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THE
AMERICAN JOURNAL
Or
SCIENCE AND ARTS.
CONDUCTED BY
BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, M.D. LL. D.
Prof. Chem., Min., &c. in Yale Coll.; Cor. Mem. Soc. Arts, Man. and Com.; and
For. Mem. Geol. Soc., London; Mem. Roy. Min. Soc., Dresden; Imp.
Agric. Soc., Moscow; Hon. Mem. Lin. Soc., Paris; Nat. Hist.
Soc. Belfast, Ire.; Phil. and Lit. Soc. Bristol, Eng.;
Mem. of various Lit. and Scien. Soc. in America.
VOL. XVIJ.— FANGARY, ‘1830.
NEW HAVEN:
Published and Sold by HEZEKIAH HOWE and A. H. MALTBY.
Philadelphia, E. LITTELL & BROTHER.—WNew York, G. & C. & H.
CARVILL.—Boston, HILLIARD, GRAY, LITTLE & WILKINS.
PRINTED BY HEZEKIAH HOWE.
2 17/1/07
rah =
, 3. Examination of patent claims—French eggs and apples,
162
182
183
184
185
186
187
187
188
188
190
192
193
CONTENTS.
UNARRANGED MISCELLANIES, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN.
Page.
3 Pavtiealaes of the striking of lightning over a great surface, 193
. Electro-galvanic phenomena, - - -
. Test for lead in oil of vitriol, - - - -
. Geology, - = : - i &
1
2
3
4, 5. Eaton galena—Description of a new locality of zircon,
6
7
9
, 8. Magnetic variations—Elements of Technology, -
, 10. Elementary works on astronomy—Catalogue of plants in
the vicinity of Amherst mollege, - -
11. Agenda Geognostica,
12, 13, 14.- Naval Sketches Turner’ Chemistry—Foreign me-
moirs and pamphlets, -
15, 16, 17. Gifts to the Geological Society—Gold i in Maryland—
Culture of silk,
18, 19, 20, 21. Acidulous sulphate of Re eee Raber:
ry—Correction—Iron mines, - - -
22, Hydrophobia, - - - - u
23. Crystallization of tin, - - = = t
24. Albany Institute, - » - = Z
25. Chloro-hydrogen blowpipe, - - - -
APPENDIX.
An account of the Siamese twin brothers, united together from
Arr. I.
If.
Ill.
their birth; by Prof. J.C. Warren, M.D. &c. with a plate,
NUMBER II.
Review of the Scientific Labors and Character of Sir
Humphry Davy, with a portrait, - -
Architecture in the United States, - -
Synopsis of the Organic Remains of the Ferruginous Sand
Formation of the United States; with geological re-
marks; by S. G. Morton, M. D. of Philadelphia; Mem.
of the ‘Amer: Philos, Soc.; of the Acad. of Nat. Sci. of
Philad. &c. - - -
. Fragment from Peron, wih ponies from other voyagers,
on the Temperature of the Sea, at great dee) far
from Land; by Brews. ee -
. On Malaria, - - = 4
. Tennessee Meteorite, - - - -
. Solution of a Problem in Fluxions ; by Prof. Taeoporsz
Strone, Rutgers College, - - -
. All primitive general strata, below granular quartz, are
cotemporaneous and schistose; by Prof. A. Eaton,
. On the Origin of Springs and Fountains ; by Gro. W. Lone,
. The science of Mechanics as applied to the present im-
provements in the useful arts in Europe, and in the
United States: adapted as a Manual for Mechanics and
Manufacturers; by ZacHariaH ALLEN, -
212
217
249
274
295
300:
326
329
334
336°
338
vl CONTENTS:
: Page.
XI. On a Substitute for Welther’s Tube of Safety, with No- >
tices of other subjects; by E. Mrrcnexz, Prof. of Chem.
Min. &c. Univ. of N. Car. - - 345
XII. On a Portable Hygrometer ; by A. A. eva - 351
XIII. Mineralogical Journey inthe northern parts of New Eng-
land, by Cuartes UpHam Sueparp; Assis. to the Prof.
of Chem. and Min., and Lect. on Bot. in Yale College, 353
XIV. Philosophical De mesetons of the Royal Society of Lon-
don, for the year 1829, - - 361
XV. Chemical Observations and Experiments on Tobacco; by
C. C. Conwett, M. D. Phila. - - - 369
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
CHEMISTRY.
1, 2. On the Setting of Plaster—Braconnot’s Indelible Ink, StL
3. The Diamond, - - - - - By
4. Of the influence of air on the crystallization of salts, 373
5. Combination of Mercury with metallic wires, - 375
6, 7. Colored Steel Plates—Chemical action of light, - 376
8. A new Ether, - - - - 377
9. Pure Milk, - - - - - - 378
10. Discovery. of a new metal named Thorium, - 381
11, 12. Action of Potash on Organic ge emer iiee of
the Atmosphere, 382
13. Combinations and Cagelitex tows, effected yy the aga of
weak electrical forces, - - - 383
MEDICAL CHEMISTRY.
i. Preparation of Morphia, without the use of Alcohol, - 384
2, 3, 4, 5. Plumbagine, a new vegetable substance—Analysis of
Ipecacuanha Branca, Root of the Viola Ipecacuanha—
Decomposition of Corrosive Sublimate by Vegetable
Bodies—Rosaic Acid in Human Urine, - 385
NATURAL HISTORY.
i. Natural History of the Mole, =. 386
2, 3. On the different Genera and Seyasts pomieauiled aa Cin-
chona—Influence of Chemical Solutions on Plants, 388
MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY.
i. Resistance in Space to the Motion of Heavenly Bodies, 389
2, 3. Brown’s Active Molecules—Destruction of Vermin in
ships, by steam, - - - - 390
4, Electricity of the Solar Rays, - 391
5, 6. Leech Bites—Professor Hansteen, Mersestaal Magnetism, 392
STATISTICS.
Be Foundling Hospitals, - - 393
sO Progress of Mutual Instruction in Dentwark Rumania!
Beneficence, - : - - - 394
1.
DE
3,
5.
6,
‘i =
5.
CONTENTS.
MISCELLANIES.
Notice of anew method of charring wood, - -
Origin of Bituminous Coal, - -
4. Inhumed Wood—A village lighted by sea gas,
Sheet Caoutchouc, - -
7. Geology of the Gold Reeicd of N i Cache Goma
Collections of Rocks, Minerals, &c. - -
. Baron Humboldt’s Expedition, - = xf
Information desired respecting Mineral Waters, -
11. Diluvial Furrows and Scratches—Economical Process
for Chlorate of Potash, - -
13. Astronomical Observations, made at the Royal Observa-
tory at Greenwich, in the months of April, May and
June, 1828—Register of the Thermometer at Brook-
lyn, N. Y. - - - -
NOTICES OF RECENT AND FORTH-COMING SCIENTIFIC WORKS.
Foreign.
Early Discovery of America by the Scandinavians, -
3, 4. Use of the Blowpipe in Chemistry and Mineralogy—
Library of Useful Knowledge, published under the su-
perintendence of the Society for the Promotion of Use-
ful Knowledge—Library of Entertaining Knowledge,
6. Guy’s Pocket Cyclopedia or Epitome of Universal Knowl-
edge, designed for Senior Scholars in Schools, and for
young persons in general—Quebec Literary and His-
torical Society, - - - -
Domestic.
1. Encyclopedia Americana, a popular Dictionary of Arts, Sci-
ences, Literature, History, Politics and Biography,
brought down to the present time, including a copious
collection of Original Articles in American Biography ;
on the basis of the seventh edition of the German Con-
versations-Lexicon, -
2, 3. Elements of Physics or Natural Biieccplen semen and
Medical—Familiar Introduction to the Study of Botany,
4, 5, 6. Elements of Spherical Trigonometry ; designed as an
Introduction to the Study of Nautical Astronomy—Ly-
ceums—Transactions of the Albany Institute for Dec.
1829, - : é - : 2
7, 8, 9, 10. Elements of Geometry upon the inductive method ;
to which is added an introduction to Descriptive Geome-
try—The American Almanac and Repository of Use-
ful Knowledge, for the year 1830, comprising a Calen-
dar for the year; Astronomical Information, Miscella-
neous Directions, Hints and Remarks ; and Statistical
and other particulars respecting foreign countries and
the United States—A Map of the United States Lead
Mines in the Upper Mississippi~New ‘Treatise on
Mineralogy, - Si iyi - -
Vil
409
410
All
412
413
414
A416
ERRATA FOR VOL. XVII.
Page 70, line 6 and 13 from top, and in the rest of the article, for C’,C/3, &c. read
c/,cl2, &e.
«<< Jine 14 from bottom, for (0) read (0).
«© 71, “ 3 from bottom, for = read ay
«© 72, ‘* 12 from top, for “‘whatever may be the time of describing C’’,” read
whether c!/ — c! or not.
s¢ 72 and 73, for parameter read semiparameter. _
[In a part of the edition the above errata were corrected. ]
«¢ 142, 12th line from the top, for over read at.
Page 196, 5th line from the top, for 6.19, read .619.
‘* 211, line 8 from top, for Oxy-chlorine, read Chloro-hydrogen.
«¢ 329, bottom line, and 2d from bottom, for
e/®cosec.2) c/? qo 2) an c’?cosec.* cosec.*y c'? d(cot. pale
en Saat tae a ae cai a 7s r? Odr ,
Page 382, 18th line from the top, for xd*z read xd?x.
«¢ 333, 5th and 2d line from bottom, and on bottom line, substitute small capitals
for the italics x, y and z.
“* 361, 16th line from the top, for has read had.
GUS OHA do. do. him “ it.
AMERICAN
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, &e.
—>—_
Arr. I.—Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions, and the Step-
pes of Russia, with notices of Siberia, Kamschatka, and the Ku-
rile Islands.
Prepared and communicated for this Journal.
To scientific research, the Arctic regions have been, until within a
few years, a terra incognita, seldom approached, except by a few
persevering missionaries, or adventurous whalemen, who accomplish-
ed little for science, beyond pioneering the way for future investiga-
tors. To their diligence, and the observations of a few travellers,
but still more to the explormg expeditions under Parry and Frank-
lin, this age is indebted for whatever is known of the high northern
latitudes in this hemisphere. These examinations were made under
circumstances, little favorable to geological science. No mechanical
facilities were at hand—no deep mines disclosed the secrets of their
formation, or developed their mineral and metallic treasures—the frost
bound rocks, and sterile earth, with here and there a ravine, or a
rifted mountain, peermg above the icy desolation, were the only in-
dices of what lay shrouded beneath.
To give a comprehensive view of the rocky formations, and the
minerals of the arctic regions, the materials furnished by McKenzie,
Crantz, Egede, Von Troil, and other travellers, with the facts ascer-
tamed by the naturalists in the exploring expeditions, under Parry
and Franklin, will be arranged in consecutive order, beginning on
the North West with
1. The Northern bluffs of the Rocky Mountains, and the Me-
Kenzie River, from Great Bear Lake, in 65° North lat.
to the Northern Ocean.
Il. From Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean, by the Copper Mine
River.
Vor. XVII.—No. 1. 1
viaitatit
Dey
mA
(ih | |
ie
yraph Bost
4 . ort
} Vall aden
JUNCTION | YK “THR AP xg — ee".
OF TRAP & SANDSTONE, AT ROCKY Hi é
A ala ths BAR HARTFOR i), CONNECTICUT
mire datas
Py
2 Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions.
Ml. Melville Island, Port Bowen, and the Coasts of Prince Re-
gent’s Inlet.
IV. Islands and Countries bordering on Hudson’s Bay.
V.. Greenland.
VI. Iceland.
VU. The North of Europe, with the Steppes of Russia.
VIL. Notices of Siberia, Kamschatka, and the Kurile Islands.
I. The Rocky Mountams, near their northern termination, do not
form a continuous range, but separate into bluffs, and detached
masses, running in various directions, some parallel with each other;
and others diverging as they approach the Arctic Sea. A few barren
hills, rising in a deep morass, from three to twelve miles in breadth,
divide them from the frozen Ocean.
The formation of the mountains is of primitive rocks, over which
a secondary covering, extending upwards, reposes upon their eastern
sides many hundred feet from their bases. ‘The sea coasts, from
them, towards the McKenzie, are shallow, and skirted with islands,
sometimes margined with a gravelly beach, and at others with high
banks of sand, or limestone. Greenstone, sandstone, and limestone
form the pebbles on the beach.
On the Sea Coast West of the McKenzie, Captain Franklin col-
lected the following specimens. Greywacke slate in columnar con-
cretions; globular, dark blackish grey splintery limestone ; worn
pebbles of quartz; lydian stone ; splintery limestone ; fme grained
mountain green clay slate; potstone, and rock crystal. Brown coal;
clay iron stone; pitch coal, and greenish grey limestone, were seen
on the shores opposite the Rocky Mountains; and westward, to-
wards Icy Cape, were found, greenish grey greywacke ; fine grain-
ed greywacke slate; dark bluish greywacke slate, traversed by
veins of quartz, and iron pyrites. On Flaxman’s Island, N. lat.
70° 11’, W. long. 145° 50’, were seen fine grained greenish clay
slate, “ obviously of primitive rock, supposed to be brought down by
the rivulets and torrents from the Rocky Mountains.”
From the East end of Lake Superior, slightly converging towards
the Rocky Mountains, to the east side of Great Bear Lake, exists a
formation of primitive rocks, but little elevated above the general
level of the country. For seven hundred miles, beginning in lat.
50°, between these two ranges, the space is occupied principally by
horizontal strata of limestone, as far as 60° North.
Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions. 3
The shores of Great Bear Lake are of primitive rocks, sometimes
rising into elevations of eight hundred, or a thousand feet. Detach-
ed blocks and gravel, probably the debris of the hills, consisting of
quartzose sandstone, fragments of granite, and granite running into
gneiss, are found on the surface, and in the vallies. The north
shore of Bear Lake is formed by bowlders of limestone. Fort
Franklin stands on a bay of the West coast, and the bottom of the
bay, and the beach, are strewed with bowlders of primitive and other
rocks, of which the following are some of the varieties. Coarse
erystalline granite ; felspar, flesh red ; granite, with felspar paler ;
quartz in small quantity ; fine grained granite; quartz and felspar,
white, with garnets. Granite, felspar brick red ; quartz and augite,
no mica. Porphyritic granite; sienite ; porphyritic sienite ; reddish
brown horn stone porphyry ; crystalline greenstone ; porphyritic
greenstone ; pitchstone porphyry; greenstone slate; amygdaloidal
claystone porphyry ; dolomite ; limestone with corallines ; chert ;
white quartz; coarse sandstone; fine grained spotted sandstone ;
striped sandstone; and dark red claystone. Some of the granite
bowlders were recognised as the same which occur at Fort Enter-
prize.
The soil in the vicinity of Fort Franklin is sandy, or gravelly,
covering a bluish plastic, but not tenacious clay, of unknown depth,
and during a greater part of the year firmly frozen. Narrow precip-
itous ridges of limestone rise in the country west and north of Fort
Franklin, which is otherwise level as far as the eye can reach.
Bear Lake River.
Sandstone of a yellowish grey color, associated with beds of bluish
clay, forms the solid strata on the banks of the river. Imbedded in
them are concretions of various sizes and irregular shapes, of a pur-.
plish iron brown, studded with crystals of sulphate of lime, and small
round grains of quartz. Salt springs yielding excellent common salt
fall into the river a little below the rapid, at that point where the Rocky
Mountains first appear in the distance. ‘The walls of the rapid are
a hundred and twenty feet high, and three miles long, consisting of
horizontal strata of “earthy looking stone intermediate between clay
and sandstone.” Lignite with impressions of fern appears in the
banks, also ammonites in a brown iron shot sandstone. The lime-
stone ridge below the rapid stands on a narrow base, and its general
4 Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions.
direction is parallel with the Rocky Mountain chain. Between the
cliffs of the rapid, and the limestone hills, a rivulet flows whose bed
presents accumulations of bowlders, some of them very beautiful,
consisting of varieties of granite, gneiss, mica slate with garnets,
greenstone and porphyry; the latter much resembling some of the
rocks in the gneiss district of Fort Enterprise. ‘The Bear Lake Riv-
er flows into the McKenzie through banks of blackish grey limestone
with sparry veins. ‘The superior beds are calcareous breccia, asso-
ciated with limestone charged with bitumen, also bituminous shale.
‘‘Sulphureous springs, and streams of mineral pitch” are seen issuing
from the lower limestone strata on the banks of the SLGH ene: when
the waters are low.
McKenzie’s River.
“Wood coal, in various states, alternating with pipe clay, potters’
clay, bitumen, slate clay, and porcelain earth” forms the banks of the
river at the junction of Bear Lake River. The lignite when recent-
ly detached is compact, but on exposure, soon splits into rhomboidal
pieces. It burns with little smoke but an offensive odor, leaving
brown red-ashes, less than one tenth of the original bulk of the coal.
The same bed presents brown coal that in different specimens is
fibrous, conchoidal, trapezoidal, and earthy. Some of them have
the appearance of compact bitumen, but exhibit the fibrous structure
of wood. ‘The beds of lignite take fire on bemg exposed to the
atmosphere. ‘The gravel, intermixed with it, consists of pebbles of
lydian stone, flinty E ate, white quartz, and conglomerate. Pipe clay,
potters’ clay, slate clay, and pink clay, are all found in the lignite de-
posits. The pipe clay is of a light yellowish cream color, and is
used by the natives for food when provisions are scarce. It is not
unpleasant to the taste and is said “to have sustained life for a con-
siderable time. The traders use it for whitening their houses. [ft is
associated with bitummous shale on the shores of the Frozen Sea.”
Lignite formations oceur near the Rocky Mountains* “along their
eastern edge, in a narrow strip of marshy, boggy, uneven ground,”
and again on a branch of Peace River, and on the Saskatchawan in
latitude 52°, and on Garry’s Island, near the mouth of the McKenzie.
It lies over beds of bluish grey sandstone, and white clay.
* McKenzie.
Skeich of the Geology of the Arctic Regions. 5
On the banks of the McKenzie below Bear Lake River, are pre-
cipitous cliffs of bituminous shale, and near it, and im most instances
underlying it, are horizontal strata of limestone. Salt springs are
connected with this formation. The Rocky Mountains appear at
no great distance from the McKenzie at the rapids in that river, where
limestone ridges traverse the country. Pieces of chert and frag-
ments of trap rock, connected by cale spar, and immediatly below,
horizontal strata of sandstone, form the banks and bed of the river.
Forty miles below the first rapid, the sides of the river rise into mural
precipices of limestone, ‘weathered into columns,” and castellated
towers. Marly stones, containing corallines, accompany these rocks.
At this remarkable “ Rapid” called by the traders “the Ramparts,”
according to McKenzie, the river is narrowed to three hundred yards,
with fifty fathoms depth of water, and the defile is three miles in length.
The banks rise on each side of this tremendous chasm, from eighty
to a hundred feet above the level of the river. The ledges and cliffs
of “the Ramparts,” are of foliated granular limestone, stained with
bitumen, and accompanying the river through this astonishmg gorge,
limestones of every variety appear, in some places associated with
carbonaceous matters ; in others with corallines and fossil shells, clay
and marly deposits. Below “the Ramparts” the river expands to
the breadth of two miles, and its banks slope away to a moderate
elevation.
In latitude 66°, perpendicular hills of sandstone a hundred and six~-
ty feet high, containing coarse grained quartz, repose in horizontal
strata, upon horizontal limestone. The sandstone cliffs present many
imbedded minerals, such as translucent quartz; black lydian stone ;
and disintegrated felspar. ‘The underlying beds of limestone con-
tam many shells and chain coral, traversed by veins of calc spar.
Forty miles below these sandstone walls and hills, marl slate
breaking into shelving acclivities, and deep ravines, forms the banks
of the river, which again contracting gives to this reach, for twenty
miles, the name of “the Narrows.” On emerging from “the Nar-
tows,” the McKenzie forms a number of deltas through which it falls
into the sea. ‘The Rocky Mountains form the western boundary of
the lowlands of the deltas, and the Reindeer hills a parallel bounda-
ry on the eastern side. Limestone occurs in conical knolls, but a
loose sandstone predominates. The sandstone contains. black flinty
slate, or lydian stone, and white quartz, accompanied by acclivities
of sand, The summits of the hill are thinly coated with coarse peb-
G Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions.
bly gravel consisting of green felspar, white quartz, chert and lme-
stone. These hills gradually diminish in altitude, and the eastern
branch of the river runs round their northern limit in lat. 69°. White
spruce grows as far as 68° where it disappears. The country thence
becomes a frozen morass, onward, north of the hills, seldom thawing
more than six or eight inches upon the surface.
Alluvial Islands.
The space occupied by the various reaches of the McKenzie be-
tween the Rocky Mountains and the Reindeer Hills, is ninety miles
in length, and from forty to fifty wide. The river forms this tract
into islands, by the numerous channels through which it winds its way
io the sea. The islands are most of them flooded in the spring, but
annual accumulations of drift wood and sand, have raised some parts
above the reach of the annual mundations, and as far north as 68°,
the highest parts are clothed in summer with dwarf willows, and white
spruce. Sandy shoals skirt the coast, ‘¢ and the whole line from Cape
Bathurst, in W. long. 127° as far west as the Sacred Islands in
W. long. 137°, presents a striking similarity of outline and structure.”
The sea coasts east of the McKenzie for many miles, are low,
with occasionally, gently swelling sand hills. The beaches and capes
are thickly sown with fragments and pebbles of limestones, red and
white sandstone, and sienite. Some of the promontories consist of
bluish slaty clay, with a greasy feel, compact enough to be called
stone, but crumbling readily in water. The cliffs are often variega-
ted with beautiful colors. ‘The shale is brown, interspersed with
crystals of selenite, and between the leaves is filled with powdery
alum mixed with sulphur, ‘The wax colored variety of alum, called
Rock Butter, occurs in layers, the shale is covered by “a bed of poor
calcareous clay ironstone, which has a straight cleavage, and is
eoated by fibrous cale sinter, and chalcedony.” The soil is clayey,
and almost without vegetation. Further east in a high cliff of alum
shale, alternating layers of Rock Butter occur again, with crystals of
selenite on the surface of the shale. ‘ Pebbles of granite, sienite,
quartz, lydian stone, and compact limestone, all coated by white pow-
dery marl” rest on the surface of the cliff.
my
Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions.
Sea coast east of the McKenzie.
At Parry’s peninusula, still on the margin of the sea, commences
limestone. ‘The beaches are covered with rolled pieces, and on the
precipitous banks it appears in weather worn columns, while in other
sections it spreads away into flat horizontal strata, and fragments of
chert, dolomite, and green stone, are scattered over its surface. Veg-
etation is very scanty here, and through large tracts, there is not even
the vestige of a lichen.
Sea coast. Cape Lyon to the Coppermine River.
The slaty clay occurs in thin bluish grey layers, intersperséd with
scales of mica. It rises into softly swelling hills, ruming under ridges
of trap rock, which traverse the lower country and rise to the height
of seven or eight hundred feet above the sea. On the coast, the
trap ridges form lofty precipices,—and th many places, the clay strata
are washed away and the greenstone columns overhang the beach.
Eastward, the line of coast becomes lower, fine grained flesh color-
ed quartzose sandstone occurs, and gothic arches of limestone in al-
most architectural proportions. Naked barren ridges of iron shot
greenstone, cross the country at pomt De Witt Clinton, and the up-
per soil consists of white magnesian limestone gravel, and bluish clay.
From this district to the mouth of the Coppermine River, lime-
stone is the prevailing rock, accompanied by varieties of sandstone,
greenstone, trap rocks, and porphyry, with disseminated minerals of
almost numberless species.
Vegetation ceases before reaching this line of coast, which is be-
tween 69° and 70° N. A patch of moss, or a clump of dwarf wil-
lows in the crevices, or under the shelter of decaying drift wood, oc-
casionally surprises the eye of the explorer, but with these very rare
exceptions, no trace of verdure or herbage is seen.
1. From Stave Lake to tHe Arctic Ocran spy tur Coprrr-
MINE River.
Primitive rocks occur east of the Slave River where it joins Slave
Lake: they consist chiefly of granite, contaming flesh colored fel-
spar and quartz, with but little mica. Coarse granite with mica, in
large plates, forms the Reindeer Islands. The same formation con-
8 Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions.
tinues to Carp Lake, in smooth round backed hills, with precipitous
sides and narrow vallies between, producing spruce-pines, Banksiana
and aspen. On Point Lake, in lat. 65°, the prevailing rocks are
greywacke and greywacke slate; greywacke with small imbedded
crystals of hornblende ; dark greenish transition clay slate ; compact
earthy greenstone, containing disseminated iron pyrites. ‘This rock
is strongly magnetic, and its surface is variegated with streaks of iron
brown. In the sheltered vallies spruce firs are seen, but farther east
where gneiss crosses the river there isno wood. North west of Cop-
permine River, which passes through an arm of Point Lake, the
strata belong to the transition series, alternating with primitive rocks.
Reddish grey slate, greenish grey and clove brown slates, are among
the varieties.
In lat. 66°, high peaks of red granite and sienite, large beds of
greenstone, and purplish red felspar rock, rest upon old red sand-
stone. In the beds of torrents, intersecting the plains, are found
fragments of reddish grey granular foliated limestone, of deep red
sandstone, and of grey sandstone composed of grey quartz and fel-
spar, members of the old red sandstone formation, which lies under
coal, occasionally alternating with transition rocks. Fragments are
seen of pale red sandstone, with circular concretions of quartz im-
bedded ; also of dark green felspathose trap, colored by hornblende ;
of dark flesh red felspar in granular concretions, with imbedded
patches of hornblende, and of red felspar associated with hornblende,
containing amygdaloidal portions of prehnite. Masses occur of com-
pact wine-yellow limestone, resembling conchoidal hornstone, alter-
nating with thin layers of flinty slate. The plains are variegated with
a few small conical sand hills, ornamented by clumps of spruce trees.
The famous Copper Mountains consist principally of trap rocks,
imposed upon new red sandstone, or flcetz limestone. The rocks
are sometimes of felspar, colored by hornblende, approaching to
greenstone, but generally of a dark reddish brown amygdaloid.
Scales of native copper are disseminated through this rock. The
mountains are interrupted by narrow vallies traversed by small
streams. In the vallies are found native copper, trap rock associated
with copper, green malachite, copper glance, greenish grey prehnite,
copper crystallized in rhomboidal dodecahedrons, and prehnite asso-
eiated with calcareous spar and native copper. North of the Copper
Mountains, trap hills occur. ‘The intermediate country consists of a
deep sandy soil, and some of the eminences are clothed with grass,
Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions. 9
but the ridges are destitute of vegetation. On the west banks of
the river, red granite extends from the Copper Mountains to the
sea, where it forms mural precipices on the coast. ‘The main shore,
for sixty miles east of the Coppermine River is a low shelving grav-
elly beach. Eastward of this beach trap rocks re-appear, and
form an exceedingly sterile and rocky coast. ‘The islands near this
coast abound in cliffs of greenstone and dark brown claystone por-
phyry. The whole country is barren, one ridge of rocks rismg
above another, with stony vallies between, without a trace of vegeta-
tion. Red and grey granite rise occasionally into acute and cragey
peaks fifteen hundred feet high, alternating with low naked ranges of
gneiss. In one instance a vein of galena was found enclosed in the
gneiss, which is often intersected by perpendicular precipices of trap
rock, claystone porphyry, iron shot clinkstone, porphyry and earthy
greenstone.
Continuing east, light red sandstone and bluish grey slate appear.
fron shot amygdaloid, and a reddish amygdaloid, enclosing beautiful
pebbles of chalcedony and carnelian, with imbedded masses of jasper,
are found on Barry’s island. On the coast, gneiss re-appears at short
distances, with occasional lofty pinnacles of granite, frequent beds of
granite and hornblende gneiss, and hexagonal crystals of hornblende
imbedded in the gneiss with scales of mica.
According to Dr. Richardson, the new red sandstone formation
prevails on the Arctic sea coast, from the mouth of the Coppermme
River in W. long. 116° eastward to Cape Turnagain, which is in W.
long. 109°, N. lat. 69°. ‘The gneiss formation is next m extent, and
runs parallel and within the red sandstone, extending from the sea to
Fort Enterprise in 65° N. lat. presenting the genuine “ Barren
Ground” with its dreary precipices and hills.
The average direction of the strata, just mentioned, is north west
and south east always inclined towards the horizon, the mean angle
exceeding 45°. Granite, sienite, gneiss, mica slate and clay slate
occur throughout this tract, with their usual relations and positions,
as in other parts of the globe. Gneiss is the most extensively distri-
buted, always attended with a scanty vegetation, and generally the
most desolate sterility. ‘The bowlders which crown the summits of
the hills on the “ Barren Grounds” are generally a variety of granite.*
* Are not these “Barren Grounds” a continuation of the desert which ranges at
the foot of the Rocky Mountains, south of Athabasca?
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. 2
10 Skeich of the Geology of the Arctic Regions.
The resemblance of the loose blocks to those on which they rest, sug-
gests the belief, that they are the more durable remains of the covering
stratum, which has been destroyed by the long continued action of
the atmosphere. Extensive alluvial formations occurred on the line
of the first journey made by Capt. Franklin, such as lakes filled up
by deposits from rivers, and the gradual waste of mountains, washed
down by torrents, besides alluvial peninsulas formed by the action of
the sea.
WI. Menvinie Isuanp, Port Bowen, anp THE CoASTs OF PRINCE
Recent’s INuet.
Winter Harbor, on Melville Island, is the most western point ever
navigated in the polar sea from the eastern entrance. It is in N. lat.
74° 26’ and W. long. 113° 46’. The length of Melville Island is
one hundred and thirty five miles from E. N. E. to 8. S. W.: breadth
forty or fifty miles. Sandstone in columnar precipices, and in some
instances ranges of sandstone in their horizontal strata, were the only
mineral substances noticed in Melville Island.
Port Bowen and the coasts of Prince Regent’s Inlet.
Secondary limestone forms both sides of Prince Regent’s Inlet.
Its colors are ash grey and yellowish grey, more or less inclining to
ochre yellow and yellowish brown. The external appearances inti-
mate its magnesian character. It is every where distinctly stratified,
and the strata are horizontal. Imbedded in them are found masses
of chert and various organic remains. On the hills, and on the sur-
face of a brick red limestone, were found masses of fibrous brown
iron ore, also coal of a brown color.
Gypsum.
On the west side of Prince Regent’s Inlet, deep beds of gypsum
extend thirty miles through the country, associated with a limestone
which, when near the gypsum, abounds in organic remains. All the
varieties of this gypsum are of a snow white, and of these the granu-
lar foliated, the fibrous, and selenite were met with, but not the com-
pact. The universal horizontality of its strata, its magnesian char-
acter, its brown hematite, and its fossil organic remains, indicate that
it belongs to the first secondary limestone.*
* Jameson’s notes on the gealogy of Port Bowen.
Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions. il
Allural Rocks.
Alluvial marly deposits from the snow waters passing through and
sever the limestone strata in the summer, occur on the shores and in
the vallies; and fragments of limestone are scattered in different di-
rections, by the same agency; but the limestone hills in many parts,
and the country generally were more or less covered with bowlders
of primitive rocks.* Some of them were of very large dimensions,
weighing from three to fifty tons. Granite, gneiss, and sienite the
largest—those of talc, quartz, iron glance, actynolite, and ores, small-
er and less numerous.t ‘They abound near the sea coast, gradually
diminishing mm size and number, and at the distance of fourteen or
sixteen miles from the sea, they are comparatively rare and small,
not more than three or four inches in diameter. “The nearest known
fixed primitive rocks, were upwards of ahundred miles distant from
these remarkable bowlders.”
IV. Istanps anp CouNTRIES BORDERING oN Hunpson’s Bay.
The lands bordering on Hudson’s Bay, and the islands which it
encloses are generally hilly, and are usually disposed in ranges, but
are not very lofty, the average beg about eight hundred feet, and
the highest summits not exceeding fifteen hundred above the level
of the sea. ‘The vallies are narrow and rugged,” and the cliffs of-
ten display mural fronts of more than one hundred feet in height.—
Wherever the shores are low, flats and shoals extend far out making
a shallow sea, but where the coast is rocky and precipitous the sea
is proportionally deep, and the shores bold. ‘The country is covered
with snow and ice the greater part of the year, often exhibiting the
most beautiful colors and picturesque forms. The upper soil or loose
surface varies from two or three inches to a foot in depth, beneath
which the ground is frozen like the most solid rock. In the summer,
a few plants obtain a brief existence in the chinks of the rocks, in
favorable and sheltered places. ‘The general aspect of the country
indicates the primitive rock formation, and“‘no vestige of volcanic
action has any where been seen.”
The following classification of the rocks found in the islands, and
countries bordering on Hudson’s Bay, between 60° and 69° of N.
* Jameson’s notes, &e. t App. to Parry’s third voyage.
12 Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions.
lat. and 65° and 125° W. long. has been arranged by Prof. Jame-
son, from the actual inspection, it is believed, of specimens brought
from those countries by the expeditions under Capt. Parry.
Primitive Rocks.
Granite, gneiss, mica slate, eurite porphyry, hornblende, hornblende
slate, primitive greenstone, and primitive limestone.
1. Granite.—Minerals imbedded m granite. Rose quartz, ac-
tynolite, epidote small yellowish green crystals, precious garnet of a
columbine red color and transparent, chlorite, schorl, minute crystals
of beryl, coccolite, zircon, graphite or black lead, specular iron ore,
iron pyrites.
2, Gneiss—Color red and grey, fracture sometimes coarse and
granular, sometimes fine and slaty, most abundant of all the primitive
rocks in the arctic countries. Minerals imbedded in gneiss.
Beautiful precious garnets, and hyacinthred garnets. Rich veins of
red quartz traverse the gneiss, aud amorphous masses lie around.—
Actynolite, graphite, magnetic and common iron pyrites.
3. Mica Slate——This is a compound of mica and quartz, and
forms beds subordinate to the gneiss. ‘The mmerals imbedded in
this rock, are hornblende, actynolite, tremolite, precious garnet, rock
erystal, common iron, and magnetic iron pyrites.
4, Clay Slate.—Less frequent than mica slate, contains imbedded
iron pyrites.
5. Chlorite Slate —Imbedded in this rock are found actynolite,
hornblende, felspar of a red color, indurated tale, massive common
chlorite, caleareous and rhomb spar, precious garnet, octohedral crys-
tals of magnetic iron ore, red iron ore, iron pyrites.
6. Hornblende.—This mineral occurs in beds and also associated
with felspar when it is called greenstone. ‘The imbedded minerals in
these rocks are felspar, mica, chlorite, actynolite, quartz, diallage,
common iron, and magnetic iron pyrites.
7. Serpentine.—Colors dark leek green, and greenish black, the
lustre glimmering, fracture splintery, or splintery conjoimed with con-
choidal, more or less translucent. ‘The following imbedded minerals
were found in these rocks. Brown diallage, glassy actynolite, fibrous
greenish grey tale, flexible asbestus, rhornb and calcareous spar,
chromate of iron, magnetic iron ore, and iron pyrites.
Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions. 13
8. Lamestone.—All the varieties of this rock are composed of
granular concretions loosely aggregated, and the only colors observed
were snow white, and greenish white. ‘The minerals which occur
in it are small crystals of mica, augite, augite with serpentine forming
verd-antique, precious serpentine, sphene, and titanitic iron, graphite
or black lead.
9. Porphyry.—But one specimen was observed, which was eurite
porphyry, a variety of granite.
TRANSITION ROCKS.
1. Red and variegated sandstone, transition quartz rock, recent
greywacke slate, drawing slate, flinty slate, and limestone. ‘There
are many varieties of red sandstone, and quartz rocks of which there
are white, grey, purple, and red, in others the colors arranged in
stripes. ‘The white and grey hard varieties, may be considered, a
transition quartz rock, the red and variegated, as transition red sand-
stone, or recent greywacke. ‘The minerals occurring in them are
felspar, mica, chlorite, pale rose quartz, epidote, rock crystal, schorl,
crystals of iron glance, and red iron ore, scaly foliated iron glance,
compact red iron ore, copper pyrites, quartz rock, quartz with mag-
netic iron ore.
2. Greywacke, and greywacke slate, with disseminated iron py-
rites, are found in two or three instances. ‘Transition clay slate was
observed only nm Bouverie Island.
3. Flinty slate, and drawing slate, with disseminated iron pyrites
were seen, but were of rare occurrence.
SECONDARY ROCKS.
1. Lamestone, bituminous shale, and secondary trap, flint and con-
choidal hornstone imbedded im it. It contams various organic re-
mains, among which, are corals, trilobites, and a species of orthocera,
with many fossil shells. ,
2. Specimens af bituminous shale were met with, but no other
irace of the coal formation.
oe Secondary g oreenstone, sometimes containing titanitic iron ore,
sometimes iron shot and porphyritic, and at others crossed with veins
of calcareous spar,
14 Sketch of the Geology of ihe Arctic Regions.
ALLUVIAL ROCKS.
Very few alluvial rocks were met with in those parts of the arctic
regions, in the vicinity of Hudson’s Bay. 'The most striking objects
are the outliers or bowlders, spread over some of the islands.* Whole
limestone islands are strewed over with blocks of gneiss, granite,
and quartz, both in rolled masses, and angular fragments.
IV. GREENLAND.
Schist of a black color, enclosing garnets, agate, limestone, ala-
baster, mica in small plates or scales, flexible asbestus, soapstone,
potstone, quartz, jasper, topaz, red garnets, by some lapidaries call-
ed ruby, and quartz crystals.
According to Crantz, the potstone, of which the natives make
their lamps and kettles, occurs but rarely, and is an article of trade
among them. ‘They carry utensils made of it, to districts where it is
not found, and barter them for provisions, furs, &c. The Green-
landers sometimes send them as presents to persons of distinction in
Denmark, where they are highly valued, as it is thought that articles
of food prepared in them are finer than when done in metallic vessels.
The stone is soft and compact, and more easily carved or turned
than wood. It does not crack or scale off, but hardens after being
wrought, and grows firmer by fire. When rubbed with oil, it ac-
quires a beautiful porcelain smoothness. ‘The cuttings are like fine
flour, or viscous clay, and have a greasy feel. He adds, that he
saw a few curious petrifactions of fishes, but could discover no pum-
ice, or basalt rocks, or other volcanic appearances.t Coal and sul-
phur are of rare occurrence, but iron and lead ores are seen with
indications of copper.
The mountains rise in sharp peaks and splinters, furrowed and
scarred with deep weather stained fissures, so perpendicular on the
south sides, as to be uncovered with snow. ‘The lower elevations
rise with broad backs, and are constantly enveloped with snow and
ice. The surface of the vallies, generally, consists of white sand,
* Prof. Jameson’s notes on the geology of the arctic regions.
+ Basalt rocks are mentioned by O’Reilly, as of frequent occurrence.—See
OReilly’s voyages to Greenland, in 1817.
Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions. 15
mixed with shining silvery specks, and full of transparent garnets—no
salt, alum, or nitre. A fine bright glimmer sand, of a golden color,
abounds in some of the vallies; and it is stated by Egede, that its
appearance was so seducing, that two successive expeditions were
sent from Denmark, in the early part of the eighteenth century,* for
cargoes of it, in the expectation of finding gold. Not discouraged
by the first failure, a second ship was laden with it, which after the
most careful analysis, was found worthless, and the enterprize ter-
minated in a total loss.
In fenny places, turf, or peat is found interspersed with roots,
branches, decayed wood, and withered grass. Much of the peat
contains sea shells, and fossil remaims, from which it is suspected,
that the sea washed over it, and retreated from it at some distant
day. No wood grows, but drift wood is frequently obtained on the sea
coasts, particularly in the southern and western parts. ‘The east sea
coast being inaccessible, by reason of the mountains of ice, is termed
“Lost Greenland ;” and although the mhabitants have many tra-
ditions concerning it, they cannot be quoted as authentic data, being
little better than distorted legends. ‘The west coast is indented with
deep bays, which are believed by many to be straits, passing through
to the Atlantic Ocean, dividing Greenland into a succession of islands;
but the extent of the gulfs, and the northern boundaries of the land
are unknown, although the N. E. coasts, from 72° to 80°, have
been explored by Mr. Scoresby.
V. Icenanp.
This island, if not originally thrown up by volcanic explosions, ex-
hibits, over its whole surface, the results of such action, bemg every
where marked by volcanic remains.
Iceland may be said to be planted with volcanos, in constant ac-
tivity, every bristling peak, sooner or later, vomiting fire. ‘The
minerals mingled with the lavas, correspond with those found among
volcanic substances, in other latitudes ; and it may be inferred that
the formation is analogous to that of those mountainous tracts which
are agitated by volcanic agencies in other parts of the globe. ‘The
pumice, zeolites, enamels, jaspers, flints, and the scorie, seen by
* Kirquilen, in his voyage to the North, says it was in 1636.
16 Sketch of the Geology of the Arctic Regions.
Von Troil, and analyzed by Dr. Bergman, resemble, with wonder-
ful exactness, those taken from the volcanos in the south of Europe,
by Spallanzani. Suturbrand and limestone are found in small patch-
es, in different parts of the island.
The phenomena of the boiling springs, or Geysers, are obviously
produced by subterranean heat. Columns of boiling water, several
feet in diameter, spout up many fathoms into the air, and around the
orifices from which they issue, deposit a portion of silex, of which
a large amount is held in solution, but released by the cooling of the
water in its exposure to the atmosphere, forms a mineral basin,
through which the waters return-to the caverns below. Every sub-
stance near enough to receive a sprinkling from the spray of the
Geyser, obtains a flinty covering, similar to ice on the twigs of a bush
in a winter storm. :
In this realm of fire and snow, some tracts of decomposed lava
yield to the arts of agriculture, and are worked into farms: and
amidst the terrors of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sulphurous
vapor, and pestilential marshes, the inhabitants of Iceland obtain
more of the comforts and necessaries of life, than are enjoyed in any
ether country of the arctic regions.
VII. Norruern Europe.
The north of Europe presents an immense exhibition of primitive
rocks.
Mr. Strangways* traces this formation from the mountains of Nor-
wegian Lapland, through Russian Lapland, Finland, the north parts
of Carelia, Nova Zembla, and the Islands of the Icy Sea to the north-
erm extremity of the Ural Mountains. It also comprehends the
whole tract of Sweden ; and its southern boundary passmg under the
centre of the gulf of Bothnia, as may be seen in the isles of Aland,
thence by the gulf of Finland, across the northern shore of Lake
Ladoga to the north part of Lake Onega, continues in the same di-
rection, until it terminates in the White Sea. ‘Trap rocks are said to
form the north part of this tract; gneiss and other schistose rocks
compose the central, while the southern border consists exclusively
of granite.
* The principal facts in this geological sketch of the North of Europe, have been
obtained from the outline of the Geology of Russia, by the Hon. Wm. T. H. F.
Strangways. Published in the Ist Vol. 2d series of the Geological Transactions.
Sketch of the Geology of Northern Hurope. 17
In the mountains of Lapland, and at their bases, fine white sand
in patches, and black and grey slate, quartz, and sandstone are
found.*
On the Pargas islands in lat. 60° N. in the gulf of Bothnia are
long steep ridges of gneiss, crowned with birch and fir trees. On
one of the principal islands is found the mineral called pargasite,
which occurs in large veins of milk white limestone, and traverses
the island from side to side. The structure of this limestone is not
sufficiently fine, to be called marble, but it is variegated with clouds of
beautiful yellow, and waves of grey, and contains irregular veins of
augite and hernblende rock. Bright purple spots supposed to be
fluor, and moroxite, coccolite, and romantzovite, occur in some of
its varieties. Tourmaline is sometimes, though not often seen. A
remarkable mineral found in this rock, is chondrodite. Itis so much
harder than the limestone in which it is imbedded, that the latter wash-
ing and wearing away by the weather, leaves it in orange colored,
and yellow knobs, and protuberances, on the surface, while it adheres
in points, or clings in masses, to a limestone centre. It is also found
in many parts of Finland, always in primitive limestone, passing through
gneiss. Gneiss, more or less distinctly foliated, forms the common
rock of the country, on the adjacent continent. The rock of Abo
is an exception, being an example of stratified fine grained granite,
very hard, studded with garnets. North and east are granitic slates ;
rose quartz; felspar; copper ore; garnets; and primitive limestone.
Primitive granitic slates continue northeasterly, and form the rap-
ids or falls of Imatra, “one of the grandest spectacles of the north.”
A fine deep black slate is quarried near Lake Ladoga, “where is
found a garnet rock,” and further north isa species of potstone from
which are made bowls and various utensils.
South of this tract, the primitive rocks lose their lamellar structure,
and a true granite prevails. Felspar, spotted with small grains and
crystals of hornblende, and black mica, predominates in the granite
opposite Borgo, and rolled masses occur near Petersburg. Between
Borgo and Louisa, are found bowlders of jet black mica slate, with
and without garnets, and a red and yellow hornstone. Ass far as the
granite is found in situ, it is particularly marked by oval and round
masses of reddish felspar. Hornblende is plentiful, and mixed with
* Ehrenmalm’s Travels.
Vout. XVII.—No. 1. tes
18 Sketch of the Geology of Northern Europe.
quartz between the felspar, and sometimes disseminated through it
in black spots. ‘The felspar is variously colored ; dark red, pale pink,
flesh colored, and white, and ash colored. This granite is extremely
liable to decomposition, and holes are seen in the rocks, of twelve
and fifteen feet in diameter. In the bottom of some of the vallies, in
this vicinity, a purplish clay is found, formed probably, by the de-
composition of the felspar, so abundant in this granite. ‘Towards the
south the granite recedes beneath the surface, and is lost beneath
its own rubbish, ‘and its ending is unknown.”
Red and grey veined marble, form the deeply indented northern
shores of Lake Ladoga. Veins of sulphuret of copper, and iron
ore have been wrought near its northern boundary, and magnetic
sand is obtained from one of its islands.
Lake Onega is bounded on the northwest by rocks of dark green
jasper breccia; on the north by a green-veined marble full of tremo-
lite. It is crystalline and probably a primitive limestone. ‘The west
coast consists of a red sandstone of great hardness. Bowlders of
this sandstone are found far south, distributed over a large tract of
country. ‘The resemblance of the shores of the two lakes, and of
the guif of Finland, is peculiarly striking. The northern shores are
of the older rocks, much broken, the waters deep, and many islands
skirt the coasts. ‘‘Sand or sandstone forms the east and west sides,
and the southern boundary of each is a marsh, behind which at a
short distance, is a range of secondary limestone hills, of one and
the same formation.” In the north east part of Lake Onega is the
celebrated isle of Wolves, famous for its beautiful minerals. Masses
of dark brown argillaceous iron stone, lie loose upon the surface,
which bemg broken, discover cavities lined with the most brilliant
quartz crystals, and oxyd of iron. “Sometimes the quartz becomes
amethyst penetrated with tufts and pencils of oxyd of iron in radiating
capillary crystals. At others the quartz is coated with red and yel-
low oxyd of iron, and resembles the hyacinth of Compostella.—
Some of the blocks present cavities, each lined with a separate variety,
others contain all the varieties inone group.”
The traces of diluvian action, and the course of the currents from
north to south, throughout the whole of Finland are astonishing.
Without stopping to notice “ the stupendous size, and extensive dis-
tribution of primitive bowlders, it is impossible not to perceive that
the top of every rock tn situ, every tor, every hill and knoll of gran-
ite, or primitive rock, from Carelia to the Gulf of Bothnia, presents
Sketch of the Geology of Northern Russia. 19
a surface as distinctly rounded and water worn, as the bowlders or
colossal pebbles that lie around their bases.” In some places the de-
tached masses of rock are so thickly scattered, as to prevent the cul-
ture of the earth. Another fact, illustrative of the diluvian action
from north to south in this quarter, is, that the parent rocks of the
bowlders in the vicinity of Petersburg, are recognised in situ in Fin-
land, while new varieties of rolled masses are there found, brought
from rocks existing still farther north.
Immense quantities of iron are smelted at Petrozavodsk from bog
iron ore, obtained by dragging the lakes. Plumbago is found, but
of inferior quality.
South of this primitive district, follows a distinct secondary forma-
tion, the lowest of which is a pale blue clay, probably resting on the
older rocks just described. Upon this are found sand, and sandstone,
shale, and limestone, containing organic remains. ‘These three stra-
ta run in a continuous formation from Sweden through the Baltic Isles,
Esthonia, and Ingria, in an east north east direction to the isle of
Wolves.
Northern salt district.
Red marl and sand are the peculiar features of the salt formation
in every part of the globe, contaming subordinate beds of sulphate of
lime. Rock salt, and salt springs are of frequent occurrence in the
central and south parts of Russia. The northern salt district extends
in a line parallel with the limestone of Petersburg for one thousand
versts. Gypsum, resembling oriental alabaster, is quarried in many
parts of this district, and is extremly beautiful.
Valday Hills.
The elevation of the hills is not more than eight or nine hundred
feet, but they are the most considerable chain between the Baltic and
Black Sea, and form the ridge from whence the waters descend north
and south through a vast extent of country. ‘The Duna flows from
their western extremity into the Baltic, and the Dneiper into the
Black Sea,—east at a small distance, rises the mighty Volga, which,
receiving as tributaries the waters of eastern and central Russia, tra-
“verses in its various windings, a distance of four thousand miles,
bearing on its bosom the commerce of Russia, China, Siberia, Persia
and central Asia, and finally falls into the Caspian. Many inferior
rivers on the northern descent, after passing through a series of lakes,
20 Sketch of the Geology of Northern Russia.
discharge their waters through the Neva into the gulf of Finland.
The Dina or Dwina collects the waters from the north east, and is
lost in the White Sea at Archangel.
The hills bordering the plain of Novogorod, are és red and grey
marbled clay, resembling the red mar! of Genel Russia. Limestone
and sandstone form the bed of the river Msta. Opposite, and east
of the river, the sand appears in horizontal strata, containing “an ag-
glomerate of charred wood and every sort of geode.” Some of its
concretions resemble Egyptian pebbles, and are of a siliceous char-
acter ; above this are beds of red and yellow sand; the next beds are
blue limestone containing madrepores. Impressions of large tufts of
pentacrinite cover the surface of the limestone strata, bending in eve-
ry direction. ‘The blue limestone also contains minute corallines, and
other fossils.
Central salt district.
Near the most northern bend of the Volga, which, for a short dis-
tance, runs east from its source in the Valday Hills, the face of the
country is of loose red sand, in many places blown into waves, and
ridges by the winds, and destitute of herbage. When cultivated it
yields flax, rye, and wheat in abundance. Bowlders of primitive and
siliceous rocks are strewed over the bed of the river which is shallow,
but soon receives such accessions from the Tvertza, Mologa, and
Shexna, as to become a mighty stream. Its banks acquire new fea-
tures rising into lofty precipices, and fallmg into deep ravines—the
red rocks loose their sandy character for the argillaceous, which com-
monly distinguishes the salt formations. ‘The sandy surface appears
at mtervals, and marl is discovered at the depth of a few feet, of a
deep red color, though sometimes of a greenish gray or white, pro-
ducing the richest pastures, and the deepest verdure in Russia. The
soil is peculiarly favorable to flax, and it is worthy of remark, that a
similar soil yields the finest quality produced in the northern districts.
The same formation continues to Kostroma, in lat 57° N. 41° E.
long. where both the riches and the scenery of the country are of
surpassing value and beauty. In the neighborhood of Kostroma,
noble oaks border the margin of the Volga, and the scene is varied
with towns and villages. ‘Red marl and sand are here found in
situ ;” and salt springs are of frequent occurrence, throughout the
government of Kostroma.
Sketch of the Geology of Northern Russia. Qi
On the precipitous banks of the Oca, ten miles above its junction
with the Volga, stands the town of Nishney Novogorod, the grand
centre of the internal commerce of Russia. ‘The chasms in the
banks of the Oca, show nothing but horizontal strata of red and white
marl; but above the town, its beautiful valley exhibits smiling land-
‘scapes, adorned with tufts of oak and ash, with occasional glimpses
of the winding river, “ studded with sails,” and bordered with bril-
liant verdure, and rich vegetation. Villages adorn the lofty and
broken banks. of the Volga, below the town, as it pursues its way
south-east, through fine orchards, and pastures, and noble woodlands.
The abrupt chasms which intersect the banks, discover beds of ‘pale
red sandstone, alternating with marl. ‘The color sometimes varies
from pale red to dusky green, containing globular concretions. At
the bottom of the cliff, and near the river, is a thick bed of compact
tuff, the cavities of which are filled with stalactites of sulphate of lime,
sometimes resembling those found among solid alabaster. Fresh
water shells are found in this tuff, but are of rare occurrence.
“Among the greatest curiosities of the salt district,” says Mr.
Strangways, “ are the cavern and rocks of Barnacouva. They are
situated near the western extremity of a ridge of hills, on the north
bank of the Piana, which makes a circuitous course around these
hiils, and then running east falls into the Volga. A round hill, cov-
ered with oaks to the summit, is at this place hollowed on one side
into a natural amphitheatre, accessible only by a rugged path, which
follows a little stream issuing from a narrow opening between the
hills. On pursuing this stream into the recess from which it flows,
lofty perpendicular rocks appear above the wood, on the right hand,
and on turning a sudden corner, the dell widens a little, and is bar-
red across its upper end with a precipitous cliff of snowy whiteness.
A small lake hes in the hollow, frmged with oaks. The white cliff
rises abruptly behind it, and a woody eminence above terminates the
scene. ‘The beauty and repose of this sequestered spot are not the
only features which distinguish it. On reaching the cliff, it is found
to be of the purest alabaster ; and on passing the tangled brushwood
that conceals it, is seen the mouth of a cavern, of which it is no ex-
aggeration to say that it resembles the driven snow. At several feet
distance from the cave, a remarkable sensation of chill is experienced,
and it seems as if this appearance of snow, had also its coldness.
‘The interior of the cave contracts suddenly, and is intensely cold.
On the right hand the tops of the larger masses rise above the trees,
2a: Sketch of the Geology of Northern hussid.
and glitter in the sun like drifts of snow, while the purity of their
colors, their powdery texture, and furrowed surfaces, channeled and
waved, as if by the action of the wind, contribute to deceive the ob-
server, and produce the most perfect resemblance.” Starry erystal-
lizations of selenite are found in the rocks. Red rock mar! forms the
neighboring district, and alabaster exists in subordimate beds. ‘The
red marl found along the Volga, produces the finest corn, grass, and
oaks. The black earth makes the finest corn land, but is less favor-
able to oaks, being overrun with wormwood, but subdued by culti-
vation, yields abundant crops.
On the bank of the Volga, opposite Tetusky, stand the ruins of
Bolgary, the ancient capital of the Tartars. Remains of minarets,
baths, arabesque figures, and chair patterns carved in stone, indicate
its former magnificence ; while coins, inscribed with the names of
Mongol princes, dug up from the gardens and fields, leave no doubt
of its origin. ‘These ruins are on a hill, composed of a loose sandy
rock, covered with a black soil of extraordinary fertility. The
ground is covered with the yellow flowers of the Scabiosa Tatarica
—the hop climbs upon the ancient minaret, and the peasant swings his
sickle among the most luxuriant harvests, where the Tartar Czar
wielded his sceptre.
The same sand rock extends north east to Cazan, where a greyish
yellow limestone appears, distinctly oolitic, full of organic remains ;
containing also concretions of radiated quartz. A ridge of hills opposite
Cazan, skirts the whole eastern part of the “ High Steppe of Pallas,”
and the right bank of the Volga. Beds of limestone alternating with
red and white marl, are also seen.
In the central parts of Russia, a black clay containmg green sand
and pyrites, and full of organic remains, is deposited in patches, and
occasional large slabs containing ammonites, beautifully iridescent,
are found lying on the surface of the ground.
The central mining district is in general a poor sandy country be-
longing to the red marl formation. Several extensive iron works
supply the interior of Russia with that metal. In the gloomy forest
of Mouram at the depth of sixty feet, below a sandy surface, are
found beds of ironstone of many varieties, of which the pale yellow
brown ore is principally worked. In the vicinity are chalybeate and
sulphureous springs. This district embraces parts of several govern-
ments beginning with Novogorod and extending west to Calouga.
Sketch of the Geology of Northern Russia. 23
At the foot of the Ural Mountains a broad tract of red marl, salt
and gypsum, follows the course of the Kama, and probably is con-
nected with the salt district of Vologda in the south. The alabaster
grottos of Perm, in this neighborhood, are said to exceed that of
Barnacouva. On both sides of this salt country, is an immense tract
of copper sand, which borders the south west sides of the Ural
Mountains. It is of a dull reddish green, and contains fossil wood,
“yvesembling the fossil vegetables of the English coal formations.”
A salt district, full of lakes, occurs at the south east corner of the
Urals, connecting Siberia with European Russia and the steppe of
the Kirghis.
Secondary rocks extend across the whole country of southern
Russia as far south as the primitive steppe. Coal has been found
near 'Toula, but cannot be obtained on account of the quicksands
beneath it.
STEPPES.
Steppe denotes a tract of waste country destitute of forests. It
may be desert, or covered with herbage, like the pampas and prairies
-of South and North America. In Russia, a variety of tracts are
denominated steppes, as the high, the low, the salt, the sandy, the
stony, the icy, and other steppes, differing, each from the other, in
every feature except the absence of wood.
The prumtive steppe reaches S.S. E. from the upper part of the
Bug to the Birda, crosses the Dnieper, and passing south terminates
near the Black Sea. The rocks in this tract are granite with garnets
disseminated, running at times into trap or sienite. A fine earthy
felspar occurs near Gallicia, fit for making porcelain.
Calcareous steppe.—A series of calcareous rocks occurs on the
margin of the primitive steppe, by the line of the Dniester and the
shores of the Black Sea. Limestone containing shells and large
grained oolites, occupies large tracts between the Bug and the Dnie-
per. Bitumen appears at the sea of Asoph, and at the end of the
Caucasian cham. Secondary limestone forms a high intermediate
steppe, around the northern edge of Caucasus. The bituminous
formation, in a ridge of argillaceous shale, composes the level coun-
try of Shirvan: the hills of Shirvan and Daghestan, are of shelly
limestone. Bitumen again appears in the Isles of Naphtha, on the
eastern shores of the Caspian.
24 Sketch of the Geology of Northern Russia.
The salt steppe is a remarkable region’ lying at an extremely low
and uniform level, occasioned it is believed, by a change in the level
of the Black Sea. Pallas, and others who have examined the geolo-
gy of this tract, conjecture that the waters of the Black Sea, at some
remote period, burst a passage through the straits of Constantinople,
and receding from this shallow tract, left it dry, from its present mar-
gin to the shores of the Caspian. ‘This supposition is rendered highly
probable, from the extreme want of fresh water through the whole
extent of the steppe, and the fact of its bemg covered with sand, and
and recent shells like those now found in the neighboring seas, with
no other herbage upon its whole surface, than an occasional tuft of
such plants as grow only on the sea shore. Lakes and pools are
found in its different sections and an efflorescence of salt, resembling
hoar frost is said to cover some parts of the dry ground. The rock
under the sandy superficies is a hard black clay slate, sometimes
bare and totally sterile. ‘The whole steppe is a tract of barren desert
without mhabitants.
In the centre of this steppe, alabaster, which is said to belong to
the salt formation, rises in the insulated hills of limestone, accompa-
nied with gypsum and salt.
The Caucasian chain consists chiefly of primitive rocks, but in
many parts of columnar trap. The secondary rocks resting on its
northern border, are a continuation of the mountains of the Crimea,
and consist principally of slates and limestone, with chalk and flints.
On the south part of this secondary tract is a soft shelly yellowish
limestone, extending along the shores of the Black Sea, through a
rich and productive, although woodless, country. ‘The secondary
strata, being probably a continuation of these limestones, form the
high steppe of Pallas, between the lower Volga and the Don.
VIL. Misceitnangeous Notices or SIBEeRtiA.
Geological inquiry has made but little progress in the northern re-
gions of Asia, but a miscellaneous notice of Siberia, is subjoined,
enumerating such mineral and metallic substances, as are known to
occur, although their positions am situ are not ascertained, nor in
every instance their localities. This immense territory extending
from the Ural Mountains on the west, to the Pacific Ocean on the
east, and from the borders of China and Kalmuck Tartary on the
south, to the Frozen Ocean, presents a scene of great interest to the
Sketch of the Geology, g-c. of Siberia. 25
scientific, the humane, and the’ political mquirer. ‘The late expedi-
tions from Russia and Germany, upon “Icy Sea discoveries,” might
probably supply these deficiencies, but the accounts are not to be
obtained in this country. The information which is the basis of the
following remarks, has been derived principally from the journey of
the Count De Lesseps (interpreter to La Perouse,) overland, from
Kamschatka to Paris, and from the narrative of Capt. J. D. Cochrane,
of the R. B. Navy.
The four grand divisions of Siberia will be noticed in their order,
beginning on the west. They are Tobolsk, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, and
Okotsk, within which, it is subdivided into provinces, governments,
and commissariats, all subject to Russia.
TOBCLSK.
The government of 'Tobolsk commences on the east side of the
Uralian chain, which divides Asia from Europe. This magnificent
range of mountais consists of primitive rocks, and is rich in the
treasures of the mineral kingdom. ‘The mines of gold appear to be
inexhaustible, and the minerals and precious metals of this region,
are said to surpass those of South America in variety and beauty.—
It extends from the Icy Sea to the steppe north of the Caspian.—
Primitive marble is found in many parts, and “ornamental jasper
occurs in large rock masses.”* At Catharinebourg, the first town in
Siberia, at the foot of the mountains, are large iron and copper foun-
deries. ‘The copper is brought three hundred miles to the city, and
worked up into ingots. The river Iset, which runs near the city, is
dammed up to form a sort of lake for washing the gold sands, some
of which are found in beds six or eight feet deep, but the greater
part are brought twelve miles from the mines of Berezofisky, which
have been penetrated, perpendicularly, one hundred and sixty feet.
Immense iron establishments are also situated in this vicinity, one of
which employs six thousand peasants. Proceeding east, but little is
known, of the mineral, or geological character of the country. It
frowns in dark and lofty forests, preserving its wild and ancient mag-
nificence. Occasionally fine districts of cultivation, are seen, with
immense herds of cattle, luxuriant cornfields, and a civil and hospit-
a = =—-~
* Strangways’ Geology of Russia.
Vor. SVIE——WNo. 1. ae
26 Sketch of Siberia, &c.
ble population. Approaching Tobolsk from the wést, the country
becomes marshy, and for fifty miles is almost a morass, occasioned
by the inundations of the Toura and Irtish, with several of their
tributaries. A few miserable huts, on this line of country, denote
the wretched condition of the mhabitants.
Tobolsk is a large and ancient city, formerly the capital of all Si-
beria. It stands at the confluence of the Irtish and Tobol, two noble
streams which fall into the Oby, where they take its name, and are
iost in the Frozen Ocean. A governor general resides in the city,
whose jurisdiction extends to Irkutsk, excepting the mines of Kolyvan,
whose director is amenable only to the cabinet at St. Petersburg.—
It contains twenty thousand inhabitants, and carries on a considerable
trade with China, with which it supplies western and central Siberia.
Provisions are cheap and abundant, and society good, for malefactors
ure not allowed to remain in Tobolsk, but are sent to the mines of
Nertchinsk and Kolyvan, or to the distant provinces. The exiles
who remain in Tobolsk are officers or others who are banished for
political opinion, and the governor is at liberty to permit their appear-
ance in society, and to give them such privileges and immunities as he
sees fit to grant, upon his own responsibility. ‘This province extends
from the latitude of 50° north, to the Frozen Ocean, and is one thou-
sand miles in breadth. The upper soil in the vicinity of the city, is
marl and chalk, but north of it are immense tracts of sand. The
country from the Ural chain, far east of Tomsk, and from 'Tobolsk to
the Frozen Sea, is one unproductive level steppe, but little known,
except that it is thinly peopled by hordes of savages, who bear a strik-
ing resemblance to those inhabiting similar parallels on the western
continent. The extreme north is the country of the Samoieds and
Ostiaks. Sand hills of comparatively small clevation, with occa-
sional limited tracts covered with black soil, supporting corn and forest
trees, are the principal cbjects which interrupt the endless monotony
of these lonely deserts.
The lands on the Irtish south of Tobolsk, are some of the most
beautiful and rich in the world, but lie waste for want of inhabitants
and cultivation. Towards the Chinese frontier are lofty mountains
of granite, and luxuriant vallies, formimg the most picturesque scene-
ry, but deserted from being held as neutral territory. On the river
Kolyvan, and near the confines of Calmuck Tartary are important silver
mines. ‘The silver contains three per cent of gold, which is sepa-
rated in the imperial laboratory at St. Petersburg. ‘The mines and
Sketch of Siberia, gc. 2%
and founderies of Kolyvan employ forty thousand laborers, besides
the peasants of Tomsk and Kusnetz, who cut wood, transport ore,
and make charcoal for the founderies.”* Twelve thousand horses
and oxen are also employed in the various processes relating to the
produce of the mines. This province is abundantly supplied with
provisions and wood—the scenery is picturesque and the soil fertile.
Tomsk, north east from Kolyvan, is the capital of the province which
bears thatname. ‘The fertility, plenty and industry of Kolyvan, ceases
at its borders—-the intervening country gradually becomes cold and des-
olate, as you approach the capital, wood and cultivation disappear, and
the country wears the aspect of adesert. ‘Tomsk is half way from 'To-
bolsk to Irkutsk, contains five thousand inhabitants, and is distinguished
for hospitality to strangers. In the dreary wilds between Tomsk and
the river Jenesei, caravans of traders are met laden with teas, silks, and
nankeens from China for Moscow. ‘The Jenesei roils its course over
a picturesque district, well cultivated to a considerable exient. ‘The
little river Katcha winds at the foot of the north western hills forming
a peninsula of sandy alluvion at its junction with the Jenesei, upon
which stands the town of. Krasnojark, distinguished for the beautiful
scenery which surrounds it, but unpopular as a residence, from being
subject to fevers, and the epidemics incident to flat river countries.
Mines of the precious metals agai occur in these hills, the vallies
abound in timber—and villages scattered every ten or fifteen miles in-
dicate the approach to the government of Irkutsk, where the increas-
ed attention to regularity and good order, reflects the highest credit
upon the governor of that province. ‘The progress of improvement
within the last forty years is surprising, as since that period it has risen
io a government and a capital. T
IRKUTSK.
Irkutsk is one hundred and fifty miles west of the Lena. Civiliza-
tion has made considerable advances througheut the province. ‘The
Russian inhabitants are numerous—the country lies over hill and dale,
and “except a few cornfields is one uninterrupted pasture.” Post
houses and roads are good, and little villages frequent. The inhab-
itants of the villages are principally exiles who have been banished
* See Coxe’s account of the mines of Russia.
+ Cochrane, p. 136.
oon Skeich of Siberia, &c.
for minor offences, and who, brmging with them some of the knowl-
edge of European customs, impart an air of thrift and neatness to all
about them. Near the city is a cloth manufactory, and within it a
military, and a Lancasterian school, with other humane and useful
institutions. ‘These convicts if they attempt to desert, are considered
and treated as outlaws, so that once passing the frontier of the prov-
ince fixes their fate for life.
YAKUTSK.
For several hundred miles north east towards Yakutsk on the Lena,
ihe country is in a state of barbarism, inhabited principally by wan-
dering tribes, occupied in the chase, or in raising reindeer, for whose
subsistence they roam from pasture to pasture with their herds and
tents. Yakutsk is much resorted to by the Russian American Com-
pany, and is a great mart for furs, the choicest kinds being bought
and sold there. It is on the left bank of the Lena, which in sum-
mer is four miles wide. ‘This is a majestic river, the longest in Si-
beria, pursuing a course of nearly four thousand miles from its source
to the frozen ocean.*
From Yakutsh north east to Nishney Kolyma isa distance of
eighteen hundred miles. Yakutsh is the last limit of civilization ; the
country becomes mountainous north east ‘rom the Lena to the Aldan
and the Jana, and perpetual snow marks the near approach to the
arctic regions. Parallel ranges of mountains occur in these latitudes
composed of granite, with accompanying strata of slate. On the
banks of the Kamer de Maslo isa fossil or earthy substance, of a
yellowish cream color, called by the Russians kammenoye-maslo, or
stone butter, which is eaten in various ways, and is not disagreeable
to the taste. It is probably similar to the mineral found in corres-
ponding latitudes, on the banks of the McKenzie; which Capt. Frank-
lin states is used by the natives for food in periods of famine. It
oozes out of the rocks in many parts of Siberia, and when exposed
to the air it hardens, but in wet weather becomes soft and even liquid.
That found on the McKenzie resembled a kneaded paste, and was
used by the traders as is stated by Capt. Franklin, for whitening their
apartments.
— — —
* Cochrane.
Sketch of Siberia, &e. 2g
‘These regions are traversed, rather than peopled, by men who
belong to no nation,” for between the Jana and the Kolyma the coun-
try is one vast desert.
The commissariat of Kolyma has for its capital Nishney Kolymsk,
an island in the Kolyma, opposite its junction with the river Annuity,
and almost the most easterly part of Asia, in 70° N. lat. Capt.
Cochrane states that, both from his own observation, and as appears
‘from registers kept by others, the cold is many degrees greater here
than in corresponding parallels in the Western hemisphere : and that
even at Irkutsk, the cold was as intense as was at any time remarked
on Bear Lake, or Melville Island. Nishney Kolymsk is famous for
the high rank of its convicts, and contains the tombs of some illustri-
ous exiles. Slate hills occur on the right bank of the Annuiy, thirty-
five miles east of the Kolyma, while ihe left is a vast alluvial deposit.
At Ostroonaga, a fortress on the Annuiy, in about 68° N. lat. and
one hundred and fifty miles east of Kolymsk, an annual fair is held,
for the sale of furs. A commissary presides, who instals two savage
chiefs, decorating them with medals and swords, and receiving at
the same time a tribute. The following morning, these persons,
arrayed in their gayest attire, in sledges drawn by reindeer, precede
a long cavalcade of followers, when, after some religious ceremonies,
the commissary declares that the fair cannot proceed without a trib-
ute in advance for the Emperor; on which the principal traders
come forward and lay each a red fox skin at the feet of the commis-
sary. ‘The fair then proceeds; the natives are astute and exact in
their dealings, and barter their furs for knives, swords, a few imple-
ments and utensils, and some trinkets 5; but the main object of desire
with them is tobacco, for which they exchange their fiery fox skins,
and their best sea-horse teeth, which make the finest ivory in the
world. Savages from the American continent attend this fair, and
bring a great variety of furs, which the vicinity of the fortress could
not supply. ‘The Asiatic tribes are each headed by their chiefs, and
are from Shelatskoi Noss—from the east sea coast—and from the bor-
ders of the river Anadyr, south-east, towards Kamschatka. ‘There
are wandering hordes, who live by hunting, fishing, and trafficking in
ivory and furs, and they strongly resemble the American savages in
thei language, superstitions, vases: and many of their customs.
They are honest and hospitable, but bold, irascible, suspicious, and
far more spirited and sagacious, and more rude and wild than the
Esquimaux, but yet bear a greater resemblance to them, than to any
30 Sketch of Siberia, ¢c.
tribe of Asiatics. ‘They have a tradition that some of their people
have been driven beyond seas by prevailing sickness or persecution ;
and it seems highly probable, that the E:squimaux are their descend-
ants, tamed into apathy and cowardice, perhaps, by sustaining greater
privations. ‘They have no tradition of a northern land, but say that
the sea on their northern frontier is frozen ten months in the year,
and that nothing but ice-mountains are visible; that the sea breaks
up in August and September, but not so as to admit the passage of
vessels ; and that the intermediate lands between themselves and the
sea, are mountainous, barren, and deeply covered with snow. These
representations, corresponding with ascertained facts relating to the
Arctic regions on other meridians, and the additional fact, that the
Baron Wrangle found a continuous coast around Shelatskoi Noss,
strengthen the probability that an undivided ocean stretches across
the Pole, and that the north coasts of Europe and Asia, form a land
shore upon its margin, within the Arctic circle, from North Cape, in
Lapland, eastward to Bhering’s straits.
OKOTSK.
This grand division of Siberia mcludes Kamschatka within its
government, and has its capital on the sea of Okotsk, in 60° N. lat.
140° E. long. From the river Kolyma, S. S. W. to Okotsk, is
nearly two thousand miles. ‘The country is diversified with snow
clad mountains, overflowed morasses, decayed forests, frozen lakes,
and rapid and dangerous rivers. ‘The town has been erected princi-
pally by the Russian American Company, the head officer of which
resides there. Meat and fish are plentiful, but bread is dear, and
vegetables scarce and inferior. Forests of timber in the vicinity of
Okotsk, make it an advantageous place for a dock yard, and sub-
stantial vessels are built and fitted out to transport goods and pro-
visions to Idgiga, and Kamschatka. Ships arriving from America,
bring most valuable cargoes of furs to Okotsk, but the province may
be termed a dreary waste, from the border of its principal city, to
ihe river Anadyr, on the north east confines of Asia.
KRAMSCHATKA.
‘The stormy sea of Okotsk is navigated with difliculty, owing, in
some measure, to deficient surveys. It divides the city and the
Sketch of Kamschatka, §-c. ou
south part of the government of Okotsk from the peninsular of Kam-_
schatka, which is a mountainous sterile region, with bold coasts, and
various, and sometimes grand and romantic scenery. It extends
from lat. 52° to 64°, and is not more than eighty or one hundred
miles wide in the broadest part. A magnificent range of mountains
stretches through the whole length of the peninsula, equidistant from
the east and west coasts. The river Kamschatka, navigable for ves-
sels of one hundred tons for one hundred and fifty miles, passes from
south to north until it reaches the 57° N. lat. when it turns suddenly
east, and falls into the sea of Kamschatka, which is that part of the
Pacific Ocean between the N. E. shores of Asia, and the N. W.
coasts of America. A broad steppe of Arctic desert separates it on
the north from the Anadyr, and the Asiatic coast tends north east
from the mouth of that river, beyond which a field remains for the
examination of future explorers. On that part of the peninsula north
of the mouth of the Kamschatka river, commences the country of
the Koriaks, a fierce and barbarous race, differing materially from
the servile and cowardly Kamschatdales. The country is thinly in-
hhabited, and civilization has not improved their condition much be-
yond that of their arctic neighbors. ‘The riches of the whole penin-
sula consist in furs, which exist in immense quantities; so prodigious
is the number of animals, that there are not inhabitants sufficient to
take them. Foxes and Sables are the most valuable, particularly
the fiery red fox, the finest of the species. Bears, wolves, reindeer,
argali or mountain sheep, otters, beavers, lynxes, and foxes of every
variety, are found in the greatest plenty, and aquatic birds are hunt-
ed for their feathers, flesh, and eggs. The mode of travelling in
Kamschatka and Koriaka, is with sledges drawn by dogs, and next
in importance to the furs, are the dogs, who perform the labor of
horses, and who almost outnumber the people. The winters are
milder than in Siberia, but the climate is unfriendly to corn and
vegetables, though timber arrives at perfection in the southern part.
The summer is extremely disagreeable, owing to the heavy rains
and fogs, and the torrents which descend from the mountains. On
the east side of the river Kamschatka are four active volcanos,* rising
from the level surface in insulated peaks, many miles apart.
Pedlars roam over the peninsula, bartering Chinese cottons, teas,
tobacco, spirits, and trinkets, for furs, which are first carried to
* De Lesseps.
32 Sketch of Kamschatka, Kurile Islands, é:c.
Okotsk, and thence distributed as markets invite the various propfie~
tors. One skin out of every forty is paid, as a tribute to the Emperor.
St. Peters and St. Pauls is the chief town of Kamschatka, a miser-
able place consisting of fifty seven dwellings, on the east side of the
peninsula, one degree of latitude from its southern cape. Of rocks
and minerals, it can scarcely be said, that any thing is known. De
Lesseps saw tale in large plates or leaves, and it is said there are
hot springs at Natchikin, in the south, near which are iron, copper,
sulphur, calcareous earth, and rocks of limestone; but of their rel-
ative position, or of the mountain formations, nothing is known.
KURILE ISLANDS.
‘These islands south of Kamschatka, are doubtless a continuation
of the hills of the peninsula, which have been separated from it or
which have been raised by volcanic convulsions, as voleanic remains
are found on those which have been visited ; and the opinion is support-
ed by the fact, that they are on the same meridian with the volcanoes on
the east sideof Kamschatka, and that earthquakes are of frequentoc-
currence. The islands are without rivers, and but few of them mhab-
ited. ‘Their number is not well ascertained, but probably from four-
teen to twenty five, part subject to Russia, and the remainder to
Japan. They abound in fine pastures and some cattle, with great
multitudes of water fowl, from whose skins and feathers, the inhabi-
tants make their warm clothing, which is extremely beautiful. Foxes
are said to be the only animals of the chase, found there, and they
are very numerous and of all colors. From these a small revenue
is derived for the Emperor.
Chinese Frontier.
For forty or fifty miles between Irkutsk and the Baikal Lake,
hundreds of traders with carts and horses, laden with furs and ivory
from the north, and with silks, teas, and nankeens from the south, go-
ing to, and coming from the great fair of Kiakhta, within the Chinese
border, declare the vicinity of the celestial empire.
Immense mountains of porphyry shooting into spires and pinnacles,
overhang the Chinese river Selenga, while villages and fertile valleys
occupy some of its banks between the ranges, until it ultimately loses
Sketch of Siberia, §-c. 3
itself in the Baikal. Verchney Udinsk, a populous city on the banks
of the transparent Selenga, is on the frontier line, and is the great
mart between Irkutsk and Kiakhta, by way of Selenginsk, which is
seventy miles distant from Verchney Udinsk, on the frontier. Ki-
akhta is a regular built town, placed in the centre of a stony, sterile
basin, but the surrounding hills rising in an imposing manner, spread
away, and almost redeem the desolation of the vallies, by the grace-
fulness of their outline. The little brook Kiakhta runs in front of
the fortress, and is, at this place, the boundary line between these
mighty empires. A little beyond, is what is called Old Kiakhta or
the town of Commerce—the residence of the merchants only—no
officers, or strangers, or women, being permitted to remain init. It
contains a great number of rich stores, surrounding an oblong hollow
square, in the centre of which the Chinese reside, and around the
sides display their goods in the most fantastical manner. These
men are courteous and affable, but maintain with scrupulous jealousy
the antiquity of the great empire, and its superiority, and that of its
descendants, over all other lands and tribes; guarding their borders
from the profane curiosity of foreigners, with the same suspicious
policy which is exercised in Canton. In this little district, by com-
mon consent, they dismiss ceremony in entering the Russian and
Chinese villages; the best understanding prevails, and the business
of the Fair, is transacted with liberality and good faith. The Chi-
nese give no credit, but credit is given by the Russians. This is the
grand place of exchange between Russia and China, where the for-
mer send their furs, woollens, and Walrus ivory, and receive in re-
turn, the teas, muslins, nankeens, silks, porcelain, pictures, and carv-
ed trinkets of China. The distance from Kiakhta to Pekin, is one
thousand five hundred miles, one thousand of which is through Mon-
golian 'Tartary, a well peopled territory, nominally subject to China.
The consumption of tea almost surpasses belief; it is used not only
by the refined and polite, but throughout Siberia, the wildest savages
receive it for their furs, and seem not to hold it second in value even to
spirits and tobacco. ‘Three millions of pounds have been imported by
Russia in one year, and the annual amount, it is presumed, does not
vary materially. ‘The choicest furs are not sold im China, but the
precious ermines of Yakutsk—the best sables—and the finest fiery
red foxes, are sent to Moscow, and Novogorod, for the use of the Rus-
sians, Turks and Persians.
Vou. XVII:—No. 1. 5
34 On the influence of certain subsiances
NERTCHINSK
Five hundred miles east of Verchney Udinsk, on the south east
confines of Siberia, over a rich country abounding in timber and pas-
tures, is Nertchinsk, on a small river which flows mto the Selenga,
through the Bunat steppe. This city is famous for its metallic and
mineral treasures. ‘There are within its jurisdiction, thirteen silver
mines and six founderies, beside an iron foundery, and a considerable
amount of gold and copper. ‘The silver mimes are wrought by con-
victs, and such is the severity of the disciplme and requirements, as
fully to verify the pathetic details concerning the horrors of banish-
ment to Siberia. ‘There are, in these mines, two thousand four hun
dred and fifty eight convicts, confined for life. If they desert, they
are liable to be shot by the wanderers on the Bratskey steppe, if they
take the high road they can obtain subsistence only at the post houses,
where they are immediately arrested, returned to their prisons, and
subjected to additional inflictions. ‘They are guarded by five or six
hundred officers, to prevent their purloming gold and gems.
In the hills, on the river Argoon, east of Nertchinsk, are found
some of the most splendid minerals and gems. Among them are
amethyst, topaz, aqua marine, onyx, quartz crystals, and Scotch peb-
bles of the largest size and of singular beauty.
In reviewing the discoveries which have been made within and
near the Arctic circle, it appears that primitive rocks compose the
shores of the Frozen Ocean, probably forming, in high northern lati-
tudes, an entire belt around the globe. This circuit has been, in
part, accurately surveyed, and reasoning from well ascertained geo-
logical facts, there can scarcely be a doubt that those intervals which
have not been examined, are continuations of ranges known to exist
in the same parallels, and in corresponding meridians.
Arr. U.—On the influence of certain substances on the Peroxide
of Hydrogen.
Columbia, 8. C. June 24th, 1829.
TO THE EDITOR.
Dear Sir,—I1 take the liberty of sending you the following re-
marks on a subject, which I presume will not be uninteresting to you.~
on the Peroxide of Hydrogen. 35
Should I not have been anticipated, and should you deem it worthy
of a place in your Journal, the present paper may bé acceptable to
some of your readers. Yours with respect,
Epwin D. Faust, M. D.
In the first American edition of Turner’s Chemistry, pages 121
and 122, we find the following interesting details, respecting the in-
fluence of some substances, on the peroxide of hydrogen.
“The most remarkable property of the peroxide of hydrogen is
the facility with which it is decomposed. The diffused day light
does not seem to exert any influence over it, and even the direct so-
lar rays act upon it tardily. It effervesces from the escape of oxy-
gen at 59° F’., and the sudden application of a higher temperature,
as of 212° F-., gives rise to such a rapid evolution of gas as to cause
an explosion. Water, apparently by combining with the peroxide,
renders it more permanent; but no degree of dilution can enable it
to bear the heat of boiling water, at which temperature it is decom-
posed entirely. All the metals except iron, tin, antimony, and tellu-
rium, have a tendency to decompose the peroxide of hydrogen, con-
verting it into oxygen and water. A state of minute mechanical di-
vision is essential for producing rapid decomposition. If the metal
is in mass, and the peroxide diluted with water, the action is slow.
The metals which have a strong affinity for oxygen are oxidized at
the same time, such as potassium, sodium, arsenic, molybdenum,
manganese, zinc, tungsten, and chromium; while others, such as
gold, silver, platinum, iridium, osmium, rhodium, palladium, and
mercury, retain the metallic state.
‘'The peroxide of hydrogen is decomposed at common tempera-
tures by many of the metallic oxides. That some of the protoxides
should have this effect, would be anticipated in consequence of their
tendency to pass into a higher state of oxidation. The protoxides of
iron, manganese, tin, cobalt, and others, act on this principle, and
are really converted into peroxides. The peroxides of barium,
strontium and calcium may likewise be formed by the action of the
peroxide of hydrogen on baryta, strontia, and lime. But it is a sin-
gular fact, and I am not aware that any satisfactory explanation of it
has been given, that some oxides decompose the peroxide of hydro-
gen without passing into a higher degree of oxidation. The perox-
ides of silver, lead, mercury, gold, platinum, manganese, and cobalt,
36 On the influence of’ certain substances
possess this property in the greatest perfection, acting on the perox~
ide of hydrogen, when concentrated, with surprismg energy. ‘The
decomposition is complete and instantaneous ; oxygen gas is evolved.
so rapidly as to produce a kind of explosion, and such an intense
temperature is excited, that the glass tube i which the experiment
is conducted becomes red hot. The reaction is very great even
when the peroxide of hydrogen is diluted with water. The oxide
of silver occasions a very perceptible effervescence when put into
water which contains only one fiftieth its bulk of oxygen. All the
metallic oxides, which are decomposed by a red heat, such as those
of gold, platinum, silver, and mercury, are reduced to the metallic
state when they act upon the peroxide of hydrogen. ‘This effect
cannot be altogether ascribed to the caloric disengaged during the
action 5 for the oxide of silver suffers reduction when put into a very
dilute solution of the peroxide, although the decomposition is not then
attended by an appreciable rise of temperature.”
In the works to which the author refers, more extensive papers
may be found; but we have preferred referring to the above work,
as more accessible to readers. Having seen no explanation of the
phenomena above stated, and being induced, by the statements of
our author, to believe that no satisfactory theory has been proposed,
we have thought proper to offer the following considerations on the
subject. ‘That a metal or a protoxide, when presented to a substance
containing a large quantity of oxygen loosely combined, should re-
ceive a portion of oxygen, at the expense of the other substance,
will not excite the surprise of any chemist; but when we find one
substance decomposing another, without uniting with any of the con-
stituents of the latter, we recognise a wide departure from the ordi-
nary phenomena of decomposition. Our invention is fairly put to
the test, when, on placing the oxide of silver in the peroxide of hy-
drogen, we see oxygen evolved, not by the fluid only, but by the sol-
id oxide; and find that this last is reduced to the metallic state.
These, and other phenomena, are at variance with all our observa-
tions, and are explicable we think, on no other principles, than those
which we shall apply. Our rationale is founded on the doctrine of
Sw H. Davy and Berzelius, that chemical affinity is the result of
electrical agency ; a theory opposed but not refuted.
When any metal is placed in the peroxide of hydrogen, a galvanic
effect is produced. The hydrogen having less affinity for the excess
on the Peroxide of Hydrogen. 37
of oxygen, than the metal has, the liquid becomes negative, thus ac-
ting the part of the copper plate of a battery, while the metal be-
comes positive, supplying the place of the zinc plate. The liquid is
thus resolved into water and oxygen. If the metal be very oxyda-
ble, it retains the oxygen, which is evolved if gold, platina, &c. be
used. We need searcely refer to the wires of a battery, for a paral-
lel case.
When the peroxide of hydrogen comes in contact with the oxide
of silver, the oxygen escapes from both, and the latter is reduced to
the metallic state. ‘To comprehend this most singular fact, it must
be remembered, that metals combine, under certain circumstances,
with more oxygen than under other circumstances ; and it must be
especially recollected, that when the peroxide of potassium is placed
in water, it gives off oxygen, and becomes a protoxide. It is not
going too far then, to suppose that a peroxide may result from the ac-
tion of the peroxide of hydrogen on the oxide of silver, that this
peroxide exists under no other circumstances, and is, like the perox-
ide of potassium, decomposed by water. ‘The conclusion will, per-
haps, warrant this assumption. ‘The oxide of silver, then, being put
into the peroxide of hydrogen, the latter having no affinity for oxy-
gen, becomes negative, while the former, becoming positive, receives
oxygen, and becomes a peroxide, to which the excess of oxygen
must adhere very slightly. But the fluid in wnmediate contact with
this peroxide has, by yielding its oxygen, been converted to water ;
and we have, now, in contact, not peroxide of hydrogen and protox-
ide of silver, but protoxide of hydrogen and peroxide of silver. The
effect is, a total change in the electrical phenomena. The peroxide
of silver becomes negative, and the protoxide of hydrogen positive.
This galvanic influence forces the silver to reject the whole of the
oxygen, returning to the metallic state; hence results the incorrect
opinion, that the oxide of silver has decomposed the liquid, without
receiving oxygen ; while, in reality, it has only received oxygen at
one moment, to change its electricity, and reject it in the next instant.
The same effect is produced by other oxides reducible by heat alone ;
the oxide being reduced to a metallic state.
Those protoxides which are not reduced by heat alone, become
peroxides; and these peroxides are not reduced to a metallic form,
as in the above cases, because the galvanic effect produced by their
contact with water, is too slight. In this respect, they differ from the
peroxide of potassium, and the (supposed) peroxides of silver, gold.
&¢. which cannot exist in water.
38 Accident from compression of the Air.
A very smgular and inexplicable fact is, that iron, tin, antimony’
and tellurium, will not, like other metals, decompose the peroxide of
hydrogen. The act appears still more obscure, when we consider,
that the decomposition is effected by the protoxides of iron and tin.
Perhaps those of antimony and tellurium would produce the same
effect.
The phenomena quoted above, are not explicable on any other
known principles, than those which we have here adopted. Whether
our readers will consider the rationale sufficiently free from hypoth-
esis we cannot determine. To us, it has appeared more probable,
at each revisal.
Arr. lil.— Compression of the Air.—An account of a remarkable ac-
cident which occurred in a mine of Bovey coal, in consequence of
the compression of the Air; by the Inspector, Dr. Professor Nég-
gerath. (Jahrbuch der Chem. und Phys.)
(Translated and communicated for this Journal.)
In order to understand correctly, the following account of the ac-
cident which occurred at the pit of Turnick in the territory of Co-
logne, it is necessary to premise a few words concerning the subter-
raneous position of the coal pits, and the manner of working them,
which for some time has prevailed in this region. ‘The coal business
is of great importance in this district, and several hundred workmen
are employed in it.
Some pretty high ridges of hills, which arise in the basaltic Godes-
berg, extend more than half a league from Bonn on the Rhine, to
the region of Bergheim on the road from Cologne towards Aachen,
where they end in a plain, constituting the main locality of the terna-
ry formation of Bovey coal. This coal is commonly covered with
layers of clay not very compact; and over the clay to the surface of
the ground, is a deposit of coarse sand and rubbish washed from the
hills) Where this covering is thick and strong, in order to obtain
ihe coal to advantage, the mining is performed by a process, or rather
a particular kind of excavation, which in our region is termed tum-
melbau.* 'The parts of the tummelbau are shafts, passages, and
* Tummel is a corruption of the Latin word tumulus ; baw here signifies mane,
though it may mean any work or building. Tummelbaw is an excavation in the
form of an obtuse cone. In the Jahrbuch there is a plate, eonveying a very clear
idea of the manner of excavating these mines.
Accident from compression of the Arr. 33:
arched cavities. ‘The whole mine is commonly sunk to one base,
namely, just above the level where water would naturally stand. But,
when by its natural situation, or by artificial draining, the mine is
carried very deep, and the stratum of coal is thick and extensive, a
second tummelbau is made under the other, after the former has be-
come exhausted.
In the mine there are two apertures, one of them for the passage
to and from it, and the other, called the wind shaft, for ventilation.
These two shafts at the bottom are united by a passage, connecting
them at right angles. Upon this passage the mining is begun by form-
ing a tummel, which is arched above like a bee hive, and its bottom
is continued on the level of the passage between the two shafts. A
tummel is commonly from three to six fathoms in diameter, and from
two to five in height. ‘The coal itself serves to support the highest
part of the tummel, because, by the pressure of its sides it settles of
itself to a certain extent, the excavation still preserving its arched
form. When the tummel is carried so high as to reach the top of
the layer of coal, or the level of the tummel is itself reached by a
second mine that has been sunk under it, by degrees, it commonly
breaks and becomes filled, by which means, the walls or parts subject
to the pressure, are again brought together and consolidated. By
the filing up of the tummel, many funnel shaped apertures on the
surface are formed. A second or third tummel can at any time be
formed upon a passage by removing the surrounding coal, or by ma-
king a new excavation ; and in the present instance, upon the right
and left of the main excavation, and at the shafts, new passages had
been formed, and new tummels had appeared, so that the mine was
continually enlarging, and receding farther backwards. Finally, near
the wind shaft, and likewise by the main tummel, pillars were erected
to make the works as strong as possible. A new tummel had been
sunk below the passage between the two shafts, and the shafts them-
selves were continued down to the level of its base, and a passage
formed for connecting them. ‘The old tummel did not fill again as
is common after a new one is formed below, because from one third
to one fifth of the superincumbent coal had been left for support, in
consequence of the extreme caution of the workmen. But it was
difficult to secure it altogether, as the coal was very light in some
places, and the timber was small as a matter of economy, in conse-
sequence of the moderate profits of the mine.
40 _ Accident from compression of the Arr.
The accident occurred in the tummelbau of Botterbroicher, Ther-
chengrube, near Turnich, Feb. 7, 1826. ‘There were in the mine,
Ast, John Weber, contractor, who was killed; 2d, Martin Pohl, coal
cutter, who had his sight slightly mjured, besides a superficial bruise
of the thigh; 3d, Jacob Brewer, coal porter, who had a shoulder
dislocated, and a severe contusion of the left thigh. Without the
mine, though near a shaft, were in waiting two windlass turners, John
Bieck and Hilger Zimmermann.
At 7 o’clock, A.M. as the workmen were going into the mine
where they had worked the day before, a pressure was perceived,
and in apprehension of the falling nn of the tummel, they took the
precaution of employing themselves upon the coal near its entrance.
About 9 o’clock, the pressure had sensibly increased, and some large
pieces of the clayey stratum of the arch fell in. Weber the contrac-
tor, heard the crash, and ran to those who were in the pit. He had
the tummel searched externally and internally, and thought it not
proper for the workmen to go immediately to their business, but that
they should first eat their breakfast, and if in the mean time, there
should be another break, they might quit their work. Upon this,
Weber set out to brace the pit, the workmen remaining seated at their
breakfast in the wind shaft, near the passage to the tummel. We-
ber had been gone but a few moments, and had not probably reached
the middle of the ascent of the shaft, when the tummel suddenly fell |
in, and the rush of the air was so terrible that Pohl, who was five
fathoms within the windshaft, and Brewer, who was in another pas-
sage, were thrown down. Pohl recovered himself as he was lying
upon the windshaft; and upon regaining his senses, looked after his
companion, whom he found senseless in the main passage. After
Brewer had reeovered so as to come to his reason, they found We-
ber the contractor near them, apparently lifeless. Upon calling,
Bieck came to their assistance. Brewer was drawn out by means
of a rope, and the body of Weber was brought out in the same man-
ner. Pohl was able to climb out, without assistance.
Bieck and Zimmermann state, that after Weber had left them,
Bieck called and enquired, whether they should take their breakfast
within the shaft? After receiving an answer, they went about ten
paces from the mouth of the shaft to the hut, to eat their breakfast.
{nm less than a quarter of an hour, an alarming noise was heard. ‘The
brick roof of the hut, that was built over the entrance of the mme,
was blown into atoms, and an entire ladder was thrown out of the
Compression of the Air. 41
i
shaft, which fell upon the hut of the other shaft, that still remained
standmg. The hats of those who were within the mine, were found
at the distance of twenty paces without, from the mouth of the shaft,
as also two iron hooks with which the ladder had been fastened,
were picked up near the shaft, one of them broken short, the other
torn out of the timber and twisted. Upon examining the shaft, it
was found that by the powerful dislodgement of the ladder, the tim-
ber of the shaft had been much damaged.
This is a very strange and singular accident of its kind, which
could arise only from the violent compression of the air in the cavity
of the tummel, at the moment when it was filled by the simultaneous
fall of the materials of the arch. ‘The great strength of the strata,
combined with the circumstances, that there was, directly over the
pit, a very firm clayey roof, was the cause of there being given to
the tummel (though it was very ill judged,) uncommonly large di-
mensions; for by the report of the coal cutters, it was twelve fath-
oms in diameter, and four and a half in height. ‘To increase the
force of the rush of air, another circumstance greatly contributed.
In lately fitting up the mime, two apertures only were retained, the
wind shaft and the passage for conveyance. As the tummel fell, the
whole mass of air was forced out of one passage only, the pressure
being directed to this, because durmg the cold weather, the wind
shaft had been stopped at its mouth.
When we consider the amazing force with which the ladder was
carried out of the shaft, and the other circumstances testified by the
workmen, it is most probable that Weber, who was on the ladder as
the tummel fell in, and wore a long linen frock, was lifted up by it so
high, that the distance of the fall caused his death.
The medical examination of the corpse of Weber, discovered nu-
merous fractures. The fourth, fifth, and sixth ribs of the left side,
and the heads of others were broken, and driven into the cavity of
the chest. The pericardium on the left side from above downwards
was ruptured, as was also the right cavity of the breast. ‘The left
lobe of the lungs exhibited several lacerations, and was crushed into
a confused mass.
Vou. XVU.—No. 1. 6
42 Assay and Analysis of an Iron Ore.
Arr. 1V.— Assay and Analysis of an Iron Ore, (fer titanné,) from
the environs of Baltimore,* recewed through Mr. Warden; by
T. G. CLemson.t
From the specimens received, this mineral appears to be associa-
ted with a schiste granitoide. It is n amorphous masses, possessing a
parallel division. The exterior surface is of a reddish brown, like the
peroxide of iron. The interior is of a bright gray, having the tex-
iure of iron, occasionally presenting indices of crystallization. It
feebly attracts small particles of iron, and possesses polarity in a
slight degree. Specific gravity =4.9.
‘The following assay was made upon a specimen that appeared to
be void of gangue. ‘The powder was black, with a tinge of red,
which indicates the presence of the peroxide of iron.
Calcined in close vessels, it does not sensibly diminish in weight.
Twenty grains of this mineral were mixed with ten grains of kaolin,
(silicate of alumine,) and seven grains of carbonate of lime. The
mixture was submitted, in a crucible, to the strongest heat of a wind
furnace. ‘The result of the assay was aculot and scorie, weigh-
ing in sum, 29.62. The scorie were covered with a thin metallic
layer, of a copper red, which characterises the presence of the
oxide of titanium. The interior of the scoriza was nitrous, black
and opake. ‘The iron was white, possessing good properties. It
weighed, i2.
Weight of the culot and scoriz, - - - 29.62
Ten grains of kaolin, calcined, equals, iyi)
Seven grains of carbonate of lime, - 3.94
Twenty grains of mineral, - - - 20. =33.94
Oxygen, - - - - - - - - 4,32
13.94 equals the quantity of kaolin and lime added. Now the scorie
weigh 17.62. Consequently the kaolin and lime have augmented in
weight equal to 3.68.
* Land of Mr. Patterson.
t Extract of a letter from Mr. 7. G. Clemson to the Editor, dated Paris,
May 27, 1829.
I embrace this opportunity of sending you an extract of a process verbal, made
by myself, at the School of Mines, May Ist, 1829. Considering it of sufficient in-
terest, will you have the goodness to give it a place in the next number of your ex-
cellent Journal of Science and Arts,
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 43
Considerifig this augmentation as oxide of titanium, its composi-
tion for 100. would be
Iron, - - - - - - - 60.
Oxygen, - - - - - - - 21.60
Protoxide of titanium, = - - - - 18.40
100.
Analysis.—Five grains of the same mineral, reduced to an impal-
pable powder, were treated by sulphuric acid, concentrated and boil-
ing. ‘The solution was evaporated to dryness, taken by water, and
filtered, the residue, insoluble, weighed 0.1. This residue gave no
indications of the oxide of titanium before the blowpipe. To the fil-
tered solution, tartaric acid and ammonia were added by turns, un-
til the latter produced no precipitate. A small excess of hydro sul-
phate of ammonia was then added, and the hydro-sulphuret of iron
separated by filtration, the solution evaporated to dryness, and the
residue calcined, gave 0.95 of the protoxide of titanium.
This mineral may be considered as having the following composi-
tion for 100.
Tron, - - - - - - - 60.
Oxide of titanium, - - - - eiaptd )
Silex, - - - - - - - D,.
Oxygen, - - = = - - Si ho)
This quantity of oxygen is not exact, the iron containing an indefi-
nite quantity of carbon.
Arr. V.—Sketch of the rich mine of Pasco; by M. pr Rivero,
received from the author in his Journal of Natural Science, and
National and Foreign Industry, Jan. 1828, Vol. I. No. 2. pub-
lished at Lama, and translated for this Journal by a Scholar of
the New Haven Gymnasium.
Introductory notice of specimens of silver from Peru and Chili.—Ed.
Mr. Rivero’s account of the mineral riches of Pasco has excited
ihe more interest in my mind, because some of those riches, and of
those of the contiguous country of Chili, have been recently deposit-
ed in my hands, by the kindness of Mr. Dantex, W. Corr. This
gentleman, for many years a traveller and resident in various coun-
tries in Europe and both Americas; and for the last six or seven
44 Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
years, established as a merchant at Lima, has availed Hfnself of his
opportunities, to make various collections, interesting to the fine and
useful arts, particularly of numerous and valuable pictures, and also
of noble native specimens of silver, which he has brought home. The
box containing them, being left in trust with me, during the absence of
its owner in Europe; I have, with permission, examined its contents
with some attention, and a brief notice of them seems not an inap-
propriate introduction to the Memoir of Mr. Rivero.
1. Among the numerous pieces of native silver, there is one pure
and solid piece, without pores or mtermixture. It is seven inches
long, five anda half broad, and from three to two and a quarter thick.
Its weight exceeds fourteen pounds avoirdupois, and its value, as
silver merely, is over two hundred and thirty dollars. It is from‘ the
mines of Pasco, and appears to be a fine exhibition of the full dimen-
sions of a rich vein or cavity of virgin silver, as it has the natural
faces by which it was joined to the rock or vein stone, (a calcareous
one as appears by very small adhering portions.) On one side only,
does it bear marks of having been cut and forced by instruments
from the rest of the vein. It exhibits the appearance of having been
a knob or protuberance.
2. There are other pieces of native silyer, from the size of a hand
to that of a walnut, in many accidental and imitative forms ; protu-
berant, dendritic, cellular, pectinated, reticular, &c.
3. ‘Two specimens are worthy of being mentioned, on account of
the beauty of their crystallization; especially as good crystals are
much more frequent among the ores, properly so called, than among
the native metals.
In these pieces, which are from two and a quarter to three and a
half inches im length, the silver is of the most perfect whiteness,
without tarnish, and with the lustre of the polished metal; and the
numerous crystals, both adhering in rich groups of many hundreds,
and being also interspersed through brilliant white calc spar, make a
very splendid appearance. ‘The figures are between the cube and
octohedron,—usually the cubo octohedron. ‘The forms of the crys-
tals are not readily distinguished, without a magnifier.
4. An elliptical ovoidal mass, four and a half inches long by three
and a half wide, and two and a half deep, nearly flat on one side.
It is porous in every part, and has the appearance of having been
produced by amalgamation, and of having been moulded, while in a
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 45
pasty state; the quicksilver being afterwards expelled by heat. It
corresponds with no natural form that I have ever seen.
5. Specimens that are softer and more sectile than the native sil-
ver ; apparently composed of little plates, that seem by compression
to slide over each other, like amalgam.
6. Numerous specimens of sulphuret of silver, which, from the
proportion they bear to the whole collection, would seem to be
the most common product of the mines. The color of this ore is
dark gray ; structure granular, or perfectly foliated; streak brilliant ;
sectile, cutting with a knife, almost like lead, and more lke plumbago,
to the brilliant specimens of which, it often bears a strong resem-
blance, but it does not mark paper. It is in some pieces mixed with
finely divided native silver, so that when cut, the peculiar color of
both is displayed. The tarnished, dull specimens are brilliant, if cut.
By the blow pipe, it is reduced to the condition of metallic silver,
ihe sulphur being exhaled in fumes, and escaping with ebullition,
which throws the silver about in jets, and on cooling, it appears on
the charcoal, in brilliant white pomts. If the process be stopped be-
fore the reduction is thoroughly accomplished, the globule, on cool-
ing, exhibits a beautifully mottled appearance, not unlike that of the
variegated soap balls. It is produced by the congealed silver, being
interspersed, with its characteristic whiteness, in lines, clouds, and
spots, in the dark base, of that part of the sulphuret, which is still um-
reduced.
7. There is one mass of sulphuret of silver, which is distinguished
from all the others by its beauty ; it is in large brilliant plates, having
almost the lustre of polished steel, but the color of the darkest plum-
bago. Its size is four inches long, two and a half wide, and two
deep. This also gave metallic silver by the blow pipe.
8. There are large masses of what appears to be muriate of sil-
ver, soiled by and mixed with an ochreous powdery earth. Still,
the masses are tolerably firm, and it is only by breaking them that
the muriate is discovered, in laminated veins of a light gray color,
brittle, and giving points* of reduced silver, by the blow pipe.
9. Most of the foreign substances observed with these specimens
are calcareous ; sometimes the native silver was interspersed in quartz,
but more frequently in calc spar.
* Points, because there is earthy matter mixed with it, which gives only a slag.
AG Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
10. Some specimens from Chili, furnished by the lady of Com- .
modore Hull, accord very well with some of the pieces of native
silver already described; one piece, which is nearly pure, weighs
two pounds avoirdupois, and another which consists principally of
silver, interspersed through cale spar, weighs one pound and three
quarters.
11. Among the specimens of Mr. Coit, are several silver images,
said to be dug from the graves of the aboriginal Peruvians. ‘They
are generally from two to three inches in length, and are rude and
sometimes ludicrous resemblances of the human form; they have gen-
erally crowns or helmets on their heads; one figure clasps an infant ;
another a harp, or other instrument of music ; and another, (the largest
of thiskind,) has a kind of a Chapeau bras, ornamented with a crescent,
on his head, a sceptre or spear in one hand, and something, swinging like
a basket, in the other. ‘The images, mentioned above, appear to be
cast. ‘There is still another image, carved rudely out of silver ore,
but consisting principally of native silver. It is much larger than
either of the others. ‘This appears to represent a large baboon, or
some animal of that family, ridmg on a ferocious beast, and holding
his upper jaw with his hand. ‘These images prove, if proof were
wanting, that the ancient Peruvians were familiar with silver; and
that they regarded it as among the most precious of their possessions,
is obvious from their depositing these silver Penates, with the remains
of their departed friends.
With the specimens of Mrs. Hull, is an image of a large dog, or
perhaps a lion, cast in silver, but this appears to be modern, and not
to have had any connexion with the rites of sepulture.*
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco, &e.
Amone the great resources which Peru enjoys, the mountainous
chain of Yauricocha, or Pasco, ranks first; famous in the history of
mineralogy, not only for the treasures it yields, but also for the vast
mass of metallic ore which it contains, and for a variety of other cir-
cumstances which render it worthy of note in the eyes of a naturalist.
It is unquestionably difficult to give a complete account of the in-
* Yale College is indebted to Commodore Hull, for a beautiful series of naval
historical paintings, and for various minerals and articles of curiosity from Peru,
Chili, Africa, and other countries.
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 47
teresting particulars relating to this subject, with which all wish to
become acquainted, unless the writer is accurately, or at least in some
degree a mineralogist, philosopher and merchant. My efforts are
not adequate to so great an undertaking; but the desire I feel of
giving the literary world some idea of the wealth of Yuricocha,
and the manner of working its mines, enables me to conquer the
innumerable obstacles which present themselves; atthe same time, I
hope my readers will be liberal enough to pardon the faults I may
commit in so complicated a task. For the sake of clearness, we
will divide this subject into five parts.
ist. Physical appearances, and geographical description.
2d. Geognostic description.
3d. Manner of working the mines, and extracting the metals.
4th. The profit and wealth arising from them.
5th. Number of mines, and their produce for a certain period.
Physical Aspect.
The Cordillera of the Andes, united in Cuzco, between the paral- ©
lels of 14° and 15° S. lat. divides into two branches; the eastern
runs to the east of Huanta, Ocopa, Jauja, and Yarma; the western
diverges to the west of Castrovireyna, Yauli, Huaypacha and Pasco.
Near Huanuco these unite, and continue in this manner some dis-
tance. Three branches then rise; the eastern commences be-
tween Puzuzu and Muna, the central passes between the river Hu-
alla and Maranon, and the coasts of Trujillo and Payta; these again
jom in Loja. The two branches which proceed from Cuzco,
stretching out, surround the pampa of Bombon, the lake of Chin-
chaycocha, or Reyes, and the range of Paseo. Various colossal
summits are seen in both, covered with perpetual snow, as those of
Vinda, Potosi, Yaguahuanca, those of Huarochiri, of Oyon, and
many others not designated by name. One of these is seen from
the ranges of Pasco, which is in the branch of eastern, or royal
mountain, dividing the LLANnos of the ridge in which the richest
mines are found. ‘The western branch, or, as it is called, the Cor-
dillera of Oyon, inclines to a juncture more rapidly than the other,
from the quicksilver mine of Cuypard, forming a regular semicircle ;
the breadth of the Cordillera from Lima to the termination of the
road to Chanchamayo, is between eighty and ninety leagues in a di-
rect line, according to an approximate calculation. Between these
48 Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
branches, as we have said, lies the plam of Bombon, fifteen leagues’
in length, and differs in breadth from two to four leagues; but it ex-
tends along the west, (not under the same name, however,) as far
as the mine of Cuypard, which distance is about eight leagues, but
is not so level as that of Bombon. It is situated four thousand and
sixty metres above the level of the sea, and the lake of Chinchayco-
cha is seven leagues long, and three broad. The river, called
Oroya, runs from it, and joins the Raucas, which has its source in
lake Alcacocha, these being tributaries of the Jauja. This plain is
similar in its form, situation, and other geological circumstances, to
that of Bogota, Lampa, and Mexico. A causeway was constructed
by the ancients, about two yards wide, and three and a half long,
paved with limestone, and is very serviceable in winter, when the
pampas are full of bogs. It is between the village of Carhuamayo
and the town of Junin. ‘There is also a subterranean aqueduct
from the pasture grounds of Raeracancha, to Dambo Inga, the pal-
lace of the ancient Incas, the remains of which are found upon a
hill which runs through the pampa; this served to conduct the
water when the Incas visited the different towns. At the extremity
of the pampa, in Bombon, towards the north, you meet with the
famous silver mine, called Colguiirca, which means a “ mine of sil-
ver; this is about three quarters of a league long, and half a league
broad. Itis the principal ridge running through this pampa, belong-
ing to the Pasco mine. There are many villages in this plain ; also
the ancient city of Pasco, situated in the north east, near the skirts
of some ridges; the celebrated town of Junin is in the southern ex-
tremity, half a league from the lake, totally in ruins, on account of
the war of Independence, and of the battle which took place on the
sixth of August, about three miles from the city, marking with pos?
tive signs, the restoration of our rights, and the complete overthrow
of the Spanish army. In time of slavery, these plams, which are
extremely fertile, were strewed with thousands of animals, as nume-
rous as the palm trees in the deserts of Egypt, and serving as food
and clothing for man.
All has been destroyed by the sword and the barbarity of the de-
fenders of tyranny, who burnt many towns. The mine of Pasco is
surrounded by many chains, which form a circumference ; in its cen-
tre are the rich mines of Yauricocher, Santa Rosa, and Yauracancha.
The range of mountains, which properly speaking, form a central
branch with an elevation much less than the other two, encloses dif-
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 49
ferent mines, as of silver, copper, iron, lead and combustibles, which
cause the wealth of the department of Junin. It continues uninter-
rupted, until united again a little beyond Huanuco. ‘The chains which
form the circle of Pasco, are broken by the wneven ground of Quin-
lacocher, 'Tulluranco, and Pucayacu; (see the map,) that of Quin-
lacocha, which opens towards the S. E. serves asa drain for the lake
of the same name, the waters of which are employed for grinding
with different machines. ‘The others to the N. and 14. lead to vari-
ous engines established in them, and grind with the waters which
flow from the contiguous chains; these sprigs form the source of
the river Maranon formerly passing by the city of Huacho, in order
to form the river Guallagen; but others affirm that the true source
of this river is in Lake Lauricocha near Cayatambo. In this basin
are three lakes, two of them, those of Partacocha, communicate,
and that of Qumlacocha which is the largest, serves as a drain
to the excavations; there are also some plains in the northern
part, called pampas de St. Andres. Whithersoever you recede, to-
wards the north, east and west, you are obliged to descend considera-
bly ; so, that in less than an hour, you find a milder climate, and a
vegetation no where seen in Yauricocha or Pasco. ‘The aspect of
ihe mines is more gloomy than can be readilyimagined. Naked rocks,
the sight of which at once indicates the barrenness of the metallic
mountains, the people torpid with cold, the want of respiration on ac-
count of the tenuity of the air, their clothes, countenances, plamly
show the labors which they endure, and the dangerous, disagreeable
life they lead in the caverns.—The range of Pasco, is situated in
10° 55’ S. lat. and 75° 40’ W. long. counting from the meridian of
Greenwich. Its height is five thousand, two hundred and six yards*
above the level of the sea; it is sixty leagues from Lima, and contains
about five or six thousand souls, three fourths of whom are employed
in working the mines. ‘The houses are irregular, all made of unburnt
brick, covered with papa, and situated on a declivity at the mining
works.—Its climate is very disagreeable, as well on account of the
excessive cold, as its height. Its temperature in the months of June,
August and September, is on an average through the day 44° Fah.—
at night 35°. In these months I observed several falls of snow, and
hail in abundance, which made the thermometer descend considera-
* Fifteen thousand, six hundred and eighteen feet; about the height of Mount
Blanc, the highest point of Europe.—Zd.
Vous XVIN==Noy t. a
50 Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
bly ; and even without this, in the months of August and September, _
it descended to 28° and 30° below freezing point. The water begins
to freeze when the sky is clear, at six in the evening; and even that in
the rooms freezes very often; it begins to boil at 180° Fah*. From
the middle of October to the end of April, this climate is insupport-
able, because of snow, hail, and storms which benumb the spirits
of the inhabitants, and hinder them from going out of their houses ;
the lightning also does almost every year, a good deal of damage.
No branch of agriculture is pursued here, notwithstandmg potatoes,
ocas, rellocas, mocas and barley are of a rigid temperament, and if
the last be sown in the rough ground, it does not produce grain ; but
still, good fruits, pulse, and other eatables are to be found in market,
which they bring from Huanuco, about twenty leagues distant, and from
the neighboring villages. The temperature is so severe that the fowls
cannot hatch, nor the lamas breed. ‘The women that labor, are
obliged to go into a milder temperature, if they do not wish their
children to die; but for some time past, those who enjoy any con-
veniences, are spared this trouble by means of chimneys, which
were introduced by the English about two years ago, for although they
use the brasier, it does not warm them sufficiently. It is observ-
ed, that those who have just arrived, and those who are not accustom-
ed to the climate and have weak lungs, suffer from the breast, respi-
ration failmg when they stir; here it is called veta, since it is believed
the veins they dig in miming, produce this complaint; the want of
breath (also called borochus,) arises to a considerable degree from
the tenuity of the air, owing to the great height; so that even ani-
mals fall dead, when exhausted by dragging up heavy burdens. 'The
disease which attacks the workmen, is the palsy, occasioned by the
sudden transition from a high temperature to a colder, and also by
the continued use they make of quicksilver.
Those who suffer from this, are called azogados. I have seen
some, who, in consequence of breathing mercurial vapors for a few
moments, were rendered incapable, by palsy, of raismg their fingers
to the mouth. But the most common disease is the pleurisy or pain
in the side, and putrid fever or tabardillo. The first is cured by tak-
ing an infusion of mudlara, a very small herb which grows thereabouts,
or with that called “dead man’s bone.” ‘The first plant has very small
* This would indicate a greater height than that stated on the last page, since Saus~
sure found water to boil, on the top of Mount Blanc, at 187°.—-Ed.
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 51
leaves, and bears a round red fruit. ‘The second grows in the pasture
ground, and has short white leaves.
The employment of the population, as might naturally be supposed,
consists entirely m ming. ‘They are divided into two classes. ‘The
first includes the proprietors; and the second those who refine that por-
tion of metal obtained by the miners and which they work by shares,
called huachacas, and also that which some others get by fraud. The
immorality observed in every mine of Peru, is owing to the indifferent
education our ancestors have given us; in consequence of the facility
with which we obtain the necessaries of life, there is very little re-
gard for silver.
Jealousy, intoxication, assassinations, &c. are the vices most com-
mon in mines; this is the reason why the vast estates of the proprie-
tors, and the emoluments which they acquire from time to time, are
consumed ; they often throwing the blame upon the miners, of whose
faults they are themselves, for the most part, the cause, and not charg-
ing it to their own bad management; losing in this manner, the credit
and confidence of those who could be useful to them. Nevertheless,
there are persons to be found, worthy, as respects their conduct and
untiring perseverance.
Geological Description.
Geology, which has for its object, the knowledge of the different
terrestrial strata of which our globe is composed, is of the greatest
importance to the mineralogist, since in proportion to the knowledge
he has of this subject, he can with more facility carry on a work with
advantage, and with more or less certainty.
The layers of which our planet is composed, are divided by geolo-
gists into four classes; the primitive, secondary, transition and allu-
vial. ‘The first is distinguished by their not containing remains of
organical series, and because they are composed of crystals deposited
confusedly, and they occupy the most interior part of the globe as
far as we know. ‘The transition lies upon the primitive, and contains
the earliest vestiges of animals and plants, and consequently belongs
to a previous creation. ‘The secondary contains vast quantities of the
remains of animals and vegetables, and lies almost always upon the
transition, and generally in horizontal strata. The alluvial is com-
posed of the ruins of the primitive, transition and secondary soils,
and contains frequently remains of amphibious animals and fish;
they lie upon the secondary, and sometimes upon the primitive.
D2 Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
There is another class of formations, which is abundant in some
countries, namely, the volcanic, formed by a cause, opposed to
the preceding; provided we are authorized to attribute the for-
mer to water in which its particles have been dissolved or sus-
pended, and the second we must of course attribute to subterra-
nean fire. The formations which compose the mineral chains of
Pasco and its environs, are worth studying; they furnish interesting
data for geological investigation, confirm the observations made in
different countries upon the position of the strata, and render more
clear the invariable law, that only in the gres or sandstone of the
secondary is found the combustible called stone coal. As for my-
self, | have always observed it in Colombia and Peru, in forms
like those of Si. Stephen, Wetin, Sarbruck, Newcastle, Liege, &c.
Tt nevertheless confirms the important observation of Humboldt, that
in America the primitive soils do not contain the metallic repositories,
but they are contained m the transition and secondary. This is the
case with the greater part of the mineral districts of both republics
with which I am acquainted. But I will not confine myself to a de-
lineation of the relative existence of the strata, nor to a comparison
of them with others, but will only give a description of them, that
more learned geologists may draw the conclusions, which these ob-
servations enable them to do. ‘The predominant rocks which com-
pose the ledge of Yauricocha, and extend many leagues both north
and south, are granite, blackish esquito,* sandstone, red porphyry,
blue limestone and conglomerate. ‘The black esqato occupies the
lower part of the geological centre, which is, to appearance, in all the
space comprehended between Lake Quinlacocha and the mine of
Ayapota and the foundery, extending to the north and east. I have
traced it to the foot of the Pargas ledge: passing by the mines and
vent holes of the machine, it is seen again in the north, in the mines
near the church of Yauricocha; and a proof that it passes it, is,
that it is found in the thirteenth lumbrera, made in the gravel of
Ayapota. ‘The direction of this formation is from north to south,
ichning to the east; and from what I have observed in the excava-
tion of Quinlacocha, perforated in this rock, it undulates as much on
the surface as in the interior, and divides into strata. The grain of
* We are not certain what rock is intended by the esquito, but from its agsocia-
tions, contents and characters, have concluded that itis argillaceous slate.
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 53
this esquito is fine, of a darkish color, and very hard: it contains
particles of mica, and small veins of iron pyrites and white quartz,
run indistinctly through it. The mmers, on account of the yellow
pyrites, and of the hardness of the rock, which does not permit the
four men who work in the excavation to advance more than two
yards, call it bronze. ‘The stratum m the mass, bears the same
name, and in the extension of it, pyrites are found in mass, in almost
all the mines, and especially in those of St. Catalina, St. Rita, the
excavation of Yauacancha, and the mines north of the church of the
same name, since all those in this line are perforated with this sub-
stance. ‘The pyrites are decomposed as much in the interior as the
exterior of the mines, and produce sulphate of iron, or a whitish sort
of copperas; this salt is found in abundance, chiefly in the excava-
tions of Yauacancha. ‘The magustral is made of these pyrites, by
fst calcining it, in order to reduce it to an oxide ; it also contains a
considerable quantity of silver, and would defray the expense of
working it, if they knew how to extract the precious metal from this
kind of ore.
The esquitoso soil mentioned, which, from all the qualities and cir-
cumstances attending it, belongs to the transition class, ought to contain
the pyritose strata, and with them the silver, since those which Trin-
idad, St. Catalina, St. Rita, St. Philip, &c. afford, prove, that from
the decomposition of this, proceeds the silver now extracted; and
although the miners do not think so, this supposition is confirmed, by
observing that in the deep mines the metals are always accompanied
by this stratum, and very often they unite and form a mass. Upon
this soil rests the ges, as in the neighborhood of Lake Quinlacocha,
in Uliachin, Pargas, Suco, and in the whole circumference compre-.
hendmg the formations known to be metallic. The horizontal strata
have a direction from north to south, inclining to the east, and are
plainly seen in the hills of Uliachin and St. Juan, in which is observed
a certain correspondence im the opposite strata, which are interrupted
only by the mmeral bed, im the cavity of which the diluvian waters.
remained a longer time; for this conclusion is naturally founded upon
what remains in the lakes existing in this cavity, and the many which
are scattered about at a short distance from the place. This forma-
tion extends many leagues, being the same which I have observed in
Punco, Lampa, Chucuito, Huaypacha, Yauli, and the neighborhood
of Tarine. It contains every where stone coal in considerable beds,
asin the exploded mine in Raucas, in Curaopuero, road to Vinchos,
54 Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
heights of Tulluranca, in the chain of Alconoculpan, lake of Huisque
and Huarochiri. In all the rugged land which surrounds the ledge,
as in the pampas of Bombou, the highlands of Pargas, Vinchos,
Cuypan, Vruda, &c. this formation is visible and extensive ; the gres
is red, with yellow and white spots; its grain is fine, rough to the
touch, and passes insensibly to the white, and argillaceous earth alter-
nating with strata of compact, white and blue limestone, and red and
green porphyry. In this sandstone or red gres, has been found in
small quantities, the cinnabar, near the tenements of St. Lovergo,
which is not strange, because the soil is just like that of Cuypan, and
lies in the same direction. ‘This gres is varied by a darkish esquato,
in the strata, of smal! bulk, with limestone full of shells, (height of la
Vinda,) and with a cuarzolidio or touchstone, (chain of Colquijuca.)
From the center of the mine, some promontories of a quartzose rock,
full of cavities, rise up, of a yellowish color, like the ochre of iron;
within it is of a dirty white, with a conchoidal fracture ; it passes in
some pieces to flint, but its qualities indicate it to be a quartzose por-
‘ phyry, (hornstein.) Many fragments, and other pieces extracted
from one of the sky lights of the excavation, show the pudinga, (pud-
dingstone or conglomerate,) distinguished by iron pyrites and white
quartz. This composes all the hill of St. Catalina, hills of Yaua-
chancha, Chaupimarea, Caya, St. Rosa, Fraguarmachay, and ex-
tends to Ayapota, &c. In the interior of the mines, it passes to a
decomposed gres, as in the mines of St. Augustin, Descubridora, the
great mine of the Harras, of ‘Tingo, &c. the grain of which is loose,
is not as hard as that of the former, and is more mixed with the ox-
ide of iron. This rock is the gangue of metals known by the name
of pacos, which compose all the soil of St. Rosa. Here no stratifi-
cation is perceptible on the surface, nor in the interior ; it is nothing
more than a shapeless mass of metals extracted in abundance, with~
out the necessity of gunpowder. Thousands of loads are here found,
about five or six marks in value, which do not defray the expenses,
when the quicksilver is dear. The metals exploded in the mines
which have been mentioned, are extracted from a very distinct stra-
tum, which is found decomposed in this rock, and another of pyrites.
There is a dispute whether it is really a stratum or a vein; the miners
commonly call it a vein, and Trevithich, a miner and engineer of
Cornwall, who was some years in the mine, has fallen into the same
mistake. No quality or sign favors this supposition.
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 55
Upon the gres, rests the white Alpine limestone, (so called from
being the same in form with that of the Alps,) as in the acclivity of
Uliachin, Yanamente, chain and pampas of St. Juan, shores of
Quinlacocha, Colquyurca, Vinchos and Pargas. The conglomerate is
well distinguished, as in the rocks of Suco, and Chaquilguanca, where
it makes a grand fortification, of more than three hundred yards high.
The calcareous formation is the most extensive, since it may be said
to be the most common matrix of metals of silver in this place ; all
to the east of Yauricocha, the contiguous rough grounds and hills of
the plain of Bourbon, are composed of this rock, which forms hori-
zontal strata, inclining to the east, and in some parts, as in the bro-
ken land of Quinlacocha, and shores of the River Ranca, it is fre-
quently observed in the zigzag form; and in the broken land of
Uliachin and St. Juan, the strata appear perpendicular, from the ex-
cavation which the taza of Yauricocha forms. ‘This limestone is blue,
and semi-compact, and contains veins of calcareous white spar; the
shells are scarce, and in it are some metallic strata, principally lead,
and sulphureous pyrites, which produce silver. In the hill of Vin-
chos, this formation is more extensive, and lies more distinct, as is
seen in the road from Pasco to this point, and principally in the height
of Chaguanaco, and rocks contiguous to Chaquilguanca; but de-
scending to the deep uneven ground of Janio, the gres insensibly dis-
appears, and passes to an argillaceous esquito. Vinchos is rather
valuable, owing to its strata being composed of lead and _ pyritous
minerals; it has three peaks which are called Maman Vinchos, Gua-
quan Vinchos, and Riuam Vinchos. All three are composed of
blue limestone, half decomposed on the surface ; presenting inequal-
ities and roughness, which prevent the traveller from ascending to its
summit; the calcareous strata are almost horizontal, and those of
the lead veins have the same direction; and are in the mime from a
half a yard, to a yard wide. In that of Descubudora, which is the
most celebrated, the stratum is about twelve inches broad, and one is
composed of pyrites, which are ferragmous and very compact; this
prevents the mine from being worked to advantage ; almost all this
ledge is traversed by metallic strata, the minerals of which, yield at
least from eight to thirty marks the cajon; but there is a great in-
convenience arising from the want of instruments and combustibles,
for the foundery. On the north, the soil continues forming § slopes,
and contains many strata of pacos in the gres, extending almost as
jar as the village of Mosca, in the neighborhood of which, are found
56 Sketch of the Mune of Pasco.
the labaderos of gold. Very near the village of Pallanchacu, there —
is a considerable stratum of stone coal, which is worked from time
to time. In Cuypan, the limestone lies also upon the sandstone, and
in other parts upon the conglomerate ; the strata are very white, less
compact, and contain small shells; the metallic stratum is argilla-
ceous and calcareous, it contains the cinnabar, and balsonadas of cin-
nabar, more or less spacious, are found in these mines, with remains
of lignite. In general, the gangue of this metal, is calcareous, or
argillaceous, of the color of ashes, and in both, it is scattered in small
quantities, since they do not yield more than one arroba the cajon.
Tt Colquijarca is observed a whitish limestone ; in some layers it is
compact, in others, crossed in every direction, by the crystallized cal-
careous spar, which prevents the extraction of large masses for
lithography ; it alternates with a green argil of some yards in bulk,
as is plainly seen in the excavation Don Miguel Otero is making,
which commences at the plain, and cuts, perpendicularly, the me-
fallic strata which run from north to south. In this calcareous rock,
are found three narrow strata of stone coal; the gres and quartz
rest upon it, the aspect and characters of which are very similar to
the flint, which forms the gangue of the metals of silver, in this chain.
When many strata unite in the centre, they form masses which are
extremely rich, and many yards broad, and they are all composed of
minerals, which produce from twenty five to thirty marks, as has been
the case in the mines of Leonera, St. Frances, and others. On the
surface of this chain, is the quartz, in appearance, half decomposed,
and full of cavities, forming a distinct lime, known to be the metallic
strata, actually explored.
Huaypacha.
This mine is situated in a narrow inequality of ground, and along
the shores of ariver of the same name. On the west side, near the
estate of St. Domingo, the granite is found very well marked, which
serves for the engines; its color approaches a red, the erystals of fel-
spar and mica are visible ; it passes, in some pieces, to the fine gran-
ite and gneiss, and forms a small pointed island in the sea; which is
sloping and of some extent; on the east, you find the micaceous and
argillaceous slate, of a greenish color, which is easily decomposed,
owing to the many veins of iron pyrites. Upon this is observed a
green compact rock, very hard, tenacious and like greenstone, with
veins of white quartz ; in others it has the appearance of serpentine.
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 57
The grés lies distinctly upon this in horizontal strata, from north to
south, inclining to the east and varying with the limestone just like
that of the Pasco Ridge.
A stratum of green porphyry with crystals of felspar, presents
itself at the entrance of the break through the road of Junin; it
is about a yard wide, and varies more or less in its inflections. In
this calcareous and sandy formation, are the mines of our Senora de
la O, Chiriquiquira, Descubridora, Copacabana, Trinidad, &c. In
the first, the stratum has for covering a loose gres; for a wall, a
dark calcareous sandstone, half a yard wide, and extremely vitreous ;
the metal is an argentiferous oxide of iron, with copper pyrites, with
pavonine spots. ‘The summits of these ridges are all of limestone,
and in it is found the notable stratum of lignite, a league and a half
from the place, and which has been wrought by the miner Loli, after
having at first extracted large pieces of this fossil, which plainly in-
dicate its origin. Also the limestone varies with a stratum of white
compact yeso, in the road to ‘Tarma, half a league from Huaypacha,
along the shores of the river. ‘This yeso is like that which exists at
the foot of the ridge of Chiacha, near Hualley ; from which a brack-
ish water issues. In all the breaks which surround the ledge of
Pasco, the limestone is seen changing with the sandstone, in strata,
sometimes horizontal, sometimes perpendicular, according to the
directions the breaks assume; in the ridges of Sacra-familia, and
shore of Quinlachocha, sinuosities plainly appear. In the breaks of
Pucayau and Tulluranca, a limestone is found which appears of
more recent formation than that of the chain; it is a mass which
contains separate pieces of black limestone, semicompact, united by
a dirty black cement, similar, on the whole, to the puddingstone.
With this rock they make the grindstones of the engines, which last
two or three months ; descending by these breaks on the north, you
go as far as the gold mine of Quinau, distant two leagues from Pas-
co. In the bottom of the valley, you meet with a very interesting
formation, seen only here and there, because the sandstone covers it.
On entering the valley, (even in the break itself,) you find a white
semisaccharoidal rock, m which are distinctly perceived shining
plates, which reflect the light. It contains fragments of the white
conchoidal, hyaline quartz, spangles of green talc, and small pieces
of pyrites; it appears to be of felspar. It serves for the stones of
the engines which grind the gold metal. Inclining towards the rivu-
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. aS
58 Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
let, it meets arock, which at first sight appears to be a porphyry, but up-
on examimation, itis found to be a decomposed granite, in which the
quartz, the mica and felspar which compose the green cement, are dis-
covered. It contains a vitreous substance, yellowish green, like the pe-
ridot, but in the other pieces it is found to be rather a garnet: on
the other side of the rivulet, there is an elevated chain, called Chu-
quitaniba, i which are found gold mines; this is composed of sand-
stone, quartz, and hornstone porphyry, and forms a stratum of con-
siderable extent and bulk; im this lie the auriferous cubic pyrites,
and the green carbonate of copper. ‘These pyrites have been ex-
ploded for a long time back; it varies with the argillaceous slate,
which also encloses the same cubic pyrites. The cajou of this metal
yields from four to five ounces, the gold is of the best quality; and
the metal is so abundant in this, and the ridges of la Quina, Chiqui-
vin, and Huanacuanca, that there is enough for many years. It is
stated that there are found in the neighborhood, ores of quicksilver, of
rather good quality. An interesting formation of granite, well cha-
racterized, but of little extent, is found in the heights of Pargas, (see the
map,) and appears similar to that of St. Gothard, of Hogblin, in Nor-
way ; and to that of the heights of Tucto, Cordillera of Yauli. » It
forms in both parts strata distinctly disposed, reposting upon a black,
leafy slate, in Pargas, and upon the sandstone, n Yauli. The quartz
is transparent, with conchoidal fracture ; the felspar is white, im
large and well formed crystals, and also in small ones, constituting
the base of the rock; the mica ism very black hexahedral prisms.
The granite is not very fine, but that of Tucto 1s more so, and does
not contain the felspar, so well formed. ‘This formation is to all ap-
pearance modern, and always found in the summits of the Cordillera,
as the learned geologist, Humboldt, has observed, servmg as:a base
to the traquito, as in Hually, although this appears to be a granite,
entirely decomposed, since it has all the substances which character-
ize it. In Pargas, this formation is accompanied by a whitish com-
pact limestone, towards the North; towards the South, by a black
slate; and towards the East and West, by the sandstone ; but pur-
suing its direction, it extends to the pampas of St. Andrews, m which
is found the black slate, upon which it probably lies. This granite
decomposes, and changes to a white granular rock, in which the
quartz abounds, and in other. pieces is the felspar, without any signs
of mica or quartz. The miners use this rock for the grinders of the
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 59
engines, and then it bears the name of fly’s wing. On the West of
the mine, at the distance of three leagues, is the msulated chain of
Raco, in the form of a cylinder mutilated at the top; it is composed
of a fine grunstein, with crystals of amphibole: it is very hard, and
of a bluish color, with black spots. ‘This rock is the same with that
found m a considerable stratum in the gres, at the ascent of Pigcha-
ea, on the road Pinchos, and Chalaya, road to Tussy. The mill-
stones of the engines, on the river of Quinlachoca, are of this stone.
/Manner of working the Mines, and extracting the Metals.
The mines of Yaurichocher, (the proper name is ridge of St. Ste-
phen, of Lauricocha,) were discovered about the year 1630, by an
indian, called Huari Capacha, a shepherd of the estate of Paria, to
which this tract of land belongs. As he was one evening feeding
his flocks, m Santa Rosa, he made a fire to warm himself, and at
the same time to prepare his scanty meal ; the stones he collected for
the hearth, and those at the bottom, melted, and he discovered
threads of silver. Being pleased with this phenomenon, he went im-
mediately to the town of Pasco, two leagues distant, which at that
time was the seat of the mine, and all its mhabitants worked in the
chain of Colquijirca, celebrated for its numerous and rich metals.
The discoverer spoke to D. Joseph Ugarte, showing him the stones
he had picked up; this man set out for the place, and convinced of
the truth of the accounts of the native, began to work in St. Rosa,
and was exploding with the greatest success. On hearing of his
mines, many resorted thither, and among them, D. Martin Retuerto,
who worked the mine of Lauricocha, making the first excavation in
it. D. Joseph Miguel Maiz, in 1740, bought of the heirs of Retu-
erto, this same mine, and directed an excavation to the same part,
concluding itn 1760. Maiz, who undertook it, obtained the favor
of styling himself “* Marquis of the Royal Confidence,” and by virtue
of a great quantity of quicksilver, he extracted the precious metal from
the Cajas, and faithfully fulfilled his engagements. When it was
known that the metals were rich and productive, the Salcedos
came from Puno, to work in Yaurichoca and Pariajurca ; this pro-
perty afterwards fell to the family of the Arrietas. All the mines
produced thousands and thousands of marks, extracted solely from
the Pacos. But when the steam engines were introduced, in the
year 1816, by a famous contract between the Messrs. Abadia, Aris-
©
60 | Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
mandi y el gremio or, and the corporation of miners, they began to
make deeper excavations, and find the rich pavonine ores, the pol-
vorillas, and native silver, and while they were making the three
machines of Yaurichoca, St. Rosa, and Caya, there was considera-
ble profit, although they did not dig more than fifteen yards below
the excavation of St. Judas, where there ought to have been forty,
according to:the contract. ‘The drain of the mines of the ridge was
made by an excavation, and a machine now totally in ruins. The
excavation begins from the Lake of St. Judas; it has an opening of
about four hundred yards, and afterwards continues under ground ;
in Portachuelo, it divides into two branches, one of which goes to
Champianca, towards the East, and the other from Yaunancanca to
the North. ‘The eastern branch runs along near the mines of Trini-
dad, Descubridora, St. Augustin, &c. as far as the church of Champe-
marca ; the northern range, passes by St. Philip, Caya, and goes very
near the church of Yanachanca ; but in reality, the greater part pre-
cipitates into Chucarillo. ‘The excavation is about two yards wide,
and two and a half high, its length is from twelve hundred to four-
teen hundred yards, to the portachuvelo; this work has cost the
miners more than one hundred thousand dollars ; Don Viente, Ami-
visea y Don Bernado Cardenas, were promoters of it, in 1780, and
it was finished m 1800; but its branches continued to be worked
until the year 1807, by the Messrs. Maiz, Alverez, and Cordero.
Upon the excavation of St. Judas, is the sky-light of St. Rosa, which
has about forty yards to the excavation; this has been dug by the
company, twenty yards below the surface of the excavation; but on
account of the excessive hardness of the soil, in which twelve men
could only dig half a yard a month, they could not finish the forty
yards of contract, and were obliged to fill up six yards, and at twelve
they drew a rasgo for the mines near the Cumbreera, of Yauricocha.
This rasgo is about a yard and a half wide in some places, im others
less, and about a yard and a quarter high. Owing to bad manage-
ment they lost four or five yards of its level, and for this reason the
waters do not reach the mine Descubridoria, or St. Augustin, &c.
for some days. With this rasgo the rich mines of St. Catalina were
drained, but in proportion. ‘The company of miners observing that
the excavation of the mineral was expensive, and that the excava-
tion was not sufficient, they took in hand that of Quinlachoca, which
has its origin in the lake of the same name. ‘This all important
work, which will make the Peruvians happy, has met with a thou-
Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 61
sand accidents, both on account of the numberless disputes among
the miners, and the errors made in the excavation of it. The com-
panies of speculators have greatly contributed to paralyze it. The
work was begun in Quinlachoca, in the month of September, 1825,
but the perforation had reached only about forty yards, in the month
of January, 1827, and the expenses amounted to from thirty five to
forty thousand dollars, and probably the latter sum is not beyond the
truth.
The general directors of the mine being informed of the suspen-
sion of the working of the excavation; they attempted to prosecute
it farther ; soliciting at the same time, aid of the government, and in-
viting the return of the miners. In fact, they obtained from the gov-
ernment two thousand dollars every month, and from the miners their
consent. I removed to the chain and set to work in the excavation on
the Ist of June, 1827. We have now three fioutones, and shall soon
have two more, unless they drain the waters of the thirteenth vent
hole, perforated in the cascajo of Ayapoto, which is very near the
plains of the excavation. ‘The machine will then have no effect, be-
cause the plains being lower than the vent hole in which the machine
is, its waters must tend towards the general drain. ‘Two other ex-
cavations are begun; that of Rumillana begins in the break of the
same name. ‘That of Avellafuerte having its origin in the lake of
St. Judas, inclines towards the church of Yanacancha; it was begun
but not continued, because the capital failed. By this the rich mines
in the pampa of St. Andres and Matajente might be dramed. The
two excavations worked by the company, received an assignment of
twelve thousand dollars and two reals from the bribune. At first,
twenty four thousand dollars were given by the court; afterwards
abated to twelve thousand. In the excavation of Quinlacocha alone,
until the year 1820, they expended two hundred and forty seven
thousand dollars. ‘The drain by means of the steam engine, is very
defective, because it is not permanent. The workmen have endeav-
ored to remedy this evil, by placing a box upon the piston, but to no
purpose. ‘The cylinder is twenty five inches in diameter; the play
of the piston is five feet, and it makes three strokes a minute. ‘The
caldron is seven yards, twenty three inches long, and two yards, six-
teen inches in diameter. ‘This machine is on the high pressure prin-
ciple, and constructed after the invention of the engineer Trevithick 5
at present, it raises the water from thirty six to thirty eight feet above
the plains of the lumbrera to the excavation of St. Judas. The wa-
62 Sketch of the Mine of Pasco.
ter of the mines, by means of the sulphuric acid and sulphates it con-
tains in solution, destroys the body of the iron pumps and the cal-
dron; it has been observed that those of the copper are not so easily
attacked, and it would be more convenient for the future, if other ma-
chines were used, to have the pieces which come in contact with the
acid, of the same metal. The iron mines are situated about Yauri-
choca, St. Rosa, Caya, Yanacancha, and Matajente, extending a
league in length, and a quarter in breadth. About five hundred and
fifty eight mines are found here, and al! are more or less productive.
tn Caya, are many rich mines belonging to Vivas and others; in Yan-
achanca, are found those of Rosarios, Animus, Jesus Nazarene, San
Judas, &c. belonging to the miners Vivas and Maturna. It is affirm-
ed, and not without foundation either, notwithstanding the short time
the machine was at work there, that this place is richer than all the
others put together, but now there is not a particle of metal extract-
ed, because it must be worked under water. Matajente was once
the richest pomt of the chain, and the excavation as well as many
other points exposed to view, confirms it. It was rumed by af ac-
cident, by which three hundred workmen were buried. If the ex-
eavation of Yanachanca, as well as that of Avellafuerte, were brought
to this pomt, very rich returns of metals would be obtained, which
would repay all labor and expense. All the mmes of Yaricoche are
very badly wrought; no art or economy is observed in the caverns;
the lives of the men are exposed, the moment they set their feet on
the threshold of an aperture in one of these mmes; the method they
have observed and still pursue, is to open upon an eastern exposure,
some air holes of various dimensions, all inclmed according to cir-
cumstances. ‘Then they pursue the stratum, making tubes of the
space ; in others they make spacious arches, without leaving buttresses
or bridges, as in the mine of St. Catalina and ‘Trinidad. ‘The system
of galleries in a series, and the communication from one to another by
the circulation of the air, and facility of the transportation of the min-
erals is not carried on in perfection, and they only make wells with
the same irregularity which they practice in making the air holes.
They set the laborers to work without any distinction, not pursuing
ihe more easy and economical method practised in Huaypacha, and
in the mine of Victorias, in the department of Puno. ‘The air holes
are so badly made, that there are dangerous intervals for want of
steps to place the foot, and also for being ill secured by planks. As.
the wood is very dear, they make continual use of the limestone
Geological Prodromus. 63
found near, to fortify the spaces which need it ; when there is a pro-
portion of enmaderar, they do this, and then the pieces cut off are
called tanecas, which last in proportion to the quality of the wood, and
to the weight they have to sustain. ‘The excavations of St. Judas
_and Yanacantha, are lined with tincas. ‘The tree of queiua, which
grows in the Cordilleras, lasts longest, and I have seen pieces pulled
out of old mines perfectly entire.* The mines of St. Cataline, Great
Mine, Trinidad, St. Augustin and St. Rite, which are below the line,
have pumps, worked by the Indians, twelve inches in diameter, set-
iled in square calderas, well lined, from eight to ten yards deep; in
each one of them are two pumps, but in the first three mines are
three stocks which throw from the first caldera, to the second, and
this to the lime; from the bottom of this caldera to the second, and
this to the line; from the bottom of these calderas, they construct
pipes, to the north and south, with a certain inclination, to extract the
metals; and the space they leave is filled with stones and rubbish.
The workmen enter the mines by puntas, and are ten or twelve
hours, some pumping and others extracting the metal and sending it
to the place of deposit, which is nearer the entrance ; those in the
interior, rest three times in the space of half an hour, and this they
eall acullzo.
% % % * % & *
The sequel of the memoir, may be given in the next number.
Art. VI.—Geological Prodromus ; by Prof. A. Earon.
Ir having been announced in public journals, that Mr. Van Rens-
selaer had ordered an extension of his geological surveys, and Mr.
Cortlandt Van Rensselaer and myself having already travelled be-
tween two and three thousand miles, the present summer, in pursuit
of geological facts to fill up the chasms of former surveys, public cu-
viosity may be in some measure gratified with the following -—
* There is in the cabinet of Yale College, a piece of perfectly sound wood taken
from an old Roman work in a mine which was wrought more than foupieen hundred
years age» and the wood is supposed to be of that age.
64 Geological Prodromus.
I intend to demonstrate, by references to localities of easy access,
that,
ALL GEOLOGIAL STRATA ARE ARRANGED IN FIVE ANALAGOUS SE-
RIES; AND THAT EACH SERIES CONSISTS OF THREE FORMATIONS ;
viz. THE CARBONIFEROUS, QuARTZOSE, AND CaLCaREOUs.
APPLICATIONS.
FIRST SERIES.
Carbomferous formation.—Primitive slate rocks, as gneiss,
mica-slate, &c. contain plumbago ; often in large quantities; as in
Sturbridge, Mass. ; on Lake Champlain, &c.
2nd. Quartzose formation.—Granular quartz; as in the west part
of Massachusetts.
3d. Calcareous formation.—Granular limerock; as in the west
part of Massachusetts.
SECOND SERIES.
Carboniferous formation.—Argillite contains anthracite, pas-
sing into plumbago; as in Worcester, Mass., Providence and New-
port, Rhode Island ; Troy, New York.
2nd. Quartzose formation.—Finst graywacke, including the rub-
blestone or conglomerate; as in Rensselaer county; Shawingunk
Mt. in New York, &c.
3d. Calcareous formation.—Sparry limerock, calciferous sand-
rock, and metalliferous limerock ; as in Rensselaer, Albany, Colum-
bia, Herkimer, and Oneida counties; near the base of Catskill
Mountain, &c. This underlies the slate containing the Lehigh, or
Lackawannock coal in Pennsylvania. It is called the lower carbon-
iferous limerock by Conybeare, Bakewell, and others.
THIRD SERIES.
Ist. Carboniferous formation.—-Calciferous argillaceous slate ;
being the lower division of second graywacke. It embraces the Le-
high, or Lackawannock, coal range in Pennsylvania, and underlies
the conglomerate or millstone grit near Utica, is at the basis of Cats-
kill Mountam, &c.—Note. Bakewell quotes Farey’s name, lime-
stone shale, for this rock, because it always reposes on limestone.—
Note 2. Second graywacke contains tropical vegetable petrifactions,
which entitle it to a place in the secondary class; a fact not known
to me until this summer, (1829.)*
“In the lower secondary strata, the organic remains belong almost exclusively to
the vegetable kingdom, and are analogous to the native plants of warm tropical cli-
mates, See Silliman’s Bakewell, p. 109.
Geological Prodromus. 65
2nd. Quartzose formation.—Millstone grit, red sandstone or sa-
liferous rock, rubblestone, common graywacke; as near Utica, in
Catskill mountains, in the mountains of Pennsylvania over the Le-
high range of coal, &c.
3d. Calcareous formation.—Geodiferous and cornitiferous lime-
rock, as in Lockport, Black Rock, Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, un-
der the Tioga or Lycoming coal, top of the Helderberg Mountain in
Albany county, &c.—Note. Bakewell calls this the upper carbon-
iferous limestone.
FOURTH SERIES.
Ast. Carboniferous formation.—Pyritiferous slate. It embraces
the ‘Tioga, or Lycoming coal, in Pennsylvania. It forms the south
shore of Lake Erie, chief of the banks of Seneca and Cayuga
Lakes, the banks and bed, at the upper falls, on Genesee River, &c.
Kt is the pyritous shale of Whitby in England, or it might be called
the upper limestone shale of Farey.
2nd. Quartzose formation.—Pyritiferous grit, conglomerate or
rubblestone, ferruginous sandstone, and coarse graywacke ; as on the
Genesee River, near the line between New York and Pennsylva-
nia, &c.
3d. Calcareous formation.—The oolite lately discovered in large
fields in Ohio.—Note. The chalk of Europe belongs to this for-
mation.
FIFTH SERIES.
Ist. Carboniferous formation—Plastic clay and marly clay,
(London clay.) They embrace the lignite, or wood coal of New
Jersey, in a regular stratum of great extent; as may be seen in the
south bank of the bay of Amboy, from Middletown Point to the
Cheesequake Creek.
2nd. Quaritzose formation.--Marine sand, (or Bagshot sand,) which
overlays the marly clay in almost every part of North American.
3d. Calcareous formation.—Shell-marl. ‘This is justly entitled
to a place among the general strata; for it is almost universally de-
posited in the bottom grounds of both continents. We find it in the
elevated bottom grounds of the primitive Green Mountains, as well
as in the vast low grounds and swamps of the western secondary class.
SUBORDINATE SERIES.
Some of the general series embrace subordinate ones, which are
of an extent more or less limited. ‘The formations of subordinate
Vor. XVIL—No. 1. 9
Z
66 Geological Prodromus.
series are always analogous to the general series, excepting that they
do not embrace carboniferous minerals.
Example 1st. The third series embraces a subordinate series, about
two hundred and forty miles long, and twenty miles wide; which
runs along the south side of Lake Ontario, commencing near Little
Falls. It is interposed between the divisions of the quartzose forma-
tions of the series; to wit, the saliferous rock and shell grit.
1. Carboniferous formation. Ferriferous. slate.
2. Quartzose formation. Ferriferous sandrock.
3. Calcareous formation. Lias, embracing the gypsum.
Example 2nd. 'The first series embraces a subordinate series near
the west line of Massachusetts. It is interposed between the calca-
reous formation of the first, and the carboniferous formation of the
second, series. ‘
1. Carboniferous formation.—Gneiss, and talcose slate ; as all the
eastern part of Saddle Mountain near Williams College.
2. Quartzose formation.—Granular quartz ; as the west part of
Saddle Mountain, &c.
3. Calcareous formation.—Granular limerock; as all the valley
near the west line of Massachusetts.
' CARBONIFEROUS ASSOCIATES.
Ores of iron and manganese are generally associated with the car-
boniferous formations.
First Series.
Protoxide of iron, and peroxide of manganese are found in and
near the Green Mountain and Champlain range. Hematitie iron
ore, and peroxide of manganese are found in the subordinates of the
first series; as in Salisbury, Con. and Bennington, Vt.
Second Series.
Hematitic iron ore of the Elba variety, and argillaceous manganese,
are found in earboniferous slate of this series, in Rensselaer and Co-
lumbia counties, New York.
Third Series.
Lenticular iron ore is found in the subordinates of this series, and
argillaceous manganese in the earboniferous slate; as the iron in all
the subordinate range, and the manganese in Blenheim, New York.
Fourth Series.
Reniform argillaceous iron ore is found accompanying all the Tioga
or Lycoming coal; and small quantities of argillaceous manganese.
Geological Prodromus. 67
Fifth Series.
Bog ore and iron stone are found with the lignite coal of New Jer-
sey—also in the same geological association from Fort Ann to Cox-
sackie, a distance of eighty miles on the west side of Hudson River.
{ intend to demonstrate, that THE DETRITUS OF NEW JERSEY, EM-
BRACING THE MARLE, WHICH CONTAINS THOSE REMARKABLE FOSSIL
RELICS, IS ANTEDILUVIAL, OR THE GENUINE TERTIARY FORMATION.
Between. South Amboy and the Neversink River, a distance of
about twenty miles, the marine sand (Bagshot sand) reposing on the
marly clay (London clay) is continuous, excepting some narrow
channels and very limited denudations. ‘The plastic clay appears
beneath, the marly above and near the level of the bay, for a dis-
tance of about three miles from South Amboy. It there seems to
sink beneath the bay, leaving the bank of marly clay and marine
sand in view.
Ferruginous conglomerate and ironstone, are embraced in the
marly clay, in one continuous stratum, varying in thickness, through-
out the whole distance from South Amboy to the Neversink. Be-
tween the Cheesequake and Matavan rivers, a stratum of lignite or
wood-coal, consisting of charred caudine plants, above and in connec-
tion with the ferruginous conglomerate and ironstone, is entitled to a
visit from every American geologist. It consists, mostly, of charred
wood of a large size, every where mineralized with iron pyrites. It
may be seen in one uninterrupted stratum, three or four miles in ex-
tent. ‘Trunks of trees, more than twelve inches in diameter, may
be obtained here, most perfectly charred, and mineralized with the
pyrites. :
Between the Matavan River (called Middletown Point River) and
the Neversink, very interesting beds of marle are embraced in the
marly clay. Perhaps it is more correct to say, that the marly
clay passes into this marle. As these beds have been described un-
der the title of marl pits, in several public journals, I will merely
state, that they are rich in fossil mineralized relics, perhaps without a
parallel. The bones, shells, &c. embraced in them, are well pre-
served, by being mineralized with hydrate cf iron, &c.
Tintend to shew, that rae Lenicn or LackawaNnock COAL, OF
THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, IS EMBRACED IN THE SECOND GRAY-
WACKE, AND BELONGS TO THE SECONDARY CLASS.
I placed this rock in the transition class, but it must be removed
to the lower secondary; because petrifactions, peculiar to the sec-
68 Geological Prodromus.
ondary class, are found in it. See note, page 64. [ think that the
vegetable origin of this coal is very manifest. If we suppose a vast
coal pit, consisting of an immense broken down forest of palm trees,
with an undergrowth of reeds, ferns and coarse grass, deeply cover-
ed with earth, and highly, but unequally, heated with under flues, so
that some parts would be slightly charred, leaving the entire forms of
the vegetables charred, other parts heated to fusion, we should have
exact prototypes for these coal beds.
The thin layers of coal in Catskill Mountain, are in the same con-
tinued stratum with the Lackawannock coal.
J think I have facts sufficient to prove, that THe T1oGa coaL ts
EMBRACED IN THE THIRD GRAYWACKE, OR UPPER SECONDARY of
Bakewell and others. It consists chiefly of charred palms, and reeds
also, where the charring process has been imperfect; but ferns seem
to be considerably abundant also. Would it be extravagant to say,
that this district was once covered with vegetables of the culmiferous
and stiped kinds, before a cauline plant was created? Also that they
were swept from the high grounds into the valley and covered deeply
with earth? That great and long continued heat was applied, by
which these vegetables were charred ?
The thin layers of coal at Ithaca, Seneca Lake and Lake Erie.
are in this same stratum.
NOTICES.
T have now personally examined and compared the geological
strata of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, under the
direction and at the expense of Mr. Van Rensselaer. I have receiv-
ed complete suites of specimens, from Dr. Z. Pitcher, Mr. R. Peter,
and others, exhibiting the entire geology of the circuits of Lakes Su-
perior, Michigan, Huron, and of the states of Ohio and Illinois. The
territory which I have personally exammed and reviewed, mostly
several times, is more than double that of all Great Britain. And I
have before me specimens illustrative of more American territory,
than all Great Britain, Ireland, France and Switzerland. I have free
access also to specimens illustrative of the general geology of Europe.
and the minute geology of some of the most important localities.
As soon as time will permit, I shall endeavor to discharge my duty
to Mr. Van Rensselaer, and to the public, by condensing, in as small
a compass as possible, every thmg of importance which has fallen
Solution of a Problem in Fluxions. 69
under my notice, relating to the mineralogical resources of this dis-
trict, accompanied by a geological map of the state of New York.
A. E.
Rensselaer School, Troy, July 28, 1829.
N.B. Any statement of facts, calculated to explain the geology of
any part of North America, addressed to Mr. Cortlandt Van Rensse-
laer, of Albany, will be thankfully received. But it must be under-
stood, that we may take the liberty to express the subject matters of
such communications in our own condensed manner; and that we
introduce and leave out, according to the plan of the proposed geo-
logical report and map.
Arr. VIL—Solution of a Problem in Fluxions; by Prof. Tuxo-
DORE STRONG.
(Continued from Vol. XVI. p. 283.)
TO PROFESSOR SILLIMAN.
_ New Brunswick, July 29, 1829.
Dear Sir-—You will oblige me by inserting the following continua-
tion of my last paper in the next Journal. Yours respectfully,
T. Strone.
The same notation bemg retamed; I assume ——-=——>
dt? r
iy ee | VOCE
He Weode Tt oon ea av apnemmeoamee 1):
ses ea |
(b) becomes identically F=F, and a
dy — ydz
ae eo
Equations (7) show that the particle is not acted on by any force
except F’, in the direction r. Indeed (g) are the equations that
would result from the decomposition of a centripetal force, F, (act-
ing in the direction r,) in the directions of x, y, z, respectively. The
ady — yde zdxv— «dz zdy —ydz
di ie? ag eaearan re OIC) t
(A, B, C, being arbitrary constants;) .".Az+By —Cx=0, (1); the
equation of a plane passing through the centre of force; in which s
emp AG)
dt NG dt
integrals of (2) are
70 Solution of a Problem in Fluxions.
is wholly situated; (since w, y, z, are common tos and (/).) By as-
| ds
suming (J) for the plane of x, y, I have z=0.°.d=0, and a0 and
(C) does not exist: also (A), (B), become the same as in the last
Journal, (on the suppositions there made,) as they evidently ought to
be. Put rsin..)=p the perpendicular from the centre of force to
7
C ds
the tangent to s at the place of the particle; con a. the veloci-
ty; V’= the velocity of a particle describing a circle, about the same
centre of force, at the distance 7; D= the distance fallen through
to acquire V from rest, by a particle, when continually acted on by
d:
a constant force, equal to F, (at the distance r Daa half the
chord of the equicurve circle, with s at the place of the particle,
estimated on 7. It is evident that (1) can be changed to
Cr: uu o af 1 TONS V2 dp V2
me r? sin. wane) vio! \p?) pidr ~ pdr ha
Ook: dr
C” C’2 weve V2
eR cane won y (L); and that (H) can be
C2 yr? dv? +dr2 ds? VdV
changed to — —3-d c ey Ae )=- 7) Se ayn (M);
ae Te 2dr
.WdV+Fdr=0 (N). ,
If Fdr is integrable, I may change d into 6, and (N) becomes
VoV-+Fdr=0 (0); (0 being the characteristic of variations.) 1
shall suppose that Fdr is mtegrable; that is, that ° is constant, or a
function of 7 only; and shall put its integral SFdr=or. ‘Then the
integral of (N) is V? =D — 2er (1); (D= const.), (1) corrected is
V2 are ae r—or) (2); VW”, o’r, being the values of V, or, at
some given point of s.
From (2) it appears that V denantl on V”, o’r, or; suppose then
two spherical surfaces to be described from the centre of force (as
centre) through the distances corresponding to 9/7, 97; then it is evi-
dent that if the particle passes through the first of these surfaces (in
any point whatever) with the velocity V”, it will always arrive at the
second with the same velocity, V, and that in whatever point it may
meet it, and whether it moves in a straight line, a curve, or curved
surface ; provided the curvature be continued, so that the direction
Solution of a Problem in Fluzxions. 71
of the motion changes by insensible degrees, and that there is no fric-
tion; also the law of force is supposed to be the same in all these
cases. (Prin. b. I. sec. viii. prop. 40.) I will now show the use of
the different forms of F, as given in(L), by a few examples. By
/2
ieee ie Iisa ie 3
the torm ~ pe dis It appears that F is aS dr ot ailterent points
of the described curve. No Fluxions, art. 206.) Also by
Cee Fi We Prin. b. I.
awe > RR? E's as “3 oF as pR- (Prin. sec. li. prop. 6.
Vidp V" d.
cor’s 2, 3.) The form F= Loa ives V; We: RY Mel
pdr 5 r
Near ants
Rap sives
ewan
r?R sin. 2)
furnishes a very simple solution of prob. 2. prop. 7. sec. a. b. 1. Prin.
: dp
; Vi (3); (Vince’s Fluxions, art. 208) and F=
R
D=>5 (4); (Vince’s do. art.209.) The form F=
VP
(See Newton’s figure.) For R=-3> r=SP, sin.}=sin. SPY=
ua VP
=sin. PAV (Eue. 3. 32.) AV’ substitute these values and reject
keith A 1
the invariable quantities 2C*, AV?, and there results F as SP? xPV=’
the same that Newton has found. ‘The same form does also enable
me to demonstrate very easily the second and third corollaries to the .
same proposition. (See Newton’s fig.) I shall suppose F to denote
the force to the centre S; F’ the force to the centre R. Then I
i C”2 C”2
have the equations Deena, ES STL ge Oa (Caer Lites cil
being the same for R, as C’, 7, R, | respectively for S.) Hence Ihave
nee C” ; Cie OTE: em sin. 2b |
"7? R sin. 2b * r/?R’ sin. an R/ * sin. 2”
PV Py
but Le toe > R/=-5> r=SP, 7’ =RP, L=SPG=T (Euc. 3. 32.);
and /= oe caeplenen of V (Euc. 3. 32); .". sin. L=sin. T and
Fee ak eee ae oe sn. T PV ie id ttle
sin. J/=sin. V . Sea a BY. (by trig.); substitute these
values and there results F : FY::C/? x RP? XSP : C’? XSG? (5)
SP2xPV:
(since ope = 86" by the sim. tr’s TPV, SPG;) hence if
72 Solution of a Problem in Hluxions.
C’=C” or the areas described in equal times by the radii vectores
are equal, (which is virtually Newton’s supposition,) I have
F; F’::RP? xSP: SG* (6) the same as Newton has found.
FxSG:; a F.XSGeio
Hence I have F’= =RP2 xSP F’ is as RP? xSp’ if then the law
of variation of F is known that of FY’ is found. If C’ is not equal to
a eat ares F xSG3 Pp FxSG:
ave by (5) FY=G@az X Rpz- SP 2 iS 8S Ppa. xSP (re-
jecting the invariable quantities C’, C’: they being the same at every
point of the described curve,) the same result as by Newton’s suppo-
sition, that C/=C” as it evidently ought tobe. For it is not the ab-
solute value of F’ that we seek, but its law of variation at different
points of the described curve; which will evidently be the same
whatever may be the time of describing C’”: but by supposing C”=C’
(as Newton does) we determine the law of variation of F’ in a very
12
simple and elegant manner. Again the form F= Sa ses),
dr
applies very readily to the case of the particle describing an ellipse
about a centre of force at the focus. For let a, 6, respectively de-
2
b
note the greater and lesser semiaxes; — =p’ the semiparameter ;
-.b2?=ap’. Then since r= the distance of the particle to the
centre of force, 2a —7 equals its distance to the other focus, (Vince’s
Conic Sections, Ellipse, prop. 1.); also 7, 2a —7r, make equal angles
with the tangent at the place of the particle (Vince’s Conic Sections,
prop. 3. cor. 2.) .°.(2a—r) sm. p=p” the perpendicular from the
other focus to the tangent; but rsin. b=p that from the centre of
force to the tangent; .:.(2ar—r?) sin. ?.)=pp”=6? ere s Con.
1 2
Sec. prop. 6.) =ap’. Hence I have Peat oa oe an eM ); if in
1 1 2
(7) I omit ap! it becomes Pan. Dut aa —, (8); which is the case of
the particle moving in a parabola; the centre of force being at the
d UWE 1
focus, p’ being the parameter of its axis; if I change the sign of ae
1 2 a
in (7) it becomes —— ein a a ca op (9); this applies to the case
of the particle ae an hyperbola; the centre of force being
Solution of a Problem in Fluxions. ia
at its focus, and p’= the parameter of its axis. Now as in (7) and
1
(9) a is constant, and =O in (8), it is evident that I shall have
Cc” ] C2 9) C” i
yp ae Se ea ||) Se for the form of F in
2 “r2 sm. 2b 2 rp’ r?p
dr
each of these cases; .*. in each of these curves the law of force to
1
the focus is F is as —> (since C’, p’ are invariable in each of them) ;
re jules 3
2
if in (9) I change the sign of —> I have the case of the particle
ui
moving in an hyperbola, and acted on by a central force in the focus
a7
C 1
of the opposite hyperbola, and I have F= — ph -. Fisas ——5> the
sign minus shows the force to be repulsive. (See Prin. b. I. sec. iii.
prop.’s 11, 12, 13.) The same results may be found after the man-
ner of La Place, (Mec. Cel. Vol. I. p. 114,) by using the polar
equation of the ellipse and transforming it into the equations of the
parabola and hyperbola as he has done. As the polar equation of
the ellipse is not usually given in treatises on the conic sections; 1
will conclude this communication by the following investigation of it.
Put 2C= the distance of the foci; 2a= the sum of the lines from
the foci to any point in the curve = the transverse axis; r= one of
these lines; then 2a -r= the other; v—w= the supplement of the
angle contained by r and 2C. Then by a known theorem (which is
easily derived from Euc. 2. 13.) in trigonometry, I have (2a —- r)? =
=r? +4C?+4Cr cos. (v—s) (10); or by reduction a? — C? =ar-+-
a? —C? «(1 )
+Crcos.(v-a); .°. emule. (i eels Aaah =
a(1 —e?)
1+ecos. (v =)
C
(11) (3 (11) is the same equation that La
: C
Place has given at the place cited above; aq © being the eccentri-
city divided by half the greater axis; also a(1—e?)= the semipa-
rameter.
Vou. XVII.—No. J. 10
74 Fundamental Principle of the Higher Calculus
Arr. VIUI.—The Fundamental Principle of the Higher Caletilius
demonstrated by the method of Indeterminates.
(Communicated by Mr. Stites FRENCH.)
Tue following extracts from a recent commentary on Newton’s
Principia,* contain a view of the principle presented in Lemma I.
Book I., which may interest mathematical readers.
“The first section of the Principia,” the commentator remarks,
‘“‘comprehends the substance of the method of Exhaustions of the
Ancients, and also of the Modern Theories, variously denominated
Fluxions, Differential Calculus, Calculus of Derivations, Functions,
&e. &c. Like them it treats of the relations which indefinite quan-
tities bear to one another, and conducts in general by a nearer route
to precisely the same results.”
On the 55th page of the commentary, he gives an account of the
steps, by which he was led to a theory of these quantities, which he
considers as “divested of all the metaphysical obscurities and incon-
sistencies, which render the methods above enumerated so objection-
able as to their logic.”
“Having engaged,” says he, “to write a Commentary upon the
Principia, we naturally sought to be satisfied as to the correctness of
the method of Prime and Ultimate Ratios. ‘The more we endeav-
ored to remove objections, the more they continually presented them-
selves; so that after spending many months in the fruitless attempt,
we had nearly abandoned the work altogether; when suddenly, in
examining the method of Indeterminate Coefficients in Dr. Wood’s
Algebra, it occurred that the aggregates of the coefficients of the like
powers of the indefinite variable, must be separately equal to zero,
not because the variable might be assumed equal to zero, (which it
never is, although it is capable of indefinite dimimution,) but because
of the different powers being essentially different from, and forming
no part of one another.
‘From this a train of reflections followed, relative to the treat-
ment of homogeneous definite quantities in other branches of Alge-
* when y ts a function of x.
Cx?4Cxy+C”y?=0
&c. = 0
For, let y = zx, then substituting
A+x(B+B’z)+x?7(C+C2z2+4+C’z?)
+x?(D+D’/24+ D2? +4+D”2z?) + &c. =0
Hence,
A=0,B+ B/z=0,C+C z+ C”z? =0, &c.
and substituting : for z and reducing we get
OS
A=0, Bx + B’/y = 0, &c.
‘In the same manner, if we have an equation involving three or
more indefinites, it may be shown that the aggregates of the homo-
geneous terms must each equal zero.”
Some of the more obvious applications of this principle will be
seen in the following extracts.
Lemna I.
“QuvanTITIES AND THE Ratios or Quantitinrs.—The truth
of the Lemma does not depend upon the species of quantities, but
upon their conformity with the following conditions, viz.
“That they tend continually to equality, and approach nearer to
each other than by any given difference.
“Finite Time.—Newton obviously introduces the idea of time in
this enunciation, to show illustratively that he supposes the quantities
to converge continually to equality, without ever actually reaching or
passing that state; and since to fix such an idea, he says, ‘ before
the end of that time,” it was moreover -necessary to consider the
time Finite. Hence our author would avoid the charge of “ Fallacia
Suppositionis,” or of shifting the hypothesis.” For it is contended
that if you frame certain relations between actual quantities, and af-
terwards deduce conclusions from such relations on the supposition
of the quantities having vanished, such conclusions are illogically de-
duced, and ought no more to subsist than the quantities themselves.
78 Fundamental Principle of the Higher Calculus
‘In the Scholium at the end of this Section he is more explicit.
He says, The ultimate Ratios, in which quantities vanish, are not in
reality the Ratios of Ulimate quantities; but the Limits to which
the Ratios of quantities continually decreasing always approach ;
which they never can pass beyond or arrive at, unless the quantities
are continually and indefinitely diminished. After all, however,
neither our author nor any of his commentators, though much has
been advanced upon the subject, has obviated this objection. Bishop
Berkeley’s ingenious criticisms in the Analyst remain to this day un-
answered. He therein facetiously denominates the results, obtamed
from the supposition that the quantities, before considered finite and
real, have vanished, the “ Ghosts of Departed Quantities ;” and it
must be admitted there is reason as well as wit in the appellation.
The fact is, Newton himself, if we may judge from his own words
in the above cited Scholium, where he says, “If two quantities,
whose DIFFERENCE IS GIVEN are augmented continually, them Ulti-
mate Ratio will be a Ratio of Equality,” had no knowledge of the
true nature of his Method of Prime and Ultimate Ratios. If there
be meaning in words, he plainly supposes in this passage, a mere
approximation to be the same with an Ultimate Ratio. He loses
sight of the condition expressed in Lemma I. namely, that the quan-
tities tend to equality nearer than by any assignable difference, by
supposing the difference of the quantities continually augmented to
be given, or always the same. In this sense the whole earth, com-
pared with the whole earth minus a grain of sand, would constitute
an Ultimate Ratio of equality; whereas so long as any, the minutest
. difference exists between two quantities, they cannot be said to be
more than nearly equal. But it is now to be shown, that
“Tf two quantities tend continually to equality, and approach to
one another nearer than by any assignable difference, their Ratio is
ULTIMATELY @ Ratio of aBsoLuTE equality. Let L, L’ denote the
Limits, whatever they are, towards which the quantities L+-1, L/--l’
continually converge, and suppose their difference, in any state of the
convergence, to be D. ‘Then ce
L+1-L’-l’=D,
or L—-L/+1—l’ —D=0,
and since L, L’ are fixed and definite, and-l, ’, D always variable,
the former are independent of the latter, and we have by the funda-
mental principle
L
I, — L’=0, or 1a sae accurately. Q.e.d.
demonstrated by the method of Indeterminates. 79
“This way of considermg the question, it is presumed, will be
deemed free from every objection. The principle upon which it
rests depending upon the nature of the variable quantities, and not
upon their evanescence, (as it is equally true even for constant quan-
tities provided they be of different natures,) it is hoped we have at
Jength hit upon the true and logical method of expounding the doc-
trine of Prime and Ultimate Ratios, or of Fluxions, or of the Dif-
Ferential Calculus, &c.”
“This general principle, which is that of Indeterminate Co-
efficients legitimately established and generalized, conducts us by a
near route to the Indefinite Differences of functions of one or MORE
variables.
“To find the Indefinite Difference of any function of x.
“Let u =fx denote the function.
“Then du and dx bemg the indefinite differences of the function
and of x itself, we have
u+du=f(x+dx)
Assume
f(x+dx)=A+Bdx+Cdx?+&c.
A, B, &c. being independent of dx or definite quantities involving x
and constants; then
utdu=A+Bdx+Cdx?2-+ &c.
and by the fundamental principle we have
== Ae Gur =v) 5 axe
Hence then this general rule,
“The INDEFINITE DIFFERENCE of any function of x,fx, ts the
second term im the development of f(x + dx) according to the in-
creasing powers of dx.
Ex. Let u =x". Then it may easily be shown independently of
the Binomial Theorem that
(sch dah em ex ta dss Bd xq?
so Cl 7) Sain eae eel
“To find the indefinite difference of the product of two variables.
jet w— avo) ihien
u+du=(x+dx).(y+dy)=xy+xdy+ydx+dxdy
-~du=xdy+ydx+tdxdy
and by the principle, or directly from the homogeneity of the quanti-
ties, we have
du=xdy+ydx.”
80 Fundamental Principle of the Higher Calculus, &§c.
The limits of this article will not permit us to exhibit the manner in
which this principle of homogenezty, is applied to finding the Indefi-
nite Differences or Differentials of Complex Algebraic, or of Trans-
cendental Functions. The reader, we think, will easily perceive the
great clearness which must result from its use in every process in-
volving the consideration of the limiting ratios of quantities.
How far the praise of being the original discoverer of the relations
of this principle to the purposes of the Higher Calculus, is due to
Mr. Wright, we shall not attempt to decide. We would, however,
remark that the views of Carnot in his notice of the method of Inde-
terminates of Descartes,* though not fully developed or given in the
appropriate notation, seem in some measure to have anticipated those
above expressed. After establishing the fundamental principle of that
method by the same considerations as are employed by Mr. Wright,
Carnot says “let there be an equation of only two terms A + Bx = 0,
in which the first term is constant and the second susceptible of being
rendered as small as we please: this equation cannot subsist unless
the terms A and B x are each, separately, equal to zero. We may
lay it down then as a general principle, and as an immediate corollary
of the method of Indeterminates, that of the sum or difference of two
pretended quantities is equal to zero, and if one of the two may be sup-
posed as small as we please, while the other contains nothing arbitrary,
these two pretended quantities will be each separately equal to zero.
“This principle alone is sufficient to resolve by common algebra all
questions within the province of the infinitesimal analysis. The res-
pective processes of the two methods, simplified as they may be, are
absolutely the same.” And again, in conclusion, after applying it to
some examples, ‘We thus see that the method of Indeterminates
furnishes a rigorous demonstration of the infinitesimal calculus. It
were to be desired, perhaps, that this course had been pursued in
arriving at the differential and integral calculus; it would have been
as natural as that which was taken and would have prevented all
difficulties.”
a —
*<* Reflexions sur la métaphysique du calcul infinitésimal.” Seconde édition,
page 150.
Mineral Fusible Cement. 81
| Arr. [X.—Notice of the Mineral Fusible Cement of H. Fitz Lowitz.
We have received from a respected correspondent, the following
account of a composition whose properties appear, from the state-
ment, to be sufficiently important to entitle it to a place in this Jour-
nal. ‘The account of the properties has been already printed ; but
that of the use, tools, &c. has been communicated for this Journal in
a lithographic copy.
In announcing the Mineral Fusible Cement for sale in England, it
is right to state that it has been for some years in use on the Conti-
nent; particularly in Sweden and Denmark, whose engineers, after
repeated trials, recommended it to their respective governments.
The Honorable Board of Ordnance in England, directed various
trials of it to be made at the King’s Mews, Pall Mall East, in August
last; in the presence of several officers of the Royal Engineers, and
other scientific gentlemen. ‘The experiments were conducted under
Captain Smith of the Royal Engineers; who was of opinion after
repeated trials, that it was wmpervious to water, and that its adhesive
qualities were greater than any cement he had ever known.
We shall only cite a few of the numerous trials made at the King’s
Mews, to shew its resistance to water and damp, and its powers of
adhesion. Ist. A case of wood was united with the cement only,
and lined with it; and in less than half an hour filled with water ; it
was perfectly tight. 2d. To shew its adhesive qualities, two plates
of tron, four inches square, with a hook in each, were united with the
cement by a seam or joint of one eighth of an inch; on being sus-
pended, it bore a weight of upwards of eight hundred pounds before
they separated. 3d. The flat side of a brick was united to an up-
right board by this cement, another to that, and so on, until the twen-
teth brick was attached; when one of the bricks split, but none of
the joints gave way. ‘This experiment was repeated frequently, but
in every instance the cement proved stronger than the bricks. 4th.
A piece of tron, with a hook at the upper end and shank three inches
long, was inserted ina hole in a block of granite, and there fixed
with this cement instead of lead; the block of granite was attached
by the cement to another of the same size, weighing together about
three hundred pounds; the two were suspended by the hook, and
weights to the extent of three hundred pounds were placed on the
upper stone, but nothing gave way: the iron was not dovetailed at
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. 11
82 Mineral Fusible Cement.
the bottom, and this weight (of upwards of six hundred pounds) was |
supported entirely by ie adhesion of the cement to the iron plug
and the granite.
Some “Gander experiments were made at the Tower in December
last, under the direction of Mr. Wright, the clerk of the works;
when one bushel of dry sand was found to weigh one hundred and
thirty pounds, and one bushel of Mineral Cement in a solid body
one hundred and fourteen pounds. These experiments were made
with a composition of two hundred and twenty eight pounds of sand
and one hundred and fourteen pounds of cement, mixed together by
melting; and 1st. Two bricks were united by a jot of one fourth
of an inch with this gauged cement, and suspended by a chain which
bore a weight of one thousand three hundred and forty four pounds,
when one of the bricks split; but the joint, with about one fourth of
an inch of the brick attached to it, remained perfect. 2d. Bricks
were united with this gauged cement, in the same manner as descri-
bed in experiment No. 3 at the King’s Mews, and extended to ergh-
teen jomts, when the second brick broke.
The cement being thus properly guaged, will unite bricks so fumly,
that when coated ah a mixture of three fourths sand and one fourth
cement, they will form a solid body superior in strength and quality
to sandstone ; and applicable to similar purposes. From these ex-
periments it is evident that the Mimeral Fusible Cement possesses
two invaluable properties, viz. resistance to water and damp, and
powerlul adhesiveness. Of the latter property we may observe, that
wood may be united to wood, iron, stone, brick, tiles or slate; and
any of these bodies to each other, indiscriminately ; by means of this
cement. [It may be added that it is very rare for one cement to
suit so many objects. |
It is difficult to poit out all the uses to which this valuable cement
may be applied. Among the most prominent may be named, the
formation and lining of tanks or cisterns, the lining of damp rooms or
cellars, coating the outside of houses, which would effectually keep
out damp—for seek on 1 the roofs of houses, instead of that expen-
sive article, s or minarets of churches—lght-
houses, where the firmest union of parts is required—the abutments
of a series of arches—fastening iron railings in stone copings—pre-
serving wood in damp foundations, by coating it with cement—in
jointing stone copings, rendering the use of lead or iron cramps wn-~
necessary—lining the inside of churches, to preserve them from
Mineral Fusible Cement. 83
damp—and the inside of boxes for packing merchandize which re-
quires to be preserved from sea damp—and uniting iron pipes either
for water or gas, more effectually than by lead or any other substance ;
and for which purposes a mixture composed of two parts of dry sand
with one part of Mineral Cement, may be applied with great advan-
tage and economy. It is also applicable in its pure state for coating
the bottoms of canal boats instead of copper.
The Mineral Fusible Cement is prepared and sold in casks or pack-
ages of various sizes, accompanied by proper directions for its use.
London, January 1, 1829.
N.B. When a parcel of this cement is sent for, an account of the
mode of using it, is added; and a set of the implements necessary
(which are cheap,) may be got as patterns for making more.
It is known, that the Duke of Wellington, who has been at the
head of the English Board of Ordnance, and Mr. Nash, the archi-
tect of the king of England, are in favor of this cement.
Directions for its use; tools, &c. requisite.
To be heated in an iron kettle or pot, on either a coal or coke fire,
to the temperature for melting lead, when used either in its pure state
or gauged.
This cement may be gauged with dry sharp sand, in any propor-
tion as required, not exceeding three fourths sand to one fourth of
cement, under any circumstance ; such gauging bemg by weight, and
not in bulk or measurement; taking care to well mix the same while
heating.
Such materials and parts as are intended to be used with, or work-
ed upon by this cement, must be quite dry, or no adhesion thereto
will take place.
When the cement in the small kettle becomes too cold for use, it
may be remelted, without its strength or virtue being deteriorated.
The inside of tanks or cisterns may be rendered or lined with this
cement, and made perfectly water proof, with a thickness of one
fourth of an inch, (instead of three fourths as with other cements,)
when gauged with an equal proportion of sand; such tanks or cis-
terns if made of brickwork being built with or set in this cement;
thereby making close joints; but if of wood, slate, iron, or other sub-
stances, they will only require jointing therewith.
/
84
Mineral Fusible Cement.
slain
Sse
IN
Sane
| :
\
ist
tor.
j iC NAV
yy)
(|
No dimensions are given here, but it is easy to get aset of these articles from England with the cement, which may serve as patterns.
Mineral Fusible Cement. 85.
A. Tron kettle or pot, for melting, on either a coal or coke fire.
B. Ladle for taking out the cement, and other purposes.
C. Small kettle to contain so much cement from the large kettle A,
as may be used in twelve minutes.
D. Fine wire brush for using the cement in a pure state, when
coating or linmg tanks, bottoms of boats, &c.
E. Roller to be used for making fair surfaces.
F. Machine used when doing horizontal work, (such as floors, &c.)
and followed by the roller E, to make the fair surface.*
G. An iron for remedying irregularities of surface of new work or
filling in and making good to settlements straight joints and other simi-
lar purposes. |
H. A vessel to be used for filling in joints, and difficult parts.
N. B.—The common bricklayer’s trowel, can be used when the
cement is guaged with sand; but when used in its pure state for
building brickwork, the best mode is to dipt the bricks into the kettle ;
as by so doing, the whole surface will be covered, and yet nothing
wasted.
Orders to be given to the agents.—Mr. J. B. Shepherd, surveyor,
28 Prince’s St. Bank, London; Mr. H. Gardiner, at Messrs. G.
Barclay, & Co. 17 Goree Piazzas, Liverpool, where specimens may
be seen.
* [tis supposed that the part of F marked (a) ishollow; and receiving the cement in
a melted state, lets it pass out at a slit at its upper termination in so thin a body, as to
spread it well to the depth of one fourth of an inch. The vessel is to be tilted in this
case, by means of the projection beiow at (6). If stiffened by cooling, the cement
is easily warmed again.
+ The dipping, itis presumed, need be applied only to the sides of the bricks, or at
feast not to their faces, unless the bricks be porous.
86 Inquiries into the Principles of Laqud Attraction.
Art. X.—Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction ; by
Dr. Horatio G. Hoven, of Martinsburgh, N. Y.
TO PROFESSOR SILLIMAN,
Sin—lr you think the following worthy of a place in the Ameri-
can Journal of Science and Arts, by giving it an insertion, you will
oblige your obedient servant, Horatio G. Hove.
New Haven, August 31, 1829.
Having never seen on record, any account that explains in a satis-
factory manner, the true principles of attraction by which liquids are
governed, I have thought it proper to communicate some experi-
ments and observations on the subject.
My attention was first directed to this subject from some unsuc-
cessful attempts to cause a small piece of light wood of a cylindrical |
form, to rest on water at the centre of a small cup, where each end
of the wood extended within about an inch of the sides of the cup.
The wood, when left to rest at the centre, constantly avoided it, and
was stationary only at the sides of the cup. (See Fig. 3.)
My inquiry was next directed to the cause that produced this un-
expected movement of the wood. I soon perceived an elevation of
the liquid at the sides, both of the cup and wood, and these elevations
of the liquid appeared to be, in some mysterious manner, the cause
that produced this effect.
Soon after this experiment, another, of quite a different character,
was presented to my view. A thin scale of slatestone was carefully
laid on water and it floated; I soon noticed a depression of water
around the stone, and concluded that as much water above the stone
was displaced, as was equal to the difference of their specific gravi-
ties, and that by this means it floated.
Not long after witnessmg this experiment, I made another obser-
vation of a similar kind, but still more remarkable. On presenting a
pin to a small globule of mercury, it adhered to it, and I soon after-
wards applied a globule of this metal to water in a small cup. ‘The
globule, when laid on the water, separated from the pin and disap-
peared ; but after repeating the experiment two or three times, with
similar results, I was surprized to find the globules floating on the
water. I then presented a pin to one of these globules, and as soon
as the pin touched the water, the globule suddenly darted from it,
with a velocity that seemed the effect of a strong impulse. (See
Inquiries into the Principles of Laquid Attraction. 87
fig. 4.) Two of these globules, when brought within the distance
of about an inch of each other, rushed together with a force which
was constantly increased as they approached. (See Fig. 5.) These
globules produce a very seusible depression of the liquid, and equally
avoid the pin and the sides of the cup.
These experiments were all made about twenty years since, and
from that period, my mquiries have been occasionally directed to the
discovery of those substances which are attended with an elevation
of the liquid around them, and to those which have a depression. In
my first experiments, vegetable leaves seemed to depress liquids,
and glass and metals to elevate them; but by giving them differ-
ent positions, and consequently different angles of inclination to
the surface, I discovered that all substances, when their angles of in-
clination are sufficiently acute, are attended with an elevation of the
liquid; and when sufficiently obtuse, with a depression. A green
vegetable leaf, placed perpendicularly m water, has on both sides a
depression, but give the leaf a suitable inclination to the surface, and
the liquid is elevated on the side of the acute angle, and depressed
on the side of the obtuse angle. |
A fine needle, also, carefully placed on water, is known to swim.
Now the convex surface of the needle, (the needle being considered
a cylinder,) presents no difference of angles to the surface of the
liquid, on its revolving. By the angles which the convex surface
makes with the surface of the liquid, is meant, the angles which are
made with the surface, by the tangents, drawn to all the different
points in a circular ring, taken about the needle, and produced to
meet the surface of the liquid. For it is well known that a line from
any point in this circular rig, makes the same angle with the surface
of the liquid, which the tangent of that point makes with the same
surface. ‘The same explanation is also applicable to the convex
surfaces of the globules of mercury. But when these globules, or
the needle, descend into the liquid, the tangents of these convex
surfaces, and consequently the convex surfaces themselves, make al!
the varieties of angles with the surface of -the liquid, first the acute,
and then the obtuse; and, as it has already been remarked, when
any substance makes angles with the surface sufficiently acute, it is
always attended with an elevation of the liquid ; and whenever suffi-
ciently obtuse, with a depression. This is the case in the descend-
ing of the needle ; and it is proved to be the case, by inserting the
point of a needle in a small piece of wood, of equal length with the
88 Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction.
needle, and three or four times its weight, and balancing it over the.
edge of a tumbler full of water. (See Fig. 15.) The acute angles
which the convex surface of the needle makes with the surface of
the liquid, elevate the liquid, and support the piece of wood over
the outside of the glass; and when the needle only is placed on
water, it descends into the water till the angles are sufficiently obtuse,
and then the liquid is depressed, and the needle swims. (See Fig. 16.)
The cause why these different angles elevate the surface of the
liquid, is this. The more acute the angles of inclination are, the
greater will be the extent of surface which the attracting substance
presents to the surface of the liquid; and the consequence is, that
the extent and force of the focal seat of attraction, from which the
elevating power acts, is mcreased. By “ focal seat of attraction,”
is meant, the line where the surface of the liquid comes in contact
with the surface of the attracting substance ; and it is called focal
seat because the mutual attraction which exists between the two sur-
faces, and which causes the clevation, is concentrated in this place.
A careful observation of the above experiments, and many more
of a similar kind, has, in my view, established the following laws.
1st. The common surface of a liquid never rests in a horizontal
position when it comes in contact with any substance ; but is always
either elevated or depressed. It may be observed that there is a
striking analogy between the angles of these opposite curves of ele-
vation and depression. ‘They seem to bear some resemblance to
those of a parabola.
2d. Different substances have different degrees of attraction for
liquids; and their greatest degree of attraction may be known by
ithe angle which will, in given circumstances, sustain an elevation of
any liquid, except some liquids that, by attraction spread on the sur-
face of other liquids, as oils on water, and are not elevated.
3d. All substances attract liquids more readily when moistened
with the same liquid, than when dry, for those bodies that have a
weak attracting surface, are by this means furnished with a strong
attracting surface. But when grains of wheat, and globules of mer-
cury are moistened, they will, notwithstanding, float; for after they
have been shaken to the bottom of a liquid, they will again float,
when raised to the surface.
Ath. Two bodies floating on a liquid, both of which are attended
by an elevation of the liquid, will, when near, approach each other
with a column of liquid rising between them.
Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction. 89
5th. Two floating bodies, both having a depression of the liquid,
will, when near, approach each other, with the liquid descending
between them.
6th. Two floating bodies, one having an elevation and the other a
depression of the liquid, will, when placed contiguous to each other.
recede.
Of the seat and properties of Inqud Attraction.
Having noticed some of the laws and phenomena of liquid attrac-
tion, it now remains to point out the seat and properties of this attrac-
tion. It may, however, in the first place, be proper to take some
notice of the opinions of philosophers on this subject. As far as my
information extends, but little difference of opinion exists in relation
to the attraction of the particles of liquids for each other ; but in rela-
tion to the attraction which takes place between liquids and other
bodies, some little difference of opmion exists on the subject, while
at the same time, some affirm, and others deny the existence of a
repelling power. According to Enfield, Book I, Prop. 3d. Ex. 1.
* the drop is spherical because, each particle exerts an equal power
in every direction, drawing other particles towards it on every side,
as far as its power extends.” Doct. Good, in his “ Book of Nature,”
says, “ that there being an equal tendency in every particle of homa-
geneous bodies to press together, they must press equally towards
one common centre.” “Hence, then, the cause of the globular figure
of drops of quicksilver, drops of water, drops of rain, and drops of
dew.”
The doctrine of an equal attraction, or mutual cohesion between
the particles of a liquid, without discriminating in the least, the situa-
tion and circumstances of those particles, is, indeed, ancient ; and it
appears to have been adopted as a self evident proposition, sufficiently
obvious without proof; and we see that philosophers have, for more
than a century, supported it with the constancy of an “ Aristeus,”
amidst all the ‘‘ Proteus” forms in which liquids have appeared.
But has this doctrine of a mutual cohesion of liquid particles yet dis-
closed to them, the true method of explaiming the various phenomena
of liquids ?
_ Water is a liquid, the most abundant in nature, and when pure,
perhaps a perfect one ; but its properties are very different from what
its appearance would lead one to expect. Until lately, it was con-
Vou. XVIL—No. 1. 12
90 Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Aitraction.
sidered an element ; but Chemists, by subjecting it to the test of a
rigid analysis, have ascertained its composition ; and it is by the help
of some appropriate experiments, that we must acquire a knowledge
of its attracting powers. -
The practice of washing wheat, to free it from smut, has present-
ed, on this subject, some facts, worthy of attention. In the process
of washing, when the tub containing the wheat and water is inclined
for the purpose of pouring off the water, many of those grains which
are just above the water, float out and cover the surface, and re-
quire to be constantly beaten down to make them sink, and to prevent
them from running off with the water. ‘These grains of wheat, com-
pared with the water, are specifically heavier, and yet they float, as
in the case of the globules of mercury, abovementioned ; not be-
cause, as some have supposed, they are specifically lighter than wa-
ter, but because the obtuse angles, which their convex surfaces make
with the surface of the water, cause a depression around them.
Again, when the wheat is emptied by inverting the tub, some of
the grains usually adhere to the sides of the tub, by means of the
aqueous surface which surrounds them ; and thus they are suspended
by an attracting force, much greater than their own weight. But if
we again fill the tub with water, these grains of wheat smk as soon
as the water rises above them. ‘This fact proves that the attracting
force which suspended them is destroyed, when the grains are sub-
merged. ‘The needle, also, when wet, will adhere to the side of a
tumbler, above the water ; but only raise the water above the needle,
by inclinmg the tumbler, and the needle sinks. ‘These facts evince
that the surface of the liquid is the seat of the attracting power.
For the properties of the attracting power, we must look to the
soap bubble as it stands on a liquid, the bubble of pure water being
too evanescent for inspection. ‘This soap bubble presents to us a
thin coat of particles, apparently very uniform in thickness, impervi-
ous to air, of uniform strength, and equally contracizle im all its parts.*
* By “ contractile,” is meant that constantly uniform strain, which may be ob-
served between the particles of the surface, and by which the surface has a tendency
to shorten itself.
Thus, by way of illustration, when globules of mercury have been flattened by
pressure, and have thus had their surfaces enlarged, their globular form is again re-
stored by the contracting power of the surface, as soon as the pressure is removed ;
and when drops of water, on cabbage leaves, have had their surfaces enlarged in the
satne way, they will again resume their spherical form, for the same reason that the
globles of mereury did, on removing the pressure.
Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction. O1
tt partakes of all substances which are mixed or dissolved in the
liquid; but it differs essentially both in its mechanical properties, and
in its appearance, from the liquid state in which it previously existed.
This coat of particles, of which the bubble is constituted, is sustained
by the enclosed air; and it has an elevation of the liquid at its base,
where it unites with the surface of the liquid; and it may be consid-~
ered a mere continuation of this surface. Like other attracting
bodies, it approaches those which have an elevation of the liquid,
and avoids those which have a depression ; but unlike muscular fibre,
it has no corrugation, but its particles at all times exert the same
steady contracting force. Such, I conceive, is the nature of the sur-
face of all liquids ; and it is this contractile power which it has, that
causes the drops of a liquid to assume a spherical form.
Again, those particles beneath the contractile surface are, emphati-
eally, liquid. They move over each other without cohesion, or
sensible resistance, and may be considered passive, except so far as
they are subject to the law of gravitation.
The reason of this remarkable difference between particles of the
same liquid, without supposing any chemical change to have taken
place in any of them, must be attributed to the different situations
and circumstances in which they are placed, one class of them con-
stituting the surface, and the other the liquid beneath it. The par-
ticles of the surface have no external particles of the same kind to
balance them, or to counteract their attraction for each other ; where-
as, those beneath the surface, being entirely surrounded by particles
of the same kind, have their attractive forces equally balanced in
every direction, and by this means are kept in equilibrium, and pos-
sess hydraulic properties. And this I conceive to be the great cause
of difference between the particles of the surface, and the particles
beneath it.
Some estimate may be made of the strength of the surface of dif-
ferent liquids, by observing the magnitude of the largest drops which
their contractile power will enable them to retain in a spherical form,
when resting on substances which have for them the least attraction, or
when suspended under bodies which have for them the greatest at-
traction. (See Figs. 6, and 7.)
Having pointed out the seat and properties of liquid attraction,
some attention will now be directed to its various applications.
1st. To its application in explaining the phenomena connected
with the first law, above mentioned, viz.: ‘that the common surface
92 Inquires into the Principles of Liqmd Attraction:
of a liquid never rests in a horizontal position, when it comes in con-
tact with any substance ; but is always either elevated or depressed.”
If water be carefully poured into a vessel whose bottom is avy, it
rises nearly to the height to which drops attam, and then spreads lat-
erally, as the quantity of water increases, having its edges curved
downward through the influence of the contractile surface ; so that
when it meets the sides of the vessel it has the appearance of de-
pression. (See Fig. 8.) Now as it comes in contact with the sides
of the vessel, the surface of the liquid makes new angles with the
vessel, and, if the surface of the vessel has a sufficiently strong at-
traction for the surface of the liquid, an elevation of the liquid sud-
denly takes place, which is usually so rapid as to render its progress
difficult to be observed. When the elevation commences, the de-
pressed curve begins to shorten, and does not stop shortening till it
vanishes, and then it is succeeded by an upward curve, which con-
tinues to rise contiguous to the sides of the vessel, till it attains its
maximum height; and this is when it has risen as much above the
common surface as it was at first depressed below it; (See Fig. 9.)
and in which situation, it has the apparently uniform curve of the
parabola.
Now as the curve of the surface moves upward, at the sides of the
vessel, it necessarily acts against the pressure of the atmosphere, and
performs an office similar to that which the piston of a common pump
performs, diminishing the pressure on the liquid under the curved
surface, contiguous to the sides of the vessel; but because the uni-
form pressure of the atmosphere is not sensibly diminished on the
liquid under the surface, at a distance from the sides of the vessel,
it forces the liquid up under the elevated surface, where it is sus-
tained by the pressure of the atmosphere.
2nd. Let us observe how these principles account for the phenom-
ena connected with the fourth law, viz: “ two bodies floating on a li-
quid, both of which have an elevation of the liquid, will, when near,
approach each other with a column of liquid rismg between them.”
It is a well known fact, that the lateral pressure of a column of
water under the piston of a common pump, diminishes in the same
ratio as the point pressed rises above the base of the column; and if
we suppose the piston of a pump to take off the pressure of the at-
mosphere thirty two feet, the lateral pressure will diminish from a
pressure represented by 32 at the base of the column, till the point
pressed arrives at the top, where the lateral pressure may be repre-
Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction. 93
sented by 0; because the water will rise no higher than about thirty
two feet. But the lateral pressure of the atmosphere at the same
height suffers no sensible diminution ; consequently the lateral press-
ure of a column of water, which can rise but about thirty two feet
by the pressure of the atmosphere, is unable to resist the lateral
pressure of the atmosphere at an equal height. From these facts, it
will be very readily understood why two floating bodies, which have
an elevation of the liquid around them, approach each other. For
when the remote extremities of their curves of elevation meet, these
two curved surfaces, which in respect to the common level are be-
coming concave, now act as an upward moving piston diminishing
the pressure of the atmosphere, and consequently allowing the pre-
ponderating lateral pressure of the atmosphere, to force the float-
ing bodies toward each other. (See Fig. 10.) Now as these bodies
approach, the column of liquid between them rises, and the contrac-
tile surface constantly taking off the atmospheric pressure, leaves the
column of liquid, whose lateral pressure diminishes with its height,
constantly less able to resist the lateral pressure of the atmosphere ;
and on this account the bodies should come together with an increas-
ing velocity, which experiment abundantly proves.
3rd. Let us notice the application of these principles to the fifth
law, viz: “two floating bodies, both having a depression of the liquid,
will, when near, approach each other with the liquid descending be-
tween them.” When the surface of the liquid curves downward, the
same contracting force which, in elevated curves gave an upward mo-
tion, now acts with an equal force downwards, and the surface in this
case may be considered a piston, not of a lifting but of a forcing
pump. Accordingly, when two floating bodies, both of which have
a depression, are placed within about an inch of each other, the curves
which they make, meet, and in respect to the common level of the
liquid, are becoming convex. ‘The small column of liquid between
the bodies is now depressed below the common level, by the con-
tractile power of the surface, (See Fig. 5,) and the lateral press-
ure of the atmosphere, which supplies the place of the depression, is
now unable to resist the lateral pressure of the surrounding water,
and the bodies are consequently made to approach each other, with
a velocity which is increased as the distance between the bodies is
diminished.
4th. As the principles respect the sixth law, viz: “ two floating bo-
dies, one having an elevation and the other a depression of the liquid,
94 Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction.
will, when placed contiguous to each other, recede.” When two
floating bodies which make opposite curves in the surface, the one
upward and the other downward, are placed contiguous on water,
these opposite curves have nearly a perpendicular position, and con-
sequently the contractile force of their curved surfaces acts in the
same direction, and in consequence of the direction in which this
force acts, it is unable to resist the force of the surrounding surface ;
and hence, the bodies recede from each other, one or two inches, to
stations where the remote extremities of their opposite curves coincide
‘with the common surface ; and here the bodies remain at rest, unless
the momentum with which they were at first propelled, carries them
beyond these limits. (See Fig. 4.)
The ascent of liquids in capillary tubes, and between two parallel
plates of glass, takes place on precisely the same principle as in the
lifting pump. When two parallel plates of glass are partly immersed
in water, and are placed perpendicularly to the common surface, if
they have an elevation of the liquid around them, they will, when
brought sufficiently near together to have the remote extremities of
ther elevated curves meet, have a column of water rising between
them, and the height to which it will rise increases in the same ratio
as the distance between the plates diminishes; and for this reason ;
their focal seat of attraction has the same extent, and acts with the
same uniform force at all the different distances of the plates, and the
contractile force of the surface also continues the same, but it has the
pressure of a less column of atmosphere to resist, and this column of
pressure diminishes as the area of the surface between the plates di-
minishes. (See Fig. 12.)
Yn capillary tubes of different bores, the focal seat of attraction di-
minishes as the diameters of their bores, but the pressure of the at-
mosphere which it resists, diminishes as the squares of these diame-
ters ; hence, as the diameters of capillary tubes diminish, the force of
the contractile surface which acts from the focal seat of attraction,
has a ratio to the force of the atmosphere constantly increasing, and
therefore as the bores diminish, the liquids ascend with this increas-
ing ratio. Now if a capillary tube be immersed in water, and then
be raised from the water in an inclined position, so as to take up a
greater quantity than it otherwise would, it will then sustain a column
about twice the perpendicular height that it will when the lower ex-
tremity of the tube rests in water ; for when the tube is taken from
the water, the pressure of the atmosphere is diminished by the upper
Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction. 95
surface of the column of liquid, which acts as a lifting piston, as before
described ; to which there is also added the force of another surface
at the bottom of the column which acts as a forcing piston, and in
concert with which the atmosphere acts, which, when the tube rested
on the water, acted indirectly, but now directly, to sustain the column;
but this elevation will be the case in a less degree, except when the
sides of the tube, at the bottom, are extremely thin. (See Fig. 11.)
Having considered the various laws and properties of liquid attrac~
tion, as they occur in the open atmosphere, it now remains to exam-
ine them as they may be observed in a rarer medium, particularly
when under the exhausting influence of the air pump. Now if we
suppose the common atmosphere entirely removed, and a new one
formed, by the evaporation of some liquid placed under the receiver
of an air pump, the pressure of this new atmosphere, which for the
sake of distinction may be called artificial, will depend on the degree
of temperature, and on the different degrees of volatility which the
different liquids used possess; whether they be ether, alcohol, or any
other. If for example, we take the atmosphere formed from water
at a medium temperature, and suppose the pressure of this to be
equal to the pressure of a column of water of six inches, and if we
suppose the upper and elevating surface in a capillary tube of suffi-
ciently fine bore, to take off the whole pressure of the artificial at-
mosphere from the column of liquid in the tube, the pressure of the
atmosphere which rests on the surface of the liquid without the tube,
must force up the liquid the whole height to which this pressure can
sustain, viz. six inches. But if the bores of the tubes are larger, the
height to which it will rise will be proportionally less. If the column
of liquid in the capillary tube, in the open atmosphere, be broken by
a portion of common air; the upper portion of the column of liquid
will have both its upper and under surfaces concave, the former act-
ing as a lifting piston upwards and the latter downwards, and the sep-
aration will remain permanent. (See Fig. 13.) But if a separation
of the column of liquid should happen in the tube, under the receiver
of an air pump, by unequal degrees of temperature in the evapora-
ting process; the artificial atmosphere will be condensed by the
equalization of the temperature, and will allow the column to reunite.
Bodies floatmg on liquids where the common atmosphere is re-
moved, obey the same laws as when in the open air; that is, when
both have an elevation, or both a depression of the liquid, they ap-
96 Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction.
proach; but when one has an elevation, and the other a depression,
they recede.
We have seen the action of the contractile surface in resisting the
pressure of both the common and artificial atmospheres ; let us now
notice its action in compressing the common atmosphere.
First, take air bubbles, as they rest on a liquid; they are bodies
of a spherical, or rather of a hemispherical form; therefore, accord-
ing to the principles of geometry, as their diameters diminish, their
volume, and their superficial contents diminish, the former in the ratio
of the cubes of their diameters, and the latter in the ratio of the
squares of these diameters; consequently, as the diameters of air
bubbles diminish, their superficial contents have to their volume, a
ratio constantly increasing ; but the compressing force of the surface
is directly as the superficial contents; and these contents having to
the volume, a ratio constantly increasing as the bubbles diminish, the
force with which they are compressed increases in the same ratio.
it is manifest from this, that as the bubbles may be diminished to an
almost unlimited extent, the pressure to which the enclosed air shall
be subjected by the continually increasing force of the contractile
surface, may at length become equal to the pressure of the atmos-
phere ; and when it has arrived at this degree of pressure, every new
diminution of their diameters gives a renewed accession to the com-_
pressing force of the surface, tll at length they will be made to sus-
tain the pressure of several atmospheres. Now water contains air
in invisible globules, which are doubtless under this amazing pressure.
For we can come to a definite result on this pomt, by transferring to
the globule of air in water, the calculation of the pressure which the
contractile surface, in diminishing capillary tubes, is found to sustain.
For it is found by experiment, that in a capillary tube, the diameter
of whose bore is the ;1, of an inch, water will be elevated 5.3 inch-
es, and since it is the upper spherical surface of the column which
eauses the elevation, this surface will consequently sustain a pressure
equal to that of a column of water of the same height. Now as this
surface is equal to the hemispherical surface of a bubble of air of the
same diameter as the tube, the pressure which the air bubble will
sustam will be equal to that of a column of water of the same height ;
and since the pressure on diminishing globules of air increases in the
ratio of the differences between the square and the cube of the di-
minishing diameters, the pressure which a globule of air will sustain
whose diameter is diminished to the ;4, of an inch, will be equal to
Inquiries into the Principles of Lagquid Attraction. 97
that of a column of water seven feet ,8, of an inch im height, and
when the diameter is diminished to the ;1, of an inch, the pressure
will be equal to that of a column of water twenty eight feet three
inches m height, and so on in the same inverse ratio.
Now it is known that the atmosphere may be compressed in pro-
pertion to the weight or force to which it is subjected; and if we
take a minute portion of air of the medium density, and subject it to
the pressure of a column of water of thirty two feet, its magnitude
will be diminished one half; and for every similar column which
may be added, the magnitude of the portion of air will be proportion-
ably diminished ; and if we add to the pressure which a minute por-
tion of air sustains from the contractile surface, the pressure which it
must sustain at the various depths in water where we find it, it 1s easy
to conceive, in strict conformity to the results which have been pre-
sented, that it sustains the pressure of several atmospheres.
If we may be allowed to reason from analogy, it will appear, by
comparing the magnitude of drops of water and of mercury, that the
contractile force of the surface of mercury exceeds that of the sur-
face of water, nearly in the ratio of their specific gravities.
Lastly ; the attraction of different substances for the surfaces of
liquids, has a strong resemblance to chemical affinities; where the
smallest particles have an attraction for each other, which attraction,
when compared with the force of their gravitation, exceeds all ex~
pression by numbers.
Remarks.—In reviewing the above explanation of the laws of liquid
attraction, It appears necessary, in order to avoid misconception, to
observe, that the term capillary has been applied to tubes which are
not strictly so. - By “ capillary tubes,” I understand those whose bores
are so exceedingly minute, that the water, or other liquid, which is
in them, may be said to have lost its peculiar character as a liquid,
and to have assumed active properties. The tubes which have been
considered are either artificial, as glass, or natural, as quills and
straws, and such as were not intended to contain citculating active
fluids, but to contain air.
The two states of a liquid, viz. the contractile state of the particles
of the surface, and the passive state of the particles beneath the sur-
face, are both of them to be considered as the effects of attraction,
modified by circumstances.
By inspecting Fig. 1, which represents a vessel whose sides make;
internally with the bottom, acute angles, it will be seen how a greater
Vor. XVIT.—No. 1. 13
98 Inquiries into the Principles of Liquid Attraction.
focal seat of attraction, and an apparently less degree of atmos
pheric pressure at the acute angles, contributes to elevate the surface ;
and by inspecting Fig. 2, which represents a vessel of a different
description, it will be seen how a less focal seat of attraction, and a
greater degree of atmospheric pressure at the obtuse angles, contri-
bute to depress the surface.
Soap bubbles will rise in tubes of a sufficiently large bore, in the
same manner as liquids rise, but to a much greater height; but the
experiment requires some care in preventing the air from imterposing,
which will retard the operation. (See Fig. 14.)
Scala la gg geben
LTTE
|
a
Fn
ee EER
Dr. Ure makes the elastic force of the vapor of water, at the tem-
perature of 55°, equal to the pressure of a column of water about
six inches in height; and consequently this pressure will sustain in
capillary tubes, columns of liquid proportioned to the diameters of
Architecture in the United States. 99
their bores, at any height below this pressure; and the reason to be
assigned is, that the contractile surfaces of the liquid columns not
only permit of evaporation, but act against the elastic force which this
evaporation produces.
In the following experiment, when water is contained in an inverted
vessel, and connected with a small column of water in a capillary
tube inserted above it, it is sustained in the open atmosphere ; but if
the inverted vessel with its capillary tube, be placed under the re-
ceiver of an air pump, the diminished pressure will cause the column of
liquid in the inverted vessel to break off from the column in the capil-
lary tube above it, leaving it still in the tube, and will descend till ic
meets the common level, not because it wants a pressure sufficiently
elastic to support it, but on account of the evaporation which takes
place more readily on that section of a liquid which is under the least
pressure, which in this case is at the top of the column under the in-
verted vessel. ‘This has been called, “a perplexing experiment,”
but it admits of the above very obvious explanation; and it may be
lustrated by means of a glass tube, having one end immersed in a
vessel of water, and placed under the receiver of an air pump. This
tube must contain a piston, with its rod passing through at the top of
the receiver, secured by means of a collar of leather; and when the
air is sufficiently exhausted, let the piston be quickly raised, and the
water will follow the piston to a given height, but the evaporation will
produce an elastic air, and soon force it down to the common level.
Arr. X1.— Architecture in the United States.
Tue fine arts have hitherto received little cultivation or encour-
agement in our country—a fact usually attributed to its infancy.—
But this is not the only cause. There is in most minds among us,
even among persons of enlightened understanding and liberal views,
a secret recoil when they are mentioned, a kind of vague feeling that
they would be dangerous to that simplicity of manners, and purity of
morals, which must form both the basis and bulwark of a republic.
The feeling isa natural one, but does great injustice to the subject.—
The fine arts are perfectly consonant with good morals, and, so far
from being the handmaid of luxury and licentiousness, have always
operated as a check on their extravagance. ‘True it is, they have
100 Architecture in the United States:
~
always been found associated with corruption of morals, and the
companionship has been a most unfortunate one, since luxury has first
abused their powers, and then dragged them with it in its fall_—
But this union, though heretofore constant, is not a necessary one, as
J will endeavor briefly to shew.
Most of the fine arts, by which I mean, painting, sculpture, music,
architecture, engraving, poetry and eloquence, require a rich and
well cultivated soil for their growth. Let any one take up a criticism,
say on a piece of statuary, and he will be astonished at the extent,
variety and difficult nature of the subjects it comprehends. History,
antiquities, anatomy, proportion, costume, adaptation of paris, taste,
form but a small portion of them, while taste itself embraces a circle
of most difficult objects. ‘The same is the case with painting. Arch-
itecture requiring, in addition to most of these, a deep knowledge of the
mathematics and involving more important interests, is still more dif-
ficult. Indeed what Cicero has said of eloquence, may be applied
most forcibly to all the sister arts :—ewxtllis rebus universis constat
quibus in singulis elaborare permagnum est. But this is requir-
ed not only in the artist, but also to a considerable degree in the pub-
lic ; for to the public belongs the severe duty of being arbiter on the
subject ; of drawing the nice distinction between true worth and its
counterfeit ; of rewarding merit and frowning pretention back into
obscurity. It was the Grecian public that formed the orators, poets,
historians, sculptors and architects of that country, whatever nature
may have done towards furnishing the materzel: and the public alone
could do it. Had this not been keen-sighted and classical ; had it,
in short, been contented with less than it received, it would have re-
ceived less; and in this respect, at least, the world is still the same.
Now this state of things requires a combimation of circumstances
hitherto seldom found, except in a certain stage of the career of na-
tions. That career has been through rudeness, vigor, prosperity,
luxury and decay ; and so constant and regular has been their suc-
cession that it has come to be considered a fixed and unalterable law
of naturé. With the first of these the fine arts are utterly incom-
patible ; in the second ‘they appear ; the third carries them to ma-
turity ; luxury follows, and then comes decay. Luxury would have
followed without them, and they would have flourished better without
luxury. We do not usually separate them, however, as we ought te
flo, and transfer to the fine arts themselves our dislike for the accom-
Architecture in the United States. 101
panying licentiousness, into which they are unavoidably drawn, and
as I have said, in this, do them injustice.
Our own country, | believe, is destined to shew that the usual
course of nations does not arise from any fixed law of nature. Its
commencement certainly was at variance with this law. Like the
famed goddess of old, it came into existence in full panoply, in full
size and proportion, and with at least a sufficiency of mental as well
as bodily power. Our progress too, has been like that of no other
nation—and this brings me to the main object of my remarks—the
advantages of our country in regard to architecture.
By architecture, I mean not only the principles of science and taste,
as applied to public and private edifices, but also to the ornamenting
of towns or cities with columns, arches, porticoes, bridges and fountains,
and generally, in the way of building, to whatever can be of utility or
ornament to them or their precincts. My remarks will also take a
wider range, and embrace a science, for which I cannot find a name,
for the good reason, that among the nations from which we draw our
language, no such science could be known. I mean the choice of
position, and the planning of towns, with the grounds and appurte-
nances connected with them,
We are a calculating people, sufiiciently attentive to present inter-
ests 5 too much so, perhaps; but to these interests I wish first to ad-
dress myself. He who observes the common language of men around
him, will be struck, in our country, with the strong susceptibility to
objects of mental pleasure. It is natural that it should be so. We
are areading community : and though our reading is generally loose
and of a light character, still it brings with it a good degree of infor-
mation, and more or less of mental culture ; it leads to a desire for
more, and our enjoyments consequently flow more from the mind than
is usual among nations. We are also a travelling people, and from
this, pick up a considerable degree of intelligence. ‘Thus prepared
for mental pleasure, and ever on the wing, with abundant opportunity
for comparing places and scenes one with another, we are gradually
forming a pretty correct judgment, as to the beauties of a landscape
or a town ; and our taste is beginning to set strongly towards them.—
This is shown in the crowds that gather to the deck of a steam or
canal boat, as a fine point of view, or a handsome village, is approach-
ed and is heard in the murmur of approbation among little groups of
such travellers, on more ordinary occasions. One of the first ques-
tions too, about a town, usually respects its beauty of situation, and of
102 Architecture in the United States.
internal character ; and no question is answered sooner, and gener-_
ally, with more correctness. Indeed I do not hesitate to say, that in
no country is a striking object sooner analyzed or its worth more cor-
rectly estimated. ‘This feeling of the public is going to increase and
improve, and, before many years, he who will wish a town to flour-
ish, in choosing its position and forming its plan, will have to consult
not only health and convenience, but also beauty and good iaste.
The former will in most cases allow a range of a few miles for the
fatter, and the sooner these are consulted the better will it be for the
interests even of those whom no other considerations affect.
But I wish to touch another strmg, and one to which every patri-
otic bosom will respond. We have a happy country: it may be
made as beautiful as it is happy. But there is some danger that this
will not be. Our forefathers set the example of looking to Europe,
and particularly to England, for every thing; and im most cases we
follow the example. We draw even the plans of our towns and
cities from them. By this I do not mean that we form them street by
street, according to the model of any English city, but that we are
pleased or satisfied if their general character corresponds with those
abroad. Now there is not one of them, not even Rome, that would
not be glad to remodel itself, and change from the clumsiness of its
present form, into something of more symmetry and taste. And
they always do it, as far as possible, whenever there is opportunity.
Witness London, after the great fire, and Rome, after the sack by
Brennus and his Gauls. Both events have been a blessing to these
cities, though regarded as calamities at the tme. We will confine
our remarks to England for the present. Her origin was in dark-
ness: her morning gloomy and obscure. ‘The sites for her towns
were chosen, and their character determined, by men of rude habits
and unenlightened minds, governed in their judgment of such things
by the harsh dictates of necessity and nothing more: their succes-
sors, for centuries, were but little better, and thus have their cities
taken shape and form. Palaces it is true have been substituted for
the huts of the first inhabitants; but, after all, it is only a savage in
brocade. use harsh language about places we have been taught to
respect, and do justly respect: but still it is true, and they feel it;
for London is almost every day tearmg down costly houses to widen
streets, or form new ones, or open public squares, for the health
or proper convenience of her inhabitants. And so will our posterity
have to do, if we go on as we have commenced: indeed we are
Architecture in the United States. 103
doing it already. We have a vast advantage on this subject, and it
is surprising how little we have felt it. We have yet to choose the
sites of what are to be large towns and cities, in a generation or two:
we have to plan them, with full choice as to convenience or beauty ;
we have most of our public buildings to erect; we build from one
to three hundred private edifices yearly, in each of our large cities ;
we have a population enlightened, and capable of appreciating beauty
in these things; and we have the whole world to choose our models
from—or what in some of them is better still—to travel over, and
from which to collect beauties, and form a model for ourselves.
Let no one urge that we are not prepared for these things; that
they require wealth and leisure, which we have not for them; and
that business, not taste, must engross the attention of a young nation.
We are prepared for them. It is as easy in planning a town to con-
sult good taste and beauty as not to do it, and unless this is done
now, the odds are greatly against its ever being done. It is as easy
to build in good taste as not, if good models were only before us.
And here let me express my regret that we have so few of them,
and my hope that the deficiency will soon be supplied. I can con-
ceive no greater benefit than would be conferred on his country by
him who would go abroad, and collect there the best specimens of
architectural beauty, whether in public or cheap private edifices, and
place the whole before our community in a form that would be ac-
cessible to all and easily understood. For this the public certainly
are prepared. We are prepared also in pecuniary resources. ‘Taste
is perfectly consistent with simplicity, indeed, cannot exist without it.
The best specimens of architecture which we have, I mean the Greek
temples, are characterized by simplicity in every part. Many of them
are of costly substances it is true; but many of them also are of the
plainest materials; and yet by these last the traveller pauses with
the warmest admiration, his feelings kindle, and he finds a powerful
effort necessary to tear himself away. ‘The material indeed is al-
ways of secondary consequence : it is the “mens divina,” the chast-
ened and powerful intellect diffused through the labors of the true
architect, that gives the force to their charm. _ It is nobleness of de-
sign, vastness and grandeur of conception, proportion and harmony
of parts, that are, or ought to be, the aim of an artist, and the object
of our attention in his works. Stone, and mortar, and wood, are to
him only subsidiaries, and ought to be by us little regarded. True
his materials should be adapted to his object, but they should nevez
104 Architecture in the United States.
be his object. When there is any thmg about them, in richness or -
brilliancy, to call off the attention from the design, from the mental
character of his labors, it isa fault; and the fault is in proportion to
such an effect. In this point Italian artists fail the most. Perhaps
jt is a feeling that their powers are not equal to their task; more
probably it is a perversion of taste :—but be the cause what it will,
they crowd together jasper, and porphyry, and alabaster, and verd
antique, till the senses are dazzled and bewildered by the finery; and
then we come from their edifices, with a confused sensation that we
have seen some splendid object—and nothing more. ‘This is the
effect at first: this richness soon palls on the taste, and then we give
them no further attention. This effect is felt by all who visit that
country, and is evident in the books of travels some of them give,
and also in the guide book through their cities. The talk is all about
jasper, and verd antique, and rosso antico, tll the patience of the
reader is exhausted. ‘Travellers there all tell us that their attention
soon becomes languid: but how different is itim Greece. In Greece
the curiosity is always awake; the feelings always under powerful
action; the admiration ever excited; each visit to the Parthenon
makes us love it the more. “But the Parthenon is of marble”—
true, but this circumstance is always felt to be an inferior considera-
tion: it is not brought out glaring and bold; it strikes us only in its
character of adaptation to the grandeur and majesty of the edifice,
that mighty effort of mighty minds. ‘There is a little temple in
Greece, in which we can suspect no such effect: it is of the rudest
material; and yet that temple has a eharm about it scarcely inferior
to that of the Parthenon. I speak of the temple of Jupiter Panhel-
lenius in Egina. It has received little notice from travellers, for it is
in an island seldom visited. ‘The modern Romans however in sub-
stituting ornament for taste are doing little more than following their
ancestors. ‘There was more wealth at Rome than at Athens; they
had far more in the power, as far as materials were concerned,
than the Athenians; and perhaps it was this very fact that led to a
degenerate taste. In taste Athens was the admiration of the world:
they could excel her only in the size and costliness of their edifices ;
and so they erected mountains of brick work, and loaded them
with ornaments; but Athens, standing as it did in simple grandeur,
still bore the palm. In the one case, taste was formed on the princi-
ples of nature, every where simple, chaste and beautiful in its forms;
the artist studied these, till they became a part of his being, his
Architecture in the Umted States. 105
thoughts, his very soul; he then surrendered himself to the subject
and he could not go wrong: in the other, taste was sacrificed for ef-
fect, and profusion of ornament must supply what was wanting in de-
sign. Indeed, so far is great wealth from being necessary to a flour-
ishing state of architecture, that from its temptation to excess of or-
nament, it is rather an injury than a benefit. Simplicity, not splen-
dor, must be the governing principle; and for this we have abundant
means. At the time when Athens erected most of her celebrated
temples, she had not half the population, or half the resources, and,
probably, not half the wealth now possessed by New York.
Athens! our feelings kindle at the name. Much of this is no
doubt owing to the “ men of renown” whom she has produced. De-
mosthenes, and Plato, and Socrates would have given imperishable
interest to any place. But take away the Acropolis, and the tem-
ples at its base, and what a chillmg influence would it have on our
feelings ; transfer them to any other spot, and that spot will be an
Athens to us. If the effect on our feelings after this lapse of time,
and at this distance,—if the effect of ruins is so great, what must have
been the influence upon the ancient Athenians themselves. The
ancients understood these feelings well, and in the days of calamity
and danger, each country looked to them as its strongest safeguard.
The magnificence and grandeur of their temples attached the hearts
of the people no less than the august character of their gods: to each
citizen they were the objects of wonder in childhood, of deep vene-
ration in after years ; his just pride and boast: he gazed upon them,
the monuments of his country’s piety, and her honor; he felt him-
self a sharer in their glory ; his feelings became warmed, expanded,
refined and ennobled ; his attachment to his nation grew strong, and
pure, and active; and he, who would otherwise have been a being of
selfish and contracted views, was now a devoted and unwavering
patriot. It was to these feelings their orators appealed, when they
wished to rouse them to action, and no other appeals were so eflect-
ual. These were a bond of union, unseen, but powerful : they nerv-
ed the arm, and steeled the heart: they were the last to fail; they
followed the captive to other lands, and clung to him till death.
Some of these feelings we need, perhaps more than we suspect. I
should like to see the character of our nation analyzed by some able
hand, for it has already begun to form; I believe that such an analy-
sis, one that would give us credit for our merits, and encourage us
in them, and would at the same time, boldly, yet kindly, exhibit our
Vou. XVIIL.—No. 1. 14
106 Architecture in the United States.
faults, would be of service; for the character is not yet formed be-
yond repair, and every moment now is of vast consequence in its
bearing on the future ; of more consequence, probably, than can
ever be possible agai. In this character would be found, as a strik-
ing feature, a fondness for change. It is noticed by all foreigners,
and is a natural result of our circumstances. Enterprize is free ;
the means of support are easy; the roads to honor, or emolument,
or fame numerous and open; the stimulants to industry abundant ;
each individual has the whole country before him, where to choose.
Ohio offers allurements to the citizen of Pennsylvania, Indiana to
the farmer of Ohio, and so on, West and South. The consequence
is a restlessness, both in old and young, approximating strongly to
the wandering habits of the Tartar, and felt in all parts of our
country. ‘To a certain extent, such a feeling among us is a benefit ;
but in the extent to which it exists, there is no doubt that it is an evil.
It prevents strong local prejudices, it is true; and by mingling to-
gether people from different portions of the country, makes our na-
tional character more uniform; but at the same time it relaxes the
bonds of society ; it makes us restless and discontented ; dissatisfied
with present good—with the best possible good, and disposed to look
anxiously and feverishly forward to something imagined to be bet-
ter. On such loose fluctuating materials can be built no grand na~
tional fabric ; or if built, it will fall when ‘“ the foods come, and the
winds blow.” Who would look for verdure and beauty on the mov-
ing sands of the desert? Itis a fact that no people have so much
the means of happiness within their power, as our own; but perhaps
there are no people who know so little when they are happy, or are
so little contented with being so. ‘The assertion is a strong one, but
T believe it is true. I landed, not long since, in one of our large
cities, after an absence from home, long enough to make me familiar
with the countenances of people in other countries. It was a nation-
al holy-day, and of course people might be expected to wear their
happiest looks : the first thing that struck me was the verdure of the
trees and grass; the next, the comfort visible in the appearance of
every thing around; the next, the deep sobriety, approaching to sad-
ness, on the countenance of every one I met. Ihave got accus-
tomed once more to this sombre expression, but it was several days
before it ceased to affect me. I have since often thought there is a
danger that our character may err on this point; that the powerful
and inspiring motives every where presented to our citizens, may
Architecture in the Umted States. 107
iake too strong hold on our feelings, and make us, it is true, a thriv-
ing and prosperous; but at the same time, a selfish people; that in
the eager pursuit of wealth and station, and the disposition it brings
to “‘lay aside every weight,” we may throw from us some things
more honorable than even wealth, or popular applause ; that in the
strong and constant pressure of business, patriotism and generous
feelings, and piety may be stifled and disappear. ‘The decline of
these is already an object of frequent remark. ‘That we mourn over
more than we have cause for, is probable ; but still they are in dan-
ger; and the danger is most to be dreaded, because it is insidious,
slow, secret, and in every person’s breast. One effect of our circum-
stances certainly is, to produce greater individuality of feeling among
us than is to be found in any other country. Itis a singular trait in our
character, and I think by no means a favorable one. Our general
government itself, instead of drawing us closer to one another, and
making us feel like one vast nation, separates us into parts, and places
this individuality strongly and distinctly before us. And so with near-
ly all our institutions: indeed, every object of pursuit, thought, and
feeling, will be found, more or less, conformed to this character,
and calculated to make each individual stand out effective, it is true,
but isolated and alone. ‘The fact is, we need greatly, something to
break down this individuality, and form a common bond of union
among us; something to make us feel that we are members of one
great community ; something that, by being a common subject of
thought, action, and strong interest, will make our feelings flow inta
one another, and attach us more powerfully to our fellows, and to
the country. Other nations are provided for this, in their king, their
national religion, their national universities, their national monuments,
in a hundred things to which the term national is applied. The re-
publics of old times provided for it, chiefly in giving their cities ob-
jects of deep and common interest. We have no provision for it,
except in our Army and Navy, and a few other institutions.. We
have, I believe, but one state university, in the nation ; all is loose,
solitary and distinct. ‘There is no cement to integral parts, an article
deemed necessary, even in the well based pyramids of Egypt: we
have no strong bond of union; no object which, disgraced, would
bring disgrace on the community ; nothing around which we should
rally in case of danger, with perhaps the single exception of our lib-
erties. Something, as I have’ said, to turn the mighty energies of
our nation, or portions of it, into one channel; to give us some com-
108 Architecture in the United States.
mon objects of pursuit and pleasure, of regret and praise ; something
to make us more a people of one heart and one mind, is needed. I
do not say that objects of architectural beauty, would do every thing
towards correcting the evil; but I believe they would be found of
vast benefit in that way. ‘They would be public, objects of sense as
well as study, constantly before us, and, of necessity, matters of
thought and remark. Place ina village a handsome public monu-
ment, or pillar, or church, and I do not hesitate to say that, all other
things being equal, those villagers will be bound more to one another,
and to their village, than those of another. Place by another a
group of trees, with a fountain playing in their midst: have beneath
them tasteful seats, and make it a place to which experienced age
and prattling infancy will go for company or amusement ; a spot where
the villagers will assemble in the evening for cheerful conversation,
and I venture to say that these people will love their homes more,
and thinking less of changing, will improve them more ; that they
will be wiser ; that their taverns will be less frequented; and that
every good feeling will prevail more among them, than would have
been the case without. Place in a town or city, a spot with spread-
ing trees, and pleasant walks between, a spot which would serve as
an agreeable promenade, and the feelings of that people will flow
in a kinder and smoother channel; there will be more cheerfulness
and more happiness than there would otherwise have been. It is
a delightful amusement to saunter along the French promenades
about sunset, and observe the happy groups, of all ages, that throng
them ; to watch the rapid sale of bouquets, at the platforms which
line their sides (flowers only are admitted there); and as an Ameri-
can looks at the cheerful scene, he must think with pain of his own
cities, where every thing seems calculated for dull labor, or lynx-
eyed gain. It is doubtless owing, in some degree, to the provision of
such places, in foreign countries, that their natives resort less to
taverns for amusement than with us; and that intoxication conse-
quently is less frequently seen. ‘The French have their Boulevards ;
the Spaniards their Prado; the Italians their Corso; all of these
have their public gardens ; and we—we have our tippling shops, the
bane and disgrace of our land, and shall have them, I fear, till we
provide more innocent places of resort. All attempts to check this
current of human feeling are vain; the stream must flow; and if we
give it a channel, will refresh and beautify the land, it would other-
wise have desolated and destroyed.
t
Architecture in the United States. 109
So much for the effect on the morals of a people. The reaction
on the mind is also of very great consequence. A flourishing state
of architecture, it is true, implies a good degree of previous mental
culture ; but no cause perhaps, operates with more quickness, cer-
tainty and power, in refming the mind, thus prepared, than this. It
is placing objects of taste before the public, which they cannot help
seeing, about which they must converse, whose beauties they
must analyse, on which, in short, all will turn critics, and the sure
consequence will be, a refinement of taste, an elevation of mental
character, which will carry itself into all the concerns of life. The
principle of accommodation is one of the most powerful and useful
inournature. Place a civilized man among savages, and his thoughts,
feelings and habits, will, before many years, be strongly assimilated
to those of the savage: place a savage in refined society, and his
character will in a short time undergo a change. Place a number of
tasteful public edifices in a town, and the private buildings of that
town will become classic and tasteful : build private edifices on the
principles of good taste, and I do not hesitate to say, that their inte-
rior will correspond,—that in cleanliness, good order and regularity
of the system within, there will be a sure and rapid improvement,
reacting strongly on the mind, as well as on the moral character of
the occupants.
The subject is one sufficiently important, to be a matter of gov-
ernmental patronage. ‘This we can scarcely expect, but I hope
much from honorable rivalship between our cities and towns. The
character of a place depends more on this, than would seem proba-
ble, at first sight ; and, as I have already said, will depend on it still
more in future years. Most of the Italian cities owe their reputa-
tion, and some of them, through the crowds of foreigners thus allur-
ed, a considerable part of their support, to the attention architect-
ure formerly received. Milan would gain but little attention from
the multitudes hurrying yearly to Rome, were it not for her cathe-
dral. Genoa would draw but slight notice, were it not for her
beautiful palaces. ‘The Duomo and Logia of Florence divide with
its gallery, the admiration of all travellers: even Rome owes much
of her present celebrity to her architectural remains, and Greece
without hers.would be but a winter’s shadow. I recollect the first
time I heard a native of Leghorn speak of his city. He wished to
make a favorable impression about it, and spoke, not of its sudden
rise, its harbor, or commerce, or canals, but of its burying ground.
110 Architecture an the United States.
Leghorn is a comparatively small city, low in its situation, not very
clean, and in its best days marked, in every part, with the dull
common-place character of a business people. The scenery around
is not interesting ; and the traveller for pleasure, with Florence, Pisa,
and Lucca so near at hand, would think of Leghorn as an odious
place, were it not for the protestant cemetery. This is a spot just
without the city, of only a few acres in extent, its only ornaments an
iron railing, cypresses, weeping willows, and marble tombs; and yet
so strong isits redeeming character, that Leghorn never comes to my
mind except in bright and cheerful colors.
I will now come nearer home. New Haven was going the way
of all our other towns, when, in 1798 or thereabout, she was fortu-
nate enough to have for a resident an English architect of the name
of Banner. His name is now almost forgotten, but a time will come,
when it will rank well among those of her worthies. He erected a
house, still to be seen, on one side of the public square, which though
not a model of good taste, was yet sufficient to draw public attention
to the subject. New Haven has now taken a character through the
land, that draws to it crowds of visitors, a character above all price,
since it attaches its inhabitants to their homes, and makes them satis-
fied and contented. I have met its natives almost every where, and
as I have witnessed the glow of feeling, with which they talked of its
greens, its elms, and avenues, and its burying ground, I have wished
earnestly, that the cause of such feelmg were universal in our land.
Tt is true there are other subjects that contribute to the reputation of
ihe place ; but when it is spoken of, it is always as the “ beautiful
city,” shewing at once, the idea first suggested by its name, and upper-
most in the estimate of its character. All this has been effected at the
most trifling expense. ‘The elms have cost simply the labor of plant-
ing them; the houses, if there is any difference, are cheaper than in
other cities; the burying ground is but little more expensive than
such places usually are, and might be made, with advantage, less ex-
pensive thanit is. ‘There is nothing in New Haven beyond the pow-
er of every town in our country. I would not however, propose it
as a model :—but the subject has already expanded itself more than
{intended it should. If the public think it sufficiently important, !
shall perhaps resume it ina future number of the Journal.
Manufacture of Steet. — il
Arr. XII.—JManufacture of Steel.
Iw a letter from Mr. O. L. Clarke, dated New York, August 9th,
we are informed that he is vigorously pursuing the very important
manufacture of steel; that for two years past, his whole attention
has been applied to this subject, and that last autumn he erected a
furnace of the capacity of about five tons and in which, at two opera-
tions, he made ten tons of steel. ‘This steel is stated to be equal m
every respect to good English blister or (L) steel, and that it has been
so pronounced, by a large number of the most eminent and respect-
able mechanics and artizans in New York and elsewhere ; its capa-
city for hardening it is said, far exceeds any thing they have ever
seen, and consequently, it is necessary to reduce the temper propor-
tionably low for edge tools, &c.—it appears that it has been severely
tried, and with uncommon success. It is manufactured from iron
found and prepared in the state of New York, and from actual ex-
periment, this ron proves to possess all the qualities necessary for
making steel, equal to the best English (L). Its qualities are uniform,
and the quantity of the iron is presumed to be sufficient for ages to
come. Such is his confidence in this undertaking, that Mr.
Clarke is determined to push the manufacture as fast as the ne-
cessary means can be obtained. His ambition is to complete
the manufacture of steel in this country, by making cast steel, which
is produced from the best blister that can be obtained. As yet he
has not been able to obtain a crucible to stand the trial, but he has
every prospect of speedy success. No efforts have yet been made to
give publicity to his manufacture, any farther than by his own person-
al applications to have it proved.
Actuated by a desire to promote so important a manufacture, and
wishing to have the specimen of steel which Mr. Clarke transmitted
with his letter, brought to a trial, by persons who possess both science.
and skill; we committed the subject to the care of Mr. Eli W.
Blake of Whitneyville, near this place, who with his brother Mr.
Philos Blake, ably and successfully superintends the excellent estab-
lishment for the manufacture of small arms, erected and for many
years sustained by the late Eli Whitney, Esq. In the note to Mr.
Blake, a question was proposed respecting. the scintillations from
112 Manufacture of Steel.
steel, which is answered in the subjomed letter m connexion with the
main subject.
Letter on steel and other subjects, from Mr. Ex W. Buaxe, address-
ed to the Editor, and dated Whitneyville, Aug. 24th, 1829.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
My dear sir—tIn compliance with your request of the 13th inst.
we have subjected the piece of American steel, manufactured by Mr.
O. L. Clarke, to such tests as our experience suggested, and our
means afforded, for comparing its quality with that of the English
© steel.
Before I proceed to state the results of these trials, it will be pro-
per to remark that for different purposes, steel may possess different
properties ; or inother words, properties which make it inapplicable
to one purpose, may not injure it for another. We do not profess to
be judges of the English steel, except for the purposes to which we
have been accustomed to apply it, in the manufacture of muskets.
We haye consequently tested the specimen for those purposes only.
The results of our trials, therefore, cannot be considered as testing
ihe qualities of the steel, except for those purposes in the application
to which, it must undergo similar processes, and be subjected to simi-
lar trials. ‘
A large proportion of the English steel that is imported into the
United States, is used for the coarser articles of cutlery. We do
not consider our trials of the specimen as testing its qualities for such
purposes, for we have tried parcels of steel which had a high repu-
tation among axe makers, &c. and found them unfit for musket-
work. We use the English steel for ramrods, and for the main
springs of the locks. Any good steel will answer this purpose, pro-
vided it may be drawn under a tilt hammer to the size of ,° of an
inch square, without becoming flawy, and provided it may be har-
dened without fire-cracking. We formerly used the best qualities of
German steel for this work, but have latterly had difficulty in finding
such as would answer. Since we began to use the English steel, we
have experienced comparatively little difficulty from those defects.
We have however had one parcel which fire-cracked.so much ia
hardening, that we abandoned the use of it, and yet the same steel
was considered of a very superior quality by other artizans. We
have thought it necessary to state these facts, thus minutely, in order
that the result of our trials of this steel may not disparage the sale of
Manufacture of Steel. 113
it to those engaged in other branches of manufactures. ‘The domes-
tic manufacture of steel is a subject of great importance to the United
States. Whoever labors to improve it, deserves well of his country,
and we heartily wish him success.
Trials of Mr. Clarke’s Steel.
The results of our examination and trials of this steel are as fol-
lows :-—
The steel looks well in the bar. The fracture presents in a high
degree, that appearance which we have been accustomed to consid-
er as indicating a superior quality of steel.
It is often the case with steel as high as this, that it will not ‘“ bear
the fire well,” as the workmen term it ; that is, before the heat is suffi-
ciently raised, it will begin, (perhaps by the extrication of gas,) to ex-
foliate or puff up and become spongy, which so much affects its pow-
er of conducting heat, that combustion will commence on the surface
before the interior parts are sufficiently heated. Mr. Clarke’s steel is
remarkably free from this difficulty.
A cold chisel was made of it, which stood severe usage, as well as
those made of English steel.
Tn attempting to draw a piece of it for a ramrod, three distinct
flaws were formed before the drawing was completed. ‘The attempt
therefore failed. In making rods from the English steel, we do not or-
dinarily find more than that number of flaws in drawing a hundred rods.
After making several trials for the purpose of ascertainmg the pro-
per temper to be given to it, we made a main-spring of it, which
was tempered as nearly as possible, according to the result of those
trials. This spring, on being put into a lock, broke at about one
third of the ordinary degree of tension. ‘The fracture indicated that
it had fire-cracked in hardening. From this cause we usually lose
from two to five per cent. of the springs made of the English steel.
Irom these experiments our conclusion is, that this steel would
not answer for rods; but we are not certain that it would not answer
for main springs, if the best method of tempering it were more per-
fectly ascertained by further experience.
In the course of the last four years, we have made trials of several
specimens of American steel at the request of different persons who
have attempted the manufacture of it, and to a greater or less extent,
have uniformly found the same difficulties with it. We however, on the
whole, give the preference to Mr. Clarke’s steel, over.any we have seen.
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. 15
114 Manufacture of Steel.
Defects in the applications of chemical science to the subject of steel
and tron.
_ The various textures and qualities of iron and steel, probably in
most cases, owe their differences to their combimation with different
foreign substances, or with the same foreign substances in different
proportions. How happens it, sir, that this subject is so little under-
stood? Can it for a moment be believed that the powers of modern
chemistry are inadequate to discover the nature of these combina-
tions, and the means by which they may be effected, varied, modi-
fied, or prevented at pleasure? When we see the chemist, almost
without hope of reward, seizing with avidity on some new body just
brought down from the skies, or up from the immost recesses of nature,
summoning to his aid all his powers of analysis and synthesis ; (Lhad
almost said, of annihilation and reproduction,) dividing and subdi-
viding it into all its chemical constituents; ultimately detecting in it
as the cause of its novelty, some thousandth of a grain of a substance
hitherto unknown ; then operating upon this until he has determined
its ‘specific gravity, its chemical affinities, the ratio of its chemical
combinations, and even measured the angles of its primitive particles,
—I say, when we see all this refinement of investigation, so freely
bestowed on bodies unknown in the arts, is it not surprising that the
causes, which so essentially modify the properties of iron and steel,
should still remain almost unknown; and that the art of manufactur-
ing them, which, of all others, should be based on chemical science.
should still continue almost in the state of mere empyricism.
Scintillation of sieel—inflammation of gunpowder.
You inquire, sir, if we have ever tried whether gunpowder will
fire in the sparks from our polishing wheels.* We have tried the
experiment, and find that when coarse emery is used on the wheels,
it will be fired at any distance to which the sparks extend ; but
when very fine emery is used, a stream of innumerable sparks may
be poured upon coarse gunpowder without inflaming it. The same
powder, however, on being finely pulverized, will be readily inflamed
* The polishing wheels referred to, are of various sizes and kinds, from large grind-
stones on which the gun barrels are ground, to small wheels, covered with oiled
leather and armed with emery powder; all these wheels are moved with great ra-
pidity by strong water power, and when the steel articles are held upon them, there
is a splendid corruscation of innumerable sparks flying off in tangent lines, which
follow one another with such rapidity, that the wheel is constantly surrounded with
a glory.—Ed.
Manufacture of Steel. 115
by the sparks from the fine wheel. In both cases the sparks are par-
ticles of ignited iron, and there can be no difference in the two cascs
except in the magnitude of the particles. It would seem, therefore,
that within certain limits, gunpowder will not be inflamed by particles
of ignited iron, unless they have at least a certain magnitude in rela-
tion to the magnitude of the grains of the powder. Your question
was probably suggested by the fact well known to you, that on put-
ting the hand into the stream of sparks, the sensation experienced is
rather that of cold than of heat. ‘This is a fact which not a little sur-
prises those of our numerous visitors who have the courage to present
their hands to a stream of fire, so dense as to have the appearance of
one continuous flame. ‘The paradox, I apprehend, may be explain-
ed in the following manner :—
The particles which make up the stream are much smaller in di-
mensions and fewer m number than they appear to be, each particle,
from the extreme rapidity of its motion, appearing to extend several
inches, when in fact it is little more than a mere point. These par-
ticles, bemg thus mimute, do not impart a sufficient quantity of heat
to penetrate through the insensible external membrane of the skin,
ealled the cuticle or epidermis, so as to reach the adjacent mem-
brane, which alone is the organ of sensation, before it is again with-
drawn, and more than withdrawn, by the increase of evaporation, pré-
duced by the current of air, which the wheel puts inmotion. If the
hand is held steadily m the stream, until the evaporation is diminished
by the gradual desiccation of the skin, we shall perceive a mild sen-
sation of heat. ‘These sensations, first of cold only and afterwards of
mild heat, take place only when we present to the stream the inside
of the hand or fingers, where the cuticle is thick. If the back of
the hand be presented, a very pungent and pricking sensation of heat
is produced at every point where a particle impinges, highly con-
trasted at the same time with a general sensation of cold produced
by the increased evaporation. In the first case, the heat in passing
through the thick cuticle of the inside of the hand, extends laterally
and loses its intensity before it reaches the sensible membrane ; but
the cuticle on the back of the hand, being extremely thin, is imme-
diately penetrated.
Acid in Tomatos.
I would suggest to you sir, or to Mr. Shepard, if he has more leis-
ure to attend to it, the idea of examining the acid contained in To-
matos. I have observed that it acts powerfully on tin, which I be-
.
116 Notice of Peruvian Antiquities.
lieve is not common with the vegetable acids. I have also observed |
that this fruit has the remarkable property of imparting a beautiful
orange color to animal oils. Very respectfully yours,
Eur W. Buake.
Arr. XII.—Notice of Peruvian Antiquities.
Translated for this Journal, from the Spanish of the Lima Journal of Prof. Rivero,
of January, 1828 ; with a print of ancient images.
Tue history of the American nations, which offers so much in-
terest to modern literature, is yet mvolved in a darkness which with.
difficulty can be illustrated by some important documents, so as to
give us even an imperfect idea of it. Who were the first inhabitants
of this great hemisphere? According to ideas that have been trans-
mitted to us by historians, respecting Quetzalcoatl, Bochica, and Man-
co-Capac, holy and mysterious men, we know that they were the
first who appeared in different places, to give laws, and to introduce
the customs of the conquerors. ‘These persons, adorned with vir-
tues and talents, are represented to us with sacerdotal robes. The
first who was legislator of the Aztecas, came from Panuco, a stream
of the Gulf of Mexico. Bochica, a white person, with a long white
beard, appeared in the Cordilleras of Bogota, from the plains of Cas-
anare, as legislator of the Muscas. Manco-Capac, celebrated for his
laws, and for the empire which he formed, was the one who was
chosen to unite the worthy Peruvians into society.
The history of these illustrious men is lost in obscurity, and only
their names, which were respected by their vassals, have deserved
to be preserved in the archives of their documents, as just and wise
men, to whom they owed so many benefits. We are ignorant of
the time, as well as the place, whence these extraordinary persons
came, and the imagination overreaches its limits, when it attempts to
investigate the manner in which this continent was populated. ‘The
theories formed by sagacious persons, respecting this subject, dis-
cover no other desire but that of following the false traditions of the
first conquerors, who, with very covetous ideas, and intoxicated with
the gold which they found, forgot the investigations respecting so in-
teresting a subject, and sought only to gratify ther cupidity ; in their
monuments, (which might have revealed to us some truth,) they only
took notice of the hidden treasures, without considering that they
were more precious, and more interesting than the magnificence
Notice of Peruvian Antiquities. 117
which they contained. Unhappy nation ! whose greatness and power
consist in destructien !
If we believe modern historians, who have described in novels,
hymns, and histories, the greatness, the extent of territory, and the
laws of the Peruvian people ; and if we examine with some minute-
ness the remains of their monuments, we shall be easily persuaded
that the empire of the Incas contained many millions of people ; and
that its civilization, tolerably advanced, compared with the neighbor-
ing kingdoms, was owing to a system of government, made firm and
respected by the laws which ruled it. ‘The monuments of Siahun-
aco, at Cuzco, its great roads and aqueducts, its arts, and its benefi-
cial laws, give some foundation to the thought respecting the exist-
ence of a kingdom anterior to the documents of chronologies ; be-
sides, all the writers on this subject have devoted their pens to paint
to us, in exaggerated colors, their greatness and magnanimity : but
no one has wished to undertake the task of describmg the rank of
civilization to which they had arrived, by arts and sciences, a sub-
ject of great interest to human researches. If we judge by the re-
mains which we see, and by what we find in their huacas,* they
were not barbarous and ignorant ; as is evinced by their architecture,
and by the fact that they were acquainted with the fusion and solder-
ing of metals, with the manufacture of earthen ware, and the cutting
of stones, and also with the construction of roads and aqueducts, and
the labors of agriculture. A proof of this is seen in their sumptuous
edifices, obelisks, bridges, statues, &c. whose remains are admired
for the enormous masses, which without machines are raised to a
reat elevation. ‘The copper and stone tools which they used, their
permanent colors, their earthen vases, and finally their instruments,
such as hatchets, pinchers, copper and stone chisels, &c. prove evi-
dently, the knowledge which they possessed in these branches, which
we are disposed to boast of at the present time; and it is also ap-
parent that they possessed in perfection, the art of soldering,
which is so permanent in some figures of gold and silver, that the
solid part would break before it separated. We observe also, in the
many figures which we possess, of gold, silver, copper, stone, and
clay, the resemblance which they have to those of the Egyptians, from
whom, some have said, that the Peruvian people are descended.
The figures engraved on the adjoining plate, are in our possession.
The three first are of gold, made it appears with the hammer ; they
* Huacas: houses of prayer, which are constructed in caverns.
118 Notice of Perunian Antiquities.
are hollow, and without any visible soldering. The first and the
third represent a naked woman, with her hair plaited, seen both with
a full and side face; it is two inches seven lines long, seven lines
wide, and it weighs a castellano, five and a half tomines.*
The figure No. 2, is also of gold; it represents an Indian, seated,
with a head dress, which covers his shoulders, and he has a girdle
about his head; it is about five inches eight lines in length, three
inches six lines in width, and it weighs about an ounce, (a doubloon.)
It belongs to Sefior D. Pio Tristan, who found it in a huaca at
Cuzco.
The figures 4 and 5, are of solid silver, moulded ; they represent
two naked indians, with the hunting caps upon their heads, their
hands upon their breasts, chewing -Zcullico ;+ they are two inches
seven lines long, seven lines wide, and the value of each one is two
dollars. These, and those of gold, were found in a huaca, by Uluc-
urayo, a department of Junin.
These figures, we are told, represent a tribe of Indians, called
Opas, a stupid and ugly people, who were consulted as oracles; but
according to our manner of thinking, we rather believe that they may
be images of the demi-gods whom they worshipped, and they offered
in their great feasts to the principal, which was the sun.
The figure 5, represents a woman, seated, with her hands upon
her knees, with a head-dress, and ear-rings attached below the ears,
a tube projects from the back, and reaches to the neck, to this is at-
tached another shorter one, which is contiguous, and rises above the
head, through which the water is poured. This figure is entirely of
black clay, and is very much like the Egyptian statues.
The remaining figures are those brought out by Mr. Coit, and
which are mentioned at p. 46, of this number ; we have no particu-
lar knowledge of their history ; but as they appear to be connected
with the subject of the above notice, we have had the figures drawn
and engraved upon the same plate with those described above.
There can be little doubt that these figures were connected both with
the superstition of the ancient Peruvians, and with their veneration
for the dead.
* The value of which is about seventy five cents.
| Acullico : a species of plant,
+ What appears most probable is, that these were a kind of penates. protectors of
private families.
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Igneous Origin of some Trap Rocks. 119
Art. XIV.—Igneous Origin of some Trap Rocks—Enrror.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.—VOLCANOS.
In former volumes of this Journal we have repeatedly called the
attention of its readers to the evidence of the existence of fire in the
interior of our planet.* Hecla, Etna, Vesuvius, Sumboa, Cotopaxi,
Teneriffe, Kirauea, and nearly two hundred more active volcanos
still continue to shake the earth by their convulsions, and to devastate
the countries at their feet by their eruptions. Even long intermis-
sion in their activity affords no ground of confidence that the repose
of the earth will not be again disturbed. Vesuvius has, in various
instances, been quiet for centuries, till forests have come to crown its
crater, ‘and vineyards and villas to adorn its declivities. The first
seventy years of the christian era saw Herculaneum, Pompeii and
Stabia, flourishing in this condition, at its feet: a dense population,
active in business or war, or sunk in voluptuousness, dreamed not of
impending rum: although their streets were paved with the lava
of ancient eruptions, the inhabitants heeded not the legend which
perhaps told them of the dormant fire of the olden time, and of
rivers of molten rock, and of ignited stones flying through the air,
and of showers of cinders and ashes veiling the sun and oppressing
the earth. But the ruin came, and those who have been born almost
eighteen centuries later, are now walking the streets, entering the
houses, and collecting the relics of these disinterred towns.
It is equally impossible then to doubt either the present existence
of great subterranean fires, or that in former periods of the planet,
they were much more extensive and terrific in their operations, than
at the present day.
Aneient Volcanic Action.
We have already adverted to the vast volcanic district of France,
where (although history and tradition are silent on the subject) for
fifty leagues in both diameters, the evidences of volcanic action are
as palpable as at the foot of Vesuvius or Etna; and we have sketch-
* See Vol. TV. for Prof. Cooper’s lecture, and Vol. XIV. for the analysis and re-
yiew of the works of Scrope and Daubeny.
! See Vol. XIV. of this Journal.
120 fgneous Origm of some Trap Rocks.
ed the outline of similar districts in several countries in Europe, par-
ticularly in Germany, Hungary and Italy.
Analogies with Trap Rocks.
These analogies are at this moment recalled, for the sake of intro-
ducing the subject of the present notice. The trap rocks, it is well
known, graduate in their mineralogical characters into the acknowl-
edged lavas; and not only into those which are compact and sub-
crystalline, but even into the vesicular ; and the columnar lavas also find
their counterparts in the rocks of this family. In their geological po-
sition too, there is great similarity. Lava currents observe no law
but the law of the strongest; they burst forth, and they intrude,
wherever the expansive power sufficiently impels them; and they
flow over, or accumulate upon any and every species of rock and
soil. ‘The trap rocks are characterized by the same irregularity.
We cannot say of any particular rocks, that they are the natural asso-
ciates of the trap rocks; for the latter intrude among and repose
upon granite and the other primitive rocks; they are equally recog-
nized among the transition rocks; and they are found with and over-
lie the most recent, not excepting bituminous coal, and the tertiary ;
and even lignite, clay and gravel. They cut granite* and other
primitive rocks in two with their dykes; and the sandstones,+ lime-
stones, and other rocks, are occasionally severed by the same kind
of basaltic wall.
Trap Regions of the United States.
Those persons in this country to whom the name of trap Is not fa-
viliar, may still remember the conspicuous ridges, with perpendicular
mural fronts, composed of rude columns, with sloping backs; and the
isolated peaks and groups that divide the states of Connecticut and
Massachusetts almost centrally in two; commencing in the Kast and
West Rocks at New Haven and terminating on the borders of Ver-
mont; and thus occupying a region which is one hundred and twenty
miles long, and varies from three to twenty five miles in diameter.
The Pallisados, on the Hudson, are perhaps still more familiar to
our domestic tourists ; and it is well known that they cross the state
of New Jersey, from the Hudson towards the Delaware. ‘The cave
* At Red Hill, Lake Winipiseogee, New Hampshire.
t Yn East Haven, two miles from New Haven.
foneous Oneen of some Trap Rocks. 121
of Fines in the island at Staffa, and the Giant’s Causeway, in the
north of Ireland, are still more signal examples; on account of the
regularity and height of the columns, and of their curiously jointed
structure. The ironstone is the usual name of the common people
for our trap, and this name has allusion, no doubt, to the dark color
and great weight of many of the trap rocks.
Two opimons.
There has been much discussion among geologists on the question
whether these rocks are of aqueous or of igneous origin. ‘The Wer-
nerian school have maintained the former opinion, and D’Aubuisson,
one of its ablest disciples, after writing an interesting volume* to prove
it, was led by an examination of the ancient volcanic district of Au-
vergne, Velay and Viverais, in France, to change his opinion. The
Huttonian and, generally, the igneous geologists have sustained the
opinion that the trap rocks have originated from fire; and the pro-
gress of investigation has done much of late years to establish it. I
was accustomed to hear these subjects discussed with great interest
and ability, at Edinburgh, by Dr. Hope on the Huttonian and Dr.
Murray on the Wernerian side. Prof. Playfair had also at that time
published his Hlustrations, and Dr. Murray his Comparative View. If
I was not convinced, I was always entertained, by these learned and
luminous teachers; but without taking sides, I reserved myself for
opportunities of future observation. Iused indeed, at Edinburgh, to
see the sandstone under the trap of Salisbury Craig,+ apparently hard-
ened, as if by the action of fire; and the Huttonian challenged this
appearance as a proof in his favor; while the Wernerian claimed
that it was an alteration produced simply by drying.
Rocky Ehill.
Trap rocks abound in this country, and the two principal ranges
already cited, with which I am personally acquainted ; (those of New
England and New Jersey,) repose upon sandstone, commonly con-
sidered as the old; but embracing, in different places, many varie-
fies, from graywacke through conglomerate and puddingstone, to
the micaceous and argillaceous sandstones.{ Junctions of different
* D’Aubuisson on Basalt.
+ Which much resembles the East Rock at New Haven, and the two trap ridges
maintain nearly the same position in relation to the respective towns.
¢ As more fully described by Prof. Hitchcock, in his account of the Geology, &e.
of the valley of the Connecticut, Vol. VI, p. 201 of this Journal.
Vor eave —— Nowe 16
122 dgneous Origin of some Trap Rocks.
formations of rocks are always interesting to the geologist ; they ofter.
exhibit evidence of change as they approach each other, and indi-
cate either that different causes were in operation, or that there was
a different state of the same causes. ‘The more widely the rocks
differ m their nature, the more strikingly is this fact exhibited.
But, it is time to give the notice of Rocky Hill, to which the above
remarks are mtroductory.
This is a ridge of trap rock, a subordinate member of the great
trap ranges of Connecticut and Massachusetts, and like most of them,
it runs north east and south west. It lies, about three miles nearly
8.5. W. from the city of Hartford, to which it has for a century, sup-
plied a large part of the stone used there in architecture. This has.
occasioned an extensive and deep excavation, and the geologist
owes to the activity and wants of a populous region, the mterest-
ing exhibition of which I am now to give a statement.
This trap ridge, like ali the trap of New England,* reposes upon a
sedimentary rock ; a variety of sandstone, but here colored, evident-
ly by oxide of iron, of a deep brownish red, and so charged with
clay, that it is with great propriety called an argillaceous sandstone.
Although the trap rock is constantly carried away to repair the roads
and to be used in Hartford, in building; the argillaceous sandstone
which lies under it, appears to have been the great object for which
the quarry has been worked. The trap ridge is, on the eastern ex-
posure, almost covered with soil. As you come from Hartford on
the old Farmington road, you gently rise the acclivity of a hill for
perhaps three or four hundred yards, and as you reach its summit,
you discover the trap ridge, breaking through the soil, on your right
and left, and stretching away north east and south west like a line of
fortification. This allusion appears still more appropriate, when you
discover on coming to the edge of the parapet, that the vast rampart is
faced with a deep ditch, just such an one as defence would require,
were the ridge covered by cannon and bristling with bayonets. This
ditch is the excavation which, (as its object was peaceful,) it has ta-
ken a century to make. It is cut, through both the incumbent trap
and the subjacent sandstone, so that their junction is perfectly exhi-
bited through nearly a mile in length, and with scarcely an interrup-
tion. The trap is cut entirely through, and is exposed, from the
weathered surface, down to its junction with the sandstone ; and this
* And like most of that which I have seen in the south of Scotland.
Feneous Origin of some Trap Rocks. 125
last rock is also cut down for several yards ; far below the line, where
any peculiarity of appearance derived from the trap ceases.
The general height* of this grand front is between forty and fifty
feet, sometimes falling short of the latter, and rarely if ever, exceeding
it. ‘The trap rock is commonly from fifteen to thirty feet thick per-
pendicularly, and the section of the sandstone is from ten to fifteen
or eighteen.
Both rocks, as thus cut through for nearly a mile, in this extensive
quarry, exhibit a magnificent section; such as a geologist, wishing to
study the origin of the trap rocks, would be most anxious to see, but
would hardly expect to find. To others, the place is worth visiting
on account of the beauty of the scenery. In the retrospect towards
Hartford, is the grand and rich valley of the Connecticut—before
you, the vales of Newington and West Hartford, almost equally beau-
tiful ; and the view, in both directions, is bounded by hills and moun-
tains, which, to the north and south, appear interminable.
But the geologist, withdrawing his eyes from the landscape, will
rivet them upon the junction of the trap with the sandstone; whose
relative positions will be at once understood, by inspecting the sec-
tion which forms the frontispiece of this number, and for which I am
indebted to the pencil of Mr. Daniel Wadsworth, who, with the Rev.
Dr. Wainwright, and other gentlemen, accompanied me to the spot.
It will be seen, in the print, that the trap, in some parts rudely col-
umnar, in others amorphous, reposes upon regular strata of the argil-
laceous sandstone ; just as a collection of pieces of hewn timber may
be supposed to stand, on end, and close together, upon a pile of boards
or planks. The portion of the rocky ridge represented in the pic-
ture is about eighty feet, in the horizontal direction ; the trap is there
twenty eight feet thick, and the sandstone that is cut through is six-
teen feet three inches, so that the whole height at that place does not
exceed forty five feet. The figures of men at the foot will afford a
palpable scale.. ‘The water in the hollow, is an accumulation from
rain, in the bottom of the quarry.
This argillaceous sandstone has a few peculiarities which deserve
description. The flat surfaces where the strata join each other, are
glazed as if they were varnished, and they are marked by fluctuations,
like those produced in soft moveable mud or sand, by undulating wa~
ter; and also by irregular lines, running about upon their surfaces, like
* I speak of the depth of the excavation, not of the height of the ridge, above the
adjacent country, which is much greater.
124 Igneous Origin of some Trap Rocks.
large veins just under the skin of an animal. This sandstone 1s not.
only argillaceous, but it is calcareous. [ts numerous fissures are oc-
cupied by thin veins of calcareous spar, generally not thicker than a
goose quill, but occasionally swelling into larger dimensions, and some-
times dying away in searcely visible lines: crystals of cale-spar, some-
times of tolerable regularity, are not very uncommon, and there can
be little doubt that the entire rock would effervesce, but I did not
happen to have any acid with me when I was there, by which f
could make the trial. A very curious circumstance in this sandstone,
is its constant disposition to split into huge rhomboidal tables. Tt al-
ways has this figure marked out by regular fissures, as it hes m the
quarry, and it comes out in this form, as may be seen abundantly in
the pavements of the side walks and crossing places in Hartford.
The appearance is too constant to justify the supposition that it was
accidental ; it undoubtedly resulted from some law, but I would not
venture to say that the rhomboidal figure had any connexion with a
tendency to crystallization, produced by the carbonate of lime, which
is contained in the rock.*
The strata of this argillaceous sandstone are inclined, and dip to
the S. E. at an angle of, apparently, from ten to fifteen degrees 5 it
contains some veins of sulphate of barytes, occasionally stamed by
green carbonate of copper, and united to crystallized quartz.
The trap rock is of the variety called greenstone ; it is, obviously
to the eye, and still more distinctly to the magnifier, composed of
hornblende} and felspar, and possibly quartz, aggregated in a con-
fused and very compact crystallization. It is exceedingly firm, and if
taken from the distance of four or five feet above the sandstone, it is
very difficult to break. No person at all accustomed to chemical
* Nor am I quite certain that the rhomboidal figure is common toa looser kind of
sandstone which forms the greater part of that kind of stone found in the quarry, and
which on being exposed for a year or two to the air, crumbles into pieces, presenting
an appearance like that produced by the slacking of lime. This kind of stone is reject-
ed or used to make roads and paths, or for rough work, and only that which is in
rhomboidal tables is carried into Hartford for pavements. The strata of this are con-
tinuous for a great extent in the quarry; a particular stratum being found regularly
at a particular depth through the whole quarry. It is the decomposition of this ar-
gillaceous sandstone replete with clay, which has given the excellent basis that will
always insure to this vicinity, the fine soil which it now enjoys; and the colcr, so
strong as to have given origin to the application of it in paper printing, is owing to
the oxide of iron, so abundant in this stone.
+ Perhaps sometimes augite.
Igneous Origin of some Trap Rocks. 125
and mineralogical discrimimation, would hesitate a moment to say,
that this trap is a crystalline, and the sandstone under it, a mechanical
rock; the sandstone was evidently formed by subsidence, from me-
chanical suspension in water, and 1s composed of the accumulated ruins
of other rocks, or of other forms of mineral matter ; the trap was as evi-
dently deposited and aggregated, not from mechanical suspension, but
from a state of chemical mobility. But, a chemical rock, lymg upon a
mechanical one! Greenstone trap* upon sandstone ? How came it
there? This is the knot which it would be desirable to untie, al-
though it would be much easier to cut it, by saying it was made
there just as we see; so was the Coliseum at Rome, or the Parthe-
non at Athens, as we might maintain with just as good reason.
As I have intimated, in the earlier part of these remarks, it has
often been stated that the trap rocks produce changes upon other
rocks, and other forms of mineral matter, with which they come in
contact, or in whose vicinity they lie. However doubtful or imagin-
ary this may be supposed to be in some cases; in the present in-
stance, the change is so manifest, and even palpable, throughout the
whole horizontal length of this vast mural front, that it cannot for a
moment be questioned, whatever may be thought of the cause. For
the vertical distance of between three and four feet, in the sandstone,
and of four or five in the trap ; from seven to eight in the whole depth,
including the two rocks at the junction ; both the trap and the sand-
stone unfold a record, of which it appears to me scarcely possible to
give more than one interpretation.
Beginning with the sandstone, at the depth of from four to five
feet below its junction with the trap, it appears perfectly unaltered,
and possesses all the characters which have been stated im the descrip-
tion. Between three and four feet below the trap, going upward, the
sandstone begins to grow firmer; and as we ascend, this firmness in-
ereases ; the gloss disappears; the color grows lighter; the red vanish-
es, and becomes dark grey—light grey—ash grey, and in some places,
almost white ; while at the same time, the firmness is much increased,
so that from being a very soft and tender argillaceous sandstone, easily
splittmg into lamine, it has become hard, and difficult to break, striking
fire with steel, like an overburnt brick, and its fissile character is almost
or quite destroyed. We should not, where it approaches the trap,
* The trap at this place appears to contain but few foreign minerals; principally
veins and spots of quartz, and geodes of quartz crystals.
126 Joneous Origin of some Trap Rocks.
suspect it to be the same rock which it is below, and might even sup-
pose that it was not, did we not trace the change by an almost imper-
ceptable gradation. . But this is not all. At the depth of about two
feet, rather less than more, the altered sandstone begins to grow ve-
sicular. Fine pin-hole cavities make their appearance ; they are very
numerous, and the solid substance which surrounds them becomes
semi-vitreous, and loses the appearance of sedimentary or fragmentary
matter 3; as we ascend towards the trap, the vesicles increase rapidly
m size, and at, and near the junction, they are both numerous and
large. Ina word then, for two or three feet below the junction, the
a Sa is greatly indurated and inflated, and these apDeARBEEE
are the most remarkable at the junction.
Now for the Trap.—tn many places, it is so blended with the
sandstone, that for a few inches on each side of the lime of junction
we can scarcely tell which rock is which ;* they look as if melted to-
gether. But in some places the sandstone has been removed from
below the trap, so that the latter projects overhead, like the roof of a
portico, and we can look upon its under surface. ‘There it is most
remarkably inflated; the cavities would often contain peas, or small
bullets, and they are many times, so numerous, that the remains of
the rock serve little more than to connect them, and vast quantities of
this porous vesicular rock are easily torn down with the pick axe, and
carried away to mend the roads. In hand specimens, | could scarce-
ly tell it from the vesicular lava of Hecla. ‘The vesicular character
of this trap rock is most conspicuous at the junction with the sand-
stone, and continues to be very distinct for two or three feet above ;
but it becomes usually less conspicuous between three and four feet
above, and this character rarely appears much, above four and five
feet ; beyond which limit the rock commonly resumes its compact
and firm structure, and its sub-crystalline appearance, which often
vanishes entirely, or is greatly obscured where the vesicles are the
most numerous.
It has been already mentioned, that this trap is sometimes amor-
phous, and at other times indistinctly columnar; between the rude
columns, or between the masses which are contiguous, and have
fissures between them, there is occasionally the same vesicular ap-
* How then do we know where the line of janctionis? By observing the gradu-
ated appearance both ways, and the perfectly distinct surfaces which, perhaps at a
little distance to the right or left, we may discover.
Igneous Origin of some Trap Rocks. 127
pearance that has been described, and it extends up much higher than
in the general mass, and is visible for some distance inward, from the
contiguous surfaces of the masses of rock, penetrating into their sub-
stance. Ina few places, the inflation of the trap rock continues high-
er than has been described in the general statement; it seems as if
the force which produced the effect, suddenly hove up a wave, until
it Was repressed by superincumbent pressure, and again subsided to
the general level. Perhaps it would imply too much of hypothesis,
if we were to say that this arose from the mass above being less
heavy, as the superincumbent trap appeared in such places generally
thinner; but it was not always so in appearance, for there were
places where the trap was only a few feet in thickness, and the in-
flation was not always increased.*
What is the impression which these remarkable appearances must
make upon a common mind of good intelligence? Some of the spe-
cimens, both of the altered sandstones and traps, were exhibited to
such persons, and without imparting to them any hint of their suppos-
ed origin, they were asked what gave those stones that appearance ?
the answer was, they have been in a furnace, and the different va-
rieties have been subjected to different degrees of heat.
Such are the impressions of all who view the specimens, and it is
decisive that they are of a very indubitable character, because all agree
in their opinion of them, whether interested in such subjects,} or in-
formed in geological facts and theories, or not. For myself, I must
say, that the effects that have been produced, both upon the trap and
sandstone, which are so distinctly and strikingly visible for an average
depth of seven or eight feet, and in some places more, and for a
continued distance of nearly a mile, are such as I can attribute to no
agent but fire. ‘That there was a great and pervading cause, which
operated upon both rocks at their junction, cannot be doubted ; that
this cause was resident in the trap, seems almost equally certain, be-
* It does by no means, however, follow, that this was the original condition of the
trap ; the contrary is perhaps highly probable: that is to say, that there was origi-
nally a much thicker mass, either of trap or other matter, above the whole of that
which we now see, and that in the progress of ages, it has been removed by the
operation of both gradual and violent causes.
t Inmy last visit to this place, I was in company with several highly intelligent
gentlemen, and in a former one, with ladies of a similar character, and the impres-
sion made upon them all, was the same. Tf found it even among the workmen in
the quarry.
128 feneous Origin of some Trap Rocks.
cause the trap was deposited after the sandstone, and the effecis are.
common to both rocks, although most conspicuous as regards infla-
tion in the trap; but as regards induration and change of color, they
are most striking in the sandstone ; the effects on both rocks are just
such as, from their nature, we must expect from intense heat acting
under great pressure.
It is well known, that in deep currents of lava, the surface, under
no pressure but that of the atmosphere, is usually covered with scorie
and slag, resembling the ordinary rejections of furnaces, and that near
the upper surface, the lava is often extremely inflated and vesicular,
and that these appearances, although existing often below, do on the
whole decline, and fimally vanish, so that the mass at a certain depth be-
comes like arock. Such portions would never be suspected to be of
voleanic origin, except by a person familiar with such appearances, and
it is this passage, on the one hand, of the undoubted lava currents into
rocks which cannot, im many instances, be distinguished from basalt
and other members of the trap family ; and on the other hand, of
trap rocks into the porous and vesicular strata, and into other forms
which can scarcely be distinguished from the same varieties of lava;
it is this double approximation which, among many other considera-
tions, gives such strong countenance to the igneous origin of trap
rocks. ‘The subject is a great one, and has often occupied the at-
tention of able men.* We cannot now pursue it any farther, than
to apply it to the case of the Hartford Quarry. No theory can, in
this case be admitted, which does not embrace also the vast formation
of which this ridge is a member; or at least the contiguous chains,
some of which, within a few miles of this place, present mural fronts
composed of columns of several hundred feet in elevation, and form a
part of trap ranges that run almost continuously, for one hundred
and twenty miles.| These ridges and peaks of trap present indu-
bitable evidence, that they are not in their original condition. ‘Their
slopes are covered with their ruins, and these in enormous quantity,
are often scattered over the plains and valleys. It seems fair to infer,
that the present surface is not the original one, and that these trap
ranges were formed under superincumbent masses, which have been
* See President Cooper’s lecture, Vol. IV. of this Journal.
t We may say continuously, in a geological sense, for, although the ranges are
often interrupted, they are on the whole continuous, and the subjacent sandstone is
strictly so, except where itis cut in two, by dykes of trap or other rocks.
=
Ieneous Origin of some Trap Rocks. 129
swept away in the progress of time, and that they were subjected to
a vast pressure of solid materials, and not improbably of the ocean ;
the ancient ocean which enveloped the globe, before it attained its
habitable condition.
If fire were the agent, it is not now necessary to stop to account
for it; for its existence at the present moment, and in all ages, is an
unquestionable fact, and must be admitted, whatever theories of its
origin we adopt or reject, and no geologist will question the original,
or at least early submergence, of our planet under a deep ocean.
If then we suppose that the materials of the trap rocks were melted
below, and were forced upward through the incumbent strata, either
from fissures or vents, and that upon those superior strata, the ocean
itself was also incumbent, we have all the conditions necessary for
the solution of this problem.* Had the trap rocks been erupted into
day light like currents of lava, there would be no reason why they
should not exhibit all the variety of appearance that belongs to lavas ;
but, if only forced through, and among superior strata, or even if
forced quite through them, but still remaining under the pressure of
many miles of ocean ; they would congeal under enormous pressure,
and of course would be long in cooling, and would in the main as-
sume the stony or rocky, rather than the vitreous character. Sir
James Hall, and Mr. Gregory Watt proved, a good many years since,
that trap rocks, if melted and cooled very slowly, and under press-
ure, do, in fact, reassume the stony and subcrystalline appearance ; if
rapidly and without pressure, they become vitreous, and the same
pieces may be made to pass from one stage to the other at pleasure ;
the slag becoming rock again, and the rock again slag ;f the same
fact is true also, of acknowledged lavas.
In the case of the Hartford quarry, if we suppose that the melted
trap came in contact with the argillaceous sandstone, still charged
with abundant moisture, which the evident circumstances of its depo-
sition would necessarily imply,{ and replete too with carbonic acid in
* All compound rocks are fusible, and as we have every reason to believe are ac-
tually melted in voleanos: trap is fusible in our furnaces, and bottles were some
years since in France, blown from this material. I have melted the New Haven
trap, so that it flowed and congealed on the grates of the furnace in stalactites.
t Lsaw the specimens of Sir James Hall, (father of Capt. Basil Hall, the celebrated
traveller in America.) They were exhibited by Dr. Hope, at one of his public lec-
tures during his discussion of the Huttonian theory.
+ Ifany proof were wanting that this class of rocks was laid down under water, it
is at hand. {n quarrying the coarse conglomerate sandstone, (a part of the very
Vou. XVIT.—No. 1. 17
130 Igneous Origin of some Trap Rocks.
the calcareous spar, which it embosoms; steam and gas would of —
course be copiously formed, and being rendered very elastic by the
intense heat, they would make every effort to pass upward, accord-
ing to statical laws; but, the viscous and tenacious character of the
melted trap and of the softened sandstone would oppose great obsta-
cles to their free passage ; which, aided by the enormous pressure,
would eventually prevail, and at some distance from the surface
where the action of the trap upon the sandstone was going cn, the ex-
trication and passage of the bubbles would eventually cease. ‘The
sandstone, below the depth to which the heat reached, would remain
unaffected, and the trap, above where the elastic agents were extri-
cated, would be slowly consolidated, without those marks of igneous
action, which were derived chiefly from the nature and condition of
the argillaceous and calcareous sandstone.
It is not, however, necessary to the inflation of trap, that it should
be in contact with sandstone or with any other particular rock ; there
are in the trap itself materials to afford aerial products, and whether
they would be evolved or not, must depend upon circumstances,
principally the imtensity of the heat and the superimcumbent pressure.
‘There are many cases of inflated traps, where we can discover no
immediate connexion with another rock. But in the case before us,
that connexion is palpable, and is coextensive with the observed phe-
nomena. Mr. Seymour, one of the tutors of Yale College, informs
me that similar appearances are common in other trap ranges in the
vicinity of Rocky Hill, especially in Newington, his home, where there
is a parallel and a higher range that has been cut through in making
the road, and which has been otherwise exposed in quarrying. It
must be remembered, that it is only where sections, derived from
such causes, enable us to examine the junction of trap with other
formation that continues to Rocky Hill,) which has been used at New Haven,
during the two late seasons, in constructing a great building, the new State House,
the cavities in the rock which were entirely secluded from the atmosphere, were
often found full of wet clay and other comminuted materials, evidently the mud
and dust of the primitive rocks whose ruins compose this sandstone, and during its
deposition, accidental cavities appear to have been filled with this mud and
water, and then to have been closed up by the accumulation of more of the ma-
terials of the rock, so that the clay, wet often to the consistence of soft mortar, has
remained, we know not how many ages, and might have remained, we know not
how many more, unchanged. A mass of this mortar, which [ carried home, and
worked in my hand like dough, lay in the hot air of July, for several days, before i
was quite dry.
Igneous Origin of some Trap Rocks. 131
rocks, that we can expect to find any such remarkable appearances,
originating from similar causes.
I am acquainted with several places where there are junctions of
trap with other rocks, but as I wish to examine them again, and to
make more precise observations upon them, I do not cite them now.
Many other junctions must be known, in various parts of the trap re-
gions of New England, New Jersey, and other parts of this coun-
try ; and I take the liberty to request, that those who may have it in
their power, will make precise observations upon the appearances at
the junctions, and transmit to me the result, accompanied by draw-
ings and specimens when it is convenient; and at least with accurate
descriptions.* We might thus be in a condition to form a general
opinion of the origin of our trap rocks. Hasty generalization from
a few facts is a great evil in science; and if there should eventually
appear to be sufficient evidence to admit the aqueous origin of trap
in some cases; (as we must [ think without doubt admit its igneous
origin in many ;) we must not hesitate to go where truth and evidence,
and sound reasoning will carry us.T
This caution seems the more necessary in the present case, be-
cause there are instances in which there is apparently no direct evi-
dence of fire, in cases where trap is in contact with other rocks.
Such appears to be the case in the Campsie Hills in Scotland, in
Stirlingshire, as described by Lt. Col. Imrie, in the second volume
of the Transactions of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh. For
the illustration of his memoir, he has given a large and beautiful sec-
tion, exhibiting the junction of the trap with stratified rocks below ;
and the case is extremely similar to that of the Hartford quarry, only
no appearances of igneous action are mentioned, and it is fair to pre-
sume that they would not have escaped so acute an observer as Lt.
Col. Imrie, accustomed also as he had been ‘to the observation of
* Which, if permitted, shall appear in this Journal.
i If some are dispesed to say, it is absurd to admit that the same result may pro-
ceed from opposite causes, as of fire and water, we must resort to our experience
in order to ascertain whether there are any parallel cases; and we shall not be long
in finding them. Camphor crystallizes from its solution in aleohol, and also from
sublimation by heat. Boracic acid crystallizes from the mother water in which the
borax that affords it, is decomposed by sulphuric acid; and it rises also and congeals
in beautiful crystals from the effect of heat. Corrosive sublimate is another exam-
ple; and there are many saline bodies, (common salt, nitrate of potash, sulphate of
potash, &c.) that are both fusible and soluble in water, and afford, if not crystals, at
least solid deposits from both.
132 Blasting of Rocks—Danger and Remedies.
igneous action at Etna and Vesuvius, and in the Lipari or Kolian Is-
lands; and oceupied as he is in this very paper with the discussion
of the subject. Under the trap described by Lt. Col. Imrie, there
are several stratified rocks, among which are sandstone, limestone,
and bituminous shale ; and the sandstone is the stratum upon which
the trap immediately reposes, and it alternates more than once with
the other rocks, but it is not described as being at all altered in the
vicinity of, or contact with the trap. Prof. J. W. Webster, in the
first volume of this Journal, has well described similar facts, at the
Calton Hill, in Edinburgh; a place with which I was myself familiar.
These remarks have been extended far beyond my original design,
and I will conclude them, by again calling the attention of geologists,
and of all intelligent observers; in the first place, to the delineated
section which illustrates these remarks ; and in the next place, to the
scene itself, which is well worth the trouble of an excursion from
Hartford, and which, notwithstanding the interest so properly excited
by its fine institutions, and surrounding country, and by the grati-
fying exhibition of a flourishing and beautiful city, should hereafter
stand preeminent among the Lions of this region, and be visited by
all travellers, who are admirers of rich and noble landscape, or of
astonishing geological facts.
———_
Arr. XIV.—Danger from the premature explosion of gunpowder
, j / tq, r’ iy se 10
im the blasting of rocks, with suggestions as to the means of pre
vention.
Tuer deep interest excited by the following letter, induced me to
submit the subject to the consideration of a gentleman whom I knew
to have had considerable experience in blasting rocks, and in whose
science and skill, I have the greatest confidence. As he has favored
me with an answer, which contains very important suggestions, I am
happy to lay it before the public, in connexion with the letter of Dr.
Catlin. Ihave added also, some suggestions of my own.—Kd.
1. Letter of Dr. Catlin.
Fladdam, Con. August 25, 1829.
TO PROF. SILLIMAN.
Dear Siv—Being desirous to promote the welfare of my fellow-
citizens, and to render the situation of those engaged in a hazardous
employment, as safe as the nature of the case will admit, I take the
-
Blasting of Rocks—Danger and Remedies. 133
liberty to address you for the purpose of obtaining some information,
on a subject important to mankind.
It is undoubtedly well known to you, Sir, that a large number of
men in this place, are engaged in the quarrying of stone.* ‘They are
under the necessity of using large quantities of gunpowder, for the
purpose of liberating the rocks, and injuries have not unfrequently
been received, irom premature explosions. but till recently, the
injuries have seldom been serious, and the explosion has readily been
accounted for, and has generally, perhaps always, except in the last
case that occurred, been owing to the carelessness of the operator.
The lives of two valuable young men of this place, have within a
few weeks, been destroyed by explosions, which has alarmed us; the
last case particularly, as we are unable to discover the manner in
which the powder became ignited. I will relate the circumstances :
the hole which was charged was eighteen or twenty inches deep,
and about three in diameter, and was made by drilling into a solid
rock. ‘The spindle used was made of copper, and that it might be
easily drawn, it was oiled; a wad of dry tow was first put down, with
a wooden rammer, and followed by two wet wads, pushed in with
the same instrument. ‘The hole was then filled up a few inches
with gypsum, by putting in a little at a time, and pounding it down
forcibly with an iron tampering bar, held in the hole and struck upon
with a hammer. ‘The spindle was then withdrawn a little, by plac-
ing the tampering bar through the rmg at the upper end of the spin-
dle, holding one end in the hand, and striking under the other
with the hammer; after this, the workman proceeded to tamper
down as before, and again drew his spindle as at first, but thinking
that it was not withdrawn sufiiciently, he gave another blow and it
exploded. ‘The end of the tampermg bar, (as 1s supposed,) struck
in his right eye, fractured the orbitar plates of the os frontis, and des-
troyed life in thirty-six hours.
Now, Sir, if you can inform me, how the powder became ignited,
and how the danger may be avoided in future, you will confer a ben-
efit on all those engaged in quarrying and much oblige
Your servant,
Bengamin H. Catuin.
*In the vast strata of hornblende-gneiss, which, below Middletown, for thirty or
forty miles, form the banks of the Connecticut, to its mouth. This rock affords an
admirable flagging and building stone for our cities, and is transported even to the
Southern States. In this region are found, also, the erysoberyl, bery), and many
other interesting minerals.—Z£d.
134 Blasting of Rocks—Dangers and Remedies.
Il. Letter of Mr. Blake.
Whitneyville, September 5, 1829.
TO PROF. SILLIMAN.
Jy dear sur—In blasting rocks, as you know, it is not an uncom-
mon thing for explosions to take place before the charging is completed.
Almost every year some of our numerous newspapers give accounts
of such premature explosions, attended with fatal consequences to the
operators. ‘The cause of the accidental ignition of the powder in these
cases, is sometimes clearly mdicated by the known circumstances of
the case, and at others it can only be referred to the unknown cireum-
stances, which may have attended the operation. Ihave read with
attention the letter on this subject, which you did me the honor to
refer to me, which was addressed to you by Dr. B. H. Catlin, of
Haddam, giving an account of an accident of this kind, and soliciting
information as to the cause of the ignition of the powder and the
means of avoiding similar accidents in future ; and shall now with
pleasure proceed to state to you my views of the subject, as you
desired.
The method of charging the rock in this case, as minutely deseri-
bed by Mr. Catlin, was that which is now most generally practised,
and it is perhaps the only method that was in use twenty years since.
The workman appears to have used more than the ordinary degree
of caution; and I cannot see that there was any thing in the case to
produce explosion, which is not liable to exist, in every case, in which
this method of charging is practised. In the Journal of Science,
Vol. XHIT. p. 161, are given the results of some experiments tried by
M. Aubert, which go to show that violent shocks and percussions,
between any two hard substances, may occasion the disengagement
of sufficient heat to flame gunpowder ; and it is well known that
violent attrition is still more favorable to the disengagement of heat
than percussion. ‘To both of these the process, as described by Mr.
Catlin, is evidently in some degree liable. In tamping down the first
quantity of gypsum, which was put m next above the wad, the irreg-
ular pressure of those pieces which were in contact with the wad,
would be very lable to force the wad down on one side of the hole
or in the centre, which would cause the powder to be thrown up on
the other side or on all sides. The spindle is usually inserted into
ihe powder on one side of the hole ; consequently the wadding would
not be likely to close the hole entirely around ihe spindle, and the
Blasting of Rocks—Dangers and Remedies. 135
powder would be therefore, particularly liable to be thrown up around
the spindle. By proceeding with the tamping, this powder would be
brought in close and hard contact with the spindle, and in withdraw-
ing the spmdle in the manner mentioned by Mr. Catlm, would be
subjected to violent attrition, between the spindle and the gypsum or
between the spindle and the rock. Whether this was or was not the
precise cause of the explosion, cannot perhaps be determined 5 nor
will it be important to know, if, without this knowledge, satisfactory
information can be given in regard to the manner in which the recur-
rence of similar accidents may be prevented in future.
About twenty years since another method of charging a blast was
proposed and circulated in the newspapers, which, since that time, has
been practised to some extent in different parts of this country. This
method may be briefly described as follows, viz. After putting in
the powder, take a rye or wheat straw, which is long enough to reach
from the powder to the top of the hole, and having filled it with
powder, imsert one end of it into the charge; after which put in a
small quantity of wadding, and then fill up the hole with coarse dry
sand, simply poured in without any ramming.
When about ten years since my attention was turned to blasting, I
made a trial of this method, with great success in some cases but
without any effect in others. I soon found that when the hole was
deep, the effect was not only certain, but also more powerful than
when charged in the old method. But when the hole was shallow,
the sand would generally be thrown out without producing any effect
on the rock. When the depth of the sand above the powder is not
less than ten times its diameter, I have never known it to be thrown
out. In all such cases therefore, I can from experience recommend
this method as one which is perfectly safe and sure, and at the same
time more expeditious and more effectual than the old method.
Since my attention has been drawn to this subject by Mr. Catlin’s
letter, an equally safe method has occurred to me, of securing a blast
in holes of less depth. This method is as follows; viz. Having put
in the powder, and inserted into it, on one side, the straw filled with
powder, as directed above, put in a small quantity of wadding and
press it compactly down; then make a cone of wood, the diameter
of whose base is a little less than the smallest diameter of the hole,
and whose height is a little less than the distance from the top of the
wad to the top of the hole. Set the base of this cone on the wad,
and then keeping the vertex in the centre of the hole, fill in around
136 Blasting of Rocks—Danger and Remedies.
it with coarse dry sand. If the hole be very shallow, the sand may |
be pressed down around the cone with a small wooden rod, but if
the length of the cone be eight or ten inches this will be unnecessary.
For the purpose of testmg this method, before I proposed it to
you, I have, within the last week, made seven trials of it, six of
which were successful. ‘The failure of the other, I attributed to the
circumstance that the cone was so large at the base as to bind on the
sides of the hole. ‘The same hole was afterward charged, using a
smaller one, and the blast was effectual.
I have spoken of the piece of wood to be used in this method of
blasting as a cone. Strictly speaking, however, its form should not
be that of a true cone. Ina cone, the areas of the sections which
are parallel to the base, are as the squares of their distances from
the vertex ; but the proper form for the pieces of wood, is that im
which these areas are not in the duplicate, but in the sumple ratio of
the distances from the vertex. This gives the form of the true par-
aboloid ; and to this form the workman, in making the piece, should
certainly approximate as nearly as convenient ; particularly as it res-
pects the main part of the length, from the base toward the vertex.
Near the vertex the form will not be so important. It is more con-
vyeniently formed, and is perhaps better, to ¢ermnate in a conical point,
rather than in the more obtuse form of the paraboloid.
I here give a longitudinal section, showing on a small scale, nearly
the form of the pieces which I used in my experiments.
Ti will be proper to remark
here, that no very great degree
of precision will be necessary
in forming the pieces, particular-
ly for holes which will receive
one as long as eight or ten inches. When the workman has formed
a just conception of the proper form, he may make one with suffi-
cient precision, for any depth of hole, with no other mstrument but
acommon axe. ‘The pieces, especially when not more than five or
six inches long, should be made of hard seasoned wood. When once
made they may sometimes be used several times in succession, as
they will not often be thrown to a great distance ; sometimes not even
out of the hole. In my experiments I used one piece three times
and another twice.
~ Though the time occupied in charging in this way, is somewhat
more than it takes to charge in those cases where sand alone may be
Blasting of Rocks—Danger and Remedies. 17
zased, it is still much less than is required to charge in the old method,
as described by Mr. Catlin. Should this method, on further trial,
be found to be sure and effectual, it will afford as full a remedy, as
can perhaps be expected, for the hitherto hazardous nature of the
employment. With the most respectful consideration,
I am, Sir, your friend and servant,
Bur W. Braxe.
i. Letter of the Editor to Dr. Cathn.
Dear Sir—It is perhaps hardly necessary to add any thing, after
the able and clear instructions, given by Mr. Blake. But as people
are more prone to go on as they have been accustomed to do, than
to adopt new modes, although improved ones, it may not be amiss
to say, that Mr. Blake’s method appears to me, to embrace all the
desiderata, both theoretical and practical, which the case requires.
1. You are aware that the explosion of gunpowder, arises from
the instantaneous production of a vast quantity of gases, which be-
ing also expanded by the red heat, cannot be confined, and of course,
when not permitted to escape, rend their enclosure. With a given
quantity of powder the tendency of the gases to rend the enclosure,
is increased, in proportion as we increase the resistance which we
present, tending to prevent their escape; and we modify this re-
sistance, fo suit our views, in different cases. In a gun, we add
a wad, not only te retain the powder, but to cause its more istanta-
neous combustion, and to confine the action of the gases in that di-
rection, to the bullet; it is not our object to do more, and if our charge
is too great; or the wadding is rammed down too hard ; or there is
upon it, too great aload of metal, the reaction is so violent, as to burst
the piece. ‘This is a rare accident, considering how many discharges
are made by careless people ; and we are scarcely aware how much
the force of an explosion is increased by even slight resistance.—
A train of gunpowder laid on a board, burns, as we know, with so
little rapidity, that we easily walk or run faster than it goes; but, if
another board be laid over the train, and weights placed upon it, al-
though still open at the sides, the powder then burns with amazing
rapidity. Powder merely flashes in the pan of a musket, but the
same powder placed in a quill, burns vehemently ; still more, fulmi-
nating mercury, which also flashes, (although with intense brightness, )
when fired in a heap, explodes with great violence, in a quill.
Von. XVIL—WNo. 1. “18
138 Blasting of Rocks—Danger and Remedies.
2. Our object, then, is to repress the force to such a degree as to
accomplish our purpose; which, in fire arms, is to give velocity to a
ball; but, in the case before us, it is to rend asunder the surround-
ing matter. In the old method of blasting rocks, this was most ef-
fectually accomplished, by ramming down pounded brick upon the
wadding. This closed the hole so thoroughly, that commonly, the
brick would remain undisturbed by the explosion, which of course,
spent itself upon the rock, and tore it asunder.
In blasting logs, aiso, the same object was attained, by driving a
wooden pin into the hole above the wadding; and here again the
pin often remained in its place, after the explosion which burst the
log.
3. But, in blasting rocks, painful experience has shown, that great
danger of premature explosion ts encountered, whenever firm sub-
stances are made use of to close the canal above the powder ; and
multitudes have been killed outright, or dreadfully mutilated by these
casualities.
4. The ingenious remedy, furst proposed by the French, and em-
ployed, if I mistake not, by the Engineers of Napoleon in construct-
ing his famous roads through the Alps, removed the danger of explo-
sion, but was not in every case effectual.Mr. Blake has, however,
given us the rule, by which the desired effect may be rendered cer-
tain, and there can be no hesitation in applying it, as is indicated by
him, when the hole is bored to a certain depth. But, as the suc-
cess is not universal, and the reason and remedy were unknown to
the workmen, this method seems not to have been generally adopted
in this country.
5. The method of Mr. Blake combines all the advantages of the
French mode, with another important one, which rs peculiar to his
contrivance.—It is equally safe with the French method, (both are
perfectly safe,) and Mr. Blake’s supplies the only deficiency in the
French mode. ‘The latter was effectual, evidently, because the re-
sistance afforded by the column of sand, when of a certain depth,
was sufficient to produce the necessary reaction upon the rock ; per-
haps the movement which would be given to the sand, by the first
expansive lift, when the powder was kindled, would even facilitate its
thorough and sudden inflammation, by giving room to the flame to
dart at once, nto, and among the grains; while the pressure would
force the flame to pervade, instantaneously, the whole magazine.
Blasting of Rocks—Danger and Remedies. 139
In Mr. Blake’s mode, this advantage is equally attained, and when
ihe wooden stopper begins to rise, in consequence of the expansive
effort of the gases, it is immediately wedged by the sand, which is
crowded between it and the walls of the cavity ; more sand presses
down from above, and thus a firm resistance is created, by the very
effort which the explosion makes to overcome it. [tis a peculiar spe-
cies of valve, which operates at the moment when it is wanted, and
not before. It appears to me to combine in a sufficient degree, all the
advantages of the early, effectual, but dangerous mode of ramming in
brick fragments ; of the other more recent use of gypsum, and other
soft substances, and of the fillmg with sand. Should the experience
of the quarrymen confirm the certainty of the method, its safety being
perfect, this new mode of blasting will prove to that dangerous branch
of the arts, what the safety lamp has already proved to the coal
miners.
Should any practical difficulties occur, such as are frequent in
new undertakings, however promising ; it is to be hoped that the at-
tempt will not be precipitately abandoned, as it is highly probable that
the united efforts of science and mechanical skill will overcome them.
6. A few remarks on the theory of these accidental explosions,
and I shall have done. ‘To any one acquainted with chemistry, it
will not appear very extraordinary, if we reason from the nature of
the elements concerned, that there should be cases in which gun-
powder explodes without a red heat.
Gunpowder consists of highly inflammable bodies, charcoal and
sulphur, most intimately blended with three times their weight of
nitre. Nitre contais more than half its weight of nitric acid, and
nearly four fifths of this is oxygen. Oxygen is the great agent in
combustion, and it is rather wonderful than otherwise, that it should
he in close union with dry inflammables, without acting upon them ;
it is the tiger, reposing peacefully with his prey, and attacking it only
when he is roused: the proper stimulus to bring on the action in
gunpowder, is a red heat, but it is clearly possible, that much smaller
degrees of heat may answer the same purpose, and such degrees are
often rendered sensible, by mechanical action. Chemistry abounds
with similar cases. If, as has been repeatedly done, chlorate of pot-
ash be substituted for nitre, in the composition of gunpowder, no well
informed man would dare to ram down a cartridge made of it, much
less to charge a rock with it in the ordinary way ; it would inevitably
explode, by a very gentle pressure; as was fatally experienced at
140 On Crystailized Nate Terrestrial fron, Se.
Essore in France, where, during the trituration of a gunpowder, of
this deseription, although it was conducted with all possible care, am
explosion killed several persons.
Fulminating mercury, and fulrinating silver are still more irritable,
and the latter, when thoroughly dry, will not permit even the weight
of a knife blade to rest upon it, without inducing a violent explosion ;
in a quantity equal to a common musket charge of gunpowder, it
would, probably, be always fatal.*
7. It is not therefore theoretically improbable, that the heat me-
cessary to the action ef the oxygen upon the combustibles in gun-
powder, may be evolved by pressure, and the particles may also be
brought within the distance of effectual attraction, by the blow ap-
plied in ramming down, and thus it is possible, that the action may
come on, even when there is no spark.+ May not some of the pre-
mature explosions of cannon and other fire arms be attributed to sim!-
lar causes, especially when the piece is hot, in consequence of pre-
vious firmg, although there should be no spark ?
All fee views conspire to render it highly desirable that Mr.
Blake’s method should prove successful, and I shall be much inter-
ested to learn the result, which, after sufficient experience, I shall
hope that you will communicate to the public. I remain respect-
fully, your very obedient servant. B. Smuman.
Vale College, Sept. 17, 1829.
Art. XV.—On Crystallized Native Terrestrial Iron, Ferro-silicate
of Manganese, and various other American Minerals; by
Cuartus U. Sueparp, Assistant to the Professor of Chemistry,
and Lecturer on Botany, in Yale College.
» Crystallized Natwe Terrestrial Iran.
Ly looking over a suite of rock specimens collected by Prof. Olni-
sted, with a view to illustrate the Geology of North Carolina, and
deposited by that gentleman in the cabinet of the American Geologi-
cal Society, my attention was arrested by two pieces of Native Iron.
Of one of these, the larger of the two, an account is given in Prof.
* Thad nearty lost both my eyes in 1811, by the explosion of fulminating silver,
which tcok place in consequence of gentle pressure, even when it was under fluids.
The particulars of the accident are related in Dr. Bruce’s Journal, Vol. I.
+ As in the cases that occurred in France and which have been cited by Mr. Blake.
On Crystallized Natwe Terrestrial Iron, &. 14i
Olmsted’s catalogue of the collection, which was published in the
fifth volume of this Journal. Itis described as distinctly plated ;
hard ; assuming under the file the lustre of steel; highly magnetic ;
breaking under the hammer, with the lustre of steel; and having the
specific gravity of 7.4. Its weight is a little short of two pounds.
It was found in the vicinity of a bed of Iron ore, of the argillaceous
kind. The smaller specimen, which weighs seven ounces, Is pos-
sessed of the same characters in the main, though a little less brittle ;
but is a distinct crystal, in the form of an octahedron. Prof. Olm-
sted informs me that it comes from Guildford county, ten or fifteen
miles distant from the locality of the first specimen, which was found
in Randolph county. The individual from whom he obtained it, in-
formed him, that it was detached from a mass weighing twenty eight
pounds, which was wrought by a blacksmith of the neighborhood, into
horse-nails. The crystalline structure of this specimen is what par-
ticularly interested me ; for, although the existence of native terres-
trial iron may now be considered as established beyond all doubt, yet
it had hitherto been observed only in a massive state. ‘The axis of
the crystal measures three mches. ‘The angic at the summit is 60°,
that at the base 120°. It is, therefore, a regular octahedron. Its
structure is distinctly foliated, the lamme being pretty uniformly one
twentieth of an inch in thickness, and arranged parallel with the
planes of the octahedron, which must consequently be considered as
the primary form of the species. On one or two of the planes, the
lamine extend beyond the edges of the adjoiming and opposite faces,
or those which are external do not in all cases cover the layers upon
which they rest; but stopping somewhat short of, their borders, en-
able us to discover the internal structure of the crystal with great
distinctness.
Tn farther examining fragments freshly detached from these mass-
es, I was struck with their resemblance to the native iron from Penn-
sylvania, of which I gave some account in Vol. XIV. p. 183, of this
Journal, and which was found to contain a trifling per-centage of
arsenic. Having satisfied myself, by forming a solution in nitric acid,
that the brittleness and want of malleability in the present case, was
not owing to the presence of carbon, no carbonaceous discoloration
taking place; and, moreover, being assured, by the applications of
the customary tests, of the absence of silver, copper, and nickel, I
felt no hesitation in concluding that it was identical with that sub-
stance. Had the compound blow-pipe been in operation, it would
142 On Crystallized Native Terrestrial Tron, Sc.
have been easy to detect the arsenic by its odor; the common blow- -
pipe being insufficient, on account of the eiapies proportion in which
it exists, to render it obvious in either the North Carolina, or the
Pennsylvania specimens.
In the mass examined from Pennsylvania, which formed a part of
a regular crystal, (the base being somewhat elongated, and the sum-
mits obliterated,) I suggested that it might belong to the class of rhom-
bic prisms 5 an opinion which I am now happy in having an opportu-
nity to rectify. ‘The larger angle then obtained, overlooking the
error of one degree in the measurement, it is obvious, belongs to the
base of the octahedron; while the smaller angle of 59° corresponds
to the angle over the summit of this figure. ;
2. Ferro-silicate of Manganese.
1 am about to announce the existence of the present species in
mineralogy, (recently established by Dr. Thomson,) in Cumberland,
Rhode Island ; with some farther information concerning its crystal-
lization, than is given in the original description : but as an account
of this mineral is not yet to be outa in any system of the science,
and has not been noticed in this Journal, I shall first abstract from
the original memoir, published in the “ Annals of the Lyceum of
Natural History of New York,” (Vol. If. p. 28.) the substance of
Dr. Thomson’s description, and then append to it the remarks pro-
posed.
Color brown, with a shade of red; externally, it is dull, having an earthy aspect
and may be scratched by the nail; but internally, it is foliated, splendent, of a grey
color, with a shade of red; hardness nearly the same as felspar : specific gravity
35.44,
It has three cleavages, indicating a doubly oblique prism for its primitive form.
P on M = - - - 108° <>
5 A - !
Peni Pee nie Ne 86. 30 MET irae
Mstionn, KEY perainennseis unit) de 86. 30!
eX
The faces not being smooth or flat, these measurements are only given as approxi-
mations; and on the examination of another crystal, Dr. T. suggests that the pri-
mary form may be a right oblique prism.
A portion of the mineral was treated with muriatic acid, till it assumed a white
color. Much chlorine was evolved, and nearly one fourth of the mineral was dis-
solved. The solution gave
On Crystalhzed Natwe Terrestrial Iron, &c. 148
Detoxide of Manganese, - - - - 17.716
Peroxide of Iron, - = = = = - 6.480
The residue, which became white, was composed of
Silica, - - - - - < - 29.480
Protoxide of Manganese, - - - - - 34.640
Peroxide of Iron, - - - ~ - 6.740
Moisture - - - - - - - 3.170
98,226
Dr. Thomson supposes the mineral to have undergone a species of decomposition
externally, from the action of the air; the protoxide of manganese having been con-
verted into deutoxide ; and originally, that the mineral must have been a compound
of four atoms silicate of manganese, and one atom persilicate of iron.
The specimens examined were obtained through Dr. Torrey, from Franklin, New
Jersey ; where this mineral has long beea known to exist under the denomination
of the Crystallized siliceous oxide of Manganese.
The Ferro-silicate of Manganese, I found in Cumberland some
years ago, at the same time I discovered the Yenite.* Both of
these minerals occur, engaged in the same gangue, and were for a
long time considered by myself, as identical, in consequence of an
early blow-pipe experiment which I made upon them,—both fusing
with equal ease into a black, shining globule, attractable by the mag-
net; though the former I had not then met with, except in massive
specimens. Atterwards, observing that it invariably appeared distinct
from the Yenite, though accompanying it upon the ‘same specimen,
that it possessed a distinct threetold cleavage, and, moreover, a hard-
ness above that of Yenite, I ceased to consider it any longer as such,
and placed it among my specimens of doubtful minerals.
Lately, however, my attention has been called to it by a specimen
of the same substance, ticketed ‘“‘ Yenite,” in a case of minerals pre-
sented to the American Geological Society, by the late Dr. Robin-
son. It was distinctly crystallized, and under a form quite incom-
patible with Yenite. ‘The crystals consisted of parallel rows of short,
thin, oblique angled prisms, traversing the mass, and leaving chan-
nels between them. ‘The largest of these did not exceed one fourth
of an inch in length, one fifth in height, and one tenth in breadth.
Their form is exhibited in the following diagram.
* Vide this Journal, Vol. VIE, p. 254.
144 On Crystallized Native Terrestrial Iron, &c.
In some of the crystals, the acute terminal edges, I’, were replac-
ed by one or two planes ; but their dimensions were too small to ad-
mit of ascertaining their inclinetions to the adjoiing faces.
These crystals cleaved with ease parallel to the planes P, T, and
M ; thus, giving rise to the doubly oblique prism, as their primitive
nucleus. P on 'T is given above ; the remaining angles are,
Pon My ee iii (a) lee hie Shs aaa
M on T se eae Ciuc ee WMATA home ipl A 00 de
The utmost accuracy is not claimed for these measurements, which
were made with the common goniometer, and must therefore be re-
garded, only, as approximations to the truth.
Externally the crystals were of a black color, and so soft as to be
scratched with a knife; but, within, of a reddish brown color, and
of the hardness of felspar. Specific gravity 3-4. Reduced to pow-
der and treated with muriatic acid, they partly dissolved, the inso-
luble remainder assuming a white color. Before the blowpipe, like
ihe massive portions with which they were associated, they fused mto
a shinmg black globule attractable by the magnet; and with borax
they gave a violet glass.
The common lamellar variety is disseminated through quartz in
plates, quite after the manner of Clevelandite Felspar. When amass
of the rock containing it, is freshly broken, the ferro-silicate of man-
ganese presents a pale rose-red color with felspathic lustre, and might
be mistaken for that substance ; but whenever the air has found ac-
cess to it, its color and lustre are changed, as well as hardness, and
even chemical constitution, as is supposed by Dr. Thomson.
3. Anthophyllite in Haddam, ( Con.)
This mineral is found upon the east side of the Connecticut, in
an extensive quarry of flagstone. It exists in connexion with a fibrous
brown tourmaline, (which is sometimes in distinct crystals,) and a
¢ranular decomposing iron pyrites ; forming very often, a third part
of the mass in bulk ; and may be obtained in any quantity desired.
The tendency of the pyrites to decompose, frequently obscures the
characters of the anthophyllite; but, when a mass is freshly broken,
- it presents the mineral so much resembling the Norway specimens, of
the same substance, in the color, lustre and mode of aggregation of
its crystalline fibres, that it is impossible to distinguish them apart.—
The crystals are occasionally, remarkable for their distinctness and
Magnetism of the Earth. 145
transparency, and are sometimes levelled upon their acute lateral
edges.
4. Tabular Spar and Idocrase at Moriah, (N. Y.)
‘These minerals were found by Dr. Lewis Heermann and myself,
during a mineralogical excursion upon the western shores of Lake
Champlain. The Tabular Spar we found in loose blocks, in a wood
by the road side, about one mile west of Major Dallarby’s. It oc-
curs in foliated prismatic masses of considerable dimensions, highly
translucent, having a greyish white color with a tinge of olive. In-
termingled with it is a brown mica, and more sparingly, scales of
Plumbago. We did not find it i place ; but, from the nature of
the rocks in the vicinity, we were disposed to consider it as coming
from the primitive limestone. ‘The Idocrase is found near Maj. Dal-
larby’s mills, and occurs among the rocks thrown out in forming a
mill-sluice. It is of a dark reddish brown color, and in masses of
considerable size, one of which we obtained, presenting several crys-
talline facets. Itis associated with iron pyrites, calcareous spar, and
the delicate hair brown hornblende, which elsewhere in the United
States, so frequently accompanies the spinelle.
Yale College, Sept. 8th, 1829,
Arr. XVI.— Observations on the Magnetism of the Earth, especial-
ly of the Arctic Regions ; in a letter from Capt. Edward Sabine,
to Professor Renwick.
Communicated for this Journal.
TO PROF. RENWICK.
My dear Sir,—l received a few days ago, a letter from Professor
Hansteen, of Christiania, dated from Irkutsk, in Siberia, in April last.
M. Hansteen is travelling, as you know, at the expense of his King,
and with the permission of the Emperor of Russia, for the purpose
of observing the Magnetic Dip, Variation, and Intensity, over the
whole of the north of Europe, and of Asia; and of comparing the
actual phenomena with the system of terrestrial magnetism, propound-
ed by himself, in his celebrated treatise, entitled “ Magnetismus der
Erde.”
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. 19
146 Magnetism of the Earth.
The observations that M. Hansteen has already made in the first
year of his undertaking, and the conclusions which they establish m
regard to the direction assumed by the isodynamic curves, or curves
of equal magnetic intensity, are in the highest degree curious and im-
portant. In the letter with which he has favored me, he has taken
the trouble to communicate his observations in full detail, and has
expressly permitted me to make every use of them that I may think
proper, ‘especially when it may encourage to new undertakings,
and accordingly forward the science.” Having been requested by
you to superintend the construction in this eoinuen , of a part of the
magnetic instruments, designed for the’ expedition now preparing by
the government of the United States, for scientific researches in the
southern hemisphere, I cannot anticipate a more favorable opportu-
nity of turning to good account the information of which M. Han-
steen has so liberally made me the depository. ‘Since analogy would
lead us to expect that a corresponding system of magnetism prevails
on the two hemispheres of our globe, a knowledge of the arrange-
ment of the system in the northern hemisphere, may prove an im-
portant guide and direction fer corresponding researches in the
southern; whilst the example of M. Hansteen’s undertaking may
stimulate, and his success is well calculated to encourage, those who
are about to enter on a career honorable alike to themselves, and to
the government under whose instructions they are employed.
For some years past it has been the opinion of several persons,
who have attentively considered the subject, that a knowledge of the
general system of the magnetism of our globe is more nee to be
attained by experiments on the relative intensity of the magnetic at-
traction in different parts of the earth’s surface, than by observations
on the dip or variation of the needle. In conformity with this opin-
ion, M. Hansteen, (without neglecting to observe, on all occasions,
the three phenomena Seanonanneis has applied himself especially
to trace the lines connecting these places on the globe, where a
needle, freely suspended in the magnetic direction, and drawn a cer-
tain number of degrees from rest, is found to make an equal number
of vibrations around its point of rest In a given time. It was to be
expected that these lines of equal intensity would arrange themselves
systematically around the point or points im ‘each hemisphere, where
the intensity was greatest; and on the supposition that two such
points would be found, opposite to each other on the globe, one in
the northern and the other in the southern hemisphere, that the iso-
Magnetism of the Earth. 147
dynamic lines would form parallel circles, analogous to those of geo-
graphical latitude, progressively diminishing in intensity from the two
poits of maximum or poles,’ to the boundary circle of the two
hemispheres, which, following the same analogy, might receive the
appellation of the Magnetic Equator. Such was in fact the system,
which, until the decisive discoveries which M. Hansteen has now
made, appeared sufficiently conformable to the existing observations,
to receive their countenance and support. It had so happened that
the previous observations, although extending widely over the mag-
netic parallels m the northern hemisphere, namely, from the least al-
most to the greatest intensity, were confined, in respect to longitude,
to a space, littlke more than the quarter of an hemisphere ; and to
that quarter which is immediately opposite to the countries visited by
M. Hansteen. Within the space that had been thus examined, the
isodynamic curves appeared to arrange themselves, with comparative-
ly insignificant deviations, in parallel circles around a point situated
in the north-eastern part of Hudson’s Bay, and as nearly as could be
judged, about the intersection of the 60th degree of geographical
latitude, with the meridian of 80° west of Greenwich. That a sys-
tem apparently so simple, so like the arrangement of induced mag-
netism in a sphere of iron, and corroborated by the approximation of
results observed over a fourth part of an hemisphere, should have
been viewed as likely to prove eventually the general system of the
globe, is not surprising. It is the peculiar distinction of M. Han-
steen, to have been led by a more careful consideration of the slight
’ apparent deviations which have been noticed, and of the general dis-
position on the globe of the lines of dip and variation, to infer the
existence of a second point of principal magnetic action in the north-
ern hemisphere ; a fact which, by his recent observations, must now
be regarded as fully established ; the isodynamic curves being found
to arrange themselves systematically around the two points, in Hud-
son’s Bay, and in Siberia, and to be governed in the courses which
they follow, partly by their distances respectively from those points,
and partly by a disparity in the absolute attractive force of the two
points, the maximum intensity in Siberia appearing to be greater than
the maximum in Hudson’s Bay.
The accompanying sketch of the northern hemisphere, may en-
able me to convey a more distinct notion of the arrangement of the
isodynamic curves, than could be done by description alone: the
portions traced in unbroken lines mark the connection between places
148 Magnetism of the Earth.
at which an equal intensity has been observed; and those in dotted
lines exhibit the supposed completion of the curves, in parts of the
hemisphere where the intensity has not been as yet examined. ‘The
portions which arrange themselves around the pomt in Hudson’s Bay
are chiefly laid down from observations made by myself in two
voyages of north west discovery, those of 1818, and of 1819—1820;
in a voyage in 1822, to the equatorial shores of the Atlantic, and to
several of the Islands in the Atlantic and Caribbean seas; and ma
fourth voyage, in 1823, to Greenland, Spitsbergen, and Norway.
Their prolongations around the poit in Siberia, are from the recent
observations of M. Hansteen, and the gentlemen who accompany
him. A brief notice of each of the curves in succession, will enable
me to point out generally the places which furnished their respective
authorities.
Commencing with the intensities of the highest order, the curve
drawn through the countries surrounding Hudson’s Bay, is laid down
from observations made at occasional intervals from Regent’s Inlet in
the north west quarter, by Baffin’s Bay in the north, to Davis’ Straits
in the north east; and again at New York in the south. In places
situated under this curve, a needle freely suspended, which required
three hundred seconds to perform one hundred vibrations in London,
would perform the same number of vibrations (in integer numbers)
in two hundred sixty nine seconds. In the space included by this
curve, in which no observations have hitherto been made, it may be
presumed that the intensity progressively increases to a central point
of maximum ; for the observations made in receding from the curve
in different directions, namely m Melville Island, m Greenland, and
to the southward of New York, all manifest an opposite tendency.
The observations of M. Hansteen have made known the reappear-
ance in Siberia of an equal imtensity to that beneath the curve which
has been just described ; forming a curve, probably similar in figure
but of smaller dimensions, around a point of maximum intensity, situ-
ated in long. 102° east of Greenwich, (which is as nearly as can be
judged 180° from the present position of the corresponding point in
Hudson’s Bay,) and in latitude apparently somewhat to the north of
60°, but which will be more particularly determimed in the present
summer. M. Hansteen has traced the southern bend of this curve
below the 60th parallel, from the Jenisei River on the west, to the
longitude of 115° E. (25° east of the Jenisei,) and to the latitude of
61°, where it has already gained a direction nearly north and south.
Magnetism of the Earth. 149
Tt may be remarked of the Siberian curve, that the space which it
encloses is considerably less than its parallel in America; a circum-
stance consistent with the supposition already noticed, that the maxi-
mum intensity in Siberia is inferior in attractive force to the maximum
in Hudson’s Bay: consequently curves of equal intensity are encoun-
tered at a less distance from the pomt of maximum in Siberia than in
America.
The second curve on the American side connects those places
where the needle, introduced for illustration, would perform its one
hundred vibrations in two hundred and seventy eight seconds. ‘The
points which have determined it are, Melville Island in the north west;
several stations on the west side of Greenland, from lat. 76° to lat.
66°, in the north east; and finally a greater mtensity observed at
New York and a lesser at the Havanna; whence it is coneluded that
this curve intersects the sea board of the United States at an inter-
mediate point between those cities. A corresponding mtensity has
been traced by Dr. Erman of Berlin, (who accompanied M. Han-
steen to Siberia,) from the mouth of the River Oby, in lat. 68° and
long. 70° KE. preserving nearly the direction of a meridian, to lat. 60°,
whence it bends gradually to the eastward, passes between 'Tobolsk
and Naryon, and has been observed at Kainsk by M. Hansteen, on
its way to its probable southern limit on the Asiatic side, a few de-,
grees south of Lake Baikal.
No. 3 is that in which the needle would perform one hundred vi-
brations in two hundred and eighty seven seconds. Its pomts of ob-
servation have been, north of the Havanna, east of the Pendulum Isl-
ands on the eastern side of Greenland in lat. 74° 5’, between the
North Cape and Spitzbergen, by myself im 1823, and by M. Keilhau
in 1827. By M. Hansteen’s observations it enters the continent of
Europe between Archangel and Nova Zembla, and was crossed by
' him, on the route from Moscow to 'Tobolsk, in 56° and 57° east lon-
gitude, and 57° and 58° latitude.
The curve marked No. 4 is that in which the needle would make
one hundred vibrations in two hundred: and ninety seven seconds.
{ts tracmg by cbservation commences on the American side, with the
islands of Caymen and Jamaica. Crossing the Atlantic, it passes
through the northern parts of the British islands, and enters Norway
south of Bergen. It there became subject to M. Hansteen’s observ-
ation, who has ascertained its northern limit, and where it begins to
bend to the southward, to be on the shores of the gulf of Bothnia,
150 Magnetism of the Earth.
midway between Stockholm and Tornea. He has since traced its
prolongation through St. Petersburg and Moscow.
It is M. Hansteen’s intention to commence the present summer by
descending the Jenisei to Touroukansk, under the polar circle, in or-
der to extend the tracing of the curve No. 1: returning to Krasno-
jarsk, to cross, in a route from thence to the Caspian Sea, the curves
2, 3 and 4, in their further prolongation to the south east: whilst Dr.
Erman, who quits him at Irkutsk, and is furnished with the necessary
instruments, will proceed by Jakutsk and Ochotsk to Kamschatka,
in which route he expects again to cross the same curves 2, 3 and 4,
after they have passed their southern Asiatic limit, and resumed for
a second time a north easterly direction.
These are all the curves of which M. Hansteen has ascertained
the reappearance on the Asiatic side, those of lesser intensity pass-
ing altogether to the south of his present journey. I shall, however,
briefly notice the remainder, m order to complete the sketch of the
isodynamie curves in the northern hemisphere. No. 5, in which the
needle would make one hundred vibrations in three hundred and eight
seconds, was observed by M. Humboldt in 1800—1805, to pass near
the cities of Mexico and Carthagena; by myself in 1822 between
Teneriffe and Madeira; and again by M. Humboldt at Madrid and
in the south of France. No. 6, in which the needle would require —
three hundred and twenty one seconds for its one hundred vibrations,
was observed both by M. Humboldt and myself, on the South Amer-
ican shore of the Atlantic, near the 10th degree of north latitude ;
and by my observations at Port Praya, was ascertained to pass to the
north of the Cape Verd Islands. No. 7, m which the needle would
make one hundred vibrations in three hundred and thirty five seconds,
was frequently observed by M. Humboldt in the interior and on the
western side of Columbia; after crossing the Atlantic, it enters the
continent of Africa somewhat to the south of the Gambia River, as is
shown by my observations at Bathurst where the intensity was great-
er, and at Sierra Leone where it was less. No.8, where the needle
would require three hundred and fifty one seconds, was observed by
M. Humbolt at Tompenda in Peru on the western side of South
America; at Marenham on the eastern side, by myself; and on the
African side of the Atlantic, enters the continent of Africa somewhat
south of Sierra Leone. Finally, No. 9, in which the needle would
require three hundred and seventy seconds for its one hundred vi-
brations, was found by myself at the island of St. Thomas, in the
Magnetism of the Earth. 151
Gulf of Guinea, in the northern hemisphere; and in the southern
hemisphere, at the Island of Ascension, and at Bahia on the coast of
Brazil.
We may hope that the further tracing of the curves, which have
not been subject to M. Hansteen’s observation in Siberia, will ere
long be accomplished in the Asiatic quarter, by the scientific indus-
try of British officers employed in India; where a line through the
British dominions, from Ceylon on the south, to the Himalaya Moun-
tains on the north, would probably intersect Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8,
nearly at right angles to their course.
Mr. David Douglas, well known to you as the enterprising travel-
ler and successful naturalist in the countries adjacent to the Columbia
river and its tributaries, returns in September, to the north west coast
of America, on an undertaking which will occupy him there many
months. He will be well provided with instruments, and is practised
in the modes of observation. He hopes to determine the magnetic
phenomena, from California in the south, to the farthest extent to-
wards the north, to which circumstances may enable him to prose-
cute his researches; and from the ocean on the west, occasionally to
the Rocky Mountams on the east. He will probably ascertain the
situation on the western side of North America, of the curves 3 and
4, and will approach No. 2, when at his eastern limits. But it is
from travellers in the interior of the United States, and in the coun-
tries adjacent to the Slave Lake and Coppermine River, that we must
expect exact determinations of this interesting curve No. 2. Un-
questionably, however, the space included by the innermost curve,
is the field for observations of the very highest importance on the
subject of the magnetism of the globe ; and as it is traversed annu-
ally under the direction of the Hudson’s Bay company, we may con-
fidently hope, from the ready disposition which that company has
shewn in so many instances to promote scientific researches, that
much time will not elapse, before that really important journey will
be performed by some person, properly qualified by previous prac-
tise, to observe with the precision necessary on so particular occa-
sion.
In regard to the great space im the northern hemisphere occupied
by the Pacific Ocean, the numerous islands with which it is inter-
spersed, present points of observation of easier access than many
parts of the respective continents. A commencement has already
been made by Captain Liitke, commanding one of the Russian ships
152 Magnetism of the Earth.
of war, at present engaged in a scientific voyage. In a letter which
I have received from him, dated from New Archangel, (Norfolk
Sound,) in July, 1827, he has been so obliging as to communicate
io me the results of several observations, which he had found oppor-
tunities of making im the passage from Conception. [I have not avail-
ed myself of them in the accompanying sketch of the isodynamic
curves, because I regard his. communication as private, until he shall
have returned and made his own observations public. At the date of his
letter, he was on the point of sailing for Bhering’s Strait and Kamt-
-chatka, in which voyage, as well as in his subsequent operations, he
will doubtless have obtamed results of great interest.
If we now direct our attention to the southern hemisphere, we find
nearly the whole field of enquiry untrodden. Of published observa~
tions, there are only those made by M. de Rossel, in the voyage of
D’Entrecasteaux, at Java, Amboyna, and Van Diemen’s Land. Of
observations made, but not yet published, there are, (1st.) those of
Captain de Freycinet, at several stations visited by the expedition
under his command : of these no public account has yet, I believe,
been given: (2d.) those which are at present in progress by Captain
King, whilst engaged in the survey of the southern parts of South
America. The results obtained by him in the first year of his sur-
vey, have been received in England: they commence at Rio Ja-
neiro, and are continued at mtervals down the eastern coast, as far
as Port Famine : he will probably have since extended them to Con-
ception, on the western side, the limit of his survey in that quarter.
The results transmitted will require some slight modifications on his
return to this country, to compensate for differences of temperature,
&c.: but none that can interfere with their general effect, in eviden-
cing a progressively and rapidly increasing intensity, from the neigh-
borhood of Rio, where it corresponds with the curve marked No. 9,
in the sketch ofthe northern hemisphere, to the Straits of Magellan,
where it is intermediate between the intensities designated by No. 2
and 3. The observations of M. de Rossel, indicate in ike manner,
that at the period of his voyage, (towards the close of the last cen-
tury,) the several intensities, from that represented by No. 9, to that
represented by No. 2, were all comprised between Java in the north
west, and Van Diemen’s Land in the south east. Hence, as far as
the evidence hitherto extends, it would appear that there are two
points of maximum intensity, in the southern as well as in the north-
ern hemisphere : but the geographical position of those points, and
Magnetism of the Earth. 153
their respective intensities, relatively to each other, and to the points
of maximum in the northern hemisphere, remain to be determined ;
and must be acknowledged to be subjects of highly curious and im-
portant enquiry. In the arrangement of magnetism, as exhibited to
us on the great scale of our globe ; differing, as it is now known to do,
so widely from those analogies with which it had been associated,
and indeed, I believe, from all analogy whatsoever with which we
are acquainted, we cannot too soon inform ourselves accurately of
the facts.
Inselecting the parts of the southern hemisphere, in which, enqui-
ries of this nature can be most advantageously pursued, regard must
be paid, in the first instance, to the distribution of land, on account
of the convenience which its coasts and islands afford in determining
and connecting the isodynamic curves. ‘The eastern and western
coasts of New Holland, and the adjoining islands of New Zealand—
the western coast of South America, from Lima to Cape Hora, and
a continuation of the lands to the southward of Cape Horm—approach-
ing the Antarctic Circle—the islands which might be successively
visited in a course from the Cape of Good Hope to Desolation Island,
and from thence to the Mauritius—present in this view, the directions
of principal interest. Careful observation systematically made in
them, combined with the observations already made, would advance
our knowledge of the magnetic phenomena of the southern hemis-
phere, to the same stage that it has attained in regard to those of the
northern : it would establish the number of the governing points of
intensity in the hemisphere : determine their respective geographical
positions, and, in great measure at least, their relative intensities : as-
certain the general arrangement of the curves: and finally, point
out those localities of peculiar interest, which it might be expedient
to visit for more particular enquiry. A single expedition might ae~-
complish all this, without extending the duration of the voyage to an
undue length, or interfering with other important objects of scientific
research: and we may assuredly affirm, that were this service, the
single purpose, and sole object accomplishéd, by a scientific expedition,
it would of itself confer no ordinary distinction.
In what has hitherto been said, observations made on land have
alone been taken into account: the motion of a ship, and the quantity
of iron necessarily employed in her equipment, impeding the prose~
cution of such researches at sea, and presenting embarrassments,
which, to say the least of them, are very difficult to surmount, and
Vou. XVII.—WNo. 1. 20
154 Magnetism of the Earth.
but too likely to impair the accuracy of the results. Still, when we -
consider how large a portion of the southern hemisphere is covered
by the ocean, it does appear desirable to make the endeavor to ob-
tain the best results, that circumstances will permit, over such extensive
portions of the globe; and particularly as in the opinion of those, who
from experience are most competent to judge, it is possible by great
care, to obtain results worthy of confidence. M. Humboldt has re-
corded several observations which he made himself, at sea in the
northern Atlantic, both of the dip and of the intensity ; the latter of
which accord well with the curves of intensity traced in the accom-
panying sketch.
M. Hansteen believes, that by giving a dipping needle the sort of
suspension used in Captain Cook’s 3d voyage—by choosing those
times for observation where a calm sea and moderate wind allow the
ship to keep a steady course—by confining the use of the instrument
always to the same place on the ship’s deck—and by comparing the
results on land and on shore on all occasions when in harbor—obser-
vations on board ship, might become very valuable. I will venture
to add an extract on this subject, from Captain Liitkes’ letter, whose
remarks are the more encouraging, as when he quitted Europe he
was by no means sanguine of success in the use of delicate magnetic
instruments at sea :—‘ Je dois pourtant faire quelques remarques sur
les observations faites abord. J’avais ete, comme vous, en doute qu’
elles puissent donner des resultats dignes de confiance, mais l’experi-
ence m’a appris, qu’en faisant choix d’un endroit assez eloigne de
toute grande masse de matiere ferrugineuse, on peut atteindre a une
précision suffisante. Dans toutes mes rélaches je n’ai jamais manqué
de comparer les indications des aiguilles a bord, a celles deterre. ’A
Rio et a la Conception les resultats ont été a peu pres identiques 3 ici
(at Norfolk Sound) ot Vinclinaison comme la force ont atteint leurs
maximum (c. a. d. pour nous,) et par consequent, ou l’influence du
fer sur les aiguilles—ceteris paribus—est aussi a son maximum, ici
Vinclinaison a bord ne differoit de celle a terre que d’un petit nombre
de minutes ; l’intensité de la force indiquée par Vaiguille verticalle
fut précisement la méme, et d’apres Paiguille—horizontalle un peu
moindre. Kn considerant que Pepreuve fut faite par les circonstan-
ees les plus desavantageuses, on conviendra que les observations
faites a bord meritent quelque confiance. Mais il est essentiel de
mettre toute lattention possible au choix du propre endroit ; car
voulant faire les observations dans ma chambre, je metois parvenu
qua des resultats tres fautifs.”
Magnetism of the Earth. 155
For experiments on the magnetic force, itis of the first necessity
that the needles employed should retain, throughout, the same degree
of magnetism ; or should undergo merely such slight and gradual al-
terations in that respect, as admit of corrections being applied by in-
terpolation, from experiments made at the same spot before and after
the series in which they have been employed. ‘This property of
the needles ought always to have been ascertained by previous trial
during several months.
lise which I send you belonged originally to M. Handtees, and
have been in my possession and in constant use for three years past ;
their magnetism has Intherto undergone a slight but very regular dim-
inution, from year to year, well admitting of interpolation. It will
be proper, therefore, that observations should be made with them,
at the port from which the expedition sails, a few days before its
departure, and again in the same place, as soon as convenient after its
return. It will then be proper, that the needles should be sent back
to London, that observations may be repeated with them here, to en-
sure the connexion of the results obtained by their means, with those
of the other experimenters, which regard London, Paris and Chris-
tiania, as their base. ‘The needles should be kept apart from each
other, and from contact with iron, and particularly with magnetised
iron.
I do not attempt in this letter to enter at any length en the consid-
eration of the curves of Dip and of Variation. M. Hansteen has shewn,
in the treatise already named, the general conformity of these phe-
nomena to such an arrangement of magnetic attraction, as is indicated
by the course of the isodynamic curves. His observations in Siberia,
in as far as they go, confirm this view. ‘Thus for example, in the
parallel of 55° north, the Dip, which in tracing the paralle! to the
eastward_ progressively decreases, from Labrador, where it exceeds
80°, is found by M. Hansteen to attain a maximum 672°, about the
42° of longitude east of Greenwich ; from thence it increases, until
the intersection of the parallel with the meridian of the Siberian
maximum of intensity, (102° east,) where its amount is 703° : from
that meridian it again decreases to a second maximum, by the obser-
vations of Russian Officers, in the meridian of Kamtchatka, (163°
east.) Hence asregards the dip in the parallel of 55° north, there
are two points of maximum and two of minimum ; those of maxi-
mum are in the same geographical meridians, or nearly so, as the
points of maximum intensity ; and those of minimum occur respec-
156 Magnetism of the Earth.
tively in meridians 120° on either side of the Hudson’s bay maximum,
and 60° on either side of the Siberian maximum. In like manner,
the variation in the 55th parallel is 0 in the longitude of the minimum
of Dip, 42° east; is easterly, mereasmg, for the next 30° of longi-
tude, and easterly, decreasing, for the following 30°; so that the va-
riation becomes again 0 in, or about the meridian of 102° east, which
is that of the Siberian maximum.
In the sincere hope that this letter may be mstrumental m promo-
ting this highly curious and philosophical enquiry, which would be the
best return [ can make to M. Hansteen for his kindness in giving me
so early and so full an account of the progress of his discoveries,
I remain, my dear Sir,
very faithfully yours,
Epwarp SaBINE.
P.S. Since I wrote the above I have substituted a needle made
by M. Dollond for myself, for one of the two which originally be-
longed to M. Hansteen, and which it was my first intention to have
sent you. You will perceive by the memoranda which accompany
the needles, that No. XX. (the one I haye substituted,) has remain-
ed perfectly steady in its magnetism, for a twelve month past, and
will probably, therefore, continue so. No. XI. (which I received
from M. Hansteen three years ago,) has increased its time of making
300 vibrations, from 15’ 46.1” to 15’ 52.7”, since June 1827, when
the last published observations were made with it; Phil. Trans. 1828,
Art. I. page 14; consequently its magnetism has diminished in two
years, between one and two parts in one hundred. It will be pru-
dent, however, to treat both needles as if liable to farther changes.
t
1c
Te
7 / - ¥
U Ly of Mec Megraction brady remmiSGurviat
Ae 2 rg OC reg? & >
we ble Nir thery Memispliere
Necrology.—Sir Humphrey Davy. 157
Art. XVII.—.Necrology.—Sir Humpurey Davy.*
Nor having observed in the British Scientific Journals which have
reached us since the death of this distinguished benefactor of science,
any account of his life and death which deserves the name of a bio-
graphical sketch, we avail ourselves of a brief notice of him, which
we find in the Geneva Journal, (Bibliotheque Universelle,) of May,
1829, translated by Prof. Griscom.
« Sir Humpurey Davy, who has just terminated at Geneva, his
brilliant scientific career, was born on the 17th of December, 1778,
at Penzance, in the county of Cornwall.
“Jt was at Bristol, while engaged with Dr. Beddoes, in 1799,
that he first became known to the scientific world, by several ingen-
ious memoirs, in a journal entitled West Contributions; and ina
short time after, he gave to the public his Analysis of Nitric Acid,
in which various new facts are brought forward, and in which the in-
dications of genius are clearly discoverable. Called to London by
the founders of the Royal Institution, among whom was Count Rum-
ford, he was made professor of chemistry, and his lectures were re-
ceived with enthusiasm. Having at his disposal the powerful re-
sources of that establishment, he availed himself of them in studying
the new phenomena which the Voltaic apparatus presented, and, in
his hands, this apparatus gave a strong impulse to the progress of sci-
ence.
“'The limits of this hasty notice do not allow us to trace this phi-
losopher through his minifold labors ; we can only point out, summa-
rily, those which are the most remarkable.
“In 1806, he read to the Royal Society of London, his memoir
On the Chemical Agencies of Electricity, a r:emoir which will ever
constitute an epoch in the science ; and in which he demonstrated
by aseries of facts entirely new, that electricity is a powerful chemi-
cal agent, having the faculty of decomposing bodies whose constituent
principles are united by the strongest affinities, and transporting to a
distance, through moist conductors, these same constituent parts ; the
most oxigenized substances uniting round the positive pole, while the
* We are promised for the January number, (1830,) a fuller notice of the scientific
labors and character of Sir H. Davy, but in the meantime, with pleasure, insert the
Geneyan obituary.
158 Necrology.— Si Humphrey Davy.
others are arranged around the negative pole. This new and pow-.
erful means of analysis soon conducted him to a series of brilliant
discoveries. Substances reputed elementary, were discovered to be
compound ; the alkalies, alkaline earths, and almost all the other
earths, which were reckoned among simple bodies, were ascertained
to be oxides of metals before unknown ; and these new metals, on
account of their specific levity, constituted an exception to the laws
which governed this class of bodies. ‘The consequences of these
discoveries were immense; a new theory, styled electro-chemsiry,
was based upon these new facts.
‘‘In pursuing his researches, Davy found that some substances
which were regarded as compound, must be considered as simple,
and he was one of the first who discovered that chlorine was a sub-
stance not yet decomposed.
‘‘ He endeavored to turn his chemical discoveries to the benefit of
agriculture ; and we are indebted to him for a good method of ana-
lyzing soils, as well as a treatise on agricultural chemistry replete with
the most ingenious views. Humanity received also a benefaction
from his hands. His researches led him, in 1815, to discover the
singular property possessed by metallic gause, of opposing the trans-
mission of flame, and it is to this observation that we are indebted for
the. miner’s lamp. It is well known that this class of men devoted
to labors so painful and dangerous, find in this instrument a means of
preservation from one of the most fatal accidents of their profession.
“¢ At the death of Sir Joseph Banks, Sir H. Davy succeeded him
as President of the Royal Society of London. He had some years
before been elected one of the eight foreign associates of the Royal
Academy of Science of Paris, and all the principal scientific societies
of Europe, ranked him in the number of their correspondents.
‘Tn travelling through Italy, and during his sojourn at Naples and
Rome, he amused himself in studying the substances which the an-
cients used as colors in their pictures; he sought also in chemistry
ihe means of separating more easily the leaves of the Herculaneum
manuscripts. He also attempted, not long since, to explain upon
his own chemical theories, the phenomena of volcanos. Even his
diversions were not useless to science ; the last work which he pub-
lished, and which wasa treatise on fishing, entitled Salmonia, in-
cludes a great number of interesting observations on the manners of
fishes, and upon other points of natural history.
Necrolory.— Dr. Wollaston. 159
“The fine climate of Italy suited his health; on which account,
m the course of 1828, he went to Rome to obtain relief from his
bodily afflictions. About the close of the last winter, his friends ap-
prehended his life to be m danger. On receiving this intelligence,
Lady Davy immediately left London for Rome, and travelled with
so much haste, as to accomplish the journey in the short period of
twelve days and a half. She found him better, and he determined,
accompanied by Lady Davy and his brother, John Davy, to come to
Geneva, where he had made a long sojourn in 1814, and where he
had numerous friends. He bore the journey well; but a few hours
after his arrival in this city, he suddenly sunk under an attack of ap-
poplexy in the night of the 28th of May, aged fifty anda half years.
The learned of all countries will appreciate the immense loss
which they have just sustamed. ‘The friends of science in Ge-
neva, were the first to manifest that expression of regret which will
be rapidly extended throughout the learned of Europe. ‘The Acad-
emy of our city united with Dr. Davy, im rendering the last duties
to the former president of the Royal Society, and claimed the priv-
ilege of occupying the place of absent parents. The government,
the clergy, the society of Arts and of Medicine, the English who
were incidentally in Geneva, the students of the Academy, the artists,
and a crowd of citizens of the Canton attended the funeral; they
were anxious to render a final homage to an illustrious philosopher,
and to prove that he who, like Davy, has extended the bounds of
human knowledge, and has employed his talents in the service of hu~
manity, is not a stranger in any country.”
DR. WOLLASTON.
From the Minutes of the Astronomical Society, at the anniversary meeting’,
Pebruary 15, 1829.
Dr. Wollaston was born August 6, 1766, at East Dereham; was
graduated at Cambridge, and became a fellow of Caius College,
which he left in 1789; from that period to 1800 he spent in London,
in medical studies and practice, which, not coinciding with his taste,
he abandoned, on receiving an accession of fortune, and thenceforward
became a public scientific character. He was many years V.P. R.S.
and P. for a short time in 1820. He was a zealous and active com-
missioner of longitude, a member of the Astron. Soc. and _ his last
observations were made on the relative brightness of the sun and
‘fixed stars. He died on the 22d of. December, 1828.
166 Necrology.— Dr. Wollaston.
To Dr. Wollaston every part of science seemed equally familiar ;
and of him it might perhaps be more truly said than of any philo-
sopher who has preceded him, that ‘nil erat quod non tetigit, nil
tetigit quod non ornavit.” Astronomy was one of his chief and fa-
vorite pursuits—a taste inherited from his father, and cherished by
his intimacy with the late Astronomer Royal of Dublin (now Bishop
of Cloyne) and the present Astronomer Royal of Greenwich—an in-
timacy commenced in early youth at Cambridge, and mamtained
through life. Science is indebted to him for many ingenious and
important speculations; such are his papers published in the Philo-
sophical Transactions, on horizontal refractions, and on the horizon-
tal refraction and dip of the horizon, containing his curious and in-
genious invention of the dip-sector. Among the most remarkable of
his astronomical papers, however, is that on the finite extent of the
atmosphere, which affords a striking instance of the advantages that
may accrue to science by the union of remote branches of knowl-
edge in the same mind. The arguments brought forward in that
paper in favor of the non-divisibility of matter in infinitum, from as-
tronomical phenomena, carry with them at least every semblance of
soundness, and afford a singular specimen of his acute and scrutiniz-
ing habit of thought; while the almost miraculous delicacy and cu-
rious felicity of his manipulation in the practical departments of sci-
ence—that microscopic tact, which in a thousand instances led him,
through routes impervious to grosser intellects, to the most striking,
unexpected, and novel results—is there exemplified in a remarkable
manner, in the minute and apparently insignificant apparatus with
which he was enabled to verify his own views, under circumstances
which would effectually baffle ordinary instruments and ordinary
observers.
The sister science of optics is even more indebted to Dr. Wollaston
than astronomy. His verification of the Huygenian law of double
refraction ; his investigation of the refractive and dispersive powers
of bodies, as a separate branch of physical inquiry, on which the
perfection of the achromatic telescope depends; his discovery of the
dark lines in the spectrum, since independently observed, with more
refined means, and in greater detail, by Fraunhofer; but chiefly, the
ingenious and elegant method practised by him for perfecting the
adjustment of the triple achromatic object glass, give him the highest
claims to eminence in this department. ‘The instrument on which
he tried and perfected this mode of adjustment is now, through his
liberality, the property of this society.
Scientific Intelligence. 161
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
Translated and extracted by Prof. J. Griscom.
MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY.
1. Invention of Stereotyping.—The honor of this important in-
vention is at present claimed by Holland, and apparently with justice.
Baron Van Westreemen Van Tiellandt, encouraged by the govern-
ment, has made very active researches on this subject, and has late-
ly received from the bookseller Luchtmans, of Leyden, a sterectype
form of a Bible, in 4to, from which many impressions have been ta-
ken since 1711. At Harlem, also the booksellers Enschedé, have
furnished him with another stereotype form of a Dutch Bible, which
dates from the first years of the eighteenth century. ‘These are two
substantial proofs of stereotyping in Holland, before it was thought of
in France. It is well known, that in a note annexed to No. 1316,
of the Catalogue of Alex. Barbier, a note extracted from the papers
of Prosper Marchand, it is affirmed that John Muller, minister of
the German church at Leyden, contrived about 1701, a new method
of printing, similar to stereotypmg as now practised. The method
ef John Muller, consisted in composing the letters in the common
way, correcting these forms very exactly, binding them in a very solid
manner in frames of iron, then inverting the letters, and uniting them
with metal, or still better with mastic. The first essay of this meth-
od, was a small prayer book entitled, Gebeede-Bookjen, Van Johan
Haverman, printed in 1701, by W. Muller, son of the inventor. This
method of printing was afterwards transported to Halle. In a letter
of the 28th of June, 1709, Muller acknowledges that he had printed
in this manner, a Syriac New Testament with a Lexicon. Camus
makes no mention of these facts in his history of stereotyping.—Rev.
Encyc. Mars, 1829.
2. Hydrostatic Lamp with a double current of ar-— report
was presented to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, on the 15th of
December, by M. Ampere, on a newly constructed hydrostatic lamp,
which concludes as follows:—The modifications of the lamps sub-
mitted to our examination, are designed to prevent disagreeable
emanations. M. M. Thilorier and Barrachin, by making the beak
Vou. XVIT.—No. 1. 21
162 Seventific Intelligence.
of their lamp narrow at the top, and thus increasing the capillary ac- -
tion of the wick, obtained a light which might be compared to that of
lamps of a constant level. Masson-Moinat, Milan and Osmond, in-
dependently of the use of capillary tubes, have modified their lamps
so as to keep them at a constant level, a condition essential to a lamp
with a double air current. ‘The disposition of their lengthened re-
servoir renders the use of this apparatus easy, without loss of oil,
which is not unimportant to those who use them. Experience has
proved that in both of these lamps, the wick, though raised seven
millimetres, (one fourth of an inch,) above the beak, is carbonized
only two millunetres durmg the combustion of the oil. ‘This eleva-
tion of the wick above the beak, has the further advantage of not be-
ing deteriorated, nor even blackened, whence it results that these
lamps have rarely any need of being cleaned. We propose to the
Academy, that it approve this apparatus, and testify to the inventors,
the interest which it takes in the perfection of these hydrostatic lamps
with a double current.”—(Adopted.)—Jdem. ,
3. Watkins’ dry Galvanic battery.—Prof. De Rive, in his ac-
count of this pile, (noticed in a former number,) states that the plates
must be at a very small distance from each other, (,'; or }; inch,)
so as to be separated by a very thin stratum of air. Humidity favors
the action of the instrument, the results of which tend to confirm the
purely chemical theory of Voltaic electricity, for there is here no
point of contact of heterogeneous metals, and the developement of
electricity appears to be due uniformly to the oxidating action of the
air. The trough itself must serve as a conductor, for he has ascer-
tained that with a very dry wooden trough, the effect is much less,
and that when the plates are connected simply by glass rods with a
little cement, the effect ceases. Hence, in common Voltaic batte-
ries, the liquid acts two distinct parts, viz. as an exciter, and as a
conductor. In this dry battery, the air is the exciter, and the trough
itself the conductor ; and the example proves that if the chemical
action be not equally intense upon the two surfaces of the metal,
there is no absolute necessity of contact between two heterogeneous
surfaces for the developement of electricity.—Idem.
A. Eccentricity of Saturn’s Ring.—Extract of a letter from
Prof. Schumacher to Prof. G. Maurice, one of the Editors of the
Bib. Univ.
Seventific Intelligence. 163
* The most interesting thing in astronomy, at this time, is the ec-
centricity of Saturn’s Ring. M. Schwalz of Dessau, was the first to
perceive it. He mformed M. Harding of it, who thought he saw the
same thing. M. Harding informed me of it, and both 1 and my ad-
juncts perceived what these gentlemen had observed, but I persisted
in believing it to be an optical illusion, occasioned by the shadow of
the planet upon the ring. I applied therefore to Mr. Struve, to set-
tle the question, by means of the superb micrometers, attached to
his great telescope. He had the complaisance to measure the dis-
tance between the ring and the body of the planet on five different
days, and he ascertained that what we had seen was not only an ap-
pearance, but that Saturn’s ring is really eccentric.— Altona, Mar,
1828.—Idem.
5. An improved process for drying wood for glass houses, descri-
bed wn the Jarbuch. des Polytechn. in Wein, consists in placing the
wood in cast-iron boxes, situated over the annealing oven, and com-
municating with it. ‘The excess of the heat, which in this situation
is commonly lost, penetrates the boxes and dries the wood, with an
economy of time and fuel, and with much less danger of fire than
when dried in the common way.—Fer. Bull. Nov. 1828.
6. Blowpipe simplified—A modification of the blowpipe has been
contrived by JM. Danger, and is described in the Bulletin d’Encour-
agement, which has simplicity and cheapness to recommend it. A
wooden clamp, with a screw underneath to attach it to the edge of a
table, has a hole bored vertically through it in front, and to this hole
underneath is attached a tube to the other end of which a bladder is
tied. Another tube, which terminates with a jet piece, is attached
to the hole above. It is obvious that if this bladder be inflated, and
its sides pressed together by the knees of the operator or by any
other means, a stream of air will issue through the jet, and maintain
the flame of the lamp. To keep up the supply of air, a mouth tube
is inserted into a lateral opening in front of the clamp, and which
reaches upwards to a convenient height for the mouth. By blowing
into this tube occasionally, the supply of air in the bladder is preserv-
ed, and to prevent its return a valve is placed at the end of the mouth
tube. ‘This valve is simply a piece of cork, fashioned to a conical
opening in a tin or brass piece adjusted to the end of the whe. A
short wire, fastened to the cork, passes freely through a little guide,
164 Scientific Intelligence.
and is provided with a catch to keep it just within the conical open-.
ing. ‘The mouth tube may consist of two pieces, one sliding into the
other, so as to be readily adjusted to any convenient length. ‘The
lamp should be covered, when im action, with a hood having two
openings, one in front for the admission of the blowpipe, and the
other opposite for the exit of the jet of flame. ‘The air may be
forced out of the bladder mechanically, by surrounding it with a
coarse net of twine, and hanging a weight to the bottom of it. This
blowpipe unites great simplicity to cheapness and facility of adjust-
ment.— Bull. d’Encour. Sep. 1828.
7. Linear unit.—If the earth should ever be struck by a comet,
its axis of rotation and its form would indubitably be changed, and
from that time the measure of the pendulum or the arc of the me-
ridian could no longer be resorted to, for the recovery of the metre.
This speculative question having been one day debated in Paris in a
company of scientific gentlemen, Sir Humphrey Davy proposed a
scale, which, in his opmion, might be resorted to or rediscovered after
the greatest changes in the form of the globe: this linear unit would
be the diameter of a capillary tube of glass, in which the ascent of
the water would be exactly equal to that same diameter. In reflect-
ing on the various difficulties of the experiment, (observes the editor, )
{ suggested, in turn, the measure of the length of luminous undula-
tions in a vacuum, as a method which would lead more certainly to
the object proposed. Although these two projects are very old, and
the means of observing them had been prepared, they have been
hitherto attended with no results, and indeed it is no cause of regret,
as there is no probability that they would be attended with any real
utility.—Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. Fev. 1829.
8. Smoke Disperser of M. Millet. (Bull. Soc. Enc.)—A report
upon this apparatus, made by M. Derosne, speaks favorably of its
powers. ‘The apparatus is simple, consisting of a kind of tub, pierc-
ed with a great number of holes, having the burs outwards. It has
been taken into practice by many persons. In order to prove its
eflicacy, one of them was fixed on the top of the funnel pipe of a
stove, and avery close smoky fire made below. By means of a
ventilator, an artificial wind was then made to strike directly and
powerfully on the smoke disperser for the purpose of driving the
current downwards and making the stove smoke ; but neither by this,
Scientific Intelligence. 165
nor even additional means, could any effect of the kind be produced.
The committee could not explain the effect, except by supposing
that the cylindrical form of the apparatus, presenting only a small
surface to the action of the wind, was favorable, and that the form
of the small apertures in this cylmder, occasioning a great number
of contrary currents, produced almost a perfect neutralization of the
force of the wind. Whatever may be the cause, the apparatus offers
a cheap and effectual remedy for smoky chimneys, when this fault in
them, is dependent upon the pressure exerted by winds upon the up-
per aperture of the flue— Quarterly Jour. of Sct. &c. Jan. to June,
1829.
9. Conductibility conferred by water. (Bib. Univ. 11. 205.)—In
the second volume of this series, p. 465, we noticed the curious fact,
observed by M. de la Rive, that a fluid (bromine) having no con-
ducting powers for electricity, was competent, when taken into solu-
tion by water, very much to increase the conducting powers of the
latter. M. de la Rive has added another to the curious facts of that
kind, there referred to. Fluid sulphurous acid, he finds to be a sub-
stance which does not conduct voltaic electricity. The platina wire
of the voltaic pile, when plunged into it, allowed of no transference
of electricity from one to the other; but so soon as a little water was
added to the acid, then the current passed, and action immediately
appeared. ‘The sulphur of the acid, and the hydrogen of the water,
went to the negative pole, and the oxygen of both to the positive
pole; and the galvanometer was now influenced by the current,
which passed through it in the ordinary manner.—Idem.
CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY.
1. Laimus Paper.—tn a memoir contaming popular directions for
the examination of the different kinds of potash, known in commerce,
Gay Lussac recommends the followmg mode of preparing test paper.
“Take letter paper, or any other that is-well sized, and color it on
one side only, with the tincture of Litmus, or Tournesol (prepared by
boiling powdered litmus in water,) by means of a brush. When dry,
it should have a tender blue color; and if not deep enough, it may
receive a second coat. The paper is then cut into strips about one
third of aninch wide. The color is not changed by alkalies and neutral
substances, but it becomes red by a very small portion of acid.—
166 Scientific Intelligence.
Hence it indicates the moment’ when an alkaline solution is saturated-
by an acid, for it remains blue as long as there is any free alkali in
the solution, and acquires the color of onion peelings as soon as the
acid is slightly in excess.
“Litmus may serve equally well for detecting the presence of an
alkah. If the blue paper be passed through water containing a few
drops of an acid, it is reddened, and then will be restored to a blue,
by a very small quantity of alkali.” ‘To determme the neutral point
of a saline compound, a small glass rod may be dipped into the solu-
tion, and a mark drawn over the litmus paper. ‘To distmguish be-
tween the change of color occasioned by the liberation of carbonic
acid, and that produced by a stronger acid, it is observed that the for-
mer gives a wine-red, while the latter produces that of onion peelings,
which is permanent.—Ann. de Chimie et de Phys. Decem. 1828.
2. Liquid Sulphurous acid.—In an interesting memoir on the con-
densation of sulphurous acid gas, by Aueustr pr La Rive, of Ge-
neva, the author, after some judicious remarks on the distmetion be-
tween gases and vapors, observes, that in order to obtain liquid sul-
phurous acid, the gas must be as dry as possible, before it is condens-
ed. For this purpose it should be received as it arises from the ac-
tion of sulphuric acid on mercury, ina vessel No. 1, surrounded by
a freezing mixture ; and from this it should pass through a tube filled
with well dried muriate of lime, into a vessel No. 2, surrounded like
the first : and lastly, the portion which has not then been condensed,
should pass through a second tube, filled with muriate of lime, into
a third vessel, cooled like the others, when the condensation is finish-
ed. A tube may proceed from this third vessel into mercury, which
occasions a slight pressure of the gas that might have escaped con-
densation, from spreading in the chamber, and compels it, like the
rest, to become liquid. Care must be taken to lute the junctures
well. After the gas has been disengaged, during eight or ten hours,
there are found in No. 1, white crystals, composed of water and sul-
phurous acid, and in Nos. 2 and 3, liquid sulphurous acid, very pure,
which must be immediately corked up hermetically in a flask. To
preserve it, the flask must be constantly surrounded with a freezing
mixture, otherwise the gas will either escape through the cork, or it
will explode the vessel.
The crystals of sulphurous acid and water, formed im the first ves-
sel, are of a beautiful white, and have an agreeable, acid taste. ‘They
Scientific Intelligence. 167
are formed in thin lamine, and appear to be quite similar im theif
structure to crystals of water and chlorine, with which they have a
ciose analogy. ‘They remain solid ata temp. of 4° or 5° cent. but at
that temperature they emit a portion of their gas. When the whole
of ihe gas is driven off by a gentle heat, there remams nothing but
pere water, which constituted four fifths of their weight. It is prob-
able that ammoniacal gas, hydro-sulphuric acid, (sulphuretted hydro-
gen?) and all other gases soluble in water, susceptible of being liqui-
fied, might also form crystals with water, but hitherto it is not known
that they have been obtained.
The properties of the Liquid sulphurous acid, have been describ-
ed chiefly either by Mr. Faraday or M. de Bussy. It is perfectly limpid
and transparent, and heavier than water, (sp. gr. 1.45.) When open
to the air it disappears immediately, producing such intense cold, that
a few drops thrown upon water produces a crust of ice, and if a
small quantity be poured on water in a watch glass, the latter is whol-
ly congealed into a spongy crystallme mass, a portion of the acid
probably remaining combined with the water, while the evaporation
of the rest, occasions the congelation of the mixture. Mercury may
also be frozen by it. If afew drops of the liquid acid be placed on
a quantity equal m bulk toa small hazle nut, and the glass put under
a receiver and the air exhausted, the mercury becomes solid. A
considerable mass may thus be congealed and preserved in that state,
during several minutes.
The author has determined, by this convenient method, the elec-
tric conductibility of mercury. By means of the double galvanome-
ter, he has found that when two globules of mercury are properly
adjusted between two platina points, and having the same conducti-
bility, if one of them be frozen by means of the liquid acid, it be-
comes immediately a much better conductor than the other. Can
this phenomenon be connected with the sudden contraction of mer-
eury when it freezes?
The cold produced by the evaporation of this liquid acid, was car-
ried by M. de Bussy as far as — 60°; but he was not able to congeal
either absolute alechol or ether. A remarkable fact, with respect to
the refrigerative powers of this liquid, is, that one part of it becomes
eongealed by the evaporation of the other, as may be shown by the
crystals that are formed in a watch glass by spontaneous evaporation.
In this case the acid unites with the moisture of the air, condensed by
the sudden cold.
168 Scientific Intelligence.
It was found by the mgenious author of this memoir, that i is
pure liquid state, sulphurous acid is a non-conductor of electricity.
Under circumstances the most favorable, it exhibited no traces of
decomposition by a battery of forty pairs and a very sensible galvan-
ometer. But when a little water was added to it, sulphuretted hy-
drogen immediately appeared at the negative pole, and oxygen at
the positive. In this respect, it is analagous to sulphuric and other
acids, to Brome, Nc. :
Some attempts have been made to ascertain the relative refractive
powers of sulphurous acid in its gaseous and liquid states, but not
very successfully. It would appear from the results that have been
obtained, that in several instances, the refractive power of the con-
densed gases, increases in a greater ratio than that of their increased
densities, a result which is considered to be adverse to the theory of
the emission of light ; for upon that theory there should be no change
m the refractive power, by a change of density, as long as the chem-
ical nature of the medium remains unchanged.—brbliotheque Um-
verselle, Mars, 1829.
3. Crystallization of Lodine.—During the course of his researches
on the combinations of Iodine and Arsenic, WM. 4. Plisson has ascer-
tamed that lodine crystallizes in acute octahedrons and in rhomboids,
and that it may be obtained under those two forms, by exposing iodu-
retted hydriodic acid. He also remarked that iodine assumes rhom-
boidal forms in the upper part of a flask, m which ioduret of arsenic
has been kept.—.dnn. de Chime. Nov. 1828.
4. Note on the action of metals upon inflammable gases, by Aug.
de la Rive and EF. Marcet.—Mr. Pleischl has shewn that the best
method of obtaiming platina in a state the most fit for becoming incan-
descent by a current of hydrogen, is to dip a piece of filtermg paper
three times successively, into a solution of hydro-chlorate of platina,
burn the paper and collect the ashes.* These ashes contain the pla-
tina in a condition much more suitable for producing the required in-
candescence, than when in the spongy state, and it preserves this prop-
erty at a much lower temperature. ‘They have observed it to become
red even when cooled to — 20° cent.
Palladium prepared in the same manner, exhibits the same phe-
nomenon, with nearly the same facility as plata.
So
* T have observed this after burning the paper filter, on which the orange colored
oxide precipitated by muriate of ammonia from muriate of platina, had been collect-
ed.— Fd.
Scientific Intelligence. 169
Gold prepared in the same way becomes incandescent only at about
the temp. of 50° cent.
Paper impregnated in the same manner with the nitrate of silver
becomes red between 120° and 130° cent.
A current of per carburetted hydrogen, (olefiant gas,) renders pla-
tina incandescent at 100° cent. and the gas inflames from time to time.
Sulphuretted hydrogen produces the same effect at a temperature
somewhat higher. ‘The sulphur which is deposited on the metal, must
be cleared by the action of nitric acid, prior to a second experi-
ment.
The protoxide of carbon determines the incandescence of platina
at about 80° cent. 2
The force of the combustion produced by a current of hydrogen
directed on platina is very great, since it requires the presence of only
an extremely small portion of oxygen. When the current is thrown
upon the metal in a vacuum, it produces no effect, which proves that
the effect is not due, as Dobereiner supposed, to the immediate action
of the hydrogen on the platina. But in lettmg into the receiver suf-
ficient air to support an inch and a half of mercury, the platina be-
came sensibly red, and a thermometer, which, in the vacuum shewed
no elevation of temperature, was broken by the heat, being incapable
of rising higher than 150°. ‘The quantity of oxygen im this case
was not more than the 18th part of that which the receiver would
have contained under the common pressure.— Ann. de Chim. Nov.
1828.
5. Preservation of bones, and the employment of gelatine.—4J.
Bornaup, manufacturer of gelatine, at Geneva, has furnished the
editors of the Bibliotheque with the following information.
It is well known, that the best means of preserving bones, is to
_ pass them through a caustic ley, which removing the grease and odor
which they acquire, allows of their being kept in heaps even many
years. Bones may thus be preserved in pits, in the ground or under
water ; which latter mode is preferable, tf they are to be employed
i a few months.
From late experiments, it appears that one of the most econom-
ical uses of gelatine, consists in uniting it with bread in the form of
soup. If it be well deprived of grease, it makes no alteration in the
appearance of the bread, and prevents it from moulding so easily.
The bread thus prepared is exactly like biscuit, if it be left a little
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. 99
170 Scientific intelligence.
longer in the oven. If the fat has been left in, a kind of cake may.
be made, of an agreeable taste, and which is more easily kept than
that made of butter. When this bread has become dry, it may be
pulverised under a rolling mill, and a kind of flour is obtained, very
savory and nourishing, and suitable for making a good potage, or for
mixing advantageously with other aliments of a less nutritive quality.
This flour is easily transported, and contains much nourishment in a
small bulk.— Bibliotheque Universelle, Juillet, 1828.
6. The color of the sea, is ascribed by Sir Humphrey Davy, in
part at least, to the presence of iodine and bromine, which its waters
certainly contain, and which result perhaps from the decomposition
of marine vegetables. ‘These two substances, dissolved in a small
quantity of water, give a yellow tint, and this tint mingled with the
blue tint of pure water may produce the sea green.—Salmonia.
7. Solar phosphori.cM. Osann has found that a superior phos-
phorescent substance is obtained by calcining oyster shells, (selectmg
for this purpose the whitest and most porous,) and when cleaned
placing them in a crucible, previously covering the bottom with finely
pulverised sulphuret of antimony, and then alternating the shells and
antimonial powder, sifting on the latter to the depth of two lines be-
tween each layer of shells. The crucible is then closed and exposed
during an hour to ared heat. ‘The superior and inferior strata of
shells are commonly soiled, and may be rejected. The phosphorus
thus obtained, after having been exposed to the sun, shines in the
dark with a greenish white light, and is superior to the Bolognian
phosphorus, both in intensity and duration.
When sulphuret of arsenic (realgar) is substituted for sulphuret of
antimony, the pieces shine with a blue light, analogous to the flame
of sulphur. In this, as in the preceding, only the places that are per-
fectly white are phosphorescent. It presents here and there pomts
which shine with a purple red. ff exposed long to a red heat, its
light is decolored and becomes completely white.
These compounds may be preserved in closed vessels. ‘They will
remain good for three weeks, if exposed to the air, and it is only
when the lime falls into powder that their light is extinct—brb.
Univ. Fev. 1829.
8. Test of the strength of chlorine or chloride of time.—The so-
lution of indigo, which has long been employed m estimating the
Screntzfic Intelligence. i771
quantity of chlorine in any fluid, is found to be uncertain, or at least
meonvenient, on account of the variable quality of indigo, and also
of the changes of color which a dilute solution of indigo in sulphuric
acid spontaneously undergoes. If the solution be concentrated, the
sulphuric acid expels the chlorine too rapidly from its solution, and
thus prevents a portion of it from reacting on the indigo. Muriate
of manganese, proposed by 4. Morin, is a more certain and prefer-
able test. He has been able to appreciate the half of a hundredth
parts of chlorine by this reagent, and nothing is more easy, he re-
marks, than to prepare it in determined proportions, and to preserve
it unaltered for a long time. To prepare this chlorometric fluid, it
is sufficient to dissolve some oxide of manganese in hydrochloric
acid, taking care to have an excess of the oxide. Filter the liquid,
which is of a pale rose color, and scarcely reddens litmus. A single
drop of a weak solution of sub-carbonate of soda, produces in it a
white precipitate, which does not disappear by agitation. These
characters indicate that the saturation is sufficient. In this state, the
solution of muriate of manganese is precipitated, of a deep brown,
by the chloride of lime; the oxide being set free by the union of the
muriatic acid with the lime, which the chlorine kept in suspension.
{t is obvious that.the solution of the chloride contains lime foreign to
its Own composition, only m the state of muriate, of chlorate, or of
lime water. Now the muriate and chlorate of lime give no precipit-
ate with muriate of manganese ; lime water it is true yields a brown-
ish color but this proves to be of no importance, for on decomposing
muriate of manganese, by equal volumes of lime water and solution
_of chloride reduced to 14°, more than 100 parts of hydrochlorate of
manganese were necessary for the chloride of lime, while less than
one part was sufficient for the lime water.
The advantage which the solution of muriate of manganese offers
as a chlorometric substance, are threefold.
1. The uniform condition of the test.
2. The disengagement of the chlorine is produced by an acid
which acts only while the metallic oxide, with which it is combined,
is precipitated.
3. The precipitation of the oxide, which indicates the quantity of
chlorine, precedes the disengagement of the gas, or at most is simul-
taneous with it; whereas in employing a solution of indigo, the chlo-
rine becomes at first free to react on the coloring matter, the destruc-
tion of which serves as the measure of its quantity. Hence the trial
172 Screntefic Intelligence.
by muriate of manganese can be made slowly, and is consequently -
more certain. — Bib. Univ. Juin, 1828.
9. New indelible nk, by Henry Braconnot.—This enterprising
chemist describes an ink, which, agreeably to his account of its pro-
perties, will prove to be a valuable accession to the arts of writing,
marking, and dyeing.
Being engaged, conjointly with M. Parisot de Nancy, in the pro-
duction of a cheap and solid brown dye, he torrified with potash, vari-
ous organic matters, and thus ascertamed that substances containing
the most azote, such as flesh, leather, horns, &c. gave the deepest
color. From a hint, also, which they derived from Fourcroy, he
was induced to add to the mixture, prior to torrefaction, flowers of sul-
phur, and by this means they produced a deep chesnut brown, more
substantial than any like color known to the dyer.
The proportions which he found most convenient, and the method
of proceeding were to dissolve 20 parts of Dantzick potash in boiling
water, and add to the solution 10 parts of animal matter, minutely
divided, (leather parings from the tanners were found to be conven-
ient,) and 5 parts of flowers of sulphur. These are boiled to dryness
in a cast iron pot, and the heat is urged until the mixture softens, tal-
ing care to prevent ignition, and, after adding by degrees a suitable
portion of water, the fluid portion is filtered through a loose cloth.
There is thus produced a deep colored dye or ink which can be easi-
ly preserved in a well stopped bottle. A single pen full of this ink
is said to be sufficient to write one or two quarto pages, and that it
possesses all the desired properties of an indestructible ink, flowing
more freely from the pen than common ink, and resistmg the most
powerful chemical agents.
A strip of paper written with this liquid, weated with a concen-
trated solution of boiling caustic potash, was mostly destroyed, but.
the scraps which escaped destruction, plainly showed the letters in
their perfect shapes. Paper, written with the same liquor, immersed
for an instant in moderately concentrated sulphuric acid, was dissolv-
ed, passing in part to the condition of gum, but on the thm undis-
solved portion, the writing might easily be read.
The characters of this liquor, experienced no change in twenty
four hours, in concentrated nitric acid, even assisted by heat, to an
extent not quite sufficient to destroy the paper entirely.
Scientific Intelligence. 173
Another strip of paper was immersed for some time in a strong
solution of chloride of lime, mixed with muriatic acid ; then placed
for twenty four hours in caustic potash, which was afterwards boiled
to dryness, and then diluted with water: there remained from this
double action of chlorine and potash, only a small scrap of the pa-
per, but on this the letters were very distinct. From these facts the
author thinks he may offer this liquor with confidence, as an indeli-
ble ink ; and he doubts not that it may be employed with the great-
est advantage in fixing different shades of brown on cotton, hemp,
linen and silk, or in browning other colors, and that it will possess a
great superiority over other browns. It may be used also with the
greatest success, in marking linen, without the aid of any other mix-
ture.—Avril, 1829.—Idem.
Memorandum by Prof. Griscom, addressed to the Editor.
My attention having been arrested by this account of Bracomnot’s
new indelible ink, I hastily prepared some of it by heating in an iron
ladle the prescribed proportions of pearlash, leather shavings, and
flowers of sulphur. ‘The result is, the ink with which this paper is
written.* I find it to be indestructible by chlorine, either gaseous or
in solution. For marking on linen, it spreads too easily ; perhaps a
ttle gum would help it.
Compared with common ink in a solution of chloride of lime, its
superiority is very manifest. J. G.
10. Detection of potatoe flour in that of wheat.—To effect this
object, M. Henri examined from twenty five to thirty samples of
pure wheat flour, from the harvest of 1827 and 1828, and without
regarding the other constituent principles, he ascertamed that upon
an average, they contained 104 per cent. of gluten, perfectly dry
and pulverulent, while the flour reputed to be mixtures, gave but 6 to
64 per cent. of perfectly dry gluten.—Idem.
11. Aspartic acid.—M. Plisson, Pharmacien of Paris, having
shewn the identity of the crystalline matters contained in young shoots
of asparagus, in liquorice root, in that of marsh-mallows, and of the
large comfrey, and ranked the whole under the name of Asparagin,
* The color is light brown, but perfectly distinct—d.
174 Screntific Intelligence.
has further determined that this substance, when brought into con-
tact with hydrate of lead, produces an insoluble salt, hitherto un-
known: and having separated the base of this salt by sulphuretted
hydrogen, he obtained a new acid, to which he has given the name
of Aspartic.
Properties.—It crystallizes in water in a brilliant powder, which
examined by a microscope, appears to be composed of long prisms
of four sides with a dihedral summit, transparent and colorless. It
is inodorous, gives a slightly acid taste, and reddens litmus, dissolves
in 128 times its weight of water at 8$° cent.; sp. gr. 1.874 ; decom-
poses by heat, producing ammonia, prussic acid, &c.
It forms salts, Aspartates, which are decomposed by the action of
heat ; those of a mineral alkalme base are transformed mto ammonia,
hydro-cyanic acid, metallic cyanuret, &c. All those which are so-
luble, have a remarkable taste of meat gravy, which becomes one of
their principal characteristics. In the neutral salts with alkaline or
earthy bases, this taste is distinct and free, in those with metallic
bases, it is followed by stypticity, and in those of vegetable, it is com-.
pletely disguised by bitterness.
The memoir of the author exhibits other properties of individual
salts —Ann. de Chim. Mars, 1829.
12. Extrication of gas from mushrooms.—F. Marcet of Geneva,
has shewn that mushrooms exposed under water to the sun’s rays,
liberate a quantity of air, which consists almost entirely of hydrogen
and azote ; the former in general being the predominant volume. In
the dark, little or no gas is set free. While growing in the open air,
the only gas which appeared to be set free, was a small quantity of
carbonic acid.—Idem.
13. Antidote to Prussic acid.—M. Dauvergne, in a letter to M.
Gay Lussac, dated Paris, April 25th, 1829, states, that M. Simeon,
apothecary to the hospital Saint-Louis, poisoned a cat with hydro-
cyanic acid, by placing two drops in the corner of his eye; the ani-
mal was violently affected, and when to all appearance past recov-
ery, a large quantity of chlorine was diffused in his throat, which
very soon alleviated the symptoms, and when able to raise his head,
which before he could not do, he appeared to take pleasure in smel-
ling the chlorine, from the relief which it afforded. In an hour he
rose on his feet, and in the course of two hours more, scarcely any
Scientific Intelligence. 175
traces of morbific symptoms remained. The experiment has been
tried on various other animals, with similar results.—Jdem.
14. Copal Varnish, by J. J. Berzelius.—Copal reduced to
coarse powder, and watered with caustic liquid Ammonia, swells,
and is converted into a gelatinous mass, which is entirely soluble in
alcohel. ‘To effect this solution, which makes a very beautiful var-
nish, liquid ammonia is to be added by degrees, to pulverized copal
tll the swellmg ceases, and it becomes a clear and consistent mass.
it is then heated to 35° cent., and introduced in small portions at a
time, to alcohol of 8, having a temperature of about 5° cent., shaking
it well after each addition. A solution is thus obtained, which, after
depositing an insignificant portion of sediment, is absolutely color-
less, and as clear as water.—Jour. de Con. Usuelles, Oct. 1828.
15. On the Oily and Resinous products of the distillation of
Wood, by M. Berzelius. (An. de Pog. 1828, p. 76.)—It is well
known that the distillation of wood furnishes four distinct products :
Ist. An empyreumatic oil; 2d. An aqueous liquid; 3d. Various
gases; and 4th. Charcoal.
By repeatedly distillmg the empyreumatic oil with water, a por-
tion of limpid oil is separated from it, which I call pyrelatde, and a
resin, which I shall designate by the name of pyrétine.
The pyrelaide varies with the vegetable substance from which it is
obtained; it is colorless, or slightly yellow, of a very strong and
disagreeable odor, and a sharp and nauseous taste ; it burns with a
clear flame and smoke ; it dissolves more or less easily in alcohol,
and very readily in ether, as well as in the fixed and volatile oils; it
forms with concentrated sulphuric acid, a compound analogous to
sulphovinic acid ; it dissolves resins and caoutchoue ; nitric acid con-
verts it into resin; it sometimes preserves its fluidity in the air, and
sometimes is transformed into a dark resin. |
The pyrétine is of a very variable composition. Some varieties
contain free acetic acid, and others none. A substance analagous
to ulmine, may be extracted from it.
The aqueous liquid contains, 1, water, 2. acetic acid, rarely ace-
iate of ammonia, 3, empyreumatic oil, and some pyrétine acid, 4,
an azotized substance, similar to extract, 5, a liquid volatile sub-
stance, analogous to alcohol, and known under the name of pyrolig-
neous acid. When the aqueous liquid is sv’ “ected to a redistillation
176 Scientific Intelligence.
the pyrolignite spirit comes over first; then follows the acetic acid,
with water and empyreumatic oil, colorless, and there remains in
the retort a dark brown mass, similar to extract.—Ann. des Mines,
Tom. V. p. 78.
16. New method of discovermg the presence of Nitric Acid, by
Just. Leibig. (Ann. de Chem. t. 35, p. 80.)—Mix the liquid to
be examined with as much indigo as is necessary to color it distinct-
ly blue ; add a few drops of concentrated sulphuric acid, and heat it
to ebullition. If the liquid contains a nitrate it is discolored, or if
the portion of nitrate is very small, its blue color changes to yellow.
In adding to the liquid a little muriate of soda, prior to heating it,
we may easily detect the presence of ;4, of nitric acid.—Jdem.
17. Reduction of Boracic Acid by Hydrogen ; by M. Varvinski.
(Fer. Bull. Tom. 10, p. 159.)—When hydrogen gas is passed
through a porcelain tube filled with boracic acid in scales, and heated
to redness, the acid is vitrified, and colored brown. If after this ope-
ration, it is treated with boiling water, there remains a floculent and
olive colored substance, which is no other than boron.—Idem.
18. On Pyrophorus ; by Gay Lussac—(Ann. de Ch. t. 37.
p- 415.)—The causes to which pyrophorus owes its mflammation
not appearing to me sufficiently determined, I made the following
experiments :
A mixture of calemed alum and calcined lampblack was heated in
an earthen retort. Carbonic acid and sulphurous gases are at first
disengaged, in nearly equal volumes ; then carbonic acid, pure, but
afterwards mixed with oxide of carbon, which in the end became
predommant. ‘The remainder, when quite cold, flamed like the
best pyrophorus, spreading a suffocating odour, of sulphurous acid,
and burning even with a slight blue flame. ‘This pyrophorous is a
mixture of carbon, alumine, and poly-sulphuret of potassium, which
is formed at the expense of a part of the sulphuric acid, and sulphate
of alumine. :
The carbon is not indispensible to its formation; for, by employ-
ing 75 gr. alum, and 3.33 gr. of calcined lampblack, I obtained a
reddish brown matter, in which there remained no carbon, and which
was very inflammable.
Scientific Intellogence. 177
Neither is alumine essential; for I prepared a very good pyro-
phorus with 1 atom of sulphate of potash, 3 atoms of sulphate of
magnesia and lamp black.
Sulphuret of potassium, with one or several atoms of sulphur, or
even an oxysulphuret, not inflaming in the air when in mass; and
the presence of alumine and magnesia appearing to me to have no
other agency than that of dividing the sulphuret of potassium, it
seemed to me that I might advantageously replace these two bases
by charcoal. Accordingly with 25.3 of sulph. of potash 1 at.
7.5 of lamp black 4 at.
I obtained a sulphuret in mass, not inflammable; but, by doubling
the dose of lamp black, I had a pulverulent matter, which inflamed
even in dry air with astonishing rapidity. ‘This matter is composed
of polysulphuret of potassium and potash intimately mingled with
carbon. It is more inflammable than common pyrophorus, because
the carbon being itself combustible, does not remain passive in the
phenomenon, like alumine and magnesia; the ignition having com-
menced, it feeds it.
Sulphate of soda, treated with lamp black, gives a pyrophorus, but
sulphate of barytes yields none.—IJdem.
19. Loduret of Calcium and Potassiwm. (J. de Phar. 1828. p.
44.)—In mixing together 14 part of quick lime, which is to be slack-
ed in water, with 1 part of iodine, and 2 to 3 parts of water, there
is formed ioduret of calcium which remains in the liquid, and iodate
of lime insoluble, which mingles with excess of lime.
In decomposing the ioduret of calcium by carb. of potash, we ob-
tain ioduret of potassium, pure.—IJdem. :
20. Instructions relatwe to the art of Refinng. Two memoirs
published in 1827 and 1828; by M. D’ Arcet, Assayer of the Mint,
Paris.—The art of refining is that of separating gold and silver from
metals of less value, with which they are combined. It has been
practised from the earliest periods of the metallurgic arts.
The method formerly used was to melt the ingot of metal to be
refined, with saltpetre, in order to separate the oxydable metals. It
was then converted into grains, which were heated in earthen vessels
at first with weak nitric acid, and in a second operation with that
which was more concentrated. The gold alone remained undissoly-~
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. 23
I7S Screntific Intelligence.
ed. [ft was collected, washed, dried, and then melted witi saitpetre.
The acid liquids united, were placed in contact with plates of copper,
which separated the silver entirely, which being washed, was melted
with saltpetre and borax. ‘The liquid uitrate of copper was evapo-
rated, and then exposed to a heat capable of decomposing it. The
oxide of copper was reduced by charcoal in an air furnace. In this
operation the nitric acid, which is very expensive, was almost entirely
lost—a great deal of saltpetre was used—the vessels employed were
often broken, as they were unfit to resist the great variations of tem-
perature to which they were exposed—deleterious. gases and vapors:
were copiously produeed—the waste was. very great—and consider-
able expense was incurred in reducing the copper.
In the new process, nearly all these mceonveniences are avoided.
The ingot is melted and granulated without saltpetre—the grains are
ireated with sulphuric acid in large vessels of platina, at a high tem-
perature, by which the silver and copper are dissolved. The gold
being thus separated from the silver, is treated with fresh aeid, then
washed, dried and melted with a little saltpetre. The sulphate of
silver is decomposed by plates of copper aided by heat, and the
silver is washed, dried and melted with a little saltpetre and borax.
The solution of sulphate of copper is saturated by adding oxide of
copper, then evaporated and crystallized. {In this process much labor
is saved, and less expense incurred in saltpetre, acid, crucibles and
charcoal ; there is less waste, and the amount of saleable products
is greater,—while, no other gases being disengaged than sulphurous:
acid with a little sulphuric, the operations are performed with less
injury to the workmen.
The alloy most easily refined by sulphuric acid, ought, in general,
to eonsist of gold, silver and copper, m nearly the following pro~
portions.
Silver, ~ - ~ ~ - ~ 725:
Gold, - - ~ - - - 200:
Copper, - ~ e = if ay
1000
if the proportion of copper be much greater than the above, an-
hydrous sulphate of copper, will be held in suspension in the solutions
which prevents the gold from separating easily ; and if the gold be im
greater quantity, the alloy is not easily attacked by boiling sulphuric
acid ; the refiner should therefore previously analyze a small portion:
Serentifie Intelligence. ; 179
ef the ingot, and add to the melting mass, some silver or copper as
the case may require.
if lead or other base metal than copper, be present, it must first be
separated, either by saltpetre or by cupellation.
Refiners, in general, employ 3 parts of sulphuric acid (sp. gr. 1844)
for 1 part of alloy, ef the foregoing composition,—varying the quan-
tity ef acid, however, with that of the relative proportion of gold
or copper. "The acid should be free from nitric or hydrochloric
acid.
‘The only precaution requisite with respect to the copper, is, that it
ve free from lead or tin, as these metals form, with sulphuric acid,
insoluble compounds which would remain mingled with the silver —
in general it requires 28 parts of copper to precipitate 100 of silver,
and this furnishes from 10010 104 parts of crystallized sulphate of
copper.
The Platine boilers ermpioyed at Paris, were constructed by M.
Breant. They hold about 11 gallons, weight 18lbs. and cost 8500
francs. ‘They are surrounded by an iron defence which serves to
transport them, and prevent injuries. Fine gold, at the moment in
which it is separated from the alloy, by sulphuric acid, is in very fine
powder, which coming in contact with the platina, under the influence
of boiling acid, is easily soldered to the platina, and requires to be
detached from time to time, by the action of a little weak aqua regia
which dissolves the gold without attacking the platina —Bib. Unw.
Avril, 1829.
21. Pectic acid convertible into oxalte by an alkalt.—in a memoir
on pectic acid and on carrots, by M. Vauquelin, read to the Academy
of Sciences, April 27, 1829, the following method 1 is recommended
for preparing pectic acid.
‘Take carrots, of the yellow variety, and after having rasped them
and pressed the pulp, and washed it with common rain-water until it
comes off quite limpid, convert it into a pap by boiling it gently in a
solution of bi-carbonate of potash (5 parts of bi-carbonate to 100 of
the pressed pulp.} By pressing this pap, (bouillie,) a liquor is ob-
iained highly charged with pectate of potash, from which the pectic
acid may be easily obtained, by treating it with an excess of hydro-
chlorate of lime, washing, and treating the insoluble pectate of lime
with water sharpened with hydrochloric acid, and then washing it
with pure water. “The pectic acid thus obtained is much whiter than
when caustic potash is employed.
180 Scientific Intelligence.
In substituting the carbonate of soda for that of potash, taking the
crystallized salt in the same proportion as that above mentioned, a
very concentrated pectate may be obtained, which will furnish a very
white pectic acid, either by the addition of an acid or of some other
precipitating substance. ‘To obtain the total quantity of the pectic
acid, new decoctions are to be made, with increased successive por-
tions of carbonate of soda.
If to this gelatinous pectic acid, contained in a small platina cruci-
ble, there be added an excess of caustic potash, and the mass be
gently warmed and stirred, it soon becomes liquid and assumes a
brown color; and if it be slowly evaporated, the saline matter which
remains in the crucible becomes, when the operation is well conduct-
ed and the heat carefully managed, speedily white.
This white matter dissolves easily in water—the alkali is almost
entirely saturated, and if nitric acid be added to the solution until it
becomes slightly acid, we observe the disengagement of carbonic
acid, without any precipitation of the pectic. If nitrate of silver be
then added, an abundant precipitate of a granulated white powder
takes place, which exposed again to moisture and light becomes
slightly red. When this precipitate is treated with muriatic acid, it
produces chloride of silver, which, well washed, contaims no vegeta-
ble matter. ‘The washings, evaporated by a gentle heat, become
eventually of a light yellow, and some vapors of hydrochloric acid
are perceived. When the evaporation is completed, in a stove, per-
fectly white transparent crystals are formed without. an atom of
mother water. They have the form of square columns, without
pyramids, some of them in groups. When dissolved, these crystals
precipitate lime water and all the soluble calcareous salts, properties
which clearly indicate oxalic acid.
Of this remarkable transformation of pectic into oxalic acid, by
the influence of a weak alkaline action, two explanations may be ad-
mitted. 1. The action of an alkali may be assimilated to that of ni-
tric acid on the same body. It deranges its elements, and hence
arises a compound, which appears to be one of the last in the organic
scale—oxalic acid. 2. If we compare the chemical characters of
oxalic and pectic acids, we find often a near resemblance with res-
pect to the insolubility of their salts. We may admit that pectic acid
is a compound of oxalic acid and a gelatinous matter which is inti-
mately associated with it: the action of potash is limited to the de-
struction of this gelatinous substance, and in combining with the ox-
Scientific Intelligence. 181
alic acid, which preserves greater fixity in uniting with that alkali:
we have not however yet succeeded in isolating this gelatinous mat-
ter, and in forming pectic acid by combining it with oxalic.
The views which I have often developed in my course, with res-
pect to the formation of acids in vegetables, are, that they are caused
principally by the presence of alkalies. We find, in fact, that acids
are almost always neutralized, m whole or in part, by various alkalies,
such as lime, potash, soda, magnesia, and sometimes also by vegeta-
ble alkalies; and I do not know that these last have yet been found
uncombined in the vegetable kmgdom.
Among these alkalies, lime has certainly the greatest effect in the
vegetable kingdom, because it is more generally diffused over the
surface and attracts powerfully the acids. It does not, it is true, in
the condition of lime, enter organic substances, but rather in the state
of carbonate, which without exerting any deleterious action on veget-
ables, preserves sufficient alkaline force to determine the formation
of acids, and particularly the oxalic acid, which it prefers to all others.
In this manner we may explain the effect of calcareous marls.
Immediately on its introduction into the organs of plants, the carbon-
ate of lime determines the developement of an acid which decomposes
it and sets free its carbonic acid, which, aided by light, turns to the
profit of the vegetable nature. Hence, it may be concluded, that
calcareous marls perform at once two important functions, viz. the
division of the soil, and the nutrition of plants—Ann. de Chim.
Ma, 1829.
22. Detection of corrosive sublimate—M. Orfila discovers that
the test proposed by James Smittson, of dipping a strip of gold, sur-
mounted by a spiral of tin foil, into the suspected liquid, and adding
one or two drops of muriatic acid, does not afford a certain indica-
tion of the presence of mercury. ‘The gold becomes whitened
without it, by the action of the muriatic acid on the tin; this effect
ensues, even in a solution of common salt, made by adding twelve
drops of a saturated solution of muriate of soda to one and a half
ounce of distilled water. When, however, the strip of gold becomes
whitened in the experiment, it may be ascertained by strong muriatic
acid, whether the effect has been produced by mercury or by tin.
If the latter, the tin dissolves entirely and the gold resumes its primi~
tive color, but if the gold be whitened by mercury, it resists the ac-
tion of the acid, and remains of a greyish white. 'The muriatic acid
i82 Scientific Intelligence.
in this case must be pure, for aqua regia will remove the color in
either case.
But the most delicate test of mercury is, after whitening the gold
of this little galvanic apparatus, to coil the strip of gold, place it in
the bottom of a tube, draw out the tube at the other end so as near ly
to close it, and then by heating the bottom expel the mercury from
the gold, and allow it to condense in the contracted part of the tube.
The smallest portions of mercurial salt may in this way be detect-
ed.—Idem.
23. On Potassium and Sodium. (Ann. de Chim. XL. 327.)—
M. Serullas remarks, that a piece of potassium put upon a bath of
mercury, gradually amalgamates, acquiring a rotatory motion due to
its action upon the water in the atmosphere which evolves hydrogen.
in dry air, the amalgamation takes place without motion. But if
pieces of sodium be thrown upon mercury, they are again thrown off
with a small explosion, accompanied with light and heat. On the
other hand, potassium burns on the surface of water, whilst sodium
decomposes, without producing combustion, so that the phenomena
produced by the metals with the two fluids, are the reverse of each
other.
The effects on water are of course due to the superior tempera-
‘ture acquired by the potassium, occasioning inflammation, whilst that
obtained by the sodium is not sufficient for the purpose ; but if a so-
lution of gum arabic be used, not too dense nor too thin, then the
sodium fires, because the fragments, being retained at one point, be-
come sufficiently heated to ignite with a yellow flame, and then move
over the surface of the fluid like potassium. — If sodium be fixed upon
a bad conductor of heat, as wood, then a drop of water will fire it ;
but if it be placed upon glass or porcelain, then the effect will not
take place; the abstraction of heat in these cases, as well as in that
where a surface of pure water is used, is too rapid to allow of the
sufficient elevation of temperature.—Idem.
24. Test for vegetable and animal matter. (Jameson’s Jour.)—
The nitrate of silver is the test which Dr. Davy thinks to be one of
the best for detecting the presence of organic matter in solution. A
pure solution of this salt is not altered by the sun’s rays; but if the
minutest quantity of animal or vegetable substance be dissolved in
the water, the solution is discolored ; with common distilled water,
Scientific Intelligence. 183
the discoloration is strong. To prove that the cause of change as-
signed is the true one, it is only necessary to decant the colorless so+
lution and expose it again to sunshine, however powerful the sun’s
rays, no further effects will be produced, unless a little more common
distilled water be added, and then it reappears. When used as a test
for such substances, of course any chloride of silver that may be
formed in consequence of the presence of muriates should be allowed
to subside in the dark, and the subsidence should be complete be-
fore the fluid is decanted and exposed to light.—Jdem.
NATURAL HISTORY.
1. Couzeranite—M. de Charpentier, in an important work which
he has published on the geological constitution of the Pyrenees, an-
nounees that he has frequently found in the transition limestone of
that country, a mineral to which, as he could not refer it to any other,
he gave the above name, from the part of the chain in which it was
principally found, and which is called Couzeran. This mineral has
been examined by Dufrenoy. ‘The primitive, which is also the pre-
vailing form, is an oblique rhomboidal prism, resting on one edge,
except that in the latter, there is frequently a truncation on the ob-
tuse edges. The erystals are rarely terminated, and they are striated.
longitudinally, fracture, slightly lamellar, parallel to the shorter dia-
gonal, and conchoidal and unequal in the other direction ; splendor,
vitreous and resinite, which gives the fragments some resemblance to
hilvaite. Crystals, opake ; hardness, scratches glass but not quartz ;
color, commonly perfect black, probably from carbon, like that of
the limestone which envelopes it; sp. gr. 2.69; fusible by the blow-
pipe into a white enamel, somewhat like felspar; aezds do not affect
it. From these external characters, it has some analogy to pyrox-
ene and macle, but its fracture is very different, and its fusibility inte:
a white enamel, prevents its being confounded with either.
Its composition agreeably to the analyses of Dufrenoy is
Silica, - - - ~ - 0.5237
Alumine, - - = ote 9.2402
Lime, - - - - - 0.1185
Magnesia, - - - ~ 0.0140
Potash, - - - - - 0.0552
Soda, ae - - - 0.0396
0.9912
Annales des Manes, tome IV. 327.
184 Scientific Intelligence.
2. Belemnites.—M. Raspail informed the French Academy on
the 17th of November last, that a careful study of two hundred and
fifty belemnites, collected in the Alps of Provence, had taught him
that belemnites are not testaceous coverings of animals, as the mod-
erns suppose, but that they are cutaneous appendices belonging to
marine animals, approaching to the echinodermes, the living species
being no longer found.—Jdem.
3. Number of salts—divisibility of matter—About forty years
ago, only thirty salts in all were known. At present, the precise
number is not known, but there are above two thousand! ‘There are
few subjects in natural philosophy, the contemplation of which is
better calculated to exalt and improve the understanding, than the
vast and almost inconceivable divisibility of matter.
The vegetable and animal kingdoms afford the most wonderful in-
stances of the attenuation of matter. The wibrio undula, found in
duck weed, is computed to be ten thousand million times smaller than
a hemp seed; and the monas gelatinosa, discovered in ditch water,
appears, in the field of a microscope, a mere atom, endued with vital-
ity, millions of which are seen playing, like the sun beams, in a single
drop of liquid. It has been calculated, that the skin is perforated by
a thousand holes in the length of an inch; and if we estimate the
whole surface of the body of a middle sized man to be sixteen square
feet ; it must conta not less than two million three hundred and four
thousand pores. ‘These pores are the mouths of so many excretory
vessels, which perform the important function of insensible perspira-
tion. ‘The lungs discharge every minute six grams, and the surface
of the skin from three to twenty grains, the average over the whole
body being about fifteen grains of lymph, which consists of water,
with a very minute admixture of salt, acetic acid, and a trace of
iron.—Graham’s Chemstry, p. 456.
4. Preservation of Cloth, Furs, §c.—The English successfully
use the following process to destroy moths, or to expel them from
cloths, tippets, and mufis. The seeds of the purple sweet sultan,
(hibiscus abelmoscus,) are spread lightly among the stuff to be pre-
served, between its folds, &c. ‘This grain, besides the advantage of
expelling moths, gives to the stuff or clothes, an agreeable odor.
Furriers, in order to preserve tippets, mufis, skins, and woolen stuffs,
and to destroy the vitality of the eggs of the insects which eat them,
Scientific Intelligence. 185
moisten or rub them over with a weak solution of corros. sublimate
in alcohol, (half a dram to a quart,) or else with an alcoholic solution
of arseniate of potash, prepared in the proportion of fifteen grains to
a quart. These solutions are also of use in preserving stuffed birds.
—Recueil Industriel, VII, 85.
We would suggest, as an easier and cheaper preservative against
the depredation of moths, a weak solution of chloride of lime.
Should any unpleasant odor result from its use, it might be removed
by a little aqua-ammonie, or by some vegetable essence.—Ed.
5. Vision of the Mole; by Geoffroy St. Hilaire-—Does the Mole
see? Aristotle, and all the Greek philosophers, thought it blind.
Galen, on the other hand, maintained that the Mole saw. He affirm-
ed that it has all the known means of sight. The question has been
resumed in modern times. Naturalists have found the eyes of the
animal. It is very small—not larger than a millet seed ; its color is
an ebony black; itis hard to the touch; and can scarcely be de-
pressed by squeezing it between the fingers. Besides the eye-lid
which covers it, itis protected by long hairs, which crossing each
other, form a thick and strong bandage. Such an eye ought to be
destined to see. But anatomists do not find the optic nerve. What
use could an eye be of, deprived of a nerve, which in other animals,
transmits the visual sensations to the brain. ‘This consideration na-
turally tends to restore the opinion of Aristotle and the Greeks, and
to induce the belief that the mole does not see, and that its eye is
only a rudimental poimt, without use.
Direct experiments, however, made at the request of G. St. Hil-
aire, shew most incontestibly, that the mole makes use of its eyes,
since it turns to avoid obstacles placed in its way. But if the mole
sees, how is this accomplished without an optic nerve. M. Serres
was of opinion that the place of this nerve was supplied by a superior
branch of the fifth pair, analogous to the opthalmic branch of Willis.
According to Geoffroy St. Hilaire, this change of function in a
nerve, which it is not naturally destined to fill, does not exist. The
mole sees by aid of a particular nerve, being unable, on account of
the too great extension of the olfactory apparatus, to follow the di-
rection which it takes in other animals, towards the tubercula quad-
rigemina, takes another direction, and anastomes, in the nearest point,
(au plus pres,) with the nerve of the fifth pair—.Ann. des Sciences
d’ Observation, I. 144.
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. 24
186 Screntific Intelligence.
6. Observations on the influence of Cold on New-born Children.—
Dr. Trevisan has been making researches in Italy, principally at
Castle Franco, analogous to those of M. M. Villermi, and Milne Ed-
wards, in France. ‘The conclusions at which he arrives, are :—In
Italy, of one hundred Infants born in December, January, and Feb-
ruary, sixty six died in the first month, fifteen more in the course of
the year, and nineteen survived ; of one hundred born im spring, forty
eight survive the first year; of one hundred born in summer, eighty
three survive the first year; of one hundred born in autumn, fifty
eight survive the first twelve months. He attributes this mortality of
the infants solely to the practice of exposing them to cold air a few
days after their birth, for the purpose of having them baptized at the
church. As well as M. M. Milne, Edwards, and Villermi, Dr. Tre-
visan calls the attention of the ecclesiastical authority to measures
suited to put a stop to such disasters, without violating the precepts
or practices of religion.—Jdem.
7. Mortality among Leeches during storms. (Fer. Bull.)—That
atmospheric changes have a remarkable influence upon leeches, is a
well established fact. In 1825, M. Derheims, of St. Omer, ascribes
the almost sudden death of them, at the approach of, or during
storms, to the coagulation of the blood of these creatures, caused by
the impression of the atmospheric electricity. This opinion, which
at that time was the result of theory, he confirmed in the month of
March last, by direct experiment.—/fdem.
8. Ossification of the Vitreous Humor. (La Clinique.)—M.
Krekn has lately met with that rare case, the ossification of the vitre-
ous humor of the eye. It occurred in a man seventy years old, who
died of gastritis; the preparation is placed in the Strasburgh Muse-
um. ‘The left eye was healthy, but the right presented the following
appearance :—The globe was diminished tn size, had lost its spheroi-
dal figure, and presented the appearance of four wrinkles or furrows,
corresponding with the insertion of the recti muscles. It was heavy
andhard. When a horizontal section was made from behind forward,
the schlerotic was found to be very thick, particularly at its posterior
part, near the entrance of the optic nerve ; the instrument was soon
arrested by a hard body, filling the whole space of the eyeball behind
the crystallme lens, and consequently occupying the place of the
vitreous humor. Immediately within the schlerotic was the choroide
Scientific Intelligence. 187
membrane, distinct, and rather thicker than natural. ‘The retina was
unchanged ; the solid body within was marked by the same depres-
sion which had been observed externally. It was of a pale white
color, and was internally of a cellular texture, like the cancelli of the
long bones. The crystalline was indurated and of a yellowish white
color ; the optic nerve was wasted.—/dem.
9. Zoological Weather Glass. (Mag. of Nat. Hist. IV. 479.)—
At Schwitzengen, in the post house, we witnessed for the first time,
what we have since seen frequently, an amusing application of zoo-
logical knowledge, for the purpose of prognosticating the weather.
Two frogs, of the species Rana arborea, are kept in a glass jar about
eighteen inches in height, and six inches in diameter, with the depth
of three or four inches of water at the bottom, and a small ladder
reaching to the top of the jar. On the approach of dry weather the
frogs mount the ladder, but when wet weather is expected, they de-
scend into the water. These animals are of a bright green, and in
their wild state, here climb the trees in search of insects, and make
a peculiar singing noise before rain. In the jar they get no other
food than now and then a fly, one of which we were assured, would
serve a frog for a week, though it will eat from six to twelve in a day,
if it can getthem. In catching the flies, put alive into the jars, the
frogs display great adroitness.—Jdem.
ARTS.
1. Manufacture of Red Crayons, for Drawing.—Pulverize a
certain quantity of hematite m porphyritic or other hard mortar, ming-
ling it with filtered water, so as to reduce it to an impalpable powder.
This is to be diluted with a sufficient quantity of water to allow the
finest portions of the mixture to pass through a fine seive, placed
over a vessel of water. The liquid holding the hematite in suspen-
sion, is agitated and left in repose for twenty four hours; the water
is then decanted cautiously, and the fine powder remains at the bot-
tom. This is to be incorporated with gum arabic, or isinglass, in
proportions, varying according to the use to which the crayon is to
be applied, viz: 1. For those of a tender quality, which leave large
marks, eighteen grains of dry gum arabic, to one ounce of well pre-
pared hematite. 2. For harder crayons, destined for small delicate
strokes, twenty two grains of gum to one ounce of powdered hematite.
188 Screntific Intelligence.
3. For the hardest crayons, twenty seven grains to one ounce ; and
4. For those which are to leave brilliant traces, thirty six grains of
isinglass, (ichthyocolla,) to one ounce of hematite.
The gum, or isinglass, is dissolved separately, and passed through
a woolen strainer ; the powder is then added, and the mixture is
placed over a moderate fire, until the mass acquires a suitable con-
sistency to bear rubbing in a mortar of porphyry, to render it homo-
geneous. ‘I'o form the crayon, the paste is forced through a cylinder,
and the sticks are dried and divided into pencils two inches long.
They are then pointed, and the crust, formed during desiccation, is
removed.—Idem. Vf. 294.
2. On the Preservation of Potatoes. (Ann. Soc. d’Agric.)—
Potatoes at the depth of one foot in the ground, produce shoots near
the end of spring ; at the depth of two feet, they appear in the mid-
dle of summer; at three feet of depth, they are very short, and ne-
ver come to the surface ; and between three and five feet, they cease
to vegetate. In consequence of observing these effects, several par-
cels of potatoes were buried in a garden, at the depth of three feet
and a half, and were not removed till after intervals of one and two
years. ‘They were then found without any appearance of germina-
tion, and possessing their original firmness, freshness, goodness and
taste.—Jdem.
MEDICAL STATISTICS.
1. In a work entitled “ Elements of Medical Statistics: &c.” by
F. Bisset Hawkins, M. D. &c. London, 1829, the following facts are
stated in a review of this work, in the Quar. Journal.
The mean term of Roman life, was thirty years—that is to say,
taking one thousand persons—adding together the years they indi-
vidually attained, and dividing the total by the number of persons,
the result is thirty. It is curious to contemplate the improvements
which have been effected in the course of time in the value of hu-
man life. Mr. Finlayson has ascertamed, that in England, at the
present time, the expectation of life, for persons similarly circum-
stanced, is at least fifty years, giving us a superiority of twenty years
above the Roman citizen. ‘The mean term among the easy classes
at Paris, is at present forty-two. At Flerence, to the whole popula-
tion, it is still not more than thirty.
Scientific Intelligencce. 189
In 1780 the annual mortality of England and Wales, was 1 in
40. By the last census, (1821,) it had fallen to 1 in 58, nearly
one third. ‘The rate of mortality is of course not equal throughout
the country. Sussex enjoys the lowest rate of any English country :
itis 1 in 72. Middlesex affords the other extreme, 1 im 47. Yet
here, in 1811 the mortality was as great as 1 in 36. It is a circum-
stance well worthy of note, that the aguish counties of England do
not, as might have been expected, stand Iigh in the list. In Lincoln-
shire, the rate of mortality is only 1 in 62. ‘This is attributed to
the exemption of fenny countries generally from consumption.—
Dr. Wells went so far as to advise the removal of consumptive patients
to the heart of the Cambridgeshire fens, rather than to Hastings or
Sidmouth.
The decline in mortality is even more striking in the cities than in
rural districts. While the metropolis has extended itself in all direc-
tions, and multiplied its inhabitants to an enormous amount,—in other
words, while the seeming sources of its unhealthiness have been large-
ly augmented, it has actually become more friendly to health. In
the middle of the last century, the annual mortality was about 1 in 20,
By the census of 1821 it appeared as 1 in 40; so that in the space
of 70 years, the chances of existence are exactly doubled in London.
The rate of mortality in Manchester, at the present time, does not
appear to exceed 1 in 74. As far back as the fourteenth century,
M. Villermé has calculated that the mortality in Paris, was about 1
in 17. About the middle of the last century, it was about 1 in 25,
in Paris, and 1 m 29 for the whole of France. At the present time
it is 1 m 32 in Paris, and 1 in 40 for the whole country. The an-
nual mortality of Nice, a small town enjoying a factitious reputation
of salubrity, is as high as 1 in 31; Naples, 1 in 28: Leghorn, 1 in
35; Berlm, 1 in 34; Madrid, 1 in 29; Rome, 1 in 25; Amster-
dam, 1 in 24; Vienna,1in22. ‘The average annual deaths through-
out England and Wales, is only 1 in 60: Sweden and Holland lose
annually 1 in 48; France, 1 in 40; Prussia and Naples, 1 m 34;
Wirtemberg, 1 in 33. In Sweden, among the deaths in 1823, only
five persons exceeded one hundred years, of whom, one was a man
and four women. ‘The marriages were nearly 24,000, among which,
ten men married for the fourth time, one for the fifth time, and one
for the sixth time! Upwards of 1400 women bore children from
the age of forty-five to fifty. Ffty-three women had borne children
beyond the age of fifty. Among nearly 100,000 women in labor,
190 ' — Setentafie Intelligence.
1400 had twins, and 27 had triplets. In Paris, the poor district pro-
duces more children than the rich, in the proportion of 32 to 26, but
when there are fifty deaths in the rich arrondisement, there are one
hundred in the poor one. ‘The number of illegitimate children is
immense, and seven out of nine are abandoned by their parents, and
of these, one half perish in the first year of their existence. Dupin
has ascertained that one half of the deaths in Paris, take place in
the hospitals and other asylums of charity. Not a fourth part of
the inhabitants are buried at private cost. It appears from the sta-
tistics of Prague, that neither bachelor nor spinster, has for an aver-
age, of several years, exceeded the age of ninty-five, whereas sev-
eral married persons have lived to see one hundred and fifteen. At
New York, the mortality of the whites, on an average of the seven
years, from 1820 to 1826, is 1 in 40. Among the blacks, on the
same average, 1 in 19. At Philadelphia, the whites, 1 in 343; the
blacks, on the same average, 1 in 19. At Baltimore, the blacks 1
in 33, and the whites 1 in 39.
In 1750 at the British Lying-in Hospital, one woman died out of
forty-two ; in 1780, one died in sixty; and at the city of London
Hospital, m 1826, the deaths were only 1 in 70. At the Dublin
Lying-in Hospital, the most magnificent institution of the kind in the
world, the proportion of women dying in child-bed, on an average
of seventy years, has been but 1 in 89. At Stockholm and at Paris
in 1822, the deaths at the Lying-in Hospital, were 1 in 29. At
Berlin, between 1807 and 1817, one case was fatal, out of forty-
five. ‘The mortality had then been once as high as 1 in 32.—Lon.
Quar. Jour. of Sci. April to June, 1829.
2. Urinary Calculi. (Naturwissench Abhand, v. e. Gessellsch in
Wurt.)—M. Rapp, having analysed eighty one urinary calculi, which
he had obtained in different parts of the kmngdom of Wirtemberg, has
obtained the following results :—
1. Calculi, with oxalate of lime, (almost always with a nucleus of
uric acid,)
Calculi, formed by oxalate of lime alone, - - 22
Oxalate of lime, with an exterior fusible coat (of ammoniaco-
magnesian phosphate, ) - - - - 28
Oxalate of lime, covered with a thick coat of uric acid, - 3
Oxalate of lime mixed with a considerable quantity of uric acid,
so that their external characters are no longer distinguishable, 3
Scventific Intelligence. 191
Uric acid, - - - - - a
Uric acid, covered with one or more fusible coats, - 9
Urate of ammonia, - - - - shen
Fusible calculi, without a distinct nucleus, - - a
Phosphate, with a considerable proportion, (0.13) of carbonate
of lime, - - - - - Ee |
81
One remarkable fact is the variety in Wirtemberg of calculi form-
ed of uric acid, if the number of them be compared with that which
is generally found in England. M. Rapp has found seven out of 81
in his collection; while in the collection of Guy’s Hospital in Lon-
don, 22 are met with among 87; at Norwich, 66 out of 181 (Mar-
cet) ; at Manchester, 71 out of 187, (Henry,) without counting 39
others, composed of uric acid and of phosphate ; of 150 calculi, in
Hunter’s Museum, and in the collection of Sir E. Home, there are
61 formed of Uric acid, including 45 containing a small proportion of
phosphate (Brande.) In the collection of Bristol, Smith found 73
calculi of uric acid, out of 218, the total number.
Calculi of uric acid are not, therefore, common in Wirtemburg ;
this substance, however, is the most generally diffused throughout
them. M. Rapp counted fifty seven of which only the nucleus was
formed of it. This nucleus is frequently very small, sometimes only
a line in diameter ; in many of these concretions the oxalate of lime
is mixed with uric acid; sometimes, but rarely, coats of uric acid
alternate with coats of phosphate.
M. Rapp found no stone composed entirely of phosphate of lime,
but frequently this salt was mixed with ammoniaco-magnesian phos-
phate. The phosphated earths form but rarely the first nucleus of a
stone; most frequently they form the external coats when the nu-
cleus is already formed. ‘This is frequently observed in mulberry
calculi ; occasionally, a certain quantity of carbonate of lime is mix-
ed with the phosphates. ‘These calculi may be formed without any
particular diathesis, and in a man in good health, whenever any ex-
traneous body get into the bladder, they become the most volumin-
ous calculi. Earle described one (Phil. Trans. 1807,) that weighed
four ounces. An animal regimen appears singularly favorable to the
deposition of phosphated earths in the urine.
The presence of urate of ammonia in urinary calculi has been con-
tested by M. M. Brande, Henry, and Marcet; and the signs which
Prout has indicated, to recognise this salt, are all doubtful. M.
192 Screntifie Intelligence.
Rapp has, however, found it in three calculi, two of which had a
crust of oxalate of lime, and the third, a crust of ammoniaco-mag-
nesian phosphate. It is best recognised by means of a solution of
caustic !potash, in which these calculi completely dissolve, disen-
gaging ammoniacal gas; but it is necessary to be certain that they
do not contain ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate. Silica has not
been found in any of the calculi examined by M. Rapp. Calculi of
oxalate of lime are the most common in the kingdom of Wirtemburg ;
in England, on the contrary, they are rare; in the former there were
56 out of 81, while at Norwich, there were only 59 out of 181;
in the Hunterian Museum, 6 out of 150; 28 out of 87 at Guy’s
Hospital; 11 out of 187 at Manchester, and 65 out of 208 in the
collection of Bristol.—Jdem.
MISCELLANEOUS.
1. Rehgious toleration in Russia.—tndependently of the people
who profess the orthodox religion of Russia, there are in the country
Roman Catholics, Unitarians, Lutherans, Calvinists, Arminians,
Mennonists, Mahometans, Jews, Worshippers of the Grand Lama,
and Idolaters. ‘The number of Roman Catholics may be estimated
at seven millions, and of other Christians, rather more than two mil-
lions and a half. ‘The Mahometans of Kasan, Astrakhan, Siberia,
Orenburgh, the Crimea, Caucasus, Lithuania, and other places,
have mosques in the places where they have fixed their abode.
Their number amounts to more than three millions. Synagogues
have long existed in the cantons and cities inhabited by Jews, the to-
tal of whom is about five hundred thousand. With respect to Pa-
ganism, we must add to the gross idolaters who wander in the de-
serts of Siberia and in the Steppes of Kirguis-Kaissaks, the worship-
pers of the Grand Lama, and those of the Fetishes and Schahmans.
We should not omit, either the heretics and schismatics of the differ-
ent sects, whose religion seems limited to vain prejudices and super-
stitious practices. In the midst of such a variety of worship, reli-
gious toleration has always been maintained in Russia. During the
ten centuries of the existence of the empire, its history does not pro-
duce a single example of persecution by the Russian government
against a foreign religion, and the bloody name of religious wars is
not found in its annals. It would seem that in its ancient attachment
to the spirit of the eastern church, it has learned the moderation
which characterized true Christians in the origin of Christianity.—
Ferrusac’s Bulletin, Nov. 1828.
Scientific Intelligence. 193
2. Examination of Patent claims—Since 1826, the application
for patents in Piedmont and Sardinia, have been referred to the Acad-
emy of Sciences at Turin, with the intention of negativing all those
founded in ignorance or knavery, and supporting only those which
are true improvements, and im their effects really advantageous to the
arts. Although the number of patents has been excessively dimin-
ished in consequence, yet it appears that the applications have in-
creased in an extraordinary degree. The academicians, though
much engaged in the year 1826, in examining claims, were poorly:
rewarded by the occurrence of actual improvements : only two ma-
chines were brought forward which received their sanction.—Idem.
3. French eggs and apples.—63,109,618 hens’ eggs, and 14,182
bushels of apples were imported from France into England, in the
year 1827.—Idem.
UNARRANGED MISCELLANIES, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN.
1. Particulars of the striking of Lightning over a great surface,
but with little injury, communicated to Mr. N. Clark of New Ha-
ven, by Mr. O. H. Bryant, clerk in the State Prison at Charles-
town, Mass. July 31st, 1829.—Yesterday, we had a severe shock of
lightning at the prison. It raimed im torrents, and a dense mass of
highly charged clouds spent their embosomed electricity on and
about us. I was looking out of my office window, to discover the
direction in which the clouds were moving, when a flash, accompa-
nied by a rustling noise like that of small shot thrown upon stiff
paper, and a feeling as if all the energy of my muscles was at
once withdrawn, and an almost insuperable inclination to fall back
on the floor, convinced me that I had been struck with light-
ning. But I only tottered back a few steps and recovered myself
immediately. On leaving my office to inquire what mischief had
been done, I learned of the officers, that almost all of them, as
well as many of the convicts, had been affected like myself. My
office is in the brick building directly south, and in front of the pri-
son, about three hundred and sixty feet from the north wall of the
prison yard. Between the office and the prison building, is a large
yard, perhaps one hundred and fifty feet wide; the length enclosed
by the wall is four hundred and eighty feet; the width three hun-
dred and sixty feet. The prison has three conductors on it, about
equidistant from each other, say eighteen feet. The lightning passed
Vou. XVII.—No. 1. 25
194 Scientific Intelligence.
down each of these without any injury to the building, except startmg
a few slates near the ridge post. Now, what appears singular in this
case, is, that no person out of nearly three hundred, officers and con-
victs, was in the least injured, although almost every one was more
or less affected by it. Nearly all of these persons had either a steel-
ed hammer, a musket with bayonet fixed, or some metallic utensil in
their hands. Within a.yard of my situation, is an armory with thirty
guns, and as many steel pointed pikes—the points and bayonets poimt-
ing up. [can account for cur escape, only by supposing that the
fluid was attracted by so many different objects, on all parts of the
building, and all over the yard, that it divided itself just before it
reached us, and passed off in such small quantities as almost to lose
its effects.
It is singular that men standing five hundred feet distant from me,
should be affected in the same degree. I suppose that one hun-
dred tons of iron are exposed on the different buildings, in grates,
doors, pillars, &c. &e. One of the officers had a saw in his hand,
which, he says, seemed to be “ light red fire.” Another was stoop-
ing and picking up nails from the floor, and the instant after the
flash, found himself standing bolt upright, with his hands tightly
clenched together. ‘The effects of this bolt were felt over a surface
of one hundred and seventy two thousand five hundred feet, in near-
ly the same degree, without any permanent jury being sustained.
2. Electro-gaivanic phenomena.*—Singular.—On Wednesday
of last week, while the workmen were soldering the iron water pipes
in Water street, electric shocks were produced to such a degree as
to cause them to discontinue their labors through the remainder of
the day. Several of our citizens who were standing by, got into the
ditch, and tried the experiment, when the effect was the same on all.
The pipes are united in the following manner :—they are nine feet
long, perfect cylinders, with a bore of six inches, and a bowl at one
end four inches deep. At the spring, is a funnel pipe which is in-
serted into the bowl of the succeeding pipe ; the spigot end of which
is inserted into the bowl of the next, and so on. When fifty or one
hundred pipes are laid down in this manner, the process of soldering
commences. This is done by first ramming into the joint a few
strands of rope-yarn, and then applying clay around the joint, leaving
“From the Winchester Republican,
Scientific Intelligence. 195
an aperture at the top into which the molten lead is poured. ‘The
clay is then taken off and the lead driven home wiih a blunt chisel
and hammer. It was in driving home the lead that the shocks were
produced. ‘The sun was nearly vertical, and the thermometer at
93°; the ditch somewhat damp, and the pipes warm from the ac-
tion of the sun upon them. The principle is no doubt that of gal-
vanism, but as the cause is supposed to be entirely new, the plumber,
(Mr. Johnson, from Philadelphia) having never known any thing
like it during his long experience in that city, we should be glad to
receive the opinion of scientific men upon it.
We have since been informed, that after a heavy rain on the ensuing
day, and the coverimg of a few feet of the pipes some distance above
with earth, the phenomenon did not occur, nor has it since occurred.
Remarks by a correspondent.—Vhe phenomenon belongs, without
doubt, to thermo-electricity. The exciting agent in the voltaic series,
(for the chain of pipes with mterposed lead soldering, may surely be
considered as such a series,) was made active by the intense heat of
the sun. ‘The pipes beimg of a black color, probably acquired a tem-
perature much above that of the surrounding air ; they were probably
also unequally acted on in consequence of their lying in a:ditch.
% * # % %
We agree entirely in opinion with our correspondent, and cannot
doubt that much of terrestrial and atmospheric electricity arises from
similar natural galvano-electric combinations existing in the various
arrangements of matter.— Hd.
3. Test for lead in oil of Vitriol, by A. A. Hayes—Commer-
cial oil of vitriol often contains much sulphate of lead, to detect which
and separate it in part, a few drops of strong muriatic acid may be
dropped into the cold acid, an opaline, or milky appearance, indi-
cates the presence of a minute portion only ; if considerably con-
taminated, a precipitate falls, from which the clear acid may be de-
canted. ‘This effect seems to depend on the insolubility of chloride
of lead in cold sulphuric acid; when heated, the acid dissolves it.
Muriatic acid in water, readily dissolves and decomposes sulphate of
lead ; the solution containing free sulphuric acid, may be boiled a
long time without decomposition. By evaporating the liquor and
heating the salt, decomposition of the chloride is effected. Com-
mercial oil of vitriol dissolves much more sulphate of lead, than con-
centrated sulphuric acid does; the result of one experiment gave
ut pants: :
196 Scientyfie Intelligence.
4. Eaton Galena, fid.—Three specimens of the ore from Eaton,
_ N. H. presenting different structures, were separately cupelled with
care. 300 parts of the broad and small foliated, each gave .634
parts, or .2113 per 100 of pure silver. 300 parts small granular,
left a few grains of quartz, with 6.19 parts of pure silver. If judi-
ciously worked, this ore would doubtless yield more silver, than the
Hartz ores. 8400 parts of the lead from that ore, equal to about
12400 parts of picked ore, are stated to yield from 12 to 15 parts of
silver slightly alloyed. ‘Taking the above results, 12400 parts of the
ore from Eaton, would give a mean quantity equal to 26 parts pure _
silver.
5. Description of a new locality of zircon, particularly referring
to its geological character, by Wm. Meade, M.D.; in a letter ad-
dressed to the Editor, dated Newburgh, Sept. 18, 1829.—While on
an excursion this summer, through part of the Highlands in the county
of Orange, state of New York, I was presented with a specimen of
iron ore, which had been obtamed from the neighborhood, where a
shaft had been dug many years ago, in an unsuccessful attempt to
discover a productive mine of that mineral. The specimen was evi-
dently similar to that species of magnetic oxide of iron or the fer
oxidule of Hatty, which I have described in a former number of
this Journal; and which is abundantly disseminated in these moun-
tains, being that with which the principal forges are supplied for the
manufacture of their best iron. On examining the specimen with
some attention, I found crystals of zircon imbedded in it in all direc-
tions, which induced me to visit the place where it had been obtained,
which I found was im the mountainous part of the town of Cornwall,
called Deer Hill, from the numerous herds of deer that formerly oc-
cupied these mountains. Here I observed, that a considerable quan-
tity of this ore had been raised from a pit which had been opened
only to the depth of eight or ten feet: these blocks lay scattered on
the surface of the ground, and from bemg exposed to the atmosphere
for many years, were much disintegrated, and their matrix which
was gneiss, was quite decomposed and brittle. On examiniug these-
specimens, which differed only from the oxidulated iron ore of that
neighborhood in being more friable, I found numerous crystals of
zircon imbedded in it, some of them so loosely invested in their ma-
trix, that they scarcely adhered to it, but fell out on being handled,
leaying the cast or model of the erystal quite smooth, and so perfect
Scientific Intelligence. 197
that it seemed as if they had been previously formed and imbedded
in the ore, while it was soft or in a state of fusion.
The crystals of zircon were of a deep brownish red color, some of
them translucent and of a metallic or bronze lustre: those on the sur-
face, exposed to the atmosphere, were extremely friable or brittle, but
the interior showed perfect well defined crystals of all sizes, from those
that were excessively small to others of the dimensions of one inch in
length and one fourth of an inch at each side of the plane of the crys-
tals, which were uniformly a four sided prism, terminated at each ex-
tremity by pyramids, with additional faces on their edges or angles ;
precisely sumilar to those found near Trenton and at Schooley’s Moun-
tain, described in Cleaveland’s Mineralogy, page 298 and illustrated
in plate iii. fig. 38 and 39. Iam in possession of one crystal of this
form, the length of which is more than one inch, and the sides of the
prism one third of an inch in diameter. It is not unfrequent also to
find zircon, in the same specimen, massive and in round grains.
It appears from the above description, that there is nothing pecu-
liar in the character of the zircon found in this locality, or in the
form of its crystallization: it only adds another geological situation
1o those described by former mimeralogists. The occurrence of zir-
con in the United States is not uncommon: in almost every other
instance I have seen it imbedded in primitive rocks, such as granite
or sienite, and particularly in that species of sienite with a green
colored felspar, but 1 have never heard before of its having been
noticed in primitive iron ore. ‘The only deviation from its usual geo-
logical situation which I have observed, except in this instance, is at
Easton in Pennsylvania, where zircon has been found, by Dr. Swift,
in large and beautiful crystals, imbedded im steatite or talc, of so soft
a nature that the crystals can be completely developed, by separating
the steatite with the point of a pen knife.
6. Geology.—tn the gulf of Bengal, an island has lately been
formed, by the accumulation of the alluvial matter, brought down by
the waters which empty into this bay. ‘This island was discovered
in the year 1806, together with the channel, by a boat which was
bound to St.Gur. It increases rapidly: it is about two miles long
and one and a half wide. The southern beach consists of a solid
sand, making an insensible declivity; the eastern part appears at a
distance to be a green plain; this island is the retreat of crabs, tur-
tles, and of an infinity of birds.—Diario de Fisica.
198 Scientific Intelligence.
7. Magnetic Variations —Prof. B. Silliman, Sir—l| observe in
the April number of the American Journal of Science and Arts, the
result of a series of observations, and calculations to ascertain the
variation of the compass needle. In the year of 1827 in Troy,
N. Y. I made some observations myself for the same purpose ; I will
send you my result, andif you think it worth an insertion in one of
the numbers of your Journal, it is at your service.
1827, June 24th.—The result of twelve observations of the sun,
in both forenoon and afternoon, of Altitude and Azimuth, in mean.
In forenoon Alt. 22° 21’—Az. N. 83° 51’ E.
Tn afternoon Alt. 22° 21’—Az. N. 71° 42/W.
2 | 12° 09
Magnetical variations - - N. 6° 04.5! W.
Yours most respectfully,
Ausert Danxker,
Civil Engineer and Land Surveyor, and Member of Rensselaer School.
Troy, N. Y. August 18th, 1829.
8. Elements of Technology, by Jacob Bigelow, M. D. late Rum-
ford Professor in Harvard University, 8vo. pp. 507, Boston.—This
book is taken chiefly from the lectures delivered by Professor Bigelow
at Cambridge, and is mtended for students, to whom it must be an
acceptable present. It presupposes, in the reader, a knowledge of
scientific principles ; but takes him, thus prepared, by the hand, and
leading him round, shews him the application of these principles to
a variety of the most useful and familiar arts. ‘The mformation it
contains, while most desirable, is such as is frequently not to be found,
except in scarce and voluminous authors; some of it, that on arch-
itecture for instance, we have frequently known to be sought after ina
manner to make us regret that it was not more accessible. If we were
inclined to qualify our favorable opinion of this work, we should per-
haps say, that the multiplicity of articles, and the consequent brevity
of each, may have hindered the author from being as copious and
thorough-going on all of them as he would no doubt, have wished to be ;
but the book is mtended to be practical ; and practical scientific men,
while they lead the community, must not go too far ahead. The
author himself, is certainly at home in science ; his book shews a
familiar acquaintance with his subject ; the matter is well selected and
the style lucid and happy. The reader will find himself at the end
Scientific Intelligence. 199
of each article, much wiser than before, and desirous of knowing
more concerning it. ‘The public are indebted to the author for his
book ; we strongly recommend it to their attention.
9. Elementary works on astronomy.— Elements of Astronomy,”
by Hervey Wilbur, A. M.—* View of the Heaven,” by Rev. Amos
Pettengill.
The two foregoing elementary treatises on astronomy have been re-
cently published, being severally designed to furnish to young learners
an easy introduction to the instructive and delightful study of the
heavenly bodies. The treatise of Mr. Wilbur, who is extensively
and advantageously known as a popular lecturer on astronomy, is n-
tended more particularly as a companion to his lectures; while that
of Mr. Pettengill is especially adapted to the srptLaRoTa—an in-
genious and very useful mstrument, of which we gave some account
in our last number. Both treatises, however, may be advantageously
read by those who are entering on the study of astronomy, indepen-
dently of every other aid or illustration. We sincerely hope that
these little books may conspire with the other efforts of the same
gentlemen, to diffuse’a more general taste for the study of astronomy,
particularly throughout our primary schools and academies.
10. Catalogue of plants in the vicinity of Amherst College.—This
catalogue was prepared by Prof. Hitchcock, and published by the
Junior Class of 1829, in Amherst College, for the benefit of botanical
students in that institution. It embraces all the indigenous and nat-
uralized plants, that have been discovered within forty or fifty miles
of Amherst, to which have been added such as are peculiar to the
White Mountains and the sea coast of New England ; so that its util-
ity may be shared by botanists situated in any part of the northern
section of the United States. Its particular design, as declared in
the preface, is, to facilitate the student’s examination of plants, by
pointing him to those species, which he may expect to find in his dis-
trict, and whose descriptions, therefore, he may select in the Floras
and Manuals of American plants ; to present him with an authority
for each specimen, with the most important synonymes; and, in case
of rare plants, to particularize the precise spot where it may be found.
Exclusive of the plants peculiar to the White Mountains and the sea
coast, it contains five hundred and thirty one genera, and one thou-
sand four hundred and forty seven species, which occur within fifty
200 Scientific Intelligence.
miles of Amherst College. Of these, three hundred and ninety five
genera, and nine hundred and ninety seven species, are phenogamous
plants ; while one hundred and thirty six genera, and four hundred
and fifty species belong to the class Cryptogamia.
11. Agenda Geognostica.
Translated by Prof. Fiske, and communicated by Prof. Hitchcock, of Amherst.
A Help Book for travelling geologists, (mountain searchers, ) and
Guide to Lecturers on practical Geognosy, by Prof. Leonhard, Hei-
dleberg, Germany.
1. Introduction.—Scientific preparation for a journey : ex. gr. stu-
dy of existing works, maps, collections, &c.—apparatus, mode of trav-
elling, time of journey, determination of bearings, and selection of
favorable points for observation, the collecting of specimens, diary,
profiles, and views, geological maps.
2. Examination of the external relations and appearances of
mountains.—General and particular geographical relations of the
mountain to be examined ; direction, extent, height of hills and moun-
tains, their separation from, or connection with others.
Physiognomic relations ; mountain structure in general and partic-
ular, direction and ramifications of chains, slopes, ridges, passes,
interruptions by valleys and plains, &c. vegetation.
Limits of snow, glaciers, fountains, rivers, lakes, seas, volcanos,
earthquakes.
3. Examination of the internal structure and relations of hills and
mountains.—Existing rocks; position, structure, relations, intermix-
tures, transitions, changes produced by the atmosphere.
Division of rock masses, by stratification, by separation, by fissures.
Stratified arrangement ; alluvium, diluvium, tertiary, secondary,
transition, primitive. .
Unstratified arrangement ; granite, syenite, porphyry, &c. basalt,
dolerite, phonolite, &c. trachyte, lava, recent volcanos, &c.
Metallic repositories; veins and beds, excavations, precipices,
caves.
4. Execution of a geognostic description.—The geological reader
will see that such an outline as this, filled up by so able a writer as
the Councellor Von Leonhard, must be an extremely valuable guide,
in the examination of rocks, and will only regret that so few observ-
ers in this country, will be profited by it, unless some one should
undertake its translation into English.
Scientific Intelligence. 201
12. Naval Sketches.—A New York correspondent, who signs him-
self 4 Subscriber, after expressing his warm approbation of the Naval
Sketches and of our notice of it in the last number, expresses also his
regret, that we did not continue our extracts from Mr. Jones’ work,
particularly in that part which relates to Constantinople and the wil-
lingness of the Turkish government to form a treaty with us, and de-
sires us to resume our quotations in this number.
Agreeing perfectly with our correspondent, that “the author is not
amere man of books, but a well informed practical man”—it would
have given us great pleasure to gratify “‘A Subscriber,” by addi-
tional extracts; but on looking over the part referred to, we found it
was too long for insertion, consistently with our obligations, and as
the Naval Sketches have been extensively read and quoted, since our
last number appeared, perhaps the step is now the less necessary —Ed.
13. Turner’s Chemistry, 2d American Edition.—For the Amer-
ican reprint of this excellent work, in a cheap but neat form, and for
its consequent general diffusion over the United States, we are in-
debted to Mr. John Grigg of Philadelphia. The work, particularly
in the second American edition, has been revised by Dr. F. Bache,
from whose accurate eye it has received various corrections that have
anticipated, in part, those of the author in the second London edition.
14. Foreign Memoirs and Pamphlets —The Editor has received
from Mr. Brongniart of Paris—
1. Notice sur les Bréches osseus et les Minerais de fer _pisi-
forme de méme position geognostique ; also, Observations addition-
elles sur les minerais de fer pisiforme, &c.
2. Notice sur les Blocs de Roches des Terrains de Transport en
Suede.
3. From Mr. Murchison of London, Sec. Geol. Soc.—A memoir,
by himself, on the Bituminous Schist and Fossil Fish of Seefeld, in
the Tyrol.
4. On the relations of the Tertiary and Secondary Rocks, form-
ing the southern flanks of the Tyrolese Alps, near Bassano.—Id.
5. On the Coal-field of Brora, in Sutherland, and some other
Stratified Deposits in the north of Scotland.—Jd.
6. On the Excavation of Valleys, as illustrated by the Volcanic
Rocks of Central France, by Charles Lyell, Esq. F. R. S. V. P.
G. Soc. &c. and R. I. Murchison, Esq. F. R.S. &c.
Vor. XVIT.—No. 1. 26
202 Scientific Intelligence.
7. From Dr. John Frost, Lecturer at St. Thomas’ Hospital, &e.
&c.—His Oration delivered before the Medico Botanical Society of
London, by Dr. F.
8. From W. H. Fitton, M.D. F.R.S. P. G. Soc.—His anni-
versary Address at the meeting of the Geological Society of London.
9. Three Lectures on the transmission of the precious metals
from country to country, and the mercantile theory of wealth, deliv-
ered before the university of Oxford, by N. W. Senior, late Fellow
of Magdalen College, and Professor of Political Economy.
10. Proceedings of the Phil. and Lit. Soc. of Bristol, England,
at their sixth annual meeting.
11. Catalogues and Circulars of the collection of minerals and
rocks, for sale and exchange at the Mineral Comptoir, at Heidelberg,
Germany.
15. Gifts to the Geological Society, by Dr. Jacob Porter.—Two
boxes of minerals.
Secret History of the Court and Cabinet of Saint Cloud.
Report on a Canal (or Canals,) from Boston to Connecticut and
Hudson Rivers.
Report on a Rail Road from Providence to Boston.
Report on a Rail Road from Boston to Albany.
16. Gold in Maryland.—A letter just received from a corres-
pondent in Baltimore, informs us that gold has been recently found
in Maryland. It is known to exist in Virginia, and these localities,
with those of North Carolina, appear to form a straight line parallel
or nearly so, it is believed, with the Alleghany range. Quartz is
abundant in the region about that discovered in Maryland, as is the
case also in that of North Carolma.
17. Culture of Silk.—Dr. Felix Pascalis, has published ‘ Prac-
tical Instructions for the culture of Silk and the Mulberry Tree,”
Vol. I.; to which is added, ‘‘ The Natural History of the Silk Worm.”
This work abounds with valuable and pleasing information, and can-
not fail to arrest the attention of all who are interested in the impor-
‘tant manufacture to which it refers.
The 2d volume of the Practical Instructions is promised to appear
in October, and with it the 2d No. of a quarterly periodical work,
called the Silk Culturist, to be devoted, as its name implies, to the
promotion of that branch of industry.
Scientific Intelligence. 203
18. Acidulous sulphate of iron, (from a correspondent.)—In Vol.
XV, at p. 238, is a notice by Prof. Eaton, of native sulphuric acid ;
a substance possessing the same properties, is said to be often found
in the vicinity of beds of sulphuret of iron. “TI have, (says our cor-
respondent,) several times analyzed a compound from Strafford, Vt.
whose characters, so far as observed, correspond with that noticed by
Prof. E. Sulphate of protoxide of iron, decomposed by air and light,
ultimately retains but one half the quantity of peroxide of iron, which
our bi-persulphate does. Very dilute sulphuric acid chars vegetable
substances when exposed to the sun’s rays; crystallized sulphate of
zinc, is even quite an active acidule under such circumstances.”
19. Roxbury Laboratory, (near Boston.)—The company incor-
porated under the name of the Roxbury, Color and Chemical, Co.
employ Mr. A. A. Hayes, to supermtend the manufacture of sulphu-
ric, nitric and muriatic acids ; sulphates of copper, zinc, and potash ;
alum, white vitriol, ferro-prussiate of potash, and Prussian blue, in its
different forms. Verditer blue and green, French green, rose and
Dutch pinks, slip yellow, and fig blue. Some of the processes are
original, and the quantities are such as the market warrants.
19. Correction.—By a letter from the Rev. Isaac Bird, dated
Malta, March 24, 1829, we learn with regret, that the note on page
377, Vol. XV. of this Journal, is erroneously referred, by the aster-
isk, to the late Mr. Fisk, and that the reference should have been to
the end of line 3d, on the top of the page, which would fix the crit-
icism where it belongs, upon an author always indeed animated and
interesting but somewhat remarkable for “ bold speculations.”
Mr. Fisk was not an author, and never wrote or published any
thing on the subject referred to in the note.—Ed.
21. Tron Mines.—Extract of a letter to the Editor, dated New
York, August, 1829.—On a late visit to the Monroe Iron Works, in
Orange county, in this state, I rode over to the iron mines of the
Messrs. ‘Townsend, distant about five miles, in a south westerly direc-
tion, from the extensive iron works of Messrs. Blackwell and Mc-
Farlan. The larger of the two mines has been worked for upwards
of seventy years, and the vein of iron, which is a rich oxide, seems to
be inexhaustible. It appears to be about four feet in the narrowest part,
running in a nearly horizontal line at about ten feet below the surface,
and is very easily worked. The proprietors have, within ten or
204 Scientific Intelligence.
twelve weeks, discovered on their land, at a distance of about half a.
mile from this, another bed of exceeding richness, yielding, as Mr.
Townsend informed me, about seventy five per cent. of pure ore.
It was discovered by the aid of a compass, the needle of which struck
upon the dial on being brought over the ground. ‘The ore is a fria-
ble, strongly magnetic oxide; the particles when knocked off adher-
ing to the point of the pickaxe. There is no overlying stratum of
rock, nor any one contiguous, as far as the excavation has been made,
which is to the depth of six or eight feet. It appears to be one great
bed of solid and very pure ore.
22. Hydrophobia.—We are indebted to a highly valued medical
friend, for the following interesting communication. The importance
of the subject on which it treats, will, no doubt, obtain for it an ex-
tensive circulation. ‘The writer is a man of science and worthy of
every confidence.—Ed. U. S. Tel.
At the present moment our fellow citizens are considerably excit-
ed by the fear of mad dogs, by whom at least two children, in this
city have, within a few days, been bitten. ‘The horrible nature of
the disease consequent to the bite—a disease so utterly beyond the
reach of medical aid, renders it the imperious duty of every one to
communicate to the public any thing he may know tending to mitigate
or prevent the awful issue.
By the late foreign medical Journals we learn that M. Coster, a
French surgeon of great eminence, has devoted his attention to the
subject of animal poisons. He has discovered that chlorine has the
wonderful power of decomposing and destroying the poison of the
most deadly.
The saliva of the mad dog, has the property, when mserted under
the skin, of communicating hydrophobia to other animals, and to
man. M. Coster has been able, by the use of chlorine, to decom-
pose this deadly poison, and render it harmless, preventing the ap-
proach of hydrophobia in animals bitten by dogs decidedly rabid —
There can be no doubt of the accuracy of the experiment on which
this statement is predicated.
From this the most important practical results follow :
Make a strong wash by dissolving two table spoonfuls of the chlo-
ruret of lime in half a pit of water, and instantly and repeatedly
bathe the part bitten. The poison will in this way be decomposed.
It has proved successful when applied within six hours after the ani-
mal has been bitten.
Scientifte Intelligence. 205.
I wish these facts generally known, as they may be of service to
our fellow citizens at large.
Singular case of Hydrophobia.—A case is related in the Lan-
cet, a London Monthly Periodical, of a man having died with all the
horrors of hydrophobia, and the dog that had bitten him betraymg
no such symptoms. ‘The statement is from an eminent surgeon, and
is well attested by several respectable names. Soon after the man
was bitten, he applied to a medical gentleman, intimating, however,
his firm conviction that the dog was not mad. As the dog was evi-
dently sick, the surgeon took the precaution of having him placed in
a secure situation, and from day to day watched the progress of his
symptoms till he died. From the most attentive observation, the
surgeon could not observe the slightest appearance of rabies ; the
animal lay quiet, walked firmly, breathed easily, had no abhorrence
‘of fluids, and caressed his master as usual. His death appeared to
be accompanied with pain, and on being opened, the body presented
none of those appearances which are generally produced by hydro-
phobia. In about a fortnight after the decease of the animal, the
man was taken with the usual symptoms of rabzes, and died in dread-
ful convulsions. ‘The case has excited considerable imterest, as it
proves that hydrophobia, in animals, is not confined to one character,
but assumes different shapes.
Remarks on the above cases and on the uses of the chloric pre-
parations.*—Ed.
We have added the account of the last hydrophobic case, for the
purpose of saying, that it might be prudent in every instance of a bite
from a dog, or other animal, whether supposed to be rabid or not, to
wash the wound frequently with the solution of chloride of lime.
From what we now know of the powers of chlorine, it is not too much
to hope for, that it may prove an antidote to every case of poison, pro-
vided it be applied in season, and before the system is fatally affected.
It appears highly probable that hydrogen, from its being the light-
est and most subtle of all known ponderable bodies, may enter into
the composition of such active agents as poisons. Fontana exa-
mined the poison of the viper and of other animals, but we know not
whether, as in prussic acid, hydrogen is the active principle. In the
present No. it appears (p. 174,) that chlorine destroyed the effect
* Ingenious views of the nature and action of these preparations are presented by
Dr. L. C. Beck, ina memoir, Vol. XIV, p. 251, of this Journal.
206 Seventific Intelligence.
of prussic acid, the most active poison known, even afier it had gone
far towards producing death. It is therefore credible, that it may
destroy other poisons, having a similar constitution; and we can
readily understand the modus operandi in such cases; for chlorine
takes hydrogen from every combination, and of course destroys the
peculiar character of the compound. Prussic acid itself consists of
nothing but the ordinary elements of animal matter, such as are daily
used for food ; but in the acid they are combined in a peculiar man-
ner, and the withdrawing of hydrogen from it, at once subverts the
combination, and renders it harmless.
The practical use which we would make of the facts which we
know, and of the theoretical views which we entertain, is, that chlo-
ride of lime should be kept in every family ready for instant use in
the multiplied cases in which it is applicable.
It is already manufactured in this country in large quantities, and
we observe with great satisfaction, that it is hereafter to form a part
of the stores of our ships of war. This will greatly encourage the
manufacture, and the time is not distant, when the price will be much
less than at present.*
* * * * * * %* * *
We add with pleasure that Lapargaque’s celebrated pamphlet on
the uses of the CHLORIDES OF LIME AND sopa has been recently
translated by Dr. Jacob Porter, of Plainfield, Mass. and is to be
sold by the principal booksellers. Some additions have been made
by the translator, from recent publications, and we trust that this
little work will contribute to extend the knowledge of this subject.
* % * * % * % %* *
We would observe that as there are various chloric preparations,
and of course an endless diversity of cases in which they may be ap-
plied, we should not give over, even should they not prove effectual in
every instance ; for some variety in strength, and mode of prepara-
tion, and application, may be necessary to accommodate the remedy
to different cases.
23. Crystallization of Tin.—Mr. Allard, rue St. Lazare, No. 11,
to whom we are indebted for the means of producing upon metal-
lic plates, the most brilliant changeable lustre, creates also upon
tin plate a varied and splendid play of light to which he has given the
name of moiré métallique.
* We understand about cight or nine dollars per ewt.—double this rate or a litile
more, at retail.
Scientific Intelligence. 207
It is universally known, that the acids, either single or combined,
in different degrees, are the agents, employed in producing these
beautiful effects upon tinned iron.
The following mixtures may be employed with perfect success,
upon tin plate gently heated.
1. Four parts of nitric acid, one of muriate of soda or of muriate
of ammonia, two of distilled water.
2. Two parts of nitric acid, one of muriatic acid, and from two to
four parts of distilled water.
3. One part of nitric acid, two of muriatic acid, three of distilled
water. .
4. Two parts of nitric acid, two of muriatic acid, two of distilled
water, and two of sulphuric acid.
Process.—Hither of the above mixtures being placed in a common
glass, a sponge is wet with the fluid, and immediately applied to the
tin plate, until it is every where equally moistened. If the plate has
been slightly heated, or the acid has been but little diluted, the pecul-
iar configuration, (movré,) is produced in less than a minute, other-
wise it will require from five to ten minutes. Afterwards the plate
is wet with cold water, and washed by rubbing it gently with a piece of
cotton, or with the plume of a quill, but by no means with the hand;
it is then left to dry. It is never proper to pour the acid upon the
plate, because this will produce great black spots where it falls ; fre-
quently one part will be oxidized before the other parts are sufficiently
crystallized, because the acid is not every where equally diffused at the
same moment. Oxidation takes place also, if the plate after washing
be dried too near the fire, and, as the same effect will happen from
the gradual action of the air, it is necessary to varnish the work.*
What is called le moiré forcé, is produced by bringing the tin plate
into contact with red hot iron, and then applying the acids to the op-
posite side. Stars and other very beautiful designs are made by
bringing into contact with the tin plate, the fame of an enameller’s
lamp, but with so much caution as to be sure that the tin is not melted.
Although these operations appear to be easy, it is impossible to
succeed well without acquiring a certain tact by practice.
The washing is the most important thing. An instant, more or less,
alters the effect entirely. If the process be stopped too soon, there
is no beauty or lustre, if not soon enough, the plate becomes dull and
* By employing colored and transparent varnishes, the beauty of the work is
greatly increased.— Hd.
208 Screntific Intelligence.
blackened. The washing should be done when we perceive that
erey and black spots are forming. or this purpose, river water is
used, or better still, distilled water slightly acidulated either with vin-
egar or with one of the acids which enter mto the above mixtures, in
the proportion of a spoonful of acid to a litre of water.—.Ann. de L’In-
dustrie Nat. Avril, 1820.—Translated and abstracted by the Editor.
24, Albany Institute-—In our No. for April last, we quoted at
length, from the first number of the Transactions of the Albany In-
stitute for June 1828, an interesting paper on the variation of the
magnetic needle, includmg a very important document, shewing the
rate of the variation at Boston, Falmouth, and Penobscot, for one
hundred and twenty eight years, and which would alone have given
importance to the number, had the other communications in it been
less valuable and interesting than they were. ‘Their titles are
On the luminous appearance of the Ocean, by Lt. T. R. Ingalls.
On the Geographical Botany of the United States, Part I by Dr.
L. C. Beck.
On some modifications of the electro-magnetic apparatus, (with a
plate,) by Prof. Henry.
The Institute has, the present summer, (1829,) published a second
number, containing valuable papers, of which the following are the
titles :
Notes on Mr. Pickering’s ‘‘ Vocabulary of Words and Phrases,
which have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States,” with
preliminary observations, by T. R. Beck.
On the Uvularia grandiflora, as a remedy for the bite of a Rattle-
snake, by J. G. Tracy.
An examination of the question, whether the climate of the valley
of the Mississippi, under similar parallels of latitude, is warmer than
than that of the Atlantic ocean, by L. C. Beck, M. D.
Observations on the Geological features of the south side of the
Ontario valley, in a letter to T. R. Beck, M. D., by J. Geddes,
Civil Engineer.
An appendix contains the Charter of the Society, for the promo-
tion of useful Arts, and of the Albany Lyceum of Natural History,
which institutions have been united to form the Albany Institute.
The valuable papers which have been already published, are in ac-
cordance with the design of the Institute, to embrace both “ Science
and Literature,” in its plan.
Scientific Intelligence. 209
As far back as 1791, a Society was instituted at Albany, for the pro-
motion of Agriculture, and the useful Arts, three volumes of whose
Transactions now lie before us, containing instructive and interesting
papers. Among the contributors to the Transactions of the Institute,
we observe with pleasure, names which give the assurance that the
work will not be permitted to languish, especially under the Presidency
of a gentleman whose love of science and useful practical knowledge,
is equalled only by the munificence with which he sustains its nterests.*
Indeed it is with great satisfaction that we observe the fine region of
which Albany is the centre, becoming not less remarkable for its in-
stitutions, tending to promote knowledge and virtue, than for its great
advantages, as an emporium of both foreign and inland trade ; we trust
that Albany and Troy will become still more what they already are in
so great a degree, both a focal and a radiant point of intellectual light.
We present, from No. 1, of the Transactions of the Albany Insti-
tute, the following short paper, which has appeared to us particularly
interesting.
“On the luminous appearance of the Ocean, by Lieut. THomas R.
Incauus, U. S. Army, corresponding member.—Read March 26th,
1828.—This beautiful phenomenon, which once bore the poetical
title of “ phosphorescence of the ocean,” has more recently, I be-
lieve, rested between two solutions: that it is caused by animalcule,
or by the ovula of fishes. A writer in a recent foreign periodical,
inclines to the former opinion, viz. that the luminous appearance of
the ocean is caused by animalcule. As [ have been for some time
inclined to the opposite view of this subject, | am induced to submit
an account of some observations made a few years since in the hum-
ble pursuit of science.
“Tn the practice of sea bathmg at night, in a southern latitude, I
had of course noticed and admired the beautiful sparkling of the
water when agitated or resisted—but the myriads of bodies of what-
soever sort which emitted these corruscation, were alike invisible and
impalpable. On one occasion, however, | struck my arm against a
small soft mass, which immediately emitted a flash of two or three
inches in diameter. But the mass eluded my attempts to secure it,
as it was invisible the moment it parted from its accidental contact
* Witness the geological survey on the Erie Canal; the still greater survey of the
state of New York, &c. which is now in hand; and the Rensselaer school at Troy
Vou. XVIL—No. 1. DF
210 Scentyic Intelligence.
with my arm. ‘This occurred several times afterwards, and I began
to think I perceived a sensation of warmth whenever I struck one of
these bodies, though aware how liable I was to be deceived by the
almost irresistable association of light and heat inthe mind. A very
large one ultimately convinced me I was not deceived ; the sensa-
tion being on this oceasion perfectly distinct—grateful—and continu-
ing for a minute or two after the touch.
‘The masses of marine ovula, left by the tide to heat and hatch
on the beach, | had long before observed through the whole process
of vivification. First, a transparent mass of jelly—next marked by
a white opake speck, a little distant from the centre—third, this spot
fringed with a red border, of the color of arterial blood ; next, a kd
of irregular pulsation, accompanied by the developement of certam
white contractile fibres, and the extension of several large red lines,
in radial directions from the focal opake speck—the appearance of a
black speck, ultimately a defined head—and finally, I have seen the
rising tide shake out from the mass, the perfect animal, apparently
in the full possession of life; certainly exercising the important func-
tion of apprehension of danger.
“The identity of this ovulum, with the luminous bodies I encoun-
tered in the water, appeared probable, from their size, consistency,
and abounding in the same regions. It was soon after ascertained :
for on a night when the sea was somewhat agitated, I observed the
same corruscations in the waves breaking on the beach, and succeed-
ed in obtaining several of the illuminating bodies, by the light of their
own flashes. ‘They appeared, as I expected, identical.
When examined by candle-light, to overcome the glare of their
brilliancy, and at the same time observe their action more clearly,
the power of illummation appeared to reside in a similar focal point,
to that described as the place of the first phenomena of vivification ;
and the flashes which could be procured by irritating the mass with
the end of a pencil, diverged from this point in lines similar in mag-
nitude and direction, to the large red ones, mentioned in that process.
I regret, that it did not occur to me, to insulate one of these bodies elec-
trically, and endeavor to obtain shocks; but I was too much occupied
with the question above stated, to avail myself of the means in my
hands, of making some interesting experiments on the theory of life.
“‘ The existence of those large corruscating bodies in the ocean, has
been before recorded, and there is, I believe, a paper on this subject,
by Dr, Mitchill, published ten or twelve years ago ; but it is thought
some parts of the observations are not on record, and they are now
Scientific Intelligence. 211
submitted in the hope of being, in some small degree, useful—or par-
doned if superfluous.
«The conclusions I formed on this subject were, that in this instance a luminous
appearance in the ocean was produced by marine ovula; and by a rule of philoso-
phising, all such appearances not proved to proceed from another source, and not in-
consistant with this cause, are fairly assignable to the same origin.— Watervliet Ar-
senal.”
25. Oxy-chlorine blowpipe.—Extract of a letter from Prof. Lewis
C. Beck to the Editor, dated Albany, March 31, 1827.*—Prof. J.
Henry and myself, have recently performed an experiment which I
have not heretofore seen noticed. ‘The extraordinary effects pro-
duced by the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, suggested to us the idea of
uniting a stream of chlorine and hydrogen in the same manner. We
were aware that the degree of heat in the latter case would not be
so great_as in the former, there not being that great difference in the
capacity for heat of the resulting compound. But it was thought
the formation of an acid instead of water, might lead to useful re-
sults, not to be expected from the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe. |
For the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of these views, the
reservoirs used in the construction of the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe
were filled, one with chlorine and the other with hydrogen. These
reservoirs were connected with leaden tubes; the latter again with
smaller ones of brass, and the streams of the two gases united in a
small plate of platinum, at about one sixteenth of an inch from the
extremity. As a preventative against accident, the tubes were filled
at different parts with matted iron wire.
In conducting the experiments with the chioro-hydrogen blowpipe,
the hydrogen was first fired, and then the stream of chlorine brought
in contact with it. The united flame was of a bluish white color,
and was attended with the peculiar hissmg noise of the oxy-hydrogen
blowpipe. A strong smell of muriatic acid is produced, which ren-
ders the use of this mstrument somewhat unpleasant in a confined
situation ; but common ingenuity will suggest an apparatus for avoid-
ing this inconvenience.
‘No very striking results were produced by this instrument, as our
stock of chlorine was soon exhausted. We however ascertained its
heating power to be very considerable, although far inferior to that of.
the oxy-hydrogen blowpipe. We intend shortly to repeat the experi-
ment, with a view of ascertaining its exact measure, and also of deter-
mining whether the instrument can be applied to any useful purpose.
* The publication of this notice has been thus long delayed in expectation of an
additional communication on the subject. We are not aware that this curious ex-
periment has been elsewhere made,— Ed.
212 Appendia.—Account of the Siamese Twin Brothers.
APPENDIX.
“In Account of the Sramese twin brothers, united together from their
birth ;* by Prof. Joun C. Warren, M. D. &c.
My attention was called to the Siamese boys, by a highly respec-
table gentleman, who wished me to examine them, in order to ascer-
tain if there was any thimg indecorous or fallacious in their appear-
-ance. On examination, I found that the medium of their connec-
tion, was more complicated, than I had expected, and that they ex-
hibited other phenomena worthy to justify a statement of their con-
dition.
They were purchased of their mother, by Capt. Coffin and Mr.
Hunter, (the owners,) in a village of Siam. Here they had subsisted
in a state of poverty, from their birth. They were confined within
certain limits by order of government, and supported themselves,
principally by taking fish.
The boys are Breed to be about eighteen years old. They
are of moderate stature; though not as tall as boys of that age in
this country. They have the Chinese complexion and physiognomy.
The forehead is more elevated and less broad than that of the Chi-
nese, owing to malformation. ‘They much resemble each other;
yet not so much, but that on a little observation, various points of dis-
similarity may be noticed.
The substance by which they are connected, is a mass two inches
long at its upper edge, and about five at the lower. Its breadth from
above downwards, may be four inches; and its thickness in a hori-
zontal direction, two inches. Of course it is not a rounded cord,
but thicker in the perpendicular, than in the horizontal direction.—
At its lower edge is perceived a single umbilicus, through which pass-
ed a single umbilical cord, to nourish both children in the fetal state.
* Notices of these’ boys have already appeared in various forms, but it was
thought advisable to preserve, in this Journal, a revised account of this most remark-
able deviation from regular laws, and we are much indebted to the eminent profes-
sional man, who has found time to preparcit. The lithographic print, by the Messrs.
Pendletons, who by their graphic skill, are seriously aiding the progress of science
and the arts, in this country, will render the case perfectly intelligible, while the
picture is as little painful as any unnatural exhibition can be. This paper having been
communicated at a late hour, is necessarily added in the form of an appendix.— Ed.
Appendia.—Account of the Siamese Twin Brothers. 213
Placing my hand on this substance, which I will denominate the cord,
I was surprised to find it extremely hard. On further examination,
this hardness was found to exist at the upper part of the cord only ;
and to be prolonged into the breast of each boy. ‘Tracing it upwards,
I found it to be constituted by a prolongation of the enszform carti-
lage of the sternum, or extremity of the breast bone. The breadth
of this cartilage is an inch and a half; its thickness may be about
the eighth of an inch. The cartilages proceeding from each sternum
meet at an angle, and they seem to be connected by ligament so
as to form a jot. ‘This joint hasa motion upwards and downwards,
and also a lateral motion; the latter operating in such way, that when
the boys turn in either direction, the edges of the cartilage are found
to open and shut. ‘The lower face of this cartilage is concave ; and
under it is felt a rounded cord, which may be the remains of the um-
bilical cord. Besides this there is nothmg remarkable felt in the
connecting substance. I could distinguish no pulsating vessel.
The whole of this cord is covered by the skin. It is remarkably
strong, and has no great sensibility; for they allow themselves to be
pulled by a rope fastened to it, without exhibiting uneasiness. On
ship board, one of them sometimes climbed on the capstan of the
vessel, the other following as well as he could, without complaining.
When I first visited the boys, I expected to see them pull on this
cord in different directions, as their attention was attracted by differ-
ent objects. I soon perceived that this did not happen. ‘The slight-
est impulse of one to move in any direction, is immediately followed
by the other ; so that they would appear to be influenced by the
same wish. ‘This harmony in their movements is not the result of a
volition, excited at the same moment. It is a habit, formed by ne-
cessity. At an early period of life it is probable they sometimes
differed. At present this is so rarely the case, that the gentlemen
who brought them, have noticed only a single stance. Having been
accustomed to use the cold bath, one of them wished it when the
weather was cool; to which the other objected. ‘They were soon:
reconciled by the interference of the commander of the ship. They
never hold a consultation as to their movements. In truth, I have
rarely seen them speak to each other, although they converse con-
stantly with a Siamese lad, who is their companion. ‘They always
face in one direction ; standing nearly side by side ; and are not able,
without inconvenience, to face in the opposite direction ; so that one
is always at the right, the other at the left. Although not placed ex--
214 Appendix.— Account of the Siamese Twin Brothers.
actly in a parallel line, they are able to run and leap with surprising
activity. On some occasions, a gentleman, in sport, pursued them
round the ship, when they came suddenly to the hatchway, which
had been inadvertently left open. ‘The least check would have
thrown them down the hatchway, and probably killed one or both ;
but they leaped over it without difficulty.
They are quite cheerful; appear intelligent; attending to what-
ever is presented to them, and readily acknowledging any civility.—
As a proof of their intelligence, it is stated, that in a few days, they
learned to play at drafts well enough to become antagonists of those
who had long been versed in the game. ‘They sometimes play with
each other ; and it has been noticed, that when one made a bad move,
the other would sometimes correct it, and propose it should be taken
back. They differ in intellectual vigor. ‘The perceptions of one
are more acute than those of the other; and there is a corresponding
coincidence in moral qualities. He who appears most intelligent, is
somewhat irritable m temper ; while the disposition of the other is ex-
tremely mild.
The connexion between these boys might present an opportunity
for some interesting observations, in regard to physiology and pathol-
ogy. ‘There is, no doubt, a network of blood vessels, lymphatics
and some minute nerves passing from one to the other. How far
these parts are capable of transmitting the action of medicines, and
of diseases, and especially of what particular medicines, and what
diseases, are points well worthy of investigation. Captain Coffin in-
formed me, that they had never taken medicine since they had been
under his care. Once they were ill from eating too heartily, but
were relieved by the efforts of nature. He thinks that any indispo-
sition of one extends to the other; that they are inclined to sleep at
the same time; eat about the same quantity, and perform other acts
with great similarity. Both he and Mr. Hunter, the gentleman who
united with him in bringing them here, are of opinion that touching
one of them when they are asleep, awakens both. When they are
awake, an impulse given to one, does not in the least, affect the oth-
er. ‘There is evidently no impression received by him who is not
touched. Of course the opinion just mentioned, is undoubtedly er-
roneous. ‘The slightest movement of one is so speedily perceived
by the other ; as to deceive those who have not observed closely.—
There is no part of them, which has a common perception, excepting
the middle of the connecting cord and a space near it. When a
Appendix.—Account of the Siamese Twin Brothers. 215
pointed instrument is applied precisely in the middle of the cord, it
is felt by both ; and also for about an inch on each side; beyond
which the impression is limited to the individual of the side touched.
As to the influence of medicines, taken by one, on the body of
the other, it would, I suppose, be inconsiderable ; smce the vascular
and nervous communications must be very limited. ‘The same re-
mark may be applied to most diseases. Ido not suppose that a
febrile affection, slight in degree, would extend from the one to the
other. How it would be with a continued fever, appears to me un-
certain. But such diseases as are communicable through the absor-
bent vessels, or capillary blood vessels, would readily pass from one
system to the other; as for example, the morbid poisons, syphilis,
cowpox, smallpox, &c.
Those who have resided with them say, that the alvine and urina-
ry evacuations take place at about the same intervals in both, though
not at the same time. In the function of the circulation, there is a
more remarkable uniformity in the two bodies. ‘The pulsations of
the hearts of both comcide exactly, under ordinary circumstances. I
counted seventy three pulsations in a minute, while they were sit-
ting ; counting first in one boy, then in the other. I then placed my
fingers on an arm of each boy, and found the pulsations take place
exactly together. One of them stooping suddenly to look at my
watch, his pulse became much quicker than that of the other; but
after he had returned to his former posture, in about a quarter of a
minute, his pulse was precisely like that of the other boy. ‘This hap-
pened repeatedly. ‘Their respirations are, of consequence, simulta-
neous.
This harmony of action in primary functions, shows a reciprocal
influence, which may lead to curious observations and important de-
ductions. Observations to be useful, would require much time and
great accuracy.
Among the curious questions which have arisen in regard to these
individuals, one has been made as to the moral identity of the two
persons. ‘There is no reason to doubt that the intellectual operations
of the two are as perfectly distinct, as those of any two individuals,
who might be accidentally confined together. Whether similarity of
education and identity of position, as to external objects, have in-
spired them with any extraordinary sameness of mental action, I am
unable to say 5 any farther, at least, than that they seem to agree, in
their habits and tastes.
216 Appendix.— Account of the Siamese Twin Brothers.
i
Another question which has presented itself in relation to them, is,
whether it would be possible to separate them from each other with
safety. There seems to me nothing in the connecting medium,
which would render such an operation necessarily fatal. It is not
improbable that the peritoneum is continuous from the abdomen of
one to that of the other. ‘The division of this membrane would in-
volve some danger, though not very considerable. ‘The attempt to
separate them, does not, however, appear to me to be authorized un-
der existing circumstances. Surgeons are justified in putting the life
of an individual at risk, when it becomes necessary in order to re-
lieve him of a menacing disease ; but it would not be proper to haz-
ard life, in order to procure some convenience, however desirable
this might be. When the minds of these boys have been sufficiently
cultivated to enable them to understand the nature and dangers of an
operation ; and the advantages they would derive from it, the sub-
ject might be presented to them ; and if, with a full knowledge of the
consequences, they desired and demanded the separation to be ef-
fected, it might be proper to undertake it. Should one die before
the other, they should be cut apart immediately. ‘The success of
the operation would, of course, be affected by the nature of the mor-
tal disease, and its influence on the constitution of the survivor.
A union of the bodies of twins by various parts, is not an unusual
occurrence. The collections of anatomists present many such ob-
jects. Ambrose Paré has depicted for the entertainment of his rea-
ders, instances of union by the back, belly, and forehead. ‘The last
occurred in two girls, who lived to the age of ten years, when one of
them dying, a separation was made; the wound of the living girl as-
sumed a bad character, and soon proved fatal. ‘The Hungarian sis-
ters, who lived about a century since, were united by the back ; had
one passage from the intestines, and one from the urmary organs.
They died when they were twenty two years of age. In the Philo-
sophical Transactions and various other works, a multitude of similar
monstrosities are recorded ; most of them born dead, or dying soon
after birth.
The Siamese boys, present, I believe, the most remarkable case
of this lusus nature, which has yet been known, taking into view the
perfection and distinctness of their organization, and the length of
time they have lived. Their health is at present good ; but it is pro-
bable that the change of their simple habits of living, for the luxuries
they now obtain, together with the confinement their situation neces-
sarily involves, will bring their lives to a close within a few years.
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JOURNAL OF SCIENCH, &c.
—<——_
Arr. L—Review of the Scientific Labors and Character of Sir Hum-
phry Davy.
Tue last number of this Journal contained an obituary notice of
Sir Humphry Davy, who closed his extraordinary career, on earth,
at Geneva, on the 28th of May last. A character of no ordinary
stamp has thus disappeared from our view: one of those meteors,
which visit our world at distant intervals, has suddenly withdrawn
itself from our firmament.
No full biography of this great chemist has yet reached us, nor has
the writer of this article, enjoyed the happiness of being personally ac-
quainted with him. Indeed, we have learned but few particulars of his
private history. Rarely, therefore, have we been presented with so
fair an opportunity as the present, for estimating the character of an
eminent cotemporary from his works alone, or of tracing the march of
genius from its own naked monuments. If we have felt a strong admi-
ration of Sir Humphry Davy, it has not been because he has enjoyed
unbounded popularity, or been crowned with distinguished honors, but
because a character in which splendor of genius, and majesty of in-
tellect, and greatness of soul, were united, could not be viewed with-
out admiration. While, therefore, the opinion we have formed of
the character of Davy, remains simply that which his achievements
and writings have inspired, unbiased as yet by the portraiture with
which perhaps the partial hand of friendship may shortly present us,
we hasten to review his scientific life and labors ;—to trace, as we
shall of course do, the progress of chemical science for the same pe-
riod; and to learn from so striking an example, both the character-
istics of intellectual greatness, and the methods by which the powers
of a great mind are most successfully developed and applied.
Vou. XVII.—WNo. 2. 1
218 Scientific Labors and Character of
Sir Humphry Davy was born December 17th, 1779, at Pen-.
zance, in Cornwall. Although his family is represented as some-
what above the middle rank, yet his father’s estate had been so much
reduced as to afford him little or no prospect of a patrimony ;* but at
the age of sixteen, when his father died, he was thrown upon the
world, like many others who have risen to the highest eminence, with
no resources but such as he could create for himself by the efforts of
his own mind.
Of his early years, we are furnished with the following particu-
lars. ‘ He was always considered as a distinguished boy ; and there
are many natives of Penzance, who remember his poems and verses
written at the early age of nine years.t At that period his mind
seems to have received a bias in favor of poetry, which he continued
to cultivate until his fifteenth year, when he became the pupil of Dr.
Borlase, of Penzance, a very ingenious surgeon and accomplished
man, intending to prepare himself for graduating as a physician at
Edinburgh. Conscious of uncommon powers, and resolved to at-
tempt a nobler career than circumstances appeared to promise, or
his friends could expect, Mr. Davy laid down for himself a plan of
education which embraced the circle of the sciences. By his
eighteenth year, he had acquired the rudiments of botany, anatomy
and physiology, the simpler mathematics, metaphysics, natural phi-
losophy and chemistry. But chemistry soon arrested his whole at-
tention, for he at once saw that this science offered the best unex-
plored field for the exertion of talent. {”
To begin the study of chemistry was, for a genius so mventive as
his, to begin the career of discovery ; and, accordingly, his first ex-
periments bore the impress of originality. He proved, by the exam-
ination of sea-weed, that marine plants exert the same influence upon
the air contained in the water of the ocean, as land vegetables exert
on the atmosphere. We recognize in this tendency of a mind to
strike out new lights in science, its likeness to such master spirits as
Bacon and Newton and Leibnitz, whose originality did not wait un-
til they had explored every dark corner of the sciences to which
they severally devoted themselves, but begun to display itself almost
* Monthly Mag. 1. 377.
tItis stated in “ The Artisan,” that several of these effusions, written before Davy
was ten years of age, were published in the periodicals of the time, and were much
admired. { Monthly Mag. 1. 378.
Str Humphry Davy. 219
at the very moment when they first set their foot on the territory of
any science. Bacon had projected his great work, the Instauration
of the Sciences, before he was twenty two years old; Newton had
made the greater part of his grand discoveries previous to his twenty
fourth year; and Leibnitz, though considerably advanced in life
when he began the study of mathematics, had scarcely commenced,
when he made his great discovery of the infinitesimal calculus.*
These experiments on sea-weed, introduced young Davy to the
notice of Dr. Beddoes, who was about forming an Institution at Bris-
tol, for experiments on ihe medical properties of the gases, of the vir-
tues of which in certain diseases, especially those of the lungs, the
Doctor had conceived the most sanguine hopes ; since, being receiy-
ed into the system by respiration, they were susceptible of an appli-
cation to organs which were maccessible to grosser medicines, while
one of them at least, oxygen, exhibited properties most friendly to an-
imal life. Young Davy gave an earnest of the lofty independence of
his mind, by stipulating that the entire control of the pneumatic insti-
tution should be submitted to him. It does not appear that with all
his youthful ardor and enthusiasm, he was ever deluded by the vis-
ionary notions of his patron; while the Institution furnished by its
novelty a most favorable opportunity for the development of his powers.
We now find our young philosopher fairly embarked in the career
which he was to pursue for life. We are not informed what it was
that drew off his attention from the study of the medical profession,
to which he had purposed to devote himself; still we cannot but con-
jecture, that it was the admiration kindled in his youthful bosom al-
ready panting for distinction, at the splendid honors that were achiev-
ed by Scheele and Black and Priestley and Lavoisier. We have
seen some examples, and read of many more, where early genius was
determined to some particular pursuit, in which it afterwards attained
to great eminence, by some incident trifling in itself perhaps, but still
such as to arrest the admiration of the young aspirant. Thus De-
mosthenes first conceived his passion for eloquence, on hearing the
orator Callistratus, and witnessing the applauses with which his per-
formance was rewarded. ‘Tycho Brahe resolved to devote his life
to astronomy in consequence of his witnessing, when a child, an
eclipse of the sun, and being smitten with admiration for a science
_ which could thus penetrate into the secrets of futurity. We do not
regard the genius in such cases as created, but as developed. We
* Playfair, Diss. II; Part 2. p. 9.
220 Scientific Labors and Character of
look upon the genius of childhood or youth, while undetermined in
its choice of objects, as wandering unconfined, and as liable to be
fixed and bound by any object upon which it may chance to light,
that is powerful enough to arrest it; like those meteors which are
said to be wandering in the regions of space, that have never yet
found a resting place, but are liable to have their orbits determined
by any grand luminary near which they may happen to pass, around
which they forever afterwards revolve. The impressions of admi-
ration produced by any incident that strongly arrests the attention of
a child, are to be sedulously guarded against when the object is dan-
gerous, and as sedulously cherished when the object is elevated and
good. While many a child of genius has had its ambition turned into
a noble channel by strong examples of the rewards of virtue, many
others, like Hannibal, have burned through life with unhallowed fire
that was kindled in the bosom of the child. But whether we suppose
that the genius of Davy was originally adapted to chemical pursuits,
or that some incident connected with this science powerfully excited
his admiration, we cannot but regard his choice as most fortunate ; not
because powers like his would not have reached the highest elevation |
in many other spheres of action, but because the talents required to
make an accomplished chemist are peculiar and extraordinary, imply-
ing as they do the union of a dexterous hand with a discriminating
eye and a logical mind; the whole being kept in steady and vigorous
action by untiring diligence.
With all these qualities in their highest degree, Davy took the field.
He gives us the date at which he commenced his chemical studies.*
It was in March, 1798; and only two years afterwards, in 1800, ap-
peared his ‘“‘ Researches,” a book evincing great skill in chemical
analysis, and publishing to the world, a great number of original ex-
periments and discoveries. In the preface to this work he observes,
‘early experience has-taught me the folly of hasty generalization.’
He probably alludes here to an hypothesis which he had already
framed and made public in the “* West Country Contributions,” con-
tained in an essay on heat, light, &c. Nothing is more natural than
‘for a young enthusiast to proceed at once from the knowledge of a
few facts to the formation of hypotheses, which subvert all the estab-
lished principles of science. We are not surprised to find our author
yielding to this propensity ; but we are truly surprised to find him
* Researches, p. 453.
Sur Humphry Davy. 221
so soon sensible of his error, and so early confirmed in the true
principles of the inductive philosophy. The foregoing passage pro-
ceeds with the following judicious remarks. ‘ We are ignorant of the
laws of corpuscular motion ; and an immense mass of minute observ-
ations concerning the more complicated chemical changes must be
collected, probably before we shall be able to ascertain even whether
we are capable of discovering them. Chemistry, in its present state,
is simply a partial history of phenomena, consisting of many series,
more or less extensive, of accurately connected facts.”* ‘The per-
tinacity with which he afterwards maintained his opinions, particularly
in the controversy respecting chlorine, must imspire a greater confi-
dence in his conviction of their truth, on account of the frankness
with which, at the early period of his life now passing under review,
he renounced a theory he had formed respecting certain combinations
of light, as soon as he found it unsupported by facts. This renun-
ciation (the only one so far as we recollect, that he found it necessary
to make during his life,) followed as it was by the foregoing remarks
on the ‘folly of hasty generalization,’ proves how early he had im-
bibed the love of truth, and formed the determination to surrender
himself to her guidance. ‘'The admission of such inferences, he
observes, (speaking of recent experiments upon the production of
light,) would be favorable to my theory of the combinations of light ;
but facts have occured to me with regard to the decomposition of
bodies, which I have supposed to contain light, without any luminous
appearance. Until I have satisfactorily explained these facts by new
experiments, I beg to be considered as a sceptic with regard to my own
particular theory of the combinations of light, and theories of light
in general.” 7 )
At the time when the volume of Researches was published, Davy
was only twenty years old, and had been engaged in the study of
chemistry only two years; yet this work immediately placed him
among the ablest chemists of the age. None but chemists themselves
can duly appreciate the difficulties which he had already mastered,
in having so soon acquired so great a familiarity with a science, which
is apt at first to confound the learner with the numberless objects and
facts it crowds upon his memory ; and still more, in his having so well
learned the practical duties of the laboratory, that he had been able
to perform a great number of analyses with an accuracy, that has ever
* Researches, p. 13. | Nicholson’s Journal, Feb. 1800.
222 Scientific Labors and Character of
since inspired the greatest respect for his authority in regard to the
composition of the bodies which he exammed. Chemical analysis
is a very difficult art, and few chemists ever attain to any high de-
gree of excellence in it. A familiar knowledge of the peculiar prop-
erties of all bodies—a discriminating eye to detect an individual con-
stituent of a compound, as soon as it discovers itself by any of its
properties, either physical or chemical—great ingenuity and address
in conducting delicate manipulations—a sound judgment to draw the
proper conclusion, as the principles of the compound are successively
developed—great accuracy in estimating the respective quantities of
the constituent elements—and unwearied perseverance in conducting
tedious processes, which often last for several days or even weeks:
these are some of the qualifications that unite to form such accom-
plished analysts as Klaproth, Vauquelin, and Berzelius.
But the most remarkable portion of this volume of Researches, is
that which relates to the properties of nitrous oxide. So fully were
these properties disclosed, that time has added scarcely any thing to
their number ; and few examples can be found of more thorough and
successful experimental investigations, than were exhibited in these
researches into the nature of a substance, at that time just troduced
to the notice of the chemical world. But the merit of these analyt-
ical researches has been almost overlooked, in the astonishment that
followed the discovery of the effects of nitrous oxide in respiration.
So sudden and transforming, and sometimes indeed so appalling, are
the effects produced by inhaling the “ exhilirating gas,” that even
now, one can hardly encounter them without some slight emotions of
fear. How undaunted then must have been the spirit, that first em-
barked on this unknown sea! How few but would have recognised
in the symptoms that attended the first inspirations, “ the giddiness
and fulness of the head,” accompanied with “a loss of distinct sen-
sation and voluntary power,” as admonitions that they were entering
a region of death! To plunge forward into the unknown abyss, re-
vealed a spirit cased in more folds of brass than his, who first braved
the open sea.*
It is not the least remarkable among the circumstances of this ex-
ploit, that it was performed in the face of an hypothesis which had
© Illi robur et xs triplex
Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci
Commisit pelago ratem
Primus.
Sur Humphry Davy. ; 223
been proposed, founded on the deadly effects of this gas on small an-
unals, that here was at length discovered theyprinciple of the plague
atself !*
The sufferings which our young philosopher voluntarily inflicted on
himself, in prosecuting these researches on the respiration of the
gases, remind us of Spallanzani’s experiments upon the gastric
juice ; while the dangers he encountered carry our minds back to
Pelletier, who lost his life in the audacious attempt to breathe oxy-
muriatic acid gas. It was deemed necessary to compare the ef-
fects of nitrous oxide with those of common stimulants, both to as-
certain its relation to them, and its tendency either to increase or to
diminish their effects upon the system. With this view he submitted
himself to excessive intoxication, so extreme as to produce distressing
and alarming symptoms.t ‘To ascertain the effects of an atmosphere
containing large portions of the same gas, he enclosed himself in a
box, and at three successive intervals for an hour and a quarter (dur-
ing which time he remained in the box) had sixty quarts of the
gas thrown into the box, finally constituting a large proportion of
the ar within. When the last twenty quarts were thrown in, his
emotions became similar to those usually experienced by a mod-
erate dose of the pure gas; but not satisfied with this, immediately
after coming out of his cage, he began to respire twenty quarts of
unmingled nitrous oxide. As this was probably the most effectual
trial ever made of this wonderful agent, the consequences are worth
remarking, as detailed in the expressive terms of the adventurous ex-
perimenter. “A thrilling (he observes) extending from the chest to
the extremities, was almost immediately produced. I felt a sense of
tangible extension highly pleasurable in every limb; my visible im-
pressions were dazzling and apparently magnified; I heard, distinct-
ly, every sound in the room, and was perfectly aware of my situation.
By degrees, as the pleasurable sensations increased, I lost all con-
nection with external things; trains of vivid visible images rapidly
passed through my mind, and were connected with words in such a
manner, as to produce perceptions perfectly novel. I existed in a
world of newly connected and newly modified ideas. I theorised ;
I imagined that I made discoveries. When I was awakened from
this semi-delirious trance by Dr. Kinglake, who took the bag from
my mouth, indignation and pride were the first feelings produced by
* Researches, p. 453. + Ib. 481.
224 Scientific Labors and Character of
the sight of the persons about me. My emotions were enthusiastic.
and sublime; and for a minute | walked round the room perfectly
regardless of what was said to me. AsI recovered my former state
of mind, I felt an inclination to communicate the discoveries I had
made during the experiment. I endeavored to recal the ideas : they
were feeble and indistinct. One collection of terms, however, pre-
sented itself; and with the most intense belief and prophetic manner,
I exclaimed to Doctor Kinglake, ‘“ othing exists but thoughts !—
the universe is composed of impressions, ideas, pleasures, and pains !”*
- The impunity with which Davy had sustained these wonderful tri-
als, emboldened him to attempt the respiration of the deadly gases
from charcoal. His first attempt was made upon four quarts of car-
buretted hydrogen gas, of which he made three inspirations. “The
first inspiration produced a sort of numbness and loss of feeling in the
chest and about the pectoral muscles. After the second inspiration,
I lost all power of perceiving external things, and had no distinct sen-
sation except a terrible oppression on the chest. During the third in-
spiration, this feeling disappeared,—I seemed sinking into annihilation,
and had just power enough to drop the mouth-piece from my un-
closed lips. A short interval must have passed during which I respir-
ed common air before the objects about me were distinguishable.
On recollecting myself, I faintly articulated, I do not think I shall
die. Putting my finger on my wrist, I found my pulse thread-like
and beating with excessive quickness.” Extreme giddiness, loss of
memory, and numbness succeeded, with excruciating pain im the
forehead and between the eyes, with transient pains in the chest and
extremities.
In these experiments, which we cannot but condemn for their te-
merity, it is evident that Davy narrowly escaped being numbered
among the early martyrs of science. Hehas finally died of apoplexy ;
and we can scarcely refrain from believing that his constitution, which
was so vigorous in youth, withered and decayed long before it reached
old age, from the effects of these early injuries ; like some tree of no-
ble growth, which fades and casts its leaves, ere it reaches the au-
tumn, in consequence of wounds inflicted while in its vernal bloom.
Knowledge is proverbially quiet and serene, and little has been either
said or thought of the heroism of men of science. But they some-
times encounter danger as real as those which are braved in the field
* Researches, 487.
Sir Humphry Davy. 225
of battle or on the stormy deep ; and, we may venture to add, with a
spirit as fearless as that of the warrior or the navigator. Even the
alchymists groped their way amid tremendous elements, which, (in
some mysterious manner they were unable to explain,) not unfre-
quently gave them most durable proofs of the energies of the powers
of nature. A lost eye, a dismembered limb, or a scorched and crisp-
ed visage, bore frequent testimony of the conflicts they had carried on
with the powers of darkness. If men of science have now learned
to control these ordinary dangers, they have encountered others still
of ano less formidable character. Some have ascended the air in
balloons ; others have climbed to heights to which the eagle never
soars; others have braved the terrors of a polar winter; some have
descended into the fiery craters of volcanoes ; and some have waged
war with the lightning of heaven.
We have dwelt the longer on this period of the life of Sir Hum-
phry, because during this period, short as it was, many of his great
qualities, both moral and intellectual, were fully developed. We are
next to view him in a new sphere of life. ‘The Royal Institution of
Great Britain, founded by the exertions and influence of our country-
man Count Rumford, for the purpose of promoting the general dif-
fusion of useful knowledge, and the improvement of the mechanic
arts, had just come into operation ; and so strong was the impression
made in favor of young Davy by the volume of Researches, that he
was immediately after its publication, designated by Count Rumford
to fill the chemical chair in that Institution. The nature of this es-
tablishment concurred with his own practical turn of mind, to lead
him into inquiries directly connected with the improvement of the
arts. His first experiments were directed towards the ascertaining
of a method for accelerating the process of tanning leather. Such
a method he found no difficulty in discovering; but he had the can-
dor to acknowledge, that the quality of the leather was impaired, by
any process which he had been able to institute for abridging the
time of tanning it. This was indeed no more than candor and truth
required him to acknowledge ; still there was something in the cir-
cumstances of the case, which implied in his doing this so frankly, a
fair and upright mind ; for this was his first essay in the application
of chemistry to the arts, since he had entered on his office at the
Royal Institution, while high and probably extravagant expectations
were entertained by the public, respecting the light that was to shine
upon the arts from the torch of science, to be held out to them from
Von. XVII.—No. 2. g
226 Scientific Labors and Character of
7
the new Institution, especially when kindled by the magic powers of
young Davy.
In the year 1802, the new professor was invited to deliver a course
of lectures on Agricultural Chemistry to the Board of Agriculture.
This association consisted of a number of intelligent and wealthy land-
ed proprietors, led by Sir John Sinclair, one of the most public spir-
ited and enterprising men of the realm. In their efforts to improve
the art of agriculture, they very wisely adopted the following meas-
ures. In the first place, by circulars addressed to gentlemen of the
first intelligence on matters of this kind in every county in the king-
dom, they endeavored to ascertain the state of facts, or the state
of agriculture as it actually existed; and, secondly, upon the knowl-
edge of these facts, to found their plans for improving the art. Ac-
cordingly, after collecting these materials, they proceeded to com-
bine the light of science with the light of experience. It was under
these favorable auspices, that Professor Davy was called on to lend
his extraordinary powers to the improvement of the art of husbandry.
It gives us a very favorable opinion of the character of Davy that,
flattered as he was in the lecture room of the Royal Institution, by
the admiration of courtiers and the nobility of the great metropolis,
and honored as he was throughout the scientific world, with encomi-
ums which were enough to turn the brain of any ordinary young
man, he could still condescend to carry his observations and experi-
ments mto the tannery and the farm yard, and unite his labors with
those of the humblest of our race. This benevolent zeal to render
himself useful to his fellow men, displayed itself on many other oc-
casions; and the benefits which thus accrued from his labors to nu-
‘merous classes of society, were strikingly acknowledged in the hom-
age that was paid to his memory by different orders of artisans, who
joined themselves to the funeral procession at Geneva.* In descend-
ing from his lofty elevation to make experiments upon different spe-
cies of manures for the benefit of the farmer, he imitated the eminent
surgeon, who performs the humblest and most disagreeable offices to
relieve the distress or to save the life of his patient. ‘ Every man
acquainted with the common principles of human nature, (says Dr.
Johnson in his life of Dr. Watts,) will look with veneration on the
writer who is at one time combating Locke, and at another making
a catechism for children in their fourth year. A voluntary descent
* See the obituary nofice in the present volume of this Journal, p. 157.
Stir Humphry Davy. 2O%
from the dignity of science, is perhaps the hardest lesson for humil-
ity to teach.” But there is no loss of dignity in the performance of
any duties that are necessary to the promotion of the happiness of
our fellow men. ‘To do good is a work of inherent dignity.
The principal objects which our author proposed to himself were,
first, to ascertain the food of plants, and hence to learn the best
method of supplying it; secondly, to investigate the nature of differ-
ent soils, and thus to detect the latent causes of productiveness or ste-
rility, with the view of promoting the one and applymg the proper
remedy to the other; and, thirdly, to examine the nature of manures,
for the purpose of augmenting thei fertilizing powers, preventing
their waste, and multiplying their number and variety. We regard
his efforts as having been by far the most successful on the last point.
Inquiries respecting the food of plants, connected as they are with
the functions of living vegetables, belong rather to physiology than to
chemistry ; the method of deciding on the qualities of a soil, from the
knowledge of its constituent principles, is too refined for the simple
art of husbandry ; but since manures undergo various chemical chan-
ges, and owe their peculiar properties to these changes, they present
inquiries which are strictly chemical, and which none but the chemist
can satisfactorily answer. Had Davy, by his agricultural inquiries,
ascertained nothing more than that the most fertilizing portions of
many of the best manures, are likewise the most volatile, and had he
done nothing more than furnish the rules which he established to
prevent the waste of these portions, he would have conferred a ben-
efit upon agriculture of the greatest importance. Although treatises
had previously been written with the view of reducing several
branches of husbandry to a science, yet the Agricultural Chemis-
try of Sir Humphry Davy, was the first; and continues to be the
last work, that presents to the agriculturist, a digested code of laws
constituting the scientific principles of his art. Many of the mem-
bets of the Board of Agriculture, were practically acquainted with
farming ; and the high authority conceded to this work, not only by
them but by all enlightened agriculturists, is a sufficient proof of the
soundness of its doctrines, and its freedom from all visionary hypoth-
eses, incompatible with experience. Considering that, when he com-
menced this course of lectures he was only twenty two years of age,
and had not been bred on the farm, but had spent his life chiefly with
books and in the laboratory, we cannot but admire the facility with which
he adapted himself to the circumstances of the practical agriculturist ;
228 Scientific Labors and Character of
and we recognize in him, as in our own Franklin, an uncommon un-
ion of the philosopher with the man of strong common sense.
The foregoing lectures, together with his public lectures as pro-
fessor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, appear to have occupied
a great share of his attention from 1802 to 1806, when we arrive at a
new era in his life. It was during this and the following year, that
he made his brilliant discoveries in Galvanism. 'The discovery of
the metallic bases of the fixed alkalies, which has led also to the
knowledge of the composition of the earths, was one of the most im-
portant discoveries hitherto made in chemistry, and deservedly ranks
with the discovery of carbonic acid by Dr. Black, of oxygen gas by
Dr. Priestley, and of the composition of water by Mr. Cavendish.
Some men of intelligence, however, not particularly conversant with
chemical science, have expressed to us their inability to comprehend
the reason why so much importance has been attached to the gal-
vanic discoveries of Davy, or why they have been rewarded with
such unbounded applause. ‘To evolve from a piece of potash a me-
tallic globule, seems too inconsiderable a matter, to deserve the pop-
ularity with which the achievement has been rewarded. But they
do not reflect that it is one of the peculiarities of chemical analysis,
that discoveries made with the minutest quantities of bodies, often
lead to the grandest conclusions. ‘Thus a drop of water was no
sooner resolved into its constituent elements, oxygen and hydrogen,
than a new flood of light beamed forth upon the world; not only dis-
playing to the mind, im a new and more interesting view, the expanse
of waters, but revealing at once the cause of innumerable phenomena
of chemistry which depend on the agencies of water, and disclosing
the mysterious constitution of the vegetable kingdom. In like man-
ner, the knowledge of the composition of a particle of potash, con-
ducted us to a knowledge of the elementary constitution of the solid
globe itself. ‘To pass by the remarkable and brilliant physical prop-
erties of potassium, it became, moreover, in its turn, a most powerful
auxiliary in mvestigating the composition of many other bodies ; for,
it was its strong affinity for oxygen, the strongest possessed by any
known body, that had enabled it, under all previous trials, to disguise
its metallic nature ; but this oxygen being withdrawn from it, potas-
sium itself now became a powerful agent of analysis, appropriating to
itself as it does the oxygen of every other substance that contains it.
{t is far greater merit in science to discover new powers of nature,
or new facts which admit of extensive generalization, than to arrive
Sir Humphry Davy. 229
at the knowledge of new individual bodies, or insulated facts. How
widely have the Pythagorean proposition, and that of the similarity
of equiangular triangles, extended the empire of mathematics! ‘The
discovery of Jupiter’s Satellites and of Saturn’s Ring, was each an
interesting occurrence in astronomy ; but it was a fact of compara-
tively small extent; while Newton’s discovery of the law of gravita-
tion, was finding the true key which unlocked the system of the
world. No higher proof could be given of the estimation in which
the galvanic discoveries of Davy, were held by the most competent
judges, than that which was given by the French Institute, in award-
ing to him the splendid prize offered by them for the greatest discov-
ery in galvanism. ‘The laws of nature and the powers and proper-
ties of natural bodies, are the birthright of no nation or tribe, but be-
long in common to the whole family of man; and he who develops
those laws, and extends the empire of man over matter, becomes a
citizen of the world, and a benefactor of the human race. Hence, it
is reasonable that in relation to discoveries of this kind, national par-
tialities should give way to a feeling as enlarged as the laws of nature
are universal. This doctrine is clear; but to see it when the prize
is to adorn the crown, and swell the triumphs of an ancient and hated
rival,—a rival no less in arts than in arms; to see it through schemes
of conquest designed to humble and destroy the nation itself,—evin-
ces a magnanimity of which the records of science afford but few ex-
amples. The honor which this deed reflects on the memory of the
late Emperor of France, under whose sanction and approbation the
prize is understood to have been awarded, plainly shows, how much
shorter and surer a way ambition may find to distinction and renown,
by splendid acts of ee and magnanimity, than by deeds of op-
pression and rapine.*
The year 1810 marks another distinct epoch in the life of Sir Hum-
phry Davy. It was during this year that he brought forward his
theory respecting the nature of chlorine or oxy-muriatic acid, which
gave rise to the memorable controversy on this subject, that agitated
the schools of chemistry during the ten following years. At the com-
mencement of this period, our philosopher saw himself standing alone
with the whole army of chemists arrayed against him; at the close
*Tt is stated in the “ Artisan,” that Napoleon, at the same time, transmitted to Mr.
Davy a free passport to travel in any part of his empire, accompanied by a present af
money to defray the expences of such a journey.
230 Scientific Labors and Character of
of it, he had the satisfaction of seeing nearly all of them on his.
side.
To enable such of our readers as may not have had opportunity
to understand the nature of this controversy, it may be mentioned,
ihat the great Swedish Chemist, Scheele, who discovered chlorine,
supposed it to be muriatic acid deprived of its nflammable principle,
and hence denominated it dephlogisticated marine acid. 'This was
in the year 1774. In 1785, Berthollet, one of the most distinguished
of the French chemists, afterwards subjected this substance to nu-
merous experiments, and concluded it to be a compound of muriatic
acid and oxygen, and hence named it oxy-muriatic acd. in 1809,
Gay-Lussac and Thenard published a number of experiments on it,
in which they intimated the possibility that it was a simple body, al-
though they adhered to the opinion of Berthollet. Such was the
state of opinion respecting oxy-muriatic acid, when Davy began his
experiments upon it in 1810. These led him to adopt and pub-
licly to assert the opinion, that oxy-muriatic acid, (or chlorine* as
he proposed to callit,) isa simple body, analogous in many of its prop-
erties and relations to oxygen; and that muriatic acid itself is a com-
pound of chlorine and hydrogen, as sulphuric acid is a compound of
oxygen and sulphur.
The simple enunciation of this doctrine, does not indicate to those
who are but little acquainted with chemical science, the reason why
chemists have attached so much importance to it; nor would they
perhaps consider it asa point worth disputing about, whether chlorine
is a simple or a compound body. But two consequences resulted
from the doctrine asserted by Davy, which went to subvert the very
pillars of chemical science,- although they were supposed to be im-
movably fixed by Lavoisier. For if chlorine contained no oxygen,
but is, like that, an independent supporter of combustion, and like that
also is capable of forming acids with combustible bases, then the doc-
trines of combustion and acidification established by Lavoisier, must
be given up, since here is a case in which combustion and acidifica-
tion both take place without the presence of oxygen. A single ex-
periment which is found to be incompatible with a received doctrine,
is frequently sufficient entirely to subvert that doctrme; and such
were the experiments in question. ‘They required a great part of
* A new name obviously became necessary, because the name ory-muriatic acid
implied that it was an acid, and that it was composed of oxygen and muriatic acid,
both of which positions were now in controversy.
Sir Humphry Davy. 231
the philosophy of chemistry to be remodelled, and its nomenclature
to be changed. Liavoisier’s definition of combustion, ‘the combin-
ation of oxygen with a combustible base,” could no longer be admit-
ted, but a new classification was to be instituted, comprehending not
only those cases of combustion which depend on the agency of oxy-
gen, but those also which depend on the agency of chlorme,. and
other analogous bodies which might afterwards be discovered.*
Now combustion and acidification are processes of such extent,
and are concerned in so many of the chemical changes which bodies
undergo, that any new theory which alters the explanation of these
phenomena, affects in a great degree the whole philosophy of chem-
istry. It is by the relations which a body sustains to chemical agents,
and especially to caloric and oxygen, that its chemical nature is de-
termined. Hence, a complete history of the properties of almost
any substance, in all its relations, involves an application of nearly all
the leading principles of the science. ‘Scheele wrote an essay on
manganese, in which, after the labor of three years, he unfolded
most of the properties of that substance, many of which had been
before unknown. During his experiments on manganese, he discov-
ered both oxygen and chlorine, and learned the most important prop-
erties of these extensive agents. The selection of manganese, as a
subject for experimental research, was in some respects fortunate ;
but had Scheele investigated the properties of several other substan-
ces, with the same persevering attention and singular acuteness, he
would have made the same discoveries. In like manner, to settle all
the relations of chlorine to various chemical agents, must involve an
application of nearly all the leading principles of chemical science ;
* Although it be admitted that the views of Sir Humphry Davy respecting chlo-
rine, required a new classification of the phenomena of combustion and acidifica-
tion, yet it must be admitted also that Lavoisier reasoned logically from his premises.
In a great multitude of cases of combustion and acidification which fell under the
examination of Lavoisier, oxygen was proved to be present, nor was any case of ei-
ther of those processes found where oxygen was not present; hence, upon the true
principles of induction, Lavoisier was entitled to lay it down as a general law*—‘‘ In
every case of combustion, oxygen combines with the burning body.” But subse-
quent discoveries have shewn, that several other agents as well as oxygen act in pro-
ducing combustion, and in forming acids. Hence oxygen, which before stood at the
head of a genus, now takes its place at the head of a species only, comprehending a
a certain number of casesof combustion, while chlorine stands at the head of another
species, and iodine at the head of another, and all of them are to be classed under
some more general agent which is a still remoter cause of combustion.
* See Newton’s Rules of philosophizing.
232 Scientific Labors and Character of
and to ascertain, as Davy did, that chlorme had properties and rela-
tions which could not be explained in accordance with existing theo-
ries, was to prove that ihese theories were either defective or errone-
ous, and were therefore to be either limited or discarded.
But it was not merely on account of the reformation, which these
views of the nature and relations of chlorine carried into the science
of chemistry, that they have contributed to the advancement of that
science. As is common in able controversies, every corner of the
science was hunted for arguments in favor of one hypothesis or the
other ; new discoveries were made incidentally ; and various facts
before known, were more fully confirmed and illustrated.
The manner in which this great controversy was conducted be-
tween Sir Humphry Davy and Mr. Murray of Edinburgh, is worthy
of being particularly remarked. It is rare in any debate, to find the
parties so well matched, and both so able. Davy and Murray were
both ingenious and accurate experimenters, and equally acute and
logical reasoners. They were both gentlemen; and exhibited
throughout this protracted discussion, a rare example of courtesy and
good temper. Each had the right kind of obstinacy ;—not a deter-
mination to persist in error, but that perseverance which is founded
on a strong conviction of the truth, and which produces a correspond-
ing determination to support it. Davy had great obstacles to over-
come. The opinions of the chemical world were made up and set-
tled on this point, and settled against him. Several of the leading
chemists of the day had ‘“ made their book,” and had thus entered
into bonds with society to support the prevailing doctrine. Chemists
also being familiar with the explanations made on the old theory, for
that reason imagined them to be much szmpler than the explanations
proposed. It generally happens in warm and protracted disputes, that
each of the parties is apt to think that the reason why his opponents
do not see his opinions to be true and incontrovertible, is owing either
to their obstinacy or want of penetration. Hence he is prone to re-
gard his antagonists with resentment or contempt; not to see things
so plain argues stupidity ; not to acknowledge what they cannot but
see, argues wilful obstmacy. We have not been able to find any-
thing of this temper in any of the controversial writings of Sir Hum-
phry Davy.
Between Mr. Murray and Dr. John Davy there was, however, at
one time a little jarring. The Doctor, after proving as he thought
the insufficiency of one of Mr. Murray’s arguments, adds in a tone
Sir Humphry Davy. 233
which savors a little of haughtiness, ‘“ After the preceding statement
of facts, Mr. Murray, [ should conceive, will be induced to renounce
his conclusion ; and I should likewise imagine, that this gentleman
in future will be more cautious in his assertions, and criticisms on the
labors of others.”* Mr. Murray, in his next paper, shews that
Doctor Davy had admitted the fact in controversy which he had be-
fore steadily denied ; and that what the Doctor had advanced to ac-
count for it in conformity with his theory, was a series of hypotheses
unsupported by proofs, and then adds,—‘ he therefore, I trust, will
in future be more cautious in his assertions, and in calling in question
the results of the experiments of others.” +
But we are not aware that Sir Humphry Davy was ever betrayed
into any want of courtesy, although he was assailed at different times
by Gay Lussac and Thenard, by Dalton, by Murray, by Berzelius,
and by many others. Nor have the records of science often exhib-
ited such uniform modesty, in the pretensions of those who have ex-
tended its boundaries. When the occasion calls upon him to allude
to his own discoveries, he speaks of them as things which he had the
good fortune to discover. When circumstances demand the applica-
tion of a new name, as that of Chlorine, his language is, After con-
sulting several eminent men, I have ventured to propose this name.
It was probably this modesty in asserting his claims, (so characteristic
of true greatness,) this respectful regard to the feelings and rights of
others, which has made the world so freely acquiesce in his praises,
and preserved him from that envy which is so apt to be displayed to-
wards eminent cotemporaries.
In the progress of the dispute between Murray and Davy, each
party seemed several times, both in his own opinion and in that of
lookers-on, to have fairly laid his adversary ; but to their surprise,
the latter soon returned to the attack only invigorated by the blow.
Every man of science, whichever side he may have taken in this dis-
cussion, must rejoice that it was conducted by two such champions
as Davy and Murray ; for had either of them encountered almost any
common man, he would have established his own views too soon ;—
if he had been in an error, he would have led the world astray ; or
if right, he would have had no occasion, as in the present instance,
to encompass this dgctrine with such a panoply of arguments.
. * Nicholson’s Journal, XX XIX. 32. + Nicholson’s Journal, XXX. 239.
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. 3
234 Scientific Labors and Character of
The controversy was conducted with such consummate skill, that
each rejoinder seemed conclusive in favor of the writer; and the
reader could hardiy help saying as the country justice did, to each of
the advocates in succession, ‘‘ You’ve got your case.” For example,
when Davy brings forward the fact, that charcoal ignited to white-
ness and presented to chlorine under the most favorable circumstan-
ces, abstracts no oxygen from it, we feel compelled to believe, that
it has none. Nor does it satisfy us to say, as his antagonist did, that
this fact makes equally against his own hypothesis; since, if chlorine
be a supporter of combustion analogous to oxygen, as Davy supposed,
it ought to enter into combination with the carbon under these cireum-
stances.* Murray here forgot, that it is not necessary for bodies to
agree in all respects in order to be arranged in the same class ;—that
if they did thus agree, they would not be analogous in their charac-
ters but identical. Gold undoubtedly belongs to the same class of
bodies with lead; but in their affinities for oxygen, these two bodies
differ widely. Ammonia belongs to the same class of bodies with
potash; but in their composition, they differ as much as possible.
But though we do not attach any weight to this reply urged by Dr.
Murray, and repeated by his son, yet when he urges the argument
that the chlorine does not give up its oxygen to the carbon, because
the muriatic acid which would be left, cannot exist without water, we
are confounded, if not convinced ; for, to say that muriatic acid can
exist without water, was assuming one of the principal points at issue.
On the other hand, when Murray converts carbonic oxide into
carbonic acid by mixing it with chlorme,{ we feel it impossible any
longer to resist the evidence that chlorine contains oxygen ; but im the
reply of his antagonist, we are shewn that this change might take
place in consequence, not of the transfer of oxygen from the chlorine
to the carbonic oxide, but by the abstraction of carbon from the lat-
ter, forming with chlorine and hydrogen (for the presence of this ele-
* This method of evading the conclusion of Davy in favor of his hypothesis, derived
from the want of action of white hot charcoal upcn chlorine, has been often repeated,
and by chemists of eminence ; but the objection appears to us to be unfair, because
a strong attraction for ignited carbon is a known property of oxygen; and ifa body
when exposed to the action of charcoal white hot, does not exhibit this property, the
fact furnishes a strong presumption, that the body contains no oxygen; but this
fact does not prove that the body in question is not a supporter of combustion. It
may still be entitled to that character on account of its burning sulphur, phosphorus,
and the metals, while its want of affinity for charcoal marks a specifie difference be-
tween it and oxygen.
i In the recent edition of Murray’s Elements. + Nich. Journal, vol, 28.
Sur Humphry Davy. 235
ment was essential to the success of the experiment) a triple com-
pound, as in olefiant gas.* This argument, if it did not demonstrate
that the carbonic acid was developed in this manner, proved at least
that it might be thus accounted for, and thus rendered Murray’s ex-
periment znconclusive ; but a subsequent experiment of Dr. Davy de-
veloped a new compound formed from these elements, which Murray
had mixed, namely, chloro-carbonous acid, which was the substance
that Murray had mistaken for carbonic acid.
Again, Davy asserted a superiority in favor of his doctrine, on the
ground that it was only a simple expression of facts, while that of his
antagonist, was an hypothesis. ‘Thus, to say that muriatic acid is
composed of chlorine and hydrogen, was only the expression of a
simple fact, which we saw take place before our eyes; while the
assertion that the hydrogen unites with the oxygen of the chlorine and
forms water, which instantly combines with the muriatic acid, is hy-
pothetical. All this seemed very clear, until Murray shewed that
Davy’s views were as hypothetical as his. For, although to assert
that from the mutual action of oxymuriatic acid and hydrogen, mu-
riatic acid 1s produced, is a simple expression of a fact, yet that this fact
results from a direct combination of those two gases is an inference,
and that it results from the union of the hydrogen with the oxygen of
the oxymuriatic acid, is another inference. And, though the latter
inference may be less simple than the former, yet the most simple
conclusion is not always the just one. ‘This observation was pressed
home by an appeal to their own principles. For example, we com-
bine (says Murray) protoxide of mercury with muriatic acid and form
calomel. ‘The most simple conclusion, and one quite analogous to the
conclusion in question, is that calomel is a compound of protoxide of
mercury and muriatic acid: but no, you say, it is a compound of
chlorine and metallic mercury.;—This was a pungent application of
the argumentum ad hominem.—The dexterity of the combatants was
equally manifested on another point. When muriatic acid was com-
bined with a metallic oxide, as oxide of tin, a quantity of water made
its appearance, and a compound resulted, the same as that which is
formed by the direct combination of chlorme and metallic tn. From
this experiment, Davy drew the inference, that the chlorine of the
muriatic acid united with the metallic part of the oxide of tin, while
the hydrogen of the acid united with the oxygen of the metal to form
*Nich. Journal, XXX. 29. {See Murray’s Elements, 6th edition, Appendix.
236 Scientific Labors and Character of
ihe water that appeared ; and it seemed decisive in favor of this con-.
clusion, that the quantity of oxygen contained in the water, was ex-
actly that which eaisted in the oxide of tin. "This last fact left a strong
impression in favor of Davy’s hypothesis, and against the idea sup-
ported by Murray, that the water present was the same as had before
existed in the muriatic acid, and which was released when the acid
went into combination with the base. But the doctrine of equivalent
quantities has proved, that the quantity of oxygen which is contamed
in the water produced in this experiment, would be precisely the
same, whether derived from the oxide or the acid.*
In this manner did the controversy proceed, each successive paper
producing arguments which seemed invincible in favor of the writer
and against his antagonist, while every thrust was parried with the
dexterity of the most accomplished masters. Nor did it seem pos-
sible to settle the question, until the discovery of iodine so much
strengthened the hypothesis of Davy, that almost every chemist of
the age from that period has adopted it.
It has been said of Sir Isaac Newton, that he was so well acquaint-
ed with nature and understood her analogies so fully, that he always
guessed right. ‘The increasing probability which has followed many of
the novel hints and suggestions thrown out by our philosopher, at a very
early period, (fer example those respecting the identity of chemical
and electrical attractions, the geological agencies of the metallic bases
of the earths and alkalies, and the simple nature of chlorine,) almost
persuades us to apply to Sir Humphry Davy a similar remark.
It is hardly possible to review the history of the foregoing contro-
versy, without beimg strongly impressed with the delusive nature of
hypotheses in general, if by hypothesis we understand a supposition
of which there is no other proof, than that it explains all the phenom-
ena to which it is applied. ‘The two hypotheses of electricity as well
as those respecting oxy-muriatic acid, applying as they respectively
do to a great multitude of facts, while we know that one or the other
of them must be false, prove the danger of relying on such a con-
formity of our supposition with facts, as a criterion of their truth.
In the year 1812, at the age of 32, Davy stood on one of the
proudest heights of science. By his extraordinary discoveries he
had extended the empire of man over matter; by strong powers
of reasoning united with great ingenuity of research, he had changed
* Murray’s Elements, 6th edition, II. '707.
Sir Humphry Davy. 237
the features of chemical science ; he had brought over to his own
views nearly the whole chemical world; he had secured the homage
of many scientific bodies in different countries, and commanded uni-
versal admiration. If we look over the Philosophical 'T'ransactions, and
Scientific Journals from 1798 to 1812, the rapidity with which we find
his great achievements to have followed each other, reminds us of noth-
ing less than the victories of Alexander: which, it will be recollected,
were gained within the same short period, and at nearly the same time
of life. Nor did the Macedonian distinguish his youth by more ex-
traordinary conquests over man, than our philosopher signalized his
by conquests over matter. Nor can we forbear to pursue the com-
parison, and remark, how transient were the monuments which the
hero erected for himself;—for how short a space he broke the
stream of time, which soon closed up again and flowed on as before,
while the achievements of the philosopher, developing as they do, the
immutable laws of nature, are alike imperishable, and bear in them-
selves the elements of immortality. It was therefore with universal
approbation, that the Prince Regent, now George IV, selected Mr.
Davy as the first subject to receive at his hands the honors of knight-
hood.
Released now from the arduous duties of professor of Chemistry
at the Royal Institution, and having become the possessor at once of
an amiable lady and a large fortune,* he seems to have seated him-
self to take an account of his stock of science, and to digest plans
for a life of learned leisure. How far it proved to be the true otium
cum dignitate, his subsequent history will shew. His “ Elements of
Chemical Philosophy” shortly appeared as the first fruits of this re-
tirement, purporting to be, as was supposed,t the first of a series
of volumes to embrace the entire ‘philosophy of the science. Al-
though it advances no farther im the system, than to expound the
“laws of chemical changes,” and to give the history of ‘ undecom-
pounded bodies,” which is all included in a small volume of less than
three hundred pages, yet it comprehends so much of chemical sci-
ence, that Dr. Ure acknowledges that much of the purely chemical
part of his dictionary, is derived from this work alone.{ His “ Lec-
* Monthly Mag. I. 381.
+ Such was the expectation of Dr. Thomson, (Annals of Phil. I. 372,) who suppo-
ses the entire work cannot consist of less than five or six volumes. We are not in-_
formed of the reason, why the author did not proceed with the work.
} Ure’s Dict. Chem. Introduction.
238 Scientufic Labors and Character of
tures on Agricultural Chemistry” were published about the same.
time; and these works along with the volume of Researches before
mentioned, each of which has been a rich mine from which com-
pilers have drawn, have made Sir Humphry extensively known to
the world as an author.* ‘The “ Elements” are characterized by a
strictness of method, and a purity and elegance of diction, not often
to be found in the writings of those, who in early life have been pre-
cluded from the advantages of an academic education. Retirement
from the active and professional duties of science, is frequently at-
tended with the same inglorious sloth and barren inactivity, as retire-
ment from the active scenes of business; but from the variety of
knowledge displayed in some of the subsequent writings of Sir Hum-
phry, particularly in his discourses before the Royal Society, we are
induced to believe, that he devoted much of the time now at his dis-
posal to the cultivation of general science and literature.
But among the privileges conferred by a learned leisure and an
easy fortune, few could have been so gratifying to Sw Humphry as
the opportunity for foreign travel. Nature and art, and the society
of the greatest men of the age, severally offered their allurements.
If he had become intimately acquainted with the laws and operations
of nature in his laboratory, it was, like the sight of Belzoni’s mod-
els of the eternal pyramids, only in those miniature representations,
which inspire a restless curiosity to see the grand originals. Art also
conspires with nature to exemplify the principles which he had so
faithfully studied; and the choicest productions of the one, and the
most stupendous as well as delightful exhibitions of the other, invited
him to the south of Europe. ‘The continent also abounded with the
luminaries of science, with which a mind like his would love to blend
its light. A nation is mterested in the travels of such acitizen. 'The
whole world is to him an El Dorado; from every land and sea he
gathers gold and pearls; and returns deeply freighted with the intel-
lectual riches of other climes, to pour them into the lap of his coun-
try. ‘The Philosophical ‘Transactions bear ample testimony how just-
ly this remark applies to Sir Humphry Davy.t
The beautiful remains of ancient painting at Rome and Pompeii,
suggested the means of ascertaining, by actual analysis, the nature of
* The whole of his works consist of forty six papers in the Philosophical Transac-
tions, and eight separate volumes.
t Professor Playfair has given another fine example, of the benefits that may ac-
crue to a country from the foreign excursions of her men of science, in his remarks
on the “ Slide of Alpnach.’’—(Edinburgh Phil. Jour.)
/
Ser Humphry Davy. 239
those pigments which have retained their freshness and brilliancy
through so many centuries. By such means, the artist is taught how
to prepare for himself the azure of Egypt and the purple of ‘Tyre.
The manuscripts found in the ruins of Herculaneum, originally 1696
in number,* excited the hopes of the scholar, that could some
method be devised for unrolling them, we should find many of those
works of the ancients, (as the deficient parts of Aristotle or of Livy}
the loss of which is so deeply deplored. Sir Humphry had made a
few experiments on certain fragments of papyri while in England in
1818, which encouraged the belief that chemical agents might be
found, which could be so applied to the manuscripts, as to separate
their folds without destroying their texture. Lord Liverpool, Lord
Castlereagh, and even the Prince Regent, afforded ample means for
defraying the expenses of such an undertaking ; and the experiments
were prosecuted for two months upon the MSS. belonging to the
Museum at Naples. During this period he succeeded in partially
unrolling twenty-three MSS., and he examined about one hundred
and twenty more which afforded no hopes of success. In addition
to the labor, in itself difficult and unpleasant, he had to encounter un-
expected obstacles thrown in his way by the jealous superintendants
of the Museum; and he was therefore induced to abandon the un-
dertaking, before he had fulfilled the anticipations he had inspired.
The enterprize, however, does not appear to have been entirely abor-
tive. Its results threw some light upon the character of this collec-
tion of manuscripts, and upon the modes of writing employed by the
ancients.
The volcano of Vesuvius presented an object to his curiosity
unembarrassed by any impediments of human jealousy. It was
the more interesting to our philosophic observer, because it af-
forded peculiar facilities for comparing its phenomena with a conjec-
ture he had thrown out in a paper on the decomposition of the earths,
published in the Philosophical Transactions in 1812, that the metals
of the alkalies and earths might exist im the interior of the globe ;
and on being exposed to the action of air and water, give rise to vol-
canic fires. 'The facts as observed at Vesuvius, appeared to strength-
en this supposition, and the opinion is evidently gaming ground among
geologists. t
* Phil. Trans. 1821.
| See ** Outline of the Course of Geological Lectures” of Professor Silliman, p.
M15.
240 Screntific Labors and Character of
In a passage on the Danube, the attention of Sir Humphry was
attracted towards the morning fogs that hang over rivers, and he was
led to investigate the circumstances, and to propose an explanation
which is generally received in meteorology as the true theory of
Mists.* His explanation however we cannot but consider as erro-
neous. The true cause we believe to be this: a fog is formed when-
ever watery vapor rising from the earth meets with colder air, which
condenses it. Now a large river like the Danube, does not become
sensibly colder during the night than it was the preceding day, but
continues to send off vapor nearly in the same quantity. But the air
over the land becomes a number of degrees colder at night than by
day ; and the vapor coming into contact with the colder air, is con-
densed into fog. Sir Humphry supposes the fog to be produced as
follows: the air over the river, by the influence of the stream, re-
mains warmer than the air over the land on each side; and the cold-
er and the warmer portions of air being mixed, the fog is precipitated
from the latter. But this phenomenon takes place over rivu-
lets, the breadth of which is so small that we cannot suppose the
temperature of the incumbent air, to be at any moment essentially
different from that of the banks.
The year 1815 was rendered memorable by the invention of
the sareTy Lamp. As the business of mining for coal, has made
comparatively little progress in our country, we have had no occa-
sions to witness the terrible disasters so common in England, against
which the safety lamp affords protection.t A species of carburetted
hydrogen gas, called by the mimers jfire-damp, is extricated in the
coal mines of that country, which, on being mixed with atmospheric
air, takes fire from the flame of a lamp, and explodes with the vio-
lence of a magazine. ‘The explosion that occurred at the Felling
colliery in the year 1812, when one hundred and one persons sud-
denly lost their lives under aggravated horrors, filled all the coal dis-
tricts of England with terror and dismay. Several methods had
been devised to obviate these formidable dangers, but they had all
proved either ineffectual, or inapplicable to common use. ‘The poor
miners were left to grope their way in the dark caverns of the coal
* Phil. Trans. 1819, p. 126.
+ Our great repositories of bituminous coal, are as yet chiefly open to the day ; and
the operations are so near the surface of the ground, as to afford little or no opportunity
for fire-damp to collect. The mines of anthracite are not liable to these accidents.
Str Humphry Davy. 241
pits, with no other light than that derived from sparks of steel, or en-
counter the hazard of a sudden and awful death. Their families
were on the rack of tormenting fears, and parted with them, as they
left their homes in the morning, with sad and gloomy forebodings.*
In such a state of things, application was made to Sir Humphry
Davy, whose rare union of scientific knowledge with mechanical in-
genuity, marked him out as the man of all others most likely to af-
ford relief. It seemed however a hopeless undertaking. It was
like asking him to discover a method of making a coal of fire
burn in the midst of a barrel of gun powder, without inflaming
it. ‘The process by which he advanced to the discovery was so cu-
rious and instructive, that we are induced to follow it step by step.
First, he ascertained by full and exact inquiries, all the facts of the
case as known to the miners. Secondly, he proceeded to learn
more fully the properties of the agent which he was to attempt to con-
trol. What is this fire-damp? He analyzed it and found it to be,
as other chemists had said, a variety of carburetted hydrogen gas.
What will kindle it2 A red-hot iron will not—a burning coal will
not. It therefore requires a higher degree of heat to inflame it, than
most other explosive gaseous mixtures. And here an important in-
ference met him, that if the gas, when on fire, were cooled, it would
be extinguished. Again, carburetted hydrogen, by burning, produ-
ces carbonic acid, and the atmospheric air with which it is mixed in
the explosive compound, produces nitrogen; and each of these pro-
ducts, added to the explosive mixture, greatly impairs or even de-
stroys its power of exploding ; and therefore, since these rise from a
burning lamp, they would of themselves prevent the communication
of the flame through the open chimney of the lamp. Under what
curcumstances does the fire-damp burn with explosion? ‘The general
reply is, when mixed with air; but experiments were instituted to as-
certain the effect of different proportions of air. One part of fire
damp, and any portion of air less than four parts, burnt without ex-
plosion. Seven or eight of air to one of the other, constituted the
most highly explosive mixture. In fifteen of air to one of fire-damp,
a lamp burnt without explosion, and with the flame greatly enlarged.
Through what channels (if there be any) between two separate por-
tions of these explosive mixtures, will the flame when applied to one
* See an interesting account of the explosion at the Felling Colliery, in the Annals
of Philosophy for 1813.
Vor. XVII.—No. 2. 4
242 Scientific Labors and Character of
of them refuse to pass to the other? Will it pass through a tube?
This brought him to the grand discovery ; for it appeared, that the
flame of the most explosive mixture would not pass through a small
tube,—that the communication was more easily prevented, in pro-
portion as the tube was of a better conducting substance, and there-
fore operated by cooling the flame below the point of kindling. It
was only then to surround a lamp with a transparent envelop com-
municating with the surrounding air by metallic tubes, and thus the
air might enter freely to feed the lamp, while the flame would not be
communicated to the surrounding atmosphere, in the most explosive
state in which it ever could exist in a coal mine. Subsequent ex-
periments proved, that in case the diameters of the tubes were very
small, their lengths might be diminished to mere apertures; and
hence it was only necessary to surround the lamp with wire gauze,
and the air would enter freely to supply the lamp, while the flame
could not pass through the apertures of the gauze.
The experience of fourteen years, while the safety lamp has been
in constant and extensive use in the coal mines of England,
without the occurrence of a single explosion,* is the best comment
upon the correctness of the principles which led on step by step to
its construction, as well as the highest testimony in favor of the bene-
fits which this invention has conferred upon society. We are not
aware of any other example of a great invention so purely philosoph-
ical as this. Most inventions have been partly at least the suggestion
of accident. But here our philosopher commenced, not with con-
structing a lamp, but with inquiring into the nature and properties of
the agent which he had to control. He began, like the Philis-
tines of old, by learning where lay the secret of its might; this being
discovered, it was shorn of its strength as easily as the giant of Israel.
But he did more than simply disarm the foe: he made him his slave.
In the most explosive mixtures, the flame of the lamp is greatly en-
larged, and its light much augmented ; and by this change, it gives to
the miner instant warning of the approach of danger.
These researches on the specific nature of explosive mixtures of
carburetted hydrogen and common air, led to the more general in-
quiry, What is the nature of flame? It is somewhat remarkable,
that in all the researches which had been made, and the theories which
had been proposed, on the subject of combustion, the nature of flame
* Graham’s Elements of Chemistry, 1829.
Sir Humphry Davy. . 243
itself had never been investigated. The inquiries of our philosopher
on this point, evince how much an original and inventive genius may
find to exercise its powers, even in subjects that seem to have been
entirely settled and exhausted.
After the year 1812, Sir Humphry does not appear to have exer-
cised the vocation of a chemist professionally ; but his attention was
immediately recalled to the subject, whenever any new discovery of
importance was announced. ‘Thus, in 1813, soon after the discov-
ery of Iodine, he happened to be at Paris, “receiving (says Dr.
Ure) amid the political convulsions of France, the tranquil homage
due to his genius.” 'Two able chemists, Messrs. Clement and De-
sormes, had investigated some of the properties of this simgular sub-
stance, but had come to no decisive conclusions respecting its nature.
Dr. Ure informs us,* that the English philosopher penetrated at once,
with intuitive sagacity, the mystery which hung over it, while he and
M. Gay-Lussac set out about the same time, and with equal ardor,
to investigate its relations to other bodies, that is, to ascertain its na-
ture. In finding its relations to such chemical agents as oxygen, hy-
drogen, and potassium, it soon became evident, that it was a body of
the same class with oxygen and chlorine; and so much strength was
thus acquired by Davy’s views respecting the nature of chlorine, that,
as we have already remarked, scarcely a chemist of the age any lon-
ger hesitated to embrace them.
In 1820, the discoveries of Mr. Oersted of Copenhagen, respecting
the connexion between magnetism and electricity, opened another new
field for original research, and Sir Humphry appeared again among
the foremost to explore it.f Thus, while he seemed to have retired
from the profession of a chemist, yet in every thing that appertained
to the enlargement of the science, he resumed his labors so effectual-
ly, that his authority was still quoted oftener than that of almost any
other man.
By the death of Sir Joseph Banks, in 1820, the presidency of the
Royal Society became vacant. The pontifical throne, or the regal
diadem, could hardly present to the ecclesiastical or political aspirant
a nobler prize, than the chair of Newton presents to the philosopher
or the scholar. Of the manner in which Sir Humphry Davy was
placed in it, we are furnished with the following account.[ ‘“ Sev-
— —
* Dictionary of Chemistry, Art. Todine.
j Phil. Trans. 1821, pp. 7 and 425, . + Month, Mag. 1. 388.
244 Scientific Labors and Character of
eral individuals of high, and even very exalted rank, were named
as candidates; but the scientific part of the society, justly consider-
ed this honor, the highest that a scientific man can attam in Britain,
not as a proper appendage to mere rank and fortune, but as a reward
for scientific merit. Amongst the philosophers whose labors have
enriched the Transactions of the Royal Society, two were most gener-
ally adverted to, Sir Humphry Davy and Doctor Wollaston ; but Dr.
Wollaston, whose modesty is only equalled by his profound knowl-
edge and extraordinary sagacity, declined being a candidate after his
friend had been nominated, and received from the council of the so-
ciety, the unanimous compliment of being placed in the chair of the
Royal Society, till the election by the body in November. A trifling
opposition was made to Sir Humphry Davy’s election, by some un-
known persons, who proposed Lord Colchester ; but Sir Humphry
was placed in the chair by a majority of nearly two hundred to thir-
teen. For this honor, (continues the journalist) no man could be
more completely qualified. Sir Humphry is perfectly independent ;
and in circumstances which enable him to support his office with dig-
nity. He is acquainted with foreign languages, and extensively con-
nected with foreign men of science. He possesses that general know]-
edge necessary for justly estimating all the different branches of sci-
ence, and his reputation, in his own particular pie is such as to
place him above all jealousy.”
The last great scientific effort of Davy, was his discovery of a meth-
od of protecting the copper sheathing of ships from corrosion by sea
water. ‘The history of this undertaking, as well as its mode of ac-
complishment, bears a strong analogy to that of the safety lamp. He
entered upon it at the request of the Navy Board of Great Britain,
and prosecuted it by steps indicated solely by philosophical princi-
ples. The method of proceeding in this and all similar cases, seems
indeed to be sufficiently simple and obvious—namely, first to ascer-
tain the cause of the evil, and then to find out how to control it by
studying its nature. But obvious as this method of making great dis-
coveries is, yet it has rarely been followed ; but most discoveries, in
their first stages at least, have either been stumbled on by accident,
or been the fruit of experiments, that were more or less empirical.
The principles that guided Sir Humphry, on the present occasion,
were suggested by a theory proposed and expounded by him in the
Bakerian Lecture for 1806, of which the leading points were as fol-
lows: That chemical and electrical attractions are identical, or at
Ser Humphry Davy. 245
least dependent on the same cause; that, consequently, substances
will combine only when they are in different electrical states; and
that, by bringing a body naturally positive into a negative state, its
usual powers of combination are altogether destroyed.* He informs
us, that he was conducted by these principles, to the discovery of the
metallic bases of the alkalies. For, if potash, for example, were a
compound, and its constituents were held together in consequence of
their being in opposite electrical states, then, according to known
laws of electrical attraction and repulsion, it was only to apply to them
electrical powers of greater intensity, and they would be separated
from each other,—the negative constituent would leave the positive
for a body positive in a higher degree, and the positive constituent
would leave the negative for a body negative in a higher degree.
Now the voltaic apparatus, (which admits of indefinite extension,)
affords the means of producing the opposite electricities, at the two
poles, of a degree of intensity exceeding that which exists between
the constituents of any given compound, and thus all the combina-
tions of matter are brought under its dominion. Although this hy-
pothesis was adopted by Berzelius, certainly one of the most compe-
tent judges in the world, yet it had not been generally received by
chemists. Its author, however, had some reason to feel attached to
an hypothesis, which had conducted him to so successful a result in
his galvanic researches, and he resolved once more to follow its sug-
gestions. He reasoned thus:—the cause of the corrosion of the
copper sheathing of ships is a chemical action of sea water upon
copper, and this is owing to their beimg in opposite electrical states,
the copper positive and the water negative. How shall this action
be destroyed? By rendering the copper negative ; for then the metal
and the water being in the same electrical state, no affinity can ex-
ist between them. Now tin, and zinc, and iron, being respectively
positive in a much higher-degree than copper, have each the power,
when joined to copper, of rendering it negative. Indeed it was as-
certained by trial, that so great was the power of these oxidable met-
als over copper, that a piece of tin scldered to a sheet of copper,
would protect a surface one hundred and fifty times as large as itself
perfectly, and would partially protect a surface one thousand times as
large as its own. After various trials, cast iron was found to be on
all accounts, the most eligible substance for protecting copper from
* Phil. Trans. 1824, p. 153.
246 Scientific Labors and Character of
the action of sea water. All the facilities for trying these experiments
on a large scale, were afforded him by the government, at the mag-
nificent naval establishments at Chatham and Portsmouth ; and the
results promised to provide a complete remedy for the evil under which
the navy and commerce of Great Britain had suffered so severely.
But a consequence which ought to follow in accordance with the hy-
pothesis, and which the author had anticipated, (though not to the
extent it occurred,) has limited, if not entirely subverted the practical
utility of the discovery. ‘The copper sheathing, rendered artificial-
ly negative, acquires the power of attracting all those ingredients
of sea water, which are naturally positive, as lime and magne-
sia. These forma crust on the surface of the copper to which sea-
weeds and shell fish adhere, which in long voyages create an imped-
iment, that is paramount to the advantages derived from the protec-
tion of the copper from corrosion. Although an unexpected conse-
quence has limited, or at least for the present embarrassed, the prac-
tical applications of this discovery, yet the object sought for, namely,
to protect copper sheathing from corrosion by sea water, was fairly
and fully attaimed ; and the philosophical process which conducted
to the discovery, was complete and perfect, like that which led to the
invention of the safety lamp.
We have watched this bright orb in its ascent through an uncloud-
ed and glorious morning, and have traced its radiant path as it moved
along its zenith; but we are now pained to behold it suddenly ar-
rested, and in a moment withdrawn forever from our gaze. We
have learned, that from the year 1827, the health of Sir Humphry
began to decline, and that after many months of severe and danger-
ous illness,* he had recovered so far as to be able to resort to his fa-
vorite climate in the south, but still led the life of an invalid, until a
sudden death released him from his suffermgs. We presume he al-
ludes to himself in one of the concluding sentences of. his last beauti-
ful little work, Salmonia, where he makes one of his characters say,
“Ah! could I recover any of that freshness of mind, which I pos-
sessed at twenty five, and which, like the dew of the morning, cov-
ered all objects, and nourished all things that grew, and in which
they were more beautiful even than im sunshine, what would I not
give !—All that I have gained in an active and not unprofitable
life.”+
* Salmonia, p. v. | Ib. 271.
Sur Humphry Davy. 247
We can hardly trace the progress of a man through life, whose
actions were all great and whose enterprises were all successful, with-
out seeming to indulge too much im the spirit of eulogy ; but it is
certainly true of here and there a mind, thal tetigit, quod non
ornavit. We pretend not to know any thing of the private history of
Sir Humphry Davy, but we have for a number of years contem-
plated his character through the medium of his works, and we are
free to say that we regard it as constituted of a very unusual assem-
blage of great and noble qualities. Quickness of perception and “ pa-
tient thought”*—inventive genius and strong reasoning powers—per-
severance to complete what ingenuity has begun, and an eloquent
tongue to utter, what a profound and brilliant mind has conceived:
these qualities were all interwoven, in fine proportions, to form its bright
and varied tissue. And, although we must not presume, from his works
alone, to make a complete analysis of his moral qualities, yet it is im-
possible not to recognize in his history, as derived from these sources,
many incidental marks of an amiable temper and refined feelings, allied
with heroic courage. Pursuits which have early engrossed the pow-
ers of genius, and opened its pathway to fame, sometimes create, ar-
tificially, a disrelish for other objects, and a tendency to undervalue
their importance. But the personage we are contemplating, was ev-
idently incapable of any such exclusive feelmgs. The noble progeny
of genius or intellect, wherever found, a spirit like his would at once
acknowledge as its kindred. Accordingly, his Discourses before the
Royal Society exhibit striking proofs of liberal and generous feelings,
towards all the votaries of science. We have been so strongly im-
pressed on this point, that we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of
making one or two extracts from these Discourses, in illustration of
it. Our first extract shall be taken from the discourse delivered on
the occasion of presenting the Society’s medal to M. Arago, of
France, for his discoveries in magnetism.
‘Far be from us that narrow policy which would contract the minds
of individuals, and injure the interests of nations, by cold and exclu-
sive selfishness; which would raise the greatness of one people, by
lowering the standard of that of another. As in commerce, so in sci-
ence, no country can become worthily pre-eminent, except in profit-
ing by the wants, resources, and wealth of its neighbors. Every new
*The motto of Newton.
248 Scientific Labors and Character, &c.
discovery may be considered as a new species of manufacture, awaken-
ing moral industry and sagacity, and employing as it were new capi-
tal of mind. When Newton developed the system of the universe,
and established his own glory and that of the country, on imperisha-
ble foundations, he might be regarded as giving a boon to the civilized
world, for which no adequate compensation could ever be made; yet,
even in this, the most difficult and sublime field of discovery, Britain
has been paid, if not fully, yet fairly, by the labors of Eiiler, La
Grange, and above all, La Place; perfecting the theory of the lunar
motions and planetary perturbations, and affording data of infinite im-
portance in the theory and practice of navigation. Fortunately sci-
ence, like that nature to which it belongs, is neither limited by time
nor space. It belongs to the world, and is of no country and no age.
The more we know, the more we feel our ignorance, the more we
feel how much remains unknown; and in philosophy, the sentiment
of the Macedonian hero can never apply; there are always new
worlds to conquer.’—(Discourse IV.)
The Royal Society of London has been censured for having of
late years suffered their attention to be withdrawn from those severer
sciences, for which that body, as their earlier volumes of Transac-
tions clearly prove, were formerly much distinguished. It is pecu-
liarly gratifying therefore to find their president so orthodox on this
point, as he shows himself to be, in the discourse delivered on pre-
senting the medal to Mr. Ivory for his mathematical performances.
‘I feel the highest satisfaction (says the President,) in anticipating
that this reward may renovate the activity of the Society upon this
department of science, and that it will return—Veteris vestigia
flamme’—with new ardor to its so long neglected fields of glory.
Whether we consider the nature of mathematical science, or its re-
sults, it appears equally amongst the noblest objects of human pursuit
and ambition. Arising a work of intellectual creation from a few
self-evident propositions on the nature of magnitudes and numbers, it
is gradually formed into an instrument of pure reason of the most re-
fined kind, applying to and illustrating all the phenomena of nature
and art, and embracing the whole system of the visible universe ; and
the same calculus measures and points out the application of labor,
whether by animals or machines, determines the force of vapor, and
confines the power of the most explosive agents in the steam engine,
—regulates the forms and structures best fitted to move through the
waves—ascertains the strength of the chain-bridge necessary to pass
across the arms of the ocean—fixes the principles of permanent foun-
Architecture in the United States. 249
dations in the most rapid torrents; and, leaving the earth filled with
monuments of its power, ascends to the stars, measures and weighs
the sun and the planets, and determines the laws of their motions,
and can bring under its dominion those cometary masses that are, as
it were, strangers to us, wanderers in the immensity of space ; and
applies data gained from contemplation of the sidereal heavens, to
measure and establish time, and movement, and magnitude below.”*—
(Discourse V.)
To conclude, we look upon Sir Humphry Davy as having afford-
ed a striking example of what the Romans called a man of good for-
tune ;—whose success, even in their view, was not however the re-
sult of accident, but of ingenuity and wisdom to devise plans, and of
skill and industry to bring them to a successful issue. He was for-
tunate in his theories, fortunate in his discoveries, and fortunate in
living in an age sufficiently enlightened to appreciate his merits ;—
unlike, in this last particular, to Newton, who, (says Voltaire) al-
though he lived forty years after the publication of the Principia, had
not at the time of his death, twenty readers out of Britain.t Some
might even entertain the apprehension that so extensive a popularity
among his cotemporaries, is the presage of a short-lived fame; but
his reputation is too intimately associated with the eternal laws of
nature to suffer decay ; and the name of Davy, like those of Archi-
medes and Galileo and Newton, which grow greener by time, will
descend to the latest posterity. O.
Art. Il.—Architecture in the United States.
To my former remarks on the importance of this subject to our
country, I beg leave to add a short extract from Lord Kames’ Ele-
ments of Criticism, which is valuable as it brings experience to our
support, the best support in our reasonings about men.
“‘T add another observation, that both gardening and architecture
contribute to the same end, by inspiring a taste for neatness and ele-
gance. In Scotland, the regularity and polish even of a turnpike-
road has some influence of this kind upon the low people in the neigh-
bourhood. 'They become fond of regularity and neatness; which is
* See Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1827. t Playfair, Diss. IT.
Vol. XVII.—No. 2. 5
250 Architecture in the United States.
displayed, first upon their yards and little enclosures, and next within
doors. A taste for regularity and neatness, thus acquired, is extend-
ed by degrees to dress, and even to behavior and manners. ‘The
author of a history of Switzerland, describing the fierce manners of
the Plebeians of Bern three or four centuries ago, continually inured
to success in war, which made them insolently aim at a change of
government in order to establish a pure democracy, observes that no
circumstance tended more to soften their manners, and to make
them fond of peace, than the public buildings carried on by the sen-
ate for ornamenting their capital: particularly a fine town-house, and
a magnificent church, which to this day, says our author, stands its
ground as one of the finest in Europe.”
I now proceed to the more practical part of the subject, and shall
consider it under the following heads :
1. The best ground for a city or town, with the best mode of lay-
ing out such ground.
2. Public edifices and public monuments—with the architecture
best adapted to them.
-3. Private buildings and private grounds.
The reader and I may keep company through an article or two be-
side this, and we should be better acquainted before we start. He
must excuse then the title: there is no word in the language exactly
suited to the subject, and this will answer perhaps as well as any
other. He must also excuse some egotism: it will be necessary to
apply individual taste to the matters under discussion, and the first
person singular must often come in from necessity. On the other
hand, he is invited to criticise freely and to find fault whenever he may
choose. My remarks will be based on some observation both at
home and in other countries, and on some thought and study; but
still I wish no one in verba mea jurare, and particularly in matters
of taste. I wish the public to use their own judgment and their own
taste, and shall think my time well spent if I can only draw their at-
tention to a subject so interesting and important.
In selecting ground for a town or city, regard should be had to
convenience, beauty and health. ‘The first of these is so changeful
in its character and so little subject to rule, that we must leave it to
take care of itself, which it will never fail to do: health and beauty
are fair subjects for our consideration. 'The usual practice in our
country, and particularly in the West, is to give even ground the
preference, and where it cannot be obtained, the surface is generally
Architecture in the United States. 251
levelled, often at considerable expense. This is perfectly natural.
On meeting with a level tract of country near a handsome stream,
our first exclamation is apt to be, “ what a beautiful spot for a town ;”
and in selecting ground to be passed over frequently,—perhaps in
after ages to be constantly traversed by dense crowds, it seems proper
that the most level should be selected. But natural as such a choice
may seem, still it is not wise. A city on level ground can never be a
cleanly one. Extreme muddiness may be avoided by paving, and
extreme filth by frequent application of the scavenger’s broom; after
all this expense, however, such a place will be filled with offens-
ive sights and smells. The offals of shops and kitchens will still
accumulate : stables will still send up their noisome effluvia, and mire
will still every where abound. ‘There is no sweeping so good, while
there is none half so cheap, as that which we may receive from a
~ smart shower of rain. Such a cleansing however is impossible in a
level town. ‘The waters, instead of forming themselves into rapid
and healthy streams, here flood the street, or gather into pools, which
send us in long circuits by day, and deceive our eyes by night: col-
lecting the essence of every putrifying substance by our very door,
they change from black to yellow, and from yellow to green, while
from day to day they load the air with loathsome smells and sicken-
ing vapors. From this there is no escape, and in our changeful cli-
mate it is frequent. Every one of our level cities will satisfy us that
this is no caricature; and if such is the case now, what will it be
when the population becomes far denser, and poorer also, and there-
fore less able to consult cleanliness or comfort than it is now?
Such a city can never be a handsome one. We may enrich it
with marble palaces, and deck them with ivory and gold, still it will
be heavy and gloomy and dull. Every one has read of Babylon,
the city of sixty miles in circuit, and one hundred brazen gates. It
was the perfection of cities, if we make evenness of ground the
standard ; yet who that thinks of it, stretching league after league
over the same unvaried plain, does not immediately tire of its uni-
formity. We turn from street to street, but the same dead level is
before us. We look to the right and left, but the same prospect
opens on either side; our feelings become stagnant, and we can con-
sent to live there only by consenting to become as dull as it.
Such is a level city. Let us now take a view of Rome. The
simple word, “in Capitolium ascendit,’ conveys to my mind,
~
252 Architecture in the Umted States.
and doubtless conveyed to that of the ancient Romans, a more cheer-
ful idea, than is suggested by all the wealth, and pomp, and spien-
dor of the proud drowsy city of the East. Rome draws half its in
terest from its seven hills: from the days when Romulus and
Remus took their auguries on the Palatine and Aventine mounts,
till the choosing of the present Pope, on mons Vaticanus, they have
figured most in its history : they mingle in our recollections of every
fine description or heroic deed, and were at once the defence and or-
nament, and just boast of that city—the queen of cities. Even the
forum took much of its character, and its orators much of their pow-
er from the Capitoline hill, immobile saxum, which overhung it, and
on which the citadel and the temples of their gods stood out distinct
and clear against the bright blue sky. Those spots still breathe a
thrillmg eloquence ; what must they have been in the days of their
splendor and glory! We have a Rome or two in our country : I have
never seen them, but will venture to affirm that they are built on the
most level ground the districts could afford. ‘The ancients under-
stood these things far better. Constantinople is celebrated far and
wide for its beauty as it is approached. It has mimarets and domes
without number: the minaret, tall and delicate, and always white, is
a beautiful thing, and scarcely less so is the white swelling dome.
But these alone would not produce an effect so like fascination, as
the scene rises first before the traveller. It is because these domes
and minarets rise from their proud elevation in splendid relief against
the sky ; because the hills bring now an ivy-draped aqueduct, now
a cypress grove, now a palace, now a tower into view, making what is
really beautiful appear so, and because that the dense mass of houses
below is on every variety of ground, that Constantinople takes the
preeminence among handsome views. New York has sometimes
been compared to it in regard to position, and the comparison is just ;
but if the citizens of New York would have the comparison go fur-
ther, they must save their hills, which I understand, are now fast dis-
appearing before the levelling system, so prevalent in our land. A
level spot may serve admirably for a corn-field, but whether it is best
for a city I must now submit to the reader’s judgment. I would not
have abrupt eminences, or high ones, or many: but should still
prefer them to a plain: rolling ground, with sufficient inclination
throughout, to give a brisk current after a rain, is probably the best.
J] was going to say that the subject deserves further discussion, but it
Architecture in the United States. 253
is so plain, that if our practice were not so universally on the wrong
side, it would seem to deserve no discussion at all: reprobation is
perhaps the more proper word. But this I must leave to the feeling
of the public, and pass now to consider the best rules for planning a
city or town.
This subject is still more important than the other. We may choose
our ground well, but if it is not well used the choice loses half its
worth. ‘The ground too for many of our cities is already chosen,
and they cannot be removed; but they are extending their Inmits
every year: New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, have doubled
their circuit in the last twenty years; our other cities have increased
theirs rapidly: Cincinnati has quadrupled hers in the last twelve or
fifteen, and so with many other of our western cities—and all this is
still going on and will go on, for many years tocome. Our towns also
are enlarging with a rapidity this huge world, old as it is, never knew
before. Much, very much then can still be done, and the question,
as I said, is a very important one—what is the best mode of planning
atown? I shall endeavor to go into it at considerable length.
Our practice here too is beginning to set strongly towards one
mode, that of squares or rectangular parallelograms. Philadelphia
is laid out so, and it is a handsome city: Cincinnati is in the same
fashion : I believe nearly all our western towns are so, and the cus-
tom is every year extending more and more.» I am sorry to see it,
and I hope the reader will be so too before we dismiss the subject.
Experience shall be our guide in the discussion.
Convenience and beauty should be our governing principle in form-
ing the plan of a city ;—and for the first. ‘The citizens of New York I
understand, complain on this score; the numerous sharp angles, they
say, give their houses, and consequently, the rooms and furniture, an
inconvenient shape. ‘The shape may sometimes admit of tasteful lines,
and may be agreeable enough to those who own their dwelling and
are permanently settled ; but for those who are not so well off, it is
found difficult to adjust the carpets, furniture and hangings, to such a
variety of forms. ‘The rooms also have often an unsightly character.
A triangle may be a pretty thing in geometry, but it is difficult to be
managed in a house, particularly if its angles be acute. The yard and
other grounds they say are also badly adapted for their comfort. 1
have heard no complaints from Boston, or Baltimore, or Washing-
ton, where such angles are common, but the thing seems reasonable
enough, and should by no means be disregarded. ‘The rectangular
254 Architecture in the United States.
form is certainly the most convenient and handsomest, and therefore
the best for aroom. Curves are not devoid of beauty and may
sometimes be admitted, but sharp angles should be avoided whenever
itis possible. ‘They have neither symmetry nor comfort, and I know
indeed nothing that can be said in their favor. Such angles will ne-
cessarily occur in a very irregular town. Convenience is so far in
favor of rectangles in our plan: I was gomg to add that in such a
place, streets and houses are more easily found, but this is easily
done in Washington which has every variety of angle. But conven-
ience is not always in favor of rectangles. ‘The main paths across
a public green are very seldom at right angles, or if made so by the
public authorities are soon abandoned by the citizens, for others
in an oblique direction. This shows, that if in building, the rectangle
is most comfortable, yet in passing from place to place it is not. I
would not follow cow-paths in laying out streets, as one of our cities
is facetiously accused of having done: but should certainly not disre-
gard those of men. Rectangles may also lead our streets over very
inappropriate spots, up steep eminences, or over deep glens and val-
leys. We should not sacrifice our eminences, and what is then to be
done? The reader answers, ‘in such cases depart from your rectan-
gles”—and this is just the point to which I wished to lead him: but
more of this by and by.
Beauty is not in fayor of the rectangle. We should judge of the
beauty of our city, more from its impression on strangers, than on
ourselves. We are accustomed to its forms; its associations affect
us; we are warped by our attachment to family and friends, and are
no longer fit judges on the subject. We feel all this, and inquire with
some anxiety of the stranger what he thinks of it. This may not
always be perfectly polite, but the question is still natural enough,
and we must only take care that intimacy or friendly confidence be-
tween us may warrant it. Who so capable of setting us right where
we are wrong, as he who sees with other eyes, and hears with other
ears, and who may properly be expected to judge with greater can-
dor than ourselves? I say then we should watch the impression of
our city on visiters, and learn wisdom from their remarks. A rect-
angular city, as far as its plan is concerned, will not be found to inter-
est a visiter long. He understands it easily and its dimensions shrink :
he turns angle after angle and it is all the same, till-the houses take
also this character of uniformity, and however beautiful, cease to
interest. He looks along a street: it stretches far before him, and
Architecture in the United States. 255
he feels as we do in looking up a long straight road—it may be very
convenient but we feel no disposition to pursue it further, though it
may be planted with elms and dressed with rich vines, and enlivened
with the sweet melody of birds: we are just as well off where we
are, why go further? But give that road a turn near us, and our cu-
riosity is immediately excited to pursue it further. I recollect a
road not far from Wooster in Ohio. It ran, I think, six or seven
miles as straight as an arrow, and when I travelled on it, became at
last absolutely painful to me. I began to feel like a man in a strait
jacket, and perhaps the road contractors would have said I deserved
one. But to return to our rectangular city. Every one will recol-
lect his sensations, on turning from street to street, and finding the
same long vista before him. It may please for a few moments at
first, but the feelings soon grow dull and stagnate, and he turns list-
lessly away. Such a city has two important principles of beauty,
symmetry and neatness; but, in a city at least, variety is essential to
beauty : this is uniform, and therefore soon becomes dull. We love
variety, and nature has provided largely for it: no two scenes are
alike, though rocks, hills, trees, valleys and streams may go to the com-
position of both. We should soon tire of nature if things were so, at
least if they were often so. Ata first visit to a spot, it is the con-
stant succession of new views taking us by surprise and sharpening cu-
riosity, that delights us : afterwards itis this adaptation of forms to our
nature, this variety suited to our love of variety, that fixes itself so
strongly on our souls. Other principles of our nature, no doubt, are act-
ed on, but this is among the uppermost. Let us bring it to the test.
Suppose close together two beautiful scenes exactly alike in all parts :
they would excite our wonder, but apart from this, would there not be
a strong disappointment in our feelings? Would not the one we saw
first, sink in our estimation because the other was just like it? Letus
eo further : suppose there were three such, we should wonder more
for a short while and then begin to be indifferent: four, we should
begin to tire: five, we should be weary: six, it would require an
effort to look at them, and we should then begin to dislike. I will
change the case. Let the reader suppose himself in a forest with a
handsome glade by his side : he turns and has one exactly like it by him
again: a few feet more and another comes; and again another, and
so on without end. Those trees might be different m shape and in
their leaves, but if disposed, as was said, exactly alike in all cases,
would he seek that forest again for a pleasant walk? Again, sup-
256 Architecture in the United States.
pose this variety of trees were disposed in the form of uniform av-
enues, stretching far as the eye could reach, whould he then be
greatly pleased? But suppose these avenues in every variety, now
broad and open, now shaded and narrow, one while opening to a
wide stretch of landscape, and at another poimting to a rocky
glen: how our feelings change at the thought! ‘This is the effect
of variety. No city then should be uniform, not even uniform
in beauty, or it will pall and tire. I love, myself, in traversmg a
city to be taken by surprise; to be able to anticipate some new
form, or combination of forms, at every turn; to have my admira-
tion constantly drawn upon by the taste and judgment shewn in
these combinations, and to have the city swell out and magnify its
dimensions from my only half successful effort to comprehend them.
A word or two on this last subject: it is of no great consequence,
but should not be altogether neglected, in our discussion. Every
one will recollect his surprise on ascending a steeple in an irregular
town, or an adjoining eminence, and looking down on it to find it so
small: it is but a short time since I took such a view of Hartford,
and found it but little more than half as large as Thad imagined. ‘This
is natural: the constant effect of partial obscurity is to magnify, and
no one will neglect it when he wishes to strike us by the vast or
grand. I recollect my chagrin at Niagara Falls, when after a toil-
some effort to see it from every point, I found that the best view was
most easily had. It was on a spot some dozen or twenty yards S.
W. from the table rock. ‘The water there rushes by our feet, in
large volume and with terrific rapidity, is precipitated over the ledge
and lost to our sight: further on we can trace the roaring element
nearly to the bottom, but the bottom can no where be seen, and
from the shaking of the ground, the deep roar and the spray, our
imagination makes the descent twice as great as it really is.
The conclusion then from the whole is this: that rectangles are
convenient for building, and should therefore be used ; but that they
produce a tiresome sameness, against which we should carefully
guard : that irregular cities are best accommodated to motion or change
of place ; that they keep our interest alive by their variety, and other
things being equal, affect us most by their size. Each has its ad-
vantages : they may be easily combined, and I shall proceed to some
remarks on the best character of such a combination.
In laymg out a town, we should first carefully study the ground.
There are no places, even the most level, that do not offer in some
Architecture in the United States. 257
spots greater advantages of ground than inothers. These should be
seized upon and turned to the best account for beauty or conven-
ience, but particularly for beauty ; for convenience will usually take
good care of itself. -A proper use of these will insure sufficient varie-
ty to a city, and the remainder of the site may be occupied by squares
and rectangular parallelograms. Even these last however, if carefully
adjusted, will admit of very great variety, as I shall presently show :
Sameness should always be avoided : if it is tiresome in a landscape,
it is doubly so in the plan of a city, in which walls and windows and
roofs are necessarily much alike, and uniformity is apt enough to
come without being sought. A city like the one I propose, would
unite convenience, symmetry, neatness, variety, and beauty: I add
also elegance, and shall now proceed to take it up in detail.
We are first to study the ground, and ascertaining its several ad-
vantages, form the main features of our plan from these : I consider
rounded eminences of moderate elevation a very great advantage.
There are few towns that have not some heights: where there are none,
other spots may be selected for the same purpose, though they will not
suit so well. To show the reader what use I wish to be made of them, |
will convey him for a few moments to Marseilles, in France. In the
new part of that city, are two wide streets, called Les allées des Cap-
uchins, and Les allées de Meilhan. ‘They start from another cailed
Le Boulevard, and meet at no great distance from it, forming with
each other an angle of about thirty degress. Each is planted with
four rows of trees, forming three well arched and handsome avenues,
the ground below being firm, dry, and rounded from the middle to a
channel on each side: the parts outside and next the houses are ap-
propriated to carriages and wagons, which are excluded from the ave~
nues. At the point where the central avenues of the two streets meet,
is a fountain, cheap and plain, but of exceeding beauty. {It is a
large basin of water, elevated five or six feet, and handsomely sodded
around: from the centre shoots up to a great height a single, deli-
cate, silvery jet. I have seen the splendid fountains in the portico
of Si. Peter’s, at Rome, but they did not affect me with half the
pleasure that was given by this simple small stream amid the green
well arched trees. It goes to prove what I have already said, that
great wealth is not necessary to the cultivation of taste. Indeed
most of the fountains at Rome err on this point. ‘They pour forth
immense volumes of water amid marble basins and tritons, and sea-
horses and cars; but I think taste would prefer even the simple
Vor. XVIL—No. 2. 6
258 Architecture in the United States.
Turkish fountain with its soft gurgle, the huge plane overshad-
owing it, the rude bench beneath the tree, and the doves cooing in
the branches. But I have wandered from my object and return.
The fountain at Marseilles, from its position, belongs to both the
streets of les Capuchins and Meilhan, and is an exquisitely beautiful
termination to the vista in both. At the point where Les Allées des
Capuchins meeis Le Boulevard is a handsome obelisk, thus an orna-
ment to both these streets. Iwas pleased with this method of multiply-
ing ornamental objects, and should keep it constantly in view in draw-
ing the first and main features in the plan of a city. A handsome
edifice with five streets diverging from it, would be equal to five such
edifices placed so as to have only one point of view. With so
many radiating lines, however, our city would be greatly cut up and
filled with sharp angles, and we must be extremely cautious how the
system is used. It would be best to have but a few points for nu-
merous radiating lines, but the principle might be employed on a
smaller scale through most parts of the city. ‘Those few points should
be on eminences, for a handsome object always appears best on an
elevated position : the edifices placed there should be the most impor-
tant and beautiful in the city, and some of the streets diverging from
them, should be the widest and handsomest. ‘To all these our main
attention should be directed: a few other points for a few radiating
streets and objects of less consequence should be selected, and the
remainder of the ground be filled up with rectangular or oblique
streets, as convenience might dictate, without however a total dis-
regard to beauty.
The reader who has been at Washington will immediately think of
the plan of that city, and there is a very strong resemblance between
it and the one I propose. ‘That of Washington has always been
greatly admired, and if ever filled up as seems to have been origi-
nally expected, will give us indeed a beautiful and splendid city.
Those who have not seen it, will readily understand the plan. ‘The
Capitol and the President’s house, a mile distant from each other, are
made radiating points for numerous wide streets which are called ave-
nues, and are named after the several states. ‘The whole plan is near-
ly four miles in length, and the parts not thus occupied are supplied
with streets crossing each other at right angles, directed, I believe, to
the four points of the compass. ‘The whole is worthy of our national
capital, and with some few exceptions, is an admirable plan. But
it is not suited to a smaller city or atown. ‘The avenues occupy too
Architecture in the United States. 259
much ground to recommend it for extensive adoption, and are per-
haps too numerous even for Washington, though all the ground
should be filled up. Amid such a large number of handsome streets,
proper regard would probably not be paid to any, and even if it were
not so, I would not repeat even a handsome thing very often: a
me ig I have two ‘other objections. ‘The first is the large breaks
occurring frequently in the avenues where they are crossed at an
acute angle by the rectangular streets. One of these occurs just be-
low Williamson’s hotel. The triangle adjoining will probably be filled
up, but there will still remain a most unsightly gap on that side of
the avenue. If I recollect right, there are two or three similar ones
between that and the capitol. The other objection is connected with
this. The plan has too much regularity: perhaps I should express
my meaning better, should I say that it wants variety. Washington
has great advantages in the nature of its ground: instead of consult-
ing these, however, the two radiating points are determined on, the
avenues from them are fixed, a few other avenues planned; the rec-
tangular system is then applied; and the whole are left to run over
steep hills and deep valleys as their fate may direct. Some of them
are on the sides of abrupt descents, and beautiful as the plan ap-
pears on paper, I know of no city where the streets are so uncouth
as are some of those in Washington. And I do not see how
they can ever appear much better. An avenue of this charac-
ter (called I believe Delaware avenue) passes just East of the botan-
ical garden: and a street equally unmanageable ascends immediately
back of Mr. Carroll’s mansion.
We should not adopt, then, any one system to be carried uniformly
through our whole plan. ‘The nature of the ground should govern
us; we should consult this in all parts: turn it to the best advantage,
counteract its inconveniences, and fill up the intermediate parts as
may best suit our purpose. I present a plan that will explain my
views better than description. It is not given as a beau rdeal of a
town, but simply to elucidate my remarks. I have taken for it no
other advantages of ground than can be found in any of our cities or
towns. No. 2, is a circular eminence, which I seize upon for a
town-house or other handsome building of general public interest.
From it diverge six streets, three of which are broad avenues, and
by directing them, not by a fixed rule, but at will, I make four or
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Architecture in the United States. 261
five pomt to some interesting object. The sixth is a curved street :*
the stranger enters it, wondering whither it may lead, and finds it
open suddenly on a fountain or pillar: before him is the broad street
pointing to No. 15, a handsome public or private house, a public
monument or something of the kind. On his right, at No. 6, is an
arch crowning an eminence, also a handsome termination to his view.
The reader must not start at the mention of arch and pillar and obe-
lisk: I will speak at length of them shortly, and will reconcile him,
if not to their present use, at least to provision for them among our
posterity. No. 5 is also on an emmence, and has five diverging
streets: it isa retired spot, and is suited to a building or buildings
requiring retirement; and we have many such—colleges, hospitals,
retreats, gymnasia, &c. ‘The remainder of the plan will be ex-
plained by the list of references which is attached.+ A word on the
objects from 8 to 10: their position combines the advantages of both
the rectangular and the diverging system, and can be used to pro-
duce variety and to prevent the introduction of numerous acute an-
gles, which should be avoided whenever it can be conveniently done.
Some of the streets it will be observed are wider than others, a cir-
cumstance which builders, on account of their varied means, will find
an advantage. Some persons prefer building or living in narrow and
retired streets ; others seek those more public and open to observation.
In this plan, | think regularity will be found combined with variety,
simplicity with beauty, and symmetry with a sufficient attention to
the multifarious circumstances of man. ‘There is scarcely a street
in it that does not present some handsome object to the view: there
is scarcely a turn that will not surprise us with something unexpected,
and it is at the same time of such a character as to be accommodated
* There is a specimen of the curved street in Boston, which is admired by every
one who visits that city: the curve however should be admitted cautiously inte ouy
plan.
| REFERENCES.
1. Public green, with a fountain in the 10. Church.
centre. 11. Banks
2. Town house. 12. Church.
3. Church. 13. Pillar or obelisk.
4, Small public building, 14. Public burying ground.
5. Large do. do. 15, Handsome dwelling, or
6. Arch, Public monument.
7. Fountain. ' 16, Pillar or obelisk.
8. Bank. N. B. The dots represent trees.
9. Church.
262 Architecture in. the United States.
to the circumstances of almost every town in our country. If it has
not these advantages, as I have remarked freely on the plans of oth-
ers, I am willing that they should remark freely on mine.
The spots marked 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, I have reserved for
public buildings, churches, banks, and the like. I say reserved,
and the word is meant to have a meaning beyond a paper plan.
Such edifices are always expected to be ornamental to a city, and
the public complain when they are not so. The public act justly,
but those who build them have also a right to expect something from
the public. Duties are always reciprocal. If the public wish so-
cieties to erect handsome edifices, it should give them ground that
will shew these edifices to advantage ; not compel them to build, as
it very often does, in lanes, and amid the very vilest tenements in the
city. All this may easily be effected, by reserving ground at the
first laying out of our towns. Let this be done: let the public then
at proper times offer these desirable situations to those societies or
companies that will improve them most, and architecture will take a
start among us, of which we can now scarcely conceive. Cher-
ished, it will labor hard for us in return ; our cities will be ornament-
ed; our towns will follow, and the land will become beautiful as it is
blessed.
It will also be a better land. Ihave already noticed the action
of handsome architectural objects both on the mind and morals, re-
fining and enlarging the former, and giving to the latter a more cheer-
ful and a purer cast. Some more remarks of the kind will come in, in
connexion with the subject I now take up, which is public monuments,
pillars, obelisks, arches, and fountains in a city. There is a well
shaded street in Marseilles called le Cours, with a broad raised way
in the centre, secured from wheel carriages by the public laws. It
is the favorite place for the promenade, and must interest every visi-
ter, if not by its own beauty, yet by that which every evening as-
sembles there. Old age totters to the happy assemblage ; child-
hood is there with its sparkling eyes and full hearty laugh: gain
smooths its brow and comes to this holiday of the cheerful feelings,
and the whole scene is a most animating and pleasing one; I am
sorry we have nothing like it in our country ;—but it is of the street
I wished to speak. At one end, it ascends an abrupt eminence, and
just on the brow of this is placed a marble arch, modelled after the
antique. Itis well contrasted with the green foliage, and is a splendid
termination to the view. J have often regretted that of all the tri-
Architecture in the United States. 263
umphal arches erected among us at the visit of that great, good man,
LaFayette, not one remains. I believe all have already perished.
That was a bright spot in the history of our country, I should rather
say in the history of the world: it was honorable to human nature :
it was almost above human nature; and as the whole nation rang with
shouts of grateful welcome to its benefactor, angels might have ming-
gled with pleasure in the scene. How I wish posterity could have
some striking, tangible memorial of the event. He only who has
stood before such memorials, those stelae to the proud ages of the
past, can know their effect on the mind. We venerate them for their
antiquity ; our feelings grow softened and sedate before them; the
lesson they teach is heard with reverence; all can understand it, and
if it be good, all will be made wiser and better by it than by almost
any other means. It was then with a true knowledge of human na-
ture, that Joshua ordered his people to convey twelve stones from
the middle of Jordan to the banks, and added, “‘ when your children
shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying what mean these
stones? then ye shall let your children know, saying, &c.” Had
we an arch to commemorate the visit of that warm, noble heart-
ed, tried, good friend, posterity would place on it a value, compared
with which, the gold it might have cost would be a poor and despica-
ble thing. ‘They would lead their children to its base and would
teach them there to love a country that had realized more than the
highest fictions of the warmest heart; to love their forefathers and. to
love all their race. It is now too late, but regrets for the past are not
futile, if they tend to make us wise for the future.
Let them make us wise for the present. JI must beg the reader’s
permission to convey him to Marseilles again, for a few moments.
There is in one of its streets a doric’pillar, a simple and plain object,
but with the following inscriptions on its base.
“To the lasting memory
of the intrepid men
whose names here follow,
Langeron, Commandant of Marseilles.
De Pilles, Captain Governor Viguier.
(Here follow the names of sixteen other distinguished men, officers
and physicians.)
They devoted themselves
for the safety of the Marseillois
in the horrible plague of 1720.”
264 Architecture in the United States.
On the other sides,
* Homage
to more than 120 religeuse,
to a large number of physicians and surgeons,
who died victims to their zeal
to succour and console the dying.
Homage to Clement XI.
who nourished Marseilles when afflicted.
Homage to a Tunisian Rais,
who respected the gift
which a Pope made to the distressed.”
What incentives to noble feeling may be gathered from that sim-
ple pillar. Let us come home now. Philadelphia was visited about
thirty years since, by a plague equal in its horrors and ravages to
any on record; has it any public tribute to the courage and magna-
nimity of those men who stood, thinking only of others, amid its ap-
palling scenes? Rush has gone down full of honors to the grave ; the
rest will soon follow. What a lesson of gratitude for present health,
and of human virtue bold, firm and triumphant in danger, might
be taught there on a monument, even of the plainest and simplest kind.
I have a word more on public monuments. Congress once pass-
ed a vote requesting the remains of Washington, that they might
erect a cenotaph over them. ‘The family, though in deep affliction
at their still recent loss, granted the request :—nothing further has been
done. I will make no comment and will pass the disgraceful matter
by. ‘They who say, as has been said in Congress, that the whole na-
tion, or the whole world is the cenotaph of Washington, utter senti-
ments too fine for our earthly senses; they should offer it to ethereal
beings, for it is like the gauze of ancient Cos,—woven wind.
I shall speak of the architecture of arches and columns and obe-
lisks, at another time: at present their position is the object to be
discussed. Such objects always appear best on high ground, and
situations should there be reserved for them. We may not desire
them now but other generations will: let us shew regard to their wants
and interests: we are fond enough of making our boast of the fu-
ture: let us shew that we are proud of it, by giving it reason to be
proud of us.
Fountains will do very well on lower ground. They are so rare
among us that the reader will be startled at the name. Baltimore I
believe has two natural fountains: Philadelphia had formerly a hand-
some jet in Market street, and I still recollect what cheerful feelings
the report of it mingled with my early ideas of that city: but, I be-
Architecture in the United States. 265
lieve, it has not played for several years. ‘There may be others in
the country, but I have not heard of them. Abroad they are com-
mon in every city, producing beauty, health, cleanliness and comfort.
Why do we not have them? Our water companies surely are not so
parsimonious that they will not give, or our city treasuries so scanty
that they cannot purchase for our poor so essential a beverage. Even
the Turks may here teach us a useful lesson. With private means not to
be compared with ours, and a revenue not half so well systematized or
productive, they have made fountains in their cities, in their meanest
villages, and even in their high ways, as common and free as the atmos-
phere itself. ‘The Turkish fountain is always a pleasing object. ‘The
whole structure consists of a wall five or six feet high, wide in pro-
portion, and a foot in thickness: it is curved above, and the edges
project a little, so as to form a border. In the face of this is a tube,
from which gushes the water: a stone basin below, often a huge
plane tree overshadowing it, and a rude bench by the side, are the
only accompaniments. In Constantinople the fountain is often in a
marble building, adjoining the street: the windows have gilded grat-
ings, and between the bars are polished brass cups, attached by a
chain. ‘These are kept constantly filled with water, which all per-
sons are at liberty to take, and for which no compensation is offered
or received. Nothing strikes a visitor in Turkey so soon, or affects
him so favorably towards the nation, as this universal provision of the
rich for the wants of the poor. I wish I could see it in our own
country. The lowly in life would come to such spots for the needful
beverage, and feel that they were not neglected or forgotten: he, who
had thought that society was a constant effort of the wealthy to grind
and oppress the unfortunate, would leave such thoughts at the foun-
tain: the rich would feel there the pleasure of domg good ; and each
exclamation of pleasure from the poor or stranger, as he quaffed
the fluid, would rise to heaven to befriend his benefactor when gold
shall be a mean and worthless thing. I shall remark at another time
on the shape of fountains: at present I leave them, and pass to the
consideration of— ;
Greens or public squares.—These are a beautiful ornament to a
town, while at the same time they contribute to its health by pro-
moting the free circulation of air. In the towns north of the Hud-
son, they are frequent, and are the first thing that strikes a traveller
in that region of our country: the church, the town house and the
academy are congregated there ; and the most solemn and cheerful
Vou. XVIL.—No. 2. 7
266 Architecture in the United States.
remembrances of a native of New England are always associated with
this interesting spot. Further South, where the great heat makes
such openings in a city still more desirable, they are seldom found :
in the Western states they are occasionally seen. In Europe they
are common; but the practice there is different from ours, and I
think is the better of the two. Small breaks, sometimes regular, and
sometimes irregular, often planted with trees, and, oftener still, orna-
mented with a fountain or pillar, are very frequent throughout their
cities: but that which corresponds to our “green,” is always
placed on the edge. ‘This is its proper place. I have no objection
to retaming our public squares as they are, for they are certainly
a great advantage; but we want something more, and in a different
situation. ‘This may be ascertained by a single evening’s observa-
tion in one of our cities. New Haven, for instance, has two hand-
some greens nearly in its centre, but the evening walks of its inhabit-
ants are never directed there: the most fashionable walk is to ‘ the
avenue,” on its edge, and to the wooded hill beyond, where, in the
latter case, they make public property of what is private. ‘The wants
of the public, as I said in the case of streets, are best learned by at-
tending to the actions of the public. ‘There should be, then annexed to
each city a spot of proper size, in a situation neither solitary nor pub-
lic, and so ornamented and shaded as to present in any of its parts a
pleasant walk. ‘The trees should be planted now in avenues, now ir-
regularly, one while forming handsome glades, and at another, thick
but natural groups: it should have a carriage road winding through it,
for the accommodation of those who might wish to ride: it should
have plain but solid stone seats, single or in circles or straight lines,
for those who might wish to sit : it should in short be a spot where ev-
ery one could find something to his taste; to which every one would
repair on a pleasant evening ; and I venture to affirm, that every one
would return from it improved in body, heart and mind. No one
works on such an evening: why sit listless at home? Here is a so-
cial retirement provided, to which all may come, which all may en-
joy, where we may meet without parade, and from which we may re-
tire just when we please. Let me exhibit such a spot in another
country: it is the Prado or place for the evening promenade (in
Span. Paseo) of Madrid: the extract is from a highly interesting
book, just published, by one of our countrymen. ‘Thus I missed
the pleasure of passing a summer’s evening on the Prado; but J
heard much upon the subject. It appears, that in that season
Architecture in the United States. 267
the walks are carefully sprinkled in anticipation, and if it be a feast
day the fountains throw their waters higher. In the evening, thous-
ands of chairs are placed in readiness, in which the ladies take their
seats in circles, and hold their tertulias under the trees. Bare-
headed boys circulate with lighted matches for the accommodation
of the smokers. Aguadores are at hand with water that is fresh and
sparkling. Half-naked Valencians offer oranges and pomegranates.
Old women praise their dulces, or sweetmeats, for which the Medri-
lenias have quite a passion, whilst the waiters of a neighboring bot-
tilleria bring ices and sherbets to gratify the palates of the thirsty.
Children are heard on every side, collected in noisy groups, at their
pleasant games and pastimes, whilst the humbler crowd seat them-
selves in circles under the trees, and scratch their guitars, and raise
their voices, to make music for a light-heeled couple, who trip it
gaily in the midst. Meantime, the falling waters of the neighboring
fountains impart a coolness to the air, which comes perfumed from
the neighboring garden with the aromas of every clime, and burdened
with the song of the rusemor.
‘¢ Who can say enough in praise of the Paseo? It furnishes an amuse-
ment at once delightful and innocent, and from which, not even the
poorest are excluded—a school where the public manners, and the
public morals are beautified and refined by social intercourse, and by
mutual observation ; where families meet families, and friends meet
friends, as upon a neutral ground, inform themselves of each other’s
affairs, unrestrained by ceremonial, and keep alive an intimacy, with-
out the formalities of a visit. In these delightful associations, persons of
every rank and of every calling forget their exclusive pretensions, whilst
the softer sex to whom belong the attributes of modesty and grace,
banish indecorum, and shed a charm over the whole assemblage.”*
Whatever the public may think of the present importance of the
subjects hitherto under discussion, all must feel the practical charac-
ter of the one I now approach, which is burying grounds. Every
city must have these, and I shall pass at once to consider their best
position and plan, after which I shall depart somewhat from the course
I have hitherto pursued, to say a few words on monuments, and mon-
umental inscriptions. There seems to be so little probability that the
custom of burying under churches, will become prevalent among us,
that it seems scarcely necessary to spend time upon it here. I know
only one thing that can be said in favor of it, which is, that monuments
* A year in Spain, by a young American, p. 153.
268 Architecture in the United States.
are there raised over the dead, and that such striking memorials of
our mortality upon the walls of a church must aid our devotions.
And so they might, if such memorials were meant to aid our devo-
tion and adapted accordingly; but they are not. A single walk
through an English or Italian church will satisfy us of this. The
artist is made to use his best efforts, and we have as the result, an ob-
ject not to remind us of man’s inevitable lot, but of his wealth, his
grandeur, his skill; and pride is cherished in us instead of humility.
Make not your church a show-house is a lesson which cannot be too
strongly inculcated. The Italians have another mode of burial,
which is also common in Spain, and probably in other parts of Eu-
rope. They select a piece of ground which they surround by a
range of small vaulted chambers, opening inward. Each cham-
ber is secured in front by a fancy grating, and has in its floor a
small opening, through which is a descent to the family vault below.
The sides are lined with monuments, and the appearance of the
whole as seen from within is extremely imposing. The enclosed
ground is paved with flags above, and occupied beneath by large ex-
cavations for the poorer dead. When one of them is to be buried,
the proper flag is raised; the body taken from the coffin; let down
to putrify among piles of others, and the stone being immediately re-
placed, lime is poured around it to prevent the escape of effluvia.
Naples is said to have one such a vault for every day of the year.
The bones are gathered up at proper times and removed to a com-
mon receptacle or charnel house. The Greeks bury in walled
graves under their churches, the flag above serving for a pavement
to the church.
Our own mode is far better than any of these. The custom of
having one cemetery common to all denominations, is, | observe, be-
coming every year more prevalent throughout the country. In New
England it is general; in the Western States it is frequent : Wash-
ington has adopted the plan, and I believe it is beginning to be ex-
tensively introduced in the Middle and Southern States. I hope it
will universally prevail. ‘There is no reason why we should carry
our distinctive religious characters to the grave, where speculations
or forms can no longer profit us; and there zs great reason that the
whole public should unite in their regard to one spot, which by greater
care and greater common interest, will thus be secured from depre-
dation or insult, and may be made also a handsome ornament, as
well as a moral blessing to the town. ‘The best situation for such a
Architecture in the United States. 269
cemetery is just without the suburbs, in a retired and quiet spot, and at
a distance from great public roads: itshould border on the more genteel
part of the town, that the solemnity of the place may not be disturbed by
unpleasant sights and sounds; and, above all, it should be in a part not
liable to be encroached upon in the greater enlargement of the town.
The lapse of a few years sees our waste places become villages, our
villages towns, our towns cities, and our cities double and treble their
extent. Should the burying ground then be in a neighborhood de-
sirable for building, it will soon be surrounded, checked in its increase,
filled and abandoned: in a few generations the reverence for it will
be lost, and bones laid in the earth in hopes of a peaceful rest, will
be thrown out‘on the world to be subject to vulgar insult and derision.
No one can think without pain of this in regard to himself or his
friends; and we should avoid it, as I have said, by seeking for our
cemeteries, spots least exposed to such things.
There let us bury our dead without ostentation or parade. I have
seen so many graves just torn open by hostile pillage, or curiosity, or
avarice, that I exceedingly dislike any thing in a grave that can tempt
the cupidity of man. I should reprobate even a leaden coffin and
almost the common plate used to designate the name and age. A
vault may please the living, but is apt to be an evil to the dead. To
me certainly it would be distressing, to think that the remains of a
dear friend were in an exposed and tempting situation, to be proba-~
bly ina few ages torn from thence, and scattered wantonly on the
world. Far better would it be to have them in the silent earth,
where no one would care to search for them; there to repose and
mingle quietly “ dust with dust,” till called to a brighter and happier
state. This is a security which even the pyramids have failed to
procure.
Tt would be an interesting employment to analyze the feelings that
prompt to the erection of memorials over the dead. We should prob-
ably come from it somewhat wiser as to the world around us; for a
burying ground with its “ storied urns,” is after all a better place to
study the character of the living than of the dead : but all this is foreign
to our purpose. It is sufficient to say that the very idea of a monu-
ment includes in it, something that will last. By a monument in this
case, I mean any thing set up to commemorate the dead. In New
England the word is generally used to signify a compound of a
base and a square prism, surmounted by a pyramid, or urn, or
both: in the middle states, a horizontal slab, elevated about two
270 Architecture in the United States.
feet, is more common: in both, however, an upright marble slab
at the head and feet, is in most general use. I fear a century
from this will see most of them scattered on the ground. We
want something more substantial, something that will bear the
shock or the slow decay of years, unless we mean to build only for
the contemporaries of the dead. A monument should be of solid
material and of small elevation, or of such a shape as not to be easi-
ly overthrown. It should also be in good taste, but simple and plain.
I should prefer generally a marble slab, thick and strong, and eleva-
ted on solid masonry, only about ten or twelve inches from the
ground. ‘This would seem at first thought, plain and simple, to a
fault: but one of the handsomest, and I may add, one of the richest
buryig grounds any where to be seen, is throughout of this charac-
ter. It is that of the Armenians of Pera and Galata, suburbs of
Constantinople. It occupies about an acre of ground, and is cover-
ed with white marbles in the shape and character I have designated.
The graves are about eighteen inches from each other: there are
wider alleys where needed, and the whole is planted thickly with mul-
berry trees, and is kept neat and clean. Some of its beauty may be
owing to its situation, for itis on the brow of a steep hill, and looks im-
mediately down on the glorious Bosphorus, with its changeful pageants.
But close by and on the same height, is the cemetery of the Franks,
whom commerce or diplomacy gathers about that proud capital.
The monuments in this are rich and gorgeous, but going fast to ruin; the
ground is neglected; nota tree or shrub is seen on it ; the sun’s rays
are thrown with a sickening glare from the tombs, and the dust
sweeps in eddies among them: the visitor throws a glance at the
gilded desolation, and hurries on to the simple, yet beautiful and well
ordered cemetry of the Armenians, where he seldom fails to meet
some of that people on a visit to the graves of their friends. ‘The
Armenians have also a handsome grave-yard in Smyrna, planted
with orange and lemon trees: the flags there, however, are flat
on the ground, and have ioo much the appearance of a pavement :
but still the spot is an interesting one. Simplicity is no where more
suitable than in a burying ground: the solemn, silent abode of the
dead is no place for ostentation and display. ‘These may flatter the
living, but are out of character with the place, and are a poor com-
pliment to the dead. As well might we dress the corpse for its bu-
rial in scarlet, and lace, and brocade. «A grave yard should be a
spot to nourish fond remembrances of a friend, and to turn our
Architecture in the United States. a7}
thoughts to another world, not to make us more in love with this one
and with ourselves. Let us then build over our deceased friends,
monuments lasting and neat, rather than showy and expensive: let
us keep the sod around well shorn and clean: let the tree that waves
over it be trimmed and neat; let the spot bear witness to our
frequent visits; and we honor the dead more than if we gave them
a Mausoleum, or inclosed them in prophyry or gold; while at the
same time we benefit the living. |
Nothing is more difficult than to write a good monumental inscrip-
tion : yet there is no kind of writing for the public more universally
tried. I always reverence the language of sorrow and affection,
whatever it may be, and shall treat it mildly, yet I wish to be plain, —
Such inscriptions should always be brief and simple, yet expressive.
What is beyond mere name and date, is meant to be the language
of deep grief or warm affection, or of both. The language of
such passions is always brief, yet touching and powerful. When
therefore I see an inscription very long, or labored, with swelling
words and sentences neatly rounded, I think that the writer would
have us admire himself rather than the dead, and turn disgusted
away. How well the ancients understood this subject. The fol-
lowing is an inscription from a monument found at Delos: 1 premise
that the marble represents two female figures, one seated, the other
facing her and with arms crossed on the breast : both are of exquisite
sculpture : beneath is in Greek letters,
AGATHOCLEA
DAUGHTER OF ANTIPATER
THOU GOOD MEMBER OF THE SACRED CITY.
FAREWELL.
The inscriptions on the tombs of the ancient Romans were equally
brief and equally beautiful.
To THE Gops MANEs.* Ser. VALERIUS
THE FATHER SEVERIANUS
HAS ERECTED THIS HAS ERECTED THIS
TO HIS EXCELLENT Son TO HIS MUCH LOVED Son
C= B= B— M—.
He uivep XI Ys. 7Ms. XI Ds. He uivep XL Ys.
* This word had various applications among the ancients. When used on their
tombs it seemed to have meant_a kind of genii, who were supposed to take charge of
the body at birth, and to watch over it after death: he who violated the tomb offered
insult to the Manes,
972 Architecture in the United States.
To THE Gops MANEs.
T. Fuavius Herma
TO HIS REVERED WIFE
Fuavia Hewrts.*
The following is now preserved in the first gallery of the Vatican.
CineraA PELacia.
May THE EARTH
BE LIGHT ON YOU.
These are pagan. ‘There is on the opposite side of the same gal-
lery in the Vatican, a large collection of inscriptions from the graves
of the early christians. ‘They are on rough fragments of marbles, and
though very brief, carry us, at once, back to those times when the
way to the peace of the grave was through torture, fire and blood.
The following are some of them.
FELICIANUS AND APETUSA, ConsTANTIA,
IN PEACE, AGED XXX Ys. XX Ds.
IN PEACE,
To MY HAPPY AND MUCH LOVED WIFE,
WHO LIVED XXVIII Ys.
IN PEACE.
Without wishing to recommend any of these as models, | must still
be allowed to express my admiration of the simplicity and strong
power of the language. It is the language of deep feeling, short and
touching ; and such should always be the language of a monument
where there is any attempt at sentiment. If we are incapable of
such feeling, or of expressing it, we shall do best to confine our in-
scription to name, title and date. I like to see a short verse from
Scripture, if appropriate: poetry zs almost untformly an entire failure.
A burying ground should be at first not very large, else there will
be much waste ground ; it will be neglected ; will become overgrown
with rank vegetation, and will be any thing else than the neat clean
spot it ought to be. ‘The plot should be divided into small family
compartments, with very narrow passages between: alleys should
pass through the whole, but these should also be narrow, for the sake
of avoiding waste ground as much as possible. Trees should be
planted, notin avenues but adjoining the graves. Avenues would be
formal here and out of character : sorrow and affection bear rule in
a grave yard, and we never expect them to make such provision for
public comfort as is shewn in an avenue. There is a kind of selfish
character about them: and it is the only instance in which selfishness
* Vide Montfaugon L’Antiquite Expliquee.
Architecture in the United States. 273
has not an unamiable appearance. Poplars have been used some-
times in cemeteries, but are going out of fashion, and I am glad to
see it so: there are few places they can adorn, and a burying ground
is not one of them: their roots are tender, but the sexton’s axe or
saw will soon make that matter equal in all trees, and the additional
expense to each individual will be but trifling. Spreading, but deli-
cate trees should always be preferred: the elm is too robust: the
weeping willow is probably the best of all; but it should he inter-
mingled with others of the like delicacy of shape.
Let us now turn to examine the cemetery we have been recommend-
ing. We pass to the edge of the city, retiring from its noise, and
tumults, and cares: we find suddenly before us a neat little spot with
a plain but tasteful enclosure. It is well shaded with handsome and
delicate trees. We enter and find ourselves among the dead. The
monuments are simple, and suited to the sedate and quiet character
of the place. Here are those who once walked arm in arm, and
shared the confidence and reciprocated the affection of the multitudes
from whom we have just parted, and we find from the words of warm
affection and of hope on the tombs, from the clean velvet sod around,
from the well trimmed willow that throws its sober shade over the
spot, and from the marks of frequent visits, that they are not forgotten.
Here too, the living shall soon come to their last, long rest; and they
know that their children and friends will then shew their memory
the same honorable and virtuous affection. ‘There must be a holy
cheerfulness about the death-bed of such a people. ‘To know that
we are about going away from the world, to be soon forgotten :—that
the rank grass will soon grow up, and intermingle with thorns over
our grave; that the little mound itself will probably soon be oblitera-
ted :—that no one will come near to think of us or speak our name,
—ihis is to add bitterness to bitter death. But here the dead and
the living seem still to hold kind intercourse. 'The former, from their
low abode, seem to utter words of friendly admonition, warning, or
encouragement. The latter shew that affection in them is stronger
than death: they here make themselves familiar with his form and
character: the world looses its strong hold ; virtue is strengthened ;
religion comes in her majesty and beauty, and they exclaim in tri-
umph, ‘ O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory ?”
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. 8
274 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
Arr. IIL.—Synopsis of the Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
Sand Formation of the United States ; with geological remarks ;
by SamugL G. Morton, M. D. of Philadelphia ; Member of the
Amer. Philos. Society ; of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philad. &c.
“‘Je regarde les caractéres depoque de formation tirés de Panalogie des corps
organisées, comme de premiere valeur en Geognosie, et comme devant l’emporter
sur toutes les autres differences quelque grandes qu’elles paraissent.””— Alex. Brong-
niart.
Introduction.
Tue study of that portion of American Geology embraced in this
Synopsis, has constituted the chief recreation of my leisure hours for
several years past; and almost every fact adduced in the following
pages has been derived from my own personal observation. But
while I speak with confidence of the fossils and mineralogical fea-
tures of the region in question, I must confess considerable hesitation
in repeating the inferences I have drawn from them. Not, however,
because my opinions on this subject have changed from those already
given in the Journal of the Academy ; but because I find those opin-
ions are strenuously opposed by a gentleman who is altogether my
senior in geological pursuits. I allude to my friend Professor Eaton,
whose indefatigable exertions in the cause of science have justly ob-
tained for him a reputation which cannot be enhanced by any enco-
mium from me.
Prof. Eaton, in a late Geological Prodromus, announces his inten-
tion to prove that “the detritus of New Jersey, embracing the marl,
is antediluvial, or the genuine tertiary formation.”* That it is ante-
diluvial, strictly speaking, I have no doubt; but I am not yet con-
vinced that it is tertiary. As the difference between us, therefore,
is by no means inconsiderable, I beg leave to offer a few details on
the subject.
About two years ago Mr. Vanuxem expressed to me his opinion
that the fossils of New Jersey denoted a secondary origin, and that he
considered them, in general terms, as characterizing a deposit contem-
poraneous with the chalk formation of Europe. I had about the
* Amer. Jour. of Science, Vol. XVII. No. 1. p. 60.
~
Sand Formation of the United States. 275
same time compared these fossils with a series from the green sand*™
of England, and was so struck with the resemblance as to draw a
conclusion which my subsequent investigations have confirmed.
By most of the geologists of continental Europe, the green sand is
considered merely as a lower division of the chalk; while in Eng-
land it is supposed to be a link in a distinct formation, intermediate
between the chalk and the oolites. The facts and reasonings of Mr.
Alex. Brongniart seem to establish the correctness of the former
opinion. Be this as it may, I consider the marl of New Jersey as
referrible to the great ferruginous sand series, which in Prof. Buck-
land’s arrangement is designated by the name of green sand ; though
the latter appellative has generally been reserved for a division of
this formation.¢ On the continent this series is called the ancient
chalk (la craie ancienne), lower chalk (la craie inferieure), &c.—
while particular beds of it are called, according to their mineralogical
characters, sable ferrugineux, crme chloritée, crme tufau, §c. Fi-
nally, this formation appears to be embraced in the quader sandstein ?
and plener kalk of Werner.
\ Eatent and Localities.
The ferruginous sand formation of the United States contains a
considerable proportion of clay, often in beds; hence if it were desir-
able to have a strictly descriptive name, (no common occurrence in
geology) we might call it ferruginous sand and clay. So far as it
has been explored, it already presents a considerable range. “It
occupies a great part of the triangular peninsula of New Jersey,
formed by the Atlantic, and the Delaware and Raritan rivers, and
extends across the state of Delaware from near Delaware city to the
Chesapeake : appears again near Annapolis, in Maryland ; at Lynch’s
Creek, in South Carolina; at Cockspur Island, in Georgia; and sev-
eral places in Alabama, Florida, &c.”{
Tn New Jersey, however, that tract which has been long known
as the marl district, may be more specifically located, as follows :—
Draw two lines, one from Amboy Bay to ‘Trenton, the other from
*The papers by Mr. Vanuxem and myself will be found in the VI. Vol. Jour.
Acad. of Nat. Sciences of Philadelphia.
t Conybeare and Phillips describe the ferruginous sand of England as composed of
these four subdivisions, counting from below upwards: 1. Iron sand; 2. Weald
clay; 3. Green sand; 4. Chalk marle. Geol. p. 60, 120, &c.
_ + Vide a paper by me in Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc. Vol. VI. p. 127.
276 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
Deal to Salem; let the Atlantic ocean connect the eastern, and the.
Delaware river the western points of these two lines. ‘This irregu-
lar oblong tract encloses nearly the whole of the marl region of New
Jersey, so far, at least, as it has hitherto been explored; though
there is reason to believe that this formation occupies a great propor-
tion of the triangular peninsula south of the Raritan river. Much of
the ferruginous sand region, however, is overlaid by deposits of clay,
containing lignite, which have been referred, with apparent correct-
ness, to the plastic clay formation. Above these clay beds is an al-
most uniform covering of gray sand; yet in many places, however,
the mar], with its peculiar fossils, is found immediately beneath the
soil. ;
In Maryland commences a vast deposit of sand and clay, extend-
ing coastwise to the Mississippi; this tract abounds with tertiary fos-
sils, which appear chiefly to belong to the upper marine formation of
the European geologists.* ‘The secondary strata are occasionally
met with beneath it, and sometimes approach so near the surface as
to be readily identified by their fossils, as m Maryland, S. Carolina,
Georgia,t &c. as already quoted. It is therefore reasonable to sup-
pose that the beds of ferruginous sand extend nearly the whole length
of the Atlantic frontier of United States south of Long Island, though
for the most part concealed by the different members of the tertiary
class.
In all its localities this formation has been identified by similar gen-
era and species of organic remains, though all the genera do not ex-
ist in every locality. Thus, at the Deep Cut of the Chesapeake and
Delaware Canal, the strata are characterized by great numbers of
ammonites, baculites and other multilocular univalves. ‘The same
remarks will apply to various parts of Burlington and Monmouth
counties in New Jersey. Near Egypt, in the latter State, we find
ten or twelve beds one above the other, with the genera terebratula
and gryphea. (Ostrea, Say.) Near Hornerstown the marl is ex-
tremely indurated, and contains terebratule exclusively. Near
Walnford, also in New Jersey, the fossils are chiefly exogyre and
belemnites ; while at Mullica Hill, in Gloucester county, the beds
* Vide a paper by me in Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc. Vol. VI. p. 116.
t Mr. Peirce (Amer. Jour. Sc. Vol. XI. p. 54) mentions that gryphites and belem-
nites occur in that portion of Maryland and Virginia, marked alluvial on Mr. Ma-
clures map, but he does not give the particular localities,
Sand Formation of the United States. QV7
contain all the bivalves of which we have spoken, and quantities of
belemniies. .
The calcareous beds of Gloucester county contain grypheza, tere-
do, alecyonium? spatangus, and several species of Linnean madre-
pores. Crossing the Delaware river into the state of Delaware, we
find at St. Georges and its vicinity, great numbers of the genera
gryphea, exogyra, and ostrea.* We have already adverted to the
multilocular shells of the deep cut of the Chesapeake and Delaware
canal, to which we may add the genus spatangus, and several other
genera of echinidee. The green sand below Annapolis, in Mary-
land, contains alcyonia. At Lynch’s Creek, in South Carolina, exo-
gyre occur, specifically the same with those of New Jersey and
Delaware. At Cockspur Island, in Georgia, the formation is recog-
nized by a prodigious quantity of belemnites. ‘The localities here
enumerated will serve to convey a good idea of the productions of
nearly all the others. |
Mineralogical Characters.
These vary considerably ; but our marl most frequently presents
itself in minute grains, loose and friable, and of an uniform dull bluish,
or greenish color, often with a shade of gray. A hundred grains of
this variety gave Mr. Seybert the following constituents :
Silex, - - - - - 49.83
Alumine, - - - - - 6.00
Magnesia, - - - - 1.83
Potash, - - - - - 10.12
Water, - - - - - 9.80
Protoxide of Iron, - - - =i) O53
Loss, - - - - - 89
100.00
In a less cautious analysis by Mr. J. P. Wetherill and myself, of
an apparently similar marl from another locality, we obtained silex
49.00, protoxide of iron 30.00, alumine 5.50, lime 4.70, the re-
mainder bemg chiefly water and carbonic acid. Hence it appears
that the predominant constituents of these varieties of marl, are silex
and zron. ‘They often contain beds of a dark bluish, tenacious clay ;
*The same fossils appear to abound at Middletown Point, and its vicinity in N. J.
This locality, however, I have not been able to visit.
278 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
sometimes this clay is mixed with the marl, forming the marly clay.
of Mr. Peirce ; in other instances the two are seen in alternate layers.
Again, the marl is seen of a yellowish brown color, friable, or com-
pact, and filled with green specks of the silicate of iron. Some of
the greenish varieties are also very compact, rendering it extremely
difficult to separate the fossils from their matrix. The friable blue
marls often contain a large proportion of mica in minute scales.
Other localities present beds of siliceous gravel, (turtia? of the
French) the pebbles varying from the size of coarse sand to one and
two inches in diameter. ‘These are cemented together by oxide and
phosphate of iron, and contain the same fossils as the earths already
described. ‘The most striking imstance of this kind is at Mullica
Hill, in New Jersey. Similar mineralogical appearances, but without
fossils, occur in the lower beds at the Chesapeake and Delaware ca-
nal. At the latter place we also find a friable siliceous sand, of a
bright green color, answering to the glaucomze sableuse of Brongniart :
also a fine, pure white sand, with abundance of lignite ; and exten-
sive beds of brown and yellow ferruginous sands, more or less argil-
laceous.
Some of the blue marls which effervesce strongly with acids, con-
tain but five per cent of lime.
Again, we find large beds of calcareous marl, containing at least
thirty seven per cent of lime, the remainder being silex, iron, Nc.
Also a hard, well characterized, subcrystalline limestone, filled with
zoophytes.
All these diversified appearances pass by insensible degrees into
each other, exhibiting an almost endless variety of mineralogical char-
acters.
The mineral substances found in these beds are, iron pyrites in
profusion: chert, (in the caleareous beds) amber, retinasphalt, lig-
nite, and small spherical masses of a dark green color and compact
texture, apparently analogous to those found in the green sand of
France.* Mr. Hayden suggests to me that these may be the Dis-
colites of the Abbe Fortis. ‘Their structure, however, does not ap-
pear to be organic, although they often have a shark’s tooth, or a small
shell, for a nucleus. Larger spherical bodies also occur, resembling
the nodules of clay iron stone, so common in some parts of England.
*Cuy. and Brong. Desc. Geol. des Env. de Paris, p. 16, &c.
Sand Formation of the United States. 279
One of the most abundant mineral products of these beds is hgnite.
It is found at the Deep Cut of the Chesapeake and Delaware canal
in almost every variety, from charred wood to well characterized jet.
Sometimes it is in small fragments, and again it occurs in large
masses, representing the trunks and limbs of trees thirty feet in
length, and perforated in every direction by the teredo. I intimated
on a former occasion* the probability that these lignites belonged not
to the tertiary deposits, (as in New Jersey, &c.) but to the Ferru-
ginous sand: this supposition appears now to be still more reasonable,
inasmuch as the lignite beds of Delaware are found to be subordi-
nate to strata, replete with extinct multilocular univalves, and other
secondary reliquie.
Synopsis of Organic Remains.
The following synopsis is designed to present a view of the or-
ganic remains hitherto discovered in the American ferruginous sand.
The species here enumerated are contained in the valuable collections
of the Academy of Natural Sciences ;f others are doubtless preserved
in private cabinets, but I here introduce such only as I have seen
and examined.
j>> Nearly all these fossils are described, and many of them figur-
ed by me, in the sixth volume of the Journal of the Academy of
Natural Sciences; some are described by Mr. Say, in the first and
second volumes of the American Journal of Science; and Dr. De-
kay has also described a number of them in the Annals of the New
York Lyceum.
CHAMBERED UNIVALVES.
AMMONITES.
1. A. placenta. (Dekay.) This species (the largest hitherto ob-
served in America,) was described by Dr. Dekay from a fragment,
and will be found im the second volume of the “ Annals of the New
York Lyceum of Natural History.”{ By some unacountable mistake
the description there given refers to the wrong figure in the accompany-
ing plate: thus fig. 2, of plate V, is the 4. placenta, whereas the
* Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc. Vol. VI. p. 113.
+ Many of these fossils were presented by Mr. Hugh Lee, Assistant Engineer, em-
ployed on the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, to whom science is under many obli-
gations for his zeal in this respect. The same observations will apply to my friend
Mr. William L. Newbold, of Delaware city.
t Vol, II. p. 278.
280 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
text refers to fig. 5, which is in reality the 2. hippocrepis: this un-
fortunate error led me into the mistake of calling the former species by
the latter name ; as will be seen in my papers in the Journal of the
Academy, Vol. VI. pages 88 and 113, and plate V, fig. 4. My de-
scriptions and drawing, therefore, refer to 4. placenta.
Great numbers. of this fossil were found in excavating the Dees
Cut of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. A fine specimen
about fifteen inches in diameter, has been deposited in the collections
of the Academy, by Mr. Hugh Lee: and the same gentleman has
presented another to the American Philosophical Society, nearly two
feet in diameter. It has also been found in many parts,of New Jer-
sey. The figure of this fossil given by me in the Academy’s Jour-
nal, is worse than none: that in the Annals of the Lyceum is better ;
but both were taken from mutilated fragments. It is to be hoped
that the more perfect specimens Jately obtained will be soon accu-
rately figured.
2. Al. hippocrepis. (Dekay.) Annals of the N. Y. Lyceum, Vol.
2, p. 277. This species (as just mentioned,) is represented on the
accompanying plate by fig. 5, and not by fig. 2, as stated in the text.*
This species is of rare occurrence. I give it on the authority of Dr.
Dekay, having never myself seen a specimen of it.
BACULITES. Faas.
B. ovatus. (Say.) This is among the largest species any where
described. Some specimens have a diameter of an inch and a quar-
ter ; one in the collection of the Academy, is four and a half inches
in length. It is found in the blue marls of Monmouth and Burling-
ton counties, in New Jersey, and at the Deep Cut of the Chesapeake
and Delaware canal. The smaller individuals strongly resemble
those from Maestricht, as figured by Faujas in his description of the
mountain of St. Pierre.
scapHites. Parkinson.
S. cuvieri. (S.G.M.) This is one of the most perfect and
beautiful fossils of our ferruginous sand. Its length is an inch and
three fourths; the diameter of the larger whorl an inch and a half.
Since I described and figured this shell in the journal of the Acad-
* Fig. 4 of the same plate should be jig. 5, and fig. 3 should be jig. 4. Without
these corrections, (which Dr. Dekay has himself communicated to me,) the descrip-
tions and drawings are unintelligible.
Sand Formation of the United States. 281
emy, several other specimens have been found, all precisely similar
to each other. In England and France this genus is characteristic
of the ferruginous sand.
BELEMNITES.
1. B. americanus. (S.G. M.) Allied to B. mucronatus of Eu-
rope. (Vide Blainville, Mem. sur les Belemnites, pl. 1. fig. 12. and
Sowerby, pl. 600. figs. 1, 2,4, 6, and 7.) Abundant in the blue marls
in many parts of New Jersey. Ihave no question that some hun-
dreds might be collected in the compass of a few cubic feet. In a
paper printed in the Journal of Academy two years since, I referred
this species to Lamarck’s B. subconicus, chiefly, however, from an un-
willingness to multiply specific names. The subsequent examination
of numerous specimens, and the comparison of them with the de-
scriptions and figures in Blainville, Sowerby, &c. have convinced me
that the American belemnites require particular scrutiny. I there-
fore propose to give descriptions and accurate drawings of them, in
an early number of the American Journal of Science.
2. B. ambiguus. (S.G.M.) Thisremarkable fossil is common
in the calcareous beds of Gloucester county, N. J. and has an anal-
ogue in B. cylindricus, (Blainville,) as figured by that author, pl. 3,
fig. 10,10 a. It will be described and figured with the B. ameri-
canus.
SIMPLE AND SPIRAL UNIVALVES.
DENTALIUM.
Casts of a pretty large species are found at Mullica Hill, N. J. and
at the Chesapeake a Delaware canal.
TURRITELLA.
1. A large species with about five convolutions, is common through-
out this formation. It exists only in casts.
2. Casts of a smaller species are frequent at the Deep Cut of the
Chesapeake and Delaware canal, in a matrix of dark clay and scales
of mica.
SCALLARIA ?
This beautiful shell is in perfect preservation excepting the mouth;
hence the difficulty of deciding the genus. It has four volutions,
with numerous acute, longitudinal costz, which are transversely stri-
ated. Length about an inch and a quarter. It is found in the cai-
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. ee)
282 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
careous marls of Gloucester county, N.J. ‘This fossil has the ex-.
ternal aspect of a chambered shell.
ROSTELLARIA.
Casts about an inch in length, with ten or twelve elevated longitu-
dinal ribs. Abundant in the argillo-micaceous beds of the Chesa-
peake and Delaware canal. Much larger specimens of the same
species occur at Mullica Hill, and other places in New Jersey.
NATICA.
Casts of a small indeterminate species.
BULLA?
Globose, with numerous transverse strie. Length oneinch. Casts
only are found, and I may be wrong in referring them to the above
genus.
TROCHUS. Ne
Indeterminate casts, and even these are of rare occurrence.
SPIRORBIS ?
This shell, which I have lately discovered in the calcareous marls
of New Jersey, I have not yet had leisure to examine with attention.
Description. Volutions four or five in number, in contact through-
out: aperture quadrangular, which form is preserved in all the whorls:
diameter of the largest specimens three eighths of an inch. It has
a strong resemblance to Planorbis: Mr. Sowerby mentions that he
found shells in the English green sand, which he referred to that
genus, though, he thinks erroneously. I prefer placing the Ameri-
can specimens with the genus Spirorbis, until more information can
be obtained respecting them: although a late number of Sowerby’s
work contains figures of some species of Vermetus extremely like
the specimens in question: vide pl. 596, figs. 4, and 5.
SERPULA.
My friend, Dr. McEuen, procured a number of Serpule attached
to Ostrea, &c. in yellowish brown marl, two miles west of Long Branch.
The same locality abounds n Terebratula Harlani.
cyprmsA. Lan.
A solitary cast of this genus was found at the Chesapeake and Del-
aware canal. It is now in the possession of Mr. John Finch,
Sand Formation of the United States. 283
BIVALVES.
TEREBRATULA.
1. T. harlani. (S. G. M.) This fine species, which often attains
a length of two inches and a half, is found in vast numbers at New
Egypt, in New Jersey, where the only accompanying fossil is Gry-
phea. (Ostrea, Say.) It is also common in many other places in
the peninsula.
2. T. fragilis. (S. G. M.) Found with the preceding, but is
much more rare.
3. T'. Sayi. (S. G. M.) A small plicated species, occasionally
found in the blue marls of New Jersey. This fossil was first descri-
bed by Mr. Say,* under the name of T. plicata, which name having
been previously used by Lamarck for another species, was necessa-
rily changed.
A terebratula which I once thought might be the T. perovalis of
Sowerby, I am now convinced is only a variety of T. harlant.
GRyPHmA. Sowerby.
1. G. convexa. (S.G.M.) ) These two species are found abund-
2. G. mutabilis. (S. G. M.) i antly in almost every part of the
marl region. Mr. Say was the first to notice them, which he did un-
der the name of Ostrea convera.t But as these fossils possess the
characters of Gryphea as defined by Mr. Sowerby, I have ventured,
though perhaps wrongly, to transfer them to that genus.
Some varieties of G. mutabilis are so like Ostrea vesicularis, (Lam.)
as to be easily mistaken for the same species. ‘The O. vesicularis is
characteristic of the European chalk.
3. G. vomer. (S. G. M.) This species was described by me, to-
gether with the two preceding, in the Jour. of the Academy, but the
badness of the specimens enabled me to give but a very defective fig-
ure. I afterwards even suspected that it might be a mere variety of
G. convera ; but I have lately received some perfect specimens which
fully establish the correctness of the specific designation allotted to
this fossil. I design giving an accurate drawing and description of it
in the next number of this work.
* Amer. Jour. Science, Vol. II. p. 43. + Idem Vol. If. p. 42.
284 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
Exocyra. Say.*
E. costata. (Say.) This fossil is equally abundant with those last
described, and is found in the ferruginous sand from New Jersey to
South Carolina. Mr. Say is certainly correct in making a distinct
genus of this fossil, in proof of which it will be found that Mr. Sow-
erby has placed a congeneric shell with Chama, (C. conica) while
Mr. Brongniart classes another with Gryphea. (G. auricularis.t)
The true Exogyra has but a single muscular impression in each valve,
which sufficiently distinguishes it from Chama, while it differs still
more strongly from Gryphea. It is an interesting fact that all those
European fossils which belong to the genus Exogyra have been found
exclusively in acknowledged secondary deposits. ‘Thus the Chama
eonica and C. haliotoidea of Sowerby are peculiar to the green sand
of England, while the Gryphza auricularis of Brongniart has been
found, in France, only in chalk marl.
osTREA. Jam.
1. O. faleata. (S. G.M.) This handsome species is about an
inch and a half long, thin, curved, and plicated longitudinally from
the hinge margin to the point. It is abundant at St. George’s, in
Delaware, and is also found in many parts of New Jersey.
2. O. cristagalli? 1 found a few valves at St. George’s, which
have so much resemblance to this species, that I shall for the present
adopt the name. ‘The O. cristagalli is a well known fossil of the
English chalk.
3. O....... Lobtained at Mullica Hill, in N. J. a solitary
inferior valve of an ostrea which differs from any I have seen. It is
five inches long, deeply costated, and replaced with true flint.{
haiti OB paneer asia My friend Mr. 'T. A. Conrad has lately pre-
sented me with a single valve, very convex, with ten or twelve deep
plications. It is entirely different from any of the preceding species.
Anomia.
A. epluppium? (Lam.) It is extremely difficult to distinguish be-
tween the recent and fossil anomie, for which reason, for the present
* Amer. Jour. Science, Vol. II. p. 43.
t Cuv. and Brong. Des. Geolog. des Envy. de Paris, pl. VI. fig. 9.
t In the Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc. I mentioned the O. flabellula, (Lam.) as a marl
fossil. The specimens, however, were subsequently found to be from the tertiary
deposit of Maryland.
Sand Formation of the United States. 285
at least, I refer the marl shells’of this genus to the species just nam-
ed, to which they bear a strong resemblance. This anomia is abund-
ant in the blue marl at St. George’s and other places in the vicinity.
It is also found near Arneytown, N. J.
PECTEN.
1. P. quinquecostatus. (Sowerby.) If the American species is not
positively identical with the European, it is at least an obvious analo-
gue, and answers in almost every particular to the figures of Sower-
by and Brongniart. The last named naturalist makes the following
remarks on this species: ‘Ce peigne, qui parait presenter des varie-
tés assez nombreuses de dimensions, et méme de proportions dans les
dimensions, est une des coquilles les plus constantes dans les terrains
de Crave inferieurs.”* © | y
2. A minute, flat shell, about half an inch in diameter, and having
from fifteen to twenty coste. Itis of rare occurrence.
CARDIUM.
Casts of a smooth cardium are common in all the varieties of marl.
They vary in size from an inch to an inch and half, but have never
been found with any portion of the shell remaining. Casts, appar-
ently of this genus, also occur, very globose and strongly ribbed.
CUCULLAA.
1. C. vulgaris. (S. G..M.) Casts of this fossil occur abundantly
throughout our marl formation: no part of the shell, however, had
been found until very lately, when Mr. Wm. Riley obtained seve-
ral specimens sufficiently perfect for description. ‘These will be fig-
ured in a subsequent part of this work.
2. A large, globose cast, about two and a half inches in diameter,
is occasionally found in excavating the Chesapeake and Delaware
canal.
MYA.
Casts of shells about two inches long, with deep concentric sulci.
TRIGONIA ?
I possess a single cast of a shell apparently referrible to this genus.
It will be interesting to decide this question, when other and more
perfect specimens may have been obtained.
* Descrip. Geol. &c. p. 385, edit. 1822.
286 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
TELLINA.
A small, handsome shell, in general appearance not unlike 7". pu-
nicea, is found near Arneytown, N. J.
AVICULA.
Very perfect casts of a small species.
PECTUNCULUS.
A few indeterminate casts.
PINNA.
Casts, in fragments, resembling the P. tetragona of Sowerby, pl.
Bla fie. 1. |
TEREDO. Lan.
T. antenaute 2 (Sowerby.) The teredo is abundant throughout
the marl region. It is constantly found in the lignite of the Chesa-
peake and Delaware canal, where trunks of trees are pierced by
it in every direction. ‘The casts of this fossil are frequently half an
inch in diameter. Sometimes these casts consist of pyrites. In the
‘ calcareous marls of New Jersey, the shelly tube of the Teredo is re-
placed by crystallized carbonate of lime.
venus. Lan.
A cast, about half an inch in diameter, with fifteen or twenty strie
radiating from the hinge tothe margin. This is probably a Veneri-
cardia of Lamarck.
ECHINIDE.
SPATANGUS. Lam.
1. A species with five deep sulci, and closely allied to the well
known European chalk fossil S. cor marmum, as figured in Parkin-
son’s Org. Rem. Vol. III. pl. 3. fig. 11. It is abundant in the calca-
reous formation of Gloucester county, New Jersey ; the specimens
are not casts, but on the contrary have their shell or crust replaced by
carbonate of lime, and are as perfect as the European chalk echini.
They vary in magnitude from the size of a filbert to an inch and a
half in diameter.
2. Another species much more compressed than the preceding,
but otherwise resembling it, is common at the Deep Cut of the Ches-
apeake and Delaware canal.
Sand Formation of the United States. 287
ANANCHYTES. Lam.
This genus is found im fine preservation in the calcareous deposits
just mentioned. The species has much resemblance to one from the
green sand of England in the collections of the Academy, but of
which I do not know the specific name. ‘The American specimens
have five pair of ambulacra, one of which is contained in a deep sul-
cus. Length from half an inch to an inch and three fourths.
ECHINUS. Lam.
Of this genus I have hitherto found only pentagonal, oblong, de-
tached plates; margin granulated, with a central, circular, smooth
area, and a tubercle for the attachment of a spine. ‘These remains
are well represented by the sections of the mammillated echinus, fig-
ured by Parkinson, Vol. III. pl. 1. fig. 11.
CLYPEASTER. Lam.
The blue marls have furnished a few easts of this genus.
In the collection of the academy are some additional remains of
Echimdea, but too imperfect to justify a classification. In the calca-
reous beds of New Jersey, I found granulated echinal spines more
than two inches in length, and not to be distinguished from those of
the European chalk. I possess similar remains from the blue marls
farther north.
CRUSTACEA.
astacus. Lam.
A small species, but having nearly all its parts entire, was HLS
in digging the Chesapeake and Delaware canal.
cANcER. Ian.
Dr. Van Rensselaer* has described and figured four specimens
(cheifly the claws) of this genus, from New Jersey. Three very
distinct species are preserved in the academy, but these also are only
the claws. From these scanty remains it would be almost impossi-
ble to determine even the Lamarckian genera with any degree of ac-
curacy. ;
Portions of other crustacea have come under my observation, but
I have not yet been able to refer them to any definite place in the
systems.
* Annals N, ¥. Lyceum, Vol. I. p. 195, &c.
288 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
ZOOPHYTES.
ANTHOPHYLLUM. Schweigs.
A. atlanticum. (S.G.M.) This genus, a Linnean madrepore, is
common in the limestone of Gloucester county, N.J. Its form is cyl-
indrical, or subconical, seldom exceeding three fourths of an inch in
length, and is about one third less in diameter. It is formed of lon-
gitudinal septa, or plates, which diverge from a central nucleus.
Each individual is attached by its base, and is surrounded on the re-
maining sides by a large cavity. Faujas, in his history of the moun-
tain of St. Pierre, pl. 37, fig. 3, and pl. 38, fig. 1, and 5, gives
drawings of some fossils which appeared to be generically the same
with those from New Jersey. But I derive the characters of the ge-
nus Anthophyllum from the splendid work of Dr. Goldfuss, tab. 13,
fig. 11. The specimen delineated by that naturalist is stated to be
from secondary limestone near the Falls of Niagara.
escHara. Lam.
Fragments of this genus (millepora, Lin.) are of frequent occur-
rence with the fossil last described. ‘They bear considerable general
resemblance to a species in Ellis’s Nat. Hist. of corallines, pl. 28, fig. 1.
FLUSTRA. Lam.
Abundant in the same matrix with the preceding genera, and is
nearly allied to the species figured by Ellis, pl. 29, fig. a.
RETEPORA. Lam.
Found with the preceding fossils, in hard calcareous rock. It is
well represented by a species from Maestricht, delineated in Faujas,
pl. 39, fig. 3, who calls ita Gorgonia. Dr. Goldfuss figures a spe-
cimen of the same fossil, pl. 9, fig. 12, also from Maestricht, to which
he gives the name of Retepora clathrata.
CARYOPHYLLIA. Lam.
Found, though rarely, in the blue marl of Gloucester county, N. J.
ALCYONIUM.
Occurs in the green sand below Annapolis, in Maryland. A fossil
which I believe to belong to this family, is of frequent occurrence in
the calcareous beds of New Jersey, and has also been found in blue
marl at St. George’s, in Delaware. It most resembles some specimens
figured by Mr. Webster in the second Vol. of the Transactions of
the Geological Society of London.
Sand Formation of the United States. 289
FOSSIL BONES.
mosasaurus? Conybeare.
This saurian, so well known by the names of monitor, Maestricht
animal, &c. is supposed to have been an inhabitant of the shores of
the American continent. This inference has been drawn from a few
teeth and vertebrae found near Sandy Hook and Woodbury, in New
Jersey. These remains have been described by Dr. Harlan, in the
Journal of the Academy,* and by Dr. Mitchill in his notes to the
American edition of Cuvier’s Theory of the earth. M. de Blain-
ville,+ however, after examining the figure of a tooth given by Dr.
Mitchill, declares unreservedly that it belongs to the genus Ichthyo-
saurus : I am not aware that the latter has ever been found in Ku-
rope above the Oolitic series.
PLESIOSAURUS.
Dr. Harlan has also described{ some remains which he considers
to belong to this animal. ‘They consist chiefly of vertebra, and are
preserved in the collections of the Academy. If I recollect rightly,
remains of this animal have not been hitherto found in Europe in
any beds more recent than the Oolites.
CROCODILE.
The remains of the crocodile are of frequent occurrence. Con-
siderable portions of jaws with the teeth, and other bones, have been
obtained near White Hill§ and Haddonfield, in N. J. and at St.
George’s, in Delaware: at these places they occur in micaceous
blue marl. They are also found in the limestone of Gloucester county.
WHALE?
Bones of the whale are said to have been observed near Middle-
town Point, N. J. and on the route of the Chesapeake and Delaware
canal: those in the Academy, which are attributed to the whale, are
too imperfect to permit of a positive decision.
SHARK.
Teeth and vertebral bones in abundance ; the former are frequent-
ly two and a half inches long.
* Vol. IV. p. 232, et seq.
+ Memoires sur Jes Belemnites, p. 48. ¢ Idem.
§ Ibidem, Vol. IV. p. 15, et seq.
Vou. XVIL.—No. 2. yao
290 Orgame Remains of the Ferruginous
TORTOISE.
Bones of some species of Linnean T'estudo are found sparingly in
the marls of Gloucester county.
Beside the preceding osseous remains, there are others in the col-
lection of the Academy, (some of them of gigantic dimensions,)
which have not yet been identified. ‘These, when ascertained, may
add several genera and species to the above catalogue.
With respect to the teeth and vertebre of the horse, found near
the Raritan River, if they are really in the fossil state, they belong
doubtless to the diluvial detritus which overlies all our formations ; to
the same deposit belong the remains of the elephant and mastodon,
which have been found in various parts of New Jersey, &c.
Remarks.
After a careful examination of the preceding fossils, I adopted the
opinion of Mr. Vanuxem, viz. : that they denote a secondary formation,
in the modern acceptation of that term; in other words, that they
characterize a formation contemporaneous with the super-medial or-
der of Phillips and Conybeare, the terrains de sediment moyen of
Brongniart. From the same data (organic remains) I infer more
specifically, as mentioned in the commencement of this paper, that
our marls are geologically equivalent to those beds which in Europe
are interposed between the white chalk and the Oolites; nor can I
conceive how they can be classed with tertiary deposits, if zoological
-characters have any preponderance in deciding geological questions.
It appears to me to be altogether contrary to analogy, to sup-
pose that the opposite shores of the Atlantic ocean should produce
at the same epoch, two series of marine organic beings so widely dif-
ferent from each other as are those of our marls and the tertiary de-
posits of Europe. We know that there is at present a remarkable
generic accordance between the living mollusca of the eastern and
western shores of the Atlantic ocean; and I have elsewhere* shewn,
that many species of shells are already identified as common to both ;
and doubtless the list will be greatly increased by extending the com-
prison. Is it not reasonable to suppose that this accordance was for-
merly as great as at present? And with existing analogies before us,
— ats
* Jour, Acad. Vol, VI..p. L19, 120.
Sand Formation of the United States. 291
may we not with confidence resort to similar data to ascertain the
contemporaneous deposits of former ages?*
Again, I would ask—if the genera Ammonites, Baculites, Scaphites,
Belemnites, Alcyonium, Spatangus, &c. &c. are of tertiary origin, by
what zoological aids are we to recognize and distinguish the true sec-
ondary strata? The truth of the matter appears to be simply this : if
these marl fossils are really referrible to the tertiary class, then there
must be an end of geological distinctions founded on organic remains ;
and that beautiful system which was erected by Mr. William Smith,
and which has since been sustained by the abilities of Cuvier, Brong-
niart, Phillips, Conybeare, and many others, must be abandoned as
delusive.
Previous to taking leave of this part of my subject,I beg permission
to quote an illustrative paragraph from the writings of Conybeare and
Phillips, with respect to the London clay, to which particular divis-
ion of the tertiary, Prof. Eaton refers the marl of New Jersey, &c.
“The testaceous mollusca [of the London clay] are very nume-
rous and beautifully preserved, and often retaining nearly the appear-
ance of recent shells. ‘There are very few genera of recent shells,
which have not some representation imbedded in this formation, but
the specific character is usually different ; that difference being often,
however, so minute as to escape an unpractised eye. On the con-
trary, but few of the extinct genera, so common in the older forma-
tions, occur in this; so that it seems to hold a middle character in
this respect between the earlier and more recent beds. Thus, al-
though Nautilites, resembling those of the Indian seas, are common,
specimens of the Cornu ammonis and Belemnite are so rare, that it is
in a very high degree doubtful if they have ever really been found.
Echinites, so common in the chalk, are very rare in this formation.
Zoophytes are likewise extremely rare.” +
These observations, (which are confirmed by all the more recent
works on the subject which I have seen) considered in connexion
with the facts detailed in the preceding synopsis, render it extremely
*The geological analogies between America'and Europe are conspicuous in all the
formations. Vide Prof. Buckland’s note in Amer. Journal of Science, Vol. IV. p.
186. See also the very interesting observations contained in Chap. I. of Mr. Ma-
clure’s Geology of the U.S.
| Geology of England and Wales, p. 28. See also the observations of Mess. Cu-
vier and Brongniart, on the calcaire grossier, which is now admitted to be contem-
poraneous with the London clay.
292 Organic Remains of the Ferruginous
doubtful if there be any zoological analogies between the London
clay and the marls of New Jersey, &c.
I shall next offer a quotation from another celebrated naturalist, to
shew the analogy between the latter formation and the green sands
of Europe. 1 allude to Mr. Parkinson, a gentleman who has few ri-
vals in the knowledge of organic remains. Speaking of the genus
Spatangus, he observes—‘ The green sand presents some very curi-
ous and interesting facts respecting these fossils. In the water which
deposited this formation, the Spatangi appear to have first existed ; no
remains of this genus having been found in the subjacent formations.
It is also deserving of observation, that they are not found again but
in the chalk, and in the seas of the present world.”* We have al-
ready seen that Spatangi are of frequent occurrence in the American
ferruginous sand; and I shall dismiss this fact without further com-
ment.
I have yet to offer a few observations on a very interesting feature
of our marls; I allude to the abundance of lignite and amber con-
tained in some of them, and especially, as already noted, in the low-
er mass of strata traversed by the Chesapeake and Delaware eanal.
We might at first be led to consider these substances as denoting a
plastic clay formation ; but when we observe that they are subjacent
to, and intermixed with, beds whose characteristic shells are extinct
genera of chambered univalves, and that these fossils do not occur as
insulated individuals, but on the contrary exist m surprising numbers,
must we not consider even these lignites and this amber as portions
of secondary strata?
The occurrence of lignites is not unfrequent in the green sand of
Europe: and as analogies of geological arrangement in remote parts
of the world, are both instructive and interesting, I may be allowed
to adduce a few instances to the point in question. ‘Thus, M. Boué
informs us that the marls which alternate with the green and ferru-
gmous sandstones, (gres ferrugineux et vert) below the chalk in the
South West of France, contain beds of lignite.t M. Boué further
remarks, that lignite and retinasphalt characterize the green sand for-
mation (Craie chloritée) at Obora, in Moravia. In allusion to these
lignites he says, ‘Ces bois montrent qu’ils ont été longtemps sur la
rivage de la mer, puisq’ ils sont couverts d’huitres et de serpules et
* Introd. to the Study of Org. Rem. p. 142.
+ Annales des Sciences Nat. (Paris) Tome 3, p. 309.
Sand Formation of the United States. 293
quils sont percés de trous de Tarets, (Teredo) qui ont remplis pos-
terieurement par de la pyrite.” The last two circumstances are
common to our own lignites.
Humboldt, in his Tableau des Formations Geologiques, gives as a
synonym of the ferruginous sand series, Gres secondaire a Lagnites,
in contradistinction to his Gres tertimre a Lignites, or Plastic Clay
formation.
Cuvier* describes the green sands of France as containing both
lignite and amber : the former is abundant in the green sand between
Dives and Fecamp. The iron sand of England, say Phillips and
Conybeare,} contains a considerable quantity of fossil wood; while
in the neighborhood of Folkstone and Cambridge, the lignite even
retains the woody fibre.
I will adduce but one other instance—that of the lignite beds im
the green sand in the Isle d’Aix, near La Rochelle. At this place
isa submarine forest of dicotyledonous trees, sometimes bituminous
and brittle, and again having the texture of jet. These lignites are
perforated by the Teredo, and accompanied by amber.
I have detailed these facts to shew (what some have doubted) that
the vast deposits of lignite with amber, lately exposed in the Dela-
ware and Chesapeake canal, do not offer insurmountable objections
to the position I have taken—that the beds in which those substances
occur are secondary.
I am aware, however, that some European geologists, relying more
on the superposition of strata than on their organic products, have re-
ferred all those formations I have just quoted, to the tertiary class,
including therein the whole chalk formation. But I am disposed in
this case to adopt the opinion of Humboldt, who is known to con-
sider fossil remains merely as collateral aids in deciding the relative
position of strata. ‘* Malgré les analogies que présentent les grés a
lignites (sables verts et argiles plastiques) au-dessous et au-dessus
de la Craie, cette formation pourtant appartient plutot au terrain se-
condaire qu’au terrain tertiaire, auquel plusieurs géognostes célebres
le rapportent.”’|| -
It is almost certain, however, that the real plastic clay formation
does occupy a considerable tract in New Jersey, Maryland, &c. In
a letter recently addressed to me by Prof. Eaton, is the following
* Disc. sur les Revolutions, p. 294. t Geol. p. 187.
t Humboldt’s Gissement des Roches, p. 294.
|| Gissement des Roches, p. 278,
294 Organic Remans, &c.
just observation : “I believe all geologists agree that approximating
strata pass into each other, and that alternations are made up of ele-
ments common to both. Hence it is that we often find much diffi-
culty in fixing on the line of division.” I cheerfully grant this diffi-
culty in the present instance ; nor am I prepared to speak decidedly
on the subject.
It is my intention, when leisure permits, to visit the mar! localities
in the neighborhood of Amboy and Middletown Pot; and to ex-
amine particularly the clay and lignite strata at Bordentown and White
Hill, both which I suppose to be the plastic clay formation resting on
the marls described in this paper. I design to embody these observa-
tions in a second part of this synopsis, which will also embrace noti-
ces of some additional fossils, which, from coming late to my hands,
have been unavoidably omitted.
JVote-—Since the preceding paper was transmitted to Professor
Silliman, I have received the 104th number of Mr. Sowerby’s Min-
eral Conchology, and it gives me much pleasure to observe that that
gentleman has adopted Mr. Say’s genus Exogyra. On this subject
I shall make two quotations, and subjoin a few remarks.
“‘'The mistake,” says Mr. Sowerby, ‘“ under which several shells
that might better have been called Gryphee, were published in the
first volume of the Mineral Conchology, as Chame, seems to have
arisen from considering the tooth in the hinge, without taking into ac-
count the muscular impressions, which m Chama are two. ‘This im-
portant tooth seems to have been overlooked by Mr. Say, though he
mentions the cavity, or furrow, that receives it. In the sixth volume
of the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,
Dr. Morton, when describing the Exogyra costata of America, has
rightly referred the Chama haliotoidea (Min. Conch. t. 25) to the
same genus, and discovers the mistake above alluded to.”
Mr. Sowerby then transfers to the genus Exogyra, five fossil shells
(all found in, or below the chalk formation) which are described as
Chame in his Mineral Conchology, and among them are the Chama
haliotoidea, and C. conica, which I had indicated as belonging to Mr.
Say’s genus.
With respect to the geological inferences to be deduced from these
fossils, Mr. Sowerby remarks as follows :
“‘Exogyre appear confined principally to the green sand forma-
tion; but as we do not know that the American species, E. costata,
On the Temperatnre of the Sea, &c. 295
has ever been found in Europe, it is gomg too far to consider that as
a proof of the identity of the beds in which it occurs with our green
sand. ‘The smooth varieties of it, which are said to resemble the G.
haliotoidea of Min. Conch. we have not seen; but it probably is that
species: if so, the consideration of it with Gryphza convexa of Mr.
Vanuxem and Dr. Morton, (which is G. globosa of Min. Conch. and
Podopsis gryphzoides of the French, and occurs in green sand, as
well as chalk) Baculites and other shells, will go far to prove what
those gentlemen have suggested, that the beds in which these shells
occur are the equivalents of the green sand and chalk formation of
Europe.”
I will here observe, that although some of the Exogyre of New
Jersey are ribbed, and others are not, I believe them to be one and
the same species, inasmuch as the young shells are mostly smooth,
and specimens are found with every variety of surface, from incipient
ridges to elevated coste. Another fact, noticed by Mr. Say, is, that
in old shells the ribs often became indistinct, and even obsolete. It
seems therefore impossible to derive specific distinctions, in this in-
stance, from the coste of the Exogyre ; and we must be content to
consider all our American specimens as identical until we can discov-
er some less variable characters by which to distinguish them.
Although the Exogyra costata and E. haliotoidea appear to be
analogues, they are evidently distinct species; which remark I am
disposed also to apply to the English Gryphea globosa, and the
American G. convexa.
[The subject will be resumed in the next number of the Journal,
and will there be illustrated with plates.—Editor. |
Art. IV.—Fragment from Peron, with notices from other voyagers,
on the Temperature of the Sea, at great depths, far from Land.
Mr. Silliman—The following is translated from the “ Voyage de
Découvertes Aux Terres Australes,” section 4. Vol. II. p. 334. It
seems to me that the facts detailed by M. Péron are inconsistent with
the theory of M. Cordier, as to central heat, if they do not prove
conclusively its entire fallacy. The thermometer used by Péron
was Reaumur’s, it will be easy to estimate the changes of tempera-
ture by Fahrenheit, if it is recollected that the zero of Reaumur is
the freezing point or 32° of Fahrenheit, and that four degrees of the
former are equal to nine of the latter. Yours,
Steubenville, Ohio, Sept. 20th, 1829. ' Bens. Tappan.
296 On the Temperature of the Sea,
First experiment of five hundred feet in the Atlantic Ocean.—
The 22d November, 1800, by 8° north latitude, in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean, M. Dessuch and myself plunged the apparatus of
which I have spoken, to the depth of five hundred feet; we were
not permitted by the Captain, to let it remain longer than five min-
utes. It took twelve minutes to draw it up; the air was at the time
at +24°, Reaumur; the surface of the sea at +24°.3’. Our ther-
mometer, notwithstanding the short time it had remained in the water,
and that more than double that time was occupied in drawing it up,
and notwithstanding the influence of the water which had penentra-
ted the interior of our apparatus; marked only +20°.0’: present-
ing a result of 4°.3/ less than the temperature of the surface.
Second experiment of three hundred feet.
The next day, by 7° north latitude, we tried a second experiment
of three hundred feet depth; we were able to rest our apparatus at
that depth three hours, thanks to the flat calm we then had. In with-
drawing it, we found that the water, in spite of our precautions, had
penetrated into the interior of our apparatus, had flattened the cylin-
~ der of tin which protected our case of wood, and that by the pres-
sure, our thermometer had been broken in the powdered charcoal
with which we had surrounded it. M. Dessuch and myself were la-
menting the misfortune, when it occurred to me, after having taken
away the fragments of the broken thermometer, to put in its place the
second thermometer which we had used to determine the tempera-
ture of the water atits surface. ‘That expedient succeeded beyond
our hopes : we saw it descend rapidly from 24° where it stood at the
ime to 13°, at which it stood a short time and then slowly remounted.
‘Thus our experiment was not altogether lost, and the results were the
more agreeable, as they agreed perfectly with the preceding im the
essential point, that the temperature of the water of the sea was much
more cold at three hundred feet deep than at the surface, which at
the time we speak of was inthe air at +24°.
That second experiment afforded us yet a new subject of pleas-
ure; it confirmed us in the opinion we had entertained of the supe-
riority of my apparatus over the most perfect of those which had
previously been used, the double valved cylinder. Indeed, M. Des-
such, desirous of making some observations on the degree of saltness
at divers depths of the sea, had sunk with my thermometer, a me-
tallic cylinder of that kind made by Lenoir. We withdrew it full of
water. The thermometer which we instantly plunged into it descend-
at great depths, far from Land. 297
ed but to 2° below the temperature of the surface, whilst the same
thermometer, placed, as I have stated, in the place of the one bro-
ken by pressure, fell 11°: incontestible proof, in every fespect, of
the superiority of our apparatus, and of the defectiveness of the
double valved cylinder.
Third experiment of one thousand two hundred feet, by 5° north
latitude.
The experiments above related have been made at inconsiderable
depths, and with a less perfect apparatus than the one of which I
have given a description; it remains to describe two other observa-
tions of the same kind, more recent also, having been made during
our return voyage from India to Europe, with an instrument better
constructed, and at depths much greater. The 19th of February
1804, we found ourselves within the tropic, becalmed so that our
vessel remained motionless on the surface of the water; to avail my-
self of such favorable circumstances, I desired the commanding offi-
cer to permit me to try some new experiments. I had previously
constructed my apparatus nearly in the manner I had conceived prop-
er. I sunk it to one thousand two hundred feet; it remained there
one hour and fifty minutes, not including the time of drawing it up,
which was seventeen minutes. It was at twenty seven minutes after
five ; the atmosphere indicated +-25° 7’ of Reaumur; the surface of
the water was at -+-24° 5’. My thermometer drawn from the depth of
one thousand two hundred feet, marked no more than +7° 5’, cold-
ness already very considerable, doubtless, and which had been much
greater, had it not been for the difficulties of which I have spoken in
the first experiment, the most part of which occurred in this. Nev-
ertheless, the results of this kind of experiment, always analagous to
the preceding ones become the more interesting, as they prove still
further the progressive lowering of the temperature in descending to
the bottom of the ocean. The following observation would have
dissipated all my doubts, had any remained.
Fourth experiment of two thousand one hundred and forty four
feet depth, by 4° north latitude. -
The 22d of February, I to6k advantage of the continuance of the
calm to repeat my interesting trials; two thousand one hundred and forty
four feet of cord, were sent to the bottom of the sea at fifteen minutes af-
ter elevenin the morning, we commenced drawing it up at thirty minutes
after noon; it took forty five minutes through the ill will of the crew,
to whom observations of that kind afford little pleasure. The entire
Vou. XVIT.—No. 2. ma!
298 On the Temperature of the Sea,
immersion lasted seventy five minutes, the air was at +25°; the
surface of the water indicated +24° 8’. ‘The thermometer drawn
up, and promptly taken out of its case indicated but +6°, that is to
say, nearly 19° less than the surface, an enormous difference, and
which truly had been more considerable still, if the extraction, which
took up three quarters of an hour, had not varied the temperature of
the apparatus; that variance would however have been greater, if the
pressure of the water, always too strong for my securities against it,
had not introduced itself into its interior. In spite of those serious
inconveniences the result was uniform, the temperature of the sea
always decreased in exact proportion as the thermometer descended
in its bosom. What may be the ultimate limit of such decrease? A
problem not less curious than important, the solution of which, in the
actual state of knowledge, does not appear as difficult as might at
first have been supposed. But as the strictness required in all new
experiments looks to the general concurrence of their results for evi-
dence of their value, let us examine what are those results obtamed
by the men of science who have been occupied in the same object,
and in the same circumstances, that is to say, in the mid-ocean, far
from continents and islands.
If we except the celebrated traveller* whose return has rejoiced
all the friends of science, but whose discoveries are as yet unknown
to me, three persons only, have until this time, made experiments in
the main ocean in a similar manner to ascertain its temperature at
various depths, Forster, Irving, and myself. By a singular and for-
tunate chance, our experiments have been repeated at three of the
most opposite points on the globe. Irving in Phipps’ voyage towards
the north pole, made his at 80° of north latitude. Forster in Cooke’s
expedition to the south pole, continued them to the 64° south, beyond
which no voyager has as yet been able to penetrate, and myself, placed
between those extremes, have made my experiments in the vicinity
of the equator. Certainly it would be difficult to find any other fact
in physics which would include terms of comparison taken at such
distances from each other; and yet we shall see that all those ex-
periments give results analagous to those which I have described.
* A, Humboldt.
at great depths, far from Land. 299
Experiments of Forster on the temperature of the sea at divers depths.
& ese &
Ss Height of the thermometer. Baws
eS |s Z In the air, | SUtface of |At a certain] § gz ois
Date. = Eee the sea. depth. fe oes = Be
3 ae ima ae eS eS
| 8 Ig Fah. | |Reau. Fah. |Reau Sa eae £3| 3
in ea ro) aaa pee erie ord go o7 U
1772, Sept. 5,| 0.52. | 86/+75.5/+19. 3; +70. 0/+16. 4 +66. 0/45. 1; 30 les 1-2
27,'24.44 s. 80/-+72.5/+18.0)+70.01+16.9|+68.0 +15.1, 15 7
Oct. 12./34.48 s. | 100/+60.0/+12.4/+59.0/4+12.0/+58.0/+11.6] 20 6
Dec. 15,|55.00 s. | 100/4+30.5/— 0.'7/+30.0/-— 0.9]434.0/+ 0.9] 17 5 1-2
23,/52.26 s. | 100/+33.0/4 0.4/432.0} 0.0)434.5/4 1.1) 16 6 1-2
1773, Jan. 13,/64.00 s. | 100}437.0]/4 2.1!433.5]/4 0.61432.0} 0.0] 20 7
Cooke’s second voyage.
Experiments made by Irving, near the North pole with the thermom-
eter of Cavendish.
} Ss5 [23a
a = a5 $5 a Temperature of the
& |$82 [8 _% | sea at the greatest
eS irtliSt 2p Sach soa = depth to which the} Heat of the
Date. = lec, Jeena thermometer has air.
= ($s22/§ £52 | beenplunged, cor-
= Bis g s BS 2 rected.
~ ~ = 6 ee | Meee
a = ans 5.8 Fahr. r. | Rea Reau. | Fahr. |Reau.
1773, June 20, | 780 | +15° | +11.° 1496.007 |” =2.077 [44809514 7.93)
30, m.| 118 | +30. +] 1431. 0 -0. 4 |4+40. 5|+ 3. 8
Ss. 115 +33. 0 +33. 0 +0. 4 |+44. 7/4 5. 7
Aug. 31, 673 +22. +10 432. 0 +59. 51412, 2
Voyage of Phipps.
Experiments, made by Dr. Irving, with a bottle, to determine the
temperature of the sea at different depths.
23 as HEIGHT OF THE THERMOMETER.
Be q eee
Date. = cs Be In the air. |Surface of the sea.| Depth in the sea.
feat As Ae irahr: Fahr. | Reau. | Fahr.| Reau. | Fahr. | Reau.
1773. Junell,| - 32 |455.°0//+10.91/|+51.°0!| + 8.047 |+49.°0/| £7.06"
12,|60.°00/| 65 | - - $i" - [+44 0| +5. 3
July 3,/78. 00; - |+44. O/+ 5. 3/+40. 0] + 3. 6 - -
Aug. 4,/80. 30} 60 |+32. 0! 0. 0/436. 0! + 1.8 |[4+39. 0; +3. 1
31) - 80 |+48. 0/+ 7. 1/+51. é + 8. 4 - =
Sept. 4,75. 00/683 |+66. 5|+15. 3 aed +10. 1 |4+40. 0] +3. 6
7,'60. 14! 56 |+60. 0/412. 4|+57. 0] +11. 1 |+50, 0; +8. 0
Voyage of Phipps to the North Pole.
300 On Malaria.
Art. V.—On Malaria.
TO PROFESSOR SILLIMAN.
Dear Sir—The cause of remitting and intermitting fevers, and
of the chronic maladies which hang upon the constitution after it has
resisted the first attacks, is a subject of the deepest concern, and
worthy of the strictest scrutiny. Itis of the more importance to
pursue it to the most certain issues, because the treatment of diseases
similar in appearance, but of different origin, is injurious or sanitive
according to the cause of the complaint. ‘This class of disorders has
been attributed to marsh effluvia, and to various other sources, in-
volving the subject in obscurity and error. Few people are aware
of the prevalence of this noxious principle: and when I state, that
it is believed by several experimental physiologists to be the cause,
in some form or other, of nearly half the diseases which visit the hu-
man race, and that its existence, or the means of averting its effects
are scarcely known,—I need not urge the importance of awakening
public attention, and of appealing to the feelings of interest, patriot-
ism, and humanity to unite with science in the investigation.
Presuming that the plan of your Journal embraces every branch
of physical science, I take the liberty to request a place for some
observations upon the phenomena of marsh exhalations or malaria.
It will be my object to shew
J. That the fever and ague, intermitting and remitting fevers, and
some other complaints which afflict different sections of this country,
result from those poisonous exhalations called by the Italians malaria,
which are peculiar to the vicinity of marshes.
Il. That this insalubrity may arise from morasses, salt marsh,
ponds, canals, swamps, wet pastures and meadows, bogs, newly clear-
ed lands, neglected gardens and ruins, and mundated plantations.
Ill. That it is practicable to control this deleterious influence, and
in most instances to subdue it, by human skill and industry—and that
by ascertaining those situations where it is impracticable, the waste
of human life at present experienced, may, by suitable defences, be
prevented.
{. ‘There are various opinions of the nature and origin of malaria.
Many have attributed the origin of the specific poison to unknown
gases,—some to volcanic fumes—electrical agencies—or the myste-
On Malaria. 301
rious influence of comets ; some have charged it to cold and damp-
ness$ others to animal putrefaction—to vegetable decomposition or to
animalcules in the atmosphere ; while there are those, who deny it a
material existence, attributing it to the vengeance of Heaven, as an in-
fliction upon mankind for transgression, the proximate cause being in-
appreciable by philosophy. A recent writer affirms that “ we are to-
tally unacquainted with the causes of every kind of endemic disease.”*
This unqualified assertion is at variance with a long settled opinion, that
a certain class of maladies unequivocally originate nm the miasmata em-
anating from marshes, although the precise nature and quality of the
poison, are not cognizable by our senses. I think it will require but
few examples to establish the fact, that this emanation does produce cer-
tain endemic and epidemic diseases ; and for this purpose I shall name
some cases of peculiar violence, aggravated indeed by tropical heats,
but yet so obviously proceeding from this source, as to leave no doubt
of their origin.
On the island of St. Thomas, situated in the Gulf of Guinea, be-
tween Congo and Benin, the town is built to the leeward of an ex-
tensive marsh. In 1776, seven officers from the Phenix ship of war
went on shore to visit the governor of the island, every one of whom
was taken ill of intermitting fever, and all died except one, who re-
turned to England in very ill health. Every seaman who went ashore
for wood and water, if he slept ashore, was likewise taken ill, and
only two escaped with life, while no other man of the ship’s company
was seized with any kind of distemper during that service.”+ In
the following year, the Phenix made another voyage to the coast of
Guinea, when again touching at St. Thomas, she lost eight out of ten
who imprudently remained all night on shore.{ In an attempt to set-
tle a colony on an island near Borneo, the place was healthy for six
months during the northeast monsoon which came from the sea, but
when the southwest monsoon blew over vast marshes for six months,
remitting fevers of the most malignant nature prevailed, “ cutting off
the stoutest men in a few hours.” || Dr. Trotter, physician to his
Brittannic Majesty’s ship Assistance, relates that in a voyage to the
coast of Guinea, in 1762, scarcely a man was indisposed ; but with a
view to expedition, a tent was erected on a low shore for the men
employed to procure wood and water, every one of whom died, and
the rest of the ship’s company remained perfectly healthy. A simi-
* Virginia Literary Museum. i Lind on Hot Climates. } Ibid. || Ibid.
302 On Malaria.
lar fatality occurred to some people from a Danish ship, sent on shore
for water in a low wet place, “covered with impenetrable man-
groves,” near the streights of Sunda, every one was seized with fatal
remitting fever, and not one recovered, while all on board continued
in health.* Dr. Blane remarks, that ‘a land wind blowing over
some ponds and marshes near Kingston, Jamaica, caused almost —
every man sent on shore for wood and water, to be attacked with
bilious remitting fever, while not a man in the fleet was attacked who
was not employed on that service.” On the low banks of the Spzrito
Santo, a river on the east coast of Africa, of forty seven men, part of
the crew of an Italian ship of war, who slept in tents on shore, not
one escaped a malignant remitting fever. The low coasts of Indra-
pour, in Sumatra, and of Gombroon, in Persia, are subject to the
same calamity from the same cause; and so violent are the attacks,
that many are seized in the first instance with delirium, and others
with apoplexy or palsy. A flood of the Euphrates, in 1780, sur-
rounded Bassora with a salt marsh, for a salt desert reaches to the
gates on one side, which, with the effect of an almost unparalleled de-
gree of heat, nearly depopulated the city.t| Fahrenheit’s thermom-
eter rose from 156° to 162° in the sun, and to 115° in the shade.
The epidemics which visit the countries bordering on the Nile,
Euphrates and Ganges, after their annual inundation, are as notorious
as the rise of the waters; and were it not for trespassing on the pa-
tience of your readers, examples without number might be cited, of
the endemic fevers which have devastated Batavia, Bengal and
Egypt—Spain, France and Italy, with other Asiatic and European
countries. But I think it unnecessary to add any further proofs that
marsh exhalations produce this form of febrile disease; for in the
foregoing examples you will remark, that almost every instance is
described as a remitting or intermitting fever.
Before | proceed to speak of the properties of these effluvia, I
beg leave to shew that not only are the desperate fevers, and the ter-
rific horrors attending those examples of extermmating mortality de-
pendent upon this cause ; but that we also, though blessed with a tem-
perate climate, and genial seasons, may trace many of the indisposi-
tions that disturb us to the same origin, while most of the epidemic
maladies which clothe our towns and villages in mourning, and ren-
* Dr. John Clarke’s Obs. on Long Voyages.
i * This sickness was not the true plague, but a terrible remitting fever.” —Tytler
on Plague.
On Malaria. 303
der families desolate in the open country, proceed from this inex-
haustible and self renovating source.
A remarkable instance in Sheffield, Mass. may serve for a suffi-
cient proof that this noxious influence is not confined to oriental or
tropical countries, or even to southern Europe. Near that town are
two large ponds, forming marshy grounds upon their margins, of con-
siderable extent. In 1793, eighty out of one hundred and fifty per-
sons who lived within one and a half miles of the south pond, were
attacked in one month with bilious remittents: and in 1795, of two
hundred inhabitants, within three quarters of a mile of the north
pond, a hundred and fifty were attacked with the same fever. Early
in the spring of 1796, intermittents prevailed, and as the season ad-
vanced, bilious remittents with dysentery, became epidemic within a...
mile of both ponds, not ten persons escaping of a hundred and fifty,
while sickness was in every house in the settlement.*
This department of physiology is indebted to Dr. McCulloch of
Edinburgh, for the scientific manner in which he has traced anal-
ogies— purified and balanced evidence”—classified and described
diseases upon determinate principles—and discovered their causes
amidst a chaos of empyricism and error; he has also arranged them
under such generic forms as render them intelligible and recogniza-
ble, under whatever circumstances. He substantiates his views on
every part of the subject, by authorities, examples and tables, and
his opinions are. entitled to high confidence. If in any instance he
merits the charge of exaggeration, it is attributable to the astonishing
number of disorders that had been viewed and treated as of a distinct
and independent nature, which he found to be only symptoms and va-
rieties, ‘‘ simulations and variations” of a generic disease. Diseases
similar in appearance, but proceeding from different causes, engaged
his particular attention, as when apoplexy ushers in a remittent or in-
termittent in place of the cold fit, if mistaken for ordinary apoplexy,
the ordinary modes of treatment render it fatal. So also, in an ob-
scure intermittent, with “a local rheumatic affection of the intercostal
muscles, if mistaken for pleurisy, an error of frequent occurrence,
blood letting would be pernicious and destructive, while the proper
treatment for intermittents would render the complaint trivial and ea-
sily cured.”+ He further maintains that all supervening complaints
* See Webster on Pestilence.
t Review of McCulloch on Fevers. Vond. Quarterly Jour. Sci. and Arts. Jan. to
April, 1828,
304 On Malaria.
take the periodical character of the original intermittent, and partake
so identically of its nature, as to require the same plan of medical
treatment,* however anomalous in appearance, and however differ-
ently it might be requisite to treat them, if arising from other causes,
and distinct from the previous effects of malarious influence. In ad-
dition to simple or malignant intermittents, remittents, cholera-morbus,
dysenteries, &c. originating in malaria, he enumerates a long list of
disorders, produced in mild climates by the same cause, often, but not
always succeeding to attacks of fever, where rheumatism, dyspep-
sia, hypochondria, mania, ophthalmia, tooth-ache, and those undefin-
able complaints which are grouped, under the general name of nervous
affections, make out, in fact, those chronic remittents of inveterate and
almost endless duration, “ occupying the better part of life. These may
be the sequel of severe remittents, or of a milder form of attack, but
while the disease consists of a series of relapses, with intervals of bet-
ter health ; or even if it becomes so mild as to display scarcely a fe-
brile symptom, yet it is that durable remittent or intermittent which is
the very condition of ill health, under which those suffer perenially,
who inhabit the insalubrious districts of France and Italy.”
An instance possessing a strict analogy to the foregoing views, has
been under my own observation for four or five years. A friend of
mine was attacked on Long Island, five years ago, with simple tertian
fever, which affected him with continual relapses, although with inter-
vals sometimes for several months, without a recurrence of agues.
‘These intervals were marked, however, with nervous debility and ir-
ritation, but sometimes for a few days his alacrity of spirits and mus-
cular energy, would seem to be nearly restored, when the least fa-
tigue or disquietude, would bring on the chills, and the subsequent
routine of distresses. After contending with these forms of disease,
aggravated by dyspepsia, for two or three years, the gout supervened
with great violence, and he still continues the victim of this endless
intermittent.
The summer and autumn of 1828 furnish incontestible evidence of
the truth of many of Dr. McCulloch’s positions. _ It will not be forgot-
ten by any of your readers, that endemic and epidemic fever prevailed
* << As to blood letting, or debilitating practice of whatever nature, it is invariably
pernicious, and it is by mistaking diseases belonging to this genus for others, that
they are often rendered inveterate or even mortal.’”—Review of McCulloch on
Fevers, Lond. Quar. Jour. Sci.
On Malaria. 305
in that year in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, many parts of New
England, Long Island, and the western counties of New York. On
the low plashy grounds near the Mohawk, on Schoharie Creek, and
in some tracts on the Erie canal, the complaint, though of frequent
occurrence, did not generally run into the high bilious remittents,
but it was very severe in some of the western counties. Perhaps a
brief statement of the disease on Long Island may serve as a tolera-
ble transcript of the epidemic so extensively prevalent in that season.
Early in the spring, sporadic cases of fever and ague appeared,
increasing in frequency through the summer, becoming intermittents
and remittents as the season advanced. In the latter part of August,
these complaints became alarming epidemics, accompanied in many
places with great mortality, and without abatement, until the acces-
sion of frost. Ina single village, containing fifty or sixty families,
there were twenty deaths, all of adult persons, with but one or two
exceptions. In many places the noxious influence appeared to reach
even the brute creation, for ina tract comprehending six small towns
in the little county of Kings, on the south west end of Long Island,
a distemper prevailed among horses, of which more than two hun~
dred died in the course of a few weeks.* It is a curious and inter-
esting fact, that the poisonous influence which occasions marsh fever,
sometimes affects domestic as well as various agricultural animals, in
a manner analogous to its attacks upon the human species.t Dr.
McCulloch notices the case of a dog, which experienced a regular
and well marked tertian, and adds, that “‘ severe seasons of fever
among the people in France and ualy: are similarly seasons of Eph
demic among black cattle and sheep.”
The term malaria is so associated with Italy, as to indicate to our
imaginations something peculiar to that country ; but on examining the
subject, it appears to operate with equal certainty, though with dif-
ferent degrees of malignancy, in Greece, Spain, Portugal and
* They sometimes appeared mad, at others in a stupor, but death always occurred
in a few hours. Estimated at upwards of ten thousand dollars loss in that county.
t The opinion that cattle are affected by pestilential vapors, is as ancient as Ho-
mer. The same is remarked by Livy. Throughout the Roman history, cattle have
been said to share in epidemic pestilence.
I have just received accounts from New Orleans, (Oct. 7th, 1829) which state,
that “‘in addition to the prevailing fever, there is a general mortality among horses
and cattle at this time. They mostly die within two or three days after the distem-
per attacks them.” jatdebal’
Vou. XVII._—No. 2. 12
306 On Malaria.
France, in Holland, and in many parts of England, and on this conti-
nent, in several districts of New England, and in all the middle, west-
ern, and southern portions of the United States.
In vast tracts of France and Italy, where the people are not carri-
ed off by violent attacks, the whole population exposed to this dis-
ease, under its endless types and varieties, drag on a life of perpetual
sickness 5 often of incurable intermittents, or a low constantly febrile
state, with visceral affections ending in dropsy, or some other fatal
termination. ‘¢'The countenances of these people are sallow, some-
times livid, and so emaciated as to give them the appearance of walking
spectres.” Nor are the effects on their mental condition less remarka-
ble. “ Apathy, recklessness, indolence, and melancholy,” extinguish
even the natural desire of improving their condition, or of prolonging
their lives. The chronic forms into which this intractable fever runs,
vary in intensity, with varying climates. In the temperate regions,
such as England, and the United States, as far south as the 40°th of
N. lat. they appear in dyspepsia, low spirits, loss of appetite, languor,
hypochondria, catarrh, innumerable nervous diseases, and consump-
tion.
Il. If the fact is satisfactorily established, that the foregoing dis-
eases are produced by pestiferous marsh exhalations, or malaria, it is
of importance to ascertain what are its properties, and in what situa-
tions, soils, winds, or other phenomena, it has its origin.
As this destructive influence is not cognizable by our senses, we
must rest content in the present state of evidence, with such a con-
ception of it as results from weighing probabilities after an attentive
examination, and comparison of facts. —If I have quoted, or do here-
after quote, extreme cases in support of probabilities, it is because
they are conclusive to my mind in settling principles, from which, by
analogical induction, parallels may be tear da in different climates,
by making due allowance for the difference in quality and amount of
materials, and of intensity and duration, in the degrees of heat.
Chemical analysis has failed to discover malaria in any visible or
tangible form, either when escaping, or acting with its greatest malig-
nancy. ‘There is an agent, or there are agents developed or created
by the joint action of heat and moisture, dea perhaps by electricity
or other subtle powers, upon decaying vegetables, which produce
malaria. ‘That these agents are aerial cannot be doubted, because
the atmosphere is the medium through which they act. Chemistry,
although it has made us acquainted with several deadly gases, which
On Malaria. 307
are evolved during vegetable decomposition, e. g. the carbonic acid,
the carburetted hydrogen gases, carbonic oxide, &c. has not yet put
us in possession of that form of matter of whose real existence we can-
not entertain a doubt, but which is more subtle than the rarest of
the gases; an attenuated poison, which has not yet been imprisoned
and separately exhibited in our chemical vessels; causa latet—vis
est notissima. But when we consider what has been done in pneu-
matic chemistry, in the last half century, we need not despair that
even the winged poison of malaria may be yet detected, indentified,
isolated, and even neutralized. If there be a vapor as subtle and
poisonous as that of prussic acid, created or evolved by vegetable
decay, nothmg more would be necessary to produce all the effects
that are now so painfully notorious. ‘The fact that trees and fresh
vegetables render atmospheric air salubrious by restoring the ne-
cessary supply of oxygen, when it is exhausted by animal respira-
tion, proves that in a living or growing state they do not contribute to
such a result: but decomposing vegetable materials, to a greater or
less amount, being found in every spot, from which this poison is
known to proceed, the inference seems to be almost mevitable, that
they supply the unknown pestilential agent, during the process of de-
composition.
It does not appear that one class of vegetables more than another
gives out the malarious poison, but it will be seen hereafter, that rank
herbage, such as juicy weeds, and subaquatic plants, decay more
rapidly, give off more moisture, and yield more effluvia in the same-
time and space, than those of more ligneous fibre.
That this noxious material is mnocent by itself, or perhaps not
separable without the aid of water, from its original combination with
vegetable matter, is also obvious; for in a dry state, the constituent
parts of every species of vegetation are harmless; and the vapor
given off in hay making, when no decomposing process is going on,
is not only innocent, but salubrious.
It is presumed that animal matter furnishes. no constituent part of,
malaria, for although insects, and other animal remains, are daily per-
ishing in those places where these pestiferous exhalations arise,
sufficient to modify, and perhaps to characterize them, yet it is believ-
ed that animal decomposition does not produce fever ; because, the
manufacturers who use various animal substances when in their most
offensive state, are not subject to fevers, nor has any endemic fever
308 On Malaria.
been known to cccur in such situations.* Another proof, and it is
deemed sufficient, is the fact, that when the bodies of the Cimetzére des
Innocens, which were in every stage from incipient putrefaction to com-
plete decomposition, were disinterred and remhumed, not a case of
fever appeared during the whole operation, w hich occupied two years.
I cannot see any reason to deny that some deleterious exhalation
may originate in the materials which form the mud of marshes, and
which every where support vegetation, except, that it is unascertaina-
ble by chemical analysis; and further, that the pestilential agent is
subdued by frost. ‘There is no evidence that mineral or earthy sub-
stances contribute in any degree to malaria, except clay, which, by
preventing the subsidence of water, remotely causes the maceration
of plants, and a consequent disengagement of malarious effluvia ;
but this being purely a mechanical cause, the quality of the effluvia
cannot in any degree be referred to the clay.
It must be inferred that some foreign principles are evolved by the
moisture in these pestiferous exhalations, because pure water pro-
duces no deleterious effects.| The spray of cataracts is not un-
healthy, and sea fogs,t the mists which occur in thaws, or on high
mountains, or in high northern latitudes, are never followed with un-
favorable consequences. But whatever it is, whether a combination
of agents, or a single agent, it appears to have a vegetable origm, and
by its chemical union with water, or its elements, a new entity is pro-
duced, which is a poison, and which, being exhaled, constitutes the
marsh miasmata, or malaria.
Some naturalists have conjectured that electricity has an agency in
this specific poison; ‘‘ but nature accomplishes her wonders, not by
employing a multitude of agents, but by merely varying the combi-
nation of a few simple means,” and from what we know of electrical
phenomena, it might be expected to exercise a salutary mfluence, by
agitating the atmosphere, and dispersing the mephitic vapors.
That heat is essential to its extrication, is proved by the increased
virulence of the miasma after the hot season, and the greater vio-
* Many examples might be adduced, such as various processes in making leather,
manufacturing glue, catgut, &c. and above all, in Paris, the occupation of the
Knackers, a set of men who apply dead horses to useful purposes, but among whom
no endemic fever has been known to occur.
tithink Dr. Fordyce maintains erroneously that it is the dampness alone of
marshes, which causes fever.
t Witness the fogs on Rhode Island and Newfoundland. The‘ former place is dis-
tinguished for salubrity, and is resorted to by strangers for a summer residence.
On Malaria. 309
lence of its effects as we advance towards warmer and tropical cli-
mates. The degree of heat in Calcutta, during the prevalence of
malignant intermittents was from 86° to 76°, Fahr. In Syria it was
86°, and increasing.* At Bassorain 1780, previous to a most fright~
ful and malignant intermittent, the thermometer rose from 115° to
156° in the shade.f On Long Island 1828, in August, just before
the remitting fever became epidemic, it was from 91° to 73°.
But in temperate climates it is not during the actual presence of
the heat that the pestilential power is most injurious. The Italian
peasant takes a siesta upon the ground at noon and escapes unhurt.§
The poisonous gases and vapors at that hour, are so rarefied, or diffu-
sed, or in common phrase, so dried up, that they are harmless; but
when the air is cooled sufficiently to condense the aqueous vapors, and
they descend in dews, imparting a delightful freshness, then it is that
the insidious and baneful poison is abroad. ‘Those peasants “‘ to whom
the earth serves as a bed, after the cold dews have descended upon it,
and who pass the night on the moist turf,” seldom, if ever, escape;
and laborers who incautiously sit upon the ground, are sometimes
struck with apoplexy, or even with death. On this principle it is
easy to see, why the diseases proceeding from this cause, are more
ageravatedinautumn. During the summer, it is not generally danger-
ous, except in the evening and morning; but the heat of summer having
* Bancroft on fevers. t Tytler on plague.
t I am indebted to Mr. Kellogg, Principal of the Academy at Erasmus Hall, Flat-
bush, Long Island, for the following accurate table, which shows the effect of heat
and drought in eliciting and concentrating malaria in our own climate. It includes
the amount of rain which fell in June, July, and August, and the summer tempers
ature of four consecutive years.
Rain during the months of
June, July, August.
Years. In. In. In. Total.
1826 8.60 3.79 7.95 20.32
1827 3.68 3.58 5.47 12.73
1828 2.55 3.73 1.97 8.25 Andnone after the 5th of Aug. 1828.
1829 3.38 2.35 4.84 10.57
Temperature.
June, July, August.
Highest. Mean. Highest. Mean. Highest. Mean.
1826 91. 89. 89. 71.90
1827 86. 65.80 94. 72.10 96. 70.51
1828 84. 70.12 91. 71.88 91. 73.45
1829 85. 66.45 87. 69.62 87. 70.65
§ Chateauvieux’s Agricultural Travels.
310 On Malaria.
daily added to the quantity and concentration of the miasmata, the
cooler atmosphere of autumn keeps it perpetually condensed, and it
is not only more virulent, but the exposure to it is continual through-
out the day.
Neither does the sickly season except in tropical regions com-
mence during the prevalence of ram. Vegetation is then flourishing,
the rain absorbs and dilutes any poison which may be exhaled, and
when the clouds subside, the sun dries up the moisture. As the sea-
son advances the quantity of water diminishes, the herbage which
had been macerated is then exposed to the heat, the poison increases
in deadly energy by concentration, and the exhalations hover nearer
the surface. Hence another reason why fevers and epidemic sick-
ness prevail after the heats and rains of summer are past.
Another distinctive property of malaria is its specific gravity,*
which being greater than atmospheric air, prevents its effects from being
felt above a certain altitude. Dr. Ferguson states that ‘a hill nm An-
tigua, six hundred feet high, is exempt from its effects, while the
country is replete with it at its base.” M. de Rigaud de Lisle “ estab-
lishes the height of safety near Rome, at from six hundred and eighty
two, to one thousand feet.” Sezza, nine hundred feet above the Pon-
tine marsh, is free from disease. ‘ Erceero, nine hundred yards
above La Vera Cruz, is exempt from the fevers of the lower land.” +
It is difficult to ascertain satisfactorily why it sometimes attacks
one side of a street, and leaves the other unhurt; sometimes cuts
off a family or a neighborhood, while those in the immediate vicin-
ity escape; and even, when transported from a distance, invades
certain places perennially through successive years, and avoids oth-
ers which appear equally exposed. A remarkable instance cited by
Dr. McCulloch is “on the road between Chatham and Brighton in
England, where the ague affects every town and single house on the
left hand side of the turnpike, and does not touch the right side,
though the road itself forms the only line of separation.” It seems
probable however, that there being an attraction between the miasma,
and the identical moisture with which it is exhaled, it does not equal-
ly pervade the atmosphere, but is winged about in flaws and
* This would appear to be generally but not universally true. We are credibly
informed, that inthe marshy regions of Maryland and of some other portions of the
Southern States, those who live at the very edge of the marshes escape, while those
on the higher grounds are assailed by fever.— Ed.
1 Humboldt.
On Malaria. 311
veins ; but what it is, which intercepts its passage across a garden
or an open street; whether it is limited by some meteorological phe-
nomenon; or whatever the cause is, it has hitherto eluded dis-
covery. Its movements cannot generally be anticipated with cer-
tainty, for itis only ina few cases that it is so strangely exact.
Several circumstances must concur in common instances in con-
veying it to greater or less distances. ‘These are, its greater or less
concentration, the favor of the wind which should not be too strong,
and the precise amount of fog or moisture. If there is too much wa-
ter, it will be diluted ; if the wind is too strong, it will be dispersed; if
the sun is too hot, it willbe dried up, and will separate from moisture,
which alone unfolds its existence. ‘This occult property is doubtless in-
noxious, as it certainly is unknown. It is to such unseen counteracting
forces that those differences are owing in successive seasons, for which
we can assign no cause; such as a healthy year succeeding to one
of great mortality, a healthy place becoming sickly, and the reverse :
That the laws which control the phenomena of malaria are uniform,
cannot be doubted, although our powers of observation are not al-
ways sufficient to discover the causes, or to reconcile apparant disa-
greements ; butif we can arrive at data which will enable us to rem-
edy, or will teach us to shun the evil, we need not repine if the ambi-
tion of science is checked in its endeavors to fathom all its mysteries.
The occurrence of intermittents in hill countries has led some to
imagine that the causes were as various as the localities; or perhaps not
chargeable to external agencies, but inherent in certain conditions of
the human constitution. ‘The debility or predisposition of individ-
uals, is undoubtedly the reason why some are seized while others es-
cape, but this does not impugn the argument, that this form of disease,
viz. intermitting fever, is owing to an external and material agency,
although modified by an endless variety of circumstances. One
among many ways of accounting for this seeming anomaly, is that al-
ready remarked, that it is conveyed in currents by the winds. Vol-
ney states that “high grounds in Bengal, with the most promising
appearances of upland scenery, are infested with wasting intermit-
tents, called fill fever, from the poisonous effluvia wafted by the
monsoons from the distant marshy plain.” The same writer adds
“that there are high lands in Corsica and Italy wholly uninhabitable,
because, though far remote from damp and boggy places, the malady
of low lands and bogs is brought thither by the winds which blow over
312 On Malaria.
them at certain seasons of the year.”* The possible origin of this
noxious principle on hills will be noticed hereafter.
If I have given a probable conjecture of the material existence
of malaria, 1 may now proceed to show where it has been found to
reside.
Morasses and jungle thickets, contain the materials for this pesti-
lential emanation in greater amount, than any other situations. Veg-
etable matters macerated in water, in every stage of existence, from
the incipient bud to the last pomt of decomposition, are here always
prepared to send forth such exhalations as the heat may disengage.
These are more virulent, as has been already said, in dry than in wet
seasons, from the concentration of the poison in a smaller volume of
water ; and more abundant from the greater amount of substances ex-
posed, which when submerged are inert. During great rains the air
has been found wholesome, where in succeeding drought the sickness
has been severe, and the mortality frightful. Upon corresponding
principles, countries are healthy durmg inundations. This is strik-
ingly exemplified in some of the departments in France, where the
lands are flooded every second or third year, when the water is drain-
ed off for tillage. The laborers enter upon the land as soon as the
waters are off, but not one half ever survive the cultivation of the
crop, and the lands are uninhabitable. Ponds, when full to the brim,
are not injurious, unless they form a marsh on their borders; but
when a drought exposes their muddy margins and bottoms, replete
with herbage and aquatic plants, the exhalations are winged with ma-
lignant diseases. ‘That this poison becomes sublimated by drought
and heat, appears on the melancholy record of the suffermgs of the
British army in Spain. After the battle of Talavera, when they re-
treated in the hottest weather upon the course of the Guadiana, the
country was so dry, that the river had ceased to be a continuous
stream, but stood in detached pools. ‘The soldiers then suffered
from remittent fevers of such destructive malignity, that the enemy,
and all Europe believed that the British host was lost.”
The causes which operate on ponds have a like effect upon canals.
Heat and moisture render the herbage on their edges tangled and lux-
uriant, the brooding dampness hovering over the half macerated
foliage, facilitates its decomposition ; then appear fever and ague and
Ingering complaints, heat and drought as the summer wanes, disen-
* Volney’s View.
On Malaria. 313
gage and concentrate the miasmata, and these by the cooler air of
the fall produce endemic and epidemic diseases.
Salt marsh, although less fruitful of maiaria than fresh water bogs
and marshes, has erroneously obtained a reputation for salubrity.
The grass of a salt marsh is not pulpy and rank like fresh water weeds ;
consequently it is decomposed less rapidly than that which grows in
stagnant fresh water, and the effluvia are diluted by the flow of the
tide below high water mark; but with these qualifications, salt
marshes are proportionably insalubrious with fresh water marshes,
provided both are exposed to great degrees of heat. ‘This is seen
extensively in the Mediterranean, and near the outlets of rivers within
the tropics. The rule holds in every climate, the pestilential effects
being in the direct ratio of the degree of heat, commencing with the
Oronoco and other tropical rivers.
*'The soil on the tops or sides of hills may also contain materials
suited to the formation of malaria, if there is clay sufficient in quality
and proportions to retain the necessary moisture.”* So on plains
not marshy, a surface or subsoil of hard clay may so far hold the wa-
ter after great rains, as to keep the surface nearly marshy; and in
those peculiar seasons when great heat and drought ensue, the re-
sults upon the foregoing principles are obvious. In addition to these,
the following local causes may be enumerated—wet meadows and pas-
tures, coppices grown up with tangled underwood, plashy grounds,
mill ponds, flax ponds, and agricultural ditches and drains.
A tract of undulating country which came under my own observa-
tion, exhibited these pernicious influences, as they affect mild climates,
in the experience of 1828. I forbear to mention names, as in giv-
ing this or any other local illustration, I wish not to excite alarm, but
to suggest the mode of correction ; and the following particulars are
stated with a view to aid our judgment as to other situations, and the
best modes of reform. This tract, for forty or fifty miles margined on
three sides by the sea, is a rolling country, the soil generally a stiff
loam upon a substratum of clay, overlying sand at no great depths.
The formation is fundamentally primitive, but contains many tracts of
superficial alluvion. The hills are of no great elevation but rather ab-
rupt, succeeding each other rapidly, sometimes forming wet, basin
shaped valleys, and at others, ponds of similar outline, seldom ad-
mitting any outlet for the superfluous waters or the wash of the hills.
* Bancroft on Fevers.
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. 13
314 On Malaria.
The lands are productive and assiduously cuitivated. Salt marshes
occur on the sea shores frequently, and on the margins of small bays,
which indent the coast. In June and July of 1828, the fall of rain
was not far from the average of preceding summers, but much of it
fell in showers, and the rapid alternations of rain and sunshine were
followed by very luxuriant vegetation. In August, a little more than
an inch of rain fell before the 5th, and to this succeeded a drought for
the remainder of the month. ‘The mean heat of the month was 73°
45/, though it was occasionally as high as 91° Fahr. ‘The margins
of ponds were soon laid bare, the rank and macerated herbage was
every were exposed to the unclouded rays of the sun, and the salt
marshes yielded their co-operation. Various forces conspired to in-
crease the energy and extent of pestiferous influences. For example,
the greater amount of surface and materials exposed, gave out a larger
quantity of poison, and that more concentrated ; the mitigating effect
of ram was also needed to absorb or dilute the miasmata, or, by keep-
ing the ponds full, to secure the surfaces and materials usually under
water, from the chemical action of heat. Whether this theory is or
is not correct, the event was, that m this month a remitting bilious
fever endemic in many villages, became rapidly and extensively
epidemic, including all the open country ; sudden attacks seized the
most healthy, and those who in the spring had been affected with
fever and ague, found their relapses of a malignant character ; and
great mortality ensued. On the western verge of this tract is situ-
ated a town containing ten thousand inhabitants, and although the
epidemic came almost to the doors, and the sick were in every house,
and almost in every apartment in neighborhoods not half a mile distant,
yet not a single case occurred in the town, excepting a few persons
who had been in the country, and who after their return were visited
with fever. The site of the town is on table land about eighty feet
above the level of the sea, but not high enough to secure it from the
winds blowing over the adjacent country. It seems probable that it
owed its safety to the fires, smoke, and other counteracting, though
unknown causes, which accumulate wherever there is a numerous and
industrious population. The sickness didnot abate until the commence-
ment of frost, which is another proof of the truth of the position that frost
extinguishes the malarious principle, and another reason for suppos-
‘tng it referable to a vegetable origin. But if malaria is subdued by
frost, the question arises, why do complaints proceeding from it oc-
cur in winter? To this inquiry, Dr. Keate’s report of those regi-
On Malaria. 315
ments which returned to England from Walcheren in 1809, appears
to me a satisfactory answer. Dr. Keate states that after their arrival
in England from that most disastrous campaign, where more lives
were lost by disease than by the collisions of war, ‘“ Many of the
men fell down suddenly after the fatigue of a short march with an
attack of the identical fever, so fatal at Walcheren,” and he has no
doubt that the poison was imbibed there, and remained latent until
after their return. ‘This seems to me so conclusive on this point,
that I need not take room to repeat other instances where the effect
of marsh effluvia had remained latent for different periods, from six
days to six weeks and more, and where the proximate cause of its
developement was fatigue, or a luxurious meal, night watching or
some other casual excitement.
It has been further suggested, that it is a mistake to attribute this
class of maladies to a local cause, as the North American Indians
were not affected in the same manner, although more exposed to va-
rieties of soils and seasons than the present race of inhabitants.
That the Indians were subject to epidemics, we are informed by
Hutchinson, who in his “ History of Massachusetts,” remarks that
“the Indians had been greatly weakened by an epidemic.” In Bel-
knap’s Biography, “several periods of pestilence among the natives
of New England are named.” It is mentioned, in “ Gookin’s His-
torical Collections of the Indians in New England,” that consumption
and fever were among the diseases of the natives, and also, that they
invoked invisible spirits in powows, “ to lay the latter distemper.”
These sicknesses might, or might not be owing to causes at present
operating, but they could scarcely be as violent, because the swamps
and low grounds were screened in a good degree from the sun by
the almost impenetrable forests; and the amount of humid vapors
would be proportionate to the degree of heat which exhaled them, al-
though their character might be influenced by other causes.
The severe sickness, and the violent fevers, which assailed the ear-
ly settlers of this country, are familiarly known; nor need we a re-
cord of the symptoms to convince us that they were analogous to
those which appear in every new settlement west of our Atlantic bor-
der, where the newly cleared lands, are known to be sources of dis-
ease to the’cultivators. When the deep accumulations of autumnal
leaves and other vegetable remains, which have been gathering for
ages, are broken up by the plough and exposed to the sun and
rain, those elements are necessarily disengaged and exhaled, which,
316 On Malaria.
as has has already been shewn, are productive of disease ; and this
sufficiently accounts for the distresses often suffered by the pioneers
in new settlements, while the disappearance of those endemic mala-
dies after the country has changed its aspect by cultivation, proves
that we have not mistaken the cause.*
Another source of malaria remarked by Dr. McCulloch, is bilge
water, to which he charges a great proportion of the sickness expe-
rienced on shipboard since the disappearance of the scurvy. It is
his opinion, that the noxious effluvia are generated m hot climates by
the action of the bilge water upon the wood of the ship itself, often
augmented by corn, coffee and sugar cargoes, and sometimes by the
quality of the ballast. It is notorious that grain and sugar, by sifting
through the seams, render the bilge water excessively offensive, and
Dr. McCulloch instances the most destructive fevers, proceeding
from that cause. Gravel and mud ballast are also conducive to simi-
lar results, while iron ballast is safe. The simple and easy remedies
for this evil are ventilation, and washing the ship every day by the
plug, until the water drawn by the pumps is as clear, as that in the
sea outside of the ship. A most thorough attention to ventilating the
hold is also essential, because there is the origin and residence of the
evil. The efficacy of this practice has been tested by experiment
in the British naval and merchant service.t Another exposure of
ships to this class of diseases, is from communication with the har-
bors and shores of tropical climates. Although it is not practicable
to bring this set of dangers under as positive regulations as the for-
mer, yet great perils may be avoided, which are now thoughtlessly or
ignorantly incurred by ships’ companies in tropical regions. It has
been ascertained that malaria has been distinctly propagated to a
ship at anchor, five miles distant, and that a fatal cholera occurred
instantly three miles from the land, upon a shift of wind.{ It is there-
fore extremely desirable that ships should not approach such shores
*« The long fever, one form of the bilious remittent, is nearly extinct in the mar-
atime states, although eighty years ago, it was one of the most terrible diseases of
this climate. Where the country has been cleared one hundred and fifty years, the
long fever is unknown.”— Webster on Pestilence.
| From what is known of the astonishing powers of chlorine in destroying poisons,
it is not too much to hope, that it may prove an efficient auxiliary in extinguishing
or counteracting the “ malaria of ships,” perhaps even of superseding the necessity
of any other application, although it should never be substituted for thorough clean-
iipess. } McCulloch on Malaria on shipboard.
On Malaria. 317
for wood and water; but when it is unavoidable, the natives of such
countries should be procured to perform the labor, and all communi-
cation with the shore in boats should be in the day time, at full wa-
ter ; as on the banks of rivers, or on the sea shore, at low water, the
exhalations from the mud are of the most pestilential character. No
man should go on shore after sun-set when in harbor, nor before
breakfast, nor be on the decks at all in the night, and the watch should
be limited to the smallest possible number of men, to whom “smoking
constantly while in the open air,” should be recommended. Whenever
any part of a crew are necessitated to engage in the dangerous em-
- ployment of wooding and watering, fires lighted at short distances
would be of great value, and “ ought to be a standing order during
such service.” No boat should, by any means, be out after sun-set.
The consequences of inundation after the waters retire, are seen
in every climate, producing diseases, differing in the degrees of sever-
ity, from the mild tertian agues of cool climates, occasioned by a low
meadow or a mill pond; to the sudden and terrific fevers on the del-
tas of the Nile and Oronoco, and other rivers of the tropics. In
these regions the heat is continual for long periods; the effects are
sometimes instant, and the mortality frightful.
It is on the rice plantations of our southern States, in Mobile,
New Orleans, and the countries which form the deltas of the Missis-
sippi and its tributaries, that malaria has raised its throne on this con-
tinent ; and were it not for the mysterious ability of the negro to re-
sist the influences which destroy the white or Caucasian race of
men, those vast alluvial regions would, of necessity, be resigned to
their original denizens. It is a question interesting to naturalists,
whether this capability of resisting the effects of malaria resides im
the texture of the negro’s skin, or in some more latent peculiarity of
structure or functions; and it is important to medical science, to as-
certain whether it is resisted by the pores of the external and internal
surfaces, or by respiration, as we may hence discover some clue to
the mode of its attack.
I will detain you with but one other cause of malaria, which Iam
bound not to omit, as it is one of extreme danger, from its following
closely upon a very extensively prevailing human propensity—and
that is, neglect.
Were it not that I might injure the value of real estates in some parts
of this country, I could point out by name several excellent farms,
318 On Malaria.
which, by changing hands, and falling into the possession of non-
resident proprietors, have become dangerous as places of residence,
and are sinking in value every day. This results from the neglect of
ditches and low grounds, and the consequent encroachment of bogs
and marshes upon the borders of meadows, as these increase the
extent of plashy surface, and accumulate a mass of deadly materials
in weeds and herbage; because tenants and hired laborers cultivate
only such parts as yield a ready profit. But this practice will be
found ruinous; for where point by point is yielded, and the inhabit-
ants recede, the result will be as in Italy, a complete depopulation :
for, as I shall further shew, its destructive influences are in the in-
verse ratio of the resistance made by cultivation, and the habits of
civilized life.
Perhaps I cannot in any way so concisely illustrate this point, as
by giving a history of its effects in Italy.
The maremma of ‘Tuscany extends from the south border of the
vale of the Arno, to the States of the Church, and from the Appe-
nines to the sea shore on the west. It was anciently covered
with a busy race of men, high in rank among heroes and sages :
but although its soils and seasons were then the same as now,
the insalubrious elements were probably kept in comparative sub-
ordination. Maremma signifies the region of malaria, and this
maremma has been cited as a proof that marsh effluvia cannot be
the source of malarious fevers, because this tract is nearly depop-
ulated by the diseases attributed to that cause, although it is an undu-
lating upland country, of volcanic origin. But perhaps it will be es-
teemed conclusive evidence that science has discovered the lurking
places of this poison, and that it conceals itself at times in spots re-
mote from the shaking morass and mangrove sea beach, although
those are its legitimate places of abode. In the valleys of this de-
serted tract, there are a few scattered houses, and the inmates, pale
and languid, appear to maintain but a feeble conflict with the de-
stroyer. On the hills are seen occasionally ruins of mouldering
towns and ancient towers; “above all the rest rises the emi-
nence on which the aged walls of Volterra repose. Its imhab-
itants wander like shades among its majestic rums, and do not
attempt to preserve even their habitations; but abandon them to the
elements, and await with resignation ‘the returns of the scourge
which decimates them every year.”
On Malaria. 319
Sometime in the sixteenth century, a sweeping pestilence*™ cut off
from this whole region a great part of the population; after which
the price of property declined, and the lands fell ito the possession
of the great capitalists. ‘ From this time all productive activity was
banished,” and although Leopold, Duke of Tuscany, made several
attempts to plant colonies in the maremma, they were each unsuccess-
ful, because the colonists died of the fever before a settlement could be
established. Thus the remnants of a people, who were distinguished
among the Volsci and Arretinii as warriors, and who improved upon
the science and taste of Greece and Tyre in the arts of peace, have
gradually wasted away before the ravages of the pestilence. The
genial climate allows the progress of vegetation through the winter,
when multitudes of shepherds and herdsmen descend from the Ap-
penines with their flocks and cattle, to pasture on the spontaneous
herbage: but during the summer, companies of wild horses, and
herds of black cattle, sweep over these immense pastures, revelling
at will in the produce of the fields. The voices or the footsteps of
men never interrupt these solitudes except in the ruined cities, and
an occasional hamlet in the valleys, which shelter a few manufactur-
ers of alabaster and alum. Even these employments are not fol-
lowed from March to November ; all is resigned to the dominion of
malaria, which “increases in proportion as the resistance of civiliza-
tion diminishes.”
But it is in the States of the Church that this pestilence exercises
its most hideous sway, and spreads the darkest rum. The lands are
more fertile than the maremma of Tuscany ; fig trees and aloes grow
amongst the ruins; vegetation is too luxuriant to be employed in
pasturage ; “the eye cannot penetrate the depth of the majestic
woods, and the imagination peoples their gloom with the Manes of
that ancient people who formerly rendered these solitudes illus-
trious.”
When the papal throne was established at Avignon in the begin-
ning of the fourteenth century, Rome was given up to the most des-
perate factions. Nothing can surpass the misery occasioned by
those civil wars. One ambitious family succeeded to another; one
demagogue displaced another in such rapid succession, that when
Gregory XI. returned to Rome in 1377, he found that the country
was laid waste; that the suburbs had disappeared; that the walls,
in many places, were broken down, and that the diminished and dis-
*T believe it was the plague, but am not certain.
320 On Malaria.
couraged population had neither wish nor ability to return to the
pursuits of industry: and from the period of this melancholy des-
olation, when the luxuriant gardens and fields, and the beautiful
courts and pleasure grounds in the city, and contiguous to it, had
been for some time neglected, malaria commenced its frightful and
gloomy reign. As a consequence upon these political animosities,
estates were wrested from their owners, and fell in vast domains
into the possession of individual proprietors. ‘Thus upon luxuri-
ant soils, and in places that had been pampered with the utmost ef-
forts of culture, lazy weeds, and thickets of herbage, accumulated,
unthought of, sending forth pestilence, at once the ‘cause and
the consequence of the insalubrity of the atmosphere, banishing
the rural population from the fields.” The sun shines here with
the purest light; the softest airs woo the lingering and admiring
passenger; the winds blow with the most exhilirating freshness ;
but all these advantages are turned to deadly agencies, for the want
of an enterprising, vigorous, industrious, and persevering population.
Neeuect creates what is equivalent to a marsh in every thicket of
herbage; and the evil mcreases, and will increase, while there are
no effective laborers, and while only a few ignorant, half savage, and
decrepid herdsmen roam over the lands, haggard, and trembling with
the annual visitation of disease, “‘ possessing hardly spirit enough to
ask strength from heaven to resist the coming attack,” or scarcely a
wish to survive it.
The celebrated plain which surrounds the city of Rome, extends
from the promontory of Circe to the hills of Etruria, thirty leagues
in length, by ten or twelve broad. The surface is uneven, but nei-
ther are the valleys deep, nor the hills precipitous. ‘The plain seems
an immeasurable extent of turf, spotted with thorns and briers ; and
a few solitary post houses, on this deserted tract, alone “ reveal to
the traveller that he is approaching the city of Rome.” ‘There is
no example of so rapid a depopulation, as that which now wastes
this imperial city, unless by siege, or by some elemental catastro-
phe. This is owing as well to political as to physical causes,
but the proximate cause is malaria. So late as 1791, the city
contained 166,000 inhabitants. ‘The streets,” says M. Chateau-
vieux, ‘at that time were filled with sumptuous equipages and
liveries, and decorated with magnificent palaces: in 1812 I en-
tered the city by the same road, but instead of equipages, it was
filled with droves of cattle, goats, and half wild horses, which a num-
On Malaria. 321
ber of Tartar looking horsemen, armed with lances, and wrapped in
cloaks, were driving before them. These seek an asylum within the
walls of Rome, from the fate which awaits them in the fields.”
The population of the city has diminished more than sixty thousand
in twenty years; and of the one hundred thousand who remain, ten
thousand are vine dressers and herdsmen, who have fled before the
pestilence from their habitations in the country. ‘The deadly influ-
ence advances every year, invading some new section or square,
and every year its terrible effects are augmented ; for as it “increases
in the inverse ratio of the resistance occasioned by the population,
the fewer inhabitants, the more victims.” Some parts of the city
contain more dwellings than inhabitants, consequently, no repairs are
made; stairs, doors, roofs and windows fall, but are notreplaced; the
occupants remove to other dwellings; abandoned palaces frown in
gloomy grandeur, and multitudes of convents are uninhabitable, and
left without even a porter to take care of them. It is here seen, that
the pestilence walks in the footsteps of receding industry, wherever
its effectual resistance is withdrawn, while the remains of civilization
and culture, furnish aliment and stimulus to the insalubrious ex-
halations. 'The deep weedy dells, and the rank herbage around the
mouldering ruins, supply those pestilential materials, from which the
suns and airs of Italy extract swift poisons, and from which every
breeze comes freighted with the messengers of death.
These obviously proximate causes are in full operation over the
Pontine marsh. ‘The attempt to reclaim it does honor to the pontifi-
cate of Pius Sixth; but although twenty miles have been restored on
the Appian way, where three feet of alluvial marsh had formed above
the pavements; and although the reclaimed lands are more produc-
tive than those of almost any other country, yet soimmense a tract (more
than one hundred miles,) remains, that the enterprise will probably
fail under the present nerveless government; especially as the disease
is fatal to the workmen, except for a short time in the winter. So suc-
cessful however were the efforts of the French engineers under the
protection of Pius, that not a doubt remains, that the whole spongy
morass, now covered with reeds, and the hoary water-willow, might
be restored to cultivation, that the pestilential influences might be erad-
icated, and a healthful population be made to rise near its fertile val-
leys, like that which distinguished the days of the Republic. 'Those
parts which have been but partially drained, are represented as more
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. 14
322 On Malaria.
rich and beautiful than the Elysium of the poets: but the charms of
a fragrant atmosphere, the effulgence of an unclouded sun moderated
by bowers of foliage, the rich verdure chequered by flowers of every
hue, the clustering vine and loaded fig-tree, imvite the passenger to
linger im the scene of enchantment, only that a deadly poison may
insinuate itself into his veins. Near thesea, on the west of the Via
Appia, is a garden of Prince Doria, the flowers and trees of which
have so long grown wild, that the tangled shades form a receptacle
of miasmata; and a deep fertile valley the property of Prince Chighi,
shaded with elms, and possessing every variety of rural elegance and
beauty, has long been abandoned to the dominion of nature and the
seasons; deer and birds are the only objects of moving life, which
disturb the frightful repose.
These will suffice for examples of neglect, and will shew how it is
co-operating with natural causes, to depopulate one of the fairest
portions of the globe: and as like causes produce like effects, Rome,
while gathering up her glories, and her mighty deeds for the shroud,
and passing to the silence, and solitude of Paestum, and Volterra,
may alarm the inhabitants of other cities, and teach them to guard
against the approach of similar dangers.
II. First among all measures for the purpose of subduing the causes
of malaria, it is recommended to drain or fill up wet grounds, and to
prevent the collection of pools, and standing water where vegetation
flourishes. Next in importance, are cleanliness and ventilation. Upon
a smaller scale are various local defences, when the pestiferous ex-
halations can neither be prevented nor extinguished. ‘These are,
groves of trees, walls, fences, fires, moderately warm clothing, uni-
formity of diet and exercise, and a most scrupulous guard against
exposure to the evening air.
Treatises have been written, and many experiments have been
made, to ascertain the best methods of reclaiming wet lands for til-
lage ; and so generally are they understood on the ground of profit,
that I need not oceupy your pages in repeating many of them: but I
hope the great additional motive for prosecuting such improvements,
as that of preventing epidemic pestilence, will arrest the attention of
every class of citizens.
As malaria employs its deadliest energies in Italy, from the united
results of political, moral, and physical causes, so the beneficial ef-
fect of any remedy operating there, ought to be conclusive of its
On Malaria. 323
efficacy; and for this purpose I beg leave to quote the instance of
reclaiming the Val de Chiana, to shew that physical causes may be con-
trolled, by the skillful application of human industry.
Near the city of Crotona was a lake, of no very great dimensions,
but surrounded with marshes which diffused the most pestilential ex-
halations. The Tuscan genius and spirit, at that time in its zenith,
suggested and executed a plan for draining the lake and its marshes.
A canal leading to the Arno carried off the water, and three thousand
acres were brought into cultivation. It was not thrown into a vast
domain, and consigned to some individual proprietor, in whose hands
the neglected parts would soon have run down the remainder, but
was divided into seventy farms, which were separated by roads, and
bordered with canals. On each farma rural dwelling was erected ;
every inch of ground was cultivated; the crops, consisting of corn,
wine, vegetables and silks were gathered in season, and not a foot of
land was left torun waste. “The plain of Crotona in 1813 dis-
played one of the noblest triumphs of human industry ;”* fertile
fields where had been a pestilential morass, a salubrious atmosphere,
and an industrious and happy population. Volney states that he “ wit-
nessed the drying up of a small pool and rivulet in Holland completely,
to free a family from the annual visits of intermittent fevers.” I might
illustrate this part of the subject with many examples from foreign
countries, in proof of the salutary effects of draining ; particularly the
benefit produced to the health of the mhabitants, by reclaimmg
large tracts of fens and bogs in the eastern counties of England, a
benefit felt even in the metropolis; and a few cases nearly analogous
in the United States might be cited ; but I am not aware that the ex-
periment has been thoroughly tested in this country.
In order to make the draining effectual, ditches should be broad and
deep enough to convey off the superfluous water of the rains; and
cross cuts or sluices should lead from hollows to the main outlet. Vo
weeds should be allowed to grow on the banks, and the bottoms should
be scraped annually, to clear them from mud and aquatic plants.
It is of particular service to cut the weeds, grasses and shrubs, after
the coming of frost, and to burn them upon the marsh; as the ma-
terials, which would be injurious in the following hot season, are thus
changed into a species of manure, that hastens the progress of the
* Chateauvieux’s Travels.
324 On Malaria.
soil to the condition of upland. Ditching, clearing ditches, and mow-
ing willows, stubble, and brush for burning, should be done when the
weather is frosty or immediately after frost; nor should reclaimed lands
be tilled, im summer, until the marshy character has been entirely sub-
dued, and the surface has become firm and dry; but when that is
once achieved, no assiduity or labor should be omitted to prevent
the slightest approach to the former condition. Ponds with grassy
margins, and little coves indenting the edges, or having shallow ba-
sins and pools with grass, weeds and bushes growing around them
and over their bottoms, are abundant sources of malaria, if exposed
to the due degree of heat. When these do not admit of draining,
there is no alternative but to fill them up, or to deepen them, so that
their edges may not be infested with weeds. No insalubrity will arise
from ponds if they are surrounded by a clean margin of earth, with
an outlet sufficient to prevent the waters from rising to the surround-
ing grass, and if the bottoms are kept submerged or free from aquatic
plants.
Canals and ditches, whether for agricultural or commercial pur-
poses, should be kept clear from vegetation, by walls or clean banks of
earth, nor can [ omit to notice those little harbors or basins near the
feeders, where the waters spread abroad to some adjacent elevation,
making a grassy shallow on its verge.
Drowned lands, when free from trees, are more dangerous than
when shaded by forests; whenever therefore, they are found to be
productive of ill health, in any of the forms which have been stated,
measures should be adopted to prevent their encroaching on the dry
land; and if they cannot be effectually drained, whether they are
salt marsh, bog meadows, or wet pastures, groves of trees should be
planted on their margins, to attract their moisture, and to prevent the
poison from being carried by the winds to adjacent roads, or fields,
or dwellings. The Romans ordered trees to be planted on the
shores of Latium, to check the currents from the Pontine marshes.
They rendered those groves sacred, and enacted heavy penalties,
and other laws for their protection. ‘The entrance of malaria upon
the southern side of Rome, has been attributed to the cutting down
of those forest trees, which, for a succession of ages, had occupied
the declivities of the hills, between the marshes and the city. If
to plant trees on the principle of intercepting the insalubrious exhala-
tions blowing from the marshes, ov other malarious tracts, is useful, so
to cut them off on the sea board, when on the seaward side of a
On Malaria. 325
marsh, is of equal efficacy, by opening a channel for a free current
of land winds to carry off the exhalations. I scarcely need add,
that when irreclaimable marshes are on the sea shore, at the outlet of
narrow valleys, groves on the landward side should be planted, to
prevent sea winds from passing over them into the interior.
Fires and smoke have been found of great utility, especially in mil-
itary service, as was proved on a large scale, by Buonaparte, before
Mantua; and in Africa, the experiment in a small way, has proved
successful. Emigrants proceeding to Alabama and other southern
regions, from the low countries of Carolina, find no injury from sleep-
ing in the open air, as their custom at night is to build a large fire of
logs, and lay themselves beside it, on some part of their baggage.
The effect of fires in destroying malaria, is plain, if the fact of its ex-
istence depends upon the presence of moisture ; for the moisture be-
ing evaporated by the heat, the poison is either dispersed with the va-
por, or if separated from it, falls innoxious, and probably inert. It is on
the same principle, that smoking segars on the decks of ships is salu-
tary. The heat and smoke, keep a dry atmosphere about the un-
covered face, and the air respired, being thus deprived of mias-
mata, is safe. ‘This view of the subject suggests another ground
of suspicion, that the poison acts upon the surface ; which is support-
ed by the fact, that a strong malarious breeze, often strikes seamen
arriving on such coasts with instant cholera, apoplexy, and other sud-
denly fatal diseases, and this from the sympathy of the stomach with
the skin, and of the brain with the stomach. | offer this as conjec-
ture merely ; but I may add in favor of the hypothesis, that it is dur-
ing sleep in the open air, when the pores of the skin are peculiarly
relaxed and sensitive, that the poison operates with the most fatal ac-
tivity and certainty.
It is necessary for people in exposed situations, either from the vi-
cinity of pestilential places, or the prevalence of endemic sickness,
to beware of causes, which may render them obnoxious to its
effects; and a due attention to the following suggestions will not
be without use. Regular and sufficient sleep: exercise without fa-
tigue: substantial food, equally removed from a low abstemious diet,
or a luxurious stimulating aliment: moderately warm clothing : scru-
pulously avoiding the evening air: and as far as possible a quiet
mind. 'To these may be added, fires lighted for an hour or two,
morning and evening, in every apartment of a house; and if practica-
326 Analysis of the Tennessee Meteorite.
ble, lime or brick kilns, or fires for manufacturing purposes, between
pestilential places, and villages, or dwellings.
I forbear to extend this article by making even the apology which
its length already demands ; and am, with great respect,
Your obedient servant, REE
New York, Nov. 1829.
Art. VI.— Tennessee Meteorite.
Tue late Professor Bowen, of whom an obituary notice was in-
serted at the close of Vol. XVI. of this Journal, left the meteoric
stone, of which an analysis by Mr. Seybert is subjoined, with directions
that it should be forwarded to me. On its way to this place, it was
detained in Philadelphia, at my request, to undergo an analysis by
Mr. Seybert, a labor which that gentleman has been so kind as to
perform. Mr. Seybert’s valuable analyses in Vols. IV. V. and VI.
of this work, interrupted by an absence of several years in Europe,
have added to our knowledge and our reputation; and the friends
of science will be happy to see him occupied again in a kind of in-
vestigation, which is peculiarly difficult, and for which few in any
country are adequately qualified. ‘The meteorite of Tennessee has
not yetarrived here. Mr. Seybert’s notice of its external and phys-
ical characters, is sufficient to shew its similarity to the meteorites
that have fallen in other places.—B. S.
New Haven, Dec. 6.
Analysis of the Meteorite, which fell near Drake’s Creek, eyghteen
miles from Nashville, Tennessee, in the year 1827.
This mineral consists of a friable granular mass, of a greyish color,
in which metallic particles are easily discernible to the naked eye.
It is coated externally, with a crust of a dark brown color, which
shows evident marks of fusion. [It is highly magnetic, and its spe-
cific gravity, by two trials, was ascertained to be 3.484, and 3.487.
When thrown into muriatic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen is evolved.
By preliminary essays, its constituents appeared to be, Silica, Alu-
mina, Magnesia, Sulphur, Nickel, Chrome, and Iron.
ANALYSIS.
A. 3 grammes of the pulverized mineral were decomposed in the
usual way, by calcination with 2 parts of nitre, and 2 parts of pure
caustic potash ; the product communicated a pale green color to the
Analysis of the Tennessee Meteorite. 327
water used to detach it from the silver crucible, indicating the pres-
ence of a trace of manganese; it was acidulated with nitric acid in
excess, and by evaporation of the solution to a dry gelatinous mass,
and subsequent treatment with acidulated water, the silica was sepa-
rated, which, after edulcoration and calcination, weighed 1.20 gr.
on 3 gr. or 40. per 100.
B. The solution (A), from which the silica had been separated,
was of a pale green color. Submitted to ebullition with an excess of
sub-carbonate of soda, it afforded a dark reddish brown precipitate,
which, treated in the gelatinous state with oxalic acid, according to
the process of Laugier, and then digested in ammonia, proved to be
free from cobalt, and yielded 0.065 gr. of protoxide of nickel on 3
gr., or 2.166 per 100.
C. The residue insoluble in ammonia, was dissolved in muriatic
acid, and tested with oxalate of potash, it proved to be free from
lime. By phosphate of soda and ammonia, it yielded a precipitate
of ammoniacal phosphate of magnesia, which, together with that sub-
sequently obtained from the oxalic solution, amounted to 1.94 gr.,
equivalent to 0.715 gr. of magnesia on 3 gr. or 23.833 per 100.
D. The oxalic solution (B), was boiled with an excess of sub-
carbonate of soda; the reddish brown precipitate which ensued
when calcined with caustic potash, and treated with water, gave a
solution of a lemon yellow color, which shewed that it had carried
down with it some chrome ; the alkaline solution was exactly neu-
tralized, with muriatic acid, by which means the alumina was ascer-
tained to be accurately separated; when washed and calcined, it
weighed 0.074 gr. on 3 gr. or 2.466 per 100.
E. The solution from which the alumina was separated, was con-
centrated and boiled with muriatie acid, when chlorine was evolved :
when ammonia was added, there was produced a precipitate of
proto-hydrate of chrome, which, by calcination, yielded 0.025 gr. of
protoxide of chrome on 3 gr. or 0.833 per 100.
F’. The residue insoluble in potash (D), was dissolved in muri-
atic acid, and after the addition of sub-carbonate of ammonia, a pre-
cipitate ensued, which, when calcined, afforded 0.885 gr. of per
oxide of iron.
On testing 3 grammes of the pulverized mineral with a magnet,
there were separated 0.36 gr. of metallic grains, which, owing to the
small quantity of sulphur, nickel, and chrome, may, without com-
mitting any important error, be regarded as the quantity of metallic
328 Analysis of the Tennessee Meteorite.
iron contained in the substance, amounting to 12. per 100. There
will then remain 0.366 gr. of per oxide of iron on 3 gr. or 12.20 per
100. ‘The magnesia, precipitated by phosphate of soda and ammo-
nia, is included in (C.)
G. The solution (B), after the separation of the precipitate by the
sub-carbonate of soda, was boiled with an excess of nitric acid, and
on the addition of the nitrate of barytes, there was obtained a precip-
itate of sulphate of barytes, weighing 0.535 gr. equivalent to 0.073
gr. of sulphur, on 3 gr. or 2.433 per 100.
After the separation of the sulphate of barytes, the excess of acid
was neutralized with ammonia, and after the addition of more nitrate
of barytes, no chromate of barytes was precipitated, notwithstanding
the liquor had a yellow hue. It was also ascertained that the precip-
itated sulphate was free from chrome.
According to the precedent results, the constituents of this mete-
orite are—
Per 100 Parts,
A. Silica, - - 40.
B. Protoxide of Nickel, 2.166=Metallic Nickel, 1.704
C. Magnesia, - - 23.833
D. Alumina, - - 2.466
E. Protoxide of Chrome, 0.833=Metallic Chrome, 0.584
F. Metallic Iron, - 12,000
F.. Per oxide of Iron, 12.200
G, Sulphur, ne Gi 2.433
95.931
100.000
a [ure.
4.069 Loss and Hygrometrical Moist-
The above loss is somewhat considerable, but the principal re-
sults having been verified approximately by different trials, the pre-
cedent analysis is deemed sufficiently accurate, to shew the close
analogy between this and other aerolites.
Solution of a Problem in Fluxtons. 329
Arr. VII.—Solution of a Problem in Flucions ; by Prof. Tuxo-
DORE STRONG.
(Continued from p. 73 of this Volume.)
TO PROFESSOR SILLIMAN.
New Brunswick, Nov. 9, 1829.
Dear Sir—I send you the following continuation of my paper.
Yours respectfully, T. Srrone.
c 1
The same notation being retained; the form pa)
applies easily to the case in which the particle describes an ellipse,
the centre of force being at the centre. Let a, p’, be the same as
at the 72d page of the last Journal: then by what was there found,
(since p=half the sum of the perpendiculars from the foci to the tan-
gent at the place of the particle; the distance of its foot from the
point of contact being half the difference of their distances from the
Siagl
Ge
same point) ; I have a? +-ap/ — ??
C27,
a= “(i))) ae or F
a? /
as 7. By changing (1) into a? — ap’+ re
=r; the ellipse be-
comes an hyperbola, the centre of force at the centre; and F as
—r; hence it is repulsive. Substitute in (2) for c’?, its equal
r'dv* ‘lan Ags
Taras change the ellipse into a parabola by removing its centre to
cM
an infinite distance; which makes 7 parallel to a; —=
a?
rdv ; d ?
aglaa the velocity parallel to the ordinates to the axis =const. and
=1; put
2
eA)
(2) becomes in the parabola ‘nha oe (Prin. B. 1. sec. 2.
prop 10. and sch.) The form (I) of the Journal (for July) is easily
adapted to the case of the particle describing a curve, when acted on
by a force parallel to the ordinates (y) which are Perpeusioular to
d ce’? cosec. 2
the abscisses (v). For (I) can be changed to rola ea
ce? (cot. 2p
aad rage et (3); since the force acts im parallel lines, its
Voi. XVII—No. 2. 15
330 Solution of a Problem in Fluxions.
centre is removed to an infinite distance; .°.r being infinite, the
ce’? cosec. 2) ‘ \
cL Winn Ter ae becomes a quantity of the first order relatively to
j ) ¢/2
the other terms, and is hence to be neglected; and pe Const. 5
ay ) a
dr =dy ; cot. p= 7" 3 hence F as wr ee (4). Let the equa-
dy
i aa 62 dy\ 28s
tion of the curve be y? =F: el (5); then (2) =, x
b? i); a Pe le
aie hence a ma ae or F as a (5) is the
dy
equation of an ellipse; make a=, and it is a circle; change the
sign of x? and it becomes an hyperbola; neglect x? and it is a para-
bola; but the solution which J have given comprehends all these eases.
(Prin. B. 1. sec. 2. prop. 8. and sch.) By (6) of the Journal (for
July) when the motion of the particle is wholly in the plane, (a, y)
. wd?e-+-yd?y Sala hes Sa ile
r= — aE ; if the force is directed to the origin of x and y,
Ee ad? y aig "y 6 L ane a
o— aie CIE (6). Let y be changed in any given ra-
tio ; or let its inclination to the abscisses (wv) be changed from a right
angle to any other given angle 9. ‘Then y becomes ny (n= any
given number; or = sin. 9); let Es r, become FE”, 7’, in the changed
curve ; .°. (6) becomes F’= (7 ). Hence if two particles of
oe
matter are supposed to describe these curves so as simultaneously to
be at the extremities of corresponding ordinates, I have by (6) and
(7), F 3 F’tir 37’ (Prin. B. 1. prop. 10. latter part of the schol-
\ ¢/2 1 2 1 2
ium.) By (M) of the last Journal, I have —34(Q) oe (d-) ) =
‘dv?
1
=Fdr (8); put oR; suppose du=const. reduce, and there results
d?R
dp? +R a aia (9); which is a form of F, very useful in
physical astronomy.
9
Solution of a Problem in Fluaions. 33h
I will now notice some things which readily follow from what has
been done. Let a, p’, be the same as before; P=3.14159, ete.=
semicircumference of a circle rad. (1); T= the time of revolution
of the particle in an ellipse around a centre of force at the focus;
T’=do, around a centre of force at the centre ; the arbitrary constant
Ul
g bemg (as heretofore) so assumed as to = the area described by
(r), the radius vector around each centre of force in the assumed
unit of time. At the seventy-third page of the last Journal I found
cf? : :
F=-— = the force to the focus of any conic section; suppose
sas
c?
F Xr? =const. De ag ae 3 or p’ as c’?; (Prin. B. 1. sec. 3.
c!2
prop. 14.) Suppose again that F x7? =const. then py ~ const. as
! a cT sida a3
before ; but in the ellipse 3 =PV ap’ =the area; hence [2 =
12 3
=apF = const.; or Tas ¢.; (P. B. 1. prop, 15.) By (2)‘of
this paper, F= a the force to the centre of an ellipse; suppose
F eT” Vaeerepay Oe ab aep E
; =const., then —~ =PV ap’, or ce? =v, +" = Const.
4P?
2 E
="Wv2-': 1’=const..:. in different ellipses, if ~ = Const. T” = const.
the circle is here considered as an ellipse 5 (P. prop. 10. cor. 2.)
Again, if Heit Const in different conic sections, (as above),
ec?
mos but =V the velocity.’.V is as we (P. prop. 16).
By (8) of the last Journal, = =—,
: ie
prop. 16. cor. 6.) By (7)--(8)--(9) I have in any conic section
d dr - :
e r r? pl? but by (3) of last Journal, V ¢ Ve: Me us Ve. [pp LV:
11 WV rp! : p; (P. prop. 16. cor. 9.) Again, p?=
apr
Toney: hence,
V:V::v¥ 2atr : Va(10); the sign — being used in the case of
the ellipse, and -++ in the hyperbola, and r is to be neglected in the
332 Solution of a Problem in Fluxions.
parabola, which gives V ; V’::4/2 : 1 (11); (P. prop. 16. cor. 7.)
Since (10) and (11) are independent of the parameter of the conic
section, by supposing the parameter to vanish the sections become
right lines, and the particle describes a right line, as stated by New-
¥e == AB
ton, B. 1. sec. 7. propositions 33 -- 34,andV : W/::VW AC: api
as in prop. 33, for in his fig. (1) 2a —r=AC, in fig. (2)2a+r=AC,
: AB c
in both a=—4— ; but in prop. 34 V Nae Sul.
I will conclude this paper with some remarks on (6) which pre-
sented itself in the differentiation of ‘ 1) of a Journal (for July).
It may be changed to (fit ak (G4 mele)
+ (a Gin 2 )e= =0 (a). Ifthe particle is free, that is, if it is not
supposed to move on any given line, or surface ; then a, y, z, are in-
dependent of each other; and their coefficients, or the quantities in
{a) within the parentheses must each =O, in order that (a) may be
ax aR d?y — a d?z 2F
mieiniely ime) Pence a= er are ag ee
which are the equations (g’) assumed at page 69, of the last Journal,
from the ordinary methods of decomposing forces. Again (6) can
vd? z+yd?y+zd*z
a
be changed to
xa? ‘d?y! +2'd?2z
al a sat gO ==0 (c’) should the particle be acted on
-_F'r=0(c) ; similarly I shall have
by any other force, F’ , analagous to F; a’, y’, 2’, being respectively
parallel to x, y, 2; their origin being at the centre of F’; also7’ is
the distance of the centre of F’ to the particle. Also I shall have
for another force F’”, an equation of the same form by accenting
x, y, &c. twice; &c. for F’” to any number of forces whatever.
In order to obtain the combined effect of F, F’, F”, &c. on the par-
ticle, I take the sum of the equations (c) &c. then I suppose the po-
sition of the particle to be varied infinitely little, but so as not to af-
GP o ial d?y d d?z diz!
fect F, F’, &c. Aa aya) L003 ooh a Ne. 5 7a? qe &e: 3 in oth-
er words, Iregard these quantities as constant in taking the variation of
d?x+d?x' ,
the sum of the equations. Hence I have ( fh aT mts ) 6x
Solution of a Problem in Fluxons. 333
ay 2y 2 2 / -
a = 3 ye d elds a bet For F'n 4
&c.=0(A); since ox, dx’, &c. are evidently equal to each other, as
also 6y=dy’=dy'/=Wce. the same may be said of dz, 62’, &c. Tnow
suppose the motion of the particle to be referred to three rectangu-
lar axes having their origin at any given point in space, these co-or-
dinates which I shall denote by the small capitals x, y, z, being re-
‘ d?x+d?2a/+&c.
spectively parallel to x, y, z; then Reale = the accelera-
d? d?y+d?
tion in the direction of x may be denoted by-j-sand di Te mee
d?y d?2 d22+t& d27z
ey a a and ix=dn, dv=dy, dz=dz5 by
2 2 2
substituting these values (A) becomes exes = el ie
+For+F’dr’+ &c.=0(B). Lhave supposed F to tend to dimin-
ish r, F’ to diminish 7’, &c. but should any force act from its origin
or tend to increase its distance from its origin, the variation of its dis-
tance must have the sign minus in (B), thus if F” tends to increase
r’ instead of +-F”6r” I shall have —F”0r” in the formula. The
formula (B) is the general formula of Dynamics in the case of the mo-
tion of one particle of matter. (See the Mec. Anal. of La Grange,
d?2
vol. J. page 251.) (B) can be changed to (22a) ox+
d? d2
a (S2+y) dy+ (ca +2) =0 (C) ;by taking the variation of 7,
expressed in terms of 2, y, 2, ae a W=V ov? ue 24 2/2 &c. then
y EF’
he, Bat &c.
putting the oe capitals X=
— &c. The formula (C) agrees with (f) given by La.
Place, are Cel. vol. 1, page 21.) If the particle is free, the
coefficients of 6x, dy, dz, must each =O, which gives ay
d?y
dt?
on any given line or surface, then by means of the equations of the
line or surface, we are to eliminate so many of the variations dz, Oy,
dz, as there are equations, and to put each of the coefficients of the
dz
sae Us ay, dea amy AS 0. But if the particle is supposed to move
334 Position of the Schistose Strata.
remaining variations =O, and there will arise equations, which to-
gether with the equations of condition, will be sufficient to find the
place of the particle at any given time.
Arr. VIIL—All primitive general strata, below granular quartz, are
cotemporaneous and schistose ; by Prof. A. Eaton.
PROF. SILLIMAN.
I have received letters from several emment geologists, since you
published my Geological Prodromus, all of which, express full satis-
faction on the subject of my five carboniferous formations, excepting
the primitive. ‘The generous sentiments expressed on this subject,
especially by Dr. Morton, who is pleased to call it a reformation im
geology, with which he seems to be generally pleased,* induces me
to trouble you with a concise statement of facts relative to primitive
general strata.
As consistency may be considered important, | will state, that in
the year 1818, I wrote an article, which is recorded in the MS. trans-
actions of the Troy Lyceum, in which I attempted to prove, that
there is not in New England, and probably not in North America, a
general stratum of Werner’s crystallme granite. This bemg a ques-
tion in “ matter of fact,” no proof can be urged but that which is de-
rived from simple inspection. Ihave carefully examined most of the
territory of the Northern States, and have not been able to discover
crystalline granite, granitic hornblende rock, or any other rock, geol-
ogically below granular quartz, which is not schistose and carbonifer-
ous. ‘The ranges of Spencer, and of Southampton, Mass. and of
the Highlands, N. Y. contain the most extensive alternating layers
or beds in the Northern States, of what has been called granite
by those who call the slaty kind gneiss. In ali these localities I can
see nothing more than subordinate strata, or beds, at most.
Deducting crystalline granite and granitic hornblende rock including
porphyry, nothing is left but schistose (slaty,) rocks, containing plum-
bago. ‘The primitive slates are the gneiss, (slaty granite,) the mica
slate, the hornblende slate, and the talcose slate. Plumbago (carbu-
ret of iron,) is found in all these rocks. It is true, that some of
* Dr. Morton objects to my tertiary formation
Position of the Schistose Strata. 335
these rocks in some localities contain but little plumbago. ‘The same
remark will apply to transition and secondary coal formations. For
example, the gneiss of Sturbridge, Mass. contains immense beds of
plumbago,—also the gneiss of the west side of Lake Champlain ;
though the gneiss of the same ranges contains little or none as we
proceed northerly or southerly. So the sécond graywacke of Penn-
sylvania contains beds of coal of vast extent; while the same con-
tinuous stratum contains minute beds only im Catskill Mountain. ~
‘That all the primitive schistose rocks are cotemporaneous, appears
from their extensive alternations and intermixtures. The following
series will be sufficient, at least to promote enquiry, if they do not
induce conviction. a
These alternations were carefully examined by Mr. Cortlandt
Van Rensselaer and myself, while on a geological tour from Man-
chester in Vermont, obliquely over to Boston, {a distance of about
one hundred and thirty miles,) in the month of June, 1829.
1. Slaty granite—2. Talcose slate—3. Hornblende rock—4. Mi-
ca-slate—5. Hornblende rock—6. Mica-slate, (transition argillite,}
—7. Talcose slate—8. Slaty granite—9. Hornblende rock—10.
Talcose slate—11. Hornblende rock—12. Mica-slate—13. Slaty
granite—14. Hornblende rock—15. 'Talcose slate—16. Hornblende
rock—17. Talcose slate, (transition argillite)—18. Talcose slate—
19. Slaty granite—20. 'Talcose slate—21. Hornblende rock, (tran~
sition argillite.)
Dr. E. Emmons mentions a remarkable locality, in proof of the
cotemporaneous character of these primitive rocks, in the town of
Chester, Mass. Here one of the general ranges of hornblende rock
seems to be subdivided, so as to alternate with mica-slate more than
twenty times within the distance of half a mile.
It is true that other rocks alternate at their approximating sides ;
but such extensive alternations are never observed among them.
When rocks alternate so extensively, we are bound to consider them
cotemporaneous ; consequently, ‘‘ according to the sound logic” of
geology, each stratum is a constituent of the same formation. I be-
lieve the expression, same formation, is applied to all strata which
appear to have been produced by the same cotemporaneously oper-
ating causes.
I hope to have the 2d part of the reports in readiness, together
vith the map, for the April number of the Journal.
Most respectfully yours. A.3E.
Rensselaer School, Troy, Noy. 2d, 1829.
336 On the Origin of Springs and Fountains.
Arr. 1IX.—On the Origin of Springs and Fountains; by Geo.
W. Lone.
TO THE EDITOR.
West Point, October 29th, 1829.
Sir—I submit to you, for the Journal of Science and Arts, a few
ideas on the subject of springs, and the discharge of water at the
earth’s surface by boring ; although it has often been discussed by
able philosophers; still some additional explanations may perhaps be
given by others.
Springs that flow spontaneously, are generally found on the sides
of hills, or in the neighborhood of them ; and often in such situations,
as not to be easily accounted for, and to be, at the same time, objects
of great curiosity. ‘The flow of water from the bowels of the earth,
by boring, excites still more wonder, as the cause appears more hid-
den from our comprehension. In all these cases, the hydrostatic
principle which causes the discharge of the water, must be the same ;
that is, the pressure of a column of water superior to the pressure
of the water raised ; and in the absence of any other active force to
cause this pressure, it follows that it must arise from a superior foun-
tain head. 'To account for these circumstances, which seem to in-
volve the whole subject of springs, will be the object of this paper.
The enquiry first leads the attention to the great amount of exhala-
tion, in the form of vapor, that is constantly going on from the interior
of the earth towards its surface, and which is dissipated in the atmos-
phere. This can be shewn experimentally, by placing a board or plat-
form horizontally on the ground, when the bottom surface will soon be-
come moist with the vapor that rises, and which would otherwise es-
cape into the atmosphere. A still more striking example may be
cited, to prove the amount of vapor that escapes from the earth into
the atmosphere. Springs that have their sources near the surface of
the ground, in periods of drought sometimes fail, and are observed to
flow again just before a storm. ‘This circumstance is accounted for
by the supposition that the change of the atmosphere from a dry to a
moist state, so far retards the escape of the vapor from the earth, as
to cause its collection, and to renew the supply of water for the
spring. From these facts it may be demonstrated that springs in
On the Origin of Springs and Fountains. 337
deep places and wells, receive their supply of water from the con-
densation of the vapor exhaled under the surface, and no farther
from rains, than just to allow of the interposition of strata, sufficient
to form an impediment to the escape of the vapor through the moist
surface of the ground. It may also be observed that the heaviest
rains seldom penetrate more than a few inches into the earth, especial-
ly on the sides of hills, where springs are the most numerous; and that
therefore the rains cannot supply them with water.
The force of capillary attraction may be thought to be the cause
of the supply of water in high lands; but if that is the case, it would
follow that wells or sprmgs from the interior would not be affected.
by droughts, the reverse of which is by sad experience yearly dem-
onstrated in different parts of the country. Jn the foregoing exam-
ples, to prove the reality of the subterranean exhalation and con-
densation of vapor, it is evident that hydrostatic principles have no
application ; but if capillary attraction has the power usually attrib-
uted to it, of raising water through the pores of the earth, many ap-
pearances would be expected that do not exist. Small islands and
banks of rivers would be saturated with water, and the earth would
be much more equally supplied in all its parts, than it now is.
The second object is, to show how the vapor exhalations are actu-
ally collected, to give a supply of water for springs; which is ex-
plained, from the structure of the crust of the earth, as it is found in
strata of rocks and various kinds of earths, some of which are porous,
and others, like the rocks, impenetrable to the rising vapor. The
mountains and hills have their regular formation of inclined strata,
which appear to be generally a continuation of those in the low coun-
tries adjoming them. ‘These impenetrable strata are sufficient to op-
pose the escape of the vapor, and convert it into water, which falls
into Cavities, or saturates the confined strata of porous earth under-
neath, where it may exist under a pressure, according to the differ-
ence of level of the highest part of the stratum, and the parts below.
This accounts for the fact, that when a’stratum of rock is penetrated,
the water sometimes rises in wells, to some feet above the rock. The
strata in hilly lands are irregular, and often so broken as to form nu-
merous Cavities, opening outwards, in which water is collected as
above, and is discharged in springs. ‘The interior of the hills may
also have extensive cavities, and strata of porous earth, into which
the greatest part of the water collected may pass, and form connex-
ions with distant places in low lands; thus affording a fountain head
Vou. XVIL—No. 2. 16
338 Review of Allen’s Mechanics.
higher than the surface of the ground in an extensive surrounding
country. Hence by sinking a shaft that may penetrate this stratum,
a flow of water would be obtained at the surface of the ground.
Another observation may be made with regard to the vapor exha-
lations from the earth. In the winter,* the earth receives no water
by rains, yet the surface of the ground, in cold latitudes, obtains
moisture sufficient to be frozen into a solid crust; and all springs and
wells give a full discharge of water. Rivers that are supplied by
springs, are also found to contain more water in winter than summer,
although nothing is received from the surface of the ground.
a
Art. X.—The science of Mechanics as applied to the present um-
provements in the useful arts in Europe, and in the United States :
adapted as a Manual for Mechanics and Manufacturers ; by
ZacHARIAH ALLEN. Providence, R. I. 1829.
(Communicated.}
Tuis is the first work of the kind, of domestic origin, that has been
put into the hands of our practical mechanics and manufacturers.
Some of the subjects contained in it, have appeared in separate trea-
tises and in periodical journals, but no American book has hitherto
been published, calculated to afford instruction in so many depart-
ments of a manufactory and workshop, as the one before us. Rob-
inson’s Mechanical Philosophy, and Brewster’s edition of Ferguson’s
Mechanics, published in England, can seldom be procured in this
country. Nicholson’s Operative Mechanic, and Gregory’s Mechanics,
republished in Philadelphia, have served as books of reference to our
millwrights and machinists, and in connexion with the Encyclope-
pia, have been their principal sources of information. These works,
however, contain a great amount of matter totally irrelevant to the
* The writer doubtless intends the winter of polar regions, as in the winters of the
temperate latitudes, rain is not an uncommon occurrence. A question will of course
arise as to the origin of the subterranean water, which affords the exhalations ; and
the writer intimates no opinion, whether it is ultimately derived from percolation,
from rains and waters upon the surface, which are thus ultimately, although, it may
be, variously and unequally distributed through the interior of the earth, or whether,
as some geologists suppose, there may be great subterranean reservoirs of water.
This, however, will not :militate against the author’s hypothesis, for from whatever
sources the water may be derived, it is fair to reason upon the formation and conden-
sation of its vapor.—ud.
Review of Allen’s Mechanics. 339
wants of American manufacturers, which enhances their price so
much, that the information wanted from them is not conveniently
available to most persons who need it. 'To the above list of authors,
may be added, ‘“ Buchanan on Millwork and other Machinery,” re-
cently republished in this country, which, though valuable so far as it
goes, is not sufficiently comprehensive. A work was, therefore, much
wanted, from the pen of an experienced American manufacturer,
competent to the undertaking, who would avail himself of whatever
is applicable from the above, and other similar publications, and en-
rich it with his own reflexions and observations, and adapt the whole
to the wants and circumstances of our own establishments, and to
the capacities of those who are employed in them.
- Among the advantages of a work of this kind, may be mentioned
the saving of expense it may occasion from abortive experiments.
No people employed in the useful arts are so liable to engage in
these, as the mechanics and manufacturers of this country; and al-
though the result has, on the whole, been highly favorable to our gen-
eral prosperity at home, and to our reputation abroad, yet it must be
conceded that an immense amount of property has been squandered
in unavailing experiments, by individuals ‘“ possessing zeal without
knowledge,” who were either ignorant of the theory of mechanical
powers, or destitute of experience in the application. We have au-
thority for saying, that of all the inventions that have been patented
in this country, “one third only are considered as either useful, or
directly applicable to some practical purpose ; another third of them
are merely exhibitions of ingenuity, useful only, as displays of the in-
ventive faculties of our countrymen, and the remaining third are use~
less ;”* and yet the expense of all these collectively is small, com-
pared with what has been lavished by individuals upon useless ex-
periments, that have never been made known to the public. ‘“ There
is probably,” as Mr. Allen justly remarks, ‘no mode in which a
greater amount of property may be more rapidly dissipated and
wasted, except perhaps at the gaming table, than in the construction
and management of mills and machinery, by those incompetent to the
task, from a want of proper practical knowledge. Every false cal-
culation is attended with costly expenditures, and loss of labor in
manufacturing operations. At some of the American mills, which
have been erected only a few years, various kinds of machinery,
od
* Journal of the Patent Office.
340 Review of Allen’s Mechanics.
abandoned after a course of unsuccessful experiments, may be found ~
collected as rubbish, forming a sort of museum of injudicious and
abortive contrivances.” =)
lo Gs
ty
Vou. XVIL—No. 2.
346 Chenucal Contributions.
The beak of a broken retort, of a suitable size, is ground with em-
ery into one of the necks, till itis found to be perfectly air tight, and
reaches very nearly to the bettom of the bottle. The part project-
ing above, is cut off with a hot iron, at a small distance above the
nozle.* ‘The lower end is then closed by means of the blow-pipe ;
or when it is so thick as to render this method inconvenient, it is
filled with a glass plug ; the lower or round part of the siopper of a
tincture bottle or retort, (and such articles are apt to accumulate in ey-
ery laboratory) of a suitable size, is cemented with sealing wax to the
end of a glass or wooden rod, and ground into the tube with emery,
till it fits it accurately, and is nearly at its lower extremity, (4, fig. 1.)
the grinding being from the larger towards the smaller part, that
there may be no danger of its falling out. A hole is now cut with a
round file in its side, (an operation that is soon finished ; and if the
file be kept wet during the process, it will answer a great number of
times) so as to be just within the bottle, when the tube is put into its
place, (a, fig. 1.) All that is now necessary, is to pass the stem of
a small funnel—the stem itself being five or six inches long, through
a cork : insert the cork into the upper end of the tube, and intro-
duce the tube into the nozle of the bottle.t The funnel itself may
* Mr. Faraday has devoted four pages of his recent work on chemical manipulation,
to an account of the methods of cutting glass with a hotiron. His directions are val-
uable to the young chemist, because they are drawn out into that minuteness of de-
tail, which alone can make them of any use; and yet he has omitted one precau-
tion, which I have found important in cutting large tubes, vials, ete.—that of not
making the iron too hot. It should be heated to a redness barely visible in day light.
If in this state, it be caused to vibrate a few times around the tube, along the track
where the division is to be made, and a drop of water put upon the spot, a simple
fracture, without side flaws, will be obtained. By pursuing this method, especially
if a trace be made beforehand, with a file, a long tube may be cut up into sound,
well defined, and narrow rings, without a single instance of failure.
+ Instead of making the cork apply itself directly to the side of the orifice that is to
be closed, I have found it of advantage, not only in this case, but in many other sim-
ilar ones—in fitting in the tube that is to convey away the gas from the other nozle ;
for instance, to cut a glass jacket for the cork which is made to enter by grinding.
A large tapering glass tube, suchas the beak of a retort, is cut with a hot iron, at
a point where it is not greater—where it is perhaps a little Jess, than the orifice to
| be closed; and the larger part is cut a second time, at the distance
of two or three inches from its smaller end; forming, in fact, a ta-
pering tube, two or three inches in length, and having the diame-
= ter of its larger end a little greater than that of the orifice. This is
easily ground into the opening, so as to fit it accurately, and make
it perfectly tight. A cork, considerably shorter than the tube, is fit-
Chemical Contributions. 347
either be manufactured by grinding two or three glass rings together,
so that they will fit accurately one within the other, or obtained from
the glass-house.
The mode of operation is obvious. We have a quantity of gran-
ulated zinc in the bottle. The dilute-acid is poured into the funnel,
passes down, and rises in the tube, till it reaches the orifice (a.) ;
when it flows over into the interior of the bottle. ‘The gas can es-
cape through this nozle only by depressing the fluid in the tube quite
to its bottom, and thus creating a column in the stem of the funnel
five or six inches in height.
The advantages of this construction are, 1. Its cheapness and sim-
plicity ; it is what every chemist can make for himself. 2. ‘There is
ted into it, so as to occupy its middle part, and leave a vacant space at both ends; is
bored, and has the conducting tube passed through it, in the usual way. There is
then on each side of the cork, a vacant chamber, into which any kind of Jute or ce-
ment, such as the fat lute, made by beating fine clay and drying oil together, may
be introduced under such circumstances, as to retain its place with great firmness,
and at the same time be perfectly impervious to any gas or vapor.
I am thus minute, because I do not recollect to have seen this mode of fitting up
gas-bottles, noticed in any of the books, and I have found it very convenient. In-
deed, for making the four gases specified above, hydrogen, nitric oxide, carbonic
acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen, I do not believe it possible to contrive any ar-
rangement better than that here proposed. A two-necked bottle, standing upon a
shelf made to receive it, by the side of the pneumatic cistern, with the substitute for
Welther’s tube, here described, in one. of the nozles, and the glass jacket, holding
the cork and conducting tube, ground into the other. The solid materials are read-
ily introduced, and the resulting liquid as easily withdrawn: the acid is added as
there is occasion for it: not a particle of gas can escape, except along the conduct-
ing tube; and finally, the apparatus is not one which we shall be likely to break.
If there be occasion to shew the absorption of the gas by a liquid; as of the nitric
oxide by the green sulphate of iron, there may be two tubes, with their corks and
glass jackets fitting the same orifice; one for delivering the gas at the pneumatic
cistern, and the other bent twice at right angles, for passing it through the liquid ;
one of which may be exchanged for the other ina moment. The stem of the fun-
nel of the safety tube, must however be made a little longer in this case, than where
the object is merely to collect the gas in jars. It will require the labor of half a day
to fit up a bottle in this way, but when once finished, it may be used for any length -
of time.
The method of grinding, which is involved in this mode of fitting up apparatus,
has so many advantages, that it seems strange it is not more strongly recommended
in the books, and more frequently employed. We can in many cases make a close
joint in this way, in as little time as it would take to fit in a cork, and where the sur-
faces in contact are not wide enough to resist a considerable pressure of a gas that is:
endeavoring to escape; a very minute quantity of lute pressed down between them,
will make all perfectly close and secure.
348 | Chemical Contributions.
little or no danger of breaking it, when connecting it with other pie-
ces of apparatus. 3. That whereas Welther’s tube projects far
above the apparatus to which it is attached, and is constantly in the
way, and in danger of being broken on that account: thas is included
within, without however at all interfering with, or preventing the suc-
cess of the process that is going on 3 or contaminating the substances
that are there. In the case of hydrogen, it is not necessary that the
funnel should rise at all above the nozle of the bottle. It has also an
advantage in procuring the gases, over a simple funnel with a long
stem, reaching very nearly to the bottom of the bottle, and dipping
into the fluid that is introduced, such as is recommended by Orfila,
and figured in his chemistry—because with that some of the gas gen-
erated will escape into the room. If any chemist should dislike the
trouble of making the instrument here proposed, himself, it is obvious
that the glass blower may take the business off his hands; that the
tube may in fact be made so as to constitute but a single piece, and
ground into the bottle, before it comes to the laboratory. |
When a two necked bottle is not at hand, a common gas bottle with
an orifice an inch across, will answer the purpose very well. ‘Two
tubes pass through the same cork as is represented in Fig. 5, (the
cork itself being inclosed in a glass jacket that is ground into the bot-
tle, after the manner described in the note,) one for the conveyance
of the gas that is generated—the other receiving a small funnel into
its top, and entering itself through a cork into a test tube, having a
hole cut in its side and performing the office of a tube of safety.
_ A tube of the kind here proposed, the funnel only being omitted,
may be ground into the middle orifice of a set of Woulfe’s bottles, or
into the tubulure of the retort, when the gas that is passing through
them is generated and answers every purpose of Welther’s tube of
safety, besides having some advantages over it. For it is evident that
it need not project at all above the apparatus with which it is con-
nected, and that if the diameter of the interior tube be small with
regard to that of the exterior, (and it is quite unnecessary that it
should be large,) the included gas may be safely kept under a pres-
sure of some half dozen inches of mercury, and the absorption in this
way promoted. Of its other applications I will notice but a single
one. Dr. Marcet’s fine instrument for experiments on high steam, fig-
ured in the supplementary volume of the Philadelphia edition of Hen-
ry’s chemistry, and ip Brande, is now very well made in New York,
and upon the plan there exhibited, except that instead of two hemis-
.
Chemical Contributions. 349
pherical shells bound together by flanches, it is a hollow sphere in a
single piece. ‘The only defect attaching to it seems to be that the
mercury is applied directly to the surface of the brass, and although
that surface is not of such a nature that any great action between the
two is to be apprehended, there is danger that there will be some, and
that the screw or some other part of the instrument that is brought
into contact with the mercury willbe corroded. Instead then of pour-
ing the mercury directly upon the brass, a neater and better way will
evidently be to put itinto a tube of glass, or iron, having a hole cut in
its side. The long ascending tube will dip into this, the elastic force
of the steam be exerted through the opening, and the usual results
obtained.
On the preparation of the substance commonly called phosphuret
of lime.
Three or four different methods of procuring phosphuretted hy-
drogen are given in the books. 1. By means of phosphuret of lime
which is to be thrown in small lumps into water acidulated with mu-
riatic acid. 2. By pouring sulphuric acid into water containing phos-
phorus, cut into small pieces and finely granulated zinc. 3. By drop-
ping phosphorus into a retort previously filled with a hot solution of
pure potassa. ‘To secure the retort from fracture, Dr. Coxe recom-
mends that it be fastened to a triangular block of wood. It appears
impossible that any one who has tried the three methods and compared
them, should consent to employ either of the two last, if he has any
tolerable means of supplying himself with the phosphuret of lime.
Unless other persons have succeeded better than myself in regard to
scalding their fingers with the hot liquid—breaking their retorts, and
especially as to the quality of the gas procured by the method of Dr.
Coxe, it must give them little satisfaction. That it should have been.
adhered to so long, is I presume to be attributed to the want of
some good method of procuring the phosphuret.
We. are directed to take a green glass or porcelain tube closed at
one end, eighteen inches long, and an inch in diameter; to cover it
carefully with clay lute containing a little borax; put an ounce of
phosphorus into its lower end ; fill it with small pieces of quicklime ;
place it in a furnace, with the end containing the phosphorus protru-
ding ; heat it to redness, and then draw the cool part into the fire so
that the phosphorus may be volatilized, and pass over the heated lime.
Instead of the tube I employ two Hessian crucibles, some of the
inner members of a nest. The larger of the two has a hole bored
350 Chemical Contributions.
through its bottom, and a test tube of a suitable size luted in with
clay. ‘The phosphorus is put into the test tube; the top of which
is loosely covered with a piece of broken crucible to prevent the
small pieces of quicklime from running down into it.* The lime is
then put in so as to fill this crucible and partly fill the upper smaller
one, which serves as a cover to it, and is luted on with some fine clay
a little moistened, (fig. 6.) The cover has also a small hole in its
top to afford an outlet for the air or volatilized phosphorus if there
should be any occasion for it. ‘The whole is now placed upon the
grate of a furnace, with the test tube projecting through and appearing
below, and a charcoal fire kindled around it. The phosphorus may
be kept cool if it should be thought necessary, by making the tube
dip into the water, contained in a tin cup attached to the end of a
stick. When the crucibles and their contents are thoroughly red
hot, a chafing dish is substituted for the tin cup, and the phosphorus
rising in vapor produces the desired change. The phosphuret should
be preserved in a sealed vial. The same crucibles may be used a
number of times.
The only purpose for which phosphuretted hydrogen is prepared
is for the exhibition of its property of spontaneous combustion. A
pleasing mode of exhibiting this is to immerse wholly the retort or
gas bottle in which it is generated in the water of the pneumatic cis-
tern. The gas rising at a distance from any object from which it may
be supposed to have been derived, and taking fire at the surface of
the water, presents a miniature representation of what the appearance
may have been when the Azores or Sandwich Islands were about to
emerge from the bottom of the ocean.
It is the business of the chemist to ascertain the proper method of
preparing this gas; its composition; upon what its extreme combus-
ubility depends, etc. Will some one of the mathematical correspond-
ents of the Journal, investigate the nature of the forces exerted during
its combustion, and show how they result in the production of the
beautiful coronet which succeeds ; and why a rotatory motion around
the axis of the coronet is impressed upon the filaments of watery
vapor, and phosphoric acid of which it is composed ?
* The crystalline limestones do not answer well for the preparation of the quicklime
that is to be used, there is nothing better for this purpose than a piece of chalk.
On a Portable Hygrometer. 851
Arr. XII—On a Portable Hygrometer ; by A. A. Haves.
By presenting the meteorologist and chemist, with his beautiful
and truly philosophical instrument, Mr. Daniell has left little chance
for improvement, so far as delicacy and accuracy of indication are
concerned ; and were it less fragile, perhaps no other would be desired,
by those who experiment on aqueous vapor. As it is in mountain-
ous countries, or on the tops of mountains, that the results of experi-
ments on aqueous vapor, are of most value; from the phenomena
being presented in a more simple form, and divested in part, of the
attendant circumstances which modify them; an instrument adapted
to such purposes, should be as portable as is consistent with delicacy.
The simple apparatus devised Mr. Dalton, and used in those decisive
experiments, which have so intimately connected his name with the
history of meteorological science, is sufficient to enable us to deter-
mine the temperature of the aqueous vapor in the atmosphere, and
by a reduction in the size, and a slight modification of form, an instru-
ment is obtained, which is well fitted for general meteorological pur-
poses. Instead of the cylindrical jar used by Mr. Dalton, I substi-
tute a thin brass tube, the diameter of which, is one half greater than
that of the cylindrical, or spherical bulb of the thermometer, which
forms a part of the instrument; its length is one inch and a half; it
is closed at one end, the other having a screw cut on the inside, to
receive a screw cap and a rim, or projection below, to allow the disk
of caoutchouc which precedes the cap, to be compressed, forming a
convenient and efficient ‘stuffing box.” At that end of the tube
which fits the cap, a narrow ferule of polished platina, or steel is sold-
ered to the outside of the tube, and one half of its length from the
other end, is covered with soft cotton thread. The scale of the ther-
mometer, graduated from 120° to —30°, terminates about one inch
from the bulb. At this extremity, a screw cap, and disk of caout-
chouc, both pierced for the tube of the thermometer, are firmly at-
tached. When not in use, the tube is closed by a cork, and packs
in the case, by the side of the thermometer and phial for containing
ether.
In all aerological experiments, the thermometer is used for deter-
ming the temperature of the atmosphere, carefully avoiding those
sources of error, which render this a delicate operation. For deter-
mining the dew point, so much alcohol is put into the tube, as is ne-
352 On a Portable Hygrometer.
cessary to nearly fill it when the bulb occupies its axis ; this quanti-
ty once adjusted, serves for many subsequent experiments; the tube
is then screwed to the cap, and the instrument being held in an in-
clined position, the thread on the inferior part of the tube is wetted
with ether ; in a few moments dew is deposited on the platina ferule,—
the instrument is then agitated, to ensure an uniform distribution of
heat within the tube ; the dew begins to disappear,—the temperature
then indicated by the thermometer is carefully noted. In the section-
al representation of the instrument, A is the brass tube with its cotton
envelope, B C the platina or steel ferule, D disk of caoutchoue and
screw cap, E the thermometer.
Another form of the instrument, more elegant and dite and fitted
only for determining the temperature of vapor of low tension, has
beenused. S No. 2, represents a black glass tube, of the same capaci-
ty compared with the bulb as the brass tube ; itis attached by fusion to
the stem at R, and after being filled in part with alcohol, is hermeti-
cally sealed at O. ‘The upper part of the black tube is the deposit-
ing surface, the lower being covered with thread ; ; the same mode of
experimenting as in the ae case.
For making corrections in barometrical
experiments, this instrument is peculiar-
ly fitted, the ‘* Detached Thermometer”
serving to determine the temperature of |.
the air and tension of atmospheric vapor; | 34
the experimental result is substituted forp=. te
that deduced by calculation from the gen-
eral formula of LaPlace. Some fects
recently obtained by my friend, Dr. Ed.
E. Phelps, show the great importance of
making the experimental, rather than the
calculated correction. |
The small size of the instrument, ena-
bles us to use a thermometer with large
divisions, the dew point can be found to a fraction of a degree; the
quantity of matter to be refrigerated being small, a reduction of tem-
perature is speedily effected, and only an inconsiderable quantity of
ether is required.
Roxbury Laboratory, 30th Noy. 1829.
Mineralogical Journey. 353
Art. XTI.—Mineralogical Journey in the northern parts of New
_ England, by Cuartes Urwam Sueparp; Assistant to the Pro-
fa of Chemistry and Mineralogy, and Teen er on Botany in
Yale College.
In the months of September and October last, Dr. Heermann of
New Orleans, and myself, made an excursion into Vermont, New
Hampshire, and Maine, in company with Prof. Hitchcock of Amherst
College, and Mr. Edward Emerson of Boston; the two latter gen-
tlemen were with us only as far north as Acworth, N. H. At the re-
quest of Prof. H. and Dr. Heermann, I shall give in the succeed-
ing pages some account of those minerals which gave us particular
interest upon the route.
1. Marlborough and New Fane Minerals.
At Marlborough, Vt. under the guidance of Rev. Mr. Newton,
we visited the soapstone quarry, which ae ae remarkably dis-
tinct crystals of Bitter spar, and Octahedral on ore wn Chlorite ;
and the localities of Chrysoprase and Actynolité i in the border of
_ New Fane. The Chrysoprase of this spot, discovered by Gen. Field,
has been known for many years. It exists in narrow and frequently
interrupted seams traversing Serpentine, accompanied by delicate
druses of Quartz, and small quantities of Pimelite and Asbestus. Itis
considerably inferior to the Chrysoprase of Silesia, in the beauty of
its fracture and translucency, though sometimes vying with it in color.
We were more interested in the small crystals of Quartz, tinged
throughout of a deep apple green color, by the same coloring matter
that tinges the chalcedony in the Chrysoprase, and the clay in the
Pimelite. These, regularly terminated at both extremities, like the
Compostella Hyacinths, were often found variously attached to each
other, filling up small seams and cavities in the Asbestus and Serpen-
tine, which when broken open, presented surfaces of several square
inches of unusual beauty. ‘This is the only known locality, furnish-
ing this variety of Quartz. ‘The Actynolite, which is situated at a
distance of four or five miles from the Chrysoprase, is easily obtain-
ed, and closely resembles the same mineral from many other places.
It is the more beautiful from the nearly white color of the Talc in
which it is imbedded. ,
We did not visit the deposit of Garnets in Chlorite slate a lit-
tle north of the village of New Fane. But we had an opportunity of
Vou. XVIT.—No. 2. 18
354 Mineralogical Journey.
observing some fine crystals, remarkable for their dimensions and
perfection of form, in the cabinet of Gen. Field. We were inform-
ed that they are quite abundant and easily procured.
On our road from New Fane to Bellows Falls, we stopped at the
lime-kiln between ‘Townsend and Athens, to procure specimens of
the granular Actynolite and Epidote, which occur here intermingled
with the limestone. ‘The former substance differs but slightly from
the variety of Hornblende, called Pargasite, which exists at Boxbo-
rough, Mass. ‘The crystals, which are of a bottle green color, are
more minute and less rounded in their shape. The Epidote is but
imperfectly crystallized, and at first view, from its color, is liable to be
mistaken for Idocrase, on which account, merely, is it worthy of the
attention of the mineralogist.
2. Acworth Minerals.
In approaching the locality of Beryls in Acworth, N. H. from the
west, the mineralogist recognizes for some distance, those peculiar
features in the scenery which indicate to him the neighborhood of in-
teresting minerals. ‘The shape of the hills becomes less rounded and
heavy ; vegetation begins to be interrupted upon their surfaces; and
large masses of a lighter colored rock are seen breaking through their
sides, and sometimes crowning their summits. In fine, he discovers
at a glance, that the gneiss which before has been the prevailing rock,
is here greatly interrupted and broken by the shooting up of power-
ful veins of granite.
The mountain, as it is called, upon which the Beryls occur, is
comparatively isolated, and rises very abruptly to the elevation of,
perhaps, 300 feet.* Its western side, from its steepness, presents
much uncovered rock, which toward the base consists of gneiss, inter-
rupted by granite veins, and is strewed over in several places with large
blocks of these rocks, piled in confusion upon each other. A road
passes directly along at the base of the mountain, upon this side.
Leaving the road as we approached the northern extremity of the
elevation, we ascended gradually by a circuitous path through the
* The locality in question is situated upon the land of Mr. Williams, who lives
near by. As there is no public house in the neighborhood, persons visiting this spot
may be recommended to take up their residence, while there, with Mr. W. whom
they will find very willing to afford them every accommodation in his power. The
mineralogist will do well also, if he approaches the place by the road from Bellows
Falls, to call upon Mr. Marsh Chase, and Mr. Francis G. Drew, at Drewsville, as
both these gentlemen are cultivators of mineralogy, and will be able to furnish some
further directions which may prove useful, in exploring the minerals of their vicinity.
Mineralogical Journey. 354
edge of a wood to the distance of forty or fifty rods, when we began
to encounter the principal granite vein of the mountain. At first, it
is bare only in patches of a few square feet, and consists mostly of
Quartz, of a rose colored tinge; a few rods farther, we came to a
mural front, formed by the sudden uprising of the vein, in the side of
which, covering an area of perhaps ten or twelve square feet, we dis-
covered the deposit of Beryls, of which we were in search. From
this, to the top of the mountain, (one hundred and fifty feet, perhaps,
higher up,) and some distance down its southern declivity, the vein
continues for the most part uncovered by soil, and several rods in
width. It is protruded quite free from the intersected strata, which
it overhangs, in some places towards the west, in a manner highly pic-
turesque. ‘The geological relations of the rocks are here exceed-
ingly interesting ; but as they were particularly studied by Prof.
Hitchcock with the express view of connecting them with a series
of similar observations upon granite veins elsewhere, and which it is
to be hoped, he will ere long give to the public, I shall take no fur-
ther notice of them on the present occasion. ‘The granite is coarse
grained in the highest sense of the expression ; the Quartz often con-
stituting many square yards without any foreign intermixture; while
the Feldspar exists in ill-defined crystals of extraordinary dimen-
sions, and the Mica, also, in very large plates. The Quartz is of a
rose color in numerous spots throughout the vein, and the Beryls,
though mostly confined to the spot indicated above, are yet to be met
with, occasionally, the whole way up the mountain.
To return to the cluster of Beryls first mentioned, we here found
a number still in view, and impressions in the Quartz from whence
others had been detached. The principal part of a crystal of
great size, situated high up in the ledge, we were at the pains of
measuring, though from its mutilated condition, we were prevent-
ed from attempting its disengagement. ‘The horizontal diameter of
one of its lateral planes was eight and a half inches, and the length of
the crystal, inferrmg from the portion still-remaining and the cavity
formed by the part removed, was twenty two inches. It is possess-
ed of a considerable degree of translucency, and is of a bluish green
color, free from stains. ‘The first blast we caused to be made, how-
ever, developed a crystal still more remarkable in point of size and
general perfection of figure. It occupied a vertical position, and was
uncovered upon its upper terminal, and three of its lateral planes ;
the breadth of its lateral faces was five and a half inches, and their
—
396 Mineralogical Journey.
length four feet. Its color was a clean, bluish green for the upper
three feet of its length, passing into a dull green and yellow at the
lower extremity. ‘The faces possessed a considerable polish, and
were quite free from longitudinal striae. A slight irregularity was ob-
served on a near inspection. ‘Lhe prism had suffered from those ac-
cidents which, among strata, are denominated slips ; the effect of which
had been to give its axis a slightly curvilinear direction. Between
the sections which had thus been made across the crystal, thin films
or layers of quartz had been interposed. ‘This peculiarity of struc-
ture, it deserves to be mentioned, is common to the larger beryls of
this locality ; and it may be attributed, possibly, to the circumstances
under which the rock forming their bed came into its present situa-
tion. Unfortunately, in attempting to free the sides still engaged, by
means of a charge of powder in the neighborhood, the concussion
produced was so great, as to shiver this noble crystal into fragments,
so small as not to allow of its being afterwards set upagain. One foot of
the base, however, came out nearly entire, which is in my possession.
Its weight is fifty nine and a half pounds, thus giving for the entire
crystal the weight of two hundred and thirty eght pounds.* I have
been the more minute in my account of the above crystal, from
the belief that it is the largest hitherto noticed, notwithstanding
the testimony of Theophrastus, who mentions having seen one in a
temple in Egypt, measuring four cubits in length by three in breadth,
and an obelisk of the same gem, forty feet high: both of which are
justly conceived, at the present time, to have been masses either of
Verd Antique or Porphyry ; since the early Greek writers are known °
to have called almost every green stone by the name of Emerald.
Two other Beryls, of large dimensions, were also brought to light
by the blast which threw down the one just described; and there
can be no doubt that other crystals of a similar size are distributed
through the rock, at pretty uniform distances, as the Feldspar here,
seems to be replaced almost entirely by Beryl; which becomes, so
to speak, the equivalent of that mineral, in the composition of the
granite. A few feet below the spot, affording the larger crystals,
Feldspar begins to preponderate as an ingredient in the rock, the
Beryls diminish in size as well as regularity, and present for
the most part a yellowish tinge, sometimes passing into a deep
* Allowing 14 p. c. for the proportion in which the glucine existsin the Beryl, we
have 33 pounds of that rare earth in this crystal.
Mineralogical Journey. 358
wax yellow color. The smallest of these crystals, which are less
than an inch in diameter, are occasionally regular, and nearly trans-
parent ; while the larger ones are extremely irregular, consisting of
interlaced and contorted prisms, with but one or two polished faces,
and these much channelled.
We were scarcely less interested with a crystallized Mica, which
we found here, than with the Beryls. It exists in considerable
abundance in the immediate neighborhood of the Beryls, and the
same blasts which serve to lay open the one, will also develope the
other. ‘The form of the crystals is that of the six-sided table, the
Mica prismatique of Haiiy. ‘They occur thickly implanted upon veins
of a white, massive, and nearly compact Feldspar, adhering by one
or two sides of the prism, and shooting into the Quartz. The great-
er portion of the envelopmg Quartz, is easily removed by means of a
light hammer and pick, leaving the Mica firmly attached to the Feld-
spar, with its smooth and polished crystals pointing outwards. The
tables are seldom much above one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and
vary in width from half an inch to an inch anda half. They are less
transparent in the direction of the axis, than in a line perpendicular
to it; and possess the curious property of presenting different col-
ors when viewed in these directions, being liver-brown in the first,
and olive-green in the second. The well defined characters of
these crystals, and the elegant manner in which they are disposed
upon the feldspar, give this locality a decided superiority over any
other hitherto discovered in the United States; and will, I have no
doubt, cause it to be much frequented by mineralogists.
The Rose Quartz, though exceedingly abundant, we did not
cause to be explored to any extent. ‘The rose tint is delicate, though
not intense. It has however too much of the fracture of common
quartz, to render it deserving of much attention.
I shall conclude my account of the Acworth minerals, by the no-
tice of Columbite. In the cabinet of Mr. Gallup, of Woodstock,
Vt. we had the pleasure of being presented with a very unusual crys-
tal of this mineral, still rare, though found in several places. It had
been in the possession of Mr. G. for some time ; and was discovered
by him along with two other similar crystals, one of which also, he
showed us afterwards at Hanover, and the other he informed us was
in the hands of Prof. Hale, of Dartmouth College. Unfortunately,
Mr. G. could recollect nothing precise, either with regard to the par-
ticular place where he procured them, or, as to the abundance or
358 Mineralogical Journey.
scarcity in which they exist. From the accompanying minerals,
(which were black ‘Tourmaline and Mica,) I was led to infer that
they might have come from one of the high ledges, situated not far
from the Beryl mountain, in a south-easterly direction, as I there ob-
served several veins of black Tourmaline. 'The most perfect of the
two crystals which I saw, Mr. G. was obliging enough to permit me
to take along with me to New Haven, for the purpose of submitting
its angles to gonicmetrical admeasurement.
It is a double crystal, the prisms coinciding upon the broad lateral
planes, parallel to the prismatic axis, and presenting the re-entering
and salient angles, as usual in such crystals. In color, lustre, &e. it
resembles other crystals of the same substance. Its form, so far as
it is perfect, will be perceived from the subjoined figure. It weighs
2035 grs. ‘Troy, equal to 44 oz. of this standard. As respects di-
mensions, therefore, it is in full keeping with the beryls above de-
scribed. ‘The other crystal which I saw, was but little inferior in
- size, though less perfect as a crystal. It is much to be desired, that
a knowledge of the locality may be recovered, as it promises from
these specimens, to furnish us with an abundant supply of this hith-
erto scarce substance.
Fig. 1.
Inclination of
Biontie wi yeoukes : 2 ie eos
EOE EE RO RN a MER ot ATS TBO
Noncommercial ee Ta oO
PE OMsO ease ues a atone Ae een LAO
Th COLOUR es HOR Pe, ARN omeRRMeN aS £41
CLOW, Wis ion cookin Vreelany AIS
POMC ROE NRT D2 Stal ATS
3. Vermont Zircon.
The very interesting mineral I am now about to describe was not
procured upon our journey ; but as its locality is not very remote
from the region we visited, it will not, I am persuaded, be misplaced
to connect my account of it with the present memoir.
The specimens described, were forwarded last autumn in a case
of Vermont minerals from Prof. W. C. Fowler of Middlebury col-
Mineralogical Journey. 359
lege to Prof. Silliman and myself. It did not, however, receive par-
ticular attention until recently ; when we had the pleasure of finding
it to contain, along with other things, two or three pieces of an appa-
rently sienitic rock, filled with beautifully distinct and nearly transpa-
rent crystals of Zircon, together with a small box containing a num-
ber of loose crystals of the same substance. The majority of them
are regularly terminated at one or both extremities. In size, they
vary from one inch in length down to a quarter of an inch, and in
diameter, from one eighth to one sixteenth of an inch. ‘Their faces
are nearly all equally perfect as respects their evenness, and are pos-
sessed of a brilliant and somewhat adamantine lustre. In color, they
are uniformly of a reddish brown, not sufficiently bright to bring them
under the denomination of Hyacinths, from which they differ, more-
over, in the character of their modifications, as will be seen from a
view of the annexed figures. They approach in their general as-
pect, nearer to the variety of this mineral from Frederiksvarn in Nor-
way; though they are not precisely identical with the crystals from
that place as respects their form. Fig. 2 is the Zircon plagiedre of
Haity, and fig. 3, the Z. binotriwnitaire, of the same mineralogist.
These are the only forms I could observe among the specimens in
my hands. The former of them is said to exist among the erystals
of Ceylon, while the latter has not before been known to oceur ex-
cept at Trenton, N. J. where it was formerly found in a granite ap-
proaching in character to gneiss.
I said that the gangue of the Zircon was apparently a sienitic rock :
such I am sure it would be pronounced in hand specimens seen at a
little distance. When viewed nearer by, however, the black lamellar
particles interspersed among the Feldspar and Quartz, are discovered
tobe Magnetic Iron ore. Notwithstanding the absence of Horn-
blende which exists in the Norway rock, I am disposed to call it the
true zircon sienite. ‘The Feldspar is of a greyish color often tinged
by the oxide of iron, and exists in small angular masses in nearly
equal proportion with the Quartz.
As there were no tickets accompanying the specimens, I imme-
diately addressed a letter to Prof. Fowler, from whom I learned the
following facts. ‘The specimens forwarded were detached from a
bowlder weighing about one hundred pounds, found one mile north
of Middlebury college, Vt. This mass is now in the possession of
Prof. F. The same rock occurs scattered over the surface in the
vicinity ; but ‘its proper geological position is upon the opposite side
360 Mineralogical Journey.
of Lake Champlain.” The foregoing is all the information we are
at:present in possession of, as respects the locality and geological
relations of the rock in question. From the known transition char-
acter of that neighborhood, it is very possible that this zircon sienite
may repose upon transition limestone ; in the same manner as the anal-
ogous rock does in Norway, according to the observations of MM.
Hausmann and Léopold de Buch.
The following measurements were obtained by the aid of the Re-
flective Goniometer.
Inclination of
P’ on P” over the summit Symes 123° 25/
Pon P” : : : ¢ 95 45
or Pont : : : : 132 30
P’ or P” on x : ; . ' 150 15
xon x sii A ‘ : : 147, 12
THOMYL, . : ‘ : 5 133 4
lon l é ; ; ; 5 90
lon @ : : q : : 143 30
lon s 1350904
s on @ 148 15
(To be continued.)
Philosophical Transactions, &c- 361
Arr. XIV. —Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
London, for the year 1829: Part Ast, London, R. Taytor, 1829,
Ato. pp. 238.
Tuer Royal Society of London, has lost within a short period, three
of its most distinguished members. ‘These are Dr. Hyde Wollaston,
Sir Humphry Davy, and Dr. Young. The first unquestionably held
the highest place among the scientific men of England; the second,
who was for several years President of the Society, is too well known
for his important chemical discoveries, to require more than the men-
tion of his name, to recall all his merits to the recollection of our
readers ; while the third was long the only person whom Great Britain
could hold up by the side of the continental school of mathematicians,
and who, if perhaps eclipsed of late by younger men in this depart-
ment of science, is still worthy of remembrance, in consequence of
his having kept up the succession of the pure sciences, at a time when
the narrow policy of Banks has almost caused their total oblivion.
The mathematical attamments of Young, were not, however, his sole
merits ; literature is indebted to him for the first important step in the
study of hieroglyphics, and from him Champollion was led to that in-
strument of discovery by which he promises to throw the most impor-
tant light upon the history of our race.
Wollaston and Davy have occupied a great space in many previous
volumes of the Philosophical Transactions, and the part which is be-
fore us, contains several papers of the former, that, from their date of
publication, may be called posthumous, together with one by the lat-
ter. Ithas been urged as a reproach against men of science, that
they seldom apply their knowledge to the advancement of valuable
practical ends, but content with the simple pleasure of their research-
es, leave their uses out of view, and abandon the profit of their dis-
coveries to be reaped by those of less knowledge, but of more perse-
verance. Such was not the case with Wollaston, who not only made
many important discoveries in science, but in its application to the
arts accumulated what, even in England, was an ample competence,
and in our country would be considered a large fortune.
The first paper in the half volume before us contains a complete
account of Wollaston’s method of rendering Platina malleable, a pro-
cess founded on the most nice and, delicate chemical investigations,
and which not only secured a fortune to the inventor, but has re-
dounded in innumerable ways to the interests of science.
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. 19
362 Philosophical Transactions of the
The-second paper is also by the same author, and contains an ac-
count of a microscopic doublet. Adopting the principle employed in
the form of the eye piece used in telescopes, and called Huygenian,
he forms his magnifier of two plano-convex lenses. This plan he in-.
ferred would obviate both the spheric and chromatic aberration, and
produce a much more distinct image than has yet been attained in
any other manner. ‘These anticipated advantages were fully real-
ized in practice, and he states that he was enabled, by the aid
of a microscope constructed upon this principle, to view the most
minute objects, with ‘‘ a degree of delicate perspicuity he had in vain
sought in any other microscope with which he was acquainted.”
The next of Wollaston’s papers contains an account of a method of
comparing the light of the sun with that of the fixed stars. It is
founded upon a suggestion of the Rev. John Mitchell, published as
long since as towards the close of the last century, but which was rude
and imperfect in the hands of the inventor, and has not been since used
by any other person. ‘The distance of the fixed stars is a problem the
solution of which has escaped the ordinary direct modes of investiga-
tion. The search after their annual parallax led at first to the dis-
covery of other and far more important irregularities by which it is
cloaked; and the best instruments, that the present state of the arts
has supplied, have left the question, whether it is of such magnitude
as to be detected or not, unsettled. Pond, observing with the two
magnificent murals of the Greenwich observatory, conceives that this
parallax is imperceptible, while Brinkley, an astronomer not less ac-
tive and zealous, but furnished with less perfect instruments, thinks
that he has detected it. In the absence of this direct method, the
proportion which the light, afforded to us separately by each of the
fixed stars, bears to the light of the sun, furnishes the best, and perhaps
the only method within our reach, of obtaining a probable estimate of
their distances. ‘The manner in which this principle was applied by
Wollaston, will be best explained by quoting his own words :
“¢ From a comparison which I made in the year 1799, of the light
of the sun with that of the moon, I should estimate the direct light of
the sun, as being nearly one million times greater than that of the
moon ; and consequently, the direct light of the sun as very many
million times greater than that afforded by all the fixed stars collect-
ively. Such then being, to our visual organs, the vast disproportion
in radiance between the sun and the whole starry firmament, it is not
to be expected that we should assign very accurately how much
greater the light of the sun is than that exceedingly minute quantity
Royal Society of London. 363
of it, that shines upon us from any one, even the most brilliant, of the
fixed stars.
“Tt may be remembered, that on a former occasion, in examining
the performance of a good telescope, I found that the sun’s image,
reflected from the surface of a small sphere, (such as that of a ther-
mometer bulb, filled with mercury,) and viewed at a proper distance
through a telescope, is, to all appearance, extremely like a fixed star,
and forms in such experiments, an admirable substitute for one, in
being really fixed, and therefore well adapted for deliberate observa-
tion. It occurred to me, while engaged in this examination, that by
comparing such an image with one of the larger stars, I might be able
to obtam some grounds for estimating the light of the star.
“It would be desirable, though extremely difficult, in conducting such
an experiment, to make a direct comparison between the star and the
sun’s image; since in that case we should be enabled to avoid the
uncertainties arising from an indirect comparison, the consequence of
observing at times so distant, that the atmosphere has in the interval
undergone considerable changes. As, however, the only practicable
mode of observing is the indirect one, by comparing the two objects
with some common standard at different times, we must endeavor to
remove these uncertainties from our results, by repeating each series
of comparisons so frequently, that the average of each series may be
affected by atmospheric vicissitudes, or may fairly be presumed to be
so, in an equal degree.
‘The common standard of comparison I chose, was the image a
a candle, reflected from a small thermometer bulb, (in most trials,
about one quarter of an inch in diameter) filled with mercury, and
seen by one eye through a lens of about two inches focus, at the
same time that the sun’s image, (reflected in a similar manner,) from
a thermometer bulb, placed at a distance, was viewed by the other
eye through a telescope.”
The precautions used, and the detail of the observations, would
exceed our limits; we shall therefore pass to the results. ‘These
are: that the light of the brightest of the stars, Sirius, does not ex-
ceed a 20,000,000,000th part of the sun’s light; and that of Lyra
is about the 180,000,000,000th part of the same, or one-ninth part
of the light that reaches us from Sirius.
The fourth paper of Wollaston is stated by him, to be communi-
cated for the purpose of doing justice to the memory of Dr. Marcet,
by recording one of his latest efforts in the cause of science. It is
well known that a current, at the surface, is continually setting
364 Philosophical Transactions of the
through the straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean. This is in
some measure counteracted by an under current, setting in an oppo-
site direction, as has been inferred from wrecks that had sunk in the
Mediterranean, having risen again in the Atlantic. But it also ap-
pears to have been proved, that the evaporation from the Mediterra-
nean exceeds the supply from rivers; and hence the under current
must be less in quantity than the upper. Now, although this great
evaporation would account for the loss of much of the water that
runs Eastward through the straits, yet the salt which that water holds
in solution, must remain in the basin of the Mediterranean, or es-
cape by some hitherto unexplained means of exit.
To settle this point, Dr. Marcet planned a set of experiments on the
density of the water at different depths, and obtained the aid of Capt.
W. H. Smith, R. N.to carry them into effect. The experiments
were made, but Dr. Marcet died, before the specimens collected at
the different depths had reached England. A part of them were un-
luckily given by Capt. Smith, to persons seeking them from no other
motive than simple curiosity, but a few were left to fall into the hands
of Dr. Wollaston, who completed, by their aid, the investigation com-
menced by Dr. Marcet. ‘The comparison of these specimens shews,
that the water, at great depths, in the Mediterranean, contains four
times as much salt as that in the main ocean; while that at the sur-
face, and at depths not greater than four miieed and fifty fathoms,
is identical in its composition with the water of the latter. Hence an
under current, of a fourth part of the velocity and equal area, or of a
fourth part of the area and equal velocity, would carry back to the
ocean all the salt brought in by the upper current.
We find but one paper of Sir H. Davy in this half volume. It is
entitled, ‘ An Account of some Experiments on the Torpedo.” 'The
inference, drawn from these by the author, is, that the electricity of
this animal is, sw: generis, and neither identical with common, or with
Galvanic, electricity.
The remainder of the papers are by living men of science. Among
these, Capt. Edward Sabine, of the British Royal Artillery, one of
the present secretaries of the Royal Society, stands most conspicu-
ous; his contributions are three in number, viz.—
On the dip of the Magnetic needle in London, in August, 1828.
Experiments to determine the difference in the number of vibra-
tions, made by an Invariable Pendulum, in the Royal Observatory at
Greenwich, and in the house 1» London in which Capt. Kater’s ex-
periments were made.
Royal Society of London. 365
On the Reduction to a vacuum of the vibrations of an invariable
pendulum.
The first of these contains a set of experiments, made for the pur-
pose of determining the change in the dip at London, between the
date of a former set, made by the author in 1821, and the year
1828. This change is still in diminution, but the decrease is less
rapid than it formerly was. By comparing the most authentic obser-
vations, made during the century preceding 1821, the annual decrease
in the dip appears to have been between 3/’.2 and 2’.9, while in the
seven years between 1821 and 1828, it does not exceed 2/.5.
In pursuing the investigations with the pendulum in various parts of
the world, an account of which he has published in a separate form,
Sabine had come to the conclusion that its vibrations are influenced,
not merely by the general law of gravitation on the surface of a re-
volving spheroid, but by local circumstances. The paper before us
affords conclusive evidence, that this opinion was correct. The dif-
ference of latitude between the house of Mr. Browne, in which Ka-
ter’s experiments were made, and the Observatory at Greenwich,
ought to cause a retardation of 0”.15 per day, and the difference of
level, computing by the method of Dr. Young, a further retardation
of 0.12 per day. Instead of this, an acceleration was found to
exist, by observation, of 0’.48, making a result, which differs from
what would have been anticipated, had no anomalies been known to
exist, of 0.75, ‘The most important bearing of these experiments, is
upon the subject of weights and measures. The British parliament
has taken as the national standard, the Pendulum of the Latitude of
London ; assuming, that the experiments of Kater, in Captain
Brown’s house, gave its length in all other places under the same
parallel. ‘These experiments of Sabine shew, that this is premature,
and that the law ought to have prescribed as the standard the pendu-
lum of some particular place. ‘This has been done by the revisers
of the laws of the State of New York, who have taken as their
standard, the length of the seconds pendulum, determined in Co-
lumbia College, by Captain Sabine and Professor Renwick.
Among the reductions employed in calculating the length of the
seconds pendulum from observation, one of the most essential is that
which depends upon the resistance of the air. All experiments be-
ing made in the open atmosphere, this resistance is a retarding force,
whose influence is important. All philosophers have hitherto been
of opinion, that when a body falls through the atmosphere, the force
which acts upon it may be represented, by dividing, the excess of the
366 Philosophical Transactions of the
mass of the body over that of an equal bulk of air, by the mass of
the body itself, and all the reductions of a pendulum’s motion in air,
to that which would take place in a vacuum, are made upon the same
principle. Bessel, the celebrated astronomer of Konigsberg, was the
first to suspect the truth of this principle, which allows for simple
buoyancy alone, without taking into view the force necessary to com-
municate motion to the particles of the air that are successively dis-
placed. He established conclusively, that his suspicion was correct,
and found that, when the oscillations of a pendulum take place in
rare media, such as the air of our atmosphere, this retarding force,
which has hitherto been neglected, is at least equal in amount to the
simple buoyancy. ‘The apparatus of Bessel, was a modification of
that by which he had determined the length of the pendulum. It
differs from the methods of Borda and Kater, and approaches more
nearly than they do to the more ancient plan used by Whitehurst.
The pendulum is composed of a sphere, suspended by a wire of
steel, in such a manner that it may be made to vibrate either, from
the upper or lower end of a scale, of known length. There are
thus in fact two pendulums, the difference of whose lengths is a
known quantity, and hence when their respective times of oscillation
are known, the absolute length may be calculated. To apply this
apparatus to the investigation of the air’s resistance, the bulbs are
made of materials of very different densities, but of the same size and
shape. Sabine, on the other hand, employed an invariable pendu-
lum, made upon Kater’s plan, and the investigation of the resistance
of the air was made directly, by causing the pendulum to vibrate al-
ternately in air, and in the exhausted receiver of an air pump. The
experiments of Sabine have fully confirmed those of Bessel, and a
similar result has been found, by causing the pendulum to vibrate in
hydrogen. In this gas, as well as in commen air, a resistance, grow-
ing out of the necessity of displacing the particles, has been detected.
This result is the more important, in as much as it shews, that the
method of Kater is liable to an objection, in consequence of the
pendulum with convertible axes being unequally affected by the fluid
resistance.
It seems that every new improvement in the apparatus, by which
the length of the second pendulum is ascertained, tends to the dis-
covery of new, although slight, causes of disturbance, and although
for all mere practical purposes the measures of Kater and Biot may
be taken as sufficient, corrections never before employed, must now
be introduced, whenever strict scientific accuracy is desired.
Royal Society of London. 367
We shall mention but one of the remaining papers in this half vol-
-ume. It is that of Barlow on a refracting telescope, the achro-
- matism of which is produced by a lens of a liquid substance. Mr.
Barlow has in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
for 1828, given an account of his preliminary experiments. It ap-
pears that in experiments upon the construction of aplanatic object
glasses, he had become sensible of the great difficulty of obtaming flint
glass of sufficient size and purity for astronomic telescopes. He
was therefore led to consider the practicability of substituting a fluid
instead of a flint glass lens. Fluid object lenses had been long be-
fore constructed by Dr. Blair, but the object was different ; Blair had
no other pretension than to lessen a practical difficulty in the con-
struction of a compound lens, of which both flint and crown glass
still formed essential portions; while our author sought to dispense
with flint glass altogether. After an examination of the refractive
and dispersive powers of various substances, he at last fixed upon
sulphuret of carbon as best suited to his purpose. ‘This appeared
to him, to possess every requisite he could desire; “ having a refrac-
tive index about equal to that of the best flint glass, with a dispersive
power more than double, perfectly colorless, beautifully transparent,
and, although very expansible, possesing the same, or very nearly the
same optical properties when hermetically sealed, under all tempera-
tures to which it is likely to be exposed for astronomical purposes.
“Its high dispersive power also gives it an advantage which no glass
ever made or likely to be made can possess; although the fixed na-
ture of the latter material may probably always give it a preference
in the construction of telescopes; and I wish clearly to be understood,
not as proposing to supplant the use of flint glass in these instruments,
but simply to supply its place by a valuable substitute, in cases where
it cannot be obtained sufficiently large and pure ; or where it can be
obtained only at an expense which must always limit the possession
of a powerful astronomical telescope to a small number of individuals,
and to public bodies.” .
% % % * % % SONG
“In the usual construction of achromatic telescopes, the two or
three lenses composing the object glass are brought into immediate
contact; and in the fluid telescope proposed by Dr. Blair, the con-
struction was the same, the fluid having been inclosed in the object
glass itself. Nor could any change in this arrangement in either case
be introduced with advantage, becauise the dispersive ratio between
the glasses in the former instance, and between the glass and the
368 Philosophical Transactions, &c.
fluid in the latter, is too close to admit of bringing the concave cor-
recting medium far enough back to be of any sensible advantage.
The case however is widely different with sulphuret of carbon. ‘The
dispersive ratio here varies (according to the glass employed,) be-
tween the limits 299 and 334; which circumstance has enabled
me to place the fluid correcting lens at a distance from the plate lens
equal to half its focal length; and I might carry it still farther back,
and yet possess sufficient dispersive power to render the object glass
achromatic. Moreover, by this means the fluid lens, which is the
most difficult part of the construction, is reduced to one half, or to
less than one half of the plate lens ; consequently, to construct a tel-
escope of ten or twelve inches aperture, involves no greater difficulty
in the manipulation than in making a telescope of the usual descrip-
tion of five or six inches aperture, except in the simple plate lens it-
self. And what will be thought of greater importance, a telescope
of this kind of ten or twelve feet in length will be equivalent in its
focal power to one of sixteen or twenty feet. We may therefore,
by this means shorten the tube several feet, and yet possess a focal
power more considerable than could be conveniently given it on the
usual principle of construction.”
Having established the correctness of his views by the application
of these principles to the construction of smaller struments, he ob-
tained the aid of the Board of Longitude to enable him to construct
one of great dimensions. ‘This is described in the paper before us.
It has an aperture of 7.8 inches, exceeding by an inch that of the
largest refracting telescope previously existing in England. Its tube is
eleven feet in length, which, with the eye piece makes a total length
of twelve feet ; but its effective focal distance upon the principle just
referred to is eighteen feet; it has a power of 700.
Of the performance of this instrument, the account is most satis-
factory, and there is little doubt that the construction is likely to re-
alize all the anticipations of its ingenious author.
In the mean time however, Mr. Faraday has been engaged in experi-
ments on the manufacture of a glass, intended as a substitute for flint
glass in optical instruments. In this he is said by the latest advices
to have been completely successful. Many of the difficulties attend-
ing the construction of solid object lenses for refracting telescopes
will be obviated by this discovery, and the plan of Barlow rendered
of less importance, inasmuch as it now appears probable, that glass of
any desirable dimensions can henceforth be obtained without much
difficulty. TR.
Chemical Observations and Experiments on Tobacco. 369
Arr. XIV.—Chemical Observations and Experiments on Tobacco ;
by C. C. Conweix, M. D.
Tur subsequent paragraphs embrace a brief account of a series of
analytical investigations, as carefully conducted as they were difficult
in execution, on an article, the commercial and medical importance of
which, as well as its almost universal consumption as a luxury, is too
generally appreciated to require comment. It may be readily infer-
red, that a knowledge of its constituent principles cannot fail to be de-
sirable. No complete analysis of tobacco, so far as I have read, has
ever appeared before the public, excepting that of Vauquelin, who
makes mention of only a few principles, one of which, viz. starch, I
do not find in that plant.
The following principles, complex and multiplied as they are, all
enter into the tissue of the Tobacco leaf.
1. Gum.
2. Mucus, or a substance soluble in water, as well as in spirit, and
precipitable from either menstruum by subacetate of lead.
3. Tannin.
4. Gallic acid.
5. Chlorophyllin.
6. A green pulverulent matter, soluble in boiling water, and sub-
siding on refrigeration.
7. A yellow oil, evolving in a concentrated degree the peculiar
odor, and possessing the taste of ‘Tobacco; it is the poisonous prin-
ciple of the leaf.
8. A large quantity of light yellowish resin.
9. Nicotin.
When Tobacco leaves are treated, according to the popular for-
mula for the developement of Piperin, traces of a crystalline struc-
ture may be observed; it is this substance alone, which, according to
the received technology of English chemistry, should be called Ni-
cotin. .
10. Tobacco, treated like opium in Sertuerner’s process for ob-
taining morphia, yields a white substance, soluble in hot, but nearly
insoluble in cold alcohol : whether this substance be strictly analo-
gous to morphia, I am not immediately prepared to assert.
11. A fine orange red coloring matter, soluble in the acids alone :
this substance, when obtained in a solid form, possesses a bright red
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. 20
370 Chemical Observations and Experiments on Tobacce.
hue ; decrepitates before the fire, and seems to enjoy neutral proper-
ties.
12. Nicotia.
There is not a more delusive term in modern chemistry, than Lig-
nin: an analyst might be induced by this term, to abandon his re-
searches on vegetables, after alcohol, ether and water, at all tempe-
ratures, had acted on them; for, after digestion in these substances,
plants are supposed to be exhausted of their principles; yet nothing
can be more gratuitously asserted. Quercia was obtained from oak
bark thus depurated by ether, spirit and water, and ‘Tobacco leaves
similarly treated, and forming what chemists would call Lignin, af-
forded a new alkali more strictly approximating to quercia in chemi-
cal habitudes than to any other known salifiable base.
Still Nicotia exists in a small quantity in the infusion and decoction
of the leaves ; but it may be more readily developed by treating with
sulphuric acid the Tobacco, well edulcorated with ether, alcohol and
water, and evaporating nearly to dryness.
The crystals of the sulphate being carefully washed, may be de- -
composed by aqua ammoniz, which, combining with the acid, precip-
itates Nicotia.
This substance does not appear to be susceptible of a crystalline
form ; it is of a dull yellowish white color, tasteless, inodorous, plas-
tic, and pulverulent; insoluble in ether, alcohol and water; soluble
in excess of acids, and decomposed by heat; all its salts are tasteless,
and insoluble, unless acid predominate, and may be readily decom-
posed by ammonia. Sulphate of nicotia crystallizes in asteroid
needles, which, under the microscope, assume the form of quadran-
gular prisms. It is soluble in water, and contains a slight excess of
acid, a circumstance which may serve to distinguish it from quercia.
Hydro-chlorate (muriate) of Nicotia is aggregated in stars, usually
formed of from five to six crystals.
Borate of Nicotia is white, insoluble, and uncrystallizable.
The most diagnostic property of Nicotia, is perhaps its entering
into solution with the vegetable acids, without forming with them any
crystalline compound.
Philadelphia, Aug. 24th, 1829, No. S Lombard street.
Scientific Intellgence.— Chemistry. 371
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
Translated and Extracted by Prof. G. Griscom.
CHEMISTRY.
1. On the Setting of Plaster, by M. Gay Lussac.—The property
which plaster of Paris possesses, when deprived of its water by heat,
of setting into a firm mass by combining with additional water, is well
known to most persons. ‘The consistency which it acquires is very
variable, and it is the purest plaster that acquires the least. The
solidification has been attributed to the presence of some hundredth
parts of carbonate of lime ; but doubtless erroneously, for the heat
necessary to bake plaster, and which in the small way does not rise
to 150° cent. is not sufficient to decompose carbonate of lime. Be-
sides, baked plaster does not ordinarily contam quick lime, and the
addition of this base to plasters of feeble consistency does not sensi-
bly improve them. I think that the difference observable in the con-
sistency of baked plasters, is to be ascribed to their hardness in a
crude state. I conceive that hard stone plaster, after losing its wa-
ter, will resume a firmer consistency, in returning to its former con-
dition than that which is more tender. The primitive molecular ar-
rangement is in some sort regained. On the same principle, it is,
that good cast steel, the carbon of which has been removed by ce-
menting it with oxide of iron, produces by a fresh cementation with
carbon, a steel much more homogeneous and perfect than that ob-
tained under the same circumstances, by the cementation of iron
Quar. Jour. July—Sept. 1829.
2. Braconnot’s Indelible Ink.—The inventor acknowledges, that
in ascribing indelibility to this nk, he was much too hasty, (beau-
coup trop empresse.) For, having subjected it, recently, to fresh tri-
al, he has convinced himself that it does not deserve the title. of in-
delible, since its characters disappear by successive macerations in
chlorine and potash.—Jdem.
Admitting the correctness as well as candor of this retraction, we
have assured ourselves by a hasty trial of Braconnot’s ink, that though
not absolutely indelible, it is much more durable, or much less easily
destroyed, than common ink.— Trans.
372 Scientific Intelligence.— Chemistry.
3. The Diamond.—It is evident to geologists, that the diamond has
not been formed im the places where it is found. It is obtained from
alluvial situations, consisting of rolled stones cemented by a ferrugin-
ous or sandy clay, mixed with oxide of iron, quartz, petrified wood,
&c.
The mines of Brazil furnish annually from twenty five to thirty
thousand carats, that is, from ten to thirteen pounds of rough dia-
mond, of which eight or nine hundred carats only can be cut.
The expense of exploring the diamond mines is estimated at 38
francs, 20 cent. per carat. A slave who finds a diamond of more
than seventy grains obtains his freedom.
Diamonds not susceptible of being cut, are sold at from thirty to
thirty six francs the carat.
The term carat, formerly employed to designate the quantity of
gold, originated in the country of Shangallas, in Africa, where the na-
lives in weighing gold used as weights the grain of a plant, called
kuara. 'These grains, transported to India, were employed in weigh-
ing diamonds. ‘The weight of the carat is exactly two hundred and
five milligrammes, or nearly four grains.
A rough diamond which can be cut and which weighs less than a
carat, sells for forty eight francs per carat. When they surpass a ca-
rat in weight, the price is obtamed by squaring the weight and multi-
plying by forty eight francs.
The cutting of diamonds is the invention of Louis Berquin of Bru-
ges, in 1476. It is effected by means of diamond powder on a hor-
izontal wheel of soft steel. All the diamonds found in ancient ar-
mor are natural crystals.
Diamonds are cut either in rose or in brilliant. The brilliant pro-
duces the most varied effect of color and light,—the rose corruscates
more vividly, but its play is less fine. At present the brilliant ob-
tains the preference.
The price of cut diamonds varies much with their form, purity and
color, as well as weight. From ;; to acarat, the mean price is from
sixty to two hundred and fifty francs per carat. Above a carat, the
square of the weight is multiplied by one hundred and ninety two,—
or by a price per carat according to the defects or beauty of the dia-
mond. We perceive in the diamond, more remarkably than in any
other substance, the wonderful effects of crystallization in altering the
consistency and appearances of matter. Calcareous spar and rock
crystal also afford remarkable examples.
Scentific Intelligence.-— Chemistry. Bas
Since the discovery that the diamond consists of pure crystallized
carbon, chemists have reflected on the possibility of determining their
crystallizations artificially. No means, however, have yet been dis-
covered of rendering charcoal, or pure carbon, fluid. 'The action of
the Voltaic Battery on charcoal points seems to afford traces of incip-
ient fusion, but the effect probably arises from the ashes of the com-
bustion, which containing silex and potash, furnish a kind of glass which
is sometimes very hard, but which has none of the properties of dia-
mond. If the heating power of the battery be very great, the char-
coal is scattered in impalpaple powder over the adjacent apparatus.*
Some Savans have proposed to unite a high temperature with strong
compression. On the 11th of November last, Cagniard de la Tour
presented to the Academy of Sciences, tubes contaming, as he sup-
posed, crystallized carbon, but they were ascertained by the commit-
tee appointed to examine them, to be earthy silicates of a remarkable
composition. M. Gannal on the 3d of November, informed the
Academy of another method which he had employed, viz. treating
carburet of sulphur, with phosphorus and water. ‘The phosphorus
combines with the sulphur,. and the carbon is supposed to form crys-
tals on the surface. More attempts of M. Gannal, though not pub-
licly announced before, have been long known to some of his friends.
One of his associates, a jeweller, who has been two years at Gene-
va, presented one of these crystals to the museum. Its weight is
about ;}; of acarat. But before any thing decisive can be pronoun-
ced relative to this discovery, the experiment must be reiterated,
and a scrupulous examination made of all the facts. We may add
that the employment of weak electric forces, long continued, may,
perhaps, effect this crystallization, M. Becqueul having already
succeeded upon bodies which appear as difficult to manage as car-
bon.—Bib. Univ. Jan. 1829.
4. Of the influence of ar on the crystallization of salts, by M.
Graham. (Trans. Roy. Soc. of Edinburgh.)—The well known fact
of the sudden crystallization of a saturated-solution of sulphate of so-
da, from which the air has been excluded by ebullition on the read-
mission of air, appears still to defy every attempt at accurate explan-
ation. Gay Lussac has shewn, that it is not the pressure of the at-
* This is incorrect ; the deflagrator of Dr. Hare volatilizes and fuses the charcoal
point, and the higher its power the more readily and effectually is it accomplished.—
Ed.
374 Scientific Intelhgence.— Chemistry.
mosphere, for the phenomenon is retarded as well by covering the
solution with spirits of turpentine, which preserves it from contact
with the air, as by keeping it in a vacuum; and he has proved also,
that the solvent powers of water are quite independent of pressure on
its surface. Likewise when crystallization fails, as is sometimes the
case when the atmosphere is admitted, no advantage is gained by
adding to its pressure. ‘This distinguished chemist was inclined to
the opinion, that the crystallization might be owing to the diminution
of solvent power, occasioned by the absorption of air. ‘This opimion
is strengthened by the experiments of Mr. Graham. By placing the
hot solution of sulphate of soda in a tube, and inverting it in the mer-
curial bath, having previously heated the mercury, to prevent crystal-
lization from a rapid cooling of the solution, he ascertamed, by
throwing up bubbles of air of different kinds, that their mfluence in
determining crystallization, is precisely proportional to their degree of
solubility in water, and in saline solutions: ‘Thus a bubble of car-
bonic acid is more powerful than common air, and a bubble of am-
moniacal gas or sulphurous acid, has more effect than carbonic acid.
With ammoniacal gas, the crystallization follows the ascent of the
bubble so rapidly, that the latter sometimes becomes imprisoned
among the crystals before it reaches the top of the tube. Hydro-
gen, on the other hand, and other gases less soluble in water than
common air, have decidedly less effect. A very small quantity of a
liquid, soluble im water, causes the solution immediately to crystal-
lize, as may be evinced by using alcohol: now, it is well known that
alcohol precipitates sulphate of soda dissolved in water, and the solu-
ble gases appear to possess a similar property.
The enlargement of volume, which ensues upon the sudden crys-
tallization of sulphate of soda, the author ascribes altogether to the
expansive effect of the heat thus developed.
The various influence of the different gases is an imiponsat fact,
not before remarked ; but is it sufficient to demonstrate completely
the explanation advanced by Mr. Graham? We think not, and we
are of opinion that the phenomenon which sulphate of soda presents,
belongs to that class of facts, which, though still small, is constantly
increasing, and which, isolated thus far in the partial explanation
which each one of them has received, constitute, in their totality, that
molecular philosophy, still so very imperfectly understood, and so
difficult to investigate—A. D. L. R. Bib. Univ. Juin, 1829.
Scientific Intelligence.— Chemistry. 375
5. Combination of Mercury with metallic wires, by M. Kemp
(Edinb. Phil. Jour. Apr. 1829.)—When an amalgam of zinc and
mercury, containing thirty or fifty times as much mercury as zinc, is
covered with a strong solution of muriatic acid, and wires are made
to dip into the amalgam, passing through the acid, the quicksilver
immediately begins to ascend the wires, and having reached the sur-
face of the acid, there stops. It ascends different metals with differ-
ent velocities. Wires of platina, copper, iron and zinc, each four
inches long, were made to touch the amalgam at the same time ;—
the mercury reached the top of the zinc wire in eight minutes, that
of the copper in fourteen, and in a little while after, that of the pla-
tina and iron. In whatever manner the wire may be contorted, the
mercury follows its smuosities, until it attains the level of the muri-
atic acid, which it never surpasses.
If sufficient time be allowed, the quicksilver not only ascends the
wire, but penetrates its substance. ‘There appear no limits to the
height to which it may rise, as long as the presence of the acid solu-
tion favors its ascension. A stratum of fixed or volatile oil, on the
surface of the acid, does not cause the mercury to rise higher.
The zinc contained in the mercury becomes oxidized, dissolves
in the liquid, and in time appears in fine crystals on the surface of the
wire. When the action has entirely ceased, the mercury which re-
mains at the bottom of the vessel has resumed its primitive purity.
The cause of this singular phenomenon appears to reside in the
opposite electrical states of the amalgam, and the wire in contact with
it, the first being positive in relation to the second, but it is difficult
to explain in this manner the rapid ascension of the mercury on the
zine wire, which is in the same electrical state as the amalgam, or
which at least cannot be negative in relation to it, like the other wires.
Note of the Editor, Bib. Unw.—The phrase above in italics,
which we have just added to the remark of the author, shews that
the phenomenon cannot be attributed to ordinary chemical decompo-
sition, arising ftom Voltaic electricity. ‘The greater rapidity with
which the mercury ascends the zinc and copper wires, proves that
the facility which metals possess in forming amalgams, favors this as-
cension ; nevertheless, the fact cannot be explained by a simple |
chemical action of mercury on metallic wires, nor by a physical ad-
hesion, or a sort of capillary attraction. For if so, why should not
the mercury ascend the other wires, which have not the property of
forming amalgams, unless with extreme slowness? The electric cur-
376 Scientific Intelligence.— Chemistry.
rent developed in the experiment doubtless then co-operates, but
probably in a different manner from what the author seems to insinu-
ate. Is it not evident that there is a relation between the ascent of
the mercury along the wires, and the singular motions which an elec-
tric current, however feeble, imprints on this metal? We may be
easily satisfied of the reality of this connection, by consulting the
works of Erman, Serullas, Herschel, and especially the phenomena
recently described by M. Nobili, which appear to have a more im-
mediate relation to the facts above stated.— Bib. Univ. Juin, 1829.
6. Colored Steel Plates—M. Nobili, in passing through Geneva
some time since, shewed to several persons some steel plates, on
which he had succeeded in impressing perfectly regular figures,
which presented all the colors of the rainbow, blending with each
other, and shaded in a thousand different modes. ‘The inventor has
not made known the details of his process. He had _ previously
shewn, that if one of the poles of a battery is made to communicate
with a very smooth metallic plate ; and the other with a platina wire,
ending in a poimt, and placed in a direction perpendicular to the
plate and very near it, (about half a line) a portion of the elements
of the liquid, interposed between the point of the wire and the plate,
deposits an extremely thin stratum on the latter, which determines a
succession of colored rmgs. ‘The number, size, and nature of these
rings, exactly similar in their appearance and origin, to those which
are produced by thin plates, appear to depend on many circumstan-
ces,—among which are the nature of the plate on which the deposits
are made, and that of the decomposed fluid. But what the fluids are
which M. Nobili employs to color his steel plates, how he disposes
his apparatus to produce this variety of forms and shades, is what he
has not made manifest :—it is a secret which must be held in respect,
and which we shall endeavor not to pry into until its author shall
have made it public.—Idem.
7. Chemical action of light.—The following facts are cited by M.
Fischer, as proper to be added to those which demonstrate the
chemical action of light upon organic matter. If a solution of ferro-
prussiate of potash be precipitated by alcohol, and the precipitate be
quickly collected and dissolved in water, the solution, exposed to
light, will pass rapidly from yellow to green, and at length prussian
blue will be deposited. The solution becomes at the same time al-
Scientific Intelligence. — Chemistry. 377
kaline ; and, if the experiment is made in a close vessel, on examin-
ing the liquid, the odor of hydro-cyanic acid will be perceived. The
salt is indeed partly decomposed in this action. Prussian blue,
sometimes with excess of oxide of iron, is formed and deposited, and
the hydrocyanate of potash remains in solution. ‘The same modifi-
cations may take place in a common solution of ferro-prussiate, but
time is in that case necessary. It cannot take place without the
presence of light. In darkness this salt (the ferro-prussiate of pot-
ash) crystallizes in large quadrangular plates, but exposed to a vivid
light, it loses gradually the power of assuming this figure, and be-
comes pulverulent, and is deposited in dendritic forms.
The presence of organic matters, such as gum, starch, sugar, alco-
hol, &c. greatly increases the action of light on solutions of gold and
silver.—Idem.
8. A new Ether.—Professor Liebig, of the university of Giessen,
in examining the action of chlorine upon a number of salts, found,
that by distilling one part of sulpho-cyanuret of potassium, two parts of
sulphuric acid, and three of alcohol at 80 per cent. and mixing the
distilled product with water, an oleaginous substance separated from
it, whose weight is about three-fourths of that of the sulpho-cyanuret
of potassium. It collects at first on the surface of the water, but in
removing by repeated washings, the alcohol and ether which adhere
to its surface, it falls to the bottom in the form of an oil, either color-
less or slightly yellow.
This ether has very strongly the odor of assafcetida, or cochlearia
off. and which odor adheres with great obstinacy to every thing that
the ether touches. It is insoluble in water, but communicates to it
its odor in a igh degree. Its taste is not rough, but rather sweet,
with an after-taste of peppermint. It dissolves easily in spirit of wine
and in sulphuric ether ; it inflames easily, and in burning produces
sulphurous acid. It begins to boil at 66° to 72° cent.; its alcoholic
solution is not acid, nor is it decomposed either by a strong solution
of potash or by ammonia.
This ether appears to be distinguished from all the known bodies
of this kind, by its containing sulphur and azote, but probably no
oxygen.
Potassium, placed in contact with this substance, previously recti-
fied on chloride of calcium, preserves its splendor, at least for some
time; but if heated, it becomes covered with a yellow crust, easily
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. PI
378 Scientific Intelligence.— Chemistry.
soluble in water ; and this solution colors the chloride of iron of a
deep red, a proof that it is formed of sulpho-cyanuret of potassium.
Fuming nitric acid decomposes this ether rapidly, producing a heat
which extends to incandescence. In treating it with diluted acid,
much nitrous acid is disengaged, and the liquid which remains pre-
cipitates the salts of barytes. Mixed with concentrated sulphuric —
acid, it loses its transparency ; and when the mixture is warmed,
sulphurous acid is disengaged, and the liquid becomes black.
Sulpho-cyanic ether absorbs chlorine in great quantity, without
changing its form. If a little water be added, and chlorine be still
introduced, a fresh quantity is absorbed; the odor of chloride of sul-
phur disappears, and a strong and penetrating odor of chloride of
cyanogen ensues ; the liquor then has a very acid taste, which final-
ly becomes caustic ; it precipitates barytic salts.
Iodine dissolves without difficulty in this ether, giving it a deep
brownish red color, but does not decompose it; for water agitated
with the solution, does not redden litmus ; caustic potash removes
the iodine immediately, and the ether separates with a white color,
and with its peculiar odor.
Sulphur is equally soluble, and even im all proportions, at an ele-
vated temperature ; but the solution scarcely begins to cool, when a -
part of the sulphur separates, in the form of a yellow oil. When en-
tirely cold, it sets into a radiated mass, which, in a few days is con-
verted into large crystals, which are no other than sulphur. Phos-
phorus can, with the aid of heat, be made to dissolve in it in consid-
erable proportion, and when cool it becomes crystalline.
From the properties above described, it may be inferred that this
ether is a compound of sulphuret of cyanogen, with carburetted hy-
drogen; an opinion which is strengthened by the fact, that in pre-
paring it, sulphurous acid is constantly formed. It is not then at the
expense of the water of the alcohol, that the potassium of the sulpho-
cyanuret of potassium become oxidized, but at the expense of the
sulphurous acid.— Ann. de Chim. Juin, 1829.
9, Pure Milk.—In a valuable essay on the milk sold in Paris, by
M. Barreut, the following facts are stated :
By the extension of the use of coffee, (café au lait) the quantity of
milk now consumed is at least double that which was used eighteen
or twenty years ago.
But the number of milch cows in the vicinity of the city has not
increased in any thing like the same proportion.
Scientific Intelligence.— Chemistry. 379
Much of the milk sold by certain milk men at the corners of
streets, has none of the properties common with milk, except the
whiteness.
The quantity of the milk which proceeds from the same cow, is
very different at different times; and that of different cows varies al-
SO in quality.
Some of the more wealthy inhabitants who obtain their milk di-
rectly from the dairies, at a good price, have it pure ;—but the mass
of milk sold in Paris is always more or less altered.
The most common adulteration is that of water. But as this can
be detected by the taste and color, brown sugar is added to restore
the sweetness, and wheat or some other kind of flour, the whiteness
and consistency.
Hence the areometre which merely determines the specific grav-
ity of the fluid, is of no use in detecting these impurities ;—and be-
sides, milk which is rich in butyraceous matters is much lighter than
that which is less rich in butter, but more rich in caseous ingredients.
To prevent the flour which is used in thickening the skimmed and
watered milk, from settling to the bottom, it is previously mixed with
water and boiled, which renders it when cold, soluble in the milk.
Thus flour is easily detected by the tincture of iodme, which gives
it a wine or violet color.
More especially, if this floured milk be heated with a little sulphuric
acid, the coagulum separated by a filter, the serum acquires a fine
blue color by the tincture of iodine.
Thus detected, the milk sellers sought for some substance which
would not produce the blue color with iodine, in which they doubtless
obtained the aid of some chemists. ‘They resorted to an emulsion of
sweet almonds, with which, for the cost of about one franc, they can
give a milk white to thirty pints of water, and communicate no un-
pleasant taste.
Some of these pretended milk dealers, less scrupulous, employ
hemp-seed in lieu of almonds, because of its greater cheapness. They
thus dilute the milk of cows to almost any extent they please, with-
out altering its color or opacity, and correct its taste by a little coarse
sugar.
This factitious milk may be detected, however, by the oily nature of
its curd. When the latter is pressed between the fingers, or on pa-
per, the oil exudes from it, which is not the ease with the curd of
pure milk.
380 Scientific Intelligence.— Chemistry.
‘That portion or part of milk which is least influenced by variations
of food, &c. in the cow is the caseous portion or curd. !
Four specimens of milk were obtamed by the author from dairies
on different sides of Paris, and one other was taken from a cow and
brought immediately to him. ‘Three hundred grammes of each of
these were warmed and treated with equal quantities of vinegar.
The curd of each being drained, and equally pressed between folds
of soft paper, furnished, namely, those from the dairies, each twen-
ty nine grammes of cheese, and that from the cow, thirty grammes.
A second experiment, gave within a small fraction, the same re-
sult. :
Taking the quantity of this caseous matter as a type of the purity
of milk, other equal portions of milk were mixed, each with an equal
weight of water, and treated in the same manner, when it was found
that the quantity of cheese was exactly one half.
In a third experiment, the milk was diluted with twice its weight
of water, and the cheese was precisely one third.
The last experiment was repeated, with the addition of sugar to
the milk and water; when the cheese was extracted, the whey cau-
tiously evaporated to the consistency of extract, treated with boiling
alcohol, filtered and evaporated, the sugar which had been added was
recovered.
To distinguish the milk which is adulterated with emulsion of al-
monds or of hemp-seed, one hundred and fifty grammes of pure
milk were united with one hundred and fifty grammes of emulsion of
sweet almonds, and the curd was separated by vinegar with the aid
of heat. Being well pressed, it weighed sixteen grammes ;°,. Then
another mixture was made, in the proportion of one hundred grains
of milk to two hundred of emulsion, and this furnished ten grammes
and eighteen decigrammes of curd,. which it will be observed is pro-
portionate to the prior quantity.
Besides, the curd or caseum of pure milk can be easily distinguish-
ed from that with the emulsion, by its consistency, and by the grease
which the latter yields when exposed for sometime to white paper.
To prevent the milk from turning sour and curdling, as it is so apt
to do in the heat of summer, the milk men add a small quantity of
sub-carbonate of potash or soda, which saturating the acetic acid as
it forms, prevents the coagulation or separation of curd; and some
of them practice this with so much success as to gain the reputation
of selling milk that never turns. Often when coagulation has taken
Scientific Intelligence.— Chemistry. 381
place, they restore the fluidity by a greater or less addition of one or
the other of the fixed alkalies. The acetate which is thus formed has
no injurious effects,—and, besides milk contains naturally a small quan-
tity of acetate of potash, but not an atom of free or carbonated alkali.
It is proposed, from the result of these investigations, that the au-
thorities should ordain, 1st. that no milk should be sold except in seal-
ed measures, and 2d, that in each quarter of the city, one or two phar-
maceutists should be charged with the duty of examiming from time
to time the quality of the milk offered for sale, and that penalties
should be exacted for every fraudulent alteration of quantity or qual-
ity.— Annales D’Hygiéne Publique et de Médecine Legale, Juillet,
1829.
10. Discovery of a new metal named Thorium.—M. Dvuione
communicated to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, on the 20th of
July last, in a letter from M. Berzelius, the discovery of a new earth.
“‘T have just discovered,” says the Swedish savant, ‘a new earth,
which possesses almost all the properties of that which bore the name
of Thorina, and which has been ascertained to be only a phosphate
of yttria. It is in consequence of this striking analogy, that I have
retained the name of Thorina for this new substance. ‘This earth is
white, and irreducible by charcoal and potassium. After being strongly
calcined, it is attacked by none of the acids, except concentrated
sulphuric, even after being treated with caustic alkalies.
The sulphate of 'Thorina is very soluble in cold water, and almost
insoluble in boiling water, so that it may be freed from many other
salts, by washing the mixture with boiling water. Thorina dissolves
easily in carbonate of Ammonia. An elevation of temperature occa-
sions a precipitation of a part of the earth, but on cooling, the pre-
cipitate disappears. All the salts of Thorina have a very pure as-
iringent taste, very similar to that of tannin. ‘The chloride of Tho-
rium treated with potassium is decomposed with a triple deflagration.
There results a grey metallic powder, which does not decompose
water, but which raised above a red heat, burns with a splendor, al-
most equal to that of phosphorus in oxygen gas. Nevertheless,
Thorium is feebly attacked by nitric and sulphuric acids. The hy-
drochloric, on the contrary, dissolves it with a brisk effervescence.
Thorina, or the oxide of Thorium, contains 11.8 oxygen. Its spe-
cific gravity is 9.4. Thorina exists in a new mineral which has been
found in very small quantity at Brevig, in Norway.—Bib. Univ.
Juillet, 1829.
382 Scientific Intelligence.— Chemastry.
11. Action of Potash on Orgamc Materials——The success of
Vauquelin in converting pectic acid to oxalate of potash, by heating
the former in a crucible with potash, induced Gay Lussac to attempt
the conversion of other organic matters to oxalic acid by a similar
process.
Five grains of cotton, were put into a platina crucible with twenty
five grains of alcoholic potash, and a little water, and the mixture
heated over an alcoholic lamp. The cotton resisted the action for
some time, but at length yielded, softened, swelled, and evolved hy-
drogen. It was necessary to stir the mass continually. When the
action is over, the mass is dissolved in a little water and slightly su-
persaturated with nitric acid; it then gives with nitrate of lead, an
abundant precipitate, which treated by hydro-sulphuric acid, produces
beautiful crystals of oxalic acid. With the nitrate of lime, a volumin-
ous precipitate is had of oxalate of lime.
Wood saw dust gave a similar result.
Sugar, starch, gum, and sugar of milk, treated with potash, fur-
nished in like manner oxalate of potash.
Tartaric acid also underwent this remarkable transformation, with-
out tumescence, blackening or giving out any considerable portion
of hydrogen.
Citric and mucic acid produced much oxalic acid.
Silk, treated with potash, afforded oxalic acid, with a disengage-
ment of hydrogen.
Uric acid and gelatine also furnished it. Indigo did not.—Ann.
de Chimie. Aout, 1829.
12. Composition of the Atmosphere.—M. Kurrrer, in a letter to
Arago, states, that in Civilized Europe it might be foreseen that any
slight difference of composition in the air would be soon destroyed by
the winds, as those countries are but a few hundred leagues apart ;
but Kazan, which is bounded on one side by an uncultivated country,
and on the other by the immense steppes and forests of Siberia,
where there is no vegetation during the greater part of the year,
might be imagined to have an atmosphere somewhat different from
the rest of Europe. Employing the Eudiometer of Volta, 198 parts
of atmospheric air, mingled with 99 of hydrogen, gave constantly
171 to 172 parts after detonation, which gives 20. to 21.2 of oxy-
gen in 100 parts of air. The greatest care was observed with re-
gard to temperature and pressure.— Idem.
Serentific Intelligence.— Chemustry. 383
13. Combinations and Crystallizations, effected by the action of
weak electrical forces.—Let the owners of diamonds be comforted :
chemistry and physics do not yet furnish the means of making them.
It was thought that by the decomposition of carburet of sulphur, the
carbon might be obtained in a crystallized state, that is, m the state
of diamond. M. Becquerel has just communicated to the Acade-
my of sciences, in its session of 27th of July, the result of several
experiments, in which he effected the decomposition of earburet of
sulphur by electric action of a low power; but instead of dia-
mond, he obtained only carbon im thin plates, very pure if is true,
but of an aspect altogether metallic.
M. B. disposes his apparatus in two different modes; sometimes
a bent tube, like the letter U, at the bottom of which is placed a wad
of amianthus, or preferably of fine sand or argil, to prevent, or at
least greatly to retard the mixture of the two different liquids, placed
in each branch, and which are united by a homogeneous metallic
arc. Sometimes it is a tube closed at one end, at the bottom of
which is placed an oxide, or some powdered chareoal, and which is
then filled with a conducting fluid, and through which passes a me-
tallic rod, touching the substance at the bottom. In either case, an
electric current is established. If a solution of sulphate or nitrate of
copper be put into one branch of the bent tube, and a solution of
common salt into the other, and the connection effected at the top by
a bent wire or strip of copper, there will in the course of a long time
be found crystals of a double chloride of copper and sodium depos-
ited on the end of the copper which dips into the alkalme solution,
while the other extremity is covered by degrees with copper. ‘The
first extremity is positive, the second negative. In changing the li-
quid and the strip of metal, new products are obtained ; and in this
way M. Becquerel has enriched chemistry with several new pro-
ducts, such as double chlorides, and double sulphurets, &c., the
crystalline forms and chemical composition of which he carefully de-
scribes. ;
It is by the second apparatus that he obtains metallic oxides in a
crystalline form. Protoxide of copper for example, in crystals, is
procured by placing in the bottom of the tube, deutoxide of copper,
fillmg the tube with a saturated solution of nitrate of copper, and
placing a strip of copper in it so as’to touch the deutoxide, and then
closing the tube hermetically. In ten days, there are visible on the
copper, small cubic crystals of metallic brilliancy, which prove to be
protoxide of copper.
384 Scientific Intelligence.—Medical Chemistry.
By an analogous process, crystals of oxide of lead, of zinc, &c.
may be formed.
To decompose carburet of sulphur, M. B. puts it in at the bottom
ef a tube, covers it with nitrate of copper of a lighter specific grav-
ity, and makes the strip of copper pass into both fluids; the carburet
is decomposed, as well as part of the nitrate ; crystals of protoxide
ef copper are deposited on the strip, and carbon in very thin plates,
of a metallic appearance on the sides of the tubes. A. D.
Bib. Univ. Aout. 1829.
MEDICAL CHEMISTRY.
1. Preparation of Morphia, without the use of Alcohol.—Having
observed that it was easy to separate morphia from narcotine, by the
use of very weak muriatic acid added to perfect neutralization, MM.
Henri and Plisson founded upon it the following process. Five
hundred parts of opium are to be divided into small strips, and in-
fused thrice, each time in 500 parts of water, at 80° or 100° Fahr.
with 20 parts of muriatic acid. The residue is to be pressed, all the
liquor put together, and a very slight excess of weak solution of am-
monia or caustic soda added. This deposit is to be collected and
carefully washed. ‘The mother liquors are to be acidulated, concen-
trated, and decomposed in the same manner. Potash, soda, and
ammonia retain a large quantity of morphia in solution when the
liquors are diluted, but much of it is obtained by concentration.
The deposit occasioned by the caustic alkalies is yellowish, and
composed principally of resin, caoutchouc, morphia, and narcotine,
colored by a brown matter. It is to be frequently washed with wa-
ter, slightly acidulated, and assisted by a moderate heat until the l-
quor ceases to be saturated; a slight excess is to be allowed. ‘The
liquor is then to be filtered and evaporated ; it contains a little resin
and extractive matter, and much muriate of morphia, (the part which
remains unacted upon, contains with the resin much narcotine ;) it 1s
to be concentrated considerably, and when brown crystals have
been formed, they are to be slightly washed, and then purified twice
by animal charcoal, and recrystallizations from water. ‘The muriate
of morphia thus purified, is to be dissolved in a small quantity of wa-
ter slightly acidulated, and decomposed by a slight excess of ammo-
nia; after which it isto be put upon a filter, washed and dried.
Four hundred parts of opium gave from 26 to 27 parts of morphia,
free from narcotine. It is yellowish, but solution in alcohol and
Scientific Intelligence.—Medical Chemustry. 385
crystallization gives very white crystals.—(Jour. de pharmacie, Bull.
Univ. A. xi. 382.) Quar. Jour. Jul.—Sept. 1829.
2. Plumbagine, a new vegetable substance, (Jour. de Phar.)—M.
Dulong has obtained a particular vegeto-principle from the roots of
the Plumbago Europeea, Lin. ‘This substance crystallizes readily
from alcohol, ether, or water, in the form of numerous yellow nee-
dles. On the tongue it first produces a sweet taste, followed by a
sharp acrid effect, extending to the throat. Its aqueous solution be-
comes cherry red by alkalies, subacetate of lead, permuriate of iron,
&c.; but acids restore the yellow color, and the plumbagine remains
unaltered. Besides this principle, the root contains a black fatty
matter, and gallic acid. As this root has been used in cases of itch,
tooth-ache, &c., and is proposed to be administered as an emetic, it is
supposed that its active virtues will be found in the plumbagine, to
ascertain which experiments are in progress.—Quar. Jour. Jul.—
Sep. 1829.
3. Analysis of Ipecacuanha Branca, Root of the Viola Ipecacu-
anha; by M. Vauquelin. (Jour. de Phar.)—The root of the Ipe-
cacuanha branca, is of a pale white, divided into many branches, of
the thickness of a writing pen, much twisted and contracted at une-
qual intervals. Its fracture is short, the odor of it disagreeable, the
taste acrid and nauseous ; the ligneous part is thicker than the bark.
The substances which compose this root are as follows by weight :
Emetine, 1.50; Resin, 0.60; Gum, 0.20; Albumen, 0.30; Starch,
3.20; matter crystallized in scales, 0.85; ligneous matter, 7.00 ;
fatty matter and wax, an indeterminate quantity : Total, 15.95; loss,
0.05.—Idem.
4, Decomposition of Corroswe Sublimate by Vegetable Bodies.—
According to the experiments of M. Fabian, the mucilage of quince
seed, (semence de coing) and that of salop, decomposes corrosive sub-
limate the instant it is mixed with its solution; but the decoction of
marshmallow does not produce the same effect, and the extract of li-
quorice only partially.—Idem.
5. Rosaic Acid in Human Urine. (Jour. de Phar. XV. 228.)—
M. Henry has observed in certain cases of acute rheumatism, ac-
companied by nervous fever, that the urine has been of a very red
color, and produced an abundant deposit on cooling. On analyzing
Vou. XVIL—No. 2. 22
386 Scientific Intelligence—Natural History.
the secretion in such cases, he found that it was very acid, that phos-
phoric acid and phosphate of lime were very abundant, and that the
uric acid had almost entirely disappeared, and been replaced by ro-
saic acid in large quantities.—Idem.
NATURAL HISTORY.
1. Natural History of the Mole.—Observations relating to the na-
tural history of this animal, have lately been made and published in
the Mém. du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, XVII. 193, by M.
Flourens, from which the following facts have been abstracted.
Two moles were put into a vessel with earth at the bottom, and with
roots of carrot and horse radish for food. ‘The next morning only
one mole was visible, the roots were not eaten, and on searching the
earth, the skin alone of the other was found. It was opened through-
out its length, beginning at the belly, and the bones and flesh were
eaten.
The other mole was put into an empty vessel ; it was excessively ag-
itated and active, and appeared to be very hungry. A sparrow without
its wing feathers was put to it, which at first pecked at the nose of the
mole when the latter approached it, but after two or three times, the
mole darted on to the sparrow, thrust its nose into the entrails of the
bird, and detached the skin, at the same time devouring the flesh with
a degree of fury. “Putting a glass with water into the vessel, the
mole drank abundantly once, and again during its meal on the spar-
row. ‘The presence of the observer did not appear to interfere, in
the least, with the motions of the animal.
The remains of the sparrow being removed, the mole was left to
itself; an hour after, it was lying quiet; in five or six hours it was
very much agitated, and appeared exceedingly weak, its belly pressed
inwards, its sides depressed, its appearance breathless, its snout in con-
tinual motion—it appeared starved and ready to die. Another live
sparrow was put towards the animal, who this time instantly jumped
at it, and began to devour it as before at the entrails. After eating
a little, it drank, became of its usual size, and remained quiet. Next
morning all but the skin of the sparrow had disappeared, but still the
mole seemed hungry and agitated; a frog was put in, the mole in-
stantly fell upon and devoured it, beginning at the entrails as before.
The mole was then left until it was very hungry, after which a toad
was. put to it: the mole instantly perceived it, but each time that it
Scientific Intelligence.—Natural History. 887
approached the toad, the latter swelled up, and the former turned
away his snout as if disgusted. Roots of carrot, cabbage, lettuce,
and nothing else, were then put in and left with the mole all night.
Next morning the mole was dead, the roots scarely touched, the bit-
ten fragments still remaining. ‘The mole, therefore, is not an herbiv-
orous animal, and only destroys roots to get at the worms, insects,
and larve within.
Three other moles were put separately, with vegetable food, as
leaves, roots, &e. One died without at all touching the food, the
other two also died, after slightly attacking the leaves, &c. only in
their search for animal food. On the contrary, moles were preserved
for a long time, by giving them sparrows and frogs, or even butcher’s
meat, and sometimes worms, snails, and wood-lice.
Two moles having been put into a room without food, some hours
after, they were found the one pursuing the other, not a moment’s
cessation occurring ; by the next morning, the stronger had eaten the
weaker.
With regard to the time during which a mole can fast, from ten to
twelve hours appear to be the maximum; at the end of that time
they die. In three or four hours, they become very hungry, and in
five or six hours exceedingly weak. ating always seems to refresh
them perfectly, and, as happens with all carnivorous animals, they are
very desirous of drinking when they eat: the contrary is observed
with herbivorous animals. It is doubtful whether any other animal
exists, which is obliged to eat at such short intervals as this.
From what precedes, it is evident that the mole is essentially a car-
nivorous animal. A new instance of the admirable relation which
connects organization with manners, and functions with organs; and
anew proof, that whenever there appears to be a contradiction be-
tween one of these things and the other, it is because in the one or
the other, the organization or the habits, have been badly observed.
M. Flourens remarks, that it will be interesting to observe in what
degree the other znsectivious, all classed in fact by M. Cuvier in the
great family of Camassicus, are really carnivorous; and especially
what determinate modifications of their digestive organs correspond
to the various modifications of their regimen: that of the hedgehog,
for stance, which can eat fruits as well as insects, and that of the
shrewmouse, which ought to live entirely on prey, if we judge by the
shortness of their intestinal canal, which, as in true carnivorous ani-
mals, like the tiger, lion, &c., is only about three times the length of
the body.—Jdem.
388 Scientific Intelligence.—Natural iistop
2. On the different Genera and Species confounded with Cinehona.
(Bib. Univ. XLI. 144.)—M. De Candolle has published a short no-
tice on the different genera and species of bark, which have been con-
founded under the name of Cinchona; the following are his conclu-
sions :
1. It results from the enumeration made, that the forty six species of
trees or shrubs, until now more or less confounded in books, compose
eight distinct genera, namely, Cinchona, Buena, Remigia, Exostem-
ma, Pinkneya, Hymenodyctron, Luculia, Danais.
2. What is known of the bark of these eight groups appears to in-
dicate a decided connexion between the external forms and the med-
ical virtues, and in particular, that although all these barks may be
usefully administered in intermitting fevers as bitter or astringent, it
appears that the barks of Cinchona only contain quinia, and that they
probably are those which only are endowed with anti-intermitting
properties.
3. The yellow bark of medical men is produced from the Cincho-
na pubescens, and probably also in part from C. purpurea and Hum-
boldtiana. 'The orange bark from the C. lancifolia ; the red bark
from the C. scrobiculata and the C. magnifolia; and the pale bark
of best quality from the C. condaminia, whilst that of inferior qual-
ity comes from a mixture of many species.
4. The eight genera obtained by the dismemberment of the old
genus Cinchona, are sensibly in the relation of the geographical dis-
tribution of these vegetables, over the globe Luculia, and Hymen-
odyctron in the East Indies, Danas in the southern isles of Africa,
(Bourbon and France,) Pinkneya in Carolina and Georgia, Remigia
in Brazil, Buena and Cinchona in Peru and the Andes of Bogota.
The genus Exostemma is an exception to this regularity ; but it may
be observed that true Exxostemma lives in the Antilles, Pseudostem-
ma in Brazil; and the Brachyanthes are divided between America
and the Phillippine Islands, with this circumstance, that the species of
the Phillippines form perhaps a distinct genus.—Jdem.
3. Influence of Chemical Solutions on Plants. (Bull. Univ. XVII.
372.)—This subject has been taken up experimentally by M. Wieg-
mann, whose object was to ascertain the influence of chemical solu-
tions when applied to the roots of the plants, and taken in by absorp-
tion. His method was to put the liquid into vessels, into which were
also then immersed the pots in which the plants were growing, the
Scientific Intelligence.—Mechamcal Philosophy. 389
earth having been previously allowed to dry freely. In this manner
it was found that the neutral solutions of acetate of mercury, acetate
of lead, sulphate of copper, muriate of tin, muriate of manganese, ni-
trate of cobalt, nitrate of bismuth, tartrate of antimony, muriate of
baryta, muriate of strontia, and solutions of white arsenic and dilute
prussic acid, destroyed plants previously full of vigor, either in the
course of a few days, or a week. On the contrary, solutions of the
sulphate of iron and zine, muriates of titanium, iron and lime, and sul-
phates of alumina and magnesia, produce no prejudicial action.
When sought for, all the substances used were found in the plants,
so that in opposition to what Mr. Murray has said, absorption had
taken place by the roots.
Solutions; of opium, hemlock, henbane, digitalis, and vomica
nut, in the proportion of twenty grains of extract in two ounces of
distilled water, poured into pots containing young plants of the family
Chénopodus, caused death in from four to eight days.
Phillips’ experiment of watering a plant with sulphate of copper,
and killing it, was repeated, also, the absorption of copper and its pre-
cipitation on a knife verified. Solution of four ounces of acetate of
lead applied to a young willow did not kill it, probably because the
carbonic acid disengaged by the roots precipitated the metal. A sim-
ilar experiment with two ounces of white arsenic, only made the tree
to which it was applied grow more rapidly, M. Weigmann thinks
that because the arsenic was in too small a quantity, one acted only
as a stimulant.—Jdem. |
MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY.
1. Resistance in Space to the Motion of Heavenly Bodies. (Bib.
Univ. XLI. 3.)—In an account of the last appearance of Encke’s
Comet in 1828, M. Gautier states, that the results then obtained, ac-
corded with those which Encke had previously procured, and which
induced him, in 1823, to suppose the existence of a medium or ethe-
rial fluid in space, of which the resistance, acting as a tangential force
against the motion of the comet, would augment the power of the sun,
and shorten the period of revolution. ‘The most celebrated geome-
ters, and even Newton himself, had already calculated the influence
which such a resisting medium could exercise on the motions of com-
ets and planets. ‘They had found that its effects would be to dimin-
ish continually the eccentricity of their orbits, and to shorten the lon-
ger axes and the periods of their revolutions ; that the length of the
390 Scientific Intelligence.—Mechanical Philosophy.
perehelium would suffer only a periodical change; and that the
nodes and the inclination of the orbit would not be altered. In the
case of Encke’s comet, the first two effects have been decidedly
produced, and there are two circumstances to facilitate the calcula-
tion ; the first is, that this comet is always seen in the same point of
its orbit, and near to its perehelium; and the second, that its orbit is
subjected only to very slow alterations. Both these circumstances
permit the supposition that the times of revolution (at least for some
periods) diminish by an equal quantity, so that their diminution may
be considered as proportional to the square of the times ; the period-
ical variation of the perehelium may also be neglected without incon-
venience. M. Encke supposes, with Newton, that the ether or re-
sisting medium, is diffused through all space; that its density dimin-
ishes in the inverse ratio of the square of the sun’s distance, and that
the resisting force is always proportional to the square of the actual
linear velocity of the comet.—Quar. Jour. Jul.—Sep. 1829.
2. Brown’s Active Molecules—Mr. Holland, the inventor of a
microscope, sold by Carey of the Strand, has inclosed some of the
particles described by Mr. Brown, as active molecules, between glass
and talc, closing the whole hermetically, so as to exclude, as much
as care could do, all interference of external causes. Notwithstand-
ing this, the motion continued equally vivid even after ten days. ‘The
lens used had a focus of the thirtieth of an inch; and the particles
were obtained, as we understand, from gamboge.—Idem.
3. Destruction of Vermin in ships, by steam.—By letters from In-
dia, it appears that the application of steam has been found wonder-
fully efficacious in cleansing ships from vermin, and especially the
white ant. A steam-boat (¢he Comet) was placed alongside a mer-
chant vessel, and steam from its boiler conveyed by a very simple
system of pipes, into the hold of the latter, the apertures to which
were closed as well as they could be. The operation was continued
for several hours, and there is no reason to believe that it was not ef-
fectual, and will prove a valuable process in the navy. Besides the
direct object of cleansing the ship, another advantage accrued, from
the discovery of every leaky place existing, by the oozing of the wa-
ter through them, i which way leaks were made manifest, that could
not be found out otherwise. The expense is said to be very mode-
rate; and itis further stated to be the only process at present known,
Scientific Intelligence.—Mechanical Philosophy. 391
not even excepting sinking, which effectually destroys the white ant.
—Idem.
4. Electricity of the Solar Rays. (Letter from Sig. Carlo Mat-
trucci, of Forli, to Professor Gazzeri.)—‘ I hasten, Sir, to commu-
nicate to you some experiments which appear to me to deserve the
attention of philosophers. Having been for a long time persuaded of
the existence of electricity in the solar rays, 1 wished to ascertain the
fact by experiments. Having for the purpose exposed to the sun a
delicate condensing electrometer of gold leaf, I soon perceived the
leaves diverge and open themselves also on that side of the glass
case which was directly exposed to the solar action, as if they had
been attracted by it. Being induced from this first fact to suspect
glass in this situation electrified, I was anxious to know if this were
the case: wherefore, having left some plates of it in the sun, in a few
moments I touched them in different places with the ball electrome-
ter, when a very perceptible divergence ensued, which, however, was
much more apparent when I touched the plates, although lightly, with
a flat surface, since the effects of the friction and the pressure did not
afford a doubtful result. I concluded, then, that the solar rays had
the power of electrifying glass, and it only remained for me to ascer-
tain if this effect were owing to the real existence of electricity in
these rays, or rather to the increased temperature of the glass, which
I could easily determine by heating a plate of glass, and trying it with
the electrometer. This I did several times, but never discovered
any signs of electricity. I observed, also, that the glass plate ex-
posed to the rays of the sun, never became electric if placed beneath
another glass plate, or if the face of the sun was obscured by the in-
tervention of a cloud. ‘These few experiments which I have been
induced to perform, seem to me suflicient to prove the existence of
electricity in the solar rays. The influence of such a fact on the
meteorological phenomena of nature, will, I hope, induce yourself
and other philosophers to pursue the subject farther.” (Antologia,
No. 100. Forli April 25, 1829.)—Jdem.
Professor Saverio Barlocci, of Rome, in a Memoir on the influ-
ence of Solar Light, in the Production of Electric and Magnetic Phe-
nomena, inserted in Vol. XLI. of the Giornale Arcadico, relates the
following experiments which he had: performed, to ascertain the elec-
tric power of the solar light. Having decomposed it with a prism, he
made the red ray and the violet ray fall upon two discs of blackened
392 Scientific Intellicence.— Mechanical Philosophy.
copper, each of which was attached to a copper wire. ‘Two nuts of
the same metal, sliding upon a vertical glass rod, and to which the
two wires were attached, permitted their being brought near togeth-
er, or removed at pleasure. Having suspended a prepared frog by
the body to the upper wire, the legs were placed upon the lower one.
The apparatus being thus arranged, whenever (the dises being re-
spectively covered with the red and violet rays) a contact was formed
between the extreme parts of the two wires, evident signs of con-
tractions were observed in the frog.—Note by Prof. Gazzeri.
Having experimented two summers since, upon the solar spec-
trum, in exactly the same way, except that a very delicate galvan-
ometer was used instead of a frog, no electricity could be obtained
by means of an English sun. M. F'.—Jdem. .
5. Leech Bites——Dr. Lowendhart mentions a method of check-
ing the profuse bleeding from leech bites, which is simple and effect-
ual. The edges of the little wounds are drawn together with a fine
needle and thread. The thread being drawn through the cuticle only, ~
gives no pain, and the bleeding is at once suppressed. (Jour. de
Chir. Med. Jour. VI. 86.)—Jdem.
6. Professor Hansteon.— Terrestrial Magnetism.—Letters have
been received from Professor Hanstein and his companions, to the
19th of February. On the 12th of September they left 'Tobolsk,
and travelled on sledges, the cold being at —40° R., so that the fro-
zen quicksilver could be cut with a knife. On the 31st they arrived
at Tornsk; on the 21st of January, 1829, at Krasnojarsk, and on the
7th of February, at Irkutsk, which is about 4000 versts from To-
bolsk. They afterwards visited Kiachta, and crossed the frontier of
China; but the most agreeable result is, that the desired object of
the journey is accomplished, as the observations have proved per-
fectly satisfactory, and the magnetic pole is found. Centuries will
perhaps elapse before Siberia will be again so thoroughly observed.
When the letters were dispatched, it was resolved that the journey
should be extended to Nertschink ; from which place Professor Han-
stein would return to Krasnojarsk. His companion, Lieutenant Due,
was to go alone to Jakutzk, 2700 versts N. E. of Irkutzk, and per-
haps proceed down the river Lena to the Frozen Ocean, and they
intended to meet again at Jeniseisk in September or October. Cop
Mon. Mag. XXVIL. 359.)—Idem.
Scientific Intelligence.—Statistics. 393
STATISTICS.
1. Foundling Hospitals —A_ prospectus has. been published in
Paris, of a work, in three volumes, on the history of Foundling Hos-
pitals, on the manner in which they are conducted in all parts of the
world, furnishing the statistics of all the principal establishments of
this nature in Europe; and on their tendency, moral, political and
eleemosynary, by M. De Gouroff, Rector of the University of St.
Petersburg, Counsellor of State, &c.: Dedicated to the Emperor
Nicholas. ‘The author has travelled over the greater part of Eu-
rope, in the collection of materials for this work.
‘In Catholic countries,” he remarks, “numerous asylums have
been opened to all new-born children, legitimate or illegitimate,
which it may please the public toabandon, or to place in them.
Austria has many such institutions: Spain reckons 67; Tuscany 12;
Belgium 18; but France in this respect excels other countries: she
has no less than 362. Protestant countries, on the contrary, have
suppressed the greater part of those which had been specially founded
for this purpose.”
To form an idea of the advantage of the Protestant system over
that of Catholic countries, the author states, ‘that in London, the pop-
ulation of which amounts to 1,250,000, there were in the five years
from 1819 to 1823, only 151 children exposed ; and that the num-
ber of illegitimate children received in the 44 work-houses of that
city, of which he visited a large number in 1825, amounted, during
the same period, to 4,668, or 933 per annum; and that about one-
fifth of these are supported at the expense of their fathers. By a
striking contrast, Paris, which has but two thirds of the population of
London, enumerated in the same five years, 25,277 enfants trouvés,
all supported at the expense of the state.”
To ascertain the contagious influence of these houses on the aban-
donment of new-born children,—Mayence had no establishment of
this kind, and from 1799 to 1811, there were exposed there thirty
children. Napoleon, who imagined that in multiplying foundling
hospitals, he would multiply soldiers and sailors, opened one in that
town on the 7th of November, 1811, which remained until March,
1815, when it was suppressed by the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt.
During this period of three years and four months, the house received
five hundred and sixteen foundlings.. Once suppressed, as the habit of
exposure had not become rooted in the people, order was again restor-
ed, and in the nine succeeding years, but seven children were exposed.
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. 23
394 Scientific Intelhigence.—Statistres.
2. Progress of Mutual Instruction in Denmark.—The monitori-
al system of instruction was first introduced into Denmark in 1819,
and although opposed with great zeal by the clergy in its early stages,
it was supported by a few of them, and having early received the
sanction and support of the king, it made rapid progress. ‘The
Chevalier Abrahamson is regarded as the true founder of the system,
and its most efficient promoter in that kingdom. ‘The following is a
statement of the number of schools, progressively, established on that
system.
In the beginning of 1819, - - - 1 school.
end of 1819, - - reo
1820.00 = 2 - - bheagess
1821, ‘ L 1b «
1822, - i : 35
1823, : 2 244 «
1824, - H £1 G6 Obuets
1825, J 2 1143 «
1826, - - - 1545 *
1827, 2 = 2003.
1828, - - Soni QSOZ et
At the latter period, the organization of 344 other schools had been
commenced, which it was hoped would be in activity at the end of
the present year. ‘The total number of schools of mutual struction
would then be 2646, that is nearly two thirds of the whole number
in the kingdom.—Rev. Ency. Sept. 1829.
3. Educational Beneficence.—It appears from a recent discourse
pronounced by Ch. Dupin, at the conclusion of his course of “ Geom-
etry and Mechanics applied to the Arts,” that one of the most enlight-
ened magistrates of Paris, M. Cochin, Mayor of the 12th Arrondisse-
‘ment, has established in his district, which contains near eighty thou-
sand inhabitants, schools for the benefit of the poorer classes of all
ages. ‘I'he subscriptions by which they are maintained, he has lib-
erally aided by his own resources. Ina retired and healthy situa-
tion, he has constructed an infant school, for children from three to
seven years of age, where the children of the laboring classes may re-
main from morning till night, well taken care of and instructed. Four
hundred children are to be admitted during the present year.
Another school of mutual instruction, for three hundred boys, from
seven to fourteen years of age, will be provided, in which they will
JMiscellanies. 395
be taught reading, writing, arithmetic, linear drawing, and various
useful precepts on industry and the arts. A school for three hun-
dred girls, of a similar age, will be added for instruction in literature
and needle work. To these are to be added, an adult school for two
hundred and fifty of each sex, who have not enjoyed the benefit of
early or primary instruction. Finally, on the Sabbath, a school is to be
opened for those who are occupied during the week m manual labor.
In this quarter of Paris, there is a greater proportion of poor than
in any other, and it has been found, that among these suffering class-
es, the mortality is much greater than in other parts of the city. In
the rich quarters of Faubourg St. Honoré, and La Chaussée d’Antin,
the deaths annually are one in forty four of the whole number of
inhabitants, while in the faubourgs Saint-Jacques and Saint-Marceau,
the deaths are one in twenty four. The only means of arresting these
misfortunes thus indicated by the ravages of death, is to endeavor
to enable those who gain their livelihood by the sweat of their brow,
to do it more efficaciously. Their labors must be rendered more intel-
ligent, easy and appropriate to their destination, and thereby suscepti-
ble of being better paid and more abundant.—Rev. Ency. Sept. 1829.
* % x % % %
A much more copious digest of foreign scentific intelligence was
received from Professor Griscom, but the advanced state of this Num-
ber when the MS. was received, has permitted us to make only a se-
lection from its different topics and the remainder, with additions, will
be given in our next.—Ed.
MISCELLANIES.
1. Notice of a new method of charrung wood, in a letter to the Ed-
itor, from Mr. Isaac Doouirtie.
My Dear Sir—My occupations for the last seven years, have led
to pretty extensive and close observations on the manner in which
charcoal is made in our woods and mountains; and which I always
considered as an exceedingly laborious, wasteful and slovenly opera-
tion—but one which I knew not how to improve upon, until about a
year since, when my attention was called to examine a small charring
kiln at the works of the West Point Foundry Association. This
kiln was made on the same principle, and nearly of the same size as
one described by M. de la Chabeaussiere, (Bulletin de la Société
d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale, Vol. XX. p. 295.)
This was a pit dug in the ground, filled with wood, and covered with
396 /Miscellanies.
an iron cap—which cap must be removed at each successive empty-
ing and filling of the pit—some tubes leading from the top of the
ground to the bottom of the pit served as vents. From the nature
of this construction, it is evident that the size must necessarily be lim-
ited to a very few cords of wood—say five or six at most.—This
size might answer very well for the extraction of pyroligneous acid,
to which purpose M. de la Chabeaussiére applied his kilnm—or for a
blacksmith who consumes but a small quantity of coals; but would
be no more than a plaything in works where the daily consumption
is from one thousand to fifteen hundred bushels or more.
It occurred to me that, by
building kilns above ground,
so that all the vents could be
come at with facility, and ee
a A Ae
arching the top over in the SSH ai tit gat
form of a dome, leaving one
or more openings in the side
for the admission of wood
and the extraction of coals,
(which are closed during the
operation of charring,) they
might be constructed of al
most any size that might be
desirable. ‘The result of the
experiment justified my most
sanguine expectations.
13, 42 ENN Meany Beas 2:
14, 46 ats ah An pA Weer ye:
15, 48 ein inbrlt si eR 5) gil is aA
16, 50 She ue aeRO can itngehat BOS
17, 50 ECL! Spl: wake tel
18, 56 sin yen yl 204
LOG ohne U et aA
20, 45 - - at
21, 35 at hea aes
22, 30 Bay tent eat
23, 38 ined leo)
24, 48 Ese ga)
25, 60 Sines ge
26, 64 By ee eA
27, 43 BoA a Sig
28, 40 SAL eee Bo
29, 48 eval ag
30, 56 - - 3”
31.7 42 2 = *
NOTICES OF RECENT AND FORTH-COMING SCIENTIFIC WORKS.
Foreign.
1. Early Discovery of America by the Scandinavians.—An inter-
esting communication, dated at Copenhagen, has just been received
by the Conn. Academy of Arts and Sciences, from Charles Chris-
tian Rafn, Knight of Dannebroge, R. Danish Professor, Dr. Philos-
ophy, Secretary to the R. Society of Northern Antiquarians. We
are permitted to make the following extract :
“It is known that the inhabitants of the North of Europe visited,
long before Columbus’ time, the countries on the coasts of North
America. ‘The greatest part of the information on this subject has
not hitherto been published.
Forth-coming Scientific Works. All
‘“¢ At a time when the researches concerning the former times of
America have gained a greater interest, I hope the effort to extend this
information will meet the approbation of the American Antiquarians.
“| have now gone through all the old MSS. on this subject, and
have made a complete collection of the several pieces, shewing the
knowledge which the old Scandinavians had of America. I intend
now to publish this collection with a Latin translation.
‘“‘'The accounts of the voyage of the old Scandinavians to Ameri-
ca, have lately gained a new confirmation, by a Runic Stone, which
in the year 1824, was found under 73° N. lat. on the Western coast
of Greenland. ‘Translated, it is as follows: Erling Sigvalson, and
Biorne Hordeson, and Endride Addson, Saturday before Gagnday, ©
(the 25 April) erected these heaps of stone, and cleared the place in
the year 1135.”
2. Use of the Blowpipe in Chemistry and Mineralogy. [In Ger-
man.| By Jacob Berzelius. Second edition, 8v6. pp. 282, Nurnberg.
3. Library of Useful Knowledge—published under the superin-
tendence of the Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge : 8vo.
London.—This is a work of great value : it is published semi-month-
ly, in Nos. of thirty two pages each, and may be had of our book-
sellers at $3.50 per year. ‘The names of Brougham, chairman, and
of Lord John Russel, M. P. vice-chairman of the Committee of the
Society, are a sufficient warrant for the integrity of the work. On the
first of August, it had reached 55 numbers. We give the following
as specimens of the subjects. No. 20, Life of Cardinal Woolsey ;
21, Optical Instruments; 22, Electricity ; 23, Physical Geology ;
24, Life of Sir Christopher Wren ; 25, Arithmetic and Algebra ; 26,
Thermometer and Pyrometer ; 27, Outlines of General History.
4. Inbrary of Entertaaning Knowledge: London: a work just
commenced under the superintendence of the same Society, and pub-
lished monthly, in half volumes, 18mo. of about 200 pages each. It
has less of a scientific, and more of a popular character than the other
work, but still contains much valuable knowledge. ‘The subjects pro-
posed to be first treated of, are, The Menageries, Vegetable Substan-
ces used in the Arts and in Domestic Economy, Natural History of
British Insects, Natural History of Birds, History and Description of
Substances used in the Arts, History of Inventions and Discoveries,
The Monuments of Architecture, Anecdotes of individuals remark-
able for their ardent pursuit of knowledge under unfavorable circum-
stances, &c.—The bookstore price is 56 cents per number.
412 Notices of Recent and
5. Guy’s Pocket Cyclopedia or Epitome of Universal Knowl-
edge, designed for Senior Scholars in Schools, and for young persons
in general ; by Joseph Guy. Ninth edition, enlarged and extensive~
ly improved: London, pp. 633, 12mo.
The Quebec Lnterary and Historical Society has just published
the first volume of its transactions. ‘This Society has grown up un-
der the munificent patronage of the Earl of Dalhousie, and has ably
commenced its career: it has a wide range for objects of inquiry and
research, and we shall expect from it much useful information.
The following is from the Quebec Official Gazette.
“The first volume of the ‘Transactions of the Literary and His-
torical Society’ is now published and for sale. ‘They form a good
sized octavo volume of 260 pages, exclusive of the Catalogue of the
Mineralogical Collection belonging to the Society, which contains 72
pages, and of several maps and lithographic prints.
“‘ The first article is the Inaugural Address, bemg an essay on the
Juridical History of France, antecedent to the year 1663, when the
Sovereign Council of Quebec was established, the Law, as it was then
administered being the common Law of Lower Canada, This arti-
cle was written by the Chief Justice, and is a luminous and classical
digest of the legal system of the Province, ending with a strong re-
commendation of the necessity of some establishment of a public de-
scription, where Law might be taught as a science. The recent de-
cision on the subject of M’Gill College affords ground for hoping that
this desideratum may hereafter be supplied.
‘The second article is from the pen of Captain Bayfield, R. N.
and contains outlines of the Geology of Lake Superior. This paper
would, from its intrinsic merit, have attracted observation in the moth-
er country, rich as she is in every kind of literature. An article, by
Mr. Green, follows, respecting coloring materials produced in Cana-
da. This paper was communicated to the Society of Arts, London,
with some specimens of the raw and the prepared materials, and that
Society was pleased to award to the writer the gold Isis medal.
“The next is an account of some meteorological phenomena ob-
served in Canada by Captain Bonnycastle, R. EX. who has also sup-
plied a second article on a few of the Rocks and Minerals of Upper
Canada. Mr. A. Stewart has furnished two very interesting papers,
the one containing notes on the Saguenay country, and the other a pa-
per on the ancient Beruscans or Tyrrhenians. .
Forth-coming Scientific Works. 413
“The exertions of Mr. Baddelay, R. E. are very conspicuous,
combining in themselves matter sufficient to occupy nearly 100 pages
of the book, chiefly on the Geognosy of the Saguenay country.. We
may mention the article on the country around the Montmorency—the
article on Recent Shells found near Quebec, by Mrs. Sheppard of
Woodfield—the Journey across the continent of North America by
an Indian Chief—the observations on the plants described by Charle-
voix, by Mr. W. Sheppard—on the Myrtus Cerifera or Myrtle wax-
shrub—a very curious catalogue of coincidents, which induce the
belief of the Asiatic origin of the North American tribes, by Major
Mercer, R. A.—and also a catalogue of Canadian Plants, presented
to the Society by the Countess of Dalhousie. The plates are in gen-
eral well executed, and we hail with sincere pleasure the appearance
of a volume, the first production of a Literary Society in this Pro-
vince.”
Domestic.
1. Encyclopedia Americana—a popular Dictionary of Arts, Sci-
ences, Literature, History, Politics and Biography, brought down to
the present time, including a copious collection of Original Articles in
American Biography ; on the basis of the seventh edition of the Ger-
man Conversations Lexicon; Edited by Francis Lieber, as-
sisted by E. Wigglesworth. Vol. I. Svo. pp. 616: Philadelphia.—
The high reputation of the contributors to this work, will not fail
to ensure it a favorable reception among our countrymen; and its own
merits will do the rest. ‘Something of the kind has been greatly
_ needed. The heavier Encyclopedias are too cumbersome for common
reference, and too expensive for common use. We needed some-
thing that would condense the valuable information which they con-
tain, and present it before us in a form accessible to all. This is the
object in the Conversations-Lexicon, the first Vol. of which is now
before the public : the name implies a Lexicon calculated to fit a
person for sharimg in the conversation of well informed circles,
and is taken from the German work, on which this is to be modelled.
The estimation in which the German Lexicon, now consisting of 12
Volumes, is held, may be learned from the fact, that since 1812,
80,000 copies have been published, besides two pirated editions.
*'There has been also a Danish translation, a Swedish, and likewise
a Dutch. A French translation is also preparing at Brussels.” The
American work is partly a translation, and partly original. “Some of
the departments of Science and Literature, which were but imper-
fectly treated in the original German work, have been entirely re-
414 Notices of Recent and
written for this edition ; for example, Zoology, (by Dr. Godman, of
Philadelphia, author of the well known Am. Nat. History) Mineral-
ogy and Chemistry. The departments of Political Economy and
Geography have also been much enlarged. Numerous entire arti-
cles of American and English Law have been introduced. In gen-
eral Biography, large additions have been made. ‘The articles on
American Biography are entirely original, and have been furnished
by Mr. Robert Walsh, Jr., whose learning and taste are a sufficient
pledge of their value. ‘The contributions under Mineralogy and
Chemistry, though perhaps not a complete system in themselves, in-
clude nearly every particular which relates to the common con-
cerns of life; and the articles are ably and faithfully written. In
the nomenclature of minerals, the following course appears to
have been adopted. When the composition of a mineral is sim-
ple, consisting of a combustible and metal, as Sulphuret of Anti-
mony, or of an acid and an earth, as Sulphuric Acid and Barytes,
as in Heavy Spar,—it is treated of under the head of the principal
ingredient, as /ntimony in the first instance, and Barytes in the sec-
ond. ‘Thus, also, Gibbsite, which is an Hydrate of Alumine, is de-
scribed under that earth. In such cases, it is no doubt tended, in
the progress of the work, that reference shall be made from the min-
eralogical names of these substances to the chemical head under
which they are mentioned. Where the composition is less simple,
the mineral is noticed under one of its most popular names, as in the
case of Axinite and Agalmatholite.
While we congratulate the public on the prospect of such a work,
we must be allowed to ask a favor of the publishers—that in the fu-
ture numbers we may be saved from such a constant use of the pa-
per knife. :
2. Elements of Physics or Natural Philosophy, general and Med-
tcal ; by Neil Arnott, M. D. of the Royal College of Physicians.
First American, from the third London edition ; with additions, by
Isaac Hays, A. M., M. D., &c. 8vo. pp. 532. Philadelphia.
3. Familiar Introduction to the Study of Botany, by Mrs. Lan-
coln, 12mo. pp. 335.—The intention of this work is expressed in
the title page. “Familiar Lectures on Botany, including Prac-
tical and Elementary Botany, with Generic and Specific Descrip-
tions of the most common native and foreign plants, and a Vocabu-
lary of Botanical terms, for the use of higher Schools and Acade-
mies.” Mrs. Lincoln, who is vice-principal of the Troy Female
Forth-coming Scientific Works. 415
Seminary, states in her preface, that having been for some time de-
voted in part to the study of Botany, with the charge of a large class,
she experienced the want of a suitable book for beginners, and was
led to prepare for the use of her pupils, a sketch, of which the present
treatise is but the filling up. Among the sources of information, from
which she has drawn, are mentioned the works of Mirbel, Rousseau,
St. Pierre, Smith, Woodville, Eaton, Nuttall, and Torrey, the En-
cyclopedias, and various other approved treatises upon the subject.
The book is neatly executed, and illustrated by a frontispiece, exhib-
_ iting the progress of vegetation at different heights, and several en-
gravings from original designs; and cannot fail of answering the prin-
cipal intention of its amiable authoress, of engaging persons of her own
sex in a study, eminently calculated to interest and instruct them.
4. Elements of Spherical Trigonometry ; designed as an Introduc-
tion to the Study of Nautical Astronomy; by J. P. Rodriguez, VU.
S. Navy Yard, Gosport. 8vo. pp. 24.—This little work is valuable
in itself; and still more so from the promise it holds out, of something
further from the same author. He is known to us as a young gen-
tleman of high mathematical attainments. His object is to prepare
for our Naval officers a work, in which the higher principles of Nav-
igation shall be developed, but which at the same time will be suited
to their contracted opportunities for study and improvement on this
subject. Such a work is needed, and we wish Mr. Rodriguez suc-
cess.
5. Lyceums.—This is a name given to numerous town associa-
tions now forming in the State of Massachusetts. ‘Their object is, to
establish Libraries, to raise the character of district schools, to compile
town histories, to prepare town Maps, to promote Agricultural and
Geological Surveys, and to form collections of Minerals. Some
maps, of good execution, and surprising cheapness, have been sent
to us, as the results of these efforts: the system promises much
good, and, it is hoped, will extend to other States.
6. Transactions of the Albany Institute for Dec. 1829.—The
present number contains Statistical Notices of some of the Lunatic
Asylums in the United States, by T. Romeyn Beck ; Observations
on the great Greywacke Region of the State of New York, by James
Morse ; and a Topographical Sketch of the State of New York, de-
signed chiefly to show the general elevations and depressions of its
surface, illustrated by an engraving, by Joseph Henry.
416 Notices of Scientific Works.
7. Elements of Geometry upon the inductive method; to whach
is added an introduction to Descriptive Geometry; by James Hay-
ward, A. M. lately college professor of Mathematics and Natural
Philosophy in Harvard University. 12mo. pp. 172. Cambridge.
8. The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge,
for the year 1830, comprising a Calendar for the year ; Astronomical
Information, Miscellaneous Directions, Hints and Remarks; and
Statistical and other particulars respecting foreign countries and the
United States. Vol. I. 12mo. pp. 308. Boston.
9. A Map of the U. States’ Lead Mines on the Upper Mississip-
pr, by R. W. Chandler of Galena: engraved and published at Cin-
cinnati.—This appears to be a very valuable map, executed on a
scale sufficient to exhibit all the necessary local details, and with a
degree of neatness that makes it a handsome specimen of Western
arts—The map contains also on its margin, various statistical and
other statements, which much enhance its value, and it cannot fail of
being an acceptable offering to our country, and especially to the
mining regions, which it exhibits.
10. New Treatise on Mineralogy.—Preparing for Press ;—An
Introduction to the study of Mineralogy, consisting of an Analytic
Method for enabling the student to determine unknown Minerals,
founded upon the natural properties of Minerals ; and full descriptions
of the species, treated of according to the arrangement of Haity, with
their chemical and economical characters, and an account of their
geological and geographical distribution: to which will be added an
appendix, containing a descriptive catalogue of several of the most
interesting specimens in the Cabinet of Yale College. By Charles
U. Shepard.
Corrections for the article on Malaria.
Page 311. line 10th from the top—read, “if the sun is too hot it will be dried up;
and separate from moisture, which alone unfolds its existence, this occult property is
doubtless innoxious, as it certainly is unknown.”
Page 315. line 29th from the top—read, ‘‘ and the humid vapors would differ in
amount, though not in character, proportionate to the degree of heat which ex-
haled them.”
Page 317. line 10th from the bottom, read, “‘ and itis important to medical science,
as giving a clue to its mode of attack, whether by the external and internal surfaces,
or by respiration.”
Page 323. line 17th from the top, read, ‘‘a pestilential morass transformed into
fertile fields, with a salubrious atmosphere, and an industrious and happy popula-
tion.”
INDEX TO VOL. XVII.
A.
Acid in Tomatos, 115 Acidulous Sulphate of Iron, 203
Acworth Minerals, 354 Agenda Geognostica, 200
Air, compression of, 38 Albany Institute, 208 Transactions of, 415
Allen’s Mechanies, review of, 338 Almanac, American, &c. 416
America, early discovery of, 411 Analysis of Titaniferous lron, 42
Analysis of Tennessee Meteorite, 326 Anthophyllite of Haddam, 144
Antiquities of Peru, 116 Architecture in the United States, 99, 249
Arctic Regions, Geology of, 1 Magnetism of, 145
Aspartic Acid, 173 Aspartates, 174
Astronomical Observations at Greenwich, 409
Astronomy, elementary works on, 199 Atmosphere, composition of, 382
Attraction, liquid, the principles of, 86
B.
Bear Lake River, Geology of, 3
Belemnites, cutaneous appexdages of animals, 184
Biography of Sir H. Davy, 217 Bituminous Coal, origin of, 397
Blake, Eli W., on the manufacture of Steel, 111
— on blasting of rocks, 134. Blasting of rocks, danger in, 132
Blowpipe, second edition of Berzelius on, 411
— simplified, 163 Bones, preservation of, 169
Boracie Acid reduced by hydrogen, 176
Botany, introduction to the siudy of, 414 Brown’s active Molecules, 390
Bryant, Mr. on a stroke of lightning, 193
C.
Calculus, mathematical, fundamental principles of, 74
Caoutchouc, in sheets, 399 Catalogue of Plants, 199
Catlin, Dr. on blasting Rocks, 132 Cement, a new fusible one, 81
Charring wood, a new mode, 395 Chemical action of Light, 376
Chemical solutions, influence on vegetation, 388
Chlorate of Potash, method of preparing, 408
Chlorine, test for the strength of, 170 Cinchona, remarks upon, 388
Clemson, T. G. analysis of Iron ore by, 42
Cloth, preservation of, 184 Columbite of Acworth, 387
Compression of air, 38 Conductibility conferred by water, 165
Conwell, Dr. on Tobacco, 369
Copal varnish, soluble in alcohol, 175 Copper Mine River, Geology of, 7
Corrosive Sublimate, detection of, 181
decomposition of, 385
Couzeranite, a new mineral, 183 Crayons, red, manufacture of, 187
Crystallization of Salts, 373
—_—_____—_, circumstances influencing it, 383
Cyclopedia, Pocket, Guy’s, 412
D.
Danger in blasting rocks, 132
Davy, Sir H. biography of, 217 ’
——_—__—_—., death of, 157 Daubeny, Prof. letter on mineral springs, 407
Diamond, remarks upon, 372 Diluvia! Furrows, 408
Distillation of wood, 175 Divisibility of matter, 184
Doolitile, Mr. mode of making charcoal by, 395
Vou. XVII.—No. 2. 26
418 INDEX.
E.
Eaton, Prof. Geological Prodromus, 63 |
—_—_—_—_—_————. Remarks, 354 ;
Eaton galena, 196 ‘Educational Beneficence, 394
Electrical Focus, some effects of, 383 Electricity of Solar Rays, 391
Electro-galvanic phenomena, 194 Encyclopedia Americana, 413
Europe, Northern, Geology of, 16
F.
Faust, Edwin D. on the Peroxide of Hydrogen, 34
Ferro-silicate of manganese in Rhode island, 142
Fluxions, solutions in, 69, 329 Foreign Books, 201
Foundling Hospitals, 393
Fredonia, lighted by natural gas, 398
French eggs and apples, 193
G.
Galvanic Battery of Watkins, 162 Gas lights, natural ones, 398
Gazlay, S. Rev. on the origin of Coal, 397 Gelatine, use of, 169
Geology of Arctic Regions, 1
— sand formation of New Jersey, 274
Geological Prodromus of Prof. Eaton, 63
formation of an island, 197
—-— remarks by Prof. Eaton, 334
Society, gifts to, 202
Geometry, elements of, 416 German collections of minerals, 400
Gold Formation of N. Carolina, 400 Gold in Maryland, 202
Greenland, Geology of, 14 Griscom, Prof. extracts by, 161
Gunpowder, premature explosion of in blasting rocks, 132
H.
Hansteen, Prof. on the magnetism of the earth, 145, 392.
Hays, A. A. on a Portable Hygrometer, 351
—— on the preparation of the Chlorate of Potash, 408
—— ona test for lead in Sulphuric Acid, 195
Heavenly bodies, resistance in space to the motion of, 389
Heidelberg store of minerals, 491
Hitchcock, Prot. on German collections of minerals, 400
Hough, Horatio G. on Jiquid Attraction, 86
Hudson’s Bay, geology of, 11 Humboldt, expedition of, 405
Hydrophobia, cure for, 204 Hydrostatic lamp, 161
Hygrometer, new portable one, 351
t
Iceland, geology of, 15 Idocrase, new locality of, 145
Igneous origin of some Trap Rocks, 119 ¥ndelible Ink, new: kind, 172, 371
Ingalis, Lieut. on a luminous appearance of the sea, 209
Todine, crystallization of, 168 Icduret of Calcium and Potassium, 177
Tpecacuanha branca, analysis of, 385
Tron Mines, 203 Iron, native, crystallized, 140
K.
Kamschatka, geological notices of, 30
L.
Lamp, Hydrostatic 161 Lead in oil of vitriol, test for, 195
Leech bites, 392 Leeches, death of during storms, 186
Library of Useful Knowledge, 411 Library of Entertaining Knowledge, 411
Light, chemical action of, 376 Lightning, effects of at Charlestown, 193
Linear unit, 164 Liquid attraction, principles of, 86
Liquid Sulphurous Acid, 166 Litmus paper, 165
Long, Geo. W. on the origin of Springs, 336
Lowitz, H. Fitz, on a fusible Cement, 81 Lyceumsin New England, 415
INDEX, A419
Magnetic Variations, 198 Magnetism of the Earth, 145, 392
Malaria, essay upon, 300 Manufacture of Steel, 111
Marlborough minerals, 353 McKenzie River, geology of, 4
Meade, Dr. on a new locality of Zircon, 196 Medical Statistics, 188
Mercury, combination of with metallic wires, 375
Metal, a new one, 381 Metals, action of on inflammable gases, 168
Meteorite of Tennessee, analysis of, 326 Mili, pure, 378
Mine of Pasco, 43 Mineral Cement, 81
Mineralogy, new treatise on, 416
Mineral Waters, Prof. Daubeny’s letter on, 407
Mineralogical Journey, 351 Missouri Lead Mines, Map of, 416
Mitchell, Prof. on safety tubes, 345 Mitchell, Dr. J. K. on sheet Caoutchouc, 399
Mole, natural history of, 386 Molecules, active ones, 390
Morphia, preservation of by alcohol, 384
Morton, Dr. S. G. on the Fossils of New Jersey, 274
Mushrooms, gas from, 174 Mutual Instruction in Denmark, 394
N.
Native Iron crystallized, 140 Naval Sketches, 201
Necrology, 157 New Fane Minerals, 353
Nitric Acid, new test for, 176 Noggerath, Prof. on compression of air, 35
O.
Ocean, luminous appearances in, 209
Organic Fossil remains in New Jersey, 274
Ossification of the Vitreous Humor, 186
Py
Pasco, silver mines of, 43 Patent claims, examination of, 193
Pectic acid, 179 Peron, on the temperature of the sea, 295
Peroxide of Hydrogen, 34 Peruvian antiquities, 116
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 361
Phosphori, solar, 170 Physics, elements of, 414
Plants, Prof. Hitchcock’s Catalogue of, 199
influence of chemical solutions on, 388
Plaster, on the setting of, 371 Plumbagine, a new vegetable substance, 385
Potash, action of on organic materials, 382 Potassium, 182 ;
Potatoe flour in wheat, 173 Potatoes, preservation of, 188
Prince Regent’s Inlet, geology of, 16
Printing, stereotype, the invention of, 161
Prussic Acid, antidote to, 174 Pyrophorus, 176
Q.
Quebec Lit. and His. Society, transactions of, 412
R.
Refining, instructions for, 177 Religious toleration in Russia, 192
Renwick, Prof. on the magnetism of the earth, 145
Review of the labors of Sir H. Davy, 217
-— Allen’s Mechanics, 338
Rivero, M. de, sketch of the mines of Pasco, 43
Rock specimens and petrifactions for sale, 401 Rocky mountains, geology of, 2
Rosaic acid in urine, 385 Royal Society, transactions of, 361
420 INDEX.
8.
Sabine, Capt. on the magnetism of the earth, 145
Safety tubes, 345 Salts, number of, 184
Sand formation of New Jersey, 274 Saturn’s ring, eccentricity of, 162
Scandinavians, early discovery of America by, 410
Sea, on the color of, 170 Sea, temperature of, 295
Seybert, Mr. analysis of meteorite by, 326
Shepard, C. U. on ferro-silicate of manganese, 142
——- on new localities of minerals, 144
on native iron, 140
mineralogical Journey by, 353
Siberia, notices of, 24 Siamese twin brothers, 212
Silk, culture of, 202 Smoke disperser, 164
Sodium, 182 Solar phosphori, 170
Solar rays, electricity of, 391 Spherical trigonometry, elements of, 415
Springs, on the origin of, 336 Steel, manufacture of, 111 j
Steel plate, colored, 375 Stereotyping, origin of, 161
Strong, Prof. solution of a problem in Fluxions, 69, 329
Sulphurous Acid, liquid, 166
T.
Tabular Spar, new locality of, 145 Technology, elements of, 198
Temperature of the sea, 295
Test for vegetable and animal matter, 182
Thermometer, Register of, at Brooklyn, 409
Thorium, anew metal, 381 Tin, crystallization of, 206
Titaniferous iron ore, analysis of, 42
Tobacco, chemical examination of, 369 Tomatos, acid in, 115
Trap rocks, igneous origin of, 116 Turner’s Chemistry, new edition of, 201
U.
Unit, linear, 164 United States, architecture in, 99, 249
Urinary Calculi, 190
V.
Vermin, destruction of by steam, 390
W.
Warren, Dr. on the Siamese Boys, 212 Watkins’ Galvanic Battery, 162
Weather Glass, 187 Welther’s Safety Tube, substitute for, 345
Wheat, potatoe flour in, 173 Wollaston, Dr. death of, 159
Wood, process for drying, 163 Wood, inhumed, 398
Z.
Zircon, new locality of, in New York, 196
IN VEnMmOoniteas
Zoological Weather Glass, 187
a to, hf 7 Puy , 4 A ‘
So Oe y - es A ! ¥
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AMERICAN JOURNAL
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