throws out a small arm as far as Poynton.
The general dip of the strata is southward, and the seams descend
under the Triassic rocks of Cheshire. Within a vertical limit of 4,000
feet there is an available quantity of coal to the extent of 3,700 mil-
lions of tons, and the quantity raised in 1861 was about 12 millions, at
which rate of consumption the coal would last for about 300 years.
The Burnley Coal-basin.—This tract lies considerably to the north
of the main field. It is in form a half-basin, bounded on the south-
east side by a large fault. It has an area of 20 square miles, and a
combined thickness of 40 feet of coal. The available quantity is about
270 millions of tons, and the annual yield about one million.
Flintshire and Denbighshire Coal-fields—These two fields occupy
the same general range of hills, rising above the Triassic plains of
Cheshire and Salop. The former is rapidly approaching exhaustion,
owing to the fact that the seams nowhere descend to any great depth,
but are repeatedly brought to the surface by faults; consequently
they have been largely worked in the days of shallow pits. At
Mostyn, coal is worked under the sea, and attempts have been made to
reach the seam beneath the New Red Sandstone. The area of the field
is 35 square miles, and there remains for future supply little more than
20 millions of tons, of which the present generation may see the end.
* This is exclusive of the hilly district, in which there are occasional thin
seams, known as “ mountain mines.”
30 Original Articles. [ Jan.
The Denbighshire field, on the other hand, has a somewhat larger
area, and holds a very much greater quantity of coal. It occupies about
47 square miles, and has an available store of 490 millions of tons.
The seams dip eastward (see Fig. 3), under large tracts of Permian
and Triassic beds, and were the minerals capable of being followed
in the direction of the dip, the supply might be almost indefinitely
extended. The quantity raised in 1861 from these two coal-fields,
amounted to 1,870,250 tons.
North Staffordshire Coal-field——Considering its extent, this is one
of the richest, and at the same time least developed, coal-fields in
Britain. With an area of 75 square miles, a vertical thickness of
5,000 feet of coal-bearing strata, containing 22 valuable seams, as
well as several very rich beds of ironstone ; there are only a few mines
of any great depth, and a considerable portion of the district may be
considered virgin ground. At the same time mining operations are
being rapidly extended, so that between the years 1857-61, the quan-
tity of coal raised had doubled itself, and in the latter year it reached
2,372,500 tons.
The shape of this coal-field is nearly triangular, with its apex to
the north. Towards the south and west the coal measures dip at
moderate angles under Permian and Triassic formations, which at no
distant day will, in all probability, be invaded by collieries. The
available supply of coal for future use is not less than 1,600 millions
of tons, which is capable of sustaining the present drain for nearly
700 years.
The Cheadle coal-field is, separated from that of North Stafford-
shire by a ridge of Millstone Grit, and contains only a few of the
lower seams. In an economic point of view it is unimportant.
South Staffordshire Coal-field—This coal-field is remarkable from
the fact that it has been upheaved bodily through the Triassic rocks
along two lines of dislocation which bound it on the east and west sides.
Unlike that just described as in the freshness of youth, this may be con-
sidered as having passed the meridian of its career, and as being on the
verge of old age. Its extraordinary richness has been the principal
cause of its early decline, and the treasures easily acquired have been
often recklessly squandered. No district in Britain has been more
favoured by nature in the richness of its stores of coal and iron, but
unfortunately for their efficient and economical working, they have
been placed too near the surface, and consequently have been mined
by means of a vast number of small, ill-managed coal-pits, instead of on
a well-regulated system of mining, such as is involved in the working
of more extensive collieries. In some places the water from the old
excavations has been allowed to accumulate to such a degree that
large areas are hopelessly drowned out, and in others much of the
coal has been wasted. At the same time this mineral wealth has
given rise to the concentration of an enormous amount of manufac-
turing industry, and the spectacle of blast-furnaces, foundries, coal
and iron-pits, and houses interlaced by a network of canals, railways,
and roads, which the “ black country” presents, is familiar to most of
our readers.
1864. | Hout on the Coal Resources of Great Britain. 31
Over the southern half of the ficld—that:is, south of the Bentley
fault—a coal-seam no less than 30 feet thick is, or was, spread. It is
called the “ Dudley 10-yard seam,” and is the thickest in England, if
not in Britain. North of the fault it is split up into nine separate
seams, which collectively form 50 feet of coal.* The area of the coal-
field is 93 square miles, and of the original quantity of 3,000 millions
of tons of coal, not more than 960 millions remain. The production
of coal has of late years rapidly increased, and in 1861 it reached
7,253,750 tons from 580 collieries. Taking the future production at
eight millions of tons, the coal would last 120 years.
Colebrook Dale Coal-field—This district is even further advanced
towards exhaustion than the one we have just considered. The coal
has been worked here more than a thousand years, for it was found in
the ruins of Uriconium,} and, with the rich seams of ironstone, has
laid the foundation of several celebrated iron manufactories. Over
the larger part of the field both minerals have been already worked
out, and the only place where they yet remain entire is along the
eastern edge. 'The miles of country covered by mounds of slag, and
waste heaps of former mines, bear witness, even to the casual passer-
by, that the earth has been despoiled of all her treasures.
The area of the field is 28 square miles. The beds dip eastward,
and may one day be followed under the Permian and New Red Sand-
stone ; but there are certain irregularities in the stratification of this
coal-field, that render it uncertain to what extent the beds of coal
underlie the newer formations. Only one-third of the original quan-
tity of workable coal remains, which we may place at 14 millions of
tons. In 1861 the quantity raised was 829,750 tons, so that twenty
years hence the coal will in all probability be exhausted.
Leicestershire Coal-field —This is a small, but rich district, as it
contains one seam 12 or 14 feet in thickness, and several others of
value. On the Coleorton, or eastern side, there are several collieries
which are situated on the Trias, and it was here, at Whitwick colliery,
that George Stephenson, with that power of observation so remarkable
in him, first came to the conclusion that the coal-measures dipped
under the New Red Sandstone, and then demonstrated the fact by
sinking a shaft to the main coal.
The area of this field is upwards of 15 square miles, of which a
part is concealed by newer formations, with an available supply of
140 millions of tons. The quantity raised in 1861 was 740,000 tons.
Warwickshire Coal-field.—The position of this coal-field is interest-
ing from the fact that it forms the farthest prolongation of the Carbo-
niferous strata towards the south-east of England. It occupies a long
and narrow strip of country, stretching from near Tamworth to Wyken,
a distance of 15 miles. The strata dip to the south-west under large
tracts of the Permian formation, where the coal lies at accessible
depths, and will greatly prolong the resources of the district. The
* Mr. J.B. Jukes’ ‘ Memoir on the North Staffordshire Coal-field,’ 2nd edition,
t Or Wroxeter. Mr. T. Wright states that cinders were discovered under
several of the hypocausts.
{ Smiles’ ‘ Life of G Stephenson.’
32 Original Articles. [Jan.
area of the coal-field is 80 square miles, and the available supply
about 400 millions of tons, to which a very large addition must be
made for the quantity underlying the Permian formation. In 1861
the produce of this coal-ficld was only 647,000 tons, which cannot be
said to be in due proportion to the resources.
The small and but slightly productive districts of Shrewsbury, the
Forest of Wye, and the Clee Hills, do not require special notice here,
further than to intimate their existence.
SouTHERN CoAL-GROUP.
Forest of Dean Coal-basin.—In structure, this is a more perfect.
basin than any in Britain, as the strata everywhere dip from the cir-
cumference towards the centre (Fig. 1). It is by no means opened up to
the extent of its capabilities, and for the most part presents the aspect of
rich forest scenery, with only an occasional coal-pit chimney at wide
intervals rising in the midst of the trees. Its area is 34 square miles,
and it contains about 560 millions of tons of available coal. The
annual produce is about 1,000,000 tons, which in a few years will
be considerably extended by the introduction of railways now in pro-
cess of construction.
Bristol and Somersetshire Coal-basin.—The greater portion of this
basin is uncomformably overlaid by a newer formation of Trias, through
which the coal-measures only appear at intervals ; yet its general form
has been pretty well ascertained by means of collieries and borings,
Including the parts occupied by Red Marl and Lias, the area is not
less than 150 square miles, with 51 seams of coal distributed through
5,000 feet of strata. Of these seams, however, only 20 are of a thick-
ness of 2 feet and upwards, and owing to some special physical impe-
diments (such as the presence of the “ Pennant Grit”), very large
deductions require to be made before arriving at the available supply.
This quantity I do not place at a higher figure than 2,000,000,000
tons. The produce for 1861 was 1,025,525 tons.
South Wales Coal-basin.—The greatest of our coal-basins is the last
but one to be described. It is truly an astonishing reservoir of mine-
ral fuel, whether we regard it for its actual area, not less than 910
square miles; the enormous thickness of the strata stored with coal,
reaching 10,000 feet; the vertical accumulation of coal, stated by one
authority to be from 70 to 100 feet in thickness ;* or lastly, from the
symmetrical form of its outline, which is nearly that of a pear. It is,
in fact, an elongated basin or trough in which the strata dip towards
the central axis, that axis itself at the same time coinciding with a
great upheaval of the strata in the form of a roll or anticlinal. The
coal-field is divided into three districts: the west, yielding anthracite ;
the centre, steam coal; and the east, bituminous coal. The richer
beds lie near the bottom, and these are often placed within reach of
mining operations by the great depth of the valleys, which penetrate
for miles into the central high-lands, laying bare the strata many hun-
dred feet.
* Mr. H. H. Vivian, ‘Speech on the Coal Clause,’ House of Commons, 1861.
1864. | Hutt on the Coal Resources of Great Britain. 33
The quantity of available coal yet remaining is, according to my
own calculations, 24,000,000,000 tons. This is one-half the whole
amount originally contained in the basin, a very large portion of which
is at a depth below 4,000 and 5,000 feet. The produce of the 313
collieries in 1861 was 6,690,771 tons, which is considerably lower than
in previous years, probably from the falling off in the export trade
owing to the American war, but even should the amount reach ten
millions of tons, there is enough to last 2,400 years, or to supply the
whole consumption of Great Britain for about 300 years,—a fact which
one might suppose ought to set the mind of the public at rest on the
subject of our coal-resources.*
Cumberland Coal-field_—This being detached from any of the above
groups, I have reserved for the last. It forms a small band stretching
along the sea, from Whitehaven to Maryport, and has been worked from
very ancient times, as we have documents showing that the seams had
been followed under the sea as early as the beginning of the 18th cen-
tury. The area of the coal-field is 25 square miles, and the quantity
of coal remaining for use is about 90 millions of tons.
The following summary of the above shall conclude this part of
the subject.
General Summary. +
Group. square miles, fmillionsef tons, PFoduce, 1861. | “Catteries,
Northen . . .| 1,920 25,300 | 11,081,000 424
Fasten. . . . | 1,845 24,000 | 34,635,884 848
Western). 5 535 7,094 25,643,000 1,158
mouthem ... . 1,094 26,560 13,201,796 516
Cumberland . . 25 90 1,255,644 28
5,419 83,544 | 85,817,324 | 2,974
The above figures being rendered into words, mean that there are
in Great Britain, within a depth of 4,000 feet from the surface,
83,544,000,000 of tons of coal available, and that this quantity divided
by the quantity raised in 1861, say 86,000,000 of tons, would last for
about 970 years.
Having thus determined approximately the resources of our coal-
fields, and making no pretensions to prophecy, it might be wise, perhaps,
to close this article without venturing one word regarding the future.
Nothing is more liable to error than prospective statistics ; the only
person who is privileged to make use of them being the Chancellor
of the Exchequer for the time being. At the same time, the falsifi-
* The estimates of Mr. Vivian are much larger than my own; but I think
he has fallen into the error of multiplying the average thickness of coal into the
full area ; whereas the range of some seams is very far short of that.
+ The produce and number of colleries are from the ‘ Mineral Statistics of
Great Britain,’ for 1861, by R. Hunt, F.R.S., but differently arranged to suit the
classification into groups here adopted.
VOL. I, D
34 Original Articles. [ Jan.
cations to which the estimates of this great functionary are often sub-
ject, may well be a warning to all would-be minor prophets not to
venture on forbidden ground. We feelit, however, necessary to say a
few words in vindication of what may appear the, somewhat arbitrary,
limit of depth which we have adopted in the above calculations of our
coal-resources. The reader will be justified in inquiring why we
prefer 4,000 feet to 5,000 feet on the one hand, or 3,000 on the other,
and he is therefore entitled toa reply, though it must be a brief one.
Taking the latter figure first, we may state at once that this depth
has already been attained, or very nearly so, in more than one colliery,
both in our own country and on the Continent,* and no colliery mana-
ger will maintain that the limit has been here reached.
With regard to 5,000 feet as a limit of depth the case is otherwise ;
for we have reason to conclude that supposing this depth to have been
attained, the temperature, not to speak of other obstacles, would be
found so high as to forbid the employment of human labour.
The increase of temperature as we penetrate from the surface, is a
law which has been established on the evidence of a large number of
observations in all parts of the world. In our own country very in-
teresting and careful experiments have been made in several mines ;
both in the metallic mines of Cornwall, and the coal mines of the North
of England.t Having on a previous occasion given the experiments
in detail, the results need only be stated here, and are summarized in
the following table, together with the temperatures calculated to a depth
of 4,000 feet.
Table of Increase of Temperature for Depth.
; Increase of Increase | Resaltin
Depth in feet. Pee oe. due te Reel Temparainte
1,500 21-49 5-0 76:92
2,000 27°85 6:5 84°85
2.500 355 8°5 94:00
3,000 42-14 9°83 102°47
3,500 49°28 11°66 111°44
4,000 56°42 13°16 120°08
In the above table “the temperature of no variation ” adopted, is
50°5° at a depth of 50 feet from the surface.
From the foregoing tables it will be seen that even at a depth of
4,000 feet, a temperature may be expected more than tropical, though
less than it would be at 5,000 feet, and sufficient, we think, to place
* One shaft in Belgium, we are assured, is 932 yards in depth. In Saxony,
there is another upwards of 800 yards; and in the Dukinfield Colliery, the black
mine has been followed to the depth of 940 yards from the surface.
+ Experiments made at Rose Bridge Colliery, Wigan, and Dukinfield Colliery,
Ashton-under-Lyne, and detailed at length in the ‘ Coal-fields of Great Britain,’
pp. 223-232. The latter were first published by Mr. W. Hopkins, F.R.S., in the
* Philosophical Transactions,’ vol. exlvii.
1864. | Hutt on the Coal Resources of Great Britain. 35
the limit of depth within the last-mentioned figure. The means by
which the temperature even at 4,000 may be reduced so as to admit
of healthful labour is ventilation, and the question remains, to what
extent can this be accomplished. A series of interesting experiments
undertaken at my request by Mr. Bryham, at Rose Bridge Colliery,
Wigan, enables us to arrive at the following general conclusion :—that
in a mine of ordinary extent, the temperature can be lowered by
20° or 30°, according to the distance from the shaft, and the season
of the year. The cool air of winter reduces the heat of the mine more
than that of summer time, so that even with a depth of 4,000 feet it
may be often impossible to excavate the coal except during the colder
months of the year.
Space will not admit of our doing more than to glance at the past
history and future prospects of coal-mining. It may be said that up
to the end of the last century, the art had only smouldered. It was
when the invention of the steam-engine revolutionized the industry of
this country, that mining burst forth with an energy previously un-
approached. Probably not more than ten millions of tons of coal
were raised at the commencement of this century; yet in 1830 the
quantity raised was thirty millions, and in 1851 not less than fifty-four
millions.* From 1854 downwards, we have the returns of the Mining
Record Office,t which show a general tendency to expansion, though
with fluctuations ; the maximum having been reached in 1861, when
the enormous quantity of eighty-six millions of tons was brought to
the surface.
Notwithstanding these facts, however, it would be rash to assume
that the experience of the past is to be a criterion of the future. We
neither wish for, nor expect, an increase during the remainder of this
century at all proportionate to that of the earlier half, and this view is
borne out by some of the later returns. Some of our coal-fields, as
has been shown, have passed their meridian, and, having expended
their strength, are verging on decay. Others have attained their
maximum, or nearly so; this indeed is the case with the majority. The
younger coal-fields will have much of their strength absorbed in com-
pensating for the falling-off of the older; so that in a few years the
whole of our coal-producing districts will reach a stage of activity
beyond which they cannot advance, but around which they may
oscillate. Entertaining these views, I am inclined to place the pos-
sible maximum of production at one hundred millions of tons a year ;
and yet it has been shown that even with this enormous “output,”
there is enough coal to last for eight centuries.
* On the authority of Mr. J. Dickinson, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Coal
Mines.
+ ‘Mineral Statistics,’ 1854-61.
p 2
CRB5W) [Jan.
OCEANIC TELEGRAPHY.
I. Tue Derp-Sra Bev or THE ATLANTIC AND ITS INHABITANTS.
By Dr. G. C. Watticu, F.L.S.
THE sounding-machine has already conducted us to the confines of an
unexplored world. It has enabled us to penetrate the secret so long
and so steadfastly concealed by nature beneath the waters of the
ocean, by placing within our grasp the still living forms of creatures
differing in no material respect from some of those inhabiting moderate
depths, yet capable of sustaining existence under the extraordinary
conditions known to prevail amidst the more profound abysses of the
sea-bed. In short, it has taught us that our preconceived views con-
cerning the incompatibility of these conditions with the performance
of functions which are essential to life, are erroneous and demand most
careful revision.
The fact, as thus stated, appears simple enough, and may, by many
persons, be regarded as involving purely scientific issues. It will be
our aim, however, to show that this is by no means the case; and that,
whilst the interest attaching to the discovery of animal life under
such circumstances is undoubtedly great, and likely to lead to valuable
results in every department of Natural History, the practical bearing
of this discovery on the question of Oceanic 'Telegraphy is of no less
important a character. But in order to render ourselves intelligible,
we must briefly direct attention to what was known on the subject
prior to the time when it assumed its present aspect through the dis-
covery of living star-fish procured from a depth of nearly a mile-and-
a-half below the surface.
Without stopping to notice the various conjectures regarding the
nature of the deep-sea bed, which had previously been hazarded, it
may suffice to mention that specimens of the material of which it is
composed were, for the first time, systematically obtained about ten
years ago. ‘These consisted, for the most part, of an extremely fine
mud, with a large proportion of microscopic shells belonging to one
of the simplest forms of animal life with which we are acquainted.
Some of the shells retained a considerable portion of the gelatinous
substance of which the bodies of this class of organisms is com-
posed. But at this point the evidence failed. For whilst the fact
of these organisms having been raised from vast depths was too
clearly established to admit of the slightest doubt, it is manifest that
they might have been drifted from shallow water by oceanic currents,
or have lived near the surface of the sea, and gradually subsided to the
bottom after death. Accordingly, the mere presence of the gelatinous
substance of which their bodies are formed, when taken in connection
with the well-known preservative power of sea-water highly charged
with saline matter, affords no proof whatever of the creatures having
lived in the localities from which they had been conveyed by the
sounding-machine. But although the determination of the question
as to whether animal life can be sustained at such depths was reserved
1864.| Waxuicn on the Atlantic Deep-sea Bed and its Inhabitants. 37
for a later period, these earlier soundings were not barren of highly
important results; for they enabled Professor Ehrenberg, on compa-
rison of the material obtained from the bottom with that entering
into the formation of chalk, to announce the extraordinary fact, that
this rock is built up, atom by atom, of shells similar to those met
with in such profusion along the bed of the ocean ; and further,
that it must have been deposited under conditions similar to those
now prevailing; thereby furnishing the clearest proof that the great
forces which were in operation at the sea-bed countless ages ago, are
in operation still; and will, in all probability, continue to be so
through all time.
We now arrive at the period when the survey of the sea-bed
received a fresh and powerful impulse from the project of establishing
communication between Hurope and America by means of a Telegra-
phic Cable. With a view to ascertain the general contour and com-
position of the portion of the Atlantic it was proposed to traverse, an
expedition was sent by the Government of the United States, to sound
from shore to shore. But unfortunately, the information elicited in
the course of this survey was so vitiated by inaccuracies as to have in-
duced the eminent officer, then in charge of the Hydrographic depart-
ment at Washington, to pronounce it untrustworthy. A second
expedition was accordingly equipped, under the auspices of the British
Government. Of the accuracy of the depths recorded on this occasion
there could be no doubt. But the intervals between the positions at
which soundings were taken were so great, and the means of obtaining
specimens of the bottom so imperfect, that, looking at the matter as
we now do after the event, it seems impossible to regard the informa-
tion elicited as in any degree adequate to meet the requirements of
the enterprise for which the survey was undertaken.*
It is true these soundings, as far as they went, indicated no extreme
alternations of level along the course traversed. But on the other
hand, nothing could be more hazardous than to assume, because a cer-
tain degree of uniformity as to depth manifests itself at the isolated
spots on which soundings were taken, that a like degree of uniformity
must prevail over the wide intervening spaces. Of the spaces them-
selves we know literally nothing. Nevertheless on these imperfect
premises was it maintained, and by many persons believed, that the
entire central tract of the Atlantic, instead of being characterized by
variations of level and occasional areas of naked and perhaps rugged
rock, such as we might expect to encounter here and there in a region
SO extended, consists of a level plateau, the entire surface of which is
covered by a soft stratum of mud, similar to that indicated by the
earlier soundings. Now, it must be obvious to every one that, however
steep a submerged declivity may be, unless the depth is ascertained at
two or more consecutive points, the information elicited will be the
same as if the sounding-machine had been dropped on the most perfect
level. And accordingly, for aught these soundings have shown to the
* To render this statement intelligible, it may be mentioned that along 1,300
miles of the Mid-Atlantic Telegraph route, only forty-one soundings were > taken,
the intervals varying between 32 and 71 seogtaphical miles.
38 Original Articles. [ Jan.
contrary, the bed of the Atlantic may present features the most oppo-
site to those that have been ascribed to it. But let us not be misunder-
stood. It is neither our intention to assert, nor do we believe, that
insuperable alternations of level are likely to be encountered. We
simply deprecate the hasty adoption of a view so unsubstantiated by
proof, and so calculated, if erroneous, to interfere with the accomplish-
ment of one-ef the most important enterprises of the day.
It skould be borne in mind, that the supposed plateau does not
comprise a limited area, but one extending for upwards of a thousand
miles across the basin of the Atlantic. Now, there is no parallel
case to this in any portion of the present dry land. And, since
there is no ground for the belief that such a vast area could possibly
have remained unaffected by the agencies which produce modifications
in the earth’s crust elsewhere; it is—to say the least of it—extremely
improbable that so signal an exception should occur only along that
portion of the sea-bed which has been selected as the site of the Tele-
graphic Cable. We say only, because, judging from soundings taken
elsewhere, it is manifest that alternations of level are the rule rather
than the exception, and that, in some cases, they are of an important
kind.
But it is not necessary to have recourse to soundings, in order to
prove the accuracy of this opinion. The islands that rise so abruptly
in many portions of the Atlantic, if reduced somewhat in elevation,
might occur over and over again within the intervals at which the
depths have been recorded, and yet be completely overlooked. Their
existence is known simply because they are lofty enough to appear
above water. It would be an act of rashness, therefore, to assume that
formations similar in their character, but of smaller size, do not occur
in positions where they still remain unrecognized.
Of what then, it may be asked, does our knowledge regarding the
contour and composition of the sea-bed really consist? The answer
to this question is by no means unsatisfactory. Thus, it is certain
that in no region of the ocean in which soundings have heretofore
been attempted with adequate apparatus, is the depth so inordinate as
to be beyond reach. It is equally certain that, as a general rule, the
depths are moderate—that is to say, rarely exceeding 2,500 fathoms,
or a trifle under three miles; that, for the most part, the bottom is
composed of a soft but tenacious mud, consisting either of an admix-
ture of organic and inorganic débris, or of one of these constituents
more or less uncombined with the other; and lastly, and pre-eminently
perhaps, that deep-seated currents, if they prevail at all, are exceed-
ingly rare and too feeble to produce the slightest deleterious effect
upon a submerged Telegraphic Cable. These, we venture to say, are
no unsatisfactory results when weighed against the limited and imper-
fect nature of the opportunities that have hitherto been afforded for
the exploration of the sea-bed; and so far from being of a dishearten-
ing tendency, they offer conclusive evidence that the perfection of our
knowledge with regard to the conditions prevailing along any given
tract of the sea-bed, falls readily within our powers, and is merely a
question of time and perseverance,
1864.| Watuion on the Atlantic Deep-sea Bed and its Inhabitants. 39
It would occupy too much space were we to enter into the whole
of the facts bearing on the muddy deposits, with whose presence, over
a considerable area of the sea-bed, the sounding-machine has made
us acquainted. But there is one point to which we must invite atten-
tion, inasmuch as its importance can hardly be overestimated, and yet,
strange to say, it has heretofore been almost entirely overlooked.
In some of the deeper soundings, both on the North and Mid-
Atlantic route, fragments of rocks have been brought up. How is
the occurrence of these to be accounted for, and what does it betoken ?
The question is an intricate one, and so far as our present information
goes, does not seem to admit of a perfectly satisfactory solution.
This much may be said, however; that their presence on the imme-
diate surface layer of the sea-bed, is only reconcilable with one or
other of the following suppositions:—They must either have been
recently dropped by some means from the superincumbent waters ;
have been deposited by floating ice during past periods of the earth’s
history ; must occur in beds which were once exposed above the sur-
face of the sea; or be drifting about the bottom through the action of
currents.
Now in no case hitherto recorded have these stones been of large
size—probably not larger than a hazel nut—but they present un-
doubted traces of attrition. Fish, as is well known, sometimes
swallow small stones, and, as a matter of course, get rid of them
in time ; but this would not meet the requirements of the first of the
above suppositions, inasmuch as it is obviously improbable that so
many fish with stones in their stomachs should be moving about the
ocean, as would be necessary to account for the fact; and it is still
more improbable, if not absolutely impossible, that fish could have
conveyed such substances from the distant shores, where they are
alone obtainable. So that viewing this circumstance in conjunction
with the fact, that no floating ice nowadays traverses the areas referred
to, it is quite certain that the matter is inexplicable on the first sup-
position.
If deposited from floating ice during past periods of the Earth’s
history (according to the second supposition, which is by no means
impossible), it follows as an inevitable consequence that the muddy
deposits are local in character, and that certain areas of the sea-bed
consist of bare rock ; or that they are swept away by currents as fast
as they are produced. We regard the first of these two views as most
conformable with the evidence ; for, although there is reason to be-
lieve that deep-seated currents prevail with sufficient force, in some of
the shallower tracts of the Atlantic, to move the fine particles of
which these deposits are for the most part composed, there is no
ground whatever for supposing that they are ever powerful enough to
sweep along large objects, such as the stones of which we have been
speaking. It will be seen, therefore, that we are fully justified in
laying stress on the possibility that extensive areas of exposed rock
may occur along the basin of the Atlantic, which have hitherto escaped
detection. The third and fourth suppositions are thus disposed of
likewise.
40 Original Articles. | Jan.
But the facts just set forth involve another very important con-
sideration, which, as supporters of no particular creed, we deem it
necessary to notice. In assuring ourselves of the absence of currents
as a source of danger in Oceanic Telegraphy, we no doubt gain a
material point. But to some extent the gain is counterbalanced, and
in this wise. Assuming that the bed of the present ocean has been
subject, at some antecedent period of the world’s history, to the de-
nuding action of atmospheric and terrestrial influences, and has thus
been impressed with characters similar to those we see around us on
dry land (and that it has been so, there is no valid reason to doubt),
whatever asperities may have marked its surface when it was first sub-
merged, must remain stamped upon it up to the present time. The
denuding action of water in a state of motion is very great; but that
of water in a state of comparative quiescence, such as prevails along
the sea-bed, must be extremely limited, if it operates at all. Atmo-
spheric agencies which wear away the rugged features of one district
on land and reproduce them on another, are powerless either for good
or for evil at the sea-bed. And hence it is certain, that however
much the muddy deposits may be constantly contributing towards the
toning down of the minor inequalities, they can exercise very little
effect as regards those more extensive alternations of level, the
absence of which along the sea has been assumed, solely because the
means heretofore adopted have been inadequate for their detection.
But let us now turn to the living tenants of these deep abysses.
It has already been stated, that although the evidence of the vitality
of the minute shell-covered creatures, obtained in the course of the
earlier soundings, was altogether inconclusive, more recent observa-
tions have established the fact that the conditions prevailing at extreme
depths are not incompatible with the maintenance of animal life. The
observations in question were made at the close of 1860, during the
survey of the North Atlantic route by H.M.S. ‘Bulldog.’ Into the
details of these it would be out of place to enter at present; but the
proofs they involve, may be stated in a very few words.
Thirteen living star-fishes, differing in no important particular
from a species common on our own and most northern coasts, were
brought up from a depth of 1,260 fathoms—or very nearly a mile and
a half—at a point midway between the Southern extremity of Green-
land and Rockall, and 250 miles distant from the nearest land. These
star-fishes, however, cannot be said to have been captured by the
sounding-machine, for they came up adhering by their spine-covered
arms to the last 50 fathoms of the sounding-line, not as voluntary
exiles from below, but owing to their having coiled themselves around
a material from which they found it impossible afterwards to disen-
gage themselves. Now, apart from all other evidence, the facts in
connection with this particular sounding were suflicient to indicate
that the star-fishes had been raised from the sea-bed itself, and had
not grasped the line while floating in some stratum of water inter-
mediate between it and the surface. But, by a singular piece of good
fortune, the question as to their last resting-place admitted of definite
determination on evidence that they bore along with them. To com-
.
1864.] Waxuicn on the Atlantic Deep-sea Bed and its Inhabitants. 41
prehend the value of this, it is necessary to mention that by means
of a separate observation taken upon the same spot, the bottom was
found to consist aimost entirely of the minute shell-covered organisms
already referred to; and, taking into consideration the fact that many
of the shells were completely filled with the gelatinous substance of
which their bodies are composed, and lastly, the fresh appearance of
this substance ; the probability is very great that they, in common
with the star-fishes, had lived and multiplied at the bottom. But the
only circumstance which ought to be accepted as direct proof of their
vitality, namely, motion after reaching the surface, was wanting ; as
indeed it well might be, since the passage through the vertical mile
and a half of water occupied nearly an hour, and the change of con-
ditions to which the creatures became subjected, during that period,
must necessarily have been very great. Nevertheless the chain of
circumstantial evidence was rendered complete ; for, on examining the
stomachs of the star-fishes, they were found to contain the minute
shelled creatures in abundance ; thus clearly establishing the fact of the
star-fishes having attached themselves to the sounding-line whilst it
rested on the bottom, and adding the strongest confirmation to the
view that the minute creatures referred to were brought up from their
natural habitation.
But it was not to be expected that a fact so subversive of all pre-
conceived notions regarding the conditions essential to the presence
of animal life on the ocean would be received without the usual
amount of salutary scepticism. And hence, on its being boldly an-
nounced not only that highly-organized animals had been brought up
from so vast a depth, but that they actually arrived at the surface ina
living state, scientific men shrugged their shoulders, and demanded
the production of the most complete proofs. These proofs we submit
have been produced ; and they serve to show that instead of organic
life being carried on in defiance of the conditions so erroneously held
to be incompatible with it, the presence of some of these conditions is
indispensable to its continuance. In order, however, to render
‘intelligible the doubts that were expressed on the subject, and the
precise bearing of the evidence brought forward with a view to dispel
them, it is necessary to draw attention to the conditions on which the
determination of the question depends.
According to the generally accepted opinion regarding the Geo-
graphical distribution and vertical limits of marine animal life, the
presence of one set of conditions is essential, that of another incom-
patible with it. Thus we are told thata certain amount of aération of
the water, especially with reference to the quantity of oxygen gas con-
tained in a given volume, and the previous existence of vegetable life
in some shape or other, are indispensable to the maintenance of
animal life; whereas the increase of pressure beyond a certain degree,
and the total absence of light, determine the limit in depth beneath
which, it was contended, no living being could exist.
Now, although in the present state of our knowledge, it is difficult
to conceive that any animal, no matter how low in the scale, can live
in default of a supply of oxygen, we are by no means called upon to
42 Original Articles. (Jan.
believe that this gas is in reality absent in sea-water at great depths.*
From observations conducted many years ago by an eminent French
experimentalist, M. Biot, it would appear that the swimming bladder
of fishes contains a larger quantity of nitrogen than oxygen when they
happen to have been captured near the surface ; and a larger quantity
of oxygen than nitrogen when brought up from a depth of a few hun- -
dred fathoms. The researches of other observers would also tend to
confirm the view that the quantity of oxygen held in solution by sea-
water increases rather than diminishes with the depth; and on
theoretical grounds, moreover, there is reason to believe that the
presence of oxygen is inseparable from the pressure which prevails at
great depths.
In the case of creatures belonging to the higher order, as, for
example, fish, the conditions that have been laid down are no doubt
indispensable. They cannot support life beyond a comparatively
moderate depth ; and, as a general rule, it may be taken for granted
that no living organism, demanding a supply of free air for its sus-
tenance, or whose structure is of such a kind as to be inordinately
affected by an increase of the pressure to which it is subject in shal-
lower water, could, by any possibility, survive a single instant after
descending lower than a few hundred fathoms. But there is a large
class of creatures, inhabiting the ocean at ordinary depths, whose
structure is so universally permeable by fluids that, assuming other
conditions to be favourable and the transitions from a low to a high
degree of pressure to be sufficiently gradual, it is immaterial whether
the medium around them be pressed upon by one or by one hundred
atmospheres. In the case of these creatures, as in that of a human
being living under ordinary atmospheric pressure, it is only essential
that the force should operate uniformly both within and without the
body. Hence, in so far as mere pressure is concerned, there is no
reason why creatures of the class referred to (and star-fishes are
amongst the number) should not be able to exist at all depths.
With regard to the previous manifestation of vegetable life which
is said to constitute a condition essential to the existence of animals,
both terrestrial and marine, it is only desirable to point out that, were
this really a law cf nature, it would at once negative the assumption
that animal life can be maintained at extreme depths ; for, if vegetable
products are indispensable for the nutrition of the animal, and no
vegetable structures are capable of living in default of a certain
amount of light, inasmuch as no light can possibly penetrate to the
profounder abysses of the ocean, animal existence must of course be
rendered impossible.
But whilst recent explorations of the sea-bed have indubitably indi-
cated that animals can live at those vast depths, they would also seem
to show that vegetable life, in any form at least in which we have
heretofore detected it, is not co-existent; for whensoever vegetable
structures have been found amongst the organic or inorganic matter of
* M. Pasteur, the French chemist, in his recent experiments on Ferments,
has sought to show that some of the so-called Infusoria are able to exist without
oxygen.
uarterly Journal oP Science, .N° ]
Ga
oper ’ - 33 s + m2 Ar NAT:
rU.rV. a@inat:aeiy Hanhart, Imp* i Qvrin NM. YYiiiiains ,oc
GROUP OF ee OUS & SILICEOUS ORGANISMS FROM THE DEEP SEA BRD.
Fids.ito 6. FORAMINI® SRA. oe 7to 9.POLYCYSTINA.
he ae 0 & U.GAGYNIDE. Fids.12tol?.SPONGE SPICULES.
1864.] Wauxticu on the Atlantic Deep-sea Bed and its Inhabitants. 43
the deposits, the peculiar condition of their soft parts has invariably
been such as to indicate their having lived in shallower zones, and
only descended to the bottom on life becoming extinct. It is mani-
fest, therefore, that the law referred to, however stringently it may
apply to terrestrial life, admits of exceptions in the case of marine
forms. How these exceptions are provided against remains yet to be
ascertained.
But, it may be asked, what are these mysterious little atoms of
which so much has been said, and which play so important a part, not
only in the composition of the present sea-bed, but of vast tracts of
existing dry land. For the benefit of those who have not directed their
attention to the subject, we append the following brief particulars and
the accompanying Illustrations.
The animal, as already stated, is one of the lowest in the scale of
creation. It consists of a minute particle of viscid matter, not unlike
the fluid but yet granular portions of honey both as to consistence
and colour, and like honey devoid of organization. Nevertheless it
possesses vital contractility, and the power of altering its shape to any
extent. The little mass is not naked, however, but in virtue of another
vital faculty inherent in it, is able to extract calcareous matter from
the water in which it lives, and re-secrete it in the form of the ex-
quisite shells known to naturalists under the name of Foraminifera.
In the deep-sea species to which we are particularly referring, the
shells consist generally of a number of chambers ranged in more or
less symmetrical order, and each communicating with the rest and
with the outer world by one large aperture, and a number of minute
pores studded over the entire surface. Through these, the little animal
is continually projecting, and as continually retracting, delicate thread-
like feelers, composed of the same substance as the rest of the body.
By means of these feelers it performs the movements of which it is
capable, and, in all probability, is enabled to provide itself with food.
Hence it will be understood why it was stated, in a former portion of
these observations, that in the absence of these movements it becomes
almost impossible to determine whether the object before us is alive
or dead.
But although this wonderful little creature demands special notice,
owing to the share it takes in the composition of the deep-sea deposits,
numberless other forms are to be met with, equally simple in their
nature, but still more beautiful in their structure. And this leads us,
in the last place, to inquire whether or not there is reason to apprehend
danger from their attacks upon a submerged Telegraphic Cable.
On this point we can speak with confidence. If there be any source
through which the abrasion of a cable, either by contact with other
substances, or the attacks of creatures able to bore into its coverings
and thus destroy or impair its insulation, may be obviated, it is through
the gradual incrustation that these humble shell-builders are sure to
form around it. Accordingly it becomes of the utmost importance to
select, as far as is practicable, those areas of the sea-bed which are
covered by the foraminiferous deposits, and to avoid those which are
bare. Minute Annelids unquestionably exist even at the greatest depths,
44 Original Articles. [ Jan.
and amongst these there are some capable of doing mischief. That
they can penetrate gutta-percha solely by means of the boring organs
with which they are provided, we altogether disbelieve. But, in most
cases, there is ground for suspecting that their penctrative powers are
materially aided by secretions capable of acting chemically on the sub-
stances attacked. Of the nature of the secretion, or its possible effect on
caoutchouc or gutta-percha, we know nothing. But this is no reason for
repudiating the possibility of an event, which if brought about only once,
in the 2,000 miles of cable, would prove fatal to its working integrity.
It only remains to be added, that we are no alarmists. We would
neither conjure up, magnify, nor ignore danger. What we desire and
believe to be indispensable, if telegraphic communication across the
Atlantic is to be viewed in any other light than as a source of national
chagrin, is that measures should be forthwith adopted to add to the
scanty information we already possess regarding the sea-bed; under
the firm conviction that whatever difficulties may present themselves,
they require only to be understood to ensure their being surmounted.
IJ. Tse Aruantic CABLE AND ITS ‘TEACHINGS.
By Wiu1am Crookes, F.R.S.
THERE is scarcely a question of more importance at the present day,
than that of telegraphic communication with India. When these pages
are before the public the line which is to connect the two hemispheres
will be en route to its destination; and judging by the vast experience
accumulated during the construction and laying of the old Atlantic
line, and the invaluable evidence which on its demise was elicited at
the inquest, there is every reasonable hope that the new enterprise will
be successful.
A great amount of misconception prevails respecting the now
defunct Atlantic cable, and pending the successful termination of the
undertaking now in progress, we propose to disinter from the pon-
derous official documents some portions of its history which are not
generally known, and, with the aid of other material now before us, to
examine what is the reasonable prospect of success or failure in other
similar undertakings.
The problem to be solved is comprised in a very small compass.
There is not much difficulty in making a cable perfect as to its
electrical conditions, and should any flaw or faulty part happen to
pass the first scrutiny, skilled electricians can at once detect it. The
great difficulty which now weighs like an incubus upon every large
undertaking of this kind, is to submerge the rope without injury.
There is now an absolute certainty of making a cable of any length
perfect, but we destroy it in attempting to get it to the bottom of the
sea. If the insulated wire, in as good a state as when it leaves the
contractor’s works, could but be transferred uninjured to the ocean’s
bed, it would lie there as quietly as if it were at the bottom of a well,
and would last for hundreds of years.
1864. | Crooxess on the Atlantic Cable and its Teachings. 45
Unfortunately, the first-laid submarine cables were attended with
complete success; these precedents were used as arguments aguinst
any further investigation, and hence the hasty enterprise of the Atlan-
tic cable, involving an expenditure of three-quarters of a million, was
rushed into in the most reckless manner, and with so utter a dis-
regard of precautions, as to seem from the first actually to invite
failure.
The perfection of a cable depends upon the perfection of each
individual inch of it; in this respect it is similar to a chain, which is
valueless if a single link be faulty. The insulating covering of the
conductor is composed of substances so delicate in texture, and laid on
in such a manner as to render it extremely difficult to avoid faults.
‘These are generally noticed as soon as they appear, and by taking the
precaution to test the cable in definite lengths under water, they can
be readily detected at any time, and their position ascertained. What
is generally known as a fault, is a communication between the
conducting wire and the water; this may be either very slight, in
which case, the insulation is more or less injured, or it may be
sufficient for the whole of the electricity to leak through. A small
fault, which would not be of serious consequence in a short line,
cannot be tolerated when the cable is of considerable length, as the
powerful currents necessary to force a signal through, find out all the
weak points, and eat them into fatal holes. There is another reason
why faults or even weak places must not be admitted in submarine
lines; it is that they are so liable to injury through lightning. In
the Channel Islands’ telegraph, the lightning struck the cable in
Jersey, and passing under the sea along the wire for sixteen miles in
the direction of Guernsey, met with a weak place, where it burnt itself
through into the water, destroying the insulation.
The material of the outer covering of the cable, and the manner
in which it is laid on, are matters of great importance. There must
be no strain on the core, and the finished cable must have as little
elasticity as possible. Many cables have been injured from a neglect
of this precaution : an elastic rope will stretch four or five per cent.
during deposition, and will contract when the tension is removed and
the temperature is lowered by the surrounding water. The copper
wire is however permanently stretched, and where the gutta-percha
contracts over it, the wire occasionally knuckles through and produces
a serious leakage. The outer coat of mail is almost invariably of a
spiral form, which perhaps is the only kind that could be adopted,
having regard to the frequent coilings and uncoilings which the rope
has to go through, but such a form is very lable to kink whenever the
rope is.not kept in a state of tension.
The copper of which the conducting wire is now invariably made,
should be selected with the greatest care. When pure it is one of
the best solid conductors known ; but very slight impurities, such as
are almost always met with in the commercial metal, are sufficient to
greatly diminish its value. ‘Taking the conducting power of pure
copper as 100, Dr. Matthiessen found that of samples of American,
Australian, Russian, and Spanish copper to be respectively 92, 88,
46 Original Articles. { Jan.
59, and 14. Since these results have been made known, the wire is
always contracted for of a certain specified conducting value per mile.
Much has been said about the deterioration of gutta-percha when
exposed to the air, and the great difficulty of avoiding flaws in laying
it on the wire; these evils are however greatly magnified. The rot-
ting will not proceed under water, and even in air it may be prevented
by a coat of Stockholm tar, whilst the small and unavoidable flaws are
perfectly guarded against by applying several successive coatings to
the wire. Other complaints brought against gutta-percha, are that
it does not insulate very perfectly when warm, and also that it
is liable to soften. These are reasons against unnecessary exposure
of the cable to heat before its submergence, but are of no consequence
when once it is laid. At the bottom of the ocean everything is in
favour of its permanence. The surrounding sheath of tar tightly held
in iron wires, the low temperature of the water, the preservative pro-
perties of the sea, the absence of light and air, and the enormous
pressure to which it is subjected, are all elements tending to improve
the lasting and insulating properties of gutta-percha.
Many of the most important facts above referred to have been
ascertained since the Atlantic Cable was manufactured, but they
ought to have preceded instead of succeeded so important an under-
taking. This could have been done easily by an expenditure,
trifling when compared with the amount at stake, and it would have
supplied the Company with knowledge which has been purchased at
three quarters of a million sterling. There was far too much haste in
the preliminary stages of the undertaking. It was looked upon
merely as a commercial speculation, and in order to raise the requisite
funds, promises to the shareholders were most rashly made. Whilst
the Company was only formed in 1856, the line was undertaken to be
laid in 1857, and in order to keep faith with the public, the prelimi-
nary experiments and investigations, which ought to have occupied
the highest available talent for some years, were hurried over in the
most reckless manner, or were left to be completed by chance. In-
deed, the most important piece of machinery in the whole affair, that
for paying out the cable,—an apparatus which would have to run as
smoothly as a cotton mill for every minute of the time occupied in
that operation, the slightest hitch or irregularity snapping the cable,
—was literally being put together for the first time as the ship was
sailing to its destination, and was entrusted, untried, with its precious
charge. The result may be anticipated. A stoppage in the machinery
occurred, and 835 miles of cable were sacrificed at the shrine of
official incompetence.
Another great mistake was to have such a rope made of any but
the very strongest materials. It was intended at first that the outer
covering should be of steel wire, but this could not be adopted owing to
the unfortunate promise made by the directors that it should be laid in
1857. Had another year been permitted to elapse, and, instead of
iron coating, had steel been employed, there is every probability that
the cable would have been at work at the present day. Instead of
a breaking strain of three tons it would have borne uninjured a pull
Ld. | LivoKks on the Atlantic Cable wi we seacnings. 47
of twenty tons, enough, if requisite, to have anchored the ‘ Agamem-
now in the middle of the Atlantic, and to have endured without
damage any imaginable vagaries of the paying-out machinery. The
objections that steel cables do not coil as well as iron, and seem “ all
alive” from their springiness, are not of much weight, as the enormous
surplus strength would enable them to bear a considerable amount of
hard usage in stowing them away.
In paying out a cable much depends upon its being properly coiled.
This was certainly well done in the Atlantic line, and it is doubtless
to this fact that the last successful paying is to be attributed.
During the whole process of paying out a kink never once occurred ;
in fact it uncoiled itself, for the men who were stationed in the hold
to undo the lashings, and be ready in case of accident, scarcely were
required to touch it once.
Few people can imagine the great mechanical difficulties to be
overcome in laying a long cable. Owing to the difficulty of making
the joinings properly at sea, the rope cannot be carried out in more
than two portions, and there are very few ships capable of conveying
the required load in the necessary manner. An electric cable is a
difficult thing to coil, indeed no one, who inspects it in short lengths,
would believe it capable of being coiled at all; the cable must, there-
fore, be laid in the hold, in as large a circle as possible, and the space
occupied must be perfectly clear from cross-beams, or perpendicular
supports for the deck. The cable must be placed so as to load the
vessel evenly, and must be so paid out that she shall preserve an even
keel, otherwise water ballast must be admitted to keep the vessel in
trim. Moreover, with a long cable, the vessel employed should be
a steamer of sufficient dimensions not only to contain it, but coals as
well for the entire voyage, for, if stowed in a sailing vessel and towed
by a steamer, the ship becomes in a heavy sea unmanageable, and in
case of a hitch occurring, it is almost impossible to check her progress
in time to prevent accident. A cable long enough to span the
Atlantic will weigh at least 6,000 tons, and when coals must be carried,
and in addition a clear space provided sufficient to enable this enormous
length of cable to be coiled, it is evident that no existing vessel
except the ‘Great Eastern, would be equal to the requirements of the
case. The hands employed in liberating the cable coiled in the hold
have a difficult task to perform even when the sea is calm and every-
thing goes on smoothly. When at full speed the coils have to be
carefully liberated, layer by layer, from the lashings and packings of
wood, so as to set free only so much of the cable as is required, so
as to avoid the possibility of its escaping from the guides on receiving
any check. ‘The break is a part of the apparatus which requires the
most delicate handling ; the strain which it puts on must be sufficient
to prevent the cable from running out with too great a velocity in pro-
portion to the speed of the vessel, whilst it must be sensitive to every
pitch and roll, in order to prevent the cable from being snapped by a
sudden strain. Many self-acting breaks have been proposed, but in
practice nothing has been found so effectual for the regulation of tho
strain as constant personal superintendence. The speed at which the
48 Original Articles. [ Jan.
paying-out vessel travels should be as uniform as possible througkout
the whole voyage, and as provision must be made for contrary winds
and rough weather, a large amount of surplus power is indispensable.
In fair weather it is not difficult to attend to all these precautions,
nothing but proper care and attention being necessary ; but in stormy
weather, when the vessel is tossing to such an extent that the men can
scarcely stand while unlashing and freeing the cable, when the pitch-
ing of the ship throws sudden and violent strains upon the break, and
when the breaksman himself can scarcely keep his feet, and can see
nothing in the darkness, the difficulty in managing the apparatus pro-
perly is of no ordinary kind.
An indicator is attached to the break, which is supposed to show
the strain upon it, but, owing to its inertia, such an instrument is of
very little value for obviating sudden jerks. For instance, on the
occasion of the first snapping of the Atlantic Cable, the indicator
showed a strain of only 35 cwt., although the cable was supposed to be
able to resist a strain of 60 cwt.
During the paying out of the Atlantic Cable great doubts were en-
tertained of its permanent success, owing to the serious faults which
soon became apparent. The ‘ Niagara’ and ‘Agamemnon’ havin
met and joined their respective halves of the cable in the middle of the
Atlantic, started thence and proceeded, one to Newfoundland, the other
to Valencia Bay, in Ireland, electrical signals being constantly passed
from one ship to the other. At one point, when nearly 400 miles had
been paid from each ship, the electrical signals became very weak, and
the tests applied by the electrician on board the ‘Agamemnon,’ showed
that there was defective insulation at a very remote part of the cable.
The fault then seemed to get better, and in about an hour the cable
tested as usual. Three days afterwards, when about 560 miles had
been paid out from each vessel, considerable irregularities were ob-
served, the signals becoming weaker, until it was reported from the
electrical cabin that they had ceased altogether. They shortly after-
wards returned, and gradually improved for some hours, when they
became as strong as ever. In fact, on the evening of this day
(August 2), the signals from the ‘ Niagara’ were reported to be stronger
than they had been previously. Other irregularities in transmission
were afterwards observed, but the general working of the cable seemed
good, and on referrmg to the memoranda taken by the electricians at
the time, we find the signals spoken of as “good” in the morning of
the drd of August, “first rate” about the middle of the day, and
“perfect” in the evening. The next day we have reports of constant
signals from one ship to the other, and the memorandum “all right,”
is repeated several times. On the 5th of August, at 2.10 a.m., the
‘Niagara’ signalled that she had paid out 1,000 miles of cable, and at
3.50 a.m., the ‘Agamemnon’ had paid out the same quantity. At that
time, intelligible signals were passing through the 2,000 miles of cable,
from one end to the other, and in a few hours each ship was safely at
anchor.
Thus, then, the possibility of connecting the two continents by an
electric cable was proved and considering the unjustifiable haste and
1864. | Crooxus on the Atlantic Cable and its Teachings. 49
disregard of necessary precautions, more than this could not be expected.
Indeed, it was scarcely anticipated during the paying out, that any result
whatever would be gained. The many coilings and uncoilings which
the rope had undergone, had undoubtedly caused injury. The leakage
at Keyham was very great, and many bad places were cut out; but as
the cable was not once tested under water before its actual submergence,
some imperfections necessarily escaped detection.
It soon became evident that very serious faults existed in the cable ;
its capability of conveying signals varied greatly, going and coming at
uncertain intervals, and sometimes stopping altogether; and when
to this was superadded the tedious nature of the signalling, owing to
induction, it is somewhat surprising that any intelligible messages
passed through its whole length. Indeed, had it not been for Professor
Thompson, who, without fee or reward, threw himself heart and soul
into the affair, the cable most probably would not have spoken at all.
Even when the wire worked well, the sluggishness of the current
was a serious obstacle to the reading of the signals. If the 2,000-
mile wire had been suspended in air, the signals from one end to the
other would have been practically instantaneous ; but surrounded as it
was with iron and water, great retardation took place from induction,
three or more seconds being required for the electric wave to pass along
the whole distance. If the discharge at the one end were effected
as rapidly and sharply as the charge at the other end, the time occupied
in the transmission would be of no consequence, but unfortunately the
discharge is always slower than the charge, and consequently a series
of sharp crisp dots signalled into the wire at Valencia, would be
smeared into a continuous line when they came out at Newfoundland.
On this account words could only be transmitted very slowly, the
highest speed actually attained being 41 words in 15 minutes.
At one time, indeed, two clerks conversed at the rate of 4 words a
minute, but most of these words were abbreviated or guessed at before
half spelt, so that for ordinary messages, the highest attaimable speed
may be put down at 23 words a minute.
On the 10th of August, the first words were sent from America to
Treland, but although the whole day was occupied in such messages
as “Repeat, please,’ “Please send slower for the present,” “ How
do you receive?” ‘ Please say if you can read this,’ “ How are
signals ?” “ Please send something ;” and the second day was occupied
in similar messages and requests to “Send alphabet,” and “Send V
slowly,” Valencia, like a coy maiden, refused to respond to these
entreaties. On the third day, Valencia showed signs of thawing, and
condescended to obey the request contained in the following message
sent from America :—‘“ If this received, send battery current in one
direction five minutes.’ The next day when America signalled—
“Send word Atlantic,” Valencia was able to reply, “ Atlantic :” (this
was the first word read in America.) We then find several words
from Valencia in answer to American entreaties, but during the whole
of this day, America was signalling to Valencia such messages as
these :—‘‘ We receive currents, but can’t read you,” “Can’t read.” “You
must send slower, as some of your dots do not show on most delicate
VOL. I. E
50 Original Articles. [Jan..
detectors,” “ We get your currents, but so irregularly, that we cannot
read them; will you examine your key well?” On the fifth day,
Valencia thawed a little more, and actually asked America to “Send
faster ;” but although several long messages were sent on that day
from America, only isolated words were received in reply. On the
seventh day, Valencia and America seem to have arrived at a better
understanding with each other, and Valencia asked, ‘‘Can you take a
message ?” with the warning, “ You must repeat each sentence in
full.” Upon receiving an affirmative reply, Valencia telegraphed :—
“ Directors of Atlantic Telegraph Company, Great Britain, to Directors
in America: Europe and America are united by telegraph. ‘Glory to
God in the highest; on earth peace, good-will towards men.’ Repeat
back faster. Queen’s next.” After America had telegraphed back
the above message, the Queen’s message was sent. This consisted
of ninety-nine words, and occupied altogether sixteen hours in its
transmission ; many parts were repeated over and over again, and the
whole message was signalled back to ensure accuracy. After this,
owing to the greater delicacy in the reading instruments, and
especially to Professor Thompson’s beautiful reflecting galvano-
meter, several long messages were sent backwards and forwards ;
America, however, always doing the greater part of the talking. On
the tenth day, very good signals came, and Valencia asked for the
messages to be sent faster. The telegram respecting the collision
between the ‘ Arabia’ and ‘ Europe,’ was sent on that day from America,
and it was followed by the President’s message to the Queen.
Professor Thompson was at this time constantly engaged upon ex-
periments, and the result of these was that the cable spoke much more
intelligibly, complimentary messages being sent between the directors
and many public men, and several long directions on the details of
working the instruments. From this time the cable seemed to im-
prove, and on the twenty-second day the memorable Government mes-
sages were sent to America, countermanding the return of the 62nd
and 39th Regiments, thereby saving to the British Government the
sum of 50,0001.
To give our readers some idea of the difficulty experienced in
forcing information through the wire, we copy verbatim the conversa-
tion which took place in reference to these despatches at the two
extremities of the wire. Valencia speaks to Newfoundland at 1.30
p.m. on August 31 :—
‘‘Can you read? We have two Government messages, Will you take?
Reply direct.”
Newfoundland.—“ Try, but send.”
Valencia.—‘“ The Military Secretary to Commander-in-Chief, Horse
Guards, London, to General Trollope, Halifax, Nova Scotia :—The Sixty-
second Regiment is not to return to Engiand.”
Newfoundland.—* This received :—‘'The Military Secretary to Com-
mander-in-Chief, Horse Guards, London.’”
“ «Trollope, understand, go on after ‘Scotia.’ ”
“Ts it finished after ‘ England ?’”
1864. | Crookes on the Atlantic Cable and its Teachings. 51
Valencia.—* Yes. Now take another. Are you ready ?”
Newfoundland.--“ Yes, send.”
Valencia— “The Military Secretary to Commander-in-Chief, Horse
Guards, to General Officer Commanding, Montreal, Canada :—The Thirty-
ninth Regiment is not to return to England.”
Newfoundland.—“ I want you to repeat ‘ Canada,
Valencia.—* Can’t read. Try Daniel's.”
Newfoundland. Repeat from ‘ Canada’ to ‘ return,’”
Valencia.—* Canada :—The Thirty-ninth Regiment is not to return.”
Newfoundland.—‘ Understand.”
The above occupied eleven hours in transmission.
999
On the 30th of August, Mr. Field telegraphed from America, as
follows :—“ Early in the morning of September 1, Please send me
message that I can read at the celebration that day, and another on
the 2nd that I can read at dinner that evening.’ Accordingly on the
Ist of September, Valencia telegraphed the following message to
C. W. Field, New York:—“The Directors are on their way to
Valencia, to make arrangements for opening wire to public. ‘They
convey through cable to you and your fellow-citizens their hearty
congratulations and good wishes, and cordially sympathize in your
joyous celebration of the great international work.”
Up to this time the condition of the line may be said to have
undergone slight improvement. Several long and important com-
munications had been sent through it, and it was on the eve of being
formally opened for commercial purposes, when, without any ascer-
tained cause, a collapse took place, and the Atlantic Telegraph
suddenly became defunct; its death being the more ignominious when
we take into account the message, in the utterance of which it expired.
From this date no other sentence could be forced through, and with
the exception of isolated words and signals during the month of
September, all attempts to restore communication failed. As late
indeed as October 20th, eight words of a sentence were spoken
through the cable from Newfoundland to Valencia, but this was
owing to the employment of recklessly energetic battery power, and
may be looked upon as the spasmodic twitchings of a galvanized
corpse, rather than healthy vitality.
Let us now try to ascertain the causes of this gigantic failure, and
see whether the experience so dearly gained renders a similar under-
taking likely to be reasonably successful. It must be confessed that
from the first success was almost hopeless. Everything connected with
the manufacture of the rope and its subsequent treatment was con-
ducted in such a hurried and reckless manner, that few who knew all
the circumstances were surprised at its failure. Before the cable was
laid there was great neglect in the electrical department, and the
manufacture was carried on throughout without proper supervision.
At the whim of any dilettante experimentalist, the cable was cut
through and through without hesitation, and the joints were fre-
quently cobbled up most disgracefully. It has been estimated that
there were upwards of 100 unnecessary cuts, and several imperfect
joints have been exhibited, any one of which would be amply sufiicient
E 2
52 Original Articles. [ Jan.
to account for the sudden cessation and reappearance of the signalling ;
indeed it has been stated on good authority that skilled servants of the
Gutta Percha Company who were sent to the contractor’s works for
the express purpose of uniting the various sections of the cable in as
perfect a manner as possible, were dismissed because they made the
joints too slowly, and their places were supplied by other workmen.
But even then, if skilled electricians had tested the cable properly
under water, they ought to have found out the locality of the defects
before it was too late to remedy them. When too late it was found
that a very serious fault existed about 420 miles from the coast of
Treland. It may be reasonably assumed that this was one of the im-
perfect joints—good enough to carry the current without betraying
itself before the paying out, but—seriously weakened by the repeated
coilings and uncoilings that the cable had undergone. This was
broken by the strain upon it during the paying out, was temporarily
brought together again when lodged on the bed of the ocean, and
finally succumbed under the burning discharges from the gigantic in-
duction coils used during some part of the short existence of the line.
Public attention is now being directed to the Persian Gulf cable,
which will supply the one link wanting to connect this country with
India. If the Atlantic disaster has done nothing else, it has proved
the possibility of signalling through vast distances of submarine wire,
whilst it has given to practical men such a fund of experience as to
render a failure of the Indian line well-nigh impossible. Without
going into the details of its construction we may briefly state that
the copper wire possesses the highest practicable conducting value ;
the remote chance of holes or faulty places in the four surrounding
layers of gutta-percha has been removed by an intermediate layer of
Chatterton’s highly insulating compound ; the cable has been not only
kept under water whilst at the manufacturer’s works, but is carried in
water-tanks on board ship to its destination, and its electrical con-
dition is tested daily ; whilst the outer coating of tarred hemp acts as
a protection to the iron armour, and prevents the twisting action
occasioned by the rapid passage of the wire spirally through the water
during the paying out; for when the cable passes down like a screw
through a nut, there is a great liability to kink.
When the cable left this island it was as electrically perfect as we
can reasonably hope to get such a line in the present state of our
knowledge, and the subsequent operation of paying out has been
reduced to such certainty, that there is no doubt whatever about
the eventual success of the enterprise. In the submarine lines
hitherto laid, all the failures have been due to definite causes which
can be readily guarded against. Possibly other causes of failure still
remain to be traced out and surmounted, but we cannot imagine any
combination of untoward circumstance which could affect the ultimate
successful working of the Persian Gulf line. The greatest depth of
water in which it will be laid is 60 fathoms, and should an accident
happen during the paying out, causing the rope to snap, or should the
electricians at either end discover leakage of insulation, or stoppage of the
current, there will not be the least difficulty in fishing up and repair-
a)
1864. | Mauer on Earthquakes. 53
ing the damaged portion. As an instance of the certainty with which
the electrical tests now employed can point out the exact locality of a
fault, we may mention that in one deep-sea line a defect was detected
by the instruments to exist 190 miles out at sea. A ship repaired to
the spot, underran the cable, and found the calculation correct within a
mile. This being mended, the electricians immediately said that their
tests showed another fault about 112 miles farther. This also was
found to be the case, with scarcely more error than in the former
instance. The bed of the Gulf is admirably adapted for the safe pre-
servation of a cable, being free from those great variations of depth and
rocky eminences which effected the ruin of the Red Sea cable. In that
instance the line was laid too tensely, and was suspended consequently
in festoons between the numerous rocks. It had ample strength to
bear its own weight in this position, and at first experienced no harm.
Gradually however, barnacles, seaweeds, &c., found it a convenient
resting-place ; and in course of time they accumulated on the rope to
such an extent, as to cause it to break under the additional strain.
In the new undertaking, the remote possibility of such an occurrence
as this will be avoided by paying out abundance of slack wherever the
soundings show much undulation of the sea bottom.
The success which must attend the Persian Gulf cable, and the
near approach to certainty of an equally good result in other sub-
marine lines now in progress, ought to remove much of the financial
difficulty in inaugurating another attempt to connect England with
America. The first line proved the possibility of transmitting mes-
sages across the whole width of the Atlantic. This alone was worth
all the expenditure incurred; and if the promoters of the new line
make use only of the information which the death of the old cable
elicited, the public will have no reason to regret the three quarters of
a million sterling, now feeding the fishes in the cool depths of the
Atlantic.
THE LATE EARTHQUAKE, AND EARTHQUAKES IN
GENERAL.
By Rosert Matter, C.E., F.R.S.
Over a large portion of England, people were startled from sleep,
shaken by an invisible hand, in the night of the 5-6 October last
(1863). A few, at once—and most persons after awhile—realized the
the fact that they had experienced an Earthquake, and escaped un-
harmed. Amongst the tens of thousands thus aroused, who compared
notes at breakfast, as to their own reception of the mysterious visitant,
how few had, or have at this moment, any notion of the narrow margin
during that sudden and evanescent throb, which divided their own
fates, between safety and one of the most terrible forms of death—
that of being buried, bruised, broken, suffocated, or perhaps burnt alive,
beneath the overthrown ruin of their own hearth and home. Slight
as was this shock compared with those of other lands, of the terrors
54 Original Articles. | Jan.
of which we delight to read—as of those of war or shipwreck—it well
might startle those who felt it, if ignorance were not here bliss to
nearly all of us. The pulse that careered over the face of England
on that night, like the breeze that sweeps over, and waves a field of
standing corn, was probably not greater in the velocity of its wave
particle than is the velocity which imparts the shock one may feel by
dropping on his heels from a stone-step six inches in height; but had
its wave velocity been only as great as that produced by dropping in
like manner from the height of a chair, it would have laid im ruins
numbers of our English towns, and would have given us a sharp
experience, by the loss of life and property, of the mourning and woe
that are so often the lot of Harthquake countries.
Indeed, amongst the many natural gifts, referable to Geographical
position and Geological structure with which Great Britain has been
so lavishly endowed by Providence, none has been more important
(though little recognized) in permitting our national development,
than our immunity from frequent or severe Harthquakes. We may in
this respect, but in a different sense from him of old, ‘‘ thank God that
we are not as other men are.’ A single shock, no greater in
violence than those which occur almost monthly, within less than
2,000 miles of us (in the Mediterranean Seismic Bands)—one, namely,
the velocity of whose wave particle should be no more than 12 to
15 feet per second (not so fast as we sometimes move in a car-
riage), would not only split and prostrate minster, spire, and column,
but would leave Manchester, Liverpool, or London, mountainous
heaps of brickdust, and rubbish, Terrible as are the consequences
of such utter overthrows in the cities of other lands, our arti-
ficial conditions would add new horrors to the overturning of our own;
for besides the conflagration that almost always succeeds the down-
fall, ignited by the buried household fires or lights, we should have
superadded, the falling in of great sewers, with the overflow of
their polluted streams amidst the ruins; the damming, more or
less, or great tidal rivers like the Thames, by falling bridges; burst
and spouting water mains; gas escaping and exploding in all sorts
of cavities amidst these over-ground “ooafs,” viaducts and iron
bridges brought to the ground by their own inertia, tunnels col-
lapsed—coal and salt pits and mines ruined—roof and floor in a
moment brought together—complications of horrors such as can be
even but inadequately imagined. Happily there is little chance of
such a catastrophe. Enough has already been ascertained, as to the
distribution in space over the earth’s surface of Seismic or Harthquake
energy, to admit of our affirming the extreme improbability of the
occurrence of any great Harthquake in the British Islands; but there
is no physical reason why such an event might not occur to-morrow,
and it is certain also that the Seismic Bands, 7. e. the great ribbon-like
spaces of maximum Earthquake energy, distributed over the surface
of our earth, and which may be seen laid down upon the Seismic
mercator of the world, in the British Association Harthquake Cata-
logue,* are given to wander, and that we have perilously bad neigh-
* 28th Report, 1858.
1864. | Mauer on Earthquakes. 55
bours not so far away to the north and south of us, so that a time may
arrive, when some remote posterity of our own may become partakers
in, if not successors to, their misfortunes. But although our country
is thus happily placed in one of the quieter havens of this heaving
world (upon the surface of which not a day passes without an Earth-
quake somewhere, nor any eight consecutive months without one great
enough to prostrate buildings over thousands of square miles), and is
so circumstanced as never to be very violently shaken, yet we are shaken
much more frequently than people generallyimagine ; and now and then,
as on the late occasion, the shock is sufficiently severe to be of a very
awakening character.
Since the 11th century, there are upon record as occurring in the
British Islands, including the Hebrides, nearly 240 Earthquakes.
Statistics have been tabulated which indicate the probability that
up to the end of the 17th century not more than one-twelfth of the
Earthquakes that occurred in Great Britain were recorded at all, nor
more than one-half, up to the end of the 18th century. And at the
present moment, there is good ground to conclude that about two
Earthquakes per week shake the soil of England, Scotland, or Ireland,
without counting minute and continually repeated vibratory jars, such
as those long remarked at Comrie in Scotland. Now and then, some
of these British shocks are not quite to be despised ; for example, on
the 13th of August, 1816, an Earthquake, that extended with violence
over more than 100 square miles of Scotland, shook down part, and
twisted upon its base the whole of the spire of the church of Aberdeen.
On March 17th, 1843, an Earthquake, great enough to damage build-
ings, occurred in the North of England, and reached from Northumber-
land down to Flintshire, and from the Isle of Man to beyond Cheshire ;
and no longer ago than on the 9th November, 1852, a shock which
threw down strong walls at Shrewsbury, extended over the British
Islands from Dumbarton nearly to Dartmoor, in Devon—and from
Enniskillen, in Ireland, to Gainsboro’ in Lincolnshire.
Nothing was so remarkable in the mass of letters from Correspon-
dents as to the late Harthquake (of October) with which ‘The Times’
and other Papers were for a few days afterwards filled, as the dense
ignorance that prevails amongst all classes as to the nature of these
phenomena, and of the circumstances that it is desirable to observe with
respect to them.
One writer’s letter contains literally but two facts, that “he felt
something ” which he thought must have been an Earthquake—and that
“he got up, and immediately lighted a candle,”’—he might have added,
that in this case he did not put it under a bushel! The pseudo-scientific
“communications” chiefly record the exact state of Barometer and
Thermometer at the moment of shock ; facts now known to be nearly
as irrelevant as the price of Consols the day before. Nor is this ignor-
ance confined to the more “ignoble vulgar,” for a professed Meteoro-
logist, for the benefit of ‘the public at large, prints in ‘The Times’ a
string of inquiries to which he demands answers, but which point to
nothing so clearly as the writer’s ignorance of the subject that he
meddled with, and which he seems to think is still, as in the venerable
56 Original Articles. [ Jan.
days of Aristotle, a branch of Meteorology ; at the same time we happen
to know that that Journal declined to give publicity to a carefully drawn
up series of inquiries prepared for it by a competent person.
The fact is that Seismology—which has only become a science
since 1846, and has since advanced with very rapid strides—has as yet
not become diffused at all widely, even amongst the proper brotherhood
of Science, and no attempt has been made to popularize it for the less
informed reader. It occupies just now about the same relative position
that Ice Theories did in 1837, when at the Liverpool Meeting of the
British Association, the very first Paper that appeared in English on
the Motion of Glaciers was read (on sufferance) in the Geological sec-
tion ; the President observing that, “as the topmost and most recent
of all deposits, Ice might certainly be conceived as having something
to do with Geology ;” but no one then saw any importance, or great
Cosmical relations, in the subject that since has engaged so many
minds, and been shown to play so important a part in the terrestrial
machine, and which, having passed into popular hands, is now being
“run away with” by some Geologists, who attribute to its past or
present agency many gigantic tasks that, tested by only a little exact
science, would prove to be impossible. No doubt something of a like
fate is in store for Seismology. 'Those—the few—who will master
the preliminary science absolutely necessary to understand and make
use of it, will find in it the key to some of the greatest, and hitherto
amongst the most obscure, problems of Physical Geology. Those who
will be content with scraps of knowledge, or with being told results, like
children, will be amused ; and, in proportion as they know more, will they
be better amused, with Harthquake stories. But though they will then
to some extent comprehend, they can never make for themselves real
advances into the unknown. On the contrary (as with many Glacialists
in relation to Geology), they may oftener, if they make the attempt,
“ darken counsel by words without knowledge ;”’ for the half knowledge
of ingenious men is always “the Philosophy of the unconditioned.”
But although this is peculiarly the popular career of such parts of
science as seize upon the imagination by the grandeur of the phenomena
they discuss, and admit of a smattering of their reasonings being attained
without great mental effort,—still it is well, here as everywhere, that
those who actually scaled the rugged precipice of science, when they
have reached a firm foothold upon a new or higher ledge, should turn
round and announce to those that labour in the plain, the wider and
nobler horizon of nature they have commanded.
It is good, therefore, that Science (worthily so called) should, as
far as possible, utter her voice intelligibly to all. Let us humbly try
to do this in part for the new-born Science of Seismology ; but we
must begin at the beginning, albeit we may not in this paper reach
the end. And first, let us understand what we are speaking about.
What isan Earthquake? Our readers are confident that they can answer
that inquiry. There are some who have read, many who have talked
of them, and some even who have felt their effects. But what are
these effects? and the cause—what is it? Let us mention one or two
things which an Earthquake is not. It is never “ one of the means by
1864. | Matter on Earthquakes. 57
which permanent geologic elevations of the land are produced,” though
too often confounded with these in all sorts of geological “ systems,”
and ew cathedraé utterances. Nor is it “the reaction of the interior of
a planet upon its exterior,” for that, oracular as it sounded from the
lips of a Humboldt, is, in fact, to say nothing.
What, then, 7s an Earthquake ? It is the transit of a wave or waves
of elastic compression in any direction, from vertically upwards to horizon-
tally in any azimuth, through the substance and surface of the arth,
from any centre of impulse, or from more than one ; and which may be
attended with sound and tidal waves, dependent upon the impulse, and
upon circumstances of position as to sea and land.
To understand the definition we must have a clear notion of what
a wave is. We will return to that true threshold of Seismology, but
first let us take a very brief glance at the history of our subject. This
is twofold: that of the facts, or reputed facts, as found in innumerable
EKarthquake narratives, and that of human opinion, from the dawn of
knowledge downwards, as to these, in referring them to causes.
The supposed first cradle of our race, or at least of that great
branch of it from which we ourselves, and almost all our knowledge,
have come, was situated in regions that during all history, as now, have
been greatly disturbed by Earthquakes, which thus very early engaged
the minds of the more observant of men. Nothing, not even thunder
and lightning, amongst natural phenomena can have so impressed the
imagination of early peoples, as did these suddenly felt shakings, by a
terrible and unknown power inhabiting the unseen depths of the
Earth, nor more imperatively stimulated to the discovery of some
cause for them.
The genius of the old nations of the East, that always “sought
after a sign,” or for a final cause, was and is satisfied with a myth.
When Brahma turned sides, there was an Earthquake, or when the
Tortoise, on which the world rests, stirred his flippers, there was
the like result ; and this sort travelled westwards, moulding the earlier
than Homeric Mythology of the days when Greece was young, and
showing itself in the mysterious power of the Trident of Neptune,
Leioiydovos evvoriyaios. But the Greeks “desired wisdom,” and only
missed it as to deciphering nature, because they started from arche-
type creations of the mind, and not from inductive observation.
There was plenty of such philosophizing on Earthquakes amongst
them. There were three theories before the days of Aristotle: that
of Anaximenes, the Milesian; of Anaxagoras of Klasomene; and of
Democritus of Abdera, in order of time. Aristotle himself wrote
largely and learnedly in the books regs Merewgoroyinwy, and regi Koowov.
He had remarked and classified, with his accustomed comprehensive-
ness, the different sorts of shocks by their sensible effects, dividing all
into, érixAivrai, which strike the earth’s surface at an acute angle; Boa-
orat, those that come right up (vertically), and sink down again, like
a boiling spring or pot ; yacuarias, those that leave hollows after their
departure ; {4xrai, those which break forth with eruption of wind,
stones, mud, &e. Those which with one great push overturn everything
are woras, and those, that with much shaking to and fro, and up and
58 Original Articles. [Jan. ©
down, replace the objects they have displaced, and are of the nature
of tremors, are raAwarias.
The first, the second, and the two last, are clear, and almost exactly
expressive of the sensible differences of Harthquake shocks: but in
the two between, Aristotle either classes Volcanic Eruptions with
Earthquakes as all parts of one common train of events—or con-
founds the shock with its consequences, 7. e. the Earthquake with
its secondary effects. Beyond the proof which this classification
affords, that nearly two thousand five hundred years ago, Earthquakes
were much the same as they are now, no man can learn anything
from the disquisitions of Aristotle.
Partly from the Greek being in these passages in many places
corrupt, but far more from the fact that the Greeks had no distinct
notions as to those forces of matter we call “molecular,” nor yet
any clear metaphysics, an abuse of words is found in their Physical
writings which often renders them almost unintelligible: tyevua is in
some sort the cause of all earthquakes, says Aristotle; but whether
by the word, he meant simply the winds, or some intangible imponder-
able force or agent present in the earth and above it, acting upon
the winds, and acted on by them, though not the winds themselves,
and giving rise to Harthquakes and Volcanoes, it is impossible to
determine. The word ryvcjua was used to express pure spirit, and
the wind, as well as condensable vapours, indifferently and alike, by
the vulgar, and by the philosopher. Thus in John’s Gospel, cap. iil.
v. 8, this word occurs twice in the same verse, and is translated wind
first, and spirit afterwards in our version.
The views of the great and philosophic Seneca are far more
distinct and important. What Humboldt wrote, was true at the time,
and the ‘ Questiones Naturales’ contain the germ of almost everything
that has been advanced in modern times as to Volcanic action in its
larger sense.
But we must hurry away from classic days, leaving Pliny without
notice, and pass on and over the centuries of the so-called dark ages,
and of the revival of knowledge, remarking only that in the fifteenth,
sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, innumerable pamphlets and
books were published, most of them recording with a grand gobe-
mouche credulity, all sorts of signs and wonders, and straightway
founding a theory thereon. In the seventeenth century, these usually
“improved the occasion” by pointing out that the particular Harth-
quake was a special judgment on some unfriendly nation or obnoxious
creed. The crudest and wildest hypotheses were set forth, and more
or less accepted to account for the production of the shock. ‘Thus it
was due to solutio continui in the parts of the earth, to a sudden penning
in of the subterraneous fires, to sulphureous and bituminous blasts, or,
as Dr. Stukely was of opinion, to the play of lightning and thunder
underground in manner like to that wherein they appear in our firma-
ment. In nearly all these, Earthquakes and Eruptions are impartially
jumbled. It is only within a very short time, that a few men in
Europe have come to see, that while Vuncanrcrry is a word that may
properly express the community as to causation that exists between
1864. | — Matrur on Earthquakes. 59
Earthquakes and Volcanoes, yet that these must be treated and inves-
tigated up to a certain point as distinct, and that Sxrsmonocy shall
express the system of doctrines of the former, and VuLcanoxoey that
of the latter.
There are a few bright points of observant thought to be found
amidst all this “ old world” muddle, however.
Fromondi, who wrote, in 1525, six books on Meteorology, and
devotes the fourth to Earthquakes, refers to the explosion of the great
Fire Ship, by which the beleagured Antwerpers blew up the Duke of
Parma’s bridge over the Scheldt, of which Mottley has given so spirit-
stirring an account in his ‘ History of the Revolt of the Netherlands.’
Fromondi remarks, that the blow of its explosion was felt almost all
over Holland ; and he seizes upon the analogy between the effects and
those of Earthquakes; but he soon loses the train of thought that had
thus so well broken cover.
Maggio, of Bologna, in 1571, was the first who made any attempt
to collect and classify into eleven, the signs or presages of Harth-
quakes, not with much light, it must be confessed, as he put Eclipses
and Comets amongst “the eleven.”
Then, just about a century later, came Travagini, to whom belongs
the credit of the first attempt to found a Physical Theory of Earth-
quake movements, and whose disquisitions present a notable example
of how aman may go coasting along very near to a great truth, and
yet never touch it.
He had experienced a horrible Earthquake in 1667 at Ragusa—
seismically a very ugly region, being that where the great seismic band
which stretching away westward from Varna and Constantinople along
the Balkan, crosses the Adriatic,* and joins on to the great Italian
band at Gargano and Melfi, and a place still subject to frequent and
violent disturbance.
That the shock was due to some kind of impulse or blow, and that
the force was in some sort dispersive, is all of truth that can be said to
have been seen clearly by Travagini, though he was close to a great
deal more.
Hooke, in 1690, delivered his ‘ Discourses of Earthquakes,’ before
the Royal Society. These Lectures, though called so, are, in fact,
a diffuse sort of system of Physical Geology, and full of suggestive
thoughts ; but Hooke throughout loses sight of what an Earthquake
really is, and confounds all descriptions and sources and degrees
of elevatory forces and their effects, with the transient action and
secondary effects of Earthquakes properly defined. These Lectures
have been the mine from which numberless later Geological authors
have more or less consciously drawn, and while they are a repertory
of curious and often valuable thought and information, they have
done great mischief in being one of the main causes of the same con-
fusion of ideas between the effects of Land Elevation, and those of
Earthquake, which is not even yet cleared out of Geological systematic
authors.
In 1760, the Rev. John Mitchell, Fellow of Queen’s, Cambridge,
* See Map D, ‘ Report to Royal Society on Neapolitan Earthquakes of 1857.’
60 Original Articles, [Jan.
produced a most remarkable paper on Earthquakes to the Royal
Society, printed in the ‘ Philosophical Transactions,’ vol. li.—atten-
tion being then powerfully directed to the subject by the recent
terrible shock that had destroyed Lisbon.
He shows a wonderfully clear conception, for his time, of the general
configuration and structure of the superficial parts (or crust as it is
the fashion to call it) of the Earth, and of the relations between Vol-
canoes and Earthquakes. Both, he supposes, are due to vapour of
high tension almost instantly generated by contact of water with in-
candescent rock, deep in the earth. Misled, however, by his concep-
tion of the universality of horizontally disposed strata, and of a
nucleus of liquid lava universally beneath them, he goes at last hope-
lessly wrong, by supposing that Harthquake-shock consists in a liquid
wave of translation produced in the lava sea beneath, which forces, as
it travels, the flexible covering of stratified material overhead to undu-
late along with it, just as ‘‘a large carpet spread upon a floor, if it be
raised at one edge, and suddenly brought down again—the air under
it by this means propelled, will pass along until it escapes at the oppo-
site side, raising the cloth in a wave all the way it goes.” This paper
though vitiated throughout by this leading fallacy as to the nature of
the Earthquake wave, was a most meritorious performance, and had
important effects (though little specifically noticed), in moulding the
thoughts of the earlier schools of Geclogy.
Bertrand, Bouguer, Ulloa, Dolomieu, Grimaldi, Hamilton, and the
Neapolitan Royal Commissioners, accumulated a mass of facts (and,
let us add, of fictions) of Earthquakes, in the last and beginning of
this century.
Humboldt added to the facts in his Personal Narrative, &e. ; but
nowhere, net even in ‘ Cosmos,’ does he show that he had any clear
notion of what is the nature of Harthquake motion—or how produced.
In 1835, the Comte Bylandt de Palstercamp, in an extremely curious
though wild and imaginative work, “a Théorie des Volecans,”
attempts to build up a sort of Cosmogony from considerations of the
relations and reactions on our planet, of light, heat, electricity, &c.,
&e.— from these come Volcanoes, and from the latter Earthquakes.
Truth and quasi-truth are wildly and incoherently mixed in his book.
Shocks or blows produced by and transmitted through cavities, lifted
up and down by sudden filling or emptying of aériform fluids, form
Bylandt’s shock,—and starting from the following extraordinary pro-
positions, “les effets des tremblements de terre sont toujours contra-
dictoires aux causes qui les produisent et dirigés dans le sens inverse,”
—‘Jeffet sera celui d’un pendule, c’est-a-dire contradictore entre les
deux extrémités,” he arrives at the true conclusion, that bodies over-
thrown at opposite sides of a seismic focus will all fall towards it, but
in opposite directions to the shock and to each other. We now know
that this is only true if the bodies fall in the first semiphase of the
wave. Had Bylandt followed this out, and curbed his tendency to
mysticism, he would in all probability have been the creator of Seis-
mology,—the true discoverer of Earthquake dynamics—as it was, he
missed the prize.
1864. | Mazer on Harthquakes. 61
Between 1820 and 1841, Von Hoff, Kries, Hoffmann, and one or
two others, had laboriously collected and digested into order a large
mass of facts, or reputed facts, of earthquakes, and to the first belongs
the credit of having, in a masterly discussion,* shown what are the
relations (so far as then known) between Meteorological and Harth-
quake Phenomena—and pointed out, that all the supposed meteoro-
logical presages were devoid of reality, and that Harthquakes belong
to Physics and Geology and not to Meteorology.
But none of these men made the slightest advance towards a_
physical theory of Earthquake motions. 'The only true hint even,
that was to be found before 1846, as to the true nature of the Earth-
quake motion, is found in a paper on Volcanoes, by Gay Lussac, in
the ‘Ann. de Chim., vol. xxii. p. 429, who quotes from Dr. Young’s
Lectures, and concurs in his opinion, that “ Earthquakes were of the
nature of vibrations in solids.” Even Darwin—who of all men had had
the finest opportunity of seeing the effects of Earthquake on the most
extensive scale in South America—rendered no better account of the
then accepted Vorticose displacement of objects, than by asking, ‘‘ Might
it not be caused by a tendency in each stone to arrange itself in some
particular position with respect to the lines of vibration, in a manner
somewhat similar to pins on a sheet of paper when shaken ? ”
He, too, like Parish, had recorded the circumstances of the great
sea-waves that roll in, after South American and other Earthquakes, but
neither rendered any solution of the facts. Nor was an attempt made
by anyone, as yet, to connect these sea-waves and the sounds heard in
great Earthquakes with the other parts of the phemomena.
A considerable advance had been made in a branch of science
apparently remote enough from Earthquakes, which, however, greatly
prepared the way for solving one part of their true history. The
brothers Weber, in Germany, and Scott Russell after them, i England,
had experimentally developed the science of certain classes of liquid
waves; and the latter had, in 1844, shown the laws of propagation
of one class of these, viz. waves of translation.
In February, 1846, a paper was read to the Royal Irish Academy,
and .then published in its Transactions, vol. xxi. part 1, “‘ On the
Dynamics of Earthquakes,’ which (we quote the words of the Presi-
dent, Dr. Chas. Graves, on presenting the Cunningham medal) fixed
upon an immutable basis the real nature of Earthquake phenomena,
and, for the first time, showed that the three great classes of phenomena
—1, Shocks; 2, Sounds; 3, Great Sea Waves—were all reducible to
a common origin, and formed parts of a connected train, and were
explicable upon admitted laws. This paper also, for the first time,
explained the true nature of the movements that had been called
“-vorticose,’ and viewed as proofs of circular movements, by showing
that they were the result of rectilinear motions.
It also pointed out the important uses that might be made of Earth-
quakes, as instruments of cosmical research, enabling us not only to
discover the depth beneath the surface of the origin of these shocks,
and hence of volcanic foci, but ultimately of ascertaining the nature,
* Geschichte der natiirlichen Veranderungen der Erdoberfliche.
62 Original Articles. [Jan.
as well as the temperature, of the formations within our earth, to a depth
far more profound than can be reached by any other mode of investi-
gation, or directly ever reached at all, and that by its means, we may
acquire some knowledge of the formations constituting the beds, or
situated even far beneath the beds, of the great oceans. These are, in
fact, the great aims of Seismology, for the investigation of Earthquakes
is only a means to an end.
This paper drew the attention of physicists and geologists, in a
prominent manner, to the subject of Earthquakes, and was followed
by several reports drawn up by desire of the British Association, and
published in its volumes; and also by the laborious task completed
in 1858, of drawing up and discussing the ‘ British Association Harth-
quake Catalogue.’ For this large body of seismic statistics, embracing
all historic time and the whole earth’s surface, and numbering more
than 6,000 Earthquakes, the groundwork had been laid by the immense
and valued labours in the same direction of Von Hoff, and of M. Perrey
of the Faculty of Sciences of Dijon, whose life has been devoted to
this branch of the subject, and whose labours are still continued with
the enthusiasm and success of his early youth,
Since 1846, the experimental method has been brought to bear
upon the subject; and the observations made on natural shocks have
been compared with those of Earthquakes artificially produced. And
now Seismology has taken an acknowledged place as an important and
productive branch of Cosmical Physics, and already some able men in
different quarters of Europe are pursuing its study. Amongst those
who have most, and most recently, advanced our knowledge, are
Haughton, Favre, Schmidt Jeittelles, Otto Wolger, and Kluge. But
we have now brought the history of discovery in Seismology to such a
point, that its further development will best merge into the remarks to
follow, upon the doctrines and facts of the Science itself.
Recurring now to the definition already given of an Harthquake,
we will clear our ideas as to what it means. The shock is produced
by a wave of elastic compression passing through some portion of the
substance of our earth. Elasticity is that property in matter which
tends to the restoration of igure in solids, and of volume in liquids
and gases, when altered by an extraneous force ; and every different
substance has its own co-efficient (or measure) of elasticity of volume
(cubic elasticity), and of elasticity of form (linear elasticity).
In common parlance, it is often confounded with flexibility. Thus,
when people praise the springs of an easy-going carriage by saying,
“ they are so elastic,” they mean they are so flexible. Elasticity and
flexibility are, in fact, opposites in some respects. A perfectly elastic
solid is one that, after forcible alteration of figure completely restores
itself ; if perfectly flexible, it would not restore itself at all, and
might be bent to any extent without disruption. No such bodies
exist in nature. All terrestrial materials present variable combi-
nations of elasticity and flexibility, neither being perfect. Thus,
Glass, Ivory, Agate, and Hard Steel are highly elastic bodies, but very
slightly flexible. They break, as we all know, if but slightly bent, or
1864. | Mazer on Earthquakes. 63
when struck sharply a blow which bends them suddenly, but they
almost perfectly resume their forms after being released from an inflect-
ing force.
On the other hand, India-rubber, Animal Jelly, and Whalebone,
possess a wide range, both of flexibility and of elasticity. They recover
their forms after great distortion, but not so perfectly as more rigid
bodies. The elastic limit—that is, the extent to which their particles
may be relatively displaced without fracture or other permanent alter-
ation, is much greater in these latter, than in the former class of
bodies.
But we find also bodies which, like dough, or temperered potter’s
clay, are extremely flexible, and exhibit hardly any tendency to resume
their forms when these have been forcibly altered.
All these are solids, 7. e. more or less rigid bodies, but liquids and
gases are also elastic ; liquids do but very slightly—gases not at all—
resist change of figure, but they powerfully resist change of volume ;
and when this is altered by compression, it is restored by elasticity.
Thus a cannon-shot that strikes the surface of the sea rises and rico-
chets in virtue of its own elasticity and that of the water, from which
it rebounds much farther than from a bed of solid clay or of sand ;
but the range of the elasticity in volume, of liquids, is extremely small
—so little, that if the weight of our atmosphere pressing upon the
ocean were doubled, it would only squeeze about every million and
forty-five cubic yards of water intoa million. Gases, on the contrary,
as we all know, are largely compressible, and perfectly restore them-
selves to their original volume; of this the air-gun affords an instance
familiar to everyone.
Solid bodies may be deformed by flecure, as when a carriage-spring
is bent ; by extension, as when we pull a cord or wire endwise ; or by
compression, as When a load is laid on the summit of a column ; or any
combination of these may occur by the application of partial forces to
their forms. But further, solids may be either homogeneous or
heterogeneous, made up of different particles, or of particles having
different elasticities in different directions. Thus, certain crystals
have different elastic co-efficients in three different axes; and
pseudo-crystalline bodies, such as the laminated slate of North
Waies, or closely stratified rocks, have very different degrees of
elasticity parallel to and transverse to the lamina, or to the strata,
respectively.
It is in virtue of this restorative force of elasticity, that when-
ever a blow or pressure of any sort is suddenly applied, or a previously
applied, steady or slowly variable force, is suddenly increased upon
or relaxed from, any material substance, then a pulse or wave of
force, originated by such an impulse, is transmitted through the ma-
terial acted on, in all directions from the origin or centre of impulse,
or in such directions as the limits of the material permit. The
transfer through the material, or the transit of such an elastic wave,
is merely the continuous forward movement of the original change in
the relative positions of the particles of part of the elastic mass pro-
duced by the extraneous force or blow—a relative displacement and
64 Original Articles. [Jan..
replacement of those particles within a determinate volume of the
material, transferred through and affecting in succession, the whole
mass.
The shaking of the ground by the rolling of carriages, beating
their wheels upon the paving-stones in the streets of cities, and the still
more perceptible rocking of the ground beneath our feet as we stand
near a heavy railway train at speed, are examples of such waves
in solids.
The ordinary sounds we hear, are examples of like waves in air;
and the noise of the grating and rolling pebbles moved by the waves
as they approach the shore on which we stand, is an instance of such
waves, transmitted from the mutually struck pebbles to the water, and
through the water to the air, by which it reaches our hearing organs.
While the shock or jar felt in a boat floating at some distance from a
blast exploded at the bottom of the sea, is a case of such an elastic
wave, originated by the blow of the powder, and transmitted directly
to and through the water and the boat, to our bodies.
Now the velocity with which such a wave-form travels, varies in
different materials, and if these be homogeneous, depends for any given
substance, principally upon its specific degree of elasticity —technically
called its elastic modulus, and upon its density, upon which its mass
and inertia are dependent in a given volume. The rate at which the
wave-form, 1.e. the whole group of displacing and replacing particles
in simultaneous movement, is transmitted in any particular substance,
is called its transit period.
This period is constant (always the same) for the same material,
under the same conditions as to temperature, molecular state, &c.,
and for small originating impulses is irrespective of the amount or
kind of the original impulse which produced the wave. Experiments
conducted within a few years past at Holyhead, as to the time that
the wave or shock, transmitted through the Quartz and Slate Rocks
there, to traverse a measured mile of rock, from the moment of
production by certain of the explosions of the great mines, employed
in the adjacent Government Quarries, which vary from less than a ton
up to six or seven tons of powder fired at once, appear to indicate that
in elastic waves of this great magnitude and transmitted through hete-
rogeneous material, 7. e. laminated, contorted, and shattered rocks of
various degrees of hardness, density, and elasticity ; the transit period
is not independent of the amount of the original impulse, but that the
larger this is—and the greater consequently the original magnitude of
the wave—the less (in some ratio) is the time of the transit period ;
in other words, the faster the wave travels.
In air, the transfer of this elastic wave, which is identical with
that of sound, has a velocity of about 1,140 feet per second. In water,
the transit period is about 4,700 feet per second; and in hard erys-
tallized rocks, such as porphyry or granite, if they were perfectly
solid and homogeneous, it would be from 5,000 to 10,000, while in iron
and steel it reaches 11,000 or 12,000 feet per second. An enormous
retardation of this transit velocity occurs however when the material
through which the wave passes is heterogeneous, broken up and
1864. | Matter on Larthquakes. 65
shattered. When first it was pointed out that an Earthquake shock
was an elastic wave, if appeared, upon physical grounds, that the
rate at which the shock having reached one place on the earth’s sur-
face, would pass on to another beyond, must be something nearly
as great as that theoretically due to the elasticity and density of
the rocks beneath, that is to say, often as much as 8,000 or 10,000
feet per second. This was submitted to experiment; granite rock,
highly elastic and dense, ought to transmit a shock wave nearly as
fast as any rocky or other material forming part of our globe, and wet
sand ought to transmit it almost at the extreme limit of slowness.
More than a mile of wet uniform sand was measured carefully upon
the shore of Killiney Bay, in Ireland, and several hundred feet in the
granite of Dalkey Island adjacent. At one end of each of these
ranges, respectively, small Earthquakes were made by exploding
galvanically, casks of gunpowder buried in the sand, and blasts sunk
in large cylindrical holes sprung in the granite, special means
being devised for determining the time of transit, and accurate
enough to measure time to less than the five-thousandth of a second ;
the time-measuring apparatus being set in motion, and stopped by
the same galvanic apparatus that fired the powder a mile or more
away. An instrument, called a Seismoscope, was also devised and
employed, by which the arrival of the wave of impulse transmitted
from the powder exploded at the remote end, should be rendered
visible to the eye, through the disturbance of a telescopic image,
reflected in the liquid mirror of a small trough full of quicksilver,
which was caused to undulate and flicker by the momentary tremor
of the ground beneath it. The sensibility of this instrument was
so great that a horse trotting on the sand half-a-mile away was visibly
seen to shake the ground, and a stamp of the foot or tap of a hammer
on a large stone several hundred feet away, produced visible dis-
turbance. ‘This instrument was also employed at Holyhead.
The results of these experiments caused some surprise amongst
physical philosophers, for in place of the cnormous rates of transit
that were expected, it was ascertained that the mean rates of wave pro-
pagation were only as follows in the respective media, viz. :
In the most solid Granite . 6 4 . 1664574 feet per second.
In shattered-like Granite . - 13067425 zi a
In contorted and stratified Rock (Quartz and
Slate) . . : - 1088°559 . *
In wet sand A * 5 : c ; 824°915 3 a
The retardation is due to the discontinuity of the rocks, the mass of
every known rock being broken up by joints and fissures, at each of
which there is a loss of vis viva, and a loss of time in the transmis-
sion of the wave. The accuracy of these results, at first received
with some just reserve, has since been amply confirmed by observations
and calculations of the actual transit periods of Natural Earthquake
waves, occurring in the Rhine Provinces, Hungary, and Southern Italy,
which are found closely to co-ordinate with those of experiment.
It was ascertained that in the contorted heterogeneous and shat-
tered rocks of Holyhead, no less than seven-eighths of the total theoretic
VOL. I. F
66 Original Articles. [Jan.
velocity of transit due to the elasticity of the rocks, which was also
experimentally obtained, was extinguished thus by their want of con-
tinuity, &e.
Now, from these different rates of wave transit in diverse materials,
it results that if an impulse be given at a single point, it may be per-
ceptible several times in succession by a person so situated as to re-
ceive it through different media.
Let, for example, one stand near a line of railway, and a heavy blow
be delivered upon the iron rail; it will be heard first, through the iron
rail; almost directly afterwards a second sound will be heard through
the air; and almost at the same time the person will feel the pulse of
the blow reach his feet through the ground. While, if another person
had his head immersed in the water filling a side drain along the line,
he would have heard the sound through the liquid at a moment dif-
ferent from the arrival of any of the other waves.
Such waves, only on a larger scale, constitute an Earthquake shock.
An originating impulse (something of the nature of a blow, or hav-
ing the effects of one) there must be for every shock, but we are not here
concerned with the source from which that impulse may be produced.
It may be an explosive production or condensation of high-pressure
steam in heated cavities, deep beneath the surface, or sudden increase
or decrease of its tension, or sudden fracture or fall, or forcing up or
down or against each other of great rocky masses, or if (in near pro-
pinquity to active voleanoes), it may be any of their throbs or throes,
or explosive ejections, or the recoil from these; it matters not as
respects the physical theory of Harthquake-motion, and the expla-
nation this renders of Earthquake-phenomena, what or which or
whether any of these be the cause of the blow, so long as some sort of
impulse be given, and the seat of this be more or less deep beneath
the earth.
Then in all directions outwards from this centre of impulse, there
will be transmitted an elastic wave. ‘The form of the wave, if origi-
nated at one point, would be that cf a spherical shell concentric with
the centre of impulse, 1f the medium were quite homogeneous; but
in nature, the wave assumes ellipsoidal and various other more com-
plex forms, and rapidly gets broken up into smaller and still more
complex waves, by dispersion, by interference, refraction and reflec-
tion, in consequence of the shattered and varying nature of all the
uperficial formations through which it is transmitted.
The wave starts from the origin with one normal and two trans-
versal vibrations, 7. e. every particle vibrates not only to and fro,
in the radial direction from the centre, but also at right angles to this,
in two directions at once. The former is the larger vibration and the
more important to attend to, so that we may often, in investigating
Harthquake-phenomena, altogether pass over the transversals. These
vibrations constitute the proper motion of the wave as contradistin-
euished from its motion in transit.
A plumb line passing from above the surface of the earth and
through the centre of impulse is called The Seismic Veriical. The
wave or Shock passing outwards from this centre, reaches the earth’s
1864. ] Mauter on Earthquakes. 67
surface vertically, and soonest in this Vertical, which is the shortest
distance between any point below and the surface, and here it only
produces (neglecting transversals) a rapid movement up and down.
The surface of the ground actually rises and sinks again to its pre-
vious place, with great rapidity, and through a range that may be
several inches or perhaps fect, dependent on how great and how near
the blow is given below, and what is the intervening material.
For all points around the Seismic Vertical, the wave emerges at
slopes, called emergent angles, which become more and more nearly
horizontal as the distance on the surface is greater. The spherical
or quasi-spherical shell wave-form at any given distance outwards
when cut by the earth’s surface, intersects it as a closed curve, more
or less circular, elliptic, or oval, and the crest, so to say, of this surface-
wave, called a coseismal line, because all bodies situated in it are
shaken at the same instant, travels along the surface of the earth with
a real, though not large, and with a constantly diminishing undulation,
like a roller at sea, constantly enlarging the curvilinear area within it ;
and as it passes “outward, objects in succession are disturbed or
overthrown, not by the transit of the wave-form, but by the wave itself,
that is, by the movement of the particles in motion in the wave.
There is a certain distance outward upon the earth’s surface, all
round the Seismic Vertical, at which it may be proved that the over-
throwing power of the shock is a maximum, greater than anywhere,
within or without it—within, because there the direction of normal
movement in the wave is more nearly vertical, and hence less calcu-
ated to upset objects standing on the ground—and without, because
the further the shock has travelled away from the Seismic vertical,
the more its power (to speak loosely) has decayed. This is the
Meizoseismal circle or curve. The angle made with the Seismic vertical
by a line drawn from any point in this curve at the surface down to
the centre of impulse, is for the same conditions constant.
If the impulse or blow has been accompanied by rending or frac-
ture, or the striking or grinding together of hard or rocky masses, or
by the rush of vapours or gases, then the wave of shock will be accom-
panied by waves of sound. But these latter may or may not travel just
at the same rate, or by quite the same wave-paths to the ear of a
person upon the surface, as does that of the shock which he feels.
Hence there may be Earthquake shocks, with or without sounds, and
the shock may be perceived before any sound is heard, or the sounds
may precede and herald the shock, as the awful ‘‘ bramidos” generally
do the Earthquakes of Mexico.
But to hearers remote from the Seismic vertical, the sounds, if any,
will reach their ears not only through the earth, but through a longer
or shorter intervening range of air, and hence at very different times
and with very different amounts of repercussion and reverberation,
although originating in one sound only, as of a single rend, or grind,
or explosion.
A remarkable use has been made, for the first time, of the differences
in the character of the sounds heard nearly simultaneously, and at
about equal distances all round the Seismic vertical, in the Report
F2
68 Original Articles. | Jan.
addressed to the Royal Society of the examination made on the facts
of the Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857, by employing them to deter-
mine approximately from their varying character the form of the focal
surface or cavity, or of the subterranean locus of the centre’ of effort,
—and the method will no doubt hereafter, when more largely and
completely applied, yield very important results. Space forbids us,
however, here to do more than mention it, and refer to the Report in
question.
These, then, are the waves produced by a single impulse, and con-
stituting an Earthquake whose origin is inland. But should the orzgin
be under the sea, then at the point passed through by the Seismic ver-
tical and around it, the sea-bottom is, as on land, suddenly upheaved,
and again dropped down; or it may be, as by submarine volcano,
actually broken up altogether, and steam, lava, and floods of lapilh,
and so forth, may be then belched forth under water. In either case
there is forced up a volume of water upon the sea’s surface just
above, or several of these in succession, and as each mass falls again
it assumes the horizontal form of a circular liquid wave of trans-
lation—and these are propagated outwards over the surface of the sea,
like the circles or ring-shaped waves on a pond, when a pebble is
dropped into it. The altitude and breadth of these waves depend
mainly upon the magnitude of the disturbance of the bottom, and on
the depth of water above it; the rate of their propagation outwards
has nothing to do directly with elasticity, it is dependent simply
upon the square root of the depth of the water traversed by the wave
on its surface. Ifthe ocean continued everywhere of the same depth,
and the original impulse came from a single point, or circular disc,
then the horizontal plan of the crest of any one of these waves would
always remain a circle; but the depth varies—and as that part of
the expanded circle which is over a deeper part moves on much faster
than portions moving over shallow water, or approaching shores—so
the circles soon get distorted into various other closed curves, and the
original radial direction of translation outwards gets changed to any
extent —so that a wave might, without any reflection, even double back
upon its original line of progress.
When the long flat swell of such waves, as they are originated on
the deep sea, approaches the shores and reaches shoal water, their
fronts become steeper and steeper, and they finally roll in upon the
shore, as the great sea waves of South American and other Earthquakes,
so much dreaded wherever they have been once experienced. ‘They
are often so large that they only topple over as breakers after they
have rolled in unbroken masses far inland.
Such was the wave that swept, in one unexpected deluge, thousands
of people off the Quay at Messina, and which in some South American
Earthquakes have inundated devoted cities like Valparaiso and Callao,
with a frowning crest 80 feet in height. Not that the wave while
it was far out at sea possessed anything like this altitude,—but just as
the Atlantic tide wave,—when constricted in the Bay of Fundy, or
in our own Bristol Channel reaches 70 or 40 feet; so does the Harth-
quake sea-wave rise and get steep in the narrow and shallow waters.
1864. | Mauuxr on Harthquakes. 69
Thus, we see that in an Earthquake whose origin is beneath the
sea, there may be a series of waves, all arriving in the following order,
differently, and at different times, to an observer standing on the land.
Ist. The great Earthquake wave of shock.
2nd. The forced sea-wave (of which we have as yet not spoken); it is
the roll of water forced up by, and carried along with, the earth-wave,
which raises the sea-bottom, and with it the water upon its back as it
were, and at its own rate of motion, after it has got into shallow water.
This is but occasionally perceptible, and only in great Earthquakes.
ord. The sound-wave through the earth, which may or may not be
before.
4th. The sound-wave through the sea.
5th. The sound-wave through the air.
All these except the second are elastic waves.
6th, and lastly. The great sea-wave, or wave of translation, rolls in
and completes the catastrophe, often hours after the shock has done its
work of destruction ; or portions of it may roll in upon shores that
have felt no shock at all. Thus in the great Harthquake at Japan,
which a few years ago wrecked a Russian frigate in one of the harbours
there, the great sea-wave produced in the deep seas, near those great
Islands, hours afterwards, reached the opposite shores of the Pacific,
at St. Diego and Francisco, and gave the first intelligence at those
places of the disaster that had occurred at the further side of that great
ocean.
Space forbids us now to pursue the subject further. At some
future opportunity we may be enabled to revert to it; and to develope
the relations between the movements of the elastic-wave particle and
the wave’s transit to which we have in the preceding pages almost
confined our remarks. It remains also to be shown by what methods
the position and depth, and even the form and magnitude of the
deep-seated focus of an Earthquake, may be ascertained by deciphering,
with the help of science, the terrible handwriting left by the destroyer
upon the country it has overthrown. ‘To these should be added some
description of the secondary effects of Earthquakes, in moulding anew
the features of the lands they pass over, and how those affect and
modify the shocks that reach them. Something, too, might be said as
to the distribution of Earthquakes in time and in space upon our
Earth’s surface ; what are the conditions originating within our planet ;
the impulses on which their existence depends; and, lastly, what is the
function of Earthquakes, and what uses they fulfil as parts of the great
cosmical machine.
70 Original Articles. | Jan.
LIGHTHOUSE ILLUMINATION BY MAGNETO-
ELECTRICITY.
By J. H. Guapsronz, Esq., Ph.D., F.R.S.
Anyone who, on a tolerably clear night, has crossed the channel be-
tween Folkestone and Boulogne, and remained on deck, must have .
noticed on the French coast what appeared a brilliant star, now
waxing, now waning. It was the light of the far-famed Pharos, on
Cape Grisnez. But if he has made the passage within the last
eighteen months, his gaze will have been attracted by a still brighter
star on the British coast, of a bluish tint, steady and_ brilliant.
This is the Magneto-electric Light at Dungeness, the brightest spark
in the world, and one which unites a rare scientific with a practical
interest, and may prove only the first lighted of a multitude of similar
beacons. I propose to say a few words on the history, production,
and merits of this Light.
History.—If we ask the parentage of the Magneto-electric Light,
Mr. Frederick Hales Holmes is certainly its father, but, like other
beings, it has had two grandfathers—the philosopher who first showed
the conducting power of charcoal, and the brilliancy of the light
between charcoal terminals of an interrupted galvanic current; and
Professor Faraday, who discovered that when a piece of soft iron,
surrounded by a coil of metallic wire, was made to pass by the poles
of a magnet, an electric current was produced in the wire, which
revealed its existence by effecting chemical decompositions, or by
giving a spark. This spark, it is true, was barely visible as at first
obtained, but it has been exalted into the present Magneto-electric
Light.
“Tt appears that in 1853 some large Magneto-electric machines were
erected in Paris for producing gas by the decomposition of water,
the object of the proprietor being to use this gas for the purposes of
combustion ; but the scheme failed, the Company that was being
formed came to nothing, and the machines were pronounced by leading
scientific men to be only expensive toys. Mr. Holmes, however, who
was one of the referees, proposed to turn them to account for electro-
plating and gilding, and thought it possible that the Electric Light
might be produced advantageously by their means. ‘‘ My proposi-
tions,” he says, in his evidence before the Royal Commission on Lights,
Buoys, and Beacons, “were entirely ridiculed, and the consequence
was, that instead of saying that I thought I could do it, I promised
to do it by a certain day. On that day, with one of Duboscq’s regu-
lators or lamps, I produced the Magneto-electric Light for the first time,
but as the machines were ill-constructed for the purpose, and as I had
considerable difficulty to make even a temporary adjustment to produce
a fitting current, the Light could only be exhibited for a few minutes at
a time—say ten or twenty minutes—when the adjustments were entirely
displaced by the friction ; the rubbing surfaces were worn away. From
this time I directed my attention more particularly to the reconstruc-
1864. | Guapstone on Lighthouse Illumination. 71
tion of the machines entirely, from the very frame-work upwards, so
as to produce the current that I saw necessary for the Electric Light.”
During this time, it appears that Mr. Holmes, not liking the treatment
he received from the French Company, left Paris, and left his imper-
fect machine there, and it was this very machine which was subse-
quently used by the French Government in their experiments, and these
experiments were carried on by a man who had worked under Mr.
Holmes. The inventor next appears in Belgium, continuing his
improvements with a new machine, and visited by Admiral (then Cap-
tain) Fitzroy, who was commissioned by the Admiralty to go to
Brussels, see the Light, and report on it. In February, 1857, Professor
Holmes applied to the Trinity Board, and in the following month the
Electric Light was exhibited, for several nights, at the experimental lan-
tern* at Blackwall, before the Light Committee and Professor Faraday.
In May, an agreement was made for a trial at the South Foreland ; but it
was not till the 8th December that this experiment at an actual light-
house was commenced. The Elder Brethren made arrangements for
getting observations by the crews of pilot-cutters, masters of light-
vessels, and the keepers of neighbouring lighthouses, both on the
British and French coasts. Some unforeseen difficulties seem to have
arisen, due partly, no doubt, to the novelty of the whole arrangement,
but partly also to the complicated optical apparatus in the Lighthouse
being suited to a large flame instead of a brilliant point of light, and
being ill-adjusted to throw that light to the horizon. All this caused
some interruptions in the experiment. .M. Reynaud, the Director-
General of the French Lighthouses, inspected the Light on April 26,
1859 ; it was visited by most of the Members of the Royal Commission
of Lights, Buoys, and Beacons, including myself, three days afterwards,
and on the same day Professor Faraday wrote a Report to the Trinity
House. The opinions expressed were so far favourable, that the Elder
Brethren desired a further trial of six months, during which time the
Light was to be entirely under their own control, Mr. Holmes not
being allowed to interfere in any way. The Light was again kindled
on August 22, and the experiment happened soon to be exposed to a
severe test, as one of the Light-keepers, who had been accustomed to
the arrangement of the lamps in the lantern, was suddenly removed,
and another took his place without any previous instruction. This
man thought the light quite strong enough if he allowed the carbon
points to touch, as the lamp then required no attendance whatever, and
he could leave it in that way for hours together. On being remon-
strated with, he said, “It is quite good enough.” Notwithstanding
such difficulties as these, the experiment was considered satisfactory,
but it was discontinued at the South Foreland, for the cliffs there are
marked by a double light, and the electric spark was so much brighter
than the oil flames in the other house, that there was no small danger
of its being seen alone in thick weather, and thus fatally misleading
some unfortunate vessel.
Then occurred a period of two years, consumed partly in coming
* The room with glass sides, from which the light is exhibited at the top of a
lighthouse, is called a “ lantern.”’
72 Original Articles. ' [Jan.
to the decision that the Magno-electric Light was to be exhibited at
Dungeness, and partly in fitting up the lighthouse there (which by the
way had been cracked by lightning) for the reception of its new
occupant.
It was not deemed desirable to trust the illumination of that head-
land entirely to the Electric Light, hence the old apparatus was
retained, and the oil-lamp has always been kept ready for use in case
of necessity. A supplementary lantern was therefore constructed on
the top of the ordinary one, and in this the electric lamp was fixed, and
surrounded by a small combination of lenses and prisms made
expressly for it by Messrs. Chance, of Birmingham. In the meantime
Mr. Holmes had considerably improved his lamp by borrowing an
idea from an arrangement devised by a M. Serrin. At length, in
February, 1862, this lamp was lit at Dungeness, but it was extin-
guished on account of the necessity of instructing fresh lighthouse
keepers, who had to take charge of the apparatus, and it was not till
the 6th of June that the brilliant star shone permanently on our
Southern coast.
In the meantime, the French have not been indifferent or idle.
When the Royal Commission visited Paris, the Lighthouse authorities
were found experimenting with a comparatively small machine, and
had clearly not overcome the difficulty of maintaining the charcoal
points at a proper distance. But they persevered, and last July there
was published in the ‘Moniteur Universel’ a Report by M. Reynaud
to the Minister of Commerce and Public Works, in which he expressed
a most favourable opinion of the Electric Light, and the Minister gave
an order for two Electro-magnetic machines to be placed in the double
Lighthouse of the Cap de la Héve, near Havre. Thus France is
following England in the adoption of this improvement in coast lights,
just as, years ago, Great Britain followed France in the use of the
Dioptric system of illumination.
It is possible that some other nations may not be behind the
French. The Dutch Government contemplate placing an Electric
Light at Scheveningen, and a second one at Texel. The Lighthouse
system in the empire of Brazil is excellent, and they have long had
an eye on the Electric Light. Sweden is on the alert; and inquiries
also have been made respecting its management and cost by the Impe-
rial Academy of Vienna.
Apparatus.—Many readers will be familiar with the apparatus
both of Mr. Holmes and of M. Berlioz, from having examined them at
the International Exhibition last year. It would be very difficult to
describe them without drawings, but the following may give a
sufficiently good general idea. In the apparatus at Dungeness, the
power that produces the light is resident in 120 permanent magnets,
of about 50lbs. each, ranged on the periphery of two large wheels.
This power is called into action by a steam-engine, with Cornish
boilers, of about three-horse power, which causes a series of 160 soft
iron cores surrounded by coils of wire to rotate past the magnets.
The small streams of Electricity thus generated are collected together
1864. | Guavstong on Lighthouse Illuminations. 73
into one stream, and by a special piece of apparatus called a Com-
mutator the alternate positive and negative currents are all brought
into one direction. The whole power is then conveyed by a thick
wire from the engine-house to the lighthouse tower, and up into the
centre of the illuminating apparatus. There it passes between two
charcoal points, producing thus a most brilliant and continuous spark.
The “Lamp,” or ‘‘ Regulator,” is so contrived that by means of a
balance arrangement and a magnet, round which the wire coils, the
charcoal points are kept always at a proper distance apart.
At sunset the machine is started, making about 100 revolutions
per minute ; and the attendant has only to draw two bolts in the lamp
when the power thus spun in the engine-room bursts into light of
full intensity. It now requires little or no thought for three hours
and a half, when the charcoal points being consumed the lamp must
be changed, and this is done without extinguishing the light, for it is
the kindling of the second lamp that puts out the first. There are
always several lamps ready at Dungeness in case of accident, and
everything is kept in duplicate.
The French machine is composed of 56 magnets distributed in
7 vertical equidistant planes, upon the angles of an octagonal prism.
The maximum of intensity is obtained when the machine turns 350
or 400 times per minute, and the direction of the current is then
reversed nearly 6,000 times per minute. There is no Commutator
employed, and the alternate currents are not brought into one.
Merits and Demerits.—In favour of the Electric Apparatus, it
may be stated without any fear of contradiction that the light is vastly
more intense than that produced from the most powerful oil-lamp, or
any practicable number of argand burners. In truth that now shining
at Dungeness is the most brilliant light in existence. The following
statement will illustrate this. Professor Faraday says of it, when at the
South Foreland, ‘“ During the daytime I compared the intensity of the
light with that of the sun, that is, it was placed before and by the side
of the sun, and both looked at through dark glasses; its light was as
bright as that of the sun, but the sun was not at its brightest.” No
other light in existence would have stood that test. Again, he
describes an experiment at Dungeness :—‘ Arrangements were made
on shore, by which observations could be made at sea about five miles
off on the relative light of the Electric lamp, and the metallic reflectors
with their argand oil lamps—|the light formerly used|—for either
could be shown alone, or both together. .... The combined effect
was a glorious light up to the five miles; then, if the Electrie light
was extinguished, there was a great falling off in the effect; though,
after a few moments’ rest to the eye, it was seen that the oil-lamps
and reflectors were in their good and proper state. On the other
hand, when the Electric light was restored, the glory rose to its first
high condition. Then, whilst both were in action, the reflectors were
shaded, and the Electric light left alone; but the naked eye could
see no sensible diminution ; nor when the reflectors were returned into
effectual use, could it see any sensible addition to the whole light
74 Original Articles. [ Jan.
power, though the telescope showed that the alteration in the lantern
had taken place at the right time.” M. Reynaud estimates the usual
intensity of the light at from 180 to 190 standard Carcel burners.
This superiority of brightness is of practical service only in thick
weather, for if the air be clear an ordinary first-class light under the
old system answers every purpose of the mariner, and in fog no light
is of any avail; but it scarcely requires demonstration that in certain
intermediate states of the atmosphere, the brighter light will penetrate
the haze, rain, or snow to a distance at which the other is perfectly
invisible. There is nothing in the nature of the rays emitted to
prevent its doing so, for when submitted to spectral analysis, the
Electric light is found to contain every ray that the oil-flame does, and
others beside. The returns of neighbouring lighthouse keepers, and
of the masters of two of the lightships at the Goodwin Sands, during
the experiment at the South Foreland, show this to be actually the
case, and similar testimony is borne by the masters of passing vessels,
the commanders of the Channel Steam Packets, and the pilots who
frequent the neighbouring seas.
The peculiar bluish colour of the light as seen from a distance is
another advantage, by distinguishing it from ships’ lights, or lamps on
shore; and practically this is a great object. Of course, it may be
made red or green, or any other tint, by coloured glasses. Indeed it
is peculiarly adapted for such a purpose. As the light can be
interrupted and immediately rekindled with full intensity at pleasure,
this light offers facilities for signaling which no other does. Hach
lighthouse might be made to repeat its own number all night long, if
that were thought desirable. Another advantage is well stated in the
words of Professor Faraday :—‘ In cases where the light is from lamp
flames fed by oil, no increase of ght at or near the focus or foci of
the apparatus is possible beyond a certain degree, because of the size
of the flames; but in the Electric lamp, any amount of the light may
be accumulated at the focus, and sent abroad at, of course, an
increased expense. In consequence of the evolution of the light in so
limited a focal space, it may be directed seaward, diverging either
more or less, or in a vertical or horizontal direction at pleasure, with
the utmost facility. ‘The enormous shadow under the light, produced
by the oil-flame burner, which absorbs and renders useless the
descending rays to a very large extent, does not occur in the Mag-
neto-electric lamp; all the light proceeding in that direction is
turned to account. ‘The optical part of the arrangement, whether
dioptric or reflecting, might be very small in comparison with those
in use :” and, indeed, it is so at Dungeness. As there is always an
extra steam-engine and machinery on the premises, and ready for
work, the power, and the consequent light between the charcoal
points, might at any time be doubled, if the state of the atmosphere
seemed to require it.
It has already been remarked that in fog no light, however power-
ful, is of much avail, and public attention is now being directed to the
necessity of improving our fog signals. It has been well observed in
M. Reynaud’s Report, “‘ During foggy weather the supplementary steam-
1864. ] Guapstone on Lighthouse Illuminations. 75
engine might be employed in playing sonorous instruments, which would
carry sound to a much greater distance than the bells to which we have
recourse at present.”
Against the advantages attending the use of this Electric light must
be set the greater complexity of the instrument, and the consequent
greater chance of derangement, or rather the necessity of providing
lighthouse keepers of a superior order, and an engineer to inspect the
machinery and keep it in repair. This demand for superior workmen
is a difficulty we generally have to encounter in perfecting our engines
either of peace or war.
The relative expense of the Magneto-electric light and the Fresnel
lamp is a consideration that must not be overlooked, though it should
not be allowed too much weight when we are dealing with the safety
of valuable cargoes and priceless human lives. The original outlay
in machinery for the Electric light is very large, but there must be set
against this a considerable diminution in the cost of the apparatus used
for directing the rays where they are wanted. The working expense
consists of the coals burnt, the charcoal points used up, and the wear
of the machinery, all of which perhaps scarcely exceeds the cost of oil
under the old system. The magnets are said rather to increase in
strength than to diminish by use. The salary of an engineer is a more
serious item, but the expense may be greatly reduced by appointing
one engineer to several lighthouses, if the electric system become com-
mon. Mr. Holmes estimates the working expenses of the electric ap-
paratus as compared with the oil lamp, at about 400 against 290. The
French estimate is, “ Abstracting the expenses of the first establish-
ment, it will be found that while the expenses of the annual mainten-
ance of a lighthouse of the first order fed with colza oil rise to 9,421
francs 75 centimes, those of the same lighthouse illuminated by elec-
tricity would be 12,240 francs.” Again, ‘ The annual expense will be
increased 29 per cent. in lighthouses of the first order, but it will have
the effect of rendering the luminous intensity at least fivefold greater.”
It has been objected that the light is too bright, dazzling the mariner
and misleading him as to its distance, but experience will soon remove
this source of error, and it is hard to understand how the light can pro-
duce any dazzling effect, unless exhibited at the head of a pier close
alongside of which the mariner must steer his way. But for harbour
lights it is not required. Its proper place is on the prominent points of
the coast which are used as landfalls by vessels, and unless objections
present themselves in the future which are as yet unknown, we may
confidently anticipate that each of these headlands will in time be
marked by its brilliant Electric light.
76 Original Articles. [ Jan.
ON THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF “CON-
SERVATION OF FORCE” TO PHYSIOLOGY.*
Part I. The Relations of Light and Heat to the Vital Forces of Plants.
By Witt1am B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., F.LS., F.GS.
In every period of the history of Physiology, attempts have been
made to identify all the forces acting in the Living body with those
operating in the Inorganic universe. Because muscular force, when
brought to bear on the bones, moves them according to the mechanical
laws of lever-action, and because the propulsive power of the heart
drives the blood through the vessels according to the rules of hydrau-
lics, it has been imagined that the movements of living bodies may be
explained on Physical principles ;—the most important consideration
of all, namely, the source of that contractile power which the living
muscle possesses, but which the dead muscle (though having the same
chemical composition) is utterly incapable of exerting, being alto-
gether left out of view. So, again, because the digestive process,
whereby food is reduced to a fit state for absorption, as well as the
formation of various products of the decomposition that is continually
taking place in the living body, may be imitated in the laboratory of
the Chemist; it has been supposed that the appropriation of the
nutriment to the production of the living organized tissues of which
the several parts of the body are composed, is to be regarded as a
chemical action,—as if any combination of albumen and gelatine, fat
and starch, salt and bone-earth, could make a living Man without the
constructive agency inherent in the germ from which his bodily fabric
is evolved.
Another class of reasoners have cut the knot which they could not
untie, by attributing all the actions of living bodies for which physics
and chemistry cannot account, to a hypothetical “ Vital Principle ” ;
a shadowy agency that does everything in its own way, but refuses to
be made the subject of scientific examination ; like the ‘‘ od-force” or
the “spiritual power ” to which the lovers of the marvellous are so fond
of attributing the mysterious movements of turning and tilting
tables.
A more scientific spirit, however, prevails among the best
Physiologists of the present day ; who, whilst fully recognizing the
fact that many of the phenomena of living bodies can be accounted for
by the agencies whose operation they trace in the world around, sepa-
rate into a distinct category—that of vital actions—such as appear to
differ altogether in kind from the phenomena of Physics and Che-
mistry ; and seek to determine, from the study of the conditions under
which these present themselves, the laws of their occurrence.
In the prosecution of this inquiry, the Physiologist will find it
greatly to his advantage to adopt the method of philosophizing which
distinguishes the Physical Science of the present from that of the past
* To be concluded in our next Number.
1864.] Carpenter on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces. 77
generation ; that, namely, which, whilst fully accepting the logical
definition of the cause of any phenomenon, as ‘‘ the antecedent, or
the concurrence of antecedents on which it is invariably and uncon-
ditionally consequent” (Mill), draws a distinction between the dyna-
mical and the material conditions; the former supplying the power
which does the work, whilst the latter affords the instrumental means
through which that power operates. Thus, if we inspect a Cotton-
factory in full action, we find it to contain a vast number of machines,
many of them but repetitions of one another, but many, too, present-
ing the most marked diversities in construction, in operation, and in
resultant products. We see, for example, that one is supplied with
the raw material, which it cleans and dresses ; that another receives the
cotton thus prepared, and “cards” it so as to lay its fibres in such an
arrangement as may admit of its beimg spun; that another series,
taking up the product supplied by the carding machine, twists and
draws it out into threads of various degrees of fineness; and that this
thread, carried into a fourth set of machines, is woven into a fabric
which may be either plain, or variously figured, according to the con-
struction of the loom. In every one of these dissimilar operations,
the force which is immediately concerned in bringing about the result,
is one and the same; and the variety of its products is dependent
solely on the diversity of the material instruments through which it
operates. Yet these arrangements, however skilfully devised, are
utterly valueless without the force which brings them into play.* All
the elaborate mechanism, the triumph of human ingenuity in devising,
and of skill in constructing, is as powerless as a corpse, without the vis
viva which alone can animate it. The giant stroke of the steam-engine,
or the majestic revolution of the water-wheel, gives the required im-
pulse ; and the vast apparatus which was the moment previously in a
state of death-like inactivity, 1s aroused to all the energy of its
wondrous life,—every part of its complex organization taking upon
itself its peculiar mode of activity, and evolving its own special product,
in virtue of the share it receives of the one general force distributed
through the entire aggregate of machinery.
But if we carry back our investigation a stage further, and inquire
into the origin of the force supplied by the steam-engine or the
water-wheel, we soon meet with a new and most significant fact. At
our first stage, it is true, we find only the same mechanical force
acting through a different kind of instrumentality ; the strokes of the
piston of the steam-engine being dependent upon the elastic force of
the vapour of water, whilst the revolution of the water-wheel is main-
tained by the downward impetus of water en masse. But to what
antecedent dynamical agency can we trace these forces? That agency,
in each case, is Heat; a force altogether dissimilar in its ordinary
manifestations to the force which produces sensible motion, yet capable
of being in turn converted into it and generated by it. For it is
from the Heat applied beneath the boiler of the steam-engine, that the
non-elastic liquid contained in it derives all that potency as elastic
* In going through a manufacturing town, I have often been struck with the
announcements of ‘ Power to Let.”
78 Original Articles. [ Jan.
vapour, which enables it to overcome the vast mechanical resistance
that is set in opposition to it. And, in like manner, it is the heat of
the solar rays which pumps up terrestrial waters in the shape of vapour,
and thus supplies to Man a perennial source of new power in their
descent by the force of gravity to the level from which they have been
raised .*
The power of the steam-engine, indeed, is itself derived more
remotely from those same rays; for the Heat applied to its boilers
is but the expression of the chemical change involved in com-
bustion; that combustion is sustained either by the wood which is
the product of the vegetative activity of the present day, or by the
coal which represents the vegetative life of a remote geological epoch ;
and that vegetative activity, whether present or past, represents an
equivalent amount of Solar Light and Heat, used up in the decomposition
of the carbonic acid of the atmosphere by the instrumentality of the
growing plant.| Thus in either case we come, directly or indirectly,
to Solar Radiation as the mainspring of our mechanical power ; the vis
viva of our whole microcosm. Modern physical inquiry ventures even
one step further, and seeks the source of the Light and Heat of the Sun
itself. Are these, as formerly supposed, the result of combustion ; or
are they, as surmised by Mayer and Thomson, the expression of the
motive power continually generated in the fall of aérolites towards
the Sun, and as continually annihilated by their impact on its surface ?
Leaving the discussion of this question to Physical Philosophers, I
proceed now to my own proper subject.
It is now about twenty years since Dr. Mayer first broadly
announced, in all its generality, the great principle now known as that
of Conservation of Force; as a necessary deduction from two axioms
or essential truths—ewx nihilo nil fit, and mil fit ad nhilum—the validity
of which no true philosopher would ever have theoretically questioned,
but of which he was (in my judgment) the first to appreciate the full
practical bearing. Thanks to the labours of Faraday, Grove, Joule,
Thomson, and Tyndall, to say nothing of those of Helmholtz and
other distinguished Continental savans, the great doctrine ex-
pressed by the term ‘“ Conservation of Force” is now amongst the
best established generalizations of Physical Science; and every
thoughtful Physiologist must desire to see the same course of inquiry
thoroughly pursued in regard to the phenomena of living bodies.
This ground was first broken by Dr. Mayer in his remarkable treatise,
‘Die Organische Bewegung in ihrem Zusammenhange mit dem
Stoffwechsel’ (‘On Organic Movement in its relation to Material
Changes,’ Heilbronn, 1845); in which he distinctly set forth the
principle that the source of all changes in the living Organism,
animal as well as vegetable, les in the forces acting upon it from
without ; whilst the changes in its own composition brought about by
* See on this subject the recent admirable address of Sir William Armstrong,
at the Mecting of the British Association at Newcastle.
+ This was discerned by the genius of George Stephenson, before the general
doctrine of the Correlation of Forces had been given to the world by Mayer or
Grove.
1864.] Canrrrnter on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces. 79
these agencies he considers to be the immediate source of the forces
which are generated by it. In treating of these forces, however, he
dwells chiefly on the production of Motion, Heat, Light, and Electri-
city by living bodies; touching more slightly upon the phenomena of
Growth and Development, which constitute, in the eye of the Physio-
logist, the distinct province of vitality. In a Memoir of my own
“On the Mutual Relations of the Vital and Physical Forces,” pub-
lished in ‘ The Philosophical Transactions for 1850,’* I aimed to show
that the general doctrine of the ‘ Correlation of the Physical Forces,”
propounded by Mr. Grove, was equally applicable to those Vital forces,
which must be assumed as the moving powers in the production of
purely Physiological phenomena; these forces being generated in
living bodies by the transformation of the Light, Heat, and Chemical
Action supplied by the world around, and being given back to it
again, either during their life or after its cessation, chiefly in Motion
and Heat, but also to a less degree in Light and Electricity. This
Memoir attracted but little attention at the time, being regarded, I
believe, as too speculative; but I have since had abundant evidence
that the minds of thoughtful Physiologists as well as Physicists are
moving in the same direction; and as the progress of science since
the publication of my former Memoir would lead me to present some
parts of my scheme of doctrine in a different form,t I venture again
to bring it before the public in the form of a sketch (I claim for it no
other title) of the aspect in which the application of the principle of
the “ Conservation of Force” to Physiology now presents itself to
my mind.
If, in the first place, we inquire what it is that essentially distin-
guishes Vital from every kind of Physical activity, we find this
distinction most characteristically expressed in the fact that a germ
endowed with Life developes itself into an Organism of a type
resembling that of its parent; that this organism is the subject of
“incessant changes, which all tend in the first place to the evolution of
its typical form, and subsequently to its maintenance in that form,
notwithstanding the antagonism of Chemical and Physical agencies
which are continually tending to produce its disintegration ; but that
as its term of existence is prolonged, its conservative power declines
so as to become less and less able to resist these disintegrating forces,
to which it finally succumbs, leaving the organism to be resolved by
their agency into the components from which its materials were ori-
ginally drawn. The history of a living organism, then, is one of
incessant change ; aud the conditions of this change are to be found
* At this date the labours of Dr. Mayer were not known either to myself or
(so far as 1am aware) to anyone else in this country, save the late Dr. Baly, who,
a few months after the publication of my Memoir, placed in my hands the pamphlet
‘Die Organische Bewegung ;’ to which I took the earliest opportunity in my
power of drawing public: attention i in ‘ The British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical
Review’ for July, 1851, p. 237.
+ I have especially profited by a memoir on ‘The Correlation of Physical,
Chemieal, and Vital Force, and the Conservation of Foree in Vital Phenomena,’
by Prof. Le Conte (of South Carolina College), in Silliman’s ‘American Journal’
for Noy, 1859, reprinted in ‘The Philosophical Magazine’ for 1860.
80 Original Articles. [ Jan.
partly in the organism itself, and partly in the external agencies to
which it is subjected. That condition which is inherent in the
organism, being derived hereditarily from its progenitors, may be
conveniently termed its germinal capacity : its parallel in the Inorganic
world being that fundamental difference in properties which consti-
tutes the distinction between one substance, whether elementary or
compound, and another; in virtue of which each “behaves” in its
own characteristic manner when subjected to new conditions.
Thus, although there may be nothing in the aspect or sensible
properties of the germ of a Polype to distinguish it from that of a
Man, we find that each developes itself, if the requisite conditions be
supplied, into its typical form, and no other ; if the developmental
conditions required by either be not supplied, we do not find a different
type evolved, but no evolution at all takes place.*
Now the difference between a being of high and a being of low
organization essentially consists in this ;—that in the latter the con-
stituent parts of the fabric evolved by the process of growth from the
original germ are similar to each other in structure and endowments ;
whilst in the former: they are progressively differentiated with the
advance of development, so that the fabric comes at last to consist of
a number of organs or instruments more or less dissimilar in structure,
composition, and endowments.
Thus in the lowest forms of Vege-
able life, the primordial germ
multiplies itself by duplicative
subdivision (a, b, c, d) into an
apparently unlimited number of
cells, each of them similar to every
other, and capable of maintaining
its existence independently of ©
them. And in that lowest Rhi-
zopod type of Animal life, the
knowledge of which is among
the most remarkable fruits of
modern biological research, “ the
Physiologist has a case in which
those vital operations which he
is elsewhere accustomed to see carried on by an elaborate apparatus,
are performed without any special instruments whatever; a little
particle of apparently homogeneous jelly changing itself into a greater
variety of forms than the fabled Proteus, laying hold of its food with-
* Tt is quite true that among certain of the lower tribes both of Plants and
Animals—especially the Fungi and Hntozoa—similar germs may develope them-
selves into very dissimilar forms, according to the conditions under which they
are evolved; but such diversities are only of the same kind as those which
manifest themselves among dndividuals in the higher Plants and Animals, and
only show that in the types in question there is a less close conformity to one
pattern. Neither in these groups, nor in that group of Foraminifera in which
I have been led to regard the range of variation as peculiarly great, does any
tendency ever show itself to the assumption of the characters of any group
fundamentally dissimilar.
1864.] Canrrunter on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces. 81
out members, swallowing it without a mouth, digesting it without a
stomach, appropriating its nutritious material without absorbent vessels
or a circulating system, moving from place to place without muscles,
feeling (if it has any power to do so) without nerves, propagating itself
without genital apparatus, and not only this, but in many instances
forming shelly coverings of a symmetry and complexity not surpassed
by those of any testaceous animals,’* whilst the mere separation
of a fragment of this jelly is sufficient to originate a new and indepen-
dent organism, so that any number of these beings may be produced
by the successive detachment of such particles from a single Rhizopod,
each of them retaining (so far as we have at present the means of
knowing) the characteristic endowments of the stock from which it
was an offset.
When, on the other hand, we watch the evolution of any of the higher
types of Organization, whether Vegetable or Animal, we observe that
although in the first instance the primordial cell multiplies itself by
duplicative subdivision into an aggregation of cells which are appa-
rently but repetitions of itself and of each other, this homogeneous
extension has in each case a definite limit, speedily giving place to a
structural differentiation which becomes more and more decided with
the progress of development; until, in that most heterogeneous of all
types—the Human Organism—no two parts are precisely identical,
except those which correspond to each other on the opposite sides of
the body. With this structural differentiation is associated a corres-
ponding differentiation of function ; for whilst in the Life of the most
highly developed and complex organism we witness no act which is not
foreshadowed, however vaguely, in that of the lowest and simplest, yet
we observe in it that same “division of labour” which constitutes the
essential characteristic of the highest grade of Civilization. For in
what may be termed the elementary form of Human Society, in which
every individual relies upon himself alone for the supply of all his
wants, no greater result can be obtained by the aggregate action of the
entire community than its mere maintenance ; but as each individual
selects a special mode of activity for himself, and aims at improvement
in that speciality, he finds himself attaining a higher and yet higher
degree of aptitude for it; and this specialization tends to increase as
opportunities arise for new modes of activity, until that complex fabric
is evolved which constitutes the most developed form of the Social
State, wherein every individual finds the work—mental or bodily—for
which he is best fitted, and in which he may reach the highest attain-
able perfection ; while the mutual dependence of the whole (which is
the necessary result of this specialization of parts) is such that every
individual works for the benefit of all his fellows, as well as for his
own. Asitis only in such a state of society that the greatest triumphs
of human ability become possible, so it is only in the most differen-
tiated types of Organization that Vital Activity can present its highest
manifestations. In the one case as in the other does the result
depend upon a process of gradual development, in which, under the
* See the Author's ‘Introduction to the Study of the Foraminifera,’ published
by the Ray Society, 1862: Preface, p. vii.
VOL. I. G
82 Original Articles. [ Jan.
influence of agencies whose nature constitutes a proper object of
scientific inquiry, that most general form in which the fabric—whether
Corporeal or Social—originates, evolves itself into that most special in
which its development culminates.
But notwithstanding the wonderful diversity of structure and
of endowments which we meet with in the study of any complex Orga-
nism, we encounter a harmonious unity or co-ordination in its entire
aggregate of actions, which is yet more wonderful. Itis this harmony
or co-ordination, whose tendency is to the conservation of the organism,
that the state of Health or Normal Life essentially consists. And the
more profound our investigation of its conditions, the more definite
becomes the conclusion to which we are led by the study of them,—
that it is fundamentally based on the common origin of all these diver-
sified parts in the same germ, the vital endowments of which, equally
diffused throughout the whole fabric in those lowest forms of organiza-
tion in which every part is but a repetition of every other, are differen-
tiated in the highest amongst a variety of organs, acquiring in virtue
of this differentiation a much greater intensity.
Thus, then, we may take that mode of Vital Activity which mani-
fests itself in the evolution of the germ into the complete organism
repeating the type of its parent, and the subsequent maintenance of
that organism in its integrity,—in the one case, as in the other, at the
expense of materials derived from external sources,—as the most uni-
versal and most fundamental characteristic of Life; and we have now
to consider the nature and source of the Force or Power by which that
evolution is brought about. The prevalent opinion has until lately
been, that this power is inherent in the germ ; which has been supposed
to derive from its parent not merely its material substance, but a nisus
formativus, Bildungstrieb, or germ-force, in virtue of which it builds itself
up into the likeness of its parent, and maintains itself in that likeness
until the force is exhausted, at the same time imparting a fraction of
it to each of its progeny. In this mode of viewing the subject, all the
organizing force required to build up an Oak or a Palm, an Elephant
or a Whale, must be concentrated in a minute particle, only discernible
by microscopic aid; and the aggregate of all the germ-forces apper-
taining to the descendants, however numerous, of 2 common parentage,
must have existed in their original progenitors. Thus, in the case of
the successive viviparous broods of Aphides, a germ-force capable of
organizing a mass of living structure, which would amount (it has
been calculated)* in the tenth brood to the bulk of 500 millions of
stout men, must have been shut up in the single individual, weighing
perhaps the 1-1000th of a grain, from which the first brood was evolved.
And in like manner, the germ-force which has organized the bodies
of all the individual men that have lived from Adam to the present
day, must have been concentrated in the body of their common ancestor.
A more complete reductio ad absurdum can scarcely be brought against
any hypothesis; and we may consider it proved that, in some way or
* See Prof. Huxley on the “Agamie Reproduction of Aphis,” in ‘Linn. Trans.,’
vol, xxii. p. 215.
1864.] Carpunter on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces. 83
other, fresh organizing force is constantly being supplied from without
during the whole period of the exercise of its activity.
When we look carefully into the question, however, we find that
what the germ really supplies is not the force, but the directive agency ;
thus rather resembling the control exercised by the superintendent
builder who is charged with the working out the design of the architect,
than the bodily force of the workmen who labour under his guidance
in the construction of the fabric. The actual constructive force, as
we learn from an extensive survey of the phenomena of life, is supplied
by Heat; the influence of which upon the rate of growth and develop-
ment, both animal and vegetable, is so marked as to have universally
attracted the attention of Physiologists: who, however, have for the
most part only recognized in it a vital stimulus that calls forth the
latent power of the germ, instead of looking upon it as itself furnishing
the power that does the work. It has been from the narrow limitation
of the area over which physiological research has been commonly
prosecuted, that the intimacy of this relationship between Heat and
the Organizing force has not sooner become apparent. Whilst the
vital phenomena of Warm-blooded Animals, which possess within
themselves the means of maintaining a constant temperature, were
made the sole, or at any rate the chief, objects of study, it was not
likely that the inquirer would recognize the full influence of external
heat in accelerating, or of cold in retarding, their functional activity.
It is only when the survey is extended to Cold-blooded Animals, and
to Plants, that the immediate and direct relation between Heat and Vital
Activity, as manifested in the rate of growth and development, or of
other changes peculiar to the living body, is unmistakably manifested.
To some of those phenomena which afford the best illustrations of the
mode in which Heat acts upon the living organism, attention will now
be directed.
Commencing with the Vegetable kingdom, we find that the ope-
ration of Heat as the “motive power,” or dynamical agency, to which
the phenomena of growth and development are to be referred, is pecu-
liarly well seen in the process of Germination.. The seed consists
of an embryo which has already advanced to a certain stage of
development, and of a store of nutriment laid up as the material for
its further evolution ; and in the fact that this evolution is carried on
at the expense of organic compounds already prepared by extrinsic
agency, until (the store of these being exhausted) the young plant
is sufficiently far advanced in its development to be able to elaborate
them for itself, the condition of the germinating embryo resembles
that of an Animal. Now the seed may remain (under favourable
circumstances) in a state of absolute inaction during an unlimited
period. If secluded from the free access of air and moisture, and kept
at a low temperature, it is removed from all influences that would on
the one hand occasion its disintegration, or on the other would call it
into active life. But when again exposed to air and moisture, and
subjected to a higher temperature, it either germinates or decays,
according as the embryo it contains has or has not preserved its vital
endowments—a question which only experiment can resolve. The
G2
84 Original Articles. [Jan.
process of germination is by no means a simple one. The nutriment
stored up in the seed is in great part in the condition of insoluble
starch ; and this must be brought into a soluble form before it can be
appropriated by the embryo. The metamorphosis is effected by the
agency of a ferment termed diastase ; which is laid up in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of the embryo, and which, when brought to act
on starch, converts it in the first instance into soluble dextrine, and
then (if its action be continued) into sugar. The dextrine and sugar,
combined with the albuminous and oily compounds also stored up in
the seed, form the “ protoplasm” which is the substance immediately
supplied to the young plant as the material of its tissues; and the
conversion of this protoplasm into various forms of organized tissue,
which become more and more differentiated as development advances,
is obviously referable to the vital activity of the germ. Now it can
be very easily shown experimentally that the rate of growth in the
germinating embryo is so closely related (within certain limits) to the
amount of Heat supplied, as to place its dependence on that agency
beyond reasonable question ; so that we seem fully entitled to say that
Heat, acting through the germ, supplies the constructive force or power
by which the Vegetable fabric is built up.* But there appears to be
another source of that power in the seed itself. In the conversion of
the insoluble starch of the seed into sugar, and probably also in a
further metamorphosis of a part of that sugar, a large quantity of carbon
is eliminated from the seed by combining with the oxygen of the air
so as to form carbonic acid; this combination is necessarily attended
with a disengagement of heat, which becomes very sensible when (as in
malting) a large number of germinating seeds are aggregated together ;
and it cannot but be regarded as probable that the heat thus evolved
within the seed concurs with that derived from without, in supplying
to the germ the force that promotes its evolution.
The condition of the Plant which has attained a more advanced
stage of its development differs from that of the germinating embryo
essentially in this particular, that the organic compounds which it re-
quires as the materials of the extension of the fabric are formed by
itself, instead of being supplied to it from without. The tissues of
the coloured surfaces of the leaves and stems, when acted on by light,
have the peculiar power of generating—at the expense of carbonic acid,
water, and ammonia—various ternary and quaternary organic com-
pounds, such as chlorophyll, starch, oil, and albumen ; and of the
compounds thus generated, some are appropriated by the constructive
force of the Plant (derived from the heat with which it is supplied) to
the formation of new tissues ; whilst others are stored up in the cavities
of those tissues, where they ultimately serve either for the evolution
* The effect of Heat is doubtless manifested very differently by different seeds ;
such variations being partly specific, partly individual. But these are no greater
than we see in the inorganic world; the increment of temperature and the
augmentation of bulk exhibited by different substances when subjected to the
same absolute measure of heat, being as diverse as the substances themselves.
The whole process of “malting,” it may be remarked, is based on the regularity
with which the seeds of a particular species may be at any time forced to a definite
rate of germination by a definite increment of temperature.
1864.] Canrruntur on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces, 85
of parts subsequently developed, or for the nutrition of animals which
employ them as food. Of the source of those peculiar affinities by
which the components of the starch, albumen, &c., are brought toge-
ther, we have no right to speak confidently ; but looking to the fact
that these compounds are not produced in any case by the direct union
of their elements, and that a decomposition of binary compounds
seems to be a necessary antecedent of their formation, it is scarcely
improbable that, as suggested by Prof. Le Conte (op. cit.), that source
is to be found in the chemical forces set free in the preliminary
act of decomposition, in which the elements would be liberated in
that “ nascent condition” which is well known to be one of peculiar
energy.
The influence of Light, then, upon the Vegetable organism appears
to be essentially exerted in bringing about what may be considered a
higher mode of chemical combination between oxygen, hydrogen, and
carbon, with the addition of nitrogen in certain cases; and there is no
evidence that it extends beyond this. That the appropriation of the
materials thus prepared, and their conversion into organized tissue in
the operations of growth and development, are dependent on the agency
of Heat, is just as evident in the stage of maturity as in that of ger-
mination. And there is reason to believe, further, that an additional
source of organizing force is to be found in the retrograde metamor-
phosis of organic compounds that goes on during the whole life of the
plant; of which metamorphosis the expression is furnished by the
production of carbonicacid. Thisis peculiarly remarkable in the case
of the Fungi, which, being incapable of forming new compounds under
the influence of light, are entirely supported by the organic matters
they absorb, and which in this respect correspond on the one hand
with the germinating embryo, and on the other with Animals. Such
a decomposition of a portion of the absorbed material is the only con-
ceivable source of the large quantity of carbonic acid they are con-
stantly giving out; and it would not seem unlikely that the force
supplied by this retrograde metamorphosis of the superfluous com-
ponents of their food, which fall down (so to speak) from the elevated
plane of “proximate principles” to the lower level of comparatively
simple binary compounds, supplies a force which raises another portion
to the rank of living tissue ; thus accounting in some degree for the
very rapid growth for which this tribe of Plants is so remarkable.
This exhalation of carbonic acid, however, is not peculiar to Fungi
and germinating embryos; for it takes place during the whole life of
Flowering Plants, both by day and by night, in sunshine and in shade,
and from their green as well as from their dark surfaces; and it
is not improbable that, as in the case of the Fungi, its source lies
partly in the organic matters absorbed ; recent investigations* having
rendered it probable that Plants really take up and assimilate soluble
humus, which, being a more highly carbonized substance than starch,
dextrine, or cellulose, can only be converted into compounds of the
latter kind by parting with some of its carbon. But it may also take
* See the Memoir of M. Risler, ‘‘ On the Absorption of Humus,” in the ‘ Biblio-
théque Universelle,’ N.S. 1858, tom. i. p. 305.
85 Original Articles. [Jan.
place at the expense of compounds previously generated by the plant
itself, and stored up in its tissues; of which we seem to have an ex-
ample in the unusual production of carbonic acid which takes place at
the period of flowering, especially in such plants as have a fleshy disk
or receptacle containing a large quantity of starch ; and thus, it may
be surmised, an extra supply of force is provided for the maturation of
those generative products, whose preparation seems to be the highest
expression of the vital power of the Vegetable organism.
The entire aggregate of organic compounds contained in the vege-
table tissues, then, may be considered as the expression not merely: of
a certain amount of the material elements, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon,
and nitrogen derived (directly or indirectly) from the water, carbonic
acid, and ammonia of the atmosphere, but also of a certain amount of
force which has been exerted, in raising these from the lower plane of
simple binary compounds to the higher level of complex “ proximate
principles ;” whilst the portion of these actually “converted into or-
ganized tissue may be considered as the expression of a further measure
of force, which, acting under the directive agency of the germ, has
served to build up the fabric in its characteristic type. This con-
structive action goes on during the whole Life of the Plant, which
essentially manifests itself either in the extension of the original
fabric (to which in many instances there seems no determinate limit),
or in the production of the germs of new and independent organisms.
—It is interesting to remark that the development of the more per-
manent parts involves the successional decay and renewal of parts
whose existence is temporary. The “fall of the leaf” is the effect,
not the cause, of the cessation of that peculiar functional activity of
its tissues, which consists in the elaboration of the nutritive material
required for the production of wood. And it would seem as if the
duration of their existence stands in an inverse ratio to the energy of
their action; the leaves of “evergreens,” which are not cast off until
the appearance of a new succession, effecting their functional changes
at a much less rapid rate than do those of “ deciduous” trees, whose
term of life is far more brief.
Thus the final cause or purpose of the whole Vital Activity of the
Plant, so far as the individual is concerned, is to produce an indefinite
extension of the dense, woody, almost inert, but permanent portions
of the fabric, by the successional development, decay, and renewal of
the soft, active, and transitory cellular parenchyma; and, according
to the principles already stated, the descent of a portion of the mate-
rials of the latter to the condition of binary compounds, which is
manifested in the largely increased exhalation of carbonic adid that
takes place from the leaves in the later part of the season, comes to
the aid of external Heat in supplying the force by which another por-
tion of those materials is raised to the condition of organized tissue.
—The vital activity of the Plant, however, is further manifested in
the provision made for the propagation of its race by the production of
the germs of new individuals ; and here, again, we observe that whilst
a higher temperature is usually required for the development of the
flower, and the maturation of the seed, than that which suffices to sus-
1864.] Carrnnter on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces. 87
tain the ordinary processes of vegetation, a special provision appears
to be made in some instances for the evolution of force in the sexual
apparatus itself, by the retrograde metamorphosis of a portion of the
organic compounds prepared by the previous nutritive operations. This
seems the nearest approach presented in the Vegetable organism, to
what we shall find to be an ordinary mode of activity in the Animal,
That the performance of the generative act involves an extraordinary
expenditure of vital force, appears from this remarkable fact, that blos-
soms which wither and die as soon as the ovules have been fertilized,
may be kept fresh for a long period if fertilization be prevented.
The decay which is continually going on during the life of a Plant
restores to the Inorganic world, in the form of carbonic acid, water,
and ammonia, a part of the materials drawn from it in the act of vege-
tation; and a reservation being made of those Vegetable products which
are consumed as food by Animals, or which are preserved (like timber,
flax, cotton, &c.) in a state of permanence, the various forms of decom-
position which take place after death complete that restoration. But
in returning, however slowly, to the condition of water, carbonic acid,
ammonia, &e., the constituents of Plants give forth an amount of Heat
equivalent to that which they would generate by the process of ordi-
nary combustion ; and thus they restore to the inorganic world not
only the materials but the forces, at the expense of which the Vegetable
fabric was constructed. It is for the most part only in the humblest
Plants, and in a particular phase of their lives, that such a restoration
takes place in the form of motion ; this motion being, like growth and
development, an expression of the vital activity of the “ zoospores”
of Algz, and being obviously intended for their dispersion.
Hence we seem justified in affirming that the Correlation" between
Heat and the Organizing force of Plants is not less intimate than that
which exists between Heat and Motion. The special attribute of the
Vegetable germ is its power of utilizing after its own particular
fashion the Heat which it receives, and of applying it as a constructive
power to the building-up of its fabric after its characteristic type.
88 Original Articles. [Jan.
THE REPUTED FOSSIL MAN OF THE NEANDERTHAL.
By Professor Wiru1am Kina, Queen’s University in Ireland, and
Queen’s College, Galway.
As it is my intention to confine myself to the consideration of the
Neanderthal fossil with reference to its place in Nature, I must neces-
sarily be brief in my remarks on the circumstances under which it
occurred, and on its geological age.
The fossil was found in 1857, embedded in mud in a cave or fissure
intersecting the southern rocky side of the ravine or deep narrow
valley, called the Neanderthal, situated near Hochdal between Dissel-
dorf and Elberfeld. A small stream or rivulet, known as the Diissel,
flows along a narrow channel about sixty feet below the lowest part of
the fissure, and on one side of the valley.
It has long been known that human bones, belonging to an extinct
race, and occurring in stalagmite along with the remains of the mam-
moth and other fossil animals, have been found in the limestone
fissures or caverns of the lofty precipices which overhang the river
Meuse, in Belgium, about seventy English miles south-west of the
Neanderthal.
Lyell’s late work, ‘The Antiquity of Man,’ contains a very lucid
description of the Meuse caverns, and of the one under consideration.
In both cases it is evident that we have examples of ancient swallow-
holes, into which have been washed bones, mud, and gravel, when
their openings existed in the bed of large and powerful rivers, It was
doubtless by the incessant abrading action of such ancient streams,
continued for countless ages, that the Neanderthal, and much of the
broad valley of the Meuse, became scooped out.
Few Geologists will dispute that the Meuse caverns are of the same
age as the flint-implement gravels of the Somme, and that both belong
to the latest division of the glacial or (as I have lately termed it)
Clydian period.* If we accept the physical conditions of the Meuse
caverns as demonstrative of their having been filled up in that remote
age, we cannot but recognize in the corresponding conditions of the
Neanderthal fissure evidences which claim for it an equally high
antiquity, notwithstanding certain differences seemingly supporting
the opposite conclusion.
The want of stalagmite and the doubtful absence of remains of extinct
animals in the Neanderthal fissure may be readily explained ; and as
to the physical differences, the Diissel is certainly not to be compared
with the Meuse for size and abrading power, but it must be admitted
that a mere rivulet may take quite as much time to scoop out a “ravine”
as a river to excavate a considerable portion of a broad valley.
Having finished my preliminary remarks, I shall next proceed to
notice the fossil itself.
According to Dr. Fuhlrott, of Elberfeld, the skeleton was found
* See ‘Synoptical Table of the Aqueous Rock-Systems,’ 5th edition.
1864.] Kiva on the Reputed Fossil Man of the Neanderthal. 89
by some workmen while quarrying the rock where the cave occurs ;
but, knowing nothing of the importance of the discovery, and being
very careless about it, they secured chiefly only the larger bones.
Fortunately these fell into the hands of Fuhlrott, and they were
shortly afterwards described by Professor Schaaffhausen, of Bonn.
The principal parts of the skeleton which have been preserved are the
cranium ; both thigh bones, perfect ; a perfect right humerus ; a per-
fect radius; the upper third of a right ulna corresponding to the
humerus and radius; a left humerus, of which the upper third is
wanting ; a left ulna; a left ilium, almost perfect ; a fragment of the
right scapula; the anterior extremities of a rib of the right side; the
same part of a rib of the left side; the hinder part of a rib of the
right side; and two short hinder portions, and one middle portion of
some other ribs.
The skeleton, or rather, as much as is preserved of it, is charac-
terized by unusual thickness, and a great development of all the
elevations and depressions for the attachment of the muscles. The
ribs, which have a singularly rounded shape, and an abrupt curvature,
more closely resemble the corresponding bones of a carnivorous
animal, than those of man.*
Although a difficulty may be felt in resting a satisfactory argument
upon merely the great size of its osseous framework, and the pecu-
liar form of its ribs, it cannot but be admitted that these characters
afforded some grounds for the belief, at first entertained, that the
Neanderthal fossil had not belonged to a human being. Whether a
more close examination of other parts of the fossil will confirm this
hypothesis, it is the object of the present paper to determine.
The skull is deficient in its basal and facial portions, but retains
all the parts lying above a line connecting the glabella—or space
between the eye-brows—and the centre of the posterior part of the
skull immediately above the hollow of the neck, to which the name
occipital or posterior tubercle is given.{ Fortunately the parts
alluded to, which are of uncommon thickness, enable one to determine
some highly important points in craniology.
The frontal—or bone of the forehead {—possesses the upper border
and roof-plate of the eye-sockets, the inter-orbital space, the orifices
of the frontal sinuses, and both outer orbital processes: the upper
part of the alisphenoid belonging to the right side appears also to be
present. The occipital—or posterior bone—retains, in addition to the
tubercle, the superior transverse ridges. The parietals—or upper
side-bones—possess the impression of the temporal squamosal. The
temporals—or lower side-bones—are broken off, though it would appear
from Huxley’s figure,§ that the mammillary portion of the left one is
still preserved. The lambdoidal sutwre—or joining of the parietals
* See Busk’s translation of Schaaffhausen’s paper in the ‘ Natural History
Review, 1861, pp. 158-162.
; a ae line A A, in Fig. 1, Plate I., passes from the glabella to the occipital
ubercie,
eae explanation of the individual parts of the skull is prefixed to Plates I.
an .
§ See ‘Man’s Place in Nature,’ Fig. 25 A, facing page 138.
90 Original Articles, [Jan.
and the occipital—including the additamentum, is well marked ; the
sagittal suture—or joining of the parictals in the medio-longitudinal
line of the skull—is obscure ; while the coronal suture—or joining of
the frontal and parietals in front of, and at right angles to the last-
named suture—is but faintly marked at the crown and obliterated at
the sides. The bounding line of the temporal muscles (situated on
each side of the skull in front of, and above the ear) is tolerably well
defined.
In general terms, the Neanderthal skull is of an elongated oval
form, with a basal outline bearing much resemblance to that of the
Negro cranium represented by Martin.* It is of large size, being
about an inch longer than ordinary British skulls; in width, however,
it does not much exceed them, The forehead, uncommonly low and
retreating, terminates in front by enormously projecting brow or super-
ciliary ridges, which, besides being very thick, slightly rounded on
their anterior aspect, and rather strongly arched above the eye-sockets,
extend uninterruptedly across from one side to the other. The outer
orbital processes—or horns of the brow-ridges—are also unduly
developed; being thick and projecting. On the whole, there is a
remarkable absence of those contours and proportions which prevail
in the forehead of our species; and few can refuse to admit that the
deficiency more closely approximates the Neanderthal fossil to the
anthropoid apes than to Homo sapiens.
The greatest width of the skull is towards its posterior part, and on -
a level not much higher than the mammillary region—a character
which is essentially pithecoid or simial. In human skulls, the greatest
width is considerably higher—usually on a line connecting the centres
of ossification of the parietals:+ on the contrary, the Neanderthal
cranium, like that of the Chimpanzee, is without any particular pro-
minency where those centres may be assumed to be situated.
In addition to possessing a low retreating forehead, the fossil skull
is remarkably flattened at the vertex, which, according to Huxley, rises
about 3:4 inches only above what is called the glabello-occipital
plane :{ in Man, the corresponding part is generally about an inch
higher. From the vertex there is a slightly curving fall both towards
the front and the back, ending in the former direction at the origin of
the brow-ridges, and in the latter, at the occipital tubercle. The curvin
is more rounded and regular on the anterior half—particularly at the
upper portion of the brow, which, in consequence, is somewhat pro-
minent—than on the posterior half: on the latter, there is a slight
depression just above the apex of the lambdoidal suture. The pos-
terior fall of the Neanderthal skull, as a peculiarity, was first pointed
out by Huxley, who remarks that “ the occipital region slopes obliquely
upward and forward, so that the lambdoidal suture is situated well
upon the upper surface of the cranium:” in other words, when the
glabello-occipital plane is made horizontal, the apex of the lambdoidal
suture is decidedly in front of the posterior tubercle. In ordinary
* «Natural History of Man and Monkeys,’ Fig. 182, p. 120.
+ Plate IL. Fig. 5, b.
t See Plate I. Fig. 1, A A.
1864.] Kine on the Reputed Fossil Man of the Neanderthal. 91
skulls, it is well known, the backward slope terminates near the apex
of the lambdoidal suture, below which the occipital bone stands more
or less vertical to the glabello-occipital plane. The Neanderthal
cranium, in its posterior features, is approached by some savage races ;
also occasionally by a few inhabitants of the British Isles. Moreover,
judging from the few data at our command, the approximation appa-
rently characterized the ancient ‘ Borreby people,” and the extinct
race of the Meuse, supposing the latter to be represented by a nearly
perfect skull which Schmerling obtained from the Engis cave near
Liége ;* but in no human tribe extinct, or existing, do we find both
the vertex and the occiput so depressed and ape-like. Well might
Huxley have felt a “ difficulty in believing that a human brain could
have its posterior lobes so flattened and diminished as must have been
the case in the Neanderthal man.”
Much*of the hinder half of the skull partakes of the slight round-
ness just noticed; but anterior to its greatest width, in the areas which
were embraced by the temporal muscles, the sides are perpendicular,
and their “fore and aft” outline is straight and remarkably long.
In these general characters, the Neanderthal skull is at once
observed to be singularly different from all others which admittedly
belong to the human species; and they undoubtedly invest it with a
close resemblance to that of the young Chimpanzee, represented by
Busk in his translation of Shaaffhausen’s memoir.t
Another differential feature characterizes the fossil in question.
In human skulls, even those belonging to the most degraded races, if
the forehead be intersected at right angles to the glabello-occipital
plane, on a line connecting the two outer orbital processes at their
infero-anterior point, the intersection will cut off the frontal bone in
its entire width, and to a considerable extent rising towards the coronal
suture ;{ whereas in the Neanderthal skull, the same intersection will
cut off only the inferior and little more than the median portion of the
frontal. This is quite a simial characteristic, and rarely, if ever,
occurs in man.||
* This is the only speciality in which the Engis and Neanderthal skulls agree.
+ See ‘ Natural History Review,’ 1861, Plate IV. Fig. 6.
{ See Plate II. Fig.5, BB. § See Plate I. Fig. 1, BB.
|| I have examined and made myself acquainted with skulls belonging to the
principal races or varieties of man, in all of which the forward position of the
forehead, relatively to the outer orbital processes, is the general rule. The Engis
skull exhibits it, and the same appears to be the case with the Borreby one,
judging from the figure in Lyell’s ‘Geological Antiquity of Man,’ p. 86. It
may be doubted that the Plymouth skull, represented by Busk (‘ Nat. Hist. Rev.’
1861, Pl. V. fig. 6), is an exception. I possess a very remarkable skull, probably
about 500 years or more old, taken last summer out of the beautiful ruins of
Coreomroo Abbey, situated among the Burren mountains, in county Clare, which
offers a close approximation to the fossil in the depressed form of the forehead :
indeed, although not altogether so abnormal in this respect as the Neanderthal
skull, it has in appearance a better development, in consequence of the median
part of its frontal being a little more rounded. There is no reason to believe that
it belonged to an idiot, as it happens that most of the skulls lying about the ruins
have a low frontal region. It is singular that the inhabitants of Burren a few
hundred years ago should have been characterized by a remarkably depressed fore-
head, while those now living have a well-developed cranial physiognomy.
92 Original Articles. [ Jan.
The last peculiarity is concomitant with another equally strik-
ing. Viewing the Neanderthal forehead with reference to the situation
of that portion of the brain which it enclosed, we may plainly per-
ceive that the frontal lobes of the cerebrum have been situated behind
the outer orbital processes. As far as I have ascertained, we cannot
say this of man; for, apparently, in all existing races, whose skull has
not been modified by artificial pressure, the corresponding parts of the
brain actually extend in front of the orbital processes.*
Notwithstanding the strong simial tendencies displayed by its
general features, most of the writers who have described this skull
do not appear to think otherwise than that it belonged to an indi-
vidual of our species. There seems to be no doubt, whatever,
on the part of the Honorary Secretary of the Anthropological
Society, Mr. Carter Blake, that the Neanderthal fossil is specifically
identical with Man. He considers it to be the remains of some poor
idiot or hermit, who died in the cave where the bones were found.f
His reasons, however, are obviously unsatisfactory. ‘In reply to the
suggestion,” observes Huxley, “that the skull is that of an idiot, it may
be urged that the onus probandi lies with those who adopt the hypothesis.
Idiotcy is compatible with very various forms and capacities of the
cranium, but I know of none which present the least resemblance to the
Neanderthal skull.”t Blake admits that its frontal peculiarities give
the cranium an “ apparent ape-like character ;” but if such peculiar-
ities be the result of mal-development producing idiotcy, one would be
equally justified in believing that the form of the skull of the gorilla,
or chimpanzee, is also produced by disease of the brain. Schaaff-
hausen, seemingly, would have no hesitation in repudiating the idea
that the frontal specialities of the fossil are the result of individual
pathological deformity.§
In case it should be suggested that this remarkable cranium has
received its form from artificial pressure, I may observe that no one
who has described it seems to entertain such an opinion; indeed its
symmetry, also noticed by Schaaffhausen, is quite opposed to the
supposition that the skull has undergone any process of artificial modi-
fication.
Huxley, while admitting that it is the most ape-like and most
brutal of all human skulls yet discovered, states that it is “closely
approached” by some Australian forms, and “even more closely affined
to the skulls of certain ancient people, who inhabited Denmark during
the Stone period.” || I have no intention to deny that there are gene-
* The Corcomroo skull, noticed in the previous footnote, although closely
approximated to the Neanderthal one in its low forehead, and this alone, is strietly
human in the forward extension of the frontal lobes of the brain relatively to the
outer orbital processes.
+ See ‘ Geologist,’ vol. V. p. 207.
t See Lyell’s ‘Geological Antiquity of Man,’ p. 85.
§ The writer of an article on Lyell’s ‘Geological Antiquity of Man,’ in the last
number of the ‘Quarterly Review,’ summarily disposes of the Neanderthal skull
with the gratuitous assertion, that it is quite removed from the pithecoid type, and
possibly belonged to an idiot.
|| ‘ Man’s Place in Nature,’ p. 157.
1864.] Kina on the Reputed Fossil Man of the Neanderthal. 93
ral features of resemblance between tho Australian, Neanderthal, and
ancient Danish crania; but it appears to me, judging from the figures
(31 and 82) in the deeply philosophical work, ‘Man’s Place in Na-
ture,’ that a closer resemblance is assumed than really exists. No one
would have any hesitation in admitting that the Borreby skull, repre-
sented under one of the figures cited, is strictly human,— nay, from
what I have seen myself, I have no hesitation in saying that precisely
the same cranial conformation is often repeated in the present day ;
but it has yet to be shown that any skulls hitherto found are more
than approximately similar to the one under consideration.
The proposition at present contended for is apparently invalidated
by the fact that, among certain species of animals—notably those under
domestication—skulls very dissimilar from each other may be found.
It is, therefore, to be apprehended that, however clearly the Neanderthal
fossil may be shown to be inadmissible into the human species, an attempt
will be made to set aside the consequent conclusion by an appeal to
the fact alluded to. But this I contend is not a case in point, as will
be evident after a moment’s reflection on the various breeds of the Dog
—the best known of our domesticated species. These breeds, so re-
markably differentiated by cranial peculiarities, are artificial, whereas
the varieties of mankind are natural. The dissimilar skulls met with
in the former are merely striking illustrations of organic or structural
modifiability, produced by what Darwin calls Natural Selection, but
nothing more.
Again, some weight seems to be due to the consideration that the
human species (in which I include all the existing races of man) is
characterized by a great variety of skulls. We have abundant ex-
amples affording characters which closely iink together the most dis-
similar forms, so that it is impossible to draw a line of demarcation
between the extremes of dolichocephaly and brachycephaly,* or between
the lofty forehead of Indo-Europeans and the depressed one of the
Australian. Nay, the most degraded race we are acquainted with —
the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands — may be strictly regarded as
closely affined by cranial conformation to the highest intellectual races.
It might, therefore, be urged that the Neanderthal skull is simply
an aberrant form, but which is, nevertheless, inseparably linked on to
the Indo-European type. If sufficient has not yet been adduced to
dispel this idea, the following additional evidences, referring to the
particular parts of the bones composing the fossil cranium, will, it is
thought, be deemed fully adequate for the purpose.
Commencing with the Frontal.—Fuhlrott and Huxley have satis-
factorily shown that this bone is furnished with large frontal sinuses ;
and apparently they regard these as the cause of the excessive pro-
minency of the superciliary ridges. It may be reasonably doubted,
however, that this is the case. Frontal sinuses, it is well known, do
not always coexist with prominent brow-ridges, as, for example, in the
Australian and the Chimpanzee: on the other hand, the former may
exist without being associated with any more than an ordinary de-
* Professor Retzius distinguished long skulls, and short or round skulls, re-
spectively by the names dolichocephalic and brachycephalic.
94 Original Articles. [Jan.
velopment of the latter. I have seen frontal sinuses extending to
nearly the origin of the outer orbital processes, and almost large
enough, even at their termination, to admit the small finger to be in-
serted into them, yet the brow-ridges were not particularly prominent.
But whether the Neanderthal sinuses extend the whole length of the
brow-ridges, or they are simply confined to the region of the glabella,
their large size, in either case, is unusual in man, and they more strongly
approach to, or resemble, as the case may be, those of the Gorilla.
As to the excessive prominency of the brow-ridges,—instead of re-
garding this feature as having been produced by the frontal sinuses, —
there is more probability that, like the other extraordinary “ elevations
and depressions ”.,of the skeleton, pointed out by Schaafthausen, it
is another speciality consequent on the greatly developed muscular
system, which, from what has already been stated, evidently cha-
racterized the so-called Neanderthal man.
The orbital cavities appear to have had a circular rim, as in cer-
tain apes, there being no angle in that part joining the glabella. This
is a feature unknown in any of the human races: in them the orbits
are always subquadrate.*
The roof of the orbital cavities is altogether less concave, par-
ticularly on the outer side, than in Man; and, although the inner ex-
tremity of the plate forming the roof is broken off, sufficient remains
to show that the cavities contracted sooner than usual. The cavities
also appear to have been uncommonly divergent: if this were actu-
ally the case, its significance would point towards one of the spe-
cialities of the Gorilla.
Temporals.—As already stated, only the impression of the upper
squamosal is seen on the parietals; but it suffices to show, as pointed
out by Huxley, that this part had a comparatively low arcuation:
the highest point of the arch reaches little more than half the height
it attains in ordinary human skulls. Besides occurring among apes,
an equally low arcuated squamosal distinguishes the human fcetus ;
and in some savage races—Australians and Africans—the same part
is also depressed, but not so much as in the fossil. The Engis and
Borreby skulls are strictly normal in this particular.
* Tn some apes the rim of the orbits is of the human form.
+ Under this head may be noticed a part which appears to have been over-
looked in the fossil. On an excellent cast, supplied by Mr. Gregory, of Golden-
square, London, there occurs on the right side and in front of the squamosal
impression a raised flattened plate, which looks like the upper portion of the
alisphenoid (see Plate I. Fig. 1, b): the forward situation of this plate prevents
it being taken for the anterior part of the temporal; besides, its posterior side
exhibits what appears to be the impression of the squamosal. The anterior
margin of the supposed alisphenoid is about an inch behind the outer orbital
process. Dr. Knox long ago pointed out in a Tasmanian skull a square-shaped
bone, nearly an inch in extent, interposed between the alisphenoid and the parietal.
I perceive that this abnormality in a Tasmanian skull is represented in Fig. 225
of the beautiful edition, just published by Renshaw, of Dr. Knox’s translation of
Milne-Edwards’ ‘Manuel de Zoologie.’ I have also seen the same bone, but only
on the ‘left side, of an “Australian” skull belonging to the Dublin University
Museum. Perhaps this interposed bone corresponds, in nature as well as situation,
to the flattened plate observable in the Neanderthal fossil.
1864.] Krye on the Reputed Fossil Man of the Neanderthal. 95
Occipital.—The upper portion of this bone is quite semicircular in
outline, its sutural (lambdoidal) border running with an even crescentic
curve from one transverse ridge to the other :* generally in human
skulls, including the Engis one, the outline approaches more or less to
an isosceles triangle.t The width of the occipital at the transverse
ridges is much less than is common to Man; and the disparity is the
more striking in consequence of the widest portion of the fossil occu-
pying an unusually backward position.
Taking into consideration the forward and upward curving of the
upper portion of the occipital bone as previously noticed, its semicir-
cular outline, and smallness of width, we have in these characters,
taken together, a totality as yet unobserved in any human skull belong-
ing to either extinct, or existing races; while it exists as a conspicuous
feature in the skull of the Chimpanzee.
Parietals.—In Man the upper border of these bones is longer than
the inferior one; but it is quite the reverse in the Neanderthal skull.
The difference, amounting to nearly an inch, will be readily seen by
referring to Figures 1 and 2, in Plate II.; the former representing the
right parietal of a British human skull, and the latter the correspond-
ing bone of the fossil. These figures also show that the Neanderthal
parietals are strongly distinguished by their shape, and the form of
their margins: in shape they are five-sided, and not subquadrate, ike
those of the British skull; { while their anterior and posterior margins
have each exactly the reverse of the form characteristic of Man.
The additamentum, which undoubtedly gives the parietals their
five-sided shape, is on a level with the superior transverse ridge, and
much longer than usual. This peculiarity is common to the human
foetus: I have, likewise, observed an approach to it in a “ Caffre”
skull belonging to the Dublin University Museum, in which, also, the
upper and lower borders of the parietals are about equal in length.
But still the abnormality of the latter case is not at all so extreme
as the condition observed in the fossil. These particular features
also are characteristically simial; for in extending our survey to the
Chimpanzee, and some other so-called Quadrumanes, their parietals
are seen to present a great similarity to those of the Neanderthal
skull.$
I have now, as it appears to me, satisfactorily shown that not only
in its general, but equally so in its particular characters, has the fossil
* Plate II. Fig. 4. { Plate IT. Fig. 3.
+ The outlines were taken by pressing a sheet of paper on the parietals; and,
when in this position, marking their margins by following the bounding sutures ;
next, by cutting the paper according to the lines given by the sutures, and
allowing it to retain its acquired convexity : the outlines were then marked off on
another sheet of paper. Possibly the antero-inferior angle of the Neanderthal
parietal, as given in the figure, is not strictly correct, owing to the coronal suture
being obliterated in that part, but I venture to state that it is approximately true.
§ On the cast, an incised line runs from the lambdoidal suture (where the ad-
ditamentum joins it) towards the posterior tubercle. Is this the suture which
occurs near and parallel to the transverse ridges in foetal skulls, and occasionally
in that of adults? In the skull of the “ Caftre,” noticed in the text, this suture,
which is only seen on the right side, is situated above the ridge ; but in the fossil,
it is below this part.
96 Original Articles. [ Jan.
under consideration the closest affinity to the apes. Only a few points
of proximate resemblance have been made out between it and the
human skull ; and these are strictly peculiar to the latter in the fatal
state. The cranium of the human fcetus, however, possesses the lofty
dome, the forward position of the frontal respectively to the outer
orbital processes, the greatest width at the parietal centres of ossifica-
tion, and the vertical occipital, which are so conspicuous in the adult,
but which are remarkably non-characteristic of the Neanderthal skull.
Besides, so closely does the fossil cranium resemble that of the Chim-
panzee, as to lead one to doubt the propriety of generically placing it
with Man. T'o advocate this view, however, in the absence of the facial
and basal bones, would be clearly overstepping the limits of inductive
reasoning.
Moreover, there are considerations of another kind which power-
fully tend to induce the belief that a wider gap than a mere generic
one separates the human species from the Neanderthal fossil.
The distinctive faculties of Man are visibly expressed in his elevated
cranial dome—a feature which, though much debased in certain savage
races, essentially characterizes the human species. But, considering
that the Neanderthal skull is eminently simial, both in its general and
particular characters, I feel myself constrained to believe that the
thoughts and desires which once dwelt within it never soared beyond
those of the brute. The Andamaner, it is indisputable, possesses but
the dimmest conceptions of the existence of the Creator of the
Universe: his ideas on this subject, and on his own moral obli-
gations, place him very little above animals of marked sagacity ; *
nevertheless, viewed in connection with the strictly human conforma-
tion of his cranium, they are such as to specifically identify him with
Homo sapiens. Psychical endowments of a lower grade than those
characterizing the Andamaner cannot be conceived to exist: they
stand next to brute benightedness.
Applying the above argument to the Neanderthal skull, and consi-
dering that it presents only an approximate resemblance to the
cranium of man, that it more closely conforms to the brain-case of
the Chimpanzee, and, moreover, assuming, as we must, that the simial
faculties are unimprovable—incapable of moral and theositic concep-
tions—there seems no reason to believe otherwise than that similar
darkness characterized the being to which the fossil belonged.t
* It has often been stated that neither the Andamaners, nor the Australians,
have any idea of the existence of God: there are circumstances, however, recorded
of these races which prevent my accepting the statement as an absolute truth.
+ A paper advocating the views contained in this article was read at the last
meeting of the British Association, held in Neweastle-on-Tyne. In that paper I
called the fossil by the name of Homo Neanderthalensis ; but I now feel strongly
inclined to believe that it is not only specifically but generically distinct from Man.
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1864,] Krna on the Reputed Fossil Man of the Neanderthal. v7
JIXPLANATION OF PLAty I,
Via. 1—Right Side of Neanderthal Skull.
A A. Glabello-oecipital plane.
B B. Line intersecting the forehead at right angles to the last plane through
both outer orbital processes.
(These lines are interrupted so as not to obscure any parts of
the skull.)
a to a. Border of squamosal impression.
(Letter ‘a’ is just below the widest part of the skull.)
b. ? Alisphenoid.
c. Portion of additamentum.
Fic. 2.—Top of Neanderthal Skull.
a,a. Outer orbital processes.
The transverse line on the middle of skull represents the coronal
suture. (This and the corresponding line in Fig. 1 are copied
from Busk’s figures.)
The semicircular line at the posterior part of skull represents
the lambdoidal suture.
The medio-longitudinal line represents the sagittal suture.
Fic. 3.—Front of Neanderthal Skull.
a, a. Outer orbital processes or horns of the brow-ridges.
b. Inter-orbital space.
ec. Portion of roof-plate of right orbital cavity.
(Only the anterior half of the frontal bone is represented.)
** The figures in this plate are taken from a plaster cast,
EXPLANATION OF Puate II.
Fie. 1.—Right Parietal of a Human (Irish) Skull,
a. Coronal edge.
b. Lambdoidal edge.
ec. Sagittal edge.
d. Squamosal edge.
Fie, 2.—Right Parietal of Neanderthal Skull.
a, b, c, d. Same as in last Figure.
e. Additamental edge.
Fig. 3.—Occipiial of a Human (Irish) Skull.
aa. Lambdoidal edge.
b, b. Transverse ridges.
e. Occipital or posterior tubercle.
Fic. 4.—Occipital of Neanderthal Skull.
Letters same as in last Figure.
Fic. 5.—Right Side-view of Dome of Human Skull
. Glabello-occipital plane.
. Glabello-occipital intersecting plane.
. Frontal.
. Parietal. (The letter is on the centre of ossification and widest part
of the skull.)
. Occipital.
. Temporal.
e. Alisphenoid.
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VOL. I. H
(C8) | Jan.
CHRONICLES OF SCIENCE.
I. AGRICULTURE.
Tur movements in the Agricultural world during the past few months
have related more to the business than to the Art of land cultivation.
Agricultural Societies and Meetings have concerned themselves more
with such questions as the relations of landlord and tenant, or of
master and servant, than with details of the processes of the farm, or
of the appliances by which they are carried out. And just in propor-
tion as the motive—the efficient cause —is important in comparison
with the mere machinery, so the nature of these business relations
will, in any occupation or profession, always be the chief of all the
influences affecting progress or success.
This is especially the case in Agriculture :—
When the landowner guarantees possession of a farm for a number
of years, and does not restrict its cultivation to any precise routine of
operations, he induces the tenant of that farm to apply all his mind
and all his money to its management, for then there is given to him
hope and opportunity of a reward for his outlay and his labour. The
land is to a certain extent a machine, and its fertility depends on the
use that it can make of the fertilizing influences of air and rain. Its
powers as a machine in this respect can, in the case of wet and water-
logged soils, be wonderfully increased; but the alterations needed for
this purpose are very costly. Land-drainage, marling, liming, burning,
are all expensive operations. A man may, in the case of wet clay
soils, sometimes profitably spend nearly as much again in these
improvements as the land is worth. It is folly to suppose that he
will do this on the lands of another. They must be made his own on
certain conditions and for sufficient time to enable him to reap the reward
of that increased fertility which has been conferred. A lease is thus,
for all purposes of considerable land improvement by the farmer,
absolutely necessary.
Where, however, the improvements do not involve so large an
expenditure, and where that expenditure can, under the several branches
of it, be accurately recorded, it becomes possible so to keep an account
between the landlord and tenant as to enable the former to repay the
latter at any time, whatever may be due from the one to the other.
And the system of tenancy at will, coupled with an agreement for the
repayment of the balance of this account, does, im many parts of
England, both maintain and promote a very high degree of cultivation.
Nevertheless, this is but a makeshift arrangement, by which landowners
hope to obtain the full advantage to all classes of a large expenditure
of tenant’s capital without in any degree abandoning those special
privileges to themselves which the possession of landed property alone
confers. And thus the Earl of Shrewsbury, at one of the recent dis-
cussions on the form of an agreement on this principle between landlord
1864. | Agriculture. 99
and tenant, gave tho fullest acquiescence to the principle of repaying
the tenant for his outlay ; but at the same time the completest refusal
to the principle, far more influential for good, of granting leases to his
tenants for terms of years. On the one hand, he said :—
“T should feel it to be dishonest if I allowed any tenant of mine
to leave me in debt to him. If a man put on to a farm that which
would improve it, I should feel bound not to let that man leave my
estate without being remunerated for what is unexhausted.”
On the other hand, he also said :—
“TJ adhere to what I have always said respecting leases, namely,
that nothing will induce me to give a man a lease, because in the first
place a lease is all on one side. The landlord remains, but the tenant,
if he be inclined to be fraudulent, may go. I boldly and honestly state
that I will never surrender my property to a tenant. I mean that no
man who will allow his sons to poach and act disgracefully shall have
control over my land for a number of years.”
With whatever cordiality we may admire the evident honesty in
every sense which these remarks display, it is also evident that they
are dictated by an erroneous judgment, not only of the interest of
landowners, but of the general character of tenantry.
The lease is not “all on one side.” It not only confers advan-
tages on the tenant, but it secures the annual payment of the sum at
which those advantages have been valued by the landlord. The land-
lord does not ‘“remain:” his successor may be either himself in a
different mood of mind, or the inheritor of his estate; and in either
case it is within his power to put an end to an unwritten bargain.
Again, a landlord does not “surrender his property to a tenant”
under the lease, so much as the tenant is asked to surrender his pro-
perty to the landlord under tenancy at will. Unlike the tenant’s share
in the improvements he confers upon the land he occupies, the land
remains. Baron Liebig indeed speaks of the exhaustion of the land,
but no such thing is known in practice. The “worn-out” farm of
the practical man would be readily taken again by another tenant at the
former rent, if only it were let to him for a year or two for nothing.
‘Two years’ rent, 3/. or 4/. per annum, are thus probably the utmost
injury ordinary land receives by cross-cropping and hard usage. And
if land be let on lease, you must suppose its tenant to be not only
fraudulent but a fool, to do even this amount of injury to it. The
fear which a landlord expresses lest his property should be injured
by letting it out of his hands for so long a time is thus altogether
visionary. The tenant’s capital is to a great extent the cause of, and it
is the security for, its fertility. That system which most encourages
the outlay of this capital is best in the interest of the landlord as well
as in that of the tenant and consumer.
And the fear of having an ill-conditioned set of neighbours
permanently collected round you by granting leases, is equally
visionary. It has been proved in other walks of life that the plan of
universal restriction—of treating all men with suspicion—of making
your general arrangements hinge on the possibility of every man being
a rogue, isa blunder. It is an especial mistake in Agriculture. For
H2
100 Chroiicles of Science. | Jan.
there is a certain class-colouring perceptible in farming, as in other
professions, and tenant-farmers may be safely spoken of as a worthy
and well-conditioned body of men. If, as is sometimes feared, a
general prevalence of the lease should displace the homely and neigh-
bourly class with whom in English country districts one has so
long enjoyably associated, by a set of energetic, ruthless, restless,
money-making “sharps,” the change would be lamentable indeed; but
the fear is ludicrous. However many new men may be entering
Agriculture from other walks of life, it will always be that the bullx of
farmers have been bred by farmers. And it is an easier and a better
thing to engraft upon the characteristic good qualities of this class, or
rather (for they already exist) to foster in them the intelligence and
enterprise, and energy of commercial life, by adopting more generally
a commercial view of the relations between landlord and tenant, than
it will be to engraft a strict valuation and acknowledgment of tenant
right upon the system of tenancy-at-will.
Although this Journal is devoted rather to the consideration of
science than of business, yet the case of Agriculture, owing to the
peculiarity of its raw material, land, is so exceptional, that these
general remarks on what, more than anything else, determines its pro-
eress and improvement, may be permitted in a paper introductory to
a quarterly series, descriptive of the progress and improvement which
from time to time will have to be recorded.
And as a preliminary study of the subject which will thus at
intervals engage us, we will now shortly enumerate the particulars in
which this progress consists, or to which is owing increased produce
of food from the land.
1. It is owing in the first place to better tillage. The object of tillage
is the creation of an increased available surface within the soil, on
which may be prepared and deposited food for plants, and over which
the roots of plants may feed. The greater the quantity of this internal
superficies to act as a laboratory, as a warehouse, as a pasturage, and
the better stored it is, under a given extent of land, then so long as
the fitness of the mechanical condition of the land with reference
to particular plants is preserved, the more fertile is that land with
reference to those plants.
Tn order to the creation of this inner surface a greater depth of soil
is stirred, and clods are comminuted. In order to the increased acces-
sibility of this inner surface land is drained. 'The air and rain water
which then traverse soil and subsoil instead of merely lodging in them,
introduce substances into this warehouse and activity into this labora-
tory.
The air which rain-water thus draws through the soil as it sinks
downwards to the drains is as necessary to the fertility of the soil as it
is to the heat of burning coals. The fire will merely smoulder until,
by the erection of a chimney over it, a current upwards through the
burning mass is impressed upon the air. And even then, in fires of
caking coal, the heap may smoulder until, by the smashing of the fuel,
that inner surface of the fire, where the action of the air takes place,
throughout is multiplied, and the impervious ceiling—or floor, as we
1864. | Agriculture. 101
might call it, to an upward current—which has hindered the passage of
the air over that inner surface, is broken up.
Land drainage is the provision of a passage for the rain-water, along
with which the fertilizing air has thus a downward current given it
through the soil and subsoil, And tillage, especially tillage by steam-
power, which does not cake a floor, as horse-power does, beneath the
soil it stirs—has all that enlivening effect of the poker on a caked coal
fire, which the parallel suggests. Extended drainage has a great deal
to do with our increased produce. Mr. Bailey Denton estimates that
nearly 2,000,000 acres have within the past fifteen years been under-
drained, and the fertility of these acres has no doubt been largely
increased. '
Deeper and better tillage has contributed to the same result. The
extension of autumnal tillage is an undoubted fact; the enormously
increased use of implements of the grubber class is another ; the general
_ adoption of a better form of plough is a third; the more general adop-
tion of the fertilizing practice of burning clay soils is a fourth. The
success which has at length rewarded unconquerable perseverance in
the attempt to use steam-power for tillage operations is a further great
fact, which, if it cannot yet be quoted in explanation of agricultural
progress, will unquestionably be looked back upon ten years hence as
having contributed largely to the increased fertility which will then
have to be recorded.
2. In the second place our agricultural progress has been owing to
the greater richness of home-made manures, and to the greater use made
of imported fertilizers. The imports of guano since 1840 have amounted
to 3} millions of tons; the imports of cubic nitre, which averaged
10,000 to 14,000 tons per annum up to 1858, have since varied from
25,000 to 40,000 tons per annum. The imports of bones since 1848
have increased from 30,000 to 70,000 or 80,000 tons annually. All
these are manuring substances. 75,000 to 80,000 tons of Suffolk and
Cambridgeshire coprolites, and 15,000 to 20,000 tons of Sombrero
phosphate, are also used in the superphosphate manufacture, which now
probably exceeds in worth £1,000,000 per annum. To facts like this
add the enormous extension in the use of oil cakes and richer foods in
the meat manufacture, by which the richness of home-made manure is
increased—the increased adoption of the practice of applying manure
at once to the land, instead of rotting it in heaps, which is an economy,
and so an addition to our resources worth naming—the increased prac-
tice of feeding and collecting manure under shelter, which is another
great economy—and the increased care to properly pulverise and even
dissolve manures, so as to distribute them thoroughly through the soil,
which is another first-class example of a most important improvement
in farm practice. On the other hand there is the increased value of
the town sewage—due to the improved drainage of our towns—which
is still suffered to go to waste. On the whole, however, there cannot
be a doubt that the increased fertility of the soil is due not only to
improved drainage and tillage, but to the direct application of fertiliz-
ing ingredients in a more liberal and economical manner.
3. Leaving now the soil, there is the way in which its increased
102 Chronicles of Science. [Jan
fertility is developed and expressed. It will on the whole be admitted
that, at least on arable lands, there are fewer weeds; our fallow crops
ave cleaner, our tillage and manures are not so much wasted on plants
we do not want to grow.
Another fact of importance is the prevalence of rotations of crops
in which bare fallows are diminished, and in which there is a larger
acreage of the more valuable crops. The prevalent rotation of the
country is the four-field course, in which wheat, turnips, barley, and
clover occupy one-fourth of the land apiece. But it is common on
well-cultivated land—where the land is folded by cake-fed sheep, and
where a top-dressing of guano is given to the corn, to take a crop of
wheat between the turnips and the barley, so that three-fifths instead
of two-quarters of the land are in grain crops. One-half of the clover
land, too, is often sown instead with peas or beans, so that five-eighths
instead of three-fifths are in grain. Again, over large districts, espe-
cially in Scotland, potato culture to a great extent displaces turnips
or other fallow crops, and thus provides a great increase of food for
man.
But besides the adoption of improved rotations, we have to report
the improved cultivation of individual crops. We suppose that the
eradually diminished quantity of seed used per acre in growing grain
crops—as drill husbandry extends, and as an increased independence
of mere custom becomes the rule, each man determining his practice
for himself—will be admitted by most people as an example of this
kind. Certainly every one will admit that the extension of drill hus-
bandry in the cultivation of root crops, the extended use of the horse-
hoe in the cultivation of grain crops—the extended use of so-called
artificial manures as top-dressings and otherwise in the cultivation of
all crops—all illustrate the improved cultivation of the plants by which
the greater fertility of our soils is expressed and utilized.
Again, we owe our better crops to the selection and adoption of
better sorts of the plants in cultivation. We do not suppose that indi-
vidual sorts have improved upon our hands. Probably, as a general
rule, they have deteriorated. But new sorts are being perpetually
introduced ; and of wheat, barley, and oats, mangold-wurzel, swedes,
turnips and potatoes, cabbages and vetches, a man can grow sorts as
good as any —we think probably better than any—that his predecessors
have known.
4. We now come to the produce of meat, and the question of sort
has a great deal to do with our improvement here. Our sheep are
now ready for the butcher at 14 months old; our cattle at 24 and 30
months. Formerly it needed at least two years of feeding to make a
smaller carcase of mutton, and at least three or four years’ feeding to
make a smaller carcase of beef. A thousand sheep upon a farm in
March or April now mean something like 500 ewes in the lambing
fold, and 500 sheep ready for the market. Formerly they meant not
more than 300, and those a smaller lot ready for the butcher. And
this great increase in the meat produce of a given head of stock is
witnessed as much in pork and beef as it is in mutton.
All the important breeds of cattle, sheep, and pigs have improved
1864. | Agriculture. 103
and increased in numbers during this period. Mr. Strafford receives
entries for his herd book from fourfold the number of short-horn
breeders ; and the influence of this, the dominant breed of cattle, in
crossing the general stock of the country, has wonderfully increased.
Messrs. Duckham and Tanner Davy report no falling off in the num-
ber and quality of the more local breeds of Hereford and Devon. Both
Down and long-woolled sheep, and especially the latter, have made
great strides, both as to increase of numbers and general improvement ;
and much more general interest is taken in the improvement of the
breeds of swine. The public attention has lately been drawn, or rather
driven, to the fact that disease is rife among our stock, and it is said
to be increasing. It is one great point in proof of great agricultural
improvement that an evil of this kind, whether general or local, and
wherever it exists, is not now left to fester, but is exposed and probed
by an energetic public agitation, which will undoubtedly promote its
cure.
The greater rapidity of growth, and the increased size of our im-
proved stock, are owing partly to the better food we give our stock, as
well as to their increased precocity, and the enormous extension of
better bred stock. And thus, as part of this experience, we have a
supply of more fertilizing manure and an increased growth of grain
crops. It is, we believe, the fact that there are more acres of corn
grown now than before has been ever known in England, and we look
upon this as a proof of agricultural progress. And, so long as this is
consistent with the maintenance of fertility, it is certainly for the
interests of the consumer. It is said our climate is especially favour-
able for the growth of green crops. We believe there are more
bushels of wheat per acre grown here than in any other country,
whether we have so good a climate for it or not. And if the pre-
sent extravagant cry for laying land down to grass which has hitherto
grown grain and green crops in alternate husbandry shall to any extent
prevail, we do not know who is to benefit by the change. Landlord,
tenant, labourer, and consumer are alike interested in the larger pro-
duce and more energetic cultivation of arable land.
The progress which we have thus sketched has been achieved rather
by the extension of good Agriculture than by the invention of any new
process during the period of it; and yet there is enough of novelty
and change apparent, too, on comparing the present farmer with his
predecessor. Bones and rape-cake, soot and salt and gypsum, lime
and marl, and composts used to be the principal methods of adding
directly to fertility ; and indirectly the same end was attained by the
cultivation of successive green crops, feeding rye and rape, vetches
and turnips, and cabbages off successively upon the same field. This
“double” culture was advocated confidently as the perfection of arable
cultivation twenty-eight or thirty years ago. Hear Mr. Middleton,
who edited the 20th edition of Arthur Young’s ‘ Farmer’s Calendar,’
writing on this very practice. ‘That very numerous class of supine
persons,” he says, “whose minds are so weak as not to adopt this
practice, which-is the most improved that is known, will certainly con-
tinue to complain of hard landlords and bad times. Such characters
104 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
do not succeed in any profession; neither can they in Agriculture. I
had nearly said they deserve to be poor, but, whether they deserve it
or not, their destiny is to be so.”
Notwithstanding, however, Mr. Middleton’s vigorous assertion of
-this practice, it is not thus that the farmer now in general seeks the
increased fertility of his lands. He has guano, superphosphate, and
other fertilizers at his command. He has machinery, not only for the
increased efficiency, but for the cheapening of all agricultural processes.
Steam-power both tills the soil and threshes out its produce. The
mowing machine, hay-tedder, and reaper—the chaftcutter, pulper, and
steamer—cheapen the labour of securing his crops, and economize the
after-use of them. Better plants are grown, and better animals are
fed, and the fertility which formerly came with profit under the best
management in two or three years, is now achieved, with at least an
equal profit, almost at once.
It will thus be seen that there isa large field over which the reader
of the agricultural section of this Journal may expatiate. And in the
improvements of machinery and soil, of manures, and plants and ani-
mals, there is scope enough both for the ingenuity and energy of the
practical and scientific man, and in the present activity of both in the
agricultural world, for the industry of the recording Journalist.
II. ASTRONOMY.
Germany, ever foremost in practical astronomy has, within the last
few months, seen the inauguration of a movement likely, if well
carried on, to render valuable services to the science. The celebrated
band whose organization in the early years of the present century
resulted in the discovery of the planetoids, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta,
may be said to have paved the way for the new institution we have now
to report upon, and there is no reason to doubt that the results in the
present case will be equally, if not still more satisfactory. ‘ The
Astronomical Society of Germany,” modelled in some respects on our
own, is distinguished therefrom by including in its programme a scheme
for united work which appears very promising. It is well known that
there are certain classes of research demanding for their proper de-
velopment more time and attention than a single observatory, much
less a single observer, can possibly be expected to afford—variable
stars and comet sweeping are two noticeable examples. By a well-
adjusted subdivision of labour amongst several persons, each under-
taking a prescribed department or area of the heavens, as the case may
be, it is obvious that results of extreme magnitude and importance
may be arrived at. A copy of the prospectus has been forwarded to
us from Germany: from it we learn that Leipzic will be the general
head-quarters, and that German will be the official language for the
transaction of business, though the Society will be open to all nation-
alities and all languages. Both the entrance fee and annual subscrip-
tion are fixed at five thalers (15s.), a very moderate sum by the side of
1864. | Astronomy. 105
the three guineas and two guineas which our own Society charges for
very inadequate returns. Amongst the officers elected at the Heidel-
berg foundation meeting, are Zech of Tiibingen (President), Argelander,
O. Struve, Bruhns, Schénfeld, &e. The secretary is Forster, of the
Royal Observatory, Berlin, well known as an expert calculator.
In reviewing the progress of Astronomy during the last six months,
we shall scarcely do wrong in assigning a foremost place to some re-
marks on the belief which has recently taken hold upon the minds of
leading men, that it is now necessary to adopt some revised estimate
of the sun’s distance from the carth. The precise amount of the re-
duction to be made in the hitherto-received value is open to future
determination, but concerning the general fact that some correction is
requisite there seems to be no difference of opinion. The first really
public announcement at any considerable length is due to Mr. Hind,
who contributed a very lucid memoir on the subject to ‘The Times’ in
the month of September last. For our present purpose no more is re-
quisite than to give a brief recapitulation of the matter in Mr. Hind’s
own words, followed by a few general remarks on two of his heads
which appear to deserve comment. He thus sums up :—“ A diminu-
tion in the measure of the sun’s distance now adopted is implied by—
1st, the theory of the moon as regards the parallactic equation, agreeably
to the researches of Professor Hansen and the Astronomer Royal ; 2nd,
the lunar equation in the theory of the earth, newly investigated by
M. Le Verrier; 5rd, the excess in the motion of the node of the orbit
of Venus beyond what can be due to the received value of the planetary
masses; 4th, the similar excess in the motion of the perihelion of
Mars, also detected within the past few years by the same mathematician ;
5th, the experiments of M. Foucault on the velocity of light; and 6th,
the results of observations of Mars when near the earth about the
opposition of 1862.”
To Encke we owe the best discussion of the observations of the
transit of Venus in 1769: he determined the value of the sun’s paral-
lax to be 8’-5776, from which we infer the earth’s mean distance from
the sun to be 95,283,115 miles. Now, the time occupied by a ray of
light reaching the earth from the sun is known very exactly to be 8m.
18s., from which a velocity of about 192,000 miles per second is de-
ducible. Foucault of Paris, however, by the optical contrivance of a
“turning mirror,” due to Professor Wheatstone, has concluded that this
value is too great; that it is more precisely 185,170 (English) miles.
Assuming that Foucault is right, and all his predecessors wrong, it fol-
lows that the solar parallax must be 8/86. Two most singular coin-
cidences must here be disposed of. (1) The theoretical value assigned
by Le Verrier, irrespective of all instrumental measurements, and purely
on physical grounds, is 8°95 ; and (2) The discussion, by Stone of Green-
wich, of the observations of Mars (adverted to above in Mr. Hind’s
6th point), taken by Ellery at Williamstown, Victoria, N. 8. W., give
a value of 8’-95, with a probable error of only 0”-03. Combining the
foregoing, we find that three different observers, working in three most
diverse ways, have all arrived at the same general result, and more than
106 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
this, at actual evaluations, the extremes of which differ only by the
minute amount of 0-09. Is it possible for us to withstand the con-
clusion that our estimations so long adhered to must sooner or later
be materially ‘‘ reconstructed,” and as a consequence, that those por-
tions of our treatises involving this distance must be unceremoniously
pulled to pieces and built up again. An original calculation of the
mean distance of the earth from the sun, amended according to Stone
and Ellery’s value of the parallax, makes it 91,512,649 miles.*
Chiefly in consequence of the larger major planets being, during
the past autumn, unfavourably placed for observation, we have little to
report in the department of planetary astronomy ; the inferior con-
junction of Venus on Sept. 28, is the only phenomenon of importance
which has happened, and none of the observations which have as yet
come under our notice contain any features calling for special remark.
The already very long list of minor planets has received one
addition due to the labours of Mr. Watson, director, in succession
to Brunnow, of the Observatory of Ann Arbor, Michigan, F.S.A.
This planet, which takes the ordinal number of 79, was found
on Sept. 14, shining as a star of the tenth magnitude. The fol-
lowing provisional elements have been determined by M. Allé, of
Prague.t
Epoch 1863, Oct. 4:0, Berlin M. T.
Monn onsituden 4 )cnrhe = w2ee cOltsd-0
Longitude of Perihelion . . = 44 56 24:24
Ascending WO 6 6 6 6 = AG sv Sou Mean’ Eiqu 1863
Inclination of Orbit . . . = 4 42 39:20
D Bei soothe aa Wher 11 13 98 wherefore
Eccentricity = 0:194563
Log. Mean Distance . . . 0°3910464
Mean Daily Motion . . . = 919°"2568
The new planet revolves round the sun in an orbit slightly larger
than Parthenope’s. It has not yet received a name.
On Nov. 13, M. Schmidt of Athens discovered another, the 80th,
in the constellation Taurus. It shone then as a star of the tenth
magnitude, but fell rapidly more than a whole magnitude in less than
a week from that time.
On October 9 a watchmaker at Leipzic, surnamed Bicker, had the
good fortune to discover a small telescope comet, which Tempel of
Marseilles found independently five days later.
The following elements are by M. Romberg :-—
Perihelion Passage - « + = 1863, Dec. 27:70863 G.M. T.
Longitude of Perihelion
180 17 551 Apparent Eq.
Longitude of Ascending Node.
104 51 288 Oct. 14:5
Inclination of Orbit atts = 82 16 29:4
Perihelion Distance 5g Oo ae US Bysi0)
Heliocentric Motion . . . - Direct.
* Tt should be remarked that parallactic observations of Mars are not gene-
rally regarded as susceptible of a high degree of accuracy, and that therefore we
shall have to wait for the next transit of Venus (in 1874) to become well acquainted
with the precise extent of the required diminution of distance.
+ ‘Astronomische Nachrichten,’ November 13, 1863.
1864. | Astronomy. 107
These elements bear considerable resemblance to those of Comet il.
1818. Hereafter it will be reasonable to inquire whether the two
bodies are identical, thus adding another ‘periodic’ comet to our stock
of knowledge. It may be added that these elements are not wholly
dissimilar to those of Comets i. of 1840 and iii. of 1860; neither
should the singular fact be passed over that the three first elements
differ but 11°, 12°, and 3° from the corresponding ones of the Comet i.
of 1863.
M. Tempel was worthily rewarded, on Noy. 4, for the industry he
so untiringly displays, by discovering another comet, one visible to the
naked eye, and therefore more than usually interesting.
The following elements are also by M. Romberg :—
Perihelion Passage . 1863, Nov. 949923
) / “i
Longitude of Perihelion . . 94 46 106
Longitude of Ascending Node = 97 31 15:2
Inclination of Orbit =i SMe OMa Gro
Perihelion Distance . . . = 0°70656
Heliocentric Motion . - Direct.
At the time of its discovery this comet was as bright asa star of the
4th magnitude, and it had a short tail. As its perihelion passage pre-
ceded that of Backer’s comet it becomes Comet iv. of 1863, the latter
being Comet v., inverting the order of discovery. Both are still visible.
Sidereal astronomy is a branch of the science which, from its very
nature, makes progress less rapidly than most others. Labourers are
here fewer, because, in many important respects, instruments equal to
the work are somewhat scarce. Mr. Lassell, who is diligently engaged
in scrutinizing the heavens through the fine atmosphere of Malta, has
communicated to the Royal Society an interesting note on the well-
known planetary nebula in Aquarius (1 H IV. R. A. 20h. 56m.; ¢ 11°
56’8.), in which the following passages occur :—‘‘ With comparatively
low powers it appears at first sight as a vividly light-blue elliptic
nebula, with a slight prolongation of the nebula, or a very faint star
at or near the ends of the transverse axis.” Under high powers and
the most favourable circumstances, “I have discerned within the ne-
bula a brilliant elliptic rig extremely well defined, and apparently
haying no connection with the surrounding nebula, which indeed has
the appearance of a gaseous or gauze-like envelope, scarcely interfer-
ing with the sharpness of the ring, and only diminishing somewhat its
brightness.”
To the same Society, on Nov. 19, Sir John Herschel presented a
work, which will, we think, equal any of his former efforts. We allude
to a gigantic catalogue of all the known nebule, 5,063 in number,
compiled from every available source. Sir John’s own catalogue of
1853 furnishes 2,507 objects, his Cape observations 1,713 more, the
residue being obtained from miscellaneous sources. The epoch chosen
is 1860, and the information, arranged in twelve columns, furnishes,
amongst other things, constants for reduction and copious synonyms.
The catalogue is at present only in manuscript, but we trust that no
more time than is absolutely necessary will elapse before this valuable
108 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
result of Sir John Herschel’s indefatigable research is published to
the world. a
Stellar parallax, in the hands of M. Kruger of Bonn, has yielded
results for the stars 21,258 of Lalande’s Catalogue, and 17,415 of
Oltzen’s Zones. To the former he assigns a parallax of 0-260, with
a probable error of + 0":02, and to the latter a parallax of 0-247,
with a probable error of 0-021. From these determinations we must
infer that these two stars, both telescopic, are nearer to us than either
Capella, Polaris, Arcturus, or Sirius.
Of the various fields of active work open to amateur astronomers,
none are so promising as observations on variable stars. The task is
a hard one, and requires unquestionably great patience and perseverance,
but to those endued with these gifts a fine future is open. The number
of known variables is steadily increasing, and now exceeds one hundred,
to which the indefatigable Pogson of Madras has added another
member within the last few months. He designates it U. Scorpii, and its
place for 1860 is R.A. 16h. 14m. 26-6s., 3 17° 33’ 36” S. It is likely
to prove an object of particular interest, having been found by the dis-
coverer to pass through three entire magnitudes in little more than
one month, a rapidity of change only known to be equalled by three
other stars.
Astronomical photography, in the able hands of Mr. De La Rue and
the Kew observers, is making steady progress, but nothing has occurred
during the period over which our survey extends, calling for particular
notice.
Solar photometry has recently received important development in
America under the ingenious manipulation of Mr. Alvan Clarke, the
well-known optician. A well of adequate depth not being at his dis-
posal, he made use of a horizontal gallery 230 feet long, through which
the sun’s rays, on a very clear bright day, were made to pass by the
agency of a prism and mirror to obtain the required reflection. He
employed a lens 1. of an inch focal length, and thus reduced the sun’s
diameter 93,840 times, when it presented a brilliancy “which was
estimated at scarcely equal to « Lyrz.” Mr. Clarke considers that ten
per cent. loss will be a reasonable allowance for the reflections ; and
weighing some comparisons of « Lyre without the lens, he gives it as
the final result that the sun would have to be removed 103,224 times
its present distance, for it to appear no brighter than the star referred to.
No review of this character can be complete without a chronicle of
literary intelligence, and we shall therefore glance cursorily at the
performances of 1863 and the promises of 1864, which can scarcely
fail to be useful and interesting. An important reprint has been issued
in France—a work by the celebrated astronomical king, Alphonso X.
of Castile. It is divided into sixteen parts, commencing with a cata-
logue of the fixed stars. The royal author then treats of the apparatus
and instruments necessary for observing the stars and estrellas movediros,
or planets. Speaking of the constellations, he says of Ursa Major :—
“Some astronomers have taken it for a wain with its pole, others say
that it has the form of an animal which might as well be a lion, a
1864. | Astronomy. 109
wolf, or a dog, as a male or female bear. Here then are heavenly
animals inhabiting that part of the sky where this constellation is to
be found, and recognized by ancient astronomers because they saw four
stars in a square, and three occupying a right line. They must have
been endued with a better eyesight than ours, and the sky must have
been very clear. Since they say it is a she-bear, let it be one. They
were very lucky in being able to distinguish it.” King Alphonso was
evidently much in advance of his age to speak thus slightingly of popu-
lar tradition ; his work isa worthy monument of his energy and genius.
Mr. J. R. Hind has brought out a third edition of his ‘ Introduc-
tion to Astronomy,’ which is decidedly the best arranged elementary
manual in the English or any other language. A new catalogue of
standard stars has been issued from the Harvard College Observatory,
Cambridge, U.S.A. It is a compilation of right ascensions from the
best catalogues, of 152 stars, with copious constants for reduction,
creditably arranged by Mr. Truman Henry Safford. The year 1863
has, amongst other events, witnessed the successful starting of what is,
as far as we have been able to ascertain, the first purely astronomical
periodical ever issued in England. The ‘Astronomical Register ’
occupies a field hitherto a wide waste, and deserves to find a place on
every astronomer’s table. The Rev. R. Main, Radcliffe observer at
Oxford, has recently published a ‘College Manual of Physical Astro-
nomy,’ designed for the use of students. After a long delay, rendered
necessary by the discovery of certain collateral errors, the second
portion of ‘ Bessel’s Zones’ has just been published in a handsome
volume, at St. Petersburg. It will be recollected that Bessel observed
a large number of stars lying between 15° 8. and 45° N., down to the
ninth magnitude inclusive; his observations having been left unre-
duced, the task was undertaken by the St. Petersburg Academy of
Sciences, which entrusted the work to the hands of M. Weisse. The
first portion, comprising 31,085 stars, lying within 15° on either side of
the equator, was given to the world in 1846 ; but the second, containing
31,445 stars, lyimg in a zone extending 30° northwards of the parallel
of 15°, for reasons above stated, did not appear till 1863.
At the head of literary announcements undoubtedly we must place
a new edition of Admiral W. H. Smyth’s world-renowned ‘ Cycle of
Celestial Objects.’ This book, long out of print, being constantly asked
for, its venerable and gallant author decided some time since to reissue
it with such alterations and additions as twenty years made requisite.
The new edition is now in progress, the more laborious part of it
having been undertaken by the Admiral’s accomplished son-in-law,
Mr. Isaac Flitcher, of Tarn Bank, Workington.
Though Mr. Carrington has abandoned the observatory for the
brewery, his important Redhill results will nevertheless be made avail-
able,—so far at least as regards his solar-spot observations, which are
now in a forward state for publication.
The Obituary of 1863 happily contains no more leading names
than Edward Josiah Cooper of Markree, Esq., and ex-M.P. for the
county of Sligo; Virgilio Trettenero of Padua; J. W. H. Lehman of
Gottingen; and M. Weisse of Cracow.
110 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
III. BOTANY AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.
Tue attention of the French government has been called to some ex-
periments of M. Hooibrenk, a native of Holland, for obtaining, by
artificial fecundation, a more abundant crop of cereals, vines, and fruit
trees. These experiments have been carried on at Sillery, near Rheims,
on the property of M. Jacquesson, the well-known wine-grower. They
are simple and inexpensive: the apparatus employed in the case of
cereals being a cord of from 25 to 30 yards long, upon which is fastened
a stiff woollen fringe, about ten inches in length, the hanging threads
of which touch one another, and have small shot attached at short dis-
tances, At the time of flowering, this apparatus is passed over the
crop so as to brush it lightly, an operation which employs three per-
sons, a man at either extremity, and a child to hold up the cord at the
middle. The object of this operation, which has to be repeated three
times at intervals of about two days, is to scatter the pollen, and bring
a larger quantity of it into contact with the pistils, and thus to ensure
fecundation on a larger scale than is done by the ordinary operations
of nature. The whole apparatus costs only five or six francs, and the
labour employed is also very cheap, while the results have shown a
vast increase in proportion. A modification of the process, as applied
to vines and fruit trees, has also been followed by marked improve-
ment in the crops ; and, as a consequence, two commissioners, named by
the Minister of Agriculture, have visited the scene of the experiments
during the past summer, and as they have been carried on simultaneously
with the ordinary system of farming, a comparison of the results shows
the advantages given by the ‘“ Méthode Hooibrenk ” as follows :—
TTooibrenk System. Old System.
Kilogrammes. Kilogrammes,
\Winariy ae io be TG PSHE Gh gg Bl
Rye hoo 0 28RD 6G a8 6 IG
lly 5 Gg 0) 6G He Cl IG
Oats outs! ites ee SY, ag 6 6 le
The Commissioners recommend a methodical examination into the
subject, and the Emperor has decided that such an examination shall
take place on the imperial farms of Fouilleuse and Fontainebleau.
Dr. F. Hildebrand, of Bonn, observing that in some tropical orchids,
cultivated in the Botanic Garden, he found no ovules in the ovarium of
the expanded flower, and that, nevertheless, he saw the enlargement
of the ovarium after having applied the pollen to the stigma, has been
led to make some interesting experiments upon this curious point,
which has not escaped the notice of previous botanists. Observations
on thirty different species of orchids proved that in the recently ex-
panded flowers of orchids the ovules are never fully developed, while
in some species, indeed, even the placentz are not yet fully developed.
After the application of pollen to the stigma, the enlargement of the
ovarium begins, and before the pollen-tubes reach the placents or
1864. | Botany and Vegetable Physiology. 111
ovules. The tubes of pollen, therefore, have no direct influence upon
the original development of the ovules, but they,act first on the enlarge-
ment of the ovarium, and by this enlargement indirectly on the ovules.
Dr. Hildebrand deduces from all his experiments that in the formation
of the fruit of orchids, the pollen acts in two different ways: on the
one hand it effects the enlargement of the ovarium, and the develop-
ment of the imperfect ovules without the pollen tubes directly touch-
ing the ovules ; on the other hand it impregnates the ovules, directly
touching the embryo-sac, and determining the development of one
germinal corpuscle into an embryo. This independent action of the
pollen upon the ovules is probably not peculiar to orchids, although it
has thus been noticed in that family, but the remarkable facts lately
pointed out by Darwin in his ‘ Fertilization of Orchids,’ as well as
those just referred to, bear singular testimony to the acumen of the
late Robert Brown, who foresaw that a patient examination of the
structure and action of the remarkable sexual organs of this family
would be more likely than any other means to elucidate the difficult
subject of generation in Phanerogamic plants.
A remarkable confirmation of Mr. Darwin’s views of the fertiliza-
tion of orchids by insects is afforded by a South African species (Disa
grandiflora), described in the recently issued Linnean Journal. None
of these South African species have hitherto been examined in relation
to their manner of fertilization. In Disa the labellum is greatly
reduced in size, and the posterior sepal large, forming a spur containing
nectar. The nectary thus stands behind the stigma and pollen masses,
in a directly opposite position to that which it occupies in other orchids.
Nevertheless, fertilization is effected by insects, by a very slight change
in the form of the two upper petals, and in the position of the viscid
dises of the pollen masses, which are widely removed from each other,
and face outwards from the labellum towards the margin of the column.
The upper sepal and two upper petals enclose the column, so that
insects, to reach the nectar, are compelled to approach the flower in
front ; but as the column stands in the way of the nectary, insects must
push their proboscis or head on either side of it, in order to reach the
nectar. In Disa the caudicles of the pollinia do not undergo the
movement of depression, as described by Mr. Darwin, in most British
orchids, but the caudicles are naturally crooked. In this plant there-
fore, notwithstanding the remarkable difference in the position of the
nectary, every part of the flower, by the aid of very slight modifica-
tions, has become so neatly co-ordinated to ensure fertilization through
the agency of insects.*
In connection with the subject of fertilizing processes, a remark-
able arrangement has been noticed, by F. Cohn of Breslau, in thistles.
The five anthers cohere, forming a tube. At the time of flowering
this tube is shut in at the top, enclosing the style. About this period
* Tt may be mentioned, in connection with the interest excited by orchidaceous
plants of late, that M. F. G. Beer has lately published an elaborate work at Vienna,
‘On the Morphology and Biology of the Orchidacex ;’ and some remarks by Prof.
Asa Gray, on the Fertilization of some of the North American Orchids, will be
found in ‘Silliman’s Journal’ for September last.
112 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
the anther tube rises to about four millimetres above the extreme
points of the corolla, and if the same be touched, pollen, in lumps,
issues from the summit, the anther-tube at the same time undergoing
a remarkable twisting. After a short interval this is repeated. The
style gradually becomes elevated above the summits of the anther-
tube, and by the time it projects about four or five millimetres beyond,
the irritability has completely disappeared, having lasted at the most
about twenty-four hours. When the styles are visible it is too late
for instituting experiments. These phenomena are produced solely
by the contraction of the filaments of the stamens, which on each touch
instantly contract, and after a little, resume their former length. The
expulsion of the pollen depends upon the anther-tube being drawn
downwards upon the style by the contracting filaments, and then pushed
up again.
The subject of the functions of vascular tissue causes some difference
of opinion among botanists, some saying that although containing air
at most seasons, they are filled with sap in spring, while others affirm
that when once formed they contain only air. M. Gris has applied
Fehling’s solution, which deposits a red precipitate when boiled with
avery small quantity of glucose, thus indicating the presence of an
essential element of the sap. On plunging for a few moments into
such a boiling solution, thick fragments of the wood of chestnut, beech,
poplar, laburnum, &c., at the commencement of spring, and afterwards,
cutting thin sections for the microscope, the precipitated oxide of
copper is found clothing the inner face of the large vessels, and form-
ing reddish threads visible to the naked eye. 'The precipitate is also
abundant in the cells of the medullary rays, whence M. Gris concludes
that the so-called lymphatic vessels (at all events in spring) contain a
sap either identical with, or closely analagous to, that found in the
cellular elements of these stems. The spiral fibres of the reticulated,
annular and spiro-annular, and other similar vessels of herbaceous
plants, also present, in their interior, the red precipitate when similarly
treated.
With regard to one class of vessels concerning which very con-
siderable modification of opinion has been necessary since their first
discovery by Schultz, viz. the laticiferous tissue, M. Lestiboudois has
instituted a systematic series of experiments, the results of which he
communicates from time to time to the ‘Comptes rendus.’ He has
established beyond doubt the existence, in certain plants, of vessels
containing coloured liquids, and that these vasa propria are not mere
excavations in the tissue, permeated by a thread of granuliferous tissue,
but that, though probably at a late period, a delicate wall is developed,
which constitutes it a distinct vascular system, though notin all points
a counterpart of that of the blood-vessels of animals; nor do they fulfil
precisely the same purpose. While not, however, regarding the contrac-
tility of these vessels as proved, he considers that he indisputably
makes out a circulation of the liquid contents, not regularly from one
point to another, but in such a manner that the granules are driven
into all the ramifications of a more or less complicated network. In
1864. | Botany and Vegetable Physiology. 113
addition to tho trite vessels which contain the proper juices of plants,
and which may either be long rigid tubules without anastomoses, or
thin flexuose, and branching, with frequent inosculations, there are
certain reservoirs or utricles, and others in the form of intercellular
passages (or meati), which present themselves in the form of slightly
branching vessels, constituting now and then a sort of framework
around cells—and some of which are simply irregular cavities pro-
duced by laceration. In another communication, M. Lestiboudois
enlarges on the subject, and adds that this imperfect vascular system is
not met with in the generality of plants, nor in all parts of the plant
in which they occur—nor, therefore, is the laticiferous juice an essen-
tial element in the growth of plants. M. Lestiboudois refuses to
recognize two categories of coloured juices, essentially differing from
one another,—the one special, scented, and excrementitial, and the
other vital and alimentary ; and further, is of opinion that the terms
latex and laticiferous vessels should be abolished, because they per-
petuate an erroneous idea, by assigning to plants those centralized
functions which they do not really possess, but which are peculiar to
animals,
Tt is always an interesting matter to receive confirmation of
the natural affinities of structure in groups which have already,
from a general community of characters, been arranged by botanists
in what are termed natural orders; and the researches of Mr.
Gulliver among the minute crystals called raphides existing among
the tissues of some plants tend to this result. Mr. Gulliver has
distinguished the acicular crystals (or true raphides) from another
class of crystals which occur among Phanerogamia, commonly in
a more or less globular congeries, either naked or within a cell, and
which he proposes to call Spheraphides. The distribution of this
latter class of crystals appears to be especially characteristic of the
Caryophyllacez, Geraniacez, Paronychiacee, Lythrace, Saxifragee,
and Urticacez, so that he has never failed to find them in a single spe-
cies of these orders. But inasmuch as he further believes that few, if
any, orders could be named in which Spheraphides do not exist, it is
questionable how far they might be available as botanical characters.
With true raphidian tissue, however, the case is different ; they occur
so regularly and plentifully in some plants, and so sparingly or not at
all in others, that they afford good characters by which certain orders
may be readily distinguished from their allies of other orders. Thus
if we confine the word raphides to the needlelike crystals commonly
occurring in bundles, it may be the expression of a more universal
diagnosis between such orders as the Onagracez and their next allies
(and yet no less simple and sure), than any single character hitherto
employed ; and we could determine the affinities and contrasts of
certain plants by a method at once easy and practical, and in the ab-
sence of those parts heretofore exclusively used for the descriptive
distinctions. Mr. Gulliver speaks in a later communication thus
strongly :—“ No other single diagnosis for the orders in question is so
simple, fundamental, and universal as this ; and the orders to which
VOL, I. I
114 Chronicles of Science. (Jan.
it applies should be designated raphis bearing or raphidiferous.
Besides Onagraces, Dioscoracee, Aracer, and Asparagacese are
spoken of as truly raphidiferous orders.
M. B. Corenwinder has been making a series of observations upon
the expiration of leaves by day and night. He finds that the ‘amount
of carbonic acid exhaled at night varies with the temperature and
ceases at zero; nor is the property of absorbing carbonic acid and
again decomposing it found in very young leaves and buds. Adult
leaves, however, never exhale carbonic acid in the open air, and when
they receive a full supply of light from all parts. The question
whether leaves coloured red, brown, or purple, possess the same pro-
perties as green leaves, has also occupied his attention, and he asserts
that they differ in nothing from green plants in regard to the pro-
perty of absorbing carbonic acid under the influence of light, and ex-
haling it in darkness. It is therefore inexact to say, in an absolute
manner, that it is by their green parts that leaves decompose carbonic
acid under the influence of sunlight.
The abundance of minute organisms found at deep-sea bottoms in
the Atlantic and elsewhere, and the remarkable facts disclosed by Dr.
Wallich’s deep-sea soundings in the expedition of Capt. M‘Clintock,
gave some colour to the idea that the vegetable Diatomacez exist in a
living state at great depths, and Dr. Stimpson, an energetic young
naturalist connected with the Smithsonian Institution at Washington,
who examined the specimens taken at the depth of 2,700 fathoms, in
latitude 46 N. and longitude 168 E., by Lieutenant Brooke, found
some startling appearances. The armature consisted of three quills,
each about three inches in length, fastened together, and placed in such
a position that, when the lead struck the bottom, the quills would be
forced perpendicularly into it, and thus become filled with mud from
a stratum a few inches below the general surface of the sea-bottom.
One of these quills, cut in two in the middle, contained Diatoms, appa-
rently Coscinodisci, which appeared to Dr. Stimpson to be undoubt-
edly living, judging from their fresh appearance and the colours of
their internal cell-contents. Dr. Wallich, however, argues that
although the soft parts are retained in specimens obtained from ex-
treme depths, they differ materially both in aspect and quality from
those of Diatoms known to be living. Such Diatoms never present
a trace of locomotion, which is so tenaciously retained by Diatoms
under all other circumstances. Moreover, the Coscinodisci, which
constitute the largest proportion of Diatoms found in deep-sea depo-
sits, are essentially inhabitants of shoal water. They do not live im-
bedded in mud, but the upper waters,teem with their frustules. Dr.
Wallich therefore inclines to answer the question decidedly in the
negative.
1864. ] Chemistry. 115
IV. CHEMISTRY.
In commencing the Chronicles of the progress of Science for the
last few months, it becomes necessary to exercise considerable care
in the choice of subjects to be mentioned, so as to avoid on the one
hand the omission of anything likely to interest a large section of
our readers, and on the other hand to keep our pages from being
overburdened with a mass of facts, important, no doubt, to the student
of one special science, but of no interest to those outside the circle.
This precaution is especially necessary in a science like Chemistry,
in which not only does every month bring forth new discoveries, but
every week—nay, every day is marked by some valuable fact. Our
readers must not therefore expect to find every fact, even those most
important, recorded in these chapters, but it will at the same time be
our endeavour so to select our topics as to constitute these pages a
truthful mirror of the general progress of Science.
There have been few periods more fruitful in important chemical
discoveries than that comprised within the last few months. Two new
metals have been announced as belonging to the already numerous
family of elementary bodies, one of which has been literally brought
to light by spectrum analysis—that powerful analytical process which
has already given us cesium, rubidium, and thallium. The new arrival
is due to the labours of two German chemists, F. Reich and T. W.
Richter.* They were examining some impure chloride of zinc obtained
from two Freyberg ores, in the expectation of finding thallium present.
In the spectroscope no green line was seen, but the authors remarked
an indigo blue line, which was till then unknown. Upon isolating
the conjectural substance in the form of chloride, they found that
it gave this blue line, so brilliantly sharp and persistent, that they
at once came to the conclusion that it belonged to a hitherto unrecog-
nized metal, to which they accordingly gave the name indium. In
their memoir the authors give the characteristic properties of the new
metal, which appears somewhat to resemble zinc, and describe several
of its compounds. The discovery has been confirmed by other chemists
of eminence, and there now appears to be no doubt whatever as to its
accuracy. The same cannot be said respecting the new metal claimed
by M. J. F. Bahr.t In the analysis of a highly complicated mineral,
from the island of Réusholn, containing nearly all the metals of the
aluminium group, the author obtained about 1 per cent. of what he
supposed was a new addition to this numerous family. He pro-
poses for it the name of wasiuwm. The existence of wasium as a
simple body has been since disputed by M. Nicklés, ¢ who asserts it to
be a mixture of the known bodies yttrium, didymium, and terbium.
* ¢ Journal fiir praktische Chemie,’ bd. Ixxxix. p. 441.
+ ‘Annalen der Physik und Chemie,’ vol. exix. p. 572.
t ‘Comptes Rendus,’ Novy. 2. ;
I
116 Chronicles of Science. [ Jan.
The already known elementary bodies are being gradually brought
within the domain of spectrum analysis. Phosphorus, which has been
long known to communicate, under some circumstances, a green colour
to flame, has been shown by MM. Christofle and Beilstein * to possess a
very definite spectrum, consisting of three distinct green lines. This
new test is likely to be of considerable use, as, by its means, this dele-
terious body has been shown to exist in many samples of good com-
mercial iron, which were supposed to be free from this impurity.
Our knowledge of the recently discovered element, cesium, has been
greatly enlarged by its discoverer Bunsen.t For the original isolation
of this interesting alkali, nearly 100,000 lbs. of the mineral water of
Dirkheim were evaporated down, yielding, however, only 30 to 40
grains. He has since determined the atomic weight to the metal with
great accuracy upon a somewhat larger quantity, and has obtained
the same number as those given by Messrs. Johnson and Allen, {
namely 133.
M. Rose has announced a no less important discovery than that of
an entirely new series of metallic oxides.§ In his memoir he pro-
poses a new nomenclature which, were it generally adopted, would be
of great convenience to chemists. The new series, which he has dis-
covered, consists of 1 of metal with + of oxygen, and this he proposes
to call quadrantoxide ; the compound of 1 of metal with + of oxygen,
variously named the suboxide or the protoxide, he proposes to call
semioxide ; the compound of equal atoms of metal and oxygen he calls
isowide ; the compound of 1 of metal to 14 of oxygen retains its name,
sesquiowide ; whilst the ordinary binoxide is called the diplowide.
Only one quadrantoxide has as yet been formed and analysed, but
reasons are given for supposing that the suboxide of silver is really
the quadrantoxide, and it is very probable that quadrantichlorides
of the alkali metals are also known. As might be expected from their
composition, these new oxides are difficult to prepare, and are easily
decomposed.
The mysterious body ozone, respecting which so much has been
done but so little is known, is still occupying the attention of chemists.
Schonbein has already shown that this body is formed when evapora-
tion takes place, and M. Morin || considers that the good effects ob-
served when water is artificially evaporated during the ventilation of
rooms, may be due to the formation of a certain quantity of ozonized
oxygen. English writers on Ventilation always advocate the intro-
duction of a certain amount of moisture into the air supplied to inha-
bited places, and this has been well carried out in the ventilation of
the Houses of Parliament.
Few chemical manufactures have been developed so much of late
years as that of the barium compounds, and its prospective applications
are most numerous and important, although at the present day their
* «Comptes Rendus.’ t ‘Phil. Mag.,’ vol. xxvi. p. 241.
t ‘Silliman’s Journal,’ vol. xxxv. p. 94. § ‘ Poggendorff’s Annalen,’
|| ‘Comptes Rendus.’
18 64. | Chemistry. 117
use seems to be confined to the manufacture of green fire. M. Kuhl-
mann has lately entered very largely into the manufacture of different
compounds of barium, with a view to their commercial introduction,
The absorption of oxygen from the air by red-hot baryta, and its sub-
sequent release at a higher temperature, in the form of pure gas, could
be made of the greatest importance to metallurgical and furnace
chemistry. A cheap method of making peroxide of barium would
place us in possession of the valuable peroxide of hydrogen, which
would be of incalculable use as a disinfectant, and also in many manu-
facturing processes. To the industrial chemist cheap caustic baryta
would entirely revolutionize the alkali manufacture, whilst for many
purposes it would supersede the ordinary alkalies. In the manufac-
ture of crystal-glass, lead, the most costly ingredient, could be even
now economically replaced by a barium compound, provided a few
preliminary difficulties were overcome. Nitrate of baryta can also be
economically employed in the preparation of blasting powder; the
chromates of baryta can in many cases replace the more costly chro-
mates of potash, and the same may be said of the ferrocyanides, all of
which are largely used in dyeing. These are some of the more important
applications of this earth, but an immense number of minor uses has
also been proposed, and there is little doubt that it will shortly become
as valuable in industrial as it already is in analytical chemistry.
The extraordinary prolificness of some organic chemists in the
discovery of new bases, will cease to be surprising after the perusal of
a paper by Mr. Broughton,* in which it is shown that the known
general processes for their formation are competent to produce several
sextillions of new ammonias. As most, if not all, of these compounds
only require for their production certain known agents to be placed in
contact, it is evident that chemists need not debar themselves from the
title of original discoverers for lack of virgin soil on which to work.
The value of the element bromine in the arts and manufactures is
daily increasing, and were its price reduced, its importance in many
industrial operations can scarcely be over-estimated. Hitherto the
only source has been sea-water, where it exists in the form of bromide
of magnesium, one part of this salt being dissolved in 100,000 parts
of water. Recent experiments, by M. Roux,t show that the water of
the Dead Sea is more than 100 times richer in bromine than ordinary
sea-water. Already we hear of proposals for the establishment of a
factory near the Dead Sea, for the separation of this element. It is
much to be desired that this inexhaustible store of so valuable an agent
should be utilized.
Perhaps the most important point to determine in the analysis of a
drinking water is the presence of nitric acid, as this body is so closely
connected with putrescent organic matter. Hitherto, however, few
chemists take note of it, owing, doubtless, to the difficulties which
beset its detection when very dilute. Mr. R. Kestingst has now
* «Chemical News,’ vol. viii. p. 245.
+ ‘ Comptes Rendus,’ vol. lvii. No. 14.
t ‘Annalen der Chem. und Pharm.’
118 Chronicles of Science. [Jan.
shown that the alkaloid brucine is a most delicate test for nitric acid,
being coloured rose-red by water, containing only the 100,000th part.
It is to be hoped that more attention will in future be paid to the
varying proportions of this acid in potable water, and that the warn-
ings given by its presence will not be disregarded.
The subject of pure water for household purposes is so important
that we again recur to it, to notice an invention of Dr. H. Schwartz,
which appears to remedy perfectly the effects of the employment of
lead pipes and cisterns. He converts the inner surface of the metal
into an insoluble sulphide by boiling in it a solution of sulphur in
soda. The result is that the water is perfectly kept from contact with
the metal, and will be as free from contamination as if it had been
passed through a glass pipe.
Some curious results of the inhalation of the vapour of glonoine
(an oil obtained by the action of nitric acid on glycerine) have been
given by Mr. Merrick.* It has long been known that this body pro-
duces violent headache, but these experiments show that it is a most
powerful agent in its physiological action. In one case the fortieth
part of a drop dissolved in spirit was swallowed on a piece of sugar.
In two minutes the pulse had risen considerably, being accompanied
with a violent headache. This continued for nearly half-an-hour,
when the symptoms passed off. At another time, when a quantity of
vapour was accidentally inhaled, the headache became almost intolerable,
and was accompanied by a good deal of faintness and exhaustion, in-
tolerance of light, and a feeling of great general distress and alarm.
The violent toxical effects show that glonoine is a powerful poison,
and, like most agents of this kind, will doubtless be employed in
medicine.
The application of gun-cotton as a substitute for gunpowder in
warfare has occupied the attention of a committee of scientific men
for some time past. General Von Lenk, of the Imperial Austrian
Artillery, has invented a system of preparation by which gun-cotton
has been made practically available for warlike purposes. The
committee have had the advantage of personal communication with
the General, and in the report, which will shortly be issued, an ab-
stract of which having been communicated to the British Association at
Newcastle, we are promised a vast amount of information of the most
important character. General Von Lenk has shown that perfect gun-
cotton is a definite chemical compound; he has given accurate pro-
cesses for its manufacture, and for the removal of all extraneous matter
and traces of free acid. As thus prepared, it is no longer liable to
spontaneous combustion, it can be stored for any length of time with-
out deterioration, it is not impaired by damp, and may be immersed in
water without injury, its original qualities returning unchanged when
allowed to dry in the air. These are valuable properties, and when
we add to them the absence of smoke, the entire freedom from foul-
ing, the innocuous character of the products of combustion in com-
* “Silliman’s Journal,’ yol. xxxvi. No. 107.
1864. | Geology and Paleontology. 119
parison with those of gunpowder, and the far inferior heat imparted to
the gun itself, it will be seen that the advantages attending the employ-
ment of gun-cotton, are so many and so important as to call impera-
tively for the fullest investigation.
From gun-cotton to armour-plated ships is a natural transition in
these warlike days. Science seems to be at fault on the subject of the
preservation of iron plates from oxidation and fouling. One of the
best processes, that has yet come under our notice, is due to Messrs.
Johnson and Calvert. They propose to coat the iron with a thin layer
of metallic zinc, as in the ordinary process of galvanizing. Their
results prove that the film of zinc exercises a great protective power
against the corrosive action of sea-water; upwards of a year’s ex-
posure showing that four or five times as much corrosion took place in
the case of uncoated as with galvanized iron plates. Whether galva-
nizing would prevent fouling, remains to be seen; we suspect it would
rather aggravate this evil.
V. GEOLOGY AND PALZONTOLOGY.
TueERE is perhaps more difficulty in describing the periodical progress
of Geology, than there is in recording that of any other science.
The exactitude of the advance is less decided, the views set forth more
speculative, and the facts given more open to objection or discussion,
than is the case in any other department of intellectual investigation.
In Chemistry, the discovery of an element or of some previously un-
known compound, gives a fixed and tangible point from which to go
onward to further knowledge. Every step is a permanent score in the
continuous tally. So the discovery of a comet or a planet, or a nebula,
or more exact measurements of angles, or of distances, or the detection
of errors of observation, or calculations or the revelations of increased
telescopic powers, all’ yield for Astronomy definite and incontrovertible
results, and it is only in the special sphere of absolutely speculative
Astronomy, that there is any uncertainty whatever. So, too, in Botany,
a new flower, or a flora of some previously unnoticed region, is
so much substantially added to the previous knowledge, so much gain
which can be appreciated and recorded. But in Geology, we have to
deal with the rags and shreds of former ages and former beings,
nothing whole or entire,—every relic has to be dug out of the débris
and ruins, which we have, as it were, first to clear away before we can
get a glimpse of any treasures remaining beneath, and when we find
these they are damaged and mostly broken fragments which we have
to join and fit, and put together, to get, in the best way we can, some
general notion of what they originally were. Thus it is a new geo-
logical idea gets started, and is discussed, opposed, supported, until
finally substantiated or disproved; in short, it is only after a contest
_ that, generally speaking, any progress in this science is admitted. In
120 Chronicles of Science. [Jan
a quarterly summary of the nature of the present article, there must
necessarily therefore be, as a rule, less definiteness and more hesitation
and uncertainty than one would wish, but notwithstanding this in-
herent difficulty in the task, it is perfectly possible to give a concise
and clear account of what is new and what is changing; but it must be
more or less the newness of theories as well as of facts, bearing always
in mind that geological facts are first provisionally accepted on the
reliability of the observer, and are often open not only to questioning
but to reversal, Thus for many years the older crystalline or meta-
morphic rocks were regarded as owing their characteristic structure
to their contact with other heated or so-called igneous rocks,—such as
granite was supposed originally to have been, constituting the lower
zone at least of the crust -of the planet we inhabit.
For some time past, some of our most acute and practical geolo-
gists have more than doubted the old doctrines, and our own Sorby,
by detecting the existence of steam-bubble cavities in granite, decisively
proved that dry heat had not been the cause of its crystalline change.
Dr. Rubidge, who has done so much good geological work at the Cape
of Good Hope, also years before threw doubts on the heat-origin of the
changes exhibited by the metamorphic rocks, by stating the occur-
rence, in the district of Port Elizabeth, of intercalated metamorphosed
strata with unchanged sedimentary beds above and belowthem. Such
examples have since been from time to time not unfrequently timidly
recorded, but they are now being more boldly noticed. Dr. Hitchcock,
very lately speaking of the granites of Maine, in the Northern States
of America, regarded the old theory that granite was once melted
matter thrust into every crack of the overlying strata as erroneous,
and substitutes the aqueo-igneous explanation of a plasticity of the
original materials by means of steam, the primal structure of the rock
béing thus obliterated, and a new crystalline condition induced. He
thinks that granite may thus have been formed out of schists, and these
originally from shales and sandstones, and contends that it is ‘“‘ only
an example of metamorphism carried to its utmost limit—carried far
enough to obliterate all traces of stratification, foliation, and lamina-
tion.” Observation, he further claims, shows that granite does not
always constitute the axes of mountains, but that it lies between strata,
and instead of having been the agent by which they have been lifted
up, it has partaken of the general movements which have resulted from
general causes. In York and Oxford counties, in Cumberland, and
Franklin, he notices the intermixture of granite with bands of sedi-
mentary strata, and constantly speaks of it as ‘‘ comporting itself like
a stratified rock.” That of Buckfield is mostly in the form of large
beds and veins, and at Woodstock mica-schist is seen lying beneath it.
Again, in the south-eastern counties of Maine, granite at the south
end of Bluehill Neck, overlies strata of gneiss and mica-schist ; and
in the Kennebec region it is said that in one of the Hallowell quarries
there are twenty-six different sheets, varying from eight inches to four
feet in thickness, and that “ these sheets are arranged like strata.” In
Canada, too, even the granites of the Lamentian and Lower Silurian
age appear in every case to be indigenous strata altered in situ, and
1864. ] Geology and Paleontology. . 121
still retaining evidences of their former stratification. These instances
might be greatly multiplied not only in the American States, but by
numerous examples in Europe, and probably by some in our own islands.
Indeed nowhere is there any evidence of the hypothetical granitic sub-
stratum which, in even not yet very ancient treatises on Geology, we
were taught to believe constituted the “ backbone of the earth.” Even
one such example of interstratification would have gone far to throw a
doubt upon the purely igneous origin of granite, but when instances
become so multiplied the doctrine seems no longer tenable. Dr, Hitch-
cock argues forcibly against it. The dry heat, he contends, that would
be required to keep granite melted must be intense, for it resists the
most powerful blast-furnaces, and even if, as melted matter, it were
injected in close contact with the cold walls of fissured rock, it must
have cooled before it had time to penetrate all the narrow crevices in
which it is found in the form of veins. Again he urges that, if crys-
tallized from such fusion, the quartz would have been consolidated and
crystallized first, because it is less fusible than the mica and feldspar ;
instead of which its condition in the structure of granite shows it to
have been the last consolidated of the ingredients, for if anyone ex-
amines a piece of granite, he will see the crystals of mica and feldspar
are often perfect, while those of quartz are never so. The quartz is
’ always in the amorphous state, and the sharp crystals of mica and feld-
spar seem to cut into it, as is beautifully seen in graphic granite—an
appearance which cannot be accounted for in any other way than that
the mica and feldspar crystals were formed first, and that the quartz
subsequently filled up the interstices. But such an admission is fatal to
the doctrine of a cooling down from fusion by dry heat because, in that
case, the quartz should have been, as we have said, the first to crystal-
lize. Moreover, that granite contains not a few hydrated minerals,
or such as contain water in their composition, is another fact telling
also against the old opinions.
In the matter of metamorphic rocks Mr. Sterry Hunt has also been
continuing those valuable theoretical and practical researches of which
he gave us two instalments in 1858 and 1859. Those articles were
remarkable for the great ability of his attempts to indicate the ages
of granites by the amounts of soda or potash they contained, and
during the present year he has given to the world another elabo-
rate paper, read before the Dublin Geological Society, on the chemical
and mineralogical relations of the metamorphic, or, as they have been
as commonly called, the crystalline primitive rocks. It is not indeed
so very long since all rocks of this character were included in the com-
mon designation of primitive, and were considered to belong to a
period anterior to all the fossiliferous formations, and indeed to the
existence of life, either vegetable or animal, on our earth. To express
this idea, the term “ azoic”” was invented, while “ palzeozoic ” was given
to the Silurian rocks, as containing the supposed first traces of ani-
mated existence, or the “oldest life-forms,” on our planet. Some
geologists still consider the Lower Silurian or Cambrian zone to be the
first burial-ground of organic remains, and that no previous creation of
animated beings or vegetation had taken place. Not only, however,
122 Chronicles of Science. [Jan.
do the imperfectness of the animal series, and the superior organization
and degrees of development of the fossil genera and species met with
in the lowest of the palwozoic rocks, as they are at present restricted
in their downward horizons, militate against such a view by indicating
the previous existence of zones of previous creations, and causing the
reflective mind to regard these earliest paleeozoic fossils as only the
shreds and patches of still earlier life-garments of our earth, but they
seem also to make the inquiry lack the aid of the chemist and mine-
ralogist to tell us whether, in the present altered state of such rock-
masses as are older than the paleeozoic beds, there can be detected in
the component materials any ingredients which owe their piesence to
the former existence in those masses of organic remains.
It is exactly with this question that Mr. Sterry Hunt has occupied
himself, and has made some excellent attempts to ascertain whether,
in the absence of organic remains, or of stratigraphical evidence, there
are any means of determining, even approximately, the geological
age of a given series of crystalline stratified rocks—in other words,
whether the chemical conditions which have presided over the forma-
tion of sedimentary rocks have so far varied, in the course of ages, as
to impress upon such rocks any marked chemical and mineralogical
differences. 'To some extent it does appear possible to work out such
a problem in respect to definite cases, although as yet no one could
see the way to the generalization of a rule ; indeed, in the ever-variable
and divergent conditions of our planet’s surface, and the different
combinations and oppositions of the atmospheric influences which
have been, through all periods, carrying on their effects around it
everywhere, it seems impossible this ever should be accomplished. 'To
arrive at any such indicative result in the case of unaltered sedimen-
tary formations could not be accomplished without multiplied analyses,
and even then the conclusions might not be absolute. It is different,
however, when chemical or mineralogical changes have set in, for the
natural ‘affinities of some elements for others render definite the
results of such combinations, and so we find that the crystalline
minerals which are formed are definite in their composition, and vary
with the chemical constitution of the sediment from which they were
derived. Therefore it is that Mr. Sterry Hunt thinks these crystalline
minerals of the metamorphosed rocks may become to a considerable
extent, to the geologist, what organic remains in the unaltered rock
are to the paleontologist—a guide to geological age and succession.
The feldspars, for example, composed mainly of silica and alumina,
combined with the silicates of potash, soda, and lime, do, in their
spontaneous decomposition, part with the latter ingredients, and there
remains behind, as a final result, a hydrous silicate of alumina, which
is kaolin, or clay. Now, where potash and soda feldspars are asso-
ciated, it has been repeatedly observed that the soda-compound is
much more readily decomposed than the potash-compound, and that
the soda-feldspar becomes perfectly friable, and fit for a further reduc-
tion into clay before the orthoclase, or potash-feldspar, has been altered
at all. The result of combined chemical and mechanical agencies
acting upon rocks containing quartz, with orthoclase and such soda-
1864.] Geology and Paleontology. 123
feldspars as albite and oligoclase, would be thus a sand-compound of
quartz and the less destructible potash-feldspar. The mechanical
agency might be air or water; if the latter, there would be found sus-
pended in it a fine clay, consisting mostly of the partially decomposed
soda-feldspar. Now this process of destruction is evidently one
which must go on in the wearing away of rocks by aqueous agency—just
the agency which is the most important in such inquiries as the pre-
sent, because most intimately associated with the deposition of the
sedimentary rocks. It is easy to see how, by such partial destruction
of the primal rocks, quartz is for the most part wanting in those
which contain a large proportion of alumina, while it is abundant in
those in which potash-feldspar predominates. So long as this decom-
position of alkaliné silicates is sub-aérial, both the silica and alkali
are removed in a soluble form. But as immense quantities of unde-
composed fragments of the primal rock are detached by atmospheric
causes, and carried down to the sea, which acts upon these with more
power even than upon the surfaces of the rock directly exposed to its
influence, the process is often sub-marine and beneath the sea-bottom
in the midst of sediments containing the carbonates of lime and mag-
nesia. When the silicate of soda is, under such circumstances, set
free, it reacts upon those earthy carbonates, or upon the chlorides in the
sea-water, and forms in either case_a soluble soda-salt, and insoluble
silicates of lime and magnesia. |
The sources of the carbonates of lime and magnesia in sedimentary
strata, have been the decomposition of silicates containing those bases,
such as lime-feldspar and pyroxene, and the action of the alkaline
carbonates formed by the decomposition of feldspars upon the
chlorides of lime and magnesia originally present in sea-water, but
which have been by this process in subsequent ages, in great part
replaced, by the resulting chloride of sodium, A curious result as
showing the sea to have not been originally as salt in the primeval era
as it is at the present epoch, and giving, if the total could be ascer-
tained, the clay or aluminous silicate of the earth’s crust, as a measure
of not only the quantity of salt added to the primitive ocean, but of
the amount of the carbonic acid removed from the air, and of the
carbonates of lime and magnesia precipitated. As the coarser sedi-
ments in which quartz and orthoclase prevail are permeable to
infiltrating waters, their soda, lime, magnesia, and oxide of iron will
be gradually removed, leaving at last only silica, alumina, and potash
—the elements of granite. On the other hand, the finer marls and
clays, resisting the penetration of water, will retain their soda, lime,
magnesia, and oxide of iron, and having an excess of alumina, will by
their metamorphism give rise to basic lime and soda-feldspars, to
pyroxene and homblende—the elements of diorites and dolerites. In
this way, the long-continued operation of chemical and mechanical
causes would naturally tend to divide all the crystalline silico-alumi-
nous rocks of the earth’s crust into two types, exactly corresponding
to the two classes of so-called igneous rocks, the trachytic and
pyroxenic, which geologists have supposed to have been derived from
two distinct imaginary magmas beneath it. When, however, ordinary
124 Chronicles of Science. [Jan.
sedimentary strata have been rendered crystalline by metamorphism,
their future alterability becomes difficult, because their permeability to
water is so enormously diminished, and it is not until they are once
more broken down to the condition of soils and sediments, that they
become again subjected to such important chemical changes as we
have described. Hence, the mean proportions of alkali and alumina
in the composition of the clay sediments of any geological period will
depend not only upon the age of the formation, but upon the number
of times its materials have been broken up, and the periods during
which they have remained unmetamorphosed and exposed to the
action of infiltrating waters. Such are the general principles which
in this excellent paper Mr. Hunt brings to bear upon the actual state
of the metamorphic rocks of Canada from the Carboniferous to the
Lower Silurian, and down to the azoic rocks and granite, even the
veins of which he regards as formed like metalliferous veins by
aqueous deposition in fissures.
The Sixth Annual Report of the Maine Board of Agriculture*
recently circulated, presents a feature not so common in this country
as it deservedly ought to be, an association of geological investigations
with the practical pursuit of agriculture. Even in the first few pages
on the application of fish-manure, and where we should have little
expected it, we find practical hints from the geologist. Commenting
on Mr. Bruce’s endeavour to introduce this to us very objectionable
and disgraceful appropriation of the most extensive source of animal
food which nature supplies to mankind, Mr. Sterry Hunt recommends
the combination of the fish-manure with calcined shale for the pur-
pose of driving away insects from the plants to which it is applied.
Distilling a black bituminous shale from Port Daniel at a red heat,
the disengaged vapours were passed through a vat containing the fish,
which by the continuance of the heat were ultimately reduced to a
pulpy mass. The calcined shale, ground to powder, was mingled
with this; the whole being then dried. Experiments made with
the manure are reported to have given satisfactory results ; it might
be well if English agriculturists should pay some attention to the
poorer kinds of bituminous shales which are met with in the British
Isles, and even the refuse of the richer sorts, such as the Kimmeridge
and the Glasgow shales, which have been used for making gas, might
be in this way turned to a useful and profitable account, not necessa-
rily for mixing with fish-manure, the use of which we have strongly
deprecated, but for commingling with many other classes of manures,
as the chief efficacy calcined shale possesses against noxious insects
appears to be in the presence, or perhaps in the odour, of the bitu-
men it contains; for it is known that coal-tar applied to the in-
terior wood-work in greenhouses has the effect of expelling those
unwelcome intruders. Such bituminous sandstones as those of Caith-
ness, might thus be turned to profitable account, and there are other
* «Sixth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture.’
Augusta: Stevens and Hayward, 1861-2.
1864. ] Geology and Paleontology. 125
rocks in various parts of our island, which, although not sufliciently
rich for gas-making, contain quite sufficient bituminous ingredients
for agricultural purposes, particularly the enormous beds of shale
which are at present left untouched in our coal-pits. But it is not
in incidental suggestions like this, valuable as they may be, that this
Report shows in the strongest light the important relations existing
between the geological structure of a country and the farming opera-
tions carried on upon it. So high has the Board of Agriculture of
Maine considered the advantage of such knowledge, that it has
directed a special survey to be made of the whole State, “ believing
that such a survey, ably conducted, would greatly tend to develope and
improve its agriculture ;” and urging at the same time “that the
utility and value of such explorations are no longer doubtful.” This
preliminary Geological Survey has been executed under the direction
of Mr. Charles H. Hitchcock, of Amhurst, with Mr. Goodall, of Saco,
as chemist, and Mr. Houghton as mineralogist. By them the sea-
board from Saco to Calais was explored, and excursions made into the
interior, and to the islands; next through the north of Washington
County to Holton, and thence to Bangor. Subsequently up the
Penobscot river, down the Alleguish and St. John river to Woodstock,
through the iron and slate region of Piscataquis County, the country
around Moosehest lake and the Penobscot river. By these explora-
tions and the use of the valuable observations previously made by Dr.
Jackson of Boston, a sufticient idea of the geological structure of the
slate has been obtained for the construction of a general map, to serve
as a basis for future systematic and more thorough explorations. It
is not our intention to follow through the report of this, as far as it
goes, excellent survey, but to gather rather from it such new or re-
markable purely geological phenomena, as may be worthy of par-
ticular notice. One of these is a condition of the pebbles in a con-
glomerate bed on the northern border of Washington County, which
is very remarkable. The inclination of the strata is some 65° east-
erly ; the strike being N. 8° W. The layers are sometimes contorted,
and numerous narrow perpendicular veins of quartz cut across their
bedding. But the peculiarity of the conglomerate consists in the
distortion and curvature of the pebbles it contains, the general appear-
ance of which is illustrated in the accompanying sketch. They appear
as if they had been drawn out,
curved, and pressed together by
the forces to which they had been
subjected. Mr. Hitchcock con-
siders there is no doubt of these pebbles having been curved since
the consolidation of the rock in which they are embedded ; and even
goes to the length of asserting, that such elongated pebbles have been
changed into the siliceous lamine of talcose and micaceous schists,
while the cement has been converted into mica, the tale of talcose schists,
and feldspar. To effect the change of form of the pebbles, according
to Dr. Hitchcock’s views, the substances of which they are composed
require to have been brought into a soft or yielding state like moistened
126 Chronicles of Science. [J ee
clay, and then to have been contorted under the application of force or
pressure ; while to effect their still greater alteration into the laminez
of schists, he looks to the further continued action of chemical changes
amongst the heterogeneous sedimentary materials in selecting and
combining the different mineral atoms in their proper proportions to
form the new crystalline masses. -
Letting alone this last topic, and confining ourselves to the pheno-
mena of contortion only, if these pebbles were of clay, we could
understand their being softened; but if they are of limestone, sand.
stone, slate, or flint, it is very hard to believe they ever were soft-
ened after they were once solidified. 'The phenomenon is, however,
exceedingly remarkable, and not yet perhaps clearly explainable. It
would seem to belong to the same class as the Nagel-Flue of Switzer-
land, so successfully investigated by Mr. Sorby, or as the nodular
bands of limestone in the Wenlock Formation, to which attention has
been drawn by M. La Touche and Mr. Salter. If anyone examines
the ordinary condition of a conglomerate, or the nature of a sea-beach,
the more or less rounded pebbles will be found simply piled one upon
the other, very rarely are any elongated or flat, except when the
pebbles are of slaty-rocks, and never bent unless they happen to be
the fragments of naturally-curved strata. In no case are there any
corresponding lines of contortion, such as shown in the woodcut, which
represents a section of the Weston Conglomerate, in which the peb-
bles are drawn out and flattened, and compared by Dr. Hitchcock to
spheres of clay pulled out into prolate-spheroids ; and the pressure
of an immense weight might, he thinks, be so continued as to elongate
a pebble of clay into the resemblance of a lamina of quartz in gneiss.
He makes intelligible the nature of the Weston Conglomerate by
supposing that amongst many balls of clay some were plastic and
- some hard, and that these were then subjected to such a pressure as
should pull out and flatten all the plastic ones, which would thus
have their forms modified by the unyielding ones, the plastic pebbles
fitting on the solid ones like a cap on the human head. “ We find,”
he says, “among the distorted pebbles cases of this nature. Some
pebbles have been more plastic than others, and the results are:
indentations of the harder into the softer ones, curves around the hard
ones, or the fitting of one into another like a ball into its socket, or
the ends of the elongated pebbles may only fit upon each other to
economize space ”—as in the woodcut.
An example of the first stage of the distortion of pebbles is to be
seen near Newport, R.I. The lower carboniferous conglomerate at
Alms House, north of that city, is in a normal state, and consists of a
mass of loosely-cemented cobble-stones, from an inch to six inches in
diameter, all round or spheroidal ; but two miles further, at Purgatory,
there is another mass of conglomerate, nearly of the same age, having
the pebbles much elongated in the direction of the strike, flattened,
and often indented, “by being pressed one into the other ;” they are
sometimes a good deal bent, occasionally in two directions, the whole
being cut across by parallel joints or fissures, varying in distance
1864.] Geology and Paleontology. 127
from one or two inches to many feet. The cement is very meagre, and
consists of talcose schist, containing crystals of magnetite: the
pebbles, however, are firmly adherent. In small flexures of the strata,
Dr. Hitchcock has observed the elongated pebbles bent at the same
angles.
The part of the ‘ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society,’*
containing Professor Owen’s valuable and admirable Report on the
extraordinary bird-remains from the lithographic limestone of Pappen-
heim—the Archeopteryx macrorus—has been published during the past
month, and the full particulars of the memorable description which
excited such attention at Burlington House, in the November of last
year, are now before the world. It appears to have received little
alteration or emendation, as far as our memory will permit our judging,
since the time of its first reading, when the completeness and Iucid-
ness of the account were features which prominently struck all hearers.
The first evidence of bird-remains in the Solenhofen-beds was, as itis
well known, the impression of a single feather, described and figured,
with his characteristic minuteness and care, by Hermann von Mayer,
in the ‘Jahrbuch fiir Mineralogie,’ under the title of Archaopteryx
lithographica, and although it is most probable that the class of birds
was represented in the Solenhofen age by more than one family, Pro-
fessor Owen has retained the generic appellation of Archzopteryx for
the present specimen. As the reptilian pterodactyles of the litho-
graphic stone differ in the length of their tails—some having extremely
long ones, as the Ramphorhynchus longicaudus, and others scarcely
any, as the Pterodactylus crassirostris, so we may expect to find
similar differences in the strange birds which lived in those days; and
just as the original appellation of Griphosaurus given to it by Wagner,
under the idea of its being a feathered reptile, has been changed to
Archeopteryx, it is not by ¢ any means certain that the generic term may
not yet have to be again altered.
Professor Owen’s paper commences with an account of the circum-
stances under which the specimen was found and those under which it
was acquired for our national collection. The exposed bones in the
specimen are then named, and one after another compared with those
of recent birds of different species, and the corresponding bones of
various fossil pterodactyles, a comparison requiring unusual care and
accuracy on account of the previously supposed reptilian characters of
the singular remains. By his examination and comparison Professor
Owen has proved the general ornithic nature of the fossil—a conclusion
which must be henceforth adopted; although there are some points
which cannot be settled by the present relics, and which may hereafter,
when fresh examples revive the subject, give rise to some important
considerations. A magnificent lithograph of natural size is given of
the principal slab and its contents, even to its ripples and surface-
markings, by Mr. Dinkel, who has as conscientiously done his duty in
* ¢ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London,’ vol. cliii. part 1,
1863.
128 Chronicles of Science. [Jan.
as faithful a representation as it is in an artist’s power to attain. But
neither Mr. Dinkel nor any cther artist can free himself from a bias
of ideas. The hand will follow the mind, and given the notion of a
fish’s head, the pencil will involuntarily portray the resemblance in
figuring the object to which the resemblance is assigned. When
Professor Owen first described the Pappenheim specimen, he made no
mention of what has since been described by Mr. Mackie as the brain
or cast of the cerebral cavity of the skull, nor of certain osseous relics
which in the present publication are referred to as a “ premaxillary
bone, and its impression resembling that of a fossil fish.” And yet
these objects are perhaps among, if not actually, the most important
of all the fossilized remains. The nodule representing the brain, it is
admitted by the Professor, may be, as suggested by Mr. Evans, “ part
of the cranium with the cast of the brain of the Archzopteryx ;” but
of the so-called fish-head he makes no other remark than the quotation
above, “resembling that of a fossil fish.” Nor do we blame his reti-
cence. Every word Professor Owen says carries weight, and the last-
mentioned object is certainly in so obscure a state that no one, without
further illustrative fossils, could by any possibility determine what it
is. It would be discordant with all our present knowledge to find a
bird’s beak containing teeth in sockets, yet that would not be more
extraordinary nor more out of all comparisons with living things than
a long tail such as the Archeopteryx undoubtedly possesses. Yet
such a toothed bill may be possible. After many days’ careful study
and comparison we could not convince ourselves that this object was a
fish’s jaw, nor could we find evidence enough to assert that it was a
bird’s beak with teeth; but it certainly has, as it lies in the slab, as
much likeness to a beak as to a premaxillary, and as there is not a
fish-scale nor a fish-bone in the whole slab, nor in its counterpart, nor
a speck nor portion of a fish in either, it is as possible for this object
to belong to the Archzopteryx as to any other creature.
The general ornithic nature of the fossil is, as we have already
said, indisputable, but not so positive do we think can anyone be as
to its exceptional characters. If the Archeopteryx had in its long
vertebrate tail, one character so exceptional as not to be matched by
any existing or any other fossil bird, it may have had other characters
as exceptional ; and although we should say that no bird that preened
its feathers would have teeth, yet the beak of a bird is but a modi-
fied mammalian jaw, just as the whole structure of birds is a
modification of the mammalian type; so it is not without the bounds of
possibility that a bird’s jaw may be in such a state of development as
to retain some traces of teeth. Nor can we be certain, it seems to us,
that there are no reptilian affinities, or, at least, resemblances in the
structure of the wings. Had the manus of Archzeopteryx been adapted
for the support of a membranous wing, the extent to which the
skeleton is preserved, and the ordinary condition of the fossil Ptero-
sauria in the lithographic stone, render it almost certain, as Professor
Owen properly observes, that some of these most characteristic long
slender bones of the pterosaurian wing-fingers would have been visible
1864. | Microscopical Science. 129
if such had existed in the present specimen ; and besides this negative
evidence, the positive proof of the bird-like proportions of the pinion,
and the existence of quill-feathers, sufficiently evince the true class-
affinity of the Archwopteryx. We are, however, in ignorance as to the
manner in which those singular wing-hooks were attached to the main
bones of the wing, and of all the comparisons which Professor Owen
has made with the spur-winged birds, such as the Merula dactyloptera,
Anser gambensis, Parra jacana, Palamedea cornuta, and Megapodius,
there are none, we believe, which give us a single illustration of the
same character of organization as is exhibited by the claw-hooks in the
Archeopteryx. Indeed, Professor Owen admits that in this respect, it
difters from every known bird in having “ two free unguiculate digits,”
i. e€. the wing-hooks, “in the hand,” and that “these digits in the
slenderness of the penultimate phalanx do resemble the unguiculate
digits in the hand of the Pterodactyle.” But it is true, as Professor
Owen continues, that “the claw has not the characteristic depth or
breadth of that of the Pterodactyle ; and there is no trace of the much
lengthened metacarpal and phalangial bones of the fifth digit, or
peculiar wing-finger of the flying reptile.” We doubt, however, if
the wing-claws of the Archeopteryx are comparable with the spurs of
the jacana, or of the screamer; and we are not aware that the
skeletons of either are obtainable in this country for comparison.
These are questions, however, which itis judicious of the Professor
to avoid until there is sufficient evidence collected to warrant, if not
a decisive, at least a reliable opinion. It is quite a different thing for
us to point them out, that the importance of obtaining further illus-
trative specimens may be borne in mind.
VI. MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE.
As the advance of all physical science depends in a great measure on
the degree of perfection of the instruments with which it is studied,
we propose devoting this, our first article on the progress of Micro-
scopical research, to a brief exposition of the improvements that have
been recently made in the construction of the instrument. Our next
article, on the other hand, shall be devoted to a review of the modern
standard works on the Microscope, and its mode of application ; and
then having, as it were, set our house in order, we shall be prepared
in our subsequent Numbers to enter directly on the true object of our
work, namely, to keep our readers aw courant with the progress of
microscopical inquiry.
Fortunately for us, we do not at the present day require to say
anything in support of the claims of the microscope to public atten-
tion. Scientific men have unanimously decided in its favour, and
although, among the general public, there are still individuals to be
encountered who regard its teachings with distrust, their number is
VoL. I. K
130 Chronicles of Science. [Jan.
day by day becoming more and more limited, as the object and powers
of the instrument are becoming better and better understood. Many
false doctrines have no doubt been promulgated in consequence of the
employment of the microscope; but for one that depended on the
imperfection of the instrument, a thousand arose from a defect in the
observer. We are even forced to admit, that there are still amongst us,
men who without any previous training, or special aptitude for micro-
scopical research, damage the cause in which they are volunteers, by
insisting upon publishing the result of their labours, and loading our
journals with false data and erroneous theories ; which although
perhaps perfectly harmless in themselves, nevertheless clog the
chariot wheels of progress. And what is still more unfortunate, these
would-be discoverers often become the worst enemies of the micro-
scope ; for, as in the course of time they see their cherished facts
and theories one by one swept away, instead of attributing this their
misfortune to its proper cause, they seek to turn the blame against the
instrument, which they imagine misled them. In a word, the enemies
of the microscope, at the present time, are only to be found, either
among those who do not possess an instrument, or possessing one, do
not know how to use it. Remember, we do not consider that a man
knows how to employ the microscope because he can demonstrate the
presence of infusoria in a drop of water, exhibit muscular fibres on
prepared slides, or focus photographs of the Royal family, not bigger
than a pin’s point ; for nine out of every dozen of men who can do
that are unequal to the preparation and demonstration of a piece
of simple cellular tissue. If the microscope fails to assist such as
we have just been describing, that is no reason why it should fail to
assist others, even although they are not scientific men.
The education requisite for microscopical inquiry is a special
education, attainable by every ordinarily educated man, either by
means of books, or, what is still better, by oral instruction. In proof
of this assertion we have only to look around us, and see in whose
hands the microscope is now being turned to account, and we shall at
once perceive that the employment of the instrument is no longer the
monopoly of professional men. It has even passed through the
second stage of its career, and after having for a time occupied the
place of instructor of the idle hour to the amateur, has entered, in the
hands of the commercial class, upon the third phase of its existence.
The liquids we drink, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, have each
been found to le within its scope. Hence the microscope is to be
met with in the office, in the warehouse, and in the shop. It is con-
sulted in ascertaining the purity of flour, in revealing the nature of
arrowroot, in unmasking the adulterations of coffee, and in innume-
rable other ways advancing the interests of trade. And it would prove
even still more useful in its commercial capacity, if men would but
refrain from seeking its assistance until they had exhausted the infor-
mation attainable by the unaided eye; for the true object of the
microscope is not to supplant, as too many imagine, but to extend our
ordinary means of observation, and when so employed it never fails
9
1864. | Microscopical Science. T3E
to yield important information. It is not, of course, to be supposed
from these remarks, that we would try to limit its field of usefulness,
for our object is, on the contrary, to endeavour to enlarge it. The
advice we give has, in fact, this object in view, and is simply that if,
instead of directly placing an object under the microscope, the observer
will first take the trouble to examine it carefully with the naked eye,
he will find himself in a far better position to form a correct judgment
of its nature on seeing it under the magnifying-glass, than if he had
omitted previously to do so.
Having said this much regarding the observer, we must now turn
our attention to his instrument. It is essential that it should be of
good quality. When we speak of a microscope being of good quality,
we do not mean that it should have handsome and elaborate brass work,
for that part which is so attractive to the eye is the least valuable
of the whole. °Tis in the object-glasses—’tis in the lenses, that the
real value of the instrument resides, and thus it was that scientific
men so long preferred the low-priced insignificant-looking foreign
microscopes of Nachet and Oberhauser, to the elaborately got-up Eng-
lish instruments. The foreign opticians sacrificed appearance to utility,
while too many of our home manufacturers sacrificed utility to appear-
ance. At the present moment, however, the British manufacturer is
inferior to none, even in low-priced instruments, while, as is well
known, his superiority in those costing from thirty guineas, and up-
wards, has never been matter of dispute.
Before speaking of the cheap instruments, we must first call special
attention to the high-power object-glasses that have been recently con-
structed by Messrs. Ross, Powell and Lealand, and Smith, Beck and
Beck, the value of which it is scarcely possible to overrate, seeing that
there can be no end to discovery, so long as there is no end to instru-
mental perfection. In our opinion, the only boundary that human
knowledge admits of, is that imposed upon it by the limited means
of physical observation. Every additional magnifying power is, as it
were, a new world gained.
The progress of science, therefore depends as much upon the
mechanician, as upon the observer, for the acumen of the latter would
fail to reach its goal, if unassisted by the skill of the former.
It will be recollected that Ross was the first to succeed in manu-
facturing an object-glass of +: of an inch focus, and that shortly after-
wards Powell and Lealand overstepped him by producing a +, which,
for the time being, was regarded as quite a scientific curiosity. The latter
manufacturers have now, however, stimulated by Professor Beale, out-
stripped themselves, and actually manufactured a workable lens of no
less than 3's of an inch focus. Since ‘then, Ross has improved his 34,
and Smith, Beck, and Beck have produced az. Perhaps it will be
better, if before describing the 25, we first say a few words regarding
the +; of Ross, and the +5 as now supplied by Smith, Beck, and Beck.
The advantages of the new 7: are its having a large front distance
with a maximum of real angle of aperture. It will work through
glass the +35 of an inch thick, and bear the highest eyepieces. These
K 2
132 Chronicles of Science. [Jan.
improvements have been accomplished by employing specimens of
glass which allow the minimum of thickness of media to be used.
The powers with this objective range from 600 to 4,000. The 3, is
also so constructed, as to admit a large pencil of light, and at the
same time leave a space between its front lens and the covering-glass
of the slide sufficient to allow of the examination of ordinary objects.
The ;!, magnifies with the three eyepieces, 950, 1,700, 3,100, linear ;
its aperture is 140 degrees; and the thickness of the covering-glass,
to which it will adjust, is 005 of an inch.
The 5! of Messrs. Powell and Lealand, as we already said, was
first made at the suggestion of Dr. Beale, and we can corroborate from
personal experience the expression made use of by the jurors of the
late International Exhibition, namely, that it is possible to see by its
means evidences of structure which are under ordinary powers utterly
undistinguishable. On looking at an object with the j., after having
first used the + of an inch, one is immediately struck with the great
difference in size which it presents. The object looks six times as large
as it did with the 4 of an inch, and although of course the field is
darker, it is not nearly so dark as one might be led to expect, consider-
ing that we are employing a magnifying power of 1,300 diameters.
In order to see objects distinctly with the y5, it is, of course,
necessary to use a good light; but it does not require that the light
should be very much stronger than that ordinarily employed when
using a quarter. The common microscope-lamp, and achromatic
condenser, are all that is requisite for the purpose of illumination.
Like Smith, Beck, and Beck’s 35, Powell and Lealand’s +; object-glass
is adapted to suit any English microscope. to be used with a covering-
glass of -005 of an inch in thickness, and to leave a sufficient space
between the lower lens and the glass to admit of its being employed
in the examination of ordinary objects. The =; consists, like all other
good objectives, of eight lenses, two triplets, and one doublet. The
front one, indeed, measures only :025 of an inch in diameter, and to
the naked eye looks like a small diamond in its setting. It is,
however, a vast deal more valuable than a diamond of the same
dimensions.
There is great difficulty experienced in the manufacture of these
lenses ; for they have actually to be ground under a microscope.
This arises not simply because of their small size, but in order to
enable the workman to keep the surfaces perfectly level, as a deviation
of as little as one thousandth of an inch would give rise to both
spherical, and chromatic aberration. To specify the particular class
of objects for which the 3; is adapted, is not our present purpose.
We have now to say a few words regarding the improvements that
have recently been introduced into the construction of the large micro-
scope stands. These have for the most part been devised by Mr.
Ross, with the view of obtaining additional working room for the
illuminating apparatus beneath the stage, in order to acquire the
greatest possible angle for simple oblique illumination. This object
has been accomplished, as will be seen in the figure, by reducing the
1864. | Microscopical Science. 183
thickness of the mechanical and sub-stages. A still further improve-
ment has been made by adding an additional tube, and thereby adapt-
ing the instrument to the binocular arrangement. Moreover, Mr. Ross
has graduated the circular parts of both the upper and lower stages so
as to enable the observer to use the instrument as a goniometer.
ll
_ jam TTT
We shall now pass on to the consideration of our next head,
namely, the diminished cost of instruments for the use of students
and others.
At our public institutions where there are large microscopical
classes, as, for'example, at University College, London, and at the
University of Edinburgh, the great majority of the students have
hitherto been supplied with the foreign instruments of Nachet and
Oberhauser, costing about 8. each. Now, however, English opticians
are cutting the ground from beneath the foreigner’s feet, by producing
really good useful instruments at similar prices. The most recently
constructed microscope of the kind, is that just brought out by Parkes
of Birmingham.
134 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
It is a handsome-looking instrument of the form represented in
the accompanying woodcut.
This microscope is made entirely of brass, and is 16 inches high.
At first sight, it looks like an instrument costing 18/. or 201., which
is more than double the actual price. It is supplied with two powers
of a quarter of an inch focus, two eyepieces, a polarising apparatus, a
coarse and fine adjustment, a magnetic stage, a circular diaphragm, a
double mirror, and a stage condenser.
The microscope is so constructed as to fit into a hexagonal box ;
the bottom of which forms the stand of the instrument, and mto which
are set the requisite apparatus. So, no sooner is the top of the box
removed, than the microscope is found in its place all ready for use.
The objectives and eyepieces are, as we have said, fitted into the stand
round the instrument, so that they can be adjusted at a moment’s
notice, and in order that this may be done more effectively they are
fitted with slips as well as screw attachments.
Moreover, the mahogany stand is polished, and has a circular groove
round it, to receive the lip of a glass-bell jar, so that the box cover
1864. | Microscopical Science. 135
may be dispensed with, except in travelling, and the instrument, with
its glass shade, forms. a handsome ornament to a room, while at the
same time, it is always ready for immediate use.
If Mr. Parkes furnishes a quality of lenses to all his microscopes
made on this plan, similar to those attached to the instrument we had
the opportunity of seeing at University College, we must admit he will
prove a formidable rival to foreign instrument makers.
There are still lower priced instruments, which are extremely well
adapted for educational purposes, now being manufactured by Messrs.
Highley, Pillischer, Baker, and Smith and Beck ; but the consideration
of these we must defer to a future occasion, and for the present turn our
attention to the binocular microscope.
As is well known, the purpose of the binocular microscope is to
remedy the difficulty in the way of correct observation, arising from
our having to view an object with only one eye. Mr. Wenham, by a
very simple contrivance, has accomplished this in a most satisfactory
manner, at least, as far as low magnifying powers are concerned ; there
is still, however, room for improvement with respect to high magnify-
ing powers. By means of a small prism mounted in a brass box
which slides into the draw tube immediately over the objective, the
rays of light proceeding from the object are reflected in two directions,
which by means of a double body are conveyed to both eyes, and
thereby give a stereoscopic view of the substance under observation.
This is a most important point gained, when uneven surfaces are being
examined, because it enables the observer at once to judge of the posi-
tion, form, and relative distance of the various parts without altering
the focus of the microscope.
So valuable, indeed, has this improvement been considered, that all
opticians are now prepared to attach an additional draw tube and
prism to any of the ordinary uniocular instruments, and thereby make
them answer both purposes. For be it remembered, that the attach-
ment of a binocular body in no way interferes with the employment of
the instrument as a single-eyed microscope.
As it is impossible, in this short review, to describe all the varieties
of binocular microscopes now placed before the public, we must limit
our remarks to the one which we consider the most perfect.
The binocular, which we believe is most deserving of this title, is
that just brought out by Mr. Collins (of Titchfield Street, Portland
Place, London). It is constructed on the model suggested by Pro-
fessor Harley, and contains all the recent improvements for combining
rapidity of application, with simplicity in manipulation. Indeed, so
far as the saving of time is concerned, we scarcely know how a change
for the better could be devised. It possesses also the further advan-
tage of having the apparatus so arranged as to render it a matter of
difficulty to put it out of order. The whole apparatus of the instru-
ment, prism, polariscope, stage condenser, objectives of both high
and low powers, &c., &c., are attached to the microscope itself, and
that, too, in such a manner as to enable the observer to place them
in soract position without the turn of a single screw, or a moment’s
elay.
136 Chronicles of Science. [ Jan.
A glance at the accompanying woodcut will greatly aid in the
understanding of this mode of arrangement.
The microscope, as is here seen, is fixed into the bottom of the
mahogany box, which forms at the same time the stand. Round it,
like the one previously described, which is in this respect made on
Dr. Harley’s model, a groove is run to receive the lip of a glass
shade. The instrument itself is made of polished brass, and is eighteen
inches high. The eyepieces are supplied with shades (a, a) to protect
the eyes.
These are a great comfort to the observer when he is using the
instrument for any length of time.
At the end of the transverse arm (f), is the box which contains
both Wenham’s binocular prism, and the analyser of the polariscope ;
and by merely drawing it a little out, or pushing it farther in, the
instrument can be instantly changed from a binocular to a uniocular,
and still further to a polarising microscope.
Immediately beneath (f) are the two objectives, a quarter, and an
inch; so that in order to change the power, all that is necessary is to
slide them backwards or forwards. Moreover, these are fitted with the
universal screw, so that either of them may be detached, as in an
ordinary instrument, and a }, as, or any other power, put in its place
at the option of the observer. The instrument is fitted with a coarse
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 187
and fine adjustment, and has the additional advantage of a magnetic
stage, in the cross-bar (h) of which is a groove, in order that the
observer may enjoy the luxury of applying a Maltwood’s finder, as in
large instruments possessing movable stages.* Beneath the stage is
seen the polariser (p), fitted into the circular diaphragm.
The double mirror (m) possesses a triple joint, so that it can be
applied obliquely in all directions. Indeed, as we before said, it is
difficult to see how an instrument could be devised of a more simple,
and, at the same time, so perfect construction at the price.
Having now given our readers an insight into the most important
improvements that have been recently made in the construction of
the instrument, we purpose in our next Number introducing to their
notice, the various works on the microscope, and its mode of appli-
cation.
VII. MINING, MINERALOGY, AND METALLURGY.
Tue Mining operations of these islands may be regarded as amongst the
most important of our industries, taxing—as they do, to the utmost—
the powers of man’s endurance, and the resources of engineering
science ; requiring the boldest expenditure of an enormous capital, and
adding nearly thirty millions sterling to our national wealth. Hidden
in our rocks is the “ hoarded treasure,” but man, the magician with
the wand of industry, brings it forth to-day and converts the valueless
ores into valuable metals, which minister in a thousand forms to the
necessities of human existence.
The subterranean explorations now in active progress in this
country, claim the labours of above 300,000 Miners, independently of
men, boysand women, employed at the surface. They task the powers
of thousands of steam-engines in pumping the waters from the depths ;
in drawing the minerals from the mines; in lowering and raising the
men; and in restoring pure air to those dark recesses in which the
atmosphere is rapidly suffering deterioration from several causes.
At the present time there are upwards of 3,000 collieries, and not
less than 1,000 metalliferous mines at work in the United Kingdom.
The produce of these—in the more important minerals only— during
the last two years, has been as follows :-—
1861. 1862.
Tons, Tons.
CoaLs . . 85,635,214 ‘5 - $1,638,338
Tron ORE . iezlovols * - 7,562,240
CopPpPrER : 5 231,487 5 : 224,171
RIN’ == . 3 11,640 ° “ 14,127
LEap 5 2 90,696 < : 95,311
ZINC : és 15,770 2 ‘ TAIT
PyYRITES . = 125,135 ‘ 98,433
* Maltwood’s finder can be obtained at Smith, Beck, and Becks.
+ These, and all the statistical returns given, are taken from the ‘ Mineral
Statistics of the United Kingdom,’ by Robert Hunt, F.R.S., which are published
annually by order of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury.
138 Chronicles of Scrence. | Jan.
In addition to these, of ores of the metals, our mines give us
Silver, Nickel, Cobalt, Tungsten, Antimony, Manganese, and others.
Of earthy minerals we produce Barytes, Strontian, and Gypsum, in-
dependently of the Lime, Magnesia, Porcelain, and other clays; while
the Salt districts of Cheshire and Worcestershire give us above 900,000
tons of Salt annually.
Gold must be regarded as an unusual product from British rocks,
but the Quartz lodes in the vicinity of Dolgelly gave us of that precious
metal, in 1861, 2,784 standard ounces, of the value of 10,817/., and in
1862, 5,299 standard ounces, the value of which was 30,3901.
Nearly all the Lead ores of these Islands contain Silver, and from
this source, by an interesting Metallurgical process, we obtaimed, in
1861, 569,530 ounces, and in 1862, 686,123 ounces of sterling Silver.
From the returns obtained by the ‘Mining Record’ Office, we
learn that the values of the Metals produced from the ores of the
British Islands alone, and Coals, were at the place of production—
In 1861 at 34,602,853.
In 1862 at 54,691,037.
In this rapid sketch, we endeavour to convey a correct idea of the
importance of our Mining operations, without loading our pages with
details, which may be consulted by all who are interested in the sub-
ject, in the publication already quoted.
Directly connected with our Coal-Mining, one question of the
highest importance has been recently revived :—that is, the probable
duration of our coal-beds. Sir William Armstrong, in his Address as
President of the British Association, at the recent Meeting at New-
castle-on-Tyne, spoke as follows on this subjeet :—‘‘ By combining
the known thickness of the various workable seams of coal, and com-
puting the area of the surfsce under which they lie, it is easy to arrive
at an estimate of the total quantity comprised in our coal-bearing
strata. Assuming 4,000 feet as the greatest depth at which it will
ever be possible to carry on mining operations, and rejecting all seams
of less than two fect in thickness, the entire available coal existing in
these Islands has been calculated to amount to about 80,000 millions
of tons, which, at the present rate of consumption, would be exhausted
in 930 years; but, with a continued yearly increase of two millions
and three quarters of tons, would only last two hundred and twelve
years.” *
Mr. Greenwell stated a few years since his opinion that “the
Northern coal-field would continue 331 years.” Mr. T. Y. Hall
agrees in the main with Mr. Greenwell, and taking the annual con-
sumption of the Newcastle coal-field at 14 millions of tons, he gives
365 years as the period at which this coal-field will be exhausted.
Mr. Fordyce in 1860, supposing the drain upon this coal-field to be
20 millions of tons annually, says, “then at this rate of demand the
coal-field would be exhausted in the course of 256.years.” +
* Report of the Meeting of the British Association at Newcastle, 1863.
+ See ‘The Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining En-
gineers,’ and Fordyce’s ‘ History of Coal, Coke, and Coal Fields,’ 1860.
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 139
In the Report presented by the Coal Trade at the recent Mecting
of the British Association, the rate at which the reporters suppose the
exhaustion of this coal-field is going on in 1861, is given at 21,777,570
tons.* This quantity is above that which is given in the ‘ Mineral
Statistics for 1862’ (we there find 19,360,356 tons recorded as the
quantity raised and sold; but the coal wasted is not reported, owing
to the uncertainty of the returns obtained).
Mr. Edward Hull has devoted much attention to this important
subject. He calculates that the total remaining supply of coal
amounts to 79,843 millions of tons, and “that in the whole of Great
Britain the supply is sufficient to last for upwards of a thousand years
with a production of 72 millions of tons annually.”
It has been already shown that the general rate of exhaustion has
exceeded this computation by twelve millions of tons. It is not, how-
ever, probable that there will be any long continuance of such a rapid
increase. The progress of civilization has ever been a system of
undulations, the maximum of elevation is reached, and the still onward
wave subsides, the momentum acquired in its decline being the power
by which it again rises to its highest level. Let it not be inferred
from this that we suppose our commerce and manufactures to have
reached their highest point. It is believed that a large extension is
before us, but we argue, from the history of the past, that our progress
will not be a system of continuous rise in the future. The question
requiring the limits of time within which the coal-fields of these
Islands will be exhausted has been hastily propounded, and no less
hastily replied to. No satisfactory computation of the quantities of
workable coal remaining in our several coal-fields has yet been made.
Mr, EK. Hull, in his work already quoted, has given the best existing
information, but those most intimately acquainted with special locali-
ties, all alike pronounce the evidence to be incomplete. This is
admitted, by the grant of a small sum from the funds of the British
Association, to collect exact information on this point. The grant
is so small, for the amount of work which is to be done, that nothing
satisfactory can be expected from this assistance. The Government
having at its command a trained body of men, of superior scientific
knowledge, in the officers of the Geological Survey, with twelve In-
spectors of Collieries, each man well acquainted with his own district,
and a Mining Record office with its statistical returns, might, by a
judicious arrangement, and a sufficient grant of money, determine the
question within very small limits of error. This stock-taking would be
a very important one, bearing as it does, on the future of every manu-
facturing and commercial industry, which has placed our country the
‘foremost amongst the nations,—a position which we desire to retain.
Referring, of course to their own field only, the Reporters on the
Northern coal-field say, “ Until further and more extensive explora-
* “On Coal, Coke, and Coal Mining,’ by Nicholas Wood, F.G.S., John Taylor,
John Marley, and J. W. Pease, in ‘ History of the Trade and Manufactures of
the Tyne, Wear, and Tees.” Spon: London, 1863.
+ ‘The Coal Fields of Great Britain,’ by Edward Hull, B.A. Second edition.
Stanford : London.
140 Chronicles of Scvence. [ Jan.
tions determine at what distance beyond the coast the greatest de-
pression of the coal-beds will be found, we are completely at fault as
to the quantity of coal lying underneath the sea. * * * * We have
not yet reached the threshold of such a conjecture. We have not yet
explored one square mile of this vast unknown space, or determined
one of the many elements required in such an intricate and uncertain
investigation.” To a certain extent, these remarks will apply with
all their force to other localities. The difficulties determining the
existence of coal, and its quantity, under several unexplored regions
are exceedingly great, and until opened out, it could only be approxi-
mately estimated. Still we cannot but think the concluding remark
of the Reporters, that “such an investigation can be of no practical
utility, and that the attempt for a vast period of time is, at the least,
premature,’ is one induced, rather by the influences of commerce,
looking only to the present, than by the broader spirit of philan-
thropy which embraces the future. It may not be out of place here
to caution the less scientific of our readers from receiving, as in any
way probable, that speculation which is echoed from book to book
promising man that science will find, when coal is exhausted, some
other source of heat and light, which shall be equally economical and
as easy of application. If those speculative minds, who suppose the
time will come when the constituents of water will be burnt, or elec-
tricity be made an unfailing producer of heat, would but carefully
entertain the fact, that every form of physical force is the result of
the destruction (change of form) of matter somewhere, they would be
more cautious in promulgating their unsupported hypotheses. To
burn zinc or iron in a voltaic battery to produce heat or light, must
always be infinitely more costly than burning coal in a furnace.
The lamentable catastrophes which from time to time occur in our
collieries, awaken public attention, and excite the utmost sympathy
for the sorrowing survivors. That there is a deep-felt desire to
assuage the flood of misery which falls, tempest-like, upon a colliery
village ; and so far to improve the conditions under which the coal-
miner labours, as to render the risks less imminent to him, is proved
by the manner in which money was poured into the Hartley Fund.
After some delay, the large sum whch remained unexpended, after
every necessary want had been satisfied amongst the widows and
orphans of those poor men who perished so miserably in that Colliery,
has been distributed to other districts for the purpose of forming the
nucleus of local funds to meet such exigencies as may unhappily arise.
The public expression of feeling is loud, it will be heard and attended
to; but, independently of the impulse which is due to this voice,
it must not be forgotten that numerous minds are, and have been
silently and earnestly at work, aiming to improve all the conditions of
our collieries, and so to render accidents less common.
We have lately, at the Morfa Colliery, in South Wales, had an
explosion of fire-damp, by which 39 men were destroyed. This
serious accident occurred in a colliery remarkable for its very excel-
lent arrangements. The works were carried on under the most skilled
colliery engineers ; the ventilation was excellent ; locked safety-lamps
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 141
were always used; and the strictness with which a well-devised code
of rules was enforced appeared to secure this colliery from accident
by explosion. Yet, when least expected, the fire-damp accumulates,
and mysteriously it is fired, sweeping away in a moment 39 men, and
strewing wreck around in its deadly progress. This sad accident
should teach us that we must not suppose we can, by any skill or care,
secure absolute immunity from casualties of this class. In all proba-
bility the Morfa explosion arose from a sudden outburst of carburetted
hydrogen gas, attended with a fall of the roof, by which the wire
gauze of a safety-lamp became broken. It is important that a record
should be prominently made of the fact, that the proprietors of this
colliery, the Messrs. Vivian, refused the aid which the public readily
offered, and that they take upon themselves the burthen of supporting
the widows and orphans of those who perished in their employment.
Knowing the imperfections of human nature, and the power exerted
by selfishness over the better feelings of the heart, we are persuaded
that both master and man would be permanently benefited by a legis-
lative enactment, rendering it imperative that the Colliery proprietor
should be responsible for the maintenance of the widow and the child
of the collier, who has perished by accident in his pit. With such a
provision, a more searching system of inspection would be introduced ;
the workings would be kept in better order; rules would be more
rigidly enforced ; and, as a consequence, the coal would be obtained
in better condition, and at less cost, than at present. Beyond this,
the Colliery proprietors would speedily protect themselves by forming
funds to meet the exigencies as they arose. A course of this kind is
the only one left for trial: there is surely philanthropy enough in this
Christian land to force on the experiment.
In nearly every division of human labour, some mechanical power
has been introduced for the purpose of relieving the labourer from
the constant strain made upon his muscular system. The coal-hewer
has not, however, been in any way assisted. With the primitive pick
and the ancient wedge, he has been compelled, often under the most
trying conditions, to “get” the coal. This state of things may be
accounted for by the circumstance that Mining work is performed in
the deep and dark bowels of the earth, where there is little to attract,
and much to repel, such minds as usually give birth to appliances of
physical force. The subject has not been, however, entirely neglected.
So long since as 1789, a patent appears to have been granted for
improved machinery to be used in getting coal, and since that time
many plans have been proposed, and some of them patented, though
none have been successfully applied. The first machine which has
been found capable of taking its place in the regular business of coal-
cutting is one belonging to the West Ardsley Coal Company, Messrs.
Firth, Donisthorpe, and Bower. This machine has been in regular
work during the last twelve months, and it appears to be admirably
adapted to the purpose for which it is contrived.
The Machine— shown on the adjoining plate—is carried on a cast-
metal frame of great firmness, the size and weight varying to suit the
condition and thickness of the bed of coal to be operated upon. An
[ Jan.
Chronicles of Science.
142
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The Ardsley Company’s Machine
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 143
Engine is mounted within this framework: it is actuated by com-
pressed air, and so arranged as to give the blow of the pick or cutter,
either by the pull or the push of the piston. Almost any form of engine
is applicable, but that which is employed with advantage in practice at
Ardsley Colliery, is the oscillating cylinder principle, whereby is
obtained compactness of form and diminished friction in the working
parts. The whole is carried upon wheels with flanges, sometimes
single and sometimes double, as may be required by the nature of the
work. It is propelled backward and forward by a wheel and screw,
or a ratchet and pawl, which is fized on one side. On the other side
is the valve-lever to regulate the admission and the emission of the
‘air, and the stroke of the piston when the Machine is at work;
the man in charge of it moves the ratchet-lever, which is con-
nected with the gearing of the under-carriage, and thus pushes up
the carriage on the tram, a distance equal to the cut of the previous
blow ; and so moves on to the end of the “ bank,” or working face of the
coal. In seams of three feet, or upwards in thickness, the man may
sit on a movable seat fixed at the end of the Machine, but in thin
seams this cannot be done, and he has to kneel on a truck running
on low pulleys or rollers which travel in the rear of the cutting-
machine.
The cut, or groove of the coal, made by hand-labour, is a triangular
opening varying in size according to the hardness and nature of the
coal, but averaging from 9 to 12 inches. In firm coal the machine
makes a cut which is not usually more’than 24 inches’ opening, and
the under-cut is taken 3 feet into the coal. The Ardsley Coal Com-
pany state that the coal is obtained in a better condition by machine,
than by hand cutting, so much so that about 1s. a ton more can be
obtained for the coal, on the yield of the seam.
A matter of more importance than this is urged by the proprietors,
viz. the diminished risk to the persons and lives of the employed.
Numerous lives are lost by falls of coal. Ié will be well under-
stood, that, if the miner has made an opening in the lower part of the
coal, which shall be 12 inches wide on the face, and the superincum-
bent mass of coal should by its weight fall, much care will be required
on the part of the workman to keep himself harmless. Often, when
working in a constrained position, the coalhewer, unable to relieve
himself from the falling masses, is crushed to death.
By the machine work there is much less lability to this kind of
accident. The groove being narrow can be spragged with ease and
system, and a slip in the coal only closes up the groove. In ordinary
cases the coal is not pushed out; but, if it does come forward, there
is little danger to the workman, because he can readily get out of the
way, and if it catches the machine but litile injury is done. There
are some technical advantages, beyond those named, which need not
be noticed in this Journal.
The length of the coal-cutting machine which we have described,
has been thought by some to be a disadvantage. Difficulties are said
to have arisen when it was required to be taken round the short elbows,
and the abrupt curves, which often occur in a colliery. To obviate this
144 Chronicles of Science. [Jan.
Messrs. Ridley and Jones have constructed a new machine, which is
about half the length of the machine in use by the Ardsley Company.
This diminution in the length is effected by an ingenious arrangement,
Ridley & Jenes’s Machine.
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 145
the connecting rod to which the pick is attached, acting as a substitute
for the piston, in this way the required length of stroke is obtained, as
it were, within the cylinder itself.
This machine is very small and compact, being two feet two inches
high, and three feet long, the pick being two feet six inches in length.
As in the former case a mah and a boy attend the machine in its pro-
gress along the ordinary tramway of the colliery.
The following diagrams will render clear the difference between
the two machines. Fig. 1 represents the old patent arrangement: a
is the cylinder, b the piston, c the piston rod, d the connecting rod, e
the crank or lever. Fig. 2 represents the new patent trunk arrange-
ment: a is the cylinder, b the piston, ¢ the trunk, d the connecting
rod, e the crank or lever.
= = NY
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Hither of these machines is guaranteed to be capable of under-
cutting a seam of coal to the depth of three feet, and to the length of
150 yards, along the face of the coal, in the space of eight hours. These
machines can be worked either by compressed air or by steam. At
the Ardsley Pit, air has been employed, and the experience of eighteen
months confirms its advantage over any other motive power, for this
purpose. The air is pressed into a receiver on the surface, by an
ordinary steam-engine, to a pressure of from 45 to 50 lbs. to the inch.
It is led down the shaft 80 fathoms deep in 44-inch metal pipes, and
hence in pipes of diminished diameter in the several directions of the
workings, and finally into the “ Banks”’ or working faces by India-
rubber tubing of 14-inch diameter.
The use of air, underground, has many advantages. It is free
from any kind of danger, and exceedingly manageable ; there is
nothing of an inconvenient or annoying character to be guarded
against. It is clean, dry, pure, and cool.
Beyond all this, when the air has performed its mechanical work, it
may be made available for sanatory purposes. When discharged from
the cylinder of the coal-cutting machine, under a pressure of three
VOL. I. L
146 Chronicles of Science. [ Jan.
atmospheres, which at 100 strokes per minute, when expanded to
its natural volume, gives about 300 cubic feet of air, this supply can
be sent into each working face. This air, in expanding, takes heat
from all surrounding bodies, thus lowering the temperature of the
mine; and it, at the same time, increases the current, and dilutes the
noxious agents which are found, as the preducts of respiration and of
combustion, or such as are evolved from the coal itself. The advan-
tages of these machines are most satisfactorily proved, and many coal
proprictors have made arrangements for their introduction to their
several works.* How will the invention be received by the mining
population ? is a question which many ask. Since the machine is to
relieve the miner from his heaviest labour—to do, indeed, the drudgery
of the pit—and thus tend to alleviate his condition, reserving his
strength for less injurious trials, he cannot but feel that the aid
afforded him is great, and we hope that he will receive it with ali
thankfulness.
In our anxiety to describe clearly the coal-cutting machines, so
much space has been absorbed, that we feel compelled to defer to our
next Number all notice of two or three machines—which have been
devised, for working upon our hardest rocks,—used in driving levels
and proposed for use in sinking shafts in our metalliferous mines.
If the collier be exposed to injurious influences—and subject to
violent casualties—the metalliferous miner is subjected to conditions
so much more distressing, that, although we seldom hear of such dire
calamities as those which follow from an explosion of fire-damp, it is
too well known that the number who perish young, from the con-
sequences of their labour, is fur greater, relatively, than the deaths
occurring amongst the coal-miners. Every mechanical aid, therefore,
which proves a benefit in one case, becomes a yet greater blessing in
the other. We expect before our second Number can appear, that the
Report of Lord Kinnaird’s Commission, “To inquire into the sanatory
conditions of the metalliferous miner,” will have been published, and,
consequently, it will demand our attention in connection with the
boring machinery—analogous to that employed in driving the tunnel
through Mont Cenis—which promises to take the wearying task of
‘beating the borer” from the failing arm of flesh, and transfer it to
the resistless arm of iron.
It is interesting to find, that some successful attempts have been
made to introduce so much of science amongst our miners as promises
to facilitate their labours, and relieve them from the liability to error,
which is ever the attendant on ignorance. ;
The Miners’ Association of Cornwall and Devonshire, and the
Mining Schools of Bristol, Wigan, and Glasgow, are doing good work.
At the same time as those local institutions, supported by limited
subscriptions, are earnestly at work, the Royal School of Mines in
London, supported by an annual vote from the House of Commons,
is providing a numerous staff of young men furnished with all the
resources of modern science, to undertake the direction of the ore-
* We believe that the new coal cutting-machine has been at work three months
or more at the Ince Hall Colliery.—Ep.
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1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 147
mines, the engincering difficulties of which are rapidly augmenting
with the increasing depth.
The uncertainty which attends the conditions of any of our
mineral lodes or veins, is one of the causes which has led to the
unfortunate spirit of gambling which marks too many Mining specu-
lations. It may never be possible to pronounce with certainty,
whether a mineral lode shall prove rich, in the metalliferous ores, in”
depth. But it is certainly within the limits of human knowledge to
be able to pronounce on the high probabilities of any subterranean
exploration being remunerative or otherwise.
The Philosopher who stands upon the surface of the Earth, and
frames his hypothesis, as to the laws by which the metals have been
deposited in the fissures of the rocks, is as likely to run wildly wrong,
as the untaught miner, who, without a knowledge of one of the Physical
Forces, persuades himself that he has an unfailing rule for determining
the value of the hidden treasures. Neither the one nor the other will
ever advance knowledge by his guesses. Teach the Miner to observe
carefully, and to record his observations correctly—then call in the
aid of the Philosopher, and his deductions from a sufficient number of
well-observed facts will possess a high value. It is an important and
a most favourable feature of the present time, that several practical
miners are employed in endeavours to determine if any constant law
can be discovered in relation to the accumulation of the Metalliferous
ores in lodes.
M. Moisenet, Ingénieur des Mines,—who has himself examined
with great industry the Metal Mines of this country,—has endeavoured
to refer the conditions of our mineral deposits to actions influenced
by the direction of our great mountain ranges. In this country
Mr. Lonsdale Bradley has published a valuable set of sections of
the strata, in the lead-bearing rocks of Swaledale; and given careful
explanations of the actual conditions observed in the veins.
Those sections instruct us on some points, which from their almost
constant occurrence, assume the conditions of a law. These are that
Limestoves and Cuerts are the beds which are productive of lead, and
that the Grits and Pats are wholly unproductive. All mineral veins
must be regarded as lines of dislocation; the strata seldom being pre-
cisely similar on both sides of the fissure or lode. Those disturbances
are locally termed “ throws.” The sections published by Mr. L. Brad-
ley appear to prove, amongst other facts, “ That veins of simple throws
are the most productive of lead-ore from having ore-bearing or ore-
producing beds on each side of the veins, opposite or nearly so to each
other ;” “that veins of large throws are invariably unproductive, because
the ore-bearing beds are thrown past each other, and that cross veins
of large throws when productive of lead ore are usually so in the
Limestones.””*
fully drawn to scale—in Mr. Bradley’s book, these conditions are
clearly shown. The accompanying lithographed examples of two
lands of “throw” will fully illustrate this position.
* «An Inquiry into the Deposition of Lead Ore in the Mineral Veins of Swale-
dale, Yorkshire.” By Lonsdale Bradley, F.G.S8. Edward Stanford, London, 1862.
L 2
148 Chronicles of Science. [ Jan.
A far more extensive inquiry has been made by Mr. Wallace of
Alston Moor, with a view to the solution of this problem, and he is
fully persuaded that, as far as this district is concerned, he has arrived
at the true solution.* The balance of evidence is greatly in favour of
the hypothesis put forth. It is not possible, within the limits of a
summary notice, to explain satisfactorily the views of this writer.
Suflice it to say, that Mr. Wallace regards the mineral lodes as chan-
nels through which, the waters accumulated on the surface, and
percolating the rock, were discharged. These waters are supposed to
derive from the adjacent rocks, or from some other source, the minerals
which are subsequently deposited in those larger channels. 'The rich-
ness of any lode is determined by several conditions, all of which,
however, may be regarded as disturbing causes. For example if, into
a main channel of fissure, several lateral fissures flow, it is found that
along the main fissure or lode, it is productive of metallic ores at
these parts.
Several good examples of this are given in Mr. Wallace’s beautifully
executed map; one of these we copy. It is a portion of the great
Rodderup Fell vein, and shows that the lode is unproductive except
where the numerous small lateral veins, as shown in our drawing,
have been channels in which fluids have been collected and conveyed
to the larger fissure. The vein has proved remarkably productive of
S
lead in those parts. Mr. Wallace’s book is a valuable contribution
to the very limited literature which exists in the English language, on
mines and mineral deposits. That attention has been awakened to
this question, is further proved from the fact, that at the last meeting
of the Miners’ Association of Cornwall, two Cornish miners contributed
papers on the subject.
Such are the matters of interest connected with British Mining,
which have recently presented themselves.
As illustrating the value of our mines in relation to those of other
countries, it is satisfactory to be able to examine two very recently
* «The Laws which reeulate the Deposition of Lead Ore in Veins : Illustrated
by an Examination of the Geological Structure of the Mining Districts of Alston
Moor.’ By William Wallace, Edward Stanford, London.
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 149
published returns, which have been issued by the Governments of Spain
and Prussia.
The number of productive mines, in Spain, in 1862, was 1,798,
employing 32,789 miners. The results of their labours, and those of
the smelter, were as follows :*—
MINERALS. Merra.s.
Tons Tons.
WeRCdiOresr.a cme OOD (D0) mais eel aa OOaT ILL
(Oo m6 6 6 1 CAMUEET CG Me po ASHI
906 Cast . . 34,022
Iron. - + - 128,333 | Wrought) 32,131
JAVIER Seton Pee Re ioe bbe 2,180
Quicksilver Ores . 17j;984 i. . =. 923
Silver aks ZI GO} ait iged Cok 715
Tin ee ES GOR stipe dew iis cs 635
Coal ODOM GAS Ba oo al ae —
Sulphuri@ressesae e2e-7gOn eal ay eae en Ss040
Mancanesers, 2) 2 plod, SGa cts ssc ents —
Of the above quantities, the Government mines of Linares produced
of lead-ore, 3,521 tons; lead, 2,232 tons ; those of Rio ‘Tinto of copper-
ore, 79,057 tons, or 1,170 of fine copper; and the important mercury
mines of Almaden, 11,191 tons of ore of Cinnabar, yielding of quick-
silver, 894 tons. Although Spain produces the largest quantity of
lead-ores, its produce of lead falls below that of Great Britain,
owing to the poorness of the minerals, their average produce falling
below 18 per cent., while the produce of the lead-ores of England
averages about 70 per cent.
The Prussian Government has published a valuable set of Mineral
and Metallic statistics—being an account of the mineral production of
the States for the ten years, 1852—61.t From this it appears that
the total value of these products amounted in 1861, to 4,685,000/.
sterling. The number of mines worked were 2,304, and of workmen °
employed 115,341. Notwithstanding the insignificance of these
returns as compared with the mineral wealth of Britain, it is clear
that the production of minerals in Prussia has increased more than
six-fold during the past twenty-five years.
The latest returns furnished by the French Government of the
production of ‘“ Metals other than Iron,” show that in twelve depart-
ments there existed 23 mines in which were employed 3,072 workmen.
The value of the argentiferous lead produced was 1,545,365 francs—
and of other metals, 601,623 frances.
There are few sciences which move so slowly as Mineralogy—not-
withstanding the Treatises by Dana,{ by Brooke and Miller,$ and the
* «Revista Minera.’ Madrid, lst Nov. 1863.
+ ‘Zusammenstellung der statistischen Ergebnisse des Bergwerks, Hiitten-
und Salinen-Betriebes in dem Preussischen Staate wahrend der Zehn Jahre yon
1852 bis 1861” Bearbeitet von E. Althaus. 4to. Berlin: 1863.
¢ ‘A System of Mineralogy ; comprising the most recent Discoveries.’ By
James D. Dana, A.M.
§ ‘An Elementary Introduction to Mineralogy.’ By the late William Phillips.
New edition, with extensive alterations and additions by H. J. Brooke, F.R.S.,
F.G.8., and W. H. Miller, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S.
150 Chronicles of Science. |Jan
Glossary by Bristow,* which last will be found one of the most useful
of books to the young student in this interesting field, the science of
minerals makes no advance. This is referable to the cumbrous, un-
natural, and confusing nomenclature which besets it. To call oxide of
tin, Cassiterite, because it is found in a place which probably was at
one time called The Cassiterides,—aud to name Copper-glance, or di-
sulphide of copper, Redruthite, on the erroneous supposition that the
best specimens of this Mineral are found near Redruth, is neither more
nor less than absurd. It is hoped that the system of exact nomen-
clature which has tended so much to advance Chemical science, will
ere long be applied to Mineralogy.
There has recently been published in Paris a valuable Manual of
Mineralogy,t to which we direct the attention of students. It was,
the author informs us, his first intention to have translated the ex-
cellent work on this science by Brooke and Miller. He was, however,
induced by some considerations, connected chiefly with the optical
section of the science, to write a new book, of which the first volume
only is published. To those students of Mineralogy who desire to
enter earnestly on the study of Crystallography—and the optical
characters of crystals—this Manual will be a valuable aid. The
completeness with which the localities of the mineral described are
given, renders this work an example to some of our English Mineralo-
gists, who have not shown the requisite caution in determining these
with exactness. Indeed, by trusting to some of these, M. Des Cloizeaux
has occasionally been led astray.
Dr. Wedding, of Bonn, has directed attention to an ore of alumi-
nium occurring at Baux, near Avignon; hence it has been named
Bauwite. According to Meissionier, it penetrates the chalk as a vein-
like mass for a length of nearly two miles. This ore has been mistaken
for an iron ore, and employed as such. It consists essentially of
alumina and peroxide of iron—which reciprocally replace each other
—and water. It contains also small quantities of silicic acid, tita-
nium, and vanadium; some varieties contain about 80 per cent. of
alumina, and others almost as much oxide of iron. This ore is
applied by MM. Morin and Co. of Nanterre, and Messrs. Bell of
Newcastle, to the manufacture of aluminium.
The discovery of rock-salt at Middleton-on-Tees, by Messrs.
Bolchow and Vaughan, is of great probable importance. A bed of
rock-salt 99 feet in thickness has been pierced by boring at the
depth of 1,206 feet from the surface. Mr. Marley’s paper on this
discovery, which was read at the Newcastle Meeting of the British
Association, is about to be published in a revised form by the
Institute of Mining Engineers—to this we shall again refer.
Professor N. 8. Maskelyne and Dr. Viktor Von Lang, of the
British Museum, have contributed some interesting notices of Aérolites,
which are supposed to have fallen within recent years.~ These
* « A Glossary of Mineralogy.’ By Henry William Bristow, F.G.8.
+ ‘Manuel de Minéralogie.’ Par A. Des Cloizeaux, Tom.i. Paris: Dunod,
t ' Philosophical Magazine,’ August, 1863.
1864. } Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 151
notices were commenced in No. 165 of the ‘Philosophical Magazine,’
by a paper ‘on Aérolites,’ which included notices of a fall of stones at
Butsura, in India, in May, 1861. Their more recent paper contains
an account of two other meteorites. One of these stones fell at Khira-
gurh, 28 miles’ south-east of Bhurtpoor, on the 28th March, 1860.
Another—of which a more detailed account is given—fell on the
16th August, 1843, at Manegaum, in the collectorate of Khandeish,
in India.
Of the Manegaum stone, some fragments, amounting only to
2% ounces, have been preserved in the collection of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal, at Calcutta,* and a specimen is deposited in the British
Museum. The evidence of the fall of this stone is given in the
following words :—
“wo villagers described the fall as having been witnessed by
them. There had been several claps of thunder with lightning some
two hours previously, and the northern heavens were heavily charged
with clouds; but no rain had fallen for eight days before, nor did any
fall for four days after, the event. Their attention was arrested by
‘several heavy claps of thunder and lightning,’ and they ran out of
a shed to look around, when they saw the aérolite fall in a slanting
direction from north to south ‘ preceded by a flash of lightning.’
It buried itself 5 inches in the ground, and appeared as a mass of
about 15 inches long, and 5 inches diameter. It exhibited a black
vitreous exterior, and was of a greyish yellow inside. At first, the
observers stated it to have been (as is recorded of the Bokkeveldt
aérolite) comparatively plastic, and at any rate to have become more
hard and compact subsequently. There was only one stone seen, and
that was smashed to pieces. Another witness mentioned that the
stone was at first cool, but in a short time became rather warm.”
The evidence which is being accumulated by Shepard, Haidinger, and
others, added to the chemical and physical examinations to which
these aérolites have been subjected, by Rose, Maskelyne, and Lang, is
advancing our knowledge of the peculiarities which belong to those
remarkable bodies. The chemical constitution and the lthological
characteristics of a peculiar class of stones, appear to prove their
meteoric origin. It must, at the same time, be evident to all, that
the utmost caution is necessary in examining all the evidence brought
forward as descriptive of the phenomena accompanying the fall of
stones through the atmosphere—and that, especially, which has led to
the assumption that certain physical and chemical peculiarities are
characteristic of, and unmistakably indicate, a true meteoric origin.
Dr. C. T. Jackson, of Boston, U.S., gives us some interesting
particulars of a mass of Meteoric Iron from the Dakota Indian terri-
tory. It was found on the surface of the ground, 90 miles from any
road or dwelling, and from its presenting a bright surface when cut,
it was thought to be silver. A portion of about 10 lbs. weight was
broken from the original mass, which weighed about 100 lbs. This
* «Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal’ for 1844 contains the first
account of this aérolite.
152, Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
was subjected to analysis, and its meteoric character supposed to be
determined. The constituents of the Aérolite were—
Metallieiiron ee uno laioe
Pe Nickell mca). sermOro
iN ftw ee oetoy soniye A OROOS: -
BhosphoTusisweeen enn ue CAO LO
Cobalt and chrome were also detected.*
We have already given the value of the Metallurgical products of
British ores ; there is little of novelty in the furnace operations to which
they are subjected. Although numerous patents have been completed,
and notices of many more given, for improvements in the processes of
smelting the several metallic ores, there is scarcely anything of suff-
cient importance to require special notice. One Patent for ‘ separating
Silver and other Metals from Lead,” founded on a principle discovered
by M. Clement Roswag, Engineer, of Paris, promises to be successful.
In carrying out this invention, the first operation consists in fusing
the lead containing silver and incorporating zinc therewith. For
this purpose a suitable furnace is provided with a melting-pot or
vessel, in which the lead and zinc are melted, the zine being placed in
suitable tubes or holders, and deposited, after the lead is melted, at the
bottom of the vessel, so that as it melts it rises up through the molten
lead by reason of its less specific gravity, and by means of agitators it
is uniformly distributed in its passage through the fluid lead. When
the whole of the zinc is melted and has risen to the surface of the
molten lead, the zine holders and the agitators are removed from the
vessel, and the alloy of zinc and silver is skimmed off the surface, to
be operated upon in the ordinary manner by oxidation. The molten lead,
which now contains a small percentage of zinc, is next run off into the
hollow of a reverberatory furnace, such as is generally used for an-
nealing and refining lead, and the zincy lead is purified by keeping it
in a state of fusion at a dull red heat, and subjecting it to the action
of the vapours or gases arising from the burning or decomposition of
pieces of green wood enclosed in suitable tubes or holders below the
surface of the molten lead; the dross of the zine (called seconds) is
skimmed off during the process, and is added to the alloy of zine and
silver previously obtained. The lead thus refined is run into ingots
for sale or use.
Under the name of Wasium, a new Metal has been recently an-
nounced by M, Bahr, as existing in the Orthite of Norway. M. Nickles
denies the reality of the discovery—according to him, the supposed
new simple body is but impure Yttrium.
We expected to have examined Dr, Percy’s second volume of Me-
tallurgy, which will be devoted to Iron and Steel ; although long since
announced, it is not yet ready for publication. We may, however,
safely predict that this work will be a valuable contribution to the
Metallurgy of iron.
The late Exhibition furnished many striking illustrations of the
importance of mechanical improvements to the worker in Metals.
* «The American Journal of Science and Arts. Conducted by Professor
B, Silliman and others. No. 107, September, 1863.
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 153
This has been most strikingly shown in the application of mechanical
engineering to several branches of iron manufacture.
There are few things which illustrate the giant power of machinery
more entirely than the manufacture of armour-plates. A number of
scientific men, and some of the Lords of the Admiralty, witnessed
recently a great experiment with some new Rolling Mills belonging
to John Brown of Sheffield. These rolls have a first foundation of
no less than 60 tons of solid iron, resting on masonry carried far
below the earth. The rollers themselves are 32 inches in diameter,
and 8 feet wide, and are turned by an engine of 400-horse power.
A powerful screw, applying its force through compound levers,
allows the distance between the rollers to be adjusted to the frac-
tion of an inch, so that the plate which on its first rolling, is
forced through an interval of—for instance—12 inches apart is, on
its next, wound through one of ten inches, next through one of
8 inches, and so on until the required thickness has been carefully
and equally attained by compression through every part of the metal.
When the enormous mass of iron to be rolled was first taken from
the heating furnace, and brought to the rollers, it was found that they
did not bite directly the mass came to them, and when they did, the
engine was almost brought to a stand-still by the tremendous strain
upon it; but at last the soft plate yielded, and the rollers wound it
slowly in, squeezing out jets of melted iron, that shot about as the
pile was compressed from 19 inches to 17 inches by the force of the
rollers. From the time the mass had once passed through the mill,
it was kept rolling backwards and forwards, the workmen sweeping
from its face the scales of oxide that gathered fast upon it. Every
time the plate was passed through, the rollers were squeezed closer
and closer together, until at the end of a quarter of an hour from leaving
the furnace, an almost melted mass, it was passed through the rolls for
the last time, and came out a finished armour-plate, weighing 20 tons,
19 feet long, nearly 4 feet wide, and exactly 12 inches thick through-
out from end to end.
Attention has been directed by Lieut-Colonel H. Clerk, R.A., to
a matter of some engineering importance, “‘The Change of Form
assumed by Wrought Iron and other Metals when Heated and then
Cooled by partial Immersion in Water.” The experiments recorded
in a communication made by Colonel Clerk to the Royal Society
originated in this way :—
“A short time ago, when about to shoe a wheel with a hoop tire,
to which it was necessary to give a bevel of about $th of an inch, one
of the workmen suggested that the bevel could be given by heating the
tire red hot, and then immersing it one-half its depth in cold water.
This was tried and found to answer perfectly, that portion of the tire
which was out of the water being reduced in diameter.” These experi-
ments have an important bearing on many engineering problems; the
general result appears to prove that metals heated to redness, and
partially cooled, by having one portion only placed in cold water,
contract about one inch above the water line, and that this is the same,
whether the metal be immersed one-half or two thirds of its depth.
154 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
VIII. PHOTOGRAPHY.
By far the most important subject which has arisen in this branch
during the last quarter, or, indeed, for many years past, is the alleged
discovery of photographs taken half a century before the recognized
birth of this art. An immense mass of evidence, direct and collateral,
has been collected together in the most conscientious and energetic
manner by Mr. Smith, Curator of the Patent Museum, and it certainly
affords strong grounds for the presumption that no less than three, if
not four, distinct classes of pictures, each by a different process, pro-
duced about the year 1790, are now in existence, there being the
strongest circumstantial evidence that they are bond fide photographs.
One is on a silver plate, pronounced by leading members of the Pho-
tographic Society to be an undoubted photograph from nature, the
subject being Mr. Boulton’s house, which was pulled down in 1791;
the picture was found amongst papers in Mr. Boulton’s library, which
had not been disturbed during the present century. There are also
two pictures—one of them undeniably a photograph—which were
found by Miss Meteyard amongst papers supplied to her for the
purpose of writing a life of Wedgwood, the great potter; and from
documents of that date they are said to have been produced by the
younger Wedgwood, reference being made to a lens, camera, and
chemicals. There is also the hearsay evidence of an old retainer of
the Boulton family, lately dead, of the silver picture of Mr. Boulton’s
house having been taken by placing a camera on the lawn; and there
was a society called the ‘ Lunar Society,’ the members of which were
said to produce pictures by using a dark room, throwing the images
on to a table, and fixing them by some chemical. The whole subject
has recently been brought before the Photographic Society, and, on a
careful analysis of the evidence, there is the very strongest presump-
tion, short of absolute certainty, that this important discovery was
made, and then suffered to die out. Only a few links in the chain are
wanting to establish the actual proof, and from the intense excitement
the subject has now occasioned, there is little doubt that it will be
sifted to the bottom.
The measurement of the chemical action of light has lately received
considerable attention. Dr. Phipson* has published a process which
appears to promise very good results ; it is based upon the fact, that a
solution of sulphate of molybdic acid is reduced by the action of light
to a lower state of oxidation ; and by measuring this amount of reduc-
tion by chemical means, a correct estimate of the amount of actinism
used up in the operation is obtained. The measurement is done with
a standard solution of permanganate of potash; and Dr. Phipson
states that his observations have disclosed the fact, that the amount of
actinism during the day varies considerably, describing curves, which
are not only irregular, but sometimes present sudden deflections of
considerable extent. This phenomenon has been noticed before.
During the last summer many correspondents of the ‘ Photographic
* «Chemical News,’ vol. viii. p. 135.
1864. | Photography. 155
News’ have stated that, on certain days during particular hours, there
seemed to be an almost total absence of actinic force. In some in-
stances five and six times the ordinary exposure were given with very
imperfect results ; and in other instances twenty times were tried with
no effect. No particular atmospheric influence could be detected at work;
and on subsequent days, apparently identical in light and clearness,
photographic operations were conducted with their usual celerity.
The cause of this great variation appears to have some connection
with the dryness of the atmosphere, the days on which the absence of
actinism was most marked having been intensely hot and free from
humidity. It is much to be desired that a simple system of actino-
metry should come into general use. The processes of Draper, Niépce
de St. Victor, Bunsen and Roscoe, Herschel, Phipson, and others, are
very useful, but rather too tedious for general use. What we want is
some method of reading off the amount of actinism as simply as we
read off the amount of heat with the thermometer.
A most elaborate series of researches on the behaviour of chloride,
bromide, and iodide of silver in the light, and on the theory of photo-
graphy, has recently been published by M. H. Vogel.* The researches
have extended over three years, and are of the most exhaustive cha-
racter. We have only space to give some of the bare results which he
has obtained, and must refer our readers for further particulars to the
original memoir. The author considers that the action of light upon
chloride and bromide of silver is first the production of a subchloride
and subbromide, with liberation of chlorine and bromine, but that
the iodide of silver undergoes no chemical change whatever. The
action of acids and various saline solutions, especially nitrate of silver,
has been studied very carefully, and some of the results are of con-
siderable value. The effect of developing agents has been likewise
examined, and the whole memoir constitutes one of the most im-
portant contributions to the science of photography ever published.
A valuable improvement has been inaugurated in the manufacture
of lenses for photographic purposes. By the ordinary method of
grinding and polishing, the surface is not left in a state of perfection
anything approaching that required for astronomical glasses. For the
usual photographic processes this surface is quite good enough, al-
though, when carefully examined with a powerful glass, it will be seen
covered with irregularities, the remains of the last stages of the grind-
ing process. ‘T'o attain greater perfection entirely different means have
to be employed, and the costly nature of this operation is one reason
why telescopic lenses are so valuable. For some purposes, however, in
which it is absolutely necessary to get perfect delineation, as in the
copying maps, &c., a lens ground in the ordinary way would be inap-
plicable, and perfection must not be hoped for unless the lens possesses
a perfectly continuous spherical surface with the highest possible
polish. Mr. Osborn, the photographer to the Melbourne Government,
who is engaged in copying maps for the Melbourne Survey Office, has
just ordered a lens from Mr. Dallmeyer, the cost of which is to be
* Poggendorf’s ‘ Annalen,’ 1863, p. 497.
156 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
2501. It will be a triple achromatic, and the glasses will probably
require months for their completion, during the whole of which time
the grinding and polishing machinery will have to be moving under
the personal superintendence of one of the first practical opticians in
England. The experiment is necessarily a costly one, and photo-
graphers are naturally anxious to see if the result compensates for the
enormous additional expense. The Melbourne Government deserve
the thanks of all photographers for the spirit of enterprise they have
shown in the matter.
From time to time rock crystal lenses have been recommended on
account of their superior transparency to the chemical rays of light.
Mr. Grubb has put this theory to the test of experience, and finds that
the difference is not so great as has been imagined; for instance, a
compound lens of the ordinary make transmits 87 for every 100 rays
which the rock crystal allows to pass. It is therefore only 13 per
cent. worse, whilst in flatness of field and achromatism, the glass lens
is much superior.
M. Gaudin suggests that lenses should be made from fused rock
crystal. The manufacture of these is simply a question of expense,
and they might possibly be achromatized by the employment of other
suitably transparent minerals.
A new fixing agent, sulpho-cyanide of ammonium, is likely ere
long to supersede hyposulphite of soda. The advantages claimed are,
permanence of the print, and great facility in the washing operations ;
but, on the other hand, the expense is likely to be an objection. A
little time ago, the new agent cost 4s. an ounce; there are rumours
that it can now be procured in Paris for 1s. 13d. per Ib., although we
have been quite unable to obtain any at this price, and Mr. Spence,
the manufacturing chemist of Manchester, has just erected large ap-
paratus, by means of which he hopes to supply the sulpho-cyanide at
even a less price. We may therefore reasonably anticipate that sulphur
toning, yellow whites, and fading positives, will soon have gone the
way of the Dodo and Megatherium.
Celestial photography is making great strides on the other side of
the Atlantic. Dr. Henry Draper has just completed a large reflecting
telescope, 16 inches in aperture, and 13 feet focus, which he intends
to devote to this branch of science. ‘he mirror is of glass, covered at
Sir John Herschel’s suggestion, with a film of precipitated silver. It
is sustained in a walnut tube, hooked with brass, and specially mounted
to avoid tremor. When in use the instrument is allowed to be at rest,
clockwork being used only to drive the sensitive plate. By this means,
only 1 oz. instead of half a ton, is moved. A photographic laboratory
is attached to the observatory, and the apparatus is arranged to take
photographs of the moon as large as 3 feet in diameter, being on a scale
of less than 50 miles to the inch. From the reputation which Dr.
Draper has already earned as a photographer and physical philo-
sopher, we are justified in expecting that celestial photography will
advance rapidly in his hands.
1864. | Physics. 157
Px! PHYSICS.
Lieut, Heat, anp Execrriciry.
Liaut.—The cause of the scintillations of stars has long been a
puzzle, not only to children, but to philosophers. Many explanations
have been given, but none are quite satisfactory. Mr. A. Claudet *
has thrown some new light upon this subject, by an instrument which
he has devised, called the chromatoscope. He attributes the beautiful
sparkling, with changing colours, exhibited by certain stars on a clear
night, to the evolution in different degrees of swiftness of the various
coloured rays they emit. These rays are supposed to divide during
their long and rapid course through space, and we see them following
each other in quick succession, but so rapidly that, although we see
distinctly the various colours, we cannot judge of the separate lengths
of their duration. Mr. Claudet’s instrument consists of a reflecting
telescope, part of which is caused to rotate eccentrically in such a
manner, that instead of a point a ring-like image of the star is seen.
The rapidity of rotation is adjusted so that each separate colour
given by the star is drawn out into a large segment of the ring, and
in that manner the light from the star can be analysed as in a spectro-
scope.
In observing the rays of sunlight through a powerful spectroscope
many additional lines are visible when the sun is near the horizon.
These are called telluric rays, as they have been shown to owe their
existence to some components of the earth’s atmosphere. Father
Secchi, the Roman Astronomer, considers that aqueous vapour in the
atmosphere is the principal cause of these telluric rays, and this
opinion has been generally adopted by physicists: but M. Volpicelli ¢
now describes experiments to prove that these rays are independent of
the presence or absence of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere. In our
opinion his experiments are scarcely conclusive ; for it is quite reason~
able to suppose that the passage of light through 100 miles of atmo-
sphere might produce effects which could not be imitated in a labora-
tory experiment.
The determination of the refracting power of various transparent
liquids and solids, a matter of considerable practical importance, is
usually effected by reference to certain well-known lines in the solar
spectrum. It would be much easier to have recourse to the bright
spectral lines of coloured flames, which are obtainable with ease at any
time, whereas the employment of Fraiinhofer’s lines is dependent on
the weather. For accurate experiments it is necessary to know the
length of the waves for the differently coloured rays, and this informa-
tion has been supplied by Dr. J. Miiller,t by means of one of Nobert’s
well-divided glass screens. His results show that the length of wave
* Phil. Mag.’ No. 175.
+ ‘Cosmos,’ vol. xxiii. p. 430.
t Poggendort’s ‘ Annalen,’ vol, exviii. p. 641.
158 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
of the red lithium line is 0:0006733 millimetres. The wave length
of the yellow sodium line is 0:0005918 millim ; * that of the green
thallium line is 0°:0005348 millim, whilst that of the blue strontium
line is 0:0004631 millim.
Perhaps the most powerful spectroscope in the world has recently
been constructed by Professor Cooke. It has nine bisulphide of carbon
prisms, which are constructed of cast-iron, with parallel sides of glass,
special precautions being taken to remedy the curvature of the glass
plate from the hardening of the glue. The nine prisms are almost
optically perfect, and the light is bent by them through nearly 360°.
By its means Professor Cooke has established the following points :—
1. The lines of the solar spectrum are as innumerable as the stars ;
at least ten times as many being visible as are shown in Kirchhofi’s
Chart, with an infinitude of nebulous bands, just on the point of being
resolved. No less than nine additional lines are seen enclosed within
the fixed line D, one being nebulous and showing signs of resolva-
bility under further increase of power. 2. It proves that the coinci-
dences between the metallic lines of artificial spectra and the corres-
ponding dark lines of the solar spectrum remain perfect under this
increase of optical power. The two sodium lines can be spread out
so as to allow of the thousandth part of the intermediate space being
distinguished, and still their coincidence with the Fraiimhofer lines is
absolute. 38. Many of the bands of metallic spectra are broad coloured
spaces crossed by bright lines; this is especially the case in the calcium,
barium, and strontium spectra.
Some reliable experiments on the photometric value of the electrie
light have been published by Professor W. B. Rogers.t The battery was
very powerful, consisting of 250 carbon elements, each having an active
zine surface of 85 square inches. They were grouped in fine battalions
of 50 each, and the light was obtained in an apartment where a range
of about 50 feet could be obtained for the photometric apparatus. In-
stead of an ordinary standard light, equivalent to 20 candles, a unit
was substituted ten times as great, equal therefore to 200 candles. By
a series of experiments with the naked electric light unaided by a re-
flector, it was found that its intensity was from 52 to 61 times as great
as the standard light, making it equal in illuminating power from 10,000
to 12,000 standard sperm candles. With the rays concentrated by a
parabolic reflector, its illuminating force had a value equal to several
millions of candles all pouring forth their light at the same time. The
only previous measurement of the illuminating power of the electric
light which we can call to mind is one given by Bunsen. This was
taken with a less powerful battery (48 cells), and the photometric
equivalent was estimated at 572 candles; giving a proportion of 12
candles to the cell, whilst Professor Rogers’ estimate gives the ratio
of 40 candles to the cell.
* Fraiinhofer’s measurement for the dark line D of the solar spectrum gave it
a wave leneth of 0:0005888.
+ ‘Silliman’s Journal,’ vol. xxxvi. p. 307.
1864. | Physics. 159
An improved process for silvering glass for telescopic purposes has
been published by M. Martin.* Sle uses four liquids :—The first
being a 10 per cent. solution of nitrate of silver; the second, liquor
ammonie sp. gr. ‘970; the third, a 4 per cent. solution of caustic
soda; and the fourth, a 123 per cent. solution of white sugar, to which
he adds a 4 per cent. of nitric acid, and after 20 minutes’ ebullition
adds 25 parts of alcohol, and water to make up the bulk to 250, The
silvering liquid is made by mixing together twelve parts of solution 1 ;
then eight parts of No. 2; next twenty parts of No. 3; then sixty parts
of distilled water ; and finally, in twenty-four hours’ time, ten parts of
No. 4. The object to be silvered is then to be immersed in, when it
will be immediately covered with a film of reduced silver, which in ten
or fifteen minutes’ time will be sufficiently thick for use. After having
been well washed with distilled water and dried, the surface may be
polished with chamois leather and rouge.
During some researches on the compounds of mercury with the
organic radicals, Dr. Frankland and Mx. B. Duppa discovered a sub-
stance which they call mercuric methide. This body is a transparent
colourless liquid, of the specific gravity of 3:069, so heavy, in fact, that
dense lead glass floats upon its surface. It has been suggested by Mr.
Spiller that this would be an admirable liquid for fluid prisms. At pre-
sent the only substance suited for this purpose is bisulphide of carbon,
which is not half the density, besides being objectionable on account of
its offensive odour, its great volatility, and easy ignition. Mercurie
methide is superior to bisulphide of carbon in all these respects, and
its preparation in quantity would not be attended with any particular
difficulty.
A most ingenious application of some well-known facts connected
with the reflection of light by prisms, has been brought forward by
Mr. Henry Swan, at the meeting of the British Association. He takes
two rectangular prisms of flint glass, placed with their widest sides in
contact. ‘The two copule of a stereoscopic picture are placed in con-
tact with this combination, one being at the back and the other at the
side. Upon now viewing this arrangement with the two eyes, the
picture at the back is seen only by one eye, whilst the side picture is
the only one seen by the other eye, the result being that the picture
appears projected into the centre of the block of glass, possessing as
much apparent solidity as if it were a model cut in ivory.
Heat.—The relation of radiant heat to aqueous vapour is being
thoroughly investigated by Professor Tyndall.t He has found that
pure dry air is almost perfectly transparent to heat-rays, but that, on a
day of average humidity, the quantity of aqueous vapour diffused in
London air produces upwards of sixty times the absorption of the air
itself. This fact is of vast importance to meteorological science. Ten
per cent. of the entire radiation of heat from the earth is absorbed by
* «Comptes Rendus,’ vol. lvi. p. 1044.
+ ‘Phil. Mag.’ vol. xxvi. p. 30.
160 Chronicles of Science. [ Jan.
the aqueous vapour which exists within 10 feet of the earth’s surface
on a day of average humidity. Wet weather, saturating the atmosphere
with vapour, acts as a warm blanket to the earth, whilst cold frosty
weather, by drying the air, allows more heat to radiate from the earth,
and produces a still greater degree of cold. The relation which these
facts bear to many obscure phenomena of climate is fully discussed by
Professor Tyndall in the paper already mentioned.
The destructive energy of hot water in steam-boiler explosions has
been made the subject of an investigation by the Astronomer Royal.* As
the result of many experiments, he concludes that the destructive energy
of one cubic foot of water, at the temperature which produces a pressure
of 60 lbs. to the square inch, is equal to that of 1 1b. of gunpowder.
A very sensitive thermometer has been described by Dr. Joule.t
It consists of a glass tube, 2 feet long and 4 inches in diameter, divided
longitudinally by a blackened pasteboard diaphragm, with spaces of
about an inch at the top and bottom. In the top space a bit of mag-
netized sewing-needle, furnished with a glass index, is suspended by
a single filament of silk. The arrangement is similar to that of a
bratticed coal-pit shaft, and the slightest excess of temperature of one
side over that of the other occasions a circulation of air which ascends
on the heated side, and, after passing across the glass index, descends
on the other side. As a proof of the extreme sensibility of the instru-
ment, it is able to detect the heat radiated by the moon. A beam of
moonlight was admitted through a slit in a shutter, and as the ray
passed gradually across the instrument, the index was deflected several
degrees, showing that the air in the instrument had been raised a few
ten-thousandths of a degree in temperature by the moon’s rays.
Many researches on the intensity of the electrical current developed
by different thermo-electro pairs have been published by M. Edmond
Becquerel ; he finds that the best thermo-electric couple is composed of
platinum and palladium, the two metals being unaltered by heat, and
the intensity of the current increasing regularly with the temperature.
This electric pyrometer was compared with graduated air-thermo-
meters, and by this means many high temperatures have been able to
be expressed in centigrade degrees. We give a few:—The boiling
point of sulphur is 448° ; the fusing point of silver is 916°; the fusing
point of gold, 1,037°; the fusing point of palladium, between 1,560°
and 1,380°; the fusing point of platinum, between 1,460° and 1,480° ;
the highest temperature of a fragment of magnesia, before the oxy-
hydrogen blow-pipe, 1,600° ; whilst the limit of temperature of the
positive carbon of the voltaic are is 2,000°.
A convenient gas-furnace for experimental purposes has long been
wanted. Many contrivances have been made having for their object
the production of a furnace-heat with gas, but they have invariably
required an artificial blast of air, thus rendering it necessary for one
person to be in attendance, and hard at work, during the whole of the
* British Association, Newcastle Meeting.
+ ‘Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester,’
1864. | Physics. 161
operation. Mr. Gore* has described a new gas-furnace, which possesses
many advantages over those hitherto used. It would be difficult to
rénder its construction intelligible without drawings; but the value of
it may be understood when we say that the smallest size will melt half-
a-pound of copper or six ounces of cast-iron in less than a quarter of
an hour, at a cost of about,one halfpenny. The melted substances are
perfectly accessible to be manipulated upon for a continuous and
lengthened period of time, without contact with impurities or with the
atmosphere, and without lowering their temperature sufficiently to cause
them to solidify. Moreover, these advantages are secured by means
of ordinary coal-gas and atmospheric air, without the use of a bellows
or a lofty chimney, or of regenerators or valves requiring frequent
attention.
Execrriciry.—The passage of an electrical discharge through
various gases and between electrodes of various metals, gives rise to
different luminous phenomena. When this light is examined in the
spectroscope, it has been found that each elementary gas or metal
possesses certain well-marked characteristic lines, and it has generally
been assumed :—1. That each substance has a set of lines peculiar to
itself. 2. That those lines are not produced or modified by any mole-
cular agent except heat. 3. That the spectrum of one substance is
in nowise modified by the presence of another; in such cases both
spectra co-existing independently, and are merely superposed. 4. That
electricity does not make matter luminous directly, but only by heating
it, so that the electric spectrum differs in nothing from that produced
by heat of sufficient intensity. Dr. Robinson has examined these
questions in a long and laborious investigation, and the result has been
presented to the Royal Society, in a Paper “On the Spectra of Electric
Light.” The opinion to which his results seem to point, is that the
origin of the lines is to be referred to some yet undiscovered relation
between matter in general and the transfer of electric action ; the places
of the lines being invariably the same, but their brightness being
_ modified according to circumstances.
Since attention has been directed to the enormous variation in elec-
tric conducting power, caused by the admixture of even minute quan-
tities of metallic or other impurities in copper, it has become a question
of some interest to determine the electric conducting power of all the
pure metals. Professor Matthiessen + has continued his researches on
this subject, and has lately determined the electrical relations of pure
thallium. At the freezing point of water this metal has a conducting
power equal to 9-16 (pure silver being 100), and its conducting power
decreases between the freezing and boiling point, 51°420 per cent.,
which is a larger percentage decrement than that obtained for many
other pure metals, namely, 29°307 per cent.{ The conducting power
of pure iron was found to be, at 0? C= 16°81, with a percentage decre-
ment for an increase of temperature to 100°C = 38:1. The conducting
* «Chemical News,’ vol. viii. p. 2.
+ ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ 1863.
t ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ Part. I., 1862.
VOL. I. M
162 Chronicles of Science. j Jan.
powers of the pure metals given in the following table, shows the places
which the above metals take in the series.
Conducting Power at 0°.
Silver . hic : : ; : - 10000
Coy o so a oS eS lg) BBE
Gold 5 6 A 5 + : ; 5 77-96
Zine 5 6 - é ' 5 c $ 29°02
Cadmium . 5 3 c é . 4. YBYTD.
Cobalt . O 5 : ° : S 4 Wy (Pe
Tron : A : 4 ‘ a 5 16°81
Nickel . Aohpees 5 F ‘ ‘ 5) PLL
Tin ; ; ; ‘ ; ; ; 5 12°36
Thallium ° Bee me Path othr F A 9°16
Lead . 6 A ‘ é - ‘ ‘ 832
Arsenic . C A : : . c ; 4-76
Amik? 96° “5 9 6 oo G Oo 4°62
Bismuth 4 See ame ‘ 4 1-245.
It has long been a desideratum amongst electricians to obtain a
battery having the constancy of Daniell’s without the annoyance
attending the use of a porous cell. Two such batteries have been
described lately. One is the invention of M. Jacobini, and consists of
a glass vessel, in which is placed a cylinder of copper pierced with
holes ; outside this is a larger cylinder of zinc. The copper cylinder
is filled with powdered sulphate of copper, tightly pressed down, and
the remainder of the space in the glass vessel is filled with sand,
touching the zine cylinder on both sides. Water is then poured in, so
as to saturate both the sand and powdered sulphate of copper, and the
arrangement is covered up. Several hours elapse before the electric
current begins to develope itself actively. It then increases for a few
days, and finally sinks again till its power becomes constant. Father
Secchi has had a battery of this kind in use for three months, and
reports that it is as efficient as when first constructed.
The other battery is the invention of M. Grenet, and is a modi-
fication of the sulphate-of-mercury pile of M. Marie-Davy. At the
bottom of a glass jar a quantity of acid sulphate of mercury is placed.
A stick of gas-carbon and a cylinder of zine are supported upright in
the jar by means of a cork, which closes the upper part of the vessel ;
water is then carefully poured in, and the whole is set aside, where it
will not be shaken or moved. A wire connected with the carbon forms
the positive pole, whilst the zinc forms the negative pole. The water
becoming gradually charged with sulphate of mercury, attacks the zine ;
the hydrogen which is evolved reduces the mercury on the carbon, and
the metal as it accumulates falls down to the bottom of the vessel. It
the apparatus is not shaken, there are formed two layers of Lquid—
the lower one consisting almost entirely of a solution of the mereury
salt, whilst the upper layer contains the sulphate of zinc. It is owing
to this separation that the porous vessel is able to be dispensed with.
The battery is employed of two sizes—the larger one contains 500
grammes of water and 100 grammes of mercury salt; the smaller con-
tains respectively 100 grammes and 380 grammes. They are said to
keep in perfect order for six months at a time, without once requiring
to be touched.
1864. | Sanatory Science. 163
X. SANATORY SCIENCE.
Ir we were asked to state what it is that more especially characterizes
the scientific Practitioner of Medicine of our own day, we should state
it to be the strong desire whereby he is actuated to investigate the
conditions which lead to the production of disease, the laws that re-
gulate its propagation, and the means by which its exciting causes may
be diminished or altogether destroyed. The modern physician does
not waste his energies or burn the midnight lamp in anxious strivings
after the philosopher’s stone, in vain researches for some subtle elixir
or fragrant balsam, with a few drops of which he might hope to charm
away disease, to renew the life’s blood, and impart to the frail and
tottering form of age the vigour and elasticity of youth. Neither does
he now rely in his treatment of disease on complicated formule, which
like the once celebrated Mithridate of the ancients, consisted of some
two score ingredients; nor on nauseous and disgusting remedies, which,
like the oriental Bezoar stones, or the Album Graecum, were invested
with a reputed efficacy proportioned to the repulsiveness of their
origin. All this is now changed. A striving after simplicity is the
order of the day. The sutliciency of the natural processes of re-
covery, when aided by a few appropriate remedies, is more widely
recognized. The necessity of ensuring an abundant supply of fresh
air, of practising social and personal cleanliness, of procuring a mo-
derate yet sufficient quantity of food, and of guarding by precautionary
measures against the special risks attendant on the pursuit of certain
occupations, is now loudly proclaimed.
The importance of paying due attention to all such wise and simple
sanatory regulations, is not only at the present time acceded to by the
medical profession and the more intelligent of the general public, but
has at length been fully recognized by the Legislature. The admir-
able reports which, in obedience to the Public Health Act for 1858,
have now for a series of years been annually submitted to the Privy
Council by their medical officer, Mr. Simon, have contributed in no
small degree to the distribution of sound information on many of the
causes that lead to the production of diseases, and on the means
which ought to be taken to mitigate or prevent them. Of the many
reports which have proveeded from his pen, there is none, we think,
exceeding in general interest the one published in the autumn of the
past year.* It embraces careful inquiries into the efficacy of the pre-
sent system of public vaccination, and particulars as to the supply and
distribution of vaccine lymph; into the diseases which may result from
the pursuit of some industrial occupations ; into the influences probably
exerted by the distress in the cotton-manufacturing districts in the
production and spread of typhus and other starvation diseases ; on the
effect produced on the human body by the consumption of the milk or
flesh of diseased animals, and on the best steps for lessening the pre-
valence of disease amongst our domestic animals. As these subjects
* Fifth Report of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council. London, 1863.
M 2
164 . Chronicles of Science. [Jan.
all possess a considerable scientific and practical value, it may not be
without interest to examine into some of the leading conclusions to
which Mr. Simon has been led in the course of his inquiries.
The existence during the last few years of several wide-spread
epidemics of small-pox, in different parts of the country, has caused
much public attention to be directed to the working of the various
statutes which the Legislature has enacted for the national protection
against that disease. Doubts have even been thrown by some on the
efficiency of the vaccine matter at present employed. It has been as-
sumed that its protecting powers have been, through long-continued
transmission from one individual to another, worn out or greatly im-
paired, and that a more frequent recourse to the original source from
which it was obtained ought to have been resorted to. But on this
matter Mr. Simon speaks both decidedly and assuringly. He re-
quested Mr. Robert Ceely, of Aylesbury, “to whom more than to any
man, since Jenner, the medical profession of this country is indebted
for its knowledge of the natural history of vaccination,” to inspect all
the sources whence lymph is conveyed to the National Vaccine Hstab-
lishment; and the result of that inspection has been to assure Mr.
Ceely “of the perfectly satisfactory character of the lymph there in
use.”
Of the workings of the different enactments for ensuring a complete
system of vaccination the report is anything but satisfactory—nay,
the public defences against small-pox are in a great measure insufficient
and delusive. The neglect of local authorities in enforcing vaccina-
tion in the workhouses and schools under their control; the imperfec-
tion of the arrangements for providing at the public expense thoroughly
good vaccination, so that it should be everywhere and gratis within
reach of those who may choose to avail themselves of it; and the
omission In many cases to give the required notification of such
arrangements, even when they may have been provided, have all ope-
rated in bringing Mr. Simon to this conclusion. But now that attention
has been directed to these cases of neglect in the working of the exist-
ing machinery, it is to be hoped that means will be taken to ensure a
thorough vaccination of the people, and if needful to compel it. We
are slow indeed in this country to enact anything which may seem to
impose an unnecessary restriction on personal liberty; but the per-
sonal liberty of the individual must always be subordinate to the
general good. The welfare of the whole community is so closely con-
nected with this question of compulsory vaccination, that we should
not regret to see the day when the production of a vaccination certifi-
cate will be as essential to holding any office, to gaining employment,
or to obtaining admittance to a school, as an attestation of correct
principles and good moral character.
The diseases of animals employed as food by man possess an
interest both in a sanatory and economic point of view. The in-
fluence which the flesh of diseased animals exercises upon those who
may consume it has for some time attracted attention. Many strong
representations on this subject have been made by Professor John
Gamgee, Principal of the New Veterinary College, Edinburgh, and in
1864. | Sanatory Science. 165
1862 he was requested by Mr. Simon to prepare a special report, which
is included in the volume. The result of the very elaborate inquiries
which Mr. Gamgee has conducted has been to show that disease has
prevailed during the last few years, and still prevails very extensively,
amongst horned cattle, sheep, and swine, and that the diseased animals
are largely employed as human food. The diseases with which these
animals are affected may conveniently be classed under three heads :—
Ist, Contagious Fevers ; 2nd, Anthracic and Anthracoid Disorders ;
ord, Parasites. The chief forms of the contagious fevers are those
which are more commonly known as the pleuro-pneumonia, or lung
disease, of horned cattle, and the aphthous fever, murrain, or foot and
mouth disease, which attacks not only horned cattle but also sheep and
swine. Small-pox also sometimes attacks sheep, and not many months
ago an outbreak of it excited much alarmin Wiltshire. What influence
then will the consumption of the flesh of animals so diseased have
upon those consuming it ? Repulsive though it may be to our notions
to eat the flesh of animals which have died of such disorders, and
though we may be inclined on @ priori grounds to suppose it might
generate disease in those who eat it, yet more extended investigations
must be made before we can state absolutely what the disorders are
which it induces in the human frame.
The anthracie and anthracoid diseases are, it is said, frequently
accompanied with peculiar changes, in some respects putrefactive,
in the blood ; erysipelatious and carbuncular affections also sometimes
occur, and the body of the animal may develope in itself a specific
morbid poison, which, by inoculation, can be communicated to cther
animals, and cases have been recorded in which disease and even
death in man have followed the use of cooked meat derived from
animals suffering from anthrax.
The parasitic diseases of the domestic animals are both numerous
and important. The so-called “ measles” of the pig is nothing more
than the diffusion of a parasite, the cysticercus cellulose, through the
muscular system of the animal; the “sturdy” of the sheep is due to
the development of the ccenurus cerebralis in the brain ; the ‘“‘ rot” of
sheep to the production of flukes, a species of distoma, in the liver ;
a form of lung-disease is produced by the development in those
organs of different kinds of strongylus ;* and the muscular system may
be infested by multitudes of a minute microscopic worm, the trichina
spiralis. Now, there can be no question that meat affected with one
or other of the above parasites may become the source of disease in man.
Observations on this head have been so multiplied that this statement
may be made in the most positive manner. That most troublesome
and annoying of all the worms infesting the human bowel, viz. the
tapeworm, has been shown by the researches of Von Siebold and
Kiichenmeister to be derived from eating the flesh of “measly”
pork, the cysticercus cellulose of the pig becoming developed into
the tenia solium of the human bowel: and by the ingestion of the
ccenurus cerebralis, another form of tenia, the tenia ccenurus is pro-
duced. But perhaps the most curious of all these parasites is the
* A nematoid worm.
166 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
trichina spiralis which infests the muscular system. So long as it
remains in the muscle, it lies quietly coiled up in a spiral form in a
small cyst. But as the recent investigations of Virchow, Leuckart,
Zenker, and Turner have shown, when the flesh of an animal con-
taining these worms is swallowed, they become disengaged from their
cysts, young worms develope in the interior of the females, and this
takes place with such rapidity that in a few days the intestinal mucus
becomes packed with multitudes of minute threadlike worms. Then
from the intestines they migrate in swarms into the muscular system,
and there enclose themselves in cysts possessing the same form as those
with which their parents were enveloped. The flesh employed as human
food which is most frequently infested by the trichina is that of the
pig, and more than one case has now been recorded in which violent
symptoms, and even death, have followed the use of the flesh of the
trichinatous pigs,* and Professor Leuckart has found that trichina
meat retains much of its injurious properties, even after some amount
of pickling and smoking. We may learn, then, from these instances,
how important it is that animals affected with such parasitic diseases
should not only most scrupulously be avoided as articles of human
food, but that their flesh should not even be given to other animals.
The great diminution which has taken place in the supply of cotton
and the consequent stoppage of the factories of our numerous Lan-
cashire towns, by throwing many thousands of persons out of employ-
ment, necessarily excited much anxiety not only as to how money was
to be procured for their maintenance, but the best and most economical
way in which this money was to be spent. The report that typhus
fever was making its appearance in some of the towns also excited
attention and alarm, and in obedience to the wishes of the Lords of
the Privy Council, Mr. Simon requested Dr. Buchanan and Dr. E.
Smith to visit the distressed districts and report upon the local pre-
cautions taken to prevent that destitution which breeds disease, and to
obtain more exact information with regard to the minute economics of
diet. The report of Dr. E. Smith is of a most complete and elaborate
nature. He has in it endeavoured to answer two important questions.
1st. What is the minimum allowance of money to purchase sufficient
food for the maintenance of healthP 2nd. What is the best method
of expending that allowance ?
He has compiled a large collection of formule and dietaries, with
the wholesale prices and nutritive values of the articles employed.
His estimates are based on the real amount of nutriment which is re-
quired by these populations; viz. 380,100 grains of carbon, and 1,400
grains of nitrogen, weekly. He suggests that relief should be ad-
ministered in three ways—in money, cooked food, and uncooked food.
From the actual experience of the people, it would appear that single
persons now spend weekly 2s. 43d. each for food ; but in the case of
families, where there are young children, the rate of expenditure is
* As these pages are going through the press, we notice a paragraph in the daily
public prints, in which it is stated that at Herrstadt, in Prussian Silesia, a large
number of persons who had eaten at dinner trichinatous pork, were taken suddenly
and seriously ill, and that of these sixteen died.
1864. | Sanatory Science. 167
under 2s. This sum of 2s., at the present rates of prices for food, ap-
pears to be the dividing line between sufficiency and insufficiency, as
by an expenditure below that sum, health cannot be maintained. There
is also much interesting information on the comparative digestibility
of certain foods, and on the influence which they exercise both on the
secretions and excretions. This report of Dr. Edward Smith’s we
look upon as a valuable contribution to the study of dietetics, and one
which ought to be carefully perused by all who take an interest in
providing economically a due quantity and variety of nutritious food
for the poor and destitute.
The effect produced by the pursuit of certain occupations, on the
health of the employed, has for some years past excited much attention.
The prevalence of phthisis amongst file-makers, the tendency to
bronchitic disorders exhibited by coal-miners, the paralytic affections
and attacks of colic so frequent amongst workers in lead and its com-
pounds, the diseases of the nervous system which attack looking-
glass silverers, watch gilders, and others exposed to mercurial emana-
tions, have long been subjects of discussion, and many ingenious plans,
mechanical and otherwise, have been devised for warding off the per-
nicious effects resulting from the pursuit of such occupations. The
increase which has of late years taken place in the industrial appli-
cations of phosphorus, and of the compound of arsenic called emerald
green, or Scheele’s green, and the cases in which injurious, nay fatal,
effects have been produced on those employed in their manufacture
and use, induced Mr. Simon to request Dr. Bristowe and Dr. Guy to
make inquiries and report thereon. From the careful examination
which Dr. Bristowe has conducted into the methods employed in lucifer
match-making—the chief industrial application of phosphorus,—he
concludes that the disease of the jaw-bone, to which match-makers are
especially liable, might be altogether avoided if amorphous instead of
common phosphorus were employed, and that this form of match would
possess the additional advantage of not being spontaneously combus-
tible, and therefore not so liable to cause fires. There are, indeed,
certain difficulties in the way of carrying out the application of the
amorphous phosphorus. But it is the opinion of Mr, Albright, one
of the largest manufacturers of phosphorus, ‘that if the use of the
common form were prohibited, the end would be attained completely
in six months, to the satisfaction of the manufacturers and the public
advantage.”
The recent extensive employment of emerald green in the manu-
facture of wall papers, coloured ornaments of confectionery, artificial
leaves and flowers, green tarlatans for dresses, children’s toys, &e.,
has aiforded Dr. Guy abundant material for the preparation of his in-
teresting report. He makes many suggestions as to methods which
might be adopted to prevent or diminish the risk of poisoning by
this pigment, and we recommend all those who may be connected
with the different branches of industry in which this brilliant green
is employed, to attend carefully to the conclusions to which he has
arrived.
At those two great scientific Congresses, the British Association for
168 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
the Advancement of Science, and the Social Science Association,
which now assemble every autumn in one or other of our large towns,
various questions affecting public health were at their last meetings
brought before their appropriate sections. To some of the most im-
portant of these we will now refer. As was not unnatural, the meet-
ing of the British Association last autumn in Newcastle, the centre of
one of our most important coal-producing districts, called forth some
interesting papers by Drs. Wilson, White, and B. W. Richardson, on the
habits and diseases of the miners, and on means which might be em-
ployed for diminishing the evil effects of breathing noxious vapours
and gases. An excellent paper by Dr. G. Robinson, on organic
effluvia, was also communicated, in which the author showed that those
abnormal constituents of the atmosphere which are recognized under
that term, may be resolved into four principal groups, viz.:—I1st. Gases
and vapours formed during the decomposition of organic matter.
Qnd. Odoriferous particles suc generis. 3rd. Volatile organic matters
not endowed with vitality. 4th. Living germs. On those last-named
constituents of the atmosphere many valuable observations were made
by Mr. James Samuelson, whose suggestion that the atmosphere of
hospitals should be tested microscopically for living germs, appears
to us to be of much importance.
The great Sepoy mutiny, &c., by necessitating a much larger number
of European troops to be retained in India for defensive purposes
than was formerly required, has compelled the attention of the autho-
rities to the need of greater care in promoting and preserving the
health of the soldiers stationed there, both in camp and barracks.
Papers on this subject were read before the British Association by
Drs. Bird, Stewart, Clark, and Camps, and at the Social Science As-
sociation by Miss Nightingale and the Rev. Dawson Burns. From
the report of the Royal Commission on the sanatory state of the army
in India, it would appear that the death rate amongst the British
troops serving in India amounts to no less than 69 per 1,000 per
annum. Now taking the strength of the British army in India at
73,000, it follows that such an army would lose somewhat over 5,000
men annually, equal to an entire brigade. And asin unhealthy sea-
sons the death rate rises to double the above amount, we may well ask
with Miss Nightingale, ‘‘ Where are the 10,000 recruits to be found
to fill up the gap of a single unhealthy year?” and say with her,
‘‘that on the better preservation of the health of our troops—hinges
the very important social question, viz.—How the British race is to
hold possession of India, and to bestow upon its vast population the
benefit of her own civilization ?” This great mortality is due to two
distinct sets of causes, for one of which the authorities are respon-
sible ; the other is to be ascribed to the personal habits of the men
themselves. The building of barracks in bad situations, the crowding
together of a large number of men, the insufficient supply of fresh
water, the imperfect ventilation, and the deficient drainage are all
causes of disease which are under the control of the Government, and
for which it ought to be made responsible.
The excessive use of animal food and ardent spirits are those vices
1864. | Sanatory Science. 169
amongst the personal habits of the soldier which call most loudly for
correction and reform, and we cannot but think that if proper steps be
taken, the mortality arismg from them may be largely diminished.
Experience has shown that the proper carrying out of sanatory prin-
ciples in other parts of the globe in which British troops are quartered,
has succeeded in effecting great improvements in the health of the
men, and we see no reason why the same good result should not follow
the application of the same principles in our Indian empire.
We cannot close this brief résumé of some of the most important
recent contributions to Sanatory Science, without directing attention
to the suggestive address on many matters connected with public
health, delivered at the Edinburgh meeting of the Social Science
Association, to the department over which he presided, by Professor
Christison.
In this address Dr. Christison inquires into the mode in which
the principal diseases or groups of diseases are influenced by the
agents which affect public health. One of the most remarkable facts
which he elucidates is the total disappearance of ague which has of late
years taken place in Scotland, a country in which at one time it was
very common. This disappearance does not indeed seem to be coin-
cident with the drainage and agricultural improvements which have
been carried on so energetically there for many years past; for the
decline in the disease took place before such improvements were car-
ried out. The co-existence of typhus fever with deficient ventilation
and cleanliness and want of work is forcibly pointed out, but the de-
cline which has of late years taken place in Edinburgh in the number
and fatality of the visitations of this disease is ascribed by the Pro-
fessor to changes in the type or constitution of epidemic diseases,
rather than to any satisfactory improvement in the cleaning of the
lanes and houses of the working classes. In the case of the typhoid
or enteric fever, Dr. Christison thinks that something more is to be
looked for in endeavouring to decide upon its mode of origin than ill-
drained streets, defective water-closets, and foul air. Allthese cir-
cumstances certainly favour its invasion, but its true cause lies in
something more specific, and whilst better drainage and more perfect
ventilation ought to be encouraged, yet they alone are nut sufficient to
extirpate enteric fever. These statements are in opposition to much
that recent writers, both medical and non-medical, have been for
many years back strongly inculcating, and, as was naturally to be ex-
pected, have not been allowed to pass unchallenged. But we cannot
help thinking that as the deliberately expressed opinions of a phy-
sician, who has possessed opportunities of studying fever second to no
man, they are deserving of much careful consideration. From a sta-
tistical comparison of the mortality of the large towns of Scotland with
the agricultural counties, the greater frequency of the diseases de-
pendent on a depraved state of the constitution in the former than
the latter is, as might naturally be expected, clearly proved. The
address concludes by showing that the Western Islands of Scotland,
in spite of their mist-laden atmosphere and exposed position, enjoy
an almost complete immunity from pulmonary consumption.
170 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
XI. ZOOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY.
Prorrssor Owen has made a Report upon the departments of Natural
History inthe British Museum for the year 1862, which speaks favour-
ably of the general condition of the collection as to preservation,
though, as far as the stored animals in the vaults—many thousands in
number—are concerned, each successive year of such storage increases
the difficulty of keeping the specimens in a good state. The skins
of Mammalia and Birds are in good condition, and available for scien-
tific examination, though exhibiting some signs of the effects of damp.
The Insects and Crustacea are also easily available, and in good con-
dition; but the Mollusca in spirits are so crowded, that access to the
specimens not in the front row is difficult and hazardous, and their
utility greatly abridged. The exhibited specimens in the various
galleries are described as showing only the degree of detriment which is
inevitable from exposure, with the utmost amount of care; but these
are in general so crowded as to impair their utility. The additions
to the Zoological department in the yeat 1862, were 13,129 in number,
including several great rarities and valuable specimens, such as Troglo-
dytes vellerosus, 2 new anthropoid ape, discovered by Captain Burton
in the Cameroon mountains of West Tropical Africa; a new tortoise
(Cyclemys Mouhoitii), from the Lao Mountains in Cochin China; three
or four new species of crocodiles; 1,911 fishes have also been added,
many of them new species, and of them 128 have been placed in the
British Collection.
M. Thury, Professor in the Academy of Geneva, has made a dis-
covery, which, if it be corroborated, will be one of the utmost value
in the farm and homestead. He has arrived at a formula for obtaining
cattle of either sex at will. The duration, character, and signs con-
nected with the period of heat in the cow upon which it is proposed
to experimhent must be first ascertained. These being known, in
order to ensure a cow-calf congress must be effected on the first ap-
pearance of the access of this period ; while a bull-calf may be as
certainly ensured, by making use of the termination of this period.
It is necessary to exclude from the experiment those animals in which
the signs of heat are vague and uncertain, as is observed in fat cattle,
and confined individuals; but healthy cows, and those living in the
open air, must be used for the purpose. The experiments made upon
cattle at Montet, appear to have been decisive, if we may judge from
the following results :—‘“‘ In the first place,” says the breeder, “ in
twenty-two successive cases I have sought to obtain heifers; my cows
were of the Schwitz race, and my bull pure Durham blood. I obtained
the result sought for in every case. Having later purchased a Durham
cow, I sought to obtain a pure Durham bull-calf, and succeeded, and
have since obtained six other bulls, crossed between Durham and
Schwitz. Altogether, I have made twenty-nine experiments, and
every one has given the result sought.” The importance of such a
law will be evident,—and especially will such results be valuable in
1864, | Zoology and Physiology. 171
countries where it is desirable to obtain oxen for working purposes ;
as in others, cows are the most valued animals. Moreover, the same
remarks will apply to sheep.
A series of experiments is about to be conducted on the Imperial
farm at Vincennes, in order to test the value and truth of the discovery.
While on the subject of cattle, it may be well to refer to a practice
adopted by M. Charlier, for the suppression of horns, an operation
which may sometimes be of great advantage. In the early months of
life, when the rudiment of the horn begins to appear, it may be done
without danger or expense, the owner himself operating with facility.
The instrument used is a kind of trephine, a small cylinder of good
steel, with a sharp cutting edge at one end and a point at the other.
This instrument is placed around the young horn, bearing sufficiently
on it to cut through the skin and subjacent tissue at the base of the
horn, and then everting the soft horn, which offers no resistance. The
wound heals in a few days afterwards without suppuration, and gene-
rally without any febrile symptoms.
In the beautiful and elaborate Memoir published by the Smithsonian
Institution (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, xiii. 169), en-
titled ‘ Researches upon the Anatomy and Physiology of Respiration
in the Chelonia, by Drs. Weir Mitchell, and G. R. Moorehouse, some
curious errors of previous writers are pointed out with regard to the
respiratory movements in Turtles. All writers upon this subject,
including Malpighi, Cuvier, Johannes Miller, Milne Edwards, Agassiz,
&e., appear to have described the act of breathing to be performed by
them thus:—by the depression of the hyoid apparatus and tongue
air is drawn into the mouth through the nostrils, which are then
closed ; and by raising the hyoid, air is driven from the mouth through
the glottis and trachea into the lungs, when inspiration is completed.
Expiration being effected by the contraction of the abdominal muscles,
and the consequent compression of the lungs. Instead of this, the
authors of this Memoir have proved that the -hyoid apparatus has
nothing whatever to do with ordinary breathing, but that inspiration is
performed by the abdominal muscles, which naturally form a deep
concavity, but contracting become flat, draw down the viscera, enlarge
the cavity of the trunk, which enlargement is followed by a rush of
air through the trachea into the lungs, when inspiration is completed ;
while expiration is produced by the action of a peculiar muscle, now
first completely described, like a broad digastric, which arises from
the fore and hind part of the shield, and unites by a broad tendon
across the middle of the abdominal cavity, between which muscle in
front and the shield behind, are included the viscera—and by contrac-
tion of which expiration is effected. It is remarkable that this correct
view has since been found by the authors to be set forth in a dissertation
on the subject written at Gottingen, in 1795, by Robert Townson, LL.D.,
and they were surprised, on learning the singularly correct views there
propounded, to find that they had ever since been either unappre-
ciated or condemned.
Signor Trinchese has been engaged in the investigation of the
oD oD
172 Chronicles of Science. | Jan.
nervous system of the Gasteropodous Mollusca, taking as types the
Helix pomatia, Arion rufus, and Lymnea stagnalis. He finds that
in all the nervous centres of these animals there are,—round or pyri-
form cells of variable dimensions, enveloped in a thick sheath of con-
nective tissue ; small cells of irregularly triangular form, round which
no envelope is perceived ; and free nuclei, like those met with in the
grey matter of the cerebro-spinal axis in Vertebrates. The cells
usually present four prolongations, passing to each of the cells sur-
rounding them, whilst other processes pass between the latter to other
cells at a greater or less distance. These cells are usually found in the
peripherical portions of the ganglia, the interior being occupied with
fibres and conjunctive tissue. The optic ganglia consist of free
nuclei and nervous fibres proceeding from the anterior part of the
cerebroid ganglia, two in number. On the anterior portion of them
in Helix and Arion, there are four small accessory cerebroid gan-
glia; and on the course of the nerves connecting the cerebroid masses
with the pedal or abdominal ganglion, there is a small ganglion,
composed of cells united in groups, like the compartments of an
orange. The peripheral nerves are formed of very delicate tubes,
having on their walls nuclei similar to those which are observed in
the higher animals in the Embryonal state. Their mode of termi-
nation in the muscles is remarkable. The nervous element on arri-
ving at the muscular fibre, loses its proper wall, and the axis-cylinder
alone penetrates the muscle, dividing into two very slender filaments.
These take opposite directions, each traversing one-half of the mus-
cular fibre, on arriving at the extremity of which they terminate in
very fine points.
Although we have long been acquainted with the young state of
the true crabs, and hermits, under the form known as Zoéa, especially
distinguished by the want of the ten feet to which the adult animals
are indebted for their name of Decapoda, it is only recently that Fritz
Miller has described the Zoéa forms of the Porcellane as approach-
ing most closely to those of the crabs. He has now added the in-
teresting fact that in certain Prawns and Stomapoda (as probably
Squilla mantis) similar conditions occur. The metamorphosis of the
former commences sometimes (as in the Cirripeds) with monoculoid
forms, and passes through very peculiar Zoéoid and Mysis-like states,
sometimes with Zoéa forms which in structure and mode of movement
resemble those of Hermit Crabs, whilst in others we can hardly say
that there is any metamorphosis. Dr. Miller has, however, described
and figured a little animal which he considers the Zoéa of a Stomapod,
of glassy transparency, in which the segments exist in almost the same
number as in the mature Stomapods, the sixth and seventh abdominal
segments only being not yet distinct from each other. As in the Zoée
of the Crabs and Porcellane, the appendages of the sixth hinder
thoracic segments, and the lateral lamine of the caudal fin were also
as yet entirely deficient. They possess only a median eye.
So little is known of the habits and modes of life of marine animals,
that we cannot but feel much interested and deeply indebted for care-
fully observed facts in this department. Such are those of the curious
1864. | Zoology and Physiology, 173
relations existing between tho Crab, Pagurus Prideauxii, and the
Zoophyte, Adamsia palliata. These two incongruous animals are, it
is well known, constantly found associated together, and although we
have found them difficult to keep alive in an aquarium, Lieut.-Col.
Stuart Wortley has been more successful, and has observed the crab,
after eating two pieces of meat given to it, seize a third with its large
claw, and thrust it into the expectant mouth of the Adamsia. This
has been frequently repeated. On leaving its shell, for the purpose
of establishing itself in a new one, the Pagurus returned to the old
shell, and dislodged the Adamsia with its pointed claws, during which
rough process no acontia were thrown out, as would be done on the
slightest irritation from any other source ; and when entirely separated,
the crab holds it firmly with its base against the new shell until it has
affixed itself. It remained on one occasion for an hour in this position,
when, finding Adamsia did not affix itself readily, it returned to its old
shell upon which Adamsia firmly attached itself as before. So attached
does the crab appear to be to its helpless companion, and so loath to
quit its hold upon it, that Col. Wortley concludes, as we were inclined
to do from facts observed in dredging when they were abundant, that
Adamsia palliata is almost, if not quite, a necessity of existence to
Pagurus Prideauxii. The converse, however, cannot be said, for we
have kept a specimen of Adamsia alive for twelve months unattached
to any shell, the Pagurus having died on the day succeeding its capture.
Another remark on the habits of Crustaceans has been furnished by
Mr. Moore, Curator of the Liverpool Museum, in reference to the King
Crab (Polyphemus) of which several living specimens have been sent
over by Professor Agassiz. The long spine-like tail of this species
has excited much question as to its use. If they are turned over on
their backs, they bend down the tail until they can reach some point
d’appui, and then use it to elevate the body and gain their normal
position. The function assigned to it by some, viz. of placing it under
the body and leaping from place to place, has never been observed.
Rudolf Leuckart has made some interesting observations upon the
development of the Acanthocephali, the only group of Entozoa whose
development had hitherto eluded the investigations of naturalists.
Scattering the ova of six or eight Hchinorhynchi of the species HE. pro-
teus in a bottle containing Gammari, he found in a few days a great
number of these ova in the intestines of the Gammari. The embryos
quitting their envelopes passed into the abdominal cavity of the Crus-
taceans. After three or four weeks the embryo underwent a singular
metamorphosis, which converted its nucleus into a true Echinorhynchus,
like an Echinorderm in its Pluteus. This rapidly increases in size,
and finally fills the body of the embryo, which becomes transformed
into the envelopes external to the muscular tube of the worm, and dis-
tinguished by a proper vascular system. When the spinous armature
of the head is formed, it draws back into the posterior part of its body
like a Cysticercus in its vesicle. Leuckart has counted fifty or sixty
parasites in a single Gammarus.
Considerable attention has been devoted to the characters of the
174 Chronicles of Science. { Jan.
Ameebina, by two gentlemen who, though they do not agree in all
their results, will no doubt by a friendly rivalry the better tend to
elucidate the truth. These are Dr. Wallich and Mr. H. J. Carter.
Dr. Wallich insists upon the absolute necessity of long-continued
and daily observation whenever it is desired to elucidate the characters
and vital phenomena which appertain to the lowest forms of organic
existence ; and entertains the view that probably many, if not all, the
previously described species of Amoeba are referable to, and constitute
mere phases of Ameba villosa, the most highly developed type. Mr.
Carter, however, regards certain characters of primary importance,
and typical of A. princeps (EKhr) as reconstituted by him, while Dr.
Wallich urges these characters as distinctive of Ameba villosa as
already described by him. The characters which Mr. Carter claims
for his A. princeps are its large size and the number of granules it con-
tains; its limacious though protean form, its lobed and obtuse
pseudo-podia proceeding from a posterior end, normally capped with
a tuft of villous prolongations; while the nucleolus is so much
extended over the inner surface of the nuclear cell, that it passes
beyond the equatorial line of the latter, preventing any halo round the
nucleus, as in other Amcebee; but the border of this nucleus is wavy
when it has attained the 450th of an inch in length. The anomaly in
the configuration of the nucleus, however, Mr. Carter afterwards
resigns as a distinctive character. With regard to the apparent
circulation in these low organisms, Dr. Wallich believes that it is not
a vital act, but a secondary and mere mechanical effect consequent on
the inherent vital contractility of the sarcode. The particles simply
flow along with the advancing rush of protoplasm, and there is no
return stream. The numerous and lengthy papers of Dr. Wallich and
Mr. Carter, in the ‘ Annals of Natural History,’ on the subject of these
organisms tend to the combination not only of species, but of genera
which have always hitherto been regarded as perfectly distinct.
The difficulty of distinguishing the lowest animal forms from
vegetable bodies has received a good illustration from some observa-
tions of Mr. H. J. Carter, well known for his papers upon Rhizopods,
on Difflugia. He has shown in this species (D. pyriformis) that
chlorophyll cells exist as part of its organization, and that starch cells,
until recently believed to be a peculiarly vegetable product, form
part of its products. Moreover, he has observed conjugation similar to
that of the contents of the cells of Spirogyra, and that apparently
after this conjugation, when the body of the Difflugia is densely
charged with chlorophyll cells and starch granules, the nucleus
becomes charged with spherular, refractive, homogeneous bodies,
which appear to be developed in the protoplasm that lines (?) the
nucleus. These spherules pass from the nucleus into the body of the
animal, and there, becoming granuliferous, so increase by duplicative
division, as to form the chief bulk of the whole mass, while the chloro-
phyll cells have entirely disappeared, and the starch granules have become
more or less diminished innumber. Colourless specimens of Difflugia
having been placed in water, after four days the bottom of the vessel
became covered with granuliferous cells of the same size and appearance
1864. | Zoology and Physiology. 175
as those peculiar to the colourless specimens, but with the difference
that they were all provided with a cilium (perhaps two); most were
fixed and retained their globular form; others swam about by means
of their cilium; many of the fixed globular forms altered their shape
by becoming polymorphic; and some lost their cilium and became
altogether reptant and amcebous. There can be little doubt that these
Amoebee are the young brood of Difflugia pyriformis. Thus the cycle
of generative development in this Rhizopod by “granulation of the
nucleus” is so far completed. It is probably the same as in Amaba
princeps. The development of the young Amba into adult testaceous
Diflugice has not yet, however, been observed.
We should hardly be prepared for psychical development in these
minute masses of sarcode, nevertheless Mr. Carter’s observations of
Aithalium and Actinophrys render it probable that certain manifesta-
tions of instinct are occasionally evinced by them, of the same kind as
those in the higher animals. On one occasion, for example, Mr. Carter
observed an Actinophrys station itself close to a ripe spore-cell of
Pythium, which was situated upon a filament of Spirogyra, and as the
young ciliated germs issued forth, one after another, from the dehiscent
spore-cell, the Actinophrys remained by it, and caught every one of
them even to the last, when it retired to another part of the field, as if
instinctively conscious that there was nothing more to be got at the
old place. As, however, these lowest forms of life appear to have but
one object, and that the attainment of food, we cannot be so much
surprised if they are provided with sufficient discrimination to be aware
when they are receiving it, and when the supply has ceased. Indeed
their whole instinctive development is concentrated upon that important
end.
(176) ) [Jan.
REVIEWS.
THE BIRDS OF INDIA.*
Tun want of text-books on the Natural History of our colonial and
foreign possessions, has been long and severely felt by the many
residents in them who are desirous of employing their hours of
leisure or recreation, in the pursuit of this most attractive study. As
regards Botany, the energy of the Director of the Royal Botanic
Gardens at Kew has already accomplished much towards the attain-
ment of this desirable object. Some years since, Sir William Hooker’s
urgent representations to the Colonial Office succeeded in inducing
that department to take into consideration a scheme which he pro-
pounded, for issuing a complete series of Manuals of the Botany of the
different Colonies, and although the small sums necessary to effect this
object were, with one exception, grudged to him by the Imperial Ex-
chequer, the Colonies themselves have in many instances taken up the .
matter, and there is little doubt that Sir William Hooker’s scheme
will eventually be carried out in its integrity.
Our zoologists have not as yet followed the good example thus set
before them. Their field of operations is much more extensive, they are
less united as a body, and they have certainly no single leader amongst
them, who occupies a corresponding situation to that filled by Sir
William Hooker with regard to the sister science. So far as concerns
the zoology of our foreign and colonial possessions, therefore, we
must for the present look to what the unassisted energies of private
individuals can accomplish. And we must be thankful when even
such indirect sanction and assistance as the Government of India has
bestowed on Dr. Jerdon’s present undertaking can be obtained.
Dr. T. C. Jerdon’s name is well known in connection with many .
contributions to the Natural History of India, which he has made
during a long service, in different parts of that country, as a medical
officer of the Indian army. In 1839, Dr. Jerdon commenced the
publication in the ‘Madras Journal of Literature and Science’ of a
catalogue of the birds of Southern India. This with its supplements
was completed in 1844, and still remains our best authority on the
ornithology of the districts of which it treats. In 1844, Dr. Jerdon
* «The Birds of India: being a Natural History of all the Birds known to
inhabit Continental India; with Descriptions of the Species, Genera, Families,
Tribes and Orders, and a Brief Notice of such Families as are not found in India ;
making it a Manual of Ornithology specially adapted for India.’ By T. C. Jerdon,
Surgeon-Major, &c. Caleutta, 1862. Vols. I. and II. pt. 1.
1864. | Jurvon’s Birds of India. 177
also published a series of illustrations of Indian birds,* in a quarto
volume of fifty plates, in which many rare species were figured for the
first time. Besides this, he has contributed many papers relating to
Indian zoology to different scientific journals, and has been a most
indefatigable explorer and collector in nearly every province of India,
It cannot be doubted, therefore, that Dr. Jerdon’s qualifications to
carry out the plan he now proposes,—that is, to issue a series of Manuals
of the Natural History of the Vertebrated Animals of India,—are very
considerable. And looking to the way in which he has commenced to
execute his plan, in the case of the two volumes now before us, which
form the first part of his ‘ Manual of Indian Ornithology,’ we have
every reason to be satisfied that it has fallen to his lot to undertake
it. Nor can it be doubted that such a series of manuals is a great de-
sideratum. At present, as Dr. Jerdon observes, to “ obtain acquaint-
ance with what is already known respecting the Fauna of India,” it is
necessary to “search through the voluminous transactions of learned
societies and scientific journals,’ which are of course quite inacces-
sible to residents in an Indian up-country station, and hardly to be
referred to even in Madras or Calcutta. Dr. Jerdon’s aim, therefore,
is to supply in a few portable volumes the information requisite for a
student of any branch of the natural history of the vertebrata of
India to ascertain what is already known of his favourite science
and to what points especially he should direct his inquiries. The
two volumes already published by Dr. Jerdon take us through the
greater part of the class of birds; a third volume, shortly to be issued,
will complete this part of the subject. The author will then turn his
attention to the Mammals, Reptiles, and Fishes, and treat of each of
these classes of animals in a similar manner.
Dr. Jerdon introduces himself to his readers in the first volume of
his present work with a well-written chapter of general remarks, which
will repay perusal. After giving an outline of the structure of birds,
external and internal, and some remarks on their migration, he pro-
ceeds, before entering upon the subject of classification, to devote a
few words to the much-vexed question of the differences between
species and variety. A species, Dr. Jerdon defines as consisting of a
“number of individuals closely resembling one another in size, struc-
ture, and colour, and propagating a like race ;” a variety, as “ consist-
ing of one or more individuals resembling certain other individuals
sufficiently to be considered identical in species, and yet differing in
certain external points of colour, size, or form.” As regards the mode
in which this difficult subject, as encountered in the case of the birds
of India, has been dealt with, the following remarks of our author may
prove of interest :—
“Some naturalists believe that permanent varieties are common in the
animal kingdom, and Kaup calls them swb-species. Such persons consider
that their differences from other individuals, of what they would term the
typical form, do not entitle them to the full rank of a species. Others,
again, deny that permanent varieties exist, and state their conviction that
* «Tllustrations of Indian Ornithology” By T.C.Jerdon. Madras, 1844.
1 vol. 4to.
VOL. I. N
178 Reviews. [Jan.
even slight differences of colour and size, if found to be constant, are suf-
ficient to constitute such individuals a distinct race or species. When such
differences are found to co-exist with a different geographical distribution,
I certainly prefer the views of those who look on all permanent distinctions
of colour, size, structure, &c., as distinct species; and I believe that no change
of climate, or food, or other external circumstances, will produce any altera-
tion in them or in their descendants, if they remain true to each other ;
and as yet I know of no recorded instance where any well-marked race has
produced offspring differing from their own, or tending to revert to a
supposed original type. That various nearly-affined species will propagate
inter se, and produce fertile offspring, I fully believe; as in the cases of
the green Pigeons of Bengal and of Southern India, in the Indian and the
Burmese Rollers, the small Cuckoos of South India and those of Bengal,
and in several other instances: but that this fact militates against their
being species and in favour of their being varieties, I think is not sup-
ported by many recent experiments in crossing. Of late years many
species have been universally admitted as such, which were formerly con-
sidered simple varieties, and although, perhaps, the tendency of late
writers has been to multiply species, in some cases most unnecessarily,
yet in previous years the other extreme was taken, more especially by
Schlegel and his followers. Our best naturalists and ornithologists now
fully recognize the distinctness of permanent races. If varieties are once
allowed, it depends on individual judgment or caprice to what extent they
may be carried. In this country, where there are many very closely allied
Species, among genera characteristic of the country, many of the species
of Malacocercus and Hematornis would be classed as simple varieties by
some, whilst others would perhaps allow some of them, whose different
notes they might have observed, to be distinct species, and the rest
varieties. Lastly: it is, I think, more convenient in practice to give each
race a distinct specific name, than to speak of them as ‘ Var, A,’ or
‘Var. BY’ of such a species.”
With revard to the origin of these allied or “representative ”
species, as they are usually termed, Dr. Jerdon states that, as far as
his “brief experience goes, geographic distribution is against Mr.
Darwin’s theory. ‘‘'To give one instance,” he continues, “ Malaco-
cercus striatus of Ceylon is more allied to M. Bengalensis of Bengal,
than to M. Malabaricus, which is spread throughout a vast region
between those provinces.’ On this point we may remark that the
great mass of evidence in such cases is, as is now generally allowed,
decidedly on the other side of the question. It is beyond a doubt,
that allied species, are as a rule, distributed geographically in the
order of their affinities, that is, that the most nearly allied occupy con-
terminous areas. Moreover, Dr. Jerdon ought to be aware that
Ceylon, though now-a-days much more nearly connected with the
peninsula of India, than with the upper provinces, furnishes many
remarkable forms which tend to show that this island has been peopled
with life from the other side of the Bay of Bengal, along which the
Bengalese species descend, often far to the south. Dr. Jerdon, how-
ever, seems to take a very candid view of Mr. Darwin’s theory on
other points, though he is of opinion that that distinguished naturalist,
“perhaps, lays too much stress on external and fortuitous cireum-
stances as producing varieties, and not enough on the inherent power
of change.”
1864. | Jurvon’s Birds of India. 179
Dr. Jerdon next proceeds to the difficult subject of the classifica-
tion of birds, and adopts as his system, nearly that of Mr. George
Gray, as given in his ‘ List of Genera.’ Finally, he concludes his in-
troduction with a sketch of the physical features of Northern, Central,
and Southern India, in relation to their respective Faunas, and gives
some account of what has already been effected by different natu-
ralists who have devoted their attention to various points of the area
embraced in these three divisions. The names of Franklin, Tickell,
Sykes, and Hodgson are all well known in connection with the earliest
researches made in Indian Ornithology. The latter gentleman espe-
cially, who was for many years resident at the Court of Nepaul,
laboured long and zealously in this, as in other branches of Natural
History, and has effected far more than any other naturalist towards
making known to us the many singular forms of life that people the
slopes of the Himalayas. Other more recent workers in the same
field have been Burgess, Adams, Tytler, and McClelland, and last, but
not least, Mr. Edward Blyth—for many years the energetic and
devoted curator of the Asiatic Society’s Museum at Calcutta, whose
numerous publications and extensive rescarches have, as rightly
observed by Dr. Jerdon, done more to extend the study of Natural
History in India than those of all the previously mentioned observers
put together.
We now come to the main portion of Dr. Jerdon’s work, which
consists of short treatises on each of the species of birds belonging
to the Indian Avi-fauna, interspersed with current allusions to the
various groups found in other countries, but not represented in the
Indian series. Dr. Jerdon’s two published volumes treat of the
Birds of Prey and the numerous divisions of Insessores or Perchers.
Of the first, he gives 81 species as belonging to the Fauna of India,
of the Insessores, no less than 689 species are enumerated. Such
being the case, it could not be expected that any very detailed account
could be given of each bird, especially as what is contemplated is a
“brief, but comprehensive Manual.” And on the whole, as regards
the first volume especially, we cannot but think that we have every
reason to be satisfied with the way in which our author has performed
his work. The descriptions given are sufficient for the determination
of the species in ordinary cases. In many allied forms, it will, of
course, be necessary for the student to refer back to the previously
published accounts indicated among the synonyms of each species,
and in the more difficult cases, to go to the typical specimens in the
Museum of Calcutta, or of the British metropolis. The details as
regards the geographical distribution, habits, and general alliances of
each species are likewise carefully worked out, and the whole account
is written in plain and comprehensible terms, well suited for the pur-
pose intended. As an illustration of Dr. Jerdon’s style, we extract
his remarks on the Turwmti Falcon (Hypotriorchis chicquera)—one of
the best known, and commonest small Falcons of India, allied to
our Hobby.
“The Turumti is universally spread throughout India from north to
south, but is rare in the forest districts, as it affects chiefly open country
xn 2
a“
180 Reviews. [Jan.
in the vicinity of cultivation. It frequents gardens, eroves of trees, and
even large single trees in the open country, whence it sallies forth, some-
times circling aloft, but more generally, especially in the heat of the day,
gliding with inconceivable rapidity along some hedgerow, brink of a tank,
or across some fields, and pouncing suddenly on some lark, sparrow, or
wagtail. It very often hunts in pairs, and I have now and then seen it
hover like a kestrel for a few seconds. It preys chiefly on small birds,
especially the social larks (Coryphidea calandrella), sparrows, and the small
ringed-plovers (Charadrius); also not unfrequently on bats, which 1 have
seen it seize on the wing just at dusk. It breeds on high trees, and has
usually four eggs of a yellowish-brown colour, mottled with brown spots.
The young fly early, by the end of March or beginning of April. It has a
shrill angry scream, and is very courageous, driving away crows, kites, and
even the wokhab (Aquila fusca), from the vicinity of its nest or perch.
It is occasionally reclaimed, and flown at quail, partridges, mynas, but
especially at the Indian Jay or Roller (Coracius indica). In pursuit of this
quarry the Falcon follows most closely and perseveringly, but is often
balked by the extraordinary evolutions of the Roller, who now darts off
obliquely, then tumbles down perpendicularly, screaming all the time, and
endeavouring to gain the shelter of the nearest tree or grove. But even
here he is not safe; the Falcon follows him from branch to branch, drives
him out again, and sooner or later the exhausted quarry falls a victim to
the ruthless bird of prey. I have known falconers train the Zurumtt
to hunt in couples.
“The Indian name, Turumti, appears to owe its origin to Turumtat,
given by Pallas as the Calmuc name of the Hobby.
“A very nearly-allied species of Martin exists in Africa, Ff. ruficollis,
Sw. (chicqueroides, A. Smith), long considered as the same, but now
recognized as distinct by Hartlaub and others. Kaup, P.Z.S. 1851, calls
it a sub-species of the other, differing in its darker colours, more striped
head, and with the cheek-stripe darker and more distinct.”
The second volume of Dr. Jerdon’s work is, perhaps, not quite so
satisfactory as the first. The descriptions given are mostly shorter
and more concise, and we do not find so many of those agreeable episodes
upon the habits of the species which tend to render a book of this
sort acceptable to the ordinary reader. Yet we must recollect the ex-
tent of the subject,—the immense number and variety of the little
Passerine birds, of which this part of Dr. Jerdon’s book treats,—and
how difficult it is to say much when the subject is so new, and when
so little, considering the wide field of observation, has been done by
former workers. As it is, Dr. Jerdon has already transgressed the
bounds originally marked out for himself,—his prospectus having an-
nounced the completion of the birds in two volumes. It is perhaps,
therefore, hardly fair to find fault with our author on these grounds,
though, we think, the Indian field-naturalists, for whose benefit mainly
the work was undertaken, will agree with our remarks upon these
points.
We have now, in conclusion, one or two criticisms to make upon
points which will interest our scientific readers. Dr. Jerdon adopts,
as we have already stated, Mr. George Gray’s arrangement of the class
of birds, and, so far as the six great ordinal divisions (given p. xxxix.)
go, we are not aware that he could have much improved upon them.
But when he proceeds (p. 151) to employ Mr. Gray’s subdivisions of
1864. | Bates’s Naturalist on the Amazons. 181
the great group of Insessores, Dr. Jerdon is certainly behind the age.
It has long since been most satisfactorily demonstrated that the Te-
nuirostres of Cuvier form a most ill-assorted group, which ought to be
divided amongst the others in any natural arrangement, and that, ex-
clusive of the Parrots, there are but three natural sub-groups of In-
sessorial birds,—namely, the Fissirostres, Scansores, and typical Pas-
seres. We might also object to Dr. Jerdon’s collocation of the Swifts
and Swallows, to the situation he has assigned to Upupa, and to many
other minor points. But on the other hand we must congratulate him
on his giving the Megalemide their true rank as a distinct family, on
his correct appreciation of the relation of the Hornbills, and on
much that relates to his general arrangement of the smaller groups.
On the other hand, Dr. Jerdon goes too fast in another direction,
especially when it is recollected that his book is intended for learners
and unscientific persons as well as for the initiated. The subdivision
of the Genera is carried to by far too great an extent, and this, in our
estimation, forms one of the principal defects of the book as a scien-
tifie work. The best authorities of the day, in all departments of
natural history, set their face against this indiscriminate multiplication
of generic terms, which, as carried out by certain writers, bids fair to
convert every species into a genus, and renders the burden of recol-
lecting technical names almost insupportable. Generic differences
ought to be founded on essential and easily recognizable points of
structure. That this is not the plan followed in Dr. Jerdon’s book,
every naturalist will very soon discover, and we fear the non-naturalists
(if we may so express ourselves) will be sorely puzzled in their at-
tempts to fathom many of Dr. Jerdon’s minute subdivisions of well-
known groups. Who will recognize the Linnean Turdi under the
names T'urdulus, Planesticus, and Geocichla? Who will appreciate the
separation of the well-defined genus of Pipits (Anthus) into Pipastes
Corydalla and Agrodroma? In thus following the phantasies of Kaup,
and the mad vagaries of Bonaparte (in his latest writings), we can-
not believe that Dr. Jerdon has acted well for his own reputation,
nor wisely as regards the class of readers for whom his volumes are
specially intended.
NATURAL HISTORY ON THE AMAZONS.* ~
To no class of men are the thoughtful students of Natural History
more deeply indebted than to those who, casting behind them all the
,luxuries and pleasures ‘of civilized life, plunge into the forests and
solitudes of far distant regions, there to hold communion with Nature
face to face, and to obtain an insight into her workings and modes of
action in situations which, under ordinary circumstances, would for
* «The Naturalist on the River Amazons.’ By Henry Walter Bates. 2 vols.,
S8vo. London: John Murray, 1863.
‘Contributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley; Lrepmoprrra, Hel-
eonide,” By Henry Walter Bates. (‘Linnzan Transactions,’ vol. xxiii. part 3,
page 495.)
182 Reviews. [Jan.
ever be concealed from intelligent curiosity. The framers of theories,
and the elaborators of grand generalizations, must necessarily own
their dependence upon such self-sacrificing investigators, and the value
of the facts accumulated by such men depends upon their own inhe-
rent powers of observation, and the degree of intelligence and industry
they bring to bear upon their self-imposed labours. And seldom
indeed does it happen that these qualities are so admirably combined
as they appear to be in one whose ardent thirst for natural knowledge
impelled him to exile himself for eleven years in a tropical and
unhealthy country, in order that he might revel in the rich prodigality
of animal and vegetable life which characterizes the great valley of
the Amazons—a region which, though far indeed from the comforts
and necessities of civilization, may fitly be designated “ the Metropolis
of Nature.”
Mr. Bates embarked at Liverpool in the spring of 1848, in company
with Mr. A. R. Wallace, for Para, the only port of entry to the vast
region watered by the Amazons. The object which the travellers pro-
posed to themselves was twofold—to make for themselves collections
of specimens, consigning the duplicates to London, to be there dis-
posed of in payment of expenses, and, to gather facts towards solving
the problem of the “origin of species.” The first of these objects
was attained in an eminent degree; for not only have Mr. Bates’s
collections many a time and oft caused congregations of naturalists
under the hammer of Mr. Stevens, but he astounds us with the state-
ment of his ageregate results when he informs us, with truthful sim-
plicity, that he obtained, during his eleven years’ sojourn, 14,000
insects, and 712 other animals, of which startling total no less than
8,000 were new to science. Never has it fallen to the lot of a single
individual to bring so vast a contribution to systematic zoology, and
it is a grand proof of the rare riches of the teeming district he so
wisely selected for his exploration.
With regard to the second object of the journey, while the results
have not been so definite as those just glanced at, the two explorers
arrived at some conclusions to which we shall refer in the course of
the present article, and which, however widely they may differ from
the views of another school, will, we venture to predict, be of consi-
derable service in the ultimate advance of science. It is now a
matter known to every one, that Mr. Wallace, after spending four years
in South America with Mr. Bates, travelled to the East in search of
new fields of exploration, and there, while lying stricken down by
fever, he elaborated in his busy brain the theory afterwards pro-
mulgated by Mr. Darwin in his work on ‘The Origin of Species.’ It,
was this fact, and the communication of this hypothesis to Sir C.
Lyell, which determined Mr. Darwin to bring his long-cherished views
before the Linnean Society, and thereafter to publish the book which
has been so fertile a source of scientific controversy. We may judge,
therefore, that as far as Mr. Wallace is concerned, he considered that
the facts he had collected threw some light upon the problem which
they had charged themselves to illuminate. And in the work before
us Mr. Bates proves himself an apt scholar and valuable ally of Mr.
1864. ] Bares’s Naturalist on the Amazons. 183
Darwin; and in his preface he tells us that it was Mr. Darwin’s
opinions and wishes which were mainly instrumental in inducing him
to commence the inditing of his book, and the same steady encourage-
ment which strengthened his wavering resolution, and. helped him to
accomplish the task. We shall not be surprised, then, to find the
tendency of the book to be Darwinian.
Mr. Bates made Paré his head-quarters, and his first volume is
devoted to that neighbourhood, and his excursions up the Lower Amazons.
The zoological richness of the immediate vicinity of Para itself is
something almost beyond belief; and our traveller’s account of his first
walk on the afternoon of his arrival is most graphic and stirring.
Nevertheless he appears to have been at first struck with the generally
small size and obscure colouring of the birds, and the similarity of
appearance which the insects and birds of the open, sunny places bore
to those inhabiting similar spots in Europe. The roadside vegetation
consisted of tangled masses of bushes and shrubs, intermingled with
prickly mimosas; but, notwithstanding this resemblance to European
roadside features, there were, as may be supposed, many others which,
at every step, reminded the travellers that they were in another world,
The abundance of climbing trees attracted the attention in their first
forest walk, and elicited a remark which is extremely interesting, viz.
that these climbing trees do not form any particular family or genus ;
there is no order of plants whose especial habit it is to climb ; but species
of many, and the most diverse families, the bulk of whose members are
not climbers, seem to have been driven by circumstances to adopt this
habit. The orders Leguminose, Guttifere, Bignoniacer, Moracer,
and others, furnish the greater number. There is even a climbing
species of palm (Desmoncus). This remark is very characteristic of
the tendency of Mr. Bates’s mind, which, though not to an undue
degree speculative, yet sees, in observations like these, something more
than the meagre fact which would be patent to all. He concludes the
subject with the remark: “The number and variety of climbing trees
in the Amazons forests are interesting, taken in connexion with the
fact of the very general tendency of the animals also to become
climbers.” (p. 49.)
The quadrupeds and birds of the forest do not appear to the
passing traveller, for, being excessively shy and widely scattered, the
first impression which Mr. Bates received was that they were very
few; he met with no tumultuous movement or sound of life, but
describes it as a solitude, in which only at long intervals animals are
seen in abundance, when some particular spot is found which is more
attractive than others ; and this fact of distribution is one which we
have ourselves observed, when, for example, scanning an expanse of
sea-shore in search of the smaller marine animals, in situations where
certain species are known to abound. The feeling inspired in the
Brazilian forests was one of inhospitable wildness, only increased
tenfold by the fearful and harrowing uproar made by the howling
monkeys morning and evening. Other sounds are not so easily
accounted for, even by the natives themselves, such as a sudden noise
like the clang of an iron bar against a hard, hollow tree, or a piercing
184 Reviews. [ Jan.
ery which rends the air—sounds not repeated, while the succeeding
silence tends to heighten the impression which they make on the mind.
“With the natives it is always the Curipira—the wild man or
spirit of the forest—-which produces all noises they are unable to
explain.” (p. 73.)
Near Cameté, on the river Tocantins, Mr. Bates had an oppor-
tunity of verifying a fact which had almost fallen into discredit, viz.
the bird-catching propensities of the great Mygale spider (M. avicu-
laria). Its web was stretched across a crevice in the tree-trunk, and
in it were entangled two birds about the size of our English siskins;
one of them was dead, and the other under the spider, not quite dead.
The observation appeared to be new to the residents, though the insect
was well known ; and the crab-spiders, as they call them, are injurious
even to man, from the maddening irritation produced by their hairs,
which come off when touched. Nevertheless, Mr. Bates “saw the
children belonging to an Indian family, who collected for me, with
one of these monsters secured by a cord round its waist, by which
they were leading it about the house as they would a dog.” (p. 162.)
The impediments which Mr. Bates encountered in his journeys up
and down the ‘Great Father of Waters’ almost exceed belief, owing
partly-to the dangers of the river navigation, and partly to the scarcity
of trading-canoes large enough for his accommodation. Although but
a river, a strong breeze would produce such a sea, that the vessel (a
schooner) pitched and rolled like a ship in the ocean; and in the
Tocantins, the view from the middle of the stream is described as very
imposing :—“ Towards the north-east, there was a long sweep of horizon,
clear of land; and on the south-west, stretched a, similar boundless
expanse, but varied with islets clothed with fan-leaved palms, visible,
however, only as isolated groups of columns, tufted at the top, rising
here and there amidst the waste of waters.” (I. 220.)
We cannot sufficiently admire the perseverance and earnestness with
which Mr. Bates overcame difficulties that would have deterred any
ordinary traveller, and encountered dangers of no insignificant nature.
These difficulties and dangers are best illustrated by his account of a
voyage up the Tapajos, from Santarem to the Munduruct village. It
was necessary first to procure a vessel of his own, a two-masted cuberta,
of about six tons’ burthen, strongly built of Itauba wood. This was
hired at the cheap rate of 1s. 2d. perdiem. (Then men were necessary,
and although only six were wanted, it was almost impossible to procure
them; and at length, after almost fearimg that the voyage must be
given up, he procured one man, and with his servant José he deter-
mined to attempt the journey. Before they had got many miles a
storm arose which blew away their boat, tore their sails to rags,
snapped their ropes, and drove their vessel broadside on the beach.
Nine days were necessary to repair the rigging ; but not lost days, for
there were rich forests to explore. Having been fortunate enough to
meet with another hand, they again proceeded, and for some days all
went on well, but the loss of the boat was a great source of annoyance,
and ultimately was remedied by building a canoe out of a tree felled
for the purpose, and moved with great labour to the river-side upon a
1864. | Barers’s Naturalist on the Amazons. 185
road made for the occasion. The casca turned out a success. Add to
all this the plagues of fire-ants—Tabani, which, by twos and threes at
a time, dug their probosces, half-an-inch long and sharp as a needle,
through the long thick cotton shirt upon their backs, making them cry
out under the infliction, and a host of other inconveniences ; and it
will be seen that natural-history collecting upon the Amazons is no
child’s play.
Some curious adventures with serpents rewarded this excursion.
On one occasion an Anaconda (Eunectes murinus), 18 feet 9 inches
long, was systematically hunted and despatched with harpoons; and
he appears to credit reports of similar serpents having been found
42 feet long. Moreover, the natives are not without faith in the ex-
istence of a great Amazonian serpent, rivalling the great sea-serpent
itself in magnitude. On another occasion, “ whilst pinning an insect,
I was rather startled by a rushing noise in the vicinity. I looked up
to the sky, thinking a squall was coming on, but not a breath of wind
stirred in the tree tops. On stepping out of the bushes, I met face to
face a huge serpent (Boa Constrictor) coming down a slope, and
making the dry twigs crack and fly with his weight as he moved over
them. I had very frequently met with a smaller boa, the Cutim boa,
and knew from the habits of the family that there was no danger; so
I stood my ground. On seeing me, the reptile suddenly turned, and
glided at an accelerated pace down the path. Wishing to take a note
of his probable size, and the colours and markings of his skin, I set
off after him, but he increased his speed, and I was unable to get near
enough for the purpose. There was very little of the serpentine move-
ment in his course. The rapidly moving and shining body looked
like a stream of brown liquid flowing over the thick bed of falling
leaves, rather than a serpent with a skin of varied colours. The huge
trunk of an uprooted tree here lay across the road; this he glided
over on his undeviating course, and soon after penetrated a dense
swampy thicket, where, of course, I did not choose to follow him.”
Having stayed about three years and a half at Santarem, and in its
neighbourhood, Mr. Bates proceeded to Ega, on the Upper Amazon,
or Solimoens, and this distant spot, 1,200 miles from Parad, he made
his head-quarters for no less than four-and-a-half years, making during
that period, however, excursions of 300 and 400 miles’ distance from
it. An arduous journey of 55 days from Santarem brought our tra-
veller to Ega, where, far from civilized life, he was often put to great
shifts, from the failure of communication and remittances from Europe.
From the inhabitants he met with civility and kindness, and although
never troubled with impertinent curiosity on their part, his pursuits
could not fail to arouse some speculation. The Indians and half-
castes complacently thought it but natural that strangers should collect
and send abroad the beautiful birds and insects of their country, uni-
versally concluding that the butterflies were wanted as patterns for
bright-coloured calico prints. We can sympathize with the noble
endurance of Mr. Bates, in spite of the difficulty of getting news, the
want of intellectual society, and, towards the latter part of his resi-
186 | Reviews. [Jan.
dence, ill-health arising from bad and insufficient food; and feel
rejoiced that he was well repaid by the fact that the neighbourhood
yielded him, up to the last day of his residence, an uninterrupted suc-
cession of new and curious forms in the different classes of the animal
kingdom, but especially insects.
It is difficult, from sucha mine of information as is displayed in
the contents of these two volumes of travel, to select for illustration
one subject of considerably greater interest than another. Mr. Bates
discourses of monkeys, of serpents, of birds, of insects, of vegetation,
of natives, and all with the air of one who speaks of what he has seen.
But it is to insects more especially that his attention was directed,
and if we were to single out one subject in particular which he has
thoroughly studied, it would be that of the history of the various spe-
cies of Ants, the Satiba Ant, the Formiga de Fogo or Fire Ants, the Ter-
mites, the Foraging Ants, &c., for the graphic and interesting accounts
of which, however, we must refer the reader to his volumes. But while
it is to insects that he has devoted a large portion of his attention, it
is in reference to them also chiefly, that he has advanced those views
which we have already alluded to, as bearing upon the question of the
origin of species; and in the remaining portion of this article we
shall briefly notice those views.
Among insects, the causes and influence of colour is a very im-
portant subject, which receives its share of attention, but although
the brilliant ornamentation of the males exists in the fauna of all
climates, it certainly reaches a higher degree of perfection in the
tropics than elsewhere; nevertheless Mr. Bates concludes that it
is not wholly the external conditions of light, heat, moisture, and
so forth, which determine the general aspect of the animals of a
country, and he combats the generally entertained notion that the
superior size and beauty of tropical insects and birds are imme-
diately due to the physical conditions of a tropical climate, or are
in some way directly connected with them. It is almost always the
males only which are beautiful in colours; the brilliant dress is rarely
worn by both sexes of the same species. If climate had any direct
influence in this matter, why, he asks, have not both sexes felt its
effects, and why are the males of genera, living under our gloomy
English skies, adorned with bright colours? It is true the tropics
have a vastly greater total number of species altogether ; the abund-
ance of food, high temperature, absence of seasons of extreme cold
and dearth, and the variety of stations, all probably operate in favour-
ing the existence of a greater number and variety of species in tropical
than in temperate latitudes; but the contrast between the colouring
of the sexes is often greater in the tropics than in any species of tem-
perate zones, so that, in fact, beauty of colour is not peculiar to any
one zone, but producible under any climate where a number of species
or given genus lead a flourishing existence. ‘These facts “all point to
the mutual relations of the species, and especially to those between
the sexes, as having far more to do in the matter than climate.” Else-
where he makes a remark in which we most heartily concur : “I think
1864.] Bartes’s Naturalist on the Amazons. 187
it is a childish notion, that the beauty of birds, insects, and other
creatures is given to please the human eye. Surely rich plumage and
song, like all other endowments of species, are given them for their
own pleasure and advantage. This, if true, ought to enlarge our
ideas of the inner life and mutual relations of our humbler fellow-
creatures !”
Again, the similarity of the colour of the insect to the ground it
inhabits is an interesting problem touched upon at vol. i. p. 207.
This assimilation is exhibited by some and not by others, the dress of
some species being in striking contrast to the colours of their dwell-
ing-place. But, as Mr. Bates remarks—The species not so protected
“has means of protection of quite a different nature, and therefore does
not need the peculiar mode of disguise enjoyed by its companion ;”
and he properly infers, “that the fact of some species not exhibiting
the same adaptation of colours to dwelling-places as their companion
species, does not throw doubt on the explanation given of the adapta-
tion, but is rather confirmatory of it.”
Mr. Bates supports by observation Darwin’s views of the compe-
tition existing amongst organized beings, and illustrates it in the
vegetable world by the growth of the Amazons forest, especially by
the Murderer Liana, a species of fig, which puts forth arm-like
branches from side to side, which meet together, and clasping one
another mount upwards, tightly encircling the tree which supports it
with inflexible rings, till at length the tree is killed, and “ the strange
spectacle remains of the selfish parasite, clasping in its arms the life-
less and decaying body of its victim, which had been a help to its own
growth. Its ends have been served; it has flowered and fruited,
reproduced and disseminated its kind; and now when the dead trunk
moulders away, its own end approaches, its support is gone, and
itself also falls.” Thus the Liana merely exhibits, im a more con-
spicuous manner than usual, the struggle which necessarily exists
amongst vegetable forms in these crowded forests, when individual
is competing with individual, and species with species, all striving to
reach ght and air, in order to unfold their leaves and perfect their
organs of fructification. But “there is plenty in tropical nature to
counteract any unpleasant impression which the reckless energy of
the vegetation might produce. There is the incomparable beauty and
variety of the foliage, the vivid colours, the richness and exuberance
everywhere displayed, which make, in my opinion, the richest wood-
land scenery in Northern Europe a sterile desert in comparison. But
it is especially the enjoyment of life manifested by individual exist-
ences, which compensates for the destruction and pain caused by in-
evitable competition.” (vol. i. p. 56.)
But Mr. Bates’s strongest article of alliance with Mr. Darwin is
upon the subject of mimetic resemblances. This curious topic, touched
upon in several places in his work, has received further elucidation in
the admirable and elaborate memoir referred to at the head of this
article. This memoir was read to the Linnean Socicty, Nov. 21st,
1861, and long preceded, therefore, his two volumes of travel, to which we
188 Reviews. | Ji an.
have hitherto been referring. By this memoir, entitled ‘ Contributions
to an Insect Fauna, of the Amazon Valley,’ Mr. Bates has established for
himself a high rank among original investigators, and has shown powers
of observation of which he may justly feel proud. For although the
subject of recurrent form, or analogical resemblance, or homomor-
phism, or by whatever title it may be called, has attracted the atten-
tion of many naturalists, the manner in which it is here illustrated in
the Heliconine group of butterflies, is equally original and acute.
Mr. Bates found that certain butterflies, so closely mocked cer-
tain others belonging to distinct groups, that though always on the
watch, it required all his caution to distinguish them.* He believes
that these resemblances are intended as a protection to otherwise
defenceless insects, by deceiving insectivorous animals, and pre-
sumes that, seeing the excessive abundance of one species and the
fewness of the individuals of the other, that the MHeliconide is
free from the persecution to which the Leptalis is subjected ; and he
seems inclined to attribute less to community of habit than we should
be disposed to do, though it cannot be denied that such community is
a constant concomitant of mimetism.
The bearing of this subject, upon the origin of species, is plainly
* The Heliconids appeared to him to be the objects mocked, because they all
have the same family facies, whilst the analogous species are dissimilar to their
nearest allies,—permitted, as it were, to produce the resemblance from the normal
facies of the genus or family to which they severally belong. So close were
the resemblances that Mr. Bates was never able to distinguish the Leptalides
(Pieridze) from the species they imitated, without close examination after capture.
And yet the Leptalides belong to a family totally different in structure and meta-
morphosis from the Heliconidx, which they imitate. Moreover, they fly in the
same part of the forest, and generally in company with the species they mimic.
Species of Ithomia (Heliconidx) concerned in these imitations have all the character
of true species, being distinct and constant. They are all excessively numerous
in individuals, swarms of each kind being found in the districts they inhabit. The
Leptalides are extremely rare ; they cannot be more than as one in a thousand of
the Ithomiz. Moreover, none of these Leptalides have been found in any other
district or country than those inhabited by the Ithomiw, which they counterfeit.
A species very closely allied to L. Lysinoé has been received from Mexico; but an
Ithomia of nearly tie same colours (I. Nero) also inhabits Mexico. Some other
Leptalides exist which do not mimic Ithomix, but some other genera of the same
family, as Methona and Mechanitis. ‘ A’similar series of mimetic analogies occurs
in the Old World, between the Asiatic and African Danaidex (or representatives
of the Heliconidx) and species of other families of butterflies and moths; but no
instance is known in these families of a tropical species of one hemisphere counter-
feiting a form belonging to the other.” So, also, on the banks of the Amazons
parasitic. bees and two-winged flies mimic the dress of industrious and nest-
building bees peculiar to this country, at whose expense they live, in the manner
of the cuckoo.
An examination of the beautiful coloured plates in the Linnean Society’s
memoir shows that the mimetic resemblances exhibit a minute and palpably
intentional likeness, which, as Mr. Bates expresses it, is perfectly staggering ;
and no wonder, indeed, that he was constantly being deceived by them. Com-
paring Leptalis Theonoé with Ithomia Flora, or the Ega variety with Ithomia
Illinissa, Leptalis Amphione with Mechanitis Polymnia (both var. Egaensis), and,
again, Leptalis Orise with Methona Psidii, we cannot fail to be astonished at the
closeness of the resemblance, particularly when taken in connection with the
normal form of Leptalis Nehemia.
1864. | Barus’s Naturalist on the Amazons. 189
stated by Mr. Bates, as a most beautiful proof of the theory of natural
selection, by showing that a new adaptation, or the formation of a new
species is not effected by a great and sudden change, but by numerous
small steps of natural variation and selection. Local conditions favour
the increase of one or more varicties in a district at the expense of the
others,—the selected ones being different in different districts, in the
case of the varieties of Mechanitis. ‘“ With the mimetic species Leptalis
Theonoe the case is different. We see here a segregation of local forms
sunilar to that of Mechanitis Polymnia ; but we believe we know the con-
ditions of life of the species, and find that they vary from one locality
to another. The existence of the species, in each locality, is seen to
depend on its form and colours, or dress being assimilated to those of
Ithomice of the same district, such assimilation being apparently its
only means of escaping extermination by insectivorous animals.” And
indeed the abundance of the mocked species seems to show that it pos-
sesses some such immunity, and at all events lives under conditions
very favourable to its increase and preservation. To exist in a certain
locality, a Leptalis must wear a certain dress, and those of its varieties
which do not come up to the mark are rigidly sacrificed.
It is manifestly impossible in a review to enter fully into all
the arguments of the work. All that can be done is to indicate the
salient points, and abstract the conclusions; and much as these specu-
lations of Mr. Bates have interested us, we must content ourselves with
this imperfect résumé of them, and refer those who would know more
upon the subject to the memoir itself. In taking leave of Mr. Bates,
however, we cannot help expressing the gratification and rare pleasure
we have felt in the perusal of his ‘ Naturalist on the Amazons,’ in which
a vast amount of truthful and original information is given, in an
unobtrusive and unselfish style. The world of naturalists is under a
heavy obligation to him for his toilsome and laborious collection of
facts, and for the interesting, though probably not less laborious, work
in which they are permanently embodied. Nor must we omit thanks
to Mr. Darwin, for screwing Mr. Bates’s courage to the sticking place,
without which perhaps the work would never have been written, or at
all events have been so deferred as to impair its value. The ‘ Contribu-
tions to Insect Fauna of the Amazons’ are an important addition to
Entomological science, and however averse some may be to the theory of
natural selection, no one can fail to be instructed, as well as interested,
by the ingenious remarks with which Mr. Bates preludes the systema-
tic part of the subject. We hail Mr. Bates as a worthy naturalist-
traveller, and willingly and gratefully accord to him a well-earned and
high position amongst those who have advanced science by patient,
earnest, and original investigation.
190 Reviews. [Jan.
THE GREAT METEOR OF 1863.*
Amonest the most startling of cosmical phenomena are the occasional
appearances of Meteors of extraordinary size and luminosity. Coming
without the forewarnings of gathering clouds and dropping rain, their
sudden advent in a clear bright sky excites more astonishment in the
common observer than the most vivid lightning, while the dull booming
sound which follows their disappearance or explosion has more of
mystery, and excites more terror than the pealing thunder which
succeeds the electric flash.
Almost as transient as—
‘the borealis race
Which flit ere you can trace their place,”
the scientific observer is often as much at a loss to tell whence they
come and whither they go as the ordinary witness of their brilliancy.
He is generally but conscious of a momentary flash of light, and on
looking to the heavens sees only the trail, something like a luminous
scratch in the sky, left by the passing object. A debt of gratitude is
therefore due to any philosopher who, like the author of the opuscule
we notice, is at the pains to collect and compare the observations of
any single example made at widely distant stations, and construct
from the whole a connected narrative.
On the evening of the 4th of March, 1863, at about seven o’clock,
Dr. Heis, Professor of Astronomy and Mathematics in the Royal Academy
of Miinster, was taking a walk in the open air. The sky was clear and
bright, when suddenly the whole neighbourhood was for a moment
lighted up as with Bengal fire, and looking upwards the Doctor saw
passing majestically across the firmament a fire-ball which seemed to
increase in size until it grew as large as the moon at full. Such an
appearance of course excited astonishment in all who witnessed it, and
as the author was known to take an especial interest in these phe-
nomena,{ a few days brought him numerous communications on the
subject. From these, some contributed by astronomers and physicists
of great repute, as Baumhauer of Amsterdam, Quetéléet of Brussels,
and Mr. Greg of Manchester, others from writers of no scientific
repute, but as country clergymen telling no doubt truthfully what they
believed they saw, and also from the results of his own inquiries
among the most stupid of Belgian peasants, the author has drawn up
this complete account of the form, apparent size, colour, brightness of
the object, as well as the trail, and the manner in which it disappeared
or exploded.
* «Die grosse Feuerkugel, welche am Abende des 4 Marz, 1863, in Holland,
Deutschland, Belgien, und England gesehen worden ist.’ Won Dr, Ed. Heis, Pro-
fessor der Mathematik und Astronomie an der Konigl. Akademie zu Munster.
Halle: H.W. Schmidt. 1863.
The large fire-ball which was seen in Holland, Germany, Belgium, and Eng-
land on the evening of the 4th of March, 1863, &c. &c.
+ He had published an account of the large Fire Ball seen in Germany on the
evening of the 4th December, 1861.
1864. | Hats’s Great Meteor of 1865. 191
The Meteor appears to have been visible over a hexagonal area,
the angles of which are formed by the following places :—Manchester,
Brighton, Tréves, Erbach, Hanover, and the North-coast of the kingdom
of Hanover. This space encloses more than 100,000 English square
miles. The most distant opposite angles in the direction N.W. and
S.E. are Manchester and Erbach, 553 miles apart; and from N.E. to
S.W. Bremen and Brighton, 401 miles distant.
About the time of the appearance and its duration there is little
room for difference of opinion. The author calculates the mean time
for Minster at 7h. 6m., and the duration is variously stated to have
been from 3 to 6 seconds.
The form and size of the fire-ball are naturally open to wider
differences of opinion among the observers, but in this instance the
differences are capable of reconciliation. One observer compared the
head of the Meteor to the head of a fish, and remarked that it pro-
gressed with the movement of a swimming fish. Another compared
it to a club, the length of which was three times that of the breadth.
The majority observed that it was pear-shaped, egg-shaped, or fig-
shaped ; hence the author concludes that it was really ellipsoidal.
But as most on the Belgian side described it as a “ fiery cannon ball,”
the author infers that the longer axis was directed towards that
side.
The apparent size was mostly compared with some terrestrial
object. It was said to have been the size of a man’s head, a child’s
head, a hen’s egg, or a ball 4, 5, or 6 inches in diameter. Many
said it was the size of the moon, others that its diameter was 4, 4, or
4 that of the moon. One observer describes it as four times the size
of the evening star, and another says that at its first appearance it was
no larger than ordinary star dust (Sternschuppe).
The description of the colour, also, offers some differences.
Some say it was of dazzling whiteness, others, a greenish blue, while
another remarks that the light resembled that of the Electric spark.*
The colour, however, appears to have been changed by intervening
media, so that at some stations it was said to be red, deep yellow, dark
red, or violet. The author believes that the real colour of the Meteor
was red, inasmuch as it appeared of that colour when at a great height,
and in bright moonlight.
The most extraordinary brightness was remarked everywhere ; it
seemed like the sudden appearance of a full moon in the heavens. Near
Boppard, an observer on a mountain saw for a moment the valley of the
Rhine lighted up as by avery bright full moon. At one place, a clergy-
man could distinguish the letters in a newspaper lying on his table,
and at Kupen a man could see to read in the street. The shadows of
objects were thrown remarkably sharply and well defined ; and the
confused dance of the shadows of houses and trees, projected as
* The Reviewer, who was passing along Regent Street, London, on the evening
in question, was much startled by the sudden appearance of an extraordinary light,
which, to him, appeared exactly like the light of the electric spark. On looking to
the sky, he saw nothing but a brilliant line of light which appeared to lie nearly
East and West, and seemed three or four yards long.
192 Reviews. ; [ Jan.
the Meteor darted over the ‘“ Domplatz” of Miinster, formed a most
peculiar sight.
The Meteor was seen through the large western window of the
Cathedral of Miinster (as is shown in our illustration), by an observer
within the building, and this appearance
furnished the author, as we shall presently
see, with the most important elements from
which to determine its height and direction.
So near to the earth did it appear at Miin-
ster, that people ran to the common before
the Castle to find it, thinking it must have
fallen on that spot. It was sought for by
the peasantry in many places, and in one,
as we shall see, by the author himself; and
we are by no means astonished to read that
at a village near Tréves, the peasants said
that a fiery cross had fallen from heaven.
[eee eae eee a As is usually the case, the fire-ball of the
4th of March left behind it a line of light
which showed for a few moments the direction it had taken. By some,
this is described as a simple straight line of light, and by others, as a
trail of sparks. One clergyman, however, denies that it left a trail,
and the author accounts for the invisibility by showing that from
the geographical position of the observer, the trail must have been
covered by the object itself.
The disappearance is variously described by different observers.
In most places they agree that the Meteor suddenly appeared and as
suddenly disappeared, like lightning. But some assert, that it gave
off sparks and burst like a rocket; others say that it burst into small
pieces, which seemed to be entirely consumed, while one declares
that it disappeared in blackish vapours, which the author does not
appear to believe. .
In general it has been remarked that the apparent extinction of an
object such as that we are describing, has been attended by a noise
resembling distant thunder. It has imvariably been heard when
meteoric stones have subsequently been found. No fragment of the
fire-ball of the 4th of March has yet been traced, but it is certain that
observers, far and near, say they heard a noise. It was not heard in
large towns, even when they lay near to the spot at which the ball
disappeared ; but that can be easily accounted for. In some places
the sound is said to have resembled the rushing noise made by a rocket
in its flight, or a passing cannon-ball; in others, it is compared to the
dull ‘bump’ which follows the fall of a heavy body on soft earth.
We must remark, that the noise waa heard loudest in North Brabant,
and appeared most distant at Hanover, from which important conse-
quences follow.
Respecting the true path of the Meteor, the observations which
reached the author left him in no doubt. All the observers in the
east saw the object towards the west, going from right to left; while
those in the west saw it towards the east, and going from left to right
1864. | Hets’s Great Meteor of 1863. 193
There were others who supposed it to be going towards the zenith.
Two reliable observations further afforded him the means of calcula-
ting with some certainty, both the direction and the height. One of
these was the observation made in the Miinster Cathedral. The large
west window of the cathedral was suddenly lighted up, so that the
architectural details were all rendered plainly visible, and the observer
saw the ball pass across in an oblique direction from the right-hand
corner. From measurement of the distance of the observer from
the window, and the height of the window, Dr. Heis was enabled to
calculate two points in the path of the Meteor.
We may sum up, in a few words, the conclusions at which the
author arrived from a careful comparison of the various observations
which reached him. He believes that the fire-ball first became visible
at a point in the North Sea, about 53° 50’ north latitude, and longitude
5° east of Greenwich, at a height of 88 miles; that it travelled from
north to south, and disappeared in latitude 51° 28’, longitude 5° 18’, at
a height of 17 miles, having in its visible course traversed 187 miles in
4% seconds, at the rate of 473 miles in a second. The path inclined
towards the horizon, at an angle of 22°.
We have said that the author himself believed that the fire-ball had
fallen to the earth. So convinced was he of this, that he made a
journey to the place near which he supposed it to have fallen, in order
to search for and make inquiries after it. He wandered over the
neighbourhood of Herzogenbusch, in the north of Flanders, for several
days, but without success, and departed at last, disappointed indeed,
yet still hopeful, for he left at the village schools a promise of a large
reward for any boy who should find a meteoric-stone.
On all sides, however, he found the impression existed that the
Meteor had fallen in the immediate neigbourhood, and from the in-
terval of time which elapsed between the disappearance of the light
and the observation of the sound in this vicinity, he calculated the
height at which it exploded. But unfortunately the ideas of the
Belgian peasants as to length of the interval were rather vague. Several
guessed it at five minutes, which was much too long, so the Doctor,
in his perplexity, appealed to an intelligent cook, who both saw the
Meteor and was frightened by the noise. In answer to the question,
“Could she have boiled an egg hard in the interval?” she replied,
“Lord bless me, no—not even soft !—Lord bless me, no; it could not
have done in double the time ;” and so the interval was reduced from
five minutes to less than one minute, which was further diminished by
other observers to twenty-two or twenty-five seconds.
If it were solid, and had fallen entire, there would hardly have
been much difficulty in finding the object, for Dr. Heis has cal-
culated that in such-a case the earth would suddenly have acquired
a@ mountain as large as one of the Siebengebirge. The diameter of
the fire-ball he estimates at 1,381 English feet ; but it may be, he
remarks, that these bodies have only a small nucleus within a luminous
envelope.
The cosmical relations of the fire-ball of the 4th of March we must
dismiss very briefly, The author determined that it moved around the
VOL. 1. t)
194 Reviews. [ Jan.
sun ina hyperbola, and that it became visible at a point in the heavens
near the star y Cephei. For the elements of this determination we
must refer the reader to the little work under review.
With regard to the chemical composition of fire-balls, Dr. Heis has
nothing new to tellus. The recent discovery of hydrocarbons, graphite,
and free sulphur in stones which have fallen, may lead to the supposi-
tion that some are wholly combustible in very attenuated air, and we
may thus account for the phenomena of falling or shooting-stars ; while
in others the mineral matters may predominate, and these sometimes
exploding with detonation, fragments fall to the earth constituting
meteoric stones. :
Respecting the origin and destination of the Meteors and fire-balls
we have, of course, no information, and the votaries of modern science
and of ancient poetry will still continue variously to regard them as
fresh fuel for our flaming sun, or fragments of a shattered world.
MILLS AND MILLWORK.*
To the minds of laymen the vocation of engineering is not so obviously
cut up into distinct departments as the better known and older profes-
sions. While time and the experience which each of us must encounter
teach all men to distinguish, with some approach to accuracy, between
the many distinct provinces into which the practice of medicine and
that of law are divided, there are comparatively few persons not con-
nected with engineering who are aware that the same division of labour
which characterizes each of the three so-called learned professions
may be found to regulate and aid the labours of the engineer. The
two main lines of the calling are pretty well known under their relative
names of Civil, and Mechanical Engineering ; but out of these, and
especially out of the latter, there spring numerous entirely distinct
branch lines, each leading and ministering to its own special industry,
and each (to carry out our figure) presided over by a distinct staff of
management with widely different functions.
The civil engineers being a more purely professional class than
their mechanical brethren, naturally deal with a wide range of matters,
and do not greatly tend to split up into specialities ; but the mechani-
ian being generally a practical man who lives by producing as well
as scheming machinery, soon finds that his business, to be made pro-
fitable, must be confined within comparatively narrow limits.
Hence there arises an immense varicty of machine makers, all in-
cluded under the generic title of mechanical engineers, a body amongst
whom, taken as a whole, there exists an astonishing amount of practical
experience and theoretical knowledge ; but each having his own speci-
ality out of which it is seldom his wish or his interest to travel.
This is, however, quite a recent state of things in the profession.
* ¢Mills and Millwork.’ By W. Fairbairn, Esq., C.E., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S.,
&ec. 2 vols. Longmans.
1864. | Farrparrn’s Mills and Millwork. 195
Some fifty years ago, when the machinist’s art was in its infancy,
the “ millwright,” who may fairly be considered as the ancestor of
mechanical engineers, was far from special in his pursuits. In the
best cases he was, to use Mr. Fairbairn’s own words, “ the sole repre-
sentative of mechanical art. He was the engineer of the district in
which he lived; a kind of Jack-of-all-trades who could with equal
facility work at the lathe, the anvil, or the carpenter’s bench. Generally
he was a fair arithmetician, knew something of geometry, levelling,
and mensuration, and, in some cases, possessed a very competent
knowledge of practical mathematics. He could calculate the velocities,
strength, and power of machines; could draw in plan and section, and
could construct buildings, conduits, or water-courses in all the forms
and under all the conditions required in his professional practice ; he
could build bridges, cut canals, and perform a variety of work now
done by civil engineers. Such was the character and condition of the
men who designed and carried out most of the mechanical work of this
country up to the middle and end of the last century.”
In the course of the great modern expansion of the mechanical arts,
the old millwright has become very nearly extinct, and the wide field
in which he laboured has been partitioned among several craftsmen.
The domain of mill-work is, however, still very comprehensive, while
it is not surpassed in importance by any other branch of mechanical
industry.
Mill-work may properly be said to include every engineering
process involved in the construction both of the buildings and
machinery employed in producing consumable manufactures, including
every species of motive power, whether derived from wind, water, or
steam. Mr. Fairbairn’s book is a practical and, in some particulars,
an exhaustive treatise on each of these subjects, which are judiciously
divided into five sections, comprising—1l. Introduction, with a sketch
of the early history of mills. 2. The principles of mechanism. 3.
On prime movers. 4. On the machinery of transmission. 5. On the
arrangement of mills. Of the two first sections we have little to say ;
both might have been omitted without detriment to the merits of the
work ; it is only after we have skimmed the curious information of the
first, and glanced at the familiar elementary mechanics of the second
section, that we begin to find the great storehouse of the author’s
original experiences open, or to recognize what an enormous amount
and variety of actual practice is here reduced, tabulated, and made
ready for the daily use of the millwright and engineer.
Throughout the whole of his work, but especially in the second
and latest published volume with which we have more particularly to
deal, Mr. Fairbairn is essentially ‘“ practical.” It is a noteworthy fact
that in spite of the aid which mathematical science affords to the engi-
neer, our best machinists and our best machinery are less the result of
applied mathematical investigation than of intuitive judgment backed
by the time-honoured rule of thumb. It is true that the mathematician’s
aid is in every-day use in ascertaining the direction and intensity of
strains and calculating the resisting powers of the various parts of
machinery, but even through all the elaborate tables and rules given
oO D>
a
196 Reviews. ; [Jan
by our author for the determination of the proportions of gearing,
shafts, or any other portion of mill work, the fact transpires, that the
mathematics have been fitted to the practice, and not the practice to
the mathematics. Nor is this peculiar to Mr. Fairbairn; on the con-
trary, a similar tendency has pervaded the work of our best engineers,
so that it has almost come to be believed by some, that a great mathe-
matical capacity is inconsistent with unusual mechanical ability.
Though this is a question of much interest, we do not propose to
discuss it here, but merely remark, in passing, that Mr. Fairbairn’s
work is certainly another and weighty argument put into the mouths
of those who hold that the great masters in the mechanical craft have
ever used pure mathematics as a very humble kind of servant, treating
her mainly as a custos rerum, or a means of making the results of their
great natural intuition and observation common property for their
inferiors or successors.
The second and recently published volume of the work opens with
Section 4, and contains an elaborate investigation into the wide subject
of the machinery of transmission. Amongst one of the most important
general conclusions on this subject, towards which Mr. Fairbairn con-
ducts the reader, is that of the superiority of toothed gearing over straps
or other wrapping connectors for purposes of transmission. It is well
to have our attention called to this point at a time when the example of
American engineers has produced a strong feeling in favour of strap-
ping as compared with gear, and Mr. Fairbairn does good service in
pointing out the superiority of wheelwork. The advantages which can
be claimed for straps are smoothness of motion, noiselessness of action,
and perhaps smallness of first cost; but they are cumbrous, frequently
out of repair, destructive in their effects on the journals, and wholly
inapplicable in cases where the motion requires to be transmitted in a
constant ratio. One of the drawbacks to a freer use of toothed wheels
has hitherto been found in the great expense of truly shaped and fitted
gears; but the introduction of the wheel-moulding machine, with its
consequent improvement in the truth of teeth in cast-wheels, is likely
to bring wheelwork into more extensive use than at present.
The chapters on the teeth of wheels would be little more than a
recapitulation of the ordinary mathematical demonstration of their true
form were it not for the introduction of a most useful series of practical
tables, from one or other of which, as if from a ready reckoner, every
problem concerning any required wheel may be instantly solved,
whether it relate to the strength, pitch, thickness, depth, clearance,
or horses’ power to be transmitted through a particular tooth.*
* Among the drawings given of various forms of teeth is one which, like the
table just referred to, illustrates the very practical nature of this treatise. Our
mechanical readers are, of course, aware that in most demonstrations of the Epicy-
cloidal tooth that particular form having its flanks formed by hypocycloids, which
are also radial lines, is almost exclusively dealt with. Now this is a tooth which,
notwithstanding the simplicity of its delineation, is rarely used in practice, because
of its inherent weakness ; so, although we get, as usual, some prominence given
in the demonstration to the radial hypocycloid, Mr. Fairbairn’s practical bent does
not permit him to leave his reader without giving a figure of the “teeth of a large
wheel, traced from one of my own patterns, to exhibit the form which practice has
1864. ] Farrparrn’s Mills and Millwork. 197
The remaining chapters on the machinery of transmission deal
chiefly with shafting and its details. Next to the practice of dividing
labour into minute departments, and making each man’s work a task of
repetition, the factory system depends for its economy of production on
the concentration of a large number of machines under one building.
Some years ago, before this plan was carried to its present extent,
it was common in mills to have separate water-wheels to every machine ;
but, as trade developed, the true principle of concentrating the motive
power soon forced itself into notice. No sooner did it become the
custom to use either one large water-wheel or steam-engine to drive
the whole factory, than the question of shafting for the transmission
of power to the distant parts of the building began naturally to receive
attention. In order to show to what an extent this system of trans-
mission has been carried, we may mention that, at the great Saltaire
Mills, more than two miles of shafting is employed. Nowhere, per-
haps, throughout his work, does Mr. Fairbairn give more full, accu-
rate, and useful information in a tabulated form than on the subject of
shafting, while the practical examples of couplings, clutches, journals,
and brackets, illustrated by detail drawings, comprise every modern
design of value.
Section 5, on the arrangement of mills, opens with some very
interesting remarks and information on mill architecture. It is true
that Mr. Fairbairn does not touch at all upon that frequently agitated
question, the shortcomings of the engineer as an architect, but his
sketches and observations tend to bring it closely before us. ) = « L860) Iron=plateditrisate: <<.) ocUmoS
(Given OR ey, ee AUS Bog wollte te Geo oo Gi diel) Se
In order, however, more fully to illustrate the great difference in
size between the first successful transatlantic steamer, the ‘ Great
Western,’ and the last, the ‘Great Eastern,’ as well as to afford some
idea of the intermediate steps in the progress of steam navigation, the
accompanying plate will be of some service. It exhibits also the
difference in the general construction of the hull of the vessels; the
smaller ‘midship section representing the usual system of construction,
and the larger one showing the cellular method adopted in the ‘ Great
Eastern.’
Being the largest steamer afloat, we have felt ourselves justified in
entering rather more fully into the details of the construction of the
‘Great Eastern, —the more so as it is probable that she will remain
unrivalled for many years to come. Independently of her size, she is
throughout one of the finest specimens of naval architecture and
mechanical genius extant, doing credit alike to her constructor and
designer. The ‘Great Eastern, in common with many of the works of
Mr. Brunel, is rather an illustration of the talent and energy which can
be brought to bear upon mechanical science than, so far, a success from
a mercantile’ point of view; in fact, Mr. Brunel has throughout the
whole of his life been an example of genius without practical results.
We have only to look at the various works executed by his father
and himself to exemplify this ; the Thames Tunnel to wit, the Great
Western Railway works, the Box Tunnel, the Harbro’ cutting, and
last, though not least, the Great Eastern, a scientific success, but so
far a mercantile failure. This vessel is so much in advance of the
age and the conveniences which it affords, and the expenses in case
of repair from damage or otherwise are necessarily so exorbitant, that
few if any speculators can be found to embark a considerable amount
of capital in her as an investment. ‘There is no wet or dry dock at
present in existence sufficiently large to admit her; consequently,
when the most ordinary repairs are necessary, and even when the
vessel requires painting, she has to be laid aground, and from the
peculiarity of her form, having no keel, (as will be seen from the ac-
companying sketch,) it is impossible to get to her bottom without
excavating the ground from beneath her. The expenses of loading
and unloading too, are serious items in the working of so large a ship,
and can only be compensated by long voyages ; for what may be called
Quarterly Journal of Science, N° 2.
PERSIA
LencTH
| LAUNCHED |
GREAT WESTERN
GREAT BRITAIN
PERSIA i 850
GREAT EASTERN [58 2800
GREAT BRITAIN ENLARGED MIDSHIP SECTIONS
oF
GREAT WESTERN & GREAT EASTERN
GREAT WESTERN
5
1864. | SamvueEnson on Steam Navigation. 247
her terminal expenses would thus be only incurred at longer intervals
than in short voyages. As we progress, however, in the construction of
docks and other necessary naval works, they will no doubt be so enlarged
and by degrees be of such a class as to admit a vessel the size of, or
even larger than the ‘Great Eastern;’ for we fully believe that we
are not yet at the extreme limit of size: another quarter of a century
will, in our opinion, see vessels of even a larger tonnage than the ‘ Great
Eastern’ afloat. This will, however, take many years, and in the
meantime the precursors of enlarged views have had to pay the penalty
of their hardihood, as was the case in a minor degree with reference
to the steamer ‘ Enterprise’ before alluded to.
Of the ultimate commercial success of the ‘ Great Eastern’ we
entertain no doubt whatever, but this can only be realized by what
may be termed single-handed enterprise, and through her employment
on a long voyage, such as that to Australia or India. It will be
dependent too upon a modification in the propelling power of the
vessel, as well as upon the price at which she can now be obtained.
In January last this magnificent ship was put up to public auction by
the mortgagees, and although a reserve price of only 130,000/. was
placed upon her, the highest bid was 50,0001. Probably before these
pages go to press she may have been soid without reserve for a sum
under 100,000/.;* and it is only when we recollect that she originally
cost above three quarters of a million of money, that we are able to
realize the terrible sacrifice which has been made by the present
proprietors. Much honour and eredit is, however, die to those
whose enterprise induced them to embark in the speculation in the
first instance, and who thereby rendered patent to the world the feasi-
bility of constructing a vessel of dimensions so much greater than any
previous attempt in naval architecture.
It will be easy now for those who have witnessed the failure in a
mercantile sense to come forward and profit by the experience of the
past, and to remedy those defects or errors which rendered the specu-
lation so ruinous in the first instance; and probably the first step
which will be taken when the vessel changes hands, will be to remove
the paddle engines and alter her rig. For it will be seen from the
foregoing statements that although her speed is increased by the
application of the paddle and screw engines combined, it is not
commensurate with the expense at which such additional speed is
acquired. When the paddles alone are employed, a mean speed of
8 knots is obtained ; and with screw and paddle combined, 14 knots
under the most favourable circumstances; whereas the vessel will
make 9 knots per hour with the screw engines alone.
The saving in one important item of expenditure—namely, fuel—
would be so considerable, and the change, if it were effected, would so
* Whilst this article is passing through the press, we are apprised that the
‘Great Eastern’.was ‘“ knocked down” for 25,000U., and a new company, of which
Mr. Thomas Brassey, jun., is the leading director, advertises that it has purchased
the vessel, and the bonds upon her inclusive, for 97,350/.; this new company
having been the purchasers of her at auction. A dispute has, however, arisen as
to who is the rightful owner, another bidder haying put in a claim to her.
s 2
248 Original Articles. [ April,
obviously constitute the difference between a commercial failure and a
pecuniary success, that it appears hardly necessary for us to enter into
minute details. It is easy to calculate that with her screw alone at
work, the 12,000 tons of coals which she carried would nearly sufiice
for a 70 days’ voyage, but the most striking and at the same time familiar
mode of exhibiting the enormous advantages which she would thus
possess over any existing transatlantic paddle boat, will be to compare
her, under her new conditions, with the ‘ Persia,’ showing the relative
consumption of fuel and the carrying capacity of each steamer.
With her paddle engines removed, the ‘Great Eastern’ would
carry about 7,400 tons of measurement goods, and 12,000 tons of coal
(more cargo and less coal in proportion). She would burn about 200
tons of coal per diem, and steam 9 knots per hour. The ‘ Persia’
carries 1,257 tons of measurement goods, and 1,700 tons of coal, and,
burning about 150 tons per day, attains an average speed of 12 knots
per hour. Thus, if we were to take into consideration the increased
speed attained by the ‘Persia’ over the ‘Great Eastern,’ we should
have to take the quasi-consumption of the latter, not at 200, but at
260 tons per day.*
Now let us compare the work as it would be performed by the two
boats, with the coal required by each, and we shall find that,—
The ‘ Perst,’ carrying 1,257 tons of goods, and consuming 150
tons coal per day, burns 270 ibs. of coal per day for every
ton of goods carried by her.
Whilst the ‘Great Eastern,’ carrying 7,400 tons of goods, and
consuming 268 tons of coal per day, would only burn 81 Ibs.
of coal per day for every ton of goods carried.
This comparative statement exhibits in a general manner how great
is the advantage of a screw over a paddle steamer for trading purposes,
but as far as the ‘ Great Eastern’ is concerned, we do not hesitate to say
that with appropriate internal arrangements she could be made to carry
at least 10,000 tons of measurement goods; that with the screw alone
and a suitable rig, she would, in an average state of the weather, attain
a speed of 10 knots an hour; whilst with a good wind she would keep
pace with, if not outstrip, the fastest paddle steamer afloat. A compa-
rison of the transatlantic mail paddle boats, supported by a subsidy,
with the screw boats in the same service not so endowed, would further
confirm the statement of the superior economy of the screw.
Once more, too, we would repeat that, instead of believing. with
many, that her designer and builder have exceeded the legitimate
dimensions of a manageable steam-vessel, we hold that not a few of
* Throughout this paper we have avoided technical details which might be
obscure to the general reader; but we think it right here to say, that im this com-
parison between the ‘Great Eastern,’ without paddle engines, and the ‘Persia,’
we have duly considered the difference between an increase of cargo and the
weight of the engines removed; also the bearing of the greater size and weight
of the ‘Great Eastern,’ in relation to her locomotive power ; the ‘‘ lively” nature
of cargo, compared with the dead weight of the engines removed; and the
antagonistic action between paddle and screw ; but we have only given our deduc-
tions in general terms.
1864. | Samuntson on Steam Navigation. 249
our readers will live to see steamers of much larger proportions; and
most confidently do we predict a brighter future for the noble vessel
now lying idle in the river Mersey.
It has been impossible, in the limited space at our disposal, to give
even a tolerably perfect sketch of the progress of steam navigation ;
but in order to afford our readers some idea of the vast mercantile steam
navy that has been called into existence through the insatiable demands
of commerce, we may mention that there are at present employed upon
one great Ocean route alone, namely, from Liverpool and Glasgow to
the continent of North America, 100,000 tons of steam shipping, all
created, in addition to vessels that have been lost, since the ‘ Great
Western’ was launched ; and that there is furthermore a large fleet of
additional steamers now in course of construction.
But we have thus far spoken only of our mercantile steam navy,
and have said nothing concerning the armaments of our country.
It is indeed unnecessary that we should do so. That governments
are slow to move, and that ours did not follow in the wake of the
merchant service with any great alacrity, is well known to our readers.
They are aware also that having once commenced, the Admiralty added
year by year to our steam fleet; and we may say without boasting that
in both services we have outstripped our neighbours as completely as
when wooden walls protected old England.
But we pass over this portion of the subject without regret or
apology, quite content to leave its treatment to other and abler pens
than ours.
We have endeavoured to render as intelligible as it is possible for
one accustomed rather to building, than to writing about steamers, the
theme with which we have been called upon to deal ; and have only to
remark, in conclusion, that our industry was not originated for warlike
purposes, although it was afterwards thus applied, or we should rather
say misapplied ; for had the first steam-boat been endowed with life and
speech, we are sure that her earliest sentences would not have been
those of anger or defiance, but that she would have proclaimed, as did
later the Atlantic telegraph, “‘ Glory to God in the highest, on earth
peace and good-will towards men.”
Nore—Much additional and interesting information on the subject of Steam
Navigation will be found in ‘Steinitz’s History of the Ship’ (Longmans), and
Captain Claxton’s Pamphlet on the ‘Great Britain.’ We have to acknowledge
our obligations to John Scott Russell, Esq., to the owners of some of the trans-
atlantic steamers, to Henry A. Bright, Esq. (Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co.,
owners of the ‘Great Britain’), and to many other friends, for valuable information
supplied to us.
250 Original Articles. | April,
THE FOSSIL SKULL CONTROVERSY.
ON HUMAN CRANIA ALLIED IN ANATOMICAL CHARACTERS
TO THE ENGIS AND NEANDERTHAL SKULLS.
By mie Turner, M.B., F.R.S.E., Senior Demonstrator of Anatomy
in the University of Edinbur eh.
Or the various crania which during the last few years have come under
the notice of the geologist and anatomist, few, perhaps, have excited
so much interest as those fragments of two human skulls which, from
the localities where they were found, have been named the Engis and
Neanderthal skulls. The lengthened descriptions given of them in the
recent works of Sir C. Lyell ‘On the Antiquity of Man,’ and of Professor
Huxley ‘On Man’s Place in Nature,’ and the light which they have
been supposed to cast on the solution of the great problem of the
antiquity of the human race, have caused a large amount of attention
to be directed to them. Not only have the various circumstances
connected with their discovery, the geological conditions under which
they were found, and their association or non-association with various
animal bones, been carefully noted, but their shape, proportions, and
general anatomical characters have been minutely studied.
Tae Hnars Cranium.
This skull was discovered by the persevering researches of Dr.
Schmerling in the Engis cave, in the province of Liége, in Belgium.
It was found with other fragments of human bones, covered by a layer
of stalagmite, and along with it were imbedded the bones of various
extinct animals, as the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, and the cave
bear. Dr. Schmerling regarded it as cotemporaneous with those
animals, and from independent researches into the geological relations
of the locality, the same opinion has been arrived at by Sir C. Lyell.
The skull is a fragment, but the vault of the cranium is preserved.
It is to all appearance that of an adult male. Mr. Huxley has care-
fully described and figured it in both the works above referred to, and
has come to the following conclusions respecting it. That there is
nothing in its character to give any trustworthy clue to the Race to
which it might appertain, for though some of its contours and measure-
ments agree well with some Australian skulls, yet others agree equally
well with some Eur opean crania; that there is no mark of “degradation
about it; that it is a fair average human skull, which might have be-
longed to a philosopher, or might have contained the thoughtless
brains of a savage.
The skull with which I am going to compare it was sent to the
Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh some months
back by Mr. Henry Duckworth, F.G.S. It was found by him in the
summer of 1861, when on a visit to St. Acheuil, near Amiens. “ It lay
about six feet from the surface, in a deposit termed by the quarrymen
the ‘Découvert’ bed, which deposit appeared like a narrow vein or
1864. | Turner on the Fossil Skull Controversy. 251
band of marly sand and small flints, dividing, at an angle of say 45°,
the vegetable or brick earth on one side from the black flint deposit
on the other.” As various remains of the Roman and Gallo-Roman
age have been found in this locality, it is possible that the skull may
be as old as that period, but there is no evidence that it belonged to
an earlier time. The skull is a fragment, but possesses almost the
same bones as the Engis cranium. It is the skull of an adult, and
from its faintly-marked ridges and supra-orbital processes is either a
female, or a male whose muscular development was feeble. The bones
possess no unusual thickness or density, such as one not unfrequently
sees in the crania of savage nations. They are, however, some-
what friable, of a pale yellowish-brown colour, and much deprived of
their animal matter. Numerous linear excavations due to the action
of the roots of the plants in the soil are on their outer surface.*
The different regions of the cranium are well proportioned to each
other, and there are no marks of degradation about it. The strong
resemblance in external form between this cranium from St. Acheuil
and the Engis skull at once struck me, and careful comparative
measurements have confirmed my first impressions. The Engis skull
is, indeed, somewhat larger, but the proportions between the corre-
sponding parts of the two crania are closely preserved.
= nie Longi- Inter- Hor.
Frontal | Parietal | Occipital | aS . os
SKULL. Length. TeeGlin, || Gacoalin, |) Beeline | tudinal meatoid Circum-
| | Arc. Arc, ference,
Pens | | ———
* 7.5 i—4 lo Ad od
Engis . - Cn 44, I eats Or | 13-75 | 13: 20°7
|
St. Acheuil. | 7-1 | 4:1 | 5-1 | 4:1 | 12:2 | 11:8 | 19-6
The length of the Engis skull is to its breadth as 100 to 70, that
of the St. Acheuil cranium as 100 to 71. If my supposition be correct
that the latter is a female, the difference in size may, perhaps, be
regarded as merely a sexual difference. The St. Acheuil skull is some-
what more convex posteriorly in its upper occipital region; but, as a
rule, the contours of the two crania so closely resemble each other,
that one might almost look upon the one from St. Acheuil as a reduced
copy of the Engis skull.t
* The interpretation of this appearance was made for me by my friend, Pro-
fessor Rolleston, of Oxford; and since my attention was directed to it, I have not
unfrequently noted a corresponding appearance in bones which have been buried
at no great distance from the surface. :
+ The measurements of the Engis skull have been taken from a cast supplied
by Mr. Gregory, of Golden Square, London.
+ A minor structural difference consists in the presence of a small triquetral
or inter-parietal bone in the St. Acheuil cranium; but such a bone, although at
one time supposed to possess, is now known to have no especial value as an index
of race character. I have, for example, seen it in two Australian crania, ina
Malay, a Hindoo, a North American Indian, a Chilian Indian, a Ceylonese, a
Scotch, and a French cranium. It can no longer be regarded as a distinctive
peculiarity of the Peruvian skull.
252 Original Articles, [ April,
A question of much interest at once suggests itself by this com-
parison. Are we to regard the occupant of the Belgian cavern as of
the same race as the dweller on the banks of the Somme? ‘The geo-
graphical distance between the two localities is not great, but the
geological distance as regards time between the cotemporary of the
mammoth and woolly rhinoceros and the inhabitant of the North of
France at a period not more remote than the Gallo-Roman age is, as
all present evidence indicates, indeed enormous. The answer to the
above question, then, will doubtless be regulated by the opinion which
may be entertained of the value of cranial characters, as an element in
ethnical comparison. Many ethnologists of eminence consider, and
with much reason, the form of the skull as one of the most important
tests to be employed in determining the affinities of races, for the
crania of individuals of the same race possess a strong general resem-
blance throughout long periods of time. But whatever opinion may
be formed of the identity or non-identity as regards race of the two
individuals to whom these crania belonged, there can, I think, be no
doubt that, as this skull from St. Acheuil proves, the cranial confor-
mation, and presumably the cerebral conformation also, of the geolo-
gically ancient Belgian was in no respect inferior to this inhabitant
of France during a period in its history not more distant than the
Gallo-Roman time.
Tue NEANDERTHAL SKULL.
The circumstances connected with the discovery of this cranium
have been so well detailed by Dr. Fuhlrott, Professor Schaaffhausen,
and Sir C. Lyell, and its anatomical characters have been so carefully
described and figured by Professor Schaaffhausen, Mr. Busk, and Mr.
Huxley, that it is needless forme to enter into any detailed descrip-
tion of them, more especially since Professor King has already placed
many of the most important facts connected with it before the readers
of this Journal in the number for January. My object will be suffi-
ciently carried out if I especially discuss those features in its struc-
ture which either are, or are supposed to be, its peculiar character-
istics, and which are considered to distinguish it from all other known
human crania.
The skull, when looked at even by one not skilled in human ana-
tomy, is seen to possess remarkable features, The flattened vertex,
the low retreating forehead and strongly projecting supra-orbital
ridges, at once attract attention, and show that it is an exceptional
form of human cranium. To these more obvious characters Mr.
Huxley has added yet another, in the shape of the occipital region,
which he looks upon as even more striking to the anatomical eye.
The consideration of these peculiarities, together with some others
of minor importance, has led Professor King to look upon the being
to whom this cranium belonged as specifically, nay more, as generi-
cally, distinct from man. But in coming to this conclusion, that
observer appears to me to have estimated far too lightly the amount
of variation to which the human body is subject, in the structure and
arrangement of its constituent parts. J allude not merely to diverg-
1864. ] Turner on the Fossil Skull Controversy. 253
ences in the conformation of corresponding parts of the bodies of men
of different races, but of individuals of the same race; variations
which, though they may be great enough to constitute large and im-
portant individual differences, are still not sufficient to warrant our
assuming the absence of those characters which are especially and
distinctively human. I refer not only to those variations in the form
of the features, the colour of the skin, and the nature of the hair,
which are discernible on an external examination of the body, but to
those deeper or internal differences affecting the origin and distribution
of the blood-vessels, the extent of attachment of the muscles, the
non-formation in some cases of muscles usually present, and in other
cases the development of new muscles. Similarly, the bones them-
selves may exhibit great variations in the size of their ridges and
processes ; and in some individuals processes may even occur which do
not generally enter into the formation of the human skeleton.* All
these afford illustrations of such a great amount of variability as to
cause the careful human anatomist to hesitate, if an unusual structure
or arrangement in a part evidently human were shown him, before he
ventured to pronounce such structure or arrangement to be an indi-
cation that the being in whom it occurred was either a distinct species
of man, or a form transitional between man and the lower animals.
The Neanderthal skull unquestionably possesses a very remarkable
shape, one which sufficiently distinguishes it from other known crania.
But we must inquire whether its anatomical characters are altogether
exceptional. Is it not possible, in carefully examining an extensive
collection of skulls, such as are presented to the anatomist in a large
museum or dissecting-room, to find crania closely allied to it in some
of those features which are regarded as most distinctive? I have,
during the past year, directed much attention to this matter, and have
examined numerous crania, both of savage and European nations.
The points in the Neanderthal skull which I have most closely com-
pared with other crania, have been—Ist, the projection of the supra-
orbital ridges and glabella; 2nd, the receding forehead; 3rd, the
shape of the occipital region.
The supra-orbital ridges in the Neanderthal skull are characterized
not only by their great projection forward, but by their rounded
massive form. They extend outwards as far as the external orbital
processes, and they run into each other across the middle line at the
prominent glabella. Their extent and projection, as is clearly shown
in the figure (from a photograph by Dr. Fuhlrott) in Mr. Huxley’s
work, are due to the excessive development of the frontal sinuses.
* It may be sufficient to mention here the occasional development on the
occipital bone of an additional process called paramastoid, and of a process,
the supra-condyloid, springing from the humerus a short distance above the
inner condyle. An elaborate description of all the different forms which the latter
process presents in Man and a comparison of their arrangement in certain of the
Mammalia, as in many Quadrumana, Carnivora, Marsupialia, &c., is given by
Gruber, in the ‘Mém. de l Acad. Imp. de St. Pétersbourg, vol. viii. 1859.
+ These sinuses are cavities in the frontal bone due to a want of parallelism
between the two plates, of which the bone is constructed. They contain air, and
communicate with the nose.
254 Original Articles. | April,
In attempting, however, to form a correct estimate of this projection,
it is necessary to bear in mind that the absence of the bones of the
face, more especially of the nasal, malar, and upper jaw bones, tends to
give a more marked character to it than would probably have been
the case had they been present.
Professor Schaaffhausen, in his remarks on this skull, states that in
the principal European museums there are no crania which can be
compared with it in the amount of this supra-orbital projection ;
but he refers to various craniological memoirs, in which cases have
been recorded of a considerable, though not so great a projection in
this region, more particularly in the skulls of ancient and modern
barbarous races. Mr. Huxley also, in his critical account of this
cranium, alludes to the supra-orbital projection in Australian skulls,
though this is not unfrequently due to a solid bony growth, the
frontal sinuses being undeveloped. Mr. Busk has also figured the
cranium of a red Indian,* and a skull from Borreby, in Denmark,
stated to be of the Stone period, in which these ridges project con-
siderably. In the Ethnological collection in the Anatomical Museum
of the University of Edinburgh, are also several crania, in which they
constitute a striking feature. Some of the New Zealand and Tas-
mania crania, for example, are cases in point. But this character is
by no means confined, as it appears to have been far too generally
believed, either to the crania of modern savage races, or to those
former denizens of these islands and of continental Europe, the men
of the Stone period, of the age of Iron or of Bronze. It is a character
which occasionally crops out, as it were, not only in the men, but the
women even, of the British Islands at the present day, and at times
attains a prominence which, though not quite equalling, yet is but
little removed from that in the Neanderthal skull. I have now7 before
me three modern British crania, and the cast of a fourth (Fig 1) in the
Museum of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (No. 34), in which
it may be studied. In the whole of these skulls, the prominence of
the glabella and supra-orbital ridges is most strikingly marked,
especially in the extent to which they project forward, though none
of them exhibit so massive a form at the external orbital processes as
the Neanderthal skull. In two of the crania more particularly (one
of which is that of an old woman, Fig 2), there is a deep depression
at the root of the nose, such as to all appearance the Neanderthal skull
possessed when in its perfect state.
The low retreating forehead is a character which presents much
variety in human crania In the one from the Neander valley it is con-
siderable ; but as Mr. Huxley has remarked, the supra-orbital projection
causes the forehead to appear still lower and more retreating than it
really is. But what the true slope of the forehead may have been, there
is now some difficulty in accurately determining, on account of the frag-
mentary nature of the skull, rendering it difficult to say what was the true
position of the head. The influence which a change in the position of
the head exercises on the slope of the forehead, either in adding to or sub-
* ‘Nat. Hist. Review,’ vol. i. pl. v.
+ The figures refer to the accompanying plate.
1864. | Turnun on the Fossil Skull Controversy. 255
tracting from it, is illustrated by the different appearance it presents in
the figures of this cranium given by Sir C. Lyell and Mr. Huxley. I
have now before me a modern British skull which closely approaches
it, nay, is rather more flattened in the frontal region on account of
the very faintly marked condition of the frontal eminences. I may
refer here also to. a fragment of a skull, perhaps that of an old monk, in
the collection of Christ Church, Oxford (shown me by Professor Rolles-
ton), and to the cast of the cranium of Archbishop Dunbar (obiit 1547),
in the Museum of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries, in both of which
there is a remarkably flattened and retreating forehead.
Professor King lays great stress upon the coexistence of the pro-
jecting supra-orbital ridges and retreating forehead in the Neanderthal
skull; more especially with regard to the part of the frontal bone,
which is intersected by a line drawn at right angles to the glabello-
occipital line through the infero-anterior angles of the two outer
orbital processes. I cannot but think that if Professor King, instead
of selecting for his comparison such a recent human skull as the one
he figures in Plate 2, Fig. 5,* had taken a human skull presenting in
combination a retreating forehead and projecting ridges (such as
represented in Fig. 1), he would have found that no great difference
existed between it and the Neanderthal skull in the amount of frontal
bone cut off by such a line.
I have already stated that Professor Huxley attaches much
importance to the shape of the Neanderthal skull in its occipital
region. He describes the squamous part of the occipital bone as
sloping obliquely upward and forward from the protuberance and
superior curved line, so that when the glabello-occipital line is made
horizontal, the occipital protuberance occupies the extreme posterior
end of the skull, and the lambdoidal suture is situated well on the
upper surface of the cranium; as a result of which the posterior lobe
of the brain would have been flattened and diminished.
But if this mode of description be adopted, it must be borne in
mind that the upward and forward slope is not that of a plane surface.
For the squamous plate of the bone possesses a curved surface with
the convexity projecting backwards and upwards, though this con-
vexity is undoubtedly much smaller than the greater majority of
well-formed crania exhibit. ‘Then again I find, from measurements
of the cast of this skull, that the greatest antero-posterior diameter is
not included in a line drawn between the glabella and occipital pro-
tuberance, but in a line drawn from the glabella to a point in the
squamous part of the occiput, about half-an-inch above the protuber-
ance; though whether this point may in this individual have been the
most projecting part of the head posteriorly, it is impossible to say,
on account of the difficulty of placing this fragment of a skull in its
natural position.
But to follow out the method which we have hitherto pursued in
this investigation, let us now, by a comparison of this part of the
Neanderthal skull with the corresponding region in other human
* Jan. No. ‘Quarterly Journal of Science.’
256 Original Articles. [ April,
crania, see what value is to be attached to its configuration as an
especial character. Messrs. Busk and Huxley have already shown,
that in the Danish Borreby skull, and in some Australian crania,
the occipital region presents a form closely allied to the Neanderthal
skull itself. Additional evidence of this correspondence is supplied
by the Australian and Tasmanian crania in the Edinburgh University
Anatomical Museum, in one of the former of which the squamous plate
is nearly flat, and forms almost a right angle with the surface of the
bone below the curved line. But it is not with these savage races only
that this comparison can be made. An examination of a considerable
number of modern British crania has shown me that a large amount of
variation occurs in them in the form of this region, and in the extent
of the posterior convexity of the squamous part of the occipital bone.
And it would be quite possible to arrange, from materials to which I
have access, a series of modern British skulls, in which this variation
may be traced from a well-marked posterior occipital bulging to a
configuration of the upper occipital region, closely approaching the
form of the Neanderthal skull. Inthe skull-cap represented in Fig. 3,
the diminished occipital conyexity is almost equal to that of the
last-named cranium.*
Professor Schaaffhausen regards the unusual development of the
frontal sinuses, supra-orbital ridges, and glabella, as unquestionably
typical race-characters, and not as an individual or pathological
deformity. 'T'o accept such a view, however, it would be necessary to
show that a great projection in the supra-orbital region possesses a
definite ethnical value. But this, I would submit, is an inconstant
feature, for great variations in the size of these ridges are exhibited
by the crania of barbarous races, both ancient and modern, in which
such projections have been seen. The series of New Zealand,
Australian, and Negro crania, in the Ethnological Collection in the
Edinburgh University Anatomical Museum, exhibits considerable
diversities in this respect. Again, in the beautifully illustrated
‘Crania Britannica’ of Messrs. Davies and Thurnham, whilst some of
the ancient British crania depicted present a considerable projection
above the orbits, in others, again, it is but shghtly marked.| And as
we all know that no great prominence occurs as a rule in the modern
British skull, yet, as the specimens already alluded to (p. 254) prove,
an amount of projection may occasionally occur not much inferior to
that in the Neanderthal skull.
To attempt, then, to found, as Schaaffhausen has done, a typical
race-character on so variable a feature, or to build a chief argument
in favour of the distinct specific, nay even generic, character of a skull,
as Professor King has done, ona solitary cranium in which such largely-
developed supra-orbital ridges occur, does not appear to me to be
warranted by the facts at our disposal. Mere massiveness—the
* In the University Anatomical Museum is the skull (B. 5) of a modern
patriotic Greek, picked up on the plain between Athens and the Pireeus, in which.
this configuration of the occipital region is most strikingly marked.
+ Compare, for example, the Ballidon Moor, Uley, and Kennet crania with
those from Middleton Moor, Long Lowe, and Littleton Drew.
1864. | Turner on the Fossil Skull Controversy. 257
possession of greater bulk in this region in an individual skull—is not
in itself a feature on which to base any specific distinction. As
well might we attempt to draw specific characters from a greater or
less development of the mastoid processes. To give anything like
value to such a character, it ought to be shown to be possessed by the
majority at least of the skulls of a given race Keeping in view, then,
the amount of variation which this projection admits of in the crania
of known races, and in the absence of any skulls cotemporaneous with
the one from the Neanderthal with which to compare it, we should
hesitate before expressing an opinion that it is an ethnical rather than
an individual character.
Amongst the various speculations which have been hazarded, as to
the nature and mental capabilities of the man to whom this singular
skull appertained, there is one expressed in the inquiry, “ But may
he not have been an idiot?” In the absence of any definite in-
formation, it is alike impossible to prove either that he was an
idiot or a sane person. I have, however, compared the skull with
the crania of three idiots, and find not only considerable diversities
between its form and theirs, but in the form which the idiot cranium
itself may present. In one of the idiot’s skulls the forehead is low and
retreating, and the supra-orbital ridges are large, but the external
measurements and internal capacity are so small as to place it amongst
the microcephali. Now the Neanderthal skull cannot be regarded as
microcephalic, either in its external measurement or internal capacity.
It possesses an extreme length of 8 inches when measured from the
glabella to the most projecting point of the occiput, and of 7-2 when
the measurement is taken between the frontal eminences and the cor-
responding occipital eminences, which latter diameter is of greater
value than the former as an index of cranial capacity, because it
eliminates the supra-orbital projection and frontal sinuses. Its greatest
breadth is 5:9 inches. Its present capacity is 65 cubic inches; but
its capacity in the original condition is estimated by Mr. Huxley at
75 cubic inches, which is the average capacity given by Morton for
Polynesian and Hottentot skulls.
Amongst modern European crania, the average cranial capacity is
considerably higher than this. Professor Welcker, of Halle,* from
careful measurements of 80 normal, male, adult German crania, has
placed the mean capacity at 884 cubic inches. But whilst the
maximum of these crania rose as high as 109 cubic inches, the
minimum sank as low as 74:4 cubic inches, a capacity scarcely so
great as the estimate made of the Neanderthal skull ; and the capacity
of two others was only 78 and 78:6 cubic inches. Again, Professor
Huschke,} from the measurements of 21 male German crania, has
found their average capacity to be 88°17 cubic inches; but the
smallest of these skulls was no more than 73°1 cubic inches, which
is nearly two cubic inches smaller than the Neanderthal skull. Thus
though the estimated capacity of this cranium is less than the
* © Untersuchungen ueber Wachsthum und Bau des Menschl. Schaedels,’ 1862,
p. 30.
+ Schaedel, Hirn, und Seele, 1854, p. 47.
258 ; Original Articles. | April,
European mean, yet modern male German crania have been measured,
which closely approach, and even sink below it. The possession of
strong supra-orbital ridges, a low retreating forehead, and a diminished
occipital convexity, is not therefore necessarily incompatible with an
amount of brain space larger than that yielded by some modern Euro-
pean crania (which such experienced craniologists as Huschke and
Welcker looked upon as normal), if the space lost in the frontal and
occipital regions is compensated for by increased growth in another
direction. And in the Neanderthal skull this compensation appears
to have been provided in the parietal region, which is nearly three-
tenths of an inch wider than that given by Mr. Busk as the mean
breadth of the European skull.* But the skull, No. 34, Edinburgh
College of Surgeons’ Museum (Fig. 1), yields us still more striking
testimony of the occasional co-existence even of enormous cranial
capacity with projecting supra-orbital ridges, a low forehead, and
diminished occipital convexity. Its capacity is 117 cubic inches, which
is three cubic inches greater than that of the most capacious skull I can
find recorded.t And like the Neanderthal, it has its greatest breadth
close to the squamous suture, and not at the parietal eminences.
The cast of the skull of King Robert the Bruce also, copies of which
may be found in many museums, shows that that valiant and sagacious
monarch had, along with a retreating forehead, a large and capacious
cranium.
From the comparison which has thus been instituted, I have no
hesitation in saying that, although we may not be able to produce
another skull possessing a combination of all those characters which
are regarded as so distinctive of the Neanderthal skull, yet the
examination of an extensive series of crania will show us that these
characters are closely paralleled, not only in the crania of many
savage races now existing, but even in those of modern European
nations.
How cautious, therefore, ought we to be in generalizing either as
to the pithecoid affinities or psychical endowments of the man to
whom it appertained. It is as yet but an isolated specimen; of its
history prior to the day of its discovery, we are altogether ignorant ;
its geological age even is quite uncertain. In coming to any conclu-
sion, therefore, we have no facts to guide us, save those which are
furnished by an examination of its structural characters. And what-
ever marks of degradation these may exhibit, yet they are closely
paralleled in the crania of some of the men, and women too, now
living and moving in our midst.
* «Med. Times and Gazette,’ April 12,1862. Mr. Busk places the mean
breadth of European ecrania at 5°65.
t+ The capacity of the largest cranium measured by Welcker was 114 cubic
inches; that of the largest measured by Huschke, 109+75 cubic inches,
Homha
X
1864.] Carrenrer on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces. 259
ON THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF “CON-
SERVATION OF FORCE” TO PHYSIOLOGY.
Parr II. (conclusion): The Relations of Light and Heat to the Vital
Forces of Animals.
By Wit11am B. Carrenter, M.D., F.R.S., F.LS., F.G.S.
Tose of our readers who accompanied us through the first part of our
inquiry are aware that it was our object to show, that as Force is
never lost in the Inorganic World, so Force is never created in the
Organic ; but that those various operations of Vegetable life which are
sometimes vaguely attributed to the agency of an occult “ Vital Prin-
ciple,” and are referred by more exact thinkers to certain Vital Forces
inherent in the organism of the Plant, are really sustained by Solar
Light and Heat. These, we have argued, supply to each germ the
whole power by which it builds itself up, at the expense of the materials
it draws from the Inorganic Universe, into the complete organism ;
while the mode in which that power is exerted (generally as Vital
Force, specially as the determining cause of the form peculiar to each
type) depends upon the ‘germinal capacity’ or directive agency in-
herent in each particular germ. The first stage in this constructive
operation consists in the production of certain Organic Compounds of
a purely Chemical nature—such as gum, starch, sugar, chlorophyll, oil,
and albumen—at the expense of the oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and
nitrogen, derived from the Water, Carbonic Acid, and Ammonia of the
atmosphere; whilst the second consists in the further elevation of a
portion of these organic compounds to the rank of Organized Tissue pos-
sessing attributes distinctively Vital. Of the whole amount of Organic
Compounds generated by the Plant, it is but a comparatively small
part (a) that undergoes this progressive metamorphosis into living
tissue. Another small proportion (b) undergoes a retrograde meta-
morphosis, by which the original binary components are reproduced; and
in this descent of Organic Compounds to the lower plane, the power
consumed in their elevation is given forth in the form of Heat and
Organizing Force (as is specially seen in Germination), which help to
raise the portion a to a higher level. But by far the larger part (c) of
the Organic Compounds generated by Plants remains stored up in their
fabric, without undergoing any further elevation; and it is at the
expense of these, rather than of the actual tissues of Plants, that the
life of Animals is sustained.
When, instead of yielding up any portion of its substance for the
sustenance of Animals, the entire Vegetable organism undergoes retro-
grade metamorphosis, it not only gives back to the Inorganic World
the binary compounds from which it derived its own constituents, but
in the descent of the several components of its fabric to that simple con-
dition—whether by ordinary combustion (as in the burning of Coal) or
by slow decay—it gives out the equivalents of the Light and Heat by
which they were elevated in the first instance.
In applying these views to the interpretation of the phenomena of
260 Original Articles. [ April,
Animal life, we find ourselves, at the commencement of our inquiry,
on a higher platform (so to speak) than that from which we had to
ascend in watching the constructive processes of the Plant. For,
whilst the Plant had first to prepare the pabulum for its developmental
operations, the Animal has this already provided for it, not only at the
earliest phase of its development, but during the whole period of its
existence ; and all its manifestations of Vital activity are dependent upon
a constant and adequate supply of the same pabulum. The first of these
manifestations is, as in the Plant, the building-up of the organism by
the appropriation of material supplied from external sources under the
directive agency of the germ. The ovum of the Animal, like the seed
of the Plant, contains a store of appropriate nutriment previously
elaborated by the parent; and this store suffices for the development
of the embryo, up to the period at which it can obtain and digest ali-
mentary materials for itself. That period occurs, in the different
tribes of animals, at very dissimilar stages of the entire developmental
process. In many of the lower classes, the embryo comes forth from
the egg, and commences its independent existence, in a condition
which, as compared with the adult form, would be as if a Human
embryo were to be thrown upon the world to obtain its own subsist-
ence only a few weeks after conception; and its whole subsequent
growth and development takes place at the expense of the nutriment
which it ingests for itself. We have examples of this in the class of
Insects, many of which come forth from the egg in the state of ex-
tremely simple and minute worms, having scarcely any power of move-
ment, but an extraordinary voracity. The eggs having been deposited
in situations fitted to afford an ample supply of appropriate nutriment
(those of the Flesh-fly, for example, being laid in carcases, and those
of the Cabbage-Butterfly upon a cabbage-leaf), each larva on its emer-
sion is as well provided with alimentary material as if it had been
furnished with a large supplemental yolk of its own; and by availing
itself of this, it speedily grows to many hundred or even many thou-
sand times its original size, without making any considerable advance
in development. But having thus laid up in its tissues a large addi-
tional store of material, it passes into a state which, so far as the ex-
ternal manifestations of life are concerned, is one of torpor, but which
is really one of great developmental activity : for it is during the pupa
state that those new parts are evolved, which are characteristic of the
perfect Insect, and of which scarcely a trace was discoverable in the
larva; so that the assumption of this state may be likened in many
respects to a re-entrance of the larva into the ovum. On its termina-
tion, the Imago or perfect Insect comes forth complete in all its
parts, and soon manifests the locomotive and sensorial powers by which
it is specially distinguished, and of which the extraordinary predomi-
nance seems to justify our regarding Insects as the types of purely
Animal life. There are some Insects whose Imago-life has but a very
short duration, the performance of the generative act being apparently
the only object of this state of their existence: and such for the most
part take no food whatever after their final emersion, their vital acti-
vity being maintained, for the short period it endures, by the material
1864.] Canpnntrer on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces. 261
assimilated during their larva state.* But those whose period of
activity is prolonged, and upon whose energy there are extraordinary
demands, are scarcely less voracious in their imago than in their larva-
condition ; the food they consume not being applied to the increase of
their bodies, which grow very little after the assumption of the imago-
state, but chiefly to their maintenance ; no inconsiderable portion of it,
however, being appropriated in the female to the production of ova,
the entire mass of which deposited by a single individual is sometimes
enormous. That the performance of the generative act involves not
merely a consumption of material, but a special expenditure of force,
appears from a fact to be presently stated, corresponding to that
already noticed in regard to Plants.
Now if we look for the source of the various forms of Vital force,
—which may be distinguished as constructive, sensori-motor, and
generative,—that are manifested in the different stages of the life of an
Insect, we find them to lie, on the one hand, in the Heat with which
the organism is’supplied from external sources, and, on the other, in
the Food provided for it. The agency of Heat, as the moving power
of the constructive operations, is even mere distinctly shown in the
development of the larva within the egg, and in the development of
the imago within its pupa-case, than it is in the germinating seed ;
the rate of each of these processes being strictly regulated by the
temperature to which the organism is subjected. Thus ova which are
ordinarily not hatched until the leaves suitable for the food of their
larvee have been put forth, may be made, by artificial heat, to produce
a brood in the winter; whilst on the other hand, if they be kept at a
low temperature, their hatching may be retarded almost indefinitely
without the destruction of their vitality. The same is true of the pupa-
state ; and it is remarkable that during the latter part of that state, in
which the developmental process goes on with extraordinary rapidity,
there is in certain Insects a special provision for an elevation of the
temperature of the embryo by a process resembling incubation.
Whether, in addition to the heat imparted from without, there is any
addition of force developed within (as in the germinating seed) by the
return of a part of the organic constituents of the food to the condition
of binary compounds, cannot at present be stated with confidence: the
probability is, however, that such a retrograde metamorphosis does
take place, adequate evidence of its occurrence during the incubation
of the Bird’s egg being afforded by the liberation of carbonic acid,
which is there found to be an essential condition of the developmental
process.—During the larva-state there is very little power of main-
taining an independent temperature, so that the sustenance of Vital
Activity is still mainly due to the heat supplied from without. But
in the active state of the perfect Insect there is a production of heat
* Tt is not a little curious that in the tribe of Rotifera, or Wheel-animalcules,
all the males yet discovered are entirely destitute of digestive apparatus, and
are thus incapable of taking any food whatever; so that not only the whole of
their development within the egg, but the whole of their active life after their
emersion from it, is carried on at the expense of the store of yolk provided by the
parent.
VOL. I. dh
262 Original Articles. [ April,
quite comparable to that of warm-blooded animals; and this is effected
by the retrograde metamorphosis of certain organic constituents of the
food, of which we find the expression in the exhalation of carbonic
acid and water. Thus the food of Animals becomes an internal
source of heat, which may render them independent of external
temperature.—Further, a like retrograde metamorphosis of certain
constituents of the food is the source of that sensori-motor power which
is the peculiar characteristic of the Animal organism ; for on the one
hand the demand for food, on the other the amount of metamorphosis
indicated by the quantity of carbonic acid exhaled, bear a very close
relation to the quantity of that power which is put forth. This
relation is peculiarly manifest in Insects, since their conditions of
activity and repose present a greater contrast in their respective rates
of metamorphosis, than do those of any other animals.— Of the exercise
of generative force we have no similar measure ; but that it is only a
special modification of ordinary vital activity appears from this
circumstance, that the life of those Insects which ordinarily die very
soon after sexual congress and the deposition of the ova, may be con-
siderably prolonged if the sexes be kept apart so that congress cannot
take place. Moreover, it has been shown by recent inquiries into the
Agamic reproduction of Insects and other animals, that the process of
Generation differs far less from those Reproductive acts which must
be referred to the category of the ordinary Nutritive processes, than
had been previously supposed.
Thus, then, we find that in the Animal organism the demand for
food has reference not merely to its use asa material for the con-
struction of the fabric; food serves also as a generator of force; and
this force may be of various kinds,—Heat and Motor-power being the
principal but by no means the only modes under which it manifests
itself. We shall now inquire what there is peculiar in the sources of
the Vital Force which animates the organisms of the higher animals at
different stages of Life.
That the developmental force which occasions the evolution of the
germ in the higher Vertebrata is really supplied by the Heat to which
the ovum is subjected, may be regarded as a fact established beyond
all question. In Frogs and other Amphibia, which have no special
means of imparting a high temperature to their eggs, the rate
of development (which in the early stages can be readily deter-
mined with great exactness) is entirely governed by the degree of
warmth to which the ovum is subjected. But in Serpents there is a
peculiar provision for supplying heat; the female performing a kind
of incubation upon her eggs, and generating in her own body a tem-
perature much above that of the surrounding air.* In Birds, the
developmental process can only be maintained by the steady appli-
cation of external warmth, and this to a degree much higher than that
* In the Viper the eggs are usually retained within the oviduct until they are
hatched. In the Python, which recently went through the process of incubation
in the Zoological Gardens, the eggs were imbedded in the coils of the body ; the
temperature to which they were subjected (as ascertained by a thermometer placed
in the midst of them) averaging 90° F., whilst that of the cage averaged 60° F.
1864.] Carrrentur on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces. 263
which is needed in the case of cold-blooded animals; and we may
notice two results of this application as very significant of the
dynamical relation between Heat and Developmental Force,—first,
that the period required for the evolution of the germ into the mature
embryo is nearly constant, each species having a definite period of
incubation,—and second, that the grade of development attained by
the embryo before its emersion is relatively much higher than it is in
cold-blooded Vertebrata, generally; the only instances in which
anything like the same stage is attained without a special incubation,
being those in which (as in the Turtle and Crocodile) the eggs are
hatched under the influence of a high external temperature. This
higher development is attained at the expense of a much greater
consumption of nutrient material; the store laid up in the “food yolk”
and “ albumen” of the Bird’s egg being many times greater in propor-
tion to the size of the animal which laid it, than that contained in the
whole egg of a Frog or a Fish. There is evidence in that liberation
of carbonic acid which has been ascertained to go on in the egg (as
in the germinating seed) during the whole of the developmental
process, that the return of a portion of the organic substances pro-
vided for the sustenance of the embryo, to the condition ‘of simple
binary compounds, is an essential condition of the process ; and since
it can scarcely be supposed that the object of this metamorphosis can
be to furnish heat (an ample supply of that force being afforded by
the body of the parent), it seems not unlikely that its purpose is to
supply a force that concurs with the heat received from without in
maintaining the process of organization.
The development of the embryo within the body, in the Mam-
malia, imparts to it a steady temperature equivalent to that of the
parent itself ; and in all save the implacental Orders of this class, that
development is carried still further than in Birds, the new-born Mam-
mal being yet more complete in all its parts, and its size bearing a
larger proportion to that of its parent, than even in Birds. It is
doubtless owing in great part to the constancy of the temperature to
which the embryo is subjected, that its rate of development (as shown
by the fixed term of utero-gestation) is so uniform. The supply of
organizable material here afforded by the ovum itself is very small,
and suffices only for the very earliest stage of the constructive process ;
but a special provision is very soon made for the nutrition of the
embryo by materials directly supplied by the parent ; and the imbi-
bition of these takes the place, during the whole remainder of fcetal
life, of the appropriation of the materials supplied in the bird’s egg
by the “food yolk” and “albumen.” To what extent a retrograde
metamorphosis of nutrient material takes place in the foetal Mammal,
we have no precise means of determining; since the products of that
metamorphosis are probably for the most part imparted (through the
placental circulation) to the blood of the mother, and got rid of
through her excretory apparatus. But sufficient evidence of such a
metamorphosis is afforded by the presence of urea in the amniotic
fluid and of biliary matter in the intestines, to make it probable that
it takes place not less actively (to say the least) in the foetal Mammal
T 2
264 Original Articles. | April,
than it does in the Chick in ovo. Indeed, it is impossible to study
the growth of any of the higher organisms,—which not merely con-
sists in the formation of new parts, but also involves a vast amount
of interstitial change—without perceiving that in the remodelling
which is incessantly going on, the parts first formed must be removed
to make way for those which have to take their place. And such
removal can scarcely be accomplished without a retrograde metamor-
phosis, which, as in the numerous cases already referred to, may be
considered with great probability as setting free constructive force to
be applied in the production of new tissue.
If, now, we pass on from the intra-uterine life of the Mammalian
organism to that period of its existence which intervenes between birth
and maturity, we see that a temporary provision is made in the acts of
lactation and nursing for affording both food and warmth to the young
creature, which is at first incapable of adequately providing itself
with aliment, or of resisting external cold without fostering aid. And
we notice that the offspring of Man remains longer dependent upon
parental care than that of any other Mammal, in accordance with the
higher grade of development to be ultimately attained. But when the
period of infancy has passed, the child that is adequately supplied
with food, and is protected by the clothing which makes up for the
deficiency of other tegumentary covering, ought to be able to maintain
its own heat, save in an extremely depressed temperature ; and this it
does by the metamorphosis of organic substances, partly derived
from its own fabric, and partly supplied directly by the food, into
binary compounds. During the whole period of growth and develop-
ment, we find the producing power at its highest point; the circula-
tion of blood being more rapid, and the amount of carbonic acid
generated and thrown off being much greater in proportion to the bulk
of the body, than at any subsequent period of life. We find, too, in
the large amount of other excretions, the evidence of a rapid metamor-
phosis of tissue; and it can hardly be questioned (if our general doc-
trines be well founded) that the constructive force that operates in the
completion of the fabric will be derived in part from the heat so
largely generated by chemical change, and in part from the descent
which a portion of the fabric itself is continually making from the
higher plane of organized tissue to the lower plane of dead matter.
This high measure of vital activity can only be sustained by an ample
supply of food; which thus supplies both material for the construe-
tion of the organism, and the force by whose agency that construction
isaccomplished. How completely dependent the constructive process
still is upon Heat, is shown by the phenomena of reparation in cold-
blooded animals; since not only can thé rate at which they take place
be experimentally shown to bear a direct relation to the temperature
to which these animals are subjected, but it has been ascertained that
any extraordinary act of reparation (such as the reproduction of a limb
in the Salamander) will only be performed under the influence of a
temperature much higher than that required for the maintenance of
the ordinary vital activity. After the maturity of the organism has
been attained, there is no longer any call for a larger measure of con-
1864.] Carrnnrer on Correlation of Physical and Vital Forces, 265
structive force than is required for the maintenance of its integrity ;
but there seems evidence that even then the required force has to be
supplied by a retrograde metamorphosis of a portion of the constituents
of the food, over and above that which serves to generate Animal
Heat. For it has been experimentally found that, in the ordinary life
of an adult Mammal, the quantity of food necessary to keep the body
in its normal condition is nearly twice that which would be required
to supply the “waste” of the organism, as measured by the total
amount of excreta when food is withheld; and hence it seems almost
certain that the descent of a portion of the organic constituents of this
food to the lower level of simple binary compounds is a necessary
condition of the elevation of another portion to the state of living
organized tissue.
The conditions of Animal existence, moreover, involve a constant
expenditure of Motor force through the instrumentality of the Nervo-
muscular apparatus ; and the exercise of the purely Psychical powers,
through the instrumentality of the brain, constitutes a further expen-
diture of force, even when no bodily exertion is made as its result.
We have now to consider the conditions under which these forces are
developed, and the sources from which they are derived.
The doctrine at present commonly received among Physiologists
upon these points may be stated as follows :—The functional activity
of the nervous and muscular apparatuses involves, as its necessary
condition, the disintegration of their tissues; the components of
which, uniting with the oxygen of the blood, enter into new and
simpler combinations, which are ultimately eliminated from the body
by the excretory operations. In such a retrograde metamorphosis of
tissue, we have two sources of the liberation of force ;—first, its
descent from the condition of living, to that of dead matter, involving
a liberation of that force which was originally concerned in its organi-
zation ;*—and second, the further descent of its complex organic com-
ponents to the lower plane of simple binary compounds. If we trace
back these forces to their proximate source, we find both of them in
the food at the expense of which the Animal organism is constructed ;
for besides supplying the material of the tissues, a portion of that food
(as already shown) becomes the source, in its retrograde metamor-
phosis, of the production of the Heat which supplies the constructive
power, whilst another portion may afford, by a lke descent, a yet more
direct supply of organizing force. And thus we find in the action of
Solar Light and Heat upon Plants—whereby they are enabled not
* It was by Liebig (‘Animal Chemistry, 1842,) that the doctrine was first
distinctly promulgated which had been already more vaguely affirmed by various
Physiologists, that every production of motion by an Animal involves a pro-
portional disintegration of muscular substance. But he seems to have regarded
the motor force produced as the expression only of the vital force by which the
tissue was previously animated; and to have looked upon its disintegration by
oxygenation as simply a consequence of its death. The doctrine of the ‘“ Corre-
lation of Forces” being at that time undeveloped, he was not prepared to
recognize a source of Motor power in the ulterior chemical changes which the
substance of the muscle undergoes ; but seems to have regarded them as only
concerned in the production of Heat.
266 Original Articles. | April,
merely to extend themselves almost without limit, but also to accu-
mulate in their substance a store of Organic Compounds for the con-
sumption of animals—the ultimate source not only of the materials
required by animals for their nutrition, but also of the forces of various
kinds which these exert.
Recent investigations have rendered it doubtful, however, whether
the doctrine that every exertion of the functional power of the nervo-
muscular apparatus involves the disintegration of a certain equivalent
amount of tissue, really expresses the whole truth. It has been main-
tained, on the basis of carefully conducted experiments, in the first
place, that the amount of work done by an animal may be greater than
can be accounted for by the ultimate metamorphosis of the azotized
constituents of its food, their mechanical equivalent being estimated by
the heat producible by the combustion of the carbon and oxygen which
they contain ;* and secondly, that whilst there is not a constant re-
lation (as affirmed by Liebig) between the amount of motor force
produced and the amount of disintegration of muscular tissue repre-
sented by the appearance of urea in the urine, such a constant relation
does exist between the development of motor force and the increase of
carbonic acid in the expired air, as shows that between these two phe-
nomena there is a most intimate relationship.| And the concurrence
of these independent indications seems to justify the inference that
motor force may be developed, like Heat, by the metamorphosis of con-
stituents of food which are not converted into living tissue ;—an in-
ference which so fully harmonizes with the doctrine of the direct
convertibility of these two forces, now established as one of the surest
results of Physical investigation, as to have in itself no inherent im-
probability. Of the conditions which determine the generation of
motor force, on the one hand, from the disintegration of muscular
tissue, on the other from the metamorphosis of the components of the
food, nothing definite can at present be stated ; but we seem to have a
typical example of the former in the parturient action of the Uterus,
whose muscular substance, built up for this one effort, forthwith
undergoes a rapid retrograde metamorphosis ; whilst it can scarcely
be regarded as improbable that the constant activity of the Heart
and of the Respiratory muscles, which gives them no opportunity of
renovation by rest, is sustained not so much by the continual renewal
of their substance (of which renewal there is no histological evidence
whatever) as by a metamorphosis of matters external to themselves,
supplying a force which is manifested through their instrumentality.
To sum up: The Life of Man, or of any of the higher Animals,
essentially consists in the manifestation of Forces of various kinds, of
which the organism is the instrument ; and these Forces are developed
* This view has been expressed to the author by two very high authorities,
Prof. Helmholtz and Prof. William Thomson, independently of each other, as
an almost necessary inference from the data furnished by the experiments of
Dr. Joule.
+ On these last points reference is especially made to the recent experiments
of Dr. Edward Smith.
1864. | Vorxoxcer on Milk, and Dairy Arrangements. 267
by the retrograde metamorphosis of the Organic Compounds generated
by the instrumentality of the Plant, whereby they ultimately return
to the simple binary forms (water, carbonic acid, and ammonia,)
which serve as the essential food of vegetables. Of these Organic
Compounds, one portion (a) is converted into the substance of the
living body, by a constructive force which (in so far as it is not sup-
plied by the direct agency of external heat) is developed by the retro-
grade metamorphosis of another portion (b) of the food. And whilst
the ultimate descent of the first-named portion (a) to the simple
condition from which it was originally drawn, becomes one source of
the peculiarly Animal powers—the psychical and the motor—exerted
by the organism, another source of these may be found in a like
metamorphosis of a further portion (c) of the food which has never
been converted into living tissue.
Thus, during the whole Life of the Animal, the organism is restoring
to the world around both the materials and the forces which it draws
from it; and after its death this restoration is completed, as in Plants,
by the final decomposition of its substance. But there is this marked
contrast between the two kingdoms of Organic nature in their material
and dynamical relations to the Inorganic world,—that whilst the Vege-
table is constantly engaged (so to speak) in raising its component
materials from a lower plane to the higher, by means of the power
which it draws from the solar rays, the Animal, whilst raising one por-
tion of these to a still higher level by the descent of another portion
to a lower, ultimately lets down the whole of what the Plant had
raised ; in so doing, however, giving back to the universe, in the form
of Heat and Motion, the equivalent of the Light and Heat which the
Plant had taken from it.
ON MILK, AND DAIRY ARRANGEMENTS.
By Dr. Aveustus VortcKer, Consulting Chemist to the Royal
Agricultural Society of England.
Amone the alimentary materials so bountifully supplied to man,
there are few that may rank in importance by the side of the fluid
whose constitution we are about to examine. Distinguished by a just
combination of flesh-forming and fat-prodncing elements, with those
salines which are best adapted for preserving the solution of the solid
materials ; remarkable for the facility with which the digestive system
appropriates its nutriment; time-honoured as the support of helpless
infaney ; symbolical of mildness and sweetness, its very simplicity
would seem a claim to its exemption alike from suspicion or inquiry ;
but, alas! for the materialism of the age, its value may be repre-
sented by so many pence, its mildness is perverted by adulteration,
and the food of babes is too often suggestive of chalk and water, with
a judicious thickening of brains and treacle. Milk, like everything
else, being reducible to a question of money, we do not hesitate to
268 Original Articles, | April,
adopt means to ensure, as far as possible, that we obtain our money’s
worth. Professing, as we do, a decided preference for the healthy
and natural fluid, over any artificial representation of it, however
superior in the estimation of the vendor, we call in the aid of
science, to inform us what we ought to have, even if it gives us,
at the same time, the miserable satisfaction of knowing that we have
it not.
General Composition and Characters of Milk.— Milk is the secre-
tion derived from the blood supplied to the mammary gland of the
female animal, of the class mammalia. It is never produced im any
quantity until after parturition; but during the latter part of utero-
gestation it occurs In appreciable amounts, and instances are on record
where it has been obtained from the gland of an animal previous to
impregnation. The fluid secreted before parturition, and for some
time afterwards, is called Colostrum, and contains a number of large
corpuscules, filled with oil globules, distinguished as the ‘“ Colostrum
Corpuscules.”
Milk is white in colour, opaque, and has an agreeable sweetish
taste ; the odour is faint, but peculiar.
Its density is greater than that of water. Cows’ milk, of good
quality, has a specific gravity of about 1030; human milk 1020;
Goats’ and ewes’ milk 1035 to 1042, and asses’ milk 1019, compared
with water at 1000.
The chemical reaction seems to be in a measure dependent upon
the food, as might reasonably be expected, Carnivora giving milk
possessing an acid reaction, and Herbivora an alkaline milk. Al-
though apparently homogeneous, it may be separated into cream
(which consists of oil globules, formed by thin envelopes of casein
(curd), enclosing the fats of butter), curd, or casein, albumen, milk-
sugar, and mineral matters, consisting chiefly of phosphate of lime and
magnesia, as bone, earth, and salts of potassium and sodium, with
some oxide of iron.
Cream — varies in composition, according to the circumstances
under which it is produced. Four different samples analysed in my
laboratory yielded the following results :—
I. 10 Il. IV.
Water. . 74°46 64-80 56°50 61°67
Butter (pure Tatty mutters) : 18°18 25°40 31°57 33°43
*Casein .« , 2°69 ; Noe 2°62
Milsusar oe tek aos | JT | 84H] T.56
Mineral “natters (ash) pepo Oe 0 59 2°19 3°49 0°72
: 100° 00 100-00 100-00 100°00
* Containing nitrogen . 43 3g. O06 So. G9 “42
Cream is lighter than milk, but slightly denser than pure water ;
consequently it sinks in distilled water. No. 1 was skimmed off after
standing for 15 hours, and was found to have a specific gravity of
10194 at 62° Fahr. The specific gravity of two other samples of
1864. | Vornoxer on Milk, and Dairy Arrangements. 269
cream which stood 48 hours was 1:0127 at 62° Fahr., and 1°0129 at
62° Fahr. Rich cream, | find, has a lower specific gravity than thin
cream mixed with a good deal of milk, such as the sample analysed
under No. 1.
No. 2 may be taken as representing the composition of cream of
average richness. It then contains about one-fourth its weight of
pure butter.
These differences in the composition of cream fully explain the
variable quantities of butter which are produced by a given bulk of
cream.
On an average, one quart of good cream yields from 13 to 15 ounces
of commercial butter. When very rich in fat, it will yield rather
more. Thus Mr. Horsfall states that a quart of cream yielded 1 Ib. of
butter when the cows were at grass, and 22 to 24 ounces when they
were housed and fed on rape-cake, bran, and other substances rich in
oil.
The portions of cream which first rise, are thin, but rich in fat ;
this is due to the rupture of some of the oil globules during the milk-
ing, and subsequent agitation to which milk is exposed; the light
fatty contents thus liberated naturally rise quickly to the top of the
vessel in which the milk is set.
Good and poor milk differ mainly in the proportion of cream
present ; the appearance may not be much varied, except in extreme
cases; consequently, for the determination of the quality, more
reliable tests are required than the mere inspection of the fluid; and
as a preparatory step to the consideration of the evidences afforded by
the specific gravity under various conditions, a few observations
may be offered upon the microscopic examination of milk in health
and disease.*
Microscopic Examination of Milk in Health and Disease.—It must be
some consolation to those who delight in miserable anticipations of
dreadful mixtures in their daily food, to know that we possess a
method of detecting, with absolute certainty, those combinations of
“brains, chalk, and starch,” a haunting suspicion of which makes the
morning and evening meal distasteful.
Without positively asserting that such adulterations never exist,
we may aver that we have never met with an instance. Foreign
matters, of a nature unsavoury enough, and even unwholesome, we
sometimes find, but they are the consequences of a diseased condition,
or of an absence of common cleanliness. Such things as particles of
dirt, from the milker’s hands or the cow’s udder, and cuticular scales
from the same sources, are common enough. Globules of pus and
blood discs are also found less frequently, but still oftener than we
like to believe. It will not be thought that the microscope should be
the companion to the breakfast-table : but in all cases where there is
the least cause for suspicion, its revelations are infallible, and set at
rest the doubt that is worse than certainty.
» * The substance of the remarks on the microscopic appearance and the illustra-
tions have been kindly contributed by my friend and former colleague, Professor
G. T. Brown.
270 Original Articles. | April,
Good milk, under a tolerably high power, presents the appearance
seen in our sketch (Fig. 1). Clustering masses of oil globules, the
majority of uniform size, may be observed interspersed with a few
larger, and a number of smaller ones, some being no more than fat
granules of extreme minuteness. As occasional objects we may
expect a few dirt particles, epithelial scales, or now and then two or
three hairs. The appearance of the milk globules is so characteristic,
that adventitious matters are in most cases discovered at once.
Fie. 1.—Healthy Milk,
From the number of oil globules collected together we may form
some idea of the richness of the milk examined ; but the microscope is
not the best instrument for testing the proportion of oil globules in any
given specimen, as in even very poor milk they will probably be col-
lected in some parts of the field in sufficient numbers to lead to an
erroneous judgment. In our illustration (Fig. 2) is represented a
drop of milk so diluted with water as to be nearly transparent. The
oil globules are seen in considerable numbers, although not in such
masses as we find in the undiluted fluid. In portions of the specimen
we should find the quantity apparently much increased by the natural
flow of them to the most dependent part, and at a is an epithelial
scale, of which occasionally small masses are discovered.
° 2 fe) Oo) . (eZ
90,2 copa? ss 0 Oye
16) f eS
0,8. gee oO, &
o ye) o Oc
© he? O }
q P 0°. On
R e 2 Mi ‘ O. os X QO
fe) a) 0
G °
: 9 ry Ge eh 4
f) = Q
Fig. 2.—Healthy Milk lergely diluted with Water.
1864. | Vorioxer on Milk, and Dairy Arrangements. 271
In the event of pus, or blood, being mingled with the milk, it is
evident that the gland is diseased ; such elements could hardly be
introduced by accident, and of a certainty would not be so intention-
ally. The appearance of the pus globule is very marked, as will be
seen by reference to our drawing (Fig. 3, a). The faint outline, com-
pared with the well-marked boundary of the oil globule, with the
granular character and greater size, will be sufficiently distinctive ;
further evidence may be obtained by the addition of a small quantity
of acetic acid, under whose action the nuclei of the pus cells soon
become apparent, as at b and c, while the cell wall is gradually dis-
solved.
Fie. 3.—Milk with Pus.
The detection of blood discs is not so easy, for although they
are essentially different from milk globules, their shape is materially
altered by combination with the milk, which causes them to swell up
and lose their peculiar dark centre. After the specimen, however, has
been allowed to dry on the glass, the characteristic appearance is
restored, and the blood dises are then very easily recognized.
The last Figure (4) represents blood discs in the milk, after being
Fic. 4.—Milk with Blood.
272 Original Articles. [ April,
allowed to remain for some hours on the glass. At a there are five
of them, and others will be seen among the milk globules. Some of
the blood discs have assumed a stellate form, but the dark centre is
equally apparent in each.
On the subject of the Adulteration of Milk, and the means of Detection,
nearly every writer mentions a number of materials said to be used
in London, and other large towns, for the purpose of so improving the
colour and consistency of milk that the water added to increase the
bulk may not be so readily discovered. Whatever skill the milkman
of the olden time may have possessed in this departinent of his trade,
it seems to us that he of the present day is deficient in the modesty
which afflicted his predecessor. We find now, at any rate, the
*cerulean fluid” poured unblushingly into our jugs without an effort
to disguise the sophistication, which, however harmless, not the less
defrauds us of our due percentage of the coveted cream. So honestly,
indeed, is the practice indulged in that we know more than one dairy-
man of tender conscience who professes to supply milk of undoubted
quality for the consumption of invalids and babies, while the robust
are treated to an attenuation of the most unsubstantial kind.
The prevalent system of adulteration, we are convinced, consists
in the admixture of water. Where the demand at certain seasons par-
ticularly exceeds the supply, the cow with the iron tail never fails
to meet all demands however, unreasonable, and doubtless deserves
the reputation, so long ago acquired, of being the milkman’s best
friend.
Besides the intentional dilution of milk, there is a natural dilution
dependent upon the derangement of the secretive function by the food,
as is the case when such matters are supplied as distillery waste,
bran mashes, grass from irrigated meadows, mangold tops, and acid
slops, obtained by allowing barley meal, cabbage leaves, and other
vegetable matters mixed with a great deal of water to pass through
the lactic acid fermentation. The effect of such food is to induce the
secretion of a large amount of water, and thus of necessity a poor
quality of milk.
Whether the dilution of milk be intentional, or the result of
certain influences acting upon the system, is to the consumer a matter
of secondary importance, the great question being with him whether
the milk is of good or bad quality. -
My own experience leads me to conclude that a specimen of milk
is rich when it contains 12 per cent. of solid matters, and about 3
per cent. of pure fat ; anything above this is of extra rich quality.
Good average milk contains 10 to 11 per cent. of dry matter, and
about 22 per cent. of pure fat. It yields 9 to 10 per cent. of cream.
Poor milk, whether naturally or artificially diluted, contains 90
per cent. of water, and less than 2 per cent. of pure fat, ana yields
only 4 to 8 per cent. of cream.
For the purpose of determining the quality of milk, numerous
instruments have been at various times invented ; some of them are of
doubtful utility, and nearly all require great tact on the part of the
manipulator.
1864. ] Vorroxer on Milk, and Dairy Arrangements. 273
Hydrometers, or lactometers, specially adjusted for testing milk,
may be obtained at a cheap rate at the philosophical instrument
makers, and although not capable of furnishing evidence of so exact
a nature as would be obtained by analysis, these are, nevertheless, very
much more useful indicators than anyone would be inclined to believe,
who did not know how far the specific gravity of milk is a test of its
quality.
The lactometer was never intended to indicate the relative
richness of good samples of milk, but to point out whether samples
of a fair or doubtful appearance had been watered, or were of a
naturally defective composition; and this purpose it satisfactorily
fulfils.
Experiments were instituted in my laboratory for the purpose of
ascertaining the influence of dilution upon the specific gravity, and
the quantity of cream thrown up. Water being the standard at 1000 ;
cream 1012 to 1019, and good milk 1:0820; the temperature being
always 62° Fahr.
The following results were obtained :—
Percentage
Specific of Cream
Gravity. in bulk,
Pure milk at 62° Fahr. . . 6 6 2 1:0320 ; 112i
PA and 10 per cent. of water at 629 Fahr. 1:0315 5 10
9
a 2 .3 a 1°0305 > 9
” 30 ” ” 1:0290 e 8
i 40 a4 Z 10190 . 6
~ 50 5 i-0160° 2 aes
Experiments made upon milk after being skimmed gave the
following :—
Specific
Gravity.
Skim milk . : : : 5 : : 5 1:0350
3; with 10 per cent. water : ° 5 1-0320
- 20 i. i , 3 1°0265
7 30 S 5 . . 1°0248
2 40 Be é ‘ . 10210
a9 50 ” . : 2 10180
From these investigations it appears :—
1. That good new milk has a specific gravity of about 1-030.
2. That skim milk is a little more dense, being about 1-034.
3. That milk which hasa specific gravity of 1-025 or less, is
mixed with water, or naturally very poor.
4, That when milk is deprived of about 10 per cent. of cream, and
the original volume is made up by 10 per cent. of water, the specific
gravity of such skimmed and watered milk is about the same as that
of good new milk; this circumstance, however, does not constitute any
serious objection to the hydrometer, as milk skimmed to that extent
cannot be mixed with water without becoming so blue and transparent,
that no instrument would be required to detect the adulteration.
5. That when unskimmed milk is mixed with only 20 per cent. of
274 Original Articles. [ April,
water, the admixture is indicated at once by the specific gravity of
about 1:025.
6. That for these reasons the hydrometer or “lactometer” which
gives the specific gravity of milk is well adapted for detecting the
admixture of water, or to show an unusually poor quality of the un-
adulterated milk.
1. Circumstances affecting the Quality and Quantity of the Milk.—
The period of the milking at which the sample is taken. During
the process of milking, that which is first drawn off is thin and
poor, and gives little cream: improving during the flow—the last
drawn—the “strippings’’—is the richest in quality, yielding better
cream, and consequently more butter.
Experiments by Reisct and Pelligot have established the fact that
considerably more solid matter and pure fat are contained in the milk
last drawn from the udder.
This superior richness of the last-drawn milk has an important
bearing upon the question of milking machines. The new American
cow-milking machine fails to strip the udder, according to the united
testimony of all who have tried it. Such a fundamental defect must
militate against its general introduction into England, and has led to
its disuse in the United States, as I am informed by the secretary of
one of the most influential State Agricultural Societies,
It has, to my own knowledge, been tried by several .excellent
judges, who remain silent as to its merits, not liking to accept the
unpleasant office of condemning and declining, as judicious men, to
bestow undeserved praise.
2. Distance from the time of Calving.—The first milk, or colostrum,
is thicker and yellower than ordinary milk, coagulates by heating, and
contains an unusually large quantity of casein or curd.
Tn ten or twelve days from the time of calving, the milk assumes
its ordinary condition, and the flow then becomes very plentiful ; but
after a month, or thereabouts, the yield gradually diminishes until
the animal runs dry, usually in about ten months, unless when suc-
culent and stimulating food is given to excite the continuance of the
secretion for a longer time.
3. Season of the Year and Food.—In the spring and early part of
summer milk is abundant, and of good flavour. As the season
advances the supply is diminished, but becomes richer in butter.
The same quantity of milk which in August scarcely yielded 3 per
cent. of pure butter and 5 per cent. of curd, in November produced
41 per cent. of butter and 33 per cent. of curd.
A series of observations, made for the purpose of ascertaining the
variations in the quality of the milk on the same farm throughout the
year, convinced me that the supply of food was chiefly concerned, the
richness or poverty of the diet being in all cases represented by the
quality of the milk yielded.
In November and December the cows had meal-nut oil given to
them, which is the refuse left after pressing ground kernels of the
palm-nut. This substance, when of good quality, not too hardly
1864. ] Vorxoxnr on Milk, and Dairy Arrangements. 275
pressed, is very nutritious and rich in fat,* and was found to exercise
a decided influence upon the proportion of butter in the milk.
Brewers’ grains are generally considered to possess a peculiarly
stimulating effect upon the formation of the mammary gland. M.
Struckman, of Wartburg in Germany, in 1855, published some feeding
experiments, the results of which are of such practical importance as
to justify an analysis of them here.
Four good and four bad cows were selected, and the diet included
brewers’ grains, mangolds, oat-straw, and rape-cake.
*“ Most milk was produced by 5% lbs. of rape-cake, 36 lbs. of
mangolds, and 25 Ibs. of oat-straw daily to each animal.”
A reduction of 9-10ths lb. of rape-cake led to a decrease of 6°55
litres per cow daily ; thus 1 Ib. of rape-cake represcnts an average of
11 1b. of milk. A diminution of 6 lbs. of grains was followed by a
reduction of 6-72 litres of milk; thus 1lb. of grains appears to have
produced } lb. of milk.
When 18 lbs. of brewers’ grains were replaced by 43 lbs. of rape-
cake, the yield of milk was nearly the same; accordingly, 1 Ib. of
rape-cake was equal to 4 lbs. of grains, in its power of producing milk.
Rape-cake produced milk richer in butter; grains, however, pro-
duced butter of more delicate flavour.
Du. g the experiments, the superior cows were found to be most
influenced by the changes of food. In the inferior animals the yield
was tolerably uniform, notwithstanding they were subjected to the
same dietetic changes.
4, Morning and Evening Milk.—Popular opinion ascribes to the
morning’s milk a superiority in quality. Observations on this point do
not sanction the conclusion, but rather tend to establish the conviction
that the quality of the milk depends upon the food supplied some
hours before the cows are milked.
If the food during the day has been plentiful and good, and the
evening’s food innutritious and scanty, the evening milk is of superior
quality to that drawn on the following morning. Should the cows
eet a good supply of rich food in the evening, after having been
stunted or fed on poor food during the day, the following morning’s
milk will be of a higher quality than that of the preceding evening.
Out of thirty-two samples of morning and evening milk, I found
the morning’s produce to be richer in four cases, and poorer in eight
cases ; whilst in four instances there was no perceptible difference.
* Composition of Palm-nut Kernel-meal, by the Author.
No. 1. No. 2.
Water . . Z : . . : ~ 9°85 7:01
Fatty matters 5 : : 5 5 a Bole! 22°45
+ Albuminous compounds (flesh-forming matters) . 16°43 12°90
Gum, sugar, and digestible fibre : - 26°60 26°61
Woody fibre (cellulose). : g : 6 BOGE! 27°70
{Mineral matters (ash) —. . : ; - 3:40 3°33
100*00 = 100-00
+ Containing nitrogen : . - 2°63 2°02
{ Containing sand. ; - - 63 97
276 Original Articles. | April,
5. Breed and Size of the Animal.—It may be accepted as a fact,
that animals which indicate a peculiar aptitude to fatten, are not likely
to be distinguished as milkers ; we do not assume that physiologically
the two qualifications are incompatible, rather preferring the alter-
native conclusion that so much attention has been devoted to the
selection of stock possessing the requisite qualities for feeding, that
the milking capabilities have been passively ignored by the breeder.
Pure Shorthorns, as a breed, are commonly objected to on the ground
of their deficiency in this respect, although the circumstances of some
families of pure bred animals being celebrated for the amount and
quality of their milk, would seem to indicate that the stigma is too
indiscriminately affixed to this breed.
The Yorkshire cow, essentially a Shorthorn, is the favourite of
cowkeepers in London and other large towns, surpassing all others in
the quantity of its yield, although the quality loses by comparison
with that of smaller breeds.
If breeders would make it an object to cultivate both the feeding
and milking qualities, there is nothing in previous experience opposed
to a successful result.
Small breeds, or small individuals of large breeds, usually give a
better quality of milk from the same food than large ones. The
larger animals giving a better return in quantity, and furnishing more
meat for the butcher, are, however, more profitable.
Where good quality is the main object, Alderneys perhaps will
give most satisfaction, for they give richer cream than any other breed
in common use in thiscountry. The small Kerry cow, and the minia-
ture Breton, produce extremely rich milk in quantity proportioned to
their size.
For dairy purposes in cheese districts the Ayrshire are justly cele-
brated ; indeed they seem to possess more completely than other
breeds the power of converting the elements of food into cheese and
butter ; they do not, on the other hand, lay on fat and flesh well.
A cow of this breed bought by the Duke of Atholl from Mr. Wallace,
Kirklandholm, produced from April 11, 1860, to April 11, 1861,
13,456 lbs., or about 1305 gallons of milk, which at 8d. per gallon
would be worth 431. 10s.
For general dairy purposes Shorthorns are probably the most use-
ful. The dairy farmer will naturally select those that are more dis-
tinguished for milking qualities than for their tendency to fatten, at
the same time not losing sight of the latter qualification, which will
tell when the animals are no longer profitable for his dairy.
Health, Constitution, and Age might be enlarged upon as cireum-
stances affecting the composition and quality of the milk: their in-
fluence, however, is too obvious to require more than a passing
mention.
On Datry ARRANGEMENTS.
Aspect.—Our great aim should. be to secure a position favourable
for the preservation of dryness and uniformity of temperature all the
year round. The best aspect is one facing the north, although this
1864. } Vortoker on Milk, and Dairy Arrangements. 277
cannot be considered essential so long as the room can be kept dry,
well ventilated, and protected by blinds from the direct rays of the
sun.
Construction.— With the intent to secure the coolness which every-
one knows to be desirable in summer, the dairy is sometimes built at
a lower level than the ground. Underground dairies, however, are
frequently damp ; so that on a clay soil it is better to choose the lesser
of two evils, and to build on a level with the ground.
In such localities, it is well to put a drain all round the
building.
The walls should be thick, and if of stone, lined inside with brick.
Presuming the dairy to be a separate structure, the roof should be
covered with straw, which, being a bad conductor, best ensures a uni-
form temperature. Stonesfield slates or similar limestone flag-stones,
or if these cannot be procured, common red tiles should be used in
preference to black roofing slates, which, being good conductors, be-
come very hot in summer. The floor should be of stone: large flag-
stones well set in cement appear to me preferable to ornamental or
common small tiles; as it is an object to lessen the number of cracks
in which water may lodge, rendering the floor constantly wet.
Ventilation—A great defect in many of the dairies in England is
the want of proper ventilation. This is a fertile source of dampness,
so especially detrimental to the preservation of milk. One of the most
effectual and inexpensive means of providing for a renewal of air, is to
put up a perforated zine grating 3 or 4 inches broad, which may be
carried all along the tops of the windows. Im addition, a whole
window made to open and shut may be furnished with perforated gal-
vanized sheet zinc.
Recourse may be had to more elaborate appliances ; but the more
complicated the apparatus the more difficult it will be to keep it in
working order in the hands of the dairy attendants.
Temperature.—An equable heat being necessary in winter, it is best
supplied by hot-water pipes; since, with a stove or open fire, it will
be impossible to regulate the degree with sufficient nicety. Too much
heat favours decomposition, and too little is unfavourable to the rapid
separation of the cream.
A temperature not higher than 65° nor lower than 60° Fahr. is
most conducive to the rising of the milk globules.
An accurate thermometer should be kept in the dairy; and on no
account should the temperature be allowed to fall below 55°. Atten-
tion should be directed to the maintenance of a uniform degree of
60 as far as it is possible under all circumstances.
Benches of slate or marble are superior to wooden ones; but
should economical considerations lead to the selection of wood, it
should be painted, in order that any milk accidentally spilled may
be readily removed. Milk easily penetrates a material so porous as
wood, and is not readily removed. Cold water is quite ineffective,
and even after the use of hot water, enough milk may remain in
porous wood to generate an active ferment.
Milk-pails which are made of bright tin are decidedly better
VOL, I. U
278 Original Articles. + Fie [ April,
than wooden ones; unless great pains are bestowed in scouring the
latter with boiling water, they taint the milk very quickly : tin pails
can be always kept sweet and bright.
Pans should be constructed of glass, tinned iron or well-glazed
earthenware ; all porous materials are objectionable. Zine pans are
said to throw up more cream than those of other material; but zine
is readily oxidized, and like brass and tinned copper, however
unobjectionable when kept clean, it may, in the hands of careless dairy-
maids, furnish enough poison to injure the health of the consumer.
Glass pans are easily kept clean, and well adapted for keeping milk
and cream in a sweet condition. They are of course more liable to
be broken, and therefore more expensive in the end than tin pans.
Deep pans are objectionable, as the quicker the cream can be
made to rise, the sweeter it will be when used for churning, and the
greater also will be the yield. of butter according to Sennart’s
experiments.
Some allow the cream to become sour before they remove it; but,
although in this state it appears more bulky, and of thicker con-
sistency, it does not produce so much, nor so good a quality, of butter.
Shallow vessels are better than deep pans for another reason. If
the milk is drawn from the cow into a shallow tinned-iron pan, the
milk is soon reduced from 90° to 60°, and then, in a good dairy may
be kept from thirty-six to forty-eight hours at a season when, in
deeper vessels, it would soon turn sour.
Before the milk is put into pans it should be run through a strain-
ing-cloth. The accompanying sketch (Figs. 5 and 6) represents a vessel
made of tinned-iron, with the straining-cloth tied round the spout.
Cleanliness.—In no department of human industry is cleanliness
more emphatically a virtue than in everything connected with the
dairy. ‘Too much attention cannot be bestowed upon the room itself,
as well as upon the pails, pans, and other utensils.
1864. } Vortoxer on Milk, and Dairy Arrangements. 279
The injudicious and wasteful employment of water must be depre-
cated. However convenient a good supply undoubtedly is, it must
not be forgotten that a damp floor and moist atmosphere are to the
last degree injurious. Whatever water is used should be scalding hot,
and its evaporation assisted by a current of air. All the utensils
should be washed without delay, instead of being set aside until
wanted. The dairy-maid should not show her zeal for keeping the
dairy clean by splashing water about. Above all, she should prevent
men or women entering her domain with dirty shoes, or in any way
bringing dirt into the dairy.
In wet weather the introduction of dirt may be unavoidable, but it
may be reduced to a minimum by having a good scraper and rough door-
mat at the entrance, as well as a pair of wooden shoes, which may be
easily slipped on and off, for each man who brings in the milk.
Anyone who doubts the efficacy of these simple means should
visit North Brabant, which is justly celebrated for its excellent butter.
Dairies, which are models for cleanliness, can be seen, not here and
there, but almost universally throughout the district. It is, we are
quite aware, difficult to ensure the proper conduct of a dairy with all
the requisite exactitude, but the trouble is well bestowed, and cleanli-
ness, like any other virtue, is its own reward.
Ga2805y) [April
PROCEEDINGS OF METROPOLITAN SOCIETIES.*
THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.
THE contributions to the transactions of this Society have been, during
the period which we are about to chronicle—namely, the months of
November, December, and January—of an extremely interesting cha-
racter, and the subject to which the largest amount of new information
has been added is the physical character of the Sun.
Let us state by way of preface, however, that at the first meeting
of the session, November 13, 1863, the business of the meeting com-
menced with an announcemeut from the chairman, Dr. Lee, V.P. (who
presided in the absence of the President, the Astronomer Royal), to
the effect that an Anglo-French astronomical treaty had been made,
the contracting parties being M. Le Verrier, the director of the Paris
Observatory, on the one side, and our own Astronomer Royal on the
other ; the object of which is so to divide the large amount of work
that is usually exacted from national observatories between the two
establishments so that, whilst nothing important is omitted, the astro-
nomical observer shall have some relief at those seasons when the re-
quirements of science press peculiarly heavy upon him.
The observations of the Moon, as our readers are aware, have ever
been followed at the Greenwich Observatory with unfailing assiduity.
Whilst that body passes the meridian in the evening, the addition of
the planetary observations only adds to the labour of the Observatory
in proportion to the number of observations ; but when the moon is a
morning observation, the evening observations of the planets add a
very oppressive labour. In order to diminish this oppression on the
staff, an arrangement of the following kind has been made between the
directors of the two Observatories :—The Paris Observatory undertakes
the planetary observations from full moon to new moon, the Greenwich
Observatory those from new moon to full moon. The small planets
are, with some few exceptions, observed only between the hours 10
and 13, solar time. It is to be hoped that this example will be fol-
lowed, not only by public Observatories, but by the many private
establishments which are in the habit of doing good work. A very
great amount of labour and time is no doubt wasted through the want
of combined effort.
We must, however, for the present pass over the papers read at the
November meeting, and refer to two by the Rev. W. R. Dawes, at
those of December and January, on “ The Telescopic Appearance of the
Hiterior Envelope of the Sun and of its Spots.”
Solar physics always command a great deal of interest, and the name
* Our limited space, and still incomplete organization, necessitate the post-
ponement of articles on the Proceedings of two or three Metropolitan Scientific
Societies,
1864. | The Royal Astronomical Society. 281
of Mr. Dawes is so well known in that particular field of research that
any paper from him on the subject is heard with respect. The author
commenced by pointing out the danger there was that observers, fur-
nished with the more powerful telescopes now generally in use for
solar inspection, would consider as new discoveries what was really only
the revelation of superior telescopic power ; but which remained un-
revealed in the diminished apertures formerly in use. This would be
more likely the case where new names have been applied by a recent
observer to phenomena long familiar to others, though previously un-
named. Mr. Dawes has therefore considered it advisable to describe
very minutely appearances which were observed long ago, that the
new observer should know precisely what has already been seen in
good instruments. Such an explanation was undoubtedly needed, as
it is calculated to save much anxiety to the unpractised observer.
With regard to the ‘ mottled’ appearance of the solar surfice, which
is familiar to every observer, but in the description of which so many,
and, to our minds, fanciful images have been used, Mr. Dawes makes
the following remarks :—“ Examined with a large aperture, such as 6
or 8 inches, it becomes evident that the surface is principally made up
of luminous masses, imperfectly separated from each other by rows of
minute dark dots,—the intervals between these dots being extremely
small, and occupied by a substance decidedly less luminous than the
general surface.” . . . “This gives the impression of a division between
the luminous masses, especially with a comparatively low power, which,
however, when best seen with high powers, is found to be never com-
plete.” . . . “The masses thus incompletely separated are of almost
every variety of irregular form ;—the rarest of all, perhaps, being that
which is conveyed tomy mind by Mr. Nasmyth’s appellation of ‘ willow-
leaves ; viz. long, narrow, and pointed.” * ... “Indeed the only situ-
ation in which I have usually noticed them to assume anything like
that shape, is in the immediate vicinity of considerable spots, on
their penumbre, and frequently projecting beyond it irregularly for a
small distance on to the wmbra.
Mr. Dawes negatives the opinion, held by Sir John Herschel, amongst
others, and mentioned in his Outlines, that the minute dark dots are
ever in a state of change. He believes, from his own experience, that
when observers have fancied they detected change, it was due to the
influence of atmospheric action. There is, however, an exception to
this state of quietude, “in the immediate vicinity of spots which are
* At the next meeting of the Society, a letter from Mr. Nasmyth to Mr.
Hodgson was read, in which the former gentleman made the plows remarks
concerning the “ willow leaves” :—
“The filaments in question are seen, and appear well defined, at the edges of
the luminous surface where it overhangs the ‘ penumbra,’ as also in the details of
the penumbra itself, and most especially are they seen clearly defined in the
details of ‘the bridges,’ as I term those bright streaks which are so frequently
seen stretching across from side to side over the dark spot. So far as I have yet
had an opportunity of estimating their actual magnitude, their average length
appears to be about 1,000 miles, the width about 100.’
“There appears no definite or symmetrical arrangement in the manner in
which they are scattered over the surface of the sun; they appear to lie across
each other in all possible’ variety of directions.”
282 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
either rapidly enlarging or closing. Jt is under these circumstances
especially that the luminous masses are found to become more elongated.
This is also more remarkably the case when they are preparing for a
rush across a chasm, and thus forming those luminous bridges which
so often intersect considerable spots.”
After detailing some more facts connected with the formation of
these luminous bridges, the author draws attention to the distinction
between the true or blacker nucleus, and the wmbra. In almost all
large spots the former is found to occupy some portion of the latter ;
and the author thinks that the establishment of the fact of the exist-
ence or absence of such black nucleus is “ sufficient to determine, or
at least to throw much light upon the origin of the spot; and that
the origin of those in which the nucleus exists is widely different from
the origin of those from which it is absent.”
The author’s second paper on the same subject, delivered in January,
was to some extent a recapitulation of the first, after which he proceeded
to communicate further details concerning the solar spots.
These he divides into two classes, which he names the profouneé and
the superficial ; and thus describes the characteristics of each.
“The profound.—In this class I should include those which give
evidence of involving all the visible envelopes, the disturbance being
observable through them all, and down to what appears to be the body
of the sun itself.”
“The superficial spots—These appear, from the general tenour of
my observations, to be almost always produced by convulsions of some
kind in the photosphere itself, or at a small depth below it. But,
from the extraordinary variety of the effects, I confess that I am not
prepared to add anything to the suggestions already advanced as to the
character of those convulsions, or the means by which they may be
produced.”
With regard to the probable formation of the profound spots, Mr.
Dawes arrives at the following conclusions :—
“An immense volume of some non-inflammable gas, discharged
with prodigious force from the body of the sun by volcanic or some
similar agency, bursts through the cloudy stratum, rolling back on all
sides the displaced portion of that stratum, and producing that heaped-up
appearance at its inner and lighter edge. The black hole produced
in the stratum by this volcanic eruption forms the nucleus of the spot.”
** Having passed through the cloudy stratum, the evolved gas comes
within the influence of the heating power of the self-luminous penum-
bral stratum ; and being greatly expanded thereby, its increased volume
removes a far larger area of this second stratum than of the first ; thus
laying bare a considerable portion of the upper surface of the cloudy
stratum, and producing the wmbra of the spot. Here, too, the rolling
back of the removed portion causes a heaped-up and brighter appear-
ance at the inner edge of the penumbra. Being still further heated, and
expanded by approaching the photosphere, a similar effect is produced
upon this upper stratum, but to a far greater extent; and a much
larger portion of the photosphere is thrown off on all sides, which
being, as before, rolled back upon the rest, gives the appearance of a
1864. } The Royal Astronomical Society. 283
heaping-up of the luminous masses at the extreme edge of the spot.” . .
“The rotary motion of a profound spot may be produced by the
exploded gas having acquired a whirlwind sort of action, and thus
carrying round the parts of the different strata affected by it in the
same direction.”
At the close of the paper Mr. Dawes gives as an addendum some
extracts from an elaborate paper by Sir William Herschel, printed in
volume XCI. of the ‘ Philosophical Transactions,’ in which the observa-
tions of many years are discussed ; and which seem in many particulars
to bear out the observations of Mr. Dawes.
Next to the sun, the moon is perhaps the most interesting body
to the amateur observer, and we generally have a paper of some kind
about her at one or more meetings during the session. Mr. Birt did
not fail with his favourite topic at the first meeting, and gave the
Fellows a paper on the Extension of Lunar Nomenciature. Many
craters still remain on our maps unnamed, whilst there are several that
have been altogether omitted, and that too on our best lunar maps.
These latter Mr. Birt has laid down; whilst to those wanting names
he has, in conjunction with Dr. Lee, of Hartwell, given designations.
A list is appended of the spots so named, with their numbers (in
accordance with those adopted by the Rev. T. W. Webb), together
with the selenographical longitudes and latitudes of each.
The moon also furnished the subject of a paper by the Rev. H. C.
Key, entitled “ On Certain Depressions on the Moon’s Western Limb ;”
and as the paper contains some observations of a novel character, we
shall treat somewhat more fully of the subject. The author does not
mean the general depressions on the moon’s surface, but as he himself
expresses it, “of depressions of large area—not of comparatively
small gullies, lying between elevated ranges, which are constantly to
be seen projected on the limb, but of vast tracts, the general level of
which lies very considerably beneath the mean level of the moon’s
surface.” Mr. Key took great pains to satisfy himself that the instru-
ment was in proper adjustment, and that the phenomenon he observed
was not due to any defect in the telescope. Perhaps the best way of
showing our readers the extraordinary nature of these depressions, will
be to present them with a copy of the drawing illustrating the paper in
question.
The circumstanées of the discovery are thus related :—‘‘ Having
mounted my new 12-inch glass speculum, I had for some time past
234 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
been making experiments with it, in the unsilvered state, wpon celes-
tial objects, with the view of ascertaining how far a diminution of light
and consequently of the evils of irradiation, combined with a large
aperture, might be of advantage in particular cases. For this purpose,
on the 20th of September, at about 6 p.m, before the sun had set, t
turned the telescope upon the moon, then a few hours past her first
quarter. I had no sooner focussed the telescope (power 120) than I was
astounded at observing that the limb of the moon was entirely out of
shape; that it was, in fact, irregularly polygonal, as if several large
segments had been cut off the spherical limb—not the terminator.”
Upon observing these remarkable appearances the author wrote to
his friend, Mr. Webb, who, on examination. at once detected them ; and
proved their existence beyond a doubt by the use of the wire of the
micrometer. Subsequently, September 25th, when Mr. Key again ex-
amined the limb he was only able to trace a very faint appearance of
a depression. From this circumstance the author is led to believe that
the maximum visibility of these depressions only lasts for a short
period; and that the effect of irrad‘ation would render their detection in
ordinary instruments extremely difficult.
Now that this extraordinary phenomenon has been once discovered,
it is to be hoped that observers will direct their attention to so interest-
ing a subject, and will provide themselves with instruments calculated
to exhibit more perfectly the true form of the limb. For this object
Mr. Key strongly urges the adoption of the plain, in addition to the
silvered speculum. We should state that the drawing was made from
memory the following day, and although it but represents roughly the
positions of the depressions, he does not consider them exaggerated.
The deepest depression below the surface of the moon he estimates at
about 25 miles.
A paper, “ On the Origin of the apparent Luminous Band which, in par-
tial Eclipses of the Sun, has been seen to surround the Visible Portion of the
Moon’s Limb,” was communicated to the Society by G. B. Airy, Astro-
nomer Royal. The object of this paper was “to show, by optical
investigation, that no refraction can cause a change in the apparent
brightness of the surface viewed.” As the paper was necessarily of a
purely mathematical character, we shall content ourselves with merely
giving our readers its general results. Having arrived, from this
treatment of the subject, at the conclusion that ‘ refraction by a lunar
atmosphere cannot explain the more luminous band which appears to
surround the moon’s limb where it crosses the sun’s disc,” the author
goes on to state his opinions on its real origin in very positive terms :
‘‘T have. no difficulty in explaining to myself the origin of the luminous
band in question. It is strictly an ocular nervous phenomenon ; not
properly subjective, but sensational—a mere effect of contrast. I have
seen it so frequently under circumstances very different from these,
that I cannot have the smallest doubt on the matter.”
In this paper the author entertains views antagonistic to those
previously expressed by Professor Challis, in a paper contained in the
‘Monthly Notice, June 12, 1863, and at the mecting in January last
Professor Challis communicated a paper “ On the Calculation of an
1864. ] The Royal Astronomical Society. 285
Optical Effect of Atmospheric Refraction,’ which is, in fact, a reply
to Mr. Airy’s. The latter observer, in his argument, assumed the
effect of an atmosphere to be analogous to that of a convex lens, and on
this assumption investigated the case mathematically. But Professor
Challis contends that the courses of rays passing through a medium
of variable density, like the atmosphere, cannot be similar to those
passing through a convex lens; and that, therefore, in investigating
the point at issue, respect must be had to the variation of the refractive
index, in passing from one point of the medium to another.
The Astronomer Royal has also contributed a few remarks on the
amount of light given by the moon at the greatest stage of the 1863
June 1 eclipse. As this eclipse, from the cloudless state of the sky,
was very generally an object of observation, we give the Astronomer
Royal’s remarks in full : —
“The state of sky and of atmosphere was exceedingly favourable
for observation of the lunar eclipse of last night. At the time of
greatest obscuration, I carefully compared the light of the moon with
that of several neighbouring stars. This I could do with considerable
accuracy, by observing the objects with the eye unarmed, as my near-
sightedness converts every object into a broad luminous disc, and there
is no essential difference in the appearance of the moon and of a star,
excepting in the quantity of light. In this manner I found that the
light of the moon considerably exceeded that of Antares, sensibly
exceeded that of Spica, and somewhat exceeded that of 2 Ophiuchi, but
was a very little less than that of « Aquile.
* Tt will be remarked that the moon’s centre was 22’ distant from
the centre of the shadow at the time of conjunction in R.A., so that
the moon was not very deeply plunged in the umbra. Had the eclipse
been central, the light would have been much less.”
We have to notice briefly the following papers, communicated at
the meetings of November, December, and January; to which our
limited space prevents our making a more lengthened reference :—
F. Abbott, Esq., communicated some observations on the variable
star 7 Argus. This same 7 Argus has been an object of scrutiny by
other astronomers, and to whom it has caused some perplexity, and,
amongst others, by Sir John Herschel, when at the Cape, with an 18-
inch reflector. On that occasion, Sir John wrote in the following
terms :—‘“ No part of this Nebula shows any sign of resolution into
stars.” The form of the Nebula amongst which the star was situated is,
as our readers are aware, figured in the ‘ Outlines of Astronomy’ in the
shape of a dumb-bell, the star appearing of the first magnitude, and
situated in its most dense part. It now seems that, although the star is
in the dark space, out of the Nebula, which has altered in form, it only
appears as a body of the sixth magnitude. These changes, both in
Nebula and star, have taken place between 1858, the date of Sir John’s
observations, and last year, when Mr. Abbott examined it. The
author suggests that the variability of the star might be occasioned by
the interference of the nebulosity surrounding it.
A letter was read from Mr. Higgens, addressed to Admiral Smyth,
286 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
in which the writer forwarded some notes on the two component stars
of 95 Herculis. The instruments used were a 31-inch acromatie with
80, and a 4-inch with 115: both by Cooke of York. Mr. Higgens
observed these stars in April, May, and August last, and witnessed
some remarkable changes in their apparent colour. From the fact of
both stars appearing to change their colour simultaneously, the Astro-
nomer Royal thought it implied some possible change in the telescope.
Capt. Noble, and C. L. Prince, Hsq., communicated their observa-
tions of Venus at the Inferior Conjunction ; the latter gentleman also
his observations of the occultation of « Cancri by the Moon, on the
26th April 1863.
Sir A. Lang sent some observations made in the Island of St.
Croix, at the rising of the sun, with a view to determine the Refrac-
tion: also, some notes on remarkable sun-spots in 1862-63.
The elements of the new Minor Planet (9, 10th magnitude, dis-
covered by Mr. Watson, Director of the Ann Arbour Observatory,
were also given.
An extract from a letter to Mr. De La Rue, from Dr. Winnecke,
was read, which went to show the probability of the variableness of
light of some of the feebler stars about the neighbourhood of the Tra-
pezium in the great Nebula of Orion.
The translation of a paper by P. A. Hansen, “ Calculation of the
Sun’s Parallax from the Lunar Theory,” was communicated by Mr. Airy.
The result gave 8.9159 as the Parallax. =
Results of the meridional observations of small Planets, Angelina
64 and Cybele 63); also occultation of stars by the Moon; and
Phenomena of Jupiter’s satellites; made at the Royal Observatory,
were given by the Astronomer Royal.
New Elements of Leto were communicated by Dr. Luther, of
Berlin.
The Elements and Ephemeris of Comet IV, and notes of observa-
tions of Comet IV and V, 1863, by H. Romberg, were communicated
by J. G. Barclay, Esq., at whose observatory they were made.
Mr. E. J. Stone presented a paper, “ On the Motion of the Solar
System in Space,’ forming a supplement to one on the same subject
read by the Astronomer Royal, at the meeting, March 11, 1859.
“On the Eclipses recorded in the Ancient Chinese Historical Work
called Chun Tsew,” is the title of a paper by the Assistant Secretary,
J. Williams, Esq. “The Chun Tsew,” writes Mr. Williams, “is said
to be the only work really written by Kung Foo Tze, or, as we call
him, Confucius ; the other treatises attributed to him having been com-
piled by his disciples, either during his lifetime, or, as in the last of
them, some years after his death. It treats of the history of Le Kwo,
or Confederated Nations, into which China was divided during the
during the Chow Dynasty, viz. between 1122 and 255 B. 0.”
“The period of this history is from 722 to 479 B.c., being an
interval of about 242 years, during the latter part of which Confucius
flourished.” . . . “The account of each eclipse is but little more than
a brief mention of its occurrence at a certain time.”
1864. | The Chemical Society. 287
Mr. Williams presents us with a specimen as follows :—‘ In the
fifty-eighth year of the thirty-second cycle, in the fifty-first year of the
Emperor King Wang, of the Chow Dynasty, the third year of Yin
Kung, Prince of Loo, in the spring, the second moon, on the day called
then T'sze, there was an eclipse of the sun.” This date answers to
720 B.C.
A complete list of all such eclipses, with the year B. 0., and month
and day answering to the Chinese dates, is added. The days have
been computed by Ideler’s method, but Mr. Williams warns his read-
ers that they must only be considered as approximate.
Mr. E. J. Stone presented a Memoir, entitled “ Proper Motions of
the Stars of the Greenwich Seven-year Catalogue of 2,022 Stars for 1860,
not included in the Greenwich Twelve and Six-year Catalogues, deduced
by Comparison with the Results of Bradley's Observations, as given in
Bessel’s Fundamenta Astronomie.” This Memoir forms a continua-
tion to those by Mr. Main.*
J. R. Hind, Esq., communicated a note, “ On the Variable Nebula
in Taurus ;” in which he records that, on the 12th of December, no
trace of the Nebula could be seen either by himself or Assistant,
although the atmosphere was in a most favourable condition for Astro-
nomical observation.
M. G. de Pontécoulant communicated a paper “ Sur le Coefficient
de lV Equation Parallactique déduit de la Théorie,’ suggested by some
notes by Mr. Stone and M. Hansen in a former volume of the “ Notices.”
The paper did not present any point of general practical interest.
At the November meeting, M. Léon Foucault, M. Knowalski,
M. Winnecke, and Prof. G. P. Bond, were duly elected Associates of
the Society. With one or two unimportant omissions, we think we
have here communicated to our readers the pith of the proceedings of
the Royal Astronomical Society.
THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY.
Up to the present time, the proceedings of the Chemical Society,
during this quarter, have been destitute of any especial interest. The
law of the absorption of mixed gases in water has become an im-
portant subject of inquiry since Bunsen has proposed absorption as
a method of analysis. A promising chemist, Mr. W. M. Watts, has
experimented with mixtures of ammonia and hydrogen, and of sul-
phurous and carbonic acid, principally with the view of testing the
truth of Dalton’s conclusion, that each gas is retained in water by the
pressure of gas of its own kind; no other gas with which it may be
mixed having any permanent influence in this respect. The results
of Mr. Watts’ experiments have led him to the conclusion that the
proportion of mixed gases absorbed is not in accordance with Dalton’s
simple law.
* See vols. xix. and xxviii. of the Transactions of the Society.
288 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. [ April,
A contribution to physiological chemistry, on the vexed question of
the colouring matter of urine, was communicated by Dr. Thudicum, who
believes that he has isolated both the pigmentary and odorous princi-
ples of this secretion. The former body he designates wrochrome, the
latter, otto of urine. In the absence of any analysis of these bodies,
and without an exact knowledge of the manner in which they are to be
obtained, the question, “ What is the colouring matter of the renal
secretion?” may be still considered open, unless, with Dr. Harley, we
believe it to have been settled by Scherer. This distinguished chemist
and physiologist succeeded in isolating a red matter, to which he gave
the name of urohematin, since it presented a close analogy to the
colouring matter of the blood, by containing an appreciable amount of
iron. Scherer considered the body to result from this disorganization
of the blood corpuscles, the waste of which was eliminated from the
system in this form. This is an ingenious theory, and the question
deserves further examination. Dr. Thudicum finds the merest trace of
iron in his urochrome ; but we must wait fora more complete account
of the author’s researches.
The formation of new bodies, by the abstraction from other bodies
of certain elements or molecules of elements, and substituting for these
certain other elements or groups of elements, the resulting compounds
having well-defined and characteristic individualities ; and further
than this, the production of natural from artificial substances (like the
formation of tartaric acid from dibromosuccinic, by Mr. Perkin), by
successive substitutions, may rank among the greatest triumphs of
human ingenuity. Perhaps the most prolific parent of artificial bases
has been Dr. Hoffmann, whose skill in effecting the transformations is
only equalled by the lucidity with which he explains them.
Apropos to a paper on Acetanilide, by Mr. C. G. Williams, the
Chemical Society recently heard from Dr. Hoffmann a short account
of a series of new creations, obtained by. the action of chloroform on
aniline, and of pentachloride of phosphorus ona mixture of aniline and
acetanilide —the first of an infinite series of bodies which may be pro-
duced by similar reactions on similarly-constituted substances. ‘The
names of these new bodies, diphenyl-formyl-diamine, and diphenyl-
acyl-diamine, show them to be of interest only to advanced chemists.
New instances of conversion were brought forward at the same meet-
ing, malic acid having been converted into malonic, and propionic
acid into succinic, by Kolbe and by Muller.
The question, “‘ What is the best form in which nitrogen and phos-
phorus can be applied as manure to plants ?” has engaged the attention
of many minds; but perhaps the most original experiments made on
the subject, have been those of M. Ville, recently described to the
Chemical Society by Dr. Hoffmann. M. Ville has, however, come to
the conclusion that none of the compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen
answer better than those in common use—phosphorice acid and ammonia.
It will be of interest to farmers who study chemistry, to learn that
ethylamine and methylamine seemed to produce no better results than
their prototype ammonia.
1864. | The Chemical Society. | 289
At the meeting on March 3rd, a very interesting paper on the non-
metallic impurities in Refined Copper, by Mr. Abel, was read. The
metallic impurities in copper had been fully treated of in previous
contributions by the same author. The impurities mentioned in the
present paper are Oxygen, Sulphur, and Selenium. Oxygen exists in
copper in the form of a suboxide of the metal, which is soluble in the
fused copper. The exact quantitative determination of the oxygen
was a matter of extreme difficulty, but the process now given by Mr.
Abel makes it a comparatively simple matter. Pure copper decom-
poses nitrate of silver, the latter metal being deposited, and a corre-
sponding amount of nitrate of copper being formed. When, however,
suboxide of copper is present a subsidiary action takes place, and inso-
luble basic nitrate of copper is formed. The author, therefore, con-
verts a known weight of the copper into nitrate by digesting with a
neutral solution of nitrate of silver, collects and washes the silver and
basic nitrate of copper on a filter, and subsequently digests with a
known volume of weak standard sulphuric acid (one part to a hundred
of water) to dissolve the basic nitrate of copper formed. The propor-
tion of sulphuric acid neutralized in this operation is ascertamed by
means of a standard solution of carbonate of soda, and the amount of
oxygen or suboxide of copper is calculated therefrom. In the course
of these experiments it was noticed that the physical structure of the
metal afforded some indication of the amount of oxygen. Ingots Which
exhibited depressions on the upper surface were invariably found to
contain more oxygen than those which weye flat. The amount of
oxygen present in Kapunda copper, we may add, was found to vary
from -12 to -33 per cent. In Swansea copper in different stages of
manufacture, Mr. Abel found the amount of oxygen to vary from 0°42
per cent. in “ Dry” Copper, to 0:03 per cent. in “ Over poled.” While
looking for carbon the author found selenium in copper, but in an
excessively minute quantity, 0-003 per cent. It is worth mentioning
that Mr. Abel could find no evidence of a combination of copper and
carbon. Sulphur was found in very small quantity, but neither phos-
phorus nor nitrogen could be detected. Silicon might be present in a
portion of inclosed slag, but not in combination with the metal.
At the same meeting a communication on the Synthesis of Leucic
acid, was made by Dr. Frankland. Leucie acid has been obtained
by the author synthetically, by the substitution of one atom of oxygen
in oxalic acid, by two atoms of ethyl. This was effected by acting
on oxalic ether with zinc ethyl.
290 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. [ April,
THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
Srvcr the Anniversary of last year some very important and interesting
papers have been contributed to the Proceedings of this Society, most
of them suggesting new interpretations of known facts, but some also
referring to phenomena hitherto unknown or, at any rate, never before
explained. The field over which the researches embodied in these
various memoirs extends is a wide one, including as it does the follow-
ing subjects :—(1) Breaksin the Succession of the British Paleozoic
Strata; (2) Fossil Estheriz ; (3) Relation of the Permian Fauna and
Flora to those of the Carboniferous Period ; (4) Origin of the Parallel
Roads of Glen Roy ; (5) River-action ; (6) Geology of the West Indian
Islands ; (7) The Abbeville Jaw and the associated Flint Implements ;
(8) Geology of the Eastern Archipelago, besides a number of other
questions, of either more special or merely local interest.
1. The subject of the Anniversary Address of the President of the
Society, Professor Ramsay, reminds every geologist how imperfect is
our knowledge of the rock-formations which constitute the crust of the
earth, the theme being “Breaks in the Succession of the British
Paleozoic Strata.’ It is, moreover, one upon which no author has
before written systematically, although many have described particular
breaks incidentally when treating of other subjects.
“ Breaks in Succession” are defined by Professor Ramsay to be
“those physical interruptions in stratification marked by the uncon-
formity of an upper formation to one immediately underlying it, or,
when such visible unconformity is wanting, by a sudden change in the
fossils characteristic of the underlying and overlying formations ;” but
he immediately afterwards introduces a necessary limitation, stating
that he only applies his argument “to those cases in which the upper
formation is next in time to that which underlies it, according to our
present knowledge of the order of succession.” Now these breaks are
as good evidences of the lapse of time as a series of strata would be.
Before the publication of this address few geologists would have
admitted the existence of as many as ten physical breaks, as above de-
fined, in the primary rocks of Britain, yet Professor Ramsay, in a series
of very lucid arguments, shows the existence of at least that number of
gaps in our palozoic series, and also that they are accompanied (ex-
cept in one case, where the rocks are almost barren) by “great and
remarkable changes in the number and nature of the fossils.” He also
discusses the questions arising out of a consideration of this coinci-
dence, especially the old notion that entire faunas had been suddenly
destroyed, and the theory of Professor E. Forbes (lately revived in
another shape by Professor Huxley) respecting the contemporaneity of
strata; together with Mr. Darwin’s hypothesis of the origin of species,
of which he appears to be a warm advocate.
The conclusion to which he arrives respecting the lapse of time
represented by these breaks is rather startling ; and although no geolo-
gist is better qualified than Professor Ramsay to judge of the value
of such gaps, yet one cannot help thinking that he has somewhat
1864. | The Geological Society. : 991
exaggerated their importance. However, we give this conclusion in
his own words :—
“ Believing that the causes that produced physical changes were
much the same in former times as now, both in kind and intensity,
(speaking generally, when spread over long epochs), then the upheaving,
contorting and dislocation of the strata, and the vast denudations they un-
derwent before resubmergence, generally represent a period of time longer
than that occupied respectively by the deposition of the formation disturbed,
or of that which overlies it unconformably.
“Tn the present state of our knowledge these things cannot be
proved, but we may strongly suspect them to be probably true, and if
they are so, then it follows that the periods of time stratigraphically un-
represented during the Paleozoic epoch were much longer than those of
which the various formations of that epoch bear witness.”
2. A paper by Professor Rupert Jones on “ Fossil Hstherie and their
Distribution” may be viewed as an abstract of, though differing some-
what in scope from, his “‘ Monograph of the fossil Estherie” published
by the Paleontographical Society. It is a very favourable specimen of
philosophical paleontology, and shows that the diligent study of an
apparently small subject may lead to large results.
Besides the endeavour to fix definitely the ages of the several de-
posits in which Estherie occur, by means of the little fossils themselves,
assisted by concurrent testimony drawn from other sources, the chief
object of the paper is to prove that the fossil Estherie, like their recent
congeners, inhabited fresh and brackish water. The successful manner
in which the author manages to dispose of apparently associated marine
shells is not a little instructive, as it shows the necessity of scrupulously
exact observations respecting the particular bed in which a fossil is
found, most of these marine shells being shown to occur either a little
above or a little below the Hstheriw; and the same with regard to
erystals of salt. Even in the case of a Lingula occurring in the same
bed as an Hstheria, Professor Jones is at no loss, for he finds that the
Lingula “in successive beds appears smaller and smaller in size, until
it is dwarfed and disappearing, when Estheria minuta comes in; as if
more and more fresh water invaded the area, unfavourably to the
Lingule and ultimately bringing in the Estherie.”
3. The relation of the Permian fauna and flora to those of the Car-
boniferous period has of late years been fruitful of discussion, most
geologists being now inclined to regard the Permian as the concluding
portion of the Carboniferous epoch.
Ina paper on the Lower Carboniferous Brachiopoda of Nova Scotia,
Mr. Davidson gives an excellent account of the present state of this
question, and adds many new facts in favour of the view that the Per-
mian is not really a group distinct from the Carboniferous.
Sir R. I. Murchison also enters somewhat fully into this question
in a paper on the Permian rocks of Bohemia; but, were it not for the
_ proverbial affection which every father bears towards his own children,
it would be difficult to understand why this veteran geologist should
so strenuously oppose a view which, besides being supported by nearly
all the geologists and paleontologists ,;who have specially studied the
292 - Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
subject, appears scarcely assailable by arguments drawn from strati-
graphical details, but must be decided by means of the fossils.
- 4. The next paper especially worthy of notice, is that by Mr.
Jamieson, on the “Origin of the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy,” a ques-
tion which, as everybody knows, has hitherto bafiled, more or less,
every attempt at its solution.
The view advocated by Mr. Jamieson was suggestively propounded
by Agassiz many years ago, but has been until now almost ignored.
According to this theory, the “parallel roads,” or terraces, are the
beaches of glacier-lakes; and Mr. Jamieson finds that it is the only
one which will account for all the facts, and which is not inconsistent
with collateral phenomena. He also brings forward some new facts in
corroboration of Agassiz’s theory, especially the coincidence between
the heights of the lines and those of certain “ cols ” (the latter being,
strictly speaking, a few feet the lower), and the evidences of glaciers
having formerly blocked up the mouth of Glen Roy.
Now, the existence of a glacier-lake depends, firstly, upon that of a
glacier damming up the mouth of the valley; and, secondly, upon
there being no other outlet for the water.
The following may, therefore, be considered the sequence of events
described by Mr. Jamieson :—
Glaciers from the Great Glen, Corry N’Eoin, Glen Treig, &c.,
blocked up the mouths of Glen Roy and Glen Spean, the last-mentioned
glacier projecting into Glen Roy, and thus cutting off the connection of
that valley with the “cols” just noticed ; accordingly a glacier-lake was
formed in Glen Roy, and the beach forming the uppermost line was
deposited ; the Glen Treig glacier then shrank so as to open out the
higher col—that of Glen Glaster— thus causing the lowering of the
level of the water in Glen Roy ; and then the middle terrace, or road,
was deposited; the Glen Treig glacier then shrank again, until it
withdrew out of Glen Spean, and that valley being now clear, the water
escaped at Makoul; then, at about the level of that outlet, the lowest
terrace was deposited.
In a similar manner Mr. Jamieson accounts for the “roads” in
certain smaller glens; and he also shows why some of them stop or
are indistinct at certain points ; and, altogether, his explanations are
so simple and so natural that the inducement is very great to believe
tuat this much-debated question is at last settled.
5. River-action is illustrated in a most mteresting paper, by Mr.
Fergusson, on “ Recent Changes in the Delta of the Ganges,” and also
in another on the Nile, by Dr. Leith Adams. Mr. Fergusson begins
by enunciating certain principles of river-action, the first of which is,
‘all rivers oscillate in curves, whose extent is directly proportionate to
the quantity of water flowing through the rivers ;” but a certain loose-
ness in the author’s mode of expression renders it necessary to be care-
ful not to give a too literal interpretation to some of his sentences ;
for instance, in this particular case, he evidently means to say that
this principle is true when all other conditions are equal, for shortly
afterwards he observes, that the extent or radius of the curves (ceteris
paribus, understood, as before) is “ directly proportioned to the slope of
1864. | The Geological Society. 293
the bed of the river.” After illustrating these propositions, he next
discusses the tendency of rivers flowing in alluvial soils to raise their
banks, and thus to confine themselves in their beds ; and he explains
the process by means of which this result is brought about somewhat
differently from Sir Charles Lyell and other writers, as he calls in the
aid of “backwaters,” or large bodies of still water in the low lands
beyond the banks of the river, the effect of their existence being that
the overflowing water of the river is forced to deposit its silt as soon
as it meets them, which is, in the wet season, soon after it leaves the
river. In the particular case of the Ganges, Mr. Fergusson is doubt-
less right ; but it is extremely hazardous to generalize from a solitary
instance. The secular elevation of deltas, and many other interesting
subjects, are then treated; and the author also describes in detail the
principal changes that have taken place, during the historic period, in
the delta of the Ganges; that is to say, the changes in the courses,
directions, outlets, &c., of the various rivers, the alteration in the slope
of their beds, and many other phenomena, all showing the magnitude
of the results brought about by river-action, and the rapidity of the
changes, as well as the mutual dependence of the different rivers of
the same valley. Indeed, we may consider that in the Valley of the
Ganges there is being played a natural game of chess on a gigantic
scale ; the valley itself is the chessboard, the rivers are the pieces,
while the producers of the changes—water and mud—are the players.
The effect of a move of any particular river in any direction in altering
the relations of the rest, and the many other ways in which the con-
nection of the various rivers is shown, together with the laws which
regulate these changes, and river-action generally, are very curious,
and deserve more attention from the geologist than they have hitherto
received,
The chief object of Dr. Leith Adams’s paper is to prove that the
Nile has at a comparatively recent period flowed at a much higher
level than it now does, at any rate north of the second cataract. The
evidence upon which this conclusion rests consists chiefly of the occur-
rence of fluviatile shells at high levels. These shells were found in
beds of alluvium forming terraces on the banks of the river, and they
belong, according to Mr. 8. P. Woodward, to six species, namely—
Unio lithophagus, Cyrena fluminalis, Aitheria semilunata (Nile oysters),
Tridina Nilotica, Paludina bulimoides, and Bulimus pullus. The first
species is doubtful, the next four all live in the Nile at the present
day, and the last probably occurs in the neighbourhood. ‘They were
found at all heights, up to aé least 120 feet above the highest Nile of
the present time.
Dr. Adams gives a sketch of the physical structure of the Nile
Valley, and notices the collateral evidence in support of his conclusions
to be derived from the position of ancient temples, tombs, and other
monuments, striving to prove not only that the Nile above the second
cataract formerly flowed at a much higher level than it now does, but
also that the primeval river was much larger and more rapid than the
Nile of the present day.
This paper is certainly an important contribution to the history of
VOL. I. x
294 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. [April,
the Nile; but it should not be forgotten, although it appears to have
been almost lost sight of, that Russegger discovered fluviatile shells at
high levels in the Nile Valley more than five-and-twenty years ago.
6. Much light has been thrown upon the geology of the West Indian
Islands in two papers (or, rather, two parts of one paper) by Dr.
Duncan “On the Fossil Corals of the West Indian Islands,” and one
by Mr. J. Carrick Moore “ On some Tertiary Shells from Jamaica.”
Many years ago Mr. Carrick Moore suggested that the separation
of the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean was not so complete in
early Tertiary times as it now is, and the chief result of the papers
just mentioned is that they prove, almost to demonstration, that this
separation was not complete until long after the commencement of the
Tertiary period.
Tt may be useful to give a synopsis of this argument, as it is an
extremely good specimen of the manner in which the paleontologist
infers the character and the date of changes that have occurred on the
surface of the earth in geological periods. In most of the West Indian
Tslands certain strata occur containing shells and corals which, at first
sight, appear (especially the shells) to resemble those now living in the
Caribbean Sea ; but, when closely examined and compared, they are
found to be nearly all distinct. Furthermore, a careful comparison of
them with recent fossil species from different localities shows that,
while many of them resemble or are identical with species found in the
Miocene beds of Europe, others bear the same relation to forms now
living in the Pacific Ocean, a very small proportion (especially of
corals) being allied to, or identical with, Caribbean species. It there-
fore follows, granting the usual postulates of paleontology, that the
deposits are approximately of the age of the Miocene beds of Europe,
and that, at or about the time when the animals lived, the remains of
which occur fossil in these strata, there was free communication between
the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Dr. Duncan also discusses many other interesting points, such as it
ean easily be understood the determination of no fewer than 76 species
of fossil corals from such a region would suggest to the mind of a
paleontologist ; but it is here quite impossible to do more than draw
attention to his valuable papers.
7. The Abbeville jaw and the associated flint implements have
attracted so much attention, and the circumstances attending their dis-
covery have already been so often explained, that a knowledge of them
may be fairly assumed in discussing Mr. Prestwich’s paper ‘“ On the
‘Section at Moulin Quignon, Abbeville, and on the peculiar character
of some of the flint implements recently discovered there.” It is
absolutely refreshing to read a paper in which the identical pit in
which the jaw was found is described, but which contains merely a few
passing allusions to that redoubted relic of, possibly, man’s antiquity,
but, much more probably, of his cupidity and deceitfulness.
The question of the authenticity of the jaw and of certain asso-
ciated flint implements is as complicated as that of Schleswig-Holstein
itself, and is still less likely ever to be satisfactorily settled. Even the
author of this paper, one of our most competent observers, after devoting
1864. - The Geological Society. 295
several pages to the endeavour to prove the authenticity of the flint
implements, appends a postscript to his communication for the purpose
of stating that he is now convinced of their fraudulent nature,—an
opinion, by-the-bye, which he originally held. So also Dr. Falconer
and others have first been advocates of one view, then of the other,
and sometimes have gone back again to their original opinion.
Setting aside the jaw and the flint implements, Mr. Prestwich’s
paper has an independent value, on account of the lucid discussion it
contains respecting the manner in which the gravels of the Valley of
the Somme were deposited. The author gives theoretical sections of
the valley at the time of the formation, and at that of the emergence,
of the high-level valley-gravels, as well as at the time of the formation
of the lower-level valley- gravels, and an actual section of the valley at
the present time; he thus shows that the high-level gravels are the
older ; that the valley has been chiefly formed by the river itself, from
which also and from floating ice the gravels and loess were deposited ;
and that, whatever difference of opinion may exist respecting certain
flint implements, others, the genuineness of which cannot be questioned,
have been found in situ from time to time during the last fifteen years,
in some of the oldest of the high-level gravels of the ancient Valley of
the Somme.
8. The geology of the Eastern Archipelago is illustrated by three
papers, two of which, namely, “On the Geology and Mineralogy of
Borneo and the adjacent Islands,” by M. de Groot, and “ Notes to
accompany some Fossils from Japan,’ by Captain Bullock, are merely
explanatory notes sent with specimens, while the third—‘‘ On some
Tertiary Mollusca from Mount Séla, in the Island of Japan,” by Mr.
H. M. Jenkins,—is a description of some of the specimens referred to
in the first-named communication.
As Mr. Jenkins observes, Java has hitherto been a terra incognita
to the geologist, and it is therefore interesting to have, at last, a definite
age assigned to some of the Tertiary beds of that island, with the data
before us upon which the conclusion rests. The author considers the
fossils he describes to be of late Miocene date, though they have until
now been considered Eocene, but not upon any very tangible grounds ;
he also discusses several questions arising out of a consideration of
these Javan specimens, endeavouring to show that some portion of the
so-called Nummulitic formation of India is also Miocene, in this view
being supported by Dr. Duncan in a note on the Scindian fossil corals.
He also advances the hypothesis, not without a certain amount of
evidence in favour of it, that the Miocene fauna of the middle and
south of Europe emigrated eastwards into the Indian Ocean. Basing
his argument upon this view he strives to show that, with a representa-
tive fauna (on the principle enunciated by Professor E. Forbes), a
series of Tertiary beds in the east would be newer than their apparant
equivalents in Europe—a conclusion which is very important if it be
true, but which at present requires confirmation; the same may also
be said of the assertion that a tropical representative of the Pliocene
formation of Europe could not be distinguished from a late Miocene
formation.
x 2
296 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
Among the many meritorious papers of less general interest may
be mentioned the following :—“On the Middle and Upper Lias of
the Dorsetshire Coast,’ by Mr. H. C. H. Day; “ On some Ichthyolites
from New South Wales,” by Sir P. G. Egerton; “ On a Hyzena-den
at Wookey Hole,” by Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins; “On the Original Na-
ture and Subsequent Alteration of Mica-schist,” by Mr. H. C. Sorby ;
“On a new Species of Dendrerpeton and on the Dermal Coverings of
certain Carboniferous Reptiles,” by Dr. J. W. Dawson; “On the
Upper Old Red Sandstone and Upper Devonian Rocks,” by Mr. J. W.
Salter ; “On the Older Rocks of Bavaria and Bohemia,” by Sir R. I.
Murchison ; “On the Skiddaw State Series,” by Professor R. Hark-
ness; with many others.
Judging from the number of new Fellows elected during the past
year, the society must be in a very flourishing condition. We notice
the following well-known names among those of the newly-elected
Fellows :—I] Commendatore Devincenzi, Minister of Agriculture and
Commerce of the Kingdom of Italy; Nicholas Kendall, Esq., M.P.,
Member of the Royal Commission of Mines; the Rev. Charles
Kingsley, M.A., Professor: of Modern History in the University of
Cambridge; James Fergusson, Esq., F.R.S., author of the History of
Modern Architecture, &c.; J. F. Iselin, Esq., M.A., Inspector of
Science-Schools; E. J. Routh, Esq., M.A., Fellow of St. John’s Col-
lege, Cambridge.
A Class of foreign correspondents—to include not more than forty
foreign geologists—has lately been instituted, and the lists of those
already elected include the names of very many foreigners of note.
THE MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY.
Dr. Lionet Bratz has, during the past quarter, read before the
members of this Society a paper of such great interest to physiolo-
gists, that we feel justified in devoting the chief portion of our
limited space to an account of its leading features. It will no doubt
be reported in detail in the ‘Quarterly Journal, devoted to the
progress of Microscopical Science.
In continuation of his reports on this and kindred subjects, Dr.
Beale communicated a very valuable paper on the Germinal Matter of
the Blood, with remarks upon the formation of Fibrin. The author
described all germinal matter as being soft or semifluid, and always of
the spherical form, unless otherwise distorted by external agency.
White blood-corpuscles, and the numerous small colourless corpuscles
which Dr. Beale described in a former paper to the Society, consisting
principally of living or germinal matter, are of a spherical form.
In the blood of man and the higher animals, and we may add in the
fluids of nearly all Invertebrata also, there exist a great number of
these minute granular particles, of the same general appearance and
refractive power as the matter of which the white blood-corpuscles are
1864. | The Microscopical Society. 297
composed. It has been shown that both the red and white corpuscles
of the blood vary very considerably in size; and Dr. Beale has
satisfied himself that some, if not all the minute granular particles
described by him, grow into white and red corpuscles. He also sees
no reason why corpuscles may not exist in the blood, of such a size
as to be actually invisible to the human eye, even when assisted with
the powerful adjunct of a 25th objective. The granular particles
absorb nutriment from the medium in which they float, and undergo
numerous subdivisons, producing other similar granules destined to
become blood-corpuscles. The motive power which enables the
granules thus to subdivide, has no connection with the nucleus or
nuclear matter, but resides solely in the so-called “ basis-substance,”
which is the semi-transparent matter forming the mass of the cell.
This “ basis-substance” is not a simple fluid, but consists of very
minute, colourless particles, free to move upon each other; and Dr.
Beale believes this motive-power to be an inherent and peculiar
property of living matter. In cases of inflammation, as, for instance,
where the capillaries in the foot of the Frog are thus affected, the
germinal matter is more able to absorb nutrient substance on account
of the retarded circulation. Hence it is that white corpuscles are so
abundant in vessels subjected to inflammatory action, masses of clot
having been observed, which consist of little else but white
corpuscles. The author, however, does not consider that this
development from granules of germinal matter is the only mode in
which white blood-corpuscles are formed. In the development of
the blood-vessels, the general opinion is that cells become stellate, and
that the processes formed by the contiguous cells meet together ; and
thus, it is conceived, the cavities of the adjacent cells become
connected together by tubes. Dr. Beale has already contested this
inference and endeavoured to show that, so far from any coalescence
between cells taking place, the communicating tubes, which are, of
course, the incipient blood-vessels, are formed by the separation or
moving away from each other of ‘cells’ which were originally
contiguous. The walls of the tubes thus formed contain germinal
matter, which is supposed to be not unfrequently detached in
small masses, thus giving rise to small corpuscles of a similar nature
to that of the white corpuscles. The increase of the production of
white corpuscles is favoured in all conditions in which the access of
pabulum to these masses of germinal or lining matter is increased.
In connection with this view of the production of blood-corpuscles,
Dr. Beale has been led to a theory of the origin of exudations, which
differs both from that held by those who support the “ exudation
theory,’ and those who uphold the “cell theory.” He considers
that portions of the granular bodies in the blood may pass through
the walls of capillary vessels, and then being surrounded by a
suitable pabulum, increase and multiply by subdivision, producing
sometimes clear fluids, at other times viscid, corpusculated masses.
The question of the coagulation of the blood, which has been so
much and so variously agitated of late, is also touched upon by the
author. When discussing the anatomy of the red blood-corpuscles
298 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
in a former paper he endeavoured to show that the coloured matter
bears to the colourless or living germinal matter the same relation as
formed material in other cases bears to germinal matter. It is formed
from it, or rather results from changes occurring in it. If the living
or eerminal matter die, slowly and natur ally (as when in the circula-
ting fluid of the body), the red colouring matter is one of the
substances resulting from its death. Numerous facts render it almost
certain that these and other masses of germinal matter give rise to
different substances, according to the conditions under which the
particles cease to exhibit vital phenomena. The production of the
material we know as fibrin is due to the death of minute particles of
the living matter of the white and small colourless corpuscles, which
takes place, under ordinary circumstances, when blood escapes from
the vessels of the living body ; in fact it is one of the consequences
of the first decomposition which the blood undergoes after death.
Such decomposition may occur, under certain circumstances, in the
body itself. The action of ammonia on the blood, after death, is
considered by Dr. Beale to be such as to keep the fibrin once pro-
duced in a state of diffusion throughout the mass; but he by no means
considers its presence in the living blood as demonstrated, regarding,
as he does, the theory he has propounded sufficient to account for the
phenomena of coagulation without its interpolation. Neither is Dr.
Beale at all inclined to assent to the views of Professor Lister, whose
researches he, however, mentions with great deference. The theory
propounded by that gentleman, that living substances, such as the
walls of blood-vessels, &c., have not the power of separating fibrin
from the blood, while external matters of an inanimate nature possess
that property, is, he observes, unwarranted by our present knowledge,
such an assertion as to the properties of living and inert bodies being
as yet unsupported by conclusive proof. At the conclusion of his
paper Dr. Beale remarked upon the unfairness displayed by those
engaged in writing reviews upon the works of observers in this
country—who, he says, are too wont to dwell upon the observations of
foreign investigators to the neglect of those of their own countrymen.
Dr. Lander, of the Royal Navy, has communicated a paper on
Marine Diatomacee found at Hong-Kong, with descriptions of new
species. The species described belong to the genus Cheetoceros—and
are very abundant in the harbour of Hong-Kong. Several species are
enumerated.
Mr. D. E. Goddard has described a new form of mounting-table.
It consists of a piece of brass 12 inches long and 3 inches broad and
13th of an inch thick, a large space is punched out in the centre of the
usual form of microscope slides. The table is supported by four legs,
and a spirit-lamp can be placed beneath, thus enabling the operator
conveniently to moderate the amount of heat used. The table is likely
to be much employed by those who indulge in such accessory apparatus,
though it cannot be said to be a necessary or even an important piece
of mechanism.
1864. | The Royal Society. 299
THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
Tux papers read before the Royal Society during the past quarter have
been of their usual varied character. They embrace the whole circle
of the sciences, but the communications to which we shall chiefly allude
in these pages are those relating to natural and physical science.
Among these we find one of a very abstract nature, “On the Condition,
Extent, and Realization of a Perfectly Musical Scale on Instruments
with Fixed Tones,” by Mr. Ellis. It was a very recondite paper, which
could only be made intelligible to those profoundly acquainted with
the science of music and by the help of extended diagrams.
Chemists have taken but a small share in the proceedings of the
Royal Society this quarter. Dr. Stenhouse contributed a short paper
on Rubia munjista or the Madder of the East Indies, in continuation of
& paper communicated to the Society last year. Among the new facts
contained in this paper was the analysis of the colouring principle of
Kast India madder, to which Dr. Stenhouse has given the name of Mun-
jistine. He found it to be closely allied in composition to the colouring
- matters obtained from Turkey, and Continental madders. Munjistine,
though existing in larger quantity in Munjeet, than Alizarine in
the best Naples madder, has unfortunately much less tinctorial power,
and consequently the value of East India madder as a dye stuff is much
smaller than that of either Turkey or Naples. From the purpurine of
munjeet Dr. Stenhouse has produced a new dye, by dissolving it in
ammonia, and allowing the solution to rest in a warm place for about
a month, occasionally replacing the ammonia and water lost by evapo-
ration. The purpurine disappears, and a new colouring matter is formed
which dyes unmordanted silk and wool of a fine rose colour, but will
not dye even mordanted vegetable fibre. The author gives the name
purpureine to this new dye.
A paper of great scientific interest on the Acids of the Lactic series
was communicated by Messrs. Frankland and Duppa.
Terrestrial magnetism now attracts a large share of attention, and
the results of the observations made will some day lead to important
consequences. At present we must reckon among the curiosities of
science, the mysterious connection which seems to exist between the
magnetism of our earth and the spots on the sun. Dr. Wolf, of
Zurich, has gone over a table of the magnetic variations observed at
Greenwich for several years, and compared it with his own observations
of sun-spots, finding the years which show the greatest magnetic devia-
tions to have been richest in sun spots.
The beautiful self-recording magnetographs at Kew have been
adopted in the Observatory at Lisbon, and Senhor Capello, of the
Lisbon, and Mr. Stewart of the Kew, Observatories, now send to the
Royal Society the results of a comparison of certain traces produced
simultaneously at the two places, during the magnetic disturbances in
July last year. It seems that when the Kew and Lisbon curves are
compared together, a very striking similarity is found to exist between
the horizontal force, one perhaps less striking between the declination
300 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. [April,
curves, and very little likeness between the vertical-force curves.
The curves of vertical force are indeed nearly quite dissimilar. The
peaks and hollows of the Kew curves were generally (simultaneously)
reproduced at Lisbon, but in an opposite direction, a sudden augmen-
tation of the vertical force at Kew corresponding to a diminution at
Lisbon, and vice versa.
When Captain Maguire was at Point Barrow during the winters
1852-53 and 1853-54, he made hourly observations of the magnetic
declination. Similar observations were made by Captain (now Sir
Leopold) M‘Clintock, at Port Kennedy, 1,200 miles distant from Point
Barrow, during the winter 1858-59. The learned President of the
Royal Society, who may be considered the parent of this branch of
science, has compared the results of these two series of observations in
a paper communicated to the Society. 'The first point established is
that the action of any disturbing force on the declination-magnet is
less at Port Kennedy than at Point Barrow, that is, less at the station
nearest to the points of 90° dip. The indication accords with the fact
of the greater frequency of the aurora at Point Barrow. A remarkable
correspondence is pointed out between the maxima of easterly and
westerly deflection observed at the two stations. The maximum of
easterly deflection occurred at the same hour of absolute time, the
maximum of westerly at the same hour of local time. At Port Kennedy
the normal direction of the magnet is 35° east of south : at Point Bar-
row 41° to the west of north: the contrast at the two stations is there-
fore nearly as great as can exist in any part of the globe, wanting only
6° of 180°, or of being diametrically opposite.
A few anatomical papers have been communicated during the past
quarter. Mr. R. Lee contributed a paper on the Distribution of the
Nerves in an Anencephalous Foetus which he dissected, and in which
he found the. distribution quitenormal. Professor Huxley made a com-
munication on the Osteology of the genus Glyptodon. Mr. J. W.
Hulke sent a contribution on the Minute Anatomy of the Retina of the
Amphibia and Reptiles.
The last consisted of descriptions of the intimate structure of the
retina of the Frog, Black and Yellow Salamander, Turtle, Land and
Water Tortoises, Spanish Gecko, Blindworm, and Common Snake.
In all seven layers are recognizable. Reckoning from the outer or
choroidal surface of the retina these are: the Bacillary, the Layer of
Outer Granules, the Inter-granular Layer, the Layer of Inner
Granules, the Granular or Grey-nervous Layer, the Ganglionic Layer,
and that of the optic nerve-fibres. The elements of the Bacillary
Layer are remarkable for their large size, they are the bodies known
as the Rods, and the Cones or Bulbs. There are good grounds for
believing them to be the percipient elements. They consist of two
segments, an outer or shaft, and an inner or body, the junction of
which is marked by a bright transverse line. The shaft is a long
rectangle in the rods; smaller and slightly conical in the lines. The
body is flask or spindle shaped, and mostly smaller than the shaft in
the Rods; more decidedly flask-shaped and larger than the shaft in the
Cones. One of the “Outer Granules” is always associated with the
1864. | The Royal Society. 301
inner end of the body in both Rods and Cones, and may be regarded
as an integral part of it; the number of “Outer Granules” con-
sequently equals that of the Rods and Cones. These “Granules” are
large circular cells, mostly containing a central nucleus in which they
differ from the “Inner Granules.” A very delicate fibre runs inwards
from the inner end of the Rod and Cone body, not from the Outer
Granule enclosed in this, as some think. This Mr. Hulke has traced
through the intermediate layers to the inner part of the Granular
Layer in the neighbourhood of the Ganglion cells. The “Inner
Granules” are round or polygonal cells, more numerous than the
“Outer Granules.” The Ganglion cells are mostly multipolar; some
of their processes join those of neighbouring cells, others join the
bundles of optic nerve-fibres, and a third set bend outwards into the
Granular Layer. In the Frog and Gecko Mr. Hulke has traced optic
nerye-fibres passing outwards through Ganglionic into the Granular
Layer. The author prefers the term Granular to that of Grey-
nervous for the broad layer which lies between the Ganglionic Layer
and that of the Inner Granules, as it correctly describes its appearance
under a low power, and has no respect to the nature of the tissue,
which he regards as connective and not nervous. A high power
demonstrates a closely-woven web in part derived from the fibres travers-
ing it in a radial direction discovered by Miller. The Inter-granular
Layer he also regards as a looser web of coarser connective tissue.
The orderly arrangement of the respective layers and of the cell-
elements in each is maintained by a framework of connective tissue,
which consist of a homogeneous membrane bounding the inner
surface of the retina; of the system of fibres discovered by Miller,
arising from the outer surface of this membrane and traversing all the
layers in a radial direction to end upon the inner surface of a
fenestrated homogeneous membrane, which receives the Rod and line-
bodies ; and lastly, of a delicate web in connection with these fibres,
which preserves the disposition of the cells when in the several layers.
These radial fibres are not looked on by the author as the link between
the Rods and Cones, the percipient, and the optic nerve-fibres, the
conducting elements of the retina: the view held by Muller, Kolliker,
and some others. The true link he considers to be the fibre passing
inwards from the inner end of the Rod- and Cone-bedy, which also has
a radial direction, but is to be distinguished from Mullers’ fibre.
Another paper of mixed chemical, physiological and optical
interest was communicated by Professor Stokes. It has been supposed
that biliverdin, the green colouring matter of bile, and chlorophyll, the
ereen colouring matter of plants, are identical. An optico-chemical
analysis of these bodies, however, shows them to be perfectly distinct.
Chlorophyll is a compound body—a mixture of four substances—two
yellow and two green, all possessing distinctive optical properties. It is
extremely difficult to separate these bodies by chemical means, but
they may be obtained in approximate state of purity. |The phyllo-
cyanine and phylloxanthine of Frémy, Professor Stokes shows to be
what we may call products of decomposition.
A very valuable account of some Experiments made to determine
302 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
the effects of impact, vibratory action, and a long-continued change
of load on wrought-iron girders was contributed to the Royal Society
by Dr. Fairbairn. The experiments were undertaken in order to
ascertain the extent to which a bridge or girder of wrought iron may
be strained without injury to its ultimate powers of resistance, or the
exact amount of load to which a bridge may be subjected without
endangering its safety.
To give tables of the experiments would occupy too much space,
but we may give the results arrived at. It follows from them that
wrought-iron girders of ordinary construction are not safe when sub-
mitted to violent disturbances equivalent to one-third the weight that
would break them. They, however, exhibit wonderful tenacity when
subjected to the same treatment with one-fourth the load ; and assuming
that an iron-girder bridge will bear with this load 12,000,000 changes
without injury, it is clear that it would require 328 years at the rate
of 100 changes a day before its security was affected. It would, how-
ever, Dr. Fairbairn adds, be dangerous to risk a load of one-third the
breaking weight upon bridges of this description, as according to the
last experiment, the beam broke with 313,000 changes ; or a period of
eight years, at the same rate as before would be sufficient to break it.
But the same beam had before been submitted to 3,000,000 changes
with one-fourth the load, and it might be that during these experi-
ments it had undergone a gradual deterioration which must some time,
however remote, have terminated in fracture.
The girder experimented on, we may add, was a wrought-iron plate
beam of the ordinary form, having a sectional top area nearly double
that of the bottom.
An abstract of an abstract would give a very imperfect notion of
the ideas propounded by the Rey. Joseph Bayma ‘On Molecular
Mechanics,” a new science, by which the author proposes to solve,
**a problem which includes all branches of physics, and which may be
enunciated in general terms, as follows :—
‘From the knowledge we gain of certain properties of natural sub-
stances by observation and experiment, to determine the intrinsic consti-
tution of these bodies, and the laws according to which they ought to act,
and be acted upon in any hypothesis whatever.’ There is no explaining
a science like that of ‘ Molecular Mechanics,” as succinctly as
Mme. De Stael once requested some German philosopher to explain
his system—* Dites-moi votre systéme dans wn mot.” We must wait for
the author’s volumes.
Two short papers, one by Mr. Prestwich “On some further Evidence
bearing on the Excavation of the Valley of the Somme by River
Action ;” and another by the Rev. §. Haughton, “On the Joint
System of Ireland and Cornwall,” make up the geological contributions
to the Royal Society during the first two months of the present year.
1864. | The Royal Institution. 308
THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Tun scientific lectures at the Royal Institution have been of varied
interest. In the first, on January 22, Mr. Grove, Q.C., gave an ac-
count of those curious experiments “On Boiling Water,’ which are
now well known to all scientific men. Mr. Grove’s experiments are
confessedly but a continuation of those of M. Donny, of Brussels, who
found that when water has been deprived of air, it no longer boils in
the ordinary sense of that word, but exhibits the singular phenomenon
of an occasional burst of vapour, the water in the intervals attaining a
temperature higher than 212° Fahr. The principal result of Mr.
Groye’s investigations goes to prove the almost absolute impossibility
of depriving water of all air; for however long, and under whatever
conditions, water is submitted to heat, there is still found in it a very
minute proportion of nitrogen. The lecturer hinted at some possible
chemical connection between nitrogen and water, the preponderating
substances on the surface of our planet, and the possibility of nitrogen
not being merely the inert diluent it is commonly supposed.
Simple boiling, in the sense of a liquid expanded by heat into its
vapour without being decomposed or having permanent gas eliminated
from it, the lecturer believed to be unknown. Boiling (ebullition),
therefore, is not the result of merely raising a liquid to a given tem-
perature, but something much more complex.
To describe the experiments of Mr. Grove would occupy too much
space, and we can only indicate the results, which went to show that
chemical purity is a thing almost unattainable, and that in nature
everything can be found in anything if carefully sought. Bromine
when boiled, however long, always yielded oxygen; phosphorus in-
variably gave phosphuretted hydrogen; and sulphur, sulphuretted
hydrogen, probably from the decomposition of water contained, which
might lead to the supposition that a minute portion of oxygen, “hydro-
gen, or of water is inseparable from these substances, and if boiled to
absolute dryness, a minute portion of the gas would be left for each
ebullition.
Mr. Grove further alluded to the effects of intense heat on simple
and compound bodies, showing how the latter are decomposed, and the
former undergo some molecular change, as phosphorus into its allo-
tropic condition and oxygen into ozone. These facts showed that the
effects of heat are not so simple as commonly supposed. In by far
the greater number of cases, possibly in all, it is not mere expansion
into vapour which is produced, but there is further a chemical or
molecular change.
As regards the phenomenon of ebullition, Mr. Grove believes that no
one has seen this take place without permanent gas being liberated,
and that what is termed boiling arises from the extrication of a bubble
of permanent gas, either by chemical decomposition of the liquid, or
by the separ: ation of some eas associated in minute quantity with the
liquid, and from which human means have hitherto failed to purge it,
304 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. [ April,
[These experiments of Mr. Grove probably explain the difficulty
which working engineers have noticed of getting up steam with sur-
face condensed water, and suggest the aeration of such water before it
is again passed into the boiler. Mr. Grove asserts that water exposed
to air takes it up as a sponge does water; but under some circum-
stances it may not absorb enough to produce steady ebullition. |
On January 29, Dr. Frankland lectured on the Glacial Epoch. As,
however, this discourse will be treated at length in our Geological
Chronicle, we shall content ourselves with a brief sketch of Dr. Frank-
land’s physical theory. All our readers are acquainted with the evi-
dences of glacier action on the surface of our earth, and the various
hypotheses upon which the formation of glaciers has been explained.
Dr. Frankland advanced a new theory, and conjectures that the sole
cause of the phenomena of the glacial epoch was a higher temperature of
the ocean, than that which obtains at present. Since the earth appears
to be slowly cooling, it is conceivable that there was a time (not geo-
logically distant) when the waters of the ocean existed in the atmosphere
as aqueous vapour, as it may in Jupiter and Venus at the present day.
After the formation of the ocean, the lecturer showed that the land must
have cooled more rapidly than the sea. At this part of the subject, he
alluded to some unpublished experiments of Dr. Tyndall, which prove the
extraordinary intranscalency of aqueous vapour to rays of heat issuing
from water. He showed also the comparative facility with which radiant
heat passes from granite through most air. Thus we have a state of
things tending much more to the conservation of the heat of the water,
than to the retention of that of the land; and therefore, while the
ocean retained a temperature considerably higher than at present,
the mountainous regions of the earth had undergone a considerably
greater refrigeration. ‘The evaporation from the ocean would, there-
fore, have been greater than at present, and this increased evaporation
must have been attended by increased precipitation, which would
suffice to supply the higher portions of the land with that gigantic
ice-burthen, which groaned down the mountain slopes during the
glacial epoch. But as the oceanic temperature was higher, why was
not the atmosphere warmer at greater elevations, and the snow-line
raised? In answering this question, Dr. Frankland showed that the
height of the snow-line essentially depends upon the amount of pre-
cipitation and accumulation of snow during the cold season, and not
upon mean temperature. The mean temperature of land under exten-
sive surfaces of snow must have been reduced, notwithstanding that
the amount of heat in activity on the surface of the earth was greater
during the glacial epoch than at present. The course of events, there-
fore, must have been as follows :—-Whilst the ocean maintained a high
temperature, the snow-line floated above the summits of the mountains ;
but with the reduction of the oceanic temperature it gradually de-
scended, enveloping peak after peak, until, during the glacial epoch, it
attained its lowest depression, whence it again rose, owing to dimi-
nished evaporation, to its present position.
On February 12, Dr.Wanklyn delivered a lecture “ On the Synthesis
of Organic Bodies,” giving a brief account of the labours of Wohler,
co
1864. | The Royal Institution. 05
Pelouze, Kolbe, and Berthelot, in this most promising and interesting
department of chemical research.
On the 18th, Mr. Savory lectured “On Dreaming and Somnam-
bulism in their relation to the Functions of certain Nerve Centres.”
The actions of the body are variously classed as excito-motor, sensori-
motor, and ideo-motor, the nerve centres employed in these actions
being particular parts of the brain. Sleep is to the brain what rest
is to the other parts of the body, and dreams result from the imperfect
exercise of the hemispheres when only in a state of partial repose.
Somnambulism results from the activity of the sensorium while the
hemispheres are at rest. Dreaming is more common than somnam-
bulism, because the cerebral lobes are most liable to variation from the
quantity and quality of blood supplied to them, and from the influence
of stimulants, narcotics, &e. In profound sleep no actions but excito-
motor, or involuntary, such as the movements of respiration and of the
heart, are performed ; and these are reduced in force and frequency.
In dreaming, ideas are aroused, and impressions either subjective or
objective are produced. If the latter, it shows that the sensorium must
be in partial activity. In somnambulism, the actions are sensori-
motory, and the sensorium is in full activity. The above is the
merest outline of a very eloquent lecture, which was concluded by
some observations on the beneficial moral effects that may possibly be
derived from a study of our dreams. They may in fact become the
means of showing us what we really are.
On February 26, Mr. Prestwich lectured “On the Quaternary Flint
Implements of Abbeville, Amiens, Hoxne, &¢.; their Geological Posi-
tion and History.” In his address (fully reported in our Geological
Chronicle), the lecturer says he is convinced that the flint implements
are the genuine work of man’s hands, and that their being found along
with the remains of extinct animals, necessitates bringing the date of
these animals forward, as much as carrying back that of man. He
believes we have no data to decide definitely on the age of these re-
mains; but thinks we are not warranted in assuming the length of
time alleged.
The interesting and important lecture of Professor Stokes, upon
the ‘‘ Discrimination of Organic Bodies by their Optical Properties,”
must for the present be postponed.
306 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
One of the most interesting papers communicated to this Society
during this session, was by Mr Alfred Newton, on the discovery of a
mummy of the Great Auk (Alca impennis), in Funk or Penguin Island,
170 miles north of St. John’s, Newfoundland. it appears that ever
since the publication of Mr. Yarrell’s ‘ History of British Birds,’
containing his account of the Alca impennis, wherein was cited
M. Audubon’s statement that that species bred on an island in the
neighbourhood of Newfoundland, the attention of British ornitho-
logists has been directed to that colony, in the hope of obtaining
thence specimens of this rare and curious bird. The Great Auk was
known to the sailors engaged in the Newfoundland cod fisheries, as
the Penguin, so far back as the year 1670, and the few that have been
seen within the last sixty years or so, are spoken of as “‘ Penguins.”
A Mr. Wolley had ascertained these facts, and feeling convinced that
specimens of the bird were yet to be obtained, determined to work out
its history. Meanwhile Professor Steenstrup published (Videnskabelige
Meddelelser, 1855, pp. 83-116) an account of the Alcea impennis, in
connection with the discovery of its bones in great abundance on
Funk or Penguin Island, by Herr Stuvitz. The author of the paper,
Mr. Newton, feeling great confidence in Herr Stuvitz’s statements,
immediately set about corresponding with every one he could hear of
in Newfoundland likely to assist him in obtaining any of these much-
prized remains of the Great Auk. At last, after considerable delay, by
the conjoint labours of the Rey. Reginald Johnson, of Fogo, and the
Bishop of Newfoundland, Mr. Newton has succeeded in inducing Mr.
N. R. Vail, a gentleman of scientific taste, to make application to Mr.
Glindon, who is removing the soil from Penguin Island, on account of
its containing large quantities of phosphatic manure, and who has
ordered his men there employed to use their best endeavours to ob-
tain the bones of the Penguin. Amongst numerous other remains, the
mummy was found which Mr. Newton exhibited. It seems to have
been deeply buried, being, says the Bishop of Newfoundland, ‘‘ four feet
below the surface, and under two feet of ice.” The skeleton is not quite
perfect ; but when it is remembered what a rarity any bones of the bird
are, and that the nearest approach to a perfect skeleton of the Great
Auk, viz. that in the Jardin des Plantes, is wanting in many respects,
the importance of Mr. Newton’s discovery will be appreciated. Be-
sides the skeleton in the Jardin des Plantes, there are two specimens
of this bird in the Museum at Copenhagen—dissected with a view to
show the various organs. In many museums specimens of bones from
various parts of the body exist—as at Christiania, the Royal College
of Surgeons, Berlin, and elsewhere. There are altogether sixty-three
or sixty-four stuffed skins of the Alea impennis known to exist; many
of these contained parts of the skeleton, which have in some cases been
removed without injuring the skin. Mr. Newton expressed his inten-
tion of placing the specimen he had so perseveringly obtained in the
1864. | The Zoological Society. 307
the hands of Professor Owen, from whom an account of the bird’s
osteology was anticipated.
Mr. A. R. Wallace has contributed a very interesting paper on the
birds inhabiting the islands of Timor, Flores, and Lombock, with de-
scriptions of new species. The chain of islands of which Timor is
the last, extends along the east of Java, and forms a natural subdivi-
sion of the Malayan Archipelago. The soil of these islands is very
dry ; active volcanoes are still at work in them, and their origin is
probably volcanic. The vegetation consists of spiny and prickly
shrubs, the dense forests and luxuriant growths of most equatorial
regions being quite unknown. During five months, Mr. Wallace ob-
tained 112 species of birds from Timor—the number of species known
altogether being 118; from Flores he obtained 86 species ; from Lom-
bock, 63 species; from Sumbawa no collection was made; and the
island of Bali belongs to the Indian region, and is therefore not con-
sidered in connection with the Malayan groups. The total number of
species of birds known to inhabit the Timorean sub-group is 186,
and Mi. Wallace makes some interesting comparisons, from the data
he has obtained, with the avifauna of the neighbouring islands, which
he has so successfully investigated. The presence in the Timorese
avifauna of a large number of Australian representative species, and
the fact that the species peculiar to Timor approach the Australian
types, though at the same time the Javan forms are very abundant and
there are few birds of the Javan type which are not identical with
species of that island, leads Mr. Wallace to infer that the island was
more anciently populated from Australia, while the Javian forms have
appeared later, and partially extinguished the Australian types. Timor
is now nearly 20 miles by sea from Java, while 300 miles separate it
from Australia. A large sandbank however extends from the north
coast of that continent to within 20 miles of Timor, and Mr. Wallace
believes it probable that this sandbank is owing to the submergence of
the land not very long since. It is not likely that an absolute con-
nection by land existed between Timor and Australia, since but one
Marsupial, and that of a Moluccan type, is found in the island. Yet
we must assume a much closer approximation to the continent, in order
to enable us to understand how it happens that though the birds of
these islands are, on the whole, almost as much Indian as Australian,
yet the apparently endemic species have such a preponderating Austra-
lian character.
A list of birds from Damara land, collected by Mr. Anderson, has
been communicated by Mr. T. H. Gurney. The same gentleman com-
municated a list of a small collection of birds from Huaheima, one of
the Society Islands. The birds were obtained for Mr. Gurney by Mr.
T. H. Wodehouse, H.B.M. consul at Raiatea.
Among the new species of Mammalia described before the Society
during the past quarter, is a new squirrel from Natal, which Dr. Gray
proposes to call Sciwrus ornatus ; also a new species of seal from the
west coast of North America, which Dr. Gray has named Halocyon
Richardii.
308 Proceedings of Metropolitan Societies. | April,
Mr. Flower has been dissecting the Echidna, which lately died at
the Gardens in Regent’s Park, and has communicated a paper on its
cerebral anatomy. He finds that the corpora quadrigemina does not,
as has been stated by Owen and others, differ materially in this mono-
trema from the ordinary structure of this part of the brain in other
Mammals.
The fishes of the inland rivers and lakes of many countries are so
little known, and the circumstances under which they exist are so
varied and peculiar, that in nearly every district new and local species
are to found. Captain Dow has lately transmitted to England a col-
lection of thirty-one species obtained from Central America, among
which Dr. Giinther has determined several new species of great interest
which he has described to the Society.
An addition to the 1,200 species of Helix is made by Dr. T. E.
Cox, who describes a species from Port Denison, N.E. Australia, as
Helix Forbesti. Mr. Frank Buckland, who has done such good work
for our salmon and trout, and also tried to show us a live porpoise in
London, has turned his attention to oysters, and has addressed a com-
munication to the Society, in which he advocates the introduction of the
American Ostrea Virginica into the seas of this country.
Mr. H. T. B. Hancock is performing some experiments on the sup-
posed electrical powers of Octopus, by means of a specimen in the
Society’s gardens.
1864.] ( 309 )
CHRONICLES OF SCIENCE.
I. AGRICULTURE.
Aumost every department of farm management is in active operation
during the first months of the year. Land drainage and autumnal
tillage have put the fallows in the best condition for deriving fertility
from the atmosphere. The direct application of manures to the crop
becomes useful and economical as the season of growth commences.
Seedtime brings under discussion the various methods at our command
for plant improvement. The continuance of stall-feeding on winter
food keeps the whole subject of the meat manufacture before the mind
of the farmer. And the lambing and calving season recalls for his
consideration all those points on which the theory and practice of the
improvement of his live-stock depend. It is in the order of these
several departments of farm practice that we write the agricultural
record of the first three months of 1864.
1. A dry winter had very early in the season put the tillage work
of our arable farms unusually forward ; and the periods of severe frost
which towards the end of winter were experienced have been of the
greatest service on all well-drained clays. It is on such lands espe-
cially that the steam cultivation of the previous autumn proves supe-
rior to the ordinary horse tillage, which on such soils interferes very
materially with the drainage of the land.
The extension of this steam cultivation is the great agricultural
event of late years, and though comparatively little is heard of it
during the winter months, yet it is then especially that its advantages
are seen and realized. Fields which have hitherto been kept dry by
steep surface lands or ridges and frequent intervening furrows, as well
as by the ordinary underground drains, are now left flat and dry, torn
up roughly before winter by the engine-drawn cultivator.
The drainage of stiff clay soils has, indeed, till now been rarely
thoroughly effected. ‘Trenches have, indeed, been dug some 3 or 4
feet deep and 7 or 8 yards apart, and through pipes placed in them it
has been expected that all the rain which falls upon the field will find
its way, after gradual penetration, through the soil and subsoil, and
filtration by every particle of all this three or four foot deep mass of earth.
But after this the upper layer of this mass has hitherto been cultivated
in a way which interposes between it and the lower layers what is
practically an impervious floor. Three or four ploughings of grain
stubbles before the succeeding peas and beans, the passage of long
teams of cattle on the floor over which the soil, and under which the
subsoil lies is an effectual induration. This floor is fatal to land
drainage, and therefore to fertility. It must be broken up, and this
can be done effectually only by steam power. Every month of March
VOL. I, :
310 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
for several years we have walked over hundreds of acres of stiff clay
land—land needing four horses to the plough—drained and smashed
up by steam power before winter, between whose surface and the drains
no such floor exists. It has trodden dry, and has then been lying in
as wholesome a condition as it is possible for land to exhibit at this
season. The only tillage which it has had has been a one-way culti-
vation, or grubbing by steam power 8 or 9 inches deep during
the previous dry weather of October or November. And this land has
thus been left a treasure-box whose lock has been effectually picked,
of whose stores, made thus accessible, it only needs that use be made
by planting well-selected living seed, in order that the utmost fertility
may be exhibited at harvest time. Steam cultivation, after drains have
been dug and placed, is the way to ensure good drainage. Tillage by
steam power, under such circumstances, is the true picklock by which
the exhaustless stores of food for plants present in all clay soils, lying
now inaccessible, may be laid open to the roots of plants. The break-
ing up of the floor, which horse cultivation lays immediately below
the surface, and the breaking up of soil and subsoil, with the exposure
of the whole to air and rain on its way downwards to the drain, will
yet exert a marvellous influence on fertility. Hitherto the progress of
events has been all to the advantage of the lighter soils. The use of
guano and of artificial manures, and the extension of liberal feeding
in the sheep-fold, have all been especially to the advantage of our
sands and lighter loams. The application of steam power as the
auxiliary of land drainage gives now the turn of advantage to the
owners and occupiers of our clays; and whereas by marling, sheep-
feeding, and artificial manuring the lighter soils have till now been
foremost in the march of agricultural improvement, thus contributing
more than any other to that increased produce of food which English
fields have of late provided, we may now expect that by drainage and
effective tillage the stiffer lands will take their turn in front, making
the most rapid progress, yielding the largest produce, the most profit,
and the highest rent.
All these considerations, and others connected with the best rota-
tions of cropping for clay soils, were discussed at the meeting of the
English Agricultural Society on March 16th, when Mr. A. Hughes of
Thorness, Isle of Wight, read a paper on the Cultivation and Ma-
nagement of Clay Farms.
2. At a previous meeting of the same Society, Mr. Lawes of Roth-
amstead had read a paper on the Value of common Salt as a Manure.
Its reputation as a fertilizer has, as he believes, hitherto stood too high.
It has been said to increase the production of grain, and to improve
the quality of straw. It is believed to have great effect especially
on crops, such as mangold-wurzel, which are of marine origin. It is
said to fix ammonia in the soil, and also to preserve moisture in dry
seasons. Mr. Lawes’s own experiments have satisfied him that it is of
little use.
The two plots of land, A and B, on which these experiments had been
tried had both received exactly the same amount of artificial manure,
but A, unlike B, reecived, during 1851,1852, and 1853, 3 ewt. of common
1864. | Agriculture, 311
salt per acre per annum in addition to the other manures. The paral-
lel is exact with that exception. The mean produce of 1848, 1849,
and 1850, the years previous to the application of salt, was 32} or 324
bushels per acre in each case; showing that the crops of wheat were
extremely alike. There was, in fact, no difference between them,
Again, in 1851, 1852, and 1853, the years in which A received 3 ewt.
of salt per acre per annum and B did not, the produce of wheat per
acre was almost exactly the same. During the next ten years also the
produce was again nearly alike. The produce of the sixteen years was
in each case 374 bushels, showing that in the yield there was no trace
whatever of the action of the 9 cwt. of common salt. Some persons
think that, although salt may not increase the quantity of produce,
yet it improves its quality. What, then, was the weight of the produce
per bushel? In the first three years the weight was a little higher in
A than in B; in the second three years, when the salt was applied—the
difference was again slightly in favour of A, though not so much as it
was before ; and in the next ten years the weights per bushel were almost
exactly alike. The total produce of the first three years was 5,988 lbs.
against 5,976 lbs.—a difference of only a few pounds. In the three
years when salt was used the produce was, as nearly as possible, the
same; and in the ten years after salt was applied, the produce was
7,799 Ibs, against 7,811 lbs.—again a difference of only a few pounds.
In the total produce of the whole period of sixteen years the difference
was only 12 lbs.—7,222 Ibs. against 7,234 lbs. Salt is supposed to
strengthen straw, and to improve its quality. In the first period,
before salt was applied, there was 57 lbs. and a fraction against 56 Ibs.
of grain to 100 lbs. of straw; therefore A was in that case rather supe-
rior to B. In the next period there was 42°6 lbs. against 41-7 lbs.,
there being again a slight difference in favour of A. Practically
there was no difference in the proportions of corn and straw, taking
the whole period.
For mangold-wurzels, of which Mr. Lawes grows annually about 15
acres, he has been in the habit, which is prevalent, of applying a few
ewts. of salt with the guano which he uses along with a half-dressing
of dung. But an experiment last year showed that the crop was
unaltered where no salt had been applied, and was diminished where
a double allowance of salt had been added. Of course the experience
of a single locality will not determine the truth for all England. But
Rothampstead, in Hertfordshire, is sufficiently inland to make one
expect that there the full effect of salt as a manure would be seen.
Though, however, there are undoubted instances where salt has been
_ applied with advantage as a manure, yet in an island such as ours,
swept annually by Atlantic storms, it can rarely be the case that the
common salt of the soil is the body in minimo, whose quantity, accord-
ing to the accepted theory of manures, rules the crop.
A recent lecture on Artificial Manures, by Professor Anderson, the
chemist to the Highland and Agricultural Society, has directed atten-
tion to the prices charged for Lawson’s so-called phospho-guano, and
for ordinary superphosphates. The phospho-guano, as sold, is the
result of treating, with a comparatively small quantity = sulphuric
Y
312 Chronicles of Science. | April,
acid, the natural rock deposit which is imported from Monk’s Island
and other islets in its neighbourhood. Certain reports, by Liebig,
Voelcker, and Anderson, of the merits of this substance as a manure,
which had been drawn up at the request of Messrs. Lawson to be
used as affidavits in connection with a suit brought against them
in the Court of Chancery, by Messrs. Thomson, Bonar, and Co.,
agents for the sale of Peruvian guano, have of late been largely used
by them as a trade advertisement, and a good deal of angry feeling
has been excited amongst the manufacturers of the cheaper superphos-
phates by this quotation of ea parte statements on high authority
against them. The upshot of the discussion, which has been carried
on chiefly in the columns of the Scottish agricultural journals, appears
to be the admission, on all hands, that it matters not for the agricultural
effect of it what may have been the origin, whether mineral or animal,
of the soluble superphosphate of lime which exists in any manure;
though as regards the remainder of the substance, which has not been
acted on by the acid used, but remains in the original condition of
neutral phosphate, it is a useful manure in the case of the Monk's Island
deposit, and still more so in the case of bones, but it is entirely
valueless in the case of the ordinary coprolite, which is the source of
most of the cheap superphosphates in the market. The tendency of the
discussion will undoubtedly tend ultimately to bring down the present
high price charged for the phospho-guano, and assimilate it more
nearly to the prices charged for ordinary superphosphate.
The imports of manuring substances during the past year, which
have been lately published, show a considerable increase under the
head of bones and guano, but a large diminution under the head of
nitres. The figures are as follow :—
Imports. 1862. 1863,
Tons. Tons.
Bones, whether burnt or not . 67,230 77,492
Guano bee eas. esol ecsie ntot ety odnts 141,636 233,574
SHITE oO 6 6. 9 0 Oo 22,162 20,225
(OQwlorte mings 5 G 5s ao oO o 39,716 26,990
3. We come now to such facts of our current agricultural history
as are classed under the general subject of plant growth. Perhaps the
leading fact under this head is the growing conviction that, thanks to
manuring and sheep-feeding on our light soils, and to drainage and
better tillage on our clays, the fertility of the arable lands of this coun-
try has of late been rapidly advancing, while that of the pasture lands
has been stationary. In Gloucestershire a recent inquiry, helped by
the records of a Cotswold farm which had been kept for nearly a
hundred years, led clearly to this conclusion. Wheat had on that farm
doubled its produce per acre since the latter part of last century ;
barley and oats had not increased correspondingly ; but green crops
1864. | Agriculture. 313
had largely increased in productiveness, and a much larger quantity
of meat is now made per acre than formerly. And this was found to
contrast most glaringly with the condition of the dairy districts of the
same county which do not now keep more stock, or yield more cheese,
and butter, and bacon, than they used to do thirty years ago.
Another fact of some interest under this head, is the extension of
the growth of flax during the past year. In Ireland, the following has
been the acreage of this crop during some past years :—
1860. | 1861. | 1862, 1863.
Acres of Flax . 128,444 | 147,866 | 150,312 213,992
The promotion of flax culture in England is creating a good deal
of attention. And in many country towns, meetings have been held
for the establishment of flax retteries, which, as offering a market for
the produce, is necessary as a first step towards the extension of flax
cultivation.
The subject of plant improvement, and especially that of our
cereals, has been a good deal under discussion in our agricultural
journals, Mr. Shirreff, of Haddington, to whom we owe many of our
best sorts of wheat and oats, seems to consider that the work of plant
improvement is exclusively natural, and that all that we can do is, in
effect, to keep a sharp look-out, and whenever we see in any natural
sort or variety the qualities we want, take care of the plant, and
multiply it as fast as we can.
Mr. Hallett, of Brighton, on the other hand, who advertises at such
enormous prices what he calls a “a pedigree” wheat, believes in the
power of improving a plant by cultivation. He chooses a promising
ear of Wheat—plants takes that plant of the series
which is best—chooses its best ear—again plants all cts seeds—again
chooses the best plant, best ear,
harvests thus obtained, during which, as he alleges, the plants and
ears have annually improved upon his hands, he takes the ultimate
produce as the parents of the grain which he shall offer for sale, and
multiplies it by thin seeding and careful cultivation as fast as he can
—and so by-and-by the ‘‘ Z family,” or some other of long lineage, is
offered to the “ faithful,’ for they alone will venture its price, at per-
haps one or two guineas a bushel!
There is probably less difference between these gentlemen than they
admit. Both select the best natural origin they can find—both are
confident that the progeny will be like the parent—both believe in the
fixity of character of the resultant grain; the one, however, thinking
that the character is fixed in the origin, and the other, that it is fixed
in the successive annual growths of ‘the sort in question.
Neither will deny the “immense folly of carelessness in the selection
of our seed—and both may well wonder at farmers who when they
want a good Cabbage, Mangold, or Turnip, take care to choose a good
314 Chronicles of Science. | April,
plant as the parent of the seed they use, yet the moment they
approach the cereals, at once neglect the principle which in the other |
case they know to be efficient and correct.
A good deal of excitement has prevailed in Ireland and elsewhere,
owing to an unusual liability on the part of the Swedish turnip to
degenerate into a Rape-like plant, sending all its growth into leaf and
stem and refusing to form a bulb. An action against the seedsman
for damages, on the plea that the seed was at fault, resulted in a
verdict for the defendant, the jury being unable to resist the evidence
of the mischief being due to other causes. I1t appears that the
circumstances of the soil may so differ in the same field that rows of
plants, from seed sown out of the same seed-box from end to end
across it, shall in some places exhibit uniformly good bulbs and
elsewhere nothing but leaf and stem. It appears to us that even here
a good deal of responsibility rests with the seedinan, and seed grown
from successive generations of well-selected plants would have that
power of resisting the mischievous influence of circumstances and of
producing good bulbs in spite of them, according to a long continued
habitude and bent, which Swede seed grown at hap-hazard is found
to want.
Seed-time calls to our remembrance the invention of Mr. Smith’s
(of Woolston) capital combined seed drill and cultivator for draught
by steam power. It is being extensively used this spring and will no
doubt come largely into operation as a most efficient tool for sowing
wheat upon a clean bean stubble, and even occasionally for planting
beans upon a clean wheat stubble—certainly for sowing barley after
the sheepfold—at one operation. It is the latest illustration that we
have of the way in which steam power is applicable both to the
economizing of farm labour and to the increase of its efficiency.
The character of the wonderful harvest with which England was
last year blest, appears from the following classification of the reports
regarding it from all parts of the country which have been published
by the ‘Mark Lane Express.’ It will be seen what an immense pre-
ponderance of the reports regarding the wheat crop declare it to have
been over average.
REPORTS. | Wheat. Barley. Oats.
Under average . . | 5 55 65
AAVELaEO el a 3) «| 96 245 268
Over average. . . | 523 261 200
4. We have now to refer to points connected with the meat manu-
facture. The high price of beef, mutton, and wool have all tended to
promote in a wonderful degree the extension of the practice of high
feeding, which has of late years enormously grown. No great increase of
the imports of oilcakes, on which the chief dependence has been hitherto
placed, seems from the following figures to be possible.
1864. ] Agriculture. 315
The following are the imports of Linseed and of Linseed cakes
during the past six years :—
Linseed . «% qrs. 1,017,844 1,270,911 1,330,623) 1,160,270) 1,088,472'1,104,578
| 1858. | 1359, | 1860. | 1861, 1862, 1863.
|
| |
Oil cakes. . tons ele gas
1oss26 113,725 101,156 88,566
On the other hand there is a growing conviction of the extent of
fraud by adulteration, to which the purchaser of these cakes is liable.
The consequence is a probably unprecedented consumption of home-
grown grain; and to this the low prices of barley and of wheat have no
doubt contributed. Whenever the price of grain or whole meal is one-
eighth, or thereabouts, that of meat, it is profitable to use it as food for fat-
tening stock. And of course there is a great additional advantage besides
. the mere sale at a good price of inferior grain which is derived from this
method of their disposal. The enrichment of the manure which is thus
affected is an additional profit of great value. To how large an extent
this is made use of, let the following example suffice to show. It relates
to a farm on the edge of Woking Common, over which we lately walked,
where the soil is naturally extremely poor, but made wonderfully pro-
ductive by a large consumption of purchased food for fattening stock.
On about 500 acres of this poor sandy land, close on the edge of what
may be called the dreariest waste in the island, a herd of 50 to 70 cows
is milked for the London market ; a dry flock of Hampshire Downs,
varying from 200 to 400 head, is fed; and hogs, ranging in number
from 1,500 to 2,000 per annum, are fattened up to 10 or 12 scores a
piece. All this is done so long as meat and bacon are at ordinary prices,
with a small profit; but the principal advantage no doubt is, that the
naturally poor soil of the farm is thus made capable of growing 5
quarters of wheat, 5 or 6 of barley, and 30 to 40 tons of mangold-wur-
zel per acre. The swine, bought at 5 to 7 score a piece, are kept till
10 or 12, making meat at the rate of rather more than 1 Ib. a day, and
receiving half a peck of meal daily upon an average, viz. one-half barley
meal, and the rest wheat, Indian corn, lentils, peas, beans, buck-wheat,
or whatever else is cheapest.
Of course, with such a great quantity of stock to feed, purchases of
food are very large; 500 up to 1,000 bushels of grain are used weekly ;
and the annual return of meat—12,000 lbs. of mutton, 150,000 Ibs. of
bacon, and about 40,000 gallons of milk—equal in all to 200,000 Ibs.
of meat per annum—amounts to a manufacture of 400 Ibs. of meat per
acre — which is, we believe, quite unparalleled.
The effect is seen in the high artificial fertility of this naturally
poor land. The large quantity of rich manure, deep cultivation, and
sheep-treading, are the three agencies employed, and their success,
unaided, as in other pure sandy districts, by any possibility of marl-
ing or claying the land, has been unequivocal. No contrast is so
great as that existing between the luxuriant growth of the fields on the
316 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
Hoebridge Farm, near Woking, and the utter worthlessness of the waste
close by.
The principal point of recent interest, however, under our present
head, during the present quarter, undoubtedly has been the introduction
by the Government of the Bill for permitting the use of malt, free of
duty, as food for sheep and cattle. Whatever the satisfaction with
reference to this measure may be, taking it in some degree to indicate
that the Government may hereafter be willing to reconsider the whole
subject of the malt tax, there can be little doubt nevertheless that it is
in the meantime an utterly worthless concession to the agricultural
interest. There are cheaper foods already at our command than ever
malt, duty free, will be—and the mixture of the malt with linseed meal,
which is one of the safeguards which the Bill provides against those
frauds against the revenue which it will facilitate, is no improvement
of the material for use in either feeding-stall or sheep-fold.
5. The value of pure-bred stock in the market, which indicates
their intrinsic merits in the eye of judges, has lately received a singular
illustration in high prices realized at the sales at Towneley and at
Sarsden of the short-horn herds which have grown up under the manage-
ment of Colonel Towneley and the late Mr. Langston, M.P., respectively.
The success of the former herd especially which has been in existence
only during the past fifteen years, has been extraordinary. During
that time more than 2,000/. have been won as prizes, besides 22 cups,
2 “challenge” cups, 26 gold medals, and more than 10 others of silver
and bronze.
The only other point to be noticed in our present agricultural
chronicle, is the excitement which prevails on the subject of contagious
disease amongst our live-stock. Notwithstanding that the mischief is
in all pr obability exaggerated, yet it is bad enough to justify a certain
amount of interference and supervision by the Government; and a
measure has accordingly been introduced into Parliament forbidding
the turning out of stock afflicted with certain specified contagious
diseases into public places ; enabling the Secretary of State to forbid,
if necessary, the removal of cattle or sheep from any infected district ;
and requiring all carriers to provide cleaned carriages for the convey-
ance of stock, &c. This, with another measure dealing in a similar
spirit with imported live-stock, has been referred to a select —s
mittee of the House of Commons.
It appears that we have 8,000,000 of cattle, 40,000,000 of es
and 4,300,000 pigs in the United Kingdom, and that the annual mor-
tality by disease is 5 per cent. of the cattle, 4 per cent. of the sheep,
and in Ireland 10 per cent. of the pigs. The total value of live-stock
destroyed by disease last year is thus believed to have been 6,120,0001.
In addition to this their owners had to suffer the loss of condition in
the animals which have recovered, and the general public undoubtedly
suffer considerably from the consumption of the meat of animals
slaughtered when in a diseased condition. These appear to be suffi-
ciently urgent reasons for Government interference.
1864. | Botany and Vegetable Physiology. 317
II. BOTANY AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY.
Tue prizes offered by the French Academy in this department of
science call attention to subjects of great importance in vegetable
physiology, and are three in number; the first Bourdin prize, postponed
from 1861 to 1866, March 31st, is for an essay to determine by ana-
tomical research, if there exists in the structure of the stems of vege-
tables the characters belonging to the large natural families, and thus
agreeing with those deduced from the organs of reproduction. Any
comparative work on the branches and stems will be admitted to com-
petition. Another prize, postponed from 1860, to September 1, 1865,
and to consist of a gold medal, value 3,000 francs, will be given for
the determination experimentally of the causes in the inequality of
absorption by different vegetables of the solutions of the various kinds
of salt which the earth contains, and to recognize by anatomical study
of the roots, the connection which may exist between the tissues which
constitute them, and the matter which they absorb or give out. A
prize, also standing over from 1859, is now offered for 1866 ‘for the
study of vessels of the latex, or proper juice, of vegetables, considered
in a double aspect from their distribution in the different organs of
plants, and particularly their affinities and connections with the lymph-
atic or spiral vessels, as well as with the fibres of the plant.”
The prizes awarded in vegetable physiology at the annual meeting of
the Academy, were, first, the grand prize of 3,000 francs, “to discover
what the changes are which take place during germination in the consti-
tution of the tissues of the vegetable embryo and perisperm, and in the
matter which these tissues contain.” Dr. Arthur Gris, assistant-natur-
alist to the Museum, obtained the award. The Barbier prize was equally
divided between M. Jules Lepére, of Pondicherry, and M. Veillard, a
naval surgeon ; the first having presented a paper on the study of the
different medicaments used in India, and comparisons of them with
those which our European plants furnish; also, researches into the
Hydrocotyle Asiatica, and its use in medicine. The second writer
‘presented a work relating to the medicinal and alimentary plants in-
digenous to New Caledonia, throwing light upon the therapeutic use
of vegetables as yet but little known, but studied in two most impor-
tant colonies, by officers attached to the naval medical service of
France.
A prize awarded for a chemical rather than for a botanical subject
may be alluded to here. M. Bouffé received 1,500 francs reward for
his natural green (vert nature), a mixture of picric acid and Guignet’s
chrome green, intended to replace the arsenical greens, so much sought
after on account of their beauty and brilliancy, but so dangerous to the
makers of artificial flowers.
While upon the subject of prizes we may mention that the Royal
Horticultural Society of London, in order to foster the study of
scientific botany, has offered the following prizes for botanical col-
lections :—1. One silver and two bronze medals for the three best
318 Chronicles of Science. | April,
collections of dried wild plants of each separate county, classified ac-
cording to the natural system. 2. Three gold medals for the best
three of all the collections out of all the several county collections.
These collections must be arranged according to a natural method, and
be accompanied by a list arranged according to the same method, with
the species numbered. ‘The collector is to follow some work on
British botany, such as Babington, Hooker and Arnott, or Bentham,
stating the work adopted. The collections must be delivered on or
before 81st December, 1864, to the Secretary of the Royal Horticul-
tural Society. Further, the Society will present a gold medal to every
exhibitor of a new species of plant found growing in the United King-
dom. We need hardly point out that these regulations offer an excel-
lent opportunity to the members of the various Field Naturalists’ Clubs
which are scattered throughout the kingdom, and we anticipate that
the stimulus thus publicly offered by the Royal Horticultural Society
will be productive of the most beneficial results.
At the January sitting of the Academy of Sciences of Vienna, M.
Ettingshausen exhibited a work about to be published under the title
of ‘ Photographic Album of the Flora of Austria, being at the same
time a Manual of Botany.’ This is the first time that the photogra-
phic reproduction of vegetables has been attempted as a new and im-
portant means of botanical instruction. Hitherto it has been found
impossible to obtain good photographs of plants, the images being black
simple sketches without shade, on account of the green colour of the
objects. Last year, the author, in giving an account of the recent
progress of what he terms autophysiotypie, communicated to the
Academy that at the Imperial Printing Office they had been able not
only to obtain good photographs of plants, but also to engrave them
so as to reproduce them by printing. The work above alluded to is
the realization of this beautiful method. It embraces a complete
selection of characteristic species of all the families of the Austrian
flora, and interspersed with the text are the photographic portraits of
hundreds of plants, just in the manner of woodcuts. M. Ettingshausen
has also presented a memoir on the nervation of ferns, illustrated by
the process of autophysiotypie.
Mr. J. Hill of Cambridge, Mass., gives an account of some obser-
vations upon the compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) which he found
growing wild near Chicago, last autumn. The field had once been
ploughed, and sowed with Timothy grass, and there was a grove a few
rods to the east. Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances,
he took a rough measurement of thirty plants, without selection, as
follows :—Holding a card over each plant with its edge parallel to the
central line of his own shadow, he marked upon the card a short
line parallel to each leaf of the plant. Measuring afterwards the angle
which each mark made with the edge of the card, and subtracting from
each angle the azimuth of the sun for the estimated central time of ob-
servation, he obtained the following results. Only one plant, bearing
four old leaves, gave an average angle with the meridian of more than
34° Their mean was 18° W. The remaining twenty-nine plants
1864. | Botany and Vegetable Physiology. 319
bore ninety-one leaves, which made with the meridian the following
angles, viz.— Seven made angles greater than 35°; fifteen, angles be-
tween 35° and 20°; sixteen, angles between 20° and 8°; twenty-eight,
angles between 8° and 1°; and twenty-five, angles less than 1°. Of the
sixty-nine angles less than 20°, the mean is N. 33' H., i.e. about half
a degree east of the meridian. The error of azimuth, from want of
means to determine the time accurately, may have been as much as
three times this quantity. One half the leaves bore within about half
a point of N., and two-thirds within one point. The magnetic declina-
tion was about 6° E., and the observations were made when the sun
was about on the magnetic meridian.
Henna (Lawsonia inermis), a plant which has been so long used in
Keypt as a cosmetic and dye stuff, has been introduced into com-
merce by MM. Gillet and Tabourin, of Lyons. According to the
‘Coloriste Industriel,’ the researches of these chemists show that the
active colouring principle is nothing more than a peculiar kind of
tannic acid, which they propose to call hennatannic acid. The dried
leaves of henna contain half their weight of this substance. The plant
is, it appears, particularly useful for imparting to silk the different
shades of black, the colours so obtained being very beautiful and per-
manent.
At the Academy of Sciences of Vienna Dr. de Vry exhibited some
beautifully-crystallized resin of the upas tree (Antiaris toxicaria), also
the upas poison itself in a crystallizable state. He regarded the
poison as a Glycosite, that did not act upon the stomach as a violent
poison, perhaps not as a poison at all, and possessed poisonous pro-
perties only when brought into immediate contact with the blood. He
had convinced himself by repeated personal experiment that the stories
of the poisonous atmosphere of the upas tree are fabulous.
Further investigations into the milk vessels of Leontodon (the com-
mon dandelion) by Dr. August Vogt, of Vienna, show that the inter-
cellular substance occurring in the root consists chiefly of pectose, the
same substance which occurs in unripe fruits, and in turnips and car-
rots ; so that itis not a secretion, but a product of conversion of the cel-
lulose of the cell-membranes, of a chemical nature. The milk vessels
occurring in the dandelion are amongst the most ramified which occur
anywhere in plants, springing from main stems, then ramifying and
forming ultimately large reticulated systems around the woody nucleus.
On examining into their origin, it appears that their main stems are
produced by the amalgamation of the so-called conducting cells
which accompany the bundles of milk vessels, and probably constitute
the organ for conducting back the juices elaborated in the leaves.
This fusion is induced by the conversion into pectose of the mem-
branes of the cells, consisting at first more or less entirely of cellulose.
Some interesting observations have been made by Henrici on the
functions of roots in supplying water to the plant, and on the develop-
ment under certain conditions of special roots destined for this pur-
pose, to explain the frequent occurrence of plants sending roots into
320 Chronicles of Science. . | April,
wells, cisterns, drain-pipes, &c., where they exist in continual contact
with a body of water. In drain-pipes the roots of plants usually con-
sidered to be free from aquatic tendencies, such as rape (brassica),
sometimes accumulate to a surprising extent. Henrici surmised
that the roots which most cultivated plants send down deep into the
soil, even when the soil is by no means porous or inviting, are de-
signed especially to bring up water from the subsoil for the use of the
plant. He devised an experiment for the purpose of establishing the
truth of these views, by planting a young raspberry in a funnel filled
with garden soil, the neck of the funnel dipping into water from which
“it was separated by a paper filter. Roots penetrated the soil and the
filter, and became water-roots, which being ultimately cut away, and
the plant put into soil and placed in a conservatory it grew vigorously.
Henrici considers that he has proved that plants extend a portion of
their roots into the subsoil, chiefly for the purpose of gathering sup-
plies of water.
III. CHEMISTRY.
Cremicat science has made steady progress during the past quarter.
Not only do the proceedings of the various learned societies
chronicled in these pages, the Royal, Chemical, and Royal Institution,
show that our chief workers have not been idle, but the records of
progress which we are about to give, are also evidence of important
advancements which find their way to the public through other
channels than the leading societies.
Deserving perhaps the foremost place, stand the researches of
Professor Graham, Master of the Mint, on the Molecular Mobility of
Gases. The researches of this philosopher on liquid diffusion must
be fresh in the memory of every chemist, resulting as they did in the
introduction of a new and most valuable means of analysis into the
laboratory. The present investigations* prove that the same laws
which he has already shown to apply to liquids in their passage
through porous diaphragms, likewise influence gaseous bodies. In
researches of this character the difficulty has been to find a porous
body whose structure was sufliciently compact to prevent the pas-
sage of the gas en masse, but yet to permit its molecules to have
free movement. ‘Thin plates of compressed black-lead have at last
been found to possess the desired property, and by employing this
material as the porous septum in the diffusiometer several remarkable
results have been obtained. Space will not permit us to give even
a brief abstract of the whole of this important paper, we will, there-
fore, content ourselves with drawing attention to one or two of the
most striking results. The separation of the gases of the atmo-
sphere by transmission through a porous material has a peculiar
interest, although from the nearness of the densities of oxygen and
: reer a Transactions,’ part ii. 1863; and ‘ Philosophical Magazine,’
xxv1. 409,
1864.] Chemistry. 321
nitrogen no great separation can be effected by this method; the
diffusive velocity of two gases being inversely as the square roots
of their densities, nitrogen exceeds oxygen in activity by about
6-7 per cent. By experiment, about three-fourths of the theoretical
separation was actually obtained, and other experiments were then
instituted, with a view of ascertaining what would be the effect of
other porous bodies, such as stucco, or earthenware, on atmospheric
gases, and the result shows that all porous masses, however loose
their texture, will have some effect in separating mixed gases, moving
through them under pressure. The air entering a room by perco-
lation through a wall of brick, or a coat of plaster, will thus become
richer in nitrogen, in a certain small measure, than the external
atmosphere. Where such a small difference of specific gravities
exists the separation of gases is a severe trial to the powers of the
atmolyser, but with greater disparities of density the separation may
become very considerable. When an explosive mixture of one
volume of oxygen and two volumes of hydrogen are transmitted, the
result is very striking, the hydrogen diminishes from 66°66 to 9°3
per cent., and the gas ceases to be explosive, a lighted taper burning
in it as in pure oxygen. In other experiments on the diffusion of
carbonic acid into_air, the remarkable result was discovered that in
perfectly still air its molecules spontaneously alter their position,
and move to a distance of half a metre in any direction in the course
of five or six minutes, whilst the molecules of hydrogen disperse
themselves to the distance of a third of a metre in a single minute.
The Professor considers that such a moleeular movement may become
an agency of considerable power in distributing heat throughout the
atmosphere.
The new element Cesium has been the subject of further investiga-
tion by Bunsen ;* he separates it from Rubidium by converting the
two metals into tartrates, and adding a sufficient excess of tartaric
acid te convert the rubidium into bi-tartrate whilst the cesium salt
remains neutral. The mixture is then exposed in a funnel to an
atmosphere saturated with moisture, when the neutral cesium salt
deliquesces and runs through, while the acid rubidium salt remains
behind. Bunsen has deduced, from cesium compounds so purified,
the equivalent 132-99; whilst Johnson and Allen, working with very
much larger quantities of material than Bunsen was able to obtain,
deduced the number 133-03. These fully authorize the use of the
round number 133 as expressing the combining proportion of this
element.
The very rare metal Vanadium is likely to be somewhat more
available for scientific research, if not for practical applications, now
that Riley + has found it to occur in the Wiltshire oolitic iron ore and
in the pig-iron smelted from it. He finds that this pig-iron will
readily furnish any quantity of vanadium with tolerable facility ; it
appears to contain more vanadium than that made from the Taberg
* Poggendorf’s ‘ Annalen,’ cxix. 1.
+ ‘Journal of the Chemical Society,’ New Series, ii. 21,
322 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
ore in Sweden, and it is supposed that this is the first time that this
metal has been found in English pig-iron.
A note on the Quantitative Determination of Sulphur by Dr. D.S.
Price,* deserves notice, as it draws attention to a source of error
which is very liable to be overlooked by analysts. He finds that
the ordinary method of estimating sulphur, by fusion with nitre over
gas, 1s liable to error in consequence of the coal gas giving sulphur to
the contents of the crucible. Experiments show that nitre, which
before fusion was free from sulphur, contained an appreciable
quantity after exposure to a gas flame for three quarters of an hour.
Perhaps one of the most important problems in analytical
chemistry is to obtain the reagents of that exceptional purity which
is absolutely necessary in many researches. In _ toxicological
inquiries it is, of course, of vital importance that the sulphuric acid
should be free from that very common impurity arsenic, and chemists
will on this account be glad to know of a method by which this difficult
problemn can be solved. The method of distillation as ordinarily
practised is of no value, but it may be made available with the modi-
fications introduced by MM. Bussy and Buigne.t These chemists
have shown that when the arsenic exists in the state of arsenious acid
it distils over, but when it is present as arsenic acid the whole remains
behind in the retort. Upon boiling the suspected acid with a little
nitric acid, or, as Maxwell Lyte proposes,t by adding a little bichromate
of potash and then distilling, the product will be perfectly free from
arsenic.
A new pigment, which appears likely to afford a ready means of
preserving iron and other metals, has recently been introduced in
Paris by M. Oudry, of the Auteuil electro-metallurgic works. Pure
copper is first precipitated by the galvanic process, and it is then
reduced to an impalpable powder. This powder is then mixed with
a preparation of spirit and used as ordinary paint. The articles
coated in this way have all the appearance of electro-bronze, while the
cost is less than one-sixth ; it is likely to last from eight to ten years,
and beautiful effects are produced by means of a dressing of acidified
solutions and pure copper powder.
A patent has recently been entered by M. Clavel for modifying the
beautiful blue dyes obtained from coal tar, so as to render them
soluble in water. He dissolves the dye in fuming sulphuric acid and
then dilutes the solution considerably, passing steam im at the same
time. The colouring matter is then precipitated in flocculi by the
addition of common salt ; upon washing the salt out, the dye remains
perfectly soluble in water. Whilst speaking of these aniline dyes we
may mention with pleasure that the parent to whom they all owe their
origin, Dr. Hofmann, has been honoured by the Jecker Prize of 5,000
francs, given by the Paris Academy of Sciences, for his researches on
artificial organic alkalies.
* «Chemical News,’ viii. 285.
+ ‘Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie,’ xliv. 177.
t ‘Chemical News,’ ix. 98,
1864. | Chemistry. 223
In these days of falsification it may be of some interest to give a
simple test for artificially-coloured wines, which we owe to Blume.
He saturates a piece of bread crumb with the wine to be tested and
places it in a plate full of water. If the wine is artificially coloured,
the water very soon becomes reddish violet, but if the colouring
matter is natural, the water, after a quarter or half an hour, is but very
little coloured, and a slight opalescence only is perceptible.
From its ready liberation of sulphurous acid, hyposulphite of soda
is likely to become a valuable bleaching agent; M. Artus has applied
it very successfully to the bleaching of sponges. He first washes
them in a weak solution of caustic soda, and then, after thorough
rinsing with water, transfers them to a weak mixture of hyposulphite
of soda and dilute hydrochloric acid. In a short time the sponges
become nearly white, without having their valuable qualities injured in
the least; they are then to be taken out and well washed.
The Calabar bean has been well investigated physiologically in
this country, but the alkaloid, to which it owes its wonderful property
of contracting the pupil of the eye, has only very recently been isolated
by MM. Jobst and Hesse;* they have given it the name of Phyto-
stigmine, and as yet have only found it in the cotyledon. It is a
brownish-yellow amorphous mass, easily soluble in ether, alcohol, and
benzol, and slightly soluble in cold water. Its aqueous solution has
a decidedly alkaline reaction. It produces very strong contraction of
the pupil, and one curious fact observed, is that the poison produces
contraction of the pupil when applied to recently-dead animals. Now
that Calabar bean is so extensively used by ophthalmic surgeons, the
isolation of its active principle cannot fail to be of value.
Poison bottles and poison corks, poison caps and poison stoppers,
have all successively been tried, with the object of preventing careless
or sleepy nurses from giving medicines out of the wrong bottles and
thereby poisoning their patients ; but they are all open to the objec-
tion that when the liquid for which they have been originally used is
exhausted, the very nice-locking bottle is generally replenished with
eau de cologne, tincture of senna, or such-like innocent compounds, and
the object of having a peculiarly-contrived bottle is thereby defeated.
Perhaps the most unobjectionable of all these attempts to substitute
a mechanical contrivance for ordinary caution and common sense, has
been recently brought forward by Mr. Thonger before the Phar-
maceutical Society. It consistsof a patent label having a border of
sand-paper round it, thus appealing strongly to the sense of touch,
which it is presumed will warn the holder that danger is near. These
labels are applicable to dispensing bottles and to the smallest phials,
and possess an advantage over any other contrivance, as they can
be stuck on any vessel, and as readily removed when the poisonous
contents are done with and the bottle is required for something else.
The Society of Medical Sciences of Brussels some time ago offered
a prize for the discovery of a substitute for the Cinchona alkaloids.
* ¢Annalen der Chem. und Pharm.’ exxix. 115.
324 Chronicles of Science. [-Ape,
The silver medal has recently been awarded to Dr. Leriche for his
memoir on the Employment of Tannin as a substitute for Cinchona.
He arrives at the conclusion that pure tannic acid is an excellent
antiperiodic, and possesses real efficacy in the treatment of all
intermittent fevers of a simple quotidian type. Now that we are
threatened by some alarmists with a Quinine famine, the discovery of
anything which can be used to supplement, or replace, this invaluable
drug is of the very highest importance.
IV. GEOLOGY AND PALHONTOLOGY.
TE past quarter has not been unmarked by some important attempts
at progress, and amongst these Professor Frankland’s effort to evolve a
Meteorological theory for the causation of the Glacial era will, whether
accepted by geologists or not, rank as one of the best towards a
solution of this recent and remarkable geological period. But as in
mathematical demonstrations everything depends on the basis taken,
so in that excellent chemist’s hypothesis the correctness of his con-
clusions is dependent upon the establishment of the assumptions upon
which his hypothesis is built—namely, on the actual existence of an
internal molten core within our earth, and the gradual cooling down of
our planet from an original incandescent state. The argument Dr.
Frankland holds is, that the formation of glaciers is a true process of
distillation, requiring heat as much as cold for its due performance.
The produce of a still would be diminished, not increased, by an abso-
lute reduction of temperature, and it is a wider differentiation of tem-
perature that is required to stimulate its operation into fuller activity.
The great natural Glacial apparatus is divisible into three parts—the
evaporator, the condenser, and the receiver. The ocean supplies the
vapour, the mountains are the ice-bearers or receivers, but the dry air
of the upper region of the atmosphere, which permits the free radiation
into space of the heat from aqueous vapour, is the true condenser. The
sole cause of the phenomena of the Glacial period, then, Professor
Frankland believes, was a higher temperature of the ocean than obtains
at present, and the greater differentiation brought about by the differ-
ence of the rates of cooling of the water of the sea and of the rock-
masses of the terrestrial crust. According to his notions, all the waters
of the ocean primarily existed in the atmosphere as vapour, and with
the gradual cooling of the earth they were first allowed to be deposited
upon it in a thermal liquid state, and subsequently these ocean-waters
have been gradually reduced to their present temperature—the glacial
phenomena occurring during the later stages of this cooling operation.
Those effects were brought about chiefly by two causes—the high
specific heat of water compared with granite and other rocks, and the
comparative facility with which radiant heat escapes from such rocks
through moist air. The amounts of heat associated with equal weights
of water and granite are as 5 to 1, or, if equal volumes be taken, water
1864. | Geology and Paleontology. 325
requires to lose twice as much heat as granite in order to cool through
the same number of degrees. But in regard to the escape of radiant-
heat through moist air, there is a high degree of difference between them,
Tt seems that radiant heat will not pass from a given substance through
the vapour of that substance so rapidly as it will through dry air or a
vaporous medium of any other substance; and just as the vapour of
sodium cuts off the light rays of sodium in the spectrum, so the vapour
of water seemingly, to a great extent at least, arrests the radiant-heat
rays emanating from water ; and thus, while there is free radiation from
the snow-capped mountains into the dry regions of the upper air, the
radiation of heat from the sea is blocked by the “ blanket” of aqueous
vapour which rests over its surface. Whilst then the ocean in the Glacial
era retained a temperature considerably higher than at present, Dr.
Frankland considers the mountains or ice-bearers had undergone con-
siderably greater refrigeration ; and thus whilst the evaporation of the
ocean, receiving heat through its earth-floor from the internal molten
core of our planet, was in much greater volume than now, the moun-
tains were not very different from their present state, and were efficient
ice-bearers for the vapours condensed in the upper atmosphere, and
falling upon them as snow, which, accumulating in vast quantities,
would not only reduce the level of the perpetual snow-line, but refri-
gerate also climatal conditions. Not content with this earth alone,
Professor Frankland attempted, though not very successfully, to apply
his Glacial hypotheses to the moon, seeking there for traces of glacial
action. Assuming the solid mass of the moon to have contracted in
cooling at the same rate as granite, its refrigeration, though only 180°
Fahr., would, he calculates, create a cellular space within its crust of
upwards of 14 millions of cubic miles, or more than sufficient to engulf
the whole of the lunar oceans, if any proportionate to the seas of our
own earth ever existed there. His final conclusions are, that a liquid
aqueous ocean can only exist on a planet so long as the latter retains a
high internal temperature, and that the moon becomes in this respect
a prophetic picture of the ultimate fate of our earth, “ when, deprived
of external seas and all but an annual rotation on its axis, it shall
revolve round the sun an arid and a lifeless wilderness.” The hypo-
thesis is clever, and contains germs of philosophy and truth, but we
doubt if geologists generally will accept it, at least in its totality.
Although the internal-heat and gradually-cooling doctrines are pretty
generally accepted as theories, and not as still unproven hypotheses,
these topics, with the Glacial period and the causes of earthquakes,
still seem productive of a kind of geological nightmare, which dis-
turbs and terrifies not a few reflective intellects. The Rev. Professor
Haughton has introduced some of them into an able paper before the
Geological Society of Dublin— “ An attempt to calculate the Duration
of Time involved in Geological Epochs.” Commenting on the vague-
ness of idea involved in the ‘long periods of time” habitually spoken
of, he undertook, as a point of interest, to estimate, upon the basis of
a gradual cooling down of our globe, for how long a time it has been
possible for animals to have existed on it. For this estimate the
basis selected was Helmholtz’s deduction from the experiments on the
VOL. I. Z
326 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
cooling of basalt by Professor Bischoff of Bonn—that if the whole
globe were constituted of that rock, it would take 350 millions of years
to cool from 2,000° to 200° Centigrade. If the earth, then, has cooled
down from a gaseous condition to its present consistence, it is evident
animals could not have existed on it before it acquired solidity. Even
after this it is difficult to believe in the general existence of life at
temperatures above that at which albumen, the chief ingredient of
flesh, coagulates. The Professor therefore takes a range from this
point, 122° Fahr. to 77° Fahr. the temperature which has been sug-
gested for our island in the London-Clay period, and sufficiently near
to Professor Heer’s estimate from the evidence of fossil plants of 72°
for Switzerland in the Miocene age to acquire credibility. Upon
these data, Professor Haughton concludes that the earth, if of basalt,
would have required 1,280 millions of years to become cooled through
the required space since animal-life was possible on our planet.
Not less important, although to some extent going over old ground,
is the admirable analysis M. Paul Gervais has made of the evidence
of the osseous caverns of Languedoc in respect to the antiquity of man,
Much, indeed most, of this evidence has been long before the world,
but the treatment it has now received is more scrutinizing and result-
ful than any hitherto accorded toit. The first documents on this sub-
ject are those of M. Tournal, who in 1827 noticed the association of the
bones of man with those of extinct species of animals in the caverns
of Bize. ‘Two years after, M. Christol published his notice of other
fossil human bones from the cavern of Pondres, examined by himself
and M. Dumas. Cuvier did not ignore the principal facts thus brought
forward, but he never regarded them as sufficient to cause him to
change his preconceived opinion, and he objected to them that they
were merely cavern-remains, and not found in regular beds, such as
those which contain the bones of elephants, rhinoceroses, the great
bears, lions and hyenas ; the eminent naturalist’s notion being that in
caverns the relics of various ages were liable to intermixture from
natural causes, as well as accidents, and that the objects in contiguous
positions might therefore be of very different dates. M. Gervais now
takes the fullest evidence he can get of the caves of Bize and Pondres,
and to the consideration of them adds new facts obtained from those of
Roque and Pontil. The cavern of Bize is chiefly known through the
long memoir of M. Marcel de Serres, who records, besides many species
still found in the district, an extinct antelope, A. Christolii, and four
kinds of deer equally annihilated and distinct from any described
species—the Cervus Destremii, C. Reboulii, C. Leufroyi, and C. Tournalit.
The Aurochs is also cited, although it is more likely the remains were
those of Bos primigenius. The humerus attributed to the Arctic bear is
probably that of the ordinary bear of the European mountains, as M.
Gervais has obtained fragments of the latter from Tour-de-Farges and
Alais. The Antelope Christolii did not differ greatly from the chamois.
Two portions of the canons of a chamois in M. Gervais’ possession
consist of only the digital ends and a very short portion of the diaphy-
sis, from which he concludes that these bones were violently broken,
and by the act of man—the long bones cracked by the primitive men
1864. ] Geology and Palwontology. 327
for the sake of their marrow being distinguishable from those crushed
by animals, even when they occur together in the same deposit. M.
Gervais has also a digital extremity of the posterior canon and other
similar fragments of the long bones of Bos primigenius separated from
their middle portions by violent fracture, evidently accomplished by
the hand of man. By referring to M. de Serres’ plates in conjunction
with specimens recently obtained, this able paleontologist concludes
that the majority of the extinct deer referred to belong to the Rein-
deer, and remarks that they exhibit this distinctive feature, that the
long bones, instead of being entire, as they are in such caverns as
those of Brengues which were not inhabited by man, have at Bize
been broken; so that if the men of the Cave period had not domes-
ticated these animals, they at least made use of their carcases. It
may not be superfluous to add that this cavern contains the débris
of primitive pottery, flint-knives, and implements set in deer’s horn
and in bone. The cavern of Pondres also contains diluvian animals
—Rhinoceros tichorhinus, ox, cave-bear, Felis spelea, and hyena, and
has often been quoted in support of the high antiquity of man in
Europe, remains of his skeleton, his flint knives, and coarse pottery
or charcoal haying been found in it. These, according to M. Ger-
vais, are mixed pell-mell with the remains of the extinct animals,
whence he questions whether there has not been some amount of inter-
mingling. All that he can positively assure himself of is, that
the bones of the large animals have not been broken like those met
with in caverns which haye served as habitations for the primitive in-
habitants of our globe, and he consequently doubts the conclusions of
MM. Christol and Dumas as to the contemporaneity, in this instance,
of the relics of the fossil mammals and those of man with whom
they are associated. In respect to Lunel-Viel, M. Gervais thinks it
can scarcely be cited in favour of the contemporaneity of man with
the extinct diluvian species, as, notwithstanding the restricted extent
of the caves in which the human bones have been found, no traces
of its inhabitation by man, nor any relics of works, have been brought
to light. He considers, therefore, that this cavern belongs to the
class of those which M. Steenstrup regards as entirely filled before
the agency of man; and he is the more inclined to this opinion,
as the animal-bones are not broken by human methods, but are merely
crunched by the teeth of carnivora, especially hyenas. He asks,
hence, whether, as a general rule, we may not conclude, when the
marrow-bones of the food-beasts are intact, that the comminglings
of the human with the animal-remains have not been due to the sub-
sequent intervention of floods, burials, or various other upstirrings
of the deposits in which such comminglings occur—an opinion con-
firmed by the following facts from the cavern of Pontil :—Some
years since, M. Gervais found there numerous bones of extinct species,
as at Lunel-Viel and Pondres, also human bones and some industrial
relics ; the former belonging to a primitive epoch, and the last, more
recent, had also been shown to him as coming from the same cavern.
At that time he abstained from speaking of them, not having sufi-
ciently reliable particulars. Now, however, he is better qualified to
z2
328 Chronicles of Science. . [April,
do so. M. Chausse, Conducteur of Ponts et Chaussées, has made
excavations at Pontil, and forwarded to M. Gervais the greater part of
the objects of human origin found there, with particulars of their
bedding and mode of preservation compared with those of the-extinct
animals embedded with the rhinoceros, The great extinct beasts,
including the Bos primigenius, are thus shown to be in a lower bed
than those deposits which have yielded the bones of horse, human
débris, and the remains of ancient fires, a flint-knife and various
instruments made of deer’s horn and bone exactly like those of the
first period of the Swiss Lake dwellings and met with in the Kjokken-
moddens of Denmark. Moreover, with these was obtained an upper
maxillary of a young Bos primigenius, corresponding to one of like age
from Lunel-Viel, with which it was compared. In the same cavern in
the uppermost sediments, were the tusks of the wild boar, and axes of
polished stone, such as are considered to be characteristic of the Second
Stone Age ; and further manufactured objects indicative of the Age of
Bronze, have also been obtained. The cavern of Roque was discovered
by Boutin, and the bones from thence were some years since shown to
M. Gervais, who then requested search to be made for worked flints,
of which, indeed, a considerable quantity has subsequently been found
associated with human remains. M. Gervais has also secured a meta-
tarsal of the cave-bear. The broken bones in this cavern belong to
deer, common ox, and to an animal indicated by M. Boutin in his
notice as a goat, of which we may form some conception by supposing
it to have exceeded the dimensions of living goats as much as the Bos
primigenius exceeded living oxen. M. Gervais provisionally names it
the Capra primigenia. MM. Gervais’ conclusions from the above facts
are, that the first appearance of man in the districts of the caverns of
Bize, Saint-Pons, Pondres, and La Roque, although they must be
assigned to a period prior to the records of history, cannot yet be
admitted to have been, in this region at least, contemporaneous with
the existence of those extinct animals to which Cuvier made allusion
when thirty years ago he repelled the statements of Tournal, Christol,
and Marcel de Serres as to the simultaneous entombment of men and
the extinct mammalia in these caverns. The importance of the dis-
tinctions marking the particular faunas which have disappeared, and
the chronology of these extinctions become, under such reasonings,
topics exceedingly evident, and their value in attempts at determining
the contemporaneousness of the human remains and relics with the
other objects with which they are found must not hereafter be over-
looked.
In the Colonies the study of Geology has of late years gained many
active students, and we are glad to find in the ‘ Transactions of the
Nova Scotian Institute, only very recently established, Geological
papers of considerable merit. Mr, Belt’s remarks on some recent
movements of the earth’s surface have a tone of interest for us we
could scarcely have expected, and refer much to the mother-country
and its continental offshoot—the vast island of the Pacific Ocean.
The subjects that formed the basis of his paper are chiefly the raised
beaches on the shores of the British Channel, described by Mr. Godwin-
1864. | Geology and Paleontology. 329
Austen, in the ‘ Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,’ and the
rise of land in Australia. It is easy to understand how corals could
build up in the course of time great masses of limestone, the difficulty
is to account for the breaking up of ancient sea-bottoms, and their
upheaval above the level of the ocean-surface. Now, of Australia, it
has been known for several years that the whole coast is slowly but
surely rising; and in the southern part, the railway between Adelaide
and the port is said to have risen 4 inches in 12 months. This
elevation is participated in by all the neighbouring islands; at Green
Island in Bass’s Strait, and in Tasmania, there are old sea-beaches
100 feet above high water. And one of the most remarkable and sug-
gestive facts in this recent elevation is, that the movement, without
tremblings, quakings, or shocks, is so rapid that bones of animals, and
pottery thrown out of the first emigrant ships, mixed with shingle and
sea-shells, are raised above the reach of the tide. ‘This uprising has
progressed to the extent of 300 feet since the present mollusca inhabited
the coast. In New Zealand, too, the land is being jerked up as it is
on the western coast of America. From these topics Mr. Belt goes to
the superficial deposits of sand, gravel, and clay, that are spread over
the greater part of Great Britain ; the evidence afforded by which seems
to indicate in some places upheavals, in others depressions. Con-
vinced that some general law must govern these movements, Mr. Belt
has collected and collated, from various sources, sections of deposits
from different parts of England and Scotland ; and to render the move-
ments more intelligible, has depicted them by means of curved lines, in
a similar manner to those used by meteorologists to indicate the fluc-
tuations of the barometer. Movements of the earth’s surface are in this
way depicted from examples taken from the most southern part of
England, and from the other extremity of the island, 350 miles apart,
and for the purpose of showing how general these movements have been
another diagram is given of the changes of level in Nova Scotia in
recent geological times, and another of a portion of North America,
when the land stood, at one time at least, 500 feet higher than it does
now. These few widely-separated examples are sufficient to prove
what was well known before, the general instability of the earth’s
crust, but the diagrammatic method of showing these elevations is
very suggestive of the utility of symbolizing earth-movements in this
way for comparison.
The western coast of the Peloponnesus is a region little known to
geologists, and every detail from thence is consequently valuable. We
are glad, therefore, to see that an interesting sketch by Dr. Weiss, the
Professor of the University of Lemberg, in Gallicia, of a journey made
by him in that district, has been laid before the Imperial Institute of
Vienna. He notices many very productive localities for Tertiary fossils,
which, by a proper exploration, he thinks would lead to very interesting
results—although the fossils are abundant, the Doctor, in consequence
of the wretched social condition of the country, made but a scanty
collection, and is unable to give even an approximately full account of
its physical aspect. From the town of Zante the view extends over
the Bay of Gastuni to Katakolo, the highest point of which is marked
330 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
by the walls of Pondiko-Kastron. Towards Arcadia the coast flattens,
and opens an uninterrupted panorama of the hill-plateau of the Morea,
terminating on the north in the peaks of the Cyllenic mountains, and
on the south by the rocky portions of the Taygetos. The Cape con-
sists of a coarse-grained marine limestone, of Upper Pliocene age, in
many places exhibiting the old borings of molluscs, and overlaid by
deposits of sand and marl, which cover the undulating ground for miles
along the sea-shore, and up to the base of the mountains in_ the
interior. The stone-marl around Pyrgos abounds in Ostrea lamellosa,
and in the limestone and sandstone are species of Cardita, with Cardium
edule, Turritella communis, Venus multilamella, and Scalaria pseudo-
scalaris. Pyrgos itself stands on a colossal oyster-bank, portions of
which are exposed to the eye in many parts of the town. It is over-
laid by a thick stratum of marl, in which but very few fossil remains
are to be found. Dr. Weiss’s sketch is principally a description of the
routes taken, and will be a useful guide to future explorers of this
unworked region.
Dr. Carte has recorded the discovery of bones of the Polar bear
in Lough Gur, county Limerick. In the paper before the Dublin
Geological Society, in which he has described them, he comments on
the extreme abruptness with which, in the newer formations, mammalian
forms have appeared in abundance, contrasting in this respect with the
gradual appearance of the lower forms of life in the older strata.
The second part of the excellent monograph of Rissoidea, by
MM. Gustav Schwartz and Mohrenstern, of Vienna, contains the genus
Rissoa, illustrated by four fine lithographic plates. The author gives
in a diagrammatic form the relationships of the recent and fossil
species, referring the 30 recent species to 11 items in the Pleistocene
age, these again to 6 in the Pliocene, these to 4 in the Miocene, 2 in
the Oligocene, and finally to one derivative, the Rissoa nana in
the Hocene.
Mr. 8. V. Wood, jun., has published an admirable article on the
Red Crag and its relation to the Fluvio-marine Crag, and the Drift of
the Eastern Counties. From the result of his survey he comes to the
conclusion, that in the Red Crag, once regarded as of Miocene age,
we have the initiatory stage in England of that series of events which,
known under the term “ Drift,” began by the encroachment upon the
- land of England of a bay of the Northern Ocean, and which encroach-
ment afterwards extended over the area of the Eastern Counties, and
ultimately involved the submergence of that still more extensive area
now covered with the ice-borne detritus and clay of the northern Drift.
There is often more information to be got from, as there is cer-
tainly less trouble in reading, a pamphlet of a single sheet. In
England we have had Professor Ramsay strenuously contesting for the
ice-scooped origin of the Swiss lakes, and the eloquent Ruskin as
enthusiastically defending the powers of weather and water upon, and
the effects of molecular motion within, the rocks. The learned pro-
fessor of Berne, M. Studer, now appears before the world in a brochure
of 16 pages, which he opens with the admission, that “in the origin
of the Swiss Lakes we have a problem difficult to resolve,” and of
1864. | Geology and Paleontology. 331
which it is hard to assign precisely the date in the series of geological
events. On the one hand we have Buch, Hoffman, and Ball, fully
persuaded that the same causes which elevated the Swiss mountains
produced the depressions which separate them. They think that the
elevation was accompanied by crevasses more or less profound, which
have formed the valleys, and that in the interior there exist other
cavities, the roofs of which will be subsequently broken in—the
present lakes being the remains of such cavities or founderings which
have not yet been filled up by the silt brought down by the rivers.
On the other hand, the disciples of Buffon, Playfair, and the Werner
school, attribute the valleys and water-basins to erosion, or the destruc-
tive action of fluids in motion. The latter class, as we have already
noticed, are split into two parties, and disagree as to the nature of the
erosive medium—the one following their ancient masters, look to the
currents of the sea, rivers, and torrents; the others, amongst whom are
some of our own, and French and continental geologists, advocate the
newer theory of their having been scooped out by the grinding action
of massive glaciers. Each of these theories may be justified by par-
ticular facts; and M. Desor, at least, adopts them both, and applies
either one or the other, as circumstances demand, distinguishing the
lakes as orographic, and lakes of erosion. The former may be further
divided into three classes—the lakes in synclinal valleys, such as
the lake of Bourget ; those in isoclinal, such as Brienz and Wallenstadt,
and those in the transverse valleys or cluses, of which the lakes of
Thoune and of Uri are examples. The lakes of the Alps, according
to M. Desor, are chiefly orographic ; whilst those of Neuchatel, Bienne,
Morat, Zurich, Constance, and others in Lower Switzerland, are lakes
of erosion. The question of the epoch of their formation is, however,
very much complicated when the strata around them are examined.
All over Lower Switzerland and the Jura are spread the well-known
“ Alpine blocks,” which by their mode of transport would necessarily
have passed above the lakes in arriving at their actual sites from their
original beds ; and we cannot conceive why, if a current brought them,
it should not have filled their basins and made a great mound of débris
at the débouchures of the Alpine valleys. This difficulty involving
the impossibility of the suspension of such blocks in mid-air, or the
unlikelihood of their sustention on the surface of water 1,000 feet
above the valley below, has been one of the main causes of the readi-
ness with which the hypothesis of the former greater extension of
the glaciers has been received, for across the surfaces of the ice-
filled depressions the Alpine blocks would have naturally travelled
from the Alps to the Jura. This general body of ice, covering all the
valleys and deep hollows, is certainly a cause of uncertainty as to the
epoch of the formation of the lakes, for they may evidently be anterior
to the glacial epoch, their basins during that era being filled with water
or ice; or they may be posterior, although M. Studer is not disposed
to admit a posterior origin, which appears too recent to reconcile with
the evident connection of the basins and valleys with the orography of
the country.
Another difficulty occurs. For a long time there has been known
332 Chronicles of Science. | April,
to exist below the boulder-drift a terrain erratique, a deposit of sand
and clay horizontally stratified, and possessing all the characters of a
river deposit—the terrain du transport of Elie de Beaumont, or the
alluvion ancienne of Necker, the diluvium of recent authors—in the
gravels of which the constituent rocks of the pebbles are found to be
derived from the Alps or the sub-Alpine hills, whilst the boulder-
blocks themselves also present different characters, according to the
nature of the different valleys through which they have been carried,
and corresponding to the rocks in situ in such valleys and their tribu-
taries. It is evident, as M. Studer remarks, that the presence of this
ancient alluvium throws us again into all those difficulties from which
we thought ourselves freed by the hypothesis of the former greater
extent of the glaciers. The difficulty, he thinks, may perhaps be
diminished by reducing as much as possible the mass of those gravels,
the transport of which across the lakes, before the great extension
of the glaciers took place, seems incontestable ; and that, as these hori-
zontal beds of ancient alluvium repose upen the denuded or sliced-off
edges of the inclined beds of molasse, the date of their formation is
necessarily placed between the catastrophe which elevated the Tertiary
_beds and the epoch of the great extension of the glaciers. After a
careful analytical survey of the physical and geological aspects of the
lake-country, M. Studer comes to the conclusion of the insufficiency of
erosion in accounting for the origin of the valleys and lakes of the
Alps; and he considers there is no alternative but to recognize with
M. Escher an intimate connection between a great number of the
Alpine valleys and the inclined positions of the beds of the mountains
which separate them. These, then, are true orographic valleys, such
as M. Desor has noticed in the Jura, and to the two kinds he has
described, the synclinal and isoclinal, there ought to be added for the
Alps another—the anticlinal valleys. The cluses, he further considers,
are evidently fractures enlarged by erosion ; and he adds a fourth class
of valleys —those of subsidence. If lava-currents, which often traverse
loose sand, do not burrow into the soil in their progress, is his argument,
how can glaciers which have less power than even such currents of
water as our senses will not detect the motion of, and which even at this
slow rate move over an under-plane of water and ground-adherent ice,
effect such enormous erosion as is involved in these lake-basins? He
looks, therefore, to subsidences as their chief cause. In this case the
ancient alluvium at the bottom of the basins involves the supposition
of the lapse of a considerable period of time between the disturbance
and the filling up of the depths of the crevasse; and as a proof of the
occurrence of such an interval, he refers to the great difference between
the faunas and floras of the last or newest beds of the molasse, and the
first or oldest of those of the alluvium, urging how great a length of
time it would require to produce such differences of climatal conditions
as to enable a fauna such as that of the Confederate States to supplant
the present fauna of Europe—a difference which is not greater, how-
ever, than that between the animals of the Molasse age and the ele-
phants, oxen, and deer of the Diluvium.
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy.
eo
co
co
V. MINING, MINERALOGY, AND METALLURGY.
Tue most noteworthy fact in connection with British mining which
has presented itself during the quarter, has been the production of
gold from the quartz lodes of the Cambrian Hills. Many years have
passed away since we were told that gold was to be found in Merioneth-
shire. Some of the precious metal was exhibited in 1851, but this
had been obtained at a cost which far exceeded its value. In 1861
the Vigra and Clogau mine gave 2,784 standard ounces of gold to the
adventurers, but in 1862 they obtained 5,299 ounces. For some time
the prospects were dull; large quantities of quartz were worked
containing no visible gold, and an infinitesimally small proportion
was separated by amalgamation. However, the prospects brightened
towards the close of the year 1863 ; and during the past quarter the
following quantities have been duly reported :—
Oz. Dwts. Cwt. Qrs. Ibs,
103. 11from7 1 23 of quartz.
ISH ie: Heese cr
DgGtalGs eyeelOuss an
————t ———
wht
2?
oP)
586 3 26) 22 9
This is perhaps the most extraordinary yield on record of gold from
a quartz vein. We find, however, by the report of the Vigra and Clogau
Mining Company, that since the date of their last report, 1,059
ounces of gold have been received, this being obtained from quartz
giving 24 ounces of gold to the ton on the average.
In the neighbourhood of Bala Lake some discoveries were made
last year, from which much was expected. This has not, how-
ever, been realized. But in January some quartz was operated on
from Castell-carn-Dochan, giving from 5$ ounces to 74 ounces to
the ton. At Penrhos and Tynyrhenrhos, stones have been taken from
quartz lodes containing visible gold. The extraordinary products of
the Vigra and Clogau mine naturally awaken the hopes of the adven-
turers in the other gold-mines around Dolgelly. It should, however,
be borne in mind by all, that nothing can be more capricious than
the occurrence of gold in the quartz lodes. We know not when the
gold may disappear—we have no rule to guide us as to its discovery.
Therefore, caution should be the rule of all speculators, who are
tempted by the auriferous treasures of the Welsh mountains.
British mining presents but little that is worthy of our record. The
fact that upwards of 10 tons of nickel and cobalt speiss has been ob-
tained from the sandstone of Alderly Edge, in Cheshire, is of interest.
In our last number we drew especial attention to the coal-cutting
machines of the Ardsley Coal Company, and of Ridley and Jones.
Mr. Firth, of the former company, informs us that the Ar dsley machine
has been motaeed to two feet in length, “therefore,” he says, “in the pro-
gress of invention we have gone far beyond the one in question.” The
334 Chronicles of Science. | April,
Ardsley machine is being used in several collieries, and the reports
are in the highest degree satisfactory.
In connection with this really important subject, a very admirable
paper was read at the Institution of Civil Engineers, on February 16,
by Mr. Thomas Sopwith, jun., on “The Actual State of the Works
on the Mount Cenis Tunnel, and Description of the Machinery Em-
ployed.”
So much has been said of late respecting this extraordinary under-
taking, and of the machinery employed in boring this tunnel, that we
need not occupy our pages with any description of either the one or
the other. The following brief quotation shows the present rate of
progress :—* The tunnel, on 30th June, 1863, had been driven (includ-
ing the advanced gallery), at Modane, 1092-25 metres, and at Bardon-
neche, 1450°00 metres. The advancement in June last, at Modane,
was at the rate of 4°719 feet per day. At this rate of progress at both
ends, the tunnel would be finished in nine years two and a-half months
from that time.”
The machine employed by M. Sommeiller is very accurately
described, and admirably-executed drawings are given in a work by M.
Armengaud (ainé).* In the same work will be found a description of
a rotating perforator, “ perforateur rotatif,’ of Schwartzkopf and Phil-
lipson. This machine is exceedingly portable, and especially appli-
cable to the conditions which prevail in our metalliferous mines.
Attention has been directed, since the experiments which have been
made at Mont Cenis, to the use of boring machinery in the metallifer-
ous mines of this country. A machine, invented by Mr. Crease, but
resembling strongly the machine just noticed, has been used in the
Vigra and Clogau gold mine, near Dolgelly. The result of the trials
made in driving a level, went to show that several improvements were
- required ; consequently it was placed in the hands of Mr. Green, of
Aberystwyth, and that gentleman has shown much mechanical in-
genuity in adapting new principles to the original idea. The improved,
or Green’s boring machine, is shown in the accompanying plate. This
machine consists of (Figs. 1, 2) an upright pillar of cast-iron, 8, fixcd
upon a low tram waggon, 1, running upon rails in the level, and having
within it, in the upper part, an upright screw, 4, and cross-head ; and
in the lower part another screw, 2, by means of which the machine
can be firmly fixed between the floor and the roof. This pillar is
encircled by an iron collar, 5, which can revolve round the pillar, but
which can, by means of a rack and pinion, 7, 8, worked by the worm,
6, be raised or lowered upon it. Attached to this collar is an arm
with adjustments, 9, 10, 11, 14, which carries the boring machine
proper (Fig. 4). At the end of the arm is a cylinder resting upon a
screw bed (Fig. 3), 15, in which works an ordinary slide valve. The
piston is shown in section in Fig. 4; to it is attached a hollow piston-
rod, in which the borer is placed. By the side of the cylinder are
* «Publication Industrielle des Machines, Outils et Appareils les plus perfec-
tionnés et les plus récents, employés dans les différentes branches de l'industrie
francaise et étrangére.’ Par Armengaud (ainé). Paris: MM. A. Morel et C'.
See also ‘ Les Mondes, Reyue Hebdomadaire des Sciences,’ 21 Jan., 1864.
335
ing, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy.
ut)
Mi
1864.]
END ELEVATION.
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336 Chronicles of Science. | April,
attached the connecting-rods, marked 3, 4; one working the slide
valve, the other acting by levers 5 and 6, giving motion to a ratchet-
wheel, which, acting on a system of tooth-wheels 10 (see end eleva-
tion), cause the piston and borer to make a quarter of a revolution.
These levers are worked at each stroke by means of projections on
the piston-rod 1:1. The revolutions can also be effected by hand,
through the wheel and connection, 9; and this marks the main differ-
ence between the machines of Crease and Green—the former having
only the means for making the revolution by hand.
At the same time that the borer makes its quarter revolution, the
screw 11 is caused by tooth-wheels to make an equal turn, giving a
forward motion to the cylinder, and bringing the borer more into the
hole.
This machine can be worked by either steam or compressed air,
the latter being the most convenient, and at all times to be preferred,
especially in driving the badly-ventilated end of long levels.
These notes and the accompanying drawing will show that the
borer can be placed in any position with regard to height or direc-
tion in a horizontal plane. There is also a joint Fig. 1-12, by which
it can be adjusted in any direction in a vertical plane.
We are informed that Mr. Crease’s boring machine has been
recently introduced in two mines near Tavistock, and we know that
experiments are being tried in some of the lead mines of the North
of England, and in the copper mines near Camborne, Cornwall.
Another boring machine for “driving tunnels, mines, adits, shafts,
quarries, &c.,” has been constructed and patented by Mr. George
Low, of Newark. In its more important features it does not differ
materially from that already described. We are informed that Mr.
Low’s machine has been applied with success by the Connoree
Mining Company. The machine can be made with one, or any
number of borers, which, on an average, will bore holes at the rate
of two inches per minute, as proved by actual trial. We hear of
several other machines, some to be worked by air or steam, or by
water pressure, and others to be moved by manual labour. The
attention which is now being directed to the important question of
relieving men from the severe tasks of boring rocks in the confined
ends of levels, appears likely to result in the production of some
simple and efficacious mechanical arrangements.
The advantages of employing machines of this class are great:
economy in working should at once recommend them to the mine
proprietor, and on ‘the score of humanity, as removing from living
muscle its severest toil, and giving it to unwearing metal, the
philanthropist should urge their introduction. Another advantage
would be gained by using compressed air machines; the impure air
of the levels would be dispelled by the escape of that which we had
used to bore our rocks.
In a journal such as ours it is important that we should preserve
a record, easily available, of the progress of our special industries,
The report of the Registrar-General on the census of 1861 enables
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 337
us to compile a list of persons who were then connected with our
mining operations. From this it appears that 1,012,997 persons are
engaged in the great order of workers in minerals. Of these
248,284 are connected with coal pits; 32,041 are tin or copper
miners, 18,552 are lead miners, 20,626 iron miners, 7,502 are
indefinitely described as miners, 2,502 are described as secretaries
and servants of mining companies.
Women are still employed at coal works, chiefly at the pit’s
mouth, their number being 3,768. We learn also that 142,170 males
are employed on stone and slate quarries and in clay works; and
2,120 in the salt works of the kingdom. The workers in the metals
we exclude from our notice, since these are too extensive, and they are
not, in all cases, sufficiently defined.
With this large number of people employed, and producing, as
they do annually, mineral wealth to the value of 30,000,0001, sterling,
it is astonishing that no effective system of education has taken root
in this country, which can be regarded as possessing the requisites of
mining schools. There must be some strange prejudices lurking in
the popular mind, or this state of things would cease to be.
The English language is poor in technological literature of any
kind, and poorest of all in its literature relating to mines, minerals,
and metallurgy. This arises from the circumstance that we are a
working, and not a writing, people. There are but two weekly
journals of any note devoted to mining, these are ‘The Mining
Journal,’ and ‘ The Colliery Guardian, and there is one small monthly
magazine, ‘The Mining and Smelting Magazine.’ These are the only
representatives of our very important industries. If anyone inquires
for a work on British Mining, we are compelled to confess that there
is no such book in the English language.
In the German and the French languages there are many periodi-
cals devoted to mines and metallurgy, and to these we must be
indebted for much of our information. The best papers indeed, on
several metalliferous mining processes, as carried forward in this
country, are those of M. Moisenet, which were published in the
‘Annales des Mines.’* Many valuable papers on our mines and
mining machinery, and many of the highest character on the manu-
facture of iron, are to be found in the ‘Revue Universelle des
Mines, &e.t It is not a pleasant thing to acknowledge our poverty,
but it is satisfactory to know that our several industries are of
sufficient importance to demand the attention of such journalists as
those who conduct the two works which we have named. In the
‘Revue Universelle’ occurs an admirable paper by M. 8. Jordan, on
the mines and metallurgical industries of France. From this we
learn that the consumption of coal in France amounts to 15,800,000
tons, while the production is only 9,400,000 tons, yet this is an
* ¢ Anneles des Mines; ou Recueil de Mémoires sur l'Exploitation des Mines,
et sur les Sciences et les Arts qui s’y rapportent.’ Paris: Dunod
+ ‘Revue Universelle des Mines, de la Métallurgie, des Travaux publics, des
Sciences et des Arts appliqués & l Industrie.’ Sous la Direction de M. Ch. De
Cuyper. Paris et Lictge: Noblet et Baudry.
338 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
increase of 4,500,000 tons in the last ten years. The production of
pig-iron in 1862 was 1,053,000 tons, which was double the quantity
made in France six years previously. Our space will not allow of
our quoting from the papers by A. Burat, E. Bede, and others on the
special subjects which belong to this division of our Chronicle. We
cannot, however, refrain from directing our mining engineers to a
“Note sur quelques perfectionnements introduits dans lexploitation
des Mines,” par Jules Havrez, which appears in the August part of
the ‘Revue Universelle. It appears to us to offer many valuable
suggestions, by which they might profit. The ‘ Etudes sur lAcier,”
by M. de Cizancout, in the ‘ Annales des Mines,’ is a communication
deserving the attention of our metallurgists. Professor Rivot has an
instructive memoir on the ‘ Veins of Argentiferous Galena’ of Vialas
(Lozére). To our miners this paper should be a model, upon which
they might build a record of their own experiences.
In the report recently published of the progress of the geological
survey of Canada, under the direction of Sir William Logan, there
is much matter of especial mineralogical interest. The chapters
devoted to the consideration of ‘mineral species” may be consulted
with advantage. They make us acquainted with several modified
conditions of known minerals, and with a few which appear to be new
varieties. Amongst the metallic minerals which have been discovered
in such quantities as to give them a commercial value we find
nickel and cobalt, chromic iron, iron ores in considerable variety,
copper, lead, silver, and gold. The magnetic oxide of iron has been
found in great abundance, this valuable mineral giving 72:4 parts of
iron, and 27-6 parts of oxygen. A satisfactory description of the lead
and copper mines of Canada is given by the Geological Surveyors. It
would, however, have been interesting and important if the present rate
of production had been ascertained. As Canada is destined to become
a great mineral-producing country, the progress of its economic geology
would have formed a very appropriate addendum to the report on its
scientific geology.*
Gold occurs in this colony, both in veins and in the drift. Some
idea of the value of the auriferous deposits may be formed from the
following quotation :— “It has been shown that the washing of the
ground over an area of one acre, and with an average depth of two feet,
equal to 87,120 cubic feet, gave in round numbers about 5,000 penny-
weights of gold, or 1,88, grains to the cubic foot, which is equal to
1? grain of gold to the bushel.” Several other minerals useful in the
arts and manufactures are succinctly noticed, and the occurrence of
plumbago especially described, this mineral occurring in a state of
considerable purity.
A very interesting description of the production of the bitumens,
especially of the petroleum of Gaspé, is, at the present time, important.
* «Geological Survey of Canada. Report of Progress from its Commencement
to 1863, illustrated by 498 Woodcuts in the Text, and accompanied by an Atlas
of Maps and Sections.’ Officers of the Survey—Sir William Logan, Alexander
reds T.Sterry Hunt, and E. Billings. Montreal: Dawson Brothers. London:
alliere.
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. _ 3839
The wells of this district are chiefly in an area of about four square
miles in the first three ranges of Enniskillen, When these wells have
been opened, the petroleum has risen to the surface of the earth, con-
stituting what are called “flowing wells.” One of these, which was
sunk to a depth of about 200 feet, is said to have yielded, when first
opened, not less than 2,000 barrels in twenty-four hours. The
Enniskillen petroleum wells have produced as follows from the time
of their opening :—
Barrels.
Previous to July 31, 1861 : : 5,529
Half-year ending January 31, 1862 ; 6,246
Do. do. July 31, 1862 E : 25,264
Do. do. January 31, 1863 ‘ 57,550
For the month of February 1863. C 8,874
Number of barrels of 40 gallonseach . 103,463
Giving a total yield of 4,138,520 gallons.
Other districts are named from which petroleum can be obtained,
although as yet the quantities in which it is likely to be produced are
uncertain, as no sufficient exploration has been made.
This Report, extending to 980 pages, is a valuable contribution to
our scientifie lterature.
M. Damour has communicated a paper to the Académie des Sciences
on the ‘“‘ Density of Zircons.” He has given a long list of these pre-
cious stones which he has examined. We select the results obtained
in a few instances only, as showing the variation of density to which
they are subject :—
The Zircon of Ceylon—green colour . 4°043
Do. — of India—blue tint : : 4°596
Do. of Brevig—brown . : : 4-613
Do. ofthe Ural—yellow brown . 4-669
The indices of refraction are shown to vary in these minerals with
their density.*
A meteorolite found near Louvain, in Belgium, has been examined
by M. Pisani, and found to contain—
Nickelliferous iron, with tin and traces of phosphorus 8°67
Pyrites . ; 4 ‘ ‘ ; : A 6°06
Chromate of iron . : ‘ : 5 ; 0°71
Silicates : : : ‘ ; ; ‘ suis
99°72
A full account of this stone was communicated to the Académie Royale
de Belgique, and will be found in their Transactions. The Académie
des Sciences of Vienna has also been occupied with the consideration of
meteoric masses. M. Haidinger described the occurrence of meteoric
iron found at Tucson, in the territory of Avezana, United States; and
read a communication on a meteorolite observed at Vienna on the 10th
* ¢T Institut : Journal Universel des Sciences,’ January 20, 1864.
340 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
of August.* M. Gustav Rose has communicated to the Academy of
Berlin notices of six aérolites.ft
M. Henry Sainte-Claire Deville brought under the notice of the
Academy of Sciences a new mineral found by M. Breithaupt in Green-
land, and to which he has given the name of Carphosiderite.{ This
mineral is very rare, and it was supposed by E. Harkort to be a sub-
phosphate of the hydrate of iron ; but Deville says :—“ After the study
which I have made of carphosiderite, I am able to say that it is a sub-
sulphate of the peroxyde of hydrate of iron mixed with sand and a little
gypsum.”
An interesting paper has reached us on “ The Gems of Australia,”
read before the Royal Society of Victoria, by Dr. Bleasdale. From
this we learn that the following gems have been found in our important
colony :§—Diamonds, sapphires, ruby, topazes, beryls, garnets, opals,
amethysts, and jaspers. The ruby, of which one only has been found,
alone requires notice. It was found in Queensland, “and cut in Mel-
bourne by Mr. Spink, and turned out to be a star ruby, of good size
and great beauty. This stone is, I think, new. It belongs to the
Asterias, but instead of having a floating star of six rays of white light,
it has a fixed star of six black rays in a deep blue ground.”
Dr. Bleasdale offers some very sensible suggestions on the importance
of instructing the gold miners in a knowledge of precious stones, and
of forming a good collection of them in the local museums.
We conclude our chronicle of mineralogy by drawing attention to
a machine recently patented (of which a working model is exhibited
in Liverpool), for the reduction of “ charcoal and other friable sub-
stances to fine or impalpable powder, particularly applicable to the
manufacture of a substitute for lampblack.” The apparatus is of the
simplest kind, consisting in the main of cylindrical vessels, into which
the material to be reduced is placed along with a great number of small
balls or spheres of iron, glass, stone, &¢., to which rotary motion is
then imparted at any speed required.
The inventor claims for his machine the power to reduce a great
variety of substances to an impalpable powder, as fine as lampblack ;
and amongst those named in the specification of patent are, colouring
earths, barytes, marble, bloodstone, litharge, emery, gums, pepper, &e.
The invention is a Swedish one, and is in charge of Mr. Lee,
16, Leeds Street, Liverpool, who exhibits the working model,
Although the well-determined processes of metallurgy leave us
nothing in the way of progress to record, our metal manufactures
appear to advance with great rapidity. Our attention has been directed
to a new process for drawing steel tubes, which is now exciting consi-
derable interest. The following description, which is most exact, we
borrow from ‘ The 'Times’ newspaper :—
* See ‘ L'Institut,’ February 17, 1864.
+ See ‘ Les Mondes,’ February 11, 1864.
{ Breithaupt in Schweiger’s Journal, Bd. L. 8. 314.
§ See also Dicker’s ‘Mining Record and Guide to the Gold Mines of Victoria,’
December 24, 1863.
1864. | Mining, Mineralogy, and Metallurgy. 341
‘Steel tubes are one of the difficult problems of our hardware manu-
facture. ‘They are very costly to produce, and very unequal in their
tenacity when they are turned out, the weld, when the tube is joined down
the middle, always proving its weakest and almost its unsafe part. Steel
wires, however, of any thickness or of any fineness, are drawn every day,
and by a very simple development of the same process a machine has been
invented by which steel tubes of any thickness or internal diameter can be
produced with the same certainty. In a few words, it may be said that the
new method consists of substituting the slow, equal, but irresistible force
of hydraulic pressure for the ordinarily rapid but somewhat uncertain
steam power of the wire-drawer’s bench. The whole machinery consists
of a hydraulic press, with double cylinders placed vis-d-vis with a single
piston, which as it leaves one cylinder enters the other, and which, at its
junction between the two, carries a powerful collar or flange of iron. To
this flange the steel tube to be drawn out is secured-in a die or gauge of
the requisite shape, while down inside the tube itself passes a steel rod,
which fits into the circle of the die or gauge, just allowing the requisite
aperture round its circumference to regulate the size of the tube drawn
over it. Thus, when once the machine is set in motion by its pump, the
tube, held by its outer collar, is slowly drawn over the inner rod, which,
according to its thickness, reduces the tube by pressure against the outer
die to any fineness, and therefore to any length that may be required.
Several tubes were thus drawn yesterday in the presence of a number of
engineers and scientific gentlemen at Mr. Almond’s works, Willow Walk,
Bermondsey ; and the results, both as to the mechanical trueness of the
tube and its perfect homogeneousness throughout, were in the very highest
degree satisfactory. Nor is it circular tubes only that can be drawn by
this process. By altering the shape of the outer die and inner rod to
square, triangular, or octagon, the same form of tube is produced with
equal certainty and equal strength, though in order to avoid distressing the
metal it is only reduced 4, of an inch at each passage through the machine.
The movement is so slow that the tube comes out almost cold, yet burnished
like the finest steel inside and out. The great pressure, however, to which
it is subjected has a tendency to harden the metal, so that when many
reductions of size are necessary, it has to undergo annealing to keep it at
the required toughness. After being drawn to whatever shape or length
is required, the finished tube can be tempered up to any degree of hard-
ness, or annealed down to its strongest stage of toughness as may be
wanted. The whole process is neither an invention nor a discovery, but
simply a most valuable development of our present means of manufacture.”
We understand that there are scarcely any limits to the sizes of which
the tubes can be drawn. Within all the ordinary requirements of our
engineers, drawn-steel tubes can now be supplied.
VOL. I. 2A
342 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
Vis OPRDICS:
Sinor the beautiful researches of Faraday on gold-leaf, the relation of
metals to light has scarcely met with the attention which so important
a subject deserves. M. G. Quincke has recently published* an elabo-
rate investigation on the optical properties of metals. We have not
space even for an analysis of this long paper, but we will mention a
few of the most important results at which he has arrived. Plates of
gold, silver, and platinum were employed, so thin as to be transparent,
and these were examined in the same way as other transparent bodies.
When light falls upon a thick plate of metal it penetrates to a depth
which is about as great as the length of an undulation, the so-called
metallic lustre being produced by the conjoint action of the exteriorly
and interiorly reflected or dispersed light. The velocity of light through
metals is one of the subjects studied by the author, and he has obtained,
in the course of this investigation, the remarkable result that light travels
faster through gold and silver than through a vacuum. But Faraday
has shown that silver and gold films occur in different modifications,
and M. Quincke finds that gold and silver metallic plates, through
which light passes with a greater velocity than through air, may
become spontaneously altered by simple standing, so as to transmit
light with less velocity than it is transmitted by air. In the case of
platinum it was always found that the light passed through with
less velocity than through air. The ordinary polished silver and gold
possess the same character as that modification of these metals which
transmits light with the greater velocity. Their refracting indices are
therefore less than unity.
The second part of Kirchhoff’s researches on the solar spectrum
and the spectra of the chemical elements, translated by H. G. Roscoe,
F.R.S.,f has just been published. It completes the Professor’s survey
of the solar spectrum, and contains two plates, one extending from A
to D, and the other beginning at the point where the second plate in
the former publication ended, and extending as far as G. The actual ob-
servations have been taken by M. K. Hofmann, a pupil of Professor
Kirchhoff’s, his own eyesight having been too much injured by his
previous observations to allow him to continue the investigation. The
new metals examined consist of potassium, rubidium, lithium, cerium,
lanthanum, didymium, platinum, palladium, and an alloy of iridium and
ruthenium. These additional observations have not yielded any new
information respecting the constituents of the solar atmosphere ; they
have, however, confirmed the results of the previous examination.
Potassium, which was formerly considered to give lines identical with
some in the solar spectrum, now appears to be absent from that lumi-
nary; a few coincidences have also been observed in the spectra of
strontium and cadmium, but their number is too small to warrant the
conclusion that these metals are present in the sun’s atmosphere.
* «Pogeendorff's Annalen,’ vol. exix. part 3.
+ Macmillan and Co,
164. | Optics. 343
The plates are lithographed in ink of different tints, and form as
TOE ; are: ,
perfect a representation of the spectrum lines as it seems possible to
obtain.
M. Van der Willigen has communicated * the results of some deter-
minations of the indices of refraction of twelve rays of the solar
spectrum for distilled water. Hvery precaution has been taken to
secure accuracy, and the readings have been taken to one second, We
give the results for the eight Fraunhofer rays :-—
GUN ae teed 4) olan wet MB Z89O
Bie eee Re hea 2° A I88048
PTA Fes Pre of feet eB BRIT
D : eet ee Bo o0 et
ee to ah eae eee ho LOO AL
ee eve ett ese ©. 4 le SoT 20
Gee ee ae 0's” TE OA065
He 5 hee OA OY a Me te SE SESEC
A very interesting experiment in spectrum analysis has been de-
scribed by M. Louis Grandeau.t During a stormy night he arranged
a spectroscope at his window, so that the lightning could illuminate one-
half of the slit, whilst one of Geissler’s nitrogen vacuum tubes was send-
ing its light in through the other half of the slit. A small quantity of
vapour of water which remained in the nitrogen tube at the time it was
prepared was sufficient to produce the characteristic ray of hydrogen
superposed on the nitrogen rays. M. Grandeau was able for an hour, at
intervals of about five minutes, to observe the spectrum of the light-
ning, the general appearance of which at first sight recalled that of
the electric spark; but on closer observation he soon noticed in the
spectrum of almost every flash the coincidence of a certain number of
the rays of its spectrum with those of the spectra of nitrogen and
hydrogen. This is easily understood when we remember that am-
monia and nitric acid are produced under the influence of the electric
discharge.
The solar radiation has long been supposed to exercise a marked
action upon all bodies exposed to its influence. The difference
observed between plants which have grown exposed to its full power,
and others which have received but a limited share of its action, is
generally very great. M. Bourgeois has lately made some observa-
tions on meadow grass, part of which was fully exposed to sunshine,
whilst the other part was grown in a shady spot. After it had
been converted into hay, that portion which had had the full benefit of
the sun was greedily eaten by some horses, whilst they refused to
touch that which had been grown in the shade. Upon subjecting the
two kinds to distillation by steam the sunned portion was found to be
much richer in odoriferous principle than the other. These experi-
ments show that other evils besides actual paucity of crop spring from
a dull cloudy summer and autumn, whilst sunshine, besides increasing
* «Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Pays Bas.’
t ‘Practical Instructions in Spectrum Analysis.’ Paris: Mallet Pachelier.
2a2
344 Chronicles of Science. | April,
the actual yield per acre, causes it to grow of a much better quality.
There is no doubt that what is here shown to be the case with grass
holds good equally with cereal and other crops.
A lifetime might be spent in investigating the mysteries hidden in
a bee-hive, and still half of the secrets would be undiscovered. The
formation of the cell has long been a celebrated problem for the
mathematician, whilst the changes which the honey undergoes offers
at least an equal interest to the chemist. Everyone knows what honey
is like when fresh from the comb. It is a clear yellow syrup, without
a trace of solid sugar in it. Upon standing, however, it gradually
assumes a crystalline appearance—it candies, as the saying is—and
ultimately becomes a solid mass of sugar. *
It has not been suspected that this change was due to a photographie
action—that the same agent which alters the molecular arrangement
of the iodide of silver on the excited collodion plate, and determines
the formations of camphor and iodine crystals in a bottle, also causes
the syrupy honey to assume a crystalline form. This, however, is the
case. M. Scheibler* has enclosed honey in stoppered flasks, some of
which he has kept in perfect darkness, whilst others have been exposed
to the light. The invariable result has been that the sunned portion
rapidly crystallizes, whilst that kept in the dark has remained perfectly
liquid. We now see why bees are so careful to work in perfect dark-
ness, and why they are so careful to obscure the glass windows which
are sometimes placed in their hives. The existence of their young
depends on the liquidity of the saccharine food presented to them, and
if light were allowed access to this the syrup would gradually acquire a
more or less solid consistency ; it would seal up the cells, and in all
probability prove fatal to the inmates of the hive.
The Magnesium Light is gradually attracting more and more at-
tention, as there appears to be a probability of the metal being ob-
tained at a reasonable price. Ata recent meeting of the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society, Professor Roscoe exhibited the
light emitted by burning a portion of a fine specimen of pure mag-
nesium wire, one inch in diameter. In a memoir on the subject by
Professors Bunsen and Roscoe, they show that a burning magnesium
wire 0°279 inch thick evolves as much light as 74 stearine candles,
5 to the pound, In one minute about -12 grammes of magnesium
would be burnt, and in 10 hours about 72 grammes or a little over 2
ounces. In order to produce the same light with the candles for 10
hours, there would have to be burnt about 20 lb. of stearine, so that could
magnesium wire be produced at a few shillings per ounce our houses
might at once be illuminated by this easily managed and intensely
powerful light.
A good photometric process, easy of application, and tolerably ac-
curate in its results, is, and perhaps will long remain, a desideratum.
One of the best which has come under our notice has just been devised
by M. Z. Roussin ; he dissolves equal parts of dry perchloride of iron
* «Journ. de Pharm. et de Chimie,’ 1863.
1864. | Optics. 345
and nitroprusside of sodium in ten times their weight of water, and in
this manner forms a liquid which is highly sensitive to light, deposing
Prussian blue as a precipitate under the influence of luminous action,
whilst it remains quite clear in darkness. He therefore prepares this
liquid in obscurity, and takes its specific gravity. After exposure to
the light he filters off the precipitated Prussian blue, and again takes
the specific gravity of the clear liquid. It will of course have dimin-
ished in density by the amount of solid matter separated, and the
difference between its former and latter specific gravity will represent
the chemical action, the numbers obtained varying directly with the
intensity of the light.
The Electric Light appears to have permanently taken its place
amongst theatrical properties. In Paris, where more attention is
paid to scenic effects than in this country, the celebrated optician
Duboscq has devised some marvellous imitations both of lightning and
of the rainbow. 'The former is obtained by a concave mirror, in the
focus of which are the two carbon poles of a powerful battery nearly
in contact, and so adjusted that when the mirror is rapidly moved in the
hand the poles are caused to touch for a brief interval, and flash a daz-
zling beam of light across the stage. The zigzag efiect of lightning, and
its peculiar blue colour, are very perfectly imitated by this means. But
more wonderful than this is therainbow. Inthe representation of the
opera of Moise it is requisite in the first act to introduce a rainbow,
and this has hitherto been effected either by painting or by projecting
the image on the scene from a magic lantern by means of a coloured
slide. In the latter case the stage had to be darkened in order to allow
the rainbow to be seen, and this of course destroyed the illusion. M.
Duboscq, by a happy modification of his spectrum apparatus, and by
employing a curved instead of astraight sht, and a small-angled prism,
has succeeded in projecting the very brilliant electric spectrum on the
scene, with the proper curvature and the identical colours of the real
rainbow, and this of such a vividness that it is plainly visible in the
full light of the stage. In these days of sensation-spectacles we feel
confident that a real rainbow on the stage would attract quite as crowded
houses as a “ tremendous header,” and it is somewhat surprising that
no manager thought of introducing so novel an effect last Christmas.
If our Continental neighbours have not yet supplied us with all
their electric effects, they have not hesitated to make full use of the
Dirksian ghost, which has so long reigned unrivalled at the Polytechnic
under the energetic management of the director, Mr. Pepper. In the
last act of the ‘ Seeret de Miss Aurore, as performed at the Theatre
Impérial du Chatelet, the ghost of Conyers is made to confront his
assassin, Softy, with incorporeal bank-notes in his hand, and poetic jus-
tice is supposed to be avenged by the horror which seizes the murderer
when he finds himself unable to grasp them. But the head-quarters of the
ghostly illusion are at the Séances of M.Robin, perhaps the most scientific
of modern followers of Cagliostro. In availing himself of the now well-
known machinery necessary to produce the ghost illusion, he combines
the experience of a wizard with the appliances of a man of science, and
346 Chronicles of Science. | April
succeeds in producing some of the most startling illusions of the day.
He does not attempt to instruct his audience, but candidly tells them
that he is going to employ the whole of his complicated electrical,
voltaic, and optical machinery to deceive their eyes and to astonish
them. No one can say that he does not succeed in both these attempts.
His scene of “the violin of Paganini,” and the one in which he repre-
sents himself as struggling in the embrace of death, are perhaps the
most real illusions which have ever been brought before the public.
VII. HEAT.
Tue determination of the mechanical equivalent of heat has been one
of the great triumphs of modern times. The numerical relations have
been obtained by many experimenters, but the methods have been
liable to very great errors of manipulation. One of the most accurate
series of determinations has just been completed by MM. Tresca and
Laboulaye.* The principle upon which they work is to allow a given
volume of air to expand, and then to measure the amount of heat which
it has absorbed during the operation. Into a reservoir holding 3°28
cubic metres, air is forced until it has a pressure of three atmospheres.
A mercury gauge is connected with the receiver, and a float on the
upper portion of the mercury registers mechanically its exact height
at any given moment. ‘This is effected by having connected with the
float a needle-point pressing against a sheet of glass which is blackened
with smoke, and carried horizontally forward by clockwork. It is
evident, therefore, that the variations in height of the mercury column
communicating a vertical movement to the needle, whilst the glass
screen is carried forward horizontally, the resulting mark will be a
diagonal varying in curvature with the variation of height of the mer-
cury gauge. The exact height of the mercury column can, therefore,
be ascertained at any desired moment.
The reservoir being filled with pure dry air at a pressure of three
atmospheres, and the mercury column being stationary, the needle-
point registering a perfectly straight line on the screen, a stopcock is
opened and air is allowed to rush out for a certain time, say five
seconds; it is then closed. As soon as the air commences to rush out,
and the gaseous mass suddenly expands, its pressure diminishes, and
the needle-point consequently gives a downward oblique mark on the
glass plate. But in expanding, the temperature of the gas sinks, and
when the stopcock is closed the remaining gas in the reservoir has a
lower temperature than the reservoir itself or the surrounding bodies,
The mercury gauge, therefore, stands at a lower point than it other-
wise would, had the temperature remained uniform.
Upon closing the stopcock, the gas, absorbing heat from the sides
of the vessel, gradually regains its original temperature, and the mer-
cury gauge commences to raise the needle-point, registering an upward
curve until the temperature is in equilibrium ; it then registers a straight
* «Comptes Rendus de Académie des Sciences,’ February, 1864.
1864. | Feat. 347
line once more. Another observation is now taken, and this is
repeated for an indefinite number of times; the mean result being
capable of any degree of accuracy according to the number of observa-
tions from which it is deduced. It will be seen that the reservoir and
mercury gauge constitute a gigantic air thermometer, and the method
of registration is capable of giving the most minute variations of tem-
perature. The amount of work done by the sudden expansion of the
gas has a fixed value in thermometric degrees, and the tracings on the
glass plate hold all the data required to give the exact numerical
relation between the two. We will not follow our authors into the
details of their calculations, but will state from the results of their
investigation, that the number 476 formerly used must be changed for
that of 433, which is near that given by the labours of M. Seguin and
Mr. Joule. From the method of operating, and the large scale upon
which the work has been conducted, there is every probability of this
number being very near the truth.
In our last Chronicles of Science we gave a short notice of a new
gas-furnace by Mr. G. Gore, of Birmingham, The same principle has
since been applied upon a much larger magnitude, and furnaces on a
commercial scale are now in use at the electro-plate manufactory of
Messrs. Elkington, Birmingham, and elsewhere. These larger furnaces,
as at present constructed, are capable of melting about 400 ounces of
silver, copper, gold, German-silver, or if desirable, even cast-iron. The
amount of coal-gas consumed varying from 800 to 400 cubic feet per
hour.
With a consumption of 360 cubic feet per hour, the following
results have been obtained :—266 ounces of sterling silver were per-
fectly melted within 25 minutes from the period of lighting the gas in
the cold furnace, and the metal was sufficiently hot to cast for rolling in
20 more minutes. A second quantity of 266 ounces of the same metal
was then introduced and was perfectly melted in 11 minutes, with a
consumption of 66 cubic feet of gas, value 2d., the price of gas being
2s. 8d. per 1,000 feet; in a further period of 15 minutes the metal
was sufficiently hot to cast for rolling. A quantity (116 ounces) of
German-silver was then introduced and melted in 15 minutes, and,
after 28 minutes’ longer heating, various highly-figured articles were
cast from it in a most perfect manner. In a subsequent operation 460
ounces of silver were melted in about the same time, and with an
expenditure of scarcely more gas than was required to melt 266 ounces.
The smaller sizes of this furnace are much used by dentists,
jewellers, analytical chemists, assayers, enamellers, and others, in con-
sequence of their readily fusing silver, gold, copper, glass, and even
cast-iron, without the aid of a bellows or lofty chimney, by simply
lighting the gas ; and the crucible and its contents being at all times
protected from the air and yet perfectly accessible for examination,
stirring, removal, &e. The burners of the larger-sized furnaces are
formed of a series of plates of cast-iron, and may be readily removed
from the furnace and placed to heat a retort, mufile, reverberatory
chamber, or other apparatus, where intense heat is required; it is
348 Chronicles of Science. | April,
intended to apply them to heating steam-boilers and welding articles
of wrought iron.
The safety of these furnaces, their regularity and self-supplying
action, and perfect freedom from dust and smoke, render them advan-
tageous in certain processes, such as enamelling, annealing, &c., where
cleanliness and unitormity of heat are required. Their high degree of
heat without the aid of a blast results from the very rapid and perfect
mixture of the air and gas, and the combustion being consequently
effected and concentrated in a very small space.
To provide for cases where gas is not available for the production
of these high temperatures, and a more cleanly and manageable
source of heat is required than that afforded by a coke furnace,
Mr. C. Griffin,* has constructed an oil lamp for use with an
artificial blast of air, which is not only as powerful in action as the
best gas furnaces, but almost rivals them in convenience and economy.
The fuel is the more volatile kind of mineral oil of the specific gravity
‘750; every precaution is taken to prevent any danger of explosion
by the sudden or accidental ignition of the vapour. The flame pro-
duced in this furnace is as clear as that of an explosive mixture of air
and coal gas, and it is perfectly free from smoke. No chimney is
required. ‘The power of the furnace is very great: starting with a
furnace quite cold it will melt one pound of cast-iron in 25 minutes,
14 lb. in 30 minutes, 4 lbs. in 45 minutes, and 5 lbs. in 60 minutes ;
the cost of the latter experiment being about 9d. for oil. In all cases
where gas cannot be obtained as a fuel for such operations, this oil-
lamp furnace cannot fail to prove of very great value.
Oxygen, that fierce supporter of combustion at ordinary pressures,
would have its energy increased to an inconceivable extent if used in
a highly-condensed form. An observation of Dr. Frankland has
shown that under this condition a solid mass of iron is almost as
inflammable as phosphorus in the ordinary state of the atmosphere.
During some experiments at the Royal Institution he was condensing
oxygen gas into the strong iron receiver of a Natterer’s apparatus, and
had got the pressure up to 25 atmospheres when the vessel burst with
a loud explosion, sending a shower of brilliant sparks in every
direction. Upon subsequent examination it was seen that the whole of
the interior of the receiver and the solid steel plugs had been eaten
away to the depth of an eighth of an inch, and was covered with a fused
mass of oxide of iron. The heat evolved in the compression had
evidently ignited the oil used to lubricate the piston; this immediately
caused the combustion of the iron which, in the atmosphere of com-
pressed oxygen, proceeded with great intensity ; there can be scarcely
a doubt, the Professor considers, that had a union joint not given way,
and thus furnished an outlet for the compressed gas, the latter would in
a few seconds more have converted the receiver into a most formidable
shell, the almost inevitable explosion of which would have scattered
fragments of intensely-heated and molten iron in all directions.
The observations of Professor Tyndall on the physical properties
* ¢Chemical News,’ vol. ix. p. 3.
1864. | Blectricity. 349
of ice, and the interest excited by his remarkable book “ Heat as a
Mode of Motion,” have caused physicists in other countries to direct
their attention to this subject. Professor Reusch, of Tubingen, in a
letter to Dr. Tyndall,* describes some observations which he has made
on this body. A long narrow plate of clean ice was suspended by its
two ends in loops of silk, whilst a third loop, hung from its centre, had
a small weight attached to it. After the lapse of 20 or 80 minutes a
bending was plainly seen, the ice comporting itself like a plastic body ;
once indeed he was able to bend a thin lamella of ice between the fingers
of both hands. In preparing these plates it was noticed that in sawing
through ice, the saw after a time ceases to act, the space, between its
teeth becoming filled with freshly-formed ice, so that it passed along
almost without friction The saw, in fact, melts through the ice, the
heat necessary for that being the equivalent of the work applied to the
saw. In dividing plates of ice it is necessary to handle them like
glass. If the convex blade of a knife be passed over a piece of ice
with a certain pressure a sharp crack will result, and the plate may be
broken in the direction of this crack, provided the temperature of
the ice and of the air be below 0° C. Obviously the knife acts in this
instance like a diamond, which depresses minute particles of glass, and
through the wedge action of which a progressive linear cracking is pro-
duced, which renders fracture possible. A mere scratch suffices neither
for glass nor for ice.
VIII. ELECTRICITY.
A new insulating material has been recently imported by Sir W.
Holmes from Demarara, which bids fair to be a formidable rival to
gutta-percha. It is the dried juice of the bullet tree (sapota muller’) and
is called balata ; it appears likely to be more valuable than India-rubber
or gutta-percha by themselves, as it possesses much of the elasticity of
the one and the ductility of the other, without the intractability of
India-rubber, or the brittleness and friability of gutta-percha, whilst
it requires a much higher temperature to melt or soften it. Since the
Exhibition of 1862, Sir W. Holmes, who was the Commissioner repre-
senting the colony of British Guiana, has been engaged in investiga-
tions how to produce the material cheaply, and how to dry or coagulate
it rapidly ; he has now succeeded so far as to warrant the importation
of steam machinery to be applied for its extraction, and there appears
to be every probability that balata will become an important article of
commerce, supplying the great want of the day, a good insulating
medium for telegraphic purposes. Messrs. Silver & Co. have already
imported many tons of it, and Professor Wheatstone is now investiga-
ting its electrical and insulating properties. Another substitute for
- gutta-percha, the juice of the alstonia scholaris, a tree belonging to
the natural order apocynca, has been forwarded from Ceylon by Mr,
Ondaatjie ; it is stated to possess the same properties, and to be as
* Philosophical Magazine,’ vol. xxvii, p. 192.
350 Chronicles of Science. | April,
workable as gutta-percha. It readily softens when plunged in boiling
water, is soluble in turpentine and chloroform, receives and retains
impressions permanently, and is adapted for seals to documents.
These specimens are sent in response to premiums offered by the
Society of Arts for the discovery of a substitute for gutta-percha.
A curious fact has been mentioned by Mr. James Napier* in refer-
ence to the dynamics of the galvanic battery, which is somewhat in
opposition to the polar theory with mutual transfer of elements, advo-
cated by Professor Williamson. Suppose a vessel divided by a porous
diaphragm has dissolved in each division an equal quantity of sulphate
of copper, and into each of the divisions is placed a plate of copper
attached to the poles of the battery which completes the circuit; now,
by the polar theory there should be a mutual transfer of the acid and
copper between the two divisions, so that at any time, if the current of
electricity were stopped, the solution in the two divisions would be the
same as when the experiment began. But in reality this is not the
case, the copper dissolved in the division attached to the zine end of
the battery will be deposited as metal on the copper plate in that divi-
sion, while the acid element will be transferred to the other division.
But the copper in that other division will not pass through the dia-
phragm in the opposite direction to the acid, so that ultimately the one
division will have neither copper nor acid in solution, whilst the other
division (that connected with the copper end of the battery) will have
double the quantity of sulphate of copper in solution that it had at the
commencement.
The electrical properties of pyroxiline paper and gun cotton have
long been known to be very great, but it has only lately been pointed
out by Professors Johnstone and Silliman that these azotized species
of cellulose are the most remarkable negative electrics yet observed ;
upon friction with these, sulphur, hitherto the most highly negative
electric known, becomes positive.
We have to thank Mr. Nassau Jocelyn, of the British Legation,
Turin, for drawing our attention to a novel voltaic arrangement devised
by Professor Minotti, of that city, which, though essentially based upon
Daniell’s principle, is said to be far more constant and powerful than
any other arrangement of that rheomotor. It consists simply of a
copper disc placed at the bottom of a glass vessel having a gutta-percha-
covered wire soldered to its rim, which issues from the top of the
vessel and forms the positive electrode. Over the copper is laid a
layer of powdered sulphate of copper, and over this a stratum of coarse
sand, or—what has been found to answer better—a stratum one inch
in thickness of common glass beads, such as are used for working
purses, and may be purchased at a cheap rate at the workshops. On
this layer lies a solid cast-cylinder of zinc, from whence proceeds the
negative pole of the element. On the cell being filled with common
spring water, so as to cover the zinc, the battery begins to work, and will
keep constant and uniform for seven or eight months. The intensity of
* «Philosophical Magazine,’ vol. xxvii. p. 52.
+ ‘Silliman’s Journal,’ January, 1864.
1864. | Photography. 351
the action may be judged by measurement with the galvanometer, which
will be found in a cell where the copper and zine surfaces are about 3
inches square each, to have its needle deflected to about 20°. This is
in the case of the meter ordinarily employed by telegraphists. The
power may be increased by approaching the elements of the cells nearer
to one another, by placing the copper over the sulphate, and by reduc-
ing the beads to half an inch. There is, however, danger in this case
of the accumulating surface of copper on the copper plate, crystallizing
in an upward direction, and ultimately shooting out a fibre which may
touch the zinc plate above it, when of course the cell would cease to
work. The first arrangement is the best, and it is the one which
M. Bonelli has adopted in working his new telegraph. The above
battery appears to be the simplest yet brought before the public, con-
sisting as it does of easily procurable materials, and its action being
only limited by the waste of zinc and evaporation of water. M. Bonelli
uses 30 cells to work his five-wire telegraph for a long distance, so
that 6 cells appear amply sufficient per wire.
IX. PHOTOGRAPHY.
TopipE of silver may be looked upon as the foundation of the present
photographie art, and yet up to a very recent period, men of science
have differed in their opinion as to whether this compound is photo-
graphically sensitive per se or not. As late as January last, we find
a foreign photograher, M. Gaudin,* publishing some experiments which
tend to show that iodide of silver, when prepared by the direct com-
bination of iodine and silver-leaf, is absolutely insensitive to light
when tested under a negative, and that an hour’s exposure in the
printing frame does not give rise to any impression whatever, either
before or after the application of a developing agent. The iodide of
silver used in these experiments was in the form of a yellow powder,
rather unctuous to the touch, and was merely rubbed over the surface
of a piece of paper with a tuft of cotton. Subsequent experiments
were tried in which the iodide of silver, after being rubbed over the
paper, was exposed to the vapours of nitric acid, hydrochloric acid,
and ammonia: the last only gave signs of a picture, and that only
after a very long exposure. These’ experiments tend to confirm what
is generally stated in chemical works; but Mr. Spiller ¢ has since
communicated some further results, tried with that care and ingenuity
which are so well known to those who are familiar with the published
researches of this chemist, which show conclusively that iodide of
silver exists in two different modifications, one of which is insensitive,
whilst the other is sensitive to the action of light. Reasoning upon
the well-known change which takes place when iodide of mercury is
heated—its scarlet colour changing to yellow—it occurred to him that
a similar change might possibly be induced in the iodide of silver. This
* «The Photographie News,’ vol. viii. p. 8. + Ibid. vol. viii. p. 15.
352 Chronicles of Science. [ April,
was confirmed by experiment, and by the application of heat alone
the indifferent yellow iodide of silver becomes.so changed in its pro-
perties, as afterwards to darken on exposure to sunshine much in the
same way as the ordinary modification of bromide of silver. Very
little apparent change is produced by the action of heat; at the most,
the iodide can be said only to lose in a trifling degree the brilliancy
of its yellow colour, verging a little towards grey. The lowest limit
of temperature at which this change takes place is 350° Fahr.; and
if the heat be augumented to 400° and upwards, the change is more
rapidly effected. On increasing the heat, the iodide fuses to a dark-
red fluid, which cools to a pale yellow semi-transparent mass, quickly
affected by exposure to light.
Photographers are gradually recognizing the truth of what Sir
William Newton urged more than ten years ago, namely, that it is
possible to have pictures too sharp, and that the most artistic por-
traits were frequently those which were not absolutely in focus. One
of our first writers on Art Photography has lately urged, in the ‘ British
Journal of Photography,’ the beauty of effect arising from slight want of
sharpness. What artists call “ hardness,” is generally that effect which
photographers call “sharpness ;” and he maintains that far more pleasing
portraits would be obtained were photographers to use their “long,
long pencils of light much as artists use their drawing pencils,—that
is to say, with a somewhat broad instead of an extremely sharp point.”
Although to an ardent photographer such doctrines may savour of
rank heresy, we honestly confess that we have seen far more pleasing
portraits taken in accordance with this artistic theory than when they
were focussed with microscopic accuracy.
A writer in ‘La Lumicre’ proposes a novel lantern for evolving
light sufficient for taking portraits at night. A furnace is constructed,
fed with hard retort carbon, and supplied, not with air alone, but with
a mixture of oxygen and air: the oxygen being evolved from a mix-
ture of binoxide of manganese and chlorate of potash, contained in a
cast iron bottle placed beneath the furnace. In a small furnace
furnished with a good draught, and only supplied with air, a light
was obtained equal to 100 candles, and the author thinks that if fed
with oxygen, the light would be equivalent to 1,000 candles. We do
not glean from his description that such an experiment has been
actually made, and we are tolerably confident that the difficulties in
its practical accomplishment would prove too great to supersede other
sources of artificial light, which have been recently introduced.
The Electric light has always been a favourite amongst advocates
of night photography. At a recent meeting of the American Photo-
graphic Society, Mr. J. A. Whipple, of Boston, exhibited some photo-
eraphs of a fountain in Boston Common, taken at about ten o’clock in
the evening, whilst illuminated with the electric light. The exposure
was 90 seconds, and from a comparison of the effect produced when
photographed in daylight, it was estimated that the intensity of the
electric light as compared with that of weak sunlight, was in the pro-
1864. | Photography. 353
portion of 1 to 180, half-a-second only being necessary to produce a
similar picture in the daytime.
The electric light, hitherto without a rival, is likely to be equalled
in brilliancy, and far surpassed in convenience and cheapness, by the
magnesium light. In our chronicles of the progress of optical science,
we have given an account of this truly wonderful light, and we have to
add here some notes respecting its photographic value. At a late
meeting of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester,*
Professor Roscoe exhibited some prints of a portrait which Mr.
Brothers and he had taken at 5 o’clock p.m., on the 22nd of February,
by burning 15 grains of magnesium in the form of fine wire at a
distance of about 8 feet from the sitter. The negative thus produced
was stated by Mr. Brothers to be fully equal to any obtained by sun-
light in the most favourable state of the atmosphere, and the distri-
bution of light and shade was most agreeable, harshness of the shadows
being completely avoided by slightly moving the wire whilst it was
burning. The magnesium was worth about sixpence. Photographers
are now eagerly asking for supphes of this metal, and if the wire can
be got for anything like a reasonable price, there is no doubt that in
this climate, at all events, this application of it is likely to inaugurate
a new era in the photographic art.
A very ingenious application of Professor Graham’s discoveries in
the diffusion of liquids has been just made by Mr. Spiller. In washing
photographie prints it has been noticed that the first portions of
hyposulphite of soda are easily extracted, whilst the last portions are
only removed from the paper with great difficulty. This is explained
by the great diffusive power into plain water of a strong solution of
hyposulphite of soda over a weak one. After the first portions of
hyposulphite have been removed from the print, Mr. Spillert proposes
to transfer them into a cold saline liquor made by dissolving a pound
of salt in half-a-gallon of water; they are left there for fifteen or
twenty minutes, when it is found that the salt brine has thoroughly
penetrated the pores of the paper, and expelled the greater part of the
remaining hyposulphite. The liquid is then poured away, and the
prints are washed in common water. The principle of diffusion now
comes into play again, and the salt brine rapidly soaks out of the
paper, bringing with it the last traces of hyposulphite; by finally
washing in the ordinary manner, an unusual degree of purity is
attained, the presence of hyposulphite in the finished proof being
rendered impossible. This is one of the most beautiful applications
of a recondite scientific principle which we have ever seen.
‘The detection of hyposulphite of soda in the finished proof, or in
the last washings, is a matter of some importance. Mr. E. J. Reynolds
has communicated to the ‘ British Journal of Photography,’ a series of
experiments on the various methods at present in use. The first con-
sists in reducing the hyposulphite to the state of sulphide by boiling
* «Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester,’
No. 13, p. 241.
+ ‘The Photographic News,’ vol. viii. p. 113.
354 Chronicles of Science. ¥ [Apri],
first with acid, then with alkali, and then adding nitro-prusside of
sodium ; this communicates a beautiful violet colour. The next con-
sists in adding sesquichloride of iron, which at once gives a purple
red tint if hyposulphite be present. The third test consists in adding
iodine and starch, the blue colour of which is immediately discharged
on the addition of a few drops of a solution containing a minute trace
of hyposulphite. This reaction is very delicate, as it is capable of
detecting one grain of the salt dissolved in 2} gallons of water. The
fourth mode of detecting hyposulphite is based on the property which
it has of reducing sesquichloride of iron to the protochloride. The
suspected liquid is boiled in a small flask, with four or five drops of
the iron solution, and a drop of red prussiate of potash is added. If
hyposulphite be present, a blue precipitate or coloration is produced.
This will detect one grain of the salt in four gallons of water. The
fifth and most delicate test of all is obtained by introducing a few drops
of hydrochloric acid, and a fragment of zinc into the suspected liquid,
and testing the evolved gas for sulphuretted hydrogen by means of
lead paper. This is so sensitive that it will detect one grain of hypo-
sulphite in rather more than seven gallons of water. For the purpose
of detecting any hyposulphite in the finished picture, the plan adopted
by Mr. Spiller is the most convenient; he moistens the white parts
with a little protonitrate of mercury, when the presence of even a trace
of hyposulphite is shown by the production of a brown or black stain.
Few things are falsified more than the chloride of gold and the
aurochloride of sodium used by photographers for toning their prints.
The usual adulterant is common salt, which is sometimes added in ~
such quantity that a bottle professing to hold seven grains of gold
sometimes contains only a little over two. The editor of the ‘ Photo-
graphic News’ has published a very simple mode of detecting this
adulteration. Both the chloride of gold and aurochloride of sodium
are soluble in alcohol, whilst chloride of sodium is insoluble in that
liquid. The photographer has, therefore, only to stir up the con-
tents of a fifteen-grain tube with alcohol, and the amount of white.
crystalline residue will show how much common salt has been sold to
him at the price of gold.
M. Quaglio, an engineer of Vienna, has investigated the properties
of oleate of silver, or silver soap, in photolithography. After some pre-
liminary preparation, the lithographic stone is covered, with the aid of
a flannel rubber, with the silver soap, and it is then exposed under a
negative to the sun. The portions unacted upon are then dissolved
out with naphtha, and the stone is ready to be gummed and inked
in in the ordinary way. This process is extremely easy and appears
likely to be successful. The impression is obtamed direct from a
negative, a transparent positive not being required, as in some other
processes.
The substitution of a less expensive metal for silver has been the
dream of photographers for many a year. M. Liesegang describes, in
the ‘ Moniteur de la Photographie,’ a process devised by M. Obernester,
of Munich, which seems to be very successful. The paper is first wasked
1864. | Zoology and Physiology. 355
with a mixed solution of sesquichloride of iron and chloride of copper.
The paper after drying is ready to be exposed in the printing frame ;
its sensitiveness is one-third greater than that of albuminized paper.
Very little is seen on removing it from the printing frame, but it is par-
tially developed by floating it on a solution containing sulphocyanide of
potassium and a little sulphuric acid. The effect of this is to pre-
cipitate white subsulphocyanide of copper, upon those parts of the
paper upon which the light has acted. After washing for an hour or
two, the picture can be obtained of different colours by dipping it into
appropriate solutions. Thus, red prussiate of potash gives them an
intense red hue; by acting on this with an acid solution of iron they
become violet red, violet blue and black, and after coating them with
albumen, it is impossible to discover any difference between them and
the best silver proofs upon albuminized paper.
X. ZOOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY.
Tue French Academy, whose annual meeting took place at the close
of the year, occupied itself with a tribute to the distinguished and
lately deceased zoologist, André Dumeril, and then proceeded to an-
nounce the prizes which it proposed to offer for the coming year, by
means of which it may be hoped new impulse may be given to the
‘various departments of science. The great Physical Science Prize of
3,000 francs has been postponed from 1859 to 1st of September 1864 ;
the subject is “‘ The Comparative Anatomy of the Nervous System of
Fishes.” Another prize of the same value has been postponed from
1861 to December 5lst 1865; the subject is, ‘‘The Production of
Hybrid Animals by means of Artificial Fecundation.” A third prize
of 3,000 franes is offered for the osteographical work which will best
contribute to the advancement of French paleontology, to be sent in by
Ist of November 1865. The Cuvier prize, to be awarded in 1866,
will be given to the most remarkable work upon the Animal Kingdom,
or upon Geology. ‘This prize is awarded every three years,—the
funds arising from unemployed subscriptions to the statue of Cuvier ;
it has just been awarded to Sir R. Murchison for his works upon the
Paleozoic formations. Another Cuvier prize is also announced to be
given to the author of the most remarkable work upon the Animal
Kingdom, or on Geology, which shall appear between the 1st January
1863 and the 3lst December 1865. The prize to consist of a gold
medal, value 1,500 francs. Another prize, termed the Godard prize,
of 1,000 franes, is given annually to the best paper on a physiological
subject, which is this year left open.
Although some of these prizes, owing to the extended character of
the researches required, have been necessarily postponed from year to
year, it is not therefore to be supposed that there are no competitors,
or that this stimulus is offered in vain. Other prizes of a similar
character were awarded at the meeting of the Academy, as the first
356 Chronicles of Science. | April,
prize in Experimental Physiology, which was given to M. Moreau, for
a work “On the Air-bladder of Fishes,” while a second was given to
MM. Philippeaux and Vulpian, for some “ Researches on the Reunion,
end to end, of Nervous Sensitive Fibres with Nervous Motor Fibres.”
The second Bourdin prize was unanimously awarded to M. Lacaze
Duthiers, for his anatomical and physiological history of coral, and
other zoophytes.
The practice of vivisection in Paris, which has received so much
public notice of late, has recently been brought before the French
Institute. It will be recollected that a visit was made to the Veteri-
nary College at Alfort, by delegates from the English Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the adhesion of the Director of
that Institution, so notorious for its torturing practices, was secured.
The Emperor also promised the deputation that he would institute a
scientific commission into the subject, and that promise he has kept,
though the result appears not to have been unmixed good. M. Robin,
formerly an opponent, has become a violent partisan of the practice of
vivisection. In anticipation of the struggle about to take place
between the advocates of the two systems, a regular correspondence
has been opened between the different Academies of Europe, and the
opinions of scientific men of all countries are eagerly collected. The
first communication, recently made to the Institute, was from Pro-
fessor Lusana, of Pisa, who described the processes by which he had
succeeded in extracting the pneumo-gastric nerve from dogs and rab-
bits, after numerous attempts. The result of this frightful operation
appears to be that the victim becomes insensible to the strongest
poisons, and that even strychnine may be introduced into the stomach
with impunity. But however curious and interesting this fact may be
to the physiologist, we cannot see that any very practical results may
be drawn from it ; and we trust that the more humane physiologists
who engage in the controversy, may not be dazzled by the spurious
brilliancy of such a discovery into the reprehensible practice of sys-
tematic torture of dumb animals.
The period of gestation of certain animals of the class of Rumi-
nants, which habitually breed in the Zoological Society's menagerie,
has been ascertained with tolerable exactness by Dr. Sclater, the
Secretary. Of course the period is slightly variable, but the times given
in the following list are, on the average, very faithfully adhered to.
Fam. Cervide.—The following have a period of eight months:
Wapiti Deer (Cervus Canadensis), Persian Deer (C. Wallichii),
Barasingha Deer (C. Duvaucelii), Japanese Deer (C. Sika), Sambur
Deer (C. Aristotelis), Rusa Deer (C. Rusa), Hog Deer (C. porcinus),
Axis Deer (C. Axis).
Fam. Camelide.—Llama (Auchenia glama), and Alpaca (A. pacos),
both havea period of eleven months.
Fam. Oamelopardide.—Giraffe (Camelopardalis giraffa), fifteen
months.
Fam. Bovide.— Punjaub wild sheep (Ovis cycloceros), and
Moufflon (O. Musimon), each four months; Leucoryx (Oyx leu-
1864. | Zoology and Physiology. 357
coryx), eight months; Eland (Oreas Canna), nine months; and
Nylghai Antelope (Portax picta) between eight and nine months.
The Hippopotamus has twice produced young in the Amsterdam
Gardens,—on the first occasion she went seven months and sixteen
days, and on the second seven months and twenty days.
Mr. Sherbrooke Walker, who has lately come from New Zealand,
brought with him some fine bones of the Moa (Dinornis giganteus,
Owen), which he has deposited in the Liverpool Museum in very per-
fect condition. They consist of right and left femur, two left tibiz,
two left metatarsi, and two vertebre. These bones were found in a
limestone cave at Blue Cliff station, in the province of Canterbury, to
enter which the explorers had to let themselves down by a rope, and
crawl in on their hands and knees. Mr. Walker reports that the
Maories assert that formerly the Moa was very numerous, and used to
kill the native children, so that they at length determined to exter-
minate the birds, and to burn the island for this purpose; and, ac-
cording to them, on a day fixed upon, the whole of the east coast was
fired at the same time. Whether this be true or not, it is very evident
that all the east side of the middle island was once heavily timbered,
for go where you will, on hills or plains, you will find large burnt
logs of a species of pine, called by the natives Totara, which never
decays in the ground ; and also, more rarely, logs of a species of cedar,
now extinct there.. These logs are only charred on the outside. Wood,
however, still exists on the island which may have been protected by a
swamp or river, in which swamps Moa bones are sometimes found, as
though they had found shelter there. Mr. Walker is incredulous of
this Moa still being existent on the island, ‘and only heard of one per-
son who professed to have seen one, when a child. The Maories also
have a tradition that these birds used to go into caves, and that their
ancestors made large nets of New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) for
the purpose of catching them for food.
Mr. Walker describes the habits of another remarkable New
Zealand bird, the Owl Parrot (Strigops habroptilus, G. R. Gray), called
Rakapo, by the natives, found chiefly in the Middle Island. It is
about the size of a common hen, with a varied black and green
plumage, evidently a nocturnal bird, always hiding itself under some
thick plant in the daytime. It cannot fly at all, and has a very
singular mode of progression, giving a hop forward, and then putting
its head down, and resting its forehead on the ground. Mr. Watts
Russell, who has had frequent opportunities of observing these birds
in their native haunts, confirms this singular account of their using
their head asa third foot. It is entirely a ground bird, and in appear-
ance singularly resembles an owl.
While on the subject of Struthious birds, of whch the Moa was a
grand type, it may be mentioned that Professor Hincks, of Toronto,
in a paper recently published on their systematic relations, remarks
that those who have arranged them among the Rasores have been
guided by real and important analogies—those who have placed them
among Grallatores have attached undue importance to a single cha-
racter, which really only indicates the position of this in reference to
VOL. I. 28
358 Chronicles of Science. | April,
the other families of Rasores—and those who have elevated this group
to the rank of one of their great orders of birds have chiefly manifested
their hesitation between the other two views, by taking a sort of inter-
mediate position. The position of Apteryx, that most remarkable
New Zealand bird, as a type of a sub-family of Struthionide, seems
to be conceded; and its long, narrow beak, with the nostrils at the ex-
tremity, is so especially tenuirostral, that there can be little doubt
about its fittest place, though its entirely suppressed wings and hair-
like feathers might seem to mark it as last in the circle, because lowest
in development.
Captain Mitchell, of the Madras Museum, confirms the accounts of
the climbing habits of the fish, Anabas scandens, and asserts that it
does ascend the palm-trees, suggesting that as it does so after heavy
monsoon rains, it may be that it prefers pure rain-water to the muddy
water found in the pools and streams at those times. The native
assistant at the Madras Museum states that he has seen them climb.
He says :—“ This fish inhabits tanks or pools of water, and is called
Panai zéri, i. e. the fish that climbs Palmyra trees. Where there are
Palmyra trees growing by the side of a tank or pool, when heavy rains
fall, and the water runs profusely down their trunks, this fish, by means
of its opercula, which move unlike those of other fish, crawls up the
tree sideways to a height of from five to seven feet and then drops
down. Should the Anabas be thrown upon the ground, it runs or
proceeds rapidly along in the same manner (sideways) so long as the
mucus on it remains.” This sideways movement, by inclining the
body considerably from the vertical, enables the fish to use the
spines on the operculum to the best advantage. The operculum itself
is remarkably movable, and the locomotion is described as a wriggling
one. Other observers have satisfied Captain Mitchell that they have
seen the Anabas ascend Palmyra trees at Negapatam and in the
neighbourhood of the Red Hills, in the vicinity of Madras.
M. Moreau arrives at the following conclusions relative to the air
in the swimming-bladders of fishes :—This air presents a composition
which may vary more or less, relatively to the proportion of oxygen
under the following circumstances: 1. The oxygen diminishes and
disappears in asphyxia and other morbid conditions. 2. In fishes with
an open, as in those with a closed, swimming-bladder, the air is
renewed without being derived from the atmosphere, and the rapidity
of this renewal is in proportion to the vigour of the fish. 3rd. The
new air presents an amount of oxygen far superior to the proportion
of gas usually contained in the air of the swimming-bladder, and also
far superior to that contained in the air dissolved in the water.
The Entomological Society of New South Wales in the first part
of its Transactions lately published, gives a description of an ovo-
viviparous moth of the genus Tinea, which he calls Tinea vivipara. It
was captured after dark early in October, and fearful that the plumes
might be injured by its strugeles, it was gently compressed, and on
opening the hand Mr. Scott observed numbers of minute, but perfect
1864.] Zoology and Physiology. 359
larvee being ejected from the abdomen in rapid succession, and moving
about with considerable celerity, evidently in search of suitable food
or shelter. Several other specimens were subsequently obtained, and
they shortly commenced to deposit their living progeny with rapidity,
the small white fleshy larvae being seen with great distinctness on the
black surface of the paper, affording satisfactory proof that this insect,
the only one of the order at present known, is unquestionably ovo-
viviparous, and will represent in future this peculiarity among the
lepidoptera, similarly to those few species existing in the hemipterous
and dipterous orders.
The Boston Natural History Society have had an account laid
before them of the operations of the minute Platygaster, which attack
the eggs of the canker-worm moth (Anisopteryx vernata). Mr. Scudder,
the observer, states that after moving round a long while in search of
a suitable place to lay its eggs, using its ovipositor as a feeler, the
abdomen is plunged down into the space between three continuous eggs,
and the ovipositor perforates one of them, out of view. The body of the
insect assumes a position perpendicular to its exposed surfaces, sup-
ported in the rear by the wings, which, folded over the back, are
placed against the surface behind, while the hind legs, spread widely
apart, sustain the insect on either side, and the middle pair are placed
nearer together in front. With the four legs dangling it remains
motionless, except some slight movement of the antenne, for three or
four minutes, after which it moves off, seldom flying, in search of
another place.
At a recent meeting of the Entomological Society a communication
was read from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, enclosing a
copy of a circular letter from the Governor of St. Helena respecting the
ravages committed in the island by the whiteants. It was stated that
they were (it was supposed) accidentally introduced from the coast of
Guinea twenty years ago, and now almost every dwelling, shed, store
in Jamestown, containing 4,000 inhabitants, have been seriously injured
by them, involving in many instances complete ruin and abandonment,
and imperilling the lives of large numbers of the poorer classes, who
are still living in houses of doubtful security. The Governor was
anxious for information as to the most successful mode of finding the
ants’ nests, and effectually destroying their receptacles, and as to the
description of timber which had proved to be least susceptible of
injury from the insects, and the average market price of such timber
per cubic foot. General Sir John Hearsey stated that if ever ants
effected a lodgment in the walls of a house, the walls themselves must
be taken down before the insects could be eradicated. He thought the
best preventive was to steep the timber before building in a solution
of quicklime, and completely saturate it therewith; whilst store-
boxes, furniture, and small articles should be painted over with a solu-
tion of corrosive sublimate. Mr. Bates coincided with General Hearsey
in his estimate of the value of quickliime. The nests must be sought
for in the plain. Mr. E. W. Robinson said that on the Indian railways
creosote was applied to the sleepers—but it was not sufficient merely
2B 2
360 Chronicles of Science. | April,
to coat them with the solution, but the whole block must be impreg-
nated with the solution by hydraulic pressure.
Dr. J. D. MacDonald has communicated to the Royal Society of
Edinburgh a memoir on the morphology of the tunicated mollusca, in
which he considers that the fixed tunicates exhibit at least two well-
marked types, and the free Pelagic group four, which are equally dis-
tinct and of equal importance. He also considers that very striking
representative relationships exist, between the fixed and free tunicates,
as, for example, between Appendicularia and Pelonaia,—Doliolum and
the remaining simple tunicata, Salpa representing the social, and Pyro-
soma, the compound group, especially the Botryllians.
Professor Allman has just poimted out a curious and important
character of the so-called nemataphores in the plumularian zoéphytes,
hitherto unnoticed. In Plumularia cristata he finds them to consist of
a true sarcode or protoplasm, and except in the fact that the proto-
plasm contains a cluster of thread cells immersed in its substance, it
appears in no respect to differ from that which constitutes the substance
of anameeba. This soft granular mass has the power of projecting
extensile and mutable processes, consisting of a finely granular sub-
stance which undergoes perpetual change of form, comporting them-
selves in every respect like the pseudopodia of an amceba, which they
also resemble in their structure, for they consist of a simple protoplasm
composed of a transparent semifluid basis, in which minute corpuscles
are suspended. In Antennularia antenninia, a genus possessing the
closest affinities with Plumularia, entirely similar phenomena have been
witnessed, the processes being usually simple, in only one instance there
having been seen what appeared to be a short irregular branch given
off from the finger-like pseudopodium.
M. Lacaze-Duthiers, who, we have observed, has obtained the
Bourdin prize for his inquiry into the anatomy and physiology of
corals, has produced a monograph of 371 pages, accompanied by
another of 20 pages, comprising 120 figures relating solely to corals.
He describes and draws in detail the reproductive organs, male and
female, and has studied the development of the eggs, spermatozoids,
and larve ; has observed the larve during their period of liberty, de-
termined the first signs of their future transformation, and followed
this transformation step by step to the moment when the single being
issuing from the single egg, begins to shoot, and gives birth succes-
sively to a whole colony, of which it is the actual parent. These
facts are all new. Coral does not present the phenomena of alternate
generations, established among so many other Radiata ; still it enters
none the less into the category of geneagenetic animals, as they are
termed by M. de Quatrefages. The scolex alone undergoes a real
metamorphosis. In general the sexes are distinct in corals, but one
may occasionally find on a male stem a branch where the polyps are
female, and vice versd. A branch may also contain individuals of both
sexes, and more rarely still the same individual may be both male and
female. Thus, regarding the separation of the sexes, the coral zoéphytes
present the two extremes and almost all the intermediate degrees.
1864. } Zoology and Physiology. 361
M. Duthier’s experiments are still in progress on the coast of Algeria,
where he is endeavouring to determine the rapidity of growth of the
coral, by immersing at a certain point 150 large jars marked so as to
be recognizable, which, successively taken out, will furnish information
on the development of the calcareous axis hitherto unknown.
The expedition led by the Rev. H. B. Tristiam for the scientific
exploration of the Holy Land was early in January at Jericho inves-
tigating the natural products of the valley of the Jordan, which offered
abundant promises of fruitful results. The preceding month had been
spent in the more barren field of inquiry between Beyrout and Jerusalem.
In the Jordan valley a new fauna was found to prevail, essentially
different from that of the high land, and surpassing all previous
expectations as regards its abundance, if not as regards its variety.
The expedition proposes to pass the summer in the highlands of the
Lebanon and surrounding district, and to return home in the autumn.
The Government-grant committee of the Royal Society have recom-
mended a grant of 50/. to Mr. Tristram in aid of the expedition.
A somewhat singular scientific expedition round the world has been
organized by Austria. The Marco Polo was to leave Trieste on the
5th March, taking with her about 60 passengers, who were each to pay
400]. passage money, and the voyage was expected to extend over
eight months, The actual voyage was calculated to occupy about 200
days, and 50 days were to be spent in visiting 30 different ports which
had been selected as stopping places. The vessel has been fitted out
with scientific apparatus of all kinds.
The French, not behindhand, are organizing an expedition to
Mexico, which will probably be productive of useful results. This will
be under the auspices of the Minister of Public Instruction, M. Duruy.
He recommends that a sum of 8,000/. should be set apart to defray the
expenses of the expedition, and his suggestions have been approved
by an Imperial decree appointing the members of the commission.
Among them are Marshal Vaillant, Baron Gros, Michel Chevalier,
Vice-Admiral Jurien de la Gravitre, Milne-Edwards, Baron Larrey
and Viollet le Duc, M. de Quatrefages, &c.
( 362 ) [ April,
REVIEWS.
THE STORY OF THE GUNS.*
Wirn the din of war approaching nearer to our shores, and the political
horizon assuming a more and more threatening aspect, it is no wonder
that the ‘ Story of the Guns’ should have been the book of the past
quarter.
From the ‘ Natural History of Ceylon’ to the subject under con-
sideration is, indeed, a great leap, and there are few men living who
could have accomplished it more easily than Sir James Emerson Ten-
nent ; but it would be alike unfair to our readers, and to the author
himself, if we were to speak of this work in the same terms of un-
qualified praise as of his former labours. Whether it has been his
intention, in the performance of what he may have conceived to be an
imperative duty, to expose facts with which he considers that the
nation should be made acquainted, namely, the extravagant and un-
warranted expenditure of money upon an imperfect weapon, or whether
it was simply his desire to reinstate in public favour a gentleman of
rare abilities whom he believes to have been neglected and slighted by
our Government, we are, of course, unable to say ; but however honest
may have been his intentions, we can assure him that he will have
failed in creating the desired impression upon the minds of his careful
readers.
A book emanating from such a source, and appearing at so oppor-
tune a period, could not fail to command attention, and the journals
requiring literary extracts as a portion of their daily bread would
necessarily increase its popularity and renown. But then come the
thinkers, the men who read a work not with a view to ascertain what
it says, but what it means; many of them, perhaps, with as strong a
bias as the author himself, but in the opposite direction ; and to these
the book has been in a great measure a disappointment, for it is rather
a story of the grievances of one gun manufacturer, and a disapproval
of the favouritism shown to another (who received his appointment
under a ministry professing political views which were until recently
believed to be opposed to those of the author), than what it professes
to be, namely, a history of our scientific progress in the manufacture
of guns and rifles. And whilst we were toiling wearily through the
narrative of Mr. Whitworth’s wrongs and of Sir William Armstrong’s
unwarranted promotion, couched in language whereof it is difficult to
say which of three qualities it best conceals—official caution, the pun-
gency that characterizes the lower house, or the polite conventionality
* «The Story of the Guns.’ By Sir James Emerson Tennent, K.C.S., LL.D.,
F.R.S. Longmans.
1864. | Tunnent’s Story of the Guns. 363
of “another place,”—we could not help feeling that if ever a cause
had been lost by too much pleading, it was in the case before us.
It matters not how true every alleged fact may be, there is from
beginning to end of the work such a palpable animus, and the same
statements and contrasts are so frequently reiterated to the prejudice
of Sir William Armstrong, and dwelt upon so significantly, that a
great portion of what should have given scientific interest to the work
is completely cast into the shade by the political attack.
Having thus given expression to our discontent at the author's
mode of treating this portion of his subject, and acting, as we believe,
with more generosity than if we had retailed any of the episodes in the
story of the Gunmakers which he has published, we proceed to glance
rapidly over the contents of the volume. The first part of the work
is devoted to the history of the musket and rifle, commencing with
* Brown Bess,” and closing with the triumph of the “‘ Whitworth” over
the “ Enfield.” Although, of course, the work refers rather to the
past of the Enfield rifle than to its present state, it being described
not as it is, but as it was, we have some very interesting comparisons
between the early performances of the two weapons last named ; and
these have been illustrated very effectively by drawings of two targets,
which exhibit the relative shooting made by the two rifles.
Let us mention, in passing, that we have seldom seen a work so
admirably illustrated, the subjects for illustration being so well
selected, and the execution so perfect, that explanations are hardly
requisite, and a glance over the plates suffices to afford a good idea of
the recent development in the fabrication of arms of offensive warfare.
The bullet-marks on the Enfield rifle target are scattered about in
every direction, many of them touching the very edges of the target,
and very few approaching the centre ; whilst in the Whitworth target,
every mark is within one of the four central squares (there are in
each target 20 shot-marks, and 42 squares), and many of them impinge
upon the centre lines of the target.
From the consideration of small arms, the author passes, in his
second Part, to that of ordnance, and here again we have a most inter-
esting and graphic description of the various guns which have either
had their hour and have passed away, or which are still in use here or
elsewhere; amongst English rifled guns we have an account of the
“ Lancaster,” “‘ Whitworth,” “ Bashley Britten,” ‘ Lynall Thomas,”
“ Jeffery,” “ Hadden,” “ Scott,’ and ‘‘ Armstrong,” with sections of all
but the two first inserted on two opposite pages to exhibit their respective
systems of rifling. Reference is made, too, to the French “ canons rayés”
and to the monster gun forged by the Mersey Steel Company at Liver-
pool. This gun weighs above 24 tons, and discharges a spherical ball
300 lbs. in weight; and some idea may be formed of its effect, by a refer-
ence to the frontispiece which represents the famous “‘ Warrior Target,”
and exhibits the havoc made on it by this gun, as compared with the
Whitworth. The remainder of the second part is taken up with the
history of Sir William Armstrong, Mr. Whitworth, and their respec-
tive inventions ; and we are told by the author that the mode of dealing
adopted towards inventors by the State and the official appointment
364 Reviews. | April,
of Sir William Armstrong have rendered any considerable improve-
ment in our offensive arms a matter of great difficulty. For although
Sir William has resigned his appointment, and therefore leaves the
Government free to deal with whom it likes, our author tells us that
the outlay which has already been incurred “ operates practically as a
bond by which, under a penalty of two millions and-a-half sterling,
the country is deterred from attempting any change.” *
Before finally passing away from the quesiion of the “contest,”
we will say that it leaves this impression upon the mind of a dis-
interested reader. One cannot help regretting that Sir William did
not act more consistently after he had “ made a gift” of his invention
“to her Majesty and her successors without any pecuniary or other
valuable consideration ;” or that, instead of laying himself open to the
imputation of having given his gun for a purpose, he did not require
50,0001. or 100,000/. for so great and valuable a safeguard to his
country. But, on the other hand, when we are told that a man of
known repute, who had been in constant communication with the
Government, is suddenly thrust aside when his services are most
needed and on a pressing emergency, and another comparatively un-
known is preferred before him for a duty of immense responsibility,
we cannot but feel that there must have been some shortcoming, some
want of energy and promptitude, which caused his rival to be taken
by the hand. Whether or not we have formed this opinion without a
sufficient basis, our readers will have an opportunity of judging when
we come to speak of more recent experiences than those referred to
in the volume before us.
The Armstrong gun has been a very dear experiment, but it was
rendered much more costly by the dispatch that was requisite in order
to atone for the previous apathy of the Government; and it is im-
possible to say what dangers have been averted from our shores
through the energy and promptitude of the man to whom the task of
strengthening our means of defence was confided. Let us, therefore,
not spurn the bridge that has carried us safely over our difficulties.
In speaking of the “ Iron Navy” in the remaining portions of his
work, the author tells us of the early failures of the most powerful
guns to project a missile through the plated sides of a man-of-war.
He refers to the valuable services of the Iron-plate committee, of
whom one of the ablest and most useful members is Dr. William
Fairbairn, of Manchester, and‘to the results attained through the
experiments of that committee, the progress of the offensive and de-
fensive art being traced to the time of his going to press.
Finally, he closes a work which, in spite of its serious defects, is
destined to take its place amongst our standard books of reference in
this branch of science (its tone and method frequently reminding us
of the labours of the late respected minister of war, Sir George Lewis),
with an admirable and scholarlike peroration, wherein he recommends
the admittance of all deserving inventors into the ranks of competitors
* How much more is this, we would ask the author, than it cost us to prepare
for the deicnce of Canada during the ‘Trent’ affair.
1864. ] Tennent’s Story of the Guns. 365
for the supply of arms to the State, and winds up with the patriotic
declaration that “the abiding interests of the country will henceforth
require that the man who reaches the high eminence of giving his
name to the arms under whose protection the nation reposes, should
hold it by no other tenure than that of uncontested superiority.”
And we trust the author will permit us to add, that the triumphant
candidate may rest assured that his services will be as highly esteemed
by the nation as are those of the man who, through the prompt appli-
cation of an arm which he acknowledges to be imperfect, did much, at
a period of pressing danger, to save his country from a serious
infliction, and who at the present moment takes a very high rank
amongst the scientific men of his country.
There are three conditions which our manufacturers of ordnance
and of iron are endeavouring at present to fulfil, in order to secure a
gun that will have a reasonable chance of success in action.
First, a sufficiently extensive range, with accuracy of aim; secondly,
convenient proportions; and thirdly, a suitable projectile.
For an attack upon forts, especially where these are rendered un-
approachable through natural or artificial obstacles, or where the attack
if made without due care, might involve the destruction of property or life
which it would be desirable to spare, the first condition is indispensable,
and the author of the work we have just noticed tells us that Mr.
Whitworth’s rifled ordnance has carried off the palm in this respect,
one of his 12-pounder guns having projected a shot nearly six miles.
We believe that no new feature of importance has transpired in this
respect since the work was published, and we therefore pass on to the
consideration of the second and third objects.
Until very recently the greatest desideratum has been, and we
believe at head-quarters it is still, to obtain a convenient ‘“ broadside
gun” which can be easily managed in a heavy sea, and will do execu-
tion at between 200 and 2,000 yards against an enemy similarly
armed and heavily plated. Such guns we have in our 68 and 110-
pounders, and here again Sir James Tennent awards to Mr. Whitworth
the credit of having constructed the first that could send a shot through
armour-plate 41 inches in thickness. This he effected with an 80-
pounder gun, a charge of about 12 lbs. of powder, and a cylindrical
bolt of “ homogeneous metal,” driving his shot at a range of 200 yards,
through the armovr-plate of the ‘ Trusty,’ a vessel specially devoted to
such experiments.*
But now we have a hint from the heads of the departments as to
the cause of the want of co-operation between Mr. Whitworth and
* We are however informed by a good authority, that the first gun which ever
penetrated a thick armour-plated target was made at Liverpool for the United
States Government. This gun projected a missile which (in America) pierced
a target plated to the thickness of 6 inches, and built up of 3-inch plates. The
backing was 3 feet of solid oak, which the missile also penetrated, lodging in it
so deeply that it was never recovered. The gun weighed 7 tons 17 ewt.. with a
bore of 12 inches, and carrying a spherical shot of 212 lbs. Mr. Whitworth’s gun
and the “ Monster gun” were subsequently tried on the same day at Liverpool,
and we believe that both were equally successful.
366 Reviews. [ April,
themselves. During a recent discussion in the House of Lords, the
Earl of Hardwicke referred to this gun,* and recommended that such
guns should be supplied to the service. The reply of the Duke of
Somerset was that they had been anxious to have such guns, but that
Mr. Whitworth was not able to deliver them, and subsequently Earl
de Grey and Ripon informed the House that a committee was appointed
in 1863, on which Sir William Armstrong and Mr. Whitworth were
respectively represented ; that the instructions of this committee were
shown to both gentlemen, and that a certain number of guns was
ordered from each competitor.
‘‘The guns so ordered were 12-pounders and 70-pounders. In a short
time the 12-pounders were delivered, but Mr. Whitworth’s 70-pounders
had not been sent in yet, and from the time when it closed its evidence
the committee had done nothing except repeatedly calling upon Mr.
Whitworth to produce his 70-pounders. That was the reason why the
inquiry had been stopped. Mr. Whitworth himself aecounted for the
delay by alleging the difliculties he experienced in getting the steel which
he required.”
The supporters of the gentleman last named maintained until
recently that it was only a shot such as we have described, a flat-
fronted cylindrical bolt of homogeneous metal, which would penetrate
armour-plates of great thickness, and as far as the substance is con-
cerned their views are pretty accurate. Indeed in the debate just re-
ferred to, the Duke of Somerset is reported to have said, that “if they
fired with a cast-iron shot, the effect was trifling. Indeed they might
almost as well fire mud at the target, unless the projectile was of a
very hard substance.” And he further told their lordships that “no
sooner had they obtained a hard projectile than not only Mr. Whit-
worth’s, but Sir William Armstrong’s gun would fire a shot that would
penetrate an iron plate.”
He referred also to an experiment that had been tried a few days
previously, and of which the details were published in ‘ The Times.’
They prove most satisfactorily that the form of the shot is by no
means so important a matter as it has been stated, provided the ma-
terial be a suitable one, and that at close quarters an ordinary smooth-
bore gun will answer every purpose.
Being the last experiment that has been tried at the time we write,
we will give our readers an account of it, as received from an eminent
and experienced eye-witness.
The trial was made in Portsmouth Harbour in the month of
January, in the presence of many able scientific men, both civil and
military, and the object aimed at was the side of the Target-ship,
‘Monarch.’ The gun was a plain muzzle-loading, smooth-bore 110-
pounder, weighing six tons, and having a diameter of six inches
throughout ; in dimensions and outward appearance it resembled the
old 68-pounder service gun (95 ewt.); it was made at Woolwich, and
was called an ‘Armstrong.’ With a charge of 25 lbs. of powder it
projected a spherical shot, weighing about 100 Ibs., at 200 yards
* He called it a 70-pounder, but we presume it to be the same.
1864. | TEnnent’s Story of the Guns. 367
range, clean through a 44-inch plate of good iron; and made such
havoc in the ship’s side, that the aperture was used by the sailors for
ingress and egress as a porthole. The great secret, it appears, lay
in the shot, which was manufactured by the Messrs. Firth of Sheffield.
Tt was of cast-steel, estimated by our informant to have been worth
about 80/. per ton; but he added that this would be quite immaterial,
for one such shot would produce a more serious effect than a whole
broadside from any of her Majesty’s vessels. Of this more hereafter.
A second experiment was tried with a round shot, made of Bessemer
steel. This passed through a plate of 53 inches thick (same range),
but although the ship’s timbers were much shattered, the ball did not
pass through them, but lodged in them along with some pieces of
plate.* With a case-hardened, wrought-iron shot the same effect was
obtained against a 44-inch plate as had been produced upon the 54-inch
plate in the experiment last referred to, showing therefore that the
steel shot made at Sheffield deserved the most confidence, and that
that confidence has its money value.
In fact the whole question appears to be one of pounds, shillings,
and pence, and the more we consider it, the better satisfied are we that
it is not yet the time to talk about economy; for our experience has
still to be purchased, and the sooner we obtain it the better.
“The French frigates,” says ‘The Times’ in a leader, “carry guns
of very moderate weight and calibre, but these guns are rifled so as
to have a long range, and are supplied with shot of a peculiar material
for special use against iron plates. Our own 68-pounders have con-
siderable power at close quarters, but no range; our 110-pounders
have long range and great accuracy, but were not found effective against
solid plates, except with a particular species of projectile. The actual
state of things as regards our naval ordnance may be very briefly described.
We have large guns which will send their shot through solid armour-
plates, but these are too large for broadside guns, and can only be carried,
therefore, in some fashion not yet naturalized in our navy. We have the
68 and 110-pounders above specified, and we have now also manufactured,
but not yet issued, a smooth-bore 110-pounder capable of sustaining a
charge of 25 Ibs. or 30 lbs. of powder, and of piercing a 53-inch plate. But
this new piece, though making fair practice at 2,600 yards, has not the
accuracy of a rifled cannon; and what we want therefore, but have not
yet got, isa gun which shall combine the accuracy produced by rifling with
the power required against solid armour.” +
But there are other questions which press themselves upon the
attention of those who consider the present transitional state of our
armaments. If it be difficult to obtain “ broadside” guns, but if, on
the other hand, a single shot of a very expensive material may be fired
from an ordinary gun, with the damaging effect of a “ broadside,” will
not this last take its departure with the “ wooden walls,” and give
* This experiment was mentioned by his Grace the Duke of Somerset, but
our informant seems to regard it as the less successful of the two, as the ball
lodged in the backing. It is necessary to watch these experiments carefully, for
here we have not only rival gunmakers, but also rival steel manufacturers.
+ We do not know whence ‘The Times’ derives these particulars, nor what
particular gun is referred to.
368 Reviews. | April,
place to three or four heavy cannons, which will do the work with
more effect at a greater range? To this subject a reference was recently
made by a correspondent in ‘The Times, and when duly weighed it
appears most important. In addition to doing the work more effectively
at the least cost in the long run (for, of course, fewer guns will require,
proportionately, less men), we have the fact that such a change, by
lightening the weight of the equipment, would admit of the application
of a heavier armature, and there would thus be gained a more powerful
means of attack, a more obstinate resisting medium, less expenditure
of money, and less waste of life.
For, after all, it is our military engineers who should have these latter
objects in view in all their schemes of offence and defence. Although
we are not members of the Peace Society, we sympathize with those
who are constantly laying stress upon the fact, that war is not only a
bloody, but a costly game ; a game which will only be played out when
the belligerents discover that the stakes, in every case, amount to more
than the prizes. Duelling has ceased to be the fashion, because less
courage and dexterity are required to put a ball into the body of a
man, at 100 yards, than to pierce him through with a rapier ; and as
war becomes more mechanical, and the cost is increased, whilst the
occasions for the display of prowess become less frequent ; when man
finds that it is no longer a question of the strongest arm, but of the
toughest steel—then he will begin to open his eyes to the fact that he
is not a fighting, but a reasoning creature ; and that if the Almighty
had meant to make him resemble a tiger, intending that he should
settle his differences by brute force, He would have furnished him
with claws, and with a much smaller and less convoluted brain than
that of which he now stands possessed.
THE INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES OF THE NORTH
COUNTRY.*
Tr is always of interest to note the onward march of human industry—
to see man advancing from point to point, subduing nature, and making
each conquest a standing place upon which to apply his knowledge.
Upon this ground, especially, are we pleased with the handsome
volume which has been issued under the auspices of some eminent mem-
bers of the Coal-trade of Neweastle, and of the Institute of Mining
Engineers, informing us of the Industrial resources of the Tyne, Wear,
* «The Industrial Resources of the District of the Three Northern Rivers—
the Tyne, Wear, and Tees,’ &c. Edited by Sir William Armstrong, J. Lowthian
Bell, Esq., J, Taylor, Esq., and Dr. Richardson, Longman, London; Reid, New-
castle.
‘A History of the Trade and Manufactures of the Tyne, Wear, and Tees,’ &c.
Second Edition. Spon, London; Lambert, Neweastle.
‘A Handbook to Neweastle-on-Tyne.’ By the Rey. J. Collingwood Bruce,
LL.D., F.S.A. Longman, London; Reid, Neweastle.
1864. | The Industrial Resources of the North Country. 369
and Tees. This title, indeed, scarcely expresses the real character of
the volume. It is rather an account of the present state of man’s
industry upon the banks of those rivers, and an indication of resources
which are yet to be made available. Three rivers rising amidst. the
varied scenery of the Mountain-Limestone-hills of Durham, Cum-
berland, and Northumberland have gathered upon their margins some
of the most remarkable evidences of man’s power which this country
can present to the inquirer ; and of these, the several writers, who have
contributed to these volumes, have endeavoured to furnish genuine
information.
The two works which stand first on our list are almost the same
in matter. The first appeats as a handsome royal octavo volume, with
excellent maps, sections, and plates. ‘he second is very humble in
its appearance, and has neither maps nor plates. Both are, however,
reprints of the address delivered by Sir William Armstrong, and of cer-
tain papers read before the different sections of the British Association,
*‘yevised and corrected by the writers.” In the first, these papers take
the form of special reports; in the second, they are given as isolated
papers, and the larger and illustrated volume adds important “ Reports
on the Improvements introduced in the Rivers of the District.”
The little volume which stands last on our list, is one of the most
complete ‘“ Handbooks” which has ever fallen into our hands. Its
archeological and descriptive division being the work of a man eminent
in that department cf knowledge, while the portion devoted to the
manufactures of Newcastle has been produced by the mayor of that
town, who, by his vocation and special knowledge, is peculiarly fitted
for the task.
With this notice of the general character of these books we leave
them, except in as far as they aid in obtaining a correct knowledge of
the present state and of the prospects of those industries which come
under notice.
The present annual produce of coal from the Great Northern coal-
field is given by the reporters at 21,777,570 tons. This is somewhat
in excess of the quantity given in the “ Mineral Statistics of the United
Kingdom.” The vend of coals both Coastwise and Foreign, was, in
1791, 2,079,605, which advanced in 1862 to 10,134,790 tons; the re-
mainder having been consumed in the manufactures, railways, and
mines, and for domestic purposes at home.
With this great drain upon a limited area, the question raised by
Sir William Armstrong, of the duration of the supply, becomes a most
important one. In our last number, however, we gave this subject
sufficient attention. The engineering of coal-mining is clearly treated
of. Boring, coal-cutting, coal-washing, ventilation, and lighting
coming under notice. ‘The ccal-cutting machine of Donesthorpe and
Co. is especially noticed; and the reporters say :—“ We shall thus be
enabled to work profitably seams of coal varying from one foot six
inches, to two feet in height, or even lower, and thus vastly prolong the
duration of the coal-field.’ This view was not embraced in our notice
of the coal-cutting machines in our last number.
370 Reviews. | April,
We could have desired a more extended notice of Coke manufacture
than that which has been given.
The paper on Iron, by Mr. J. Lowthian Bell, is a most important
one, and to the date of its production it may be said to have exhausted
the subject, forming, as it were, the balanced ledger of the ironmaster.
From this paper we learn the production of Pig Iron, for three years,
to have been :—
1860. 1861. 1862.
Tons. Tons. Tons.
Northumberland {= =o = = 69,093 73,260 46,586
IDEN 5 5 6 oo ol ol 6 BE OO RTI 312,030 337,218
Yorkshire—North Riding. . . 248,665 234,656 283,398
658,679 629,946 667,202
There were 646 puddling furnaces in action. ‘The united power
of all these works will be equal to an annual production of 340,000
tons, and probably the actual make during the year 1862 may have
amounted to 300,000 tons.” The manufacture of steel is treated of in
a very brief paper by Mr. Spencer.
The local manufactures of lead, copper, zinc, antimony, &c., have
been treated of by Mr. Sopwith and Dr. Richardson. Mr. Sopwith
has naturally dealt with the lead mines of the district, and “given a
concise account of Alston Moor, Weardale, and Teesdale. In 1862 the
Cumberland division gave 5,241 tons of lead, and 41,911 ounces of
silver; Durham and Northumberland giving 16,454 tons of lead, and
82,854 ounces of silver.
The copper ore raised in those counties is very small, but some
copper is obtained from the sulphur ores (Iron Pyrites) which are
employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Zine is obtained in
small quantity. The ores of antimony are all imported. In addition
to these papers, Mr. J. Lowthian Bell has given a notice of the manu-
facture of aluminium, this paper concluding the series devoted to the
production of the metals.
The Chemical manufactures of the district have been described by
Dr. Richardson, Mr. J. C. Stevenson, and Mr. R. Calvert Clapham.
The total value of the products of these industries is stated to be
145,520. sterling.
As an Appendix to this, we have a note on the recent discovery of
Salt at Middlesbro’. Messrs. Bolchow and Vaughan being anxious to
obtain a supply of fresh water for their iron works, commenced, about
four years ago, to sink a shaft for this purpose. This well did not
answer their expectations, and a very large bore-hole was put down
from the bottom of the shaft. The strata passed through are in the
upper New Red Sandstone, or the same in which the Cheshire rock-
salt is found. In August, the depth attained was 217 fathoms—the
last 100 feet being through a bed of salt—at the bottom of which they
had not at that time arrived. It is impossible to overrate the import-
ance of such a discovery to this district, where the consumption exceeds
100,000 tons per annum.
Clay wares and glass are manufactures which have been long esta-
1864. | Fresenius’ Analysis. 371
blished on the Tyne. They are succinctly described, and the annual
value stated to be as follows :—-
25
(img Ss) 4 Web ee Oe 8 on Se eBEA IIT)
Harthenware' 4 2. . « « « « « 190;000
Fire-clay Goods . . .. . . . 228,650
£1,066,650
~The manufactures of Paper and Leather are briefly reported on; but
more important are the papers on “The Construction of Iron Ships,”
by Charles H. Palmer; and on “ The Engineering Manufactures,” by
P. Westmacott, C.E., and J. F. Spencer.
Valuable Appendices introduce us to Sir W. Armstrong, who
clearly describes the construction of Wrought-iron Rifled Field-guns ;
and to Mr. John F. Tone, C.E., who takes charge of ‘“ Railways and
Locomotives.”
The improvements now being carried out on the rivers Tyne and
Tees are described by Messrs. Ure and Fowler with much pre-
cision.
From this notice of these volumes, it will be seen that a large
amount of energy is expended upon the natural advantages of this im-
portant Northern Coal-field, from which we may expect yet more
gigantic results. Sir William Armstrong well says—“ The tendency
of progress is to quicken progress, because every acquisition in science
is so much vantage ground for fresh attainment. We may expect,
therefore, to increase our speed as we struggle forward ; but, however
high we climb in pursuit of knowledge, we shall still see lights above
us, and the more extended our view, the more conscious we shall be of
the immensity which lies beyond.”
QUALITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.*
Tuts book has been long and favourably known to the British public.
It is par excellence the standard work upon the subject of which it
treats; the system of instruction is that which first met with general
adoption in this country by the student in analysis, and the suc-
cessive improvements in chemical methods and research have from
time to time been duly chronicled; so that in the edition just now
published we have at once a full and satisfactory account of all that
is known on the subject. By the insertion of a large amount of new
matter the dimensions of the volume have been greatly augmented,
the present edition having been expanded to 350 pages, and in com-
paring this with former editions it is manifest that the introduction of
the new system of spectrum analysis has added much to the impor-
* «A System of Instruction in Qualitative Chemical Analysis. By Dr. C,
Remigius Fresenius. Edited by J. Lloyd Bullock, F.C.S.’ Sixth Edition, 1864.
London: John Churchill and Sons, New Burlington Street.
372 Reviews. : [April,
tance of the work. A noteworthy addition is the beautifully coloured
frontispiece illustrative of the more characteristic spectra among the
metallic elements. It is much to be regretted that the position of the
single green ray of thallium is not indicated in the spectrum chart ;
but, as though to compensate in some measure for this omission, a
remarkably good account of the new metal and its principal reactions
will be found in the chapter on thallium. The most approved forms
of spectrum apparatus, particularly those devised by MM. Kirchhoff
and Bunsen, are here fully described and illustrated by woodcuts. The
chapter on apparatus generally has received important additions; we
may mention especially the very useful instrument recently invented
by Professor Graham, and known by name as the ‘ Dialyser.’ The
application of this instrument in the detection of poisons, and the
important aid it is likely to render in toxicological examinations by
affording a simple means of extracting the poisonous principles from
the host of heterogenous organic matters with which they are com-
monly associated, are treated of at length and in a manner suitable to
the growing importance of the subject. Special instructions are laid
down for the recognition of the vegeto-alkaloids,—a class of bodies
which are becoming daily of more extended use as remedial agents
and therefore of more frequent occurrence as objects of chemical
study,—and a chapter is devoted to a systematic course to be fol-
lowed in the detection of unoxidized phosphorus, hydrocyanic acid,
arsenic, strychnine, &c. In short, as a treatise on toxicology,
‘Fresenius’ Analysis’ can be confidently recommended: and in
this connection the numerous illustrations of apparatus employed in
the detection of these poisons cannot fail to be highly suggestive to
the analyst engaged in medico-legal inquiries.
The leading characters of the rarer metals, e.g. caesium, rubidium,
thorium, cerium, lanthanum, didymium, and even erbium and terbium,
are pointed out under their respective analytical groups, and these
particulars are printed in small type to denote their minor importance.
In consequence of the foreign origin of this work there are one or two
trifling instances of departure from the ordinary nomenclature to be
observed, thus, the earth glucina is described as ‘“ berylla,’ and the
metal tungsten has received the appellation ‘“ Wolframium.” The
chemical symbols Be and W partly sanction the employment of these
names, but by the same rule, the common potash and soda would
become kalia and natria.
The system of analysis adopted throughout is that which has
received the sanction of the highest authorities both in this country
and abroad; the methods of separation are extended occasionally by
the necessity for giving the several approved modes for effecting the
object, where the attainment of absolute success is a matter of some
difficulty, and even now we are disposed to question the accuracy of
the processes recommended for the separation of antimony, tin, and
arsenic.
In the body of the work are given full directions for the analytical
examination of plant-ashes, agricultural soils, and mineral waters; much
of the information upon these points remains substantially identical with
1864. | Fresenius’ Analysis. 373
former editions. We notice particularly that the organic constituents
of drinking waters continue to be described under the indefinite titles
of “crenic and apocrenic acids.” The use of these terms cannot be
considered satisfactory at a time when they are never employed in
chemical reports. It must be admitted, however, that the identifica-
tion of dissolved organic matters, and the determination of their
amount by quantitative analysis, are still far from satisfactory, and
constitute subjects urgently requiring further chemical research.
Again, in the preparation of vegetable ashes for the purpose of iden-
tifying and determining the mineral constituents of the plant it would
be good policy to abstain in all cases from applying such a degree of
heat as will be required from the complete incineration of the organic
structure, inasmuch as the employment of so elevated a temperature is
sure to induce the loss by volatilization of a certain proportion of the
alkaline salts. A more judicious course consists in using no greater
heat than is required for the complete charring of the organic matter,
then to extract with water in order to remove the soluble salts, and
afterwards dry and burn the carbonaceous residue for the purpose of
recovering the remainder of the mineral salts.
The work is remarkably well printed, and free from errata. The
mode of division into chapters and paragraphs, distinctly numbered,
facilitates reference ; and there is much satisfaction in being informed
of the authority upon which a statement is made, and the name has been
generally given between parentheses. A very useful table of weights
and measures concludes the volume. There are some repetitions to
be noticed in the analytical details prescribed for the examination of
simple and of complex substances ; but these are only such as could
not be entirely avoided ina work devoted to instruction. Altogether,
we feel strongly disposed to recommend this treatise to the favourable
notice of the student in chemical analysis; and must remark, in con-
clusion, that the sixth edition fully maintains the high character of a
standard work which “ Fresenius’ Analysis” has so long enjoyed.
VOL. I. 20
B74 Reviews. [ April,
PAMPHLETS.
Tue Power or Gop 1n Hrs Animmat Creation. By Professor
R. Owen, D.C.L., F.R.S. Nisbet.*
Tr is not always the iconoclast who renders the greatest services to
his fellow-men. Much as we may admire the courage of the man who
steps forth boldly from the crowd, and under the conviction that the
idol which it adores must be broken in order to show its impotence,
shatters it to fragments; we have still more faith in him who quietly
leads the terrified worshippers up to the stone image, and seeking to
soothe their apprehensions, satisfies them by the touch that it possesses
no life, nor yet the power to injure or befriend them. Errors incul-
cated during long ages may be shaken for an instant, but they cannot
be eradicated by a coup d’éiat, and it often happens that a gentle
and well-timed remonstrance has a more lasting influence upon the
minds of men than the loudest, though they may be the most rightful
denunciations.
We have before us an illustration of this fact in the delivery of the
present lecture to the Young Men’s Christian Association, in which
Professor Owen has not only rendered an important service to science,
but has displayed great moral courage in planting the banner of pro-
gress and free discussion upon the walls of a fortress that few younger
men would have ventured to storm. In direct opposition to the pre-
conceived views entertained by the large majority of his hearers on
theological subjects, he stated firmly, but temperately, the results of
modern scientific research, most widely at variance with the tenets of
many orthodox theologians, and gave additional force to his uncom-
promising assertions, by selecting only those topics which are no longer
open to debate.
The vast assemblage of his hearers, lay and clerical, men and
women of every age and temper, would be nearly unanimous in the
belief that the world is about 6,000 years old, and that the whole
fabric, with its living denizens, was formed perfect in seven days of
twenty-four hours; but he told them that the researches of science
have led to the certainty that such a period is utterly, “nay, absurdly
inadequate,” for the Divine operations as they are conducted, to have
prepared and peopled the dry land.
He assured them further, that instead of physical death having
come into the world with the “ fall,” “life has been enjoyed during
the same countless thousand of years; and that with life, from its
beginning, has been death.” And by means of a diagram, showing the
geological and paleontological history of the past, with the traces of
man, osseous and archeological (if we may so call them), he exhibited
to them the indisputable evidence of his great antiquity.
And should even the Darwinian theory of the natural selection of new
* A Lecture delivered in Exeter Hall before the Young Men’s Christian
Association,
1864. | Pamphlets. 375
species through secondary agencies ever come to be an acknowledged
law, Professer Owen will have done much to prepare these young men
for its reception, for after showing them that the Creator has brought
all his works to perfection by a gradual development, he told them that
“just as death is met by birth, so extinction has been balanced by
creation, that is, a constant and continuous operation of Creative
Power, which has produced a succession of species ;” also, that ‘“ we
discern no evidence of pause or intermission in the creation or coming
to be of new species of plants and animals.” And lest there should be
any mistake as to his meaning, he repeats his belief in “the world’s
vast age, and in the unintermittence of creative acts,” notwithstanding
that such views may be regarded by some of his hearers with “ abhor-
rence.” Professor Owen hoped, however, that there were no such
prejudiced persons in his auditory.
Nor did he confine his admonitions to his lay hearers. He spoke
to the clerical portion of his audience of the futility of attempting,
to put a literal interpretation upon symbolic texts in Scripture, as
though they were statements of matter-of-fact. His illustration he
drew from the supposed erect attitude of the serpent before the tempt-
ation of Eve, explaining that, instead of being the “progeny of a
transmitted species, degraded from its original form as the penal con-
sequence of its instrumentality in the temptation of Eve,” the struc-
ture and organization of these animals are specially adapted to their
position and habits, being replete with “ instances of design in relation
to the needs of their apodal vermiform character.” And he reminded
his clerical friends of the opposition interposed in the way of progress
by the priesthood of old, repeating the admonition of St. Augustine,
that men will believe the earth to be rotund, and should they preach
it to be flat and denounce the new doctrine, they will say, “If ye
know so little of earthly things, how shall we believe you when you
tell us of heavenly ones?”
There need be no apprehensions for Christianity under the new
regime, he said, inasmuch as it has suffered nothing since physical
doctrines “declared contrary to Holy Writ” have been established ;
and he concluded his address as follows :—‘“ Allay, then, your fears
and trust in the Author of all truth, who has decreed that it shall
never perish; who has given to man a power to acquire that most pre-
cious of his possessions with an intellectual nature that will ultimately
rest upon due demonstrative evidence.”
Some may think that the lecture is marred by the too frequent
introduction of Scripture texts and quotations; but, on the whole, it
is a noble address, and the Committee of the Young Men’s Christian
Association have studied their own interests in giving it a large and
unrestricted circulation.
202
376 Reviews. | April,
Tue Nucro’s Pace ww Nature. By James Hunt, Ph.D., &e.
Triibner and Co.
In the Introduction to this ‘Journal’ we referred to a paper on the
above subject, read before the members of the British Association ;
and this is now published, the author tells us, by the general wish of
the Fellows of the Anthropological Society, of which he is the
president.
We ventured, in speaking of the original paper, to differ from the
views of the author, which we believe to be contrary to the evidence
and at variance with the opinions of the most advanced physiologists
of the day, and drew attention to the fact that the most important
question of hybridity had been almost completely ignored, and that
what little was said of it ran counter to the author's doctrine of a specific
difference between the white man and the Negro. We also mentioned,
in passing, that a Newcastle journal did not hesitate to hint broadly
that the gentlemen who thus sought to degrade the Negro race (for the
president found a warm supporter in his secretary, Mr. Carter Blake)
were the tools of the Southern confederacy, and that their services
had been enlisted as the champions of slavery in England.
In adopting the supposition of the Newcastle paper, we confess
that we were guilty of indiscretion, and we have to apologize to the
shrewd and discerning politicians who administer the affairs of the
Southern Confederacy, for having supposed them capable of adding to
the indiscretion of attempting to found their new empire upon the
basis of slavery, by using such an instrument as this for the purpose
of obtaining sympathy in England.
No! Great as may be the fatuity of the Southern people on
the question of slavery, they would never have attempted thus to
“inoculate” us, the ‘outer barbarians,” as the author has it in his
dedication to “My dear Burton ;’ and we are now prepared to accept
his statement concerning the object of his paper, as perfectly original
and emanating from himself alone,—viz. that when the truth comes
out, “the public will have their eyes opened, and will see in its true
dimensions that gigantic imposture known by the name of ‘ Negro
Emancipation.’ ”
But we must treat our readers with an extract from the work, in
order that they may judge of the kind of material with which it is
intended to explode this “ gigantic imposture,” and they will at once
have an opportunity of judging of its science and its morale :—
“* But while the analysis of a single bone or of a single feature of the
Negro is thus sufficient to demonstrate the specific character, or to show
the diversity of race, that great fact is still more obviously and with equal
certainty revealed in the form, attitude, and other external qualities. he
Negro is incapable of an erect or direct perpendicular posture. ‘The general
structure of his limbs, the form of the pelvis, the spine, the way the head
is set on the shoulders, in short, the towt ensemble of the anatomical forma-
tion forbids an erect position. But while the whole structure is thus
adapted to a slightly stooping posture, the head would seem to be the
1864. | Pamphlets. 377
most important agency ; for with any other head, or the head of any other
race, it would be impossible to retain an upright position at all. But
with the broad forehead and small cerebellum of the white man, it is per-
fectly obvious that the Negro would no longer possess a centre of gravity ;
and therefore, those philanthropic people who would ‘educate’ him into
intellectual equality, or change the mental organism of the Negro, would
simply render him incapable of standing on his feet, or of an upright position
on any terms.”*
We presume it will not be necessary for us to refute the assertions
(adopted by the author as evidence of the specific difference between
the Negro and the white man), that the Negro is “incapable of an erect
or perpendicular position,” and that education would “ render him in-
capable of standing on his feet, or of an upright position” !
The kings of Western Equatorial Africa, we are told, are under the
necessity of encouraging the slave trade, in order to get rid of their
criminals.
«No one, we presume, will dare assert that there are no criminals in
Africa! What shall we do with our criminals ? may be a problem which is
occupying the attention of the political economist of Africa—lke His
Majesty the King of Dahomey—as well as the government of Great Britain.
Is Africa not to be allowed to export her criminals, or are they so worth-
less and unmanageable that no people will have them ?”
But it must not be supposed that the author advocates the slave-
trade. Oh dear, no! He “protests against being put forward to
advocate such views.” “Our Bristol and Liverpool merchants,” he
says, “perhaps, helped to benefit the race when they transplanted
some of them to America, and our mistaken Legislature has done the
Negro race”—(why not species ?—merely the force of habit, we pre-
sume)—“ much injury by their} absurd and unwarrantable attempts to
prevent Africa from exporting her worthless or surplus population.”
We have done; and if, after these extracts, our readers feel any
desire to know more of the work, they must purchase it; for, although
it is a tract such as we are ashamed to see printed in the English
language, it has found a respectable publisher.
Tue Baravian Socrery or ExprrRIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY
IN Rorrerpam.t
WE desire to draw the attention of our leading Literary and Philo-
sophical Societies to the plan adopted by the body of savants to whose
prospectus we are about to refer, for encouraging the study of prac-
tical science, and would recommend it to their consideration whether
a similar method of awarding premiums for careful research would not
add much to their usefulness and success.
* The author is here quoting a Dr. Van Evrie of New York. The italics
are ours.
+ We again claim the italics; the grammar is the author's.
t The Society’s ‘Programme,’ issued in December, 1863. Imprimerie de
G. and C, A. Van Reyn, Rotterdam.
378 Reviews. | April,
It is indeed seldom that we have read the programme of any insti-
tution with so much gratification as this cne; it is as concise as it 1s
interesting, and the only objection we have to the Society is its name,
for it would convey a better idea of its operations if it called itself a
practical, instead of an “ experimental,” institution.
The Council awards three prizes annually: a gold and silver
medal, and a premium varying in amount from 50 to 150 florins,—a
total therefore of 301. or 40/., which would be no serious outlay for
any of our leading metropolitan or provincial scientific institutions.
As to the questions propounded, we shall convey the best idea of
their character, and at the same time give the most practical effect to
our suggestion, by translating and inserting a few of them in these
pages.
Question 106. (Hvidently intended for sailors.)—“'The Society
believing that an investigation of the temperature of the water in
extensive seas, and at considerable depths, would be of great import-
ance for ascertaining the physical state of our globe; and feeling
satisfied that on board many vessels this temperature may under
favourable circumstances be determined; desire to receive accurate
researches on the subject, undertaken (with the employment of proper
nautical instruments for ascertaining the latitude and longitude) in
places where such experiments have not yet been made. The results
must be stated succinctly, and in a careful detailed manner.”
Question 114.—“ For many years past scientific men have debated
the possibility of constructing, on the seaboard, harbours of refuge for
vessels with a deep draught of water, similar to those found on the
northern and southern coasts of Holland. It has been asserted that,
with the progress made in science, the construction of such harbours
no longer offers any difficulties.”
The Society therefore requires the complete plan of a harbour upon
a coast such as, for example, Schevening, which would admit, at low
tide, vessels drawing 23 feet of water” (7 metres), “and having an
entrance wide enough to allow such vessels to cast anchor inside, with
a violent gale blowing from the NE. The cost of construction and
annual maintenance is also required.” -
Question 135.—“ It is important that persons engaged in the study
of electricity should make themselves acquainted with the phenomena
produced upon telegraph wires by storms and by the Aurora borealis.
Many of these phenomena are very partially understood, and it is
desirable that more extended experiments should be communicated,
from which it would be possible to make deductions.”
Question 1387.—“ Mr. 'Tyndall believes his experiments have proved
beyond a doubt that the vapour of water” (a moist atmosphere)
“ exercises a more powerful absorbent influence upon radiant heat than
dry atmospheric air. Mr. Magnus, on the other hand, considers
himself justified in concluding from his experiments that there is no
difference in the absorbent property of a dry and of a humid atmosphere.
The Society would wish to see these conflicting views met by con-
clusive experiments.” .
Our limited space will not admit of the insertion of more of these
1864. | Pamphlets. 379
questions, but we may state that they are all of more or less general
interest, and that the large majority are practically useful. Some deal
with local improvements ; others, with the statistics of the country ; and
others, again, require investigations in the various branches of Physical
and Mechanical Science, in Crystallography, Geology, Chemistry,
Botany, Physiology, &e.
The replies of competitors, which are expected to take the form
of short essays, may be indited in the Dutch, French, English,
German, or Latin languages, and as far as we are enabled to judge
from the precautions taken to ensure impartiality to all candidates, and
secrecy to unsuccessful ones, we should say that students are justified
in placing their labours in the hands of the Society in perfect confi-
dence that they will receive fair treatment.
As we have already observed, we hope that some move will be made
in this practical direction amongst our English Institutions; the
Society of Arts already awards such prizes, but there is no reason why
every important “ Philosophical” Society should not do the same, and we
shall be glad to receive more of these programmes from other countries,
in order to extract from them any new features in their management,
for the benefit of our English readers.
Spectrum ANALYSIS.
Tose of our readers who may be able to read the Dutch language, will
find in it one of the best works yet published on Spectrum Analysis.*
The book is so good that it deserves translation into a language that
would ensure it a wider circulation; and as we are in want of such a
work in England, we commend it to the notice of any good Dutch
scholar and chemist. Tracing the art from its first origin, the author
brings down his account of the successive discoveries to the latest
published observations of Bunsen, Kirchoff, and Miller, describing
most of the observed spectra, and giving what will be found extremely
useful to many—a very complete bibliography of the subject. The
work is accompanied by some beautifully-executed coloured drawings
of various spectra.
One of the earliest applications of the prism to chemical analysis was
that of Plucker, who observed the lines produced by the passage of
electricity through a rarefied gas, and noticed that in every gas, when
pure, a particular system of lines was obtained. The minute portion
of a gas, whether simple or compound, that could be analysed in this
way induced the author to style the method microchemistry. It was
really spectrum-analysis. M. Morren followed up the researches of
Plucker, and now publishes at Marseilles a tract,t the object of which,
he says, is to point out how this mode of analysis may help to solve
* De Spectraal-Analyse &c.’-—On Spectrum Analysis, &e. By H. C. Dibbits.
Rotterdam: E. H. Tassemeijer. 1863.
+ ‘Des Phénométnes Lumineux que présentent quelques Flammes, et en par-
ticulier celle du Cyanogéne, et de Acetylene, &c.’ Par M. Morren. Marseilles ;
Arnaud & Co., 1863.
380 Reviews. [ April,
questions which ordinary chemical processes are unable to unriddle.
What, for example, constitutes the blue part of the flame cf a candle ?
The spectroscope answers, vapour of carbon. The author once thought
that the blue was caused by light carburetted-hydrogen, since he
observed the same spectrum from the flame of this gas, and also from
that of the base of a candle flame. A perusal of Dr. Attfield’s paper
on the “ Spectrum of Carbon,” however, induced him to reconsider the
subject, and to examine the spectra of numerous other carbon com-
pounds. In all these he observed the same spectrum, which, being
common to everyone, must have been derived from the common con-
stituent, carbon. The means which the author employed, and the
appearances he observed, are well described in this tract; and any
experimenters working in the same direction would do well to con-
sult it.
CuemicaAL FormMuLz.
Dr. Opiine has published* a set of tables of chemical formule, which
we venture to say will prove as useful to teachers as to students of
chemistry. He adopts an original mode of classifying the elements
which is, perhaps, as reasonable as any other yet proposed, or possible,
in the present state of our knowledge of these bodies.
The formule are all constructed on the unitary system of notation,
and in the absence of a complete work of chemistry based on that system,
these tables will prove of great assistance to students, who are obliged to
read a book written upon the old system, and listen to a lecturer who
teaches upon the new.
Lecturers who are beginning to teach the unitary system, will find
in the tables the materials of a very useful set of diagrams.
* «Tables of Chemical Formule,’ arranged by W. Odling, M.B., F.R.S, &c., &e.
London: Taylor and Francis, 1864.
1864. ]
(o)88l-~)
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE.
Sinverrp Guass TELESCOPES AND CELESTIAL PHoToGRAPHY IN AMERICA.
By Professor Henry Draper, M.D., New York University.
New York, Feb, 2, 1864.
THE first photographs of the moon
were taken in 1840 by my father,
Professor John W. Draper, M.D.,
who published notices of them in
his quarto work, ‘On the Forces
that Organize Plants,’ and in the
‘ Philosophical Magazine.’ The speci-
mens were about an inch in diameter,
and were presented to the Lyceum
of Natural History of New York.
They were made by means of a lens
of five inches aperture, furnished
with an eye-piece to increase the
magnifying power, and mounted on
a polar axis driven by a clock. At
that time it was generally supposed
that the moon’s light contained no
actinic rays, and was entirely with-
out effect on the sensitive silver com-
pounds used in daguerreotyping.
In 1850, Mr. Bond made use of the
Cambridge (Massachusetts) refrac-
tor of 15 inches’ aperture, to produce
daguerreotype impressions of our
satellite, the sensitive plate being
placed at the focus of the object-
glass, without the intervention of
an eyepiece. Pictures two inches
in diameter were thus produced,
and, subsequently, some of the same
size were made on glass, and
mounted stereoscopically. Mr. Bond
also made a series of experiments
to determine whether photography
could be advantageously applied to
the measurement of double stars,
and concluded that the results were
as reliable as those derived from the
micrometer.*
Soon after, Mr. Warren De La
Rue, of Cranford, near London, un-
dertook by the aid of a 13-inch
speculum, ground and polished by
himself, to procure a series of pho-
tographs of the moon and other
celestial objects. The excellent re-
* «Astron. Nach,’ No. 1129.
sults that he has obtained, together
with those of Professor Phillips, Mr.
Hartnup, Mr.Crookes, Father Secchi,
and other physicists, are doubtless
familiar to all scientific men, having
been published in the form of a re-
port to the British Association in
1859. No detailed description of
them is necessary, therefore, in this
place.
In 1857 Mr. Lewis M. Rutherfurd,
of New York, erected an equatorial
refractor of 11 inches’ aperture, the
object-glass of which he had himself
corrected, and has taken a large
number of lunar photographs with
it. They have generally borne to
be magnified to five inches, and he
is now engaged in perfecting a cor-
recting lens that will allow still
greater enlargement to be used.
The moon, as seen by the naked
eye, is about one-tenth of an inch in
diameter,although persons generally
estimate it at 10 inches. That the
first statement is true is easily
proved either by taking a photo-
graph with a lens of 10 inches’
focal length, or more convincingly
by holding up between the moon
and the eye a little dise one-tenth
of an inch across, at the near-
est distance of distinct vision (10
inches). A picture of the moon
of the size commonly attributed to
her requires to be made under a
power of 100 times.
In 1857 I visited Lord Rosse’s
great reflecting telescopes at Par-
sonstown, and had an opportunity
of not only seeing the grinding and
polishing operation by which they
were produced, but also of obsery-
ing some stars through the six-foot
instrument. On returning home in
1858 it was determined to construct
a large instrument by similar means,
and devote it especially to celestial
photography. The speculum was of
382
15 inches’ aperture, and 12 feet focal
length. Subsequently, however, this
metal mirror was abandoned, and
silvered glass, as suggested by M,
Foucault, substituted. his latter,
according to Steinheil’s experi-
ments, reflects more than 90 per
cent. of the light falling upon it,
while speculum metal only returns
63 per cent. A detailed account of
this instrument, amply illustrated,
is now being published by the
Smithsonian Institution at Washing-
ton, and therefore only a general
idea of its pecularities will be given.
As the telescope was intended es-
pecially for photography, the follow-
ing general principles were adopted.
Ist. A reflector was, of course, pre-
ferred to an achromatic object-glass,
because all the rays falling upon it
are reflected to the same focal plane,
and there is not, as in the latter, one
focus for distinct vision, and another
for the photographically actinic
rays, an inch distant perhaps. In the
reflector a sensitive plate put where
the image is seen to be most sharply
defined, will be sure to give a good
result. In the achromatic, on the
contrary, the sensitive plate must
be placed in a _ position which
can only be found by tedious trials.
2nd. Silvered glass was used instead
of speculum metal, because it is
lighter and more highly reflecting.
Besides, if a reddish or yellowish
film should accumulate on it—an
accident liable to occur to either
kind of reflector and seriously di-
minishing the photographic power—
it can either be repolished with a
piece of buckskin—an operation ob-
viously impossible in the case of a
speculum metal—or the silver can be
dissolved off with nitric acid, and a
new film deposited on the glass con-
cave. The glass which has been
made accurately parabolic before the
first silvering, is not changed in
figure,the silver being only deposited
in a layer s54555 Of an inch thick,
and consequently, if carefully pre-
pared, copying the glass below so
closely that no error larger than a
small fraction of that amount is
possible. As the glass only serves
as a basis or mould for the thin
Notes and Correspondence.
| April,
sheet of silver, and is not penetrated
by the light, its quality is a matter
of but little moment, that which is
used for skylights or light-openings
in floors answering perfectly. 3rd.
A mounting, presenting the greatest
degree of steadiaess possible was
necessary. For this purpose the
telescope was supported at both
ends, the lower one resting in a
loop of wire rope. 4th. Instead of
driving the whole mass of the in-
strument by clockwork acting
upon a polar axis, and thus being
forced to move a weight of at least
half-a-ton—the usual system in
equatorials — only the sensitive
plate and its frame, weighing an
ounce, were caused to follow the
moon or other object, the mass of
the apparatus remaining perfectly
at'rest. This idea is due to Lord
Rosse. 5th. Instead of using a
clock with wheelwork for a prime
mover, a clepsydra was substituted.
This consists of a heavy weight
supported by the rod of a piston,
which fits into a cylinder filled with
water. At the bottom of the cylin-
der a stopcock permits the water to
flow out at a variable speed, de-
pending on the amount of opening.
The sensitive plate can thus easily
be caused to coincide in rate with
the moving object, and yet by a
motion free from irregularity and
tremor,
The value of a silver reflector
turns, of course, entirely upon the
perfection of the glass concave on
which the metallic film is to be de-
posited. This must be of a para-
bolic figure, so that spherical aber-
ration may be completely corrected.
A person is, however, content to
take the utmost pains to produce it,
because, once attained, the figure
cannot be lost except by fracture,
and the value does not diminish
with time as in the case of a specu-
lum. It never requires re-polishing.
The best method of grinding and
polishing the glass is by means of
an apparatus that I have called a
‘*Local-correcting Machine,” by
which all the parts of the surface
can be attacked in succession and
reduced to the desired curvature,
1864.]
and yet at the same time a uniform
curve and absence of local irregulari-
ties secured. I have spent five
years in the investigation of this
subject, and have polished more
than 100 mirrors of from 19 inches
to one-fourth of an inch in diameter,
on seven different machines built
at various times. The quality of
those I have at present is indi-
cated by the fact that they will
show Debillisima to be quintuple,
and will render the close companion
of Sirius, discovered by Alvan
Clark’s magnificent 18-inch refrac-
tor, visible.
The Observatory at Hastings-
upon-Hudson, near New York, lat.
40° 59! 25” N., long. 73° 52/ 25" W.
of Greenwich, is upon the summit
Notes and Correspondence.
383
of a hill 225 feet above low-water
mark. It is 20 feet square, with a
wing 9x10 for a photographic
laboratory. As the telescope is a
Newtonian, with the mounting so
contrived as to have the eyepiece
stationary at all altitudes, a plan
originally suggested by Miss Her-
schel, there are peculiar facilities
offered for easy access to the eye-
piece, or place of the sensitive plate.
The interior height of the Observa-
tory, 22 feet, is divided into two
stories, around the upper of which
an observer’s chair runs to follow
the telescope. The dome turns upon
a pivot at its centre, instead of on
rollers or cannon-balls around the
edge, and is moved consequently
with but slight exertion.
>.
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LO LLLIOTSOLLPPIDE LOLS PFLLEE LE LLM
Dar pepe ry
384
In the woodcut a is the telescope
tube, b one of the trunnions on fric-
tion rollers perforated for the eye-
piece, ¢ one of the counterpoise
levers, having a weight at the upper
end and being attached to an axled
at the lower end; ee’e” is a wire-
rope going from the counterpoise to
the lower end of the telescope ; ff
another wire-rope which passes
round a small drum connected with
the winch g, and gives the observer
standing on the observer’s platform
i the power of moving the telescope
in altitude; & the stairs going to
the photographic room, //' the gal-
lery that divides the Observatory
into two stories, m the azimuth axis
resting on the solid rock, and sus-
tained at its upper end by the three
lateral beams, nn’ (two only are
shown). They also rest in cavities
in the rock. The dome is seen in
section at oo’, the dome-opening
and shutter at p, the dome-arch at
qq7. The dome-raising lever 7, with
the fulcrum at s, is shown as it ap-
pears when the dome is prepared
for revolving, the axis ¢ carrying
the whole weight. The part of the
lever below the detent wu can be
bent up out of the way, and held by
a loop.
Since the telescope has been com-
pleted, and furnished with two para-
bolic mirrors of 153 inches aperture,
and 150 inches focal length, and one
Herschelian mirror (that is, a con-
cave of such figure that it can only
bring oblique pencils to a focus free
from aberration), Celestial Photo-
graphy has been continually prose-
cuted. About 1,500 lunar negatives
have been taken. Old experience
obtained from portrait and micro-
scopic photography has proved to
be of great service. At first the
well-known processes were used,
but it was soon found that some-
thing more refined was needed,
where the pictures are to be sub-
mitted to magnifying powers of per-
haps 25 times. Defects in collodion
negatives that would, under ordi-
nary circumstances, pass unnoticed,
assume such prominence as greatly
to diminish the beauty of the results.
Notes and Correspondence.
| April,
These defects, pin-holes, coarse gra-
nular appearance of the reduced
silver, and other markings, were
found to arise principally from the
presence of nitrate of silver on
the sensitive plate. It was ascer-
tained that by washing the plate
thoroughly before exposure they
disappeared, or were very much
ameliorated, and without any re-
duction in sensitiveness. But for
this washing operation pure water
is needed, and hence the roof of the
buildings was painted with a ground
mineral compound that hardens to
a stony consistence, and the water
falling upon it was preserved in a
leaden tank, which from long use
for other purposes had become
thickly coated with insoluble salts
of lead, sulphates, &c. Whenever
an inch of rain falls, a ton of water
is collected, and the tank may he
filled about 32 times in a year.
The negatives produced at the
focus of the reflector are on an ave-
rage J;4;inches in diaineter. Many
that have been made will bear to
be enlarged to 2 feet, and one was
taken September 3, 1863, at 4.30
A.M., which has been increased to
3 feet in diameter, the total magni-
fying power used being about 380.
In this photograph the moon may
be said to be shown on a scale of
60 miles to the inch.
In the process of enlarging I have
introduced one very important no-
velty. Instead of employing an
achromatic combination of lenses
arranged as a solar camera, a con-
cave mirror is used. It entirely gets
rid of the difficulty of chromatic
aberration, which is, as all pho-
tographers know, one of the most
serious obstacles to success, and, in
addition, the magnified image lies
in one plane, or there is what is
termed a flat field. Every little de-
tail of the original negative is per-
fectly reproduced, and a_ 3-foot
image is as sharp in one part as in
another. The effect of portraits re-
produced of life-size is very striking,
and the resemblance to the indi-
vidual singularly increased. In mag-
nifying these lunar negatives, a
1864.
mirror of 8 inches’ aperture and
113 inches’ focal length is used. At
first, when it was intended to em-
ploy diffused daylight and the whole
aperture, the figure was made ellip-
tical, with a distance of 8 feet be-
tween the conjugate foci ; but sub-
sequently, when the advantages of
sunlight were understood, the sur-
face was reduced by a diaphragm to
13 inches in diameter, and a part of
the mirror as nearly perfect as a
mirror can be made at present was
selected. Success in enlargement
becomes with this contrivance a cer-
tainty.
The ‘‘enlarger” is also equally
valuable in copying by contact.
When a small negative is enlarged
and photographed, what is termed a
positive results. If such a positive
is used to make prints on paper, the
lights and shades are inverted, and
that which is white is shown black.
It is necessary then to turn the
original negative into a positive, so
that when magnified a negative may
result suitable for printing positive
proofs on paper. This is done
usually by a process called reversing,
in which a sensitive plate is placed
behind the original negative, and
the two exposed to the light.
Wherever the negative is transpa-
rent the plate behind is stained by
the light, and where opaque, it is
protected. But unless the plate be-
hind is so close as to make the
chances of scratching the negative
very great, the positive produced
is much inferior in distinctness, be-
cause the diffused light of day finds
its way through in many directions.
If, however, the negative and sen-
sitive plate are placed in the beam
of sunlizght coming from the en-
larger, the rays pass through only
in one direction, and the reverse or
positive is as sharp as the original
negative.
Celestial photography is as yet
only in its infancy. The results to
which it has given origin, although
excellent in many respects, have im-
perfections. But it seems probable
that these may be overcome in the
future, partly by means now within
Notes and Correspondence.
3085
reach, and partly by others which
may be discovered at any moment,
In looking at a 3-foot photograph
from such a distance that the eye can
embrace it all at one glance, the
general effect is certainly very fine,
and superior to observation through
the telescope with a similar power.
The moon appears as it would if
viewed from a stand-point 600 miles
from its surface. Ranges of moun-
tains, as the Apennines, seem as if
projected out from the general level,
while the great craters, such as
Plato, Theophilus, and Clavius, are
deeply excavated below. Grooves
of vast extent, like those diverging
from Tycho, and faults such as that
running past Aunt and Catharina
on the one side, and Tucitus on the
other towards Lindenau, still further
break up the surface. The well-
known seas and bright portions, so
distinct to the naked eye, are lost
in the multiplicity of the details
into which they are resolved.
But coming more closely to the
picture, and examining with a cri-
tical eye, it is apparent that, al-
though the general effect is the same
as would be perceived by looking
at the moon itself, yet some of the
minute details seen in the telescope
with a high power are absent.
The reasons which lie at the bot-
tom of this difficulty are connected
to a certain degree with the photo-
graphic processes employed, but also
to not a little extent with the con-
dition of the air. The quality of
the instrumental means used is, of
course, of primary importance. A
good photograph cannot be taken
with an inferior telescope and clock.
The obstacles arising from photo-
graphy result from the fact that the
dark parts of the picture are not
formed by a continuous sheet of
material, but by an aggregation of
granules which, though invisible to
the unassisted eye, are seen when a
high-enough magnifying power is
employed. Their degree of visi-
bility turns on the system of deve-
lopment used for bringing out the
latent image on the sensitive plate.
A picture injudiciously forced with
586
pyrogallic acid will hardly bear any
enlargement, though one made with
sulphate of iron and a well-regu-
lated exposure may be increased in
diameter twenty-five times, without
showing the granulations offensively.
The influence of the structure of the
collodion-film itself, too, is notice-
able in pictures taken by the wet
process; in the first place, being
somewhat transparent, 1t permits a
certain amount of lateral diffusion
in the film, and a tendency to soften
down the more minute details ; and,
in the second place, while wet it
has quite a perceptible thickness,
which is much diminished in dry-
ing, and the relation of the silver
particles to one another changed.
I have attempted to avoid the
faults connected with structure of
the film by substituting dry col-
lodion, and more particularly tannin
plates for the wet. But though
during the exposure to the celestial
object the sensitive plate presents
a glassy surface of extreme thin-
ness, yet an indispensable pre-
liminary to evoking the latent
image is to soak the plate in water,
and this introduces the more in-
jurious of the two objections above
urged, It was while trying this
process that I ascertained the ad-
vantages that arise from warming
the film during development,—the
“hot-water process,” as it is called.
The attempt was also made to da-
guerreotype the original pictures at
the focus of the telescope on silver
plating, and also on si/vered gluss.
In this case all lateral diffusion is
entirely prevented, the light acting
on a mathematical surface, and the
relations of the film of silver to the
glass not being disturbed by the
-subsequent manceuvres. But prac-
tically no advantage has arisen from
these trials, because, as in the for-
mer instance, the whites in the re-
sulting picture are not formed by a
continuous stratum of mercurial
amalgam. That this is the case is
proved by the fact that such da-
guerreotypes can be copied by the
electrotype, or a coating of isinglass,
as was shown by Dr. Draper (‘ Phil.
Notes and Correspondence.
[ April,
Mag.,’ May, 1843). This is the first
occasion on which silvered glass has
been used for photographic pur-
poses, and it may be well to point
out its advantages. Owing pro-
bably to the perfect purity of the
silver, it takes the coatings of iodine
and bromine with uniformity all
over; in silver plated by fire on
copper, there used to be a tendency
to insensitive spots, from the copper
alloy coming out on the face of the
silver, and so great was the annoy-
ance, that, when my father was en-
gaged in the experiments that led
him to take the first portrait ever
obtained from life, he was compelled
to use sheets of pure silver alone.
The light also seems to be able to
impress the iodo-bromide in less
time, and pictures of a rosy warmth
are generally obtained. ‘The only
precaution necessary in practising
this method of daguerreotyping is
to fix the plate—that is, dissolve off
the excess of sensitive material—
with an alcoholic solution of cyanide
of potassium, instead of an aqueous
solution of hyposulphite of soda.
The latter tends to split up the film
of silver from the glass here and
there, while the former does not.
The subsequent washing, too, is
most safely conducted with diluted
commen alcohol. The time of ex-
posure is not, however, as short as
in’ the wet-collodion process, at
least six times the exposure being
demanded ; while if less is given,
and the development over mer-
curial vapour be urged beyond the
usual point, minute globules of mer-
cury stud the silver all over, and
ruin the proof,
The faults arising from atmo-
spheric disturbances are easily un-
derstood. If an image of the planet
Jupiter produced by a large tele-
scope be allowed to move across a
sensitive plate, and the plate be
then developed, a dark streak nearly
of the width of the image will ap-
pear. If this streak is closely exa-
mined, it will be observed that the
passage of the planet seems to have
taken place in an irregular way—by
fits and starts as it were, and that
1864. |
instead of the mark being continu-
ous like that of a pencil, it rather
resembles a string of beads. The
cause of this lack of continuity is
to be found in the movements of
the Earth’s atmosphere. Or, if the
eye is placed at the eyepiece of the
telescope, and the edge of a planet
or the moon watched, it is found to
present a wavy outline instead of a
sharp disc-like appearance. Any
point in the surface, too, is seen to
have a rapid vibratory motion.
Although the eye can emancipate
itself to a certain extent from these
disturbances, a photographic plate
cannot. Every point tends then to
assume a greater size and less dis-
tinctness than it should have, and
if the night on which the trials are
being made is very unsteady, the
smaller details are so confused to-
gether that the picture is worthless.
Occasionally, however, very still
nights occur, when photographs of
great beauty may be taken. In the
interval between March and De-
cember, 1863, three such nights
occurred, and on one of them the
negative for the 3-foot was ob-
tained.
It has been stated that there are
no insuperable obstacles to the pro-
duction of perfect celestial photo-
graphs,—that is, such as realize the
full optical power of the telescope
used. The atmospheric difficulty
may be successfully combated by
removing a large reflector from near
the level of the sea to a consider-
able altitude, where a great part of
the atmosphere is left behind. It
seems to me that a suitable place
for such a purpose would be the
rainless west coast of South Ame-
rica, somewhere near the equator.
Improvements, too, are continually
being invented in photographic pro-
cesses, and a considerable step is
made when we find out what it is
that we need. Quick methods are
not so much required as those which
will yield grainless pictures on struc-
tureless films, and unless the time
of exposure could be so much short-
ened as to be buta small fraction of
a single atmospheric pulsation, no
Notes and Correspondence.
387
particular advantage would be gained
by their use.
The inducements to amateurs to
prosecute the study of celestial
photography are very great, and the
apparatus required is such as any
one of a mechanical turn may make.
A great deal can and will be done
in this branch of astronomy; and
animated by the hope that many
others may be induced to cultivate
it, I have written the detailed ac-
count in the Smithsonian Contri-
butions.
Henry Draper, M.D.,
Professor of Natural Science in the
University of New York.
The Brazilian Coal-fields. By Edward
Hull, B.A., F.GS.
THE immense empire of Brazil, oc-
cupying one-third of the continent
of South America, with an area of
upwards of 3,000,000 of square
miles; considerably larger than
Russia in Europe ; watered by the
largest river in the world, which
with its tributaries is navigable for
many hundred miles from its mouth;
its western bounds stretching to
the spurs of the Andes, and its
eastern washed by the waves of
two oceans—such a country as this
would appear fitted to occupy the
foremost rank amongst the na-
tions of the Western hemisphere,
provided its boundless resources
were turned to account by an intel-
ligent people, and civilization were
advanced by wise laws. It is satis-
factory to reflect, that while most
of the surrounding republics—the
shattered limbs of Spanish America
—are tossed on the waves of anarchy,
Brazil enjoys a peaceful government
under a constitutional monarchy ;
personal freedom with political se-
curity ; monarchical principles com-
bined with popular rights. We
notice these points in the govern-
ment of Brazil, because they afford
the highest guarantee of national
progress, and the development of
industrial pursuits. Nor are the
raw materials necessary for the at-
tainment of a high position amongst
388
the manufacturing communities of
the world absent from the soil of
Brazil.
The northern half of the empire
is physically not unlike the plain
of Northern Italy on a large scale.
Covered with forests springing from
a rich alluvial soil, and watered by
the Amazon and its giant branches,
it is prodigiously fertile. The
southern half is hilly, and some-
times mountainous, and gives birth
to the Rio de la Plata. One of the
peaks of the Organ Range rises be-
hind the harbour of Rio de Janeiro,
to an altitude of 7,500 feet. These
and the neighbouring hills contain
minerals and gems in abundance,
and the Government has, with great
spirit, undertaken a mineral survey
of these southern provinces.
It was once supposed that this
great empire —rich in precious
stones, and nearly all the metals,
from gold to iron inclusive—was
devoid of one natural product, use-
ful, if not absolutely essential, to
the full utilization of the other
mineral treasures —namely, coal ;
but such a supposition was alto-
gether erroneous, as recent investi-
gations have fully shown. A writer
in a recent number of the ‘ Quar-
terly Review’ * for 1860, mentions
(on what authority is not stated)
the existence of a coal-field upwards
of 60 leagues in extent, and 40 miles
from the sea. Considering that
Brazil has a seaboard of more than
2,000 miles, the description of the
locality is sufficiently vague; but,
as far as it goes, the information is
strictly correct; this, however, is
all that was known on the subject
on this side of the Atlantic till very
recently.t
* No, 216, page 338 in foot note.
+ A correspondent of the ‘Mining
Journal,’ No. 1484, states that “ years
since samples of the coals were sent to
this country, and analysed by Dr.
Percy.” It may also be stated that
specimens of coal from Brazil were
shownin the Exhibition of 1862, and
were reported on by Mr. W. W. Smyth,
in Jury Reports.
Notes and Correspondence.
[ April,
To a countryman of our own, Mr.
Nathaniel Plant, we are indebted
for a full account, through his
brother, Mr. J. Plant, Curator of
the Salford Museum, of the position
and resources of three distinct coal-
fields which he has recently ex-
plored in the southern part of the
empire; the largest presents some
features of peculiar interest, which
we proceed briefly to lay before our
readers.
The first notice of these minerals
seems to have been taken by Mr.
Bonliech, son of the Governor of the
province of Rio Grande do Sul, in
which the largest of the three coal-
fields is situated. This was in the
year 1859, and it was probably
through the report of this gentle-
man that the writer in the ‘ Quar-
terly Review’ obtained his informa-
tion. The matter, however, seems
to have been lost sight of until the
end of 1861. When Mr. Plant, who
for several years had been exa-
mining the mineral districts of Rio
Grande, in the service of the Im-
perial Government, determined to
make a fuller exploration of the
coal-district, and he has now sent
to this country an account of the
very remarkable deposits of mineral
fuel he met with, together with
those unbiassed witnesses—photo-
craphic views, and rock specimens.*
The Candiota field is the largest
of three which have as yet been dis-
covered. It extends from lat. 32°S.
to 28°S., and is thus at the southern
extremity of the province of Rio
Grande do Sul. It is traversed by
the river Jaguarao and several of
its tributaries, along whose banks
the seams of coal crop out. There
are two great seams of bituminous
coal, the lower being 25 feet in
thickness, the upper part of which
is shown in the sketch, and is sepa~
rated by only a very few feet of
shale from the upper bed (or series
of beds), which is 40 feet in thick-
ness.
* These have been laid before the
Geological Society of Manchester by
his brother, 1864.
1864.]
Notes and Correspondence.
ELE LD Ry
VER ee EC 77 AE
SSS .
EQNS WNGaNe
es
eM
hl
TOP OF i
bam i
\
1 ili
y if Dil
uy iin
A
(
Mm Li
Qa LAMM I
4
oT AT |
i |
»
Portion of Escarpment, showing the outcrop of the Coal-seams along the border of the Candiota
Coal-field. Taken from a Photograph.
In some places, the intermediate
bands of shale which separate the
mineral into distinct layers thin
away, in which case a solid seam
of no less than 65 feet is formed,
unsurpassed, we believe, in vertical
dimensions by any similar forma-
tion yet discovered. We have
handled specimens of the coal; and
though taken from the outcrop, it
is scarcely distinguishable, except
by a slight brownish hue, from the
ordinary coal of our own country.
The coal-strata repose on a series
of shales, sandstones, and crystal-
line limestone, the whole of which
are supported by mica-schist, and
finally by syenite.
Iron is also present, as in the
coal-formation of Britain, both in
the form of bands of clay-ironstone,
and as a roof for the seams of coal.
At the top of the cliffs formed by
the outcrop of the coal-seam there
occurs a mass of silicious iron-ore, —
several yards in thickness, a sheet-
casting from which was sent to the
late Industrial Exhibition amongst
the other Brazilian products. Thus
there occurs in close proximity to
each other, the ore, the fuel, the
flux, and the clay, necessary for the
establishment of iron-furnaces.
The several minerals thus united
rise in the form of an elevated
escarpment (a portion of which is
represented in the engraving), which
may be traced for several leagues,
affording the utmost facility for”
working by open-work, or tunnels
VOL. I.
- Sul.
driven into the sides of the hill.
From its base stretches a gently
sloping plain of basalt, over which
a railway to a port in the Rio Gon-
zalo might be laid down at a very
moderate cost. Sailing-vessels of
100 tons burden can navigate this
river to the town of Jaguarao, 20
miles from the borders of the coal-
field, between which and the im-
portant port of Rio Grande de San
Pedro, on the Atlantic, there is at
present a flourishing trade.
The second coal-field which has
been observed, lies about 100 leagues
to the north of the Candiota field,
in the valley of the Rio dos Ratos,
near Porto Alegre, the capital of the
province. It is not of large extent,
but well situated for carriage by
river and lake; nothing has, how-
ever, yet been done to develope its
resources.
The third coal-field is in the small
province of San Catharina, lying
north-east of the Rio Grande do
It is reported to occupy an
area of about 80 square miles, in the
midst of a range of hills, and is not
so accessible to commerce as the
other two tracts.
It is not improbable that each of
these coal-fields, lying as they do in
a direct line parallel with the coast,
is of the same geological age; and
after an inspection of the fossil
plants which have been sent over
to this country, there cannot be a
doubt, we think, that this age is
the Carboniferous. Mr. Plant has
2D
390
sent over several pieces of iron-
stone, on which are imprinted very
distinct specimens of Lepidoden-
dron, and several ferns not unlike
those of the coal-measures of Britain.
A gentleman, also, who has studied
the coal-measures of Nova Scotia,
which are of the same age as those
of Britain, refers, in a letter which
we have seen, to fine specimens of
Sigillaria and Stigmaria, both of
which are characteristic of this pe-
riod. Specimens of these, however,
are not in the collection we have
examined, but nothing can be more
distinct than the fronds of Lepido-
dendron already referred to. While
on this subject we may be allowed
to remark, that although, on the
authority of Professor M‘Coy, the
age of the Australian coal-fields was
for some time considered to be Ju-
rassic, the recent investigations of
the Rev. W. B. Clarke go to esta-
blish the Carboniferous age of these
beds. Mr.Clarke has sent to England
a collection of fossils from the New
South Wales coal-field,* containing
specimens of Lepidendron and Spi-
rifer; and thus it would appear
that, during the same great epoch,
so pre-eminently carboniferous, de-
posits of coal were being elaborated
over both hemispheres and on both
sides of the equator; a marvellous
instance of the uniformity of na-
ture’s operations in early geologic
times.
The importance of these great
deposits to the commerce of the
eastern seaboard of South America
need not be dwelt upon. At the
present time, 250,000 tons of coal
are annually imported into Rio
Janeiro, at a cost of 49s. per ton,
and from this depot other coast-
towns are supplied. When once
the coal-field of Candiota is opened
up, the Brazilian Government may
be supplied at less than half the
price, and our own little Island be
spared the doubtful honour of pro-
viding fuel for a continent on the
other side of the globe.
Epwarp Hutt.
* In the Museum of the Geological
Society of London, Somerset House.
Notes and Correspondence.
| April,
Mult as Cattle Food, By J. Chalmers
Morton.
Srreatiey, near Reading.
Your agricultural chronicle will
doubtless place before your readers
the fact that a bill has been intro-
duced into Parliament, which will
probably pass into law, for permit-
ting the use of malt duty free in
feeding sheep and cattle. They
may, however, wish to know the
probabilities of this measure prov-
ing agriculturally serviceable, more
in detail than the limits of the
chronicle will enable you there to
discuss them.
The measure has probably origi-
nated in the interview with which
the Chancellor cf the Exchequer
honoured a deputation of the Cen-
tral Farmers’ Club early last year,
when Mr. Booth of Warlaby, Mr.
Arkell of Swindon, and Mr. Willams
of Baydon, all well-known agricul-
turists, declared to him that malt is
greatly‘’superior to barley as food for
cattle and for sheep ; and when Mr.
Williams in particular put the case
of an English farmer who had fed
300 sheep on a lot of spoiled malt,
and was refused a drawback of the
duty, though this would have been
allowed to him had he exported the
malt to a French farmer, who might
thereafter have sent his sheep,
fattened on this very malt, for sale
at Smithfield. ‘‘Thus, while the
foreigner might have the advantage
of feeding his sheep on malt without
paying any duty, the British farmer,
if he wished to feed his sheep on
malt, was subject to a tax of 21s. 8d.
per quarter.” ‘The inconsistency of
this was obvious enough to the logi-
cal mind to whom it was thus pre-
sented, and accordingly we have now
a Bill which will for the future put
an end to so great an anomaly !
Barley may, for the future, in houses
set apart for the purpose, be malted ;
and the malt may be dried and
ground, with 10 per cent. of linseed,
to a certain degree of fineness, and
it may be thereafter sold under cer-
tain conditions, duty free, for feeding
purposes. And no English farmer
will hereafter be able to complain
1864.]
that he is being undersold in the
meat market by foreign mutton more
cheaply fed than hisown. Will this
lead to any cheapening of the meat
manufacture here? I think not.
What are the circumstances?
On the one hand, we have the prac-
tical experience only of the few men
who, in spite of the duty hitherto,
have used it forthe purpose of put-
ting the last finish to the fattening
process, when the pampered appe-
tite of the animal intended for exhi-
bition refuses everything but an
unusual dainty. Liebig also writes
to Mr. Bass, M.P., a letter, which
may, however, be quoted by either
party to the discussion, but refer-
ring especially to the greater diges-
tibility of the malted barley. The
letter is as follows :—
“In forming a judgment on the
feeding properties of malt, when
given to horses, cattle, and sheep,
it is obvious that in comparing it
with barley we must not lose sight
of the fact that there is a larger
amount of nourishment in barley
than in the malt manufactured from
it; for in the process of malting
barley suffers a loss in weight
amounting to from 7 to 11 per cent.
of dry substance. The ‘rootlets’
constitute 3 to 32 per cent. of this
loss, and as they contain a pretty
large quantity of blood-forming
(nitrogenous) matter (25 to 30 per
cent.), the grain, by their separation
from it, undergoes a loss of one of
its nutritive elements. Hence it is
clear that if in practice the feeding
qualities of malt are found to be
greater than those of barley, this
can only arise from the circumstance
that the nutritive matter contained
in malt is present there in a more
soluble, more digestible state than
in barley; and that therefore in
feeding with barley more nutritive
matter leaves the body in an undi-
gested state than is the case when
an equal weight of malt is used as
food. There can be no doubt what-
ever that in malt blood-forming mat-
ter is contained in a more soluble
form than in barley ; for the process
of malting occasions a loosening of
Notes and Correspondence.
391
the component parts of the grain in
so great a degree that 100 volumes
of dry barley yield (notwithstanding
the loss of weight) 112 to 114 vo-
lumes of dry malt. Such a loosen-
ing of the inner parts of the grain,
thus enabling the gastric juice in
the animal body to penetrate it more
easily and thoroughly, is not to be
attained in like degree by a mecha-
nical process. The comparative
analysis shows finally that the
amount of readily soluble blood-
forming elements in barley is 14 per
cent., and in malt 2°21 per cent.
By the process of drying in the kiln,
a part of the soluble blood-forming
elements is rendered insoluble, and
from this it cannot add to the feed-
ing capabilities.”
On the other hand, there is, in
addition to the considerations
against the economy of malt which
this letter urges, the fact that in the
case of ruminating animals, for which
the farmer will principally use it,
there can hardly be any room for
the idea that increased digestibility
will prove advantageous. Indeed,
the increased solubility of the food,
especially, mixed, as it will be, with
linseed meal, will tend to its passage
with wasteful rapidity through the
digestive organs. And there is also
the fact that a very great waste of
substance takes place in malting.
If barley after being malted will
occupy a rather larger space than it
did, the loss of weight per bushel is
in great excess of any advantage
there. The loss of weight on the
whole does indeed generally exceed
20 per cent., and this is too large to
be counterbalanced by any improve-
ment the substance may have ac-
quired, whether in digestibility or
otherwise, during the process.
Apart, however, altogether from
the relative merits of barley and
malt as food for cattle and sheep,
there are cheaper and better foods
now in use than either of them will
ever be. Except in pig-feeding,
where barley is the chief food used,
itis of but little service in our meat
manufacture. Oilcakes of various
kinds, peas, beans, linseed, carob
392, Notes and Correspondence.
pods, oats, and even wheat, must be
named before it on the list of foods
for the stable, feeding stall, or sheep-
fold. And, if the mixed malt and
linseed, both of them relaxing sub-
stances, which are offered to him
duty free, be experimented on by the
cattle-feeder, he must add a large
proportion of bean meal, or some
other astringent substance, to cor-
rect a tendency which will rather
check than help the fattening pro-
cess ; while if used merely to induce
the saccharine fermentation in other
meals, which would form the bulk
of the food administered, the small
quantity wanted for that purpose is
not worth the legislation which has
been demanded for it. The real
object of the existing agitation on
this subject no doubt is, that we
may have malt free for man. And
the point, practically worthless and
unimportant, but theoretically inde-
fensible, which was pointed out
by Mr. Williams to Mr. Gladstone,
and on which the present Bill is
founded, will have served a useful
purpose if it shall in any degree
have helped to remove what is un-
doubtedly a demoralizing, and, ex-
cepting to the tenants of good bar-
ley-growing districts, a generally
mischievous impost.
J. C. Morton,
Ed. ‘ Agricultural Cyclopedia,’
March, 1864.
A New Method of Illustrating the
Structure of Blister Steel, by Nature
Printing. By H.C.Sorby, F.R.S,
BroomFie.D, near Sheffield,
March, 1864.
WHEN iron is converted into steel
by cementation, three distinct crys-
talline compounds are formed, two
of which are readily dissolved by
diluted nitric acid, whereas one is
scarcely at all affected by it. If,
therefore, a piece of such steel be
ground flat and polished, and then
placed in the acid, after a suitable
[ April,
amount of action, this constituent
retains its original surface and po-
lish, whereas the other two are so
much dissolved that it stands up
in sufficient relief to allow of the
blocks being used for surface print-
ing instead of a woodcut, to exhibit
the structure of different varieties
ofsteel. At the late conversazione
of the Sheffield Literary and Philo-
sophical Society, specimens were
printed showing the appearance
of a square bar of iron once con-
verted (transverse section), iron
remaining in the centre; a flat
bar of iron, slightly converted, the
crystals being small; a square bar
of iron twice converted (transverse
section), showing the centre incom-
pletely converted ; a flat bar of iron,
highly converted, the crystals being
rather large ; a round bar of “‘ homo-
geneous metal,” converted (trans-
verse section); and a flat bar of
hammered cast steel, reconverted,
the crystals being very large. In
order that you may convey to your
readers some idea of the appear-
ances thus presented, I send you
herewith a small block of prepared
metal, capable of being employed
as a woodcut.
It is a transverse section of “ blister
steel,” from a flat bar of iron highly
converted. The best method of
viewing the prints is by mounting
them as stereoscopic objects, for
they appear to great advantage un-
der such a magnifying power.
Though far more suitable for blister
steel than for any other metal, yet
still prints may be obtained from
sections of armour-plates and other
varieties of iron, which show cer-
tain peculiarities in their structure
in a very satisfactory manner.
H. C. Sorsy, F.RS., &c.
OE OEE
( 393 )
Books received for Webiet,
From Messrs. Longman & Co. :—
Tue Srory or THe Guns. By Sir J. Emerson Tennent, K.C.S., F.R.S.
Illustrated. 400 pp. 8vyo.
ELEMENTS oF Puysics, on NaruraL Puttosopuy. Written for general use in
plain or non-technical language, by Neil Arnott, M.D., F.R.S., &e. 6th
and completed Edition. Part I. 430 pp. 8vo.
A GvIpE To GEoLocy. By John Phillips, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., Pro-
fessor of Geology in the University of Oxford. 5th Edition. Illustrated.
320 pp.
Tue Barre OF THE STANDARDS ; the Ancient of Four Thousand Years against .
the Modern of the last Fifty Years, the less perfect of the two. By John
Taylor, author of ‘The Great Pyramid, why was it built?’ 100 pp. S8vo.
BiocrarnicaL Sketcu or Sir BensAMiy Bropie, late Sergeant-Surgeon to the
Queen and President of the Royal Society. By Henry W. Acland, Regius
Professor of Medicine in the University of Oxford. 30 pp. 8vo.
THe PrincrPLEs OF AGRICULTURE. By Wm. Bland, M.R.A.S., author of ‘The
Principles of Construction in Arches, Piers, Buttresses, &c.’ 2nd Edition.
140 pp.
From Mr. Van Voorst :—
Brirish ConcuoLocy, or an Account of the Mollusca which inhabit the
British Isles and the surrounding Seas. Vol. II. Marine Shells, compris-
ing the Brachiopoda and Conchifera from the Family Anomiide to that of
Mactride, By John Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. 8 plates. 480 pp.
From Messrs. John Churchill & Soins :—
Harpwicnu’s PuorocrapHic Cuemistry. 7th Edition. Revised by G. Daw-
son, M.A., Lecturer on Photography, King’s College, London; and E. A.
Hadow, Demonstrator of Chemistry, King’s College, London. Illustrated.
608 pp.
THE hae Sree In Cuemistry, or the Student’s Guide to the Higher
Branches of the Science. By Robert Galloway, F.C.S., Professor of Prac-
tical Chemistry in the Museum of Irish Industry. Dublin. Ilustrated.
792 pp.
From Mr. Stanford :—
Pure Locic, or THE Logic oF QUALITY APART FROM QUANTITY; with
remark’s on Booles System and on the relation of Logic and Mathematics.
By W. Stanley Jevons, M.A. 89 pp.
From Messrs. A. Brown & Co., Aberdeen :—
Tue Boranist’s GUIDE TO THE COUNTIES OF ABERDEEN, BANFF, AND KincAr-
pine. By G. Dickie, A.M., M.D., Professor of Botany in the University
of Aberdeen. Map. 350 pp. 8vo.
From the Author :—
A Hanppook or Descriptive AND PracticaL Astronomy. By George F.
Chambers, F.R.G.S. Illustrated. 560 pp. (J. Murray, 1861.)
( 394 )
PAMPHLETS.
LECTURES AND ADDRESSES.
Tuer Powrr or Gop in His AntmmAL Creation. By Professor R. Owen, D.C.L.
Exeter Hall Lecture.
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS, GEOLOGICAL Soctrry or Lonpon. By Professor A. C.
Ramsay, F.R.S., President. (Taylor & Francis.)
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTION OF CrvIL ENGINEERS, J. R.
M‘Lean, Esq., F.R.A.S. 1863-4. (Clowes & Sons.)
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE West Kernr Narurau History,
MicroscopicAL AND PuHoroGrapHic Socrery. Fredk. Currey, Esq., M.A.,
F.R.S., &c., with Report, &e. (Crockford, Greenwich).
ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE Baro Natura History anpD ANTI-
QUARIAN Firtp Crus. Revd. Leonard Jenyns, M.A., F.L.8., &e. (Hay-
ward, Hapress Office, Bath).
Ruies For ZootocicaL Nomencuature. By the late Hugh E. Strickland.
Reprinted by Sect. D. British Association. (Neill, Edinburgh.)
On Dericrency oF ViraL Power IN Disrasr, AND ON Support. By Lionel S.
Beale, M.B., F.B.S., F.R.C.P., &c. (T. Richards.)
OBSERVATIONS UPON THE EssENTIAL CHANGES OCCURRING IN INFLAMMATION. A
Lecture. Same Author. (Deey, Dublin.)
Tue Patent Question. A Paper read at the Association for the Promotion
of Social Science, Edinburgh, by R. A. Macfie, President, Liverpool Cham-
ber of Commerce. (W. J. Johnson, London.)
PERIODICALS.
Tue CuEemicaAL News.—ReEvvukE UNIVERSELLE DES Mines, &c., sous la direction
de M. Ch. de Cuyper. Noblet & Baudry, Paris and Li¢ge—TuHr DvuBLIn
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.— ARTIZAN.
REPRINTS.
VEGETABLE MorpHoLocy. By M.T. Masters, F.L.S.—Gortun’s Essay ON THE
Meramorruosis OF PLants. Translated by Emily M. Cox, notes by M. T.
Masters, M.D.—Proprrrrizs or ELEcrRo-prposireED ANTIMONY. George
Gore.—OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLaner Mans. By J. Norman Lockyer,
F.R.A.S.— NovTsEs SUR LA FABRICATION DE L’'ACIER EN ANGLETERRE, Par E.
Grateau, Ing. civildes Mines. Puaris.—Lxrs PoLynestens er Leurs Miera-
trons. A. de Quatrefages, Membre de I’Institut de France.
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.
Tue Royat—RoyaL GErOGRAPHICAL—ETHNOLOGICAL — GEOLOGICAL—RoyaL
ASTRONOMICAL— MICROSCOPICAL— ZOOLOGICAL : all of Lonpon.
Liverpoot LitrRARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL Socimry.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE NortTH OF ENGLAND Institute oF Mrytne ENGINEERS.
October and November, 1863. On the Discovery of Rock Salt at Mid-
dlesbro.’ By John Marley.
La Societe BATAVE DE PHILOSOPHIE EXPERIMENTALE DE RoTrerDAM,
LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD SLREET AND CHARING Coss.
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THE QUARTERLY
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.
JULY, 1864.
ORIGINAL ARTICLES.
ON THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF THE MOON’S SURFACE.
By James Nasmyru.
Tue desire to know something of other worlds besides our own has
ever been a prominent one with intelligent minds, and as the telescope
has enabled us virtually to reduce the distance between ourselves
and those remote orbs that revolve around the sun, many facts have
thus been elicited concerning their physical constitution.
Interesting as such facts may be, they are vague and insufficient
as compared with those which the telescope has revealed to us, in
regard to our nearest celestial neighbour, the Moon, whose com-
parative proximity enables us, even by the aid of a moderate magnify-
ing power, to gain a very exact knowledge of the physical structure
of her surface.
As the Moon’s hemisphere, which is ever turned towards us, has
its features illuminated in opposite directions during her monthly
passage in her orbit around the earth, every part of it is exposed in
turn to the rays of the sun, which fall on the details of its features in
constantly varying inclinations; and it is from this circumstance that
we have such favourable opportunities afforded to us of obtaining a
very correct knowledge of the configuration of the details in question,
as well as of their height or depression above or below the mean
level of the Moon’s general surface. Thus it is that we are enabled
most carefully to scrutinize her remarkable surface ; and should we
have drawn any hasty inferences from one set of observations, the
opportunity is usually presented to us in the course of a fortnight, or
at farthest a month, to correct them if erroneous, or to verify them if
accurate, and to pursue further investigations that may be suggested
by reflection on what we had last observed.
In these respects telescopic visits to the surface of the moon
yield more correct and reliable results than would many a visit to
portions of our world where the scenery to be surveyed is not,
VOL. I. 25
396 Original Articles. [July,
perhaps, conveniently accessible; and even when it is reached, the
traveller may be surrounded by circumstances which very seriously
interfere with his personal comfort, or disturb that tranquillity which
is so requisite a condition for close and accurate observation, and thus
lead him to hasty conclusions, which he has no future opportunity to
rectify. In strong contrast with such circumstances is the position
of the astronomer, comfortably placed beside his telescope, in the
silence and tranquillity of a fine clear night, with all distracting
objects excluded from his view. The whole of his attention is thus
brought to focus, as it were, on the point under investigation there
and then presented to his scrutiny, and ready to yield perfectly truth-
ful replies to his questions; nothing being requisite for a correct
interpretation of facts, other than a quick eye backed by a sound
and unbiassed judgment.
It is from circumstances such as these that we have acquired, by
a long course of assiduous observation and reflection, an amount of
intimate acquaintance with the physical structure of the Moon’s
exterior, in many important respects far more accurate than is our
knowledge of that portion of the earth.
Tn order rightly to interpret the details of the Moon’s surface, as
revealed to us by the aid of the telescope, we ought, in the first place,
to bear in mind the true nature of volcanic action, namely, that while
it has reference to the existence of intense temperature and molten
matter, it does not derive its origin from combustion, considered as
such in a strictly chemical sense, but proceeds from an incandescent
condition, induced in matter by the action of that great cosmical law
which caused an intense heat to result from the gravitation of particles
of matter towards a common centre. These particles, originally exist-
ing in a diffused condition, were, by the action of gravitation, made
to coalesce, and so to forma planet. Volcanic action, then, has in
all probability for its source the heat consequent upon the collapse of
such diffused matter, resulting in that molten condition through
which there is strong reason to believe all planetary bodies to have
passed in their primitive state, and of which condition the geological
history of our earth furnishes abundant evidence. Thus the molten
lava which we see issuing from an active volcano on the earth, is
really and truly a residual portion of that molten matter of which
the entire globe once consisted.
In reference to the nature and origin of that eruptive force which
had, again and again in the early periods of the Moon’s history,
caused the remaining molten matter of her interior to be ejected from
beneath her solidified crust, and so to assume nearly every variety of
volcanic formation in its most characteristic aspect, the key to these may
be found in the action of that law which pervades almost all matter in
a molten condition, namely, that “molten matter occupies less bulk,
weight for weight, than the same material when it has ceased from
the molten state ;” or, in other words, that “ matter in a molten state
is specifically more dense than the same material in a solidified con-
dition.” Thus it is that in passing from the molten to the solid
state the normal law is resumed, and expansion of bulk either just
1864.| Nasmyri on the Physical Aspects of the Moon’s Surface. 397
immediately precedes or accompanies solidification. It is, therefore,
in this expansion in the bulk of the solidifying matter, beneath the
Moon’s crust, that we are to look for the true cause of that eruptive
or ejective action which has resulted in the displacement, swrface-
ward, of the fluid portion of the Moon’s internal substance ; a dis-
placement which has manifested itself in nearly every variety of
voleanie formation, such as circular craters with their central cones
or mountains of exudation, cracked districts, &c.; all these varia-
tions of well-recognized volcanic phenomena being intermingled
and overlaid one upon the other in the most striking and wonderful
manner. In illustration of this, I would here refer the reader to
the lithograph which accompanies this paper, and which has been
selected as a fair type of the greater part of the lunar surface where
such volcanic features are characteristically displayed.
It may, however, be very reasonably and naturally asked, “ What
evidence have I that the features I refer to have any relation to
voleanic action at all?” In reply to such a question I would direct
the inquirer’s attention to one single feature which, I conceive,
demonstrates more completely than any other the fact of volcanic
action having (at however remote a period) existed in full activity in
the Moon. ‘The special feature to which I would refer is the central
cone that may be observed within those “ Ring-formed mountains,” as
they have been termed. “The central cone” is a well-known and
distinctive feature in terrestrial volcanoes. It is the residue of the last
expiring eftorts of a once energetic eruptive volcanic action, which
had thrown the ejected matter to such a considerable distance round
about the volcanic vent, that in its descent it had accumulated around
in the form of a ring-shaped mountain or crater, whilst on the subsidence
of this volcanic energy, the ejected matter was deposited in the
immediate vicinity of the vent or volcanic orifice, and thus arose the
* central cone.”
Anyone who is familiar with terrestrial volcanic craters must, at
the first glance at those which are scattered in such infinite numbers
over the Moon’s surface, detect this well-known analogous feature,
the central cone, and at once reasonably infer that these similar forms
arose from a common cause, that cause being no other than volcanic
action, accompanied by all its most marked characteristics.
Fie. 1.
Fig. 1. Represents a fair average type of the structure of a
Lunar Volcanic Crater with its central cone A.
252
398 Original Articles. [July,
yey af 2 sy aN y K we +X
SCAN Hoos RA ie eo
me Onn 4 i Pee, ay \ \y ue f)
EN
S/R eee
Yd yy at, Uy Y yy YY Y KE
\ \\\' "A \s \
\\ LW MOMMA S\N) MW
Fie. 3.
Fig. 3. Is the section of a Lunar Crater, showing how by the
eruption, and subsequent deposition of the ejected matter, the circular
outer wall or crater had been formed.
Aes j
=s ~ AAD ! FN nee
Yi LAMY) Wl QUES
WSS}
Fie. 4.
Fig. 4. The section of the same, exhibiting the manner in which the
central cone had resulted from the expiring efforts of the eruptive action.
Tn examining the Moon’s surface, we cannot but be impressed with
the vast dimensions of many of the volcanic craters with which her
surface is studded. Craters of thirty miles: and upwards in diameter
are by no means uncommon, and the first impression on the mind in
reference to such magnitudes is one of astonishment, that so small a
planet as the Moon (whose magnitude is only about jth that of the
earth) should exhibit evidence of volcanic violence so far greater than
any that we have on the earth. This apparent paradox will, however,
disappear when we come to consider that in consequence of the Moon
being so much less than the carth, the force of gravity on its ex-
terior is not above 4th of that on the earth, and that the weight of
1864.] Nasmyrn on the Physical Aspects of the Moon’s Surface. 899
tho lunar materials on its surface is reduced in the latter proportion,
while, on the other hand, by reason of the small magnitude of the
Moon and its proportionately much larger surface in ratio to its magni-
tude, the rate at which it parted with its original cosmical heat must
have been vastly more rapid than in the case of the earth. Now, as the
disruptive and eruptive action and energy are in proportion to the
greater rato of cooling, those forces must have been much greater in the
first instance ; and, operating as they did on matter so much reduced in
weight as if must be on the surface of the Moon, we thus find in com-
bination two conditions most favourable to the display of voleanic force
in the highest degree of violence. Moreover, as the ejected material
in its passage from the centre of discharge had not to encounter any
atmospheric resistance, it was left to continue the primary impulse of
the ejection in the most free and uninterrupted manner, and thus to
deposit itself at distances from the volcanic vent so much greater
than those of which we have any example in the earth, as to result in
the formation of the craters of vast magnitude so frequently encoun-
tered in a survey of the Moon’s surface. In like manner we find the
ejected matter piled up to heights such as create the utmost astonish-
ment; Lunar Mountains of 10,000 feet high are of frequent
oceurrence, while there are several of much greater altitude, some
reaching the vast height of 28,000 feet, and that almost at one bound,
as they start up directly from the plane over which they are seen to
cast their long black, steeple-like shadows for many a mile; whilst at
other times they intercept the rays of the sun upon their highest
peaks many hours before their bases emerge from the profound dark-
ness of the long lunar night.
Among the many terribly sublime scenes with which the Moon’s
surface must abound, none can be grander than that which would
present itself to the spectator, were he placed inside of one of these
vast volcanic craters (Tycho, for instance), surrounded on every side
by the most terrific evidences of volcanic force in its wildest features.
In such a position he would have before him, starting up from the
vast plane below, a mighty obelisk-shaped mountain of some 9,000
feet in height, casting its intense black shadow over the plateau; and
partly up its slope he would see an amphitheatrical range of moun-
tains beyond, which, in spite of their being about forty miles distant,
would appear almost in his immediate proximity (owing to the
absence of that “aerial perspective,” which in terrestrial scenery
imparts a softened aspect to the distant object), so near, indeed, as to
reveal every cleft and chasm to the naked eye! This strange com-
mingling of near and distant objects, the inevitable visual consequence
of the absence of atmosphere or water, must impart to lunar scenery
a terrible aspect; a stern wildness, which may aptly be termed un-
earthly. And when we seek to picture to ourselves, in addition to the
lineaments and conditions of the lunar landscape, the awful effect of
an absolutely black firmament, in which every star, visible above the
horizon, would shine with a steady brilliancy (all causes of scintil-
lation or twinkling being absent, as these effects are due to the presence
of variously heated strata, or currents in our atmosphere), or of the
400 Original Articles. | July,
vivid and glaring sunlight, with which we have nothing to compare in
our subdued solar illumination, made more striking by the contrast of
an intensely black sky; if, we say, we would picture to ourselves the
wild and unearthly scene that would thus be presented to our gaze,
we must search for it in the recollection of some fearful dream.
That such a state of things does exist in the Moon we have no
reason whatever to doubt, if we may be permitted to judge from in-
ferences reasonably and legitimately deduced from the phenomena on
its surface revealed by the telescope; neither can there be a question
as to the presence there of the same brilliant tints and hues which
accompany volcanic phenomena in terrestrial craters, and which
must lend additional effect to the aspect of Iumar scenery. Nor
must we omit, whilst touching upon the scene that would meet the
eye of one placed on the Moon’s surface, the wonderful appearance
that would be presented by our globe, viewed from the side of the
Moon which faces earthward. Possessing sixteen times the super-
ficial area, or four times the diameter, which the Moon exhibits to us,
situated high up in the lunar heavens, passing through all the phases
of a mighty moon, its external aspect ever changing rapidly as it re-
volves upon its axis in the brief space of four-and-twenty hours, what
a glorious orb it would appear! Whilst its atmospheric phenomena,
due to its alternating seasons, and the varying states of weather,
would afford a constant source of interest. But, alas! there can be
none to witness all these glories, for if ever man was justified in
forming a conclusion which possesses the elements of certainty, it is
that there can be no organized form of life, animal or vegetable, of
which we have any cognizance, that would be able to exist upon the
Moon.
Every condition essential to vitality, with which we are con-
versant, appears to be wanting. No air, no water, but a glaring sun,
which pours its fierce burning rays without any modifying influence
for fourteen days unceasingly upon the surface, until the resulting
temperature may be estimated to have reached fully 212°; and no
sooner has that set on any portion of the lunar periphery than a wither-
ing cold supervenes ; the “ cold of space” itself, which must cause the
temperature to sink, in all probability, to 250° below zero. What
plant, what animal could possibly survive such alternations of heat
and cold recurring every fourteen days, or the accompanying climatic
conditions ?
But let us not suppose, because the Moon is thus unfitted for
animal or vegetable existence as known to us, that it is necessarily a
useless waste of extinct volcanoes. Apart from its value as “a lamp
to the earth,” it has a noble task to perform in preventing the stagna-
tion that would otherwise take place in our ocean, which would,
without its influence, be one vast stagnant pool, but is now maintained
in constant, healthy activity, through the agency of the tides that
sweep our shores every four-and-twenty hours, bearing away with
them to sea, all that decaying refuse which would otherwise accumu-
late at the mouths of rivers, there to corrupt, and spread death and
pestilence around. This evil, then, the Moon arrests effectively, and
1864. | Russet on Gun-cotton. 401
with the tides for a mighty broom, it daily sweeps and purifies our
coasts of all that might be dangerous or offensive.
But there is still another duty that she fulfils—namely, in per-
forming the work of a “tug” in bringing vessels up our tidal rivers.
Dwellers in seaports, or those who reside in towns situated up our
tidal streams, have excellent opportunities of observing and appreciating
her value in her towing capacity ; and, indeed, it may with truth be
said that no small portion of the corn with which we are nourished,
and of the coal that glows in our firesides, is brought almost up to
our very doors by the direct agency of the Moon.
GUN-COTTON.
By Joun Scorr Russexz, C.E., F.R.S.
Tux elements are proverbially good servants, but bad masters—Fire,
water, wind, and steam are fierce demons when they get the upper
hand; yet what would civilization be, wanting the fire of the kitchen,
the smith’s hearth, and the foundry ; how should we be, without seas
to carry our boats or rivers to turn our mills? Commerce and mer-
chandise are mainly conducted by the wind and the sails of our mer-
chantmen ; and steam clothes us, and carries us from city to farm,
and from island to continent; yet the earthquake, the volcano, the
conflagration, the torrent, the storm, the hurricane, and the explosion
—what are they but servants become masters ?
It is peculiarly true of steam and gunpowder that they are among
the most useful, and most dangerous of human inventions ; but danger
in both is generally admitted to be a matter merely of skill and care.
No one proposes to put down railways because a locomotive explodes,
or to give up shooting because a gun has burst, or a gunpowder
manufactory blown up.
Gun-cotton is a new power coming under the same category as
steam and gunpowder. It is highly dangerous to those who don’t
possess the necessary knowledge and skill; but, like them, it enor-
mously extends human power, and, like them, the skill to use it can
be rightly and certainly acquired.
The object of this paper is to extend the knowledge and skill of
my countrymen in the use of this new power. It is, I believe, of far
more value to England than to any other nation in the world. It is,
in my opinion, a power capable of being extensively used for a
multitude of purposes yet unheard of; and I believe it will play an
important part in the destinies of England.
The first question we naturally ask on the introduction of a new
power is, what are to be its advantages over existing powers and pro-
cesses? In regard to gun-cotton, we at once ask, therefore, what are
its advantages over gunpowder? Is it stronger? Is it more con-
venient? Is it cheaper? Why should we give up gunpowder and
402 Original Articles. [July,
take to gun-cotton? The answers to these questions categorically
will best introduce it to the English reader.
I. Is gun-cotton stronger than gunpowder? The answer to this
is, Yes, sixfold stronger.
By this we mean that if we take a given weight of gun-cotton, say
four ounces, if we bore a hole 14 inch in diameter and 3 feet deep,
into hard rock or slate, in a quarry, and put 4 ounces of gun-cotton
into it, it will occupy about 1 foot of its length, and the aperture
being closed in the usual manner, and a matchline led from the
charge to the proper distance from which to fire it; and if we next
take 24 ounces of best gunpowder, bore a similar hole, and charge it
similarly with gunpowder, and close it in the same way; it has been
found that, on these being exploded, the 4 ounces of gun-cotton have
produced greater effect, in separating the rock into pieces, than the
24 ounces of gunpowder. The answer is, therefore, that in disruptive
explosion the strength of gun-cotton is sixfold that of good gun-
powder.
But the disruptive or bursting power of gunpowder is not always
the quality for which we value it most, nor the service we require of
it. In mining rocks, in exploding shells, in blowing up fortresses,
this property is what we value, and this work is what we require.
But we do not want to burst our fowling-pieces, our rifles, our
cannon. On the contrary, we want to use a force that shall project
the projectile out of the gun without bursting the gun, without strain-
ing the gun beyond a given moderate limit, which it shall be able to
endure. We want therefore a service from gun-cotton which shall be
the contrary of destructive to, or disruptive of, the chamber in which
it does the work of giving motion to the projectile.
This moderated and modified work, gun-cotton can also perform ;
and it is the modern discovery of General Lenk, which has enabled us
to moderate and modify gun-cotton to this gentler service. He dis-
covered how to organize, arrange, and dispose mechanically of gun-
cotton in such a way that it should be three times stronger than
gunpowder. Accordingly, one of his charges of gun-cotton, weighing
16 ounces, projected a 12-pound solid round shot with a speed of
1,426 feet a second, while a charge of gunpowder of 49 ounces gave
the same shot a speed of 1,400 feet a second. One-third of the
weight of gun-cotton exceeded, therefore, the threefold weight of gun-
powder in useful effect.
II. Is gun-cotton more convenient than gunpowder? This isa
larger and more various question than the former, and divides itself
into various subdivisions.
Tt is well known to sportsmen, to soldiers, to artillery-men, that
gunpowder fouls a gun, A foul residue of soot, sulphur, and potash
soils the inside of the gun after every charge. The gun must, some-
how, be cleaned after a discharge; if not it fires worse, recoils more,
and ceases to do its best. If the gun be a breech-loading gun its
mechanism is dirtied, and works less easily. Gun-cotton deposits no
residue, leaves the gun clean and clear, and the utmost it does is to
leave a gentle dew of clear water on the inside of the bore, this water
1864. ] Russriy on Gun-cotton. 403
being the condensed steam which forms one of the products of its
decomposition. Gun-cotton is, therefore, superior to gunpowder in
not fouling the gun, a result favourable both to quicker and more
accurate firing.
It is further a matter of no slight convenience that gun-cotton
makes no smoke. In mines the smoke of gunpowder makes the air
unbreathable, and for some time after explosion the miners cannot
return to their work. In boring the great tunnel of Mont Cenis
through the Alps, the delay from smoke of powder alone will postpone
the opening of the line for many months. After a properly-conducted
explosion of gun-cotton, the workmen may proceed in their work at
once without inconvenience.
In casemates of fortresses, gunpowder fills the casemates with foul
smoke, and the men speedily sink under the exertion of quick firing.
By using gun-cotton it was ascertained that the men could continue
their work unharmed for double the quantity of firing. This is partly
attributed to the greater heat, and partly to the foulness of the air
produced by gunpowder.
But it is under the decks of our men-of-war, that greatest benefit
is likely to arise from gun-cotton. Not only does the smoke of a
broadside fill the between decks with hot and foul air, but the smoke
of the windward gun blinds the sight, and hinders the aim of the lee-
ward. When there is no smoke, as with gun-cotton, the aim of every
gun may be precise and deliberate. The diminished heat between
decks will also tell powerfully in favour of gun-cotton. In our
armour-plated ships also there is more value in breech-loading guns,
than in any other use of artillery. It is one of the necessities of
breech-loading mechanism, that it be kept clean, and nothing tends
more to derange its perfect action than the greater heat which gun-
powder imparts to the gun from which it is fired.
That gun-cotton has the convenience of not heating the gun has
been thus proved. 100 rounds were fired in 34 minutes with gun-
cotton, and the temperature of the gun was raised 90°. 100 rounds
were fired with gunpowder, and triple the time allowed to cool the
gun, which nevertheless was heated so much as to evaporate water with
a hissing sound, which indicated that its temperature was much above
212°. Under these circumstances the firmg with gunpowder had to be
stopped, while that with gun-cotton was comfortably continued to 180
rounds.
It is also a matter of practical convenience that gun-cotton, inso-
much as it is lighter, can be carried more easily and farther than gun-
powder ; and it may be wetted without danger, so that when dried
again in the open air, it is as good for use as before.
III. We have now to ask—is it cheaper? The answer to this
question must be qualified—pound for pound it is dearer; we must
therefore judge of its cheapness by its effect, not by weight merely.
But where it does six times as much work, it can then be used at six
times the price per pound and still be as cheap as gunpowder. As far
as we yet know, the prices of gun-cotton and gunpowder are nearly
equal, and it is only therefore where the one has advantages and con-
404 Original Articles. [July,
veniences beyond the other, and is more especially suited for some
specific purpose, that it will have the preference. Effective cheap-
ness will therefore depend mainly on which of the two does best the
particular kind of duty required of it.
To illustrate how curiously these two powers, gun-cotton and gun-
powder, differ in their nature, and how the action of gun-cotton may
be changed by mechanical arrangements, we may take one kind of work
that is required of both :—If a General want to blow open the gates of
a city, he orders an enterprising party to steal up to the gate, with a
bag containing 100 lbs. of gunpowder, which he nails to the gate, and
by a proper match-line he fires the gunpowder and bursts open the
gate. If he nailed a bag of gun-cotton of equal weight in the same
place and fired it, the gun-cotton would fail, and the gate would be
uninjured, although the 100 Ibs. of gun-cotton is sixfold more
powerful than the gunpowder. Here, then, gunpowder -has the
advantage—both weight and effect considered.
But the fault here lies not in the gun-cotton, but the way of using
it. If instead of 100 lbs. of gun-cotton in a bag, 25 Ibs. had been
taken in a proper box made for this purpose, and simply laid down
near the gate, and not even nailed to it, this 25 lbs. would shiver the
gate into splinters. The bag which suits the powder happens not to
suit the gun-cotton.
Gun-cotton is therefore a power of a totally different nature from
gunpowder, and requires complete study to know its nature and
understand its use. It appears that both gunpowder and gun-cotton
have special qualities, and may be peculiarly suited for peculiar uses.
It is the duty of a wise people to make use of both to the ends they
each suit best, without prejudice arising from the accident of novelty
or antiquity.
The nature of gun-cotton requires a double study, chemical and
mechanical. It is not like steam, the same substance, whether in the
form of ice or water or steam. It is one substance when as gun-
cotton it enters the gun, and quite a different one when it has exploded
and leaves the gun. Not only are the solids which enter converted
into gas, but they form totally new combinations and substances. So
that the marvellous changes which the chemist effects by the magic
of his art take placein an instant of time, and during that almost
inconceivably minute period of time, in a laboratory intensely heated,
old substances are dissolved, their material atoms are redistributed,
each atom released selects by natural affinity a new partner, these
new unions are cemented, and at the end of this prolific instant totally
new combinations of matter, forming what we call new substances, issue
from the gun. It so happens that of these new substances, formed out
of gun-cotton, all are pure transparent gases, while in the case of gun-
powder there remain 68 per cent. of solid residue, and only 32 per
cent. are pure gases.
It is to chemistry however, that we must look for full and authen-
tic information as to these wonderful changes: first, from the innocent,
gentle cotton wool in which our wives and daughters wrap their jewels
for soft keeping, into the terrible and irresistible compound of nitric
1864. | Russert on Gun-cotton. 405
acid and cotton fibre which forms tri-nitro-cellulose, the chemical
name of gun-cotton. Chemistry must also tell us how tri-nitro-
cellulose is to be turned by heat into transparent explosive gases of
such tremendous power.
In short, chemistry has to supply us with the new material, and it
is to the science of mechanics that we must look for inventions, of the
best way to manipulate and apply it to use for doing the practical
work we set it to, in the most effectual, convenient, and economical
way.
The chemistry of gun-cotton is therefore the first part of our
study of this power, and the mechanics of gun-cotton forms the
second.
I.—Tue Cuemistry or Gun-Corron.*
Although gun-cotton was discovered eighteen years ago by one of
the first chemists of the day, Professor Schonbein, and researches on
its nature and preparation were almost immediately instituted in this
country by Porrett, Teschemacher, Taylor, Gladstone and others, no
accurate knowledge of the true constitution and chemical nature of
this important material was obtained until Hadow, an English chemist,
published in 1854 the result of some valuable investigations by which
the mode of formation and composition of gun-cotton were conclusively
established.
Cotton, or cellulose as it is termed by chemists, is built up of a
certain number of atoms of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Chemistry
is scarcely yet able to point out how these atoms are probably
arranged ; but there appears to be no doubt that some of the elemen-
tary particles are so intimately connected with the very existence
of cotton, that they cannot be displaced or removed without destroy-
ing the very existence of the substance ; whilst other atoms, on the
contrary, are more loosely held together, and are gifted with a certain
mobility which enables them to be taken out altogether without
materially altering the outward physical character of the cotton,
provided the spaces which these atoms would leave vacant, are
immediately filled up by certain other atoms. Now, without entering
into the details of chemical formule, which would neither interest our
readers nor render our meaning more intelligible, we may briefly say
that, in ordinary cotton, three atoms of the hydrogen (of which there
are ten altogether) are in this loose state of combination, and may be
removed and their places filled up by a compound atom of hyponitric
acid without so far altering the character of the substance as to ren-
der the name of cotton inapplicable to it. It may be just mentioned
in passing, that it is not necessary that the whole three atoms of
hydrogen should be taken out and their places filled up by hyponitric
acid ; only one or two of them may be so replaced, but as these are
inferior for explosive purposes (although of great use to photographers,
inasmuch as when dissolved in ether they form collodion), we need
* For this portion of my paper I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Wm.
Crookes, F.R.S.
406 Original Articles. [July,
only direct our attention to the compound with the highest displace-
ment. From its explosiveness and consequent similarity to gun-powder,
this has been called gun-cotton. In scientific language, following the
excellent custom adopted by chemists in the nomenclature of organic
compounds, a name has been given to it which fully expresses its
composition: cellulose being the scientific name for cotton, and the
prefix nitro being added when any of the hydrogen in an organic com-
pound is replaced by hyponitric acid (by no means an uncommon
occurrence in organic chemistry), chemists call the product in this
instance tri-nitro-cellulose, signifying that it is cellulose, in which three
equivalents of the hydrogen are replaced by nitrous acid. It is also
sometimes called pyrowilin, under the impression, we suppose, that by
translating a useful English term into barbarous Greek it becomes
scientific. This system of pseudo-scientific nomenclature is, unfor-
tunately, too common. If an expressive, convenient, but empirical name
be desired, by all means let us have the common English name in
popular use. If, on the other hand, a scientific term be required, let
us, in the name of all that is scientific, build up this name according
to the orthodox rules of science; but we protest against a name like
pyroxilin, which leads to nothing but the inference that science is not
indigenous to the soil of England.
Most European governments have attempted to utilize gun-cotton
in warfare. Soon after its discovery, Messrs. Hall, the well-known
gunpowder makers at Faversham, commenced its manufacture upon a
considerable scale: their factory had, however, not been long in opera-
tion before a very disastrous explosion occurred, by which a number
of men lost their lives, and this was ascribed to the spontaneous
ignition of the gun-cotton : the manufacture was therefore abandoned
in England.
As early as the winter of 1846 a French manufactory was estab-
lished at the Government Powder Works at Bouchet, near Paris, and
much valuable information was obtained respecting the comparative
value of gun-cotton and gunpowder; but three disastrous explosions
occurring within a year (one taking place in a magazine near which
it was believed that no one had been for several days) put a stop,
until quite recently, to further experiments.
In Austria, experiments were likewise instituted, and although
the committee of the German Confederation pronounced unfavour-
ably upon it, one of the members, General Lenk, devoted himself
assiduously to its study, and with such success that the Austrian
Government were induced to reconsider their adverse determination.
The manufacture was commenced upon a large scale, and above forty
batteries of guns were furnished with this agent, and successfully used.
The complete supersession of gunpowder by gun-cotton was con-
sidered certain, when an explosion, which took place at the Austrian
gun-cotton magazines at Limering, again put a stop (to some extent)
to its use in artillery. Another Austrian committee, however, re-
ported so favourably on its value, stability, and non-liability to spon-
taneous explosion, that gun-cotton was again restored to favour.
The very favourable accounts respecting the value of gun-cotton
1864, | Russet on Gun-cotton. 407
for warlike purposes, which were from time to time received by our
government, led to experiments on a considerable scale in this country.
The manufacture of this agent is now in full operation both at the
Government Powder Works at Waltham Abbey, and also at a large pri-
vate manufactory at Stowmarket.
The great danger in the case of the early gun-cotton was its liability
to spontaneous explosion, and whilst there remained the slightest sus-
picion of such a possibility, its employment for war purposes was out
of the question. The investigations of General Lenk have shown
that this accident is due to imperfect preparation, and that by adopting
the precautions which he has pointed out, its spontaneous ignition is
impossible. It has been very clearly established that the lower nitro-
compounds of cellulose, that is, cotton in which only one or two of
the atoms of hydrogen are replaced by hyponitric acid, are much more
easily decomposed than the compound in which the replacement has
proceeded to its fullest extent. Tri-nitro-cellulose, or true gun-cotton,
is a remarkably stable compound under all possible atmospheric con-
ditions, but it is by no means easy to ensure the complete conversion of
cotton into this body, and it has been shown to be in the highest
degree probable that the explosions which put a stop to the early
attempts at utilizing gun-cotton were due to its incomplete conversion.
The directions given by Schénbein, although successful on the small
scale, fail when tried with large quantities, and to General Lenk is
due the credit of devising a process of manufacture which gives an
absolutely uniform and true chemical compound when working on
the largest scale. Ordinary gun-cotton is generally made by saturating
cotton-wool with a mixture of one part of concentrated nitric acid and
three parts of oil of vitriol, and allowing the mixture to stand at rest
for one hour; it is then thoroughly washed and allowed to dry in the
air. This process is tolerably successful when only about half-an-
ounce of cotton is treated at one time, but it is found to be ineffectual
in making a uniform and safe material for war purposes. The most
important of the precautions recommended by General Lenk, are, the
cleansing and perfect desiccation of the cotton as a preliminary to
its immersion in the acids; the employment of the strongest acids
obtainable in commerce ; the steeping of the cotton in a strong mix-
ture of acids after its first immersion and its partial conversion into gun-
cotton ; the continuance of the steeping for forty-eight hours ; and the
thorough purification of the gun-cotton so produced from every trace
of free acid : this is secured by its being washed in a stream of water
for several weeks. Subsequently a weak solution of potash may be
used, but this is not essential. The prolonged continuance of these
processes, which would appear superfluous at first sight, is really
essential, when we consider that each cotton fibre is a long, narrow,
tube, often twisted and even doubled up, and the acid has first to
penetrate into the very farthest depths of these tubes, and has after-
wards to be soaked out of them. Hence the necessity of time.
It appears that gun-cotton, prepared in this manner, is a true
chemical compound, and is not liable to the objections which have
been urged against that mixture of compounds which has been usually
408 Original Articles. | July,
employed in experiments. The advantages which it possesses may be
classed as follows :—
1. It is of uniform composition, and thus the force of the gases
generated on explosion may be accurately estimated.
2. It will not ignite till raised to a temperature of 300° F. (as a
rule, the temperature must be raised much higher). This is consider-
ably lower than the igniting point of gunpowder, but, being much
above the heat of boiling water, it can only occur when artificially pro-
duced by means which would render gunpowder itself lable to
ignition.
3. It is almost absolutely free from ash when exploded under
pressure in a confined space.
4. It has a very marked superiority in stability over other forms
of gun-cotton, having been kept unaltered for fifteen years.
One great advantage which gun-cotton possesses over gunpowder,
and which ought to have considerable weight in any discussion of
their comparative uses for national purposes, is, that gun-cotton is un-
affected by water. Gunpowder in a damp atmosphere will soon be
completely spoiled, and it cannot afterwards be restored to a service-
able condition without being again submitted to the processes of manu-
facture, starting almost from the commencement. Gun-cotton, on the
contrary, although it gets damp in a moist atmosphere, rapidly returns
to its ordinary state when exposed to air of average dryness. Com-
plete immersion in water for an indefinite period has no injurious
action on it, for when afterwards dried by exposure to the air, it is as
good as ever. The absolute safety which this property would confer
upon the magazines of forts and ships cannot be too highly urged ;
the explosive material could be kept permanently in tanks full of
water, in which case a lighted candle or even a red-hot shot would be
a harmless visitant. When required for action, a centrifugal drying
machine and a hot-water closet would supply the combatants with any
quantity at a few hours’ notice.
When gun-cotton is ignited in a close vessel, such as a shell or
the chamber of a gun, it is at once converted into certain gases, the
principal being carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, nitrogen, light carbu-
retted hydrogen, hydrogen, and steam. The introduction of the
hyponitric acid, a compound containing a large excess of oxygen,
gives to the cotton a sufficient amount of this gas to reduce it com-
pletely to the state of vapour; but although only gases are produced,
there is not enough oxygen for their complete combustion. About 40
per cent. are inflammable, and produce a bright flash when they emerge
into the air from the mouth of the gun.
Ii.—Tur Meouantics or GuN-corron.
The mechanical application of gun-cotton may be considered to be
due exclusively to Major-General Lenk, of the Austrian service. Pure
gun-cotton becomes either a powerful explosive agent, or a docile per-
former of mechanical duty, not according to any change in its compo-
sition, or variation in its elements or their proportions, but according
1864. ] Russevt on Gun-cotton. 409
to the mechanical structure which is given to it, or the mechanical
arrangements of which it is made a part. It was General Lenk who
discovered that structure was quality, and mechanical arrangement
the measure of power, in gun-cotton ; and in his hands, a given quan-
tity of the same cotton becomes a mild, harmless, ineffectual firework,
a terrible, irresistible, explosive agent, or a pliable, powerful, obedient
workman.
The first form which General Lenk bestowed on gun-cotton was
that of a continuous yarn or spun thread. Gunpowder is carefully
made into round grains of a specific size. Gun-cotton is simply a
long thread of cotton fibre, systematically spun into a yarn of given
weight per yard, of given tension, of given specific weight. A hank
of a given length is reeled, just like a hank of cotton yarn to be made
into cloth, and in this state gun-cotton yarn is bought and sold like
any other article of commerce.
This cotton yarn converted into gun-cotton may be called, there-
fore, the raw material of commerce. In this form it is not at all
explosive in the common sense of the word. You may set fire to a
hank of it, and it will burn rapidly with a large flame; but if you
yourself keep out of the reach of the flame, and keep other combusti-
bles beyond reach, no harm will happen, and no explosion or concus-
sion will result. If you lay a long thread of it round your garden
walk at night, disposing it in a waving line with large balls of gun-
cotton thread at intervals, and light one end of the thread, it will form
a beautiful firework, the slow lambent flame creeping along with a
will-o’-th’-wisp-looking light, only with a measured speed of 6 inches
per second, or 30 feet a minute; the wind hastening it or retarding it
as it blows with or against the line of the thread. This is the best
way to commence an acquaintance with this interesting agent.
Care must be taken not to become too familiar with gun-cotton
even in this harmless and playful guise; cotton dresses will readily
catch fire from it, and it should not be treated with less care to keep
fire from it than gunpowder. In one respect it is less liable to cause
danger than gunpowder. Grains of powder are easily dropped
through a crevice, and may be sprinkled about in a scarcely noticeable
form, but a hank of gun-cotton is a unit, which hangs together and
cannot strew itself about by accident.
The second form of gun-cotton is an arrangement compounded out
of the elementary yarn. It resembles the plaited cover of a riding-
whip ; it is plaited round a core or centre which is hollow. In this
form it is match-line, and, although formed merely of the yarn plaited
into a round hollow cord, this mechanical arrangement has at once
conferred on it the quality of speed. Instead of travelling as before
only 6 inches a second, it now travels 6 feet a second.
The third step in mechanical arrangement is to enclose this cord
in a close outer skin or coating, made generally of India-rubber cloth,
and in this shape it forms a kind of match-line, that will carry fire at a
speed of from 20 to 30 feet per second.
It is not easy to gather from these changes what is the cause which
so completely changes the nature of the raw cotton by mechanical
410 Original Articles. [ July,
arrangement alone. Why a straight cotton thread should burn with
a slow creeping motion when laid out straight, and with a rapid one
when wound round in a cord, and again much faster when closed in
from the air, is far from obvious at first sight; but the facts being so,
deserve mature consideration.
The cartridge of a common rifle in gun-cotton is nothing more
than a piece of match-line in the second form enclosed in a stout paper-
tube, to prevent it being rammed down like powder. The ramming
down, which is essential to the effective action of gunpowder, is fatal
to that of gun-cotton. To get useful work out of a gun-cotton rifle,
the shot must on no account be rammed down, but simply transferred
to its place. Air left in a gunpowder barrel is often supposed to
burst the gun; in a gun-cotton barrel, it only mitigates the effect of
the charge. The object of enclosing the gun-cotton charge in a hard
strong pasteboard cartridge, is to keep the cotton from compression
and give it room to do its work.
It is a fourth discovery of General Lenk, that to enable gun-cotton
to perform its work in artillery practice, the one thing to be done is to
“give it room.” Don’t press it together—don’t cram it into small
bulk! give it at least as much room as gunpowder in the gun, even
though there be only one-third or one-fourth of the quantity (measured
by weight). 1b. of gun-cotton will carry a shot as far as 3 or 4 Ibs.
of gunpowder ; but that pound should have at least a space of 160
cubic inches in which to work.
This law rules the practical application of gun-cotton to artillery.
A cartridge must not be compact, it must be spread out or expanded
to the full room it requires. For this purpose, a hollow space is pre-
served in the centre of the cartridge by some means or other. The
best means is to use a hollow thin wooden tube to form a core; this
tube should be as long as to leave-a sufficient space behind the shot
for the gun-cotton. On this long core the simple cotton yarn is wound
round like thread on a bobbin, and sufficiently thick to fill the cham-
ber of the gun ; indeed, a lady’s bobbin of cotton thread is the innocent
type of the most destructive power of modern times—only the wood
in the bobbin must be small in quantity in proportion to the gun-
cotton in the charge. There is no other precaution requisite except
to enclose the whole in the usual flannel bag.
The artillerist who uses gun-cotton has therefore a tolerably
simple task to perform if he merely wants gun-cotton to do the duty
of gunpowder. He has only to occupy the same space as the gun-
powder with one-fourth of the weight of gun-cotton made up in the
bobbin as described, and he will fire the same shot at the same speed.
This is speaking 1 in a general way, for it may: were in some guns as
much as } of the weight of gunpowder and +; the bulk of charge to
do the same work ; a little experience will settle the exact point, and
greater experience may enable the gun-cotton to exceed the per-
formance of the gunpowder in every way.
The fifth principle in the use of gun-cotton is that involved in its
application to bursting uses. The miner wants the stratum of coal
torn from its bed, or the fragment of ore riven from its lair ; the civil
1864. ] Russreiyt on Gun-cotton. 41]
engineer wishes to remove a mountain of stone out of the way of a
locomotive engine ; and the military engineer to drive his way into
the fortress of an enemy, or to destroy the obstacles purposely laid in
his way. This is a new phase of duty for gun-cotton—it is the work
of direct destruction. In artillery youdo not want to destroy directly,
but indirectly. You don’t want to burst your gun, nor even to injure
it ; and, we have seen, in order to secure this, you have only to give
it room.
The fifth principle, therefore, is, to make it destructive—to cause
it to shatter everything to pieces which it touches, and for this
purpose you have only to deprive it of room. Give it room, and it
is obedient ; imprison it, and it rebels. Shut up without room, there
is nothing tough enough or strong enough to stand against it.
To carry this into effect, the densest kind of gun-cotton must be
used. It must no longer consist of fine threads or hollow textures
wound on roomy cores. All you have to do is to make it dense,
solid, hard. Twist it, squeeze it, ram it, compress it; and insert
this hard, dense cotton rope or cylinder or cake in a hole in a rock,
or the drift of a tunnel, or the bore of a mine; close it up, and it will
shatter it to pieces. In a recent experiment, 6 ounces of this
material set to work in a tunnel not only brought down masses which
powder had failed to work, but shook the ground under the feet of
the engineers in a way never done by the heaviest charges of powder.
To make gun-cotton formidable and destructive, squeeze it and
close it up; to make it gentle, slow, and manageable, ease it and give
it room. To make gunpowder slow and gentle, you do just the con-
trary: you cake, condense, and harden it to make it slow, safe for
guns, and effective.
To carry out this principle successfully, you have to carry it even
to the extreme. Ask gun-cotton to separate a rock already half-
separated, it will refuse to comply with your request. Give it a
light burden of earth and open rock to lift, it will fail. If you want
it to do the work, you must invent a ruse,—you must make believe
that the work is hard, and it will be done. Invent a difficulty and
put it between the cotton and its too easy work, and it will doit. The
device is amazingly successful. If the cotton have work to do that
is light and easy, you provide it with a strong box, which is hard to
burst, a box of iron for example; close a small charge, that would be
harmless, in a little iron box, and then place that box in the hole
where formerly the charge exploded harmless, and in the effort it
makes to burst that box, the whole of the light work will disappear
before it.
Of the effect of such an explosion, an illustration accompanies this
paper. The two drawings represent two views of a stockade, in close
contiguity to which a charge of 25 lbs. of gun-cotton, placed in an
iron box, was employed, and the consequences will be seen in the two
rent and shattered trees, the largest 20 ches in diameter, which
were not only removed from their places, but by some unexplained
action shattered throughout into matchwood, This explosion was the
VOL. I. 2F
412 Original Articles. | July,
first trial of English-made gun-cotton, and was made at Stowmarket,
in spring.
It is, therefore, the nature of gun-cotton to rise to the occasion and
to exert force exactly in proportion to the obstacle it encounters.
For destructive shells this quality is of the highest value. You can
make your shell so strong that nothing can resist its entrance, and
when arrived at its destination no shell can prevent its gun-cotton
charge from shivering it to fragments. .
These are the main principles in the mechanical manipulation of
gun-cotton which will probably render it for the future so formidable
an instrument of war. Resistances too great for gunpowder only
suffice to elicit the powers of gun-cotton. On the other hand, in its
elementary state as the open cotton yarn, it is playful, slow, gentle,
and obedient; there is scarcely any mechanical drudgery you can
require of it that it is not as ready and fit to do as steam, or gas, or
water, or other elementary power.
Tn conclusion, I may be asked to say as a mechanic what I think
can be the nature and source of this amazing power of gun-cotton. In
reply let me ask, Who shall say what takes place in that pregnant in-
stant of time when a spark of fire enters the charge, and one-hundredth
part of a second of time suffices to set millions of material atoms loose
from fast ties of former affinity, and leaves them free every one to
elect his mate, and uniting in a new bond of affinity, to come out of
that chamber a series of new-born substances ? Who shall tell me all
that happens then? I will not dare to describe the phenomena of
that pregnant instant. But I will say this, that it is an instant of in-
tense heat—one of its new-born children is a large volume of steam
and water. When that intense heat and that red-hot steam were
united in the chamber of that gun and that mine, two powers were met
whose union no matter yet contrived has been strong enough to
compress and confine. When I say that a gun-cotton gun is a steam-
gun, and when I say that at that stant of intense heat, the atoms of
water and the atoms of fire are in contact atom to atom, it is hard
to believe that it should not give rise to an explosion infinitely
stronger than any case of the generation of steam by filtering the
heat leisurely through the metal skins of any high-pressure boiler.
Quarterly Journal of Science Nes
oY eS
from Photogvaphs . M&N Hanhart Imp De Walde lth
OAPLOSIVE KEFECTS OF THE FIRST CHARGE OF ENGLISH MADE GUN COTTON
( Two views of the Stockade )
h
1864. | Jenkins on Brackish-water Fossils of Crete. 413
BRACKISH-WATER FOSSILS OF CRETE.
Being Illustrations of the Characters of Fluviatile, Lacustrine, and
Estuarine Formations.
By H. M. Jennys, F.G.8., Assistant-Secretary of the Geological
Society.
Tue Grecian Archipelago and the surrounding mainland have a truly
classic interest for the Geologist, not so much on account of their
geographical position and ancient fame, as because they were the
scenes of some of the most famous labours of the late Professor
Edward Forbes, a naturalist who, in his brief but brilliant career,
was enabled, chiefly through his investigations in these regions, to
throw the bright light of genius over some of the most intricate paths
of paleontological research, and who thus invested the eastern portion
of the Mediterranean with a far greater interest to the geologist than it
otherwise ever would have possessed. Still it must not be supposed that
the region is barren of facts outside the common course of geological
phenomena, for, as was shown by Professor Forbes, the fresh-water and
estuarine strata which occur there contain fossils exhibiting remark-
able modifications of form caused by the more or less adverse influences
of the conditions under which they lived.
The fossil shells which have given rise to this paper, and which
are figured in the Plate, and described in the Appendix, were submitted
to my examination by Capt. 'T’. Spratt, R.N., C.B., F.G.S., who was
the companion of Professor Edward Forbes in a great portion of his
travels in Asia Minor and the regions round about, and conjoint-author
with him of the ‘ Travels in Lycia; and he is now busily engaged in
bringing out a work on the Island of Crete, which will doubtless add
to his already high reputation as a geologist.
Of the other observers who have travelled in these regions, and
have contributed to our knowledge of their geology, I may mention Mr.
Hamilton, F.R.S., now President of the Geological Society, and his
fellow-traveller, the late Hugh Strickland, who were the first to
explore geologically these classic countries. We are also much
indebted to M. Tchihatcheff and M. Raulin, whose papers have been
published in the ‘ Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France.’
The ancient Lake of the Eastern Mediterranean.—One of the prin-
cipal points brought forward by Captain Spratt, in his several papers,
is that the Eastern portion of the Mediterranean, including Greece,
parts of Asia Minor, and probably the north-eastern extremity of
Africa, was at some distant epoch in the Tertiary period, the site of
a huge fresh-water lake ; but the precise geological date at which it
existed has not yet been satisfactorily made out, though it probably
coincided with that of the deposition of the estuarine strata about to
be noticed.
Many years ago, Messrs. Hamilton and Strickland described a
series of lacustrine beds i in various parts of Asia Minor, where it appears
ar2
414 Original Articles. [ July,
to be the formation most commonly met with in the low grounds;
while Captain Spratt has given descriptions of similar strata occurring
near Smyrna, and in Lycia, as well as in the Islands of Samos, Rhodes,
Cos, Cerigo, &c.; but there is some confusion as to their probable
age. Captain Spratt originally considered all of them to be of
Eocene date, it being borne in mind, however, that when that opinion
was published, the term ‘ Kocene’ included what is now known as
Lower Miocene, and referred to under that name in these pages.
With the assistance of Professor Forbes, this opinion was after-
wards somewhat modified, the Smyrna beds being still retained as
Eocene (=Lower Miocene), but the Lycian strata, as well as those of
Cos and Rhodes, being considered newer. To the supposed age of
these newer fresh-water beds I shall have occasion to refer presently
at some length, as it bears very importantly upon the age of some of
the fossils under consideration.
Geology of the Eastern Mediterranean Region.—The Tertiary beds
of Greece, of the Islands of the Archipelago, and of Asia Minor, are
generally found reposing on the Apennine Limestone, or Scaglia,
which is of Cretaceous age, or else abutting against it, the Scaglia
in such cases forming the high land of the interior, and the Tertiary
beds skirting it and facing the sea, and often extending to the coast.
Some of these Tertiary strata contain marine remains, others include
fresh-water (probably lacustrine) organisms, and the fossils figured in
the Plate were probably from a brackish-water lake or estuary.
For the better understanding of the subject it will, first of all, be
necessary to give a synopsis of the argument which has been supposed
to prove that the fresh-water beds of the Valley of the Xanthus, of
Cos, and of Rhodes, are of Pliocene age, and for this purpose I must
call in the aid of Professor Forbes and Captain Spratt.*
Relative Age of the Marine and Fresh-water Strata of Lycia—In
the Valleys of Xanthus and Kassabar there is a fresh-water formation
supposed to be more recent than certain marine sandy strata, con-
taining shells which also occur in the Upper Miocene beds of
Bordeaux, Touraine, &c.; and the manner in which this is apparently
proved may be thus stated. The valley of Xanthus is bounded on
each side by hills of highly-inclined Scaglia, upon which rests con-
formably a slightly newer deposit termed ‘Macigno.’ The floor of
the valley consists of horizontal beds of marl, capped by conglomerate,
and containing fresh-water fossils. High up on the hill-sides are
patches of the marine formation in question, dipping west at a high
angle, and it has been assumed to be the older, entirely on account of
its being inclined, while the fresh-water beds are horizontal ; the order
of events being—(1) its deposition horizontally over where the valley
now is, (2) its tilting-up and entire denudation, and (3) the deposition
of fresh-water beds in its place. Granting the assumed basis of the
argument, the reasoning is perfectly correct.
Furthermore, the Xanthus fossils are some of them identical with
those occurring in the island of Cos, in a fresh-water formation forming
* ¢Travelis in Lycia,’ vol. ii. p. 175.
1864.] Jenkins on Brackish-water Fossils of Crete. 415
the wall of a series of marine beds containing newer Pliocene fossils ;
so that the fresh-water beds must be the older, and as, granting the cor-
rectness of the former argument, they have been proved to be newer than
the Upper Miocene, they must, in that case, hold an intermediate
position, and on these grounds they have been termed Older Pliocene.
Thus far, excluding the scepticism, I have followed Professor
Forbes and Captain Spratt, who enunciated the above (apparently) con-
vineing proof of the age of the Cos and Xanthus fresh-water beds in the
‘Travels in Lycia’ already referred to. From a very brief considera-
tion of the argument, the principle on which it is based will make
itself apparent to everyone. The object is to fix a limit in both
directions to the age of the strata, or, to use the original terms, to find
an ‘ante-date’ and an ‘ after-date,—a process often resorted to by the
inquisitive in their efforts to discover the ages of their friends !
If we inquire a little more closely into the basis of the argument,
namely, that the inclined position of the marine strata is suggestive of
their greater age (which is altogether assumed), we shall find, on
reference to the section given below, that they dip the wrong way !—and
thus a doubt is cast upon the whole of the reasoning. The following
explanation will make my meaning clear: suppose the Scaglia and
Macigno to be more or less horizontal, and the marine formation to
be deposited conformably on it, then suppose the valley to be formed
by the elevation of the Scaglia on each side, and to be rendered deeper
by the erosion of the marine strata, it is evident that the remaining
patches of the marime formation would dip conformably with the
Scaglia, not at nearly right angles to it, as in the following section :—
Section across the Valley of Xanthus.—(After Forbes and Spratt.)
E, We
S
X
Se
Cate
SS =
€
@ Marine sandy strata (Miocene), dipping from the centre of the valley-
b. Conglomerate. c. Marl (freshwater). d, Macigno,
e. Scaglia (Cretaceous) dipping towards the centre of the valley.
On the other hand, if the Scaglia were upheaved, as it evidently was,
before the deposition of the marine beds, it is quite impossible that the
latter could have been deposited horizontally and afterwards tilted up,
because the Scaglia must have been affected at the same time; and if
we assume that its dip was lower when the marine beds were formed,
the latter must have been deposited almost vertical, which cannot be
credited for a moment; and if the marine Tertiaries were deposited
in a horizontal position, the Scaglia must formerly have been nearly
vertical. Indeed, it is evident that the apparent dip of the marine
416 Original Articles. | July,
beds is due to false-bedding, and not to elevation at all; consequently
it is no indication of their being older than the horizontal fresh-water
strata, ‘
Again, supposing that the marine beds were the older, they must
once have filled up the valley. By what manner of water-action could
they have been so completely washed away that no trace of them
exists anywhere beneath the fresh-water formation, and only small
patches are left high up on the hill-sides, where they could least of
all be expected ?
Considering all the difficulties in the way of the marine beds being
the older, and that there is no physical reason why they should not be
the newer (granting the apparent dip to be due to the false-bedding),
we may legitimately compare the fossils of the Cos and Xanthus fresh-
water beds, with the shells figured in the Plate, without taking into
account their supposed Pliocene age, to which view, it will be found,
their evidence is entirely antagonistic. It may be remarked, however,
that if the fresh-water strata are the older, the lowest bed, in which
occur the same genera as Captain Spratt has obtained from Crete,
must, according to its fossils, either be very low down in the Upper
Miocene, or must belong to the Lower Miocene: perhaps it does not
matter which we consider it; but the point I shall now attempt to
establish is that our Cretan fossils are of the same age.
Geological Age of the Fossils under consideration.—A glance at the
following lists will show that of those from Cerigo, all, with the
exception of Cerithium Cytherorum (a new species), occur in the
Upper Miocene of Europe, while two began life earlier. The balance
of evidence is therefore strongly in favour of the Cerigo fossils being
Upper Miocene ; that is to say, of the age of the Vienna and Bordeaux
Basins. The marine formation in Crete, described by M. Raulin, and
said to be of Miocene age, may possibly belong to the same set of
strata, though his list does not include any of our species, which are
less decidedly marine than those enumerated by him.
The Cretan specimens being, however, all ditterent from those of
Cerigo, with one exception, require further discussion. Melanopsis
buccinoidea, the only species common to both sets of fossils, is also
one of those which appeared first in strata older than the Upper
Miocene, and with it is associated in Crete Cerithium Lamarckii,
which began life in Hocene times and extended up into the Lower
Miocene, but which has not been found in newer strata. On the
other hand, we have Melanopsis Bouei, representing the Upper
Miocene period, and a species of Unio, allied to Unio litoralis, which
tells us very little concerning its age. The remaining species, three
in number, are new, and one of them presents some remarkable
modifications of form, so that it is rather difficult to form a correct
idea of their geological date.
The genus Unio contains very many species, resembling one
another so closely as to render it very difficult to distinguish them,
especially in the fossil state, so that very little reliance can be placed
on them as indicative of the age of Tertiary strata. Melanopsis
buccimotdea, as we have seen, furnishes no clue to the age of beds
1864. | JunKins on Brackish-water Fossils of Crete. 417
in which it occurs, its range being so extended. Cerithiwm Lamarekii,
on the contrary, is a well-known shell, which occurs abundantly in
Lower Miocene strata, and is found also in the Eocene “ Sables de
Beauchamp,” so that its occurrence would appear to stamp the age of
the deposit as Lower Miocene or older, and to the period named I
am inclined to refer it, though it is not impossible that a larger col-
lection of shells may prove it to be somewhat newer. But the great
difference between these shells and recent species renders it impos-
sible that the deposit should be Pliocene, as has been supposed.
It by no means follows, however, that there is no more recent
formation in Crete ; on the contrary, M. Raulin, in a paper on the
geology of Crete,* speaks of a lacustrine limestone above a marine
formation; and a late lacustrine deposit occurring in the plains in
the interior of the island furnished him with the lower jaw of a
Hippopotamus.
The so-called lacustrine formation of Rhodes contains species of
Neritina and Melanopsis, the latter being M. Bouei ; with it occurs
Cerithium plicatum, an associate of C. Lamarckii in the Paris and
Mayence basins. Although the occurrence of Cerithiwm plicatum is,
of itself, not antagonistic to the Upper Miocene age of the strata, yet,
when associated with C. Lamarckii, it seems reasonable to consider
them, for the present at least, as Lower Miocene, especially as the
only true Upper Miocene species occurring with them is Melanopsis
Bouei, and the only recent species is M. buccinoidea, which occurs in
great numbers in‘Lower Miocene strata also. The only obstacle to
the Upper Miocene age of the beds is, in fact, the occurrence of
Cerithium Lamarckii ; and, although there is no reason why that
species may not occur higher in the series, yet as it has not been
found in that position hitherto, and as the evidence is at present
strongly in favour of its Lower Miocene age in Crete, we must consider
it for the present limited to Hocene and Lower Miocene strata.
Malformed Shells.—The fresh-water beds of Rhodes are admitted
to be of the same age as those of Cos and Xanthus, some species of
shells being common to, the three localities, and the remarkable
Neritina abnormis (Figs. Ta to Te of the Plate) from Crete being very
near the Neritina from Cos figured by Professor Forbes,t if not
identical with it. The specimens from both islands exhibit the same
kind of malformation, showing that the faune of both series of strata
lived under similar conditions, which appear to have been unfavour-
able to some of the species
On examination, it will be seen that the older the specimen, the
more distorted does it appear, and the larger are the keels on the
whorls, and that, at last, tubercles and even spines spring from them.
Soin Figs. 8a to 8c, representing a Unio, the same kind of result is
seen in the great thickness of the shell, and the small size of one of
the specimens, and in Figs. 4a to 4c in the comparative coarseness of
the ribs of Melanopsis Bouei. The Neritina represented in Figs. 6a
* Bull. Soe. Géol. de France. Deuxiéme Série, vol. xiii.
} ‘Travels in Lycia,’ vol. ii. p. 203.
418 Original Articles. | July,
to 6d has escaped this malformation, to a great extent, but still it is
not always quite free from distortion.
But the most remarkable shell “ cheated of feature by dissembling
nature ” is shown in Figs. 3a and 3b; it is turned the wrong way,
and this circumstance, with its peculiar ornament, gives it such a
singular appearance, that out of twenty shells spread out on a table,
a conchologist would certainly take up this one first, as I have verified
by experiment. It seems to defy determination. There are two
specimens in Captain Spratt’s collection, so that its reversal is not
accidental, but, with its thickness and coarse ornament, is apparently
due to its having lived under unfavourable circumstances. The
species is certainly new, and I have called it Melania(?) anomala,
though I am by no means sure of its genus.
These monstrous kinds of growth are interesting on many grounds,
and especially so in relation to the mode of formation of the deposit
in which they oceur. Professor Forbes and Captain Spratt described
such malformed shells from Cos several years ago in the ‘Travels in
Lycia;’ but some of them belonged to the genus Paludina, and others,
as in this case, to the genera Neritina and Melanopsis. The Cretan
specimens that exhibit abnormal characters belong to the two last-
named genera, and to the bivalve genus Unio; but the Cerithia, which
cannot live in fresh water, are quite normal in appearance.
Malformation as a Test of Habitat.—It is easy to see that mal-
formations of this kind may furnish an important clue to the origin of
a formation ; for instance, in this case, the most truly marine genus
is represented by species exhibiting normal characters, while the more
fresh-water genera are distorted ; thus it appears impossible to assign
a purely fresh-water origin to the deposit, and we shall presently see
that this conclusion is borne out by independent arguments.
Nearly fifty years ago, M. Beudant proved by experiment, that of
the mollusks which inhabit fresh water, those only which had the power
of shutting off all communication between themselves and the water
they lived in could resist the action of brackish or salt water; that is
to say, only bivalves and operculated univalves could exist at all under
such circumstances. Upon @ priori grounds it is allowable to extend
this law, for certain pulmoniferous gasteropods are operculated ; but,
as they cannot breathe without rising to the surface, and as that pro-
cess entails repeated contact with the noxiously salt water, it is but
reasonable to conclude that they could not long survive such a
disagreeable necessity. We may therefore say that all pulmoniferous
gasteropods and all non-operculated fresh-water gasteropods are unable
to live in salt or brackish water.
But although these bivalve and operculated univalve mollusks
could resist the action of salt water for a time, M. Beudant found that
even the latter could only live permanently if the water contained
not more than 4 per cent. of saline matter, and that even this small
quantity was sufficient to kill the bivalves after a short time ; hence
arises the paucity of shells of the genera Unio, Cyclas, &c., in brackish
water deposits.
It will now be possible to discuss fairly the probability of the
1864.] Jzenuins on Brackish-water Fossils of Crete. 419
fossils in question having been deposited in a lake or an estuary, and
this discussion is the more desirable, because the more or less fresh-
water formations of Asia Minor, &c., have often been treated of as
necessarily lacustrine. The only circumstances necessary to remember
are: (1) that the following remarks do not refer to Cerigo, the fossils
from thence being normally estuarine ; and (2) that in Crete the most
essentially salt-water genera are represented by species normal in
character, while the fluviatile genera are represented by distorted
species,
But to enable us to decide whether we have been dealing with a
marine, an estuarine, a fluviatile, or a lacustrine formation, it is now
necessary to discuss the distinctive characters of these classes of
deposits, chiefly from a paleontological point of view.
Distinctive Characters of Lacustrine, Fluviatile and Estuarine
Deposits—Purely fresh-water strata are nearly always lake-deposits,
because a river seldom deposits in its own bed, and when it does, the
deposit is so insignificant, that it is rarely preserved ; while, on the
other hand, the deposit of a river at its mouth, that is, a delta, contains
brackish-water shells, generally mixed with those of fluviatile and
terrestrial origin. Again, a lake may be more or less brackish, or
even absolutely salt ; and a lagoon, which is but another name for a
lake connected with a larger body of water, may be subject to periodical
irruptions of salt water. Thus there are many contingencies to be
guarded against in deciding as to the lacustrine or estuarine origin of
a series of beds, supposing the fossils contained in them to exhibit
characters not antagonistic to the presence of a certain quantity of
salt water, especially in the region under consideration, where lagoons
are so abundant ; but very little difficulty exists if the shells happen
to be purely freshwater and normal in character. Of course, there is
this difference between a lake and a river, that whereas the water in
the former is more or less stagnant, that in the latter is in motion;
but a deposit from a river into a lake would yield evidence of both
running and stagnant water, and, unfortunately, shells afford but
little evidence as to their fluviatile or lacustrine origin. It would,
however, be strange indeed if the fossils of a true lacustrine deposit
did not consist, to a certain extent, of the shells of pulmoniferous
mollusks ; and inasmuch as there is not a single shell belonging to
that group amongst the fossils under consideration, the theory of a
fresh-water lake cannot well be accepted.
Nature of the Crete Deposit.—All the fossil genera under notice
from Crete, excepting the genus Unio, have existing species which
live in brackish water, or even in the sea, so that they are not antago-
nistic to the estuarine nature of the deposit, though they are equally
favourable to its being a salt-lake formation; but as some of the
genera cannot exist in fresh water, the beds cannot have been
deposited in a fresh-water lake. Again, Neritina and Melanopsis are
essentially the inhabitants of running water, and the genus Unio is
just as essentially fresh water, therefore if the fossils presented no
abnormal characters, the only rational conclusion would be that the
Crete formation is a deposit from a river in an estuary.
420 Original Articles. [July,
But we have seen that one species of Neritina is keeled and tuber-
culated, while another presents ordinary characters, that the Unio is
unnaturally thick, and, except one specimen, very much stunted,
while the most abundant species of Melanopsis is represented both by
small specimens normal in character, and by large examples unna-
turally coarse and ribbed, to say nothing of the wonderful Melania.
How, therefore, can we account for the entombment of species which
lived under normal conditions in association with specimens of the
same and other species that evidently lived under circumstances not
quite suited to them? Bearing in mind that the normal specimens
belong both to fresh-water and estuarine genera, and that the abnormal
ones are wholly fresh-water, as well as the fact that all of them could
exist in brackish water, being either operculated gasteropods or
bivalves, and not belonging to purely fresh-water genera, it appears
to me that the only way of accounting for the association is by
supposing that the deposit was formed in a lagoon, which was
subject to occasional irruptions of salt water, and into which a river
flowed.
This conclusion is very similar to that arrived at by Professor
Forbes and Captain Spratt respecting the Cos fossils, only that they
assumed the lagoon to be at first quite fresh, and to have become
gradually saline, and they did not call in the aid of a river; but
the occurrence of the Unio and of normal and abnormal specimens of
Neritina, &c., appears to render the latter device necessary in this
case. In the lagoon, al] the species could exist for a time, after
having been carried down by the river, and thus the abnormalities
described may have been produced.
APPENDIX.
I.—Drsorrprions or NEW SPECIES FROM CRETE.
1. Neritina abnormis, mihi. Figs. 7a to Te.
Shell broadly ovate, trochiform, ornamented with brownish zig-zag longitudinal
lines or bands; whorls three, crowned by a broad cord-like keel, and with a
thinner and sharper ridge in the middle, often corded or crenate, and sometimes
tuberculated or irregularly spiniferous, separated from the upper keel by the con-
cave upper portion of the whorl. Mouth in a plane nearly at right angles to
the axis, more or less semilunate in form; inner lip concave, smooth, with a broad
callosity covering the base of the shell, and becoming very thick and encroaching
on the mouth in old specimens.
2. Neritina Spratti, mihi. Figs. 6a to 6d.
Shell ovate, smooth, orn: imented with many blackish spots, more or less
regularly arranged ; whorls three or four, declining above, sometimes compressed
in the middle, convex at the base. Spire depressed, blunt. Mouth oblique,
irregularly semilunate in form ; inner lip concave, callous, minutely dentate
3. Melania? anomala, mihi. Figs. 3a, 3b.
Shell thick, reversed, turreted, ovate, somewhat obtuse at the apex; whorls
about seven, slightly convex, transversely and longitudinally ridged; transverse
ridges coarse and blunt, obsolete on the uppermost whorls, and oradually i increas-
ing in number, from two on the third whorl to four on the body-whorl ; longitudi-
nal ridges obsolete on the upper whorls and becoming gradually more apparent on.
the lower; they are the same distance apart as the transverse ridges, which they
.
Quaxterly Jourmal of Science N° S
e Wilde hth
7
D
M &N Hanhart ap
lel
HM Jenkins
1864. | Junkins on Brackish-water Fossils of Crete. 421
cross at right angles, forming a tubercle at the point of intersection. Base of the
shell similarly ornamented and slightly umbilicate. Mouth oval; columella
thickened ; inner lip callous above ; callosity flat, thin, spreading over part of the
base of the shell above the small umbilicus.
4. Cerithiwm recticostatum, mili. Figs. 2a, 2b.
Shell turreted, acute; whorls numerous, slightly convex, ornamented with
three sharp transverse ridges, crossed at right angles by about ten straight, sharp,
very prominent, and almost lamelliform varices, which are slightly tuberculated
at the point of crossing, and also just below the suture, where they are crossed by
a fourth and very small longitudinal ridge. Mouth oval, effuse at the base, where
the peristome is prolonged into a pointed spout.
5. Unio Cretensis mibi. Figs. 8a to 8c.
Shell very thick and coarse, sub-rhomboidal, with the upper margin convex, and
the lower almost straight ; anterior extremity rounded, scarcely projecting beyond
the umbo ; posterior extremity obliquely projecting, very convex, almost pointed,
ending above in a sharp angular ear; umbo prominent, scarcely eroded. Hinge-
teeth and lamellee very thick and projecting ; anterior muscular impression very
deep, much deeper than the posterior.
II—Descrirtion oF A New Species From CERIco.
Cerithium Cytherorum, mihi, Fig. 11.
Shell turreted, acute ; whorls numerous, convex, ornamented with two convex
transverse bands, which are separated by a sharply-defined shallow groove, and
are tuberculated where crossed by the varices; varices curved, broad, not very
distinct ; suture neatly impressed, slightly undulated. Mouth small, nearly
round ; columella callous, twisted, and somewhat produced, oblique. Base of the
shell ornamented with about five parallel ridges crossed by distinct lines of growth.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE.
Fossits FROM CRETE.
Fis. la, 1b.—Cerithium Lamarckii. Magnified 2 diameters. From the plain of
Arkadia.
a 2a.—C. recticostatum. Natural size. From Kherisoniso.
« 2b.—C. recticostatum, var. Natural size. From Kherisoniso,
», 3d, 3b.—Melania? anomala. Magnified 2 diameters. From Kherisoniso.
»» 4u to 4e.—Melanopsis Bouet. Magnified 2 diameters. From Kherisoniso,
» 0a, 5b.—Melanopsis buccinoidea. Natural size. From the Plain of Arkadia.
This species also occurs in Cerigo.
», 6a to 6d.— Neritina Spratti. Magnified 2 diameters. From Kherisoniso.
» 1a to7e.—N. abnormis. Magnified 2 diameters. From Kherisoniso,
», 8a to 8c.— Unio Cretensis. Natural size. From Kherisoniso.
Fosstts FRoM CERIGO.
Fias. 9a, 9b.— Cerithiwm plicatum. Natural size.
x 10.—C. doliolum. Magnified 2 diameters.
a 11.—C. Cytherorum. Magnified 2 diameters,
», 12a, 12b.—Neritina fluviatilis. Magnified 2 diameters.
422 Original Articles. | July,
ON THE HISTORY AND USES OF THE
OPHTHALMOSCOPE.
By Tuomas Nunnery, F.R.C.8.E., &e.
THoucH the present age may not be so distinguished for any very
brilliant discovery or startling scientific invention as were some of
those which are gone by, it may be doubted if there has ever been a
period in the world’s history in which work likely to advance know-
ledge and benefit mankind was more heartily, honestly, or generally
pursued than at the present day. If the rewards have not been so
ereat to one or two individuals as to overshadow and obscure the
eleanings of all the other labourers, the progress made in precise
knowledge and the adoption of scientific precision has certainly never
been more marked. The result is a steady progress, even in those
departments of knowledge which heretofore have been considered as
rather speculative than positive, or as belonging more to art than to
science. The known laws of one branch of science have not unfre-
quently been applied with great ingenuity and success to the prac-
tical elucidation of obscure phenomena in other departments. Of
this-advance the instrument, the name of which is placed above, and
the employment of which has recently been introduced into the inves-
tigation of diseases of the eye, affords a very good illustration. In
drawing attention to it, we do not intend to enter upon a detailed criti-
cism of the various appearances, and the minute shades of difference
which the ophthalmoscope reveals, inasmuch as the subject, techni-
cally treated, belongs to the domain of pure medicine, and would be
neither interesting to, nor be understood by, the general reader.
Indeed, it is very possible that many persons have not as yet heard of
the ophthalmoscope by name, and very certain that of those who have,
many more have but little knowledge of its application. Indeed, so
novel is the instrument, and so recondite are its revelations, that we
might say, as yet, it has been very partially employed by only one
section of the medical profession. Doubtless the time will soon arrive
when more will have been learnt by those who now use the instrument,
and its employment be more widely distributed.
We propose rather, as briefly as possible consistent with intel-
ligibility, to give such an account of the instrument itself, the
principles upon which its action is founded, and the objects which
its use is likely to reveal, as may be sufficient to keep the general
reader aw courant with the scientific inventions of the day, even though
such inventions may belong exclusively, in the first imstance, to
one section of the community: we say in the first instance, for,
without doubt, in the long run every improvement in the means
of diagnosing and rendering clear and indubitable, diseases, in what-
ever part of our bodies they may be seated, which heretofore have
been most obscure and dubious, is of permanent interest to every
person. This is especially the case with diseases of the eye, the
1864.]| Nonnetnx on the History and Uses of the Ophthalmoscope. 423
neglect of which is of such fearful consequence to the sufferer.
Now it is precisely this serious class of most obscure changes in the
deeper, more delicate, more important, and most hidden recesses of
the eyeball, that the ophthalmoscope is destined to light up and reveal
with a clearness which will remove most, if not all, of the obscurity
which has hitherto concealed them. During the last century no branch
of medicine has made greater strides towards attaining scientific
precision than has ophthalmic surgery, which has been rescued
from the hands of the impudent charlatan and the wandering mounte-
bank, to become in many respects the most advanced branch of
practical medicine ; yet it must be admitted by everyone, who from
attention to the matter is qualified to give an opinion on the subject,
that it is in precisely these more important diseases of the eyeball, (in
which it is of the utmost consequence to attain an early knowledge of
the kind of change which is going on, and the particular structure in
which it is taking place,) that hitherto there has been the greatest
difficulty in so doing. The outer structures of the eye are within
reach and amenable to the examination of everyone ; not so the inner.
In the earlier stages of disease in these, when examined by the ordinary
method, there are often no objective symptoms, while the subjective
phenomena are so obscure and confused, as to be not unfrequently of
little certainty or value. Hereafter, the ophthalmoscope promises to,
nay, certainly will, remove much of the obscurity, and it cannot fail
to render the diagnosis of these terrible and insidious changes in the
deeper seated tissues of the eye almost as much within the sight of
an expert observer as are those in the most superficial parts; and by
thus enabling the competent oculist to detect the earliest indications
of change (which hitherto has been too frequently beyond his power
of observation), it will allow him, by timely treatment, to prevent alter-
ations, which would otherwise, if unobserved, progress until all chance
for good being effected has passed away, and hopeless blindness has
become the inevitable lot of the unhappy patient. In many of these
changes, if far advanced, there is no cure; in them prevention is not
only better than cure, but it is emphatically the only cure.
Though it is barely a dozen years since the ophthalmoscope began,
in the hands of Briicke and Helmholtz, to assume a form of practical
application, the idea of such an apparatus, or rather the principle
upon which such a method of examining the eye,depends, was first
clearly indicated by one of our own countrymen, Mr. Cumming;
who, in an admirable paper, published in the ‘Medico-chirurgical
Transactions for 1846, clearly pointed out the importance of
observing the light which is reflected from the bottom of the eye, and
suggested the circumstances under which the interior of the eye itself
might be examined. It now appears astonishing that Mr. Cum-
ming’s observations, leading not very remotely nor indirectly to the
invention of the ophthalmoscope, did not at once excite more attention ;
but it is perhaps still more wonderful that the mirror-like reflexion
from the bottom of the eyes of cats and other animals, which must
have been seen by the learned and unlearned, almost ever since
the creation, should not have suggested the idea long ago: for
424 Original Articles. | July,
in it is the very germ of the subject ; light falling upon the concave
bottom of the eye of these animals is reflected, and causes the luminous
appearance by which the fundus of the eye, in certain positions of it,
is seen: only place any other animal, man included, in favourable
circumstances, and the same appearance will be observed.
Dilate the pupil, so as to allow the rays of light freely to pass into
and out of the eye; let the eye be placed in a suitable position for the
rays of light from a luminous body to fall upon it, in a chamber from
which all the light is excluded; and let the cbserver stand in a proper
position, which is “as nearly as possible, in a direct line between the
source of the light and the eye to be examined . . . . when the lumi-
nosity of the interior of the eye will be immediately perceived ;”
these, as stated by Mr. Cumming, are directions which really com-
prise the principles upon which the ophthalmoscope must be con-
structed and used.
Helmholtz’s first instrument was a square box, with a darkened
interior, containing three parallel plates of glass, placed obliquely at
one end, and at the other, one or two bi-convex lenses, to concentrate
the rays of light; but the image thus afforded was too faint to be of
much value, as most of the light was lost by the intervening plates.
A great improvement was shortly afterwards made by the introduction
of a concave, or a plane-reflecting mirror, which, though it has been
variously modified’in shape and mounting, or in the method of being
held, constitutes in one form or cther the various forms of ophthal-
moscope now used; the modifications being rather according to the
fancy or the whim of the party using it, than involving any difference
in principle. Suggestions have lately been made for a binocular
ophthalmoscope, which it is asserted possesses advantages which the
single reflector does not, but there is a difficulty in getting a correct
focus with it, and the instrument has not obtained general adoption.
Leibrich has invented a large and somewhat costly apparatus, with
various tubes, rods, and supports for more accurately adjusting the
focus, supporting the head of the patient, and fixing the eye under
observation: this is said to accomplish its object satisfactorily, but
from its being a fixture and cumbersome, is not much used. The
instrument almost universally employed, at least in this country,
is a circular, slightly concave, mirror about two inches in diameter,
having a central aperture of } to } in. diameter, which, at the plea-
sure of the observer, may be mounted on a stem, or simply held in the
hand, and may be made of speculum metal, of polished steel, or, as
is most common, of silvered glass. By this mirror the rays of
light are received and reflected upon the patient’s eye. The mirror
is held close before the observer’s eye, with its aperture correspond-
ing with the centre of his own pupil; by this means his own eye is
in a great degree protected from the light, while through the aperture
he has a full view of the illuminated disk of the patient’s eye. The
central aperture in the mirror should be of sufficient size to allow
of this observation, but no larger, for of course, at this spot, there
is no reflection of light: indeed, through this orifice, the bright
light, which should all be reflected as nearly as possible, may find
1864.| Nunnexey on the History and Uses of the Ophthalmoscope. 425
admission into the observer’s eye, and thus the experiment is inter-
fered with in two ways. With the mirror, is frequently used a double
convex lens of about two inches focus, which is held between the mirror
and the eye to be observed, for the purpose of concentrating the rays
of light before they fall upon the observed cornea. This lens is
necessary when the observed eye is flat, or presbyopic ; but when the
cornea is convex, or myopic, the rays of light will fall upon the
retina with sufficient accuracy, without other “concentration than the
eye itself is capable of affording.
For making the observation, the eye to be operated upon should
have had the pupil well dilated by the introduction of atropine ; for
unless this is done, sufficient light will not enter the eye to be reflected
from the fundus and render the illumination clear, nor will the field
of vision be sufficient to enable an examination to be made of the whole
interior, and disease may likely enough exist, which lying behind the
undilated iris must necessarily escape observation. The patient
should then be placed in a darkened room, and directed to hold the
head as steady as possible with the eyelids widely open, and the
eyes looking directly forward fixed as immovably as possible. If a
strong illumination is not required, a wax-candle, or if it be necessary,
an argand gas-burner, or a camphine lamp, must be placed a little behind,
and at the same side of the head as is the eye to be examined, and on
the same level as the eyes. The observer then places himself directly
before the patient, bringing his’ eye with the mirror held before it, as
nearly as he can in the same plane with the patient’s eye, when the rays
of light, falling upon the mirror, will be reflected as a diffuse circle of
light; this, by adjusting the position of the mirror, may easily be so
focrssed as to fall directly upon the dilated pupil, when a brilliant
illumination of the fundus of the eye will be obtained, and of course
any abnormal condition of its various parts may be at once observed.
A more interesting and striking picture can scarcely be imagined than
a brilliant view of the blood-vessels of the retina and choroid coat of a
healthy living eye. Neither do we know of a more beautiful and simple
application of optical science, nor of one which is more rich in the ad-
vantages which it is likely to conferupon mankind, To those familiar
with the more simple of optical laws, the mode in which this image
is obtained, will be at once so obvious as to require no explanation ;
while it would hardly be possible, without the aid of diagrams and a
larger space than we can spare, to render it intelligible to those who
do not understand them.
We must, however, guard our readers against at once jumping to the
conclusion, that because it is now easy for any competent observer to
see clearly into the very bottom of the living eye, it is therefore easy
to make the observation useful. None but a skilful anatomist and
physiologist can do this; inasmuch as he must first not only know of
what the marvellously minute tissues of the interior structures of the
eye consist, but he must also, by patient and repeated observation,
have rendered himself familiar with the appearances which this
healthy condition presents under examination with the ophthalmoscope,
before he can venture upon the attempt at discriminating between
426 Original Articles. , [July,
them and those which result from altered and abnormal conditions of
the tissues ; and after he has arrived at this knowledge he must further
learn by frequent examination and careful reasoning, to determine not
only in which particular structure the change may be, but the exact
nature of the change and the stage of it, whether it indicates an
altered condition of a temporary unimportant character, or a morbid
state of a more permanent or even irremediable kind; whether the
disease be in an early stage, with commencing mischief, or at a period
of decline, when any change which is likely to result from it has
already been accomplished. He must further know whether any treat-
ment (and if any, of what nature) is likely to be beneficial ; or whether
the change involves such organic alteration in the structure of the part,
that no remedies can benefit: even further information may be obtained
if this latter condition be established, for we learn whether the disease
be such as may be limited to the eye or may extend to the whole sys-
tem, ultimately destroying not only the organ itself, but the life of the
patient. It is upon the answers given to these, and similar important.
questions, that the knowledge revealed by the ophthalmoscope is de-
stined to be of the utmost value. We say advisedly “ destined to be,” for
though fully prepared to recognize the great steps in advance, which
the diligence of comparatively few observers has secured, and to
acknowledge that many of the more clearly marked diseases are
already readily diagnosed, it must be confessed that much still
remains to be done; there is still much to be learnt, and something
to be unlearnt. For ardent minds will dogmatize on insufficient.
data, and inexperience is apt to overlook difficulties which stand in
the way of those who know more; while ignorance will not unfre-
quently hazard a rash assertion rather than confess to a want of ex-
perience in the use of an instrument with which a patient, having
heard something wonderful about it, expects, as a matter of course,
that the party he consults should be perfectly familiar. We could cite
examples of strange assertions and crude speculations which have been
made after gravely peeping through an ophthalmoscope. This, how-
ever, is no valid argument against the value of the discovery itself.
The difficulty of acquiring any technical knowledge, sufficiently pre-
cise to be valuable, is often great ; far more so than many people sup-
pose. No greater advance in the means of detecting and distinguishing
diseases of the chest has ever been made than through the invention of
the stethoscope. Now what this simple instrument is to the chest, the
ophthalmoscope is and will be to the eye. It has required nearly fifty
years of diligent observation, and the labour of thousands of learned
men over almost the whole world, to define the revelations of the
stethoscope as now understood by the initiated, and still there are
multitudes who make a show of using it, but do not understand its
teachings. So it is, and probably long will be, with the ophthalmo-
scope.
a aches which are not now understood, will ere long have
their true significance shown to those who will take the trouble to learn ;
and errors which are now committed will be avoided, while accumu-
lated experience will clearly indicate the value of that which is now ob-
1864. | Cottinawoop on Acclimatization. 427
seure. It is not unlikely that improved forms of instruments may bo
suggested, by which even more perfect views than can now be got of
the fundus of the eye may be obtained ; and instruction in their use will
become so common, that it will be regarded as a necessary part of the
duty of those who undertake the especial treatment of diseases of the
eye, to obtain as familiar an acquaintance with the use of the ophthal-
moscope as they are now obliged to have with the instruments used in
the performance of physical operations, or as the physician to the hos-
pital for diseases of the chest must have with the stethescope. Already
asuggestion has been made by a Canadian to add to the ophthalmoscope
an apparatus by which photographs of the bottom of the eye may be
obtained : this, though not at present of practical avail, may not un-
likely become so ere long.
When it is considered how short a time has elapsed since the power
of seeing into the bottom of the living eye was demonstrated to be
practical, it is satisfactory to know how much has already been
accomplished in rendering the knowledge useful in the treatment of
diseases there seated.
It is not intended to be asserted that it will ever become very
easy to determine by the ophthalmoscope the value of all the changes
which take place in the living eye, any more than it is to become
a learned astronomer, or to acquire any other knowledge which
involves the possession of intellect, and the expenditure of labour ; but
to those who possess the one, and will undergo the other, the ophthalmo-
scope is, and will be, of the greatest value. Medicine is daily becom-
ing more of a science, and those who care to keep pace with its pro-
gress will have to do so by the study and adoption of those means of
which the stethescope and ophthalmoscope are illustrations.
ACCLIMATIZATION.
By Dr. C. Cottinewoop, M.A., M.B. Oxon., F.L.S.
WE recollect hearing a distinguished English Zoologist not long since
assert that, notwithstanding all the Societies devoted to this object,
and all the assiduous care which had been bestowed upon the deporta-
tion and breeding of animals, with a view to adapt them to their new
homes, no successful instance of acclimatization could be produced by
the supporters of the system. But either the veteran systematist must
have made a false estimate of the true nature and objects of acclimatiza-
tion, or he must have judged of the facts by too narrow and procrustean a
rule ; for no one who is acquainted with the efforts and the proceedings
of the two great Acclimatization Societies, those of Paris and Victoria,
can believe that the sums expended, the energy evinced, and the interest
aroused by them, can be for a mere visionary and shadowy object.
The reports which are issued by these Societies from time to time
display an amount of successful enterprise, which is a subject of just
congratulation, and we cannot but wish prosperity to aims which are |
at once useful and philanthropic, and which, in some cases, are re-
VOL. I. 26
498 Original Articles. [July,
deemed by a touch of romance from the ordinary utilitarian ends of
similar undertakings.
Among the useful animals to which the Société d’Acclimatation*
have directed special attention, the yak is conspicuous, a native of
Thibet,—a creature possessing a most valuable skin or fleece, and which
is found to breed very readily in the garden of the Society; and,
although it at present yields but little milk, it is hoped that in time,
the influence of domestication may render it more valuable in this as
in other particulars. Several prizes are offered for the breeding of
these animals, viz. :—two prizes of 2.500 francs each, for anyone who
shall produce by the 1st December, 1865, four yaks of pure blood, of
a year old, and of his own breeding ; also other prizes of 1,800 and
1,200 frances, for crosses between yaks of pure breed and mountain
cattle (vaches de travail); as well as smaller prizes for such animals
as shall prove apt as beasts of labour or of burden.
Similar experiments are in course of trial upon Angora and
Egyptian goats, Caramanian and Merino sheep, &c., which are reported
to be in a fair way to success ; and encouragement is held out by prizes
of various amounts, for the production of small flovks of these animals,
for the purest breed, and the heaviest producible fieece.
The gathering together in good condition, and in sufficient numbers
to establish a species, of foreign animals and plants is necessarily a
very slow and delicate process, and much time must obviously be ex-
pended before very decided results can be expected. Most of these
animals breed only once a year, and their natural increase is, therefore,
slow, however eminently they may prove themselves adapted to their
new home. Nor is it to be expected that every experiment of the
kind should be at once successful. We should regret to see an energetic
movement damped by temporary misfortune, and we trust that the ill
success attending the first attempts (in 1860) at the introduction of
Llamas and Alpacas into France will only be a difficult stepping-stone
to the accomplishment of a task of great importance, both in an agri-
cultural and economical point of view.
A second attempt is already contemplated, and the Presidents of
Peru and Equador have offered two troops of these animals, and M. St.
Hilaire has published a paper relating the causes of the recent failure,
with instructions as to their treatment with a view to avoid such
failure in future.
Similar attempts are being made to utilize the wild ass, and
* The Imperial Zoological Society of Acclimatization publishes a monthly
‘ Bulletin,’ the numbers of which are now before us, and contain a great deal of
most interesting matter (‘ Bulletin Mensuel de la Société Imperiale Zoologique
dAcclimatation. Paris: Masson & Fils). The object of this Society (which has
been founded ten years) is to co-operate “for the purpose of introducing, acclima-
tizing, and domesticating species of animals which are either useful or ornamental,
and the improvement and multiplication of races newly introduced or domesticated.
The Society also oceupies itself with the introduction and cultivation of useful
vegetables.’ M. Drouyn de Lhuys, the Foreign Minister, is President of the
Society, and its council includes the names of Passy, Richard, Dupin, Cloquet,
Dumeril, Quatrefages, and others ; while it also enjoys a peculiar share of the
Imperial countenance and patronage.
1864. ] Co.iuinawoop on Acclimatization. 429
Burchell’s zebra, quagga, &c., and prizes for the successful breeding
of these animals in a state of captivity or domestication are offered, as
well as for crosses between them and the mare and the ass.
Among birds, the ostrich has been introduced and domesticated in
Algeria and in the south of Europe, and prizes of 1,500 francs are
offered for the possession of flocks of these birds, bred by the owner.
Attempts also are being made with the cassowary of New Holland,
and the American rhea, the crowned pigeon, the ocellated turkey
(Meleagris ocellata), Californian quail, &c.
We have not alluded to a Society which exists in London of a
similar character, not because it is unimportant, but rather because
we wished to call attention to the extensive scale upon which the
Societies of Paris and Melbourne are engaged. ‘The most important
work of the London Acclimatization Society is in the matter of Pisci-
culture. Of this Society Mr. Frank Buckland is an active member,
and his exertions in the cause of fish-hatching, and the preservation,
rearing, and introduction of valuable fish in the rivers of this country,
must be appreciated by everyone. The recent discovery of a fine
salmon, which had revisited the Thames, makes us hope that the
labours of the pisciculturists will be aided, as far as the metropolis is
concerned, by the great works which have been undertaken for the
purpose of purifying the river, and we trust that attention is now suffi-
ciently aroused to the necessity of protecting a single fish like the
salmon, to prevent that extirpation of it which a short time since
seemed but too probable. Nor should we altogether omit to allude to
the success which has attended the efforts to cultivate oysters.
The French Society have also largely devoted themselves to these
subjects, and we regret that our space will not permit us to enter more
fully upon these labours. Several valuable papers upon Pisciculture
appear in the first series of ‘ Bulletins,’ with the names of Vallen-
ciennes, Gillet de Grandmont, René-Caillaud, Lamiral, &c., attached.
The cultivation of the silkworm has also attracted much notice,
and in this department the name of M. Guérin-Méneville stands con-
spicuous. Several species have been introduced into France, and
largely supplied with the trees which are their natural food. Among
these are the Bombyx Cynthia, or Ailanthe silkworm, and more
recently the Ya-ma-mai, or oak silkworm of Japan. The latter have
been introduced at some risk by M. Pompe van Meerdervoort, Director
of the Medical School at Nagasaki, who procured a number of eggs,
the exportation of which is strictly prohibited by the Japanese, which
have been reared in France successfully ; and it is believed that this
important insect, which lives upon the leaves of the common oak, will
support the variations of our climate without much difficulty. The
Chinese oak silkworm (Bombyx Pernyi) has been imported also,
but the experiment of rearing it has for the present failed.
The popularity of the subject of acclimatization is well illustrated
by the prominence lately given in our leading journal, to a report
about to be issued by the Acclimatization Society of Victoria; and it
is their experience that paragraphs referring to the proceedings of the
Society attain a circulation more general than almost any other subject
262
430 Original Articles. [ July,
in English and foreign newspapers. And although the Society to
which we are now referring is the one best known, and whose results
have been most tangible, as their efforts have been most unwearied, it
may be mentioned that amongst its fruits, perhaps, may be reckoned
numerous other such Societies which have taken that of Victoria as
their model; so that they now exist in almost every colony in those
seas, as at Sydney, Hobart Town, Adelaide, Brisbane, Auckland, Lyttle-
ton, and Dunedin. The French Society, too, have established most
cordial relations with that of Melbourne, and a French man-of-war is
at the present time engaged in transporting thither specimens of the
yak, the ostrich, and other animals. Moreover, the British Govern-
ment has recently been induced to take up the project with an amount
of consideration altogether without precedent, the foreign and colonial
offices having recently sent to British emissaries in all countries in the
world, a series of questions as to the various desirable natural products
of each country: and the Admiralty has issued a circular to all com-
manders of Her Majesty’s ships, directing them to render every service
in their power to the cause of acclimatization, in the conveyance of
specimens.
The inauguration of the Acclimatization Society of Melbourne on
its present footing is comparatively recent, since less than three years
_ have elapsed since it was amalgamated with, and undertook the duties
of the Zoological Committee. Its Council is composed of gentlemen
engaged in commerce, who willingly devote much valuable time to the
subject, under the Presidency of Mr. Edward Wilson, the founder of
the Society, and to whom has just been awarded the great Gold Medal of
the Paris Society, which was instituted in 1862 for the traveller who,
during nine years, had rendered the greatest services to the cause of
acclimatization. Since the amalgamation, in consequence of the increas-
ing number of animals and the unhealthiness of the original site of
the gardens, an entirely new establishment has had to be formed in
the Royal Park, involving a very heavy expenditure in fencing, plant-
ing, forming excavations for ponds, building a house for the superin-
tendent, shelter-sheds, pens, &c., and the Society now ask for a subsidy
from the colonial government. Among other items laid upon the
table of the Assembly, 3rd February last, was one of 4,000/. for the
Acclimatization Society, coupled with a condition that 650/. should be
raised by private subscription. It is to justify this vote that the
Society has published the results of its efforts, in order to prove to the
Government that the public money is being legitimately spent, as well
as to create a wider interest in the object of the enterprise.
The herd of Camels brought from India, at an expense of 120/. per
head, had become scattered, and were in a fair way of being annihilated
under the various exploratory expeditions. Such of them as could be
saved have been collected at Mr. Wilson’s station, at the Wimmera,
where they are now breeding regularly, and forming the nucleus of
probably a large herd, available at some future day, either for explora-
tion or for conveying the products of remote stations to the more
arid districts.
Reports have reached us of the failure of the first attempts to
1864. | Cotuinewoop on Acclimatization. 431
naturalize the Peruvian Alpaca, and out of 300 introduced, five years
since, from Peru, and purchased by the New South Wales Goverr-
ment for 15,0C0/., all have died, and their progeny, 330 in number, are
in an unhealthy condition—so much so that in the colonial legislature
it was determined to get rid of the cost of keeping them, and disposing
of them at once, by auction or otherwise. But on the other hand
the official report of the Society prepared in the present year shows
that another attempt is likely to have a more successful issue. It is
there stated that the little flock of llamas and hybrids imported from
England, and under the care of Mr. Duffield, have been diligently
cared for. They have been crossed with pure alpacas, and young
ones of the second cross are now being dropped. Since landing, their
numbers have increased from 19 to 56. Thus, while the Camels suf-
fered from being too greatly scattered, the Alpacas failed from too great
concentration.
The Angora goat has been received from the Paris Society, and is
rapidly multiplying ; they are being crossed with the common goat in
considerable numbers. ‘The Cashmere goat also has been imported
by an enterprising gentleman at Maryborough, who is now experiment-
ing with it. Various breeds of sheep, some of which show signs of a
peculiar adaptability to a hot climate, are also under experiment. The
fallow deer, the Indian elk, and the axis have been successfully im-
ported, bred from, and turned loose at Wilson’s promontory and other
places. Numerous specimens of the hog-deer of India, and other
species from Manilla and Formosa, are also in the Society’s possession
for similar purposes.
With regard to game, the hare has been sent by the Zoological
Society of London, and has been turned out on Philip Island, where it
is breeding freely. Various breeds of pheasants, partridge, grouse,
and quail have been introduced, and some liberated. The English
wild duck has multiplied very freely. The Egyptian goose has bred,
and promises to be thoroughly acclimatized. So also the wild peafowl
of Ceylon has thriven and bred, while the white swan and various
lands of foreign doves and pigeons have been introduced and liberated
in various localities.
Among fish, the salmon has been the object of considerable pains
and expense on the part of the Tasmanian legislature, and promises
well. The gouramie, represented as the best fresh-water pond-fish in
the world, has, after many trials, been introduced ; and carp, tench,
roach, dace, and gold fish have been distributed in various localities
favourable to their multiplication. Grey mullet and the edible crab
have also been introduced, not, indeed, in sufficient numbers to justify
a hope of establishing the breed, but amply suggestive of what will be
done in the future.
The Ligurian bee, from its industrious and wonderfully prolific
qualities perhaps the most valuable insect in the world, is multiply-
ing with almost incredible rapidity, and will soon be accessible to all
classes.
One of the most interesting features of this Society’s work is the
estimate by which value is determined. They do not limit their in-
432 Original Articles. [July,
quiries to objects of immediate or material usefulness. They do not
ask simply, whether certain animals are good eating, or otherwise
adapted for daily use, but they consider that the eye and the ear should
be gratified also, and that everything is worth securing which adds
cheerfulness to scenery, and revives home associations on colonial
ground. The introduction of insect-destroying birds is, it is true, an
object arrived at; but with this has been combined an effort to sur-
round colonial residences with such reminders of the old country, as
thrushes, blackbirds, skylarks, starlings, chaffinches, and sparrows.*
The goldfinch, greenfinch, linnet, yellow-hammer, ortolan, bunting,
robin, and canary, and many kinds of the smaller birds of other coun-
tries, as the Chinese sparrow, Java sparrow, and the Indian mino, are
being accumulated in the aviaries of the Society, and many of them
have already bred there. The nightingale and the hedge-sparrow have
been promised them by ladies at home, and the Queen herself has
made an effort to supply them with the rook. Such news may be sur-
prising to the farmers of this country, who mercilessly destroy the very
birds which our wiser antipodean brethren are seeking to introduce :
but such is the fact, and we believe the Australians are right.
In concluding this brief survey of a subject of so great and
increasing interest, we ought to do full justice to the aims of the
Australian Society, who regard the advantages of acclimatization in a
light which raises it above a mere utilitarian and commercial specula-
tion. Deprecating the sneers and misrepresentations of thoughtless
and ignorant persons, who have no conception of the varied objects
and considerable interests which it embraces, they openly state their
object in stocking their country with new, useful, and beautiful things
to be, not only to add to the national wealth—not only to suggest new
forms for colonial industry, but, also to provide for manly sports, which
will lead the Australian youth to seek their recreation on the river’s
bank and mountain side, rather than in the café and casino. Nor do
they stop at this praiseworthy avowal; we have alluded to a touch of
romance in their undertaking, and it is not everyone who, endowed
with a commercial mind and deeply engaged in the practical business
of life, will fully enter into the desire the colonists express, not only to
add new elements to the food of an entire people, but also to surround
every homestead, and the path of every wayfarer, with new forms of
interest and beauty. This is their unwonted aim, and we cannot but
rejoice that such a truly poetical feeling should mingle with the
sterner and more practical realities of the system. Such a body may
well claim the sympathies of every good man, on the ground that they
are engaged in a noble work, and we most cordially wish them God
speed in their useful and humanizing undertaking.
* In 1830 a merchant wishing to import sparrows to the Hayanna, found on
arrival that the customs duties were so heavy that he could not hope to sell the
birds profitably ; he therefore let them fly—the birds entered the island free of
duty, and at the end of some years their number was so much increased, that in
certain localities they are as numerous as they are at home. (Graells, delegate of
the Acclimatization Society at Madrid.) This fact is an encouragement to the
Australian movement.
1864. | Ansrep on Copper Mining in Tuscany. 433
COPPER MINING IN TUSCANY.
Account of the Copper Vein occurring in Tertiary Volcanic Rock worked
at the Mine of Monte Catini in Tuscany.
By Professor D. T. Anstzp, F.R.S.
Tuer copper mining of Tuscany has within the last quarter of a cen-
tury assumed considerable importance, and more than one of the great
mining successes of the time has been gained there. The position and
circumstances of the mineral veins that yield these supplies are
peculiar, and differ much from the cases with which miners are
familiar, not only in England but in Europe generally. At the present
time, when everything within the range of the Italian Government is
accessible to our countrymen, it is well that a knowledge of these
sources of mineral wealth and great scientific interest should be
widely known. I make no apology, therefore, for offering a few notes
on the subject, collected during a visit I paid to Tuscany last autumn.
The river Cécina is one of the largest of several small streams that
take their origin in the tertiary hills west of the valleys of the Arno
and the Tiber. These streams, after crossing a few miles of tertiary
rock, through which here and there picturesque hills seem to rise up
without any reference to the surrounding country, enter the Mediter-
ranean in the flat alluvial tract extending almost uninterruptedly from
Leghorn to Civita Vecchia. They traverse a country, parts of it
covered with vegetation at certain seasons, but many parts almost
startling from their extreme bareness and desolation. In these places,
and indeed everywhere in this part of Italy, the effect of the last heavy
rains is always traceable on the loose sands of the valley and plain,
and at intervals we find fissures from which issue hot, sulphurous
vapours. Formerly there were numerous small lakes or lagoons of
muddy water boiling vehemently. The low plains were redolent of
the disagreeable odour of rotten eggs, owing to the emanations of sul-
phuretted hydrogen gas, and carbonic acid gas issued in great quantities
from certain crevices. The soil was loose and dangerous, and sheep,
cattle, and pigs, and even human beings were frequently buried in the
treacherous and shaking soil. Within the last thirty years the country
is much improved. The vapours have been utilized in a double sense,
for vast quantities of borax are now economically manufactured by
taking advantage of the natural heat of the streams and springs to
evaporate the solutions of valuable salts that abound in the district.
The axis of the fissures that yield both borax and the hot vapours
is parallel to that of the Apennines, and also to that of a number of
eruptions of serpentinous rock in Tuscany. It agrees, further, with the
direction of several recent earthquakes in Italy. Fissures in the ser-
pentine rock itself, and also in the rock immediately adjacent, contain
numerous minerals, and among them some ores of copper of very great
importance. One of the veins is worked in the mine of Monte Catini
to great profit, and under very interesting conditions. Others are
aS
AD4 Original Articles. [ July,
worked in the Val Castrucci, in the Maremme, near the coast, and in
this latter case there is evidence that the ancient Etruscan inhabitants
cf Italy were able to take advantage of the minerals there found. In
the Massa Maritima, the veins traverse the tertiary rock of the dis-
trict. They range from N.W. to §.E. The veinstone or earthy
mineral accompanying the ore is usually quartz. The veins are wide,
the principal one measuring from 30 to 50 feet. The terrible miasma
of the ‘Maremme, as the marsh lands of this part of Tuscany are
called, is a serious drawback to working the mines of this district.
Besides the open fissures containing ore, found in the sedimentary
rocks themselves, there are dykes, filled with volcanic rock of the nature
of basalt, traversing the same rocks, and in some of these copper has been
worked from time immemorial. The greater hardness of these dykes
compared with that of the sedimentary rock, has helped to preserve the
latter from the action of the weather, and thus to leave hills of which
the dykes in question are a nucleus. Although but a short distance
from the coast, where a few hours’ exposure to the evening air is
sufficient to induce a fatal attack of malaria fever, the villages on
the hills are quite healthy, and near Campiglia, one of these villages,
is a fine old Etruscan mine from which copper ore has been taken
‘on a seale worthy of the old Etruscan population whose works of
more than one kind have endured longer than history can record.
At present the ore is poor though abundant, but doubtless in ancient
times there must have been good reasons for the construction of ex-
cavations that more resemble huge natural caverns than ordinary
mining work. That these excavations were only made when some-
thing was to be gained by them is evident from the extremely small
proportion of the levels or mere galleries of communication. The rock
is very hard, and the labour required must have been prodigious.
The rock in which the copper ore is found in this mine is partly
the ancient lava, but partly also the rock penetrated and altered by it.
Thus, occasionally, there is a marble floor to the vein, and the lime-
stone intersected by the original fissure seems to have been converted
into this marble by the irruption of the heated matter to which the
dyke owes its origin.
The very important mine of Monte Catini is another curious
instance of the same kind. It is situated in an altered lava close to a
boss of trachytic rock a few miles west of Volterra, and some distance
north of the Massa Maritima. The distances indeed between the points
hitherto described is somewhat considerable, though all are intimately
connected by geological links. Thus Campiglia is 15 miles west
of Massa, and Monte Catini about 25 miles to the north of both.
The coast railway from Leghorn, open at present to Follonica on the
way to Civiti Vecchia, has, however, rendered all these places much
easier of access than they formerly were. There is a branch of the
main-line running up the Cécina towards Volterra for the benefit of
the borax works and the Monte Catini mine. Close to Campiglia is a
much larger mass of trachytic rock than that near Monte Catini, but
no doubt answering the same purpose. Both at Campiglia and Monte
Catini, the injected or erupted rock has brought up some of the
1864, Anstep on Copper Mining in Tuscany. 435
yi f y
secondary rock, but the actual date of the fissure and its filling up
must be comparatively modern in both cases. All these Italian mines
differ in a striking and even startling manner from those of Cornwall
and other parts of the British Isles. They are quite as different from
the copper mines of Germany and Scandinavia. They introduce us to
the phenomenon of a great accumulation of copper ores of the ordinary
kind (copper pyrites), in veins in comparatively modern volcanic rock,
these veins having been formed long after the older tertiary rock had
become deposited and hardened. 'The cretaceous rock, and even the
older tertiaries had been in some cases elevated before the formation
of the fissures now filled up with lava, and the lava had cooled and
solidified and cracked before the copper made its appearance.
The mine of Monte Catini (della cava) is worked in a very peculiar
vein of soft magnesian rock (approaching serpentine in its nature, but
much softer), occupying a dyke or fissure in the gabbro, which is
apparently itself an eruptive rock originally forced through, over, and
amongst the upper cretaceous limestone of Tuscany, here called albe-
rese.* The alberese is a compact pale blue, or greyish blue limestone,
hard and penetrated with numerous strings of calc spar. It occupies
the hills and neighbouring high ground, but is generally covered with
a soft marly rock, often containing gypsum, and sometimes rock salt.
The latter mineral is abundant, and is worked in the Saline in the
valley of the Cécina adjacent.
The alberese is a cretaceous limestone, and the overlying soft marl
are tert'ary. It appears to me that there has been an eruption of
igneous rock through fissures in the alberese at a time when the tertiary
deposit was much more extensive than it now is. Thrust up through
this rock, which is locally squeezed, contorted, and broken, and form-
ing a dyke in the soft tertiary clays above, the nearest adjacent clays are
converted into shales, which are hard and compact enough where they
approach the igneous rock. In certain places the flow of lava has been
through two nearly adjacent fissures, meeting one another, and leaving
at and near the place of contact large open spaces. In the course of
time the softer earth on each side of the vein has been washed away,
and there is now left on the flank of the mountain little more than the
hardened and altered rock. This forms the nucleus of gabbro, which
here consists of irregular rounded lumps of hard, compact rock, resem-
bling greenstone embedded in a kind of soft porphyritic mass, weather-
ing rapidly on exposure, and easily removed underground. This
gabbro looks much like a true serpentine (pale greenish crystals in a
dark green bed), and is evidently highly magnesian.
It is in fissures closed towards the surface, and there presenting
nothing but reddish clays, which, however, are easily distinguished
from the gabbro, that we find the only indications of the rich lodes, or
rather pockets, existing below. It is believed that in former times
* The name alberese is given both to the chalky limestones of the upper part
of the cretaceous series, and also to the similar rocks of the upper part of the
eocene tertiaries. It expresses mineral character. At Monte Catini the a/berese
of the cretaceous period is thrust through the alberese of the tertiary period, and
they are in contact.
436 Original Articles. [July,
much valuable ore was got from the surface in other portions of the
lode, or from pockets intersected at the surface, but of this there now
seems no indication. Generally, the narrow cracks with their red clay
contain a few small rounded nodules of rich sulphide of copper, often
with very little iron. It is these that yield the larger lumps when
followed downwards.
The vein, as recognized at present, is very irregular in width and
contents. The chief ore has been obtained in isolated pockets at
various depths, down to about 120 yards. These are, to all appearance,
absolutely irregular. They do not seem to have reference to any
peculiar condition of the serpentinous veinstone beyond the presence
of red clay. They are not confined to any part of the lode, but range
out of it into the gabbro, some of the richest deposits now worked
being altogether in the gabbro. Veins pass off, commencing with a
thin line of orey serpentine, and running out of the main lode into the
gabbro, but gradually enlarging and becoming very rich. The
general direction of the lode is east and west, and the dip south, and
the richest of these side veins have similar bearings, but dip at a greater
angle.
At adepth of about 80 yards the lode is interrupted by a broken
mass or dome of alberese and shale, near the contact with which a
large quantity of excellent ore was found. Below this again gabbro
has been reached. In the main adit, driven for more than a mile to
drain the mine to the 30-fathom level, a somewhat similar mass of
alberese and shale was crossed. It would seem, therefore, that the
fracture of the rock through which the lava was poured occurred at
about this point, and thus irregular fragments of rock of considerable
size are apparently included. But I noticed that the limestone is only
so far altered at this point as to show more than usual of that peculiar
interlacing of cale spar, for which it is elsewhere more or less remark-
able. The general character and appearance of the rock (a compact
pale grey indurated limestone) is accurately preserved close to the
gabbro.
Not only is the limestone not altered, but the shales with it are
still soft, and even rotten. The serpentinous mass containing the ore
is also in the same state. It is only by the extreme crushing and
squeezing that the limestone and associated shales have undergone, and
by observing that they are bent, and broken, and turned in every direc-
tion, that one can realize the fact of the great forces to which they
have been subjected.
In all parts of the gabbro and in the serpentinous and steatitic
masses of the vein, cale spar, crystallized more or less perfectly, is to
be seen. But magnesia is the prevalent mineral. All the rock is
more or less steatitic, and presents those peculiar appearances that
steatitic minerals so often do. A strong resemblance to slickensides is
one of these, and most observers have concluded, from the numerous
strie and polished surfaces which the stone presents, that the whole
vein and its contents have been slid over one another, and that the
strie and polished surface are mechanical. This I am inclined to
doubt.
1864. | Anstxp on Copper Mining in Tuscany. 43
The ore in the serpentinous vein is all in nodules. These vary in
size exceedingly, but they vary little in appearance, and all probably
have the same origin. They are masses of sulphide of copper and iron,
the central part being the hardest and most ferruginous, and the other
part containing the richest and purest copper ore. This outer part is
often peacock ore, and sometimes grey sulphuret. Earthy carbonate
of copper is rare, and malachite, or compact carbonate, quite un-
known. Native copper is found, but only in small detached fragments
(not crystalline) in the gabbro. No crystals of copper ore have been
found—a fact sufficiently remarkable.
The kidney-shaped, rounded nodules of ore are in some parts of
the lode accompanied by a considerable quantity of equally rich ore, dis-
seminated through the veinstone, and only separable by dressing. It
has sometimes been thought that these rounded masses are water-worn,
but this I greatly doubt.
One of the first things that struck me when I visited the Monte
Catini mine, and looked at the surrounding country, was the contrast
it offered to ordinary mining districts in our own country, and the
curious resemblance to what I had seen in Algeria, in the mines of
Mouziia, in the Lesser Atlas. Here rich ores of similar nature have
been found distributed in the same irregular manner in bunches com-
municating by narrow threads. The veins range N.E. and 8.W.,
parallel to the mountain chains, and traverse altered tertiary rock,
cretaceous limestone, and shale. The serpentine is there absent, though
there are not wanting trachytic porphyries, representing those of
Monte Catini. The fact that tertiary rocks are fractured to form
veins in both cases, and the mode in which the veins have since been
filled up, are not the only points of resemblance.
Another remarkable instance occurs in the celebrated mines of
Cobre, in Cuba, where rich and abundant copper ores are found in a
district abounding with limestone. The rock containing the vein here
consists, however, of a calcareous porphyry, passing into limestone on
the one hand, and basalt on the other. The particulars of this curious
lode I have described in the ‘ Proceedings of the Geological Society,’
vol. xiii. (1857), p. 240. The general bearing of the lode is east and
west, parallel to the coast, and to the principal mountain ridges.
To those accustomed to regard the great system of veins, the prin-
cipal deposit of ore, and all the important modifications and trans-
formations of rocks and their contents, as events altogether beyond
recent geological times, these accounts of very important deposits of
copper in modern calcareous rock and lavas of tertiary date, cannot
fail to excite astonishment. In many respects the vein of Monte
Catini is exceptional, but it is extremely suggestive, for it presents to
us an example of recent metamorphic action of the most energetic kind
connected with modern volcanic disturbance, so far as upheaval and
fracture are concerned, but also indicating the presence and influence
of water, by whose agency crevices, once formed by violence, have been
subsequently filled up. The steady, permanent, and all-pervading in-
fluence of water, producing now the same effects that it has always
done, is perhaps nowhere more clearly exemplified than in Central
438 Original Articles. [July,
Italy, where a complicated series of lavas, of various dates, penetrating
cretaceous and tertiary rocks, is in turn penetrated by hot vapours and
currents of water. These in one place have left behind deposits of
copper ore, in another pure sulphur, in another lagoni or pools, saturated
with salts of borax, while carbonic acid gas, nitrogen, and sulphuretted
hydrogen gases issue in abundance.
It is by the help of these gas and water currents, and in the natural
course of operations that belong to the ordinary conditions of things,
that the mineral veins of Monte Catini and the other mining districts
of Tuscany have been filled, and this it is which gives the subject a
spec:al interest and value.
1864. ] ( 439 )
CHRONICLES OF SCIENCE.
I. AGRICULTURE.
THE second quarter of 1864 commenced in the agricultural world
amidst important sales of home-bred short-horn herds of cattle, and it
closes in the midst of important agricultural meetings. These are
matters rather of commercial than of scientific interest, and yet they
have aspects interesting to the man of science. The enormous prices
realized for certain families or strains of blood among pure bred live
stock possess an interest apart from that which they present to the
crowd of enterprising men who are following in the steps of Lord
Spencer, or Lord Ducie, Thomas Bates, Jonas Webb, Colonel
Towneley. These who have realized hundreds of pounds for indi-
vidual bulls and cows—the last, who obtained last March upwards of
7,000/. for a herd of 56 animals of all ages—have not only illustrated
the enterprise and wealth of English agriculturists, a matter only of
commercial importance, but they have proved the power of the breeder
to create that fixity of type in his animals, out of which this extra-
ordinary value has arisen ; and this is a matter of scientific interest.
It may be illustrated by the history of what is called the
“Duchess” tribe of short-horns. More than fifty years ago, when
Charles Colling’s herd was sold, a young heifer named Duchess was
bought by Mr. Thomas Bates, of Kirkleavington. From her was
descended this tribe, which are believed to possess all the leading
merits of the breed in an extraordinary degree. In particular they
are possessed of a remarkably soft and silken touch—abundant hair,
and other indications of vigour-- most symmetrical form, great and
equal width of back, well-arched ribs, and prominence and width of
bosom. ‘They possess, in fact, great precocity of growth, and a ten-
dency to grow most and fastest in those parts where the flesh is of the
best quality for food. They have the highest reputation also for the
certainty with which their bulls hand down these properties to their
offspring ; and they thus command the very highest prices in the market.
This is one of the results of what is called “breeding in and in.”
Animals that have inherited again and again, in the course of their
pedigree, the qualities which relationship in blood has conferred in
common, possess those qualities much more energetically than others
do in whom they are observed for the first time. A cross-bred ram
may have a very desirable coat upon his back, and a very well made
carcase of mutton within that coat; but it is exactly a toss-up whether
his progeny acquire the character of his sire or of his dam. If sire
and dam for generations back, however, have exhibited constancy and
uniformity of character, then that character is certain to reappear in
their offspring, which, in his or her turn, will possess still greater
440 Chronicles of Science. [ July,
power of transmitting good tendencies to the succeeding generation.
It is thus that not only in the ‘“‘ Duchess ” blood, but in other tribes
descended from the Kirkleavington herd, we have as the result of Mr.
Bates’s resolution, patience, skill, and constancy, qualities which re-
appear in generation after generation of Kirkleavington families of
the short-horn breed, until the animal may now be safely characterized
as good if known to be of Bates’s blood. Bates’s blood, or rather
Bates’s brains —for it is the mental, and in many important particulars,
the moral character of the breeder which is reflected now in so many
different herds—is merely another word for patient persistence in
breeding from animals of a given type, in a great measure disregarding
the question of relationship, if they possess the requisite health and
vigour of constitution. Of course, when evils of any kind are inhe-
rited, such as a tendency to disease or weakness of any kind, breeding
in and in will intensify and hand that down with as much certainty
as any other quality; but the natural law of breeding which obtains
amongst gregarious animals, where the strongest sire is the father of
the herd or flock—to the almost entire disregard of previous natural
relationship, is a safe one to follow. It is a natural law of this kind
that gives to particular herds and flocks, where they have been long
under the control of one man, their uniformity of character from year to
year. And it is out of the consequent certainty which animals thus
bred transmit the qualities they have inherited, that those extraordinary
prices are commanded by them, which, while they sometimes startle the
commercial world, have thus an interest for the man of science.
The other topic of the period, of chief agricultural interest, is the
annual meetings of our great national and provincial Agricultural
Societies. On these occasions, the best animals of all our breeds of
the domestic animals of the farm, and the best machines known to
agriculturists or agricultural engineers, are collected, professedly
for the prizes offered by the Society, really for the purpose of that
advertisement, publicity, and distinction, which mere exhibition before
a multitude, and especially the achievement of any award of merit,
under such circumstances confers.
Our national societies with incomes of 10,0001. per annum, and the
many local and county societies with incomes of one to three thousand
pounds each, are among the most striking illustrations we can quote
of our agricultural energy and enterprise; for these sums are but a
fraction of the expenditure which these annual shows occasion, and
give but a faint idea of the commercial advantages which they offer ;
and the strictly educational results of these meetings in which we are
here more particularly interested, can hardly be overrated. Breeders
realize their own deficiencies by a comparison with the best animals
of the best herds and flocks; and machine makers have both their in-
ventive faculties stimulated and their manufacturing abilities quick-
ened and increased by competition with each other, on the same field
close to one another, where the prize of commercial merit is so great.
Above all, the agricuiturists of a whole province realize the pro-
gress which the best examples thus collected for their inspection prove
to have been accomplished.
1864. | ' Agriculture. 441
If we except the journals of our agricultural societies by which
agricultural progress is brought directly under the notice of readers,
these annual shows are the only educational influence which these
societies exert. It has only lately been brought under the notice of
the Royal Agricultural Society of England that one of the objects for
which, according to its charter, it was incorporated, is the promotion of
the better education of those who live by the cultivation of the land ;
and that except indirectly, as by journals and exhibitions, nothing what-
ever has yet been done by it in discharge of its duty in the matter.
A committee of inquiry into the subject is now sitting, which will, we
hope, result in some more definite and systematic attempt than has yet
been made to bring the great influence and large income of the Na-
tional Society to bear upon this subject. What seems to be wanted,
and what is within the competency and indeed the duty of the Society
to effect, is not any such stimulus of general middle class education as
our Universities and the Society of Arts are presenting by their annual
examinations of students, nor any such guidance and assistance as the
Government offers by its Inspectors and endowments of schools; but
help, both in guidance and in stimulant, to professional agricultural
schools, and the establishment of these in greater number than they
now exist. The Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester is indeed,
we think, the only one of the kind in Great Britain. It is, as we
believe, owing to a culpable neglect of the seventh object specified
in the Charter of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as
among the purposes of its incorporation, that that institution is not
in a more flourishing condition than it now presents, and also that
many of similar character have not been established in our principal
agricultural counties.
There is an able review of recent agricultural progress drawn up
by Mr. Thompson, M.P., in the current number of the ‘Journal of
the Agricultural Society.’ It proves that the importation of guano
and of bones, the manure manufacture, the more general application
of steam-power in agriculture, and the influence of the National Agri-
cultural Society, have together added greatly to the fertility of English
soil. There is, however, a singular exception to this increased pro-
duce, which needs to be more urgently pointed out to agriculturists than
it has yet been. The quantity of mutton sent to market appears to be
hardly more now than fifteen or twenty years ago. The number of sheep
and carcases sent to the London market does not appear to have mate-
rially increased during that time. With wool at the extraordinary
price which it has of late commanded—2s. to 2s. 6d. per 1b.—mutton
at a price unknown ten or fifteen years ago, and a climate which over
most of the island has all along impressed observers with the idea
that succulent and grass growth, sheep food in fact, is a much more
natural produce of our soil than seeds and grain and ripened produce,
it seems impossible to doubt that our flocks and herds must multiply,
and our farm management be more immediately directed to this end
than it has been.
It does not necessarily follow from this that our grain produce
would be diminished. The increased manure derived from the con-
449, Chronicles of Science. | July,
sumption of increased cattle food tends to the increased fertility of our
arable lands, and in this way corrects the effect which would follow
the apportionment of more acres to the growth of grass and green
crops ; and it is quite possible largely to increase the growth of green
food without diminishing our extent of green crops. Nowhere does
liberal management more certainly produce a greater growth than in
the case of grass.
Italian rye grass in particular seems to yield a crop which is
limited only by the quantity of manure applied, and it is through
this crop, doubtless, that the sewage of our towns will yet yield to
that “cleanly manipulation,” which is to convert it into milk.
This subject is again brought under public notice by the appoint-
ment of a Committee of the House Commons, to inquire into the
engineering difficulties in its way. What the result will be when
these are overcome, and the liquid refuse of our towns is spread over
fields of grass at some distance from the population, is plain from the
instances of Edinburgh, Rugby, and Croydon. Near the latter town
we walked the other day over Mr. Marriage’s farm of 300 acres, almost
wholly under sewage and Italian rye grass, where 30 to 40 tons of grass
per acre are mown annually, and sold at 12s. to 15s. a ton on the
ground, and 20s. to 23s, a ton in London.
On these particular departments of the agricultural field, and espe-
cially on the great question of the national food supply, in which they
all unite and culminate, there is great lack of trustworthy information,
and it must be stated with satisfaction, as strictly within the scope
of a scientific record, that an additional attempt has just been made by
Mr. Caird, M.P., to urge on Government the duty of collecting the
agricultural statistics of the country.
‘“‘ The need of authoritative (because accurate) published intelligence
regarding the extent and prospects of our several food crops, in the in-
terests of consumers and producers no less than in that of commerce
generally, is becoming more and more admitted. The county police, the
relieving-officers, and the tax-collectors, have all been suggested as the
agency by which the information sought might be most easily obtained.
Mr. Caird now suggests, as a new agency, the engineers employed upon the
Ordnance Survey. He proposes not that the whole country should be
mapped out and allotted, but that certain characteristic plots, typical of
the larger districts of similar soil and climate, should be selected. He sup-
poses that Great Britain might be divided into 15 districts, and that
100,009 acres in each district might be taken as characteristic of it. These
100,000 acres would be laid down on the Ordnance Map, and subjected to
an exhaustive inquiry. And the 1,500,000 acres thus investigated being
about one-tenth of the cultivated land of Great Britain, would furnish the
acreage and yield of their several crops, which, multiplied by ten, would sup-
ply us with trustworthy information of the gross agricultural produce of
the country.
“Mr. Caird points out that there have been three objections hitherto
urged to the colleetion of agricultural statistics :—
Sale) heicost;
“II, The inquisitorial character of the inquiry.
“ IIl. The difficulty of obtaining accurate returns.
1864. | Agriculiure. 443
“1. By the plan now to be submitted, the cost is not expected to exceed
3,000/. a year—an amount which, compared with the object, is not worth
a moment’s consideration.
“9. Neither the names nor the boundaries of individual farms will be
known, and neither the persons making the inquiry, nor those to whom
the results are communicated, can tell the precise farius to which the re-
turns refer. The complaint of inquisitorial inquiry cannot, therefore,
arise.
“3. The typical districts will be fixed quantities—say 100,000 acres
each—laid down on the Ordnance Maps. Every acre within that limit
will be exhausted, so that absolute accuracy will be attained.
“ We believe that the more this subject is considered and discussed by
intelligent agriculturists, the readier will they be to admit the advantage
which the agricultural, as well as the commercial interests of the country,
must derive from the information which the prosecution of Mr. Caird’s
plan must furnish.”
Meanwhile it is satisfactory to know that a resolution affirming
the importance and need of a national inquiry into the subject was
the other day carried in the House by Mr. Caird.
The last subject to which we refer in our Agricultural Chronicle
of the past quarter is the condition of rural cottages. Under the
general question of the dwelling of the labouring class, this was
lately made the subject of a conference before the Society of Arts,
when a number of influential men united to consult on a remedy for
the glaring evils which imperfect house accommodation inflicts. It was
resolved, that much of the existing mischief is due to the Law of Set-
tlement and the limited area of the Poor Law rating; that the tenure
of property and the legal difficulties in obtaining sites are much in
the way ; but that—
‘*« By proper attention to economy, by building to the extent only re-
quired by each district, and by the utmost care in avoiding unnecessary
outlay in preliminary expenses, proper dwellings for the labouring classes
can be provided which will realize im towns a fair dividend on the capital
expended ; and that although in rural districts, commonly speaking, the
pecuniary return for capital invested in labourers’ dwellings, considering
the rate of their wages and their general circumstances, and the cost of re-
pairs, can only be moderate, yet it may be regarded as satisfactory, when
the consequent improvement of the character of the cccupants, their com-
fort, their health, and the additional value of their labour are taken into
account.”
The chairman of the conference urged that, in the various Land Im-
provement Acts and in the Government Drainage Acts, there is ample
precedent for Government loans, at a low rate of interest, for the express
purpose of cottage improvement. And Mr. Akroyd, of Halifax, de-
scribed the way in which, with the aid of building societies, no less a
sum than 1,200,000/. had been spent in three towns of the West
Riding, chiefly by the working men themselves, in the erection of
good cottages, now or fast becoming the property of their tenants.
In agricultural districts where low wages interfere with the possi-
bility of the labourer thus helping himself, there are especial facilities
in the way of the landlord.
VOL, I. 245
444 Chronicles of Science. [July,
“The difference between the field and the garden-value of land is, in
fact, the cottage-building landlord’s great resource and help. Ten acres of
land divided into large gardens for a hamlet of 20 or two-dozen new cot-
tages may be worth but 15/. per annum to the farmers ; they are, however,
worth from 60/. to 80/. per annum to the tenants of the cottages. And
the difference between those two sums represents a capital sum of 900/. to
1,300/., which is a contribution of 30/. to 40/. per cottage towards the cost
of their erection. Add to this the interest of the tenant-farmer in having
labourers near their work, which should make him willing to bear his share
of the annual cost of cottages upon the farm ; and it appears to us that in
country districts there is little real difficulty in the way of those owners
of land who may lament the insufficiency of cottage accommodation on
their land.
‘“The man-engine in the Cornish mine, by which half-an-hour suffices
to take the miner to and from his work, in place of the hour or two at
either end of the day wasted in climbing up and down the ladders, has
added a full third to the efficiency of his labour. A cottage on the farm
compared with one in the village three miles off, is hke a man-engine in
contrast with the ladders. )
202
542 Reviews. [July,
nally distinct segments may be traced, This concordance in the
arrangement of the cranial bones, composing these segments, he con-
siders, “places the doctrine of the unity of organization of the ver-
tebrate skull upon a perfectly sure and stable footing; ” whilst from
the considerations already advanced, as to the non-segmentation of
the cartilaginous bar in the- basis cranii, “the hypothesis that the
skull is in any sense a modification of vertebree is clearly negatived.”
The three segments, which Mr. Huxley traces throughout the series,
are the occipital, composed of the basi-, ex-, and supra-occipital
bones; the parietal, of the basi- and ali-sphenoids and parietal bones ;
the frontal, of the pre- and orbito-sphenoid and frontal bones. These
segments closely correspond with the central and neural portions of
the occipital, parietal, and frontal vertebree of Oken, Owen, and some
other morphological anatomists. But we would ask, is it not possible
to trace a still greater number of segments—whether we call them
vertebrae or not, is of little consequence to this part of our argument
—in the cranium? Mr. Huxley does not, in the above generaliza-
tion, limit his segments to the region in which, or to the parts of the
' skull in relation to which, on his own showing, the notochord is
confined. But, by accepting a presphenoidal segment, he admits of
a cranial segmentation anterior to the pituitary fossa, i.e. in front of
the spot where the notochord, as he contends, terminates anteriorly.
Now, if the proposition be granted that the principle of cranial seg-
mentation is not necessarily limited to the region of the notochord,
but is applicable to the primordial cartilaginous cranium generally,
we see no reason why, in those cases in which the structure and
development of the skull admit of it, a still greater number of seg-
ments should not exist, ethmoid, vomerine, or even rhinal, as the
case may be. We may illustrate this by a reference to the mammalian
head. In the head of the mammal alone the nasal cavities are fully
completed. And there enters, in a most important manner, into their
formation, a series of cartilages, the nasal cartilages, which remain
unossified. One of these, forming a part of the nasal septum, is the
anterior prolongation of the basal portion of the primordial cranium,
and ought therefore to be taken into consideration in coming to any
conclusion as to the number and nature of the cranial segments. But
the septal and lateral nasal cartilages, also, are quite passed over by
Mr. Huxley, in his determination of the segments of the skull. Now
this we cannot but think is a most important omission, and one, too,
which, if supplied, might still more strongly serve to show, than has
been done in these lectures, that, though there is in some respects a
unity of plan in the cranial structure of the pike and the man, yet that
there is in others “a no less marked diversity, each type exhibiting
structures and combinations peculiar to itself.” If the reception of a
rhinal and a vomerine segment be objected to on the ground that they
bear no relation to the neural axis, and differ in this, as in some other
particulars, from the frontal, parictal, and occipital segments, it may
be answered that at the caudal end of the spinal column great modifi-
cations in the form and composition of the vertebral segments often
occur ; modifications so great that the segment is often reduced to a
1864.| Comparative Anatomy and Classification. 543
mere centrum, and its correlation with the nervous axis completely
lost.
Mr. Huxley has devoted much care and labour to the determi-
nation, throughout the vertebrate scrics, of the bones which are homo-
logous to the petromastoid portion of the human temporal bone, and
the mode of their development. Partly by a critical inquiry into the
almost forgotten researches of Kerckringius and Cassebohn, and
partly by the more recent observations of Meckel, Hallmann, and him-
self, he has shown that it ossifies from three distinct centres, to which
he has given the convenient terms of pro-otic, opisthotic, and epiotic
bones. These bones enclose the organ of hearing and “are very
generally represented, sometimes in a distinct form, and sometimes
coalesced with one another, or with other bones, throughout the series
of skulls provided with cartilage bones ; and the pro-otic especially is
one of the most constant and easily identifiable bones throughout the
series of vertebrate skulls.”
He does not allocate these bones, either in their separate or con~
junct capacity, to any of the cranial segments, but regards them, lke
the osseous chambers of the olfactory organs, as bony capsules inter-
posed between the arches of the segments. Their true morphological
position may, however, be still held to be an open question. For
they are developed in cartilage which forms a fundamental part of the
primordial cranium, and, as such, it may be and has been argued, both
by Carus and Goodsir, that they should have a place amongst the
cranial segments.
In studying the morphological relations of the inferior, or, as they
are sometimes called, hemal arches of the cranium, it is of great im-
portance that the nasal cavities should be carefully examined and the
position of the nostrils determined. Great weight was attached to
these points by Mr. Goodsir, in one of the memoirs already referred
to, and we find that Mr. Huxley has also carefully entered into the
subject. It has now been satisfactorily determined that the posterior
nostrils in the mammalia are openings of a totally different character
from what are called the posterior nares in a bird, an amphibian, a
snake or a lizard. Inaman, for example, the nostrils open posteriorly
behind the palate bone, whilst in the other animals named, they open
in front of those bones, between them and the maxille, and cannot
therefore be regarded as homologous apertures.
The nature of the mandibular and hyoidean arches, situated behind
the orifice of the mouth, has always been a difficult problem for the
morphological anatomist. The embryological researches of Rathke
and Reichert have done much to clear up many of the obscure and
complex questions involved in their investigation. Many sound mor-
phological data were also furnished by Mr. Goodsir, both as to their
relation to the cranial segments, and the homology of their constituent
elements. With much that Mr. Huxley has written we are disposed
to coincide, though we confess ourselves unable to accept all his pro-
positions regarding these arches in the present somewhat uncertain
state of our knowledge of their mode of development.
544 Reviews. | July,
Although much has been done in these lectures to endeavour
to supply an exact conception of the morphology of the vertebrate
cranium, yet the author has evidently been unable to find a place for
many of the bones existing there. We may mention, amongst others,
the bones marked 1,2, and 38, in the pike’s skull, the supra-orbital and
sub-orbital bones, and the transverse bone, the morphological position
of which he leaves quite undetermined. Looking then at these and
other residual quantities still unaccounted for, the anatomist cannot
accept, nor do we think it is intended by Mr. Huxley that he should
accept, many of the statements advanced in these lectures as furnish-
ing a final settlement of that “‘much vexed question,” the morphology
of the cranium. There is much work yet to be done before we can
hope to arrive at anything like a definite conclusion respecting it.
The lectures on the vertebrate cranium ought, however, to.be read
and carefully thought over by every anatomist, not merely because
they record the opinions of so distinguished a teacher as Mr. Huxley,
but because, from the singularly lucid way in which one of the most
complex subjects in the whole range of anatomical science has been
treated, they may well serve as a model to be studied by future writers.
We have felt justified in bestowing a large amount of space and
consideration upon Professor Huxley’s book (which should, in reality,
have formed two distinct works), because we believe it will take a
high place in the classical scientific literature of our country, and will
be handed down to posterity as one of the most comprehensive treatises
on some at least of the subjects with which it deals; but along with its
valuable information, and excellent illustrations, it will also transmit
the fact, too well known in our day, that its author entertains feelings
of bitter hostility against his most eminent. contemporary, Professor
Owen, for there is hardly a chapter in the work in which these feelings
are not manifested.
It is, no doubt, true (and is very much to be regretted), that in
Professor Huxley’s earlier days, and even more recently, he was pained
by unfair criticisms upon his anatomical investigations, criticisms
which were all the more ungenerous, because the object of them was
then a young man struggling for a position amongst men of science ;
but is it any more creditable to retaliate upon his commentator, by
characterizing his mistaken views as mendacious ?
It matters little to us, whether or not the strife continues; and
as far as the public are concerned, they either take it as a matter of
course that Professor Owen will be attacked whenever Professor
Huxley speaks or writes ; or they crowd to the lecture hall with the
same feelings as they would go to witness a prize fight ; all we can
say is, that it imparts to the non-scientific world a false estimate of
the spirit which exists amongst scientific men, a very false estimate
indeed, and what chiefly concerns us as reviewers is that it does great
permanent injury and reduces the intrinsic value of an author’s works,
for it is difficult to accredit a writer with strict impartiality, who can-
not exercise a little control over his feelings. ‘These remarks are made
in the most friendly spirit; and we hope shortly to have from the pen
1864. |. Atheism and Science. 545
of the author a work of equal merit, without even this one serious
defect. We havo already spoken of the value of Professor Huxley’s
illustrations, and now conclude our notice with a word of praise to
Mr. Wesley, the artist, for the excellent manner in which those illus-
trations have been transferred to the work itself.
ATHEISM AND SCIENCE.*
Tse extraordinary author of the extraordinary book before us says,
quoting “ Hirschel,” that ‘‘nothing is so improbable but a German
will find a theory for it,” and he has favoured his readers with a most
striking example of that truth in the publication of his own atheistical
and materialistic theories, which are founded, as he believes, upon
the newest discoveries of natural and physical science. We should
certainly have allowed his book to run its course unheeded, without
affording him an excuse for adding another to the four prefaces in
which he defends himself against the attacks of his persecutors, were
it not for another truth that it contains—namely, that “ the scientific
agitation in regard to the question discussed is daily spreading, and
becoming, without exaggeration, a sign of the present time.”
The inquiry is, indeed, spreading most rapidly, not strictly
speaking as an “agitation,” for those who agitate are for the most
part men of limited knowledge and of no influence in society, and the
bigotry of narrow theologians effectively prevents men of high
eminence in science, who hold temperate philosophical views, from
openly expressing their opinions. The effect is, that a substratum of
materialism and atheism is silently forming beneath the visible surface
of intelligent society, and such works as this, or others of a less
offensive character, are the unhealthy eruptions whereby the disease
is made manifest.
We give prominence to the present work in the hope, first, that it
will awaken in teachers of religion an anxious desire to possess accu-
rate information on all scientific subjects which have a bearing on
theology, or where it is not possible for them to devote the necessary
time to such a study, that they may be induced to seek the co-opera-
tion of talented savans, instead of regarding them with distrust, or
driving them into open antagonism by stigmatizing their honest
labours in the cause of truth as deeds of evil; and in the next place,
we desire to show our intelligent men of science how necessary it is
to be cautious in giving utterance to philosophical speculations which
are lable to misconstruction, though they may appear to be based upon
scientific data ; and to satisfy them that the men who affect atheism are
now, as heretofore, persons who possess indeed a larger amount of gene-
* «Force and Matter.’ Empirico-philosophical Studies, intelligibly rendered,
&e. By Dr. Louis Biichner, President of the Medical Association ot Hessen-
Darmstadt, &c.,&e. Edited from the last edition of * Kvaft und Stoff? by J. Fredk.
Collingwood, F.R.S.L., F.G.S. Triibuer & Co.
546 Reviews. _ [July,
ral knowledge than those whom they seck to pervert, and quite enough
sophistry to turn what they do know to bad account; but whose
theories will not bear a critical examination, and whose practice can
hardly be expected to be such as would recommend them to honourable
men, or even to justify their admission into respectable society.
We have deemed these prefatory observations necessary before
acquainting our readers with the nature and contents of a work, the
perusal of which has been a most painful task to us, although we are
ever ready to listen to the theories of scientific sceptics, and to allow
them a large share of liberty in their speculations.
The following is the philosophy of the author and of his school :—
Matter and Force are both immortal. The forces are inherent, or
immanent in matter; they are, in fact, properties of matter. Matter
is infinite; it is “dignified,” for “it is the vehicle of all mental
power, of all human and earthly greatness.”
The laws of nature are immutable and universal. “Spirit and
nature are the same,” and “reason and the laws of nature are identi-
cal.”
The worlds were formed ‘“‘from a shapeless mass of vapours by
the rotary motion of specks, so as gradually to have become condensed
into compact globular masses,” and are kept in constant and regular
motion by the law of attraction.
The idea of an “external personal” activity, or God, is excluded
“by the many irregularities, contingencies, &c., in the economy of
the universe and individual bodies.” If there had been a personal
creative power, “there would not have been these enormous waste
useless spaces in which but here and there suns and planets swim,
floating about as imperceptible points;” the moon would have had
an atmosphere and water; the planets would have been all the same
size; and, asks “Hudson Tuttle,” an eminent atheistical authority,
whose opinions are frequently quoted, but of whose writings we can-
not help pleading ignorance beyond what we find in this book,*
“Why did the Creator give rings to Saturn, which, surrounded by his
eight moons, can have little need of them, whilst Mars is left in total
darkness?” All changes in the Earth have been produced by ordinary
known physical forces during enormous periods of time, and it would
be absurd to suppose that an arbitrary Almighty power “should re-
quire such efforts to attain its objects.”
When the Earth had cooled down from the state of a “fiery
globe,” and the watery vapours were precipitated upon it, then
“organic life developed itself.” In the lowest deposits in which
organic forms could have existed, we find their traces, and they
became developed with each ascending stratum, until in the upper-
most man appears, “the climax of gradual development ”—“ Man is
descended not from several, but from very many pairs.”
There is no such thing (in the abstract) as design in nature, nor
are there any traces of an active creating hand. Our reflecting reason
* Tt appears he published the ‘ History and Laws of Creation,’ in 1860, but we
are not told who and where is the publisher, or we might have included the work
in this notice.
1864. ] Atheism and Science. 547
is the sole cause of the apparent design. “There is no natural con-
trivance which might not be imagined more perfect than it is ;” the
order which “appears to us as produced by design,” “ was established
by natural conditions.” ‘Nature has produced a number of beings
and contrivances in which no design can be detected, and which are
frequently more apt to disturb than to promote the natural order of
things.”* Very little has yet been done to show the use of such
“ troublesome and disgusting creatures” as “ dangerous reptiles and
insects.”
It is a mistake to suppose that nature has done anything in antici-
pation of the advent of man, “there are no ends which nature had in
view to favour a privileged being. Nature is an end in itself.”
The brain is in all animals the seat and organ of thought. The
two are inseparable, and the brain is proportioned in size, shape, and
structure, to the magnitude of its intellectual functions. “ Mental
function is a peculiar manifestation of vital power, determined by the
peculiar construction of cerebral matter.”
The peculiar chemical constituents of the brain, and its complica-
ted structure, account for the remarkable functions it performs. It
is easy to prove that mind and brain are inseparable, for accidents to
the brain cause a concomitant imperfection of the mind, and the
entire removal of the brain leaves the body alive, but the soul is gone.
“Thought is a motion of matter,” and the brain is “only the car-
rier and the source, or, rather, the sole cause of the spirit or thought.
‘The senses are the source of all truth and all error, and the human
mind is a product of the change of matter.”
The souls of brutes differ from those of men in quantity, not in
quality. The term “instinct” is a misnomer, and all so-called in-
stincts are the consequences of “ deliberation, the result of comparisons
and conclusions.” The transition from the lower animals to man is
imperceptible; the Crétin is below the brute, and the Negro has all
the “characteristic peculiarities of the Ape.”
Language is not a distinctive feature in Man. The lower animals
can speak, some by signs, others by sounds, whilst there are whole races
of men who are no better than animals in this respect, speaking more by
signs than by articulate sounds. Educability is not peculiar to man ; it
is chiefly the difficulty of communication which prevents animals from
rising in intelligence. The soul has no “personal continuance,” for
thought cannot exist without brain, and with the dispersion of the
“ force-endowed materials, and their entrance into other combinations,
the effect which we call soul must disappear.” This doctrine cannot
be objected to on the ground that the “ thought of eternal annihilation
is revolting to the innermost feelings of man,” for “the thought of an
eternal life is more terrifying than the idea of eternal annihilation.”
Neither is there anything to be gained by a continuance of life.
-* We cannot refrain from quoting here a sentence of the author's, from
another part of the work (p. 251):—‘ Exact science inculeates modesty.” This
expression is, however, used in the chapter of “concluding observations,” and
perhaps it was a conclusion at which the author had not arrived at so early astage
of his investigations.
548 Reviews. | July,
“ Perfect truth would be a sentence of death for him who has acquired
it, and he must perish in apathy and inactivity.” The idea of a
“Free Will” is based upon superficial observation of nature; if man
have a free will, it is of the most limited kind. His will is dependent
upon “a fixed necessity,” upon climate; upon “ intellectual indi-
viduality”’ which prescribes to him “his mode of action with such
force that there remains to him but a minute space for free choice.”
This is, we believe, the gist of the author’s philosophy, and it
cannot be denied that he not only possesses a large amount of super-
ficial information, but that here and there he has displayed con-
siderable tact in dovetailing it into his theories. Nevertheless, we
cannot find that these are based upon the revelations of modern
science, and furthermore, if the numerous contradictions and incon-
sistencies in which his work abounds, and of which examples will be
given hereafter, and the confusion of ideas that may be found in almost
every page may serve as our guide, we are justified in believing that
the author is himself far from comprehending his own teaching.
Let us examine one or two of the fundamental principles on which
his whole doctrine is based.
All the “ so-called imponderables, such as light, heat, electricity,
magnetism, &c., are neither more nor less than changes in the aggre-
gate state of matter;” in other words, they are modes of motion;
motion is, of course, a force, and “ there is not a single case in which
force” “can be born or annihilated.” But motion, according to the
author’s views (in common with all force), is “immanent in matter ;”
“the motion of matter is as eternal as matter itself,” and finally, the
laws of heat, light, &., are “everywhere the same.”
Now, if we liked to dogmatize, we should be quite justified in say-
ing that “empirical” knowledge teaches us that force is not immanent
in, but always, as far as we can judge, external to matter, and that all
conversions of force as well as changes in matter are performed by a
governing will, and guided by a reflecting reason, notwithstanding the
existence of apparent exceptions to this rule in nature. On a limited
scale human reason and human will are constantly bringing about
more or less important changes of this kind, and we have the author’s
precedent for holding that we have ‘‘not merely the right but the
duty, in accordance with the laws of induction, to infer the unknown
from the known, and to maintain that a universal law which is true for
a portion of organic phenomena is applicable to all.” *
However, we will not be so ungenerous as to turn the author’s
weapons against himself and assume to be his teacher; we will rather
sit meekly at his feet, and be attentive listeners and learners. Let us
hear how his “matter” and its “immanent forces” have comported
themselves from eternity.
Matter, then, began its operations “by the rotary motion of
specks,” and all the modifications of motion which subsequently
ensued are “merely the result of a single universal law of nature—
the law of attraction.”t ‘Why matter assumed a definite motion at a
1864. | Atheism and Science. 549
definite time, is as yet unknown to us,” but it is probable that the
investigations of science will give us a clue to this mystery.*
It may be evidence of great obtuseness on our part, but we confess
that the author travels too fast for us, for we cannot understand how,
if matter be eternal, and motion, which is inseparably united to it, be
eternal also, matter can ever have begun to move; and how it is that
the “law” of attraction was not always at work. According to the
author’s views, “matter and force” must have had the power within
themselves to commence a series of operations which have resulted
in the formation of the worlds, and when they made up their mind
to start, they did so; but we should be sorry to press even this mode-
rate approach to a theological creed, because “we should approach to
pantheistic ideas,’ which the author places in the same category with
the vain fancies of believers in a Deity. ¢
However, granted that eternal matter with its immanent eternal
forces, and controlled by the law of attraction, did “begin” to bestir
itself, what followed? The inorganic world developed itself, and all
went on smoothly until it was necessary for nature’s ends (by the
way, nature has no ends, “it is an end in itself”—for the develop-
ment of matter, then) that organic life should appear. How was this
brought about? Well, when the “ fiery glohe” was cooled down, and
the vapours had settled upon the Earth “ with the appearance of water,
and as soon as the temperature permitted it, organic life developed
itself.”
And why not? ‘Where air, heat, and moisture combine, there
appears sometimes in a few moments an innumerable world of sin-
gularly-shaped animals, which we term infusoria.”{ This is what is
called ‘spontaneous generation,” which “ signifies the production of
organic beings without previously existing homogeneous parents or
germs, merely by the accidental or necessary concurrence of inorganic
elements and natural forces,” &e.§
And now we have presented to us evidences not only of the
author's candid and impartial mode ‘of inquiry, but also of the pro-
fundity of his research, and of the originality of his views.
“ Generatio equivoca” is not yet quite a settled question ; Pouchet
and Pasteur, Wyman, Jolly, Musset, and a crowd of investigators are
still actively engaged upon the inquiry, but sufficient is ascertained to
satisfy the author that this kind of generation “does not exactly
possess a scientific basis,” and that “ omne vivum ex ovo” is becoming
the order of the day. Let not this crude, unsettled state of science,
however, afford any encouragement to believers in a Deity and a crea-
tion. “ We might answer these believers, that the germs of all beings
had from all eternity existed in universal space, or in the chaotic
vapours from which the Earth was formed ; and these germs, deposited
upon the Earth, have there and then become developed, according to
external necessary conditions. The facts of these successive organic
generations would thus be sufliciently explained.” ||
There, reader, that is a theory founded upon “a scientific basis.”
Se SE ‘Tube Sil. t P. 66. § P. 69. 1 P. 71.
550 Reviews. [July,
Some over-curious spirits might, perhaps, inquire what could haye
been going on in the “ chaotic vapours ” to produce these germs before
their “ specks” began to rotate, but that would be hypereritical, and
we feel sure that all naturalists will be grateful to Dr. Bichner for
this lucid exposition of his views concerning the origin of living organ-
isms, more especially the advocates of spontaneous generation, the
believers in the creation of foraminifera from “ooze,” and in the
spontaneous development of the gigantic reptiles of old, from the
muddy beds of rivers, a theory which, by the way, appears to have
the author’ s valuable but qualified support.* And now, organic life
being once established, development proceeds actively. It is, “ per-
haps, morally certain that a spontaneous generation exists, and that
higher forms have gradually and slowly become developed from pre-
viously existing lower forms, always determined by the state of the
earth, but without the immediate influence of a higher power.’
Here, too, a little difficulty presents itself. The revelations of
science are certainly tending in the direction here indicated (leaving
out the question of the higher power) ; but still the author feels that
he would appear ignorant in the eyes of men of science if he did not
acknowledge that the question is not yet quiie decided; so he re-
minds his readers that external influences upon animals are, “though
considerable, yet insufiicient to change their specific form.” The
alternation of generations, the metamorphoses of insects, are evidences
which may be adduced in favour of his theory ; but even these pheno-
mena, although they represent “a real change of the species,” are
limited. There has, however, been ‘‘ one important and pregnant dis-
covery” which should suffice to convince the most sceptical. It was
made, not by an unknown observer, but by one of the greatest physio-
logists of the day; not by a sceptic, but by a “believer,” and it was
‘“a discovery which staggered its orthodox discoverer.”{ Johannes
Miiller discovered “a generation of snails in Holothwrie,’ and
“* Holothurie and snails belong to different divisions in the Animal
Kingdom.” This discovery “removes any doubt as to the possibility
of a permanent development of one species from a different one.”
This is the kind of canards upon which the author bases his views
as to the processes by which nature, as we now sce it, has, “ without
the immediate influence of a higher power,” called itself into existence,
or, to speak more correctly, developed itself from vaporous masses ;
and we shall now cull from his book a few of his thoughts regarding
the behaviour of nature whilst engaged upon its important task, so
that we may be enabled to judge whether or not the intervention of
any “higher power” was necessary for the perfection of the universe.
But as our space is limited, and our criticisms upon this contribution
to our scientific literature, however remarkable it may be, cannot be
allowed to extend to an unreasonable length, we will at the same time
extract a few of the author’s ideas on other difficult subjects, and our
readers will have an opportunity of judging how clear is the con-
ception he has formed of them himself, and what deference he pays to
truth and reason.
LER TT fue eae t P. 80.
1864. | Atheism and Science. 551
* Himpirical natural science,” hoe tells us, “ has no other object than
to find out the truth, be it according to human notions, consolatory or
the reverse, beautiful or ugly, logical or illogical, rational or absurd,
necessary or contingent.”—(Cotta.) *
This statement, with which the work closes, may possibly perplex
some of our readers. Indeed, they may be disposed to wonder what
other “notions” an atheist, a man “ who considers transcendentalism
an aberration of the human mind,”} can have of truth, excepting
human notions, or how truth can be truth, if it be illogical or absurd ;
but this arises from their not fully comprehending the wisdom of the
acts of “ Natural Science.” They shall now be enlightened.
“Nature is perfect in itself, being in its development governed by un-
alterable laws.”’ (p. 88, Prof. Giebel, of Halle.)
“We find in the constant harmony of nature a sufficient proof in favour
of the immutability of its laws.” (p. 33, Tuttle.)
As ‘“ Nature does not act from a conscious design, but according to an
immanent necessary instinct, it becomes obvious that it must be guilty of
many purposeless absurdities.” (p. 94.)
“Nature has produced a number of beings and contrivances in which
no designs can be detected, and which are frequently more apt to disturb
than to promote the natural order of things.” (!) (p. 94.)
This will convey to our readers some idea of the author’s “ nature.”
Another word concerning his “matter and force.”
“Matter must have existed from eternity, and must last for ever.”
Denis)
: “ Force is a mere property of matter.” (p. 4.)
‘There exists a phrase, repeated ad nauseam, of mortal body and im-
mortal spirit. A closer examination causes us with more truth to reverse
the sentence.” (p. 13.)
“Although the immortality of matter is now an established truth, the
same cannot be said in regard to force.” (p. 17.)
This seems a little contradictory ; however, let us search a little
further, that we may be enlightened.
“No force can arise from nothing.” (p. 2., Liebig.) t
“Indestructible, imperishable, and immortal as matter, is also its imma-
nent force. Intimately united to matter, force revolves in the same never-
ending cycle, and emerges from any form in the same quantity as it
entered.” (p. 16.)
“No motion in nature proceeds from, or passes into, nothing.” (p. 17.)
“ Physics show that, as there was a time when no organic life existed on
earth, so will the time arrive—no doubt an infinite and incommensurable
period—when the physical forces now existing will be exhausted, and all
animated beings plunged into night and death.” (p. 105.)
See 208; ft P. 253.
+ The names of Liebig, Helmholtz, &e., will be found in this work, as observers
from whom quotations are made in support of the author's views; but in justice
to these great and honourable men, we deem it right to say that isolated expres-
sions are perverted in their meaning, just as dishonest publishers sometimes
revenge themselves upon critics, by snatching from their adverse reviews portions
of sentences apparently laudatory.
Reviews. [ July,
or
or
bo
Let us supply or rather bring down the corollary :—
“Force is a mere property of matter,” and “ indestructible, im-
perishable, and immortal, as matter is also its immanent force” (until
it is exhausted, we presume).
And how is the universe governed ?
“The same materials and the same laws govern the visible universe,”
and ‘‘ everywhere act in the same manner as in our proximity.” (p 45.)
“The laws according to which nature acts and matter moves, now
destroying, now rebuilding, and thus producing the most varied organic
and inorganic forms, are eternal and unalterable.” (p. 33.)
“There exists neither chance nor miracle, there exist but phenomena
governed by laws.” (p. 38, Jouvencel.)
“Tt depends on an accident whether or not they (natural objects) will
enter into existence.” (p. 90.)
A word concerning “ vital force,” and voluntary motion :-—
oO p)
“Vital force cannot be appealed to; that is scientifically dead.” (p.
XXVll.) ;
“The motion of what is called vital force, is now rejected by exact
observation.” (p. 215.)
“Mental function is hence a peculiar manifestation of vital power, deter-
mined by the peculiar construction of cerebral matter.” (p. 125.)
When the embryo of man moves in the womb ;
“These motions are involuntary, not determined by a mental act.”
(p. 159.)
But the mode in which “ vibriones, microscopical animalcules of the
smallest kind,” of which a cubic line contains 4,000 millions; the
mode in which these living atoms move, “leaves no doubt that they
possess sensation and will.” (p. 24.) (!)
Having shown (as he believes) that man has no “innate intuitions,”
the author proceeds to argue, that those who believe in a Deity on the
ground that the idea is innate, have no foundation for their faith, and
mentions some nations which are said not to have any conception
of a God.
He also adduces as evidence that the “ Indians in Oregon” have
for their highest divinity “the wolf,” which “seems, according to
their descriptions, to be a hybrid of a divinity, and an animal;” *
and that,
“Paul Kane describes the Indian Chinooks, like most red skins, to be
without distinct religious sentiments. They ascribe everything to the
Great Spirit; but this Great Spirit is, according to their ideas, a very
vague being, and not the object of any worship.” (p. 187.)
Weighty evidence against “ innate intuitions,” and ‘ the Existence of
a, Deity.” There is more of the same kind in the same chapter.
Amongst his authorities for disbelieving in the immortality of the
_ soul, are, “the celebrated Chaumette,” who, during the French revo-
lution, “erected in the cemeteries statues representing Sleep ;”’ Lessing,
who thought it must be a great “ennui” to live for ever ; Danton ;
ue LES Ista,
1864. | Atheism and Science. 553
the Jews before the Babylonian exile (how the race must have degene-
rated according to the author’s views!) ; Shakespeare, (!)* Pliny,
Homer, Simonides, Seneca, Pomponatius, Frederick the Great (the
predecessor of kings who rule by divine right!) and ‘ the enlightened
of all nations and times,” + amongst whom the “dogma of the immor-
tality of the soul has ever had but few partisans.” On this ground
then, if on no other, Messrs. Biichner, Tuttle, and Co. may be added
to the above authorities, and included amongst the “ enlightened.”
But it appears from Preface No. IV. that some of the author’s critics
are not disposed to admit him into this rank of society, and that others
go still further in their malignity, and have attempted to damage him
in public opinion by casting suspicions upon his moral character.
Not knowing anything of his private character, we cannot, of
course, Express an opinion on so delicate a matter ; but we will allow
the author to state his ideas of morals and morality ; ideas which we
presume to be held by all of like professions with himself.
“Science has no concern with morals.” (p. xv.)
“The person of the investigator, and that of his moral convictions,
have nought to do with his investigations.”} (p. lxv.)
“ Annihilation, non-existence, is perfect rest, painlessness, freedom from
all tormenting impressions, and therefore not to be feared.” (p. 205.)
“Free will, if it exist, can only have a limited range.” (p. 239)
“Man is free, but his hands are bound; he cannot cross the limit
placed by nature.” (p. 245.)
“ Another (person) § inclines to conscientiousness ; he is just in all his trans-
actions, and may puta term to his existence if deprived of the possibility of
Fulfilling his obligations.”
.
Very convenient doctrines these for persons whose “ cerebral
matter ” happens to be endowed with propensities to indulge in vices
which do not come within the pale of the law, and who “act according
to their impulses or habits,” as all men do, in the author’s opinion! |
No free will, and a kind of conscientiousness which causes men to put
an end to themselves, and seek the haven of “ perfect rest,” and “ free-
dom from all tormenting impressions,” when they can’t pay twenty
shillings in the pound. :
This is the morality of Atheists and Materialists !
That any human being endowed with reasoning faculties and pos-
sessed of a fair amount of information could have trusted himself to
give utterance to such a tissue of contradictions and absurdities as are
to be found in this book, and should attempt to pollute the scientific
literature of his age with such trash as it contains, is explicable through
the views which he entertains concerning a Deity; but whatever can
have induced an Englishman, aspiring to a respectable position in
the scientific world, a Fellow of the Geological Society, voluntarily to
Bago. “Thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provok’st; yet grossly fear’st
Thy death, which is no more ! ”
+ 213. * The Duke,” in *‘ Measure for Measure.’
¢ This depends very much upon the notions which he has concerning truth.
§$ We italicize these lines.
|| Quoting Auerbach, p. 244.
554 Reviews. [July,
sit down and translate a book full of blasphemy, to give his sympa-
thies to a writer who sneers at all that the mind of civilized man has
held sacred, who perverts scientific truth, and drags through the mire
such honoured names as Liebig, Lyell, Darwin, Faraday, Humboldt,
Flourens, Schiller, Shakespeare, Lessing, and the Scriptures, levying
black mail upon them in support of his atheistical views; how he
dares to print his name on the title-page as the editor, is quite incom-
prehensible to us.
We cannot but commend Mr. Collingwood’s prudence in not
“always” subscribing to the “alleged facts” contained in the work,
and to the “inferences drawn from these facts,’ but we by no means
envy him the great “ pleasure” which he experiences in introducing
the work to English readers; and whilst we entirely disagree with
him as to the desirability of its being “admitted to the rolls of
English literature,” we feel sure that all classes of scientific readers,
from freethinkers (in the more restricted sense of the term) to ortho-
dox theologians, will pronounce it a vulgar, blasphemous book, full
of absurd contradictions, and presumptuous, unscrupulous assertions,
published, with its numerous prefaces, with a view to create a sensation,
and the only persons to whom it will give unfeigned satisfaction are the
small semi-educated sect of men calling themselves “ Naturalists,” or
** Secularists,” who will no doubt use it, as Dr. Biichner has attempted,
to abuse science.
To us, the author appears to have done his very worst for science
and for himself. Judging from observation and experience (and
“whoever rejects experience rejects human conception” *), we shall
expect him at some future time to be a rabid theologian ; one who, if
he had been an Englishman, would be found lecturing on Redemption
in some obscure tabernacle, ‘ all seats free, and discussion invited ; ”
and infusing into his religious discourses about as much reason as
he has thrown into his atheism.
We have no desire to be severe or condemnatory in our epithets,
and shall content ourselves with saying, that if the author is sincere,
and has undertaken a scientific expedition, it has been another illus-
tration of the old German saying :—
“Es ging ein Gaenschen uber’s Meer,
Und kam als Gans auch wieder her.”
“A gosling crossed the sea, and a goose it returned.”
The advantages which may arise from the publication of the work
were referred to in our introductory remarks, and it is unnecessary to
repeat them; but the moral it teaches, is one of the wisest that ever a
wise man uttered, and we earnestly commend it to the consideration
of the author and translator, and to all who feel disposed to sympa-
thize with their doctrines. It was Lord Bacon who said, “ A little
philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth of philosophy
bringeth men’s minds to religion.”
* P, 253.
cr
Cr
cr
1864. | The Microscope.
THE MICROSCOPE.*
Ir there be a philosophical instrument before any other that has
exercised a beneficial influence upon modern society, it is the Micro-
scope. It has lent an impulse to the study of Natural History, of which
the results have been more striking than any recorded previous to its
invention ; and through its employment, man’s acquaintance with the
laws and operations of nature has in a very brief period increased in
a degree almost miraculous. It has taught him to observe with greater
care; to calculate with more accuracy; has opened out new fields for
the exercise of the mental faculties, raising the sense of wonder and
admiration whilst at the same time it cultivated the reason. To the artist
and poet it has offered new scenes and themes in Nature ; and, in other
walks of life, has employed thousands of busy hands and brains. In its
simplest form the manufacturer carries it in his waistcoat-pocket to ex-
amine the texture of his fabrics, the seedsman to inspect his seeds, and
80 in many trades ; whilst the more complicated instrument has become
almost indispensable to the higher professions—the surgeon, physician,
and analytical chemist having recourse almost daily to its defining
powers. Indeed, there is hardly a home where, in one form or another,
the magnifying lens is not to be found; scarcely a cultivated family
circle in which at least one member does not avail himself of its use.
And how is it that even as a mere means of recreation, the micro-
scope should have acquired a position in the homes of men which no
other instrument has been able to command? The revelations of the
Telescope are certainly far grander, and the performances of the Magic-
lantern more amusing; and yet, for every one of these instruments, we
may count im the houses of the intelligent classes at least twenty
microscopes. It is because the last-named instrument brings us into
nearer relations with that mysterious influence which we call Life—an
influence which human curiosity has endeavoured from time imme-
morial to fathom, revealing to our gaze the hidden springs of vital
action in living objects with which our acquaintance was previously but
superficial ; and exhibiting new scenes from animated nature, where
we were before accustomed to believe only in the existence of inor-
ganic substances influenced by physical forces. For a long period
indeed, whilst the possession of a microscope was a privilege accorded
only to a few professional men, and was often employed by these rather
as a means to mystify than to enlighten, the doings of the microscopical
world were regarded as being beyond the ken of ordinary mortals; and
even within the last few months we were informed by a friend, who had
deputed us to select a microscope for the use of his family, that his
gentler half entertained conscientious scruples with respect to the ad-
* “An Elementary Text-book of the Microscope ; including a Description of
the Methods of Preparing and Mounting Objects, &c. By J. W. Griffith, M.D.,
ee M.R.C.P., conjoint author of the ‘ Micrographic Dictionary.. J Van
oorst.
‘The Preparation and Mounting of Microscopic Objects.’ By Thomas Davies,
R. Hardwicke.
vol. I. 2P
556 Reviews. [ July,
mission of such an instrument into her house, as she believed it was not
the intention of the Creator that we should see the things it revealed,
or He would have enabled us to do so with the naked eye!
It may be considered ungallant to criticize the views of a lady, but
we cannot help saying that such a remark exhibits a great want of con-
fidence in the Creator, who has not only enlightened us by means of the
microscope on many obscure points in Natural History, instructed us
how to detect that adulteration which, like a false balance, must be
“abomination to the Lord,” and enabled man to prolong the precious
gift of life; but has taught us through this medium that His relations
are as intimate with the minutest objects of His creation as with the
highest ; for, as the telescope has revealed to us His power in the
distant worlds, so has the microscope proclaimed his goodness in the
water-drop !
It is not surprising, then, that the numerous practical uses of the
instrument, coupled with its efficacy as a means of educating the mind
and of pleasing some of our highest intellectual tastes should have
caused it to be regarded with such great favour, and should have led to
its extended manufacture ; and it would have been a matter of astonish-
ment, if, with its increased fabrication and employment, the world had
not been favoured with numerous works upon the principles and mode
of its construction, and the methods of its application. This has fol-
lowed as a matter of course, and each season produces a number of
works of more or less merit, and tending in a greater or less degree to
diffuse the love of microscopical studies.
Amongst the treatises for the use of advanced students, the fore-
most in rank are Dr. Carpenter’s ‘Manual, and the ‘ Micrographie
Dictionary’ of Dr. Griffith (the author of one of the works about to be
considered) and the late lamented Professor Henfrey. Many others of
great merit might be added; but if we were asked to recommend an
elementary text-book for a young beginner, or for the use of amateurs,
we confess that we should have great difficulty in selecting one that
might fairly be considered complete in itself.
Even in the present incipient stage of the science, it would be
difficult to embrace all that is desirable in such a treatise. A few hints
as to the selection of an instrument, with an account of its chief parts,
and how they should be manipulated; directions for securing and
mounting useful objects in the most approved manner; a clear de-
scription and systematic classification of easily-attainable objects im
the inorganic and organic realms of nature, to lead the young student
unconsciously from “philosophy in sport” to “science in earnest,”
and cause a pleasant diversion to become the foundation of a lifelong
study,—these are the desiderata in an elementary text-book; and such
a treatise, we believe, has yet to be composed.
But, although it is by no means perfect, the one before us, written
by the surviving author of the ‘ Micrographic Dictionary, commends
itself strongly to our favourable notice. It bears the impress of
thoughtful care, extended knowledge, and a thorough acquaintance
with the subjects of which it treats. Its contents are scientifically
arranged, and the reader is made conversant with the elements of every
1864. | The Microscope. 557
branch of Natural History from which the illustrations are drawn ;
indeed, as far as it goes, it is admirably written, and we feel sure that
every large-minded microscopical writer or observer will agree with
us, When we pronounce Dr. Griffith’s little work the best of the kind
extant. Its chief merit consists in its truly educational character,
which raises it above many of those brochures whose sole object seems
to be to afford amusement for the hour; but this feature does not by
any means render it the less interesting and attractive.
If we take, for example, Chapters III. and IV., we find that the
beginner is taught by means of practical illustrations, not alone the
character of “vegetable elements and tissues,” but of the organs and
functions of plants; and if he takes care to seek out the objects
recommended for his observation, he cannot fail to become acquainted
with the nature and functions of leaves, stems, roots, flowers and seeds,
and with the leading phenomena of fertilization. But our readers
may be disposed to think that, in order to instil into the mind of the
tyro such an amount of general information, the author must have
recourse to technical language, and must avail himself of illustrations
difficult of access to the student. By no means; in all such matters
the author has smoothed the way for the uninitiated, the burthen of
whose labours he has to a great extent borne himself, employing the
clearest language, explaining every technicality, and, above all (and
this is a great merit in the little work), availing himself, not of the old
stock subjects for illustration, but of substances well known to the least
informed, and readily procurable by every one.
Here, for example, are the teachings of a cell from the pulp of an
apple :—
*Cell-Contents.—In most cells, especially when young, a minute,
rounded, colourless body may be seen, either in the middle or on one side,
called the nucleus. This is very distinct in a cell of the pulp of an apple
(Pl. 1, Fig. 2b): and within this nucleus is often to be seen another smaller
body, frequently appearing as a mere dot, called the nucleolus.
‘The nucleus is imbedded in a soft substance, which fills up the entire
cell (Pl. 1, Fig. 20); this is the protoplasm (rgcdros, first, rAdca, forma-
tive substance). As it is very transparent it is readily overlooked ; but it
may usually be shown distinctly by adding a little glycerine to the edge of
the cover with a glass rod, when it contracts and separates from the cell-
walls, as in the Jower cell of Fig. 2. The protoplasm in some cells is semi-
solid, and of uniform consistence, while in others it is liquid in the centre,
the outer portion being somewhat firmer, and immediately in contact with
the cell-wall. In the latter case it forms an inner cell to the cell-wall, and
is called the primordial utricle. The terms ‘‘ protoplasm ” and “ primordial
utricle ” are, however, used by some authors synonymously.
‘The protoplasm is the essential portion of the cell, and it forms or
secretes the cell-wall upon its outer surface in the process of formation of
the cell, considered as a whole. It is also of different chemical composi-
tion, from the cell-wall being allied in this respect to animal matter.’
Thus simply, and with the aid of the cell from the pulp of an
apple, does the author convey to his uninformed readers the chief facts
in regard to one of the most difficult questions in vegetable physiology ;
and as he has drawn upon the apple for his illustration in this instance,
2P2
558 Reviews. | July,
so he employs the commonest, but by no means the least interesting
and attractive objects throughout his survey of organic nature.
From the vegetable kingdom we have the leaf of a geranium, the
starch granules of cereals, or of the potato; the stalk of garden
rhubarb, with its exquisite structures; sections of deal and holly;
hairs of London pride; pollen grains of the crocus, primrose, and
sunflower; sting of the nettle; petals, sepals, and other parts of the
common chickweed ; sections of mustard-seed, &e.; and again, the best
known ferns, such as Polypodium and Scolopendrum vulgare, the most
familiar mosses, lichens, and sea-weeds, a few of the commonest
desmids and diatoms.
From the animal kingdom, which is by no means so largely
illustrated, we have the blood-corpuscles of man, of the fowl, &e.;
hairs of men and of mice; fibres of flax, silk, and feathers; scales of
familiar fishes; heads and weapons of offence of too familiar insects ;
cilia from the gills of the oyster; along with examples of the most
widely-distributed Rotifera, Infusoria, and Entozoa: all the objects
enumerated, with many more (in all 451 figures) being grouped in
twelve plates, well coloured after nature, and engraved by a new micro-
scopical artist, Mr. W. Bagg.
As we have already stated, however, the little work is by no means
perfect, much as it deserves our commendation. If, instead of devoting
by far the greater portion of his volume to the vegetable kingdom, of
attempting to explain the more obscure phenomena of magnification,
polarization, &c., the author had favoured his readers with a few more
original drawings of the minute forms and microscopical features of
animal life, some of the most important of which are left quite un-
represented, whilst those selected are by no means the most beautiful ;
and if he had appended a chapter on crystals and other inorganic
objects, his work would have been greatly benefited, and it would not
have been open to the objection that it is rather a guide to the micro-
scopical study of organic nature, than what it professes to be, namely,
a text-book of the microscope generally.
We leave these hints with the able author im case a second edition
is called for, as no doubt it soon will be, and meanwhile we recommend
the book as a fresh, useful little work, full of accurate original deli-
neations of well-classified microscopical objects in organic nature, and
not as we sometimes find to be the case in such treatises, a mere patch-
work composed of the researches of other men, and with (made up by
the help of scissors and paste) a heterogeneous jumble of drawings,
correct or otherwise, not one tithe of the objects which they represent
having been seen by the authors who profess to describe them.
There is, however, one class of persons to whom the little book
will appear very imperfect,—namely, to those who desire, not alone to
inspect, but to prepare and mount objects for preservation. The
chapter on this subject is very meagre; and to readers thus inclined
we have no hesitation in recommending the second work of which we
give the title. It must be clearly understood, however, that we have
not placed them thus with a view to institute a comparison between
them, inasmuch as Mr. Davies's book is devoted solely to the mount-
B5Y
1864.] The Ophthalinoscope and Ophthalmoscopic Photogrophy. 55t
ing of microscopical objects and makes no pretension to scientific
knowledge beyond what is immediately necessary for that purpose.
It is an unassuming little brochure, without illustrations and by
no means attractive in appearance, but is composed by an author who
appears as modest as he is enthusiastic, and contains, besides his own
experiences in preparing and mounting objects, the most approved
methods of many of our most eminent microscopists, of Dr. Beale,
Dr. Golding Bird, Dr. Carpenter, Mr. Rylands, Mr. Hepworth, &c.; and
it instructs the student, not only as to the best method of mounting
objects, but how to select those which are the best suited for permanent
preservation. It wants a table of contents, and would suffer nothing if
the head-lines of the pages were a little more explicit, instead of being,
as at present, a mere repetition of the title of the work from beginning
to end.
We offer no apology to our readers for having occupied so much of
their attention with an account of these two little works, for they
represent what is becoming one of the most important intellectual
pursuits of our middle and upper classes, and is happily supplanting
in the lives of the growing youth of our day many frivolous and mis-
chievous practices. Hundreds there are, both young and old, who would
like to follow some intellectual employment during their leisure hours,
if they but knew which to select and how to proceed; to such, then,
we would recommend a good microscope, and its employment under
the guidance of the two little works of which we have here endea-
voured to give an unprejudiced account.
THE OPHTHALMOSCOPE AND OPHTHALMOSCOPIC
PHOTOGRAPHY.*
In the former part of this number of the ‘ Journal of Science,’ we have
given a sketch of the history and uses of the Ophthalmoscope, the
practical application of which the two publications whose titles are
named at the foot are intended to forward. Mr. Hogg enters fully
upon the principles upon which the instrument is formed, the best
method of using it, and points out the changes in the fundus of the
eye which are discovered by it.
From his previous writings on the microscope, and his familiarity
with the laws of optics, the author was well qualified to appreciate the
importance of the ophthalmoscope ; as he was one of the first to direct
the attention of the medical profession to the subject, so he has been
one of the most diligent students in this country in its application.
The first edition of this book in 1858 was a small, unpretending
* «4 Manual of Ophthalmoscopic Surgery: being a Practical Treatise on the
Use of the Ophthalmoscope in Diseases of the Eye. By Jabez Hogg. 3rd edition,
re-written and enlarged. 8vo. Churchill & Sons.
‘A New Ophthalmoscope for Photographing the Posterior Internal Surface of
the Living Eye, with an Outline of the Theory of the Ordinary Optialmoscope.
By A. M. Rosebrugh, M.D.
560 Reviews. [July,
volume, while this last edition has not only expanded into a goodly
octavo volume, but the contents have increased in value, as the subject
has advanced in importance. Those who are interested in the matter
merely as one of science, cannot do better than consult Mr. Hogg’s
book, as they will find in it all that they need ; while those professional
men who desire to use the instrument and become qualified to esti-
mate its value, will do well carefully to study its contents; for, as
it is one of the latest, so it is one of the most complete, publications
in the English language on the subject. Its illustrations, woodcuts,
and coloured lithographs of the interior of the eye in health and dis-
ease cannot fail to be of considerable use to the beginner. These
coloured views are not only more numerous, but also better executed
than those in the first edition of the work; still we would call the
author's attention to the magnificent illustrations recently published
by Liebreich in the ‘ Atlas d’Ophthalmoscopie,’ which as works of art
have never been exceeded in beauty of execution, as well worthy of
rivalry, when another edition of his book is called for. We well
know the difficulty and cost attendant upon the illustrations of such a
character, but we cannot doubt that artists in England may be found
who are equal to the task, and the extra outlay would be well repaid
by the greatly-increased value of pictures which shall equal in deli-
cacy and beauty the original structures which they represent.
The pamphlet by Dr. Rosebrugh is a reprint, from a Canadian
Journal, of a paper read by him in January last before the Canadian
Institute, in which he describes a new ophthalmoscope he has lately
invented for obtaining a photograph “ of the posterior internal surface
of the living eye.” It would be very difficult to convey a clear idea
of the apparatus without diagrams. It, however, essentially consists
of a modified ordinary photographing camera, in which the tubes and
lenses are so arranged, that near their juncture is placed a polished
plate of glass, with parallel surfaces, inclined at such an angle to the
tubes that a part of the light enterimg by the illuminating tube is re-
flected, at right angles to its original direction, into the dilated pupil
of an eye, from which it isagain reflected upon the back of the camera,
when, instead of the image being received upon an ordinary ground-
glass screen of a camera, it falls upon a properly sensitized collodion.
glass, upon which, by about five seconds’ exposure, a negative picture is
impressed. This negative is then used in the ordinary way for print-
ing the positive photographs,
Though Dr. Rosebrugh does not yet appear to have succeeded in
photographing the human eye, he states that he has obtained an im-
pression of the eye of a cat, while the animal was under the influence
of chloroform, which condition, however, he hardly thinks necessary,
seeing that its impression can be obtained in so short a space of
time.
We welcome with much pleasure this ingenious attempt to still
further extend the important applications of light painting, which of
late have received so many new extensions; we can hardly conceive of
any that can be more valuable than this suggestion, for not only are
the structures so minute and so delicate, but so varied and so nu-
1864. | Elementary Chemistry. 561
merous, that if is most difficult even for the fully initiated to clearly
define them, so as to make them clear to a bystander. Hence there is
little wonder that a non-professional artist who knows not what he is
to see, should be puzzled tomake them out, and still more so to depict
them. Of this, every writer, Mr. Hogg amongst the number, com-
plains, and all find it most difficult and costly, sometimes almost im-
possible, to obtain truthful representations of those numerous changes
in the eye, which the pathologist is so anxious to secure. Should
hereafter photography be capable, as we now incline to hope it may be
(it has already been most usefully applied in depicting accurately and
cheaply external changes and diseases), at no very distant time, of illus-
trating the hitherto hidden recesses of the human eye, it will supply a
desideratum of no ordinary importance ; for an absolutely correct pic-
ture of the living eye in health and disease will then be within the
easy reach of every student of medicine, and thus one great cause of
ignorance will be removed. While, therefore, Dr. Roseburgh cannot
as yet lay claim to complete success, he deserves credit for the advance
which he has made on the road to it,
ELEMENTARY CHEMISTRY.*
Dr. Arsoun, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Dublin, has
recently added another to an already numerous class, the Manuals of
Chemistry for beginners. It is said that few preachers close their
useful careers without, at some time or other, publishing a sermon or
volume of sermons. A like result appears to occur under similar
circumstances with another class of men. Most of those who have
to deliver at stated intervals a course of elementary scientific lectures,
in which, owing to the quickly-changing audience, there is not scope
for much extension or variety, feel tempted to commit to print their
favourite explanations and demonstrations, and not a few yield to the
temptation.
As might be expected, the little books developed under these con-
ditions bear a strong resemblance one to another. Dr. Apjohn’s
manual is a fair specimen of this class, not among the worst, but, we
must in honesty add, not among the best.
We preter, therefore, to offer a few general remarks upon elementary
works in chemistry, using that of Dr. Apjohn by way of illustration,
rather than to attempt a detailed criticism of a not very characteristic
performance. In one respect, however, Dr. Apjohn has departed from
the established usage ; we mean, in the limitation of his subject-matter.
He leaves the vast topic of organic chemistry untouched, excepting
that he gives a brief account of a few of the simplest and most com-
monly occurring combinations of carbon, such as oxalic acid and
= ¢Manual of the Metalloids.. By James Apjohn, M.D., F.R.S., M.R.LA.,
Professor of Chemistry in the University of Dublin. (One of Galbraith and
Haughton’s ‘ Scientific Manuals.”) Longmans.
562 Reviews. | July,
cyanogen. And here he appears to us to follow exactly the right
course. But we do not understand why he has preferred to treat only
of the metalloids in a work “intended as a handbook in Chemistry for
students in Medicine and Engineering.” Any group of elements, no
doubt, may furnish ample material for a volume addressed to scientific
readers ; but what a beginner in chemistry needs is a sketch, however
slight, of the whole subject; and it seems better that this should be
presented to him in a continuous form than in a manual of the metal-
loids, and, if such a work is to follow, a manual of the metals.
A difficulty attendant upon the first steps taken in any science, is
that of remembering or feeling an interest in the facts before acquir-
ing some notion of the general principles under which they have been
arranged, and on the other hand, of understanding the general prin-
ciples without a knowledge of the facts. In chemistry, at any rate,
there need be no hesitation as to the alternative a beginner ought to
adopt. Dr. Apjohn has followed the usual practice in prefacing his
detailed account of particular substances with an introduction, in which
he deals with the laws of chemical combination, atomic weights, the
classification of the elements, &c. We venture to think this practice
inexpedient. Every teacher of chemistry must have had occasion to
observe the bewilderment of a beginner, who attempts to read a
manual in which this order has been followed. A curious compro-
mise is adopted in the useful volume on chemistry, written by the
late Professor Wilson for Chambers’s Educational Course. The first
fifteen pages are occupied by an excellent account of the method of
chemistry, and its relation to other sciences. Then follow fifty pages
of theoretical explanations, also good, but to a beginner probably un-
intelligible. In the preface, the reader is advised to skip these fifty
pages, and pass on to the account of oxygen and hydrogen. The plan
of first communicating some of the facts of chemistry, and then at-
tempting their explanation, was adopted by Fownes, and is followed
also by Dr. Bernays, in his ‘ First Lines in Chemistry.’ We cannot
express too strongly our conviction, that in teaching natural science,
the historical method should be followed as far as possible. The
order of discovery, and of the development of scientific ideas, is
obviously not fortuitous, but depends upon a natural connection be-
tween one substance, or one mode of thought, and another ; and it is in
this order that each learner will best advance from facts and ideas
which he has already gained to others which to him are new.
One difficult problem which the authors of scientific compendiums
have to solve, is that of taking a comprehensive view of a large
subject, and using the detail necessary for clearness, within the
limits of a manual. They ought therefore to be jealous of admitting
to their pages any matter, however useful, which will not directly
serve the purpose of conveying to beginners a knowledge of the
science. Too often the science lies buried beneath a mass of useful
information. The process of purging itself of its applications is,
we suppose, one that every science must go through at a certain stage
of its development. Each kind of knowledge, before it has become
extensive, and before it has imposing generalizations to show, is valued
1864. | Elementary Chemistry. 5638
for its uses and not yet for its own sake. Ata later stage, when the
science is an object of interest independently of its applications, some
account of these is not unnaturally mixed up with its teaching, being
introduced partly for the sake of illustration, partly to exhibit its
practical importance. For example, the books of arithmetic now in
common use, and, we believe, still more those of an earlier date, give
“rules” for the performance of various commercial calculations, which
it is no doubt well to teach to those who will have occasion to use
them, but which should be dissevered from the systematic study of the
science of number.
We observe to a much greater degree a similar medley of science
and its applications in works on Chemistry. We will borrow from
Dr. Apjohn’s manual a few examples of the kind of useful information
which appears to us out of place in a scientific treatise. Under the
head ‘‘ Phosphorus” (p. 889), we find an account of the manufacture
of lucifer matches; under carbonic acid, a discussion on ventilation,
and an account of the preparation of aérated drinks (pp. 491-493).
No less than three-and-twenty pages are devoted to the manufacture,
purification, and illuminating power of coal-gas. The following ex-
tract from the chapter on Carbon will serve well to convey our
meaning :—
“The diamond is valuable for cutting glass, and its powder is much
used for cutting and polishing the diamond itself, and the harder
gems. It is, however, principally employed as an ornament for the
person ; and is worked by the lapidary into forms whieh have received
respectively the names of the rose and brilliant. The rose is flat
below, and is cut above so as to exhibit 24 facets. The form of
the brilliant is the same ; but it is domed below as well as above, and
is similarly cut on the two surfaces. When cut and polished, a
diamond weighing one carat is valued at 8/., and its price augments
as the square of its weight, until this latter reaches 20 carats ; above
this weight its price rises in a much quicker ratio.”
It may be useful to know these facts, but assuredly they have very
little to do with chemistry. Descriptions of the mode of preparing
substances on a large scale, and tables for ascertaining the strength of
an acid from its specific gravity, might also be excluded; the former,
because they illustrate no chemical principle which an experiment on
the small scale does not better illustrate ; the latter, because though
invaluable in a work of reference for laboratory use, they are not
adapted to be read through or remembered.
The language of chemistry presents grave difficulties to those who
are commencing the study, not only because of its lengthy and often
barbarous character, but because of its ambiguity, one substance
having frequently a number of names. This want of uniformity
appears to be a necessary consequence of the rapid progress of the
science. New ideas require new words, and until they have met with
general acceptance or rejection, the new and the old words are in use
together. All that a writer can attempt is to make as consistent a
selection as possible, balancing the claims, often opposed, of scientific
accuracy and of usage. Even if usage could be summarily disregarded,
564 Reviews. | July,
which is least of all possible in a text-book, a selection on scientific
grounds is no easy matter. There are, for example, advantages in a
name which inyolves no hypothesis, such as caustic potash, prussic
acid, aniline ; and there are advantages in a name which suggests to
a chemist the generally received formula of the substance, such as
hydrate of potassium, hydrocyanic acid, phenylamine. As chemical
knowledge advances, bodies of more and more complex constitution,
that is, containing in one molecule a greater number of atoms and
susceptible of a greater variety of decompositions, are separated out
from natural products and investigated, or are built up by the now
systematic processes of chemical synthesis. These bodies we represent
by formule, which indicate the number and kind of atoms composing
their molecules, and suggest as far as possible their modes of formation
and decomposition. Chemists have striven to make the language
of chemistry keep pace with this increase in their knowledge and in
the complexity of their formule. Probably the attempt must be given
up. Itis impossible to compress into a name facts which a formula
may convey, but which require sentences for their verbal expression.
As a consequence of this attempt, chemical names have become
sentences, and it is often shorter as well as clearer to write down the
formula of a substance than to call it by its name. In the future no-
menclature of chemistry we conccive that the formula of a substance
will be its name, and that we shall no more expect to have a word
corresponding to every formula than to have a name for every algebraic
expression. These considerations, however, apply chiefly to organic
chemistry. Where the formule of substances are simple, the interval
is greater, so to say, between one substance and another, and it has
not been difficult to apply to each a characteristic name composed of a
moderate number of syllables. Almost the only innovation sanctioned
by Dr. Apjohn is the use of the names carbonate of sodium, &c., in-
stead of carbonate of soda, &c. It is to be hoped that this change by
which the names of salts become uniform and free from theory may
soon meet with general adoption. The old terms ‘oil of vitriol,’
‘muriatic acid,’ ‘barytes, ‘strontites,’ ‘barytic water, ‘water of
ammonia, and others, to which Dr. Apjohn adheres, appear to us to
have been deservedly superseded. Dr. Apjohn must pardon us for
venturing one or two verbal criticisms. The name metaphosphoric
acid does not mean ‘ phosphoric acid associated with something else
(water), p. 3896, but changed, or—to illustrate this use of the pre-
position—metamorphosed, phosphoric acid. ‘ Hexangular’ is a bad
substitute for hexagonal, and such expressions as ‘per saltum’ and
‘quam proximé’ have no advantage over their English equivalents.
Graver objections attach in our opinion to expressions of another
class still much in vogue among chemists. We mean the phrases, for
they are nothing more, which represent as the cause of a phenomenon
some hypothetical force or law, whose existence is merely an infer-
ence—and, as we think, an unmeaning, unscientific inference—from
the phenomenon itself. We still recognize under different guises the
famous explanation of Moliére’s physician. “Why,” it was asked,
“ does opium send aman to sleep?” ‘ Because,” answered the sage, “ it
wl
1864. ] Hlementary Chemistry. 565
possesses a soporific virtue.” In confirmation of this remark we will
make a few extracts from Dr. Apjohn’s pages. When describing the
process of filling a balloon with dry hydrogen, he says, “* The oil of
vitriol and potash, in consequence of their great affinity for moisture,
dry the gas in its passage to the balloon, and at the same time slightly
augment its levity.” (p. 135.) That oil of vitriol and potash absorb
moisture when exposed to the air, and that heat is developed when
they are mixed with water, are facts. We pass beyond our knowledge
when we infer from these facts the existence of a cause, resident in
these bodies, which we call their affinity for water. And when we
proceed to speak of this supposed force as accounting for the ab-
sorption of moisture or the development of heat, we are simply
deluding ourselves with words.
The same remarks will apply, mutatis mutandis, to other similar
passages. “Sulphur and iron filings, when mixed and moistened
with water, have a strong affinity for oxygen. If, therefore, such
a mixture be placed in a light capsule floating on water, and that a
bell-shaped or cylindric jar be inverted over it, the oxygen of the air
is gradually absorbed, and the residual gas is nitrogen.” (p. 170.)
And again, with reference to the supposed isolation of fluorine by
the action of chlorine gas on fluoride of silver, Dr. Apjohn says :—
“ Such an experiment could not be made with any prospect of suc-
cess in glass or even in a platinum vessel; for though the fluorine
was set free, such is the energy of its affinities that it would at once
enter into combination by acting on the materials of which the appa-
ratus was composed.” (p. 378.)
It we may put confidence in Kimmerer’s results, “ the energy of
its affinities ’ does not produce this effect. A single line will furnish
us with one more example: “ Phosphorus is a very inflammable sub-
stance, the result of its strong affinity for oxygen.” (p. 388.)
We will quote, lastly, from Dr. Apjohn’s introduction, his general
account of the theory of chemical affinity. It is a clear statement
of the common doctrine on the subject.
“ We come now to the consideration of affinity, the force in virtue
of which two or more simple atoms combine so as to form a compound
atom. It is to the chemist the most important of the forces active in
nature ; for to it he refers the numberless combinations and decompo-
sitions of which bodies are susceptible.”
Now, there is no point, in our opinion, which it is more important
to set plainly before a student, than the fact that, as to the cause of
chemical change—the forces, if there be forces, which move the
atoms, if there be atoms—we know nothing at all. Science has to do
with motion, with changes, with relations, but not with force. Pro-
bably, if the term “affinity” could be got rid of altogether, it would be
a gain to chemistry; but at least it should be used only, as “ vital
force” is still sometimes used, under protest, as a name for the
unknown cause or causes of chemical action.
But it is not only in the philosophy of chemistry that this negli-
gence in distinguishing between fact and hypothesis is observable. In
566 Reviews. | July,
giving a systematic account of the combinations of the elements, it
might be thought an important part of the duties of the writer to dis-
criminate clearly between those substances that have been separated and
analyzed, those whose existence is rendered probable either by experi-
mental evidence, falling short of demonstration, or by considerations
of analogy, and those in favour of whose existence there is no presump-
tion whatever. The reader of most elementary works on ‘chemistry
will look in vain for this distinction. He is presented with the names
and formule of a host of imaginary substances, many of which are so
entirely with. ut analogues that no chemist would dream of attempting
their preparation. Dr. Apjohn gives three lists, and similar lists may
be found in most chemical text-books, of the oxides of Sulphur,
Phosphorus, and Carbon. The first list consists of seven oxides, the
second of four, the third of six. Chemists are actually acquainted
with two oxides of Sulphur, two, or perhaps three, oxides of Phos-
phorus, and two oxides of Carbon. Of the remaining oxides it is said
that they “ exist only in combination.” This is one of those treacherous
phrases of which chemistry were well rid. In this sense all bodies
exist whose formule can be made by combining the symbols which
compose the formula of an actually existing body. For example, the
well-known salt hyposulphite of sodium has the constitution expressed,
on the old notation, by the formula Na S°O*. Hence, on this principle,
we mnay infer the existence of substances having the following for-
mule :—Na 8, NaS’, Na O, Na 0”, Na O%, SO, SO., SO*, S70, S*O?,
S’0*, Na SO, Na SO,, NaSO,, Na S°O, Na S?O?; of these substances
those whose formule are printed in italics “ exist only in combination.”
The reason why the formula of one of these imaginary bodies figures
as that of “a known oxide of sulphur” (p. 256), is the traditional
acceptance of the dualistic hypothesis, according to which every salt
containing oxygen consists of a metallic oxide and an acid anhydride.
Now we are far from saying that this oxide of sulphur may not here-
after be made, or that there is no argument from analogy in support
of this anticipation. Only the same may be said of nearly every one
of the hypothetical bodies whose formule we have written down. The
discovery of the teroxide of sodium, of the protoxide and suboxide of
sulphur, of the sodium salts intermediate between the sulphide and
sulphite, appears at least as probable. These indications of what we
may hope to realize, drawn from the analogy of existing compounds,
are the clue which must guide the chemical investigator ; but to set
before a beginner the names and formule of certain substances selected
on a particular hypothesis,—one out of many that have been formed,—
from among hundreds of others, equally possible, equally unknown, is
a course in the highest degree arbitrary and misleading.
We wish to repeat, in conclusion, that our object has been to call
attention to various points in which, as we venture to think, the tra-
ditional teaching of chemistry is in fault. We have thus been led to
notice chiefly those parts of Dr. Apjohn’s manual which illustrate the
objections we have advanced, and have left without comment, as beside
our purpose, the large amount of well-arranged information which it
1864. | Botanists Guides. 567
contains. But while we readily share the modest hope which Dr.
Apjohn expresses, that his manual will materially assist his chemical
pupils in the University of Dublin, we must express our opinion that
a text-book of chemistry, such as we would desire to see in the hands
of every beginner, has yet to be written.
BOTANIST’S GUIDES.*
Dr. Dickie having been for some years resident in Belfast as Professor
of Botany and Natural History in Queen’s College, has examined the
Flora of the northern part of Ireland, and the result is given in the
first-named publication now before us.
Like all the works of the same author, it displays accurate observation
combined with a thorough knowledge of species. The district em-
braced in the ‘ Flora’ lies to the north of the fifty-fourth parallel of
latitude, and extends due west from Dundalk. It includes the whole of
Ulster (except the most southern portions of Monaghan and Cavan),
and the northern portions of Leitrim, Sligo, and Mayo, belonging to
Connaught. As to the general geological features of the district, it is
stated that Silurian formations occur in the South-east, Metamorphic
and Granitic rocks in the North and North-west, Carboniferous Lime-
stone in the South-west, and Devonian rocks in part of the interior.
In the East there is an extensive mass of basalt and chalk; greensand
and oolite are here and there exposed. The extreme highest points
are ;—in county Down, Sleeve Donard, 2,796 feet ; in Donegal, Muckish
and Engal, respectively, 2,190 and 2,400 feet; in Mayo, Nephin,
2,646 feet. Surrounded as Ireland is by the Atlantic, and its northern
parts so indented that arms of the ocean extend considerably inland,
as might be inferred, the climate of even the most northern parts is
comparatively mild and moist. The extreme ranges of temperature
are moderate when contrasted with those recorded in different parts of
Great Britain. ‘The character of the ‘Flora’ indicates this. In
marine plants the occurrence of many southern species in the sea of
the North of Ireland points out the influence of the Gulf Stream in a
marked manner.
Taking Mr. W. C. Watson's divisions, Dr. Dickie gives the fol-
lowing statements as to the Ulster Flora :—
1. Brrrist.—The number of plants belonging to this division, as
given in the Guide, are—Dicotyledons, 347; Monocotyledons, 136.
Several of these are not. so abundant as usual, such as Draba verna,
Cardamine amara, Arabis hirsuta, Adoxa Moschatellina, Origanum
vulgare, Myosotis collina, Mercurialis perennis, Milium effusum, Carex
Fulva.
2. Enextiso.—The total number of this type in the British Flora
is about 396; of these there are, in this district, 141 Dicotyledons and
36 Monocotyledons, giving a total of 177.
* «A Flora of Ulster, and Botanist’s Guide to the North of Ireland.’ By G.
Dickie, A.M., M.D., F.L.S., Professor of Botany in the University of Aberdeen.
Belfast : C. Aitchison; London : Lovell Reeve. 18mo, pp. 176.
4
568 Reviews. [ July,
3. ScorrisH.—The total number in Britain may be estimated at
about 69; those in the Ulster list are 34 Dicotyledons and 19 Mono-
cotyledons ; total 44.
4, Hiauianp.—Species of this type are estimated at 100; in the
North of Ireland the number is 29, of which 26 are Dicotyledons.
5. Artantic.—The total number in Britain is about 60; of these
there are in the list 23, of which 20 are Dicotyledons.
6. Grrmanio.—The representatives of this type are 190, and only
8 are in the list, of which 2 are Monocotyledons.
7. Locau.—Under this head are included 2 species not found in
Britain—Arenaria ciliata and Carex canescens, and one, Calamagrostis
stricta, extremely local in Britain.
The plants which occur on the summits of the higher mountains
are as follows :—Arbutus Uva-Ursi, Calluna, Empetrum, Galium sazxatile,
Salix herbacea, Vaccinium Myrtillus, Carex pilulifera, C. rigida, Festuca
ovina, and var. vivipara, Luzula sylvatica, Juncus squarrosus, Poa
pratensis, Armeria vulgaris, Campanula rotundifolia, Euphrasia officinalis,
Potentilla Tormentilla, Rumex acetosa, Agrostis vulgaris, Aira flecuosa,
Lycopodium Selago, Saxifraga umbrosa,
The author includes in the ‘ Flora’ the Phanerogamous plants
along with Ferns and their allies. A list of the species is given, with
full reference to their localities, a notice of their period of flowering,
their range, and the type to which they belong. A supplement is
given containing a list of the species which are either not strictly
indigenous, or regarding whose occurrence in the district there is some
doubt. We have no hesitation in recommending the work as one of
great value to the botanist who wishes to explore the Flora of the
North of Ireland.
The counties embraced in Dr. Dickie’s ‘ Botanist’s Guide ** to Aber-
deen, &c., are very interesting in a botanical point of view. They
exhibit a Flora ranging from the sea-shore to the height of 4,295 feet.
The author gives a general view of the physical character of the coun-
ties, and notices specially their meteorology. The geology of the
counties is also given, from the pen of Mr. Cruickshank. The British
Dicotyledenous orders not represented in the Flora are Berberidaceex,
Frankeniacee, Tiliacee, Aceracee, Balsaminacex, Celastraceze, Rham-
nacez, Tamariscacee, Cucurbitacez, Loranthacew, Jasminacex, Oro-
banchacer, Amarantacerw, Eleaguaceee, Thymelaceare, Santalaceer,
and Asaracesee. The Monocotyledonous orders not represented are
Amaryllidacexw, Tamacex, Hydrocharidacee, and Restiaceer,
Taking Mr.H. C. Watson’s Floral types, the following report by the
author gives an idea of the characteristic features of the Aberdeen-
shire Flora :—
1. Brrrrsu.—Most of these constitute our common plants, almost
everywhere diffused, and many of them familiar to all as ordinary
weeds. Some of this type, however, though abundant in more southern
* « Botanist’s Guide to the Counties of Aberdeen, Banfi, and Kincardine.’ By
G. Dickie, A.M., M.D., Professor ot Botany in the University of Aberdeen. 18mo,
pp. 344. Aberdeen: A. Brown & Co.; London: Longman & Co, 1860.
1864. | Botanist’s Guides. 569
parts of Britain, become scarce here, and may be reckoned among
our rare species; such as Ranunculus auricomus, Arabis hirsuta,
Arenaria trinervis, Bidens cernua, Lycopus Europeus, Listera ovata,
Malaxis paludosa, Alisma ranunculoides, &e.
2. Enatisu.—Of this type comparatively few reach Aberdeenshire,
and some of them, though now extensively spread, very probably may
have been introduced along with seeds of agricultural plants.
3, ScorrisH.—Plants of this division are well represented in this
part of Scotland, being 58 in number, and, therefore, about 2 of the
British species, so designated, occur here. Most of them are abun-
dant, and several are species highly prized by Southern collectors. A
few examples may be mentioned :—Rubus saxatilis, Trientalis Europa,
Linnea borealis, Pyrola media, Pyrola minor, Goodyera repens, and
Listera cordata. Three of these, Linnexa, Trientalis, and Goodyera,
may be specially noted as very widely distributed and abundant here.
4, Germanio.—There are only 8 examples of this type on our list,
and they are mostly rare or local plants; the total number of such in
the British Flora being estimated at more than 190.
5. Artantic.—Sedum anglicum and Scilla verna are the only
representatives ; the latter confined to the North-western part of the
coast, on the borders of the Moray Firth.
6. Hieunanp.—The plants belonging to this division are esti-
mated at about 100 species in the whole British Flora; of these
;*, are found in the list. Many of these are very local, and
entirely confined to the higher districts. A few of these reach
the coast, and are found almost at the sea-level, viz. Sedum Rho-
diola, Saxifraga oppositifolia, 8. hypnoides, and Polygonum vivi-
parum. Some others appear at a lower altitude along the course
of the Dee and Deveron. Such have, probably, been transported
by floods, wz. Oxyria reniformis, Epilobium alpinum, and Alche-
milla alpina. Among the more interesting of this type found in
the interior, and usually very local, may be mentioned Astragalus
alpinus, Mulgedium alpinum, Arbutus alpina, and various species of
Saxifraga, Hieracium, Salix, Juncus, Carex, and Poa.
As regards altitudinal distribution, the following remarks are
made :—The upper limit of Pteris aquilina is considered as marking
the upper limit of the Super-agrarian Zone, and therefore also that
of cultivation in Britain. The limit of this fern varies here from
1,600 to 1,900 feet: very rarely, however, does it attain the latter.
In several localities, on the bare stony sides of the hills, the limit is
found to be 1,600 to 1,700 feet. At various places, even more than
forty miles from the sea, cultivation at high altitudes is frequent. In ~
some of the inland or higher parts of the Super-agrarian Zone, several
plants of the Highland type constitute a permanent feature of the
vegetation, such as Cerastium alpinum, Aspleniim viride, Polygonim
Viviparum, and Arabis petra.
The Zones of Watson’s Arctic region are well represented in
Aberdeenshire. The Mid-Arctic Zone is peculiarly rich in rare forms
of the Highland type, such as Astragalus alpinis, Carex rupestris,
C. leporina, C. Vahlii, Erigeron alpiniis, &e. At the extreme part of
570 Reviews. | July,
the Super-Arctic Zone, the Highland forms alone occur. Thus, on the
summit of Ben Maedui, only seven flowering plants are found, viz.
Silene acaulis, Saxifraga stellaris, Salix herbacea, Luzula spicata,
L. arcuata, Carex rigida, and Festuca vivipara. Along with them are
associated Lycopodium Selago, and several other Cryptogamic plants.
A complete list is given in the work of all the Phanerogamie and
Cryptogamic plants of the counties, and full references to their localities.
There is also a map of the district, with a delineation of the various
zones of vegetation, and a notice of the plants which mark different
altitudes. The ‘Guide’ is compiled with great care and correctness by
one who is thoroughly conversant with the Flora, and who has for
many years been in the habit of visiting the localities. Dr. Dickie
has done good service to practical botany by this publication, which
ought to be the pocket companion of every one who means to explore
the floral treasures of the North of Scotland.
BRITISH AND AMERICAN CONCHOLOGY.*
WuHatEver may be the future destiny of those constituent groups
which collectively form the genera of natural science, it is certain,
that from the time of Linneus they have, in numberless instances,
endured a considerable amount of severe cross-examination, and
have stood their ground with much firmness. Species are indeed,
at present, somewhat stubborn facts, and exhibit not a few very re-
markable idiosyncrasies, which have to be disposed of before the
theory of development can be regarded as perfectly established.
To an unprofessional observer, the aspect of a named collection,
in almost any branch of natural history, is very perplexing. In
entomology, for instance, he may notice a series of insects, under the
same specific name, yet differing from each other in size, colour, and
even in form; whilst not far from these, two groups may appear, in
one of which the specimens are so like those of the other, as to be
apparently indistinguishable, yet he may find the groups marked by
different specific, perhaps even by different generic, names. The
arrangement may, nevertheless, be perfectly accurate and easily in-
telligible to the entomologist, who, in a variable species, at once
recognizes the specific identity of insects, differing at first sight,
as much as a magpie does from a jay; whilst between two constant
species, he knows the characteristic difference is very slight. We
may be more or less inclined to attach importance to specific dis-
* «British Conchology; or, an Account of the Mollusca which now inhabit
the British Isles and the surrounding Seas.’ Vol. II., ‘ Marine Shells : compris-
ing the Brachiopoda and Conchifera, from the Family of Anomiide to that of
Mactride.’ By John Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., F.G.8., &c. Van Voorst.
‘Observations on the Genus Unio : together with Descriptions of New Species,
their Soft Parts and Embryonic Forms in the Family Unionide.’ By Isaac Lea,
LL.D., President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, &e. With
ten plates. Philadelphia : Printed for the author.
1864. | British and American Conchology. 571
tinctions, but at all events, it must be evident that discrimination
between species is a matter of empiricism, and can only be accom-
plished by a naturalist who has a thorough practical acquaintance
with all the constituents of a genus in their various relations towards
each other, and under all the circumstances of the life-history of each
species.
Dr. Lea has devoted a large share of his lifo to the attainment of a
thorough acquaintance with the single conchological family Unionide.
The Unios are not general favourites with shell collectors, perhaps
because there is, to say the least, a strong family resemblance between
all the species, and a good series requires the whole of a very capacious
cabinet for its reception. Nevertheless, these fresh-water mussels
have had afew enthusiastic admirers and collectors, from and before
the time of Featherstone, whose book of travels in North America
gives an amusing account of perils and hardships undergone in pur-
suit of Unios. The tenth volume of Dr. Lea’s work on the Unionide
contains a very valuable description of the soft parts and embryonic
forms of many species, the shells alone of which had been previously
described. It is a pity that the work is so strictly confined to techni-
calities. Books of natural science will never gain their due respect
from mankind till they openly recognize the fact that an accurate
description of the habits and dispositions—in short, the biography of
a living thing—is just as purely and as truly scientific as the most
elaborate treatise on its physiology.
The North American Unionide include, according to Dr. Lea, more
than seven hundred species, whilst the rivers in Europe do not produce
more than a dozen.
The second volume of British Conchology, by Mr. Jeftrey’s, exhibits
equally with the first, on the part of the author, a profuse expenditure
of time and energy ungrudgingly bestowed on his favourite pursuit.
In reading the book, it is easy to fancy oneself inhaling the fresh
odour of the sea-shore, or of the sea-bottom ; turning a stone for a
chiton, or poring over the dripping contents of a dredge in search of
rissoz ; on the whole, however, the proportion of matter unattainable
from other sources seems to be somewhat less in this than it was in
the former volume. Many readers will, no doubt, think that the
author has acted judiciously in abstaining from drawing inferences
from his vast store of facts, either in favour of, or in opposition to,
the theory of natural selection ; yet it is daily becoming more difficult
to awaken any interest in matters which were the subjects of warm
discussion only a few years ago. Even the discovery of a new species
is less cared for: we want to know more of the old ones; for if Mr.
Darwin’s theory be the correct one, there is not an animal or a plant of
any species—far more than this, there is not a single character belong-
ing to an animal or a plant of any species, but it has its own wondrous
ancestral history to yield as a reward for patient study. On the other
hand, if we regard “natural selection” as a mere conjecture, every
part of every living thing may be examined as a witness to the proba-
bility or the improbability of the grounds on which the conjecture has
been made. All must admit that Mr. Darwin has fairly challenged
VOL. I. 2a
572 Reviews. | July,
refutation ; he has propounded no misty, indefinite, unintelligible
theory ; he has made two assertions that anybody may understand—
Ist. That species have arisen by divergence in descent from a com-
mon stock ; 2nd. That the direction of the divergence has been deter-
mined on utilitarian principles. It is inconceivable that such a theory
can long remain undecided. It is a reproach to science, that the
materials for its support or refutation are not at hand in over-
whelming plenitude. From a Rhizopod to an elephant, from a par-
ticle of red snow to a Wellingtonia, every organism invites the
inquirer after truth to come and hear what it has to say upon the
question. The fact is, that naturalists have been too much occupied
with systems of classification, and with establishing their various per-
sonal claims to scientific honours ; and now the work that might have
been done long ago, remains to be done; for Mr. Darwin himself
would be the last man in the world to assert that he had arrived at
anything like a demonstration. He has, however, succeeded in giving
the great problem a most unexampled prominence ; the rising genera-
tion will probably possess its satisfactory solution.
PAMPHLETS.
Tuer CotossaL Brrp or Mapacascar.*
Ty the year 1850, a French ship-captain, named Abadie, being on the
south-east coast of Madagascar, observed in the hands of a native the
shell of a gigantic egg, which had been perforated at one of its ex-
tremities and employed for domestic purposes. M. Abadie being
attracted by the unusual dimensions of the egg, set to work to procure
specimens of it, and ultimately succeeded in obtaining from the
natives, besides the example first seen, two others. One of these was
found in the débris of a recent land-slip, the other was disinterred from
a recent alluvial formation, together with some bones of apparently no
less gigantic size.— Upon these objects, which were shortly afterwards
forwarded to Paris, the late Professor Isidore Geoffroi St. Hilaire
founded a new genus and species of extinct Struthious birds, allied to
Dinornis, for which he proposed the name, Afpyornis maximus.| The
most striking character of the eggs of A’pyornis is their enormous
size. The largest of the two received at Paris measured in circum-
ference lengthwise no less than 2 feet 10 inches, and breadthwise 2 feet
4 inches. Its extreme length in a straight line was about 12 inches.
Professor Geoffroi St. Hilaire estimated that it would contain 104
quarts, or nearly as much as six ostrich-eggs. J * 908 “Ok . .
3 acts ee ae | 10,000 | 4-363 | 328 | 100. 0
4,5 Se 10,000 | 4°363 | 405 32.30
Il. aa
1°23 0 0 0 6.20
4 | 10,000 | 4-363 | 24 11.40
5, 6 4 ae, 10,000 | 4-363 | 48 27 35
7 Gore aires pelea patil dite 10,000; (4°36) |-0 56 13. 0
8,9 clearer ie Ne 13,000 | 4:363 | 77 62. 0
10 10,000 | 4-363 | 120 97. 0
11, 12, 13 10,000 | 4363 | 170 105. 0
Til. en
1,2 Wray’sicore . s . s 0 0 0 | 1,300. 0
IV. yt
2 \WOENTE COD. 5s oro. c 0 0 0 411. 0
Vv. a . . i “l
2 \ Core impreenated with in- ¢ | 10,000 | 4°363 4 68.30
3, 4 sulating liquid { 10,000 | 4-363 | 104 44.15
a 0 0 0 95°30.
3)
2, 3 Core of 20 alternate coats | | 19 009 | 4-363 | 121 42.45
: of gutta-percha and lope RS
5 SRS ESE cieseaaoeadl 10,000 | 4:363 | 150 118. 0
6 comp 10.000 | 4°363 | 170 100.50
Vil. Het
1 Me 0 0 0 443. 0
2 \ Core of pure india-rubber { 10,000 | 4-363 | 80 18. 0
VU ‘ “
ne 0 0 0 4.30
3 10,000 | 4-363 | 264 8:00
4, 5,6 | cater core 10,000 | 4-363 | 480 me
7,8 10,000 | 4:363 | 576 3.37
ag 0 0 0 26. 0.
2 \ India-rubber core { 3,977 | 1:72 | 390 0. 0
x. 1 ut
1 0 0 0 380. 0
2 | Silver’s india-rubber core 0 0 0 387. 0
3 0 0 0 382. 0
640 Original Articles. | Oct.,
On a careful inspection of the above summary, it will be seen that
a great difference exists in the retentive powers of the different imsu-
lators under severe pressure: these anomalies almost defy attempts at
comparison. If we take No. 1, the Gibraltar core, cured by Mackintosh,
we have, after an immersion of 282 hours, at the enormous pressure of
10,000 Ibs. per square inch, a power of retention of 136 minutes; at
325 hours’ immersion, it is reduced to 100 minutes; and at 405 hours’,
it is still further reduced to 32 minutes, showing that the insulation
is very considerably affected when a sufficiently long period of time is
allowed for the permeation of the cable. In the next series of experi-
ments, on a core impregnated with an insulating liquid, we have
totally different results, as there is a steady and progressive gain in
the insulating powers of the core. At 24 hours of immersion, we have
11 minutes 40 seconds; at 48 hours, 27 minutes 25 seconds; and so
on till, at 170 hours, the charge is retained for a period of 105 minutes.
Wray’s core was too small to be fixed in the cylinder ; but it retained
a charge under atmospheric pressure for 1,300 minutes, and hence
manifested a superiority to all the other cables tried. In another trial
with a larger cable, this insulator also gave very satisfactory results.
In No.5 core, of twenty alternate coats of gutta-percha and Chatterton’s
compound, there are the variable results of an increase in the first five
experiments from 43 minutes in 121 hours to 118 minutes in 150
hours; whilst in the sixth experiment, the retention after 170 hours’
immersion again falls to 100 minutes. These discrepancies are diffi-
cult to account for, and a more lengthened series of experiments is
required for the attainment of accurate results. No. 6, a core of pure
india-rubber, indicated very good insulation before the pressure was
apphed; but after 80 hours’ immersion the insulation was almost
entirely destroyed.
The very important question of insulation in deeply-submerged
cables is far from*having received, as yet, a complete solution. The
foregoing experiments are satisfactory, in so far as they show approxi-
mately the relative porosity of various materials; but they do not
point out how we are to obtain an insulator impermeable to water, and
at the same time a good non-conductor. This desideratum has yet to
be attained.
We might have extended our illustrations on the permeability, effects
of temperature, and other conditions connected with the insulators now
in use; but having already enlarged the article considerably beyond
the usual limits, we must conclude with observing, that in the second
attempt to ensure success, as regards both the manufacture and laying
of the cable, a second serics of elaborate experiments had been insti-
tuted, under the direction of a scientific committee appointed for that
purpose. The results of the experiments are satisfactory and interest-
ing, but we must reserve them for a future notice, at a time when the
manufacture is further advanced, and when we may confidently hope
that the efforts now making on the part of the directors of the Atlantic
cable will be crowned with success.
In the meantime, let us present our readers with drawings and
particulars of the two cables, showing that which failed in 1858, and
1864. FainBarrn on Submarine Telegraph Cables. 641
that which is intended for submersion in 1865. From these will be
seen the difference of weight and strength, and judging from the pre-
cautions that are now taken to have the cable retained in water-tanks,
and carefully tested before immersion, we may reasonably infer that,
on or before this time next year, a successful and satisfactory tele-
graphic communication will be permanently established between this
country and the American continent.
Fic. 8.—Cuble of 1858.
Conductor—A copper strand, consisting of 7 wires (6 laid round 1), and
weighing 107 lbs. per nautical mile.
Insulator.—Gutta-percha, laid on in three coverings, and weighing 261 Ibs.
per knot.
External Protection—18 strands of charcoal iron wire, each strand composed
of 7 wires (6 laid round 1), laid spirally round the core, which latter was pre-
viously padded with a serving of hemp saturated with a tar mixture. The separate
wires were each 22} gauge; the strand complete was No. 14 gauge.
Weight in Air.—20 ewt. per nautical mile.
Weight in Water—13°4 ewt. per nautical mile, or equal to 4:85 times its
weight in water per knot; that is to say, it would bear its own weight in a little
less than 5 miles depth of water.
Breaking Strain —3 tons 5 ewt.
aceuett Water to be Encountered.—2,400 fathoms, or less than 24 nautical miles
in depth.
The Contract Strain was equal to 4°85 times its weight per nautical mile in
water.
One Knot, being in fathoms = 1,014 x 4 = +9120 = 2-05 times the strength
requisite for the deepest water.
Fic. 9.—Cable of 1864-5.
Conductor —Copper strand, consisting of 7 wires (6 laid round 1), and weigh-
ing 300 Ibs. per nautical mile, embedded for solidity in Chatterton’s Compound.
Gauge of single wire, -048 = ordinary 18 gauge. Gauge of strand, :144 = ordinary
No. 10 gauge.
Insulation —Guitta-percha, four layers of which are laid on alternately with
four thin layers of Chatterton’s Compound. The weight of the entire insulation,
400 Ibs. per nautical mile. Diameter of core, -464; circumference of core, 1-392.
Bxternal Protection.—10 solid wires of the gauge -095 (No. 13 gauge) drawn
642 Original Articles. [Oct.,
from Webster and Horsfall’s homogeneous iron, each wire surrounded separately
with 5 strands of Manilla yarn, saturated with a preservative compound, and the
whole laid spirally around the core, which latter is padded with ordinary hemp,
saturated with preservative mixture.
Weight in Air.—85 ewt. 3 qrs. per nautical mile. , !
Weight in Water.—14 ewt. per nautical mile, or equal to 11 times its weight
in water per knot; that is to say, it will bear its own weight in 11 miles depth of
water.
Breaking Strain.—7 tons 15 ewt. ;
Deepest Water to be Encountered.—2,400 fathoms, or less than 2} nautical miles
im depth.
The Contract Strain is equal to 11 times its weight per nautical mile in
water,
One Knot, being in fathoms = 1,014 x 11 = 1335* 4-64 times the strength
requisite for the deepest water.
ON THE PROPORTIONAL NUMBERS OF THE
ELEMENTS.
By Wriuuram Opuine, M.B., F.R.S.
Upon arranging the atomic weights or proportional numbers of the
sixty or so recognized elements in the order of their several magni-
tudes, we observe a marked continuity in the resulting arithmetical
series, the only exceptions to the very gradual increase in value of
the consecutive terms being manifested between the numbers 40 and
50, 65 and 75, 96 and 104, 138 and 184, 184 and 195, and 210 and
231°5, thus :—
H 1 Hydrogen. Fe 56 Iron. Cd 112 Cadmium.
L 7 Lithium. Co 59 Cobalt. Sn 118 Tin.
G 9 Glucinun. Ni 59 Nickel. U 120 Uranium.
By Li Boron: Cu 63°5 Copper. Sb 122 Antimony.
C 12 Carbon. Yt 64 Yttrium. I 127 Iodine.
N 14 Nitrogen. Zn 65 Zine. Te 129 Tellurium.
O 16 Oxygen. As 75 Arsenic. Cs 133 Cesium.
F 19 Fluorine. Se 79-5 Selenium. Ba 137 Barium.
Na 23 Sodium. Br 80 Bromine. V 137 ~~ ~=Vanadium,
Mg 24 Magnesium. tb 85 =©Rubidium. Ta 138 Tantalum.
Al 27:5 Aluminium, | Sr 87:5 Strontium. W 184 ‘Tungsten.
Si 28 Silicon. Zr 89-5 Zirconium, Cb 195 Niobium.
P 31 Phosphorus. | Ce 92 Cerium. Au 196-5 Gold.
S 32 Sulphur. La 92 Lanthanum. Pt 197 Platinum.
Cl 35:5 Chlorine. Dy 96 Dydymium. Tr 197 Tridium.
K 39 Potassium. Mo 96 Molybdenum. | Os 199 Osmium.
Ca 40 Calcium, Ro 104 Rhodium. Hg 200 Mercury.
Ti 50 Titanium. Ru 104 Ruthenium. Tl 203 ‘Thallium,
Cr 52:5 Chromium, Pd 106°5 Palladium. Pb 207 Lead.
Mn 55 Manganese, | Ag 108 Silver. Bi 210 Bismuth.
Th 231°5 Thorinum,
1864.] Opute on the Proportional Numbers of the Elements. 643
With what case this purely arithmetical seriation may be made to
accord with a horizontal arrangement of the elements according to
their usually received groupings, is shown in the following table, in
the first three columns of which the numerical sequence is perfect,
while in the other two the irregularities are but very few and
trivial :— ;
Ro 104 Pt 197
Ru 104 Ir 197
Pt 106+5 Os 199
aes ad : Ag 108 Au 196°5
‘ , Zn 65 Cd 112 Hg 200.......
i Boe eT B : T1 203
Gy 9 re . 4 Pb. 20Tiote. cs
Beer |) %Al 27°5 : U 120 S
Cc 12] Si 28 : Sar diene: ate. Seal se 5
Nes | Pp St As 75 Sb 122 Bi 210
Ow ie | 's¥ 32 Se 79-5 | Te 129...).... Mi
ieee F 19 | Cl 35:5 | Br 80 Ey g7 z
lr. Na 23 | K_ 39 Rb 85 Cs 133 i
Mg 24 Ca 40 Sr 87°5 13, BIS coe sy ote eeealan seat
Ti 50 Zr 89-5 | Ta 138 Th 231-5!
D Ce 92 5
Cr 52:5 | Mo 96 Va ISiic eee
Mn 55 M 184
Fe 56
Co 59
Ni 59
Cu 63°5
If we compare together certain pairs of more or less analogous
elements, we find in a considerable number of instances, embracing
one-half the entire number of elements, a difference in atomic
weight ranging from 845 to 97, as shown in the following table :—
644 Original Articles. : [Oct.,
I - Cl yy IE a BU) ee OMI)
Au — Ag 296°5 — 108 = SIBOR
Ag — Na 108 — 23 = ib
Cs - K 133 — 389 = 94
Te -—- § 129 — 82 = 97
W — Mo 18st — 96 = 8&8
V — Cr 137 — 52°5 = 84:5
Hg — Cd 200 112 = 88
Cd =) Me 112 =) oe =e
Ba — Ca 137 — 40 = 97
Bi — Sb 210 — 122 =. 88
Sb -—- P 122 ol = 91
U —- Al 120 27°53 = 92-5
Pb — Sn 207 — 118°5 = 88:5
Sn — Si 118°5 — 28 = 90%5
Ta - Ti 1388 — 50 = 88
Pt — Ro 197 — 104 = 93
Os — Pd 199 — 106°5 = 925
In about one-half- of the above instances, the two elements
associated with one another, are known to be the first and third terms
respectively of certain triplet families; and the discovery of inter-
mediate elements in the case of some or all of the other pairs, is not
by any means improbable. Consequent upon the existence of these
triplet groups, we have a considerable number of pairs of elements,
also including more than one-half the entire number of elements,
in which the average difference of atomic weight is about half as
great as the average difference between the previously cited pairs,
thus :—
I - Br or 127 — 80 — ei or 48
Br —- Cl 80 — 385°5 = 44-5 44
Cs — Rb 133 — 85 = 48 48
Rb - K oe) ce BY) =) 946 48?
Te - Se 129 — 80 = ol 48
Se - § 80 — 32 — es 48
Wopocan" Vv 184 — 137 = 48 48
Vv —- Mo 13 = 96 =. 4 40
Mo —- Cr 965 = 75255 = 48:5 44
Cd — Zn 2 — 65 = Ai 48
Zn — Mg 65 — 24 = alll 40
Ba — & 137 — 87:5 = 49°5 48
Sr — Ca 87°5 — 40 a OS 48
Sb —- As 122 — 75 = 47 48
AS i (HS Bil = 44 44
Ta = Zr 138 — 89:5 = 48°56 48
Ti 89°5 — 50 = ods) 40
At present there seems no reason to anticipate the existence of an
intermediate term between any one of these pairs of elements.
In ten instances we find that more or less analogous elements
have a difference in atomic weight of 16, or something approximating
1864.] Opting on the Proportional Numbers of the Elements. 645
closely thereto; and in seven of these instances, the element of
lowest atomic weight is the first member, and the element compared
therewith the second member of the group to which they both
belong, or may be considered to belong, as shown in the following
table, which includes nearly one-third of the entire number of
elements :
Cl - #F or | 38o%5 — 19 = 16s0
K — Na 39° — 23 LG
Na - L 235 = i iG
Mo — Se 96 — 80 = il
Ss — ©) 32 — 16 = i¢
Ca —- Mg 40 — 24 = IG
Mg - G 24 - 9 = 15
12 —- N he oc ale = ly
Als — B 275 — Iii == Kae
si - C 23° v= 12 = US
In looking over the above tables, we can scarcely help noticing
that those elements whose resemblance to one another is most
pronounced, have a difference of about 48 between their respective
atomic weights, that is to say, the largest difference in atomic weight
known to exist between what are conceived to be proximate elements,
as shown in the following table, which also includes nearly one-third
of the entire number of elements. For example, the resemblance of
cadmium to zinc, where the difference in atomic weight is 47, is
greater than the resemblance of zinc to magnesium, where the
difference is 41; while the resemblance of antimony to arsenic,
where the difference is again 47, is greater than the resemblance of
arsenic to phosphorus, where the difference is 44. Moreover, the
co-resemblances of cesium, rubidium, and potassium, and of barium,
strontium, and calcium, with a common difference of about 48 between
the proximate members, are far closer than the co-resemblances of
potassium and sodium, and of calcium and magnesium respectively,
with a difference of 16 in each instance :—
by mn 65 + 47 Ca 112 -
%; As 750 «47 Sb 122 i
. Brassed ee eT Te 127 cs
S 82 + 48 Sey 7s0) | 49 Te 129
” ” Sn 118 ”
A Dif. 8
3 © 12 Si 28 5 > sf
S Dif. 12
"> 4 Zr 89:5} Ta 138 - a
A Dif. 8
Ti 50 op ” Cb 195* Th, 231°5
By a slight modification of the above table, the occupants
of similar positions in different groups, having nearly the same
* The analysis of niobic chloride by H. Rose gives 195, while the deter-
mination of its vapour density by Deville and Troost gives 173 for the atomic
weight of niobium, the mean being 184.
1864.] Optine on the Proportional Numbers of the Elements.
647
atomic weights, may be brought into association with one another,
thus :—
4h
Cr
x Ag
Zn 65 Cd
23 »
24 ” ”
ai Sn
Zio U
As 175 Sb
28 35 Pr
31 99 ”
3 Se 79°5 Te
Br 80 I
35:5 5 FA
39 Rb 85 Cs
9 AY
40 Sr 87:5 Ba
Zr 89°5 Ta
Ce 92 Pe
Mo 96 *
50 ” 9
52°53 7
108 | Au 196-5
112 | He 200
Tl 203
Pb 207
118 :
120 ‘3
122 | Bi 210
129 s
127 -
133 .
137 3
13 e
138 :
Th 231°5
»
The parallelism between the monatomic and diatomic alkaline
groups, 18 shown still more strikingly below :—
Dif, 1.
23
24
39
40
Dif. 2.
DE 63
Zn 65
Rb 85
Sr Sub
Dif, 4. Dif. 4.
g 108 Au 196°5
Cd 112 | Hg 200
» Tl 203
» Pb 207
Cs 133 rs
Ba 137
Seeing the large number of instances in which the atomic weights
of proximate elements differ from one another by 48, or 44, or 40, or
16, we cannot help looking wistfully at the number 4, as embodying
somehow or other the unit of a common difference, especially when
we find in addition that several pairs of strictly analogous elements
differ in atomic weight by this same number, as shown below :—
fl Te Ae]
ed
52°5 = Be
dd = 4
59 = 495
92 = 4
648 Original Articles. [Oct.,
But on the other hand it must be borne in mind that the
differences between the several atomic weights compared with one
another, are for the most part not exactly but only approximately
multiples of 4; whilst in a few instances, at any rate, the approx-
imate difference in atomic weight between closely allied elements,
is not 4 or some multiple of 4, but 2 or some odd multiple of 2, and
in other instances even 1 or 0.
Since many of the elements occupying analogous positions in
different groups haye closely approximating atomic weights, it is
evident that the mere determination of the atomic weight of a newly-
discovered element assists us but very little in deciding to what group
it belongs, but only indicates its position in the group; since among
the members of every well-defined group the sequence of properties
and sequence of atomic weights are strictly parallel to one another.
Doubtless some of the arithmetical relations exemplified in the
foregoing tables and remarks are simply accidental; but taken alto-
gether, they are too numerous and decided not to depend upon some
hitherto unrecognized general law.
ON THE BUTTERFLIES OF MADAGASCAR.
By Ronanp Triwen (Cape Town), Memb. Ent. Soc. Lond.
In the belief that a brief consideration of the Rhopalocera inhabiting
Madagascar may in some degree aid in the investigation of the relations
of the general fauna of the island to that of Africa, which has been so
ably commenced by Dr. Sclater,* I have drawn up the following notes.
I must at the outset express my regret that the materials at my disposal
have been too scanty to admit of the preparation of a paper affording
a complete view of the subject under discussion; but it is hoped that
these few remarks may prove of service to those who have access to
ample means of pursuing the inquiry. I would observe, however, that
the data and observations here given are, for the greater part, the
results of some years’ study of the butterflies of Southern Africa. My
obligations to Dr. Boisduval’s admirable work, the ‘ Faune Entomolo-
gique de Madagascar, Bourbon et Maurice, + are too manifest to
require comment.
The total number of butterflies known to me as inhabiting Mada-
gascar (exclusive of the Mascarene Islands) is 73. These 73 species
are comprised in 34 genera, and belong to the following 11 families,
viz. :$—Papilionide, Pieride, Danaide, Acreide, Nymphalide, Saty-
ride, Hurytelide, Libytheide, Erycinide, Lyceenide, and Hesperide.
* «The Mammals of Madagascar,” in ‘Quarterly Journal of Science,’ No. 2,
April, 1864.
+ Paris, 1833.
{ I follow the arrangement of Messrs. Doubleday and Westwood’s ‘ Genera of
Diurnal Lepidoptera.’
1864. | Trimen on the Butterflies of Madagascar. 649
All these families are represented in Africa. The four families which,
it appears, are not represented in Madagascar are also wanting on the
African continent, and are these, viz.:—The Ageronide, Heliconide, and
Brassolide, which are confined to the New World ; and the Morphide,
which, though chiefly American, are represented in Asia by several
species.
It will, perhaps, more clearly exhibit the close connection between
the continental and insular Rhopalocera if, at the risk of wearying the
reader with details, the genera and species of each Madagascarian
family are briefly considered in regular order.
The Parritonma, a family which, though poor in generic forms, is
numerous in species and of world-wide distribution, are represented by
six species of the genus Papilio, if we include the doubtfully distinct
P. Epiphorbas, which Boisduval himself considers “ pourroit bien
n’étre qu'une modification locale” of the Mauritian P. Phorbanta, Linn.,*
and if P. Nireus, Linn., be truly a native. The last-named species,
P. Merope, Cram., and P. Demoleus, Linn., range over the greater part
of Africa, extending to Sierra Leone ; Lalandei, Godt., inhabits South
Africa; and the splendid Antenor, Drury, taken by Mr. HE. L. Layard,
on the north-west coast of Madagascar, is recorded by both Boisduvalt
and Westwood} as a native of tropical Africa, a specimen in the
Hopeian Collection having been received from Timbuctoo.
The Prerip# include the four genera Pontia, Pieris, Anthocharis,
and Terias, comprising in all nine species: Pontia syvicola, Bd.
(= Narica, Fab. = Alcesta, Cram.), ranges to Senegal. Of the genus
Pieris, one species, Helcida, Bd.,—if not a variety of the African
Chloris, Fab.,—is endemic; Phileris, Bd., is found in Southern and
Eastern Africa ; Orbona and Malatha, Bd. (= Saba, Fab.), in Eastern
and Western Africa; while the abundant Mesentina extends from
Damara Land to Bengal. Anthocharis Evanthe, Bd., is among the
species taken in Madagascar by Mr. Layard; and a specimen in the
British Museum purports to be from “South Africa,” but this habitat
seems doubtful. The three species of Terias are all African; but
while Floricola, Bd. (= Hecabe, Linn.), ranges to Java and Northern
India, and Pulchella, Bd. (= Rahel, Fab.), is found at Sierra Leone,
Desjardinsii, Bd., does not appear to spread farther than the Eastern
and Southern coasts of Africa.
But one of the recorded three genera and four species of the family
Danaipm is found in Africa, and that one, Danais Chrysippus, Linn.,
is everywhere abundant, and is also common in Southern Asia. Hestia
Lyncea, Drury, inhabits the Eastern Archipelago ; but Euplaa Phedone
and Huphone, Fab., appear to be limited in range to Madagascar and
Mauritius.
The slow-flying, inert, but abundant butterflies forming the family
Acra@ip# are pre-eminently African, though a few representatives of
*<*Faune Ent. de Mad., &c.,’ p. 18. Epiphorbas and Phorbanta are almost
certainly but insular varieties of the widely-ranging and abundant P. Nireus,
which Boisduval (op. cit., p. 16) considers a doubtful native of Madagascar.
t ‘Species Général des Lep.,’ p. 190.
t ‘Arcana Entomologiea,’ vol. i, p. 146.
650 Original Articles. [ Oct.,
the group are American, two species Asiatic, and one Australian. As
many as ten species of Acraa (the only genus in the family) have been
taken in Madagascar, and of these no less than six appear peculiar to
the island. The four found in Africa are Sganzini, Bd. (= Lycia,
Fab.), and Manjaca Bd. (= Serena, Fab.), extending to Sierra Leone,
and the South African Rahira, Bd., and Punctatissima, Bd.
Ten genera of the NympHatipm are represented, viz. :—Atella (1
species), “Pyr ameis (1), Junonia (5), Myscelia (1), Cyrestis (1), Neptis
(3), Diadema (2), Godartia (1), Aterica (1), Nymphalis (1). Atella
Phalanta, Dru., inhabits a wide region, from Sierra Leone to Northern
India and Java. The world-wide distribution of Py yrameis Cardut,
Linn., is well known. Two species of Junonia seem endemic, viz.—
Gondotii and Andremiaja, Bd.; J. Augustina, Bd., occurs in Mauritius
and Bourbon; Rhadama is found in Mozambique ;* and EHpiclelia,
Bd. (= var. Clelia, Cram.), is a widely-spread African. Myscelia
Madagascariensis, Bd., is peculiar to the island. Cyrestis elegans, Bd.,
must also be classed among the endemic insects, unless the species
stated by Chenuf to inhabit Sierra Leone should prove to be identical
with it. Neptis Kikideli, Bd., does not appear to have been met with
out of Madagascar, but N. Frobenia, Fab., extends to Mauritius; and
Saclava, Bd., is found both in Mozambiquet and‘in the Cape Colony.
Of the two Diademe, Bolina, Linn., has an extraordinary range, only
second to that of P. Cardui; while Dubia, Palis. de Beauy.,$ is recorded
from both Hastern and Western Africa. The genus Grodartia is repre-
i . Madagascariensis,
Lucas, does not seem to extend beyond the island. Aterica Rabena,
Bd., is likewise an endemic species. NMymphalis Candiope, Godt.,
taken by Mr. Layard on the north-west coast of Madagascar, inhabits
the country west of Lake Ngami, from whence a specimen was brought
me by Mr. John A. Bell.
The Saryripa would appear to be but poorly represented in the
island, only four species, belonging to the genera Cyllo, Hrebia, and
Mycalesis, being recorded in the ‘ Faune Entomologique, &c. Cyllo
Leda, Linn., almost rivals Diadema Bolina in its area of distribution ;
but C. Betsimena, Bd. (if not, as I am inclined to think, identical with
Gnophodis Parmeno, H. Doubl.), is confined to Madagascar. Hrebia
Tamatave, Bd., is endemic. Mycalesis Narcissus, Fab., extends to the
Mascarene Islands as well as to South-eastern Africa.
Two butterflies of the small family Euryrrtips have been discovered
in Madagascar, viz.:—EHurytela Dryope, Cram., and Hypanis Anvatara,
Bd. (= var. Ilithyia, Dru.). Both of these are widely-spread Africans,
and the latter species also ranges to Southern Asia.
The curious LisyrHerp# are represented by the very distinct Liby-
thea fulgurata, Bd., which seems more nearly related to the Javanese
* See Hopffer in Peters’ ‘Reise nach Mossambique.—Ins.,’ p. 380.
+ ‘Encye. d’ Hist. Nat.—Pap.,’ p. 125.
{ Hopffer’s Neptis Marpessa is indubitably the same insect.
§ Probably. the same as D. Anthedon, EK. Doubl. (‘ Gen, Diurn. Lep.’), which
inhabits Western Africa and Natal.
|| See Chenu, op. cit., p. 187; and Hpfr.—Peters’ ‘ Reise, &c.,’ p. 386.
1864. } Trimen on the Butterflies of Madagascar. 651
L. Narina, Godt., than to any other species. As the genus is found on
the African continent,* it is not improbable that Pulgurata will be dis-
covered there.
One example of the Eryorntpm—a family abundantly developed in
South America—has been found in the island, wiz.—Hmesis Tepahi,
Bd. This insect seems more strictly referable to the genus Tazila,
E. Doubl., which comprises several Oriental, and one, if not two,
African species,—T. Tantalus, Bd., being a native of Ashanti,t and
Baucis, Dru. (mentioned by Boisduval as congeneric with Tepahi)
being recorded by Drury as inhabiting Sierra Leone.
The eight species of Lycaninm known to occur belong to the
genera Sithon (1), Lyccena (6), and ? (1). Sithon Batikeli, Ba.
sp. (= Sithon Antalus, Hpffr.), is found in Eastern and Southern
Africa.t Of the Lycene three—L. Rabe, Tsiphana, and Malathana,
Bd.—seem endemic ; but the remaining three—Lysimon, Hiibn., Beetica,
Linn., and Telicanus, Herbet—are remarkable for their extended range
throughout Africa, and in Southern Europe and Asia. It is impossible
to refer the species Tintinga, Bd., to any particular genus, the single
specimen described by Boisduval having lost both head and body ; but,
as its describer seems to consider that the insect has somewhat of the
aspect of the curious Javanese Petavius, Godt. (= Petavia Sakuni,
Horsf.), its affinities are probably Oriental rather than African,
The Hesrerm#, as recorded by Boisduval, consist of 11 species,
which I distribute generically thus, viz.:—Cyclopides (3), Pamphila (4),
Nisoniades (1), Ismene (3), Cyclopides Bernieri and Rhadama, Bad.,
appear peculiar to Madagascar; but C. Malgacha, Bd., is found in
Africa, as far south and west as Cape Town. Pamphila Havei and
Pontiert, Bd., are recorded by Boisduval§ as natives of Natal, while P.
Coroller and Andracne, Bd., are endemic. I have received Nisoniades
Ophion, Dru., from Natal, and the species is figured and described by
Drury as one from Western Africa. Ismene Florestan, Cram., has an
African range, embracing Kaffraria, Querimba, Nubia, and Senegal ;}j
I. Ratek, Bd., inhabits Natal; and I. Ramanatek, Bd., extends to
Bourbon, if not to Mauritius.
The above particulars of the distribution over the globe of the
Madagascarian diurnal Lepidoptera yield the following result, when
the families are tabulated (see p. 652) :—
From this table it is apparent that 39, or rather more than
half, of the butterflies of Madagascar are African; and of these 39
species, 27 (nearly one-third of the Rhopalocerous Fauna) inhabit no
other region besides Africa. Of the remaining 34 (no less than 28 of
which are endemic), 1 (Hestia Lyncea) is an Asiatic form; 22 show
* For this fact Iam indebted to Mr. Horace Waller, of the late Zambesi
Mission, who has shown me a Libythea, closely allied to L. Myrrha, Godt., taken
by him on the river Shire.
+ E. Doubl., «List Lep. Ins., Coll. Brit. Mus.,’ pt. ii., p. 3.
{ Batikeli will most probably be determined as a variety of Isocrates, Fab., a
well-known Indian species.
§ In Appendix to Delegorgue’s ‘ Voyage dans l'Afrique Australe, &c., p. 594.
|| See Hpfr., op. cit., p. 414.
652 Original Articles. [Oct.,
TABULAR Vimw OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE BUTTERFLIES
OF MADAGASCAR.
NUMBER OF SPECIES WHOSE RANGE EXTENDS TO
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Structure of a Lunar Volcanic Crater, with Central Cone. < 5 . 397
Section of the Same : 398
Section of a Lunar Crater, showing the Formation of the Outer Circular
Wall =. ; : . 03
Section of a TES Crater, showing Formation of Inner Cone ; ; . @.
1864. | List of Woodcuts.
Section across the Valley of Xanthus
Puddling Machine . : :
The same, in Section
Appearances of Casemate No.2, at Fort Hindman (U. S.A. )p before and
after being under fire of Ironclad ‘Lexington.’ Two Figures
Carved Handles of D: aggers found by Lartet and Christy in the Cavern of
Perigord. Two Figures .
Carving of Aurochs on Dagger. Same source : :
Low’s Machine for boring Tunnels, Adits, &e. Two Figures
The same: Section of the Boring Tool . : ;
Low’s Machine for Quarrying
Low’s Machine for Sinking Perpendicular Shafts .
Elevation and Ground ‘Plan of Glass Prism. Two Cuts
Solar Spectrum, after Kirchoff ; : :
Solar Spectrum, after Gassiot
Pictet’s Apparatus (exhibiting the Principle. of Thermal Exchanges) .
“Cercomonas fusiformis,”’ found by Balbiani in infusions
The same form, after Dujardin
Different stages of Cercomonas fusiformis found in Distilled Water by
Samuelson.
Amceba (Gleichenii ?). “From Dr. Balbiani’s infusions
The same, after Dujardin
Ameceba Balbianii (Three Fi ures) £ found by Samuelson i in Distilled Water
Various stages of Vibrio found by Samuelson in Dust from Eg ayuane Rags.
Formation of Vermiform Larvee of Coral ( ‘after Duthiers)
Larvee or Embryos of Coral, of natural size . ‘
The same, Magnified
Dise resulting from the Metamorphosis of the Larve
Young Polype (of Coral), with Tentacles already provided w with Processes
Young Polype (of Coral), commencing to throw out Buds
A Colony of Young Polypes (of Coral), showing the aed
Spicule from Cortical Stirface of Coral.
Part of a Branch of Coral, magnified and prepared so as to show the Poly p-
stem
Cylinder for Testing the Absorptive Properties of Substances used in Coating
Telegraph Wires (Fairbairn) .
Apparatus employed for the same purpose
Similar Apparatus, furnished with Water-bath for Experimenting under
High Temperature .
Apparatus for Testing the Insulating Power of Telegraph « Cores.”
Cuts
“Core” subjected to Pressure in the Apparatus :
Box containing “Core” undergoing the Insulating Test
Portion of the . Atlantie Cable of 18 58. Two Cates
Portion of the Atlantic Cable of 1864-5. Two Cuts .
British Skull contrasted with the Fossil Skull of Ni eanderthal
Cast of Interior of the above British Skull
END OF VOL, I,
VOL. I.
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