THE
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.
^'l^^S\
THE
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,
KXHIBITING A VIEW OF THE
PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE
SCIENCES AND THE
CONDUCTED BY
ROBERT JAMESON,
REGIUS PHOFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY, LECTURER ON MINERALOGY, AND KEEPER OF
THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH;
Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh ; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy ; of the
Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark ; of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin ; of the Royal Academy of
Naples ; of the Geological Society of France ; Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta ; Fellow of
the Royal Linnean, and of the Geological Societies of London ; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and
of the Cambridge Philosophical Society ; of the Antiquarian, Wemerian Natural History, Royal Medical, Royal
Physical, and Horticultural Societies of Edinburgh ; of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland ; of
the Antiquarian and Literary Society of Perth ; of the Statistical Society of Glasgow ; of the Royal Dublin
Society ; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Whitby, Northern, and Cork Institutions ; of the Natural History So-
ciety of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle ; of the Imperial Pharmaceutical Society of Petersburgh ; of
the Natural History Society of Wetterau ; of the Mineralogical Society of Jena ; of the Royal Mineralogical So-
ciety of Dresden ; of the Natural History Society of Paris ; of the Philomathic Society of Paris ; of the Natural
History Society of Calvados ; of the Senkenberg Society of Natural History ; of the Society of Natural Sciences
and Medicine of Heidelberg ; Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York ; of
the New York Historical Society ; of the American Antiquarian Society ; of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia ; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York ; of the Natural History Society of Montreal ; of
the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanical Arts ; of the Geological
Society of Pennsylvania ; of the Boston Society of Natural History of the United States ; of the South African
Institution of the Cape of Good Hope ; Honorary Member of the Statistical Society of France ; Member of the
Entomological Society of Stettin, &c. &c. &c.
APRIL 1846 .... OCTOBER 1846.
VOL. XLI.
TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY.
EDINBURGH :
ADAM Sc CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN & LONGMANS, LONDON.
1846.
Pni¥TED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH.
CONTENTS.
PAGR
Art. I. Is it possible, in the present state of our knowledge,
to foretel what Weather it will be at a given
time and place ? Have we reason, at all events, to
expect that this problem will one day be solved,?
By M. Arago, Perpetual Secretary of the French
Academy of Sciences, &c. &c. : —
State of the weather cannot be predicted — Limits of
the Mean Temperature of years, &c. — Effects of Arc-
tic Ice on the Climate of Europe — Temperature of
the Sea as affected by diminished Transparency —
Effects of Localities on Climates — Obscurations of
the Atmosphere — Effects of Woods on Climates —
Effects of Lakes on Climates — Atmospherical Elec-
tricity — Rain — Earthquakes — Kindling fires to pro-
^ duce rain, ..... 1
n . On the Ichthyological Fossil Fauna of the Old Red
Sandstone. By Professor Agassiz : —
Zoological Sytems — Geological Epochs — Development
of Animality — Real Affinities in the Animal King-
dom — Con temporary Appearance of the Classes of In-
vertebrate Radiata, viz., — Acephala — Gasteropods —
Cephalopods- — Articulata — Infusoria — Nothingness
of Material and Pantheistical Theories — Earliest
Fishes — Value of Geological Formations — Probable
Number of Fossil Fishes — Complete Fossil Fish
Fauna — Reign of Fishes — Embryonic state of the
Oldest Fishe8--<-No Vertebras in Old Red Sandstone
11 CONTENTS.
Pishes— Extraordinary Development of the Cuta-
neous System — Heterocercal Tail of the Old Red
Sandstone Fishes — Embryonic Age of the Reign of
Fishes — Cephalaspides — Dipterians — Acanthodi-
ans — Celacanthes — Placoides — Serial Classifications
to be renounced — Great Diversity of Species in the
Devonian System, . . . . 17
III. On the Classification of Birds, and particularly of the
Genera of European Birds. By John Hogg,
Esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c. Communi-
cated by the Author, 50
IV. Marine Deposits on the margin of Loch Lomond.
By the Rev, J. Adamson, . . . .72
V. Address delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the
Geological Society of London, on 20th February
1846. By Leonard Horner, Esq., V.P.R.S.,
President of the Society : —
Geology of Russia — Silurian Rocks — Devonian Rocks
— The Carboniferous Series — Theories of the For- .
mation of Coal — Permian System — Secondary Rocks
— Cretaceous Rocks — Tertiary Deposits — Metamor-
phic Rocks, . . . . . 75
VI. On the Surface of the Moon. By Captain Rozet, . 128
VII. Observations on the Principle of Vital Affinity, as il-
lustrated by recent discoveries in Organic Che-
mistry. By William Pulteney Alison, M.D.,
F.R.S.E., Professor of the Practice of Medicine
in the University of Edinburgh, &c., . 132
VIII. On the Constitution and Properties of Picoline, a new
Organic Base from Coal-Tar. By Thomas An-
derson, M.D., F.R.S.E., Lecturer on Chemistry,
Edinburgh, . . . .146
IX. Description of a Water-Wheel, with Vertical Axle,
on the plan of the Turbine of Fourneyron, erected
at Balgonie Mills, Fifeshire. By Joseph Gor-
don Stuart, Esq., F.R.S.S.A. (Communicated
by the Royal Scottish Society of Arts), . 166
CONTENTS. Ill
PAGK
X. On the Indian Tribes inhabiting the North-West
Coast of America. By John Scouler, M.D.,
F.L.S. (Communicated by the Ethnological So-
ciety), . . . . .168
XI. On the "Winds, as influencing the Tracks sailed by
Bermuda Vessels ; and on the Advantage which
may be derived from Sailing on Curved Courses
when meeting with Progressive Revolving Winds.
By Governor Reid of Bermuda, . . 192
XII. Origin of the Constituent and Adventitious Minerals
of Trap and the allied Rocks. By J. D. Dana, 196
XIII. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh : —
1. On Scottish Madrepores, with Remarks on the Cli-
matic Character of the Extinct Races. By the Rev.
Dr Fleming, ..... 203
2. On the Influence of Contractions of Muscles on the
Circulation of the Blood. By Dr Wardeop, . 204
3. On the Solubility of Fluoride of Calcium in Water,
and the relation of this property to the occurrence
of that substance in Minerals, and in recent and
Fossil Plants and Animals. By Dr G. Wilson, 205
4. Notice of Polished and Striated Rocks recently dis-
covered on Arthur Seat, and in some other places
near Edinburgh. By David Milne, Esq., . 206
XIV. List of Patents granted for Scotland from 23d March
to 22d June 1846, . . .208
Ebratum.
In page 111, second line from bottom, after the word anthracite, insert a
comma, and in place of Two — two.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Art. I. On the Ancient City of the Aurunci, and on the Vol-
canic Phenomena which it exhibits ; with some
Remarks on Craters of Elevation, on the distinc-
tion between Plutonian and Volcanic Rocks, and
the theories of volcanic action which are at present
most in repute. With two Plates. By Charles
Daubeny, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry
and Botany in the University of Oxford. Com-
municated by the Author, . . . .213
II. Miscellaneous Observations, chiefly Chemical. By
John Davy, M.D., F.R.S. , Lond. and Edin.,
Inspector-General of Army Hospitals. Commu-
nicated by the Author, . . . .265
III. Origin of the Constituent and Adventitious Minerals
of Trap and the Allied Rocks. By James D.
Dana, 263
IV. Observations on the Principle of Vital Affinity, as
illustrated by recent observations in Organic Che-
mistry. By William Pulteney Alison, M.D.,
F.R.S.E., Professor of the Practice of Medicine
in the University of Edinburgh, . . . 272
V. On the Constitution and Properties of Picoline, a new
Organic Base from Coal-Tar. By Thomas An-
derson, M.D., F.R.S. E., Lecturer on Chemistry,
Edinburgh, ...... 291
VI. On the Cause of Induration of some Siliceous Sand-
stones. By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S,, Lond.
and Edin., Inspector of Army Hospitals. Com-
municated by the Author, .... 300
U CONTENTS.
PAGE
VII. Address delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the
Geological Society of London, on 20th February
1846. By Leonard Horner, Esq., V.P.R.S.,
President of the Society : —
Metallic Products — Changes in the Relative Level of
Sea and Land — Boulder Formations and Erratic
Blocks — Palaeontology — Conclusion, . .303
VIII. On certain Phenomena presented by the Glaciers of
Switzerland. By M. Escher de la Linth.
With a Plate, 344
IX, An Account of Thermo-Electrical Experiments. By
Mr R. Adie, Liverpool. Communicated by the
Author, 352
X. Account of a Remarkable Cave in the Island of Bar-
badoes, commonly called '* Cole's Cave." By.
John Davy, M.D., F.R.S., Lond. and Edin., &c.
&c. Communicated by the Author, . .355
XI. On the Natives of Guiana. By Sir Robert Schom-
BURGK. With a Plate. Communicated to the
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, by the •
Ethnoloigical Society of London. With a Plate, 361
XII. On the Limits of the Atmosphere, and on Compensa-
tion Pendulums. By Henry Meikle, Esq.
Communicated by the Author, . . .385
XIII. Analysis of the American Mineral Nemalite. By
Arthur Connell, Esq., Professor of Chemistry
in the University of St Andrews. Communi-
cated by the Author, 387
XIV. General Considerations on the Organic Remains, and
in particular on the Insects, which have been
found in Amber. By Professor J. Pictet, . 391
XVII. Remarks on Ancient Beaches near Stirling. By
Charles Maclaren, Esq., F.R.S.E. Communi-
cated by the Author, .... 402
XVIII. On the Great Thunder Storms and Extraordinary
Agitations of the Sea, on the 5th July and 1st
of August 1846. By Richard Edmonds jun.,
Esq. Read at the Penzance Natural History, on
the 11th August 1846, .... 412
XIX. Eleventh Letter on Glaciers ; Addressed to Professor
Jameson. (1.) Observations on the Depression
of the Glacier Surface. (2.) On the Relative
Velocity of the Surface and Bottom of a Glacier.
With a Plate. By Professor J. D. Forbes, 414
CONTENTS. Ill
PAOK
XX. Scientific Intelligence i —
METEOROLOGY AND GEOLOGY.
1 . Sulphur in the Atmosphere. 2. On the Cleavage of
Slate-Strata. 3. Earthquake in Tuscany, August 19, 421
PALAEONTOLOGY.
4. Discovery of New Species of Fossil Frog in the Ter-
tiary Formations of Osnabruck. 5, Two New. Spe-
cies of Fossil Bat in the Tertiary Formation of
Weisenau, . . . . -424
ZOOLOGY.
6. The Lion, as an article of Food. 7. On a Gigantic
Stag, Cervus Euryceros, Aldr. ; Megaceros, Hart.;
Oiganteus, Galde. By Dr E. EiCHWALD. 8. On
the Respiratory Apparatus of Birds. By M. Na-
TALis GuiLLOT and M. Sappey. 9. On the Com-
parative Anatomy of the Vocal Organs of Birds.
By Professor Muller. 10. Physiological Remarks
on the Statics of Fishes. 11. Red Colour of the
Blood in the Planorbis imbricatus. By M. DE
QuATREFAGES. 12. On the Development of the
Annelides. By M. Sars. 13. On the Development
of the Hearing Apparatus in the Mollusca. By Dr
H. Frey, . . . . 425
XXI. New Publications received, . . . . 431
XXII. List of Patents granted for Scotland from 23d June
to 22d September 1846, . . . 434
Index, 437
LIST OF PRIZES OFFERED BY THE ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY
OF ARTS FOR SESSION 1846-47.
The ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS proposes to award Prizes of
different values (none to exceed Thirty Sovereigns), either in Gold or Silver
Medals, Silver Plate, or Money, for approved Communications relative to In-
ventions, Discoveries, and Improvements in the Mechanical and Chemical Arts
in General, and also to means by which the Natural Productions of the Country
may be made more available ; and, in particular, to —
I. Inventions, Processes, or Practices from Foreign Countries, not generally
known or adopted in Great Britain — such as the Manufacture of Glass Pipes
for conveying Water, Gas, &c.
II. Notices of Processes in the Useful Arts practised in this Country, but not
generally known.
III. Experiments applicable to the Useful Arts.
IV. Practical Details of Public or other Undertakings of National Import-
ance, not previously published.
V. Discovery of Substitutes for Hemp and Flax, &c.
VI. Inventions, Discoveries, or Improvements in the Useful Arts, includ-
ing the Mechanical and Chemical; and in the Mechanical Branch of the Fine
Arts ; such as the following, viz. : —
1. Mechanical Arts.
1. Methods of rendering large supplies of Water available, for the purpose
of extinguishing Fires ; and the best application of Manual, or other Power,
( iv )
to the working of Fire-Engines — of Filtering Water in large quantities — of
Kcouomising Fuel, Gas, &c. — of Preparing Superior Fuel from Peat — of Pre-
venting Smoke and Noxious Vapours from Manufactories — of Warming and
Ventilating Public Edifices, Private Dwellings, &c. — of Constructing Econo-
mical and Salubrious Dwellings for the Working Classes, especially in Towns
— of Making Cheap and Wholesome Bread from Maize, or Buckwheat, or
from Mixtures of these with other Substances.
2. Inventions or Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and other Me-
tals, simple or alloyed — in the Manufacture of Writing and Printing Paper
— in Tuyeres for Blast Furnaces — in the Making and Tempering of Steel —
in Gilding Brass equal in Colour to the French — in Artificial Pavement — in
Balance, Pendulum, or Electro-Magnetic Time-Keepers — in Screw-cutting —
in Printing-Presses — in Stereotyping, and in cleaning the plaster from the
Types — in Furnaces and other Apparatus used in Stereotyping — in Type-
Founding — in the Composition of Printers' Rollers^ — in Ship-Building, with
regard to Ventilation, both for the Crew and the Timbers — in Currying and
Tawing of Leather — in Preparing Black Polished Leather equal to the French
— in Stationary and Locomotive Engines — in Railway Wheels and Axles —
in Railway Telegraphs and Signals — in Smith- Work and Carpentry — in
Tools, Implements, and Apparatus for the various trades — in Electric, Vol-
taic, and Sfagnetic Apparatus.
2. Chemical Arts.
Improvements in Fine Glass for Optical Purposes, free from Veins, and of a
Dense and Transparent quality, equal or superior to the best Continental
Glass — also in hard Infusible Glass for Chemical Purposes — in the Annealing
of Glass — in the Manufacture of Writing Inks, both Common and Copying,
so as to flow freely from Metallic Pens — in the Dissolving of Caoutchouc, and
applying it to useful purposes.
3. Relative to the Fine Arts.
Improvements in Patterns of Porcelain, Common Clay or Metal, of Domestic
Articles of simple and beautiful Forms, without much Ornament, and of one
Colour — in the Preparation of Lime and Plaster for Fresco Painting, and in
appropriate Tools for laying the Plaster with precision — in Calotype, Da-
guerreotype, and Electrotype — in the Production of Artificial Light as nearly
of the quality of Day-Light as possible — in Engraving on Stone — in the ap-
plication of Daguerreotype and Calotype to the Stone for Lithographic Print-
ing — in Die-sinking — in Wood-cutting and other methods of illustrating
Books to be printed with the Letter-Press — in Printing from Wood-cuts, &c.
— in Ornamentel Metallic Casting' — in Constructing Buildings on the most
correct Acoustic Principles.
The SOCIETY also proposes to award the KEITH PRIZE, value Thirty
Sovereigns,
For some important " Invention, Improvement, or Discovery, in the Useful
Arts, which shall be primarily submitted to the Society," betwixt and 1st
April 1847.
By order of the Society,
James Tod, Secretary.
Edinburgh, 13tA April 1846.
THE
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOUENAL.
Is it possible, in the present state of our knowledge, to foretel
what Weather it will be at a given time and place ? Have
we reason, at all events, to expect that this problem will one
day be solved ? By M. Arago, Perpetual Secretary of the
French Academy of Sciences, &c. &c.
Engaged as I am, both from inclination and duty, in
meteorological studies, I have often asked myself if we should
ever be able, by a reference to astronomical considerations,
to determine, a year in advance, what shall be the state, in
a given place, of the annual temperature, the temperature of
each month, the quantities of rain compared with the ordi-
nary mean, the prevailing winds, &c.
I have already laid before the readers of the Annuaire the
results of the investigations undertaken by natural philoso-
phers and astronomers, regarding the influence of the moon
and of comets on the changes of the weather. These results
clearly shew, in my opinion, that the influences of both these
bodies are almost insensible, and, therefore, that the predic-
tion of the weather can never be a branch of astronomy, pro-
perly so called. And yet our satellite and comets have, at
all periods, been considered as preponderating stars in meteor-
ology.
Since the publication of these opinions, I have regarded
the problem in another aspect. I have considered whether
the operations of man, and occurrences which will always re-
main beyond the range of our foresight, might not be of such
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. A
2 State of the Weather cannot be Predicted,
a nature as to modify climates accidentally, and in a very
sensible manner, in particular with regard to temperature.
I already perceive that facts w^ill answer in the affirmative.
I should have wished, however, not to publish this result till
after I had finished my investigations ; but I must frankly
own, that I wished to have an oppoHunity of protesting
decidedly against the predictions which have every year been
attributed to me^ both in France and in other countries. Never
has a word escaped my lips, either in private or in the
course which I have delivered for upwards of thirty years ;
never has a line published with my consent, authorised any
one to imagine it to be my opinion that it is possible, in the
present state of our knowledge, to announce, with any degree
of certainty, what weather it will be a year, a month, a week,
I shall even add, a single day, in advance. May the indigna-
tion I have felt at seeing a multitude oi ridiculous predictions
appear under my name, not constrain me, by the force of re-
action, to give an exaggerated degree of importance to the
disturbing causes I have enumerated ! At present, I believe
that I am in a condition to deduce from my investigations the
important result which I now announce ; Whatever may be
the progress of the sciences, NEVER ivill observers who are trust-
worthy^ and careful of their reputation^ venture to foretel the
state of the weather*
* This explicit declaration may give me a right to expect that I shall no
longer be compelled to play the part of Nostradamus or Mathew Laensberg ;
but I am far from indulging in any illusion on this subject. Hundreds of per-
sons who have gone through a regular course of university studies, will not
fail, in 1846, as they had done on former occasions, to ply me with such ques-
tions as the following, which it is truly pitiable to hear in the present day :
Will the winter be severe ? Think you that we shall have a warm summer, a
humid autumn ? This is a very long and destructive drought ; do you think
it is near an end ? People think that the April moon will produce great mis-
chief this season — what is your opinion ? &c. &c. In spite of the little confi-
dence 1 have in predictions, I affirm that in this case the event will not deceive
me. Nay, for some years past have I not been put to a still severer proof?
Has not a work been published, entitled " Lectures on Astronomy, delivered at
the Observatory by M. Arago, collected by one of his Pupils ? " I have protested a
dozen times against this work ; I have shewn that it swarms with inconceivable
errors ; that it l9 beneath all criticism whenever the author ceases to employ
ills scissors on the notices of the Annuaire, and is reduced to the necessity of
Limits of the Mean Temperature of Years, §fc. 3
I repeat, that the readers of the Annuaire ought not to
expect to find here a complete investigation of the problem
which I have taken up. My sole intention is to lay before
them a few facts, which, taken in connection with those which
I shall analyse in a second notice, appear to me to lead to
this conclusion.
Between what limits the mean temperatures of years and months
vary in our climates.
The meteorological state of a given place, is much less
variable than those would be led to believe who judge of it
by their personal sensations, by vague recollections, or the
condition of the crops. Thus, at Paris, the mean tempera-
ture of years ranges witiiin very narrow limits.
The annual mean temperature of Paris, from 1806 to 1826
inclusive, has been + 10°*8 centigrade (54°*4 Fahr.) The
greatest of 21 annual means does not exceed the general mean
by more than l°-3 (2°-3 F.) ; the lowest of the mean annual
temperatures has been found below the general mean only by
1°*4. (2°-5 F.) As far as relates to mean annual temperatures,
systematic meteorologists have, therefore, no need of foresight
to predict only slight perturbations. The causes of distur-
bance will satisfy all the phenomena, if they can produce,
more or less, l°-5 of centigrade variation (2°-7 F.)
It is not the same with regard to the months. The differ-
ences between the general means and the partial means
extend, in January and December, to 4 and 5 centigrade
degrees (7° to 9° F.)
drawing a few lines from his own resources. Vain efforts ! These pretended
Lectures on Astronomy at the Observatory have, however, reached no less than
a fourth edition. The laws have made no provision against what I shall call
this scientific calumny. What must be done when the law is silent ? Submit with
resignation ? A sensitiveness which will not appear surprising to any who have
seen the book in question, will not allow me to be satisfied with resignation.
My position having become intolerable, I have made up my mind to publish
myself the Lectures which have been so outrageously disfigured. Since it has
become necessary, I shall abandon for a time the plans for original investiga-
tions which I had formed, and devote the time I wished to employ in delicate
experiments, fitted to illustrate points of the science still enveloped in great
obscurity, to the preparation of a work intended to popularise astronomy.
May this work be in some degree useful.
4 Limits of the Mean Temperature of Years.
In consequence of these variations, if we compare the ex-
treme temperatures of each month with the mean or normal
temperatures of all the rest, we shall find : —
That the month of January is sometimes as temperate as
the mean of the month of March.
That the month of February sometimes resembles the
mean second fortnight of April, or the mean first fort-
night of January.
That the month of March sometimes resembles the mean
of the month of April, or the mean of the second fort-
night of January.
That the month of April never reaches the temperature of
the month of May.
That the month of May is pretty frequently, in the mean,
warmer than certain months of June.
That the month of Jurie is sometimes, in the mean, warmer
than certain months of July.
That the month of July is sometimes, in the mean, warmer
than certain months of August.
That the month of August is sometimes, in the mean,
slightly colder than certain months of September.
That the month of September is sometimes, in the mean,
colder than certain months of October.
That the month of October may be, in the mean, nearly 3^
(5°'4 F.) colder than certain months of November.
That the month of November may be, in the mean, about
5°-5 (about 10° F.) colder than the warmest months of
December.
That the month of December may be, in the mean, 7°
(12°-6 F.) colder than the month of January.
Disturbing causes of Terrestrial Temperature which cannot be
foreseen.
The atmosphere which, on a given day, rests upon the sea,
becomes in a short time, in mean latitudes, the atmosphere
of continents, chiefly from the prevalence of westerly winds.
The atmosphere derives its temperature, in a great measure,
from that of the solid or liquid bodies which it envelops.
Every thing, therefore, which modifies the normal tempera-
Effects of Arctic Ice on Climate of Europe. 5
ture of the sea, produces, sooner or later, perturbations in
the temperature of continental atmospheres. Are those
causes, which may sensibly modify the temperature of a con-
siderable portion of the ocean, placed for ever beyond the
foresight of man \ This problem is closely connected with
the meteorological question I have undertaken to consider.
Let us endeavour to find the solution of it.
No one can doubt that the ice-fields of the Arctic pole —
the immense frozen seas — exert a marked influence on the
climates of Europe. In order to appreciate in numbers the
importance of this influence, it would be necessary to take
into account at once the extent and position of these fields ;
but these two elements are so variable that they cannot be
brought under any certain rule.
The eastern coast of Greenland was in former times
accessible and well peopled. All of a sudden an impene-
trable barrier of ice interposed itself between it and Europe.
For many ages Greenland could not be visited. About the
year 1815 this ice underwent an extraordinary breaking up,
became scattered in a southerly direction, and left the coast
free for many degrees of latitude. Who could ever predict
that such a dislocation of the fields of ice would take place in
such a year rather than in another \
The floating ice which ought to act most on our climates,
is that known by the English name of icebergs. These moun-
tains of ice come from the glaciers, properly so called, of
Spitzbergen or the shores of Baffin's Bay. They detach them-
selves from the general mass, with a noise like that of thun-
der, when the waves have undermined their base, and when
the rapid congelation of rain-water in their fissures produces
a sufficient expansion to move these huge masses and push
them forward. Such causes, and such eff\jcts, will always
remain beyond the range of human foresight.
Those who remember the recommendations which the
guides never fail to give upon approaching certain walls of
6 Effects of A rciic Ice on Climate of Europe,
ice, and the huge masses of snow placed upon the inclined
ridges of the Alps; those wlio have not forgotten that, accord-
ing to the affirmations of these experienced men, the report
of a pistol, or even a mere shout, may produce frightful cata-
strophes, will agree in the opinion I have just expressed.
Icebergs often descend without melting, even to pretty
low latitudes. They sometimes cover immense spaces ; we
may therefore suppose that they sensibly disturb the tempera-
ture of certain zones of the oceanic temperature, and then,
by means of communication, the temperature of islands and
continents. A few instances of this will not be out of place.
On the 4th October 1817, in the Atlantic Ocean, 46° 30'
north latitude. Captain Beaufort fell in with icebergs advan-
cing southwards.
On the 19th January 1818, on the west of Greenspond, in
Newfoundland, Captain Daymont met with floating islands.
On the following day, the vessel was so beset with ice that
no outlet could be seen even from the top-masts. The ice,
for the most part, rose about 14 English feet above the water.
The vessel was carried southwards in this manner for
twenty-nine days. It disengaged itself in 44° 37' latitude,
120 leagues east of Cape Race. During this singular im-
prisonment. Captain Daymont noticed upwards of a hundred
icebergs.
On the 28th March 1818, in 41° 50' north latitude, 53° 13'
longitude west of Paris, Captain Vivian felt, during the whole
day, an excessively cold wind blowing from the north, which
led him to suppose that ice was approaching. And, in fact,
on the following day, he saw a multitude of floating islands,
which occupied a space of upwards of seven leagues. " Many
of these islands,'' says he, " were from 200 to 250 English
feet high above the water.''
The brig Funchal^ from Greenock, met with fields of ice on
two diflierent occasions, in her passage from St John's, New-
foundland, to Scotland ; first on the 17th January 1818, at the
distance of six leagues from the port she had left ; and after-
wards, in the same month, in latitude 47° 30'. The first
Temperature of Sea Affected by Diminished Transparency. 7
field was upwards of three leagues broad, and its limit in a
northern direction could not be seen. The second, likewise
very extensive, had an immense iceberg in its centre.
On the 30th March 1818, a sloop of war, The Fly, passed
between two large islands of floating ice in 42 degrees of
north latitude.
On 2d April 1818, Lieutenant Parry met with icebergs in
42' 20' of north latitude.
This year (1845) the English vessel Bochefort continued
enclosed, at the end of April and beginning of May, for
twenty-one consecutive days, in a mass of floating ice, which
ran along the bank of Newfoundland, advancing to the south.
The sea is much less easily heated than the land, and
that, in a great measure, because the water is diaphanous.
Every thing, therefore, w^hich causes this diaphaneity to vary
considerably, will produce sensible changes in the tempera-
ture of the sea, immediately after in the temperature of the
oceanic atmosphere, and, somewhat later, in the temperature
of the continental atmosphere. Do causes exist, indepen-
dently of what science discovers to us, which may interfere
with the transparency of the sea to a great extent ? Let
the following be my answer : —
Mr Scoresby has shewn, that, in northern regions, the
sea sometimes assumes a very decided olive-green colour;
that this tint is owing to medusae and other minute animal-
culse ; and that wherever the green colour prevails the water
possesses very little diaphaneity.
Mr Scoresby occasionally met with green bands, which
were from two to three degrees of latitude (60 to 80 leagues)
in length, and from 10 to 15 leagues broad. The currents
convey these bands from one region to another. We must
suppose that these do not always exist ; for Captain Phipps,
in the account of his voyage to Spitzbergen, makes no men-
tion of them.
As I have just stated, the green and opaque portions of
the sea must become heated in a manner difi'erent from the
diaphanous parts. This is a cause of variation in the tem-
8 Temperature of Sea Affected bfj Diminished Transparency.
perature which can never be subjected to calculation. We
can never know beforehand whether, in such and such a
year, these countless myriads of animalculae will be more or
less prolific, and what will be the direction of their migration
southwards.
The phosphorescence of the sea is owing to minute animals
of the medusa kind. The phosphorescent regions occupy
very large spaces — sometimes in one latitude, sometimes in
another. Now, as the water of the phosphorescent spaces
is quite turbid, and as its diaphaneity is almost entirely
destroyed, it may become, by its abnormal heating, a cause
of notable disturbance in the temperature of the oceanic
and continental atmospheres. Who can foresee the intensity
of this cause of thermic variation ? who can ever know be-
forehand the place which it occupies ?
Let us suppose the atmosphere immobile and perfectly
clear. Let us suppose, moreover, that the soil has every-
where, in an equal degree, absorbhig and emissive properties,
and the same capacity for heat; we should then observe
throughout the year, as the effect of solar action, a regular
and uninterrupted series of increasing temperatures, and a
corresponding series of decreasing temperatures. Each day
would have its invariable temperature. Under every deter-
mined parallel^ the days of the maximum and minimum of
heat would be respectively the same.
This regular and hypothetical order is disturbed by the
mobility of the atmosphere ; by clouds more or less exten-
sive, and more or less permanent ; and by the diverse pro-
perties of the ground. Hence the elevations or depressions
of the normal heat of days, months, and years. As disturb-
ing causes do not act in the same way in every place, we
may expect to see the primitive figures differently modified ;
to find comparative inequalities of temperature where, from
the nature of things, the most perfect equality might have
been looked for.
Nothing is better calculated to shew the extent of these
combined disturbing causes, than the comparison of mean
Effects of Localities on Climates. 9
epochs, indicating the maxima and minima temperatures in
different places. The following are some of these results : —
St Gothard, )
(10 years.) ]
Home,
(10 years.)
Jena,
(18 years.)
Petersburg,
(10 years.)
Paris, \
(21 years.) j
Maximum.
11th August.
6th August.
1st August.
22(1 July.
15th July.
Minimum.
24th December.
8th January.
3d January.
8th January.
14th January.
{51 and 3 days after
the solstice,
f 46 and 18 days after
I the solstice.
and 14 days after
the solstice.
I 31 and 18 days after
\ the solstice.
I 25 and 25 days after
\ the solstice.
These differences belong to the localities. But when con-
cealed local circumstances exert so much influence, is it not
natural to think that the modifications which they receive
from the hand of man may sensibly alter, in the interval of
a few years, the meteorological type of every town in Europe ?
1 have shewn that local circumstances which are latent,
or at least faintly characterized, may exert sensible and con-
stant influences on the manner in which the maxima and
minima of temperature are distributed in the year. When
science shall be put in possession of exact and comparable
meteorological observations, made simultaneomly in different
places ; when these observations shall be scrupulously and
judiciously digested, we shall very probably find that circum-
stances of locality will occupy a much more prominent place
in science than natural philosophers seem now disposed to
attribute to them. It would not be difficult for me, at this
moment, to mention circumscribed districts which have com-
pletely escaped the severe colds to which the surrounding
countries were subjected. The Sables d'Olonne, for example,
and the neighbouring districts, six leagues in circuit, formed,
during the winter of 1763 and 1764, a kind of thermal oasis.
The Loire was frozen near its mouth ; an intense cold of — 10
degrees centigrade (14° F.), interrupted all agricultural ope-
rations in the districts which the river traverses. In the Sables
the weather was mild : this little canton escaped the frost.
The following is a still more extraordinary fact than the
preceding, for it takes place every year.
10 Obscurations of the Atmosphere.
There is in Siberia, M. Erman has informed us, an entire
district, in which, during tlie winter, the sky is constantly
clear, and where a single particle of snow never falls.
I am willing to overlook the perturbations of the terres-
trial temperatures which may be connected with a greater or
less abundant emission of light or solar heat, whether these
variations of emission depend on the number of spots which
are found accidentally scattered over the sun's surface, or
whether they originate in some other unknown cause ; but it
is impossible for me not to draw the reader's attention to the
obscurations to which our atmosphere is from time to time
subject, without any assignable rule. These obscurations,
by preventing the light and solar heat from reaching the
earth, must disturb considerably the course of the seasons.
Our atmosphere is often occupied, over spaces of consider-
able extent, by substances which materially interfere with
its transparency. These matters sometimes proceed from
volcanoes in a state of eruption. Witness the immense
column of ashes which, in the year 1812, after having been
projected from the crater of the island St Vincent to a great
height, caused at mid-day a darkness like that of night in
the island of Barbadoes.
These clouds of dust appear, from time to time, in regions
where no volcano exists. Canada, in particular, is subject
to such phenomena. In that country recourse has been had,
for an explanation, to the burning of forests. The facts do
not always appear to agree exactly with this supposition.
Thus, (m 16th October 1785, at Quebec, clouds of such ob-
scurity covered the sky, that it was impossible, even at noon,
to see in what direction one was going. These clouds covered
a space of 120 leagues in length by 80 broad. They seemed
to come from Labrador, a country very thinly wooded ; and
they presented none of the characters of smoke.
On the 2d July 1814, clouds similar to the above sur-
rounded some vessels in the open sea on their way to the
River St Laurence. The great obscurity lasted from the
evening of the 2d till the afternoon of the 3d.
With regard to the object we have here in view, it is of little
Effect of Woods on Climates. 11
importance whether we ascribe these clouds, capable as they
are of completely obstructing the solar rays, to the burning
of forests and savannahs, or to emanations from the earth.
Their formation, and their arrival in a given place, will remain
equally beyond the predictions of science ; the variations of
temperature, and meteors of every kind which may be caused
by these clouds, will never be pointed out beforehand in our
meteorological almanacs.
Tlie accidental darkening of the air, in 1783, embraced so
extensive a space (from Lapland to Africa), that it was as-
cribed to the matter belonging to the tail of a comet, which,
it was alleged, had mingled with our atmosphere. It is out
of the question to maintain that an accidental state of the
atmosphere, which enabled us, for a period of nearly two
months, to look at the sun at mid-day with the naked eye,
was without influence on terrestrial temperatures.
Forests cannot fail to exercise a sensible influence on the
temperature of the surrounding regions ; because, for ex-
ample, snow remains there for a much longer time than in
the open country. The destruction of forests, therefore,
ought to produce a modification in our climates.
In given instances, what is the precise influence of forests,
estimated by the centigrade thermometer \ The question is
very complicated, and has not hitherto been solved.
In all very mountainous regions, the valleys are traversed
by periodical diurnal breezes, particularly sensible in May,
June, July, August, and September. These breezes ascend
the valleys, from seven or eight o'clock in the morning to
three or four in the afternoon, the time when they reach their
greatest force, and from four o'clock to six or seven in the
evening. For the most part they blow with the force of a
decided wind, and sometimes with that of a violent wind ;
they must, therefore, exert a sensible influence on the
climates of the countries which lie around these valleys.
What is the cause of these breezes \ Every thing concurs
to shew that the cause is to be found in the manner in
which the solar rays warm the central mass whence these
12 Effect of Lakes on Climate
valleys radiate. Suppose this mass to be naked, then you
have a certain effect ; substitute tufted forests for arid rocks,
and the phenomenon w^ill assume another character, at least
with regard to intensity.
This is one of the twenty ways in which the clearing of
woods affects climates. Before putting his hand to the task
of arranging his predictions, the manufacturer of almanacs
ought, therefore, to enter into a correspondence with all the
wood-cutters of every country.
In North America, the interior of the continent does not
enjoy, in the same latitudes, the same climate as the coasts.
By the influence of lakes, this difference disappears with re-
spect to all the points where the distance from these great
masses of water is not considerable.
We must, therefore, expect that the drying up of a lake
will modify the climate of the neighbouring region ; and that
a vast inundation, arising from the unexpected rupture of a
barrier, will produce for a time an opposite effect.
If any one should exclaim against me on seeing me regis-
ter causes, each of which, taken by itself, does not seem capa-
ble of producing a very great effect, my reply would be, — ^We
have to consider an influence as a whole, and in every case
the perturbations which it is our object to explain, are far
from being so extensive as the public supposes.
According to Howard, the mean temperature of London
exceeds that of the neighbouring country, about a centigrade
degree (V'% F.)
The difference between the two tempe|*atur^s is not the
same at all seasons.
Eiectridty,
We could not well avoid arranging electricity among the
causes which have a striking influence on climatological phe-
nomena. Let us go farther, and inquire whether the opera-
tions of man may disturb the electrical state of an entire
country.
Clearing the wood from a mountain is the destruction of a
Atmospherical Electricity/. 13
number of lightning-conductors equal to the number of trees
felled ; it is tlie modification of the electrical state of an en-
tire country ; the accumulation of one of those elements in-
dispensable to the formation of hail, in a locality where, pre-
viously, this element was dissipated by the silent and inces-
sant action of the trees. On this point, observations sup-
port theoretical deductions.
According to a detailed statistical account, the losses oc-
casioned by hail in the continental states of the king of Sar-
dinia, from 1820 to 1828 inclusively, amount to the sum of
forty-six millions of francs. Three provinces, those of Val
d'Aoste., the Vallee de Suze, and Haute Maurienne^ do not ap-
pear in these tables ; they were not visited with hail storms.
The mountains of these three provinces are the best wooded.
Of the warmest provinces, that of Genoa, the mountains
of which are well covered, is scarcely ever visited by this
meteor.
Atmospheric electricity gives rise to phenomena, which
are immense from their extent. They seem, however, to owe
their origin to causes purely local. Their propagation like-
wise takes place under circumscribed influences, in particu-
lar zones, and these sometimes rather narrow.
On the 13th July 1788, in the morning, a hail-storm com-
menced in the south of France., traversed, in a few hours, the
whole length of the kingdom, and thence extended to the
low countries and Holland.
All the districts in France injured by the hail, were situated
in two parallel bands, running south-west and north-east.
One of these bands was 175 leagues long ; the other about
200.
The mean breadth of the most western hail band was 4
leagues, the other only 2 leagues. On the space between these
two bands, rain only fell ; its mean breadth was 5 leagues.
The storm moved from the south to the north with a rapidity
of about 1 6 leagues an hour.
The damage occasioned in France, in the 1039 parishes
visted by the hail, appeared, from official inquiry, to amount
to twenty-five millions (one million sterling.)
14 Atmospherical Electricity.
This, certainly, must be regarded as a considerable at-
mospheric commotion, whether we regard the material de-
vastation it produced, or the influence which the displace-
ment of the air, and the mass of hail deposited on the sur-
face of two long and broad bands of country, must have ex-
ercised on the normal temperature of a great number of
places. Could meteorologists, however skilled, have been able
to foresee it?
The origin of the two bands was in the district of Aunis,
and in Saintonge. Why there, and not elsewhere ? Why
did not the storm commence at another point of the parallel
of latitude, passing by its meridional extremities % Because,
it will be answered, in Aunis and in Saintonge, on the 13th
July 1788, the conditions of electricity and temperature were
eminently favourable for the production of a hail-storm, and
an accompanying hurricane directed from the south-south-
west to the north-north-east. Admitted ; but were not these
thermal and electrical conditions favourable to the produc-
tion of a storm, ultimately connected with agricultural oper-
ations, with the existence of such and such a mass of trees,
with the state of irrigation, with circumstances varying ac-
cording to the wants and caprice of men ? With regard to
temperature, no one can hesitate in his reply. In the other
particular, the connection will appear not less evident if I
bring to mind that evaporation is a fertile source of electrici-
ty, and that various natural philosophers have even included
vegetation among the causes which generate this same fluid
in the atmosphere.
If it be true, as has been alleged, that, in certain cases, the
flame and smoke which issue from the mouth of a furnace,
or from the chimney of a manufactory, may deprive the atmo-
sphere of all electricity for many leagues around, the prophets
in meteorology, will be placed in an additional difficulty. It
will be necessary that they should know beforehand all the
plans of the masters of forges and proprietors of manu-
factories.
According to all that we most certainly know respecting
the physical cause of water-spouts, and according to M.
Bain — Earthquakes. 15
Espy's theory, sometimes no more is necessary than an as-
cending current produced by the chimney of a manufactory,
to give rise to one of these formidable meteors.
Bain.
It is said to have been remarked in Italy, that, in propor-
tion as rice-lields multiply, the annual quantity of rain has
gradually increased, and that the number of rainy days has
augmented in proportion.
Can it be imagined, that such circumstances as these can
ever be taken into account, in the combinations of the alma-
nac-manufacturers ]
In the tropical regions of America, the natives regard re-
peated shocks of earthquake, as veelcome precursors of ferti-
lizing rains. Humboldt even relates, that violent shocks sud-
denly brought on the rami/ season, a considerable time before
the ordinary period.
It is not probable that the influence of earthquakes is ex-
erted only in the vicinity of the equator. The povt^er of
predicting rain must, therefore, suppose an anticipatory know-
ledge of the number and strength of the shocks, which are to
be felt in the region for which the astrologer works.
The following passage occurs in Bacon's works : — " Some
historians allege that, at the time when Guyenne was still
in the power of the English, the inhabitants of Bordeaux and
the neighbouring cantons made a request to the king of
England, to induce him to prevent his subjects of the coun-
ties of Sussex and Hampton, from burning the heaths in the
end of April, as they usually did ; because they thereby gave
rise, it was affirmed, to a wind which proved very hurtful to
their vines."
I know not how far there were grounds for this request,
as the distance of Bordeaux from the county of Sussex is very
considerable ; but I must not fail to mention, that natural
philosophers are now disposed to assign a no less extraor-
dinary part to conflagrations. In the United States, a well
known philosopher, M. Espy, adopting the opinions prevalent
IG Kindling Fires to Produce Bain.
among the natives of the New Continent, from Canada to Pa-
raguay, has recently proposed to produce, in times of drought,
artificial rains, and his means of doing so is by kindling
large fires.* In support of his scheme, M. Espy mentions
the following : —
The opinion of the Indians of Paraguay, who, according to
the report of the missionaries, set fire to vast savannahs
when their crops are threatened with drought, and allege
that they thus produce even storms accompanied with thunder ;
The opinion of the colonists of Louisiana, and the success
from time immemorial of burning the prairies in that State ;
The opinion of the population of Nova Scotia, respecting
the consequences of burning forests ;
The opinion and practice of the colonists of the districts
of Delaware arid Otsego, &c., &;c.
M. Espy says, that he has assured himself, in various ways,
that the climate of Manchester has undergone gradual and
sensible modifications, in proportion as manufacturing indus-
try has increased. Since that city has become, so to speak,
a vast furnace, it rains there 7nore or less every day. Those
who pretend that the deterioration of the climate is not so
considerable, assure us that it does not rain at Manchester
more than six days in the seven !
Suppose these facts to be as averred. The predictions of
rain, in a given place, will often be overturned by accidental
fires, and by the fires of manufactories.
Space and time will not allow me to point out the multi-
tude of local causes which may exercise a great influence on
the direction and force of the wind. I shall discuss this de-
licate question in another notice. At present, I shall confine
myself to a remark well-fitted to enlighten those who, from
want of meteorological instruments, take for their guides the
* It has long been an opinion entertained by the peasantry in the south of
Scotland (we know not whether the belief prevails elsewhere), that muir-burn,
or the burning, in the spring, of old heather and other plants, in order to pro-
duce a more tender and nutritious vegetation, a practice which was once very
general, has a decided tendency to produce a change of weather, and to bring
on rain. — Ed.
Zoological Bystems. 17
state of the crops and of vegetation. It may be expressed in
the following formulary ; the wind exercises a direct action
on vegetables, often ^gv^ injurious, and which ought to be
carefully distinguished from climatological action. It is
against this direct action, that curtains of wood, by forming
a shelter, are especially useful.
The direct influence of the wind, on the phenomena of vege-
tation, is nowhere more strikingly exemplified than in the
Isle of France. The south-east wind, very healthy both for
man and animals, is, on the contrary, a perfect scourge to
the trees. Fruit is never found on the branches directly ex-
posed to this wind ; none is to be found but on the opposite
side. Other trees are modified even in their foliage ; they
have only half a head, the other has disappeared under the
action of the wind. Orange and citron trees become superb
in the woods. In the plain, and where they are without shel-
ter, they always continue weak and crooked.*
Ow the Ichthyological Fossil Fauna of the Old Bed Sandstone.
By Professor Agassiz.
The greater part of zoological treatises, which embrace
the natural history of the animal kingdom in its whole ex-
tent, represent animals as forming a continuous series, set-
ting out with the Zoophytes, and terminating in Man, pass-
ing through the intermediate types of radiata, mollusca, ar-
ticulata, and vertebrata. Sometimes they place the mol-
lusca, at other times the articulata, in the second or third
rank, according to the ideas their authors have formed of the
superiority of these types. Others, while they admit a gra-
dation of animals from the invertebrate to the vertebrate, do
not uniformly construct an ascending scale of the former
in order to reach the latter, but place the radiata in the in-
ferior degree of organization, and, by diverging in two dif-
ferent directions, pass to the mollusca and articulata, wiiich
they regard as parallel groups, afterwards converging to-
* Annuaire pour I'an 1846.
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. B
18 Zoological Systems.
wards the vertebrata, as towards the culminating type of
animality. Others admit many series, whether parallel, or
diverging and variously combined ; each according to his own
views. Finally, there are others who consider the great
divisions of the animal kingdom, as well as the particular
classes, as equivalent groups, which do not admit of grada-
tion, and each of which represents a separate mode of exist-
ence, as perfect in its sphere as any other group whatever.
According to this mode of viewing the subject, there can be
no gradations in nature.
It is evident that if these systems are true, they ought to
be confirmed by the study of fossil animals, and their mode
of existence in anterior creations. Now none of these modes
of considering the subject appears to me to answer to the
primitive order of things, such as the study of fossils has
enabled me to observe in the relations which have existed
from the most ancient times between all the classes of the
animal kingdom.
The first important fact opposed to these systems being
regarded as a true and complete expression of the natural
relations which connect organized beings with each other, is
the certainty which we have acquired, for about a quarter of
a century, that the animals now living on the surface of the
globe constitute but a small proportion of those which for-
merly inhabited it. And if this be the case, must not any
attempt to unite all animals in the same plan, in classifica-.
tions founded only on the study of living species, be extremely
arbitrary, especially since it has been demonstrated that the
appearance and disappearance of extinct types correspond
to determinate epochs 1 Accordingly, the necessity of a more
complete system is felt more strongly every day, in propor-
tion as we discover a greater number of extinct genera, fami-
lies, and even entire orders. The systems which regard the
animal kingdom, viewed as a whole, as produced all at the
same time, as composed of contemporaneous types, and ca-
pable of being placed in the same rank, with regard to their
natural value, evidently do violence to primitive relations, and
to the chronological order of creation. Before proceeding to
classify organized beings, it is neccessary, in our day, to
Geological Epochs. 19
form, in the first place, a correct idea of the period of their
appearance. This manner of viewing biological questions has
become as essential as the organization itself of living be-
ings, taken as the basis of their systematic arrangement. In
order to acquire a truly philosophical knowledge of animals
in general, we ought, therefore, to endeavour, before every
thing else, to determine the state of the animal kingdom at
the time of its first appearance on the surface of the globe ;
then to study the organic changes it has undergone in the
different epochs which have preceded the establishment of
the present order of things ; and, lastly, to specify, as far as
possible, the geological limits of these intermediate changes.
At no period have geologists made greater and more constant
eff'orts than in our own day, to determine the relative ages of
the diff^erent formations which constitute the stratified crust
of our globe, and the rigorous limits of formations. These
investigations have naturally led to a greater subdivision of
the epochs hitherto admitted as distinct. As the study of
fossils has been pursued with an always increasing accuracy,
so it has furnished means of characterising them, always in-
creasing in precision. To such a degree has this been the
case, that the opinion which admits many distinct and inde-
pendent creations, is always obtaining more and more in-
fluence in the minds of palaeontologists. It is even easy to
foresee that in a little we shall be obliged to circumscribe
the limits of geological formations more and more, in pro-
portion as the knowledge of characteristic fossils, peculiar
to the different stages of the formations actually admitted,
shall more evidently represent them to us as independent
systems, differing at once from those that have preceded and
followed them. We shall thus be led to admit a very con-
siderable number of independent creations, each character-
ised by a particular assemblage of peculiar vegetable an4
animal species, imbedded in a system of strata deposited dur-
ing the existence of these organized beings, or in conse-
quence of the cataclysms which attended their destruction.
Ere long we shall have to do, not merely with primary, se-
condary, or tertiary epochs, nor even simply with palaeozoic,
triassic, Jurassic, or cretaceous periods, but rather with cam-
20 Development of Animality.
brian, silurian, devonian, coal, permian creations, &c., ad
assemblages of organized beings equivalent to the whole liv-
ing beings now on the surface of the globe, or as geological
epochs which, from their importance, admit of comparison
with that to which we belong, and which goes back to the
establishment of the order of things which prevails on the
earth in our own day. Indeed, I have no doubt that the
truth of what I now affirm will, in a few years, be generally
admitted, and that the greater part of the subdivisions of our
present classification of geological formations, will be regard-
ed as independent formations, and the fossils which they
contain as representatives of distinct creations. To be con-
vinced of this, we have only to follow the progress of the
most recent discoveries in palaeontology. I need only refer
to the works which have been published within the last fif-
teen years. The examination of genera, in countries the
most remote, confirms these anticipations. I require no other
proof than the beautiful discoveries of M. Lund respecting
the fossil bones of Brazil, and the no less important researches
of Messrs Falconer and Cautley on those of the sub-Hima-
layan hills. Everywhere, in the end, we discover, within
very restricted vertical and horizontal limits, assemblages of
fossil species as considerable as those with which we become
acquainted by the study of the richest living faunas within
similar geographical limits.
The study of the fishes of the old red sandstone, will fur-
nish, I hope, a new argument in favour of the theory I advo-
cate.
In order to point out more distinctly the ichthyological
characters of the epoch during which these formations were
deposited, it will not be superfluous to pass rapidly in review
the phases of development in the principal types of animality
at the principal epochs of their metamorphoses, and then
shew in what manner these types were combined in the se-
ries of time. This will be the best introduction to the ge-
netic study of the affinities of the presently existing fami-
lies of the animal kingdom. Not wishing to bring forward
a complete system in this place, I shall confine myself to
laying before the reader the immediate consequences of the
Heal Affinities in the Animal Kingdom, 21
facts, both zoological and geological, which have of late been
most carefully studied ; for the agreement between the zoo-
logical affinities and the geological division of types in the
series of formations is so striking, especially in certain
classes which have of late been the object of particular study,
that I think it may now be laid down as a fact, that sytema-
tic classifications which are not, at the same time, the ex-
pression of the succession of families in the order of time,
can no longer be considered as expressing the real affinities
existing among the animals which they embrace. The most
fortunate approximations which naturalists have attempted
at different epochs, have really received a striking confirma-
tion by modern palaeontological discoveries, and that often
when those to whom we owe them were unconscious of it.
These results are so striking, that even now, in some classes
of animals, the knowledge of fossils, and their order of suc-
cession, may serve us as a guide to correct the zoological
system, just as, on the other hand, the advanced state of our
anatomical knowledge will lead us to a correct determination
of the geological age of certain deposits, even although v, e
should not discover in them any fossil species identical with
those of well-determined formations of the same era. I shall
even go further, for I can now foresee the time when these
results will equally harmonise with the laws of the geogra-
phical distribution of animals on the surface of the globe ;
but the facts relating to this order of connection are not yet
sufficiently known to induce me to enter upon the considera-
tion of them on this occasion.
The most important result of modern palaeontological re-
searches, in reference to the present question, is the fact, no
longer open to dispute, of the simultaneous appearance of
particular types of all classes of invertebrate animals, from
the most ancient periods of the development of life on the
surface of the globe. We find, in fact, in the palaeozoic forma-
tions, the fossil remains of radiata, mollusca, and articulata.
We may even admit that the first representatives of all the
classes of the three great branches are contemporaneous, for
we find Polypes, Echinoderma, Acephala, Gasteropods,Cepha-
lopods, and Testaceous and Crustaceous Vermes, in the most
22 Contemporary Appearance of Classes of Invertebrata.
ancient fossiliferous formations ; and if we have not hitherto
discovered any Medusae, it is much more natural to ascribe
their absence to their extreme softness, than to suppose that
they did not accompany, in ancient times, the types of the
other classes of invertebrate animals, with which we always
and everywhere find them associated in the presently- exist-
ing creation. Some of them, indeed, have been found at So-
lenhofen. With regard to insects, their existence has been
already ascertained in the coal-formation, which, in my opi-
nion, is much more intimately connected with the palceozoic
than with the secondary formations, by the whole of its or-
ganic characters. It is, therefore, now demonstrated, that
all the classes of invertebrate animals have appeared on the
surface of the globe at the same time, and that they go back
to the most ancient geological epochs; whence it follows, in
a manner the most unquestionable, that we can no longer
continue to regard them as forming a progressive series in
their appearance, as has been so long imagined. For the de-
tail of facts, and the nominal enumeration of species, I refer
to the important works of Murchison, De Verneuil, D'Archiac,
De Keyserling, and Roemer, on the palseozoic formations and
their fossils ; reserving for myself only a fevv observations on
the vertebrate series, when I come to speak of the fossil fishes
of the old red sandstone in particular.
Our actual knowledge of fossil Polypiers, taken as a whole,
not being yet so far advanced as that of the living species, and
the Acalephae not having hitherto been observed, except in
a few secondary deposits, I think I may dispense with speak-
ing of them in this place, without any apprehension of there-
by weakening the general results which flow from the par-
ticular examination of the other classes of invertebrate
animals.
The interesting researches of MM. Miller, Goldfuss,
D'Orbigny, Th. and Th. Austin, J. Miiller, and Leop. de
Buch, on living and fossil Crinoides ; those of MM. J. E.
Gray, J. Miiller, and Troschel, on the Asterise and Comatulse;
my own, and those of MM. Valentin and Desor, on the living
and fossil Echinidse, including their anatomy ; those of Profes-
sor E.Forbes, and my own, on the Echinoderms in general, and
Badiata. 23
those of M. Tiedemann and many modern authors on their
anatomy, have enabled us, of late years, to acquire a more
complete acquaintance with these animals, than with those
of any other division of the department of radiata, with the
single exception of living polypes. Accordingly, the relations
of the living and fossil types of the class of Echinoderms
now appear in the most evident manner. The Crinoides are
the prototype of the whole class. Not only does geology
shew this, but also what we know of the first states of some
species of this family {Comatula and Fentacrinus Europwus)
equally confirms it. We may even say that the Crinoides
present us with a kind of synthesis of all the families of this
class, by the different forms they assume ; for example, in the
Cystides which remind us of theEchinidse.or in theMelocrines,
which make a near approach to the Asterise. It is only the
Holothurise which seem to be exclusively confined to the pre-
sent creation, and this family is precisely that which occupies
the highest rank among the Echinoderms; while the Crinoides
which occur at the lower part of this series, would appear to
be the first ; then come the Asterise, already numerous in the
triassic formations; and, finally, the Echinidae, whose greater
development characterises the Jurassic, cretaceous, and ter-
tiary formations. But each of these formations has its par-
ticular forms, and even its own genera ; the Crinoides of
the palaeozoic formations are not the same as those of the se-
condary formations, and they disappear almost entirely in
the cretaceous and tertiary deposits, being no longer repre-
sented in the actual epoch, but by a few fixed species, and
by Comatulae, which go back, it is true, as far as the Jurassic
formations, but which approximate, in many respects, to true
Asteriae. The latter, in their turn, are represented in many
formations by particular genera, which are still imperfectly
known, with the exception of some types belonging to the
chalk, of which well preserved specimens have been found in
England. Lastly, the Echinidae, so abundant in the superior
secondary and in the tertiary formations, here everywhere
appear under new forms ; so that the genera of the existing
creation do not go back, for the most part, beyond the ter-
tiary formations, with the exception of the Cidaris, spe-
24 Acfiphala.
cies of which already ahound in the Jurassic formations.
The whole family of Spatangi, that is to say, the family
which approaches nearest the Holothuriae, does not go beyond
the cretaceous formations. The plates and spines of the
coal formation which have been assigned to Cidarites, do
not belong to this family ; they are the remains of particular
genera of Crinoides covered with spines. Yet, in our zoolo-
gical systems, all these types are placed upon the same level,
and if they are arranged one above another, it is without any
anxiety about the analogy which exists between their gra-
dation and the order of succession in which they appear in
the series of formations. So much is this the case, that
what M. de Humboldt says, in such a picturesque manner, in
his Kosmos, of the aspect of the sky which presents to us
every evening, as a real image, the assemblage of celestial
bodies, many of which have ceased to exist for myriads of
years, may be applied with equal truth to the idea generally
given to us by the frameworks of our zoological systems, which
likewise hold up to us these witnesses of bygone times as
existing realities. v
The Acephala afford us a not less striking example of these
relations between the organic characters of a well character-
ised zoological group, and the time of the appearance of its dif-
ferent types. In order to shew this connection more distinctly,
I may be permitted to premise a few general observations on
this class. Mr Owen was the first to shew that the Brachio-
pods ought not to be regarded as a separate class, but that
they may be conveniently arranged on the same line with
the Monomyaires and the Dimyaires. To prove this asser-
tion by new arguments, I have only to bring to mind that
these fundamental sections of the class of Acephala are closely
allied to each other by the connection of their principal forms,
and by their respective position in the midst of the ambient
elements, as I have shewn in my memoir, Sur Us moules de
Mollusques vivans et fossiles, to which I refer. I shall here
merely state that the Brachiopods exhibit an inverse sym-
metry when compared with that of the regular Dimyaires.
In the former, the right and left sides are of very different
conformation, and the animal is constantly lying on one of
Acephala. 25
its sides, and the sides have very generally and erroneously
been regarded as the dorsal and ventral regions. The ante-
rior and posterior extremities, on the contrary, are shaped
with the most perfect symmetry ; that is to say, in other
words, the front and the hinder part of the animal cannot
be distinguished, while its sides shew a marked difference.
In the Monomyaires in general, and among the Ostracea in
particular, we observe a conformation intermediate between
that of the Brachiopods and that of the Dimyaires ; the sides
are still very different, but now one of the edges appears as
the anterior extremity of the body, and the animal, still ad-
hering in the case of oysters, has no longer, in all the genera,
the absolutely lateral position of the inferior types ; wit-
ness the Pectens, which swim freely. Lastly, among the
Dimyaires, the bilateral symmetry attains to full perfection,
and, at the same time, one of the extremities of the body is
sensibly characterized as the anterior. The animal then as-
sumes a position more or less vertical, the head in advance,
and the relation of its organs with the surrounding media are
analogous to those of other symmetrical animals.
These connections are fully justified by the order of the
succession of the Acephala in the series of formations. Of
all modern palaeontologists, M. de Buch is the individual who
has studied the fossil Brachiopods with the greatest care ;
and it is to his works above all others that I refer for the de-
tailed study of the facts, the principal results of which I am
about briefly to state. In the most ancient formations, we find
nothing but Brachiopods, but in such profusion, and in forms
so varied, that in their abundance and diversity, they scarcely
yield to the Acephala of the tertiary formations, in which the
brachiopods have almost entirely disappeared, to be replaced
by an innumerable quantity of species of different genera,
belonging, for the most part, to the order of Dimyaires. To
make up for this, the intermediate formations afford a re-
markable assemblage of Brachiopods, Monomyaires, and Dim-
yaires, the more interesting from this, that the Dimyaires
with non-symmetrical sides still exceed in number those
which are perfectly regular, and thus become connected with
the Monomyaires and Brachiopods which, at the era when
26 Acephala.
they existed alone, gave to the acephalous faunas the singu-
lar character of want of symmetry in the sides, combined
with a very remarkable symmetry before and behind. The
facts of detail to which I here refer, are scattered throughout
all modern works on palaeontology and geology. If, however,
it be objected to me, that, by recapitulating these facts, I have
generalised too much, I may remark, that even though some
species form exceptions to the rule, the general character and
fundamental relations of these great divisions are not less
of the nature I have indicated ; then we must not forget
that certain fortuitous or obsolete determinations, collected
at hap-hazard from books, cannot from any case be taken into
consideration in examining the questions with which we are
now occupied.
As we have already seen in the case of the Echinoderms,
the Acephala likewise present very marked modifications in
their representatives, from one formation to another ; and,
notwithstanding assertions to the contrary, I here repeat
what I have long since afiirmed in regard to fishes and
Echinoderms, and which the comparative study of a great
number of fossil shells has likewise demonstrated to my
satisfaction in reference to the mollusca, namely, that the
species, viewed in the mass, differ from one geological epoch
to another, in the restricted limits of the subdivisions of our
great geological formations. No one has hitherto brought
forward this result in a more general manner in regard to
the mollusca of the cretaceous and Jurassic epochs, than M.
D'Orbigny, in his French palaeontology. On my own part, I
have pointed out results in every respect similar, in my cri-
tical studies on fossil molluscs. Even before that time Mr
Williamson had announced, in a short notice of the fossils in
the vicinity of Scarborough, that the species differ completely
from one formation to another, in the oolitic series. I am
not aware, however, that this fact led Mr Williamson to
enter into a critical examination respecting these fossils.
But it is above all in the tertiary formations that repeated
identities in the different formations have been enumerated
in the greatest number. Yet, in a memoir which I published
on tertiary shells, the final result of which I had long since
Gasteropods. 27
announced in other publications, I have demonstrated, in re-
gard to a pretty considerable number of species, that these
identifications are merely exaggerated approximations of
species often very much a.like, but, notwithstanding, specifi-
cally distinct.
The Gasteropods do not seem at first sight capable of af-
fording much interest in the point of view in which we are
now considering the different classes ; in fact, the Gastero-
pods of the palaeozoic formations, and even those of the se-
condary formations, with the exception of a portion of those
belonging to the chalk, have not yet been sufficiently studied
to admit of being compared, with an entire knowledge of
causes, with the living species. I shall, therefore, merely
remark, that the two types of shells, which we distinguish in
the living state, that with the opening entire, and without
canal or notch for the respiratory tube, is the most ancient,
and is alone met with in the palaeozoic and in the ancient se-
condary formations ; while that which has a siphon, does not
make its appearance along with the former till after the lias,
when it assumes a preponderance, always becoming more
marked, in the tertiary formations and in the actual creation.
It is a rather singular connection that these ancient Gaster-
opods have a greater resemblance in certain respects to our
terrestrial and fluviatile shells than to marine species ; wit-
ness those numerous species belonging to the Jurassic and
triassic formations, which have been referred without suffi-
cient cause to Melania or the neighbouring genera. We
perceive in this fact something analogous to what I pointed
out many years ago with regard to the fossil fishes of the
secondary formations, which, although belonging to extinct
genera, have a greater resemblance to certain fresh-water
fishes of the present day than to any marine fish.
The numerous special works which have been published on
the Cephalopods, living and fossil, from the monographs of
MM. de Ferussac and D'Orbigny, down to the most recent
productions of MM. de Buch, Miinster, Voltz, Owen, D'Or-
bigny, Valenciennes, and others, have made this class well
known, and it is one of the most carefully studied of the ani-
mal kingdom. It is not, therefore, difficult to seize the na-
28 Cephalopods,
tural relations of its families along with the phases of their
progressive development in the order of time. The types of
the Ammonites and Nautili are the most ancient ; they even
appear very nearly contemporary in all their development,
and in this we may find a new proof of their value as zoolo-
gical groups ; however, they do not possess altogether the
eame importance. The family of the Ammonites, more nu-
merous and varied in the most ancient epochs, disappears
also sooner ; for it does not come further than the cretaceous
epoch. The researches of MM. De Buch and De Miinster
have made us too well acquainted with the order of succes-
sion of these fossils to render it necessary to refer to it here,
I shall merely remark that the genera, so curious and nu-
merous, which M. D'Orbigny has distinguished in the chalk
formations, where they appear in astonishing diversity, at
the very point where this family is about to become extinct,
furnish us with a very correct example, and certainly one
well worthy of fixing our attention, of the irregular, and, in
some degree, convulsive movements to which the ammon-
itigenic idea has been subjected in its expiring agony, with-
out reaching the tertiary epoch or the existing creation.
The Sepiae, &c. form a third type of this class, and that
which occupies the highest rank in it ; its existence does not
appear to go beyond the lias, where the Belemnites, the Teu-
dopsis, and Celaenos have been the precursors of the Sepia?,
the Calmars, and the Onychoteuthes of our era.
The department of the Articulata, like that of the mollus-
ca, and that of the radiata, contains only three classes,
namely, Crustacea, Insects, and Vermes. The other primor-
dial sections, which there has been an attempt to distinguish,
ought to be united under these three heads. Thus, the Cir-
ripedia can no longer be separated from the Crustacea, whose
organisation and mode of development they share. It is
likewise to the class of Crustacea that we must refer the
Lerneae, Rotiferas, &c. The Arachnida and Myriapoda are
true insects, or rather they are connected with winged insects
by intermediate types, so closely united that it is impossible
to separate them. We must not neglect, in these connec-
tions, the characters of the larvas and those of the species
Articuiata. 29
which continue apterous. Many of the so-called Aptera
ought to be withdrawn from this ill-digested group, in order
to be placed in their respective families. With regard to the
vermes, it appears to me impossible to separate, as classes,
the Annelida, the Turbellariae, and the Helminthes ; too many
characters unite them, and the analogy in their embryonic
development, as far as it is known, is too striking to author-
ise the continuance of these classes. It can no longer be a
question, then, henceforth, that we ought to leave the intesti-
nal worms in the department of the radiata, any more than
that the infusoria, at least by far the greater number, con-
nect themselves, in my opinion, with the Crustacea by the
totifera.
The vermes, those of them at least covered with a solid
envelope, have left too insignificant traces of their existence
in the series of formations, and the fossil insects hitherto dis-
covered are in too small numbers, and have not been suffi-
ciently studied, to render it possible at present to form a just
idea of the part they have acted in the different geological
epochs which have preceded the present creation. These
classes still await their monographs for the fossil species.
It is not the same with the Crustacea which are found in
pretty considerable numbers in the whole series of forma-
tions ; and, if they have not been the subject of such numer-
ous researches as the fossils of the greater part of the other
classes of the animal kingdom, they are still sufficiently well
known to enable us to ascertain the progress of their develop-
ment from the most remote geological periods.
The Trilobites, which are unquestionably the most ancient
type of the class Crustacea* have been the object of numerous
publications and very varied researches, since M. Al. Brong-
niart made it the subject of a special monograph. The works
of MM. Dalman, Green, Emmerich, and Burmeister, particu-
larly deserve to be mentioned in the first rank among those
which have contributed most to extend our knowledge of this
curious family, and give us correct ideas of their real rela-^
tions to the other articulated animals. The Trilobites appear
under the strangest and most varied forms, from their first
occurrence in the most ancient palaeozoic formations. This
30 Infusoria.
type, however, does not go beyond the period of the coal for-
mation, when it is replaced by gigantic Entomostraca, which
are in some degree the precursors of the Macruri. Ento-
mostraca of small size likewise appear in very ancient for-
mations ; they abound in certain coal formations, for exam-
ple, and they are found after that in a multitude of deposits.
They have not yet, however, been studied in a satisfactory
manner.
The Macruri, with which MM. H. de Meyer and Count
de Miinster are particularly occupied, prevail from the tri-
assic epoch to the present creation ; while the Brachyura are
essentially tertiary. These latter, as well as the Cirripedia,
which appear to be their contemporaries everywhere, are still
far from being so well known as we would desire. A mono-
graph of the Cirripedia, both living and fossil, is in particular
a pressing desideratum for zoology as well as for palaeonto-
logy. The other orders of Crustacea are not known except
in the tertiary formations. The parasitic Crustacea, soft and
vermiform, appear to be exclusively confined to the present
creation.
It follows, from this hasty glance, that the types whose
affinities have been best studied, such as the Trilobites, Mac-
ruri, and Brachyura, succeed each other in the series of for-
mations in the order of their organic gradation. It is even
very curious to observe the intimate analogy which exists
between the forms of these different types and the phases of
the embryonic development of the Crustacea, which MM.
Rathke and Erdl have afforded us the means of becoming ac-
quainted with.
If I have not hitherto spoken of the Infusoria, it is not be-
cause I forget their influence in the history of the formation
of our globe. On the contrary, I think that M. Ehrenberg
has opened a new era for palseontological researches by his
important discoveries in the world of these infinitely minute
creatures ; but I likewise think that the novelty of these re^
suits, as surprising as unexpected, do not yet allow us to
appreciate them at their just value.
After having thus passed in review the principal classes of
invertebrate animals, whose fossil remains have been most
Nothingness of Material and Pantheistical Theories. 31
carefully studied, I may be permitted to pause for an instant,
and consider the consequences which directly flow, in a
theoretical point of view, from so many scrupulously examined
facts. And, in the first place, it is evident that, from the
most ancient times, all the classes of invertebrate animals
have been represented on the surface of the globe ; that they
have all presented from the first a great diversity of generic
and specific forms ; that this variety is in no respect less, if
we take into account all the conditions of their preservation,
and all the difficulties of observation, than that of the species
of a local fauna belonging to the present creation, circum-
scribed within limits corresponding to the extent of the sur-
face of the palaeozoic formations hitherto examined ; that the
number of these fossils is certainly as considerable as that
of the lists of living species which were published, scarcely
half a century ago, as complete enumerations of the animals
of well known countries. I shall merely mention, as ex-
amples, the various faunas of Europe at the end of the last
century, or even those of Brazil, Egypt, Arabia, and the In-
dies, and the lists of palaeozoic fossils published by Messrs J.
Phillips, De Verneuil and D'Archiac, or those which accom-
pany M. Murchison's work on the Silurian system.
These facts, now as well established as facts of this nature
can be, clearly shew the impossibility of referring the first
inhabitants of the earth to a small number of original stocks,
which have become diversified under the modifying influence
of external conditions of existence. They point out to us, as
with the finger, the direct intervention of a creative Intelli-
gence, anterior to the existence of all beings, who has or-
dained their relations, determined their development, and di-
rected their successive appearance, up to the establishment
of the order of things which now prevails in the world. These
facts also prove the nothingness of all material and panthe-
istical theories, which ascribe to finite beings a self-existing
power, and make them depend solely on indeterminate ex-
terior influences.
When I commenced the publication of my researches on
fossil fishes, I was acquainted with no species more ancient
than those of the coal formation, and even with a very
32 Earliest Fishes.
small number of these. Now, not only is the list of species,
and even of genera, proper to these formations, considerably
increased, but the more ancient deposits are daily increasing
more and more the number of types to add to our catalogues.
The strata of the devonian system, and those of the silurian
system, have in their turn furnished a contingent which con-
tinually goes on increasing. And if recognisable remains of
fishes below the inferior Ludlow beds, which form part of the
Silurian system, have not yet been discovered, I do not think
that we must thence conclude that fishes do not go back to
the most ancient fossiliferous formations ; for their extra-
ordinary frequency in the devonian strata and their presence,
which has been well ascertained, in the silurian deposits,
where they are, it is true, very ill preserved, sufiiciently indi-
cate that, in its appearance on the surface of the globe, this
class of animals is contemporary with the development of the
most ancient types of all the classes of invertebrate animals.
With regard to the period of their first appearance, we can
no longer speak of differences among the classes, but such as
are of little importance, in a biological development con-
sidered as a whole ; and it is henceforth demonstrated that
fishes entered into the plan of the earliest organic combina-
tions, which have been the point of departure in the develop-
ment of all the living beings which have peopled our globe in
the series of time. It follows from this, that the most an-
cient faunas are composed of representatives of all the classes
of invertebrate animals, and only one class of vertebrates,
namely fishes ; while reptiles, birds, and mammifera, did not
appear till later, and in succession. There is, then, a remark-
able and important contrast to be observed between the pro-
gressive development of vertebrates and that of the radiata,
moUusca, and articulata, in which all the classes are contem-
porary, as we have seen above.
In devoting ourselves in this manner to the study of the
remains of organized beings imbedded in the most ancient
geological formations, we revive, as it were, the earliest re-
presentatives of creation. These fossils, in fact, may be
called the first parents of all the beings that lived afterwards.
In calling them up before us, we are present, so to speak,
Value of Geological Formations. 33
at the earliest sports of animals, and at the first bursting
forth of vegetation ; we behold animated nature issuing from
the hand of th« Creator. And if we can hope one day to
arrive at the knowledge of the general plan of creation, it
is by attentively investigating even the faintest appreciable
relations between ancient species, and by following step by
step the modifications which organized beings, viewed as a
whole, have undergone in all the series of formations, from
one to another, up to our own times.
There is one kind of comparison which has been too much
neglected in our attempts to estimate the importance of the
stages of our globe relatively to the remains of the organized
beings which they inclose, but which, I am convinced, will
one day exercise a great influence on our manner of regarding
fossil faunas, by enabling us to determine the value of those
assemblages of strata which have been called terrains or
geological formations. I allude to the proportions in which
we find species of the different classes of the animal king-
dom, in given localities, on the present surface of the globe,
or in such or such a group of formations. It is evident
that it is the beings which now live on the earth that we are
best acquainted with, and respecting which, as a whole, we
possess, in every respect, the most complete and important
information. It is consequently from these beings, or rather
from the knowledge we possess of them, that we ought to
borrow the terms of comparison for all that relates to the
distribution of fossils in the whole formations. It is true that
the geographical distribution of living animals is yet but im-
perfectly known ; it is sufficiently so, however, to make us
aware that all the countries of the globe, considered in a
certain extent, have their particular faunas, composed of an
assemblage of peculiar species, mingled with others which
extend either more to the north or south, east or west ; and
that, consequently, each country supports but a small propor-
tion of the totality of species which people the surface of the
globe.
When we wish, therefore, to appreciate the value of the as-
semblages of fossils which we discover in a formation, and
seek to determine the number of species proper to the geolo-
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. C
34 Probable number of Fossil Fishes.
gical epoch to which they belong, it is not with living animals,
as a whole, that we ought to compare them, but rather with
an assemblage of species living within analogous limits, and
under analogous conditions, in the existing creation. An
example will explain my idea more accurately. If I sought
to determine approximately the number of fossil species of
tlie period of the deposition of the chalk or plastic clay, I
believe that I should choose a very bad method of attaining
my object by computing the lists of fossils of all the geolo-
gical deposits considered at present as belonging to these
geological horizons, and then comparing the sum obtained
with the sum of living species. We should certainly approach
much nearer the truth, by studying as completely as possible
the fossil fauna of some well explored localities, as, for ex-
ample, the deposits of chalk around Paris, or the plastic clay
of the Thames basin, and then comparing these lists of fos-
sils with the living animals of some gulf or some shore in the
present creation, which shall present most analogy with the
extent and conditions in which we may suppose these deposits
to have been formed. We shall thus obtain true foundations
to fix the numerical relations of the whole of these creations
compared with the actual creation.
By following this process, and comparing successively the
ichthyological faunas of dififerent formations, in which I have
recognized different assemblages of fishes, with the ichthy-
ological faunas of the present creation, confined to analogous
limits, I have arrived at the result (a distressing one for
the actual state of our palaeontological knowledge, if it be
admitted to be correct), that the strata which constitute
the crust of our globe, considered as a whole, ought to con-
tain at least twenty-five thousand species of fossil fishes.
In this calculation, the grounds of which I think it unne-
cessary to specify in this place, I have carefully taken into
account the greatest uniformity which ancient contemporary
faunas present. Similar calculations, made with the same
precautions, raise the number of mammifera we may yet ex-
pect to discover to about 3000 ; that of reptiles to about
4000 ; and that of shells to at least 40,000. I am even of
opinion, that very few years will elapse before we shall have
Complete Fossil Fi»h Fauna. 35
acquired the certainty that these calculations are much be-
low the reality. With regard to birds, Crustacea, insects,
echinoderms, and polypes, particular difficulties at this mo-
ment stand in the way of all kinds of comparison of this na-
ture. In relation to fossil infusoria, it would be premature
at present to make use of the labours of one man, continued
only for eight or nine years, in order to estimate the profu-
sion with which animalculce, whose ordinary dimensions ne-
cessarily conceal them from our view, are disseminated
through the strata of the earth, especially now that we know
the great mass of these formations to be entirely composed
of microscopic animalculse. Besides, M. Ehrenberg has suc-
cessively revealed to us such unexpected facts, that we re-
quire to ponder them a while before we can appreciate all
their importance.
The ichthyological fauna of the old red sandstone appears
in such extraordinary and fantastical forms, that the most
trifling remains of the beings which lived at that epoch cannot
fail to arrest the attention of the naturalist. In no other for-
mation do we find an assemblage of fishes deviating so strik-
ingly from all that we are acquainted with in our own day.
The study of no other fauna requires so many years before
we become sufficiently familiarised with its types to venture
to classify them, and fix their relations to those of other crea-
tions. The difficulties these researches presented were quite
of a peculiar nature, for it was necessary to solve them, so to
speak, without a term of comparison, or at least to have re-
course to remote approximations. In fact, comparisons with
the remains of anterior formations w^ould have been impos-
sible ; because it is in the old red sandstone that we meet, for
the first time, with a complete ichthyological fauna. The Silu-
rian formations, it is true, contain some remains of fishes ; but
hitherto they have been so rare, and the number of species
so limited, that it may be safely affirmed that it is only with
the Devonian formation that fishes have really acquired some
importance among other fossils, or, at least, that the part they
performed in nature becomes appreciable. What first strikes
one, on studying the ancient deposits is, that fishes are the
only representatives of the branch vertebrata which exist in
36 Beign of Fishes.
the old red sandstone, or even in the coal formation, inso-
much that we have a good right to call the epoch when these
formations were deposited the reign of fishes. This fact, to
which I have already often called the attention of palaeonto-
logists, is confirmed, in the most absolute manner, by all re-
searches which have of late been undertaken in reference to
the fossils of the old red sandstone. In a few years, the in-
vestigations of geologists have increased the number of
known species tenfold ; and the zeal with which the study is
pursued, in the two countries where this system of strata
appears in its greatest development, that is to say, in England
and Russia, will undoubtedly still lead to numerous and im-
portant discoveries. But it is easy, even now, to foresee that
these discoveries will come within the laws which the species
already known have revealed to us ; that is, they will be con-
fined to the class of fishes as regards the vertebrate depart-
ment ; and that neither reptiles nor mammifera will be found
in the strata of the old red sandstone.
I am well aware that a recent author has imagined that he
has found bones of all the classes of vertebrata in this forma-
tion. But the erroneous determinations on which such con-
clusions are founded, are easily estimated at their true
value, and the tortoises, lizards, crocodiles, and pachyderms,
with which he has chosen to people these ancient deposits,
have successively been arranged in their proper place; that is,
in the lowest class of vertebrata, from which a rash hand had
removed them. In treating of the families and species which
characterize the system in question, I have shewn the falsity
of the notion which makes all the classes of vertebrata go
back to the most remote antiquity ; so that it now remains
well proved that all we know of the remains of vertebrata in
the formations anterior to the Zechstein, belong exclusively
to the class of fishes.
I shall not insist further on the importance of this fact,
when it is viewed in relation to the organic characters of the
creations which have successively peopled the earth. I have
already laid before the public, through another channel, my
views on the development which the different creations have
undergone during the history of our planet. But what I
Embryonic state of the oldest Fishes. 37
wisli to prove in this place, by a careful discussion of facts,
is the truth of the law, now so clearly demonstrable in the
series of vertebrata, that the successive creations have under-
gone phases of development analogous to those which the
embryo undergoes during its growth, and similar to the gra-
dations which the present creation shews us in the ascending
series it presents when viewed as a whole. We may at least
consider it henceforth as proved, that the embryo of a fish
during its development^ the class of living fishes in its numerous
families^ and the fish type in its planetary history, in every re-
spect go through analogous phases, throughout rvhich we can
always trace the same creative idea (pensee creatrice), like a
thread which guides us everywhere in searching out the con-
nection of living beings. The consideration that the fishes of
the old red sandstone really represent the embryonic age of
the reign of fishes, has even been with me a powerful motive
to undertake the examination of these ancient animal remains,
as my first Monograph, forming a continuation of my Be-
searches; since it was here there existed evident facts to
prove the truth of this great law of the development of all
living beings.
Let us first take a rapid glance at the families, the species
of which I have determined. Of these there are at least five
distinct ones, — the Cephalaspides, the Acanthodians, the Dip-
terian Sauroides, the Celacanthes, and the Plagiostomes, if so
be that we may consider this great type as a single family.
The first four belong to the order Ganoides, and the last to
that of Placoides.
The first remark which occurs to the attentive observer is,
that among the numerous species scattered throughout these
families, we have not yet found any trace of vertebrae, and,
in some, only the apophyses to protect the spinal marrow and
the large vessels, though they were equally deprived of the
bodies of vertebrae. Assuredly, if these fishes had possessed
vertebrae, some of them would have been found among the
numerous remains of skeletons which abound in the old red
sandstone, in those specimens of the Coccosteus from Ork-
ney, in which the tails are so well preserved with their spiny
apophyses, their small interapophysiary bones, and fin-rays.
38 No Vertebra in Old Red Sandstone Fishes.
Bat there appears no trace of them, and even in the specimens
of the Coccosteus referred to, we see distinctly that the apo-
physes rested upon an undivided and continuous axis. Now
this incomplete development of the osseous system of the
trunk is found among all embryos, and, in particular, among
those of fishes ; it is likewise found in the last gradations of
the class of fishes, among the Cyclostomes. This series of ver-
tebral bodies, which follow each other throughout the whole
length of the trunk of vertebrates, is replaced in the inferior
forms of this department, and also in embryos, by a cylindri-
cal cord of a gelatinous consistence, which is called the dor-
sal cord. It is not till some time after the appearance of the
cord, that the apophyses and the bodies of the vertebrae are
developed in embryo. In the Branchiostoma {Amphyoxus),
there is only one cord, without any other piece of skeleton,
as among embryos not far advanced. It is among the
Cyclostomes that the formation of apophyses commences, and
among the Plagiostomes that of the bodies of the vertebrae.
In this respect the fishes of the old red sandstone have re-
mained at a degree of development altogether embryonic ; for
they have a cord and apophyses, but they have no vertebral
bodies.
This disposition of the osseous system of the trunk, almost
necessarily determines that of another, — the incomplete de-
velopment of the cranium. We find, indeed, in the fishes of
the old red sandstone, the exterior bones of the cranium well
formed ; the jaws, the thoracic girdle, the opercular and
branchiostegous bones, and those of the upper part of the
cranium, are well developed, strong, and evidently of a bony
structure ; but all that I have observed respecting the forma-
tion of the head, leads me to think that the internal case of
the cranium, that which immediately surrounded the brain,
was not consolidated, but rather cartilaginous. We likewise
find this structure in embryos, where the protective plates
which cover the top and base of the cranium are developed
in an insulated manner, while the cranial case is still cartila-
ginous. The same conformation appears in the sturgeon,
the osteology of which I have described in my Becherches sur
les Poissona Fossiles (vol. ii., 2d part, p. 277); and it is, in fact,
Extraordmary Development of the Cutaneoiia System, 39
with the latter that we can best compare the state of the
skeleton of the cranium in the fishes of the old red sand-
stone.
The osseous and mailed plates which cover the head of the
sturgeon, and which ai-e a continuation of the mailed plates
of the neck and sides, evidently do not belong to the same
system as the frontals and parietals of ordinary fishes.
They are cutaneous bones, developed by replacing ordinary
bones, which are wholly wanting in the great part of the
fishes of the old red sandstone, and particularly in the family of
the Cephalaspides, where we find the same arrangement as in
sturgeons. It would be vain to seek in the cephalar plates
of a Coccosteus or a Pterichthys, analogues of the frontals,
parietals, and nasals, of our osseous fishes. We find in their
place only carapaces, often singularly composed, and which,
nevertheless, form, by their union, coverings for the cranium
altogether as complete as those of ordinary fishes.
This is the place to notice the extraordinary development
presented by the cutaneous system of the fishes of the old
red sandstone. Enormous bony plates often cover not only
the head, but likewise a great part of the body. An entire
family, that of the Cephalaspides, has its essential character
in the cuirass of the trunk, and the scales and plates of the
greater part of the Celacanthes of the old red sandstone,
greatly exceed what we witness in fishes belonging to more
recent formations. Unfortunately, we have not yet terms of
comparison in relation to the fishes of the present creation,
sufficiently numerous to appreciate the value of these charac-
ters ; because we are entirely without data respecting the de-
velopment of scales in general, and particularly that of the
scales of the Ganoides ; we have not even information on the
embryology of a single cuirassed fish of our epoch ; but it
may be presumed from the extraordinary development of the
cutaneous system in our ancient fishes, that these plates and
cuirasses are developed at a very early period in the embryos.
Another fact, from which we may well call the fishes of
the old red sandstone the embryonic age of the reign of fishes,
is the development of their fins. We know that in all the
embryos of fishes hitherto examined, the vertical fins spring
40 Heterocercal Tail of Old Bed Sandstone Fishes.
from a single fin running along the hinder part of the body,
nearly like the fin of an eel. This continuous fin undergoes
a complete transformation in certain places ; in others, it
disappears little by little ; and where it remains stationary,
the rays are gradually enlarged. The spaces which sepa-
rate the different fins are, therefore, smaller, and so much
the less strongly marked the younger the embryo is. To
such a degree is this the case, that certain fishes which at a
later period would possess very distinct fins, have them very
close to each other at an early age, and sometimes scarcely
separated by a shallow notch. In the fishes of the old red
sandstone, the vertical fins enter completely into these primi-
tive conditions of development. The whole of the important
family of Sauroides, which at a later period appear provided
with well separated and insulated fins, is represented in the
old red sandstone only by the Dipterians, which are all pro-
vided with two anals and two dorsals, very near each other,
and but a short way from the caudal. In the Celacanthes of
the old red sandstone, we likewise find many genera, as the
Glyptolepis, and probably also the Platygnathes, which had
double vertical fins, and so closely placed that there was
scarcely an intermediate space between them. Even among
the Acanthodians there is one genus, that of the Diplacanthes,
which is furnished with double vertical fins. It is true that
this arrangement does not occur in all the genera, but it is
at the same time curious that the families which are destined
to run through a long series of formations, such as the
Sauroides and Celacanthes, commence with forms having
double fins, thus approaching the embryonic type.
The fact, that among all the fishes of the old red sandstone
which possess a caudal, that fin is composed of unequal lobes,
and inserted on an elevated extremity of the dorsal cord, is
another point of approximation to the embryo of ordinary
fishes. We know that, in the latter, the extremity of the
tail begins to rise upwards at a certain period of life, ap-
proaching in this to the disposition observed in the sturgeon,
and that at this epoch the caudal of the embryo is hetero-
cerque. On the other hand, I have often called the attention
of naturalists to a fact in every respect similar, which appears
k
Embryonic Aye of the Reign of Fishes, 41
so strikingly in the geological series : namely, that all the
fishes belonging to formations more ancient than that of the
Jura, have the extremity of the caudal raised, and the caudal
itself heterocerque.
There is, lastly, another point to which I would solicit the
attention of naturalists ; that is, the form of the head and
position of the mouth and eyes in fishes of the old r(;d sand-
stone. All, without exception, have the head large and
flattened, rounded, and as it were truncated, similar to that
of a Lotta or Silurus. This character preponderates to such
a degree, that it is very rare to see a fish of the old red sand-
stone which presents the head in profile ; in the majority
of cases, it rests on the upper or lower surface, even when
the body is lying in such a manner as to present one of the
sides. The mouth of the greater part of the genera is widely
open, semicircular, placed either at the extremity of the
rounded head, or even under it. The eyes, in the majority
of the genera, are widely apart, and thrown to the flattened
sides of the head, in such a way that it is often very difiicult
to determine their position. Analogous forms are found in
embryos. Even among fishes which, at a later period, are dis-
tinguished by a long snout in the form of a beak, the embryos
have at first a broad rounded head, truncated in front, with
the mouth below, and the eyes lateral, and it is not till later
that the jaws become elongated and project before the eyes,
forming at last a head of an entirely different form from
what it exhibited at first.
I believe that it would not be easy to find more numerous
approximations between the embryos of our fishes and fossil
fishes, since no part of their bodies is preserved to us but
the osseous system which alone has furnished all these analo-
gies ; and I think observers will generally agree with me
when I affirm that the fishes of the old red sandstone represent,
in the whole of their particular structure, the embryonic age of
the reign of fishes. In no instance, in fact, in any other forma-
tion, do we find so great a number of fishes in which the
internal skeleton is so imperfectly developed, and so inferior
to the cutaneous system ; nowhere else do we find the great
42 Cephalaspides.
majority of fishes having the embryonic forms of the fins and
of the head so strongly marked.
These facts evidently afford us the key to the rank which
these families ought to occupy in an ichthyological system, and
a judicious application of embryology to the classification of
animals, cannot fail to be attended with the most beneficial
results, in bringing our zoological systems to perfection. If,
indeed, after having pointed out the anatomical affinities of
the fishes of the old red sandstone, we then . examine the
zoological relations in which they are found in regard to the
succeeding creations, we perceive, that of the five families
occurring in the old red sandstone, there is one, that of the
Cephalaspides, which is wholly confined to that formation ;
that there is another, the Sauroides, which is represented
only by a particular group, the Dipterians, likewise limited
to the old red ; that a third, that of the Acanthodians, is not
continued beyond the coal formation, and that only the
Celacanthes and the Cestraciontes reach more recent forma-
tions.
Of all these families, it is likewise that of the Cephalaspides
which recedes most from the ordinary forms of other fishes,
to such a degree that one might easily, at the time of their
first discovery, misunderstand their nature, and take them for
animals belonging to other classes of the animal kingdom. It
is in this family that we have found the type of fishes with
winged appendages, represented by the genera Pterichthys,
Pamphractus, and Polyphractus, which, owing to the cuirass
of their bodies, formed of many pieces closely soldered, and
from their pectoral fins being transformed into recurved
stylets, have passed sometimes for tortoises, sometimes for
enormous aquatic Coleoptera. It is among the Cephalaspides
that we have found the curious genus Cephalaspis, whose
broad cephalar shield, with two eyes almost united in a
single orbit, had caused it be taken for a crustacean allied to
the Limulae or Trilobites, before becoming acquainted with
its scaly body and tail provided with vertical fins ; it is among
the Cephalaspides, finally, that we must place the Coccostei,
with their powerful cuirass and long flexible tail, which must
Cephalaspidea. 43
have given them the strangest aspect imaginahle, and have
caused them successively to be taken for fossil Trionyces and
fossil Rays. I have already spoken, in treating of this family,
of the affinities, remote it is true, which it presents to the
cuirassed fishes of our epoch, the Loricarias and Siluroides.
I have nothing further to add on this subject ; but what I
should wish to point out, is the truth of this fact, that the
different genera of the Cephalaspides already shew a grada-
tion, although faintly marked, in their conformation becoming
more and more perfect. It is thus that, on the one hand,
the winged appendages of the Pterichthys and Pamphractus
are lost in the Coccostei and Gephalaspis, where they are
replaced by ordinary fins ; while, on the other hand, there is
an evident approximation between the Coccostei and the
broadly cuirassed genera of the family of Celacanthes, such
as Asterolepis and Bothriolepis. The thick and short form
of the Pterichthys, and the very incomplete development of
their fins, evidently shew that they were fishes of little
agility, living in shoals in mud, moving sluggishly and des-
tined to become the prey of others. Among the Cephalas-
pides, the broad shield with which they are covered, and
their eyes situate on the upper side, indicate the same mode
of life ; but in them the trunk becomes more moveable, and
the tail, the most powerful instrument of motion, is furnished
with fins, and becomes fit to execute the most rapid motions.
The Coccostei, finally, were evidently, even at this step in
the gradation, voracious fishes, as is shewn by their conical
sharp teeth, and their long flat and flexible tail. There is,
no doubt, a wide interval between this and the formidable
armature of the Bothriolepis, and the needle-like teeth of
the Dendrodes (Asterolepis); but it will be admitted that
there is an advance towards the rapacious character in the
family of Cephalaspides, and if we join to this the structure
of the plates, the resemblance of the granulated scattered
points of the Coccostei to the asterisks of the plates of Astero-
lepis, we will soon be convinced that it is not necessary to
take a long step to advance from the Coccostei to the cuir-
assed Celacanthes. This resemblance will be much greater
still if ulterior researches prove that the mailed Celacanthes
k
44 Dipterians.
had not true scales imbricated on the body, but only large
plates covering the head and nape. There is nothing hitherto,
it is true, to prove this supposition, but the fact is neveHhe-
less curious, that along with the great quantity of large
slabs of Asterolepis and Bothriolepis which characterize
certain formations, we have never found true scales which
can be assigned to them. I point out this fact to the atten-
tion of geologists ; for nothing is often more instructive than
the mode in which fossils are associated, particularly when
the remains belong to animals whose size and the softness
of the skeleton have prevented them being preserved entire.
But it is necessary to employ the greatest circumspection in
appropriations of this nature before drawing conclusions from
them : for too frequently these results are transmitted from
one author to another, and sometimes still continue to pass
for truths, when the state of the facts has been modified.
The beds of the old red sandstone, it is true, are not very
favourable to researches of this nature, for the fossils not
forming in them the nuclei of rounded masses, the remains
are dispersed and mingled in such a manner, that we often
find in the same morsel of indurated matter the remains of
many genera entirely different.
The family of the Dipterians, like that of the Cephalaspi-
des, is entirely confined to the strata of the old red sandstone.
Here the affinities to the Sauroides are so evident, that I
have thought it necessary to give up the opinion to which I
for some time adhered, of regarding them as a separate
family. The scales are the same, and the teeth approximate
in every respect, in the genera Osteolepis and Diplopterus, to
the eminently carnivorous type of the Sauroides with insu-
lated incisive teeth. I have provisionally placed in this
family the genus Glyptopomes, which, in the sculpture of its
scales, makes a near approach to the Platygnathes of the
family Celacanthes, but recedes from it, on the other hand,
in the form and arrangement of its scales, which are evi-
dently only in juxtaposition and cut lozenge-shape. It would
be very interesting to know how the position of this genus
will be ultimately fixed ; whether it be necessary, from the
arrangement of its fins, to place it definitively among the
Acanthodians. 45
Dipterians, or rather, whether it indicate, by its simple fins,
the first degree of approach to the type of the Sauroides pro-
perly so called. In the latter case, we should have, in the
Sauroides of the old red sandstone, a gradation similar to
that which exists in the Cephalaspides.
The Acanthodians embrace in their history only two for-
mations, the old red sandstone and the coal measures ; more
recent formations furnish no traces of them. This also is a
very particular type, in no manner connected with the other
families of the Ganoides. It is true that the form of the body
does not deviate from those with which we are familiar, but
the manner in which their bodies are covered certainly pre-
sents a very decided character. Those small rhomboidal
scales, scarcely visible, which make the skin look like sha-
green, have nothing like them in the whole class of fishes ;
for the shagreen of the Plagiostomes is formed of entirely dif-
ferent elements. It may be remarked that in general the
anomalous types, which deviate most from the normal types,
are also of very brief duration, and continue only during one
or two epochs of the history of the earth, after which they
terminate, without our remarking afterwards the types which
may be regarded as those that have replaced them. This is
likewise the case with the Cephalaspides. It is the same
with the Acanthodians. In the fusiform Ganoides of more
recent epochs we find neither scales in the form of shagreen,
nor large spines, in the form of prickles, which stand erect
upon the fins. This type becomes entirely extinct with the
coal formation.
Of all the Ganoides of the old red sandstone, the Celacan-
thes are the only ones which have a lengthened history ; for
they continue as far as the chalk formations, where they ter-
minate in the genus Macropoma. I have already shewn, in
treating of this family, what difficulties we have to encounter
when we wish to limit it rigorously, and assign to it definite
characters, and how probable it is that it will ultimately be
divided into many distinct families. But, apart from these
considerations, which are not yet founded on facts sufficient-
ly numerous, it is certainly in the old red sandstone that the
family of the Celacanthes acquires the most considerable de-
^^ Celacanthcs.
velopment, and it is only by diminishing in all directions that
it at last reaches its point of extinction in the chalk. If we
wish to represent it graphically, it may be regarded as a cone,
with a broad base, the smurait of which is formed by the
genus Macropoma, while at the base are found the Holopty-
chius, Phyllolepis, Glyptolepis, Platygnathes, Dendrodus, Lam-
nodus, Cricodus, Asterolepis, Bothriolepis, Psammosteus, &c.,
of the Devonian system ; all as remarkable by their structure
as by the numerous individuals whose remains are every-
where found in this formation. Indeed, if there be one fact
that can prove how far it is true that ancient strata enclose
types in general less different than those of the present crea-
tion, but, by way of recompense, an infinitely greater num-
ber of individuals, it is surely this, that there are strata of
old red sandstone, particularly in Russia, which are nothing
else than true breccias, almost solely composed of scales and
plates of Asterolepis or Bothriolepis. If the Pterichthys
are so abundant in the nodules of Lethen-Bar that they are
collected in cartfuls, there is in this nothing surprising, be-
cause they were small fishes, living probably in shoals in the
mud, feeding, from all that we can gather from what is
known of their organization, on shell-less molluscs, vermes,
and other unprotected animals. But when we remember
that the Bothriolepis and Asterolepis were fishes of very con-
siderable size, eminently rapacious, and feeding, to judge
from their dentition, on living prej^ we will consider it very
surprising that these voracious species, whose analogues of
our own day are always found widely scattered, should be
assembled in such great numbers as is the case in certain
localities.
What is very curious in the Celacanthes of the old red
sandstone is, that we already encounter in its numerous
genera many pretty distinct types. These are, on the one
hand, the Glyptolepis, which, by their double fins, make so
near an approach to the Dipterian Sauroides that one may
believe in a certain parallelism between the two families ;
on the other hand, the Asterolepis (Dendrodus), the Bothrio-
lepis, and the Psammosteus, the characteristic scales of
which have not yet been found, but which were provided with
Placdides. 47
broad cutaneous plates, and which in their dentition nearly
approach the true type of the family of Celacanthes, that is
to say, of that of Holoptychius, Platygnathes, and Phyllole-
pis. The species of these two groups were evidently the
absolute sovereigns of the seas which they inhabited ; the
gigantic dimensions of the bodies of some of them and their
sharp cutting teeth gave them, there can be no doubt, an in-
disputable superiority. Already in the following strata, in
the coal formation, these tyrants of the primitive ocean are
accompanied by true Sauroides of remarkable size, the Me-
galichthys, for example, as well as others, although the Ho-
loptychius, Phyllolepis, &c., still exist along with them ; in
the succeeding formations, however, the Sauroides evidently
take the lead. The dentition of the Celacanthes of the old
red sandstone is very remarkable ; all these fishes, save
Glyptolepis, which likewise form a distinct group by their
fins, have needle-shaped, insulated teeth, placed at distances,
and formed of folded dentine ; and in no other group of the
animal kingdom does this folding of the dentine go so far as
among our Celacanthes ; witness the genera Dendrodus,
Lamnodus, &c.
The Placdides of the old red sandstone are not yet suffi-
ciently known, in their organization, to enable us at present
to fix their relations to those of the following formations and
to those of the present creation. The fact which has struck
me most, in regard to them, is the small size of the Ichthyo-
dorulites of this formation compared with those of the coal
epoch and of the lias ; and, on the other hand, the rarity of
the teeth of these animals, relatively to the abundance of
their spiny rays, the very reverse of what we witness in the
cretaceous and tertiary formations, as well as among living
species. I conclude from this, that, in the early times of the
development of life, it was not so much the Placoides as cer-
tain Ganoides, Celacanthes, and Sauroides in particular,
which were the terror of the seas, and which traversed it
everywhere as masters, like the sharks of our own days,
under all latitudes. The approximations I have afterwards
made between the Placoides of the old red sandstone and the
sharks of the Mediterranean shew, that, in their numbers and
48 Serial Classifications to be renounced.
diversity, the fossil species of this formation are in nothing
inferior to that of a very extensive fauna belonging to the
actual creation.
From the whole of the facts above noticed, it appears to
me to follow, that not only do the fishes of the old red sand-
stone constitute a distinct fauna, independent of those belong-
ing to otlier formations, but that they also present, in their
organization, the most remarkable analogy to the earliest
phases of the embryonic development of the osseous fishes of
our own epoch, and a not less obvious parallelism with the
lower degrees of certain types of the class, as they now exist
on the surface of the globe. What is most curious in these
connections is, that it is not with the corresponding types of
the actual creation that these ancient fishes can be con-
sidered as parallel ; for example, the osseous fishes of that
period had nothing in common with the osseous fishes of this
period, nor did the Placoides of the most ancient formations
in general resemble those of the present creation. Neither
do the Ganoides exhibit more than remote resemblances to
the existing Ganoides ; but these same Ganoides approach, in
a multitude of characters, the Placoides of our own period,
and even the inferior types of this order. And yet, along
with this, they have also certain relations to reptiles, al-
though this class of animals did not actually appear till
later. These relations I would call prospective analogies, so
frequent is it to meet with prophetic resemblances, in the
series of formations, among types succeeding each other, and
which, after having for a long time presented the combined
characters of many groups, do not become distinct till a later
period. These facts appear to me deserving of our most se-
rious attention ; for they shew us, always with increasing ur-
gency, the necessity of renouncing serial classifications, in
order to express the real relations of living beings. If, in effect,
the most ancient fossil fishes of the order Ganoides shew strik-
ing resemblances to the Cyclostomes and Plagiostomes of
our era — if these same Ganoides have, besides, certain analo-
gies to reptiles, and, in particular, to the Labyrinthodontes
— if these relations disappear in more recent eras — if these
families themselves become progressively extinct and are
Great diversity of Specie^ in Devonian System. 49
replaced by others — can it ever be possible to express all
these relations by a linear arrangement in our zoological
systems 1 And, if what I have remarked in regard to fishes
be equally true in respect to all the classes of the animal
kingdom, ought we not eagerly to borrow from embryology
and palaeontology all the information they can furnish, in
order to enable us to appreciate more correctly the whole of
relations so varied, which connect all created beings with
each other ?
Far from believing that this object can be completely at-
tained at present, I leave, in the mean time, these questions
regarding system, the solution of which will no doubt require
immense labour, to confine myself to the consideration of
this assemblage of fossil fishes, which constitute one of the
most interesting parts of the fauna of the old red sandstone,
in a last point of view, that is to say, as a simple group of
diverse, but contemporary, species. Viewing it in this man-
ner, apart from all systematic considerations, we are never-
theless struck with the great diversity which the species
really present. Who would have expected that we should
ever find, in spaces so limited as those which have hitherto
been explored, above a hundred species of fossil fishes, in
the devonian system alone, that is to say, in a stage of our
formations which was believed, a few years ago, to be con-
fined to the British islands, and to which in consequence only
a local value was assigned ? And yet, all other things re-
maining equal, the ichthyological fauna which this formation
contains, is as considerable as that which inhabits the coasts
of Europe ; and, even although the species of the old red
sandstone do not belong to so great a number of families as
the living species, they are not less varied in their forms and
general aspect, nor less curious in their external characters
and organization, nor less different from each other in size
and the degree of locomotive power with which they were
doubtless endowed.*
* From Professor Agassi z' Monographic des poissons fossiles du vieux gres
rouge.
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. D
( 50 )
On the Classification of Birds, and particularly of the Genera
of European Birds. By John Hogg, Esq., M.A., F.R.S.,
F.L.S., &c. Communicated by the Author.
The principal part of this paper was <jriginally incor-
porated in my " Catalogue of Birds, observed in South-
Eastem Durham, and in North- Western Cleveland,^' which
I read before the zoological section of the British Associa-
tion for the advancement of Science, at York, on the 26th
September 1844 ; but, being desirous of extending the clas-
sification therein proposed, I thought it advisable to delay
the publication of this part, until another opportunity had
permitted me to examine the noble collection of birds in the
British Museum, for ihe purpose of rendering it as perfect
as my leisure would allow. That catalogue^ exclusive of any
remarks on arrangement^ has already appeared in the
** Zoologist'* for August, October, November, and December,
1845. NoWj with regard to the classification adopted for the
same catalogue, and of which a sketch is published in the
" Report of the fourteenth meeting of the British Associa-
tion," it is here necessary to enter into some short explana-
tion.
On forming that catalogue, I, in a great degree, followed
Mr Yarrelfs arrangement and nomenclature. Although I
principally adopted the former, with certain exceptions, for
the land-birds ; yet, for the rvater-birds, I made considerable
alterations, and chiefly assumed Cuvier^s classification. Hav-
ing twenty years ago written a " catalogue of most of the
birds which are known to frequent the country near Stock-
ton," that was afterwards published in the appendix to
Brewster^ s *' History of Stockton-upon-Tees," I chose for it the
Cuvierian system, which had then been given to the world
only seven years before in Wie first edition of the " Begne
Animal." Being still much prejudiced in favour of that na-
tural arrangement (which I believe I was one of the first
to adopt in this country), it appeared to me to be more ad-
visable to [incorporate it in my recent Memoir with that
classification subsequently instituted by some of our English
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 51
ornithologists, — making, at the same time, certain modifica-
tions in both, — than to use the latter alone, as Mr Yarrell
had done. For, I must confess that it struck me as very
anomalous to select Ciwiers Dentirostres, Conirostres, and
Fissirostres, and then to reject, without any sufficient reason,
the equally natural groups of his Longirostres, Cultrirostres,
Lamellirostrcs, &c., as those distinguished authors thought
proper to do. Also, I introduced three families, namely,
Upupidae, Rccurvirostridae, and Procellariadae, from the
*' New Systematic Arrangement of Vertebrated Animals,'' by
C. L. Bonapa) te (the Prince of Musignano^ now of Canino),
published in the Transactions of the Linnean Society,
vol. xviii., 1840.
There are likewise several new tribes that I myself charac-
terised from variations in the structure or form of the hill,
and so tending to complete, in the steps of Linnwus, a Ros-
tral classification. And it seemed to me quite clear, that not
only such was the view of the illustrious Swede, as a refer-
ence to the " Systema Naturae" will shew ; but, also, that the
bill generally presents the most obvious and natural charac-
ters for the chief arrangement of birds. Thus, in continu-
ance of this plan, and in its extension to the genera of the
birds which have been discovered in Europe, I have uni-
formly taken the characters of all the tribes from those of the
tdll ; whilst those of i\\Qfeet and toes present the distinctions
of the subclasses, of the orders, and likewise of many of the
sub tribes. Further and more careful examinations of cer-
tain birds have induced me to make some alterations in my
classification, as published in the beforementioned report of
the British Association, and my " Catalogue of Birds, ob-
served in South-Eastern Durham, and in North-Western
Cleveland ; with an a})pendix, containing the classification
and nomenclature of all the species included therein." Lon-
don, 1845.
Moreover, I have omitted to give the subfamilies, because
I am at present inclined to consider them as superfluous, and
as unnecessarily lengthening the classification ; but those
ornithologists who differ from me, can readily insert them
in their proper places. I have paid some attention to the
52 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds.
selection of the genera, and have been obliged, in order to do
away with the inconvenience of subgenera^ to increase the
number of the genera themselves ; although I trust this has
only been done where real and sufficient differences have
confirmed such a necessity. But I must observe that a great
many of the new genera, constituted by Messrs C. L. Bona-
parte and G. B. Gray, appear to be unnecessary, and depend-
ing on far too minute distinctions. The former author, in
his " Geographical and Comparative List of the Birds of
Europe and North America," Edit. 1838, makes the genera
then found in Europe to amount to the vast number of 246 ;
but, in his later Memoir, " Catalogo Metodico degli Uccelli
Europei," published in the " Nuovi Annali delle Scienze Na-
turali di Bologna, Anno 1842," he has injudiciously increased
this number to 265. Mr Gould, in his splendid work on the
" Birds of Europe,*' gives only 168 genera ; whilst M. Tern-
minck in his second edition, with the supplementary parts, of
'• Manuel d'Ornithologie,*" comprises all the European spe-
cies in 97 genera ; and 113 are the total number of genera
mentioned in M, H. SchlegeVs " Revue Critique des Oiseaux
d'Europe." Leide, 1844.
Now, the entire number of genera, as selected by myself,
for the birds of Europe, will be seen to be 205. Again, the
Prince of Canino, in addition to his immense number of ge-
nera, has included in his very recent " Methodical Cata-
logue," many subgenera ; to the latter, in truth, I cannot
help expressing an insuperable objection, because by a fre-
quent introduction of subgenera, a universal departure from
the vast utility experienced in the Binomial method would
soon take place, and which, in time, would most assuredly be
followed by the intrusion of subspecies (as has already been
effected by M. Brehrn), and even of subvarieties.
In the classification of birds, the maxim — " Exceptio pro-
bat regulam'' certainly prevails to a great extent ; for there
is scarcely a division, a tribe, or a family, in which some
bird does not occur that departs from the regular or normal
form of that division, and becomes in one or more of its cha-
racters an exception to, or assumes some irregularity, or wan-
dering from the rest, and so constitutes what is usually termed
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 53
an " aberrant form. Hence arises the especial difficulty of
classifying birds with such coiTectness and minute accuracy,
as every careful ornithologist would desire to do. So then,
in my present arrangement, I earnestly hope that the zoolo-
gist, after making due allowance for certain exceptions or
aberrant forms, will find the general divisions and leading
characters of the tribes, sub tribes, and other sections, not
hastily designed, but uniformly carried out with a sufficient
degree of exactness and regularity for all practical purposes,
and in strict conformity with Nature.
The following is a Synopsis of my classification : —
Class II.— AVES.
Subclass I.— AVES CONSTRIC-
TIPEDES.
Division I. — Terrestres.
Order I. Raptores.
Tribe I. Planicerirostres.
Suhtrihe 1. Diurni.
Family 1. SarcoramphidaB.
Genus. Neophron.
Family 2. Vulturidae.
Genera. Gyys, Vultur.*
Family 3. Gypaetidae.
Genus Gypaetus.
Family 4. Aquilidae.
Genera. Haliaetus, Aquila, Pan-
dion, Circdetus.
Family 5. Falconidae.
Genera.. Falco, Accipiter, Astur,
Milvus, Nauclerus, Elanus.
Family 6. Buteonidse.
Genera, Buteo, Pernis, Circus,
Strigiceps.
Tribe II. Tecticerirostres.
Suhtrihe 2. Nocturni.
Family 1. Strigidae.
Genera. Surnia, Nyctea, Strix,
Ulula, Symium, Athene.
Family 2. Bubonidae.
Genera, Bubo, Otus, Scops.
Order II. Prehensorea.
Tribe. Rotundirostres.
Suhtrihe 1. Laeviliiigues.
Families 1. Plyctolophidae. 2.
Psittacidae. 3. Macrocercidae.
4. Pezoporidae. 5. Psittaculidae.
Suhtrihe 2. Hirtilingues.
Family 6. Loriadae.
Suhtrihe 3. Tubilingues.
Family 7- Microglossidae.
Order III. Insessores.
Tribe I. Curvirostres.
Suhtrihe 1. Scansores.
Family. Cuculidae.
Genera. Cuculus, Oxylophus, Coc-
cyzus.
Tribe II. Cuneirostres.
Family 1. Picidae.
Genera. Dryotomus, Pious, Jynx.
Family 2. ApternidaB
Genus. Aptemus.
Family 3. Sittidae.
Genus Sitta.
Tribe III. Conirostres.
Suhtrihe 2. Claniatores.
Family 1. CoraciadidaB.
Genus. Coracias.
Family 2. Corvidae.
Genera, Garrulus, Pica, Nucifraga,
Corvus, PyrrhocoraXy Fregilus.
Suhtrihe 3. Cantatores.
Family 3. Sturnidae.
Genera. Stumus, Pastor, Agelaius.
* The Order and Genera in italics signify the Extra'Britannic Birds, or those
which are foreign to the British Islands.
54 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds.
Family 4. Loxiadae.
Genera. Loxia,Pyrrhula, Corythus.
Erythrospiza, Coccothraustes.
Family 5. Fringillidae.
Genera. Petronia, Passer, Linota,
Serinudy Carduelis, Fringilla.
Family 6. Emberizidae.
Genera. Emberiza, Plectrophanes.
Family 7. Alaudidas.
Genera. Phileremus, Alauda, Ga-
^ lerida.
Tribe IV. Dentirostres.
Family 1. Anthidae.
Genera. Certhilauda, Anthus.
Family 2. Motacillidae.
Genera. Budytes, Motacilla.
Family 3. Paridae.
Genera. uEgithalus, Calamophilus,
Mecistura, Parus.
Family 4. Aedonidae.
Genera. Regulus, Melizopliilus,
Sylvia, Curruca, Aedon, Salicaria,
Accentor, Calliope.
Family 5. Saxicolidae.
Genera. Phoenicura, Erithacus,
Saxicola, Vitiflora.
Family 6. Ampelididae.
Genus. Bombycilla.
Family 7. Merulidae.
Genera. Oriolus, Haematornis,
Turdus, Petrocincla, Merula, Cin-
clus.
Subtrihe. 4. Latrones.
Family 8. Laniadae.
Genera. Lanius, Collurio.
Family 9. MuscicapidaB.
Genus. Muscicapa.
Tribe V. Tenuirostres.
Suhtribe 5. Anisodactyli.
Family 1. Certhiadae.
Genera. Troglodytes, Certhia,
Tichodroma.
Family 2. Upupidae.
Genus. Upupa.
Tribe VI. Fissirostres.
Subtribe 6. Syndactyli.
Family 1. Haley onidae.
Genus. Alcedo.
Family 2. Meropidae.
Genus. Merops.
Subtribe 7. AUodactyli.
Family 3. Hirundinidae.
Genera. Cypselus, Progne, Hirundo,
Chelidon.
Family 4. Capriraulgidae.
Genera. Caprimulgus, Scotornis.
Tribe VII. Cutinarirostres.
Subtribe 8. Gyratores.
Family. Columbidae.
Genera. Columba, Turtur, Ecto-
pistes.
Subclass II.— AVES INCON-
STRICTIPEDES.
Order IV. Rasores.
Tribe. Convexirostres.
Subtribe 1. Podarcees.
Family 1. Phasianidae.
Genus. Phasianus.
Family 2. Tetraonidae.
Genera. Tetrao, Lagopus, Bonasia.
Family 3. Pteroclidae.
Genus. Pterocles.
Family 4. Perdicidae.
Genera. Francolinus, Perdix, Or-
tyx, Coturnix.
Family 5. Hemipodiadse.
Genus. Hemipodius.
Subtribe 2. Podenemi.
Family 6. Otididae.
Genus. Otis.
Division II. Aquaticb.
Order V. Grallatores.
Tribe I. Pressirostres.
Subtribe 1. Cursores.
Family 1. Charadriadas.
Genera. CEdicnemus, Cursorius,
Charadrius, Hoplopterus.
Family 2. Vanellidae.
Genera. Squatarola, Vanellus, Gla-
reola, Strepsilas.
Family 3. HaematopodidaB.
Genus. Haematopus.
Tribe II. Cultrirostres.
Subtrihe 2. Ambulatores.
Family 1. Gruidae.
Genera. Balearica, Anthropoides,
Grus.
Family 2. Ardeidae.
Genera. Ciconia, Ardea, Ardeola,
Erogas, Nycticorax.
Tribe III. Pyxidirostres.
Family. Phaenicopteridae.
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 55
' Genua. Phccnicopterus.
Tribe IV. Spathulirostres.
Family. Plataleidae.
Genus. Platalea.
Tribe Y, Longirostres.
Family 1. Tantalidae.
Genera. Tantalus, Ibis.
Family 2. Recurvirostridae.
Genus. Reeurvirostra
Family 3. NumeniadaB.
Genera. Terehia, Limosa,
Numenius.
Family 4. Scolopacidae.
Genera. Totanus, Machetes, Rus
ticola, Scolopax, Macrorham-
phus, Eroliay Tringa.
Family 5. Phalaropodidae.
Genera. Phalaropus, Lobipes.
Family 6. Calidridae.
Genera. Himantopus, Calidris.
Tribe VI. Diversirostres.
Subtribe 3. Macrodactyli.
Family. Rallidae.
Genera. Rallus, Crex, Zapornia.
Tribe VII. Frontiscutirostres.
Family Fulicidae.
Genera. Gallinula, Porphyrio,
Fulica.
Order VI. Natatores.
Tribe I. Lamellirostres.
Subtribe 1. Simplicipollices.
Family 1. Anseridae.
Genera. Bemicla, Anser, Chen.,
Cygnus, Olor, Plectropterus,
Chenalopex.
Family 2. Anatidae.
Genera. Tadorna, Caiinna, Rhyn-
chaspis, Chauliodus, Dafila,
Anas, Mareca.
Subtribe 2. Membranipollices.
Family 3. Fuligulidae.
Genera. Clangula, Undina,
Harelda, Fuligula, CEdemia,
Soraateria.
Tribe II. Serrirostres.
Family 1. Mergidae.
Genera. Mergus, Merganser.
Subtribe 3. Totipalraas.
Family 2. Fregatidae.
Genus Fregata.
Family 3. Carbonidae.
Genera. Carbo, Sula.
Trihe III, Sacculirostres.
Family Pelecanidae.
Gf^nus Pelecanus.
Tribe IV. Tubinarirostres.
Subtribe 4. Longipennes.
Family. Procellariadae.
Genera. Diomedea, Procellaria,
Puffinus, Thalassidroma.
Tribe V. Medionarirostres.
Family. Laridae.
Genera. Cataracta, Lestrie, Larus,
Rissa, Xema.
Tribe VI. Subulirostres.
Family. Sternidae.
Genera. Anous, Viral va, Pon-
tochelidon, Sterna.
Tribe VII. Cuspidirostres.
Subtribe 5. Brevipennes.
Family 1. Podicipidae.
Genus. Podiceps.
Family 2. Coljmbidae.
Genera. Colymbus, Uria.
Tribe VIII. Sulcirostres.
Family 1. Mormonidas.
Genera. Mergulus, Mormon,
Utamania.
Subtribe 6. Imperfectipennes.
Family 2. Alcidae.
Genus. Alca.
It now becomes me to explain, as briefly and as clearly as
I can, the subclasses, certain of the tribes, and other groups,
adopted in the preceding classification.
Subclass I. Aves Constrictipedes,— Birds whose feet are
constrictile, or adapted to grasping. The birds belonging to
this subclass make, in general, compact and well built nests,
wherein they bring up their very weak, blind, and mostly
naked, young, which they feed with care, by bringing food
66 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds.
to them for many days, until they are fledged and sufficiently
strong to leave the nest. They are principally monogamous,
and have the feet endued v^ith great constrictilitt/, or com-
plete power of grasping ; and the thumb or hind-toe, which
almost always exists, entirely rests, upon the ground, and is
in the same plane with the other, or fore toes.
The Order I. Faptores, I have distinguished by tmo tribes,
viz., 1st, Planicerirostres ; and, 2d, Tecticerirostres. The
first comprehends those genera which possess the cere of the
bill plain^ or conspicuous, and it is in general large, indeed
often very extensive. But in the present rostral classifica-
tion, the birds of prey might form a natural tribe, — Adun-
cirostres, on account of their strong and hooked beak, as in
the words of Pliny — " rostra — rapto viventibus adunca^
Still I must add, that I much prefer the two first mentioned
tribes, derived from the important characters of the cere.
Family 1. Sarcoramphidce ; — considering the power o^ flight
as the chief characteristic of birds, I would commence this
class by the condor. That magnificent monarch of the
feathered race is, I believe, the largest of those species that
are endued with the strongest, the most extended, and per-
fect wings ; and it also possesses the power of flying in the
highest degree. And I would terminate this class by the
wingless auk {Alcaimpennis), and the penguins {Spheniscidoe),
because these remarkable birds do not at all possess the
faculty of flying, and have wings which are only rudimen-
tary, or very imperfectly formed. The condor receives its
generic title of Sarcoramphus, or flesh-hill, from the large
fleshy cere, or skin with which its bill is so conspicuously
furnished.
Sub tribe 2. Nocturni : — the nocturnal birds of prey come
under my second tribe — Tecticerirostres, or those raptores
which have the cere of their bill hid, or covered with feathers :
Linnwus erroneously characterised owls as possessing, " rost-
rum aduncum {absque cerd)'' So Dr Fleming says, the bill
of owls is " rvithout cere,'' and the Prince of Canino de-
scribes them with " cera obsoleta." On the contrary, in the
genus Qtus, the cere is large ; although in all the genera
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 57
that singular wax- like membrane, situate at the base of the
bill, is concealed by feathers.
Instead of resuming for the owls the two subdivisions of
Linnaeus, Auriculalm and Inauriculatce, I have arranged them
into two families. — 1. Strigidas, corresponding with the
latter, or without carets; and, 2. Bubonidw, that agrees
with the former, and comprises those owls which are fur-
nished with carets ; or, as our old writers named them, ears
and horns. Both of these families will have to be divided
into operculati and inoperculati^ with reference to the pre-
sence and absence of opercula, in the ears. The diurnal
birds of prey approach the owls by the genera Circus and
Strigiceps ; the latter, or the owl-harrier, in the form of the
head and the facial disc, comes most nearly to an owl. So,
the family of Strigidae approximates to the hawks or falcons,
by the genus Surnia, of which the species called the hawk-
owl (Surnia funereaj, ought to be placed, ihQ first in the dis-
tribution of the nocturnal raptores.
Order II. Prehensores : — This, with the preceding, and the
following orders, constitute six in all, in my general classifi-
cation of birds. I was indeed desirous of retaining only
five orders, according to the system mostly used in England ;
but, on mature consideration, I found that I could not do so,
if I attempted to follow an arrangement in accordance with
nature : I have, therefore, been unwillingly compelled to
place the parrot groups in a separate order, and which I have
termed " Prehensores," after M. Blainville and the Prince
of Canino. But I have ventured to differ from some of the
views of the last-named admirable ornithologist, and of M.
Illiger, in making it my second order ; and, in fact, the link
which connects the Raptores, or birds of prey, with the true
Insessores or perching birds ; whereas they have placed the
Psittacidw i\\Q first in their systems.
The arranging of the parrots with the Scansores appears
to me highly artificial, and, as it were, forcing them into a
place in a system, where they have little except the forma-
tion (zygodactylisrri) of the toes, and perhaps the colours in
some degree of the plumage, to warrant such a step. If we
compare their structure with that of the Baptores, we shall
58 John Hogg. Esq., on the Classification of Birds.
find the parrots approaching most strongly to them. Thus,
I will enumerate some of their comparative resemblances.
They have a hooked bill, — ^termed also " rostrum adun-
cum" by Linnwus^ and a cere covering its base, through
which are pierced the nostrils. These are round, like those
of many of the falcons and owls. Their tarsi are reticulated ;
and their claws, resembling talons, are sharp, and much
curved. The shape of some parrots is similar to that of a
hawk ; whilst that of some others with a short tail is thick-
set, and rather broad or squat, and resembles the shape of
an owl. Again, the naked cheeks or places about the eyes
of certain maccaws, represent the plumose discs, which sur-
round the eyes of owls. These nocturnal raptores likewise
further approach to the parrots, in having their external toe
capable of being turned backwards, which, when reversed,
resembles the zygodactyle position of the latter. Also in
their internal organization they are in these respects similar,
viz., the sternum of parrots is much like that of the fal-
conidse, while the furcula approximates to that of the owls,
by being somewhat flattened. And the oesophagus is equally
enlarged with that of the falcons.
So far had I written, before I had seen, or even heard of,
that most singular parrot, Strigops habropHlus, which has
recently* been placed in the British Museum. This parrot,
as its generic name implies, is exceedingly like an owl in its
general conformation, in having facial discs, and long hair-
like feathers about its beak, and in its downy or soft feathers
or plumage ; from which latter circumstance, the name of
Habroptilus^ has been given to it. It is figured at plate 105,
Part XVII., of Gray's and Mitchell's " Genera of Birds," and
is classed by them in their subfamily Cacatuinse, which corre-
sponds with my family Plyctolophidw. This bird., then, fully
confirms, in the most unexpected manner, the views I had
long entertained of placing the parrot families between the
owls, and the insessorial birds : so this new genus Strigops
must stand the first, or nearest to the owls, in my y?r5/ family
Flyctolophidas.
* Mr J. E. Gray informs me that he purchased this bird at Havre in the last
summer, and that it is a native of New Zealand.
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 69
But I must observe that notwithstanding these affinities
to the raptores, the parrot groups are essentially distinct
from both the diurnal and nocturnal subtribes of that order,
and therefore compose of themselves an extremely natural
order.
The term '' Prehensores," or Holders, will be found ad-
mirably appropriate ; because, the parrots, of all birds, most
possess the faculty of catching hold of every thing ; in addi-
tion to the powerful hold which they always take with their
toes and claws, — and these, from their structure, are best
adapted to that purpose — they also hold, when in the act
of climbing, by their strong beak ; and, when about to eat,
they generally hold their food in one foot, and so raise it to
their mouth. Since the bill of the parrots, although hooked,
differs materially from that of the raptorial birds, by being
rounder in all its parts, I have consequently named the tribe
Fotundirostres. Indeed, in these birds the upper mandible
is likewise different in its anatomical structure, for it forms
quite a separate bone, and is articulated to the cranium.
The three subtribes, Lsevilingues, Hirtilingues, and Tubi-
lingues, are distinguished by the tongues being smoothy or
rough, sometimes even hairy, or tubular. I must, however,
observe, that a further knowledge of several genera of the
rotundirostral tribe is requisite, for the purpose of deter-
mining with greater accuracy the groups proposed in this
arrangement, as well as, in all probability, of adding other
new ones to it. The extra-European or foreign order of
Prehensores, comprising the Linnoean genus Psittacus, I have
here introduced, for the sake of completing my general classi-
fication of birds : all the rest of the foreign families and
genera can be included in my remaining ^re orders.
Order III. Insessores. I commence the perching birds
with the Scansores, or climbers., as being most nearly allied
to those of the preceding order. Many of their habits are
similar ; and the division of the toes into two pairs or yokes,
which has been well termed zygodactyle, i. e., two fore-toes
and two hind-toes, is very much the same. In the arrange-
ment I have here proposed, the approximation of the genera
in each succeeding order to those in the one immediately pre-
60 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds.
ceding it, will be distinctly apparent. In the Raptores, as I
have before said, the diurnal rapacious birds are connected
with the nocturnal by the genera Strigiceps (the owl-harrier)
and Surnia (funerea or hawk-owl) ; again, the Prehensores
are approximated to the latter by Strigops, or the owUpar-
rot; and the Insessores are directly allied to the Prehensores
by the scansorial genera (amongst others) Oxylophus, which
in some respects exhibits an affinity to Plyctolophus, and
Picus, which bears no great dissimilarity of plumage from cer-
tain of the parrots (Psittacus). Lastly, the more ordinary
division of the toes of the true Insessores is then approached
through Sitta, and other genera of the Scansores that are
furnished with three toes before and one behind.
Myjirst tribe, Curvirostres, is derived from the somewhat
slender and generally curved beak of the cuckoos ; whilst my
second tribe Cuneirostres, is founded on the strong cuneated
or wedge-shaped beak of the woodpeckers, wryneck, nut-
hatch, &c.
Of this tribe the family 2, Apternidce, is constituted for the
reception of the three-toed woodpeckers. The genus Apter-
nus of Swainson is its type, and is correctly named, for the
word signifies without a hind-toe^ or heel ; consequently,
this family forms a very rare exception to the groups com-
prised in this subclass, and to which I would also refer the
foreign species Ficus shorii and P. tiga. Although the hind-
toe itself is absent in these birds, yet the outer fore-toe being
placed behind, and in the same plane with the others, causes
the want of it to be scarcely felt in the functions of walking
and climbing.
Family 3, Sittidoe. I think there is much anomaly in
placing, as the English ornithologists do, three genera with
such different beaks as the wren^ the hoopoe., and the nut-
hatch, in the same family, Certhiadae, and in the same tribe,
Scansores ; whilst, in fact, the hoopoe cannot be called a
climber. Cuvier'^s System places that genus, and the mit-
hatch^ among the Tenuirostres, but the wren among the Den-
tirostres ; to this, likewise, there are several objections.
Since the genus Sitta differs in its structure from those ge-
nera, as well as from the two preceding families, I have, in
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds, 61
order to assign it a station more consistent with nature,
placed it in a separate family in my Cuneirostral tribe.
Subtribe 2, Clamatores, Criers or Screamers, I have limit-
ed to only a few groups ; one of which, the Coraciadidae, or
the European Boiler family, I prefer placing in the Coniros-
tral tribe, and next to the jays, which in many respects it
resembles, rather than among the Fissirostres, as some of
our modern naturalists do. Although the wide gape, with
which the common roller is furnished, may give it a claim to
that place ; still I am inclined to divide the present family
Coraciadidw, and station the Australian and African kinds, es-
pecially those of the latter, which are long -tailed, and strong-
ly approach the bee-eaters in form and appearance, next after
the family Meropidse, among the Fissirostres. And this di-
vision would then constitute a new family, and stand in my
subtribe Allodactyl% and just before the Hirundinidse. I
have observed the common roller in Sicily, and think it
clearly more allied to the Corvidae than to any other group.
Like the jay, it is restless, makes a loud chattering cry,
and seeks its food upon the ground, which consists of in-
sects, caterpillars, worms, &c. But it even resembles the
woodpeckers in breeding in decayed trees, and having eggs
of a beautiful shining white colour. In fact, the eggs of
the roller in their shape more exactly correspond with those
of Picus minor.
Family 2. Corvidw. It will be remembered that Cuvier
classes the genus Fregilus, with the hoopoe, amongst his Te-
nuirostres, which is perhaps its proper place, if we regard
the beak alone. To place it in the Conirostral tribe seems
incorrect ; but its general appearance and habits must decide
its station to be with the Corvidae. Fregilus is, consequent-
ly, an aberrant genus.
The third subtribe, or Cantatores, Singers, is very exten-
sive, comprising, in strictness, all the singing birds, and es-
pecially the true Warblers.
Family 4. Loxiadw. Considering that the family of Frin-
gillidcB, as usually retained, is much too comprehensive, and
ought to bo divided into one or two more, I have adopted, for
the larger and thicker billed genera Loxia, Pyrrhula, Cocco-
62 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds,
thraustes. &c., Vigors^ family of Loxiadae. (See Zool. Journ,,
vol. ii., p. 399.)
Family Aedonidce. Instead of the name Sylviadae, which
has been given to the group of true Songsters or Warblers, I
have bestowed that of Aedonidce, from the Greek aribm, a
nightingale, which is derived from the verb ahhw, to sing. The
word for this family will itself appropriately signify song^
sters, being also received from that chief of songsters the
nightingale, as its type. Consequently, it appears to me
to be better to assign the generic appellation of Aedon to
that bird, than to continue that of Philomela. So, then, our
two European nightingales would be called Aedon Philomela
and Aedon Luscinia.
Subtribe 4, Latrones, Robbers, are ^er birds of prey of the
Insessorial order, or Perchers. They include the Butcher-
birds, Shrikes, and Fly-catchers.
Subtribe 5. Anisodactyli. This and the two following sub-
tribes, Syndactyli and Allodactyli, are distinguished by their
toes.
Family 2. Upupidw. As the hoopoe must clearly be placed
in a distinct family, I have employed that previously formed
by the Prince of Canino. But the same author having insti-
tuted the family Cypselidce for the Swifts, and so entirely
divided them from the Hirundinidse, I can by no means agree
with him in the necessity for this.
Tribe VII. Cutinarirostres, I have thus designated be-
cause of the tumid and soft skin, or cuticle, at the base of
the bill, in which the nostrils are situated, being peculiar to
the pigeons, doves, and turtles.
The title of Gyratores, bestowed upon the Columbidae by
C. L. Bonaparte, is strongly indicative of their movements.
Here I must remark, that those zoologists who class the
ColumbidoB with the Basores, or Gallinaceous birds, evidently
transgress the order of nature. No doubt, these birds ap-
proximate nearest to the latter in some respects, yet in
others, and those the most important, they are totally dissi-
milar.
They resemble the Basores^ and especially the domestic
poultry, in their young being hatched with much hairy down
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 63
upon them, and not naked, — in some species having carun-
cles, narrow and long feathers on their necks, — and in seve-
ral of their habits.
But they differ from them (amongst other things)" in their
young being mostly born blind, tender, and requiring to
be fed for some time, — in being monogamous, chiefly arbo-
real, possessing constrictile feet, fully suited for perching ;
with the hind-toe quite resting on the ground ; the tarsi un-
armed with spurs, and in general not swift-footed.
Subclass II. Aves Inconstrictipedes, birds with inconstric-
tile feet; i. e.,feet little or not adapted to grasping.
The birds in this subclass make either a poor and rude
nest, in which they lay their eggs, or else none, depositing
them on the bare ground. The young are generally born
with their full sight, covered with down, strong, and capable
of running or swimming immediately after they leave the
egg-shell. The parent birds attend, and direct them where
to find their food. They are mostly polygamous, have the
feet little or not adapted to grasping, and very frequently
want the thumb or hind-toe; but this, when present, is
chiefly placed higher up the tarsus than the plane of the
fore-toes, and usually rests, in a slight degree, or not at all,
upon the ground.
The tribe Convexirostres points out the strongly arched, or
convex bill, of the Gallinse, gallinaceous birds or scratchers
(Rasores) ; and this I have divided into two sub tribes ; — the
first Podarcees, Uodu^Kseg^ able with their feet, or srvift-footed,
— ^the usual characteristic of this active group, consisting
chiefly of game-birds and poultry ; and the second, Podenemi
— IloS^vg^o/, having feet as swift as the winds. This subtribe
comprehends the bustards, which depend upon the swiftness
of their powerful, long, and muscular legs, for safety, rather
than upon the use of their short wings.
The genus Hemipodius, or half afoot, is so named, because
it wants the hind-toe ; and in this respect, as well in being
polygamous, as in having the bill compressed, it approaches
to the bustard. Consequently, I have stationed it in a sepa-
rate family, Hemipodiadoe, and next before that of Otididce.
The stilters or waders (Grallatores) constitute the Order V.,
64 John Hogg, Esq., on the ClasHfication of Birds.
of which my first subtribe marks the coursers or running
waders.
The birds in this order possess almost every variety of
feet, which are furnished with either three ov four toes. The
hind-toe or thumb, when it exists, is generally placed at a
varying height upon the tarsus, and does not at all touch
the ground, or only does so in a slight degree ; rarely, how-
ever, it is attached in the same plane with the fore-toes, and
rests altogether on the ground, or presses in a great degree
upon it. The mode in which the fore-toes are divided, is
likewise variable, and the modifications of the web or mem-
brane are numerous, and in some examples exceedingly re-
markable.
The beaks also greatly vary, but for the most part they
are of considerable length, and well adapted to searching in
water or wet places, for food ; so are the legs, and frequently,
too, the necks of the different groups.
Family 3, Hcematopodidce, is established for the reception
of that singular genus Hcematopus, which is of importance,
as it leads directly to the following : —
Tribe II. Cultrirostres, signifying the knife-hills, an ap-
pellation very appropriately bestowed on the group by Cuvier.
In fact, the bill of these birds, and especially of the Ardeidw,
is a most dangerous weapon ; when used as an instrument
of defence, they suddenly dart it into their enemy like a long
knife or stiletto.
My second subtribe, Ambulatores, distinguishes the still-
er s or Walking-waders ; this ought to be again divided into
two or three sections, such as Tardi^ Veloces, &c.
Tribes III. Pyxidirostres, i. e., box-billed, I have taken for
the family Phoenicopteridee, from M. JEdm. de Selys-Long-
champs' Classification of Birds, published in his " Faune
Beige," Liege, 1842.
Tribe IV. Since the Spoonbills cannot be correctly classed
with the dagger or knife-billed birds, Cultrirostres, I have
been compelled to form a new tribe for them, and which I
have termed Spathulirostres, the Spatula-billed group. So
I have necessarily added another family, Plataleidce. In this
and several more nero families, I observe, on a very recent
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 65
perusal of M. De Selys-Long champs'' work, that he has anti-
cipated me in their institution. It is, however, gratifying to
me to find, that so able a naturalist coincides in the necessity
for these new groups.
Family 2. Recurvirostridw. Agreeing with C. L. Bona-
parte, I have placed the remarkable genus Recurvirostra io
a separate family ; but among Cuviefs Longirostres, or Long-
billed group, which I have taken for my fifth tribe of Gral-
latores.
Family 5. Phalaropodidce. On more mature consideration
I prefer to follow G. L. Bonaparte in the name of this family.
I had previously arranged it uhder the title of Lobipedidce^
as Mr Yarrell has done ; but, since the genera Phalaropus
and Lobipes belong, without any doubt, to the hongirostral
tribe, and bear a close affinity to the genus Tringa, I have
here necessarily assigned to them their true and natural
position.
Tribe VI. Diver sir ostres. The great diversity, as well in
the shape, as in the length and si;:ie of the beaks of the rails
and crakes, that form the present very natural tribe, has
obliged me, for the sake of perfecting this Rostral classifica-
tion, to entitle it Diver sirostres.
The Rallidce, as well as the Fulicidw, are furnished with
iong toes, unconnected by any membrane at their base, the
Macrodactyli of Cuvier^ which (although not webbed) are in
some species edged with lateral membranes, that greatly
assist in swimming.
Tribe VII. Frontiscutirostres. The singular naked shield^
disc, or plate, upon the forehead of the Gallinules, Sultanas,
and Coots, of the same consistency or nature as the beak it-
self, has led me to establish this tribe. Indeed, this frontal
shield seems only to be a portion of the beak carried over
the forehead, about as high as the crown of the head. The
lobed-feet of the Coots, together with their habits, form, and
plumage, mark them as most nearly allied to the true rveb-
footed birds, Natatores or Swimmers^ which compose my last
and
VI. Order. The feet of the several tribes in this order
are more simple than those of the preceding. They are all
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI, — JULY 1846. E
C6 John Hogg, Esq , on the Classification of Birds.
webbed, palmipedes, but chiefly present three forms oi palma-
ture ; first, where the fore-toes are alone connected by a
membrane : this is the common palmature ; secondly, the toti-
palmature, where the hind-toe is placed at the inner side of
the tarsus, and united with the fore-toes in one entire web ;
and, thirdly, where the fore-toes are edged with lateral and
extended membranes : this is called the fissopalmature. The
tarsi are more or less compressed, and the claws in some are
short and blunt, whilst in others they are flat and square,
or curved and sharp, resembling talons.
Tribe I. Lamellirostres. Cuvier has thus very properly
named his fourth family of Palmipedes, which, with the ex-
clusion of the genera Mergus and Merganser (also Membra-
nipollices), I have assumed for vay first ivihe of the Natatores.
In truth, the lamellae or denticulations, present one of the
principal characters in defining the genera of the Anatidse.
I have divided it into two subtribes, Simplicipollices and
Membranipollices ; and I have separated the geese and swans
{Anseridoe) from the ducks, whilst the latter, with the re-
mainder of the Lamellirostral tribe, being the Pochards, Sco-
ters, Eiders, &c. I have divided into two more families,
by restricting those genera, chiefly fluviatile and lacustrine,
which have the thumb or hind-toe simple, or without a mem-
brane, to the family Anatidw ; and by placing the rest pos-
sessing the hind-toe edged rvith a membrane, in the family
Fuligulidw, being the marine or oceanic kinds.
Family 1. Anseridce. I have thought myself warranted in
classing the geese and swans apart from the large family of
Anatidce of the English zoologists ; because, in addition to their
«hape, and some other characters, their tracheae are mostly
not furnished with any enlargement or labyrinth, or rarely
with a single one, as in the Egyptian goose ; while the re-
maining male Anatidw, except the common scoter, possess
#osseous, or cartilaginous, labyrinths, at the extremities of
their tracheae. . Also, I consider that the domestic swan
©tight to constitute a separate genus, which might be called
0/or,"and the species Mutus ; but the Hooper, with the other
species, should be stationed in the restricted genus Cygnus,
for they diifer, besides some minor points, in these structural
John Hogg, Esq., on tke Classification of Birds. 67
ones of importance ; namely^ in the absence of the basal pro-
tuberance of their bill, and in the lengthened tube of their
windpipe, which enters with a fold into a cavity, within the
keel of the sternum. And in the distribution of the AmeridcB
I have arranged the genera thus : — 1. Bemicla, beginning
with {B. Brenta) the brent bernicle, which affords considera-
ble resemblance to the common coot, the last of the Gralla-
torial order, both in shape, colour, and plumage. 2. Anser ;
3. Chen; 4. Cygnus; 5. Olor; and then I have placed the spur-
winged goose (Plectroyterus Gambensis), because, in that bird,
the single enlargement at the end of the trachea first presents
itself, and is perforated with many holes, thereby approaching
to the AnatidcB. And, lastly, I have added the Chenalopex
Egi/pHaca, or Egyptian goose ; for that species next offers the
tracheal enlargement, which is larger and more perfect than
the preceding, and thus shews its closer affinity to the family
of ducks.
My restricted family 2. Anatidce, answers to Cuvier's second
divison of ducks, which is thus ably defined by that author :-^
'• Les Canards de la deuxieme division, dont le pouce n'est
point horde d'une membrane, ont la tete plus mince, les pieds
moins larges, le cou plus long, le bee plus egal, le corps moins
^pais ; ils marchent mieux ; recherchent les plantes aquatiques
et leurs graines, autant que les poissons et autres animaux. II
parait que les renflemens de leurs trachees sont de substance
homogene, osseuse et cartilagineuse." {Begne Animal^ p. 536,
tome i., edit. 1817.)
^^Family 3, Fuligulidw^ constitutes the first division of
Cuviers arrangement of the ducks {Les Canards), and is cha-
racterized by him as follows : — " Les especes de la premiere
division, ou celles dont le pouce est horde d'une membrane,
ont la tete plus grosse, le cou plus court, les pieds plus en
arriere, les ailes plus petites, la queue plus roide, les tarses
plus comprimes, les doigts plus longs, les palmures plus
entieres. EUes marchent plus mal, vivent plus exclusivement
de poissons, et d'insectes, et plongent plus solvent.'* {Beg.
An., p. 532, tome i.)
Notwithstanding that the tracheal tube and labyrinth of
the golden Eye (Clangula), approximating to those of the
68 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds,
MergidcB, would direct me to station it the last in this group,
as Mr Yarrell has done, I have arranged it jirst, since its
size, form, and appearance, clearly indicate its place to be
next to the Wigeon (Mareca.)
Tribe II. Serrirostres. I considered it more correct to
institute this tribe of saw-billed Natatores, for the Mergidse,
Carbonidse, &c., because the mandibles of their bills are armed
with sharp teeth like those of a saw, indeed, very diflerent
from the LamellcB of the former tribe, than to continue them,
as in the Cuvierian classification, among the Lamellirostres.
Still I ought to remark, that some authors designate the man-
dibles of the Trogons and Pteroglossi as serrated, but these
are more strictly cut in, or jagged, along their exterior mar-
gins ; and they would, therefore, be better defined by the
term Incisirosfres. Further, relying on two or three dis-
tinctions, I have deemed it expedient to raise the genera
Mergus and Merganser to the dignity of a family, of which
the former is its type.
Subtribe 3. Totipalmw, the entire webs of Baron Cuvier.
Here we ftnd the hind-toe, or thumb, brought forward, or
rather to the inner side of the foot, and connected with the
three fore-toes by a strong and total web.
Family 2. Fregatida.. I have retained Bay's generic title
of Fregata for the man-of-war bird, and have placed it in a
family separated from the Carbonidw ; because the feet of that
singular bird, although having the hind-toe brought to the
side, and united with a single palmature, differ much, in the
toes being only webbed for about one-third of their length,
and not, as in the two following families, as far as the claws.
These last, resembling the talons of the Raptores, are sharp
and strongly curved. The Fregata is an American species ;
and its appearance in Europe has been accidental. The
Prince of Canino says, it was only once seen at the mouth of
the Weser in January 1772.
Family 3. Carbonidce, or the Cormorants, have been neces-
sarily divided by myself from the Pelecanidoe of authors for
several important reasons ; among which is the absence of all
serrated denticulations on the edges of the mandibles of the
latter. So likewise, the remarkable form of the entire bill,
I
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 69
and the shape and character of the pelicans being more allied
to those of the swans, have confirmed such a division.
Tribe III., Sacculirostres is so named from the peculiar
bag, or small sack, affixed to the lower mandible of the Peli-
canidw. In fact, the pelican is one of the most extraor-
dinary of the European water birds, and, like the Flamingo
or Avocet, ought to constitute, joer se, a distinct family.
Tribe IV. Tubinarirostres. This tribe I have derived
from M. Illiger's " Tubinares," on account of the tubularnos-
trils, which extend along the top of the upper mandible of
the different genera in this group. This, and the two fol-
lowing tribes, are furnished with long wings ; and they are
included in Cuvier's *' Longipennes," or second family of Pal-
mipedes.
Family Procellariadw. As C. L. Bonaparte had previously
done, so I have separated the Petrels, &c. from the Laridce^
and restricted to them the p;*esent family.
Tribe V. Medionarirostres. The nostrils in the skuas,
gulls, and xemes, are placed about the middle of their bill ;
hence the term, which I have assigned to this tribe, will con-
vey to it a proper signification.
Family Laridw. From the similitude of the bill of the
genus Cataractay or Cascade skua, to that of Frocellariadve^
I have selected for it the first station in this family.
Tribe VI. Subulirostres, This is a very natural tribe
taken from the subulate, or awl-shaped beaks of the terns
and sea swallows.
Family Sternidw. I have differed from G. L. Bonaparte,
M. deSelgs- Long champs, and others, in forming a new family
Sternidce, quite independent of the Laridce. Also, the genus \^
Pontochelidon has been instituted by me for the reception of
Sterna Caspia, and S, Anglica.
Tribe VII. I have designated Cuspidirostres, because of
the strong sharp-pointed beaks of the several genera, which
much resemble the point of a spear. They "all have short
wings — ^the " Brachyptera" of Okvier ; — but which, for the
sake of uniformity of expression adopted for my last three
subtribes, I have called BrerAfmnes, as I find M. de Selys%
Lonychamps has likewise done.
70 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds.
Family 1. Podicipidce. From the remarkable feet of the
grebes, their want of a tail, and some other characters, I
perfectly coincide with the last mentioned author in separat-
ing them from the family of Colymbidce.
Tribe VIII. Sulcirostres. I have bestowed this title upon
the present tribe, in order to point out their peculiar hills
as well as the grooves or furrows (sulci) that are apparent
in them.
Family I. Mormonidoe. This family has been established by
myself for the little auk, puffin, razor-bill, &c., since they prin-
cipally differ from the true auks {Alcidce) in their short, but
more perfectly developed wings%with which they are able to
fly, notwithstanding the statement of Cuvier and others to
the contrary.
Ohs. With respect to the suhtribes, I must here make
some explanation, viz., that where one subtribe is intended to
embrace more families than those comprised in a single tribe,
for example, the subtribe Longipennes may include the
Larida3 and Sternidae, as well as the Procellariadae ; and the
subtribe Brevipennes, the Podicipidae, Colymbidae, and Mor-
monidae, the term suborder might perhaps be more correctly
substituted for that of subtribe, and in lieu of standing after
be placed before, the tribe ; but this I will leave to the judg-
ment of others. And I will only add, that I have preferred,
for the sake of a uniform terminology, to name all those sec-
tions subtribes, and not some of them " suborders," and
others " subtribes."
Subtribe 6. Imperfectipennes, in consequence of the wings
of the true auks {Alcidce) being so imperfect^ as to be useless
for the purpose of flying, I have formed this subtribe for
them, and for the foreign family of Penguins (Spheniscidce),
which is furnished with very similar wings
Family 2. AlcidcE. Herein are contained the restricted
auks ; and I thus station the wingless auk {Alca impennis)
the last in my arrangement of the European birds.
As I have previously m-entioned, that I would begin my
general classification of birds by the condor (Sarcoramphus
gryphus), and I would terminate it by the smallest species of
penguin ; so, in like manner, it will be seen, that I have com-
John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds. 71
menced my distribution of the birds of Europe by the genus
Neophron, a bird endued with great vigor of flight, and have
concluded it by iliQ flightless Auk. It will also be observed,
how I have placed the subtribe Brevipennes intermediately
between the Longipennes on the one side, and the Imperfecti-
pennes on the other, and thus gradually leading from the
web-footed birds, possessing considerable power and swift-
ness of wing, to those which have almost no wings, or at
least are entirely deprived of the faculty of flying. For, in
reality, the wings of the latter are most imperfectly developed ;
being merely rudimentary, with scale-like feathers, and use-
less as instruments of flight, they are alone serviceable as
fins for the functions of swimming and diving. Thus we find
the birds comprised in my last family, Spheniscidw, or the
Penguins, in their form, habits, and marine mode of life, ap-
proximating most closely to the Turtles, or Amphibia, and
to the following class of Fishes.
Lastly, in the preceding classification, the great increase
in the number of families may, at first sight, appear objection-
able to some ornithologists. But, on a further examination of
it, I trust, their objections will be removed ; because I feel
satisfied, that, by a more minute and extended division of the
birds into such groups, we arrive at a more perfect and
natural arrangement : and, at the same time, I consider it
to be the only accurate method of attaining to a full know-
ledge of the diff'erences presented in their organization. And
I am exceedingly gratified to find, that the view of that most
distinguished philosopher and observer of nature, Alexander
Ton Humboldt, precisely agrees with my own ; for, in his work
** Cosmos,'" now publishing (vol. i., p. 388), he thus writes :
" In the natural history of birds and fishes, the system of
grouping into many small families is more certain than that
into a few divisions, embracing larger masses.""
( 72 )
Marine Deposites on the Margin of Loch Lomond. By the
Rev. J. Adamson.
As to beauty or magnificence of scenery, Loch Lomond
has many interesting features common to it with the other
Scottish lakes which occupy the chasms of the great primi-
tive mountainous district ; it is, however, more closely con-
nected with a different set of hollows. Tt is the most cha-
racteristic example of a group of long ranges which lie to-
gether, and nearly parallel to each other, but which, instead
of following the direction of the mountain recesses, stretch
almost perpendicular to it, generally cutting through the
transition and part of the primitive rocks, together with the
older members of the secondary class. All the others of
those valleys are connected with the sea by means of the
Frith of Clyde, and are partly filled with its salt water, and
enlivened by its appropriate animals. There is reason
enough to believe that this was at one time the condition of
Loch Lomond ; but at present we find there, along with the
ocean's depth, only the remains of its inhabitants.
One of these marine deposites was about eight or ten feet
above the highest level of the present waters. It lay in a
small hollow, under a projecting precipice of limestone, close
to the margin of the lake. The only remains of it now are
some fragments of a very compact calc-tuff, containing sea-
shells disseminated through it. The limestone rock is now
quarried; and the calc-tuff, being the most accessible and
richest limestone, was first carried off for use. The shells
appear to have been accumulated in a situation exposed to
the stalactite droppings from the lime rock. In the interior
of the tufa, they are chiefly the Myrtilus edulis, or its conge-
ners ; but the surface is sprinkled with imbedded specimens
belonging to the genera Planorbis and Helix, which have ac-
cidentally fallen upon it. This quarry is on the east side of
the lake, about two miles north-west from the mouth of the
Endrick, and on the north side of the great range of islands
composed of secondary conglomerate, which stretches across
the southern end of the lake. The limestone is on the lands
of his Grace the Duke of Montrose, and is worked for his
Marine Deposits on the Margin of Loch Lomond. 73
tenantry, but is not much esteemed for agricultural pur-
poses. It is highly crystalline in its fracture, appearing to
be irregular layers of crystals separated by quartz and clay.
There are other two places which afford shells, in very
different circumstances. These points are similar in situa-
tion ; both are in slight bays opening to the north, and pre-
senting a steep gravelly beach to the water. One of them
is on the island of Inch Lonach, opposite to the village of
Luss ; and the other on the lands of H. Macdonald Buchan-
nan, Esq., near the south-east angle of the lake. The shells
begin to appear about half-way between the highest and low-
est, or the winter and summer, surfaces of the water, which
varies in this respect about six feet. After removing a slight
covering of coarse gravel, we find a thin bed of clay, of dif-
ferent shades of brown, passing into yellow colours, as we
descend. In the upper, or brown clay, are found shells of
the following species. Those marked ? are doubtful. Buc-
cinum reticulum f Nerita glaucina, Tellina tenuis ? Cardium
edule, Venus striatula, Venus Islandica, Nucula rostrata
young, Pecten obsoletus. Anomia ephippium young, Balanus
communis, Balanus rugosus. Echinus escnlentus. A skil-
ful conchologist would discover many others, from the nu-
merous traces of them in the clay. Those shells appear to
have been deposited generally in an entire state, and many
are found with both valves in their natural position. The
Balanus is still slightly attached to the Venus or Pecten ;
and the spines of the Echinus are found clustered in the clay
inclosing its fragments ; so that they must have been either
covered by water to a considerable depth, or thrown on a
beach not much exposed to waves. Few of them, however,
can be extracted entire, as several of the species are always
in a state of gritty chalk ; but many complete and beautiful
specimens of the Pecten can easily be procured. Few of
their fragments appear on the exposed part of the beach,
but, during summer, many may be seen a few feet under wa-
ter. Those deposites cannot be more than about twenty-two
feet above the present level of the sea. It is probable that
an attentive inspection of the margin of the lake would dis-
cover many others similar to them. A little attention may
74 Rev. J. Adamson on the
be necessary to an opinion which we sometimes hear ex-
pressed in conversation, *' That such hollows as Loch Lo-
mond, with a bottom so far below the level of the ocean,
ought, if ever they were filled by it, still to retain its salt
water." It seems to be imagined that the sea- water, on ac-
count of its greater specific gravity, is still retained in the
deep pits of these chasms, and that the fresh-water glides
unmixed above it, or changes by evaporation and renewal,
without affecting its deeply buried mass. It does not seem
difficult to demonstrate the improbability of this supposition.
For the phenomena of solution can be accounted for only on
some hypothesis such as this, — that where a film of pure
water is applied to a film containing salt in solution, there is
a tendency in them to unite, and form a compound of less
saturation than the latter; which compound has a corre-
sponding influence on the nearest, or any number of satu^
rated films beneath it, and will, in like manner, be aff'ected
and changed by the next pure film above it, and successively
by any number of films in any depth of water. The changes
will cease only when an equilibrium of attractions has ta^-
ken place through the whole mass, which will then be in a
state of medium and uniform saturation. Whatever be the
time required for the combination of two films, that time
would be an element in the equation, representing the whole
period necessary to produce uniformity, which must, there-
fore, depend on the number of films, or be a function of the
depth. Changes of temperature at the surface would very
much accelerate the result, by sending downward dense films,
having the highest degree of attraction, until stopped among
others having the same specific gravity, arising from greater
saturation ; so that, probably, no long time would elapse be-
fore nearly uniform saturation took place, even though the
combined depths of the fluids were considerable. But the
tendency towards uniform saturation is opposed in a manner
which must quickly draw off the salt-water from a hollow,
such as a lake, because the surface water, in general, is con-
tinually changing, and the water which has become slightly
saturated flows off, and is replaced by that which is purer,
and has a greater attraction for the salt ; and to satisfy this,
Marine Deposits on the Margin of Loch Lomond. 75
augmented attraction, the progress of change downwards
must be much more rapid. Consequently, however slowly
the tendency to equilibrium may act in an isolated solution,
— in the other case, as the progress of exhaustion goes on
more rapidly, we may expect that no long period would be
required to destroy all perceptible saltness. That this pe-
riod has long since passed, in our Scottish lakes, can scarcely
be doubted ; but though we be not able to bring up sea-water
from the bottom of any of them, yet all are interesting ob-
jects of observation. Loch Lomond, in particular, as the ad-
ditions it receives are so uniformly distributed over the whole
space of its margin, is admirably fitted for experiments on
the changes or stability of temperature in deep waters. —
Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, vol. iv., p. 334.
Address delivered at the Anniversary Meeting of the Geologi-
cal Society of London, on 20th February 1846. By Leonard
Horner, Esq., V.P.R.S., President of the Society.*
Following the example of my predecessors, I propose to
notice, in the first place, in the order of formations, such par-
ticulars relating to the sedimentary rocks as have most ar-
rested my attention during the last year, contained in the
works I have had an opportunity of examining with care.
But before proceeding to that systematic review, it may be
useful, for the reason I have already assigned, to give an
outline of the great features in the geology of Russia in
Europe, and the eastern boundary of the Ural Mountains,
described by Sir R. Murchison. And although he nowhere
speaks in these volumes in the first person, but associates
his fellow-travellers with him in all he tells us, if for the
sake of brevity I more generally name him when I have occa-
sion to refer to the authors, I hope I shall not be considered
as detracting in the least degree from the merits of M. de
Vemeuil and Count Keyserling.
Geology of Russia.
Russia in Europe is " one huge depository basin,'* encircled
* Extract from a copy sent to us by the author.
76 Horner^ s Geological Address.
on the west and north by the granites of Sweden and Fin-
land, and on the north-east, east, and south-east, by the chain
of the Ural Mountains, which are mainly composed of plu-
tonic and metamorphic rocks. It consists, to a very great
extent, of a series of undulations, composed of incoherent
clays and sands ; but although in that unindurated state, not
consisting of modern detritus, but being very ancient depo-
sits that have undergone no consolidating process ; for the
whole of European Russia appears to have been exempted
from igneous agency. No eruptions have tilted up the beds ;
but the elevatory forces, to which, however, it has been indu-
bitably and repeatedly subjected, have raised the vast undu-
lating plains en masse, without a break. The oscillations of the
land having left the strike more or less horizontal, scarcely
any traces of unconform^bility of strata of different ages are
to be met with, and beds separated in time by vast intervals
are in the same parallelism of juxtaposition as if they were
the members of one group. Thus at the mouth of the Vaga,
a tributary of the Dwina, about 150 miles south of Archan-
gel, post-pliocene beds are seen resting conformably on lime-
stones with Producti and Corals of the Permian rocks ; and
an observer unacquainted with fossils might view the two
as parts of an unbroken series.
We have some most instructive examples of similarity of
lithological characters between deposits of the most different
ages, consequent, perhaps, in some degree upon that absence
of consolidating processes to which I have alluded. A grit
occurs in Sweden, described as a recomposed granite or grani-
tic gneiss, which constitutes the base of the Silurian system
in that country, that can scarcely be distinguished in mineral
character from a tertiary grit in central France. Lower Si-
lurian deposits charged with fossils common to the crystal-
line slaty rocks of other regions often occur as greensands
and half-consolidated mud-like limestones. We have Silu-
rian bituminous schists that resemble the hard beds of the
Kimmeridge Clay. In one region a carboniferous limestone
has all the characters of a soft tertiary deposit ; in others,
Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian rocks, are not dis-
tinguishable from the younger secondary or even tertiary de-
posits of Western Europe ; and even an oolitic rock of Mip
Geology of Russia. 77
cene age cannot be distinguished from the Great Oolite of the
Jurassic period.
These facts are most valuable, as shewing that at all pe-
riods sedimentary rocks were formed, as they must now be
forming, at the bottom of the sea, from the detritus of ad-
joining land, by the same agencies of disintegration as are
now at work ; and that then, as now, gravel, sand, and mud,
were the forms which such detritus must have taken, to be
afterwards compressed together, and consolidated by a va-
riety of causes acting more or less intensely in different situa-
tions.
But Sir R. Murchidon also observes, that the connection
between the character^ of the fossils and the nature of the
matrix in which they are imbedded, is more pointedly brought
before the observer who ranges over the boundless tracts of
Russia, than in any other country which he has examined.
Notwithstanding the absence of violent dislocations, the va-
rious Russian formations, though horizontal, or so nearly so,
that they may be all considered conformable to each other,
are as distinctly separable by their included remains, as in
those typical and dislocated tracts where geologists first
worked out*their order. And these observations hold good
in the newer as well as in the older deposits ; thus, in the
regions of the Volga, greensand, ironsand, chalk, and chalk
marl occur, in which the same groups of fossils prevail as in
the rocks of Britain and France, which hold the same rela-
tive place in geological succession ; and pure white chalk,
containing some characteristic organic remains, extends from
the British Isles to the confines of Asia.
That so vast a tract of country, unlike most other parts of
Europe, has been so little broken up locally by igneous erup-
tive rocks, may perhaps, with great probability, be ascribed
to this, that a safety-valve was opened, an enormous crack
or cleft was made on the east, by a subsidence of the coun-
try on the west, through which the pent-up elastic force and
the molten matter escaped, and thus the high pressure was
taken off from under the broad expanse. The Ural Moun-
tains, bounding Russia in Europe on the east, are a compa-
ratively narrow ridge, made up of igneous rocks and sedi-
78 Horner 8 Geological Address.
mentary palaeozoic deposits ; and through fractures in the
latter the igneous rocks were erupted, after having produced
in them those changes of structure which we call metamor-
phic ; that is, having caused them to change their original
chai*acters, and assume a crystalline aspect,^ — the force act-
ing with such intensity as in many places to overturn the
strata, and so invert the order of superposition on the flanks.
But it has not been by one great fissure only that the igneous
rocks have been erupted ; " other parallel outbursts and up-
heavals have taken place along the same line at subsequent
epochs ;" and the authors shew grounds for belief that the
present form of these mountains was the result of more than
one elevatory process, and that there was a period when, as
a low ridge, they formed the western shore of a great conti-
nent to the east, that now called Siberia, and even at so re-
cent a period as when that continent was inhabited by large
quadrupeds closely allied to existing species. The Urals ex-
tend from Nova Zemlia to the Caspian, through nearly thirty
degrees of latitude, in a direction nearly north and south,
but seuding oif branches to the east and west at both extre-
mities, one of which, on the north-west, the Timan range, was
first explored geologically by Count Keyserling in 1843 ; and
in no part of this long line are they divided by any great
transverse valleys, nor does their general altitude exceed
from 2000 to 2500 feet. No parts of the author's descrip-
tions are of higher geological interest than those in which
they speak of the Urals ; and to some of the more striking
features of that chain of mountains I shall afterwards more
particularly refer.
The immediate substructure of the whole area of Russia in
Europe is composed of the palaeozoic rocks, which, on the
northern division, are covered by sand, clay, and blocks. A
narrow band of Silurian deposits, the older members of that
group, stretches along a great part of the shores of the Bal-
tic, succeeded eastward by Devonian and Carboniferous for-
mations, each occupying a vast extent of country ; and, lastly,
that highest member of the palaeozoic order of strata to which
the authors have applied the term " Permian System^'' the
most widely spread of all, occupying a region more than twice
Geology of Bussia. 79
the size of the whole kingdom of France. Of the whole range
of the secondary deposits between the Permian and the ter-
tiary, two only have been met with, viz., that division of the
oolitic series which includes the Oxford clay and its asso-
ciated rocks, and in South Russia cretaceous rocks, including
a white chalk very similar in mineral characters and zoologi-
cal contents to that of England. The oolitic rocks overlie the
Permian, but in detached masses, and with a surprising uni-
formity of character from the Icy Sea to the southern extre-
mity of the Urals. There are, besides, but in Southern Rus-
sia only, some limited tertiary districts, and of all ages, from
Eocene to Pleistocene.
The most remarkable feature in the physical geography of
the country described, and which may justly be said to be,
in the words of the author, " one of the most singular fea-
tures in the ancient condition of the surface of the globe
which modern researches have brought to light,'' is that ex-
hibited by the region around the Caspian ; aifording the most
unequivocal proofs of great changes in the relative levels of
the land and water, at a period geologically recent. Over a
vast region a calcareo-argillaceous deposit exists in nearly
horizontal stratification, abounding in freshwater shells and
others analogous to, and to a great extent identical with,
species now living in the Caspian, attaining, in some places,
a thickness of 300 feet ; which appears to prove, that, at the
time it was deposited, there existed an inland sea, of brackish
water, exceeding in size the present Mediterranean, and of
which the present Caspian is the diminished relic. Of this
remarkable deposit, designated *' Steppe" and " Aralo-Cas-
pian limestone" by the authors, I shall speak more particu-
larly when I refer to the Tertiary formations.
This inland sea, although called by Sir R. Murchison a Me-
diterranean, he does not the less consider to have been en-
tirely separated from the Western Ocean of that period, by
a barrier, produced by the elevation of the marine tertiary
beds of Miocene age, on which this Steppe limestone, in many
places, is seen to repose. To affirm with certainty that the
surface of this inland sea once stood at a higher level than
that of the Caspian at the present day, and which, according
80 Horner's Geological Address.
to very careful measurements recently made by order of the
Russian Government, is now proved to be 83*6 feet below
the Black Sea, would require a most extensive series of local
observations and levellings around the region occupied by
the Steppe limestone, attended with very great difficulties.
It is the opinion of some travellers who have carefully ex-
amined parts of this region, that, during the historic period,
and within modern times, the surface of the Caspian has been
diminishing, from the disproportion between the evaporation
from so large a surface in that climate, and the sources of
supply of water. Whatever portion of the land occupied by
the Steppe limestone is now on a level with, and below the
level of the Black Sea, may have been laid bare by this gra-
dual lowering of the water of the Caspian ; but whatever
portion is above that level, and the greatest proportion of it
is so. must, it is evident, have been upraised ; and there is
abundant proof of volcanic forces being in activity in that
region to the present time. To endeavour to trace the direc-
tion of the vast body of water that must have been displaced
by the upheaved land, as there could be no direct outlet to
the ocean, would be an inquiry of great interest ; for it can
hardly be doubted that there must be evidence of a deluge or
deluges having swept over a large portion of that part of
Asia, and more especially if the elevatory forces acted sud-
denly.
As the leading features of the physical structure and the
great geological divisions of the continent of North America
are well known, I do not think it necessary to give any ge-
neral outline of the country described by Mr Lyell in his
lately-published " Travels ;" but I shall have frequent occa-
sion to refer to the information contained in that work on
several points of great importance, in speaking of some of
the additions in the past year to our knowledge of the great
groups of rocks, and to our better acquaintance with ques-
tions of mineral structure, changes in the form of the land,
and distribution of organic remains.
I shall now offer some remarks on the several great groups
Silurian Bocks. 81
of formations, and shall begin with the loWest fossiliferous
deposits.
Silurian Mocks.
It is certainly remarkable, considering the short time that
has elapsed since Sir R. Murchison first proposed the sepa-
ration of the lower beds of tlie palaeozoic strata into one great
series, that rocks which appear to be clearly made out to be-
long to the Silurian system should have been already recog-
nised in so many regions remotely distant from each other.
That they constitute a great part of Europe has been shewn
by many writers/ The geologists of the United States and
Mr Lyell have told us how widely they are spread over the
northern States of North America ; and we learn from Cap-
tain Bayfield that they occur extensively all round Lake
Huron ; northward towards Hudson's Bay ; along the north-
ern side of the valley of the St Laurence, eastward to the
Strait of Belle Isle, and on the western coast of Newfound-
land from that strait to its southern extremity. M. Alcide
D'Orbigny has described them as extensively developed in
South America ; and from Mr Darwin we learn that they
probably exist in the Falkland Islands, adjoining the farthest
extremity of that continent. It is also more than probable,
from the information we already possess, that they exist in
Australia. The rocks were known, and had been partially
described, but they were not understood ; they were known
minerailogically, and deposits separated by great intervals
of time were classified together, under the vague, uncertain,
general term of graywacke, orgraywacke-slate, or clay-slate,
The clear development of the system, and lucid descriptions
of the normal types in the Silurian region of Britain, dispelled
the obscurity that hung over the history of these ancient
beds ; and now geologists are at work in all countries, mak-
ing out the great features of resemblance, and registering
those variations in mineral and fossil contents, dependent on
geographical position and other loca.1 causes, which are found
to prevail more or less in all formations.
It appears to be now the opinion of those geologists who
have most carefully and ex.tensively studied th^ sedimentar
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. F
82 Horner's Geological Address.
rocks which contain the oldest forms and first traces of organic
life, that from the highest beds of the Lower Silurian rocks
to the lowest deposit in which organic remains have been
found, there had been no great variation in the circumstances
under which these beds were deposited, although there is evi-
dence of a long duration of time, in which gradual changes in
animal life took place, some species diminishing in numbers,
others becoming extinct, others continuing to exist through-
out the whole range, and a few appearing in the lower por-
tion of these beds, which, from a marked general change of
forms, are classified as the Upper Silurian rocks. This view
you will see developed in the address delivered by Sir R.
Murchison from this chair four years ago,* where he states,
that the conventional line that had been drawn between the
Lower Silurian and the Cambrian rocks beneath them had
no longer any reference to strata identified by distinguishing
organic remains ; for the same fossils are found in strata on
each side of that demarcation. He also stated, on the same
occasion, that '' the zone of fossiliferous strata characterized
by the Lower Silurian Orthidse are the oldest beds in which
organic life has been detected," and his belief that " many
of the subjacent rocks, sometimes even when in the form of
gneiss, mica-schist, talc-schist, chlorite -slate, &c., are nothing
but metamorphic rocks, in less altered parts of which the
same typical fossils are observable." In his recent work on
Russia he asks the questions, " Can we lay open the earliest
vestiges of animal life, and amid palaeozoic forms trace back-
wards primeval history to a protozoic type ? Can we sepa-
rate such protozoic strata from those which went before
them, and were deposited ere life had been breathed into the
waters .^"t To the latter question I am disposed to answer,
that the mere negative fact that we have not yet discovered
traces of organized bodies in the lowest strata, certainly
does not warrant the inference that no living thing had yet
existed, or our saying, that any strata were deposited " ere
life had been breathed into the waters.'* If these strata con-
tain a particle of undoubted detrital matter, a grain of rolled
* Proceedings of the Geol. Soc, vol. iii., p. 642.
t Eussia and the Ural Mountains, &c., vol. i., p. 1.
Silurian Focks. 83
sand, they afford positive proof of the pre-existence of land
and water, and atmospheric destructive agency to supply the
materials of these strata, and the bed of a sea to receive them.
Is it not highly improbable that this sea was untenanted \
There must doubtless be a lowest sedimentary stratum, the
materials of which must have been derived from land com-
posed of non-sedimentry rocks. By "non-sedimentary" I
mean a rock, the formation of which may, with the greatest
probability, be ascribed to igneous action. Whether it was
granite, or any other form of igneous rock with which we are
acquainted, we cannot tell ; because of the great uncertainty
as to how far the lowest sedimentary deposits have under-
gone changes by metamorphic action ; but that silica and clay
and very little lime entered into its composition is evident
from the predominance of the two former earths in all the
oldest strata, and the comparative rarity of lime.
But animal and vegetable life may have existed while the
land that afforded the materials for the first sedimentary de-
posits was wholly composed of un stratified rocks. Nor is it
necessary to have recourse to the obliteration by metamor-
phic action in all cases where there are no traces of organic
remains. We have learned from the valuable report by Pro-
fessor Edward Forbes of his researches in the -^gean Sea,
that there are profound depths in which no animals and no
vegetables seem capable of living ; and thus, as there may
be now, and probably are, deposits of vast thickness produced
without organic bodies having ever lived in or upon them, in
the profound depths of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, so is
the absence of such remains in any stratum no proof, that
when it was deposited there might not have existed above it
a sea teeming with life. I cannot support this view better
than by quoting what Professor Forbes says on the subject :
" As in the sea there is a zero of vegetable life, so, we may
fairly infer, is there one of animal life. All deposits formed
below that zero will be void, or almost void, of organic con-
tents. The greater part of the sea is far deeper than the
point zero ; consequently the greater part of deposits form-
ing will be void of organic remains. Hence we have no right
to infer that any sedimentary formation, in which we find few
84 Horner's Geological Address.
or no traces of animal life, was formed either before animals
were created, or at a time when the sea was less prolific in
life than it now is : it might have been formed in a very deep
sea."*
The muddy waters of the Amazon stretch SOO miles intd
the Atlantic Ocean, and their sediment must be deposited in
depths far below the zero of animal and vegetable life. Un-
less, therefore, portions of dead organisms be transported dowu
steep slopes by submarine currents, from a shallower sea to
those depths, and be mingled with the sediment, rocks must
now be forming over the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, which,
when upraised in future ages, will exhibit as few traces of
living bodies having existed when their component parts were
deposited, as we can discover in the slates of Wales and of
Westmoreland.
We have received as yet only a part of the results of the
labours of Professor Forbes, and wait with impatience for
his greater work ; but what he has already made known to
us of the changes that take place in organized bodies in dif*
ferent zones of depth, and in different states of sea-bottom,
have so extensive a bearing upon many of the inference^
hitherto drawn as to the age of deposits, and to changes of
climate from fossil contents, that some of our most esta-
blished doctrines ought to be revised, and their soundness
tested by their accordance or otherwise with these conditions.
Others hypothetical ly anticipated that rocks might have been
formed in depths un suited to animal and vegetable life ; but
Professor Forbes was the first, I believe, to establish, by
actual observation, that such is the fact as to depth, and also
the first to shew, as an element of geological reasoning, the
connection that subsists between the nature of the sea-bottom
(often changing on the same spot) and the living bodies it
supports, and thus to demonstrate the existence of laws of
the highest geological importance, and which must have pre-
vailed throughout the whole range of formations.
Among the communications read before the Society since
* On the light thrown on Geology by submarine researches. Jameson's
Edin. 1*hil. Journ., A|>ril 1844.
Silurian Bocks. 85
the last Anniversary, we have had two hy Professor Sedg-
wick on the comparative classification of the fossiliferous
strata of North Wales with the corresponding deposits of
Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, both of them
in continuation of his memoir read in November 1843. I
will not attempt to give any abstract of the contents of these
papers, because I could not do so, to any useful purpose,
without extending my observations to an inconvenient length ;
but I recommend all who are desirous of acquiring an accu-
rate knowledge of the geological topography of those parts
of our island, and of becoming acquainted with many facts
that throw light on that obscure and difficult part of geology,
to study the memoirs themselves; those of 1843 and of
March 1845 are published in the first volume of our Journal,
and the last of them will appear in the number of next May.
It is to Professor Sedgwick we are mainly indebted for the
knowledge we possess of the geological structure of those
parts of our island ; it was he who first grappled with their
very complicated and difficult conformation ; for nearly
twenty years he has been labouring to decipher their ob-
scure and complex characters; and, since the discovery of the
Silurian key, he has been enabled to make out a clear and
intelligible outline of the history of these regions, which> for
a long time, geologists seemed to shrink from all attempts
to understand. Let us hope that the learned author will
soon gather together his scattered materials, and bring out
a new edition of his work, with all the corrections and illus-
trations which his latest observations enable him to supply.
When we have that volume, and can study it with the com-
mentaries, and the additional illustrations of accurate sections,
which we in part have, and may soon look forward to receive
from Sir H. de la Beche and his fellow -labourers in the Geo-
logical Survey of Great Britain, we shall possess a very full
and correct knowledge of these older sedimentary deposits,
and the igneous rocks with which they are associated, and
therefore of the most remote periods of geological history ;
and we may, perhaps, then indulge in a little excusable na-
tional vanity of possessing another standard with which the
structure of exter^sive and distant regions of the earth will
86 Horner's Geological Address.
be compared, in addition to what we already have of many
of the palaeozoic and secondary formations.
A paper by Captain Bayfield read before us last April, and
published in November in our Journal, gives us much im-
portant information on the Silurian rocks that prevail to a
great extent in Canada ; and we are indebted for a more
accurate knowledge of the same class of rocks in the Isle of
Man to the Rev. J. Cumming, in the first part of a descrip-
tion of that island, read last June.
We learn from the " Geology of Russia," that both in that
country and in Scandinavia, a series of ancient deposits
cover a great tract of country, which, in all their great fea-
tures, and often in their minute characters, are identical with
the Silurian series of the British Isles, and that they are
equally divisible into two distinct groups, and are also over-
laid by a true Devonian formation. In the central and
southern parts of the continent of Sweden, the lower Silurian
rocks only occur, but the adjoining islands of Oesel, Dago,
and Gothland are mainly composed of Upper Silurian rocks,
affording better types than Wenlock or Dudley. Describing
the rocks near Katchkanar, on the eastern flank of the Urals,
Sir R. Murchison says, " The banks of the river Is are com-
posed for a considerable distance of white limestone, thickly
tenanted by large Pentameri, some Trilobites, and shells
which we hailed as true Silurians, and worthy of the very
region of Caractacus. We were enchanted when we disco-
vered myriads of them undistinguishable from the Pentame-
rus Knightii ; so that, seated on the grassy banks of the Is,
we might for a moment have fancied ourselves in the mea-
dows of the Lug at Aymestry.'' Of the Lower Silurian fos-
sils of Russia a few only are absolutely identical with forms
of the same age in the British Isles ; but the mass of them
is essentially the same as that of the mainland of Scandi-
navia ; which region being intermediate between England
and Russia, is found to contain a considerable number of
forms common to deposits occupying the same position in
both the other countries. In the lowest part of the Lower
Silurian rocks that skirt the southern shores of the Baltic, a
grit occurs so abounding in a minute shell, the Ungulite or
Silurian Rocks. 87
Obolus (which has a great affinity to the Lingula), as to form
entire beds. Here we have a parallel to those beds in the
Silurian series of the British Isles, abounding so copiously
in the Lingula attenuata. It is also a parallel to beds occur-
ring at a far more distant point, on the opposite side of the
Atlantic. Mr Lyell, in describing the Potsdam sandstone,
the lowest member of the Silurian series in North America,
as it occurs on Lake Champlain, says, *' In many places this
most ancient of the fossiliferous rocks of New York is
divided into laminae by the remains of innumerable shells of
the genus Lingula, They are in such profusion as to form
black seams like mica, for which they were at first mistaken.
It is highly interesting, that in this lowest fossiliferous bed,
one of its commonest organic remains should belong to a liv-
ing genus, and that its form should come very near to species
now existing. Throughout so vast a series of ages has Na-
ture worked upon the same model in the organic world !"
The Silurian system of the northern countries of Europe
is, as a whole, closely analogous to that of Great Britain ;
and it proves that wherever the sediments of the same age
in the two regions resemble each other in lithological tex-
ture, such similarity is accompanied by a close approximation
and frequent identity in the associated organic remains.
When the fossils from the Silurian beds of Northern Europe
were compared, Mr Lyell informs us, by M. de Verneuil
with those brought by him from America, there was a great
distinctness ; but the representation of generic forms, whe-
ther in the organic remains of the Upper or Lower Silurian
strata, was most clear and satisfactory. The geologists of
New York make three distinct groups in the Lower Silurian,
and four distinct groups in the Upper Silurian series of that
country, and Mr Lyell is of opinion that these divisions are
based on sound principles ; that is, on mixed geographical,
lithological, and palseontological considerations ; the analogy
of European geology teaching us that minor subdivisions,
however useful and important within certain limits, are never
applicable to countries extremely remote from each other or
to areas of indefinite extent. The Silurian rocks are deve-
loped in North America on a great scale, and, like those of
88. Horner' & Qeological Address.
Russia, are little disturbed from their original horizon tality,
making the order of their relative positions clear and unequi-
vocal in both countries. In lithological characters there is
a considerable resemblance on both sides of the Atlantic —
mudstones, sandstones, and limestones prevailing. In Ame-
rica, however, there is an intercalated group in the Upper
Silurian system, to which nothing analogous has yet been
observed in Europe, as far as I am aware. It consists of
red, green, and bluish marls, with beds of gypsum and occa-
sional salt-springs, the whole being from 800 to 1000 feet
thick, and undistinguishable from parts of the Upper New
Red Sandstone or Trias of Europe. A similar intercalated
group of red and green argillaceous marls, with gypsum and
salt-springs, is met with in the middle of the Devonian group
in Russia. This occurrence of gypsum and muriate of soda
associated together in the older strata, as they are in the
Pliocene, as well as in many intermediate periods, is a re-
markable circumstance ; and it would be an investigation
well deserving the joint labours of the chemist and the geo-
logist, to endeavour to account for the origin of these chemi-
cal formations.
With regard to the fossil contents of the Silurian beds of
North America, it appears that " while some of the species
agree, the majority of them are not identical with those found
in strata which are their equivalents in age and position on
the other side of the Atlantic. Some fossils which are iden-
tical, such as Atrypa affinis, Leptizna depressa and Leptcena
euglypha, are precisely those shells which have a great verti-
cal and horizontal range in Europe — species which were
capable of surviving many successive changes in the earth's
surface, and for the same reason enjoyed, at certain periods^
a wide geographical range. It has been usually affirmed
that in the rocks older than the carboniferous, the fossil
fauna in different parts of the globe was almost everywhere
the same ; but Mr Lyell adds, " that, however close the gene-
ral analogy of forms may be, there is evidence in the Silu-
rian rocks of North America of the same law of variation in
space as now prevails in the living creation ;" and in another
place he states, that, with regard to the proportion of species
Devonian Bocks, 89
common to the Silurian beds of Europe and America, whe-
ther of the upper or lower division, he can confidently affirm,
that it is not greater than a naturalist would have antici-
pated, from the analogy of the laws governing the distribu-
tion of living invertebrate animals.
While the remains of fucoid plants are met with abun-
dantly in the Silurian rocks of Europe, and in the lowest
members of the series, I am not aware that any vestiges of
land plants have yet been discovered in them^ Sir R. Mur-
chison says, that, in the older palaeozoic rocks of Russia, he
met with no signs of terrestrial fossil vegetables. Fucoids are
plentifully distributed through every part of the series in
North America ; and Mr Lyell also states, that, in the Hamil-
ton group, which corresponds in many of its fossils with the
Ludlow rocks, and which, singularly enough, is met with in
the neighbourhood of Ludlowville, remains of plants allied to
Lepidodendron have been found associated with fossils agree-
ing perfectly with European Upper Silurian types ; and that
other plants allied to these, and ferns, have been met with
in the lowest Devonian strata of New York, associated with
fossil shells closely allied to the Silurian. Thus we have
additional proof, if any were wanting, of the existence of dry
land at the time of the deposition of these Silurian beds.
Devonian Rocks.
The Silurian rocks of Russia in Europe are covered con-
formably by deposits, the identity of which, with the Devon-
ian, or old red sandstone, series of the British Isles, Sir R.
Murchison and his companions clearly made out. They
extend over an area of not less than 150,000 square miles, a
superficies greater, by nearly one-third, than that of Great
Britain and Ireland together. This monotony of feature over
so vast a space is even greatly surpassed by the Permian
rocks ; and when it is considered that this uniformity is com-
bined with a stratification rarely deviating from the horizon-
tal, never thrown up into natural sections, and that the in-
vestigation of them can only be carried on where the beds
are exposed in the banks of rivers, geologists can appreciate
the tedium and labour of exploring such a country, and can-
90 Horner's Geological Address.
not too highly praise the patience and perseverance of Sir
R. Murchison and his fellow-travellers.
Although recognised by a remarkable degree of identity
in fossil contents, and especially in regard to ichthyolites, as
a deposit of the same age as the old red sandstone in our own
country, it is lithologically very different in most places.
Sometimes it is made up of numerous alternations of flat-
bedded, light yellowish limestones, often so impregnated with
magnesia as to be scarcely distinguishable from some of the
magnesian limestones of England, or the Zechstein of Thu-
ringia ; at other times it is composed of red and green flags
and marls ; and, on the flanks of the Urals, this series is re-
presented by black and calcareous slaty masses. Moreover^
it is comparatively rare as a red sandstone. But the fishes
and shells the beds contain soon rectify the mistake as to
the true position of these rocks, into which their mineral as-
pect alone might lead the most experienced geologist, should
he not have an opportunity of seeing them reposing on true
Silurian rocks, and covered by carboniferous strata. In re-
gard to the evidence from fossil contents, it is so complete in
these Russian deposits as not only to establish their own
position, but to corroborate the soundness of the reasoning
which unites the old red sandstone of Scotland with the slaty
limestones and schists of Devonshire and the Continent ; for
they contain the characteristic fishes of the former, and the
molluscs of the latter. The examination of Russia, Sir R.
Murchison further observes, has afforded numberless proofs
that the ichthyolites and molluscs which in Western Europe
are separately peculiar to smaller detached basins, were there
inhabitants of many parts of the same great sea. Of the
known Russian ichthyolites, two-thirds are specifically the
same as those of the same epoch in Great Britain.
The neighbourhood of Dorpat in Lithuania is a very re-
markable locality for the ichthyolites of this age ; they are
there met with of so gigantic a size, that they were supposed
to belong to Saurians, until the closer examinations of Pro-
fessor Asmus of Dorpat, M. Agassiz, and Professor Owen,
disclosed their true nature. A note by Professor Owen, in
the Appendix to the ** Geology of Russia," is highly instruc-
Devonian Rocks. 91
tive, as shewing the great importance of an examination of
the internal structure of the substance of fossil teeth by the
microscope, in determining the classes of animals to which
they have belonged. He points out, by a striking illustra-
tion, how the microscopic labours of the philosopher, in his
closet, may have the most important effect on questions
that appear to be far remote from the subject of his inquiry.
Had the teeth, under consideration, continued to be held to
belong to Saurians, the matrix in which they are imbedded
having a close resemblance in mineral character to magne-
sian limestone, or to members of the new red sandstone
series, borings for coal might have been carried on in many
parts of Russia, involving vast losses ; but the teeth having
been proved to belong to a class of fishes that are character-
istic of the old red sandstone, all expectations of finding pro-
fitable seams of coal are known to be vain.
If we now cross the Atlantic with Mr Lyell, and visit the
Silurian region of North America, we find that series of rocks,
covered by others, having characters corresponding with those
of the Devonian group in Europe. The rocks of the Appa-
lachian chain consist of deposits of the Silurian, Devonian,
and Carboniferous periods. A deposit called, by the Ameri-
can geologists, the Waverley sandstone, which, Mr Lyell is
of opinion, corresponds with the old red sandstone of Europe,
intervenes in the state of New York between the coal-beds
and the Upper Silurian groups, in strata of considerable
thickness. On the western side of the Alleghanies, at Ports-
mouth on the Ohio, the same formation also occurs, but
greatly diminished in thickness, some of the subordinate beds
being reduced to a very thin slate, others entirely lost, con-
formably with what is observed in other sandstones and asso-
ciated slates and shales in that country, viz., by a gradual
thinning of the beds as they extend westwani, and as they
become more distant from that great eastern continent, now
sunk beneath the waters of the Atlantic, frona which the ma-
terials composing them must have been derived.
Our knowledge of the old red sandstone oi* Devonian group
has been much advanced by the monograiph of the fishes of
that series of deposits by M. Agassiz, which has just been
92 Horner's Geological Address.
completed ; a work of the highest merit, in which the skill
with which the anatomy of the singular forms of that earliest
creation of fishes is worked out is quite admirable, and which
also contains many highly important general views. This
work was undertaken at the request, and has been carried
out by the assistance, of the British Association, and is one
of the many valuable gifts for which science is indebted to
that body.
The history of the old red sandstone supplies a useful
lesson to geologists, by shewing them the danger of coming
to hasty conclusions, and founding generalizations, on nega-
tive evidence. The formation itself was long supposed to be
confined to a limited portion of England ; it is now known to
extend over large districts in the British Isles and on the
Continent of Europe. It is most extensively developed in
the northern and western parts of the United States, as may
be seen by inspecting Mr Ly ell's Map ; and we learn from
Captain Bayfield, that a sandstone which prevails greatly in
Upper Canada, and which may be traced all round Lake Su-
perior, resting on granite, appears to be of the same age a***
the old red sandstone, or Upper Silurian ; and he also ob-
served in the district of Gaspe, at the south entrance of the
river St Lawrence, a calcareous sandstone with Devonian
characters. It appears, too, from the work of Mr Strzelecki
on New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, published last
year, thai the greater part of the palaeozoic rocks he examined
in Australia and Tasmania are the equivalents of the DevO'
nian series. In like manner, this bed was long held to be
barren of organic remains ; Sir Henry de la Beche, in the
third edition of his " Manual of Geology," published in ISSS-,
which was no doubt brought up close to all that was known
at that time, says, " Few organic remains have been dis-
covered in thai^ rock.'' When M. Agassiz, in 1833, began
the publication of his " History of Fossil Fishes," he knew
of none older than the coal-measures, and only a small num-
ber in them ; and he tells us, that when he first learned that
fishes had been discovered in the old red sandstone, during
his visit to ScotJiind in 1834, not more than four species
were known. Five years afterwards, when Mr R. Murchi*
Devonian Bocks. 93
son published his " Silurian System," ten genera and seven-
teen species of fishes, and fifteen genera and twenty-three
species of mollusca, are enumerated by him as belonging to
the middle and lower Devonian beds. In the recent work
on Russia, M. de Verneuil enumerates forty-six species of
fishes and sixty-six species of mollusca, which he and his fel-
low-travellers found in the same group in that country. M.
Agassiz, in his " Monograph of the Fishes of the Devonian
System," raises the number of genera to forty-three, and of
species 105, belonging to six or seven families ; and he tells
us that Monte Bolca itself, hitherto reported to be the loca-
lity of all others most rich in species of fossil fishes, does
not contain a greater number ; adding, that, as only a com-
paratively small portion of the rocks of this system has been
examined, many additions may be expected. M. Agassiz is
shortly going, it is said, to North America, where he will
very likely discover many new forms. It is gratifying to
find him ascribing the main success of his researches in this
'field " aux recherches perseverantes et au zele infatigable
des geologues Anglais."
But not only is there this great variety of genera and
species, but the number of individuals found in some locali-
ties immense. Thus, in some parts of Russia there are brec-
cias almost wholly composed of the scales and plates of the
Asterolepis, and the remains of the Pterichthys are so abun-
dant in the geodes of Lethen Bar, in Nairnshire, as to have
been collected in cart-loads. But our wonder is not alone
excited by the great variety and number of vertebrate ani-
mals of a high organization in strata so very low in the order
of formations ; there are many most remarkable features in
the history of this early part of the animal creation which the
researches of M. Agassiz have brought to light ; for these,
however, I must refer you to the work itself.
M. Agassiz, in speaking of the lowest beds in which the
remains of fishes have been found, makes the following im-
portant observations on the probability of their existing in
still lower beds : — " If we have not yet been able to recog-
nize remains of fishes below the Lower Ludlow rocks, I do
not think that we ought from that to conclude that fishes do
94 Horner's Geological Address.
not exist even in the oldest of the fossiliferous beds ; far
their extraordinary abundance in the Devonian series, and
the distinct recognition of them in certain Silurian beds,
where, it is true, they are but imperfectly preserved, suffi-
ciently indicates, that, on its first appearance, that class of
animals was contemporary with the development of the types
of all the classes of invertebrate animals."
Mr Lyell states, that the lowest rock in which ichthyolites
have been traced in America is the Clinton group, which may
be considered the bottom of the Upper, or top of the Lower
Silurian series. Ichthyolites have recently been found in the
Wenlock shale ; another step in descending order, and so far
in support of M. Agassiz's views.
The Carboniferous Series.
Although rocks of this age cover a great extent of country
in European Russia, extending over a tract equally vast in
horizontal extension with that occupied by the Devonian
series, there are few places, except in the coal-field of the
Donetz in the south, where the coal-seams are more than a
few inches in thickness ; and where they are thicker, they
are so poor in quality as to be rarely worth working. The
great coal-fields of England, France, Belgium, and America,
have no well-marked equivalents there, nearly the whole of
the coal-beds in the empire being, like those of Ireland and
the coal-fields on the banks of the Tweed, included in the
lower members of the system ; which, with the sandstones,
shales and marls, are the equivalents of our mountain lime-
stone, as is proved by the identity of a large series of fossils.
From a section of the works at Lissitchia-Balka, on the river
Donetz, we learn, that in a depth of 900 feet there are twelve
seams of coal, the united thickness of which amounts to thirty
feet ; they are associated with sandstones, grits, and shales ;
and eight beds of sandstone are intercalated (containing, from
the uppermost to the lowest, marine shells), the united thick-
ness of which is fifty feet, three of the beds of limestone
resting directly on the coal. Many of the forms of Equi-
setacea, Calamites, Sigillariae, and Ferns, are of the same
species as those of the west of Europe ; and the carbonife-
k
Carboniferoua Series. 96
rous fauna of Russia contains numerous forms identical with
those in the same class of rocks in the British Isles.
A glance at the geological map which accompanies Mr
LyelFs " Travels," shews the enormous development of the
coal series in the territory of the United States, and that it
occupies no inconsiderable space in Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick. We learn from the report of Mr Logan, on the
Geology of Canada, which I shall presently refer to, that a
great coal-field covers nearly the whole of New Brunswick,
A considerable part of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, and
the south-west corner of Newfoundland. The greater part
of the carboniferous series in North America belongs to the
upper portion, and not only abounds with numerous and thick
beds of coal, but, on the western side of the Alleghanies
especially, they are so little disturbed, and lie so nearly
horizontal, that the coal is quite easy of access ; and where
the strata are intersected by rivers, it can be obtained with
little trouble or expense. The great coalfield of Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and Ohio, extends continuously from north-east to
south-west for a distance of 720 miles, its breadth being in
some places 180 miles.* That extending over parts of Illi-
nois, Indiana, and Kentucky, is not much inferior in dimen-
sions to the whole of England, and consists of horizontal
strata, with numerous rich seams of bituminous coal. An-
other carboniferous deposit, 170 miles by 100, lies farther to
the north, between Lakes Michigan and Huron. I may give
* On the 17th of March I received a letter from Mr Lyell, dated the 16th
of February, at Tuscaloosa in Alabama, containing a notice on the Alabama
coal-field, and which was read at the Geological Society on the 25th of March.
He states that he had been examining three coal-fields, the existence of which
was unknown to him when he compiled his Map in 1844. They occur near
Tuscaloosa, in the centre of Alabama, more than 100 miles farther south in a
direct line than the southern limit which he had assigned to the Appalachian
ooal-field, and are situated on the Tombecbee, Great Warrior, and Cahawba
rivers. That on the Great Warrior river has been found by Professor Brumby,
of the University of Tuscaloosa, to be no less than ninety miles long from
north-east to south-west, with a breadth of from thirty to forty miles. These
ooal-fields are portions of the great Appalachian coal-field, with the same
mineral and palaeontological characters. Mr Lyell promises a more derailed
account of his observations. — April 3. 1846.
96 Horner's Geological Address,
the following as an example of the almost boundless re-
sources of fuel which this country affords. At Brownsville, on
the Ohio, there is a seam, ten feet thick, of good bituminous
coal, commonly called the Pittsburg seam, which may be fol-
lowed the whole way to Pittsburg, fifty miles distant. " The
boundaries of this seam have been determined with consider-
able accuracy by the Professors Rogers in Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and Ohio ; and they have found the elliptical area
which it occupies to be 225 miles in its longest diameter,
while its maximum breadth is about 100 miles, giving a
superficial extent of about 14,000 square miles."
Mr Lyell states that at Blossberg in Pennsylvania he was
much struck with the surprising analogy of the coal-measures
to those of Europe in mineral and fossil characters. The same
grits or sandstones are found as those used for building near
Edinburgh and Newcastle ; similar black shales occur, often
bituminous, with the leaves of ferns spread out as in a her-
barium, the species being for the most part identical with
British fossil plants ; there are seams of good bituminous
coal, some a few inches, others several yards, in thickness,
associated with beds and nodules of clay ironstone ; and the
whole series rests on a coarse grit and conglomerate, con-
taining quartz pebbles, very like our millstone grit. The
same similarity of mineral and fossil characters to European
coal-measures is found to prevail throughout North America.
That remarkable circumstance of the very general occurrence
of a sandy clay abounding in Stigmarise, beneath the seams of
<joal, observed in the Welsh and other coal-fields of Britain,
is also found to prevail in those of North America. Mr
Lyell saw numerous instances of this : thus, at Pottsville in
Pennsylvania, there are thirteen seams of anthracitic coal
(true bituminous coal supposed to be altered by metamorphic
action, a subject to which I shall allude hereafter), several
of them from eight to ten feet thick, and in a vertical posi-
tion : on the side which had been the roof of the coal, con-
sisting of shales, he observed numerous ferns with stems of
Sigillaria, Lepidodendron, and Calamites ; on the other side,
that which had once been the floor, he found an underclay
with numerous Stigmarise, often several yards, and even in
Theories of Formation of Coal. 97
some cases as much as thirty feet long, with their leaves or
rootlets attached.
Theories of the Formation of Coal.
It is scarcely possible to visit a coal-field, or to read the
description of one, without being led to theorize on its mode
of formation. The origin of coal has long been a subject of
great difficulty, nor has any theory been yet advanced with
which it has been possible to reconcile all the appearances
which the coal-measures exhibit, all the variety of forms in
which coal is found. Indeed the more closely we examine
the phenomena, the more do we feel the distance we are
from a satisfadtory explanation of them. According to some
geologists, coal-seams and their accompanying strata are
accumulations of land plants and stony detritus carried down
by rivers into estuaries, and deposited in the sea, where the
vegetable matter undergoes changes that convert it into
coal. Others are of opinion that coal is the altered residuum
of trees and smaller plants that have grown on the spot
where we now find them ; that the forests were submerged
and covered by detrital matter, which was upraised to form
a foundation and a soil for another forest, to be in its turn
submerged and converted into coal, and that thus the alter-
nations which the vertical section of a coal-field exhibits are
to be accounted for.
In the works of the last year to which I have chiefly re-
ferred, we find the former theory maintained by Sir R. Mur-
chison as most generally applicable ; Mr Lyell is more inclined
to adopt the latter. Sir R. Murchison dwells upon the facts
of the alternations of coal with limestones containing marine
remains, which are so frequently met with in most countries
where coal-fields prevail ; and as a striking instance of this,
he refers to the Donetz coal-field, which I have already alluded
to. A remarkable example of a similar kind, occurring in
Maryland, is mentioned by Mr Lyell. At Frostburg, a black
shale, ten or twelve feet thick, full of marine shells, rests on
a seam of coal about three feet thick, and 300 feet below the
principal seam of coal in that place. The shells are refer-
able to no less than seventeen species, and some of them are
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. G
98 Horner's Geological Address,
identical with, and almost all the rest have a near affinity to
species found in the Glasgow and other coal-measures.
The theory which refers the coal to trees and plants which
have grown on the spot where it now rests, is illustrated by
Mr Lyell by observations he made in Nova Scotia, on the
south shore of the Bay of Fundy, at a place called " The Jog-
gins." He states that there is a range of perpendicular cliffs
composed of regular coal-measures, inclined at an angle be-
tween 24 and 30 degrees, whose united thickness is between
four and five miles. About nineteen seams of coal occur in
the series, and they vary from two inches to four feet in
thickness. The beds are quite undisturbed, save that they have
been bodily moved from the horizontal position in which they
must have been deposited to that inclination they now have.
In these coal-beds, at more than ten distinct levels, are
stems of trees, in positions at right angles to the planes of
stratification, that is, which must have stood upright when
the coal-measures were horizontal. No part of the original
plant is preserved, except the bark, which forms a coating of
bituminous coal, the interior being a solid cylinder of sand
and clay, without traces of organic structure, as is usually
the case with Sigillaria, and like the upright trees in the
coal-measures cut through by the Bolton Railway. The
trees, or rather the remains of stems of trees broken off^ at
diff^erent heights above the root, vary in height from six to
twenty-five feet, and in diameter from fourteen inches to four
feet. There are no appearances of roots, but some of the
trees enlarge at the bottom. They rest upon, and appear to
have grown in, the mass which now constitutes the coal-
seams and under-lying shale, never intersecting a superior
layer of coal, and never terminating downwards out of the
coal or shale from which the stem rises. The underclay or
shale often contains Stigmariae. Here then, he states, are
the remains of more than ten forests, which grew the one
over the other, but at distant intervals, during which each,
from the lowest upwards, was successively covered by layers
of great thickness of clay and solid stone, the materials of
which must have been arranged and consolidated under the
surface of water, and the vegetation of every layer in which
the upright trees are fixed must have grown on land.
Theories of Formation of Coal. 99
The formation of coal-measures like the above, and of all
others where there is evidence that the vegetable matter was
not drifted to the place it now occupies, but must have grown
•on the spot, is then accounted for, by supposing, that the land
sank below the level of adjoining water ; that gravel, sand,
and mud were washed down from the land that did not sink,
and formed layers of clay and sandstone over the submerged
forest, either in sufficient quantity to rise to the surface of
the water and form land for the next forest, which was sub-
merged in its turn, or that a contrary internal movement
took place, which again raised the submerged land ; and that
for every seam of coal, one above the other, a similar series
of changes must have taken place. It is to this oscillatory
movement that Mr Lyell ascribes the formation of the above
remarkable phenomena in the Bay of Fundy, and others of
a like nature.
At first sight, both theories seem well-founded, when ap-
plied to the particular coal-fields described ; and it is possible
that these eminent and experienced geologists may be of
opinion that both are true, as applied to different situations.
But I see great difficulties to the full acceptance of either,
in many of the phenomena which, on a close examination,
we find coal-fields generally present. As examples, I will
call your attention to two sections that have very recently
been published ; the one a section of the western part of the
South Welsh Coal-Field, included in the valuable series lately
issued from the office of the Geological Survey of Great Bri-
tain, the work of W. E. Logan, Esq., a Fellow of this Society,
so well known to us as an excellent observer, and as inti-
mately acquainted with coal-fields, and who was formerly
attached to that Survey ; the other is entitled a " Section of
the No via Scotia Coal-Measures, as developed at the Jog-
gins, on the Bay of Fundy, in descending order, from the
neighbourhood of West Rugged Reef to Minudie, reduced to
vertical thickness." It is also the work of Mr Logan, who
is now employed by the Government of Canada to make a
Geological Survey of that country, and is contained in his
report to the late Governor Sir Charles Metcalfe, and trans-
mitted by the Governor to the Legislative Assembly. And
100 Horner's Geological Address,
here I may remark, in passing, that while we, as geologists,
have to thank that provincial Government for commencing
so useful an undertaking, we have also the satisfaction of
feeling convinced that it will be prosecuted with vigour by
the present governor, Earl Cathcart, one of our own body,
and, as we know, an able and active geologist. This is a
section of the same series of coal-measures so carefully ex-
amined and described by Mr Lyell,* though with less mi-
nuteness of detail as to the lithological characters and dimen-
sions of the several beds. The phenomena exhibited in the
above sections are not peculiar to them ; they are to a great
extent common to all coal-fields, particularly in the higher
parts of the carboniferous series.
Before giving the analyses I have made of these sections
I wish to call to your recollection that in both theories it is
assumed, that the deposition of the coal-measures took place
in the sea. Mr Lyell speaks of the accumulations having
taken place in a sea : he says, " It by no means follows that
a sea four or five miles deep was filled up with sand and se-
diment ; on the contrary, repeated subsidences may have en-
abled this enormous accumulation of strata to have taken
place in a sea of moderate depth."
The example from South Wales is a vertical section, t re-
presenting the beds as they are known to succeed each
other in descending order, the dimensions being the thick-
ness of each bed at right angles to the plane of stratification.
The coal-measures rest upon carboniferous limestone, in an
inclined and somewhat waved stratification ; and although
these measurements would vary in difi'erent places, from the
swellings and thinnings-out which all strata exhibit more or
less when traced to a distance, they are probably not far
from the average amount over a large area.
1. From the top of the highest bed to the limestone, the
sum of the measurements amounts to nearly 7000 feet ; that
is, the beds must have been originally deposited over each
other in horizontal or nearly horizontal stratification to that
thickness.
* " Travels in America," vol. ii., p. 198.
t No. 1 in the series, illustrating the horizontal section No. 7.
Theories of Formation of Coal. 101
2. Reckoning only the greater divisions, when a difference
of mineral character takes place, there are, besides the coal-
seams, 340 beds, from a few inches to 190 feet thick, with-
out alteration of mineral composition ; involving, in the lat-
ter cases, long periods without any change in the nature of
the detritus washed into the water where the deposition was
going on.
3. These beds consist of sandstones, arenaceous and argil-
liferous slates, and clays, alternating without any apparent
order of succession ; sometimes one sometimes another lying
upon the coal ; and occasionally, but not frequently, the shale
upon the coal is said to be carbonaceous.
4. Interstratified with these beds are eighty-four seams of
coal, from one inch to nine feet thick ; the highest being
covered by a series of beds of sandstone, &c. 200 feet thick ;
the lowest seam separated from the carboniferous limestone
by 1340 feet of similar sandstones and shales, making the
coal-hearing strata 5460 feet in thickness.
5. The seams of coal occur at very unequal distances ; some
are separated by a few inches only of shale or sandstone,
others by as much as 360 feet.
6. There are twenty -three seams, occurring in succession,
most of which are not distinguished by any term indicating
quality ; in two instances, one a three-feet seam, they are said
to be bituminous, and several seams are said to be binding,
which means the same as caking, a quality which only richly-
bituminous coals possess ; the rest are merely called " Coal."
These twenty-three seams, with their interstratified sand-
stones and shales, occupy 1840 feet.
7. Then succeed thirteen seams, in a space of 1000 feet
and nine of these are described as " not bituminousJ'^
8. The thirty- seventh seam, in descending order, is said to
be anthracitic, and fourteen seams below it are so designated :
then come four seams merely called " Coal," and all very
thin. Beneath the lowest of these, and separated by sixty
feet of arenaceous shales and sandstones, comes a bed of
coal, four feet six inches thick, called Anthracite, with five
feet of underclay ; beneath this are seven seams called An-
thracite, and three more are intercalated called anthracitic.
102 Horner's Geological Address,
9. Between the thirty-seventh seam, called Anthracitic, and
the lowest of all, which is called Anthracite, there are twenty-
two seams intercalated, without having any distinctive term
affixed to them, most of them very thin ; but about midway,
three occur near together, without intermediate sandstones
and shales, but separated by clay containing Stigmarise, in
the following manner : —
Ft. In.
Coal, 1
Underclay, 4
Coal, 4
Underclay, ........ 8
Coal, 1 4
Underclay, 8
10. The seams of coal, whether termed merely " Coal,"
or bituminous, or anthracitic, or anthracite, have, with very
few exceptions, underclays, and these, generally, but not
uniformly, contain Stigmariae. The two lowest beds of an-
thracite have underclays of five feet each, the third from the
bottom has seven feet of underclay, each with Stigmariae.
The underclay is of variable thickness ; in no part more than
fourteen feet, and, except in a few instances, is always said
to contain the Stigmaria ficoides.
11. There appears to be no relation between the thickness
of the underclay with Stigmarise, and that of the coal resting
upon it. The thickest seam of coal, which is nine feet, rests
on three feet of underclay; and there are instances of a seam
of coal only an inch thick, with five feet of underclay stated
to be filled with S tig mar ice.
12. A bed of clay, eight feet thick, with Stigmarise, has no
coal upon it, but a foot of carbonaceous shale ; and above
that forty feet of arenaceous shale, then four feet of clay with
Stigmariae, covered by three inches of coal, and that overlaid
by twenty-five feet of argillaceous shale and sandstone.
13. In no case is any diff'erence stated in the mineral cha-
racter of the sandstones or shales either over or under the
Anthracite seams, or of any other coal-seam.
The example from Nova Scotia is a vertical section, on the
Theories of Formation o Coal, 103
same plan as that in South Wales ; and the coal-measures
there also rest upon limestone, containing organic remains,
" among which there is, in some abundance, a bivalve shell,
which Mr Logan recognised as indentical with Producta Lyelli
of Windsor in Nova Scotia." This limestone at Windsor,
Mr Lyell describes as " a lower carboniferous limestone."
The total vertical thickness of the coal-measures is more than
double that of the South Wales section, being 14,570 feet.
a. The number of distinct beds in the section, of which
separate measurements are given, is 1114, from six inches
to 138 feet thick, without change in mineral composition.
6. These beds consist of quartzose sandstones, grits and
conglomerates, and of arenaceous and argillaceous shales, all
of various shades of red, grey, and green, without any appa-
rent order of succession, sometimes one sometimes another
lying upon the coal, and occasionally a carbonaceous shale is
associated and intermixed with the coal-seams.
c. Interstratified with these beds are seventy-six seams of
coal, from an inch to two feet thick, the far greater propor-
tion very thin. The aggregate thickness of the seventy-six
seams is only forty-four feet, and there is about the same
aggi'egate thickness of carbonaceous shale. The highest
seam is covered by a series of beds of sandstones, conglome-
rates and shales, 2274 feet thick. Beneath the lowest seam
of coal there are 2800 feet of sandstones and shales of the
same nature as those above, but having numerous beds of
grey concretionary limestone intercalated. Thus the coal-
bearitiy strata have a thickness of about 9500 feet.
d. There are no terms attached to the word " Coal," indi-
cating any change of quality throughout the section. Some
of the seams are called " Coaly clay," others " Carbona-
ceous shale," mixed with the coal. The seams occur at very
unequal distances ; from a few inches apart to more than
1200 feet.
e. As in the South Wales section, the coal-seams usually
rest on beds containing StigmaruE, but, in a great proportion
of instances, these occur not in clay but in sandstone and
arenaceous shale. This under bed is from a foot to twenty-
seven feet in thickness ; in one place an understone witl^
104 Horner's Geological Address.
Stigmarioe ten feet thick has a seam of coal over it only an
inch thick.
/*. Between the sixty- seventh and sixty-eighth coal-seams,
the former with associated carbonaceous shale only fourteen
inches thick, there are 170 beds of sandstone and argillaceous
shale, from six inches to 132 feet thick, their aggregate
thickness being 2620 feet, and the sixty-eighth coal-seam is
only called coaly clay, two inches thick, with an underclay
containing Stigmaria leaves of six feet.
g. In the. 2274 feet of sandstones, &c. lying above the
highest seam of coal, fragments of plants are seen in several
of the beds ; they first occur in a bed of sandstone 218 feet
from the top, and the plants are converted into coal ; they
are often called " drift plants,'' and stated to be " coated
with coal/' In one bed there are " carbonized drift plants
of large diameter," say one foot, the stems lying prostrate ;
and 1520 feet below this, there is a sandstone " fit for grind-
stones, with a few Calamites nearly at right angles to the
plane of the beds, as if in situ, but forced over at the top ;''
this sandstone rests on a black carbonaceous shale two feet
thick, but it is not stated whether the Calamites are fixed in
this carbonaceous stratum. Between this last and the first
seam of coal, which is only one inch thick, there are three
feet of a " greenish-grey sandstone with Stigmaria ficoides^
succeeded by two feet of " grey argillaceous shale, with im-
pressions oi ferns and other plants.''
Between the seventy-fifth seam, half an inch, and the
seventy-sixth, two inches thick, are eighty-four beds of sand-
stone from a foot to 1 17 feet thick, together 1223 feet ; and
twenty of these beds, all called greenish-grey sandstone, are
said to contain carbonized drift plants ; and in one of these
beds there is said to be '' a vast confused collection of car-
bonized drift plants ; one lying prostrate measured twenty-
five feet in length, and about one foot in diameter at the
small end." So likewise in the 2800 feet of sandstones, &c.
vvhich are beneath the seventy-sixth or lowest seam of coal,
ten of the beds are said to contain carbonized drift plants.
h. At a distance of 4400 feet from the surface there occurs
a " bituminous limestone with shells and fish-scales," four
Theories of Formation of Coal. 1 05
feet thick, and lower down, in the succeeding 2000 feet, there
are eighteen beds of similar bituminous limestone, one of
them only half an inch thick, eleven of them under six inches,
and the thickest two feet. Neither the shells nor the nature
of the fish-scales are described, but that these are freshwater
limestones may be inferred from this, that several of them
are mixed with Stigmariae and other plants ; thus associated
with the twenty-eighth seam of coal is a '' bituminous lime-
stone and carbonaceous shale in alternate layers of one to
three inches, with plants, shells and fish scales ;" under the
thirty-first, '• with Stigmarise, shells and fish-scales ;" along
with the thirty-sixth, '* black bituminous limestone with
branches and leaves of Stigmarice well-marked, and very
minute shells ;" under the forty -fourth, " with Stigmariae
branches and leaves, fragments of other plants, and minute
shells." Mr Lyell states, that he observed " not far above
the uppermost coal-seams with vertical trees, two strata,, per-
haps of freshwater or estuary origin, composed of black cal-
careo-bituminous shale, chiefly made up of compressed shells,
of two species of Modiola, and two kinds of Cgpris.'^ It is
possible, therefore, that the " minute shells" of Mr Logan are
Cypris. Beneath the lowest seam of coal are intercalated
fourteen beds of what is called a " Concretionary limestone,''
and *' Limestone in concretionary nodules," from one to three
feet thick, one of them as much as eight feet, and in one in-
stance the limestone is said to contain carbonized drift
plants.
i. Several instances are given of stems of plants standing
perpendicular to the plane of stratification ; the first is 2160
feet from the top of the uppermost bed.
a. Calamites " as if in situ^
/3. Lower down, 570 feet below «, two upright stems of
Calamites, two inches in diameter, coated with coal, start
from the top of a dark-grey argillaceous shale, and penetrate
into a grey shale with sandstone above. The length of the
stems is not given.
y. Forty feet below is a foot of sandstone and then a foot
of shale, and '^ in this shale, and running into the sandstone
106 Horner's Geological Address.
above, is a Calamite at an angle of 45° : it appears to start
from a coal-seam below, an inch thick.
b. Beneath this, 640 feet, a seam of coal three inches thick
occurs, and from it " there springs up an erect Sigillaria,
eighteen inches in diameter, and it penetrates the shale and
sandstone above it, five feet of the plant being visible.'*
Underneath the coal is " a grey sandstone with Stigmaria
ficoides {under clay). ^''
g. The next instance given is 1038 feet lower down, where,
from a grey argillaceous shale, rises an upright Sigillaria,
one foot in diameter, penetrating to a height of two feet into
argillaceous shale above. There are sixteen feet of sand-
stone and shale below this Sigillaria, and without Stigmari(E.
^. The next is 270 feet lower, where, from an argillaceous
shale, " springs an upright Sigillaria of one foot in diameter ;
the lower part commences to spread." There are seven feet
of argillaceous shales, with ironstone balls, beneath this
Sigillaria, rvithout Stigmarice.
r}. The next is 228 feet lower, where, from a " grey,
crumbly, argillaceous shale, like underclay, but no Stigmarim
visible, spring several upright Calamites, three of them in
the distance of two feet, and eight more, the whole eleven in
the distance of twenty feet."
6. The next, 137 feet lower, in sandstone, are upright
Calamites, three in the space of a foot.
/. From a carbonaceous shale, a foot thick, sixty-two feet
lower, " spring up erect Calamites, penetrating an arenaceous
shale above two feet ; and there are seven in the space of
eight feet.''
X. The next is 254 feet lower, where, from an argillaceous
shale, springs an upright Sigillaria, four inches in diameter ;
five feet of it are seen in a sandstone above. Argillaceous
and carbonaceous shale beneath, six feet thick, does not con-
tain Stigmarice.
X. From a grey argillaceous shale, twenty-two feet lower
down, springs an upright Sigillaria. Its roots spread out
into the shale, which is ten feet thick, and does not contain
Stigmarice ; but over it lies a grey, crumbly, argillo-aren-
Theories of Formation of Coal, 107
aceous shale or sandstone with Stigmarice, in which six feet of
the stem are visible. From the root of the plant proceeds a
Stigmaria branch, which at first sight had much the appear-
ance of being a root of the Sigillaria, but close inspection
shewed that the two, although touching, were distinct.
/M-. The next is 108 feet lower, where, from a grey argil-
laceous shale, " springs an upright Sigillaria, eighteen inches
in diameter, penetrating an incumbent sandstone." Fourteen
feet of argillaceous shale and sandstone beneath do not con-
tain Stigmariae.
V. The next is 133 feet lower, where, from a thin seam of
coal with carbonaceous shale beneath, " rises an upright
Sigillaria ; the roots spread on the top of the coal ; the plant
is a foot in diameter, and only one foot of the length is
visible.'*
J. The next is 160 feet lower, where, from a red argilla-
ceous shale, springs an upright Sigillaria. Two feet of the
length is seen, but it is cut clean off at the top and at the
bottom by the measures which pass both without disturbance.
No SligmaricB occur for many yards below.
0. The next is 101 feet lower, where, from a grey argilla-
ceous shale, six feet thick, without StigmaritB, starts an up-
right Sigillaria, four inches in diameter ; it is planted two
feet in the shale, and penetrates the sandstone above, being
four feet in length altogether.
ie. The next is 362 feet lower, where, from a red and dark
grey variegated shale, twenty-eight feet thick, with small balls
of ironstone and Stigmaricd, arise two upright SigillaricB. The
roots of these spread out just on the top of the bed, and two
feet of the plant are visible. The roots of the other spread
out likewise, but they sink deeper into the shale by two feet,
and the plant penetrates farther into the superincumbent
sandstone.
g. The next distinct instance is 490 feet lower, where, from
a grey argillaceous shale, several upright Catamites from half
an inch to four inches in diameter, penetrate an incumbent
grey arenaceous and argillaceous shale, containing prostrate
carbonized plants. The roots of a Calamite three inches in
diameter, spread on the top of the shale underneath ; and
108 Horner's Geological Address.
twenty-one more Calamites are visible along the bank in the
space of twenty yards.
This is the last instance stated of stems of plants found in
the strata perpendicular to the plane of stratification ; the
seventeen instances thus occurring in a vertical thickness of
4515 feet.
Throughout the whole 7000 feet in the South Wales sec-
tion, and, if the limestones are, as is most probable, of fresh-
water origin, also throughout the 14,570 feet in the Nova
Scotia section, there appears to be no trace of any substance
of a marine character ; and from anything exhibited in the
composition of the beds, all might have. been deposited in
fresh water. It seems infinitely improbable, had the deposi-
tion taken place in a sea, that a series of accumulations of
this description, implying, be it observed, a vast duration of
time, with different depths and different qualities of sea-bot-
toms, should have taken place without a trace being discover-
able, either upon the surface of the submerged layers of ve-
getable matter, or in any part of the clays and sandstones
that lie upon them, of a marine animal or plant. It seems
no less improbable, that, in a sea skirting a shore, there
should be such an absence of agitation throughout so vast a
space of time, as to allow a tranquil deposit of layers of fine
detritus over a wide area, a spreading out of the leaves of
delicate plants in layers of clay and sand, like the specimens
in a herbarium, and a gradual and insensible passage, in many
instances, from one bed into another. Great as the North
American lakes are, I am not prepared to say that grave ob-
jections may not be urged against the probable existence of
such vast bodies of fresh water as would be of sufficient ex-
tent and depth to receive the beds of many coal-fields ; but
the absence of marine remains throughout vast depths of
strata in coal-fields is a remarkable fact, well deserving of the
most careful investigation.
That the terrestrial vegetable matter from which coal has
been formed has in very many instances been deposited in
the sea is unquestionable, from their alternations with lime-
stones containing marine remains. Such deposits and alter-
nations in an estuary at the mouth of a great river are con^
Theories of Formation of Coal. 109
ceivable, but whether such enormous beds of limestone, with
the corals and molluscs which they contain, could be formed
in an estuary, may admit of doubt. But it is not so easy to
conceive tl\e very distinct separation of the coal and the stony
matter, if formed of drifted materials brought into the bay by
a river. It has been said that the vegetable matter is brought
down at intervals, in freshets, in masses matted together, like
the rafts in the Mississippi. But there could not be masses
of matted vegetable matter of uniform thickness 14,000 square
miles in extent, like the Brownsville bed on the Ohio (the
Pittsburg seam mentioned in page 170) ; and freshets bring
down gravel, and sand, and mud, as well as plants and trees.
They must occur several times a-year in every river ; but
many years must have elapsed during the gradual deposit of
the sandstones and shales that separate the seams of coal.
Humboldt tells us {Koswos, p. 295), that, in the forest lands
of the temperate zone, the carbon contained in the trees on a
given surface would not, on an average of a hundred years,
form a layer over that surface more than seven lines in thick-
ness. If this be a well-ascertained fact, what an enormous
accumulation of vegetable matter must be required to form
a coal-seam of even moderate dimensions ! It is extremely
improbable that the vegetable matter brought down by rivers
could fall to the bottom of the sea in clear unmixed layers ;
it would form a confused mass with stones, sand, and mud.
Again, how difficult to conceive, how extremely improbable
in such circumstances, is the preservation of delicate plants,
spread out with the most perfect arrangement of their parts,
uninjured by the rude action of rapid streams and currents
carrying gravel and sand, and branches and trunks of trees.
In the theory which accounts for the formation of beds of
coal, by supposing that they are the remains of trees and
other plants that grew on the spot where the coal now exists,
that the land was submerged to admit of the covering of
sandstones or shales being deposited, and again elevated, so
that the sandstones or shales might become the subsoil of a
new growth, to be again submerged, and this process repeated
as often as there are seams of coal in the series — these are
demands on our assent of a most startling kind. In the
110 Horner's Geological Address.
sections above examined, we have eighty-four seams oiF coal in
the one, and seventy-six in the other. In the Saarbriick coal-
field there are 120 seams, without taking into account the
thinner seams, those less than a foot thick.* The materials
of each of these seams, however thin (and there are some not
an inch thick, lying upon and covered by great depths of
sandstones and shales), must, according to this theory, have
grown on land, and the covering of each must have been de-
posited under water. There must thus have been an equal
number of successive upward and downward movements, and
these so gentle, such soft heavings, as not to break the con-
tinuity or disturb the parallelism of horizontal lines spread over
hundreds of square miles ; and the movements must, more-
over, have been so nicely adjusted, that they should always
be downward when a layer of vegetable matter was to be
covered up ; and in the upward movements, the motion must
always have ceased so soon as the last layers of sand or
shale had reached the surface, to be immediately covered by
the fresh vegetable growth ; for, otherwise, we should have
found evidence, in the series of successive deposits, of some
being furrowed, broken up, or covered with pebbles or other
detrital matter, of land long exposed to the waves breaking
on a shore, and to meteoric agencies. These conditions, which
seem to be inseparable from the theory in question, it would
be difficult to find any thing analogous to in any other case
of changes in the relative level of sea and land with which
we are acquainted.
That some seams of coal were formed of vegetable matter
that grew on the spot where the coal now exists, seems to be
proved in several cases (such, for instance, as that of the
Bolton railway section) beyond dispute ; and that some seams
afford proofs of having been formed by drifted vegetable mat-
ter may be true. The coal-seams, and the beds associated
with them, could be formed in no other way than under water ;
and the accumulation of the vegetable matter near the surface
of it, and a very gradual submergence of the land, arrested
at unequal intervals, appear to be the conditions most recon-
cileable with the phenomena. This implies, however, a de-
* Humboldt's Kosmos, p. 295.
Theories of Formation of Coal, 111
position of the alternating sandstones and shales in very shal-
low water ; and as we often find these rocks in regular thin
stratification, forming the immediate bottom of coal-seams,
the question arises, Could such a laminated arrangement of
detrital matter take place in water so shallow as is here sup-
posed %
It is held by some geologists, that Stigmarue are the roots
of SigillaricB, and that the stems of the latter contributed
largely to the formation of coal. We should therefore ex-
pect to find, that where there is the greatest accumulation of
Stigmari(B there should be the thickest seams of coal : this is
not only not the case in the above sections, but sometimes
there is no coal at all (11, 12, e,fg^. In a bed of sandstone,
190 feet thick, in the South Wales section, and at a depth
within it of sixty feet, there is a seam of coal, four inches
thick, without underclay and without Stigmarice. Then
again, in the Novia Scotia section, we find stems of Sigillaricd,
standing at right angles to the plane of stratification, resting
on shales that do not contain any Stigmarm (i, ^, x, X, ^,).
Is this a proof that the stems are here, though apparently,
really not in the place where they grew 1 or is it a proof that
Stigmari(B are not the roots of SigillaricR ?
Several instances of upright stems given in the Nova
Scotia section by Mr Logan, can hardly be considered as
occupying the spot where they grew, certainly not that (g)
where it is cut clean off at the bottom. It is remarkable,
that, in the instances of upright stems described by Mr Lyell
and Mr Logan, if occupying the spot where they grew, roots
should so seldom be connected with them. Of all parts of
the tree, none, we should expect, would be more likely to be
preserved ; being protected by their covering of soil from
causes of destruction to which the stems were evidently ex-
posed, as we find them so generally cut off at a short distance
above their bases.
The whole subject of the theory of coal, whether we con-
sider its mode of deposition, the plants out of which it has
been formed, or the various changes which the vegetable
matter has undergone, to convert it into lignite, jet, common
coal, cannel coal, blind coal, and anthracite. Two or more of
these varieties often occurring in the same coal-field, is ex-
112 Horner's Geological Address.
tremely obscure, and presents a wide and interesting field
for future investigation. Before concluding this part of my
subject, into which I shall probably be thought to have en-
tered at disproportionate length, I would call your attention
to some difficulties which the South Welch section offers to
the commonly-received and, I believe, well-founded opinion,
that anthracite is bituminous coal, the volatile parts of which
have been driven off by heat acting gradually from below ;
for we see (8 and 9) that thin seams of common coal are
interstratified with anthracitic seams and with anthracite.
Neither do we find any signs of metamorphic action in the
underclay in immediate contact with the coal, nor in the
strata thaiblie between two seams of anthracite. We must
look to the chemist to explain all this, as well as for en-
lightenment on the formation of the different qualities of
coal ; but we must be contented to receive from him only
indications and resemblances ; for we must never forget,
that, in our experiments, we can never have the volume of
materials, the amount of pressure, and above all, the dura-
tion of time with which Nature has worked ; and each of
these, singly and combined, must have had important influence
in modifying the results.
Permian System.
The soundness of the principles on which Sir R. Murchi-
son and M. de Verneuil first proposed to establish this great
division, has been confirmed by subsequent observations both
by themselves and by others, and appears to be recognised by
the geologists of all countries. The name of Permian, too,
has been as willingly adopted as that of Silurian was, being
at once convenient and appropriate, and recalling the locality
where a true type of the series can be referred to. In their
first journey to Russia, only a part of the region where these
rocks predominate was examined ; but they saw enough then
to satisfy them that some new classification was called for,
and Sir R. Murchison developed his views and those of his
associates at the meeting of the British Association at Glas-
gow in 1840, and in a paper read before this Society in the
following spring. In his address as president at our anni-
versary in 1842, he referred to his second journey in the
Permian System. ^13
summer of 1841, and announced the discovery, that these
newer red sand deposits, covering an enormous portion of
European Russia, constitute a separate zoological system,
distinct in age from the Trias, and comprehending, in ascend-
ing order, our lower new red sandstone (the rothe-todte-Uegende
of Germany), our magnesian limestone (the Zechstein of Ger-
many), and the sandstones and conglomerates that constitute
the lower member of the hunter, or variegated sandstone of
the Germans (represented by the Gres des Vosges of France) ;
and leaving the Trias, composed of Upper Bunter-sandstein,
Muschelkalk and Keuper, as the lowest of the secondary
rocks, and the commencement of new orders in various forms
of life. Sir R. Murchison maintained the same views in his
address of 1843 ; and in the spring of 1844, in a paper which
he read to this Society, he gave a full confirmation of the
correctness of his original conclusions, after a more carefiil
examination of the fossils collected from the Permian series
in Russia, and comparison of them with those collected in
different parts of Germany and Poland, which countries he
visited for the special purpose of examining in situ the char-
acters of the lower members of the new red sandstone series
in their long-established typical forms. The Permian sys-
tem, therefore, consists of a series of conglomerates, sand-
stones, clays, marls, common limestones, and magnesian lime-
stones, all under a great variety of forms, and intermediate
between the Carboniferous and Triassic groups. It contains
a peculiar fauna and flora, mingled, however, with a propor-
tion of the animal and vegetable remains of the Carbonifer-
ous series, on which its beds repose, and thus connected with
the palaeozoic class of deposits ; whereas the Triassic series,
which succeeds in ascending order, has not yet been found,
it is said, to contain any palaeozoic form, whether animal or
vegetable. The Permian system, the authors of the *' Geo-
logy of Russia" observe, constitutes the remnant of the ear-
lier creation of animals, and exhibits the last of the partial
and successive alterations which those creatures underwent
before their final disappearance. The dwindling away and
extinction of many of the types, produced and multiplied in
such profusion during the anterior epochs, and the creation
of a new class of large animals, the Saurians, clearly an-
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXT. — JULY 1S46. U
114 Horner's Geological Address.
nounce the end of the long palaeozoic period, and the begin-
ning of a new order of zoological conditions.
It is remarkable, however, that palaeozoic vegetable forms
reappear, as I shall afterwards more particularly shew, in
beds much newer than the Trias ; for, in the Alps, in many
parts of a series of beds, which two such experienced geolo-
gists as M. Elie de Beaumont and M. Sismonda unhesitat-
ingly declare to belong to the Liassic period, plants have
been found which so skilful a fossil botanist as M. Adolphe
Brongniart has not been able to distinguish from species found
in the Carboniferous series. There is, besides, this peculiari-
ty, that while the base of the Permian rocks frequently oc-
curs in unconformable stratification with the Carboniferous,
there is no example, it is said, in any part of Europe, of the
Trias being found in stratification unconformable with the up-
per members of the Permian system. Too much stress, how-
ever. Sir R. Murchison observes, ought not to be laid on this
last circumstance, as evidence of a gradual passage in time
from the Permian to the Triassic series, because sedimentary
matter may be thrown down on the edges of older strata im-
mediately after their dislocation, and that dislocation may
have taken place without any great period having elapsed
since the strata were deposited. On the other hand, if the
sea-bottom were undisturbed, there might have been, so far
as mineral structure is concerned, an immense interval of
time between the deposition of two beds that are perfectly
conformable, and even have a similarity in lithological charac-
ter. And such, in fact, is the case. " Throughout whole
regions of Russia, the older deposits are clearly separable
from each other by means of their respective fossils, although
they are all apparently conformable."
The different memoirs, which Sir R. Murchison had read
before this Society, made us acquainted with the leading
features of the Permian system ; but his great work on Rus-
sia has not only given us the evidence, at full length, of his
opinions, but brings conviction to our minds by a more gra-
phic, and more impressive form of testimony than it was pos-
sible to produce in his abridged sketches. This system is
developed on an enormous scale in European Russia, repos-
Secondary Bocks. 115
ing upon carboniferous strata, throughout more than two-
thirds of a basin which has a circumference of not less than
4000 English miles ; that is, it occupies a space greater than
twice the area of P'rance.
The palaeozoic series in North America ends with the Car-
boniferous rocks ; for although that and the inferior groups
are developed on so great a scale, a narrow zone of red sand-
stone on the Atlantic slope, celebrated for containing the
footmarks of giant birds, which, in the opinion of Professor
Rogers, belongs to the Trias, is almost the only sedimentary
deposit between the Carboniferous and the Cretaceous rocks.
The Secondary Rocks.
The Trias, so largely developed in other parts of Europe,
is unknown in European Russia.
It is remarkable that, except one member of the oolitic
series, the whole of the secondary formations between the
Permian and Cretaceous groups should be wanting in Russia ;
and that, with the exception of a very limited and even
doubtful oolitic deposit in Virginia, not a trace of them
should have been found from the Atlantic to the Mississippi,
and even as far west from that river as any geologist has yet
penetrated. Professor Rogers rests his determination of
this deposit in Virginia as belonging to the lower part of the
oolitic series, solely on the striking resemblance as a group
of certain plants, accompanying a bed of coal which it con-
tains, to those which are found associated with the oolite coal
of Brora, Whitby, and other European localities. He says
that, "judging by lithological indications alone, perhaps no
more probable conclusion would have been reached on the
subject than that of the able geologists Mr Maclure and Mr
R. C. Taylor, the former of whom assigned this deposit, con-
sisting of slates and of coarse grits composed of the mate-
rials of granite so little worn as to have the aspect of that
rock in a decomposing state, and resting upon gneiss, and
without any calcareous bed, to the period of the Old Red
Sandstone ; the latter to the " transition carboniferous de-
posits." If it be true, that, in the Alps, species of plants
identical with those of the carboniferous period have been
116 Horner's Geological Address.
found in undoubted Jurassic beds, it becomes doubtful whe-
ther the mere " resemblance as a group " of the plants in the
Virginian beds is conclusive evidence, opposed as it is by the
lithological character of the deposit, and the most remark-
able circumstance of the entire absence of the oolitic series
in any other part of the American continent. In a letter I
had from Mr Lyell, who last December passed through Vir-
ginia, he informs me that he had seen some specimens of
coal plants and ichthyolites from this deposit, which throw
some doubt on its being of the oolitic age, especially when
he compares the list with those from Connecticut, and that
he intends to return to the spot in April next, in the hope of
being able to determine their true age more precisely.
The only member of the oolitic series found in Russia is a
representative of our Oxford clay and the beds immediately
associated with it, — that which the French geologists call the
Terrain Oxfordien, Nor, where these Jurassic beds occur, do
they occupy any great extent of surface, but are in detached
spots, at remote intervals, in isolated basins, patches or
stripes. They are composed of slightly coherent dark-colour-
ed pyritous shales, sands and calcareous concretions, sand-
atones and marlstones, very seldom solid calcareous beds, and
throughout with a surprising uniformity of character. They
are besides of little vertical thickness, compared to the same
series in other countries of Europe, the most considerable not
exceeding 400 feet. They form low masses, which no doubt
were at one time more connected, and have been subjected
to powerful denuding causes. They extend from the plains
of Prussia to the frontiers of Asia on the east, and to the
Frozen Ocean on the north. They are moreover seen to un-
derlie the cretaceous and tertiary deposits of Southern Rus-
sia, and appear in the steppes which lead from Europe into
Asia ; but in these southern regions they undergo a change
in lithological characters ; becoming siliceous and calcareous
grits, and resembling the conglomerates and grits found at
the base of the oolitic series in some parts of England ; their
fossil contents, however, continue the same.
Cretaceous Bocks. 117
Cretaceous Rocks.
These occupy a great part of Southern Russia, but are un-
known to the north of 55° of latitude. In regard to mineral
arrangement, there exists that sort of general parallelism
between the beds in Russia and those in Western Europe,
particularly with those of Eastern Germany, which we might
expect to find in strata of the same epoch, separated from
each other by great distances. Green sand, ironsand, chalk
and chalk-marl occur, in which the same groups of fossils
prevail as in rocks of Britain and France which occupy the
same relative age in geological succession ; and pure white
chalk, containing some characteristic organic remains, occurs
at intervals to the confines of Asia. In the southern steppes
of the Don Cossacks, on the banks of the river Donetz, chalk,
possessing all the characters of the English and French
chalk, and containing some of its characteristic fossils, oc-
curs of great thickness, Artesian wells having been sunk in
it to a depth of 630 feet, without any indications of a change
of rock. It contains layers of flint, and the banks of the
same river exhibit a section of a greensand group, seventy
feet thick, resting upon an equivalent of our coral rag, and
surmounted by white chalk. A zone of true chalk, 120 miles
in width, stretches through a great region about 100 miles
south-west of Orenburg.
The cretaceous rocks occupy a very limited zone on the
eastern side of the Alleghanies, extending about 60 miles,
but having rarely a breadth of half-a-mile. They sweep
round the southern extremity of these mountains, occupyhig
a vast tract which stretches far westward of the Mississippi ;
and Mr Lyell saw a collection of chalk fossils brought by M.
Nicollet from the higher parts of the Missouri river. It
appears further, from the recent report of Captain Fremont,
that cretaceous rocks occur on the eastern flanks of the Rocky
Mountains. The series examined by Mr Lyell in the State
of New Jersey, consist of a lower portion of greensand and
green marl, and above these a pale yellow limestone with
corals, both however belonging, in the opinion of Mr Lyell,
who has carefully examined a large series of fossils, to the
118 Horner' » Geological Address.
age of the white chalk, including the period from the gault
to the Maestricht beds. As a detailed account of these beds
and their fossil contents is given in the first volume of the
Society's Journal, I need not dwell further upon them, ex-
cept to give a statement of the general results. There is a
remarkable generic accordance between the fossil molluscs,
corals, ecliinoderms, fish and saurians, and those of the same
series in Europe ; out of sixty shells collected by Mr Lyell,
five seem to be quite identical with European species, while
several others approach very near to, and may be the same
as, European ; fifteen may be regarded as good geographical
representatives of well-known cretaceous fossils, belonging
for the most part to beds above the gault. This amount of
correspondence is not small, when it is considered that the
part of the United States where these cretaceous beds occur,
is from 3000 to 4000 miles distant from the chalk of Central
and Northern Europe, and that there is a difference of 10°
in the latitude of the places compared on the opposite sides
of the Atlantic. " Some of the species common to the oppo-
site sides of the Atlantic are those which in Europe have the
greatest vertical range, and which might therefore be ex-
pected to recur in distant parts of the globe." He concludes
with the following remarks : — " We learn from the facts
mentioned, that the marine fauna, whether vertebrate or in-
vertebrate, testaceous or zoophytic, was divided at the remote
period under consideration, as it is now, into distinct geo-
graphical provinces, although the geologist may everywhere
recognise the cretaceous type, whether in Europe or America,
and I might add India. This peculiar type exhibits the pre-
ponderating influence of a vast combination of circumstances
prevailing at one period throughout the globe — circumstances
dependent on the state of the physical geography, climate,
and the organic world in the period immediately preceding,
together with a variety of other conditions."
Tertiary Deposits.
The tertiary deposits of Russia, exclusive of a few patches
of very recent age, are most expanded in the southern parts
of the empire, those of Eocene and of Miocene ages both oc-
Tertiary Deposits* 119
curring. The former has, in many parts, the very same
structure and contents as the London clay. Sections are
seen of beds equivalent to the calcaire grossier and London
clay, in connexion with strata referred to the upper part of
the cretaceous system. In the neighbourhood of Saratof, on
the Lower Volga, there occurs a sandy calcareous gint, sub-
ordinate to clay and sand, of a concretionary structure, un-
distinguishable from the Bognor rocks in Sussex, and con-
taining the same shells. The authors appear inclined to
believe, that an insensible gradation may be traced from the
upper cretaceous into the tertiary beds.
The Miocene deposits are of far greater extent than the
Eocene. They are the extension of the great basins of Vien-
na and Hungary, and are spread over Volhynia, Podolia, and
Bessarabia, stretching to the Black Sea and the country
north of Odessa, where they are covered by deposits of a
more modern age. They have a close affinity to the deposits
of the sub-Apennines and of Bordeaux, and like beds of the
same age in Styria and Hungary, contain extensive oolitic
beds, undistinguishable, lithologically, from many English
and French varieties of the Jurassic group.
Marine Pliocene deposits are wanting, but the Miocene are
covered by the vast deposit of argillaceous limestone already
referred to as occupying the region around the Caspian, called
by Sir R. Murchison the Aralo- Caspian or Steppe limestone,
in which the univalves are of fresh-water origin, associated
with forms of Cardiaceoe and Mytili, which are common to
partially saline or brackish water. It abounds in many places
with fresh -water shells, and indeed presents the true and per-
sistent characters of a deposit in an inland sea, and contains
no vestiges of corals or other marine bodies. It was ob-
served to be in some places between 200 and 300 feet thick,
and at elevations of 700 feet above the present level of the
Caspian. It possesses an uniformity of character which se-
parates it from any tertiary deposit of Western Europe.
You are aware that Mr Lyell read before this Society four
papers on the tertiary deposits of the United States, which
have been published in our " Proceedings ;" it is unnecessary,
therefore, for me to give even a brief summary of them, and
120 Horner's Geological Address.
I shall content myself with stating some of the general re-
sults. On the Atlantic side of the Alleghanies, an area
about 400 miles long, from north to south, and varying in
breadth from 10 to 70 miles (with some detached patches
further south), is occupied at intervals by tertiary deposits,
which, in the intermediate spaces, are probably concealed by
the more modern deposits and alluvium which form the sur-
face. There are extensive tracts of Eocene formations, par-
ticularly in the south. Out of 125 species of shells which
Mr Lyell obtained from these deposits, he was not able to
indentify more than seven with species of the same epoch in
Europe. But there are a considerable number of represen-
tative species, and an equal number of forms peculiar to the
older tertiary strata of America. The Ostrea selloeformis
may be considered as representing the Ostrea flahellula of
the Paris and London basins, and appears to be one of the
most characteristic and widely disseminated Eocene shells in
this North American deposit.
The Miocene deposits are of far greater extent than the
Eocene ; and there is in them a close affinity of many of the
most abundant species with mollusca now inhabiting the
American coast, the proportion being about one-sixth of the
whole, or about 17 per cent., in those examined by Mr Lyc^l,
who was able to identify 23 out of 147 with living shells.
The corals also agree generically with those of the Miocene
be Is of Europe ; the cetacea also agree generically, and the
fish in many cases specifically.
Metamorphic Rocks.
The theory of metamorphism, in its more extended appli-
cation, in recent times, to the explanation of the peculiar
structure of certain stratified rocks, has thrown a clear light
upon some of the most obscure and difficult parts of geology.
No geologist will now, I presume, hesitate to admit, that
there is evidence amounting to demonstration, that a perma-
nent source of heat exists in the interior of the earth, widely
spread beneath the stony envelopment, and that it has existed
at all times. Whether it is local or widely spread under the
surface — whether it is constantly maintained or is excited
Metamorphic Rockg. 121
at intervals by certain combinations, are questions for the
solution of which we have as yet no data to lead us beyond
probable inferences. It was long ago observed, that when
dykes of basalt passed through sedimentary rocks, earthy
limestones were frequently changed into crystalline marble,
shales into flinty slate, argillaceous sandstone into jasper,
and bituminous coal into graphite or cinder. Similar changes
were also often observed at the junctions of granite with se-
dimentary rocks. An attentive observation of these pheno-
mena led Hutton to infer, that the strata derived from the
detritus of pre-existing rocks had been consolidated into
stone by the agency of subterranean heat ; and although he
extended his theory to all the strata, to many which subse-
quent observations have shewn it to be inapplicable, still the
germ of the modem theory of metamorphism is clearly seen
in one of the fundamental positions of the Huttonian theory
of the earth. But sound as were the views of that philoso-
pher in his leading doctrines, they were adopted by a very
small number of geologists, so strongly had the theories and
system of Werner got possession of men's minds, especially
in Germany and France. About twenty years ago, however,
some startling facts were brought to light ; we heard that
Belemnites had been found in micaceous schists in the Alps,
and that an insensible passage could be traced from a se-
condary oolite full of organic remains, to the highly crystal-
line marble of Carrara, the old type of primary limestone,
and under circumstances which afforded the strongest pre-
sumptive evidence that the oolite had been changed into the
marble by the action of adjacent igneous rocks. Then there
came facts on a grand scale, analogous to those that had
been observed at the junction of trap dykes and granite veins,
with sedimentary rocks, and not only extending to great dis-
tances from the igneous rock, but the secondary shales were
changed into rocks that could not be distinguished from the
so-called primitive gneiss and mica-schists, and, like them,
included crystallized garnets.
Mr Lyell, in 1833, brought forward a more extended and
complete development of the Huttonian hypothesis of conso-
lidation, and first proposed the adoption of the term •* meta-
122 Horner's Geological Address.
morphic" to this peculiar altered structure of sedimentary
rocks, — a term which has been since universally adopted ;
and every year has disclosed new facts from all parts of the
world, in confirmation of the theory that the older crystal-
line and indurated schists, limestones, dolomites, and quartz-
ites, and many similar beds of more modern date, were not
deposited with a structure such as they now present, but
were accumulations of detrital matter, transformed into their
present condition mainly by the action of heat, accompanied
by other chemical action, and the powerful agency of steam
and elastic forces under enormous pressure. A very inge-
nious process, invented by Mr Brockedon, described in a
short paper read before us last year, by which he converts,
under very powerful pressure, the powder of graphite into a
solid mass, having a conchoidal fracture, and undistinguish-
able from the most compact native black-lead, shews that
pressure alone may convert fine detrital matter into solid
stone.
It is not very long ago, far within our own time, since
geologists spoke and wrote of chaotic fluids holding mineral
matter in solution, and of precipitations of crystalline rocks
from that menstruum. But these hypotheses, not only un-
supported by, but at variance with, all known chemical laws,
are now laid aside, and we reason more soberly, interpreting
past changes in the mineral structure of the earth by our ex-
perience of the laws by which the operations in the material
world are governed. Every accession to our knowledge of
the older sedimentary, highly consolidated, and semi-crystal-
line rocks, renders the probability greater that they were
formed in the same manner as those now in progress of for-
mation in existing seas ; in short, that they originated from
the waste of pre-existing lands. As astronomy leads us to
contemplations of immensity of distance in space, thus does
geology lead us to contemplate distances in past time almost
as boundless ; equally difficult for us to form a conception of,
but, although not capable of measurement, not less certain.
"We are thus brought to admit the truth of another of the
fundamental doctrines of the Huttonian theory, laid down by
its author more than half a century ago, and some years af-
Metamorphic Rocks. 129
terwards so eloquently illustrated by his disciple and friend
Playfair, whom I am proud to call my first master in geo-
logy, " that in all the strata we discover proofs of the mate-
rials having existed as elements of bodies, which must have
been destroyed before the formation of those of which these
materials now actually make a part."* We learn from
Professor Sedgwick, that in the north of England there are
chloritic slates alternating with countless contemporaneous
ribs of porphyry, as well as with trappean conglomerates and
slaty beds, derived mechanically from malerials of igneous ori-
gin. M. Abich of Diirpat considers that certain dark-green
grains disseminated through the lowest beds of the Lower
Silurian " Pleta,',' or Orthoceratite limestone of Russia, are
the detritus of the ancient augitic rocks of the Finnish fron-
tier.! The least fragment of an organic body in the lowest
deposits, it is evident, must have been encased in silt or mud,
and that silt or mud must have been derived from pre-exist-
ing rocks, and most probably rocks exposed on land to the
destructive power of meteoric agents. We are told by Mr
Lyell, that the Potsdam sandstone, the lowest of the Silurian
strata of North America, at the Falls of Montmorency, near
Quebec, is remarkable for containing boulders of enormous
size — the largest he ever remembers to have seen, he says,
in any ancient stratified rock. He measured some of them,
which were 8 feet long. They consist of the same gneiss as
that on which the sandstone rests. He also observed in the
same sandstone, on the borders of Lake Champlain, ripple-
marks on the surface of its flags.
Several of the works of geologists which have been pub-
lished during the last year, have supplied much additional
evidence of metamorphic action ; none more important, I
may say more conclusive, than is contained in the work of
Sir R. Murchison on Russia, and of Mr Lyell on America,
and in a very valuable memoir by M. Virlet. As far as my
limits will allow, I will bring forward some of that evidence.
With limited exceptions, true granites are rarely found in
the higher portions of the Urals, but they are of frequent oc-
* Illustrations of the iluttonian Theory, p. 5. t Murchison 's Russia, i.28.
124 Horner*s Geological Address.
ciirrence in the lower regions, particularly on the Siberian
side. The igneous rocks that enter into their composition
are different forms of syenite, porphyry, greenstone, and fel-
spar rocks, often graduating into each other, and associated
with serpentine. These have evidently been erupted at dif-
ferent periods ; and there are wide tracts occupied by grani-
toid rocks, which appear to have been erupted after the age
of the carboniferous series, and posterior to the greater pro-
portion of the greenstones and other eruptive rocks of the
Urals.
It was only after Sir R. Murchison and his companions
had become thoroughly acquainted with the slightly con-
solidated and unbroken sedimentary deposits in European
Russia, that they were able to decipher the intricate charac-
ters of the indurated and crystalline strata which constitute
the flanks, enter into the very body, and form lofty serrated
ridges of the Ural chain ; broken up and cast about in much
apparent confusion. But from the presence of organic re-
mains, traceable at intervals along both flanks, and even close
to the axis of the chain, they w^ere satisfied that some of the
central ridges, although composed of chloritic, talcose, mica-
ceous, and quartzose slates, cannot be of higher antiquity
than the unconsolidated Lower Silurian rocks on the shores
of the Baltic ; and that others, although in a highly crystalline
state, are not older than the Devonian and Carboniferous
series. The same rocks, when they recede from the great
lines of eruption, resume their ordinary "Sedimentary charac
ters. In one place the authors expressly say, that, in pro-
portion as they receded from the igneous zone, the sediment-
ary strata gradually parted with their talcose, chloritic, and
quartzite characters, and assumed the appearance of ordinary
argillaceous schist, with bands of grit and sandstone, all
parallel to the crystalline axis of the chain. In another place
they describe certain Upper Silurian beds, consisting of al-
ternations of argillaceous slate and black encrinite limestone,
passing into talc-schist, and containing great flakes of mica.
Between two great parallel lines of eruption, they saw pure
white saccharoid limestone containing Encrinites, and asso-
ciated with other crystalline beds, which they were satisfied
Metamorphic Bocks, 125
were once sandstones formed under the sea in the palaeozoic
period. In like manner, the sedimentary rocks on the northern
frontier of Russia, where they approach the great granitic
and trappean region that stretches southward from Russian
Lapland, become so changed, that the shales are converted
into Lydian stone, the limestones into marbles, and the sand-
stones into indurated and sometimes granular quartz. These
are not partial local effects, but characterise a long line of
country in a broad zone. The authors observe, that " the
thorough examination of this great band of Silurian rocks,
more or less metamorphic, which lies between the purely
crystalline or azoic rocks of the north, and the wholly un-
altered Devonian and Carboniferous deposits on the south,
well merit the special attention of the geologist, mineralogist,
and chemical philosopher ; for the scale on which these opera-
tions of change has been conducted is gigantic. Our present
acquaintance with the phenomena is, however, sufficient to
convince us, that here, as in other countries, the consolida-
tion, rupture, and alteration, of large portions of the earth's
crust have been effected by the agency and eruption of igne-
ous and gaseous matter." A limestone — ascertained, both
by lithological characters and fossiliferous proofs, to belong
to the Devonian age, in which copper veins occur at a point
where it is intersected in a complicated manner by green-
stone porphyry — is converted, for a space 350 fathoms long,
and 20 wide, into a crystalline rock, in some places becoming
a pure white crystalline saccharoid marble, and associated
with it is a garnet rock, loaded with very beautiful and large
crystals ; a case somewhat analogous to that observed by Pro-
fessor Henslow in Anglesea twenty-five years ago,* and to
that in the neighbourhood of Christiania described by Mi
Lyell.t On the east flank of the Urals, south of Ekaterin-
burg, there is a succession of low ridges parallel to the main
crest of the chain, composed of metamorphic rocks, some of
them so micaceous that they might pass, the authors say, for
primary mica-schist ; others resembling gneiss, which a few
* Cambridge Philosophical Transactions, vol. i.
t Elements of Geolosfy, vol. ii. p. 403.
126 Horner's Geological Address.
years ago, any geologist would have termed primary, but
which are, in fact, only altered palaeozoic sedimentary strata.
If we cross the Atlantic to North America, we obtain equally
clear proofs of the alteration of the sand and mud of the lands
of remote antiquity into crystalline schists, and of the forests
that grew upon them into anthracitic coal, by this same power-
ful agency.
The Appalachian or Alleghany mountains, which run from
north- north-east to south -south-west for 1000 miles, varying
in breadth from 50 to 150, and in height from 2000 to 6000
feet, have not, like the Ural chain, the features of a great rent
in the earth's crust formed by elastic forces from beneath,
and into which molten rocks were injected ; they are com-
posed of Silurian, Devonian, and carboniferous rocks, in a
series of nearly equal and parallel ridges formed by flexures
of these rocks. The bending and fracture of the beds is
greatest on the north-eastern or Atlantic side of the chain,
and the strata become less and less disturbed as they extend
westward, until at length they regain their original or hori-
zontal position ; thus offering between the Alleghanies and
the western boundary of the basin of the Mississippi, a coun-
try very similar in conformation to that between the Urals
and the Baltic, and composed, to a great extent, of similar
rocks. The internal movements which caused these flexures
took place, as in Russia, subsequent to the carboniferous
period ; and on the eastern side the igneous rocks have in-
vaded the strata, forming dykes, some of which run for miles
parallel to the main direction of the mountains. These igne-
ous rocks are largely developed to the north-east in the States
of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.
Near Worcester in Massachusetts, Mr Lyell observed mica-
schist containing beds of anthracite, the mica-schist includ-
ing garnets and asbestus ; and he states that he is strongly
inclined to believe, that however crystalline they may be, they
are no other than carboniferous rocks in a metamorphic state.
There are many other places in Rhode Island and Massa-
chusetts of similar transformations, especially in the neigh-
bourhood of masses of granite and syenite.* The coal, which,
■* Ly ell's Ameriru, vol. i. p. 248,
Metamorphic Rocks. 127
westward of the Alleghanies, is highly bituminous, as it ap-
proaches the igneous rocks to the east, gradually loses its bi-
tuminous and gaseous contents, and is finally converted into
anthracite.
The concluding part of the first volume of the second series
of the " Bulletin de la Society Geologique de France," pub-
lished last year, contains an interesting, and, in many respects,
highly instructive account of the proceedings of the Society,
at their meeting at Chambery, in August 1844. During the
sixteen days it continued, several valuable papers were read,
and interesting discussions thereon are reported. Among
others, the subject of metamorphism was frequently brought
forward, and it appears to be the settled opinion of the most
eminent French, Swiss, and Italian geologists, who have
thoroughly examined the Alpine regions, that a great pro-
portion of the mica-schists, talc-schists, and clay-slates of the
Alps, long held as types of primitive rocks, are unquestion-
ably deposits of secondary age, metamorphosed by igneous ac-
tion. The neighbourhood of the place of meeting is described
by the Archbishop of Chambery, — who took an active part in
the proceedings, and who, from the communications he read,
seems to be a zealous geologist, — as one of the countries of
Europe the most interesting in this respect, and one in which
the modifications of metamorphic action may be traced from
its commencement to its extreme intensity with the greatest
facility. At the conclusion of the meeting, M. Virlet read a
paper on the participation which veins have had in metamor-
phic action, and brought forward some new views on the theory
of metamorphism. He states that it has generally been held
to be the result only of the action of plutonic rocks on the
sedimentary deposits with which they come in contact, but
that it is a far more complex operation, and is probably the re-
sult of several causes acting either simultaneously, separately
or successively ; among these he is disposed to ascribe much
to the addition of new materials, insinuating themselves in
the shape of gaseous emanations from the interior of the earth.
He also dwells much on the matter injected into fissures,
forming veins, as having had great effect, maintaining that in
all metalliferous regions, the greater the number of veins by
128 Captain Rozet on the Surface of the Moon.
which they are traversed, so is the degree of metamorphism
increased. He insists much on the metamorphic action of
quartz veins, which he holds to be of eruptive nature ; refers
to the growing conviction among geologists, that, in many
cases, there have been eruptions of veins of calcareous spar ;
and even ascribes the veins and slender ramifications of gyp-
sum, in the argillaceous beds of the lias of Burgundy and the
other eastern provinces of France, to eruptions of sulphate of
lime.
(To he concluded in next Number.)
On the Surface of the Moon. By Captain Rozet.
M. Elie de Beaumont has already been enabled, by means
of the beautiful selenographic delineations of Lohrnaann, and
of Beer and Madler, to make some very remarkable compa-
risons between the forms presented by certain portions of the
mountainous masses of the earth, and the annular openings
of the surface of our satellite.
During the summer of 1844, one of my friends having di-
rected my attention to the circular forms of nearly the whole
of the variations of the lunar surface, I have devoted myself
since that time to the study of the phenomena presented by
these variations of surface, having, at the same time, called
in the aid of the beautiful German maps, and of various works
already published on the subject.
The contours of all the great greyish spaces which, for a
very long time, have been termed Seas^ although it is known
with certainty that they cannot be masses of water, are
formed by arcs of circles which intersect one another. The
number of arcs sometimes amounts to two, rarely to one
mare crisium. These contours present circular escarpments
which seem perpendicular, but the inclination of many of
which is 45 degrees. The matter composing them appears to
be swelled up, and their height often exceeds 4000 metres
(upwards of 13,000 English feet). In the interior of the seas
we remark annular openings or perfect rings, whose diame-
ter amounts to 10 myriametres (upwards of 60 Ei^lish miles),
and the height of whose terminal ridge is 4000 metres. Seve-
Captain tlozet on the Surface of the Moon. 129
ral of them have a peak in the centre, which is a little less
elevated than the edges of the ring.
The large grey spots cover a great portion of the northern,
eastern, and western regions of the disc, and leave in its south-
ern part a brilliant space, covered with an infinity of rings
of all dimensions. These rings are simple and isolated, com-
plex, or united together, two and two, three and three, &c.
When they touch one another, the contours are always ren-
dered imperfect ; and it is generally the smaller one which
encroaches on the larger. In the interior of the large rings
there are almost always present smaller ones, which cut the
edges when they touch them. The bottom of the rings seems
to be flat, but that bottom often presents elevated portions,
arranged in arcs of circles parallel to the external ridge ; so
that the rings would seem to have been formed at the surface
of a fluid mass on which scoriae were floating, by means of a
circular undulation, whose amplitude went on diminishing.
The bottom of the great spots, such as the mare serenitatis,
&c., exhibits the same characters. Simple spots are also to
be noticed, or portions having no projection, but whose cir-
cular forms are well marked. It cannot, therefore, be called
in question, that a general cause, producing these circular
forms, has had an immense influence in the formation of the
solid crust of our satellite. We can perfectly account for all
the facts now enumerated, by supposing a number of whirl-
pools in the fluid matter, whose amplitude diminished with the
fluidity of that matter. Nothing is to be seen on the surface
of the moon which reminds us of our chains of mountains
with their lateral branches, or of our great valleys with their
numerous ramifications, &c. We see^ indeed, many well
marked fissures, as, for example, at the bottom of the mare
vaporum ; but these fissures are simple ; several diverge from
one centre, as in Tycho, Copernicus, Kepler, &c., and form ra-
diating cracks, analogous to those in Von Buch's craters o£
soulevement, but much more considerable. One of the fis-
sures of Tycho traverses the moon diametrically. A conti-
nued study of the various portions of the moon, under all in-
clinations of the solar rays, enables us to recognise two layers
which are quite distinct, but two layers only ; — the bottom of
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI.c— JULY 1846. I
130 Captain Roz^t (m the Surface of the Moon.
the great greyish spaces, which is also that of the rings ; and
a scoriaceous crust, elevated above that bottom to a height
which has been measured at a great number of points. These
measurements have afforded me the means of calculating the
thickness of this crust, and. I found that the mean is 642
metres (2106 English feet).
From all the facts I have ascertained, and from all the de-
ductions to which these facts have led me, I think I may draw
the following conclusions :—
1. The lunar globe has originally been in a state of fusion,
and has been gradually cooled.
2. During the formation of the external scoriaceous pellicle,
there existed in the mass whirlpools or circular movements,
which, driving the scoriae from the centre to the circumfer-
ence, formed annular ridges, by the accumulation of those
scoriae at the limit of the undulation. When several whirl-
pools occurred in such circumstances, that the distance of the
centres, taken two and two, was less than the sum of the
radii, there resulted an enclosed space, bounded by arcs of
circles. When the distance of two centres was greater than
the sum of the radii, two complete rings were formed.
3. The amplitude of the whirlpools diminished with the
fluidity of tlie surface, but the phenomenon continued through-
Out the whole duration of the process of consolidation.
4. The mode of formation which we assign to the lunar
rings, altogether excludes the idea of craters resembling those
of our volcanoes.
5. The surface of our satellite being thus consolidated, no
solid or liquid layer coming from the exterior was subse-
quently deposited upon it ; for, otherwise, the small rings and
the fissures would have disappeared. The perfect preserva-
tion of all these variations in external configuration, shews
that no liquid has ever existed in considerable quantity,
either at the surface, or even in the atmosphere of the moon.
6. After the complete consolidation of the external enve-
lope, the matter which remained fluid in the interior acted
upon that envelope, and fractured it, often giving rise to large
radiating cracks. At that epoch, the solid crust must have al-
Captain Rozet on the Surface of the Moofi. 131
ready been very thick, because the fissures are of large di-
mensions.
7. As no liquid, in any considerable quantity, has ever ex-
isted on the surface of the moon, or in its atmosphere, it re-
sults that no organised beings, similar to those of the earth,
can ever have lived there ; and if that planet, as is pretty ge-
nerally admitted, has no atmosphere, it can possess no beings
in whose organization liquids form a part, and we cannot con-
ceive of organic beings without liquids.
8. Lastly, from the whole of my investigations, there re-
sults the following important fact, viz., that the surface of
the moon permits us to see all the phenomena of its consoli-
dation, and the traces of the revolutions which it has under-
gone. On our earth these phenomena are almost all con-
cealed by aqueous deposits ; but various regions, in which
rocks resulting from fusion have remained uncovered, pre-
sent forms very analogous to those exhibited by the surface
of the moon. It is probable that, if the terrestrial surface
were stripped of the seas, and of all the sedimentary deposits
which cover it, annular forms would predominate. The same
may be said in regard to all the planets of our system ; for
the circular undulations of matter in a state of fusion, seem
to me to be a consequence of the movements inherent in the
different bodies, which, by becoming agglomerated round
great centres of attraction, have formed those planets.*
* The above is an extract from a Memoir which has very lately been referred
by the French Academy of Sciences to a committee, consisting of Messrs Arago,
Elie de Beaumont, and Liouville. — Comptes Rendus, vol. xxii.
( 132 )
Observations on the Principle of Vital Affinity, as illustrated by
recent discoveries in Organic Chemistry. By WiLLIAM
PuLTENEY Alison, M.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of the Prac-
tice of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh.*
PART I.
The most important steps in a science are those which
lead most directly to the establishment of principles or laws
peculiar to that science itself, and which constitute its claim
to be regarded as a distinct branch of human knowledge. It
has been long acknowledged that such is the character of
many of those phenomena of living bodies which depend on
mechanical movements, or changes of position in their par-
ticles, and therefore that the laws of vital contractions are to
be regarded as equally elementary and distinctive principles
in physiology, as the laws of motion or of gravitation in na-
tural philosophy. But a difficulty has been long felt, as to
whether a similar claim to peculiarity of the principle on
which they depend, can be urged for the chemical phenomena
of living bodies.
In laying down the first principles of Physiology and of
Pathology, I have, however, uniformly maintained the exist-
ence of a power peculiar to living bodies, and to which the
term Vital Affinity, as recommended by several authors, may
be properly applied ; — a power by which " the elements of
nutritious matter are thrown into the combinations necessary
for forming the organic compounds, and restrained from en-
tering into other combinations, to which they are prone as
soon as life is extinct ; — a power which supersedes and coun-
teracts ordinary chemical affinities in living bodies, as com-
pletely as vital contractions counteract gravitation or the in-
ertia of matter." — (Outlines of Human Physiology, p. 22.) And
in delivering lectures on physiology, I always expressed my
* From " Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh," nearly through
the Press.
Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity, 133
belief that a time would come, when discoveries in the che-
mical department of the science, — connecting the ingesta of
living bodies with the nourishment of their different textures,
and with the nature of the different excretions, — would elu-
cidate the chemical changes which are continually going on
in them, and are essential to their living state, as completely
as the discovery of the circulation of the blood illustrated
many of the conditions of the existence of living animals. It
appears to me that this anticipation has been more nearly
realized by recent chemical observations, than professed phy-
siologists have yet admitted ; — that not only the existence of
the principle of vital affinity has been established, but its
limits and mode of action, the cases in which it acts, and
those in which it is unconcerned, are to a certain degree de-
fined; — and that a short and general illustration of these
points may be of some advantage, if not to the progress of
the science, at least to the due appreciation, and proper
generalization and expression of the knowledge which has
been already acquired.
To shew the importance of this inquiry, I need do no more
than quote a single sentence from Cuvier, with a statement
which is nearly a commentary upon it by Professor Whewell.
" It belongs to modern times to form a just classification of
the vital phenomena ; and upon the zeal and activity given to
the task of analysing ihe forces which belong to each organic
element, depends, according to my judgment, the advancement
of physiology."* *' As the vital functions became better un-
derstood, it was seen more and more clearly at what precise
points of the process it was necessary to assume a peculiar
vital energy, and what sort of properties this energy must
be conceived to possess. It was perceived when, and in what
manner and degree, mechanical and chemical agencies were
modified, overruled, or counteracted by agencies which must
be hyper-mechanical and hyper-chemicaV " In attempts to
obtain clear and scientific ideas of the vital forces, we have
first to seek to understand the cause of change and motion
in each function, so as to see at what points of the process
* Hist, des Sciences Naturelles depuis 1789, p. 218.
134 Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital AJlnity,
peculiar causes come into play ; and next, to endeavour to
obtain some insight into the peculiar character and attributes
of these causes."*
When we say that the chemical changes which take place
in living bodies are elucidated, we mean, of course, that they
are referred to general laws, by which the phenomena ob-
served in this department of Nature are found, by experi-
ence, to be regulated. And when we say that these are laws
of vitality or of vital action, we mean merely, that they are
laws deduced from the observation of phenomena peculiar to
the state of life, — taking for granted that it is always pos-
sible to describe, and practically to distinguish, those sub-
stances which we call living, from inorganic or dead matter ;
and that the only correct definition of vital principles or vital
powers, is, that they are the laws or the powers which regu-
late the phenomena that are peculiar to the state of life.
They are the general expression of the results of the obser-
vation, and generalization of the facts, which are observed in
this department of nature, and which are ascertained to be-
long to this department alone.
We are not, indeed, justified in asserting the existence of
laws peculiar to the state of life, merely by the negative ob-
servation, that the phenomena referred to them are inexpli-
cable by any known laws of inorganic or dead matter ; we
must have the positive observation that they are inconsistent
with — that they take place in despite of — the laws which re-
gulate the changes of dead matter. It is thus that we are
led to ascribe the visible movements of living bodies to vital
powers ; not because we do not perceive how gravitation,
elasticity, or any other known causes of movement in dead
matter, should produce them, but because we do perceive,
that, in the circumstances in which we see these motions, all
those principles, deduced from the observation of dead mat-
ter, would determine either rest, or motion in a different di-
rection from that which really takes place.
I formerly laid before this Society the grounds of an opinion,
then much disputed, but now, I think, pretty generally ad-
* Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, vol. ii., pp. 39 and 47.
Dr Alison on the Principle of Fital Affinity. 135
mitted, that there are Attractions and Repulsions, as well as
contractions, peculiar to the living state : chiefly, but not ex-
clusively, observed at those parts where chemical changes are
effected in living bodies, and connected with these changes ;
and, without reference to this general fact, I maintain that it
is impossible to have a right understanding of many pheno-
mena of essential importance in physiology and pathology.*
But the general principle is obviously equally applicable
to chemical changes as to mechanical movements. It is not,
indeed, so easy to ascertain, in regard to chemical changes
in living bodies, that they are truly inconsistent with the che-
mistry of dead matter ; the science must be allowed to make
some progress before this can be confidently asserted in re-
gard to any individual chemical change ; but no one can doubt
that, as science advances, it must become possible to say with
certainty, whether the chemical changes in living bodies are
consistent with those laws which regulate chemical changes
elsewhere, or not ; i. e., whether the same chemical elements
can be so brought together by the chemist, as to tend to the
same combinations as are found in living bodies ; or whether,
in his hands, they will enter uniformly into other combina-
tions, and form different compounds.
Farther, it appears to me that, even before any of the re-
cent discoveries, it might be legitimately inferred from facts
already known, that this last description is truly applicable,
in some cases, to the chemistry of living bodies. It was
knowU; for example, that when water, impregnated with car-
bonic acid and with a small proportion of ammonia, is brought
into contact with vegetable substances, in a certain stage of
their existence, the elements of these bodies rapidly combine
so as to form starch, albumen, and oil, which are added to
* Professor Whewell, in his instructive abstract of the general principles
ascertained in Physiology, regards it as established, chiefly on the authority of
Mulder, in regard to the vital force concerned in assimilation and secretion, that
•' it has mechanical efficacy, producing motions, &c. But it exerts at the same
point both an attraction and a repulsion, attracting matter on one side and re-
pelling it on the other ; and in this it diffei-s entirely from mechanical forces.' —
Philosophy of Inductive Sciences, vol. ii., p. 51. 5See also Carpenter's Manual of
Phyriology, § 697, et seq.
136 Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity.
the substance of tlie vegetable, — that under no other circum-
stances can water, carbonic acid, and ammonia, or their ele-
ments, be made to form these compounds, — and farther, that
after a time, when brought into contact, at the same tempera-
ture with the same vegetable substance in an ulterior stage
of its existence, they will form no such compounds, but will
aid and participate in the successive changes to w^hich vege-
table matter is liable after the phenomena of its living state
are over, and of which the ultimate result is, the resolution
of that matter into its original constituents. And from these
facts it seems quite reasonable to infer, that during the for-
mer, or what we call the living state of the vegetable, certain
affinities peculiar to the living state — i. e., certain vital affi-
nities — actuate the elements of which it is composed.
In asserting the existence of vital affinities, we do not, in
the first instance, give any opinion whether it is by the addi-
tion of certain chemical attractions, or by the suspension of
others, during the living state, that the chemical changes pe-
culiar to that state are effected ; we assert nothing more than
what is, as I think, correctly stated in the following sentence
of Liebig : — " The chemical forces in living bodies are sub-
ject to the invisible cause by which the forms of organs are
produced." " The chemical forces are subordinate to this
cause of life, just as they are to electricity, heat, mechanical
motion, and friction. By the influence of the latter forces,
they suffer changes, in their direction, an increase or diminu-
tion of their intensity, or a complete cessation or reversal of their
action,
" Such an influence, and no other, is exercised by the vital
principle over the chemical forces."
" The equilibrium in the chemical attractions of the con-
stituents of the food is disturbed by the vital principle, as we
know it may be by many other causes. The union of its ele-
ments, so as to produce new combinations and forms, indicates
the presence of a peculiar mode of attraction, and the existence
of a power distinct from all other powers of nature, viz., the
vital principle." — {Organic Chemistry^ ^c, pp. 355, 357.)
In these passages I think that Liebig has expressed him-
self with perfect accuracy ; but in other parts of his writings
Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity. 137
he uses language in regard to the nature and results of che-
mical changes in living bodies, which seems to me vague and
speculative, and even inconsistent with what he had stated
in the passages just quoted, e, g., when he says that " the
ultimate causes of the different conditions of the vital force in
nutrition, reproduction, muscular motion, &c., are chemical
forces.^' — {Organic Chemistry, p. 10.)
The following sentence by Mulder expresses the very same
idea, although it might be thought, from the manner in which
this author expresses himself against any introduction of the
vital principle in this department of physiology, that he con-
siders all the chemical changes in living structures to be re-
ferable to the same laws as in inorganic matter.
" By a small organ of a plant a force is exercised, exciting
forces which slumbered in the carboji, oxygen, and hydrogen,
or rather modifying the forces which existed in these, so that
12 equivalents of carbon unite with 10 of hydrogen and 10 of
oxygen ; and from 12 equivalents of carbonic acid (12 C Og)
and 10 of water (10 H 0) starch is produced, 12 C 10 H 10 0,
24 of oxygen passing oflf." — (Chemistry of Vegetable and Ani-
mal Physiology, p. 67 )*
But it is important^o fix our attention, for a short time,
on the instances adduced by Mulder, of the formation of
starch, or some of its allied compounds, out of carbonic acid
and water, by the combination of the carbon of the acid with
the elements of water, and the expulsion of the oxygen of the
acid; because this is the grand and fundamental power,
which must have been called into operation when organized
structures were first created on earth, and on the continued
exercise of which the existence of all such structures, vege-
* In the foregoing and other translations from recent German writers, the
word force is used in a sense which I think would be much better expressed by
the term power or property, merely on this account, that the English word force,
in physical discussions, has usually a precise and limited meaning assigned to
it, as a cause capable of producing visible motion, and of which we have a
measure, either in the velocity or in the quantity of motion which it can excite ;
whereas the term power or property, applied to any material substance, has a
more general meaning, as simply the cause of change of any kind, and is there-
fore applicable where the result of the property ascribed to any substance may
Be very different from visible motion.
138 Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity.
table and animal, is still essentially dependent ; and because
the simplicity of the process makes it a fit case for consider-
ing the question, whether the power here named is strictly
entitled to the epithet vital ; or whether, as some eminent
physiologists in this country maintained, the idea expressed
by that term is incorrect and unscientific.
The opinion of those who oppose the doctrine of vital affi-
nity, is thus distinctly stated in the Anatomy of Drs Quain
and Sharpey :
" Although the products of chemical changes in living
bodies for the most part diff'er from those appearing in the
inorganic world, the difference is nevertheless to be ascribed,
not to a peculiar or exclusively vital affinity diff'erent from
ordinary chemical affinity, but to common chemical affinity,
operating in circumstances or conditions which present them-
selves in living bodies only ; and undoubtedly, the progress
of chemistry is daily adding to the probability of this view."
I consider this to be a hasty and ill advised statement ;
and to shew this, I request attention, y?r*/, to the perfect sim-
plicity of the apparatus by which this change is eff'ected.
" In all plants,'^ says Mulder, " there exists a small organ,
of the most simple form, although employed by nature for
the most varied purposes. It is a small filmy sac, a thin
membrane, which encloses a small space, which it enables to
communicate with the exterior space through invisible pores.
These little sacs or cells are the chief organs of plants. A
countless multitude of them, grouped together, forms the
whole bulk of the plant, so that if every thing except the
cells be destroyed, the shape and size of the plant are not in
the least changed or diminished."
Into this simple apparatus in certain parts of plants, water,
impregnated with carbonic acid, is introduced, while the
plants exhibit the phenomena of life ; and let us next observe
the intensity of the action by which the carbonic acid is there
decomposed, the carbon attached to the elements of the wa-
ter, and the oxygen set free. " This is done by a power,"
says Liebig, " to which the strongest chemical action cannot
be compared. The best idea of it may be formed by consi-
dering, that it surpasses in power the strongest galvanic bat-
Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity. 139
tery, by which we are not able to separate the oxygen from
carbonic acid. The affinity of chlorine for hydrogen, and its
power to decompose water, under the influence of light, and
set its oxygen at liberty, cannot be considered as nearly
equalling the power and energy with which a leaf, separated
from a plant, decomposes the carbonic acid which it absorbs."
— {Organic Chemistry^ p. 134.)
Next let us observe the extent to which this energetic
power is exercised by living plants. Perhaps the most ac-
curate idea of it may be formed from attending to the state-
ment of Theodore de Saussure, that on a mean of 54 obser-
vations made in a country district, the proportion of carbonic
acid in the atmosphere during the night was to its proportion
in the day-time as 432 to 398, i. e., the carbonic acid exist-
ing in the atmosphere was found to be diminished very nearly
10 per cent, in a few hours of every day ; and for this dimi-
nution we know no cause, except that this power of the green
parts of vegetables, of decomposing the carbonic acid of the
atmosphere, is exercised only under the influence of light.*
Now if a power of this extraordinary energy and extensive
operation, and acting in so very simple a manner, were really
to be regarded as depending only on ordinary chemical affi-
nities, exerted under peculiar conditions, it might surely be
expected, that the chemist might so regulate the conditions
under which he might bring together carbonic acid, air, and
water, as to exhibit some traces of this power, and effi^ct
some decomposition of the carbonic acid and evolution of
oxygen. But we know, not only that this cannot be done,
but that when air, water, and carbonic acid, are introduced
into the very same vegetable cells, within half an hour after
they have exhibited this phenomenon, at the same spot, under
the same light, and at the same temperature, they will not
only fail to exhibit the same change, but will uniformly ex-
hibit the very reverse, i. e., the absorption of oxygen and the
formation and evolution of carbonic acid.
Nay, we know that it is only in certain cells of the living
* See Macaire's Memoir of Theodore de Sausaure, in Jameson's Edinburgh
I'hilosophical Journal, vol. xl., p. 31 (Jan. 1846.).
140 Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity.
vegetable, that this peculiar chemical change, under the ac-
tion of light, is effected ; the same fluid, introduced into cells
composed of the same material in the parts of fructification,
undergoes no such change ; but, on the contrary, gives occa-
sion only to the reverse process, the absorption of oxygen
and evolution of carbonic acid.*
Then it is to be remembered, that this complete inversion
of ordinary chemical affinities, in the case of the living plant,
is only one of several cases to be afterwards noticed, where
we see chemical compounds uniformly formed in living bodies,
quite distinct from any that can be formed by the chemist
from the same elements, and quite distinct from those to
which the same elements uniformly revert, after the pheno-
mena of life are over.
Lastly, we must remember, when we see this apparent in-
version or alteration of the ordinary chemical relations of
matter, taking place in the interior of living bodies, that in
that scene, by the admission of all, matter comes under the
dominion of mechanical laws, which operate in no other de-
partment of nature ; so that it is quite conformable to analogy
to suppose that its chemical relations will undergo a similar
modification.
When all these considerations are duly weighed, I cannot
perceive what further evidence can be required in order to
justify the expression which I have quoted from Liebig, viz.,
that the " new combinations,''^ as well as the forms, assumed
by that matter which goes to the composition of organized
beings, " indicate the existence of a power distinct from all
other powers of nature, viz., the vital principle ;" i. e., that
the vital principle regulates the changes of chemical composi-
tion, as well as the changes of position which the particles of
that matter undergo ; which is more simply expressed by say-
ing, that there are vital affinities as well as vital contractions
and attractions.
But even if we are to regard it as doubtful whether or not
ordinary chemical affinities can determine, under any condi-
* Theodore de Saueeurc, in Jameson's Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,
vol. xl., pp. 22, 23.
Dr Alison on the Principle of T^ital Affinity. 141
tions, this decomposition of carbonic acid and evolution of
oxygen by its contact with carbon and the elements of water,
I maintain that it is sound philosophy, when we see this and
other rapid and extensive and important chemical changes,
essentially different from those which the same elements pre-
sent under other circumstances, uniformly attending the phe-
nomena of life in vegetables, — to investigate and generalize
the laws by which these changes are regulated, as laws of
living action, leaving it open to future inquirers, if they can,
to resolve them into other laws of more general application.
For although I acknowledge the force of the aphorism,
" Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora," still I
apprehend, that in every case to which this aphorism is ap-
plied, the potest fieri must be established, not by conjecture,
but by experiment ; otherwise we fall into the error, so
strongly condemned by Bacon and others, of prematurely gene-
ralizing, and supposing the laws of nature to be fewer and
more comprehensive than they really are.
Having thus, in reference to this first and simplest ex-
ample, vindicated the soundness of the principle which I pro-
pose to illustrate, I think we may next shew, that the main
object of inquiry in the chemical department of physiology is
more simple and precise, and the extent of that inquiry, ne-
cessary to elucidate most questions in physiology, much less
than might be supposed from the multiplicity of details, of
which what is called the science of organic chemistry is made
up. After what Liebig calls the " peculiar mode of attrac-
tion'* which operates in living bodies, has led to the formation
of certain organic compounds, these compounds lose their con-
nection with living bodies, become liable to an infinite number
of changes and decompositions, and thus give origin to an in-
finite variety of substances — generally of temporary duration
only, because retained in their form by attractions of no great
intensity — applicable to many useful purposes, but foreign to
the inquiries of the physiologist. He is concerned only with
the chemical changes which take place in living bodies them-
selves^ and during the state oj life ; and the results of recent
inquiries seem to me sufficient to shew, that the fundamental
142 Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity.
and peculiar arrangements of chemical elements there ob-
served are less numerous, and the laws regulating them more
simple, than they have usually been thought.
In considering this subject, we are enabled, by the results
of the inquiries of geologists and physiologists, to revert to
the period of the introduction of living bodies into the world,
and reflect on the conditions then assigned for their existence.
We are justified, by reason, in allowing the imagination to
fall back on the time when this Earth rolled through space
an inanimate mass ; and if any minds, besides that of the
Great Ruler of the universe, were connected with it, they did
not hold their connection through the medium of any organ-
ized structure. For I believe we are justified in laying down
these propositions as established, ^r^/. That the simply phy-
sical arrangements of this globe were completed before any
organized beings were created ; secondly, That vegetables
were created and lived chiefly on the atmosphere, fixing large
quantities of carbon from it on the earth's surface, before ani-
mals were called into existence ; and, thirdly. That at what-
ever time their existence began, either the first living being
of every species, vegetable and animal, or the first ovum from
which that being was developed, must have been formed in
a manner wholly difi'erent from that in which any living
bodies, at least of the higher orders, are now reproduced ; i.e.,
that they must have been formed in a manner strictly miracu-
lous, and, of course, beyond the limits of physical science.
But although we cannot ascend higher, in prosecuting this
subject, than to inquire in what manner the first plants, or
the germs of the first plants, were enabled so to act on the
inorganic matter around them as to extract from it the mate-
rials, first of their own growth and sustentation, and after-
wards of all other organized beings, — yet in the inquiry, thus
limited, important progress has been made. From the time
when these nascent organized bodies sprung into existence,
we must regard it as an ultimate fact, that they were endow-
ed with the power, which all the vegetables that have suc-
ceeded them have exercised, of so modifying the attractions
existing among the particles of matter, as to cause many of
these particles from the air and the water immediately sur-
Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity » 143
rounding them, to enter into their substance, by their roots
and leaves, or by the organs which soon became their roots
and leaves, and then to arrange themselves there, in those
peculiar forms by which the numberless species of the vege-
table world are characterized. I apprehend we must also
regard it as an ultimate fact, that they were endowed with
the power of so modifying the chemical relations of the ele-
ments composing those absorbed matters, as to select and re-
tain certain of these elements, and allow others to pass away
from them, to decompose the carbonic acid, fix the carbon,
and invest it with those peculiar affinities for the water, the
hydrogen of the water, and a few other elements, contained
in the surrounding media, by which all the proximate princi-
ples, first of vegetables and then of animals, and therefore
the whole substance of organized beings, are formed.
But it is important to have a precise exposition, although
not an explanation, of the power thus exercised by the first
plants ; and it is still more important and satisfactory to be
able to shew how, by the exercise of these and analogous vital
powers, the atmosphere must have been gradually changed,
the proportion of carbonic acid in it diminished, and the pro-
portion of oxygen increased ; how it became fitted, and is kept
fitted, for the residence, first of cold-blooded and then of warm-
blooded animals ; how most of the other conditions of exist-
ence of these animals have been, and still are, continually
prepared for them by these living actions of vegetables ; how
all the variety of the textures of all organized bodies, from
the origin of vegetables to the death and decomposition of
animals, are continually formed and maintained ; and how,
both divisions of organized beings. Nature has provided, not
for the permanent existence, but for the development and de-
cay of successive generations of individuals, and thus for the
perpetuation of the species. These are the subjects of inves-
tigation in the chemical department of physiology ; and if it
can be shewn, that, by a few simple laws, regulating what
we call vital attractions and affinities, i, e., modifying, in or-
ganized bodies, the attractions and affinities to which matter
is everywhere liable, provision is made for all this succession
and continual renewal of the phenomena of life ; then, al-
144 Dr Alison on the Prmciple of Vital Affinity.
though we cannot explain the introduction of living beings
into the world, any more than we can explain the dissemination
of the stars throughout space, — although we must always re-
gard the appearance of organized bodies on the earth's sur-
face as the clearest indication which human knowledge pre-
sents of the subjection of the universe, not only to general
laws, but to an arbitrary Will, superior to these laws and
changing them at pleasure, — yet I think it may be said that
we have nearly as clear an insight into the designs and ar-
rangements of Providence for the maintenance of living beings
upon earth, and for the eternal reproduction of them there,
so long as these laws shall be in force, as we have into those
by which the movements of the heavenly bodies are directed
and controlled.
1. Our first business is to study the facts that have been
ascertained in regard to the simplest form of chemical change
to which the term vital may be applied, which is merely se-
lection, by a portion of living structure, of some one substance
existing in a fluid, and the consequent attraction of this to a
particular part of the structure, while other materials, equally
presented to that living part, are excluded.
We need not here enter into the question, on which che-
mists and agriculturists are not yet agreed, whether the
nourishment of plants, in the present condition of the earth's
surface, does or does not require the pre-existence, in the
soil, of organic compounds, resulting from previous living
beings, which are absorbed from it. But we may justly give
the name of vital attraction or affinity to that power by which
certain saline matters, dissolved in the compound fluid which
is absorbed, are retained in the substance of the plant, while
others are returned to the soil. " The experiments of Macaire
Princep,"*' says Liebig, " have shewn that plants, made to ve-
getate with their roots, first in a solution of acetate of lead,
and then in rain-water, give back to the latter all the salt of
lead which they had previously absorbed. Again, when a
plant, freely exposed to the air, rain, and light, is sprinkled
with a solution of nitrate of strontian, the salt is absorbed,
but is again separated by the roots, and removed farther
from them every shower of rain, so that at last not a trace of
Dr Alison on the Principle of Vital Affinity. 145
it is to be found in the plant. A fir-tree, the ashes of which
were analysed by a most accurate chemist, grew in Norway,
on a soil to which common salt was conveyed in great quanti-
ty by rain-water. How did it happen that its ashes contained
no appreciable quantity of salt, although we are certain that
its roots must have absorbed it after every shower? We
can explain this only by the observations above referred to,
which have shewn that plants return to the soil all substances
unnecessary to their own existence ; and we are thus led to
the conclusion that the alkaline bases, existing in the ashes
of plants, must be necessary to their growth, since, if this
were not the case, they would not be retained." (lb. p., 103, 4.)
Another inference is at least equally obvious, that plants have
the power of fixing and retaining within them those matters
which are suited or essential to their composition ; and this
power we regard as the simplest form of vital affinity. It may
be said, that the alkaline bases are thus fixed in plants, because
they enter into combination with organic acids, and that,
therefore, it is the formation of these acids, not the retention
of the bases which combine with them, that is truly the vital
change. But this does not apply to other saline matters con-
tained in vegetables, which must have been taken up from the
soil in the same state in which they are found in the plants,
e. g., the phosphate of magnesia, which is " an invariable in-
gredient in the seeds of grasses ;" or the silica which is found .
in certain parts of various plants.
Were it not for this selecting and appropriating power,
indicating a simple attraction of some parts of the vegetable
for certain earthy or saline matters only, we should find some
salts of alumina, as well as of lime or magnesia, in the ashes
of almost all vegetables, — that earth existing in large quan-
tity in all fertile soils, whereas it is " very rarely found in^
the ashes of plants.'' "^ ' •
In the animal kindom the same power of simple selection
and extraction is more fully exemplified, perhaps most strik-
ingly in the development of many of the lower classes, of
which the organization is simple, and the matters deposited
from the nourishing fluid remarkably diversified, as in many
of the radiata and mollusca, which have horny and earthy
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. K
146 Dr Anderson on the Properties of PicoUne.
integuments. And in all animals, so far as any chemical
change is effected in the vital actions of absorption, secretion,
and even nutrition, it would appear to be chiefly of this sim-
ple kind, consisting in the selection and appropriation of com-
pounds already existing in the fluids on which these functions
are performed, not in the formation of new compounds. The
chyme which is found in the intestines of an animal during
digestion contains all the compounds (albuminous, fatty, and
extractive matters) which are found in the chyle absorbed
from it, although these are in a different state of aggregation,
and associated also with other matters which are not absorb-
ed. Since it has been ascertained that the compounds which
used to be thought peculiar to the greatest secretions in the
body, the bile and the urine, pre-exist in the blood, and are
only evolved at the liver and kidneys, — accumulating, there-
fore, in the blood, when the secretive action of these organs
is suspended, — it has become obvious that the main office
of these organs is not formative^ but only attractive ^ to ex-
tract from the blood compounds already existing there. And,
although there is one material extensively employed in the
formation of animal textures, viz., gelatin, which cannot be
detected in the blood ; yet, as this is the only material so
employed which cannot be found there, and as a substance
very closely resembling it is found there under certain cir-
cumstances, we may assert that in animals by far the greater
part of the act of nutrition, numerous and diversified as the
compounds forming the solid materials of animal bodies may
be, is likewise of this simple kind.
(To be concluded in next Number.)
On the Constitution and Properties of PicoUne, a new Organic
Base from Coal-Tar. By Thomas Anderson, M.D.,
F.R.S.E., Lecturer "on Chemistry, Edinburgh. (From the
forthcoming volume of Transactions of the Royal Society
of Edinburgh).*
The careful study of the products of destructive distillation
has enriched organic chemistry with an extensive series of
* Read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on 20th April 1846.
Dr Anderson on the Properties of Picoline. 147
results of unexpected interest and importance. These re-
sults have affected, in no inconsiderable degree, the recent
progress of the science ; and their influence has been of a
twofold character, both general and particular, exerted in
the former case in the development of some of the more re-
markable general doctrines of organic chemistry ; in the lat-
ter, in the important light thrown by their investigation on
the constitution of the substances from which they are de-
rived, and the facilities they have afforded of following out
connections, which the examination of the original substance
either does not at all present to our view, or, at least, indi-
cates only in an imperfect or dubious manner. Added to
to this, we have the remarkable fact of the appearance among
these products of substances in some cases identical with
those occurring in organised beings ; and in others, present-
ing analogies of the very closest character with the actual
products of vital affinity, which, taken together, afford abun-
dant reason for pursuing the investigation of substances
which have already afforded results of so remarkable a cha-
racter.
Setting aside altogether those substances, the occurrence
of which is so frequent, that they may be called the general
products of destructive distillation, such as carbonic acid,
light carburetted hydrogen, olefiant gas, acetic acid, &c.,
it may be laid down as a general rule, that each individual
compound produced during such a process, is formed by the
destruction of a limited number of substances only, which
bear to each other, and to the product, a more or less inti-
mate connection in constitution or chemical relations. In
those instances in which we have been enabled to submit to
destructive distillation substances of a definite and simple
constitution, in a state of chemical purity, and Vhere an uni-
form temperature has been preserved, the results have been,
for the most part, of an exceedingly simple and intelligible
character ; but in proportion as the atom becomes more com-
plex, so also do the products of its decomposition, and the
explanation of the results is found to be proportionately dif-
ficult and unceii^ain. These difficulties and uncertainties are
increased in a still higher degree, in the case of a substance
148 Dr Anderson on the Properties of Picolinel
such as coal, where we have to deal not merely with one
complex atom but with a congeries of several such, and where
the process is performed on the large scale, and under a
variety of perturbing influences. The distillation of coal is,
in factj attended by the formation of about twenty different
substances, the constitution and properties of which have
been examined with different degrees of accuracy, and which
present among them instances of almost every species of
chemical compound. The discovery of six of these substances
is due to Runge,* who published, about fourteen years ago,
a very interesting memoir containing an account of their
general properties. Of these substances, three are possessed
of acid properties, and three are bases, to the latter of which
he gave the names of Kyanol, Leukol, and Pyrrol, from the
peculiar colours developed by the action of certain reagents
on their salts. The two former of these substances were
afterwards submitted to a detailed examination and analysis
by Hoffman,t who arrived at the interesting result, that both
are identical with substances which had been independently
obtained by the decomposition of certain well known bodies ;
Kyanol possessing the constitution and properties of the Ani-
line of Fritsche, and the Benzidam of Zinin ; while Leukol is
identical with the substance described by Gerhardt under the
name of Chinoline, and which was obtained by him as a pro-
duct of the distillation of quinine, cinchonine, and strychnia,
with caustic potass. Hoffman failed, however, entirely in
obtaining any evidence of the presence of pyrrol in the sub-
stance which he examined, and leaves in doubt the existence
of such a compound.
Having lately had occasion to examine a quantity of the
mixed bases contained in coal-tar, obtained by a method simi-
lar to that of Runge, but which, owing to a modification of
the process, contained all the more volatile bases formed
during the distillation of coal, I was led to try whether or
not pyrrol was to be found in it, and I found immediate evi-
dence of its existence, by the characteristic red colour which
* Poggendorf 8 Annalen, Band 31, u. 32.
t Annalftn der Chemie und Pharmacie, vol. xlvii.
Dr Anderson on the Proper He s of Picoline. 149
it gives to fir-wood moistened with hydrochloric acid. The
attempt to separate this pyrrol proved that it was present in
extremely minute quantity only, but led to the discovery of
a new base different from those of Runge, for which I pro-
pose the name of Picoline, and the examination of whose pro-
perties forms the subject of the present paper.
Preparation of Picoline^
For the crude substance employed in the preparation of
picoline, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr Astley of the
Bonnington Chemical Works, and it was obtained by the fol-
lowing modification of Runge' s process. In the preparation
of naphtha from coal-tar, the first product of distillation is
agitated with sulphuric acid for the purpose of separating any
naphthaline which may be present, as well as a variety of
substances in extremely minute quantity, which communicate
to the crude naphtha the property of becoming dark-coloured
by exposure to the air ; among these substances, of course,
are all the basic compounds contained in the oil. The sul-
phuric acid which had been used for this purpose was neu-
tralised by impure ammonia obtained by a single distillation
of the watery fluid of the gas-works. On the addition of the
ammonia there was no separation of any oil in quantity ap-
preciable to the eye ; but upon distillation, the bases, which
had been dissolved in the fluid, passed over with the first
portions of the water, and collected in a separate layer in
the receiver. This oil, when it came into my hands, pos-
sessed a very dark brown colour, a somewhat viscid consist-
ence, and a peculiar pungent and disagreeable odour. It was
heavier than water, a layer of which, containing a small pro-
portion of oil in solution, floated on the surface. The exa-
mination of this oil proved it to consist, in addition to pico-
line, of a mixture of pyrrol, aniline, an oily base possessing
the general properties of leukol, and a thick heavy oil desti-
tute of basic properties.
In order to separate picoline, the oil, along with the water
which floated on its surface, was introduced into a retort and
carefully distilled. At first, water, accompanied by a little
oil, passed over, and then an oil by itself, which dissolved
160 Dr Anderson on the Properties of PicoUne.
completely in the watery fluid contained in the receiver. As
the distillation proceeded, another oil made its appearance,
which collected in a layer on the surface of the fluid which
had previously distilled. When about three-fourths of the
oil had passed over, the process was stopped, by which means
the oil, destitute of basic properties, which requires a very
high temperature for its distillation, was left behind in the
retort. The fluid in the receiver was now supersaturated
with sulphuric acid diluted with water, care being taken to
obtain a powerfully acid reaction. The peculiar odour which
the fluid possessed, was by this process entirely changed, but
not destroyed ; and, on distillation, the water which passed
over, carried with it all the pyrrol contained in the solution,
while the other bases were retained by the sulphuric acid.
Caustic potass was then added to the residue in the retort
until an alkaline reaction was manifest, and it was again
distilled ; the water which passed over carried with it the
oily bases, partly dissolved, partly floating on the surface of
the solution, exactly as in the first distillation. A few sticks
of fused potass were introduced into the product, and the
whole was left in repose ; as the potass dissolved, the oil,
which is entirely insoluble in solutions of the fixed alkalis,
rose to the surface and there collected in the form of a pale
yellow layer, still containing a considerable quantity of water,
which may amount to 30 or 40 per cent, of the bulk of the
oil. The oil was separated from the watery fluid by means
of a pipette and pieces of fused potass added so long as they
continued to become moist. The dry oil was then introduced
into a retort and distilled. A transparent and colourless oil
passed over, which was tested at intervals by allowing a drop
of it to fall into a solution of chloride of lime. So soon as
the reaction of aniline made its appearance the receiver was
changed. The first portion was now picoline in a state ap-
proaching to purity ; that which immediately followed con-
sisted of a mixture of picoline and aniline. The first portion
was again digested with fused potass and rectified; that
which distilled at 273° was collected apart, and constituted
pure picoline.
Dr Anderson on the Properties of Picoline. 151
Constitution of Picoline,
The general analogy in properties which picoline bears to
aniline and the other oleaginous bases, permitted the as-
sumption that it, like these substances, was free from oxy-
gen ; I proceeded, therefore, in its analysis, upon this hypo-
thesis, and neglected the determination of the nitrogen. The
following are the results of the analyses : —
[. { 15-
I 3-
... .{
•630 grains of picoline gave
Analysis I. \ 15"954: ••• carbonic acid,
3-944: ... water.
5*34:7 grains of picoline gave
15*100 ... carbonic acid,
3*670 ... water.
Which give the following results per cent. : —
I. II.
Carbon . . 77*16 . 77*18
Hydrogen . . 7*77 . 7*62
Nitrogen . . 15*20 . 15*20
100*00 100*00
These results correspond closely with the formula C12 H7 N ;
the calculated result of which is —
Theory.
Mean.
C12
. 900*0
77*29
77*17
H7
. 87-5
7-43
7-69
N
. 177*0
15*28
15-14
1164*5 100*00 100*00
This formula is precisely the same as that of aniline, along
with which picoline occurs in coal-tar. In order to ascertain
whether the atomic weights of these substances were also
identical, I prepared the platinum salt of picoline, and deter-
mined the amount of platinum contained in it. The salt was
obtained by adding bichloride of platinum to a solution of
picoline in excess of hydrochloric acid : no immediate preci-
pitation took place unless the solutions were very concen-
trated, but in the course of twenty-four hours the salt was
deposited in fine orange-yellow needles. When dried at 212°,
it gave the following results : —
n.|
152 Dr Anderson on the Properties of Picoline,
J r 9*670 grains of chloride of picoline and platinum gave
I 3-147 • • • platinum = 32'544 per cent.
10*844 grains of cliloride of platinum and picoline gave
3*517 ... platinum = ^2'522 per cent.
From these analyses are deduced the following atomic
weights : —
L II.
1211*1 1213-7
These agree sufficiently well with the theoretical atomic
weight, which is 1164*5. They correspond also precisely with
the results of the analysis of the aniline salts. The identity of
these results is shewn by the following table of the analyses
by Fritsche, Zinin, and Hoffman, of aniline from its different
sources, and of picoline, as well as of the platinum salts of
these substances : —
Aniline.* Benzidam.* CyHnol. Picoline. Theory.
C =z 77-73 77-32 76-67 77*17 77*29
H = 7-60 7*50 7-72 7*69 7-43
N = 14*98 14*84 15*62 15-14 15*28
100*31 99*66 100*00 100*00 lOO'OO
The following are the results for the platinum salts : —
Benzidam. Kyanol. Picoline. Theory.
Mean platinum, per cent. 32*501 32*886 32*533 32*94
Atomic weight . 1216*1 1170'5 1212*4 1164*5
The results of all these analyses agree perfectly with one
another ; but the properties possessed by picoline differ from
those of aniline, which, whether obtained from coal-tar, in-
digo, or nitrobenzid, presents ^ perfect identity in its chemi-
cal characters.
Properties of Picoline.
Picoline is a perfectly colourless, transparent, limpid fluid,
extremely mobile, and destitute of viscidity. It possesses a
powerful, penetrating, and somewhat aromatic smell, which,
when very dilute, is replaced by a peculiar rancid odour, ad-
* Not having the original papers of Fritsche and Zinin at hand, I extract
these two results from Berzelius' Arsherattelse, 1844, p. 454, where they are cal-
culated according to C=:76-12, the rest are with C=76, but the difference is
80 small as not to aflfect the comparison.
Dr Anderson on the Properties of Picoline. 153
hering pertinaciously to the hands and clothes. Its taste is
acrid and burning when concentrated ; but when very dilute,
as, for instance, when its vapour is sucked into the mouth, it
is powerfully bitter, as are also the solutions of its salts. It
is not changed by exposure to a cold of 0°. Picoline is ex-
tremely volatile, and evaporates rapidly in the air. It boils
at the temperature of 272°, and the thermometer remains
perfectly stationary during the whole period of the ebullition ;
it is therefore much more volatile than aniline, which, accord-
ing to Hoffman, boils at 359°. It may be preserved for a
long time in a bottle containing only a small quantity of it,
and which is frequently opened, without becoming manifestly
coloured ; whereas aniline becomes rapidly brown, and, in-
deed, cannot easily be obtained colourless, except by distil-
lation in a current of hydrogen. The specific gravity of pico-
line is less than that of water. I found it to be 0*955 at 50°,
while, according to Hoffman, that of aniline is 1-020 at 68°.
Picoline mixes with water in all proportions, and forms a
transparent and colourless solution. It is insoluble, how-
ever, in solution of potass, as well as in most alkaline salts,
the addition of which causes its immediate separation from
the water. It dissolves also readily in alcohol, ether, py-
roxylic spirit, and the fixed and volatile oils. It is a power-
ful alkaline base : a rod dipped in hydrochloric acid, and held
over it, is immediately surrounded by a copious white cloud
of hydrochlorate of picoline. It restores the blue colour of
reddened litmus, but does not affect the colouring matter of
red cabbage. It does not coagulate the white of eggs as ani-
line does.
The reactions which it produces with other substances are
also quite distinct from those presented by aniline. When
brought in contact with the solution of chloride of lime, it
does not produce, in the least degree, the violet colour which
is so characteristic of aniline ; on the contrary, the solution
remains perfectly colourless, unless, indeed, the picoline has
not been well separated from pyrrol ; in which case, a slight
brown makes its appearance, but no violet, Picoline is also
incapable of producing the yellow colour in fir wood and the
pith of the elder, which is so readily obtained with aniline.
164 Dr Anderson on the Properties of Picoline*
When treated with chromic acid, even when very concen-
trated, and after boiling, no change takes place in the colour
of the solution, and only a small quantity of a yellow powder
is deposited; while aniline gives an abundant precipitate,
which has, according to the degree of concentration of the
fluid, a green, blue, or black colour.
Picoline precipitates from solutions of chloride of copper
a portion of the oxide of copper, while the remaider forms a
pale blue solution, which, when evaporated to a small bulk,
deposits a congeries of prismatic crystals, which seem to be a
double salt. No blackening of the solution takes place, as is
the case with aniline. When an excess of hydrochloric acid is
present, there is obtained, on evaporation, another double salt
in large crystals, apparently derived from the rhombohedral
system. Picoline produces also double compounds with the
chlorides of mercury, platinum, gold, tin, and antimony. With
chloride of gold it gives an exceedingly characteristic com-
pound, in the form of a fine lemon-yellow precipitate, which
is soluble in a considerable quantity of boiling water, and is
deposited, on cooling, in delicate yellow needles. Aniline,
under similar circumstances, gives a reddish-brown precipi-
tate, resembling the ferrocyanide of copper. It gives, with
infusion of nut-galls, a copious curdy precipitate of a pale-
yellow colour, which dissolves in hot water, and is deposited
again on cooling. It does not precipitate the solutions of
nitrate of silver, chlorides of barium and strontium, or sul-
phate of magnesia.
The properties of picoline, as now detailed, are obviously
different from those of aniline. They recalled, however,
strongly to my mind those of a base called Odorin, obtained
by Unverdorben* from Dippel's animal oil. According to this
chemist, Dippel's oil, which is obtained by several successive
distillations of the oleum cornu cervi, is a mixture of four dif-
ferent bases, to which he gives the names of Odorin, Animin,
Olanin, and Ammolin. Of these, the two first constitute nine-
teen twentieths of the whole oil, and the odorin, which resem-
bles picoline in its solubility in water, is obtained by simply
* Poggendorf s Annalen, vol. xi.
Dr Anderson on the Properties of PicoUne. 155
distilling the oil, and collecting the product as long as it dis-
solves. These results, however, have been called in question
by subsequent observers; Reichenbach, especially, asserts
that he was unable to separate any basic compounds, and con-
siders the substances obtained by Unverdorben to be mix-
tures of empyreumatic oil with ammonia. As, however, the
properties which Unverdorben has attributed to odorin, ap-
proximate in some respects to those of picoline, I thought it
desirable to ascertain the existence of this substance, and
whether or not it is identical with picoline. In order to pre-
pare odorin, I rectified the oleum cornu cervi, and then dis-
tilled the product ; but on allowing the first drops of oil to
fall into water, they were not dissolved as Unverdorben has
asserted, but floated unchanged upon the surface. Finding
this process unsuccessful, I agitated the crude oil with dilute
sulphuric acid ; the acid fluid immediately acquired a very
deep reddish-brown colour, and when separated from the oil,
and supersaturated with potass, a semisolid viscid mass sepa-
rated from the fluid. This, when distilled with water, yielded
a mixture of several oily bases, while a dark-coloured resin-
ous substance, probably Unverdorben' s Fuscin, was left in
the retort. The mixed bases which I thus obtained, formed
an exceedingly small fraction of the oil employed. They were
purified by several successive rectifications, and generally in
a method similar to that employed for picoline, and the first
portions of the product collected apart. It then constituted
a colourless oil, which became brown in the air, dissolved
readily in water, and presented an odour similar to, though
not quite the same as, that of picoline. It gave, with chlo-
ride of gold, a dirty-yellow precipitate, which dissolved in hot
water, and deposited, on cooling, in the pulverulent form, and
with bichloride of platinum, a compound in red wart-like crys-
tals. By an accident in the laboratory, the small quantity of
this substance which I had prepared for analysis was de-
stroyed, so that the evidence of their identity cannot be con-
sidered as sufficient. The characters of odorin, as given by
Unverdorben, are not perfectly identical, either with those of
picoline or the base which I obtained. Odorin, according to
Unverdorben, boils at about 212°, and its salts are oleaginous
156 Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water-Wheel.
compounds which distil in the form of an oily fluid, whereas
those of picoline are mostly crystallizable. I am at present
engaged with the examination of these substances.
It is obvious, from the observations contained in Hoff-
man's* paper, that picoline must have been present along
with aniline and chinoline in the substance which he exa-
mined. He mentions, especially, that his aniline, as ob-
tained by distillation only, possessed a peculiar pungent and
disagreeable odour, which was got rid of only by several suc-
cessive crystallizations of its oxalate from alcohol, and that
the impure aniline has a specific gravity less than that of
water. He observes also, that the quantity of the substance
present must have been excessively minute, as it did not af-
fect the results of the analysis, a phenomenon, the cause of
which is sufficiently explained by the identity in constitution
of the two substances. Hoffman did not obtain picoline in
the separate state, simply because the bases employed by him
were obtained from the less volatile portions of coal-tar,
which necessarily contain it only in minute proportion.
(To be concluded in next Number.)
Description of a Water -Wheels with Vertical Axle, on the plan
of the Turbine of Fourneyron, erected at Balgonie Mills,
Fifeshire. By JOSEPH GORDON Stuart, Esq., F.R.S.S.A.
(Communicated by the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, f)
My attention was first directed to the Turbine water-wheel,
by the paper read on the subject before the British Associa-
tion, at its Glasgow meeting in 1810, by my friend Profes-
sor Gordon. On that occasion the Professor introduced the
Turbine of Fourneyron (the French patentee) to the notice
of the Association, as a very important machine for econo-
mizing water-power, and after some discussion, the Associa-
tion appointed Mr Smith (then of Deanston), and Mr Fair-
bairn of Manchester, along with Professor Gordon, a Com-
* Liebig's Annalen, vol. xlvii.
t Read before the Society, on 23d March 1846.
Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water-Wheel. 157
mittee, for the purpose of investigating the comparative merits
of the turbine and other water-wheels before the next meet-
ing of the Association.
Here, however, the matter has rested, so far as that Com-
mittee is concerned, ever since ; and, with a single excep-
tion, to be immediately noticed, I am not aware of the subject
having been again brought before the public of this country.
The exception referred to is a popular description of the tur-
bine of Fourneyron, with a very strong recommendation in its
favour, contained in the interesting volume on the " Indus-
trial Resources of Ireland," published in the year 1844, by
Dr Kane of Dublin.*
While the Committee of the British Association did not,
so far as I know, follow out in any way the remit made to
them, I felt so much interest on the subject (incited no doubt
by suffering much annoyance and serious loss from two very
inefficient breast-wheels at my works here) as to continue,
with Professor Gordon, the investigations which he had al-
ready entered upon, until we became convinced that the tur-
bine was indeed a material improvement upon any other
known mode of using water-power.
Circumstances prevented us, however, from giving practi-
cal expression to our convictions, until my breast- wheels be-
came so worn out as to threaten complete breakdown ; and
then, in the early part of last year, I seriously set about the
task of erecting one. I may here mention that, at this time,
I hesitated between the turbine and Whitelaw and Stirrat's
patent water-mill ; but, after consideration of their published
statement, and a personal inspection of several of their mills
erected on a large scale, I saw sufficient cause to confirm my
impression in favour of the Turbine of Fourneyron, as the
more perfect machine. I then put myself in communication
with the French patentee, and offered to allow him to erect,
or superintend the erection of a wheel for me, so as his in-
vention might be introduced into this country, under the
most favourable circumstances. Fourneyron, however, de-
clined to enter into the arrangement unless he was to be per-
* Since this paper was read, Professor Kane has published a translation of
Riihlman's Essay on the Construction of Turbines.
158 Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water-Wheel.
mitted to make the wheel in France, to bring it here, and to
fit it up at my works, all at my sole expense ; and as this, I
calculated, would cost me nearly double of what it could be
done for on the spot, I was under the necessity of breaking
off the negotiation. I then resolved to execute the whole
myself, availing myself of the valuable assistance of Profes-
sor Gordon, and his partner Mr Hill, so far as the calcula-
tions of size, speed, &c., were involved.
The fundamental principle upon which the construction of
the turbine is based, is that by which the maximum of useful
effect i» obtained from a given fall of water, depending upon
the relative velocity of the water and its recipient, which
ought to be such that the water enters the wheel without
shock, and quits it again without velocity. A notion of its
construction may readily be formed, by supposing an ordi-
nary water-wheel laid on its side, wrought at the bottom of
the fall, and the water being made to enter from the interior
of the wheel by the inner circumference of the crown, flowing
along the buckets, and escaping at the outer circumference.
The turbine consists essentially of, 1, a reservoir, the bottom
of which is divided into radial compartments, by covered
plates, serving to guide the water to take a particular direc-
tion of efflux ; 2, a cylindrical sluice, capable of nicety of ad-
justment ; 3, the wheel itself, a disc with covered buckets, in-
to which, when the sluice is raised, the water enters at every
point of the inner circumference, and escapes at every point
of the outer circumference.
It will be readily seen, that the effective power of the
wheel must depend greatly upon the curvature of the fixed
partitions and buckets being such as to realize the philoso-
phical principle of its construction, viz., that the water enters
it without shock, and quits it again without velocity. This
is^ no doubt, a delicate problem, but practically, it has been
completely solved.
My works at Balgonie are situate on the river Leven, and
have right to the use of the whole water contained in it. The
river issues from Lochleven ; the discharge is there regu-
lated by sluices, so as to afford, as nearly as possible, during
the whole year, a regular flow of about 6000 cubic feet per
Mr J. O. Stuart on the Turbine Water- Wheel. 159
minute. The fall at my works, as measured for a turbine-
wheel, that is, from the surface of the water in the front lead
to the surface of the water in the tail-race, is 11 ft. 8^ in. I
have erected the turbine so as to take the full advantage of
this fall, and calculated it for venting this 6000 feet of water
per minute.
The turbine consists of six principal parts, viz.,
1 and 2, The wheel and shaft,
3 and 4, The sluice-cylinder and sluice,
5 and 6, The centre disc and pipe.
These are all made of cast-iron, and the united weight is up-
wards of 7 tons. Besides these, there is the reservoir, or
wheel-house, as we may term it, which comes in place of the
arc of the ordinary water-wheel.
I shall shortly describe each of these parts, and the de-
scription will be made more intelligible, as well as more in-
teresting, by reference to the drawing of a vertical section,
on the scale of one inch to a foot ; the drawing of a quadrant
of a horizontal section, full size, and the model of the whole
erection, on the scale of f th inch to a foot, — all which I now
exhibit.
The reservoir is constructed of stone, solid ashlar, hewn
and jointed. It is eleven feet square within walls, and the
walls all round are two feet thick, the stones being alter-
nately headers and runners. At the depth of 11 ft. 8^ in., and
the supposed depth of tail-water from the front surface, two
beams of wood 12 in. square, crossing each other in the centre
of the square, are bedded in the causeway of the bottom, and
built into the side-walls, so as to aflPord a solid foundation
for the step, in which stands the upright shaft of the wheel.
4 ft. 6 in. above these beams, four beams 18 x 20 in. square,
cross the reservoir, placed so as to leave a square opening in
their centre 6 ft. 9 in. within ; and a flooring of 3 in. plank, caulk-
ed as a ship's deck, makes this opening (which it reduces to a
circular form) the only communication between the upper and
under parts of the reservoir. 2 ft. 6 in. from the surface of the
water in front, the one side of the reservoir stops, so as to allow
the ingress of the water, and the opposite side has an open
arch below the floor-beams, to permit the egress of the water.
160 Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water- Wheel
The walls are carried up two feet above the highest water-
point; and there, four beams again cross, leaving an opening
of about 2 feet square in the centre, in which is fixed the sus-
pending-pipe and neck-collar of the upright shaft. I will only-
further remark, regarding this reservoir, that if I were erect-
ing a turbine on a high fall, with a small supply of water, I
should probably construct this of plates of cast or malleable
iron.
The step is of cast-iron, about 8 cwt., and contains the
brass for the bottom of the upright shaft working in. It is
firmly bolted to the lower beams by strong bolts in the four
paws of it.
The shaft is of cast-iron (cast on its end), about 16 feet
long, 9 in. diameter at the smallest part, and swelled a little
towards the centre. It is steeled at the lower end, where it
works in the brass of the steps, and has a gudgeon of 8| in.
diameter, working 18 in. from the top. Above this journal
is hung the spur-wheel, from which motion is taken off by-
pinion in the usual way.
The wheel is a saucer-shaped disc of cast-iron, keyed on
the shaft below the flooring of the wheelhouse. The saucer-
shaped part is 6 ft. 8 in. diameter, and then there is a flat cir-
cumference of 1 ft. 2 in., making the whole diameter 9 feet.
Upon this flat circumference are erected the curves or buckets
of the wheel. They are made of the best boiler-plate, and
are 9 in. high. On the top of them is fitted another circum-
ference of cast-iron, 1 ft. 2 in. across. These circumferences
are thus fastened together by means of the curves which are
bolted into each, and a compact wheel thus formed, weighing
in all about 45 cwt., and having 32 curved openings for vent-
ing the water through.
The pipe serves the double purpose of keeping the shaft
from the water, and of sustaining in its place the centre disc.
It is furnished with a square collar, w^ith four paws, by which
it is suspended from the four top-beams. It is also stayed
and kept in its place by four rods from the four sides of the
wheelhouse to a flange cast on it, rather more than half way
down.
The centre disc is shaped so as to lie above the saucer-
fthaped ^nti^rior of the wheel, and is about \ of an inch less
Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water-Wheel 161
diameter than that part. It is keyed on the bottom of the
pipe just below the circular opening in the floor, and so low
that its upper surface is level with the flat circumference of
the wheel, and kept in its place by the stay-rods of the pipe,
so as to be about \ of an inch clear of that circumference all
round. On this disc are erected the guide-curves, equal in
number to the curves of the wheel, and in such a shape as to
throw the water at the proper angle on them as it flows out.
The sluice-cylinder is bolted to the four large beams of the
floor, and is of such depth that its lower end comes down to
within a few inches of the top of the upper circumference of
the wheel. It is bored through, so that the sluice may fit
well, and be readily moved up and down in it.
The sluice itself is another cast-iron cylinder, fitted to the
inside of the last mentioned one, going down as low as to
rest on the outer circumference of the centre disc, and rising
so high as, when fully up, to leave 9 in. of opening between
that disc and it. This sluice is vsrought by three rods work-
ing in screws, communicating with a triangle at the top by
means of studs and levers from eaoh rod. The triangle is
wrought by bevel wheels and shaft from the outside of the
wheelhouse.
The mode of working the wheel is thus : —
The water coming into the wheelhouse or reservoir from
the front lead, fills it up, standing on the centre disc and
flooring, to the height of the top of the water in the front
lead. The sluice is then raised, when the water flows out
under it, off" from the curves of the centre disc, which thus
remains fixed and stationary, on to the curves of the wheel,
which, yielding to the pressure so exercised upon its curves,
moves round in the direction of the efflux of the water from
the centre disc ; the sluice is raised until the necessary speed
is attained, or until the water is vented by the wheel as fast
as it is supplied to the reservoir from the front lead, care
being taken that it is not allowed to go faster away, — that is,
that the head of the water in the reservoir is always main-
tained at its full height, — the level of the front lead.
I have thus minutely described each part of the wheel,
and, I trust, made the description intelligible by reference to
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. L
162 Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water- Wheel.
the model and drawings, as such appears to me the best way
of bringing this very important, and, in this country, novel,
mode of using water-power under the notice of this Society.
As soon as the Turbine was ready, I threw out one of my
old breast-wheels, and attached to it the part of my works
driven thereby. The success was so encouraging, that, in
January, I threw out the other breast-wheel, and the Turbine
has since been driving my whole works.
My works contain
1000 spindles, dry flax spinning.
796 „ dry tow spinning.
160 „ heavy jute spinning,
and 1156 „ wet spinning.
3112
"With the necessary preparing machinery, — machinery such
as, I believe, would be put upon a sixty horse-power steam-
engine, — I could not get water enough to drive them with
my two breast- wheels ; — in fact, 500 spindles were stand-
ing altogether for two years. The turbine is driving them
about 10 per cent, faster than they were before, and it is not
using all the water. From the experiments I have as yet
been able to make, I do not think that it is using above 5000
cubic feet per minute ; and from a defect in the construction
of the intake -lead, the turbine has not the full advantage of
that water. The lead is too narrow, and turns an awkward
comer, so that the water in the wheelhouse will not stand up
to the full head, and can hardly be called above 10 ft. 3 in., in-
stead of 11 ft. 8| in. When I have remedied this defect* and
so been enabled to give the wheel the whole water, and also
maintain a steady head of 11 ft. 8^ in. in the wheelhouse, I
have a very confident expectation that the wheel will prove
capable of working up to 85 or 90 horses' power.*
The whole subject of water-wheels is a very interesting
and important one; and I do not think that it has yet re-
ceived, in this country, the attention which it merits. The
* A model of Mr Stuart's Turbine is deposited in the Museum of the Royal
Scottish Society of Arts. — Ed.
Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine JFater-Wlieel 163
French have, both theoretically and practically, arrived at
much greater perfection than we have in economising water-
power, and a great variety of very beautiful wheels have been
introduced in that country. " Coals being abundant," Dr
Kane well remarks, " the steam-engine is invented in Eng-
land ; coals being scarce, the water-pressure engine and the
turbine are invented in France. It is thus the physical con-
dition of each country directs its mechanical genius." Such
suggestions may explain the greater practical interest taken
in the subject in France, but can hardly excuse the want of
theoretical inquiry which we have to complain of in this
country. My complaint is surely not without reason, when
I mention the fact, that no hint of any water-wheel, beyond
the common old-fashioned overshot, breast, or undershot
wheels, is to be found in any one of the otherwise elaborate
articles on water-works, hydrodynamics, &c., in the seventh
edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, although, in the pe-
riod embraced by its publication, from 1830 to 1843, many
treatises by Poncelet, Morin, De Prony, and other eminent
members of the Academy of Sciences, appeared in France, in
which the merits of the Poncelet and the Turbine wheels are
set forth. I beg to lay one of these treatises on the table,
along with this paper, for the use of the Committee, to whom
I hope the Society will remit the matter ; and only regret
that, as I have been unable to procure another copy of it for
aiding me in my future experiments, I cannot present it to
the Society. It is the result of experiments on the Turbine
wheel, by Monsieur Morin, made under appointment of the
Academy, and at the expense of the French Government, and
it brings out these very interesting results : —
1. That the Turbine wheel is equally suitable to every
height of fall, from the greatest to the smallest. In illus-
tration of this, I may mention, that at St Blazien, there is
one erecte<l, by which is driven the whole machinery in a
cotton-mill of 8000 spind?es, with carding engines, and all
necessary preparation. The available fall is 332 feet ; the
quantity of water 60 feet per minute ; while on the Seine, in
France, there is one erected with a fall of only 13 inches, and
which, even in such unfavourable circumstances, economizes
55 per cent, of the theoretical power of the water.
164 Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine JFater-WTieel
2. That in all ordinary circumstances, the Turbine will
make available — transmit a net useful effect, to use Morin's
words — from 70 to 78 per cent, of the theoretical power.
3. That Turbines can be driven at speeds varying consider-
ably from that which theoretically is their best speed, with-
out seriously deteriorating from their practical efficiency.
One great practical excellence of the turbine is the high speed
at which it revolves. In the ordinary wheels, especially the
overshot, which is the best of them, we cannot have great
economy of power, without a very slow motion, and hence
much intermediate mechanism is necessary to bring the
motion up to the speed required for general use ; but in the
turbine, the greatest economy is accompanied by a rapid mo-
tion, and hence the connected machinery may be rendered
much less complex. The one which I have erected develops
its power best when at the speed of 48 turns per minute ; but
in consequence of the defect mentioned in the intake of the
water, I have not regularly wrought it above 42 turns. Still,
even at this speed, it is five times faster than my former
breast-wheels ; and, as my main shafting is about 200, much
intermediate raising of the motion is avoided. Turbines have
the farther advantage that the speed may be varied, as suit-
able, without materially affecting the economy of power.
4. That they may be wrought under water, that is, in back-
water, without materially affecting their useful effect. This
is found to be experimentally true, and may, indeed, appear
from the consideration that the power is in the difference be-
tween the front and back columns of water, and that it is
comparatively immaterial whether the discharge into that
back column be on the surface or at the bottom. In erect-
ing a turbine, then, the wheel ought to be placed so as to be
rather under the back-water when full going ; and thus the
greatest possible fall is secured.
5. That they can receive very variable quantities of water,
without the per-centage of useful effect being materially al-
tered. If a turbine be working with a force of 10-horse
power, and its supply of water be suddenly doubled, it be-
comes of 20-horse power. If the supply be reduced to one-
half, it still works to 5-horse power ; while such sudden and
extensive changes would altogether disarrange water-wheels
Mr J. G. Stuart on (he Turbine Water-Wheel. 165
of the common construction, which can only be calculated for
the minimum, and allow the overplus to go to waste.
Such are the general results borne out by Morin's experi-
ments in this treatise. Riihlman has also published a very
full report on the theory and practical working of the Turbine.
I have not seen it, but only extracts from it. From these I
find him stating, as the general result, that 70 per cent, of
the theoretical power may be depended upon in all cases. As
to the choice between turbines and horizontal axle wheels, he
says, that where there is a fall of a certain height which may
be economized by means of an over shot- wheel, such is to be
preferred to the turbine ; for, when carefully arranged, the
overshot- wheel economizes more than 70 per cent, of the
theoretical power ; but in all cases of high or very low falls,
the turbine is to be preferred to all other wheels. He far-
ther states, that their universal application, in such circum-
stances, can only be retarded by want of foresight or know-
ledge of their actual performance.
In regard to this statement I would fully coincide with it,
restricting the preference for the overshot, to falls from 20 to
30 feet, in which there is no fear of back-water, and from
which a quickly brought-up motion is not required. Below
20 feet, the overshot is not economical, and above 30 feet it
becomes a very expensive wheel in erection. The overshot-
wheel is certainly that, of all tlie engines hitherto in use,
which most effectually economizes water-power ; but the tur-
bine has two great advantages over it, in being adapted to
any fall^ rvhether high or low, and in pertnitting the water to
be applied at the same instant to every point of the circumfe-
rence. Farther, the turbine will, in general, be less expen-
sive in the erection than any other wheel. It is simple in its
construction, and little liable to break or go out of order; and,
consequently, it will suffer less than any other wheel from
ordinary tear and wear.
I venture to indulge the hope that the Society will accord
me some credit for having risked the experiment of intro-
ducing this wheel on a large scale ; and I will only add, that
if they shall think the matter worthy of being remitted to a
Committee, I shall be ready to afford the gentlemen appoint-
166 Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water-lfheel.
ed all the information I am possessed of, as to the theory and
practical working of the wheel, and also to exhibit the work-
ing wheel to them, if they can spare a day for the purpose,
and form a deputation to Balgonie.
Report of Committee.
The <*onimittee embraced the obliging invitation of Mr Stuart, to visit Bal-
gonie Mills, that they might see the turbine at work, and proceeded accordingly,
when they had full opportunity of examining the construction and the working
of the machine, with every part of which they were much gratified. From the
circumstance of the river being in a state of flood at the time of the visit, the
Committee regret that they were unable to institute some intended experiments,
with a view to determine the quantity of water delivered upon the turbine in
its ordinary working state. But, taking the known data that prevails over the
Leven, for the guaranteed delivery of 6000 cubic feet per minute as a true
standard, and with the fall at Balgonie Mills 11 feet 8^ inches, the power
given out by such water-wheels as appear to have been employed, yields, by
calculation, about 67 horses' power. The received data on which this calculation
is founded, has been corroborated by answers obligingly communicated to cer-
tain queries propounded to Mr Stuart by the Committee.
For the development of this power, Mr Stuart employed formerly two Breast-
wheels with open float boards running in close arcs ; the one was 10 feet wide,
the other 7 feet, and each of them 16 feet 8i inches diameter. With these
wheels, according to Mr Stuart's own statement, his mill produced a certain
quantity of yarn of certain qualities per day; but since the application of the
tui'bine to perform the whole work, the products of the mill have been in-
creased by 10 to 12 per cent.
The old water-wheels having been demolished, the Committee can only judge
of their efficiency (in relation to the water and the fall), by comparing with the
amount of work performed ; and this, it appears, had been about 45 spindles per
horse power with all their preparing machinery, a duty that approaches the
average calculation.
With the application of the Turbine, there has been no increase to the num-
ber of spindles in the mill, but their velocity has been increased to the extent of
the increase of production ; and this is the only direct proof of the superiority of
the Turbine, as yet attainable in this country.
From a careful examination of the structure of this machine, the Committee
feel satisfied that it affords all the conditions of great durability, and what is of
even greater importance, no peculiar liability to derangement from either in-
ternal or external causes ; from the latter, indeed, it is pre-eminently free.
In absence of the means and the time requisite to make any satisfactory ex-
periments on the actual power of the machine, the Committee can only repeat
the experience of Mr Stuart himself, " that it gives out 10 or 12 per cent, more
of useful effect, than the old wheels," the fall and the delivery of water being
the same. This result, making allowance for defects in the old wheels, seems to
Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water- Wheel 167
agree very satisfactorily with the statements of the different Continental writers
who have handled the subject experimentally ; and, reasoning from a source
Independent of experimental results, the Committoe see additional grounds for
placing confidence in those statements, as well as in that of Mr Stuart. The
grounds here alluded to, rest on the circumstances attending the arrangement
of common bucket and breast-wheels. In all such casec, water acts by its gravity
alone; hence such wheels are usually restricted to velocities of 6 to 8 feet per
second, and hence also, the water must have acquired a corresponding volocity
before it enters the wheel. This preparatory step takes from the height of the
fall a quantity varying from one to two feet ; at the bottom of the fall, also, there
is a loss consequent ujion the prevention of back-water, amounting at least to
half the depth of the shrouding, or from 6 to 9 inches, making a total redaction
of fall of from 2 to 2i feet.
With the Turbine, the engineer gets free of this loss of fall, because the ma-
chine takes up, if well constructed, every inch of the height ; or, according to the
views of the Continental writers, it may even yield effects beyond the natural
fall, by working the turbine under the surface of the tail-water. Upon this
last point, the Committee have some misgivings ; but from the grounds above
stated, that of rendering every inch of the fall available, they see good reason
to expect uniformly favourable results from Turbines properly constructed and
regulated.
It will readily appear, that the advantage, here dwelt upon, bears with greatest
effect upon low falls ; and since the reduction of the fall (for common wheels)
will be nearly the same for all heights, it follows, that the loss bears a much
larger proportion to the entire height in low, than in high falls. Thus, in a fall
of 6 feet, one-third may be considered as lost ; but in one of 30 feet the loss
would be only ^-^ or t^. It follows, from these observations, that the Turbine
will be most economical, in respect to power, in falls of from 1 foot up to 10 or
12 feet. As the fall becomes higher, the advantages diminish, and it is more
than probable, that, from 20 to 30 feet, a bucket-wheel is to be preferred. Up-
wards of 30 feet, and especially for great heights, the Turbine again becomes
economical, but on other grounds ; here the advantages will lie in the cowyxtra-
tively small cost of erection, com-pv^red with the power attainable from great heights-
These considerations, independently of any advantage arising from the inter-
nal mechanism of the Turbine, seem to afford still surer grounds of confidence
in this machine, under the limits here specified.
In conclusion, the Committee have great pleasure in expressing their appro-
bation of those exertions of Mr Stuart, which place him as the first in this country,
to have adopted " Fourneyron's " beautiful invention ; and, from the fortitude
and persevering skill exhibited in the pursuit of his object, crowned as it is with
a successful accomplishment, Mr Stuart is, in the opinion of the Committee, de-
serving of the best consideration of the Society.
James Slight, Convener.
John An&seson.
Edinburgh, Jun4 9. 1846.
( 168 )
On the Indian Tribes inhabititig the North-West Coast of
America. By John Scouler, M.D., F.L.S. Communi-
cated by the Ethnological Society.*
The ethnography of the tribes inhabiting the north-west
coast of America, although far from being so well known as
that of the Indian races to the east of the Rocky Mountains,
has of late made considerable progress. In addition to the
materials scattered through the works of the older voyagers,
much valuable matter is to be found in Baer's recent work
on the Russian Settlements on the north-west coast ; and,
in the Proceedings of the Geographical Society, I have pub-
lished a very extensive series of Vocabularies of Indian Lan-
guages, collected by Dr Tolmie, which have been illustrated,
and made the subject of comment by Dr Latham, in two com-
munications, read before the Ethnological Society. In the
following observations it is my intention to attempt a classifi-
cation of the various tribes found between Behring's Straits
and the Columbia River, and included between the Rocky
Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. As all our more authen-
tic information respecting the more northern tribes of Esqui-
maux and Koluschians, have been derived from Wrangel's
communications to Baer's work, it will not be necessary to
enter minutely on that part of the subject. In attempting
this synopsis of the Indian tribes of the north-westward, we
have to premise that it is merely an attempt, and one which
will necessarily be subject to much correction. The number
and names of the tribes is very imperfectly known ; and, in
many cases, we have no specimens of their language to en-
able us to fix their place, and often the indications of travel-
lers are so vague, and even contradictory, that their state-
ments only produce perplexity. The following is, therefore,
to be considered rather as an exhibition of what is known on
the subject, than as a complete monograph. The distinction,
however, between facts and probable inferences has been
carefully observed.
With respect to the tribes inhabiting the Russian territory,
it may be remarked, that we find there three very distinct
* B«ad before the Ethnological Society, 29th April 18^6.
On the Tribes inhabiting the N.-West Coast of America, 169
families of the human race brought into intimate relation-
ship, and each retaining its own peculiarities. We find the
Esquimaux to the north and west, the Koluschians, on the sea-
coast, to the south, and, in the interior, the Carriers and
other tribes of the Athabascan family, extending eastward
toward Hudson's Bay, and spreading southward along the
western side of the Rocky Mountains to the head- waters of
Frazer's River. Notwithstanding the contiguity of these
three families or groups, and that they have interchanged se-
veral words of their respective vocabularies, the distinction
tween them in language, manners, and modes of living, is
very apparent, so that there is, in general, little difficulty in
ascertaining to which of the three families a tribe belongs.
Thus the Esquimaux of Greenland and Kodiac, although
thousands of miles apart, have more dialectic affinities than
the Kodiacs have with their neighbours, the Kenai or Kolus-
chians. There is nothing more remarkable than the perti-
nacity with which even small tribes of Indians adhere to
their language, retaining it, as Mr Gallatin observes, to the
last moment of their existence. The difference of customs,
as, for example, between a fishing and a hunting tribe, also
tends to prevent intercourse, and thus keep languages dis-
tinct. Mr Dunn informs us, when speaking of the tribes
situated around Puget's Sound, that " the coast tribes and
those of the plains observe a marked aversion to mutual in-
corporation, and confine themselves to distinct localities ; the
plain tribes not approaching the Sound, and the tribes bor-
dering on the Sound not extending their roamings into the
plains." In the same manner, the Athabascan and Esquimaux
races, in the northern regions, carry on a perpetual warfare.
We also find, among the Indian races to the east of the Rocky
Mountains, that amalgamations of dialects rarely, if ever,
take place ; their organization into tribes, and the necessity
of preserving the full extent of their hunting-ground causes
repulsion, not union, and is favourable to perpetual hostilities.
It will be seen, in the course of this paper, that a different
social condition has tended to obscure the marks of dialectic
distinctions in certain tribes.
1. Esquimaux. — The ethnography of this race is now well
170 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
known, and requires no illustration here. Extending from
Greenland to Aliaska, they speak everywhere the same lan-
guage, with dialectic variations. They inhabit the most north-
erly parts of the new world, and even part of the icy coasts
of the old. The Esquimaux tribes, inhabiting the north-west
angle of America, appear to have been the most numerous
portion of the race, in proportion to the extent of country
which they occupy, and, at the same time, the most social
and civilized. This may be accounted for by the milder cli-
mate of this region, by far the most temperate of any occu-
pied by the Esquimaux, from its numerous islands, inlets, and
peninsulas, which multiply, in a comparatively small space,
an extensive line of sea-coast adapted to their mode of life.
The Esquimaux of this region display much industry and in-
genuity, and carry on an extensive intercourse among them-
selves as well as with the Koluschians, and even with the in-
habitants of the Asiatic coast. In this part of America the
Esquimaux are divided into numerous small communities,
whose names and places of residence are to be found in Baer's
work, where much information may be obtained respecting
them.
2. Athabascans. — This family of Indians is not numerous
in proportion to the extent of country which it occupies, but
is interesting from its position amidst so many distinct fami-
lies, and occupying very nearly the whole breadth of the
American continent. The Athabascans are everywhere se-
parated from the sea-coast by the Esquimaux ; and towards
the Mississippi River they become conterminous with the
Algonquin race. To the west of the Rocky Mountains, the
Athabas(!ans, under the names of Tacullies or Carriers, oc-
cupy the country called New Caledonia ; but have nowhere
reached the sea-coast, from which they are cut off by the Es-
quimaux, Koluschians, and other tribes. The Athabascan
tribes are separated from the Ichthyophagous tribes of the
coast by repugnance arising from difference of mode of life,
or by natural barriers. To the north, the Athabascans inha-
bit the head waters of the streams which flow into the Paci-
fic, and thus come into hostile contact with the Esquimaux.
Further south, they are cut off from the Koluschian and other
Inhabiting the North- West Coast of America. 171
sea tribes by the range of mountains which runs parallel to
the coast, and from which they extend eastward to the Rocky
Mountains. It would appear, that, to the north and west,
the Tacullics or Athabascans rarely approach within 100
miles of the coast. Tribes of the Athabascan family occupy
the country about the sources of the Salmon River, Frazer's
River, and the northern tributaries of the Columbia. The
Nagailers or Chin Indians, who speak the same language as
the Tacullies, and are consequently Athabascan, come in
contact with the Bellichoola on Salmon River, and with the
Atnas or Noosdalums on Frazer's River. In the interior,
they descend as far as Flat Bow Lake, where their neigh-
bours are the Kootanie and Flatheads.
An inspection of the vocabularies of the languages spoken
on the north-west coast, will aid us in defining the limits of
the Athabascan family. If we examine the languages spoken
from Observatory Inlet to the Columbia, we find they possess
very few Athabascan words, the mountain barrier having ob-
structed the intercourse between the fish-eaters of the coast
and the Athabascans of the interior. On the other hand, on
the north and south, where no such defined barrier separates
the diflferent races, we find in the vocabularies evidence of a
more frequent intercourse. In the dialects of the northern
and continental Koluschians, we find a good number of
Athabascan words ; and the Kenai may probably be consi-
dered as rather Athabascan than Koluschian. In like man-
ner, we find Athabascan words in the Kleketat and Shahap-
tan, as tribes speaking these languages form the southern
frontier of the Athabascan race.
3. The Koluschians. — The narrow portion of sea coast ex-
tending from Mount St Elias to the Columbia River is re-
markable from being inhabited by Indians whose manners,
physical features, and even intellectual and moral characters,
differ considerably from those of the other Indians, whether
of North or South America. The northernmost of these fami-
lies may be called the Koluschian, and consist of many small
tribes, of which we have attempted to give a tolerably com-
plete enumeration.
172 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
1. Ugalenzi, A small tribe, dwelling in winter to the east
of the Island of Kodiac, and during summer at the
mouth of the Copper River.
2. Atna. Living on the River Atna ; distinct from the
Atna of M'Kenzie.
3. Galzani, or Koltschani. Living to the north and east
of the Atna River.
4. Kinai. Inhabiting the vicinity of Cook's Inlet.
5. Inchulukhlaites. Inhabiting the vicinity of the River
Chulitna.
6. Inkalites. Inhabiting the vicinity of the Rivers Kwich-
pack and Kuskowim.
7. Sitkans. Inhabiting King George the Third's Archi-
pelago.
8. Cheelkaats. Inhabiting Lynn's Canal, and neighbour-
hood.
9. Tako. Inhabiting Point Salisbury and Snettisham.
10. Stikine, Inhabiting Prince Frederick's Sound and Sti-
kine River.
11. Tunghaase. Inhabiting the island of Revilla Gigedo.
The territory occupied by the Koluschian family may be
defined as including the islands and the shores of the main-
land, from Cook's Inlet to the Stikine River. In the north-
ern part of the Koluschian territory, the limits become unde-
fined, from the intermixture of tribes of different languages
in the same country. Thus we find an Esquimaux tribe, the
Tschugassi, inhabiting the peninsula between Cook's Inlet
and Prince "William's Sound. The Inchuluhkaites and Inka-
lites, although Koluschians, live still farther north, amidst
tribes of Esquimaux. Another cause of perplexity is, that
in the six tribes first named in the table, we find in their vo-
cabularies so many Athabascan words as to indicate an inti-
mate intercourse with the Carriers. In the Kinai vocabu-
lary, for example, the number of Athabascan words is so
great, as to render it probable that they belong rather to that
family of Indians than to the Koluschians, and that, to use
a geological expression, they form an outlying portion of
the Carriers. The more southern tribes, Nos. 7, 11, are un-
Inhabiting the North- West Coast of America. 173
questionably Koluschian, speaking dialects of the same lan-
guage, which is much freer from all Athabascan or Esqui-
maux intermixture. The Koluschian family, as we have de-
fined it, includes the Tunghaase of Dr Tolmie, the Sitkans
of the Russians, and Tchinkitane of Marchant.
4. Chimmesyan. — In the present state of our knowledge,
the Chemmesyans must be classed by themselves, as speak-
ing a distinct language as peculiar as that of the Koluschians,
with which it has had remote affinities.
The following table will exhibit the limits of this family and
the principal tribes which speak the Chimmesyan language : —
1. The Naaskaak. Inhabiting Observatory Inlet.
2. The Chemmesyan. Inhabiting Dundas's Island and
Stephen's Island.
.* ^ ,, *, J Inhabiting Princess Royal Islands.
4. Kethumeesh. )
5. Haidah. — This well defined family comprehends the
various tribes inhabiting Queen Charlotte's Island, including
the Skittegats^ Maasets, Cumsherves^ ^c. Besides the inha-
bitants of Queen Charlotte's Island, the Kyganie tribe, inha-
biting Kyganie Bay, and the southern extremity of Prince of
Wales' Archipelago, belong to the Haidah family.
6. Haeeltsuk. — The Haeeltsuk tribes occupy the mainland
and islands from Hawkesbury Island, and Millbank Sound to
Brough ton's Archipelago, inclusive, with the opposite coast of
the Continent, and also the northern parts of Quadra and
Vancouver's Island. The geographical position of the Haeel-
truk, will be best exhibited by the following table of tribes,
and their places of residence.
1. Hyshalla. Inhabiting Hawksburg Island.
2. Hyhysh. Inhabiting Cascade Canal.
3. Haeeltsuk ; 4. Esleytuk, Inhabiting Millbank Sound.
5. Weekenoch. Inhabiting Fitzhugh's Sound.
6. Nalatsenoch. Inhabiting Smith's Inlet.
7. Quagheuil. Inhabiting Broughton's Archipelago.
8. Tlatla-Shequilla. Including Northern extremity of
Vancouver's Island.
9. Leequeeltoch. Inhabiting Johnston's Strait. .
174 Dr John Sconler on the Indian Tribes
7. BelUchoola. — This family comprehends but a small
number of tribes, speaking, however, a peculiar language.
They live on the Salmon River and Dean's Canal, where
they were visited by M'Kenzie on his journey to the Pacific
Ocean. The small vocabulary collected by M'Kenzie, leaves
no doubt, as Dr Tolmie and Dr Latham observes, that the
Indians found by M'Kenzie at Friendly Village, belongs to
the BelUchoola tribe.
We have classified the Koluschians, Haidah, Chimmesyans,
BelUchoola, and Haeeltruk, as distinct families of Indians,
and the distinction will hold good even if their languages
should be proved to belong to one general tongue, of which
they are respectively modifications. The languages of any
of these tribes is unintelligible to the others ; but, at the
same time, the number of words common to them all induce
us to suppose, that, with more copious vocabularies, many
affinities might be detected and discrepancies removed,
8. Kawitchen. — The following tribes belong to this family : —
1. Commagsheak. Gulph of Georgia, Northern Part.
2. Kawitchen. Gulph of Georgia, Southern Part.
3. QuaiUin. Frazer's River.
4. Noosdalum. Hood's Canal.
5. Squaltyamish. Puget's Sound.
6. Atnas.
The table of tribes speaking the Kawitchen, and of their
habitations, indicates the extent of country over which the
language prevails. It extends along the shores of the Gulf
of Georgia on the mainland, opposite Vancouver's Island, and
south to Puget's Sound, where it approaches the Cowlitch
River. Dr Tolmie has supplied three vocabularies, those of
the Kawitchen, Noosdalum, and Squallyamish, which appear
to be so many dialects of the same original language ; the
Squallyamish, however, exhibiting the greatest amount of
variation. The Atna Indians of M'Kenzie are, as Dr Latham
suggests, a branch of the Kawitchen family, and have for
neighbours the Athabascans.
9. Nootkans.
1. Naspatle ; 2. Naotkans ; 3. Tlaoquatch ; 4. Nit-
Inhabiting the North-West Coast of America. 175
tenat. All inhabit the western shores of Van-
couver's Island.
5. Classet. Inhabit Cape Flattery.
6. Queenioolt. Inhabit Queenhithe South of Cape Flat-
tery.
7. Chikeelis. Inhabit Chikeeli Bay and River.
8. Cowlitch, Inhabit Cowlitch River.
9. Tilhalumma, Inhabit sources of Chikeeli River.
The relations of this important family, as w^ell as its geo-
graphical limits, are very difficult to ascertain, especially as
there is much confusion in the vocabularies and relations of
the tribes inhabiting the Lower Columbia. If all the above
mentioned tribes belong to the Nootkan family, it occupies a
very extensive region, including the greater part of the west-
ern and southern shores of Vancouver's Island. On the
mainland it extends south to the Columbia River, and occu-
pies the greater part of the region between Puget's Sound,
the Cowlitch River, and the Pacific. As this extensive range
is given to the Nootkan family for the first time, it is neces-
sary to distinguish what is ascertained from what amounts
only to a considerable degree of probability. We have many
vocabularies of the Nootkan language by Cook, Mozino, Dr
Tolmie, and Jewitt, who remained a captive at Nootka for
several years. A comparison of these vocabularies leaves
no doubt that the first four tribes in the prefixed table belong
to the Nootkan family. We have, unfortunately, no vocabu-
lary of the Classet language ; but I have reason to believe
that the Classets and Tlaoquatch can understand each other,
and if so, the former belongs to the Nootkan family. The
chief difficulty is with the last four tribes mentioned in the
list. Dr Tolmie merely says, that they speak the Chikeeli,
but gives no further information respecting them. The rea-
sons for supposing that the Chikeeli tribes are allied to the
Nootkan family are as follows : — At the mouth of the Colum-
bia River, especially on tbe south side, we find several tribes,
hereafter to be mentioned, who use the Cheenook language.
Above these tribes, and ascending to the falls of the Colum-
bia, we find theCathlascans also speaking a peculiar language.
Of the tribes on the north side of the river, between the Cow-
176
Dr John Scouler o?i the Indian Tribes
litch, Pugefs Sound, and the sea, we have apparently no
vocabularies, although the country is occupied by well known
tribes of Indians. It is not, however, upon this negative
argument that we place the Chikeeli tribes in the Nootkan
family. While residing for several weeks among the Indians
of the Lower Columbia, I collected a small vocabulary of the
language, and of the phrases essential for carrying on some
conversation with the natives. A comparison of this lan-
guage, spoken by the Chikeelis, with the Tlaoquatch vocabu-
lary of Dr Tolmie and the Nootkan ones of Mozino and
Jewitt, prove that it has very great affinities with the Nootkan.
COLUMBIA.
Plenty
Aya, Tlaoquatch
Haya
No
. . Wik, Nootkan . .
Wake
Water .
Tchaak, Tlaoquatch
Chuck
Good .
Hooleish, do.
aosh
Bad
Peishakeis, do.
Peshak
Man
Tchuckoop, do.
Tillicham
Woman
Tlootsemin, do.
Clootchamen
Child
Tanassis, do.
Tanass
Now
Tlahowieh, do.
Clahowiah
Come
Tchooqua, do.
Sacko
Slave
Mischemas, Nootka
Mischemas
What ar
e you doing ? Akoots-ka-mamok TIaoqus
itch Ekta mammok
What ar
e you saying ? Au-kaak-wawa Tlaoquatc
h Ekta-wawa ?
Let me s
ee . . Nannanitch
Nannanitch
Sun
Opeth, Nootka
Ootlach
Sky
Sieya, do.
Saya
Fruit
Chamas, do.
Camas
To sell
Makok, do.
Makok
Understa
nd . . Comraatax, do.
Commatax
The vocabulary here given proves that there is a very con-
siderable affinity between the tribes of the north part of the
Lower Columbia and the Nootkans of Vancouver's Island,
and is the evidence on which we have ventured to place the
Chikeelis in the same group as the Nootkans.
10. Cheenooks. — The Cheenooks inhabit the lower part of
the Columbia, near the sea, and from thence extend along the
coast, probably until they reach the Umpqua tribes on the
river of the same name. The chief tribes are
1, Cheenooks. Inhabiting the south bank of the Columbia.
2. Cladsaps. Inhabiting the sea-coast near Point Adams.
Inhabiting the North- West Coast of America. 177
3. Kellamiicks, Inhabiting the Kellamuck River, and
south of the Cladsaps.
4. Cathlamuts. Inhabiting the south bank of the Columbia
above the Cheenooks.
11. Umpquas. — Lewis and Clark have given the names of
many Cheenook tribes which live on the bays and streams
entering the Pacific, and extending towards the Umpqua river.
Their names it is unnecessary to repeat. We will merely
state, that beyond them, and on the Umpqua and Clamet
rivers, we find the Umpqua Indians, of whom we know very
little, except that they speak a very distinct language, and
are therefore entitled to form a separate family.
12. Cathlascans. — The Cathlascans inhabit the banks of
the Columbia, from the Falls down to Wappatoo Island, and
also the lower part of the Multrumah or Willamud river.
The Cathlascans are divided into many little tribes. Their
chief place of resort is Wappatoo Island, a low but fertile
tract, which resemble the Lizerias of the Tagus. The alluvial
and overflown parts of the island abound in a species of Sa-
gittaria, resembling the iS". sagittifolia, but remarkable for
producing at the root a tuber of the size of that of the arti-
choke, which it very much resembles in flavour, and forms an
important article of food to the natives of the Lower Columbia.
As in the case of the northern tribes, the families which
we have called Kawitchen, Nootkan, Cheenook, and Cath-
lascan, may form a group by themselves, and the recurrence
of the same words in several of the vocabularies, induces us
to suppose that the differences will be reduced as our know-
ledge of the ethnography of the Oregon improves^
13. Shahaptan.
1. Kliketan. Inhabit the tract between Fond Ner Per-
cees, Mount Rainier, and the Falls of the Columbia.
2. Shahaptans or Ner Percees. Inhabit the southern
branch of the Columbia, and spread over a great
extent of country.
3. Wallawalla.
4. Cayoose. Inhabit the Snake River from its mouth to
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. M
178 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
its junction with the Salmon River, and the inter-
mediate country.
5. Peloose. Inhabit sources of the Spokan River.
Of the numerous tribes inhabiting the upper tributaries of
the Columbia, there are probably many who should be in-
cluded in the Shahaptan family, but who, in the absence of
vocabularies, cannot be placed in the table with any degree
of certainty. That the Kliketat, Wallawalla, and Shahap-
tans, speak the same language, although with dialectic varia-
tions, is undoubted ; and the vocabularies in the appendix,
perhaps the most accurate we possess of any Oregon lan-
guages, exhibits both the affinities and divergences. It was
drawn up by the Rev. Cornelius Rogers, who has resided as
a missionary among the Nez Percees, and is thoroughly ver-
sant in their language. The Peloose and Cayoose Indians
may also be referred to this family without much risk of error.
The first live on the Wallawalla and Columbia at their junc-
tion, the second to the west of the Ner Percees. The Sha-
haptan tribes occupy a very extensive territory, extending
from Mount Rainier south to Ford Ner Percees, at the junc-
tion of the great northern and southern tributaries of the
Columbia, and including the extensive country included be-
tween them.
14. Okanagan. — This family is placed to the north and
east of the Shahaptans. The language is spoken at Fort-
Okanagan and in the upper part of Frazer's River. , As Dr
Latham conjectures, it is probable that the Salish or Flat-
heads belong to the Okanagans. The Rev. Mr Parker says,
they are a branch of the Shahaptans, and speak the same
language, but the scanty vocabulary we possess is in favour
of Dr Latham's opinion. The affinities of the following tribes
are uncertain, although they must be referred either to the
Shahaptans or Okanagans ; — the Spokan s, who live on the
Spokan river, the Coeur, and Alenes, and Ponderas, who are
a numerous tribe living to the north of Clarke's River. The
Cootanies on the M'Gillivray River, according to Mr Parker,
speak a peculiar language, and beyond them we have the
Athabascan Carriers.
Inhabiting the North- West Coast of America. 179
15. Kalapooiah, — We possess vocabularies of two dialects,
of this family, the Kalapooiah and Yamkallie. The language
is spoken beyond the sources of the Willamut River, in the
extensive plains in that quarter, and separated by the range
from the Cheenook and Umpquas.
16. Shossoonies, — The Shossoonies, Snakes, or Diggers, who
reside in the mountains and deserts to the south of the sources
of the Columbia, are the only remaining family to be noticed,
as the tribes inhabiting California, from the sources of the
Rio Colorado southward, are too little known to afford mate-
rials for description. In the absence of complete vocabu-
laries, we only know that they form a family apart, having
no affinity with the Shabaptans or Kalapooiah. The Shos-
soonies are, perhaps, the most miserable Indians on the whole
continent, except the inhabitants of Terra del Fuego ; and in
their arid deserts their condition, as described by Captain
Fremont, is more like that of the Hottentots, or the natives
of New Holland, than of American Indians. Their chief
subsistence, when fish is not to be found, consists in a scanty
supply of game, lizards, and small mammifers, and such
roots as the country affords.
Their chief vegetable food consists, according to Captain
Fremont, of the roots of a thistle, the Gircium turgenianum
oii\iQ Anethum graveolens. The Camas camassia esculenta,
and a species of Valerian, V. eduli. It is on such scanty fare
that the Shossoonies subsist amidst their rocks and deserts.
In the preceding synopsis, it has been attempted to exhi-
bit as complete a view as possible of the various tribes in-
habiting the northern coast of America, from the Polar Seas
to the Columbia. The extreme difficulty of the task, and the
toil of collecting information scattered in minute portions
through a great variety of works, will, it is trusted, be taken
as an apology for any errors which may have been fallen into.
Were we to construct an ethnographical chart of the north-
west part of America, and compare it with the excellent one
which Mr Gallatin has given, illustrating the distribution of
the Indian tribes east of the Rocky Mountains, nothing would
appear more striking than the great variety of languages
spoken in the narrow district included between the Rocky
180 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
Mountains and the Pacific, contrasted with the few but wide
spread dialects, spoken between Hudson's Bay and the Gulf
of Mexico. Unwilling to introduce premature generaliza-
tions, we have estimated the number of distinct languages at
sixteen. Although the number will probably be considerably
reduced by subsequent investigations ; the Okanagan may be
perhaps united to the Shahaptan and the Haidah, with the
Koluschian ; but after all such reductions, the number of dis-
tinct languages spoken to the west of the Rocky Mountains,
will be far greater, in proportion to the surface of country and
population, than it is to the east, between the mountains and
the Atlantic. The territory occupied by the Algonquin race
alone exceeds the whole extent of the Oregon territory. In
the south of the United States, however, we have something
analogous to the population of the west coast, for there a
great number of small tribes are found speaking distinct lan-
guages, and having little affinity with each other. The creeks
and the jungles of that part of country appear to have afforded
an asylum to tribes expelled from their ancient abodes. On
the east of the Rocky Mountains the wide diffusion of parti-
cular languages depends in part on the nature of the country.
Subsisting almost exclusively by the chase, each tribe re-
quired a great extent of country ; few natural barriers existed
to prevent dispersion, and the sanguinary nature of Indian
warfare left no resource to the vanquished but the alterna-
tive of flight or extermination. In the history of the Irri-
quois confederacy, we have a picture of this desolating war-
fare in which even the harsh mercy of slavery was refused to
the vanquished.
Among the natives of the north-west coast, the features of
the country, intersected by mountain ranges, or broken up
into islands, rendered the tribes more sedentary ; while, at
the same time, it permitted, and even from the diversity of
its products required, some degree of commercial intercourse.
Under such physical conditions, and where the modes of ob-
taining food varied with the character of the country, exten-
sive conquests were impossible ; the energetic Haidah of
Queen Charlotte's island could not, even if conquerors, abandon
at once their mode of life as fishers, and change themselves
Inhabiting the North^West Coast of America. 181
into hunters if they penetrated across the mountains, and
occupied the country of the Athabascans. This circumstance
is unquestionably favourable to the production and preserva-
tion of a variety of dialects, although it is by no means a
proof that they were not originally derived from a common
source. When, to ascertain this, w^e compare the different
vocabularies, vre find a source of perplexity which does not
occur to any thing like the same extent among the languages
spoken to the east of the mountains. In the Irriquois, Che-
rokee, Sioux, and Algonquin, we find very few words com-
mon to all or to any two of them ; the term expressing num-
bers, the common objects of nature, articles of indispensable
necessity, or of family relationship, are perfectly distinct. In
the languages of the north-west coast, on the contrary, there
seem to be an equal balance of divergences and resem-
blances ; the same words reappear in the most remote lan-
guages, and these frequently numerals or other terms of the
first necessity. The similarity with respect to numerals,
may be at once seen on inspecting the vocabularies published
in the Proceedings of the Geographical Society.
The following instances will explain the same fact : —
Jfan, Tillicham, Columbia River ; Boy, Tchileque, Carrier.
Woman, Shewat, Koluschian ; Aiat, Shahaptan.
Water, Tchuk, Nootkan ; Tshush, Wallawalla.
Child, Munna, Bellichoola ; Mumunna, Kawitchen.
Child, Tillcoole, Chlmmesyan ; Tool, Cheenook.
The source of strange confusion, so to speak, appears to
depend on the following circumstances. The Indians of the
northward possess a very different natural character from
that of the eastern tribes ; they are more sedentary, of a mild-
er nature, their wars are far less cruel^ the prisoners are
usually detained in a state of mild slavery, and ultimately
incorporated into the conquering tribe ; and this circumstance
alone will tend to produce an intermixture of dialects. An-
other modifying cause results from the extensive commercial
intercourse carried on between even very remote tribes.
Baron Wrangell has given an interesting account of the ac-
tive trade carried on, from time immemorial, among the tribes
from Behring's Straits to Queen Charlotte's Island, and even
182 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
to Nootka ; Dr Tolmie has given valuable information respec-
ting the fairs held at Naas, where the Koluschians, Haidah,
Chimmesyans, and Haeeltzuk, interchange commodities.
Previous to the arrival of Europeans, when the use of iron
was unknown, copper was an article of great value, and the
traditions concerning it prove its former importance ; and al-
so a commerce in articles constructed from this metal.
Wrangell informs us that the Northern Atnas of the Copper
River were famous for the fabrication and commerce in knives
and daggers of copper. The tradition of the Chippewyans,
recorded by M'Kenzie, that their ancestors came from the
west, from a country abounding in copper, may probably re-
fer to their intercourse, by means of the Carriers with the
Atnas of the Copper River. According to Mr Dunn, the
Cheelhaats of Lynn's Canal were, like the Atnas, famed for
their copper, which they wrought with great dexterity. In
this country, he says, great quantities of virgin copper are
found, some of it is worked into a kind of shield, two feet and
a-lialf long and one broad, with figures of men and animals
expressed on it. The labour and ingenuity expended in work-
ing these shields gives them a great value. One of them is
estimated as worth nine slaves, and is transmitted as a pre-
cious heirloom from father to son. The tradition of the Noot-
kans, as related by Meares, bears upon the same point. An
old man entered the bay in a copper canoe with paddles of
copper ; and thus the Nootkans acquired a knowledge of the
value of that metal.
Another article of commerce, or rather the circulating
medium of the country, was the hyaqua shell, which was a
still better substitute for money than the courie of the east.
These hyaquas were sorted according to their sizes, and after-
wards strung together always to the number of forty. The
mode of estimating their relative values was very ingenious
and simple. If the string of forty hyaquas made only a fa-
thom they were of small value ; if thirty- five made a fathom,
the shells were of greater size and worth, and, of course, five
remained over, and when ten remained in excess, such a string
of hyaquas was worth many beaver skins. These hyaquas are
obtained at Nootka and De Fucas Straits, but so much value
Inhabiting the North- West Coast of America. 183
was attached to them that they found their way to Oonalaska
and the Columbia River. This shell money, both from its
limited supply, its durability, and facility with which its value
could be expressed in numbers, and its portability, was far
superior to the coccoa money of the Mexicans. This com-
mercial intercourse must have have tended to produce some
assimilation among the idioms ; and, accordingly, we find
that most exchangeable articles have the same name in Ko-
luschian and Haidah, although the languages are, in other re-
spects, very different. The practice of kidnapping and sel-
ling slaves must have had a similar tendency.
Another cause of variation is the dialectic differences which
grow up in distant tribes speaking the same language, lead-
ing to differences of pronunciation which the stranger can-
not detect.
In the Wallawalla and Shahaptan vocabularies, appended
to this paper, we see that, even in Indian languages, such
variations follow certain rules. According to the excellent re-
marks of Mr Rogers, one form of the subjunctive ends in tah
and nah, in "Wallawalla it is always tahna ; the Wallawalla
substitute sh for the Shahaptan k, as in tshusk for scush ; the
Wallawalla substitutes n for Shahaptan /, as wanaka for wa~
lasa. Mr Rogers also adds, that the same word often varies
considerably in signification ; and hence another cause of
difficulty in judging of affinities from imperfect vocabularies.
Another observation by Mr Rogers, points out another cause
of variation, of which I know of no other instance among In-
dian tribes. He informs us that the Cayoose Indians have an
entirely distinct language of their own ; but they have long
since adopted the Nez Percee as their national tongue, and
only a few of the old people retain a knowledge of their original
language. If this circumstance be fully established, it throws
much light on the causes of variation in the Oregon languages,
and indicates a much more flexible disposition than is usually
found among Indians. The smallest tribe, in the south of the
United States, retained its language with the most obstinate
tenacity ; and the barbarous Otomis retained their uncouth
language for centuries amidst the more polished languages
of Mexico. With our present imperfect knowledge of the
1S4 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
languages spoken in the north-west coast, all attempts at
ethnological classifications will remain imperfect, more voca-
bularies must be constructed, and the old corrected, before
we can trace the affinities and migrations of tribes, the study
of whose dialects constitutes all their history.
The researches of American philologists, especially Du
Ponceau and Gallatin, have shewn, that, however different
the words may be in Indian languages, the same grammati-
cal structure pervades them all. From Canada to Chili, we
find similar forms under a great diversity of words. The
principles of M. Du Ponceau have been found applicable,
with one exception, to all the hitherto examined languages
of America, and it is an interesting inquiry to ascertain whe-
ther the languages of the north-rwest coast afford confirma-
tion, or exceptions, to so extensive a generalisation ; unfor-
tunately the materials are not abundant, as it is far more dif-
ficult to obtain a grammar than a vocabulary. The only
grammar of an Oregon language, which we are acquainted
with, is a manuscript one of the Shahaptan or Nez Percee,
drawn up by the Rev. C. Rogers, and which affords a short
but perspicuous view of the peculiarities of that wide-spread
tongue.
The only consonants used in Shahaptan are h k 1 m n p s
t w. The letters b d f g r v z, so often absent in Indian
languages, are only used in Shahaptan, when pronouncing
foreign words. They have, however, several sounds unknown
to English as ph aspirated Ik, tkt, shk.
Like the other American, or in short, all barbarous lan-
guages, the Shahaptan is rich in words indicating every varie-
ty of object, but poor in general terms, like the Malayan dia-
lects, where there may be twenty names for gold, but none
for metal. It is apparently to the same poverty of general
ideas, that the pronouns and verbs, with their definite and ge-
neral plurals, and vast variety of inflexions, indicating every
minute particular of time, place, or motion, are very unfit for
the discussion of moral topics. They resemble the technical
language of botanists, expressing with rigorous precision,
the form and properties of bodies, but unfit for any kind of
speculative discussion. The distinction of bodies into animate
Inhabiting the North- West Coast of America. 18&
and inanimate, which pervades the Algonquin, and exists,
although in a minor degree, in many American languages,
has not been hitherto detected in dialects of the Oregon.
Although not immediately connected with the subject, it may
be mentioned that this distinction of bodies into animate and
inanimate is not peculiar to some tribes in North America.
It appears to exist in the Peruvian, where also animate ob-
jects are divided into rational and irrational. In the rational
and irrational divisions, the sex is expressed by words equi-
valent to male and female, but these words are different in
the two classes of nouns.
We have now to offer a few remarks on the physical ap-
pearance, intellectual character, and social institutions of
the Indians of the north-west coast of America. Even if we
exclude the Esquimaux, we find there is a considerable variety
in the physical features of the north-west Indians. TheHaidah
and Koluschians differ greatly from the Chenooks and Cath-
lascans of the Columbia ; and the Shahaptans and Kleketat
differ from both. The northern tribes are of a pale com-
plexion, and are not darker than the Portuguese or Italians,
while the complexion of the Columbian Indian is deeper, al-
though not so much as the Irriquois of Canada. The fea-
tures also of the northern tribes are more prominent, they
have broader cheek-bones. The Koluschians are of middle
stature, but strong made, with broad nose and great cheek-
bones, and in all respects strongly marked features. The
Cheenooks are of small stature, with crooked legs, from
sitting so long in their canoes, with flat nose and large nos-
trils, but their features are less prominent than in the Haidah
and Koluschians. The Kleketat and Flatheads are of a fair
complexion, tall stature, well made, and active. The pecu-
liarities in the form of the cranium have been mentioned in
a paper on the Oregon Indians, published in the Transac-
tions of the Geographical Society.
The intellectual and moral characters of the Indians on
the west coast are very different from those of the Indians
east of the Mountains. From the nature of their pursuits
the Oregon Indians have a more extensive range of ideas,
and are less inflexible in character than the other American
186 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
tribes. The western Indians are imitative and docile ; and
instead of the hard-heartedness of the Irriquois, the ferocity
of the Carib, or the implacable cruelty of the Brazilian, the
Oregon Indians are comparatively humane, the custom of
scalping is unknovi^n, prisoners taken in war are rarely put
to death after the excitement of the contest has subsided,
and they are never exposed to lingering tortures. Those
probationary tortures by which the young men were initiated
into the rank of warriors, and of which, as practised by the
Mandians, Mr Catlin has given so entertaining an account,
are unknown to the west of the Rocky Mountains.
There is, however, a very considerable variety of psycho-
logical character among the tribes of the north-west coast.
The northern tribes of Koluschians, Haidah, and Bellichoolas
are, in point of skill and ingenuity, far superior to the Chee-
nooks and Cathlascans. The mechanical skill and imitative
ingenuity of the northern Indians as displayed in the con-
struction of their canoes, houses, fishing implements, as well
as in their ornamented daggers, pipes, and masks, has at-
tracted the notice of all civilised visitors. The elaborate
carvings of the Haidahs is equal in skill to any thing we
find displayed by the Mexicans, and shews how small an
amount of civilisation might suffice for the construction of
the monuments of Chiapa or Yucatan. A very curious in-
stance of the imitative powers of the northern Indians is
related by Mr Dunn. The Bellichoolas of Millbank Sound
were struck with admiration on the first sight of a steam-
boat, and undertook to construct a vessel on the same model.
In a short time they had felled a large tree, and were con-
structing the hull out of its scooped trunk. Some time after
the rude steamer appeared. She was from twenty to thirty
feet long, she was black with painted ports, was decked
over, and the paddles painted red, and Indians under cover
to turn them round. She was floated triumphantly, and
went at the rate of three miles an hour. The introduction
and general cultivation of the potato without the aid of
European lessons or example, is a remarkable instance of
the docility and industry of the Haidah, and they not un-
Inhabiting the North^West Coast of America. 187
frequently sell from five to eight hundred bushels of them at
the annual fair at Naas.
The Indians of Nootka are not equal to the northern
tribes, but are superior to the Cheenooks and Cathlascans of
the Columbia, who are the least energetic, and at the same
time the most cowardly and licentious of all the inhabitants
of the north-west coast. If inferior in some degree to the
northern tribes, in as far as regards dexterity and mechanical
skill, the tribes of the interior, such as the Flat-Heads, Cayuse,
and Shahaptans, are by far the first in moral character. The
desire for religious even more than for intellectual culture,
►and the strong, although untutored, devotional feelings,
are pleasing phenomena in the Indian race, in general so
untractable. This favourable account of the Flatheads
and allied tribes, does not rest on the evidence of the mis-
sionaries alone, but is the opinion of all who have travelled
among them. They are described as polite and unobtru-
sive. Even the children are more peaceable than other chil-
dren, and although hundreds may be seen together at play,
there is no quarrelling among them. They have learned to
observe Sunday, and will not raise their camp on that day ;
they also spend a part of it in prayer and religious cere-
monies. The chief assembles them to prayer in which they
all join in an occasional chorus. He then exhorts them to
good conduct. These customs were adopted before the ar-
rival of Christian teachers among them.
The religion, or rather superstitions, of the Indians of the
north-west coast, do not appear to differ greatly from those
of the tribes to the east of the Mountains. The supposed
simplicity of the Indian creed, as well as their equally ima-
ginary eloquence, have been the subject of much vague spe-
culation, founded on inaccurate observations. As an instance
of the vagueness with which the customs of the Indians are
sometimes described, it may be mentioned, that a very re-
spectable writer, in speaking of the Cheenooks, alludes to
assemblies around the council fire, taking up the tomihawk,
and displaying the scalps of their enemies, although such
customs were unknown in the Oregon territory.
188 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
In like manner, when we hear the term Great Spirit so often
used in speaking of Indian superstitions, we are ready to sup-
pose that such an expression conveys the equivalent idea to
the Indian which it does to ourselves, and that their faith
was a simple natural theism. This, however, is very far
from being the ease. The religion of the Indian is merely a
kind of fetichism, consisting in charms and incantations. In
the narrative of Tanner, who lived from his childhood among
the Indians, and whose faithful and detailed narrrative is so
different from the speculations of certain writers, we find
that the religion of the Indian is merely a system of fetichism
similar to that which once prevailed among the Finns, and*
is found at the present day among the people of Siberia.
Among the Indians east of the Mountains, the fetiche, under
the name of medicine bag, is well known, and consists merely
of some object supposed to be possessed of mysterious powers.
Along with this, there is excitement produced by fastings,
incantations, and dream s. On the north-west coast the system
is similar ; and in a former paper, to which allusion has been
already made, there is an interesting account by Dr Tolmie
of the superstitions of the Haeeltruk. In the Oregon terri-
tory, the term medicine-man is more appropriate than it is
to the east of the Mountains ; for, on the Columbia, the chief
influence is derived from expelling diseases by means of
charms snd mystic ceremonies.
Connected with the religion of these Indians, their mode
of interment deserves notice. It is remarkable, that the
simple and natural process of committing the body to the
earth, is rarely practised by the American Indians. Among
the ancient Peruvians, the body was wrapped up in mats, and
interred in a sitting posture, the same posture in which the
dead are represented in the picture writings of the Mexi-
cans. On the north-west coast, the body is sometimes placed
in a box, and deposited in the crevices of the rocks* or put
into a canoe, and raised upon props, where it dries, and be-
comes a mummy, and so remains until the body and the
canoe fall into decay. The custom of burning the body, al*
though uncommon, was practised among the Carriers of New
Caledonia. Mr Dunn informs us, that, like the people of
Inhabiting the North-fTest Coast of America, 189
Hindostan, they used, until lately, to bum their dead, a cere-
mony in which the widow of the deceased, although not sa-
crificed, was obliged to continue beating the breast of the
corpse until it was consumed on the funereal pile. Instead
of being burned, she was obliged to serve as a slave the re-
lations of her deceased husband for a series of years, during
which she wore around her neck a small bag containing a
portion of the ashes of her husband. At the end of the al-
lotted time a feast was held, and she was declared at liberty
to cast off the symbols of her widowhood.
Another curious custom, of which, however, we have found
as yet only obscure notices of its existence on the north-west
coast, is what has been called the totem, among the Algonquin s,
among whom the institution exists in perfection. According
to this institution, an Indian tribe or nation is divided into va-
rious clans or families, each supposed to have a common de-
scent, bearing, as an emblem or surname, the appellation of
some animal or other object, which, among the Algonquins, is
called the totem of the clan. Individuals among the Indians
cannot marry within their own clan, but must seek a wife in a
clan bearing another totem ; and hence marriages into a close
degree of consanguinity are effectually prevented. The fe-
male children in many tribes follow the totem of the mother,
while the males follow that of the father. This system ap-
pears to be very general among the Indians, and even in
other barbarous nations ; and we find traces of it among the
Indians of the north-west coast. The Cheenooks generally
seek for wives among the Chiheelees, and vice versa ; and
thus Indian women may be found in places very remote from
the abode of their parents. Among the Koluschians and
northern tribes, there is the division of the dog and raven
clans, with numerous subdivisions. This system existed in
South as well as North America. Thus Piedrahita, in his
History of New Grenada, notices its occurrence among the
Panches, a tribe inhabiting that country. He says, " No
casaban los de uno pueblo con muger alguna del, porque
todos setenian por hermanos, y era sacro sancto para ellos e
impedimento de parentesco pero era tal su ignorancia, qui
si la proporia hermana nacia en deferenti pueblo, no escusaba
190
Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes
casarse con ella el hermano." The existence of this institu-
tion appears to have produced the very curious peculiarity of
Indian languages noticed by Mr Gallatin, that the women
use different words from the men to express family relation-
ships. In some Indian languages this peculiarity penetrates
even deeper into the language. Among the Moxas of South
America, the women and the men use different pronouns in
speaking to each other of things relating to each other. The
Kobang of the Australians appears to be the very same insti-
tution as the totem of the Algonquins ; and it would be inte-
resting to know if similar peculiarities pervade their lan-
guage.
Shahaptan.
Wallawalla.
Kleketat.
Man
Nama
Winsh
Wins
Boy
Naswae
Tahnutshint
Aswan
Woman
Aiat
Tilahi
Aiat
Girl
Piten
Tohauat
Pitiniks
Wife
Swapna
Asham
Asham
Child
Miahs
Isht
Mianash
Father
Pishd
Pshit
Pshit
Mother
Pika
Ptsha
Ptsha
Friend
Likstiwa
Hhai
Hhai
Fire
Ala
Sluksh
Sluks
Water
Tkush
Tshush
Tshaush
Wood
Hatsin
Slukas
Slukuas
Stone
Pishwa
Pshwa
Pshwa
Ground
Watsash
Titsham
Titsham
Sun
Wishamtuksh
Au
Au
Moon
.
. AHhai
Ailhai
Stars
Witsein
Haslu
Haslo
Clouds
Spalikt
Pashst
Rain
Wakit
Sshhauit
Tohtoha
Snow
Maka
Poi
Maka
Ice
Tahask
Tahauk
Toh
Horse
Shikam
Kusi
Kusi
Dog
Shikamkan
Kusi Kusi
Kusi Kusi
Buffalo
KokuUi
Musmussin
Musmussin
Male Elk
Wawakia
Wawakia
Winat
Female Elk
Taship
Tashipka
Winat
Grey Bear
Pahas
Wapantle
Black Bear
Jaka
Saka
Analmi
House
Snit
Snit
Snit
Gun
Timuni
Tainpas
Tuilpas
Body
Silaks
Waunokshash
Head
Hush us
Tilpi
Palka
Arm
Atim
Kamkas
Eyes
Shilhu
Atshash
Atshash
Inhabiting the Ncrrth-West Coaist of America. 191
Nose
Ears
Mouth
Teeth
Hands
Feet
Legs
Mocassens
Good
Bad
Hot
Cold
Far
Near
High
Low
White
Black
Red
Here
There
Where ?
When?
What?
Why?
Who?
W^hich ?
How much ?
So much
How far ?
So far
How long ?
So long
This
That
I
You
He, she,
We
Ye
They
Togo
To see
To say
To talk
To walk
To read
To eat
To drink
To sleep
it
Shabaptan.
WaUawalla.
KlekeUt.
Nathnu
Nathnu
Nosnu
Matsaia
Mat^iu
Him
Em
Am
Tit
Tit
Spshus
Spap
Alia
Ahwa
Waha
Waha
Wainsh
Tama
Ileapkat
Shkam
Shkam
Tahr
Skeh
Shoeah
Kapshish
MiUa
Tshailwit
Sakas
Sahwaih
Sahweah
Kenis
Kasat
Tewisha Kasat
Waiat
Wiat
Wiat
Keintam
Tsiwas
Tsa
Tashti
Hwaiam
Hweami
Ahat
Smite
Niti
Naihaih
Koik
Olash
Sunuhsimuh
Tshimuk
Tsimuk
Sepilp
Sutsha
Sutsa
Kina
Tshna
Stshiuak
Kuna
Kuna
Skone
Minu?
Mina?
Mam
Mana?
Mun?
Mun?
Mish ?
Mish?
Mish?
Manama ?
Maui?
Ishi?
Skiu?
Skiu?
Ma?
Mam?
Mas?
Milh?
Milh?
Kala
Kulk
Skulk
Miwail ?
Maal?
Kewail
Kwal
Mahae ?
Mnalh
Kohae
Kwalk
Ki
Tshi
Tshi
Joh
Kwa
Skwa
Su
Su
Suk
Sui
Sui
Suik
Ipi
Ipin
Pink
Nun
Nama
Nemak
Ima
Ena
Imak
Ema
Ema
Pamak
Kusha
Winasha
Winasha
Hakesha
Hoksha
Heisha
Nu
Nu
Tseksa
Siniwasa
Sinawasa
Wenasa
Winashash
Wasasha
Wasasha
Wasasha
Wipisha
Kwatashak
Makosha
Matshushask
Pinimiksha
Pinusha
192
Governor Reid on the Winds, Sfc.
Shahaptan.
Wallawalla.
Kleketat.
To wake
Waksa
Tahshisask
Tahshasha
To love
Watanisha
Tkeshask
Tkehsha
To take
Paalsa
Apalashask
To know
Lukuasa
Ashakuashash
Shukuasha
To forget
Titolasha
Slakshash
To give
Inisha
Nishamash
To seize
Inpisha
Shutshash
Wanapsha
To be cold
Iswaisa
Sweashash
Iswaiska
To be sick
Komaisa
Painshash
Painsha
To hunt
Tukuliksa
Salaitisas
Nistewasa
To lie
Mishamisha
Tshishkshash
Tshiska
To steal
Pakwasha
Pakwashash
Pakwasha
On the Winds, as influencing the Tracks sailed by Bermuda
Vessels ; and on the Advantage which may he derived from
Sailing on Curved Courses, when meeting with Progressive
Bevolving Winds. By Governor Reid of Bermuda.*
In high latitudes, the prevailing atmospheric currents,
when undisturbed, are westerly, particularly in the winter
season. As storms and gales revolve by a fixed law, and we
are able by observation to distinguish revolving gales from
steady-blowing winds, voyages may be shortened by taking
advantage of them.
The indications of a progressive revolving gale are, a de-
scending barometer with a regularly veering wind, or with
the wind changing suddenly to the opposite point.
In the northern hemisphere, storms revolve from right to
left, thus /^
In the southern hemisphere, storms revolve from left to
right, thus
o
The indications of a steady-blowing wind which will not
revolve, but blow in a straight-line direction, is a high baro-
meter remaining stationary. When the steady wind blows
from either pole, according to the side of the equator, the at-
mosphere will be both dry and cool. An increase of warmth
* The above notice was communicated to us through the kindness of a friend
of Governor Reid's.
Governor Reid on the Winds, ^c. 193
and atmospheric moisture, are indications of the approach of
a progressive revolving wind.
The first half of a revolving gale, is a fair wind from Ber-
muda to New York, because in it the wind blows from the
east; but the last half is a fair wind from New York to Ber-
muda. During the winter season, most of the gales which
pass along the coast of North America are revolving gales.
Vessels from Bermuda bound to New York, should put to
sea when the north-west wind, which is the conclusion of a
passing gale, is becoming moderate, and the barometer is ris-
ing to its usual level. The probability is, more particularly
in the winter season, that, after a short calm, the next suc-
ceeding wind will be easterly , the first part of a fresh revolv-
ing wind coming up from the south-west quarter.
A ship at Bermuda bound to New York or the Chesapeake,
might sail whilst the wind is still west, and blowing hard, pro-
vided the barometer indicate that this west wind is owing to
a revolving gale, which will veer to the northward. But as
the usual track which gales follow in this hemisphere is
northerly or north-easterly, such a ship should be steered to
the southward. As the wind at west veers towards north-
west and north, the vessel would come up, and at last make
a course to the westward, ready to take advantage of the east
wind at the setting in of the next revolving gale.
A vessel at New York and bound to Bermuda, at the time
when a revolving wind is passing along the North American
coast, should not wait in port for the westerly wind, but sail
as soon as the first portion of the gale has passed by, and
the NE. wind is veering towards north ; provided it should
not blow too hard. For the north wind will veer to the west-
ward, and become every hour fairer for the voyage to Ber-
muda.
A great number of gales pass along the coast of North
America, following nearly similar tracks, and in the winter
season make the voyages between Bermuda and Halifax very
boisterous. These gales, by revolving as extended whirl-
winds, give a northerly wind along the shore of the Ameri-
can Continent, and a southerly wind on the whirlwind's op-
VOL. XLI. NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846. N
194 Gfovemor Reid on the Winds, <^c.
posite side far out in the Atlantic. In sailing from Halifax
to Bermuda, it is desirable for this reason to keep to the
westward, as affording a better chance of having a wind blow-
ing at north, instead of one at south ; as well as because the
current of the Gulf Stream sets vessels to the eastward.
When vessels coming from Barbadoes or its neighbouring
West India Islands, sail to Bermuda on a direct course, they
sometimes fall to the eastward of it, and find it very difficult
to make Bermuda when westerly winds prevail. They should
therefore take advantage of the trade-wind, to make the 68°
or 70"" of west longitude, before they leave the 25° of latitude.
On a ship leaving England for Bermuda, instead of steer-
ing a direct course for the destined port, or following the
usual practice of seeking for the trade-winds, it may be found
a better course, on the setting in of an easterly wind to steer
west, and if the wind should veer by the south towards the
west^ to continue on the port-tack, until by changing, the ship
could lie its course. If the wind should continue to veer to
north, and as it sometimes does even to the eastward of north,
a ship upon the starboard-tack might be allowed to come up
with her head to the westward of her direct course. On both
tacks she would have sailed on curved lines, the object of
which would be, to carry her to the westward against the pre-
vailing wind and currents. There is reason for believing
that many of the revolving winds of the winter season origi-
nate within the tropics ; and that ships seeking for the steady
trade- winds, even further south than the tropic, at that period
of the year, will frequently be disappointed. How near to
the equator the revolving winds originate in the winter sea-
son, is an important point not yet sufficiently observed. The
quickest voyage from England to Bermuda therefore, may
perhaps be made, by sailing on a course composed of many
curved lines, which cannot be previously laid down, but which
must be determined by the winds met with on the voyage.
This principle of taking advantage of the changes of revolv-
ing winds, by sailing on curved lines, is applicable to high
latitudes in both hemispheres when ships are sailing westerly.
GOVEENMENT HOUSE, BERMUDA,
21« March 1846.
( 195 )
Origin of the Constituent and Adventitious Minerals of Trap
and the Allied Rocks. By J AMES D. Dan A.
The minerals of trap and the allied rocks may be arranged
in two groups :
1. Those essential to the constitution of the rock, or inti-
mately disseminated through its texture.
2. Those which constitute nodules or occupy seams or cavi-
ties in these rocks.
Of the first group, are the several feldspars, with augite,
hornblende, epidote, chrysolite, leucite, specular, magnetic
and titanic iron ; and occasionally Hauyne, sodalite sphene,
mica, quartz, garnet, and pyrites. Of the second group are
quartz, either crystallized or chalcedonic, the zeolites or hy-
drous silicates, Heulandite, Laumonite, stilbite, epistilbite,
natrolite, scolecite, mesole, Thomsonite, Phillipsite, Brew-
sterite, harmotome, analcime, chabazite, dysclasite, pectolite,
apophyllite, Prehnite, datholite, together with spathic iron,
calcspar and chlorite. Native copper and native silver might
be added to both groups, yet they belong more properly to
the latter. To the same also might be added sulphur, and
the various salts that are known to proceed from decomposi-
tions about active volcanoes, including the crystallizations of
alum, gypsum, strontian, &c. ; but these more properly form
still a third group, and being well understood, will not come
under consideration in the remarks which follow.
We observe, with regard to the minerals of the first group,
that they are all anhydrous — that is, contain no water. In
this respect, the essential constituents of trap and basalt are
like those of granite and syenite. But in the second group,
consisting of the minerals occurring in cavities or seams, all
contain water except pectolite, quartz, calcspar, and spathic
iron ; and the last three are known to be always deposited
in an anhydrous state from aqueous solutions.
We proceed to give a few brief hints with regard to the
first group, intending only to glance at this branch of the
subject, and then take up more at length the group of ad-
ventitious minerals.
196 Mr J. D. Dana on the Origin of Trap Minerals,
Essential constituents of modern Flutonic Bocks. — It is ob-
vious that modern igneous rocks, although in some cases de-
rived from the original material of the globe, have proceeded
to a great extent from a simple fusion of rocks previously
existing, and especially of the older igneous rocks. In ac-
cordance with this view, we may with reason infer that the
trachytes and porphyries, which consist essentially of feld-
spar, have proceeded, in many instances at least, from feld-
spathic granites ; the basalts and trap from syenites, horn-
blende or augitic rocks.
A theory proposed by Von Buch supposes that the feld-
spathic rocks, as they are of less specific gravity, are from
the earliest eruptions, or the more superficial fusings, while
the heavier basalt has come from greater depths. Darwin
thus accounts for the granites of the surface being inter-
sected by basaltic dykes ; the latter having originated from
a deeper source, where their constituents took their place at
some former period, from their superior gravity. It virtually
places hornblende rocks below feldspathic granites in the in-
terior structure of our globe. The hypothesis is ingenious,
and demands consideration ; but it may not be time to give
it our full confidence.
But supposing these more modern rocks to have been de-
rived from the more ancient granitic — what has become of
the quartz and mica which occur so abundantly in the latter,
while they are so uncommon in the former ? By what changes
have they disappeared \
In the fusion produced by internal fires, the elements are
free to move and enter into any combinations that may be
favoured by their afiinities. If silica, alumina, magnesia,
lime, iron, the alkalies, potash, and soda, were fused together
— and these are the actual constituents of basalt — what re-
sult might we expect 1 From known facts, we should con-
clude that the silica would combine with the different bases,
and these simple silicates would unite into more complex
compounds. The silicates of alumina and the alkalies or
lime, form thus one set of compounds, the feldspars : the
silicates of magnesia and the isomorphous bases, iron and
lime, another set, to which belong augite, hornblende, and
Mr J. D. Dana on the Origin of Trap Minerals. 197
chrysolite ; and if much iron is present, we might have, with
the lime and alumina, the mineral epidote. The experiments
of Berthier, Mitscherlich, and Rose, and the facts observed
among furnace slags, confirm what is here stated.
But not to go back to a resolution of the fused minerals into
their elements, we may consider for a moment what changes
the minerals themselves might more directly undergo in the
process of fusion.
Much of the mica in granite differs from feldspar, in con-
taining half the amount in silica in proportion to the bases —
the bases in each being alumina and potash or soda. The
change, then, in the conversion of the mica into feldspar, would
require an addition of silica, which might be derived from the
free quartz of granite. Other varieties of mica contain mag-
nesia, which would go towards the formation of some mineral
of the magnesian series. It is possible that trachytes and
porphyry have thus been made from granite ; but trap rocks
could not have been so derived, as they contain from 10 to 25
per cent, less of silica.
Again, hornblende and augite are so nearly related, that
they have been considered by Rose the same mineral, the
different circumstances attending the cooling giving rise to
the few peculiarities presented. There can be no difficulty,
therefore, in deriving augite by fusion from hornblende rocks.
This, moreover, has been actually confirmed by experiment.
Augite, by giving up half of its silica, and receiving addi-
tional magnesia in place of its lime, is reduced to chrysolite.*
The Gehlenite, nepheline, anorthite, and meionite of Vesu-
vius, contain, like scapolite, only 40 to 45 per cent, of silica
and a large proportion of lime ; and it is no improbable sup-
position, judging from the small amount of silica, and from
the lime present, that scapolite rock, or rather limestones
containing scapolite, may have contributed in part towards
the lavas of that region. The ejections of unaltered granu-
lar limestones, and many mineral species pertaining to such
beds, strongly support this view ; and it is no less sustained
by the fact, that in the Vesuvian basalts, Labradorite, which
* The formula of augite is R» 8i« ; that of chrysolite, R» Si.
198 Mr J. D. Dana on the Origin of Trap Minerals.
includes lime instead of the alkalies, replaces common feld-
spar. The original feldspar seems to have given way to leu-
cite and Labradorite.*
An important source of new combination is found in the
sea-water which gains access to the fires of volcanoes. The
decomposition which takes place eliminates muriatic acid, so
often detected among volcanic vapour ; but the soda and other
fixed constituents remain, to enter into combination with
some of the ingredients in fusion. Is not this one source of
the soda forming the soda feldspar, or albite, and of the mu-
riatic acid and soda in sodalite ? Phosphates have been long
known to occur occasionally in volcanic rocks, and lately phos-
phoric acid has been proved to be generally common in small
quantities. Sea-water is also a very probable source of this
ingredient, as has been shewn by late analyses of the same by
Dr Jackson.
These few hints are barely sufficient to indicate something
of the interest that attaches to this field of investigation,
which the future developments of science will probably open
fully to view. We do not attempt to explain why in these
modern fusings, mica should not have remained mica, and
the quartz still free uncombined quartz. The facts prove
some peculiarity of condition attending the formation of the
granitic rocks. Of this condition we know nothing certain,
and can only suggest the common supposition of a higher heat
and slower cooling, attending a greater pressure and differ-
ent electrical conditions, and the same circumstances may
have existed during the granites of different ages.
With these brief suggestions, I pass to the second division
of the subject before us.
2. Minerals occupying cavilies and seams in amygdaloidal
trap or basalt. — These minerals have been attributed to a
variety of sources, and even at the present time there are
various opinions respecting their origin. According to some
* Using H for the bases and Si for silica, the formula of leucite is H Si^ ;
that of common feldspar, R Si ** ; that of Labradorite, R Si. From this, it ap-
pears that feldspar may be reduced to leucite by giving up one third of its
silica, the bases being the same in the two ; and with this excess, and other si-
lica combining with the lime at hand, Labradorite might be formed.
Mr J. D. Dana on the Origin of Trap Miner aU. 199
writers, they result from the process of segregation ; — that
is, a separation of part of the material of the containing rock
during its cooling by the segregating powers of crystalliza-
tion ; and in illustration of the process we are pointed to the
many segregations of feldspar, quartz, and mica, in granite
and other rocks, the siliceous nodules in many sandstones,
the pearlstones in trachytes and obsidian. Others have
thought them foreign pebbles, enclosed at the time the rock
was formed. Again, they are described as proceeding from
the vapours which permeated the rock while still liquid, and
which condensed as the rock cooled, in cavities produced by
the vapours. By a few it is urged, admitting that the cavities
are inflations by vapours like those of common lava, that
tJiey may have been filled either at the time the rock cooled
or at some subsequent time, either by crystallization from
vapours, or from infiltrating fluids, but more generally the
latter.
Of these views we believe the last to accord best with the
facts. MacCulloch, in his system of Geology, — a work which
anticipated many of the geological principles that have since
become popular, — dwells at length on this subject, and sup-
ports the opinion here adopted with various facts and argu-
ments. Lyell also admits the same principles. A review of
the facts will enable us to judge of its correctness.
1. In the first place, the cavities occupied by the nodules
are in every respect similar to the common inflations or air-
bubbles in lava. These cavities are open and unoccupied in
common lava, and may be no less frequently so in the ejec-
tions under water ; and should they not be expected to fill in
some instances by infiltration \ They are the very places
where an infiltrating fluid would deposit its sediment, or col-
lect and crystallize, if capable of crystallization ; and such in-
filtrating fluids are known to permeate all rocks, even the
most solid, and especially if beneath a body of water. It is
evident, therefore, that we are supporting no strange or im-
probable hypothesis. On some volcanic shores one variety
of the process may be seen in action. The cavities of a lava
may be detected in the process of being filled with lime from
the sea-water washing over dead shells or coral sand, and at
200 Mr J. D. Dana on the Ori(/in of Trap Minerals.
times a perfect amygdaloid is formed. But the positions and
characters of the minerals themselves establish clearly the
view we support.
2. The mineral in these cavities sometimes only fills their
lower half, as if deposited from a solution ; and again, it in-
crusts the upper half or roof, as if solidified on infiltrating
through. In the large geodes of chalcedony, stalactites de-
pend from above like those of lime from the roof of caverns ;
and, as MacCulloch states, the stalactite is often found to
correspond to an inferior stalagmite, the fluid silica having
dripped to the bottom, and there become solid ; moreover the
superior pendent stalactite is somethnes found united with
the stalagmite below. The same results are here observed
as with lime stalactites in caverns, and often a similar lami-
nated or banded structure, the result of deposition in succes-
sive layers. Such results can proceed only from a slow and
quiet process, — a gradual infiltration of a solution from above
into a ready formed cavity ; they cannot be supposed to arise
from ascending vapours, or gaseous emanations from below,
no more than the stalactite in the limestone cavern.
Another fact is often observed. A geode of quartz crystals,
sometimes amethystine, — in which every crystal is neatly and
regularly formed, is found with the surface coated over with
an incrustation of chalcedony, the part above hanging in
small stalactites; and this chalcedonic coat sometimes scarcely
adheres to the crystals it covers, — or is even loose, and may
be easily separated. There can scarcely be a doubt of a sub-
sequent infiltration in a case of this nature.
We might rest our argument here, since the fact being as-
certained with regard to quartz, it is necessarily established
as a general principle with reference to the zeolites and other
amygdaloidal minerals : for quartz or chalcedony, when pre-
sent in these cavities, is, with rare exceptions, the lower or
outer mineral. We find zeolites implanted on quartz, but
very seldom quartz on zeolites. I have met with no instance
of the latter, while the former is the usual mode of occurrence.
Any deduction, therefore, respecting quartz, holds equally
for the associated minerals.
How a cavity coated with a deposit of chalcedony can still
Mr J. D. Dana on the Origin of Trap Minerals. 201
be afterwards filled up with other minerals, has been deemed
a mystery in science, but the possibility of it is now not
doubted. Even flint and agate, as MacCulloch states, are
known to give passage to oil and sulphuric acid ; and much
more will this take place in the moist rocks before the agate
has been hardened by exposure to the air. Silica remains in
a gelatinous state for a long period after deposition, and in
this condition is readily permeable by solutions. It is not
necessary that the fluid which has acted the part of a solvent
and filled the cavity, should yield place to another portion of
fluid ; for the process of crystallization having commenced, a
new portion of the material is constantly drawn into the
same fluid, and the necessary chemical changes are also pro-
moted by the inductive influence of the changes in progress
— the catalytic action as it is called — one of the most effi-
cient, and at the same time one of the most universal, agen-
cies in nature.
Other evidence with reference to amygdaloidal minerals is
presented by the zeolites themselves.
3. The zeolites occupy veins or seams as well as cavities.
Often the seams were opened by the contraction of the cool-
ing rock, and at other times they were of more recent origin.
In either case the minerals filling these seams must be sub-
sequent in formation to the origin of the rock itself, and could
not have proceeded from vapours attending the eruption.
These seams sometimes open upward, and can be seen to have
no connection with the parts below, the rock in this portion
being solid. Origin from above or from either side, is the
only supposition in such cases.
Messrs Jackson and Alger, in their valuable memoir on the
Geology of Nova Scotia, mention the occurrence of crystals
of analcime attached to the extremity of a filament of copper,
the copper having been the nucleus about which the solution
crystallized, and state that their formation must have been
subsequent to the formation of the rock.
4. Zeolites, moreover, have been found forming stalactites
in basaltic caverns, as was observed by the writer in some of
the Pacific islands ; and Dr Thomson has described and ana-
202 Mr J. D. Dana on the Origin of Trap Minerals.
lyzed one (Antrimolite) from Antrim in Ireland, near the
Giant's Causeway.
These facts favour throughout the view we urge, that the
amygdaloidal minerals have in general resulted from infiltra-
tion, and were not necessarily formed simultaneously with
the erupted rock.
5. We remark farther, that no lavas have ever been shewn
to contain, at the time of ejection, any of the zeolitic mine-
rals. The zeolites of Vesuvius are known to occur only in
the older lavas, and afford no evidence against our position.
The cavities in lavas, as far as observed, are empty as they
come from the volcanic fires, with the exception of those
containing sparingly some metallic ores which are condensed
within them. Considering the fusibility of the zeolites and
their easy destruction by heat and by volcanic gases, sulphu-
reous and muriatic, we should, a priori^ say that they could
not be formed under such circumstances.
6. Besides, as we have stated, none of the proper consti-
tuents of trap or basalt — or the minerals disseminated
through these rocks, — contain water. They are all anhy-
drous. The minerals formed accidentally in furnaces are
anhydrous. The constituents of granite, syenite and por-
phyry are all anhydrous. It is only those minerals which
are found in geodes or seams that contain water. Of equal
importance is the fact, that none of the essential constituents
of these rocks have ever been found in these geodes or cavi-
ties along with the zeolites, as might have been the case had
they been formed together, by segregation or otherwise.
Neither feldspar, although so abundant, nor augite, nor chry-
solite, have been found filling, like zeolites, or with them, the
cavities of amygdaloid. There is, then, a wide distinction be-
tween anhydrous constituents of these rocks, and the hydrous
zeolitic minerals.
A few zeolites have been found in granite or gneiss, but
they are so disseminated that they can be shewn to be of
more modern origin than the rock, and to have resulted from
some decompositions of true granitic minerals. They differ
entirely in their mode of distribution from the feldspar, gar-
net, &c., of granite. Along with a decomposing feldspar, it
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 203
is not unusual to find stilbite in the cavities formed by the
decomposition.
Zeolites also have been found disseminated through the
texture of basalt, clinkstone, &c., like the feldspar, augite,
fee. But the proportion varies widely, and in some parts of
the same bed they are found to be wanting ; so that we have
sufficient reason for classing these disseminated zeolites with
those in the cavities, as formed or introduced by infiltration.
(To be contiuued.)
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Monday J 2d March 1846.
Sir Thomas M. Brisbane, Bart., President, in the Chair.
The following Communications were read : —
1. On the recent Scottish Madrepores, with Remarks on the
Climatic Character of the Extinct Races. By the Rev.
Dr Fleming.
The author, in this communication, referred, in the first instance,
to the three species of Lamellif'erous Polyparia, described in his
*' British Animals," Edin., 1828, exhibiting specimens of the Caryo-
phyllea cyathusy and Turbinolia horealis of that work, together with
a characteristic drawing, by the late Mrs Hibbert, of the Pocillopora
interstinctay there alluded to as a native of the Zetland seas. He
then exhibited a specimen, six pounds in weight, of the Madrepora
prolifera of Miiller, which was found last summer by fishermen,
their lines having become entangled with it, in the sea between the
islands of Rum and Egg. This species was known to Pontoppidan,
as a native of the Norwegian seas, and is now ascertained to be a
native of the Hebrides.
The author next exhibited specimens of the Turbinolia sepulta of
the crag, together with a new and recent species from the Cape of
Good Hope. In conclusion, the author observed, that while, from
an acquaintance with the habits of a few individuals^ we could safely
speculate respecting the geographical and physical distribution of a
species, we cannot, from our acquaintance with the history of one species
of a genus, predicate with any confidence respecting the character of
other species of the same genus. Thus, there are species of Madre-
pores natives of tropical seas, and there are species natives of the
North seas. After illustrating his views by a reference to the species
of the genera Bos and Elepha^y the author closed his observations by
stating, that the evidence, proving the climate, during the deposition
204 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
of the mountain limestone, to have been warmer than at present, as
derived from its contained organic remains, was defective, since the
organisms compared did not belong to individuals of the same species,
but to species of similar genera.
2. On the principle of Vital Affinity, as illustrated by recent
Observations in Organic Chemistry. Part I. By Dr
Alison. Published in the present Number of the Edin-
burgh New Philosophical Journal.
Monday, 16th March 1846.
The Right Rev. BiSHOP Terrot, Vice-President, in the Chair.
The following Communications were read : — •
1. On the Personal Nomenclature of the Romans, with an
especial reference to the Nomen of Caius Verres. By
the Rev. J. W. Donaldson, Author of the New Cratylus.
Communicated by Bishop Terrot.
2. On the appearance of the Great Comet of 1843, at the
Cape of Good Hope, with illustrative Drawings. By
Professor C. P. Smyth. Communicated by the Secre-
tary.
3. On the Existence of Fluorine in the Bones from Arthur's
Seat. By Dr G. Wilson.
4. On the Composition of the Bones from Arthur's Seat. By
Dr Christison.
The author found that the bones of animals lately disinterred in
the course of the new drive, contained ^ (A' the quantity of gelatine
common in recent bones.
Monday, Qth April 1846.
Sir Thomas M. Brisbane, Bart., President, in the Chair.
The following Communications were read : —
1. On the Description of Oval Curves, and those having a
plurality of Foci. By Mr Clerk Maxwell junior ; with
Remarks by Professor Forbes. Communicated by Pro-
fessor Forbes.
2. On the Influence of Contractions of Muscles on the Circu-
lation of the Blood. By Dr Wardrop.
In this paper, Dr Wardrope states that he has endeavoured to
shew, by a series of observations and experiments, that the muscles,
On the Solubility of Fluoride of Calcium in Water, 205
besides being tbe active organs of motion, perform, by their contrac-
tions, an important office in the circulation of the arterial as well as
venous blood ; an office which has not hitherto been described by
physiologists, but which appears to be capable of explaining several
interesting phenomena in tlie living body, of which no satisfactory
account has yet been given.
3. On the Solubility of Fluoride of Calcium in Water, and
the relation of this property to the occurrence of that
Substance in Minerals, and in recent and Fossil Plants
and Animals. By Dr G. Wilson.
After a preliminary reference to the existence of fluorine in recent
and fossil bones, Dr Wilson stated that he had made a series of ex-
periments with a view to discover what solvent carried fluoride of
calcium into the tissues of plants and animals. His first trials were
made with carbonic acid, which was passed in a current through
water containing pure fluor-spar in fine powder suspended in it. The
fluor was by this treatment dissolved, yielding a solution which pre-
cipitated oxalate of ammonia, and when evaporated left a residue
which, on being heated with sulphuric acid, gave off hydrofluoric acid.
The author was, in consequence, inclined to suppose that carbonic
acid conferred upon water the power of dissolving fluoride of calcium.
But on observing that, long after the whole of that gas had been ex-
pelled by warming the liquid, the latter remained untroubled, he be-
came satisfied that water alone can dissolve fluoride of calcium, con-
trary to the universal statement of writers on chemistry.
On prosecuting the inquiry, he found that water at 212° dissolved
more of the fluor than water at 60°, but he has not yet ascertained
the proportion taken up by that liquid at either temperature.
The aqueous solution of fluoride of calcium was found to give, with
salts of baryta, a precipitate which required a large addition of hy-
drochloric or nitric acid to redissolve it. The author pointed out
the difficulty which must in consequence occur, in distinguishing be-
tween dissolved fluoride and sulphates, and suggested that fluorides
may have been mistaken for sulphates in the analysis of mineral
water.
He referred also to the objection which must now lie against the
present method of determining the quantity of fluorine present in
bodies, consisting, as it does, in converting that element into fluoride
of calcium, which, in the course of the necessary analytical opera-
tions, is washed freely, and must be sensibly diminished in quantity ;
a fact which has of necessity been hitherto overlooked. Dr Wilson
stated that he was not yet able to suggest an unexceptionable quan-
titative process ; but that the fluoride of barium, being much less
soluble than the fluoride of calcium, might, in the meanwhile, be sub-,
stituted for it in the estimation of fluorine.
206 Proceedings of the Boyal Society of Edinburgh,
The author proceeded to state, that, in consequence of the obser-
yations he had made as to the solubility of fluoride of calcium in
water, he had been led to look for that body in natural waters, and
had found it in one of the wells of Edinburgh, namely, in that sup-
plying the brewery of Mr Campbell in the Cowgate, behind Minto
House. At the same time, he stated that preceding observers had
already found it in other waters. He believed, however, that he
was the first to detect it in sea-water, where, by using the bittern or
mother-liquor of the salt-pans in which water from the Frith of Forth
is evaporated, he had found it present in most notable quantity. The
author referred to the presence of fluorine in sea- water, as adding an-
other link to the chain of observed analogies between that body and
chlorine, iodine, and bromine.
Dr Wilson further stated, that he had confirmed the observations
of Will, as to the presence of fluorine in plants, and Berzelius' dis-
covery that fluorine exists in the secretion from the kidneys ; and
bad, in addition, detected fluorine in the blood and milk, in neither
of which has it been hitherto suspected to occur. The paper was
concluded by some observations on the presence of fluorine in fossils,
and its relations to animal life.
Monday 20th April 1846.
The Right Rev. Bishop Terrot, Vice-President, in the Chair.
The following communications were read : —
1. On the Constitution and Properties of Picoline, a new or-
ganic base from Coal-Tar. By Dr T, Anderson. In-
serted in the present Number of the Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal.
2. Notice of Polished and Striated Rocks recently discovered
on Arthur Seat, and in some other places near Edin-
burgh. By David Milne, Esq.
Mr Milne stated, that, in the gully situated between Arthur Seat
and Sampson^s Ribs, a great extent of rock had been recently ex-
posed (by the removal of clay and other superficial deposits) which
was found to be smoothed as well as furrowed or scratched.
The gully is about 30 feet wide, at the lowest level to which it
has been hollowed out, and at one part, both of its sides are composed
of these smoothed furrowed rocks ; but, in general, it is only on one
side, viz., that next to Arthur Seat, that rock exists. There, the
appearances of smoothing and rutting extend for about 80 yards.
The gully runs about NW. and SE. by compass. The highest
point in it is near the north end. At both ends it is open and
sinks to a level with the adjoining level country. The gully is
On Striated Rocks on Arthur Seat, 207
about 200 feet above tbe level of Duddingston Loch, and 400 feet
above the sea. Arthur Seat forms on the east side of it a precipi-
tous cliff of about 260 feet.
The walls of the gully consist (so far as yet exposed, in the for-
mation of the Victoria road), for about 5 feet upwards, of vertical
rock.
This rock towards the north end of the gully is a compact por-
phyry ; towards the south end, of friable porphyry. At the north end
the polishing has been greatest.
The scratches are in general nearly horizontal ; a few slope up-
wards to the south ; these are at the north end of the gully, where
it is narrowest.
The longest scratches are about 6 feet long, from ^ to ^ inch
deep and an inch wide.
There are, especially towards the south end of the gully, many
»pots of a few inches square, where there has been neither polishing
nor scratching. These all face towards the south.
The deposit immediately above those rocks, and which has com-
pletely filled up the gully, is a brown tenacious clay, full of boulders
of all sizes. The boulders consist of traps (some of them of rock not
existing in the neighbourhood) and sedimentary rocks. Whilst there
are sandstone fragments, which are very similar to those on Salisbury
Crag, there are limestones, supposed not to exist nearer than Fife.
This boulder clay is not so tenacious as the blackish-blue boulder
clay generally prevalent in the Lothians. It, however, resembles in
all respects a deposit of the same kind, existing at the foot of Samp-
son'& Ribs, which is about 160 feet below the level of the gully.
Above the boulder clay in the gully there is a mass of debris, de-
rived apparently from the crumbling of the rocks above on the face
of Arthur Seat. Three species of marine shells have been found in
this mass ; but, as human bones and Roman remains have also
been discovered in it, the probability is, that these shells have been
brought by human hands.
In the cuttings for the North British Railway, between Arthur
Seat and Musselburgh, the upper sides of the large boulders are ge-
nerally found smoothed and scratched. The scratches seem to be from.
NW. to WNW. by compass. On some of the boulders there are in-
dications of more recent scratches running W. ^ S. by compass.
The boulders in the railway cuttings between Haddington and
Dunbar exhibit scratches running from NW. to WNW.
The opinion formed by the author on these data was, —
(1.) That the agent which had polished and scratched the rocks
on Arthur Seat, was the same as that which had polished and
scratched the boulders,
(2.) That it had acted from the north-westward over a large and
low district of country.
(3.) That the polishing and scratching had h*ieu effected by the
208 List of Patents. ^
gravel and angular blocks existing in the boulder clay and diluvial
gravel.
(4.) That there had been rushes of water along the country,
which bore along the mud, sand, gravel, and boulders now spread
over the country, and which, in passing over the rocks and large
boulders, smoothed and rutted them.
(6.) That, at this period and subsequently, water must have stood,
in a comparatively tranquil state, above the level of Sampson's Ribs,
to account for the beds of sand existing on the south side of Artliur
Seat, and at a level of 200 feet above Duddingston Loch.
(6.) That the outline or configuration of the district, thus sub-
merged, could not have been materially different from what it now
presents.
3. Results of the Makerstoun Observations, No. II. On the
Relation of the Variations of the Vertical Component,
of the Earth's Magnetic Intensity to the Solar and Lu-
nar Periods. By J. Allan Broun, Esq. Communicated
by General Sir T. M. Brisbane, Bart.
List of Patents granted for Scotland from 2Sd March to
22d June 1846.
1. To Julius Adolph Detmold, of the city of London, merchant,
being a communication from abroad, " improvements in the means of
applying steam as a motive power." — 23d March 1846.
2. To Alexander Bain, of Hanover Street, Edinburgh, engineer, "im-
provements in electric clocks and telegraphs, parts of which improvements
are applicable to other purposes." — 25th March 1846.
3. To James Ivers, of Preston, in the county of Lancaster, machine-
maker, " certain improvements in machinery, or apparatus for preparing,
roving, and slubbing cotton, wool, and other fibrous substances." — 30th
March 1846.
4. To James Stokoe, of Newton, in the county of Northumberland,
mill- Wright, " improvements in purifying the vapours arising from smelt-
ing, and other furnaces, and in recovering therefrom the useful matters
which may be intermixed therewith." — 2d April 1846.
5. To William Mather and Colin Mather, of Salford, in the county
of Lancaster, engineers, " certain improvements in boring earth, stone,
and subterraneous matters, and in the machinery, tools or apparatus ap-
plicable to the same." — 2d April 1846.
6. To Charles Cowan, paper manufacturer at Valleyfield, near Peni-
cuick, in the county of Edinburgh, " improvements in the manufacture of
paper, millboard, and other similar substances," which is partly his own
invention, and partly the invention of a foreigner. — 3d April 1846.
7. To George Daniel Bishopp, of Paddington, in the county of Mid-
dlesex, civil-engineer, ** improvements in certain engines or machines
List of Patents. 269
used for obtaining mechanical power, and for raising and impelling
fluids."— 6th April 1846.
8. To Henry Smith, of Liverpool, engineer, ** improvements in the
manufacture of wheels for railways, and in springs for railway and
other carriages, and in aide guards for railway carriages." — 6th April
1846.
9. To William Unsworth of Derby, silk manufacturer, *' certain im-
provements in looms for weaving." — 7th April 1846.
10. To Pierre Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau, of Skinner's
Place, Size Lane, in the city of London, being a communication from
abroad, *' certain improvements in apparatus for raising and supporting
vessels and other floating or sunken bodies, and its application for the
better prevention of life and property." — 8th April 1846.
11. To Henry Mandeville Meade» of the city of New York, in the
United States of America, gentleman, being a communication from abroad,
" improvements in distilling from Indian com and other grain." — 9th
April 1846.
12. To Henry Mandeville Meade, of the city of New York, in the
United States of America, gentleman, being a communication from abroad,
" improvements in the manufacture of bread." — 9th April 1846.
13. To Benjamin Fothergill, of Manchester, in the county of Lan-
caster, machine-maker, " improvements in certain parts of machinery
used in the preparation for spinning, and in the spinning and doubling of
cotton, wool, and other fibrous substances." — 9th April 1846.
14. John Robert Johnson, of Alfred Place, Blackfriars, in the
county of Surrey, chemist, " improvements in purifying gas, and in the
treatment of products of gas-works." — 9th April 1846.
15. Reuben Goodale Fairbanks, of Cecil Street, in the county of
Middlesex, civil-engineer, being a communication from abroad, " certain
improvements in machinery or apparatus for making moulding or manu-
facturing bricks, tiles, and other articles from earthy or plastic materials."
—13th April 1846.
16. Alexander Alliott, of Lenton, in the county of Nottingham,
" certain improvements in the rotatory machines employed for drying
and other purposes requiring the application of centrifugal force." — 14th
April 1846.
17. John Ainslie, of Alperton, in the county of Middlesex, brick and
tile manufacturer, *' certain improvements in the arrangements for the
manufacture of bricks, tiles, and other similar articles from clay and
other plastic substances, and in machinery or apparatus for the manufac-
ture of bricks."— 14th April 1846.
18. James Laming, of Mark Lane, in the city of London, merchant,
being a communication from abroad, " improvements in making the
cyanides, and ferrocyanides, of potassium and sodium." — 15th April
1846.
19. James Allingham, of Dublin, in the kingdom of Ireland, gentle-
man, and James M'Gauley, of the city of Dublin aforesaid, clerk, " cer-
tain improvements in steam-engines." — 16th April 1846.
20. John Lake, of Apsley, in the county of Hertford, civil engineer,
" certain improvements in propelling." — 16th April 1846.
21. Samuel Heseltine junior, of Bromley, in the county of Middle-
sex, civil-engineer, being a communication from abroad, " improvementa
VOL. XLL NO. LXXXI. — JULY 1846.
210 List of Patents.
in machinery or apparatus for dressing stones for grinding corn, grain,;
and other substances." — l7th April 1846.
22. William Mather, of Salford, near Manchester, in the county of
Lancaster, and Colin Mather, of the same place, millwrights and en-
gineers, *' improvements in metallic pistons." — 21st April 1846.
23. Edouard Auguste Desire Guichard, of Rue des Jenueurs,
Paris, in the kingdom of France, " improvements in printing calico and
other fabrics." — 21st April 1846.
24. Bennet Woodcrofts, extension of a patent for the period of six
years, of " certain improvements in the construction and adaptation of a
revolving spiral paddle for propelling boats and other vessels in water."
—21st April 1846.
25. William E coles, of Blackburn, in the county of Lancaster,
power-loom manufacturer, William Crook, of Livesey, hand-loom
weaver, and William Lancaster, of Blackburn, in the county of Lan-
caster, power- loom weaver, '* certain improvements in looms for weav-
ing."— 24th April 1846.
2Q. John Barsham, of Long Melford, in the county of Suifolk, manu-
facturer of bitumen, " improvements in the manufacture of mattresses,
cushions, brushes, and brooms, and in machinery for preparing certain
materials applicable to such purposes." — 27th April 1846.
27. John Nott, of the city of York, gentleman, "certain improve-
ments in the means of communicating intelligence from one place to
another."— 29th April 1846.
28. William Price Struve, of Swansea, civil-engineer, *' improve-
ments in ventilating mines." — 29th April 1846.
29. Julian Van Oost, of Genbrugge, near Ghent, but now of Osna-
burg Street, Regent's Park, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, " im-
provements in treating seed, and in preparing materials used for ferti-
lizing land, and for aiding vegetation." — 29th April 1846.
30. George Hinton Bovill, of Millwell, and Robert Griffiths, of
Havre, in the Kingdom of France, engineers, " improvements in appa-
ratus applicable to the working of atmospheric and other railways, canals,
and mines, and improvements in transmitting gas for the purpose of
lighting railways and other places." — 29th April 1846.
31. Peter Carmichael, manager for Baxter Brothers and Company,
flax-spinners and linen manufacturers in Dundee, " improvements in
hackling or dressing flax, hemp, and other fibrous substances, and im-
provements in machinery for rubbing, stretching, and equalizing the
breadth of cloth made from flax, hemp, jute, and other fibrous sub-
stances." — 6th May 1846.
32. John Lloyd Bullock, of Conduit Street, Hanover Square,
chemist, being a communication from abroad, " improvements in the
manufacture of quinine." — 6th May 1846.
33. John Blyth, of St Anne Limehouse, in the county of Middlesex,
" an improved mode of closing the orifices of bottles or other vessels ap-
plicable to inkholders." — 7th May 1846.
34. Samuel Cunliffe Lister, of Manningham, near Bradford, in the
county of York, gentleman, " improvements in carding and combing
wool."— 11th May 1846.
35. To Alexander Parkes, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick,
iirtist, •' improvements in the preparation of certain vegetable and animal
Liisl of Patents. 2lt
•nbBtances, and in certain combinations of the same substances alone or
with other matters." — 11th May 1846.
36. To Pierre Armand le Comte de Fontainemoreau, of No. 15
New Broad Street, in the city of London, being a communication from
abroad, " an improved mode of constructing certain parts of the harness
of horses and other beasts of burden." — 11th May 1846.
37. Thomas Hancock, of Stoke, Newington, in the county of Middle-
sex, Esquire, " improvements in the manufacturing and treating of articles
made of caoutchouc, either alone or in combination with other substances,
and in the means used or employed in their manufacture." — 12th May
1846.
38. To William Garnet Taylor, of Halliwell, in the county of
Lancaster, cotton-spinner, and William Taylor, of Halliwell aforesaid,
labourer, "Improvements^in consuming smoke and economising fuel."—
13th May 1846.
39. To Bryan Donkin, of the Paragon, New Kent Road, in the county
of Surrey, civil- engineer, " improvements on wheels as applicable to rail-
way carriages, and on the mechanical contrivances by which railway car-
riages are made to cross from one"line of rails on to another line, or on
to what are generally called sidings." — 14th May 1846.
40. To Frederick Harlow, of Paradise Street, Rotherhithe, in the
county of Surrey, carpenter, " improvements in atmospheric railways."
—20th May 1846.
41. To Jean Joseph Ernest Barrucll, of Rue, St Jacque's, in the city
of Paris, in the kingdom of France, chemist, " improvement in working
of certain sulphurets to transform them into metals or oxides, and to
collect the latter, also to collect the oxides from oxidized ores equivalent
to these sulphurets." — 20th May 1846.
42. To George Hinton Bovill, of Millwall, in the county of Middle-
sex, engineer, being a communication from abroad, " improvements in
manufacturing wheat and other grain into meal and flour." — 25th May
1846.
43. To William Longshaw, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster,
cotton-spinner, '* certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for
spinning and doubling cotton and other fibrous substances." — 27th May
1846.
44. To George Duncan, engineer, Edinburgh, *• an improved method
of making comfits, confectionary, lozenges, and all description of pan
goods, the machinery and apparatus for the manufacture of the same, or
for any other article to which the said apparatus or machinery may be
made applicable."— 28th May 1846.
45. To George Lowe, formerly of Brick Lane, Old Street, in the
county of Middlesex, but now of Finsbury Circus, in the said county,
civil-engineer, extension fov Jive years, " for increasing the illuminating
power of such coal-gas as is usually produced in gas-works ; also for con-
verting the refuse products from the manufacture of coal-gas into an
article of commerce not heretofore produced therefrom ; and also of a new
mode of conducting the process of condensation in the manufacture of gas
for illumination." — 2d June 1846.
46. To J^fiN Webster Hale, of Fitzroy Square, in the county of
Middlesex, gentleman, being a communication from abroad, " improve-
212 List of Patents.
ments in machinery for clearing or freeing wool and certain other fibrous
materials of burrs and other extraneous substances." — 4th June 1846.
47. To Nathan Defries, of Saint Martin's Lane, in the county of
Middlesex, engineer, " improvements in gas-meters." — 4th June 1846.
48. To Stephen R. Parkhurst, of Liverpool, in the county of Lan-
caster, machinist, *'a method of propelling vessels." — 4th June 1846.
49. To Moses Pool, of the Patent Office, London, gentleman, being a
communication from abroad, ** improvements in making fabrics from
fibrous materials." — 4th June 1846.
50. To John Webster Cochran, of Paris, in the kingdom of France,
engineer, " certain improvements in machinery for cutting and shaping
wood for ship-building and other purposes.'' — 12th June 1846.
51. To John Forrester, shawl- washer, in the town of Paisley, and
county of Renfrew, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland, " cer-
tain improvements in machinery for fulling cloth manufactured of wool,
cotton, silk, and other fibrous materials." — 16th June 1846.
52. To Bennet Woodcroft, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster,
consulting engineer, " an improved mode of printing certain colours on
calico and other fabrics." — 18th June 1846.
53. To Robert Reyburn, of Brown Street, Glasgow, chemist, ** im-
provements in making extracts from animal and vegetable substances."
-—18th June 1846.
54. To William Spiby, of Carrington, in the county of Nottingham,
engineer, " improvements in the construction of furnaces used for heating
water and other fluids." — 18th June 1846.
55. Francois Stanilas Meldon de Sussex, of Millwall, in the county
of Middlesex, manufacturing chemist, " improvements in the manufacture
of soda potash." — 18th June 1846.
5Q. Thomas Jones, of Salford, in the county of Lancaster, machine-
maker, ** certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for preparing,
Blubbing and roving cotton, wool, and other fibrous material." — 22d June
1846.
Scientific Intelligence and Notices of New Publications in next
Number.
THE
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,
On the Site of the Ancient City of the Aurunci, and on the Vol-
canic Phenomena which it exhibits ; with some Remarks on
Craters of Elevation, on the Distinctions between Plutonic
and Volcanic Rocks ^ and on the Theories of Volcanic Action
which are at present most in repute. With Two Plates. By
Charles Daubeny, M.D., F.K,.S., Professor of Chemistry
and Botany in the University of Oxford. Communicated by
the Author.*
The lively interest, which, of all classes perhaps of physi-
cal phenomena, the operations of a volcano are best calculated
to inspire, has been my principal motive for undertaking
three journeys, at intervals of nearly ten years apart, to the
south of Italy ; on my return from each of which, I felt it a
matter no less of duty than of inclination, to communicate
some account of what I had observed to such members of
my own University as felt any curiosity in researches of this
description.
Accordingly, soon after I came back from my first visit to
Italy in 1824, I submitted my views with respect to the ge-
neral nature and origin of volcanoes, in some lectures delivered
in this place, which have been incorporated in a work after-
wards published by me, but for some time past out of print.f
In these lectures I maintained, by an appeal, more parti-
* Read to the Ashmolean Society of Oxford.
t Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes. 1 vol. 8vo. London, 1826,
VOL, XLI. NO. LXXXII. — OCTOBER 1846. P
214 Dr Charles Daubeny on the
cularly, to the operations now proceeding about Vesuvius, in
Sicily, and in the Lipari Islands, that hypothesis which was
first propounded by Sir H. Davy, but which, towards the close
of his life, that great chemist, like an unnatural parent, ap-
pears to have cast aside.
And although Dr John Davy, in the Life he has published
of his brother, has taken me rather severely to task, for ven-
turing to suggest, that this cruel abandonment of his own pro-
geny was, on the part of Sir Humphrey, a matter of taste,
rather than of deliberate judgment, as though I had almost
impeached his moral conduct by attributing to him such a
change of sentiment on a scientific question,* yet I am still
prepared to contend, that, inasmuch as this illustrious philo-
sopher, at the very time when he avowed his preference for
a rival theory, acknowledged that the one he had originally
advocated was adequate to account for all the phenomena
which are known to accompany a volcanic eruption, f the opin-
ion he expressed is not entitled quite to the same deference
which it would otherwise command, nor to be regarded of
sufficient weight to bias us against the reception of the evi-
dence which may be offered in support of that hypothesis
which I have ventured to espouse.
In my first visit, then, to Naples, my attention was almost
exclusively directed, as that of most travellers is, to the
operations of the active, or semi-active volcanoes round about
this Capital ; but on my second, I extended my examination
to an extinct one in Apulia, situated near the eastern decli-
vity of the Apennines, and bearing, as it would seem, the
same relation to the Adriatic, which Vesuvius does to the
Mediterranean.
This volcano, known to the ancients as the Mount Vultur,
a name which it still retains, preserves to the present day
* See Davy's Life, vol. ii., pp. 124, 5.
t Phil. Trans, for 1828, p. 250. " Assuming the hypothesis of the existence
of such alloys of the metals of the earths as may burn into lava in the interior,
the whole phenomena may be easily explained from the action of the vs^ater of
the sea and air upon those metals ; nor is there any fact in any of the circum-
stances which I have mentioned in the preceding part of this paper, which can-
not be easily explained according to this hypothesis."
Site of the Ancient City of the Aurunci. 215
unimpaired the fomi as well as the structure of those por-
tions of the earth's surface which have been once the theatre
of igneous operations ; the medium of communication, as it
were, between the atmosphere and the interior of the globe.
Yet no manifestations of activi 
