ae ae — = a 4 = \ - - ‘ we r) ri i, ‘ 2 7 i - ' i : * - 2 7 fi At « E \ 4 ) i Ce os x \ ee BY ES = I ; —1 ‘ i i a yr ay } oa \ = - 7 / = t ~ Es i be a S 3 — a . - Ld — = a Pod -_— * S a m= TRANSACTIONS OF. f BE BOYAL SOCIZTY OF EDINBURGA. BU) “rego frugy eben : EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND, LONDON 5 AND Je DICKSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE, EDINBURGH: ———— —<—<$———— M,DCC.XC. BEET an yy Gt: ttt a >t j j ta nO} m IPN ’ F \ ft ; a 4 als Bren ye keds 0 4) he Ca SMM OTSA 8 atest aie ae ‘ = ; x Soy Pada i aieh _ *e “See paved & OLY: Ove : i, ee 4 eee tpt, 7 Pi oe . as dnt # Z . Pa in h =A J 2 . + re ‘ af ab TT | es it t by ; Sy ee 3 e Fp rok Cet a mur. i a’ gee Sis 2 4 aK . ae Re ; “< P , os ’ i ; ido ; + = h . f a t+ ; 7 Wid teas iit batts | seu set, i) ea H.. 4 Pe See ‘ ly f ri y tO j Bs apa | ‘ . , ae hes st as ; “he 2! 4 "4 = aeemeray gt i - ? ‘ vg . ’ se isd ; , . Liens y . Las - - , v ay AG rc. \ 2 ive 4 . " san y hi 8 . | a eS idl 351 Weave waa ine | xa RONG 5" eA ate ater pep ATUERD oF nae datry at x ead t ’ yaa a ney: ' x > oh a ‘ ; 14 ig J by t a . ‘ 4 3 ? 1 Z ‘ ‘ A mn % ee eS > “a Pa . 4 e , eis +) ; ‘ ' a bY, % - al ‘ 4 = Ae i a Fi > ‘ * Mae f : y ‘ 2 » , A 7 \ : , J ; * ; , ‘ maces caNe s : . i | . . P83 7 = , = ~ ' i » 1 a Se as Saat ¢ Ri ge _ f Gio) ape” Eco wees 'S Orci Oo OLS ING De Ne QO DE MB: PAAR EF ALF HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Dr James Hutton on Written Language, - Page 5. Letter relative to the Kraken, | _- - 16.. Letter from the Tefooo Lama to Mr Haftings, - 10, Letter from the Prefident Virly, on the ufe of Cauftic Alkali in the Cure of Gravel, - - Dae Report and Fudgment relative to Count de Windifchgratz’s Problem, = = 25. Mr, Hornby on the Difiillation of Spirits from Carrots, 28.. APPENDIX. List of MEMBERS or FELLOws of the Royat Society of Edinburgh, continued from the firft Volume, - 31. Office-bearers of the Society, + - 34 MEMBERS DECEASED, - = 36. I. Bio- *N.B. Part I. comprehending the Hisrory, is contained under one fet of pages; and. Parr II. comprehending the Parzrs, is contained under two fets, viz. Papers of the Puysicau Cass under the one, and Parers of the Literary Cxass under the other.. 5 vi co N FT £ONO rT Ss I, Biographical “Account of the Right Hon. Robert Dundas of Arnifton, Lord Prefident of the Court of Seffion, Page 37. Il. Brographical Account of Sir iar ate Dick of Pre/ton- field, Bart. M.D. - - 58. Il. Biographical Account of the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Miller of Glenlee, Bart. Lord Prefident of the Court of Seffion, 63. List of DonaTions, continued from the firft Volume, 24 5 PA. Kio AIR PAPERS READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY. I. PAPERS OF THE PuysrcAL CLASS. I. Of certain Natural Appearances of the Ground on the Hill of Arthur’s Seat. By Dr James Hutton, - d} Il. An Account of the Method of making the Otter of Rofes, as it is prepared in the Eaft Indies. By Dr Donald Monro, - - 12. lil. Defcription of a Mercurial Level. ByMr Alexander Keith, 14. IV. Pathological Obfervations on the Brain. By Mr Thomas Anderfon, - heh 17. V. Experiments on. the Expanfive Force of Freezing Water, made by Major Williams at Quebec, im the years 1784 and 1785. Communicated by Dr Charles Hutton, 23, VI. Abftrad of Experiments made to determine the true Re/fi/t- ance of the Air to the Surfaces of Bodies, of various Fi- gures, and moved through it with different degrees of velocity. By Dr Charles Hutton, . 2Q- : 3 VII, Ob- XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. I. il. —¢on’r?tN D & vit Objervations on the Places of the Georgium Planet, made at Edinburgh with an Equatoreal Infirument. By Mr John Robifon, - VK . Anfwers to the Objections of M. de Luc, with Regard to the Theory of Rain. By Dr James Hutton, —S_39. Account of a Diftemper, by the common People in England vulgarly called the Mumps. By Dr Robert Hamilton, 59. A Botanical and Medical Account of the Quaffia Simaruba, or Tree which produces the Cortex Simaruba. By Dr William Wright, . - 73: On the Motion of Light, as affected by refratting and re- frecting Subftances, which are alfo in Motion. By Mr John Robifon, - 83 Demonftrations of fome of Dr Matthew Stewart's Gene- ral Theorems. By the Reverend Dr Robert Small, 112. Remarks on the Aftronomy v the Brahmins. By Mr John Playfair, - 145: On the Refolution of Indeterminate Problems. By Mr John Leflie, - - 193. A Differtation on the Climate of Rufia. By Dr Mat- thew Guthrie : With two Letters from M.Epinus, 213. I]. PAPERS OF THE LITERARY CLAss. An Account of fome extraordinary Structures on the Tops of Hills in the Highlands ; with Remarks on the Pro- srefs of the Arts among the ancient inhabitants of Scot- land. By Mr Alexander Frafer Tytler, 33 Remarks on fome Paffages of the fixth Book of the Eneid. By Dr James Beattie, - 333 Wl, Az Vili G0 Mif. 2 we DS - An Effay on Rythmical Meafurass By ihe Reverend Mr * Walter Young, - ~ 55° - On certain Analogies obferved by the Greeks in the ie of their Letters; and particularly of the Letter Sifua. | By Mr Andrew Dalzel, - III. Account of the German Theatre. By Mr Henry Mac- kenzie, - : 154. . Theory of the Moods of Verbs. _By Dr James Gregory, 193. VII. An Effay on the Character of Hamlet, in Shakefpeare’s Tragedy of Hamlet. By the Reverend Mr Thomas Robertfon, - - 251. ; TRANS- 9: Ov FE Fy. z” Higke eke -ITERARY Clafs. Mr Datzet read a Philological Dif- fertation on certain Analogies obferved by the Greeks in the ufe of their Letters; and particularly of the Letter 5 ; which is printed in this volume. [No. IV. Liz. C/.] Phyfical Clafs. Tur Secretary read a Letter to the Society, from the Reverend Dr Roserrson, inclofing one from Mr FRASER, Under-fecretary of State, and one from M. ANIsson of Paris, with a Memoir on the fubje&t of Printing. Lit. Cl. Dr Grecory read a continuation of his Effay on the general Notion of the Relation of Caufe and Effet. [See Vol. I. Hift. Nov. 15. 1784. and March 21. 1785.] (A 2) A 1785. Dec. 19. Mr Dalzel on the Greek =. 186, Jan. 2. Memoir on printing. Jan. 16. Dr Gregory on caufe and effect. 1786. Jan. 23. General Meet- ing. Feb. 4. Dr Home on Amaurolis, Dr Smail’s de- monitrations of Dr Ste-vari’s theorems, Feb. 20. Prof. Young on the Greek mid- dle voice. March 6. Mr Robifon on the Georgium Sidus. March 20. Dr Macfarlan on the land- tux. Prof. Young on the Greek mid- dle voice. April 3. Mr Playfair’s ‘life of Dr Mat- thew Stewart. the Society. ] Demonttrations are printed in this volume. \ - 4 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. A GENERAL Meeting of the Royal Society was held for the election of Members. [See Vol. I. Appendix to the Hiftory of Phyf. Cl. Dr Francis Home read a paper on Amaurojis. Tuk Reverend Dr SMAtt read the Heads of a paper con- taining Demonftrations of twenty-eight of the Theorems pu- blifhed in 1746, by the late Reverend Dr Matruew STEwarrt, Profeffor of Mathematics in the Univerfity of Edinburgh. The [No. XII. Phy/. C7] Lit. Cl. Mr Dauzet, one of the. Secretaries, read part of an Effay on the Middle Voice of the Greek Verb, written by Profeflor Joun Younc, of the Univerfity of Glafgow. On account of fome additions intended to be made by the Author, the publication of this Effay is poftponed to a fubfequent volume of the Tranfactions. Phyf. Cl. Mr Profeffor Rosison read a paper on the Orbit and Motion of the new Planet, the Georgium Sidus ; which is printed in the firft volume of the Tranfa¢tions of this KEE [Vol. I. No. XI. Phy/. Ci] Lit. Cl. Tue Reverend Dr Macrar.an read a Differtation refpeCting an equal Affeffment of the Land-tax. Mr Dauzet read a continuation of Mr Profeflor Younc’s Effay on the Middle Voice of the Greek Verb. [See /upra, Feb. 20. | Phyf. Cl. The Reverend Mr Profeffor PrayFair read an Account of the Life and Writings of the late Reverend Dr Mar- THEW STEWART, Profeflor of Mathematics in the Univerfity of HISTORY vol. we \GOCLE LY. 5 ® of Edinburgh. This Account is publifhed in the firft volume of the Tranfaétions of this Society. [Hiftory of the Society, Appendix. | Dr JAmMEs ANDERSON read an Eflay, containing Obfervations and Experiments on the Culture of Potatoes. He did not chufe that any abftract of this Effay fhould be publifhed. Tue Secretary prefented to the Society two books, one in Latin, De Herpete, and the other in French, Sur la Petite Verole, written by M. Rousset, Royal Profeffor of Medicine in the _ Univerfity of Caen in Normandy, fent by him to the Royal So- ciety of Edinburgh. Lit. Gl Mr. DALZEL read the remainder of Mr Brett Younc’s Effay on the Greek Middle Voice. [See /upra, March 20. ] | | Dr HuTtTon read part of a Differtation on Written Language as a Sign of Speech. It is the purpofe of this paper to fhow, in what manner we. arrive at the knowledge of fimple founds, by the analytical ex- amination of our {peech, or the refolution of it into its princi- ples. Thefe fimple founds may be reprefented to the fight, by means of certain figures, appropriated to thofe founds. Such figures then become the principles, /iz/?, of the writing of our fpeech, and, 2d/y, of the reading of our written language. TueERE being no lefs than four different methods of analyfing {peech for the purpofe of typifying language, thefe are ex- amined with a view to underf{tand the advantages and difad- vantages that may attend each of thofe particular methods, ac- cording to the following order: jixji, The analyfing of fpeech into parts, each of which is the fign of a diftina thought ; ~ adly, into words, the conftituent parts of our exprefled thoughts; 34), 1786; April 3. Dr Anderfon on the culture of potatoes. Books prefent- ed to the Soci- ety. _ April 14, Prof. Young on the Greek mid- dle voice. June Io. Dr Hutton on written lan- guage. 6 HISTORY Of the SOCIETX 3dly, into fyllables, or articulate founds, the conftituent parts of words; and, /afly, into letters, or inarticulate founds, the conftituent parts of fyllables. - 'Tuere are only two of thofe praGicable methods of typi- fying fpeech, that have any peculiar advantage to recommend their ufe. Thefe are the verbal method, on the one hand, and the elemental, on the other. Each of thefe having their pecu- liar advantages, are now to be mentioned. Tue advantages of the verbal method confift in this, that different nations, by this means, might communicate their de- fires by writing, without the knowledge of each other’s fpeech. But the neceffary difadvantage of this method is more than fuf- ficient to counterbalance its great benefit ; becaufe, while there would not be fufficient accuracy for thus exprefling every thought in writing, it would require to make it the bufinefs of a man’s life to read and write. Whereas the advantage of the elemental ‘method will appear from this, that while the com- mutation of our figures and our fimple founds is perfect, our fpeech, which is compofed of thofe fimple founds, may be written with facility, and our written language read with abfo- lute perfection. The benefit of this method, therefore, far more than compenfates for its lofs, in not ferving asa mean of cor- refpondence between foreign nations. Musrce and fpeech are next confidered, in order to fee their neceflary connection and the difference of their principles. Tue formation of articulate expreflion, by means of vocal founds and confonants, is then iluftrated, in fhewing the na- ture of our fpeech, as the foundation of our art of writing. Tuus, an alphabet is reprefented as being the work of inge- nuity and wifdom, and as being, with good reafon, the boaft ° of fcience. ‘The corruption, therefore, of this alphabetical method of charatterifing fpeech, is reprobated as an error pre- judicial to fcience, and difgraceful to a nation that is wife and learned. ORTHOGRAPHY: HISTORY of the SOCIETY. “ OrtTHocRAPHY being thus a moft {cientific art, it is of much importance, for the educating of a people in this art, to con- form the practice ftrictly to the rules of fcience, and to have the rules of that fcience comprifed in the knowledge of the alphabet. The alphabet is therefore now made the fubject of a {cientifical difcuffion. Aw alphabet being nothing but the figured elements of fpeech, and fpeech confifting of articulated founds, we are to -examine thofe diftinét founds which man has it in his power to form for the purpofe of his fpeech, and alfo all the practicable articulations proper for modifying his vocal founds. THE vocal power of: man is, from experience, found to be divided into feven diftinét notes, and this power is reprefented by a line divided into fix equal parts, which forms feven equal diftinGtions of his perfe&t founds. _ Tue letter z is here affixed to the moft acute or higheft of thofe notes of vocal found, and w is the written fign affixed to the loweft, or the note which is naturally moft grave. In a middle place between thofe two extremes, in this vocal capacity of man, is placed, the found, which is confidered as correfpond- ing to the letter a. _Tuus, we have the radical alphabet, of the perfect vocal found in the letters z, a, uz. All the other founds are then ne- ceflarily comprehended between that middle vowel and the two extremes. This determined fpace of vocal found is then fub- divided, the upper half, or higheft fpace, into the vowels ¢ and a, the lower, again, into thofe of o and ». THus we complete the feven perfect notes of human voice or vocal founds ; and thefe are all defined or diftinguithed, i defcribing the gradual change or regular modification of ea organ, which is neceflary in founding each. Bur befides the feven perfe&t vowels which compofe what may be termed the radical alphabet of human {fpeech, there are two femitones, placed fomewhere between the middle note, and 8 HISTORY of th SOCIETY. and thofe on each extreme. This is exemplified in the ufe of ~ fpeech ; although hitherto no letter has been contrived for thofe two diftinétions of our voice, which are found in the words this and thus. Tue vocal powers of man being thus determined by nature, and defined in fcience; it is neceflary, in order to complete the alphabet, to have the various articulators of the vocal found ex-_ amined, with a view to fee how far all the organical powers of man have been pra¢tifed for the purpofe of his fpeech, and alfo to underftand the nature of thofe LeEpEOpCE articulators which may be occafionally employed. As the diftinétions in the vocal found of man are fo limited, and as the ideas to be expreffed in his fpeech are fo multifarious, itis neceflary to compound thofe diftinét founds by means of articulations, which are either prefixed or fubjoined to the ex- preflion of vocal found. ConsonaANTs are thus formed; and thefe may be diftin- guifhed in two different refpects; jir/f, by the pofition. of the organ in which they are formed; and, 2dly, by the operation of the breath which is employed to make them audible. It is only in thus analyfing the fubject, that thofe confonants, or the articulating powers, may be underftood. THERE are five pofitions of the organ by which the vocal found is to be articulated; and thefe muft be underftood, be- fore the operation of the founding organ in forming confonants, can be explained. Thefe pofitions, with their refpe€tive modi- fications, therefore, are now to be defcribed. Tue fi7f pofition is formed by the clofe jun@ion of the lips, fo as no breath is fuffered to tranfpire ; and this is the firft modification of this pofition, when the paflage of the breath or found, by the nofe, is ftopped, and may be termed the oral modification. In this manner are formed the letters pand 4. . . THE HISTORY of the SOCIETY. ) Tue /econd modification of this firft pofition, which may be termed the nafal modification, is formed by opening the com- munication or exit by the nofe, and fuffering the found or breath to pafs that way. In this cafe the letter m is founded. Tue fecond pofition 1s formed by the application of the under lip to the fore teeth of the upper jaw, which does not form an abfolute interruption to the breath, but fuffers it to pafs in an audible manner, by means of the reftraint with which it is made to pafs. In this manner are produced the letters f and v. Tue third pofition is formed by a fimilar application of the tongue to the fore teeth, and a fimilar expreflion of the breath; thus producing the two confonants @ and #2. Tue fourth pofition is formed by the application of the point or fore part of the tongue, to the root of the fame teeth, or fore part of the palate. This forms a pofition that may be varioutly modified, by means of the great volubility of this member which is thus applied. In the fr of thefe modifications, the tongue is applied -clofely to the palate, fo as to form an abfolute interruption of the breath, in a fimilar manner to that of the firft pofition. It may be therefore termed the mute modification of this pofition. In this mute modification are formed the confonants ¢ and d. In the fecond modification, the tongue is not kept clofe fixed to the palate, but fuffers the breath to be expreffed in an andi- ble manner, fimilar to thofe of the fecond and third pofitions. This, then, may be termed the fibilating modification, by which are exprefled the / and z. In the ¢hird modification, the paflage of the breath between the point of the tongue and the palate is opened, and that by turns, in a quick or tremulous vibration. It may therefore be termed os vibratory seen by which the letter r is formed. | Vor. IL. (B) In 10 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. _ In the fourth modification, the paflage of the breath or found is not interrupted in any degree, but is made to pafs in a very peculiar manner through the mouth. For this purpofe the _ tongue is clofely applied to the fore part of the palate, but it is retracted on each fide, fo as to leave an open fpace. A free paf- fage is thus preferved for the breath which goes under the tongue and out of the mouth. This may be termed the liquid modification, in which is formed the fonorous letter 1. | Tue fifth and Jaf modification is formed by fhutting thofe lateral paflages for the breath which were opened in the laft mo- dification, and at the fame time fuffering the found to pafs by the nafal paflage, in the fame manner as in the fecond modifi- cation of the firft pofition. Thus we produce the letter 2, in what may be termed the nafal modification, Tue /ifth pofition is formed in all refpeéts like the fourth, but only by a different part of the tongue and palate. There are therefore the fame number of modifications in this pofition as in the former; and thefe, correfponding in their nature, may be denominated in the fame manner. We have thus the letters £ and g formed in the mute modifi- cation ; the /b and 7 in the fibilating modification; the gut- tural or Northumbrian 7 in the vibratory modification ; the Spanith JJ, or the French / mouillée, in the liquid modification ; and the guttural 2, or Englifh mg, in the nafal modification. Tue feveral pofitions of the organ, with their different mo- difications, being thus underftood, the formation of the confo- nants, and articulations of voice, by the action of the breath and found, may be now explained. In all the pofitions of the articulating organ, there is either | employed the fimple afpiration of the breath, or a found pro- duced in the windpipe, and modified in the articulating organ. Thus, in all the pofitions, and in feveral of their modifications, there are produced two diftiné articulators, according either as found is emitted along with the articulation, or only the breath employed HISTORY of the SOCIETY. iY employed without any other found. Hence the diftinction of mutes and confonants among the articulators of voice. But in each of thefe diftinétions of mutes and confonants, there is to be made a fub-diftinction, according as the articula- tor is either perfect or imperfect, whether as a mute or as a confonant. Each of thefe will now require fome explanation. ' Tue perfect mute can only take place in thofe pofitions, in which the breath is abfolutely interrupted by the clofe or im- pervious organ; and this does not happen in the fecond and third pofitions, and only in fome of the modifications of the fourth and fifth. Tuis mute articulator is formed, either by interrupting the vocal found with the clofe pofition, in which cafe it is a final articulator ; or by beginning to exprefs the vocal found in this clofe pofition, when it forms, upon opening the pafflage, an ini- © tial articulator. : THERE are juft three articulators of this kind, correfpond- ing to the three pofitions in which the organ may be abfolutely clofed, in relation to the exit of the breath. Thefe are p in the firft pofition, ¢ in the fourth pofition, and é in the fifth po- * fition. Tue imperfect mute is formed by emitting a guttural found, or that of the windpipe, in thofe three pofitions of the mute articulator. The found here is extremely limited ; for itis ne- ceflarily reftricted to that quantity of breath which may -be ex- pelled through the founding windpipe, in comprefling the air, or diftending the cavity of the clofe organ. ‘Thefe fhort founded articulators may therefore be termed imperfect mutes. Tue J, d and g, are the three imperfect mutes, correfpond- ing to the three abfolute mutes, /, 7, #, of the firft, fourth and fifth pofitions. In the fibilating articulators of the fecond and third pofitions, and of the fecond modification of the fourth and fifth pofitions, the breath may be continually emitted, either with the fimple (B 2) "expiration, 12 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. expiration, or inna with the guttural found. This then forms two cafes of articulation, differing from each other, and alfo from the other two cafes of mute articulation; feeing that in the prefent cafe, whether the confonant be formed with a guttural found, or only an audible afpiration, it is a conti- nued thing, and is not neceflarily terminated, as in the mutes, by the clofe pofition of the organ. Now, as in the cafe of mutes, we have the diftindtion of perfect and imperfect, with regard to that fpecies of letter, fo, in the cafe of confonants, we have a fpecies which is perfect, and one which is imperfect. THE imperfect fpecies of confonant-articulators, is formed in the four fibilating pofitions and modifications juft now men- tioned, viz. the f in the fecond pofition, the é in the third po- fition, the / in the fibilating modification of the fourth, and the /b in that of the fifth pofition. To perfeét thofe four confonants, we have but to add the guttural found to the continued expiration ; and we then pro- duce of the f the v, of the é the t), of the / the z, and of the jb the 7. We have now only remaining the nafal modification of the firft pofition, which gives the confonant m; the vibratory mo- dification of the fourth and fifth pofitions, which give two {pe- cies of the letter 7; the liquid modifications, which give two . fpecies of the letter 7; and the nafal modifications of thofe two laft pofitions, which give two fpecies of the letter 7. In none of all thefe, is there formed a diftin& articulator, by means of the fimple afpiration ; confequently all thefe are perfect confo- nants. Tue alphabet is thus completed, in comprehending every. poflible vowel and articulator which are proper for diftinct fpeech, except the audible afpiration of the letter 4; and this is a general articulator, which,is formed in many different pofi- tions of the vocal organ. | As - HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 13 As the perfe@t vowels may be either prolonged with the ex- ‘ pirated breath, or cut fhort by a change in the modifying or- gan, we have the means of ddding quantity to the fpecifying founds of {peech, whereby another diftinétion is formed of our vocal founds. We have alfo the power of compounding vocal founds for the increafe of the radical alphabet of vowels, which is fo li- mited. Dieputuones and confonant-vowels, or rather articulating vowels, are formed in the following manner: The diphthong, by founding both vowels equally in the time of one; the con- fonant-vowel again, by an unequal divifion of this time, or by fliding quickly from the pofition of the two extreme vowels ¢ and w,-to the vocal found which is to be thus articulated. Havine thus fhown that there is in nature a perfect alpha- _bet as the principles of fpeech, at leaft that there is an alphabet which is perfectly definable in fcience, it is propofed to. adhere | firi@tly to this alphabet as the principles of writing, with a view to perfect fpeech, in having diftinét founds; and to per- _ fe& writing, in having fteady principles for the commutation of found and figure. To give fome idea of this; there are juft two practicable ways of writing f{peech with any manner of advantage. Thefe are either by figuring fimple founds, which is the alphabetical method,. or by figuring compound founds, which is the verbal method.. Tue Englifh method, which fhould be alphabetical, is not truly fo, feeing it has departed egregioufly. from its principles, in fo far adopting the other method; this is that of typifying words by means, of figns, which are| not expreflive of the found, but of the fenfe ; whereas it fhould employ only thofe figns which have affixed to them, an unalterable expreflion, not of the fenfe, but of the found. We write a word by a combina- tion. of letters, not: properly expreffive of the fpeech which we pronounce, 14 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. pronounce, but conventionally fpecifying the word which we then render into f{peech. _ Tue advantages arifing from a “ftri& adherence to the fcien- tific method of the alphabet, are of two kinds; one relating immediately to the people who would thus acquire great facility in learning to read and write’ the other relating immediately to the language, which would thus become uniform and fteady, and would avoid corruption. Ir a perfon has learned to write every vocal found, and every articulation which his organs form for the ufe of fpeech, all which are comprifed within the compafs of the alphabet, he has it in his power to write any fpeech which he is able to pro- nounce. He would alfo write that {peech precifely in the man- ner that every other perfon, who has learned the alphabet, muft render it again in reading. Now, if a language fhould be thus perfectly reprefented in . the writing, the perfection of our fpeech might be, in this man- ner, communicated among the learned of the nation, and the improvements of our fpeech would be difperfed with our wri- tings, by means of the improvement of our fcience. But if, in writing our language, any other method is pur- fued, which is. different from the fcientific analyfis of our {peech, and elemental chara¢terifing of our vocal founds, there will then be no fixed relation between our writing and the pro- nunciation of our language ; and, in that cafe, no literary per- feétion in our education, will have any tendency to improve the language of the nation. Wiru regard to a reformation of our prefent method, if, on the one hand, the orthographical practice of this nation has only deviated from the truth of fcience in a fmall degree, it may be eafily corrected by the exertion of literary men, when they confider the danger of fuch a growing evil. Now, that there is truly danger in the cafe, muft appear by confidering how little apprehenfion there is in general of this error HISTORY of the SOCIETY. is error in our practice, notwithftanding the length to which it is arrived. Ir, on the other hand, our’ writing has departed much from the rules of juft orthography, in that cafe, however well dif- pofed for a reformation, it is not in the power of a few indi- viduals, to make fo great a change in the literary fyftem of the country, as this reformation would require. BuT if there is to be acknowledged any advantage in the al- phabetical method, the very difficulty of undertaking fuch a reformation, affords the ftrongeft argument for the expediency of the meafure. _ Turis will appear by confidering, that in departing from the alphabetical rule, we lofe the literary advantage of the elemental method ; at the fame time, we do not derive from the verbal method, then fo far purfued, that benefit which the Chinefe have, in compenfation for their want of alphabetical ortho- graphy. Tue corruption of the Chinefe orthography may naturally lead to the introduction of the alphabetical method. But the corruption of the alphabetical method, while it introduces a real difficulty and confufion into our orthography, is attended with no advantage, except perhaps the ideal pleafure of fome fpeculative men, when in purfuit of the derivation of the Jan- guage. Phyf. Cl. Dr Wauxer, Profeffor of Natural Hiftory, read a paper on Petrifaction, by EvErarbDus JOANNES THOMASSEN a THEUSSINCK, of Zwoll in Holland. t-Cl. Dr iieimioi read a continuation of his Differta- tion on Written Language as a reign of Speech. [See /upra, June 19.] Phyf. 1786. July 2; Thomaffen on petrification, July 17. Dr Hutton on written lan- guage. I 5865 Nov. 6. Major Williams? experiments on congelation, Nov. 20. Dr Hutton on written lan- guage. Nov. 276 General Meet- ing. Dec. 4. Dr Home on the comparative Strength of dif- ferent tonics in dy{pepfia. Letter relative to the kraken. 16 HISTORY of th SOCIETY. Phyf. Cl. Mr Rosison read a Letter from Dr CHARLES Huron, Profeffor of Mathematics in the Military Academy of Woolwich, containing an Account of fome Experiments on the Force of Congelation, made at Quebec in 1784 and 178 5, by Major Epwarp Wittiams of the Royal Artillery. This let- ter and account are printed in this volume. [No. V. Phyf. Cl.] Dr Hutton read the remainder of his Differta- [See /upra, Lit. Cl. tion on Written Language as a Sign of Speech. June 19.] _A GENERAL Meeting of the Society was held for the annual election of the Office-bearers of the Society. [See Vol. I. Ap- pendix to the Hiftory of the Society.] Phyf. Cl. Dr Francis Home read an Account of fome Ex- periments on the comparative Strength of different Tonics in Dyfpepfia. Art the fame Meeting, a Letter was read from Joun Ramsay L’amy, Efq; one of the Juftices of Peace for the county of Forfar, and Mr Joun Guiip, one of the Magiftrates of Dun- dee, inclofing an affidavit made before them, of Jens ANDER- SON, mafter, and Maps JENsoN, mate of a Norwegian fhip, relating to the appearance of a fuppofed kraken or fea-worm, on Sunday, Auguft 5. 1786. about 15 leagues to the eaftward of the coaft of Scotland, in north latitude 56.16. The appear- ance was that of three low iflands or fand-banks of a grayifh colour, within lefs than a mile’s diftance from the fhip, and ex- tending about three miles from the one extremity to the other. It remained in fight about fifty minutes, and upon the {pring- ing up of a breeze, gradually funk into the water. The ac- count contains no further particulars worthy of notice, and is perfectly confiftent with the idea of this being nothing more than rm MISTORY of the SOCIETY. 17 than a fog-bank, of which the appearances are familiar to ma- riners. Lit. Cl. Mr Joun Rosison, General Secretary, read part of a Differtation by the Reverend Mr Waiter Younc, Minifter of Erfkine, on Mufic and Poetry. The Diflertation is printed in this volume. [No. III. Lit. C/.] . Phyf. Cl. ‘Tue Secretary read an Account by Dr Cuartes HurtTon of Woolwich, of fome Experiments made by him to determine the Refiftance of the Air to Bodies moved through it. This Account is publifhed in this volume. [No. VI. Phyf. Ci.] Lit. Cl. Mr Rosson read a continuation of the Reverend Mr Youne’s Differtation on Mufic and Poetry, printed in this volume. [No. III. Lit. Ci] A GENERAL Meeting of the Royal Society was held for the election of Members. [See Lift in the Appendix to Vol. I. Part 1. Dr WALKER exhibited to the Meeting feveral fpecimens of natural produ¢tions and artificial rarities which had been pre- fented to the Society in the courfe of the Jaft year. Thefe were ordered to be repofited in a proper place of the Mufzum of the Univerfity, and a lift was directed to be made out, and printed in the Appendix to the hiftorical part of this volume. [See Appendix.] At the fame Meeting, the Secretary prefented to the Society the following works: Jraité Analytique des Mouvemens apparens des Corps Céleftes, par M. Dionrs de Sejour; and Ejfai fur la Fluide Electrique, par feu M. LE ComTe de-Treffan; the former Vou. II. (C) fent 186. Dec. 18. Mr Young on mufic and poc- try. 1787. Jan x. . Dr Ch. Hutton on the refiftance of the air. Jan. 15. Mr Young on mufic and poe- try. Jan. 22. General Meet: ing. Donations to the Society. Donations to the Society, 1787. Feb, 5. Mr Robifon on the Georgium Sidus. ~ Volcanic erup- tions in Iceland. Feb. 19. .Mr Young on mufic and poe- ty. March 5. Experiments by Dr Home. March Ig. Dr Beattie on the fixth book of the Eneid. April 2. Mr Wallace on the eaft wind. 18 ' HISTORY of the SOCIETY. fent to the Society by the author, the latter by M. L’Anpe TRESSAN, the author’s fon. The Secretary alfo prefented from Dr Buane his Obfervations on the Difeafes of Seamen. Thefe books are in the lift of donations printed in Vol. I. of the So- ciety’s Tranfactions. Phyf. Cl. Mr Profeffor Rogison read a Comparifon of the Theory of the Motion of the New Planet, read by him laft year, with fome additional obfervations made by him fince. [See Vol. I. No. XI. Phyf. C7.] At the fame Meeting, Dr WALKER read an Extratt from an Account of the Volcanic Eruptions in Iceland during the year 1783. Lit. Cl. Mr Rospison read the remaining part of the Re- verend Mr WALTER Younc’s Differtation on Mufic and Poe- try ; which is printed in this volume. [No. III. Lit. C/.] Phyf. Cl. Dr Francis Home read an Account of fome Medical Experiments made by him upon the Digitalis. Lit. Cl. Mr Dauzex read a Differtation by Dr James BeaTTi£, Profeflor of Philofophy in the Marifchal College of Aberdeen, entitled, Remarks on fome Paffages of the fixth Book of the Eneid. This Differtation is printed in this volume. [No. Il. Lit. Cl.] Phyf. Cl. GEORGE WALLACE, Efq; Advocate, read a part of a Differtation on the Caufes of the Difagreeablenefs and Cold- nefs of the Eaft Wind. ‘The author did not incline that any -abftract fhould be given of this Differtation. Lit. HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 19 Lit. Cl. MrMaconocuil£ communicated from RoBERT BoGLE of Daldowie, Efq; a copy of a letter, written.in 1773, by the Tefhoo Lama of Thibet, toWARREN Hastinos, Efq; Governor- general of Bengal, while a brother of Mr Bocuz’s was refiding at the Lama’s court, as envoy from Mr Hastines. Mr Maco- NOCHIE remarked, that the turn of thought and expreffion ren- dered the letter a very great curiofity ; but that it was ftill more interefting on two accounts: fir/, That it eftablifhed be- yond all queftion, that the Tefhoo Lama, though a Pontiff of inferior rank to the Dalai Lama, is underftood to poflefs the foul of faints, or divine perfonages that flourifhed in former times, and to retain the remembrance of what happened to them in thofe paft periods of exiftence. 2dly, That the fame places which are regarded in Bengal as peculiarly facred, are likewife regarded by the religion of Fo as holy ; that the Tefhoo Lama, in fome of his former ftates of exiftence, is fuppofed to have refided in thofe places ; that the Ganges, fo revered among the Brahmins, is alfo revered by the worfhippers of Fo; and that the reference by the followers of that religion in Japan, to fome region in India, as the origin and holy land of their faith, is here afcertained. to belong to Bengal. Thefe circum- ftances, he thought, fuggefted very important reflections with regard to the hiftory of the religions of Eaftern Afia. Tue letter is as follows : From TresHoo Lama to the Governor. Received the 22d Fuly 1775. “ Mr Bocte, whom, out of your kindnefs, you were pleafed * to fend into this quarter, having (thank Gop) arrived here in ** perfect health, I had, at an aufpicious hour, the pleafure of an “ interview with him, and was rendered fo completely happy on “the occafion, that it might in reality have been thought an in- (C 2) ~ “ terview 1787. April 16. Letter from the Tefhoo Lama to Mr Hattings. 20 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. “terview with yourfelf. The letter which you addreffed to me, “and the prefents you fent by Mr Boers, I have likewife re- “* ceived fafe. May your happinefs and profperity daily in- “ creafe. All the particulars which Mr Bocre verbally repre- “‘ fented to me, I perfectly underftand. You were pleafed’ to “ write me, that you had fent orders for eftablifhing peace with _ “ the Debe Dorta, agreeable to my requeft. True ; the pleafure ‘* thefe particulars gave me, it is impoffible to.exprefs. When “ you, out of pure friendfhip, are induced thus readily to com- “ ply with a requeft of mine, what return can I make you for “at, but offer you my prayers? You have laid me under an ob- ‘¢ ligation to you for ever ; and [hope that you will every where * prove victorious and fuccefsful. What can I fay to you of my ‘“* own fituation? In former ages, I repeatedly received my ex- ‘€ iftence from Allahabad, Benares, Patna, Purnea, and .other * places in Bengal and Oriffa; and having ever enjoyed much “ happinefs from thofe places, I have imbibed a partiality for “them; and a fincere love and affection for their inhabitants “ are ftrongly impreffed on my heart. The well known place of “ Outragund gave me my laft exiftence; and thanks be to Gop, ‘“‘ the inhabitants of this quarter are all content and fatisfied with “ me. Where my fpiritual effence will tranfmigrate to next, will “ hereafter be feen. At prefent, here I fit in this icy country, “in obedience and fubjection to the Emperor of China. I have “ Jong had a defire of feeing you, and the dominions and people “ over whom you rule; but hitherto many caufes have occurred: “ to prevent me, whatever may happen in future. My travelling fo ‘‘ far as your country, to obtain a perfonal interview with you, “ muft, however, be attended with many unfurmountable diffi- “ culties, and Providence has decreed that we fhould be at this “ neceflary diftance from each other. From this confideration, “ T am induced to requeft that you will grant me a piece of ¢ ground near the fea-fide, that I may build a houfe of wor- “ fhip thereupon; and for the expences of building it, I have oS feng SAISTORY of the SOCIETY 21 “ fent an hundred pieces of gold by Mr Bocue, together with ‘* fome carpets, cloths, and other neceflaries, which he will fhew ** you, for the decoration of it; and I requeft that you will do ** me the favour to let the houfe be immediately built, and the “ things put up; and as foon as the cold feafon fets in, I will “ certainly difpatch to you fome of my own people, if not fome “ of the family of the Lama, who is patron of the Emperor of -“ China. I hope that you will receive them with kindnefs, and “ fend fome of your own fervants with them, to vifit every place of worfhip at Allahabad, Benares, tc. for the difcharge of their “ religious duties. As this country is under the abfolute fove- ~““ reignty of the Emperor of China, who maintains an active and “ unrelaxed control over all its affairs ; and as the forming of any * connection or friendfhip with foreign powers is contrary to his _“ pleafure, it will frequently be out of my power to difpatch any ““ meflengers to you. However, it will be impoflible to efface the “ remembrance of you out of my mind; and I fhall always pray “ for the increafe of your happinefs and profperity, and, in re- “turn, I hope you will frequently favour me with accounts of “ your health. To avoid troubling you, and intruding longer “ upon your time with my incorrect ftyle, I fhall conclude this, “ but-beg you will favour me with an anf{wer; and I fhalltake *“‘ an opportunity of addrefling you by every perfon who goes “‘ from hence into your part of the world. I have reprefented all “ particulars to Mr Boce, who will communicate them to you, “and I hope you will confent to them. [On a feparate sacar} “ FIAVING, in compliance with my requeft, put an end to “ hoftilities with the Debe Raja, and eftablifhed a peace with “‘ him, you have thereby conferred upon me the greateft obliga- “tion. As a teftimony whereof, I fend you a prefent of a few “things; and, although not worth acceptance, I beg you will ac- ** cept 1787. June 18, Dr Gregory on the moods of verbs. July 2. Mr Wallace on the eaft wind. Letter from the Prefident de Virly. On the ufe of cauftic alkali in the cure of gra- velith diforders. “ tion in the bufinefs with which he is entrufted.’’ 22 HISTORY of the SOCIETY.« “ cept of them, merely upon this confideration, that a green leaf “is a prefent from a hermit. . “ Lift of Prefents. “ 8 pieces of China fatin. * t filver talent of China. “1 Pelong handkerchief. “IT cAN make no fuitable return for your friendfhip from this “ part of the world, and I hope you will excufe it. Poorun ** Ker Cusuoo will have the honour of paying his refpects to “you; and I hope you will grant him your favour and protec- ~ Lit. Cl. Dr Grecory read a Philological Differtation, en- titled, Theory of the Moods of Verbs ; waters is publifhed in» this volume. [No. IV. Lit. Cl] Phyf. Cl. Mr Gtorcrt WALLACE read the continuation of his Differtation on the Caufes of the Difagreeablenefs and Cold- nefs of the Eaft Wind. (See /upra, April 2.] At the fame Meeting, the following Letter from the Prefident de Virly, at Dijon, was read ; A Paris ce 1ome Mars 1787. ‘“* In fera peut étre agréable a la Societé d’apprendre que l’on “a appliqué a Dijon, avec fuccés un remede que l’on doit a “ un medecin de votre ifle: lalkali cauftique pris intérieure- ‘* ment pour le calcul ou la pierre. M. DurANDE, medecin “© de cette ville a eu un malade qui avoit rendu beaucoup de “ gravier par les urines, et avoit de grandes douleurs. Le ma- “ Jade, en méme tems, ne vouloit pas entendre parler de fe “ faire mR HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 23 faire fonder. M. DuranpeE lui a adminiftré l’alkali caufti- que dans un bouillon de veau, qui contenoit a peu prés une livre d’eau. Il acommencé par dix gouttes, et a fini, en augmentant la dofe, par l’adminiftrer jufqu’a quarante gouttes. Au bout de fix femaines, les accidens avoient telle- ment ceffé que le malade a dit n’avoir plus befoin de rien. Il y a dix mois, et il fe trouve trés bien. ““ Un autre malade acommencé le méme remede.. Un verre de fon urine le cinquieme jour de traitement, tems auquel il prenoit douze gouttes d’alkali cauftique, a été eflayé. Le papier de Fernambouc s’eft trés legerement altéré. L’eau chargée d’air fixe atroublé un verre de cette urine, et y a oc- cafioné un trés leger dépot. On fait que V’eau gafeufe re- prend l’alkali a la matiere du calcul. “* On s’etoit affuré par le papier teint avec le jus de mauve que le bouillon ne dénaturoit point l’alkali cauftique. I] faut avoir foin que l’alkali foit bien cauftique, et n’aye pas perdu fa vertu par le contact de lair. S “ Ix s’eft prefenté 4 moi un fait en Angleterre, qui, je crois, n’a pas été encore obfervé. C’eft une éfpece de bafalte artifi- ciel. En examinant, auprés de Sheffield, des matériaux pour réparer la route, je caflai plufieurs de ces morceaux de terre cuite dont on fe fert dans plufieurs endroits de l’Angleterre pour réparer les chemins. Ces morceaux fe cafloient en prifmes hexagones trés réguliers, tels que ceux des bafaltes. Les differentes perfonnes a qui je les ai montrés, notamment M. Watt, ne les connoiffoient pas. Je n’en avois jamais vu non plus. Je vous ferai obligé Monfieur, de communiquer ce fait 4 Monf. le Dr HurTon, quia fait beaucoup d’obfer- vations, dont on verra furement la publicité avec grand plai- fr. J’ai Phonneur d’étre,” We. Lit. Cl. Dr Grecory read the continuation of his Theory of the Moods of Verbs, publifhed in this volume. [No. IV. Lit. C/.] Phyf. OF an artificiak bafaltes. july 16. Dr Gregory om the moods of verbs, 1987. Augutt 6, New fpecies of cochineal. Count de Win- difchgratz’s problem, Nov. 5. Mr Lochead on the nat. hift. of Madeira, Nov. 19. Mr Dalzel on the Greek &. Nov. 26. General Meet- ing. Dec. 3. Dr Hutton’s anfwers to M. de Luc, 24 Phyf. Cl. Dr James ANDERSON laid before the Society a {pecimen of a new fpecies of cochineal, lately difcovered on the coaft of Coromandel by James ANDERsoN, M. D. Phyfician- general at Madrafs. HISTORY of the SOCIETY. At the fame Meeting, Mr Commiffioner Smiru acquaint- ed the Society, that the Count de WinpiscucratTz had tranfmitted to him three Differtations, offered as folutions of his Problem, [See Tranfactions, Vol. I. Hift. of the Soc. p. 37. & 45.] and had defired the judgment of the Society upon their merits. The Society referred the confideration of thefe papers to Mr Smiru, Mr Henry Mackenzie of the Exchequer, and Mr Witi1AM Craic, Advocate, as a Committee to perufe and confider them, and to report their opinion to the Society at a fubfequent Meeting. Phyf. Cl. Dr Wa ker, Profeffor of Natural Hiftory, read part of a Differtation, written by Mr Locueap, on the Natural Hiftory of Madeira. Lit. Cl. Mr Datzex read the continuation of his Dif- fertation on certain Analogies obferved by the Greeks in the ufe of their Letters; and particularly of the Letter 3. [See fupra, Dec. 19. 1785.] A GENERAL Meeting of the Royal Society was held for the eleGtion of General Office-bearers for the enfuing year; when all thofe of the preceding year were re-elected. Phyf. Cl. Dr James HutTTon read Anfwers by him to the Objections of M. pz Luc, with regard to his Theory of Rain, (publifhed in Tranfactions, Vol. I. No. II. Phy/. Ci.) Thefe Anfwers are printed in this volume. [No. VIII. Phy/. C/.] | Ext. HISTORY .of the SOCIETY. 25 Mr Dauzeu read an Effay on the Standard of He did Lit. Cl. Tafte, and on the Nature and Hiftory of Criticifm. not incline that this Effay, or any abftract of it, fhould be printed in this volume. HE alfo read a fhort Effay by the Reverend Mr Rosertson, Minifter of Dalmeny, on the Subjundtive Mode in Englifh Verbs, ~ and on /ball and will. ‘The author did not incline that any account of this Effay fhould be given in this volume. Phyf. Cl. Dr WALKER read a continuation of Mr LocuEap’s - paper on the Natural Hiftory of Madeira. [See /upra, Nov. 5.1787. ] Lit. Cl. Mr Maconocuis read a paper containing Obferva- tions refpecting the Country, Religion, Political Inftitutions, and Sciences. of the Hindoos. AT the fame Meeting, Mr Commiffioner Smiru reported the opinion of the Committee appointed to examine the three Dif- fertations offered as Solutions of the Count de WiNDiscuH- GRATZ’s Problem, [See /upra, Aug. 6. 1787.]3; which was, That none of the three Differtations amounted, either to a folu- tion, or to an approximation towards a folution of that pro- blem. The Committee, however, intimated their opinion, that one of thefe Differtations, fuperfcribed with the following fen- tence, Si quid novifti rectius iftis, &c. though neither a folution. of the problem nor an approximation to it, was a work of great merit. The Royal Society, hereupon, pronounced their judg- ment in terms of the faid report; and they requefted Mr FrAsER TYTLER to tranfmit this judgment, and the opinion of the Committee, by a.letter to the Count de WINDISCHGRATZ. A GENERAL Meeting of the Royal Society was held. for the election of Members. [See Lift in the Appendix to the Hiftory of the Society. ] Von, II. (D) Phy/. 198% Dec. 17. Mr Dalzel on the ftandard of taite, Mr Robertfon on the fubjunc- tive mode in Englith verbs. 1788. Jan. 7- Mr Lochead on the nat. hift. of Madeira. Jan. Sy te Mr Maconochie on. the Hindoos, Report and judgment rela- tive to the Count de Wine difchgratz’s problem. Jan, 23. General Meet- lag, 1788. Feb. 4. Sir James Hall on Lavoifier’s theory of che- miftry. Feb. 18. Dr Hill on fy- nonymous words, March 3. Sir James Hall on Lavoifier’s chemittry. Spirits diftilled from carrots. March 17. Biographical account of the Lord Prefident Dundas. ~ Mr Ramfay on the funeral rites of the High- Janders. April 7. Me Phy. CF. Mr Robifon on™ the motion of light, 26 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Phyf. Cl. Sir James Haut, Baronet, read part of a paper entitled, A View of M. Lavoisier’s new Theory of Chemiftry. He did not incline that this paper, or any abftract of it, fhould be printed in this volume. Lit. Cl. Dr Joun Hivx read part of an Effay on Synony- mous Words. As this Effay forms part of a larger work, which is not yet completed, the author did not chufe that any abftract of it sapere be given in this volume. Phyf. Cl. Sir JAMEs Hari read a fecond part of his paper on M. Lavoisrer’s new Theory of Chemiftry. [See /upra, Feb. 4.] ! At the fame Meeting, the Secretary read a communication from Dr Hunter and Mr Hornsy of York, refpecting the Diftillation of Ardent Spirits from Carrots. A fpecimen of the Spirits had likewife been fent to the Royal Society. The So- ciety appointed Dr Brack, Dr Hutton, and Mr JAmes Rus- SELL, furgeon, to examine this account, together with the {pe- cimen of the fpirits, and to report upon the fame. Lit. Cl. Mr Fraser TyTLer read a Biographical Account of the late Lord Prefident DunpAs ; which is publifhed in this volume. [Appendix to the Hiftory of the Society. ] Mr Profeffor FintAyson read a Differtation by Jonn RAm- say, Efg; of Auchtertyre, on the Funeral Rites of the High- landers; | Mr Puayrarr read a paper by Mr Joun Rosison, Profeffor of Natural Philofophy, on the Motion of Light, as affected by Refraéting and Reflecting Subftances, which are alfo in motion. This-paper is publifhed in this socheagest [No. XI. Phyf. Gl.) Ary HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 27 AT the fame Meeting, Sir James HALtt read the concluding part of his View of M. Lavoisrer’s Theory of Chemiftry. [See jupra, Feb. 4. and March 3. 1788.] Lit. Gl. Mr Henry Mackenzie read an Account of the German Theatre, with Remarks upon Dramatic Performances in general. This paper is printed in this volume, [No. V. Lié. Cl. Phyf. Cl. Dr Hurron read a paper on Phlogifton, in an- fwer to the Obfervations of Sir JAmes HAtt, in his Account of M. LavorsiER’s Chemiftry. Phyf. Cl. THE Society met this day extra ordinem. Dr Hour- TON read fome further Obfervations on Phlogifton ; and Sir | James HALt read a paper in reply to Dr Hutrtron’s former Obfervations on that fubject. A GENERAL Meeting of the Royal Society was held for the election of Members. [See Lift in the Appendix to the Hiftory of the Society. ] ; Phyf. Cl. An ‘Account was read by Dr James ANDERSON, of thirteen letters from James ANDERSON, M.D. Phyfician at Madrafs, to Sir JosEpH Banks, F.R.S. Lond. refpecting the Difcovery of a new fpecies of Cochineal. [See /upra, Aug. 6. 1787. | Lit. Cl. Mr Dauzer read a Differtation by Mr Tuomas RosertTson, Muinifter of Dalmeny, on the Character of SHAKESPEARE’s HAMLET. ‘This paper is printed in this vo-m lume. [No. VII. Lit. C7.] (D 2) . Phyf. 1788. April 7. Sir James Hall on Lavoifier’s chemiftry. April ar. Mr Mackenzie on the German theatre. May s. Dr Hutton oa phlogifton. May 12. Dr Hutton and Sir James Hall on phlogifton. June 23, General Meet- ing. July 7. Dr Anderfon on a new fpecies of cochineal. July 21. Mr Robertfon onthe character of Hamlet. 1788. Novy. 3: Mr Small on ventilation. Spirits diftilled from carrots. 28 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Phyf. Cl, Mr Dauzev read an Effay on Ventilation, by ALEXANDER SMALL, Efquire. At the fame Meeting, a Report was prefented from Dr Brack, Dr Hutton, and Mr RusseEti, on Dr Hunger and Mr Hornsy’s procefs for producing an ardent fpirit from carrots. [See /upra, March 3. 1788.] The report is as follows : _ We have examined the fample of fpirits, which was fent by Dr HunTer of York to the Royal Society, and we have read the account of the experiment on the fermentation and diftilla- tion of carrots by which the faid f{pirit was produced. The experiment was made by Mr Tuomas Hornsy, druggift in York, with one ton and eight ftone of carrots, which, after being expofed to the air a few days to dry, weighed 160 ftone, and meafured 42 bufhels ; they were wafhed, topped and tailed, -by which they loft in weight r1 ftone, and in meafure feven bu- fhels ; being then cut, they were boiled with the proportion of 24 gallons of water to one third of the above quantity of car- rots, until the whole was reduced to a tender pulp, which was done in three hours boiling. From this pulp, the juice was eafily extracted by means of a prefs, and 200 gallons of juice were produced from the whole. This juice was boiled again with one pound of hops five hours, and then cooled to 66 of FAHRENHEIT, and fix quarts of yeaft being added, it was fet to ferment. The ftrong fermentation lafted 48 hours, during which time the heat abated to 58 of FAHRENHEIT ; 12 gallons of unfermented juice, which had been referved, were then heated and added-to the liquor, the heat of which was thus raifed again to 66, and the fermentation was renewed for 24 hours more, the air of the brewhoufe being all this time at 46 and 44. The liquor was now turned, and continued to work three days from the bung; and, laftly, it was diftilled, and the firft diftillation was rectified next day without any ad- dition. HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 29 dition. The produce was twelve gallons, of the fame quality with the fample. In our examination of this fample, we found it refembled a - corn fpirit in flavour, but was equal to a corn fpirit of the beft kind, and it was a proof fpirit. Tue refufe of the carrots weighed 48 ftone, sich. added to the tops and tails, made provifion for hogs, befide the wafh from the ftill, which meafured, 114 gallons. From this experiment, Dr Hunter draws the following comparifon between the diftillation of carrots and that of grain: 20 tons of carrots, which will make 200 gallons of proof {pirits, may be bought for L. 16. 8 quarters of malt, or rather the materials for diftillation, confifting of malt, wheat and rye, may be bought for L. 16, and will alfo make 200 gallons of proof fpirit. Tue refufe from the carrots will be g60 ftone, which, at 1d. per ftone, will fell for L. 4. Tue refufe or grains from the malt, &c. will be 64 buthels, each bufhel weighing about 3 ftone, which, at 1d. jer ftone, will fell for 16s. TuHE Dodtor, however, fuppofes, that the manufacturing of the fpirit from carrots may be attended with more expence than the manufaCturing of it from malt; but imagines that the greater value of the refufe may compenfate for that expence, and that the faving of corn for other purpofes, is an object worthy of attention and of encouragement. (Signed) Josepu Brack. 19th May 1788. James RussELL. James HuTTon. Plyf. Cl. Dr Witutam Wricut, F.R.S. Lond. read a Bo- tanical and Medicat Account of the Quaflia Simaruba; which is printed in this volume. [No. X. Phy/. C/.] er 1788. Dec: x. Dr Wright on quaffia fimarv- ba. 1788. Dec. 1. Sir Ja. Hall on pumice ftone, , Mr Leflie on the folution of certain math, problems. ~ Dec. T5. Dr Hill on fyn. words, 30 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. At the fame Meeting, Sir James Haut read a paper on the Formation of Pumice Stone. Mr Prayrair read a paper by Mr Jonn Lesxiz, on the Solution of certain indeterminate Problems in Mathematics, This paper is printed in this volume. [No. XIV. Phyf Gl.] Lit, Cl. Dr Joun Hitt read a continuation of his Effay on Synonymous Words. [See /upra, Feb. 18. 1788.] APPEN- Fanuary i. 1790. LIST of MemBErs or Fettows of the Roya Society of Edinburgh, continued from Fanuary 1. 1788. when the firft Vo- lume was publifbed. OMITTED by miftake in the former List. Robert Hamilton, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of Phyfi- cians, and Phyfician at Lynn Regis, in Norfolk, P. _ Tue following were elected at the General Meeting, Jan. 28. — 1788. T. RESIDENT. Mr Robert Ker, Surgeon in Edinburgh. P. _. 2. NON-RESIDENT. William Hamilton, M. A. Fellow of. Trinity College, Dublin. Z. Robert Adam, Efq; Architect to King Gzorce III. and Queen -CHartoTTe, F.R.S. & S.A, Lond, &c. Z. Caleb Whiteford, Efq; Lond. L. Major-general William Roy, F. R.S. Lond. P. George Dempfier, E{q; of Dunnichen. LL. Charles Thomas Hope, M.D, Profeffor of Medicine in ‘the Univer- fity of Glafgow. P. Mr Members cho fen, Jan, 28. 1788, Members cho- fen, June 23. 2788, Members cho= fen, Jan, 26. 1789, 42 HISTORY of th SOCIETY. Mr ohn Rennie, Engineer, London. P. Lieutenant Robert Arbuthnot. L: 3. FoREIGN. M. L’Abbé Rayzal. TueE following were elected at the General Meeting, June 23. 1788. I. REsiDENT. Thomas Spens, M.D. Edinburgh. P. Lewis Alexander Grant, Efq; of Grant, Advocate. Z. David Smyth, Ef{q; of Methven. E£. Charles Hope, Ef{q; Advocate. L. Fohn Wilde, E{q; Advocate. L. The Reverend Mr William Moodie, Minifter of St Andrew’s Church, Edinburgh. Z. 2. NON-RESIDENT: Robert Cleghorn, M.D. Glafgow. P. Robert Bogle, Efq; of Daldowie. L.. - William Lifter, M. D. Lond. Tue following were elected at the General Meeting, Jan. 26. 1789. I. NON-RESIDENT... Bartholomew Parr, M.D. of Exeter. P. Fobn Drummond, M. D. of Jamaica. P. Fobu Ogilvy, D.D. Minifter at Midmar. ZL. General Robert Melvil. L. ’ 2. Fo- APPENDIX. | 33 2. FOREIGN. M. Guyot, of Paris. Mr Fefferfon, Minifter iain from the States of Ame- rica, at Paris. Tue following were eos at the General Meeting, June 29. — Members cho- fen, June 29. 1789. 1789. 1. NON-RESIDENT. Fohn Thomas Stanley, E{q; of Alderley in Chefhire, F. A. S. Lond. 2. FOREIGN. Henry Engelhart, M.D. Profeffor of the Practice of Phyfic in the Univerfity of Lunden. Foachin Ramm, M.D. of Riga. me Vot. Il. (E) Orficz- General office. bearers, 34 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. OrFicE-BEARERS of the SOCIETY. Orrice-Bearers elected for the enfuing year, at the General Meeting held for that purpofe, Nov. 30. 1789. Prefident. His Grace the Duke of BuccLeuGu. Vice-Prefidents. Right Hon. Henry Dundas. | Lord Dunjfinnan. Secretary. ) Treafurer. [ Mr Fohn Robifon. | Mr Alex. Keith. Counfellors. Dr Fames Hutton. | Lord Elliock. Mr Geo. Ferguffon. Major-Gen. Fletcher-Campbell. Mr Benjamin Bell. Mr Commiffioner Edgar. Mr Dugald Stewart. Sir William Miller, Bart. Dr Daniel Rutherford. Dr ddam Fergufon. Dr Fames Gregory. Lord Dreghorn. OFFICE- APPENDIX. 35 Office-b OrFIcE-BEARERS of the two CLASSES. ie ee PHYSICAL CLASS. Prefidents. Dr William Cullen. Dr Alexander Monro. Dr Francis Home. Dr Fofeph Black. | Secretaries. | Dr Fohn Walker. —s | Mr Fohn Playfair *, LITERARY CLAss. Prefidents. Mr Baron Gordon. + Dr William Robertfon. Mr Commiffioner Smith. Dr Hugh Blair. Secretaries. Mr Alex. Frafer Zytler. | Mr Andrew Dalzel. ~ # Who had alfo been eleted at the General Meeting, June 29. 1789, on the refignation ef Dr Gregory. (E 2) List | 36 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. List of Members deceafed, continued from the firft volume. Hary Spens, D. D. Profeflor of Divinity in the Univerfity of St Andrew’s. November 27. 1787. The Right Hon. Robert Dundas of Arnifton, Lord Prefident of the Court of Seflion. December 13. 1787. John Dryfdale, D.D. one of the Minifters of Edinburgh, Dean of the Chapel Royal, and Principal Clerk to the Church of Scotland. June 16. 1788. Fohn Macfarlan, D.D. Minifter of Canongate, and Almoner to his Majefty. December 24. 1788. The Reverend Mr Fohn Logan, formerly one of the Minifters of Leith. December 28. 1788. The Right Hon. Sir Thomas Miller, of Glenlee, Baronet, Lord Prefident of the Court of Seflion. September 27. 1789. ForREIGN MEMBERS deceafed. M. le Comte de Buffon. April 16. 1788. Petrus Camper, M.D. Holland. 1789. Since the publication of the preceding volume, the follow- - ing BrocrapuicaL Accounts have been read at different Meetings of the Claffes. 1. Ac- APPEND IX. a" BE. Ac count of the Right Honourable ROBERT DUNDAS of Arnifton, Lord Prefident of the Court of Seffion in Scotland, F.R.S. Epi. We. [Read by ALEX. FRASER TrtLeER, Efq; Advocate, March 17. 1788.] OBERT DUNDAS of Arnifton, late Lord Prefident of the Court of Seffion, was the defcendant of a family to which the hiftorian and genealogift have afligned an origin of high antiquity and fplendor *, but which has been ftill more - remarkable for producing a feries of men, eminently diftin- guifhed for their public fervices in the higheft civil offices of this country. If the pride of anceftry is ever allowable, it is where thofe anceftors have adorned the ftations which they filled, by that genuine merit which, independently of rank, muft have entitled them to the refpect and efteem of their fel- low-citizens. Such were the progenitors of the late Lord Pre- fident, whofe family has produced a fucceffion of men, who, for four generations, have difcharged the higheft offices of the law in this country with equal abilities and integrity. As the merits of fome of thefe eminent perfons entitle them to more than general eulogy, and as there are fome circum- {tances of their lives and characters too honourable, and indeed too exemplary to be pafled over in filence, I fhall here mention a * Sir James Dunpas, firft Baron of Arnifton, Governor of Berwick, and knighted by King James VI. was the third fon of Gzorce Dunpas of Dundas, (by Caruerine, daughter of Laurence Lord Oliphant) the fixteenth in defcent from the Dunsars Earls of -March, who, according to Sir Ja. DatrymMpie, Crawrurp, Nissert, &c. derive their origin from the Saxon Kings of England. 38 | HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Account of me few anecdotes refpecting them, as introductory to the account hace” of His life, on whom I mean more particularly to enlarge. Sir James Dunpas of ‘Arnifton, eldeft fon of Sir James Dunpas, Governor of Berwick, by Mary, the daughter of GrorGE Home of Wedderburn, had the honour of knighthood conferred on him by Cuarves I. In the earlier part of his life, and in the courfe of a very liberal education, he had fpent a confiderable time abroad, and vifited the politeft of the foreign Courts. On his return to his native country, he was chofen Reprefentative of the county of Edinburgh in the Scot- tifh Parliament ; and, in the moft difficult of times, when pu- blic virtue was put to the fevereft trials, uniformly maintained the character of a fteady and fincere patriot. He difapproved, as did many of the beft friends of their King and Country, of thofe violent meafures by which CHARLEs, mifguided by Laup, endeavoured to force this kingdom to fubmit to the Epifcopal hierarchy. The ecclefiaftical and the civil liberties of the king- dom were juftly regarded as moft intimately connected. with each other. The Church of Scotland, in all periods of its hi- ftory, whatever had been its form of government and difci- pline, had uniformly rejected the idea of dependence on the Metropolitan fees of England*; and at this time, even thofe among the Scots who approved of the Epifcopal forms, could not brook that rules of difcipline fhould be prefcribed to them by Englifh ecclefiaftics. They were juftly indignant at thofe meafures which they confidered as a tyrannical endeavour to bring the National Church, hitherto independent, under a difhonourable fubjection to that of England ; and they regarded, the attempt to introduce an Englifh liturgy, as preparatory to the introduétion of Englifh laws. ‘This was the idea which prevailed with many virtuous men to fign the National Covenant, which, * Tue conteft for the independency of the National Church of Scotland had begua as early as the reign of Axexanper I. ‘APPENDIX. Wena. which, by prefenting a deliberate and a powerful oppofition to that attack againft their religious and civil liberties, bad fair to prevail with the Sovereign to abandon thofe unconftitutional attempts, and thus might have been the means of preferving the peace of the kingdom. Inthis idea, Sir James Dunpas, “with many other fincere and virtuous patriots, figned the Co- venant; though they faw afterwards, with regret, that the fame aflociation, which, with the well difpofed, might have been an inftrument of peace, was converted into an engine of tumult and fedition. On the extinGtion of the monarchical government, the fu- , preme court of judicature in Scotland, the Court of Seffion, was converted by OLIVER CROMWELL into a Commiffion for the adminiftration of juftice, and partly fuppled by Englifh Judges. Upon the Reftoration, that Court refumed its ancient form; and among the new Judges appointed by the Sovereign, was Sir James Dunpas of Arnifton, whofe high chara¢ter, in point of probity and natural abilities, was fuch as to balance the want of an education to the law as a profeffion. He was appointed a Judge of the Court of Seffion in 1662. In the end of the fame year, CuArtes II. apprehenfive of that fpirit of difaffection to the government, which very generally prevailed in this country, found it neceffary, with the advice of Parliament, to require all perfons holding offices in Scotland, to fubfcribe a Declaration, importing that they held it unlawful to enter into Leagues and Covenants on pretence of reformation, or to take up arms againft the king ; and, in particular,.ab- juring thofe bonds entitled the National and the Solemn League and Covenant as illegal and feditious affociations. Tuts meafure was complied with by fome from principle, and by others from policy. The Chancellor of Scotland being directed to require the Judges of the Court of Seffion to fubfcribe the Declaration, under the penalty of lofing their offices, moft of thefe,—it is to be prefumed, from Confcience,—manifefted an Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. 40 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. an eafy compliance. Others, however, from the fame honour- able motive, refufed to renounce thofe obligations, of which, though they regretted the abufe, they approved of the princi-. ple. Among that number was Sir JAmMes Dunpas, who re- fufed to fign the Feft-declaration, unlefs with a fubjoined claufe, importing his abjuration of the Covenant, “ in fo far as it had ** led to deeds of actual rebellion.” This qualified compliance was rejected by the Sovereign, and the recufant Judges were deprived of their offices. Their feats, however, were kept vacant for fome time, in expectation, either that their fcruples might be relaxed by the fenfe of their fubftantial loffes, or that fome medium of accommodation might be devifed for adjufting the fubjeGt of difference. One expedient was propofed, which, it is probable, originated from the Sovereign himfelf, as it favours remarkably of his code of eafy morality. This was, that fuch of the Judges as fcrupled to give an unlimited declaration, fhould, for the fake of example, fubfcribe /imply, as the law re- quired, but fhould be allowed, in a private converfation with the King, to explain the fenfe in which they underftood thofe oaths. On thefe fingular terms, fome of the deprived Judges were willing to redeem their offices. ‘They repaired to London, had a private audience of his Majefty, and returned with new com- miffions in their pockets *. But that conciliatory meafure was propofed in vain to Lord ArNniston. He adhered refolutely and inflexibly to thofe principles which he efteemed right. To the folicitation of a friend, who earneftly intreated him, for his own fake, for that of his family and of the public, to be fatis- fied. * Tury would juttify their condu& by the prudent reafoning which Cicero ufed to Lentutus. ‘‘ Nam neque pugnandum contra tantas opes, neque delendum, etiam fi id “ fieri poflet, fummorum civium principatum, neque permanendum in una fententia, “* converfis rebus, ac bonorum voluntatibus immutatis; fed temporibus aflentiendum.’”* Cic. Epift. ad fam. 1.1. ep. Qs 4 PP Bi NuD' ed x 41 fied with the propofed expedient, he returned this memorable anfwer: “ I have repeatedly told you that in this affair I have ~ © a&ted from confcience. I will never fubfcribe that declara- “ tion, unlefs I am allowed to qualify it; and if my /ub/cription is “ to be public, I cannot be fatisfied that the /alvo fhould be Jatent.”’ His feat in the Court of Seffion was not filled up for three years ; during all which time, he was affailed in vain by the folicitations both of his brethren on the Bench, and of the King’s Minifters. Happy in the approbation of his own mind, and honoured with the efteem of all men of worth, he retired to his family-feat of Arnifton; and there, in the tranquil en- joyments of the country, in the gratification of a tafte for po- lite literature, and in the fociety of his friends, he pafled the remainder of his days. Sir James DunpAs died in the year 1679. Rosert, his eldeft fon, by Marion, daughter of Robert Lord Boyd, was bred to the profeffion of the law. He reprefented the county of Edinburgh for many years in the Parliament of Scotland; and was appointed a Judge of the Court of Seffion by Ring WiLiiAM in 1689. He filled that ftation, during the period of thirty-feven years, with great honour and integrity ; and be- fore his death in 1727, had the fatisfaction of feeing his eldeft fon * fucceffively difcharging the moft important offices in the law, and though a very young man, far advanced in that {plendid career in which he was deftined to arrive at the fum- mit of his profeflion. THis was RoBertT Dunpas of Arnifton, afterwards Lord Prefident of the Court of Seffion, the Father of him who is the proper fubje& of this Memoir. Though in no period of his life diftinguifhed for laborious application to ftudy, he had, in Vot. II. (F) his * Born gth December 168 5: His mother was Marcarer, daughter of Sir Roserr Sincuarr of Stevenfon. Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. 42 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Account of |= his earlier years, improved his mind by an acquaintance: with Dundas, general literature ; and he gained by pra¢tice, aided by uncom- mon acutenefs of talents, a profound knowledge of the law. He had been but eight years at the bar, when his reputation pointed him out as the fitteft-perfon to hold the office of Soli- citor-general, to which he was appointed by King Georce I. in 1717. The ftate of the country, recently the fcene of rebel- lion, and ftill fecretly fermenting with the rancour of party- contentions, was fuch, as to require, on the part of the law-offi- cers of the Crown, the utmoft extent of political prudence; a zeal firm and fervent in its aim, but cautious in its exertions, and a humane moderation in the exercife of authority, which has ever been found more efficacious than feverity, in extin- guifhing difaffection to government. | THE office of Solicitor-general was preparatory to that of Lord Advocate for Scotland, to which Mr DunpDAs was ap- pointed in 1720. In 1722, he was elected Member of Parlia- ment for the county of Edinburgh ; and, in that fituation, he diftinguifhed himfelf by a moft vigilant attention to all public meafures, in which the intereft of his country was concerned, and by a fteady and patriotic regard for its interefts. -On the change of Miniftry, which took place in 1725, when Sir RopeERT WALPOLE and the Argyle party came into power, Mr DunpAs was removed from his office of King’s Advocate, and refumed his ftation without the bar, diftinguifhed only by the honourable title of Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, till he was raifed to the Bench in 1737. For nine years, he filled the feat of an ordinary Judge of the Court of Seflion, till the year 1748, when, on the death of Mr Duncan Forbes of Culloden, he was appointed to fucceed him in the honourable and important office of Prefident of the Court. Wuite a barrifter, he fhone equally as a powerful pleader and an ingenious reafoner. To the quickeft apprehenfion, he joined an uncommon folidity of judgment; and embracing in : his APPENDIX. | 43 e his mind all the peflible arguments which were applicable to his caufe, he could, even in his unpremeditated pleadings, difcover at once, and inftantly attach himfelf to fome ftrong principle of law on which he built the whole of his reafoning. His eloquence, though as various as the nature of the caufe re- quired, was conftantly fubfervient to his judgment; and though mafter of all the powers of expreffion, he rarely indulged him- felf in what is properly termed declamation. A fine {fpecimen of his argumentative powers is to be found “in the defence for CaRNEGIE of Finhaven, on his indictment for the murder of the Earl of Strathmore. In that memorable trial, he had not ~ only the merit of faving the life of the prifoner, but of efta- blifhing a point of the utmoft confequence to the fecurity of life and liberty, the power of a jury, at that time queftioned in this country, of returning a General Verdi on the guilt or in- nocence of the perfon accufed. In Scotland, though General Verdicts appear to have been au- thorifed by the moft ancient practice of the criminal court, it had long been cuftomary to confider jurymen as tied down to determine fimply, whether the facts in the libel were proved or not proved. ‘This change from the ancient practice is fuppofed, with much reafon, to have been introduced into this country in the latter part of the reign of CHARzzs II.; at a time when we find the King’s Advocate ftrenuoufly contending, in his Sy/fem of Criminal Law, for the entire abolition of juries *. The latter was too {trong a meafure, and would have been found of diffi- cult accomplifhment ; the former was of eafier attainment, and anfwered nearly the fame end. The accufed perfon, to fatisfy appearances, and for the fhew of juftice, was ftill to be tried by his peers ; but his guilt or innocence was rarely within their cognifance : that was decided by the laws, or by their interpret- ers, the Judges ; and the jury, tied down to determine folely on the proof of facts, was compelled to furrender into the hands Fi2 of * Mackenzie Crim. Law of Scotland, tit. 23. Acccunt of Lord Prefident Dundas. Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. 44 ‘HISTORY of the SOCIETY.’ of thefe Judges, and thus often to facrifice the life of a fellow- citizen, though convinced of his innocence, and earneftly defi- rous of his acquittal. Tuus matters ftood till the celebrated trial of CarnEciE of Finhaven, who, had the powers of a Scottifh jury remained thus circumfcribed, muft have fuffered the punifhment due to the fouleft malefactor, for an act on which it is fcarcely poffible to affix a taint of blame *. The Court had found the faéts in the indi€tment relevant to infer the pains of law. ‘The proof of thofe facts was as clear as noon-day. ‘There remained no hope for the prifoner, unlefs the jury fhould be roufed to affert a right which they had long relinquifhed, and vindicate the privilege of deciding on the guilt or innocence of the accufed. And this great point was gained by the powerful eloquence of the pri- foner’s counfel. The jury found the prifoner Not Guilty. From that time, the right of aScottifh jury to return a General Verdict, is acknowledged to be of the very effence of that inftitution.— And Gop forbid ! a period fhould ever arrive, when that moft valuable of rights fhall again be called in queftion. As a Judge, Lord Arniston diftinguifhed himfelf no lefs by the vigour of his talents, and his knowledge of the laws, than by his ftriét principles of honour and inflexible integrity. His own idea of the chara@ter, both of a Lawyer and of a Judge, remains, penned by himfelf, in that admirable eulo- gium on Lord Newnatt, which ftands upon the records of the Faculty of Advocates ; and thofe who yet remember the man of whom we now fpeak, know that many of thofe vari- ous * James CaRNEGIE of Finhaven, was tried before the Court of Jufticiary in Scotland, for the murder of Cuarzes Earl of Strathmore, in 1728. Ata meeting in the country, where the company had drank to intoxication, Carnecie of Finhaven having received the. moft abufive language, and fuftained a perfonal outrage of the grofleft nature, from Lyon of Bridgeton, drew his fword, and ftaggering forward to make a pafs at Bridgeton, killed the Earl of Strathmore, a perfon for whom he had the higheft regard and efteem, and who unfortunately came between him and his antagonift, apparently in the view of feparating them. 4 PoP EN DiiaX. 4.5 ous talents and accomplifhments which he there applied to ano- ther, were in a peculiar manner his own. Tuts eminent and truly refpectable man, after a life devoted to the public good, died-in the 68th year of his age; on the 26th day of Auguft 1753. He left by his firft wife, EL1zaBETu, the daughter of Ro- BERT Watson, Efq; of Muirhoufe, a fon, Rozert, the late Prefident of the Court of Seffion, and two daughters. By his fecond wife, ANNE, the daughter of Sir Roper’r GorpDON of Invergordon, Baronet, he left five fons and a daughter. Of this laft marriage, is the Right Hon. Henry Dunpas of Mel- ville, Treafurer of the Navy; whofe various and fplendid abi- lities, directed at firft to the profeffion of the law, and emi- nently difplayed while he held the offices of Solicitor-general and Lord Advocate for Scotland, are now equally diftinguithed. in the Legiflative Affembly, and in the Councils of his So-. vereign. Rosert Dunpas of Arnifton, late Lord Prefident of the Court of Seflion, was born on the 18th of July 1713. He re- ceived the earlier parts of his education under a domeftic tutor, and afterwards purfued the ufual courfe of academical {ftudies in the Univerfity of Edinburgh. In the end of the year 1733, he went to Utrecht, where the lectures on the Roman Law were at that time in confiderable reputation. He remained abroad for four years; and, during the recefs of ftudy at the Univerfity, he {pent a confiderable time at Paris, and in vifiting feveral of the principal, towns of France and the Low Countries. RETURNING to Scotland in 1737, he was called to the bar in - the beginning of the following year; and, in his. earlieft pu- blic appearances, gave ample proof of his. inheriting, in their utmoft extent, the abilities and genius of his. family. His elo- quence was copious and animated ; in argument, he difplayed a wonderful fertility of invention, tempered by a difcriminating: judgment,, Account of Lord Prefident Dundas, 8 Accourt of Lord Prefident Dundas. 46 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. judgment, which gave, even to his unpremeditated harangues, a methodical arrangement ; in confultation, he pofleffed a quick- nefs of apprehenfion beyond all example; and his memory, which was moft fingularly tenacious, enabled him to treafure up, and to produce inftantaneoufly, every cafe-or precedent which was applicable to the matter before him. Tuus liberally endowed by nature with every requifite to eminence in his profeffion, he had the honour of being ap- pointed Solicitor-general for Scotland in September 1742, at the early age of twenty-nine. This 1mportant office he held only for four years. He had obtained it through the favour of the Carteret adminif{tration, which was then in power ; but, on the change of Miniftry, which took place in 1746, when the Pel- ham party regained its influence in the Cabinet, he, together with the other friends of the former Miniftry, refigned their offices. But the high confideration in which he then ftood with his brethren at the bar, was not diminithed by the lofs of an office dependent on minifterial favour. Inthe fame year, 1746, he was ele¢ted Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, and continued to prefide over that refpectable body till his elevation to the Bench in 1760. In the beginning of the year 1754, Mr DunDAs was elected Member of Parliament for the county of Edinburgh ; and, in the following fummer, he was appointed his Majefty’s Advo- cate for Scotland. In Parliament, the fhare which Mr Dunpas took in public bufinefs, and his appearances on many interefting fubjects of difcuffion, which occurred in that important period during which he fat in the Houfe of Commons, were fuch as fully to juftify the character he had already attained for talents and ability. Such was the complexion of the times, and fo high the tide of party, that it was perhaps impoffible for human wifdom to have pointed out a line of political condu@ which could Mee BM De 47 could entirely exempt from ¢tenfure. The Lord Advocate fhared with the reft of his party in the cenfure of thofe who followed an oppofite plan of politics; but of him it may cer- tainly with truth be affirmed, that in no inftance was he ever known to fwerve from his principles, or to act a part in which he had not the countenance of many of the firmeft friends to the intereft of their country. Tue oppofition which the Lord Advocate gave to the efta- blifhment of a Militia in Scotland, afforded a topic of blame to a great party in this country who warmly fupported that mea- fure. But when the queftion is difpaffionately viewed, it will appear to be one of thofe doubtful points, on which the wifeft men and the beft patriots may entertain oppofite opinions. Tue apprehenfion of an invafion from France, which, from the commencement of the war in 1756, had been repeatedly threatened upon the fouthern coafts of the ifland, occafioned the paffing of various acts of the Legiflature, for the eftablith- ment and regulation of the militia forces through the feveral counties of England. Inthe beginning of the year 1760, the fame apprehenfion had extended to Scotland. The fmall arma- ment under THUROT committing acts of depredation on the weftern coafts with perfect impunity, began to excite a very alarming fenfe of the defencelefs fituation of the country. Meet- ings were held in many of the counties, and refolutions pafled for applying to Parliament to procure the eftablifhment of a militia:in Scotland, upon a fimilar plan with that which now fubfifted in England. The political emergency appeared the fame through the whole kingdom. The Scots were alike fenfi- ble to the danger of their lives and properties as their neigh- bours of the fouth. They juftly confidered themfelves as ftanding, by the Z7eaty of Union, on an equal footing with the Englifh, with regard to all the privileges of Britifh fubjects ; and while the inhabitants of one part of the ifland were furnifhed ; with Account of ‘Lord Prefident Dundas. Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. 48 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. with arms for their own defence, it feemed but juftice to allow the other the fame means of fecurity and protection. THESE arguments, which are of a general nature, or at beft applicable only to a temporary emergency, and to an apprehen- fion rather of eventual than of immediate danger, were an- {wered by reafons drawn from the ftate of the country, from the character of the people, and from a view of thofe confe- quences which muft have been the certain refult of the propofed e{tablifhment. Scotland, it was argued, is far behind her fifter- kingdom in the ceconomical arts of induftry. The genius of the people, particularly in the northern parts, is averfe to la- bour and to all the arts of peace. But the Scots are warlike from conftitution, and the military character of the nation has been high in all ages. The artificial habits of difcipline and regular exercife, are little neceflary in a country, where men are by nature foldiers, attached with enthufiafm to their native land, and prompt to defend themfelves with fpirit upon the flighteft alarm of danger. But they need excitement to the arts of induftry. Agriculture is, in many diftriéts, fhamefully neglected. Manufactures, through the whole country, are yet in their infancy. The employment of our labourers can nei- ther be fpared from their fields, nor of our mechanics from their looms, their forges, or their anvils. To offer to thofe who are naturally little difpofed to induftry, fuch allurements to idlenefs as a national militia would prefent, would be, in the higheft degree, impolitic and ruinous to the country. Tuus, it appears, that the fcheme for the eftablifhment of a militia in Scotland, admits of very oppofite views ; and men of candour, equally endowed with good fenfe, and equally patrio- tic, may be fuppofed, as was certainly the cafe, to have formed different opinions on the fubject. What part the Lord Advo- cate of Scotland, who, by his office, is one of the chief guar- dians of the ftate, and bound by duty to a watchful attention in all matters which regard the intereft of his country, ought to APPENDIX. 49 to have taken in that meafure, it would be prefumption in any man to pronounce with confidence, while he muft admit, that opinions, equally weighty and refpeCtable, are found on either fide of the queftion. Ir is not to be denied, that arguments of a very illiberal na- ture were urged in Parliament by a few Members, who, with a mean and narrow fpirit, reproached this country with difaf- fection to Government, and inculcated the danger of allowing the ufe of arms to thofe who had recently employed them in re- bellion. It was no wonder that afperfions of this nature called forth*the moft animated, noble and fpirited defence of their country’s honour from feveral of the Scottifh Members, who perhaps contended the more keenly in behalf of that meafure, that they faw it oppofed from fuch unworthy motives. But the queftion, viewed without prejudice, remains {till difputa- ble ; and the arguments of the Lord Advocate againft the efta- blifhment of a militia in Scotland, were founded on the great principles of national expediency, and a regard for what appeared to him the real and fubftantial interefts of the country. On the 14th of June 1760, Mr Dunpas was appointed Pre- fident of the Court of Seffion. ‘This was the era of the fplen- dour of his public charaéter. Invefted with one of the moft important trufts that can be committed to a fubject, the fuper- intendence and regulation of the higheft judicature of his country, he acquitted himfelf of that truft, during the twenty- feven years in which he held it, with fuch confummate ability, wifdom and re¢titude, as muft found a reputation as durable as the national annals, and tran{mit his memory with honour to all future times. | At his firft entry upon office, the public, though well affured of his abilities, was doubtful whether he poffeffed that power of application and meafure of afliduity, which is the firft duty (G) . of Account of Lord Prefideat Dundas. Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. 50 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. of the ftation that he now filled. Fond of focial intercourfe, and of late engaged in a {phere of life where natural talents are the chief requifite to eminence, he had hitherto fubmitted but reluctantly to the habits of profeffional induftry. But it was foon feen, that accidental circumftances alone had prevented the development of one great feature of his character, a capa- city of profound application to bufinefs. He had no fooner taken his feat as Prefident of the Seffion, than he devoted him- felf to the duties of his office, with an ardour of which that Court, even under the ableft of his predeceflors, had feen no example, and a perfeverance of attention which fuffered no re- miflion to the lateft hour of his life. Or all the grievances to which a free people can be fubjected, one of the heavieft and moft fevere is the tedioufnefs of judicial procedure, that delay of juftice which makes often oppreffion itfelf more tolerable than the means to be purfued for obtaining its redrefs. Senfible of this truth, and determined to remedy (in as far as material juftice would permit) fo great an evil, the Prefident applied himfelf immediately to the determination of - a long arrear of law-fuits, which, though in their laft ftage, and ripe for judgment, had hung upon the rolls of the Court during the period of five preceding feflions. Thefe, in the courfe of the fummer-feffion 1760, and in the firft month of the next feflion, were all decided, while the current bufinefs of the term was likewife difpatched ; and thus a load, which had been accumulating during two years and a half, was cleared away in the fpace of three months. The Long Roll, which had never been purged fince the inftitution of the Court, and of which the very name was of evil augury, was thus annihilated at once; nor was it ever revived while Mr DunpaAs fat in the Prefident’s chair. Tue primary caufe of this great reform in the difpatch of bufinefs, is certainly to be found in the uncommon power of his APPEND Ox: 51 / his own mental abilities. Amidft that multiplicity of fuits with which the Court of Seffion is at times overwhelmed, no party was ever heard to complain that the Prefident had treated his caufe fuperficially, or with an imperfect intelligence of the arguments which fupported it. But the truth was, he often drew his knowledge of thofe arguments, lefs from the informa- tion of the counfel than from the ftorehoufe of his own mind ; for it was peculiar to him, that he could make himfelf des roughly mafter of a caufe, and form the foundeft judgment of ~ its merits, from the fimple perufal of the ftate of facts. His memory enabling him to retain thefe fa@s with the utmott eafe, he could, in the courfe of a very few hours, dedicated to the perufal of the cafes, prepare himfelf upon the daily bufinefs of the Court. Stimulated by his example, the other Judges ex- erted all their powers of application ; and thus the machine of yuftice moved with a conftant and equal celerity, while his re- gulating influence operated on all its parts. Bur if the affiduity and diligence of Judges i in ftudying the caufes that come before them, is the firft requifite: towards the difpatch of bufinefs, the next eflential concern is, that thefe caufes fhall be decided with brevity, and that the time which is appropriated to giving judgment be not confumed in fuperflu- ous reafonings, or that {pecies of wavering debate, which equally retards procedure, and diminifhes the refpect and dignity of the Court. There is no doubt that the reafoning of Judges upon the Bench, is of excellent effect, when feafoned by that -difcretion which is fitted to imprefs an audience with reverence for the wifdom and folemnity of the tribunal. And of this we have daily examples in the Supreme Court of this country. The arguments of the Judges are often replete with inftruction to the bar. In many cafes, to which, from their circumftan- tiate nature, neither the written nor the confuetudinary law is directly applicable, thefe are the Re/ponfa Prudentum which fup- G 2 ply Account of Lord Prefident Dundas, Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. 52 HISTORY of th SOCIETY. ply that unavoidable deficiency. They are, moreover, a cri- terion to the public, both of the abilities of Judges, and of their attention to the duties of their office. But ftill, it muft be admitted, that there is much danger in allowing too great latitude to judicial reafonings. Befides the delay of bufinefs, there is a hazard that that warmth of argument, againft which even the wifeft and mott difpafionate of men cannot at all times guard themfelves, fhould diminifh the reverence due to the Court, and even the authority of its decifions; for thofe judgments can afluredly have but little weight which are known to be the refult of a war of contradictory ideas. In a tribunal compofed of many Judges, there muft of courfe be a frequent diverfity of opinion ; but it is not always defirable that the grounds of thofe different opinions fhould be publicly canvaf- fed. It is with the wifdom of a Court, as it is with perfonal beauty, (the obfervation of one of the ableft judges of human nature *) the form upon the whole, when furveyed at its proper diftance, may be confummately graceful ; but it is not expedient to examine it by too near an approach, or to analyfe too mi- nutely its particular features. Sucu were known to be the fentiments of that great Judge, whofe character we are now attempting to delineate ; and cor- refponding to thefe fentiments was his own conduct: upon the Bench. He very rarely entered into a laboured argument on the whole grounds of a caufe; much lefs into an examination or confutation of the opinions delivered by his brethren... He limited himfelf to a fhort and folemn enunciation of his own opinion, which he generally fupported by a very few reafons, on which he apprehended the decifion ought to reft. His man- ner of {peaking was firm and authoritative; his language for- cible, though unadorned in its ftructure ; and, feeking not to pleafe, but to convince, he difregarded thofe graces of elocu- tion * CLARENDON, APPENDIX. | 53 tion which the orator may frequently find of ufe to palliate error, but which the Judge needs feldom to employ, who is de- firous only of inculcating truth. : He maintained, with great ftrictnefs, all the forms of the Court in the conduct of bufinefs. Thefe he wifely confidered as effential, both to the equal adminiftration of juftice, and as the outworks which guard the law again{t thofe too common, but moft unworthy artifices which are employed to proftitute and abufe it. af To the bar, he conducted himfelf with uniform attention and refpect. He liftened with patience to the reafonings of the Counfel. He never anticipated the arguments of the pleader, nor interrupted him with queftions to fhew his own acutenefs ; but left every man to ftate his caufe in his own way: nor did he ever interfere, unlefs to reftrain what was either manifeftly foreign to the fubje@, or what wounded, in his apprehenfion, the dignity of the Court. In this laft refpect he was moft lau- dably pundctilious. He never fuffered an improper word to efcape, either from the tongue or pen of a counfel, without the fevereft animadverfion ; and fo acute was that feeling which he was known to poffefs of the refpect that was due to the Bench, that there were but few occafions when it became neceflary for him to exprefs it. THERE were indeed other occafions, on which his feelings were moft keenly awakened, and on which he gave vent to a becoming fpirit of indignation. He treated with the greateft feverity every inftance, either of malverfation in the officers of the law, or of chicanery in the inferior practitioners of the Court... No calumnious or iniquitous profecution, no attempt to pervert the forms of law to the purpofes of oppreffion, ever © ‘eluded his penetration, or efcaped his juft refentment. Tuus, perpetually watchful, and earneftly folicitous to main- tain both the dignity and the rectitude of that Supreme Tribunal over Account of Lord Prefident Dundas Accourt of Lord Prefident Dundas. 54 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. over which he prefided, the influence of thefe endeavours ex- tended itfelf to every inferior court of judicature; as the mo- tion of the heart is felt in the remoteft artery. In reviewing the fentences of inferior judges, he conftantly exprefled his de- fire of fupporting the juft authority of every rank and order of Magiftrates ; but thefe were taught, at the fame time, to walk with circumfpection, to guard their conduét with the moft {crupulous exa¢tnefs, and to dread the flighteft deviation from the narrow path of their duty. Wirn thefe endowments of mind, and high fenfe of the duties of his office, it is not furprifing, that amidtft all the dif- ferences of fentiment which the jarring interefts of individu- als, or the more powerful influence of political faction, give rife to, there fhould be but one opinion of the character of this eminent man, which is, ‘That from the period of the inftitution of that Court over which he prefided, however confpicuous in particular departments might have been the merit of fome of his predeceffors, no man ever occupied the Prefident’s chair, who combined in himfelf fo many of the effential requifites for the difcharge of that important office. BurT it is not the intention of the writer of this account to prefent a faultlefs picture. Nothing, in fact, is of fo little value as indifcriminate panegyric ; nothing fo empty and infignificant as his praife who fhews that he is blind to imperfections. If we allow the merits of this great man, in poflefling, in their utmoft extent, the moft effential requifites for the {tation which he filled, it is but a fmall derogation from the confefled emi- nence of his character, when we acknowledge a deficiency in fome fubordinate qualities. Or thefe, what was chiefly to be regretted, and was alone wanting to the perfection of his mental accomplifhments, was, that he as dain’ to give too little weight or value to thofe ftu- dies APPEND TX. 55 dies which are properly termed literary. This was the more remarkable in him, that, in the early period of his life, he had profecuted himfelf thofe {tudies with advantage and fuccefs. In his youth, he had made great proficiency in claffical learn- ing; and his memory retaining faithfully, whatever he had once acquired, it was not unufual with him, even in his {peeches on the Bench, to cite, and to apply with much propriety the moft ftriking pafflages of the ancient authors. But for thefe ftudies, though qualified to fucceed in them, it does not appear that he ever poffeffed a {trong bent or inclination. If he ever felt it, the weightier duties of active life, which he was early called to exercife, precluded the opportunity of frequently indulging it; and perhaps even a knowledge of the fafcinating power of thofe purfuits, in alienating the mind frony the feverer, but more neceflary occupations, might have inclined him at laft to difrelifh from habit, what it had taught him at firft to refift from principle. TuatT this principle was erroneous, it is unneceflary to con- fume time in proving. It is fufficient to fay, that as jurifpru- dence can never hope for any material advancement as a {cience, if feparated from the fpirit of philofophy, fo that fpirit cannot exift, independent of the cultivation of literature. Tuat the ftudies of polite literature, and an acquaintance with the principles of general erudition, while they improve the Jcience, add luftre and dignity to the profeffion of the law, cannot be denied. So thought all the greateft lawyers of antiquity. So thought, among the moderns, that able Judge and moft ac- complifhed man, of whofe character we have traced fome im- | ‘perfect features, Lord Arnifton, the Father of the late Lord Pre- | fident ; of which his inaugural oration, as it ftands upon the records of the Faculty of Advocates, bears ample teftimony *. His. * “ From his firft entry into the Faculty, he could fay he knew, and obferved it with ** pleafure, as it tended greatly to their honour, that there was no fcience, or part of po- > “ lite Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. Accoun# of Lord Prefident Dundas. 56 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. His fon, it is true, afforded a ftrong proof, that the force of natural talents alone may conduct to eminence and celebrity. He was rich in native genius, and therefore felt not the want of acquired endowments. But in this he left an example to be ad- mired, not imitated. Few inherit from nature equal powers with his; and even of himfelf it muft be allowed, that if he _was a Great Man without the aids of general literature, or of cultivated tafte, he muft have been ftill a greater, had he avail- ed himfelf of thofe lights which they furnifh, and that im- provement which they beftow. Tuis moft ufeful and valuable life was terminated on the 13th of December 1787. His laft illnefs, which, though of fhort continuance, was violent in its nature, he bore with the greateft magnanimity. He died in the 75th year of his age, in the perfect enjoyment of all his faculties; at a time, when his- long fervices might have juftly entitled him to eafe and repofe, but which the ftrong fenfe of his duty would not per- mit him to feek while his power of ufefulnefs continued ; at that period, in fhort, when a wife man would with to finifh his courfe ; too foon indeed for the public good, but not too late for his own reputation. He left by his firft wife, HenrieTTa Battie, the daughter of Sir JAMEs CARMICHAEL-BAILLIE of Lamington, four daughters. ‘ lite and ufeful learning, for the knowledge of which fome in the Faculty were not di- “¢ ftinguifhed, perhaps equally with thofe who made the feveral parts of thofe fciences ‘¢ their principal and particular profeffion. And he hoped he would be excufed for re- “< commending to them, and to all young gentlemen that might afterwards enter among “€ them, to be at pains to maintain and preferve that character and reputation they had ‘ long held, and ftill pofleffed, not only for the knowledge of the Civil or Roman and ‘< Municipal Laws, and the conftitution of their country, but of the other valuable ‘“< branches of learning, that are requifite to accomplifh and adorn the charatter of gen- ‘ tlemen, and were indeed neceflary to render them completely qualified for the exercife “* of their profeffion.” Records of the Fac. of Adv. Nov. 3. 1748. APPENDIX. es daughters. By his fecond wife, JANE, the daughter of Wit- L1AM GRANT, Efq; of Preftongrange, one of the Senators of the College of Juftice, he left four fons and two daughters. Of thefe, the eldeft fon is RopERT DunpDAs, Efq; now of Arnifton, his Majefty’s Solicitor-general for Scotland *; whom his country fees with pleafure the heir of the abilities of his family, already high in the efteem of all his cotemporaries, and purfuing with ardour the honourable path which is marked by the footfteps of his anceftors. * Since the date of this Memoir, Mr Dunpas of Arnifton has been appointed his Ma- jefty’s Advocate for Scotland, O&ober 31. 1789. The late Lord Prefident Dunpas was facceeded in that office by Sir Tuomas Mirek of Glenlee, who, to the eminent lofs of. the public, and the fincere regret of all who knew him, died on the 27th day of Sep- tember 1789. Upon that event, ILay Camppett, Efq; then Lord Advocate, was pro- moted to the Prefidency of the Court of Seffion, and was fucceeded in the office of Lord Advocate by Mr Dunpas. Peg ere fa 9 tothe Reet rp: he I. Ac- Account of Lord Prefident Dundas. 58 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Il. Account of Sir ALEXANDER Dick, Bart. of Preftonfeld, late Prefident of the Royal College of Phyficians of Edinburgh, and F,R.S, Epin. [Read by Dr DuNncAN, now Profeffor of the Theory of Medicine in the Univerfity of Edinburgb, March 16. 1789.] In ALEXANDER Dick of Preftonfield, was born on the 23d of October 1703. He was the third fon of Sir WiL- LIAM CUNNINGHAM of Caprington, by Dame Janet Dick, the only child and heirefs of Sir James Dick of Preftonfield. While his two elder brothers fucceeded to ample fortunes, the one as heir to his father, the other to his mother, the provifion made for a younger fon was not fufficient to enable him to live in a manner agreeable to his wifhes, without the aid of his own exertions. His inclination led him to make choice of the pro- feffion of Medicine ; and after being inftructed in the prelimi- nary branches of education at Edinburgh, he began his aca- demical ftudies in the fcience of Phyfic, at the Univerfity of Leyden, under the celebrated BOERHAAVE, at that time the moft eminent Medical Profeffor in Europe. After having com- pleted the ufual academical courfe under BOERHAAVE and his colleagues, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Univerfity of Leyden, on the 31ft of Auguft 1725; and, upon that occafion, he publifhed an inaugural differtation De Epilepfia, which did him much credit. Not long after this, he returned to his native country, and had the honour of re- ceiving a fecond diploma for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, which was conferred upon him by the Univerfity of St An- drews, on the 23d of January 1727; and on the 7th of No- \ vember e APPENDIX. oh vember of the fame year, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal College of Phyficians of Edinburgh. But after Dr CuNNINGHAM (for at that time he bore the name of his father) had received thefe diftinguifhing marks of attention at home, he was ftill anxious to obtain farther know- ledge of his profeffion by the profecution of his ftudies abroad. With this intention, he made the tour of Europe ; and although medicine was uniformly his firft and principal object, yet other arts and fciences were not negleéted. During this tour, he re- fided for a confiderable time in Italy ; and there an elegant claffical tafte, and extenfive knowledge of the hiftory and anti- quities of the country, could not fail to afford him a very high degree of gratification. Upon his return to Britain, Mr Hooke, a gentleman with whom he had formed an intimate friendfhip, and who poflef- fed a large fortune in Pembrokefhire, perfuaded him to fettle as a Phyfician in that country. For feveral years he practifed me- dicine there with great reputation and fuccefs, and was much refpected and admired, both as a Phyfician anda Man. But his immediate elder brother Sir Witt1AM Dick, dying without iffue, he fucceeded to the family-eftate and title, afluming, from that time, in terms of the patent and entail of that eftate, the name and arms of Dick. Very foon after the death of his brother, he left Pembrokefhire, and fixed his refidence at the family-feat of Preftonfteld in Mid Lothian, little more than a mile from the city of Edinburgh. AtTHouGH he now refolved to relinquifh medicine as a lu- erative profeflion, yet, from inclination, he ftill continued to cultivate it as an ufeful feience. With this view, he fupported a friendly and intimate correfpondence with the Phyficians of Edinburgh ; and he foon diftinguifhed himfelf, by paying par- ticular attention to the bufinefs of the Royal College, among the lift of whofe members his name had been inrolled at a very early period of his life. In the year 1756, he was unani- CH 2} moufly Aceount of Sir Alex. Dick. 60 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Account of Sir-Alex, Dick, TA0ufly chofen Prefident. of the College; and as his fellow- members were fully convinced of his zeal, as well as of his abilities, they afterwards elected him to that office for feven years fucceflively. It was their earneft wifh that he fhould have continued ftill longer as their head; but this he pofitively de- clined, as he thought that he fhould thus deprive other gentle- men of a dignity, to which, from their merit, they were well entitled. But after his refignation of the office of Prefident, his attachment to the College, and his earneft endeavours to promote its intereft, continued unabated. He not only contri- buted liberally towards the building of a hall for their accom- modation, but ftrenuoufly exerted himfelf in promoting every undertaking in which he thought that the honour or intereft of the College was concerned. As a teftimony of the fenfe which his fellow-members entertained of his fervices, a portrait of him was, by their unanimous fuffrages, hung in their hall ; a mark of diftinétion which has never been beftowed, either before or fince that time, upon any other member. BuT the College of Phyficians were not the only fet of men who were benefited by his exertions. He was long diftinguifhed as a zealous and active member of the Philofophical Society of Edinburgh. And when they refolved to join their influence as a body, in feconding an application to the Crown from the Uni- verfity, for the eftablifhment of a new Society under Royal patronage, and on a more extended plan, having for its object the cultivation of every branch of fcience, erudition and tafte, he had an active hand in procuring the eftablifhment of this inftitution. And accordingly, when his Majefty was gracioufly pleafed to grant a charter for incorporating the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the name of Sir ALEXANDER Dick ftands inrolled as one of the firft in the lift. For many years, he difcharged the duties of a faithful and vigilant Manager of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. It was his conftant endea- vour to render that eftablifhment at once fubfervient to the re- lief AP PEN Ds LX. . 61 lief of the diftreffed, and to the advancement of medical edu- cation. And while he fhewed himfelf a fincere friend to the poor, he was alfo remarkable for the countenance and encou- ragement which he gave to modeft merit, particularly among the ftudents of medicine. Indeed, poffefling a high degree of public fpirit, he took an active fhare in promoting every un- dertaking which he thought would be beneficial, either to his country in general, or to the city of Edinburgh in particular. To him, its inhabitants are much indebted for many excellent high roads in the neighbourhood ; and hardly one internal im- ~ _ provement was fuggefted or executed, during his refidence at Preftonfield, which he was not inftrumental in promoting, with an a¢tivity which did him the higheft honour. WuEN the feeds of the true rhubarb were firft introduced into Britain by the late Dr Mounsey of Peterfburg, he not only beftowed great attention on the culture of the plant, but -alfo on the drying of the root, and preparing it for the market. The fuccefs in thefe particulars was fo great, that the Society in London for the encouragement of arts and commerce, prefented him, in the year 1774, with a gold medal, which is infcribed to Sir ALEXANDER Dick, Bart. for the beft fpecimen of Bri- tifh rhubarb. Sir ALEXANDER was twice married, and has left children by both marriages. In April 1736, he married his coufin Mifs Janet Dick, the daughter of ALEXANDER Dick, Efq; mer- chant in Edinburgh, and reprefentative of the family of Sir Wit.1aM Dick of Braid. By her he had five children, but of thefe two daughters only furvived him. In March 1762, he _ married Mifs Mary Butter, the daughter of Davip Butter, Ef{q; of Pembrokefhire. By this lady, who furvived him, he had feven children, of whom three fons and three daughters are {till alive. Ir would be a difficult matter to {um up his character in a few words. But it may with juftice be faid, that while he was fteady Account of Sir Alex. Dick. 62 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Account of | fteady in the purfuit of every objet which engaged his atten- tion, his conduct in every tranfaction through life, was marked with the ftricteft honour and integrity. This difpofition, and this conduct, not only led him to be conftant and warm in his friendfhip to thofe with whom he lived in habits of intimacy, but alfo procured him the love and efteem of all who really knew him. Notwithftanding the keennefs and a€tivity of his temper, yet its ftriking features were mildnefs and fweetnefs. He was naturally difpofed to put the moft favourable conftruc- tion on the conduét and actions of others. This was both pro- dutive of much happinefs to himfelf, and of general benevolence to mankind. And that ferenity and cheerfulnefs which accom- panied his conduct through life, were the attendants even of his laft moments; for, on the 1oth of November 1785, he died with a fmile upon his countenance. Although he had already paffed the 82d year of his age, a period at which the faculties both of mind and body have in general fo far failed, that death is rather to be wifhed for than otherwife, yet not only his judg- ment, but his fpirit for exertion, ftill remained unimpaired. His death, therefore, even at that advanced age, was a great lofs to fociety. HI. Ac- APPENDIX. 63 Wl. Account of the Right Honourable Sir THOMAS MILLER of Glenlee, Bart. Lord Prefident of the Court of Seffion, and F. R.S. Epin. . [Read by Davip Hume, Efq; Advocate, F.R.S. Epin. and Pro- Selfor of Scots Law in the Univerfity of Edinburgh, Dec. 21. 1789. ] T has often occurred to me, as a hard circumftance in the lot of thofe who follow the active employments of life, that however great their eminence, however ufeful their labours, nay, however rare and excellent their talents, the remembrance _ of them dies among their countrymen at large, almoft as foon as they themfelves are gone ; and even with thofe of their own profeflions fcarcely furvives for more than a fingle generation. The records of the Royal Society are therefore in this refpect valuable, that they afford the means of refcuing from ob- livion, thofe of our Members who, by their profeffional emi- nence and fervices, have merited the gratitude and remembrance of their country, though their line of life did not permit them to attain diftinction of another kind, by any literary work or difcovery in fcience. I THouGHT it would be univerfally felt and allowed, that the late Sir THomAs MILLER, (at one time a Vice-Prefident of this Society), moft juftly fell under the above defcription of a fingularly ufeful man, and fit to be commemorated. And in this perfuafion, I have prepared a fhort account of him, now to be fubmitted to your confideration. Sir 64 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. Account of * Ee Sir Tuomas Mrxter of Glenlee, late Lord Prefident of the rrr Court of Seflion, was the fecond fon of Witt1am MitLveR, writer to the Signet, who was himfelf the fecond fon of Marr- THEW MILER of Glenlee, and fucceeded to that eftate, along - with the lands of Barfkimming, on the death of his elder brother. Sir THomAs was born on the 3d of November 1717. He received the firft rudiments of his education at Glafgow, and afterwards went through the ufual courfe of academical ftudies in the Univerfity of that place; where he acquired a relith of the purfuits of literature and fcience, that never forfook him, and efpecially a fondnefs for the Greek and Roman claflics, which, even in the bufieft periods of his: life, he occafionally found opportunities to indulge. Horace was almoft his con- ftant companion; and even in his laft years, ‘after his promo- tion to the moft laborious office in the law, Homer, during a vacation, was often on his table. ANOTHER branch of knowledge for ohieli he there imbibed an early predilection, was that of Ethics, or Moral Philofophy. This he had the advantage of ftudying under the celebrated Dr HutcHeson, of whom he was a favourite pupil. The warmth of eloquence with which this Philofopher poured forth his le€tures, attached to him extremely all thofe of his hearers; who had any liking to the fubjeét he treated, or were fufcepti- ble of being moved; and Mr Miter, in particular, contrated not only a high admiration of his talents, but fuch love to him as a man, that long after his death, and when he himfelf had grown old, he could not mention his name but in terms of gratitude and veneration, equal to thofe in which the difci- ples of SocraTEs fpoke of their’ mafter. Like SocraTeEs'too, Dr Hutcueson taught his difciples to'value Ethics beyond all other fciences ; and with Mr Mrixer this’ preference was fo ftrong, that he ufed habitually in converfation, when diftin- guifhing it from the reft, to give it the appellation of Philo/ophy.. HAVING APPENDIX. (65 Havine thus, by the improvement of his tafte, and the ac- quifition of a philofophic fpirit, made the beft preparation for eminence in any liberal employment, he decided for the Bar, the profeffion to which thofe accomplifhments lend the moft diftinguifhed luftre of any, and where they moft materially contribute to the advancement of the perfon poffefled of them. For fome time he had hefitated between this profeffion and his father’s ; and it is faid to have been in a great meafure owing to the ftate of his health, that he gave up thoughts of the latter. ; WueEn he had refolved on going to the Bar, he fixed his re- fidence at Edinburgh, and devoted himfelf to the ftudy of the law, with that zeal and earneftnefs with which, during his whole life, he was remarkable for following every object that had once determined his choice *. , Yet with all his diligence in this neceflary occupation, as the turn of his mind led him to no bafe or trifling purfuits, he was able to find time, and neglected not to employ it, for cultivating the humaner and more liberal ftudies. Even at this time, he continued to read the claflics ex- tenfively, particularly the better Greek authors, having for his aflfiftant the late Mr Gzeorce Murrueap, afterwards Profeffor of Humanity at Glafgow, whofe reputation as a claflical fcholar is well known. r In the month of July 1742, he was called to the Bar. Where he had not long continued, before the moft favourable opinion came to be entertained, among the perfons belt entitled to judge, of the proficiency he had made in the knowledge of the law, and of his excellent qualifications, both for counfel and debate. His elocution was copious and eafy; his felection of argument _ judicious, and his mode of prefenting it, in the higheft degree perfpicuous and plain; and he accompanied it with a manner of delivery fo weighty and fervent, as carried home to the Vou. II. ; (I) hearer * His ufual hour of going to bed at this period was four of the morning. Account of Lord Prefident Miller. Account of Lord Prefident Miller, 66 HISTORY of th SOCIETY. hearer the impreffion. of his own belief in the doétrines he maintained. Men thete might perhaps be in the profeffion, more eminent for invention of topics in a defperate caufe, or who fhowed more verfatility of genius in placing the fame bu- finefs in different lights, or turning it into all variety of fhapes ; but there was none who better underftood the ftrength of a good or a tenable caufe, or took his ground in one of that defcrip- tion with more judgment and difcretion,tor ufed its advantages to better purpofe. Having found the foundeft or moft favour- able part of his client’s plea, that he attached himfelf to, and on zt exerted all his ftrength ; throwing afide, with juft and proper confidence, all the more doubtful points and weaker confiderations in the caufe. Captious and quibbling argu- ment indeed, and all perverfion of an adverfary’s words or meaning, he held to be as foreign to the lawyer’s duty, as they are derogatory to the honour of the Court where they are heard; nor could he, on any occafion, be prevailed on to attempt the aiding of his caufe, in a manner fo inconfiftent with his own feelings of what was right and proper. No wonder then, that thus qualified, and regulated by fen- timents fo refpectable, he quickly rofe to a high degree of em- ployment in his profeflion, though he had among his cotempo- raries, for rivals in the public favour, men of the greateft acutenefs and fplendour of parts. Hence alfo he, at an early period of life, entered the career of public offices and honour in the department of the law. In the year 1748, on the new arrangement of the office of Sheriff, (which has been attended with fo many falutary confe- quences) he was pitched upon as a fit perfon for one of thofe appointments. The county which Government had deftined for him, was that of Invernefs, in thofe times of recent diforder and rebellion, accounted the moft important of any, and what required the fteadieft and moft able fuperintendence. But this appointment, though more advantageous, he declined ; becaufe~ his APPENDIX. it ena his friend the Earl of SELKIRK had recommended him to Go- - vernment for the ftewartry of Kirkcudbright, and it had been underftood between him and the Earl that he was to accept it. Tue duties of this office he performed with great punctuality, and to the entire fatisfaction of the diftri€t entrufted to his charge ; and he continued to hold it till the year 1755, when he refigned, and was named Solicitor of Excife—an oflice in thofe days generally held by a lawyer. In the year 1759, on the promotion of Mr Prine te (after- wards Lord ALeMoRE) to the Bench, he reaped the fruit of the public favour, in being ee his Majefty’s Solicitor- ~ General for Scotland. In the year 1760, he fucceeded the late Prefident DunpAs as his, Majefty’s Advocate for Scotland ; and in the following year, he was chofen to ferve in Parliament fae the burgh of Dum- fries. Wuite in thefe ftations, Mr Miter, whofe modefty and difcretion were equal to his ability, did not think it fo much in- cumbent on him to take an active fhare in the debates of the ~ Affembly, as to regulate his voice according to his opinion of the public good. The fingle occafion that called him up as a fpeaker, was indeed of a very interefting kind, and became a fignal proof of the independence of his fpirit, and fincere con- cern in the grandeur and profperity of the Britifh empire. This was the repeal of the American ftamp act; a meafure in which Mr Mituer’s fagacity forefaw the miferable train of confe- quences that have fince enfued from it, and which, though fupportgd by all the influence of the then Miniftry, he accord- ingly both voted againft, and gave his reafons to the Houfe for oppofing :-—A moft refpectable and truly patriotic piece of con- du@, and of which he reaped a juft, but unlooked for reward, in the friendfhip and efteem of the Marquis of RocKINGHAM; who, however loath to have an opponent in the principal fer- vant of the Crown for Scotland, yet, {atisfied that he had taken (I 2) this Account of Lord Prefident ‘Miller. Account of Lord Prefident Miller. 68 _ HISTORY of the SOCIETY. this line from the pureft and moft difinterefted motives, conti- nued him in his public ftation, and ever after honoured him with his particular attention. In the year 1766, on the death of Lord Minto, he was ap- pointed Lord Justice CLERK 3 which office both beftows the Prefidency of the higheft Criminal Tribunal, and a feat as an ordinary Judge in the fupreme Civil Court. In thefe high ftations, he fully juftified the choice that had been made of him, .and foon, by his {crupulous attendance on the Court, and affiduous labour in the difpatch of bufinefs, gained a high place in the efteem and confidence of the public, as a man deeply impreffed with the importance of his duties, and actuated by a warm and fteady zeal confcientioufly to dif- charge them. And this tafk he accomplifhed, in the civil de- partment, in fuch a manner, as both added credit to the Court of which he was a member, and was of the moft effential fer- vice:to the interefts of law and juftice. For befides the learn- ing and experience, acquired by long ftudy and extenfive prac- tice, he was pofleffed of many other more material qualifica- tions, which added much to the power of thofe attainments, and peculiarly fitted him for the important charge of deciding on the rights of his fellow-citizens. He was happy in a great natural temperance of difpofition and foundnefs of judgment. Whence, though he was well able to purfue an intricate and fubtile argument, and could, on proper occafions, fuccefsfully pufh an abftra@ principle into all its confequences, and was ever difpofed to beftow the due fhare _ of praife on this fort of acutenefs in others, yet few were fo little apt to be dazzled by new or fplendid notions, or lefs fub- jet to the impofition of falfe refinement. His natural good underftanding, joined to his knowledge of bufinefs, readily pointed out to him the real fources and objects of our cuftoms and ftatutes, and the confequences to be dreaded, if thefe were at any time forgotten ; and thus, occupying on all occafions a {trong APPENDIX. 69 ftrong and fure ground, he was not eafily tempted to abandon it. : To the fame conftitution of mind, he was indebted for his particular. eminence in that article, wherein perhaps lies the main difficulty of the Judge’s tafk,—the difcovering the pre- cife application, or the imapplicability, of the general pre- cepts of law to the particular cafe in hand. He was nowife apt to haften to a fentence, but patiently fufpended his opinion till the due inveftigations had fully ripened the cafe for judg- ment; which neceflary preparation once made, he then earneft- ly applied himfelf to underftand, and get poffefflion of, the pe- culiar circumftances and proper complexion of that cafe. Whence it came, that in the courfe of the many years he fat upon the Bench, the number of his judgments as an Ordinary, that were altered on review of the whole,Court, was almoft incredibly fmall, and that, in a great proportion of the caufes brought before him, the unfuccefsful party aeeactcod in his opinion, and carried the fuit no farther. HeEwncE alfo, in the deliberatioris of the whole Court, it often happened, (as many who now hear me remember), that, by detailing the caufe to the Bench, (which he did with great force and perfpicuity), and fixing upon fpecial circumftances which others had overlooked, or lefs attentively confidered, he was able to turn the tide of argument} and win his brethren over to his opinion. Yet, though this was perhaps his peculiar excellence, he was the very reverfe of a minute or unfteady lawyer. He had, on ‘the contrary, the firmeft hold of the -principles and fpirit of the law in every department, and on all occafions that gave: {cope for general reafoning, ever drew his opinion, not from. the authority of books and precedents, (which hardly any Judge ever dealt lefs in quoting), but from the fource and fountain- head of the law,—the ftrain of our ftatutes, and the reafon and fubftance of the thing. Bur. Account of Lord Prefident Miller. Account of Lord Prefident Miller. 70 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. BuT in reciting his qualifications as a Judge, we muft not forget one, which was in him amongtt the moft eminent of any, and on no occafion forfook or mifled him,—the natural recti- tude and pure honour of his own mind,—which, in the nu- merous clafs of caufes that depend on the judgment to be formed of the character and conduct of men, directed him with certainty to whatever was faulty in either, and enabled him to fhow (which he did with much- energy and feeling) - what the conduét of a truly honeft man would there have been. Indeed, upon fuch occafions, where the intereft of morality, or the purity of judicial proceedings, was concerned, he was fometimes led to expatiate at a length which juft tafte might perhaps have been difpofed to blame, had it been a lefs warm and pleafing proof of his native integrity and cordial attach- ment to the caufe of virtue. Wir all thefe powerful affiftances, which fo well qualified him to judge with firmnefs and decifion for himfelf, he pof- fefled the ftill more rare, and in a Judge ineftimable endow- ment, of the moft perfect candour, in liftening to and weigh- ing the fentiments of others ; which virtue was in him fo con- fpicuous, that it might with truth be faid of him; that he had - no predilection for any opinion, -merely becaufe it had once ~ been his own: So ready was he to reconfider his judgment, the moment he faw any caufe to doubt it, and with fuch perfect opennefs and indifference did he abandon it, however firm his former perfuafion, upon being (from whatever quarter) con- - vinced of an error. THESE were his acknowledged merits as a Civil Judge. And ° his zeal for the public fervice as Prefident of the Jufticiary, was no lefs confpicuous and fuccefsful, as appears from more than one reformation, which the forms and pra¢tice of the Court un- derwent, during the period of his fitting at the head of it. Of thefe, the moft remarkable was the fuller eftablifhment of the diftin@tion in our law between culpable homicide and murder ; a < APPENDIX. a1 Account of a diftinction which feems to reft upon the ftrongeft grounds in #c7ve! reafon and humanity, and even to be fupported by the lan- “ie . guage of our books and ftatutes, but which, neverthelefs, the — older practice of the Court could fcarcely be faid to have tho- roughly recognifed, and which now, ina great meafure, owed. its reception into libels and verdicts to the weight of Mr Mit- -LER’s opinion, who loft no proper opportunity to countenance and inculcate fo juft a doétrine. We may alfo mention among the improvements by him fug- _ gefted, the late flatutory difpenfation with the tedious, and often unneceflary procefs, of reducing the teftimony of the wit- neffes into writing. i Nor mutt we pafs over his attention to the exterior decorum of this tribunal, fo important to the maintenance of its au- thority, and which he, im different ways, materially contri- buted to fupport ; having abolifhed certain old, but unfeemly practices, and introduced various becoming obfervances, not before his time required; and, above all, having perfonally added to the refpecét and. gravity of the Bench, by his rare and happy talent of fuitable, :and earneft, and eloquent exhortation . tothe unfortunate convias, which impreffed upon the byftand- ers, and rendered falutary to them, the examples of juftice which shis:duty conitrained him to make, “Mr Mitzere continued, thus honourably to himfelf, and profitably to ‘the ipublic, to difcharge the duties of thefe fta- _ tions, without interruption, till the year 1781; at which time, his health being fomewhat impaired by fo long a courfe of conftant application to bufinefs, it was judged advifable for him to difcontinue it, and make a fhort trial of a warmer climate. He accordingly fpent fome months in vifiting diffe- rent parts of France ; and having thence pafled into Italy, he had there the fatisfaGion of contemplating the magnificent re- mains of the grandeur of the people, for whofe language and genius he-entertained fo high an admiration, and of furveying with. Account of Lord Prefident Miller. 72 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. with his own eyes many of the picturefque fcenes which had fo often delighted him in the defcriptions of their poets. He re- turned in perfe& health, after being abfent for about a year, and refumed his former occupations with his wonted vigour and activity. _ In the month of January 1788, on the death of Prefident Dunpas, he was, to the entire fatisfaction of his country and the Bar, called to prefide in the Civil Court. His Majefty, at the fame time, thought proper to requite his long fervices, by . beftowing on him the title of a Baronet of Great Britain. Ir was a very difficult tafk for any man, the youngeft and moft vigorous, to enter on the extenfive labours of this office, after the Lord Prefident DunpAs ; whofe fingular powers for the rapid difpatch of bufinefs will always be remembered with regret, whoever the perfon be that fills his chair. Yet of his fucceffor, during the fhort time he held it, we may with truth fay, that he gained an acceffion of reputation, by his manner of conducting himfelf in this new ftation, though advanced to the age of Seventy before he attained it. And if he fometimes confulted with his brethren upon matters which he might have fettled without fuch deliberation, this was almoft unavoidable upon the firft entry into office; at leaft in a perfon like Sir Tuo- mas MILLER, who, with the beft pretenfions to lead and di- rect, was free from all defire to exert his influence. This mild- — se of difpofition fecured to him, in an uncommon degree, the refpect and affection of the Gentlemen at the Bar; whom he always heard with fuch patience, and treated with fuch at- tention and good breeding, as fhould, more effectually than the fharpeft animadverfion, reprefs all petulance and indecorum. Havince thus then gained the fummit of his honeft ambi- tion, in rifing fucceflively, by his own talents and ufeful la- bours, to all the great offices of the law ;—having obtained them all without blame or envy, and held them with credit and diftinGtion ;—happy in retaining, at an advanced age, the full poffeffion APPENDIX. 73 poffeflion of health and of his faculties, and fortunate in his family and all his domeftic concerns ;—he had little elfe to pray for, (fince Heaven had ordered that he fhould now be called from the fociety of perfons fo dear to him) but an eafy diflo- Tution of his mortal ftate. And this Divine Providence thought fit to grant him. He died upon the 27th of September 1789, after an illnefs of two days, at his feat of Barfkimming in Ayrfhire, in the 72d year of his age,—leaving no good man his enemy, and at- tended with that fincere and extenfive regret, which only thofe can hope for, who have occupied the like important {tations, and acquitted themfelves as well. WE have fpoken of him in his public capacity, and noticed his great temperance and folidity of judgment. Now, thefe qualities were in him the more to be praifed, that they did not proceed from any coldnefs or tardinefs of nature, but were, on the contrary, united to a very warm and feeling heart; which was manifeft in his whole life and manners. | No man was perhaps a better citizen, or more genuine pa- triot, than the late Prefident; if we are to efteem him fuch, who not only takes an intereft in the internal welfare and pro- fperity of his country, but feels an honeft pride and warm concern in its glory and confequence as a ftate, and in the _ {plendour of the peoples fame. Of all thefe, the Prefident had, and continued to have, even in his lateft years, a moft lively fenfe ; which was, at one period of his life, the fource of much joy and fatisfaction, and at a later period, of fincere mortifica- tion and regret, and caufed him often to lament to the rifing ge- neration, during the misfortunes of the late war, that they had only feen a glimpfe of the glory of their country. That part too of the Britifh dominions which gave him birth, he was at- tached to with all the partiality which a good man naturally feels; nor was there any fubje@ on which he dwelt more fre- Vo . II. (K) quently, Account of Lord Prefident Miller. Account of Lord Prefident - Miller. 74 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. quently, or with more pleafure, than its growing ftate of im- provement in his own time. . He was, in like manner, a very focial and hofpitable man ; to his family, and conneétions, and indeed to all about him, full of gentlenefs, and kindnefs, and cordiality : and this uni- formly and without exertion ; infomuch that no perfon whom he had reafon to efteem or think well of, could ever fay of him, that he received him coldly, or treated him with referve *. Good breeding indeed, (meaning by the term that kind and open manner which fets a ftranger or inferior at eafe) was in a manner natural to him; and he had it toall ranks amd con- ditions of men; fo that ina humane vifit to the houfe of a fervant or dependant, he equally pleafed, and was as furely di- rected to the very things that were fit and acceptable to be faid, as in his intercourfe with thofe of his own rank. Among whom too, and indeed in all fituations, he was diftinguifhed for a rare fimplicity of manners and opennefs of fpeech ; which flowed from a purity of thought and intentions, fo perfect that it was not to be furpafled.. He retained through life the higheft relifh of the beauties of nature, and every year {pent a confiderable part of the recefs of bufinefs, in the enjoyment and improvement of the roman- : £ tic * Here we mutt obferve, that however remarkable this gentlenefs and difpofition to oblige, they were yet always confined to their proper {phere, and in no inftance fuffered to interfere with what he efteemed his duty. This appeared, among other examples that might be given, in his fpirited behaviour as Lord Advocate, on occafion of a que- ftion that arofe touching the pre-eminence of his office. The late Mr Cuarres Yorke had been honoured with a patent of precedence over his brethren at the Bar, with ex- ception only of the Attorney-General; and happening to be engaged as Counfel in the Houfe of Lords, on the fame fide with Mr Mixxer, he, under this privilege, claimed right to be heard before him. Mr Mrever, though in habits of intimacy with Mr Yorke, and perfonally very indifferent about any fuch diftinétion, felt himfelf hgre in — duty called upon to refift his friend’s: pretenfions ; and accordingly maintained (nor could be prevailed on to recede from it) that he, as his Majefty’s Advocate, was Attor- ney-General for Scotland, and within the exception of the patent. ‘The point was in, the end referred to the opinion of Lord Mansrietp, which was given in favour of Mr Mityer. APPEND TX. | 75 tic fcenes at his place of Barfkimming. It was not, however, to the object of beauty alone, that his attention at thofe feafons was directed, but alfo to the better management and fubftantial melioration of his eftate. And this purfuit engaged him in very numerous and extenfive operations, all of which he himfelf both planned, and fuperintended the execution of, and fuccefsfully conduéted ; though in the hands of moft other men, having the fame avocations of bufinefs, without the fame activity, conftancy and love of order, they were more likely to have proved abor- tive, or even ruinous. Sir THomas MILLER was twice married. By his firft wife, MarGArET Murpocu, daughter of Joun Murpocu, mer- chant in Glafgow, he left iffue; one daughter, and one fon, now Sir WititraM Miter, who follows the fame profeflion in which his father rofe to fuch diftinguifhed honours. His fe- cond marriage (of which there is no iffue) was to ANNE LockHart, daughter of Mr Locxuart of Caftlehill, who has the misfortune to furvive him. His eldeft brother Joun had deceafed fome years before him, and he fucceeded, on that event, to the family eftate of Glenlee, which, along with the eftate of Barfkimming, has now devolved to his fon. LD OF THE BIS TOR r. Account of Lord Prefident Miller. . ad | << Bethy. Be ek Ants - AE Ae reat ile a egdatialett ha A wie at , ies! : ie eee ti pete 7 he lf : nent black 001 bebe rygha wey ig ' Hele flere coir eer at sr an oi fuisdited wilh AS te ere PE ag 47 1p. iG. aut a ee ie orm He etree pene tae ee en eR Ree etre ni rs AGA (digraph fervent wey OP Cit hs tle Tea abated vty ents tp none ares ee cas righ Ti ed, soit sliaaleiieed FOR CY eG ha’ fy Hien aii tla ci bag peter Og one SE ery stares sidan) tear) ve be . vy; Vids Ore ae AE re aye ouch bi ’ ps ie a Sart bu nae by AAs tan wee ar iM Mage Mh a ml) Gees PAR Pee ‘ ry 3 ° 5 ° 4 ' pPelyray a4 in| ¢} ae & i ori 2 ne b ; M ac ath wR ph mie haar: nate $i, ja ere pres ae pe Pris a ) ata ssh AO Yee) - avebrite ‘nak Buti 7 Pee ae AMA, 42,! wt “jail Are: : ‘ n | ahead ie ell den wri friy hs . ; 44 7 } + “ He w £9 Majety iB we noe 5 lke et Mer} RR OR H ne hie ‘ vee): (GSE Mer pion. bali ih ae ; ; a a a Deleon 4 \ nie os , «, , ‘i Rents, «Ae ey . Boye a tae é eet ~ ey, a edary ~ A “hy - Pibeles = , i, : OG nN 4 zu ¥ * j a 4 | Ry) Pefce | : ra ie APP £ NDP "7 DONATIONS prefented to the Royau Society of Edinburgh, continued from the preceding Volume. By Fohn Macgowan, Ef{q; Edinburgh. Anacardium Occidentale. Lin. The Fruit of the Cafhen Tree, preferved in fpirits. No. 722. Caftor Fiber. Lin. The Beaver, from Hudfon’s ne No. 723. Felis Lynx. Lin. The Hudfon’s Bay Lynx. No. 724. Canis Lagopus. Lin. The Arctic Fox, from Hudfon’s Bay. No. 725. Crotalus Miliarius. Lin. The fmall Rattlefnake. No. 726. Coluber Alternus. No. 727. By the Right Honourable Lord Daer. A number of articles, collected in the South Seas by Captain BLIGH. Two parcels of fine New Zealand Hemp. No. 728. A Mufical Inftrument made of Reeds. No. 729. An Arrow-head, formed of a hard black Schiftus. No. 730. Fifh-hooks of Mother of Pearl, and Lines, from the Friendly Mands.|' No. .731.—7 33. Fifh-hooks, and Lines, formed of the Sinews of an Animal’ from the coaft of America, in Lat. 49° N. No. 734-—7 36. Capnias Auttralis, Smectis Auftralis, tom the South Sea Iflands. No. 737.—739. Catochites Auftralis, By Fobn Davidfon, ¥{q; of Ravelrig. A Lion’s Skin, with the. Head, Teeth and oe from the Cape of Good Hope. No. 740. Vou. Il. L Two "Lift of Dona- tions, “B HISTORY of the SOCIETY. ‘Two Sea-weeds, taken out of the Atlantic, at a great diftance from any land. No. 741. 742. Six Arrows from Bengal. No. 743. A Malay Poinard. . No. 744. Lapis Judaicus, from the Eaft Indies. No. 745. By Fobn Learmonth, Efq; Merchant in Edinburgh. Scolopendra Gigantea, Lin. above fourteen inches long, from the Weft Indies, preferved in fpirits. No. 746. By Profeffor Da/zel. A, CE of Ivory, mounted with filver, given by the King of Dachomy, in Africa, to Archibald Dalzel, Efq; formerly Governor of Whydah, as a teftimony of friendthip. No. 747: The Horn of an Antelope, from Africa. No. 748. By Fames Bofwell, E{q; of Auchinleck. Some large Nodules of Flint, from Italy ; each having cryftalli- fations in a large central cavity, fent from Leghorn by Sir John Dick. No. 749. By Captain Lidde/. A white Greenland Bear. No. 750. By Francis Kinloch, Efq; of Gilmerton. Colymbus Aréticus, Lin. fhot on the fhore of Eaft Lothian. No. 751. . By the Honourable Lord Hailes. Trichechus Rofmarus. Lin. The Morfe or Sea Horfe; the Skeleton of the Head entire, with the Tufks. No. 752. By APPENDIX. 79 By Mr John Macaulay, Town-clerk of Dumbarton. The Horn of a Stag, of a fingular form, dug out of a ftratum of Clay in Dumbartonfhire. No. 753. By the Right Hon. the Lord Chief Baron Montgomery. An Indian Canoe, of fine workmanfhip, from the Ifland of St John. - No. 754. By Dr eine) A large Lizard, from the Weft Indies, preferved in fpirits. No. 755: By William Henry Charters, E{q; of Burntifland. Lava Garnets, found in the Lava, which overwhelmed Pom- pel. No. 756. ‘Two Copper Coins. No. 757. 758. A Silver Coin of Henry VI. ftruck at Calais, and found in the river Jed. No. 759. By Dr Roxburgh at Madrafs. A Cheft of Plants from Bengal and the Peninfula of India, con- taining feveral hundred Plants, in fine condition, and ar- ranged according to the Linnean fyftem. By Lhe American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to the end of the year 1783, Vol: I. 4to. Bofton, 1785. By The Royal Iri/h Academy. The Tranfactions of the Eevee Irth Academy. 4to. Dublin, : a By Tift of Dona- tions. Lift of Dona- tions. 80 -HISTORY of the SOCIETY. By Adair Crawford, M. D. Experiments and Obfervations on Animal Heat, and the In- flammation of Combuftible Bodies, tc. The fecond edition. 8vo. London, 1788. By Dr Carlyle. The Hufbandry of the Ancients, by ddam Dick/on, A. M. late Miniter of Whittingham. 2 Vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1788. By E. Peart, M. D. The Generation of Animal Heat inveftigated, &c. 8vo. Gainf- borough, 1788. By M. Lavoifier. Traité Elémentaire de Chimie. 2Vol. 8vo. & Paris, 1789. By Thomas Percival, M.D. Effays Medical, Philofophical and Experimental, Vol. II. 8vo. 4th edition, revifed and enlarged. Warrington, 17809. By the Reverend Archibald Alifon, A. B. Effays on the Nature and Principles of Tafte. 4to. Edinburgh, 4799. TRA NS- PAPERS OF THE PHYSICAL CLASS. I. Of certain NATURAL APPEARANCES of the Ground on the Hill of Arthur’s Seat. By FAmMES Hutton, M. D. F,R.S. Epin. and Member f the Royal Academy of Agri- culture at PARIS *. N fummer 1776, Profeflor Fercuson obferved a parti- cular appearance on the hill of Arthur’s Seat, near the fum- mit, which drew his attention, and which he could not under- ftand. He then carried Dr BLack and me to the place, :where we found fomething which, at a diftance, refembled the wi- thered grafs of a foot-path, but which traverfed a fhoulder of the hill, in fuch a direction as correfponded to neither fheep- track nor foot-path. Upon a near infpection, it appeared to be a narrow ftripe of the grafs quite dead and withered. The breadth of this {tripe was about nine, or, in fome places, twelve inches ; the fides of this track were perfeétly defined, without any gradation from green to withered grafs, all the plants in the track bemg killed, without the contiguous part having fuf- fered in the leaft. ‘The length of this track was confiderable, a hundred yards or two, extending from the fouth-eaft fide of aia the \ * This Paper was read before the Philofophical Society of Edinburgh in June 1778. It is now printed by order of the Committee for publication of the Tranfactions of the. Royal Society of Edinburgh. 4 NATURAL APPEARANCES the fouthmoft hill through a hollow, and afcending obliquely the fhoulder of the fummit of Arthur’s Seat on the fouth-eaft fide. Ar firft thunder fuggefted itfelf as having been the caufe of this remarkable appearance; but the more we enquired into the particulars of this phenomenon, the greater difficulties oc- curred with regard to the proper correfpondence of that con- jectured caufe, as well as for afligning any other with the leaft » degree of probability. It is with a view to make this appear, that the following hiftory is made of the particulars which were at that time, and have been fince obferved. OBSERVATION I. THE appearance now defcribed was not the only one of the kind ; for, upon examination, I found fimi- lar tracks, though of various extent, in all the different afpects and fituations, from the fouth fide of the fummit to the north fide of the hill half way down to the plain; but none at the bottom. Ozs. 2. THESE appearances, though recent, or of that year’s production, had not been the firft thing of that kind which had appeared on the hill; for, parallel to each of thofe tracks of withered grafs, there was another perfe@tly fimilar, which then appeared to us as if it had been made the year before, and was then black, the grafs having rotted. The diftance of this old track from the new, was, in general, only a few inches, fometimes exceeding near, but rarely or never contiguous. Oss. 3. THE tracks, now under confideration, have been confidered as a thing continuous in its length; but this it is only in general, or in certain portions where it is fo fometimes for a confiderable extent. In other places, again, it is compofed of feveral portions of various lengths, the grafs being unaffect- ed betwixt thofe portions which make up the track ; fo that, in fome places, the track is made as it were by fpots; and thefe fpots, although in general longer in the direction of the track, are not always fo, raate being in fome places, generally at the extremity On the Hill of ART AU R’s SA Te: 5 extremity of the track, {pots whofe length do not exceed their breadth. ct | Oss. 4. Tue regularity with which thofe two tracks run pa- fallel and near to each other, is not more wonderful than is the correfpondency that is in general to be obferved with regard to the conftruction of thefe, as confifting either of a continuous track or of feparate pieces ; and to fo great a degree is carried this refemblance of the two tracks, that, where it is by fpots the tracks are. made, there the fimilarity, even of the fpots, were fometimes remarked, fo that it feemed as if the one had been a copy of the other. Oss. 5. BestpeEs the brown colour of thofe new made tracks, which might be feen at a confiderable diftance, (two or three hundred feet), there was another {tripe of a dark green, which might be feen at a ftill greater diftance. Upon more clofe exa- mination, this laft appearance was found to take its origin in fome grafs of a very dark green, which, in fome places here and there of the laft year’s track, began to grow in the black ground and among the rotten grafs ; but the greateft part of this deep green was behind the laft year’s track, and was evidently owing to a fimilar growth of graffes in places which had been formerly killed or withered, and were now almoft covered with new plants, which gave a deeper fhade of green than the reft of the hill. Tus laft obfervation led to another; for here a queftion na- — turally occurred, That, fince this fucceflion of things had cer- tainly taken place at leaft three years, how many {fucceflive tracks might be detected from the examination of thofe appear- ances? With this view I confidered attentively fome places where the marks were moft diftincét, and could plainly count five or fix fucceffions ; the number cannot be accurately afcer- tained, becaufe thofe which have been made above three or four years are much effaced, although the colour, and fome other marks, evidently prove, that there had been feveral more. OBs. 6 NATURAL APPEARANCES ‘Oss. 6. Tue tracks which have been now defcribed, are not ftraight lines, but have all more or lefs of a regular circular na- ture in them; that is to fay, they are fegments of circular fi- gures, and only approach to the appearance of right lines, in proportion as the figure of which they are the fegments is large, or the fegment fmall; and in thofe refpects there appears’ to be great variety. There is, however, one appearance which, at firft fight, might impofe upon an obfervator, and deftroy the generality of this obfervation. It is an inftance or two that oc- cur of a continued hne in thofe tracks; but, in this cafe, the line appears to be made up of feveral fegments, each of which ought to be confidered by itfelf ; confequently, here will be ac- knowledged the operation of the fame general principle by which, in thofe appearances, a regular figure is produced, and that this figure is in its nature circular. Oss. 7. THe production of thofe tracks being fucceflive in its nature, or operating in different places at different periods of time, fuggefts another fubject of enquiry, viz. How far any re- gularity, or a certain order, may be obferved alfo with regard to this operation, as well as with regard to that by which the fizure is produced? And this, from obfervation, I think, is de- termined in the affirmative, fo far as, from all the obfervations I have made, this progrefs feems always to have proceeded in the direCtion of « line, drawn from the centre, bifecting the fegment ; that is to. fay, thofe portions of concentric circles are never infcribed, but always circumfcribed ; and, for this reafon, it will appear, that thofe circles, of which fegments are exhibited to our obfervation, muft be increafing, and not di- minifhing, in their diameter. Havine thus given an account of what was concluded from the firft feafon of thofe obfervations, before proceeding to give the continuation of their hiftory, it may be proper to obferve, that an unfuccefsful attempt was once made to inveftigate the caufe, On the Hill off ART HUR’s SEAT. 4 caufe, by the infpection of the turf cut up, and compared with that immediately contiguous to the track; for, on that occafion, nothing was found that could give any light into the nature of the operation. From the narration of appearances already made, the hiftory of what has happened fince that fummer, 1776, will be extreme- ly fhort, and may be comprehended in two or three words. In the fummer 1776, there was prognofticated a fucceffion of appearances fimilar to thofe which, from the obfervations — then made, had been concluded as having already come to pafs, and been tranfacted with a certain regularity in a former period of time. The event has fully juftified the judgment which was formed at that time, refpecting the order and regularity of the appearances, and has alfo left us in the fame ftate of uncer- tainty, or rather ignorance, with regard to the caufe. In the fpring, about the month of April, the grafs begins gradually to wither and decay. It is perfectly dead in a little time, that is, in a week or two, and then appears white or wi- thered. Thus, every plant being killed in the new track, thofe vegetable bodies, expofed to heat and moifture, gradually decay, fo as next year to exhibit a dark or black, inftead of a light or white track, which it had been the year before ; but during the fecond year, the dead plants are ftill obferved in the turf, which, as it begins to get new plants, lofes gradually the appearance of the old ones, until at laft little more can be ob- ferved, than a broad fhade of.a much deeper green, which, on the one fide, is compared with the natural verdure into which it fometimes feems gradually to terminate; whereas, on #the other fide, the deep green colour of the ground formerly tracked, is contrafted with the yellow or light colour of the wi- thered grafs. From the infpection of the ground, and the hiftory of what has been obferved to happen, nothing is more evident than that this regular fucceflive operation has been now repeated, at leaft in 8 NATURAL APPEARANCES in fome parts of the hill, for eight or nine years. Here, there- fore, is a piece of natural hiftory worth recording, and for which a theory is wanted. THE appearances which have been here defcribed are, fo far as I know, fingular and unconneéted with all others refulting from known caufes. I know that fimilar circles have been obferved by naturalifts, and by them afcribed to thunder ; as we fhould certainly have done in this cafe, were it not for the regular an- nual progreffion, which, if the effect of thunder, muft follow rules not yet inveftigated, either in electricity, vegetation or the mineral fyftem ; for, How comes it, that the electrical operation takes place regu- larly in the fpring only, and that without any appearance of thunder ? 2dly, How comes it, that the ftripe of grafs deftroyed by one operation, is always regularly progreflive in one particular di- rection, in relation to the firft electrical operation ? 3dly, lz this progreffive appearance fhall be confidered as an electrical operation, and every fucceflive repetition as directed by the one immediately preceding it; then, how was the firft produced ; when was it; and when will be the laft? THE next conjectural caufe that fuggefts itfelf as an explana- tion of -thofe appearances, is the operation of infects. But there feems to be no lefs difficulty in reconciling any known animal-ceconomy with the appearances under confideration; as the only caufe of thofe appearances ; for, How fhould thofe animals have been diftributed in thofe fe- parated tribes upon the hill, and difpofed in the continuous tracks, fo as to exhibit lines of long extent, traverfing ground* and foil of various quality, as well as in tracks of very little extent; but, whether great or fmall, formed upon the fame principle, every part having a fimilar relation to a whole? Are thefe large tracks to be confidered as the extenfion of colonies which once had been fmall? or, Are thefe colonies droppéd On the Hill of ARTHUR’s SEAT. ) dropped from the atmofphere upon the different parts of the hill, in the fhape and extent in which we find thofe ftripes of withered grafs? This laft hypothefis is not fupported by any appearance that I know of in this country ; and the other is not confiftent with the natural appearances to which it muft be- long ; for the folitary or. infulated {pots, which often form part of a ftripe, feem to be reproduced, im nearly equal quantity, each fucceeding year, without any gradual extenfion in the {tripe, which alfo feems to preferve its former extent, as well as breadth and form. | THEREFORE, when we confider the various fituations and extent of thofe narrow ftripes of withered grafs, the regularity to be obferved in their fhape and progreflion, and the conftan- cy which feems to take place with regard to their fucceflion, we mutt, at the fame time, be perfuaded, that there is a natural caufe which may be. inveftigated for the explanation of thofe appearances, and reject the mere fuppofition of caufes which do not feem, of themfelves, adequate to the effect perceived. GREAT attention would be required in making obfervations with a view to difcover the caufe of thofe appearances ; and the difficulty of this taflk is much increafed by an ambiguity which occurs on certain occafions, where the breeding of in- feGts in confequence of the death of plants, may be miftaken for the death of plants in confequence of infects ; but, on the other hand, in the prefent cafe, great advantage, for an en- quiry of this fort, may be derived from the opportunity that there is of examining, not only what had been killed the pre- ceding, but alfo that part which is, perhaps, to be killed the enfuing feafon ; and where experiment may be made by cut- ting off the communication betwixt thofe two parts as deep as the foil may admit. THE apparent production, or rather the multiplication of fome fpecies of animals, in confequence of a certain deftruction Vou. Ii. b of if) NATURAL APPEARANCES of the vegetable turf, is a thing eafily to be conceived, like what happens in thofe ftripes the fecond year, when I have feen an abundant crop of a certain fpecies of mufhrooms in the track. Had animals of a particular {pecies been found there, in the exa- mination of the foil in thofe withered tracks, a rafh conclufion might have been formed, in erroneoufly attributing as a caufe for the appearance, what was truly an effect or confequence of the thing in queftion. IT is always making a ftep towards the difcovering the caufe of a phenomenon, when caufes which, with fome degree of pro bability, have been afcribed to an event, are found to be uncon- nected with, or to have no affinity to it; for this is the natural method of inveftigation, by examining the affinities or rela- tions of things, and rejeCting thofe as properly related, where there is found a difcrepancy. Thus, as there is no effect with- out its proper caufe ; fo, In proportion as a greater number of events are found to be unconnected with an appearance, fome kind of approach is made towards that by which the natural appearance is to be explained; but in cafes where events are multiplied or numberlefs, every approach of this kind is only negative; and fuch a method of inveftigation, while it may be the means of difcovering the thing in queftion, only fhows that what we want is not attained. This, however, if made with full convi€tion, is no contemptible ftep in natural philo- fophy, where, next to the inveftigation of the proper order in events, it is of the higheft importance to avoid, or to correét, the improper connection of them. Tue explanation of the phenomena, in the prefent piece of natural hiftory, either by thunder or the operation of infects, without having obferved the actual conneétion of thofe diffe- rent events, is merely conjectural, as would be equally the re- _fufing to admit for explanation a known caufe, which, though not actually obferved as connected with the event in queftion, had, On the Hill of ARTHUR’s SEAT. _ U1 had, in other refpects, the requifites for producing a fimila effect. : But all that is known at prefent of electricity, or the ope- ration of infects, is far from being fufficient to be confidered as the explanation of the appearances in queftion ; for, THOUGH the growing plants, or the vegetation of a portion of the living turf, may be killed either by means of electricity or infects, thefe are not the only means by which that effect .may be brought about; at the fame time that this is the only circumftance, in the natural appearance, explainable by the fup- pofed caufe: Therefore, as every circumftance in an appearance muft be properly related to a caufe, by which it is to be ex- plained, fo the many circumftances here found, without any af- finity to, if not inconfiftent with the conjectured caufe, will leave no room for admitting fuch an explanation, according to the prefent view which has been given of the fubject. BD 2 YI, r =r - Il. dn Account off the Method of making th OTTER of ROSES, as it is prepared i in the Eaft Indies. Communicated in a Letter from DONALD Mowro, M.D. of London, to Mr Foun Rosison, Profeffor of Natural Philofophy in the Univerfity of EDINBURGH *, SIR, London, Fermyn Street, Fuly 10. 1783. Hap the following receipt for making the Ofter of Rofes, as it is prepared in the Eaft Indies, from Major MAackEnzIE of Coull, in the county of Rofs, who told me he got the ac- count from an officer of his: corps, who was up in the country where it is prepared, and aflifted in making it himfelf. TAKE a very large glazed earthen or ftone jar, or a large clean wooden cafk ; fill it with the leaves of the flowers of rofes, very well picked, and freed from all feeds and {talks ; pour on them as much pure {pring water as will cover them, and fet the veffel in the fun in the morning at funrife, and let it ftand till the evening, when take it into the houfe for the night ; expefe it in this manner for fix or feven fucceffive days, and, at the end of the third or fourth day, a number of particles, of a fine yellow oily matter, will float on the furface, which, in two or three days more, will gather into a fcum, which is the Otter of Rofes. This is taken up by fome cotton, tied to the end of a piece of ftick, and fqueezed with the finger and thumb into a {mall phial, which is immediately well {topped ; and this is repeated » * Read in the Philofophical Society of Edinburgh in 1783 ; and publithed by order . of the Committee for publication of the Tranfactions of the Royal Society of Edin- burgh. Of making th OTTER of ROSES, 13 repeated for fome fucceflive evenings, or while any of this fine effential oil rifes to the furface of the water. N. B. | wave been.informed that fome few drops of this ef- fential oil have been more than once collected by diftillation, in the fame manner as the effential oils of other plants here in London. I am, 5 KR, Your moft obedient humble fervant, D. Monro. ITE, Ill. DescRIPTION of a MERCURIAL LEVEL, invented by ALEXANDER KEITH, Efg; ¥.R.S. & A.S. EpIn.*. IcurRE I. is a fection of the inftrument formed of maho- gany or boxwood. AA are two oblong fquare cavities connected together by a narrow clofe channel, running from the bottom of the one tothe other. BB are two grooves hol- lowed out of the wood, in order to contain the fights, ec, They are fhut up by a lid, which turns upon a fcrew-nail at the centre C, as may be feen more diftin@tly from fig. 4. Fic. 2. DD are the two fights, the one with a {mall hole, the other with a crofs-hair. Thefe fights are erected upon two pieces of ivory or hard wood, which are fhaped nearly of the dimenfions of the cavities A A, but fo much fmaller as to enter without touching or rubbing on the fides. Mercury is poured into the two holes AA till they are about half full; the two pieces of ivory which fupport the fights, are put into the cavi- ties, and float on the furface of the mercury. Fic. 3. is a perfpective view of the inftrument when the fights are floating upon the mercury; and fig. 4. is another view of it, when the fights are taken out and the lid is open. As the two cavities communicate with each other, the fur- face of mercury in both are always upon the fame line of level; and confequently, if the two fights are once accurately adjufted, they will ever after point out the true level, without requiring any after adjuftment. WHEN this inftrument is to be ufed, it may be laid on any horizontal furface, and the fights will immediately become an exact * This Paper was read before the Philofophical Society of Edinburgh in December 1778; and is now priated by order of the Committee for publication of the Tranfadtions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Defcription of a MERCURIAL LEVEL. 15 exact level. It may alfo be fixed on a tripod as the fpirit-level ; or it will anfwer equally well, if it is affixed to the top of a fingle ftake, which is fharpened at the point fo as to be pufhed into the ground. If it is to be ufed as a pocket-inftrument, it may be made of feven inches length, being about double the dimenfions of the annexed draught. A common walking cane forms a very convenient fupport. It is affixed to the cane by means of a brafs pin E, which paffes through the hole G, and through the eye or hole of the walking ftick; and a brafs nut F, {crewing to the male-fcrew of the brafs pin, keeps them firm together. The two grooves BB, contain the two fights and brafs pin, when not in ufe. Two corks, covered with thin lea- ther, fitted into the holes AA, confine the mercury, when the inftrument is to be tranfported; or, in cafe the mercury is found to efcape, it may be poured into a fmall cafe, made of lignum vite, like a tooth-pick cafe; and this may be ftopped. with a cork, and made to fit into one of the grooves: | THE advantages of this inftrument over the fpirit-level are:: if, It requires no adjuftment, confequently two obfervers, though otherwife not equally accurate, muft make the fame ob- - fervation. 2dly, With this, the level of twenty different places: may be taken during the time required to adjuft the {pirit-level for one obfervation. 3d/y, The nicety of the fpirit-level depends. upon the fmall curve of the glafs-tube, in the choice of which no rule can be laid down; neither is any thing gained, in point of exatnefs, by lengthening the fpirit-tube above three or four inches. But every inftrument of this kind is of one ftandard ; and the further the two fights are removed from one another, the more any error is diminifhed. 4¢bly, This inftrument can be made perfectly juft, without taking any obfervation, or com- paring it with another level. In order to do this, let the floats: on which the fights reft, be of the fame dimenfion and weight,, and let the crofs-hair and eye-hole be of one height, and, with- out farther adjuftment, they wall point out the true level. THE 16 Defeription of a MERCURIAL LEVEL. Tue following is a proof of the exactnefs of this method. Joun MILLER, the mathematical inftrument-maker, has a line drawn upon the oppofite fide of the Parliament-fquare, fronting his fhop, by which he has been in ufe to adjuft his fpirit-levels. We placed the mercurial level upon the {pot known to be upon an exact level with the line. Both he and I looked through the fights ; but could not perceive the line. We fufpected there was fome fault in the fights ; but, on making them vibrate, we found that the hair had covered the line; fo foon as they fettled, the line was again covered by the hair. WHEN there is a ftrong wind, the fights vibrate too much. In order to remedy this, there is a cafe of tin’d plate or pafte- board made to inclofe the inftrument when not in ufe. Vid. fig. 5. When ‘ufed, the cafe covers only about one half of it, leaving room for the fights to float within the cafe. There are two oval holes at each end of the cafe through which the obfervations are made. IV. hg. 3 Co = | 4eg.A ani Pei SS wi Mh iy Cc Pram ll CTT 3 ——S= : ——S= SSS SS SSS SSS ® A ee. as ia cu 7 her eee iJ a a f a ts ke 5h. ; 9 ie da rh F A i prea ky . oo - : me ' a ye ag Set Sy Lo My stu p ay Br\ Pm * j f= jt 1 ¥t As) 4 Be sett & ; > } ‘ Vee. e's, t f | 3 ,- ag os tay i j Th Rr seas Si pee edt aaa Sheehy tk dap bad ora E. iY * n re ‘ ‘ = bit ie : 7 Vane ; eg Cabie| eo 10h “ ‘ ta ED REL fhe ia patent ‘ae } iio bigs ahah fa RE BIR bil Behe ohn © > Tren iee Mrifeas . err et gore: bad. 5 se otal .. mb é So Hipp tabitbety teety) ; J S70 iia) Gd fig? ? aut . . F , Z ' +. ae: >. ; a wh i Ber MEE) ‘2 C 4 3 ney: - ! er ‘ + . s t ° . ‘ ~ ¥ “4 ‘ | i i ] mre o ; * , ‘ 1 oe i , Hes 14 os . 4 ber A, ~ i 7 ’ é . os eS i ‘ Sas4 y Dod ys nA ' anh wa 3 -~ ’ 2 ; 7 ’ eae , cs, ‘ 2 “a 4 = ) \ x > _ - ‘ my ’ ~ ee . ‘ . aes ; + ? ; ‘ : Se ; 1 fae ca ; de -* ' uals ny 1H. a ee 5 meg a otow Lt My Eas ee PAR Ee fat! Las: IV. PATHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS on the BRAIN. By Mr THom4as ANDERSON, F.R.S. Evin. Surgeon at Leith, and Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons *. HE following obfervations may ferve to illuftrate and confirm the opinion now very generally adopted by Ana- tomifts and Phyficians, That an affection of one hemifphere of the brain, whether from internal difeafe or external accident, produces its morbid fymptoms on the oppofite fide of the body. Case rt. A LADY about forty, whom I attended along with Dr Monro, was for many years affected with violent headachs; fhe complained of the pain being moft violent in the crown of her head, which at laft brought on convulfive tremors of the left arm and leg; thefe often continued half an hour, and would return three or four times a-day ; the fits grew more fevere and frequent, and the right fide became affected, and frequently fhe was comatofe for twenty-four hours, till, quite worn out, fhe died in November 1770. On opening her head, when the dura mater was taken off, on the right hemifphere of the brain, there was a lofs of fub- ftance, for about two inches and a half in length, one and a half in breadth, and about the middle near an inch deep, the length of which was in the direction of the falx: In the middle of this, immediately under the coronal future, and on the fide neareft to the falx, within an inch of it, there was fome foft Vot. II. c brownifh. * Read, before the Philofophical Society: of Edinburgh in 17813; and now printed by order of the Committee for publication of the TranfaCtions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.. 18 PATHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS brownifh matter in the bottom, on touching of which with the knife, I difcovered ftony concretions, which were taken out and wafhed. Several of them broke into fand on the flighteft touch; but four or five of them, each about the fixth of an inch in length and breadth, and a little thicker than the fhell of an egg, I faved, and afterwards gave to Dr Monro, who was not then prefent. Case 2. Wititam C, about forty-five, of a corpulent ha- ‘bit, was, for feveral years, fubjeCt to epileptic fits, which com- monly returned every three or four weeks, and any irregularity in eating or drinking would immediately bring them on ; but when cautious, living fparingly, and taking fome laxative, he -was often free from them for four or five months. Tue fits always came on with convulfive motions in the right arm and leg, which, in a few minutes, were fucceeded by ftu- por, in which he continued above half an hour. In November 1775, he received a ftroke on his head, which brought him to the ground ; was inftantly feized with one of the fits; and, in twenty-four hours, had ten or twelve of them, in all of which the only parts convulfed were the right arm and leg; the fits became more frequent, a total ftupor came on, and he died fourteen days after. On opening his head, on the left hemifphere, immediately under the coronal future, and an inch from the falx, the dura mater adhered to the brain, for about the fize of a fhilling, and was fo much thickened and hardened as to be in a cartilaginous {tate; the brain, for the fize of a large walnut, was much hardened, and the under part of it adhered flightly to the falx ; on the outer fide of this hardnefs, on that fide furtheft from the falx, and in the middle of the fubftance of the cerebrum, there was about an ounce and a half of extravafated blood, which . was foft, and of a black colour. . CASE On the BRATIN. 19 Case 3. RozperT H. a failor, about forty, when on board of fhip, ftooping down, received a violent ftroke on the back part of the parietal bones by the falling of a boom; there was no wound, but the parts were much bruifed. Some months after, he complained of a pain immediately under the part on which he received the ftroke, which gradually grew worfe, and in a year and half the pain was moft excruciating, and brought on violent convulfions in both upper and lower extremities of both fides, the violence of which, in fome months, put an end to his life. On opening the head, the pofterior part of both hemifpheres of the brain was found: greatly inflamed and much hardened; and adhered firmly to the dura mater and the falx ; the left fide was more difeafed than the right, and the dura mater, in fome places where it adhered. firmly, was much thickened, and almoft. cartilaginous. Case 4. Mr L. by a fall down a ftair, fractured the left paz rietal bone. I faw him in half an hour, when he was in a ftu- por. He was immediately bled very plentifully, and then carried home. ‘The fracture extended from the middle of the bone downwards and backwards, and was traced near to the maftoid procefs ; but I could not carry the incifion any further. A piece of the bone was taken out by the trepan; a confidera- ble quantity of extravafated ferum and blood was found pref- fing on the dura mater, which was got out; the wound. was dreffled, and he was bled very plentifully a fecond time; af- ter which he became fenfible, and anfwered diftin@ly when {poken to, and, after fleeping fome hours, was greatly relieved, but at times the right leg and arm were attacked with convul- five tremors, which continued for three days, and, on the: fourth day, every fymptom appeared very favourable, and he had the appearance of doing well; but he frequently complain- ed of a pain in his head. On the twentieth day, he was feized c 2. with 20 PATHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS with rigor, which was fucceeded by a feverifh paroxyfm, that frequently returned for three days; his pulfe became conftantly quick, and he died the twenty-eighth day. His friends would not confent to his head being opened. Cases. ALEXANDER H. a lad of eighteen, fell into the hold of a {hip about fifteen feet down, and was carried home in a ftupor. A tumefaction was obferved on the top of the right parietal bone. After a plentiful bleeding, he recovered of the ftupor ; a laxative was given, and he was bled again in the evening. On the third day, the ftupor returned ; and, on the evening of that day, I was called in, when there was every fymptom of compreffion of the brain, and next morning Dr Monro and Dr Austin were fent for. It was then judged proper to exa- mine the ftate of the right parietal bone, where the tumefaction was at fir{t obferved. No fracture could be found ; but a piece of the bone was taken out by the trepan. Nothing was feen that could occafion any preflure. The ftupor, &c. continued, and he died the thirteenth day. Eighteen hours after his death, I went to open his head; but fuch a degree of putrefaction was come on, that a great part of the brain had come out of the hole in the bone, quite diffolved and putrid. The teguments were taken off, but no fracture was found in any part of the head. Case 6. A failor boy of fourteen fell into the hold of a fhip. He was carried afhore in a ftupor. There was a {welling on the middle of the right parietal bone, without any wound. He was bled, and put to bed; and, in half an hour, was fo much recovered, that it was thought unneceflary to infpect the {tate of the bone. He was ordered a laxative to take in the night; but next morning it had not operated. It was then re- peated ; and in the evening he appeared very well; but there feemed to be a degree of torpor in the inteftinal canal, from the laxatives On the BRATIN: 21 laxatives not operating. A clyfter was given, and the laxative again repeated. Next morning, his left arm and leg were quite paralytic, the pupil of the left eye was dilated, and did not contract when a lighted candle was brought near it, nor was he fenfible of its being there; but he could read diftin€tly with the other eye, and the right leg and arm were very well. In the afternoon, juft forty-eight hours from the time that he met with the accident, the bone was laid bare,and in the middle of the right parietal bone, a piece was found to be broken off more than an inch fquare. The upper fide had pierced the dura mater, and gone into the fubftance of the cerebrum. The broken piece was eafily taken out, and the wound dreffed. Immediately af- ter, the pupil of the left eye contracted, and he could diftin- guifh large objects with that eye, and the leg and arm were lefs affected. He hada good night, and next morning could read when the right eye was fhut. On the third day after the operation, when the wound in the dura mater inflamed, and a confiderable tumefa¢tion came on, his left eye, leg and arm be- came again paralytic, with frequent convulfions in the left leg and arm, but without the fmalleft complaint in the other fide. In this ftate, he continued for feyeral days ; a fuppuration came on; the {welling went off; after which he continued well, and the wound healed up in eight weeks. From thefe cafes, I fhould infer : 1. THAT when one hemifphere of the brain is affected, it generally produces its morbid fymptoms on the oppofite fide of the body. 2. THAT when both hemifpheres are affeéted, the whole bo- dy fuffers. 3. THAT though one hemifphere only is affected, when the injury is great, the whole body will fuffer. 4. THAT 22 PATHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, &c. 4. TuaT though the cerebrum alone is hurt, it produces morbid fymptoms in all mufcles of voluntary motion, whe- ther their nerves take their rife immediately from the cere- brum, from the cerebellum, or from. the medulla oblongata. 5. THAT, in cafes of external accident, where one fide is. affected, it is more favourable than when both fides fuffer. V. ExpERIMENTS on the EXPANSIVE FORCEOf FREEZ- ING WATER, made by Major Epwarp WILLIAMS of the Royal Artillery, at Quebec in Canada, in the years 1764 and 1785. Communicated in a Letter from CHARLES Hutton, LL.D. F.R.SS. Lonp. & Epin. and Profejfor of Mathematics in the Royal Military Academy of Woolwich, to Profefor FoHN ROBISON, General Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Read by Mr ROBISON, Nov. 6. 1786.] SIR, HE following is an extract of a letter to me from Major Epwarp Wi LtiAms, of the Royal Artillery, a learned man, and of great profeflional merit. Being at Quebec in fome very cold winters, among various other ingenious experiments, it occurred to him to try the force of congelation in fome of the iron bomb-fhells, which are ufually fired out of mortars in the practice of artillery ; by filling the cavity of the fhell with water, and then, having plugged up the fuze-hole, expofing it to the cold to freeze the water, in order to find whether the ex- panfion of the ice would be capable of burfting the fhell. Tue dimenfions of the 13 inch fhell are as follow: Inches. Outer diameter of the fhell, 2 12.8 Inner, or diameter of the cavity, - 9.1 Thicknefs of metal at the fuze-hole, ee Ditto at the bottom or oppofite part, ay Diameter of the fuze-hole, - 1.7 And the dimenfions are fimilar in the other fhells. The fuze- hole is conical, the oppofite fides of which, when produced, meet 24 On th EXPANSIVE FORCE meet at the extremity of the diameter, which paffes through the middle of the. hole. He found, that the iron plug could hardly ever be driven fo firmly into the fuze-hole as to refift the force of the expanfion of the ice, which puthed it out with great velocity, and a bolt or cylinder of ice, of a confiderable length, immediately fhot up from the hole. But when the plug was fixed in with fprings, which laid hold of the infide of the cavity, fo that the plug could not poflibly be pufhed out, the force of expanfion then {plit the fhell, and a fin or plate of ice fhot out quite around. EXTRACT from Major Witiiam’s Letter. THESE experiments were made on iron-fhells, from the 13 inch-fhell to the coehorn, of 4.4 inches diameter, by filling the fhell nearly with water, and driving in an iron plug with a fledge hammer. Elev.of | Wt of Ther. | Wind. | thefuze | plug.oz| Diftance. Dec. 21. | 12 night.| 29.66 | — 10) Wefterly. go 35 “Unknown. 22-|10 A.M.| 29.69 | — 3 | Eatterly. go 37.85 | 22 feet. 23-| 9 P. M.| 29.80 | — 16 Ww. go 34-5 Unknown. 24.|11 A. M.} 29.25 | — 6 Ww. 80 39-25 | 62 3t.| 11 A. M.| 29.60 | —18| W. 45 39-25 | 387 1785- Jan. 2. | 5 A. M. | 29.96 | — 19 Ww. 45 | 41.75 | 415 4. | 7 A. M. | 29.46 | — 12 Ww. 45 42 Burft. g-| 9 A.M.! 29.35 ' — 4) W- 45 | 40.5 | 325 RE MOA 5G: Dec. 21.—THuE fuze-axis of the fhell lay nearly perpendicu- lar to the horizon. On examining the effect, about g o'clock the following day, I obferved the plug gone, and a cylinder of ice, of 4% inches high, rifing perpendicularly from the fuze- hole, and of equal diameter. I fearched carefully for the plug, but Of FREEZING WATER. 25 but could not find it, as there was about 34 feet of {now on the ground. 22.—I watcuHeD this fhell about an hour, when, being called out on bufinefs, I found, on my return, three hours af- ter, the plug gone, and the icy cylinder 2 inches high. Plug loft. 23.—I HAD a plug made, and jagged or notched along the fides, to prevent its being forced out fo eafily ; and watched this fhell for upwards of three hours, going into the houfe at intervals to warm myfelf. The laft time I went in was about half an hour after twelve, when, after a few minutes, I heard a fort of hiffing found, upon which running out, the plug was gone, and a cylinder of ice fhot up, exceeding any of the for- mer, being 64 inches high. Plug loft. 24.—A SIMILAR plug to the laft. I watched this with more fuccefs ; for although abfent at intervals; yet at half paft four in the afternoon, (therm. at 6°) I faw the plug fuddenly forced out by the column of ice, accompanied by the hifling noife ; and, obferving its fall, I found it at 62 feet from the fhell. The icy cylinder was 4 inches high, and the fuve-axis of the fhell I found lay nearly at an angle of 80° with the horizon. 31.—ConcLuDInG from the foregoing experiments, that no plug could be fo fixed, as to render the refiftance at the fuze- hole greater than at the weakeft part of the fhell, in which cafe I fuppofed it would burft, (which was the primary obje@t in thefe experiments) I thought it might be worth while to obferve how far the force of congelation would project a plug of a given weight and figure, and forced in with the fame number of {trokes of the fledge hammer. For this purpofe, I placed the fuze-axis of the fhell at an angle of 45° with the horizon, and on the 31ft of December 1784, being the coldeft day of this year, the plug was projected whilft I was abfent, a cylinder was fhot out, in the direction of the axis, of 74; inches, and not in- Vou. II. d clining . 26 On th EXPANSIVE FORGE clining in the leaft from that direétion to the horizon. The plug was loft. ' , ‘an. 2. 1785.—Be1NG colder than 31{t December, in order to haften the effect, I put a mixture of common falt and fal ammoniac to the water, and tied a long pack-thread, with a piece of red rag at its end, to the fuze, in order to find where it fellin the fnow. This plug made its efcape, like the reft; for at half paft fix it was flown, and a cylinder of 8+4 inches of ice ftanding over the fuze-hole. The plug was loft; for the red rag appeared no where on the furface of the fnow. 4,—TRIED a plug made with fprings, in the manner of a fearcher, only very fhort and ftrong. Added the freezing mix- ture. The fhell gave a fudden crack at a quarter after nine, and inftantly fhot from its furface two thin plates of ice, re- fembling fins, about 2 inches in the higheft parts. On exa- mining the fhell I found it burft, and the plug forced up about half an inch; and, on breaking the fhell, the fprings were con- fiderably bent, fo as not to have recovered their firft fituation. g-—ReEPEATED the laft experiment, with a fimilar plug and the freezing mixture. It was thrown out, as before, and the projecting icy cylinder was 37 inches high. SIMILAR experiments were afterwards made with all the leffer fhells ; yet, though one or more of each fort were actually burft, more plugs were projected than produced that effedt. As foon as the fnow began to difappear from the furface, I fearched carefully for the plugs, and found fix of them ; which, being all marked with notches after the firft experiment, I eafily formed from them the following table. Plug, Of FREEZING WATER. 27 Plug, No. 1. Dec: '22. 22 feet. 34 to the right of the line of direction. 2 24. 62 5 lett. 4. ay. 387 2+ right. cs far nT tars 34 right. 6. | 4. Shell burft. ve 9: gat 4+ left. Sucu was the refult of thefe experiments, from which I leave it to you to draw conclufions. I intend to purfue them again this winter; and, if you can fuggeft any ideas on the fubject that can reach Canada before March 1786, I fhall be glad to avail myfelf of them. Ep. WILLIAMS. REMARKS on the preceding ExtraG by Cua. Hurton, LL. D. From thefe ingenious experiments, we may draw feveral conclufions. As, } Firf, We hence obferve the amazing force of the expanfion of the ice, or the water, in the act of freezing ; which is fuffi- cient to overcome perhaps any refiftance whatever; and the con- fequence feems to be, either that the water will freeze, and, by expanding, burft the containing body, be it ever fo thick and {trong ; or elfe, if the refiftance of the containing body exceed the expanfive force of the ice, or of water in the ad of freez- ing, then, by preventing the expanfion, it will prevent the freezing, and the water will remain fluid, whatever the degree of cold may be. THE amazing force of congelation is alfo obvious from the diftance to which the iron plugs were projected. For, if we confider the very {mall time that the force of expanfion aéts on the plug in puthing it out, and that the plug. of 23 lb. weight, was projected with a velocity of more than 20 feet in a fecond a2 of 28 On the EXPANSIVE FORGE, &e. of time, and thrown to the diftance of 415 feet by this force ; fo acting, the intenfity of the force will appear to be truly afto- nifhing. 2dly, We may hence form an eftimate of the quantity which the water expands by freezing. For the longeft cylinder of ice was obferved to be 84 inches without the hole ; to this add 11, the thicknefs of the metal, or length of the hole, and the fum, or 10 inches, is the whole length of the cylinder of ice, the diameter of which is 1,74 inches; and hence its folid con- tent is 1.7?X10x.7854 cubic inches. Burt the diameter of the fpherical cavity, filled with water, is 9;'5 inches; and therefore 9.1°x}x.7854 is the content of the water in cubic inches. Hence then the content of the water is to the increafe by expanfion, as 3 of g.1* to 10 times I.7*, or as 502.4 to 28.9, or as 174 to 10. So that the water, in this inftance, expanded in freezing, by a quantity which is between the 17th and 18th part of itfelf. C. H. Vi. VI. ABSTRACT of EXPERIMENTS made to determine the TRUE RESISTANCE of the AIR to the SURFACES of BODIES, of various figures, and moved through it with different degrees of velocity. By CHARLES HUTTON, LL.D. Profefor of Mathematics in the Royal Military Academy, — Woolwich, and F.R.S. Lonn, & Evin. [Read by Mr ROBISON, ‘Fan. 1. 1787. ] a HE experiments from which the following are extract- ed, make part of a courfe, inftituted at the Royal Mili- tary Academy, for determining the refiftance of the air to a fur- face of any form whatever, either plane or curved, moved through it with any degree of velocity. I was induced to un- dertake thefe experiments, both for the improvement of my ftudents in the Academy, and with a view to apply the conclu- fions derived from them towards perfecting the theory and practice of military projectiles, as well as other branches of na- tural philofophy, in which the preffure or refiftance of fluids is concerned: Circumftances, concerning the laws of which, authors on the theory have widely differed; fome making the preffure or refiftance equal to the weight of a column, whofe altitude is equal to the whole height due to the velocity, while others make the altitude very different, either the half or the. double of that. This altitude, however, it is evident, will be va- rious, according to the nature of the fluid, whether elaftic or non-elaftic, c. or according to its different degrees of com- preflion. I have, therefore, confined thefe experiments to the preffure and refiftance of the air only, being that which affects the 30 On the RESISTANCE of the AIR the accuracy of the branch, for the improvement of which I am more particularly folicitous at this time; and therefore the laws here deduced are not meant to be extended to other fluids of a different nature. 2. THE machine with which thefe experiments were per- formed, was made after the pattern of, and by the fame work- man as that which is defcribed by the late excellent Mr Ro- BINS, in the firft volume of his works, as publifhed by Dr Witson, and of which a view is inferted in that volume, at leaft of the principal parts of it. Suffice it, therefore, in this place, juft to obferve, that it confifts of a fmall vertical axis, with a long horizontal arm connected with it. A body of any form is fixed on the extremity of the arm; then a fine, but {trong filken thread, or cord, is wound about the axis, with a given fmall weight at the end, which is pafled over a vertical pully, and left to defcend by its weight, and fo turning the axis, gives motion to the arm and body at the end of it. Hence it is evident, that a flow motion of the axis, or of the actuating weight, will give.a very quick motion to the refifting body at the end of the arm; this latter being to the former indeed, as the length of the arm, meafured to the centre of the body, is to the radius of the axis, which, in thefe experiments, was as 517 tol. 3. THE actuating weight would defcend continually with an accelerated velocity, were it not for the friction of the axis, and the refiftance of the air to the arm and the body placed at the end of it. But this refiftance always increafing with the velo- city, and indeed.as the fquare of it, it muft needs happen, that, by the refiftance conftantly gaining on the velocity, this will foon arrive at its maximum, and after that proceed with a uniform motion, the refiftance neither gaining on the ve- locity, nor the velocity on the refiftance, but each mutyally balancing the other. As foon as this happens, then the ac- tuating To the SURFACES of BODIES. 3t tuating weight is the meafure of the refiftance of the air on the body and the arm, and of the friction of the axis. 4. Next, to find what part of the retardation is owing to the friction on the axis, and the refiftance of the air againft the arm, both the actuating weight and the refifting body were ta- ken off, and, inftead of the latter, a very thin bit of lead of the fame weight was put on; then various {maller actuating weights were employed, till at laft fuch a one was found as gave to the machine the very fame degree of uniform motion as it had before, when the refifting body and the larger actuating weight were employed. Then, the degree of velocity being the fame in both cafes, the fmaller actuating weight will be the meafure of the fri€tion on the axis, and the refiftance of the air to the arm; both of which, however, were reduced to as- fmall a quantity as poflible, the former by means of friction- wheels, and the latter by being made thin and feather-edged. 5- SUBTRACTING. now the lefs weight from the greater, the remainder is the meafure of the refiftance of the air againft the body alone; that is, when reduced for the different lengths of lever, namely, by diminifhing the remaining weight in the ra- tio of the length of the arm to the radius of the axis, meafured to the middle of the thread. Thus, then, we obtain a weight which is the meafure of ‘the refiftance of the air againft a given furface, moving with a given velocity ; that is, a weight which is equal to the preffure of the air againft the furface, or which, if it were laid upon and uniformly diffufed over the furface when it isa plane, would prefs the furface juft as much as the air does. 6. THEN, laftly, finding what altitude a column of air muft have, which is of the weight of the aforefaid remaining weight reduced, and whofe bafe is the plane of the refifting furface ; it will be the altitude of the column of the fluid whofe weight - or preffure is equal to the refiftance, and which preffure would : confequently generate the fame velocity in the fluid. 4. THE. 32 On the RESISTANCE of the AIR 47, Tue body ufed to affix to the end of the arm, in the fol- lowing abftract, was a hemifphere of- pafteboard, the hollow part being covered with a flat circle of the fame, that either the round or the flat fide might be made to go foremoft againit the air. The diameter of the hemifphere was 63 inches; and confequently the area of its great circle, or flat fide, was 32 fquare inches or } of a fquare foot, and it weighed 40z. 3dr. avoirdupois. The hemifphere being fixed on the end of the arm, with either fide foremoft, by a medium of feveral times, and different ways of meafuring, it was found, that the radius of the axis, including half the thicknefs of the thread, was 1.043 inches, and the length of the arm, meafured to the centre of the hemifphere, was 53.34 inches; fo that the two radii, namely of the path of the body and of the axis, are to each other as 53-34 to 1.043, or as 51.14 to 1: And therefore every experimented actuating weight muft be divided by 51.14 or 514, to reduce it to the equivalent weight acting at the centre of the hemifphere. 8. THE times of revolutions of the arm were counted by a peculiar pendulum clock, beating feconds, which was made for the purpofe. The method was thus: The clock being placed clofe by the machine, and the hemifphere and actuating weight fixed in their places, an affiftant held the hemifphere in a parti- cular fituation by his hand, while a fecond affiftant audibly counted the beats of the clock, beginning at 50 feconds, and counting on from 1 to 10, which confequently would end at 60 or o; and the inftant he pronounced fo, the firft affiftant let the hemifphere go. The confequence was, it began at firft to move very flowly, and gradually increafe for a fhort time, and then to move uniformly. The firft afliftant, keeping his {tation, called out at every time the body pafled him, in its re- volution, and the other affiftant called out the correfponding number of feconds and half feconds beat by the clock, which I inftantly wrote down with a pencil on a paper held in my hand, Yo the SURFACES of BODIES. 33 hand, previoufly ruled for that purpofe. And thus we could with eafe mark the precife time of every revolution. The num- ber of revolutions was ufually continued to about 35; and as the motion, with the hemifphere commonly became uniform after two or three revolutions, and with the lead only, after about 20 revolutions, I fubtracted the time of the firft 25 revo- lutions from that of 35, and the remainder was the mean time of 10 revolutions ; and, confequently, dividing by 10 gave me the mean time of one revolution very correctly ; and thence, from the fpace of one circle or revolution, which is 27.93 feet, the velocity of the hemifphere fer fecond of time. g. In this manner, then, by varying the actuating weight, by 1dr. or 2 dr. t&c. at a time, I obtained a long feries of cor- ref{ponding times and velocities, both with the round and flat fide of the hemifphere foremoft, and with the equivalent lead only. After which I fubtraéted the numbers of this latter from the correfponding ones of thé two former, and the remainders, when divided by 51.14, gave the true meafure of the preffure of the air at the centre of the hemifphere. In the following table are feleéted only the velocities in whole numbers of feet, namely, of 3 feet per fecond, of 4 feet, of 5 feet, and fo on to that of 20 feet per fecond of time, with the correfponding actuating weights in all the three cafes, name- ly the flat fide foremoft, the round fide foremoft, and without the hemifphere, with the lead only; namely, fuch actuating weights as were really experimented, and before dividing them by 51.14, to reduce them to the centre of the body. Vo.. II. e AB S- 34 On the RESISTANCE of the AIR ABSTRACT of VeEtociTI£Es and AcTUATING WEIGHTs. Weights with Diff. or true Velocity,} Flat | Round | Lead ||_Tefiftances. Ratios. per fec. fide. | fide. only. | Flat. | Round. feet. oz Oz. } Oz. oz. OZ. 3 be imi tah ae is | 2.6 x 2.60 4 6.2 | 3:4 [ 14 4.8 2.0] 2.40 5 | 921 49] 17] 75| 32) 2.35 6 12.8.| 6.7 | 2.0 }} 10.8 | 4.7 | 2.30 | ifo | $71 2.9) 34-71 B47) @3e 8 21.9 {11.0 | 2.8 |} 19.1 | 8.2| 2.33 9 27.6. | 1305 | 53-3 th 24-3] Sh? 2.38 IO 34.0 | 16.2 | 3.8 |] 30.2 | 72-4 | 2.44 II 41.0 |19.2 | 4.4 |] 36.6 | 14.8 | 2.47 12 48.7 |22.6 | 5.1 || 43-6! 17.51 2.49 13 | 57-1 | 26.4 | 5.8 51.3 20. | 2.49 14 | 66.2 |30.6 | 6.5 327 24.7 | 2.48 15 6.0 1952 CU a2 8 O8.6 | 29 249 16 86.6. |40.0 | 7.9 || 78.7 32.1 2.46 17 | 98.2 | 45-3 | 8.7 I] 89.5) 36.6] 2.45 18 II1.0/51.0 | 95 | x0r-5 | 41.5! 2.45 1g [125.0 157-2 | 10.3 (Rapes | 46.9| 2.45 20 |140.0 | 64.0 | II.O ||129.0] 53.0} 2.44 I 2 | 3 4 % | 6 7 Here the firft column contains the velocity fer fecond; the fecond column contains the experimented actuating weight, with the flat fide foremoft ; the third column that for the round fide foremoft ; and the fourth column that for the lead only: Then the fifth column contains the difference between the fe- cond and fourth, or actuating weights for the flat fide and lead; and the fixth column the difference between the third and fourth, or aCtuating weights, for the round fide and lead only ; fo that the fifth and fixth columns, when divided by 513, will be the true meafure of the refiftance of the air to each fide of the To th SURFACES of BODIES. 35 the hemifphere, moving with the correfponding velocity on the fame line of the firft column ; and in the laft column are con- tained the ratios of thefe two refiftances, or how often each refiftance of the round fide is contained in that on the flat fide of the hemifphere. 10. From a flight contemplation of the laft three columns of this table, we may eafily draw feveral important confequences. As, firf, From the fifth and fixth columns, it appears, that the refiftance to either furface, with different velocities, is always as the fquare of the velocity, as near as fuch experiments can be expected to fhow. Tuus, in the fifth column, taking the refiftances correfpond- ing to the velocities of 4 feet and 8 feet, which are as 1 to 2, and their fquares as 1 to 43 the refiftances 4.8 to I9.1 are as I to 4 very nearly; and the refiftances in the fixth column, namely, 2 to 8.2, are alfo nearly in the fame ratio. And fo of others. 11. 2d/y, From the laft column, it appears, that the refiftance to the flat fide is to that on the round fide, on an average, nearly as 2.45 to 1, or. 2$ to I nearly, if a medium be taken * among all the numbers in the laftcolumn. But, by the theory of the refiftance of fluids, we are led to expect, that this ratio would have been only that of 2 to 1, inftead of 2$ to 1, as by the experiment. Now, what this difference is owing to, may be at prefent difficult to determine with precifion. The greater part of it may probably arife from the air differing in its na- ture from the perfect fluid which the theory contemplates ; but fome {mall part of it may arife from the different figure of the hinder parts of the hemifphere, though I hardly fufpe@ that this may caufe any fenfible difference. I intend, however, foon to try whether it be fenfible to experiments ; in which I intend to employ a cylinder, to compare with the flat fide foremoft of the hemifphere, and a whole {phere, each of the fame diameter, to compare with the round fide foremoft of the hemifphere. I Ce propofe 30 On th RESISTANCE of the AIR, &c. propofe alfo, at the fame time, to try the refiftance of fome other figures. 12. 3dly, From any of the numbers in the fixth column, it appears, that the altitude of a column of air, whofe preffure is equal to the refiftance on the round fide of the hemifphere, is half the altitude due to the velocity of the figure; that is, half the altitude from which a body muft freely fall by gravity to acquire that velocity ; and, in this inftance, agreeing with the theory. Thus, if we take the velocity of 10 feet per fecond, whofe refiftance in the fixth column is 12.4, we fhall have as 327:107::16:-¢f =1.56 feet, which is the altitude due to to the velocity 10, and the half altitude is .78; but the weight is 12.4 ounces, which being divided by 51.14, to reduce it from the axis to the centre of the body, gives .2411 oz. for the true refiftance to the convex fide. Now, a cubic foot of air weighs 14 oz. ; therefore, as I}: .2411:: 1: .1929, whichis the bulk of the column of air whofe weight is equal to the refiftance, which being divided by } of a foot, the area of the bafe, we have .86 feet for the altitude of that column, and which, therefore, is nearly equal to the half altitude above found for the velocity, exceeding it only by about the 13th or r4th part. 13. 4¢hly, But, from the fifth column, it appears, that the altitude of the column of air, whofe preflure is equal to the re- fiftance on the flat fide of the hemifphere, is to the altitude due to the velocity of the body, as 2} to 2, inftead of being equal, as required by the theory. Vil. VIL OspservaTions of the Places of the GEORGIAN PLANET, made at Edinburgh with an Equatoreal Inftrument. By foHN Rosison, A.M. F.R.S. Epin. and Profeffor of Natural Philofophy in the Univerfity of Edinburgh. [Read by the Author, March 7. 1787.) M. T. Edin. Apt. Lon. Plan. Er.theor. Apt. lat. N. Compar.. Gy " cro , ” " Pes ”" 1787. Jan. 12. 06. 39. 24 9/23. 95, BF +8 —.32. 20 4 15. 06. 05. II 3. 23. 27. 44 —7 —.32. 20 3 17. 06, 13. 16 Cae ne Mee, +5 —.32.19 2 18. 06. 05. 33 25 23454. 42 +2 —.32. 21 z 20. 06. 23. 04 3.23.14. 24 +7 —.32.17 4 HeNcE it may be deduced, (by following the method de- fcribed in a paper.formerly read to this Society *) that the planet was in oppofition January 13% 04°. 56° M. T. Greenwich, in longitude, 3°. 23°. 32’. 24” from the mean equinox, with —°. 30. 38” north heliocentric latitude. Tue error of the theory in longitude is nearly +5”, and in Jatitude nearly —18". I ATTRIBUTE this error in latitude to the different manner in which I obferved the declinations. I formerly obferved the difference of declination between the planet and fixed ftar by means of a common micrometer... But | was obliged to fubfti- tute Dr BrapLEy’s rhombus for my micrometer, which had re- ceived an injury which I could not get repaired in time. If this be allowed, the error in longitude will be diminifhed nearly 2”. | My telefcope has an achromatic object glafs of 44 inches focal diftance, magnifies 194 times, and takes in a diftin@ field of 2° * Tranfactions of the Royal Society of Edin. Vol. I. N° XI. Phyf Cl. ; 38 OBSERVATIONS of the Places, &c. 92’. The planet was always compared with at leaft two {ftars, which paffed through the field without altering the pofition of the inftrument. The interval between the tranfits of the fixed f{tars, compared with their difference in right afcenfion in the tables, fhows the error of the pofition of the horary wire; and the planet’s difference in declination fhows what portion of this error is to be applied to the time of its tranfit. When the pofi-~ tion of the horary wire was very oblique to the horizon, and the altitudes fmall, a corre€tion was made for the difference in refraction. Botu ends of the polar axis were firmly fupported in a {tone wall. The telefcope turned round on a pin within two inches of the upper pivot of the axis, and clofe by the object glafs. The other end of the telefcope was fupported (at the place of the wires) by a ftiff rod, which turned round a pin within two inches of the lower end of the polar axis; fo that the telefcope, axis and this rod, formed a triangle. Another {tiff rod was faftened to the telefcope at the place of the wires, with a double joint, and its other end paffed through a focket, firmly fixed on the fide of the window, where it was held faft by a fcrew-pin. The rod was in a plane, nearly parallel to the equator. It is eafy to fee that, by this conftruction, each part of the inftrument was expofed to a longitudinal ftrain alone, and all effects of the tremor of its parts were avoided. It was fo completely free from any inconvenience of this kind, that, even in very boifterous winds, the image of the ftar was per- fetly fteady, and free from every kind of quivering. I never found any two comparifons of the planet with the fame pair of {tars differ above half a fecond in time. As the inftrument was fo exa€t, and did not (exclufive of the telefcope) coft above three pounds, I thought that this fhort account of it would be acceptable to fuch as are not provided with thofe expenfive in- ftruments which are thought eflentially neceflary for making good and ufeful obfervations. ; VIII. VUL Answers ¢o the Objections of M. DE Luc with regard tothe THEORY of Rain. By JAMES HutTtoN,M.D. F.R.S. Epin. and Member of the Royal Academy of Agrt- culture at Paris. [Read by the Author, Dec. 3. 1787. ], De Luc, in his Idées fur la Météorologie, has made e fome objections to the Theory of Rain * which I had the honour to lay before this Society. I fhall now endeavour to anfwer thefe objections; and hope the Society will forgive me for taking up a little of their time and attention with this fubje&t. The reputation of M. pE Luc is fo well eftablifhed in the republic of letters, that I muft. not neglect remarks which have the fanction of fuch authority ; although, in the prefent cafe, they appear to me to have come from a judge who was too. much preoccupied with a different fyftem. THE queftion between us, according to M. pe Luc’s own ftatement, is this, Whether or not, when two mafles of air of different temperatures are mixed together, the humidity of the new mafs is greater than the mean between the humidities which the two mafles had feparately? This I maintain to be a phyfical truth, and M. pe Luc refufes to admit it as a rule in nature. I nap eftablifhed this. propofition, That, upon the fuppofition of the evaporating power increafing with heat, but increafing at a greater rate, the mixture of two portions of air, of different temperatures and fufficiently faturated with humidity, would. produce a condenfation of water which might then become vi- fible:. * Tranfadtions of the Royal Society of Edin. Vol. I. N° IL. Phyf. Cl. 49 ANSWERS to the OBFECTIONS fible. I then fay, That this cafe properly applies to the pheno- mena of breath and fteam, which give a vifible condenfation in mixing with the colder atmofphere ; and it explains the various appearances that may occur in mixing together feveral portions of air more or lefs faturated with humidity, and in different temperatures of heat and cold. For, Ir is not every mixture of the atmofpheric fluid, in different temperatures, that fhould, according to the theory, form a vifi- ble condenfation ; this effeét requiring, in that atmofphere, a fufficient degree of faturation with humidity. Neither is it ne- ceflary for this effect, that the two portions to be mixed fhould each be faturated with humidity up to the temperature in which it then is found ; it is fufficient, that the difference in the temperatures of thofe portions to be mixed fhould more than compenfate the defect in point of faturation; but if a mixture fhall be made of two portions of the atmofphere, both fully fa- turated with humidity, then, however fmall may be the differ- ence of their temperatures, there is reafon to believe, that a condenfation proportionate to this difference will take place. HERE it is to be obferved, that I have made the rule abfo- lute, or generalized the propofition to every fuppofable cafe ; while, at the fame time, I appealed to familiar examples in two cafes, that is, of humid atmofphere and of pure fteam, in gi- ving the breath of animals in the one cafe, and the fteam of a boiling kettle in the other. Tue propofition being thus made perfectly general, and con- cluded from experience to be a law of-nature, M. pE Luc has endeavoured to refute this phyfical principle, by attempting to explain, in another manner, the natural appearances upon which it has been founded. It fhall now be my bufinefs to fhow, that this explanation which M. pe Luc has endeavoured to give of the fubjedt, is founded upon nothing but inadverten- cy or mifapprehenfion. HE Of M. DE LUC. 41 He fays, (parag. 585.) “ Je ne fuis point furpris que le “ Dr Hutron ait été frappé de ce que ia refpiration des ani- © maux produit un brouillard dans l’air, lorfqu’il eft humide ou “ froid; j’en ai été frappé auffli, comme d’un phénomene qui “ ne s’explique pas par les loix ordinaires de l’évaporation : ‘* mais il m’a paru, en méme tems, qu'il étoit d’une toute autre “ claffe ; qu il n’appartenoit pas a l’hygrologie, mais a la phy- “ fiologie ; en un mot, que les vapeurs qui s’y manifeftent, ne “‘ procédent pas de l’évaporation d’une eau contenue dans les ** poumons. Ceci étant lié 4 quelques idées fur la nature des “ caufes de la pluie, j’en renvoie le dévelopement 4 une autre * lieu, parce qu’il formeroit ici une trop longue digreffion, et que d’ailleurs, fi j’examine les faits rapportés par le Dr Hurt- TON, ce n’eft que relativement 4 l’hypothéfe fondamentale elle méme, et non a fes conféquences dans la Théorie de la Pluie; puifqu’on a vu, que cette hypothéfe pourroit étre ad- mife, fans que la pluie put en etre la confequence, vu l'état ordinaire de l’air.”’ As in this paragraph is contained all the objection that M. DE Luc, fo far as I can perceive, is able to make again{t the Theory of Rain, it will be proper to examine it particularly, and di- vide it into the two different propofitions which it contains. Thefe are, firf, a denial of the general principle, with regard to the condenfation of humidity in the atmofphere; as not be- ing a true principle, or properly founded ; and, 2d/y, a refufal of the application of that general principle, fuppofing it true, to the theory of rain. Of thefe, then, in their order. “cc “ce cs ce 6é. ce WiTH regard to the firf#, M. pe Luc admits all that I could poflibly propofe to draw from this example, viz. That moitft air, breathed from the lungs of an animal into the colder at- mofphere, produces a condenfation of water, in proportion to the faturation of the atmofphere with humidity, and alfo to its degree of cold below the heat of the breath; for he acknow- WV ors Il, ial ledges, A2 _ ANSWERS to the OBFECTIONS ledges, that he had alfo been ftruck with that appearance, which he thought inexplicable by the ordinary laws of evaporation and condenfation. But, fays he, it is not to be admitted as a fact to prove the fuppofed propofition. Why? Becaufe it docs not belong to hygrology, but to phyfiology. I suouxp have been at a lofs what to have replied to this ob- jection, had not M. pe Luc, in fome meafure, explained him- felf in the next fentence; where he fays, that the vapours which are manifefted in this cafe, do not proceed from the eva- poration of water contained in the lungs. Here, then, it is evident, that M. pe Luce leaves the fubjeé in hand, the conden- fation of the breath, to enquire after the caufe of its humi- dity. But whatever be the caufe of this aqueous vapour in the breath, there is certainly no queftion about its. effect; that is, the humidity of the warm expired air, which is to be mixed . with the atmofphere, and there to produce mitt. I do not, there- fore, fee how any argument can be founded upon this fuppofed operation of the lungs, whatever it be, any more than upon that of the heart, the hver or the kidneys. In our meteorolo- gical enquiry, we furely are no ways concerned about the com- pofition or decompofition of water; a fubje& of chemical en- quiry : We only want to explain the condenfation of that hu- midity which is.on all hands allowed te be in the breath. Tue queftion which, in. this cafe, fhould, according to the rules of fcience, have been either acknowledged or denied, was this, Does the moift air, expired in breathing, form a condenfa- tion of water, in being mixed with cooler air fufficiently fatu- rated with humidity? M. pe Luc has evaded making any di- rect anfwer to that queftion, in propofing to develope the fub- ject upon fome other occafion. ‘This may have fuited the con- veniency of our author, who was bufy in forming a meteoro- logical theory very different from. that which I had propofed ; but he had undertaken to difprove my propofition, with regard to the condenfation of vapour ; and this vifible condenfation of the Of M. DE LUG. 43 the breath is the natural phenomenon which is to be explained, or the f{cientific experiment by which the theory which M. DE Luc refufes, is approved. Ir may be proper here to obferve, that I only confider the diffolving power of air with refpeé to water, in order to con- traft it with the precipitation of the diffolved fubftance, when the action or effect of heat has been diminifhed according to the theory. It no ways concerns my propofition, whether it is upon the principle of diffolution or fimple expanfion by heat, -that the aqueous vapour is retained in the air, or preferved in a tranfparent ftate. The expreflion of diffolution beft anfwer- ed my purpofe, where the faturation of the atmofphere with humidity was to be expreffed ; therefore I retained it, although I had declared in this Society, when my firft paper was read and converfed upon, that I did not mean in the leaft to enter into that queftion which Profefflor Ropison then put. In like _ manner, it is abfolutely indifferent to the theory, whether the infpired air or breath acquires its humidity by evaporation, dif- folution, or chemical refolution and compofition: Therefore, if this negation, with regard to the origin of water, be intended by M. be Luc as an objection to my propofition, which I think has no relation with that fubje@t, it would be proper he fhould {how in what refpect that argument of his affets the condenfation of the water contained in the breath, when that breath is mixed with another portion of air. I now proceed to the /econd propofition of M. pe Luc, which is, That, fuppofing my hypothefis admitted, it does not follow that rain happens in confequence of this caufe; the or- dinary {tate of the atmofphere being, as he alleges, too dry ta admit of this effect. Now, this may be a very good reafon why it fhould not always rain, or fhould noc rain in that parti- cular ftate of the atmofphere which is moft ordinary; but I believe it will be difficult to perfuade thofe who admit of the hypothefis, that they fhould not apply this principle in the cafe f 2 of 44 ANSWERS to th OBFECTIONS of rain, which furely does not happen in the moft ordinary {tate of the atmofphere, at leaft not in moft countries, thofe particularly in which M. DE Luc has made his meteorological obfervations. Havine thus difcuffed the cafe of humid air or natural va- pour, M. bE Luc next proceeds to confider the cafe of fteam, or pure vapour, as he calls it. Here he fays, that the mift formed above water boiling in the open air, may be explained upon another principle than that of the hypothefis from whence I had concluded that it-fhould be fo. It will be proper to give his reafoning upon the fubje@: “ La vapeur de l’eau bouillante (/feam) eft pure, parce “* qu’au degré de chaleur de cette eau, les vapeurs font toujours “‘ capable de fupporter feules la prefflion de Yatmofphere. Des vapeurs prefque pures, forment les bulles qui traverfent fans cefle l’eau bouillante ; et ces bouffées de fluide élaftique tranf- “parent, deplacent I’air en fe dégageant de l'eau. Si ces va- “ peurs fe répandent dans un éf{pace qui n’ait qu'une petite “* iffue a loppofite de leur entrée, en amenant cet efpace a leur température, elles en chaffent tout lair, et y demeurent tranf- parentes ; mais des qu’elles l’ont dépaflé, et qu’elles fe repan- dent dans lair exterieur, leur courant s’y décompofe bientot : car dés la premiere perte fenfible qu’elles éprouvent dans le degré de chaleur auquel eft attachée leur exiftence, ne pou- vant plus fupporter la preflion de l’atmofphere, elles fe tranf- forment en un brouillard, qui fe mele a l’air environnant.”’ Here M. pe Luc confiders the tranfparent fteam, when co- ming in contact with the colder atmofphere, as cooled by the air, without noticing, that it proportionably heats that air by which it is cooled. This overfight in another perfon but M. DE Luc, might have been natural; it might even in M. pE Luc himfelf have been more excufable, had he been lefs converfant with the important theory of latent heat which Dr Brack dif- covered i9 &e ce ce 74 (a4 +e “e &é Of M. DE LUG. 45 covered long ago. But firft to confine our attention to the cooling of the fteam, and then to explain the appearance of condenfation from this cooling alone, is a fpecies of reafoning that one would not have expected from the author of the Mo- difications of the Atmofphere. THE queftion is not, if a body of fteam, in the 212th de- gree of heat, mixed with a body of air, in the ordinary tempe- rature of the atmofphere, fhould preferve its degree of heat, that is to fay, fhould be cooled or not; the queftion is, If the mean heat of this mixed mafs be fufficient to preferve all the humidity in a tranfparent ftate; or, If there fhall be formed a condenfation of vifible mift, in this cafe as well as in the other, where moift and warm air was mixed with the atmofphere? Had no condenfation in this experiment been formed, the prin- ciple of condenfation, confequently of evaporation, could not have been extended to the cafe of fteam, or the rule of evapo- ration would not have been abfolute, as comprehending both the cafe of the atmofphere and that of water by itfelf; but the condenfation actually taking place in the experiment, genera- lizes this law of nature with refpect to every poflible combina- tion of water, air and heat. This condenfation does not hap- pen in confequence of the {team being expofed to any preffure which it had not fuftained before, but becaufe the heat of the mixed mafs, which is the medium between the heats of the two mafles, is not fufficient to preferve all the water in the ftate of vapour; and this is precifely what, accordimg to the theory, the experiment 1s meant to prove. But M. pe Luc, though he has had recourfe to the cooling of the fteam alone, to account for the mift which inftantly ap- pears upon the mixing of the fteam and air, does not lofe fight of the heat which he knows is not loft; but he brings it into action again, for the evaporation of that mift which has ap- peared. It is neceflary to give his reafoning in relation to that fubject. ‘‘ Cependant ces vapeurs décompofées ont augmenté 6s la 46 ANSWERS to the OBFECTIONS “Ja chaleur de lair, et bient6t par-la elles y fubiffent une “‘ nouvelle évaporation, qui les fait difparoitre de nouveau. “ Ainfi ce phénoméne rentre dans le cas général, d’une preci- “* pitation momentanée, fuivie d’une nouvelle évaporation, “quand des vapeurs, ou pures, ou mélées a lair, viennent a dépafler leur maximum, par V’aGtion d’un air moins chaud qu’elles ; fi du moins leur production n’eft pas affez rapide, pour furmonter la caufe de nouvelle évaporation qui nait en méme tems de la nouvelle chaleur acquife par cet air.” Tue fubje& at prefent under confideration is the evaporation of that vifible mift which is formed by the mixture of the {team and air; and it is to be obferved, that the general law of evaporation which M. pe Luc attacks, has been inveftigated by means of the vifible condenfation of water which had been evaporated. M. pz Luc would make it appear, that, upon this occafion of fteam mixed with air, the vifible condenfation in the atmofphere was not formed according to the rule which here is generalized ; becaufe, fays he, that water is again eva- porated by means of the heat which the fteam had communi- cated to the air. 3 But this explanation which M. pe Luc has offered to ac- count for the evaporation again of the vifible mift, appears to be inconfiftent with his theory refpeéting the condenfation of the fteam. For, if the condenfation of the {team be the effect of its being cooled by the air, while the air is neceflarily heated, by it, How could the former ftate of things be reftored without an aflignable reafon, or any known caufe? that is to fay, How could the air reftore to the water that heat which it had re- ceived by communicating with the fteam? or, How could the condenfed {team receive from the air any heat, or rob it of that portion of heat which it had before imparted, and which is now neceflarily required for its evaporation? Here, furely, would be an effect without a caufe, or a caufe producing two oppofite effects. 66 BuT OF MADE LUG. 47 But though not in -confequence of his theory, M. pr Luc feems to adduce that explanation in confirmation of it. Now, if this explanation fhould be admitted, it might tend to confirm his fuppofition, that the fteam had been condenfed, not by the medium temperature of the mixed air and vapour, as I con- tend, but by the air abftracting the heat of the fteam, without mixing with that fteam. It is, therefore, neceffary, that I fhould anfwer that fuppofition with regard to the evaporation of the mift. But it requires ftridt attention to many circum- ftances, in order to fee, in a juft light, that atmofpheric: opera tion, which had led a natural philofopher to make a fuppofition of that kind. : STEAM, before it can be condenfed into water, muft communi- cate or transfer its latent heat (equal to goo° more than the heat of boiling water) to-the body by which it is cooled or condenfed ; confequently, if the diffolving or evaporating power of heat proceeded uniformly with its diftending power or fenfible heat, the mixed mafs of air and {team fhould ftill remain tranfparent, without producing mift or condenfation. For the fteam lofes no heat but what the air gains 3 it is in: the contact of thofe two fluids that this cooling happens ; and it is in this place pre- cifely that the condenfation is produced. But there would be no condenfation, if water could be retained tranfparent, elaftic or diffolved, in the medium heat which is produced at the con- tact of thofe two bodies. Therefore, the condenfation, which actually happens, proves this phyfical truth, that when a mafs of fteam is mixed with a particular mafs of the atmofphere, or with a certain portion of the atmofpherie fluid, the humidity of the new mafs is greater than the mean between the humidi- ties which the two united mafles had feparately. I MIGHT now content myfelf with this obfervation, That it is only with the production of mift or vifible vapour that my propofition is concerned, and not with the diffolution of that mift again, when it comes to be mixed with another portion of the 48 ANSWERS to th OBFECTIONS the atmofphere which is not faturated with humidity. But I have to fhow, that M. pg Luc has not reafoned accurately in explaining the reaflumption of the vifible mift into the tranfpa- rent atmofphere. For, though this fact has no immediate con- nection with the queftion in difpute, the condenfation of va- pour ; yet it might be brought in to affect that queftion, by a fort of reafoning, which, though not fcientific, would be fpecious. _ Tue mift or vifible vapour, according to that reafoning of our author, is evaporated by the heated air: Therefore, that vapour ought not to have beencondenfed; but it was condenfed; therefore it muft have been condenfed upon fome other principle than that which I have alleged is general to all evaporation and conden- fation of humidity. Thus, M. pe Luc would, in effed, though not in terms, make this condenfation to be no conden- fation, or not the condenfation in queftion, becaufe it is not permanent. It is evident, however, that this precipitation of the evaporated water is permanent, fo long as the conditions of its condenfation are continued or remain. But in this cafe of {team emitted into the open air, thofe conditions of conden- {ation cannot continue ; they muft be changed, and the con- denfed vapour muft be again evaporated, fo foon as it meets with a fufficient quantity of air under-faturated with humidity. Therefore, M. pe Luc has endeavoured to explain the evapora- tion of the vifible mift in this cafe, upon a falfe principle, by not taking into confideration the quantity of under-faturated air, which the afcending vapour meets with in the atmo- {phere. Tuus, whether we ‘confider the explanation which M. DE Luc has endeavoured to give, of the condenfation of mift in the cafe of fteam mixed with a body of air, or of the evapo- ration of that mift again when rifing in the atmofphere, there appears to be no folid reafon for his objection to the theory ; and I muft be allowed to maintain, that here alfo, in the cafe of pure vapour, or fteam mixed with a portion of the atmo- {phere, , SE ic Of M. DE LUG. 49 fphere, the rule is abfolute, or the affumed principle with regard to the particular modification of the law of heat, is perfectly confirmed, at the fame time that it is generalized, in being ap- plied to every {pecies of vapour and atmofpheric mixture. I CONSIDERED the two examples of breath and fteam as fuf- ficient to confirm the principle with regard to aqueous conden- fation and evaporation, feeing that they comprehended every pof- fible cafe, fo far at leaft as the theory was concerned. But, in thofe examples, the appearance was only that of mift, or vifible condenfed vapour, which correfponded to cloud, and not 1m- mediately to rain. I therefore thought it neceflary, in order to overcome the ordinary prejudices of mankind, to give an ex- ample feemingly more in point, although perhaps fuperfluous, as it follows fo plainly from the principle. There is, however, fomething fo convincing in the appearance, when a fhower of rain is formed artificially in a chamber of experiment, that even a philofopher finds himfelf better fatisfied, after feeing the fad, than by many arguments, by which all the fteps of the operation might be explained, and every effet foretold. I therefore gave two examples of this fort, which had come to my knowledge. It is concerning thefe that we are now to exa- mine what M. pe Luc has faid, (parag. 587.) ** Le feul des phénomenes cités par le Dr Hutton, qui ait “ un rapport immediat avec fa théorie, eft la précipitation nei- ** geufe des vapeurs répandues dans l’air chaud d’une chambre, “« jorfque cet air vient 4 communiquer a un air exterieur trés- ** froid. Mais la preuve qui femble en réfulter en faveur de ** cette théorie, n’eft qu’apparente ; car il n’y a pas lieu de pré- “‘ fumer, que les vapeurs fuffent 2 leur maximum dans Vair ex- ** terieur, ni a Tornea, ni a Peterfburg: circonftance qui nean- “ moins feroit néceflaire pour produire une precipitation d’eau “ dapres ’hypothefe ; 4 moins qu’on ne fupposat encore, que ** quoique les vapeurs ne foient pas a leur maximum dans deux “airs qui fe mélent, elles peuvent le dépaffer fenfiblement dans Vor, II. L Sle 50 ANSWERS to the OBFECTIONS “le mélange ; ce qui exigeroit toujours plus des expériences di- ** wedtes.”’ We have already feen how M. pe Luc has endeavoured to explain the phenomenon, or rather to elude the queftion, when the breath which is expired into the atmofphere is vifibly con- denfed ; but furely that was a phenomenon which had an im- mediate relation to the theory. Therefore M. pr Luc is by no means warranted in faying, that this one, which he is now examining, is the only phenomenon of thofe cited by me which has an immediate relation to the theory; for, as the experiment of the breath exhibits the formation of cloud, and as cloud is generally confidered as the immediate caufe of rain, the formation of cloud without rain, in our experiments, is as immediately related to the theory, as the formation of rain without cloud. We are now'to fee how M. pe Luc has endea- voured to elude the force of this example of the formation of rain. Tue reafon here given by our author, why the proof, refult- ing from thefe examples of actual rain, is not real, but only apparent, is this, Becaufe, fays he, there is reafon to prefume,. that the external air in thofe two cafes was not fully faturated with humidity or vapour. Now, for that very reafon, | fay, circumftances were juft fo much the more unfavourable for condenfation ; confequently, if condenfation actually takes place in this unfavourable cafe, a fortiori it mult be allowed in others where circumftances may be more favourable for that operation. Itis therefore evidently my intereft, fo far to al- low M. ve Luc his fuppofition with regard to the ftate of the external air. But how that ihould require more proof, or more direct proof, on my. part, I am at a lofs:to conceive ; as I think that | have, on that very account, good: reafon to demand of M. pe Luc better arguments, or more direct proof, againft the theory. M. pe Luc, indeed, gives a reafon for this demand of his, in.the next: fentence ;. but: itis avery, different one from that OF M. DE LUG. 51 that which he had already given. It is this, “ Car d’ailleurs, “‘ Jes phénoménes dont il s’agit peuvent s'expliquer fans avoir ** recours a cette hypothéfe.” Here, indeed, is a very good reafon for objecting to the application of thofe experimental cafes ; and now we are to examine this explanation which M. pe Luc is to give of the phenomenon. He fays, “‘ La mafle (comparativement fort petite) de lair de_ ** Ja chambre, perdoit trés-promptement une quantité fenfible ** de fa chaleur par l’ouverture qu’on y faifoit, fans que l’air ** extérieure fe réchauffat fenfiblement a cette ouverture, auprés ** de laquelle l’air qui commencoit a s’échauffer, faifoit bientot “ place a de lair froid, en s’élevant. Les vapeurs chaudes de- ** voient donc fe précipiter en brouillard dans la chambre ; par- ** ceque l’air exterieur n’en recevoit prefque point.” Tue explanation which M. pe Luc has here attempted, either is not conceived with that diftinétnefs of idea which is required for inveftigating the laws of nature, or is not expref- fed in fuch precife terms as might make it eafy to bring his propofition to a fcientific iffue, in applying principles. Let us, however, endeavour to follow the argument of our author through the obfcurity in which it is involved. M. ve Luc fays, that the air of the chamber would quickly lofe a fenfible quantity of its heat, without the external air being fenfibly heated at this opening. Does he mean, that the air of the chamber would fuffer any lofs of its heat upon this occa- fion, befides what happened by the interchanging of the ex- ternal and internal air? Such a fuppofition as that might truly form the foundation of an argument; but this, it is found, will not conform to the laws of hydroftatics. He, therefore, mutt be obliged to fuffer fome of the heated air to efcape, and its place to be fupplied with the cold air which comes in. Things being in this ftate, our author fays, that the warm va- pours ought to precipitate, in forming mift in the chamber, be- caufe the external air receives fcarce any of them. This evi- § 2 dently 52 ANSWERS to th OBFECTIONS dently is to have again recourfe to the fallacious argument, al- ready difcufled, of a cold body cooling a warm body, without being warmed ; and it is to fuppofe a fhower of fnow produced in the warm air of the chamber, by the introduction of cold air, without that cold air mixing with the warm. But how is one body of air fuddenly to cool another body of air, without their mixing together? At leaft, it is as natural for thofe two bodies to be mixed together as to form a medium temperature ; and if M. pe Luc is to found an argument upon any of thofe events not happening in that manner, he fhould point out fome other reafon for his fuppofing that they do not mix, than that of their forming a condenfation of humidity; an event which fhould happen, according to the principle we have en- deavoured to eftablifh; a principle which M. pe Luc would perfuade us to believe to be without foundation. Our author then forms the fuppofition of another ftate of the cafe, in order, no doubt, to put things in a clearer light; but, without more accurately attending to the circumftances of the cafe than he has done, it has no other effect, in my opinion, than to perplex the fubje&t more and more. He fays, “ Si au: “ lieu d’une fimple ouverture a la chambre, fes parois euflent ‘“* été enlevés, et que la mafle de fon air ett été ainfi en contact * tout le tour avec l’air exterieur, il s’y feroit aufli formé un “ nuage ; mais alors il auroit bient6t difparu en s’évaporant, “ comme celui de l’eau bouillante difparoit dans lair qui l’en- “ vironne.” Here M. pe Luc does not feem to be fenfible that he is only: defcribing what fhould actually happen according to the theory.. But he had juft now given us to underftand, that he was to ex- plain the formation of fnow or rain, in this cafe, upon fome other principle than that of the propofition which has been now fo fully confidered. How far he has performed that un- dertaking, I would willingly leave to be decided by thofe who may be more impartial judges in this cafe. But left it fhould be Of M. DE LUC. «53 be thought that I omit to anfwer any thing which M. bE Luc may propofe in relation to this fubje@t, I fhall now examine this laft ftatement which he has given of the cafe, and endea- vour to fhow, that every thing which he fuppofes to appear, fhould truly happen according to the propofition which he has been pleafed to queftron or deny. In fuppofing the cafe of a body of warm and humid air en- vironed by the cold atmofphere, M. pre Luc does not here mention what degree of faturation or humidity he fuppofes in the external air. Now, upon this will very much depend the confequences of mixing the fmall portion of humid air with an indefinite portion of the furrounding atmofphere. If we fuppofe, as, from other parts of his writing, M. pe Luc in- clines to do, that the atmofphere is not fully faturated, then all the appearances mutt follow which he has fuppofed ; that is to fay, that there is firft to be a vifible condenfation in the mix- ture of the two airs; but as this compound mafs, or warmed air, mixes with the colder, by rifing and difperfing in the at- mofphere, the condenfed humidity is at laft to be totally evapo- rated or diffolved in the quantity of air which is not faturated: with vapour. LET us now again fuppofe the furrounding atmofphere to be fully faturated or impregnated with humidity, then, in mixing with it the warm humid air of the chamber, there is reafon to: conclude, that the condenfation of humidity would remain permanent, although it might not remain vifible, if in fmall quantity and greatly difperfed inthe atmofphere. But this will: require fome explanation. | AccorRDING to the principle affumed in my propofition, it. is equal. portions of the unequally heated airs, that, upon mix-. ture, fhould produce the greateft condenfation of humidity ;: and that, in proportion as a very fmall quantity of one or other is employed, that is to fay, in proportion to the inequality of the mixed bodies, the fmaller quantity of condenfation will be: 54 ANSWERS to th OBF¥ECTIONS be produced. Now, the mixture, whether of fteam or moift air, with the open atmofphere, in uniting with fo much air, muft foon be brought to the moft extreme cafe of this kind, that is, to the greateft inequality of the mixed bodies, and to the fmal- left quantity of condenfed vapour. Neverthelefs, according to the rigour of the rule, no portion of warm faturated air can be mixed with cold air in the fame faturated ftate, without there being produced a certain quantity of condenfation, which will then remain permanent, fo long as the proper conditions are preferved. In like manner, as two faturated folutions of a faline fubftance, ¢. g. of nitre, in different temperatures with regard to heat, when mixed and preferved in the fame tempera- ‘ture, precipitate a quantity of falt, which is never reaflumed ‘by the water, unlefs the heat of that fluid be increafed above the medium temperature which the mixture had produced. This laft is a definite and a practicable’ experiment; the other, with the atmofphere, is an indefinite experiment which cannot be made. And | am furprifed that M. pe Luc fhould not have feen the fubject in the proper light. In this cafe of warm and humid air mixing with the colder atmofphere, as for example, the vapours coming out from the vent of a malt-kiln, it is evident to obfervation, that the mift which is delivered into the air difappears only in proportion as it is difperfed in the atmofphere, that is to fay, as it meets with unfaturated air by which it may be diflolved. Now, this diffo- Jution is proved by fome other obfervations, which it is ex- tremely eafy to make. Thefe are, firf, that, ceteris paribus, it re- quires very little difperfion of the mift or vifible vapours in the atmofphere, in order that they may be diflolved when the air is dry ; and that, on the contrary, when it is moift, the vapour continues vifible long after it is fo difperfed. 2dly, That it re- uires a lefs difference in the temperatures of the two mixed airs to produce a vifible mift, when the atmofphere is moift than when it is more dry. So far, therefore, as this experiment is 7 OF MM. DE LEUE. 55 is practicable, I think we may be allowed to fay that natural appearances confirm our theory. Lone before writing the Theory of Rain which is now in queftion, | had afcertained the diffolution of nitre in water, to: proceed, not uniformly with the heat, but in a rate that was' increafing. I had alfo accurately meafured feveral of the ordi- nates of the curve which this progrefs formed, by carefully evaporating folutions faturated in different degrees of heat ; and I had once fome thoughts of corroborating the propofition, with regard to the rule of vapour by the meafured curve, with regard to the folution of nitre. But as fuch analogical reafon- ing in phyfics is only proper to lead to conje¢ture ; and as, in the cafe of vapour, we find the moft dire& proof that the rule is to increafe at a growing rate with the heat, I gave nothing in my paper but what was neceflary to afcertain the principle fo far inveftigated. M. pe Luc has indeed difputed it; but any perfon who has read his later publications, will hardly expect, that, with his meteorological ideas, our author fhould, on this: occafion, be altogether free of partiality. Havine thus anfwered every objection which M. pE Luc has made, it may be proper farther to obferve, that it was not for want of other examples to eftablifh the principle of heat and evaporation, that I-confined myfelf to thofe which: M. ve Luc has now difputed. I confidered them as all un- exceptionable, and as perfectly in point. I therefore thought them fufficient to eftablifh the truth of the propofition which had been aflumed. I might have referred tothe mift formed in a fummer evening upon meadows heated by the fun during the day, and evaporating humidity when the air grows cool;. as alfo, to the vifible fmoak, in the winter feafon, from the furface of water, a degree or two only above the freezing point, when the atmofphere upon that furface is about 15° colder. Inlike manner, I might have cited the experiments wherein: 56 ANSWERS to th OBFECTIONS wherein condenfation of vapour is formed, by mixing the at- mofpheric air with that which had been rarefied, or by emitting into the atmofphere air which had been condenfed. In all thofe cafes, there is the mixture of two portions of the atmo- fphere, in fufficiently different temperatures, to produce con- denfation of humidity, which actually happens. Thus, all thofe appearances are properly explained by the theory, or, as experiments, they confirm the aflumed propofition. Bur if thus every particular example is a proof, and if each example is unexceptionable in its kind, what degree of evidence mutt arife from the united teftimony of every poflible experi- ment almoft which can be adduced in relation to the fubje&t? It is to be prefumed that M. pz Luc, with all his extenfive knowledge of nature, could not adduce one fhadow of a fact by which the alleged propofition could be called in queftion or difproved. M. bE Luc concludes in the following manner, (parag. 588.) Je ne vois donc rien dans ces faits, qui contribue a éclaircir la queftion de la pluie; et par conséquent elle me paroit refter au point ou je l’avois amené avant que d’entrer dans ce nouvel examen. Je tire méme du memoire du Dr Hut- TON, ces deux confequences, qui juftifient le travail que j’ai enterpris. Quoiqu’il paroiffe s’étre beaucoup occupé des phénomenes de la pluie, aucune théorie a leur egard ne l’avoit fatisfait ; et d’aprés ce qui lui etoit connu des loix de l’hygro- logie, il avoit conclu, que la précipitation de l’eau fimple- ment evaperée, ne pouvoit étre produite que par refroidifle- ment. Or, ce font, entre autres, ces deux motifs qui m’ont conduit dans mes recherches.”’ M. ve Luc had no occafion to juftify his undertaking by any opinions of mine. His writings will always contain matter fufficient to intereft the public; and his ideas of hygro- logy muft be fupported upon their own bottom. I therefore with he had not given as my ideas expreflions which, however, ce in Of M. DE LUC. ne in fome refpects, fufficiently juft, may bear’perhaps another in- terpretation. That the precipitation of water fimply evapo- rated cannot be produced except by cooling, is an expreffion which, though not contrary to my idea, does not contain pre- cifely my opinion. Water is not precipitated from the atmo- fphere in time of rain by the cooling of the air, in the ordinary fenfe of that expreffion, that is, by the abftration of a certain _ quantity of its heat, which is then communicated to fome other body ; but it is becaufe the air is-not able to contain fo great a quantity of water, in proportion to its heat, when it is in a lower temperature. The compound mafs of air, which in the formation of rain precipitates water, is not cooled, fo far as I know, below the mean temperature of the different mafles of unequally heated air which have concurred to form it ; but this mean temperature does not fuffice to evaporate all the water which had been contained in thefe mafles feparately. This, however, is only by the by; and I now proceed to the material part of his conclufion, where he thus continues : “ Quant a l’hypothefe que je viens d’examiner, elle étoit * trés naturelle dans état des faits connus; puifqu’il n’étoit ““ pas poflible de concevoir d’aucune autre maniére, que des ** mélanges d’airs a differentes temperatures, puflent produire “« des pluies abondantes: et la vraifemblance de cette hypothéfe “ ne pouvoit étre détruite, que par un genre d’experiences et “« d’obfervations, qui ne fait que de naitre en phyfique avec * Phygrométre.” In anfwer to this, I have but to-obferve, that, had M. pre Luc contented himfelf with faying, as he here has done, that the probability of this hypothefis could not be overturned, but by a fort of phyfical experiments and obfervations which have juft taken their birth with the hygrometer, I fhould have waited patiently until thofe experiments and obfervations had arrived at that maturity which might enable them to confute my theory. But M. pe Luc has undertaken to confute it upon VoL. II. b other 58 ANSWERS to th OBFECTIONS, &e. other principles, which do not require any profound knowledge of that inftrument. It is only to thefe that I have anfwered ; and I beg it to be underftood, that the theory which I have en- deavoured to eftablith, 1s juft now as open to the experiments of the hygrometer, whether for being fupported by them or overthrown, as if nothing had been written upon the fub- ject. fp a] IX. 4n AccounT of a DisTEMPER, by the common Peo- ple in England vulgarly called the MUMPS. By RoBert Hamitton, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of Phyficians, ¥.R.S. Evin. and Phyfician at Lynn Regis, in Norfolk *. HE mumps, or what | beg leave to call angina maxillaris, is an epidemic difeafe of a very fingular nature. It has appeared fometimes to be pretty general; but this has not been the cafe for many years in this place. It feems to be analogous to, if not the fame diftemper with that called the branks, by the common people in Scotland. In the general account of epi- demics, in the firft volume of the Medical Eflays of Edinburgh, a diforder is mentioned which feems to have been a flight de- gree of that which is the fubject of the following paper. I have had much practice in this difeafe, and indeed was once reduced to the utmoft danger by it myfelf. In the following paper, I fhall not pretend to give a fy{tema- tic treatife on the mumps. I fhall relate what was the refult of obfervation, both in regard to the hiftory and cure of this dif- eafe ; and as I fhall faithfully detail what I actually faw, I flatter myfelf, that this account will not be ete a of the perufal of future obfervers. b 2 THE * This paper was read before the Philofophical Society of Edinburgh, Auguft 5. 1773. It is now printed by order of the Committee for publication of the Tranfaétions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. J 60 ACCOUNT of a DISTEMPER THE hiftory of the mumps is as follows : A LASSITUDE, a heavinefs, a general reftlefs uneafinefs, not eafily defcribed, are perceived feveral days before the fwelling which chara¢terifes the difeafe, begins to appear. Thefe difa- greeable feelings are attended with gentle rigors, and fome degree of fever, which, being flight, is commonly difregarded. Then a ftiffnefs, with obtufe pain, is felt in one or both fides of the articulation of the lower jaw, impeding its motion and of courfe maftication; which fymptoms increafing, a fwelling appears upon the parts the following day, and quickly extends to the parotid glands, the neighbouring {kin, and cellular mem- brane. Here, in fome, it ftops without difcolouring the fkin ; and, by keeping the parts moderately warm, and cautioufly avoiding the cold external air, the patient is foon freed from it, without any medical affiftance. But, when this is not the cafe, the parts affected generally redden the next day, the tumor be- comes more diffufed, and fometimes increafes fo fuddenly in fize, that, on the third day from its firft appearance, it occupies the falivary glands and furrounding cellular membrane on that fide ; and, if both fides are affected, the parts are fo much fwelled, and the tumor defcends fo low, that the countenance is. rendered of a frightful enormous magnitude ; and now deglu- tition becomes more or lefs impeded. All this is frequently without much pain ; but moft commonly there is now a great deal, and a confiderable degree of fever. When this happens, the countenance appears florid, and a dufky eryfipelatous in- flammation covers the tumor, which is deepeft in colour where there is the greateft hardnefs, viz. on the parotid and maxillary glands. In many fubjects here it ends. And it feems proba- ble from the natural refolution of the difeafe, which now im- mediately follows, that the tumor has attained its greateft mag- nitude, Vulgarly called the M UMPS. 61: nitude, and the diftemper its acmé; for, about the morning of the fourth day from the firft appearance of the fwelling, a dif- charge begins from the emun¢tories behind the ears ; a dew- like fweat, frequently in large drops, iffues from every pore of the extended furface of the tumor ; a gentle diaphorefis covers the body, if in bed; the inflammation abates, the {welling gradually leffens, and, with thefe favourable circumftances, the fever goes off, and the diftemper totally difappears about the fixth day, if nature is not interrupted in her bufinefs. But, if the tumor fubfides fuddenly about the fourth day, and one or both tefticles begin to fwell, fometimes with much pain, heat, inflammation, new rigors, and a frefh exacerba- tion of fever, much is to be apprehended from this new mor- bid appearance, and much circumfpection is required in the treatment of it. For the means employed by nature to promote the refolution of the tumified teftes, are exactly fimilar to thofe which take place in the termination of the tumors below the ears; a fpontaneous difcharge iffues from the fkin of the parts. affected, and, if this is copious and continued, and accompanied with a free perfpiration from the furface of the whole body in bed, the difeafe ends happily without farther trouble; but if it is {canty, partial, or interrupted by accidental cold or impru- dent treatment, the tumors of the tefticles fubfide fuddenly, the patient becomes reftlefs, a frefh exacerbation of fever en- fues, the head is affected, delirium follows, with convulfions and other dreadful fymptoms, and fometimes death clofes the {cene. Ir may be afked, Whence does this train of fymptoms arife? Is it from a tumefaction of the brain taking place in the inftant of the fudden diminution of the tumors of the teftes ; as we have before feen happen to the tefticles, when the faliva- ry glands fuddenly fubfided ? AN 62 ACCOUNT of a DISTEMPER AN extraordinary circumftance took place in two cafes which came under my notice. One tefticle in each perfon was found to be wafted away after the difeafe had ended; fome particulars of which {hall be mentioned in the fequel. THE pathognomic figns of the mumps may be readily ga-~ thered from the foregoing hiftory, and are the fame with little variation. The characteriftic tumor under one or both ears, involving the falivary glands, with more or lefs of a concomi- tant fever, is the firft. If the difeafe is mild, it foon ends by a fpontaneous fweating from the furface of the tumor. If not, that tumor (or tumors, if on both fides) fubfides fuddenly, accompanied with a frefh exacerbation of fever, and the tefti- cles fwell. And here it alfo fometimes goes no further, but terminates by a difcharge from the {kin covering thofe parts. But if the teftes fuddenly fubfide, and a frefh exacerbation of fever appear at the fame time, the brain is immediately affected, at- tended by a train of terrible fymptoms, and death fometimes ends the conflict. THE mumps, fo far as my obfervations extended, appeared generally confined to young men, from the age of puberty up- wards to thirty years. Not many between thirty and forty fell under my care. I never knew above one man of forty at- tacked by this difeafe, and he fuffered feverely. Very few boys were affected, and thofe had the diftemper mildly. I NEVER faw any of the female fex above ten years old fubje& to this illnefs ; and thofe who fell under my care were not nu- merous, and generally had the difeafe mildly. I do not remem- ber one inftance of the mammz being affected. I have, how- ever, heard of this circumftance ; but cannot fpeak as to the authenticity of my inteligence. But from what happens in men, it is, from analogy, moft natural to fuppofe, that the ovaria are more likely to be affected than the mammez; al- though there is undoubtedly a wonderful fympathy be- tween ila ii Vulgarly called the MUM PS. 63 tween the uterus, and we fuppofe its appendages, and the mammz. On this matter, however, I fhall not pretend to decide. Tue mumps made its appearance in an epidemic form at Lynn in 1758, and remained feveral years afterwards. It was chiefly confined to the {pring months. In the year 1761, it pre- vailed very much. ‘Two companies of the Norfolk regiment of militia were quartered here, and put under my care. It raged more among thefe foldiers, in proportion to their number, than amongft the inhabitants of the town. I was very feldom with- out feven or eight of thefemen upon my lift, ill of the mumps. After 1761, it began to decline. It, however, made its appear- ance in {pring and autumn, more or lefs as an epidemic, for feveral years afterwards; but the number afflicted with it became gradually lefs: And fome fporadic cafes were to be met with many years after the epidemical appearance of it had ceafed. Ir muft be ingenuoufly confeffed, that on the firft appearance of this (to me) new difeafe, I was much at a lofs how to treat it. In vain I fearched in many authors for its hiftory and cure. That fhort account given by Mr Gooeu, in his Cafes and Re- marks in Surgery, publifhed firft about this time, was the only one | could find ; and that was too defective to form from it any general method of cure of a difeafe much more formidable in its appearance here, than that mild fpecies of it which feem- ed to have fallen under his care, and gave way fo readily to the antiphlogiftic method of cure. Obfervation foon taught me that this plan was not only infufficient, but hurtful; and that large evacuations, with a view to reduce the tumors and. pro- mote their difcuffion, did oftener harm than good ; the changes which take place in a bad kind of this difeafe, from the falivary glands to the teftes, and from thefe to the brain, appearing to be more frequent and dangerous, when evacuations were freely and. 64 ACGOUNT of 2 DISTEMPER and copioufly employed, than when they were fparingly ufed, or not at all. Thus difappointed by following the only method of cure I had feen, I determined to ftudy the difeafe with at- tention, and endeavour to imitate nature’s operations in re- moving it; and had the fatisfaftion to fee all my patients re- cover. As the antiphlogiftic method had not been attended with fuccefs, I avoided bleeding, unlefs it was indicated by an uncommonly hard and full pulfe, attended with great inflam- mation and pain ; and even then I bled but fparingly. Indeed, as highly inflammatory fymptoms but rarely occurred, there was feldom occafion for this evacuation. The bowels were kept open by clyfters; and fometimes a gentle eccoprotic was necef- fary for this purpofe, but the ftronger cathartics were never ufed.. As the difcharge behind the ears, and the fweating from the furface of the tumor, feemed to point out nature’s princi- pal refources in terminating this difeafe, thefe were carefully encouraged, by wrapping the parts in flannel; and, if thefe difcharges happened to ftop, or even to leffen, with an increafe of feverifh fymptoms, blifters were applied behind the ears, fufficiently large to defcend from thence over the whole furface of the tumors, which, by opening a difcharge from the parts immediately affected, imitated, in fome degree, that evacua- tion from them which nature eftablifhes to relieve herfelf; and. by the influence of their irritation, the difeafe feemed to refume afrefh its feat in the falivary glands, when it had in part left them, and taken pofleffion of the teftes. It was curious to ob- ferve this fact. Sometimes, after the fubfiding of the tumid falivary glands, they have become fwelled and painful again. When this occurred, the tumors of the tefticles became lefs painful, more relaxed, and leffened in fize, whilft the brain, at the fame time, remained perfectly free from diforder. And this happened more than once in the fame perfon. It was. fometimes obferved, that, after the affeftion of the brain had taken Vulgarly called the MUM PS. 65 taken place upon the fudden diminution of the tefticles, that the latter have again become tumid and painful, and that the brain, on this appearance of the difeafe in them, has been 1m- mediately relieved. Of this curious circumftance, I have feen feveral inftances ; but one was remarkably ftriking 1m a partt- cular friend, to whom it occurred twice. He, however, did well; but one tefticle wafted away. Reflecting, foon after this paper was firft written, (which was feveral years after my obfervations were begun) on the extraordinary aptitude of this difeafe to flu€tuate in this manner, I conceived that it would be an object of the firft confequence, to fix the diftemper, if pofh- ble, in its firft fituation, the falivary glands, until it was per- fectly ended, and prevent this dangerous difpofition of it, to fhift. its abode. An early irritation on the parts, and difcharge from. the furface, appeared, from what had been obferved of the dif- eafe, and its mode of termination, naturally to be the moft likely means of effecting this; and blifters, from what already had been experienced, feemed:to be beft calculated for this pur- pofe. There could be no hazard.in the trial. With this view, blifters of a fize fufficient to cover the fkin of the tumors, fup- pofing they fhould afterwards attain any confiderable magni- tude, were applied’ over the falivary glands, before the fwellings had arrived at their height, or any fpontaneous difcharge had appeared ; and fo far was the experiment attended with fuccefs, that I do not remember a fingle inftance of a fwelling of the tefticles: taking place, where this mode of attempting to keep up the tumefaction of. the falivary glands, and anticipating the na- tural difcharge, was put in execution. Wherefore, it became my conftant practice afterwards, to apply large blifters on the tumors as foon as they were fufficiently formed to charaterife’ the difeafe ; and I had great fatisfaction in: obferving their uti- lity. From analogy, we may prefume, that a fimilar mode of practice would be attended with the moft. beneficial effects, in Vou. I. - ; Fe cafes 66 ACCOUNT of a DISTEMPER cafes where the tumefa¢tions of the tefticles fuddenly fubfide, and the brain becomes affected. I never had occafion to try this ; but I am fo convinced, that, in cafes of this kind, (where there is generally danger), it would be of the greateft advan- tage, that I fhould not hefitate a moment in covering the whole {crotum ‘with a blitter, or rather a bliftering cataplafm, as foon as the leaft fymptom of the head’s becoming difordered appear- ed, with a view to recal (if I may ufe the expreffion) the dif- eafe from the brain to the tefticles, whilft, to relieve the latter, epifpattics {fhould, at the fame time, be fully employed over the tumefied falivary glands. As the patients were generally relieved by a fpontaneous fweating in bed, diaphoretics of fpiritus mindereri, &%c. with warm drinks, affifted to keep up the difcharge for a day or two, and the diftemper was foon at an end. If, about the third day, the tefticles began to fwell, without any remarkable in- creafe of fever, the fame method relieved them. But, if this was accompanied with a low running quick pulfe, and reftlefs- nefs or anxiety, more epifpaftics were applied, and the vis vite kept up by neurotic cordials, befide fudorifics, with a neceflary proportion of the beft of all cordials, wine, and a plentiful f{weating was encouraged. The medicines employed were va- rious, according to circumftances ; and were compofed of cam- phire, volatile alcali, fp. mindereri, vin. antimonial. decoct. fer- pentar. €c. with a requifite proportion of opium to abate the reftlefsnefs. The tumefied tefticles were fufpended in a bag- trufs ; the colon was emptied by clyfters, if the patients were coftive ; and, with this treatment, the patients generally got well about the fixth, feventh or eighth day. It is requifite here to obferve, that although the parts affect- ed were kept warm, and the body covered fo as to encourage a difcharge from the fkin, it was neceffary that the lungs fhould have a frequent fupply of cool frefh air; for which purpofe, the Vulgarly called th MUM PS. 67 the curtains of the bed were kept open, and a free ventilation occafionally admitted by the door and windows of the cham- bers of the fick, which had very beneficial effects. In the fpring of the year 1758, a gentleman of about twenty- two years of age, (of this town), of a plethoric habit, was feized: with the mumps. The tumors of the parotid and maxillary glands were large, hard and inflamed, and accompanied. with much fever. He was bled copioufly, and took a brifk cathar- tic, which produced very frequent and large evacuations. The tumors fuddenly fubfided, and his tefticles as fuddenly {welled to an enormous fize, attended with great pain and much fever. Unfortunately, the laft tumefaction was fufpected to arife from a venereal caufe. The event fatally proved the contrary. In confequence of the opinion of its being venereal, plentiful eva- cuations were deemed neceffary ; and accordingly bleeding and brifk purging were again repeated. The cataftrophe was dread- ful: For the-fwelled tefticles fubfided fuddenly the next day,. the patient was feized with a moft frantic delirium, the nervous fyftem was fhattered with ftrong convulfions, and he died> raving mad the third day after. My affairs calling’ me abroad prevented my being prefent on this occafion; but, on my re- turn, at the end of the fame year, I received this account from a late learned and worthy phyfician *, who attended the patient the three laft days of his difeafe. I HAD not many inftances where the brain was affected. One, however, of a gentleman, in April 1762, was marked with a circumftance fo extraordinary, that I beg leave to give fome account of it. This perfon was about forty years of age, of a full habit, and had been: bled fome days before any fymp- ~ tom of the mumps appeared. He was obliged to-travel a jour= ney in a chaife, the fecond day after the parotid glands began to: fwell. On-the day following this, the tumors: of the falivary: ae glands: - *DrJos. Tayiea. 68 ACCOUNT of a DISTEMPER glands had greatly increafed, were inflamed, and the patient had much fever. On the morning of the fourth day, the fwellings were very much enlarged, and the tefticles began to be affected with pain; on the evening of that day, the right one fwelled. On the fifth day, both tefticles were much tume- fied ; but the right one was by far the moft fo, and foon became twice the fize of the other ; and the falivary glands were found to be very confiderably diminifhed. On the day following this, the tefticles were found leffened in fize, and the patient was become reftlefs, delirious, with much fever, and had pafled a very bad night; yet the tefticles did not fpeedily, nor altogether, fubfide after the delirrum began. Large blifters, nervous, &c. medi- cines, with {trict confinement in bed, agreeable to the mode of cure before mentioned, foon relieved this patient ; the tefticles {welled again, the delirium _left him, the fever went off, and the difeafe gradually ceafed. The moft remarkable circum- {tance attending this cafe was, that the right tefticle, which was twice the magnitude of the other, and was the firft attack- ed, was found, after the tumors in both had fubfided, and the difeafe was at an end, to be reduced to almoft half its natural di- menfions, and kept gradually wafting, till at length a mere empty bag, confifting of the coats, only remained. The glan- dular body of the tefticle has been long gone; neither is the epididymis at this time (April 1789) to be felt; the empty tu- nics are moftly flaccid, but fometimes they contract into a flattened body of an oblong fhape, fomewhat like an almond. This body is very tender, and gives pain when inadvertently preffed, or touched with roughnefs ; which pain ftrikes in the inftant up the fpermatic chord to the loins, and is exquifite for a few feconds. This, however, feldom happens, as he is particu- larly careful to defend this very fenfible and irritable part from injury ; the {permatic chord is contra@ted and feels hard to the touch ; but this alfo is extremely fenfible. From all which circumftances. Vulgarly called the MUM PS. 69 circumftances, it may be prefumed, that the veffels are much leffened in diameter, and perhaps the fpermatic artery 1s be- come impervious ; but the nerves have acquired more fenfibi- lity and ,irritability. After his recovery, he found no other inconvenience from this extraordinary change than what we have named ; has -had two children fince, one born in 17609, and the other in 1772, who have both healthy conftitutions ; and he now enjoys as good health as moft men at his time of life. ANOTHER cafe of a wafted tefticle in confequence of the mumps, came afterwards under my infpection. A YOUNG man, of twenty-five years of age, of a healthy conftitution, was, in the end of the year 1769, attacked by this diftemper. Upon the tumid falivary glands fubfiding fudden- ly, the tefticles became affected. One of them was much more {welled than the other, and was found, when the {welling was reduced, to be diminifhed more than one half of its natural fize, at which it remained in Auguft 1771. Or the great number that fell under my care, there was but one cafe which terminated in fuppuration. This was a young militia foldier, of about nineteen years of age, in the year 1761. The tumor was on the left fide, of an enormous magnitude, reaching from about an inch above the maftoid procefs to the fhoulder. It was opened by incifion, and about two pints of matter were difcharged. The feat of it was entirely in the cel- lular membrane, no fuppuration having taken place in the fa- livary glands themfelves. There were large floughs of the morbid cellular membrane feparated from the vaft cavity of this abfcefs ; the loofe integuments united after this very foon to the parts beneath, and the man got well in a fhort time. © Azout the end of the year 1762, the learned and ingenious Dr RussEu’s Giconomia Nature in Morbis Glandularum, fell into my hands. There I was pleafed to find an account of the mumps, - vo . ACCOUNT of a DISTEMPER ~ mumps, and glad to fee my obfervations fomewhat corrobo- rated by fuch an authority. He thinks it contagious,—* An- “gina hec ex epidemicis una eft, et contagiofa, et per totas * domos graflari folet, nifi antea fortafle juvenes eodem morbo “ Jaboraverint.” The laft part of this fentence implies an opi- nion that people are not liable to have this difeafe more than once. Ido not remember an inftance of a perfon’s having it a fecond time. I have feen it go through a family of feveral’ children, which inclined me to think it contagious; but wher T had the difeafe, not any one elfe in my family, which con- fitted of four children and fix adults, was attacked: by it, al- though my cafe was avery bad one. About twelve months. after my recovery, one of my daughters, about fix years old, had the difeafe, and all the reft efcaped. And what is ftill more remarkable, I do not remember an inftance, in the fa- milies where the militia foldiers ill of this diftemper were quar- tered, of a fingle perfon’s being infected by them. Dr Russe, p. 116. relates a cafe of a patient deftroyed by the mumps, nearly fimilar to that given in this paper.. Hippocrates, fect. 1. book 1. of his Epidemics, appears to- have defcribed the mumps, I fhall take the liberty to tranfcribe the paflage from Dr Freinp’s tranflation. ““ MuLTIs vero aurium tumores fubnafcebantur, qui in al-+ ‘““ teram partem vergebant, plerifque etiam in utramque, ifque: ‘* febre vacuis et in erectum ftantibus nec decumbentibus, etfi: “ nonnullis paulifper incalefcerent; omnibus abfque noxa ex- “ tincti funt, neque cuiquam, velut ii, qui alias fui ortus cau- “ fas habent, fuppurationem fecerunt. Horum autem ea fuit ““ natura, ut molles et laxi effent, magni, diffufi aut fparfi, fine ‘“‘ inflammatione et dolore. Omnibufque fenfim et fine ulla *“ fienificatione evanefcerent. Fiebant ifta quidem adolefcenti- ‘** bus, juvenibus, ztate florentibus, atque horum plurimis qur “in paleftra, et gymmnaftis exercebantur; mulieribus vero pau- 7 “ qa Vulgarly called th MUMPS. — 71 ** cis contingebant. Multis tuffes aride et anes, quibus cum * tuffi nihil educebatur, nec ita multo poft voces raucefcebant. ** Quibufdam vero ex temporis intervallo inflammationes cum dolore in alterum teftem erumpebant, quibufdam etiam in utrofque. Alii quidem febribus corripiebantur, nonnulli- vero fine febre perfiftebant. Atque adeo hzc ipfa plurimis gravia et molefta fuere. De reliquo autem quod ad ea attinet, que ad chirurgiam fpectant, in his inculpate habe- * ruba. | MN: 78 MEDICAL ACCOUNT of M. Jussizu ufed this bark for fifteen years in obftinate dyfenteries with great fuccefs; and continued its exhibition, although the catamenia in women, or hemorrhage from piles in men, occurred during the cure. | Mopern phyficians have found from experience, that this medicine is only fuccefsful in the third ftage of dyfentery, where there is no fever, where too the ftomach is no way hurt, and where the gripes and tenefinus are only continued by a weak- nefs of the bowels. In fuch cafes, Dr D. Monro gave two or three ounces of the deco¢tion every five or fix hours, with four or five drops of laudanum ; and found it a very ufeful remedy. Tue late Sir Joun Princie, Dr Huck SaAunpDERs, and ma- ny others, prefcribed the cortex fimaruba in old and obftinate dyfenteries and diarrhceas, efpecially thofe brought from warm _ climates. Fluxes of this fort, which were brought home from the fieges of Martinico and the Havannah, were completely and {peedily cured by this bark. The urine which, in thofe cafes, had been high coloured and fcanty, was now voided in great abundance, and perfpiration reftored. Dr James Linp at Haflar Hofpital, fays, That the fimaruba produced thefe effects fooner, and more certainly, when given in fuch quantity as to naufeate the ftomach. Dr Huck SaunpeERs remarks, That if the fimaruba did not give relief in three days, he expected little benefit from its farther ufe; but others have found it efficaci- ous in fluxes, after a continued ufe for feveral weeks. Authors have cautioned us againft the ufe of this bark where the in- teftines are ulcerated and difpofed to cancer after fluxes. In diarrhoeas, from abforption of pus, the fimaruba has given relief ; the former difcharge from fuch ulcers was reftored, and the pus meliorated. LrienTER?A itfelf, and even hepatic fluxes, have been cured by the fimaruba, after other medicines were tried without fuc- cefs. Vide A&t. Natur. curiof. tom. ii. p. 80,—82. In The QUASSIA SIMARUBA. 79 In putrid fevers, (as we are told) attended with coldnefs of the extremities, colliquative fweats and ftools, and great dejec- tion of fpirits, this bark performed wonders, and many reco- vered by its ufe. Vide Roure de Morbis Navigantium, p. 311. HaBiTuAL colics, with bloody ftools, attended with fever and delirium, have been radically cured by the fimaruba bark. IMMODERATE fluxes of the menfes and from piles, have been happily ftopped by this medicine ; and it would appear from fome late trials, that fluor albus has been remedied by the fame bark. Dez Haen found the fimaruba to be an excellent vermifuge ; and ufed it with fuccefs in difeafes depending on worms, parti- cularly fluzes. _My own experience, and that of many living friends, are convincing proofs to me of the efficacy of this medicine; and 1 hope the fimaruba bark will foon be in more general ufe. QUASSTA 80 MEDICAL ACCOUNT of QUASSIA SIMARUBA. F 20's... (MiA-si0 1 US Cal. Perianthium monophyllum, parvum, quinquefidum, denti- culis ovatis, erectis. Cor. Petala quinque, feffilia, equalia, lanceolata, fubrevoluta, calyce triplo longiora, calyci inferta. Neéarium ex {quamiis decem, ovatis, villofis, bafi filamentorum interiori infertis. Stam. Filamenta decem, filiformia, equalia, longitudine corollz. Anthere oblonge, incumbentes ; in centro floris corpus carno- fum, orbiculatum, decem-fulcatum. Piftillum nallum. Fros FEMINEUS. Calyx et Corolla, ut in flore mafculo. ~ Pifillum. Germina quinque fubrotunda, introrfum coalita. Stylus cylindraceus, erectus, quinque-partitus, longitudine corolle, Stigmata fubulata, recurvata, perfiftentia. Pericarpium. Drupe quinque laterales, diftantes, receptaculo orbiculato, carnofo infertez. Semina. Nux oblongo-ovata, acuminata, unilocularis. Nucleus compreflus. INFLORESCENTIA. Panicula compofita. Pedicellis fubjicitur ftipula lanceolata, pe- tiolata. Folia alternato-pinnata. Foliola oblonga, obtufa, nitida, integra, bafi attenuata, fubfeffilia; coftis lateralibus nervolis. E X- — — da , LEER PHUAS Sohn Miller dol® TBeuge Soute! phws Orgy DP BR yep PII G J opuriy + oper The QUASSIA SIMARUBA. 81 EXPLANATION or tHe PLATES. Pel Ae Bel Quass1A SIMARUBA Mas, 1. A flower of its natural fize. SIAN Pw wv Cn? AN o . The fame magnified. . The calix of the natural fize. . The fame magnified. . The corolla. . The ten ftamina. . Two ftamina, the infide of one, the outfide of another, pre- fented to view. . The flefhy mafs in the centre of the flower. . The fame magnified, to fhew in what manner the ten fta- mina and f{quamz are placed. Yar ae SS Me a QuasstA SIMARUBA FEMINEA. 2. 3. 4. The fame as in the male flowers. . The piftillum. . The ftyle. . The ten imbricated fquamz. . One pericarpium or drupa. 9. The horizontal feétion of the fame. to. The nut. 11. A perpendicular fection of the fame. i2. The nucleus or kernel. Vor. IT. i BAe rae pals Pr ” SL ie aa ia | vee. so ; i reves i3i8 ; ‘ eles Mee ae hay ewig é {past Penn i nissa Racca Pe ie Nee His! eal Inttrtiem ad¢, ho crpsieeiall eee cabana, coreeta ty Tau ome Nag thin ak letraranii ‘sda hoy = $P4 p 7 rs (3 k # ONS I ah Dts ay, 7M to sbi sarssiipc 7th a a! hae r] M pera) Sears adh Pe erry Cpa Corapeaice! on hip owoh arty An erties utes ‘gel share it pity SPE weg sate tk wine: op losing sian we ies vat “amnbkog) leader 7 ; | } . : i ‘ a > % by F , si, ; a Y:: K nv * + ers: Ay et ei ‘ ae ey rear yar | i ie ts + ne i ee ta it gcitbaby Fd ee HIRANO SE tHraGD siace: walt sti bat nit) eEP iy ‘ ay a f y 4 ue i 7 is atta Sy cpl iiss 3, Titi. ee | ; ; : leh in oS eee at mae - Seveergaiysh bores: ‘deed ain 9 oe nae che yah a Meas 10 LTTE faq's ze rire yi igs ; eat : Suze: a One dy to stir jut bani amenothes ur Hh ee}: 7 Se it . ate Rae on SS pale is 26 cdl creerensiily 1) > ARIE ae (eH TEST egret rea Chae yoy Pt dba %O susivtic od Be tis = se * 4 wv 5 ~ , , _ r ~ - , t 5 cee ty ¥ ‘ - , * 4 is ie ; Soe ee - c , . 4 = i ry 7A =, 7 Lead "MY ae? = — +7 - bathe \ 4 XI. On the Motion of Licut, as affected by refracting and refiecting Subfiances, which are alfo in Motion. By SOHN Rosison, M.A. F.R.S. Eprn. and Profeffor of Natural Philofophy in the Univerfity of Edinburgh. [Read by Mr PLAYFAIR, April 7. 1788.] EW of the mathematicians and philofophers of the pre- fent age have acquired a greater or better founded repu- tation than the celebrated Abbé Boscovicu; and there is none from whofe writings I have received fuch variety of inftruction and entertainment. His Theory of Natural Philofophy will ever be confidered by impartial judges, not only as one of the boldeft, but alfo as one of the moft ingenious refearches into the fecrets of nature. There is hardly a branch of phyfico- mathematical philofophy which he has not cultivated with fuc- cefs ; and in this cultivation he has exhibited the moft acute pe- netration and the greateft addrefs. In all his inveftigations too he has given the moft beautiful {pecimens of geometrical in- vention and elegance, and greatly heightens the pleafure of his readers, by marking out diftinétly the progrefs of his own mind in his refearches. Mr Boscovicu has lately obliged the public with a collection of feveral of his fmaller works in five volumes quarto, publifh- ed at Baflano in 1785. Im the fecond and fourth volumes of this collection, are two very curious papers, on what is called the aberration of light, or the effect which is produced on ‘the apparent place of vifible objects by the motion of the obferver. ii2, There 84 On the MOTION of LIGHT. There is one dedu€tion which he makes from his premifes, ex- tremely curious in itfelf, and having the moft furprifing confe- quences. It is this: If a telef{cope be conftructed, having its tube filled with water, and be directed to a terreftrial object properly fituated, it will be found to deviate from that object by a certain determined quantity every day. It will follow from this, that a perfon {hut up in a mine or dungeon, may, without feeing the fun or heavens, difcover the motion of the earth round the centre of the folar fyftem, and alfo whether this cen- tre be in motion, and the velocity and direction of this mo- tion. THE contrivance of a telefcope filled with water, has been long familiar to my thoughts, (as a means of difcovering whe- ther light be accelerated when refracted towards the perpendi- cular) in confequence of the fpeculations of my ingenious friend Profeflor Witson of Glafgow. But all my attempts to conftruct fuch a telefcope have hitherto proved abortive, for want of a fubftance fufficiently tranfparent to admit of the neceflary magnifying power. I faw that this rendered ufelefs the beautiful theory of their con{truction which is contained in this paper of Mr Boscovicu. But, at the fame time, I faw that this aberration of terreftrial objets would enable us to de- cide the fame queftion by means of a compound microfcope of a very eafy conftruction. If a cylindrical piece of glafs be ground fpherical at one end, and piane at the other, and if the plane furface be fituated a {mall diftance beyond the principal focus of the fpherical furface, and a fcratch be made on the plane furface, and confidered as a vifible object, an image of this {cratch will be formed in the conjugate focus of the fphe- rical furface, which image may be viewed by means of a deep eye-glafs, as in the ordinary compound microfcope. If this image be formed on a frame of wires, like the wires of an aftro- nomical telefcope, there muft be obferved the fame diurnal de- yjation that Mr Boscovicu announces with refpect to his tele- fcope, On th MOTION of LIGHT. 85 {cope, but in the oppofite direction ; as in the microfcope, there would be no want of light, we fhould have the moft fatisfacto- ry decifion of this important queftion in optics, and alfo the opportunity of detecting any hitherto unknown motions of the globe which we inhabit. It may alfo be fhown, that, if any of thefe motions be very confiderable, we fhall determine ano- ther very important queftion in optics, viz. ‘Whether the mo- tion of light be affected by the motion of the luminous body. On thefe, and many other accounts, I was eager to conftruct this microfcope, and fet about it accordingly. But I happened at that time to be engaged in that part of my courfe of lectures where I had occafion to confider the apparent motions of bo- dies. I confider it as the fundamental propofition on this fub- ject, that “‘ the apparent motion of a body is compounded of its real ** motion, and the oppofite to the real motion of the obferver.” The confequence is, that, fince the motions of the terreftrial object and of the obferver are always nearly equal, there fhould be no apparent motion in the object, and therefore no apparent diurnal change of place. This ftartled me, and caufed me to confider the matter more minutely. Profeflor WiLson, to whom I com- municated my doubts, raifed other objections, founded on the application of mechanical principles to that hypothefis, with re- {pect to light, which the Abbé Boscovicu profeffes to main- tain. In my fubfequent fpeculations on this fubje@, I found, that the application of the above mentioned propofition was not ftrictly juft with refpect to the apparent place of the terreftrial object ; but I was led by it to difcover the real ftate of the matter, by applying it to the determination of the apparent motion of the /ight by which the objeét is feen. I thus detect- ed the circumftance which Mr Boscovicu had overlooked, and which unfortunately puts an end to the hopes which I had en- tertained of many curious and important difcoveries. I flatter myfelf that this Society will not think this fubje@ unworthy of — their notice ; but am extremely forry that my infirm ftate of health 86 On the MOTION of LIGHT. health does not at prefent permit me to give fuch an account of it as its importance deferves.. I propofe, however, to undertake it as foon as I am able. This Iam incited to. do, not merely on account of the fingularity of this particular fubje@, but more efpecially becaufe its difcuffion depends on a more gene- ral, and hitherto unconfidered fubje&t in phyfico-mathematical fcience, the motion of light as affected by bodies which are alfo in mo- tion. ‘This I have confidered fome years ago, as far as I thought neceflary for my elementary courfe of le€tures, and I then in- veftigated the fundamental propofition which | fhall include in this difcourfe. Perhaps I fhould offer fome apology for troubling the Society with my thoughts on the fubjeét before I have put them into a more perfect form. I fhall frankly tell my reafons for this conduct. This paper of Mr Boscovicu muft excite the attention of philofophers. Other fpeculations alfo which have lately been made by ingenious men, will turn the atten- tion to the fubje&t, and enquiries will be inftituted, and their refults made public. I fhould not chufe to be thought indebted to the refearches of others for the refults of my own enquiries, and therefore with to afcertain my claim to any thing which may be valuable in my fpeculations, by this prefent imperfect account of them. I sHaxu therefore lay before the Society a fhort account of the experiment, as propofed and defcribed by Mr Boscovicnu, and of the refult which he expects from it, and fome of the moft remarkable confequences which he deduces from this re- fult. I fhall, in the next place, point out the overfight which he has made in announcing the refult, and ftate what ought to © be the refult, on the phyfical principles adopted by him ; prin- ciples which will be overturned if the refult of the experiment fhould be what he expects, but eftablifhed if it fhould be what Yaffert. In the laft place, I fhall give the fundamental propo- fition for determining the refleCtion and refraction of light by On the MOTION of LIGHT. 87 by moving furfaces, and briefly mention fome of the moft ufe- ful corollaries. Ler O, (fig. 1.) be a terreftrial object, whofe pofition is to be determined by an obferver placed at B’, and furnifhed with a common furveyor’s theodolite. He muft place the index of his inftrument fo that the light coming from the object in the dire@tion OB’, may pafs through the two holes A’, B’, which conftitute the plane fights of his theodolite ; that is, the three points O, A’, B’, muft be in a ftraight line. The inftrument is fo conftructed that the ftraight line paffing through the holes A’, B’, is parallel to a line NS drawn along the ruler or index upon which the fights are placed, and the divifion upon the arch, which is cut by the line NS, indicates the pofition of the object. But now let us fuppofe that, by the motion of the earth, the obferver is uniformly carried along the ftraight line B’8 perpen- dicular to BO, while, in the mean time, the object is carried with an equal motion along the line OD parallel to BB. It is now evident, that, if the inftrument, without altering its po- fition, be carried along in the direction B/G, the light which enters the hole A’, in the direction OA’, will not pafs through the hole B ; for, when the light entered the hole A’, the other hole was at B ; but when the light arrives at B’, the hole B’ has got to fome place R in the line B/G. Take the point B, fo that the ftraight line O68 may be to B’@ as the velocity of light to the velocity of the earth. Through A’ draw the ftraight line A’Aa, parallel to B’B, cutting the line O@ in the point A. Draw DAB parallel to OA’B’. Now, let the theodolite move from the fituation A’B’ to the new fituation AB, while the light moves from O to A. It is evident that the light will enter the hole A, and proceed in the direétion Af. In the mean time, the hole B will have moved from.B to 6; for Af is to BB, as OB is to _ B®, that is, as the velocity of light to the velocity of the theo- dolite. 88 On the MOTION of LIGHT. dolite. Therefore an eye placed behind the hole B will receive the light which paffes through it when in the fituation 6, and the obferver will fee the objet through the fights of the inftru- ment. He will fee it by means of light moving in the di- rection Of; but he will not imagine that the object lies from him in the dire€tion BO; for he eftimates the direction of the object by the pofition of the fiducial line of his inftrument, which is always parallel to the line joining the centres of the holes which are its fights. When he fees the objet, thefe holes are at 6 and a, and therefore the obferver afligns to the object the direction Ba. Let BA and Ga cut the line Od in the points D and 0; it is evident, that, when the object is at O, D and 3, the anterior fight of the theodolite, is at A’, A,and «, and the other fight is at B’, B and 6; therefore, when the object is feen through the inftrument, it is always feen in its real place, and in its true direction, although not in the direction of the _ light by which it is feen 3 confequently, if the index be di- rected fo that the obje&t may be feen through it, that is, if the index be pointed to the object in the common way, and the whole inftrument be kept firm in its pofition, it will a/ways point to the object, although both the inftrument and objeét are conti- nually changing their places by the motion oa the earth round the fun and round its own axis. But now let us fuppofe, with Mr Boscovicn, that the in- -terval between the two fights is filled with water contained in a tube, and bounded by two plates of glafs at A and B, perpen- dicular to the hne AB, and covered externally with paper, pierced with two fmall holes at A and B. Now, fays Mr Bos- covicu, the light which enters at A will not be at B when the hole B arrives there; for, if the velocity of light in water be to the velocity of light in air, as the fine of incidence in air to the fine of refraGtion in water, then, while the hole B comes. to 8, the light will move from A to E, fo that AE is to Af as four to three nearly ; confequently, when the light has come to ee On the MOTION of LIGHT. 89 to G, the hole B will have moved over By, which is three- fourths of BG; therefore an eye, placed behind the hole B, will not. fee the object through the fights of the inftrument, but will fee an object lying to the right hand of it, having its angu- lar diftance equal to yA@; or, if the inftrument, inftead of ha- ving a hole A for the anterior fight, has two fine wires crofling each other in A, the object will appear on the oppofite fide of their interfeCtion from that towards which the earth is moving. From this reafoning, Mr Boscovicn concludes, that if this inftrument be placed at the earth’s equator on the day of the winter’s folftice, and the index be directed to the real place of an object due fouth of it, the object will not appear at the in- terfeCtion of the crofs wires of the anterior fight, but, at noon, will appear 5” to the eaft of that interfection, at fix o'clock in the evening, it will appear 5” above it; at midnight, it will appear 5” tothe weftward of it ; and at fix o’clock next morning, it will appear 5” below it. The object will, therefore, appear to defcribe a'circle round the interfection of the crofs wires in twenty-four hours, the diameter of which will fubtend an an- gle of 10”. - In other pofitions of the index, and other days of the year, the apparent motion of the object will be different ; but it will never appear in its true place, except in thofe in- ftants that the fiducial line of the inftrument happens to be pa- rallel to the line of the earth’s motion at that time. Mr Boscovicu proceeds to fhow that, if the theodolite has a common aftronomical telefcope, inftead of plane fights, the appearances will be precifely fimilar. If the index be diredted to the real place of an objedt, the object will be feen at the in- terfection of the crofs wires of the eye-piece 3 and if the inftru- ment be firmly fixed in its pofition, the objet will always ap- pear at this interfection, notwithftanding the motion of the earth. Butif the telefcope be filled with water, and be di- _ rected tothe real place of an object fituated as above mentioned, on the noon of the winter’s folftice, the object will appear 5” to Aor. Il. m the 90 On the MOTION of LIGHT. the weft of this interfection, and, in twenty-four hours, will defcribe round it a circle, whofe diameter fubtends an angle of ro”, but in a direction oppofite to that defcribed round the in- terfection of the crofs wires of the plane fights. The intelli- gent reader will eafily fee that thefe dedudtions are juftly made from the premifes. Mr Boscovicu, in the laft place, fhows that if light be re- tarded in its paffage from air into water, the appearances with the water telefcope will be diametrically oppofite to thofe above defcribed, and therefore earneftly propofes this experiment to philofophers, as a mean of deciding that important queftion in phyfics. I call it an important queftion ; becaufe the accelera- tion of light in the inverfe proportion of the fines of incidence and refraction affords an inconteftible proof that the forces which refract light towards the perpendicular are direéted perpen- dicularly toward the refracting furface, and nearly demonftrates that light confifts of corpufcles emitted by the fhining body. The retardation of light, in the direct proportion of the fines of incidence and refraction, is totally incompatible with this hy- pothefis concerning the nature of light, and, in my opinion, with the hypothefis of thofe who maintain that vifion is pro- duced by the undulations of an elaftic fluid, although it has generally been fuppofed to be a confequence of that hypo- thefis. T HAVE already. faid that my repeated attempts to conftruct a water-telefcope of fuffiicient magnifying power have hitherto failed, in confequence of my not being able to find a fluid fuf- ficiently tranfparent. Lime-water is the moft tranfparent fluid that I know ; and I have filled with it a telefcope five feet long. But, when I increafed its magnifying power to more than thirty times, it was vaftly too dark, although the aperture was fo great as to make it very indiftinct. I am therefore convinced, that although I fhould employ Mr Boscovicn’s moft beautiful and ingenious conftruction to remove the indiftinéinefs, there would Ou the MOTION of LIGHT. ot ‘would bea great deficiency of light; for a telefcope of this length, magnifying thirty times, would not render 10” fuffi- ciently diftinguifhable. | But this aberration of terreftrial objets, announced by Mr Boscovicu, muft be obferved in a compound microfcope filled with water, or conftru@ed in the manner defcribed in the be- ginning of this difcourfe. In fuch a microfcope, we can have abundance of light by external illumination, and little will be loft in its paflage through the fhort column of lime-water or glafs. | THE intelligent reader will eafily fee that this aberration of an object placed before the microfcope muft be obferved even at the bottom of a mine. He will alfo fee that, if the fun, with his attending planets, be carried along in any diredtion, with a velocity much greater than that of the earth in its orbit, another aberration will be obferved, greater than the former, and diftinguifhable from it, although blended with it. Confe- quently, we fhould be able to difcover, by means of this aber- ration, fuch hitherto unknown motion of the folar fyftem. It will readily be believed, therefore, that I engaged with eager- nefs in preparations for this experiment, and in farther re- fearches into its theory, and that I was greatly mortified when I found my hopes of curious difcovery fruftrated by the detec- tion of an overfight in Mr Boscovicn’s reafoning. This I fhall now fubmit to the Society. | Mr Boscovicu fuppofes, that when the light, moving in the direGtion OA, enters the water tube at A, it moves on in the di- rection Af, defcribing AE uniformly, while the hole A moves from Atoa. But Mr Boscovicn, in the fame difcourfe, pro- fefles to maintain the opinion advanced by Sir Isaac NEwron, viz. That light is accelerated in water by forces which act per- pendicularly to its furface. If this be the cafe, the light en- tering the water at A, in the oblique direction OA, will be re- fracted towards the perpendicular, and will move in the direc- m 2 tion 92 On the MOTION of LIGHT. tion Az, cutting the line «@ in the point «, fo fituated that Af is to Az as the velocity of light in air is to its velocity in water. This line Ae will cut the line BG in fome point i. Now, fince the light moves uniformly along Ac, while the hole B moves uniformly along B8, it follows that they will meet ini, where - the light will pafs through the hole, and enter an eye placed behind it. The obferver, therefore, will fee the objet through the water tube or water telefcope, having the fame pofition with the plane fights or common telefcope ; and if the water telefcope be direted to the real place of a terreftrial object, however fituated, and be firmly fixed in its pofition, the object will always be feen on the interfection of the crofs wires, and no aberration will be obferved in confequence of the earth’s motion. I may here obferve, that this aberration of terreftrial objects occurred to Mr Boscovicn but very lately, namely, while he was writing for the prefs his Differtation on the ufe of the water telefcope, for deciding the queftion concerning the acce- leration or retardation of light, by means of the aberration of the fixed ftars. It appears that Mr Boscovicn has long had this ingenious thought; for M. pE ra LAnpg, in the fourth volume of his Aftronomy, mentions his having received a let- - ter to that purpofe from Mr Boscovicn in the year 1769. Mr Boscovicu, in the firft volume of his Opufcula, publifhed at Baffano in 1785, mentions his having heard that fome perfon had publithed a differtation in the Philofophical Tranfactions of London upon the fame fubject, and feems difpofed to think, that the author had been indebted to Mr pr LA LANDE's in- formation, which had been publifhed fome time before. This alludes to a Differtation by our worthy member Mr WILson, now profeffor of Aftronomy at Glafgow. But this gentleman’s ingenuity is-too eminent to make him need any information which his candour would not difpofe him to avow in the moft public manner. In the prefent inftance, he is fortunately pro-- tected | Ps On the MOTION of LIGHT. 93 tected againft every imputation of plagiarifm, as I fhall pre- fently make appear, by returning again to the confidera-~ tion of the apparent place of objects viewed through a theo- dolite. Suppose that the object O is a fixed ftar, and that, while a ray of light proceeds from it in the direction OAQ, with a uni- form motion, the theodolite moves uniformly from the fituation AB’ to the fituation «8. It is evident, that the light will enter the anterior fight at A, and pafs through the pofterior fight at @. An obferver, therefore, will fee the ftar by looking through the theolodite. But he will judge-falfely of its place; for he will imagine that it lies in the direction 69, while it is really in the direction GO. The angle Of) is called the aberration of the ftar, and the proportion of the velocity of light to the ve- locity of the earth is fuch that this angle is about 20”. Let us now fuppofe that the water tube is ufed. Then, fays Mr Bos- covicu, if the water tube have the fame pofition with the _ plane fights, the ftar will not be obferved through it ; becaufe, when the hole B has come to 6, the light which entered at A has got to E, and when this light has got to 8, the hole has got only to y: Therefore, in order to fee the ftar, the water tube muft have a different pofition, which he thus determines :— Make Bg equal to By, and draw Ag. This will be the proper pofition of the tube. For, while the light which enters at A moves from A to 6, the pofterior fight of the theodolite will have moved from ¢ to 8, where it will meet the light, and al- low it to pafs through to the eye of the obferver. If the velocities of light in air and water are as three to four, the angle BAg will be about 5”, in the opinion of Mr Boscovicu, and the aberration of the {tar will be about 15”, namely, three-fourths of the aberration difcovered by the plane fights. In like man- ner, when the aberration of the ftar is obferved with a tele. {cope filled with water, by bringing its image to the interfe@tion of the crofs wires in the eye-piece of the telefcope, it will be 94. On th MOTION of LIGHT. be three-fourths of the aberration obferved in the fame manner with the common telefcope. This account of the experiment ~ is precifely the fame with that given by Mr pz ra LANDE, and alfo with that given by Mr Boscovicu in the Differtation above mentioned. Ir is eafy to fee, that Mr Boscovicu has made the fame overfight here as in the cafe of terreftrial aberration. For, in . the jirf place, if the tube has the pofition AB, the light which enters at A, in the direCtion OA, will not proceed in the direc- tion AE, but be refracted at A, and proceed in the direction Ag, and will meet with the hole Bin the pointi. The ftar will, therefore, be feen through the water tube, having the fame po- fition with the plane fights; and if the aberration be obferved with a common telefcope, and a telefcope filled with water, by bringing the image of the ftar to the interfeétion of the crofs wires, it will be the fame in both. In the next place, if the water tube have the pofition Ag, which Mr Boscovicu propofes, the light which enters at A will not pafs through the pofterior fight. For the angle BA being 20”, and the angle BAg being | 5", the angle of incidence will be 15”, and the light will ftill be refracted towards the perpendicular, making with it an angle fomewhat greater than 11”. THUS it appears, that the refult of this experiment, made in the manner propofed by Mr Boscovicu, will be different from what he announces upon the phyfical principles affumed by him. What Ihave here determined to be the refult of this experiment, perfectly agrees with Mr Witson’s determination in the Philofophical TranfaG@ions, where it is propofed by him as a proof that light is accelerated by refraCtion out of air into water, in the inverfe proportion of the fines of incidence and refraction. Thus, thefe gentlemen differ fo widely in their opinions, both with refpect to the refult of the experiment, and the conclufions drawn from it, that the one cannot be fufpected of having borrowed from the other. I On th MOTION of LIGHT. 95 I sHAxt juft add here, that if the aberration of the fixed , ftars, obferved in Dr Brapiery’s manner, as above defcribed, be different with the two telefcopes, as Mr Boscovicnu expects, or if there be obferved that aberration of terreftrial objects which he deferibes, light is not accelerated, while refraGted to- wards the perpendicular, in the inverfe proportion of the fines of incidence and refra¢tion. But if the two aberrations fhall be found to be the fame, and if no terreftrial aberration fhall be obferved, we have a direct proof of the acceleration of light in the above mentioned proportion, and of its refraction being produced by forces acting perpendicularly tothe refraCting fur- face, and almoft a demonftration that light confifts of corpuf- cles emitted by the fhining body. There is indeed another way of obferving ,the aberration of the fixed ftars, viz. by a micrometer within the eye-piece of the telefcope. This pro- mifes a different aberration with the two telefcopes. But my thoughts on this fubject are not yet ready for the examination of the Society. I now proceed, in the laft place, to give the fundamental propofitions ref{pe€ting the motion of light, as it is affeted by ‘refracting or refleQing fubftances, which are alfo in motion ; propofitions which will afford an eafy and ready folution of eve- ry queftion which may be propofed. THERE are two ways of eftablifhing the fundamental doc- trines on this fubject. The firft and beft method is to ftate the leading faéts, or to announce the general phyfical laws as mat- ters of obfervation and experience, and then to give a theory of all the fubordinate phenomena, in the order of their gene- rality, by fhowing in what manner they are comprehended un- der the general laws already eftablifhed. But, in the prefent cafe, this method cannot be followed. For,in the phenomena which we obferve, the motion of light is blended with feveral motions which we fzow to obtain in the reflecting and refra@t- ing fubftances which affect it, and perhaps with many other motions 96 On the MOTION of LIGHT. motions of which we are entirely ignorant. For this reafon, we cannot fay what is the abfolute motion of light, nor afcertain from faé what changes it undergoes in its obferved refractions and reflections. Since, therefore, we cannot fimplify the phe- nomena which nature prefents to our view, we cannot eftablifh thofe general laws which would be the foundation of a phyfical theory. Tue only other method which feems to remain, is to take up fuch opinions concerning the nature of light, as feem moft rationally deducible from the phenomena which we obferve, and then to deduce, by the eftablifhed principles of mechanics, fuch confequences as fhould arife from the action of refracting and reflecting fubftances upon this hypothetical light. We fhould then feleét fuch of thefe confequences as will admit of a comparifon with obfervation. If thefe confequences fhall be found inconfiftent with obfervation, the hypothefis concerning the nature of light muft be rejected, and trial muft be made of anew one. But if they fhould be found to agree with obferva- tion, and at the fame time be fufficiently various, we may then admit the hypothefis to have a degree of probability pro- portioned to the extent of the comparifon which we have made of its confequences with obfervation ; we may then difcover by this means parts of a hypothefis which muft be admitted as true, although the hypothefis cannot be demonftrated in its full extent. I am acquainted with two hypothefis only concerning the mechanical nature of light, which, in the opinions of the learned, feem rationally deduced from the phenomena. The firft is that which is advanced by Sir Isaac NewrTon, in feve- ral parts of his celebrated writings. He fays that light may perhaps confift of {mall particles emitted by the fhining body with prodigious velocity, which are afterwards acted upon by other bodies, with attracting or repelling forces like gravity, which deflect them from their reCtilineal courfes in refractions and On the MOTION of LIGHT.. 97 and refleGtions. He fhows, if this be the cafe, that the com- bined forces of all the particles of a body which aét at once on a particle of light, compofe a force whofe direétion is perpen- dicular to the furface of the body. When, therefore, thefe forces tend toward the body, the light, at its approach to that body, is accelerated and is refracted toward the perpendicular to its furface. But when thefe forces tend’ from the body, the light is retarded, refracted from the perpendicular, and fome- times refiected with its former velocity, and in an angle equal to the angle of incidence. When thefe confequences are com- pared with obfervation, the moft complete agreement is found to obtain. Hence Sir Isaac Newron deduces, that when light is ob/erved to be refracted toward the perpendicular, it has really been a€tuated by forces tending toward the refracting bo- dy, and that it is accelerated. But when the light is refracted from the perpendicular, it has been actuated by forces tending from the body, “and is retarded. Alfo, when it is reflected on its approach to a body at an angle equal to the angle of inci- . dence, it has been actuated by forces tending from the body, and moves with its former velocity. When thefe conclufions are combined with the former deductions from the hypothefis, and the refult is compared with obfervation, the moft perfect agreement is {till difcovered. For thefe reafons, this hypothefis has acquired great credit, and deferves to be examined on-the prefent occafion. Tue other hypothefis is that of Mr Huycuens and Dr Hooke. Thefe gentlemen fuppofe that, as hearing is produced by means of the tremulous motion of elaftic air, which affedts the ear, fo vifion is produced by the tremulous motion of elaftic light, which affeéts the eye. This hypothefis was announced and applied to the explanation of phenomena in very general terms, and did not, for a long while, much engage the atten- tion of the learned. The celebrated mathematician Mr EuLer has lately brought it into credit, having made fome alterations Vor. II. ” in 98 On the MOTION of LIGHT. in it. He fuppofes, that vifion is produced by the tremulous motion of an elaftic fluid which he calls ether, and which he fappofes to pervade all bodies. He attempts to fhow that the propagation of this tremulous motion is analogous to the ap- pearances in the reflection and refraction of light. I -confefs that I cannot admit his reafonings on this fubje& to be agreeable to the principles of mechanics ; and I am decidedly of opinion, that the propagation of the tremulous motion of an elaftic fluid is totally inconfiftent with thofe facts in vifion where no refrac- tion or reflection is obferved. But I fhall referve my objections till another opportunity, when I propofe to fubmit to this So- ciety a mechanical examination of this hypothefis, and I fhall admit for the prefent that Mr EuLer’s explanation of refraction and reflection is juft. It is an effential propofition in this hy- pothetical theory, that the velocities of the incident and re- fracted light are proportional to the fines of incidence and re- fraction, and therefore that light is retarded when it is refracted’ — toward the perpendicular. It feems a neceflary confequence that, in this cafe, the particles of «ther are actuated by forces tending from the refracting body. I fhall, therefore, confider what effets muft refult from the combination of. this retarda- tion with the motion of the refracting body. If time will allow, I fhall confider what will be the effeéts produced on the: motion of light by the motion of the vifible objet. Thefe are: fo different in the two hypothefes, that it is very probable that fome natural appearance may be found which will give us an. opportunity of determining whether either of thefe hypothefes is to be received as true. Dr Rozpert Brair, profeffor of Aftronomy in this Univerfity, has pointed out a cafe of this kind, in the rotation of the planet Jupiter round its axis, and has fuggefted a method of inveftigation, exceedingly ingenious, and which feems to. promife fuccefs. I think that another may. be obferved in the planet Mercury, when in his greateft elonga- tions from the fun. I On the MOTION of LIGHT. 99 I now begin with an examination of the Newtonian hypothe- fis. But I fhall content myfelf with one confequence of it on- ly, viz. That in refraCtions and reflections, the light is aétuated by forces whofe direction is perpendicular to the furface of the refracting or refleGiing body. I fhall-here confider the effe@ of fuch forces only as tend toward the body; becaufe it will be evident that the fame reafoning will apply, without any varia- tion, to the effects of forces tending from the medium. ‘ Let XZY (fig. 2.) be a plane furface which feparates a re- fracting medium, fuch as glafs, from a void, the medium _ be: ing fuppofed to be below the plane XY. Let it be fuppofed that ZA, perpendicular to ZY, is the greateft diftance at which a particle of the medium acts upon light. Make ZB, on the other fide of XY, equal ZA, and draw the planes AQ; BS, parallel to XY. While the light is between the planes AQ and BS, it is affected _ by the refracting forces. For while it is between the planes AQ and XY, it is aéted on by all the particles of the medium, whofe diftance from it does not exceed ZA; and while it is be- tween the planes XY and DS, there are more particles below it whofe diftance does not exceed ZA than there are above it. But when the light is below BS, it is equally a€ted on in all direc- tions, and its motion through the medium is not affected by the refracting forces. Ler us call the fpace contained between the planes AQ and BS by the name of the refracting f{tratum ; and let us fuppofe, at firft, that the refracting forces at uniformly through the whole extent of the ftratum. Let the light, moving in the direction HAF, enter the re- fracting ftratum at A, while the medium is moving in the di- rection AI; and let AF, Al, be the fpaces which they would uniformly defcribe during the time that the refracting forces would impel a particle of light, from a ftate of reft in -A, through AB. Let the velocity which the light would acquire by this acceleration acrofs the refracting ftratum, be ‘called the n 2 {pecific 100 On the MOTION of LIGHT. fpecific velocity of the medium. It is known that, if it moved uniformly with this velocity, it would defcribe AO, double of AB, during the time of defcribing AB with the uniformly ac- celerated motion. Therefore, (taking this for the unit of time) AF, Al and AO, will exprefs the velocity of the incident light, the progreflive velocity of the medium, and the {pecific velocity. It is alfo known, that the light, in paffing through the refract- ing ftratum, will defcribe a parabola ACL, which AF touches — in A, and of which AB is a diameter, having BL, equal and parallel to AF, for an ordinate. Propuce IA till Ai is equal to Al; complete the parallelo- gram AFfi, and draw the diagonal Af. The motion Af, com- pounded of AF, the real motion of the incident light, and Ai, the oppofite to the motion of the medium, is the relative mo- tion of the incident light. This motion will be uniform, be- caufe it is compounded of motions which are uniform. There- fore Af will exprefs the relative velocity of the incident light. Draw FL. It is evidently equal and parallel to AB. Let CP be drawn from any point C of the parabola, parallel to AB). cutting AF in P. Complete the parallelograms FLIf, fIBA: Draw Cc parallel to Ff, and make Ff:Cc=AF:AP. I fay that the point c is in a parabola Acl, of which AB is-a diame- ter, and Af a tangent, and which is the relative path of the light, and that L andl, C and, are contemporaneous places of the light in its real:and relative paths. | Draw Pp parallel to Ff, cutting Af in p. Draw the ordinate CK, and draw pe, Ke. ‘Then Ff: Pp = AF: AP, = LI: Ce. But FF is equal’ to Li Therefore Pp is equal to Cc, and pc is equal and parallel to PC and AK, and Ke is equal and parallel to Ap. Therefore Keron beese Apt wAff jst AP? oAF A= KO? BLs; = AR Ae Therefore the points’ A, c, 1, are in a parabola, of which AB is a diameter, Af a tangent, and Ke, Bl, are ordinates.. Alfo, becaufe Lh: Cc, so BF 2€cfise AP VAP, = 'T, AF :- TAP; (hy the fymbol T, AF, tec. is expreffed the time of moving along: AF,. On the MOTION of LIGHT. IOL AF, &c.) it is evident that Cc is equal and oppofite to the mo- tion of the point A, while the light defcribes the parabolic arch AC, and that L] is equal and oppofite to the motion of A, while the light defcribes the arch ACL. Therefore L and 1, C and c, are contemporaneous places of the real and relative paths of the light, and the parabola Ac! is its relative path. We have feen that Af is the relative motion of the incident light during the time of defcribing AB by the impulfe of the refracting forces acting on a particle of light at reftin A. Let us now fuppofe that the medium is at reft, and that the light enters the refracting ftratum at A, with the velocity and in the direGtion Af. It muft defcribe a parabola, which Af touches in A, and of which AB is a diameter and Bl an ordinate ; that is, it muft deferibe the very parabola Acl, and it muft defcribe it in the fame time that the light incident with the velocity, and in the direction AF, defcribes the parabola ACL. Its motion, therefore, both before and after refraction, is the fame with the relative motion of the light having the velocity and direction AF, incident on the medium moving with the velocity and in: the direétion AI. | Let c be the point of interfeCtion of the parabola Acl and the plane BS. Draw cC parallel to Ai, cutting the parabola ACL in C. C muft be the point of that parabola, where the refraction by the moving medium is completed. For Ll: Cc eerepees AP AP iT A: FP, AGT, A:T, cC. Therefore, while the light moves from A to c, the point c moves from c to C, where the light will pafs through it, and the re- fraction be completed, the plane BS having now gotten into the fituation bs, and the-plane AQ into the fituation aq. Draw the ordinates ADE, Ade, to the diameters PC, pc; and draw mr, the direétrix of the parabola Acl, and join Dd.. It is known that AF is to AE as the velocity in A to the velo- fey wc. "Now, AE: ADAP: AP; = Af: Ap; = Ae: Ad Therefore, Dd is parallel to Cc. Therefore the velocity Ae; compounded: 102 On the MOTION of LIGHT. ‘compounded of AE and Ee, which is equal and oppofite to AI, is the relative velocity of the light in C, and Af, Ae, are the re- lative velocities of the incident and refracted light. Now, Kc? = AK X 4Am and Ad’? =-cd X4cr, = AK ger... There- fore, Ad?— Kc? = AK X acr —4Am, = AK X 4AB. Now, Ad? : | Aé® =NApA SAE en er Bl, AK AB. ol beretone, Ae? —Af? = AB x 4AB,= AO?:. Thatis, when the light has paffed through, and emerges from the refracting ftratum, the difference between the fquares of the initial and final rela- tive velocities is equal to the fquare of the fpecific velocity of the medium. Aso, (becaufe Qe? —Qf* = Ae? — Af’) the difference between the fquares of the initial and final relative perpendicu- lar velocities, is equal to the fquare of the f{fecific velocity. Burt it will not always happen that the light will emerge from the refracting ftratum after pafling over it, and it may fre- guently happen that it will not pafs over the whole extent of it. Tuus, fuppofe the light to be within the medium, moving towards the refrating ftratum, while the medium is moving more flowly towards the fame quarter, or moving towards the oppofite quarter ; and let the relative perpendicular velocity of the light be equal to the fpecific velocity. Suppofe that the light paffles through the refracting ftratum at A (fig. 3.) mo- ving in the direction and with the velocity AF. It would de- {cribe (by the action of the refraGting forces) the parabola ALC, of which AB, equal to AB, is the abfciffa from a diameter, and B‘L, equal and parallel to AF, is an ordinate. Draw In paral- lel to AQ, cutting FLinn. It is plain that dn is the perpen- dicular velocity of the medium, dF the perpendicular velocity of the incident light, and nF its relative perpendicular velo- city. This is equal to twice AB by fuppofition. But FL is equal to AB; therefore Ln is alfo equal to AB, and An is an ordinate to FL. Alfo, LB, drawn from L to B, is a tangent at LL, and bLs is the fcuation of the plane BS, when the light which On the MOTION of LIGHT. 103 which entered the refracting ftratum at A is at L. BL is the velocity with which the light paffes through L, and Bb is its per- pendicular velocity. This is evidently equal to dn, the perpen- dicular velocity of the medium. Since, therefore, they have the fame velocity in the direction LF, it is plain, that the light will not pafs through the plane bL ; and becaufe it is fubjected to the action of the refracting forces, it will be defleCted towards AQ, and will defcribe another arch LC of the parabola, and will be met in C by the point c of the plane AQ, which has moved in the mean time through cC parallel tolL. The point lis the vertex of the relative path Alc, and the abfcifla 1g being equal to BA, it is evident that fg, the relative perpendicular velocity, is equal to twice BA, that is, to the {pecific velocity. Ir, as in fig. 4. the relative perpendicular velocity of the light be lefs than the {pecific velocity, it will not pafs through the whole refracting ftratum: For draw In parallel to AQ, cutting FL inn. Itis plain than dn is the perpendicular ve- locity of the medium, and dF the perpendicular velocity of the hght, and nF the relative perpendicular velocity. Becaufe this is fuppofed lefs than twice AB, Ln is lefs than FL, and An is not an ordinate to FL. Let oVh, parallel to An, touch the parabola in V, and draw hk perpendicular to AB. Then oK, or nd, is the perpendicular velocity of the light. Therefore, fince the perpendicular velocities of the light in V, and of the medium, are equal, the light is then the neareft poflible to the plane BS, which has now obtained the fituation bs. It is therefore in the vertex of the relative parabola, or, drawing Vv parallel to Ff, v will be the vertex of the relative path Avl; therefore the light, after paffing through V and L, will defcribe another arch LC of its parabolic path, and it will be met in C by the point c of the plane AQ, which has in the mean time moved along cC. Fig. 5. exhibits the fame particulars in the cafe when the light within the medium is moving /rom the refrad- ing ftratum, but is overtaken by it. Tuus Log On the MOTION of LIGHT. “Tuus we fee that when the light within the refracting medi- ‘um either meets or overtakes the refracting ftratum, or is over- taken by it, and the relative perpendicular velocity is not greater than the fpecific velocity, the light does not emerge from the medium, but is refle€ted back into it. ) Ir is farther to be obferved, that in thefe cafes, the angle of relative reflection is equal to the angle of relative incidence, _ and the relative velocity of the light after reflection is the fame as before reflection. For the tangents At, tc, (fig. 3.4.5.) are equally inclined to the axis of the parabola Alc, and equal portions of them will be intercepted by the diameters AB, FL, and thefe portions exprefs the relative velocities of the light in Aandc. Alfo, the relative perpendicular velocity of the re- flected light is equal to the relative perpendicular velocity of the incident light, but in the oppofite direCtion. Let us fuppofe, that the refraGing ftratum is divided into feveral partial {trata, by planes parallel to AQ and BS, and that the forces are different in each ftratum, but uniform through its whole extent. THE relative motion of the light, emerging from the pofterior furface of the firft partial ftratum, is the relative motion of the light immerging into the fecond ftratum. Therefore, by the preceding reafoning, the relative motion of the light emerging from the pofterior furface of the fecond ftratum, is the fame as if the medium had been at reft, and the light had approached it with the fame relative initial motion. ‘The fame muft be affirmed of all the partial {trata in fucceffion, and is therefore true with refpect to the final motion of the refracted light. FurTHER, the whole change which is made on the fquare of the relative velocity of the incident light, in thofe cafes where it paffles through and emerges from the refracting {ftra- tum, is equal to the fquare of the velocity which a particle of light would acquire if impelled by the variable refra¢ting forces from a ftate of reft through the whole refraCting ftratum. For On the MOTION of LIGHT. tos For if the medium were at reft, and the light approached it with the fame relative motion, we have feen that the ab/olute velocity with which the light enters any one of the partial ftrata, is the fame with the relative velocity with which it en- ters it when the medium is in motion. Now, when the medi- um is at reft, the change made in the fquare of the abfolute welocity (whatever this velocity be) is equal to the fquare of the fpecific velocity of that ftratum. Therefore, if the velocity with which the light enters this ftratum be that which it would have acquired if impelled by the refracting forces from a ftate of reft at A, in the anterior furface of the firft ftratum, the change made on the fquare of this velocity would have been full the fame, and the whole velocity would be that acquired by the varied impulfe from a ftate of reftin A. This is true with refpect to the laft ftratum and therefore if the light enter the refracting ftratum of the quiefcent medium with any velo- city, and in any direction whatever, the change made in the {quare of its velocity, when it has paffed through all the partial ftrata, and emerged from the laft of them, is equal to the fum of the fquares of their refpeCtive fpecific velocities, and this fum is equal to the fquare of what may be called the fpecific velocity of the whole refracting ftratum. Now, the abfolute velocity with which the light emerges from the refra¢ting ftra- tum of the quiefcent medium is the fame with the relative ve- locity with which it emerges from the refraCting ftratum of the medium in motion. Therefore, the change made on the fquare of the relative velocity of the incident light is equal to the {quare of the fpecific velocity of the medium. -WE need not employ any time to fhow that this is alfo true _ with refpect to the relative perpendicular velocity. Nor will it _ be néceffary to fhow that when the light,- moving within the medium, meets with or overtakes the refraCting ftratum, or is overtaken by it, and the relative perpendicular velocity of the Vo... I. 0 incident 106 On the MOTION of LIGHT. incident light is not greater than the {pecific velocity of the me- dium, it will not emerge from the refracting ftratum, but will be refleted back again in the medium; nor to fhow that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence, and that the relative velocity of the reflected light is equal to that of the incident light, and that the relative perpendicular velocity of the reflected light is equal to that of the incident light, but in the oppofite direction. ! Lafly, Ler the number of the partial ftrata be augmented, and their thicknefs diminifhed, without end. The foregoing demonftration will now be applicable to the motion of light through refraGting fubftances which are in motion, and which aét on it with forces, continually varying according to any law of the diftances ; and it may be received as the fundamental pro- pofition on this fubjedt, that, | If a ray of light, moving. in any direétion and with any velocity, meet with the furface of a refracting medium, which is in motion, its final relative motion will be: the fame as if the medium had been at reft, and the light bad approached it with the fame initial relative motion. It is eafy to fee that what has been faid about the motion of light within a medium which acts upon it with attractive forces, will apply to the motion of light which is without a medium that aéts upon it with repelling forces. In fuch a cafe, the light will not be refracted into the medium, unlefs its per- pendicular relative velocity be greater than the fpecific velocity of the medium, but will be reflefted with an equal relative ve- locity, and at an equal relative angle on the other fide of the perpendicular. ; Ir is alfo eafy to fee that the foregoing demonftration will apply to the motion of light through two contiguous mediums. For there will be a refracting ftratum, where the light will be affected by the fum or the difference of the refracting On the MOTION of LIGHT. refracting forces, according as they,aé in the fame or oppofite directions *. . iti ma * Ir was about the beginning of 1784 that I inveftigated the foregoing demonftration, which, as the reader will fee, 1s eonduéted after the method adopted by Sir Isaac New- Ton, in his demonftration of the g4th propofition of the firft book of the Principia, I applied to my much efteemed colleague’ Mr Profeffor Puayrarr, for his afliftance in a cafe to which the foregoing demonftration may perhaps be thought not to extend, namely, when the motion of the light, and that of the medium, are perpendicular to the refracting furface. Before I had obtained a demonftration which pleafed me, he favoured me with the following elegant analytical demonftration. Ler wv be the velocity of a particle of light when it has arrived at the diftance x with- in the refraGting medium (x being counted from the point in which the particle began to be acted on, and being lefs than the diftance from that point at which the motion of the ‘particle again becomes uniform.) Let / be the force acting on the particle at the di- ftance x. Let a be the velocity of the incident light, and c the velocity of the me- dium in the oppofite direétion. Ir is evident that the force f does not ag on the particle during its paflage through the whole fpace x, but only during its paflage through the part x. Therefore, u-kCc ux . au f x : af x vy? =a* +2 f , and 2vv = f er eleaee.: vc Vitae v +e . That is, vu +20 = of x, and, taking the fluent, v? + 2c” = of fa+C*. But when of f se = 0, we have v* + 2cv = a* +2ac, and therefore v* + 2cv = a* -2ac+ of f x. Let the fluent of 2f x (affumed, fo that x thall be the diftance at which the velocity of the light again becomes uniform) be fuppofed = g*. Then v* + 2cv = a* + 2ac +. Add c? to both fides of the equation. Then v? + 2vc +c? = a* 4 24ac 4c? +37; : 2 ‘ and thereforev-e = atc +g*. But a +c is the relative velocity of the incident light, and v +c is the relative velocity of the refraéted or accelerated light. Therefore the fquare of the latter exceeds the {quare of the former by the conftant quan- “tity g?. Now, g? = of, fx 3:and is therefore (by the celebrated 39th propofition of the firft book of the Principia) the fquare of the velocity which a particle of light would acquire if impelled from a ftate of reft through the whole diftance at which the medium acts on light. o2 SINCE 108 On the MOTION of LIGHT. I now proceed to: deduce fome of the moft ufeful corollaries from the general propofition. © Corollary t. THE relative velocities of the incident and re- fracted light are directly as the co-fecants, or inverfely as the fines of the relative angles of incidence and refraction. For it was demonftrated, that Af and Ae (fig. 2.) arein the proportion _ of the velocities of the light in the points A and c of its relative path. Now, if ef cuts the plane AQ in the point Q, and AQ ~ be confidered as the radius, Af and Ae are the co-fecants of the angles BAf and BAe, which are the relative angles of incidence and refraction.. Alfo, Af is to Ae as the fine of the angle AeQ. to the fine of the angle AfQ, that is, as the fine of the angle BAe to the fine of the angle BAf, that is, as the fine of the relative angle of refraction to. the fine of the relative angle of incidence. Cor. 2. Ir the relative velocity of the incident light be the fame in all the relative angles of incidence, the relative velocities of the refracted light will alfo be equal in all the relative angles of refraction. For the fum or the difference of the fquare of the relative velocity of the ‘incident light, (which is a conftant quantity) and the fquare of the conftant fpecific velocity, con- ititute a furface which is alfo-conftant, and which is equal to the Since the relative velocities, eftimated in a direétion parallel to the refracting furface, are not changed by the action of the refraéting forces, it evidently fol- lows’ from this. demonftration that the difference between the fquares of the relative ve- locities of the incident and refraéted light, is equal to the fquare of the {pecific velocity of the medium, whatever may be the direétions of the mcident and refracted light, and therefore, that the final relative motion of the refracted light is the fame as if the medium had been at reft, and the light had approached it with the fame relative motion. But although this demonftration would have been much more elegant, and more agreeable to the manner in which I have been accuflomed to explain the refra&tion of light, I chofe to retain the demonftration which I have given in the text, becaufe I think that it gives me a better opportunity of exhibiting to the mind the whole motion of the light during its re- fraction or refleGtion. At the fame time, I thought it my duty to communicate, with. Mr Puayrair’s permiffion, his demonftration to the public. ra On the MOTION of LIGHT. 109 the fquare of the relative velocity of the refracted light. This is therefore a conftant quantity, or the relative velocity of the refracted light is the fame in all the relative angles of re- fraction. Cor. 3. I the relative velocities of the incident light be the fame in all angles of incidence, the fines of relative incidence and refraction are in a conftant ratio, namely, the inverfe ratio of the relative velocities of the incident and refracted light. This appears by combining the laft corollary with the firft. Cor. 4. WHEN light moving with the fame velocity in all di- rections, is refracted by a medium at reft, the fines of incidence and refraction are in the conftant ratio of the velocities of the refracted and incident light. Fhis appears from the laft. co- rollary. Cor. 5. Ir the light moving in a medium A be refracted by a medium B, which is in motion, and emerge from it into the medium A, it will regain the relative velocity which it formerly had when in this medium. For the fquare of its relative velo- city while in the medium B, differs from the fquare of each of its relative velocities in the medium A by the fame quantity, viz. by the fquare of the fpecific velocity of the medium B. It is evident that the fame thing will happen when the light paffes through feveral contiguous mediums in motion before it emerges again into the medium A. Cor. 6. Ir the relative: paths of the light before its entering into the medium B, and after its emergence from it, be equally imclined to the direction of the medium, the abfolute velocities of the incident and emergent light will be equal, but in no other cafe. This is eafily feen by refolving the relative motions of the incident and emergent light. Hence we learn, that if the plane furface of a plano-convex lenfe be turned towards a fixed’ ftar to which the earth is approaching, or from which it is re- ceding, the abfolute velocity of the lateral emergent rays wil! be increafed or diminifhed. Cor, 110 On the MOTION of LIGHT. Cor. 7; WHEN the light is reflected, the relative angles of in- cidence and refleétion are equal, as alfo the relative velocities of the incident and retlected light. Cor. 8. Bur the abfolute angles of incidence and reflection, and alfo the abfolute velocities of the incident and reflected light, are unequal, except in the cafe where the motion of the reflecting fubftance is in the direction of the reflecting plane. Ir the plane be moving towards that fide from which the light comes, the angle of reflection will be lefs than that of in- cidence, and the perpendicular velocity of the reflected light will exceed that of the incident light by twice the perpendicular velocity of the reflecting plane. The contrary will happen if the plane be moving towards the oppofite fide. Tue application of the foregoing propofition to Mr Bosco- VICH’s experiment is extremely fimple. When the telefcope is fo directed that the image of the object is formed upon the interfeCtion of the crofs wires in the eye-piece, the relative mo- tion of the light is performed along the axis of the telefcope ; or the axis of the telefcope is in the direction of the relative motion of the light, and indicates the apparent pofition of the object. Now, when the water telefcope has the pofition AB, (fig. 1.) the relative motion of the light in the telefcope is the fame as if the telefcope had been at reft, and the light had ap- proached it with the fame relative motion. Now, the motion DA is evidently the relative motion of the incident light. For it is compofed of OA, the real motion of the light, and DO, the oppofite to the real motion of the telefcope. Now, if the telefcope had been at reft, and the light had entered it in the direction and with the velocity DA, it would have proceeded in the direCtion AB, and therefore the telefcope muft always be directed to the real contemporaneous place of. the terreftrial obje@, and there will be none of that diurnal deviation which Mr Boscovicu afferts. Tuus , L CLY2, Phy To Face PU. a= Ee i & Pt oe ey haa? : ep | a4 1k Let Pt. ee ot Me ve 2 Tithe | Men te ke te LTH A Tas col (er ie LS & TPE Vas. a seu 4 i . Pra) BA q ‘ yoiak { | 4 a! ' - : : shoe! Nae : ; 5 as Se : v - - Oo HT i728 74 pe *% De) et et ’ a re a aS & a ve = a or a z) | . 4 ‘. ws Ne, ‘ ga ae" ‘ 1% ‘ #|- ‘ ea be} i ‘ alts * oh ae - a if . :: Fat: ets Cie y Eo male eae atte Ene Tw EB My 16 Rage en Ew aie to tartan, Pm een qpmrany sth * = ay On the MOTION of LIGHT. rir Tuus it appears that the water telefcope muft have the fame pofition with the common telefcope, or that both of them mutt always be directed to the real place of the terreftrial object. Ir will alfo eafily appear, that when the image of a fixed ftar is formed upon the interfection of the crofs wires in the eye- pieces of a common telefcope, and a telefcope filled with water, the two telefcopes will have the fame pofition, and will indicate the fame aberration of the fixed ftars. For, by the fame rea- foning, it appears that the water telefcope at A muft have the pofition AB, and the aberration OAD isthe fame with that ob- ferved with a common telefcope. Wiru this application of the general propofition I fhall con- clude this paper, referving a farther account of the fubject for another opportunity, if the ag fhall think it worthy of their attention. XIE, XII. DEMONSTRATIONS of fome of Dr MATTHEW STEW. ARTs GENERAL THEOREMS. By ROBERT SMALL, D.D. F.R.S. Epin. [Read by the Author, Feb. 7. 1785. } FU "HAT excellent Geometer the late Dr Martuew STEw- ART, as long ago as the year 1746, publifhed his book of General Theorems, all of them, except the firft five, without the demonftrations. As Ido not find that any demonftration of them has ever been made public, I may perhaps flatter my- felf that what I now communicate to this Society will not be wholly unacceptable. The demonftrations given are of the propofitions relating to the fums of the fquares, and of the fourth powers of lines drawn in a certain manner, and are {elected from the reft, as moft connected with one another. The theorems that refpect the cubes and other higher powers, may afford materials for another paper, fhould this meet with the approbation of the Society. A FEw lemmas and corollaries have been introduced that are not among Dr Stewart's Theorems, and which are therefore di- ftinguifhed by afterifks. The references are to the edition of thofe Theorems publifhed at Edinburgh, 1746, and the propofi- tions are numbered as in that edition, beginning with the fixth Theorem. T H E- DEMONSTRATIONS of, &c. 113 THEOREM VI. Fic. I. Let there be any number, m, of given points A, B, G, &ce. a point X may be found, fuch, that if from A,B,C, &c. there be drawn frraight lines to any point D, and to the point X found, and if DX be joined, | AD?+-BD?-++CD? &c. = AX?+BX?+CX? &e. +mDX".. Let m be = 3. Suppose the point X found, join DX, from the given points: A, B, C draw AE, BF, CG perpendicular to DX, and ipia AX, BX, CX. Since AD?*+-BD*-+-CD? = AX*++-BX?+CX'4 DX: and. AD* = AX’?+DX’?— 2DX. XE, and BD* = BX’+DX?+ zDX. XF, and CD: = CX*+DX?+ 2DX. XG, the point X in the line DX mutt be fo taken, that the part EX, intercepted between it and AE the perpendicular from the point A, be equal to FX and GX, the fum of the parts intercepted between it and the perpendiculars BF and CG, from B and C; and the parts FX, GX muft be in the oppofite direction to EX. Tuts will be effected by the following conftruction : Join AB, and. bifect it im H; and join HC, and divide it in X; fo that CX = 2HX ; X will be the point required. . From H draw to DX the perpendicular HK. | Since AH = BH, we fhall have EK = FK 3. and fince CX = 2HX, we fhall alfo have GX = 2KX. Therefore fince FX = FK—KX, and GX = 2KX FX+GX = FK+KX =. EK+KX = EX, and’ —2DX. XE+2DX. XF+2DX. XG = o. THE point X thus found is the centre of gravity of the three -points A, B,C. This propofition, and that which follows, are well known, and are given here only for the fake of order: Vo. II. p Dr 114 DEMONSTRATIONS of Dr Simson, in his Reftoration of the Loci Plani, has deduced them from a propofition of that book. Vid. Loc. Plan. lib. 2. prop. 5. cor. 1. & 3. The fecond and fourth of Dr SrEwART’s Theorems are particular cafes of this propofition, and are eafily nderived from i i THEOREM VI. Fie. IL. Let there be any number, m, of given potnts A, B, C, &c. and let a, b,'c, &e. be given magnitudes, as many in number as there are given points, a point X may be found, fuch, that if from A, B, C, &c. there be drawn ftraight lines to any point D, .and a Yo to X the point found, and if DX be joined, a. AE?+5.BD*+¢.CD? &c. =a. AX*+b.BX?-+¢.CX?+(a+b+c)DX. Let m be = 3. Suppofe the point X found. Join DX; from the given points A, B, C draw AE, BF, CG perpendicular to DX, and join AX, BX, CX. StncEa.AD?-+0. BDie. Ccba= a AX“4b.BX*e.CK*+(atb-0) DX? ; and a.AD? = aA X*+-0.DX*—24.DX. XE, and 5.BD? = 6.BX?+4.DX?+-25.DX. XF, and e.CD? = ¢.CX?+-c.DX*+2¢c.DX. XG ; or a. AD*+6.BD*+¢.CD? = a.AX?++-b.BX?+c.CX*+(a+-+c¢)DX?+ 2DX (—a.XE+6.XF+¢.XG) ; a.XE mutt be equal, and in the oppofite direction to 6. XF+¢.XG, - Tus will be effefted by the following conftru¢tion : Jorn AB, and divide it in H, fo that BH = a.AH; that is, make AH: BH = 4:a, and join HC, and divide it in X, fo that HX: CX =c:a+é; or (a+-2) 15 9. @a~ c. CX. Then X will be the point required. From H draw to DX, the on dbedlin HK. ie SINCE Dr STEWART’s THEOREMS. ~— 115 Since 2.AH = 4.BH, we fhall have a.EK = b.FK; and fince (a+6)HX = c.CX, we fhall alfo have (a+)KX = ¢.GX. Therefore fince 6.XF = 6.FK—5d. KX, and c.XG = (a+b) KX, we fhall have b.XF+c.XG = 6.FK+aKX = a.EK+a.KXK = a.XE, and 2DX (—a.XE+6.XF+c.XG) = 0; therefore a.AD*-+-6. BD?++-c.CD? = a. AX?-+b.BX?+-c¢.CX?+(a+6-+c)DX’, or c c a+b+c AD*++-—-BD:+-—CD: = AX*++—BX*+ © cx+ (= =)px:. The point X is the centre of gravity of weights, proportional to the magnitudes a, b,c, &c.- aa at the given points A,B, C, &e. Cor.1. LET any number, m, of circles be given by pofition, (fig. 3.) and about every circle let an equilateral figure be de- feribed; a point X may be found, fuch, that if from any point C there be drawn perpendiculars to the fides of the figures, and a ftraight line to the point found, twice the fum of the fquares of the perpendiculars will be equal to the multiple.of the fquare of the line drawn to the point found, by the number of the fides of the figures, together with a given fpace. LET m be = 2; let a be the number of the fides of the figure de- {cribed about the circle whofe centre is A, 6 the number of the fides of the figure defcribed about the circle whofe centre is B, CD, CE, CF, the perpendiculars to the fides of the firft figure, and CG, CH, CK, CL, the perpendiculars to the fides of the fecond. | Jorn the centres A, B, and divide AB in X, fo that AX: BX = 6:a, X will be the point required. —2(CD*+-CE?+-CF*) = 2¢a.AM?-+a. AC? (theor. 3.). In like manner, 2(CG?+CH?+CK?+-CL’) = 25.BN?+é.BC?.. Therefore, 2(CD*+CE*+ CF*+CG*+-CH’+CK*+CL") = = 24a.AM?-+25.BN? +a.AC?+5.BC. But, p 2 a. AC? 116 DEMONSTRATIONS of a.AC*+b.BC = (a+b) AX.BX-+ (a+b) CX? (prop. 1.), and 2a.AM?-+-2b.BN?-+ (a+b) AX.BX are given fpaces. Therefore 2(CD?+-CE*+-CF:+-CG*++CH?++CK?++-CL’) = (a+) CX*+-A?, A’ being a given fpace. Cor. 2. LeT any number of femicircles be given by pofition, and let an equilateral figure be defcribed about every femicircle, a point may be found, fuch, that if from any point there be drawn perpendiculars to all the fides of the figures, and a ftraight line to the point found, twice the fum of the fquares of the perpendiculars will be equal to the multiple of the {quare of the line drawn to the point found, by the number of all the fides, together with a given f{pace. Cor. 3. Let any number of circles and femicircles be given by pofition, and about every circle and femicircle let an equila- teral figure be defcribed, a point may be found, fuch, that if from any point there be drawn perpendiculars to all the fides of the figures, and a {ftraight line to the point found, twice the fum of the fquares of the perpendiculars will be equal to the multi- ple of the line drawn to the point found, by the number of the fides, together with a given {pace. THEOREM VII. Fic. IV. Let there be any number, m, of given points A, B, C, &c. two points X,Y, may be found, fuch, that if from any point D ftraight lines be drawn to A, B, C, &c. and to X, Y, - 2(DA*+DB?-++DG*) = m(DX?+-DY’). Tus propofition follows directly from theor.6. Let m= 3, and let E be the centre of gravity of the three points A, B, C. The {quares of EA, EB, EC, are given, and confequently a fquare = +(EA*++EB:++EC’) may be found. On E with the diftance EX equal -Dr STEWART’'s THEOREMS. Ya equal to the fide of this fquare, defcribe a circle. The extremi- ties X, Y, of any diameter, will be two fuch points as are re- quired. For DA?++DB?+DC: = EA?++EB?++EC?+3.ED?, (Theor. 6.). But EA?+EB?++-EC? = 3.EX?’, therefore 2(DA?+DB?+DC?) = 6(EX?+ED?) = 3(DX?7+DY’) (Prop. 1.). | THEOREM IX. Fic. IV. Let there be any number, m, of given points A, B, C, &c. and let a,b,c, &c. be given magnitudes, as many in number as there are given points, two points X,Y, may be found, fuch, that if from any point D there be drawn fe lines to A, B, C, &c. and to X, Y, DA‘ —DB*+— DC? &e. = (=) (Dx). Tuts propofition follows, in the fame manner, from theor. 7. Let mbe = 3. Let Ebe a point fuch that DA*+ ey DB? + “Dc: = EA*+—EB*+— EC} (**)Ep On E as a : MGT ITE RA. Vhs ve tt centre, with the diftance EX = ZaEE(EA*+ > EB: + > EC’) defcribe a circle. The extremities X, Y, of any diameter, will be two fuch points as are she, For Dat; ~ DB} DC: = EA*}+ = EB Ec+ (“)Ep:, and EA?-+ ~ EB + EC = (*)Ex:. Therefore, | 2(DA’ 118 DEMONSTRATIONS of a(DA++ —DB++ DC) = 2(“)(ED-+EX*) = (*)(DX+D¥"), (Prop. 1.) Or, ‘DA+—pDB++—pe = (“)(px-+py>. THEOREM X. Fic. V. Let there be any number,m, of parallel fraight lines AB,CD, EF, &c. given by pofition, a firaight line XY may be found parallel to them, fJuch, that if from any point G, perpendiculars GA, GC, GE, &c. be drawn to AB, CD, EF, &c. and the line GX perpendicular to XY, GA?+GC?+GE? &c. = mGX’-++A’, A? being a given fpace. Tus propofition is one of the fimpleft cafes of theor. 6. A line XY parallel to AB, drawn through X, the centre of gravity of the. points A, C, E, where a perpendicular from G meets the parallels AB, CD, EF, will be the line required. For, GA?+GC?+GE? = XA’+XC?+ XE*+-3GX? (Theor. 6.), and - XA++-XC++-XE? is a given fpace. THEOREM XI. Fic. VI. Let there be any number, m, of frraight lines AB, AC, AD, &c. interfefting in a point A, fo as to make all the angles round it equal ; and from any point E, let perpendiculars EB, EC, ED, &c. be drawn to AB, AC, AD, &c. and let AE be joined, - 2(EB?+EC?+-+ED? &c.) = m.EA?. Turis Dr STEWART’s THEOREMS. 110 Tus propofition follows direétly from the firft cafe of theor. 2. Let m be = 3. The points B, C, D, are in a circle of which EA is the diameter, and therefore (lemma 2.) the arches BC, CD, DB, are equal. Therefore, . 2(EB?--EC?++-ED?) = 4.3.R?.= 3-EA? fT. Cor. 1. Ig AB, AC, AD, interfeét one another in a given point A, and make all the angles round it equal; and if from any point E there be drawn perpendiculars to AB, AC, AD; and if the fum of the fquares of the perpendiculars be equal to a given fpace, the point E will be in the circumference of a given circle. THE double of the given fpace is m.AE?, therefore AE is ‘given in magnitude, and fince the point A is given, the oe E is in the circumference of a given circle. * Cor. 2. Ir the circumference of a circle FGH, of which the radius is R, be divided. into m number of equal parts, by the femidiameters AF, AG, AH, &c. making with any diameter EN the angles FAE, GAN, HAE, &c. twice the fum of the {quares of the fines, or cofines of thefe angles will be = mR2. Let m be = 3. FK = EB; GL=EC; HM=ED._ Therefore 2(FK? + GL?+HM7?) = 3EA? =.3R?. In the fame manner, AK = AB; AL=AC; AM=AD. Therefore 27AK?+-AL?+AM?) = we” = SRA: ge WS MM A_ Hl. Fic. VII. Let there be a figure ABCD given in (pecies infcribed in a circle, the fraight line EH drawn from E, the centre of the circle, to H, the + R is the radius of the circle ABC. 120 DEMONSTRAPIONS of the centre of gravity of the figure, will have.a given ratio to the femidiameter, and will make given angles with the femidiameters, _ drawn to the angular points of the figure. THE centre of gravity of the figure ABCD is found by bt ~ fecting AB in F, by joining FC and dividing it in G, fo that CG = 2GF, and by joining GD and dividing it in H, fo that DH = 3HG. Hence, and by joining BD and CA, the lemma will be manifeft. | For the triangle BFE is right-angled in F, and the angle BEF = ADB, is given. Therefore the ratio of BE, or CE, to EF is given. AGAIN, in the triangle CEF, the angle CEF = BEC+BEF = 2BDC-+ADB = a given angle ; and fince the ratio of CE to EF, and of CG to.GF are given, the line EG will divide the triangle: CFE into two triangles given in fpecies. Therefore the angle CEG, and the ratio of CE, or DE, to EG, are given. LasTLy, inthe triangle DEG, the angle DEG,= 2DAC+CEG,, is given; and fince the ratio of DE to EG, and of DH to HG, are given, the line EH will divide the triangle DEG into two: triangles given.in fpecies. Therefore the angle DEH, and the: ratio of DE to EH will be alfo given, _ THEOREM Xi. Fic. VIII. Let there be any number, m, of frraight lines AB, AC, AD, AE, &c: given by pofition, interfeEting one another in the point A, two ftraight lines AX, AY, may be found, which will be given by pofition, fuch, that if from any point F there be drawn the perpendiculars FB, FC, _ ED, FE, &c. to AB, AC, AD, AE, &c. and FX, FY, perpendicu- lar to AX, AY, 2(FB?-+FC?+FD?-+-FE? &c.): = m(FX?+FY7*). LET Dr STEWART’s THEOREMS. 121 Let mbe = 4. Let G be the centre of the circle which paffes through A, B, C, D, E, F, and H the centre of gravity of the figure BCDE. Join GH, and through H draw XHY. perpendicular to GH, meeting the circumference in X, Y, and join GB, GC, GD, GE; HB, HC, HD, HE, HF; AX, AY, FX, FY. (Then, by Theor. 6. GB?-+-GC?+GD"+GE? = 4GB? = HB*++HC?+HD?+HE’?+4HG". But 4GB? = 4GX* = 4(GH*+XH’). Therefore alfo, - HB?+HC?+HD:+HE*++4HG? = 4(HG*+HX?’); or, - HB>+HC?+HD?+HE? = 4HX*. Again, by Theor. 6. FB?+-FC?+-FD?+-FE*? = HB:+HC?+HD?+HE*+-4FH?, and therefore, ’ } FB?+FC?++-FD*+-FE? = 4(FH?+HX?’). That is, 2(FB?+FC?+-FD?+-FE?) = 8(FH*+HX7) = 4(FX’+FY?), GErop. “1.). . But becaufe the lines AB, AC, AD, AE, are given by pofi- tion, the angles BAC, CAD, DAE, BAE, are given; therefore the angles BGC, CGD, DGE, BGE, which are the doubles of them, are alfo given, and the ifofceles triangles BGC, CGD, DGE, BGE, are given in fpecies. Confequently, the ratio of the femidiameter GB to each of the lines BC, CD, DE, BE, is given, and therefore the ratios of BC, CD, DE, BE, to one ano- ther, are given; and the angles of the figure BCDE are alfo given, therefore the figure itfelf is given in fpecies. ‘Therefore (Lemma 3.) the ratio of GX to GH is given; and fince the angle GHX is a right angle, the triangle GHX is given in fpe- cies. Therefore the angles XGH, YGH, are given. But BGH is given, (Lemma 3.) ; therefore BGX, BGY, and their halves BAX, BAY, are alfo given; and fince BA is given by pofition, and the point A, the lines AX, AY, are alfo given by pofi- rion. Vou. Il. g Bur 122 DEMONSTRATIONS of Burt FX, FY, are perpendicular to AX, AY, and it has been fhewn that 2(FB*-++FC*+-FD?+-FE*) = 4(FX*+FY?). There- fore AX, AY, are the two lines required to be found. THE conftruétion is obvious, by affuming a point F, which, for the greater fimplicity, may be in one of the given lines, and by defcribing the figure as above. * Cor. Ir from any point parallels be drawn to AB, AC, AD, AE, and-to AX, AY, cutting the perpendiculars FB, FC, FD, FE, and FX, FY, in 4, c, d, ¢, and in x, y, 2(FO+-Fe*-++Fa?-++-Fe*?) = 4(Fx’-+Fy’). * LEMMA IV. Fic. IX. Let AB, AC, be two frraight lines given by pofition, interfeFing one another in the point A, and from any point D let DB, DC, be drawn perpendicular to AB, AC ; let CB be joined, and bifeGted in E, and Jrom E let EF be drawn peer and equal toa given ftraight line; through F let GFH be drawn to meet DB and DC, fo as to be bifected in ¥, and through G and H let GK, HK, be drawn parallel to AB, AC: the lines GK, HK, will be given by pofition. TuroucGu F draw LM parallel to BC, and through B-and C draw BL and CM parallel to EF; join GL, HM; from A draw AN parallel and equal to EF ; join LN, MN; through N draw OP parallel to GL; and join AO, AP. Because GF = FH, and LF = FM, GL will be equal - and parallel to HM ; and becaufe AN is equal and parallel to BL and to CM, the figures AM and AL are parallelograms. Therefore NL is parallel to GK, and NMto HK. Therefore NG and NH are parallelograms, and OG = NL = AB; henceAO is perpendicular to GE; and, in the fame manner, AP i is perpen- dicular Dr STEWART’s THEOREMS. 123 dicular to HK. Therefore NO = LG = HM = NP. But the angle OAP is given, being the fupplement of OKP; and - fince the point N is given, and NO = NP, the points O and P- are given ; and therefore AO and AP. Therefore the lines GK, HK, are given by pofition. THEOREM XIll. FiG. i. ..No., 35 Let there be any number, m, of firaight lines AB, BC, CD, DA, &c. given by fpofition, neither all parallel nor interfecting in one point, two frraight lines XY, XZ, may be found, which will be given by pofition, fuch, that if from any point E, there be drawn per- pendiculars EF, EG, EH, EK, &c. to AB, BC, CD, DA, &c. and EY, EZ, perpendicular to XY, XZ, 2(EF*+-EG?+-EH*++EK? &c.) = m(EY?++-EZ’)+A:, A? being a given fpace. Let m = 4, and from C, one of the points of inter- fection, draw Cf, C&, parallel to the lines given by pofition that do not interfect in C. Let two ftraight lines CL, CM be found, fuch, that 2(E/f°++-EG?+-EH?+-E#*) = 4(EL*+EM?), (Theor. 12.). Let N be the centre of gravity of the four points F, G, H, K, (Theor. 6.). Through N draw YNZ to meet EL, EM in Y, Z, and fo as to be bifected in N. Through Y and Z draw YX, ZX perpendicular to EL, EM, interfecting each other in X. From X draw XP, XQ, XR, XS, perpendicular, and Xa, Xd, Xe, Xd, parallel to AB, BC, CD, DA; let Xa, Xb, Xc, Xd, meet EF, EG, @H, EK, in 4, 2,'c, 2; join XF, KG, KH, XK; NF, NG, NH, NK, NX;; and let O be the centre of gravity of the four points f, G, H, &, where the parallels from GC, to the lines given by pofition, meet the perpendiculars from E. g 2 By 124 DEMONSTRATIONS of By theor. 6. 2(XF*+XG?+XH?-++ XK’) = 2(NF?+NG?+NH?+ -+-NK*)-+8NX* But 2(XF*+XG?+XH?+XK’) = 2(XP*4+XQ?+XR?*+XS’)+2(Xa?+Xs?+Xe*+-Xd*). Therefore 2(NF*4+-NG?-+-NH?-+-NK?’)-+8NX? = 2(XP?+XQ?+XR?+XS*)-+ 2(Xa*+-X/+Xc?+Xa*). But fince, 2(Ef?-+EG?+-EH?-++E#?) = 4(EL*+EM7’), and from the point X parallels to Cf, CG, CH, Cé, and to CL, CM, are drawn, cutting the perpendiculars from E, to thefe lines, in a, 4, c, d, and in Y, Z, therefore, by Cor. Theor. 12. 2(Ea?--Ed*+-Ec?+-Ed?) = 4(EY*+EZ?), and confequently 2(Xa*-+Xo7+-Xe?-+-Xa*) = 4(XY?+XZ’7) = 8(NY?4NX?°), (Prop. 1.). Therefore, 2(NF*+NG?+-NH?+-NK’) = 2(XP?+XQ?+XR?+XS")-+ SNY?. But by Theor. 6. 2(EF?+-EG?++-EH?++EK’) = 2(NF*+NG?*+NH?+-NK:)+ 8NE*. Therefore, 2(EF?+-EG?+-EH?+-EK*) = 2(XP*+-XQ?+XR*++XS")+ 8(NY?+-NE?’) ; or, 2(EF*+EG?++EH?+-EK?) = 2(XP?+XQ?+XR?+XS?)+ A(EY?++EZ?), (Prop. 1.). Ir remains to demonftrate that X is a given point, and that XY, XZ, are lines given in pofition. THE point O may be found, by bifecting (Fig. X. No. 2.) GH in g, joining g&, and dividing it in m, fo that gm = 4k, and joining fm and dividing it in O, fo that mO = tmf; and in the fame manner the point N may be found by joining gK, and making gz = 49K, and joining #F, and making 2N = 4uF; let mn be joined, through O draw O¢, and through N draw Ng, both parallel to EF, and meeting mz in f, g; let EF meet ma in 7, join ON, and through O draw Os parallel to mz, meeting — Ng ins. THEN becaufe gm = $gh, and gu = ‘9K, the line mz is parallel and equal to 3K4 ~Becaufe alfo Nz = 7¥Fn, Ng = 4Frs and. Dr STEWART’s THEOREMS. 125 and for the fame reafon OP = 3fr. Therefore py = Os = 3mn — 1K& But the angle OsN is given, for itis equal to KEF; and fince Os is given, and Ns = Ng—sq, NO is alfo. given. But (Fig. 10. No. 1.) fince the lines CL, CM, inter- feGting in the point C, are given by pofition, and from the point E there are drawn to them the perpendiculars EL, EM, and LM is joined, and bifeéted in O, and from O there is drawn a ftraight line ON given both by pofition and magni- — tude, and YNZ is drawn through N to meet EL, EM in Y, Z, and fo'as to be bifeGted in N, and from Y and Z, YX, ZX are drawn parallel to CL, CM; therefore, by Lemma 4. Vie, ZX are given by pofition; and confequently the point X, of their interfeGtion is given, and therefore alfo XP, KQ, XR, XS.- But EY, EZ, are perpendicular to XY, XZ; and it has been proved that 2(EF?-+EG?+EH?+EK’) = 4(EY?+EZ’)+ 2(XP?+XQ?+XR?-+XS?), and thefe four laft {fquares. are given. Therefore XY, XZ, are the two lines required to be found, and 2(EF?+EG?+EH?+EK?) = 4(EY?-++EZ?)-+-A?. Tue point X, found in this propofition, is the centre of gra- vity of the four points P, Q, R, S, where perpendiculars, drawn from it, meet the four lines given by pofition. It is alfo a point, fuch, that the fum of the fquares of the perpendiculars drawn from it, to the lines given by pofition, is a minimum. Cor. Ir the ftraight lines (Fig. 11.) AB, BC, CA, be fo fi- tuated as to form an equilateral figure about a circle, or a femi- circle; or if the number of the lines given by pofition be even, and every two and two.interfect each other at right angles, the two lines XY, XZ, that may be found, will interfect each other at right angles. Ler the lines AB, BC, CA, that are given by pofition, form an equilateral triangle. Let X be the point in that triangle, which is the centre of gravity of the three points K, L, M, where: 126 DEMONSTRATIONS of where perpendiculars drawn from it, meet thg lines given by pofition ; and from X let parallels be drawn to thefe lines, meeting the perpendiculars from any point E in f, g, SINCE thefe parallels Xf, Xg, XA, interfe€t one another in the point X, fo as to make all the angles round it equal, they will divide the circumference of the circle which paffes through X and E, into three equal arches /g, gh, bf, (Lemma 2.). Therefore N, the centre of the circle, is the centre of gravity of the three points f, g, 4, and the line YZ, pafling through N, and meeting the circumference, will be a diameter of the cir- cle, and therefore YXZ is a right angle. THEOREM XIV. Fic. XII. €&. Let any number, m, greater than 3, of ftraight lines be given by pofitton, three ftraight lines may be found, which will be given by . pofition, fuch, that if from any point there be drawn perpendiculars to the lines given by pofition, and to the three lines found, thrice the Jum of the fquares of the perpendiculars to the lines given by pofition, will be equal to the fum of the fquares of the perpendicular drawn to three lines found, multiplied by the number m. Let mbe = 4. Cafe 1. WueEn the lines (Fig. 12.) AF, BG, CH, DK, given by pofition, are all pazallel. Let a perpendicular from any point E meet the parallels in the points A, B,C, D, and let L be the centre of gravity of thefe points. Affume in AL any point X, and let Y and Z, on the oppofite fide of L, be fuch, that LY+LZ = LX, and alfo LX*++LY*+LZ? = $(LA?+LB*+ LC*+LD-) ; then if the affumed point X be given, the points Y and Z will alfo be given. Draw through the points X, Y, Z, {traight lines parallel to AF, and they will be the lines required. It \Dr STEW ART's THEOREMS. 127 Ir is plain that L is the centre of gravity of the points X, Y, Z, and becaufe it is alfo the centre of gravity of the points A, B, C, D, 3(EA?+-EB*+-EC*+ED’) = 3(LA*+LB?+L0?+LD*)+ 3-.4.EL?, (Theor. 6:); and, for the fame reafon, 4(EX?-+EY*++EZ") = 4(LX*+LY*++LZ?)+4.3.EL*. But by conftruction, 3(LA*++LB?+LC?+-LD’) = 4(LX’°+LY?+LZ?). Therefore, 3(EA?+EB?-++EC?+ED?) = 4(EX?+EY?-+EZ?). Cafe 2. Wuew the lines (Fig. 13.) AB, AC, AD, AE, given by pofition, interfect one another in the fame point A. Let G be the centre of gravity of the four points B, C, D, E, in the circumference of the circle of which AF is the diameter, (Theor. 6.), and let AH, AK, be two lines, whofe pofition is given, fuch, that 2(FB?+FC?+FD’-+FE*) = 4(FH?-++FK?’), (Theor. 12.). From any point X in the circumference draw, through G, the line XGL, fo that XG = 2GL; and through L draw YLZ to meet the circumference in Y, Z, and fo as to be bife@ted in L. Join AX, AY, AZ, and FX, FY, FZ. 3(FB?+FC?+FD?+FE’*) = 6(FH?+FK7?), (Theor. 12.), and 4(FX?+FY?+FZ?) = 6(FH?+FK?) = 3(FB?++-FC?+FD? +FE?). Therefore AX, AY, AZ, are the three lines required to be found. Cafe 3. Wuewn the lines (Fig. 14. No. 1.) AB, BC, CD, DA, are not parallel, and do not interfeét one another in the fame point. Ler X be a point fo related to the lines AB, BC, CD, DA, that it fhall be the centre of gravity of the four points L, M, N, O, where they are interfected by the perpendiculars XL, XM, XN, XO, drawn to them from X, (Theor. 13.); and let XP, XQ, XR, XS, be drawn from X parallel to AB, BC, CD, DA, and let them meet the perpendiculars to thefe lines, from E, in P, 128 DEMONSTRATIONS of P,Q, R, S. Let Xa, Xd, Xe, be three ftraight lines, fuch, that 3(EP?++EQ?+ER?++ES?) = 4(Ea?+-Es?+Ec’), (Cafe 2 of this). Defcribe a triangle def, (Fig. 14. No. 2.) having the angle def= aXb, and the angle dfe = bXc. Let g be a point in that triangle, fuch, as to be the centre of. gravity of the three points 4, &, /, where perpendiculars drawn from it meet the fides, (Theor. 13.) Defcribe a fquare = 3(XL?+XM?+XN?7+ FiO’), and divide it into three fquares whofe fides Xm, Xu, Xo, fhall have the mutual ratios of gh, gh, gl. Through X draw Xm, Xn, Xo, perpendicular to Xa, Xd, Xc, and through m, n, 0, draw mp,ngq,qp, perpendicular to Xm, Xn, Xo, and meeting Ea, Eb, Ec, in x, y, 2 We have, by Theor. 13. 3(EF?+EG?+EH’*+EK?) = 3(EP?+EQ’+ER?+ES?)+ 3(XL?+XM?+XN*+X0O7), and alfo 4(Ex?+Ey?+Ez?) = 4(Ea?+Ed? Eas ale a Tae } But by conftrudtion, 3(EP?+EQ’*+ER?+ES*) = 4({Ea*+£s?+Ec?), and by Cafe 2. of this, 3(XL*+XM’+XO?+XN?) = 4(Xm?+Xn?+Xo?), Therefore, 3(EF?+EG?+EH*+EK?) = 4(Ex*+Ey*+Ez’). Therefore mp, nq, gp, are the lines required to be found. Tue three lines found in this Theorem are determined, 1n their pofition, only relatively to one another, and not abfolutely ; becaufe, in the conftruction of each of the cafes, an arbitrary fuppofition is unavoidably introduced, and of confequence there are innumerable fets of lines, within certain limits however, that all equally anfwer the conditions required in the propofi- tion. When one of thefe is affumed as given in pofition, the other two are neceflarily determined. Tue four propofitions which follow in Dr StEwart’s book are extenfions of four that have already been demonftrated here, viz. the roth, 12th, 13th and 14th; and are related to them juft as the 7th of the preceding is to the fixth, or the gth to the 8th. The purpofe of them is to apply what has been demonftrated Dr STEWART’s THEOREMS. 129 demonftrated of the fquares of the perpendiculars in Prop. To. &c. to any rectilineal figures whatever, each given in fpecies, defcribed on thofe perpendiculars. THEIR demonttrations are all derived in the fame manner from thofe of their correfponding propofitions, and it will there- fore be fufficient, at prefent, to give the demonftration of one of them. I have made choice of the 16th, as the 15th is only the fimpleft cafe of the 7th, viz. when all the points given, in that Theorem, are in the fame ftraight line. THEOREM XVI. Fic. VIII. Let there be any number,.m, of ftraight lines AB, AC, AD, AE, &c. given by pofition, interfetting one another in the point A, and let a, b, c, d, &c. be given magnitudes, as many in number as there are lines. given by pofition, two ftraight lines AX, AY, may be found, which will be given by pofition, fuch, that if from any point F there be drawn FB, FC, FD, FE, &c. perpendicular to AB, AC, AD, AE, &c. and FX, FY, perpendicular to AX, AY, FB} — FC FD+} SFE? &e. = SE py py), Let m = 4. Let G be the centre of the circle which paffes through the points A, B, C, D, E and F; and let H be the cen- tre of gravity of weights proportional to the magnitudes a, 4, ¢, da, placed at the points B,C, Dand E. Join GH; and let XY, at right angles to GH in H, meet the circumference of the circle ABDF in X and Y: AX, AY, are the lines required to be found.. For it may be fhown, juft as in Theor. 12. by means of a lemma fimilar to the 3d, that AX and AY make given angles Vor. Il. r with 130 DEMONSTRATIONS of with AB, and are therefore given in pofition, But by Theor. 7. GB+—cC+—cp42¢or = Mex — 5 c d a c HB} --HC+—HD+—HE = Storm. Now, atbtetd atbtetd : ee (GE ECY) = atb-c+d —; — (GH?+HX?*), by Prop. 1... Therefore, HB+—HO+—HD4+—e = SMa, Acatn, by Theor. 7. FB4+-— FC! FD'4-4 FE! = Ease apr e 7 d atb-+c+d HB*+ — HC’+ —-HD’+— HE:+ ———HF ; therefore, FB FO: Ep SFE = Ex HP), or, fince HX*++HF = 3(FX*+FY"), FB} —FC+-— DFE? = a-b+ct+d : : one (FX?-+FY’). - Cor. Ir from any point, as F, ftraight lines be drawn in given angles to the lines which are given by pofition, and which interfect in one point, two ftraight lines may be found which will be given by pofition, fuch, that if perpendiculars from F be drawn to them, the fum of the fquares of the lines drawn in given an- gles, will be equal to the fpace to which the fum of the fquares. of the perpendiculars bas a given ratio. THIS Dr STEWARTs THEOREMS. 131 Tuts corollary is evident, becaufe the lines drawn from F, making given angles with AB, AC, &c. will have given ratios to the perpendiculars FB, FC, &c. - Tue 17th Theorem is, That if a, b, c, &c. be any magnitudes as above, and if the figure be conftruéted as in Theor. 13. (Fig. 10.), EF — EG: EH?4+—EK? &e. = SEES (EY? 4 EZ?)+A*, A? being a given fpace. This is demonftrated from its relation to the 13th, in the fame manner with the preceding, and fo alfo is the 18th from the r4th. The 18th is, That if a, b,c, &c. be any given magnitudes, and if the fame things be fup- pofed as in Theor. 14. (Fig. 14.) three firaight lines mp, nq, 9p, may be found, fuch, that EF*+- EG —EH*+ oe EK, &. = SN (Ext -+Ey"t Es"). WE proceed now to a propofition that relates to the fourth powers of the perpendiculars. THEOREM XXVII. Fic. XV. Let there be any number, m, of given points A, B, C, &c. two fraight lines may be found, which will be given by pofition, and like- wife a point D, fuch, that if from any point E, there be drawn EY, EZ, perpendicular to the two lines found, and if EA, Eb, EC, &c. and ED be joined, then, (making A> = a given fpace, and B* = the fourth power of a given line,) AE*+BE*-+CE* &c. = mDE*-+A’*(EY?+-EZ’)+B*. r2 LET 132 DEMONSTRATIONS of Let mbe = 3. Let D be the centre of gravity of the three points A, B, C; join AD, BD, CD; from E draw EF, EG, EH perpendicular to AD, BD, CD; in AD take DK = 3AD, in BD take DL = 43BD, andia DC take DM = 4DC. Then, AF? = DE?+AD?—2AD.DF BE? = DE?+BD*+2BD.DG CE? = DE’?+CD’?—2CD.DH. Therefore, AE* = DE*+2AD?,.DE*—4AD?.DF+AD*— 4DE*.AD.DF + 4AD?.DF*. BE* = DE*+2BD?.DE’*+4BD?.DG+BD‘*+4DE?.BD.DG+ 4BD?.DG?. CE* = DE*+2CD*.DE?-—4CD?.DH+CD*—4DE.CD.DH-+- 4CD’.DH?. But becaufe D is the centre of gravity of the three points A, B, C, AD.DF+CD.DH = BD.DG. Therefore, making AE*-+BE*+CE* = S*, we thall have AD?.DE? —AD?}.DF AD*. DF") (AD* $yDE4 RD Deal BD*?.DG be BD-DG+}H Bb+t CD. DE? —CD°.DH?! \cD» DH? CD* But DE? = EF*+DF: = EG*+DG* = EH?+DH’. There- fore, (ADEF'] (AD*DE}] —AD?.DF]_ [ADs += 3DE++2) BD EG" 4+6/BD?.DG: +44 BD?.DG$42BD* $. co.EH | lcp“pe | ‘l-cp2pH * Icp* Or, S* = 3DE*-++2) BD. EG’ BD?(6DG?+ 4BD.DG-+BD*) lcp.EH: CD?(6DH?—4CD.DH+CD?’) But 3DK = AD; 3DL= BD, and 3DM=CD; and confe- quently gDK* = AD’, gDL* = BD’, and gDM* = CD». Therefore, S* = 3DE* + AD:.EF}] fAD(6DF*—12DK.DF+6DK’) ) (3DK?.AD*) “4 + ta AD.EF?) (AD:(6DF*—4AD.DF+AD*) al ° BD.EG?$-++4 BD?(6DG?4+12DL.DG+6DL") $443DL:.BD: b. CD+.EH*) CD 6DH*—12DM.DH+6DM")} (3DM?.CD*} Or, Dr STEWART’s THEOREMS. 133 AD:. EF? AD>.FK? AD* Or, S*= sDE++2] BDC | +6] BDLG Ls BR \ CD?.EH? CD?.MH: CD* Jorn EK, and on it as a diameter defcribe the circle KFPENQ, draw the diameter FN and divide it in O, fo that FO = 30N, -and through O draw PQ _ perpendicular to FN, meeting the circumference in P, Q; and join KP, KQ; EP, EQ. In the fame manner, join EL, and on it as a diameter defcribe the circle GVLRTE, draw the diameter GR, and divide it in S, _ fo that GS = 35R; through S draw TV perpendicular to GR, meeting the circumference in T,V3 and join LT, LV, ET, EV. Inthe fame manner alfo join EM, and on it as a diame- ter defcribe the circle HZEXaM, draw the diameter HX, and divide itin Y, fo that HY = 3YX; through Y draw Za per- pendicular to HX, meeting the circumference in Z,a; and jon MZ, Ma, EZ, Ea. Then, FK = EN; LG = ER; and MH = EX. Therefore, AD:.EF? AD:.EN? AD* ot = = sDE++2 [BD EG: 46 BD?.ER? fs D+ But CD?.EH? CD?.EX? lep* 2EF?-+-6EN’?=8FO.ON-++8EO?=8(OP?-+-EO?)=4(EP’-++-EQ’). In the fame manner, 2EG?+6ER?2 = 8GS.SR+8ES? = 8(7S*--ES?) = 4(ET*+EV’).. In the fame. manner alfo, Wer ork?) — SHY. YX+8EY*.. = 8(ZY7++RY’). . = 4(EZ’?+E2?). Therefore, AD?(EP?-+-EQ?) AD* aes SDEM +B Do(eT=HiV)}+s[Bp' Since then there CD?(EZ?-+-Ea’) } CD* are fix ftraight lines KP, KQ, LT, LV, MZ, Ma, given by pofi- tion, and given quantities 4AD?, 4AD?, 4BD?, 4BD?, 4CD?, _4CD?*, as many in number as there are lines given by pofition, therefore, by Theor. 17. two ftraight lines, xy, xz, may be found, which will be given by pofition, fuch, that if from the point 134 DEMONSTRATIONS of, &c. point E, the perpendiculars EP, EQ, ET, EV, EZ, Ea, be drawn to KP, KQ.. LT, LV, MZ, Ma, and if the perpendiculars Ey, Ez, be drawn to xy, xz, 4AD?.EP?+4AD?.EQ?+4BD?,.ET?+ 4BD?.EN?+4CD?.EZ?4-4CD? Ea? = 8(AD?++-BD?+CD?)(Ey?-+Ez?)+a*. Therefore, S* = 3DE*+A*(Ey?+Ez?)+a*+3(AD*+BD*+CD*). Or, S* = 3DE*+A7{Ey?+Ez?)+B*. Therefore xy, «z, are the lines, and D the point, required to be found. x THEOREM | XXVIII Let there be any number, m, of given points A, B, C, &&c. and let a, b, c, Se. be given magnitudes, as many in number as there are given points, two fraight lines, zy, xz, may be found, which will be given by pofition, and likewife a point D, fuch, that if from any point E, there be drawn perpendiculars Ey, Ex, to the two lines found, and if EA, EB, EC, ED, be joined, AE?-+}-—-BE?+ CE? &e. = 8°" pes 4 A2(Ey*Ex?)+B4, THE inveftigation is perfectly fimilar to the former ; only the point D is not the centre of gravity of the points A, B, C, &c. but, as in Theor. 7. the centre of gravity of weights, fuppofed to be placed in thofe points, and proportional to the magnitudes OD, 65 Bee, . Tue univerfality of the preceding demonftrations is no way affected by our having always fuppofed m equal to fome parti- cular number, becaufe the reafoning is the fame, whatever va- lue be affigned to it, SII. facing page 134. Phy f.Cl.] cPuate I. To fold out, t - - * XIII. REMARKS on the ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. By Foun PiLarFair, A.M. F.R.S. Epin. and Profeffor of Mathematics in the Univerfity of Edinburgh. [Read by the Author, March 2. 1789. | th EY INCE the time when Aftronomy emerged from the - obfcurity of ancient fable, nothing is better known than its progrefs through the different nations of the earth. With the era of NABONASSAR, regular obfervations began to be made in Chaldea; the earlieft which have merited the attention of fucceeding ages. The curiofity of the Greeks: was, foon after, directed to the fame objet; and that ingeni- ous people was the firft that endeavoured to explain, or connect by theory, the various phenomena of the heavens. This: work was fuppofed to be fo fully accomplifhed in the Syntaxis: of Protemy, that his fyftem, without oppofition or improve- ment, continued, for more than five hundred years, to direct the Aftronomers of Egypt, Italy and Greece. After the {ciences: were banifhed from Alexandria, his writings made their way into the eaft, where, under the Caliphs of Bagdat, Aftrono- my was cultivated with diligence and fuccefs. The Perfian: Princes followed the example of thofe of Bagdat, borrowing befides, from Trebifond, whatever mathematical knowledge was: ftill preferved among the ruins of the Grecian empire: The con- quefts of Greneis, and afterwards of Trmour, though they re- tarded, did not {top the progrefs of Aftronomy in the eaft. The grandfons of thefe two conquerors were equally renowned for their 136 REMARKS on the their love of fcience: Huxacu reftored Aftronomy in Perfia, and ULucGu-sercn, by an effort ftill more fingular, eftablifhed itin Tartary. In the mean time, having paffed with the Arabs into Spain, it likewife found, in ALPpHONso of Caftile, both a difciple and a patron. It was carried, foon after, into the north of Europe, where, after exercifing the genius of CopeRNicus, of KepLer, and of NewTon, it has become the moft perfect of all the fciences. 2. In the progrefs which Aftronomy has thus made, through almoft all the nations, from the Indus to the Atlantic, there is {carce a ftep which cannot be accurately traced ; and it is never difficult to determine what each age, or nation received from another, or what it added to the general ftock of aftronomical knowledge. The various fyftems, that have prevailed in all thefe countries, are vifibly connected with one another ; they are all derived from one original, and would incline us to bes lieve, that the manner in which men begin to obferve the hea- vens, and to reafon about them, is an experiment on the human race, which has been made but once. It is, therefore, matter of extreme curiofity to find, beyond the Indus, a fyftem of aftronomical knowledge that appears to make no part of the great body of fcience, which has traverfed, and enlightened the other countries of the earth; a fyf{tem that isin the hands of men, who follow its rules without underftand- ing its principles, and who can give no account of its origin, except that it lays claim to an antiquity far beyond the period, to which, with us, the hiftory of the heroic ages is fuppofed to extend. r 3. We owe our firft knowledge of this aftronomy to M. LA LouBERE, who, returning, in 1687, from an embafly to Siam, — brought with him an extract from a Siamefe manufcript, which — contained tables, and rules, for calculating the places of the fun and moon *. The manner in which thefe rules were laid down * Mem. de l’Acad. des Sciences, tom. 8, p. 281. &c. ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 139 down, rendered the principles, on which they were founded, ex- tremely obfcure ; and it required a commentator, as converfant with aftronomical calculation as the celebrated CassINi, to ex- plain the meaning of this curious fragment. After that pe- riod, two other fets of aftronomical tables were fent to Paris, by the miffionaries in H1nDosTANn 3 but they remained un- noticed, till the return of M. te GenrTit from India, where he had been to obferve the tranfit of Venus in 1769. ‘Ihis Aca- demician employed himfelf, during the long ftay, which his zeal for fcience induced him to make in that country, in ac- quiring a knowledge of the Indian aftronomy. ‘The Brahmins thought they faw, in the bufinefs of an Aftronomer, the marks of a Caf, that had fome affinity to their own, and began to converfe with M. te GenTiL, more familiarly than with other ftrangers. A learned Brahmin of Tirvalore, having made a vifit to the French Aftronomer, inftru¢cted him in the methods, which he ufed for calculating eclipfes of the fun and moon, and - communicated to him the tables and rules, that are publifhed in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, for 1772. Since that time, the ingenious and eloquent author of the Hiftory of Aftronomy, has dedicated an entire volume to the explanation, ~and comparifon of thefe different tables, where he has deduced, from them, many interefting conclufions*. The fubjeé indeed merited his attention ; for the Indian aftronomy has all the pre- cifion neceflary for refolving the great queftions, with refped to its Own origin and antiquity, and is by no means among the number of thofe imperfect fragments of ancient knowledge, which can lead no farther than conjecture, and which an Aftro- nomer would gladly refign to the learned refearches of the An- tiquary, or the Mythologift. 4. It is from thefe fources, and chiefly from the elaborate inveftigations of the laft mentioned work, that I have feleGed NOL. AL j. the * Traité de PAftronomie Indienne et Orientale, par M. Baituy. Paris, 1787, 138 REMARKS on the the materials of the paper, which I have now the honour to lay be- fore this Society ; and it is perhaps neceffary that I fhould make fome apology for-prefenting here, what can have fo little claim. to originality. The fact is, that notwithftanding the moft pro- found refpect, for the learning and abilities of the author of the A/fronomié Indienne, 1 entered on the ftudy of that work, not without a portion of the fcepticifm, which whatever is new and extraordinary in fcience ought always to excite, and fet about verifying the calculations, and examining the reafonings in it, with the moft fcrupulous attention. The refult was, an entire conviction of the accuracy of the one, and of the folidity of the other; and I then fancied, that, in an argument of fuch variety, I might perhaps do a ferviee to others, by pre- fenting to them, that particular view of it, which had ap- peared to me the moft ftriking. Such, therefore, is the ob- jet of thefe remarks; they are directed to three different points: The firft is to give a fhort account of the Indian aftronomy, fo far as it is known to us, from the four fets of tables above mentioned; the fecond, to ftate the principal arguments, that can be deduced from thefe tables, with refpect to their antiquity ; and the third, to form fome eftimate of the geometrical fkill, with which this aftronomical fyftem is con- ftructed. In the firft, | have followed M. Bartiy clofely ; in the fecond, though I have fometimes taken a different road, I have always come to the fame conclufion ; having aimed at nothing fo much, as to reduce the reafoning into a narrow compafs, and to avoid ‘every argument that is not purely aftronomical, and: independent of all hypothefis ; in the third, I have treated of a queftion which did not fall within the plan of M. Baiiry’s. work, but have only entered on it at prefent, leaving to fome fature opportunity, the other difcuffions to which it leads. 5- THe aftronomy of India, as you already 'perceive, is ‘con- fired to one branch of the fcience. It gives no theory, nor even any defcription of the celeftial phenomena, but fatisfies itfelf ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 139 itfelf with the calculation of certain changes in the heavens, particularly of the eclipfes of the fun and moon, and with the rules and tables by which thefe calculations muft be performed. The Brahmin, feating himfelf on the ground, and arranging his fhells before him, repeats the enigmatical verfes that are to guide his calculation, and from his little tablets of palm leaves, takes out the numbers that are to be employed in it. He ob- tains his refult with wonderful certainty and expedition ; but having little knowledge of the principles on which _ his rules are founded, and no anxiety to be better informed, he is perfectly fatisfied, if, as it ufually happens, the commencement and duration of the eclipfe anfwer, within a few minutes, to his prediction. Beyond this his aftronomical enquiries never extend ; and his obfervations, when he makes any, go no far- ther than to determine the meridian line, or the length of the day, at the place where he obferves. Tne objects, therefore, which this aftronomy prefents to us, are principally three. 1. Tables and rules for calculating the places of the fun and moon: 2. Tables and rules for calcu- lating the places of the planets: 3. Rules by which the phafes of eclipfes are determined. Though it is chiefly to the firft of thefe that our attention at prefent is to be directed, the two laft will alfo furnifh us with fome ufeful obfervations. 6. Tue Brahmins, like all other Aftronomers, have diftin- guilhed from the reft of the heavens, that portion of them, through which the fun, moon and planets continually circulate. They divide this fpace, which we call the zodiac, into twenty- feven equal parts, each marked by a group of ftars, or a con- ftellation*. This divifion of the zodiac is extremely natural in the infancy of aftronomical obfervation ; becaufe the moon completes her circle among the fixed {tars, nearly in twenty- feven days, and fo makes an actual divifion of that circle f2 into * Mem. fur l’Aftronomie des Indiens, par M. re Genriz, Hift. de Acad. des Scien. 1772, Ll. P. 207. The phrafe which we here trauilate conflel/ations, fignifies the places of the moon in the twelve figns. 140 REMARKS on the into twenty-feven equal parts. The moon too, it muft be re- membered, was, at that time, the only inftrument, if we may fay fo, by which the pofitions of the ftars on each fide of her path could be afcertained ; and when her own irregularities were unknown, fhe was, by the rapidity of her motion eaft- ward, well adapted for this purpofe. It is alfo to the phafes of the moon, that we are to afcribe the common divifion of time into weeks, or portions of feven days, which feems to have prevailed almoft over the whole earth*. The days of the week are dedicated by the Brahmins, as by us, to the feven planets, and what is truly fingular, they are arranged precifely in the fame order. 7, WiTH the conftellations, that diftinguifh the twenty-feven equal {paces, into which their zodiac is divided, the Aftronomers _of India have connected none of thofe figures of animals, which are among us, of fo ancient, and yet fo arbitrary an ori- ginal. M. re GenrTi has given us their names, and configu- rations t. They are formed, for the moft part, of {mall groups of ftars, fuch as the Pleiades or the Hyades, thofe belonging to the fame conftellation being all connected by ftraight lines. The firft of them, or that which is placed at the beginning of their zodiac, confifts of fix ftars, extending from the head of Aries to the foot of Andromeda, in our zodiac, and occupying -_ a fpace of about ten degrees in longitude. Thefe conftellations are far from including all the ftars in the zodiac. M. LE GeEnTIL remarks, that thofe ftars feem to have been felected, which are beft adapted for marking out, by lines drawn be- tween them, the places of the moon in her progrefs through the heavens. At the fame time that the ftars in the zodiac are thus ar- ranged into twenty-feven conftellations, the ecliptic is divided, as with us, into twelve figns of thirty degrees each. This di- vifion * Mem. Acad. des Scien. 1772. I. P. 189; + Ibid. 209. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. 141 vifion is purely ideal, and is intended merely for the purpofe of, calculation. The names and emblems by which thefe figns - are expreiled, are nearly the fame as with us *; and as there is nothing in the nature of things to have determined this coin- cidence, it muft, like the arrangement of the days of the week, be the refult of fome ancient and unknown: communi- cation. 8. TuHat motion by which the fixed ftars all appear to move eaftward, and continually to increafe their diftance from the place, that the fun occupies at the vernal equinox, is known to the Brahmins, and enters into the compofition of all their ta- bles +. They compute this motion to be at the rate of 54” a- year ; fo that their annus magnus, or the time in which the fixed {tars complete an entire revolution, is 24,000 years. This mo- tion is too quick by fomewhat lefs than 4” a-year ; an error that will not be thought great, when it is confidered, that PTOLEMY committed one of 14”, in determining the fame quantity. | ANOTHER circumftance, which is common to all the tables, and, at the fame time, peculiar to the Indian aftronomy, is, that they exprefs the longitude of the fun and moon, by their diftance from the beginning of the moveable zodiac, and not, as is ufual with us, by their diftance from the point of the vernal equinox. The longitude is reckoned in figns of 30°, as already mentioned, and each degree is fubdivided into 60’, tc. In the divifion of time, their arithmetic is purely fexagefimal: They divide the day into 60 hours, the hour into 60 minutes, &c.; fo that their hour is 24 of our minutes, their minute 24 of our feconds, and fo on.. 9g. THESE * Mem. Acad. des Scien. 1772. IL. P. 200. The zodiac they: call /ods-mandalam, ox the circle of ftars. + Ibid. 194. Aft. Indienne, p. 43, &c. 142 REMARKS on the g. THESE remarks refer equally to all the tables. We are now to take notice of what is peculiar to each, beginning with thofe of Siam. In order to calculate for a given time, the place of any of the celeftial bodies, three things are requifite. The firft is, the pofition of the body in fome paft inftant of time, afcertained by obfervation ; and this inftant, from which every calculation mut fet out, is ufually called the epoch of the tables. The fe- cond requifite is, the mean rate of the planet’s motion, by which is computed the arch in the heavens, that it muft have defcribed, in the interval between the epoch and the inftant for which the calculation is made. By the addition of this, to the place at the epoch, we find the mean place of the planet, or the point it would have occupied in the heavens, had its motion been fubje& to no irregularity. The third is, the correction, on account of fuch irregularity, which muft be added to the mean place, or fubtracted from it, as circumftances require, in order to have the true place. The correction thus made is, in the language of aftronomy, called an equation; and, when it arifes from the eccentricity of a planet’s orbit, it is called the equation of the centre. 10. THE epoch of the tables of Siam does not go back to any wery remote period. M. Cassini, by an ingenious analyfis of their rules, finds that it correfponds to the 2: {t of March, in the year 638 of our era, at 3 in the morning, on the meridian of Siam *. This was the inftant at which the aftronomical year be- gan, and at which both the fun and moon entered the moveable zodiac. Indeed, it is to be obferved, that, in all the tables, the aftronomical year begins when the fun enters, the moveable zo- diac, fo that the beginning of this year is continually ad- vancing with refpect to the feafons, and makes the complete round of them in 24,000 years. FROM * Mem. Acad. Scien. tom, 8. p. 312. Aft. Indienne, p. 12. § 14. ASTRONOMY ofthe BRAHMINS. 143 From the epoch above mentioned, the mean place of the fun for any other time is deduced, on the fuppofition that in 800 years, there are contained 292,207 days*. ‘This fuppofition in- volves in it the length of the fydereal year, or the time that the fun takes to return to the beginning of the moveable zo- diac, and makes it confift of 365d. 64. 12’, 36’ 7. From this, in order to find the tropical year, or that which regulates the feafons, we muft take away 21’, 55”, as the time which the fan takes to move over the 54”, that the ftars are fuppofed to have advanced in the year; there will remain 365d. 5b. 50’, 41”, which is the length of the tropical year that is involved, not only in the tables of Siam, but likewife, very nearly, in all the reft {. This determination of the length of the year is but 1’, 53", greater than that of De 1a CaiLie, which is a degree of accuracy beyond what is to be found in the more ancient tables of our aftronomy. 11. THe next thing with which thefe tables prefent us, is a correction of the fun’s mean place, which correfponds to what we call the equation of his centre, or the inequality arifing from the eccentricity of his orbit, in confequence of which, he is alternately retarded and accelerated, his true place being, for one half of the year, left behind the mean, and, for the other, advanced before it. The point where the fun is placed, when his motion is floweft, we call his apogee, becaufe his diftance from the earth is then greateft; but the Indian aftronomy, which is filent with refpect to theory, treats this point as no- thing more than what it appears to be, a point, wz. in the heavens, where the fun’s motion is the floweft poffible, and about go° diftant from that, where his greateft inequali- ty takes place. This greateft inequality is here made to be * Aft. Ind. p. 7. § 6. + Mem. Acad. Scien. tom. 8. p. 328. + Aft. Ind. p.124. The tables of Tirvalore make the year 6” lefs. 144 REMARKS on the be 2°, 12’*, about 16’ greater than it is determined, by the modern aftronomy of Europe. This difference is very confi- derable ; but we fhall find that it is not to be afcribed wholly to error, and that there was a time when the inequality in que- {tion was nearly of the magnitude here affigned to it. In the other points of the fun’s path, this inequality is diminifhed, in proportion to the fine of the mean diftance from the apogee, that is, nearly as in our own tables. The apogee is fuppofed to be 80° advanced beyond the beginning of the zodiac, and to retain always the fame pofition among the fixed ftars, or to move forward at the fame rate with them ft. Though this fuppofition is not accurate, as the apogee gains upon the {tars about 10” annually, it is much nearer the truth than the fyftem of Protemy, where the fun’s apogee is fuppofed abfo- lutely at reft, fo as continually to fall back among the fixed ftars, by the whole quantity of the preceflion of the equi- noxes {. 12. In thefe tables, the motions of the moon are deduced, by certain intercalations, from a period of nineteen years, in which fhe makes nearly 235 revolutions; and it is curious to find at Siam, the knowledge of that cycle, of which the in- vention was thought to do fo much honour to the Athenian Aftronomer Merton, and which makes fo great a figure in our modern * Tue equation of the fun, or what they call the chazaa, is calculated in the Sia- mefe tables only for every 15° of the matte:omme, or mean anomaly. Cassini, ube Supra, Pp» 299- + Aft. Ind. p. 9. + Tue error, however, with refpeét to the apogee, is lefs than it appears to be ; for the motion of the Indian zodiac, being nearly 4’ fwifter than the ftars, is but 6” flower than the apogee. The velocity of the Indian zodiac is indeed neither the fame with that of the flars, nor of the fun’s apogee, but nearly a mean between them. yj) — ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 13 modern kalendars*. The moon’s apogee is fuppofed to have been in the beginning of the moveable zodiac, 621 days after the epoch of the 21ft of March 638, and to make an entire re- volution in the heavens in the fpace of 3232 days t+. The firft. of thefe fuppofitions agrees with Mayer’s tables to lefs than a degree, and the fecond differs from them only by 11’, 14’, 31” and if it be confidered that the apogee is an ideal point in the heavens, which even the eyes of an aftronomer cannot direétly perceive, to have difcovered its true motion, fo nearly, argues no fmall correétnefs of obfervation. 13. From the place of the apogee, thus found, the inequali- ties of the moon’s motion, which are to reduce her mean to her true place, are next to be determined. Now, at the oppofi- tions and conjunctions, the two greateft of the moon’s inequa- lities, the equation of the centre and the evection, both depend on the diftance from the apogee, and therefore appear but as one inequality. They alfo, partly, deftroy one another; fo that the moon is retarded or accelerated, only by their differ- ence, which, when greateft, is, according to MAYER’s tables, 4°, 57, 42”. The Siamefe rules, which calculate only for oppofitions and conjunctions, give, accordingly, but one ine- quality to the moon, and make it, when greateft, 4°, 56’, not 2’ lefs than the preceding. This greateft equation is applied, when the moon’s mean diftance from the apogee is 9625 in other fituations, the equation is lefs, in proportion as the fine of that diftance diminifhes f{. 14. THe Siamefe MS. breaks off here, and does not inform us how the aftronomers of that country proceed, in the remain- ing parts of their calculation, which they feem to have under- Voi. II. t | : taken, * Tue Indian period is more exa¢t than that of our golden number, by 35’. Aft. Ind. p- 5. The Indians regulate their feftivals by this period. Jdzd. Difc. Prelim. p. viit. + Aft. Ind. p. 11.-& 20, $ Aft. Indienne, p. 13. Cassini Mem. Acad. tom. 8. p. 304. 146 REMARKS on the undertaken, merely for fome purpofe in aftrology. M. Cassrnr, to whom we are indebted for the explanation of thefe tables, obferves, that they are not originally conftruéted for the meri- dian of Siam, becaufe the rules direct to take away 3’ for the fun, and 40’ for the moon, (being the motion of each for 14, 13’), from their longitudes calculated as above *. The meri- dian of the tables is therefore 17, 13’, or 18°, 15’, weft of Siam; and it is remarkable, that this brings us very near to the meridian of Benares, the ancient feat of Indian learning 7. The fame agrees nearly with what the Hindoos call their firft meridian, which pafles through Ceylon and the Banks of Ra- manancor. We are, therefore, authorifed, or rather,.we are neceflarily determined to conclude, that the tables of Siam came originally from HINDOSTAN. 15. ANOTHER fet of aftronomical tables, now in the poffef- fion of the Academy of Sciences, was fent to the late M. DE LIs_z from Chrifnabouram, a town in the Carnatic, by Father pu Cuamp, about the year 1750. Though thefe tables have an obvious affinity to what have already been defcribed, they form a much more regular and extenfive fyftem of aftronomi- cal knowledge. ‘They are fifteen in number ; and include, be- fide the mean motions of the fun, moon and planets, the equa- tions to the centre of the fun and moon, and two corrections for each of the planets, the one of which correfponds to its ap- parent, and the other to its real inequality. They are accompa- nied alfo with precepts, and examples, which Father pu Coamp received from the Brahmins of Chrifnabouram, and which he has tranflated into French t. i : THE * Mem. Acad. Scien. tom. 8. p. 302. & 309. + Aft. Ind. p. 12. It brings us to a méridian 82°, 34’, eaft of Greenwich. Benares is 83°, 11’, eaft of the fame, by RennEx’s map. t Thefe tables are publifhed by M. Barury, Aft. Ind. p. 335, &e. See alfo P> 31, &es a ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 147 Tue epoch of thefe tables is lefs ancient than that of the for- mer, and anfwers to the roth of March at funrife, in the year 1491 of our era, when the fun was juft entering the moveable zodiac, and was in conjunction with the moon; two circum- ftances, by which almoft all the Indian eras are diftinguithed. The places, which they affign, at that time, to the fun and moon, agree very well with the calculations made from the tables of Mayer, and De ta Caitxte. In their mean motions, they in- deed differ fomewhat from them; but as they do fo equally for the fun and moon, they produce no error, in determining the relative pofition of thefe bodies, nor, of confequence, in calculating the phenomena of eclipfes. The fun’s apogee is here fuppofed to have a motion fwifter than that of the fixed ftars, by about 1” in nine years, which, though it falls greatly fhort of the truth, does credit to this aftronomy, and is a ftrong mark of originality. The equation of the fun’s centre is fome- - what lefs here than in the tables of Siam; it is 2°, I0’", 30’; the equation of the moon’s centre is 5°, 2,47”; her path, where it interfects that of the fun, is fuppofed to make an an- gle with it of 4°, 30’, and the motions, both of the apogee and node, are determined very near to the truth. 16. ANOTHER fet of tables, fent from India by Father Patou- ILLET, were received by M. DE t’IsteE, about the fame time with thofe of Chrifnabouram. They have not the name of any particular place affixed to them; but, as they contain a rule for determining the length of the day, which anfwers to the latitude of 16°, 16, M. Baixiy thinks it probable that they come from Narfapour *. THE precepts. and examples, which accompany thefe ta- bles, though without any immediate reference to them, are confined to the calculation of the eclipfes of the fun and moon; but the tables themfelves extend to the motion of the planets, and very much refemble thofe of Chrifnabouram, except that they are given with lefs detail, and in a form much i 2 | more * Aft. Ind. p. 49, &e. 148 REMARKS on the more enigmatical *. The epoch of the precepts, which M. BAiLity has evolved with great ingenuity, goes back no farther than the year 1569, at midnight, between the 17th and 18th of March.” From this epoch, the places of the fun and moon are computed, as in the tables of Siam, with the addition of an equation,. which is indeed extremely fingular. It refembles that correction of the moon’s motion, which was difcovered by Tycuo, and which is called the annual equation, becaufe its quantity de- pends, not on the place of the moon, but on the place of the fun, in the ecliptic. It is every where proportional to the in- equality of the fun’s motion, and is nearly a tenth part of it. The tables of Narfapour make their annual equation only 37 of the fun’s: but this is not their only miftake; for they direct the equation to be added to. the moon’s longitude, when it ought to be fubtracted from it, and vice verfa. Now, it is difficult to conceive from whence the laft mentioned error has arifen; for though it is not at all extraordinary, that the aftronomers, who conftructed thefe tables, fhould miftake the quantity of a fmall equation, yet it is impoffible, that the fame obfervations, which informed them of its exiftence, fhould not have determined, whether it was to be added or fub- traéted. It would feem, therefore, that fomething accidental muft have occafioned this error; but however that be, an inequality in the lunar motions, that is found in no fyftem. with which the aftronomers of India can have had any com- munication, is at leaft a proof of the originality of their tables. 17. Tue tables, and methods, of the Brahmins of Tirvalore, are, in many refpects, more fingular than any that have yet been. * Tury were explained, or rather decyphered by M. re Genvrt in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 1784, p. 482, &c. 5 for they were not underftood by the miffionary who fent them to Europe, nor probably by the Brahmins who inftruéted him.. M. ve Genie thinks that they have the appearance of being copied from infcriptions on ftone. The minutes and feconds are ranged in rows under one another, not in vertical columns, and without any title to point out their meaning, or their connection. Thefe tables are publifhed, Mem. Acad. zh:d. p. 492, and Aft. Ind. p. 414. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. ~— 149 been defcribed *. The folar year is divided, according to them, into twelve unequal months, each of which is the timethat the fun takes to move through one fign, or 30°, of the ecliptic. Thus, Any, or June, when the fun is in the third fign, and his motion floweft, confifts of 314, 36°, 38’, and Margagy, or December, when he is in the ninth fign, and his mo- tion quickeft, confifts only of 29% 20%, 53’ ft. The lengths of thefe months, expreffled in natural days, are con- tained in a table, which, therefore, involves in it the place of the fun’s apogee, and the equation of his centre. The former feems to be 77° from the beginning of the zodiac, and the lat- ter about 2°, 10’, nearly as in the preceding tables. In their calculations, they alfo employ an aftronomical day, which is different from the natural, being the time that the fun takes to move over one degree of the ecliptic; and of which days there are juft 360 in a year f{. : ' 18. Tuese tables go far back into antiquity. Their e- poch coincides with the famous era of the Calyougham, that is, with the beginning of the year 3102 before Curisr. When the Brahmins of Tirvalore would calculate the place of the fun for a given time, they begin by reducing into days the interval between that time, and the commencement of the Calyougham, multiplying the years by 365%, 6%, 12’, 30”; and taking away 24, 37, 32, 30’, the aftronomical epoch having begun that much later than the civil]. They next find, by means of certain divifions, when the year current be- ) gan, * TirvaLore is a {mall town on the Coromandel coaft, about 12 G. miles weft of Ne- gapatnam, in Lat. 10°, 44’, and eaft Long. from Greenwich, 79°, 42, by Rennew’s map. From the obfervations of the Brahmins, M. re Gentizt makes its Lat. to be 10°, 42,13”. (Mem. Acad. Scien. II. P. 184.) The meridian of Tirvalore nearly touches the weft fide of Ceylon, and therefore may be fuppoted to coincide with the firft meridian, as laid down by Father pu Cuamp. There is no reduction of Longitude em- ployed in the methods of Tirvalore. + Thefe are Indian hours, &c. t Mem. Acad. des Scien. II. P. 187. Aft. Indienne, p. 76, &c. | The Indian hours are here reduced to European. 150 | REMARKS on the gan, or how many days have elapfed fince the beginning of it, and then, by the table of the duration of months, they re- duce thefe days into aftronomical months, days, &%c. which is the fame with the figns, degrees and minutes of the fun’s longitude from the beginning of the zodiac. The fun’s lon- gitude, therefore, is found, . 19. SOMEWHAT in the fame manner, but by a rule ftill more artificial and ingenious, they deduce the place of the ‘moon, at any given time, from her place at the beginning of the Cal- yougham*. This rule is fo contrived, as to include at once the - motions both of the moon and of her apogee, and depends on this principle, according to the very fkilful interpretation of M. Bartty, that, 1,600,894 days after the above mentioned _ epoch, the moon was in her apogee, and 7‘, 2°, o’, 7”, diftant from the beginning of the zodiac ; that after 12,372 days, the moon was again in her apogee, with her longitude increafed, 9’, 27°, 48, 10’; that in 3031 days more, the moon is again in her apogee, with IT’, 7°, 31, 1", more of longitude ; and, laftly, that, after 248 days, fhe is again in her apogee, with 27°, 44’, 6”, more of longitude. By means of the three former numbers, they find, how far, at any given time, the moon is advanced in this period of 248 days, and by a table, exprefling how long the moon takes to pafs through each degree of her orbit, during that period, they find how far fhe is then advanced in the zodiac ~. This rule is ftrongly marked with all the peculiar characters of the Indian aftronomy: It is re- markable for its accuracy, and {till more for its ingenuity and refinement; but is not reduced withal, to its ultimate fim- plicity. 20. THE tables of Tirvalore, however, though they differ in form very much from thofe formerly defcribed, agree with _ them * Mem. Acad. des Scien. zbid. p. 229. Aft. Ind. p 84. 4 M. re Genrit has given this table, Mem. Acad. sbid. p. 261. ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. ba them perfeétly in many of their elements. They fuppofe the fame length of the year, the fame mean motions, and the fame inequalities of the fun and moon, and they are adapted nearly to the fame meridian*. But a circumftance in which they feem to differ materially from the reft is, the antiquity of the epoch from which they take their date, the year 3102 before the Chriftian era. We muft, therefore, enquire, whether this epoch is real or fictitious, that is, whether it has been determined by actual obfervation, or has been calculated from the modern epochs of the other tables. For it may naturally be fuppofed, that the Brahmins, having made obfervations*in later times, or having borrowed from the aftronomical knowledge of other nations, have imagined to themfelves a fictitious epoch, coinci- ciding with the celebrated era of the Calyougham, to which, through * Tur accuracy of the geography of the Hindoos, is in no proportion to that of their aftronomy, and, therefore, it is impoffible that the identity of the meridians of their tables can be fully eftablifhed. Al} that can be faid, with certainty, is, that the dif- ference between the meridians of the tables of Tirvalore and Siam is, at moft, but in- confiderable, and may be only apparent, arifing from an error in computing the difference of longitude between thefe places. The tables of Tirvalore are for Long. 79°, 42’; thofe of Siam for 82°, 34’; the difference is 2°, 52’, not more than may be afcribed to an error purely geographical. As to the tables of Chrifnabouram, they contain a reduction, by which it appears, that the place where they are now ufed is 45’ of a degree eaft of the meridian for which they were originally conftruéted. This makes the latter meridian agree tolerably with that of Cape Comorin, which is in Long. 77°, 32’, 30’, and about half a degree weft of Chrifna- bouram. But this conclufion is uncertain; becaufe, as M. Barttiy has remarked, the tables fent from Chrifnabouram, and underftood by Father pv Cuamr to belong to that — place, are not adapted to the latitude of it, but to one confiderably greater, as appears from their rule for afcertaining the length of the day. (Aft. Ind. p. 33.) Tue characters, too, by which the Brahmins diftinguifh their firft meridian, are not perfectly confiftent with one another. Sometimes it is defcribed as bifecting Ceylon ; and at other times, as touching it on the weft fide, or even as being as far weft as Cape Comorin.- Lanka, which is faid to be a point in it, is underftood; by Fath. pv Cuamp, to be Ceylon. M. Baitty thinks that it is the lake Lanka, the fource of the Gogra, placed by M. Ren- NEL, as well as the middle of Ceylon, in Long. 80°, 42’; but, from a Hindoo map, in the Ayeen Akbery, vol.ii, p. 25. Lanka appears to be an ifland which marks the interfeCtion of the firft meridian of the map, nearly that of Cape Comorin, with the equa- tor ; and is probably one of the Maldivy iflands. See alfo a note in the Ayeen Akbery, ibid. p. 36+ ; 152 REMARKS on the through vanity or fuperftition, they have referred the places of the heavenly bodies, and have only calculated what they pre- . tend that their anceftors obferved. 21. In doing this, however, the Brahmins muft have fur- nifhed us with means, almoft infallible, of deteCting their im-— pofture. It is only for aftronomy, in its moft perfec ftate, to go back to the diftance of forty-fix centuries, and to afcertain the fituation of the heavenly bodies at fo remote a period. The modern aftronomy of Europe, with all the accuracy that it derives from the telefcope and the pendulum, could not venture on fo difficult a tafk, were it not aflifted by the theory of gra- --vitation, and had not the integral calculus, after an hundred years of almoft continual improvement, been able, at laft, to determine the difturbances in our fyftem, which arife from the ation of the planets on one another. Un tess the corrections for thefe difturbances be taken into account, any fyftem of aftronomical tables, however accurate’ at the time of its formation, and however diligently copied from the heavens, will be found lefs exa& for every inftant, ei- ther before or after that time, and will continually diverge more and more from the truth, both for future and paft ages. Indeed, this will happen, not only from the neglect of thefe © corrections, but alfo from the fmall errors unavoidably com- mitted, in determining the mean motions, which muft ac- cumulate with the time, and produce an effect that be- comes every day more fenfible, as we retire, on either fide, from the inftant of obfervation. For both thefe reafons, it may be eftablifhed as a maxim, that, if there be given a fyftem of aftronomical tables, founded on obfervations of an unknown date, that date may be found, by taking the time when the tables reprefent the celeftial motions moft exa¢tly. Here, therefore, we have a criterion, by which we are to judge of the pretenfions of the Indian aftronomy to fo great an- tiquity. It is true, that, in applying it, we muft fuppofe our . modern ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 153 modern aftronomy, if not perfectly accurate, at leaft fo exact as to reprefent the celeftial motions, without any fenfible error, even for a period more remote than the Calyougham ; and this, confidering the multitude of obfervations on which our aftro- nomy is founded, the great antiquity of fome of thofe obier- vations, and the extreme accuracy of the reft, together with the affiftance derived from the theory of phyfical caufes, may furely be affumed as a very reafonable poftulatum. We begin with the examination of the mean motions. 22. THE Brahmins place the beginning of their moveable zodiac, at the time of their epoch, 54° before the vernal equi- nox, or in the longitude of 10°, 6°, according to our method of reckoning. Now, M. re GenTiL brought with him a del1- neation of the Indian zodiac, from which the places of the {tars in it may be afcertained with tolerable exattnefs*. In particular, it appears, that Aldebaran, or the firft ftar of Tau- rus, is placed in the laft degree of the fourth conftellation, or 53°, 20, diftant from the beginning of the zodiac. Alde- baran was therefore 40° before the point of the vernal equinox, according totheIndian aftronomy, inthe year 3102 beforeCuRIsT. But the fame {tar, by the’beft modern obfervations, was,in the year 1750, in longitude, 2°, 6°, 17’, 47”; and had it gone forward, according to the prefent rate of the preceffion of the equinoxes, 50's annually, it muft have been, at the era of the Calyougham, 1°, 32, before the equinox. But this refult is to be corrected, in confequence of the inequality in the preceflion, difcovered by M. pexa Grance f, by the addition of 1°, 45’, 22”, to the longitude of Aldebaran, which gives the longitude of that {tar 13° from the vernal equinox, at the. time of the Calyoug- ham, agreeing, within 53’, with the determination of the In- dian aftronomy f. Vou. I. u THIs * Mem. Acad. Scien. 1772, II. P. 214. Aft. Ind. p. 129. 4+ Mem. Acad. de Berlin, 1782, p. 287. Aft. Ind. p. 144. t Aft. Ind. p. 130. 164 REMARKS on the Tus agreement is the more remarkable, that the Brahmins, by their own rules for computing the motion of the fixed ftars, could not have afligned this place to Aldebaran for the begin- ning of the Calyougham, had they calculated it from a modern obfervation. For as they make the motion of the fixed ftars too great by more than 3” annually, if they had calculated backward from 1491, they would have placed the fixed ftars lefs advanced by 4° or 5°, at their ancient epoch, than they have actually done. This argument carries with it a great deal of force ; and even were it the only one we had to produce, it would render it, in a high degree, probable, that the Indian zodiac was as old as the Calyougham. 23. LET us next compare the places of the fun and moon, for the beginning of the Calyougham, as deduced from the In- dian and the modern aftronomy. And, firft, of the fun, though, for a reafon that will immediately appear, it is not to be confidered as leading to any thing conclufive. M. Baitty, from a comparifon of the tables of Tirvalore with thofe of Chrifnabouram, has determined the epoch of the former to an- fwer to midnight, between the 17th and 18th* of February of the year 3102 before CurisT, at which time the fun was juft entering the moveable zodiac, and was therefore in longi- tude to", 6°. M. Bairty alfo thinks it reafonable to fuppofe, that this was not the mean place of the fun, as the nature of aftronomical tables require, but the true place, differing from the mean, by the equation to the fun’s centre at that time}. This, it muft be confeffed, is the mark of greateft unfkilfulnefs, that we meet with in the conftruction of thefe tables. Suppofing it, however, to be the cafe, the mean place of the fun, at the time of * Aft. Ind. p. 110. The Brahmins, however, actually fuppofe the epoch to be 6 hours later, or at funrife, on the fame day. Their miftake is difcovered, as has been faid, by comparing the radical places in the different tables with one another. + Aft. Ind. p. 83. ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 155 of the epoch, comes out 10°, 3°, 38’, 13”. “Now, the mean longi- tude of the fun, from DE tA CaILue’s tables, for the fame time, is to’, 1°, 5’, 57°, fuppofing the preceffion of the equinoxes to have been uniformly at the rate it is now, that is, 50°4 an- nually. But M. p—E ra GranceE has demonftrated, that the preceffion was lefs in former ages than in the prefent; and his formula gives 1°, 45’, 22”, to be added, on that account, to the fun’s longitude already found, which makes it to‘, 2°, 51’, 19’, not more than 47’ from the radical place in the tables of Tirvalore. This agreement is near enough to afford a ftrong proof of the reality of the ancient epoch, if it were not for the difficulty that remains about confidering the fun’s place as the true, rather than the mean; and, for that reafon, 1 am unwil- ling that any ftrefs fhould be laid upon this argument. The place of the moon is not liable to the fame obje¢tion. 24. THE moon’s mean place, for the beginning of the Caly- ougham, (that is, for midnight between the 17th and 18th of February 3102, A. C. at Benares), calculated from Mayer’s tables, on the fuppofition that her motion has always been at the fame rate as at the beginning of the prefent century, is 105, 0°, 51’, 16°*. But, according to the fame aftrono- mer, the moon is fubject to a fmall, but uniform accele- eet fuch, that her angular motion, in any* one age, is 9’ greater than in the preceding, which, in an interval of 4801 years, muft have amounted to 5°, 45’, 44”. This mutt be added to the preceding, to give the real mean place of the moon, at the aftronomical epoch of the Calyougham, which is therefore 10°, 6°, 37. Now, the fame, by the tables of Tir- valore, is 10’, 6°, o'; the difference is lefs than two-thirds of a degree, which, for fo remote a period, and confidering the acceleration of the moon’s motion, for which no allowance “2 could * Aft. Ind. p. 142, &c. The firft meridian is fuppofed to pafs through Benares ; but even if it be fuppofed 3° farther weft, the difference, which is here 37’, will be only in- creafed to 42’. 156 REMARKS on the could be made in an Indian calculation, is a degree of accuracy that nothing but actual obfervation could have produced. 25. To confirm this conclufion, M.BarLiy computes the place of the moon for the fame epoch, by all the tables to which the {Indian aftronomers can be fuppofed to have ever had accefs *. He begins with the tables of Protemy; and if, by help of them, we go back from the era of NABONASSAR, to the epoch of the Calyougham, taking into account the compa- rative length of the Egyptian and Indian years, together with the difference of meridians between Alexandria and Tirvalore, we fhall find the longitude of the fun 10°, 21’, 15” greater, and that of the moon 11°, 52’, 7” greater than has juft been found from the Indian tables +. At the fame time that this fhews, how difficult it is to go back, even for a lefs period than that of 3000 years, in an aftronomical computation, it affords a proof, altogether demonftrative, that the Indian aftronomy is. not derived from that of ProLemy. Tue tables of Utucu Bric are more accurate than thofe of the Egyptian aftronomer. They were conftructed in a coun- try not far from India, and but a few years earlier than r4g1, the epoch of the tables of Chrifmabouram. ‘Their date is July 4. at noon, 1437, at Samarcand; and yet they do not agree with the Indian tables, even at the above mentioned epoch of 1491 {. But, for the year 3102 before Curist, their dif- ference from them, in the place of the fun, is 1°, 30’, and in that of the moon 6°; which, though much lefs than the for- mer differences, are fufficient to fhow, that the tables of India are not borrowed from thofe of Tartary. Tue Arabians employed in their tables the mean motions of Proxemy ; the Perfians did the fame, both in the more ancient tables of Carysococca,and the later ones of NAssiREDDIN ||. Jt 18, *. Aft. Ind. p. 114. } Ibid. p. 115. % Ibid. p. 117. I) Ibid. p. x18. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. veer: is therefore certain, that the aftronomy of the Brahmins is net- ther derived from that of the Greeks, the Arabians, the Per- fians or the Tartars. This appeared fo clear to CassINI, though he had only examined the tables of Siam; and knew nothing of many of the great points which diftinguith the In- dian aftronomy from that of all other nations, that he gives it as his opinion, that thefe tables are neither derived from the Perfian aftronomy of Curysococca, nor from the Greek aftronomy of Proremy ; the places they give at their epoch to the apogee of the fun, and of the moon, and their equation for the fun’s centre, being very different from both *. 26. Bur, to return to what refpects the moon’s acceleration ; it is plain, that tables, as ancient as thofe of Tirvalore pretend: to be, ought to make the mean motion of that planet much flower than it is at prefent. They do accordingly fuppofe, in the rule for computing the place of the moon, already defcri- bed, that her motion for 4383 years, 94 days, reckoned in the moveable zodiac from the epoch of the Calyougham, 1s.7‘, 2°; 0, 7, or 9’, 7°, 45, 3”, when referred to the fixed point of the vernal equinox. Now, the mean motion for the fame in- terval, taken from the tables of MAvyezR, is greater than this, by 2°, 42’, 4” +, which, though conformable, in general, to the notion of the moon’s motion having been accelerated, falls, it muft be confeffed, greatly fhort of the quantity which MAveER has affigned to that acceleration. This, however, is not true of all the tables ; for the moon’s motion in 4383 years, 94 days, taken from thofe of Chrifnabouram, is 3°, 2’, to” lefs than in the tables of Tirvalore {; from which it is reafon- able to conclude, with M. Baitiy, that the former are, in. reality, more ancient than the latter, though they do not pro- fefs to be fo: and hence, alfo, the tables of Chrifnabouram make. * Mem. Acad. Scien. tom. 8. p. 286. + Aft. Ind. p. 145. + Ibid. p. 126._ 158 REMARKS on the make the moon’s motion lefs than Mayer’s, for the above mentioned interval, by 5°, 44’, 14”, which therefore is, ac- cording to them, the quantity of the acceleration. 27. Now, it is worthy of remark, that if the fame be com- puted on Mayer’s principles, that is, if we calculate how much the angular motion of the moon for 4383 years, 94 days, dated from the beginning of the Calyougham, muft have been lefs than if her velocity had been all that time uniform, and the fame as in the prefent century, we fhall find it to be 5°, 43, 7°, an arch which is only 1’, 7”, lefs than the former. The tables of Chrifnabouram, therefore, agree with thofe of Maver, when corrected by the acceleration within 1’, 7”, and that for a period of more than four thoufand years. From this remarkable coincidence, we may conclude, with the higheft pro- bability, that at leaft one fet of the obfervations, on which thofe tables are founded, is not lefs ancient than the Calyoug- ham ; and though the poffibility of their being fome ages later than that epoch, is not abfolutely excluded, yet it may, by {trict mathematical reafoning, be inferred, that they cannot have been later than 2000 years before the Chriftian era *. 28. Tus * Tue reafoning here referred to is the following: As the mean motions, in all aftronomical tables, are determined by the comparifon of obfervations made at a great diftance of time from one another; if x be the number of centuries between the begin- ning of the prefent, and the date of the more ancient obfervations, from which the moon’s mean motion in the tables of Chrifnabouram is deduced ;-and if y denote the fame for the more modern obfervations: then the quantity by which the moon’s mo- tion, during the interval x—y, falls fhort of Mavyer’s, for the fame interval, is (%*—y" 9". Ir, therefore, mm be the motion of the moon for a century in the laft mentioned tables, m(x—y)—g (x*—y?) will be the mean motion for the interval «—y in the tables of Chrifnabouram. If, then, a be any other interval, as that of 43.83 centuries, the mean motion afligned to it, in thefe laft tables, by the rule of proportion, will be if 2 2 ee = ma—9ga(«+y). Let this motion, attually taken from the ta- ae bles ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. 159 28. Tuts laft is one of the few coincidences between the aftro- nomy of India and of Europe, which their ingenious hiftorian has left for others to obferve. Indeed, fince he wrote, every argument, founded on the moon’s acceleration, has become more worthy of attention, and more conclufive. For that ac- celeration is no longer a mere empyrical equation, introduced to reconcile the ancient ebfervations with the modern, nor a fa&t that can only be accounted for by hypothetical caufes, fuch as the refiftance of the ether, or the time neceflary for the tranf{miffion of gravity ; it is a phenomenon, which M. DE LA PiAce has*, with great ability, deduced from the principle of univerfal gravitation, and fhewn to be neceffarily connected with the changes in the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit, dif- covered by M. DE LA GRANGE; fo that the acceleration of the moon is indirectly produced by the a¢tion of the planets, which alternately increafing and diminifhing the faid eccentricity, fub- je@ts the moon to different degrees of that force by which the fun difturbs the time of her revolution round the earth. It is therefore a periodical inequality, by which the moon’s motion, in the courfe of ages, will be as much retarded as accelerated ; but its changes are fo flow, that her motion has been conftant- ly accelerated, even for a longer period than that to which the obfervations of India extend. A bles be = na, then ma—na = ga(«-+y), or x-by = Ecard 52.19, in the prefent & cafe. It is certain, therefore, that whatever fuppofition be made with refpect to the inter- val between x and y, their fum muft always be the fame, and muft amount to 5219 years. But that, that interval may be long enough to give the mean motions with exa¢tnefs, it can fcarcely be fuppofed lefs than 2000 years; and, in that cafe, x = 3609 years, which therefore is its leaft value. But if 3609 be reckoned back from 1700, it goes up to 1909 years before Curist, nearly, as has been faid. Ir muft be remembered, that what is here inveftigated is the limit, or the moft mo- dern date poffible to be affigned to the obfervations in queftion. ‘The fuppofition that *—y = a, is the moft probable of all, and it gives x = 4801, which correfponds to the beginning of the Calyougham. * Mem. Acad. des Scien. 1786, p. 235, &c. 160 REMARKS on the A FORMULA for computing the quantity of this inequality, has been given by M. pz La Piace, which, though only an approxima- tion, being derived from theory, is more accurate than that which Maver deduced entirely from obfervation * ; and if it be taken inftead of Mayer’s, which laft, on account of its fimplicity, I have employed in the preceding calculations, it will give a quantity fomewhat different, though not fuch as to affect the general refult. It makes the acceleration for 4383 years, dated ~ from the beginning of the Calyougham, to be greater by 17’, 39", than was found from Mayer’s rule, and greater confequently by 16, 32”, than was deduced from the tables of Chrifnabouram. It is plain, that this coincidence is ftill near enough to leave the argument, that is founded on it,{ in poffeffion of all its force, and to afford a ftrong confirmation of the accuracy of the theory, and the authenticity of the tables. TuatT obfervations made in India, when all Europe was barbarous or uninhabited, and inveftigations into the moft fub- tle effects of gravitation made in Europe, near five thoufand years afterwards, fhould thus come in mutual fupport of one another, is perhaps the moft ftriking example of the pro- grefs and viciflitude of fcience, which the hiftory of mankind has yet exhibited. 29. Tuts, however, is not the only inftance of the fame kind that will occur, if, from examining the radical places and mean motions in the Indian aftronomy, we proceed to confider fome other of its elements, fuch as, the length of the year, the inequality of the fun’s motion, and the obliquity of the eclip- tic, and compare them with the conclufions deduced, from the theory of gravity, by M. pe LA Grance. To that geometer, phyfical aftronomy is indebted for one of the moft beautiful of its difcoveries, vx. That all the variations in our fyftem are periodical; fo that though every thing, almoft without excep- tion, * Mem. Acad. des Scien: 1786, p. 260. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. 16 tion, be fubject to change, it will, after a certain interval, re- turn to the fame ftate in which it is at prefent, and leave no room for the introdu@iion of diforder, or of any irregularity that might conftantly increafe. Many of thefe periods, how- ever, are of vaft duration. A great number of ages, for in- | ftance, muft elapfe before the year be again exactly of the fame length, or the fun’s equation of the fame magnitude as at prefent*. An aftronomy, therefore, which profefles to be fo ancient as the Indian, ought to differ confiderably from ours in many of its elements. If indeed thefe differences are irregular, they are the effects of chance, and muft be accounted errors ; but if they obferve the laws, which theory informs us that the variations in our fyftem do a€tually obferve, they muft be held as the moft undoubted marks of authenticity. We are to ex- amine, as M. Baitzy has done, which of thefe takes place in the cafe before us f. 30. Tue tables of Tirvalore, which, as we have feen, refer their date to the beginning of the Calyougham, make the fy- derial year to confift of 3657, 6’, 12’, 30°; and therefore the tropical of 3654, 5%, 50°, 35”, which is 1’, 46’, longer than that of De ra CatLLeE f. Now, the tropical year was in rea- lity longer at that time than it is at prefent ; for though the fi- derial year, or the time which the earth takes to return from one point of fpace to the fame point again, is always of the fame magnitude, yet the tropical year being affected. by the preceffion of the equinoxes, is variable by a {mall quantity, which never can exceed 3’, 40°, and which is fubject to flow, and unequal alternations of diminution and increafe. A the- orem, exprefling the law and the quantity of this variation, has been inveftigated by M. DE LA GRANGE, in the excellent Me- Box, Il. a moir * Mem. de l’Acad. de Berlin, 1782, p. 170, &c. + Aft. Ind. p. 160, &e. t Supra, § 18. and to. 162 REMARKS on the id moir already mentioned *; and it makes the year 3102 before CurisT, 40°} longer than the year at the beginning of the prefent century +. The year in the tables of Tirvalore is there- fore too great by 1’, 53. . 31. Bur the determination of the year is always from a com- parifon of obfervations. made at a confiderable interval from one another ; and, even to produce a degree of accuracy much lefs than what we fee belongs to the tables of Tirvalore, that interval muft have been of feveral ages. Now, fays M. Barty, if we fuppofe thefe obfervations to have been made in that pe- riod of 2400 years, immediately preceding the Calyougham, to: which the Brahmins often- refer; and if we alfo fuppofe the inequality of the preceffion of the equinoxes, to increafe as we go back, in proportion to the fquare of the times, we fhall find, that, at the middle of this period, or 1200 years before the be- ginning of the Calyougham, the length of the year was 365%, 52, 50, 41”, almoft precifely as in the tables of Tirvalore. And hence it is natural to conclude, that this determination of the folar year'is as ancient as the year 1200 before the Cal- yougham, or 4300 before the Chriftian era {. 32. In this reafoning, however, it feems impoflible to acqui- efce ; and M. -Baitty, himfelf does not appear to have relied on it with much confidence ||... We are not at liberty to fuppofe, that the preceflion of the equinoxes increafes in the ratio above mentioned, or, which isthe fame, that the equinoctial points go back with a motion equably retarded. If, by M. DE Grance’s formula, we trace back, ftep by ftep, the variation of the folar year, we fhall find, that about the beginning of the Calyougham, it had nearly attained the extreme point of — one * Mem. Acad. Berlin, 1782. p. 289. + Aft. Ind. p. 160. t Ibid. p. 161. | Hz fays, ‘‘ Sans doute il ne peut réfulter de ce calcul qu’un appercu.” ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 163 one of thofe vibrations, which many centuries are required to complete ; and that the year was then longer than it has ever been fince, or than it had been for many ages before. It was 40” longer than it is at prefent ; but, at the year 5500 before Crist, it was only 29” longer than at prefent, inftead of 2’, 50°, which is the refult of M. Baitiy’s fuppofition. During all the intervening period of 2400 years, the variation of the year was between thefe two quantities; and we cannot therefore, by any admiffible fuppofition, reduce the error of the tables to lefs than 1’, 5”. The fmallnefs of this error, though extremely fa- vourable to the antiquity, as well as the accuracy of the Indian aftronomy, is a circumftance from which a more precife con- clufion can hardly be deduced. 33-. THE equation of the fun’s centre is an element in the Indian aftronomy, which has a more unequivocal appearance of belonging to an earlier period than the Calyougham. The maximum of that equation is fixed, in thefe tables, at 2°, 10’, 32”. Itis at prefent, according to M. pE ua CaILLeE, 1°, 55'5, that is, 15" lefs than with the Brahmins. Now, M. bE ta GRANGE has fhewn, that the fun’s equation, together with the eccentri- city of the earth’s orbit, on which it depends, is fubject to al- ternate diminution and increafe, and accordingly has been di- minifhing for many ages. In the year 3102 before our era, that equation was 2°, 6, 28”2; lefs, only by 4’, than in the tables of the Brahmins. Butif we fuppofe the Indian aftro- nomy to be founded on obfervations that preceded the Calyoug- ham, the determination of this equation will be found to be ftill more exact. Twelve hundred years before the commence- ment of that period, or about 4300 years before our era, it ap- pears, by computing from M. pE ta GRanGe’s formula, that the equation of the fun’s: centre was actually 2°, 8’, 16”; fo that if the Indian aftronomy be as old. as that period, its error with refpect to this equation is but of 2’ *. eZ 34. THE * Aft. Ind. p. 163. 164 REMARKS on the 34. Tue obliquity of the ecliptic is another element in which the Indian aftronomy and the European do not agree, but where their difference is exactly fuch as the high antiquity of the former is found to require. The Brahmins make the obli- quity of the ecliptic 24°. Now, M. pz ra Grance’s formu- la for the variation of the obliquity *, gives 22’, 32”, to be added to its obliquity in 1700, that is, to 23°, 28’, 41”, in or- der to have that which took place in the year 3102 before our era. This gives us 23°, 51’, 13°, which is 8’, 47”, fhort of the determination of the Indian aftronomers. But if we fup- pofe, as in the cafe of the fun’s equation, that the obfervations on which this determination is founded, were made 1200 years before the Calyougham, we fhall find that the obliquity of the ecliptic was 23°, 57’, 45”, and that the error of the tables did not much exceed 2’ f. 35. Tuus, dothe meafures which the Brahmins aflign to thefe three quantities, the length of the tropical year, the equa- tion of the fun’s centre, and the obliquity of the ecliptic, all agree in referring the epoch of their determination to the year 3102 before our era, or to a period ftill more ancient. This coincidence in three elements, altogether independent of one another, cannot be the effect of chance. ‘The difference, with refpect to each of them, between their aftronomy and ours, might fingly perhaps be afcribed to inaccuracy ; but that three errors, which chance had introduced, fhould be all of fuch magnitudes, as to fuit exactly the fame hypothefis concerning their origin, is hardly to be conceived. Yet there is no other alternative, but to admit this very improbable fuppofition, or to acknowledge that the Indian aftronomy is as ancient as one, or other of the periods above mentioned. 36. Tus conclufion would receive great additional confirma- tion, could we follow M. Baiuty in his analyfis of the aftro- nomy * Mem. Acad. Berlin, 1782, p. 287. + Aft. Ind. p. 165. ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. t6s nomy of the planets, contained in the tables of Chrifna- bouram *; but the length to which this paper is already ex- tended, ail allow only a few of aie moft remarkable particu- lars to be felected. In thefe tables, which are for the epoch 1491, the mean mo- tions are given with confiderable accuracy, but without an ap- pearance of being taken from PTOLEMy, or any of the aftro- nomers already mentioned. Two inequalities, called the /chi- gram and the manda, are alfo diftinguifhed in each of the pla- nets, both fuperior and inferior}. The firft of thefe is the , fame with that which we call the parallax of the earth’s orbit, or the apparent inequality of a planet, which arifes not from its own motion, but from that of the obferver; but whether it is afcribed, in the Indian aftronomy, to its true caufe, or to the motion of the planet in an epicycle, is a queftion about ‘which the tables give no direct information. The magnitude, however, of this equation is afligned, for each of the planets, with no fmall exa¢tnefs, and is varied, in the different points of its orbit, by a law which approaches very near to the truth. TuE other inequality coincides with that of the planet’s cen- tre, or that which arifes from the eccentricity of its orbit, and it is given near the truth for all the planets, except Mercury, by which, as is no wonder, the firft aftronomers were, every where, greatly deceived. Of this inequality, it is fuppofed, juft as in the cafes of the fun and moon, that it is always as the fine of the planet’s diftance from the point of its floweft mo- tion, or from what we call its aphelion, and is confequently greatef{t at go° from that point. It were to be wifhed that we knew the etymology of the mames which are given to thefe inequalities, as it might ex- plain the theory which guided the authors of the tables. The titles of our aftronomical tables, the terms apbelion, heliocentric or * Aft. Ind. p. 173, &e. ¢ Ibid. p. 177. 166 REMARKS on the or geocentric place, &c. would difcover the leading ideas of the Copernican fy{tem, were no other defcription of it preferved. 37. Iw the manner of applying thefe two inequalities, to cor- rect the mean place of a planet, the rules of this aftronomy are altogether fingular. In the cafe of a fuperior planet, they do not make ufe of the mean anomaly, as the argument for finding out the equation manda, but of that: anomaly, when corrected firft by half the equation /chigram, and afterwards by half the equation manda*. By the equation of the centre, obtained with this argument, the mean longitude of the planet is corrected, and its true heliocentric place confequently found, to which there is again applied the parallax of the annual orbit, that the geocentric place may be obtained. The only difficulty here, is in the method of taking out from the tables the equa- tion to the centre. It is evidently meant for avoiding fome inaccuracy, which was apprehended from a more direct metho@ of calculation, but of which, even after the ingenious remarks of M. Baitty, it feems impoflible to give any clear and fatis- factory account. 38. THE manner of calculating the places of the inferior planets has a great refemblance to the former ; with this differ- ence, however, that the equation manda, or of the centre, is applied to correct, not the mean place of the planet, but the mean place of the fun ; and to this laft, when fo corre¢ted, is applied the equation /chigram, which involves the planet’s elon- gation from the fun, and gives its geocentric place}. This neceflarily implies, that the centre, about ‘which the inferior planets revolve, has the fame apparent mean. motion with the fun: but whether it be a point really different from the fun, or the fame; and, if the fame, whether it be in motion or at reft, are left entirely undetermined, and we know not, whether, in the aftronomy of India, we have here difcovered a refem- blance * Aft. Ind. p. 194. + Ibid. p. 199, &e. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. 167 blance to. the Ptolemaic, the Tychonic, or the Copernican fy- ftem. | 39. TueseE tables, though their radical places are for the year 1491 of our era, havean obvious reference tothe great epoch of the Calyougham. For if we calculate the places of the planets from them, for the beginning of the aftronomical year, at that epoch, we find:them all in conjunction with the fun in the beginning of the moveable: zodiac, their common longitude being 10°, 6° *. According to our tables, there was, at that time, a conjunction of all the planets, except Venus, with the fun; but they were, by no means,. fo near to one another as the Indian aftronomy reprefents. It is true, that the exact time- of a conjundtion cannot be determined by direct obfervation: but this does not amount to an entire vindication of the tables ; and there is rea- fon to fufpect, that fome fuperftitious notions, concerning the beginning of the Calyougham, and the figns by which nature muft have diftinguifhed fo great an epoch, has, in this inftance at leaft, perverted the aftronomy of the Brahmins. There are, however, fome coincidences between this part of their aftro- nomy, andthe theory of gravity, which muft not be for- gotten. ‘40. Tue firft of thefe refpects the aphelion of Jupiter, which, in the tables, is fuppofed to have a retrograde: motion of 15° in 200,000 years t, and to have been, at the epoch of 1491, in longitude 5°, 21°, 40°, 20’, from the beginning of the zodiac. It follows, therefore, that in the year 3102 before Curist, the longitude of Jupiter’s aphelion was 3°, 27°, o, reckoned from the equinox. Now, the fame, computed from M. pz LA LANDE’s tables, is only 3°, 16°, 48’, 58” 3 fo that there would feem to be an error of more than ro° in the tables of the Brahmins. But, if it be confidered, that Jupiter’s orbit 1S * Aft. Ind. p. 18% + Ibid. p. 184. § 13. 168 REMARKS on the is fubje&t to great difturbances, from the action of Saturn, which M. p—E LA LanbeE does not profefs to have taken into account, we will be inclined to appeal once more to M. DE LA GRANGE’s formulas, before we pafs fentence againft the Indian aftronomy *. From one of thefe formulas, we find, that the true place of the aphelion of Jupiter, at the time above mentioned, was 3', 26°, 50°, 40°, which is but 10, 40”, different from the tables of Chrifnabouram. The French and Indian tables are therefore both of them exaét, and only differ becaufe they are adapted to ages near five thoufand years diftant from one another. 41. THE equation of Saturn’s centre is an inftance of the fame kind. That equation, at prefent, is, according to M. DE LA LANDE, 6°, 23, 19” 3 and hence, by means of one of the formulas above mentioned, M. Baixtty calculates, that, 3102 years before CHRIsT, it was 7°, 41’, 22” ¢. The tables of the Brahmins make it 7°, 39, 44’, which is lefs only by 1’, 38”, than the preceding equation, though greater than that of the prefent century by 1°, 16, 25”. 42. M. Bartiy remarks, that the equations for the other planets are not given with equal accuracy, and afford no more fuch inftances as the former. But it is curious to obferve, that new refearches into the effects,of gravitation, have difcovered new coincidences of the fame kind; and that the two great geometers, who have fhared between them the glory of per- feCting the theory of diflurbing forces, have each contributed his part to eftablifh the antiquity of the Indian aftronomy. Since the publication of M. Baitty’s work, two other inftances of an exact agreement, between the elements of thefe tables, and the conclufions deduced from the theory of gravity, have been obferved, and communicated to him by M. DE LA PLAcE, ina letter, inferted in the Yournal des Savans. In * Mem. Acad. Berlin. 1782, p. 246. Aft. Ind. p. 186, + Aft. Ind. p. 188. eS ee. ee ae a | ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. 169 In feeking for the caufe of the fecular equations, which mo- dern aftronomers have found it neceflary to apply to the mean motion of Jupiter and Saturn, M. pe ta Prace has difcovered, that there are inequalities belonging to both thefe planets, arifing from their mutual action on one another, which have long periods, one of them no lefs than 877 years; fo that the mean motion mutt appear different, if it be determined from obfervations made in different parts of thofe periods. ‘“ Now, “ | find,” fays he, *‘ by my theory, that at the Indian epoch “of 3102 years before Curist, the apparent and annual ** mean motion of Saturn was 12°, 13’, 14”, and the Indian fables Make i€ 12°, 13, 13% ‘ In like manner, I find, that the annual and apparent mean motion of Jupiter at that epoch was 30°, 20’, 42”, precifely as in the Indian aftronomy *.” 43. THus have we enumerated no lefs than nine aftronomi- cal elements }, to which the tables of India aflign fuch values as do, by no means, belong to them in thefe later ages, but fuch as the theory of gravity proves to have belonged to them three thoufand years before the Chriftian era. At that time, therefore, or in the ages preceding it, the obfervations muft have been made from which thefe elements were deduced. For it is abundantly evident, that the Brahmins of later times, however willing they might be to adapt their tables to fo re- -markable an epoch as the Calyougham, could never think of doing fo, by fubftituting, inftead of quantities which they had obferved, others which they had no reafon to believe had ever exifted. The elements in queftion are precifely what thefe Vor. II. y aftronomers it9 «6 c¢ * Efprit des Journeaux, Nov. 1787. p. 80. : + Tue imequality of the preceffion of the equinoxes, (§ 22.) ; the acceleration of the moon; the dength of the folar year; the equation of the fun’s centre; the obliquity of the ecliptic’; the place of Jupiter’s aphelion ; the equation of Saturn’s centre ; and the imequalities in the mean motion of both thefe planets. 170 REMARKS on the aftronomers mutt have fuppofed invariable, and of which, had they fuppofed them to change, they had no rules to go by for afcertaining the variations; fince, to the difcovery of thefe rules is required, not only all the perfection to which aftro- nomy is, at this day, brought in Europe, but all that which the {ciences of motion and of extenfion have likewife attained. It is no lefs clear, that thefe coincidences are not the work of accident; for it will fcarcely be fuppofed that chance has adjufted the errors of the Indian aftronomy with fuch fingu- lar felicity, that obfervers, who could not difcover the true {tate of the heavens, at the age in which they lived, have fuc- ceeded in defcribing one which took place feveral thoufand years before they were born. 44. THE argument, however, which regards the originality of thefe tables, is, in fome meafure, incomplete, till we have confidered the geometrical principles which have been employed in their conftruction. For it is not impoflible, that when feen conneéted by thofe principles, and united into general theo- rems, they may be found to have relations to the Greek aftro- nomy, which did not appear, when the parts were examined fingly. On this fubject, therefore, I am now to offer a few ob- fervations. 45. Tue rules by which the phenomena of eclipfes are de- duced from the places of the fun and moon, have the moft immediate reference to geometry ; and of thefe rules, as found among the Brahmins of Tirvalore, M. Le GEnTIL has given a full account, in the Memoir that has been fo often quoted. We have alfo an account of the method of calculation ufed at Chrifnabouram by Father pu Cuamp™*. Ir isa neceflary preparation, in both of thefe, to find the time of the fun’s continuance above the horizon, at the place and the » day for which the calculation of an eclipfe is made, and the rule by which the Brahmins refolve this problem, is extremely fimple : * ane * Aft. Ind. p. 355, &c. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. 171 and ingenious. At the place for which they calculate, they obferve the fhadow of a gnomon on the day of the equinox, at noon, when the fun, as they exprefs it, is in the middle of the world. The height of the gnomon is divided into 720 equal parts, in which parts the length of the fhadow is alfo meafured. One third of this meafure is the number of mi- nutes by which the day, at the end of the firft month after the equinox, exceeds twelve hours ;. four-fifths of this exce{s is the increafe of the day during the fecond month; and one third of it is the increafe of the day, during the third month *, 46. IT is plain, that this rule involves the fuppofition, that, when the fun’s declination is given, the fame ratio every where exifts between the arch which meafures the increafe of the day at any place, and the tangent of the latitude ; for that tangent is the quotient which arifes from dividing the length of the fhadow by the height of the gnomon. Now, this is not ftrictly true; for fuch a ratio only fubfifts between the chord of the arch, and the tangent above mentioned. ‘The rule is, therefore, but an approximation to the truth, as it neceflarily fuppofes the arch in queftion to be fo {mall as to coincide nearly with its chord. ‘This fuppofition holds only of places in low lIati- tudes; and the rule which is founded on it, though it may fafely be applied in countries between the tropics, in thofe that are more remote from the equator, would lead into errors too confiderable to efcape obfervation ft. y 2 As * Mem. Acad. des Scien. IL. P. 175. + To judge of the accuracy of this approximation, fuppofe O to be the obliquity of the ecliptic, and x the excefs of the femidiurnal arch, on the longeft day, above an arch of go°, then fin.x = tan.O xtan.lat. Butif G be the height of a gnomon, and S$ S the length of its fhadow on the equinoétial day, Go tan. lat. and fin. x = tan.O x = S tan.03 x 83 tan.O* x §5 } ; Therefore x = ¢an.O x fee bo of a +e &c. or in minutes of time, 172 REMARKS. on the As fome of the former rules, therefore, have ferved to fix the time, fo does this, in fome meafure, to afcertain the place of its invention. It is the fimplification of a general rule, adapted to the circumftances of the torrid zone, and fuggefted to the aftronomers of Hindoftan by their peculiar fituation. It implies the knowledge of the circles of the fphere, and of {phe- rical trigonometry, and perhaps argues a greater progrefs in mathematical reafoning, than a theorem that was perfectly ac- curate would have done. The firft geometers muft naturally have dreaded nothing fo much as any abatement in the rigour of their demonftrations, becaufe they would fee no limits to the error and uncertainty, in which they might, by that means, be involved. It was long before the mathematicians of Greece underftood how to fet bounds to fuch errors, and to afcertain their utmoft extent, whether on the fide of excefs or defect ; in this art, they appear to have received the firft leffons fo late as the age of ARCHIMEDES. 47. THE s time, reckoned after the Indian manner, x = 572.957 (tan.O x wae + tan.03 x 93 an + &c.) Ir O = 24°, then tan.O = .4452, and the firft term of this formula gives « = 572-957 X tase = 55, which is the fame with the rule of the Brahmins.. ‘ : 20S { i For that rule, reduced into a formula, is 2x = hose (—+ a + J ) = Sian baie 5128 _ 2565 or > G : Bik . Wuey have therefore computed the coefficient of go with fufficient accuracy 3, the error produced by the omiffion of the reft of the terms of the feries will not exceed 1’, even at the tropics, but, beyond them, it increafes faft, and, in the latitude of 45%, would amount.to 9’. . | a ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 173 47. Tue Brahmins having thus obtained the variations of the length of the day, at any place, or what we call the afcen- fional differences, apply them likewife to another purpofe. As they find it neceffary to know the point of the ecliptic, which is on the horizon, at the time when an eclipfe happens, they have calculated a table of the right afcenfions of the points of the ecliptic in time, to which they apply the afcenfional dif- ferences for the place in queftion, in order to have the time which each of the figns takes to defcend below the horizon of that place *. This is exactly the method, as is well known, which the moft fkilful aftronomer, in like circumftances, would purfue. Their table of the differences of right afcenfion is but for a few points in the ecliptic, wiz. the beginning of each fign, and is only carried to minutes of time, or tenths of a degree. It is calculated, however, fo far as it goes, with per- fet accuracy, and it fuppofes the obliquity of the ecliptic, as before, to be twenty-four degrees. Suc# calculations could not be made without fpherical tri- gonometry, or fome method equivalent to it. If, indeed, we would allow the leaft fkill poffible to the authors of thefe tables, we may fuppofe, that the arches were meafured on the circles of a large globe, or armillary fphere, fuch as we know to have been one of the firft inftruments of the Egyptian and Greek aftronomers. But there are fome of the tables where the arches are put down true to feconds, a degree of accuracy which a mechanical method can fcarcely have afforded. 48. In another part of the calculation of eclipfes, a direc application is made of one of the moft remarkable propo- fitions in geometry. In order to have the femiduration: of a folar eclipfe, they fubtract from the fquare of the fum of the femidiameters of the fun and moon, the fquare of a certain line, which is a perpendicular from the centre of the fun on the path of the moon; and from the remainder, they extract the: * Acad, des Scien. 1772, II, P. 205. 174 REMARKS on the the fquare root, which is the meafure of the femiduration *, The fame thing is praétifed in lunar eclipfes +. ‘Thefe opera- tions are all founded on a very diftinét conception of what hap- pens in the cafe of an eclipfe, and on the knowledge of this theorem, that, in a right-angled triangle, the fquare on the hypothenufe is equal to the fquares om the other two fides. It © is Curious to find the theorem of PyTHAGORAs in India, where, for aught we know, it may have been difcovered, and from whence that phtlofopher may have derived fome of the folid, as well as the vifionary fpeculations, with which he delighted to inftruct or amufe his difciples. 49. We have mentioned the ufe that is made of the femi- diameters of the fun and moon in thefe calculations, and the © method of afcertaining them, is deferving of attention. For the fun’s apparent diameter, they take four-ninths of his diurnal motion, and for the moon’s diameter, one twenty- fifth of her diurnal motion. In an eclipfe, they fuppofe the fection of the fhadow of the earth, at the diftance of the moon, to have a diameter five times that of the moon; and in all this, there is confiderable accuracy, as well as great fimpli- city. The apparent diameters of the fun and moon, increafe and diminifh with their angular velocities ; and though there be a miftake in fuppofing, that they do fo exactly in the fame proportion, it is one which, without telefcopes and microme- ters, cannot eafily be obferved. The fection of the earth’s fha- dow, likewife, if the fun’s apparent diameter be given, in- creafes as the moon’s increafes, or as her diftance from the earth diminifhes, and nearly enough in the fame ratio to juftify the rule which is here laid down. . so. Tue hiftorian of the Academy of Sciences, in giving an account of M. rz GENTIL’s Memoir, has juftly obferved, that the * Mem. Acad. des Scien. 1772, II. P. 259. + Ibid. 241. ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 175 the rule defcribed in it, for finding the difference between the true and apparent conjunction, at the time of a folar eclipfe, contains the calculation of the moon’s parallax, but fubftitutes the parallax in right afcenfion for the parallax in longitude * ; an error which the authors of this aftronomy would probably have avoided, had they derived their knowledge from the writings of Protemy. From this fuppofed parallax in longi- tude, they next derive the parallax in latitude, where we may obferve an application of the do¢trine of fimilar triangles ; for they fuppofe the firft of thefe to be to the laft in the conftant ratio of 25 to 2, or nearly as the radius to the tangent of the inclination of the moon’s orbit to the plane of the ecliptic. We have here, therefore, the application of another geometrical theorem, and that too proceeding on the fuppofition, that a {mall portion of the fphere, on each fide of the point which the fun occupies at the middle of the eclipfe, may be held to coin- cide with a plane touching it in that point. 51. THE refult which the Brahmins thus obtain will be al- lowed to have great accuracy, if it be confidered how fimple their rules are, and how long it mutt be fince their tables were corrected by obfervations. In two eclipfes of the moon, calculated in India by their method, and likewife obferved there by M. LE GenTiL, the error, in neither cafe, exceeded 23 of time, (correfponding to one of 13’ of a degree, in the place of the moon); and in the duration and magni- tude of the eclipfe, their calculation came ftill nearer to the truth +. 52. SINCE * Hift. Acad. 1]. P. 109. Ibid. Mem. 253,—256. + In the language, however, of their rules, we may trace fome marks of a fabulous and ignorant age, from which indeed even the aftronomy of Europe is not altogether free. The place of the moon’s afcending node, is with them the place of the Dragon or the Serpent ; the moon’s diftance from the node, is literally tranflated by M. re Genrin, la 476 REMARKS on the 2. SINCE an inequality was firft obferved in the motions of the fun or moon, the difcovery of the law which it follows, and the method of determining the quantity of it, in the different points of their orbits, has been a problem of the greatef{t importance ; and it is curious to inquire, in what man- ner the aftronomers of India have proceeded to refolve it. For this purpofe, we muft examine the tables of the chaiaa, or equations of the centre for the fun and moon, and of the manda, or equations of the centre for the planets. With refpect to the firft, as contained in the tables of Siam, M. Cassini obferved, that the equations followed the ratio of the fines of the mean diftances from the apogee ; but as they were calculated only for a few points of the orbit, it could not be known with what degree of exactnefs this law was obferved. Here, however, the -tables of Chrifnabouram remove the uncertainty, as they give the equation of the centre for every degree of the mean mo- tion, and make it nearly as the fine of the diftance from the - apogee. Tuey do fo, however, only nearly ; and it will be found on trial, that there is, in the numbers of the table, a fmall, but re- gular variation from this law, which is greateft when the ar- gument is 30°, though even there it does not amount to a mi- nute. The fun’s equation, for inftance, which, when greateft, or when the argument is go°, is, by thefe tables, 2°, 10’, 32”, fhould be, when the argument is 30°, juft the half of this, or 1°, 5, 16’, did the numbers in the table follow exaétly the ratio da lune offenfée du dragon. Whether it be that we have borrowed thefe abfurdities from India, along with aftrology, or if the popular theory of eclipfes has, at firft, been every where the fame, the moon’s node is alfo known with us by the name of the cauda dra- | conis. In general, however, the fignification of the terms in thefe rules, fo far as we know it, is more rational. In one of them we may remark confiderable refinement; ayanang fam, which is the name for the reduction made on the fun’s longitude, on account of the preceffion of the equinoxes, is compounded from ayanam, a courfe, and ang/am, an atom. Mem. Acad. II. P. 251. The equinox is almoft the only point not diftin- guifhed by a vifible obje&t, of which the cour/é or motion is computed in this aftronomy. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. P77 ratio of the fines of the argument. It is, however, 1°, 6, 3° 5 and this excefs of 47” cannot have arifen from any miftake about the ratio of the fine of 30° to that of go°, which 1s fhewn to be that of 1 to 2, by a propofition in geometry * much too fimple to have been unknown to the authors of thefe tables. The rule, therefore, of the equations, being propor~ tional exaétly to the fines of the argument, is nof what was followed, or intended to be followed, in the calculation of them. The differences, alfo, between the numbers computed by that rule, and thofe in the tables, are perfectly regular, de- ereafing from the point of 30°, both ways toward the begin- ning and end of the quadrant, where they vanifh altogether. Tuxse& obfervations apply alfo to. the tables of Narfapur +, and to the moon’s equations, as well as to the fun’s, with a cir- cumftance, however, which is not. eafily accounted for, v7z.. that the differences between the numbers. calculated by M. Cas- sini’s rule, and thofe in.the tables, are not greater in. the cafe of the moon than of the fun, though the equation of the latter be more than double that of the former. They apply alfo to- the tables manda of the planets, where the equations are greater than the ratio of the fines of their arguments requires, the ex- cefs being greateft at 30°, and amounting to fome minutes in the equations of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, in which laft it is greateft of all! 53- Tuoucu, for thefe reafons, itis plain, that the rule of M. Cassini is not the fame with that of the Brahmins, it cer- tainly includes the greater part of it; and if the latter, what- ever it may have been, were exprefled in a feries, according to the methods of: the modern analyfis, the former would be the firft term of that feries. We are not, however, much advanced: im our inquiry in confequence of this remark; for the firft terms of all the feries, which can, on any hypothefis, exprefs: Vo. II. % the. * Eve. Lib. IV. Prop. 15. + See thefe tables, Aft. Ind. p. 414. 178 REMARKS on the the relation of the equation of the centre to the anomaly of a planet, are fo far the fame, that they are proportional to the fine of that anomaly; and it becomes therefore neceflary to fearch among thefe hypothefes, for that by which the feries of fmall differences, defcribed above, may be beft reprefented. It is needlefs to enter here into any detail of the reafonings by which this has been done, and by which I have found, that the argument in the table bears very nearly the fame relation to the correfponding numbers, that the anomaly of the eccentric does to the equation of the centre. By the anomaly of the eccentric, however, | do not mean the angle which is known by that name in the folution of KEPLER’s problem, but that which ferves the fame purpofe with it, on the fuppofition of a circular orbit, and an uniform an- gular motion about a point which is not the centre of that orbit, but which is as diftant from it, on the one fide, as the earth (or the place of the obferver) is on the other. It is the angle, which, in fuch an orbit, the line drawn from the planet to the centre, makes with the line drawn from thence to the apogee ; and the argument in the Indian tables coincides with this angle. Tuts hypothefis of a double eccentricity, is certainly not the fimpleft that may be formed with refpeét to the motion of the heavenly bodies, and is not what one would expect to meet with here ; but it agrees fo well with the tables, and gives the equa- tions from the arguments fo nearly, efpecially for the moon and the planets, that little doubt remains of its being the real hy- pothefis on which thefe tables were conftructed *. 54. OF * Tue formula deduced from this hypothefis, for calculating the equation of the cen- tre from the anomaly of the eccentric, is the following: Let x be the equation of the centre, ¢ the anomaly of the eccentric, e the eccentricity of the orbit, or the tangent of 2e3 /in.30 2e% fin. 52 ) half the greateft equation ; then = 2¢ /in.0+ + &e. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. 179 54. Or this, the method employed to calculate the place of any of the five planets from thefe tables, affords a confirma- tion. But, in reafoning about that method, it is neceflary to put out of the queftion the ufe that is made of the parallax of the annual orbit, or of the /igram, in order to have the ar- gument for finding the equation of the centre, which is evi- dently faulty, as it makes that equation to be affected by @ quantity, (the parallax of the annual orbit), on which it has in reality nodependence. To have the rule free from error, it is to be taken, therefore, in the cafe when there is no parallax of the annual orbit, that is, when the planets are in oppofition or conjunction with the fun. In that cafe, the mean anomaly is firft corrected by the fubtraftion or addition of half the equation that belongs to it in the table. It then becomes the true argument for finding, from that fame table, the equation of the centre, which is next applied to the mean anomaly, to: have the true. Now, this agrees perfectly with the conclufion above ; for the’ mean anomaly, by the fubtraction or addition of half the equation belonging to it in the table, is converted,. almoft precifely, into the anomaly of the eccentric, and be- comes therefore the proper argument for finding out the equa- tion, which is to change the mean anomaly into the true *.. There can be no doubt, of confequence, that the conclufion we have come to is ftri¢tly applicable to the planets, and that the orbit of each of them, in this aftronomy, is fuppofed to be a circle, the earth not being in its centre, but the angular 2 2 velocity * Turis method of calculation is fo nearly exaét, that even: in the orbit of Mars, the equation calculated from the mean anomaly, rigoroufly on the principle of his angular motion being uniform, about a point diftant from the centre, as defcribed above, will: rarely differ a minute from that which is taken out from the Indian tables by: this rule. It was remarked, ($ 37.) that it is not eafy to explain the rules for finding the argument” of the equation of the centre, for the planets. What is faid here explains fully one part of that rule, vz. the correction made by half the equation manda ; the principle on which the other part proceeds, viz..the corretion by half the equation /chigram, is fill: uncertain. 180 REMARKS on the velocity of the planet being uniform about a certain point, as far from that centre on the one fide, as the earth is on’ the op- pofite. 55. BETWEEN the ftru@ture of the tables of the equations of the fun and moon, and the rules for ufing them, there is not the fame confiftency ; for in both of them, the argument, which we have found to be the eccentric anomaly, is ne- verthelefs treated as the mean. So far as concerns the fun, this leads to nothing irreconcilable with our fuppofition, becaufe the fun’s equation being {mall, the difference will be inconfiderable, whether the argumentvof that equation be treated as the eccen- tric or the mean anomaly. Bor it is otherwife with refpect to the moon, where the dif- ference between confidering the argument of the equation as the mean, or as the eccentric anomaly, is not infenfible. The authority of the precepts, and of the tables, are here oppofed to one another; and we can decide in favour of the latter, only becaufe it leads to a more accurate determination of the moon’s place than the former. It would indeed be an improvement on their method of calculation, which the Brahmins might make confiftently with the principles of their own aftronomy, to ex- tend to the moon their rule for finding the equation of the centre for the planets. They would then avoid the palpable error of making the maximum of the moon’s equation at the time when her mean anomaly is go°, and would afcertain her place every where with greater exactnefs. It is probable that this is the method which they were originally directed to follow. 56. From the hypothefis which is thus found to be the bafis of the Indian aftronomy, one of the firft conclufions which pre- fents itfelf, is the exiftence of a remarkable affinity between the fyftem of the Brahmins and that of Protemy. In the latter, the fame thing was fuppofed for the five planets, that ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 181 that appears in the former to have been univerfally eftablifhed, viz. that their orbits were circles, having the earth within them, but removed at a {mall diftance from the centre, and that each planet defcribed the circumference of its orbit, not with an uniform velocity, but with one that would appear uni- form, if it were viewed from a point as far above the centre of the orbit, as that centre is above the earth. This point was, in the language of ProxLemy’s aftronomy, the centre of the Equant. . Now, concerning this coincidence, it is the more difficult to judge, as, on the one hand, it cannot be afcribed to accident, and, on the other, it may be doubted, whether it arifes necef- farily out of the nature of the fubject, or is a confequence of fome unknown communication between the aftronomers of India and of Greece. Tue firft hypothefis by which men endeavoured to explain the phenomena of the celeftial motions, was that of a uniform motion in acircle, which had the earth for its centre... This hypothefis was, however, of no longer continuance than till inftruments of tolerable exactnefs were directed to the heavens. It was then immediately difcovered, that the earth was not the centre of this uniform motion; and the earth was therefore fuppofed to be placed at a certain diftance from the centre of the orbit, while the planet revolved in the circumference of it with the fame velocity as before. Both thefe ftepy may be ac- counted neceffary ; and in however many places of the earth, and however cut off from mutual intercourfe, aftronomy had ~ begun to be cultivated, I have no doubt that thefe two fuppo- fitions would have fucceeded one another, juft as they did among the Greek aftronomers. ; But when more accurate obfervations had fhewn the infufii- ‘ciency even of this fecond hypothefis, what ought naturally to be the third, may be thought not quite fo obvious ; and if the Greeks made choice of that which has been defcribed above, 1t may 182 REMARKS on the may feem to have been owing to certain metaphyfical notions concerning the fimplicity and perfection of a circular and uni- form motion, which inclined them to recede from that fuppo- fition, no farther than appearances rendered abfolutely necef- fary. The fame coincidence between the ideas of metaphyfics. and aftronomy, cannot be fuppofed to have taken place im other countries; and therefore, where we find this third hypo- thefis to have prevailed, we may conclude that it was borrowed’ from the Greeks. 57. THOUGH it cannot be denied, that, in this reafoning, there: is fome weight, yet it muft be obferved, that the introduction of the third hypothefis did not reft among the Greeks altoge- ther on the coincidence above mentioned. It was one fuited to. their progrefs in mathematical knowledge, and offered almoft the only fyftem, after the two former were exploded, which rendered the planetary motions the fubjecét of geometrical rea- foning, to men little verfed in the methods of approximation. This was the circumftance then, which, more than any other, probably influenced them in the choice of this. hypothefis, though we are not to look for it as an argument ftated in their works, but may judge of the influence it had, from the fre- quency with which, many ages afterwards, the wyewpereqoim of KEPLER’s fyftem was objected to him by his adverfaries ; an objection to which that great man feemed to pay more attention: than it deferved. THERE is reafon therefore to think, that in every country where aftronomy and geometry had neither of them advanced: beyond a certain point, the hypothefis of the equant. would fuc- ceed to that of a fimple eccentric orbit, and therefore cannot — be admitted as a proof, that the different fyftems in which it — makes a part, are neceffarily derived from the fame: fource. Some other circumftances attending this hypothefis, as it is: found in the Indian tables, go ftill farther, and feem: quite in- confiftent with the fuppofition that the authors of thefe tables derived ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 183 derived it from the aftronomers of the weft. For, fi7/?, It is ap- plied. by them to all the heavenly bodies, that is, to the fun and moon, as well as the planets. With Proxemy, and with all thofe who founded their fyftems on his, it extended only to the latter, infomuch that Kepier’s great reformation in aftro- nomy, the difcovery of the elliptic orbits, began from his proving, that the hypothefis of the equant was. as neceflary to be introduced for the fake of the fun’s orbit, as for thofe of the planets, and that the eccentricity in both cafes, muft be bifected. It is, therefore, on a principle no way different from this of Keprer, that the tables of the fun’s motion are com- puted in the Indian aftronomy, though it muft be allowed, that the method of ufing them is not perfectly confiftent with this idea of their conftruction. , 2dly, TH ufe made of the anomaly of the eccentric in thefe tables, as the argument of the equation of the centre, is alto- gether peculiar to the Indian aftronomy. ProLEMy’s ta- bles of that equation for the planets, though they proceed on ‘the fame hypothefis, are arranged in a manner entirely diffe- rent, and have for their argument the mean anomaly. The angle which we call the anomaly of the eccentric, and which is of fo much ufe in the Indian tables, is not employed at all in the conftruction of his *, nor, I believe, in thofe of any other aftronomer till the time of KEPLER; and even by KepLerR it was not made the argument of the equation to the centre. The method, explained above, of converting the mean anomaly into that of the eccentric, and confequently into the argument of the equation, is another peculiarity, and though fimple and ingenious, has not the accuracy fuited to the genius of the Greek aftronomy, which never admitted even of the beft ap- proximation, when a rigorous folution could be found ; and, on the whole, if the refemblance of thefe two fyftems, even with all the exceptions that have been ftated, muft ftill be afcribed to * Almageft. lib. XI. cap. 9. & 10. 4 184 REMARKS on the to fome communication between the authors of them, that com- munication is more likely to have gone from India to Greece, than in the oppofite direction. It may perhaps be thought to: favour this laft opinion, that ProLtemy has no where demon- {trated the neceffity of afligning a double eccentricity to the orbits of the planets, and has left room to fufpedt, that autho- rity, more than argument, has influenced this. part of his: fy{tem. 58. In the tables of the planets, we remarked another equation). (f/cbigram) anfwering to the parallax of the earth’s orbit, or the difference between the heliocentric and the geocentric place of the planet. This parallax, if we conceive a triangle to be formed by lines drawn from the fun to the earth and to the planet, and alfo from the planet to the earth, is the angle of that triangle, fubtended by the line drawn from the fun to the | earth. And fo, accordingly, it is computed in thefe tables ; for if we refolve fuch a triangle. as is here defcribed, we will find the angle, fubtended by the earth’s diftance from the fun, coin- cide very nearly with the fchigram. THE argument of this equation is the difference between the mean longitude of the fun and of the planet. The orbits are fuppofed circular ; but whether the inequality in queftion: was underftood to arife from the motion of the earth, or from the motion of the planet in an epicycle, the centre of which re- volves in a circle, is left undetermined, as both hypothefes: may be fo adjufted. as to give the fame refult with refped to this in- equality. The proportional diftances of the planets from the earth or the fun, may be deduced from the tables of thefe equa- tions, and are not far from the truth, 59. THE preceding calculations muft have required the af- fiftance of many fubfidiary tables, of which no trace has yet been found in India. Befides many other geometrical propofi- tions, fome of them alfo involve the ratio, which the diameter of a circle was fuppofed to bear to its circumference, but. which. we: — or wind ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 18% we would find it impoffible to difcover from them exaclly, on account of the {mall quantities that may have been neglected in their calculations. Fortunately, we can arrive at this know- ledge, which is very material when the progrefs of geo- metry is to be eftimated, from a paflage in the dycen Ak- bery, where we are told, that the Hindoos fuppofe the dia- meter of a circle to be to its circumference as 1250 to 3927%, and where the author, who knew that this was more accurate: than the proportion of ARCHIMEDES, (7 to 22), and believed it to be perfeétly exact, expreffes his aftonifhment, that among fo fim- ple a people, there fhould be found a truth, which, among the wifeft and moft learned nations, had been fought for in vain. - THE proportion of I250 to 3927 is indeed a near ap- proach to the quadrature of the circle; it differs little from. that of METIUS, 113 to 355, and is the fame with one equally remarkable, that of 1 to 3.1416. When found in: the fimpleft and moft elementary way, it requires a poly- gon of 768 fides to be infcribed in a circle; an operation which cannot be arithmetically performed without the know- ledge of fome very curious properties of that curve, and, at leaft, nine extractions of the fquare root, each as far as ten places of decimals. All this muft have been accomplifhed in: India; for it is to be obferved, that the above mentioned proportion cannot have been received from the mathemati- cians of the weft. The Greeks left nothing on this fubject more accurate than the theorem of ARCHIMEDES; and the Ara- bian mathematicians, feem not to have attempted any nearer approximation. The geometry of modern Europe can much. lefs be regarded as the fource of. this knowledge. Mertius and: VirTaA were the firft, who, in the quadrature of the circle, furpaffed the accuracy of ArcHimEDEs ; and they flourifhed at the very time when the Inftitutes of AkBAR were collected in India. Vot. II. aa; 60. Cx * Ayeen Akbery, Vol. III. p. 32.. 186 REMARKS on the ‘60. On the grounds which have now been explained, the following general conclufions appear to be eftablifhed. I. THE obfervations on which the aftronomy of India is found- ed, were made more than three thoufand years before the Chri- {tian era ; and, in particular, the places of the fun and moon, at the beginning of the Calyougham, were determined by actual ob- fervation. Tuts follows from the exact agreement of the radical places in the tables of Tirvalore, with thofe deduced for the fame epoch from the tables of DE LA CAILLE and Mayer, and efpe- cially in the cafe of the moon, when regard is had to her acce- leration. It follows, too, from the pofition of the fixed ftars in refpect of the equinox, as reprefented in the Indian zodiac; from the length of the folar year ; and, laftly, from the pofi- tion and form of the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, as well as their mean motions; in all of which, the tables of the Brah- mins, compared with ours, give the quantity of the change that has taken place, juft equal to that which the a¢tion of the planets on one another may be fhown to have produced, in the {pace of forty-eight centuries, reckoned back from the beginning of the prefent. Two other of the elements of this aftronomy, the equation of the fun’s centre, and the obliquity of the ecliptic, when compared with thofe of the prefent time, feem to point toa period {till more remote, and to fix the origin of this aftronomy 1000 or 1200 years earlier, that is, 4300 years before the Chri- ftian era; and the time neceffary to have brought the arts of — calculating and obferving to fuch perfection as they muft have attained at the beginning of the Calyougham, comes in fupport of the fame conclufion. Or fuch high antiquity, therefore, muft we fuppofe the ori- gin of this aftronomy, unlefs we can believe, that all the coin- cidences ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 187 cidences which have been enumerated, are but the effects of chance ; or, what indeed were ftill more wonderful, that, fome ages ago, there had arifen a NEWTON among the Brahmins, to difcover that univerfal principle which connects, not only the moft diftant regions of fpace, but the moft remote periods of duration; and a De LA GRANGE, to trace, through the im- menfity of both, its moft fubtle and complicated operations. ‘Ii. Tuoveu the aftronomy which is now in the hands of the Brahmins, is fo ancient in its origin, yet it contains many rules and tables that are of later conftruction. ‘Tue firft operation for computing the moon’s place from the tables of Tirvalore, requires that 1,600,984 days fhould be fub- tracted from the time that has elapfed fince the beginning of the Calyougham, which brings down the date of the rule to the year 1282 of our era. At this time, too, the place of the moon, and of her apogee, are determined with fo much exact- nefs, that it muft have been done by obfervation, either at the inftant referred to, or a few days before or after it. At this time, therefore, it is certain, that aftronomical obfervations were made in India, and that the Brahmins were not, as they are now, without any knowledge of the principles on which their rules are founded. When that knowledge was loft, will not perhaps be eafily afcertained ; but there are, I think, no. circumftances in the tables from which we can certainly infer the exiftence of it ata later period than what has juft been mentioned ; for though there are more modern epochs to be: found in them, they are fuch as may have been derived from. the moft ancient of all, by help of the mean motions in the: tables of Chrifnabouram *, without any other fkill than is re- quired to an ordinary calculation. Of thefe epochs, befide what have been occafionally mentioned in the courfe of our remarks, there is one (involved in the tables of Narfapur) as late as the year 1656,:and another as early as the year 78 of our era, a a 2. which * Aft. Ind. p. 307. 188 REMARKS on the } og Ne which marks the death of SAttvAGANAM, one of their princes, in whofe reign a reform is faid to have taken place in the me- ‘tthods of their aftronomy. There is no reference to: any inter= ‘mediate date, from that time to the beginning of the Caly- ougham. | y Tue parts of this aflronomy, therefore, are not all of the fame antiquity ; nor can we judge, merely from the epoch to which the tables refer, of the age, to which they were originally adapted. We have feen, that the tables of Chrifnabouram, though they profefs to be no older than the year 1491 of our era, are, in reality, more ancient than the tables of Tirvalore, which are dated from the Calyougham, or at leaft have under- gone fewer alterations. This we concluded from the flow mo- | tion given to the moon, in the former of thefe tables, which agreed, with fuch wonderful precifion, with the fecular equa- tion applied to that planet by Maver, and explained by M. DE LA PLACE. Bur it appears, that neither the tables of Tirvalore or Chrif- nabouram, nor any with which we are yet acquainted, are the moft ancient to be found in India. The Brahmins conftantly refer to an aftronomy at Benares, which they emphatically ftyle the ancient *, and which they fay is not now underftood by them, though they believe it to be much more accurate than that by which they calculate. That it 1s more accurate, is improbable; that it may be more ancient, no one who has duly attended to the foregoing facts and reafonings, will think im- poffible ; and every one, I believe, will acknowledge, that no greater fervice could be rendered to the learned world, than to refcue this precious fragment from obfcurity. If that is ever to be expected, it is when the zeal for knowledge. has formed a literary fociety among our countrymen in Bengal, and while that fociety is direéted by the learning and abi- lities of Sir Witttam Jones. Indeed, the farther difcove- ries * Aft. Ind. p. 309. M. ve Genrit, Mem. Acad. Scien, 1772. P. II. p. 221. ASTRONOMY of the BRAHMINS. 189 ries which may be made with refpect to this fcience, do not in- tereft merely the aftronomer and the mathematician, but every one who delights to mark the progrefs of mankind, or is curious to look back on the ancient inhabitants of the globe. It is through the medium of aftronomy alone that a few rays from thofe diftant objects can be conveyed in fafety to the eye of a modern obferver, fo as to afford him a light, which, though it be fcanty, is pure and unbroken, and free from the falfe co- lourings of vanity and fuperftition. II. THe bafis of the four fyftems of aftronomical tables: which we have examined, is evidently the fame. Tuoucu thefe tables are fcattered over an extenfive country, they feem to have been all originally adapted, either to the fame meridian, or to meridians at no great diftance, which traverfe what we may call the claflical ground of India, marked by the ruins of Canoge, Palibothra and Benares.., They contain rules that have originated between the tropics ; whatever be their epoch, they are all, by their mean motions, connected with that of the Calyougham ; and they have befides one uniform cha- racter which it is perhaps not eafy to defcribe. Great ingenuity - has been exerted to fimplify their rules ; yet, in no inftance al- moft, are they reduced to the utmoft fimplicity ; and when it happens that the operations to which they lead are extreme- ly obvious, thefe are often involved in an artificial obfcu- rity. A Brahmin frequently multiplies by a greater number than is neceflary, where he feems to gain nothing but the trouble of dividing by one that is greater in the fame proportion ; and he calculates the era of SALIVAGANAM with the formality of as — many diftinct operations as if he were going to determine the moon’s motion fince the beginning of the Calyougham. The fame {pirit of exclufion, the fame fear of communicating his knowledge, feems to direct the calculus which pervades the religion of the Brahmin ; and, in neither of them, is he willing to receive or to impart inftruction. With all thefe circumftances of refem- blance, 190 REMARKS on the blance, the methods of this aftronomy are as much diverfified as we can fuppofe the fame fyftem to be, by pafling through the hands of a fucceflion of ingenious men, fertile in refources, and acquainted with the variety and extent of the {cience which they cultivated. A fyftem of knowledge, which is thus aflimilated to the genius of the people, that is diffufed fo widely among them, and diverfified fo much, has a right to be regarded, either as a native, or a very ancient inhabitant of the country where it is found. IV. Tue conftruction of thefe tables implies a great know- ledge of geometry, arithmetic, and even of the theoretical part of aftronomy. ‘In proof of this, it is unneceflary to recapitulate the re- marks that have been already made. It may be proper, how- ever, to add, that the method of calculating eclipfes, to which thefe tables are fubfervient, is, in no refpect, an empirical one; -founded on the mere obfervation of the intervals at which eclipfes return, one after another, in the fame order. It is indeed remarkable, that we find no trace here of the pe- riod of 6585 days and 8 hours, or 223 lunations, the Saros of the Chaldean aftronomers, which they employed for the pre-s"==" diction of eclipfes, and which (obferved with more or lefs ac- curacy) the firft aftronomers every where muft have employed, before they were able to analyfe eclipfes, and to find out the laws of every caufe contributing to them. That empirical me- thod, if it once exifted in India, is now forgotten, and has long fince given place to the more {cientific and accurate one, which offers a complete analyfis of the phenomena, and calcu- lates, one by one, the motions of the fun, of the moon, and of the node. . But what, without doubt, is to be accounted the greateft refinement in this fyftem, is the hypothefis employed in calcu- lating the equations of the centre for the fun, moon and pla- nets, that, viz. of a-circular orbit having a double eccentricity, or ASTRONOMY of th BRAHMINS. 1091 or having its centre in the middle, between the earth and the point about which the angular motionis uniform*. If to this we add the great extent of geometrical knowledge requifite to combine * Ir fhould have been remarked before, that M. Barty has taken notice of the ana- logy between the Indian method of calculating the places of the planets, and Pro- temy’s hypothefis of the equant, though on different principles from thofe that have been followed here, and fuch as do not lead to the fame conclufion. In treating of the queftion, whether the fun or earth has been fuppofed the centre of the planetary motions by the authors of this aftronomy, he fays, ‘‘ Ils femblent avoir reconnu que les ** deux inégalités (l’équation du centre et la parallaxe de |’orbe annuel) etoient vues de “€ deux centres differens ; et dans l’impoflibilité ot ils étoient de déterminer et le lieu et “* Ja diftance des deux centres, ils ont imaginé de rapporter les deux inégalités 4 un point ‘* gui tint le milieu, c’eft-a-dire, A un point également éloigné du foleil, et de la terre. “* Ce nouveau centre refemble aflez au centre de ’équant de Protemer. (Aft. Ind. Difc. Prel. p. 69.) The fictitious centre, which M. Baitiy compares with the equant of Protemy, is therefore a point which bifeéts the diftance between the fun and earth, and which, in fome refpetts, is quite different from that equant; the fictitious centre, which, in the preceding remarks, is compared with the equant of Prozemy, is a point of which the diftance from the earth is bifeGted by the centre of the orbit, precifely as in the cafe of that equant. M. Barxty draws his conclufion from the ufe made of half the equation /chzgram, as well as half the equation manda, in order to find the argument of this laft equation. The conclufion here is eftablithed, by abftracting altogether from the former, and confidering the cafes of oppofitions and conjunétions, when the latter equation only takes place. If, however, the hypothefis of the equant fhall be found of importance in the explanation of the Indian aftronomy, it muft be allowed that it was firft fuggefted by M. Baiuuy, though in a fenfe very different from what it is underftood in here, and from what it was underftood in by Prouemy. For what farther relates to the parts of the aftronomy of Chaldea and of Greece, which may be fuppofed borrowed from that of India, I muft refer to the roth Chap. of the Affronomze Indienne, where that fubjeCt is treated with great learning and ingenuity. After all, the filence of the ancients with refpe&t to the Indian aftro- nomy, is not eafily accounted for. The firft mention that is made of it, is by the Arabian writers ; and M. Barty quotes a very fingular paflage, where Massoun1, an author of the 12th century, fays, that Brama compofed a book, entitled, Simd-Hind, that is, Of the Age of Ages, from which was compofed the book Maghz/i, and from thence the Almageft of Proremy. Aft. Ind. Dife. prel. p. 175. Tue fabulous air of this paflage is, in fome meafure, removed, by comparing it with ene from Asutraracius, who fays, that, under the celebrated At Maimon, the 7th Khalif of Babylon, (about the year 813 of our era) the aftronomer Hasasu compofed three fets of aftronomical tables, one of which was ad regulas Sind Hind ; that is, as Mr Cosrtarp explains it, according to the rules of fome Indian treatife of aftronomy. (Afatic Mifcel. Vol. I. p. 34.) The Sznd-Hind is therefore the name of an aftronomical book that exifted in India in the time of Hasasu, and the fame, no doubt, which Mas- soupr fays was afcribed to Brama. 192 REMARKS on the, &c. combine this, and the other principles of their aftronomy together, and to deduce from them the juft conclufions ; the pofleffion of a calculus equivalent to trigonometry ; and, laftly, their ap- proximation to the quadrature of the circle, we fhall be afto- nifhed at the magnitude of that body of {cience, which muft have enlightened the inhabitants of India in fome remote age, and which, whatever it may have communicated to the weftern nations, appears to have received nothing from them. Suggi are the conclufions that feem to me to follow, with the higheft probability, from the fats which have been ftated. They are, without doubt, extraordinary ; and have no other claim to our belief, except that, as I think has been fully proved, their being falfe were much more wonderful than their being true. There are but few things, however, of which the contrary is impoffible. It muft be remembered, that the whole evidence on this fubjeét is not yet before the public, and that the repofitaries of Benares may contain what is to confirm or to invalidate thefe obfervations. XIV. 4 XIV. On the ResotuTion of INDETERMINATE PRo- BLEMS. By FoHN LESLIE, A.M. [Read by Mr PLATFAIR, Dec. 1. 1788.] JT is a fundamental principle in Algebra, that a problem ad- mits of folution, when the number of independent equa- tions is equal to that of the unknown quantities. If fimple ex- - preffions only occur, the anfwers will always be found in num- bers, either whole or fractional. But if the higher funétions be concerned, the values of the unknown quantities will com- monly be involved in furds, which it is impoflible to exhibit on any arithmetical fcale, and to which we can only make a re- peated approximation. Hence the origin of that branch of _analyfis which is employed in the inveftigation of thofe pro- blems, where the number of unknown quantities exceeds that of the propofed equations, but where the values are required in whole or fractional numbers. The fubje¢t is not merely an ob- je@t of curiofity ; it can be applied with advantage to the higher calculus. Yet the doctrine of indeterminate equations - has been feldom treated in a form equally fyftematic with the other parts of algebra. The folutions commonly given are de- void of uniformity, and often require’a variety of affumptions.. The object of this paper is to refolve the complicated expreffions which we obtain in the folution of indeterminate problems, into fimple equations, and to do fo, without framing a number of affumptions, by help of a fingle principle, which, though ex- tremely fimple, admits of a very extenfive application. VoL. II. bb Ler 194 | On the RESOLUTION of Lrt AXB be any compound qyantity equal to another, CxD, and let m be any rational number affumed at plea- | fure ; it is manifeft that, taking equimultiples, AXmB = CxmD. — 4 lf, therefore, we fuppofe, that A = mD, it muft follow, that : C : om mB = C, or B=—. Thus two equations of a lower dimen- fion are obtained. If thefe be capable of farther decompofi- tion, we may affume the multiples 2 and f, and form four equations {till more fimple. By the repeated application of this principle, an higher equation, if it admit of divifors, will be refolved into thofe of the firft order, the number of which will be one greater than that of the multiples aflumed. Hence the number of fimple equations into which_a compound ex- preflion can be refolved, is equal to the fum of the exponents of the unknown quantities in the higheft term. Wherefore a problem can be folved by the application of this principle, only when the aggregate /um, formed by the addition of the expo- nents in the higheft terms of the feveral equations propofed, is at leaf? equal to the number of the unknown quantities, toge- ther with that of the afflumed multiples. i; We fhall illuftrate the mode of applying our principle, in the folution of fome of the more general and ufeful problems connected with this branch of analyfis. 4 PROB EM b. Let it be sbi aen to find two rational numbers, the difference a ‘e the {quares of which shall be a given number. Let the given number be the product of a and d; then by a hypothefis, x7—y* = ad; but thefe compound quantities admit — : of an eafy refolution, for (x-+-y)(x—y) = axd. If therefore we x fuppofe x--y = ma, we fhall obtain x—y = bat ; where m is ar- " bitrary, INDETERMINATE PROBLEMS. 195 bitrary, and if rational,.« andy muft alfo be rational. Tranf- .pofing the firft equation, x = ma—y, and reducing the fe- cond, mx—my = 6, and tranfpofing mx = b+my, and therefore, b-+-my . b-+-my . iS = — 5 ae pas -—; whence by equality ma—y, and reducing, b+-ny = ma—my, and tranf{pofing 2my = ma—b, whence y = m*b-+-a Way 5 4 ————; but « = wa—y, confequently x = ——.. If m= 1; 2m b—a b+ then x = ——, SINCE iersk ee SuPPoOsE it were required to find a numbet which, increafed or diminifhed by 10, would produce fquares. It is obvious, that the number may be denoted, either by x?—10, or y’+10; whence x*——Io = y?+1o, and tranfpofing «’—y? = 5X4, and 5m applying the above formulz, ea iim 2, then a and the required number 26. PROBLEM II. , To find two numbers, the fum of the fquares of which fball 6b equal to the fum of two given /quares. wy By hypothefis, «7-++-y? = a-+d*, and tranfpofing *«°—a? = b—y, and, by refolving into factors, (x-+a)(«—a) | (6+y)(4—y); whence, by fubftitution, x-+-a-= mb—my, and ” b+y 7 Tranfpofing the firft equation, x = mb—my—Aas aa reducing the fecond, mx—ma = b+y, and tranfpofing, mx = ma+b+ ma-+-b+y ma-+b-+-y, and therefore x = —— 3 whence, re see mb—my—a, and matbt+y = m*b—my—ma, and tranf- | bb 2 pofing 196 On: the: RESOLUTION of pofing myty = mb—2ma—b, that. is, ¥ Sap re m*b—2ma—b : atts ee ei «But x = mb—my—a, and fubftituting, x = m?* a+2mb—a A Wa ema Thus, if a= 5, andd= 10, andm=2; then © S Be C3) eae E26. == (ro) =i c Cor. Ir 6 = 0, we fhall obtain two fquares, the fum of which a 4.10—4.¢—10 .¢-+4.10— i J sare = 2, and * = asreres = 113 but (11) « fhall be a given {quare. For y = — et ert , and x = m*a—a 4 4:10 “ a >) Thus, if a= 10, andm = 2, theny = P = 8, and a 4.10—10 x = ———— = 6, but 64+-36 = Too. | af a PROBLEM IL a To find two rational numbers, the [quares of which, together with any given multiple of their product, /ball be equal to a given /quare. — @—y*, and refolving into factors, «(«-+dy) = (a+y)(a—y) 5 ti) . a-ty ae ‘whence, by affumption, x-+by = ma—my, and x =,——, Tranfpofing the firft equation, « = ma—my—by ; confequent- a ly, — = ma—my—by, or ay = ‘ma—my—mby, and again ~ a orn by tranfpofing, my-++mly+y = m*a—a3; whence y = ti am+-b m? —T bx, re abe Spesrrg 1 But x = ——,wherefore x = abe ee SUPPOSE INDETERMINATE PROBLEMS. 197 SUPPOSE 4 = 22, b= 3y and m = 2, then x = ee 22 = 14, and y = 7757, X22 = 6. But 196+36-+252 = = 484 = (22). Cor. Ir b = 1, the hypothefis will be x*-y’*+xy = a’; and veer 2m m*—t1 9 os Sorgen Fmt ae wamgi4 Thus, if a = 13, and m 6+ then 7 = rae Spam Tomar WAC =7, and y= —yp5er > teat ho But 49+64+56 = 169 = (13)°. FR OB. BM IV. To Die two numbers, fuch, that each, increafed by unit, Joa! be a fquare, and their fum, increafed by unit, a given fquare. Let the numbers be denoted by x*—1 and y*—1, and the firft condition will be obferved. The laft requires, that x—I-+yy—1-+-1, or x7-+y>—1 = a’. By tranfpofition, x*—1 = a—y", and by refolution, (x+1)(x—1) = (at+y)(a—y); whence x-++1 = ma—my, and mx—m = a-+y. ‘Tranfpofing the firft equation, x = ma—my—1; and tranfpofing the fecond, mx = a+ytm a+y-+m ap ay WRENS fs ca at+y-+m, and dividing, « = ma—my—1, and reducing, aty-+m = m*a—my—m, or J . ' m*a—2m—a myty = ma—2m—a, and therefore y = —; seit But at+y+m m *-+2ma—1 x—=-———, whence « = —775—- SUPPOSE 198 On the RESOLUTION of 4 ; | ria 2—I SUPPOSE OEE A In Se then x = area a toy and 4.8—4—8 = yr «C= ~4 and the numbers are 48 and 15; but — 48-+15+1 = 64 = (8). PROBLEM Vv. To find two fears which, ie by unit, ae be in a given ratio. By hypothefis, a:4::«*—1:y*—13 whence the equation, ay’—a = bx’—b, and by refolution, (ay+a)(y—1) = (bx-++b)(x—1) 3 wherefore by aflumption, ay-+-a = mx—m, and my—m = bx+b, Tranfpofing the firft, ay = mx—m—a, and my dividing y = ———. Tranfpofing the fecond, my = » (ee . 28 48 bx+b+-m mX—M—a ‘bx-+b+m, and dividing, y = ———, wherefore, : bx--b-m . . — + and reducing m«—m'—ma = abx--ab-+-ma, that is, m*x—abx = m?+ab+2ma, and therefore, x = om? 4-ab+-2ma iit A +h+m fj j __ mm? +ab+-2mb Peer , conlequently y =~ } on 4-6-1 2 SupposE a = 2,5 = 3, and m = 3; then x ate 1G hatin sil ap Seraece and y = are =" 3 but. 2: 4: Ge; bem Cor. 1. WuHEN the numbers x and y are very great, it is ob- vious that the ratio of x*—1 to y—1, will be nearly equal to that of x* to y*; and confequently the ratio of ya to /é will be ftill more nearly equal to that of x toy. If a and b, befides, be =a INDETERMINATE PROBLEMS. 199 be nearly equal, the approximation will be more accurate. Let m = a; then the denominator m*—ab will be fmall, and therefore the fractions large ; 3; whence, by fubftitution, a*+ab+2a* a*+-ab-+-2ab 5 peyote kaa Sa had: 3gb-tay = 3a+5b : 3b--a, nearly. MENUS 74.0): \/ 5022197: 1993: 7: agree whence 50 = 7,07107, true to the laft place. for) ee001. b a—b\” Gor. 2. LET m=; then m’—ab = ) —ab = a ; which, when a and d are nearly equal, will be fmall, and by =) -+-ab+-a(a+b) ) "tab-+5(a-+8) fubftitution, ,/@ ye? fy aS : ay ae nearly ; a 2 2 hence, by proper redudtions, ya : Wd: : 5a*+10ab-+0" : b+ toab-+a’.. This formula is more intricate than the former, but ftill more accurate. Thus, y9:/Y10::405-+g00+100: 500+ goo+81 = 1405: 1481, and Y 10 = 3,16209, true to the laft place. Pik O BUE:M VI. Let it. be required to find a number, fuch that, if given multiples of it be increafed by given numbers, the product of the fums shall be a fquare. Ler (ex+f)(gx+h) = y?; by affumption ex+f = my, and gxth = oat Tranfpofing the firft equation, and dividing, x=. Reducing the fecond, mex--mh = y, and tranfpo- fing “ag 200 On the RESOLUTION of Site Ives _ gomb — my—f y—mh ) 2a ‘fing and dividing, « = = sewReee yr Jae and re- ducing, may —mfg = ey—meb, and tranfpofing, m'*sy—ey = : i F , mfz— meh y—mh mfz—meb, and confequently, y = —; ae Alfo x = me fom, | m* g—e 6405 i SUPPOSE (7x-+6)(2x-+1) = y*. If m= 2, thenx = ra = 20 and y = es Io ; but 20X5 = 100 = (10)* Cor. Lev ¢=1, and g = 1; the hypothefis will become (x+f)(x-+h) = y*. In this cafe, we obtain x =—" and y= mf—mh : , oe may' Lhus, if (v+12)(x+2), where f = 12, and b = 2, | ; : 3 Ribeis J 3 b de) and m= +3 thenx = 6 aid ya es See 9 9 — —!] ses ite, 4 4 LOMO == fay te) PROBLEM. VII. Let it be required to find rational values of x and y, in the general — q quadratic, Ax?+-Bx+C = y. , Case Il. When the firft term is a fquare. Suppose A = a’, when the expreffion becomes a*x*--bx--e | = y*; by tranfpofition, dv-+c = y*—a*x*, and refolving into factors, (x-++ <) = (y-+ax)(y—ax); whence, by affumption, ; | ae et il amie ba PROBLEMS. 20% yekan m e+ = my—max,and b = Reducing the firft equa- abut bub. : tion, dx--c = at Gaal and y= >. Again, redu- mb cing the fecond, mb = y-+tax, and y = mb—ax; confequently, mabre-bu-ke ml = mb—ax, or mabx-+bete = m*b>—mabx, and m*b*—c Ebereore. tS anabeb But y == mb—ax; therefore, y = m* ab? +-mb* +-ac ; amab+b " SUPPOSE ox*+-7e-+14. = y*, and m = 2; then + = : 4.147-2.40-42 — 4:49—14 a 1-42 og, seg = (8). Cor. 1. Leva 1, the expreflion becomes x*--dx--e = y?; m*h*~¢ m*b* emb® oc : and x= —— yp andy = —yri45 + ~SCThus, if it Att 4 eel 64—4 . 64-3244 =, and m = 2 ;-then-#-= Torq. = 3 and y= ga, = 53 but 9+4-3-+-4 = 25 = (5). Cor. 2. WHEN ihe third term is wanting, the expreflion be- comes a*x’--dx == y?; and in this cafe, the formule will be- ; m*b ab-pmb . come by reduttion, « = =~, andy =a Thus, if 7 ee | +134 = === c= = = 4.394213 Qx-+13x = 77, and m= 2; then = er = 4 andy ‘eis mand. >, but 9,16-4-4.13 = 196 = (14)* Vou. IL ee 3 CAsE 202 On the RESOLUTION of 4 Case Il. When the third term is a fquare. SupPosE C= C, and the expreflion i 1s axr-Lbx-Ler = aay | By tranfpofition, ax*-+-bx = y?—c*, and by refolution, (ax-+b)x = (y+e)(y—c) ; whence by affumption, x = as and ar+b = , my—mc—b my—me. But from the fecond equation, « =——— : , confe- 2 Lote 2 n! suently, a S Whence y= meet a and x 2am ee ae 2mc+b Tae m—a SuPPosE 3x°+5x+16 = y*?, and m = 2; then «x = 16+ ‘ ~ ; = = OT, and. 9 c= “eee = 38. But 3.(21)*+5.21+16 © = 1444 = (38) Cor. 1. Let & = 03; then the expreflion becomes ax?-+c? 2mc m* c-+-ac smiyt, and #imoepes, andy = —s——.\ hus; 22°4-9: = fae ae orgs = 6, and y —tEi34 = 9. But 2.(6)*+9 at fp (9) Gor.) Un DSO, amd 6 oy 5 then avr I = 7, andem = — and y = = atte) Put a = m?—d, and we fhall obtain x° 4 2m 2m*—d Bat: i » =, and y = +>. Hence itis evident, ‘that’ 2° and ee will be expreffed in whole numbers, when 2m is divifible by d. Call the quotient”; then x = 2, and y = mn—13 whence y mn —I it d £ , ; + Te —_ = ——=m——,, or m—, which are the two firft terms x INDETERMINATE PROBLEMS. 203 of the continued fraéion denoting v(m—d), or ya. Thus, if r2x+1 = y*;thenVi12 ='V7(16—4) =4—« aod 27 2 &e. Mee 2,.and y = 4.2—1 = 73. for'rv2.441 = 49 = (7). It is to be remarked, that, when d = 1, the values of x atid y may be difcovered from any given number of terms of the continued fraction. ‘Tuos, if 3x°-++-1 = y?5 then ¥3 = V(4—1) = 2—2 Cee | 4&c.; Whence x = 4, 15,-56, 209 &c.) and y = 7, 26, 97, 362 &c. Ir a = m*+d, then x = —”, and y = —mn—1; but the expreffion ax*+-1 = y*, will not be altered by changing the figns of « and y; whence x = 2, and y = ma+1; confequently, x and y will be determined from the continued fra@tion m=} 1 in denoting y(m-+d). Thus, 2ox7-+1 = y?3 “ I “n + &e. then f/20 = V(16+4) = 442 and x = 2,and y= 2 aa I ' on Cac: 4.2+1 = 9; for 20.441 = 81 = (9). WE may obferve, that if d= 1, the values of x and y, in the expreflion (m*+1)x:+1 = y’, may be found by taking an even or odd number of terms, according as the fign + or — is to be adopted. fer.s. LET ¢ = 0, then ax+tbhy = y*; and, in this cafe, x= 1f m= 3, then « SS iar = 2, andy= — ON BOF SZ yee 2 = Boe (6)*. cc 2 : CASE 204 On the. aes Oe of Case III. When BB gACs 1s a Square Let «7+ a + = — = DxE;; then the divifors = ieee will be — xD, and 7XE. But it appears, from the dodtrine of equations, that the exceffes of x above the roots of the F b c zits quadratic, x*4+—x + — = 0, are the divifors of the expreflion a _ 4ac) xe ste. Lb ea D = «+ , and Eas per ame Ao? rary Hence, when ¥ (Be —gac) is is a whole or fra¢tional number, the expreflion ax*-+bx-+c admits of refolution, and b b*~4ac 2 _aac ab As 4 ae) ae nab 4 ’). Awa when thefe are found, the folution will be obtained. from Prob. VI. SUPPOSE 14x°-+19x+6 = y’, then 4°—4ac = -361—336 = 25, and D= “4 (x 23), and E = n(xt25). If n = 2, the divifors are (x= ; the divifors will be Fatt) = 7x-+6, and 2(x-+—) ie 2x-+13; whence, from Prob. VI. x = 2, and y= = "To. Fer ap 14.4+19.2+6 = I00 = (100). CASE IV. When the general quadratic can be refolved into factors, — i if diminifbed by a given fquare. Let (ext+f)(gx+s) = y*—d*, then (ex-+/f) (gx+4) (y+d)(y—d); whence ex-+f =: my—md, and gx-+h = Basi: : By INDETERMINATE PROBLEMS. 205 M1Y—7 d—f By reducing the firft equation, x = ——-——— ; and by reducing the fecond, x ul ao whence se aes tes and con- fequently, y a ede tnle drt DOM) 0} cae | there- fore alfo « = eile ORE SUPPOSE 14x+31x-+24 = y’; then, taking 9 = d? from both fides, 14x*-+31x-+15 = y*—d?; but /(d*—4ac) = V/(9g61—840) ==01; whence, 1f x = 2, the divifors, by Cafe IIl.. will be aa Sanden 3 wherefore,:) making: wi. =. 2," = a = Seis (and yo St 23. For 14.25-+31.5-+24 = 529.= (23) PROBLEM VII. Let ¢ and d be known values of x and y in the expreffion, ax?--b = y?, and from thefe let it be required to difcover others. SINCE ax*+-b = y’, and ac?*+b = d’, fubtracting thefe equa- tions, we fhall obtain ax*—ac* = y’—d*, and by refolution,. (ax—ac)(x-+c) = (y+d)(y—d); whence ax—ac = my—md, d gi #-1-¢ =< ———-. From the firft of thefe equations, x = my—md-+-ac - y-kd—mce my—md--ac 90, 07>. and from the fecond, ».= ———; whence eet ia Jjed—me _ m*d-ad—2mac (m? +-a)d—2mac 206 > “On the RESOLUTION by. U * a gitthon up sthenefore, a \= and (oboe To fimplify tele a m7 m*—a vedi fa and 9 2: —7—';'then wilt = a | { formuke; pit g = — and y = pd—gac. If c become negative, the eenditions of the problem will not be affeCted. In this cafe, x = pc+gqd, and, y = pd+aqc. The values of x and y, obtained from either — of thefe formule, may be repeatedly fubftituted for thofe of — : cand d; and thus a variety of numbers will be difcovered. SUPPOSE 2x*4+7 = y*, then c= 1, andd = 3; and if m 4+2 4 . Sea Plat, ae ee cinighig, == = 23 iwhenges i= 4-2 4—2 312.3 = 9 or 3, and y= 3.3+4 = 13 0r 5. Again, x= 3-7-2019 255% OF 1, and y = 3.13+4.9 = 75 01.3. Ore = 3.34+2.5 = Ig ori, and y = 3.5-+4.3 = 27 or 3; and aaa ‘repeatedly. . i” We may obferve, that the value of p is the fame ith that of yin Prob. VI. Cor. II. and the value of g the fame with — that of x. Whence, if p = d, and g = c, we fhall obtain for the expreffion ax’-—1 = jy’, x = 2cd, and y = d*+ ac. — Thus, in the example, 2x*—1 = y*, wherec = 2,andd=3, X, 2 25209) = 42,)amd = 3.312.2.2 = 17; and again, x ba 2.12.17 = 408, and y= 17.17-+2.12.12 = 577. F POR’ uBR i Mie ae To fal two rational numbers, the fum of which fball be qual me) to a given number, and the fun of hast Squares a fquare. e- By hypothefis, x+y = 4, and ety" = x. Tranfpofing the q fecond equation, «7 = z*—y?, and refolving into fators, xXx INDETERMINATE PROBLEMS. 207 a (z+y)(z—y) ; whence, a mz—my, and z--y = MX 3 where- my +x fore mz = my+x, and z=——; alfo, 2 = mxX—Yy; confe- m*xX—=X ‘quently, my+x = mx—my, and y= 7, * But from the A ‘ Mg S—K firft equation, y = a—x; wherefore a—x = ~- —', and x = } 2m x f; 1] m*—t dzc= | m* +-2m—1 a; conilequently, y — m*4-271——1 ? an art m* +1 m? +-2m—1 SuPPOSE a = 23, andm = 43 thnx = 8, y= 15, and x: = 19. For 8+15 = 23, and 64+225 = 289 = (x7). PROBLEM. &. To find two numbers, whofe fum fball be a given number, and the product of the fums, formed by adding given numbers to them, @ square. By hypothefis, x+y = a, and («-+-4)(y+c) = 2% From the fecond equation, we obtain by aflumption, «+d = xv-eD mz, and x = my+me ; therefore, % = —— =" my-+mc 5 and fo x = my+m*c—b. But, from the firft equation, » = a—y; a--b—nmic* , . 2 = eenye! pages. ty is confequently, m*y-+m’c—b = a—y, and yi ee 5 alfo x am? pray Weer xed am-+c*-+-bm 2" w "TPE = = aR Oe a a ; y mm +h - and m mr4t-t - SUPPOSE 3 ~ Pa ae ee 208 On _the RESOLUTION of i Suppose @ =.17,/) 6,02, and det .mi= 23 then y F HT __ 17+5—8 { 68+8—6 - 344+4+12 ub MH! f ee Se Par Se = 14,and z = = 10. orn. But 14+3 = 17, and (144+6)(3+2) = 100 = (10)* \ “PROBLEM XI. * ee a aw, nee > J Let it be required to find two ee fuch that, if to cuit WH their fum and difference, unit be added, the numbers ok Ae be ‘ Squares. Ta firk conditien: sill. be ehiersbin asiche anata am ae il noted by x*—1 and y*—1. The hypothefis will then require a ' eby—T = z, and a—y*++I = v*. ; . i es k at TRANSPOSING the firft equation, «*—1 = Beet and re- | folving into factors, («-+-1)(x—1) = ferugread’ i ; whence, a XT = mz—my, and z+y = mx—m,; therefore, z = mx—m—y MyY+XEI > cod 2 logy = ~——, from which we have y = “#="—"'=" m ? 2m AGAIN, tranfpofing the fecond equation, x*—y? = v*—1, — and refolving, («-Ly)(«—y) = (v+1)(v—1), and by affumption, — j x-+y = pu—p, and v+1 = px—py, and therefore, ve mo ae ps ie iam: 2 : egal a . Bur it was found, that y = eee ; wherefore, pr? x—x—2p __ m*x—x—m*—I —————— ee a ree ee yt Lon, +8 aH = a ; and by reduct 4s, INDETERMINATE PROBLEMS. 209 — __ pm +p*—4mp-+-m? +1 HALE (m?>-+-1)( p?+1)—4mp " p*m*—2mp*— p* +m*+2m—1? a= p? ((m—1)* —2)+(m+1)*—2 In the fame manner, by finding the values of x in terms of m* p* —2m* p-+p*—m*+2p—1_, or = y, &c. we obtain y = p* m* —2mp*—p? +m?) ey m* (( p—1)*—2)-+( p+1)*—2 | ? ((m—1)* —2) +(m+1)*—2 PROBLEM XIL _ To find three numbers, the product of any two of which, increafed by unit, hall be a fquare. By hypothefis, xy-+-r = v*, xz-+1 = 5%, and yz+1 = w’. 1. TRANSPOSING the firft equation, xy = v’*—1, and re- folving, «Xy = (v+1)(v—1), whence y = mv—m, and v-+1 2m-+-y = mx; confequently, v = 72 = mx—1, and x = —>. 7 wri 2. AGAIN, tranfpofing the fecond equation, xz = s°—1, . and refolving, x*xz= (s+-1)(s—1) 3 whence, z = ps—f, and s+1 = px; confequently, s = aa = px—1, and reducing, _ 2+2 eat. But « = — >}; wherefore mx + 2m"p = amp-+py, and y = ae 3: Moreover, by the third equation, ye = w?—I15 "whence, yX% = (w+r)(w—1), and y = gw—g, and w+r = 9%; whereforey w = 277 = gz—1, and y= PX—29. | q Vou. Il. dd But 210 | “On the ‘RESOLUTION of But j= niece mans i= where- ; pg? —m* ts ° lah t fore the value of Beer be exprefled by any affumed number, a, i But,. =f TE OR Bie sia =e an ; whence ec fe g:|) Alfo, i | by art.2. x= st eee we = ris tNerdfoke- iri 4n-+8, s f y %—= 4nt+4. Thus, 2, 4, 12; for 2X4+1 = 9, 2X12+r = and 4X12-+1 = 49. ) PROBLEM XU (te ' - 3 ~ Lo find a-cube which nthe be equal to the produf of a fate by a Siven number. ; | $3 A Lahie By Me a?) =. ay", an. Eihate xXx? = = ax"; ™ whence i == Ma, and. y? == mx’; Bat x* = (ma)’, confequently hi } ia J ‘ m INDETERMINATE PROBLEMS. a1r yy” = ma’, and yXy = maXm'a ; and by a fecond affumption, y = pma, and ma = py; but x = ma; whence y = px, and fince y = =, = — 3 wherefore — = pa; and « = ap; but y= px, whence y = ap*. SUPPOSE 4 = 3, and p = 2, then 4 = 3x(2)* = 12, and Peet ae. = 24.) Bor (12)2.=. 1728. = 2,(24)r PROB LE™M XIV. To find two numbers, the Jum. of which fhall be a given fquare, and the fum of their cubes a fquare. By hypothefis, x-+-y = a’, and x*+y?,= 2. Dividing the fecond equation by the firft, we obtain = = «0? —xy+y?, or g* = —y? = x*—xy, and refolving into factors, (Sy) é -y) = a(a—y); whence, x = m(=—y), and —ty = m(x—y). By reducing the firft of thefe expreflions, z = a ; and by the fecond, z = max—may—ay 3 whence ax--may m yn e max—may—ay, and y = ee . But from the firft equation, m*--2m 2 — y = @—x; wherefore, ——~_ = a’—x, and therefore x = m+ 2m ue m*>-+-2m » eee — Jaw: eee, Mm ——1 OX toma: Buty = a’—x,confequently, y = a’*x Sorc iam dd2. Alfo, ' Satpe, 2M A On GAR ESOLOULTO NY be. _ Alfo, becaufe z = pa Ay wevhaye by fubftitution, z = - m* +-m-+-1 Pant kell Bek 9 2m* -2m—1I r a?xX Cor. 1. Ip a = 2m*+2m—1, two whole numbers may be + always found, the fum of which, and that of their cubes, fhall “ye {quares. For in this cafe, x = (2m*+-2m—1)(m*+2m), y = (2m-++2m—1)(m*—1), and z = (2m*-++-2m—1)*(m?-++-m-+1.) Tuus, if m= 2, we fhall find « = 88, y,= 33, and 27am 4 847. But 88-+33 = 121 = (11)*, and (88)?+-(33)? = 717409 = (847). | . a Cor. 2. IF y be negative, we fhall obtain two numbers, the ‘difference of which, and that of their cubes, fhall be {quares. 7 gs ae — = F; —_ q° q — Put m = oo, and fubftituting, « = a*X a a ia ee fae 2 oA | —a xX —+—— _ 5, and zx = a?xX L—__4+—_ ,, and by re- PP, 2p ey ap g- 9 2 eer i . duction, x = a?X& —277_ pom xP oand eg = ‘ ppg? 7 2p*-++-2pq—q*? a sy Peete OG a = 2f°-+269—97, we thall obtain ire 2p? 2pq—q* Pee A i j whole numbers; for « = (2p?+2pg—9*)(p?+267), y = (2p°+2pg—7"°)(F—p*), and x = (2p*+2pq—7° "(Pt Pg Tt 7). ' 'THEsE examples will probably be thought fufficient to ex- — plain the application of this method to the folution of indeter- minate problems in general, ‘and to fhew that it is not lefs ex- __ tenfive, and much more uniform, than thofe that are comma fe in ufe. ae XV. ua XV. 4 DissERTATION on the CuimaTE of RUSSIA. By MATTHEW GUTHRIE, M.D. Phy/ician to the Impe- rial Corps of Noble Cadets at St Peterfourg, ¥.R.SS. Lonp. and Epin.: With two Letters from his Excellency M. #Epinus, Counf. of State, Kn‘ of the Order of St ANNE, Ce. We. We. [Read by Mr RoBIson, Nov. 2. 178 9.] N a paper publifhed in the fecond volume of the fecond de- cade of the Medical Commentaries of Edinburgh, I men- tioned a defign of endeavouring to trace the influence of a cold climate on the human body and its difeafes, which fhould form a contraft with the many accounts publifhed of late years rela- tive to the effects of hot climates ; and I likewife mentioned my having given a detached piece*, fome years ago, a8 a com- mencement of the fubject, in the fixty-eighth volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions of London, which contains matter neceffary to illuftrate fome parts of the following Differtation. I wAs induced to this defign, by having met with nothing of the kind in the courfe of my reading ; and by remarking that, -whilft warm countries feem to occupy the attention of many of the Faculty, the more northern regions appear to intereft but very few of our learned brethren, although it is but natu- ral to conclude that if one extreme of temperature is found to have much influence, the other can fcarcely be entirely with- out it. In * Tue title of the Differtation mentioned above, is, The Antifeptic Regimen of the Natives of Ruffia. 214 DISSERTATION on the In this point of view, the fubject feems to me to merit in- veftigation, fince the difcuflion of it is an obje@ to {cience in general, and to medicine in particular. The plan, then, that I have chalked out to myfelf, as likely to throw light on the fubje&t, is to give the Hiftory of the Northern Climate in one paper, and that of its Phyfical Influence in another, as it ap- pears in the new capital of Ruflia, St Peterfburg, where I have ~ refided for many years. Thefe two Differtations will contain a number of facts and obfervations, from which Phyficians, in the double fenfe of the word, may draw conclufions ; for | pre- tend to nothing more than the honour of laying the foundation of an important work to be profeeuted by others, and which — will probably require many years to complete. As to the execution of my plan: fi7/, I have made ufe of — the meteorological regifter, kept in the Imperial Academy of Sciences, as fuch regifter muft be more clofely attended to than that of any individual, whofe private bufinefs muft often call him abroad at the proper hours of obfervation. adly, 1 HAvE adopted the Academy’s divifion of the year in- to two feafons only, as in fact we have but two, properly fpeak- ing, viz. winter and fummer, the one feafon running into the other, without leaving well defined intermediate periods, to an- fwer to what are called fpring and autumn in the temperate climates. Nature appears to hurry in the north, by as quick a tranfition as poflible, from the long fevere winter into its fhort — but ardent fummer; fo that our thawing feafon occupies the period of your fpring: and the fame kind parent feems to pro- ~ long the feafon of vegetation, from a fimilar wife intention, as long as poffible, till furprifed in a manner at once by the re- turn of winter, without much of what may be called autumn weather. 3dly, | uAvE followed the plan of the elacant regifter, in prefixing to each feafon an enumeration of the common pheno- mena which take place in it, fuch as the quantity and duration of At At CLIMATE of RUSSIA. ars of froft, {now, rain, congelation, &%c. as will be feen in the pa- per, adding to the fhort note of the Academy on each article, a few remarks of my own, which I have collected during a long refidence in the north. | 4thly, My calculations are all taken from the mean of fifteen years, as will be feen by the annexed regifter, an abridgment of that kept by Profeflor EuLER, perpetual Secretary to the Im- perial Academy of Sciences, with which he obligingly fur- nifhed me. | I am happy to embrace this opportunity of acknowledging a number of fimilar-obligations for many years paft, from our equally liberal and learned Profeflors of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Lafily, \ wave added to the regifter the comparative degrees of FAHRENHEIT and REAUMUR’s thermometers, that anfwer to the given number of De Lisxe’s feale, becaufe the firft is in common ufe in Great Britain, and the fecond in Ruffia, as it ought to be (and I believe generally is) with the public every where from its greater fimplicity. The RUSSIAN WINTER, With the common Phenomena attending tt. Tue Ruffian winter certainly muft take the lead, when treat- ing of the feafons, both from its duration and confequences in this northern fituation. The duration of winter is generally from the end of September to the beginning of May, although we certainly have occafionally very pleafant weather in April, in {pite of morning and evening froft, which the fun, in his nearer approach, diffipates inftantly on appearing above the horizon; nay, the agreeable effet which a little of his "fenfible influence has, when contrafted with his little more than lunar action for fo long a period, leads us to give to April almoft the rank of a fummer month, although I doubt if, in a more fouthern 216 DISSERTATION on the fouthern country, it would merit that appellation under the fame circumftances. | + Duration of Froft and Snow. Tue duration of winter, if it is to be defined by the mean term of froft and fnow, according to the common method, mutt be dated from the gth of OGtober to the beginning of May, when its force is fo far fpent as to be perceptible only by a flight hoar-froft at an early morning hour ; and as the continu- ance of {now is generally much the fame as that of froft, we — may reckon the mean period of both at about 230 days in the year. Term of the Rivers remaining Frozen. Meio. But the duration of what is called the real Ruffian winter, when our communication by water with the reft of the world — is fhut up, and that element confounded in appearance, and almoft in folidity, with the land, is confiderably fhorter, and is to be reckoned from the 27th of November to the 19th of April, (its mean term for fifteen years paft), that is to fay, it comprehends about 160 days in the year; for in the feafon al- lotted to winter by the ordinary definition, as given above, ~ there are about 70 days, when our froft, although equal to the congelation of water in its tranquil ftate, is incapable to arreft the rapid current of rivers. Nay, I am yet to learn what de- gree of it might be required for that purpofe; for in this country there are certain circumftances which ufually accelerate the congelation of rapid rivers, fuch as, their furface being covered with floating ice, formed in the lakes * above, which, at * As for example, the floating ice which covers the Neva, and fo much facilitates its congelation, is formed in the Ladoga lake, where an inferior degree of froft can att upon the ftill water, to what is neceflary to congeal the river, and on the firft wind it is brake up and carried down by the current. CLIMATE of RUSSTA. S19 at the firft obftacle it meets with in its courfe down the river, (as at the bar a little below the city of Peterfburg) accumulates fo as to form one uniform fheet to appearance, for many miles above the obftacle, compofed of a number of large thick flakes, which the fevere froft that commonly prevails about that time, almoft inftantly cements together, although the fame degree of froft is much inadequate to the power of congealing the naked furface of the running river. By this ceconomy of nature, al- though the northern countries are much interfected by large and rapid rivers, which, from the floating ice, do not admit of ftanding bridges, ftill the communication is feldom interrupted _ for twenty-four hours, as they fhut up with a degree of thick- nefs fufficient to bear the weight of a man almoft immediately, and heavy burdens in a few days. Thickne/s and other Phenomena of ‘the Ice. By February, our ice has acquired the aftonifhing thicknefs of about three quarters of an Englith yard, and, what is equally aftonifhing, it has loft not above a third of it, when become fo weak, at the breaking up of the rivers, as not to fupport the weight of a dog. At this period, I have paid particular atten- tion to its appearances, and found the mafs compofed of a number of long folid cryftals, refembling, in fome meafure, the pipes of an organ, about half a yard long, but almoft without adhefion, fo that the mafs feems to have loft little but the cementing principle, (@f I may be allowed the expreffion) which bound thofe cryftals together ; inftead of its being re- duced, according to the common opinion, to a pellicle, by the a@tion of the fun and water on its upper and under furfaces, which any one may convince himfelf is a vulgar prejudice, by fimple infpection of a piece of the floating ice on the breaking up of the Neva, which, although funk fo deep in the water as Vor, II. ee to 218 DISSERTATION on the to appear only like a pellicle above the furface, has the confider- able thicknefs that I have mentioned, concealed below the water. I may here fubjoin fome obfervations on the conducting power of ice with refpeét to found. This is affirmed to be very great, by the ingenious Profeflor of Natural Philofophy in your Univerfity *. Iam difpofed to accede to his opinion, from know- ing, that even the unbroken and uncultivated ground of our ftepps or defarts conduéts found fo well, that the Coffacks hear the tread of a horfe at a great diftance, by laying their ear to the ground. Experiments might be tried in this country ona very great fcale. But as I have not had an opportunity of this kind fince the thought ftruck me, I fhall content myfelf with ** ving walked out on the ice to a great diftance from our fort “* the other day, when its cannon were difcharged for the taking “ of Oxakow, the firft intimation I received of this event was, by a difagreeable ringing found from the ice, and, after fome feconds, the ufual report through the air, but not fo violent as the firft.” | ce ce «é Regifter of the Weather for the fix Winter Months. THERMO ME PER. Our greateft cold exceeds in general 196° of De Lisxe’s, equal to 24° below o of Faur. or 24°4 of Reaum. below o, and commonly obtains in January. Our mean cold for the fix winter months is, in the after- noon, 154°, equal to 27° of Faur. above o, or equal to 2° of — ReauM. below 0; Night, 162°, equal to 23° of Faur. above 0, or to 7° of REaum. below o. Ir muft always be remembered, that they are the mean de-. grees of cold and heat during a period of fifteen years, which — are giving the following extract of a letter from a friend: “* Ha 4 * Joun Roprson, M.A. Profeffor of Natural Philofophy in the Univerfity of Edinburgh. ; CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 219 ate fet down in this regifter; for we have often, for example, a more confiderable degree of cold than what is indicated above, as our greateft during the feafon ; 27° of Reaum. or 62° of Faur. below 0, are often felt here, and fometimes as far as 30°5 nay,a cold of 32° below the freezing point of REAUM. is upon fecord, which is the freezing point of the pureft mercury, ac- cording to my experiments, publifhed here in 1785. It mutt be alfo remarked, that the thermometer fometimes has a furprifing range during winter, fo as to produce a change of temperature from 10° to 25° of REAum. (or from 23° to 57° of Faur.) in 24 hours; a trying circumftance for delicate conftitutions, and which the moft robuft feel after the prime of life. The preffure of the air on the body is alfo equally vari- able in 24 hours, as indicated by the barometer on thefe occa- fions. BAROMETER. | ) Placed 20 feet above the mean level of the Neva, and at 6000 from its opening into the gulph of Finland. Higheft, © 28.87 ofteneft in January. Lowett, 26.99 ofteneft in November. Difference, 1.88 Mean height, 28.02 Paris inches. Winds. TuE prevailing wind during winter is the weft, and its pro- portion to the eaft is, Weft, 113 days in the fix winter months. Eaft, 68 days in the fame period. _ N.B. Tue fouth wind, and all to the weft of the meridian, is reckoned weft ; the north wind, and all to the eaft of the meridian, is reckoned eaft. ‘ ee 2 Tuais 220 DISSERTATION on the Tuts circumftance of the weft and foutherly winds prevail- ing during the fevere northern winter, muft appear rather fin- F _ gular to moft people, efpecially in Great Britain, where the very’ name of N. and N.E. winds conveys the idea of cold. But this phenomenon may eafily be explained on the principles ad- vanced by Profeflor Rosison, in the Notes to Dr ROBERTSON’S Hiftory of America. Vide Note 4. B. IV. | Mean Quantity of melted Snow and Rain. THESE together do not amount, in the fix winter months, to more than about five Paris inches, although the whole furface of the northern countries is covered with {now to a confiderable depth, over which we drive in fledges, without diftinguifhing between land and water; whilft, during fummer, a period apparently fair in comparifon, there falls more than double the quantity of rain ; but indeed, as it pours in torrents, when it. -does rain, like thunder-fhowers in hot feafons, there muft fall | more than the apparent drynefs of the feafon would lead one to fuppofe at firft fight, efpecially when the large portion fur- nifhed by the heavy night-dews, is added to the quantity. I must here obferve, that water feems to- acquire fome new properties, from being converted into fnow, froft, in- cruftations, and even common river ice, if we are to judge from the following facts: Fiz/t, I have fhewn, in a paper pu- blifhed in the Philofophical Tranfa€tions of London, that the frozen incruftation, which is formed on the infide of the win- _ dows, in the habitations of the lower clafs of people in this country, during the fevere part of wimter, (an inconvenience avoided in the better fort of houfes by double windows), {ets loofe, on thawing, a fpecies of mephitic air, producing all the dangerous effects of the fumes of charcoal on people expofed ta. its action, . ; adly, CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 221 adly, A Mr Scuroeter of this city has found the water of thefe incruftations to be of a very volatile nature; and indeed the folutions of all the frigorific productions mentioned above, poffefs a fuperior difpofition to evaporate to river water in its natural ftate, as is fhown by the following experiment : He poured into five tea-cups, ftanding in the window of his room, a tea-fpoonful of each of the five different fluids men- tioned below, when, at the expiration of 24 hours, their com- parative degrees of evaporation were as follow : No. 1. A tea-fpoonful of window cruft water was almoft all evaporated. hoar froft water had loft about the half. 3. —————_——— {now water had loft about a third. 4. —————__——— Neva ice water had loft rather lefs ! than a third. River Neva water had loft nothing to appearance. Hail. _ Its appearance is a rare phenomenon in this feafon: But I fhall leave to the ingenious author of the Theory of Rain *, (in the firft volume of the Tranfactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh) to give a reafon why water fhould conftantly take the form of fnow during the fevere weather of the north, and -fo feldom that of hail. Can it be that the fun has not fufficient influence, at this period of the year, to raife it to the higher region, where the form of hail is fuppofed to be given? Tempefts ARE equally uncommon with hail in the feafon treated of. Indeed nature feems to have ftudied a perfect equality in the diftribution of her favours, as it is only the parts of the earth which /* Dr James Hurtons - 422 DISSERTATION en te =. which moft enjoy the kindly influence of the fun, that fuffer by the effects of its fuperior heat; fo that if the atmofphere of the north is not fo genial as that of the fouth, at leaft it re- _ mains perfe€tly quiet and ferene, without threatening deftruc- tion to man and the produd of his induftry, as in what are commonly called happier climates. ~ Aurora Borealis. As to the Aurora Borealis, it often illuminates our hemi- {fphere, more particularly in winter, when it appears from fix- teen to feventeen times in the fix months, although we, by no means, enjoy fo much of its light as our more northern neigh- bours, who have certainly a better title to its fervices, from the beautiful plan of equality mentioned above. Some remarks which I fhall make in the next article but one, may probably ftrengthen the opinion of its being an electric phenomenon, that is to fay, if proving the atmofphere in general to be un- commonly electric, at the time of its greateft prevalency, can lead to a prefumption pf its connection with that fluid. Parheliums and Mock Moons Are feen pretty frequently in the north. Probably our frozen mifts and vapours make thefe phenomena more frequent here than in the temperate climates. General Obfervations on the Winter Atmofphere. Tue air, though cold, is remarkably pure and elaftic during our fevere froft, fo as to give a moft furprifing degree of {pring and tone to the human frame. At this time the atmofphere is moft aftonifhingly eleftric, even more fo than during our vio- lent thunder-ftorms in fummer, if we are to judge from the great : CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 223 great power of our eleétrical machines, and from feveral other phenomena too curious to be paffed over in filence. Tue moft ftriking of thefe is the appearance of a flame, on drawing a flannel cover off a filk chair, or on rubbing with a woolen cloth the filk hangings of an apartment. On this laft operation, a flame was feen running along the gold-laced bor- -der, to the great amazement of the Imperial fervants, to whom thefe alarming meteors appeared, on dufting the apartments of the palace in a dark winter morning, as I remember to have heard at the time, though many years ago. But the facts of this nature, which | got from our ingenidus and learned ele¢trician M. Eprnus *, whilft Preceptor to his Imperial Highnefs the Great Duke, are much more circumftantial and interefting. See his letter at the end. However, I do not mean to affert, that the total of the electric fluid contained in the atmofphere is greater in winter than fummer, during the violent commotions it occafions here, which are fometimes of a very alarming and dangerous nature. I only fay, that it appears to be more equally diffufed through the whole volume of the atmofphere, from not being collected into clouds, as in fummer, and that the air is in a ftate more difpofed to part with it. In faé, no clouds are to be feen du- ring fevere froft; nor indeed can water exift in that form, but is divided into infinitely fmall particles, frozen into fhining fpicula, which play and fparkle in the beams of our bright though feeble fun, in a very beautiful manner. This appear- ance of fomething like brilliant points floating in our atmo- fphere, * As it may operate to the encouragement of Science, permit me to inform the So- ciety, that when this refpeGtable Philofopher (fo well. known in Europe by his profound and ingenious writings on Eleétricity and Magnetifm) had finifhed the education of his Imperial Highnefs the Grand Duke of Ruffia, he was advanced to the rank of aCtual . Counfellor of State, with a penfion to fupport his new dignity, and was decorated with the red ribbon of St Annz, an order only beftowed on men of high military or civil rank. This anecdote fhows how well the prefent’ Sovereign underftands rewarding me- rit, when it falls, under her immediate cognifance. 424 DISSERTATION on ‘the {phere, is not conftant, but I think follows a fort of cloudinefy, which occafionally takes place on a change of temperature, as if it was going to fnow; but on the cold increafing a fewde- grees, which it does often very fuddenly, the fky becomes in+ — {tantly clear-again, and feems to have acquired the little parti+ — cles in queftion, which I have often thought I felt aéting againft my face, while driving with great velocity in a fledge. THAT I may feparate as much as poffible theory from facts, I referve to this place fome explanation of what I have faid ‘above, and beg leave to hazard a conjecture, in form of a | query, for thofe who have more leifure and genius than myfelf. It would indeed be difficult to reconcile the idea of our atmo- {phere poffefling a greater quantity of electric fluid in winter than fummer, with the difcoveries of Meflrs p—E VottTa and Saussure, who have found the electricity of the air in dry — weather to be conftantly pofitive. The laft mentioned gentle- man fuppofes its pofitive ftate to be maintained by a regular fupply of vapours from the earth, (which are difcovered to abound with that fluid) carrying up a portion of the electricity — that belongs to the globe. Now, as in the north the earth is — hard frozen during winter, one fhould think the fupply by eva- poration cannot be fo great in this feafon as in fummer, and of courfe its pofitive {tate with difficulty kept up from this — fource, according to Dr Franxuin’s Theory of Plus and Mi- nus. Will that of two diftin&t fluids (to which Mr SaussuRE ~ feems to lean in fome part of his works) account for it better? There is a theory very prevalent in Germany and Sweden ; nay, we even find the refpeCtable names of BERGMAN, SCHEELE, WILKE, tc. amongft its advocates. This is a fufficient reafon for my giving it a place in this paper, left it fhould not be ge- nerally known in Britain. PosiTIVvE electricity is fuppofed to be common air faturated with heat or fire, as they term it; negative electricity is fup- pofed to be phlogifton, combined with an acid. As to the commotion, CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 225 commotion, they account for it, by fuppofing that it is owing to the air and phlogifton rufhing with violence together, (from great aflinity) and fuddenly fetting loofe the heat contained in the air, according to CRAwFrorp’s theory, which then becomes fenfible, and in fome cafes vifible. I muft take the liberty of fuggefting a doubt if this new theory will account for fo many phenomena in electricity, as the beautiful and fimple one of FRANKLIN and Apinus, particularly for Earl SraNuoPE’s re- turning ftroke, which his Lordfhip proves to have been the death of Mr BrypEn’s carter and horfes, in fo fatisfactory a manner, that no man in future will think himfelf fafe in a - thunder-ftorm, however diftant from the explofions. Ir might be fuppofed, from the feverity of the froft men- tioned above, that we fuffer much cold during this period ; but the fa&t is juft the reverfe: for people in eafy circumftances, who are not obliged to remain much out of doors, but drive, or even walk from one houfe to another, fuffer lefs than in moft countries, as there reigns conftantly a fummer heat from 14° to 16° of REAUMUR in our apartments, where flowers blow all the winter; and when out of doors, the warm fur drefs, with the fkin furniture of the fledges, (a coach requires none) keep the body fo comfortable, that I am ¢onvinced lefs cold is felt (difference of drefs confidered) in driving through the ftreets of Peter{burg in our cold dry air, than through thofe of London or Edinburgh, during the cold moift weather that obtains there during a great part of the winter; efpecially as this {tate of the atmofphere in Britain is often accompanied by bleak winds, whilft the air in Ruffia, during our greateft cold, _ is generally ferene and calm. In fact, we have only the face to guard again{t the froft when out of doors, by occafionally -yraifing the cape of our fur garb, as all the reft is fecured againft its attack by the well contrived drefs of the north; and at home, if the door is only kept fhut, the cold can enter from ‘no other quarter, (the windows being double, well caulked and Vo1. II. vAh papered 226 DISSERTATION on the papered in the feams) to countera@ the equally diffufed heat produced by well contrived ftoves, which are built generally of white tiles, and admit of much latitude of elegant form. Tue above defcription of our mode of living in winter, ac- counts for-a circumftance that has been regarded as affectation, both in the natives of Ruffia, and in foreigners who have re- fided long here, vz. their complaining of cold during winter a in the temperate climates; for, on taking into confideration their mode of living at home, there is nothing more natural — than their fuffering cold in countries where neither the houfes nor drefs are calculated to keep it from conftantly aéting on the body, during a certain period of the year. This is a fituation quite new to a Ruffian, and which produces fenfations more difagreeable than can eafily be imagined, till cuftom makes it familiar, and that they have learned to feek heat in exercife, inftead of ovens and furs ; a leflon by no means unprofitable to people of fafhion from the northern countries of Europe. x SPRING. As to fpring, I muft again repeat my remark in the intro- duction, that we can hardly fay that it exifts here; the feafons of winter and fummer running into oneanother, almoft without any fenfible intermediate one: For by the time that the immenfe mafs of fnow and ice, which covered the face of land and water, is melted, the fun has acquired fo much influence, as to dart on ts at once a fummer heat. It is probable that the quantity of water produced by this operation, when joined to the effet of our heavy night-dews in the hot weather, may render a wet intermediate feafon unneceflary, whilft the fhort period allowed to hurry vegetation through all its ftages, will fearcely admit of it. Is it not poflible, likewife, that the fud- den commencement of fummer on the finifhing of the thawing procefs, may be accounted for, in fome meafure, by Dr Brack’s ‘Theory CLIMUTE of RUSSIA. aay Theory of Latent Heat? For as water requires a great portion of fenfible heat to refume its fluid form, of courfe, a large proportion of that furnifhed by. the fun will be abforbed, un- til the whole is diffolved, when we at once receive all his influ- ence, without any part of it being abforbed by our winter co- vering. When this caufe is joined to the cold produced by the evaporation going on during the thawing period, it is eafy to conceive how different our feelings muft be at the time when they are both removed, and the earth is beginning to ac- quire and give out warmth; which very quickly takes place in this light fandy foil, that lets the water readily filter through it, and almoft immediately begins to heat. RUSSIAN SUMMER, With the common Phenomena attending it. Our Ruffian fummer, during a good feafon, prefents exactly the oppofite extreme to winter, the former being nearly as hot as the latter is cold; an admirable arrangement of nature, if we confider the tafk the fun has to perform, with regard to ve- getation, during that fhort fpace of time. ‘The influence of the fun during the period of a Ruffian fummer, is no doubt aided by that equally wife ceconomy relative to the habits of plants 3 for whilft the northern ones run their courfe uniformly in the fhort {pace of time allotted to them, (even in Iceland, where, from its infular fituation, the heat cannot be fo confi- derable as with us), thofe imported from the fouth can, by no means, effect all their ftages of vegetation, within the bounds- of a Ruffian fummer, until they have pafled a few feafons in this climate, and thus acquired the habits of the indigenous plants of the country. Ir is remarkable, that the thermometer falls exa@ly to 24°+ of ReAumur below the freezing point, during our greateft FS f2 . cold 228 § DISSERTATION on the cold in winter, and rifes to the fame number of degrees above it, during our greateft heat of fummer, taking the mean of “ fifteen years. The fun’s remaining fo many hours above the a horizon, or rather fcarcely leaving it at all during a certain pe- riod of our fummer, affords one reafon for the violent heat which a traveller meets with, to his no fmall.aftonifhment, in the latitude of ‘60, as the air and earth have not time to cool in the fhort interval between his fetting and rifing again. Two Britifh travellers from Bengal, (where they are certainly ac-— cuftomed to great heat) complain much of ae of the a fummer in St Peterfburg. | I TAKE this opportunity of mentioning a curious faét con-— nected with northern vegetation. There is a difh to be found at the tables of Mofcow during winter, which will fcarcely be credited by the reft of Europe, when it is remembered that the — climate is nearly as fevere as at Peterfburg, wz. afparagus, reared in the open air, the production of a fpecies of Ruffian gardening, which merits being known. In autumn, the afparagus beds are covered with mats, and : buried by the falling fnow, which is moft abundant in this climate, fo as to preferve the plants from being frozen, until they are wanted. When a bed of them is to be thrown into. vegetation during winter, it is done by cutting a deep and broad trench all around it, down to the unfrozen earth, which is filled with fmoking dung, taken out of the middle of a large dunghill; the old mats, covered with fnow, are then ree moved, and dry ones put in their place, and upon them a thick layer of warm dung, leaving only fmall apertures for the plants to pufh through. Regifer CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 229 _ Regifter of the Weather for the fix Summer Months. THERMOMETER. Greateft heat, 106° commonly in July or Auguft, equal to ‘ 85° of Faur. above o, or to 24° of REAUM. above o. Leaft heat, 144° in May or O&ober, equal to41° of Faur. | above o, or to 3° of REaum. above o. Difference, 38° equal to 46° of Faur. or equal to 20°4 of REAUM. Mean heat of the aftern. 127° equal to 59° of Faur. above o, or equal 12° of REAumM. above o. Mean heat of the night, 136° equal to 49° of Faur. above o, | or to 2°4 of REAum. above o. Mean heat of the climate at large, 2°. BAROMETER. At higheft, 28.42 ofteneft in May. At loweft, 27.50 ofteneft in September. ~.92 The middle between thefe extremes is 27.96. Mean height, 28.04. Paris inches. Winds. - THE wind that predominates here in fummer, as in winter, is the weit. Weft wind, IIo days. Eaft wind, 84 days. Rain, 230 — DISSERTATION on the Rain. THE quantity of rain that falls'in the fix months, is 1022, or about 11 Paris inches. Rainy days, . - - 80. Tempeft during this feafon, from 11 to 12. Showers of. hail, 5 1» ifemas | 2 tas ae Aurora Borealis, from 8 to 9. _ Fog, - - 17 days. _ 1 sHouLD be happy in being able to give the heat of deep wells and fprings in this province, to compare with the mean heat of our climate, which, according to a curious modern difcovery, ought to be pretty nearly the fame; but as our wa- ter lies within about four yards of the furface, at leaft in the diftri@t I inhabit, it may be fuppofed to be affected by the in- fluence of the fun during fummer, and the fevere froft in winter. To avoid, then, as much as poflible, both thefe caufes of error, I have chofen for the time of my experiment, what, in my opinion, is the moft favourable of the whole year, viz. the fhort interval which takes place between the rigorous feafon of winter and the heat of fummer, when the water is moft ex- empt from either influence. The epoch fixed upon then for my experiment was the oth of May, whilft we had ftill a little floating ice in our river, the laft of that which*comes down from the lake Ladoga every {pring on its breaking up. At this time, the trees were ftill without a leaf, except the birch, which was juft budding ; and REAumuR’s thermometer ftood at 1o°+ above the freezing point, fome degrees higher than ithad yet done; fo that | think, from the {mall effe@ the fun had yet produced on vegetation, tc. we cannot well fuppofe, that the temperature of a thick covered well in my garden, excluded as much as pof- fible from communication with the open. air, by every precau- tion I could invent, could be fo much affeéted by it, as to pro- duce an error on the fide of heat. nee CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 231 May 9. Heat of. the air, . 10° above o. Heat of the well in my garden, Imp. Cadet Corps, . 2°3 above o. Now, as the mean heat of our climate is 2°4, there is a very remarkable coincidence between it and the heat of the water, even taken under all the difadvantages mentioned above. How- ever, I by no means offer this as the abfolute and exact tempe- rature of deep wells and fprings in this province, which may certainly be confiderably different. — Tue mean heat of the only four countries determined in this manner, that have fallen under my cognifance, make a fhort but curious fcale, as they are of temperate, torrid, and frigid climates. As for example: Mean heat of | Heat of wells the climates. | and fprings. St Peterfburg, N. Lat. 59° 26’ 23” Long. 30° 25’ E. from the 2° x 2°R r , firft merid. of Greenw. London, :;;°; \N. Lat. 51°-31 Long. o 78 403 Paris, _ N. Lat. 48°. 50’ Long. 2° 25’ E. 102 favs as the , cave under the 2 obfervatory. Kingfton, Jam. N. Lat. 18° 15 Long. 56° 38’ W. 2192 21° Tue difference of temperature between London and Paris is more remarkable than their diftance will account for, and, of courfe, is an illuftration of the effet of infular fituation, which was my reafon for fetting down two places fo near to one another. Accident fometimes prefents us with one inter- efting fat when in fearch.of another. This was my cafe, in taking the heat of the earth in my garden, to contraft with that of my well, for a particular purpofe. On April 19. 17869, ReAumMur’s thermometer at 7° above o, I found the heat of the earth, in a foft bed one foot from the furface, only half a degree above the freezing point, and on the next day was afto- nifhed 232 DISSERTATION on the nifhed to find it at 5° above it, although the thermometer it .air had not altered its pofition, but was ftill at 7°, nor had the fun fhone out in the interval, fo that this furprifing change of | heat in the earth feems to have been effected by a fhower of rain that fell between the two obfervations ; a {trong confirma- tion of the hypothefis that rain water contains a large portion of latent heat, and probably of eleCtric matter; fo that it is not furprifing, if plants fhould, under certain circumftances, ftart, as it were, fuddenly out of the earth after a fhower of rain, as they receive fo large a fupply, not only of moifture, but likewife of heat, and poflibly a vivifying principle from the ftimulus of the electric fluid carried down by the rain. General Obfervations on the Summer Atmofphere. Tue ftate of the atmofphere during the fummer, is in gene- ral pretty fixed, and the air very ferene and clear, both during the day and night, in fpite of the heavy dew that falls from the fetting to the rifing of the fun, which feems to ferve, as before ebferved, for watering the plants during this hot dry feafon. I have been much ftruck with obferving, that an ex- cellent hygrometer, fent me by the learned Profeffor Pictet of Geneva, (hung within doors with the windows open) indicated a greater degree of humidity, on a fine fummer evening, than during the moft continued rainy weather; fo much higher is the faturation of the air with water, and fo much greater is its diffufion through it, than when it falls in the form of rain. This obfervation favours the modern hypothefis of the chemical folution of water in air. I tHink alfo worthy of remark, the much greater effect this fultry debilitating period has upon foreigners, (from even warm countries) than on the natives of the north, as one fhould naturally think the former would fupport it better, than a people unaccuftomed, for fo long a period of the year, to ex- ceflive CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 833 ceffive cold. This, however, is by no means the cafe; for whilft foreigners can fcarcely take any exercife out of doors, with the fun high above the horizon, without feeling a‘ fpecies of faintith debility, the natives even carry on the hardeft labour without much apparent fatigue.’ This may probably be. ac- counted for by their conftant ufe of the vapour bath, heated to a degree unfupportable for many minutes to a foreigner, whilft they feel themfelves perfectly at their eafe in it, from habit, and are as fond of it as the Greeks and Romans were of the tepid water bath. ° . ANOTHER circumftance in the mode of life of this northern people, which may alfo contribute greatly to their fupporting fo well confiderable degrees of heat, is their living at home, for eight months of the year, in a conftant heat of from 16° to 20° of ReEaum. or from 68° to about 77° of Faur. ; nay, even during the fummer, the ovens of their cottages are obliged to be pretty conftantly heated, each peafant baking his bread at home, and dreffing his victuals in them. AUTUMN. Tue remark I have already made on the feafons will account for my leaving this period blank, and only mentioning it for form’s fake. Ihave annexed the abridged regifter of fifteen years, made ufe of in this paper, as there may be fome who would with to fee it. Vot. II. af Two - 234 DISSERTATION on the Pies ete SEES Two Letters on ELECTRICAL and other PHENOMENA $ addrefed to Dr MAT.THEW GUTHRIE, Conf. Aul. F.R.SS. ‘Lonp. and Epin. Phy/ician to the Imperial Corps of Noble Cadets, and to that of the Artillery and Engineers in St Peterfbura,. by his Excellency M. EPINUS. [Lranflation from the French.] DEAR SIR, I ACKNOWLEDGE the pleafure I have received in perufing your paper on the Northern Climate; and certainly it would be difficult to give, with more method and intelligence, a clear and diftinct idea of the peculiarities of our climate, quod malus Jupiter urget, and which diftinguifh it from the other countries of Europe, placed under a more mild and temperate fky. I sHALL therefore comply with pleafure, in giving a circum- ftantial account of the curious facts mentioned in your Differ- tation, as feen and authenticated by me; and fhall, at the fame time, avail myfelf of your permiffion to communicate the remarks and reflections I have made on reading your inter- efting Differtation *. THE uncommon phenomena alluded to in your paper, were as follow: During the laft weeks of the year 1766 and the firft of 1767, we had conftantly very ftrong froft, with the calm, .* Dr Gururiz folicited the learned gentlaman’s remarks and opinion on his paper. M. /Epinvs is the oldeft Profeffor of the Imperial Academy now alive, having fpent upwards of thirty years in this country ; and as Natural Philofophy was his profeffional: line before called to Court, and his amufement fince, his Excellency is of all others moft able to judge of the peculiarities of our climate, and the fitteft to put the ftamp of veracity on this Differtation, its principal merit. CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 235 calm, clear and ferene fky which generally accompanies it in this climate ; and during its prevalence, her Imperial Majefty having fent for me one morning, ordered me to go to the apartments of Prince ORLoFF, in another part of the palace, who, fhe faid, had, for fome days paft, become uncommonly electric every time his hair was combed. | I rounp the Prince at his toilet, and obferved, in fact, that, at every time his valet de chambre drew the comb | through his hair, a pretty ftrong crackling noife was heard ; and on darkening the room, by drawing the curtains, the {parks were feen following the direction of the comb in great abundance, whilft the Prince, by this operation, was become fo completely eleCtric, that ftrong {parks could be drawn from his hands and face; nay, he was even electrified when .he was only powdered with a puff, the fri€tion of the air againft his hair being able to produce a confiderable degree of electricity ; a curious experiment, which however but feldom fucceeded af- terwards, when I was defirous of repeating it. A Few days after this {cene with the Prince, I was witnefs to a {till more ftriking effect of the electric ftate of our atmo- {phere at this period. His Imperial Highnefs the Grand Duke fent for me one evening in the twilight, and told me, that, having brifkly drawn a flannel cover off a green damafk chair in his bed-chamber, which had been put on it by accident, he was aftonifhed at the appearance of a {trong bright flame that fol- lowed it; but having immediately comprehended that it muft have been an eleftric phenomenon, his Highnefs had been trying to produce a fimilar illumination on different pieces of furniture, and could now fhow me a beautiful and furprifing experiment, that he had juft difcovered.—His Highnefs then threw himfelf on his bed, which was covered with a damafk quilt laced with gold, and rubbing it with his hands in all di- 7 rections, the young Prince, who had then reached his twelfth year, appeared to be fwimming in fire, as, at every ftroke, : gL 2 flames 236 DISSERTATION on the flames arofe all around him, which, darting to the gold lace border, run along it, and up that of the bed, to the very top. Wuitst his Highnefs was fhowing me his experiment, Prince Ortorr, who had been making many different trials of his perfonal eleCtricity, fince the day I faw him at his toilet, came into the room with a fable muff in his hand, and fhowed us, that, by only whirling it five or fix times round his head in the air, he could electrify himfelf fo ftrongly, as to fend out {parks from all the uncovered parts of his body ; another proof that the fimple friction of air againft hair could produce elec- tricity. Similar experiments were repeated in many houfes of the city, whilft the ftrong froft prevailed; which fhows, that the uncommon difpofition of bodies to electricity, during the period treated of, was general. / THESE curious phenomena have appeared from time to time fince that epoch, particularly during the fevere cold which has prevailed for thefe four weeks paft. A few days ago, a lady of my acquaintance informed me, that, on having her head combed, not only her hair fhowed the ordinary figns of elec- tricity, but that, after the comb had been drawn through, it bufhed out in a moft furprifing manner, by the mutual repul- fion of the hairs,-and occafioned, on rifing upon her head, a moft- fingular and difagreeable fenfation, which would cer- tainly have frightened her terribly, if fhe had not inftantly gueffed the caufe. Ir muft not, however, be taken for granted, that thefe ap- pearances are quite common here, or that they appear every winter, although we never fail to have 24° and upwards of cold, by REAuMuR’s fcale. No; to render thefe effects very remarkable, a great cold muft have continued feveral weeks without abating, as I fhall explain in the fequel. . I sHALL here likewife account for a curious fact mentioned. above, which muft have drawn the attention of the reader, viz. that Prince ORLorr became electrified whilft fitting at his — toilet,, GCLIMATE of RUSSIA. | 237 toilet, on a chair placed on the bare floor, or on walking im the Great Duke’s apartment, without any fpecies of apparatus to cut off his communication with the naked boards; but he was in fa&t- inflated. in both fituations, as the inlaid floors were become as completely ideo-electric as glafs or rofin, from the high dried ftate to which they were reduced by an exlficcating quality of the atmofphere, (to be explained in the fequel) and conftant waxing. -Now, as I obferve, Sir, that in your paper on our climate, you enter into fome reafoning on thefe pheno- mena, I prefume my opinion on them will not be difagreeable to you. _. Tae great difpofition, then, of air, and other bodies, to be- come electric, during great degrees of cold continued for a cer- tain time, always appeared to me to be fo eafily explained,* that I looked upon it as a fimple corollary of the beft known of the laws of electric force, and as fuch, that it did not require to be deduced from it in a formal manner. However, that. you may know on what I.founded that fuppofition, I fhall ob- ferve, That, f7/7, nothing indicates air, and other bodies, to: contain, during fevere froft, an atom of more .eleftric matter than their natural quantity; and they are certainly not in a ftate of {pontaneous electricity, becaufe, to render them. elec- tric, friction muft be employed, as at all other times; fo that all the uncommon appearances above mentioned are reduced to this, That, by means of friction, bodies, in the above ftate of the atmofphere, become more eafily, and more ftrongly, electric, than at» any other time, which does. not indicate a. larger quantity of eleétric matter, but a greater difpofition to re- ceive it. -adly, THERE is no neceflity, then, to enquire, why air, filk, wool, hair, wood, Wc. contain a greater quantity of electric matter in this than in another feafon, fince the fact does not obtain ; fo that the queftion left for inveftigation is only, Why they poffefs, during fevere cold, a greater aptitude or difpofition ak to 438 DISSERTATION on the to become electric, than in any other ftate of the atmofphere ? or, in other words, Why they become, in a more eminent de- gree, ideo-electric? 3dly, Air poffeffes, like the other fluids we call menfirua, the power of diffolving different bodies, efpecially water, which laft procefs we term evaporation ; and, like the other menftrua, this power is modified by the degree of heat it poflefles, fo. that, ceteris paribus, warm air can diffolve, and hold in folu-— tion, a much greater quantity of water than cold air. 4thly, Suppose that air, heated to a given degree, holds in folution as much water as it is able to diffolve, that is to fay, that it is faturated with it, and it then cools down fo confi- derably, that it cannot hold in folution the fame quantity it did at firft; there fhould, in that cafe, take place a large pre- cipitation, or a large portion of the diffolved water fhould fe- parate itfelf from the cooled air; fo that it muft remain charged with a much fmaller quantity than before it loft its heat. 5thly, Ir follows, then, that the atmofphere is never drier than during great froft, and never more humid than during great heat; and this affertion will appear a paradox only to thofe who confound a dry with a drying air, and a wet with a wet- ting air; or who do not reflect that a dry air may not be of a drying nature, and that a humid atmofphere may not be of a wetting quality. I hope, likewife, nobody will maintain, that the apparent purity, and perfect tranfparency of the air, in a fine fummer day, is a proof of its not being charged with he- terogeneous matter, as that tranfparency is only the effect of a perfect folution of the water it contains.—It is evident, by the common chemical operations, performed every day, that every perfect folution is clear and tranfparent, and that when it be- comes turbid, a precipitation is at hand. Let us confirm this fact, Sir, by a phenomenon we have an opportunity of feeing very often in fummer, viz. that we fhall find the air full of broken CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 239 broken clouds in the morning, which vanifh under our eye whilft looking at them, as the fun rifes higher above the hori- zon, in the fame manner as chemical folutions become turbid on cooling, and clear again on heating. 6thly, THis extraordinary dry air penetrates into our apart- ments, either gently and infenfibly through chinks, or rapidly and perceptibly when our ftoves are lighted each morning; a fure means of renewing the air of our apartments once in twenty-four hours at leaft. ‘The external air thus. introduced, foon acquires the temperature of the chamber, which is com- monly from 12° to 15° or more of REAuMuR, (in the better fort of houfes, for thofe of the common people are warmer) and then recovers its diffolving power, which the feverity of the cold had confiderably diminifhed, nay almoft entirely over- come; but as it now contains little or-no humidity, it mutt, like other menffrua, attack the humidity that it finds in the chamber, with a much greater rapidity than it could have done with the fame degree of heat, had it not been thus puri- fied (or dephlegmated, in the language of chemiftry) by the _ cold. All the bodies, then, which happen to be in the room, muft lofe of their humidity, or be dried much quicker than in any other feafon ;, and, in fact, there is no houfekeeper in Pe- terfburg who does not perceive to his coft this extraordinary drying procefs, as our furniture warps, cracks or {plits much more during the rigour of winter, than in the hotteft period of fummer, nay probably more than in any other country between us and the equator. 7thly, A NATURAL refult of all this, is, that, after our great cold has continued. a certain time, the bodies mentioned above, viz. air, filk, wool, hair, wood, €%c. are in faét, without aflift- ance from us, drier than during the reft of the year, and pro- bably more fo than in any other part of Europe, except they are dried exprefsly by fome artificial means. Szb/y, 246 DISSERTATION on the 8rhly, Now, the bodies I have enumerated, are all in the clafs of imperfect ideo-ele@trics, and have likewife the common | property of attraéting moifture, fo that they can never be per- fe@ly dry; but water is, after the metals, the moft perfec -conduétor of the eleétric fluid, or the leaft of an ideo-electric, I fay, after the metals ; for I think | have obferved, and pro- bably others have done the fame, that water does not conduct quite fo well as they do. But let that be as it may, thefe bo- dies cannot certainly imbibe water without becoming lefs of an ideo-ele@tric, in proportion as they do fo, and, of courfe, the more they dry again, the more they recover their natural quality. Tue refult upon the whole then muft be, That during our fevere cold, the bodies of which I fpeak become fpontaneoutly much better ideo-electrics here, than they ever are in any other feafon or climate; therefore thefe bodies have an extraordinary difpofition to become eafily and ftrongly ele€tric. Ir cannot have efcaped your penetration, Sir, that in all I have faid, I have advanced only known and. generally received facts, without admixture of hypothefes or conjecture of my own; fo that the explanation I have given of the phenomena, (alluded to in your paper, and which I was called upon to illuftrate) arifes naturally and neceflarily from thofe faéts, in fuch a man- ner, that it may pafs, in my opinion, for a demonftration, fuch as is to be given in Natural Philofophy. It appears to me then, Sir, that we are not obliged to have recourfe to the conjectures of Mefirs SaussuRE, BERGMAN, WILKE, &c. to explain the above phenomena, as you appear to — have been difpofed to do,in the paffage alluded to, with a mode- ration that does honour to your mode of philofophifing ; nay, if -we were even inclined to employ them, I do not fee how they would anfwer our purpofe, being only hazarded opinions ; but could they be verified, (which I doubt much) they would even then be of very little ufe, as they could contribute nothing to the perfection of the theory of electricity. You CLIMATE of RUSSIA. abet You muft excufe me, Sir, if I enter into another difcuffion which the fame paflage of yours has likewife given rife to. | mean, the opinions which feveral of the learned have thrown out of late years relative to two forts of electricity. Ir was I, Sir, as you know, who. firft gave rife to that idea many years ago. I had proved, in my Téentamen Theor. Eleciric. et Magn. that the portions of matter belonging to every body . in nature, repel one another. This propofition appeared bold to fome of the learned, as indeed it would have done to myfelf, * before I had well examined, digefted and compared it with the - analogy of nature. Tue Philofophers you cite imagine they could remove this difficulty, by fuppofing the exiftence of two diftinct electric fluids, one of which is pofitive and the other negative. I hall. confine myfelf at prefent to a few-remarks upon that fubject. 1mo, THosE who would pafs that idea for a new theory of electricity different from mine, (and there are thofe who attempt it) have not confidered matters in their true point of view; for it is evident that a theory, founded on the fuppofition of two fluids, will coincide perfe@ly and effentially with mine ; nay, the explanation of the phenomena, the reafoning, and even the ana- lytic formula which they draw from their pretended theory, is exaétly the fame as mine. But fuppofing their hypothefes could be proved, there would refult from it nothing new, except that it might furnifh an explanation of one of the fundamental facts on which I founded my theory, and which I did not follow, nor think important enough to inveftigate the origin of, but was contented to admit it as an eftablifhed fact. 2do, My theory, in confining itfelf to fimple well attefted facts, neither affifts nor denies the exiftence of two, or even feveral fluids, which nature might poflibly employ to effect the funda- mental laws on which I have eftablifhed my theory ; for when I make ufe of the expreffion matter proper to bodies, it is evident, that it means what remains in a body after we have drawn off the electric fluid. - Vor. Il. bh , 3tio, 242 | DISSERTATION on the 3tio, IN confulting the analogy of nature, one cannot fail to recollect, that all known bodies poffefs, befides the Newtonian attraction, which is common and general to them all,’ another attractive force, or that which produces cohefion between two pieces of polifhed marble, the afcent of fluids in capillary tubes, and an infinite number of other phenomena. Now, this laft - attractive force is evidently and effentially different from the firft ; for whilft the one follows the inverfe ratio of the fquare of the diftance, it is proved that the other is in proportion to a power, into which enters the reverfe ratio of the cubes, and probably of fome ftill higher power of the diftance. Ir then both experience and the analogy of nature, fhow the poffibility of the co-exiftence of two attractive forces in the fame body, governed by laws entirely different ; and as a repul- five force is nothing elfe than a negative attractive one, my fup- pofition of the repulfive force of bodies, contains nothing but what is perfeétly conformable to the analogy of nature. You alfo make mention, Sir, and with reafon, of the frequent appearance of the beautiful phenomena of parheliums and mock moons in our climate, which enables us to be better ac- quainted with all the circumftances attending them, than people nearer the equator. I paid a particular attention to thefe phe- nomena for a part of the years 1758 and 1759, and I thinkI have made fome important obfervations on that fubject ; but it is not at prefent either the time or place to enter into them, efpecially as I have already given the principal fats in a paper inferted in the eighth volume of the Novi Comment. Academ. Scien. Petrop. p- 392, by referring to which I fhall content myfelf at prefent. IT is now time, Sir, to finifh this long letter, which has al- moft fwelled to a differtation ; and I fhall do fo, by affuring you, that I am, with much efteem, Your obedient fervant, ~ St Pererspure, Jan. 7—~18. 1789. JEPINUS. SIR, CLIMATE of RUSSIA. 243 ae Fanuary 23. 1789. An idea has ftruck me fince I fent off my laft letter, which may poflibly merit your attention, and therefore I fhall ‘give it you. Boru of us know long ago, Sir, and we have probably felt it lately, that when a fevere froft has lafted for a certain time without intermiflion, we may in vain ftrive to prevent feeling its effe€&ts on our own bodies, as well as our furniture, although we even remain within doors in a comfortable {pring heat, with- out expofing ourfelves to the open air at all. It might be fup- pofed that thefe precautions would be fufficient; but they are in faét far from being fo: for as foon as the fevere cold has lafted fome time, we find ourfelves attacked with a difagreeable fenfation, which, like’all the reft of our fenfations, there is no defcribing exaétly. I fhall therefore only fay, that it confifts in a fort of laffitude and heavinefs or torpor, affecting both the body and mind, joined to a troublefome reftlef[nefs or inquie- tude. Such are our feelings during the continuance of the above defcribed weather, and I fhall next give you, Sir, my “conjectures on the caufe of this curious phenomenon. Iw the letter I had the honour to write you fome weeks ago, I proved, that great cold renders the air dry and pure in a moft aftonifhing degree, and that the heat which it afterwards re- _ celves in our apartments, renders it drying in a proportion equally furprifing. Now, is it not poflible that it is this fame drying quality of our chamber-atmofphere which produces the _ fenfations enumerated above? For why fhould it not attack, un- der the fame circumftances, the human body, as well as our wooden furniture, and all other bodies which happen to be in the rooms? Surely, what we call perfpiration muft be much increafed by it; and this confumption of our excreted fluids “may poflibly be extended, I fhould think, to the nobler fluids: neceflary 244 DISSERTATION, &c. necefflary to the fun@ions of the animal ceconomy, fuch as what are called vital fpirits, the exiftence of which is fuppofed, with fome degree of probability, without our being able to fay what they are. This idea appears the more likely, as it is known that » the diffolving, power of air is not confined to water alone, but is extended to many other bodies. If then my conjecture is founded, there appears to me, Sir, a very eafy way to prevent this fort of difeafe ; for in fa it is one, although but flight and of little confequence ; we have only to give back to the air the humidity which the froft had robbed it of, which may be done, either by promoting the evaporation of a certain quan- tity of water in the room, or, what will be a much more con- venient and fhorter mode of doing it, to hang up a cloth of a proper fize, dipped in water, and wetted from time to timex— { fubmit, Sir, thefe conjectures to your judgment; as all that regards the impreflion which, in length of time, may be made on the human body, by a very dry and a very drying air, falls more immediately into your line as a Phyfician, than into that of your moft obedient fervant, JEPINUS, You may make what ufe you pleafe of this letter, and give it the fame deftination as the firft, if you think proper. END OF PAPERS OF THE PHTSICZE CLASS. \ [To face page 244. Phyf: Ch] The MEAN STATE of the ATMOSPHERE in St Peterfburg, for Sixteen Years, extraéted from a Regifter of the Weather, kept by Profeffor EuxeR, perpetual Secretary to the Imperial Academy of Sciences. For the fix Winter Months, November, December, January, February, March and April, which make 181 days of the common year. For the fix Summer Months, May, June, July, Auguft, September and O@ober, which make 184 days of the year. Tee Biel Ray Olly ert E en Rs At 20 feet above the mean level of the Neva, and at 6000 feet from its falling into the Gulph of Finland. At highetft, 28.87 commonly in January. At loweft, 26.99 ofteneft in November. Difference, 1.88 The mean between thefe extremes, 27.93- Mean height, 28.02 Paris inches. Tt ftands 95 days above 28 inches, and 86 days below it. Te Line ee oT De w’Isre’s Thermometer in the fhade, and expofed to the north, Greateft cold, 196° commonly in January, equal to 24° below o of FAHREN- HEIT, or 24° of Reaumur below o. Leaft cold, 141° in November or April, equal to 57° of Fanr. above o, or 5°% of REAun. above o. Difference, 55° equal to 64° of Faur. or 28°99 of Reaum. Mean cold of the night, 162° equal 23° of Fanr. above o, or equal 7° of Reaum. below o. And of the afternoon, 154° equal 27° of Fanr. above o, or equal 2° of REAun. below o. The cold has been above 170° for 47 nights, equal to 8° of Faur. above o, or equal to 1093 of ReAum. below o. And above 150°, or the freézing point, for 156 nights. The mean term of the firft froft, the 9th Ostober, new ftile. The mean term of the Neva freezing, the 27th November. Ill. Wri Perfect calm, 28 days. Light breezes, 87 days. Brifk gales, 50 days. Strong gales, 16 days. N. 14 days. E. 23 days. S. 20 days. W. 45 days. N.E. 19 —— 5.E. 12 S.W. 22 N.W. 26 —— IV. Su AND Sky clear, 39 days. Cloudy, 68 days. Overcaft, 74 days. Fog, 26 —— Rain, 20, Snow, 64 Mean term of the firft fnow, O&. 9. N.S. Quantity of rain and melted fhow, 42%," or about 5 inches. Aurora Borealis, 16 or 17 days. Tempett, feldom. Hail, very feldom, - Aurora Borealis, N. B. The feale of the barometer is divided into Paris inches and bun- dredth parts. At higheft, 28.47 ofteneft in May or Oétober. At loweft, 27-50 ofteneft in September or Oétober. Difference, +92 The mean between thefe extremes is 27.96. Mean height, 28.04 Paris inches. Its height for 107 days is above 28 inches, and for 77 days below it. OMETE R. the inftrument in ufe in the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Greateft heat, 106° commonly in July or Auguft, equal to 85° of Faur. above 0, or to 24°4 of REaum. above o. Leaft heat, 144° in May or Oétober, equal to 41° of Fanr. above o, or to 3° of Reaum. above o. Difference, 38° equal to 46° of Faur. or equal to 20° of REAuM. Mean heat of the afternoon, 127°, equal to 59° of Faur. above o, or equal to 12° of Reaum. above o. And of thenight, 136°, equalto 49° of Far. above o, or to 2° of Reaum. above o. The heat of the afternoon has been 130°, equal to 56° of Fann. above 0, or 10°3 of REAuM. aboye 0; and above 150° for 182 days: That is to fay, that the ther- mometer has been fo many days above the freezing point. The mean term of the laft froft, 3d of May, new file. The mean term of the opening of the Neva, 19th of April. N D. Perfe& calm, 41 days. Light breezes, 75 days. Brifk gales, 53 days. Strong gales, 15 days. N. 32 days. E. 19 days. S. 22 days. W. 27 days. N. E. 15 —— S.E. 18 —— S.W. 24 N. W. 27 AX it Wt @) By IP ter i, RB, Sky clear, 53 days. Cloudy, 87 days. Overcaft, 44 days. Fog, 17 Rain, 80 —— Snow, from 6 to 7 days. Mean term of the laft fhow, 4th of May, N.S- Quantity of rain-water, 10,24, or about rx inches. from 8 to 9 days. from 11 to 12 from 2to 3 —— Tempetts, Hail, +s ® X a Si) =f ey ey Xe Po W. ts ‘ ‘ &> = TY: rf ‘eT \ ’ 5 % < a - 1 ’ . - at me pet be task We PERE: fe SA | Resnik ‘ Hy i i 4 a" ; 3 . F y ; ee ; ns Sead sis ch Tides: Cokdee ay 4 phe Hs hy bets a st wold’ ata tabs i . ne ‘ 4 , | f be ny + re sa ‘ 1 0 eats VRS aie of tik brgens 0° abil 4 3 - | ESV Delo Rees @ Y muAsA lof ge. @ 30° pan rd is are ana o svadn ee re ie ol lnups antoOo- cola ae 4) ne bibore ie 30 feat MEARE To. Pg ares i Leng to i pe laps 10 BERD BindPdy- oe Lae ! WLR pr tabs t9' we Prods) faa 1 te “lhe eLighon ae hy vente vena foigetde leap Cbg tay " ep Sh Bee deus | ie sa “atone: ra & ag ds ar Iohidbr Rogie sabia ; tye Sadty Wako sew? : aych xBp abt Sop vsvode vie) ne tidied, yiok coast 210 seen: eget) . . as batsten 5, aD) est he, Fp Bey “Boh t acc hee ER RL DY qh lea Esigrpcraad Goyaie wi eis ee, m 5 essed idpal “A Lew ie ode o * a ae : is an (etlbde geo Gey gale So ered ee es. oy a Cana go . 28 eames © ~ arc Ya ad ( : i et ae ao.. ¥foe ae b, Koper Br , ; om Lak sO 9 EF r » ara CP Sahel 6g Rie evel} tk ae 2 aback ¢: gt ‘ ; [ a ' : Tc ee on x ; a ial ¢ Pie La . ‘t- ? i « si i nt | ' DW =e 3 cS ? Hh - re Be. - ~ ; ee Fh ERM TQ digi vost Bind) 14 sys 5 ta: MM. : So ie : i Rodond 1etgndd’s sad ae | ae ate ween @ -02Gui phat get | = a = ; ‘ ‘ * - p> amepelG? od) oe atest ic | tees BOR te apa II. Peek RS OF THER LITERARY: CLAS & I, 4n AccOUNT of Jome EXTRAORDINARY STRUCTURES on the Tops of Hills in the HIGHLANDS; with Remarks on the Progrefs of the Arts among the ancient Inhabitants of Scor- LAND. By ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER, Efg; Advocate, F.R.S. Epin. and Profeffor of Civil Hiftory in the Univerfity of EDINBURGH *. N the year 1777, an account was publifhed by Mr Joun ' WILLIAMS, mineral-engineer, of certain remains of an- cient buildings on the fummits of fome of the hills in the Highlands of Scotland, which had hitherto efcaped obfervation, and which to him afforded grounds for a very extraordinary fauppofition, That they had been cemented together by means of Fire. We mentioned feveral of thofe hills exhibiting remains of building, which he had vifited and examined ; particularly the hill of Knockfarril in Rofs-fhire, Craig-Phadrick near In- vernefs, Dun-Evan and Caftle-Finlay in the county of Nairn, and the Caftle-hill of Finhaven in the county of Angus. He defcribed the veftiges of regular fortifications on the fummits of A 2 thofe * Part of this Paper was read in 1783, before the Philofophical Society of Edinburgh. ’ It is now enlarged, and printed by order of the Committee for publication of the Tranf- ations of the Royal Society of Edinburgh... 4 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in thofe hills, of which the walls, remaining in fome places of fe- veral feet in height, were evidently compacted together by the vitrification of the ftones of which they were built ; and he of- fered fome ingenious conjectures with regard to the means em- ployed in forming fuch extraordinary ftructures, and the pur- pofes for which they might have been reared. Tuts account, which Mr Wit.iams himfelf candidly owned, was by many people treated as a fiction, excited, however, the curiofity of feveral travellers to vifit and examine fome of thofe hills which he had mentioned. In the fame year, 1777, Dr JAMES ANpvErRsSON of Monkfhill, tranfmitted to the Society of Anti- quaries of London, a very elaborate account of fome ancient monuments and fortifications in the Highlands of Scotland, contained in two letters, which are publifhed in the sth and > 6th volumes of the 4rcheologia. In thefe he treats, at confider- able length, of the vitrified forts, and particularly of that upon the hill of Knockfarril in Rofs-fhire; and, agreeing with Mr WILLIAMs in the general idea, that, in rearing thofe ftructures, the builders had employed fire for the purpofe of cementing the materials, he differs from him a little as to the manner in which he fuppofes the fire to have been applied to the mound or rampart. IT is curious to remark, how the fame appearances, to dif- ferent obfervers, lead to the moft oppofite opinions and conclu- fions. ‘The two gentlemen above mentioned feem not to have entertained the {malleft doubt, that the vitrified materials on the tops of thofe hills, were the veftiges of works of art, and the remains of ftructures reared for the purpofes of fecurity and defence. The Bifhop of Derry, when on a tour to the north of Scotland, vifited the hill of Craig-Phadrick near Invernefs, and exprefled his opinion, that the mounds of vitrified matter were not the remains of any artificial work, but the traces of an ancient volcano. In the Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society of London for 1777, Part II. No. 20. is an ac- count The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 5 count of Creck Faterick, there termed a volcanic hill near Inverne/s, in a letter from Tuomas West, Efq; to Mr Lane, F.R.S. in which the writer does not hefitate to pronounce this hill an extinguifhed volcano; and having fent fpecimens of the burnt matter for the infpection of the Royal Society, the Secretary fubjoins a note to the paper, intimating, that “ thefe fpecimens “ having been examined by fome of the Members well ac- ** quainted with volcanic productions, were by them judged to “ be real lava.” Such was likewife the opinion of a very inge- nious Member of this Society, the late ANDREW Crossiz, Efq; who, in an account which he gave to the Philofophical Society of Edinburgh in 1780, offered fome curious conjectures with regard to the procefs of nature, by which he fuppofed the whole of this hill to have been thrown up from the bottom of the fea by the operation of inteftine fire. Tue perufal of Mr WitLiAMs’s pamphlet and of Dr ANDER- $ON’s account, as well as thofe differing opinions I have men- tioned, excited my curiofity, in a journey I made to Invernefs- fhire in autumn 1782, to examine, with fome attention, fuch of the hills mentioned by Mr WitirAms as lie in that country; and I now propofe to lay before this Society the refult of that examination, which, however, I confine chiefly to Craig-Phad- rick, as that which I have moft minutely furveyed. CrAIG-PHADRICK is a {mall conical hill, which forms the eaftern extremity of that ridge of mountains which bounds Loch-Nefs upon the north-weft fide. It is fituate about a mile to the north of Invernefs, and commands an extenfive profpect of both fides of the Murray frith, to the diftance of above forty miles. It is acceflible on two different quarters ; on the weft by a narrow but level ridge, which joins it to the chain of hills upon Loch-Nefs ; and on the fouth-eaft, by an eafy afcent from the high ground above the town of Invernefs. When feen from the oppofite heights, it appears pretty much of a conical figure; the top cut off, forming a level furface, bounded at each ? : * - _ 6 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in °° each end by a {mall rifing or fhoulder. At the diftance of three or four miles, its artificial appearance is more perceptible than upon a nearer approach, when the eye, feeing only a part, fails to take in the great outlines, and to perceive their regularity and fymmetry. A more diftinct idea of the general form of this hill than can be given by defcription, may be obtained from a fetch taken from the oppofite high grounds, at a few miles di- flance. See Plate I. fig. 1. In this fketch, Craig-Phadrick is marked by the letter C. B are thofe hills, a part of the fame ridge, which bound Loch-Nefs upon the north-weft; and D is a conical hill oppofite to Craig-Phadrick, on the other fide of the Murray frith. On approaching Craig-Phadrick from the level ridge upon the weft fide, what firft prefents itfelf to view is a road cut through the rock, from the bottom to the fummit; in moft places about ten feet in breadth, and nearly of the fame depth, winding in an eafy ferpentine direction for about feventy feet ; by which means an afcent is gained over a very fteep rock, which is otherwife quite inacceflible from that quarter. See Plate I. fig. 2. The form alone of this road leaves little room to doubt of its being an operation of art. I examined the fides of it, where it is cut into the rock, to fee if there were any marks of a tool. A labourer, who attended me with a mattock, or quarryman’s pick, declared his opinion, that, in many places, there were marks of an inftrument fimilar to what he had in his hand ; but the rock being compofed of many rounded pebbles, and when broken prefenting a furface, in which the beds of thofe pebbles have often an appearance like what is made by the {troke of a tool, I lay little weight upon that circumftance. The form alone of this road, as. 1 have already faid, was fufficiently convincing to me of its being an operation of art. From the nature of the ftone itfelf, of which this hill is formed, and from that compound appearance: of water-worn pebbles, fticking in a cementing mafs, it has been conjectured, that 4 The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 7 that thefe pebbles, together with the bed in which they are lodged, had been forced up from the bottom of the fea, by in- ternal fire ftruggling for a vent, which it afterwards obtained at the fummit. With regard to the nature of the ftone of this hill, I fhall here obferve only, that this compound appearance in the rock at Craig-Phadrick, affords no more prefumption of this particular hill being forced up by fire from the bottom of the fea, than it does of all the furrounding hills for many miles having the fame origin. The greateft part of the hills which bound Loch-Nefs, both on the north and fouth, are compofed of the fame materials, or at leaft contain large ftrata of the ftone I have mentioned. Yet none of thofe hills that I have feen, or on enquiry have ever heard of, exhibit the {malleft appearance of the effects of fire; though, being infinitely higher than Craig-Phadrick, and confequently demanding a much greater force to raife them up, had fire been the agent, its effects on them would probably have been much more confpicuous than on a hill incomparably fmaller. THAT the materials which compofe the hill of Craig-Phad- rick, as well as all other hills, of which the ftone is of a fimi- lar nature, have originally been under water, I have not the {malleft doubt. ‘The compound appearance of the rock, which is evidently a mafs of water-worn pebbles, of various fize, na- ture and colour, fticking in a bed of clay, leaves no room to doubt of its origin. But whether thofe hills, which confift of -fuch compound materials, have been forcibly raifed up from the bottom of the water, by fome convulfion of nature, or formed by a gradual alluvio, or depofition of materials under a mafs of water which has now deferted them, (as fand-banks are formed in the fea) is what we have no grounds for deter- mining with certainty, and few to found even a probable con- jeCture: Since, with regard to this particular hill, there never has been a, fection made acrofs any part of it, from which the component ftrata might be perceived, or the difpofition in which 8 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in which they lie. All that I am at prefent concerned to fhew, is, that, from the fuperficial or external appearance of this hill, there is no reafon for fuppofing that it ever contained inteftine fire. THE ftone, of which the whole of this hill, and moft of the neighbouring hills are compofed, is a mixed mafs of round water-worn pieces of different coloured granite, greyifh or fpeckled quartz, and the common white quartz. This compound ftone, which is well known to miners, has, from its appear- ance, been termed plum-pudding ftone. 'Thofe who have en- tertained the notion of Craig-Phadrick’s being an extinguifhed volcano, have maintained, that this compound ftone is of the nature of the volcanic tufas. This, however, will be acknow- ledged to be a miftake, by all who have examined and compared the two fubftances. The volcanic tufas are all compofed of materials which have undergone a change by fire; the plum- pudding ftone has undergone no fuch change. Sir WiLL1AM FLAMILTON defcribes tufa to be a foft ftone, compofed of pu- mice, afhes and burnt matter, its colour often tinged with grey, green and yellow. It is formed, fays he, by water making up thefe materials into a fort of clay, which afterwards hardens. The plum-pudding ftone, on the contrary, contains no burnt materials. Its component parts, fo far from being already burnt, when expofed to fire, undergo a total change, and the whole ftone fuffers an imperfect vitrification. Upon the whole furface of this hill, and amidft all the detached fragments, both of the natural {tone and of the vitrified matter, there is not, fo far as I could obferve, any thing that bears the appearance of a pumice ftone. The burnt matter, indeed, is often full of fmall holes or honey-combed ; but it ftill retains a glafly appearance and a confiderable weight, both which circumftances fuflficient- ly diftinguifh it from pumice. Ba/altes are, I believe, conftant- ly found, in fome form or another, upon all volcanic hills ; but neither on the rock of Craig-Phadrick, nor on any of the neigh- bouring = The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 9 bouring hills is there, fo far as I could obferve, the fmalleft ap- pearance of that kind. Tue vitrified matter on the fummit of this rock is, therefore, the only circumftance which pofitively vindicates the effect of fire; and this | fhall now proceed to examine. | TuE Society have already had before them fpecimens of this burnt or vitrified matter. I fhall, therefore, fuppofe, that they are fufficiently acquainted with its appearance. It will be re- collected, that in none of the fpecimens which were produced, was there any thing like a total fufion of the materials. Some parts of the mafs feemed to be portions of argillaceous and un- vitriable {tone ; others of ftones of which a part had been in fufion, while the reft remained in its natural ftate. Thefe cir- cumftances, of themfelves, are fufficient to diftinguifh this fub- ftance from volcanic lava, which is an uniform homogeneous mafs, of which every part has been in a ftate of fufion. Nei- ther has this vitrified fubftance the appearance of thofe fcorie thrown up from volcanos, which are probably the fcum of the lava, or fuch parts of the materials as either never were fufible, or have loft their fufibility and principle of inflammability : For the burnt fubftance on the top of Craig-Phadrick is rather a mixture of fufible with unfufible fubftances; many parts ap- pearing to have been in the moft perfect fufion, while - others. have remained in their natural ftate. But the circum{tance which, in my apprehenfion, evinces, in the moft fatisfactory manner, that thofe appearances of the effet of fire on the fummit of this hill, are not the operation of nature, but of art, is the regular order and difpofition of thofe materials, the form of the ground, and the various traces of {kill and contrivance which are yet plainly difcernible, though confiderably defaced, either by external violence, or by the ob- literating hand of time. To proceed regularly in examining thofe appearances of artificial contrivance, I return to that winding road I before mentioned, which is. evidently cut WMou,,L], B through fe) ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in through the rock for the purpofe of gaining an eafy afcent from the level ridge to the fummit, which would otherwife have been impracticable. IN mounting up by this road, and towards the middle of the afcent, there appears a fall platform overhanging the road, upon the right hand, and inclining, by a very gentle declivity, to the edge of the rock. Upon this platform, and on the very edge and extremity of it, are placed four enormous ftones, which have been evidently guided by art into that pofition ; as it is impoflible, fuppofing them to have rolled down, that they ever could have refted in that fituation. The pofture of thefe {tones leaves no doubt as to the purpofe they were intended to ferve. Upon an alarm of danger, the ftrength of a very few men was fufficient to raife thefe enormous ftones fo as to de- {troy their balance, and project them into the hollow road, which they would entirely block up, and thus either prevent all accefs, or render the pafs fo difficult, as to be with eafe defend- ed by a few againft any number of affailants. This winding road, with the platform upon the right, may be feen in Plate I. fig. 2. which is a {ketch of the top or cone of the hill, as it rifes from the level of the ridge to the weft. Some other large ftones are likewife placed on an eminence to the left of the road, evidently to ferve a fimilar purpofe with thofe on the right, and to block up or defend a hollow channel, by which an afcent might have been attempted, by following the waving direCtion of the natural furrows of the hill at B, C and D. : On arriving at the fummit of the hill by the winding road, and a few feet below the rampart which crowns the top of the hill, there appears an outward wall furrounding the whole, which approaches on the fides of the hill fo near to the upper rampart, as to leave only a fofsé or trench of ten or twelve feet in width between them ; unlefs at the weft extremity, where this outward wall extends itfelf to a greater diftance from the inner rampart, and forms a level platform, of an oblong and : fomewhat The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. It fomewhat femi-circular fhape, about forty yards in length, and fifteen at its greateft breadth. In Plate II. fig. 1. which is a ground-plan of the whole works upon the fummit of this hill, the outward wall is marked by the letters P, M, N, X, Q ; and at P is the level platform above mentioned. This pass wall is in many places fo low, as to be almoft level with the rock, though, in other places, it rifes to the height of two or three feet; but even where it is loweft, the marks of it may be traced by a line of vitrified matter {ticking faft to the rock, all along nearly of the fame breadth, which, in moft places, is about nine feet. The remains of this wall are {trongly vitri- fied, unlefs in one place upon the north fide, where, for about - feventy yards, the rampart is formed only of dry ftones and earth. The probable reafon of this I fhall afterwards mention. It is fufficient juft now to obferve, that the ftrong natural de- fence that was afforded on this fide, by the extreme fteepnefs of the rock, which is here almoft perpendicular, fuperfeded the neceflity of much artificial operation, there being little hazard that an affault would ever be attempted on this quarter. Every where elfe this outward wall appears completely vitri- fied ; and at the eaft fide, where the hill is more acceffible, and the declivity more gradual, there is a prodigious mound of vi- trified matter, extending itfelf to the thicknefs of above forty feet. At the fouth-eaft corner, and adjoining to this immenfe mound, is an out-work, confifting of two femi-circular vitrified walls, with a narrow pafs cut through them in the middle. This appears to have been another, and perhaps the principal entry to the fort. It was neceflary that there fhould be two entries ; one from the level ridge which joins this hill on the ‘weft to that chain of which it forms the extremity, the other from the low country to the eaft. The entry to. the weft was defended in the manner already defcribed ; that towards the eaft did not admit of a defence of the fame kind, but was fecured by three ramparts; and the pafs through the femi-circu- | B 2 lar- 12 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in lar out-work was made fo narrow as to be eafily defended, or even blocked up with ftones and earth, upon the fhorteft notice of danger. WE come now to the inner wall furrounding the fummit of this hill, and inclofing a level fpace, of the form of an oblong {quare, about feventy-five yards in length and thirty in breadth, rounded, like the outward wall, at each of the ends. This inner wall is nearly of the fame thicknefs with the outward one, and is of confiderable height. There is fome appearance that it has been armed with four baftions or turrets; as, at regular di- ftances, at thofe places marked d,d,d,d, (Plate II. fig. 1.) the wall enlarges itfelf confiderably in thicknefs, in a circular figure, like the foundation of a {mall tower. Of this, how- ever, the traces are fo imperfect, that I will not take upon me to fay whether they may not be entirely an accidental irregula- rity. In the fame light I was at firft difpofed to have confider- ed the circle C, confifting of a number of {mall swmuli of earth, with a ftone placed in the centre, which I fuppofed might have been nothing more than an accidental appearance, till lately, that, from the defcription of fome ancient fortifications of a fimilar kind in Ireland, I find there are, in many of them, cir- cles of fmall tumuli, like what I have mentioned, which are fuppofed to have marked the place fet apart for the chief, as the pretorium in the camps of the Romans. Bur within this inner fpace, there are other marks of artifi- cial operation, which are lefs ambiguous. On looking at the ground-plan, (Plate II. fig. 1.) there appears, on the eaft fide, a portion of the internal fpace, marked S, which is feparated from the reft by two ranges of ftones ftrongly fixed in the ~ ground, in the form of a rectangular parallelogram. This fe- paration is immediately difcernible by the eye, from this cir- cumf{tance, that the whole of the inclofed fummit has been moft carefully cleared from ftones, of which there is not one to be feen, unlefs thofe that form this divifion, and the fingle {tone The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 13 ftone in the middle of the circle of tumuli above mentioned. What has been the defign of this feparated fpace, is difficult to conjecture. It might, perhaps, have marked the refidence of thofe of a higher rank, or ferved as a temple for the purpofes of devotion. TowArbs the eaft end of the large area on the fummit, and at the place marked q in the plan, are the veftiges of a well, about fix feet in diameter, which has probably been dug deep into the rock, though it is now filled up with rubbifh to within a yard of the furface. Sucu are the appearances on the fummit of Craig-Phadrick, which exhibit, in my opinion, fuch evident and. unambiguous traces of artificial operation, that I cannot conceive a difference of opinion to have arifen concerning their origin, but from too inattentive and hafty a furvey of them, joined to a partiality for thofe hypothefes, extremely fafhionable at prefent, which afcribe a va{t variety of natural appearances to the operation of ancient volcanos. Or thofe fortified hills mentioned by Mr Wiitrams, I had likewife an opportunity of examining two others, the hill of Dun-Evan in the County of Nairn, and the Caftle-hill of Fin- haven in the county of Angus. On the fummit of the hill of Dun-Evan, (of which the name implies that it had been originally a place of defence) there have been two walls or ramparts furrounding a level {pace of the fame oblong form with that upon Craig-Phadrick, though not quite fo large. There are likewife the traces of a well with- in the inclofed area; and at the eaft end, as at Craig-Phadrick, there are the remains of a prodigious mound or mafs of build- ing, much more extenfive than that which we have remarked upon the former hill. In all thefe operations, which, in their form, are perfectly fimilar to thofe on Craig-Phadrick, there are not, however, fo far as | could perceive, any marks of vi- trification or the effects of fire. Mr Wriuiams, in his de- {cription of Dun-Evan, fays, that the vitrified ruins are more watted 14 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in wafted here than upon Knock-farril or Craig-Phadrick ; but as neither I myfelf, nor two other gentlemen who examined this hill along with me, could perceive the fmalleft appearance of vitrification, I am inclined to believe, that, in this inftance, Mr Wituiams’s fondnefs for his new difcovery has a little blinded him in his obfervations, Dun-Evan has, in my appre- henfion, been fortified with walls of dry ftone and earth; but thefe of great thicknefs, and very compactly built, as appears by their remains at this day. The entry Mr WiLtiAms fup- pofes to have been at the eaft end, where there has been, as al- ready obferved, a prodigious rampart of ftones. But in this particular he is evidently miftaken. The entry has, without doubt, been upon the weft fide, where there is a ferpentine road from the bottom to the fummit, extremely confpicuous, which is vifibly continued for a confiderable diftance along the low ground at the foot of the hill, and is regularly formed, by filling up hollows and levelling rocky heights which lay in its way. | Tue inclofed fpace on the fummit of the Caftle-hill of Fin- haven, is of much greater extent than that upon Craig-Phadrick or Dun-Evan. The area is about 140 yards in length, and above forty in breadth. The vitrified remains of a rampart are extremely vifible all around the fummit, which is cleared of ftones and levelled, unlefs at one end, where there is a great hollow {pace feparated from the reft of the area, and probably de- ftined exclufively for the keeping of cattle. The remains of ftructure upon this hill are, in other refpects, nearly familar to thofe on Craig-Phadrick and Dun-Evan. ANOTHER fortified hill, which is not among thofe enume- rated by Mr Wittiams, I have likewife vifited, and have exa- mined with particular attention. This is Dun-Jardel, a very high hill, which rifes in a beautiful, irregular, conic figure, on the fouth fide of Loch-Nefs, about two miles to the eaftward of the fall of Fyers. The fummit is acceffible only on the _ fouth The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 15 fouth fide by a narrow ridge, communicating with the hills of Stratherrick, of which it terminates a fmall collateral chain. On every other quarter, the afcent is almoft perpendicular ; and the bafe of the hill is defended by a very rapid river, which winds along two thirds of its circumference. The in- clofed area on the top of Dun-Jardel is an oblong fquare of twenty-five yards in length and fifteen in breadth. It is, there- fore, confiderably fmaller than any of the three fortified hills above mentioned ; but is, from its fituation and form, incom- parably ftronger, and muft, in thofe periods when it was re- forted to for defence, have been quite impregnable. The area on the fummit is levelled, cleared of ftones, and has in it the remains of a well. It is furrounded with a very ftrong wall of dry ftones, which has formerly been of great height and thicknefs, as may be conjectured from the prodigious quantity of ftones that has fallen only from one fide of the fortification, and has refted upon the level ridge on the fouth fide. Thofe parts of the building on the other fides which have gone to de- cay, muft have rolled down the precipice into the river at the bottom. It is remarkable, that, on afcending the conical fum- mit of Dun-Jardel, there is, upon a {mall fhoulder of the hill, about fifty or fixty feet below the fortification on the top, a cir- cle of large ftones, firmly fixed in the ground, with a tranfverfe double range of ftones, extending from one fide, to ferve as an avenue or entry to the circle. This is, without doubt, a monu- ment of the fame nature with thofe which are termed Druidical Temples, and muft have been appropriated to the fame purpofes ; but whether it had any connection with the fortification on the fummit of the hill, I fhall not take upon me to determine. It may, however, afford fome ground, as I fhall afterwards fhew, for a conjecture as to the period when thofe extraordinary for- tifications were reared. IMMEDIATELY oppofite to Dun-Jardel, on the north fide of Loch-Nefs, is another conical hill called Dun-Sgrebin, on the fummit 16 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in fummit of which, as I was informed by a gentleman who re- fides in that neighbourhood, there are fimilar remains of a for- tification, compofed of dry ftone, like thofe on Dun-Evan and Dun-Jardel. Mr WiLtraMs mentions a {mall fortified hill near Fort-Auguftus, called Tor-Dun, which is plainly difcernible from Dun-Jardel. Dun-Jardel is diftinétly feen from Dun- Sgrebin ; and from the fituation of the country, this laft is, in all probability, feen from Craig-Phadrick. Craig-Phadrick is plainly difcernible from Knockfarril, and Dun-Evan and Caftle- Finlay (a fortified hill in the fame neighbourhood) from Craig- Phadrick. Thus, there is a chain of feven fortified hills, com- manding a very large tract of country, over which an alarm could be communicated with the utmoft celerity ; and I think it is not improbable, that, upon a minute furvey of the moun- tainous country, it would appear, that there have been, in fome former period, chains of communication of this kind through - many of the regions in the northern parts of the ifland. Nor were fortified places of this kind peculiar to the north- ern parts of Britain. ‘The Honourable DarnEs BARRINGTON, in a memoir printed in volume vi. of the Archzologia, affirms, that there are many fuch ftructures of dry ftone upon the tops of hills in Wales, and particularly in Merioneth-fhire. In Dr Bortase’s Hiftory of Cornwall, we are informed, that there are the remains. of fimilar ftru€tures in that country. Some of thefe the author has defcribed under the name of Hill- caftles. In Ireland, the remains of fuch fortifications on the tops of hills, are yet much more frequent than in this country. Harris, in his republication of Sir James WarRe’s Anti- quities of Ireland, in treating of what are called Danes ratbs or, Danes forts, in that country, defcribes precifely fuch fortifica- tions or ftru€tures, as thofe on the fummits of the hills we have mentioned, viz. conical mounts terminating in an oblong level area, and furrounded with the remains of {trong ramparts. The. The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 17 The very general tradition, of attributing thefe fortifications, both in Ireland and in this country, to the Danes, I fhall af- terwards fhew to be quite erroneous. In a collection of mifcel- laneous eflays towards a natural hiftory of Ireland, publifhed by Dr Motynevx, Dr GerArpD Boare, and others, there is an accurate defcription given of thofe ftructures. “ Moft of. “© thofe in Ireland,’ fays Dr MotyNnevx, “ are furrounded on- “ ly by earthen ramparts. Some, though but a few, are en- “ compafled round with walls of {tone caft up infiead of éarth, “ yet without any mortar. Two of thefe may be feen at “ Farmoyle in the county of Longford.” The authors of the ancient and modern {tate of the county of Down, defcribe par- ticularly five of thofe fortified mounts, which are but a few, out of a vaft many in that fingle county. On the Rath at Crown-bridge near Newry, there is, at the weft end of the le- vel area, and about fifty feet below it, a fquare platform, fuch as we have defcribed at the weft end of the fortification on Craig-Phadrick. The tradition is, that this platform at Crown- bridge, was the arena where two competitors decided, in fingle combat, the difputed right to the Crown of Ireland. Wricur, in his Low¢hiana, or introduction to the antiquities of Ireland, defcribes and gives plans of many fuch fortified mounts, all of which are furrounded by ramparts; and moft of them have at the extremities flrong outworks below the level of the fort it- felf. One of thefe, which is‘called Green Mount, near Caftle- Bellingham, appears from the engraving in Mr Wricut’s book, to bear a near refemblance in its plan to Craig-Phadrick. None of thofe remains of building upon the hills in Ireland, fo far as is taken notice of in the defcriptions of them I have mentioned, exhibit any marks of vitrification. Three of the fortifications I have enumerated in the neighbourhood of Inver- nefs, are likewife crowned with dry ftone ftru€tures, without any appearance of the effects of fire; and I am inclined to be- lieve, that, upon an accurate furvey of thofe extraordinary Vou. II. C works, 18 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in works, the number of thofe that fhow marks of vitrification will be inconfiderable, when compared with thofe that have not been at all affeGted by fire. I am led, from this circumitance, to form an opinion different from that of Mr WILiiams, and of fuch as believe thofe ftructures to be the proofs of an an- cient mode of building, in which fire was employed for the purpofe of cementing, before our anceftors knew the ufe of lime. Iam difpofed to think, that the appearances of vitrifica- tion on fome of thofe hills, are the accidental effects of fire up- on a ftru@ture compofed of combuftible and fufible materials, and by no means the confequence of an operation intended to produce that effect. Tue buildings reared by the ancient inhabitants of this country, both for habitation and defence, would naturally be compofed of fuch materials as the rude ftate of the country prefented in abundance, and fuch as required little, either of Jabour or of fkill, to bring into ufe. In thofe quarters where ftone could be eafily quarried in fquare blocks, or where it fplit into /aming, no other material than the fimple ftone was necef& fary, and very httle labour was fufficient to rear the ftru€ture. Such has been the cafe at Dun-Jardel and Dun-Evan. But where the ftone is of that nature as not to be eafily fplit into fquare blocks, or feparated into /aming, but is apt to break into irregular and generally {mall fragments, as the rock of Craig- Phadrick, and all others of the plum-pudding kind, it would be extremely difficult to form a regular ftru€ture of fuch mate- rials alone, which fhould be endowed with fufficient ftrength. The mode in which I imagine building was practifed in fuch fituations, was by employing wood, as well as ftone, in the fa- bric. The building, I fuppofe, was begun by raifing a dou- ble row of pallifades or ftrong ftakes, in the form of the in- tended ftructure, in the fame way as in that ancient mode of building, defcribed by PatLapio under the name of Riempiuta, & The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 19 a caffa, or coffer-work *. Thefe ftakes were probably warped acrofs by boughs of trees laid very clofely together, fo as to form two fences, running parallel to each other at the diftance of fome feet, and fo clofe as to confine all the materials, of whatever fize, that were thrown in between them. Into this intermediate fpace, I fuppofe, were thrown boughs and trunks of trees, earth and ftones of all fizes, large or f{mall, as they could quarry or collect them. Very little care would be necef- fary in the difpofition of thefe materials, as the outward fence would keep the mound in form. In this way, it is eafy to con- ceive, that a very {trong bulwark might be reared with great difpatch, which, joined to the natural advantage of a very in- acceflible fituation, and that improved by artful contrivances for encreafing the difficulty of accefs, would form a ftructure capable of anfwering every purpofe of fecurity or defence. TuHeE moft formidable engine of attack againft a ftruGure of this kind, would be fire; and this, no doubt, would be al- Ways attempted, and often fuccefsfully employed by a be- fieging enemy. The double ramparts, at a confiderable di- {tance from each other, and the platform, at one end, were certainly the beft poflible fecurity againft an attack of this kind. But if the befiegers prevailed in gaining an approach to the ramparts, and, furrounding the external wall, fet fire to it in feveral places, the conflagration muft fpeedily have be- come general, and the effect is eafy to be conceived. If there happened to be any wind at the time, to increafe the intenfity of the heat, the {tony parts could not fail to come into fufion, CG 2 and. * La maniera rzempiuta che fi dice anco a caffa, facevano gli antichi, con tavole pofte in coltello tanto fpacio, quanto volevano che fofle groffo il muro, empiendolo di malta, e di pietre di qualunque forte mefcolate infieme, e cofi andavano facendo di corfo in corfo. Si veggone muri di quefta forte a Sirmion fopra il lago di Garda. Di quefta maniera fi poffono anco dire le mura di Napoli, cioe le antiche, le quali hanno due muri di faffo quadrato, grofli quattro piedi, e diitanti tra fe piedi fei — e fono empiute di faffi editerra. Pauuap. Architect. lib. 1. cap. 9. 20 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in and (as the wood burnt away) finking by their own weight in- to a folid mafs, there would remain a wreck of vitrified mat- ter, tracking the fpot where the ancient rampart had ftood; ir- regular and of unequal height, from the fortuitous and unequal ~ diftribution of the {tony materials of which it had been com- pofed. The appearance at this day of thofe vitrified mounds creates the ftrongeft probability of the truth of this conjecture. They do not appear ever to have been much higher than they are at prefent; as the fragments that have fallen from them, even in thofe places where the wall is loweft, are very inconfi- derable. From the durable nature of the fubftance, they mui{t have fuffered very little change from time, though, from the gradual growth of the foil, they muft, in fome places, have loft, in appearance, a good deal of their height, and, in others, have been quite obfcured. Mr WiLtiams, in making a cut through the ramparts at Knockfarril, found, in many places, the vitrified matter entirely covered with peat-mofs of half a foot in thicknefs. I nave obferved, that, in the ferenedtlba on CraigePhudl rick, a large portion of the outward rampart upon the north fide bears no marks of vitrification. The reafon of this it is eafy to explain. In the ftruQure of this part of the wall no wood has been employed; for the extreme fteepnefs of the rock on this quarter rendered any rampart for defence entirely unneceflary. A low fence of ftones and’ turf was fufficient here to prevent the cattle, which were probably lodged between the outer and inner rampart, from falling over the precipice. Such is that fence which at prefent remains on the north fide of the rock of Craig-Phadrick. Ir appears, therefore, highly probable, that the effect of fire upon thofe hill-fortifications, has been entirely accidental, or, to {peak more properly, that fire has been employed, not in the conftruction, but towards the demolition of fuch buildings; and for the latter purpofe it would certainly prove much more efficacious : The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 21 efacacious than for the former. It is much to be doubted, whether it would be at all poflible, even in the prefent day, by the utmoft combination of labour and of fkill, to furround a large {pace of ground with a double rampart of ftones, com- patted by fire, of fuch height and folidity as to ferve any pur- pofe of fecurity,-or defence againft a befieging enemy. Any ftructure of this kind muft have been irregular, low, fragile, eafily {caled and quite infecure; a much weaker rampart, in fhort, than a fimple wall of turf or wooden pallifade. The veftiges yet remaining, as I have already obferved, give no room to fuppofe, that the vitrified mound has ever been much more entire than itis‘at prefent. ‘The effect of fire upon ftruc- tures reared in the manner I| have fuppofed them to have been, will account moft perfe@ly for their prefent.appearance. Ir was from neceffity that the builders of thofe fortifications betook themfelves to a mode of ftructure fo liable to be de- ftroyed by fire. In thofe parts where ftones could be eafily quarried, of fuch fize and form as to rear a ratnpart by them- felves of fufficient ftrength and folidity, there was no occafion to employ wood or turf in its conftruton, and it was there- fore proof againft all affault by fire. Such are the ramparts which appear on the hill of Dun-Jardel, Dun-Evan, and many _ others, on which there is not the fmalleft appearance of vitrifi- cation. . But on Craig-Phadrick, and the other hills above de- fcribed, where, from the nature of the rock, the ftones could be procured, only in irregular and generally {mall fragments, it was neceflary to employ fome fuch mode of conftruction as Ihave fuppofed ; and thefe ramparts, though folid and well calculated for defence againft every attack by force or ftratagem, were not proof againft the affault by fire. Burt thofe ancient fortifications prefent a. much more curi- ous and more interefting objeC&t of fpeculation, than thofe un- certain and indeed fruitlefs conjeCtures as to the mode in which they have been reared. It is evident, that, were it poflible to afcertain - 22 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in afcertain the zra in which thofe fortifications were conftructed, fome ufeful light might be thrown upon the ancient hiftory of this country, and the condition of fociety in thofe remote pe- riods. This I fhall now attempt; and, in the courfe of a fhort difquifition upon that fubject, fhall have occafion to mark the progrefs of architeCture in Britain, from its firft introduction _into the fouthern parts, till it had attained to confiderable per- fection, and the knowledge of the art of building had extended itfelf, in fome degree, to the remoteft quarters of the ifland. AT the time when thofe fortifications were reared, it is evi- dent that the ufe of mortar was unknown. As it mutt be fup- pofed that the builders exerted the utmoft of their architectural fkill (fo far as ftrength was concerned) in fabricating thofe {tructures, we cannot doubt, that, as the country abounded in lime-ftone, had its ufe been known as a cement, it muft have been employed in fuch works. This brings them at once up to a period of time prior to the Roman eftablifhments in the northern parts of Britain. The Romans employed mortar in all their buildings, of which many remains are at prefent exift- ing in thofe parts of the ifland where they are known to have formed fettlements. They taught the Britons the ufe of that cement, of which, till then, they were ignorant. At the time of CzsaAr’s invafion of Britain, the inhabi- tants of the fouthern, and probably the moft civilized part of the ifland, lived in huts conftructed with turf, or with the branches of trees. Their towns or villages were nothing more than an inclofed part of a wood, furrounded by a ditch and rampart, within the circle of which they reared their huts. ‘“ Oppidum vocant Britanni cum fylvas impeditas val- * lo atque fofla munierunt.” Cas. de Bell. Gal. lib. 5. cap. 21+. Thefe inclofures or towns were but a temporary refidence, and Speke reforted to, only when it was neceflary to defend themfelves Th HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 23 themfelves againft an enemy*. They were fo fpacious as to afford fecurity, both to the inhabitants themfelves and to their cattle. ‘‘ Urbium loco ipfis funt nemora. Arboribus enim * dejeGtis ubi amplum circulum fepierunt, ibi cafas ibidem fibi * ponunt, et pecori ftabula condunt, ad ufum quidem non * longi temporis.” Srraso Geogr. lib. 4.t. Of this nature were all the Britifh towns in the fouthern part of the ifland at the time of Ca@sar. Such was the town of Caffibelanus, pro- bably a place of the greateft confideration in the ifland, as be- ing the refidence of that chief under whom the whole of the fouthern Britons agreed to unite their forces to oppofe the Ro- mans at their fecond defcent upon the coafts. “ Ab his cog- * nofcit non longe ex loco oppidum Caffibelani abeffe, filvis pa- * ludibufque munitum, quo fatis magnus hominum pecorif- © que numerus convenerit.” Cas. de Bello Gal. lib. 5. cap. 21. This oppidum Caffibelani was Verulamium, the prefent St Al- bans. (See CAMDEN, and Horsiey’s Britannia Romana.) Lon- don, or the capital of the Trinobantes, was then a place of in- ferior note to Verulam. The Romans dignified the latter with the title of a municipium, while the former was fimply an offi- dum; and therefore ftrictly correfpondent to Czsar’s general defcription ; a portion of a thick wood furrounded with a ditch and rampart. Ip * Tue picture given by Tacrrus of the manner of life of the Germanic tribes, may probably be applied, with very little difference, to all the contemporary barbarous na- tions of Europe: ‘‘ Nullas Germanorum populis urbes habitari fatis notum eft, ne pati “ quidem inter fe junctas fedes. Colunt difcreti ac diverfi, ut fons, ut campus, ut ne- “< mus placuit. Vicos locant non in noftrum morem, connexis et coherentibus edificiis : “ fuam quifque domum {patio circumdat, five adverfus cafus ignis remedium, five in- “ {citia edificandi. Ne camentorum quidem apud illos, aut tegulorum ufus.” Tacrs. de Mor. Germ. cap. 16. + Toazss O& avTwy crow oF Sgvecor. meewpakayres yap dedpecs HATABSBANMEVOIG EVEUNYWLN KUXACY, Has euros evtaude, xocruGom oveyTers, Kb TH Rocxnpare HUTHS OD OEVOLTEY y Fe ECS MOAVY HeOVOY. STRARN Geog. |. 4. 24 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in Ir fuch was the appearance of London at the time of the fe- cond invafion of the ifland by Casar, which happened fifty- five years before the Chriftian era, we have certain evidence, that the fouthern Britons had undergone a remarkable change in their mode of life, and made a great progrefs in refinement and civilization in the fpace of 107 years, which elapfed from that time to the great victory gained over the Romans by their Queen BoapicEa, At this latter period, TaciTus mentions London as a flourifhing town, which, though not dignified with the title of a Roman colony, was a place of trade and opulence, and a great refort for merchants. “ Londinum qui- “ dem cognomento coloniz non infigne, fed copia negotiatorum “ et commeatuum maxime celebre.” Aznal. lib. 14. cap. 33. The Britons of the fouth had, therefore, profited very greatly by a fhort intercourfe with the Romans ; and this progrefs will appear more remarkable when it is confidered, that, from the time of Cz#sar’s invafion to the reign of Crauptius, during almoft a complete century, there was no Roman army in Bri- tain, nor any {tation or fettlement of that people in the ifland*. ' The Britons, therefore, had, as yet, enjoyed little more than the fight of a polifhed and improved people. Amidft the tumult of hoftilities, there was no opportunity to imitate the practices or ftudy the accomplifhments of the people by whom they were invaded ; but they faw enough to convince them of their own fignal inferiority in all the arts of cultivated life, and to excite a defire to imitate them in a fubfequent feafon of tranquility. This they obtained by the retreat of the Romans; and profit- ing to the utmoft by thofe lights they had acquired, they made a more rapid advancement to civilization, than perhaps in any after period of their hiftory. Cities were built, harbours con- ftructed * Horsetey’s Britannia Romana, p. 19, 20.3; and Tacitus mentions both the fac& and its caufe. ‘* Mox bella civilia et in rempublicam verfa principum arma ac longa . *¢ oblivio Britanniz etiam in pace.” Vzt. AcRic. cap. 13. 7 —" The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 25 ftructed for the accommodation of mercantile fleets *, and mo- ney coined for the medium of trade. The coinage of Cuno- BELINE, the fucceflor of Cass1BELANUs, and Sovereign of the Caffii and Trinobantes, from the mints of Colchefter, Verulam and London, is a proof, not only of an extenfive commerce, but of very confiderable advancement in the arts +. In this interval, therefore, between the invafion of C@sAR and the reign of CLAuDIUsS, this period of rapid improvement, it is probable the Britons of the fouth firft learned the art of conftructing durable buildings with mortar; though we do not find from any claflic author, that, before the reign of Nero, the Romans had erected any buildings in the ifland which could ferve as a model of regular architecture. In the fifth year of the Emperor Nero happened that fignal defeat of the Romans by the Britifh Queen BoapiceA, occafioned princi- pally by the revolt, or, as Tacitus terms it, the rebellion of the Trinobantes. One great caufe of this revolt had been the erection of a magnificent Temple to the divine CLauptus, which the Britons regarded as an infulting monument of the Roman power and their own abject flavery. “ Ad hec tem- * plum divo CLaupDio conftitutum, quafi arx xterne domina- * tionis afpiciebatur; delectique facerdotes, fpecie religionis, “* omnes fortunas effundebant.” Tacit. Anal. lib. 14. cap. 31. That this temple was a ftructure of great magnitude and _ foli- dity, appears from this circumftance, that the Romans retreat- ed to it as their laft {trong hold, and, for two days, defended themfelves in it again{ft the befieging Britons. ‘ Cztera qui- “‘ dem impetu direpta aut incenfa funt: Templum in quo mi- Vot. Il. D “ les * Srxz an accurate account of the commencement of the commerce of Britain in Wurraxer’s Hiftory of Manchefter, book I. chap. 11. + Asour fifty coins of Cunose.ine have come down to the prefent times. They are of gold, of filver and of brafs ; and fome of them are elegant in their fabric and de- vice. 26 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in “ les fe conglobaverat, biduo obfeflum expugnatumque.” bid. cap. 32. Tue Britons, profecuting their fuccefs, attacked, pillaged and fet fire to feveral of the Roman forts and garrifons. Lon- don and Verulam were deftroyed; and, in thefe two places, (a convincing proof of their magnitude and population) the Britons maflacred about 70,000 Roman citizens and their al- lies *, But thefe temporary fuccefles were foon checked by a dreadful defeat of the Britons by SuEToNius PAULINUS, in which 80,000 were left dead upon the field of battle. From that time, the Romans advanced into the internal parts of the ifland; and, finding themfelves more feebly refifted, as their power became more known, began now to apply themfelves to the civilization of the rude people whom they had fubdued. Juxttus AcRicoLa, in the fecond year of his command, as Propretor of Britain, A. D. 79. reduced the inhabitants of North Wales, of Chefhire and of Lancafhire, to abfolute fub- jection, and conquered the ifle of Anglefey. Having fuffi- ciently evinced his power, he tried the effet of alluring the natives to an eafy fubmiffion, by giving them a tafte of the enjoyments of a polifhed people f. Towards this purpofe, the Romans encouraged the Britons to build regular towns, affifted them in conftructing temples, market-places and commodious dwellings, and taught them even the ufe of the baths and por- ticos, and all the luxuries of the Roman banquets {. To this. precife * Ap feptuaginta millia civium et fociorum iis que memoravi locis, cecidiffe confti- tit. Tacit. Annal. lib. 14. cap. 33- + Usr fatis terruerat parcendo rurfus irritamenta pacis oftentare. Jux. Acarc. Vit. cap. 20. t Szquzns hiems faluberrimis confiliis abfumpta. Namque ut homines difperfi ac rudes, eoque bello faciles, quieti et otio per voluptates afluefcerent, hortari privatim, ad- juvare publice, ut templa, fora, domos extruerent, Jaudando promptos, aut caftigando fegnes—paullatimque difceflum ad delinimenta vitiorum, porticus et balnea et cenvivio- rum elegantiam. Jui. Acric. Vit. cap. 21. The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 27 precife period, we may refer the foundation of many of the towns inthe weft of England, which are known to have had a Roman origin, as Lancafter, Manchefter, Warrington, Ribche- fter, Overborough, Colne, tc. *. AT this time, therefore, A. D. 79, the Britons of the north- weftern parts of England, had acquired a confiderable know- ledge of regular architecture. But all to the north of the Ro-. man conquefts, we muft prefume was in its original ftate of barbarifm. Improvement, however, mutt have kept pace with the advances of the Romans into the country ; and it is there- fore not difficult to mark its progrefs. In the year 80, we find Acricota employed in erecting a chain of forts between the friths of Clyde and Forth; and in 83}, the laft year of his command, he had penetrated to the foot of the Grampian mountains in the northern parts of Angus. From this time, during the remainder of the reign of Domit1an, and through the whole of the reigns of Nerva and of Trajan, a period of above thirty years, the Romans made no progrefs in the ifland. The northern parts of the province were ill defended, and the Caledonians, in that interval, recovered all that part of Scotland which AcricoLa had gained ; for, in the fecond year of Haprian, A. D. 120, when that Emperor built his vallum acrofs the ifland, between Solway frith and the mouth of the Tyne, he confidered the Roman Province as extending no fur- ther to the north than that rampart. ‘‘ Murum per octoginta ** muillia paffuum primus duxit qui barbaros Romanofque divi- “ deret.” Vit. Hadr. Hift. Aug. Script. Tuis interval, therefore, of more than thirty years, muft have been a period of remarkable improvement to the favage Caledonians. Maintaining a conftant intercourfe with the Ro- mans, not diftinguifhed by extraordinary hoftilities, and gradu- D 2 ally * Warraxer’s Manchefter, book I. chap. 7. + Or 84; for the year is not certain. See Horstey, p. 48. v1 288 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in ally regaining a country in which they found the recent works of a polifhed people, they could not fail to acquire much know- ledge in the arts. At the time, therefore, when ADRIAN built his rampart, A. D. 120, we know, almoft toa certainty, that the inhabitants of Scotland, as far to the north as the Grampi- an mountains, underftood and practifed the art of conftru@ting durable buildings with mortar. The forts or caffella erected by Acricota, which Tacitus* fays were fo ftrongly con- ftructed as to refilt the utmoft efforts of the enemy to take them by ftorm, were now in the pofleffion of the Caledonians. The Roman caftella were circular, and fometimes fquare, inclo- fures, furrounded with a ftrong wall of ftone, hewn into {quare blocks, and cemented with mortar. The fpace inclofed was fufficient to contain various buildings likewife of ftone, barracks for the winter habitation of the troops, granaries for provifions, and fometimes baths. The form of thefe caftella may be feen in the fculptures upon the Trajan column, and their conftruction may be learnt from Vecetius. The re- mains of a bath belonging to one of thefe caftella, probably erected by AGRicoLa, were difcovered, within thefe few years, at the village of Dalnoter, between Glafgow and Dumbarton. The Caledonians had witnefled the building of thofe ftruétures, which were reared with the moft perfec fkill in military archi- teGture, from materials which the country furnifhed in abun- dance. They were now in poffefion of the ftructures them- felves. It is reafonable, therefore, to conclude, that they now learnt the art of conftructing regular buildings with ftone and mortar, and practifed it, both for the purpofes of defence and habitation ; becaufe the contrary fuppofition would. do violence to all probability. THE wall of ADRIAN, which was built in 120, and that of ANTONINUS Pius, built, as Horsiey thinks, in 140, were both * Vit. AGRIC. cap. 22. The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 29 both conftructed folely of turf *. But they were defended by caftella, placed at intervals of various diftance, according to the nature of the ground. The wall of ANTONINUs ran acrofs from Dumbarton on Clyde to Cramond on the frith of Forth, and was probably in the precife line of the caftella built by Acricota. It was at this period, and under the command of Loturus Ursicus, the lieutenant of ANToNiINUs, that the Romans made their fartheft advances into the ifland of Britain. After the ereétion of this new vallum, which had probably been reared in the idea, that the country to the north of it was hardly worth fecuring, Ursicus marched to the northward, and finding, beyond his expectation, that the country, efpeci- ally along the fea-coaft, was open and fertile, he appears to have profecuted his conquefts as far north as Invernefs. For this fact, we want indeed the authority of any Roman hiftorian ; but the Geography of ProLemy, and the late difcovered iti- nerary of RicHarp of Cirencefter, prove, beyond all doubt, that there were Roman ftations in the neighbourhood of Inver- nefs ; and there is no other Roman general, but UrBicus, who, to the days of ProLtemy, can be fuppofed to have paffed the limits of AGRICOLA’s conquefts t. The moft northerly Roman ftation, according to PToLEMyY, is the aregurov searomsdov, or caftra alata, which, in the itinerary of RicHaARD, is termed Ptorotone. This, I think, there is every reafon to believe to have been that fortified promontory, now called the Burgh of Moray {. At any * Juxrus Carrrotinus, in his life of Douthat Pivs, mentions, that this Emperor excluded the barbarians from the Province, ‘‘ a#o muro cefpitio,”” which proves that the former, vz%. that of Aprian, was of the fame materials. + Warraker’s Hiftory of Manchefter, book L chap. 3. § 1. t Irs fhape correfponds entirely to the name of an encampment with wings. Such is the a€tual form of the promontory ; and although both Sruxexey. and Horsey place the ftation of Ptorotone at Invernefs itfelf, it will be obferved, this is nothing more than conje€ture. The itinerary of Ricuwarp gives no authority for that precife fituation ; for 30 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS in ally rate, it is certain there were feveral Roman ftations in that neighbourhood, as Tueflis, Varis and Ptorotone, which is fufh- cient for our purpofe. It is then evident, that, in the reign of ANTONINUs Pius, and within a few years of A. D. 140, the date of his vallum, the Romans had fixed prefidta and built caftella in the neighbourhood of Invernefs, from which part of Scotland, there was an uninterrupted military road, as appears by RicHarp’s itinerary, to the Land’s end in Cornwall. At this period, therefore, the inhabitants of this region of Scotland muft have been acquainted, from the practice of the Romans, with the art of building with mortar. And, as the ftructure of thofe hill-fortifications demonftrates the ignorance of the builders of the ufe of that cement, the moft complete evidence thence arifes, that they were reared prior to the time above mentioned, that is, above fixteen centuries and a half ago. But how far beyond that period we are to fearch for the date of thofe fingular fortifications, ftill remains in doubt. All that we can, with certainty, conclude, is, that they belong to a period of extreme barbarifm. They muft have been con- {tructed by a people fcarcely removed from the ftate of favages, who lived under no impreffion of fixed or regulated property in land, whofe only appropriated goods were their cattle, and whofe fole fecurity, in a life of conftant depredation, was the retreat to the fummits of thofe hills of difficult accefs, which they had fortified in the beft manner they could. As the {pace inclofed was incapable of containing a great number of men, efpecially if occupied in part by cattle, it is prefumable, that thefe retreats were formed chiefly for the fecurity of the wo- men for the diftance. in miles between Ptorotone, and the preceding ftation Tueflis, is left blank in the itinerary, and the a¢tual fituation of Tueflis is likewife uncertain, Horsey fixing it at Nairn, and Sruxerey at Ruthven on the Spey. All that is certainly known from Ricuarp’s itinerary, is, that Ptorotone was the third Roman ftation beyond the Grampian mountains.——Since writing the above, it was a fatisfaction to me to find, that General Roy, in his elegant map of Roman North Britain, has actually placed Ptoroton, or Ptorotone, at the burgh-head of Moray. The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. — 31 men and children of the canton, and of their herds. They could be defended by a few men, while the reft of the tribe were engaged with their enemies in the field. In the defcription I have given of the fortified hill of Dun- Jardel upon Loch-Nefs, I mentioned a Druidical circle upon the fhoulder of the hill about fifty or fixty feet below the fortification ; and hinted, that this circumftance might poflibly afford ground for a conjecture with regard to the date of thofe extraordinary ftructures on the tops of hills. TuE religion of the Druids obtained in Britain long before the period of the Roman invafion ; and it was probably intro- duced into the ifland by the firft colony of Celte or Gauls who landed from the continent*. If, as is generally fuppofed, this ifland was actually peopled from Gaul, Druidifm muft have been _ the religion of its firft inhabitants. I am difpofed, however, to believe, that this ifland was inhabited of old by a race of men who knew nothing of the religion of the Druids, whofe manners and mode of life were too barbarous to be compatible with that fyftem, and who, in after times, adopted from thofe Druids their firft ideas of civilization and improvement. The Druids, it is well known, were a very enlightened order of men ; and they had the addrefs to avail themfelves of that charaéter of wifdom and learning, in obtaining an abfolute controul, not only in matters of religion, but in the civil government of the countries in which they were eftablifhed. They cultivated the mechanic arts, and even the fciences of Medicine, Aftronomy and Geometry, with confiderable fuccefs. In fhort, no nation, among whom that fyftem had become prevalent, could long re- main in a ftate of barbarifm. But, from all the ideas we can form. * Tuts idea is not contradiéted by the fact, of which we are aflured by Casar, w:2.. That the Druids of Gaul were fent over for inftru€tion to Britain. This fa&t proves only, that the Britifh Druids, in the folitude of the diftant ifland of Mona, had made farther advances in the {ciences at that time, than their brethren on the continent. Ca- sar indeed thence conjectures, that the Druidical fyftem had been invented in Britain ; but this conjeéture has no other bafis than the fact above mentioned. 32 ANCIENT FORTIFICATIONS, &. form of the ftate of Caledonia, at the time when it was necefla- ry to rear thofe hill-fortifications, there appears no probability that the inhabitants either lived under fuch a government as we know to have prevailed under the influence of the Druids, or had any acquaintance with thofe arts which it is certain they cultivated. Thofe buildings muft, therefore, have been erected previoully to the introduction of the Druidical fyftem ; that is to fay, in a period of time antecedent to the firft vifita- tion of this ifland by the Celtz of Gaul. ‘Tue Druidical circle upon Dun-Jardel lends its aid in fup- port of this conjecture. If the fortification on the fummit had been erected after the abolition of Druidifm, it feems extremely improbable, that the builders of it would have neglected to employ the ftones of this circle in rearing their fortification, (ftones extremely well fuited to the purpofe, and quite at hand) when they have been at immenfe pains to carry up a prodigious quantity of ftones from the very bottom of the hill for that work. It is not probable that they would have been reftrained by any fuperftitious idea of reverence for the monuments of .an extinguifhed religion. For Druidifm, foon after its abolition, funk into utter contempt, and the introduction of Chriftianity rendered the ancient fuperftitions impious and deteftable. That this hill-fortification was erected in the times of the Druids, I have already fhewn.to be extremely improbable. We mutt, there- fore, recur to the only remaining, and the moft natural fuppo- fition, that it was reared in times antecedent to the introduc- tion of that religion. And this fuppofition carries the date of this ftruCture, and confequently of all the reft of the fame na- ture, up to a period of antiquity far beyond all. hiftorical re- cord, and connects them with a ftate of fociety in which the arts were as imperfect, the manners as barbarous, and the con- dition of life as lawlefs, turbulent and precarious, as among the rudeft tribes of American favages. Lis {Le FUN oS = ei) Hii A HIB iM AY N AN \ Ws Hh Sai Wii HN Ln —_ To joc Wy. Ne epee. “ ee pron deh Sugap, cbr traacizestapeatente rr , vr 2 , eyor re piers ~ n es ati y Path ai i vt Hive | ein Pare ToT and te Lat a eth ALR ae fa + nee Plate IL Py; ht Ricge ge vi K ) WH) NN Gy AINSI } 8 AG Tif fy 1) ye AN a ha a) } GAL Il, REMARKS on fome Paffages of the fixth Book of the ENEID. By FAMES BEATTIE, LL.D. F.R.S. Epin. and Pro- feffor of Logic and Moral Philofophy in the Marifchal College, Aberdeen. [Read by Mr DALZEL, Secretary, March 19. 1787. | HE poetical beauties of Vircit’s fixth book are great and many; and a moft agreeable tafk it would be to point them out: but that is not my prefent purpofe. Nor do I intend to draw a comparifon of the fentiments of our poet with thofe of Homer, concerning a future ftate. From Ho- MER, no doubt, Vireit received the firft hint of this epifode ; but the evocation of the ghofts, in the eleventh book of the Odyffey, is not in any degree fo ftriking, or fo poetical, as Ewneas’s defcent into the world of {pirits. Nor does the for- mer exhibit any diftinct idea of retribution. In it all is dark and uncomfortable. ‘ I would rather, fays the ghoft of * AcuHiLues, be the flave of a poor peafant among the living, “ than reign fole monarch of the dead :” a paflage blamed, not without reafon, by PLaTo, as unfriendly to virtue, and tending to debafe the foul by an unmanly fear of death. My defign is, to give as plain an account as I can of the theology (af I may be allowed to call it fo) of this part of Vir- GIL’s poem. And I fhall make the poet his own interpreter, without trufting to commentators, or feeking unneceflary illu- ftrations from PLatTo, to whom VirciL, though he differs from him in many particulars, was indebted for the outlines of Vou. Il. ra the 34. REMARKS on fome Paffages of the fy{tem, and who probably owed them to philofophers of the Pythagorean {chool. THE learned Bifhop WarBurToON has commented on this part of the Eneid. Many of his obfervations are pertinent, but fome are fanciful ; and in more places than one he feems to have mifunderftood the author. His general pofition is, That what the poet fays of Elyfium and the infernal regions, we are to underftand as nothing more than a figurative account of the © myfteries exhibited in the temple of Ceres at Eleufis ; and that the poet meant in this way to tell us, that Enzas had, like fome other heroes and lawgivers of old, been initiated into thofe myfteries. This theory he fupports very ingenioufly, but not, I believe, to the fatisfaction of many readers. I admit there are allegories in the book, as I fhall have oceafion to fhow ; but that the whole is an allegory, or rather an allegorical repre- fentation of the Eleufinian allegories, I can no more fuppofe, than that the arrival at Carthage is an allegory, or the vifit to EVANDER, or the combat with Turnus, or any other of our hero’s achievements. [| confider this epifode as truly epic, and as a part, though not a neceflary part, of the poet’s fable ; and that he contrived it, firft, that he might embellifh his work ~ with a poetical account of a future ftate, and fecondly, and chiefly, that he might thence take an opportunity to introduce a compliment to his country, by celebrating the virtues of fome of the great men it had produced. As thefe great men did not flourifh till after the death of ENEAs, there were but two ways. in which the poet could make him acquainted with them. One was, by caufing fome prieft or foothfayer to prophecy con- cerning them ; and the other, by fo availing himfelf of the doc- trines of pre-exiftence and tranfmigration, then taught in fome of the fchools, as to exhibit in their pre-exiftent ftate, fuch of the hero’s pofterity as there might be occafion for. He chofe the latter method ; and has fo managed it, that we muft acknow- ledge the choice to have been judicious.. As The fixth Book of th EN ETD. 35 As the chief thing I have in view is, to illuftrate the moral and theological fentiments of my author, I need not take up much time, either in vindicating, or in apologizing for, his ge- neral fiction ; I mean, his laying the fcenery of a future ftate in the fubterranean regions.. That on the coaft of Italy, in the neighbourhood of Cume, there fhould be a paffage under ground, leading to the rivers Acheron, Cocytus and Styx, and thence to Tartarus on the left hand, and Elyfium on the right ; that in this Elyfium, though thus fituated, there fhould be a fun and ftars, and grafly plains, and delightful groves and ri- vers, and two gates, the one of ivory, the other of horn, open- ing into the upper world, at no great diftance from the Cume above mentioned ; and that in the fubterranean fpaces thus bounded, there fhould be different forts of accommodation for ~ all the fhades or fouls of the dead:—thefe, I fay, are fables, which, as they cannot, according to our way of judging, be reconciled to probability, or even to poflibility, we muft endea- vour to acquiefce in the beft way wecan. So, in reading Ovip’s ftory of Phaeton, if we would enter into the poet’s views, and be fuitably affected with his narrative, we muft fuppofe, what we know to be abfolutely impoffible, that the fun is driven about the world in a chariot, which, though made of gold and filver, and dragged by real horfes, and fupported by nothing but air, yet pafles along in a beaten highway, where the marks of the wheels are clearly difcernible. Fables of this fort, however inconfiftent with the laws of nature, when rendered by the art of the poet confiftent with themfelves, it is not our in- tereft to criticize too minutely ; efpecially if, like that now un- der confideration, they abound in fublime defcription and in- ftructive leflons of morality. The fable then let us acquiefce © in for a moment. Our dreams, while they laft, we believe without inconvenience; and the fcenery of this fable will not be more lafting than that of a dream. E 2 As 36 REMARKS on fome Pafages of As a fort of apology for the wildnefs of fome parts of this fable, it may be remarked, that formerly at Cumz, near which the Trojan fleet was now ftationed, there lived a prophetefs. called the Cumean Sybil; that in her neighbourhood, encom- pafled with thick woods, there was a lake called Avernus, which emitted feftilential fteams; that in the fame parts of Italy there are many dreadful caverns, one of which is to this day called the Sybil’s Grotto; and that for thofe who knew nothing of the real fize of the earth, or the final deftination of man, it was not altogether abfurd to imagine, as all dead bo- dies return to the earth, that the fubterranean regions might be the manfions of the ghofts or fhades of human beings de- parted. Tue neceffary facrifices being performed, and EngEAs ha- ving found in the woods that golden bough which, being in-+ tended as a prefent to PROSERPINE, was to ferve him as a pafl- port through her dominions; the Sybil or prieftefs plunged into: the cavern, calling to him to follow her, with his fword drawn in his hand. They went a great way through a lonely region, where there was no more light than one travelling in a wood receives in a cloudy night from the moon. At length they ar- rived at the entrance of the infernal world, where a number of terrible beings refided; Difeafe, Old Age, Fear, Famine, Poverty, and Death, and Labour, and War, and Difcord ; and fuch mon- ftrous things as centaurs, gorgons, harpies and giants, one with three heads, and another with a hundred hands, and the chi- mera breathing fire, and the many-headed ferpent of Lerna roaring hideoufly. By placing thefe at the entrance, the poet perhaps intended to fignify, in the way of allegory, the horrors | that accompany the near approach of death; or perhaps thofe many evils, real and imaginary, which we mutt all pafs through in our way to the other world. From this place to the river Styx was a region, in which the ghofts of thofe, whofe bodies had not been honoured with the . rites The fixth Book of the ENETD. 37 rites of fepulture, were obliged to wander in a melancholy con- dition for the fpace of an hundred years, before they could be permitted to pafs the river, or appear before any of the in- fernal judges. Here ENEAs met with his old pilot PALINURUS, who, in their laft voyage, having fallen overboard in the night, and fwam to the main land of Italy, was there murdered by the natives, who did not give themfelves the trouble to bury him, but threw his body into the fea. He begged ENEAS to take him under his protection, and procure him a paflage over the Styx. “ It cannot be, faid the Sybil; you muft have pa- “‘ tience. In the place where you were murdered, there will *“ foon be prodigies, which will induce the natives to perform “ your funeral rites, and call a promontory after your name ; “and then you may pafs the river, but not before.” Pati- NuRuS acquiefced ; well pleafed to hear that fuch honours awaited him. To inculcate this doctrine, that the foul would fuffer for fome time in another world, if the body were not decently bu- ried in this, and that the neglect of the funeral ceremonies is' offenfive to fuperior beings, was a very warrantable fraud‘in the lawgivers of Greece and Egypt; as it would no doubt make’ the people attentive to a duty, whereof we find. that favage na- tions are too apt to be forgetful. Our two adventurers were now approaching the river, when Charon the ferryman, alarmed at the fight of a living man in complete armour, called to the Trojan to ftop, and give an account of himfelf. The Sybil pacified Charon, by declaring the name and quality of her fellow-traveller, and fhowing the golden bough. ‘They were then ferried over; and the three- headed. dog Cerberus, preparing to attack them, was quieted: with a cake which the prieftefs had got ready for him, and which. he had no fooner {wallowed than he fell fait afleep. Wuart could have given rife to this fable of Charon and his: boat, it is not very material to enquire. Mythological writers: have: 38 REMARKS on fome Paffages of have faid, That the Greeks learned it from the Egyptians, which is indeed probable enough; that the Egyptians framed both this, and fome other fables relating to the dead, from certain cuftoms peculiar to their country ; that in particular there was, not far from Memphis, a famous burying-place, to which the dead bodies were conveyed in a boat acrofs the lake Acherufia ; and that Charon was a boatman who had long officiated in that fervice. The learned Dr BLackwe tt fays, in his life of Ho- MER, that, in the old Egyptian language, Charoni fignified fer- ryman. Tue travellers had now before them a region which the poet calls /ugentes campi, extending from the other fide of the Styx to the road that leads to Elyfium on the right hand, and that which terminates in Tartarus on the-left. Thefe melancholy plains muft not be confounded with Tartarus. The latter is a place of eternal torment, prepared for thofe who, in this world, had been guilty of great crimes; for there, fays the poet, ‘‘ Se- “ det, a@ternumque fedebit infelix Thefeus.” The former, though an uncomfortable region, is not a place of endlefs pu- nifhment, but a fort of purgatory, in which all thofe fouls that are not configned to Tartarus, are doomed to undergo certain purifying pains, to prepare them for Elyfium. Thefe pains are more or lefs fevere, and of longer or fhorter duration, according to the degree of guilt committed in the upper world. The fouls, on pafling the Styx, appear before the judge Minos, who fummons a council, either of ghofts or of infernal deities, but whether as a jury, or as witneffes, we know not; and ha- ving informed himfelf of the lives and charaéters of thofe who are brought before him, allots to each a fuitable manfion in this purgatory. . Tue fouls thus difpofed of, are—fr/?, thofe of good men, who, after undergoing the neceflary pains of purification, pafs into Elyfium, where they remain in a ftate of happinefs for ever ; 2dly, of thofe who have been of little or no ufe to man- kind ; The fixth Book of the ENEID. 39 kind ; 3d/y, of thofe who have been cut off by an untimely death, fo that their real characters could not be exadily afcer- tained ; 4thly, of thofe who, though guilty of crimes, had not committed any thing very atrocious ; and, /a/ly, of thofe whofe * crimes, though atrocious, were confidered as the effects, rather of an unhappy deftiny, than of wilful depravation. TuatT the fouls of good men, who were to have an eternal abode in Elyfium, were previoufly obliged to undergo purgation by fuffering, is not exprefsly declared, but may be inferred from what AncuisEs fays, “ Quifque fuos patimur manes :” ** every one of ws undergoes what is inflicted on him by his ** manes ;” that is, by thofe deities of the nether world who were the difpenfers of expiatory punifhment. This is the ori- ginal, or at leaft the moft ufual fenfe of the word manes, which, however, fometimes denotes metonymically the infernal regions in general, and fometimes, but more rarely, the fouls or fhades who inhabited thofe regions. In Tartarus, it does not appear: that the Manes had any thing todo. The difpenfers of punifh- ment in that dreadful place were Tifiphone and her fifter-furies. The Manes muft have been a gentler fort of beings. Some derive the word from manus or manis, which they fay (on what autho- rity | know not) is an old adjective fignifying good. The invo- cations of the Manes practifed at funerals, the altars that were erected to them, and thofe monumental infcriptions which be- gan with the words Dis Manibus, were all, no doubt, intended as acts of worfhip, or as compliments, to thefe deities, and fuppofed to incline them to mercy in their treatment of the per- fons deceafed, whofe fouls.were now in their hands in purga- tory. Horace tells us, that the Manes, as well as the gods above, might be rendered placable by fong—‘“ Carmine di fuperi *“ placantur,carmine manes.’’ But the furies were inexorable and: mercilefs—‘‘ Nefciaque humanis precibus manfuefcere corda.”” And I do not find that worthip, or any other honours, were, ex- cept by witches *, paid them, though to mother Midnight, whofe: daughters: * Hor. Sat. I. 8. %, 33> ; 40 REMARKS on fome Paffages of daughters they were, facrifice was occafionally performed. Ovip fays indeed, that they relented on hearing the fong of Orpheus, but affures us it was for the firft time. Vircix, in his account of that affair, fays only, that they were aftonifhed. Here I cannot but remark how abfurd it is for ws to begin an epitaph with the words Dis Manibus, or the letters D. M. which oftener than once I have feen on a modern tombftone. Such an exordium may be claflical ; but, in a Chriftian church- yard, an invocation to Proferpine would not be more incongru- ous. Apprson did well, when he advifed the writers of his time not to facrifice their catechifm to their poetry. I sarp, that the Manes feem to have had nothing to do in Tartarus. Iam not ignorant, however, that Rugeus and the common Dictionaries afarm, that the word fometimes denotes the furies, and quote as an authority, “ Ignofcenda quidem, ** {cirent fi ignofcere manes.” But this is not fufficient autho- rity. ‘That verfe of Vircit relates to Orpheus looking behind him, when conduéting his wife to the upper world ; a fault, or infatuation, which was to be punifhed, not by the fcourge of the furies, but by calling back Eurydice to the fhades below ; and which the Manes, however placable, could not pardon, becaufe it was a direct violation of.the treaty with Profer- pine. Ir is fomewhat difficult to underftand diftin@ly what the ancients meant by the words anime, umbre, fimulacra, which, ain this difcourfe, I call ghofts, /hades or fouls. We know, that man confifts of a body and a foul, a material and an incorpo- real part ; the one, like all other bodies, ina¢tive, the other the . fource of life, motion and intelligence. But, on comparing the general doctrine of this fixth book with a paflage in the fourth Georgic, and with the eleventh of the Odyfley, we find, that our’ poet, following in part the opinions of PYTHAGORAS and PLATO, and partly too the reprefentations of Homer, fup- pofed man to confift of three fubftances ; firf, a vital and ac- tive The fixth Book of the ENETD. 4I tive principle, derived either from the Deity himfelf, or from that univerfal fpirit whom he created in the beginning, who ‘animates all nature, and of whom the vital principle of brutes is alfo, according to ViRGIL, an emanation; 2d/y, a fhade or ghoft, umbra, anima, fimulacrum, or edwaov, as HOMER calls it; - and 3d/y, a body. At death, the vital principle was re-united to that univerfal fpirit whereof it was originally a part; the body was burned or buried, and returned to the earth whence it came; and the fhade or ghoft went to the nether world, and appeared before Minos or Rhadamanthus, who affigned it fuch a manfion of happinefs, of torment, or of expiatory fuffering, as the perfon’s behaviour on earth had merited, or his circumftances with refpeét to pollution or purity required. Thefe fhades or ghofts were fo far corporeal as to be vifible, but could not be touched ; they retained the fame appearance their bodies had before death; they had reafon and fpeech and confcioufnefs, and a remembrance of their paft lives; they could be happy or unhappy ; retained all the paffions and affetions of humanity ; and.were capable (fuch of them at leaft as had not been atro- cious criminals) of being purified from the pollutions of guilt by the operation of air, fire and water. THAT part of the /ugentes campi which EneEAs firft paffed through, after crofling the Styx, was peopled by the fhades of infants, of perfons who had fuffered death by a falfe accufation, and of thofe who had taken away their own lives. Thefe are all placed in the fame neighbourhood, probably becaufe, ha- ving been cut off, as we fay, before their time, they had not had the means, while on earth, of difplaying their character in its full extent. This, however, is but conjecture ; for the poet only mentions the circumftance, without afligning a reafon. The felf-murderers, who occupy this diftrict, are termed in/fontes, innocent or harmlefs ; an epithet which the commentators do -not underftand, or at leaft do not fee the propriety of in this place. WVireiz, we are fure, did not mean to infinuate, that Vou. Il. F felf- 42 REMARKS on fome Paffages of felf-deftroyers in general are guilty of no fault; for he places even thefe infontes, who in refpect of others were comparatively innocent, in an uncomfortable fituation, and fays, that they would now return to the earth if-they could, and willingly fubmit to poverty, and thofe other evils, which when alive they thought infupportable. By the word in/ontes, therefore, as here applied, I underftand fuch unhappy perfons as had deftroyed themfelves, without being chargeable with any other great wickednefs. Had they been guilty of impiety, injuftice, want of natural affection, or any grofs immorality, they would, ac- cording to our author’s plan of retribution, have been configned to everlafting punifhment in Tartarus. But as we find them in a {tate of expiatory fuffering, and characterifed by this epithet, we mutt, I think, fuppofe, that the poet here fpeaks of that felf-deftruction, which, being partly the effect of infirmity, was, in his judgment, the object of pity as well as of difap- probation. Tue Trojan and his guide were now arrived at that part of the melancholy plains, where the country, if I may call it fo, feemed to open into a wider extent. Here was a diftridt, where, in a myrtle grove, were wandering the fhades of un- happy lovers. Here ENEAs met with Dipo, who had rejoined her hufband StcueEvs; and here he faw feveral others, fome of whom, by the by, had led fuch lives on earth as would feem to deferve a feverer doom than that of VirciL’s purgatory. ADJOINING to the grove of lovers, and at the furtheft ex- tremity of thefe regions, was a province inhabited by deceafed warriors. Here he found feveral of his old acquaintance, who were glad to fee him, and converfe and walk with him, and curious to know the occafion of his coming. The Grecian ghofts knew him likewife, and fled from before him, as they had been accuftomed to do in the Trojan war. Here he faw the fhade of his brother-in-law Dr1pHosus, in the fame mangled condition in which his body had been left by the Greeks in the night The fixth Book of the ENETD. 43 night of the burning of Troy. A long converfation enfued between the two friends, which was at laft interrupted by the prieftefs, who told EngAs that he had no further time to lofe. Be not angry, faid Derpuosus ; I fhall go away, return to my darknefs, and there complete my term of penance. Difcedam, explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris. The words explebo numerum are varioufly interpreted ; but the fenfe is probably what is here given. Rueus is inclined to ex- plain it thus, “ Be not angry, great prieftefs, I fhall juft wind up the laft period of my difcourfe, and then return to my “ darknefs ;” as if the poor mangled ghoft of DrrpHosus had been ambitious to diftinguifh itfelf at this time as a rhetorician, - and well {killed in the art of rounding a period. Drypen un- derftands the paflage as I do. Servius hints at the fame in- terpretation, but feems to prefer another. THE two travellers having paffed through the melancholy plains, were now come to a place, where one road went off to the left, and another to the right; the former leading to Tar- tarus, the latter to Elyftum. They were going to Elyfium ona vifit to ANcuIsEs: but before they ftruck off to the right, the prieftefs took this opportunity to defcribe Tartarus, the gates of which were in view, but which ENEAs could not enter, as they were never opened but for the reception of thofe wicked fouls, whom the judge Rhadamanthus, after making them confefs the crimes they had committed in the upper world, thought proper to condemn to eternal punifhment. When this dreadful fen- tence was paffed, they were feized on by Tifiphone and the other furies, the adamantine gates opened with a tremendous found, and the criminals were thrown into an immenfe dungeon, ftretching downwards twice as far as from hell to heaven. F2 THE 44 REMARKS on fome Paffages of Tue defcription of Tartarus is wrought up in a ftyle of ter- rible fublimity, fuch as never was equalled by any other poet, except by Mitton, in the firft and fecond books of Paradife Loft. In the intrinfic grandeur of his images, the Englifh poet may be thought to have excelled the Roman; but in one re- {pect the Roman has the advantage. By means of a more mu- fical language, he has been enabled to embellifh his narration with a fonorous magnificence of harmony, whereof the Englitfh tongue, even when modulated by.MiztTon, is not fufceptible. THE mouth of the Tartarean gulf was encircled with three walls fo {trong, as to be proof again{ft every aflault of men or gods ; and thefe walls were furrounded by Phlegethon, a river of tempeftuous flame. Sleeplefs, before the gate, day and night, and full in ENEAs’s view, fat the fury Tifiphone in bloody attire. From within iflued fuch an uproar of terrifying noifes, that the hero, though at a diftance, heard it with hor- ror; the cries of the tormented, the found of the fcourge, the crafh of iron engines, and the clanking of chains dragged along. Tell me, faid he, O virgin, what clamours, what pu- nifhments, are thofe ; and for what crimes they are tnflicted. This gives the prieftefs occafion to defcribe what was pafling in the regions of torment ; with which Hecate had made her ac- quainted, when fhe gave her the fuperintendence of the groves of Avernus. The perfons there punifhed had all perpetrated enormous crimes ; among which are reckoned, acts of impiety, want of natural affeCtion, cruel treatment of parents, the de- frauding of clients or dependants, and the hoarding up of wealth to the injury of friends and relations. Here too adul- tery is punifhed, even though the criminal fhould have ali eady fuffered death for it in the upper world. Other crimes here pu- nifhed are, rebellion, inceft, the various forts of injuftice and treachery, the venality of lawgivers, fubverfion of the liberties. of our country, facrificing the public good to private intereft, and. The fixth Book of the ENETD. 45 and many other forms of wickednefs, whereof the Sybil de- clares it was impoflible for her to give a particular enumeration. Tue punifhments are various. Of one enormous offender, the entrails are continually devoured by a vulture, and conti- nually growing to be again devoured ; an apt emblem to ex- prefs the pangs of a guilty confcience, and which puts one in mind of the never-dying worm mentioned in Scripture. Some are in the eternal apprehenfion of being crufhed by a black rock, which hangs-over them, and feems to be every moment ‘beginning to fall. Some are perpetually employed in rolling a huge mafs of ftone; fome are ftretched out on a whirling wheel; and fome, agonifing with eternal hunger, have a fump- tuous banquet fet before them, which they no fooner attempt to touch, than a gigantic fury ftarts up, brandifhing a torch, and denouncing vengeance in a voice of thunder. — THERE is nothing in VIRGIL more explicit than the account. of Tartarus; and I know not why it has been fo generally mif- underftood. Dr WarBuRTON fays, in one place, that ENEAs. faw the fights of Tartarus at a diftance, and, in another, that ENnEAs paffed through Tartarus. In fact, he did neither. He could not pafs through without entering ; and this, we are told, was to him impoflible: “ Nulli fas cafto fceleratum infiftere “ limen.” And though he had been permitted: to enter, he could not pafs through, without firft crofling a river of fire, and then defcending into-an immenfe gulph, twice as deep be- neath the level of the other regions of darknefs, as thofe are remote from heaven. It was equally impoffible for him to fee from a diftance what was doing in fuch a gulph, even though the gate that led to it had been open, which, however, at this. time, happened to be fhut. ‘* You fee, faid the Sybil, what a “ centinel. fits without in the porch, (meaning Tifiphone) ;. “© another, {till more dreadful, has her ftation within ;” which, as he could not fee it, fhe informs him is a huge ferpent, or hydra, with fifty heads. Amn opening of the gate is indeed. ‘mentioned,, 46 REMARKS on fome Pafages of mentioned, which RueEvs underftands to have taken place at the very time when the Trojan and the Sybil were looking at it. But that is a miftake. The Sybil only tells her compa- nion, that, when Rhadamanthus has made the criminals con- - fefs their guilt, then at length (tam demum) the gate opens for their reception into the place of torment. It is ftrange that Rueus and Dr WarsurtTon did not fee that this is the obvious import of the words of VircGiL; and that, if we do not under- ftand them in this fenfe, the paflage muft appear confufed, if not ungrammatical. Ina word; of the infide of Tartarus the Trojan hero faw nothing ; he faw the outfide only, the walls, the gates, the tower of iron, &c. and thefe he faw at fome di- ftance. What was pafling within he learns from the Sybil’s information. “ AND now, fays fhe, let us be going. Yonder, on the right hand, is the palace of Proferpine, where, in the vaulted “* porch that fronts us, we are commanded to depofit the golden “ bough.” This ceremony ENEAs performs, after having {prinkled himfelf with pure water ; which was cuftomary with thofe who made offerings to the gods. Tuey then went onward to Elyfium, the gay fcenery of which, immediately fucceeding the gloom of purgatory and the horrors of Tartarus, is fo charming, that every reader feels himfelf refrefhed by it. Here were groves, and plains, and meadows, clothed with perpetual verdure, the abodes of tran- _ quillity and joy, and illuminated by a fun and ftars of the moft refulgent beauty. Here were feafting, and dancing, and mufic, and poets accompanying their verfes with the harmony of the lyre. Here thofe warlike exercifes were renewed, in which the heroes while on earth had fo much delighted; and here were horfes, and chariots, and arms, and every thing that could gratify an heroic mind. It muft be owned, that all this is very inadequate to the defires and the capacity of an immortal foul : ibs The fixth Book of the ENEID. 47 foul: but Virert had heard of nothing better; and it was impoible for him to defcribe what he could not conceive. In this Elyfium, which, with all its imperfeCtion, is, as well as the infernal world, founded on the beft ideas of retributive juftice that could-be expected from a pagan, the poet places, in a ftate of endlefs felicity, “‘ the fhades of the pure and the ** pious ; of heroes who have died in defence of their country ; ** of ingenious men who have employed their talents in adorn- ing human life with elegant arts, or in recommending piety and virtue; and of all who, by adts of beneficence, have merited the love and the gratitude of their fellow-creatures.’” To a company of thefe happy beings, who had flocked round the two ftrangers, and efpecially to the poet Muszus, whom fhe knew, the Sybil addreffed herfelf, defiring to be informed where AncuisEs refided. We have no certain habitations, re- turned the poet; we wander about, and amufe ourfelves, wherever we pleafe ; but follow me to yonder rifing ground, and I fhall put you in a path that will conduct you to him. Some writers blame Vircit for not making ENEAs find Homer in this part of Elyfium ; and infinuate, that the Roman poet muft have been both invidious and ungrateful, in ne- glecting fuch an opportunity of doing honour to his great ma- fter, to whom he owed fo much. Thofe critics do not confider that ENzAs was dead an hundred years before HoMER was born. Our poet has been cenfured for a /uppofed anachronifm, in making Engeas and Dipo contemporary ; and here he is found fault with for having judicioufly avoided a rea/ anachro- nifm. Ir chanced that ANCHISES was at this time in a remote val- ley, reviewing, in their {tate of pre-exiftence, fome of his pofte- rity, who were afterwards to diftinguifh themfelves in the Ro- man republic. When he faw his fon advancing towards him, he held forth both his hands, gave him an affectionate welcome, and wept for joy. The hero would have embraced his fa- ther ;. 66 134 48 REMARKS on fome Paffages of ther; but found that the fhade, though vifible, eluded the touch. . Arter a fhort converfation, ENE«s happening to fee, in a grove through which a river was flowing, an innumerable multitude of human beings flying about, afked his father who they were, and what river it was. The river, faid he, is Lethe, of which thofe fouls are taking a draught, being about to re- turn to the upper world, in order to animate new bodies. Is it to be imagined, exclaims ENEAs, that fouls fhould ever leave this happy place, and go back to the imprifonment of the bo- dy, and all the wretchednefs of mortality? I will explain the whole matter to you, replies ANCHISEs. Know, then, that all the parts of this vifible univerfe, the heavens, and earth, and fky, the fun, moon, and ftars, are, like one vaft body, animated by an univerfal fpirit, whereof the fouls, or vital principles, of all animals, of men and beafts, of fifhes and fowl, are emanations. This vital principle is, in eve- ry animal, the fource of fenfation and motion; but, from the influence that the body has over it, becomes fubject to inordi- nate paflions, and forgetful of its heavenly original. The foul of man, in particular, (for nothing further is faid of the other animals) contracts, while fhut up in the dark prifon of the bo- dy, a degree of debafement which does not leave it at death, and from which the fufferings of a fubfequent ftate of purga- tion ‘are necefflary to purify it. Thefe are of different kinds and degrees, according to the different degrees and kinds of guilt or impurity which the foul has contracted. Some fouls are expofed to the beating of winds, fome are wafhed in water, and fome purified by fire. Every one of us (fays ANCHISES, including himfelf) fuffers his own peculiar pains of purifica- tion.- Then we are fent into this vaft Elyfium, and a few of us remain in the eternal poffeffion of it*. The reft continue . here, * I fuppofe the words E¢ pauct leta arva tenemus, to be a parenthefis ; which, in my epinign, clears the text of all obfcurity. By the change of the perfon, in the four laft lines “The jfixth Book of th ENETD. 49 here till, by the air and tranquillity of the place, they have entirely got the better of the impurity contracted in the world, have had every impreflion of the pains of purgatory worn out, and are reftored to their original fimplicity of nature. Thus refined, they are, at the end of a thoufand years +, fummoned by a divine agent, or god, to meet in one great aflembly, where they drink of Lethe to wafh away remembrance, and then, in compliance with their own inclination, are fent back to the earth to animate new bodies. Havine ended this account, ANCHISEs, with his fon and the Sybil, paffes to a rifing ground, and points out, in a ftate of pre-exiftence, a proceflion of Roman heroes, who were in due time to defcend from him ; briefly defcribing their feveral cha- racters, in a moft fublime {train of poetical prophecy. I sHALL fubjoin a few remarks on the concluding fcene of this noble epifode ;—on the gates of horn and ivory. Thefe gates have given no little trouble to critics, both ancient and modern ; who, after all, feem to have been not very fortunate in their Vor. WH. is ok conjectures. lines of the fpeech,—Has omnes,—volvere,—incipiant,—revifant, it appears, that Awn- cuises does not include himfelf among thofe who were to return to the world; which afcertains fufficiently the import of tenemus. The learned Ruezus conftrues the paflage in a way fomewhat different ; but his general account of the poet’s doétrine differs not effentially from mine. + Mors literally, ‘‘ When they have rolled the wheel, or circle, for a thoufand “¢ years ;” that is, when the revolution of a thoufand years is completed. For this interpretation we are indebted to Servius, who tells us further, that this fingular phrafe was taken from Ennivs. Anciently perhaps rota might mean a carc/e, (as well as a wheel,) and poetically a year; fo that, in Ewnius’s time, vol/vere rotam might be a figurative phrafe of the fame import with annum peragere, to pa/s.a year. ‘The original meaning of annus is a circle, whence the diminutive annulus, a ring. The fame reference to the circular nature of the year, may be feen in the Greek éuevros, which Virait cer- tainly had in his mind when he wrote, ‘‘ Atque 7m /e fua per veltigia volvitur annus.” When this is attended to, our author’s ufe of the phrafe in queftion will appear not fo harfh as it might otherwife be thought to be, and not at all too figurative in this very folemn part of the poem. a REMARKS om Jome Pafages of conjectures. This is owing, not to obfcurity in the poet, but to the refinement of thofe interpreters, who miftook a plain paflage for a profound allegory, and were determined to find a fecret meaning init. The gate of ivory, fay they, tranfmits falfe dreams, and.that of horn true ones; and EngzAs and _ his companion are difmifled from Elyfium, and let into the upper world, through the ivory gate. What can this imply, but that the poet meant to infinuate, that every thing he had faid con- cerning a ftate of future retribution, was nothing more than a fallacious dream ? And, in fupport of this conjecture, they ge- nerally quote from the Georgic three verfes to prove, that VirGIL was in his heart an Epicurean, and confequently difbe- lieved both a future ftate and a providence. The verfes are— “ Felix qui potuit rerum cognofcere caufas, Atque metus om- | “ nes, et inexorabile fatum, Subjecit pedibus, ftrepitumque ** Acherontis avari.”’ Now, in the /irf place, it does not appear to me, that thefe lines can prove their author ever to have been an Epicurean, or that he meant to fay more than ‘“‘ Happy is the -man whofe ‘“* mind philofophy has raifed above the fear of death, as well ** as above all other fears.” For, in the Georgic, he not only recommends religion and prayer, which Epicureans could not do confiftently with their principles, but again and again aflerts a providence ; and, in terms equally elegant and juft, vindi- cates the Divine wifdom in eftablifhing phyfical evil as the means of improving and elevating the mind of man. But does he not, in his fixth eclogue, give an account of the formation of the world according to the Epicurean theory? He does; and he makes it part of the fong of a drunkard: no proof that he held it in very high efteem. But, 2d/y, Suppofing our poet’s admiration of Lucretius might have made him formerly partial to the tenets of Epicu- RUS, it does not follow that he continued fo to the end of his life, The fixth Book of the ENEID. 51 life, or that he was fo while employed upon the Eneid. The duties of religion, and the fuperintending care of providence, are by no other Pagan author fo warmly enforced as in this poem ; and the energy with which, in the fixth book, and in one paflage of the eighth, (v. 666.) he afferts a future retribu- tion, feems to prove, that he was fo far in earneft with regard to this matter, as to believe, that it was not, as the Epicureans affirmed, either abfurd or improbable. Let it be remarked, in the ¢hird place, that no poet ever thought of fo prepofterous a method of pleafing and inftructing his readers, as firft to employ all his fkill in adorning his fable, and then tell them, that they ought not to believe a word of it. The true poet’s aim is very different. He adapts himfelf to the opinions that prevail among the people for whom he writes, that they may the more eafily acquiefce in his narrative; or he is careful, at leaft, to make his fable confiftent with itfelf, in order to give it as much as poflible the appearance of ferioufnefs and truth. We know, that the fcenery of the fixth book ‘is wholly fictitious ; but the Romans did not certainly know how far it might be fo: founded as it was on ancient tradition, which no hiftory they had could overturn ; and on philofophi- cal opinions, which they had never heard confuted, and which, where Revelation was unknown, might feem refpectable, on account of the abilities of PyTHAGORAS, PLATO, and other great men who had taught them. To which I may add, 4tly, as an argument decifive of the prefent queftion, That if Virert wifhed his countrymen to be- lieve him to have been of in earneft in what he had told them of a pre-exiftent and future ftate, he muft alfo have wifhed them to underftand, that the compliments he had been paying te the moft favourite characters among their anceftors were equally infincere ; and that what he had faid of the virtues of CamiL- _Lus, Brutus, Cato, Scipio, and even Aucustus himfelf, was altogether vifionary, and had as good a right to a paflage G 2 through 52 REMARKS on fome Paffages of through the ivory gate, as any other falfehood. Had Ocravia underftood this to be the poet’s meaning, fhe would not have rewarded him fo liberally for his matchlefs encomium on the | younger Marcextius. Had this indeed been his meaning, all the latter part of the fixth book would have been a ftudied in- falt on Aucustus, and the other heroes there celebrated, as well as on the whole Roman people. Strange, that the moft judi- cious writer in the world fhould commit fuch a blunder in the moft elaborate part of a poem which he had confecrated to the honour of his country, and particularly to that of his great patron AucusTus ! WE mutt therefore admit, either that Vircit had loft his fenfes, or, which is more probable, that, in fending Eneas and the Sybil through the ivory gate, he intended no farcaftic re- fle@ion either on his country or on his poetry. In a word, we muft admit, that, in this part of his fable, he was juft as much in earneft as in any other ; and that there was no more jose in Eneas’s afcent through the gate of ivory, than in his defcent through the cave of Avernus. How then are we to underftand this adventure of the gate? I anfwer, By making the poet his own interpreter, and not feeking to find things in his book which we have no good reafon to think were ever in his head. In the nineteenth book of the Odyfley, Penelope, {peaking of dreams, fays to her nurfe, that there are two gates by which they are tranfmitted to us; one made of horn, through which the true dreams pafs, and the other of ivory, which emits falfe dreams. This thought Homer probably derived from fome Egyptian cuftom or tradition, which one might dif- cufs with many quotations and much appearance of learning ; and this, no doubt, gave Virciz the hint of the paflage now before us. But Virery’s account differs from Homer’s more than the commentators feem to be aware of. Homer does not fay in what part of the world his gates are; ViRGIL’s are in Italy, not far from Cuma, and are faid to be the outlet from Elyfium The fixth Book of the ENETD. §3 Elyfium into the upper world: a wild fiction no doubt, but not more wild than that of making the cave of Avernus the in- let from the upper world into the nether. HomeEr’s gates are the gates of dreams ; VirGiL calls his the gates of fleep. The former are not faid to tranfmit any thing but dreams; of the latter, one tranfmits dreams, and the other real ghofs or hades. For thus, though all the commentators are againft: me, I muft underftand the words wmbris veris; becaufe in Vircit umbra often fignifies'a go, but never in him, nor in any other good writer, (fo far as I know) a dream. If it be afked, what ghofts they were that ufed to pafs this way; the anfwer is eafy: they were thofe who, after having been a thoufand years in Elyfium,. and taken a draught of: Lethe, were fent back to the upper world to animate new bodies.” If again it were afked, whether: fuch beings might not be of fo fubtle a nature as to work their way into the upper world Without pafling through a gate; I fhould anfwer, that vifible fubftances, which might be purified by fire, or wafhed in water, and could not get over the river Styx but ina boat, muft be fo far material at leaft, as to be ca- pable of confinement, and confequently of being fet at li- berty- Tue falfa infomnia that go out by the ivory gate may mean, either deceitful dreams, or dreams in general, that is, unfubftantial things, as oppofed to realities ; which lait I take to be the pre- ferable fignification. Be this, however, as it will, ENEAs and the Sybil were neither ghofts nor dreams, but human flefh and blood ; and could no more be fuppofed to partake of the quali- ties alluded to in the zame of the gate by which Ancuises dif- miffed them, than a man is fuppofed to be lame for having — paffed through Cripplegate, or than the Lord Mayor of Lon- don, by entering in proceffion through Temple-bar, 1s fuppofed. to have become a better churchman than before, ora better: lawyer. Through one or other of the gates of fleep the Trojan and his guide muft pafs, or they never could return to the upper- world: 54 REMARKS on fome Paffages of the ENE ID. world at all: and that gate the poet probably made choice of, which firft occurred to him ; and that probably would firft oc- cur which founded beft in his verfe: or perhaps one might fay, in the way of conjecture, that he thought fit to open the ivory gate, becaufe the other, being appropriated to the purified ghofts, might not be fo well fuited to mere mortals. This is certain, that, though the ablative eburna ftands very gracefully in the 898th line, the ablative cormea could not ; becaufe, being the foot amphimacer, it can have no place in a regular hexa- meter. >: As to the analogy that fome critics have fancied between horn and truth, and between falfehood and ivory, it is fo whimfical, -and fo abfurd, that I need not mention it. AND now, by removing the mift of allegory from VirGiL’s gates, I flatter myfelf, that I have made thefe verfes fomewhat more intelligible than they have been generally fuppofed to be ; that I have proved the latter part of this epifode to be confiftent with the reft of it; and that I have vindicated a favourite au- thor from the heavy charges of impiety and ill-manners, where- of, however repugnant to his general character, it would not be eafy for thofe to clear him who follow the common, though lefs obvious, interpretations. Ill. & CLI SEE RES SESS TE ERE RT RE LES A EE I EE SS, IS TS TEE ES TERE TI 4 Essay on RYTHMICAL MEASURES. ByWazL- TER YouNG, M.A. F.R.S, Epin. and Te ee Gofpel at Erfkine. [Read by Mr fOoHN ROBISON, Dec. 18. 1786.] AN is formed to derive pleafure from a variety of dif- ferent fources. Many of his pleafures are communi- cated by the channel of the external fenfes. Each of thefe has particular claffes of objects that are fuited to its gratification ; and thefe, being diffufed in great abundance through the works of nature, or framed by the art and ingenuity of men, become to him a fource of frequent and diverfified enjoyment. Tue pleafures which we receive through the fenfes of feeing and of hearing have ever been accounted of a nobler and more dignified nature than thofe which we receive by means of the other fenfes. They are intimately connected with, and feem, in a great meafure, to depend upon, certain higher faculties of human nature, which have fometimes been called internal fenfes. A fenfibility to them is poffefled by different men in very different degrees, and confers upon fome men a real fupe- ‘riority to others: The inferior animals do not appear to be, in any degree, pofleffed of it. It is fufceptible of cultivation and improvement. The man, therefore, who poffeffes it in a high degree, whilft he has an exquifite enjoyment of all the pleafures which are peculiar to thofe fenfes, derives, at the fame time, an. additional fatisfaction from the flattering confcioufnefs, not on- ly that he is exalted above the inferior animals, but that he is more 56 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. more perfec in his kind, and more highly improved, than ma- ny who belong to his own fpecies. Accordingly, thefe plea- fures have, in all ages, been fought after with eagernefs. Men of the greateft abilities have employed themfelves in tracing out their nature, inveftigating the different internal fenfes upon which they depend, and difcovering the various objects that are fuited to communicate them. The greateft efforts of hu- man ingenuity have been directed to obtain thefe objeéts, and to prefent them in their moft perfect ftate. Amonc the internal fenfes upon which thefe pleafures are found greatly to depend, the perception of order and propor- tion feems to have a principal place. Order and proportion are generally difcovered, in a certain degree, in every thing that communicates immediate pleafure, either to our fight or hear- ing. When, from any particular circumftance, they happen not to be perceived, the pleafure is always greatly abated; in fome cafes it is altogether deftroyed. ‘That fome kind of ar- rangement and proportion of parts is effential to every thing which is accounted beautiful, is generally acknowledged. Lefs doubt can be entertained with regard to the objects of hearing. It is an eftablifhed fa&t, that no founds can give great pleafure to the ear, unlefs they are related to one another according to certain proportions, and are difpofed in a certain order. It is equally eftablifhed, that when founds in fucceflion are fo re- lated, the pleafure which they afford is very imperfe@, unlefs their refpeCtive durations are regulated according to certain meafures. Mankind are greatly diverfified with regard to the power which they poflefs of perceiving thefe relations. Some men have that power ina much higher degree than others. Some men have a very nice perception of thefe relations in one clafs of objects, while they feem to be fcarcely fenfible of them in other claffes. Thefe differences amongft men are undoubt- edly owing in a great meafure, to habit and cultivation. They feem, On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 57 feem, however, to depend alfo, in a confiderable degree, upon natural conftitution. I wave obferved, that, in an agreeable fucceflion of founds, order and proportion take place in two different ways. Upon the one depends what is called the tone of the feveral founds, or the relation which they bear to one another with refpect to acutenefs and gravity ; upon the other depends what is often called their rythm, cadence or meafure. The latter of thefe is probably the moft important. It feems to be indifpenfably re- quired in every agreeable fucceflion of founds. A feries of notes, proportioned in tone with the utmoft nicety, and ar- ranged with the greateft art, if no meafure or proportional du- ration is obferved in them, will~communicate no pleafure, but, on the contrary, will create difguft. On the other hand, a fe- ries of founds juftly proportioned in duration, and artfully dif- pofed, will always give pleafure, although every one of them fhould be expreffed in the fame-tone, and even although they fhould be expreffed in different tones, the proportions of which cannot be perceived by the ear. The beating of a drum is agreeable to the ear, and fometimes has a confiderable effect upon the mind. The fyllables which compofe words differ in length according to certain proportions, which may be felt by the ear. Words, therefore, may be arranged in rythm. When this arrangement is made with art, the rythm is agreeable, even when it is expreffed in the tones of fpeech in which no mufical proportion is perceived. Again, though men poffefs, in diffe- rent degrees, the power of feeling the proportional duration of fucceflive founds, and of relifhing an agreeable rythm, there is perhaps no man altogether deftitute of it. On the other hand, mens power of perceiving the mufical relations of founds, and of relifhing an artful combination of them, is much more diverfified: | The differences among them in this refpect are wider and more ftriking. In fome men, that power is fcarcely -difcernible, who neverthelefs may be able to judge of rythm Vot. II. H with. 58 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. with accuracy, and to enjoy it with fenfibility. From this cir- cumftance, too, we are led to conclude, that of thefe two powers, that by which we perceive and enjoy rythm is of greateft importance to our gratification. Tone is the province of the mufician alone. Rythm is equally the province of the mufician and the poet. It is alfo, in fome degree, an object of attention to the orator and profe writer. Although the general principles and foundations of rythm, as it takes place in the works of thefe different artifts, may be nearly the fame, the particular application of thefe, and the extent to which it is carried by each of them, are diffe- rent. It may accordingly be diftinguifhed into three kinds, viz. mufical, poetical and profaic. It is propofed, in the following Eflay, to endeavour to inve- ftigate fome of the leading principles of the two firft kinds of rythm, the mufical and the poetical, and afterwards to fubjoin. fome additional remarks: and illuftrations upon each. of them. AmoncstT the ancients, mufic was feldom or never ufed: but as an auxiliary to poetry. Its rythm, therefore, was regulated, in a great meafure, by that of the poetry to which it was adapted. Amongft the moderns, too, mufic and poetry are frequently united; and by this union their greateft effects are produced. As, however, mufic has been greatly cultivated and improved by the moderns, it is enabled alfo to fubfift alone, and in that fituation to produce very pleafing effects. In this feparate {tate it will be proper to confider it at prefent. And here it will readily occur, that variety, within certain limits, is. neceflary to mufical rythm. In poetry, the proportion in du- ration of fingle contiguous founds feldom exceeds that of two: to one. This. proportion does not admit of great variety. When a poem, however, is recited, the attention of the hearer is chiefly engaged by the fentiments, the images and the diction. The rythm is frequently confidered only as an accidental. grace, which we are led by habit to expect in every compofi- tlom On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 59. tion that bears the name of poetry. In mufic, on the other hand, a principal part of the pleafure to be communicated muft depend upon the rythm; and therefore in mufic other proportions in duration, befides that of two to one, muft be admitted. In order then that thefe proportions may be felt, and that uniformity may be perceived amidft this variety, it is neceflary that the duration of the fucceflive founds be regulated according to fome fixed ftandard or meafure, which may be obvious to the hearer. This ftandard muft be a determined portion of time, of which every found muft be either an aliquot part or a multiple. TIME is a meafurable quantity, or may be confidered under the ideas of equal, or of greater and lefs. Moft men are capable of perceiving equal intervals of time, provided thofe intervals do not exceed a certain magnitude. , When we hear a number of fucceflive ftrokes, we can generally determine whe- ther the intervals betwixt them are equal or unequal. We ac- quire this idea of equal intervals of time, from the motion of our own limbs, and of thofe of other animals, in walking or flying, which nature, for the purpofes of eafe and grace, has determined to be an uniform motion. We acquire the fame idea from the movement of pendulums, and from the beating of clocks and watches. By a habitual attention to thefe, men come by degrees to have a very accurate perception of {mall equal intervals of time. WHEN we have fixed our attention upon any fuch ‘interval, and confider it as an unit of time, we can fuppofe it divided into a certain number of equal parts; and by motion we actually can make fuch a divifion. _When we ftand befide a clock, we can, with great eafe, make a certain number of uniform or equal timed ftrokes in the intervals betwixt the feveral beats. This power of divifion, however, has its limits. Although we may conceive an interval to be divided into any number of Hoe equa! 60 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. equal parts, the number of parts into which we actually can divide it muft depend upon the powers which we have of per- forming quick motions. Thefe powers are very limited. The roll of a drum, the moft rapid movement of a mufician upon an inftrument, does not divide a fecond of time into much more than fixteen or eighteen equal parts, hardly ever into twenty-four. Our power of dividing a fimall interval of time, equally and uniformly, and of perceiving fuch a divifion by the ear, is alfo confined to certain proportions. The fimpleft and the eafieft divifion is into two, or any of its powers which are within the limits of practicability. We can divide an interval into two or into four equal parts with almoft the fame eafe. Having ob- tained either of thefe divifions, we can alfo confider each of the parts as an unit, and fubdivide it into two or four, thus making a divifion into eight, or, if our powers of quick motion will admit, into fixteen*. Beyond this we cannot carry the powers. of two in the divifion of fingle intervals. The divifion into: three equal parts is not fo fimple as that intotwo. By practice, however, it comes to be equally eafy. Having eftablifhed this. divifion, we can, as in the former cafe, fubdivide each of them into twos, into threes or into fours, thus obtaining a divifion. into fix, nine and twelve. We alfo obtain the numbers fix and twelve, by breaking down into threes each of the parts of a divifion by two or four. A divifion into five equal parts re- quires a confiderable effort of the attention. We fometimes: meet with a fucceffion of fuch divifions in the works of mufi- cians. In executing fuch paflages, the performer, fixing his attention upon the unit, probably rums on to the end of the fucceflion * Ercut is moft eafily conceived as two fours; fixteen is always conceived as. four fours. + Six we can indifferently conceive as three twos or as two threes ; nine we muft con- ceive as three threes; twelve we can either conceive as three fours or four threes; we can alfo conceive it as two fixes, but with mere difficulty as fix twos. On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 6% fueceflion as uniformly as he can, without greatly regarding the numbers. When we attempt the divifion into five, we are often difpofed to break down the interval into two parts *, and fubdivide the one part into three, and the other into two, ma- king the two either equal to each other, or in the proportion of one and two. In the fame manner, when we attempt the divi+ fion of an interval into feven, we are perhaps irrefiftibly led to halve it, giving three to the one half and four to the other. A divifion into any of the higher primes is impracticable. _ We have not only the power of dividing and fubdividing {mall intervals or units of time in the manner I have explained, but we can alfo form aggregates of them, by telling off equal parcels of them, when they are rendered fenfible to the ear by repeated ftrokes or founds. We do this, by attending particu- larly to the firft of each of the parcels. The confequence of this is, that thopgh the fucceflive ftrokes give out exactly the fanie found, and are made with the fame degree of force, we fhall infallibly imagine the firft of each of our parcels to be fomewhat. louder or more ftrongly expreffed than the others. When we have counted off one parcel, the mind confiders the whole as one act; the parcel is as it were fet by, and a new effort is made to count off the next parcel. Hence the firft of this parcel, being marked by a particular effort of the mind, and as it were reprefenting the whole parcel, ftrikes it more ftrongly than the reft, and is therefore conceived as louder ; and the laft of the parcel, being leaft attended to by the mind, is conceived as feeble, thus giving us the impreflion of fomething like a break or paufe betwixt the parcels. Thus, when we liften. ‘to the beats of a watch, we are at firft difpofed to reckon them: by pairs ; and we invariably find, that the firft of each pair is confidered by us as a ftrong, and the other as a feeble found. We * More efpecially if, in former parts of the fucceflion, the fame interval has. been found frequently divided into two. 62 Qn RYTHMICAL MEASURES. ‘We maybe eafily fatisfied, however, that this is not always owing to any real inequality in the force of the founds ; be- ‘caufe we can often reverfe this order, by fixing the attention upon one of our feeble founds, and confidering it as the firft of a parcel. After-we have liftened for fome time to the beats, according to this new arrangement, we {till find that the firft -of each pair is ftrong, and the other feeble. We can tell off the beats, not only by pairs, but alfo by parcels of three, four and other numbers ;’and in every cafe we uniformly imagine ‘the firft of each parcel to be more forcible than the others. We. form thefe aggregates with greateft eafe, according to the fame proportions in which we make the divifions formerly defcribed. We count off the fucceflive equal intervals, marked by repeated founds, moft eafily, by parcels of two and of four. When the fingle intervals are not large, we can alfo make parcels of eight. Thefe arrangements give what the muficians call common time. We.can alfo, with fufficient eafe, reckon them by par- cels of three and of fix, thus obtaining what is called triple time. We can do more: we can even form aggregates of five equal intervals. We feem to do this by firft telling off two pairs, then accounting the fifth a feeble found, fixing the at- tention upon the fixth, and making that the firft of the next two pairs, and fo proceeding. We might, in the fame manner, form aggregates of feven. As, however, by.counting off three fucceflive pairs, the mind has in a manner eftablifhed the arrangement of ftrong and feeble founds, it becomes greatly more difficult to confider the feventh as a feeble found, and to fall into the new arrangement. Even when we reckon by par- cels of five, we are defirous of having fome little time to efta- blifh our new arrangement ; and when the intervals marked by the fucceflive founds are perfectly equal, we always feel as if the fixth came upon us too foon; we wifh that it might be fufpended till the time of the third pair is completed. Aggre- gates of five occur frequently in poetry. They have fome- times, On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 63 times, we are told, been attempted alfo in modern mufic, but never with fuccefs, and are now univerfally laid afide *. Besipes the powers which we have of dividing and fubdi- viding {mall equal intervals or units of time, and of counting them off by equal fucceffive parcels, we have ftill the farther power of combining together certain numbers of thefe parcels, or of feeling fuch combinations, and confidering them as fomething feparate and diftin@ from what went before and what is to come after. We make thefe combinations by twos, by threes and by fours, rarely I believe by any other num- bers. The parcels by which we firft count off the intervals, are, in modern mufic, called éars, being marked in writing by perpendicular lines drawn acrofs the ftave. Combinations of two, three or four of thefe bars are called mufical phrafes or ftrains. The firft note of every bar is accented +. In parcels of four, the third, being the firft of a pair is alfo accented, but not fo ftrongly as the firft. THIS: * Tue ancients defined certain meafures, which they confidered as aggregates of five: and of feven, as meafures of which rythmical fucceffions might be formed. Thefe they fuppofed to be made up of lefler meafures, bearing to one another, in the one cafe, the fefquialter proportion, or that of two to three, and in the other cafe the epitrite proportion, or that of three to four. Whether they had, or could have, a diftin&t feel- ing of thefe numbers, upon hearing a fucceffion of' fuch meafures expreffed in fyllables, or whether fuch a fucceffion could be expreffed fo as to communicate fuch a feeling, are matters with regard to which f am much inclined to doubt. We may indeed conceive aggregates of five to be formed by counting off twos and threes, or threes and twos alternately ; and, in like manner, aggregates of feven, by counting off threes and fours; or fours andthrees. This, however, can hardly be done, unlefs the fingle times are of fuch magnitnde,.as that they may be confidered as units of time, which is not the cafe with the fhort fyllables of words. Even when the fingle times are fufficiently large, the counting them off by alternate even and odd numbers, is a difficult, perhaps an unna- tural operation. It requires fueh.a conftant and even:painful effort of the attention, as is inconfiftent with that eafe and fimplicity of conception and operation, which is effen- tial to every thing that is agreeable. It the attention is relaxed, we muft either hold entirely by one number, or run into-confufion. ‘ + ITuave here ufed the term accent in its mufical acceptation, to denote that imagi-- nary degree of force or emphafis which a found acquires from the circumftance of’ its being the firft of a parcel in a rythmical fucceffion. 64 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. Tu1s procefs of dividing and fubdividing, of compounding and fupercompounding fmall intervals or units of time, as I have now ftated it, appears, at firft view, to be extremely com- plicated. The whole, however, is undoubtedly gone through by every one who executes a piece of regular mufic in juft time, and by every one who hears a piece’ of mufic, and per- ceives the meafure of it; and this apparently without any la- bour or exertion of the mind. Perhaps the procefs, by which we perceive the relations in tone, which mufical founds bear to each other, is. {till more complicated, and yet this goes on even without our confcioufneds. . “WHEN we hear a piece of mufic, we firft mark the fingle intervals or units of time; afterwards, from the fuperior de- gree of force with which the accented notes are exprefled, or from fome circumftances in the found or the rythm which draw the attention to thefe notes, we very quickly difcover, how many intervals are contained in each of the equal parcels, ac- cording to which the meafure is conftructed. Having efta- blifhed this, we can with great eafe go along with the perform- er, and feel the proportional duration of every note. We are provided with a ftandard or fcale, to which we can refer the moft minute divifions that can be made, and by which we can meafure the longeft notes that may occur. If we are unac- quainted with the piece, and do not at firft perceive the mea- fure, we are kept, during all that time, in a difagreeable ftate of fufpenfe, and are unable to liften with any degree of pleafure or fatisfaction. THE meafure is moft eafily perceived when the bars natu- rally combine into twos or fours, and when of thefe combina- tions the whole or each part of the piece contains a determinate even number. In this manner, the fimple popular airs, fuch as marches, gavots and minuets, are conftructed. ‘There are very few who cannot eafily perceive and relifh the meafure in fuch airs. This regular ftru€ture, however, is not obferved in On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 65 in all mufic. In fome pieces, the bars do not regularly com- bine into phrafes, or, if they do, the phrafes do not always contain the fame number of bars. The number of the bars, too, is indeterminate, and fometimes very great. In fuch pieces, then, the meafure muft in general be formed of fingle bars or parcels ; and if the rythm is variegated by a confidera- ble range of long and fhort notes, and if the accented notes do not forcibly engage the attention, an unpractifed hearer will fometimes hardly perceive the meafure at all. When this hap- pens to be the cafe, it is impoffible that he can receive any great pleafure from that mufic. According to the language ufed upon fuch occafions, he does not underftand it. Such difficult and perplexed meafures, however, occur more rarely in the later compofitions than in thofe of the laft century. In fuch meafures, beating of time is of great ufe both to the performer and to the hearer. This feems to have been a practice ever fince man had an idea of rythmical meafures. We are naturally difpofed, upon hearing fuch meafures diftinct- ly exprefled, to accompany them with correfponding motions of the body; and hence probably the origin of dancing, to which exercife the term rythm has been frequently applied. The beating of time is performed by putting down the hand or foot, and giving a ftroke at the inftant in which the firft note of every bar begins to be founded, and raifing them up during the remaining time of the bar. This both direéts the performer to execute the piece in uniform time, and enables the hearer readily to perceive the accented notes, and to afcertain the meafure. The ancients, in the performance of their mu- fic, and efpecially of their dramatical mufic, where the band was numerous, beat time with great force and noife. This was perhaps neceflary, as their meafures were frequently un- equal .and irregular. The moderns, who generally conftruct their mufic by equal and regular meafures, have laid afide that practice in every cafe where it is not indifpenfable. We un- Vo. II. I doubtedly 66 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. doubtedly liften with more fatisfaction when we can perceive the meafure from the real accent and expreflion of the notes, than when we mutt be aflifted by the continual repetition of un- mufical founds. Sucu then feem to be the nature, the extent and the man- ner of operation of what may be called our rythmical powers, or thofe powers by which we afcertain and perceive the propor- tional magnitudes of fmall intervals of time, when thefe are marked out by motion, or by fucceflive founds. And from what has been faid, we eafily fee what a prodigious variety may be introduced into mufical rythm, from the great range of long and fhort founds which may be occafionally employed, and which may be difpofed and combined in a number of different ways almoft infinite, without perplexing the hearer, or hinder- ing him from readily and accurately feeling the proportional: duration of each. In the foregoing account of thefeé powers, I have frequently: fpoken of fingle intervals or units of time. It may be proper,. in this place, to explain a little more fully what I underftood by thefe terms. It will readily occur to every one, that I did not mean to exprefs by them a certain invariable portion of ab- folute duration. hefe units, like units in all other fubjeds, are indeterminate and relative magnitudes. They mark fome- times a greater, and at other times a lefs portion of abfolute duration. The fame portion of abfolute time will, upon diffe- rent occafions, be confidered as an unit, as a multiple and as a part. Every one, however, who has been converfant in mufic, experiences, that when he performs, or when: he hears and goes: along with a piece of mufic, there are certain notes which he: uniformly confiders as fingle durations, of which all the longer notes that occur are aggregates, and the fhorter notes are parts. He may therefore be very properly faid to have all. this while the idea of an unity of time. Although thefe units of time differ confiderably in their abfolute duration 1 in. different move- ments, On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. Wey, ments, this difference is undoubtedly confined within certain limits. They can fcarcely be much greater nor much lefs than the intervals marked by thofe natural uniform motions from which our original impreflions of rythmical movement are de- rived, and particularly the motion of our own limbs in walk- ing or running. Perhaps the longeft found which can be con- fidered as a fingle undivided duration, is hardly equal to the time of two feconds; and the fhorteft which can be eafily counted without parcelling, is not much lefs than half a fecond, or than the time in which we can diftin@ly pronounce the nu- meral names in fucceflion. We can indeed attend to the fingle beats of a watch, but not without a confiderable exertion of the mind; we reckon them much more eafily by pairs or by fours. Ir might here be afked, what occafion is there, in order to explain our perception of rythmical proportion, for fuppofing it neceflary that the two oppofite operations of divifion and combination go on at the fame time? Would it not be more fimple and more natural to fuppofe, that the whole procefs is carried on in the fame direction, and by the fame operation ; and that either the longeft found which occurs in the fucceflion is to be accounted the unit or ftandard, and all the fhorter ones formed and conceived as proportional divifions of-it; or elfe, that the fhorteft found is to be taken for the unit, and all the longer founds conceived as formed by combination? The an- fwer is, that the procefs of dividing and combining appears to be the procefs of nature; and, for proof of this, appeal might be made to experience. When a perfon is inftructed in mufic, he is taught to mark the time of a femibreve by four uniform motions of the hand. He is thus accuftomed to confider it, not as one time, but as four times, expreffed, not feparately and diftinély, but in continuance; and I may venture to fay, that the moft experienced mufician does not conceive fuch lengthened founds in a different manner. By practice and dif- ba cipline, 68 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. cipline, indeed, he is enabled to give them a fmooth and unt- form intonation, without marking the fingle times as they pafs, by a fwell or more forcible expreffion ; but ftill he is all the while reckoning thofe fingle times in his mind, or attending to the accompaniment by which they are for the moft part di- ftinétly articulated. Thefe lengthened founds; therefore, never are conceived as units or fingle durations, but always as com- pounds. On the other hand, many founds occur in mufic which are too minute to be counted individually. Thefe, therefore, can only be conceived in groups, by being referred to fome longer duration of which they are aliquot parts. This may be farther proved from the following circumftance: In mufical fucceflions, we often find a duration which may be confidered as an unit, divided at one time into fours, and at another time into threes or triplets. Thefe minute times, therefore, will be to’ one another in the proportion of three to four. If, therefore, it is thought practicable to account fuch fmall time the unit or ftandard of a rythmical fucceffion, to which all the other times are to be referred, and by which they are to be eftimated, I would afk, which of the two minute times is to be taken for the unit, in the cafe above defcribed? If the fmalleft is pitched upon, I would farther afk, by what means are we enabled to exprefs the other accurately, in pro- portion to it as four to three, or to feel this proportion as fub- fifting betwixt them, efpecially as both are fuppofed to be in- capable of further divifion ? The matter feems to be impof_ible. Such paflages, however, are, by no means, confidered as diffi- eult or embarrafling, even by young performers. Thefe fmall times, therefore, are not conceived as units, but as divi- fions, by the fimple numbers four and three, of fome longer duration, which has been often diftinctly marked in the former parts of the piece, and with which the mind is fa- miliar. THESE On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 69 THEsE oppofite operations of divifion and combination faci- litate and fimplify the procefs of rythmical perception, and, at the fame time, enable us to take in a much wider range of proportion, than could be done if we proceeded only in one di- rection. As the unit is commonly fome intermediate time be- twixt the longeft and the fhorteft which occurs in the fucceffion, it bears no very diftant proportion to either of them. We frequently meet with femibreves and femiquavers in the fame piece of mufic ; notes which are to one another in the proportion of one to fixteen. This proportion is too great to be conceived and felt by a fingle operation of the mind. When, however, the crotchet is accounted the unit, we are enabled to eftimate, and accurately to exprefs, thefe diftant times, without going beyond the fimple and familiar proportion of four to one, on either hand. THE ancients indeed accounted their fmalleft time as the unit or ftandard of rythmical movement. This fmalleft time, however, was not lefs than that of a fhort fyllable in pronun- ciation, and they had no founds in their fucceflions, which they confidered as bearing to this a greater proportion than that of twoto one. It may alfo be of importance to remark, that as their arithmetic was very imperfe€t, compared with. that of the moderns, it 1s very probable that they had not the fame ideas of fractional divifion, which we now have. In treating upon any fubjedt, therefore, in which number is concerned, they would naturally take for their unit the fmalleft of the kind which they were examining, fomething that was either naturally indivifible, or that they did not expedét to be under the neceflity of dividing. Thus ARIsTIDES QuUINTILIANUs calls the fingle time of rythmical movement eyuéo»; a term by which, as he tells us, geometricians exprefled that which has no parts. This time, he adds, being without parts, holds, in fome degree, the place of unity *. The moderns, on the other hand, being able * Page 32, 33. Edit. Meib. Zo On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. able to conceive and exprefs proportional divifions of the unit, with as much eafe and accuracy as they do aggregate numbers, ‘have it in their power to take their unit of fuch dimenfion as beft fuits the nature of the fubje@t. This circumftance may perhaps enable us to account for fome of thofe differences which take place betwixt the opinions of the ancients and of the moderns, upon the fubject of rythm. THERE area few remarks which it may be neceflary to make, before I conclude this part of the fubjeé. ‘In mufic, we fometimes find the unit of time divided into ‘two unequal parts, in the proportion either of two to one, or of three to one. In making or perceiving this divifion, we do not firft break down the unit into three or four, and then allow two or three of thefe to the firft note, and the remaining one to the other. We have not leifure for this operation. We merely conceive the one as prolonged and accented, and the other as abrupt and feeble. Hence, when we hear fuch divifions, it is very difficult, without the affiftance of the other parts of the meafure, to determine whether they are made according to the one proportion or the other. A practifed ear will frequently miftake, and in writing mufic the one is fometimes fubftituted for the other. AFTER a diftinct impreflion has been obtained of the units of which a rythmical fucceffion is compofed, and of the par- cels according to which it is conftructed, we do not lofe that impreffion, although the fucceflion fhould ftop, or no found be _ heard, during the time of one or more of the units. Thefe vacant or filent times, if they are not too long continued, we reckon with nearly the fame eafe and certainty, as if they had all been exprefled by founds ; and we clearly perceive the par- ticular part of the meafure at which the fucceflion of founds recommences. Thefe filent times are called refs in mufic, and are always accounted as part of the meafure. But this is not all. Wecan in a manner ftop the courfe of the rythmical movement, On RYTHMIGAL MEASURES. a1. movement, or fufpend the flow of the units, during a time which is either indeterminate, or of which we take no exact account, and proceed afterwards as if no fuch paufe had been made. Thefe ad libitum paufes, as they are called in mufic, are feldom taken into the meafure, or confidered as making any part of it. The intention of them is to roufe and ftrike the mind of the hearer ; and there are various occafions on which: they may be introduced with very happy effect. Modern mu- ficians often ufe them as opportunities of difplaying the extent of their invention and execution, when lofing fight of the compofer, giving the reins to their fancy, and little regarding rule or meafure, they entertain their hearers with a feries of rapid divifions through the whole compafs of their inftrument, and of uncommon and irregular modulations. But farther, we can not only fufpend for a time the courfe of the rythmical movement in the manner above defcribed, we can alfo render it occafionally flower or quicker, by increafing or leffening the dimenfion of the unit, when we wifh to. exprefs a heavy lan- guid movement, or one that is light and animated; and after having executed a part of the fucceffion in that manner, we can often, with great accuracy, refume our firft unit, or re- turn to our original time. We probably do this with moft cer-- tainty, when this enlargement or diminution of the unit is made in fome fenfible proportion, as that of two to one. This practice, and the effects of it, were well known to the an- cients. They made it a branch of their rythmical inftitution,. under the title of Ayaya puduing, or Dudius Rythmicus.. In mufic, the accented note, or beginning of the meafure,. is not always the firft note that is founded.; it is:often preceded by one or more feeble notes, which are placed before the bar or perpendicular line which marks the commencement of the firft meafure. Thefe introductory notes are thought to give a foftnefs and delicacy to the opening of the piece. In regular mufic, when the parts are repeated, the time of thefe notes 1s) fe On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. is always compenfated at the conclufion of the ftrain. The moft. graceful clofe of a rythmical fucceffion is when the laft found is long. We alfo reft upon this found with moft fatis- faction when it begins upon an accented part of the meafure. In this cafe, that meafure may be left incomplete, by the exa& quantity of the introdu@tory note; fo that when the ftrain is repeated, this incomplete bar at the end, together with the in- troductory note at the beginning, make up one entire mea- fure. I now come to make fome obfervations upon the rythm of poetry. Ir has already been remarked, that words being compofed of fyllables which differ in length according to certain propor- tions, are fufceptible of rythm. In all compofitions, therefore, the object of which is to pleafe and to affect, it has been the general practice to arrange the words in fome agreeable rythm. One very common method for attaining this end has been, to form the words into parcels, according to certain mea- fures and proportions ; and in order that thefe parcels may be more readily perceived and attended to by the reader, to write them‘*out in feparate lines. Tuts poetical rythm cannot poflibly be fo various and com- plicated as the mufical. The fame principles, however, to a certain extent, take place in both. We find in poetry {mall intervals or units of time regularly divided and combined. The divifions, indeed, cannot poflibly be fo minute as they often are in mufic; neither are the parcels fo equal and uni- form. We have alfo in poetry accented and feeble founds ; and verfes, like mufical ftrains, are often introduced by one or more feeble founds, which fometimes are compenfated at the end of the verfe, and at other times are not. In poetry, as in mufic, we often make up a part of the meafure by refts or filent times. In reciting verfes, too, we can make indefinite paufes ; and On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 73 and we are often infenfibly led by the fentiments or by the ftructure of the words, to execute the ductus rythmicus, or occa- fionally to accelerate or retard the movement. In the ancient Greek and Latin languages, the proportion betwixt the longand the fhort fyllables is better afcertained, more diftinétly marked, and more fenfibly felt, than it is in the mo- dern languages of Europe. Thofe languages are, therefore, fufceptible of a more perfect and a more diverfified rythm. . The poets who have written in them have availed themfelves of this advantage, and have left us in their works a variety of very pleafing rythmical meafures. Critics have difcovered the rules by which thefe meafures were conftructed ; and, in order to explain them with greater eafe, have eftablifhed and defined different fmall fcales of long and fhort fyllables, which have been called metrical feet, and by which the different meafures have been parcelled out into their component parts. The names and the nature of thefe feet are generally known, and need not, in this place, be explained. I fhall only, at this time, make two obfervations upon them. The firft is, that they feem, in general, to mark what I have formerly called fin- gle intervals or units of time, and thefe not very large. Any one may find, when he recites a verfe, that he can eafily pro- nounce two feet in a fecond; but that he can hardly draw them out, fo as that each of them fhall occupy the time of a fecond. The other obfervation is, that it does not appear to have been the intention of the perfons who defined and applied thefe feet, to divide verfes by them always into equal intervals of time. The formation of them proceeds upon the fuppofi- tion, that when a perfon recites a poem, he pronounces every fhort fyllable in one determined fpace of time, and every long fyllable in a {pace of time exactly double of that in which he pronounces a fhort one. The real duration, therefore, of any one foot will be to the real duration of any other foot exactly in proportion to the number of thefe fmalleft times contained sio¥ OLe II. K in . 74 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. in each; and this can be accurately determined, by obferving the number of long and fhort fyllables in each of them, and accounting every long fyllable equivalent to two fhort ones. In this manner we find, that the duration of an iambus or tro- cheus is to the duration of a fpondzus or a dactylus exaétly in the proportion of three to four. When thefe feet of unequal time, therefore, occur in the fame verfe, which frequently happens in fcanning, it is evident, that, upon this fuppofition, they do not divide that verfe according to equal intervals of time. Whether the fuppofition of this proportion, invariably fubfifting betwixt long and fhort fyllables, upon which this fyftem depends, be in every cafe well founded, may be the fub- ject of future enquiry. THE units of time, of which the duration of verfes 1s made up, are fometimes divided into twos and fours, and fome- times into threes. Of the firft we have an inftance in the com- mon hexameter verfe of the ancients. This is a regular rythm, the units being all equal, and formed into equal parcels. The number, of which the parcels confift, is fix. It may there- fore be confidered as a triple meafure. In verfes, as well as in other rythmical fucceffions, the parcels of which confift of any number greater than three, we are always difpofed to break down thefe parcels into the {maller numbers of which they are compofed, or to confider the whole parcel as an aggregate of thefe fmaller parcels. This is the origin of what is called the paufe or cefural ftop in verfes.” As, according to what was formerly ftated, the clofe of a rythmical fucceflion, whether final or partial, is moft agreeable, when the laft found is long and accented, and as we are often difpofed to begin a fucceffion with one or more feeble founds ; fo, in making the divifions of verfes, we reft with moft fatisfa€tion upon a long fyllable in an accented part of the meafure, and begin the fucceeding — member moft eafily with a fhort or feeble fyllable, which we, in a manner, pafs over, and confider as introductory to the meafure. 7 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 75 meafure. The moft fimple divifion of fix is into two threes. Hence we generally wifh to conclude the firft member of a hexameter verfe with the firft fyllable of the third foot; and are pleafed, when we have an opportunity of doing fo, by that fyllable being the termination of a word. Tityre, tu patule — recubans fub tegmine fagi. Nos patriz fines — nos dulcia linquimus arva. This divifion of the hexameter verfe, not only gratifies the na- tural propenfities above mentioned, but, as the concluding fyl- lable of the verfe is in the unaccented part of the meafure, it gives a variety to the cadence of the two members, and pre- vents them from being fimilar or convertible *, which is al- ways confidered as a fault in the ftructure of verfes, and un- doubtedly gives them a difgufting uniformity. We can alfo make the break at the fecond fyllable of the third foot, when it happens to be a dattyle; as, in this cafe, we have ftill a feeble found with which to begin the fecond member, and the time of the firft member is more nearly completed. Formofam refonare — doces Amaryllida filvas. This penthemimer divifion of the hexameter verfe, though the moft agreeable, does not always take place. To obtain variety, it is neceflary that it fhould occafionally be divided otherwife. The number fix may alfo be eafily conceived as made up of three pairs. By making the break at the firft fyllable of the fourth foot, we have two pairs, deficient of their juft time by the feeble fyllable or fyllables, which are introductory to the meafure of the fucceeding member. I}le meas errare boves — ut cernis, et ipfum. Ku@ The * As, Cornua veletarum — vertimus antennarum, 76 On RY THMICAL MEASURES. The grammarians, led by the fyftem of half-feet, would not probably confider the divifion which I have made of the fifth line of VirGiL’s firft Eclogue, quoted above, as the juft one. Fhey would rather fuppofe that the break took place at the end of the word doces. They would alfo fuppofe a fubordinate di- vifion at the word formofam. | THE divifion of the units into twos and fours, which takes place in the hexameter verfe, feems beft fuited to the ftructure of the Latin and Greek languages. Pure trochaic or iambic verfes, where every alternate fyllable is profodically long, and the others are fhort, occur but rarely in their works. Our lan- guage, again, feems fcarcely to admit of fuch divifions. In our poetry, the fyllables are arranged lefs according to their real quantity, than according to the accent * with which we are accuftomed to pronounce them. An accented fyllable has ak ways the effect of a long one, and is qualified for being placed in the leading or accented part of a poetical meafure. An un- accented fyllable, on the other hand, gives us the impreffion of a fhort one, though by the common rules of profody it ought to be long, and though itis, in reality, pronounced long. i is alfo difqualified for being placed in the accented part of a meafure. We have few inftances of areal dactylus in fingle words, though three fhort fyllables, from the accent with which the firft is pronounced, often affumes the appearance of one. Englith verfes are conftructed for the moft part by feet of two fyllables. ‘The proportion which thefe two fyllables bear to one another is feldom perceived with accuracy; neither is it of great importance that it fhould be fo perceived, provided the times of the entire feet, or of the two fyllables taken together, be nearly equal. The impreflion, however, which thefe feet, for * Wuen I apply the term accent to fyllables, I.ufe it-in its grammatical acceptation, to denote that fuperior force of articulation, and that inflection of the voice, with which we always mark in our pronunciation fome particular fyllable or fyllables of every. word. On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 77 for the moft part, communicate, is that of a trochzus or iambus. Our poets alfo conftruct verfes fometimes by feet of three fyllables. Thefe feet, although the fyllables of which they are compofed are, for the moft part, nearly equal, give us the imprefflion of fomething like a dactylus or anapeftus, according as the accented fyllable is the firft or the laft of the three. In regard to their ftructure, therefore, Englifh verfes have been diftinguifhed into three kinds, trochaic, iambic and ana- peftic *. ALTHOUGH all iambic verfes are to be confidered as trochaics having a feeble fyllable introductory to the meafure, and ought always to be fo fcanned, yet the impreffion which thefe two: verfes make upon the ear, and the effects which they have upon the mind, are fomewhat different. When. we begin with the feeble found, we pafs eafily and gently from it to the ftrong found. We utter the ftrong found without much exertion, and can dwell upon it for fome time. On the contrary, when the ftrong found comes firft, we exprefs it with more difficulty and force, and pafs on to the fucceeding feeble found with more ra- pidity. Hence trochaics have been generally reckoned fome- what quicker in their movement than. iambics, and. more pro- per for exprefling vehemence or gaiety. As iambic verfes: themfelves, however, have naturally a light and airy caft, efpe- cially when the combinations are made by even numbers, our beft poets, to obviate this, have, in-their more’ ferious compo- fitions, generally adopted a combination of five.. This has ac- cordingly been denominated the Englifh heroic meafure. The regular model of this verfe is as.follows. The firft. fyllable is unaccented, or fhort and introductory to the meafure.. This is fucceeded by four feet of two fyllables, which, as the accent takes # Eneuisn trochaic and iambic verfes may be fet to mufic in‘common or in triple time indifferently. Anapzeftic verfes require, for the moft part, to be fet in triple time.- Suenston’s Paftoral Ballad fet. in common time, would lJofe much of its beauty and. delicacy. 78 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. takes place upon the firft fyllable, may be confidered as tro- chees. After thefe, there is a {trong or accented fyllable, which clofes the verfe, and, along with the introductory fyllable of the next line, completes the number of five feet *. To | wake the | foul — by | tender | ftrokes of | art. This model is not always obferved. Our beft poets make fre- ‘quent deviations from it, in order to give variety to the cadence of their verfes, or to render them more expreflive of the fenti- ments or emotions which they with to convey. Tuts verfe, like the ancient hexameter, admits of a break or divifion. As, according to what was formerly obferved, we generally reckon combinations of five by two pairs and an odd one, we make this break with moft fatisfaGtion upon the leading found of the fecond foot, or the fourth fyllable of the verfe. To make mankind — in confcious virtue bold. We can alfo make a divifion at the fixth fyllable, as in this cafe we have ftill one pair, with its introductory found, remaining. Of that forbidden tree — whofe mortal tafte f. Sometimes too the words are fo arranged, that the divifion muft neceffarily take place at the fifth fyllable or feeble found of the fecond foot. This divifion gives a paufe more real, and more diftinétly felt, than thofe formerly mentioned. As we muft be- gin * Turs verfe is a combination of five times, more in appearance-than in reality. When it is well conftructed, it will feldom fail to give the perfon who pronounces it the difpofi- tion and opportunity, by means of refts, of completing fix, fometimes perhaps eight times. + Wuen, by means of refts at the clofe, the time of fix feet is completed in pro- nunciation, this break divides the whole time into two threes. On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 79 gin the fecond member with a ftrong found, and are partly de- prived of the afliftance in forming it, which we would have derived from the preceding feeble found, we require a little more time to make the exertion which is neceflary for that pur- pofe. This divifion alfo changes, in fome degree, the character of the verfe, the laft member becoming proper trochaic. It may fometimes, however, be ufed with a very happy effect. There feems to be an inftance of this in the firft line of Popr’s. ‘Effay on Man. Alwake, my | St Joun. | — Leave all | meaner | things, Here the grammatical paufe, coinciding with the rythmical di- vifion, gives fufficient time to form the accented found with which the fecond member begins; and that member being trochaic, is very well fuited to exprefs the intention of the poet, which is to roufe. The fame divifion occurs in the fecond- line; but the effect of it is fomewhat different. To tow ambition —and the pride of kings. In reciting this line, we are unwilling to give an accent to the conjunctive particle avd. To avoid this, therefore, we are dif- pofed to confider both that word, and the article which follows it, as feeble founds, introductory to the next ftrong found, and to fill up the time of the accented part of that third meafure by a filence or reft. To | low am|bition —| f and the} pride of | kings. In this way, the reciter, hurrying over thefe two comparatively unimportant words, almoft in the time of one feeble fyllable, is naturally led to exprefs the word pride with confiderable force or emphafis ; a circumftance which feems, in this place, to fa-. your Bo On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. vour the defign of the poet. Verfes of this form occur fre- ‘quently in the works of this author. Tue ftructure of the Englifh heroic verfe, and the uneven number of feet of which it is compofed, effectually fecures it again{ft the danger, or even the poflibility of its being divided into two parts which are equal, and at the fame time fimilar and convertible. When the break takes place at an accented or ftrong fyllable, the two members are neceflarily unequal. When, again, as in the two lines laft quoted, the divifion happens at the fifth fyllable, the two members, though they may be equal in time, are neceflarily different in cadence, as the firft begins and ends with a feeble found, and the fecond regularly begins and ends with a ftrong found. This feems to give to the Englifh verfe of this form a confiderable advantage over the common French verfe of fix feet, which uniformly divides into equal and fimilar hemifticks. TueEse breaks or divifions in verfes have perhaps been im- properly termed paufes. In many cafes, the paufe is more ima- ginary than real. I have formerly obferved, that we have al- ways, in a greater or lefs degree, the impreflion of a paufe be- twixt every parcel of equal times which we form. When we hear a minuet, or any piece of mufic, which is conftructed ac- cording to regular rythm, we have the impreffion of a paufe at the end of every bar; we have the fame impreflion more ftrongly at the end of every phrafe ; and yet we are certain, that, at many of thofe paflages, no real paufe is made. It frequently happens, that the proper break or rythmical divifion of a verfe takes place at one part of it, when the reft, the grammatical ftop, or the paufe of fufpenfion, occurs at another part of it. And | Jeaves the | world — to | darknefs | ¢ and to | me. In this line, the rythmical divifion takes place at the fourth fyllable, where little or no real paufe is neceflary. From what was On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 83 was above obferved, however, upon the ftructure of the fecond line of Popr’s Effay on Man, there muft be a fenfible reft or filence betwixt the feventh and eighth fyllables. Accordingly, this has commonly been confidered, and perhaps with propriety, as the place of the paufe in this line. It is probable, however, that the cadence of the verfe would not have been fo agreeable and fatisfactory, if the regular rythmical divifion had not oc- curred at the fourth fyllable. Some additional obfervations upon rythmical meafures, and upon the ftructure of ancient and modern verfes, fhall be re- ferved to the fecond part of this Effay. — Pc ae TL II. N the former part of this Effay, I endeavoured to- eftablifh the general foundations of rythm, and to explain the nature and the extent of thofe powers, by which we perceive the pro- portional magnitudes of fmall intervals of time, when thefe are made obvious to the fenfes by motion or by fucceflive founds. The cafe of founds being that which is moft interefting, I di- rected my attention chiefly to it. Rythm in found I diftin- guifhed into three kinds, mufical, poetical and profaic; and made fome obfervations upon the two firft of thefe. I propofe, in this part, to offer a few obfervations relative to the fame fub- jects, which may tend to throw fome further light upon them. In thefe obfervations, I fhall have the following objects chiefly in view: To explain that ftructure or arrangement of meafured founds, which may be faid to give a regular and perfe@t rythm; to mark the gradual deviations from that regular ftruCture, which appear in thofe productions of human genius which are Vou. IT. L intended 82 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. intended to pleafe, and of which the agreeable effect depends, in any degree, upon rythm; and, laftly, to apply the princi- ples which may be delivered, to illuftrate fome particulars in the ftructure of verfes. : In entering upon the firft of thefe, it will be proper to reca- pitulate fhortly the account which I formerly gave of what may be called our rythmical powers. From our coni{titution, or from our habits, we have the power of marking and perceiving equal intervals of time, when thofe intervals do not exceed a certain magnitude. When we fix our attention upon one of thofe intervals, and confider it as an unit of time, we can fuppofe it to be divided into a certain number of equal parts, and by motion we actually can make fuch a divifion. The number of parts into which we can thus divide a given interval, mutt neceflarily depend upon the powers which we have of performing quick motions. It is, however, regulated alfo by the preference which the mind naturally gives to the fimpler numbers. We divide with greateft eafe by two and its powers. We can alfo, with fufficient eafe, divide by three, nine, and the fmaller compounds of two and three. To make an equable divifion into five is difficult, into feven 1s per- haps impracticable, and into any of the higher primes is cer- tainly fo. Again, when we hear a number of equal intervals of time diftinétly marked by fucceflive founds, we are always. difpofed to count them off by equal numbers, thus forming them into fets or parcels. In doing this, as in making divifions, we always prefer the fimpleft numbers. When, therefore, there is nothing in the nature of the founds to determine our choice, we ufually count off the intervals by pairs, by fours or by eights. We can alfo, with fufficient eafe, count them off by threes and by fixes. As the firft found of each parcel is marked by a particular effort of the mind, and confidered by it as reprefenting the whole: parcel, it is conceived to be more forcible than the other founds of that parcel, which, being lefs | attended, On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 83 attended to by the mind, are conceived as feeble. As five is too large a number to be comprehended by one individual at of the mind, we can only form parcels of that number, by count- ing off two pairs, confidering the fifth fingle found as feeble, and fixing our attention upon the fixth, as the leading found of the next pair; or by counting off twos and threes, or threes and twos alternately. This infertion of the fingle time, at the end of every two pairs, changes the order of the ftrong and feeble founds, in every fucceeding parcel. Although this operation is practicable, it is probably very feldom actually performed. The frequent and fudden changes of the arrangement of ftrong and feeble founds, require an uneafy effort of attention in the per- former, and give an unpleafing furprife and difappointment to the hearer. Both feel a {trong defire to have the number of fix times completed, either by a lengthened found, or by a filence. _ Laftly, we have the farther power and difpofition to join toge- ther two, three or four of our firft parcels, thus forming larger combinations. By means then of the powers now defcribed, we are enabled to exprefs a fucceflion of founds whofe durations may be very different, but may, at the fame time, be moft accurately related to one another, according to certain proportions. We are alfo enabled, upon hearing fuch a fucceffion of founds, with readi- nefs and eafe, to feel the proportional duration of each, provi- ded the fimple proportions above mentioned be conftantly ob- ferved. In order to this, we firft of all fix our attention upon fome determined duration, which may be fomething near to the intervals obferved in walking, or in fome other of the uni- form motions with which we are familiar. This duration we confider as an unit of time. Having eftablifhed this, we can exprefs any number of them with great uniformity ; we can divide fome of them as we go along into parts, or combine two or more of them into lengthened founds. By habit, we can take our unit, at different times, greater or fmaller; we can L 2 make 84 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. make larger combinations, and more minute and diverfified di- vifions. We go through a fimilar procefs, when we liften to fuch a fucceffion of founds, and perceive their proportional du- rations. As the exercife of every power, which we poflefs, conveys a certain degree of pleafure, we obtain a gratification, when we hear a fucceflion of founds juftly proportioned in du- ration to one another, and are able, at the fame time, to go along with, or to feel the feveral proportions which they bear. This then is undoubtedly one foundation of the fatisfaction which we derive from every kind of rythm. It can be no jutft objection to this, that we frequently are not confcious, upon hearing a fucceffion of rythmical founds, of perceiving the va- rious proportions which they bear to one another. Our being pleafed with the proportions, our acquiefcing in them, is a fure indication that we feel them. If the unit were varied, or if di- vifions were attempted, to which we have not been accuftomed, and with which we cannot go along, we fhould inftantly feel the difference. Our pleafure would be fenfibly diminifhed or altogether deftroyed. To form then a regular and agreeable rythm, it is neceflary that all the units in fucceflion be equal intervals of time, and that their divifions be fimple and obvious. This, however, is not all. I have already obferved, that when we hear fuch a fucceffion of intervals, we are always difpofed to form them in- to equal parcels. As, however, there feems to be nothing to lead us to count off thefe parcels by any one number in pre- ference to another, and as we can do it by a few of the fmaller and fimpler numbers with almoft equal eafe, we naturally with to have fomething that may determine our choice. If we are not led eafily and readily to one particular number, or if, after we have fixed upon a number, we find ourfelves obliged to give it up, and to adopt another number, we are uneafy and diffatis- fied. For this reafon, a rythm that may be perfectly agreeable and fatisfatory, muft be conftru@ed according to fome mea- fure ; On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. $5 fure ; the whole fucceffion muft be made up of parcels of fome determined number of units, and mutt be fo contrived as that the hearer may be inftantly led to adopt that number, and re- tain it to the end of the fucceffion. This may be effected by various means. If, for inftance, we wifh that the hearer fhould count off the equal times by parcels of four, we may firft exprefs four diftinét and undivided units, and afterwards other four in fome way combined or divided*. By this means, the hearer will naturally be led, after having reckoned four units, to ftop and begin a new parcel. He will be ftill more confirmed in this arrangement, if we make our third par- cel fimilar to the firft, and our fourth fimilar to the fecond f. We may obtain the fame end, by exprefling three diftiné un- divided units, and refting during the time of the fourth, and full more certainly by doing the fame thing over again. In like manner parcels of other numbers may be fuggefted. Va- rious other contrivances for indicating the meafure, will readily occur to every one who attends to the works of muficians. The return of fimilar founds, and of fimilar combinations and di- vifions, after any number of units has been expreffed, naturally fixes the attention of the hearer to that number, and determines him to_adopt it, for counting off fucceeding parcels; and if eare be taken not to confound him, by bringing in fuch returns at different parts of the parcel, by continuing founds from the end of one parcel to the beginning of the next, or by making minute and perplexed divifions, he will hold by that number to the end of the piece. WE naturally wifh, when hearing a fucceflion of meafured founds, not only to form them into parcels, but alfo to join two, three or four of thofe parcels together, thus forming larger * Firft movement of the fixth periodical overture, publifhed by R. Bremner. + Symphony to the firft recitative in Hanpex’s Megssran. 86 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. larger combinations or ftrains. We may be aflifted in doing this, and determined to a particular number, by the fame means by which we are affifted and determined in forming the fingle parcels, chiefly by paufes, and by the return of fimilar founds, or of fimilar combinations and divifions. By being led to form fuch aggregates, the pleafure we derive from liften- ing to the fucceffion is greatly increafed. We are thus provided with certain ftages or refting-places, and are enabled to count off the parcels with more fteadinefs, and with a fmaller effort of the attention. Our fatisfaction is ftill farther enhanced, when the entire piece confifts of fome fimple and agreeable number of fuch aggregates. We have then the impreffion of a whole, of fomething finifhed and complete; and have a lively percep- tion of that proportion and arrangement of parts, which is effential to every thing that can be accounted beautiful or pleafing. WE may now be able to form fome precife idea of what may be called a regular and perfect rythm. It is a fucceffion of meafured founds, all of which are either equal to, or are certain multiples or certain parts of fome determined portion of time, which may be called an unit, and are fo arranged and difpofed that the hearer is eafily led to count off thofe units by equal parcels of fome fimple number, and alfo to combine two, three or four of thofe parcels together, the whole fucceffion contain- ing a {mall determined number of thofe larger aggregates. It is in this manner, that all thofe pieces of mufic, which are com- monly called airs, are conftructed. The regular minuet confifts of two parts or complete ftrains, the units are conftantly formed into parcels of three, and each part contains eight of thofe par- cels or bars, which the hearer is difpofed to combine into aggre- gates of two or four. The regular march and gavot are con-— ftructed in the fame manner, only the bars or firft parcels con- fift of four units in place of three. — Havinc On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 87 Havine eftablithed this ftru€ture as the ftandard of regular and perfect rythm, I proceed to mark the gradual deviations from it that appear in thofe produdtions of human genius which are intended to pleafe, and of which the agreeable effect depends in any degree upon rythm. The artifts who have been employed in fuch productions, feem to have had two ob- jects chiefly in view in occafionally departing from this regular ftructure, namely, to introduce variety into their works, and to render them more expreflive of certain feelings and emotions of the mind. I can only at this time confider the firft of thefe. In all thofe works which are addreffed to the fancy, that which is moft imple and moft eafily conceived, is always that which firft of all engages the attention and communicates plea- fure. While our powers of perception are yet in their infancy, it is impoflible that we can go along with what is various and complicated. Nothing but what is diftin@ly felt can commu- nicate real pleafure. We-may perhaps not always be able to analyze our feeling, and may therefore fay that we are pleafed we know not why. When it is analyzed, however, it will be generally found to have been a diftin@ feeling, or in other words, the objects which excited it will be found to have been commenfurate to our powers of perception. As we feem to de- rive our firft ideas of fmall equal intervals of time, from the uniform motion of our own limbs, or of thofe of other animals in walking, we probably from the fame fource acquire the ha- bit of counting off fuch intervals by pairs. When, from any circumftance, the firft of each alternate pair is made particu- larly to attract the attention, we are then difpofed to join two. pairs together, to form parcels of four, or to confider each four as fomething feparate and diftinét from what went before and? what is to come after. We may, in the fame manner, be led’ to join two or four of thefe parcels together, in order to obtain what we may account a whole. Gradually we are enabled to, | conceive: 88 On RY THMICAL MEASURES. conceive a fingle interval to be halved, and each half to be again fubdivided in the fame proportion. We thus obtain the fpon- dzus, daétylus and double pyrrichius. It would appear, then, . that fomething of the nature of the march or gavot meafure ~ above defcribed, gives the moft fimple and eafy rythm, and is that which would probably firft of all ftrike and pleafe the hu- man mind. Dr Burney, in his account of Crotcu, the mu- fical child, publifhed in the Philofophical Tranfaétions, remarks of him, that, when he plays from his own fancy, what rythm he obferves is generally of the march kind, proceeding chiefly by the dactylus and fpondzus. The firft verfes of the ancients were probably formed of the fame meafures. ; As mens powers of perception improve, they naturally wifh for objects fuited to them. That which is moft fimple, and was at firft moft agreeable, gradually lofes its charm; they with for fomething that may give more employment to their powers. They could not, therefore, be always confined to the uniform - movement by pairs and double pairs, but would endeavour in fome way to diverfify it. Their firft contrivance for this pur- pofe might poffibly be, to depart occafionally from the original arrangement of two, four, eight, by throwing in an additional pair to their two, or two additional pairs to their four, thus making combinations of three or of fix pairs. The dadtylus and fpondzus at the end of the common hexameter verfe, may thus poflibly have been an addition to the verfes of four feet, which had formerly been ufed, and might then have been con- fidered as an improvement. After combinations of three pairs had become familiar, it was an eafy ftep from that to arrange by parcels of three units; and thus the fimple triple time was obtained. This, though ftill farther removed from the original ineafure, became probably on that account the more pleafing. It gave more exercife to the rythmical powers; at the fame time, it did not fatigue them. It was free from the folemnity and uniformity of regular pairs. The minuet accordingly ever has On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 89 has been, and is at this day accounted the moft elegant and pleafing movement in mufic. This meafure is almoft entirely confined to mufic. There is fcarcely an inftance of verfes, which are conftructed exaétly according to it, unlefs perhaps the Ionian verfe of the ancients, a verfe which does not often occur in their works, and which, from the heavy uniformity of its Movement, is by no means pleafing*. From parcelling by threes, it was an eafy tranfition to divide the unit by the fame number. For this, nothing more was required, than gradually to diminith the unit, and to take the parcels of three by pairs : each parcel would come at laft to be confidered as a fingle unit divided. ‘They would thus form the tribrachys, trocheus and iambus, according as they exprefled each of the three parts {e- parately, or joined any two of them together. In this way would be obtained the gig meafure in mufic, and the trochaic and iambic verfes in poetry +. Such parcels and divifions by three would probably at firft be formed into ftrains or larger combinations, by twos and fours; and this is ftill the moft ufual arrangement. In procefs of time, however, they would alfo be formed by threes and fixes. Thus the trimeter or fe- narian iambic verfe might be derived from the dimeter, or verfe of four fingle feet. So long as the bars or firft parcels, whether of pairs or threes, are equal, the larger combinations uniformly contain the fame number of bars, and thefe laft are reftri€ted to fome fim- ple and obvious number, the rythm may be confidered as _ re- gular. The moft gentle deviation from this ftructure, if in truth it can be called fuch, is extending the entire piece beyond Vou. II. M . the * Tuere is only one ode of Horace in this meafure, wz. Book HI. Ode 12. The rythm feems to go on to the end, without any fenfible break or clofe. + Tue tribrachys, or gig meafure, may poflibly have been fuggefted immediately from the found of a horfe’s feet, when running at full fpeed. go On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. the limits above affigned. The modern muficians frequently compofe pieces of confiderable length, and confifting of a num- ber of bars too great for the mind to keep an exact regifter or account of them. This enables them to take a wider range of melody and modulation, than they could do tf their pieces were. confined within the limits of fhort regular air, and to prolong and diverfify the pleafure of the hearer. If in fuch extended pieces, however, the bars uniformly aflemble into equal groups. or combinations, and if the whole piece, and each larger divi- fion of it, contain an even number of fuch combinations, the hearer has {till the impreflion of a juftly proportioned whole : and even within this limitation a very copious variety may be obtained. Men, however, could not always bear this confine- ment. In proportion as rythmical meafures become more an object of attention, and are more frequently prefented to the ear, the neceflity of variety becomes the greater. The moft -agreeable meafures, when too often repeated, become difguft- ing. We are often pleafed with a bold deviation from what is. ftrictly regular. The very furprife which it caufes is agreeable. It feems to have been in part from this principle, that the com- pofers of mufic have occafionally departed from the regular ftructure of rythm. Tue leaft offenfive deviation, which can be made from that ftructure, is the departing at times from the uniform equality of the {trains or larger combinations. It is effential to the minuet that the bars conftantly proceed by pairs. In the regular mi- nuet, there is always a more diftinct cadence at the end of every fecond pair. By this means, the hearer is led to. join two pairs. together, or to make combinations of four bars. This arrange- ment is neceflary to render the rythm of the mufic ftriétly con- formable to the movement of the dance, which it is intended to: regulate. The whole piece commonly contains four of thofe larger combinations, two of which go to the firft part or com-. plete ftrain, and two to the fecond. In order, however, to give more On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 91 more variety and extent to the compofition, a part may be made to confift of three, four or fix of thofe combinations ; or, by occafionally adding two bars, combinations of fix may be form- ed. All this may be done, without lofing the diftinguifhing characteriftic of the minuet. But if either the rythm is fo contrived, or the mufical cadences are fo placed, as at any time to form combinations of three or of five bars, the piece then ceafes to be a minuet. It may, however, notwithftanding this, be a pleafing compofition. The modern muficians, efpecially thofe of the German fchool, often fubjoin to the minuets of their inftrumental pieces, airs of the fame time and meafure, which they fometimes call fecond minuets, but more frequently trios. In compofing thefe trios, they fometimes take an oppor- tunity of difplaying their learning and invention, and of fearch- “ing for novelty, without confidering themfelves as under obli- gation to adhere to the elegant fimplicity of ftyle, or the regular rythmical ftructure of the minuet. By this means, the hearer is for a while very agreeably entertained, and the beauty and peculiar qualities of the minuet, which is always repeated after the trio, are rendered more ftriking. Im thefe airs, combina- tions of three bars are frequently to be found *. As, however, two of thefe combinations often occur in fucceffion, and the other parts of the piece proceed commonly by pairs, the number of bars in the complete ftrain or air is in moft cafes even, or divifi- ble by two. } In pieces of confiderable extent, fuch licences, when ufed with mederation, frequently pafs without being greatly ob- ferved. They may even at times produce a very happy effect. They ferve to roufe the attention of the hearer, which is apt to flag in along piece, when the rythm uniformly proceeds by equal combinations ; and they often give a more emphatic in- M 2 troduction, / * Trro of firft minuet in third quartetto of Haypn, firft fet. Trio of fecond minuet in fecond quartetto of the fame author, fecond fet. 92 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. trodution, or a more ftriking and diftiné clofe, to fome re- markable ftrain. In fuch pieces, the bars very frequently pro- ceed by pairs. It is no unufual thing, however, for the com- pofer, in the courfe of the piece, to invert the order of the pairs, or to conftruct the mufic in fuch a manner, as to lead the hearer occafionally to confider thofe bars as the firft or leading bars of a pair, which, from the place in which they ftand in the piece, ought to be accounted the fecond or following. This is done in various ways. When a ftrain, for inftance, happens. to clofe upon the beginning of an odd bar, in place of com- pleting the time of the even bar which fhould follow it, by found or filence, that {train is either immediately repeated, or a new {train is introduced *. When, again, a ftrain concludes: upon the firft of an even bar, the key-note, or one of its. har- monics, with which that bar begins, is fometimes made the commencement of a new ftrain, and of courfe to ftand as the leading bar of the next pair t. This is very often practifed by the compofers of inftrumental fymphonies, when it is intended: by them, that the paflage thus brought in fhould be fenfibly different in loudnefs or in ftyle from what went before. A bold and animated {train efpecially, in which all the inftruments join and.exert their whole power, is thought to produce a greater effect, when it is introduced in this fudden and abrupt manner.. The arrangement of the pairs is alfo fometimes inverted, by the repetition of a bar in the middle of a ftrain. Such repeti- ~ tions feem, upon fome occafions, to give the appearance of greater buftle and confufion to mufic that is impetuous and rapid{. Laftly, the firft bar of a movement, or of fome parti- cular * Exevents periodical overture, laft movement, at the thirty-firft bar. + Tue fame movement at the forty-feventh bar, where the original arrangement of the: pairs is reftored. + Tuirp quartetto by Haypn, firft fet, laft movement, at the 15th bar of the firft part, and the 29th bar of the fecond part. On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 93 cular ftrain in the progrefs of it, is fometimes occupied by the key-note, ftruck with emphafis, and followed by one or more feeble notes, introductory to the next meafure. This firft bar being as it were fet afide, or confidered as ftanding by itfelf, the mufic afterwards proceeds by regular pairs, commencing at the fecond bar *. When inverfions occur at the end of three or of five bars, diftinct combinations of thefe numbers are formed +. Such fmaller uneven combinations are very often repeated, and thus the original arrangement is reftored. In other cafes too, when by any means the firft arrangement of the pairs or double bars has been inverted, it is frequently reftored either by the fame or by fome other means. Sometimes, how- ever, the altered arrangement continues to the end of the piece, and the number of bars in it becomes thereby uneven. As pleafure is often heightened by variety and contraft, fuch occa- fional interruptions of uniform movement give an additional relifh to the regularity that is obferved in other parts of the compofition. Their effect is fomewhat analogous to that of difcords in the harmonical ftruCture of mufic. THE licences with refpect to the combinations of the bars, which have been mentioned above, though they feldom fail to ftrike a perfon who has a good ear, do not prevent the rythm from being diftinct and pleafing. In fome mufical compofi- tions, however, fuch licences are carried to a greater extent. The combinations are fometimes fo various and obfcure, that the hearer can fcarcely retain the impreffion of them. This is often the cafe in the longer and more grave and .{folemn pieces of what is now, by way of diftindtion, called the ancient mu- fic. * First quartetto of the fame fet, laft movement, at the beginning, and firft movement, at the 23d bar of the firft part, and correfponding paflage of the fecond part. + Tue firft quartetto of Hayon’s fecond fet begins with two combinations of three bars, after which the mufic proceeds in general by pairs. The fecond part of the latt movement of the firft of fix overtures by the Earl of Kexuy, begins with two fuccefflive combinations of five bars. 94 On RY THMICAL MEASURES. fic, and particularly in that fpecies of it, which is known by the name of the fugue. This had its rife at the time when the chief profeffors and improvers of the mufical art were church- men, and when, of courfe, that kind of mufic was chiefly cul- tivated, which was thought to be beft calculated to compofe and elevate the mind, and to infpire devotion. A fimple, regu- lar and diftin@ rythm was probably thought by them to give the mufic a light and airy caft, inconfiftent with the effect which they wifhed to produce. They either made the move- ment flow and the notes equal, in which cafe the attention of the hearer was almoft wholly directed to the tone and modula- tion; or if, in their inftrumental mufic, they introduced a quicker and more varied movement, they ftudioufly avoided every thing, which might have the appearance of regular air. The fugue feems to be well calculated to anfwer this intention. It is executed by two, three or more voices or inftruments in concert. All of them in fucceflion are made to found fome fhort fimple melody, which is called the fubject. This is fre- quently repeated or imitated by them, in a variety of different keys, the repetitions coming in at unequal intervals, and often in the middle of a bar. As the compofition of the fugue was thought to be a great difplay of art and fkill, it was afterwards introduced into every kind of inftrumental mufic, and was gradually rendered more complicated. As the rythmical com- binations are often irregular and indiftin@tly marked, and the harmonical parts are frequently running counter to one another, it requires great attention to perform it with precifion and ac- curacy, and of all mufic it gives leaft pleafure to one who has not been accuftomed to it. The tafte for this kind of mufic has been for fome time declining, and it is now moftly confined to the church. Avtmost every degree of irregularity, then, in the combina- tions of the. bars may be occafionally tolerated. This, how- ever, is by no means the cafe with the bars themfelves, or the. fingle On RY THMICAL MEASURES. OF fingle parcels. Any inequality among them is more fenfibly felt, and when improperly introduced, never fails to hurt and difpleafe. Such inequalities may be made, either by increafing or diminifhing the unit, thus making the movement quicker or flower, or by varying the meafure, or the number, according to which the bars are formed. In a long piece of mufic, a con- fiderable variety, both of movement and of meafure, may be introduced. Changes, however, are feldom made, until the movement has gone on for fome time, in one uniform move- ment and meafure, and has been brought toa clofe more or lefs complete. Such changes, when fkilfully managed, enliven the mufic, furprife the hearer, and excite his attention. When, however, they occur very often, and at-fmall intervals, they never fail to perplex and confound. The hearer is kept in a ftate of continual fufpenfe and uncertainty, and therefore can- not liften with fatisfation. The French muficians, rather per- haps in confequence of fome fanciful theories, than from the fuggeftions of good tafte, or the experience of agreeable effect, have fometimes introduced frequent and fudden changes of movement and meafure into their pieces. Their example, how- ever, has not been much followed. How often, or at how fmall intervals. changes of meafure may be introduced into a mufical compofition, is a matter that is difficult to determine. It muft depend a good deal upon the tafte of men, and upon the habits which they may have formed. There 1s certainly, however, fome limit, within which fuch changes cannot be made, without giving more uneafinefs than fatisfaction to the hearer. We may bear to be, in fome degree, offended a certain: number of times, when fuch offence has the effect to ftimulate and furprife, and when it is quickly compenfated by fome ftriking beauty ; but if the experiment is too often repeated, the end propofed will be defeated. The piece will become a motely affemblage of diffimilar and unconneéted parts, and will 96 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. will communicate no fentiment but that of ridicule or of difgutt. To change the meafure or the number of equal times in a bar, in the courfe of a fhort ftrain or rythmical claufe, has, fo far as | know, never been attempted by a modern mufician, and probably would not be tolerated. -And yet, if we are to believe the accounts, which have been tranfmitted to us by an- cient authors, this practice was not unfrequent amongft the muficians of Greece. The verfes, to which they adapted mutic, were often compofed of unequal feet, fuch as trochees and {pondees, which they refpectively confidered as meafures of three and of four equal times, and thefe occurring fometimes alternately ; and we are told that the mufic rigidly obferved the meafure of the verfes. If this was indeed the cafe, it is a fin- gular fact in the hiftory of mufic, to which perhaps no parallel has been found. After the many clear and exprefs teftimonies to the truth of that fact, which have been given by enlighten- 7 ed authors, who were natives of the country, and who may ~ be fuppofed to have been well acquainted with, and to have had frequent opportunities of hearing that mufic, it may appear highly prefumptuous to exprefs the {mallef{t doubt with regard to it. There are, however, fome confiderations which ftrongly incline me to indulge at leaft fome degree of {cepticifm, and to fuppofe that nature, perhaps without their confcioufnefs, might at times prevail over fyftem. I FORMERLY obferved, that to count off alternate parcels of two and of three equal times, and thereby to form aggregates of five, is by no means impracticable ; but that it requires an uneafy effort of the attention, and that both the performer and the hearer feel a {trong defire to have the even number of fix times completed, either by a lengthened found, or by a filence. I may here add, that neither is it impracticable to form alter- nate parcels of three and of four times, but that, as the num- ber feven, the aggregate of thefe, is lefs agreeable and {fatis- factory, On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 97 faétory, and lefs eafily comprehended than five, and as it is Nearer in proportion to eight than five is to fix; the defire of completing, by fome means or other, the number of eight times. will be ftill ftronger, and will not be refifted without a great and conftant effort of the attention, and even fome degree of force and conftraint. The difficulty will be much increafed, if the unequal meafures do not occur periodically in regular fucceffion, but are varioufly introduced in the courfe of different ftrains, without any fixed or permanent rule. In order that fuch unequal meafures may be expreffed with accuracy, it feems neceflary, that the equal times of which they are compofed, fhould be of fuch dimenfion as that they may be counted fin- gle. If they are too minute to be fo counted, it will probably be impoflible for the performer to mark with certainty, or for the hearer to perceive diftin@tly, the proportion which fubfifts betwixt the contiguous unequal bars; as there is no common meafure or ftandard to which they may be referred, or by which they may be adjufted. It feems neceflary, moreover, not only that the beginning of every meafure thould be diftinétly mark- ed, but alfo that every fingle interval of time fhould be render- ed obvious, either to the eye or to the ear of the performer. Un- ~ lefs fome fuch affiftance is given to him, there is reafon to ap- prehend, that he will not always execute the different bars ac- cording to their prefcribed meafures. We are told, that this was done in the performance of the choral mufic of the ancient Greeks. The coryphzus, placed in a confpicuous ftation, marked the arfis and thefis of the fucceflive feet, while others ftruck with their hands, or with the points of their fingers armed with fome hard body, each fingle time of which they were compofed. If thefe fingle intervals were {truck with per- fect uniformity, and were regularly diftributed among the dif- ferent feet, according to their refpective meafures, we cannot avoid acknowledging, that, on many occafions, they did truly and accurately exprefs contiguous unequal parcels of rythmical Wear. I. N times. 98 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. times. We can only fay, that they were at much pains to coun- teract a {trong propenfity of nature, in order to attain an object, the agreeable or happy effect of which we cannot now fo much as conceive. But it may be afked, how are we certain that thefe fingle times were always ftruck in exact uniformity, or that the intervals marked by the ftrokes were in every cafe equal? It will poffibly be anfwered, that there was fufficient fecurity for this, in the {trong natural propenfity which all men feel to ex- prefs fuch fmall times equally and uniformly, when it is not their profeffed intention to do otherwife. But furely the natu- ral propenfity to affemble thefe times into equal parcels is alfo ftrong, perhaps, in fome cafes, ftronger than the other. When thefe two propenfities, then, are fet in oppofition to one ano- ther, it becomes a queftion which of them is moft likely to prevail. We are told, that, in the performance of the Greek mufic, the propenfity to the equable expreffion of fingle times prevailed, and that the parcels or aggregates of them were un- equal. It is certainly, however, not unnatural to fuppofe, that fometimes the other propenfity might preponderate, and that fome inequality might be admitted amongft the fmaller times, which were marked by the crepitacula, in order to bring the feet or parcels more nearly to equality. Thefe times and mea- fures were not marked by machines, fo conftructed that they could never vary, nor by perfons who had no thought nor con- cern, but to ftrike with the hand or fingers at equal intervals of time. The coryphzus, who regulated and conduéted the per- formance, muft be fuppofed to have been a mufician of diftin- guifhed talents, and the fmaller times were marked by per- formers, who were keenly engaged in the bufinefs that was going forward, who probably founded every note of the mufic, and articulated every fyllable of the verfe. It has always ap- peared to me very wonderful and unaccountable, that the deli- cate ears of the ingenious and enlightened Greeks fhould not only bear, but even be delighted, with what a modern cannot hear : On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 99 - hear without pain and difguft ; and I would very willingly fup- pofe, that they made fome fuch accommodation as is hinted at above in the performance of their mufic, and that their feet or bars were fometimes unequal, more in theory than in practice. When we confider the rythmical conftitution of man, which, being a part of his nature, muft be fundamentally the fame, in all ages and amongft all nations; when we confider that thefe Greeks had a very lively feeling of the powers of rythm, and that they were accuftomed to have equal meafures frequently prefented to them in their moft popular compofitions; laftly, when we confider, that they had no written characters to repre- fent fome of the proportions which may enter into the fimpleft mufic, particularly that which is marked by the point in the modern notation, and therefore could have no diftinét percep- tion of thofe proportions, or rather might occafionally exprefs them, without being confcious of their doing fo; it does not feem impoflible, or even improbable, that their practice upon many occafions was not conformable to their theory, and that they might actually exprefs as equal thofe meafures, which, ac- cording to rule and fyftem, were unequal. After all, it is im- poffible to fay, how far the power of habit may operate upon men in this as well as in every thing elfe. It muft be acknow- ledged, that there are various circumftances in the mufical fy{tem of the ancients, befides the one that we have been now treating of, which we mutt be fatisfied with contemplating and admir- ing at a diftance, without hoping fully to underftand them, or daring to imitate them. To conclude this part of the fubject, the laft deviation that can be made from regular rythm, is varying the length of the unit or fingle time in the fame bar. This has never been at- tempted in written mufic, and can hardly be done without al- moft entirely deftroying every impreflion of rythm or mea- fured founds. 2 THE 100 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. Tue regular ftructure of rythm, and the progreflive devia- tions from that ftru€ture, which I have above endeavoured to defcribe, have been chiefly confidered as taking place in mufic. The fame things, however, to a certain extent, may be found in poetry ; and many of the obfervations which have been made upon them may be exemplified from verfes, and may ferve to illuftrate fome particulars in their ftru€ture. A verfe is an affemblage of words, which are fo arranged, as that the long and fhort, or the ftrong and feeble fyllables of which they are compofed, may, by their fucceflion, give a rythm, fuch as _ I have defcribed, more or lefs regular. It muft, therefore, be fo conftructed, as that the hearer may be led to form the equal or nearly equal times, which are marked by the fyllables, into. certain parcels and combinations. ‘The ancients feem in gene- ral to have confidered the time of a fhort fyllable, as the unit or firft element of the rythm of poetry. According to this fup- pofition, the feet will become analogous to the bars or firft par- cels in mufic, the verfe will be analogous. to a combination or {train, and the ftanza, where it occurs, will reprefent the entire piece, which being finifhed, the fame rythmical air, as it may be called, is again repeated. The time in which a fhort fyllable is exprefled in reciting verfes, is often too {mall to. be regularly counted and parcelled. If this is thought to be the cafe, the feet may be confidered as units, varioufly divided and articulated by the different fyllables which enter into them; the verfe will then correfpond to a bar, and the ftanza to. a combination. Although, however, the time in which we utter a foot is fre- quently not greater than what we are difpofed to confider as an unit in mufic, yet, as itis always compofed of two or more fmaller intervals, and as we have frequent opportunities of hearing it prolonged in finging, fo as to fill up the time of a bar in mufic, we are hence rather more difpofed to confider the foot as a fhort parcel or bar, than as a divided unit. The for- mer ’ ‘ ’ ‘ sy i a ‘ On RYTHMICAL MEASTRES. 101% mer analogy, therefore, will perhaps be the moft fimple and ob- vious, and the moft eafily applied. THE meafure of a verfe, or the number, according to which it is intended that the combinations fhould be formed, may be eafily intimated to the reader, by writing them in feparate lines. This contrivance, however, can be of no fervice to the hearer. Some other means muft be ufed to direct his attention to the number propofed, or to make him {top and begin anew, after that number of equal times has been exprefled. The very name of verfe implies a return. I formerly mentioned three different means by which this may be effected, namely, the re- turn of fimilar combinations. and divifions of the times, or, in other words, the return of fimilar arrangements of long and fhort founds, the return of founds fimilar in kind or in quality, and paufes. All thefe means have been employed in conftructing verfes. Tue return of fimilar fucceffions of long and fhort fyllables at equal intervals, naturally leads the hearer to account the times which have been expreffed during one of thofe intervals, as one parcel or combination. This fimilarity may either take place through the whole line, or only in a particular part of it. In the firft cafe, when each fingle combination is exaétly fimilar throughout, or, in the language of the grammarians, when every line contains the fame number of feet difpofed in the fame order, the return is abundantly clear and obvious, provided the fucceflion of long and fhort, or of {trong and feeble fylla- bles in the meafure, be in any degree diverfified. We have an example of this in the afclepiadzan verfes of the ancients, Such meafures feem to have been confidered by them as deficient in variety, and proper only for fhort pieces. Horace has been very fparing of them. Of all his odes, there are only fix, in which every line is {canned by the fame feet taken in the fame order. When the cadence of the line, or the arrange- -ment of the fyllables, is fuch as to ftrike the hearer, or engage his: t02 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. his attention, the frequent repetition of it, like the frequent re- petition of a fhort mufical ftrain, can hardly fail to be in fome degree irkfome and difgufting. The other cafe, in which the fimilarity takes place only in a part of the line, is more con- fiftent with variety. We have the moft diftinét impreffion of a return, when the fimilarity occurs at the end of the line. Of this we have a {triking example in the common hexameter verfe of the ancients. The dactylus and fpondzus, recurring regu- larly at equal intervals, neceflarily leads the hearer to confider thofe intervals as diftinét combinations of equal times, although the fame feet be difpofed in the other parts of the meafure in every poflible way. The iambus recurring at the end of iam- bic verfes, when diftinétly pronounced, will give fome im- preffion of a combination, when the rythm in the other parts of the line is very irregular. Other inftances of the fame kind will readily occur. Sometimes the moft ftriking fimilarity takes place in the middle of the line. The da¢tylus, in the middle of the fapphic verfe, feems to have the chief effect in forming the return of that meafure. | WuEN the return of the verfe, or the impreffion which the hearer has of diftinét combinations, is to depend chiefly upon fuch fimilarities, it is neceflary, that the cadence in that part of the line in which the fimilarity takes place, be marked, and eafily diftinguifhable from that of the other parts, or that the verfe be made up of fome diverfity of feet. When lines run uni- formly by the fame, or nearly the fame feet, as in trochaic and iambic verfes, no fuch diftinét recurrences can happen. In this cafe, fome other means mutt be ufed to give the hearer the impreflion of a combination. A very gentle hint will incline a hearer to count off fuch feet by combinations of the fmaller even numbers. For this, little more is neceflary than to write them out in feparate lines. ‘The tones of voice, with which a perfon is difpofed to read lines of fuch even meafure, are often fufficient to dire&t the hearer to the number according to which they ee - On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 10% they are formed. ‘This effet is more certainly obtained, when the verfe is made to confift of an uneven number of fuch feet, together with an additional fyllable or cefura. As it is thus deficient of the even number by one fyllable, the reader is na- turally difpofed to fill up the time of that fyllable, either by paufing at the end of the line, or by prolonging the laft or the penult fyllable. In either way, he conveys to the hearer a very diftinct impreflion of the meafure. Such catalectic verfes, as they are called, occur frequently in the works of the ancient poets. VeRSEs of the trochaic and iambic kind are often compofed of fome uneven number of feet, without fuch additional fylla- ble. Our common Englifh verfe of ten fyllables is of this form. In this cafe, there feems to be no rythmical means of giving the hearer an impreflion of the meafure, but paufing a little at the end of every line. Such uneven meafures naturally infer a paufe. If the reader, while reciting a line, catches the idea of regular pairs; he will be difpofed, by refting at the end of the line, to complete the time of his Jaft pair. This, how- ever, is attended with inconveniencies. The hearer is made to depend for his.impreffion of the combination, chiefly upon the accuracy of the reader. If the latter negleéts to make the pro- ~ per paufes, the former may lofe this impreflion, and may be equally difpofed to form combinations of any other number. On the other hand, when there is no grammatical ftop at the end of the line, when a claufe of a fentence is continued from one line to another, fuch paufes are ungraceful ; the reader, if he is more attentive to the fentiment than to the rythm, always makes them with reluctance. In fuch cafes too, to mark the end of the line by a particular inflection of the voice, is very improper ; and it is difficult to obferve paufes without making fuch inflection. THESE inconveniencies feem to furnifh objections to our Enghfh blank verfe, which is exactly of the nature that I have been de- ; fcribing,. = 104 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. {cribing. This perhaps cannot with ftri@ propriety be called verfe ; it wants one of the effential charafters of verfe, a di- | {tinct return. The feet indeed mark times, which may be ex- prefled as equal; but there is no circumftance in the rythm to lead the hearer to form thefe times into combinations of any one number in preference to another, befides the mere artifice of writing the intended combinations in feparate lines. It is impoffible to read it, fo as to maintain in the hearer the impref- fion of the combination, without often doing violence to the fenfe, by feparating words which ought to be united. One may be eafily fatisfied of this, by reciting the firft fentence of Mixtown’s Paradife Loft, in which almoft every line terminates in the middle of a-claufe. In reading fuch paflages, the paufes mutt often be omitted, and the meafure facrificed to the fenfe. This verfe, however, if it may be called fuch, has been thought to be of all others the moft proper for poems of confiderable extent, upon fubjects that are great and dignified: The feeming imperfections, which have been ftated above, are perhaps the circumftances which contribute to render it fo. The alternate fucceflion of long and fhort, or of ftrong and feeble fyllables, which generally takes place, gives a fmoothnefs and a regular flow to the language, which fufficiently diftinguifhes it from profe, while, at the fame time, it does not folicit the attention fo ftrongly, as to render frequent repetition difguftful ; and the deviations which are occafionally made from that arrangement, give a variety to the cadence, and often a very happy expreflion to particular paflages. The proper meafure of the verfe, or that which feems intended by the poet, is often obfcured, and even changed, by the different breaks or divifions which occur in the lines, and by the continuation of grammatical claufes from one line to another. The unequal combinations of the feet, however, which are thus formed, like the obfcure and unequal combinations of the bars in an extended piece of fe- rious mufic, both give a variety, and add a dignity and folem- nity On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 105 nity to the movement, which it could not poffefs, if the combi- nations were always diftinct and equal; and the frequent oc- currence of lines, in which the meafure of the verfe is clearly marked, prevents the hearer from lofing fight of it, and alfo communicates additional pleafure from the contraft. This mode of compofition feems thus to unite the freedom, variety and energy of profe, with the foftnefs and elegance of verfe. In lines of fuch uniform cadence, there is no means more fimple, or more effectual for giving the impreffion of regular combination, than the return of fimilar founds. When two contiguous verfes, of equal times, are terminated by one or more fyllables of the fame or nearly the fame found, the hearer can find no difficulty in adopting and going along with fuch combjnations. This contrivance has been called rhyme. It is faid to have had its rife from a corrupted tafte during the ages of ignorance and barbarifm. It ftill continues, however, to be practifed by the beft poets, who write in the modern languages ; and_ perhaps the conftitution of fuch languages does not afford a better means of conftructing regular verfes. In poetry, verfes may be formed according to the model of what I called regular and perfect rythm, fo as to give the im- preffion, not only of equal parcels and combinations, but alfo of diftinct aggregates of thofe combinations. When fuch ag- gregates confift of two fingle combinations, they are called couplets, when of more than two, they get the name of ftanzas. We are led to form fuch aggregates by the fame means, by which we are led to form the fingle combinations, namely, by the return of like cadences, by paufes and by rhyme. When two contiguous lines rhyme together, we have the impreffion of a couplet; when the alternate lines rhyme together, we form a combination of four. The fame imprelflions may alfo be conveyed by other means more purely rythmical. When the lines are all equal, and made up of the fame or equal timed feet, and the ftanzas confift uniformly of four or eight Vot. I. O lines, 106 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. lines, we have then a rythm perfectly regular, correfponding to the minuet or march time in mufic. Such regular ftructure is not always obferved. In the higher kinds of lyric poetry, it is thought to be inconfiftent with that freedom and variety, and a check to that fire and enthufiafm, which ought to cha- racterife thofe compofitions. Accordingly, the writers of lyric poetry have departed the fartheft of any from this regular {truGture, and have indulged themfelves in almoft every kind of licence. The lines, of which ftanzas are compofed, may often confift of an unequal number of fyllables, whilft the times employed in reciting them are ftrictly equal, the defi- ciency of the fhorter ones being compenfated by paufes, or by lengthened founds. Sometimes, however, the inequality is fo great, as to render fuch compenfation impraCticable. Such un- equal lines, like unequal combinations in a mufical air, when properly introduced, may communicate a fpirit and variety to the ftanza, and give ita more marked and ftriking conclufion. The adonian verfe, coming after three fapphic lines, gives an agreeable variety and a graceful clofe to the ftanza. Amongft the ancients, there are few or no inftances of ftanzas, confifting of more than four lines. The moderns, by the help of rhyme, are enabled to form larger and more variegated ftanzas. So long as all the lines of a ftanza are compofed of the fame or of equal timed feet, the rythm may be confidered as in fome degree regular. Thus the hexameter and the falifcan verfe form an agreeable couplet. Laudabunt alii claram Rhodon, aut Mitylenen, Aut Ephefum, bimarifve Corinthi. The elegiac couplet is of the fame kind. The pentameter verfe is indeed confidered as an uneven combination. When, how- ever, it regularly divides into hemiftics, the paufes, which we are difpofed to make at the czfuras, fill up the whole time of the On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 107 the hexameter. Trochaic and iambic verfes may be combined into couplets in the fame manner. When the trochaic verfe is catalectic, the deficient time at the end is made up by the firft fyllable of the fucceeding iambic, and the whole combination proceeds as if it were trochaic. Non e|bur, ne|que aurejum Me[a re|nidet | in do|mo la|cunar. The latter of thefe two combinations being uneven, the reader will be difpofed to paufe at the end of it, during the time of an entire foot, and will be gratified, when the ftructure of the fentence permits him to do fo. The paffion for variety, how- ever, could not always be confined within this limit. In the works of the ancients, we meet with couplets and ftanzas, of which the different lines are compofed of different and unequal timed feet. This is a further departure from regularity. It is like varying the meafure of the bars in a piece of mufic. One of the moft ftriking examples of this is, when couplets are formed of hexameter and iambic verfes. Although fuch li- cence may not have the fame difagreeable effect in poetry, that it often has in mufic, it feems at leaft to give an impreffion of incongruity, which is probably heightened by the conftant re- currence of the different meafures at {tated intervals. The fo- Iemn and majeftic movement of the hexameter does not feem to affort well with the airy flippant pace of the iambic. After pronouncing the latter, a perfon requires fome time to recover that firmnefs of tone and manner, with which he is difpofed to pronounce the former. The 16th epode of Horace is com- pofed in couplets of hexameter and fenarian iambic verfes, and is the only inftance of this meafure, which occurs in his works. In this piece, the contraft is very ftriking. The even lines throughout the whole of it are pure iambics, which have a more rapid movement than thofe which are mixed. The verfes O 2 of 108 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. of the Phaleucian form may be confidered as fhort couplets of the fame kind. A FARTHER deviation from regularity is when fuch unequal timed feet are admitted into the fame line. The mixed iambic and trochaic verfes of the ancients furnifh us with the moft remarkable inftance of this. I formerly ventured to exprefs a conjecture, that in the performance of the mufic, which was adapted to verfes of this kind, the ancients, by fome means of accommodation, of which they were not diftinétly confcious, might occafionally exprefs as equal thofe contiguous feet, which, according to rule and fyftem, were unequal; in other words, that they fometimes departed from the proportion of two to ~one, which they eftablifhed as fubfifting betwixt the long and fhort fyllables of words. It feems {till more probable, that they did this when reciting fuch verfes. It is indeed difficult for us to conceive how they could do otherwife. In finging, they might be affifted in exprefling thofe unequal meafures with accuracy, and even, in fome degree, conftrained to do fo, by feeing the arfis and thefis of each foot diftin@tly marked, and hearing the fingle times uniformly ftruck; but they could not always have the fame affiftance, when reciting. The time of a fhort fyllable might be counted and parcelled, when expreffed in the continuous and more extended tones of mufic; but this could fcarcely be done with eafe and certainty in common fpeech ; and, without this, it is not eafy to difcover, how the proportions of thofe unequal feet could be accurately expreffed or perceived. I fhould, therefore, be apt to fuppofe, that the propenfity to equal parcels-or meafures of fyllables would pre- vail, as it might be gratified almoft infenfibly, and as there ap- pears to be nothing of fufficient force to counteraét it. It is often difficult to determine exactly the proportional] quantity of contiguous fyllables, or to lay down any particular proportion as invariably fubfifting betwixt them. We can fometimes arti- culate three, perhaps even four fyllables, in our own language, in On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 109g in no longer time than we employ in expreffing one fyllable in the fame fentence. It would be rafh, however, upon perceiving this, to affert, that the one fyllable was in quantity triple or quadruple of the others, as in different occurrences, or in different arrangements of the fame fyllables, the proportion might be varied. We can, with great eafe, contract or extend a fyllable, when we wifh to make it a certain component - part; or the whole of a determined interval of time, upon which we have fixed our attention. It is hard to fuppofe, that in the Greek and Latin languages, which are compofed of the fame fimple elements with ours, no proportion fhould fubfift betwixt contiguous fyllables, but that of equality, or that of two to one, or fome obfcure or ill defined proportion approaching to thefe ; _and itis ftill harder to fuppofe, that thefe proportions were conftant and invariable, in every fituation and occurrence. THE trochzus and fpondzus might be rendered equal in reci- tation, either by contracting the latter to the time of the for- mer, or by extending the former to that of the latter. The one or the other of thefe practices might be adopted in different cafes, according to the different ftru€ture of the fyllables of which the feet were compofed. That there was a tendency to prolong the trochzus, we are almoft inclined to believe, from the firft fyllable of that foot being regularly placed in the ftrongeft and moft emphatic part of the meafure. It is well known, that in conftructing mixed trochaic verfes, the tro- cheus was made to occupy the firft, third and other uneven places ; the even places were occafionally filled with {pondzus, or other feet of four times. In iambic verfes, again, the even’ places were kept facred to the iambus. If, however, we confi- der the firft fyllable of thefe verfes as introductory, and fuppofe the meafure to begin with the fecond fyllable, which we are- much inclined to do, we reduce them to trochaics, in which alfo the trochzus will be regularly found in the uneven places of the meafure. It 110 On RYTHMIGAL MEASURES. IT is not always fafe indeed to reafon from general principles. and analogy upon matters of fact, more efpecially when fuch reafoning appears to be contradiéted by pofitive teftimony. I therefore offer thefe conjectures with difiidence. ‘The accent and manner of pronunciation of the ancients being now irre- coverably loft, we have no means of having the matter fub- jected to*tenfible demonftration. All that we can fay is, that if they did in faét pronounce thefe unequal feet in their juft proportions, and were confcious of doing fo, they poflefled a power of combining very {mall intervals of time into unequal parcels, to which perhaps no parallel can be found in modern days. IV. On certain ANALOGIES obferved by the GREEKS in the Ufe of their LETTERS} and particularly of the LETTER ZITMA. By ANDREW DALZEL,M.A. F.R.S. EpDIN. and Profeffor of Greek in the Univerfity of EDINBURGH. {Read by the Author, Dec. 19. 1785, and Nov. 19. 1787-] INZTJTRODUVUETION. HE power of pronouncing articulate founds is one of the moft obvious marks which diftinguifh man from the other animals. No philofophical inveftigation is neceflary for pointing it out, and therefore it has not efcaped the notice of the poets, the moft ancient of all authors. In the works of Homer and Hesiop*, we often meet with the expreffion véeores civbewmos, men having an articulate voices the word pégo being evidently compounded of péciew, to divide, and. oJ), the voice F. But * Vide Iliad. «, 250. y', 492. o', 288. de. Oper. & Dies, 109, 142. Anacrzon has alfo made ufe of the fame epithet, but without the fubftantive; Od. III. 4. + Asc 7d pspegirutuny tye thy ora, fays Hesycuius, voce péporss. In which Surnas agrees. Eustrarutus is more explicit. Mégomes of avOewror, maga ro Duce memcosouévny eyesy why Smee chs Te Aczere nach sto cUAARBas nal ths Torysleey O pendepia THs BAAN Exes Pay wape Thy THV avbponoy addy». Men are called wijoxss, from their naturally having their voice divided into Words and Syllables and Elements, a quahty which no voice poffeffes, except haman Speech. Ad Iliad. 2, 250. The Bifhop adds, That “‘ thofe of his own facred fociety, ‘* the interpreters of holy Writ, derive the word from the divifion of tongues which “ took place at the building of the tower of Chalana,”’ as he calls it; which etymology Erasmus has alfo taken notice of in his Dialogue de reéfa Latint Graecique Sermonis pro- nuntiationes 112 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; Burt although man is plainly poflefled of this faculty of ar- ticulation, or pronouncing diftinét fyllables; yet the analyfis of thofe fyllables into their conftituent parts, or fimple ele- ments, or into what the Greek writers call soyé«, muft origi- nally have been a work of immenfe ingenuity. Perhaps it would even have been impracticable ever to have made a com- plete analyfis of this kind, without the invention of vifible figns for denoting each of thofe elements. Nor hath any fort of figns, fymbols or characters been found fo proper for that purpofe, as thofe which we call Letters. Indeed, it feems im- poflible to comprehend any other vifible mode of analyzing words into fyllables, and fyllables into fimple elements, than that which is furnifhed by letters. For though we can con- ceive language to be, in fome degree, conveyed by marks of imitation ; as when, in exprefling an elephant, we fhould fet down the figure of that animal: yet we could never analyze fuch a reprefentation, fo as to convey any idea of the different fyllables in the word elephant, or of the elemental founds of any of thofe fyllables *. INDEED, the fignificant founds of a language, even confider- “ed each in the aggregate, and without any refolution into its conftituent nuntiatione. But of this derivation, Damm, in his Lexicon, juftly fays, ‘‘ Id pié magis ‘< quam veré.”” Evsrarmius has farther obferved, ‘‘ That certain birds are called “« uégomss 3”’ thofe, no doubt, he means of the parrot kind. But thg manner in which thefe poffefs the faculty of articulation, forms but a very flight exception to this cha- ra¢teriftic of human nature. Human articulation was defined by the Stoics as follows : Divn tvagdeos nat ame Siavoras txmeamouen, Sound articulate, and proceeding from Sentiment. See Harais’s Hermes, p. 322» . * Even Dr Witxins’s Real Charaéter, which he has, with fuch aftonifhing labour, invented, is not calculated to give any idea of fyllables or elemental founds ; and there- fore, in order to complete his fcheme of an univerfal philofophica] language, he has likewife invented two alphabets, one of which he calls a Natural CharaGer ; this being neceflary for the exprefling of proper names, according to his project. See An Effay | towards a real Charaéter and a philofophical Language, by Joun Witxins, D. D. Dean of Ripon, and F.R.S. (afterwards Bi/bop of Chefter.) Lond. 1668. fol. © 5 el es Particularly of the LETTER XITMA. 113 eonftituent elements, can be but very imperfectly exprefled by figures of imitation ; becaufe there is of thefe founds an im- menfe variety, which cannot poflibly admit of any fuch vifible exhibition *. ‘Thofe conventional figns, which we call letters, are the only proper and complete mode of denoting fimple ele- mental founds, and their infinite variety of combination in fyllables and words. For although the alphabet of no one lan- guage contains a fufficient number of letters to exprefs every pof- | fible modification of articulated found ; yet the letters compo- fing the feveral alphabets of thofe written languages with which we are acquainted, efpecially the ancient Greek and Latin, have been found fufficient for denoting all the requifite elementary founds in thofe particular languages Tf. LETTERS are called by the Greeks yeaupuorex, a word whofe etymology is evident; for if yea¢w fignify to write, yeamuc muft fignify a thing written, that is, a letter, or written charac- ter, denoting an element of articulate found {. The ori- Vot. II. P ginal * See an excellent account of the difference betwixt imitative and fymbolic language, by the ate Mr Harris, fupported by quotations from Greek authors. Hermes, Book Ill. Chap. 3. ; + Dr Wirxrws has endeavoured to fhew the defects in common alphabets, as to the true order of the letters, their juft number, determinate powers, fitting names, proper figures, d’c. Effay towards a real Charaéter, &c. Part 1. Chap. v. And he has exhi- bited a table of fuch fimple founds as he thinks can be framed by men, with a twofold in- ftance of a more regular charatter for the letters, together with feveral other curious particulars. Part Ill. Chap. x. xi. xii. xii. xiv. After all, he concludes as follows : “¢ Thefe thirty-four letters, before enumerated, will fuffice to exprefs all thofe articulate “* founds, which are commonly known and ufed in thefe parts of the world. I dare not be over-peremptory in afferting, that thefe are all the articulate Sounds, which either are, or can be in nature ; it being as impoffible to reckon up all fuch, as to determine “the juft number of Colours or Taffes.’”” aé ae t Tue etymology of the Latin word Litera, is not {o well afcertained. See ScanicEr de Caufis Ling. Lat. Lib. 1. Cap. 4. Ammonivus the Grammarian thus defines the dif- ference betwixt yeduua and soydov. Tedumn Eronyeis Saige Lroiyeroy peev gd sw yn ixQww wyots 6 0 Dboys, & 70 yeol ma tet onpecsov n cUr@ XH phcle Tedupece differs from FOLK EOYs For soryeov 2s the enunciation and the found, of which ypawua is a fign or type or figure. De affinium vocab. differentid, voce ygaeua, ubi vide que annotavit vir dottifimus Lun. Casp. IT4 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; ginal fignification, however, of yeé¢w was not precifely what we now mean by the expreflion to write. In the earlieft times of the Greek language, it meant fo carve ; and as the moft an- cient method of writing was to carve fome fort of figures upon tables of wood or brafs, which was exprefled by yeage, (as we learn from Homer *), that verb remained in ufe to exprefs the Caspr. VaucKenaER. ArtsToTue gives the following account of an element. rotyeioy peey By ess Qayn cdvaeigeros® & wica >, BAN tt ns weDune curern ybitok Doi. x ~ Ta Saziav eisty aDdiaheeror Pavat dv Bdeusev rtyw soryciov. An Element 1s an indivifible found ; not every in- divifible found, but from the compofition of which an intelligible found (or word] is natu- rally produced. For the cries of wild animals are indivifible founds, but I call none of thefe an Element. De Poetic. cap. xx. See alfo Dionys. Halicarn. de Compof. Verb. cap. XIV. et Praro in Cratylo. Vol. I. p.426. Edit.Serrant. See the Stoic defini- tion of an element, quoted by Mr Harats from Diocenes Larrrius: Hermes, Book III. ° chap. 2. But though yedyum and clusyccy are clearly different, the one fignifying a let- ter and the other an element, they are frequently confounded by the Greek writers ; the fign being often taken for the thing fignified. Accordingly, Dionysius the Thracian, in giving the etymology of the words, has confounded their meaning. Tpdppara J: rtyeras a +b yenpposeis nor Evouals TuTtok. ypesbas P To Bios Wage Tos MaAKIwIs, WS Kad mae “Ourpwe [liad. a’, 388.] Ta 23 aire nab oroiydia xarcaras did Td Eye oToixoy Tie wm THE. They are called yecupura, on account of their being formed by lines and incifions : for yeatvas, among the ancients, fignified to make an incifion, as we find from Homer, [liad. a’, 388.] The fame are called croyea, becaufe they are arranged according to acertain progreffion or feries. Ars Gramm. apud Fazricium in Biblioth. Gr. Vol. VII. p. 27. Nor has Tszopore Gaza attended to the diftin¢tion in his definition, though it is, in other refpedts, extremely accu- rate. Apxréov D lous awe Te Tewre, choy Tov TTY EW, THUTE p n wewrn “ab &pnepng tots. T aya Seome Qavn, & yup ws eruyey TUATACKET EH AAMAS Eis TUCTAGI TVAAaGHC, GAA’ ws zal aiivoyece on- Aol, OTe TE KE KOTAK TMS HIV LEVE Ws CVYTATTETES KoLTc Aovyor. Perhaps we fhould begin with the firft, viz. the Elements. For they are the firfi and indivifible vorce of man ; not be- ing conneéted together at random, to produce the compofition of a fyllable ; but, as the name imports, arranged ina rational manner, advancing in a certain Series and regular order. Grammat. Inft. Lib. 1V. Parscran has remarked this confounding of an ele- ment anda letter: ‘*‘ Abufivé tamen et elementa pro literis et liter pro elementis vo- “ cantur.”? Lib. I. In moft cafes, however, no great inconvenience arifes from the neglect of this diftinétion. * [uae O8 pay Avxinvde, wepev 9° oye oxpare Avyer, Teasbas tv mivans @runty SupoPSage worrd. Iliad. ’, 168. which, tranflated literally, runs thus: He /ent him into Lycta, and he moreover gave him deftrudlive figns, having carved, upon a folding tablet, a variety of them fatal to his hfe. The poet is fpeaking of Prozrus, who fent Bzxreroruon into Lycia with this fatal tablet. Particularly of the LETTER XITMA. 11s the more commodious method of writing which was afterwards invented. ; In whatever part of the world, or at whatever time, the ufe of letters took its origin, (for [ do not mean at prefent to enter upon that inquiry *), it cannot be denied that it is one of the moft admirable of all human inventions. That we fhould be able, by means of twenty-four vifible characters, to denote the various thoughts of our minds, uttered by articulate founds, fo as not only to convey them to perfons abfent and at a di- ftance, but even to tranfmit them to pofterity, muft, if it did not, as fome fuppofe, proceed immediately from the Deity, be confidered as the moft eminent of all the improvements which human art has yet made of thofe powers which he has been pleafed to beftow upon our fpecies T. P 2 INDEED, tablet. We have no authority to tranflate ojare, Letters, or yeabas, having written, as is generally done. Indeed, no where in the poems of Homer, do we find any part of the fimple verb yzé2u, except here, and in the §ggth line of the 17th book of the Iliad, where yeuev occurs ; and there it fignifies to wound, or to make an incifion, being applied to what the fpear of Potypamas did to Penexaus the Beeotian. Its compound émyeagu indeed is found four or five times, and always fignifies to raze or graze the fkin with the point of a weapon. But neither yedmwa nor soydov are to be met with in Homer, nor does he any where make mention of Letters or writing by any terms whatever. For e4ue, which occurs fo often, can {carcely ever be faid to fignify what we mean by a Leéter: And hence an argument has been adduced, though not by any means a decifive one, againft Homer’s knowledge of the art of writing, or the ufe of letters. But this is an invetti- gation which cannot properly be introduced in a note. See what the late Mr Roszrr Woop has written upon this fubject in the laft feétion of his Effay*on the original Genius of Homer. Lond. 1775. 4to. * Srx a fhort but elegant Differtation, printed at the conclufion of the 2d Vol. of Havercampe’s Sylloge Scriptorum qui de Ling. Grac. vera et recid pronuntiatione commen- tarios reliquerunt, entitled, De Fenicum Literis, &c. Guituiztmo PosteLxo Barentonio auGtore. See alfo Harris’s Hermes, Book Ill. ch. 2. + “ La communication des pensées par I’Ecrifure, n’eft guéres moins admirable que “ celle qui fe fait par la Parole. Ce ne fut apparemment qu’apres bien des meditations “ et des effais multipliés, que degodté des difficultés, des cquivoques, des ob{curités, des “ bornes trop etroites de P’écriture hiéroglyphique, l’inyenteur de l’ecriture littérale re- ** connut 116 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; INDEED, the faculty of fpeech itfelf, not to mention the va- rious arts and fciences, could not have been brought to any confiderable degree of improvement, without the affiftance of written language. Without this, the knowledge of one age of the world could not have defcended diftin&ly to another, and confequently mankind muft, in a great meafure, have loft thofe advantages which they derive from the accumulated experience of former times. THE variety of languages, however, both written and fpoken, which takes place in the world, has been matter of regret to thofe who have confidered the fubje& particularly ; and it has been wifhed, that a method of fpeech, capable of being conveyed by writing, had been invented, which man- kind, at leaft in every poliflied nation, might have been able univerfally to adopt and to underftand. But the diftribution of the world into fo many different kingdoms and nations, feems to render the introduction of an univerfal language among mankind quite impradticable*. For although men poflefs x n connut le nombre aflez petit des fons élémentaires, et comprit qu’en les repréfentant par autant de caractéres diftin&ts, on pourroit combiner ces caractéres comme les fons qu’ils repréfentent ; ce qui conftitue en effet n n cal n a Cet art ingenieux “* De peindre la parole, et de parler aux yeux 5 ‘* art merveilleux, qui fixe & jamais la parole et la pensée qu’elle exprime, qui porte «¢ Pune et autre aux abfents, qui les fait pafler 4 la poftérité la plus rectlée, et dont on “ peut dire avec vérité et fans reftri€tion, ce que dit M. Diperor d’un idiome qui di- | “« yjendroit commun A tout le genre humain: [Encyclop. au mot Encyciorepie.] que ‘* par fon moyen, /a diftance des temps difparott, les lieux fe touchent, il fe forme des liarjons ‘S entre tous les points habités de l’efpace et de la durée, et tous les tres vivants et penfants “© Sentretiennent.”? Grammaire Generale, &c. Par M. Beauzse. Tom.I.p.2. See -alfo Crczron. Queft. Tufe. Lib. I. and. Witxrns’s Effay, &c. p. 10. * Tue ingenious, laborious and truly admirable effort of Dr Wiixins, to invent and: eftablith an univerfal charaéter and philofophical language, has only tended to fhow more firikingly the impratticablenefs of fuch an attempt : At leaft, however feafible his project may appear, his method ftill remains unemployed by the learned ; and_as for the vulgar, . it is quite beyond their comprehenfion. Particularly of ihe LETTER SITMA. 117 poffefs univerfally the fame organs of fpeech, and, by means of thefe, the fame faculty of uttering articulate founds; yet the manner of exerting thofe organs, fo as to produce a parti- | cular language, being quite arbitrary, is a work, at firft, of ac- cident, and then of gradual improvement, and which cannot be carried forward, even by the help of writing, without a fre- quent intercourfe, and a fort of mutual convention among the individuals of that fociety, who find # for their advantage to adopt fuch a language *. But an intercourfe adequate to fuch an end cannot take place beyond a particular nation ; therefore an univerfal living language cannot poflibly fubfift: For, ac- cording to an obfervation of D’ALEMBERT, “ There is nothing, ** either in nature or in reafon, which determines an object to “ be defigned by one found more than by another.” To which BEAUZEE adds, That “ there is nothing im nature or reafon “* which determines a found to be defigned by one letter more: “ than by another+.” Accordingly, a variety of different | tongues: * Tue inhabitants of fome nations, fays M. pu Marsars, employ certain organs, and even certain parts of organs, of which others make no ufe. There is likewife a particu- lar form or manner of exerting the organs, &c. ‘* Il y’a des peuples qui mettent en: “* action certains organes et méme certaines parties des organes, dont les autres ne font ‘* point d’ufage. Il y’a aufli une forme ou maniere particuliere de faire agir les organes. ** De plus en chaque nation, en chaque province, et méme en chaque ville, on s’enonce “« avec un forte de modulation particuliere ; c’eft qu’on appelle accent national, ou accent’ ‘© provinciale.”” Encyclop. au mot CoNSONNE. + “ Sr, comme le dit V’illuftre Secrétaire de Academie Francoife, z/ n’y a rien: “ dans la nature ni dans ta ratfon qui détermine un objet a étre defigné par un ‘¢ fon plutot que par un autre ; on peut dire avec autant ou plus de vérité, qu’il n’y a *¢ rien dans Ja nature ni dans la raifon qui détermine un fon 4 etre defigné par une lettre “* plutét que par une autre.” Gramm. Generale, par M. Brauzez. Tom. I. p. 179, See alfo p. 233, 234. : Dr Wirkxiws indeed has endeavoured to contrive a fet of characters, which, in their fhape, have ‘‘ fome refemblance to that configuration which there is in the organs of * fpeech upon the framing of feveral letters.” Upon which account, he thinks, fuch an alphabet may. deferve the name of a natural character of the letters. Efay, &c. p. 375. But here he has not been very fuccefsful ; and indeed he feems himfelf to prefer another alphabet, which he has alfo fet down, although it has no fuch property, and yet is, as he confefles, “* more facile and fimple.” 118 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; tongues has prevailed ever fince the early ages of the world; and fuch of them as have ceafed to be fpoken would have foon perifhed, had they not been committed to writing ; by which means, fome of them have furvived the wreck of nations, and ‘the other viciflitudes of human affairs. Of thefe, though their genuine pronunciation be now, in a great meafure, loft, we are ftill able, after a confiderable degree of pains, not only to underftand the meaning, but even to perceive the beauties ; and, among the various forts of inftruétion which they convey, we derive from them many efflential advantages in improwas and polifhing our own language. To none have we been more indebted in thefe refpects, than to the language of the ancient Greeks. As this is acknow- ledged, by all who have ftudied it, to be the moft perfect *; fo the analogy perceived from an attentive obfervation of its ftructure, even in the moft’ minute* parts, is of all others the moft complete and beautiful. Whence the Greeks borrowed their alphabet, which they ufed with fuch fuccefs, I am not here to enquire. That it did not originate with themfelves, is univerfally agreed among the learned f. But it is no lefs cer- tain, * Sex Mr Harais’s elegant encomium of the Greeks and their language, of which he was the great and rational admirer. Hermes, Book III. Chap. 5. Alfo, Dr Grecory Snares, in the Preface to his Origin and StruCture of the Greek Tongue. + Ir is the uniform opinion of ancient authors, that the Greek alphabet at firft con- fifted only of fixteen letters, which were imported out of Pheenicia into Greece by the celebrated Capmus. [See Heropor. Terpfichor. cap. 58. “‘Puurarcn. Sympo/. lib. 9. Tren. lib. I. cap.12. Lucan. Pharf. lib. II. See alfo, Dr Witxins’s Effay, p. 11-} Thefe fixteen letters, called Kzduntx yeeueatrx, and fometimes ciwara Ka due, were the two fhort vowels with the three ancipites ; the three fmooth and the three intermediate mute confonants; and the four liquids, with the folitary Evyue. Paxtamenes is faid to have added the three afpirated mutes, and the double confonant 2, at the time of the Trojan war. And Simonipes is fuppofed afterwards to have invented the two other double confonants and the two long vowels. See Monrravcon. Pa/eogr. Gr. p. 115, 116, 117. And fee an enumeration of the authors who have written on this fubject in Tueopuitt Curistorx. Hares Introd. in Hi. Ling. Gr. Proleg. p. viii. feqq. Alten- burg. 1778. 8v0. Particularly of the LETTER Z1TMA. 119 tain, that wherever they got the firft fketch of an alphabet, they improved it very much, not indeed inftantly, but gradu- ally, till they brought it to that ftate in which we now fee it, in the twenty-four different characters whereof it is com- pofed *. To point out completely the analogy which the Greek wri- ters obferved in the ufe of each of thofe letters, would lead into a very wide field. At prefent, I propofe only to enquire particularly into the nature and principal ufes of one of them, I mean the Yiyua. This, being the fign of a fingular fort of found, has been ufed, in the ftructure of the Greek tongue, in a manner different from every other letter; and therefore the Grammarians have generally allotted to it a fingular place in their arrangement of the different component members of the Greek alphabet. It will be impoflible, however, to treat of the Siyue, without making mention of certain circumftances incident to the other confonants. PIeAWIRinday. I HE letter Yiy~a was commonly fo called by the inhabi- tants of Greece, its iflands and colonies, except the Do- rians, who, as we learn from HERoporTus, gave it the name of Ya» }t. Dionysius of Halicarnaflus alfo mentions this Doric * Cauuistratus, the Grammarian of Samos, is faid to have arranged the Greek al- phabet in the order in which we now find it, when Eucripzs was Archon of Athens. See Fosrer’s Effay on Accent and Quantity, p. 41. 2d Edit. 4 Awgites piv 10 cctv xargs, "Iwres 06 ofypo. Lib, I. 120 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; Doric name *; and ATHENZUus further obferves, that Aris- TOPHANES, in his comedy of Zhe Clouds, has called thofe horfes who had this letter branded upon them, Yappéege: fF. It has been by fome thought abfurd, that the letters, which are the figns of elemental founds, fhould be called by any other names than the mere founds which they denote. It may be faid, however, in favour of the Greek names, that they always begin with the letter whofe power they denote; and it is a good practical rule in grammar, to fay, “ That the power of ““ each letter may be known by catching the initial found of the name {.” In fpeaking particularly of the letters, it is ne- ceflary to have a diftinét articulate name to give to each of them, becaufe the mere power, efpecially of the mute confo- nants, can fcarcely be uttered without a vowel; and if the af- fiftance of a vowel be employed in uttering them, then you give them a name fomewhat different from their real power, and more likely to lead into error. Wirtu refpect to the elemental found of which Xiype is the fign, there is no doubt that the Greeks ufed that letter to exprefs precifely what we denote in Englifh by the letter S in fuch words as the following, /ame, defignation, diftre/s. ‘This we learn from a diftin@ defcription, which Dionysius of Hali- carnaflus has given of the pofition and effort of the vocal organs in the pronunciation of this letter.. “ The Siype, fays ‘“‘ he, is pronounced by an appulfe of the tongue to the palate, ** while 6é * He mentions it as (6 called by Pinpar. De compofitione Verborum, Se. 14. of which more afterwards. + AruEenzus, p- 467. Edit. Commelin. See alfo IsAact Casaus. Animadverff. in Aruen. Lib. X. cap. 21. LapPépes is evidently compounded of Zay and Qépw » being . always » before 7, 8, ?, which will be remarked more particularly afterwards. See Aristoruanis Nubes, 122. 1298. Edit. Brunck. Argentor. 1783. +t Liver cujufque vis intelligitur ex initiali fono nominis. Moor Elementa, L. Gr. p- 20 f Particularly of th LETTER X1TMA. 121 *€ while the breath rufhes through the middle part of it, and ** emits a gentle and conftri@ted fibilation about the teeth *.”’ The name itfelf is evidently derived from ciZw, to bifs 3 and from the hiffing found of which it is the fign, it has been called the ferpentine letter. Some have even fancied, that vari- ous fhapes of the ferpent have been copied in the different forms it has aflumed +. The forms moft commonly in ufe, are two for the large or capital letter, thus 2, C, and three for the {mall one, thus o, (, ¢, of which the laft is always final, the other two initial or intermediate {. In order to comprehend more diftindly the ufe of the Siype, it will here be proper to take a fhort view of the other confonants. VoL. II. i THE ~ to Jie pies adsS Pepojtve x) wegi rds aDovees AgmTav nab sevdv tLwdBvt@ ro oderyum. Cerarinus’s definition is nearly the fame: ‘‘ Profertur lingua furfum adduéta ad pa- *€ Jatum, cujus medio {patio {piritus fertur et circa dentes exilem et anguftum et quodam- “* modo triftem fibilum expellit.”” De Sono Gr. Litt. Libellus. It ought never to be pronounced, as in fome Englifh and French words, as if it were the fame with Z, or a double S. ‘‘ Hic quidem certe graviter errant et labuntur preeter czeteros Galli, quoties *¢ gia interjacet duabus vocalibus in una vel diverfis dictonibus. Tum enim fonus qui * eft in @izz, vel in Zain Hebrzorum ex eo percipitur : ac perinde pronuntiatur ac fi “¢ uz {eriberetur. Quod certe vitium dum nonnulli fubterfugere ac devitare volunt, ‘¢ utinam in alterum minime inciderent, nec quafi per geminum SS effet fcriptum mussa “« proferrent.”” Hen. Sreru. 4pologet. pro vet. L. Gr. Pron. In which opinion Lan- ceLor agrees. ‘‘ Sa prononciation doit eftre ferme et entiere, auffibien entre deux “¢ voielles qu’en tout autre lieu. C’eft pourquoi il le faut prononcer dans Xpvens de mé- ‘* me que dans cvs TUAE: quoiqu’en Francois nous prononcions autrement Curyszs que “ Szs.”’? Nouvelle methode pour apprendre facilement la Langue Greque, p. 16. > ~ ~ ‘ , , ” N > . ~ HU ’ c [e, # % e, are immutable and liquid.” According to > this arrangement, « is a femivowel; but in the fubdivi- fion of the femivowels into double confonants and liquids, it is tacitly omitted. For this Gaza had the authority of Dionysius the Thracian {, and probably of APpoLLoNivs Dyscotus, whom he very much followed. CoNsTANTINE Lascaris has expreffed himfelf very nearly in the fame words §. But EMANUEL CHRYSOLORAS is more explicit. His Grammar is in the form of queftion and anfwer. “ How are ** the feventeen confonants divided ? Into two forts, femivowels “and mutes. How many are femivowels? Eight, 2 2, J, a, ws ** »,e,¢- How are the femivowels divided? Into three forts, * double confonants, immutable confonants, and ¢ How ma- . 6é ny * Effay towards a real Character, &c. ps 363. and 366. £ Tey 2 wujebdinn; #0 pound, Bey OEY A po eg. boar RANE pr Ces Ho apes Ne dyed Ae were ge. Turon. Gaze Introduétion’s Grammatice libri lV. fol. 3. Ba/il. apud Va.ent. CurtonEM. 68vo. + Vide Dionystr Thracis Art. Grammat. Extat in Fas. Bzbhioth. Gr. Vol. VII. p- 26. § Vide Consrantini Lascaris Grammatice Compendium, p. 2. apud Pavtum Manu- tium, Avni F. Venet. 1557. 12mo. Particularly of the LE TTER 3ITMA. 123 “ ny are double? Three, % % . How many are immutable? “ Four, which are alfo called liquids, a, uw »e*.” The re- maining nine confonants are called mutes by all the gram- marians: Of which three, to wit, 7,7, are termed ac, fmooth ; three, to wit, 9, y, 9, are ducea, rough, or denfe; and three, to wit, 6, y, 5, are wisn, intermediate; in fuch a manner, that each fmooth one has an intermediate and a denfe one to correfpond to it, which three are faid to be of the fame rank, becaufe they nearly refemble each other in the manner in which the vocal organs exert themfelves in pronouncing them ; the firft rank =, 8, 9, being /abia/, the fecond z, y, vy, being pa- latine, and the third 7, 3,4, being dental, as is well known to every one who has the fmalleft acquaintance with the princi- ples of the Greek tongue. ARisTOTLE has defined, with his ufual acutenefs and precifion, the difference betwixt a vowel, a femivowel andamute. ‘ A vowel (fays he) is that which, without any allifion of the organs, hath an audible found, as «ands. / » ’ X » a Ne Pe, ‘ ~ U 2 ' v 4 deneicey Exyov Pawn, pcre O: Tuy Exdvrmy Tivee Owvay Yyivoetvor anBoTay® olov, Toy nab zo ds Tegt , Tloint. KeQ, x. 124 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; the natural order of the elemental founds, and the affinity fub- fitting among certain claffes of fuch founds. All fuch as are labial, for inftance, might be claffed together, whether mutes or femivowels, as 6, 4,7, %, ~~; all fuch as are dental, to wit, Ze, o3 all fuch as are lingual, to wit, 0, 4,2,»,73 and all fuch as are palatine, to wit, y,z, y, And accordingly this has been done by HuLEwicz, one of the beft modern writers on Greek grammar *. But this he has propofed, without re- jeCting the ufual arrangement, which he knew to be fo im- portant in examining or explaining the ftructure of the Greek tongue. For though a divifion and arrangement of that fort might anfwer the purpofe of a minute anatomical or phyfiolo- gical inquiry concerning the organs of fpeech, yet as this was not the circumftance chiefly attended to by the Greeks in the progrefs of their language, though they did not by any means neglect it, we muft adhere to that other diftribution by the. grammarians, if we would wifh to comprehend clearly the real ufe of the Greek letters. There is, for inftance, no doubt that p» is a labial confonant, as well as 7, 8, or g* and in faé the Greeks in fome meafure attended to this, as will be after- wards fhewn ; but the ufe of w asa liquid, and its partaking in this refpect of the fame analogy with A, », ¢, was a connection, much more ftriking, and much more attended to in the prac- tical application of the Greek alphabet ft. In the cafe of the. nine mutes, it is of very great confequence to confider how,, ith | in, * See Avex. Gasr. Worutyn Hutewrcz, nobilis Polont, Infiitutiones Ling. Grace, p. 14. Lugd. Bat. 1746. 4to. M. Beavzee, an ingenious French Grammarian, has alfo. propofed.a very minute arrangement of the letters, according to an idea of this kind. See Grammaire Générale, ou Expofition raifonnée des Elemens neceffaires du Langage.. 2 tomes, Paris, 1767. 8vo. See alfo Bz/bop Wiixins’s Effay, &c. p. 357. + ‘ Appellantur Liquina, quod poft mutam pofite quafi liquefcentes ac evanef- ‘* centes, vim confonantes interdum amittant, neque vocalem precedentem longam effi- ‘* ciunt, ut ali confonantes.””? Anrtesicnanus apid Curnarpum, p. 3. Hanovia, 1617. 4fo. Particularly of the LETTER X1ITMA. 125 in the inflections, and in certain other fyllabic combinations, each of the letters which compofe the different ranks changes its place occafionally with one of its own rank, and not with that of another ; and in the cafe of the liquids, how, if any one of them occur in the nominative of a noun, it muft re- ‘main unchanged in the oblique cafes; and if it occur in the prefent tenfe of a verb, it muft remain unchanged in the fu- tures; from whence the liquids have alfo got the name of bmeraPorn, immutable ; likewife, in the cafe of the double con- fonants, how each of them is occafionally refolved into the mute of which it is compofed, and ciyux. All this might be fhewn particularly, and at great length. But I return to the Diy net. In treating of the Greek characters, fome diftinguifhed mo- dern grammarians have not paid due attention to this letter. GretseEr, the Jefuit, in his arrangement of the confonants, has affigned no place to it at all*. He does not even mention it as one of the femivowels, although it be evidently entitled to. that diftin@ion. Lancexot, author of the Port-Royal Gram- mar, at a lofs, it fhould feem, what to do with it, has clafled it, awkwardly enough, with the double confonants. ‘“ Although “ the Siva, fays he, be the only one of its own fet, we may -“ neverthelefs join it with the double confonants, not only be- caufe it forms one of their conftituent parts, but alfo becaufe “ they all refemble it, by being fabilant in the pronuncia- “ tion t+.” Other grammarians, particularly CLENARDUs, AN- TESIGNANUS and HutEwicz, have judged much better in taking the hint from the Greek writers. already quoted, efpecially ce * Inflitutiones Ling. Gr. Ingoldfladiz, 1605. 12mo. + “ Quoique le o foit feul de fa bande, nous pouvons neanmoins le joindre avec les ** doubles, non feulement parce qy’il en fait partie, mais aufli parce que dans leur pro-. “¢ nonciation elles font toutes fiffantes comme lui.”? Nouvelle Methode pour appendre: facilement la Langue Greque, Paris, 1754. 80. 126 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; - e{pecially EMANUEL Curyso_Loras, and allowing the Siype to be a femivowel ; but perceiving that it is neither a liquid, nor a double confonant, nor a mute, they have called it /:tera /olita- ria, et fue poteftatis, vel fui juris ; the folitary, and the ab/olute or independent letter ; the letter which poffeffes a fingular and independent power, nowife fettered by that relative analogy to which the other confonants are obliged to fubmit. That is to fay, there has been a fingular found obferved to fubfift in the Greek language, expreflive of a great many varieties in the ‘changes and inflections of words independent of certain other claffes of changes and inflections ; and that fingular found has been denoted by the Xyuza. For it is certain, that languages were ufed previous to the invention of letters, though they mu{t have been very rude in that early ftate. But they would afterwards be much refined by thofe very letters, the ufe of which muft doubtlefs have fuggefted' many eflential improve- ments, which would not otherwife have been thought of. Now, upon what grounds the iyue is entitled to an ex- emption or diftinétion, fuch as I have mentioned, it may be worth while to examine. The inquiry will tend to fhew the great ufe, and indeed abfolute neceflity of fuch a character in the alphabet of this moft exquifite of all languages. Dr SAMUEL CLARKE, one of the moft acute and ingenious of all the commentators, has, in a note upon the word réAucce, at the beginning of the thirteenth book of the Iliad, men- tioned a probable reafon, in his opinion, why the ancients held the Siyue to be /ue potefatis. “ Tésaece, fays he, mutt * certainly be written with a double «, becaufe the fecond fyl- “ lable of +auce is fhort. It may, however, (continues he), be “‘ queftioned, whether the more ancient Greeks made ufe of “ that mode of writing. For when they called ¢ an arbitrary “ letter, perhaps they meant, that whereas the letters @ 2 “ are neceffarily double, and all the reft of the confonants ‘* Gmple, ¢ alone has this peculiarity, that, in a great many ** places, Ler { | #9 eee Particularly of the LETTER SITMA. 127 “places, efpecially the aorifts of verbs, it may be pronounced. “ either as a fimple or a double letter *.” ‘This reafon is inge- nious; but, upon examining it narrowly, it does not appear to be fatisfaGtory. Indeed Dr Crarxe himfelf does not feem quite fatisfied with it, and offers it only as a conjeCture. There is no doubt, however, of what this accomplifhed fcholar has elfewhere + fhewn, that the fenult of the firft aorift of fuch a verb as reAzZw is fhort, but that the poets, as Homer has fre- quently done, may make it long, by doubling the ¢, or rather by reftoring the ¢, which had been thrown away in the forma- tion of the firft futuret. Nor is it improbable, that when the poems of Homer were firft committed to writing, the « was fet down fingle, even when the verfe made it requifite to pro- nounce it double. It happens, however, that this privilege of being occafionally doubled, is not peculiar to the «. We find, among the poets, other confonants, mutes as well as liquids, frequently in the fame fituation. Thus, "Os Edus’ EAAcicen 0 6 viowy nak exeidero wry ||. And , Tov wot vreAAcirar pancges Seoi, de redgouy §. Here: * méaracoe.) ‘ Ita jam fcribendum, neceflarid ; quia 7éAwce fecundam corripit. Dubitari ‘€ tamen poteft, utrumne Greci antiquiores ifto modo fcripferint. Nam quumz, /ue po- “* teftatis Kteram dixerunt, haud {cio an hoc fibi voluerint ; literas ¢, , , neceflarid qui- “ dem duplices efle ; confonantium reliquas omnes, /mplices ; unicam autem c, iftiufmodi: * effe, ut permultis in locis, ac precepue in verborum Aoriftis, /implex dupléxve ex zquo *€ pronunciari poflit.” 4d Ikad. y', 1. + Vide ad Iliad. «, 140. §', 432. t¢ Accornine to the rule, which dire¢ts, that, in verbs not liquid, the firft future fhould arife from the prefent, by inferting a ¢ before w, weadgw, which is the fame with mtaddow, would have in the firft future reragcw, or meradcow. Buta fpecial rule directs, that before » we muft, in the future, throw away +, 0, 9, c, which makes that tenfe of atraw to be wiraew* hence the firft aorift éxerdew, to which reftore the rejected c, and it becomes éweAdcoae Vide Moor Element. L. Gr. p. 128.. | Tliad. @, 33. § Ibid. a, 406. 128 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; Here the 0 is double in @emey and otdeoay, that de may be a fpondee, which it could not otherwife have been. We find the x alfo frequently doubled, as 6, w / * Tavrov cuvesotBnooy Agyoov cxkQos The poet, however, had not attended to this circumftance, otherwife he would have avoided fuch an offenfive tautology. Cicero, from inadvertence of a fimilar fort, has begun his Topica with the following fentence: ‘“* Majores nos res feribere “ ingreflos, C. TREBATI, et iis libris, quos brevi tempore fatis multos edidimus, digniores, e curfu ipfo revocavit voluntas tua.” Several fuch paflages might be produced from the beft authors, both Greek and Latin, if it were worth while to collect them. Ir is remarkable, that in the Engiith't tongue, where almoft no inflection takes place, and confequently where the S has no peculiar duty to difcharge, that letter is‘of more frequent oc- currence than in any other language, and occafions, efpecially in the ears of foreigners, a conftant and difagreeable hifling f. Such a language would have been confidered as harfh and bar- barous in an extreme degree, by thofe ancient authors who were offended ce ce * Verfe 47°76 . + “ S (fays Jounson) has in Englifh the fame hiffing found’ as in other languages, and! * unhappily prevails in fo many of our words, that it produces in the ear of a foreigner “¢ 9 continued fibilation.”” Dzé?. Letter S.. Appison too had obferved, ‘(That a change *« has happened in our language, by the abbreviation of feveral words that are termi- “* nated in eth, by fubétituting an Sin the room of the laft fyllable, as in drowns, walks, ‘© arrives, and innumerable other words, which, in the pronunciation of our forefathers, “ were drowneth, walketh, arriveth. This (adds he) hath wonderfully multiplied a let- “* ter which was before too frequent in the Englifh tongue, and added to that hiffing in “ our language, which is taken fo much notice of by foreigners.”? Specfator, No. 335- Particularly of the LETTER SITMA. i4T offended even with a moderate ufe of Siyua in the Greek. Dionysius of Halicarnaffus, in particular, has faid, that “‘ the Yiywe is harfh and unpleafant, and when unneceflarily re- “ peated, exceedingly offenfive ; for its hiffing. feems to be con- “ nected with what is wild and irrational, rather than with the “voice of rational beings. Wherefore (continues he) fome ** ancient authors ufed it but feldom, and with caution, and “© others compofed whole odes without this letter *.” To condemn, however, the ufe of this letter on all occafions, either becaufe its found refembles the hiffing of a ferpent, or perhaps becaufe the found of hifling has been an ufual mode of exprefling diflike in different ages and nations of the world, would be a faftidious and hypercritical method of judging. Heropotus, the fweeteft of all profe writers, furnifhes a va- riety of fuch periods as the following: Kgozodsiags de lures GVO LL0LC'CLY eludeCovres uray Te Eldee Toot THe oPios ryivomevoroe ueonodelroses roses ev tHov aiwooigost. From this we may infer, that the Ionic Greeks were not very much difgufted even with a frequent repetition of the 2iyuex. - But fucha paflage, not only on account of the frequent occurrence of Ziyuwa, but alfo of Iara, would have been intolerable to an Attic ear, which feems to have had a particular averfion to the repeated ufe of the letter in queftion, and induced that refined people to prefer the double zz to the double ov in a great many of their words ; as when they faid éararra inftead of bérucca, mearro inf{tead of meicow, and even oveirrw inftead of cveirouw, to bifs. ‘The propri- ‘ety of fuch a change, however, feems to have been the fubje&t _ of difpute among fome of the ancient writers, and gave occa- fion to a jeu d’e/prit of Lucian, which has defcended to our ; times, *"Axags dg andes 70 o, noch be mAtoractit, ePddea Avmei” Ingrwdes yae xab aAdye we rroy Hh: Aoyinins MPamrecdas doxei Povns 6 cugirypos* tov yey waroiay craving Exgavtd Tits dvTd xexb- mePurcyyevas® tot Ob of colywes wdas OrAms emoley” Tegh cw “Ovouar. Edit, ReisKr1,, Vol. V. p. 80. y + Book II. chap. 69. ' A 142 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; times, under the title of Aizy avytvrav The judgment of the Vowels ; where that exquifite author, with his ufual talent for ludicrous compofition, has introduced the letter 2iyue arraign- ing the letter Tat before the tribunal of the feven Vowels, and calling out loudly for juftice againft the encroachments made upon him by this atrocious delinquent. It is fcarcely poffible to render the performance intelligible to a mere Englifh reader, as the ridicule chiefly arifes from the folemnity with which an unimportant fubftitution of certain Greek letters in the place of others, is treated. But it may be tranflated in fuch a manner as to amufe this learned audience, and ferve perhaps as fome fort of atonement for the trefpafs committed againft their pa- tience, in the former part of a dry grammatical difcuffion. The humour of the piece is heightened, by its being a very fuccefsful and well fupported imitation of an ancient pleading. LucraAn’s Fudgment of the Vowels. “ IN the Archonfhip of ArisTarcuHus of Phalerum *, on the 7th of November }, the: letter 2i7~u~« commenced a profe- cution againft the letter Tov, at the bar of the feven was plundered of all thofe words ufually pronounced with “ a double Tav. “¢ Yu * Tur learned Corstnr, merely upon the authority of this paflage of Lucian, has inferted in his Fa/? Atticz, the name of Artstarcuus Phalereus, as Archon Eponymus at Athens, in the 1ft year of the CCX XII. Olympiad, and of the Chriftian era, rog. It may be fuppofed, however, that, in a ludicrous compofition of this fort, Luctan would not mind an adherence to the truth of chronology, but might pitch upon an Archon on this occafion called Arisrarcuus, in allufion to the famous grammarian of that name who was born in Samothracia, and flourifhed at Alexandria about the CLVI. Olympiad ; and who was fo eminent in his art, that the name ArisTarcuus became fynonymous with the word Critic. See Corsini Fafi Aitict, Tom. 1l. p.104. and Tom. 1V. p. 165. + Scaurtcer and others fuppofe Mveve)ia» to correfpond to the month of Ofober. I have preferred the opinion of Perau and Corsin1, who make it to agree with November. On Vowels, for violent diftraining of goods, alleging that he Particularly of the LETTER 31TMA. — 1143 “ Ye Vowets, before whofe tribunal I ftand, as long as the injuries I received from this Tw here were but of a tri- vial nature, whilft he abufed my property, and encroached upon me where he had no juft right or title, I bore the lofs without repining ; and out of the deference which you know I obferve both to you and the other fyllables, I lent a deaf: ear to certain infinuations which were circulated to his dif- credit. But fince he proceeds to fuch a pitch of avarice and folly, as to be conftantly adding more heinous acts of vio- lence to thofe which, with a reluctant filence, I ufed to fuffer, I am forced to arraign him before you, who are well ac- quainted with the difpofition of us both. And Iam under no {mall apprehenfion, on account of this expulfion to which I am expofed ; for while he is continually adding fomething more violent to what he has already perpetrated, he will foon thruft me completely out of my own province, fo that by be- having thus tamely, I fhall run the rifk of being no longer accounted a /etter, and all of us fhall have fome reafon to be alarmed *.. “* Ir is therefore expedient, that not only you who at pre- fent fit in judgment, but likewife the other Letters, fhould be upon your guard againft this daring attempt. For if any one who has amind fhall be permitted to quit the poft af- ** figned On the 7th of Mvavabiiy, were celebrated at Athens the feftivals called Mvavijie and "OrxoPigia. See Corsini Fafi Attict, Vol. 1. p.63. and Vos. U. p. 383. Allo, Porrer’s Archwol, Vol. \. p. 418. & 423. 6 4< * In the Greek,. the laft member of this fentence is, & iow 3 xdioSas 78 Gofe* to-which Bovrpetorivs propofes to add, ra Acima yeotspore* which he found on the margin of one MS: and the reft of the letters be in the fame alarming fituation. Initead of 7% Qége, the celebrated Hemsteruuis feems difpofed to read sy [i.e. 7] Yco@w, and to render the fentence as follows :. Ita ut parum abfit, quin, fi quietus injuriam ultra feram, e numero literarum expungar, neque alio fim loco, quam fonus aliquis, vel, fibilus. I have no doubt: that the phrafe, as it is in the printed books, came from the pen of Lucran, & t7w 3 xGSas 7H QoBs, i.e. OF 1678 PiBe naodas uw tv tow, and all of us have _fome reafon.to be alarmed.. This meaning is confirmed by what immediately follows. 144 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; ** figned to him, and violently to intrude himfelf into that of “* another, and this too by your connivance, without whofe aid nothing is written to any purpofe, I cannot fee how the fe- veral ranks will maintain their juft rights, according to the 7 original arrangement. But I truft that neither you will ar- | £6 ce “ rive at fuch a pitch of negligence and floth as to permit the " ** perpetration of injuftice, nor, though you fhould decline all ip “’ participation in this ftruggle, muft I, who am the fufferer, ” i abandon my plea. ‘“‘ Wou_p to heaven! the audacity of certain other letters had received a check the inftant they began to violate the law, and then A«un@d« would not at this day have been at daggers- drawing with ‘Po, difputing whether a pumice—ffone fhould be written xooners OF xioonnis, or a headach fhould be xeQararyia or xeParaeyia® nor would Teusea have been perpetually wrangling, and even frequently upon the point of coming to blows, with Karzw, in the fuller’s fhop, infifting that she. ze “* flocks of wool fborn off by the fuller, fhould be yagerx and not i. © xvaderce’ and the fame Tazya would have no longer con- { tended with Agcy du, by taking away from him, and indeed totally robbing him of, the word hardly, calling it poy in- {tead of porisy and the reft of the letters would have aban- doned every attempt to introduce an illicit confufion. For it is fair that each fhould abide by his appointed ftation ; as every tranfgreflion of the bounds prefcribed marks the cha- racter of a fubverter of juftice. “ WuHoeEver at firft eftablifhed thefe laws for us, whether it was CapMus the iflander *, or PALAMEDES the fon of Nau- pLius,—(fome afcribe this important charge to SIMONIDES) ——not only determined who fhould be firft and who fecond 66 &é 6e iT 4 46 sé in * See above, p. 118. note +. The famous Capmus, fon of Acznor, is here called 6 yoswra:, from his connection with Tyre, according to ancient authors origi- nally built in an Ifland, which Avexanner is faid afterwards to have joined to the Continent. See the notes of Du Sout and Hemsreruuis, in the gto Edit, of Lucian’s Works. Tom. \. p87. Amft. 1743. | a n Particularly of th LETTER S1TMA. 145 in that order-wherein the feats of precedence are fixed, but alfo fully wnderftood the qualities and powers which belong to each of us. And on you, ye Judges, he hath conferred the larger portion of honour, inafmuch as you are capable of expreffing a found by yourfelves; on the femivowels, the next fhare to yours, becaufe they require a fmall degree of your afliftance, in order to be diftin@ly heard; and he hath allotted the leaft of all: to fome who, by themfelves, poflefs no fort of found whatfoever *. Wherefore, it is the province of you Vowels to be the guardians of thefe laws. “ But this Ted, (for 1 have not a more opprobrious: appel- lation for him than his own name +) who, unlefs, by Jupiter! two of yourfelves, I mean” Aag« and Y, excellent both, and feemly to behold, had come propitious to his aid, would not even have been heard,—this very culprit dares to injure me ' in a more atrocious manner than ever any other of the letters, by expelling me. from my native nouns and verbs, at the ‘ fame time chafing {| me away from conjunctions and prepo- fitions, infomuch that I am no longer able to endure his ex- ceflive rapacity. But it is now time to ftate whence, and from what circumftances, thefe outrages originated. “ I oncE was fojourning at Cybelum, an agreeable enough little town, a colony, as is reported, of Athenians, and took along with me the beft of my neighbours, the robuft ‘Pa. I lodged at the houfe of a certain comic poet, whofe name was Lysimacuus, by extraction evidently a Beeotian, but who was ambitious of -pafling for a native of the very centre of Attica. While-I remained in the houfe of this landlord, I detected the avarice of this fame Txv. As long as, by de- priving me of my congenial friends, he feized only on a few Vot. II, Toi © of * See ARISTOTLE’S definition of a Vowel, a Semivowel and a Mute,. p. 123., + See below, p. 149. t I have adopted the reading propofed by Hemstzruuis, w%. dxrdcay and ixdiwgay. 146 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; of them, fo as, for inftance, to call fonty cerrugzxovre inftead: of recruganovre, | imagined, it to be a common practice among the letters who were, there. educated together. And even while he claimed a right to force: to. day into: his train. by the name of syuegov inftead. of onwegor, and ufed. the: fame freedom with other words of that kind, as if they had been his own property, I tolerated: what,I heard: with: fome degree’ of. pa- tience, and was not very violently provoked upon the. occa- fron. But when, after beginning in:this manner, he had'the. impudence to metamorphofe the word fignifying feel from nougoiregoy Into zurriregov, and to call cobler’s leather xarrupa inftead of xaeovua, and: pitch cirre in place ef ricew; and, in fhort, having divefted. himfelf of all. fenfe: of fhame, to infult the name of Queen, by pronouncing that Bacidurra which ought to have: been @acidicoa, I got into a moft furi- ous paroxy{m of rage, being’ apprehenfive that fome one, in procefs of time, might venture to: fay: rixa inftead of ciza, and fo; not: leave: me fo. much as. a, fingle fig.—I befeech you, in the name:of Jeve! to: bear with. this: juft indigna- tion, when you reflectithat my fpirit is fo much depreffed, and that I have none who: are ready to: help-me; for when the queftion is about depriving: me of words’ that have been my wonted, and familiar: companions, furely no: trivial and vulgar objects. are at ftake. Having torn my prattling xicca, my favourite magpie; as it were out of my bofom, he calls it his. xirva, and, mn. defiance of the command of ArtsTAR- cHus, he hath feized.on my ringdave, which he: calls. garra, on. my ducks, ftyling them vjzrc, and. my: oufels, to which he gives. the, odious name. of xorrvgor. He hath borne off whole hives: of my dees, calling them. pedrirres inftead of wertoros. Nay,. having made an incurfion into the Attic territory, he hath even. carried away, in the moft outragious manner, the region of bees, mount Hymettus itfelf, and that too before your own eyes and. thofe of the other fyllables. But why 6c. do - 6 6 66 é Particularly of the LETTER ZITMA. Bay do I mention fuch circumftances as thefe? He has» banifhed ‘me entirely out of Thefaly, to which he infifts upon giving the name of Thettaly, and he has claimed ‘an exclufive right to the very /éa, which he calls daAurra inftead of Saérucra. Nor does he even abftain from the beets in my garden, info- much that he has not, I may fay, left me a ‘fingle waccuros, or Little pole, which I can call my own. But you’ yourfelves can bear me ‘witnefs what a patient charadéer lam; for I never fo much as found fault with 2, when he {tole my pre- cious cnageydoe™*, or emerald, from me, and thruft me out of ‘the city of Smyrna; nor with 2, when he violated every ft1- pulation +, and even has Tuucypipes the hiftorian as the abettor of his guilt. As to my next neighbour ‘Pa, it was but an act of ‘humanity'in me to forgive sim, when, in the delirium of a difeafe, he planted my myréles in his own ‘garden, ‘as if they had been called puppivat, and not pvecives, and, under the preffure of a deep melancholy, ftruck me a blow on the cheek. Such is the patient natural temper with which I am endowed. -“ Bur the violent difpofition of this Tad will be fill more «ce apparent, when we reflect, that he has alfo injured, not only Aiara, Ojre and Zire, but almoft every one of the other Yetters. Call in the plaintiffs. ‘Hear, O ye Judges, what Aéara has to fay.— A. He hath bereaved me of my faculty of perfeverance, requiring, in the face of all law, that it fhall be called tvreréyer inftead of evderéyeie.—Liften, 1 befeech you to the wailing of ©77x, who is tearing his hair in anguifh for the lofs of his gourd, which has been changed from zorvawS, into xodvxvvry 3 and to Zyra, complaining that he no longer hears the mufic of the pipe nor the found of the trumpet, cveiZe T2 ** and * Wurcn is fometimes written Guxgaydos, as Zurpre is written Zudgve. See the annota- tion of HemsTERHUSIUS. + cv9nxny,—which Tuverpipes writes {ix99xny, and fo in many other words, ufing ¢ for c, as is well known. 148 ANALOGY of GREEK LETTERS; 4 cand owariZew being now fupplanted by cvgirre and cudrirren and that he is not allowed even to grumble, the. proper word yevcew being now no more. Who could have patience to en- dure fuch indignities? or what punifhment is adequate to the demerits of this moft execrable Tao? ‘* Bur, in fhort, he is not only injurious to his kindred tribe of letters, but has already begun to encroach upon the hu- man race, in fuch a manner that he permits them not to make a proper ufe of their tongues. Apropos of tongues, which this mention of human affairs has introduced; it brings to mind how the mifcreant has ufurped my province here too, by metamorphofing yawcrn, a tongue, into yAwrra. O thou villanous Tav! thou very bane of all tongues !— But to return from this digreffion to the defence of men, whom he has fo grofsly injured. He attempts to torture their voice, and bind it with chains. When one perfon beholds a beautiful object, and wifhes to ftyle it xzrov, fair, up comes this Tav, and moft impudently obliges him to call it raao ; fuch is the violence of his claim to be at the head of every “‘ thing! When another is {peaking of a vime-branch by the appellation of zajye, he himfelf being razor, a2 wretch, makes the poor word wretched: too, by calling it rama. Nor are his injuries confined to vulgar men; he even forms ** a plot againft that tremendous Monarch, to whom the earth ““ and the fea, in a fupernatural manner, are reported to have “* yielded * ; and inftead of giving him his proper name Kugos, “ Cyrus, he fpeaks of him by the appellation of Tugos, as if “ he were a chee/e. “ Sucu then are the ways. in which he injures men in their ‘ fpeech. But how does he ftill more materially injure them? “ ‘They * Lucran feems here to allude to the magnificence of the oriental ftyle. MKenopuon, in the Anaba/is, relates, that Cyrus the younger, with his army, pafled the Euphrates on foot, which had never been forded in that manner before, and adds—édéxes Serov sivas, nat caOas tmoxwpioas Tay motapev Kieu ws PauciAsigoytte Lib. I. See the annotation of HEMSTERHUIS. ~ Particularly of the LETTER S1TMA. 149 “‘ They lament and deplore their hard, fate, and often execrate Capmus for introducing this Tad among the. number of the letters. For they fay that tyrants, taking the hint from the appearance, and imitating the form, of this letter, did fa- bricate gibbets to hang men upon ; and hence this moft mifchievous contrivance obtained its odious name *. For all thefe crimes, how many deaths do you fuppofe this Tau de- ferves? For my own part, I reckon the.only punifhment adequate to his guilt would be to hang him upon a machine. of his own thape 5 for it was owing to him that there was ever fuch a thine in the world as the figure or the name of a gallows.” ay" coo 66 cc" 6c 6c 3 66 (73 ec “cc 6é Tuus far Lucian ; and it muft be owned that the ludicrous manner was the moft proper that could be employed in treating fuch a fubje&t. Lipsius, in his Dialogue de recta pronunciatione Latine lingua, has obferved, “ That many attack the reputation ** of the letter S, and even form a defign againft its life.’’— famam ejus multi petunt, imo vitam.—And he adds an enumera-- tion of thofe enemies. ‘‘ Pinpar (fays he) reproaches it, and ** calls it ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 19% EMILIE£, in genuine expreflion of paffion, and pointed force of dialogue, may be compared to fome of the beft which the mo- dern ftage can boaft. In the developement of the fecret foldings of the heart, Less1nG feems deeply fkilled, and the* opening fcenes of this tragedy contain fome of thofe little incidents that mark an in- timacy with human nature, which genius alone can claim. But in its progrefs we find, in fome degree, a want of that ftrong and juft delineation and fupport of charafler, but chiefly of that probable condua& and interefting fituation, which are the great and peculiar requifites of dramatic excellence. It feems alfo defective in the pathetic, for which certainly the fubject - afforded very great room, and which, in a fimilar fituation, _our countryman Rowe has contrived fo {trongly to excite. Or Lesstno’s performances in thefe volumes, the next in ‘merit, though, in my opinion, at a confiderable diftance, is Sara Samfon, an Englifh ftory, of which the idea feems chiefly taken from Clarif, though one character in it, that of a vio- lent and profligate woman, is evidently borrowed from Mil/qwood in George Barnwell. 1 muft venture to doubt, whether a cha- racter of this fort be proper for filling a principal place in tra- gedy. ‘There is a degree of infamy in the vice of fuch a per- fon that is fcarcely fuitable to the dignity of the higher drama, and which difgufts us with its appearance. The Marwood of LEssING is introduced in fuch a manner as to heighten that difguft. The amiable female of the piece, Sara Samfon, is no exception from the general defeét of female character in this - collection. And her father, who is placed in the tender fitua- tion of which feveral authors have made fo affecting a ufe, the parent of a child feduced from honour, though ftill alive to ‘virtue, is infipidty drawn, and awkwardly introduced. In this tragedy, is an incident, of which Lessinc feems to be fond, as he has repeated it with very little variation in another tra- gedy called L’E/prit Fort, a dream, related by the heroine, pre- Nox. i. %' as didtive 178 ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. dictive of the cataftrophe. This, as it anticipates the conclu- fion, is always faulty. No part of the conduét of a play is more nice and difficult than that degree of information which the author is to give the audience in the courfe of it. In ge- neral, he fhould certainly not foreftal their expectations, by opening his plot too foon. But there is an admirable theatrical effect which often refults from letting the audience know what the perfons of the drama are ignorant of, which ftretches, if I may ufe the expreflion, the cords of fear, anxiety and hope in the fpectators to the higheft pitch, through fcenes which otherwife would produce thefe feelings in an inferior, as well as in amomentary degree. ‘This knowledge in the audience, of Merope’s fon, while fhe, in ignorance of his perfon, is on the point of putting him to death, is one of the moft interefting fituations which dramatic invention has ever produced ; and there is nothing on the French {tage which equals the horror of that fcene of CREBILLON’s Jiree et Thyefie, where the devoted brother attempts to difguife himfelf from treus, while the terrified fpeCtators know him all the while, and tremble at ce look and word which they think will difcover him. Next to LzssiNnc, in point of name, is GoETHE, the au- thor of two tragedies in this colletion, Goetz de Berliching and Clavidgo, and of a drame entitled Sve//a. The firft 1 have al- ready mentioned as highly irregular in its plan, being a life thrown into dialogue rather than a tragedy. The cofume of the age in which the events are fuppofed to have happened, is very well preferved. The fimple manners, the fidelity, the valour and the generofity of a German knight, are pourtrayed in a va- riety of natural fcenes. This national quality, 1 prefume, has been the caufe of its high fame in Germany, to which it feems to me to have otherwife not a perfectly adequate claim. His Clavidgo is founded on an incident which happened to the cele- brated Caron DE BEAUMARCHAIS in Spain, who is intro- duced as a perfon of the drama, under the name of Ronac, an ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 179 an anagram of Caron, with the letters a little tranfpofed. ‘The diftrefs of the play arifes from the falfehood of a lover, who leaves his miftrefs after being engaged to marry her. Neither the delineation of the characters, nor the management of the plot in the firft two aéts, is entitled to much applaufe ; but the laft a@t, which paffes in fight of the corpfe of Maria, is wrought up with uncommon force, and muft, on the ftage, be produc- tive of high effect. His third performance, Ste/la, is ftrongly marked with.that enthufiaftic fentiment and refined fenfibility, which, in the Sorrows of Werter, he has fo warmly indulged ; and in point of immoral effect, the drama is equally reprehen- fible with the novel. Its conclufion is in the boldeft: ftyle of this fentimental refinement; fince it gives to the hero two wives, with whom he is to fhare that heart, to which the inci- dents of the play have fhewn the claims of both. AFTER Lesstinc and GoETHE, Branpes feems to be the author in thefe volumes next entitled to notice, and indeed, in my opinion, the leaft exceptionable of them all. His two come- dies, Le Comte a’ Olbach, and L’ Hotel Garni, are highly interefting in their fable, fpirited and natural in their dialogue, and con- tain fituations and incidents truly theatrical, and extremely af- fecting. Amonc the comedies of thefe volumes, is a very pleafant one, entitled Le Creancier, by Mr RicuTER. A paragraph in his preface is worthy of notice, as it ftrongly marks the pre- vailing tendency of the German tafte in theatrical perform- ances. ‘“‘ In thefe days, fays he, when all the world reads “ SHAKESPEARE and GorTHue, a drama like mine, which con- ‘“ tains no outrageous paflions, of which the ftyle is neither “ metaphorical nor bombaftic, which ventures to follow the ** good old Ariftotelian rules, fo long exploded among us, “can hardly hope to pleafe the driffarchufes of our moder “ {chool. Z 2 Shale 180 ACCOUNT of th GERMAN THEATRE. “ Ir is true, I might obferve to thefe gentlemen, that an honeft banker, who has not loft his wits, will, in all probabi- lity, neither fpeak nor act like King Lear, nor his clerk like ‘ago, nor his daughter’s maid like the confidante of Queen “ Cleopatra. But thefe old fafhioned obfervations would pro- bably not fave my poor comedy from condemnation.” THERE is one little piece in the colle€tion of FrizpEe1, which every reader mutt applaud, even if his applaufe had not been anti- cipated by the judgment of the late King of Pruffia, who pro- nounces it the only very good German comedy. This is the 4/te- lage de Pofte, by Colonel Emporrr, anofficer in the Imperial fervice. The plot is founded on the violent love for horfes of a Ger- man Count, who barters his miftrefs with his rival for a fet of carriage-horfes. The charaéters are truly comic, the incidents highly amufing, the dialogue infinitely eafy, lively and natural, and fo perfe&tly appropriated to the fpeakers, that one might afcertain the perfons, though their names were not affixed to the fpeeches. Burt the moft remarkable, and the moft ftrongly impreflive of all the pieces contained in thefe volumes, is that by which the collection of Mr FrrepeEt is clofed, Les Voleurs, a tragedy by Mr ScHILLER, a young man, who, at the time of writing it, was only twenty-three. Bred in the Ecole Militaire of Wir- temberg, he had little opportunity of informing his mind by letters, or of knowing mankind by obfervation. But amidft the cloiftered ignorance incident to his fituation, his genius, by its own native warmth and vigour, produced this wonderful drama, which fhews indeed, as might be expected, a certain want of acquaintance with the manners, as well as a total dif- regard of dramatic regularity, but in which the author, for- tunate, if we dare fay fo, in thefe defects, has drawn from the fources of an ardent and creative imagination, characters and fituations of the moft interefting and impreffive kind, and has. endowed thofe characters with a language in the higheft de- gree : ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. i8 eree eloquent, impaffioned and fublime. With a particular detail of this tragedy, I fhall clofe the account ({ am afraid a very imperfe@t, though without the apology of being a fhort one) which I have taken the liberty to lay before this Society, of the Theatre Allemand. A younc man, of high birth and expectations, Charles, eldeft fon of the Comte de Moor, endowed by nature with a foul of fire and a heart full of fenfibility, 1s led away, in the prime of youth, by the love of pleafure and diffipation too common at that age. After running a courfe of thoughtlefs and crimi- nal extravagance, he liftens to the voice of virtue, which had been ftified, not loft, in his heart, and writes to his father, whom amidft all his vice and folly he had never ceafed to love, a letter full of penitence and contrition, defiring to return to his duty, and to be received again to pardon and to favour. This is intercepted by the villany of a younger brother, who manages fo as to perfuade his father that his fon Charles (who appears to have been his great favourite) is totally abandoned to villany and vice; in confequence of which, the old man- throws him utterly from his regard, and fends him a letter re- nouncing him for ever, and containing that paternal maledic- tion, fo dreadful to the fenfibility of a fon who loved his pa- rent. On receipt of this, Charles becomes defperate; and, amidft the ftorm of his feelings, outraged by what he thinks the inhumanity of his father, readily accepts of a. propofal made by fome of his diffipated companions, to leave a world _ in which they had nothing but contempt and poverty to expect, to fly to the forefts of Bohemia, and there to eftablifh them- felves into a fociety of robbers and banditti, of which he was _ to be the chief. In the horrid duties of this new employment, he fhews all that wonderful magnanimity, that perfuafive elo- quence, that undaunted valour, which would have graced a better ftation; yet amidft the elevation and adtivity of mind with which the exercife and the fuccefs of thefe qualities are 182 . ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. are accompanied, his heart is prefled down by remorfe, and melted by the tender recolleétion of that virtuous happinefs which, in the days of youth and innocence, he had once en- joyed. The curfe of a father whom he had revered and loved, the defertion of a miftrefs, a coufin of his own, of whom he was defperately enamoured, the fenfe of his outcaft and aban- doned fituation, and of thofe violations of virtue and morality to which it neceflarily leads; thofe rending feelings, thofe melting remembrances, joined to that high fenfe of perverted honour which links him to his band, and that ardent valour which makes their enterprifes of glory ; thefe form a character of the moft energetic and interefting kind, and the author has given to his hero a loftinefs and power of expreflion fully ade- _ quate to the terrors and the paflions which his fituation and his feelings produce. The intrinfic force of this dramatic charac- ter is heightened by the fingular circumftances in which it is placed. Captain of a band of inexorable and fanguinary ban- ditti, whofe furious valour he wields to the moft defperate pur- pofes ; living with thofe affociates, amidft woods and defarts, terrible and favage as the wolves they have difplaced ; this pre- fents to the fancy a kind of preternatural perfonage, wrapped in all the gloomy grandeur of vifionary beings. . Bur to return to the narrative of the tragedy. His younger brother Francis having fucceeded in removing this favourite of his father, now looks to the death of the old man as the complete accomplifhment of his wifhes to attain the fortune and honours of his family. To effeé this hellifh pur- pofe, he makes ufe of his father’s {till remaining tendernefs for that very fon whom the traitor’s arts had driven from his love. He employs one Herman, a tool of his villany, to perfonate a foldier, who had been the companion of Charles, and to relate a fabricated ftory of the fufferings and death of that unfortunate young man, who, according to him, had been reduced, by the feverity of his father, to the moft extreme and pitiable indi- gence, + ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 183 gence, from which he had at laft been relieved by death, ha- ving fallen fighting gallantly in an action with the infidels, and in his laft words had breathed out the name of his father and of his Amelia. The old Count feels this relation as his inhu- man fon expected ; he faints at its clofe, and is carried off life- lefs from the ftage. The traitor Francis reaps the fruit of his villany ; he reaps, but his confcience does not permit him to enjoy it; and he is ever after prefented as the martyr of re- morfe, haunted by the terrors of inward guilt. His affociate Herman appears to yield to contrition ; he braves the anger of his lord, and refolves to embrace the firft opportunity of coun- teracting his villany. THOUGH the great and the terrible be the moft prominent features of this drama, there are fcenes in which the pathetic and the tender prevail in a very uncommon degree; and the impreflion they make on the reader is heightened by the con- traft of that bold unbending fpirit which he fees melted by their force. One of thefe, the fecond,fcene of the third act, is fo ftriking, that I cannot forbear laying it before the Society in Englifh. They will make allowance for what it muft lofe in this form, when they confider that it is the tranflation of a tranflation. Tue band are encamped on a height on the banks of the Danube, after a hard-fought battle with a party of Bohemian horfe, which had been fent to take them; but which, by the unparalleled valour and exertions of Moor and his friends, they had defeated. He enters, overcome with fatigue and thirft. “ I must reft here, (throwing bimfelf on the ground); my limbs are broken with fatigue, and,my parched tongue cleaves to my mouth. I would have afked fome of ‘you to fetch me a little water from that river, but you too are weary almoft to death. (One of the band goes out, unperceived by Moor, “to fetch him fome water.) “cc ¢¢ “ Grim, 184 ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. e o n ww - an ““ Grim, (another of his band) ’T1s a long time fince our flaiks were empty of wine. How majeftically the fun fets there below! “* Moor, (looking edfofly on the fetting fun) *T1s thus that a hero dies, and the nations admire his fall ! _“ G. Ir feems to move you. wn - ce Cal w“~ ““ M. In my youth, it was my favourite idea to live like him, (ooking earneftly on the fun) to die like him! ’Twas the fancy of a young man. “ G. ’Twas even fo. ‘“ M. THERE was a time—(drawing bis hat over bis eyes)— leave me alone, my friends. ** G Moor, Moor! do you ail aught? Your colour changes. | “ M. THERE was a time when I could not fleep if I had forgot my prayers before I laid me down. * G. ’Tis folly all—Would you, like a boy, be fchooled by the remembrance of your infant days? “ M. My infant days! Oh! (leaning bis head on the bofom of Grim.) “ G. Turnx of thefe no more. Be not a child again, I pray you. “ M. A child again! ! Would that I were! ‘“ G. Rouse yourfelf for fhame! See how the landfcape {miles—how beautiful the evening looks ! “ M. Ave, my friends, this earth is fo beautiful— “ G. Way, that is well. “ M. Tuis {cene fo grand— “ G. You fpeak it truly. I love to hear you talk thus. “ M. AnD what am I, in this world that is fo beautiful! * A thing fo vile on this magnificent work of heaven !—The prodigal fon ! * G. Moor! Moor! te M. ACCOUNT of th GERMAN THEATRE. 185 *¢ M. My innocence—give me back my innocence. Look how every thing in nature is cheered by the {mile of f{pring. Why in this air, fo pure to them, fhould I breathe the ~ blafting fmoke of hell? When all around us are happy— when gentle peace has united them—the world one blefled family, and its Father there above—who is not my Father! I alone fhut out—the prodigal fon—excluded from the por- tion of his children—(/hrinking back with horror) furrounded | with crimes—with murder—bound to them with chains of iron. ““ G. (to the refi of the band) I never faw him thus before. “ M. (with a voice of tendernefs) Au! if it were poffible for me to be born again—to be born a beggar, the meaneft thing that were not a guilty one!. With the labour of thefe hands I would purchafe the wearinefs of peace. Oh! that with the {weat of my brow, though that fweat were blood, I could buy one guiltlefs hour—the luxury of one tear ! “ G. PaTiENcE, friends ; his fit is almoft over. “* M. THERE was a time when my tears flowed freely. Ob peaceful days !—that faw me in my father’s houfe, in my native fields !—Ye {miling fields !—ye valleys made for en- thufiafm to wander in! Scenes of my happy infancy—will ye never return? Will ye never breathe on this burning bo- fom your gales of peace and joy ?—Nature, why art thou dark around me ?—They will never, never return ; never on this bofom will they breathe—they are gone—gone for ever !” | SUBDUED by the tendernefs of the recollection which this fcene exprefies, Charles vifits his native caftle in difguife ; he finds his father dead, his brother Francis in poffeffion of his inheritance, and his miftrefs ready to take the veil. After _ yielding for a while to thofe fofter feelings which the fcenes of his infancy recal, he recollects the outcaft abandonment of his Vor. II. Aa own 186 ACCOUNT of th GERMAN THEATRE. own fituation, makes himfelf known, at the inftant of parting, to his Amelia, and flies to rejoin his defperate aflociates. Iw this fituation of things, the fourth at commences. The fcene is of that favage kind, which prepares the imagination for the horrors to enfue. Tis night; and the remains of the band are affembled on a defert heath, near to the ruins of an ancient tower, round which the winds whiftle, and the owl fhrieks. They had watched three days and nights of danger and alarm, and all, except their unhappy chief, whom remorfe and anguifh keep awake, yield to their fatigue, and lay them- felves on the ground to fleep. Moor remains alone, and walks - to and fro, like the fovereign fpirit of the night, revolving in his troubled, but daring foul, this world and the next. In this world, he has now nothing left to hope, and he looks, with defperate calmnefs, on the dark and unknown gulph of that to come. His foliloquy is of that fublime and broken fort which exprefles the agitation of a great but erring mind, yield- ing to remorfe for crimes which have ftained his life, but not corrupted his foul, and left him, amidft the outrages of violence and vice, the fentiments and the fufferings of virtue and of feeling. After a paufe of gloomy meditation, he breaks out in the following “words, (to my tranflation of which the Society will afford the indulgence I formerly folicited. ) “ A Lone long night!—on which no morning will ever dawn! Think ye that Moor will tremble? Shades of the victims of this aflaflinating fword! I fee your bleeding wounds, I look on your livid lips, and hear the laft agoni- zing groans they breathe—but I tremble not.—Thefe are but links of that eternal chain, which he who fits in yonder heaven holds in his hand. He ftamped thefe horfors on my deftiny. Even amidft the innocent, the happy days of my unfullied infancy, his eye faw them, and fealed them on my fate! (be draws a piftol) The barrier betwixt eternity and time, this little inftrument can burft—and then—Thou “ dread ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 187 dread unknown ! whither wilt thou lead? where wilt thou place me? If thou leav’ft me this confcious felf, *tis that muft create my heaven or my hell. Amidft the wafte of a “© world which thine anger has deftroyed, I can people the fi- *« lent void with thought. Or wilt thou, in new and untried ' ftates, lead me through various mifery to nothing? Thou mayeft annihilate my being ; but while this foul is left, will not its freedom and its force remain? ’Tis equal where— *< (putting up his piftol) 1 will not now fhrink from the fuffer- “‘ ings of the prefent—the deftiny of Moor fhall be fulfilled.” HE is filent—he hears the tread of approaching feet, and prefently a figure glides before him, and knocks at the grated wicket of the tower. The figure fpeaks, “ Rife, man of for- ** row, inhabitant of the tower, thy repaft is here.” A feeble voice anfwers from the dungeon within, “ Herman, is it thou? “ Bring’ft thou, like the prophet’s raven, his food to a linger- ** ing wretch, that lives by the crumbs which thy pity affords “him?” Moor, who had fhrunk back in amazement, now ad- vances, and defires the man to ftop. That man is Herman. He draws his {word ; but is almoft inftantly difarmed. “ What “art thou, fays the aftonifhed Herman, whofe touch withers “ like that of death? Art thou the demon of this horrid place? the fpirit of this murderous tower?” ‘“‘ Iam, fays Moor; the exterminating angel is my name; and yet I have ** flefh and bones like thee. But what wretch is in that ““ tower? I will burft his chains.” He draws from his pocket the pafs-keys which his profeffion employs ; he opens the tower ; the {keleton figure of a famifhed wretch creeps from the dun- geon—* Horrible phantom!” fays the aftonifhed Moor, in a low and ftifled voice, “ my father !” It is his father, whom the inhuman Francis (taking advan- tage of the long faint into which the account of his fon’s death had thrown him) had buried alive in the dungeon of the tower. When Charles is informed of this, and his other | FS) 12 treacheries, . 188 ACCOUNT of th GERMAN THEATRE. treacheries, by Herman, the penitent affociate of his villany, he wakes his band, and, in the rage of filial revenge, difpatches one of the boldeft of the troop to force the caftle of his bro- ther, and bring him alive before them. The old “man is itll ignorant of his deliverer’s being his fon, and waits, terrified and weak, the difclofing of this myftery of juftice and of ven- geance. THE laft act opens with a fcene in the caftle of the guilty Francis, who is now in poffeflion of the county of Moor. He is exhibited in all the difmay and diftraction of awakened re- morfe. After fome incoherent dialogue (wrought up with the livelieft circumftances of guilty terror) with a fervant, who had watched his fleep, and followed him, when he had ftarted from his bed, into the faloon of the caftle, they are told by a frightened domeftic, that a troop of horfemen are approaching at a gallop, with terrifying fhouts. The Count is petrified by his guilty fears, and cannot give orders for defence. His fol- lowers, however, for a while difpute the paflage of the band, till the caftle is fet on fire. Its mafter is {till more loft in the horrors of his fituation; and, after an unavailing requeft to his fervant, to fave him from the vengeance of his enemies, by putting him to death, is left alone amidft the approaching flames, withing to die, yet dreading death, till he hears the thunder of the band at the gate, which fhakes, burfts, and the entering foe feizes him alive, and carries him off, according to the command of his captain. | Tue fcene changes to the heath, where Moor and his old fa- ther are difcovered amidft the war of contending feelings with which the fon is torn. He often refolves to difclofe himfelf to his father : but the confcioufnefs of his fallen and abandoned ~ {tate withholds him. The poet has contrived, by placing the father and fon in this particular fituation, to infufe into this fcene a degree of tendernefs which melts the heart, mixed with a horror which chills the imagination. When the old man * complains ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 189 complains that he has now no fon to clofe his eyes, his fon throws himfelf on the neck of his father, yet is unable to dif- cover that this wretch, this robber, this aflaffin, is his Charles. At that moment, a diftant noife is heard, and prefently the dim gleam of torches begirs to illumine the fcene around them. The glare of their light increafes; the voices are heard more near; the accuftomed mufic of their favage triumph founds ; and the faithful band of Moor, true to their commiflion of ven- geance, bring the criminal Francis chained before his father and his brother. It is impoffible to convey by narrative the horrid fublimity of the fituation which this fcene prefents, or of thofe expreflions to which the wounded fenfibility of Moor, wrought up to the moft infatiable revenge againft the author of his father’s mifery and his own, gives birth. The reader could hardly conceive any modern imagination, how pregnant foever with tragic terrors, to produce a fcene that could vie with the dread picture of the fourth act ; when he has read the fifth, he will find the horror equalled, and the intereft fur- paffed. | Moor leads the tare Francis. before his father. The old man is willing to forgive him; but his brother has devoted him to vengeance. He defires the band to lead his father to a remote part of the wood; and then, fettling the fury of his revenge into the terrible folemnity of difpaflionate juftice, he places his brother in the midft of his fierce affociates, and de- fires them to pronounce fentence on his crimes. They confult fome time together on an adequate punifhment; and then, fe- licitating themfelves on the thought, they throw him into the dungeon in which this barbarous parricide had buried his fa- ther. The old man is brought in. He feels the yearnings of paternal affection for his guilty fon, and exclaims againft the cruelty of his avengers. Moor throws himfelf into his arms, and difcovers to him his favourite, his Charles. Juft then, Amelia, who had efcaped from the caftle of his brother, enters, and 190 ACCOUNT of th GERMAN THEATRE. and runs to embrace her lover and his father. The father feels all the pleafure of his fon and his niece reftored, and fondly anticipates the felicity they are to enjoy. But Moor bids them check the expeétation of happinefs, and look only for defpera- tion and horror. “ Your paternal curfe, fays he, configned ‘“‘ me to perdition. Thefe men you fee are robbers—mur- “¢ derers—your fon is their chief.” The exhaufted ftrength of the old man cannot ftand the fhock ; he expires in the arms of his fon. His miftrefs ftill furvives; and though dumb with terror and grief, folds him in her arms, and fhews the mott ardent affection for her Charles. Warm in his love, as in every other feeling, Moor had doated on her to diftraction; he for- gets himfelf in her embraces, and for a moment thinks he will live and be happy with his Amelia. ‘ Come from her arms, “* cries one of the boldeft of his troop, or I will fpeak what fhall freeze your blood.’”’ “ Think, exclaims another, (while they level their pieces at his head) of your vow to be ours for ever. Ours you are, and heaven nor hell can win you from us.” Their voices roufe the remembrance of his fitu- ation. But his foul is too proud to yield to threats. ‘ You “ are murderers, fays he, and I am your chief. Down with thefe arms, and know your matter.” Awed by the founds they are accuftomed to obey, the banditti lower their arms.— “ To be great, Moor muft be free. I would not give this tri- ‘‘ umph for all the elyfium of love. (He draws his fword.) “ Call not that madnefs of which your fouls want ftrength to fee the grandeur. The greatnefs of defpair is above the ken of wifdom. On ations fuch as this, reflection muft follow, not wifdom paufe.” He plunges his {word into the bofom of Amelia. Struck with the barbarous heroifm of the deed, his affociates fall at his feet, acknowledge his unparalleled fidelity, and vow to be his flaves for ever. ‘‘ No, fays he, with a determined and pe- “ trifying calmnefs ; the deftiny of Moor is accomplifhed. “ Thus «ec ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 1091 * Thus far it was in human power to go, and thus far he has “ gone; but here his courfe is clofed, and his genius cries out, ** All is confummated.’ We difmiffes his band, except two fa- vourite officers, with an exhortation to ufe their invincible cou- rage in the fervice of their country. To thefe two favourites, whofe fouls are not fo deeply tinctured in blood, he bequeaths his paternal domain, and defires them to leave him, and to devote their future lives to virtue and obedience to the laws. ‘“ And ** T too, he concludes, will obey the laws; I will bear the ** fterneft punifhment of their decree.”” And he goes to deliver himfelf up to juftice. I HAVE ventured this long and particular account of the tragedy in queftion, becaufe it appears to me one of the moft uncommon productions of untutored genius that modern times can boaft.. Confeffedly irregular and faulty, both in plan and condudt, it were needlefs, and perhaps unfair, to offer any re- marks on its defects.. But its power over the heart and the ima- gination muft be acknowledged. Every body has heard the anecdote of its effects on the {cholars at the fchool of Fribourg, where it was reprefented foon after its firft appearance. They were fo ftruck and captivated with the grandeur of the cha- racter of its hero Moor, that they agreed to form a band like his in the forefts of Bohemia, had elected a young nobleman for their chief, and had pitched on a beautiful young lady for ‘his Amelia, whom they were to carry off from her parents houfe, to accompany their flight. To the accomplifhment of this defign, they had bound themfelves by the moft folemn and tremendous oaths; but the confpiracy was difcovered by an accident, and its execution prevented. THE energy of this tragedy’s effet is not to be wondered at, efpecially on young minds, whofe imaginations are readily in- flamed by the enthufiafm of gigantic enterprife and defperate valour, whofe fenfibility is eafily excited by the fufferings of a great 192 ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. great unhappy mind, and who feel a fort of dignity and pride in leaving the beaten road of worldly prudence, though the path by which they leave it may fometimes deviate from moral rectitude. But hence, to fome parts of an audience, the dan- ger of a drama fuch as this. It covers the natural deformity of criminal ations with the veil of high fentiment and virtu- ous feeling, and thus feparates (af I may be pardoned the ex- preflion) the moral fenfe from that morality which it ought to produce. This the author has, fince its firft publication, been candid enough to acknowledge, and reprobates, in terms per- haps more {trong than it deferves, his own produétion as of a very pernicious tendency. He has left his native country, Wir- temberg, from which | believe indeed fome confequences of the publication of this tragedy had driven him, and now lives at Manheim, where he publifhes a periodical work, and has written one or two other tragedies, which have a high reputation. If his genius can accommodate itfelf to better fubjects, and to a more regular conduct of the drama, no modern poet feems to poffefs powers fo capable of bending the mind before him, of roufing its feelings by the elevation of his fentiments, or of thrilling them with the terrors of his imagination. VI. VI. THEORY of the Moops of VERBs. By FAMES GreGcorr, M.D. F.R.S. Epin. Fellow of the Royal College of Phyficians, and Profeffor of the Theory of Phyfic in the Univerfity of EDINBURGH. [Read by the Author, Fune 18. and Fuly 16. 1787.) N the profecution of certain philological and philofophical {peculations, very ample {pecimens of which have already been fubmitted to the confideration of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, I had occafion to confider more minutely than I believe had ever been done before, many particulars relating to the nature, the ftructure, and the import of Verbs. Tuose fpeculations related chiefly or folely to the general ra- dical import of every verb and every clafs of verbs, without any regard to the peculiar meaning or nature of the various infleGtions or parts of a Verb; fuch as, moods, tenfes, perfons and numbers. It was impoflible, however, for me altogether to avoid attending to thefe modifications of the general mean- ing of every Verb ; efpecially to the nature and import of the Moods of verbs, which appears to me a very curious and in- terefting point in the theory of language. As | had not the good fortune to meet with any account of the Moods of verbs, which appeared to me complete or juft, in the writings of thofe grammarians and. philologifts that I have had an opportunity of confulting, I was tempted to undertake the inveftigation of the nature of them myfelf. The refult of Vor. II. Bb that 194 T If EO: RY tof ; the that undertaking I now have the honour to fubmit to the confi- deration of the Royal Society. As there is fomething peculiar in the plan and manner of it, it is proper to mention the reafon of this peculiarity. In thofe accounts of the moods of verbs which I have feen, there feem- ed to be a want of fufficiently numerous and extenfive and accurate obfervations of the particular facts that were to be ex- plained or accounted for; a want of fufficiently precife and diftin€ notions of the general import of the moods; a hafty and carelefs admiflion of certain general. principles not duly afcertained, and a vague ufe of certain general and compre- henfive terms, which were not fufficiently explained or under- {tood. In order to avoid thefe errors, and to fupply thefe defects, | have proceeded on a plan more nearly akin to that which has long been fuccefsfully employed in phyfical inveftigations ; be- ginning with a colleétion of obfervations: relating to the moods of verbs; from thefe deducing certain general principles, and verifying thefe principles by further obfervation, and even ex- periment. Such a plan is undoubtedly laborious, and may ap- pear tedious; but I think it has advantages amply fufficient to compenfate thefe inconveniences. | I must mention likewife, that this Effay bears a particular and very intimate relation to the do€trine concerning the moods of verbs, laid down by the learned author of the treatife on the Origin and Progre/s of Language, (Vol. 1.) with which I may prefume my hearers to be fufficiently acquainted. THE account which he gives of the number, the nature, and the import of the moods of verbs, though very acute, and in many refpects perfectly juft, is certainly very incomplete, and in one important circumftance it is very obfcure ; which makes me fufpedt, that, on this point, he had not carried his inveftigation fo far as to obtain a complete and diftinét view of the fubject which he was treating. BuT MOODS of VERBS. + Ghigs But though I make many remarks on his doctrine, and often refer to it, my Eflay is by no means intended to cavil at it, but, on the contrary, to make ufe of it, as being, on the whole, the beft difquifition on the fubjeét that I have feen; to correct what is erroneous, and to fupply what is wanting, in his treatife, and to carry the inveftigation farther than he had done. I aGREE perfectly with this learned author in thinking that the zufinitive is moft improperly called a mood: and I think the obfervation a very important one; for, on this account, it is to the infinitive, exclufively, that we fhould turn our thoughts, when we endeavour to inveftigate the general import of the Verb, with a view to afcertain the accident which it denotes, and be led, {tep by ftep, to form a diftin& notion of what is common in the accidents of all verbs, and of what is peculiar in the ac- cidents of the feveral clafles of them, and thereby be enabled to give good definitions, fpecifying the eflence of a Verb, and the characteriftic import of the different clafles of verbs, fuch as fubftantive, neuter, active intranfitive, active tranfitive, paf- five, and reflected verbs. The infinitive, I own, does not ex- prefs the pure general meaning of the verb; for it compre- hends likewife the circumftances of time, and in fome lan- guages thofe of perfon, and of courfe of number, and perhaps of gender. Scrabere. Scripfiffe. Scripturum effe. Scripturas effe. But the infinitive (fo far as I can perceive) denotes no energy or modification of thought (fuch as, affirming, com- manding, afking or wifhing) that is peculiar to itfelf, as the other moods do; but only that kind of thought, or combi- nation of thoughts, which is common to all the others. Now, fome peculiarity of that kind I take to be the very eflence of a mood. Bb 2 | YET 196 THEORY of the Yet the thought exprefled by the infinitive is clearly appre- hended, and plainly fhews that the word denoting it is a verb. Non eft VIVERE fed VALERE Vita. Spe etiam freriles INCENDERE profuit agros, Atque levem ftipulam crepitantibus URERE flammis.. Pudet hac opprobria nobis Et DICI POTUISSE, ef non POTUISSE REFELLI.. Reapinc (fays Bacon) makes a full man, /peaking a ready man, and writimg an exaét man. (Tuese Englifh words in zmg, will be called participles, or per- haps verbal nouns ; they have the form of participles and verbal nouns, but the meaning of infinitives; and may be tranflated into Greek and Latin by infinitives. But it is of no confe- quence whether they be called. participles or infinitives; the meaning of them is obvious, and is the fame with that of the Latin znfinitives. ) : THE meaning or thoughts exprefled by thefe infinitives, are as plainly characteriftic of verbs as thofe denoted by Vivo fed non valeo. Incendite fleriles agros—urite levem flipulam. Oppro- bria dicuntur nobis. Yet in the latter there is mood, while in the former there is not. Whence it follows that mood, properly fo called, is not effential to a verb. It is only the capacity or fufceptibility of mood, that can with propriety be faid to be effential to a verb. This diftinCtion, which I think of fome importance, may be fufficiently explained and illuftrated by the following examples. It is not divifion, but divifibility, that is effential to a geometrical line; it is not fluidity, but fufibi- lity, that is effential to lead ; not motion, but mobility, nor reft, but the capacity of being at reft, that is effential to body. But ref is effential to {fpace, and, for aught I know, motion may- be fo to light. Li MOODS of VERBS. 197 I suspect therefore fome inaccuracy in the learned author's manner of expreffing himfelf, when he fays in one page, (161) that moods are effential to verbs, and in the next page remarks that the infinitive is nota mood. This would imply, that a verb, when put in the infinitive, ceafed to be a verb; which he does not exprefsly fay, though he comes very near to it, in the following words: “‘ As to the infinitive, I hold it to be no ** mood, though it be commonly called fo; becaufe it exprefles no energy of the mind of the fpeaker, but fimply the a¢tion” (he fhould certainly have faid more generally the accident, as in elJe, valere, or cadere) ‘‘ of the verb, with the addition of time. ** It is therefore ufed, either as a noun, or it ferves to connect ** the verb with another verb, or a noun, and fo is ufeful in. *“ fyntax.” But ftill I would afk, When it is ufed in thefe or other ways, and is accordingly ufeful in fyntax, does it lona fide ceafe to be a verb? I own I do not think it does ; for this reafon, that the thought exprefled by means of the zn/initive, may be exprefled in fynonymous and convertible phrafes, in different languages, by means of other parts or moods of the verb. ‘“ To be or not to.be, that is the queftion,” is equivalent in meaning, though fuperior in fimplicity, beauty and force of expreffion, to ‘‘ The queftion is, whether we fhall be or fhall mot be.” cc — Nec quicquam tibi prodeft Aerias TENTASSE domos, animoque rotundum PERCURRISSE polum, morituro. Nee quicquam tibi prodeft quod aerias domos TENTAVERIS, ef animo PERCURRERIS polum. ) MorEOVER, it muft be taken into confideration, that the infinitive not only appears as the momen verbi, (which fome have called it) but exprefles fully the accident of the verb, whe- ther this be mere exiftence, or f{tate, or event, or intranfitive ac- tion, or tranfitive action, that is, action with relation of vari- ous 198 THEORY of the ous kinds ; and of courfe it has the proper regimen of the verb, when it exprefles ation and ‘relation, or, in grammatical lan- guage, is tranfitive; as in percurriffe, aor urere, incendere, in the preceding examples. | Dico, credo, puta, Titium, exiftere;, aizlones jacere, cardiff pro- cubuiffe, projeciffe M avium, proectum fuiffe a Mevio, have the very fame meaning with Dico, &c. quod Titius exiftat, quod jaceat, quod ceciderit, procubuerit, projecerit Mevium, projeCus fuerit a Mevio. { cannot help thinking, that, in thefe cafes, the infinitives, as well as the fubjunétives, are truly verbs, though {tripped of that circumftance which is, in ftri@ propriety of language, called mood. Nor do the infinitives as thus ufed acquire any further meaning, in addition to the radical import of the verb with tenfe, like the proper moods; but the /ubjuncives after quod \ofe their peculiar meaning’ as moods, and fignify no more than bare éfinilives. | 1 ruink fome more illuftration may be given to uli fub- ject, by confidering the import of participles, which partake of the nature both of verbs and of adjectives ; and that of verbal nouns, which partake of the nature and meaning of verbs and of fubftantive nouns. Ir is an acknowledged fact with refpe&t to participles, and it is equally true with refpect to verbal nouns, that, by means of them, various thoughts, commonly exprefled by the moods of verbs, or by the infinitives of them, may be exprefled with great accuracy, and fometimes with advantage in compofition, by enabling us to leffen the number of verbs in a fentence, or to vary occafionally the ftructure of it. Nee quicquam tibi pro- deft morituro tua TENTATIO domuum aeriarum, et CURSUS tuus circa _ polum, though a very crabbed inelegant fentence, has the very fame meaning with Horace’s beautiful lines, and with the profe verfion immediately fubjoined to it. Way are not ¢entatio and curfus reckoned verbs, as well as tentafe and percurriffé 2 They are furely very near akin. THE MOODS of VERBS. 199 Tue sanfwer given to this queftion by the author of the Eflay on the Origin. and Progre/s of Language, and which he fays 1s plain, I muft own appears to me very obfcure and unfatisfac- tory. Nor can I think that the defect is entirely in me, and that I ought to underftand ic; for Il can fpecify what is wanting to the anfwer which he gives, in order’to: make it plain and fa- tisfactory. His anfwer is, gm “ THart it (to wit a verbal noun, like curfus or tentatio) ex- preffles no energy of the mind of the fpeaker, who pronounces the words ;, nor does:it affirm that the thing exifts or does not exift ; nor does it command that it {hould or fhould not exift ; nor does it wifh that it may or may not exift; but fimply gives: us the conception of the mind of the fpeaker.” Page 167. Berore we can fully underftand this anfwer, (which feems to apply to zfinitives as well as to verbal .nouns), or of courfe judge whether it be juft and complete, or not, we muft know what the author means by exergy, and what by conception, what more or lefs he apprehends there is in the one than in the other, or how he diftinguifhes them. Nor can this be_known but by finding what there is'in common ainong all ‘the energies, (for fomething common among them, even as conceived by him, it is demonftrable there muj? be) and not belonging to any fim- ple conceptions... We have energy expreffed, and of courfe a verb conftituted, even according to his definition of a verb, without affirmation, when we with or command; without command, when we affirm or wifh ; without wifh, when we command or affirm: Yet in all thefe cafes we have equally and indifputably a verb. How fhall we know what isin common to them all? How much of the meaning of a verb is in a verbal noun? What is wanting, befides the fufceptibility of mood? Whence does this fufceptibility of mood arife, or wherein does it con- fift ? Does it depend on the combination of the notion of time with that of the proper accident of a verb, which combination takes place in the infinitive, and even remains in the partici- ples of a verb, but not in a verbal noun? se 4 74 ce. x4 Exiftentia 200 LHAEORY- ‘ofi the Exiftentia (whether good Latin or not) is the predicament or accident of being. Vita is the ftate or accident of living. Cafus, obitus, the events or accidents of falling and of dying. Cogitatio, lectio, fcriptio, curfus, aedificatio, trucidatio, are the accidents or ations of thinking, reading, writing, running, building and murdering. In Englith, almoft any noun fubftantive may occafionally be converted into a verb, by ufing it to denote thofe thoughts, or combinations of thoughts, fuch as exiftence, ftate, event, acti- vity, intranfitive, or tranfitive, or reflected, and paffivenefs or being the object or fubje& of activity, which are conceived to conftitute the effence of a verb. Water is plainly a noun. Watered a participle. To water a verb, without mood. _ He watereth, water thou, may it be watered, it was watered, a verb with mood. A watering, a verbal noun, retaining the accident, but not the import of mood; and nearly allied to the infinitive to water, in every refpect but that it does not involve the notion of time, as the infinitives to water, to have watered, ‘Sc. plainly do. TuEseE are but hints. Valeant quantum valere poffint. I suspect that the author whofe do¢trine I am confidering, has been rafh in limiting the number of moods to three ; the’ indicative, expreffing affirmation, (and of courfe negation) un- der which he comprehends the /ubjunctive, as being nearly of the fame import, and denoting affirmation, only qualified or conditional ; the opftative, exprefling wilhing or praying ; and the imperative, exprefling command. I ssourp think the fame kind of reafons that he urges again{t admitting an zterrogalive mood, namely, that “ it is * not exprefled by any different form of the verb, but only £* by particles, or by a certain arrangement of the words,” and MOODS of VERBS. 201 and for rejecting the potential mood, and for making the /ud- junétive only a branch of the indicative, would apply with equal -force againft admitting an optative mood, at leaft in fome lan- guages, as for inftance in our own. In the following lines, Te sPEcTEM /uprema mihi cum venerit hora s Te TENEAM moriens deficiente manu. The verbs /peciem and teneam exprefs very clearly the energy of wifhing. This modification of thought is denoted in Latin by inflection, and would be fo in Greek, oe feoum, ce xareyorus, and will be allowed to conftitute a perfect mood. But in Englith it mutt be denoted bya certain arrangement of the words, and there- fore fhould be no mood, any more than interrogation. ‘‘ Thee “ may I look on when my laft hour fhall come; thee may I * grafp, when dying, in my failing hand.” J may look on thee, I may gra/p thee, have meanings as different from thofe de- moted by the fame words differently arranged, as Ce/ar was killed, ts from was Cefar killed ? Ir I am rightly informed, the Chinefe language has no zmpe- vative mood; and thofe who fpeak it are obliged to employ a very clumfy circumlocution, by means of a verb fignifying command, to exprefs the familiar meaning of our imperative. Ir does not appear clearly to me, that the /ubjunctive mood expreffes merely qualified or conditional affirmation in every cafe, though undoubtedly it does fo in many cafes. In the following lines of Horace, Ulla fi juris tibi pejerati Pena, BARINE, NOCUISSET wnquams; Dente fi nigro FIERES, vel uno Turpior ungui, CREDEREM. WOL. il. @) a The 202 THEORY of ‘the The word crederem to be fare denotes merely a qualified of con- ditional affirmation: I might, could, would, or fhould believe, if a certain event took place. But the verbs exprefling this condition and fuppofition, are alfo in the /whjundtive,. nocui et, jieres, after the particle fi, With this particle, they might have been put in the indicative, and the fenfe would ftill have been complete, nocuerat, ficbas. The fame thought may be exprefled. accurately in Englifh, without the ufe of any particle corre- {ponding to fi, and merely by the peculiar arrangement of the words, juft as was done with the with of Tisuttus, “ Had ““ any punifhment ever overtaken you for your broken vows ; “* were but one of your teeth growing black, or even were but “‘ one of your nails becoming lefs beautiful, I fhould believe (49 you.” I cANNOT conceive that the three firft verbs in this fentence denote any affirmation at all, conditional or unconditional, but avery plain fuppofition. And this thought feems to me to be as well entitled to be called an energy, as TipuLLus’s wifh; and when it is expreffled (no matter in what way, whether by in- fletion, by augment, or by peculiar arrangement) by a verb, it muft be either a perfeét grammatical mood, or fomething very near akin to one. THE very fame kind of thought, to wit fuppofition, is ex- preffed by circumlocution, and a kind of metaphor, in the follow- ing lines. PONE me, pigris ubi nulla campis Arbor aftiva recreatur aura: PoNneE /ub curru nimium propinqui Solis, in terra domibus negata. in which pone, though in the imperative mood, exprefles no command, but only fuppofition or condition. This Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum {or Mr Gay for them) underftood perfectly ; —_ a Ae Bh o> eee ares meg — ee ie - dene em mS MOODS of VERBS. 203 perfectly ; and accordingly tranflate the thought very well, without either an cmperative or a particle, by arrangement. Were I laid on Greenland’s coaft, Were I fold on India’s foil. Ir may be remarked too, that Horace expreffes his quali- fied or conditional afirmation, which is fubjoined to the fup- pofition by a verb in the indicative, not in the fubjunctive mood. Dulce ridentem LALAGEN AMABO. Macheath takes the common /ubjunciive : Too foon the half year’s night wouLD pa/s; And Polly, the potential, LI couLp mock the fultry tot. Omnia novit Greculus efuriens; in ceélum, JUSSERIS, IBIT. A little hungry Greek knows every thing; he will go to hea- ven, /bould you defire him. This is conditional affirmation, expref- fed by the zdicative, and /uppofition by the /ubjunctive mood. Illum et parentis CREDIDERIM /uz Fregiffe cervicem. I could believe that he had murdered his father. This I con- ceive to be an inftance of the potential mood; if not of the verb credo, at leaft of human thought. Cc 2 WHATEVER 204 FHEORY ‘of the. WHATEVER may be thought of the preceding obfervations, it muft at leaft be admitted, that the moods of verbs may be confidered in two very different points of view ; either with re- lation to any particular language, or with relation to human thought, which muft be fuppofed the fame in all ages and nations. For the fake of diftinétnefs, I fhall call the expreflions of them, by inflection or otherwife in language, grammatical moods; and the thoughts, or combinations of thoughts, fo exprefled, as well as fimilar combinations of thoughts, though not always, or per- haps never expreffed in the fame way, I| fhall call energies, or modifications, or moods of thought. WirTH refpect to the former of thefe things in any particular language, there can be no difpute or difficulty. Any tolerably good grammar of that language will fhew at once -the number and the forms of them in it; and the exact import of each of them, and the proper application of them all, will foon be learned by attending to the ufe of thofe who {peak and write that lan- guage well. But the latter (the moods of thought) muft be inveftigated in a different and much more laborious way ; by ftrict attention to our own thoughts, and with fuch aid as the ftruGture of language, and obfervation, and even experiment afford. Att languages, I believe, are very defective in refpect of that variety and accuracy of combination and of diftin¢ction, which we know with infallible certainty take place in thought. Nor do I know of any particular in which language is more defi- cient, than in the exprefling of thofe energies or modifications. of thought, fome of which always are, and all of which might be exprefled by the grammatical moods of verbs. Of this, there cannot be a clearer proof, than the well known fadts, that we are obliged to exprefs by the fame mood very different modifications or energies of thought, and that the number of moods, as marked by inflection or otherwife, is different in different languages, which, of courfe, do not correfpond fo far as “ MOODS of VERBS. 205 as to admit of perfect and literal tranflation in all cafes from one to another, or at leaft not without circumlocution. Yet, unfavourable as this circumftance muft, at firft fight, appear to the hopes of one who withes to invefligate the nature of the moods of verbs, and ultimately to afcertain the nature of a verb itfelf, I think it is chiefly by attending to it, by con- fidering what modifications of thought are expreffed by gram- matical moods in different languages, and by comparing them with fuch modifications of thought as are never, or at leaft not ufually, expreffed in that way, and by examining how it comes. to pafs that fome of them are, while others are not fo exprefled, that we fhall be led to difcover wherein they agree or differ, that is, to learn the common nature of all, and the particular nature of each of them, which is the immediate object of enquiry. THE province of the fchoolmafter who undertakes to teach any particular language, Englifh, French, Latin, or Greek, ex- tends no farther than to explain the meaning and fhew the ufe of the grammatical moods which are found in that lan- guage which he teaches ; and his fcholars, at leaft at an early period of life, can go no farther. But the province of the philologift, who wifhes to examine the ftructure of language, and of the philofopher, who wifhes to inveftigate the laws of human thought, is much more ex- tenfive. Every grammatical mood that is found in any one language, is to him a proof of a correfponding diftinction, or variety of exergy, or modification of thought; for all men are by nature capable of learning any language. Nor does he ftop _ here. From confidering how many energies are exprefled by grammatical moods, he is led to form a more extenfive and juft notion of thofe energies, and may naturally fufpect, and with a little attention will foon difcover, that there are many other fi- milar energies, which are not exprefled in any language ; and to thefe, as well as to thofe that are expreffed, in fome or | all 206 THEORY of the all languages, by grammatical moods, he ought unqueftionably to direct his attention. Ir is evident at firft fight, that a variety of thoughts, or modifications of thought, may be combined, or conceived and expreffed, along with the general meaning or accident denoted by any verb. Ir is equally evident, that only a few of thefe modifications of thought are expreffed by grammatical moods in Greek, Latin or in the modern European languages. It is alfo evident, that in thefe languages, one grammatical mood is often employed to denote very different modifications of, or additions to, the thought, or combination of thoughts, which is exprefled equally by every part of the verb, and which may be found without mood, though not without ten/e, in the z#finitive. AND it is plain alfo, that both thofe additions and modifica- tions of thought, which commonly are, and thofe which are not expreffed by the grammatical moods of any verb, may be expreffed by the infinitive of that verb, with the addition and regimen (that is, marked relation). of another verb.. And this additional or auxiliary verb muft be in the firft perfon, either fingular or plural, of the prefent tenfe of the indicative mood. In fome cafes, there may be more than one ftep in this procefs of refolution, as in interrogation ; but it always terminates ul- timately in a verb in the prefent of the indicative, and in the firft perfon, as the phrafe to be refolved is the expreffion of the thought of the perfon or perfons fpeaking. AFFIRMING, denying, teftifying, foretelling or prophecying, afking, anfwering, wifhing, hoping, expeting, believing, know- ing, doubting, fuppofing, ftipulating, being able, commanding, praying, requefting, fupplicating, loving, hating, fearing, def- pairing, being accuftomed, wondering, admiring, warning, {wearing, advifing, refufing, exhorting, difluading, encouraging, promifing, threatening, and perhaps numberlefs other modifi- cations MOODS of VERBS. - 207 cations of thought, for which I cannot eafily find names, all admit very readily of being combined with the general import of a verb, and form with it various more complicated mean- ings, which are eafily diftinguifhable from one another, and are not convertible, and therefore muft be different. ‘There are various degrees and kinds of refemblance or affinity among them, in confequence of which they admit of being arranged, and of courfe of having different more general names given with propriety to the feveral divifions or clafles of them. And there is fomething common among them all, to which the name of energy, without any impropriety (that I can fee), may be ap- plied. If every one of them had been expreffed in all lan- guages, by variations as ftriking as thofe of rurra, retro, and qurre, they muft have been acknowledged as diftin® moods of the verb. They are equally moods or diftin& energies of thought, whether expreffed in language or not, if they be but under- ftood by thofe who ufe language; as for inftance, in the cafe of the grammatical mood called the zmperative, by which we exprefs occafionally prayer to Gop, command to a flave, requetft to a fuperior, advice to an equal or to any one, order as from an officer to his fubaltern, fupplication to one whom we cannot refift. Thefe /pecific differences of thought were perhaps in fome meafure exprefled in Greek by the ten/es of the imperative, the exact ufes and import of which I muft aan I underftand but very imperfectly. Ir they could all be arranged under three heads, as the au- thor of the Origin and Progre/s of Language conceives, affir- ming, wifhing and commanding ; or if they could all be referred to one head, affirmation, as many philologifts. think they may, this would be but a fimall addition to our knowledge con- cerning them, compared to what we might expect to obtain by a more accurate examination of them; and it muft be ac- knowledged to be fomewhat rafh to attempt to arrange them, without firft examining them carefully. | THE 208 THEORY of the THE cafe of the moods of verbs is exactly parallel to that of their ten/es, which is very accurately pointed out and happily illuftrated by the learned author of the treatife on the Origin and Progre/s of Language. AtmosT every language has its own advantages and difad- vantages in the exprefling of the various divifions and relations of time; but the conception of thefe divifions and relations of time muft be the fame in all mankind. So it is with the conception and the expreflion of moods or energies, and indeed with the conception of every thing elfe which can be exprefled by verbs, or by any other words. As in one of his own inftances: “ The “* Lorp gave, and the Lorp sath taken away; bleffed be the “* name of the Lorp.” There is a precifion and a beauty in this ufe of the fimple contrafted with the compound paft tenfe, which cannot be attained in Latin. Dominus prEpitT, et Dominus ABSTULIT 3 benedictum fit nomen Domini. But it might be at- tained in Greek, by ufing the aorift for gave, and the preter- perfect for hath taken away. On looking into the Septuagint, I do not, however, find that this delicacy of expreffion has been attempted. But the genius of the Greek language has led the tranflators to another nicety and propriety of expreflion, which cannot be attained in any other language, nor indeed explained without a circumlocution : ‘O Kyeiog EdwHeEV, 0 Kygios aPerraro* ein To vopree Kugsov evroynwevoy, In this paflage, cdwzxev is the aorift of the active voice of the verb fignifying to give; a@edero is the -aorift of the middle voice of the verb fignifying to take away. The Greek fentence therefore exprefles, The Lorp gave, the Lorp took away to him/elf, took back to himfelf, or fimply Zook back. Dominus pepit, Dominus REcEpIT. If the Greek verb adeicew had a preterperfect middle, and if this tenfe of the middle voice had, like moft other parts of the middle verb, a kind of reciprocal or refleted meaning, on which points I dare not prefume to decide, but muft leave them to the judgment of grammarians, it would be poflible to exprefs in Greek both the » es MOODS of VERBS. 209 the niceties in queftion. Yet it cannot be doubted, that all mankind are capable of underftanding them perfe@ly, whether they ufe a language in which they can be exprefled by mere inflections or not. By means of the fame tenfe and the fame mood, to wit, the future of the indicative, we are accuftomed to exprefs either mere futurity, and of courfe a prophecy, or an intention or purpofe, or a threat, or a promife. ; Improvifa Lethi Vis rapuit RAPIETQUE gentes. Hor. Quo nos cunque FERET melior fortuna parente, Inimus O foci comite/que. Hor. Cras ingens ITERABIMUS @quor. Hor. Ille Deitm vitam acciP1ET, Divi/que VADEBIT Permiftos Heroas, et ipfe VIDEBITUR dlis : Pacatumque REGET patris virtutibus orbem. VIRG. Verberibus cafum te in piftrinum Dave DEDAM u/que ad necem. TER. Quarum, que forma pulcherrima, Deiopeiam Connubio JUNGAM /flabili, propriamque DICABO. VIRG: In the two firft of thefe inftances from Horace, we have, I think, the bare expreflion of what is to come to pafs, In the third and fourth, we have not only futurity, but in- tention or purpofe, plainly expreffed. THE prophecies in the four inftances, from VircGiL’s Pollio, are, | apprehend, fomething more than what is exprefled or un- derftood in the two firft of the preceding examples, and dif- Vou. IT. Dd ferent 210 THEORY of the ferent from what is expreffed in the two laft of them. The future events mentioned feem to be announced with authority, or fomething like fupernatural knowledge or information, which I take to be eflential to the notion of prophecy. But Funo’s promife of a handfome wife to Aolus, and Simo’s threatening of a fevere whipping and perpetual imprifonment and hard labour to Davus, are by no means mere predictions of fuch good or evil to them, nor yet bare enunciations of the intentions of the {peakers to them, but fomething very different ; other energies, modifications of thought, or moods, in fo far at leaft as mood is predicable of thought, which I think it is com- pletely. For if there were two or ten different forms or in- fle€tions of a verb in any language, or in all languages, to ex- prefs any one mood of thought, for inftance affirmation, with, or command, they would not be different moods, but only dif- ferent forms of the fame mood. ‘This is not altogether an ima- ginary cafe. In Englifh we have, at leaft in fome parts of our verbs, two forms or grammatical moods for one mood of thought; one of them -fimple, and only marked by isiflection of the primary verb; the other compound, confifting of an auxiliary in addition to the primary verb ; and in this cafe the infleGtion is in the auxiliary verb alone. J write. J do write. They wrote. They did write. (They did wrote or they do wrote, would be folecifms.) Write thou. Do thou write. Every per- fon, I think, muft acknowledge, that thefe are not inftances of two indicative and of two imperative moods in Englifh, but only two forms or expreflions of one indicative and of ene im- perative mood. If fo, then it follows that mood is generally conceived to be properly an attribute or predicate of thought alone, while only the expreflion of it, by inflection or other- wife, belongs to grammatical verbs, juft as the firft and fecond future, or the firft and fecond aorift, of the regular Greek verbs, are not two futures and two paft tenfes, but only two different forms or expreflions of one future and of one paft tenfe, which , if , h a MOODS of VERBS. ati which tenfes are uniformly underftood by all mankind. While the prefent, the imperfect, the aorift, the perfect, the plufquam- perfeét, and the future, are really different Zenfes, or expreflions of different notions of the relation of the general import of the verb to time; which expreflions and notions are by no means convertible, and certainly may be underftood by all mankind, though they are not found diftinguifhed in all languages. In fhort, we muft draw no inference with refpect to the nature, the number, the affinities, or the arrangements of the moods of verbs, from the infleCtions or other variations employed in language, without taking into confideration alfo the relation which thofe inflections bear to human thought. I wave further to add to thefe remarks on the import of the moods of verbs, that fuch is the affinity or mutual relation among them, that they may often, by circumlocution, and the introduction of an additional verb, and fometimes without any fuch addition to the principal verb, and merely by a kind of metaphor, be interchanged, or fubftituted one for another, without materially affecting the fenfe of the paflages wherein they occur, and fometimes with the manifeft effect of giving a more full and particular expofition of the meaning of fuch paf- fages. ‘This I mention, not for the fake of any advantage that can in general be obtained by fuch interchange, or fubftitution, _but that I may point out that it is not properly a refolution or decompofition of the meaning of the feveral moods, as fome philologifts have fuppofed, and have thought an important dif- _ covery in grammar, but a mere circumlocution, and a kind of paraphrafe of the fhorter and more common expreflion, and fometimes a mere metaphor, inftead of a literal expreflion of thought. That it can be no refolution of a more complicated into feveral fimpler meanings, appears plainly from this confi- deration, that it is mutual among the moods; the fuppofed fimpler being as eafily refolvable into the fuppofed complicated, as thefe are into them. But of this afterwards. In general, Dd2 the 212 PEO RI Moko Whe the expreflion by the common, or what we may call the natural mood, is as clear and intelligible as the circumlocution, or fup- pofed refolution of it, and much fhorter, and more animated and forcible, and of courfe more agreeable and proper. It muft be owned, however, that fometimes there is a great and manifeft beauty and advantage, not only in point of vari- ety, but in force and animation of expreffion, obtained by ufing a mood of the verb, and a form of fpeech different from what might be termed the natural one, and what would exprefs the literal meaning of the fpeaker. Thus, in the ode of Ho- RACE, already quoted, the ufe of the imperative mood inftead ‘of the /ubjunctive, which would exprefs the literal meaning, ap- pears to me advantageous, even putting all regard to verfe out of the queftion. PoNne me pigris, &c. Pone /ub curru, &c. is furely more forcible and animated than Sz ponerer, or Si effem pofitus, or imply pofitus, though the general meaning be the fame. And Gay’s lines, in imitation of thefe two ftanzas of HorAcE, Were I laid on Greenland’s coa/f, Were I fold on India’s fail, though highly beautiful, and in one refpect, | mean the bold- nefs of the imagery introduced, fuperior both to Horace’s own lines, and to thofe of his tranflator, are lefs animated than either the original or the tranflation, PLACE ME where never fummer breeze Unbinds the earth or fans the trees; PLACE ME beneath the burning ray, Where rolls the rapid car of day. All fuch applications of the imperative mood I ‘confider as metaphorical ; underftanding by the term metaphor, the trans- ferring | a ae MOODS of VERBS. © 213 ferring of any word or phrafe, and employing it to exprefs a thought different from what it denotes in its original, ftrict, and literal fignification; which I take to be the very eflence and pro- per definition of this figure of fpeech. In like manner, the interragative mood, inftead of the condi- tional or fubjunétive, which would fully and clearly have ex- prefled the literal meaning of the poet, gives peculiar anima- tion and fpirit to the following lines: Fervet avaritia miferoque cupidine pectus ? Laudis amore tumes 2 Are you a covetous wretch? Are you a coxcomb 2?.—If you are a mifer, If you are a coxcomb, would furely be flat. Awnp, on the fame principle, fuch expreflions as the follow- ing, Shall we receive good at the hand of Gon, and fball we not alfo receive evil ?—Shall I do this great evil, and fin againfi Gop? are more animated and forcible than the plain literal expreflions of the fame thoughts would be. Ir is more remarkable, that fometimes a kind of beauty and force, not indeed from greater animation, for fimple command and interrogation, as exprefled by the imperative and interroga- tive moods, are, I believe, the moft animated enunciations of thought, but from greater folemnity, may be given by employ- ing the zndicattve mood, where either the imperative or the iter- rogative would fully have expreffed the fpeaker’s meaning. Lydia pic per omneis Te deos ono, Sybarin cur PROPERES amanda Peg dege ss Otis 5 Cw . ‘ THEN follow all the articles of interrogation. The general meaning would have been completely expreffed without the imperative Dic, and the indicative ORO ; yet I prefume no perfon of ‘i 214 THEORY of the of tafte and judgment will difpute, that, independently of the verfification, there is a beauty and force in HorAcz’s expreflion far beyond what there would be in the fimple interrogation, Lydia cur Sybarin properas amando perdere 2 Tue future of the indicative is employed in fome cafes wherein the imperative mood would exprefs the literal meaning of the fpeaker; as for inftance, in the Decalogue, the expref- fions, Thou fbalt not kill, Thou fbalt not freal, Thou fhalt not com- mit adultery, have not the proper future meaning, but are the moft abfolute commands, or rather prohibitions, much more forcible, becaufe more folemn, than Kz// not, Steal not, &c. Tue preceding obfervations on the nature and import of the ‘moods of verbs, are fo imperfect and fo defultory, that it may appear very rafh to draw any formal inferences from them. I hope, however, they are fo far at leaft intelligible and juft, that the conclufions which I have in view, and which I think might be fairly deduced from a more ample and more. metho- dical colle€tion of fimilar obfervations, will neither appear ab- furd nor paradoxical. TuHEy are chiefly the following. I. THat the energies, or modifications of thought, exprefled by the moods of verbs, are fuch as may be exprefied feparately by other verbs, and chiefly by active verbs ; or, in the phrafeo- logy of the author of the eflay on the Origin and Progre/s of Language, That the energies of the mind of the fpeaker, denoted by the moods of verbs, are truly accidents, and chiefly actions. Turis perhaps the learned author was not fully aware of, elfe he would not have ufed, in his definition of a verb, a phrafe which may be fairly tranflated, “ A verb is a word chiefly fig- “ nificant of being and of action, of the action of the mind * of the fpeaker relative to that action,’ tc. Or, if he had been aware of this, he muft, I think, have been led to examine more MOODS of VERBS. 205). more accurately the nature of the energies, actions, or accidents denoted by the moods of verbs. Yer, trom his uniformly employing the term energy to de- note the general import of all moods, we may prefume, that he had fome conception of that intimate relation between the import of the accidents of fome and that of the moods of all verbs. For he muft have known, that evergy, though a com- pound Greek word, and aétion, though a fimple Latin word, when applied to the operations of mind, are perfectly fynony- mous ; and he very properly mentions ac?ion as one of the chief accidents denoted by verbs. His definition might even be fairly ftated thus. ‘‘ A verb ‘* is a word chiefly fignificant of accident, of the accident of ‘“‘ the mind of the fpeaker relative to that accident,” ce. . For this is only fubftituting the generic term accident for the /pecific term energy or action; fo that the propofition, though lefs parti- cular and accurate, would {till be true. Il. Tuat the evergies exprefled by the moods of verbs are chiefly the /ocial operations of mind, as they have been very properly termed by Dr Rerp ; that is to fay, fuch as imply the belief of fome other intelligent being to whom they relate, and’ which cannot be fuppofed to take place in a folitary being. Ill. Tat the grammatical moods of verbs are.concife modes: of exprefling fome of thofe combinations of thoughts, which: eccur moft frequently, and are moft important and ftriking. IV. Tuat the number of grammatical moods is limited by: the fame circumftances which feem to limit the variety, preci-. fion, and perfection of language, in other refpects ; and _parti- cularly by the convenience of thofe who ufe it, and who in eeneral will have no more moods to their verbs, and no more words or infle@ions of any kind, than they have abfolute oc- cafion: 216 TIE OMY popes cafion for; and, of courfe, muft often employ one mood as they do one word, or one inflection, in various fenfes, that is, to exprefs occafionally different thoughts. V. THAT grammatical moods contribute greatly to the beauty and perfection of language, by the brevity, animation, and force, which they give to the expreffion of our moft fami- har and interefting combinations of thoughts, which may in- deed be exprefled, in fome meafure, by circumlocution, and the ufe of additional verbs, but not with the fame advantages. VI. THAT grammatical moods of verbs, like other inflec- tions of words, exprefs much better than any fucceflion of words’can do, the intimate connection and relation of various thoughts, which are not fucceflive, but fimultaneous or coex- iftent, and which appear unnaturally disjointed, and in fome meafure altered, when they are exprefled by a feries of words denoting each of them feparately and in fucceflion. Some of thefe conclufions, efpecially the third, the fifth and the fixth, are fo intimately connected, that it is difficult to con- fider them feparately ; and as it is of no confequence to keep them quite diftinét in the following illuftrations, I fhall confi- der them pretty much together, as I conceive they tend to ex- plain and illuftrate one another. I, Tue firft of thofe conclufions can hardly be thought a no- velty, if it be confidered that feveral philologifts have main- tained, that fome of the moods are refolvable into fuch ‘circui- | tous expreflions, by means of other additional verbs. In truth, they are all, infome meafure, convertible, though, in ftrié& pro- priety of language, not re/olvable, nor even perfectly convertible, in that way. Tue indicative, which denotes affirmation, is nearly the fame in meaning, and of courfe is nearly convertible, with a verb of he a ‘7 — _—— MOODS of VERBS. 219 of affirming in the ji7/? perfon (either fingular or plural) of the prefent of the indicative, and the general import of the primary verb, without mood, that is, in the infinitive. itis /cribit, dico, dicimus, Titium fcribere, quod Titius feribat. I fay, we Jay, that he writes. This kind of expreffion is a mere pleonafm. But fomething very nearly approaching to it is often ufed in very folemn language, as in that of the Holy Scripture, and witha good effet. Verily I fay unto thee, &c. THE imperative mood is im fome meafure convertible with a verb of commanding, fuch as Fubeo, in the firft perfon of the prefent of the indicative, and the primary verb without mood. I nunc, et verfus tecum meditare canoros. Fubeo te nunc ire et tecum meditari, &c. Fubeo, dico me jubere. In like manner, the opftative mood is, in fome meafure, re- folvable or convertible by means of the primary verb without mood, and a verb of wifhing, fuch as opto or cupio, in the firft perfon of the prefent of the indicative. Te teneam, te /pectem. Opto, cupio te tenere, te [pectare. It has been found unneceflary, but it would undoubtedly be poffible, and on fome occafions might be ufeful, to have grammatical moods, either by inflec- tion or by arrangement, (like may I held, may I fee) to denote Spero te tenere, defpero te tenere, confido te tenere, or te fpecta- turum. | THE interrogative mood is not refolvable exactly in the fame way, by the primary verb without mood, and the zdicative of another verb: there is another ftep in it; and, after all, the refolution is {till lefs perfect than in the other moods. ' Quid faciam? Mortar ? et Amyntam perdet Amyntas ? The meaning here is more than merely, Cupio fcire quid factu- rus fim, utrum moriar necne, num Amyntas femet perditurus fit. Even Rogo, Fubeo, aliquem, mihi dicere quid faciam, quid debuero Vot. Il. Ee jut facere, 218 | THEORY of the facere, &c. does not fully exprefs it. The. energy of interroga- tion, in point of thought, admits of a more clofe and perfect combination with the conception denoted by a verb, than can well be expreffed by any circumlocution *; but it is fully de- noted by the interrogative mood, as appears by the perfon who. is addreffed in that mood returning a pertinent anfwer. This, which is fo manifeft with refpet to the interrogative mood, is equally true with refpect to all the other moods. Wownper has a kind of mood appropriated to the exprefling of it, made out by the addition of a particle, originally of inter- rogative meaning, to the indicative mood; at leaft, I think it is fo in all the languages that I am acquainted with. Quam timeo quorfum evadas. TER. Quam pene furve regna Proferpine, Et judicantem vidimus /Lacum.. Hor. Tela quam certo moderatur arcu. SEN.. Qvil eft ee il eft doux d'etre Pere! . DipeERoT Pere de Famille. How fearful and dizzy ‘tis to caft one’s eyes fo low ! How many ioxjonms of my pooreft Jubjes are at this hour afleep ! ' . . SHARE None of thefe fentences are interrogations, or. can. adinit of an anfwer. They all exprefs (in addition to the general: mean- . ing ~ “, sd <> + SA * I pevizve the neareft we can come to it is by Lj ufe: be ree ‘imperative of a.verb. of affirming with the infinitive of the primary verb.” Dic mibi Dameta cujum pecus, an Melba: ? Cujus.eft pecus? Dic cujus pecus eft. Fubeo te mibi dicere cujus pecus efta. MOODS of VERBS. 219 ing of the primary verbs) the emotion of wonder, or fome mixed emotion, of which wonder forms a part. No perfon can doubt that this exergy might have been exprefled by in- fleftion of the verb; and that, if it had been fo, fuch inflec- tion muft have been reckoned a perfect grammatical mood, and might have been refolved, though no doubt but imperfedly, into a fentence containing the primary verb, (timeo, video, &c.) and fome verb, or phrafe containing a verb, expreflive of wonder, or fome fimilar emotion. Miror me tam pene vidiffe regna Proferpine, miror quantum timeo, mirus eff timor meus, quorfum evadas. 1 wonder, tremble, fhudder, to caft my eyes fo low. J admire, it is admirable, that many of my fubjects are at this hour afleep. ; Wiru refpet to the grammatical mood called the /ubjunctive, it muft be obferved, that it (like many words in common lan- guage) has different meanings, or exprefles different energies, combined with the radical’ meaning of the verb, fuch as, with, (already confidered) fuppofition, power, condition, tc. It muft be in vain, therefore, to look for any one verb, or any one thought or energy, by means of which the fubjunctive mood may uniformly be refolved, as the indicative may be by dico, the optative by opto, the interrogative by vogo, the impe- rative by jubeo. It is to be refolved occafionally by means of different verbs, according to the particular energy or mood of ’ thought expreffed in any inftance. Of this indeed there can be no better proof than the number of different auxiliary words which we employ in Englifh to make out what we call the fub- junctive mood in all its tenfes,. fuch as, may, can, might, could, would, frould, which are, by no means, fynonymous and con- vertible terms, even in this application of them, and yet all -correfpond occafionally to the Latin fubjunctive mood, which is fimple, and only marked by inflection. . Crediderim, poffum credere, \ might believe; credidiffem, potut credere, 1 might have believed. Condition, ftipulation, fuppo- Ee 2 fition, 220 THEORY of the fition, which, though fomewhat different, are very near akin, are among the moft frequent meanings of the fubjun¢tive mood. This meaning, or mood of. thought, may be refolved, to a cer- tain degree, into an imperative mood (the refolution of which hath already been fhewn) and the primary verb. An ingeni- ous etymologift* has fhewn, that the Greek particle é, and the Roman /, are but contractions of certain parts or in- fleftions of the fubftantive verbs, us and /um; which parts of thofe verbs have an imperative meaning, Be zt fo. The fame author fhows, that our Englifh particle 7f is juft a con- traction of the imperative of the verb give, anciently written - and pronounced gif. Si vis me flere. Sit, efto, quod vis, or velis me flere. Fac, pone, te velle me flere. The imperative fac was often ufed by the ancient writers of Latin in this fenfe; pone feldom by them, but often by modern writers ; riz: was ufed in the fame fenfe by the Greeks. Indeed, different parts, both of zidaus and of pono, were ufed for this purpofe; the Romans, I prefume, imitating the Greeks. It is worthy of obfervation, that in French, the ufe of the conditional particle jt faperfedes completely the ufe, either of the fubjun¢tive or of the conditional mood. $7 in French always governs the indica- tive mood. S72 je peux, fi je pouvois, fi je pourrait; never Si Je puiffe, fi je puff2, wm the fubjunctive, nor even je je pourrois in the conditional mood. As to the circumftance of being fubjoined to a preceding: member of a fentence, and commonly to a verb in the indica- tive mood, from which the fubjun¢tive has got its name, the difference of meaning between the fubjundtive fo employed, and that of the indicative in fome cafes, and between it and the bare infinitive in others, is fo minute, that it is difficult to afcertain it, and perhaps impoflible to exprefs it in words. Ac- cordingly, we often find, that in tranflating from one lan- guage into another, thofe three grammatical moods may and perhaps * Mr Horne Tooke. MOODS of VERBS. 22% perhaps muff be interchanged, to preferve the original meaning, without violating the idiom of the language into which the tranflation is made. But the ufe of a peculiar inflection or mood to diftinguifh the fecondary or fubjoined verb from the fundamental or primary verb in a fentence, often has its ufe; and I think, without much refinement, we muft perceive an elegance, and perhaps too a greater degree of precifion, in thofe languages in which this nicety is attended to, asin Latin and in French ; for in our own it is almoft loft fight of. But it muft be obferved, that it is not every verb fubjoined to another by the relative pronoun qwz, that is put in the fubjunctive mood. In many cafes, either the indicative or the fubjunctive may be employed, almoft indifcriminately, both in Latin and in French. But fometimes the one, fometimes the other, ought to be ufed. Where the affirmation is certain and pofitive, the indicative fhould be fubjoined to the indicative. Heu guoties fidemy. Mutatofque deos FLEBIT : et afpera Nigris @quora ventis EMIRABITUR Z/olens, Qui nunc te PRUITUR credulus aurea: Qui /emper vacuam, semper amabilem. SPERAT, ne/cius aure Fallacis : miferi, QUIBUS: Intentata NITES. - Cependant je RENDS grace au zele officieux, Qui fur tous mes perils vous FAIT ouvrir les yeux. Feune et vaillant heros, DonT la haute fageffe N’est point le fruit tardif d'une lente vieilleffe.. Though in thefe lines of BortzAvu, there be no verb but ef, iT is plainly fubjoined to the preceding member of the fen- tence 222 THEORY of the tence by means of the relative dont. Ne /oit point le fruit, would, in the firft place, be bad French, and, in the next place, would have been a very impertinent infinuation to _Louis XIV. as if his high wifdom had been fomehow contin- gent, or hypothetical. But BoILEAv was not .a man likely to fall into.either of thefe errors. On the fame principle, I prefume, the indicative mood is fubjoined to the indicative, in the following paflage of the Holy Scripture: Fe fuis 1Eternel ton, Dieu, quit’? ar tiré du pais d’Egypte, de la maifon de fervitude. The fubjunétive mood, Quit’? Aye tiré, would manifeftly be inelegant and in- accurate in this place, where the fubjoined affirmation is pofi- tive and certain. And for the fame reafon, we fhould never hefitate to exprefs the fame thought in Latin by the words, Ego fum Dominus tuus Deus, qui EDUXi te e terra Agypti, e domo Jervitutis; and fhould be fenfible of a grofs impropriety, if the word eduxerim were fubftituted for eduxz. Bur in innumerable inftances, wherein the fubjoined verb exprefles any thing uncertain, precarious, contingent, or de- pendent on the will or power of another, it is put in the fub- jundtive mood: hence this mood. has, in all its tenfes, a fort of affinity or relation to a future meaning. Still, however, great latitude is allowed to writers, both in profe and verfe, and is actually taken by the beft of them, in the ufe of the indicative and of the fubjun@tive moods ; as in the following inftances from Vircit and CicERo. Quip.FACIAT /etas fegetes, QUO SIDERE Lerram Vertere, Maecenas, ulmi/que adjungere vites CONVENIAT: QUE CURA Boum, Qui cuLTus habende Sit pecori, apibus quanta experientia parcis, Hine canere inctpiam. Vos, MOODS of VERBS. 2.23 — Vos,0 clarifina mundi Lumina, labentem celo QUE DUCITIS annum, Liber, et alma Ceres; veftro fi munere Tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem MUTAVIT ari/ia,. Poculaque inventis Acheloia MiscuiT uvis : Munera vefira canon Tuque O cur prima frementem Fupir equum magno tellus percuffa. tridentz, Neptune: et cultor nemorum cui pinguia Cee Ter centum nivel TONDENT dumeta Juvencte. Enumerare poffum QU sivT in figuris animantium, et quam fo- ers fubtilifque defcriptio partium, quamque admirabilis fabrica' membrorum. Omnia enim QUE quidem intus inclufa suNT tta nata, atque ita locata funt,-uv nihil eorum fupervacaneum sit, nihil ad vitam retinendam non necefjarium. Cuyus quidem adminiftratio mbil wABET in fe QUOD reprehendi PROTEST $ eX iis enim naturis QU ERANT, QUOD ¢éffict POTUIT optimum effectum eff: doceat ergo aliquis. potuiffe melius: fed nemo unquam docebit: et s1Quis corrigere aliquid VOLET, aut deterius- faciet, aut id, quod fieri not PovEST, defiderabit. In thefe paflages, the fubjoined verbs are marked in. capi- tals. They are.to the number of feventeen; yet of them no lefs than twelve are put in the indicative mood. And it may be obferved, at Jeaft with refpect to the two paffages from C1- CERO, that the meaning exprefled by the fubjoined. indicative is not diftinguifhable, in feveral. cafes, from that which, in other cafes, is exprefled by the fubjunctive mood. _ THESE more particular obfervations, and the well known general fact, that, in our own language, we find means to difpenfe with the ufe of a peculiar grammatical mood, to de- note barely the circumftance of being fubjoined, I apprehend coincide perfectly with the account given of the comprehenfive and various meanings of that grammatical mood which is called 224 THEORY of the called the fubjunctive, and amount to a full confirmation of that account. Il. Tue fecond of thofe conclufions can fcarce require any explanation or commentary. The modification or mood of thought, which is moft commonly exprefled by a grammatical -mood of a verb, is unqueftionably that of affirmation, under which we may comprehend negation, or elfe we muft ufe the more general term propofition, which comprehends them both. This is exprefled by the indicative mood. Next to.this, the moods of thought, moft commonly exprefled by verbs, are thofe of command and of interrogation ; the latter (at leaft in all the languages that I know any thing of) being w/wally expreffed, either by the addition of fome particle to the common indica- tive mood, or elfe by fome peculiar arrangement of the words connected with a-verb in that mood. Vidifti, Thou /aweft or thou didft fee. Vidifiine? Saweft thou, or Didft thou fee? Some- times, however, it is not expreffed in either of thefe ways, nor in any way but merely by the tone of voice of the fpeaker ; and confequently, when it is written, and read filently, it cannot be diftinguifhed from a propofition. Fervet avaritia pectus. Lau- dis amore tumes. Hence the ufe of points or marks of interro- gation in writing. The former (command) is commonly ex- prefled by a .diftin@ grammatical mood. THESE three moods are all plainly focial modifications of thought. No man could be fuppofed even to form (not to fay witer) a propofition, a queftion, or a command, who did not believe that there were other intelligent Beings befides himfelf, who might underftand him. In general too, (for I admit there may be exceptions to this) the perfon who utters a propofition wifhes to be believed, he who gives a command wifhes to be obeyed, he who puts a queftion wifhes to be anfwered, and all ef them wifh to be underftood. Thefe are all operations of thought, MOODS of VERBS. 226 thought, which cannot be fuppofed to take place in a folitary Being. Burt there are fome moods of thought denoted by the gram- matical moods of verbs, (more or lefs perfeétly) which are not, ftridtly fpeaking, focial ats of the mind; for inftance, wifh- ing, fuppofing, wondering. Thefe may all be fuppofed to take place in a folitary being, like Rosinson Crusoe in his ifland, as well as in Cicero in the Forum of Rome. THE greateft part, even of common converfation, confifts of propofitions; and whole volumes, both in hiftory and in {fci- ence, may be, and perhaps have been written, confifting en- tirely of propofitions, and of courfe requiring no other mood but the indicative. BuT in common converfation, and {till more remarkably in all buftling and interefting fcenes, commands and queftions muft occur, and, of courfe, the interrogative and imperative moods, however formed and marked, become neceflary. Next to thefe purely focial acts of the mind, or poflibly not lefs frequent or important even than them, is the familiar and interefting emotion of wifhing. And this emotion or energy of thought we often have occafion to exprefs or communicate to thofe among whom we live and with whom we converfe ; fo that although it be not of itfelf, ftrilly fpeaking, a focial at of the mind, yet it is plainly very near akin to one, and may almoft be faid to become one when combined with that of affirmation, as it is when exprefled by the optative mood in common difcourfe ; for it would not be fo in foliloguy. Now, thefe are the modifications of thought, which, in moft lan- guages that are tolerably perfea, are exprefled by grammatical moods in one way or another, . Ui. Tue third conclufion, “ That the grammatical moods of verbs are concife modes of expreffing the moft frequent modifications of thought, (and the moft important or in- Vor. II. Hee “ terefting €é té 226 THEO RIS of, the “ terefting of them)” is felf-evident, when we compare them with the circumlocutions into which it is thought they may be refolved. But it will be illuftrated more fully than is neceflary here, in confidering the two laft conclufions.. IV. As to the fourth conclufion, it muft -be very plain to us all, from the experience we have had of different languages, that none of them are in every refpect, nay hardly in any re- {fpect, abfolutely perfect ; and correfponding, either by the va- riety of words which they afford, or by the modifications, inflections, and arrangements of thofe words, to all the varie- ties and niceties of human thought. It is only the moft com- mon and familiar thoughts or notions that have particular: words in all common languages to denote them, and only the familiar and frequent combinations of thoughts that have ap- propriated phrafes to exprefs them. New notions. require new words to denote them, as new combinations of thoughts, of which the variety is endlefs, require new phrafes and fentences. In this way, languages gradually improve, at leaft in point of richnefs, copiouf{nefs, and precifion. Bur it is only the moft frequent of all combinations of thought with that which is the general meaning of a verb, fuch as affirmation, interrogation, command, wifh, Wc. that are exprefled by fuch inflections or variations of the primary verb, as may be called grammatical moods. Thefe are the combina- tions of thought, in the exprefling of which, circumlocution, or tedioufnefs of any kind, would be the moft difagreeable and inconvenient ; and for which, therefore, a quick and fimple mode of communication is moft requifite. Many other com- binations of thoughts may be exprefled: by the combination of different verbs with fufficient quicknefs, and without inconve- nience or difagreeablenefs of any kind. The number of gram- matical moods cannot be infinite. It is plainly limited, partly by the difficulty of contriving a great number of diftinét in- ) flections;. MOODS of VERBS. 22% fleGtions, partly too from the obvious difficulty of remember- ing and employing accurately even fuch a number as might ‘undoubtedly be contrived, but much more from there being no urgent occafion for fuch a variety of them ; many of the combinations of thoughts to be expreffed by verbs being fo near akin, that. they would naturally be claffed together, and might be denoted by one grammatical mood, without danger of any ambiguity or obfcurity ; as for inftance, the various moods of thought which are occafionally exprefled by the grammatical imperative, or by the future tenfe of the indicative; all the diftin@tions of which moods of thought, both in kind and in degree, may be fully underftood by thofe to whom the dif- courfe is addrefled, from a variety,of well known or obvious circumftances. Hence I think it appears very natural, that though the poflible number of grammatical moods be very great, (though by no means infinite) the number of actually fubfifting moods in different languages fhould be very fmall ; and that fome, even of thefe few, fhould occafionally be em- ployed with little diftin€tion; the ingenuity and labour of man- kind in contriving, and their precifion and fteadinefs in em- ploying fuch moods, being chiefly regulated by the experience of what they daily had occafion for. V. Tue fifth of thofe conclufions refpeGing the importance of grammatical moods towards the perfection and beauty of language, by the quicknefs, animation, and force, which they give to the expreffion of our moft familiar and moft interefting modifications of thought, can require no other proof but mere illuftration by proper examples, any number of which may eafily and readily be found. And from thefe it will plainly ap- pear, that the moods of verbs are in a manner effential to elo- quence of almoft every kind. ‘“ L’éloquence” (as M.-p’ALEM- BERT very juftly obferves, and propofes to define it) “ eft le ** talent de faire paffer avec rapidité, et d’imprimer avec force, F £-2 : *“ dans 228 THEORY of the * dans l’ame des autres, le fentiment profond dont on eft péne- “ tré. Cette definition convient a l’éloquence méme du filence, “ langage energique et quelquefois fublime des grandes paf- “ fions ; a l’éloquence du gefte, qu’on peut appeller l’éloquence “* du peuple, par le pouvoir qu'elle a pour fubjuguer la multi- “* tude, toujours plus frappée de ce qu’elle voit que de ce qu'elle ** entend ; enfin a cette éloquence adroite et tranquille, qui fe “« borne 4 convaincre fans emouvoir, et qui ne cherche point a ““ arracher le confentement, mais a lobtenir. Cette derniére ** éfpece d’éloquence n’eft peutétre pas la moins puiflante; on “ eft moins en garde contre l’infinuation que contre la force.” D’AveMBerT Difcours a LT Academie Frangoife, et Reflexions fur /’ Eloquence Oratoire. Melanges, Vol. Il. p. 304, 305. 319. Or all the moods of thought which are commonly exprefled by grammatical moods, the indicative (comprehending the fimple /udjunciive) though one of the moft important, and. moft frequently employed, is plainly one of the leaft animated or interefting, from the nature of the thought exprefled by it,. which is merely propofition, that is, affirmation and negation. Though animation and force be little needed, yet brevity and quicknefs are of much .confequence in the exprefling of this combination of thoughts. Had we not an indicative mood to. exprefs it briefly, and in one word, our converfation and wri- ting would be intolerably flow and tedious, and confequently feeble and difagreeable. We fhould be obliged to employ at. leaft two verbs inftead of one, and after all fhould have but a: very inaccurate and clumfy expreffion of a thought, which we: fhould wifh to communicate as precifely and diftin@ly as pofli- ble. Fuit Ilium could not be refolved into. Dico Ilium fuife for dico is itfelf an indicative, refolvable in the fame way with fuits aio, inquam, affero, affevero, °c. me dicere. Without the ufe of grammatical moods, we could get no nearer toa refolution. of fuit Ilium than ego dicere fuiffe Ilium. Or dropping the in- flections which ferve to diftinguifh the infinitives from the moods, - MOODS of VERBS. 29 moods, properly fo called, and taking only the roots or bafes of the verbs refpectively, Ego dic— fu— Ilium. Any perfon may eafily try the effe& of fuch a refolution of any plain ele- gant compofition, either in profe or verfe, wherein the indica- tive and fimply fubjun@tive moods are ‘chiefly or folely em- ployed ; as for inftance, the following beautiful lines of Ovip, containing an account of PYTHAGORAS. Vir euiT bic ortu Samus: fed FUGERAT una Et Samon et dominos; odioque tyrannidis exul Sponte ERAT: i/que licet celi regione remotus Mente deos ADIT: et que Natura NEGABAT Vifibus humanis, oculis ea pectoris HAUSIT. Cumque animo, et vigili PERSPEXERAT OMmnia Cura,. In medium difcenda DABAT: catumque filentum, Dictaque mirantum, magni primordia mundi, Et rerum cauffas, et quid Natura, DOCEBAT % Quid Deus; unde nives; que fulminis ESSET origo : Fuppiter, an venti, difcuffa nube TONARENT : Quid QUATERET terras; qua fidera lege MEARENT 3: Et quodcunque LATET. Primufque animalia men/is ARCUIT imponi: primus quoque talibus ora Docia quidem souvit, fed non et credita, verbis. ’ In thefe fifteen lines, there are fixteen verbs, either in the indicative or in the fimply fubjun@ive mood. Without the ufe of fuch amood, the thoughts expreffed in the lines, fimple and eafy of apprehenfion as they may appear, could hardly have been expreffed intelligibly ; or if this, with much labour and. ingenuity, could be accomplifhed, ftill the beauty, the charm, ~ of the compofition would be completely loft. The poet, the orator, the philofopher, the hiftorian, and indeed every perfon who has the gift of {peech, or who makes ufe of language in any way, has almoft conftant occafion to employ that mood, and L 230 THEORYT ‘of the and muft feverely feel the want of it, whatever refolution or circumlocution he might contrive inftead of it. It is evident, that, in many cafes in real life, a flow and tedious expreffion of the thought denoted by the indicative mood, fuppofing that it could be made fufficiently intelligible, would not only be difagreeable, but might fcarce ferve the purpofe required ; it might come too late. In ‘certain circumftances, a perfon’s life and fortune may depend on his quicknefs in exprefling what he means to communicate. Even where nothing of that kind is at ftake, the difference between a quick and a flow te- dious expreffion of thought, is very ftriking and important. Language is at beft, and after all its improvements, not only jJefs perfe&t and accurate, but incomparably flower, than thought; the quicknefs of which is proverbial, and with great reafon. J believe it is even in many cafes much quicker than we are commonly aware of: We all know, that we can, in a very few feconds, recolle& a vaft number of things in fucceflion; fuch as the various circumftances of a ftory, in which perhaps many different perfons were concerned, and many diferent events occurred, or the various fcenes through which we paffed in the courfe of a long journey. But to tell fuch a {tory intelligibly, or to defcribe particularly fuch fcenes, even with the help of the moft perfect language, might be the work of hours. In a certain ftate of imperfect fleep, in which dreams moft.commonly occur, or at leaft are moft diftiné and beft remembered, the train of thought appears to be incompa- rably quicker than we can ever make it, while awake, by any vo- _luntary exertion. There is reafon to think, that fometimes a fudden noife, which, to a carelefs obferver, might feem to waken a perfon inftantaneoufly and perfeétly, may yet give occafion to a /ong dream, in an almoft imperceptible interval of time. I call the dream Jong, though it may pafs in a fingle fe- cond or lefs, when it confifts of a great or numerous feries of imaginary events, the narration of which would be long in point MOODS. of VERBS. 237 point of time; like the adventure of the Sultan in the Arabian Nights Entertainments, who, on dipping his head into water, had a long and vexatious feries of adventures, for feven years, as he thought, in the fhort fpace of time in which his head was in the waters Even when we are awake, a voluntary train of thought, efpecially when much connected with emo- tion or paflion, is fometimes fo quick that we are unable to ex- prefs it in words, or at leaft to do it any juftice in point of quicknefs. Before we can exprefs even the hundredth part of it, the reft of it is gone, and cannot be recalled but flowly, and with much labour. We can often obferve, both in com- mon converfation, and in public fpeaking, that a perfon hath gone on much farther in thought than he has exprefled in words. Many people cannot tell to ‘any purpofe either a ludi- crous or a pathetic ftory for laughing or weeping. The whole train of thought rufhes on their minds fo quickly as to over- power them with its full effect, before they have expreffed. enough to let their hearers know any thing of it, nay fome~ times before they begin to fpeak.. Format enim natura prius nos intus ad omnem Fortunarum habitum : juvat aut inpellit ad iram, Aut ad humum merore gravi deducit et angit : Mox effert animi motus interprete lingua. Some of the moft interefting modifications of thought, F mean emotions and paflions, exprefs themfelves by natural’ language, that is by the countenance, voice and gefture, al: moft as quickly as they are conceived ; and when they are ex- prefled in this way, they are not only well underftood by others, but are often in fome meafure communicated to them, For fuch is the nature of man, that, independently of all reli- gious precepts, and of all moral confiderations, we are ftrongly, _and often. irrefiftibly difpofed to rejoice with thofe that do re- joice, 232 THE OR YF Gfotbe joice, and weep with thofe that weep. This we mutt all have feen, and to a certain degree felt, even in common converfa- tion. -Wecan often obferve, that one very cheerful, or one very melancholy perfon quickly communicates his ftate of mind to a whole company. We feel the fame to a ftill greater degree in fcenes of real diftrefs, or of violent emotions of any kind, and often to a very high degree from exquifite theatrical reprefentation. The fame principle extends to the fpreading of the military ardour or of a pannic among foldiers, of civil fury among a mob, and of religious fanaticifm, fometimes even among people who did not apprehend any fuch danger to themfelves. Next to this inftantaneous and moft effe€tual expreffion and communication of thought by natural language, is the quick tranfmiffion of it by very brief expreffions in artificial lan- guage. The beauty and force (that is, the quick, and power- ful, and pleafing, effect) of fuch quick and brief expreflions has been generally acknowledged, and felt, and admired. ‘The chief, and fometimes perhaps the only merit of certain apoph- thegms, or good fayings, confifts in the brevity, and confe- quently force of the expreflion*. Among the Spartans, this ftyle of fpeaking and writing was fo much admired as to be- come a matter of ftudy, and confequently fometimes of affec- tation. It is certain, that many thoughts, which appear ftriking and admirable, when expreffed in one or two words, are feeble and frivolous, when expreffed at full length, efpecially when put into pompous language. On the fame principle too, we may underftand how it comes to pafs, that brevity, and the employ- ment of few and fimple words, are effential to the fublime in literary compofition ; which is a well known and important — fact. : We are fo apt to: be difgufted with a very full and precife expreflion of thought, efpecially on fubje&ts which are familiar to * Videfis Puuraacn’s Apophthegms. MOODS of VERBS. 233 to us, or at leaft are fuppofed to be fo, that many people who are accuftomed to the elegant, and often concife and animated, compofitions of hiftorians, orators, and poets, cannot be recon- ciled to that accurate enunciation of propofitions and of argu- ments in proof of them, which is often indifpenfibly neceflary for ftrict reafoning ; or if they can bring themfelves to liften to the propofitions and demonftrations of geometry, when ex- preffed in this way, they will not fo readily admit that there is the fame occafion for fuch fulnefs and accuracy of exprefiion on any other fubject, not even in metaphyfics; hence the vague, inconclufive, and often abfurd reafonings, which have produced both difguft and diftruft of fuch fpeculations. GRAMMATICAL language, in general, and efpecially the modern languages, afford fuch flow expreflions of thought, that often before we have heard or read the half of a fentence, we apprehend the meaning of the whole of it, and, of courfe, the latter part of it is not merely fuperfluous and tedious, but in many cafes quite difgufting. Ir we could exprefs ourthoughts by grammatical language as quickly and concifely as we can by natural language, and without lofing any thing of that diftinétnefs and precifion which artificial language gives to the expreflion of them, it would unqueftionably be a great improvement in language, in point of agreeablenefs, animation, and force. I doubt whe- © ther it would be equally favourable in fcience. I am difpofed: to think that the flownefs, or even tedioufnefs, of the expref- fion of our thoughts on certain fubjects of profound reafoning, has its ufe, by giving us time and opportunity, and almoft forcing us, to attend to every particular thing, and its relations to other things, about which we reafon. But even this has its limits ; and mathematical demonftration itfelf, as we find it in the writings of the ancient geometers, is but an abridged chain of fyllogifms. And it is ftill further abridged in many cafes, by thofe who are perfect matters of it, by omitting many of Vou, i: ee the 234 , THEORY .of the the more minute-and eafy fteps which thofe who are well ac- euftomed to fuch reafonings quickly and eafily fupply for them- felves, and find pleafure in this quicknefs. and brevity ; while, on the contrary, they are tired and difgufted with that flow and tedious expofition of every ftep im the reafoning, which to them is needlefs, but perhaps would be neceflary for the in- ftruction of thofe of inferior talents and knowledge. A GRAMMATICAL language, as quick as thought, and as concife as natural language, is manifeftly unattainable. But every approximation to it is valuable. All the moods of verbs, even the indicative and the fimple fubjundtive, are fuch ap- proximations. Ir thefe obfervations be true, with refpect to the indicative and fimply fubjunctive mood, and the plain and tranquil ex- preffion of mere propofition, how much more important and ftriking muft the correfponding differences be, between the concife and quick expreffions of fuch interefting and animated: combinations of thoughts, as interrogation, command, with, tse. by the grammatical moods of verbs, and the flow, languid ‘enunciations of the fame or fimilar thoughts, by circumlocu-. ¢ion and the ufe of additional verbs? THERE is a juft and beautiful obfervation of Lonernus, relating to this fubje@, which will fairly admit of much more extenfive application than he has made of it, and is in truth. more important than he feems to have been aware of. He: takes notice of interrogation as a figure of rhetoric, by which an orator endeavours to render the expreflion of his thoughts more animated and forcible. T..0? exeva Qwmev rag revoeig re ware: COTNTENS 5 HH BH MVTOIS THIS Ta” oYnmoTOW erDorosi cele TOCLTOAD EMT CUKTOTERH HOLL coPueureee ourrenes TH Aeyoueve; LONGINUS de Sublim. Se&t. xvi. This opinion he iluftrates, in. fome mea- fure, by the manner in which. he exprefles it, namely, by the ufe of the very figure of interrogation of which he is treating ; and. {till better by a very apt quotation from the firft Philippic: of 4 J ps MOORS >of VERBS S. 235 of DEMOSTHENES. H Gsdzode, esre [206 wepuovees cehAnrov awvvbcverbous HOT THY LYOLOY, AEYET OL Th HOLLVOY; YEVOITO OLE OLY Th HOLIVOTELOY, 4 Maneday avne AOnvesoug xaremorenan, woes ca cov Erdnvev diormov; redvnne Didir= mos; ov woe Ai? arr’ oobeverr rs 0° DpLAy OsnPeges ; ETc. Tue juftnefs of Loncinus’s remark on this paffage, and indeed his general obfervation with refpect to the animation and force of interrogation, employed as a figure of rhetoric, can, I think, admit of no difpute. But even the truth of it, and our ready acquiefcence in it, implies that he was, and that we too are, fenfible of fomething more animated and forcible in an interrogation, even literally employed, as in common life, than in a circuitous expreffion of the fame thought; elfe it never could have been employed, nor thought of, as an ani- mated figure of fpeech. _ Even the fimple interrogation, Who is that? is evidently more animated and forcible, as well as more concife, than J de- fire you to tell me who that 1s, or I defire to be informed who that is. The fame is equally obvious with refpect to go, come, do this, te [peciem, te teneam, vusv wev beos dosev, if we compare them with I order you to go, I command you to come, I defire you to do this, cupio te fpectare, opto te tenere, rrwoomwos reg bese ves didovou, OY, Aey— Asoo— bess vas do— ; which is employing merely the roots, without any infle¢tion whatever of the three verbs, the meaning of all of which, to wit, affirmation, wifh, and giving, is briefly, but fully and clearly, and confequently forcibly ex- prefled by the Greek optative dove». THE more urgent the occafion is, and the more interefted the paffions become, the more important is the brevity and force of thefe moods to the expreffion of our thoughts. This, which is obvious even in common life, is ftill more ftriking in thofe animated and interefting reprefentations of real life, which we have in dramatic poetry ; to a great part of which it may fairly be faid that thefe moods are effential. Grrpy 2 In 236 THEORY of the In the great difcovery fcene in Oedipus Tyrannus, there are not fewer than 150 interrogative and imperative fentences.; any one of which would be murdered, and the effe&t of the fcene {poiled, by ufing circumlocution by means of a verb of afking or of commanding. In the paffionate fcenes of Lear and of Othello, feveral hun- dreds of fimilar inftances may eafily be found. In the difcovery fcene in Douglas, fome of the fineft ftrokes of paflion, of anxiety, of wonder, of horror, of eager curiofity, are conveyed by means of the moods of verbs, and would be loft in any circumlocution. Was he alive ? — Inhuman that thou art How could/t thou kill what winds and tempefts [pared ? Even Rowe, amidft all his golden verfe, was not unmind- ful of the force and animation which the moods of verbs give to the expreflion of thought. y —— Does he? Dees Haftings ? Reward him for the noble deed, juft Heaven. For this one action, gvard him, and di/tingui/b him,. With fignal mercies, and with great deliverance ; Save him from wrong, adverfity, and fhame ; Let never fading honours flourt/b round him ; And con/ecrate his name even to time’s end ; Let him know nothing elfe but good on earth, And everlafting bleffednefs hereafter. The poor, forfaken, royal little ones ! Shall they be left a prey to favage power ? Can they lift up their harmlefs hands in vain, Or cry to Heaven for heip, and not be heard ? {mpofhible! . MOODS of VERBS. 237 Go on, purfue, affert the facred caufe, jfand forth and fave. Fane Shore, act 4. fC. 1+ Alas! I never wrong’d you— Oh! then be good to me, have pity on me 3 Thou never knew’ ft the bitternefs of want, And may'/t thou never know it. Oh! beftow Some poor remain | | Allow me but The fmalleft pittance. | Adt 5. THE genius of SopHocies and of SHAKESPEARE, and the talents of GarRICK and SIDDONs united, could not make fuch. fentiments as thofe of Lear, and Othello, and Oedipus, and Lady Randolph, and Fane Shore, interefting, or even tolerable, to any reader or {petator of tafte and judgment, if they were exprefled in minute detail, by fuch circumlocutions: as the grammatical. moods of verbs may be refolved into. Tue fineft inftance that can be given, or indeed fuppofed, of the truth of this principle, we have in Homer, in the admira- ble fpeech of Priam to Achilles, when he goes to beg the body: of his fon Hector. This fpeech has been univerfally admired, as perhaps the moft eloquent that ever was compofed. Though it be exquifite in every part, the exordium, and indeed the very firft fentence of it, is by far the moft ftriking and eloquent part of it. This too Homer feems to have felt and underftood _ perfectly ; for he makes Priam repeat the fame thought, and almoft in the fame words, at the end of his fpeech, by way of peroration, and with a very happy effect. When Priam enters: the tent of Achilles, and throws himfelf at his feet, his addrefs: . to him is moft fingularly ftriking. Moynoos rareos oto Oeore emsesnen Ayparren, Trims wonee ear, odow ems yneaos ovd@s. Think 238 THEORY of the Think of thy father, O god-like Achilles, old like me, and on the brink of the grave. Poffibly there isa force and propriety in the - ufe of the aoriftic imperative wrycus, inftead of the prefent im- perative, which would be more intelligible to Homer’s coun- trymen than it can be tous. Perhaps to them the difference between thofe two forms of the imperative mood might be as great as it is to us between think of and be thinking of, the im- perative of the aorift being a more vehement, fudden and urgent reque{t or command than the imperative prefent wraov, but yet not difrefpetful, like the imperative perfe€t pzuroo, which, I believe, might be addrefled to a flave, but could not, with propriety, be employed by a fupplicant to an equal or to a fuperior. Some nicety and delicacy of this kind feems to be exprefled in the conclufion of Priam’s fpeech, by the ufe of the impe- rative prefent of one verb, and the imperative of the aorift of another, in the fame line. AAA cudero bess Ayprev, avroy Tr edenoor, Mijoopevos o8 margos Audeio, asdov, csdcov, is the imperative prefent of amdeowas 5 erenoov is the imperative of the aorift of screw. The former feems a more tranquil and cool requeft, or rather advice or fuggeftion, and refers to a continued, or frequently repeated, action, ftate, or habit, to wit reverence to the Gods. The latter is a more urgent fupplication for immediate pity and favour;-.as if he had faid, Be ever mindful of your duty to the Gods, and infiantly (or at this time, moment, Sc.) have pity on me. WHATEVER may be thought of thefe fpeculations and re- finements, it can never be doubted, that if, inftead of the imperative mood, we were to ufe a circumlocution, to exprefs the warm and vehement fentiments of Priam, it would be in- fupportable ; Ascoowas oe pwrnracbou og roreoc——csdesobors ra¢ begs — evroy erenoos. Such a flow and languid expreflion would have fuited MOODS of VERBS. 239 fuited ill with thofe fentiments and actions, which Homer attri- butes to Priam: Indeed his actions, without his {peaking at all, would have been more pathetic and perfuafive than they would have been with fuch imperfect and improper expreffions of his thoughts; but by means of the moods of verbs, it is poflible to unite, to a certain degree, the advantages both of natural and of artificial language. We have many inftances in poetry, as well as in oratory, of the figurative ufe of fuch moods as I have juft now been con- fidering, and the effe&t of it, in enlivening and enforcing the -expreffion of the poet’s fentiments, is very ftriking. Can ftoried urn, or animated buft, Back to its manfion call the fleeting breath ? Can ‘honour’s voice provoke the filent duft ? Or flatt’ry footh the dull cold ear of death ? What female heart can gold defpife? What cat’s averfe to.fifb 2 GRAY. But while I thus point out how great a {hare the concifenefs of the expreflion of many thoughts, by means of grammatical moods, has in giving animation and force to language, I beg it may not be thought that | impute the animation and force of fuch expreflions entirely to that concifenefs. Many of the thoughts to be expreffed are in themfelves highly animated and interefting ; and, on this very account, concifenefs in the expref- fing of them is peculiarly agreeable, and even neceflary. VI. Tue fixth and laft conclufion refpecting the import of the moods of verbs, is very intimately connected with the pre- ceding. It relates not merely to the brevity and quicknefs of. the expreflion of thought, but to the imtimate combination, and. fimultaneous exhibition, of the figns of thoughts, which thoughts 240 THEORY of the thoughts are themfelves co-exiftent, and moft intimately com- bined. To this great property of thought, which has never yet been confidered with that attention which it deferves, in- fleGtions of words, and efpecially the moods of verbs, do fome Kind of juftice ; while circumlocution of every fort, even though it exprefs all the different thoughts, does manifeft violence. To explain this fully, would require a much longer and more elaborate difquifition concerning the nature of human thought than would be proper here. It may, however, be, in fome meafure, underftood, by obferving, that grammatical language, though the nobleft of all human inventions, or, as fome conceive, an art beyond the reach of our unaflifted fa- culties, and imparted to us by a kind of immediate infpiration from Heaven, is, by no means, abfolutely perfect, nor even capable of ever becoming fo. It anfwers admirably well for denoting many of our thoughts, either fingly, or in various relations, particularly in fucceffion, and is even fubfervient to the precifion and fteadinefs of thought, by the fubdivifion or decompofition of the mafs of thought which it requires, and obliges us to make, not merely for the inventing, but for the learning, and the occafional ufing, of language. It is indeed in many ways the chief inftrument in the improvement of hu- man reafon. But in one very important refpect, it is almoft in- congruous with the nature of that thought which it is employ- ed to reprefent. Tue artificial figns, whether audible or vifible, that we ufe in grammatical language to denote our thoughts, are neceflarily arranged, either in the order of time, or in that of place; and when we fee the vifible figns arranged in the order of place, (as in reading) we attend to them, and occafionally give them audible utterance in the order of time. Burt our thoughts themfelves are not arranged in either of thofe ways. It is felf-evident, that thoughts cannot be arranged in the order of place; at leaft this will be felf-evident to every perfon a MOODS of VERBS. a4t perfon who can fhake off the long eftablifhed philofophical hy- pothefis of ideas, or images of things in the mind, as fubfer- vient to thought ; or even who will take the trouble to diftin- guith between fuch fuppofed images, which, like thofe of a magic lanthorn, may be conceived to be arranged in place, and the thoughts correfponding to them. And I believe it is equally certain, though not equally evident, that many of our thoughts are not even arranged in the order of time, but are related to one another in a very different. manner, which is well under- {tood, as being perfectly familiar to us, but which cannot be reprefented merely by the arrangement of words. THAT many of our thoughts are arranged in the order of | time, or, in other words, that there is a train or fucceffion of thought, is, I think, too evident and generally acknowledged to require either proof or illuftration ; and this relation among our thoughts may be fairly and completely reprefented by the fuc- ceflion of audible words, and of courfe with fufficient pro- priety by the arrangement of vifible words. Burt this is perhaps the leaft important of all the various re- lations of thought. Befides the train or fucceflion of thoughts in time, there is often at once a great combination or mafs of thoughts varioufly related to one another. Such a mafs of “thought we fometimes wifh to impart entire and all at once; fometimes we wifh to analyfe it, to break it down, as it were, and either to attend to it ourfelves, or to impart it to others, that they may attend to it, piece-meal. For the latter purpofe, the arrangement of words in gram- matical language is admirably well adapted ; for the former, it is in a great meafure unfuitable. It gives disjointed, and in fucceflion, thofe thoughts which we have united and fimulta- neous, and wifh to communicate in the fame way. HeENcE the importance of the great principle of inflection in grammatical language, and its fuperiority to mere arrangement of words : Hence too the fuperiority of thofe, languages which, having many and diftind inflections, admit of great variety Vot. II. Hh of ™ 242 THEORY of the of arrangement. This is fcarce required for mere reafoning, but is of great value in poetry and eloquence, not only in point of found, but fenfe, both with refped to the force of it, and the juftnefs of the expreflion of the various complicated and fi- multaneous relations of the things conceived. Now, to infleGion the moods of verbs plainly belong ; and by them we exprefs the fimultaneous combinations of the thoughts or energies of affirmation, interrogation, wifh, com- mand, and many others, with the thought or accident exprefled by any verb; and when we exprefs thefe combinations by refo- lution or circumlocution, by means of two or more verbs, we, in fome meafure, feparate in words what was moft intimately blended in thought, and reprefent as fucceflive what we con- ceived, and wifhed to impart, as fimultaneous. Tuts doctrine will not be admitted by thofe philofophers who have affumed or admitted as a principle, that a perfon can have but one thought (or idea) at once. But this principle } difregard, as I know of no proof of it, and as it feems to me inconfiftent with many obvious phenomena, and even repug- nant to direct confcioufnefs. I fufpeét that it has been adopted in confequence of very carelefs obfervation, both of thought and of language ; and I think it of fome canfequence to be aware of the error of fuch an opinion; for though it may appear, at firft view, of little importance, whether we admit the fimul- taneous prefence, or only the immeafurably quick fucceflion of different thoughts, yet the difference of thefe two principles may be found very great, on tracing their feveral confequences. With refpect to the moods and other inflections of verbs, I cannot think it fhould admit of doubt, that they are employed and underftood to denote combinations of fimultaneous thoughts, no one of which can reafonably be faid to occur to the perfon {peaking, or to be apprehended by the perfon hearing, before the reft. Specto, /peCtemus, fpecta, fpeCtaverunt, fpectavitne 2 All nouns, even proper names, denote a congeries of circum- {tances, MOODS of VERBS. 244 ‘ftances, or a ma/s (not a train) of thoughts, whic’ are conceived at once, and cannot be feparated and confidered in fucceflion, but by a very laborious effort. Many fingle words, for exam- ple prepofitions, and moft fentences, denote fome kind of rela- tion; but we cannot, I think, conceive a relation, without thinking at once of the things (two or more) that are related, as well as of the relation (both in its generic and in its {pecific nature) that fubfifts between them. MATHEMATICAL propofitions are expreflions of co-exiftent thoughts, the objeéts of which (at leaft in pure geometry) bear no relation at all to time; and thefe, to be conceived rightly or at all, muft be conceived at once. Any ordinary perfon can do this with refpect to an axiom, or even a very fimple propofi- tion; and good mathematicians can do it with refpect to very long and complex theorems, fome of which ordinary people find almoft infuperable difficulty in apprehending. Part of this difficulty (as I feel very plainly in myfelf) arifes from the number of things and relations that are to be thought of at once, and accordingly is not immediately removed, nor is it obviated, by even the moft diftiné and juft conception of every one of thofe things and relations taken fingly. Correfponding to this difficulty in a learner, and juft the oppofite of it, is that of a teacher of almoft any fcience, and often of a fpeaker, ei- ther in a public affembly or in common converfation, who may have a clear and juft conception of a great mafs of thought, which he wifhes to communicate to others, but can fcarce con- _ trive to do fo, nor knows he well where or how to begin; and perhaps when he has begun right, or at leaft diftin@ly, foon falls into fuch confufion and perplexity, as makes him almoft or quite unintelligible to his hearers, even when he under- ftands himfelf perfe@ly, and may know that another, more fortunate in the talent of communicating thought, has: e/ped him out, or expreffed diftin@ly and properly that very meaning which he was endeavouring in vain to convey to his hearers, hr though 244, THEOR ¥F ‘of0 tbe though as well acquainted as the other with the proper words to denote every portion or fragmentof the great congeries of thought. ‘THERE is reafon to think, that there are much greater dif- ferences among mankind, with refpect to that capacity or com- prehenfivenefs of mind, by which they take in, or attend to, at once, a variety of objects and relations, than there are with re{pect to the conception or fimple apprehenfion of any one of them by itfelf. And that comprehenfivenefs of mind, which. is in truth a moft valuable talent, both with a view to fpecula- tion and aétion, may be improved by various means, efpecially by frequent exercife, and may be aflifted by many expedients. A PERSON who, when he firft begins the ftudy of mathe- matics, can apprehend only the axioms and the fimpleft propo- fitions, after a few months or years employed in that ftudy, will eafily apprehend, not only the propofition, but the demon- {tration of complex theorems, which are mafles of co-exiftent thoughts, that could not be expreffed by the fucceffion of words in lefs than feveral minutes, nor by the arrangement of words in lefs than feveral pages. Tue fucceffion, and even the beft arrangement of words are found fo unfuitable for the expreffion of fuch combinations of thoughts as occur in many mathematical propofitions, that other expedients are very generally and properly employed to affift us in making or in communicating thefe complex operations of thought. DracraAms and algebraical formule anfwer thefe purpofes ad- mirably ,well. Neither of them, ftri€tly fpeaking, is effential to mathematical demonftration ; but both of them are highly ufeful in it, and many good mathematicians would be at a ftand if they were deprived of them. A good con/ftruction or diagram will fuggeft inftantaneoufly the whole congeries of thought which conftitutes both the propofition and the demon- ftration of a theorem. A good expreffion in algebra anfwers nearly the fame purpofe ; and fuggefts, almoft inftantaneoully, {uch a mafs of thought, without confufion, as never could have MOODS of VERBS. | 245 have been conveyed by common words in fucceflion and ar- rangement, by reafon of the great length of time required to utter or to read them; in the courfe of which time, many of the particular thoughts compofing the mafs would be gone, be- fore others were fuggefted or produced, with which they ought to be combined, to enable us to perceive their various re- lations. THE analogy between the diagrams and formule of mathe- maticians, and the moods of verbs, and other inflections of words in common difcourfe, which I endeavour here to point out, is not fo diftant as may at firft fight appear. They agree in this, that all of them exprefs, infinitely better than any fuc- ceflion. or arrangement of words can do, combinations of thoughts, which are almoft or perfeCtly co-exiftent, and which, by means of them, are apprehended more juiftly, more quickly, and more forcibly, than otherwife they could be. AnD let it be remembered, that the objects and _ relations: which occupy the minds of geometers, though more abftrufe, ‘and requiring a greater voluntary effort of thought, than thofe which engage the attention of ordinary men, are not more numerous.or complicated, but in general much lefs fo; and that they admit more eafily, and with lefs injury, of be- ing broken down, and given fucceflively, at leaft with a view to demonftration, in which no great quicknefs is required. Hence, ina great meafure, the clearnefs and force of mathe- matical reafoning. THE mafles of co-exiftent thoughts which we often meet with in common difcourfe, or in elegant compofition in full periods, are of incredible extent, as appears on our’ endeavour- ing to analyfe them, and exprefs in detail the various parts of the complicated meaning which we apprehend. Tue firft feven lines of the Iliad, containing about forty words, and the firft fixteen lines of Paradife Loft, containing about one hundred and twenty words, denote refpectively a mafs oT THEORY of the mafs of co-exiftent thoughts, not a train of fucceflive thoughts. The thoughts exprefled in them are much more numerous than the words, as plainly appears on endeavouring to explain or define all the words, even in their moft general radical mean- ing, which is rendered {till more complicated, that is, expref- five of more thoughts, by the infleClions of many of them, efpecially in the Greek lines. We can attend to different parts of that mafs of thought, at our pleafure, regardlefs of the reft, or we may take in, more or lefs clearly, the whole at once, as the authors certainly did in compofing the lines; or we may attend accurately to the meaning of every word fingly. And if this be done very flowly, and with long intervals between every word, the meaning of the whole lines, as a fentence or period, will be loft; nor can we, in fuch a way of reading or pronouncing Homer’s or MittTon’s lines, make fenfe of them, but by a voluntary and painful effort of memory, to retain, or recal, the former words and thoughts, till the latter are fug- gefted and duly combined with them. The words of the fineft period that ever was compofed, when read or uttered one by one at the interval of a few minutes, or even feconds, will no more have the effect of the period properly read or uttered, in point of thought, than an equally flow founding of the various notes in ‘a piece of mufic will have, in point of melody or harmony, the effect of the mufic properly performed ; or than the fucceffive and flow infpection of the different rainbow co- _lours will have, in giving the perception of white, which they would give, if contemplated at once properly blended, or even if contemplated in very quick fucceffion. | ArTer all, perhaps the beft illuftration of this important principle is that of the Indian orator, mentioned in the Origin and Progrefs of Language, Vol. IV. p. 22. “ Ihave heard a “ ftory” (fays the learned author of that work) “ of an Indian “ orator, who, at a congrefs or talk, as they call it, with the * then Britifh governor of Florida, Commodore JOHNSTON, “ being MOODS of VERBS. 247 “ being frequently interrupted by the interpreter, who flopped “ him in order to explain to the governor what he faid, at laft “ loft patience ;. and, fays he, I can bear this no longer. My “< difcourfe, cut thus into pieces, can have no more effect than the “© water could have on that great beaf of yours, (pointing to a “‘ faw-mill at fome diftance) if it were to fall upon it drop by “ drop. Now, this orator muft have had as perfe@ an idea “ of the flumen orationis, and the effects it produces, asa Ci- * cero or DEmMosTHENES.” ‘The fame author has many juft ‘and ftriking remarks on the force, the beauty, and the compre- henfivenefs of compofition. in, periods, (page 239, 240.) and of inflection of words, (page 14. et pafim.) And all of thefe ob- fervations may fairly be applied to the moods of verbs. What proper periods are to very great and complicated maffes of thought, inflections, including moods, are to the more familiar and fmaller combinations of thoughts, which we almoft every moment experience, and wifh to exprefs united as we conceive: them. * * * * As I think it of effential importance, in all fcientific invefti- gations, never to blend Aypothefes, or matters of opinion, with evident matters of fact, and {trict inferences by induction from them; it is proper to point out, that no hypothefis what- ever, with refpet to the original ftate, or the formation, or the improvement, of language, is aflumed in this Effay. Ir has generally been fuppofed, or taken for granted, in all reafonings about the theory of language, that, in a very early period of its progrefs, perhaps from its very origin, it was rude and fimple, almoft deftitute of inflections, (fuch as the moods of verbs) and in a great meafure or wholly monofyliabic 5 and that all manner of infleGttons and modifications, by compofi- tion, by augment, or otherwife, were gradually given, in a flow progrefs, to thofe monofyllabic roots, by deliberate human contrivance. THAT 248 THEORY of the Tuat this has taken place, to a certain degree, in many languages, and to a very great degree in fome, cannot be dif- puted. In Greek, for example, we can, with the greateft eafe, refer fome thoufands of words (counting every variation by infleGtion, by augment, or by compofition, as a different word ) to one fimple root, fuch as Acy. In fome languages, it feems probable that the ufual progrefs and improvement has not taken place,they remaining very long in a monofyllabic ftate. This has certainly been the cafe with the Chinefe language, for fome thoufands of years ; probably, in part at leaft, the confequence of that great, civilized and ingenious people perfifting in the ufe of hieroglyphic characters, immediately fignificant of thought, without any direct relation to audible words, like the Indian figures that we ufe in common arithmetic, and never adopting the noble invention of alpha- betic characters, dire@tly expreflive only of founds, the combi- nations of which founds are immediately fignificant of thought. But fome ingenious men have been of opinion, confirmed, as itis faid, by actual obfervations of the languages of fome very rude nations, efpecially in America, that fome languages at leat, perhaps all, were, in a very early period, polyfyllabic to a moft inconvenient degree; the words of them being very long, and fignificant of very complicated meanings, like phrafes or whole fentences of ours. It has been thought, that thefe unwieldy long words may have been gradually broken down into fhorter, and even into monofyllables; which, in a further progrefs, might be varied again by inflection and other- wife. ’ Ir is certainly conceivable, and not very improbable, that mankind, in their firft rude attempts towards forming a lan- guage, might not perceive the vaft advantage to be gained by fubdividing, and breaking down as it were, the great mafs of thought which they conceived, and wifhed to communicate. They might attempt to give utterance by one word to all the mafs MOODS of VERBS: 249 mafs of thought which they had to exprefs. Thus, Give me a bow, might be expreffed by one word ; Give me food, by ano- ther ; J faw a friend, an enemy, a beafi, a man, a woman, by as many different words ; no diftinction being made between noun and verb, agent or fubject, mood or accident. But the incon- venience of fuch a language would foon be felt and gradually remedied ; and the firft and moft natural ftep would be to em- ploy the fame word for give, whatever was to be given; one word for fee, whatever was feen, and to employ different nouns: to denote the fubftances given or feen. But this implies the pre- vious exercife of a faculty of a higher order than that of di- viding the voice, or forming articulate founds. The fame power that has made us Mzgorec, hath alfo taught us to divide our thoughts. Indeed, without: this nobler faculty, which feems to be denied to all the inferior animals, and is fcarce per- ceptible in man during the firft months of his life, the other would be of little value. Several animals have learnt to divide - the voice, or to articulate, better than many unfortunate indi- viduals of our own {pecies, who were deficient in the proper organs of voice and {peech; but none of them have ever learned to make ufe of {peech as we do. They probably always, and children. for fome time, make no attempt to feparate or analyfe their thoughts. Till that be done, which our fuperior faculties foon enable us to do, the very fundamental notions of the parts of fpeech cannot be conceived, grammatical language cannot be contrived, nor even if it were prefented to us ready made, mall the perfection of the Greek of DEMosTHENES, could it be either learned or employed. | Own the former fuppofition, (page 247.) the moods of verbs muft be conceived to be added to them in the courfe of the formation or improvement of language. On the latter fuppofition, they muit be conceived to be re- tained in language, and to bea remnant of a very rude polyfyl- Vou. II. I i labic _ 250 THEORY ‘of. the MOODS, - &c. labic ftate of it, which, though inconvenient on the whole, had fome advantages. SomE expreffions occafionally employed in this Differtation, may feem to favour or to imply the former fuppofition. But that is not meant. Neither hypothefis is affumed in the reafon- ing. Thofe expreflions have always been employed with cau- tion and diftruft, and merely in compliance with cuftom, a deviation from which might have feemed to imply the oppofite hypothefis, and would have required a new, and, in fome mea- fure, an embarraffed and uncouth mode of expreffion. Boru hypothefes are equally indifferent to this Theory of the Moods of Verbs, which is independent of all hypothefes, and does not extend to the ifory of the firft appearance of moods, nor to the queftion, whether they be added to language in its progrefs, or retained in it when perhaps many other infleCtions were laid afide. They may be partly both, or their hiftory may be different in different languages. All that is attempted in this Theory of the Moods of Verbs, is only to inveftigate the nature and import of them more accurately than had been done before, and to fhew what valuable, and almoft indifpenfi- ble purpofes they actually ferve in the communication of thought. VII. / 4 \ im ny ‘f loa BLS VIL dn Essay on the Cuaracter of HAMLET, in SHAKESPEARE’s Tragedy of HAMLET. By the Re- verend Mr THomMas ROBERTSON, F.R.S. EDIN. and Minifter of Dalmeny. [Read by Mr DALZEL, Secretary, Fuly 21. 1788.] HE Charager of Hamuet, has been varioufly judged of by critics, and what might be expected, it has been ftill more varioufly reprefented by performers upon the ftage. SHAKESPEARE himfelf feems to have apprehended that this would happen ; and that injuftice would be done to a hero, who probably, in his eftimation, ranked higher than any other that he has brought into the drama. WHEN HAMLET was dying, he appears, upon this account, to have made him fpeak as follows to HoRATIoO. —— Horatio, I am dead ; Thou liv’ft; report me and my cau/fe aright To the unfatisfied. Oh good Horatio, what a wounded name, Things ftanding thus unknown, {hall live behind me. » If thou didft ever hold me in thy heart, Abfent thee from felicity.a while, To tell my tale. HAMLET was here in a fituation in which men in general {peak truth; and he was befides {peaking to a confidential he | friend, 252 An ESSAY on the friend, who could not be impofed upon ; a friend who, from the ftrongeft poffible attachment to him, had been about to put an end to his own life, but was reftrained from his pur- pofe, in order to explain to a “ harfh world,” the ftory of HAMLET, after he was no more. AND when HAMLET dies, HoRATIO pronounces this eu- logium : Now cracks a xoble heart! good night, /weet prince 5 And flights of angels fing thee to thy reft. SHAKESPEARE, in thefe paflages, not only refers to the par- ticular part which HamueT had acted, with refpect to the ufurper, (which he calls HAMLET’s caufe) and which, upon being -explained, would vindicate what he had done. He plainly intimates by the mouth of Horatio, his own idea of Hamtet’s character, in all other refpeéts; as not only he- roic and fplendid, but perfectly confiftent, amiable and juft ;: and further, from the danger that HamueT himfelf, as well as his caufe, might be expofed to the cenfure of the unfatisfied, he feems ftrongly to infinuate, that the character could not be com- prehended, unlefs an enlarged view were taken of it, and of the different fituations in which it had been placed. Hamuet’s conduct.in having put the king to death, was, in a great meafure, already juftified, in the very hearing of the lords, and other attendants upon the court, who were witnefles to it. The queen, who had juft expired in their fight, had faid fhe was “ poifoned.” Hamter had called out “ villany !” Even Laertes, the treacherous opponent of HAmtet, had declared, “ the king, the king’s to blame—It is a poifon tem- “© pered by himfelf.”’? And Hamuet, upon ftabbing the king, had exprefsly charged him with “ murder.” All this paffed in the prefence of the court, who would hence be led to view the king as guilty of having poifoned the queen, and therefore as juftly temo - CHARACTER of HAMLET. 253 juftly put to death by her fon. It is true indeed, the king had intended to poifon, not the-queen, but Hamer ; but neither the court, nor Hamuet himfelf, knew this; none but LaEr- TES was privy to it; and as he immediately expired without faying more, the fecret was to laft for ever. Hamtet, therefore, could have but little caufe to fear that he fhould leave a wounded name behind him for thus revenging his mother’s death. What troubled him, was the thought that pofterity would condemn him for not having, before that time, revenged the murder of his father. This was the reproach with which he had often charged himfelf; for at the beginning he had refolved to act quite otherwife, and had exprefsly pro- mifed to his father’s ghoft, with the utmoft {peed to avenge the murder. Hafte me to know it (faid he in the firft at) that I with wings as fwift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May fweep to my revenge. His fervent defire now therefore, was, that Horatio, who knew all, might furvive him, not merely to reveal the murder of his father, but to make known to all men the infinite indig- nation which this excited in him, and the plan of vengeance which he had laid. Horatio, for this purpofe, would de- fcribe the two great and leading features in the charafter of HAMLET, pointed out by the finger of SHAKESPEARE himfelf, that “‘ noble heart,” and that “ fweetnefs,’’ with which at once he was diftinguifhed. Upon the latter of thefe two, Horatio would particularly explain the {cheme of counterfeiting mad- nefs, which that fweetnefs had fuggefted ; and which, at the fame time, would fave Hamuer from pafling for a real mad- man in the opinion of pofterity. As 254 An ESSAY on the As certain critics, however, have thought, fome, that there is an incongruity, others, that there is an immorality, in the cha- racter of this perfonage, it becomes a duty in the charitable to juftify the poet, and to revive the office of Horatio, in the defence of his hero. 5 To underftand the character of HAMLET, we had beft per- haps take it at two different times, before the death of his fa- ther, and after that period; for while the fubftance is in both the fame, the form is exceedingly different. Tue former of thefe, and which was his radical and general © character, was a compound of many particular qualities ; an exceeding high elevation of foul, an exquifite fenfibility to vir- tue and vice, and an extreme gentlenefs of fpirit and fweetnefs of difpofition. With thefe were conjoined the moft brilliant and cultivated talents, an imagination tran{cendently vivid and ftrong, together with what may be called, rather an intuition, than an acquired knowledge of mankind. And there may be added ftill, a fingular gaiety of {pirits, which hardly at any af- ter period, the very gloomieft only excepted, feems to have failed him. | TuesE being the fundamental properties of HAMLET, we have only to fee what effects would be produced upon /uch a man, by the villany of his uncle, the murder of his father, the inceft of his mother, and the ghoft of his father calling upon him for revenge. Thefe were the dreadful fprings which put HAMLET into motion; and in which ftate, SHAKESPEARE brings him upon the ftage. I sHOULD venture to imagine, (both from the nature of 2 character fo extenfive, and from the various motives to aétion) that SHAKESPEARE had no particular plan laid out in his mind for HAMLET to walk by, but rather meant to /o//ow him; and, like an hiftorian, with fidelity to record, how a perfon, fo fin- gularly and marvelloufly made up, fhould act; or rather, (to ufe the . ~ CHARACTER of HAMLET. 255 the term employed by the king) to defcribe the “ transformation” which he fhould undergo. For this purpofe, he kept an atten- tive and an undeviating eye upon Hamievt’s previous and ge- neral character, (fuch as he had figured it to be) without any "intention to add a fingle new feature, but only to take in fuch new afpects of it, fuch new exertions of his powers, and fuch new {chemes of condudt, as fhould ipemically flow from his new fituations. Tuts being fuppofed, the new colours under which Ha MLET appears will be found entirely confiftent with the old, and {pringing lineally from them; an indignation and fenfibility irritated to extreme; the deepeft anguifh; at times a mortal melancholy ; a counterfeited madnefs, in order to wait for op- portunities of revenge; and a degree of real phrenzy, to which he feems, more than once, to have been actually driven by the ftrength of his feelings, through force of which he was fometimes upon the point of betraying his own fecret. Still, however, there was neither violence, nor forrow, nor me- lancholy, nor madnefs, in the original and natural ftate of his mind. . Wuart feems to explain the whole of HamLeET’s conduét is the latitude of his chara@ter. He was at once a polifhed gen- tleman, a foldier, a fcholar and a philofopher ; as in the excla- mation of OPHELIA: O what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! The courtier’s, foldier’s, {cholar’s, eye, tongue, fword. At one time, mild, courteous and contemplative ; at another, animated with the keeneft feelings ; upon occafions, all wrath and fire ; looking down, at all times, as if from a fuperior orb, upon whatever was little, infincere or bafe among men. Now, 256 dn ESSAY om the Now, in fuch an afflemblage of qualities, combining to form the broad character of HAMLET, SHAKESPEARE appears to have feen, that they were balanced in fuch an oppofite manner, that one clafs of them fhould counteraé, and render inefficient the other. It is this that fuffered nothing to be done ; it is this that conftantly impeded the action, and kept the cataftrophe back. Refentment, revenge, eternal indignation, ftimulated — HAMLET at one moment; at the next, we have the ‘mere un- bending and re¢éoil of thefe paflions ; and not only this, which was tranfient, but there followed, almoft at the fame in- | ftant, that gentlenefs which fo feldom left him. From this, ' he could not, at any time, act in cold blood; he could ftrike only in the fierceft moments of provocation; then ‘* could he ‘drink hot blood!” In the general tenor of his mind he could do nothing ; he was like Samson, when his ftrength was gone from him. MEANWHILE, he is almoft conftantly chiding himfelf for dull mettle, dull revenge, want of gall; a felf-reproach which, in fome fcenes, breaks vividly out; as upon the occafions where he faw a mere player weeping over Hecusa, and when he was told that the delicate prince FoRTINBRAS was marching at the head of his troops to rifk his life for an “‘ egg-fhell.” Hamer, in fhort, was not formed for action. . Upon the fluctuation of his mind between contriving and executing, between elevation, fenfibility and gentlenefs, hangs the whole bufinefs of the tragedy. . ‘ ~ In fuch a ftate of HamMuet’s frame, the project of counter- feiting madnefs occurred to him with great confiftency. It was. a device to which his nature led ; bent upon vengeance ; defti- tute of refolution direétly to gratify it; afluming therefore the cloak of infanity, in order to lull fufpicion, and to watch at leifure for thofe occurrences which time or chance might pre- fent. To fecure, by this fiction, his perfonal fafety was, in akon CHARACTER of HAMLET. ee no degree, his view ; for “ he did not fet his life at a pin’s fee;” but, by means of his life being preferved, to embrace the op- portunities of revenge. It was from the fame foftnefs in his nature, that he afterwards ftrove to make himfelf believe, that his father’s ghoft might be the devil trying to “ abufe him ;” and which feggefted to him the ftratagem of getting a play to be performed before the king. His anxious adherence to the projet of counterfeiting mad- nefs, to which he made every thing elfe give way, explains his rudene/s, as Dr JOHNSON Calls it, to OPHELIA 5 for to deceive the beloved OPHELIA into a belief of his madnefs, and to in- fult ber, was the fureft of all means to make it believed that he was really mad. And this alfo accounts for his making her brother Larrtes believe, that the rough treatment he gave him at his fifter’s funeral, proceeded not from love to OPHELIA, its true caufe, but from diftraétion ; and which is ridiculoufly called by Dr Jouwson, a “* falfehood unfuitable to the charac- “‘ ter of a good or a brave man.” HAMLET was then in the very prefence of the ufurper, and, on that account, induftrioufly “* proclaimed,” that what he had done, proceeded from madnefs. CoNNECTED with this point, it has been thought vain by fome critics *, to juftify SHAKESPEARE in his making HAMLET forget (as they think) OpHexta fo foon after her death; in- ftead of which, he fhould have waited, they fay, for the effec which time has upon the change of feeling ; and Dr JoHNsoN has remarked that “ time toiled after him in vain.” But I fhould apprehend that this is entirely to miftake the character. | Time toils after every great man, as well as after SHAKESPEARE. The workings of an ordinary mind keep pace indeed with time; they move no fafter; they have their beginning, their middle, and their end ; but fuperior natures can reduce thefe into a point. They do not indeed fupprefs them ; but they fufpend, or they lock Vou, I. K k them * Mirror, &c. 258 An ESS AY eat aie them up in the breaft. It is the very mark and prerogative of a great foul, upon great occafions to outrun time, to ftart at once, without fenfible tranfition, into another period. Even a common foldier, in the heat of action, were his deareft companion to fall by his fide, would not (although he could) drop his arms and mourn over him. Ina fimilar ftate, but infinitely more inter- efting, was HAMLET at this time. And if doubts fhould full be entertained about the exiftence of HAMLET’s love to OPHE- LiA after her death, the queftion can be brought to the fhorteft iffue. Hamuet himfelf will anfwer, That his love for OpHE- LIA was greater than ever. When LAeErreEs, half-delirious himfelf with grief for his fifter’s madnefs and death, leaped into her grave, and imprecated “ ten times triple woe upon the © curfed head of him (HAMLET) who had deprived her of her “ moft ingenious fenfe ;’ Hamuer burft- upon him at once from his concealment, like thunder from a cloud ; What is he whofe griefs Bear fuch an emphafis ? whofe phrafe of forrow Conjures the wand’ring ftars, and makes them ftand Like wonder-wounded-hearers ? This is I, HAMLET the Dane— [leaps into the grave. Why, I will fight with him upon this theme Until my eye-lids will no longer wag. I loved OpHe ia ; forty thoufand brothers Could not, with all their quantity of love, ; Make up my fum. What wilt thou do for her? —— Come, fhew me what thou'lt do. Woo't weep? woo’t fight? woo’t faft? woo’t tear thyfelf? Woo’t drink up Eifel, eat a crocodile? 1’ll do’t—Doft thou come hither but to whine? To out-face me with leaping in her grave? Be buried quick with her, and fo will I. ore. CHARACTER of HAMLET. 259 His love had been only the deeper embofomed ; it had become too facred to be feen; and like fire, when pent up, it had ac- quired greater force. Tuere feems alfo to be a miftake in the attempt which fome * have made, in juftification of SHAKESPEARE, to re- concile the melancholy to the jocularity of Hamuzet. For his jocularity, I fhould rather conceive, fprung more from the elevated than from the. melancholy parts of his nature. He was not, ftriétly fpeaking, a melancholy man; although it be true that, at times, he was plunged into a ftate of genuine and deep dejection. In fuch a ftate, and in certain kinds of it, we have heard of the joy of grief, and can underftand it—fome- thing fweetly grave and: penfive; but the gaiety and pleafantry of grief are things which probably never exifted. It is, on the other hand, the exclufive act of a great mind, to make truce- with forrow; to difmifs the deepeft anguifh ; to put mirth in its ftead ; and HaMtert, in fuch fcenes, was only for a little re- fuming his ftrength. Even the melancholy which is afcribed to him, and which indeed he afcribes to himfelf, was often not melancholy, but wild contemplation and reverie. _ THERE are many fimilar inftances of the connection between elevation and pleafantry, both in the character of nations and of individuals. The Spaniards, for example, are defcribed to be of a grave and lofty {pirit; yet among no people is there ‘more humour. Individuals of this caft are not unfrequently to be met with in every country. MoLiere may be inftanced, who was one of the moft ferious and refpectable men that ever lived ; and yet no writer has had fuch a propenfity to farce and buffoonery ; his plays being in general juft the counter-parts of himfelf. It is upon fuch principles, 1 would venture to explain the pleafantries of HAMLET ; in which he rofe up, at times, Kuk 2 from * Mirror, PR! OR ee from an abyfs of anguifh, to make a mere fport of human fuf- ferings. | , THE caufes of HAMLuET’s dilatory progrefs have been already pointed out in general; and the more narrowly we take a view of him, the more we fhall always find his fenfibility to be, in the firft moments, fuch, as led to inftant and mortal aétion, while his gentlenefs, like an equal weight on the other fide, countera@ted its whole force. SHAKESPEARE has defcribed him, in the cool ftate of his mind, as averfe, and even fhocked, at the thought of killing. His mother faid, that, in this ftate, he was “‘ as patient as the female dove.””? If we take his own account of himfelf, he was a coward: Now, whether it be Beftial oblivion, or fome craven {cruple Of thinking too precifely on the event— A thought which, quartered, hath but one part wifdom, And ever three parts, coward—I do not know, Why yet I live to fay, This thing’s to do. THERE was a fuperftition alfo in Hamuet, which pre- vented him from putting the ufurper to death, when in the act of prayer. For the reafon he himfelf gave for deferring this, was, that if he killed the king in the midft of his devotions, he would in fact be doing him a good! fervice, “ fending a ‘* villain to heaven.”’ Why, this is hire and falary, not revenge. He took my father grofsly, full of bread, With all his crimes broad blown, as flufh as May ; And how his audit {tands, who knows fave Heaven ? He put up his fword, and waited till he fhould find him en- gaged. CHARACTER of HAMLET. 261 gaged in drink, rage, inceft, gaming, {wearing, or other act that had “ no relith of falvation in’t ;” Then trip him, that his heels may kick at Heaven, And that his foul may be as damn’d and black As hell, whereto it goes. Tue fentiments in this laft paflage have been confidered as the moft difficult to be defended in the whole character of HamtetT. Without having recourfe to a defence of them up- on the principle of retaliation, and other pleas, there feems to be ground for an explication of a very different nature, founded upon what appears to be the real character of this perfonage, and altogether exculpating him from the charge of thofe horrid difpofitions which he has been fuppofed here to poffefs. Hamer, in thefe lines, (if it may be allowed to offer a conjecture) was really zmpofing upon himfelf * ; devifing an excufe for his averfion at bloodfhed, for his cowardice, his “‘ craven “ fcruple.” In the firft moments, he propofes inftantly to ftrike—“ now PH do’t.” His ordinary foftnefs immediately recurs; and he endeavours to hide it from himfelf, by project- ing a more awful death at a future period, but which he feems never to have thought of afterwards, and which was not at all confonant to his general character. Indeed, what the king him- felf faid of him afterwards, upon bafely propofing to LarrTes to ufe “ a fword unbated,” is a fufficient proof that there was nothing dark or malignant in his nature. — He being remifs, Moft generous, and free from a// contriving, Will not perufe the: foils. THE * Since writing this Effay, l have: the pleafure to find, that the fame idea has oc- curred to Mr Profeffor Ricuarpson, in his additional obfervations on Hamurr; and whicl he has fuccefsfully enlarged upon. t 262 An ESSAY ‘on the THE execution of his two f{chool-fellows, ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN, in confequence of an artifice which he con- trived again{t them, has alfo drawn the cenfure of critics. But is there any evidence that HAMLET thought them unacquainted with the mandate which they carried for ftriking off his head in England? Whether they were in fact privy or not privy to this, is not the queftion. Did not Hamuer believe they were privy to it, and even were fond of it? “ Whom I will truft ** (faid he early) as I will adders fanged.”” And fpeaking af- terwards to his confident Horatio, he added, Why, man, they did make /ove to this employment ; They are not near my confcience. That is, my confcience does not upbraid me; the cruelty lies not with me, but with them. And in this conduct of HAMLET, to the companions of his early days, does SHAKESPEARE prove his {killin human nature; the itrongeft hatred fucceeding, upon fuch occafions, to the ftrongeft friendfhip: For that they were his {chool-fellows, he would confider, and with reafon, as a great aggravation of their guilt. In all other refpects, the character of Hamer ftands con- fefledly fair and great. He moved in the higheft {phere of men ; pofleffed an elevated and comprehenfive mind ; pene- trated through every character ; knew the whole of human life; faw nothing noble but virtue, nothing mean and bafe but folly and vice. Speaking to HoraTIo, Since my dear foul (fays he) was miftrefs of her choice, And could of men diftinguifh, her election Hath fealed thee for herfelf; for thou haft been As one in fuffering all, that fuffers nothing ; A man that fortune’s buffets and rewards Haft CHARACTER of HAMLET. 263 Haft ta’en with equal thanks: and bleft are thofe Whofe blood and judgment are fo well co-mingled That they are not a pipe for fortune’s finger, To found what ftops fhe pleafe. Give me that man That is not paflion’s flave, and I will wear him - In my heart’s core. Men praife in others what they love and poffefs in themfelves ;. and HAMLET was here drawing fome of the outlines of his own character. To the principles of morality and a confummate knowledge of mankind, he joined the accomplifhments of learning and the graces of life. His eloquence was fuch as great orators only have poffeffed, rich, tropical, daring, ardent, vehement. The directions he gives to the players, are models of tafte and laws for the ftage. His wit and fancy feem to have belonged only to himfelf. Even in his character of foldier and hero, and: which I all along confider as his weaker part, an intrepidity _ breaks forth at times beyond what is human; as appears in the ghoft-fcenes, where his courage grows with danger ; where he is not only unterrified, but {ports with what appals the reft of mankind. ; THe Hamer of SHAKESPEARE, taken all in all, feems thus to be the moft f{plendid charafter of dramatic poetry 3 poffefling, not one or two great qualities, the ordinary compafs of the heroes in tragedy, of a LEAR, an OTHELLO, a RODRIGUE, an Horace, but comprehending almoft the whole of what is beautiful and grand. Tue miftakes which critics feem to have fallen into, can be all traced. perhaps to partial and fide-views. which they have taken of HAMLET; but which can neither explain his whole character, nor fufficiently account for the intereft which is ex- cited, SENSIBILITY, 264, An ESSAY on the SENSIBILITY, for example, making a ftriking figure in this character, has been thought to be the fole bafis of it, without confidering that mere fenfibility cannot excite a tragic intereft ; cannot‘attach; cannot overwhelm ; and indeed feems unable to make any other impreffion but that of pain, when viewed apart from the caufe in which it acts, and from the other qualities with which it is conjoined. Neither can a SENSE OF VIRTUE be ad- mitted as the only ruling principle ; for even this does not fuf- ficiently account for the intereft; and both fyftems fail in ex- plaining the inefficiency of the character, which refults from the foft and amiable, and hence, in a great degree, the interefting parts of it. For in both, the gentlenefs of HAMLET, the great impedi- ment to the a¢tion, has been overlooked ; although, to fupply its place, a weaknefs and irrefolution, fometimes deduced from exceflive fenfibility, fometimes from melancholy, are recurred to in the former, but which are certainly of a tranfient dura- tion, ‘while gentlenefs was a permanent quality ; and, in the lat- ter, while the fame office is allotted to irrefolution, the irrefo- lution itfelf is deduced from the moral faculty, fufpending and abating refentment; but which furely would fuppofe, what cannot be admitted, that the pious and noble revenge of Ham- LET had fomething morally blameable in its nature. Two elegant and ingenious publications are here alluded to* ; but in both of them, the ground taken is, I humbly think, too narrow; and this feems to have been the caufe, why recourfe has been had to refinements, in order to ftretch it out. Fats certainly fupply us here with two principles at leaft, fenfibility and gentlenefs ; and there hence feems no neceflity for refolving the whole conduét of Hamter inio the former, as is done in one of thefe publications. Neither are we to recur, fometimes to the * Tne one anonymous, in No. 99. and 100. of the Mirror; the other, the Znalyfis of Hamuet, by Mr Ricnarpson. CHARACTER of HAMLET. 265 the one principle, fometimes to the other, taken feparately, in order to explain Hamuer. It is the /fruggle between the two, upon which his conduct hinges. This appears in the very oneh ing of the tragedy. The time is out of joint; Oh curfed fpight ! That ever J was born to fet it right. Here, fenfibility and gentlenefs may be faid to fpeak in one and © the fame breath; a proof that their operations were not fuccef- five, but co-exiftent; and reigned nearly equal in power in Ham teEt’s breatt. _ ExevaTiow feems to have been nearly as much overlooked as gentlenefs. Yet between thefe two was HamueT almoft always moving. For his fublimity of foul feems to have been the very {pring which prompted and whetted his fenfibility to the quick. SHAKESPEARE in one phrafe, ‘‘ a noble heart,’ meant to ex- prefs both; as they were in fact intimately conjoined, and acted at once, together. THERE is an impreffion which great accomplifhments and f{plendid talents, independent of every thing elfe, efpecially in a tragic caufe, never fails to make upon mankind. Thefe fhine moft powerfully in the character before us; and probably have contributed much to the charm which has made audiences hang upon Hamiet. The world, for the firft time, faw a man of genus upon the ftage; and the intereft which the fpeCators have taken, and perhaps for ever will take, receiving an ad- dition from this caufe, arifes thus upon the whole, from the many different fources which the poet, by a fuperlative effort of talents and of fkill, has combined together. Tue fault (if any) of the play feems to lie in this, that there is not the ufual intereft excited in it, for the final event; What SHAKESPEARR’s purpofe in this refpect originally was, Won. 1. Be cannot 66 itp SES ARR ike cannot be affirmed. It is poffible, that, finding the character of HAMLET to grow upon him, he varied in the progrefs from what he had intended in the outfetting of the play, and giving to HAMLET, on this account, a fuller fcope, (but without de- parting from the character) he eventually threw more intereft into the perfon than into the plot. Whatever may have been the caufe, we fee the effect,—Ham tet, in his fole perfon, predominating over, and almoft eclipfing the whole adtion of the drama. It is he that draws the admiration; it is he that engroffes the concern; all eyes are turned more and more to him; HAmter is wifhed for in every {cene ; king and queen, inceft and murder, as objects of tragic attention, vanifh almoft away ; the moment Hamret’s own fate arrives, the play is ended. The intereft which the hearts of men take in the prin- cipal chara¢ter of this tragedy, ftands thus in competition © with the laws of the drama; and it becomes a problem, which of the two, the means or the end, fhould preponderate. Own account of the intereft being transferred from the action to the agent, the moral, taking the fame courfe, is to be drawn rather from the particular condué& of Hamuer than from the general bufinefs of the play. But what that particular moral is, may be difficult to afcertain. We may fay, perhaps, that from the conduct of HAMLET, it appears, how unfit for the work of revenge are the qualities of a foldier and hero, when conjoined with thofe of a fcholar and philofopher ; yet we can- not prefume to affirm, that it was SHAKESPEARE’s object merely to exemplify this, or even to conceive, that he limited himfelf to any fingle object or moral. Thofe things which feem to have been uppermoft in his mind, and which he has made to fhine with moft light, are the charms in the perfonal character of Hamuet. Enamoured with thefe himfelf, it feems to have been his chief purpofe to raife the fame paffion in his audiences. That he has intimated this, by his interpreter HoRATIO, only in 4 CHARMOTER: of “HAML ET. 267 in one or two lines at the clofe of the play, is to be afcribed to, his judgment. The purpofe which the dramatic poet has in view, isto be found out by the beft of judges, the feelings of the fpectators. From a fuperior fkill upon this point, RAcINE has merited the praifes which have been given him, while, from a failure in it, the great CORNEILLE has been defervedly blamed. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. $0 PA I LEER ERIENGE PD BG WN EPG Ve 60, +7 t , gv bd rm 4 ie Mh - . Pt. Ra -4 i a ‘ , - , ’ ‘ *) = ‘ "7 * ~. . . 7 hw fags 4 #5 Si 738 ? i z ey ‘ 4 ois's 7a} is th vai 2 ‘ bys Free _ gees ’ 7 Sadie? & P @ ™ of 1 ’ Ti 7 , s t = 7 P ¢ * ‘ne e a 4G ’ } the ¢ he sti ‘ . gion it? Opt wag

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