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TRANSACTIONS

OQ. FU Eee

ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY.

NV, O Tt eTV.

Os Oe Beh TOS
PRINTED BY GEORGE BONHAM, SOUTH GREAT GEORGE’s-STREET,
FOR THE ACADEMY.

ue to pat

= . t 4 t

TAT WAV OR

«sa
“~,
Fis |

© sugiah aiind § ion aeaniou aston 7 ce P

THE ACADEMY defire it to be underftood that,
as a body, they are not anfwerable for any opinion, repre-
Sentation of fas, or train of reafoning, which may ap-
pear in the following papers. The authors of the feveral
effays are alone refponfible for their contents.

E R R A a A

‘SCIENCE.
Page 19, Line 3, for contains, read contain.

Page 35, Line 18, for contains, read contain.

Page 36, Line 19, for affords, read afford,

Page 37, Line 18, for party, read parts,

Page 62, Line 12, dele 1°.

Page 74, Line 21, for 288, read 228,

Page 81, Line before the laft, for 594081682, read 51940-1-81682.

In margin 133622==19. 1,417.

Page 82, Line 1, for 8,5, read 2,583.
Line 2, for exce/s, read defect.
Line 3, for weaker, read ftronger.
Line 4, for /e/s, read more.
Line 9, for 8, read 2,583.

Page 86, Line 23, for earthly, read earthy.

Page 105, Line 5, for run, read ran.
Line 7, for as the firff, read as at the firft.

Page 123, Lines 11 and 12, for Garangcott, read Garangeot.
Line before the laft, inthe Note, for Treite, read Traite.

Page 151, Line 6, for fingindum, read fingendum.

Page 152, Line 12, for and or near, read and on or near.

Page 160, Line 13, for drepreffed, read depreffed.

Page 172, Line 5, for CH D, read CHF.

Ponte Literatures
Page 11, Line 6, pro Aaoxsutvay lege Aaoneptvorte

ANTIQUITIES.
Page so, Line 7, for was, read were.
Page 53, Line 8, for cries, read throbs.

Sek kN Oe UR.

VoL. IV. B

hy Si
Zriy. ©

wo, eet tae, — aS
: oe ee: table
i oe oes. * CaP 1
Ba

“5

Ci cO) Nek a ty NES.

1. OF the Strength of Acids, and the Proportion of In-
gredients in Neutral Salts. By Richard Kirwan, E/q;.
F.R.S. and M. RI. A: - - - Page: 3°

Il. Chemical Communications and Inquiries. By Robert
Perceval, M.D. and M.R.L 4. - - 3 85.

Ill. nu Account of a Chamber Lamp Furnace. By Robert
Perceval, M.D. and M.R. LA. - - - gl

IV. Lxtrad& of a Letter from the Rev. Charles Perceval
to Robert Perceval, M. D, and M. R.I. A. - - 97°

V. Defcription of a Portable Barometer. By the Rev.
Gilbert Auftin, A. M. and M.'R.1. A. - - 99

VI. Obfervations on the Variation of the Needle. By Mr..
Thomas Harding, M.R. I. A. - - - 107:

VII. Deferipiion of an Inftrument for performing the Opera-
tion of Trepanning. By Samuel Croker King, E/q;
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,
and M.R. 1. A. - - - - - r19

*Ba VIL

GO NT Bene T S,

VIII. Defcription of a felf-regiftering Barometer. By the
Rev. Arthur Maguire, communicated by the Rev.

Matthew Young, D.D. 8.F.T.€.D. and M.R.I. A. Page 141

IX. A Method of cutting very fine Screws, and Screws
of two or more Threads, &c. By the Rev. Gilbert
Auftin, A.M. and M.R.L A. - - -

X. An Attempt to determine with Precifion fuch Injuries
of the Head as neceffarily require the Operation of the
Irephine. By Sylvefter O’ Halloran, Efq; M.R.I. A.
and Honorary Member of the-Royal College of Surgeons

zn Ireland - os = i J 2

XI. Demonjftration of Newton's Theorem for the Correction
of Spherical Errors in the Objet Glaffes of Telefcopes.
By the Rev. Matthew Young, D.D. 8S. F.T. C.D.

and MRL. A. - - = “ 2
XI. Account of a fiftulous Opening in the Stomach. By

George Burrowes, M.D. and MR. A. - -.
XII. Cafe of an enlarged Spleen. By the fame - — =

145

151

171

Ue

| pom |

a5)

Of the STRENGTH of ACIDS, and the PROPORTION of
INGREDIENTS in NEUTRAL SALTS. By RICHARD
KIRWAN, Ey; F.R.S. and M.R.I. A.

Tur fcience of nature undoubtedly owes its origin folely
to obfervation and experiment. But when it hath made a cer-
tain progrefs, the knowledge already acquired becomes a pow-
erful inftrument for making ftill greater advances. This is
evident in the chemical as well as in the mechanical branches
of this fcience. Hence its cultivation prefents a double object,
viz. either the application of the powers already gained to the
arts fubfervient to human ufes, or the improvement of the
inftrumentality or power itfelf by which fuch difcoveries are
effeGted. The merit of the former, if fuccefsful, is undoubtedly
the moft apparent and ftriking; but that of the latter is no lefs
folid, and the neceflary procefles infinitely more delicate. The
fuccefs of the former is often due to chance, the defign of the
latter is, to, diminifh ‘and finally to annihilate all dependence on
chance. In chemical refearches, all difcoveries, not merely. for-

Ba tuitous,

Read Dec.
24) 1790.

a |

tuitous, are grounded on the known properties of the agents
employed, among which acids and falts are by far the moft
univerfal; but to apply thefe with fecurity, their quantity,
proportion and ftate, whether of concentration or dilution,
fhould be afcertained with fome degree of accuracy ; this, how-
ever, is allowed to be a problem of great difficulty, and few
have attempted to folve it. Not aware of the obftacles it pre-
fented, but fully fenfible of its importance, it has attracted my
attention, and employed much of my leifure thefe ten years
paft. My firft eflays are already known to the public; their
defects and imperfections were fignified to me in the moft
obliging manner by Meffrs. Morveau and Berthollet, men with
whofe merit no part of Europe can be unacquainted. The
methods I| have fince contrived to remove thefe imperfections, or
at leaft to diminifh the aggregate of errors, form the fubject of
this paper*.

§ 1. Of the Proportion of Acid in the Mineral Acids.
Of the Marine Acid.

roo cubic inches of marine acid air weigh as nearly as I
could eftimate 60 grs. barometer 29,6, thermometer 57°. 10 grs.
of water abforb 10 of this air, bar. 29,6, ther. 49°. The fpirit
of falt thus formed occupies the {pace of 13,3 grs. nearly; hence

its

* This paper was prefented laft April, and would have been read, had it not been that
Mr. Pouget’s letter, on which much of this is grounded, had been miflaid.

Paseet i

its {pecific gravity is 1,500 nearly, and the fpecific gravity of the
pureft marine acid in its condenfed {tate is 3,03 *.

I covip not obferve whether the abforption of this air pro-
duced heat; moft probably it did, but this is no proof that the
condenfation was greater than that found by calculation.

Tue fpecific gravity of the ftrongeft marie acid that can
eafily be procured and preferved is 1.196. 100 parts of this will
be found by calculation to contain about 49 of that whofe {pe-
cific gravity is 1,500, and which I call the ftandard of the
marine acid. The error arifing from condenfation will fcarcely
exceed 1 or 1,5 grs. per cent.; by mixing this fpirit of falt with
different proportions of water I have had the refults from which
the enfuing table is calculated.

Table

* Let D= the denfity of a mixture, m the weight of the denfer ingredient, d its denfity,
/ the weight of an equal bulk of water, and m’, d' and / the fame elements of the rarer. Then

oor
pat In the above cafe m-+-m'=20, and /4-/=13,3, then p=? =1,5.

Ar 1333
Now to find the fpecific gravity of the condenfed marine acid air, the denfer ingredient, we
i rT) 5 m 10 2 4
have from the above equation, jai i cee tb and d= , =—-=3,03, which dif-
q D 15 3232 acre 3:03,

fers but little from the refult in my firft paper. But a miftake of mere imadvertance had crept
into the fubfequent calculation, 1562 having been taken for 1502, and in confequence 122 was |
inferted inftead of 62. Thus inftead of 1562—1440=122, it fhould be 1502—1440—=62.

Then m'=1440. /= srg TINTS m=62. t= 5? = 20, then D or the denfity of the
? : ?
: = oO =1,256, nearly the fame as in my firft paper.
?

mixture =

Ee 4

Table of the Quantity of Standard Acid 1,500 in Spirit of Salt of
inferior Denfity. Temperature 60°.

PH ae TPO Pee Th Parts a
100 Parts. Standard.| too Parts. Standard.} too Parts. Standard.
13196 2 egy erry agent TOO - 26
1,191 - 48 | 1,1414 - 36 | 1,09084 - - 25
TghB Zee it A Dole TSE ZOR Ir ole LBS wi dsO942 - 24.
1,183 - 46 | 1,1258 a ARIAT GOON Oi ine: | ee
I,I79 = = 945) (I,t320° = - 33 | 1,0868 - 22
T3175 - 44 | 1,1282 - Ra eoe20' =) a oT
Lsy7 De = = 43°) Usb244.donlev -pagijocto784 - 20
1,167 - 42 | 1,1206 - 30 | 1,0742 - - 19
1,163 - - 4i | 13,1168 - - 29 | 1,0630 - 16
1,059 - 40 | I,1120 = 28 | 1,0345 = - 10
I,ts5 = - 39] 1,1078 - - 27 | 1,0169 ~ 5
1051 - 38

To find the fractions between any two quantities of ftandard
in the table *, as’ far as one decimal place, find the difference
between the denfities correfponding to the integral quantities of
ftandard, and divide that difference by 10. ‘This gives a
quotient. which added fucceflively to the lower denfities or
fubftracted from the higher, gives the denfities correfponding
to the intermediate mixt guantities of ftandard.

Of

* Though the formation of this table coft me much more trouble than any of the
fucceeding, yet I fear it is much more imperfect, as in the fucceflive examination of the
denfities my balance was frequently deranged by the repeated action of the fumes of
the acid.

oad

Of the Vitriolic Acid,

Ir was obferved to me fome years ago by the very able and
candid philofophic chemift, Mr. De Morveau, that the denfities
accruing to mixtures of this acid with water, greater than found
by calculation, fhould principally be afcribed to the condenfation
of the aqueous part, rather than to that of the acid part, as I
had done. I felt the juftice of this obfervation, which fubverted
the inferences on which I had grounded my former calculations.
I was, however, much embarrafled to find a more unexception-
able method of forming tables on’ which I was fenfible much
of the precifion requifite in chemical analyfes depended, until
I attended to Mr. Pouget’s curious letter, lately read to the
Academy *. I neither could make nor procure oil of vitriol
whofe fpecifi¢ gravity is 2,000 in the température of 66°.
Yet in cold climates this acid has frequently been produced ;
and as it is the ftrongeft or nearly fo than ¢an be exhibited
by art, f take it as the ftandard of the ftrensth of all other
acids of this kind. From the multitude of experiments I have
made with acids of inferior denfity, as 1,8846, 1,8689, 1,8042,

7 5005 I, have reafon to think that the condenfation of equal
weights of this ftandard acid’ and water amounts to of the
whole. Then by the applications of Mr. Pouget’s formulas for
inveftigating the accrued denfities of inferior proportions -of
acid and water, the fucceflive increments of denfity will be
found as follows :

Parts

* And now publifhed in the Tranfactions for 1789.

Cae Fa

Parts Increments

Water. Standard. of Denfity,
5 3 95 = 90252
10 = - go - - ,0479
LS jieae 85 = — ,0679
20 - - 80 - - ,c856
Shir) ferlizi 75 pen ulingebgg
go. C- - 70 - - ,1119
Bs neh H5))1 be polgt ang
4o - - 60 - - ,1279

45 > 55 * 91319
bea t Ty 58ers = ‘$9333

By adding thefe increments to the fpecific gravities found by
calculation, and taking arithmetical mediums for the interme-
diate quantities of ftandard, I made out the firft fifty numbers
of the following table; the remainder was formed by actual
obfervation in the following manner, premifing that the fpe-
cific gravities were always taken between 59,5° and 60°, or at
moft 60,5° of Farenheit.

1ft, I found by the preceding part of the table that 100
parts oil vitriol whofe {pecific gravity was 1,8472 contained 88,5
parts ftandard; confequently 400 grs. of this acid contain
354+

2d, I then took 6 portions of this acid, each containing
400 grs. and added to them as much water as made them con-
tain ref{peCtively 48. 46. 44. 42. 40. and 38. grains ftandard.
To

f 9 ]

To find the proportion of water that fhould be added to each
portion of acid, in order that it fhould contain the given pro-
portion of flandard, I ufed the following analogy: let the quan-
tity of water to be added to 400 parts of the acid that the
mixture may contain 48 per cent. ftandard be «.

Then 400+. 354 :: 100. 48, then 19200+ 48 x= 35400.
16200
And 48 x= 35400—19200=16200. And carro Perk ke

In this manner I found the quantities of water to be added
to each of the other portions. The mixtures being made, they
were fet by for four days, ftirring them with a glafs rod (that
remained in them) each day, and the sth day they were tried;
after which the half of each was taken out and as much water
added to them, and then fet by for three days, by which means
the fpecific gravities correfponding to 24. 23. 22. 21. 20. and 19.
per cent. ftlandard were found, after which 6 more portions of
400 grs. each of the concentrated acid, whofe fpecific gravity
was 1,8393, were taken the proper proportion of water added
to each, and after three days reft and repeated agitation, their
denfities in temperature 60° were examined as above, by which
means the fpecific gravities correfponding to 36. 34. 32. 30. 28.
and 26. per cent. ftandard were obtained, and half thefe portions
mixed with half water exhibited, after three days reft and
agitation, the denfities correfponding to 18.17. 16. 15. 14. and
13. per cent. ftandard in the above temperature. The balance
I ufed turned with ;; of a grain when charged with two ounces,

Vo. IV. Cc and

[ 10 ]

and the folid employed was a fimall glafs ball containing mercury
which loft 27,88 grs, of its weight when weighed in water in
temperature 56°, fufpended commonly by a horfe-hair, but when
dipped in flrong nitrous and marine acids it was fufpended by
a fine gold wire, and then loft 27,78 grs. of its weight in
water.

I avso examined and reétified, in fome inftances, many parts

of the firft 50 numbers of the table in the fame manner, but in
general I found them jutft.

Table

Peat]

Table of the Quantity of the flandard vitriolic Acid 2,000 in Oil
or Spirit of Vitriol of inferior Den/fity.
ici allie A chal gna ahead ara aa

100 Parts. Temperature 60°. | 100 Parts. Standard. | roo Parts. Standard.
2,000 - 100. | 1,6217 SOR | tsee4ue. ce 34
1,9859 - 99 | 1,6122 = 66 | 1,2757 gabe ise
1,9719 - 98 | 1,6027 - 65 | 1,2668 - 32
1,9579 97 | 195932), m 64 | 1,2589 Sabot
T,9439 - 96 | 1,5840 - 63] 1,2510 - 30
1,9299 >. 95 |,.15748 .. - 62 | 31,2415. - 29
1,9168 - 94 | 1,5656 =) AGT) | 158220) = 28
1,9041 - olka il 9: £5(6 7 Silahiaae Toy It 1-35 Co Mian NEED 3
1,8914 - 92 | 1,5473 2h ET 21O1 f= 26
1,8787 - gt | 1,5385 |- 58 | 1,2009 = es
1,8660 - go.}. 1,5292 - 57 |-1,19g18 - 24.
1,8542 - 89] 1,5202 - 56 | 1,1836 =") G99
1,8424 - 88 | 1,5112 08551). 153946) ~ 22
1,8306 - 87 | 1,5022 = 54 | 1,1678 - at
1,8188 - 86 | 1,4933 —°'§3 | 1,1614 | - 20
1,8070 - 85 | 31,4844 - 52 || T5B83T - 19
157959 = 845/ 1.4755 OPE HT' Tag98 | = 18
1,7849 - 83 | 1,4666 - 50 | I,1309 eee
1.7738 - 82 | 1,4427 - 49] 11,1208 - 16
1,7629 ibis 81] 1,4189 - 48 | 1,1129 so atte
1,7519 - 80 | 1,4099 Set ly hehO Ted, = 14
1,7416 - 79 | 1,4010° - 46 | 1,0955 = 7 14
157312 = 78 | 1,3875 “HES imoshe ERT
1,7208 = 77-\ 1,374 - 44 | 1,0833 - 11
17104 - 76 | 1,3663 a | sabe th AS Ounce 10
1,7000 - EAD, TBO b= 42 | t.07265 nye?
1,6899- 74 | 153473 * "401 70666 |= 8
1,6800 = 73 | 13360 ~- 4° | 1,0610 m, tba
1,0701 = 72 |, 1.3254 iloBMy ts05 551! . 6
1,6602 - 71 | 11,3149 - 38 1,0492 . P y
1,6503 . 79 | 1,3102 Ts SPO RNE ROAR OMY ne 4
1,6407 - 69 | 31,3056 - BONOF Galggtt 4
T,6312 - 68 | 1,2951 - ie ;
? 2295 35 ' 1,0343° - 2

Cyan THE

[nm]

Tue laft eleven numbers were only found by analogy, ob-
ferving the feries of decrements in the four preceding denfities,
and therefore are to be confidered barely as approximations.

To reduce vitriolic acids of given denfities at any degree of
temperature between 49° and 70° to that which they fhould
have at temperature 60°, in order that their proportion of
ftandard may be thereby inveftigated, J made the following ex-
periments :

Degrees of | Sp. Gr. of | Sp. Gr. of
A. B.

Sp. Gr. of
Temperature. ee

710° 1,8292 | 1,6969 | 1,3845
6<° | 1.8317 | 1,6983 | 1,3866 |
60 1,8360 {| 1,7005 | 1,3888
55 1,8382 | 1,7037 | 1,3898
50 1,8403 | 1,7062 - -
| 49 | | 1,8403 - - 1,3926

Hence we fee that vitriolic acid, whofe denfity at any degree
between 49° and 70° refembles or approaches the correfponding
denfity in the column A, gains or lofes 0,00126 of its fpecific
gravity by every two degrees between 60° and 70° of Farenheit,
and 0,00086 by every two degrees between 49° and 60°.

Secondly, that any vitriolic acid, whofe denfity at any degree
between 50° and 70° refembles or approaches to the correfpond-
ing denfity in the column B, gains or lofes 0,oo158 for every

two

fae al

two degrees between 60° and 70°; and 0,0017 by every two
degrees between 50° and 60%, Whence it appears that the
ftronger acid is lefs altered by variation of temperature than
the weaker, which formerly appeared to me an irregularity, but
now feems to proceed from the increafe of the accrued denfity,
when larger proportions of water are mixed with the ftronger
acid.

Thirdly, vitriolic acid, whofe denfity at any degree between
50° and 70° refembles the correfponding at the fame degree in
‘the column C, gains or lofes, 0,00086 for every two degrees between
602 and ¥o° inclufively, and, 0,00076 between 50° and 60°. Be-
tween 45° and so” I could perceive no difference.

Of the Nitrous Acid.

THE fpecific gravity of the moft concentrated nitrous acid I
could produce was 1,5543 in the temperature of 60°: It was of a
yellowith red colour, and fo highly phlogifticated and volatile, that
it was impoflible to make accurate experiments upon it, when
mixed with {mall proportions of water; but when mixed with an
equal weight I found its encreafe of denfity to be about ~; of the
whole. Hence I formed the firft fifty numbers of the fubfequent
table by calculation, according to Mr. Pouget’s formula, and the
remainder by experiments, conducted, as already mentioned in
treating of the vitriolic acid. The temperature at which the den-
fities were examined was always between 59,5° and 60°, feldom
60,5°. The acid I ufed was the pale yellow acid, whofe fpecific
gravity was 1,4099, but the firft I confidered as the ftandard.

Table

[

14 |

Table of the Quantity of Nitrous Acid whofe Denfity is 1,5543 in

Spirit of Nitre of inferior Den/ities.

Temperature 60°.

Parts

Standard.} 100 Parts.

I0o0

1,4018
133975
153925
1,3875
1,3825
a7 15
1,3721
F5g07E
1,3631
143571
13521
1,3468
1,3417
1,3366
1,3315
1,3264

1392 02)

1,3160
1,3108
T,3056
1,3004
I,2911
1,2812
152795
1,2779
1,2687

Parts

Standard. |100 Parts.

1,2586
1,2525
1,2464
1,2419
1,2374
1,2291
1,2209
1,2180
T2552
1,2033

14,2015

1,1963
I,IQII
1,1845
1,1779
1,1704
1,1639
I,1581
1,15 24.
1,1421
1,1319
1,1284
1,1241
I,1165
LjUPDI
1,1040

Parts
Standard.

As

Oe ge eee

ee

[forge J

As the fpecific gravity of the nitrous acid varies confiderably
in different temperatures, to find the connexion which its denfity
at any temperature between 45° and 70° has with its denfity at
60°, and_thereby to difcover its proportion of ftandard, I made
the following experiments :

——$

Degree of | Sp. Gr. of | Sp. Gr. of
Temperature. A. B.

a eee

40° 1,4178 | 1,2320

65 1,4225 ) 1,2342
60 1,4279.| 1,2363
55 1,4304 | 1,2384
PEO 14336 1,2406
45 154357 9 12407}

1ft, Hence we fee that fpirit of nitre, whofe denfity at any
degree between 45° and 70° inclufively, refembles the corref-
ponding denfities at the fame temperatures in the column A,
gains or lofes 0,00107 by every degree between 60° and AG.

And 0,00057 by every degree between 50° and 60°.
And 0,00042 by every degree between 45° and 50°.

ad, Tuar fpirit of nitre, whofe denfity at any degree between
45° and 70° refembles the correfponding denfities at the fame
temperature in the column B, gains or lofes 0,00043 by every
degree between 50° and 70°.

And 0,00022 by every degree between 45° and 50°.

¥ 2.

ae came

§ 2. Of the Proportion of Ingredients in Neutral Salts formed with

common Mineral Acids.

THIS problem involves all the difficulties of the former, befides
fome that are peculiar to it. For fuppofing the proportion of acid
to be given, it ftill remains to determine the ftrength of that acid,
elfe the word prefents no definite meaning. This can be done
only by reference to fome known ftandard. The chemifts whofe
inquiries have preceded or accompanied mine, have confidered the
acid retained by neutral falts in a red heat as the /fronge/t
pofible. But unlefs all thefe falts poffefs the fame power of re-
taining acids in a red heat, this term muft have a_ different
fignification when applied to each, and confequently prefent no
determinate idea. Now it is well known that different neutral
falts poffefs this power in different degrees ; befides the term red
heat isa term of great latitude, and comprehends degrees of heat

very diftant from each other.

Tue determination of- the proportion of water in thefe falts,
on the fuppofition that they all neceffarily contain fome, is at-
tended with nearly the fame difficulties. It has generally been
fuppofed that the weight loft by neutral falts when expofed to a
red heat, expreffed the quantity of water of cryftallization, but it
is now known that fome of them lofe part of their acid as well
as their water in that heat, to fay nothing of the difliculty of
conftantly employing the fame exact degree in all cafes, or if it
could be employed, of fuppofing that they all poffefs the fame
power of retaining the aqueous part. Even the ancient opinion,

that cryftallization neceffarily implies the prefence and retention
of

Li ty J

of water, is deftitute of foundation, fince it is now known that
cryftals may be formed in the dry way; even many of thofe
formed in the moift:way, as moift ftoney cryftals, retain no per-
ceptible quantity of the liquid in which they were formed.

DeteRMINED by thefe confiderations, I have abandoned ina
great meafure the antient method, and have fubftituted the fol-
lowing: Firit, I faturate a known quantity of alkali or other
bafis with an acid whofe fpecific gravity is known, and whofe pro-
portion of ftandard is determined by the tables. I then make
another folution of a known quantity of neutral falt of the fame
fpecies as that formed by faturation, and examine the fpecific
gravity of both folutions in the fame temperature, adding water
to the ftronger of the two, until their denfities become equal,
and thence infer that an equal proportion of falt exifts in both,
but the proportion in one of them is known; and therefore the
proportion in the other, the weight of the whole being found, is
alfo determined. Even this method is fubje@ to a fmall inaccu-
racy, for a flight excefs of acid is always left, leaft any lofs of
liquor fhould enfue from trials of faturation with vegetable
blues, and this renders the denfity of the folution of the regene-
rated falt fomewhat greater than would enfue from the propor-
tion of falt it contains, befides that in many cafes the proportion
of water-of cryftallization muft be difcovered by expofure to
heat.

Vou. IV. D Of

[ @ J
Of Tartar Vitriolate.

MY firft care was to procure a pure vegetable alkali; with
this view I burned a quantity of cream of tartar in a filver cru-
cible, and after folution, filtration and evaporation, to drynefs in
a red heat, I found the alkali to weigh 1523,5 grs. This | dif-
folved in diftilled water, the whole then weighed 4570 grs. Of
this folution I took 360 grs. which contain 120 of mild alkali,
and faturated it with oil of vitriol carefully purified, whofe fpecific
gravity was 1,565, and which by my table contains 61 per cent.
ftandard acid; the quantity employed amounted to 130 gts.
which contained 79 ftandard. The fixed air expelled amounted
to 34ers. and therefore the quantity of real alkali was
120--34=86 ers. The folution being turbid I diluted it with more
water; when 3238 were added, its fp. gravity was 1,013, tempe-
rature 60°, the whole weight was 360+130+3238—34=3694 grs.
45 ers. of tartar vitriolate diffolved in 1017 of diftilled water
had the fame fp. gravity, temperature 60°. Hence the proportion
of falt in each folution was equal. But in this laft the quantity
I

of falt was then the quantity of falt in the former was

23,6"
3694. 156,52 ers. Now of thi ity only 86 Ikali, ther
25,07 56,52 grs. Now or this quantity only were alkali, there-

fore the remainder, viz. 70,5, were acid or acid and water. ‘The
quantity of acid employed in the faturation contained 79 grs.
ftandard, but the acid taken up amounted only to 70,5 grs.
therefore 8,5 were rejected, and confequently were mere water,
therefore the acid taken up is ftronger than ftandard ; and fince
“g parts ftandard lofe 8,5 by union with pure vegetable alkali,

100

[ 19 J

100 parts ftlandard fhould lofe 10,75. of 89.25 parts of acid of
the ftrength of that which unites to veg. alkalies, and is found
in tartar vitriolate, contains as much real acid as roo parts ftan-
dard. And hence roo parts of this ftrong acid are equivalent to
112 of ftandard. Therefore 100 parts cauftic dry veg. alkali
take up nearly 92 of fiandard vitriolic acid, or 82 nearly of the
ftrongeft vitriolic acid, and afford 182 of tartar of vitriolate in
its common dry cryftallized ftate. This laft conclufion is the moft
certain, being independent of any error in the calculations of the
table.

100 parts tartar vitriolate contain 55 of mere alkali and 45 of
the ftrongeft acid, equivalent to about 50,42 of ftandard.

Hence there is no reafon to fuppofe that this falt contains
any water of cryftallization, but rather the contrary. In a heat
below ignition it lofes no part of its weight, and in a red heat
continued for half an hour it falls into powder, but 100 grs. loft
only one, which might have been diffipated or hgve been only
fome accidental moifiure or impurity, or part of its acid. Mr.
Storr remarked that it loft no water of cryftallization in any
degree of heat under 590. 2 Nev Entdeck. 227.-

To compare the refults of this mode of inveftigation with
thofe of that which I formerly ufed, I evaporated the faturate
folution to drynefs, ufing at the end a heat of 360°. The falt
thus formed weighed 158 grs. which increafe of weight may be
owing to duft fallen in during the evaporation. I alfo made a
few experiments to afcertain the accuracy of my table, of which

D2 I fhall

[ 20 ]

I fhall relate only one. To 654,5 grs. of the folution of the
vegetable alkali which contained 218,16 of mild alkali, [ added oil
of vitriol, whofe {pecific gravity was 1,5045, and confequently con-
tained 54 per cent. ftandard, and of this I found that 270 grs.
were requifite to faturate the alkali, with a fmall excefs of acid
as ufual. The air difengaged amounted to 61,8 grs. confe-
quently the quantity of pure alkali was 156 grs. the quantity
of ftandard in that of the oil of vitriol employed - was
145,8 grs. and if 156 of alkali take 145,8 of vitriolic ftandard,
too of the alkali fhould take 93 ftandard.

As this fubje& is intimately connected with many others of
great importance, fuch as the analyfis of mineral waters, the
theory of dying, the caufes of cryftallization, deliquefcence, refri-
gerating powers, and folubility of neutral falts, both in water,
and fpirit of wine, I fhall fubjoin the different refults of the few
chemifts that have attended to this obje@, with fome remarks
to enable the chemical reader to ‘form his judgment there-
upon.

AccorDINnG to Mr. Bergman, too parts tartar vitriolate con-
fift of 52 pure alkali, 40 acid and 8 of water. At this rate
100 parts pure vegetable alkali take up about 77 of the ftrongeft
vitriolic acid, yet he elfewhere fays they take up 78,5. How he
difcovered fo large a portion of water in the cryftallized falt I
cannot conjecture; Mr. Wenzel found that 240 grs. of it loft
but one in a red heat. Hence 100 parts pure vegetable alkali
fhould afford above 192 of tartar vitriolate.

Me.

Fe en ad

Ma. Wenzel found that 83,5 ers. of pure dry vegetable alkali
were exactly faturated by 218,75 grs. of fpirit of vitriol; the
folution being evaporated, and the refiduum expofed to a red
heat, afforded him 152,5 grs. of tartar vitriolate. From whence
he infers that this quantity contained 83,5 of mere alkali, and
69 of the ftrongeft vitriolic acid. By which it would appear
that,

First. 100 parts pure vegetable alkali take 82,63 of the
ftrongeft vitriolic acid, and afford 182,63 of tartar vitriolate.

SEconDLy. That 100 parts tartar vitriolate contain 54,75 of
mere alkali, and 45,25 of the ftrongeft vitriolic acid. Both
which conclufions agree as nearly as can be expected with mine;
‘and as the methods employed were fo widely different, this
coincidence is a fure mark that the error, if any, muft be -
very trifling.

From the refult of this experiment Mr. Wenzel eftimates the
quantity of the ftrongeft acid contained in half an ounce of his ©
{pirit of vitriol; for fince 218,75 grs. of this fpirit of vitriol
contains 69 of the ftrongeft acid, 240 muft contain 75,75, or
(by my experiment) 75,13 of the ftrongeft acid, which are equi-
valent to about 84,19 of my ftandard, and too grs. of it con-
tained 38,4 of my fiandard, its fpecific gravity was therefore

1,3189.

Mr. Wiegleb repeated this experiment exactly in the manner
of Bergman, and yet the refult was very different, for he found
that

i ee

that 52 grs. of the pure alkali took up 53 of the ftrongett vitri-
olic acid, and the refulting falt weighed 105 grs. From the
known accuracy of this excellent chemift it muft be prefumed
that fome circumftance occurred fimilar to that which occafioned
an increafe of weight in my experiment.

Of Nitre.

I Took 360 grains of the fame alkaline folution, and diluted
it {till further by the addition of 622 of water, the whole con-
taining as before 120 2rs. of mild vegetable alkali. This I fatu-
rated with fpirit of mitre whofe fpecific gravity was 1,1316, and
for that purpofe 436 grs. were required. ‘This acid contains by
my table 23,9 grs. ftandard nearly ; then the quantity employed
contained 104. The lofs of air was 34 grs.; and hence the
quantity of pure alkali was 86 grs. After the folution had ftood
fourteen hours I found its fpecific gravity, temperature 58°, to
be 1,099. The whole weight was 1384 gers.

I THEN took 720 grs. of diftilled water, and gradually adding
cryftallized nitre finely pulverized and dried by long expofure
to the air, I found that when 112 grs. of it were diffolved the
fpecific gravity of the folution was 1,099 in the fame tempera-
ture as above, therefore the proportion of nitre was the fame in

both, that is —-— part of each. Now 1384 = 186,32, this then
71428 754.28

was the quantity of regenerated nitre.

In

[ 2 ]

In this experiment as in the former the quantity of pure
alkali was 86 grs. the quantity of ftandard 104 grs. the fum of
both r1g0 grs. yet the quantity of nitre was only 186,32 ers.
Hence 3,68 are rejected as mere water; and if 104 ftandard
lofe 3,68, 100 parts ftandard fhould lofe about 3,5; and hence
the acid that enters into nitre is ftronger than ftandard in the
proportion of 103,5 to 100 nearly, or 100 parts of this acid are
equivalent to 103,5 of ftandard nearly. And therefore,

First. 1oograins pure vegetable alkali faturated with nitrous
acid fhould afford about 216 of nitre, and take up about 116 of
the ftrongeft nitrous acid, equivalent to 120 of the nitrous
ftandard.

SECONDLY. 100 parts cryftallized nitre contain 46,15 of al-
kali, and 53,85 of acid ftronger than ftandard in the proportion
above-mentioned.

HAVING evaporated the faturated folution, and expofed it toa
heat of. 360°, I found the refiduum to weigh no more than
179 grs. fo that 7 grs. were loft. Indeed the ancient method is
in no cafe more defective than when applied to nitre, for during
evaporation part of it is carried off, as WALLeRTIvs long ago re-
marked, and when expofed to a red heat part of the acid is
loft, and hence the great difference of the refults heretofore~ob-
tained. As to water of cryftallization we may be affured that
it contains none. Mr. Storr, who attended particularly to this
object, found that it retains its cryftalline form, and only be-
comes turbid in a heat of 590°. He thinks, indeed, it lofes

fome

[ieee

fome when melted, but we now know it is the acid that
ef{capes.

Tue proportion of ingredients affigned by Mr. -Bergman to
100 parts of cryftallized nitre is 49 of alkali, 33 of acid, and
18 of water. He does not feem aware of the lofs occafioned by
evaporation, nor was he at that time acquainted with the de-
compofition of the acid occafioned by ignition, both which
circumftances rendered his conclufions erroneous, as they did my
own in my firft publication. The lofs occafioned by this latt
circumftance .he probably attributed to the efcape of water,
and thence affigned fo large a proportion of this principle.
According to him it fhould follow that 1oo parts pure alkali
take up 67,34 of the ftrongeft nitrous acid and afford 204 of
nitre, yet elfewhere he afferts that 100 parts pure vegetable
alkali take up but 64 of the ftrongeft nitrous acid.

Mr. Wenzel’s determination is more exact; he found that
83,5 grs. of pure vegetable alkali were faturated by 262 of his
fpirit of nitre, and that the falt thus formed after evaporation
and expofure to a mild red heat weighed 173.5 grs. and thence
inferred that 173,5 grs. of ignited nitre contained 83.5 of alkali
and go of the ftrongeft nitrous acid, confequently 100 parts nitre
contain about 48 of alkali and 52 of acid. This refult approaches
much nearer to the truth than that of Mr. Bergman, as it affigns
a larger proportion of acid than of alkali, which the quantity of
air expelled from nitre evidently proves, and from this it fhould
follow that 100 parts of pure alkali take up about 108 grs. of
the ftrongeft nitrous acid, and afford 208 grs. of nitre, or fome-

what

fae

what more of cryftallized nitre; for-he thinks that 240 grs.
of thefe cryftals lofe 2 of water when ignited, which fhews
that his red heat was much milder than that applied by Mr.
Bergman, and explains the difference of their refults when they
followed in appearance the fame method of inveftigation,

Since 100 parts pure alkali take up 116 of the ftrongeft
nitrous acid, $3,5 take up 96,86, which are equivalent to 100,25
of ftandard. This quantity of ftandard muft therefore have
been contained in the 262 grs. of the fpirit of nitre employed
by Mr. Wenzel in faturating 83,5 of pure alkali, whence it fol-
lows that roo gts. of his fpirit of nitre contained 38,22 of my
ftandard ; its fpecific gravity was then about 1,227 *.

Mr. Wiegleb’s fuccefs was ftill more complete ; he found that
112 gts. of nitre gently heated contained 52 of alkali and 60
of the ftrongeft acid; and confequently roo grs. of nitre contain
46,5 of alkali and 53,5 of acid nearly, which agrees almoft
exactly with my determination. Hence 100 parts pure alkali
fhould take up 115,4 of the ftrongeft acid and afford 215,4 of
nitre.

Salt of Sylvius or muriated Vegetable Alkali.

To 360 grs. of the fildhon of fhild vegetable alkali, ftill
further diluted by the addition of 518 grs. of water, I added {pirit
Vor. IV. E of

* His own conclufion is, that 240 grs. of his fpirit of nitre contain 82,5. of the
ftrongeft acid of nitre, which are equivalent to 91,72 of my ftandard.

pie 4

of falt whofe fpecific gravity. was 1,1466. The quantity
neceffary for faturation was 254 grs. the lofs of air amounted
to 34. The fpecific gravity of the faturate folution in the
temperature of 56° was 1,076, the whole weight 1098 grs.

Tue fpecific gravity of a folution of 100 grs. of falt of fylvius
in 720 of water in temperature 56° was alfo 1,076, hence the

‘ Me X ; I
proportion of falt in both folutions was equal, viz. Sa of the

whole. Now 7098 115,902, of this quantity 86 were pure

alkali, therefore the remainder, confifling of 47,902 grs. were
acid or acid and water. But as this falt when apparently dry
lofes at moft 3 per cent. in a red heat, I confider it to contain
no water of cryftallization, and confequently judge thofe 47,902
ers. to be acid. Now 254 grs. of this fpirit of falt contain
92,71 of ftandard. And of thefe it appears that only 47,902
were taken up, therefore 44,908 are rejected as mere water,
and if 92,71 lofe 44,908, it follows that roo grs. ftandard fhould
lofe, on uniting to pure vegetable alkali, 48,4 grs. and con-
fequently is nearly as dephlegmated as marine air.

Hexce 48.4 grs. of this ftrong acid are equivalent to 100
ers. of ftandard, or roo of this ftrong acid to 206 of ftandard,
100 grs. therefore pure vegetable alkali take up 55,7 of this
ftrongeft marine acid, which are equivalent to 115 nearly of
ftandard, and afford 155,7 grs. of falt of fylvius.

adly,

——

ae yar

adly, 100 grs. falt of fylvius contain 64,2 of alkali, and 35,8
of the ftrongeft marine acid, equivalent in ftrength to 73 nearly
of ftandard. Mr. Storr afferts, that it fuffers no lofs of weight in
a heat below 590°.

Tue proportion affigned by Mr. Bergman to 100 parts of this
falt is 61 of alkali, 31 of acid, and 8 of water. Hence by him
100 parts pure vegetable alkali take up 50,82 of ftrongeft marine
acid, and afford about 164 of falt of fylvius.

Mr. Wenzel’s refult fcarcely differs from mine; he found that
83,5 grs. of pure alkali were faturated by 202 of his {pirit of
falt, and that the refiduum after evaporation and expofure to
a red heat weighed 129 grs.; of thefe 83,5 were alkali, and
therefore the remaining 45,5 were acid. .

Hence, ft, too parts pure vegetable alkali afford by his
experiment 154,5 of falt of fylvius, and take up 54,5 of the
ftrongeft marine acid. j

_-adly, 100 parts of this falt contained 64,42 of alkali and
35,58 of acid. When this falt is cryftallized, he thinks that
240 gts. of it contain 8 of water, as they lofe fo much in a
red heat; but it is probable that this lofs is rather occafioned
by the difperfion of the falt, or the lofs of part of its acid, and
fome {mall portion of water not neceffarily belonging to its con-
titution,; and this feems confirmed by his experiment, for 83,5
parts of pure alkali fhould, by my determination, take up 46,5
of the ftrongeft acid, whereas in his experiment they took only
45,5, which decreafe may well be attributed to the ftrong red
heat he employed, for his falt was melted.

2 HENCE

[ Sass]
Hence, 3dly, we may eftimate the ftrength of his fpirit of
falt; for fince 202 grs. of it contained 46,5 of the ftrongeft acid,
which are equivalent to 96 of ftandard, 100 parts of it muft

contain 47 of ftandard, and confequently its fpecific gravity was
about 1,1892 *.

Ir is moft probably to the great heat employed that we
muft afcribe the difference between all the above refults and
that of Mr. Wiegleb, for he found that 104 grs. of falt of
fylvius contained 83 of alkali and only 21 of the ftrongeft
acid.

Of Glauber’s Salt.

A gvantity of cryftallized mineral alkali being evaporated
to drynefs, and then heated to rednefs in a filver crucible, was
diffolved in pure water in fuch proportion that 367 grs. of the
folution held 50,05 of dry mild alkali.

On 367 gers. of this folution I gradually poured 75 grs. of
vitriolic acid, whofe fpecific gravity was 1,565, and which con-
tains 61 per cent. ftandard; the lofs of air was 18 grs. and
when it was ftill further diluted by 480 grs. of water, its fpecific
gravity, temperature 55°, was 1,0670, which by a ftandard
experiment, fimilar to thofe already mentioned, I found to denote

that

* His own conclufion is, that 240 grs. of his fpirit of falt contain 54 of the
ftrongeft acid.

a ae

that Ee of its weight was falt. The whole weight was go4
9025

grs. then Bgag = 15245 the quantity of falt, the quantity
of pure alkali was 50,08—18=32,05, that of ftandard acid was
45,75, the fum of both was 77,83, and the remainder 54,62
muft be the water of cryftallization, or that which is fuperfluous
to the ftandard.

Hence, tft, 100 parts pure mineral alkali take up 143 nearly
of ftandard, and fhould afford 414 of dry cryftallized Glauber.

ad, roo parts cryftallized Glauber contain 24,16 of mere
alkali, 34,54 of ftandard acid, and 41,3 of fuperfluous water;
or if the falt be heated to drynefs, 100 parts of it will contain
41 of alkali and 59 of ftandard acid. It is true, that if this
cryftallized {alt be heated ftill further it will lofe more water,
for I have found 100 parts to lofe 55, even when heated below
ignition, but this proceeds partly from a lofs of the water inherent
in the ftandard acid, and partly from a lofs of the acid itfelf,
for the vapours and laft drop redden blue vegetable colours.

Accorpinc to Mr. Bergman, 100 parts of this falt contain
15 of alkali, 27 of the ftrongeft acid, and 58 of water; if fo,
roo parts pure alkali fhould take up 180 of the ftrongeft acid
(though he elfewhere fays only 177) and afford 666 of cryftal-
lized falt, or 280 of that deprived of its water of cryftalliza—
tion.

THERE

{ Bai |

THERE is a method of inveftigating the proportion of ingre-
dients in this falt, which I once purfued, and which afforded
a refult not very different from that of Mr. Bergman.

I constpERED 100 parts of cryftallized mineral alkali, to ap-
pearance perfe@tly dry, and yet not decompofed, to confift of 16
parts of fixed air, 20 of pure alkali, and 64 of water, as Mr.
Bergman found them. However this proportion of fixed air in
cryftals to appearance perfeQly dry and not efflorefced I often
failed of finding. Sometimes this proportion was 12 per cent.
fometimes 13 or 14, and feldom 16 per cent. However, I
imagined that the falt being perfetly cryftallized neceffarily re-
quired the fame proportion of fixed air to the alkali, and that
the deficiency arofe from an excefs ‘of unperceived moifture,
which made up the weight of roo parts; and therefore when I
found a fmaller quantity of fixed air in 100 parts of this falt, I
inferred that it contained a fmaller quantity of alkali, in the pro-
portion of 16 to 20. So that if 16 parts of air indicated 20 of
alkali, 12 of fixed air fhould indicate 15 of alkali. I was even
confirmed in this opinion by the following experiments. I found
that 100 grs. of cryftallized mineral alkali, which afforded 12 of
fixed air, were faturated by 52 of vitriolic acid; but that another
portion of the fame alkali that emitted 13 grs. of fixed air
required 56 of the fame acid. . Now 12.52::13.56 nearly.
Again, I found that 100 parts of this alkali which gave out 15
of fixed air were faturated by 121 of marine acid, whereas
another portion of the fame alkali which contained but 13,5 of
fixed air, took up but 108 of the fame acid; and 15.13,6::1r21.109
nearly. It muft be owned that this conclufion appeared fuffici-

ently

[ 3r ]

ently probable, and under that impreffion I made the following
experiment.

Havine diffolved 1oo grs. of cryftallized mineral alkali in
420 of water, I faturated this folution with vitriolic acid, whofe
fpecific gravity was 1,5654, and for this purpofe 52 grs. were
requifite, the lofs of air was 12 grs. and hence I inferred the
quantity of pure alkali to be 15 grs. the fpecific gravity of the
folution, temperature 65°, was 1,045, and its weight 860 grs..
The acid contained 61 per cent. ftandard..

I auso found the fpecific gravity of a folution of I0o grs..
cryftallized Glauber in 836 of water to be 1,045 in the fame
I
9,36
falt, I inferred the former to contain the fame proportion, and

temperature, and as this folution contained of its weight of

confequently the quantity of falt to be aao79088 grs. but of

b

this quantity 15 only were alkali, and 31,72 ftandard acid,
=46,72, therefore the remainder was the water taken in by
eryftallizing =45,16 grs.

From hence it fhould follow that roo grs. cryftallized Glau-
ber falt contain 16,32 of alkali, 34,52 of ftandard acid, and
49.15 of water of cryftallization, which nearly agrees with the
determination of Mr. Bergman, for my ftandard is undoubtedly:
weaker than what he calls his ftrongeft acid, and if we take
7 grs. from the ftandard, and attribute them to the watery part,
there will be but little difference. Yet I now believe this deter-

mination

ee ea

mination to be erroneous, as being different from the refult of the
firft experiment, which is direct, and becaufe part of the acid
efcapes in a ftrong heat. Different portions of a parcel of cry-
ftallized mineral alkali, which had efflorefced by expofure to the
air for fixteen months, afforded different portions of fixed air;
yet without particular attention we may often be deceived, as
the faturated alkali frequently reforbs a portion of the air it gives
out, fo that the contents of air cannot be exaélly eftimated by
weighing, unlefs the faturate liquor be fuffered to reft for fome
hours expofed to the air.

Mr. Wenzel having faturated 120 grs. of dry mild mineral
alkali with his fpirit of vitriol, found the lofs ofair to be
48 grs. the quantity of fpirit of vitriol expended 285,33 grs.
the falt remaining after ignition 162 grs. or rather 161,5, a8
% gr. of earth was precipitated, which muft be deducted from
the alkali. Hence the quantity of pure alkali was 71,5, which
deducted from 161,5, gives the quantity, as he thinks, of the
ftrongeft acid =go grs. Hence it fhould follow,

Tat 100 parts pure mineral alkali take up 125,87 of the
ftrongeft acid, and afford 225,87 of dry Glauber’s falts.

He elfewhere remarks that 240 grains of cryftallized Glau-
ber lofe by ignition 134 grs. of water, confequently 106
[=240—134] of the dried falt take up in cryftallizing 134 of
water, then 161,5 of the dried falt fhould take up 204,16, and
the fum of both is 365,66, the quantity of cryftallized falt pro-
duced in the above experiment.

Hence,

[ 68

Hence, firft, roo parts pure mineral alkali faturated with
vitriolic acid fhould afford about 511 of chryftallized Glauber.

SECONDLY: reo parts of this cryftallized falt contain’ 19,58
of alkali, 24,62 of the ftrongeft acid, and 55,8 of water.

Tue principal defeét of thefe experiments’ is, that he dried |
his alkali by fufion in an earthen crucible, by reafon of which
the alkali took up both filiceous and argillaceous earth’; the fili-_
ceous, indeed, was precipitated during the faturation with the
acid, but the argillaceous was not, but on the contrary took up
more of; the acid than the pure alkali would have done. Hence
he found a {maller proportioniof alkali, and would a larger of
acid, than the pure falt contains, if he had not forced off part
of it by the heat of ignition to which he afterwards expofed
‘the falk.

Ir Mr. Wenzel had not exprefsly averred that he proceeded
exactly in making this experiment as he had done in examining
the contents of tartar of vitriolate, I fhould fufpect he had done
no more than faturate the alkali, and thence inferred the pro-
portion of: the ftrongeft acid contained in the dry’ falt. For the
quantity of this ftrongeft acid contained in the quantity of fpirit
of vitriol expended is almoft exa¢tly in the fame proportion as he
found it in forming tartar vitriolate. In that cafe he found
218,75 grs. of his fpirit of vitriol to contain 69 of the ftrongeft
acid, and in the prefent cafe he found 285,33 grs. of the fame
{pirit of vitriol to contain go. Now 218,75.69:: 285,33-90.
And this proportion could not be found unlefs the red heat was

Vou. IV. E equal

Ps

[gel

equal in both cafes, as Glauber’s falt lofes part of its and in
fuch heat.

Mr. Wiegleb avoided this fource of error, and by that means
approached nearer to the truth *. He found too grs. of mineral
alkali, which had been dried by heating it to rednefs, to lofe
42 grs. of fixed air when faturated with vitriolic acid, and that
the refulting falt heated to ignition weighed 133 grs.; thefe,
therefore, confifted of 58 of mere alkali, and 75 of the ftrongeft
vitriolic acid, confequently 100 parts pure alkali take 130 of the
{trongeft acid, and afford 230 of dry Glauber’s falt. And elfe-
where } he fays that roo parts cryftallized Glauber falt lofe 50
by deficcation. Then if 50 of the dry‘ falt take 50 of water,
133 fhould take 133, and form 266 of cryftallized falt; and
hence 100 parts of this falt fhould contain 21,8 of alkali, 28,2
of the ftrongeft acid, and 50 of water.

Of Cubic Nitre.

I sATURATED 367 grs. of the fame folution of mild mineral
alkali with 147 grs. of {pirit of nitre, whofe f{pecific gravity was
1,2754, and which contained 45,7 per cent. ftandard. The air
loft was 14. grs. and by adding 939 of water, its {pecific gravity
temperature 58°,5 was 1,0401, which by a teft experiment denotes

ar of falt. There was an excefs of acid of about 2 grs.;

ae

the whole weight was 1439 grs.. The quantity of falt was there-
fore

* 7 Nev. Entdeck, p. 16. + 2 Handbuck, p. 92.

[feisty J
14,

fore reat 85,142 grs.; the quantity of pure alkali was

50,05 —14=36,05 grs.; the quantity of ftandard acid was 66,7,
the fum of both =102,75. But of this quantity only 85,142
entered into the combination of the falt, therefore the remaining
17,608 were mere water loft by the ftandard acid. And if 66,7
parts ftandard lofe 17,6 parts water, in combining with mineral
alkali, 100 fhould lofe 26,38. And confequently 73,62 parts of
this ftrong acid are equivalent to 100 of the nitrous ftandard, or
100 of this ftrong acid to 135,8 of the nitrous ftandard.

HENcE 36 parts alkali took up 49 of the ftrongeft acid, con-
fequently too parts pure alkali fhould take up’ 136, equivalent
to 171 ftandard, and afford 271 parts cryftallized cubic nitre.

SECONDLY. 100 parts cubic nitre contain 42,35 of alkali,
and 57,65 of the ftrongeft nitrous acid, equivalent to 78,33 of
_ ftandard nearly.

Mr. Bergman’s determination varies confiderably from the
refults of fucceeding experimenters. By his ftatement 100 parts
cubic nitre contains 32 of alkali, 43 of acid, and 25 of water *.
Hence 100 parts pure mineral alkali fhould take up 134,4 of
the ftrongeft nitrous acid, or 135,5, as he elfewhere ftates it
(which does not differ much from my account) and afford 312
of cubic nitre.

F 2 Mr,

*

* Scheffer Vorleflung. p. 128.

Li, abe]

Mr. Wenzel found 71,5 grs. pure mineral alkali faturated by
347 of his fpirit of nitre, and that the refulting falt after
ignition weighed 190,75 grs.; fince this quantity contained 71,5
of alkali, he concluded the remaining 119,25 to be the ftrongeft
acid. Hence, firft, 100 parts pure alkali take up 167 of the ~
ftrongeft acid, and afford 267 of cubic nitre.

SECONDLY, I00 parts cubic nitre contain 37,5 nearly of
alkali, and 62,5 of acid. He elfewhere fays 240 grs. of cubic
nitre cryftallized lofe by ignition 9 grs. of water, which alters
the proportion in fome refpect, for then too parts of the cry-
ftallized falt fhould contain 36 of alkali, 60 of acid, and 4 of
water. The error of this refult evidently proceeds from the
fame deceptions that vitiated the experiment on Glauber’s {falt,
the lofs which he imagined due to the efcape of water proceeded
from the volatilization of the acid.

Mr. Wiegleb’s determination was far more juft. He found
that 153 grs. of cubic nitre contained 64 of alkali, and 89 of
the ftrongeft acid; from whence it follows that too parts alkali
take up 139 of the ftrongeft acid, and affords 239 of cubic
nitre. Secondly, that 100 parts of this falt contain 41,83 of
alkali, and 58,17 of the ftrongeft acid. It is remarkable that
the nitrous acid not only exifts in greater plenty, but is much
more concentrated, in cubic than in prifmatic nitre.

of

[gael

Of Common Salt.

367 grs. of the fame alkaline folution, containing 50,05 of
mild marine alkali, ‘were faturated by 129 grs. of fpirit of falt,
whofe fpecific gravity was 1,1355 with the lofs of 20 grs. of
fixed air after fome hours. On adding 26 grs. more of water,
and 4 of pure common falt, the fpecific gravity of the folution
was 1,0814 in temperature 60°; which by a teft experiment de-
noted AE of falt. The weight of the folution was 506 grs. and

506

confequently the quantity of falt was Boag = 60,74 grs.; but as

4 grs. of falt were added, the -weight of the regenerated falt
fingly was 56,74 grs.; the acid employed contained 34 per cent.
ftandard, confequently 129 grs. of it contained 43,86 ftandard.
The quantity of mere alkali was 30,05 grs. the fum of both
=73,91 grs.; yet only 56,74 grs. of falt were formed, confe-
quently the difference, or 73,91—56,74=17,17 grs. were mere
water rejected from the ftandard acid. And if 43,86 ftandard
lofe 17,17 on uniting to mineral alkali, 100 parts ftandard
fhould lofe 39,14, and confequently the remainder, viz. 60,86
party of this ftrong acid, are equivalent to roo parts ftandard,
or to 48,4 of the ftrongeft, fuch as is found in falt of Sylvius.
Hence, firft, 100 parts pure marine alkali take up 88,81 of this
ftrong acid, equivalent to 145,92 of ftandard, and fhould produce
188,81 of falt. Secondly, 100. parts common falt contain nearly
53 of alkali, and 47 of acid ftronger than ftandard in the pro-
portion above mentioned.

In

[ 38 J

In this account no notice is taken of the water of cryftalli-
zation, for in faét common falt does not appear to contain any ;
that which is got rid of by heat feems to me to be merely ac-
cidental. Mr. Wild, who has attended fo fuccefsfully to every
thing relating to this falt, affirms that g11 grs. of it lofe but
7,1 by decrepitation*. Mr. Storr found it to lofe none in any
heat below 590°. As common falt does not efcape in any confi-
-derable degree during the evaporation of its folution, and retains
its acid in the ftrongeft heat, the refults of Mefirs. Wenzel and
Wiegleb, and particularly that of the latter, agree very nearly
with the foregoing. ;

Accorpinc to Mr. Wenzel 71,5 of pure mineral alkali were
faturated by 266,5 of his fpirit of falt, and the refiduum after
fubtracting 1 gr. of earth and expofure to ignition weighed
131,5 grs.; this quantity, therefore, contained 71,5 grs. of alkali,
and 60 of the ftrongeft acid. Hence too grs. pure mineral
alkali fhould take up nearly 84 of the ftrongeft acid, and pro-
duce 184 of common falt; and fecondly, 100 parts common falt
contain 54,37 of alkali, and 45,63 of the ftrongeft acid.

AccorDING to Mr. Weigleb 105 grs. of common falt contain
56 of alkali, and 49 of the. ftrongeft acid. Hence 100 parts
contain 53,5 of alkali, and 46,5 of acid. Hence 100 parts pure

alkali

* Beytrage zu Salkzunde, p. 94.

WRK aad

. alkali fhould take up 87,5 of the ftrongeft marine acid, and
afford 187,5 of common falt, which is nearly my conclufion.

Mr. Bergman’s proportion deviates fo widely from thefe re-
fults, that I can in no way account for it. He attributes to 100
parts of this falt, 42 of alkali, 52 of acid, and 6 of water.

Of Ammoniacal Salts.

Berore I proceed to the analyfis of thofe formed by the
mineral acids, it will be neceflary to examine the compofition of
aerated volatile alkali, which was the fubjet of my experi-

ments.

TueE proportion of ingredients affigned to this falt by Mr.
Bergman is 12 ef water, 45 of fixed air, and 43 of pure alkali.
How he has difcovered this proportion he no where explains,
nor do I know any other method of exploring it with accuracy
than by having recourfe to Dr. Prieftley’s experiments, vol. ii.

of his new edition*,

By thefe it appears that 2 meafures of alkaline air are fatu-
rated and reduced to a concrete form by 1 meafure of fixed air
very nearly. Now 100 cubic inches of alkaline air I have found

to weigh 18,16 grs.; and 100 cubic inches of fixed air 46,5.
Let

* Page 386.

f 40 |

Let us. fuppofe a meafure to confift of 100 cubic inches, then
2 meafures of alkaline air will weigh 36,32 grs.; thefe take up
46,5 of fixed air, and the concrete falt thus formed will weigh
82,82 grs.; then if 82,82 parts of concrete volatile alkali con-
tain 36,32 of pure alkali as free from. water as it can be had,
Ioo parts of this. concrete falt fhould contain 44 nearly of fuch
alkali, and 56 of fixed air. And here the quantities of thefe
two ingredients muft always be proportional, as the alkali can-
not be reduced to a concrete form without a due proportion of
the aerial, acid, nor, the acid, without the due quantity of alkali.
Therefore knowing the quantity. of fixed air in any given weight
of. this, dry falt, we may determine the quantity of alkali by the
above analogy, and this being found, the qnantity of water ex-
ceeding that exifting in alkaline and fixed airs muft alfo be
known, it being the remainder of the given weight of the
falt.

Of. Vitriolic Ammoniac.

100 grs. of mild concrete volatile alkali, formed by fublimation,
and diffolved in tooo of water, were faturated by 132 of vitriolic
acid, whofe fpecific gravity was 1,5654, which contained 61
per cent, ftandard. The lofs of air was 45 grs. and hence the
quantity of mere alkali was 35,35 ers. the fpecific gravity of
the folution in temperature 59° was 1,0627.

Tue fpecific gravity of a folution of 100 grs. of cryftallized
vitriolic ammoniac in 821 gts. of water and temperature 59° was
alfo

[hi 4]

alfo 1,0627. Hence the proportion of falt in both folutions was

equal, viz. sai of the whole; the weight of the folution con-

?

taining the regenerated falt was 1187 grs. then the quantity of
1187

g,21

falt contained in it was =128,881 grs. The quantity of pure

alkali was 35,35 grs.; the quantity of ftandard 80,52 grs.; the
fum of both=115,87; then the remainder of the 128,881 grs. of
falt muft have been water, amounting to 13,011 grs.

Hence 100 parts of pure volatile alkali take up 227,7 of the
vitriolic ftandard, and, including water, fhould afford 364,6 of
cryftallized vitriolic ammoniac. Secondly, 100 parts cryftallized
vitriolic ammoniac contain 27,42 of mere alkali, 62,47 of ftandard
acid, and 10,11 of water. .

Mr. Wenzcl’s method of inveftigating the proportion of in-
gredients in ammoniacal falt is very ingenious, but. obfcurely
related, and does not feem to have fecured even his own con-
fidence.

Into half an ounce of bis fpirit of vitriol * he gradually
dropped 160 grs. of dry concrete volatile alkali, and found the
weight loft amount to 86 grs. and hence he concluded this
quantity of alkali to contain 86 ers. of fixed air. This con-

Vou. IV. G clufion

* See an eftimation of its ftrength in the article tartar vitriolate.

[y. 42, J

clufion every one who has made the experiment muft know to be
erroneous, for the fmell of the alkali evidently indicates that it
efcapes along with the. fixed air, when it is not previoufly much
diluted. —

Acatn, into another half ounce of his fpirit of vitriol he
dropped 336 grs. of common fpirit of fal ammoniac, and found
the lofs of air to be but 38 grs.; hence he concluded the quantity
of real alkali to be proportionably fmaller than in his firft
experiment. Having attained the point of faturation, he gently
evaporated the folution and expofed the newly formed falt to
a heat of 212° for four hours, and then found it to weigh 129
grs.; now as his fpirit of vitriol contained 75,75 grs. of the
ftrongeft vitriolic acid, he fuppofed the falt thus formed to
contain that quantity of the ftrongeft acid, and this fuppofition
is juft; but he further fuppofes that all the water contained
both in the acid and in the alkali was expelled by the heat of 212°,
which cannot be credited; and thence infers that the remainder
of the 129 grs. was pure alkali, viz. 53,25 grs..a conclufion
which the premifes do not warrant. It is therefore ufelefs to
examine his fubfequent dedu@iions: by my computation the
quantity of vitriolic ammoniac that fhould refult from Mr.
Wenzel’s experiment is 135 grs. for 240 grs. of his fpirit of
vitriolic contain 84,72 of my ftandard; and fince 62,447 of
ftandard go into the compofition of 100 parts vitriolic ammoniac,
84,72 fhould enter in that of 135 grs. of that falt; 6 grs. were
therefore probably loft during the evaporation of Mr. Wenzel’s
falt, or efcaped with the fixed air.

NEITHER

[ 43 ]

NertHer Mefirs. Bergman nor Wiegleb have treated of this
falt; but here Dr. Prieftley again fteps into our affiftance; he
found that two meafures of alkaline airewere exactly faturated
by one of vitriolic air; hence it follows that 36,32 grs. of pure
alkali take up 70,215 of the ftrongeft volatile vitriolic acid, and
confequently 100 of volatile alkali take 193. In uniting to the
volatile alkali it depofits part of its fulphur.

Of Nitrous Ammoniac.

100 grs. of mild concrete volatile alkali diffolved in 1000 of
water were faturated by 446 ers. of fpirit of nitre, whofe
{pecific gravity was 1,1418, which contained 24,8 of ftandard.
The lofs of air was 43 grs. which indicates 33,8 grs. of pure
alkali; the fpecific gravity of the folution was 1,0401, which

by a teft experiment indicates iy of cryftallized falt. The weight

of the folution was 1 503 grs. then the quantity of falt was

Top T4046 7 grs.» which is fomewhat lefs than the quantity

‘of pure alkali and ftandard employed, for the quantity of pure
alkali is 33,8 grs. and that of ftandard in 446 gts. of the ni-
trous acid employed, is 110,608, and the fum of both =144,408,
which differs by 3,941 grs. from the falt formed; this quantity
therefore muft have been mere water rejected from the ftandard
acid; and if 110,608 grs. ftandard lofe 3,941 in uniting to
volatile alkalies, 100 parts ftandard fhould lofe about 3;5, and

G 2 hence

Laer]

hence 96,5 parts of this ftrong acid are equivalent to 100 of
ftandard.

Hence it alfo follows that 100 parts pure volatile alkali take
up 316 of this ftrong nitrous acid, equivalent to 327,4 of ftan-
dard, and fhould afford 416 of cryftallized nitrous ammoniac.

adly, 100 parts nitrous ammoniac contain 24 of alkali and 76
of the ftrongeft nitrous acid, equivalent to 78,75 of ftandard.

Yet I muft obferve, that as the nitrous ammoniac employed
in the teft folution was not purified by a fecond cryftallization,
and contained fome excefs of acid, there probably is a flight
inaccuracy in this experiment; but I form no doubt but this falt
contains above 70 per cent. of the ftrongeft acid, and at moft 28
of alkali.

Accorpinc to Mr. Bergman, 100 parts pure volatile alkali
take up 132 of the ftrongeft nitrous acid *; but this contradiéts
the rule he himfelf lays down, that bafes that have a weaker
attraction for a given acid, take up more of that acid than an
equal quantity of a bafis that has a ftronger attraction to it
can take up. Now by his own experiments, I00 parts pure
mineral alkali take up 135,5 of the ftrongeft nitrous acid, there-
fore 100 parts pure volatile alkali fhould take up much more.

It

* Scheff. Vorlefs. p. 129.

[4g]

It is evident he was led into this miftake by not knowing the
proportion of water that enters into mild concrete volatile

alkali.

Mr. Wenzel affigns to this falt a much larger. proportion of
acid, though even his appears to me too low; by his com-
putation 41 parts pure volatile alkali, faturated with nitrous acid,
afford 127 of nitrous ammoniac, dried by four hours expofure
to a heat of 212°; but it muft be remarked that its decom-
pofition begins at a much lower heat, as Mr. Cornette has
obferved*, and it fublimes at the heat of 234°. However,
from this experiment it follows that 100 parts pure volatile
alkali take 205 of the ftrongeft nitrous acid, and afford 305 of

nitrous ammoniac.

I mape this experiment according to my antient method, with
the following refult: I faturated 200 grs. of mild concrete vola-
tile alkali with fpirit of nitre, whofe fpecific gravity was 1,1538,
984 gts. of it were requifite, the lofs of air was roo grs. the
folution, gently evaporated in a heat of 70° or at moft 80°, afforded
a mafs of falt moftly cryftallized, which weighed 296 grs.; here
the quantity of pure alkali, according to the rule of proportion
above laid down, was 78,6; and if too parts pure volatile alkali
afforded 416 of nitrous ammoniac, as I have above determined,
78,6 fhould produce 327 nearly, yet I found but 296, therefore
31 were loft, probably during the evaporation.

of

* Mem. Paris 1783, p. 746..

[ 46 ]

Of Common Sal Ammoniac.

100 grs. of aerated volatile alkali diffoived in 1000 of water,
required for their faturation 246 of fpirit of falt, whofe fpecific
gravity being 1,1355, contained by my table 34 grs. ftandard
per cent. and the quantity employed held 83,64 ftandard; the
lofs of air was 43 grs. and confequently the quantity of pure
alkali 33,8 grs. the {pecific gravity of the faturate folution 1,0269,
the whole weight was 1303, which by a teft experiment in-
1303

. ; . I
dicated its faline contents to be ———, now
10,67

10,67

=122,118 gts.

Now the fum of pure alkali and ftandard=117,44,; the dif-
ference therefore of thefe two quantities, viz. 4,67, muft have
‘been water united to the ftandard acid.

HeENcE 100 parts pure alkali take up 247,1 ftandard, and fhould
produce 361 of cryftallized ammoniac.

adly, too parts fal ammoniac then contain 27,62 of alkali,
68,49 of ftandard, and 3,89 water; yet when I made this ex-
periment after the antient method I obtained a much {fmaller
proportion of falt.

Havine diffolved 200 grs. of aerated volatile alkali in 1800 of
water, and faturated it with the fame marine acid, of which
it required 486 grs. with the lofs of 100 grs. of fixed air, the
evaporated folution afforded only 224 grs. Now the quantity

of

—'!

[ 47 ]

of pure alkali by my computation being 78,6 grs. fhould afford
by the above obfervation 284,5 grs. therefore 60,5 were loft.

Mr. Wenzel attributes to 110 parts of fal ammoniac 56 of
alkali and 54 of acid, but itis plain he was deceived both by
the mifcalculation of the quantity of real alkali in his aerated
alkali, and by the volatilization of part of the falt during the
evaporation of the faturated folution.

Of the Relation. of the Nitrous Acid to Calcareous Earth:

To 400 grs. of fpirit of nitre, whofe fpecific gravity was
1,2754, I gradually added in temperature 58° fome finely pow-
dered white ftatuary marble, whofe grain in the fra@ture re-
fembled that of fugar;, of this 136 completely faturated the acid
in two days, the lofs of air was 61 grs. or nearly 45 per cent.
This proportion of air is much greater than that which I found
fome years ago, but at that time I diffolved without applying
heat, the marble in dilute vitriolic acid, which does not eafily
penetrate the whole mafs, as the felenitic cruft formed during
the firft accefs of the acid proteéts the remainder from its
action.

Turis acid contains 45,7 per cent. ftandard, confequently the
400 grs. employed contain 182,8 of ftandard ; and fince 182,8
_ parts ftandard took up 136 of this marble, 100 parts ftandard
fhould take up 74,4. An opportunity was hereby afforded me

of

[ 48 ]

of comparing different parts of my table of the proportion of
ftandard in nitrous acid of different fpecific gravities with the
experiments of Mr. Cavendifh.

Tuts accurate philofopher found that fpirit of nitre, whofe

fpecific gravity in temperature 58° is 1,4923, diffolves — of

b)

its weight of marble*. Hence 100 parts of it fhould diffolve
70,42 of marble. Now by my table roo parts of this acid con-
tain 91,7 parts ftandard, and fince 100 parts ftandard diffolve
74,4 of marble, 91,7 parts fhould diffolve 68,22; and in this

manner I have compared the remainder of his refults.

{Specific Gravity oy |
100 Parts nitrous! Marble diffolved by|Marble diffolved by

Acid. Mr. Cavendifh. my Table.
1,4923 70,42 68,22
1,437! 58,2 57529
1,404 5 3,00 52545
1,4033 53,00 $253

Tuese differences are very fmall, and may proceed partly
from the defeéts of the table and partly from the difference of
the marbles employed; that his marble was fomewhat different
' from mine appears from this, that his gave but 40,7 per cent.
of fixed air.

Ir

Phil. Tranf. 1783, p- 325, and 1786, p. 245.

[ 49 ]

Ir is difficult to afcertain the precife quantity of pure cal-
careous earth in marble or any calcareous ftone, by reafon of
the quantity of water they are alfo faid to contain. The marble
I examined contained 3 per cent. of a mixture of argil and.
minute cryftals, which rendered the folution turbid when fome-
what more than half faturate; but I colleéted this proportion
from a folution of the fame marble in fpirit of falt. If marble
contained no water the quantity of calcareous earth would thence
be eafily had, as the quantity of air being 45 grs. that of the
earth fhould be 55, and deduting 3 for foreign earths, the
pure calcareous would be 52. Mr. Coudray is the. only perfon.
I can recolle&@ who found water in white marble*, but his
experiment was defective. Dr. Watfon could dete& none by
diftillation even in fpart. I diftilled a folution of marble in
nitrous acid to drynefs, and expelled all the acid, for the earth
was converted into lime; I was however difappointed, for I
could not colle& the whole of it, as part ftuck to the retort.
But Mr. D’Arcet having calcined a piece of white marble of
Carrara in the ftrongeft porcelain heat, in which he found it to
lofe no more than $ of its weight, exactly the fame as by folution
in acids, feems to me to have decidedly proved that it contains
no water}. Then if 100 parts of this marble contain 52 of
pure lime, 74 parts will contain 38,68, and thefe take up 100
parts of the nitrous ftandard, then too: parts lime take 258,5 of
this flandard.

Vor. 2Ve H Mar..

* 5 Roziers, p. 280. + 2 Watfon, p. 252.. t 22 Roziers, p..23..

L ow]

Mr. Lavoifier, in difcuffing the merits of that memorable con-
troverfy which his experiments have for ever clofed, diffolved
a large quantity of chalk in fpirit of nitre, whofe fpecific gravity
was 1,2989, and found that 1153 grs. Troy of chalk contained
606,47 of earth, which required 2835 of that fpirit of nitre
for their folution. Now 100 parts of this fpirit of nitre contain
by my table 49,6 of ftandard, and confequently the above
quantity contains 1406,16. Now if 606,47 of this earth take
up 1406,16 of ftandard, roo of the earth fhould take up 232,
which appears lefs than my eftimation; but it muft be remem-
bered that I deducted 3 grs. per cent. for foreign earth mixed
with the marble, and it is certain that chalk is more impure;
then if it contains lefs of calcareous earth it muft take propor-
tionably lefs of ftandard ; the proportion of foreign earth may
even thus be detected. By this teft it would appear that the
chalk ufed by Mr. Lavoifier contained but 46,5 per cent. or 0,465
of its weight of earth really calcareous.

Mr. Wenzel’s experiments on calcareous earths are fo com-
bined with his opinion of the prefence of the acidum pingue or
caufticum, that no clear conclufion can be deduced from them.

Of the Relation of the Muriatic Acid to Calcareous Earths.

158 grs. of powdered marble were taken up by and faturated
402 grs. of fpirit of falt, whofe fpecific gravity was 1,1355.

This acid contained 0,34 of its weight of ftandard, and con-
fequently

Pom]

fequently the quantity employed contained 136,68; whence it
follows that 100 parts marble faturate 86,5 of the marine ftandard.
To obtain a perfe@t folution a heat of 160° was employed to-
wards the-end,

From the proportion of pure calcareous earth already men-
tioned, it follows that 158 grs. of this marble contained but
82,26 of that pure earth. Then 82,26 parts lime take 86,5 of
ftandard, confequently 100 parts lime fhould take 104,72.

Accorpine to Mr. Wenzel, 100 parts lime take 103,6 of
the. ftrongeft marine acid, but the circumftances were very dif-
ferent from thofe in which he firft colleéted its degree of con-
centration.

~ Of Vitriokc Selenite.

To 225 grs. of oil of vitriol, whofe fpecific gravity was 1,5654,
I added 225 gts. of water, and of this mixture I took 439 gts.
and gradually added to it at different times 152 grs. of finely
powdered white marble, It was committed toa gentle fand heat,
more water was added from time to time; the faturation was.
obtained at the end of ten days.

Tue quantity of acid employed contained 1 34 ers. ftandard ;
hence 100 grs. ftandard take ‘up 113,4 of marble, and 100 parts
marble require 88,17 of the vitriolic ftandard; but 100 parts of

H 2 this

Ligeia

this marble contain 52 of lime, then rco parts lime take up
169,55 of the vitriolic ftandard.

Tue felenite thus obtained being evaporated to drynefs in a
fand heat not exceeding 170°, was of compact, but not hard
confiftence, felt mealy, and of a reddifh brown colour at the
furface; it weighed 242,25 grs.; of this weight 79 were pure
calcareous earth, 134 vitriolic flandard, 5 of foreign earth, and
the remainder, viz. 24, were water. Hence too grs. felenite
in this form contain 32,9 of pure earth, 55 of ftandard acid,
and 12,1 of water; but this determination is not accurate, as the
argil muft have taken part of the acid.

Mr. Cavendifh having in many -inftances fought the relation
betwixt the fpecific gravity of oil of vitriol and the quantity of
marble it can diffolve, it will be proper to compare his refults_

with my table *.

100 Parts Oil Vitriol. Marble diffolved by Marble diffolved by

Mr. Cavendith. my Table.
ne aug é
1,559 54 > ¢;
1,780 84,8 93,6

WITH

* Philofop. Tranfactions, 1786, p- 245, and 1788, p- 181.

ban

Wira refpe@ to this laft the difference feems confiderable,
but the reafon is that Mr. Cavendifh made the experiment from
which he inferred the ftrength of this acid with vitriol of lead,
though he expreffed it by reference to the quantity of marble he
deemed it would diflolve.

I atso tried to find the quantity of ftandard acid the dif-
folved marble would require to precipitate it from its folutions
in the muriatic and nitrous acids, and for this purpofe: To the
folution of 158 grs. of marble in the marine acid above-men-
tioned I gradually added after dilution oil of vitriol 1,5654.
This operation is very tedious, as the vitriolic felenite is in great
meafure foluble in the marine acid, or at leaft in the folution
of marine felenite, fo that frequent evaporation and repeated
wafhings were requifite; however it appeared to me that 253,5
grs. of the acid were requifite to precipitate the whole of the
diffolved calx. Now 253,5 grs. of this acid contain 154,33 of
ftandard, confequently 1co grs. marble require for their preci-
pitation from the muriatic acid 102 gfs. of ftandard vitriolic acid,
or rather computing the marble to contain 52 per cent. lime,
roo grs. pure calcareous earth require for their precipitation from
the marine acid 124,15 of vitriolic ftandard. Perhaps the dif-
ference between the quantity requifite in this cafe and that
found requifite for folution may arife from this, that the argil-
laceous earth remains untouched in this cafe, as no more acid
is added when the decompofition ceafes to be vifible, whereas
a fufficiency to diffolve and faturate it is added in the former
cafe.

To

[gag

To obtain ftill more fatisfaGion I alfo precipitated the nitrous
folution of marble above mentioned by a folution of tartar
vitriolate. This folution contained 135 grs. of marble; the
quantity of tartar vitriolate neceflary to precipitate it was 174 grs.
Now 135 grs. marble contain 70,2 of pure calcareous earth, and
174 g1s. tartar vitriolate contain 87 ftandard vitriolic acid ; whence
it follows, that if 70,2 require 87, 100 will require 123,93
nearly, the fame as when the uncombined acid was ufed; this
experiment is therefore a proof of the accuracy of fome of the

former determinations.

Tue felenite thus obtained being fo far dried as to retain its
filky glofs, weighed 205,25 grs.; hence 100 parts of it fhould
contain 34 of earth, 43 of ftandard acid, and 23 of water.
This determination, which varies confiderably from the former,
appears to be more exact, becaufe in diffolving marble part of
the acid is neceffarily taken up by the argillaceous earth con-
tained in it, whereas here nothing is brought into the account
but the acid taken up by the earth precipitated, that is, by the
calcareous earth fingly. The proportion of water is alfo dif-
ferent, becaufe the deficcation was not pufhed fo far.

Accorpine to Mr. Bergman, 100 parts gypfum contain 32
of earth, 46 of acid and 22 of water. If he means acid of the
fame ftrength as that contained in tartar vitriolate, (which he
muft mean, or the expreffion is ambiguous) he is certainly
miftaken, for then 115 parts tartar vitriolate fhould contain the
fame quantity of acid as 100 parts gypfum, whereas by the laft

experiment

Wea ae

experiment it appears that 84 parts tartar vitriolate are in that
refpeat equal to 100 of gypfum.

Of Epfom Salk.

Ir is generally agreed that common aerated magnefia lofes
above + its weight by calcination in a red heat, which expels
all the water and fixed air that inheres in it. Dr. Black, whofe
fortunate inquiries concerning the nature of this eatth, laid the
foundation of the greater part of the modern improvements in
chemiftry, found it to lofe about 51 per cent. Mr. Butini of
Geneva 59 per cent. Mr. Wenzel 58 per cent. Mr. Bilhabar 65
per cent. and Mr. Bergman 55 per cent. As magnefia lofes a
{mall part of its earth when calcined in an open veffel, as was
difcovered by Mr. Tingry, perhaps we may acquiefce in Mr.
Bergman’s determination, as approaching to a mean among thofe of
other chemifts.

A souurion of 100 grs. ‘cryftallized Epfom in 926 of water
had its fpecific gravity in the temperature of 56°=1,0448; the

weight of the falt was therefore of the whole weight of

I
10,26
the folution.

50 grs. of oil vitriol, whofe {pecific gravity was 1,5654, and
which by the table contained 0,61 of its weight of ftandard,
were diluted with 599 of water. This dilute acid was faturated
by 35 gts. of common magnefia, and when 278 gts. more of

; ; water

ees

water were added, the fpecific gravity of the folution, temperature

56°, was 1,0448, its weight was 949 grs. then - a of this

weight was regenerated Epfom=92,494 grs. of falt; the quantity
of mere earth was 35 X,45=15,75 grs. that of ftandard was 30,5,
and the remainder= 53,75 muft have been water.

Hence 1°—troo parts cryftallized Epfom contain 17 of earth,
32,97 of ftandard acid; or in round numbers, 17 of earth, 33
flandard acid and 50 of water.

Hence 2%—10o parts pure magnefia take up 194 of vitriolic
ftandard, and fhould afford 589 of cryftallized Epfom.

Mr. Bergman found too parts Epfom to confift of 19 of earth,
33 of the ftrongeft acid and 48 of water. Whence by him 100
parts of this earth fhould take up 173,7 nearly of the ftrongeft
acid, and produce 526 parts of cryftallized Epfom.

Here the difference between our refults is apparently but
fmall, refpeéting only the proportions of earth and water, he
attributing two parts lefs both of earth and water, but though
our expreffion relatively to the proportion of acid is the fame,
yet our meaning is very different; for he means 33 parts of an
acid of the fame ftrength as that found in tartar vitriolate,
and I mean only ftandard vitriolic acid, which is much weaker,
as 100 parts Epfom contain but 29 parts of an-acid of the fame
concentration as that found in tartar vitriolate. This helps to
explain a circumftance which appeared very fingular to Mr.

Bergman :

[i 5%. ]

Bergman: In decompofing Epfom falt, he obferved that although
45 parts of cauftic vegetable alkali were neceflary to effect the
decompofition of 100 parts of Epfom, only 30 parts tartar vitrio-
late could be obtained. Neverthelefs, according to his own
determination of the compofitions of Epfom falt and tartar
vitriolate, 82 grs. of tartar vitriolate fhould have been formed,
for by his account 40 parts of the flrongeft vitriolic acid fhould,
if there be a fufficiency of vegetable alkali, form 100 of tartar
vitriolate, confequently 33 parts of that acid, which exift in
too parts of Epfom falt, meeting with more alkali than they
require, fhould produce 82 of tartar vitriolate, and yet only 30
of this falt can be recovered. This Mr. Bergman. attributes to
an excefs of alkali which prevents the remainder of the tartar
vitriolate (viz. 52 parts) from cryflallizing; yet by his own
account this excefs amounts only to 2 grs. for fince by him
40 parts of the acid take up 52 of alkali, 33 parts of the fame
acid fhould take up 42,9, and the whole quantity of alkali is
but 45. By my determination of the proportion of ingredients
in thefe falts this phenomenon. is more intelligible, roo parts
Epfom contain 33 of ftandard vitriolic acid, which are equivalent
to 29 of fuch acid as exifts in tartar vitriolate, and confequently
fhould produce only 64,4 parts of tartar vitriolate; but 64 of
tartar vitriolate contain but 35 of mere alkali, confequently
10 parts uncombined alkali remain, which may poflibly embarrafs
the cryftallization of 34 of tartar vitriolate, if fo much more
be formed,’ which is rather doubtful, as 45 parts of cauftic alkali
may not furnifh fuch an excefs as may be requifite to decompofe

the laft portions of Epfom.

Vou. IV. | I THIS

Fi ee]

Tuts experiment feems a full proof of the inaccuracy of, Mr.
Bergman’s determination of the proportion of ingredients in thefe
two falts, Epfom and tartar vitriolate.

Mr. Wenzel informs us that 240 grs. of his fpirit of vitriol
were faturated by 100 of aerated magnefia, and that this folution
furnifhed him 247 of cryftallized Epfom. 240 gers. of this mag-
nefia he employed loft in a long continued red heat 140 grs.
Hence he concludes the proportion in half an ounce of cryftallized
Epfom to be 40,5 grs. of pure earth, 73,6 of the ftrongeft acid
and 126 of water, whence 100 parts Epfom fhould contain 16,87
of earth, 30,66 of acid and 52 of water. This refult does not
differ much from mine, and we have already feen that 31,5 of
his ftrong acid are equivalent to 35,3 of ftandard, confequently
30,66 are equal to 34,3 of ftandard, and the remainder, viz. 51,13,
is water.

Of the Relation of the Nitrous Acid to Magnefia.

Ff rounp that 100 parts pure magnefia take up 286 of the
nitrous ftandard.

Mr. Wenzel found that 77 grs. of aerated magnefia faturated
240 of his nitrous acid, which contained 82,5 of the ftrongeft
acid. Whence he concludes, that as this earth contains 0,417
of its weight of mere earth, 100 parts pure earth take up 257
of his ftrongeft acid; but if we fuppofe the aerated magnefia to
contain 0,45 of its weight of pure earth, then 34,65 parts of it

took

ff a J

‘took up 82,5 of his ftrongeft acid, and 100 fhould take up 238,
equivalent to 264 of my ftandard.

Of the Relation of Marine Acid to Magnefia.

By my experiments 100 parts pure magnefia take up 215,8
of the muriatic ftandard. According to Mr. Wenzel, 106 gts.
of aerated magnefia faturated 240 of his {pirit of falt, which
contained 54 grs. of his ftrongeft acid, equivalent to 112 of
ftandard. But if his magnefia contained 45 of its weight of
pure earth, then 106 contained but 47,7, and ‘in that cafe 100
parts pure magnefia fhould take up 234 of the marine ftandard.

Of Allum.

_ Tue proportion of ingredients in this falt I endeavoured to
difcover by decompofing it.

1°. To afcertain the proportion of earth, I diffolved 480 grs.
of this falt in 2880 of water, ‘and precipitated the earth by a
folution of mild volatile alkali, both being heated the precipitate
after edulcoration was heated to 465° it weighed 141 grs. Hence
-Ioo parts allum contain 29,37 of earth in that ftate of drynefs
which the heat abovementioned can produce.

2, To find the proportion of water of cryftallization, I dif
tilled 480 grs. of allum in a heat of 465° and obtained 200 grs.
I 2 of

[ 60 ]

of water perfe€tly infipid. Hence it would follow that too
parts allum contain 41,66 of water of cryftallization, but having
calcined 100 grs. of allum in a fand heat where the evapora-
tion was freer, I found the lofs of weight to be 45,5, but then
the laft drop was acid. Hence I conclude the water of cryftal-

lization to amount to 44 per cent.

Tue refiduum of too parts cryftallized allum, amounting to
26,63 grs. muft therefore have been mere acid, or acid. ftill retaining
a quantity of water not feparable by a heat of 465°. To refolve
this doubt I made-a folution of 100 grs. cryftallized allum in
1600 of water, heated it to 200°, and gradually added to it a

folution of mild vegetable alkali, which contained mar of its

si

weight of mere alkali, being the fame I ufed in forming tartar
vitriolate, &c. I continued adding this as long as any effer-
vefcence appeared, making the mixture to boil; the quantity em-
ployed -and neceffary to faturate the acid was go grs. that is
aL ers. of mere alkali; Now we have already feen
that 100 parts mere vegetable alkali’ take up 92 of the vitriolic
flandard, ‘therefore 21,5 grs.of pure vegetable alkali take up
| Bh 19,78

When allum is decompofed by aerated alkalies without boiling, (and a fortiori
in cold) a fmall part only of the acid is feparated, the greater part of the alkali unites
without lofing its air to the precipitate, forming a falt compofed of aerated alkali,
earth and vitriolic acid; when the earth is properly feparated it falls in a granular
and not in a flaky ftate.

[ 6m ]

19,78 of this ftandard ; this therefore. is the quantity of ftandard
in 100 parts of the cryftallized allum, ,The remainder there-
fore of the 26,63 parts.refiduum juft mentioned, viz. 6,85 grs.
are mere water retained by the ftandard acid.) °

Hence the proportion ab ingredients, in 100. parts cnyStallized

allum is, dt .bion 3 y ft:
Earth = .- =h2.o. nestinos 2! fe 29437 sets
Standard acid st hodistas sy 19,78
Water retained by the ftandaed cil - 6,85

Water of cryftallization ||. - Lit> eyorrt4408
ar : ig if ‘100,00

or in other words, 100 parts allum contain _29;37 of earth,
26,63 of acid, whofe fpecific tik 1180.1,7509, and 44: of water
of -eryftallization. Le init od

100 parts” burnt or calcined allum contain: about 52,3 of
earth, 35,2 of ftandard acid, and 12,5 of water.

i Accorpine to Mr. Bergman, Too parts ‘cryftallized allum con-
‘tain 18 of earth, 38 of:acid, and -44 of water. It is probable
he heated the earth to a very high degree, for in’a red ‘heat -it
retains the fame weight as at 460°, but as to the quantity of
acid it is certainly inferior to the weight he aligns, if Mi Wenzel's
and my own can be relied on.

Mr.

[ 62 |

Mr. Wenzel decompofed 480 grs. of allum.by the nitrous
folution of lead, through ‘a double affinity. The precipitate
which confifted of vitriol of lead, well wafhed in warm water
and dried in a red heat, weighed 144 grs. and ‘this he fuppofed
contained all the acid in the ounce of allum. Now by a former
experiment he found that 240 grs. of vitriol of lead contain
72,57 of the ftrongeft vitriolic acid, that is 30,23 per cent. and
hence 144 ers of this falt contain 43,54. This then he con-
cludes to be the quantity contained in an ounce of allum, at
this rate too parts allum contain only 9,07 of the ftrongeft
acid. This~énormous difference evidently proceeds from the de-
of allum were evaporated to drynefs, the nitrous allum was ne-
ceffarily mixed with the vitriol of lead, - and in wafhing it away
much of the vitriol of lead muft have been carried off, and if it
were not evaporated. to drynefs part.of the vitriol of lead
remained in the folution. However, to find a more fecure method
of ufing this ufeful precipitant, which operates much quicker
than any Barytic folution, I repeated this experiment.

For this purpofe I diffolved 30 grs. of lead in 400 ers. of
nitrous acid, 1,1477 diluted. with 200 of water in a heat, of go°,

7 ers. were loft-by evaporation, or air, the remaining 623 grs.
contained 30 of lead. .

1 vHEN diffolved- 109, grs.. of allum_ in 1600 of pure water,
and placing it in a fand heat gradually added the folution of lead,
as the precipitate fettled and the liquor evaporated; when the
whole

[ 463°-1]

whole was reduced to half a fpoonful I found that 235 grs. of
the folution of lead had been employed; the refiduum evidently
contained vitriol of lead, as it appeared to form a pellicle on the
furface of the liquor.

Now fince 623 grs. of the folution of lead contained 30 of
lead, 235 grs. of this folution muft have contained 11,31. And
fince in vitriol of lead 70 parts lead indicate the prefence of 30
of the ftrongeft vitriolic acid, (in which ftatement both Mefits:
Bergman and Wenzel agree), the prefence of 11,31 gts. of lead
indicate the prefence of 4,84 of this ftrongeft acid. We have
already feen that the ftrongeft vitriolic acid is to the ftandard
acid as 82 to 92, then 4,84 grs. of this acid are equivalent to
5,4 of ftandard, which is ftill far below the truth.

As to the quantity of earth, Mr. Wenzel found. by precipitating
the earth contained in an ounce of allum by a fixed alkali, that
it amounted when dry to 140 grs. that is 30 per cent. as I had
done., But in a ftrong heat continued for two hours the whole
was reduced to 90 grs.; then 100, parts allum fhould contain
neatly 19 per cent. of earth. Then the 29,78 grs. which exifted
in the degree of deficcation I employed might be reduced to 19.
For 140. 90::29,78.19 nearly*.

of

* From the proportions here rigoroufly determined, it appears that fome of the
pofitions in my late paper on the alkalies ufed in bleaching are not exact.

[ ‘964. JJ

Of Vitriol of Iron.

250 ers. of cryftallized vitriol of iron expofed to a fand heat
of 420° became of a dirty white colour, and loft 98 grs. of its

weight, that is 39 per cent.

480 grs. of the cryftallized vitriol of iron diftilled in a fand
heat of 460° became grey and loft rg1 grs. of water flightly
acid, that is 40 per cent.

Hence I conclude that 100 parts vitriol of iton contain 39 of
water of cryftallization, the acidity indicates about 1 gr. of

acid.

-T ruen diffolved too grs. of the cryftallized falt in 3 ounces
of water, and gradually added to it the teft alkali, the fame I
ufed in the decompofition of allum. In the temperature of 60°
there was no effervefcence, though a greyifh precipitate appeared ;)
but when the folution felt a heat of 120° a flight quantity of
air was’ difengaged, which increafed as the heat approached to
that of boiling, fo that here alfo a compound falt was formed.
I conftantly afterwards made the folution boil.as long as any pre-
cipitate appeared, and thus found that 133 grs. of the alkaline
folution were neceflary to precipitate the whole of the iron, that
is 31,75 grs. of mere alkali, which indicates the prefence of
26,13 of the ftrongeft acid or 29,21 of ftandard.

Tue

[. Gp J

Tue precipitated calx, edulcorated and expofed to a red heat
for three quarters of an hour, weighed 30,5 grs. or rather 31,.
(as that flight lofs may be prefumed during the edulcoration.)
This calx was of a deep red colour, and as fuch calx affords
about 72 per cent of iron, thefe 31 grs. were equivalent to

22,3 of metallic iron.

Hence the proportion of ingredients in 100 parts cryftallized

vitriol of iron are,.

Iron - - - > 22,32 parts.

Standard acid ~ - - 29,21

Water united to the ftandard acid - 9,47

Water of cryftallization - - 39,00
100,00

HENCE 100 parts iron require 130,85 of the vitriolic ftandard

for their folution.

Accorpinc to Mr. Bergman, too parts vitriol of iron contain
23 of iron, 39 vitriolic acid, and 38 of water of cryftallization.

THis account may eafily be reconciled to mine, by fup-
pofing what is certainly true, that what he calls the acid part,
is not of the fame ftrength as the part that is fo called in
tartar vitriolate, but is only that part which does not include the
water of cryftallization. For if we add the 9,47 parts water

Vo, IV. K united

[ 66 ]

united to the ftandard acid to the 29,21 of flandard, we {hall
have 38,68 of an acid, whofe fpecific gravity is 1,7178.

Mr. Wenzel gives no account of the compofition of vitriol,
but barely relates that 240 grs. of bis fpirit of vitriol diluted
with 240 of water diflolved 55,25 of fteel Now we have
already feen that 240 grs. of his fpirit of vitriol contain 84,19
of my flandard, and hence it would appear that 100 parts fteel
fhould require for their folution 152 of vitriolic ftandard.
This feeming deviation from my refult is to be attributed to
his having expofed to the action of the acid a larger proportion
of iron than it could diffolve, the undiffolved part neceflarily
retained a portion which he could not eftimate.

To diffolve iron rapidly the quantity of water fhould be to
that of the ftandard as 5 to 1; if it exceeds the proportion of
7 to 1 the folution will be very flow.

Of the Quantity of real Acid in the different Standards.

By real acid, I do not mean an acid abfolutely divefted of
all water; perhaps water may be effential to the acid properties
of all acids, as it certainly is of fome of them; I barely
denote by that appellation the ftrongeft acid known to exift,
whether in a combined or in a feparate ftate; for inftance, the
vitriolic acid, as it exifts in tartar vitriolate; by recurring to the

obfervations

E oa J

obfervations made in treating of that falt, cubic nitre and fale
of fylvius, we fhall find that

100 parts vitriolic ftandard contain -- - 10,71 of water,
100 parts nitrous ftandard contain - - 26,46 of water,
100 parts marine ftandard contain - - 48,5 of water.

THE portions of water here mentioned are fuperfluous to
the conftitution of thefe different acids, which as we have
feen may exift without them; hence we may find the quantity
of real acid included in any quantity of ftandard; in vitriolic
acid by multiplying the quantity of ftandard into 0,1071, in
nitrous acid by multiplying into 0,2646, &c. and fubftracting
the product from the given quantity of ftandard.

AB Ee ah I.
Of the Proportion of Acid abforbed by different Bafes.

Vitriolic | Nitrous | Marine | Vitriolic | Nitrous | Marine
Acid. | Acid. Acid. Acid. Acid. Acid.
100 Parts. Standard. |Standard. |Standard.} Real. Real. Real.

Pure Vegetable alkali - g2 | 120 |115 82,1| 88,3 | 59,3

Mineral alkali - 143 | 171 145,92] 127,71136 75219

Volatile alkali - 227 | 327 1247 202,6|240,4 |127,25
Lime - - 124 | 258,5|104,72] 110,6|190 5394

Magnefia - -| 194 | 286 j215,8 | 173,2]210,33] 111,52

K 2 TABLE

[6 fl
T ACB & [Beek
Of the Proportion of Bafis abforbed by the different Acid Standards.

Volatile |

Vegetable] Mineral
Alkali. | Lime. |Magnefia.

100 Parts. Alkali. | Alkali.

44 80,6 | 56,6

Vitriolic acid - - - |108,7
Nitrous Acid - - - | 83,33] 58.4 | 3058] 38:4 | 34,9

Marine acid - - 87 40,48| 9554 | 46,3

TAB, Tht wee

Of the Proportion of Bafis abforbed by the different Real Acids.

Vegetable] Mineral | Volatile
Alkali. | Alkali. } Alkali. | Lime. |Magnefia.

100 Parts.

Vitriolic Acid - - - | 12158] 78,3 | 49,3 | 90,4 | 57:7
Nitrous Acid - - - | 11352] 73,5 | 4152 | 52.6 | 47,6
Marine Acid -~— - - | 168,6 |133 78,5 |185 89,9

I do not pretend that thefe numbers are rigoroufly exact,
for many decimals are omitted, to fay nothing of inevitable
errors, but I think them ufeful approximations.

TABLE

[ @g ]

Boke) Bond tuky jig dV

Of the Proportion of Ingredients in different Salts.

100 Parts. Alkali.
Tartar vitriolate - 55
Nitre - - 46,15
Salt of Sylvius - 64,2
Glauber’s falt - 24516
Cubic Nitre - 42535
Common falt - 53
Vitriolic ammoniae - 27542
Nitrous ammoniac - 24

Common falammoniac| 27,62

Earth or
Metal.
Selenite - - 34
Epfom - - 17
Allum - = 2.9537
Vitriol of iron - - 22,32

Water of
cryftalli-

zation.

Acid *.

45 equivalent to 50,49 ftandard.
53385 equivalent to 55,7 ftandard.
35,8 equivalent to 73 ftandard.
34,54 ftandard.

57,05 equivalent to 78,33 ftandard.
47 equivalent to 77,33 ftandard.
62547 ftandard.

76 equivalent to 78 ftandard.
68,49 ftandard.

43 ftandard.
33 ~—sftandard.
26,63 containing 19,78 ftandard..

38,68 containing 29,21 ftandard.

By

* The acid here mentioned is fometimes the ftrongeft, and fometimes intermediate
between the ftrongeft and ftandard, but its ftrength may always be known by its

relation to the ftandard.

L ge J

By viewing the quantity of each fpecies of real acid taken
up by any particular bafis, in the firft table, it is. eafy to
perceive that this quantity does not exactly follow the hitherto
prefumed order of affinities between that bafis and the different
acids, as I had ftated it to do in a prior differtation. My
former- opinion was grounded, it-is true, on experiments, but
thofe experiments themfelves were accompanied with inac-
curacies unfufpected not only by myfelf but by all other
experimenters, and moreover combined with an hypothefis relative
to the quantity of real acid, which I have fince found to be
fallacious. Mr. Morveau, however, in a very mafterly differ-
tation on affinities, publifhed in the New Encyclopedie, has among
many juft exceptions to my theory made fome few obfervations
which do not appear to me to be well founded. As the remarks
I have occafion.to make thereon are intimately connected with
the fubject of this paper, and tend to illuftrate it, I hope I fhall
need no other apology for introducing them.

Firft, I mentioned on a former occafion, that, according to
Mr. Bergman, alkalies took up more of the vitriolic than of
the nitrous acid, and more of this than of the marine; but
that, according to Mr. Wenzel and Dr. Plummer, this did not
happen. Mr. Morveau thinks this obfervation unfounded.
The following table will enable the reader to decide. As Dr.
Plummer was unacquainted with fixed air, and confequently
made no allowance for it, I fhall omit his experiments, and in
their room exhibit thofe of Mr. Wiegleb, who being acquainted

with

eS ae

with the opinion of Mr. Bergman, and with the method he
propofed for making ‘thefe experiments, purfued that method
exactly, with a view of afcertaining the fact in queftion.

By Bergman. | By Wenzel. | By Wiegleb.

( Vitriolic acid-| 78,5 82,63 | 101,92

100 Parts
Pure vegetable< Nitrous acid - 64 107,8 Liga
alkali take up |
of _ UMarine acid - 51 -- 54,46 2553
Sci f Vitriolic acid a 177 125,87 | 129,3
Mineral alkali ; x. .
a af a"2 Nitrous acid - | 135,5 166,6 139

| Marine acid. - | 125 83,91 | . 87,5

Here it is evident that both Mefirs. Wenzel and Wiegleb
agree in afferting that both alkalies take up more of the
nitrous than of the vitriolic acid, contrary to the aflertion of
Bergman. Mr. Morveau allows this as to Wenzel, but thinks
that he was miftaken, yet he follows exactly the method of
Bergman. Mr. Morveau thinks that nitre and cubic nitre, when
barely melted, retain a confiderable portion of water, which Mr.
Wenzel added to the portion of acid they contain; but. it is
certain, that inftead of lofing water in fuch heats they lofe
part of their acid, and confequently this fhould be diminifhed
rather than increafed. Nor does it appear that Wenzel applied

- a lower

[ 72 ]
a lower heat than Bergman, and it is certain that Wiegleb
conftantly applied a red heat.

Seconp-y, In a paper on the attractive powers of acids, inferted
in the tranfactions of the Royal Society for 1783, I obferved
that the characteriftic mark of /aturation confifted in the
lofs of fome peculiar property of the faturating bodies, and
that xeutralization exprefled the faturation of each of the
combined principles; as an inftance of the firft I adduced
the cafe of the faturation of an acid, which is judged to
take place when it lofes the property of reddening certain
vegetable blues, this being the teft univerfally applied and
admitted in this cafe. This inftance Mr. Morveau thinks
not fufficiently precife, for in this fenfe he thinks there
fhould exift combinations without faturation, which is repug- *
nant to the principles of affinities, and contrary to obfer-
vation; thus, fays he, “ there is a precife term for the com-
“ bination of a concrete acid with water, and of a concrete
“ acid with a fluid acid, and yet the property of affecting
“ colours is far from being effaced.” As to the firft inftance,
I do not think that an acid can be faid to be faturated with
water (an expreffion indeed very unufual) as long as it retains
its tinging property ; and as to the fecond, I confefs I am not
acquainted with the effects of the affinities of acids to each
other.

«Bur

Hae = ae

“ Bur {continues Mr. Morveau) it cannot be doubted but a
“ mutual faturation takes place in cream of tartar and other
“ falts that take up an excefs of acid between thofe falts in
« their neutral ftate and that excefs, and yet they affect Tourn-
« {ole.” In this cafe I allow the neutral falts are indeed
faturated and fuperfaturated with the acid, but [ am far from
‘thinking that the fuperabundant acid is faturated’ with the
neutral falts ; a fure fign that it is not fo faturated is, that if
it be duly prefented to a further quantity of the fame neutral
falt it will be divided between them.

Application of the foregoing Principles to mifcellaneous Experiments.

‘Tp determination of the quantity of ftandard or real acid
‘mineral acids, and that of the proportion of ingredients in
neutral falts, being fubjects of great nicety, the firft never before
undertaken by any, and the fecond undertaken only by a few,
and affording difcordant refults, neceflarily infpire diffidence,
until the accuracy of fome of thefe refults be confirmed by
collateral and general experience. To remove thefe doubts,-
by proving that my principles accommodate themfelves to the
moft exaét experiments hitherto made, I have already quoted
the experiments of Mr. Cavendifh, and fhall now produce a few
made by Meffrs. Berthollet, Morveau and Woulfe.

Vou. IV. L Mr.

i 7a]

Mr. Berthollet* took 288 grs. of nitre and 72 of fulphur ;
after expofing them to a fuflicient heat he found 12 grs. of
fulphur fublimed, and in the retort 228 grs. of tartar vitriolate.
He already proved in a preceding memoir}, that nitre is _
entirely decompofed by ¢ of its weight of fulphur, which is
the proportion here employed, therefore we muft fuppofe that
288 grs. of nitre contained as much alkali as 228 of tartar
vitriolate, and no more. Now by my computation 288 grs.
of nitre contain 132,96 of mere alkali, and 228 grs. of tartar
vitriolate contain 125,4. So that if I am miftaken, it is in
attributing too much and not too little alkali to nitre, and my
error is only 7,6 grs. in 288 of nitre, or 2,6 per cent.

By:Mr. Bergman’s computation 288 grs. of nitre contain
141,12 of alkali, and 228 grs. of tartar vitriolate contain only
118,56; fo that his error amounts to 22,56 grs. in 288 of nitre,

or 7,8 per cent.

I now proceed to examine the accuracy of our refpective
computation of the proportion of acids in thefe two falts, ftill
taking Mr. Berthollet’s experiment as the criterion.

In this experiment the fum of the ingredients was 288+72
=360 grs., but the fum of the products was only 288+12
=240 grs.; therefore 120 were loft or diflipated in air. And

Mr.

* Memoirs, Par. 1782, p. 603. + Mem. Par. 1781, p. 232.

ae!

Mr. Berthollet, in a prior experiment, found this air to be
nitrous mixed with a {mall quantity of pure air. Now by my
computation 288 grs. of nitre contain 155,08 of nitrous acid,
which is the fubftance, of which part is diffipated in air, and
of which part acidifies the fulphur, and 155,08—120=35,08,
this then is the quantity which on my principles fhould be taken
up by the 60 grs. of fulphur which are converted into vitriolic
acid, and 60+ 35,08=95,08 fhould be the quantity of acid that
faturates the alkali of 228 grs. of tartar vitriolate; but again,
by my own computation 228 grs. tartar vitriolate contain 102,6
of the ftrongeft acid; {6 that the difference between Mr. Ber-
thollet’s experiment and the refult afforded by my computation
is only 7,52 grs. in 360 of ingredients, that is only 2,09 per
cent.. By Mr. Bergman’s computation 288 grs. of nitre contain
but 95,04 of nitrous acid, which is palpably erroneous, as this
amount does not even equal the lofs, this being 120 grs. as we
have juft feen ; befides, 228 grs. of tartar vitriolate contain by
him 91,2 of vitriolic acid ; of this quantity, in this cafe, the
fulphur furnifhes 60 gers. and the remainder, that is 31,2 grs.
(the acidifying principle) is furnifhed by the nitrous acid, all
the reft of the nitrous acid, viz. 60 grs, fhould be loft or
diffipated, confequently the lofs fhould be 60 grs.; but by the
experiment it amounts to 120, therefore in every point of view
the computation is erroneous. By this experiment it appears
that 60 grs. fulphur are acidified by 35 or 36 of pure air or
100 grs. of fulphur by 60 of pure air, forming therewith 160
gts. of vitriolic acid. Hence 100 grs. of this acid in its ftrongeft

L2 {tate

[ih oe

ftate fhould contain 37,5 of the acidifying principle, the remain-
der being fulphur; but as fulphur is capable of different degrees
of acidification, the limits of the quantity of pure air taken up

by 100 grs. of it feem to be 50 and 60.

Mr. Berthollet attempted to find the compofition of vitriolic
acid in another manner. He boiled 288 grs. of fulphur in ftrong
nitrous acid; 199 grs. remained untouched, 89 only were acidi-
fied. He diluted the whole, and dropped into the liquor the .
folution of marine barofelenite, and thus obtained a precipitate,
weighing after calcination 920 grs. Now according to Bergman
this falt contains 0,15 of its weight of the ftrongeft vitriolic acid*,
therefore g20 grs. of it contain 138. This refult does not dif-
fer much from the laft, for if 100 of fulphur afford when acidi-
fied -160 of the ftrongeft acid, 89 parts fulphur fhould afford 142.
The acidification then is fomewhat flighter.

Tuts excellent chemift proceeded full further; he endeavoured
to find the quantity of this ftrong acid in oil of vitriol, whofe
{pecific gravity was 1,7881. With this view he poured 288 grs.
of this acid into a folution of lead in the nitrous acid, the pre-
cipitate exa@tly dried weighed fo2 grs. Now according to Mr.
Bergman vitriol of lead contains 0,28 of its weight of vitriolic

acid when exaétly dried}, therefore in this cafe 792 contained
221,76

* Bergman, p. 420.
$+ 1 Bergm. p. 105. It is true he elfewhere fays it contains 0,3 of its weight of
acid, but that is when it is dried in the heat of 212°. See 2 Berg. p. 392 and 406.

L a y

221,76 parts of the ftrongeft acid, therefore 288 grs. of oil of
vitriol, whofe fpecific gravity is 1,7881, contain 221,76 grs. of the
ftrongeft acid, that is 77 per cent.. I do not know at what tem-
perature the fpecific gravity was taken, but fhall fuppofe it to be
at 15° of Reaumur, as is very ufual in France, that is 65,°75 of
Farenheit, its fpecific gravity would then be 1,7917, at the
temperature of 60°, for which my table was formed, and confe-
quently fhould contain 83,6 grs. of ftandard. Now 77 grs. of the
ftrongeft acid are equivalent to 86,4 ftandard, for 82.92::77.86,4,
therefore the difference of Mr. Berthollet’s refult and that afforded
by my table is only 2,8 grs. and if the chance of an error
in both our refults be equal, the difference will be only

1,4 gr.

I must not diffemble however that there is an experiment of
Mr. Morveau’s totally irreconcileable with my table*: He took
58 grs. of vitriolic acid, whofe {pecific gravity in the temperature
of 8,5 of Reaumur, equal 51°,12 of Farenheit, was 1,841, and
dropped into it a folution of acetous barofelinite; he found the
precipitate, after calcination in a red heat for half an hour, to
weigh only 110,3 grs. which according to Bergman indicates 16,54
of the ftrongeft vitriolic acid in the 58 grs. of the oil of vitriol;
and if 58 contain but 16,54, 1oogrs. of this oil of vitriol
fhould contain but 28,5 of the ftrongeft acid, or 32 of
ftandard.

Tuts

* Encycloped. p. 592:

L y8 J

Tuts experiment I make bold to fay is fallacious, for the acid
whofe denfity at 51° was 1,841 fhould have diminifhed only to
1,836 in the temperature of 60°, and 100 grs. of it fhould then
contain 87,5 ftandard, or 77,99 of the ftrongeft acid. ‘The con-
clufion from this experiment is therefore not only incompatible
with my own but with that of Mr. Berthollet juft mentioned,
and I believe the caufe of this miftake lay in his having poured
the barytic folution into the acid inftead of pouring the acid
into the barytic folution, as Mr. Berthollet had done in preci-
pitating the folution of lead, or not applying a fufficiency of acet-
ous barofelinite.

Tue next inftance I fhall produce, of the agreement of my
principles with the moft exaé experiments, is the decompofition
of common falt with the refulting products, as accurately executed
as ingenioufly contrived by that moft {kilful manipulator and
f{cientific chemift Mr. Woulfe, in the Philofophical Tranfactions
for the year 1767. In his third experiment he employed 14 Ibs.
avoirdupois of common falt and 14]bs. of oil of vitriol, which
had been previoufly diluted with 7 lbs. of water, and diftilling
the mixture with a gentle heat, gradually increafed, he obtained,
in the immediate receiver denoted in his plate by the letter C,
t1lb. ro0z. of fpirit of falt, and found the more’ diftant re-
ceivers or bottles containing water deftined to condenfe the more
volatile fumes to have increafed in weight 3lb. 1o0z. and the
refiduum in the retort to have weighed 19lbs. 402. all avoirdu-
pois weight. .

Thus

[ge ‘]

Thus -.» Ingredients employed. Products obtained.

lbs. Ibs. oz.

' Oil of vitriol - 14 | Spirit of falt inthe receiverC - 11 10

Common falt - 14. | Condenfed vapours of do. in bottles 3. 10

Water - 7 Refiduum in the retort - = - 19 4
Total - Val Total - ee 5

we Lofs = — 8

28 te

Hence it is plain that 7 lbs. of water were difperfed among
all the produts.

To difcover the relative ftrength of the marine acid in the dif-
ferent receivers Mr. Woulfe made the following experiments :

First, 4 ounces oh bil of vitriol, whofe weight was to that of
water as 24 to 13, faturated 11b. 1002. 7 drs.=11566 gts. of a
fixed alkaline folution, which ferved as a teft, and which I fup-
pofed to have been formed of vegetable alkali.

’
3

SeconDLy, 4 ounces of the fpirit of falt in the receiver C fa~
turated 12,5 of that alkaline folution.

THIRDLY, 4 ounces of the-condenfed vapours, that is, a quan-
tity of water which contained fo much condenfed vapour, fatu-
rated 38 ounces of. the alkaline folution.

FourRTHLY,

L ]

Fourtuuy, To difcover the proportion of vitriolic acid carried
over with the marine in his different receivers, he faturated 4
ounces of each product with whiting, taking up the undiffolved
part with diftilled vinegar, by thefe means he found that 4 ounces
of the fpirit of falt in the receiver C afforded half an ounce and
24 grs. of dried felenite, but the bottles (or more diftant receivers)

contained none.

ap EES. YS ae

I must firft premife that the fpecific gravity of the oil of
vitriol employed in decompofing the common {alt is not men-
tioned; fince it is not, I muft fuppofe it to be the fame as that
he employed in faturating the alkaline folution, whofe weight
being to that of water as 24 to 13, its fpecific gravity, if taken
at 60°, was 1,8461, which indicates by my table 88,3 per cent.
{tandard,

grs.
Confequently four ounces Avoirdupois - o SSr7so
Contained of ftandard acid 1750X 0,883 - =; gar
And fince 100 parts pure vegetable alkali take up

g2 of the vitriolic ftandard, the quantity of al-

kali requifite to take up 1545 of vitriolic ftandard

is - - - =" - 1680
Therefore 11566 of the alkaline folution, faturated

by this acid, contained of mere alkali - 1680

[ 8 ]

grs. Ib. oz.
Again, 4 ounces of the fpirit of falt contain-
ed in the receiver C afforded 242,7 grs.
of felenite; and fince 100 grs, felenite
contain 43 of ftandard vitriolic acid, 242,7
contain - - ~ - 104.

Confequently the r1lb. 10 0z. of fpirit of

falt in the receiver C =186 ounces, con-

tained of vitriolic ftandard - - 4852
14lbs. of oil vitriol contained 14x 7000 - =g8000
And fince too grs. of it contained, 88,3

ftandard, g8000 grs. of it muft contain

of ftandard - - - - 86534
Deduct the quantity of ftandard that paffed
into the receiver CG - - =4852

There remained in the retort - - 81682

Again, the quantity of common falt was 14
pound, equal to - - - 98000
And as 100 grs. common falt contain 53 of
mineral alkali, the quantity of mineral
alkaliin this experiment was 98000x 0,53,
equal to = - - _ 51940
To which, adding the ftandard vitriolic acid
left in the retort; we have 5940x 81682
equal the refiduum, equal 138474=19 12,5

Vou. IW. M Which

uh; 2845: 1]

Which differs from Mr. Woulfe’s refult by 8,5 ounces in
excefs, which difference may be owing to his’ having ufed an
oil of vitriol weaker than I fuppofed, and confequently contain-
ing lefs ftandard, and to his ufing a common falt not perfectly
pure, but containing marine Epfom, whereas my calculation
‘is grounded on the fuppofition of its being perfe@ly pure.
And laftly, he takes no notice of any fra@tion of a pound lefs
than an ounce; and when all the calculations here employed ‘are
confidered the difference of 8-in jo8 oz. will appear inconfi-
derable. fore .

prs.
Further, fince 100 parts pure mineral alkali take up 143

of the vitriolic ftandard, 51940 fhould take up - 74274
And deduéting this from 81682 in the retort, we find
an excefs of - - - - - 7408

In effect, though Mr. Woulfe fays nothing of the
ftate of the refiduum, yet Mr. Baumé, who ufes
the fame proportion of ingredients, obferves there
is always an excefs of vitriolic acid left in the
retort.

I now proceed to examine the quantity of marine acid
produced: Since 11566 grs. of the alkaline folution
contained (as already faid) 1680. of mere alkali,

12,5 oz. (=5408,75 grs.) contained - > 704535

This

ie

B83 J
grs.
This therefore would have been the quantity of pure
vegetable alkali, faturated by 4 ounces of the marine
acid contained inthe receiver C, had it not been
mixed with vitriolic acid; but we have already feen
that thefe 4 ounces contained 104 gers. of the vitrio-
lic ftandard ; and fince 100 parts vitriolic ftandard
take 108,7 of mere vegetable alkali, 104 grs. of this
ftandard fhould take - - - - 113,04
Confequently there remained to take up the marine
acid only 794,35—113,04 - - - = 681,31
And fince 100 grs. pure vegetable alkali require to
faturate them 59,3 of the ftrongeft or real marine
acid, 681 require _ = - - - 404.
Therefore 4 ounces of the fpirit of falt in the receiver
C contained 404 ers. of the ftrongeft marine acid ; but
the receiver C contains in all 11 1b. 10 0z.=186 oz.
of this fpirit of falt; and fince 4 ounces contained
404, 186 oz. muft have contained - - 18786

Again, the 4 ounces of condenfed vapors, that is to

fay as much water as contained 4 ounces of thofe

vapors, faturated 38 of the alkaline folution, which

38 ounces muft, from what has been above faid,

have contained of pure alkali - - - 2414
And fince 100 grs. mere alkali take 59,3 of the

ftrongeft marine acid, 2414 muft have taken - 1631

M2 But

[ 84 J

But the whole quantity of condenfed vapors was 58
ounces ; and fince 4 ounces contained 1631 grs. of
mere acid, 58 ounces muft contain - ra

Hence the whole quantity of real acid was 18786+23649,
equal - - - -

Now by my computation 14lbs. of common {alt
=98000 grs. fhould contain of acid - -

For 100 contains 47. Difference - -
Then the lofs is 3626grs.; but, per Mr. Woulfe, the
lofs is 8 ounces - - - - -

Difference between Mr. Woulfe’s experiment and my
theory = - - As 4 .

grs.

23649
42434,
46060

=3626

= 3500

= 126

i ae

CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS and ENQUIRIES.
By ROBERT PERCEVAL, M.D. and M.R.LA.

Marine Acid,

F OUR pounds of decrepitated falt were decompofed by two Read Nov.
pounds of vitriolic acid (fp. gr. 1,845) diluted with the fame % 179%
weight of water. By means of a tubulated receiver, the produa&

was divided into three portions, the two firft confifting each of

12 ounce meafures, the laft of 10. The fpecific gravity of thefe

portions was as follows :

1ft portion - 1,181
ad - - I,1Ig
ad r= - - 1,191

On repeating the experiment, the refult turned out fomewhat
different, the 1ft and 2d portions being both ftronger ; this pro-
bably depended on the heat having been more moderate in the
latter experiment, in confequence of which lefs marine acid air

was loft than in the former.
Specific.

[ 86 ]

Specific gravity, 1 portion - 1,193
ad - - 1,126
3d - - I,I1gI

Tue general conclufion is however the fame, namely, that what
firft and laft comes over in diftillation is ftronger than the inter-
mediate portion, and this conclufion is confirmed by the refult of
two other experiments, the details of which, as refembling thofe
defcribed, need not be recited.

As marine acid air is more volatile than water, we find no diffi-
culty in_ conceiving how the firft portion of acid may be. the
moft faturated ; why the laft portion fhould be ftronger than the
intermediate is not fo obvioufly to be accounted for; perhaps,
towards the latter end of the procefs, the vitriolic acid acts on
the falt in a more concentrated ftate. At firft, I imagined that
part of this acid paffed in diftillation, in confequence of the in-
creafed heat, but on examining the laft portions with a folution
‘of nitrated terra ponderofa, I found that no precipitate was pro-
duced but what was eafily rediffolved in diftilled water, and
which therefore I concluded did not indicate the prefence of
vitriolic acid*.

Nitrous

* On adding a folution of nitrated terra ponderofa to pure and ftrong nitrous or
marine acid, I have obferved an eafily foluble precipitate to be produced. Q, Is this
an earthly falt with excefs of acid, or does the acid deprive the falt of the water of
ats folution ?

ia

at the temperature 58', the feeond product, weighing 1 Ib. 1030 grs. -

bitty: Fy

Niirous Acid,

In the diftillation of nitrous acid, as in that of marine, the firft
portion is the heavieft, but, as the difiillation advances, the fpe-
cific gravity of the products appears uniformly to diminifh. Two
pounds of nitre were decompofed by one of concentrated vitriolic
acid; the produ@ was divided into three portions, the two firft
confifting of 3 ounce meafures each, the laft of 24; their fpecific
gravities were as follow,

I Bs = I 494.

DE eae 1,485
3 — 7 1,442

As the vitriolic acid in this procefs is always in its moft con-
centrated ftate, the caufe on which the increafed fpecific gravity
of the laft portion of marine acid féems to depend cannot here

operate.

‘Folatile Alkalt.

In diftilling cauftic volatile alkali, the firft portions that pafs in
diftillation have the leaft fpecific gravity. In the procefs for
cauftic volatile alkali, according to the Edinburgh Difpenfatory, the
firft produ, amounting to 1 Ib. 100 grs. was found to be 1936:

at

[ 88 ]

at the fame temperature, was ,960. Volatile alkali is always
lighter than water, when perfe@tly cauftics. Alkaline air, as well
as marine acid air, from its extreme volatility, feems difpofed to
unite moit copioufly with the firft portions of water. That thefe
become lighter by uniting with it feems to depend on the
elafticity of the alkaline air, which the attractive force that
unites it te water is incapable of entirely repreffing.

Vitriolic Acid.

We are informed by the moft refpeCtable authorities that vi-
triolic acid has been obtained fo ftrong as to be more than twice
as heavy as water, but by what procefs I remain ignorant. I have,”
though perhaps miftakenly, fufpe@ed that fuch acid was not
pure, but owed its great weight to felenite, vitriolated lead or vitri-
olated alkali, which it contained. I found the fpecific gravity of com-"
mon vitriolic acid increafed from 1,845 to 1,892, by diffolving
in g ounce meafures of it 960 grs. of vitriolated vegetable alkali.
Six pounds of common vitriclic acid (fp. gr. 1,842) were diftilled
until 3134 grs. came over ; what remained was concentrated to 1,849.
Four pounds cf this concentrated acid were heated until the bottom
of the retort and the liquor itfelf appeared red, and were expofed to
this heat for above half an hour, during which time copious

white

* This is not the cafe with the aerated volatile alkali; this liquor, obtained accord.

ing to the fame difpenfatory, was found, in two experiments, to be 1,042.

[ 89 J

white fuffocating fumes pafied in great abundance ; what remained
in the retort weighed 2 lbs. 1840 grs. and was concentrated to
1,852, What came over appeared to be as {trong as what was at
firft put into the retort. In thefe and other fimilar experiments,
as is well obferved by Mr. Kirwan, the acid in the retort depofits a
quantity of white powder, which appears to be gypfeous; this it
lets fall in ftill greater quantity when diluted with water. What
paffed over in the laft mentioned experiment, although very
ftrong, was found to remain clear after dilution. Willing there-
fore to try what degree of concentration this pure acid would
admit, I fubjeéted it, together with the produ@ of many fimilar
proceffes, to the aCtion of a ftrong fire.

Grs.
Thefe products weighed - - ~ 40380
Came over - - - 10680
Remained in retort - - E 29240
Loft in vapours - - - 460
Temperature 50. Specific gravity of what came over
was - - - = - - 1,394
Specific gravity of what remained in retort, and
which bore dilution with diftilled water without
having its tranfparency in the leaft difturbed, was - 1,846

Vou. IV. N

¥

‘ ‘eta . ‘
= aes a Se Seaton

aa

Account of a CHAMBER LAMP FURNACE. By
ROBERT PERCEVAL, M.D. and MRL A.

»

Sannin Las
— .

Dre Jamp furnace, of which a figure is annexed, Read March
I have found convenient in many chemical experiments. It —
confifts of a cylindrical body, 4; inches diameter and’ 93 high,

(a, Fig. 2.) furmounted by a laboratory (or fpace for containing
veffels) which is a hollow truncated cone, 63 inches wide at top’
and 4+ at bottom (4, Fig 2.). Its conical fhape adapts it to veflels:

t - of different fizes. To the infide of the laboratory are riveted
. fix tubes 2ths of an inch diameter, (c, c, Fig. 2.) on which the veflel
refts, fo that {pace fufficient for the paflage of heated air is inter-
pofed between it and the infide of the laboratory. To three of
thofe tubes the iron fpikes marked A in figure the fecond, are
fitted, which may be introduced into them occafionally. The
converging extremities of thefe form a fupport for veflels, the
bottoms of which are lefs than 41 inches in diameter. /n
ene of thefe tubes, whilft the lamp is burning, is placed the {mall

N2 pipe

L oa. J

pipe a, Fig. 3, which communicating with the refervoir 4, fup-
-plies oil gradually to the lamp, through an aperture contrived
for that purpofe. The lamp, which 1s contained in the body of
the furnace, is made according to Argand’s conftruction, with an
oil ciftern, which is an hollow cylinder. The diameter of the
wick-holder, in the clear, is one inch and jths; the diameter of
the circular air aperture within (A, Fig. 1.) 1s one inch and ths.
The lamp is fupported by two crofs ftays, (a, Fig. 1.) which are
fixed to the top of the tube 4, Fig. 1, This tube rifes and falls
on the ftem @, and is fixed at different heights by means of the
{pring catch ¢, Fig. 1, which paffing through the holes 4 4, pailes
into correfponding holes of the ftem. The tube, in rifing and
falling, carries with it the lamp, which, by this means, may be
fupported at different diftances from the veffels in the labora-
tory. The furnace itfelf anfwers the purpofe of a chimney to
the lamp. In the body of the furnace is an opening (d, Fig. 2.)
for trimming the lamp; this may be clofed by a flide. When
this is clofed, the heat of the lamp is confiderably increafed, for
reafons too obvious to be infifted upon. The bottom of the lamp,
to make it more fteady, is, loaded with lead. ©

I was employed in making fome experiments with this lamp,
aflifted by my ingenious friend Mr. Healy, when he fuggefted that
the heat produced by it would probably be greater if the internal
air aperture of the wick-holder were diminifhed. This conjecture
I thought probable, as, in the ftate of the lamp which I have de-
{eribed, the central air was fo far removed from the flame as not
to be heated confiderably by it, and this, we imagined, might
eounterbalance any advantage which might refult from the more

liberal

SL a aA re

ee ae

liberal fupply of air to the flame. To determine whether this
was really the cafe, we caufed a ftopper to be made half an inch
in diameter, which, fitting into the central aperture with a fpring,
left a circular opening 3ths of an inch wide for the paflage of air.

We then Plerved with a thermometer and ftop-watch at what
rate mercury contained in a glafs folution bottle, which was placed
in the laboratory, acquired temperature, firft, when the ftopper
was not employed, and, afterwards, when it was. ‘The bottom of
the veffel was one inch and ths diftant from the edge of the

wick-holder.

Tue refult of thefe obfervations is contained in the following
table. At the beginning of obfervation the thermometer placed

in the mercury ftood at 113,5.

. Without ftopper.
Increments of

Minutes of obfervation. Temperatures. Temperature in a minute.

re - 143,55 =<) 130

2 ip in 174 va 3955

3 F ; BOG ihe h Ft 29

4 - - 28 - 28

Be ihe - 256 = - 25——142,5 in 5°

The —

[ 94 ]

The ftopper was now put in.

\

6 - - 292 - 368
7 = a - 63
Bes - 409,5 = 5455
9 P WA EALHBIO RY HILARY 07 HBG
Io t Ss 500 = 42

—— 244 in 5°

Ir is obvious that the effect of the ftopper in increafing the
heat muft have been confiderable, as, from the former part of the
obfervation, it appears, that as the temperature of mercury en-
creafes, the increments of its temperature in a given time (circum-
ftances remaining the fame) diminifh. Yet the fum of the incre-
ments in the laft five minutes confiderably exceeds the fum of the
increments in the firft. We now wifhed to try the effe&t of dimi-
nifhing ftill farther the internal air aperture of the wick-holder,
and for this purpofe adapted to the ftopper a ring, which encreafed
its diameter to Zths of an inch, and confequently diminifhed the

width of the circular opening for air to ;3,ths of an inch.

Tue following table will fhew the effedt of this alteration. In
this experiment the lamp burned lefs brifkly than in the former.

The

* The increment of temperature in the 6th minute was diminifhed by lowering

the flide for the admifion of the ftopper.

ca

["293"" ]

Tus temperature of the mercury at the beginning of obfervation

was 113,5-
Without ftopper.
Increments of ,
Minutes of obfervation. ; Temperatures, ; . Temperature in a minute.
I E x 135 4 21,5
2 - ~ Tog = = hga,g
3 a ‘ a x 1955
4 - i at 196 - - 19
5) eh 5 213 2 17—99,5 in 5°.
The-enlarged ftopper was now put in.
6 " ahaa ; 34
7 - - 329. == - 82
8 4 =, FEEAS e 735
ie D sia q ‘Asiihghik Shel alana aia se= LP)
4 10 - ys - 56—311in 5°

As the proportion of 311 to 99,5 is much greater than of 244
to 142,5, the enlarged ftopper appeared to have confiderable ad-
vantage in encreafing the heat.

The comparative effet of the two ftoppers was determined
Bf by another trial, as is expreffed in the following tables.

! ; Lamp with enlarged ftopper.

Temperature of mercury 125.
Increments of

Minutes of obferyation. ‘Temperatures. _ Temperature in a minute.
7 a 175 ‘ 5°
= - 228 - - 53
. =. Bah - 46

[ 96 |

Lamp with {mall ftopper,

Temperature of mereury 126,

Trerements of

Minutes of obferyation, Temperatures, Temperature in a miayee:
> ” i 79 « 45
> Been keel) Eh ae

=== 129 in 3%,

Tavs it appears, that, in lemps made on this conftruction, the
internal aperture for alr may be confiderably diminithed with advan-
tage, What fs the moft edvantageous opening I have not had
leifure to determine, It is probable it would not bear to be

diminifhed much more than jn the experiment laft recited,

tratt a LETTER from the Reverend CHARLES
-PERCEVAL . ROBERT PERCEVAL, M. D.and
BM ed ed
7 jJonnea odt Jjlsw yisev ebsor :
ot ode) .tigt 10° tind show aso sdt tsdt bal
rievDeaRvRe COR mnibasfiebays sislq stetsbom: ss Yo |

Extract of.

12. “oiilody aos tofed bras atidoots’ todo : ret
In my way from the county. of Cork. to, this city, I had curiofity Bed Dee.
toigo | intdo the; chartérs{cheol at Dypnkerrin, ; in, the, King’s county, 4» 179°
] * to-fee what;¢ondition therfehool was Ans; and,, hoyy,., it,,was taken
‘care Of; Among, the childten I; met, one, whofe cafe, appeared
fingular; | and; a matter of curiofity, I, therefore. communicate it
‘toryou; if perchance you! fhould: think it; worthy the attention of
‘the Royal:liiffsAcademiyi, od? vodw dire SayoSS gent +

(Ty. ft

: Jane Bern, a girl aged eleven years or thereabouts, low in
—— Patatel ig°Gf ah “healthy: appearance and; ftrong make; her eyes

} are confteacea in! an? éxtraordinary: manner ;';their motion, in-

ftead of a regular horizontal one, from left to right, and vice
; verfa, is tremulous 201 494: eAtions, and partly perpendicular,
i with a. prominent motion, of the globe of the eye: what lateral
“e motion the eye is capable of is {hort, interrupted, and gives
iM that ,organ,, the appearance ,of being bound by ligaments, from

Vou. IV. O which

[ 98 ]

which it ftruggles to get free. The child cannot eafily look
upwards, or fee any object placed above her eyes; and when

fhe reads, which fhe does without any hefitation or difficulty,
' fhe reads perpendicularly from the bottom upwards, and holds
the book accordingly. The whole globe of the eye is of a
reddifh caft, the white is ftreaked with ftrie of a fainter red,
the iris is of an uniform deep red approaching to brown; both
her eyes are weak and watery, and, when turned from the
light, glow with a more fiery and vivid colour than when ex-
pofed to it. Though fhe reads very well, fhe cannot write,
neither do I find that fhe can work, knit or fpin. She feems
poffeffed of a moderate plain underftanding, and anfwered very
well in the Church Catechifm and Door Mann’s Expofition of
it. She has remarkably fine hair, of the colour of flax,
but confiderably whiter. The miftrefs of the fchool informed
me that the child was fent to her from a nurfery in the county
of Longford in the North of Ireland. I was not informed
whether any more of her family had thefe peculiarities, but
mean to make the enquiry when I next happen to travel through
that part of the country where the girl is, and fhall let you
know it.

Ir the above communication affords matter of fpeculation or
literary amufement to any, it will give great pleafure to,

Dear Doétor,

Your moft affeCtionate brother,

CHARLES PERCEVAL.

Eicgo. °]

DESCRIPTION of 2 PORTABLE BAROMETER
By the Reverend GILBERT AUSTIN, 4. M. and M.R.I. A.

Tue barometer, in the hands of modern philofophers, by the Read Dec.
remarkable facility and fuccefs with which it has been applied “© ‘79
to the meafurement of heights, feems to have acquired a new
property, and to have obtained a higher degree of eftimation
among the learned. It has therefore been thought worthy of
every cultivation that might render it more perfect or conve-

nient, and every attempt to improve it has been favourably
received.

Tue inftrument, in its moft fimple form, is moft accurate, but
not portable. To retain its fimplicity, therefore, and render

it portable and eafy in the application, appears the proper object
of improvement.

In the beft modern inftruments of this kind a confiderable
degree of accuracy has been attained, but their conftruction is
O 2 not

[t reo’ J
not fufficiently fimple. They are, therefore, difficult to execute,
hard to keep in repair, and confequently too expenfive to ferve
the advancement of knowledge as extenfively as might be wifhed,
I might alfo add that the difficulty of adjufting them correly
renders the obfervations more uncertain than they might .be’
were the inftrument lefs complex.

As a {mall attempt towards the improvement of this inftru-
ment, I beg leave to offer to the Academy the following defcrip-
tion of a portable barometer of more fimple conftruction.

Tue beft barometers of the modern conftruction are furnifhed
with floating gages, in order to afcertain the proper height of
the mercury in the bafon, from the furface of which the fcale
commences. In the barometer now offered to the Academy this
end is more fimply accomplifhed by making a hole in the
fide of the bafon at a proper height, fo that it cannot at any
time, when hanging perpendicular, contain more mercury than
will exaétly rife to the ftandard level. This will be beft under-
{tood by the general defcription, Fig. 1.

Tue body of the barometer confifts of an upper box a, and a
_ lower 4. In the upper box is the bafon of mercury f, in which
the tube ¢ with its attached thermometer are immerfed. The
bafon communicates with a bag e (which hangs in the lower
box, and is glued clofely to the upper) by a long perfora-
tion g in the fide and parallel to it, which is opened and fhut
at pleafure by a ftop cock 4, with a hole & in the direction of
its axis reaching as far as the perforation in the fide of the box,

and

a

aoe
~

[-: qox 4]

and then turning off at right angles to communicate with the
perforation. Through this paflage the mercury overflows until
it has defcended to its ftandard level, and through this it is
forced back again from the bag into the bafon when it is necef-
fary to fill it. For conveniently effeGting this, the lower box is
open at the bottom m wide enough to admit the thumb, and

¢has in it a loofe, piece # with a cavity anfwering the convexity

of the bottom of the upper box, which is prefled by the thumb
againft the bag, and forces (with little difficulty) up into the
bafon the mercury, which finds no paflage but through the

\perforation., A {mall air-hole o is in the top of the upper

box, which;is opened or fhut by a {mall ivory peg or ftop-
cock.

In order to render the barometer portable, firft clofe the air-
hole to prevent the mercury from running out through it, then
invert the barometer, prefs the bag with the loofe piece {fo as to
fill completely the cavity of the bafon (if any air is fuppofed to
remain in the bottom of the bafon), now the top, unfcrew a
{mall fteel pin « which pafles from the outfide of the upper box
into the bottom of the bafon, and force the mercury out of the
bag until it appears in this hole, the air is then perfectly ex-
cluded and the cavity full of mercury, fhut the ftop-cock by
turning it by the fquare g with its key one-quarter or one-half
round, and {crew again into its place the fteel fcrew. It will
now be found very portable, particularly if carried in an in-

verted pofition.

i ae

To make it ready for obfervation, it is to be fufpended either
on its ftand or on a hook, and holding it inclined, the ftop-cock
is firft to be opened, afterwards the air-hole, and then it is to be
let down very gently to its perpendicular direction. The fcale
will fhew truly the {tate of the barometer.

Ir any accident or fhake fhould caufe more mercury to flow
out of the bafon than enough to fill it to the ftandard height,
the adjuftment may be repeated as often as thought neceflary by
only inclining the barometer, and forcing mercury from the
bag into the bafon. It will be proper to obferve the height of
the mercury by the fcale at each trial, and when it ftands at the
higheft the barometer is properly adjufted. If it can be hung
truly perpendicular, either by bracing it to its own ftand, or by
fixing it to a firm poft, there is no occafion to difturb it for a
new adjuftment ; the mercury may be forced into it as it hangs,
and be fuffered to find its proper level by overflowing. This
may be found convenient for obfervations in the houfe; if it
fhould be preferred to ufe it as a barometer of the common con-
ftruction, it is only neceffary to adjuft it once, and fhut the
ftop-cock.

TueE two boxes of this barometer may be made of box-wood
or ivory of any convenient fize that may anfwer beft to render
them portable. The diameter of the bafon may be very much
reduced, as the accuracy of this inftrument does not depend on
its fize. It need not be much larger than may be conveniently
held in the hand, as the head of a walking-cane. If the tube is
neatly mounted in a drawn brafs tube it may be enclofed within

the

aa

We f ‘rez. J

the legs of a triangle, fo as not altogether to be a much greater
incumbrance than a common walking-cane.

As the ftop-cock cannot otherwife be conveniently fecured
from falling out, a collar of brafs is turned to fit a fhoulder left
on it for that purpofe, and {crewed over it, as in the Fig. 3.

Tue greateft inconvenience which occurs to me in the ufe of
this barometer is the chance of fhaking out too much mercury
in adjufting it, or the danger of its being difturbed by the wind.
But a little practice will prevent any uncertainty from thefe
caufes, and that without much trouble ; befides the barometer
may be faftened in a perpendicular direction.

A GREATER objection feems to arife from the danger of
forcing air into the mercury which is to fill the bafon from the
bag below. But from the {mall quantity neceflary to make it
overflow, little inaccuracy feems to be apprehended ; and even
what is confined with the reft in the box when the inftrument
is to be carried about will hardly injure to any perceptible
degree that in the tube, as lefs agitation can take place in this
than any other barometer; for the air in maffes or fenfible
bubbles is more completely excluded, and the cavity being lefs
irregular does not allow any air to lodge in corners as may
about the floating gages, and various ftop-cocks of thofe on a
different conftruction.

AMONG

[ moa} |

Amonc other advantages of the prefent barometer it feems'
to poflefs the following: There is no wafte of mercury, and
the farface in. the bafon is. more accurately determined than
can be. done by floating gages; as errors may. arife in ‘the
adjuftment of them from parallax, from friGtion, and from their
not diftinguifhing accurately very {mall variations in the altitude
of the furface, as the prefent. barometer does.

Tue following experiments nr that oar’ grains ‘of mercury
cannot be added to the quantity which reaches to the ftandard
height in the. bafon without overflowing. And yet four grains
of mercury or more diffufed over a circular furface an inch in
diameter (about the diameter of the bafon I. made the experi-
ment upon) would hardly raife it fenfibly, the bulk is fo {mall
iN proportion to the. weight.

ete

cri

I susPENDED (fee Fig. 2) at the arm of a balance, and coun-
terpoifed the barometer. I took out the ftop-cock with the
hole at right angles which communicates with the perforation
in the fide, and conduéts the overflowing mercury into the bag,
and put in its place one with a hole of equal diameter in ‘the
direction of the axis only, and opening without the box, ‘fo
that the mercury, which was more than enough to fill the bafon
to, the ftandard height, fhould (through this place) flow out of
the bafon into a veffel not at all conne@ted with it I balanced
the barometer accurately when the bafon was filled as‘ high as
it could contain mercury, hanging freely and in a perpendicular
direction. I then frequently inclined the bar®meter, and through

‘i the

‘e

a

Byer ier

‘TTC OTA ALL

|

i
et Wil ies

Rg 3
of

~

x
Lo Face Page. 104.

H
i) -
i)

Fig 2

J
mn

TY

‘
To Face Page. 204.

aes }

the piece above-mentioned introduced more mercury into the
bafon, fo as to overfil it when hanging perpendicularly ; I let
it defcend carefully and gently to its perpendicular direction,
and let it depend from the arm of the balance as before. The
fuperfluous mercury run over, and what remained (provided no
fudden concuflion was given to the fcale or barometer in de-
{cending) uniformly weighed as the firft, and remained in exact
equilibrio. The variation from accidents fometimes, but rarely,
amounted to four grains. The balance I ufed fenfibly inclined
with four grains when charged with this weight.

Vot. IV. P

§
}

Dw amp ewe

[fy Beg), Tl

ecseercemet nena See ——

OBSERVATIONS on the VARIATION of the NEEDLE.
By Mr. THOMAS HARDING, M.R.1L 4.

‘THe variation of the Magnetic Needle is meafured by an arch
of the horizon, intercepted between the true and magnetic me-
ridian. To account fatisfaétorily for fuch deviation, and ftill
further for the variation of that deviation, at different times and
places, has not yet fallen to the fhare of any philofopher, not-
withftanding the feveral hypothefes framed for the purpofe of
explaining the phenomena.

Tue fact is, that bare hypothefes are feldom ufeful (often dan-
gerous) to fcience. In the prefent cafe, | am perfuaded that we
{hall never be able to arrive at a true theory of the variation of
the needle, without the advantage of numerous obfervations made
at fundry diftant places, at the fame, and alfo at different, times:
It is therefore much to be wifhed that a correfpondence were
eftablifhed among the learned, for this and all fuch ufeful pur-
pofes, and that experience were fubftituted for fyftems founded
only on conjecture.

P 2 THE

Read May
7) 1791.

f tes i

Tue ingenious Mr. Churchman of Philadelphia merits refpect
for endeavouring to add fomething to the common ftock of
knowledge, but I doubt the truth of his fyftem for the follow-
ing reafons. The variation of the needle has been increafing
here fince the year 1657, and the meafure of it this month,
at Dublin, is 27 degrees 23 minutes wefterly, and in the year
1794 we may expect it will be ftill greater ; but by Mr. Church-
man’s Chart of the Northern Hemifphere, which is conftructed
for that year, the variation meafures barely 1g degrees : At pre-
fent it differs from the truth more than eight degrees, and if
the following obfervations can be depended on, I may ven-
ture to affirm the difference that year will be much more
confiderable.

It is now nineteen years fince I firft paid a ferious attention
to this furprifing phenomenon, the change of the variation of
the Horizontal Needle, and my experience ever fince has con-
vinced me it is uniform at Dublin. This is the chief point, firit
to be determined, and the next, which naturally follows, is an
enquiry whether it be fo in every other place, or not: Here, I am
confident, and hope to prove, it has varied, fince the year 1657,
at the rate of about 12 minutes 20 feconds annually. The
query is, What is its ratio elfewhere? This can only be difco-
vered by general obfervations, as I mentioned before ; and until
this be effected any idea of finding the /ongitude by the varia-
tion mutt be delufive.

' OcTOBER

F -xeg jj

Ocroser 17881 publifhed a fmall treatife on the calculation
of Areas arithmetically, in which I mentioned the variation found
in September, which was 26 degrees 50 minutes wefterly, and
gave a general rule for finding it at any time, as alfo a pro-
blem for reftoring loft or defaced boundaries, by the varia-
tion, as follows, viz.

Havine the notes of a furvey recently taken (by the needle) to
find what the bearing of any ftationary line was any number of
years paft, fince the year 1657.

R U L E:

MuuripLy 12 minutes 20 feconds by the years elapfed, and
add the produét to the prefent bearing, the fum will be the
bearing required, and vice ver/a.

I come now to the proof of my affertion, viz. that the change
of the horizontal needle is uniform at Dublin. We have fun-
dry authentic records to fhew that the variation was eafterly
prior to the year 1657, and that in 1657 there was no variation
in thefe kingdoms. With refpect to the former, Mr. Burrows,
Mr. Gunter, and Mr. Gellibrand are fufficient evidence ; the firft,
in 1580, obferved it to be 11. degrees 15 minutes caft of the meri-
dian of Greenwich ; the fecond, in 1622, fix degrees eafterly ; and
the laft, in 1634, four degrees five minutes eafterly. In the year
1657 the magnetic and true meridians coincided in Ireland
according to the Down Survey, or in other words, there was-

no variation,
In=

, Be, |

In 1745 Mr. Roger Kendrick writes it 18 degrees wett.
In 1751 Mr. Gibfon publifhed it 19 degrees weft.

In 1772 I found it, by feveral careful obfervations, 23 degrees
30 minutes weft.

In 1786, May 26th, I alfo found it 26 degrees 21 minutes weft.
And,

In 1790, September 27, - - 27 degrees 15 minutes weft.
THESE were all publifhed at the times they were obferved.

Tue data here given I prefume are fufficient to prove the
uniformity at Dublin.

Ir fhould be noticed that Mr. Gibfon publifhed his account
of the variation in 1751, and the year following, viz. in 1752,
he affixed the fame variation to a map now in the poffeffion of
William Deane, Efg. which isa proof that he was unacquainted
with the annual change.

Berore I begin the general operation, I cannot avoid remark-
ing, witha degree of aftonifhment, that there is mot one obferva-
tion on the variation of the needle to be found in any of our city records
from the year 1657 to the year 1745, at which time Roger Kendrick,
then City Surveyor, mentions that it was 18 degrees wefterly, as
appears by a map of part of the lamds of Baldoyle in the Town
Clerk’s office at the Tholfel. This circumftance refle&s no
credit on the Land Surveyors of Ireland. They muft have had
little curiofity during that time, or have been totally excluded from
any intercourfe with learned focieties abroad, every one of which
has

[ azz 9

has fomething to offer on the fubje€t. Yet. there is no doubt but
it was obferved by fome perfon here in the year 1712 to be 11
degrees 15 minutes weft, and ws Fofeph Moland was then City Sur-
veyor I was in full expectation of getting fome intelligence from
him; byt in that particular I was difappointed, as not one of
his maps either of town or country, for the {pace of twenty years,

makes the leaft mention of it.

Gisson’s Surveying, page 308, gives the variation r1 de-
grees I5 minutes in the year 1722; but it muft have been
a miftake (probably an error of the prefs), for that year it was
found to be 14 degrees 13 minutes by Mr. Grabam in London ;-
however, as I can neither employ foreign obfervations, nor any
of a doubtful nature at home, in the following calculations, I
muft, for the prefent, content myfelf with requefting that any
nobleman or gentleman who may be in pofleflion of a map or
record made between the year 1657 and 1745, exprefling the
variation, will be fo kind as to fend an account of it to the
Secretary of the Royal Irifh Academy as foon as convenient.
Now, though I am confined to Mr. Kendrick’s obfervation in
1745, becaufe no other has been committed to writing, yet I am.
of opinion he had as little idea of any regular increafe in the
variation as any of his predeceffors: I am perfuaded it was the
cafe, for we find another map of his in 1753, in the aforefaid.
office, denoting the variation 19 degrees; the fame that. Mr.
Gibfon publifhed it in 1751. A fecond confideration convinces
me of this, viz. that he always writes the variation in whole de-

grees, viz. either 18 or 19, (and that for a fucceffion of years) ;
yet,

[ eg

yet, however deficient either of them may be, I am obliged,
through neceffity, to take up their dates and proceed as follows :

GENERAL OPERATION.

1. From 1745 take 1657, the remainder is 88 years; divide
18 degrees, reduced to minutes, viz. 1080 by 88, the quotient is
12 minutes 16 feconds.

2. From 1751 take 1657, the remainder is g4 years; divide
19 degrees, reduced to minutes, viz. 1140 by g4, the quotient is
12 minues eight feconds nearly.

3. From 1772 take 1657, the remainder is 115 years; divide
the minutes in 23 degrees 30 minutes, viz..J410 by 115, the quo-
tient is 12 minutes 16 feconds nearly.

4. From 1786 take 1657, the remainder is 129; divide 26
degrees 21 minutes, reduced to minutes, viz. 1581 by 129, the
quotient is 12 minutes 16 feconds nearly.

5. Lasrry, from 1790 take 1657, the remainder is 133;
divide the minutes in 27 degrees 15 minutes, viz. 1635 by 133,
the quotient is 12 minutes 18 feconds nearly.

THe intermediate dates being compared (except the two firft,
which can be accounted for) will exhibit the fame numbers nearly.
“Any fmall difference, arifing from a comparifon of the interme-
diate dates, fhould be attributed to a want of attention to the

annual

[ +ae3 3]

annual change, which might make a difference of a year or two
in the computation (as is the cafe with refpe@t to Mr. Gibfon).
Without the ftridteft regard to the dates, as well as the precife
quantity of the annual difference, fhort intervals of time to
eftimate by are very uncertain.—The intermediate dates, however,
are next to be compared.

1. From 1751 take 1745, the remainder is fix years; and from
19 degrees take 18 degrees, the remainder, reduced to minutes and
divided by fix, quotes only 10 minutes. [In this inftance, the
interval being fmall, and the variation in all likelihood not very
accurate, the quotient muft be ambiguous, as before remarked ;
but if what I have to fay hereafter be admitted, the increafe of
the variation, even in this fhort interval, will come up to my

expectation. |

2. From 1772 take 1751, the remainder is 21 years; and from
23 degrees 30 minutes take 19 degrees, the remainder, reduced
to minutes and divided by 21, quotes 12 minutes 51 feconds.—
[By thefe two it is evident Mr. Gibfon might have fuppofed the
variation for feveral years the fame, or, at leaft, imagined that two
or three years would make no fenfible alteration ; but one year,
in this inftance, makes a difference in the calculation of 35
feconds. |

3. From 1786 take 1772, the remainder is 14 years ; and from
26 degrees 21 minutes take 23 degrees 30 minutes, the remainder,
reduced to minutes and divided by 14, quotes 12 minutes 13
feconds nearly,

Voi. IV, QO G3 4. Lastiy,

[ exeg J)

4. Lastiy, from September 27th, 1790, take May 26th, 1786,
there remain four years and four months; and from 27 de-
grees 15 minutes take 26 degrees 21 minutes, the remainder,
divided as before, quotes 12 minutes 27 feconds. ‘The mean
deduced from thefe and feveral others (not here inferted for
brevity’s fake) is about 12 minutes 20 feconds. Hence I con-
clude that the uniform change is 12 minutes 20 feconds annually.
If this be fo, then the year, when there was no variation at Dub-
lin, may be difcovered, by faying as 12 minutes 20 feconds is to
one year, fo is 27 degrees 15 minutes (the variation found in
1790) to the number of years elapfed, thus F

E
, Yr. i :
12° 20 ry Se hh ip bangs : 132% years.
From 1790
Take 1324

Remains 1657+, the precife time when there was no variation here.

Nexr let it be required to find what the variation was in the
year 1751, when Mr. Gibfon publifhed an account of it,

From 1790
Take 1751

39 remains.

od

Multiply 12’ 20” or 740 feconds by 39, the produét is 28860
feconds, which reduced is eight degrees one minute. This taken
from 27° 15, the remainder is 19°14’, one-fourth of a degree
more than Mr. Gibfon found it; from which it is evident

the

Se | Pee ee

L288) I

the variation in 1750, and not in’ 1751, was 19 degrees, and that
he had no idea of its being more.in 1751 or 1752 than in the year
1750, agreeable toa former remark. This miftake of Mr. Gibfon
accounts for the difference in the fecond example of the general
operation, and the firft and fecond of the intermediate dates. For
inftance, if it be allowed that in the year 1750 the variation was
19 degrees wefterly, let the fecond example of the general operation
be repeated thus: From 1750 take 1657, the remainder is 93;
divide 19 degrees, reduced to minutes, viz. 1140 by 93, the
quotient is 12 minutes 16 feconds, nearly, inftead of 12 minutes
8 feconds, as is there ftated. 'Again, in the firft example of
the intermediate dates, from 1750 take 1745, the remain-
der is five years, and from 19 degrees take 18, the remain-
der is one degree, equal to 60 minutes, which divided by 5
quotes 12 minutes. [Here again I cannot help remarking that
even the deficiency in this inftance may be the confequence of
a want of precifion in the interval of time as well as the quantity
of the variation ; five months would have made the ratio complete,
and as it certainly was Mr. Kendrick’s cuftom (as well as Mr.
Gibfon’s). to write the fame variation feveral years, no doubt
he might have written the fame-in 1744. This will be worth
trying bythe ratio ; \that is, letit be required by the annual rate
of 12-minutes 20 feconds to find when the variation was 18
degrees wefterly.: I fhall poftpone the operation till the interme-

' diate dates are finifhed.]. In the fecond example, fay, from

1772, take 1750, the remainder is 22 years, and from 23
degrees 30 minutes take 1g degrees, the remainder is 4 degrees

Q:2 30

[ <6 7

30 minutes, which reduced to minutes and divided by 22, the

quotient is 12 minutes 16 feconds,

Now I will try what the analogy refpecting Mr. Kendrick’s
date will produce.

, : Vid
12 20 PR INS: RE ye

t

So that early in the year 1745 the variation muft have been
18 degrees wefterly.

‘Last y, to prove, by the ratio, that the variation was 19 ~
degrees in the year 1750,

From 1750
Take 1657

——

93 remains.

———

Multiply 12 minutes 20 feconds or 740 by 93, the product is
68820 feconds, which reduced is 191 degrees : fome time therefore
in the year 1750, I conclude, the variation was 19 degrees wefterly,
and not in 1751 or 1752, as Mr. Gibfon has noted it, and confe-
quently it could not be fo in 1753, when Mr. Kendrick, the City
Surveyor, fanttioned it with the authority of his name. I fpeak thus,
to excite every perfon concerned in maps of a public nature (in

fhort either public or private) to care and attention. An omiffion.
of the meafure of the variation of the needle, efpecially in exten-
five maps of any part of the country, is very reprehenfible,
becaufe the boundaries may be fo defaced that the oldeft man
living

r ‘rry 4

Jiving cannot point out a certain land-mark to trace them by ;
but while an ancient map exifts, or the original Field Notes, if
the magnetic meridian be drawn, or the variation exprefled, every
veftige of the land can be diféovered, and its boundaries defined
with the greateft eafe. But this is only a fecondary confidera-
tion: The firft and moft material of all is that of laying a foun-
dation for a difcovery of THE LONGITUD= BY SPA OR LAND 3

for certainly, were the magnetic laws univerfally known, the Lon-

citupe could be more readily afcertaned by THEM, than by any
other means. At Dublin we are pretty certain the annual change is
iz minutes 20 feconds nearly, and when we know what it is in
various other places to as great a certainty, we may expect to be
“ put in poffeffion of fuch a fyftem * as will account for or foretel
«© what will be the future movements of this wonderful pheno-

“ menon, the magnetic influence,” all the world over.

THO’ HARDING.
Trinity Place, Dublin,
April 23, 1791.

N. B. I sHavy offer my obfervations on the Libration of the
Needle, or what is commonly called the Diurnal Variation, dur-
ing eight months, to the confideration of the Royal Irith Aca-
demy, as foon as I can get time to adjuft them.

Anfwers

* Churchman,

{ 318 ]

Anfwers to Mr. Churchman’s Queries. :

‘Variation at Dublin September 27th, 1790, - 27° 15’ Welt.
Latitude of Dublin - - - - 53° 20 North.

Longitude of ditto, in time, 24 minutes 24 feconds weft of
the meridian of Greenwich.

DESCRIPTION of ax INSTRUMENT for performing the OPER-
' ATION of TREPANNING the SKULL, with more Eafe, Saféty

and Expedition, than. thofe now in general Ufe. By SAMUEL,

CROKER KING, E/g; Member of the Royal College of Surgeons
in, Izeland, and M. R. I. A.

Tue various accidents and difeafes which have ever been the
lot of the human frame, mutt have called loudly on mankind to
exert themfelves for the relief of their fuffering fellow-creatures ;
from thefe incidental calamities, the different Operations of fur-
gery have taken their rife, for the performance of which inftru-
ments judicioufly contrived and properly conftructed were abfo-
lutely neceflary, as well for the eafe and fafety of the patient as
for the dexterity of the operator; while fuch were wanting, dan-

ger to the one, and difficulty to the other, unqueftionably mutt.

have exifted.

THE improvements from time to time made in the mechanic
arts have afforded to the modern pra¢titioners of furgery a
manifeft

Read May 7,
1791;

T 120 ] :

manifeft advantage over thofe of earlier ages; fo that I may
venture to affirm, that by the conftruction and workmanthip of
the inftruments (joined to the afliftance the operator derives from
a knowledge of anatomy) more lives amongft the objects of fur-
gery are at this day faved than in times paft in fimilar cafes.

Ir we look into the works of the old writers on the fcience of
furgery, and examine the inftructions handed down to us by
them, for the performance of the principal operations, with the
defcriptions they have given us of the inftruments they em-.
ployed, we cannot wonder if many of their patients as often
perifhed by the ill fuccefs of their operations as by the maladies
they attempted to remedy or remove. Notwithftending (* as Mr.
Pott juftly obferves) they were well acquainted with the neceflity
of operations, yet, wanting the afliftance of the ingenious me-
chanic to form their inftruments, their intentions of affording
relief to their patients were frequently fruftrated.

In’the prefent century, though the mode of performing moft
of the capital operations in furgery, and the inftruments proper
for each, have undergone very confiderable improvements and
alterations, yet there feems to be room left for purfuing this ufe-
ful branch of the healing art fomewhat further, particularly in
the operation of trepanning, or perforating the cranium, which
has continued to be effected with inftruments fabricated nearly

in

* Pott’s Works, Vol. I. page 122.

[ rar ]

in the fame form for a feries of years; and confidering that this
operation muft have been often neceflary, from the accidents
which have never ceafed to occur, it is a matter of fome furprife
that the inconveniencies attending the two inftruments now
generally ufed, namely, the trepan and the trephine, fo called,
have not been in fome meafure removed. The only attempt that
has fallen under my obfervation was by Mr. John Douglas, a
figure of whofe inftrument may be feen in the Edinburgh Medi-
cal Effays *, and thus defcribed, “ Two brafs plates kept together
“ by four pillars of brafs, with a handle moving a tooth wheel,
“« which turns a pinion to which the focket for receiving a com-
“ mon faw-head of a trepan is fixed.’ This defcription is fol-
lowed by a remark, “ That the faw will be turned more equally
“ with this inftrument than with the hand alone; but whether
“ the rattling and trembling which the wheels make are fuflicient
“ to counterbalance this advantage, I fhall not determine.” By
this we may fuppofe it has never been introduced into praétice.
To the above objection might be added, the chance that a ma-
chine of the conftruction now defcribed might be liable eafily to
be put out of order. Though the ingenuity of the invention
muft be acknowledged, and no doubt Mr. Douglas was well fatis-
fied that fomething to render the operation of trepanning more

expeditious, fafe and eafy, was wanting.

Every Surgeon will admit that both the trepan and trephine
are attended with inconveniencies; as a° proof of this, I need
Vou. IV. R only

* Vol. V. Table iv. Fig. 6. page 374.

Le]

only produce the teftimonies of two of the lateft authors, who
have enriched the fcience of Surgery by their writings, namely,
Mr. Pott of London, and Mr. Bell of Edinburgh. * The former
having ftrongly recommended the trephine in preference to the
trepan, and + the latter, on the contrary, having given his deci-
fion in favour of the trepan. Thefe inftruments are too well
known to require a minute defcription here. I fhall only remark,
that the trepan is compofed of a circular faw called a crown,
fixed in a handle, which is turned round like a joiner’s brace,
with a knob on the upper part, on which the left hand of the
operator is refted, to keep the inftrument fteady, while the right
is employed to turn the handle. The trephine has a faw or crown
of the fame fort, fixed in an immoveable handle, either of wood
or iron, fomewhat refembling the handle of a carpenter’s augre,
and is worked by turning it backward and forward with the
right hand. a

{ Tur inconveniencies of the trepan muft be obvious to every
experienced operator, who will often find a difficulty to get
either himfelf or his patient into a commodious fituation. To
operate with it, he muft be placed above the patient, efpecially if

the

* Pott’s Works, Vol. I. Note in page 125.
+ Bell's Syftem of Surgery, Vol. III. page 78.

{ Quia Chirurgus trepanum fepe non recte tenet nec ortoganaliter ponit fuper cra-
nium ex quo fit, ut uno latere tangat meningem antequam perforaverit alteram hoc
autem ex eo fepe contingere poteft cum oculus Chirurgi ex alto afpiciens non bene
poflit videre an trepanum rete ftet nec ne nifi ab aftante medico admoneatur, Tho-
mas Fienus de Trepano, Tra¢tat. 1, cap. 3. fol. 6.

[ az ]

the perforation is to be made on or near the upper part of the
cranium. The affiftants muft be uncommonly attentive to keep
the patient's head very fteady, for the leaft motion will throw
the trepan out of its direction, which from its length it is liable
to. The difficulty of keeping a patient quiet (unruly from the
effets of the accident, or impatient under an operation which
perhaps with reluctance he. has fubmitted to) is well known to

every operator.

‘To remove thofe impediments, fome operators, befides keeping
one hand firmly preffed‘on the knob, place their forehead on it
as direéted by * Dionis, or their chin as advifed by + Gareng-
cott; thefe fituations, befides very much confining the operator,
muft preclude him from feeing the progrefs of the faw, and
when the furrow has been made int6 the fecond table of the fkull,
and the refiftance againft the inftrument is become feeble, the
bone may give way, and the faw, by being fuddenly prefled in,
may injure the dura-mater and brain, and confequently death

enfue.

To prevent accidents of this kind, the older Surgeons guarded
the faw with wings or fhoulders, and { Ambroife Paré tells us,
he invented a ferula or ring, which he applied to the faw, with
a ferew to fecure it from too fuddenly entering through the

R 2 fkull;

* Dionis’s Courfe of Operations, Demonftration 6th, pag. 284.
+ Treite des‘Operations, Tom. 3, pag. 187, 188. ’

t Johnfton’s Tranflation of Ambroife Paré, Book 10, chap. 18, p. 245-

[ 124 |

fkull; afterwards, when the wings, fhoulders and ferule were
laid afide, the faws were made of a pyramidal form, and were

ferrated on the fides as well as at the edge.

* Hester, fufficiently aware of the danger attending the
trepan, advifes that when the fkull is fawed deep enough, which
may be known by the circular piece being a little loofe, a terebra
or gimlet fhould be fcrewed.into the hole made by the center-
pin, and by the help of an elevator the piece is to be taken out ;
if itis not loofe enough to come away, a few more turns of the
faw are to be made, and the terebra applied again, to bring out
the piece without hazarding the wounding the dura-mater by
too frequent applications of the faw. And in all authors who
have treated on this operation, we may find abundant cautions
againft injuring the brain or its membranes, by a want of atten-
tion, when the {kull was nearly perforated. Thefe confiderations,
no doubt, determined + Mr. Chefelden, { Mr. Sharp, § Mr. Pott,
and moft of the eminent Surgeons in England, to give the pre-
ference to the trephine, as a more fafe and handy inftrument.

The trephine has in refpeét of fafety fome advantage over the
trepan ; the operator can with more readinefs apply it to any part
of the head ; being fhorter, it is more manageable ; and as there
is lefs occafion for preffure on it, there is confequently lefs hazard

of
* Heifter’s Surgery, part 2, chap. 41, page 361.
+ Chefelden’s Obfervations on Le Dran’s Surgery, page 447.
} Sharp’s Surgery, p..148. § Pott’s Works, Vol. I. p. 123.

[ 125 |]
of its fuddenly flipping in and injuring the brain or its meninges ;
but then it is tedious, and divides the bone very flowly ; the faw
does only fcrape the bone, the pronation and fupination of the
wrift cannot give it quite half a circle, and it is impoflible to
keep the hand fo exa¢t in its movement but the furrow or fulcus
will be very uneven; in fhort, it is not only fatiguing to the
operator but tirefome to the patient, efpecially if more than one
perforation is to be made, which fometimes happens, as may be
feen in * Dionis, when the operation of trepanning was repeated’
twelve times: on a young woman who had fallen: froma: ladder;
by Meflrs. Marefehal and Dionis; with their two fons. + Mr.
_ Gooch recites a cafe where thirteen perforations were made on
-the fkull of an old man, who recovered. { Scultetus has given
a cafe in which he made feven perforations round a depreflion, to
difengage the fractured piece ; and a very eminent practitioner §
of this city (while I am writing this) informs me, that very lately
he made three perforations with the trephine, which he affured
me was attended with very great fatigue. If neceflary, many like: -
inftances might be produced.

Tuoucu fawing the bone does not amount to pain, yet no
doubt while that work is going on a difagreeable fenfation to the
patient muft be excited; therefore the more expeditioufly it can’:
be finifhed, confiftently with fafety, the better.

Ik
* Dionis, Demonftration 6, page 285. + Gooche’s Cafes, plate 1; page 1.
t Scultetus, Obfervation 5, page 236.

§ James Henthorn, Efq; Secretary to the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

fi sna, 4]

Ir thefe difadvantages attend the ufe of the two modern inftru-
ments, what muft have been the cafe in former days, -when the
terebra or fcrew, the drill, the chiffel, and leaden mallet, to break
off the uneven edges of a fracture, or to divide the {paces be-
tween the perforations made by the terebra, were in ufe? or the
meningophylax, which was a flat piece of filver or copper like a

a fpatula, thruft between the fkull and the brain, to defend it -

from receiving injury from the chiffel, when ftruck by the mallet
of lead? Is it not charitable to conclude that many of the pa-
tients of thofe days were permitted to clofe their exiftence with-
out the aid of gimlets, drills, mallets or chiffels?

* Mr. Pott, in his Obfervations on Injuries of the Head, hae
given us a very particular account of the inftruments ufed by
the ancient Surgeons. As his works are in the hands of every
practitioner, I fhall only obferve, that he has rejected the trepan
as an unmanageable inflrument, “ liable to moft of the hazard and
“ inconvenience attending the terebre and terebellz of the an-
“ cients.” In this opinion he coincides with Mr. Sharp, who in
his Treatife on Operations gives the preference to the trephine in
the following words: “ + I have ufed the word Trepan all along
“ for the fake of being better underftood ; but the inftrument I
“ recommend is a Trephine.” The advantages of which he de-
f{cribes, in the reference to the plate, as deferving a preference to
the trepan, which he fays is the inftrument ufed in all parts of

Europe

* Pott’s Works, Vol. I. Note in page 125.
+ Sharp’s Surgery, page 148.

a

[.* 2e7. 4]

Europe except Great Britain. And * Mr. Chefelden, in his Obfezva-
tions on Le Dran’s Operations, recommends the trephine in pri-
vate operations, but the trepan when expedition is neceflary, as
ma battle or fea engagement, The handle of the trephine he
defires to be made fo heavy that the hand may have little more
to. do than to dire@ it; but } Mr. Pott, differing in this particu-—
lar from him, advifes the handle to be made of light wood.

Tue inftrument delineated by Mr. Sharp, and approved of by
. him, is an exact copy of that recommended by John Woodall,
Surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hofpital in London, and Surgeon
General of the Eaft India Company in the reign of King Charles.
the Firft, in a fecond part of a work of his, entitled “'The Sur-
“ geon’s: Mate, or Military or Domeftique Surgery';” he gives a.
plate and a long defcription of an inftrument of his own inven-
tion, which he calls a Yrafne (a-tribus finibus), it being made
with a handle, that each extremity might ferve the purpofe of an
elevator of a different form; thus combining three inftruments
in one. The edition of the work now before me was printed in
the year 1639, but I find, from the preface, he had written it in the:
year 1626, when in Italy; and as his defcription nearly corref-
ponds with thofe recommended by Mr. Chefelden and Mr. Sharp,
it is probable on his recommendation it had before their time
been admitted into practice. My late friend, the celebrated { Dr.
M‘Bride, -

* Chefelden’s Obfervations on Le Dran, page 447.

> Pott’s Works, Vol. I. Note in page 123.

$ M:Bride’s Experimental Effays, Effay 4, pages 186, 209.

[er@8 2]

M‘Bride, has borne teftimony that John Woodall was a man of
knowledge, experience, and obferva'ion, and as a proof refers us
to his accurate account of the fymptoms of the fea feurvy, and
his directions for the treatment of that dreadful diforder, fo often
fatal in long voyages. He has bef{towed many pages in enumerat-
ing the advantages of his trafine, and the difadvantages of the
trepan, which, with all its faults, muft have been deemed an
acquifition, when invented, to the {cience of Surgery, at’a time
when the terebra, terebella, abaptifta, mediolus, meningophylax,
mallets, chiffels, &c. were the inftruments in common ufe, no
doubt the trepan muft have thrown all thofe into difrepute.
* Fallopius (among others) has condemned the mallet and chiffel,
and has cautioned ,his readers again{t them ; left by-ftanders and
‘the public fhould, if the patient died, attribute his death to the
treatment of the operator.

We ‘find even the writers of times not fo remote cautious of
recommending the operation of trepanning. Peter Lowe, one
of the firft Englifh writers on Surgery, who ftyles himfelf Doétor
of the Facultie. of Chyrurgerie at Paris, and ordinary Chyrurgion
to the French King and Navarre, in his work called “ A Difcourfe
“ of the whole Art of Chyrurgerie,” printed in London in the year
1634, treating on the operation of trepanning, has thefe remark-
able words, “* There is great judgment to be ufed in doing this
“ operation, and few there are found that doe it well; many I

“ have

* Ideo nolite uti hujufmodi fcalpro, eum malleolis fed potius manibus, fi vulgus
veftras eft ita ut noftras. Fallopii Opera, Cap. 36, fol. 579.

[ 19 J

“ lave feen of very learned and expert men, and heard of divers
“ to my great joy and comfort, among which Mr. George Baker,
* fome time Chyrurgion Ordinarie to that worthy * Prince, Queen
« Elizabeth, and now to his moft facred Majeftie; a man of great
* learning and experience, moft fortunate and dexter in this
“« operation, like as in all other operations of Chyrurgery ;” and.
concluding his chapter with this pious ejaculation, “ God increafe
“ the number of fuch in this kingdom,” plainly indicates that, at the
time he wrote, the fcience of Surgery had not arrived to fo flou-
rifhing a ftate in Britain as it has in thefe days. And John
Woodall, the inventor of the trafine, in a former part of his
work defires the young practitioner not to proceed too haftily in
the ufe of the trepan, “ for,” fays he, “ many + worthy artifts there
“ are at this day living, who have performed great cures in frac-
“ tures of the cranium, and yet never knew the worthy ufe of this
“ inftrument” (the trepan); and then he tells us that, in eight
years living in Germany, he could not find that the German
Surgeons ufed a trepan, though they both fpoke and wrote

about it.

~

t Tue Englifh tranflator of the works of Ambroife Paré has
given us a figure of the trafine, and has quoted for his authority
-Doétor Helkiah Crooke, a phyfician, who flourifhed in England
.in the reign of King Charles the Firft. Probably the Doctor took
_ the hint from John Woodall. By the dates of their works they
Be Vor. TV.) ye Ss ~ appear
* So in the original, which is in black letter, page 320. |

+ Woodall’s Military and Domeftique Surgery, page 4.
} Johnfton’s Tranflation of Ambroife Paré, book x. chap. 18. page 246.

appear to have been cotemporaries. * In an appendix to his
Microcofmographia, he gives the figure of three-and-fifty inftru-
ments of chirurgery, after that of the trepan, (which, with all
the others, is copied from Ambroife Paré, as acknowledged in his
title page) he gives a figure of another fort of trepan or trafine,
as in general ufe then amongft the London Chirurgeons; it
exactly. refembles that of John Woodall, and is thus defcribed, as
called the hand-trepan. “ The head of which is made taper
“ fafhion, fmaller at the teeth and greater upwards, with cutting
“ edges round about on the outfide, to make way for itfelf, the
“ fhank of the head entereth into the focket of a flraight ftemme
“ and is made faft into it with a fcrew, the handle is made crofs
“ the top of the ftemme, like the handle of a gimlet, but larger,
“© and both fides made in the form of an elevatory ; this, he fays,
“ with a femicircular motion of the hand, performeth the opera-
“ tion with great fecurity, for the perforation being made it
“* cannot flip in to endanger the hurting the dura-mater, as the other
“© may do.”

In tracing the progrefs of the two infiruments now in ufe for
perforating the fkull, we find that the trafine was introduced
into practice in England in the laft century, and fucceeded to
the trepan in its improved ftate ; and though for fome years paft
the trephine has been generally ufed by the Englifh Surgeons, |
. yet, as | mentioned before, Mr. Bell has given a decided prefer-
_ence to the trepan, and has by his recommendation endeavoured
to recal it into practice. His words are, “ + If the trephine is em-
di lyr; “ ployed
* Appendix to, Crooke’s Microcofmographia,. Ghap: I7, page, 25.
+ Bell’s Syftem of Surgery, Vol. 3, page 77.

a

¢

ge

a
ns

al
o

o
n

a
°

19

a
a

a
a

Miike beh ees

ployed all the preffure and force neceffary for turning the inftru-
ment is applied by one hand of the operator, the faw is made
to-cut by forming half a circle only, or fearcely fo much, and
the perforation is finifhed by moving the faw backward and
forward, till the whole thicknefs of the bone is divided ; but
when the trepan is made ufe of, the Surgeon applies all the
prefjure upon the head of the inftrument with one hand while he
turns the handle of it with the other. Some operators indeed
make the preffure upon it with their forehead, or with their
chin, but it is more eafily and more equally applied with one
hand, than it poffibly can be in any other manner; by the
trepan the faw is made to move always in the fame direction,
by which it cuts more eafily, and performs the operation in
one-third of the time that is neceflary with the trephine; as it
often happens that feveral perforations are neceilary, and as
the operation is of confequence fatiguing to the operator and
diftrefing to the patient, that method of operating ought furely to be
preferred which renders the operation more eafy, provided it ‘is at
the fame time equally fafe.” After having given this decifion in

favour of the trepan, for expedition and fafety, he has taken

motice, “ that fome practitioners, very fenfible of thefe advan-

oe
4h
46
4
46
ee

“<

tages of the trepan, but dreading the rifk of its paffing too /ud-
denly in upon the brain, commence the operation with this in-
{trument and finifh it with the trephine. This, he fays, is far
preferable to the ufual method of performing the operation
entirely with the trephine, but thofe who have fully experi-
enced the advantages of the trepan will employ it for the
whole operation.” .

5S 2 I HAVE

E #ean J

I wave been particular in reciting this paflage, as Mr. Bell (to
whom the fcience of furgery is much indebted) has fo widely dif-.
fered in his choice of the inftruments for perforating the fkull,
from the opinion of Mr. Chefelden, Mr. Sharp, and Mr, Pott;
but if we examine candidly the objections of Mr. Bell to the tre-
phine (fome of which are certainly well-founded) we fhall find
they may with equal juftice be applied to the trepan. If force or
preffure be neceflary for the trephine, force and preffure muft
furely be neceffary for the trepan; without a degree of preffure the
inftrument cannot be kept in its place; for when the center-pin
is removed is not, the part of the bone within the fulcus the cen-
ter round which the faw muft turn? and if fome fort of preffure
be not made on the knob, by the fuftaining hand, the faw cannot
be retained in the furrow fo as to cut equally, but will with the
leaft motion of the patient’s head be thrown out, by which the
operation muft be retarded. The inftrument, by reafon of its
length (few of them being lefs than eleven inches from the knob
to the teeth of the faw, many of them more), cannot be replaced
very expeditioufly ; it muft be admitted that it works quicker and
more equably than the trephine; but though the trafine invented
by John Woodall was made to cut in its motions backward and.
forward, (that is, I fuppofe, the teeth of the faw fet alternately in
oppofite direGiions) yet notwithftanding this mechanifm, that it is
laborious and tedious every experienced Surgeon will allow; no
doubt this was the reafon which induced many operators to begin
the operation with the trepan for expedition, and finifh it with
the trephine for fafety.

In

[ 133 ]

In the hands of a judicious and careful’ operator, who has. had
opportunities of frequently practifing this operation, either of the in-
ftruments now in queftion might be fafe, and I fhould be forry to
fappofe that any fatal accidents have happened in thefe our days
in confequence of ufing them without due attention. But when
we confider that trepanning is an operation of the utmoft neceflity,
and feldom will admit of delay; that the patient who has met
the accident and is to be relieved is often too remote from fuch
help as he or his friends would with to apply to; that the neareit
practitioner is to be called upon, who muft go to work without
the advantage of having the advice or affiftance of an affociate of
the profeffion, which is not the cafe in general. with moft other
furgical operations, where the patient has time to confider and
make choice of the perfon into whofe hands he will commit him-
felf, and leifure perhaps to remove to the place where the affiftance
he approves of is to be obtained ; but injuries of the head will not
at all times allow of fuch advantages.

Waen, I fay, we confider all thefe circumftances, and reflec
that fo many of the moft eminent and able operators have differed
~ materially in the choice and form of the inftruments for the pur-
pofe of perforating the cranium, and that the objections made to
any one inftrument were in fome meafure applicable to them all,
we fhall be led to think that if an inftrument-could be devifed, in
which might be united the expeditious and equal working of the
trepan, with the fafety of the trephine, a valuable addition there-
by would be made tothe manual part of furgery. It will be readily
granted, that in every profeffion all are not alike expert in ufing

their

[ 134 J]

their hands; this may be obferved in every mechanical trade or
occupation ; but if we can render the inftruments fo fimple in
their ftruQure that all’ difficulty.in working will be removed, we
fhall thereby bring the performers more on an equality ; and as in
‘the operation we have’been treating of, a cautious attention to
avoid injuring the brain or its membranes is fo requifite, we can-
not be too ferioufly on our guard. Though the bufinefs of tre-
panning, fimply confidered, is no more than fawing a portion of
the fkull, yet ‘that bufinefs, injudicioufly or incautioufly executed,
may be the*caufe of putting an end to the life intended to be
faved, or as John Woodall expreffes it, * “ A man may in a mo-
«© ment be flaine by art, for want of art.”

. In ufing either the trepan or trephine, force or preffure, for ob-
vious reafons, fhould as much as poffible be avoided. We may
obferve that a carpenter, in fawing, knows that if he -applies too
much weight on his faw he will retard its progrefs , therefore he de-
pends more on the dexterous manner of handling the faw than on
his ftrength or the weight of his hand; and in thefe operations of
furgery, which are merely mechanical, we fhould ‘not difdain to
take inftruétions from the performance of thofe artifts from whom
we have condefcended, in fome meafure, to ‘berrow the fafhion of
our inftruments. The truth of what I have advanced every Sur-
geon muft have perceived when ‘fawing through ‘the bone in ampu-
tating, and a little experience will teach him, that he will fooner
accomplifh the work by a proper adroitne{$ than by dint of force:
or ftrength.

"THE

’

* Page are.

[ 23g)

Tae inftrument, which I have the honour of laying before this
- Academy, Iam inclined to think will render that neceffary opera-
tion of trepanning more eafy, more expeditious, and more fafe.
If. I have fucceeded in this attempt, I thall efteem myfelf fortunate
to have contributed to the improvement of fo ufeful an art as
that of furgery ; but if I have done no more, I have offered ano-
ther inftrument, to thofe already in ufe, for the operator to choofe
from, in an operation which requires to be properly and cautiouily
performed, and is frequently the chief, fometimes the on/y.relief
for the perfon who has the misfortune.to be the fubje& of it: . In
ufing this inftrument neither force nor preffure- is requifite; the
left hand, which is employed to fuftain the inftrument, by being
placed near the faw or crown; will keep-it fleady and firm to the
place intended to be: perforated, while the right hand is engaged
in turning the handle fafter or flower, as the operator fhall judge ex-
pedient ; the points on w yhich the faw turns being at each end of
the canula, and not refting on the two extremities of the inftru-
ment (which is one of the faults of the trepan) will. require no
more force or preffure on it, while working, than-what may be
fufficient to keep’ the teeth of the faw in contact with the bone;

confequently (preffure not being neceflary) all hazard of fuddenly
_ entering or wounding the dura-mater or the brain is prevented.

Tuts inftrument is compofed of a.crown or. faw made in the
ufual form, and about an inch and an half from the crown is fixed

_ to.a fpindle four inches and an half long, which is received into a

barrel or canula of four inches in length; to the top of the fpindle,
which is {quare above the canula, is applied a handle or winch,
with a nut {crewed on the fpindle to keep the handle on; at the

lower

[ «36 ]

» lower part of the.canula or barrel is a flat rim, projecting about
a quarter of an-inch, on which the left hand, which grafps the
canula, refts, to prevent it from flipping down on the part of the
inftrument below it, whichis turned by the handle above; the
crown has a center-pin, as.in the other inftruments, with a key to
remove it when the fulcus.is deep enough to admit it to be taken
away. Though with this the operation may with great eafe and
fafety be entirely completed, yet to accommodate thofe who
wifh to finith with the trephine, the upper part of the barrel or
-eanula is made fquare to fit into a wooden handle; upon applying
this handle, inftead of the winch, the inftrument is converted into
a trephine; in this wooden handle is a fquare opening fitted to the
-{quare part of the fpindle, ‘and faflened by the fame nut.

Tr will be requifite to have two or three crowns of different
“fizes, that the operator may choofe that which will beft fuit the
circumftances of the cafe; as to the form of the crowns, modern
practitioners have fo differed about them that every Surgeon mutt
be left to his own choice. For my part I fhould prefer thofe
as the beft and fafeft which are neither too conical nor too
cylindrical, but between both extremes ; and, as * Mr. Chefelden
has advifed, the cavity in the infide to enlarge in the fame
manner the outfide does, to prevent the piece of bone to be taken
eut from being wedged in the cavity, and to allow the crown or
faw. to be inclined to one fide or to the other, as occafion may re-
quire, during the operation.
) Tuat

* Chefelden’s Obfervations on Le Dran, page 447.

Pinagout

Tuat the form of this inftrument may be better underftood,
I have annexed two plates of it; one, of the parts of it fepa-
rately ; the other, of all thefe parts together, when to be ufed.—
I am well aware, that in offering this inftrument to the public 1
may have to combat not only with the prejudice of a great many
years, but with fome of the moft refpectable authorities in the
profeflion, who have been long inthe habit of ufing the other
inftruments with fuccefs; but from the exper ience I have had of
it myfelf, and from the approbation i it has met with from many
eminent Surgeons in this city, I am tempted to fend it into the
world, with a hope that no practitioner will condemn it with-
out firft having given it a;fair trial ; : if then any alteration fhould
be fuggefted, to render it more fafe, ufeful and convenient,
the improvement fhall be thankfully adopted.

I must obferve, that in the foregoing pages the reader’ will
find the inftrument called trephine fometimes, wrote trafine. In
this I have followed the fpelling of the authors I have confulted.
Trafine, a tribus finibus, was the name it received from the in-
ventor, John Woodall ; it has fince, for what reafon’I know not,
been changed to trephine ; but the alteration in the letters of the
word (the pronunciation being. the fame) is immaterial.

Vot. IV. T ‘ EXPLA-

bb

6c

ce

tinge

Bok? P oho A oN YA2 BY BivO Dom

PrArn ..
The crown or faw.

The fpindle to which the faw is faftened. Note, the fpindle
is to be made fmaller from each end to the middle, that it
may not touch the barrel but at the upper and lower parts,
to prevent too much friction in turning.

The canula or barrel into which the {pindle is introduced.

The lower part of the canula' which projects fomething above
a quarter of an inch, on which the left hand is refted.

The handle, with a {quare | opening to fit the end of the {pindle.
The knob of the handle, which fhould be made of ivory.

The nut to fcrew on the end et the fpindle to keep the
handle on.

The end of the canula, formed {quare to fit the wooden handic
when ufed as a trephine: : ta fe

; The wooden handle fitted to receive the canula and {pindle ;

when ufed as a trephine, the upper fide is See to
admit the nut.

The center-pin of the crown or faw. r

The key, one end of which is made to fit the center-pin, and
the other, which is forked, to fit the cavity in the top of

the nut.
PLATE

——- Se OO — ee

To Face Page. 739,

Plate Z

To Face Page. 138.

T

ee

kh

ath

AN WaT tba

4
'
}
;
”
y
}
‘
.

Plate IL , Lo Face Page. 189.

A

|| iil il

] TM
‘ - tt [ mun Wit A

ee

ee ee een

Bs 530! 4

Fox Pee ea UN AT EOS om
bi Buars IL

A A view of the inftrument with the feveral parts put pay
when ufed as a trepan.

B ® A view of. the inftrument when intended for a trephine.

w THE arse for thefe plates were taken by Mr. John

Ellis from the firft made inftrument, which was executed

with great exactnefs from my verbal inftructions by Mr. John

/ Read, an eminent cutler and inftrument maker, of Skinner-
row in this city.

4 ~a” i a

ern a tele er tes
aay aS |
- i

c*

i, omnia 40 ae =)
| Ei . i

> he

To face Page 147

L_Vil_ Vii 1X

ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee

DESERIPTION of a SELF-REGISTERING BAROMETER. By
. the Rev. ARTHUR M‘GWIRE. Communicated by the Rev..
M.. YOUNG, .D.D.\S. F. T..C. D.. and ,.M.R. L.A.

AAAA Is a piece of paper, upon which are hours and minutes Read May 75.
marked by perpendicular lines; and degrees and tenths of - mos
degrees! by ‘horizontal limes. This:paper is in a frame, whith
is moved horizontally by clock-work.

BC Isa fixed pale, on which the numbers decreafe from |.C’
to B.

D Is a pencil which flides into a tube whofe center is fixed to
the cylinder of the barometer at the point where the mercury

- ftands when at 293, to trace the rife and fall of the baro-.
meter.

E Is a vernier, fixed to the cylinder of the barometer at the:
point where the mercury ftands when at. 29}, to fubdivide :
the divifion upon the fcale B C.

FR

[142 ]

FF Are two femicircular parts of a tube joined together, to keep
the barometer perpendicular.

G The orifice of the tube of the barometer.

HH A circular piece of light wood, cemented to the tube
of the barometer, of a fize fufficient to make the barometer
float at its proper height.

IIII The refervoir for the mercury.

KK Awooden cover, which fcrews into the refervoir to ad-
mit the circular piece of wood HH,
.
LIZ The tube of the refervoir, which is cemented to the
cover K K.

MM _ The cylinder of the barometer.
MG _ Thetube of the barometer.

yx Is a mark on the tube of the barometer, which fhews the
depth at which the barometer floats when the mercury ftands
at 293.

Tue paper 4.444 moves horizontally and preffes againft the pen-
cil D. The pencil would trace an horizontal Jine upon the paper if
the mercury remained ftationary ; but fuppofe the mercury defcends

in

Legal

in the cylinder of the barometer one inch, it will rife in the tube
of the refervoir one inch from to O; therefore, as there will be
a greater quantity of mercury in the tube of the refervoir, the
barometer will not remain in its firft pofition, but will float
higher by one inch, that is, fuppofing the cylinder of the baro-
meter and the tube of the refervoir to contain equal quantities in
equal diftances; but as that part of the barometer which was
above the furface of the mercury in the tube of the refervoir
when the mercury was at 29:, is become lighter in proportion as
the mercury left the cylinder, fo will there be a portion of the
tube of the barometer from under the furface of the mercury in
the tube of the refervoir, and confequently the barometer will
float higher than one inch in proportion to its decreafe of weight,
and the x will be above the furface 0, fo that the vernier will
have moved more than one inch; therefore the divifions on the
feale B C will be increafed. [When the mercury afcends the
contrary will take place.] But as the paper moved horizontally
* during the time that the mercury defcended in the cylinder,
and as the pencil D marked the paper, the exaét height of the
mercury will be traced on the paper at every hour and minute.

N. B. Tue divifions may be enlarged on the fcale BC by en-
creafing the diameter of the cylinder of the barometer and
lenthening the tube of the refervoir and the refervoir.

AS 2 ge OR ae pe, Pi co:
mf # ] eee 252), pahys ew ; ty ‘fat tiotitl ads te 6 pile
| , aE or ahs <0 ag bor Fine ott dont saet dfoweslstt oil: t
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To Face Page. 145.

To Face Page. 14s. ]
2 |
|

4 METHOD o CUTTING VERY FINE SCREWS, and
SCREWS of TWO OR MORE THREADS, tsc, By the
Rev. GILBERT AUSTIN, 4.M. M.R.L A.

Havine lately wanted a micrometer {crew for an equa-
torial inftrument of twelve inches diameter, made by Mr, Ro-
binfon of Dublin, I fought in vain among the beft workmen
in this town for one which might anfwer my purpofe. Screws
of the neceflary finenefs are not generally ufed in mechanics.
Rather, therefore, than fubmit to the delay and difficulty of obtain-
ing one froni London, I determined to endeavour to make one.
‘The machine for cutting fcrews of this defcription, ufed by Mr.
Ramfden and the firft aftronomical inftrument makers in Lon-
‘don, I underftood to be complex and of great nicety. Such
a one would not fuit me. I thought I might poffibly hit upon
fome fhort and fimple method of making fine {crews without
it. That which I ufed I beg leave to fubmit to the Academy, in
order that they may make it public, fhould they think it
worthy their attention, and likely to be of fervice to the prac-
aical aftronomer, who might otherwife find it difficult to fur-
nifh himfelf with very fine {crews for micrometers. ‘The ufe

Vor. IV. U of

Read Nov. 5,
1791.

[ 146 ]

of this method is not confined to the forming of very fine
fcrews alone, but may be applied to the cutting of original. taps
of any fize and of any number of threads required, as double,
triple, &c. for what are called fwift {crews, and that with much
lefs trouble and time than workmen are obliged to fpend in
the common methods.

I roox apiece of the beft fteel wire, of about a quarter of an:

inch diameter and about two inches long, which I turned per-
feétly cylindrical at one end, about three quarters of an inch in
length to about one eighth of an inch or fomething more in dia-
meter. I made a nick near the point, and faftened the end
of avery fine piece of fteel wire to it, and then rolled the wire
about the cylinder as far as the fhoulder, where | faftened it as at
the point. I did not roll the wire quite as clofe as I could,
but left room between one of the revolutions for the edge
of a very fine knife. I then fet the edge of the knife at the
beginning of the thread of the wire, and in the direction of
the inclination of the threads, and preffed it down fo as to touch
the fteel cylinder. I turned the cylinder about with my hand, and
guiding the knife by the threads of the wire, by a few turns
I made an impreflion on the fteel, fufficient, when I ftripped
off the wire, to ferve as a guide for the knife to run in and
cut the thread to a fufficient depth.

Tuts method, on account of the difficulty of guiding the
hand, and determining the proper degree of tenfion to be given
to the wire on the cylinder, I found fubject to a confiderable
variation with refpect to the finenefs of the {crew produced.
For from the fame wire on different cylinders: Mr. Robinfon

made

far tat

E a7]

made two taps, one of 80 and one of rIo threads to’an inch,
and I made two taps, one of 120 and one of 140 threads to the
inch; and among thefe taps not above ten or twelve threads
could be found fufficiently regular for ufe. Thofe, however,
as workmen know, were enough for original taps, and from
them by the ufual methods I formed four very good taps of
the finenefs I have mentioned. In this method I was alfo
fabje&t to another inconvenience, which was that I frequently
cut the wire before I had made fufficient impreflion on the

cylinder.

I sHouitp not have mentioned this method, as I have very
much improved upon it, only that its great fimplicity may
render it practicable by thofe who cannot execute conveniently
the tool for this purpofe, of which I now proceed to give the
Aefcription, together with the manner of ufing it.

(aa) is a fmall vice which is opened or clofed at pleafure
‘by the long milled fcrew (4), its jaws at (c) are punched or cut
very rough at the infide. It is faftened on the end of the
cylinder (¢¢) by the {crew (z), and in a plane perpendicular
to the axis of the cylinder. At the other end of the cylin-
der (ee) is fixed a fine knife (d), turning up with a hook (1),
and having in it a long flit (ss) by which it may be pulhed
on the fcrew (m), fo that any part of the edge which is beft
may be applied to cut the {crew. The cylinder (ee) turns
freely on its axis, and flides in the direction of its axis back-
wards and forwards (but without fhake) in the focket (7), which

U 2 is

ae oe

is made of a piece of brafs hammered about it, and capable of
being more or lefs clofed at (0) by the ferews (ge); the ends
of this brafs focket are rivetted at (ff) to the folid piece (4),
which fits the hole of the reft of a common clockmaker’s

turn-bench.

Tue bar (4) is joined to one fide of the vice (aa), and ex-
tends acrofs to the knife which drops into the cut (¢) in the
bar, and is thus kept fteady and parallel to the vice.

Tue fteel of which is to be made the original tap is to be
prepared as at (x x), the end is to be truly turned and polifhed,
and at the diftance of the length of the cylinder (ee) a part of
it is to be turned truly cylindrical, with two fhoulders, be-
tween which the wire of the fize defired is ‘to be lapped as
tight and as clofe as it will go, taking care that the threads
do not run too obliquely, but making them at each revolu-

tion advance on the fteel cylinder only their own thicknefs.

A sit of lead about double the Iength of the jaws of the
vice, and about the tenth of an inch thick, is now to be bent
about the wire on the fteel; the tool is to be fixed in the place of
the reft of the turn-bench, and pufhing it near the fteel wire, the
vice is to be faftened on the lead fo tight as to make on it
an impreflion of the thread. The knife is then to be let down
into the notch of the bar (4), and the cylinder (ee) is to be
adjufted parallel to the fteel. The edge of the knife will touch

the end of the fteel, the weight (r) being hung on the hook,

and when the fteel is turned about by the hand, or by a
bow,

.
|

[ mg J

. bow, it will cut-exaétly a ferew, the threads of which will be-
at the fame diftance as thofe of the wire on the fteel; be-
caufe the wire ferves as an outfide fcrew and the lead as a
{crew at the infide; fo that whatéver motion the vice receives °
from ‘this caufe in the revolutions of the fteel is communicated
by the bar (ee) to the knife, the edge of which cuts the
threads on the polifhed end of the fteel which is intended for”
the original tap. -

Ir’ double threads, &c. aré réquiréd, there muft be an ad~*
juftment’ by which the knife may be moved the thicknefs of
each additional thread, which may be eafily’ effected by collets
or by an adjufting ferew. The wire is then to be lapped on™
the cylindrical fteel, in a double or triple, &c. inftead of a
fingle thread, taking care that it-fhall be difpofed evenly. and -
well faftened.-

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An Attempt to determine with Precifion fuch INJURIES of the HEAD®
as neceffarily require the OPERATION of the ‘TREPHINE. By
SYLVESTER O’HALLORAN, £/; M.R. I. A. Honorary
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Sur+
geon to. the County of Limerick Hofpital..

Non jingindum, aut excogitandum, fed inveniendum, quid natura’
faciat auta ferat.. BACON. -

WeERE we to eftimate the lights thrown on particular”
diforders by the number of eminent men who have treated
of them, we would conclude that thofé produced by external
injuries of the head muft be beft underftood,-as from the
days of Hippocrates to our own they have been’ confidered -
with moft particular attention. But however*great our obliga--
tions to our anceftors, and to many illuftrious- and learned:
moderns and contemporaries, may be, yet our knowledge of this
fubject, fo interefting to mankind, is {till incomplete. The va-
rious diforders fubfequent to injuries on the head have by no
means been difcriminated with fufficient precifion; nor have
their fymptoms or modes: of treatment -been clearly afcertained; .

even -

[ use J

even the ufe of the trepan is now more indefinite than it
was a century ago. The late Mr. Pott, as diligent and accu-
-rate an obferver as any age or nation has produced, complains
-“ of the darknefs and obfcurity of this part of furgery.”

Enapiep by clofe and diligent obfervations, and by -exten-
five practice in this line for above thirty years, I have ven-
tured, under the aufpices of the Academy, to determine a quef
tion, perhaps the niceft and moft involved in furgery.

THE operation of the trepan is very ancient; but being
confined to narrow limits, was feldom performed without the
greateft caution and circum{fpection ; for it was interdicted over
or near the futuras, near the os fquamofum, and or very near
the occiput. This well explains an anecdote in our early hif-
tory; for Connor Mac Neafla, king of Ulfter, that generous
protector of the literati of his days, and contemporary with
Julius Cefar, having his fkull fractured in battle, his firft
furgeon, Finighin, refufed to apply the trepan till his fafety
was guaranteed by the nobles of the country, in cafe it did
not fucceed.

But the experience of the laft and prefent centuries have
proved, that there are very few parts of the head on which the
trephine may not be applied when neceflary. However, this
information, in itfelf fo interefting, has by no means anfwered
the ends that fhould be expected from it ; for inftead of de-

termining, or even attempting to limit the cafes to which it
fhould

i
d
i
f

[{ 1532 J)

fhould be confined, it has been fince adopted; in almoft, every
fevere injury of the head, accompanied} with ‘untoward; fymp-
toms, To point out with perfpicuity,and;precifion;the cafes
in which it can alone be ufeful zo) the patient is the. object of
this paper. Thefe obfervations ‘may be arrarngéd| under two
articles—Fra€tures of the Cranium, and; Depofits jon, the Sur-
face of the Brain or on its Membranes. Yet, éven in, the, cafe,
of fractures, long experience has convinced ‘me that many, of.
them require no operation. As this is an object.of, great mo-
ment, I fhall be as clear, and concife.as_ podflible.,,To.,this
purpofe I have: felected three out of .a great number,of cafes 5
and the rather becaufe each had its panticular Aymptoniss though:
all tending to the fame point.

Case I. Mrs. Grogan+fell from.a window,into the ftreet;,
and. received,-a- violent, contufion on the,/front.,of the coronal

bone. 1,faw. her’ the next’ morning,’ and; found.,a confiderable

tumour, which to the’ touch; feemed to,,contain fome fluid ;
but,as I had feen, many fimilar,;ones fubfide, in four or, five’
days, by the, ufe of comprefles wet in fpirits, 1 treated this in
the fame manner... The {welling however remained, and in five

days I propofed opening it; which, fhe would not permit. The

- fixth day fhe again fent for me; the tumour was {till the fame,

but the fluctuation not fo fenfible:. I laid open the part, andia
good deal of coagulated blood was difcharged. She complained.
all that and the next day of pain; anda thin bloody {anies:
came from the wound:.I found not only the bone bare,.
but a confiderablesfra@ture, with fome’ depreflion. I prefled

Vo. IV. x with:

[ 154 ]

with my finger the fides of the bone, but it remained firm
to the touch, and fhe felt no wneafinefS from it. I kept the
wound open for fome days, and finding no alarming fymp-
toms, fuffered it to heal, which it did by the end of the month,
I recommended her to keep the part covered for fome time,
on account of the thinnefs of the cicatrix. This fhe neglected.
In fome days after, leaning over a garden wall, with a fmart
wind in her face, fhe was feized with a violent pain, and ima-
gined the wind was piercing into her head. She flept little,
and was the whole night in a fever. Next morning i found
the forehead greatly {welled, and let out a confiderable quan-
tity of matter. In fome time it got well; fhe had it covered
with adhefive plaifter, and never after complained.

Case I]. Samuel Hafte received ’a wound on-the upper part
of the right parietal bone of two inches long, with a loofe
bone and fracture. Though the fracture could not admit of a
doubt, yet there feemed to be but little depreflion, and the
fides of it were firm to the touch. I faw no reafon for the
operation at prefent, but carefully attended to the fymptoms.
In the fpace of four weeks the bone became covered, the wound
healed, and he has fince enjoyed perfect good health.

Case III. M‘Namara received a wound on the forehead, and
near the left fide of the frontal finus. In a few days after he
was brought to the hofpital; his pulfe was full, and he com-
plained of a great head-ach. Upon examining through a {mall
aperture, I perceived the bone bare and rough, and concluded

there

[ °%3s 2]

there was a fracture. I removed the integuments, and found
the bone fractured near two inches in length, but {till the
parts were nearly upon an equality, and the bone firm to the
touch. As he bled a good deal’ I did not direc venefection,
but ordered fome powders of nitre and jallap, and. the faline
mixture. His head-ach was-not abated next morning, fo I
direéted a large blifter to ‘his back, which I defired fhould re-
main on for twenty-four, hours, This removed the head-ach,
and the wound went on well. In five days after, he com-
plained of violent fhiverings, and ‘I fhould have concluded them

“to be the precurfors of matter forming ‘on the brain, had’ 1,
“in the courfe of many hundred fractured fkulls, feen a fimi-

lar inftance; but I had not. He was not trepanned: the bark,
in fome time, removed thefe complaints, and he is again

- abroad.

Havinc thus, I apprehend, clearly proved, that many frac-
tured {kulls do not demand the trepan, it remains that I fhould
clearly difcriminate between thofe and other feemingly flight
fractures, which abfolutely require it. In the courfe of my

practice I have conftantly obferved, that fractures of the cra-

nium are more extended in the inner than the outward table,
and of courfe, that fimple fractures, fuch as I have deferibed,
may do confiderable damage within, whilft all is fair with-
out. Fractured fkulls in general (with a very few exceptions)

. are attended with no very alarming fymptoms for many days.

They are free from fever and inflammation; nor is reafon in
the fmalleft degree impaired. But in the courfe of ten, twelve,
x 2 or

[ »156 J

or fifteen days, if any preflure reft on the brain, the patient
becomes heavy, grows drowfy, comatofe, and fometimes con-
vulfed. The firft appearance of any of thefe fymptoms is the
critical time of alarm, and the operation fhould be immediately

proceeded to.

Casn IV... J. O}Mara received a violent blow over the middle
of the left parietal bone. It was for a good many days dreffed
by..a perfon in the neighbourhood; but not appearing to mend,
I was applied to. I found afeemingly flight contufed wound,
with a bare bone; and feeing him heavy and drowfy, I con-
cluded a preffure;on the membranes of the brain. As he ap-
peared more ftupid,the next morning, I removed the fcalp, and
found underneath a.confiderable fracture and depreflion. The
operation immediately followed the incifion; the deprefled part
was raifed, fome {mall fplints removed, and he is, at this day,

_a healthy-man.

, Case V.. William O'Neil received. a very. extended wound on
the fuperior part of the left parietal, which bared_the bone
_for near) two, inches, with;a,yiolent contufion about the centre
of that .bone... ‘The, wound was drefled, and every precaution
taken.to, prevent fever and inflammation. He went on tolerably
well for twelve days, except that the wound on the parietal
never,,exhibiteda pleafing afpect., About; this time | perceived
him to, grow heavy and drowfy. I more narrowly infpected
the head ;; though the bare, bone became. fenfibly difcoloured,
and though I expected exfoliation would follow, yet I was well

Ath convinced

feb Beez’ fl

convinced that no fracture was there. I interrogated him clofely.
He told ‘me the leaft noife difturbed him, and he imagined that
found was conveyed through the fide of his head, as well as
through his ears. I now more narrowly infpeéted the contu-
fion on the fide of the head, which had hitherto been drefled
with a comprefs dipped in fpirits only. I thought I felt an
obfcure flu€tuation: at any rate the fymptoms determined me
to open this part. But what was my furprife when I found
the bone underneath not only fractured but beat into {mall
pieces, at the point of percuffion. I trepanned on the fpot; re-
moved bits of bone and raifed others to their level. After
this every thing went on well, except the wound at top, which
threw off feveral exfoliations, and remained open many days
after the fractured parts healed. This man became as ftout
and well as poflible.

Arter thefe proofs, that even in many fraCtured {kulls the
operation of trepanning may be difpenfed with, what pretence
can we offer for trepanning in wounds of the cranium infli€ted
with incifive inftruments? I know of none that can juftify fo
-violent.an outrage to nature, except fymptoms of extrdvafa-
tion appear, which I believe very feldom happen where the frull
itfelf is injured.

Case VJ. Edward Power received a defperate wound ofa
back fword, extending from the top of the coronal bone to the
orbit of the left fide, forming an extended and frightful chafim,
in which were included the bone, membranes and brain. It

bled

f > aed

bled confiderably, as may well be fuppofed. He remained ex-
pofed to the open air for near three hours after, and had not
fo much as a bit of rag to cover it. Fever and inflamma-
tion of the brain might reafonably be apprehended; yet, by a
couple of bleedings, and fome other antiphlogiftics, the man
was completely cured in five weeks, without exfoliation or the
fmalleft operation. To this fhall I add an inftance given by
La Motte*, of a man who received a blow of a fabre on the
right parietal bore, which divided the longitudinal .finus, and
the left parietal, extending almoft from ear to ear; and yet this
man recovered without any operation.

Havine difpofed of the above very interefting queftions, we
fhall now remark on fuch fractures as neceffarily require the
operation in the jirft inflance. 'Thefe are fractures accompanied
with deprefion, with or without wounds. For, not to advert to
the reftraint fuch preffure muft neceflarily caufe to the motion
of the brain, fufficient in itfelf to produce fatal effects, if the
depreffed parts be pointed and fharp, as is moftly the cafe, acting
againft the uniform pulfation of the brain, the membranes muft
in fome time be cut through, and the brain itfelf wounded,
and. whilft this tragic work is going on, we have no fymptoms
to indicate the approaching danger till it is paft remedy. The
two following inftances contrafted will explain and juftify this
pofition.

CASE

* Traité complete de Chirurgiz, t. il. p. 343.

[ > J

Case VII. A girl about feven years of age received a fevere
fracture, with profound depreflion, on the left parietal bone; the
integuments were entire, the girl quite compofed and fenfible,
but the depreflion was fo deep that it could contain a very
fmall egg. Such was her fituation when brought to me, half an
hour after the injury. Seeing that it would require three or four
crowns of the trephine to raife this extended fracture, I requefted
of Mr. Wallace, a military furgeon, and Mr. Pierce, to affift me
in this charitable work. I removed all the integuments, wiped
away the blood, and whilft thefe gentlemen with their fingers
made compreflions over the bleeding veffels, I began to operate
on the inferior parts of the bone. I then commenced a fecond
on the upper part, and in a line with this; but the two ele-
vators, though acting at the fame time, had no effe& on the de-
preflion. Two more crowns were then applied to the fides of
the bone, and parallel to each other. Four leavers acting in
conjunction, it aftonifhed me to fee with what a fudden {pring
the depreffed parts affumed their former ftation, Notwithftand-
ing the great extenfion of this fracture, the lofs of covering, and
of the bone itfelf, by four crowns of the trephine, this girl
never after had the {malleft untoward fymptom.

Wuat muft have been the event of ‘this cafe if not fpeedily

relieved the following will fhew.

Case VIII. Patrick Cafey, aged about eighteen, was thrown
from his horfe with great force; the confequence was a fracture
in part of the coronal bone, with a confiderable depreifion. |

was

T Go ff

was requefted next morning to vifit him; and feeing his fitua-
tion, I was juft proceeding to the operation, when a furgeon of
the city appeared, who faid he was employed by Cafey’s matter
to attend to him. The depreffion was fo confiderable that the
lower edge of the fraéture was beaten under the uninjured part:
here I intended my operation, in order the more fpeedily and
effetually to difengage the fracture. But this was oppofed : it
was obferved that trepanning fo low down would leavé a great
deformity, and that the end propofed would be as well anfwered
by perforating the bone at top. I oppofed at in vain. ~I faw
that the friends of the boy, who were prefent, as well as himfelf,
wifhed to have it done fo. I.trepanned, introduced the eleva-
tor, but could make no impreflion,.as the dreprefled parts were
beyond the reach of the inftrument. I now propofed a fecond
opening on the lower edge of the fraGture, the firft being im-
poflible to anfwer the end propofed. .This was not, agreed ‘to.
It was obferved that an opening being made no _depofite:could
be formed, and that the deprefled part would become gradually
detached, and probably come away, which has fometimes hap-
pened. The fore was carefully drefled, but the dura mater never
affumed a right afpe&; however his fpirits were good, and he
had no complaint but what arofe from the fore itfelf. The
difcolouration of the dura mater made me try, on the rsth day,
and again on the 17th, the effes of the elevator, but in vain.
He was up every day. The 24th, looking out of a window
for fome time, he perceived a flight chillinefs ; at bed-time he
grew hot and feverifh, was very reftlefs, and had a ftrong fhak-
ing fit. ‘This alteration was afcribed to his making too free

with

ie > ae |

with himfelf. But I faw and dreaded the confequences. I told
the people that thefe alarming fymptoms proceeded not from
cold, but the conftant and uniform preflure on the brain; and
that if any chance remained for his recovery, which | much
doubted, it muft be by a fpeedy removal of the caufe ; and if they
confented I would not fhrink from this difagreeable bufinefs, I
dire@tly made the fecond perforation, and foon raifed the part;
but, alas! the mifchief had been already completed. That day
and the next he feemed a good deal lighter; but, about ten
at night of the fecond day, his neck was obférved to be co-
vered by a bloody ichor iffuing from the fore. Next morning
his pulfe was more languid, and the dura mater quite black.
Towards night the bloody ichor increafed ; he became flightly
convulfed with ftupor. About ten the fubftance of the brain
poured forth, and he expired next morning.

FRAcTURES with a depreffed bone always require the opera~
tion; and though fome cafes may be adduced where an happy
recovery has fucceeded without this adoption, yet it muft arife
from particular circumftances by no means to be depended
on. For inftance, the depreflion may be uniform, fo as no
point of the fracture may prefs on the brain. In fuch an in-
{tance no doubt things may come about without trepanning;
but have we any fymptom to determine this point? None that
I know of. Numbers I have feen perifh by neglecting the
operation, becaufe they found themfelves free from pain and
fever at the beginning. As then trepanning is a fafe opera-
tion in any tolerable hands, no confideration fhould make the
furgeon decline or procraftinate it. He has already feen the

Vou. IV. Y happy

[' 462 ]

happy confequences of it when performed in the jiz/? inflance.
He will now fee what may be hoped for from nature, even
in the moft deplorable cafes, from negleé or delay.

Case IX. I was fent for to Pat. Kelly, who had received
repeated blows on the left parietal bone, which produced a
very extended fracture, with a flight contufed wound of the
integuments. He had been attended for fome time by a young
man in the neighbourhood. In the courfe of about ten days
he became heavy and drowfy; the complaints increafed, and
when I was fent for he was comatofe, languid and oppreffed ;
fo much fo that I apprehended any operation ufelefs, and had
fome thoughts of immediately returning. But reflecting on
the great refources of nature, and that it would be in fome
fort criminal net to difcharge my duty, I removed the integu-
ments on the interior part, where the depreflion was greatedft,
and dire@ly applied the largeft crown I had. On removing
the piece I introduced the elevator, raifed the deprefled parts,
and was fatisfied, from the extent of the injury, that many
pieces of bone would come away. Immediately after this he
opened his eyes, knew me, and fpoke. I left directions for ma-
naging the dreflings, and ordered fome medicines of the nervous
tribe. In eight days after I again vifited him, and found a
confiderable part of the bone loofe. I made a flight incifion
over it, and extracted it with my forceps. The next day he
found a weaknefs of the neck and arm of the oppofite fide,
and by night it attacked that entire extremity. Ina few days
after two more pieces of bones were removed, and again another.
He laboured under this partial paralyfis for about fifteen days,

and then gradually recovered.
Cass

[ #763 .]

Case X. I vifited Pat. Hayes, who, thirteen days’ before,
had received a blow which had made a profound depreffion
on the pofterior, and near the fuperior part of the right pa-
rietal bone, and very near its junction with the occiput. It
was attended with no wound, but a {mall perforation fcarce
fufficient to admit the point of a probe. In fome days fymp-
toms of a depreffed bone came on. I found the man with
a flow, weak, but regular pulfe. He was quite comatofe, and
could not articulate. Upon pafling a fine probe through the
little perforation, I found the bone had been crafhed into {mall
bits, and was for fome time at a lofs what to do, on account
of the fituation of the man and the nature of the injury.
I declared to his friends that I ftrongly apprehended the cafe
mortal, but would do what depended on me if they confented.
Upon removing the fcalp, the bone had been fo far beat in that
I concluded I fhould find the membranes cut through. Could
I raife any part of the fracture I faw to a certainty I could
remove the whole, the injury being confined to the circum-

-{cribed part. With my forceps, probe and elevator, fucceed-

ing each other, I was fortunate enough to remove one {plint.
This afforded me more room ; and fo by degrees, and with fome
patience, I cleared the dura mater of all incumbrance, with-

‘out recurring to the trephine. It was greatly deprefled, and

though wounded in two or three places by the point of the
bone, yet no where cut through, but difcoloured and blackifh.
He opened his eyes after this, and appeared lighter. Antifep-
tics and the bark were not omitted, as well as a generous
diet ; that is to fay, ftrong feafoned broths, fago, or gruel with

wine, and wine whey, at times. In fome time the dura

VOte) mater

[ 164 ]

mater rofe to its natural height, the difeafed parts floughed
off, it gradually aflumed its natural colour, and he reco-
vered.

Tue next fpecies of injury that requires trepanning is, de-
pofits of matter on the membranes of the brain, or on its
furface. On this very obfcure and truly lamentable malady,
my efteemed friend, Mr. Deafe, of the Royal College of Sur-
geons, has thrown much light, in a late ingenious treatife *.
It is beyond doubt a complaint of a moft ferious and alarm-
ing nature. In the courfe of many years practice, and. painful
obfervations, I cannot give myfelf credit for a fingle cure I
ever performed in this way, when the fymptoms of depofite
were formed; and whether the patient was or was not trepan-
ned, the fcene clofed with death! However, this ill fuccefs I
complain of fhould not deter others ; for in this cafe the opera--
tion is indifpenfible ; inftances of recovery from it can be ad-
duced; and when a practitioner makes a fair prognoftic he
cannot be cenfured.

Tus complaint is moftly confined to wounds of the {fcalp
and pericranium, but particularly of the latter. The fymp-
toms of matter forming under the cranium commence gene-
rally about the eighth day, fometimes later, but feldom ex-
ceed the fifteenth: thefe are, ficknefs at ftomach, head-ach, a
fmart fever, and ftrong fhaking fit; the wound aflumes a paler
colour, the difcharge is thin and pale, and the pericranium
becomes more and more detached from the fkull. Thefe are

the

* Obferyations on Wounds of the Head.

(Let |

the unequivocal figns that matter is formed on the cerebrum,
or on its covering; and in thefe cafes, however deplorable the
event, there is no recourfe but in trepanning. It is a fad well
known to perfons of extenfive practice, that though this mat-
ter begins under the immediate point of percuffion, yet that it
extends much further. To operate, then, to any effect, I would
recommend the application of more than one crown of the
trephine. For inftance, the firft perforation being made, I would
immediately proceed to a fecond, including a fegment of the
former circle in it, by which means the iffue of matter is more
facilitated, and if it fhould be found neceflary to open the dura:
mater, it will be done with the greater effect by extending the:
wound of it.

Concussions of the brain are generally fuppofed to require-
the trepan. Dionis, an able writer of the laft century, judges
that the lofs of fenfe and memory, immediately fucceeding a
violent injury, are fufficient motives to proceed direéily to the
operation, and he illuftrates his. pofition by a cafe in point *.
Mr. Pott, though he very judicioufly points out what can
be effected by the operation, namely, the raifing of depreffed
bones, or the iffue of blood or matter, yet he becomes an advo-
cate for it‘on ftupors immediately following a hurt. “ For though
“* it may be refolved into fymptoms of concuffion,” fays he, “ yet
'*extravafation may fo fpeedily follow the firft fhock as to carry
“all the appearance of the firft, whilft the fecond’ is the real
* caufe.” But 'to a certainty extravafations of blood, matter, of
water (for I have met them all) do not immediately, nor for

¥-3 fome:

.

* Cours D’Operations de Chirurgie, p. 510.

f

3G: J

fome days after, produce ftupor or infenfibility. TraQures with
confiderable depreflion, extravafations, &c. fhew no alarming
figns for many days ; but ftupor rmmediately following a fail or
hurt is an uneguivocal fign of concuffion, and of concuffion only.
Not but that I have met with three cafes, and each of them
‘mortal, where the fymptoms of concuflion immediately ap-
peared, though in each the fraCture and depreffion were evident.
But this only proves that in cach the injury was fo great that
the yielding of the fkull was not fufficient to deftroy the force
of motion.

Ix cafes of death, after injuries of the head, where concuiffion
was the caufe, I have invariably obferved the following appear-
ances :—the pericranium and fkull were uninjured ; the dura
mater adhered to the latter; there was rarely any extravafation
of blood, and this but flight, and out of the reach of any in-
ftrument. In a word, I could get no information, except that
in thofe who died foon after the accident I have fometimes
thought the brain did nor completely fill the cavity of the
cranium. To this let me add, that inftances can be adduced
where leaps or falls from an, high place, on hard ground,
where the head has been far removed from the feat of the in-
jury, have produced all the fymptoms of concuffions. 1 well
know that many have been trepanned, and great cures boafted
in thefe diforders; but fure I am, that whatever merit, they”
might juftly claim, by endangering nature’s endeavours and pro-
tra€ting recovery, they had none with refpect to the merit of
the cafe.

I pIvipe

[> sO g

{ pivipe concuffions of the brain into three claffes. 3. Mor--

“tal ones. 2. Where there is recovery with infanity. And 3

Where there is perfect recovery. From what has been faid it
is evident that I had early made up my mind with refpe@ to
trepanning in this complaint: Ihave fingled out two ftriking.

cafes in point in fupport of my opinion.

Casz XI.. A gentleman was thrown from: his horfe, and found :
fpeechlefs and fenfelefs ; and in this condition was brought home.
A phyfician was fent for, who immediately let blood; but find-
ing the comatofe indifpofition continue a fra€ture was fufpected,.
and I called upon. The integuments were very thin, he had
been. clofe fhaved, and I could not be well decided. After.
the moft critical inveftigation I was convinced there was- no
tracture ; befides, his fymptoms.were the reverfe of thofe attend-
ing a fraGure. Bleeding, blifters, fynapifms, . &c. fucceffively
fucceeded each other; but he gained no ground., He remained
for ten days after in the fame fituation, with frequent moan-
ings, and without being capable of uttering a-word, though he .
took nourifhment, drink, and whatever was offered him. About
this time dawns of reafon and fymptoms of convalefcence ap-
peared, and in avery fhort time he was reftored to perfeét fanity
of. mind and body, and lived for many years after..

Case. Xil.. Mr. M..was thrown fronr his horfe, and pitched
on the crown of his head on a ftone pavement. He. alfo re-
ceived a contufed’ wound from a kick of the horfe on» the pof-
terior part of the right parietal bone, which denuded the bone.

He was taken up fenfelefs and fpeechlefs. He was profufely bled,’
and.

[ 168 |

and fuffered other evacuations in the courfe of the two fucceed-
ing days, without the fmalleft amendment. I was then fent for; ,
and from the above recital of the cafe was fatisfied that there was
no fra€ture. The pulfe, as in fuch cafes, were flow and full; he
moaned much, and frequently put his hand to his head. Expe-
rience had taught me that profufe evacuations anfwer no good
purpofe in thefe maladies, fo I gave him medicines of the ner-
vous tribe, with a cold infufion of the bark; and for his diet,
veal broth, beef tea; and fometimes wine whey. In two days
after his pulfe became firmer, but his reftleffnefs and anxiety
increafed towards evening. About one next morning he grew
perfectly outrageous, fo as with difficulty to be kept in his bed,
and I was called up. On refleGiion nothing feemed to me fo
proper to calm thefe fymptoms as fedatives. I fent immediately to
the apothecary’s, gave him myfelf a dofe; and finding him calmer,
in half an hour, I left him, with dire€tions that at what time
foever it returned the dofe fhould be repeated. At five in the
morning the medicine was again given. He remained compofed,
was much better, and vifibly clear in his intellects. In a word,
I left him perfe€ly reftored the third day after ; the wound in
the head healed in fome days after, and he recovered.

From the preceding fats and obfervations the following pro-
pofitions may be deduced.

1. THar many fraQtures of the fkull do not require the ap-
plication of the trephine.

2. THAT

if) Gq 7]

2. Tuat fome apparently flight fractures do abfolutely require
its application; in fuch cafes the inner table of the fkull is ge-
nerally more hurt than the outer, and bad fymptoms do not
arife till towards the end of a fortnight after the injury.

3. Tuat fratures with depreflion require the application
of the trephine, and that from fuch there have been fome

furprifing recoveries.

4. Tuat depofites of matter on the membranes or furface of
the brain require the trephine, though it feldom proves fuc-
cefsful.

5. THAT concuffion of the brain, characterifed by inmediate
Jfiupor and infenfibility, does not require the trephine, unlefs ac-
companied with evideat depreffion of the fkull or extravafation,
neither of which produces bad fymptoms for fome days after the

accident which has given rife to. them.

Vor. IV. Z.

0. WORE
' a ith = tt
‘ : i
’ v
Tie eR ee 93

eS

ey ay
sowasiegadavnb yi

ty avis

fen ak si obtat > ahialles semi} wake shasta Ye
ced RR ae lege. cen hy, el

"

a + Penh} toe iedrtexdetane: ioe laser

eet
as
;
'

> pa

Pie o>5d** ?

[ tyr ]

DEMONSTRATION of NEWTON’s THEOREM for
th CORRECTION of SPHERICAL ERRORS um
the OBJECT GLASSES of TELESCOPES. By the Reve.
MATTHEW YOUNG, D.D. S.F.T.C.D. and M.R.LA.

Sir Ifaac Newton, in his Optics, B. I. Part I. p. 68, had ob-
ferved, that were it not for the different refrangibility of the
rays of light, telefcopes might. be brought to a great degree
of perfection, by compofing the object glafs of two glaffes
with water between them, in the following manner:

ABC
sy Hi

DEF
Let AD FC reprefent the object glafs compofed of two glafles

ABED, and BEF alike convex on the outiides 4GD and
CHF, and alike concave on the infides BME, BNE, with water

i: in:

Read Dec. 35
1791.

omer]

in the concavity BMZEN. Let the fine of incidence to the fine
of refraction of glafs into air be as J to R, and out of water
into air as K to R, and by confequence out of glafs into wa-
ter as J to K: and let the diameter of the fphere to which
the convex fides 4G D and CHD are ground be PD; and the
diameter of the {phere to which the concave fides are ground be
to D, as the cube root of KA—KTJ to the cube root of RK—RTJ;
by which means the refractions on the concave fides of the
glafles will very much correct the errors of the refraCtions
on the convex fides, fo far as they arife from the fpherical-

nefs of the figure.

M. Eurer, improving on this hint, was not without hopes of
being able, by the fame artifice, to prevent the difperfion which
is occafioned by the difference of refrangibility; and publifhed a
memoir ‘on that fubje@t in the Berlin Tranfactions for the year
1747. . This memoir excited the attention of Mr. Dollond, and
gave rife to that controverfy, which terminated fo happily in the
glorious difcovery of the Achromatic Telefcope.

Ir is fingular that this conftruction of the firft compound objec
glafs, though fo principal a fubject of enquiry, fhould never have
been demonftrated in the progrefs of this controverfy. Count
Redern, in his memoir on “ The influence which the famous
“ Newton attributes to the different retrangibility of the rays of
“ light on refraéting Telefcopes,” in the Berlin Tranfadtions for
the year 1760, obferves, that “ it is to be lamented, that
«“ Newton has not given us the demonftration of this admi-

“ rable conftruction, the difcovery of which would not be in-

“ ferior

eS ee ee eC rl ll eee

ee oc Mea

* ferior to that of the different refrangibility of light; and
“ that he has not informed us whether he had tried it.”

In the quarto and odtavo editions of the Optics, in Doctor
Clarke’s Latin tranflation, in Doctor Horfeley’s edition, in Mar-
tin’s Phil. Brit. vol. III. p. 62. and in the memoir by Count Re-
dern above referred to, the ratio of the radii is determined in
the fame manner as defcribed above. And yet there is no doubt
but that fome error muft have crept into the text; for the quan-
tities KX—KIJ and R K—R J are to each other as K to R, and
therefore the ratio of the radii, according to this expreffion, de-
pends folely on the refraétion ‘between water and air, without in-
volving any confideration of the refractive power of the ambient
medium that inclofes the water, which is evidently falfe. Neither
can it be fuppofed that Newton would have given the ratio in
this complex form, which is intuitively reducible to an expreflion
fo much more fimple. Mr. Harris in his Optics, and Doétor
Prieftley in his Hiftory of Vifion, &c. defcribe the contrivance
in general, as confifting in cementing together two like concavo-
convex glafles, with water between them, the radii of whofe fur-
faces fhall have a-certain ratio to each other; but neither of them
tell us what that ratio fhould be. An inveftigation of the de-
monftration of this conftruction is therefore defirable, not only
on its own account, but alfo as it may lead to a correction of
Newton’s text, which, from what has been obferved, appears ma-
nifeftly to be corrupt.

Is the ratio. of 7to R denote the ratio of the fine of incidence
to the fine of refraction out of glafs into air, D the radius of the
{pherical

Livers J

fpherical furface, and y the femi-aperture of the lens, Newton has
demonftrated, that when parallel rays fall on the plane fide of

a plano-convex Jens, the lateral aberration at the focus, arifing

2 w3
from the pert eas of the figure, will be equal to pat
RD
which divided by Ru) the diftance of the focus from the
R?—RI. 3

centre of the lens, gives

TE pe AL for the angle which the

lateral aberration at the focus fubtends at the centre of the
furface. Now when the ray pafles from the glafs into the
included water, and from the water into the glafs, it is. evi-
dent that the refraétions, and confequently the fpherical aber-
rations, are contrary to thofe at the firft and laft furface ; and
therefore, that all aberration fhould vanith, the lateral aberra-
tions from glafs into air and from glafs into water (as being
the principal, and wearly equal to thofe from air into glafs,
and from water into glafs) fhould fubtend equal angles at
the common centre of the fpherical furfaces. The fine of
incidence out of water into air is to the fine of refrac-
tion as K to R, and by confequence out of glafs into water
as J to K; therefore if we fuppofe the rays, in pafling from
the glafs into the water, to fall parallel on the water, the
angle which the lateral aberration of the rays atthe focus fub-

tends at the centre of the refracting furface will be equal to

K*—KTI1 93 > i R?—RTx 7
oe ee which being made equal to ae ae

have d3 to D? as KK—KIto RR—RF Though the rays
do not fall parallel on the water, yet the error caufed by their

> we

divergence

* 4 OF, } eres eee ee

Bae J

divergence or convergence will produce no difference in the con-
clufion of any confequence: See Emerfon’s Dioptrics, Cor. 7 & 8.
Prop. 40. B. 3. And that perfect accuracy was not affected by
Newton is evident from his words, “ will very much correct the
‘¢ errors of refraction, fo far as they arife from the fphericalnefs

“ of the figure.”

We may obferve, from the expreffion laft deduced, that the
ratio of the radii of the furfaces depends as well upon the
refraGtion between air and glafs, as upon the refraCtion between
glafs and water. We may alfo obferve, that in the laft term of
the analogy, as it ftands in Newton’s text, we fhould read RR
inftead of RK; which renders the whole confiftent, and re-
moves a manifeft corruption,

Ir the furfaces be not concentrical, each glafs becoming a
menifcus, no error will thence arife ; becaufe the centre of the
concave furface will be as much farther from the focus of
the compound lens on one fide, as it is nearer to it on the
other; and therefore the corre€tion by one furface will be as
much too great, as too little by the other, fo that the fum of
both aberrations will, in this cafe likewife, very nearly vanith,

Te es ONE gegen +e : .
SONA me oie oo eae, x et pth 3
reine cy a. Ne Ay ae pies
“3 . FS hate , bite tr vino 4

brett it

4 . mast ite am the all
TT A i RENT: x)

OURS “posh hi MN isvaciiek - a i
Me ay, 7 ; hats vt ai a Rae a Tabet aut, 7 Ly :
ta ee ue pag) he mrt pith) rn nihis a lk

ie 3 i jatar. Aaa oh aye Tay ae Ws,
a 40Vi 3 Vea paisiedin a. ai oH

Beatie ond si me Daag: ane ined Wiel
aja
at Pars eh aie ; sbi nae
j 4 te? Hd ‘ the ; pape je
“bu Peat es syeieste se ta!
y et, ‘ ee LP ahopebentens a
| ag ae Re ee re oa Hes
‘tg sth ete es pore nA dak eth dist ;
aN Rag ey aes Hn shiebaee Aad anata
puhalli hee ere
ay indus anata: alan aiaiis. Pt cant a
ad ; igts sce magi pike a 3 iA, Hs cir

. : a! A ss eapeiss 45
a3 LAY ARAD Shaky

c

ee el
an el

age

7 =f —-

—
ae” —
“7 or

bia ect ry ett te its

ivyt! ae mei 1 hast
sad 4 rit A
th ine "?F

ie ‘ co.

sl bhets He at

Ve " iY OF uit ee avgcat.
te tives | TP mit Le ay
yan! Wea ) oth bth ee Me ‘ oy nN

ear Vy #ei'
-

ase ay
anaes Iya - ssa Ae hu! eg ‘A
z » ’ - y

mB Ks |
Lah i
io yr ee oe
+ . oi i : :
7 Pe nit Sh ca i
AT Pi se N
, .
: A
ak .
e j “yt
1 HAG:
tate) eth)
-Y y ‘iat
’ 4 Pe 5 4 i

we I

ACCOUNT of a FISTULOUS OPENING iz the STOMACH.
By GEORGE BURROWES, M.D. M. R.L.A.

W ovunns of the. ftomach, from its fituation and the extent Read Jin. 7).
it occupies in the abdomen, have been at all times fo free '7°”
quent, that their fatal tendencies are known to. every perfon.
at all acquainted with the hiftory of furgery.. Several methods
of leffening the danger of thofe wounds, or preventing their
ill confequences, have been practifed at different times with
various fuccefs. The mode of uniting by /uture the divided
part has been fuccefsfully employed in the * brute creation as:
well as the human ; and there are a few cafes in the annals of fur-
gery of wounds.in the ftomach remaining unclofed externally for
years without any wnremediable inconvenience. Having lately had:
an opportunity of feeing a man who had been for many years:
in this predicament, and of examining the parts after death
by diffection, I think it incumbent on me to lay before the Aca-
demy fome account of fo extraordinary a cafe; not merely as-
a matter of curiofity, but as an additional proof that wounds.
Moi EV. Aa in:

* Philofoph, Tranfaét.

[t x78t Jt

in the ftomach are not to be confidered as defperate, even
though they cannot be induced to heal.

Tue relations of fimilar cafes which are to be met with,
though not of a modern date, are in authors of approved
veracity ; but indeed, had they been doubtful, the one which
I now prefent to the Academy, and which is accompanied by
the parts preferved, afcertains the poflibility and fupports their
affertions. Schenkius, in his Obferv. Med. rarior. gives two
fuch cafes; and we are told in the fourth volume of the
“ Memoirs of the Academy of Surgery,” that * Monfieur
Foubert, a French furgeon of eminence, preferved in his
mufeum the f{tomach of a man who died in the Hotel
Dieu at Orleans, while he was a pupil there, which had
an opening externally from a wound, and into which the per-
fon, while alive, ufed frequently to injeét different aliments,
and digefted them as well as thofe taken by the mouth.—
And Monfieur Covillard, a celebrated furgeon at Montelimard,
in his “ Obfervations Jatro-Chirurgiques,” tells us, + “ Qu’il
“ fut prié de voir un foldat (en 1637) qui lui raconta avoir
“ reca une moufquetade en la partie fupérieure et latérale de
l’épigaftre, laquelle pénétra fort avant dans le corps, lui caufa
des étranges fymptomes, étant dans des perpétuelles pamoi-
fons, fans pouvoir étre fortifié dans fes foibleffes, d’autant
qu’d mefure qu'il avaloit du bouillon, 11 fortoit par la playe.
—Il eft vrai qu’aprés que les Chirurgiens lui eurent donné
le moyen de retenir les alimens par l’application’ des tentes,

“ i]
* Mem. de L’Academie Royale de Chirurgie, tom. IV. page 124.
+ Obferv. xli.

wine hn ae

a en ee le

~

[e704]

* il reprit quelque vigueur, et par fucceffion de temps il s’étoir
“ remis en bon état; mais on n’avoit jamais trouvé le moyen
“de fermer et de cicatrifer fa playe, ce qui Pobligeoit 4 retenir
“ fa nourriture avec une tente d’argent.

“ Ators il nous montra un ulcére calleux et fiftuleux; en
“tirant fa tente d’argent, il fortit environ une écuellée de
fubftance chyleufe 4 demi-cuite, ce qu'il arréta en réappli-
Je Vai fait voir a MM. les Médecins,
lefquels ont été remplis d’étonnement qu'il fe portat d’ailleurs

&

fad
e

quant ladite tente.

a
a“

“ fi bien, ayant le vifage et habitude du corps d'un homme

“ jouiffant d’une entiere fanté. Cependant ayant ba un verre
J P y

“ de vin, eux préfens, aprés avoir tiré fa tente, il l’a rendu

“ par fa fiftule.”

Tue perfon whofe cafe I relate was an inferior officer. in
the navy of the Eaft India Company, fon to a French refugee.
This man, in a voyage to India, received a wound from a
blunt-pointed wooden inftrument in the abdomen, between
the cartilage of the eighth rib, on the right fide, and the um-
bilichus, penetrating the ftomach ; much inflammation and fever

followed the wound, and continued a very confiderable time.

When the inflammation fubfided an opening remained, through
which, when the /éent was withdrawn, a fluid of a whitith
colour flowed—the fides, inftead of clofing, turned in, and no
union could, by any means, be induced. The man was
therefore advifed to keep the opening conftantly plugged up;
this he did for the remainder of his life, never withdraw-

- ing the plug but to gratify curiofity or replace it with a

Aa2 new

[ px8o, af

new one. The opening was about the third of an inch in
diameter. The plug he ufed was generally cotton wick twifted
hard,—-—It was twenty-feven years from the time he re-
ceived the injury to that in which I faw him firft (about
fourteen months ago); he had then attained his fixty-fifth
year, and was, to all appearance, a healthy man, regular in
his bowels and all his fecretions. He had been extremely
drunken and diffipated, and was, even at that time, frequently
intoxicated with every kind of fermented liquor; yet he never
complained of any inconvenience from it, but returned the
next day to occupation or debauch with vivacity and with
ftrength. He had procured -a livelihood for a few years be-
fore I met with him by teaching French in this city, being
too old for his former occupation.—I think it neceffary to
add, that in a voyage fubfequent to that in which he re-
ceived the wound, he was feverely afflicted with fcurvy, in
common with feveral others in the fhip, and in confequence
of that difeafe loft every tooth in his head. All the alviolar
procefles were abforbed, notwithftanding which he contrived
to break his food, his gums being very much hardened, and
eat with*confiderable appetite and a good digeftion.

On removing the plug, after taking milk, a part ‘of it,
quite pure, efcaped through the opening; and he has told me
that when his ftomach was empty of meat, and that he has
taken the plug out, a whitifh fluid adhered to it that tafted
fweet. He never felt any pain in the opening, nor inconve-
nience from any particular food.

Tus

se: -]

Tus extraordinary being, after, remaining the winter of
Jaft year in the Houfe of Induftry, whither want, produced
by drunkennefs, compelled him, quitted that afylum, tired
of the regularity (though not very rigid) which was there
exacted, and went to the country; but he was forced to re-
turn to us at the end of autumn, extremely debilitated, hav-
ing fuffered much from hardfhip and intemperance. From
this time he gradually declined, his appetite continuing toler-
ably good, but his bowels weak, till he died, which happened.
about fix weeks after his return.

On examining the body after death, the wound was found
to penetrate the ftomach in the centre of the greater curva-
ture, and from the adhefions of the liver, colon and integu-
ments, a very confiderable ftri€ture was formed, fo as to give
the ftomach the appearance of a double bag, withthe opening
in the middle; the duodenum was enlarged beyond the fize
of the colon, and feems to have in fome meafure performed
the functions of a fecond ftomach. The colon was firmly at-
tached to the lower part of the ftomach by a ligamentous
fubftance, that muft have been formed by the inflammation
fubfequent to the wound. Al} the other vifcera were found
and perfectly natural, both in appearance and fituation. |

I cannot conclude the hiftory of this extraordinary cafe,
without regretting my having been prevented from rendering
it more fubfervient to medical purpofes by the man’s fuddenly

departing

°

[ x82 ]}

departing from the Hofpital without my knowledge, and re-
turning in fo debilitated a ftate, as fuch an opportunity of
expofing aliments to the a¢tion of the fuccus gaftricus aloxe, of
afcertaining the effects of feveral medicines when confined to
the ftomach, and of making experiments on narcotics, I can
hardly again expect or hope to meet.

[283 ]

CASE of an ENLARGED SPLEEN. By GEORGE

BURROWES, M.D. MRI A

On the 4th of April 1792,a man aged’ about forty-four,’
who had that morning walked feveral miles from the coun-
try, applied for admittance at the Hofpital of the Houfe of
Induftry. He faid he had laboured under dropfy for fome
months, during which time the abdomen had increafed to the
fize it then was, which was equal to that of a woman in the
ninth month of pregnancy. His eyes were fuffufed with yellow,
but his legs were not then, nor had they ever been, fwelled.
The abdomen was examined by fome of the young gentle-
men, my pupils, who thought they could perceive an evident
fluctuation. He was put into the chronic ward, and fome
opening medicine ordered to be taken the following day
(the sth): this operated well; but on the next day (the 6th)
he was feized with fevere vomiting and head-ach, which pre-
vented any examination of the fwelling, being fuppofed to
arife from fatigue, change of air, diet, &c* The vomiting con-
tinuing on the 7th, he was removed to the fever ward, where
he could be better attended and more regularly vifited. ‘Not

having ;

Read June
2, 1792.

[ 184 ]

having any apprehenfion of contagion, in the ftate I fuppofed
the fluids to. be in, the effervefcing draughts were prefcribed
him and fome wine. When I vifited him on the 8th, his
pulfe was extremely quick and feeble, his fkin hot, and tongue
white, and I was informed that he had raved at times dur-
ing the night. Blifters were then applied to the legs, an in-
jeCtion ordered, and the wine increafed. The vomiting ftill
returned at intervals. On the gth all the fymptoms became
much more violent, and flight hiccough. difturbed him now
and then. The wine was again increafed, being the only
thing his ftomach would bear. On the roth I found him in
a ftate nearly approaching to coma, with conftant fingultus.
Attempts were made to roufe; him by further ftimulating
applications, but im vain; and he died that evening, the
fixth from his admifflion, and the fourth from the attack of
vomiting.

I EXAMINED the body the morning after his deceafe. From
the circumfcribed appearance of the tumified abdomen, |
fuppofed the water might be contained in a cyft (a circum-
ftance, I ‘believe, feldom met with in men) as it much re-
fembled a difeafe very familiar to me in the Hofpital, 1 mean
ovarium dropfy. On ftriking the tumour on one fide, while I
kept my hand fixed on the other, I had’no doubt of feeling
a fluétuation ; but when I prefled hard on the linea alba, or
center of the abdomen, I was greatly furprifed to find a
ridge reaching from the fternum to, the pelvis. I then opened
the cavity and beheld the ftomach and inteftines all thrown
completely to the right fide, much diftended with air, while

the

[ xf J

the whole left fide was filled up with the fpleén, enlarged to
an enormous fize, and occupying the entire half of the cavity,
from the diaphragm, which projected into the thorax, to the
pelvis; it was neither difcoloured nor indurated, but natural
in every refpect except fize. The veflels were not more than
a third larger than in an ordinary fized fpleen.

Wuewn this enormous vifcus- was taken out, it meafured
-fourteen inches and a half long, and weighed eleven pounds
thirteen ounces. I need hardly mention that the ufual length
is about four inches, and the weight fix or eight ounces.
The liver was fomewhat difcoloured and. difeafed, but not a
fpoonful of water was contained in the abdomen.

Tue evennefs and, foft texture of the vifcus on one fide,
and the equability of the other from the diftended inteftines,
joined to the facility with which fuch bodies would convey
the idéus, when ftruck on the /eft fide (the ufual method, it
being done by the operator’s right hand) might have deceived
even an experienced furgeon; and had a perfon with fuch a.
difeafe been tapped, the trocar muft have inevitably been
plunged into the vifcus, and death (from hemorrhage) have

enfued *.

Tue ftomach was changed in pofition as well as {cite, lying
more obliquely than horizontally ; and fo compreffed was it-
between the liver and (this enlarged fpleen, that it required.
very confiderable force to ciftend it. That part of the: colon.

Vor. IV. Bb which

* Such a circumftance did once happen in Edinburgh, and the wounded’ fpleen. is exbi--
bited by Dr. Monro in his le@tures.

[ 186 ]

which is tied down by a ligament, in confequence of the
great preflure, had its diameter much leflened, and the thick-
nefs of its coats very confiderably increafed.

Ir is by no means uncommon to meet this vifcus preter-
naturally enlarged; fuch inftances are related by various au-
thors, defcribed in all anatomical lectures, and exhibited in
feveral mufeums. Mead mentions the diffe@ion of a perfon
in whom was found an enormous fpleen weighing jive pounds,
which he feems to think, with Hippocrates, an attendant on
feurvy; and Morgagni informs us of his having feen one of
eight pounds. But that to which I have the honour of call-
ing the attention of the Academy is larger, I believe, than
any yet defcribed.

Our ignorance of the.ufes of this vifcus is confidered as one
of the difgraces of phifiology. Much time was employed, and
much ingenuity exhaufted, by the ancients as well as the
moderns, in endeavouring to afcertain its purpofes in the ani-
mal cconomy, but without fuccefs. Malpighi, diffatisfied
with the conjeétures of his predecefiors, and defpairing of fuc-
ceeding where fo many had failed, refolved on an experiment
from which he might rationally have expected confiderable
information. He extirpated the {pleen in feveral dogs, hoping
thus to difcover by its want what had in vain been fought
for .from its prefence. His ingenuity was, however, but ill
requited; for though the animals lived long after the opera-
tion, and conflant attention was paid to every circumftance
attending them, though the experiment was repeated in Eng-
land by Mr. Boyle, yet it has not in anywife affifted us to

: difcover

ia: anne

difcover what are the fecretions of this gland, or what its
ufe. The opinion which the ingenious Mr. Hewfon advanced
a few years ago feems to me as wild as the conjectures of
thofe who preceded him; for how much lefs abfurd does it
appear to fuppofe the {pleen employed in manufacturing cen-
tral fubftances for the globules of the blood than that it was
intended “ as an equipoife for the liver,” or “an ufelefs mafs,”
or an “ error of nature,” or “ a fink for atrabiliary foeces,”
or “ the receptacle of a ferment,” or the “ feat of luxury,”
as fuppofed by fome; or “ of grief,” as alleged by others, or
“of joy,’ or “ indolence,” “ of mirth,” or “ fleep,” each of
which, though oppofite, had its fupporters.

But though the experiment of Malpighi has not difcovered
to us the ufe of this vifcus, it has, however, proved to us,
that it is not indi/penfably neceflary to animal life; and the
cafe which I have related evinces that it may be increafed
immenfely without affecting the conftitution otherwife than
by mechanical means. Enlarged enormoufly as it was, it did
not prevent fever, nor did it feem to give rife to any dif-
eafe. Dropfy, the common confequence of obftructed or even
enlarged vifcera, was not produced by it; and had not the
fever accidentally come on, the man might have lived till the
preffure had prevented digeftion from being performed. That
it aggravated the fymptoms of the fever, and contributed to
its danger, I will readily confefs ; but I by no means think that
it can be confidered as a caufe either exciting or remote.

—

Ht it mn } i esses ein edie ai hsviitema , nt
BR a paler datas snggla sbeclth ty Rehidota®

i : AD id Sika oe ve i

Be isi’ at. it ae

4
i j
adi |
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Ticet he
er Seton
elit
st he
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+a Ne

tale pe eae or

Panes on ie site

fade re i i Sr
bibs at dant ties gai on “habe hiking
ib. sig or st: beim ony ated at Bite =a wrat tn

“tpys ip Lefertde to somonpAcdy adem
a ile ka pisicit
wh a bowit. evi sabgien ae’: ‘aie
iy shea 2vag gard wr? sewers pete a
ae boyranod thas, TRE: ail bibioage Bee 5 ‘boot ew
ne vedo aichennaapndese! wh Sho i tf PD sts

POLITE LITERATURE.

Vou. IV. (A)

ee te Faas
Re Pee a Saas ne eran oh aha

A aa ee

eee ee

Fee i ToT ee Le ek eA Ee URE.
a
BOP OP a Vie 2 NT | |

IA DISSERTATION on a Puaffage in the fixth
Ihad of Homer. By the Rev. Edward Ledwich,
LL.B. MRL. A. and FS. A. of London and Scat-
land - - - - - - Page 3

Il. Hffay on a Syftem of National Education, adapted to
Ireland. Ry Stephen Dickfon, M.D. State Phyfician,
Profeffor of the Prattice of Medicine in Trinity College,

Dublins MRL A Se. Se. - - - rs

; a A uits piae shat g a
ae et te shea Ye N oa Rae

: 2 een Bt ; “ at

Lt) rif

a ease! ieaaalts tt alent ty aye

TPA! pine he Poise tgs |
elias gant * sais = NS, rts ah Ng’ :

- -_
: q * :
’ “

v I+

+, oy : re

ec a

A DISSERTATION on a PASSAGE in the SIXTH ILIAD of
HOMER. By the Rev. EDWARD LEDWICH, L2Z.8.
M.R. I. A. and F. S. A. of London and Scotland.

Betveroruon, rejecting the amorous defigns of Anteia, Read Odober
wife of Pretus king of Argos, immediately became the object of “9? *79
her moft furious refentment: fhe infifted on his death, but Pre-

~ tus, refpecting the laws of hofpitality, declined perpetrating the

deed, committing the execution of it to Jobates, king of Lycia,

to whom Pretus fent Bellerophon with letters expreflive of his

wifhes.

* These de pew Avxinvde, Tropey d ore onmara Avypo
Ppatvas ev srivecxs WTULTO, OuuoPope worre.

From thefe lines, from the opinion of Greek Scholiafts and
fome expreflions in -+ Jofephus, it has been afferted, that the art
of writing was unknown, not only at the time of the Trojan war
but in the age of Homer. A learned ¢ compatriot has laboured

Gara thefe

* Homer, Iliad 6, + Contra-Apion, lib. 1, { Wood on Homer, ps 213—214.

Pret

thefe points, and in doing fo has added one inftance to many
others of erroneous ingenuity and mifapplied erudition. I hope
to make it evident, that Jofephus, Mr. Wood, and others, are
miftaken, and that the preceding citation, fo far from fupporting
their ‘hypothefis, is pofitive proof of the contrary. This will
oblige me to take a wider range than I originally defigned, and
introduce fome remarks on Greek Palxography.

Josepuus, who on this occafion is much relied on, is an unfafe
guide; becaufe the profefled obje&t of his work is, to depreciate
the antiquities of other nations to aggrandize his own. ‘Though
eagerly purfuing this point, he is yet candid enough to own,
that it was a matter much * inqnired into and difputed, whether
letters were in ufe at the Trojan war. Did critical and antiqua-
rian inquiries then fupply materials and arguments fufficient to
decide this queftion in the negative, there can be no doubt but
he would have embraced that fide. The opinion he delivers is,
that the + prefent ufe of letters was unknown at that epoch to the
Greeks. A dark expreflion, the meaning of which feems to be,
that there were alphabetic elements in Greece in the Trojan
times, though not applied to the recording events. The f early
Fathers of the Church, who deferve as much credit as Jofephus,
and other § writers quoted by Fabricius, {peak of authors antece-
dent to Homer, and whofe ages approach very near that of the

deftruction of Troy.
Bur

* Tlonan yeyovey atropia rn xas Cxrnorze Jofeph. Sup.

t Noy evay Tey YELAAT WY NONTHY EXELS MYCE. Jofeph. Sup.
{ Enufeb. Prep. Evang. 1. ro.

§ Fabric. Biblioth. Grec. tom. 1. initio.

Ee a5), 1

Burt long before it became a fubject of critical or grammatical

inveftigation, Diodorus. Seculus *

tells us the Pelafgians had:
alphabetic elements which preceded the Cadmean. Euftathius t
fays, the Pelafgians. preferved letters at the deluge of Deucaleon.
What I have here tranflated /effers in the original are comac, ele-
ments. ‘Thefe were the f articulations of the human voice, of
which letters were the figns, the types or fchemes. Euftathius:
therefore intimates, that thefe Pelafgic were the original elemen-

tary Greek characters, which is true in fact.

Tue Iliad and Odyfley offer numerous proofs of the. commer--
cial intercourfe between the early Greeks, Egyptians and Phoeni-
cians ; and Diodorus Siculus and Eufebius agree in afcribing the-
fuperior attainments of Orpheus, Mufzus, Dedalus and the other ~
lettered Greeks to their travels into the Eaft:.. Can we fuppofe
thefe men, who at every hazard explored foreign climes in fearch.
of wifdom, could be infenfible to the ufe and advantages of let-
ters? The Greeks were too lively and ingenious-not inftantly to -
have adopted the art and practice of writing. Diodorus Siculus
feems therefore more correct than Herodotus in giving the ufe
of letters to the Pelafgians, and I.am of opinion with him, that
Cadmus § firft changed the Pheenician letters to the Greek enun-
ciation, affixing to each a name and peculiar charafter.. Herodo- -

tus :

aLib: 3 eb sat

+ Mira tov xaraxruopov cura ra sorxeie pores EAAnwr, Pact - In Iliad 2. Diod. Sic. Sup. .
Tzetz. Chil, 5—10—12. ;

t Tpappa sore Ssaepes” soxetoy LEY yeep Es wuTn n sxPwynors nas 0 Qboyyes. ¥ To YPO pape
enpeioyy Tumes, sx: Ammon. de differ. Vocab.

§ Tpwror ers tmp EAAnuxny perabeinas diarcxter. Diod. Sic. lib. 3.

es Ta

tus fays, that Cadmus, with the other arts and fciences, brought
letters into Greece, where before they were unknown: that thefe
were fuch as the * Phoenicians ufed; but in procefs of time, with
the + found they altered the rhythm of their letters, and laftly the
lonians changed the form of a few.

Ir has always appeared to me unaccountable how Cadmus
came to poffefs the exclufive honour of introducing an alphabet
into Greece, when it is well known the other { leaders of expe-
ditions from the Eaft could have done the fame as well as the
petty prince of Boeotia. Therefore no fufficient reafon can be
affigned for reje@ing what has been advanced refpe@ting the Pelaf-
gians and their ufe of letters; and let it be remarked, that Pelaf-
gus, Inachus, /Eolus, Lelex and Cecrops, were the chiefs of
oriental colonies an hundred years before Cadmus. If the fad
then be, as is here prefumed, and which feems extremely probable,
that the Pelafgians had letters, which Cadmus happily improved,
Diodorous Siculus and Herodotus are eafily reconciled. For the
latter informs us the Pheenicians (and Cadmus was one) them-
felves changed the gwvy and pufues of their charaéers, The firft
was their vocality or found: Thus for Aleph, Beth, Gimel, they
faid Alpha, Beta,Gama. They alfo innovated the rhythm of thefe
eaftern elements, that is, they § inverted their form, and altered

their

* Toss met comarres ypewvres.. Herodot. lib, 5.

+ Apc tn Dorn wersbarsvras ro puluov ser ypeejotrav. Herod. Sup.

~ Newton’s Chron. p. 13.

§ Itidem literaram modum figuram & {eriptionis feriem novarunt, Weffeling. ad Herodot.
Sup. Salmas, ad templ. Herod. Attic p. 58—g2.

ap

five]

their number and arrangement. This was changing the Pheenician
letters to the Greek enunciation, and giving to each a name and
peculiar chara€ter, as Diodorus Siculus expreffes it. Such feems to
have been the formation of the firft Greek alphabet, free from the
learned and tedious difquifitions of Scaliger, Salmafius and Mont--

faucon.

SURVIVING coins, infcriptions and literary memorials, authen--
ticate this detail. Pure Phoenician letters are feen on the * coins:
of A’gina, Beeotia and Sicily.. It is true, + Le Clerc doubts their
exiftence ; but this is putting fcepticifm in the balance againft the
credit of refpeftable men and {fcholars. Baron Spanheim lived:
five years after Le Clerc publifhed his remarks, and yet took no»
notice of his objections, though very material. Fortunately the-
matter does not depend on this fingle proof. Plutarch t records.
fingular Barbaric chara@ters, refembling the Egyptian, on the tomb:
of Alcmena in Beeotia, long preceding the Trojan war. The fimi--
litude of thefe elements to the Egyptian is well conceived, for
many of the firft fettlers in Greece were from Egypt, particularly
Cecrops, who being § earlier than Cadmus might have communi--
cated a knowledge of his alphabet to the Greeks.

Tuis may be called the Pelafgic epoch of letters ; the Cadmean:
prefents us with a mixture of old Phoenician and new Greek let--
ters,

* Spanheim de preft. & ufu Numifm. Bernard. Orb. erudit. Literat. & alios.
+ Biblioth. Choifie. Tom. xi. p. 50.
$ Whos wig 0 rvm0g BapCupmos trav yopantypwy suMepesaros Avpuarriog, De.Gen. Socrate:

§ Spagn. de ideis literar. p. 64. Rom. 1788,

[. 8 ]

ters, and the Bouftrophedom manner of writing The/e appear in
the infcriptions found at Eugubium and Perufia in Italy, at Sigeum
in Afia Minor, on coins and on tripods in the temple of Apollo at
Thebes, mentioned by Herodotus. From the Ionians the alphabet
received its laft improvements. This brief hiftory of the Greek
alphabet was neceffary for the more clearly underftanding the paf-

fage referred to in Homer.

As few languages have experienced * greater changes in its
matter and form than the Greek, fo the alterations in its letters
have been not lefs remarkable. _The old eaftern alphabet, on the
formation of a new and more convenient one by Cadmus, foon
went into difufe, and as paleography was not ftudied became
utterly unknown. ‘This appears plainly from the doubtful man-
ner in which both Herodotus and Plutarch fpeak of ancient in-
fcriptions. From the’ + laft-named author we learn, that when-
ever literary remains occurred, it was ufual to apply to the Egyp-
tian priefts for their explanation, becaufe they had books filled
with various forts of { characters. Now thefe characters, to be
ufefully applicable to ancient infcriptions, muft have been § obfolete
letters, and fuch were the Roman Notes, as defcribed by Cicero

and

* Nulla autem fuit lingua que plures pertulerit mutationes ac perwmreces, non folum in yer=
borum flexionibus per varios diale€tos, fed etiam in ipfis verbis. Salmaf. de Hellen. p. 403.

+ Plutarch. fupra citat.

f Borie tov rararwy ravrodamos xapaxtnpec. Plut. Sup. And Clem. Alex. Strom. I. 5.

§ In robore infculptas prifcarum literarum Notas. Cic. de Div. 1. ii. c. 41. Naétus puerilem
iconculam ejus eneam veterem ferreis ac fere exolefcentibus literis infcriptam. Suet. in O&.
c. 7. This fubject is fully difcuffed in the Antiquities of Ireland, p. go. Edit. Dubl. 1790, by
the author of this Differtation.

a

Lo]

and Suetonius. From their length and uncouth fhape thefe anti-
quated letters‘:appeared more like marks than alphabetic elements,
and hence the Greeks named them cyware and eyuae; and for the
fame reafon the Romans, * Not, and thefe were the syuera of
Homer, and the gowmino onuarea Kadue of Sextus Empiricus. It is
very ¢ uncertain when Homer lived, but let it be when it may,
Greek manners and the Greek language were advanced in their
progrefs to refinement; he, therefore, with ftri@ propriety and
correct attention to the ideas of his age, calls thefe obfolete letters
not ypaypare but cmere. Nor could Pratus have ufed any other
than the latter ; for Sifyphus, grandfather of Bellerophon, was
coeval with Cadmus, the former beginning his reign at Argos
forty-five years after the latter founded Thebes, fo that the hifto--
rical fact and the reafoning agree perfectly together.

I nave { elfewhere fhewn, that as foon as the power of letters
‘was known among rude people, immediately occult qualities were
_ afcribed to them by thofe who were ignorant of the art of writing,

and of this I have alleged fome inftances. The Egyptians had
their epiftolographic, hieratic and hieroglyphic letters ; the Idci
Daétyli, who were § Phoenicians, invented the magic Ephefian
characters long after the introduction of the new Greek alphabet:
the Romans fuppofed fome divine and occult quality to be in let-

Vou. IV. (B) ters,

* Nota alias fignificat fignum, ut in pecoribus, tabulis, literis, fingule litere aut bine.
Felt. Queelibet figna feu f{eriptalia elementa. Marcellin.

+ Eufeb. prep. Evang. lib. 10.
{ Antiquities of Ireland, fup. p. gt.
§ Newton, fup. p. 147.

[ to J

ters, as appears from Cicero and Plautus, and of this kind were
the Runes among the northerns, all deducible from an ecafiern
origin. The ancients alfo ufed thefe Notes and czyara and onsem
for * fecrecy and expedition. I do not think Prztus’s letters were
either ftenographic, magical or fteganographic, becaufe his epiftle
was folded up and fecured, but was written in old obfolete ele-
ments.

Tuat the art of writing was unknown to the father of Epic
- poetry is affirmed by Mr. Wood and others, but his

Tpaas ev mien mruxre.

fupplies a double proof of the contrary. The active verb ypagw
clearly refers to the operation of engraving or tracing letters on
wood, wax or other fubftance, and the folded tablet evinces no
novel acquaintance with literary and epiftolary correfpondence. If
the Batrachomyomachia be Homer’s, he tells us he writ in a trian-

gular tablet on his knees.
Hy veevey dearoriv Enos ems yevacs Onno.

The Greek language, which in his writings is in an highly im-
proved ftate, muft have + required many years and the iuccetiive
efforts of ingenious men to bring it to his ftandard. Nor can any

one
* Ava onpewy. Cic. Epift. ad Att. 1) 13. ep. 32. Erperm ev ysnpos. Plutarch in Caton.
Npwros vmaonuewoaynvos. Laert. in Xenoph. Spanheim. fup. p. 123.

+ Lingua Greca eft lingua que fuit longo ftudio & labore fabricata ab ingeniofis homi-

nibus, que apud ipfos folum yiguit, non yero apud ignarum yulgus & indocile. Spagn.
fup. p. 192.

Boise)

one conceive that poems of fuch t copioufnefs, correctnefs, and
abounding in fuch numberlefs beauties and ornaments, ftarted at
once into exiftence, without a long previous cultivation of the
poetic art by predeceffors. When Achilles is placed by his father
Peleus under the care of Phoenix, it was

Avdarneneve TAHOE TravTe

Mubaw re pyrup emevas, mpyxTypa TE Epywv,

that he might learn the arts of eloquence and civil wifdom, or to
fpeak as well as a@. The works of Homer, perhaps, do not con-
tain a paffage more decidedly in favour of the cultivation of let-
ters and the attention paid to the education of a popular chief
in thefe remote ages.

+ Ipfa res fatis docet, tam elaboratum carmen nullo modo effe potuifle, nifi jam fatis
multis poetarum ftudiis id effectum fuiffet. Heyne. apud. Comm. Noy. Gotting. yv. 8.

ps 36.

-

(B 2)

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ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following Memoir was written on one of two
Subjects, propofed by the Academy, agreeably to the
Dire&tion of a Perfon unknown, who gave 1oo/. to be
difpofed of by the Academy in Prizes of 50/. to the
beft Efflay on each Subje&. One of the Prizes was
adjudged to the following Effay, which was ordered to
be publifhed in the TranfaGtions of the Academy, by
a Vote of Council July oth, 1792.

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=

ESSAY on a SYSTEM of NATIONAL EDUGATION,
adapted tt IRELAND. By STEPHEN DICKSON, State
Phyfician, -Profeffor of the Praétice of Medicine in Trinity
College Dublin, Fellow of the College of Phyficians in Ireland,
M.R.[I. A. F.R.S. S.A. and Honorary Member of feveral
Medical Societies.

E:pucation may be defined the rearing of youth. Youth

ought to be reared in fuch a manner as will be moft conducive
to their future welfare. The welfare of a nation confifts in
the ftrength, good order, and {kill of the individuals who

compofe it.

Or national education, then, that muft be the beft fyftem
by means of which the health, the morals, and the informa-
tion of the youth of the nation may be moft univerfally and

effectually promoted.

In the following effay I fhall confider how the promotion

of thefe great objects may be facilitated by a fyftem of na-

tional education which fhall include the children of the la-

bouring poor.
As

Read July 95.
1792.

bse

As the fubject is not lefs extenfive than important, I can-
not expect that fome confiderations, deferving even of confi-
derable regard, will not efcape my notice, ButI fhall be little
folicitous of finifhing the minuter traits of fyftematic arrange-
ment, if I be fo fortunate as to defign a correct outline.

To delineate from abftract views an Utopian fcheme of
national education, however confummate, would be of little
advantage to a people already cemented in fociety. For it can-
not be fuppofed that a great body of men, endowed with
different portions of intelleCtual capacity, enlightened not only
by different degrees but by various hues of knowledge, {pot-
ted with prejudices of various cafts, {mitten with the love of
feparate purfuits, and affected by a great diverfity of private
interefts, fhould ever confpire to carry into effect even the

beft digefted fyftem of fpeculations originating from any in-
dividual.

Tue obje& of the patriotic propofer of the queftion under
confideration will (it is apprehended) be better attained by
merely fketching out a model of civil polity according to the
leading features of which we might and ought to mould thie
rifing generation of Ireland.

Ir appears advifeable in a difquifition of this kind, to
keep conftantly in view not only the genius and the intereft,
but even the prefent ftate of the country which claims our
chief regard. But I conceive that it would be improper to
enter very minutely into the detail-of any plan; fince the

moft

Tee

moft eafily feafible muft require various modifications, accord-

ing to local advantageous or unfavourable circumftances.

Tue following confiderations concerning the manner of rear-
ing the youth of this kingdom relate, 1ft, To their health;
adly, To their morals; and, 3dly, To their inftru€tion in the
knowledge requifite for the feveral departments which they
are to fill in fociety.

Of Education as it concerns Health.

Sucu is the connexion between the corporeal and intellec-
tual faculties of man, that ‘the vigour of the former inva-
riably tends to promote the energy of the latter. When the
fenfes are acute and the perceptions vivid, the empire of the
imagination is enlarged, and reafon has an extended fcope for
exertion. When mufcular ftrength feconds the fuggeftions of
the foul, the human being is perpetually ative. The power
of overcoming obftacles is never long unattended by the in-
genuity which points out the means, and the paflion which
inftigates to the attempt. But dullnefs of fenfation and weak-
nefs of frame are the parents of defpondence, and floth, and

ignorance.

Tue offspring of difeafed patents faintly ftruggle through the
feeble ftate of childhood. Yet by care hereditary maladies may
oftentimes be corrected, or even entirely deftroyed. Then the

Vou. IV. (C) boy

PE a8

boy puts forth his faculties, as tender fkrubs which have been
fheltered in their infancy fhoot out germs that defy fucceed-
ing blafts. But if the infant have been neglected, the boy will
be feeble, the youth enervate, the man diftempered, pufilla-
nimous, and burdenfome to fociety. Every one knows that
ficknefs incapacitates the mind for any lofty daring, nay often
for any thought but that of procuring relief from bodily dif-
trefs. What is the whole life of a valetudinarian but a long
fit of ficknefs?

Tue prefervation and rearing of infants fhould therefore be
the firft objects of national care.

Tue pens of elegant and forcible writers have been employed
to imprefs upon the minds of women a fenfe of the amiable-
nefs as well as virtue of fulfilling the firft duty of humanity,
the moft interefting office of maternal love, | mean the nurfing
of their own children. Let thefe advocates for the beft af-
fections ftill urge their honourable caufe. Let them force a
decent blufh into the cheek of diflipated grandeur, wring fighs:
of remorfe from the bofom of dereliction, and harrow the foul
of fenfibility with the fufferings of abandoned innocents. Their
eloquence will not be wholly loft in a kingdom to which vir-
tue has not yet bidden adieu.

‘Bur too much room will ftill remain for the interpofition
of national tendernefs to {natch from deftruiion the outcafts
of fhame, hard-heartednefs, and mifery. An inftitution which

provides

eee

provides for the reception and care of foundlings is, therefore,
of ineftimable public utility, and decided!y entitled to the warm-
eft fupport and patronage of the nation.

Let us now inquire how an inftitution of this kind fhould
be modified, fo as to extend the utmoft poffible advantage to

the community.

First, the admiffion of infants to the benefits of this infti-
tution fhould be accomplifhed with eafe to the mothers, and
fafety to the children.

In proportion to the difficulty of difpofing in this way of
fuch children as their parents are either unable or unwilling
to maintain, will be the temptation to difpofe of them in fome
other, and that a worfe way. Accefs to a receiving-cradle fhould
therefore be as eafy as poflible. Mothers who are opprefled
with poverty, mothers who fkulk to hide a furreptitious birth,
can, neither of them, make long journeys to depofite their in-

fants in a place of fecurity.

In Scotland the people are, in comparifon of the reft of
Europe, undebauched. But it is the nature of woman to. for-
feit the fenfe of virtue before the fenfe of fhame. In Scotland
therefore there are women who privately give up their chatftity,
but whom no confideration could induce to avow their tranf-
greflion. There is no foundling hofpital in that kingdom.
It is in many cafes impoflible to convey the fruit of intrigue

(C2) to

[30°]

to London or Dublin without the greateft rifk of difcovery.
The wretched devotees of character then embrace the horrid
alternative, and in the tumults of fhame and defpair facrifice
the lives of their offspring, and hazard their own eternal lives.
It is notorious that in Scotland fewer crimes fall under the
punifhment of the law than in any other polifhed fociety of
equal numbers, the crime of child-murder excepted ; and there
is even reafon to believe that that crime is much more fre-

quently perpetrated than detected.

From hence I infer the propriety of eftablifhing receiving-
cradles for foundlings in different parts of Ireland. Nor would
the care of thefe add much to the general expence of the infti-
tution, if they were annexed to, or even rendered a conftituent

part of the eftablifhment of every county infirmary.

I sarp that the fafety of the foundlings admitted to the
benefits of this charity fhould be an object of national care.
But I am perfuaded that their fafety is not compatible with
the neceflity of undergoing long journeys, during their ten-
dereft infancy, perhaps without proper food or raiment, expofed
to cold, and the damps of night, befide all the accidents to
which their delicate bodies are fo much more liable than thofe
of grown perfons.

A WEAKLY infant is frequently fent in the moft inclement
feafon, from the remoteft corner of Ireland to the cradle in
the capital. From thence it muft again fet out, and undergo

the

[ ax |
the fatigues of further travel, to the home of its appointed

nurfe. We omit to think how many children mutt unavoid-

ably perifh by this mifmanagement.

How far better would it be if the deferted infant were to:
be reared in the vicinity of its native fpot, without any watfte -
of that little portion of vital ftrength which is. its fole. inhe-

ritance !

Peruaps alfo this plan might be politic on. another: account.
It might be right to leave in the mother’s power to. watch un-
feen the growth of her offspring. If fhe had refigned it through
poverty, fortune might change, and put it in her power to
relieve the community from the burden of her charge. If fhe
had deferted it through fhame, the filent memorial of her mif-
demeanour perpetually haunting her, like a warning fpirit,
might awaken in her mind a fenfe ef contrition and a pur-
pofe of atonement by protecting and befriending (whenever it
might lie in her power) the unfortunate fruit. of her tranf{-
greffion.

SEcoNDLy, Care ought to be taken that foundlings receive
good treatment while at nurfe.-

Tuts cannot be accomplifhed without frequent infpection.
of the children, and actual vifitation of their nurfes habita-
tions. I am fanguine in my expectation that this may be done,
not only without expence, but in the moft effe@tual manner.

Why.

Egat 3

Why fhould we perpetually omit paying any tribute of refpect
to the public virtue of the more amiable half of the commu-
nity? Are women of fuperior birth and education unfit to be
entrufted with the management of any public concerns? Their
delicacy indeed forbids them, and their gentlenefs incapacitates
them from buftling through the mazes of ftubborn politics.
But to feek the fequeftered cottage; to watch the tender de-
pofite of the publick; to cherifh the innocent and friendlefs
orphan, who may, one day, be a fupport or an ornament of
fociety—thefe are offices congenial to the feelings of the moft
refined and exalted of the female fex.

Ir foundlings were difperfed through various parts of the
kingdom, the rearing of them could be eafily fuperintended by
ladies refiding in the country. The wages of nurfes might alfo
be paid by the hands of thefe gracious almoners of Provi-
dence, or by fome perfon appointed in each county to whom
proper certificates from them fhould be produced. This plan,
while it would fave nurfes the time and money which they
now wafte in journeying to Dublin, would preferve the in-
fants from the dangers of fatigue and cold to which they are
expofed in accompanying them.

TuirpLy, Proper means fhould be employed to cure fuch
children as are ill of infe¢tious difeafes.

-

Tue difeafes moft fatal to infants are the fmall-pox, and the
venereal difeafe.

SINCE

Ef §z3) 2]

Since the introduction of the practice of inoculation the
virulence of one of thefe:fcourges of mankind has confider-
ably abated; and nothing feems requifite to be added on this
head to the cautions alteady obferved except a perfeverance
in the practice, and a more extenfive diffufion of its benefits
by the benevolent activity of the phyficians and furgeons of
the feveral hofpitals and difpenfaries throughout the kingdom.

In England fome medical affociations have been formed for
the purpofe of inoculating all the children in certain: diftriéts
who have not had the fmall-pox; and the advantage accru-
ing from thefe exertions has furpafled expectation, and almoft
furpaffes belief. Similar affociations in this country require
only to be announced to be patronized *.

Bur the havock committed by the venereal difeafe is truly
deplorable. Every fecond child committed to the. foundling-
eradle in Dublin inherits this fhocking malady, and every one
of thefe forfeits its life for the crime of its parents. I have
been well informed that not a fingle infant tainted with this.
diforder at its birth has been ever faved in the foundling hof-
pital of Dublin, except when given to a nurfe undergoing a.
courfe of medicine; a circumftance which can very rarely

happen.
; Is:

* By the exertions of a fociety inftituted by Dr. Haygarth, the mortality of
the fmall-pox in Chefter was diminifhed in four years four-fifths.

Yet it is computed that even ftill the wafte of human. lives by the fmall-pox
in Great Britain and Ireland, amounts annually to /fty-five thoufand five hundred:
and fifty! See Howlett’s Examination. of Dr..Price’s Eflay on. Population.

Piet on]

Is this diforder more virulent in Ireland than in England
or France, in both of which countries I hear that children
have been cured of fimilar complaints? Or might not fome

1ew means be advantageoufly attempted amongft us?

Tuese are queftions of fuch great national import, and which
at the fame time fo highly concern the reputation of the fa-
culty, that I have little doubt but committees from the col-
leges of phyficians and furgeons might be eafily induced to
take them into their confideration. From the fkilful exertions
of fuch men we might perhaps without prefumption augur
fome acquifition to the public welfare *

Wuart provifions for the health of children of maturer years
might be generally adopted through the kingdom, it is not
eafy to determine. This, however, may be fafely alleged, that
every fpecies of exercife invigorates the animal frame, and
therefore that all boyifh fports have a falutary tendency.

But as‘the diverfions of children not only develope the
paffions of youth, but often prepare the road for their future

career,

* While I am looking towards an improved method of treating this difeafe in
jnfants, I am rejoiced in the profpeét of its frequency being diminifhed in the
fources of their contamination, by an admirable plan devifed by the prefent chief
fecretary. I allude to the General Lock Hofpital in Dublin, the eftablifhment
of which is already commenced, and which is to be fupported on fuch an ex-
tenfive fcale that it will receive every perfon affe€ted with this difeafe who may
apply, without their being under the neceflity of procuring recommendation, or
ufing any intereft. An inftitution founded on fuch humane and liberal principles,
and fo well calculated to deftroy an hydra already glutted with fo many victims,
{tands in no need of arguments to enforce its panegyric.

—e ee ee | ak” Ce OP

icp.

career, it fhould enter into the policy of thofe who endeavouf
to mould the rifing generation, to point out and encourage
fuch juvenile amufements as are at once conducive to theif
health and favourable to their morals. Sports which excite a
difinterefted and honourable emulation ought to be encouraged 5
but fuch as participate of ferocity, or emanate from the fpi-
rit of gambling, fhould be rigidly profcribed.

Let the martial fpirit which is congenial to the people of
Ireland, which forms a diftinguifhed ornament of their na-
tional charaéter, and which may be rendered a fteady fupport
of their liberties—let this fpirit be cherifhed in the bofoms
of our youth. Not a fpirit forward in favage quarrels, or dif-
played in fallies of cruel vivacity, but a fpirit patient of fa-
tigue, yet arduous in exertion, fubmiflive to difcipline, but alive
to public good. .

JuvENILE corps taught to love arms for the fake of their
country, and trained to ufe them in defence of its laws, will
exhibit in their exercifes fports worthy the fons of a wife
and a magnanimous - people. The fentiments and the labours
of fuch youths will be a leffon to their fathers, as well as
an example to pofterity. Their ambition will be unfolded in
competitions of virtue. Their relaxations from ftudy will add
nerves to courage, fpirit to patriotifm, and will render fubor-
dination and order national habits.

Vot. IV. (D) Of

eae

Of Education as it promotes Morality.

How the morals of the rifing hope of the nation may be
guarded and confirmed, deferves our moft anxious, confidera-
tion.

Ir will not be controverted that the precepts of the Chrif-
tian religion ought to be inculcated as univerfally and as fe-
duloufly as poflible. The example: of its. Divine Author is
the pillar of fire which fhould attract the affections and
guide the conduct of every member of fociety. The rank
of no. man can be fo elevated as: to fet him above loving his
neighbour, and doing to. all men as he. would they fhould do
to. him: Nor is the humble-lot of any fo unfortunate as to
deprive him of the means of being meck and merciful, flow
to anger, and ready to forgive injury.

Cuarity is the corner ftone of the great edifice of Chrift’s
church. Let that be preferved, and the prayers and obla-
lions of every feé of Chriftians will be an acceptable facrifice
in the fight of God. Let the milk of human xindnefs be
taught to flow through every channel of religion. Then,
though the mazes: of myftery and the involutions of knotty
do@rine may continue to puzzle the underftanding, they will
ceafe to corrupt the heart.

Tuer inftitution of funday fchools has been already produc-
tive of -confiderable public good. Habits of receiving inftruc-
tion

——_—_-~—-~—

%

Bak sales

tion and being obfequious to rule cannot be formed too early,
The mind as it becomes enlightened grows fond of peace and

order.

To encourage fuch {chools would, therefore, be highly be-
neficial to fociety. And let them be encouraged without any
limitations of religion or party, without any obftruction from
the narrow jealoufy of feCtaries, or the idle apprehenfions of
overweening politicians.

In a particular county in England the eftablifhment of a
funday fchool by prefbyterians gave great offence, and received.
much oppofition from the minifters and adherents of the efta-.
blifhed church. But could any thing be more prepofterous?
As if learning and charity were of any particular fect or party!
Or as if it muft not be the with as well as the intereft of
all parents and paftors to rear up their children in piety and
benevolence !

I wore no fuch difgraceful prejudices will find a refting
place in this kingdom. Let differences in religion be no longer
manifefted by hatred, and reviling, and calumny, but by an
honourable emulation in the facred caufe of learning and vir-
tue. Let the catholic, and the prefbyterian, and the quaker,
vie with him of the eftablifhed church, who fhall moft exten
fively diffufe the knowledge, and moft effe@tually fulfil the com«
mands of their common Father.

THERE are certain pointe of doctrine wherein Chriftians of
all denominations agree. ‘Thefe, happily, are the moft intelli-
(D2) gible

[ 28 ]

gible to the capacities of children, and the moft immediately:
connected with the condu& of human life.- The fundamental
precepts of the Chriftian religion, and their fanétions are truths.
of the moft interefting, awful, and impreffive nature, calcu-
lated to fill the youthful mind with the beft affeétions, and.
fupported by the concurrent affent of every Chriftian.

A sMau book, containing the firft principles of Chriftianity,
drawn up by fome pious and judicious perfons, might be printed
for the ufe of the children in all the funday fchools in the
kingdom. A very confiderable number of fuch a valuable
and unexceptionable manual might be difperfed. gratis amongft
the poor of all religious perfuafionss This would contribute
at once to put controverfial animofity to fleep, and to aroufe
the fpirit of active virtue. To defray the expenfe of fuch a,
publication every man: who either’reveres religion, or values
the bleflings of good: order, would. be folicitous to ftand for-.
ward,.

Bur our exertions muft not terminate in the mere inftruc-
tion of youth: we muft incite them to good actions: by ex-
ample, by praife, by emolumentary recompenfe..

Prizes of virtue have been diftributed, by. academies:in France
to peafants who had diftinguifhed themfelves either by fome
particular fplendid actions, or by a long courfe of laudable
condudt. Let fimilar rewards be held forth in. the different
fchools of this kingdom, and I have no. doubt: but they will:
roufe to exertion and exalt to notice, even in childhood, and:

amongft:

~

[2 |

amonett the loweft order of the people, numberlefs virtues which
might otherwife have flept in» perpetual oblivion. The feeds
of honour, benevolence, and patriotifm are thickly fown in
the fpirits of our countrymen: let inftruction and. encourage-
ment cherifh their growth, and their luxuriant branches will
afford a wreath which fhall decorate with new: glory the cha-

raéter of the» nation..

le
Of Education as it. relates to infiruttion in the knowledge. requi-
fite for the feveral departments in. fociety..

Tuis part of our fubject neceffarily refolves -itfelf into fub-
divifions correfpondent to the different departments for which
the youth of the nation are refpectively intended. We fhall :

‘treat of it firft as it relates to the elementary inftruction of

all, particularly the children of the labouring poor, and after-
wards as it relates to inftruction in agriculture, mining, ma-
nufactures, and profeffional and polite literature.

Of the elementary infiruttion of the children of the labouring poor. .

Very young children are fufceptible of the benefits: of
education. Even before attention can be fixed’ on the unin-
terefting objects which conftitute the elements of written lan-
guage, the mind may be trained to benevolence, and: fami- -
liarized to fubordination.: By fuch early culture a’ reception

is

~

Lae]

is prepared for the feeds of learning, which delight to fpread
their roots in gentle difpofitions and induftrious habits.

As there is fcarce any age fo tender at which the human
mind may not admit of melioration, fo there is no young
mind which does not ftand in need of inftruétion. Of what
nature and extent is that information which may be confi-
dered as requifite for every member of civilized fociety?
What kind of inftruction are the children of all the labour-
ing poor of Ireland capable of receiving, and of rendering
conducive to their private happinefs, and to the public wel-
fare? Thefe important queftions I fhall now endeavour to

anfwer.

Ir need fcarcely, one would imagine, be infifted on that
the commonalty in any country have no occafion for the
knowledge of more than one language. To every member
of fociety, indeed, the power of communicating his own
thoughts, and comprehending the expreffion of the thoughts
of thofe with whom he may be converfant, is indifpenfably
neceflary. Without this power bufinefs would ftagnate, and
pleafure, which depends fo much upon fympathy, would want
its choiceft zeft. But how can this be beft attained by the
people? By an uniformity of fpeech, a correct knowledge of
one tongue? or by a fmattering of feveral?

TuE queftion muft lie within thefe limits; for it would
be vain to fuppofe that ordinary men could fpare fo much
time

ie; S|

time from. the labours annexed to their ftation, .as the attain-
ment of more than one language, with tolerable accuracy, ne-

ceflarily requires.

Bur even had the commonalty fo much leifure, it is eafy
to fee how much better they might employ it.

In the Irifh language there are no original works con~
veying fuch knowledge as is neceflary to the poor. And as
to claffic literature, what can a tafte for its beauties produce
in the mind of a peafant but a diftafte for thofe occupations
by which only he can maintaim his family, and’ be of ufe
to the community? But the truth is, that Latin is learned by

the poor of Ireland with a very different view from that of
"illuminating their intellec&t by a ray from the effulgence of
ancient Rome. Their fole’ aim is to gualify themfelves: for
the darknefs of modern Rome. They afpire to be feleéted. for:
the pricfthood, and repair from ‘their hovels to fome’ hedge--
fchool-mafter in eager queft of the little fmattering of: eecle--
fiaftical language which he can afford them, and: in full ex
pectation of being fent abroad, with a ftipend, and returning:
to enjoy that indolence, and that controul over the: minds: of.
their, brethren, which too often mark. our vulgar clergy.-

Tue Englifh language ought to be fpoken and’ written’ as
univerfally as poffible over Ireland The language of. our
laws, the living language of all the well educated part of the
community, the only language by which inftruétion in arts,

f manufactures

Lea, a]

manufactures and trade can be conveyed to our people.—What
pains ought not to be taken to diffufe it throughout the king-
dom! Reading and writing Englifh fhould, therefore, be fedu-
loufly taught to every child in the nation, without exception
of fex, ob{curity, ‘or indigence.

I po not propofe the teaching of the Englifh language ac-
cording to the abftract and metaphyfical rules of grammar,
the comprehenfion of which is above the capacities of all chil-
dren, and would be utterly ufelefs to the poor. But let the
practice of ufing this language univerfally and exclufively be
ftudioufly encouraged amongft the lower orders of the people,
fo that infants may lifp it in their cradles and children pre-
fer it in their plays. Then will the care of a well-informed
fchool-mafter eafily correct vulgarifms, and by degrees accuf-
tom the meaneft peafant to juft habits of fpeech. The accom-
plifhment of this obje@ I take to be the firft and moft indif-
penfable ftep towards national improvement.

Tue fuperftru€ture to be erected on this foundation fhould
be fuited to the wants and to the habits of men neceffitated
to earn their bread by the fweat of their brow.

VuLcar arithmetic is adapted to every capacity, and ufeful
to perfons in every ftation. The common rules, and the man-
ner of their application, fhould therefore be taught to all.

Tue elder boys might, in my opinion, be eafily and very
profitably inftructed in fome knowledge of the mechanic powers.
I do not mean to recommend the teaching of geometry, or

any

ete os oo

Ly se

any abfirnfe propofitions; but a theory concife though corre,
evinced by experiments: plain and fimple, but fatisfactory and
obvioufly applicable to the common occurrences of life. How
often have we feen in the midft of the illiterate a true me-
chanical genius burfting the barriers of- ignorance, toiling
with felf-inftru€tion to difcover the various modes of exchang-
ing time for power, and at length fucceeding by the mere,

_ dint of native ingenuity in the invention of valuable ma-

chines, or in excellent improvements of thofe already con-
trived! How much time and labour might have been. faved
to thofe deferving men by a little timely inftruaion! How
many others poffefled of fimilar natural endowments might pro-
per training have rendered confcious of their powers, and.
capable of direéting them to the beft advantage!

Ir is fcarcely to be confidered as an objection to this pro-
pofal that perfons who are in other refpeéts well qualified
for the inftrudction of poor children are, many, perhaps moft
of them, at prefent ignorant of the very principles which I
am recommending they fhould teach. Such men, if furnifhed
with proper inftructions, could very foon qualify themfelves
for this part of their duty. [ do not know of any book
adapted for fuch a purpofe, but one might eafily be written
by any man of fcience and good fenfe; and I am perfuaded
that by doing fo he would render no inconfiderable fervice to
the community:

Havinc now endeavoured to afcertain what kind of in-
frution is requifite for the children of all, even the pooreft
Vou. IV. ( BE) in

[seh

in the kingdom, I fhall proceed to confider how the commu-~
nication of this inftruction may be beft effected.

Tue chitdren of the poor contribute not only to their fo-
Jace but to their fupport. They cannot, therefore, be entirely
given up by their parents to be adopted as the children of
the publick,

Nor ought the bands of family love to be ftrained by
fuch a feparation. It is incumbent on the ftate to provide
for orphans: but it fhould mever tempt parents to abandom
thofe whom Nature has committed to their efpecial care.

Instruction fhould, therefore, await the offspring of the
indigent as near as poflible to their own doors. The peafant
depending for fubfiftence on the daily labours of himfelf and
his growing family wouid gladly fpare his child from the
bufinefs of his cabin, during part of the day, for the fake
of his education; but he ceuld not afford the lofs of his
affiftance whole days, or while he fhould be travelling to fchool
many miles. It is evident then that any fyf{tem. of education
which includes the children of the labouring poor cannot be
carried into effect without the eftablifhment of a. confiderable
number of conveniently difpofed {chools: Let us fee what
meafures are moft expedient to be taken to. effect fuch efta-
blifhment.

By an act of parliament pafled in the reign of Henry
VIIL * and ftill fubfifting, the minifter of every parifh in
the

* 28 Hen..8. c. 15.

[) ifm.

the kingdom is enjoined to keep or caufe to be kept in his
parifh a fchool “ for teaching Englith, if any children of his
“ paroch come to him to learne the fame.” The faithful
execution of this duty is provided for in a manner apparently
the moft efficacious that could be devifed. The parochial
minifter folemnly promifes by the oath of induction and in-
fiitution to his ving to carry into effect the provifions of
the law.: Can any thing be more reafonable than that the
clergy fhould be ferioufly called upon to put in execution not
merely the letter but the fpirit of the act, and of their own
oath?

Ministers of Him, who defired that little children fhould
be fuffered to come unto him! Ye are called upon by your coun-
try to take under your protection their rifing hope. Be emu-
lous to diftinguifh yourfelves in the performance of this ho-
nourable duty, which Religion, and Patriotifm, and Jutftice
require at your hands. Difclaim the unworthy fuppofition
that the little annual contribution of forty fhillings, which
has become the cuftomary commutation “for your perfonal
fervice, completely exonerates you from ‘your obligations. It
is yours ‘to be not only virtuous, but zealous in virtue. It is
yours to fee that learning and morality flow throughout the
kingdom in innumerable channels; like the rivers which in-
terfe@ our foil, majeftic in their progrefs, and diffufing their
beneficial influence throughout all the Jand.

Trustine that the clergy will. conform to the fpirit of
their obligation, and provide one efficient fchool-mafter in
(E2) each

Es @@:. I

each parifh for inftru@ting all children who may prefent
themfelves, let us confider what further affiftance will be ne-
ceeflary for extending elementary inftrudtion, the firft ftep of

national education.

Or fome parifhes the extent, of others the population 1s:
fo great, that one fchool in each cannot fuffice for, the in-
firuétion of all the children who refide in them.. The. obvi-
ous remedy of this infufficiency is to increafe the number of
fchools in proportion to the want of them.. But who are to
be the judges of the neceflity for new eftablifhments ? Who
are to decide the expence, and applot the contributions which.

may be neceffary for their fupport?

Ir has been fuggefted that “ fpecial fums might be eafily
« afcertained and properly apportioned by the veftries, accord-
“ ing to their knowledge of the pofleffons. within their dif-
“ triés*.” But veftries are a fpecies of publick bodies very
ill calculated for the goyernment and {apport of charitable
inftitutions. They are petty democracies, compofed of the
moft fugitive materials, actuated by no uniform principle,
bound to no fyftem of condué; and too frequently, where.
money is to be difpofed of, full of, cabal and party.

in my opinion, the more liberal, becaufe more feleét and.
better educated bodies, the feveral grand juries throughout the
kingdom, would be not only competent to afcertain what.
{chools,

* Mr. Orde’s Plan.

i ae J

{chools, in addition to thofe eftablifhed: by the parochial clergy;
might be neceflary in their refpective counties, but would
alfo, in all probability, be fufficiently zealous to promote in-
ftitutions. which fo obvioufly tend to the reformation of mian- -

ners in the lower. orders; of the people.

Tue feveral mafters and miftreffes placed at the head of
thefe fchools. fhould be fupported partly by a ftated falary, or
other certain. afliftamce, as a‘houfe, and partly by.a remunera-
tion proportional. to. the number of their pupils. Some. cer-
tain affiftance is. neceflary to fecure the fervice of - reputable
and well-qualified perfons*;., but the extent of it fhould bé
barely {ufficient-for the attainment of this end. The means
of fubfifting without exertion are the ftrongeft allurements to -

indolence. -

Tue money neceflary for the payment of the ftated fala-
ries of mafters and miftrefles, beyond that afforded by the
clergy, fhould perhaps be raifed by parliament. But the re-
mainder: of their recompenfe cannot be conveniently raifed in
the fame way; becaufe the amount of it, being to depend on
the number of fcholars, which may probably be very variable
in different’ diftriéts, cannot ‘be exaétly. afcertained: This is
the money which I propofe to ‘be raiféd by prefentment of ©
the feveral grand juries ‘on 'their*refpective counties, according

to

* In Denmark each parith is provided. with rtwo.or, three fchools, where chil
dren are inftructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The f{chool-mafters have,
in general, a falary of £.12 a year, a houfe, and a few other advantages.

ge i

to the proofs laid before them of the numbers of poor chil-
dren inftructed in the different fchools.

Tuc proofs to be required by the grand juries fhould be
fpecial reports attefted by a certain number of refpeétable vifi-
tors, of whom the minifter or curate of the parifh fhould al-

ways be one. pIslg

In this fyftem it would ‘be the intereft of all parties to
promote the publick good, and fcarcely any opportunities
would lie open “for abufe. Every child in the nation would
be inftruéted :in ‘the ‘elements of learning and morality, and
would. grow:up in habits of induftry and good order.

Of inftruttion in Agriculture.

Or all the occupations of man, that. which is moft con-
-ducive to health, moft favourable to innocence, and moft pro-
duétive of national advantage, is agriculture.

Tuat the manly exercifes and labours of the field invigo-
rate the frame of man and prolong its exiftence, and that
ignorance of vice is more beneficial to fociety than the moft
refined fpeculative knowledge of virtue, are pofitions which do
not require: proof. It is alfo a truth equally certain, though
lefs obvious, that the moft durable riches of a nation depend

neither

4
we
we
es

neither on its erudition, its. arts, its manufactures, nor its‘com=
merce, but.on its agriculture.

From the land which is. well cultivated, however inclement
‘the fky or rebellious the foil, the cultivators always extract
fubfiftence. Certain of fupport, they are not afraid of the bur- -
den of families. Population and. induftry increafe together.
Children are fet-to employment; and they, by their labour; con-
tribute to their own maintenance and the publick wealth... Cities
are fupplied with the fuperfluous part of the population and
produce of the conntry.. Thus fcholars, artifts, manufaéturers
and traders are generated and. fupported by the hufband-
man..

Wuite the artificer: puts'in motion the moft powerful ma-
chines for abridging labour, while the merchant covers the
feas with veffels which tranfport the treafures of one country
to another, they are ftill indebted to the perpetual exertion of
human induftry for the riches they amafs. But the hufband-
man employs in his fervice Nature’ herfelf. He prepares ma-
terials for her to work on, directs her. efforts, and the feafons
and the glebe accumulate his wealth. .

THe capital, therefore, which is. employed in agriculture
Ras a twofold advantage over all other: capitals of general uti-
lity. Firft, it calls.into exiftence:a: more confiderable -mafs of
produétive labour than an equal capital employed in any other
way. Secondly, in proportian to. the quantity of labour which

1S

[ 40 ]

is thus called into ekxiftence, the value of the material wrought
upon is more enhanced, and a. greater value added to. the
annual produce of the country by this employment of capital

than by any 2other *.

Ir need fcarce -be added, that the occupation in which
capital is moft profitable and labour .moft productive muft
tend moft' to .promete national wealth. : fae

i s

SUFFICIENTLY ‘atisfied of the importance of agriculture,
let..us. now, inquire of what nature is that knowledge by
the .exercife, of which fuch great; advantages accrue to fo-

ciety.

Is there any difference in the foil of different {pots of
ground, in confequence of which fome may be better difpofed
to yield one kind of produé, and fome another? Is it pof-
fible to render land more fertile by manure; and if fo,
muft the nature of the manure be accommodated to that of
the foil? Are particular feafons of the year peculiarly propiti-
ous for ploughing, for fowing, for reaping, for planting, for
gathering fruit? Is there any thing intricate in the procefs of
vegetation, in the growing of corn, in the cultivation of vine-

yards, in the management of nurferies, in the prefervation

of

_ * 6 The work,of nature which remains, after deduGting or compenfating evety
« thing which can be regarded as the work of man, is feldom lefs than a fourth,
‘Cand frequently more than a third of the’ whole produce. No equal quantity
«© of labour employed in manufa€tures can ever occafion fo great a reproduc~
& tion.” —Smith.

Lee

of forefts? Are there any methods of deftroying noxious in-
feéts, and of cherifhing fuch as yield us honey and filk? Do
we know the moft advantageous manner of breeding cattle,

of multiplying flocks, and of improving their fleece?

Tue flighteft refletion. fuffices to-let us fee the intricacy,
the extent, the importance of the inveftigations which thefe

queftions involve.

Bur, according to the prefent difpofition of things, how is
the tyro farmer to acquire this knowledge? From’ the limited
experience, the coarfe, and often erroneous obfervations of his
neighbours ; from the vague rules handed down by tradition,
and blended with prejudices and fuperftitions interwoven by
ignorance; or, at beft, by gleaning from the mifcellaneous
details and imperfect eflays of fome judicious modern experi-
menters. But the inferior orders of men have neither accef$
to books, nor opportunities for ftudy. And of thofe even
who do enjoy fuperior advantages of fortune and leifure, how
few are qualified to combine and ufefully apply the fcattered

ae aid &
tsa dime P28 Songs
Coutp fuch a random education, * and! exe ns fo iil ere
rected ever have led to the illuftrious difcoveries which dist _

lights of modern difcoveries ?

nify other departments of fcience? which teach us tot call
every {tar in the heavens by its name, to traverfe the track-
lefs ocean and connect the moft diftant regions of the globe,
to defcend into the bowels of the earth, to pierce the fky,
and to rob the lightening of its fury?

Vou. IV. (F) THE»

[ye we. J

Tue eftablifhment of proper provifions for education in agri-
culture appears, therefore, to be an object of the moft import-
ant national concern. It appears peculiarly fo. in Ireland,
where the rural “ceconomy has received fo little commendation
er encouragement ; yet where the luxuriance of the foil and.
the mildnefs of the climate promife the moft abundant re-
wards to the fkilful toil of the hufbandman. Let our ignor-
ance of thefe affairs ceafe to. be a bye-word in the mouths of
thofe whofe knowledge of them is, perhaps, after all, fo little
fuperior to our own. Let the glory of erecting new altars to.
Ceres and Triptolemus be referved for a country not infe-
rior in genius. or patriotifm to the moft favoured of anti-

quity..

Tue firft obje@& to be fought is a correét fyftem of agricul-
ture adapted to the particular circumftances of this country 3.
and the next is the diffufion and inculcation of its docu--

ments.

To attain thefe objeéts a fuitable plan muft be fpiritedly-
carried into execution. The following hints are fuggefted to
be modified and matured by thofe whofe talents, information,
and publick fpirit qualify them for fo honourable an under-
taking.

1. Ler a profeffor of agriculture be eftablifhed in or near-
the metropolis; where other branches of natural knowledge
connected with agriculture, particularly botany and chemiftry,
are taught. Let this profeflor receive a falary fuitable to the

importance:

Lomb J

importance of his {tation, and to the abilities and knowledge
which the publick require in fuch a man. Allot him a {pace
of ground fufficient for exemplifying the nature and utility of
different fpecies of manure. Let him be provided with proper
implements of hufbandry, and of farming in all its branches,
and with models of fuch large. machines as may be necef-
fary for fatisfactorily elucidating his inftru@tions. Let him
and his pupils have accefs to a publick botanical garden* ;
and let the fuperintendent of that garden be enjoined to
fet apart a competent portion of it for the cultivation of
fuch grafles, herbs of the papilionaceous tribe, and fhrubs,
whether exotic or indigenous, as thrive in the open air. Let
the profeffor diftribute to his pupils a copious text book, con-
taining the principles of his art, or its fundamental truths ;
and let him, with the moft perfpicuous and circumftantial
accuracy, comment upon thefe texts, explain whatever is well
afcertained, point out the errors of authors of note and of
common practice, and fhew what important inquiries remain
yet undecided or unexplored.

2. BEesipE the pupils whom the love of fcience or the fame
of the profeffor might colleét around the chair of agriculture,
let certain induftrious youths of tolerable capacity, and of good
ordinary education in reading and arithmetic, be fent from

(F2) each

* Three hundred pounds a year have been entrufted by parliament to the Dub-
lin Society, for three years paft, “ towards providing and maintaining a Botanié
«© Garden.” This inftitution has not been begun ; but it is probable that a meas
fure of fuch manifeft general utility will not be much longer negleéted.

Li aa}

each county to ftudy agriculture, for a limited time, under the
profeflor. Thefe youths fhould receive pecuniary aid in: the
nature of a bounty; which might be raifed either by the vo-
luntary contributions of the principal men of wealth affociated
for that purpofe in each county, or might be affeffed on the
counties at large by prefentments. of the feveral grand juries.
This aid, I fay, fhould be in the nature of a bounty; not
to maintain the ftudents as children of the publick, but to de-
fray thofe extraordinary expences of a good education which
might otherwife prove an infurmountable bar to their inftruc-
tion. When the publick wholly fupport ftudents, their money
ds often wholly thrown away. The fupercargo may be care-
lefs who has no property of his own: let us embark our ven-
ture with him who is interefted in the fafety of the veffel..

3. TuesE pupils, when properly inftructed in the: metro-
polis, fhould return to, their refpeétive homes, and, there (if
certified to. be properly qualified) fhould be enabled by a» fur-.
ther bounty, to take, and) furnifh with proper ftock or imple-
ments of hufbandry {mall farms, wherein they might exhibit:
falutary examples to their neighbours of the advantage to be
derived from abandoning erronegus’cuftoms..

Lasrxy, thefe {Cientific farmers fhould not only exhibit fpe-
cimens of good rural ceconomy, but fhould be bound to in-
culcate in others that knowledge in which they themfelves will
have been inftrudled for the publick good.

I supmir

——_. .

4
,

f° ag y

1 supmir to the confideration of wife and pious men whe-
ther.a portion of the Lord’s day might not be fet apart for
this purpofe, profitably. to the poor, who are incapable of
ftudying books, and at. the fame time confiftently with the
interefts of religion? Might not the {fcientific farmer become
a ruftic orator, and explain in his field or his barn, how the
fpade, the plough-fhare, the fcythe, or the fickle might be bet-
ter employed; how the produce of the dairy might be meli-
erated; how the breeding or the fattening of cattle might be.
promoted or improved?

Tuus might the light of philofophy be diffufed: over’ the
fields of the peafant, and the garden of the-cottager; from
whence in return it would be reflected. back. on the higheft
{pheres, multiplying its benefits,. and. cheering the whole hori--
zon of fociety *.

I nAve already hinted at’ the eftablifhment~ of affociations by
gentlemen of opulence in different parts of the kingdom for™
the encouragement of agriculture. The Dublin Society fet a
noble example to the reft- of the world; and the advantages
which have arifen from fimilar inftitutions that have been fince
formed in other nations, corroborate the experience. this coun--

try .

* The emprefs of Rufha has at her fole expence eftablifhed a-Coilege of Agri-
culture at Sophifk. Mr. Samborfki, (a clergyman of great learning who had ftudied
agriculture for feveral-years in England), has a-farm of a thoufand acres provided
with neceflary buildings and all kind of farming utenfils. There he gives lectures
on the theory and practice of agriculture. From each feminary of the empire
two children of priefts are transferred to this eftablifhment, that they may be- -
come properly acquainted with the ceconomy of a farm, and, after they fuccecd 4
to benefices, may inftruct their parifhioners in agriculture.

[ 46 ]

try has had of its beneficial interpofition. But though this
fociety was exprefsly founded for the encouragement of agri+
culture, perhaps it does not now fufficiently direct its care to
rural affairs. Manufactures and arts divide its atvention, and
dimintth its energy.

Wueruer this apprehenfion be well or ill founded, no rea-
fon .appears why a competition of exertions for the publick
good ought not to be defired. The encouragements held out
by country affociations may confpire and cannot interfere with
the encouragements offered by the Dublin Society. Gentlemen
‘on the fpot can beft judge for the cultivation of what branch
of agriculture each part of the country refpectively is pecu-
liarly favourable. They can alfo moft effectually incite the
people to exertion, and moft fatisfactorily judge how far their
own patriotick labours are crowned with fuccefs.

Ir fuch focieties fhould be eftablifhed, I would beg leave
to fuggeft to their confideration whether they might not devife
modes of encouraging and affifting young men in applying
themfelves efpecially to peculiar branches of agriculture.

In manufactures it is acknowledged that the produétive
powers of labour are confiderably increafed by its divifion.
Skill, dexterity, and judgment employed wholly upon one fub-
jet, muft tend more to its improvement than if they had
been engaged by feveral. This is true in agriculture as well
as in manufactures ; although it muft be acknowledged that it
is much eafier to preferve the fubdivifions of occupation diftiné
in the latter than in the former.

It

Dita ll

Ir is only by confining to particular fubjects the obferva-
tion, and thought, and genius of thofe who cultivate them,
that thefe fubjeéts can ever be expected to be brought to per-
feGtion. Such encouragements, therefore, as might induce well-
informed perfons to apply themfelves wholly to particular de-
partments of agriculture, may be confidered as an effential

part of a good fyftem of national education.

Of infirultion in mining,

Mrnrne is the moft direct road’ to wealth; but, like the”
defcent to Avernus, few who pafs it tread back their fteps.

Tat Ireland: abownds: with valuable mines, we are affured
by one of the ableft mineralogifts in Europe, whofe birth:
and refidence this country boafts and enjoys. But fhall we -
tempt men who deferve well of fociety to facrifice their lives

at the fhrine of national fplendour?

I suvpper to think how many thoufand human beings, .
unconviéted of any crime, are at this moment plunged in -
mines from which they are never, perhaps, to reafcend; whofe
eyes “ roll in vain to find light’s piercing ray;” who never
“ wander where the Mufes haunt, clear fpring, or fhady grove,
« or funny hill;” fhut out from the theatre of nature, from
thofe refrefhments which fhe fpreads with fuch a lavifh hand
upon the lap of earth; and doomed to exchange a melancholy

and fickly life for an untimely death.
WouLD-

[ 48

Wovutp that the purpofes of trafic and the conveniencies
of fociety could be attained by the labour of fuch men alone
as have forfeited their lives to the violated laws of their
country! But this quantity of labour will not fuflice to pro-
cure fuch a ftock of minerals as the indifpenfable occafions
of fociety.-demand. The working of mines, and the manu-
facture of their produce muft, therefore, be in- part effected
by hired labourers.

Does it not, however, well deferve the confideration of legi-
flators, whether the moft unwholefome part of this labour
might not be alloted to fuch criminals as are now cut off
from all poflibility of making any atonement for their crimes?
The punifhment would be fufficiently fevere for the moft
atrocious’ villainy: the example would be more durable, and,
therefore, more impreflive than execution: criminals would
enjoy fuperior opportunities of repenting: and the nation
would receive fome compenfation for the injuries it had fuf-

tained by their offences *.
Or

* Amongit the ancient Romans, with whom capital punifhments were much
lefs frequent than they are with us, the “ damnati ad metalla” conftituted the
principal part of thofe who were employed in the mines, in the feparation of the
ore, and in the fulphur works. The political wifdom of preferving the lives of
offenders appeared fo forcible to the Romans, that even Nero, who cannot be
charged with any ill-timed clemency, not only employed the “ damnati in opus
© publicum” in digging his canal from Mifemis to the lake Avernus, and from
thence to Oftia, but even pardoned the moft atrocious malefa€tors to add to their
number. 2

Similar regulations to thofe of Rome obtain in fome modern ftates, particularly in
Spain. The quickfilver mines of Almaden are almoft wholly wrought by criminals.

~~

ee ee eee a es ee

4a J

Or the mines, however, with which Ireland abounds, it muft
be acknowledged that the working may, by proper precau-
tions, be rendered but little prejudicial to health. No delete-
rious vapours iflue from any of our minerals, while in the
bowels of the earth; fo that if an uninterrupted current of
air be preferved through the fhaft and level of the mine, the
workmen who defcend into it will fuftain no injury. Even
in the roafting of the ore, and other procefles in which noxi-
ous fumes arife, the danger may be confiderably leflened by
judicious management.

Tue publick health being thus protected, the prompt acqui-
fition of wealth by the working of our mines ought not to
be neglected

SHoutp this object be looked to, fome modification of the
general plan recommended for inftruction in agriculture ought,
perhaps, to be adopted.

Insteap of fending ftudents to 4 profeffor of mineralogy
ftationed in Dublin, we ought to fend them to Germany, to
Hungary, and to Sweden, in which countries that fcience has
now arrived to a very great degree of eminence: for a know-
ledge of minerals cannot be acquired except on the fpot
where they abound, and under the tuition of men long con-
verfant with their fenfible qualities, as well as their chemical
properties.

Vou. IV. (G) THE

Pago |

Tue perfons qualified to reap advantage from this courfe
of ftudy are thofe only who have previoutly received a liberal
education in humanity and in the feiences, efpecially chemiftry
and natural hiftory.

Tue expence of the education of fuch men ought not to
fall wholly upon the nation: for we are not to fearch for
philofophers amongft the loweft ranks in fociety. But, to the
fapport of men whofe genius leads them to this ftudy, and
whofe previous acquirements qualify them for the purfuit of
it, the nation ought to contribute at leaft fo much as the
expence of a foreign education exceeds that of a domeflick
one.

FurtHER, men fo educated fhould be entitled to a prefer-
ence above others in all offices relating to mines, and beftowed
by government. Thefe men would alfo be preferred by mi-
ning companies, becaufe it is obvioufly the intereft of all fuch
companies to employ the moft fkilful as well as the moft ho-
neft affiftants, and becaufe men who live by trade invariably
purfue their intereft when they know it.

Tue expence of contributing to the foreign education of
mineralogifts fhould not, however, be a perpetual tax upon the
nation. If the mines of Ireland fhould in procefs of time be
as well wrought as foreign ones, the knowledge of mineralogy
requifite for their cultivation could be acquired more eafily
and more fuccefsfully at home than abroad: then the boun-

ties to travelling ftudents ought to ceafe.
THE

Di ge 9

Tue acquifition of this knowledge at home would be con-
fiderably facilitated, if we were to poflefs mineralogical cabi-
nets in which various natural combinations of metals, and of
the other ~produéts of the mineral kingdom were well col-
lected, and judicioufly arranged. Thefe {pecimens ought to be
accumulated in fuch abundance as to allow of occafional con-
fumption in chemical experiments. For although an examina-
tion of their fenfible qualities may perhaps be generally ade-
quate to the difcrimination of different bodies, yet it cannot
be denied that this criterion is both more complex and lefs
fatisfactory than chemical analyfis.

AN extenfive cabinet of this kind, enriched with the mine-
rals both of foreign countries and our own, would be an in-

_ eftimable national treafure. But as the excellency of fuch a ca-

binet would depend partly on its furniture, and partly (perhaps
principally) on their arrangement, I fuggeft two provifions for
confideration.

First, that it fhould be required of every travelling ftudent
of mineralogy receiving a ftipend from the nation, to colle@
in thofe countries wherein he fojourns, and to tranfmit to
Dublin fuch fpecimens as are moft ufeful or rare.

SeconpLy, that a board of mineralogy fhould be ereéted,
confifting of the moft eminent charaéter in that fcience as
prefident, and of fuch others as may be thought worthy of be-
ing affociated with him. ‘That this board fhould receive a parlia-

(G2) mentary

[5a a

mentary grant of a grofs fum to be expended in building
apartments for a publick cabinet of mineralogy, and a chemical
Jaboratory under the fame roof; and fthould alfo receive fuch
annual fums as would be neceffary to preferve them in re-
pair, and to give to a competent number of travelling ftu-

dents, to be feleCted by the board, honorary ftipends.

Finatty, that the care of procuring, arranging and preferv-
ing f{pecimens, and the power of permitting ftudents to examine
them, and to enjoy the ufe of the chemical! laboratory, under
fuch reftriGions as might feem advifeable, fhould be entrufted.
to this board.

Turis plan would certainly be fomewhat expenfive; but
when we confider the engines that are to be put in motion,
and the fkill and integrity of the perfons to whom the direc-
tion of them is propofed to be entrufted, perhaps it may be
allowed that few could be devifed more direClly conducive to.
national opulence.

Of infirution in manufactures.

Next to the cultivation of the earth, fociety is moft bene-.
fited by the manufacture of its produce. How. manufactures
may be beft promoted, and what kinds ought to be princi-
pally encouraged in a fyftem of national education, I fhall
now endeavour to .afcertain.

Tue

Be. chon

Tue promotion of manufactures depends on the number and

fkill of thofe who engage in them. Inafmuch, therefore, as

’ manufactures are ufeful to the community, exertions ought

to be made to increafe the number and improve the {kill of

manufacturers.

To attain this end the following {cheme is fuggefted. I
muft premife that this, like what I have thrown out. upon
other fubjects, is offered, not as a perfect plan, but as one
yet to be modified as the fite of peculiar circumftances may
require.

Lert feveral fchools be erected in different parts of the king-
dom for the inftruction of youth in various branches of ma-
nufacture ; fome for teaching the linen, others the woollen
manufacture, others that of filk, of cotton, of hardware, and
fo forth. The general outlines of the plan of each of thefe
fchools I fhall attempt to delineate.

1. Tuere fhould be a head matter well known to be per-
fe€tly converfant in every branch of the department which
he is appointed to fuperintend. This mafter fhould have the
direction of the whole fchool, fubjeét only to occafional con-
troul in the manner hereafter f{pecified. The falary of this
mafter fhould (for obvious reafons), be derived either wholly
or principally from a certain. proportion of the profits of the
manufacture wrought in the f{chool.

2. THERE

C 54 J

2. THERE fhould be a competent number of fubordinate f{u-
pervifors, one to teach the myfteries and infpect the manage-
ment of each particular branch of the general department.

3. Tuere fhould be a head clafs of fludents intended to
be mafter manufaGurers, each of whom fhould pay a certain
fum on admiffioa into the fchool. Thefe fhould be inftructed
in the theory and practice of every branch of the manufac-
ture to which the fchool is appropriated, from the collection
of the raw material to its converfion into the moft elaborate
compofition of art. Thefe ftudents fhould alfo be taught book-
‘keeping, and in fhort whatever is neceflary or ufeful to be
known by a matter manufacturer; particular attention being
paid to their education in any one branch for which they
may be peculiarly intended.

4. Tuere fhould be a fecond clafs, confifting of poor chil-
dren, who fhould be admitted gratis, upon proper recommen-
dation, and maintained and clothed entirely at the publick ex-
pence. Thefe fhould be inftruéted in the fubordinate labours
of handicraft, to which they fhould be principally confined.

I say principally, but not wholly; becaufe I am not of
opinion (with Dr. Prieftley) “ that the mechanical parts ef any
« employment will be beft performed by perfons who have
“ no knowledge or idea of any thing beyond the mere prac-
“ tice.’ Some of the moft valuable improvements in machi-
nery and in the conftruction of philofophical inftruments have
been made by intelligent workmen. In the firft fire-engines

a boy

Pe oad ST

a- Boy was: conftantly employed to open and fhut alternately
the communication between the boiler and the cylinder, ac-
cording as: the pifton either afcended or defcended. One of.
thofe boys, who was. anxious to be at liberty to play with
his companions, was the firft who obferved that by tying a-
ftring from the handle of the valve which: opened: this* com--
munication to another part of the machine, ghe valve would?
open and fhut without afliftance. Thus one of the greateft-
improvements that has been made upon this machine {ince its:
invention was the difcovery. of a boy who fought to. fave:
his labour. Was the genius of this: boy: unworthy of being:
cultivated? or fhould he have been treated merely as’ an -auto-~
maton becaufe he was poor? I fhall adduce another example
of an oppofite kind’ In the ftaple manufacture of this country”
a confiderable lofs has been occafiomally fuftained by the rot-
ting of linens in confequence of the acidulous liquor: where-
with the bleachers four them- having been too ftrong. The
only teft which thefe workmen employ to afcertain its ftrength
is their tafte. But this fenfe is proverbially irregular. A very
little chemical inftru€tion. would furnifh them with a criterion °
fufficient to fecure the good effects of the liquor and to pre--
vent it from being ever corrofive.

5. Tue bufinefs: of the fchool would be completed by a
competent number. of experienced journeymen, who fhould be
employed in fuch work as cannot be performed by children,
and in the inftruction of all, particularly the fcholars of the -
fecond clafs, in the feveral operations of manual art.

LasTLy,

Ly 56a]

Lastiy, a council, confifting of a certain number of gentle-
men refiding in the neighbourhood of fuch fchools, (and who
may be appointed, in fome cafes by government, in fome by
the truftees for promoting the linen and hempen manufac-
tures of Ireland, in fome by the Dublin Society, or other-
wife, as might be thought advifeable), fhould regulate the
whole exterior apd interior management of each manufactur-
ing fchool, audit the accounts, receive and difburfe cafh, or-
der implements and machines, procure raw materials, difpofe:
of the manufactures, appoint mafters, admit and difmifs {cho-
lars.

Sucu materials fhould be procured as are neceffary for exe-
cuting the feveral pieces of workmanship in the beft manner.

Tue moft ufeful machines for abridging labour fhould efpe-
cially be provided, and the proper management of’ them. care-
fully attended to.

Prizes for fuperior dexterity and induftry fhould be liber-.
ally, but chaftely diftributed.

WueENEVER a fcholar of the head clafs may appear, after
due examination and trial, to be properly qualified for the
exercife of his trade, he fhould receive a fuitable certificate
from the council of regulation, which certificate fhould entitle
him to be admitted to all the advantages at prefent confined
to thofe who have ferved a regular apprenticefhip to mem-
bers of corporations.

A SIMILAR

isn) 4

A simivar rule fhould be eftablifhed with refpe& to fcho-
lars of the fecond clafs. Thefe, moreover, fhould be entitled
to a preference above other journeymen in being employed
at the fchool, and fhould not only receive pay as fuch, but if
they fhall have continued to labour induftrioufly in that capa-
city for a certain length of time, or if they fhall have ob-
tained a certain number of prizes for excellence in their art,
fhould receive fuch a ftock of implements*or machines as may
enable them to enter into trade on their own account, and
employ an additional number of hands.

Tuese are but the leading features of a plan which can be
perfectly fafhioned only by the deliberations and exertions of
perfons converfant in the feveral manufactures.

I now proceed to obviate fuch objections againft the gene-
ral fcheme as occur to me.

First, let us confider the expenfe of fuch kind of efta-
blifhments. |

Tue labour of children employed at machinery may be fairly
confidered as equally productive with the labour of an equal
number of men unaflifted by any combination of mechanic
powers. The labour of the meaneft hired labourer cannot be
worth lefs than that of an able-bodied flave. Now the labour
of an able-bodied flave is calculated by a very judicious au-
thor (Mr. Cantillon) to be worth double his maintenance.
From hence I conclude that the expenfe of maintaining all
the children educated in manufacturing ichools would be at
leaft defrayed by the profits of their labour.

VoL. IV. (H) I Have

Es8) cq

I Ave equal reafon to conciude that the maintenance and
pay of experienced journeymen would be at leaft compenfated
by the fruits of their labour.

Wuetuer the refidue of the profits arifing from the ma-
nufactures wrought in thefe fchools would fuffice to pay the
falaries of mafters, and other current expenfes, | am not pre-
pared to fay. I think it probable that, in moft cafes, it would ;
becaufe thefe falaries can fcarcely be rated at more than a
proportion of the whole profits accruing from the manufactures,
equivalent to that which private manufacturers lay by to enrich
themfelves. Indeed I apprehend that if the fchools fhould be
well regulated, and the manufactures wrought in them properly
difpofed of, the falaries of mafters would not amount to this
furplus of profit.

Tue fees of admiflion of the head fcholars might be applied
to the purchafe of machinery. After fome time it is probable
that this refource would be more than fufficient for their pur-
chafe and prefervation in repair.

Ir only remains to provide buildings adequate to the pur-
pofes now mentioned. The expenfe of thefe might probably
be defrayed partly by fubfcriptions or bequefts, and partly by
parliamentary aid. Thefe would certainly be advanced with
alacrity, if the {cheme fhould appear to be in its principle and
execution decidedly difinterefted, and in the event of its fuc-

cefs decidedly advantageous to the community.

THE

a FSS

ay

[sey J

Tue fecond objection which I conceive might be urged
againft this fcheme is, that it militates again{ft the exclufiye
privileges of corporations, and the regulations of apprentice-
fhip *.

Tuts is the quarter from whence the moft ftrenuous op-
pofition is to be dreaded. For when did any fet of men who
enjoyed a monopoly agree to relinquifh it for the publick

good?

Bur the impolicy of all kinds of monopoly in trade may
be eafily proved. The profits and the wages of all perfons who
enjoy the benefits of a monopoly are greater than the {kill
and labour of fuch perfons merit. This operates as an encou-

Ghia) ragement

* The regulations of apprenticefhip in Ireland are upon a different footing,
and fomewhat lefs illiberal than in England. In the latter country a ftatute was
enacted in the sth of Elizabeth, prohibiting all perfons from exercifing any craft
or trade then ufed who fhould not have previoufly ferved an apprenticefhip for
feven years. In Ireland fimilar prohibitions obtain in all corporate towns by
authority of bye-laws of the feveral corporations. Thefe prohibitions, however,
extend only to natives of Ireland; for by a rule made by the lord lieutenant and
privy council, (which in this inftance has the force of a law, according to a ftatute
pailed in the 17th and 18th of Charles the Second) all foreigners and aliens,
as well perfons of other religious perfuafions as proteftants, who are merchants,
traders, artizans, artificers, feamen, or otherwife {killed in any trade or the work-
manfhip of any manufacture, or in the art of navigation, who come into any
city, walled town or corporation, with intent there to- refide, fhall, upon requeft
made and payment of twenty fhillings by way of fine to the chicf magiftrate and
common council, or other perfons authorifed to admit freemen, be admitted free-
men of faid city, &c.3; and in like manner fhall be admitted to the freedom of
cuilds of their refpective trades, with the full enjoyment of all privileges of buy-
ing, felling, working, trading, &c.; and any magiftrate refufing to admit foreigners

fo applying fiall be disfranchifed.

[. 60° ]

ragement to fraud and to idlenefs ;—to frand, becaufe mono-
polifis receive more for their commodities than their intrinfic
value ;—to idlenefs, becaufe the obvious policy of keeping the
market for thofe commodities underftocked prevents them from
fupplying it as well as they can, from working as much as

they are able.

Tue exclufive privileges of corporations and the regulations
of apprenticefhip are the gates of monopoly which fhut out
natural competition, reftrain induftry and genius, and in. the
end fall as a dead weight on the body of the publick.

As to the exclufive privileges of corporations which obftruct
the circulation of labour from one place to another even
in the fame employment, workmen, I know, will be ready to
urge that the price of their labour ought to be protected by
monopolies. But this is a falfe, as well as an illiberal argu-
ment; for the demand for workmen always increafes with the
thriving of manufactures and the extenfion of commerce; and
with the increafe of demand for workmen will the price of
their, labour be neceffarily increafed. Hence it is that the
wages of workmen are always higher in capitals than in the

country.

As to the regulations of apprenticefhip which obftrué the
circulation of labour from one employment to another even
in the fame place, it is difficult to fay what can be alleged
in its favour. ‘The common cry is that apprenticefhips are

neceflary

Se ee ee Se es. lL, mr
7

bee dl

neceflary to guard againft bad workmanfhip. But this argu-
ment cannot bear fifting. Are not apprentices uniformly em-
ployed in work by their mafters? Is not work as well executed
in—Paifley, for example, as in any part of Europe, although
the term of apprenticefhip is not half as long in Scotland
as it is in moft other countries? Has any national difadvan-
tage accrued from the act of parliament which exprefsly opens
the linen trade in England to all perfons? In fine, are the
manufactures of Manchefter, Birmingham, and Sheffield (which
do not come within the ftatute of apprenticefhip) any difcredit
to the people engaged in them?

Some advantage to fociety may poflibly accrue from the
quarantine of a probationary term being exacted from thofe
who exercife a craft concerning workmanfhip in which every
man is not qualified to judge by infpection. A man may
be a bad attorney or a bad apothecary without being difco-
vered to be fo by him who could inftantly difcover the coarfe-
nefs of a hat or the clumfinefs of a boot; and the fortunes:
and lives of the community may fuffer by mifplaced confi-
dence in fuch men. But, after all, is their having ferved an
apprenticefhip any teftimony of their fkill, or fecurity for their
integrity? It may be faid that it affords a prefumption in their

‘favour. But let fuch prefumptions be fuperfeded by proofs.

Let an examination of their qualifications by perfons eminent
in their art be inftituted as a teft of their competency, and
let an examination of their workmanfhip by the fame perfons
be reforted to as a teft of their honefty. [t has been well
obferved that the fterlmg mark upon plate, and the ftamps

upon

ee

upon linen or woollen cloth, give the purchafer much greater
fecurity than any ftatute of apprenticefhip: he generally looks
at thefe, but never thinks it worth his while to inquire whe-
ther the workman had ferved a feven years apprenticefhip.

Can it be doubted that a man poffeffed of eminent genius,
or induftry, or both, may not acquire perfection in his art
fooner than one who hath neither abilities nor application?
And is it confiftent with the natural rights of man to put
forth laws of form and ceremony which {hall inhibit any one’
from the profitable exercife of his talents?

Tue fkill and the labour of every man are his moft in-
difputable, and ought to be his moft unviolated property.
The poor man’s liberty to earn his bread by whatever honeft
means Providence has put in his power is a charter granted
by Heaven, which ought to be held facred upon earth,

Tuts is a liberty which can never degenerate into licen-
tioufnefs ; for who will employ a labourer not worthy of his
hire? but if worthy, why fhould he be debarred of employ-

ment?

Can it efcape the moft fuperficial obferver that all bufinefs
which is carried on in the open air muft neceflarily be pre-
carious, depending on the concordance between the feafon and
the work? The mafon is idle in froft, the flater in ftorms,
- the bleacher in fnow. Befides, the demand for different ma-

nufactures

p63. 34

nufactures muft vary according to the time of year, to the
change of fafhions, to foreign orders. See then how your
laws of apprenticefhip operate—they prevent all labour when
a particular kind cannot be exercifed ; and when there is an
extraordinary demand for any particular kind, they prevent a
fafficiency from being procured.

Tue ancients knew no fuch impolitick reftrictions. They
held that every man has a right to learn what another is
willing to teach upon fuch terms as may be agreed on be-
tween them. They never conceived that induftry is promoted
by the profits of one man’s labour -neceflarily centering, for
a ftated number of years, in the aggrandizement of another.
They never held that the myfteries of all crafts are equally
difficult to be acquired. They never conceived that fkill and
integrity are infured by the workman’s having been a re-
demptionary flave. Yet we maintain cuftoms founded upon
fuch notions; though we fee that apprentices are, in general,
as idle as they dare be; that when put out, (as they com-
monly are from charity {chools,) with {mall apprentice fees,
and bound for a long term of years, they become peculiarly
worthlefs and unprofitable ; but that journeymen paid by the
piece are prone even to endanger their healths by the afliduity
of their application.

To conclude thefe comments; though I am an enemy to
every fpecies of monopoly in trade, I do not propofe to over-
turn the whole fyftem of corporations and apprenticefhips.
But let the doors of corporations be opened, by means of ma-

nufacturing

sas

nufacturing {chools, for the admiffion of all who are properly
qualified. At the fame time let a fair competition be infti-
tuted between thefe fchools and private mafters, by removing
from the latter whatever reftraints in the number of appren-
tices are at prefent impofed upon them.

Tue only remaining objection againft manufacturing fchools
which I can forefee, relates to the labour of children, and the
impropriety of calling into action their whole ftrength.

Or the tendernefs due to youth no one can be more fen-
fible than I am, no one more folicitous that it fhould be fe-
duloufly regarded. But let it be remembered how much labour
is diminifhed by machinery, and how eafy it is in an exten-
five factory to apportion to every degree of ftrength its proper
employment,

Tuart children fhould be rendered as valuable to the com-
munity as is confiftent with their health will fcarcely be
controverted. Early habits of induftry lay the foundation of
order and temperance through fucceeding life. Thefe pro-
cure riches, promote health, and fecure comfort to indivi-
duals; and by confequence eftablifh national profperity. When
the pofleffion of children is a treafure, marriage is wooed with
eagernefs, and enjoyed with tranfport; plenty {miles in the
train of population; and the land overflows with innumerable
fources of fertility and wealth.

Havinc

[ & J
-Havine now endeavoured to fhew how inftru¢tion in ma-
nufactures may be beft promoted, few words will fuffice to
afcertain what kinds. ought to be principally encouraged in a
fyftem of national education. ;

Tue manufactures beft entitled to encouragement are thofe
which are moft favourable to health and good morals, beft
affifted by the natural refources of the kingdom, moft con-
genial to the difpofition and habits of the people, and moft
prized by the inhabitants of other countries.

Of inflruétion in profeffional and polite literature.

x
bed

Tus fpecies of inftruction being chiefly defigned for thofe
who are to fill the higher orders of fociety appears to be
lefs immediately the obje@& of our prefent inquiry than any
of the foregoing. The education of the rich muft neceffarily
be lefs fyftematical than that of the poor; both becaufe the
knowledge of the former is more various, and muft therefore
be drawn from a greater variety of fources ; and becaufe
men in fuperior ranks are likely to judge themfelves what
kind of education is beft fitted for their children, and pofleis
the means of carrying the refult of their judgment into exe-
eution. It muft, however, be acknowledged that all men are
more or lefs fwayed by cuftom: it feems therefore advifeable
to point out what fpecies of education ought to be cuftom-
ary, what eftablifhments ought to be encouraged for inftruc-
tion in profeffional and polite literature.

Vot. IV. (1) I sHALL

[ 66 ]

I saat briefly confider, firft, what kind of knowledge
men intended for the fuperior walks of life ought to poflefs ;
and fecondly, what means ought to be employed for facili-
tating the communication of this. knowledge.

Tue education of the divine, the lawyer, the phyfician, the
painter, the mufician, the naval and military officer, the
merchant, the ftatefman, and the elegant fcholar, ought to
branch from one common trunk,

STRIcT grammatical accuracy in the ufe of the Englifh
language, and a familiar acquaintance with the Latin and
French fhould be confidered as indifpenfable ground-werks for
whatever fuperftructure is afterwards to be erected.

%

Some modern writers, and thofe too of repute, have thought
proper to decry the ftudy of the dead languages as a ufelefs
tax upon the memory; but thefe gentlemen have over-rated
the difficulty of acquiring a competent knowledge of thefe
tongues; they have omitted to confider how many Englith,
efpecially technical words, {pring from the Grecian fount; and
above all they have forgotten how univerfally the Latin
tongue pervades every department of literature; fo that Tul-
ly’s affertion is as true at this day, over all the realms of
polifhed fociety, as it was originally in the city of Rome—
“ Non tam preclarum effe {cire Latine, quam turpe nefcire.”

A GENERAL knowledge of ancient and modern hiftory, of
the nature of the conftitntion under which we live, and of
the

aust aaet

the laws by which we are bound, appears effential in a courfe
of liberal education, |

In men whom noble birth or perfonal intereft holds forth
as candidates for the rank of Jegiflators, the want of full in-
formation upon thefe fubjeéts is not to be pardoned,

Or political knowledge there are two kinds, without poflefiing
a competent fhare of which no fenator can difcharge wifely or
confcientioufly the truft repofed in him by his country; a
knowledge of conftitutional, and of commercial policy. To
maintain the conftitution by the fupport of government, the
prefervation of order, and the prote@ion of liberty ; and to
augment national opulence by the encouragement of manufac-
tures and the extenfion of trade are the grand objects of par-
liamentary deliberation. But is it poflible that men can be
qualified to make conftitutional and commercial laws to bind
a nation, without ever having ftudied the principles of confti-
tutional or commercial policy? And with what pretenfions to
honefty or even decency can men think of aflembling for this
purpofe without thefe qualifications?

Lastty, the education of men defigned for the higher walks
of life cannot be complete without fome acquaintance with
the hiftory of nature, a fubject neither lefs interefting nor lefs
important than the hiftory of man. ‘The properties of the
bedies which furround us, and with which we are every
moment of our lives converfant, are more or lef known
by every perfon. But the man of good education knows

(i2) philofophically,

[ 68 |

philofophically, what the illiterate only colleé&t from experi-
ence, or glean by accident.

I FORBEAR to enter into any examination of the mode of
profecuting the particular ftudies which are peculiarly fuited
to the feveral departments of profeflional and polite literature.
They who prefide over thefe departments are certainly the
moft competent to regulate the ftudies and afcertain the qua-
lifications of {uch as are to be admitted into them. To ‘thefe
men it would be at leaft fuperfluous, if not impertinent, to
offer any {pecific propofals for improvement. But I fhould never
ceafe to prefs upon their minds the primary principle that
ought invariably to influence them.—Let your refpective de-
partments be preferved pure from the pollution of the illiterate
and ilhberal ; but let the only barriers which you employ to
fence them be learning and honour. Let all jealous and for-
did monopolies be banifhed from your policy. Defert alone
is the facred Ancyle upon the prefervation of which your fate
depends.

I now proceed to offer a few obfervations on the means
which ought to be employed in diffeminating liberal know-
ledge.

I orrer my fentiments on this head with great diffidence,
becaufe I have the misfortune of differing materially from a
gentleman who not long ago called the attention of the legi-
flature to the fubje&t of national education, and propofed a
plan of an improved fyftem to be adopted in this kingdom,

in

:

Le

in the unfolding of which he difplayed confiderable acutenefs
and ingenuity, as well as the moft difinterefted philanthropy.

THERE are two rules of civil policy which appear to me
to deferve the higheft refpe&.

THe one is, that civil inftitutions fhould offer as little vio-
lation as poflible to moral feelings. Hence I am of opinion
that education, inftead of being rendered a mean of weaken-
ing the connexion between parent and child, ought to be fo
directed as to cement more ftrongly this natural alliance. Tf
am “An enemy, therefore, to all plans of national educatiof¥
which proceed on this preiminary—“ The parents of them alk

“ fhall be exempt from any expence whatever, but they fhall

“ have no right of interference about their children*.” The
more extenfive fuch plans are, the more pernicious will they
be if carried into execution. It is vain to expect the growth

of other virtues in the nation, if our firft care be to eradicate:

filial piety.

In all the hints which I have hitherto thrown out, I have
conftantly had in view the blending, as much as poflitle, of
publick and private education. The former, by the emulation
‘jt excites, promotes induftry and art; the latter, by cherifhing
family love, prepares the mind for more :diffufed benevolence,.
and awakens all the honourable feelings of the foul.

Tue other rule of civil policy which I think ought to be

regarded is, not to increafe the competition in’ any employ-
ment.

* Mr, Orde’s plan.

bt)

Pine. J

ment difproportionately to the profits arifing from the exercife
of that employment. If we do, many of the competitors will
fink into indigence, and the employment itfelf degenerate into
contempt. The penfions;: fcholarfhips, exhibitions, burfaries,
&c. which have been from time to time eftablifhed in
England, shave, it is true, diffufed extenfively claflical know-
ledge ; but they have attracted around them fuch a {warm of
poor {cholars, which neither they, nor the profeflions to which
they lead are competent to maintain, that they have tended
much to caft the honourable clafs of men of letters into de-
gradation and difrepute. In England at this day forty pounds
‘@ year is in moft country places confidered as very good* pay
for a curate, and notwithftanding an ac of parliament inter-
pofing to preferve the refpectability of the clergy, there are
many curacies the falaries of which are under twenty pounds.

I am therefore no friend to that part of Mr. Orde’s fyftem
by which the defects of Englifh education are propofed to be
tranfplanted into Ireland.—Boys are to be eleéted from parifh
to provincial {chools ; from provincial fchools free fcholars are
to be chofen; from this clafs fome are to be attached to dio- -
cefan feminaries with fmall f{tudentfhips ; of thefe ftudents fome
are to receive exhibitions ; of thefe exhibitioners fome are to
go out on falaries of twenty-five pounds a year for feven years
as king’s {cholars ; out of king’s fcholars are to be chofen king’s
ftudents; out of king’s ftudents, feven who are bachelors of
arts in the univerfity, and who are to have fifty pounds a year
each for feven years; and to make room for all this influx of
claflical adventurers, another univerfity is to be eftablifhed in
the north !—In this fyftem every competitor is the more. for-

tunate

RS a

tunate as he is the fooner thrown out of the field of compe-
tition. He then abandons the glittering but deceptive chafe,
compelled to return to. profperity in the humbler walks of
life..

In fhort, I think it better to increafe the value of the liter--
ary places at prefent endowed in this kingdom, than to add
to their number and diminifh their eftimation. I think it better
to preferve our charter {chools, and. our diocefan {chools, on the’
plans which their founders devifed, taking care to corre what-
ever. abufes-may have crept into the condué of them, than to *
confolidate them into three or, four great provincial feminaries,.
wherein profitable inftruction would be difficult, proper atten-
tion to morals impracticable, combination amongft the boys:
formidable, and the. breaking out of any. epidemical difeafe
peculiarly dangerous,

I Ave only, then, to propofe, that the heads of our univerfity
fhould take into confideration the following hints for the im--
provement of education in that feminary,

SHOULD not fome knowledge of ancient hiftory as well as of
languages be tee earintes infifted on at the examination for en--
trance t ? :

% 3

Woutp not the collegiate courfe be amended by being ren-
‘dered more fubfervient to the views of general education? In:
particular, might not the abftrufe and fterile fcience of meta-
phyfics be in a great meafure difpenfed with? Ought not an
account of the chemical as well as of the mechanical properties

of

[7a]

of bodies to be required at the examinations in natural philo-
fophy? Should not modern hiftory, efpecially that of Great Bri-

tain and Ireland, be rendered a part of the courfe?

THere are other kinds of knowledge which, though they
need not be univerfally infifted on, ought, perhaps, to be pub-
lickly taught. Should there not be eftablifhed in the univerfity.
a profeflorfhip of the. theory of legiflation, for the inftrudction
of men deftined to take an active part in publick affairs, in the

principles of conftitutional and commercial policy? Should not

. the means of acquiring a knowledge of the ftyle, and a tafte

for the beauties of thofe works which may be termed the Bri-
tifh Clafflicks be extended to every man deftined for a liberal
courfe of life, even before the time of taking a degree? And
ought not the profefforfhips of legiflation and rhetorick to be
endowed with competent falaries, and the exertions of the pro-
feffors further ftimulated by reafonable fees from the attending
pupils ?

Lastry, fhould not fome further provifions be made in the
univerfity for the promotion of oratory, the legitimate offspring
and the faithful protector of publick liberty?

eo

yy 34 x

PTE bic dihtaspaaee sone Sh Hib per? de
- ris

¥ Se
“rr sad

ARR MER IGT Te ore ge eee LOR atlag na

Ry eI aa BOND BS

lL ESSAY om the Rife and Progrefs of Gardening in .
Ireland. By Fofeph C. Walker, M.R.I. A. Correfpon-
dent Fellow of the Antiquarian Society of Perth, and
Honorary Member of the Etrufcan Academy of Cortona Page 3

Il. Obfervations on the Romantic Hiftory of Ireland. By
the. Rev. Edward Ledwich, L.L. B. M.R.L A. and
F. AS. of London and Scotland - - = 21

III. Defeription of an ancient Irifh Infirument, prefented to
the Royal Irifo Academy by the Right Honourable Lord
Vifcount Dillon, M.R.I. A. extracted from his Lord-
Soip’s Letter on the Subject, and from an Account of
the fame Infirument by Ralph Oufeley, Efg; MR. A.
Communicated by Fofeph Cooper Walker, Eg; M.R.I. A. 33

IV. 4 Letter from William Molefworth, Lfg; to Robert
Perceval, M.D. M.R.L. A. concerning fome antique
golden Infiruments found in a Bog in the County of
Armagh - - - - - - 37

V. Caoinan: Or fome Account of the ancient Irifh La-
mentations, By William Beauford, 4M. . - - 41

[tA 2]

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age]

nas

ESSAY oz the RISE and PROGRESS of GARDENING

in IRELAND. By JOSEPH C. WALKER, MRL.

Correfpondent Fellow of the Antiquarian Society of Perth, and
honorary Member of the Etrufcan Academy of Cortona.

*« Gardening is entitled to a place of confiderable rank among the liberal arts. It is as
*¢ fuperior to landfcape painting as a reality to a reprefentation.”

WHEATLEY.

= A MAN hall ever fee (fays Lord Bacon) that when ages
grow to civility and elegance, men come to build ftately, fooner
| “ than to garden finely ; as if gardening were the greater per-
P “ feGtion.” This obfervation has been fully exemplified in
Ireland : Architecture had arrived at maturity in this ifland, while
gardening was yet in its infancy. Each religious edifice, it is
true, had a garden and an Avalgort (or orchard) annexed to it;
but it appears from inquifitions taken in the reigns of Henry VIN.
and Queen Elizabeth, that this garden feldom confifted of more
than an acre, and was folely devoted to the propagation of culi-
nary herbs,—fave when a {mall part was appropriated to the

(PA%2 q L Finavain,

Read May
16, 1790s

Lite TE

Finavain (or vineyard) *, Nor did it ufually receive any embel-
lifhment from architeCture. The pigeon-houfe and dove-houfe,
which were the general appendages of monaftic gardens, were not
raifed by the hand of tafte; I can only find in the garden of
Grey-abbey, founded in the year 1193, in the county of Down,
an attempt at architectural embellifhment: “ In the gardens of

“cc

this abbey (fays Harris) is a large well of fweet and limpid

“« water, over which is raifed an high vaulted arch, ornamented

“ with heads and fome other fculpture in ftone, which feem to

“be the fame piece of architecture that ftood here when the

“ abbey fubfifted +.”

NEITHER does it appear that the ftately caftles of our chief-
tains were furnifhed with pleafure-grounds. Indeed the per-
turbed ftate of the kingdom, during many ages, forbade it. No
part of the Irifh chieftain’s territory was fafe from the fpoiles,
but fo much as was encompafled with the caftle walls;
fo that, inftead of wandering befide a murmuring ftream, mufing
in an arbor, or extending his toil-worn limbs on a foft bank
beneath a fpreading tree, the veteran warriour was obliged to be
contented with a view of the circumjacent country from his
ramparts{. “ For Ireland (fays Moryfon) being oft troubled

with

* In an Trith Almanack of the fourteenth century, in the poffeffion of my learned friend
Colonel Vallancey, the time of gathering grapes, and drinking mufd or new wine, is noticed.

+ Hiflory of County Down, p. 55.

} It appears, indeed, from Sir John Harrington’s Report to Queen Elizabeth concerning the j
Earl of Effex’s Fourney in Jreland in 1599, that a garden capable of containing three hun-
dred men then appertained to the caftle of Cahir in the county of Tipperary. Nuge Antig.
yol. ii. p. 161. But the fituation of this caftle, on an almoft impregnable rock, in the river
Suir, protected its garden from depredation.

=~ *

le!

“ with rebellions, and the rebels not only idle themfelves, but
“ in natural malice deftroying the labours of other men, and
* cutting up the very trees of fruits for the fame caufe, or
* elfe to burne them. For thefe reafons (he-continues) the inha-

‘ * bitants take leffe pleafure to till their grounds, or plant trees,
“ content to live for the day in continual fear of like mifchief *.”
Nay, even the cattle of the chieftains, as they ranged his paf-
tures, were in danger of moleftation ; and the office of the gentle
herdfman was fupplied by a vigilant guard of armed men, who,
at the approach of night, drove their charge into the bawn of
the caftle .

Unper fuch circumftances it was impoffible that the art of
gardening could make any confiderable advances in Ireland.
The hand of rapine reftrained it; and the church, whofe fanc-
tity alone could proteé it, took little pains to facilitate its pro-
grefs. “We are, therefore, naturally furprifed to find the Brehons
promulgating laws to protect ornamental as well as ufeful trees.
As thefe laws are extremely curious, and ferve to afcertain the
feveral kinds of trees cultivated by the early Irifh, I fhall make
no apology for tranfcribing them here.

—_—— eo —"S

“ Wuar are the timber trefpafles? Cutting down trees and.
“ taking them away ; as airigh timber, athar timber, fogla tim--
e “© ber, and lofa timber.”

¥ “ ATRIGH

* SItiner. Part iii. p. 159.

i. ' + The manner of enclofing the bawn was prefcribed by the Brehons. See Colle@. de Reb.
Beir | Hib. vol. tii. p. 72. ‘The paflage deferves to be confulted, as it fhews the nature of the fence
; in ufe amongft the Irifh in the primitive ages.
i

‘

a

«

a

¢

n

&

wn

ce

“e

byi'er J
“ ArRiGH timber are, oak, hazle, holly, yew*, Indian pine
and.apple; five cows penalty for cutting down thefe trees ;

yearling cow-calves for cutting the limbs; and heifers for
cutting the branches.”

* AruHaAR wood are, aldar, willow, hawthorn, quickbeam,
birch, elm +; a cow for each tree, a heifer for the branches.”

“ FoGLa wood are, blackthorn, elder, fpindle-tree, white
hazel, afpen; thefe are the woods on which the law gives
trefpafs, viz. a heifer for each.” i

“ Losa wood (or fire-wood),.fern, furze, briar, heath, ivy,
reeds, thornbufh; a fine on each {.” —

I AM

-

* I am induced to conclade that the Yew tree did not formerly (at leaft during the middle
ages) abound in Ireland, from the circumftance of an a¢t being ordained in 12 Edw. iy. to
oblige all merchants who imported goods into this kingdom to import, at the fame time, a
certain number of bows, which can only be properly made of this wood. Yet yew trees, fo
large as thirty inches in diameter, are frequently found in our bogs.

+ This muft have been the witch hazle, commonly called the Scotch elm; for the lofty elm
now in ufe for groves, and in the laft century for avenues, was introduced by the Englifh. An
elm of this genus, of an immenfe fize, which grew near Newbridge in the county of Kildare,
and whofe leafy honours I remember to have feen laid in the duft by a great ftorm, is thus ;
celebrated by the reverend Samuel Shepherd, in his poem of Leix/ip :

« Mark where yon Elm renews his annual prime,
«’ Newbridge thy glory, and the boat of time ;

« From age to age he looks majeftic down,

‘* Spreads his broad arms, and covers half the town.

4 Collet. de Reb, Hil. vol. iii. p. 77, 78,79: We are not to be furprifed at the feveral
foreft trees mentioned in thofe laws, for Ireland, though now almoft totally denuded of woods, once

abounded

med

I am furprifed to obferve the arbutus- omitted amongft the
feveral trees enumerated in thefe laws, as it is allowed by Evelyn*
to be indigenous to Ireland. But it was probably then confined
to the diftrict of Killarney, where it wafted

“ its fweetnefs on the defart air,”

until tranfplanted into our modern gardens.

From the complexion of the code whence I have extracted’
thofe laws, I am induced to think that the church was concerned
in its formation; for though the primitive chriftian clergy did
not often exercife their influence in promoting the arts, they
feldom forgot to employ it in the protection of their property.
I am the rather confirmed in this opinion by finding a nurfery

belonging

'

~ abounded in them. Vide Nat. Hif. of Irel. by Boate and Molyneaux. Tiaffo fpeaks of * l’alte felve,”

of Ireland. Geru. Lib. cant. 1.

I canngt here omit a pertinent paffage in a letter which I lately received from my friend,
Sylvefter O’Halloran, Efq; “ That different and various fpecies of Fir (fays he) were kept
“‘ in high prefervation (in Ireland), I know, and every curious man may know, from the bog
¢ deal ufed in the country for lighting fires, and fometimes by the poor as a fuccedaneum for
*¢ candles. You will find them of various fmells, fome of them yielding aromatic odours
* equal to thofe of the moft precious balfams.”

* Sylva. p. 177. Mr. Leflie, in his poem of Killarney, beftows feveral lines on the Arbu-
tus, as a native of this romantic fpot, and concludes his defcription thus :

“© While other tribes but tranfient charms affume,
« Thefe through Killarney’s wilds perennial bloom.”

I think it is conjectured by Derrick (fee his Letters), and with plaufibility, that the Arbutus
was brought from the Continent to Killarney by fome of the monks who fettled in its
iflands.

aaa

belonging to the priory of Kilmainham fo early as the year

“

that it required the protection of the fecular laws*.

Ir hiftoric evidence concerning our early anceftors’ ignorance
of, or inattention to the art of gardening, was wanting, negative
-proofs of both might be deduced from their poets. In no an-
cient Irifh poem, or work of fancy that has fallen under my obfer-
vation, have I difcovered a defcription of, or even an allufion to a
garden; nothing but fuch natural objeéts, uncombined by art,
as abound in the poems attributed to Offian, are to be found in
the productions of our early bards ; all their fcenery is wild and
romantic as that of Salvator Rofat. Nor indeed do the Irifh
poets of the Jaft century often refort to the garden for imagery,
for as yet gardens did ‘not abound in Ireland ; my memory, at
prefent, affords me but two inftances, which I fhall give in the
elegant tranflation of Mifs Brooke. ‘The unfortunate Edmund

Ryan, who was involved in the miferies which enfued to fuch
of

* Monaft. Hib. p. 234.

+ Since writing the above I have found mention of gardens in an ancient inedited code of
Brehon laws, ordained for the protection of Bees, which were, I find, deemed the moft valuable
part of the property of the early Irifh. I will tranfcribe two of thofe laws:

«« Whoever plunders or fteals Bees from out of a garden or fort is fubjeét to a like penalty as if
* he fteal them out of a habitation, for thefe are ordained of equal penalty by law.”,

“« Bees in an enclofure or fort, and in a garden, are of the fame account (as to property,
* penalty, &c.) as the wealth or fubftance of an habitation.”

= See Mr. Macpherfon’s Tranf. of the Works of Offian.

[<o ]

of his countrymen as joined the forces of King James at the
battle of the Boyne, thus fings to his falfe miftrefs :

¢

aa

Sweet-would feem the holly’s fhade,

“ Bright the cluftring berries glowing ;
And, in fcented bloom array’d,

*¢ Apple-blofloms round us blowing.

¢

ra

a
ray

Creffes, waving in the ftream,
“ Flowers its gentle banks perfuming ;

a
so

Sweet the verdant paths would feem,
« All in rich lusuriance blooming *.”

And Carolan is indebted to the garden for this delicate compli-
ament to Mable Kelly:

“ As when the foftly blufhing rofe

“ Clofe by fome neighbouring lily grows ;

“ Such is the glow thy cheeks diffufe,

“« And fuch their bright and blended hues +.”

Bur to refume the thread of this effay: The faint attempts at
gardening by the monks were totally defeated by the Refor-
mation. Stripped of their lands, and their habitations, and
turned adrift on this “ fea of troubles,’
fay to one another in the words of Candide, “ i faut cultiver
“ notre jardin.” So that Fynes Moryfon (a minute obferver)

Vot. IV. [B] who

?

they could no longer

* Relig. of Irifh Poetry, p. 210.

+, Ibid. p. 251.

[ ro ]

who travelled through this kingdom in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, does not once mention a garden as appertaining
either to a caftle or a monaftery: He only fays, “ I ob-
“ ferved, that the beft fort of flowers and fruits are much
“ rarer in Ireland than in England, which notwithftanding is
“ more to be attributed to the mhabitants, than to the ayre*.”
But it is not to be omitted in the annals of gardening, that in.
this reign, cherries were firft introduced into Ireland by Sir
Walter Raleigh, and planted in a garden, ftill exifting, at Affane
in the county of Waterford; a place equally memorable for
having given birth, in this kingdom, to cyder, a beverage,
which, in Philips’ opinion,

& far furmounts.

“ Gallic or Latin grapes +.”

Soon as the Englith had fubdued the martial fpirit of the:
Irifh, and obtained for themfelves the peaceable enjoyment of the:
lands which they had won with their reeking fwords, they
introduced the formal ftyle of gardening, which then, and for
fome years before, prevailed in England}. Of this ftyle feveral {pe--

cimens

* Ttiner. Part. tik p- 159+

+ Cyder. Book i. p. 159. The apple called the red-ftreak was firft brought over from
Herefordfhire, in the laft century, by a Mr. Reeves, of Torreen in the neighbourhood of.
Affane, and propagated with great fuccefs in his garden; though Philips fays it
doth difdain

“

*¢ All other fields,”

it may be now found in almoft every orchard in this kingdom.

+ The reader may form. an idea of this ftyle of gardening from Henztner’s defcription of
Nonfuch. Travels, p. 83. Markham’s Hu/bandman, par. ii. ch. 17. and Britan. Iluf. by
Knyff, and Kip.

[ou ]

cimens remained till very lately in this kingdom, “ At Bally-
“ beggan, in the county of Kerry (fays Dr. Smith) there are
* fome good old improvements which efeaped the univerfal de-

* vaftations of the times, particularly fome fine avenues of wal- .

“ nut, chefnut and other trees; with a large old, but thriving
“ orchard, planted in a rich limeftone ground, beneath which
“ are feveral fubterraneous chambers, lined with ftala¢titical
“ exfudations *.” The fame author informs us, that at Bangor
in the county of Down, “ there are gardens which are large
‘ and handfome, and filled with noble ever-greens of a great
“ fize, cut in various fhapes.” At Lifterne, in the county of
Waterford, we are alfo informed by Dr. Smith, that “ there
‘“ was a large and beautiful canal, at the further end of which
“ is a jet d'eau that caft up water to a confiderable height +.”
And a learned friend, in a letter now before me, fays, that he
faw fome years fince, in the county of Cork, a very old garden
carefully preferved, which he thus defcribes: “ It confifted of
“ fourteen acres enclofed with an high wall; two acres were ap-
“* propriated to a nut-grove, It had a large fifh-pond, a bathing
“ houfe, monftrous high yew-hedges, and fome laurel ones;
“¢ thefe were cut into fantaftical forms, obfcuring the rays of the
“ fun. Here were alfo large grafs plats in various figures.” Nor
fhould I omit the penfile gardens of Thomas-town in the county

[B 2] of

* Hift. of County Kerry. Subterranean ftru€tures of high antiquity abound im Ireland; but
sthe vaults at Ballybeggan were probably coeval with the gardens, and built in imitation of the
-ancient Englifh bower. Rofamond’s bower is fuppofed to ‘have been of that kind. See Anecd. of
Paint. in Engl. vol. iy. p. 263.

+ Hif, of Count. Waterf.

{

[ |

of Tipperary, ‘which were laid out in the reign of Charles II.
They lie principally on the gentle declivity of an hill, refting on
terraces, amd filled with

“ ftatues thick as trees.”

A long fifh-pond, fleeping under “ a green mantle” between two
rectilineous banks, appears in the midft. And in one corner
ftands a verdant theatre (once the fcene of feveral dramatic ex-
hibitions) difplaying all the abfurdity of the architecture of gar-.
dening..

Tus did our anceftors, governed by the falfe tafte which they
imbibed from the Englifh, disfigure, with unfuitable, ornaments,
the fimple garb of nature..

In the reign of Charles I. gardens became the care of the
legiflature, and an act was paffed in the tenth year of his reign
to protect their productions. This act is entitled, dx A to
avoyd and prevent divers mifdemeanors in idle and lewd perfons in
barking of trees, Fc. Nor were they unworthy the care of the
legiflature if they refembled, in general, Lord Chichefter’s gar-
den at Carrickfergus, as I find it defcribed by an anonymous
traveller, whofe inedited account of his tour in Ireland in the
year 1634 is now in my pofleflion. “ The onely grace of this
“ towne (fays my manufcript) is the Lord Chichefter’s houfe,
“ which is a verye ftatelye houfe, or rather like a prince’s pa-
“ Jace ; whereunto there belongs a ftatelye gate-houfe, and grace-
full terrace: and walke before the houfe, as is att Denton, my

. “ Lord

Baan |

* Lord Fairefax’ houfe. A verye fine hall there is, and a ftately
“ ftairecafe, and faire dineing room, carrying the proportion of
“ the hall: Fine garden, and mightye fpatious orchards, and.
“ they fay they have good ftore of fruite. I obferved on either
“ fide of this garden there is a dove-houfe placed one oppofite to.
“ the other in the corner of the garden, and twixt the garden
“and orchards. A moft convenient place for apricockes, or
“ fome fuch tender fruite, to be planted againft the dove-houfe
“ wall, that by the advantage of the heate thereof, they may
“ be rendered more fruitfull, and come fooner to maturitie :
“ but this ufe is not made thereof *.”

Eur in the reign of Charles IJ. we find fome of the clergy of
the eftablifhed church, content to forego the academic fhade
and the luxury of pleafure grounds, {oliciting permiffion of
parliament to turn their gardens to account. Their prayer
being propitioufly heard, an. act was accordingly ordained,
enabling Prefentor and Treafurer of the Cathedral Church of St.

Patrick's,

* Tr fhould feem from the conclufion: of our traveller’s defcription of Lord Chichefter’s:
gardens, that the happy invention of the hot-houfe had not yet reached Ireland; at lea{t that it
had not found its way into his Lordfhip’s improvements. But this is not to be wondered at; for
Mr. Barrington thinks there was not an hot-houfe in England earlier than the year 1667.
Archaeol, vol. vii. p. 123. However, if tradition may be relied on, fruit were forced in the
gardens of Bleffington, in the reign of James Il. Vhefe gardens were laid out by an Englifh
gentleman, who abandoned his eftate at Byflet in Suffex, to efcape the perfecution of Cromwell.
But I am confidently affured that the firft pine-apples produced in this kingdom were raifed by
Bullen, a native of Weftmoreland, who fettled in the vicinity of Dublin in the reign of Queen
Anne. Of his gardens in New-ftreet fome traces ftill remain. He hada nurfery, confifting
of four acres, which he held under one Rowe, who had been his predeceffor in that line. He
was employed, like London and- Wife, by the nobility and gentry, in laying out their
gardens.

eB

Patrick's, Dublin, and the Arch-Deacon of Dublin, to make leafes of
part of their yards and gardens for fixty years.”

Tue French and Italian mode of gardening, which had been
introduced by the Englith, continued to prevail in Ireland until _
the arrival of William IJ. when it foon yielded to the Belgic
ftyle*. Such of his followers as fettled here, indulged their
pafion for “ trim gardens ;” inftead-of mending, they changed
the features of Nature, totally regardlefs of this golden precept,

“ Confult the genius of the place in all.”

EXTENSIVELY acquainted with the vegetable kingdom, to them
-we probably owe the introduction. of flowers +. Thefe they dif-
played

* Of this ftyle a Specimen was given under his Majefty’s aufpices in his gardens at Chapel-
izod, which are now a fcene of defolation. Inthe year 1717 an overfeer of thefe gardens was
-placed on the civil eftablifhment, with a Salary of 1201. per annum.

+ It will appear from thé following extract from Sir Hans Sloan’s preface to 4 Voyage
to Madeira, Rarbadoes, St. Chriflopher’s and Famaica, that however great the obligations of the
lovers of gardening in Ireland may be to the Hugonots, they are not lefs indebted to an ancef-
‘tor of the prefent Earl of Moira. Speaking of the famples of plants which he brought to
England from Jamaica, he fays, ‘* amongft other perfons who faw them was Sir Arthur
«¢ Rawdon, who obferving the great variety of plants I had brought with me, fent over Mr.
¢¢ James Harlow, a gardener (who had formerly gone to Virginia for Mr. Watts), to bring
« the plants themfelves alive to him, for his garden at Moyra in Ireland. This Mr. Harlow
¢¢ performed, and there they grew, and came, many of them, to great perfection. He not only
“ brought over with him a fhip almoft laden with cafes of trees and herbs, planted and growing
«¢ in earth, but alfo a great number of famples of them, very well preferved, in paper.”

While this fheet was in the Prefs, I was informed by the Earl of Moira that Mr. Harlow
‘built a large ftove at Moira, by order of Sir Arthur Rawdon, for his Jamaican plants. This
ftove was removed by Sir John Rawdon, his Lordfhip’s father.

a ae

played in quaint knots, defigned with geometric {fkill, and
edged with box *, It is true, as Moryfon fays, that in his time
* Ireland was not quite deftitute of flowers,” and inftances the
county of Kilkenny as moft abounding in them. A few
flowers might, perhaps, have been propagated by the Englith.
fettlers; but it is to the Hugonots we are to attribute their
diffufion through the kingdom, and to them therefore I have:
ventured to give the honour of their introduction t. I would,,
however, be underftood to fpeak of exotics, for many a beau-
uful flower grows fpontaneoufly in feveral parts of this king-
dom where the human foot has feldom made an impreffion §,.
To the Hugonots too are we chiefly indebted for our know-
ledge of the ufe of the fheers, that enemy “ to the lovely

“ wildnefs.

* Thefe knots were probably conftruéted according to the rules laid down by Markham. See
Engl. Hufband. par. ii. p. 207. Several of his patterns of knots and mazes I find faithfully.
copied in a mufic book now before me, dated in 1'700, which appears to have belonged to an:
eminent gardener in the county of Meath. The barras or box employed in edging thofe knots.
was an article of importation in the reign of Charles II. See Bacon’s Book of Rates.

+ It is fomewhere recorded that when the Earl of Effex, in his progrefs through Treland
in the year 1599, vifited Kilkenny, among({t other demontftrations of joy the ftreets were ftrewed
with flowers.

f In the reign of George I. fome of the Hugonots of Dublin, together with a few of their
fellow citizens, formed themfelves into.a club, called « The Florift’s Club,”” for the parpofe of
furthering the cultivation of flowers in this kingdom. They held their meetings, for many years,
at the Rofe-T'avern in Dramcondra-lane (now Dorfet-{treet), where they adjudged premiums to
the members who produced the moft beautiful flowers to the Club on given days. This club
exifted till’ the clofe of the reign of George II, The Rofe-Tavern is ftill in being.

§ Mr. Leflie, in his poem of Kilarney already quoted, fpeaks of feveral flowers and fhrubs
growing naturally on the mountain of Mangerton, which hold a diftinguifhed rank amongft the
favourite productions of the modern garden; but he omits the myrtle, which flourifhes not only
in the wilds of the counties of Wexford and Wicklow, but on feyeral of the iflands ia the lake
of Killarney. r

ee

“ wildnefs of form with which nature (fays the elegant Walpole}
“ has diftinguifhed each various {pecies of trees and fhrubs.”
This direful engine began its depredations in the. neighbour-
hood of Dublin, and continued them, with unremitting fury,
amongft all the noblemen’s and gentlemen’s feats in the king-
dom. Neither a box nor a yew tree were now to be found
which had not aflumed the human fhape, or that of fome in-
ferior animal *. ‘Like Milton’s genius of the woods, to

___ curl the grove
“© With ringlets quaint,”

was now the bufinefs of every gardener. Even water was no
longer permitted to flow in the undulating line of nature:
checked in its courfe, it was {pread into an expanfe, which a
mathematical figure was taught to circum{cribe. Such is the
powerful influence of cuftom, that though “ the mind of man
“ (fays Addifon) naturally hates every thing that looks like a
* reftraint upon it, and is apt to fancy itfelf under a fort of

“ confinement

* An old gentleman of my acquaintance remembers to have feen in Mr. Fortick’s garden, near
Drumcondra (Dublin) the figures of men with their arms in various pofitions, cut in yew and box ;
and the figure of a coloffal goofe in the latter. He recolleéts alfo to have obferved, in the gar-
den of Beamore in the county of Meath, the reprefentation of a large cock, with briftled
feathers, cut in yew; and in the gardens of Bullen, in New-ftreet, Dublin, which were laid
out in the reign of Queen Anne, as already mentioned, there were an hare hunt and a boar
hunt in box. But this fantaftical fafhion was of earlier date in Ireland ; the anonymous travel-
ler already quoted (See p. 12.), in defcribing Bifhop Usher’s Palace at Drogheda, fays,
‘‘here is a prettie neat garden, and over again(t the window, in the gallery end, upon a bank,
« thefe words in fair great letters are written, OL, Man, remember the laff great day! ‘The bank
“¢ is bare, the proportion of the letters is framed and cut in grafs.”

FN reer call ner emanate

L o7

« confinement when the fight is pent up in a narrow com-
pafs,”. yet thefe formal followers of King William, ftrangers
perhaps, or averfe to the funk fence, reared lofty walls
around their improvements, and unkindly fhut out the
view of the neighbouring country. However, they are
to be excufed: they came from a country incapable of land-
{cape.

But they did not confine their. conftraint of nature to the
limits of the garden: they trammelled her wherever they at-
tempted to heighten her charms. The whole demefne. con-
feffed their tyrannic power. Even the avenue affumed the
gloom and appearance of the gothic cloifter: the ftately pine,
the murky fir, or the “. ftar-proof” elm, were marfhalled in
fraternal rows, nodding at each other, until their intermingled
branches formed a verdant canopy excluding the face of Hea-
ven*. Paflfing from this gloom you afcended to the dwelling-
houfe, with “ aching feet,” terraces piled on terraces, covered
with green parterres “ buttoned round” with flower-pots, and
bearing on pedeftals in their centres the whole progeny of
the heathen deities. Let it not be fuppofed I am indulging in
fanciful defcriptions : I write from the information of my own
obfervation; I have beheld in different parts of the kingdom

[CG] veftiges

* Some years fince I faw in the Earl of Clanbraffil’s gardens, at Dundalk, a walk anfwering
this defcription. It reminded me of the long vifta through a Gothic cathedral ; and might, I
think, be fafely adduced in fupport of Bifhop Warburton’s ingenious conjecture concerning the
original of Gothic architecture.

[ ‘#8

veitiges of the fcenes which I am here attempting to deli-

neate,.

Bur Nature, with the aid of 'Tafte, has at length prevailed,
and proclaimed with an exalted voice, her proud behefts through
the land

* at the awful found

“ The terrace finks fpontaneous ; on the green,

«

* Broider’d with crifped knots, the tonfile yews
“ Wither and fall; the fountain dares no more
“ To fling its wafted cryftal through the fky,

“ But pours falubrious o’er the parched lawn

“ Rills of fertility *.”

Dip I not fear I fhould exceed the limits which I have pre
fcribed to this little memoir, I would give a defcriptive enume-
ration of feveral demefnes in this kingdom, which Browne, the

fucceflor of Kent (that great competitor of Nature) would be
proud

* Mafon’s Eng. Garden. cant. ii. Perhaps the firft attempt at modern gardening in Ireland
was made by the reverend Doétor Delany, at Delville near Glaffnevin. Like Pope, he im-
preffed a vaft deal of beauty on a very {mall {pot of ground. Nor is it improbable that Pope,
with whom he lived in habits of intimacy, taught him to foften into a curve the obdurate
ftraight line of the Dutch, to melt the terrace into a fwelling bank, and to open his walks to
catch the vicinal country. Thefe gardens {till remain a monument of Delany’s tafte. Swift
has left an humorous poetical defcription of them, in which, though he has contracted the
features, he has preferved the likenefs.

[ 1 |

proud to number with the happieft proofs of his genius. It
is, indeed, with much reluctance I lay down my pen, without
eflaying to do juftice to the beauties of Marino, Caftletown,
Carton, Curraghmore, the fweet-fequeftered retreat of St.
Woolftan’s, or the paradife which the Earl of Moira has opened
in the wilds of the county of Down,

[C2]

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OBSERVATIONS oz the ROMANTIC HISTORY of IRELAND.
By the Rev. EDWARD LEDWICH, L.L.B. M.R.I.A. and
F. A. 8. of London and Scotland.

W uen we review the remote hiftories of England, Scotland
and Ireland, and find names and faéts delivered with unhefitating
confidence and chronological accuracy, it feems, at firft fight, an
unreafonable degree of fcepticifm to withhold our affent from
them, or queftion their authenticity ; and yet they are but fpe-

cious delufions, and fome of the numberlefs vagaries of the human.

mind...

To the unfufpeAing candour of mankind thefe plaufible fables
muft always appear genuine records, nor can their magic influence
be removed but by the fevere fcrutiny of learning and criticifm.
A nation emerging from incivility and ignorance reluctantly gives
up the fictions of poets and genealogifts, becaufe they are the only

“vouchers for antient anceftry, and the only evidences of extina
national honour.. But when that nation arrives at higher degrees
of improvement and polifh, thefe phantoms vanifh, and indivi-

duals

Read Oftober
22) 1791,

[ 22 ]

duals and nations feek for honour and unfading remembrance by:

perfonal defert and patriotic exertion.

A

Fama manet fatti: pofito velamine currunt :
-Et memorem famam, quod bene ceffit, habet.

Britons, at this day, arrogate no pride from being defcended
from Trojans, and yet it is a curious and no ufelefs fpeculation to
inveftigate the origin of that notion, for its developement and
dete@tion are ftrong and flattering proofs of the good fenfe and
extenfive erudition of the prefent age. Mr. Warton has fuccefs-
fully * inftituted fuch an inquiry into the fabulous Antiquities of
England : Nor are the principles he lays down and the arguments
he ufes lefs applicable to Ireland, for the fame {pirit of romantic
fiGion. pervades the early hiflory of each country. Encouraged,
therefore, by his example, and countenanced by his refpetable
authority, I fhall endeavour to deduce our Bardic tales and hif-
torical romances from fources which he has happily opened. How
imperfect foever thefe obfervations may be, fome of them, per-
haps the whole, may fuggeft to fuperior abilities a more perfe@
plan for future execution. If they in the leaft contribute to
remove vulgar errors, I fhall fully attain the obje& of my

withes.

Wuen the Saracens entered Spain in the beginning of the
eighth century, with the revival of Greek literature they intro-
duced a knowledge of. the fciences and arts before but little
ftudied, in many places not heard of, in Weftern Europe. From

the

* Hiftory of Englith Poetry, Vol. I. Diff 1.

faa]

the earlieft ages the Arabians cultivated magic: they extolled
their intimate acquaintance with the occult qualities of bodies,
and their power of conferring them where wanting. Their {kill
in metallurgy, in optics, in vitrification, in precious {tones and
medicine, fupported their high claims, and aftonifhed and con-
founded the incredulous. Nor were they lefs diftinguifhed for
a vein of romantic fiction: here they difplayed an exuberance’
of fancy in the creation of ideal perfonages, in the wildnefs and
variety of their adventures, and in the extravagance of their
fables, all fpringing from original modes of thinking and from
their peculiar philofophy. A brilliancy of imagination and pomp:
of expreflion at once captivated and delighted the reader.

Ovr weftern bards quickly caught the pleafing contagion: the
genial warmth of oriental fiction enlivened their fongs: the mono~
tonous and difmal tales of blood and flaughter were fucceeded by
more amufing and fprightly relations ; by the heroic atchievements
of gallantry, or the bland occupations of love: all thefe wrought up
with Arabian inventions, and fuftained by Arabian philofophy are
- vifible, not only in our ancient hiftory and hagiography, but in
thofe of every other country in the middle ages. I fhall now proceed
te confirm what has been advanced, from our mythologic ftory and. -

the lives of our faints.

Spatn, the * centre of oriental fabling, foon after the Sara-
cenic invafion, enjoyed a celebrity above that of any other Euro-

pean nation. The Irifh bards in confequence efteemed it a mat-
ter

* Warton, fup.

[ 24 ]

ter of the greateft importance to exhibit a clear deduction of
their countrymen from thence, and their clofe attention to this
point carried them, as will be feen, into many abfurd, incredible,
and puerile exceffes. They * tell us three Spanifh fifhermen
arrived here before the flood, and that foon after that awful
event, the Fomhoraigh, or Africans, (by whom muft be underftood
the Saracens) fubdued the + ifle, and others from the continent
of Africa frequently vifited it, and that it was finally colonized t
by Milefius, a Spaniard. This fiGtion is in Nennius, who is faid
to have written A.D. 858, though I think there are internal
proofs in his work of his age being much later. But let it
be as is ftated, we need not wonder at the adoption of ro-
mantic fiction fo early here, when we reflect that Ireland was
then the § mart of learning to the Weftern World, and that
hither reforted crowds from the remoteft countries for greater
advancement in piety and more perfect inftruction in letters.
Nennius relates, that the Milefians, in their voyage from Spain
to this ifle, faw a tower of glafs in the middle of the ocean,
which, endeavouring to take, they were drowned im the attempt.
This tower is a fure mark of an oriental fancy: It is fimilar
to the tower of glafs built by Ptolemy, and Boyardo’s wall
of glafs made by an African m@gician ; and the pillars of Her-
cules at Cape Finifterre, erefted on magical looking-glafles, all

betraying their foundation in Arabian fable and Arabian phi-
lofophy.

THE

* Keating, pag. 18—46. + Keating, pag. 11. + Warzi Difq.c. 2. Keating, fup.
§ Antiquities of Ireland, pag, 171. Edit. Dubl. 1790. 4 Warton, fup. Seét. 15.

ee ae

Tue Milefians, in a ftarry winter night, difcovered Ireland
from the * tower of Brigantia in Galicia by the help of a telef-
cope. This fiction could not be older than the , thirteenth
century, probably much more recent. Roger Bacon } affirms
Julius Czfar, before he invaded Britain, viewed with a telefcope
her fhores and harbours.

Tue Milefians, when they landed in Ireland, had various
battles with the Tuatha de Danans, a nation of { magicians
and enchanters, whom at length they fubdued by fuperior. fkill
and bravery.

In § Offian’s combat of Ofgar and Illan, a beautiful damfel
- complains, that Illan, eldeft fon of the king of Spain, purfued
her, and threatened wounds and deftruction to the Fians:
“ wherever he goes,’ adds fhe, “ to the eaft or weft, or to the
“ four quarters of the world, his fharp-edged weapon makes
“ every foe yield the victory.” The drefs and arms of Illan
are then defcribed: He had a coat of mail, a vizor polifhed
and. fet with precious ftones; his garments were of rich fattin,
tied with: filken ftrings. This romantic tale befpeaks its age
not tobe anterior to the fifteenth century. Were I to men-
tion the Clanna Baoifgaine, or Bifcayan colony, the Liafail, or
magical ftone,' the Gai Bulg, or forcerer’s fpear, the magical
helmet, and numberlefs other particulars in Irifh romantic ftory,
relating to Spain, to the occult qualities of bodies, to conjura-
tion and ‘enchantment, derived from Arabic ideas and Arabic

‘Vou. IV. (D) philofophy,

* Keating, pag. 44. + Warton, fup. t Keating, pag. 55.
§ Tranf. of the Roy. Irith Acad. vol. I. pag. 74.

[ 26 ]

philofophy, I fhould extend thefe obfervations to an unreafon-
able length. The foregoing fpecimen will fufficiently point out
their origin.

In the legends of our faints the fame romantic fabling as
in our hiftory abounds, and proceeds from the fame fource.
No one but a virgin could ufe the * magic girdle of St. Col-
man, St. Cuthbert’s zone + cures many difeafes. An Irifh
prince complains to St. Gerald, that an huge rock, fituated in
the midft of a river, impeded its navigation, and intreats him
to remove it: the faint throws a { wonderful ftone, which he
held in his hand, on it, and inftantly it fplits in pieces. At
another time he puts the fame ftone into the mouth of a dead
man and he revives. St. Kiaran, St. Fechin, and St. ind, are
conveyed as fafely over the ocean, lakes and rivers, on ftones as
in fhips. The myftical and wonderous power of ftones mark
the oriental complexion of our fpiritual romances, and are de-
rived from the {chool of Eaftern philofophy.

Mr. Warton remarks, that romantic fabling was early cul-
tivated in Armorica and in Wales ; and of this he alleges numerous
and inconteftible proofs. To which I may add, that through thefe
channels it muft have foon reached Ireland. For this country
profeffed a religion § perfectly correfponding with the Britifh,
which, through every age, cemented the inhabitants of both
iflands in the bonds of fraternal regard, fo that the conneétion
between Ireland, Cornwall, and Wales, was very intimate. Marc,

a Cornifh

* Colgan, Aét. Sanct. pag. 246. + Colgan, fup. pag. 730.
~ Colgan, fop. pag. 600, § Antiquities of Ireland, pag. 66—369.
S P. pag: q F

Lage

a Cornifh king, married La Bel Ifod, the monarch of Ireland's
* daughter. Conftantine, another king, became a monk in the
abbey of Ratheny in Weftmeath. Edwal ap Meiric, Iago ap
Edwal, and Conal ap Iago, Welch princes, were efpoufed in
Treland. ‘ The people of Cornwall,” fays Camden, “ have always
“ borne fuch veneration for Irifh faints, who retired there, that
* almoft all their towns have been confecrated to their me-
© mory.”

St. Parricx is born in + Taburnia in Cornwall, his mother —
is Conchefla, a French woman of Tours. Others make him a
native of Airmuirc, or Armorica. From this region he and his
fifter Lupita are carried away by Irifh pirates. On his return
from Rome he preaches in Cornwall; and { Fingar and other
Jrifh faints travel to Armorica and Cornwall. In ag council held
by St. Patrick, all the unconverted Irifh are baptifed, and fo
violent a religious paroxifm feizes them, that thirty thoufand,
divided into three bodies, begin a pilgrimage with the {aint’s
benediction to Rome and Jerufalem, and other parts of Europe,
Afia and Africa. Here is a palpable forgery, fimilar to one men-
tioned by Mr. Warton, calculated to countenance the crufades,
and determines the date of this ition to the twelfth century.
The learned Jefuit, Bollandus, from a judicious and critical exa-
mination of our legends, (well worth perufal) pronounces their
fabrication to be { about the twelfth century.

(D2) Our

* Hanmer’s Chronicle, p. 9. ¢ Uffer. Primord. 'p. 819.
£ Uffer. fupra. § Uffer. p. 952.

-q Vix ullas enim Sanctorum Hibernicorum vitas habemus in manibus, quas poffumus credere
fexcentis annis vetultiores efle. At. Sane. ad 16 Mart. p. 581,

[ 28 ]

Our romantic hiftory is much later; almoft. every page in
* Keating fupplies new proofs. Thus he informs us, “ when
“ Milefius arrived in Spain he found the Spaniards in the
“ moft deplorable circumftances, over-run by Goths, who with
“ other foreigners ranfacked the whole country. He fummoned
* all his Gadelians, defeated the Goths in fifty-four battles, and
“ quite drove them out of the kingdom.” This perverted piece
of hiftory evidently refers to the expulfion of the Saracens from
Spain in the beginning of the fixteenth century. It admits of
the cleareft proof, that the fifteenth and fixteenth centuries were
the ages fruitful in fuppofitious writings. In thefe periods the
celebrated literary impoftures of Berofus, Philo, Cato, Hector
Boethius and others appeared. ‘Trithemius, an ecclefiaftic of
fome learning in the fifteenth century, gives a plaufible lift of
ideal French princes from their firft departure from Troy, which
he affures us was taken from an ancient author named Huni-
bald. Frederic, elector of Saxony, writ to Trithemius, requefting
Hunibald might be fent to him, but Trithemius had no way
to fcreen his forgery and evade a compliance, but by faying,
he was not in pofleflion of the MS. having changed his refidence
from Hitchau to Wurtzburg, fo that it was juftly concluded,
“ Que cet auteur pretendu eft de la propre fabrique de Tri-
“ theme.” t :

Wuoever will confult Florian del Campo, Tarapha, Pedro Mexia,
Pineda, and other Spanifh chroniclers, will quickly perceive that
they

* Supra, p. 43+

+ Recueil de diy. pieces par Leibulz; Clarke, &c. tom. II. p, 287.

[ee ee

they fupplicd the * later bar"s and Keating with materials for en-
larging the Milefian tale, which they adorned with poetical
feraps and inventions of their own. Of found judgment, un-
warped by falfe patriotifin ‘or national prejudice, the learned
Bartholine defires his readers to be extremely } cautious in ftudy-
ing the Icelandic hiftorians, and ‘not to be impofed on by
their Fornum Bokum, or old books, nor by their Fornum Sagum,
or antient traditions, for he found both ftuffed with abfurdities
and fictions. Let us with the fame caution examine our fe-
nachies, elfe we may embrace puerile ftories and idle fiCtions,
rivalling the Fornum Bokum or Fornum Sagum of Iceland.
Wuar a deplorable inftance then is it‘of mental debility and
mifapplied erudition to defend fictions, confefled tobe fuch by
“‘thofe who record them ? Nennius, though he gives us the Milefian
tale, and is the oldeft relater of it, yet tells us, there was no cer-
tain hiftory of the { origin of the Scots. ‘How can the effet of
this candid confeffion be evaded? He confulted peri-
tifimos Scotoruam ——-— the moft {kilful Irifh Antiquaries, and
they told him the ftory of Pharoah’s fon in-law, his expulfion
from Egypt, his travels through Africa to Spain, and from thence

to Ireland, and all this two thoufand years. after the deftruc-
tion of the Egyptians in the Red fea, If this was the ftate of
Irifh hiftory in the ninth century, and fuch the materials for
it, was time or inquiry likely to improve either, particularly

as

* O’Flaher. Ogyg. vind. p. 257.

+ Plurima itaque cautela in libris veteribus Iflandicis utendum eft, neque abiis protinus
nobis imponi patiamur, &c. De contemp. Mort. p. 191.

+ Nulla tamen certa hiftoria osiginis Scotorum reperitur. Nenn. p. 102. Edit. Bertram.

Ee

as the * beft critics affure us, there are no Irifh MSS older
than the tenth or eleventh century? But what eftablithes the
veracity of Nennius, in declaring we had no hiftory, is, that
Gildas, who flourifhed almoft three hundred years before him,
affures } us, that if there were any national records, they were
either burnt or carried away by enemies, for none appeared

in the fixth century. Fordun makes the fame complaint in
his Scotichronicon : he cannot determine the times of the reigns
of the Scottifh kings between the two Ferguffes: Why? EBe-
caufe there were | no authentic memorials of them.

Ir was the uncertainty of tradition and the want of literary
monuments that drove weak men to the § unreputable and
difingenuous fhift of forging authorities.

Sucu then feems to me the origin and grounds ef frifh
romantic hiftory, a fubject of little curiofity and lefs value, yet
neceflary to be thoroughly examined to be for ever exploded. In
this enlightened age it can require no apology for expofing this
wild chaos of abfurdity and fable; as it flands at prefent it
reflects no honour on our native country, nor can its annihila-
tion in the’ leaft injure it. But a ftrenuous fupport of bardie
tales, the offspring of licentious fancies in rude and ignorant

ages,

* Aftle’s Origin of Writing, p. 116. Pinkerton’s Scotland, vol. I.

+ Que fi qua fuerint, aut ignibus hoftium exufta, aut civium exilii claffe longius deportata,
pon compareant. Gild. de excid. Brit. p. 69-

+ Quia ad plenum fcripta non reperimus. Scotochron. |. 3. ¢- 2.

§ See Stillingfleet’s Britith Churches on this fubject, pref. and 5th chapter.

—-

Ce ee

ages, would, in the eyes of foreigners, degrade our national
underftanding, and fuggeft how flow our advances have been
in letters and civility.

ARE we then totally to reject Irith hiftory and Irifh antiqu-
ties as undeferving notice or inveftigation? To this I anfwer
with confidence, that fo far as the one is fupported by authentic
records and the other by exifting monuments, they are as curious
and interefting as thofe of any other country, not claflical, or
the feat of a great empire. The formation of the Irifh alphabet ;
the etymology and analogy of the language; the ftate of our
literature from the fixth to the ninth century ; our round towers
and ftone-roofed crypts; the origin and progrefs of Chriftia-
nity in this ifle; our ancient laws and coins; our {kill in
metallurgy, and the lapidary’s and goldfmith’s arts, with the
remains of our primitive fuperftition, all foliciting our attention
and illuftration by numberlefs monuments every where to be
found, are topics that would abundantly exercife the ingenuity
and erudition of the philologer, the grammarian, archite@t, theo-
Jogian and antiquary..

-

Ke ‘i ali ;
ee bili re 7s pire.
pibaees: |

soy ¥ I 9 (qgbweT

Br:3 Indus

ot 4 ohO dT er J oP,

RS ee ee ee

[ 33

DESCRIPTION of an ANCIENT IRISH INSTRUMENT,
prefented to the Royal Irifh Academy by the Right Honourable
Lord Vifcount DILLON, M. R. IA. extratted from his Lord-

: foip’s Letter on the Subje& to the Right Honourable the Earl of
CHARLEMONT, Prefident, and from an Account of the fame
Inftrument by RALPH OUSLEY, Ey; M.R.L A. Communicated
to the Committee of Antiquities by JOSEPH COOPER WALKER,,

Efq; M. R. I. A. Secretary.

" ‘Tus inftrument is fuppofed by Mr.. Oufley to have been
a fpecies of trumpet, called in the ‘old Irifh tales and romances
Benwowen, Barr-vaill, and Buadb-vaill, which laft name fignifies
mouth-piece of victory; he is informed that a trumpet of
this name is mentioned in the Pfalter of Cafhel, but not de-
feribed. It is made of a light fine-grained wood, probably
willow; is fix feet four inches long; the wider end meafures
three inches and a quarter diameter, ‘from whence it gradually
tapers to a point at the other end, where he fuppofes a mouth-

piece to have been fixed.

Vou. IV. [ Eat THE

Read Dee:
175 A7QUe-

liga J

Tie “manner in which it was formed was very rude. It
feems to have been originally a. folid piece, which in that
ftate was fplit from end to end; each of the pieces into
which it was thus divided was then awkwardly hollowed or
grooved at the infide, femicircularly, and tapering, in fuch a
manner that when joined again, thefe grooves, applying to each
other, formed a circular and conical perforation through the
whole length, refembling that of a trumpet or horn. To fe-
cure the pieces in this pofition they were bound together on
the outfide by a long fillet of thin brafs, about an inch and
quarter broad, lapped round them. in a fpiral, from one end
to the other, with upwards of an inch of interval between the
rolls, and faftened to the wood with fmall brafs nails. The
ends were fecured by circular plates, probably of the fame metal,
as appears from marks ftill remaining on the furface of the

wood, thefe pieces having been loft.

Tuis brafs filletting deferves fome attention :—Its breadth is
not equal throughout, being in fome parts a third greater than
in others ; its edges, though in general nearly ftraight, are not
fo evenly defined as to give the idea of its having been cut
from a broader piece of fheet brafs, nor do they bear any
marks of having been dreffed or touched by any kind of tool
or inftrument of grinding; they exhibit, on the contrary, in
fome parts, that fort of lightly undulating and rounded outline
on both fides, that might naturally be produced by flattening
or extending a rod or piece of brafs fufficient to give this
breadth of plate and no more: this feems not to have been

done

fb BS. F

done by ftrokes, both furfaces being very fmooth, and fhewing
no appearance of indentures or impreflions of blows; and the.
thicknefs, which is about equal to that of the beft writing-
paper, being nearly uniform:—lIt feems rather to have been
effected by powerful preflure, as by that of avery heavy body:
with a fmooth furface; but it appears that this preffure was not
perfeftly equal at all times or in all parts; for though the
thicknefs is more equable than would probably have refulted
from hammering, it is not as completely fo as if it had pafled.
through a flatting mill, or been worked by any kind of regu—

lar mechanical operation.

Tuis - binding is at prefent in four pieces; but it may have
been broken by the country people that made the difcovery ;
for, fuppofing it to be gold, they {tripped the whole of. it from
the wood; but when convinced of their miftake, they faftened
it on again with common pins. The brafs has the fame colour
and appearance in every refpect as that now in ufe, and_ has
fuffered very little corrofion.

Tue inftrument was found in the month of Auguft 1791, on
the lands of Becan, in the barony of Coftello, and county of
Mayo, part of the eftate of Lord Vifcount Dillon. It lay hori-
zontally, buried in the body of a turf-bog, at the depth of about
nine feet from the furface. When taken up it was. perfectly
ftraight, but has fince warped fomewhat in drying. The wood:
is full very found.

PB] Mr.

ae ||

Mr. Oulley thinks it impoflible to affign any exact age to
this inftrument, but fuppofes ic at leaft previous to the fettle-
‘ment of the Englifh in this ifland, as no fuch thing is men-
tioned by Cambrenfis, or any other author that has written of
the affairs of Ireland fince that period. Lord Dillon concludes,
from. the great accumulation of bog over it, that it mu% be
prefumed to have Jain in the fituation where it was found
many ages; and this is further confirmed by the great rude-
nefs of its. contrivance and workmanthip, particularly of the
wooden part, which feems ftrongly to fupport its claim to re-
mote antiquity. The old Irifh tales, Mr. Oufley obferves, men-
tion the Benwowen or Buabbhal as a military inftrument of mu-
fic, ufed only on emergencies, and capable of producing a moft
tremendous found, which ‘might .be heard to the diftance of
feven miles, and whofe effets on all animals within the reach
of its blaft are defcribed in ‘very exaggerated terms ; and Mr.
O'Halloran, p. 363 of his Introduétion to the Antiquities of
Ireland, mentions the Buabbal as a well-known military cla-
rion. Indeed this word is ufed at this day in the Irifh lan-
guage to denote a horn. Still, however, it muft remain to be
determined whether this’ may be confidered as one of the in-
{truments known by thefe names.

*

To Face Page. 37.

A LETTER from WILLIAM MOLESWORTH, Ej; &
ROBERT PERCEVAL, M.D. M.R. 1. A. concerning Some
GOLDEN ANTIQUE INSTRUMENTS, fae in a Bog
in the County of Armagh.

Holles-ftreet, 30th Dec. 1791.
Dear Sire,

Pursuant to your defire and that of the Prefident Read Jan. 21,
and fome of the Members of the Royal. Irith Academy, I fend = “7?”
you drawings of the Antique Inftruments which were found

in a bog in the county of Armagh, as alfo a defcription of

them, as nearly as I am able, which inftruments I had. the

honour of fhewing a fortnight ago at the Academy,

THEIR | fizes are the fame as reprefented in the drawings ; for,
in order to make the drawings, they were laid‘on the paper, and
ferved as guides to the pencil in tracing out the lines, which were
afterwards corrected and finifhed, the originals being ftill in view.
You will obferve, that one of thefe inftruments is perfect, but
that the other is mutilated and broken, and in the operation. of
breaking it, its form has probably been changed ; for it is pretty

apparent that they were originally intended for the fame ‘ufe,
therefore

[ein of

therefore were moft probably of the fame fhape. It feems
very hard to conje€ture as to the ufe they were applied to,
unlefs it were for ornament on the wrifts of fome chieftain
or high prie{t, in like manner as rings are worn on the fingers,
for there does not feem to be any other purpofe they are fit
for; and their formation feems much to favour this, inafmuch
as their circle is not fixed to one fize, but it may be con-
fiderably extended by comprefling the extreme parts of the
limbs together, fo as to admit of the largeft fized hand to en-
ter, and then the ring clofes by its own fpring, and fecures
the inftrument from falling off, even from a fmall hand.—
The two limbs being uniformly placed, fhew that their form
was not accidental, and the bends at top are fo fhort, that the
gold would thereby have been broken, were they not given
by the maker with the help of fire. One of the limbs of the
perfe&t one is graved by way of ornament, and it feems at
top to be better finifhed than the other, and was probably worn
outfide for the fake of the better appearance, as the ftone of
a ring is placed moft in view on the finger. This inftrument
fingly weighs 9 oz. 2 pwt. 11' grs. troy. The other inftrument,
as it appears, has been broken in two places, at or near the
junction of the limbs:to the circular part; one of the limbs
has been loft, or at leaft is not forthcoming; but the other,
though not joined in one piece, accompanies the circular part,
and appears to have had at firft the fame fhape as the limbs
of the perfect inftrument, but it has been diftorted “by the
violence of breaking it, or otherwife. Thofe two fragments
weigh 402. gfw?t. 16ers. therefore the whole together weigh
tlby 10%. 12 pwr. 33ers. troy, of /aid gold, there not being

any

ese

any tube or hollow pafling through either of the inftruments.
Although the ring part of the broken one defcribes a finaller
circle than the other, it probably was originally at leaft as
large, for the gold of it is rather thicker, and it feems to have
been fqueezed and contracted by the compreffion of the per-
fon who broke it. It is ornamented with fpiral threads in-
dented, as reprefented in the drawing, but the limb is plain
and fmooth. It may not poflibly be unworthy of remark, that
the pointed ornaments graved on the limb of the perfect in-
ftrument, are nine in number, as they appear in view by the
drawings, and there are alfo nine others fimilar, which point
the contrary way, and confequently not in view by the draw-
ing, as only one fide is reprefented ; the fpiral threads that go
{crew-like round the ring of the broken inftrument are alfo
nine in number, therefore this number nine feems to have
been a favourite number, and poflibly had fome fuperftitious
fignification.

Tue above is the beft conjecture I can form with refpect
to thofe inftruments.

I am, dear Sir,
With great regard and efteem,
Your moft obedient humble fervant,
Wm. MOLESWORTH.

Yo DoGor Perceval.

he ian ees dl

ae

ay K PsN Fee i. i a

staid rs eae tis
By iaellh Basic Tenis Hie dot as
he ant ket “all nt

cs +38, adi Murs Te

or "aeich Yaa “Ql
pad Appreciate Bas Ui _ aalts

im eae Ge Ht ‘ie Serie egaeay 3 bets ta the

Go oni
" ¢
Pattie Bid * 996

_ ar yi Vey ee Ma) ‘
. Dik iw Hitot ‘any t pod) ail ete ch Fi
* ili 9 ae a a oa via pr

7, e: apg be apa jh ty Re
ee Fabs A oF ihe “Veh tb! Bie t Bis

ye oe 4

'¥ Ve ea Hay. if ups Ny =
Ms mea tolls bas aa ead a eNe ras at in

he Re eee ay baa ie heer

ORAY HER, ices peribrdo Sloak yk Hi vel sae
eek na anianthrntinne i ji 2a vib sang 5 tate aa

apie aoe ee sted oa
. 1 .

aatience ut Anes ro aah . Sify yu ui "
se oh Bin, oe * eee Hy ee a, nti erie! ne HERA
v3 1 , : : i 44
5 +t ay ty Tones d *y gb aes |
Be ae ae bie Ph ih casita oi cine |
7) ; a cs ht iia tf
es a si 9 a
. : aint
nh = u
ul a nie
ee cx P ;
i} y t 4 Wer , t}
1 TF 4 a ey ees M

CAOINAN: or fome Account of th ANTIENT IRISH
LAMENTATIONS. By WILLIAM BEAUFORD, 4. M.

Tue modes of lamentation, and the expreflions of grief by
_ founds, geftures and ceremonies, admit of an almoft infinite
variety: fo far as thefe are common to moft people, they
have very little to attract attention; but where they confti-
tute a part of national character, they then become objects
of no incurious fpeculation.

Tue Irifh have been always remarkable for their funeral
lamentations, and this peculiarity has been noticed by almoft
every traveller who vifited them, and it feems derived from
their Celtic anceftors, the primeval inhabitants of this ifle.
Thefe were a timorous and unwarlike race, as their military
weapons, and every veftige of their cuftoms and manners
ftrongly indicate: their religion was fpiritual, and unftained with
human blood. Such a religion and fuch manners imply a

Vo. IV. [FI fufceptibility

Read Dee.
175 1791s

[i 4Bh |

fufceptibility of tender impreffions, and feminine expreflions of
forrow. Grief quickly melted them into tears, and their
opprefled hearts found relief in fhrieks and groans; and hence
it has been * affirmed of the Irifh, that to cry was more
natural to them than to any other nation, and at length the

Irifh cry became proverbial.

Tue Belgic colonies, who fucceeded the Celtes, were a very
different race: of Scythic defcent, they indulged in all the
excefles of favage nature. Warfare was their paftime, and blood
was the cement of their folemn covenants. The day of inter-
ment, among them, was occupied with feafting and finging:
it was then they chaunted their rude fongs, the joys of
Valhalla, and the happy lot of the brave.

Tue foregoing diftin@ions are founded in fact, and anti--
quity gives decifive evidence of their authenticity. Czefar in
+ many places pointedly marks the levity and ficklenefs of
the Gallic Celtes: that they had a { foftnefs which difquali-
fied them from refifting calamities, and Tacitus § informs. us,
the Treveri and Nervii affected to be thought of Germanic
origin, hoping thereby to avoid the difreputation attached to

the Celtic character, z

It

* Williamfon. orat.. in fufcep. diad.. Car. 2.
+ Comment, lib. 2, 3, 4.
+ Molles ac minime refiftens ad calamitates perferendas, mens Gallorum eft. Cef. libs 3.

§ De mor. Germ.

A

Eng f]

Ir was not before fome degree of civility was introduced
among us, that our rude poetry, mufic and lamentations, af-
fumed a regular form. Cambrenfis, in the 12th century, fays,
the Irifh then mufically exprefled their griefs, that is, they
applied the mufical art, in which they * excelled all others,
to the orderly celebration of funeral obfequies, by dividing
the mourners into two bodies, each alternately finging their
part, and the whole, at times, joining in full chorus. This
antiphonial + finging was coeval with Chriftianity in this
ifle. It was then the funeral elegy rofe in poetic numbers,
and was fung in poetic accents to the found of mufical inftru-

ments.

TuE body of the deceafed, dreffed in grave-clothes, and orna-
mented with flowers, was placed on a bier or fome elevated
fpot. The relations and Keeners ranged themfelves in two divi-
fions, one at the head and the other at the feet of the corps.
The bards and croteries had before prepared the funeral Caoinan,
The chief bard of the head chorus began, by finging the firft
ftanza in a low doleful tone, which was foftly accompanied
by the harp: at the conclufion, the foot femi-chorus began
the lamentation or Ullaloo, from the final note of the preced-
ing ftlanza, in which they were anfwered by the head {femi-
chorus; then both united in one general chorus. The chorus
of the firft ftanza being ended, the chief bard of the foot femi-

| chorus

* Walker’s Irifh Bards. Append. p. 20.
4+ Walker, fupra. ;

[ pag

chorus fung the fecond ftanza, the firain of which was taken
from the concluding note of the preceding chorus; which
ended, the head femi-chorus began the fecond Gol or lamenta-
tion, in which they were anfwered by that of the foot, and
then, as before, both united in the general full chorus. Thus
alternately were the fong and chorufes performed during the
night. The genealogy, rank, poffefions, the virtues and vices
of the dead were rehearfed, and a number of interrogations were
addreffed to the deceafed: As, Why did he die? If married,
whether his wife was faithful to him, his fons dutiful, or good
hunters or warriors? If a woman, whether her daughters were
fair or chafte? If a young man, whether he had been crofled
in love? or if the blue-eyed maids of Erin treated him with.

fcorn?

We are * told that each verficle of the Caoinan confifted only
of four feet, and each foot was commonly of two fyllables =
that the three firft required no correfpondence, but the fourth
was to correfpond with the terminations of the other verficles.
This: kind of artificial metre was much cultivated by the Irifh
bards, but, on the decline of that order, the Caoinan fell into the
hands of women, and became an extemporaneous performance.
Each province was fuppofed to have different Caoinans, and
hence the Munfter cry, the Ulfter cry,-&c. but they are only
imitations. of the different chorufes of the fame Caoinan inde-
pendent of provincial diftinétions. As the Caoinan was fang
extempore, there being no general eftablifhed tune, each fet

of

* Lhuyd. Archaeolog. Brit. p. 309,

ae ee

of Keeners varied the melody according to their tafte and
mufical abilities, carefully, however, preferving the fubject, or.
burden of the fong throughout, both in the vocal and inftru-

mental part, as begun by the leading Keener..

Ar prefent the Caoinan is much neglected, being only prac-
tifed in remote parts, fo that this antient cuftom will foon
finally ceafe, Englifh manners and: the Englifh language fup-
planting thofe of the aboriginal natives. The following ex-
ample bears evident marks of bardic origin, both in its ver-
fification and language: it is probably a produdtion of the
15th century. The mufic of the Gol- or chorufes is the fame
er nearly fo with that played by the modern pipers, and by
them denominated the Irifh cries. This example, being an imi--
tation of extreme and violent grief with broken lamentations, .
is wild and irregular, and can have but little merit as a mu-
fical compofition; but may be of fome account, as preferving -
the laft remains of a very antient and univerfal cuftom..

CAOINAN,.

C A ) I N A N,
Or IRISH FUNERAL SONG.

Larco,

Soe Gale ee ata aed

G muc Connal coidhuim baifaogh, Ruireach, rathmar, rachtmhar eachthach Crodha creachach.

O fon of Connal, why didft thou die? royal, noble, learned youth, valiant, active,

ea ieee dale

cathach ceadthagh Coidhuim baifaogh Ucha oinnagh.
warlike, eloquent! ‘Why didft thou die? Alas! awail-a-day !

Firft Semi-Chorus.

PSC

Smee aene | eee

Ulla-lulla-lulla-lulla Ja Ia ucht o ong.

Second Semi-Chorus.

ian

plein eee

ong ulla lulla — lulla Julla Juila Julla lulla Ju ucht o ong.

Full

[nae |
ET
~r
Loy

Full Chorus of Sighs and Groans..

ee eer coer eee os

Ucht o ong ucht rer ong o a o ong ucht o che © ong o

aid Se a aes

neresend o

ucht o aoe o Pareaebe oo

pasa Daa AE

way ong ucht o pet ucht o © ong.

Sais aoe a

Uchta oin-nagh! boothach bear-tach Sli-ochd an Heber cavheaaa ach coinnagh. A muc
Alas! alas! he who fprang from nobles of the race of Heber, warlike chief. O men

a es

SOIREE tees

earl--tach, Coidhinm baifaogh uchta

Con-nal each-agh
why didft thou die,

of Connal, _ noble youth,

alas ! alas !

Firft Semi-Chorus.

aoeey pea BAe tt ee sais

Ul-la Julla lula Julla lo li

Second

betas. 7]

Second Semi-Chorus.

Full Chorus.

este ie petedtet = es

Ucht o ong ong ucht o ong

gilts ae te ties te sl Sa

ae ucht o oO ong ucht o o

Firs ies SE ae

ong ucht o ong ucht ° fc) ong ucht}

is ere eee ies aIES Ss

o ong ucht 0 ong

Ucht

[ 49 |]

Gist Sasa ST

Ucht 0 oin nagh mointeagh aigneach, Beith ach magh’rach abhneach caorteach Toiccagh moirgh’nteach

Alas! alas! he who was in pofleffion of flowery meads, verdant hills, lowing herds, fruitful fields, flowing
rivers and grazing flocks, rich, gallant,

SSaa i=

glean ruirc cir-teach, Coid-huim bai-faogh ucht a oin

nagh.
Lord of the golden vale, why didhe die, alas! a wail a day!

Firft Semi-Chorus.

seer al |

Uila ulla lulla lulla la li Oo ong,

Second Semi-Chorus.

Oo ong ulla Julla lulla Iulla’ Nh.

Vou. IV. [G] Full

[ 50 ]

Full Chorus,

Ucht 0 ong ucht o ong ucht o ong o ong c3) ong © oO ong o

gee See

ong 0 0 oO o ong o ong 0 © © 0 ongucho ong uch o ucht

ae iui gern Eee a Fed

© o ucht o ongucht o ong o0 © ong ucht o ong Oo ong.

Gated Hadjlere basal

Ucht a oin-nagh coid-huim bai—faogh Amuc Connal roimhcreadh cloidh each doighbrach
Alas! alas! why didft thou die, O fon of Connal, before the fpoils of victory by thy

= ecee=t SS se

gliadhach do=nal neitheach Sgaith “le feanna ucht a -oinnagh.

aw

warlike arm was brought to thé hall of theaiobles, and thyfiield with the ancient. Alas! alas !

Firft

[ 5: ]
Firft Semi-Chorus.
aaa fier) tes 2
: fare gee Seales
Seat Ss Stes= == a
Vila lulla Julla lula ly lo o ong.
. Second Semi-Chorus.
CZ GNF Ri ER tr. tr. tr.
Ko——SpP -7: Ppt End [al Eaaee! Us Ae =P Be ee eS
Gane a ASE SESS
Uila lulla lulla fulla Jullatulla ld la oll Wh ucht o ong.
Full Chorus.

greptinetiye tease tirertia

o ong ucht o o g 0 onguchto ong

Aha
SaaS

ong ucht o ong

[:Ge\4 Ar

E.5¥ f

Ar the conclufion of the Keenan, the, body was conveyed to
the place of interment, attended by the friends and relations of
the deceafed, and accompanied by the cries of women, who at

certain intervals fung the Go/ or Ullaloo.

In antient times, after the interment, the favourite bards of
the family, feated on the grave or fepulchre, performed the
Connthal or Elegy; which they repeated every new and full
moon, for the firft three months, and afterwards generally once
every year, for perfons of diftinction. The Elegy was more
regular than the Keenan, both in refpect to its poetical com-
pofition and melodious cadence; though I have not been able
to obtain any pieces of this kind, of a very antient date, nor
the mufic appertaining to them. However, feveral families,
both in Wales and this country, retained the cuftom to the
‘clofe of the laft century, and it is frequently alluded to in

the Irifh ballads and poetical romances.

Tue following is faid to be the lamentations of Fin M‘Comhal
over his grandfon Ofcar, who is fuppofed to have been flain in
the battle of Gabhra in the third century. It is taken from the
poem on the death of Ofcar, and the mufic is ftill preferved in
Connaught and the Highlands of Scotland. I have chofen this
paflage from that poetical romance, as it is probable the poetry
and mufic are coeval, having both originated in the bardic f{chool
of Errus, in the county of Mayo, towards the clofe of the
fifteenth century : a fountain from whence flowed the greater part

of

‘

P88 9

of thofe Irifh ballads and romances which have, in thefe lat=
ter ages, become the foundation of the numerous ideal fuperftruc-.
tures relative to the hiftory and antiquities of this ifland.

MARBH-RANN OSCAR.

faye SEE eee

Mo laoch cael u, laoch mo Jaoch. Leanabh mo leanabh, ghil cha--6mh

O my own youth, youth of my youth, Child of my child, ‘gentle, _valiant,.

sass eee

rich Of—car.

My heart cries like a blackbird’s. For ever gone, never to rife, O Ofcar,

Mo chroidhe lium—-nich mar long, Gulath bhrath cha n’ei

As the verfification of this poem is evidently bardic, if we
could be certain of the mufic being the original air we might
form fome idea of the ftate of that art among the Hibernian .
bards. One circumftance, however, feems in fome meafure to
confirm its authenticity; the tune to which the fong of the
death of Ofcar is fung, both in the weft of Ireland and Hitghs:
lands of Scotland, is nearly the fame..

THE

Oe aa |

Tue feveral poetic and mufical compofitions of the Irith bards .
of the weft and north were introduced into the Highlands by
the Erfe Bonaghts or Auxiliaries retained by the Irifh princes
during the fifteenth, fixteenth and feventeenth centuries,