i Bes irech patitressceess eihes af he ih "a ApRrit, 1838. No. XXIII. ~ 6" “THE ANALYST; TS RE PIT ea CREE A OF - SCIENCE, LITERATURE - NATURAL HISTORY, AND THE FINE ARTS. er EDITED BY _W. HOLL, Esa, F.G.S,, a % AND tN mee nae re sy { * vs EDWARD MAMMATT, Esa, F.G.S., FSA, MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION, Or THE BIRMINGHAM PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITU- “A TION, AND OF THE LEICESTER, THH DERBY, AND THE NOTTINGHAM . LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 7» Lonvon: ' SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO., STATIONERS HALL COURT ; ‘ (WHYTE & CO., EDINBURGH; MPHUN, GLASGOW; - BARLOW, DRAKE, BIRMINGHAM; GRAPEL, LIVERPOOL; BANCKS AND. ‘COs, - WANCHESTER; DEIGHTON, STRATFORD, RIDGE, D'EGVILLE, WORCESTER JEW, GLOUCESTER; H. DAVIS, CHELTENHAM}; EDDOWES, SHREWSBURY } SHARPE, WARWICK; H. BELLERBY, MARSH, YORK; RODFORD AND STE~ ; _ PHENSON, J. NOBLE, GODDARD AND BROWN, HULL; NICHOLLS, STAN-. (i FIELD, HURST, WAKEFIELD; CURRIE AND BOWMAN, NEWCASTLE-ON-— ; TYNE} T. BROOKE AND CO. C. WHITE, STAFFORD, DONCASTER ; .GAL~ PINE, SELBY ; RAY, BARNESLEY, DEWHIRST, RETFORD; PALIAN, EP- WORTH ; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS IN TOWN AND COUNTRY, — ‘Price Four Sa1Luines. | Barlow, Printer, Birmiagham, Wren ~ be sent early in the quarter preceding that in which they are expected to appear. CONTENTS. ! PAGE, A popular Sketch of the Geology of the County of Leicester, with sections of the stratifica- tion; by J. B. Jukes, B.A. F.G.8..00 ee REO Ee See an eee ee a a Divi Botanici; Sketches of Botanists whose Names aré commemorated inthe Appel- Jations of Plavits<-Article PU vec wack case Sache oeecuir ss eves cbse v cote ecaaey Coeee men aA GS 20 Shetches of European Ornithology ; Gould’s “ Birds of Europe,” Parts XIII.& XIV. 43 — Observations on Insanity and Lunatic Asylums........0.00c:ccccccccececeees Perri 2) eae, |e Theory ofthe Price of Comyiiwwersn reaper unis siviststy ruler ss edie git Mout nae 78 Observations on the Diffusion of Scientific Knowledge in large towns; by EK. P. Blakis- ton, VEDisiawcserperr ross Eh ee Big Ue Seong ce oy ee CEES EERE a 83 Couramé; or the Love of Native Country, Translated from the French by a Lady ...... 104 Thoughts ‘on Wducations 5.00) scouts satraces soe canine stop ue uth ettee ba Wate fee pulls oak og AES Nee en 114 Two Chapters illustrative of the Character and Conduct of James I.—Chapter IT.......... 119 Critical Notices of New Publications ................c0:ccceeseeee SSR at Re NEE thoy a 150 A Lecture delivered at the Opening of the Chertsey Literary and Scientific Institu- tion, by the Rev. Robert Jones, D.D., M.R.S.L.; the Stomach in its Morbid States, by Langston Parker, M.R.C.S.; the Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, by M. H. Bloxam; Le Bijou Littéraire, par C. Victor Martin. % Proceedings of Soeieties :-.50) 160 ieee ty esewenectecaeaconescnes ROR R CoE Ns Glee Mowilic sts sage tetan hag ct 160 — Birmingham Literary and Philosophical Institution; Wolverhampton Literary and Scientific Society ; Leicester Literary and Philosophical Institution. Miscellaneous, Commimications ays) =e-asore terete obaas heals om ne ro raes Coes bn Vesa tangy eeeaecite Soy h, 162 Meteorology -'.-:.:-sescisteJoneustsevanabis-ovatpvesssteenetacds tes vasvanwnrtt¥eeapsiebyesnes cegarac® lee seeabe 174 NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. W. G.’s article, On the Ancient Literature of France, came too late for insertion in the pre- sent No.; it shall have a place in our July publication. We request a private commu- ~ - nication from the author at his earliest convenience. ose Our Crayford Correspondent’s Paper has been received, and is under consideration. The “Contributions to Natural History from early. Travellers and Historians, including ~ Biographical Sketches,” will be acceptable. ; : a D. Y’s. Speculation on the Expediency of submitting the merits of the Bible to the test of ~ ‘Reason, we must decline papers: as we consider such observations at variance with — the character and object ef The Analyst. F 7 Mr. Donaldson’s Plan for the Promotion of Art, Science, and Literature; Mr. Simm’s Prac- ~ tical Observations on the Asphaltic Mastic; and the Description of the Mantellian Mu- seum at Brighton, have been received. ; The Glossary of Gothic Architecture came too late for notice in the present No.,*but this ~ shall have a place in our next. 7 M. RB. S. L. has our best thanks for his very erudite and elaborate historical investigations. For the important meteorological Tables in our present number we are indebted to.the kind- — “ness of the Birmingham Philosophical Institution and the zeal of its talented Curator. We ler the author of the Geology of Derbyshire to favour us with his ‘paper as soon as ossible. : Ke We shall take an early opportunity of communicating with our friend on the subject of his. suggestion regarding the Metropolitan Institution. : » Seven Volumes of The Analyst have been completed, each number of which contains Origi- natand Analytical Articles; Critical Notices of New Publications; Proceedings of Literary and Philosophical Institutions ; Reviews of Music and the Fine Arts; Miscellanedus Com munications, original and selected; Correspondence ; Obituary ; and Meteorological Reports. — The Numbers are occasionally illustrated with lithographed sections and figures, and wood — cuts. Neat ah : a * Double the publishing price will be given for clean copies of Nos. I. and VII., as these are - now out of print and are wanted to complete sets. ' . oy 4 It is meg vet that all communications sent to the Editors may be directed (post Pain) to the care of Mr. Bartow, Bookseller, Bennett’s Hill, Birmingham ; and contributions should — ga? The 24th Number of The Analyst will appear on the Ist of July next. *.* The First and Second Volumes of “ The Analyst” (with Index ),in cloth boards, price 10s., and S the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth & Seventh Vols., price 9s. each, may be had of all Booksellers. j Aww , Br ane P| ¥ pa) Ah 7 TEE ANALYST; QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, LITERATURE, NATURAL HISTORY, AND THE FINE ARTS. EDITED BY EDWARD MAMMATT, Esg., F.G.S., &e., Ke. Jon my Ey. VOL. VIII. ee LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. WHYTE & Co,, EDINBURGH ; BARLOW, BIRMINGHAM. 1838. THOT AM ee ~ PAWEL cy « pet 1 euskieais eeneteaidh pa taicdieds tend kaa PBR Sncy ge | oaes ee ROU | tee TAHALAM Mindwie =. @ HANDAAIIG 05 4 41 Rix: ARE ae x Bes ects seine tran Wie : ; Rees COUNTY or LEICESTER. SECTION Nol. NoRTH CoLesHiie z- Upper porto of new red Sandstone . Nake Ritesh sa S20 CaALKE PARK MARKET BaGwoarn ELUM Thisport beurcery Hartshidand Bagwerth beng all the’ Sarre ts mach Shortened trv THE ANALYST. A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER.* By J. B. Juxes, B.A., F.G.S. Tue design of the following sketch is not to convey any new in- formation to the scientific geologist, but to lay before the general reader a short and intelligible description of the geological facts to be observed in the county of Leicester, and the inferences to be drawn from them. The science of Geology has, by the labours of many distinguished individuals during the last few years, aided by the ad- vancement of the other natural sciences, been at length established on a firm and certain foundation—its leading principles and general outlines, as well as its most important conclusions, having been placed beyond the reach of controversion. The knowledge, however, of these principles and these conclusions is as yet possessed by com- paratively few persons, even among the educated classes of mankind. What is, therefore, more especially wanted at the present moment, is to bring the matter home to every man’s own door, to open his __ eyes to the geological facts which everywhere surround him, and to set him reasoning upon their causes of production. Geology is a science that, more than any other, admits of being made popular in every sense of the word ; for though in some portions of its range it becomes matter for the profound and abstract speculations of the mathematician and astronomer, in others it links itself in with the * This will probably be the first of a series of similar papers on the Geo- logy of the Midland Counties. VOL VIII., NO. XXIII. 2 2 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY every-day operations of existence, teaches the farmer how to drain his land or improve his soil, the builder where to procure his stone, —directs the miner in his search after the hidden treasures of the earth—enlightens the eye of the artist as to the causes of the beauty and variety of the landscape—brings to the cabinet of the naturalist whole hosts of new forms of animal and vegetable life—and excites the interest and curiosity of every man, since it details to us the his- tory (and a wonderful history it is) of the globe on which we live. We learn from Geology that there is not a single particle of earthy matter, from the mighty masses of huge mountain-chains down to the little rounded pebble that we tread beneath our feet, but has been produced and placed in its present position by the action of regular and long-continued causes, and has attached to it “its strange event- ful history.” The observations that follow, then, are intended to serve as a few connected hints to call the attention of the inhabitants of the county of Leicester, or of those acquainted with it, to the facts that may be observed in it, and to the story which those facts unfold to us. I must premise, however, that if some portions of the story should, to the ungeological reader, seem not to be supported by suffi- cient evidence, he must not therefore conclude that evidence does not exist, since its production in every case would have made this paper a general geological treatise, rather than a sketchy description of a particular district. This description will consist of I. A short account of the character and composition of each of the different masses of earthy matter of which the district is composed, and of their relative position with respect to each other, beginning with the uppermost and going down to the lowest. II. Commencing with the lowest or the oldest—a succinct history of the causes which formed the different strata, gave them their pe- culiar characters, and placed them in the positions they now occupy. The different masses of earthy matter, or formations, as they are called by the geologist, which compose the county of Leicester, are the following :— I. Aqueous or stratified rocks, in their order of superposition. . Gravel, or diluvyium Lias . New red sandstone Coal measures . Mountain limestone . Cambrian rocks. Qo ND = OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 3 Il. Igneous or wnstratified rocks, having no definite order of oceur- rence or superposition. 1. Basalt 2. Sienite, or granite 3. Porphyry. GRAVEL, oR DILUVIUM. Over the whole surface of the county, on the tops of the hills up to a certain height, as well as in the valleys, is spread a vast accumu~ lation of water-worn materials, with every kind of irregularity as to depth, character, and composition. It is sometimes a blue or red clay, containing pebbles, fossils, and broken pieces of all the rocks of the neighbourhood ; sometimes a coarse sand; sometimes nothing but a mass of pebbles of all sorts and sizes. The character of the matrix, as it may be called, in which the pebbles are sometimes imbedded, seems frequently to have a relation with that of the substratum on which it rests: thus on the eastern side of the county, where clays and marls constitute the substrata, the diluvium is generally a mass of clay; while in the neighbourhood of Charnwood Forest, on the coal measures and new red sandstone formation, it consists more fre- quently of sand. The harder and larger materials of which it is com- posed may generally be traced to their parent home either by their mineral character or their organic remains; they consist of 1. Rounded masses of hard chalk, and chalk flints. 2. Pieces of limestone, sandstone and ochraceous nodules from the oolites. 3. A vast abundance of fossils from the lias and pieces of lias limestone. 4. Pebbles of coal, and rarely one of mountain limestone. 5. Masses of slate or porphyry from Charnwood Forest, and of sienite from Mount Sorrel, Grooby, and other places. 6. Quartz pebbles similar to those derived from the Lickey hill, near Birmingham, but some of which may possibly come from Harts-hill near Atherstone, or from some part of Charnwood Forest. The condition of these materials has always a reference to the dis- tance which they have travelled ; thus the pieces from the chalk, none of which now exist within fifty or sixty miles, are always perfectly round and smooth. The oolitic pieces, which come from the country immediately east ‘ 4 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY of Leicestershire, have all their sharp angles worn round, but are frequently of all shapes. The fossils and other pieces from the lias are often little altered from their original condition. The perfect smoothness and roundness of the quartz pebbles favours the supposi- tion of their distant origin. This dependence of the condition of the masses on their distance from their parent rock may be admirably seen in tracing the boulders derived from the Charnwood Forest district. These seem to have been drifted chiefly in the 8. W. direction, as I never observed them to the N.or E. Over all that table land which runs a little west of Lei- cester, the blocks are strewed in great abundance. As you approach the forest, they become more numerous, more angular, and of a larger size, so as in some instances to weigh two or three tons, but in tra- velling southwards their size and number decrease, till at the distance of twelve or fifteen miles, if you find a boulder of Mount Sorrel stone for instance, it will not be larger nor more angular than a man’s head. The quantity of diluvial materials accumulated in any one place, varies from one to fifty or sixty feet in thickness. The mass some- times assumes a stratified character, beds of fine sand alternating with beds of pebbles or of clay; these beds, however, are very irregular, being never continuous for more than a few yards, and sometimes all appearance of regularity is lost, and the whole is nothing but a con- fused heap. In the beds of sand it is not unfrequent to see layers of pebbles of coal (derived from the Ashby or Derbyshire coal fields) from the size of a man’s fist downwards; and these having been ob- served in sinking wells and making excavations, have sometimes led to the erroneous supposition that coal existed immediately beneath. Mankind easily believe what they eagerly desire, or it would at once have been perceived that merely from the occurrence of these pebbles, there was no more reason to expect to find coal beneath, than there was to find chalk, oolite, slate, or sienite, pieces of all these being equally found in the diluvium. The superficial water-rolled materials here spoken of, under the general term diluvium, are never, so far as I am aware, found high upon the hills of Charnwood Forest, but over all the rest of the county they are distributed sometimes so profusely as greatly to obscure its study, masking the inferior rocks from our inspection. We will now, however, suppose all superficial matters to be stripped off, and the regularly bedded rocks exposed to view, the first which calls our attention being OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 5 Tue Lias. The general dip or inclination of the stratified rocks of England being to the east, we shall in any particular district find the highest formation on the eastern extremity,* older or lower rocks rising out to the surface as we proceed westward. This is the case in Leicester- shire. The very eastern extremities of the county, at its junction with Northamptonshire, Rutland, and Lincolnshire, are occupied by the inferior oolite, the lowest bed of the great oolite formation of England. From beneath this inferior oolite comes out the lias with a very gentle rise to the west, so that though its whole thickness may not be more than four or five hundred feet, it comprises a tract of country from five to ten miles wide. The western boundary of this tract, or the line where the bottom of the lowest bed comes to the surface, enters Leicestershire a little north of Loughborough, and runs by Barrow-upon-Soar, Sileby, Queniborough, Humberstone, Ebington, Kilby, and a little north of Lutterworth into Warwickshire. The lias consists for the most part of shaly clay with bands of hard stone, called marlstone, in its middle portion, and bands of lime- stone in its upper and lower parts. The lower portion in Leicester- shire, forms a line of low hills running in the neighbourhood of the places mentioned above, and contains several thin beds of limestone, which is occasionally quarried and used for agricultural or other pur- poses. That worked at Barrow-upon-Scar is the most celebrated, both for its organic remains and for its useful property of hardening under water when turned into cement. There are at Barrow seven beds of limestone, none of which much exceed a foot in thickness, and which are separated from each other by beds of shale varying from one to seven feet thick. There frequently occur in the shale hard, flattened, nodular masses of stone, which, when split open, display a fossil fish with its beautifully enamelled scales, or the bones of a sau- rian reptile. These relics, together with the Belemnite, the Ammonite, the Nautilus, and the shells called Plagiostoma and Gryphcea, are found also both in the shale and the limestone ; but the latter fossils are not so numerous as in some other places, and at Barrow all are valu- ed at exorbitant rates by the native collectors. The fish are some- times preserved with great delicacy, even the fine rays of the tail and * This rule has of course its exceptions in particular districts, where local causes have modified the dip or inclination of the strata. 6 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY fins, and the orbit of the eye, being perfectly and beautifully mark- ed.* A fine skeleton, also, of the Ichthyosaurus was discovered at Barrow a short time since, and purchased by Mr. Laurance, of Lei- cester, for the Birmingham Philosophical Institution, in the museum of which it now forms the chief ornament, its bones having been very carefully and successfully denuded of their stony envelope.t The beds of limestone are the only parts of the lias which are of any uti- lity ; it forms generally a low uninteresting country, the land being cold and bearing. few trees, while the brooks and rivers are slow and sluggish streams. New Rep SANDSTONE. Beneath the lias lies the new red sandstone formation, the upper beds of which accordingly come out to the light of day where the lowest of the former terminate. In Leicestershire, therefore, the before-mentioned boundary of the lias will form the eastern boundary of that portion of the new red sandstone which appears at the surface. The new red sandstone of England consists of 1. Red marls, with green and white stripes, containing gypsum and rock salt, 200 or 300 feet. 2. Red and white sandstones, with occasional beds of marl and conglomerates (masses of pebbles cemented together) 500 or 600 feet. 8. In the northern part of England, magnesian limestone, 200 or 300 feet. 4. Lower red sandstone, about 100 feet, but variable. The two latter portions are nowhere seen in Leicestershire, but the upper ones are well and distinctly exhibited. The first or the variegated marls, coming out from beneath the lias, gradually rise to the west till they form a line of low hills parallel with that of the lias before mentioned, and from two to three miles to the west of it. These hills, from the village of Lyston southwards, form an escarp- ment,t overlooking the valley of the Soar. They are, however, fur- * For figures and descriptions of fossil fishes I must, of course, refer the reader to the splendid work of M. Agassiz, now publishing, which ought to have a place in every public library in the kingdom. + An account of this specimen was lately read to the members of the In- stitution by Dr. Ward, of Birmingham, from which an extract appeared in the last number of The Analyst. + An escarpment is the steep side of a range of hills, where the ends, or OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 7 rowed by many transverse valleys, down which small brooks run into that river. About half way down this escarpment the gypsum is generally worked, the section in the large quarry near Leicester, at the bottom of Humberstone gate, being— FEET Red marl, with streaks of white and green, and having near the middle lenticular masses of ions lying in the plane of the beds ............... ee ee Greenish and white gypsum, with ats veins. “Siexe 5 A bed of dark red marl, one half of its oe, bene twee fale WEIS. OL KVPSUM yo ca dusans -Sereee saspdiaveddiaedenavect foe Red marl, &c. ......... _— Wherever the base of this ne aetices (the eed mea is exposed, it will be found, I believe, to rest upon some whitish sand- stones ; but the country is so much covered up by diluvium that the only place where I have been enabled to verify this fact is the neigh- bourhood of Leicester. In going down from the hill on which Leicester race-course is situated, toward the Soar,+ we first of all descend the escarpment of the variegated marls, about half way down which are some old gypsum pits. Having crossed the Soar, we should find in the ditch of the Narborough-road some sandy shale of a light green colour, which, gradually rising to the west, forms the capping of the Dane hills: and below it are some thickish beds of a light coloured sandstone, very soft when first got out of the quarry, but which hardens on exposure to the weather. The Dane hills are covered with old quarries worked in this stone, of which the castle, several of the churches, and other old structures in Leicester are built. The stone, however, though handsome when fresh, assumes with age a rotten worm-eaten appearance, as it wears very unequally. It is, I believe, the same as the Warwick sandstone, but there have been, as yet, no organic remains discovered in it. A saurian tooth, a bone, or the track of an animal, would well reward the perseverance of collectors ; and I hope my friend Mr. Laurance will, ere long, be able to lay before the Leicester Philosophical Society some speci- mens similar to those which the labours of Dr. Lloyd have brought to light near Warwick. The range of this sandstone to the north faces, of the different beds of which they are made up are exposed to the view, one beneath another. The slope of the other side, or back of the range as it is called, depends generally on the rate at which the beds dip or incline inwards from the escarpment. + See section No. 1. g A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY and south is obscured by diluvium,* but some indications of it may be seen about Enderby and Narborough, and Enderby church is built of it. Its width at the surface is about two miles, as some small quar- ries may be seen in it on the Hinckley road, between the second and third milestones. This sandstone apparently forms the uppermost and thickest bed of several similar ones, which, alternating with red marls, spread over all the western portion of the county, except where inferior rocks are protruded to the surface. The country affords no natural section; but the engineer of the Bagworth colliery informed me that they passed, in their sinking, through upwards of three hun- dred feet of alternating red marls and white sandstones, one of the latter of which was fifty feet thick ; but no accurate account had been kept of their relative position. Every portion of the new red sand- stone formation, in Leicestershire, is always as nearly horizontal as possible, while the formations on which it rests are frequently highly inclined.t Thus level beds of red marl may be seen resting on the upturned edges of the slates of Swithland, or the sienite of Grooby, on the mountain limestone of Ticknall and Grace Dieu, while a con- siderable thickness of this formation spreads in level sheets over some portions of the coal field without any regard to the dislocations or different inclinations of the beds of the coal measures. Coat MEASURES. The next formation in the geological order below the new red sandstone, is that which is commonly called the coal measures, con- sisting of alternating beds of shale, sandstone, coal, and ironstone. In some parts of England, there is a regular passage or gradation from the new red sandstone into the coal measures, the deposition of the different materials not having been interrupted by any disturbing forces. In Leicestershire, however, this is not the case, the lower portions of the new red sandstone, and possibly the uppermost beds of the coal measures, being not known to exist in any portion of the county. * Dr. Lloyd, of Leamington, informs me, that one of the characters of the Warwick sandstone is irregularity, occasionally thinning out and then set- ting in again along the same line of country. + When this is the case, the two formations are said to be unconformable. It always denotes that an interval elapsed between their depositions, during which the lower strata were affected by disturbing forces before the others were deposited upon them. OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 9 The junction of the two formations is quite abrupt, without any gradation of one into the other, and the position of the new red sandstone is, as before stated, always unconformable to that of the coal measures. They consist of many beds of coal, alternating with shales and sandstones, of which the shales greatly predominate ; good beds of ironstone also occur, but are not now worked. For details of the sinkings, the number and thickness of the several beds, as well as for figures of all the characteristic fossils of the Ashby coal field, I must refer the reader to the late Mr. Mammatt’s elaborate work upon that district, confining myself here to a mere outline. The Ashby coal field may be divided into three distinct districts, or basins, as they may be termed :—1. That of Measham on the south west, which is now little worked, being almost exhausted ; 2. North of the Measham basin lies that of Moira, containing the collieries of Moira, Gresley, Swadlincote, Stanton, and Newall; 3. East of both these lies what may be called the Swanington basin, including the collieries of Lount, Pegg’s Green, Coleorton, Whitwick, Snib- ston, Heather, Ibstock, and Bagworth. The boundaries of these basins are, however, irregular and ill defined, their edges being much covered up and obscured by unconformable beds of the new red sandstone. Of the Measham basin little or no information is now to be ob- tained. The Moira basin occupies a district about five miles in dia- meter, the Moira colliery being the deepest and most centrical. The main coal at Moira is thirteen feet thick, consisting of two beds, of which the uppermost has a thickness of seven feet, and, being there the best, is the only part worked. Proceeding north west from Moira, however, these beds become separated by a parting of shale, which increases from eighteen inches, at Swadlincote, to twenty yards, which is its thickness at Newall; and over this district the lower coal is the best and most worked. At Stanton, however, one mile west of Newall, the parting being eighteen yards thick, the upper bed regains its quality, and is the one worked in that colliery. The Moira basin is much broken by faults,* the principal of which run twenty or thirty degrees west of north, and are crossed by others at right angles to them. One of the largest of the north west faults runs in a directly straight line from Brambro, through Moira colliery, Swadlincote, and Spring Wood, to near the Decoy in Bretley Park, * A fault is a fracture of the strata, causing an elevation or depression of the beds on one side of it from their original level. VOL. VIII., NO. XXIII. 3 10 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY a distance of five miles. It causes a down cast to the east of four hundred and twenty feet.* A singular circumstance with regard to this coal field is the fact that for the first three hundred feet from the surface the water is perfectly fresh and soft, but below that depth it is quite salt. Advantage has been taken of this circumstance, to establish baths, but the salt is not in sufficient quantity for the profit- able establishment of salt-works. The Swanington basin has a triangular shape, the apex being about Lount, and the sides spreading out to Whitwick and Heather. It dips gently to the south east, its edges being turned up to the south west and north east respectively. It thus forms a long trough, the northern end of which is raised, and which slopes gradually to the south east till it becomes covered over with level unconformable beds of new red sandstone. This covering of red marls and sandstones is, at Whitwick and Snibston, about a hundred and fifty feet, while farther south, at Bagworth, it is three hundred feet in thickness. This basin is affected by very few faults, but the different beds seem rather irregular in thickness and extent, the beds of coal being the most constant. It is indeed, most probably, the same bed of coal which is worked as the “main coal” over the whole of the Ashby coal field, except at Lount and some other extreme points, where beds lower than the “ main” are worked. At Whitwick and Snibston a mass of basalt, in one place sixty feet thick, is found in the upper portion of the coal measures. This, where it touches the coal, has burnt it into coke, and has changed a sandstone into a compact rock, almost as hard as itself. Some trials have been made for coal south of Bagworth, but nothing certain seems yet to have been ascertained respecting the southern boundary of this basin ; and any workings in that part of it must always be attended with considerable risk and great expense, on account of the overlying measures of red marl. Mountain LIMESTONE. Of the mountain limestone, which is the next formation in the de- ° scending order below the coal measures, some small patches occur a few miles north and east of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Of these the larg- est is that on which the villages of Staunton Harold, Calke, and * That is-to say, that the beds east of this fault are four hundred and twenty feet lower than the beds on the west of it, with which they were once contin uous. OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 1] Ticknal stand. The others are five small isolated hills, which run in a directly straight line, a little west of north, from Grace Dieu Ab- bey, namely, Grace Dieu, Osgathorpe, Barrow Hill, Cloud Hill, and Breedon Hill, the extremes of this line being rather more than four miles apart. The first-mentioned district is about two miles long from north west to south east, and rather more than half a mile broad. It is a low saddle-shaped mass, the northern side of which dips fifteen degrees to the north east at Ticknall, and is overlaid by _ level beds of red marl; and the southern may be seen, near the first pool in Calke Park, to dip south west, at an angle of about twenty degrees, and thus buries itself beneath the Ashby coal field, of the northern part of which it no doubt forms the floor.* One of the quarries at Ticknall exhibited the following section :— FEET. 1. Level beds of red and variegated marl............15 9. Beds of dolomitic limestone..................60200. OD 3. Shale, with beds of limestone .............0.426+60.20 4, Hard blue limestone.. a nae LO Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are full of io taitaee’ faiestone “fossils, and dip fifteen degrees north east, while No. 1 is perfectly horizontal. At Dimminsdale, a little south of Calke, the limestone lies nearly level, the quarries being just about the crown of the arch. It consists here of some alternations of shale and gritstone resting upon limestone, of which about forty feet were exposed. Parts of the limestone are dolomitic, or magnesian, and contain bunches of galena, or lead ore, which in one place is worked in what is technically called a pipe ve —that is, a circular excavation following the run of the ore. The eastern bank of the little valley of Dimminsdale apparently consists of shale to the thickness of a hundred feet, and on the top of it are some old quarries in a sandstone which probably represents the mill- stone grit, and of which some traces may also be seen on the south side of the first pool in Calke Park. As soon as you have ascended this bank, however, you find yourself on the level beds of the new red sandstone again. The five small hills before mentioned as belonging to the mountain limestone formation, have all a westerly dip, the angle varying from twenty degrees, which is that of Grace Dieu, at the southern extre- -mity of the line, to seventy degrees, which in some places is that of Breedon at the northern extremity. The limestone of Breedon and * See section No. 2. 12 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY Cloud Hills is for the most part completely dolomitised, or converted into magnesian limestone, with a cellular structure running along the line of the beds. The fossils, too, are all in the state of casts, but they are always such as are characteristic of the mountain limestone, as Spirifers, Producte, Enomphali, or Bellerophons. Breedon is so traversed by faults and joints in various directions, as at first sight to have its stratification almost obscured: this, however, by a little attention, may always be perceived, and will be found to dip fifteen degrees to the south of west, at an angle varying from thirty-five to seventy degrees. The limestone of Grace Dieu is similar to that of Ticknal, only particular beds of it being magnesian. These hills are everywhere surrounded by level beds of new red sandstone, out of which they rise abruptly towards the east, with the broken edges of their beds sticking up into the air, and seemingly unconnected with any other portion of the country. We shall, however, shortly be able to connect their elevation with that of the slates of Charnwood Forest. CamBriAn Rocks. Of the rocks which, in other localities, lie immediately beneath the mountain limestones—namely the old red sandstone and the silurian formations—Leicestershire presents no example whatever. In South Wales the old red sandstone has a thickness of upwards of 10,000 feet, and the silurian system which lies below it consists of four great formations, each many hundred feet: thick, and each stored with its peculiar and characteristic fossils, In this county, however, no trace of any of them is anywhere to be perceived. Of the next inferior group of rocks, however, which, coming out from below the silurian, form the slate mountains of Wales, Cornwall, and Cumberland, we have, in Leicestershire, a miniature example in the hills of Charn- wood Forest. This system of rocks is termed by Professor Sedg- wick the Cambrian system, and he divides it into two great groups, the upper and lower Cambrian, each having a very great thickness, and each, in Wales, containing organic remains. To which division of the Cambrian rocks we must refer those of Charnwood Forest, is, in the absence of organic remains in that district, of course doubtful ; Professor Sedgwick himself being unable to decide the point. The discovery of the merest trace of shells, then, or other fossils in the slates of Charnwood Forest, would be highly valuable. The rocks themselves consist of every variety, from a coarse greywacke to a OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 13 fine-grained clay slate. The finer portions have generally a well- defined cleavage, or fissibility, in a certain direction that gives to the rock its slaty character. The direction of this cleavage, or way in which the rock splits into slate, is not along the beds, as would at first be supposed, but across them, the same lines traversing the whole of the beds from top to bottom. The original bedding of the rock may be discovered by observing its variations in colour and texture; as where a coarse band may be traced between two fine ones, or, where they exist, by the beds of organic remains. Bands of different colours, technically called “ the stripe,” may be frequently observed, which are always parallel to the true beds, and by their help the real dip of the strata may be found out. Some general, but at present obscure, agency has so acted upon these rocks as, some time after their formation, to have sealed up as it were their original beds, and given the mass a tendency to split in other directions. Upon this subject, however, I must refer the reader to Professor Sedg- wick’s paper on the “ Alterations produced in Rocks after their For- mation,” in the third vol., N. S., of Zhe Geological Transactions. The slate rocks of Charnwood Forest are frequently associated with porphyries, which occur either in beds or in irregular masses ; and over all the north west portion of the district, the porphyries or igne- ous rocks are by far the most abundant material, having almost en- tirely usurped the place of the aqueous rocks, and altogether obscured their stratification. This is the case with Bardon Hill, and the hills north and east of Whitwick. In the other parts of Charnwood Forest, however, the dip or inclination of the strata is quite plain and easily ascertainable by any one who has had the different lines of cleavage, stratification, and joints clearly pointed out to him.* By an examination of the district, it will be seen that a little north of Bradgate Park, and between the hill called Old John and Swithland, there is a valley called Lingdale, which runs a little west of north and east of south. A line drawn along this valley and continued each way, will divide the Charnwood Forest district into two unequal parts, the largest being that to the south west of the line. Now the rocks of which these two parts are composed dip in opposite directions—all those lying to the north east of this line dipping to the north east, and those lying to the south west of it dipping south west.+ This “ My own knowledge of this district, and of the north of the county generally, was gained in the autumn of 1837, in an excursion, during which I had the advantage of the tuition of Professor Sedgwick. + See section No. 3. 14 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY line, then, is called the anticlinal line, the beds inclining downwards from it on either hand. The amount of their inclination varies, but it is frequently as much as sixty or seventy, and I never saw it less than twenty-five, degrees. SIENITE. In describing the aqueous, or stratified, rocks, we have seen two kinds of igneous rocks associated with them, namely basalt with the coal measures at Snibston, and porphyry with the slates of Charnwood Forest. There is yet, however, another igneous rock, which makes a conspicuous feature in the country, but is not so intimately associated with any aqueous rock as to admit of being described with it. This is the sienite, or granite as it is commonly termed, from which in- deed it differs only in the scarcity or absence of mica. The sienite occurs in detached hills round the outskirts of Charnwood Forest, at Mount Sorrel, Grooby, Markfield Knoll, Cliff Hill, and in Bradgate Park ; it also protrudes above the new red sandstone, a few miles South of the Forest district, forming the hills of Enderby and Croft, and being visible near Narborough, at Burrow Hill near Potter’s Marston, at Stoney Stanton, at Sapcote, and probably at some other spots with which I am not acquainted. It becomes a question of some importance to determine how far this latter group is connected with that which fringes the south of Charnwood forest. If (as I have been informed) the sienite was reached at the depth of eighty yards, in a boring that was made near Kirby Muxloe, it would go far to prove that there is a connected sienitic ridge running across the county, beneath the level beds of new red sandstone, the higher peaks of which only appear at the surface at different places. It is a fact, however, that the type of the southern group differs materially from that of the northern, being less granular and crystalline, and more compact and porphyritic looking. How far, however, this dif- ference may be due to the difference of the conditions under which they were produced, or how far it might bear us out (in the absence of contrary evidence) in supposing them to be only connected at a considerable depth, I am not prepared to say. There is certainly no reason to suppose them to have been produced at different periods of time. These are the principal materials of which (so far as has yet been ascertained) the county of Leicester is composed, and the positions which they occupy with respect fo each other. It remains for us OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 15 now to take a hasty glance at the history of the causes which pro- duced these materials and placed them in those positions. To begin, then, with the lowest, and therefore the oldest rocks, which are found in the county, the slates namely of Charnwood Fo- rest, we see that a great sea once existed over this portion of the globe, at the bottom of which there was deposited a vast amount of earthy sediment. This sediment was gradually accumulated, since it consisted of alternate beds of fine and coarse materials, successively deposited, and not mixed up the one with the other. We know that this sea was inhabited by various animals, for though none of their remains have been found in the slates of Charnwood Forest, there are abundance of them in the other portions of the same rocks which form the mountains of Wales. This absence of organic life over that portion of the bottom of this sea which is now visible in Leicester- shire, may possibly be due to the action of volcanic causes, for along with the aqueous rocks formed in it, we find beds of igneous rocks, which we know to have been poured out in a state of fusion, like great flows of lava, and to have been afterwards covered up by other aqueous sediment. Great masses of these melted rocks were also in some places protruded among and into the previously formed aqueous rocks, so as sometimes to obliterate their stratified character. These igneous rocks having cooled down under pressure, have become what we term porphyry ; and the aqueous rocks having become indurated, and having at some subsequent period been affected by a peculiar agency, which has given them the property of fissibility in a certain direction, are now what we call slate and slate rock. Giving to the whole mass a general term, they are called Cambrian, because the same rocks form a great portion of Wales. After the formation of these Cambrian rocks, there elapsed an in- terval, of what length it is impossible to say, but sufficiently long to allow of the accumulation in some localities of stratified rocks many thousand feet thick, and for great changes to take place in the animal and vegetable kingdoms of our globe. During this interval we have no indications given us of the state of this particular district; either it was dry land, or, if sea, no strata were deposited in it; or lastly, if strata were deposited, they have since been destroyed. After the lapse of this long period, however, whatever it may have been, we again arrive at something certain, and find that sea existed over at least a portion of the district, in which were deposited those calcareous materials which now form what we call the mountain lime- stone. This sea was full of animals, more especially Polypi, Radiaria 16 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY and Mollusca, since we find corals, encrinites and shells in great abun- dance at Ticknal and the other before-mentioned places. This sea, after being partially filled up by these materials, which were deposited by a slow and gradual process, became subject afterwards to new conditions, the animals which inhabited it gradually perished, and its place was either occupied by freshwater, or it itself was filled with materials swept from freshwater and from the land. These materials, strewed in repeated successions over wide areas, consisted either of mud, sand, or vast accumulations of vegetable remains. The mud when deposited at the bottom and partially indurated, became shale, or when containing much iron was converted into ironstone, the sand was compacted into sandstone, and the vegetable substances undergo- ing a chemical change beneath the vast pressure of the superincum- bent materials, were turned into beds of coal. These vegetables when examined by the botanist, are immediately declared by him to have been the produce of a tropical temperature, and the greater part to have lived upon the land, although all differ and many of them widely so, from any now known to exist. The perfect state of their parts forbids the supposition that they were washed from any distant re- gions, and though we cannot point out where the land was situated on which they grew, we are yet assured that this portion of the globe was once much hotter than at present, and that its lands were co- vered with the thick and matted vegetation of an Indian forest. The period which the coal measures occupied in their formation was long enough to allow of many successive growths and partial destructions of whole forests, and for different materials to be successively and gradually accumulated, till they formed a thickness of considerably more than a thousand feet. At the close of this period, and before any of those materials which now rest upon the coal measures were deposited, great distur- bances took place over this district. Dislocating and upheaving forces acting from below, broke up the coal measures and other pre- viously existing rocks, caused the great faults which are everywhere found in them, set on edge the masses of mountain limestone north- east of Ashby, and bent up the Cambrian rocks which now form the hills of Charnwood Forest. It may be asked, how it is known that all these dislocations took place at this precise period, after the for- mation of the last of the coal measures, namely, and before the depo- sition of the upper part of the new red sandstone. The latter condi- tion is quickly verified from the facts before mentioned, that the beds of new red sandstone when lying on the upturned edges of the OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 17 inferior rocks, are always horizontal: it is obvious, therefore, that when the forces acted which disturbed those rocks, the beds of new red sandstone did not exist, or they would likewise have been dis- turbed. The other conclusion, however, will to the ungeological rea- der be not so evident. But if he trace the anticlinal line which runs through Charnwood Forest, and produce it to the north, he will find that it is parallel with that of the five hills of mountain limestone he- fore mentioned, and runs about half a mile to the east of them. Now this anticlinal line is the line of direction along which the upheaving force acted that elevated the forest, giving to the beds west of that line a westerly dip, and these mountain limestone beds also lie to the west of the line, and have likewise a westerly dip. The western side of that line also is that on which the greatest amount of upheaving force was exerted, as we see by its effects, and we should conse- quently expect to find traces of its action further on that side than on the other. From these and other considerations, it is clear that the same force which uplifted the Charnwood Forest rocks, likewise set on edge those hills of mountain limestone, and the period of the up- lifting of the mountain limestone we know to have been that of the coal measures, and therefore we get the whole linked together as the result of one general cause acting after the deposition of the coal measures, and before that of the upper portion of the new red sand- stone. This result, if further proof were necessary, would be greatly strengthened by examining the adjacent districts. In the Warwick- shire coal field, for instance, we find the Cambrian rocks of Hartshill, which must be nearly of the same age with those of Charnwood Fo- rest, dipping in the same direction and nearly at the same angles with the coal measures that rest upon them, the elevation of both being evidently due to the same exertion of upheaving power. It is remarkable also that the line of elevation of these rocks in Warwick- shire, is for the most part parallel with that of Charnwood Forest. In Warwickshire, however, the lowest part of the new red sandstone formation is seen resting on the coal, and evidently affected by the same forces of elevation with it.* It passes down into the coal mea- sures moreover by a regular gradation, and near the junction of the two, occurs the same thin band of freshwater limestone as is seen in Shropshire and Lancashire, in the same situation. The upper por- tion of the new red sandstone, however, occurs in other parts of this district, in level unconformable beds, so that we are enabled here still “ See section No. 3. VOL VIII., NO. XXIII. 4 18 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY farther to limit the period of elevation of the coal field, and say that it took place between the formation of the lower part of the new red sandstone system and the upper of the same. Whether this would be true of the Leicestershire district we cannot determine, since here the lower portions of the new red sandstone are wanting, or at all events not visible at the surface. Wecan, however, in Leicester- shire point to one of the very agents which were accessary to all this disturbance, namely the sienitic rocks before mentioned. These, in their expansive struggles at escape, forced themselves while yet molten masses through the cracks and fissures which were then pro- duced in the inferior rocks, and having cooled under the pressure of great depths of water or other materials, assumed the crystalline structure which they now possess. The only anomalous circumstance respecting them is, that they are on the outskirts of the Charnwood Forest district, and not in its centre. Over the broken and irregular surface thus formed by these forces of disturbance, a sea still flowed, which, upon tranquillity being re- stored, deposited the level beds of sandstone and marl which form the upper portion of the new red sandstone. These filling up the ine- qualities, smoothed the whole over up toa certain height, leaving only the highest portions of the previously existing rocks uncovered by its beds.* After the deposition of all this red sediment, the sea became again the dwelling place of numerous animals different from any which had gone before them. Mollusca crawled upon its bed or floated on its calmer surface, fishes sported in its waters, and the terrific Ichthyosaurus was formed to dash through its stormy waves, and reign the despot of the “ ocean stream.” At the bottom of this sea, blue clay was now deposited, with occasionally some carbonate of lime, forming the lias, in which has been preserved many a relic of these creatures of the past, to tell us who and what preceded us in the habitation of this globe of earth. After the formation of the lias there elapsed another enormous interval, measured by the depo- sition of the remainder of the secondary and the whole of the tertiary formations, during which that which is now the county of Leicester, “ Some portions of the red marls exist on the Hanks of Charnwood Forest, at a height considerably greater than their general level; their position, how- ever, may I think be easily accounted for, if we reflect that in a sea with an uneven bottom, and in which depositions from above were taking place, some portions of the sediment might in favourable situations be retained at much higher levels than the general beds. OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER. 19 remained undisturbed by convulsions from below, and as far as we can tell, augmented by depositions from above, until a comparatively most recent period ; when water exercising a degrading and denud- ing power, acted on the previously formed rocks, broke off pieces of them, and after washing them about in strong currents, till they were rounded into pebbles, broken down into sand, or ground into clay, has left the materials thus accumulated strewed irregularly over the surface. What was the character of these waters, whether they rushed as strong floods over previously clay land, or whether they were currents caused in a sea by the elevation of its bed, I shall not pretend to determine, though my own opinion leans to the latter sup- position. At all events, ever since the accumulation of those loose materials to which for convenience sake the term diluvium is attached, Leicestershire, in common with the rest of England, has remained permanently uplifted above the level of the sea, unchanged save by the slow and silent action of the atmosphere, or in these our days by the trifling scratches inflicted by the hand of man. The science of Geology is sometimes regarded by practical men as a mere mass of theory from which no results can be derived useful for practical purposes: in any operations, however, connected with the mineral matters of our globe, it surely never can be supposed a use- less thing to know the causes which produced them, and the forces of disturbance which have acted on them, since from such knowledge alone can we tell, previously to actual experiment, the probable cha- racter and position of the matters in question. In this respect, too much is sometimes required of Geology in its present state ; the sci- ence is the creation of the last few years, and already has it accumu- lated a vast amount of information respecting the structure of those parts of the earth which are accessible to our investigations, that will for ever preclude the recurrence of many wild and ruinous undertak- ings in search of coal and other minerals, that have formerly been blindly set on foot. New facts are every day gathered together, and the science is fast approaching the condition when it will be enabled to bring most powerful aid to many operations that are useful or ne- cessary to our existence, that administer to our comfort and enjoy- ment, or that augment our individual and social powers and resources. It must, however, be borne in mind that all these are but means to an end, that end being the elevation of ourselves in the scale of moral and intellectual existence, and that independently of all other consi- derations. Geology directly and most powerfully conduces to this 20 DIVI BOTANICI. end, by spreading before us whole regions of new space for the exer- cise of our moral and intellectual faculties. As a few practical questions, however, I may state—Ist. It is pro- bable that the Ashby coal field is continued beneath the red sand- stone to the west and south, but at too great a depth to render its working practicable, for the present generation at least. 2nd. It is improbable that coal exists in the eastern portion of the county, or there would be some of the rocks connected with it at the surface, somewhere on the east or south of Charnwood Forest; the elevation of the forest rocks having taken place after the formation of the coal strata, and the line of that elevation running from north west to- wards the south east. 3rd. It is not improbable that rock-salt should be found in the south east of the county, in the upper portion of the new red sandstone, as a salt spring exists at Shearsby. There are many minor pfactical points in which a knowledge of the geological structure of the country would be useful, but which would require more minute details. DIVI BOTANICI ; SKETCHES OF BOTANISTS WHOSE NAMES ARE COMMEMORATED IN THE APPELLATIONS OF PLANTS. ARTICLE THE SECOND. Linnzus exercised a delicate and judicious discrimination in his adoptions of botanical names which perpetuated the reputation of personages by whom, in early times, the investigation of plants had been advanced or encouraged. Feeling conscious of his own quali- fications, and asserting his well-established right, to administer the office uf a phytological lawgiver, the “ Immortal Swede” promul- gated Rules* for limiting the practice of honorary “ denomination” * These Rules, with many equally good ones besides, stand clearly defin- ed by Linnzus himself, in the excellent work which contains an exposition of his phytological principles—his Philosophia Botanica, in qua explicatur Fundamenta Botanica cum definitionibus partium, exemplis terminorum, observa- DIVI BOTANICI. 21 when appropriated by himself, and for directing his disciples in assigning the highest distinction in their science to its most active and eminent votaries. These Rules derived beautiful characters from the Legislator’s enlightened imagination, and especially from tionibus rariorum, adjectis figuris : 8vo, Holmiae, 1750, and numerous subse- quent impressions. It was translated into Spanish by Don Antonio Capde- vila; 8vo, Madrid, 1771; and into French by F. A. Quesné ; 8vo, Paris, 1788, which is, in the opinion of a French critic, “an imperfect, though re- spectable, version of an almost untranslatable book.” The Linnzan Rules for Nomenclature are translated and freely discussed by Dr. Colin Milne, in his Botanical Dictionary, or Elements of Systematic and Philosophical Botany, forming a complete System of Botanical Knowledge, for the use of Students in that Science; 8vo, London, 1770, 1777, 1805. This is a very convenient and useful “system ;” and, with its successive improvements, is well calcu- lated to facilitate the researches of naturalists, as they explore the constitu- tion of the Vegetable Kingdom and the relative adaptations of its elements. Dr. Milne’s dictionary is very comprehensive, but concise and perspicuous. It contains descriptions of the parts of plants; an explanation of the scienti- fic terms used by Morison, Ray, Tournefort, Linnzeus, and other eminent botanists; a brief analysis of the principal systems in Botany ; a critical in- quiry into the merits and defects of the Linnzean method of arrangement ; sketches of the natural families of plants, their habits and structure, virtues and sensible qualities, and economical uses ; an examination of the doctrine of the sexes of plants; and a discussion of several curious questions in the vegetable economy connected with gardening. Five years afterwards, Mr. Hugh Rose, of Norwich, prepared a pure English version of the entire ori- ginal Treatise of Linnzus ; and, in terms of great modesty, he submitted it to the acceptance of “ those who are fond of the study or fashionable amuse- ment of practical Botany which, with him, “consists in the definition, dis- position, and denomination of plants.” His book bears the title— The Ele- ments of Botany: containing the History of the Science, with accurate defini- tions of all the terms of art exemplified in eleven copper-plates ; the scien- tific arrangement of Plants and Names used in Botany; and Rules concern- ing the general history, virtues, and uses of Plants; being a translation of the Philosophia Botanica and other treatises of Linnzeus: to which is added an Appendix, wherein are described some Plants lately found in Norfolk and Suffolk, illustrated with three additional copper-plates, all taken from the life: 8vo, London, 1775. Mr. Rose’s Elements of Botany might be advantageously revised and enlarged, so as to support the exquisite System whose principles they disclose with unusual faithfulness and effect. The nomenclature of this system is ingeniously artificial; but, whether it be de- signated the Linnean or the Sexual, it possesses as many natural features at least as the Natural Arrangement by which, with an excess of wordy effort, it is now so much the fashion to desire that it may be supplanted. Verily, the latter has its merits, and let these be fully acknowledged: yea, let high praise be the meed of its sesquipedalian beauties; but let not this exceed what is just, and thus be a great deal too honorificabilitudinitaceous ! 22 DIVI BOTANICI. the perfection of his judgment matured by experience. He enjoins, with manifest propriety, that, in Botany, generic names should not be abused by conferring them on saints or men renowned in any other art or science, in order to prolong the remembrance of such persons or to court their favour; from the certainty that, with regard to the former, the greatest of such saints were generally the grossest sinners: that the generic names borrowed from the fables of ancient poets, or from the fabulous designations of their heathen deities, who originally were illustrious mortals, for the reason that these names commonly had reference to the exercise of some good disposition or to the result of some beneficent action: that the appel- lations consecrated to the memory of kings, princes and great men, who have promoted the knowledge of Botany, deserve to be retain- ed: and that the generic names made to commemorate the merits of excellent botanists, universally ought to be held sacred ; for, as this is the only and the best reward of their labours, it should be viewed with reverential estimation, and dispensed to those solely who have effected valuable improvements in Botany, that others may be thereby induced to cultivate and adorn the science. From a remote period in the History of Herbs, the plant Musa obtained its name from a modification of the term by which it was popularly known in those intertropical regions where it grows, indigenous and abundant; but, in harmony with the foregoing Rules, and without change in the orthography, this appellation was expressly determined by the authority of Linnzus himself, that it should be, in his System, the memorial of a “great man” who endeavoured “ to promote the knowledge of Botany” by explaining the qualities of a salutary vegetable, and to extend the benefits of medicine by imparting an extraordinary contribution to its resources. Now, this justly honoured individual was Musa the Physician —Habitually animated by the insatiable spirit of Democracy, the Rulers of the Roman Republic intuitively approved and zealously promoted the inherent selfishness and feroci- ty of a Sovereign People, by the device of ordinances for perpetuat- ing a system of the most cruel and iniquitous despotism—the des- potism of Slavery,* with all its atrocities and diabolical abomina- “ With powerless or pennyless declaimers, it has long been the unworthy custom to revile the memory of Julius Cesar, the dictator, with loud and liberal abuse, as the extinguisher of his country’s liberties. Nevertheless, it was this celebrated personage, alike distinguished as a soldier, a statesman, anda scholar, who exercised a high moral intrepidity in modifying the injus- DIVI BOTANICI. 93 tions. During the lapse of many ages, these sagacious and venerat- ed barbarians persevered in maturing the practice of enslaving every alien nation which their fierce and sanguinary armies were able to ruin and despoil of its independence. This system of outrage on the divine institutions and on the natural rights of men was designed to increase the opulence and power of the oppressor ; but, like every other national enormity, it conduced with slow but certain influence to aggravate the bane of rottenness and depravation to which even the strongest constructed tyranny is necessarily exposed. From this state, unusual merit occasionally redeemed a captive and raised him to the humbling rank of being respected as the “freed man’’ of his enslaver, with a right to the chance of gleaning some repntation or property in the applications of his skill and experience directed by a good mental endowment. Such was the fortune of Antonius Musa, who gained the high office of “ Archiater to Augustus,” and re- ceived the meed of a deification from the chief priest of Botany, in after-days, with an immortality greatly more exalted than that which was bestowed by vassals and parasites on his imperial master. Historians and traditionary chroniclers, and the poets also, are all equally silent concerning the native land of Musa, the places of his education, and the circumstances of his captivity. He is some- times represented as a Greek by nation ; and, if this statement has a sure foundation, he must have fallen a sacrifice to the rapacity of those ruffians by whom the last germs of Grecian freedom were trampled in the dust. His possession of ‘“ useful knowledge” and his attainments in philosophy would render him an object of desire to the wealthy or ambitious ; and, in consequence of his worth, he was preferred by the august “ slave-owner” to whom the “ liberal” Roman citizens submissively entrusted the absolute guardianship of their “ civil and religious liberties.” tice of that republican law which sanctioned and sustained the despotism of slavery. He it was, while magnanimous patriots all around him were stun- ning Rome with noise of virtuous cant, though hatching secretly a deed of murder, he alone it was, who offered a generous homage at the shrine of Intellect, by proclaiming liberty to the enlightened captive. History relates, with grateful approbation, the fact that Julius Czesar conferred the freedom of the city onall those who practised the medical profession, and on those who taught the liberal arts, as an encouragement for these persons to esta- blish themselves in the capital, and for others to desire the privileges of Roman citizens. Czesar merely concentrated the sordid tyranny of the Many into the arbitrary sovereignty of the Few. His successor gave peace to the world for half a century, and prosperity to his many-peopled dominions. 24 DIVI BOTANICI. Antonius Musa appears first on the page of Biography, as the freed-man of Augustus, and the physician who instituted a new kind of treatment for the recovery of that potentate, from a danger- ous sickness. Pliny “ flourished,” not many years after the demise of Augustus, about the middle of the first century ; and, from his rank as a soldier, a senator, an augur and a provincial governor, in which the “ admirable naturalist” was engaged during his short but meritorious life, he had access to accurate information regarding his statements of circumstances connected with the imperial court and its most distinguished members. He particularizes two occasions* whereon the “ servile physician” prescribed remedies which pro- duced the happiest results. Speaking of the Lettuces, their virtues and kinds, he says in Dr. Holland’s English, to “ say a truth, all Lectucest are by nature refrigerative, and do cool the bodie, and * When speaking of “ Vetches and Eruile,” another illness of the Em- peror is mentioned by Pliny, besides those which were treated by Musa with Lettuces and cold applications. “ As touching Eruile,” he says, “it asketh no great hand or trauell about it: yet thus much more attendance it re- quireth than Vetches, for that it must be weeded and grubbed about the roots. Besides, this kind of Pulse is of great vse in Physick ; for Augustus Czesar was cured of a disease that he had, and recouered his health by means of Eruile, as himselfe reporteth in some of his letters now extant. More- ouer, fiue pecks of Eruile sown, is sufficient to maintain and find a yoke of oxen: as for that which is sowne in March, it is hurtfull forage for kine and oxen, as also that which is sowne in Autumne maketh beastes heauie and stuffed in the head, but that which is pvt into the ground in the beginning of Springe is harmless.—Holland’s Péinivs, I, 572. “As touching Eruile and the properties thereof,” Pliny recapitulates and enlarges his account of them at vol. ii. p. 143, and his very curious description concludes with the remark —that “ the green cods of Eruile before they waxe hard, if they be stamped with their stalkes and leaves together, do colour and die the hairs of the head blacke ;” ¢ for that colour,’ it is added by Dr. Holland, quoting Alexander ab Alexandro, ‘in old time, was best esteemed, and thereby chaste matrons were knowne from wanton harlots, who affected yellowe haire.”—Genialium Dierum Libri Sex; lib. v, cap. 18; folio, Romze, 1522; 8vo. 2 vols., Lugd. Bat. 1675.—This Ervum, Ervilla or Ervilia is a vegetable of the Vetch kind, in the Leguminous family of plants. It contains the nutritive principle for animals, in a valuable proportion ; and it appears to be the herb to which Virgil refers, when he makes his poetical herdsman exclaim—“ Eheu ! quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in ervo,” where the Bull represents a herd of cat- tle, and the Vetch stands as the symbol of a pasture-field rich in nutrient herbage.—Bucolica ; Ecloga iii, v. 100. + The Historie of the World, commonly called the Natural Historie of Caivs Plinivs Secundvs ; translated into English by Philemon Holland, M. D. folio, 2vols. London, 1634; Tome the second, p. 24. Caii Plinii Secundi His- toria Naturalis: folio, 3 vols. Parisiis, 1723, cum commentariis Harduini ; DIVI BOTANICI. 25 therefore be they eaten ordinarily in summer; for they please the stomacke when it is inclined to loath meate, and procvreth appetite. Certes, reported it is of Augustus Cesar, late emperour of famous memorie, that he escaped a dangerous disease, and was recouered by the meanes of Lectuce whereunto he was directed by the discreet counsell of Musa his physician.” When Augustus was suffering from another severe attack of di- sease, and immersion in hot baths had failed of relieving him, direc- tions were given by Musa in concert with his brother Euphorbus, who also was a physician, to have the person of his illustrious pati- ent freely subjected to the action of cold water in the form of ablu- tion or affusion ; according to the method, as Pliny* has it, of Musa lib. xix. capiti octavo. Here, the Naturalist describes several kinds of Let- tuce; but, he observes, “ the round kinde with smallest root and broad leaues is called Astylis, the chaste or ciuil Lectuce, howbeit some giue it the name Eunuchion, because of all others it cooleth most the desire of dalliance, and is an enemy to the sports instigated by the divinity to whom the myrtle was sacred.” In a marginal note, Dr. Holland slily refers to Rhodiginus, and says—‘‘ Let him tell you why this Lectuce is called Astylis, by the wo- men.”—Ludovico Celio Richeri ( Rhodiginus ) was a learned Italian critic and commentator : he was born about the year 1450 and died in 1525: his work is intituled Lectiones Antique ; folio, Venetiis, 1516; Basileze, 1566; Franco- furti, 1666. Nearly two hundred years ago, Vossins expressed astonishment that a work so truly valuable should be so little known. Notions similar to those recorded by Pliny concerning the properties of Lettuce were enter- tained by Dioscorides and Theophrastus, by Callimachus and the poets, by most of the Arabian doctors, and by the earlier European herbarists. Quite generally, the patrons of “ vegetable medicine” are eloquent in attributing to this plant an inherent power to over-rule the first and frailest of the phrenological propensities : but no one of the patrons ever surmises that the cause of the emperor’s cure might, on their principles, also be the cause of his having no heir “ of his own body begotten” to enjoy the imperial patri- mony! Now, all this being true, it would appear that the “ liberal” con- sumption of Lettuce, as an esculent endowed with sobering qualities, might deserve the countenance of Malthusian economists, and also prove not alto- gether unworthy of a “ Regulation” subservient to the peripatetic philan- thropy of the Poor Law Commissioners. * Historie Naturalis, Libri xxv, cap. vii.—Another section of this immortal work exhibits an edifying illustration of the disingenuous selfishness with which the discoveries of science are too often beclouded by vain and shallow pretenders to originality. Although, with the co-operation of his brother, Antonius Musa had methodized the “* Psychrolusian System,” and made its efficient administration the means of restoring health to the most exalted personage then living; nevertheless, this system was revived by Charmis, a “ talented and intellectual” prescriber, with the ostentation of a new disco- very, after being neglected at Rome for nearly half a century on account of VOL VIII., NO. XXIII. 5 26 DIVI BOTANICI. and his brother, who “ instituere a balineis frigida multé corpora adstringi,” enjoined the bodies of invalids to be braced with copious applications of cold water, in or at the baths. Under this discipline, the case was conducted to a favourable termination, and the fruits of the doctor’s “‘ heroic remedy” were—the emperor’s favour with munificent largesses, and honours in profusion. As sketched by Suetonius,* this “ medical transaction” and its results are instructive. He relates—that, throughout a long life, Augustus was subject to frequent and dangerous accessions of ill- ness which often occurred annually, on his birth-day. His constitu- tion became, in consequence, so greatly shattered as to require un- ceasing attention to his health, by suitable arrangements of diet, exercise, dress and regulated temperature. At his return from a Cantabrian expedition, he was afflicted with a disorder of the liver depending on congestion; and, on his despairing of recovery, he submitted to be treated by the system of Antonius Musa, which was then reckoned both hazardous and extraordinary. Hot fomenta: tionst “ calida fomenta,” having been used without advantage, by its being felt an uncomfortable remedy, by the luxurious and degenerating citizens. Pliny’s chapter on “ Physicke and Physitians among the ancient Romanes” includes a lively sketch of this “ medical gentleman,” as one of “ these new commers that can venditate and vaunt their owne cvnning with braue words.” Thus, says the Natural Historian, while the astrological doc- tors seemed to command the destinies and to have men’s lives at their dispo- sal, “ all on a sudden, one Charmis, a Marsilian, pvt bimself forward and entred the citie of Rome, who not onely condemned the former proceedings of the ancient Physitians, but also pvt downe the baines and hot houses: hee brought in the bathing in cold water, and persuaded folke to vse the same euen in the middest of winter: nay, he feared not to give direction vnto his sicke patients for to sit in tvbs of cold water: and I assvre you my selfe haue seen ancient senatovrs, such as had been Consuls of Rome, all chilling and quaking, yea and starke againe for cold, in these kind of baines; and yet they would seeme to endyre the same, to shew how hardie they were : and uerilie there is a treatise extant of Seneca where he approues highly of this covrse. Neither is it to be doubted, but such Physitians as these, who hauing won credit and estimation by svch nouelties and strange deuises, shoot at no other marke byt to make merchandize and enrich themselues euen at the hazard of our liues, and herevpon come these lamentable and wofull consultations of theirs abovt their patients.”—Ib, Book xxix, chap. i, Tome ii, p. 345. * Caivs Svetonivs Tranquillvs, ex recensione Iohannis Georgii Grevii, cum notis Isaaci Casaaboni, Levini Torrentii, Theodori Marcilii et aliorum: Ato. Trajeeti ad Rhenum, 1691; Lib. ii. sect. 59, 81; p. 215, 249. + Fomentations, fomenta, consist in quickly repeated applications of a fluid to a circumscribed portion of the invalid’s person. Anciently, as now, they were warm in most instances ; but Suetonius here, and Pliny also, are DIVI BOTANICI. 27 the counsel of other physicians, Musa caused them to be disconti- nued—substituting cold fomentations, whereby a cure was happily effected. With seeming gratitude for this achievement, but not without adulation of a liberal despot, a servile senate conferred on the emancipated healer of Augustus the distinction of having a statue of brass consecrated to his honour, and erected beside that of Zisculapius, whom the Roman people reverenced by the institution of divine rites and a devoted worship. Dion Cassius communicates additional notices* relative to the for- tunes of Musa, his “ method,” and his medical as well as civil pre- ferments. Thus, when sinking under an inveterate disease, Augus- tus had renounced all hope of recovery, and made final arrangements with a view to his impending dissolution ; and when he was unable to follow the course held to be indispensably requisite; Antonius Musa restored him to health with the use of cold lavations or ablutions, and cold potations or drinks. For this important service, the physician received ample pecuniary rewards,+ both from his patient and from the senate: the privilege of wearing a gold ring (for he was a freed-man_) was also conferred upon him ; and he obtained exemp- tion from imposts of every kind, not for himself only, but for the explicit in stating—that the remedial means prescribed by Musa were fri- gida, cold; and that they were fomenta, fomentations with cold water, distin- guished clearly from balnewm or balineum, general immersion in a bath. The « cold affusion” might have been employed in this case; or, probably it was treated with local sponging with the liquid at the cool or cold temperature. * Cassii Dionis Cocceiani Historie Romane que supersunt, curante H. S. Reimaro, grecé et latiné ; folio, Hamburgi, 1750; vol. i., p. 724—5. + Sestertium Quadringenties, a bountiful Honarium! but, to determine here its precise amount in sterling pounds, would be to withdraw a pleasant exercise from the reader’s calculating faculty. + The “usus annuli aurei” was a patrician privilege; it constituted the ornamental badge of nobility. Musa received this honour as a token of the Emperor's gratitude; and, out of respect to this physician, the right of wearing a gold ring was extended to members of the medical profession. Such a gewgaw, fair emblem of * Routinity,” still occupies the place of an appendage to the garniture which deciphers the attainments of a “medical gentleman.” Among the Roman institutions, there was a particular census which enjoined the rule, that a person must be a gentleman whose father and paternal grandfather possessed property worth £3229 3s. 4d. before he could claim the privilege of wearing a gold ring, or become an aspirant for the patent of nobility. Pliny instructed his countrymen in the “ literature and science” of rings and coronets, in the first and second chapters of the thirty-third book of his Natural History. See also Arbuthnot’s elaborate Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures, explained and exemplified in several Dissertations ; 4to, London, 1727, p. 176. 28 DIVI BOTANICI. whole medical profession, in all time coming. Having related these facts, Dion strangely adds, with reference to the honoured physician, “but, it is right that he should be exposed who could arrogate to himself the work of fate and fortune: and so it happened that although Augustus had been recovered, yet when Marcellus* soon afterwards fell sick, the youth died notwithstanding he also was treat- ed by Musa’s method.” Manifestly, however, this is a childish and unjust imputation ; for, if Musa changed the previous to a contrary treatment ; and if, under this treatment exclusively, the emperor was soon brought to health from “the gates of death ;” then, by simple equity, the treatment and the cure ought to be regarded as cause and effect, while the merit of this should justly be ascribed to him who directed its cause, and not to “fate and fortune,” inasmuch as he incurred the risk of its discredit, if he had proved unsuccessful. By the same historian it is stated that, in certain quarters, Livia was charged with having procured the death of Marcellus, by poison ; but it is stated further, this suspicion was rendered questionable by the fact that, for two years, the seasons had been so unwholsome as to generate diseases which proved fatal to a great multitude of per- sons. ‘These diseases seem to have constituted an epidemic, with appearances resembling modifications of the Cholera, according to their general descriptions. * Taken altogether, Vireil’s Aneid is a complete and splendid Panegyric on Augustus, and with this the poet dexterously mingles complimentary episodes in honour of his patrons and most valued friends. His elegiac verses on Marcellus have always met with universal commendation, for the delicate eulogy and affecting sentiment with which they are imbued. This accomplished prince was the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, who had adopted his nephew with the intention of bequeathing to him the imperial wealth and the Roman sovereignty. Marcellus married Julia, the emper- or’s daughter, who was soon thrown into widowhood by the sudden demise of her husband, in the eighteenth year of his age. His premature death occasioned great and unfeigned lamentation : and, for celebrating his virtues, the poet was rewarded with the most princely favour and munificence. When Virgil was reading his pathetic episode to Octavia with the sweetness, propriety and grace which distinguished him, the princess became intensely affected and shed abundance of tears; but, on finding the beautifully mourn- ful panegyric appropriated to her son, whose name remained judiciously unmentioned till the close, she was overpowered with the “joy of grief,” and sunk into a swoon. On recovering a little, Octavia ordered ten sesterces —upwards of eighty pounds sterling—to be given to the minstrel for every one of the twenty-seven verses which have immortalized the excellencies of a son whose melancholy destiny she deplored.—Virgilii AEneidos, lib. vi, v. 860—886. DIVI BOTANICI. g9 After the manner of refined nations, the Roman court-physicians would enjoy the honour of prescribing for the more fanciful or fashi- onable of the courtiers; and so it was with Antonius Musa, who had Horace and Virgil for his patients, with the enjoyment of their con- fidence and affection. Addressing himself in an epistle to his friend Numonius Vala,* the former of these exquisite polishers of verse and manners mentions the circumstance as a novelty, that Antonius Musa had directed him to discontinue bathing in the warm springs of Baiz as incapable of removing his disorder, and in their stead to use cold ablutions freely, even in the depth of winter. Virgil too has be- queathed to posterity a beautiful testimony of his esteem for Musa, enlivened with enthusiastic admiration of the virtues and excellencies that adorned his character. ‘ Never,” proclaims the Mantuan bard,+ “ never shall I meet with a man more estimable than Musa, or more amiable. Endowed with the best boons bestowed by the gods and givers of inspiration, surpassed he is not in love for the tuneful lore, nor in the enjoyment of all exquisite knowledge. Ever shall it be appreciated my greatest happiness to be beloved by Musa, the object of my devoted affection.” From the same inimitable poet, whose refined taste was always di- rected by the soundest judgment, Musa received another most elegant freewill-offering at the shrine of friendship, in being personated by * Horatii Flacci Epistolarum, lib. i, Epist. xv, v. 2—5.—From this epistle, it would appear that the liberal gentry of Baise were dissatisfied with Horace for preferring the advice of Antonius Musa to that of the “Spa-doctors” with their pleasant practice of bathing in thermal springs. He therefore determines on removing from the place; and, knowing the climate at Gabii and Clusium to be too cold in the winter, he requests his friend Vala to answer the questions—is the winter genial at Velia and Salernum; is the air healthy : what sort of people are the inhabitants ; which is the readiest way to go thither; which of these two places abounds most in corn ; how is their water ; is it kept in cisterns, or are there plenty of wells ; do hares and boars abound in these places ; are the seas well-stocked with fish; have they plenty of cray-fish ? As for the wine, be it good or bad, it will concern me little; to my taste a generous Grecian wine is the best ; it drives away care, and inspires the heart with hope and gladness.—These precautions of the poet’s may prove useful to unailing invalids, who sometimes happen to be particular in “ engaging lodgings” at the watering places. + Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera, cum integris commentariis Servii, Philargy- rii, Pierii ; accedunt Scaligeri et Lindenbrogii note ad Culicem, Cirin, Catalecta; ad Codicem M. S. regium Parisiensem recensuit Pancratius Masvicius ; 2 tomis, 4to, Leovardie, 1717; vol. ii, p. 1307. Virgil’s Epistle to Antonius Musa is one of the “ Catalecta ;” and, says Scaliger, it shews that this physician was a person eleyantissimi et politissimi ingenii in the poet’s estimation. 30 DIVI BOTANICI. [apis,* who treated the arrow-wound inflicted on /Zneas, by an un- known hand in the fierce conflict which terminated the Lavinian war. When the hero was disabled by this accident, his attendants supported him, as he retired from the field to his tent, leaning on his long spear. Here, the anguished prince was received with prompt and dutiful solicitude by Iapis who forthwith entered on the operations re- quisite for the cure of the wound. On this occasion, however, the Healer’s skill and zeal are unexpectedly thwarted by supernatural in- terference ; for the gods had agreed that a miracle should confer a divine lustre on that scene which was to complete the beginning of the Latin name, and its glorious destiny. Whether therefore it be considered as a description of some ancient chirurgical usages, as an illustration of the styptic powers ascribed of yore to the Cretan Dit- tany,t or as expression of the poet’s affectionate gratitude to his pious and illustrious friend, this instructive episodic scene merits un- usual regard from the admirers of recondite and archeological inves- tigation. Among the earliest notices of Medicine, historical or traditionary, * Virgilti Aneidos, lib. xii, v. 391—429—All his writings shew that the principle of friendship glowed in the mind of Virgil with a pure and inextin- guishable fervour ; and the evidences which prove that he designed to frame an acceptable character of Augustus in the one he assigns to Aineas, are equally applicable to the conclusion, that he was desirous of honouring his favourite Musa—ante alios carior, dulcior, doctior, jucundior—by the amiable and excellent personal as well as professional attainments he ascribes to Ia- pis in the admirable episode where this generous and enlightened physician is introduced. Who was the prototype of Virgil’s Iapis ? As a proposition, this is discussed with great ingenuity to a regular consequence, by Bishop Atterbury, in an essay intituled Reflections on the Character of Iapis in Virgil ; or the Character of Antonius Musa, Physician to Augustus: it forms one of the bishop’s miscellaneous tracts, and is inserted in Warton’s edition of the Works of Virgil; vol. iv, 257—276. Iapis means generally the Healer: it is a poetical term constructed from the Greek verb “Izeu«:, medeor, to heal, to cure diseases and wounds: from the same source are derived “Izrgés, medi- cus, a physician, and Archiater, the “ physician in ordinary to the king,” em- peror, or sovereign of a state. + This is the Origanum Dictamnus of the Linnzean system. From the re- motest antiquity, both gods and men held this plant in the highest estima- tion as an infallible vulnerary, from its reputed powers of restraining hemor- rhage and hastening the cure of wounds. Gathered on Mount Ida, and con- veyed with divine velocity, the Dittany formed a prime ingredient in the panaceated fomentation prepared by the ‘* Goddess-mother,” and charmed by her into the inconscious hand of the Healer, who discovered its source by its effects, and piously acknowledged the miraculous energy. DIVI BOTANICI. 31 there are facts which support the belief that the flesh of Vipers was freely administered as an effectual remedy for the leprous, scorbutic, scrofulous and similar affections resulting from a degenerate consti- tution. Antonius Musa had recourse methodically to the same expe- dient, with astonishing success in the treatment of Ulcers which were deemed incurable : “ that renowned physitian,” says Pliny,* “ having certain patients in cvre vnder his hand, for sych he prescribed them to eat Vipers’ flesh, and wonderfull it was how soon he healed them cleane by that means. At Rome among an inquisitive people, this method would naturally produce the effect of an extrordinary innova- tion ; but, with the physician to whom it was peculiar, it must have emanated from his profound reflection on the experience of those barbarous tribes who regale themselves with the flesh of Vipers as an exquisite aliment. By its proper qualities, combined with the nu- trition of fibrous structure, it exerts invigorating influences on the animal economy: it quickens the circulation of blood and the ner- vous energy, purifies the secretions, increases perspiration, and thus improves or renovates the constitution: so thought the doctors, of old. This practice of Musa’s was resumed by Galen} and Areteus, about two hundred years afterwards; and, to very recent times, it has been in use under various modifications. Nearly cotemporary with him, was Craterus, an Athenian physician, who, according to a * Holland’s Plinivs’ Natvral Historie, the thirtieth Book, chapter xii. ; voll. ii. p. 394. + There is an amusing if not edifying natural and medical history of the Viper, with illustrations from ancient and modern authorities in the “ His- tory of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents ; interwoven with a curious variety of historical narrations out of the scriptures, fathers, philosophers, physicians and poets; collected out of the writings of Conrad Gesner and others, by Edward Topsel ; folio, London, 1658; p. 799—810. In the volume of his immense Natural History, which contains his “ Serpentum et Draconum His- tore libri duo, folio, Bononia, 1640,” Aldrovandi has a comprehensive chapter on the Viper; and in this, he treats of the Reptile’s various names, syno- nymes and their etymology, kinds and diversities, figure and description, physionomy and anatomy, nature and propagation, sympathy and antipa- thy ; the situations it haunts; its food and temperament ; methods of dis- lodging and capturing it; peculiarity of its poison and the symptoms it pro- duces, with the remedies; treatment of cattle bitten by the viper; precau- tions against its venom; its epithets and appellations ; moral drawn from its habits; proverbs and miracles connected with its history; its use in hieroglyphicks, coins, emblems and symbols; its employment in “ phrenos- chemes ;” its monstrosities; its figurative representations; and its uses as food and physic, and in the composition of drugs: p. 108—167. 32 DIVI BOTANICI. relation of Porphyry’s,* accomplished the cure of one of his servants by directing him to use the flesh of Vipers dressed as fish, for his ordinary food. It is stated by Lopez} for a fact to which he accords his belief, that the people of Congo esteem the Viper as a most deli- cious article of food: they prepare it by roasting, and devour the viands with a gluttonous zest. From a perfect acquaintance with its qualities, the natives of Tonquin{ are accustomed to regale their friends with arrack wherein the bodies of Snakes and Vipers are in- fused. No long period has elapsed since the physicians of France and Italy were in the habit of prescribing broths and jellies composed of Vipers’ flesh, for the purpose of purifying the blood when tainted or exhausted by diseases. Now, if the virtues of these reptiles when prepared for food or medicine, are strengthening and restorative, why should they be disused as a remedy? Who knows that the scrofu- lous poison could not be extinguished with liberal draughts of a gene- rous “ Viperine wine ?” Musa enjoys the reputation of a medical botanist, derived from the singularities of a tract on the properties of the Herb Betony§ and it applications. Very reasonable grounds are assigned for be- stowing the merit of this production on the imperial physician, but it * Porphyrius : De Abstinentéa ab Esu Animalium, grecé et latiné ; 8vo. Can- tabrigig, 1655. Craterus was physician to Pomponius Atticus, the friend of Cicero, who speaks of him with great respect int his correspondence. Letters to Atticus ; Book xii. Epist. 13 and 14. + Reporte of the kingdom of Congo, a regione of Africa ; drawen out of the writinges and discourses of Odoardo Lopez, a Portingall, by Philippo Piga- fetta; translated out of Italian, by Abraham Hartwell of Cambridge, 4to. London, 1597. + This account rests on the authority of Dampier, in his Voyages, and on that of other travellers who had acquired a knowledge of the Tonquinese customs, by personal observation. Many interesting particulars relating to the country and its inhabitants will be found in the work of Alexander de Rhodes, bearing the title, Tunchinensis Historie libri duo; 4to. Lugduni, 1652 ; or in its French translation by Henry Albi, published at the same place in the same year; or in the work of Tavernier’s translated by Edmund Everard and intituled “ Voyage to Tunkin and Japan, with figures ;” folio, London, 1680; or in the same author’s original “ Voyages en Turquie, Perse et aux Indes,” 3 vols. Paris, 1679. § Some chroniclers will have it, that Apuleius the phytologist could be no other person than Apuleius Celsus, a physician nearly cotemporary with Antonius Musa: others argue that the herbalist was himself the identical Apuleius of Madaura who composed, at a period later by one hundred and fifty years, the famous Golden Ass with its magical fictions; and, it is to such an Apuleius, that certain bibliographers would transfer the merit of DIVI BOTANICI. 33 has also been conferred on Apuleius* the phytologist, whose Book on the Medical Virtues of Vegetables it frequently accompanies. Hence in modern times, has arisen a bibliological discussion attended with a display of erudite argumentation, unencumbered with the shew of one single fact, for maintaining as well as resisting the pretension, that the monograph “ De Vetonicd” was composed by Apuleius, whose distinct personality remains undetermined. Could, however, the writing be fairly disembarrassed of the blemishes, improvements or ornaments imposed upon it by successive transcribers, it would be found not destitute of appearances confirming the probability of its having originally been an epistle, the result of a recreative exercise, addressed by Musa to Marcus Agrippa, the son-in-law and heroic friend of Augustus, and truly patriotic favourite of the Roman people. Musa’s Herba Vetonica is the Wood-betony ; and, in his mind, it possesses energies available in the treatment of forty-six different dis- eases. Hence came the Italian compliment “ ha piu virtu che Bet- tonica,” you have more virtues than Betony ; and hence the adage, “vende la tonica é compra la Bettonica,” sell your coat and buy Be- tony. Until fashion had inspired a taste for occult and outlandish having aspired to describe the Betony and its salutary properties. Between the Monograph on Betony, however, and the Apuleian Herbal with its exxviii plants, there is this essential and characteristic distinction—that the former consists of simple and precise directions harmoniously accordant with the spirit and experience of the times when Musa was eminent as a physi- cian, while the latter has its precepts entangled with the rubbish of many superstitious injunctions. * Pliny’s praises of Betony, in the style of his translator, are tinctured with extravagance, the offspring of a benign credulity. “ Surely,” he says, “ an excellent herb this is, and aboue all other simples most worthy of praise. The leaues brought into pouder, be good for many vses: there is a wine and vineger condite with Betony, soueraigne for to strengthen the stomack and clarifie the eiesight: this gloriovs prerogatiue hath Betony, that look about what hovse soeuer it is set or sowed, the same is thovght to be in the pro- tection of the gods, and safe enovgh for committing any offence which may deserue their vengeance and need an expiation or propitiatory sacrifice.” Natvral Historie, Book xxv, chap. viiii—Musa’s Tract, “ De Herbé Vetonica, deque nominibus ejus et virtutibus,” has been often published in medical collec- tions, as that of Albanus Torinus, folio, Basilee, 1528 and 1549; that of Ga- briel Humelbergius, 4to, Tiguri, 1537; that with the title “ Medici Antiqui Omnes,” folio, Venetiis, 1547; and that of J. C. G. Ackermann, 8vo, Norim- berge, 1788, in which it is made the first chapter of Apuleius’ Phytography. It is described in the Bibliotheca Botanica of Seguier, 4to, Hage-Comitum, 1740, p. 283; and in that of Haller, 4to, Tiguri, 1771; Tom. i, p. 63. VOL VIII., NO. XXIII. 6 34 DIVI BOTANICI. physic, the plant preserved the reputation conferred on it by Musa; and, for more than eighteen centuries, it has been valued for its effi- cacy as a medicinal agent, in the same cases as those wherein this experienced physician recommended its employment. Thirty-nine of his prescriptions are introduced into “the first printed botanical work* of any consequence or popularity in England,” in the shape of a translation characteristic of the language early in the sixteenth cen- tury. They may be exemplified: thus, “agaynst feuer quartayn, thre dragmes of this powdre of Bethonie and an vnce of Baccatt laury or Bay beryes, with thre cyates of warm water, gyuen to the pacyent before the houre of his axces, heleth him wout grefe.” Likewise, “ agaynst podagre, take water that Bethonie is soden in and drynke it often, and lay the herbe playsterwyse vpon the fete, it appeaseth ye payne” of gout “ meruaylously as they say that haue proved it.” Prolonged and various attention to the operation of this plant as a medicine and to its effects, has enabled instructed observ- ers} to limit its exhibition, and to define the sphere of its usefulness. Tried in this way, it may now be considered as a mild, warm, aroma- tic bitter, which, in an electuary or infusion, acts as a pleasant altera- tive, tonic, or aperient, according to the form or composition under which it is administered. Another subject engaged the philanthropy of Musa: this was an essay on the Prevention of Disease,{ forming a sketch of the rules * The Grete Herball, whiche geveth parfyt knowledge and understandying of all manner of Herbes and there gracious vertues; folio, London, 1526.— The arrangement is alphabetical. + Dr. Charles Alston’s Lectures on the Natural History of Drugs, their vir- tues and doses ; two volumes, 4to, London, 1770; Vol. ii, p. 88.— Mr. William Meyrick’s New Family Herbal, enumerating the vegetables that are remark- able for medical efficacy, with an account of their virtues; 8vo, Birming- ham, 1790 ; p. 41. + This appears under the form ofan Epistle addressed to Meecenas; it was published at Norimberg, in 1538, with a title shewing it to contain Mu- sa’s directions—De Sanitate Tuenda, or the Art of Preserving Health. He wrote several books, plures libros; but, with exception of the two fragments previously mentioned, they have all perished amid the “ruins of empires” and the barbarities which paralysed the ancient advances of European civiliz- ation. Galen distinguished him as the best authority on the composition of medicines, and strengthens this judgment with numerous illustrative selec- tions from works of Musa’s, then existent. He wasaccustomed to prescribe the Cichorium Intybus, or Wild Succory, a beautiful and efficient herb, for diseases of the liver attended with jaundice, and his practice might still be imitated with safety and success. Another of his vegetable remedies was derived from the Male and Marsh Ferns, and he depended on its activity for DIVI BO'TANICI. 35 whose observance is indispensable to the conservation of health. Ad- monitions without end, and volumes without number, have solicited the concern of mankind for this most important study, with all kinds of earnestness and affection, ever since the days when the “ Freed- man of Augustus” endeavoured by the precepts of experience to pre- serve the vigorous Roman constitution from the depravement of an infectious and malignant luxury. Such Rules are simple and intelli- gible ; and wise is the man who strives to repeat them with prudent firmness, so as to ensure the benefits of their habitual application. Temperance in diet, suitable garments, moderation in sleep, proper exercise, necessary amusements, with the right degree of active bene- volence and of equanimity hallowed by religion—these are the ever- lasting elements of health and the safeguards of happiness. Musa the Plant.—Naturalists have exercised a laudable industry in recording anomenclature* of the Musa, in most dialects of the the dispersion of visceral congestions. Pliny was conversant with the pecu- liarities of Musa’s method; and, in Book xxvii, chapter ix, of his Natural History, he specifies concisely the varied intentions wherewith these plants were exhibited. “ There is no vse of physicke of the Ferne-roots,” he says, “ but when they be ivst two yeres old; for both before and after that time, they serue for no purpose. Taken in this their season, they do expel! all kind of uermin out of the guts; with honey, if they be broad and flat wormes ; but in some swete wine for all the rest, whether they be round or small, so that the patient continve this drink three daies together. Both of them are very contrarie to the stomack ; howbeit they purge the belly and evacuate choler, then waterish humovrs ; bvt the better do they chase the forsaid flat wormes out of the body in case they be quickened with the like quantitie of Scammonie. The pouder of Ferne-roots is singvlar to be strew- ed vpon maligne vlcers ; yea, and vpon the farcins and sores in horse necks : the leaves kill Punaises or Wallice, and a Serpent they will not harbovr; and therefore it is good for those who are to lie in svspected places, to make them pallets of Ferne-leaues, or at leastwise to lay them vnder their beds : the very smoke of them also, when they be burned, doth chase away Serpents.” Here then, aged seventeen hundred years, is the prototype of Madame Nouf- fer’s celebrated vermifuge which Louis XVI purchased for seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling—a princely oblation at the altar of pure philan- thropy. “ From immemorial time, this plant has been designated Muz, Muza and Amuza indiscriminately, by the Arabian physicians: the Persians call the tree Daracht Mous, and its fruit is denominated Mous, in their language. Most of the appellations by which it is known in the various countries where it was first discovered by Europeans to be of spontaneous growth, are eru- merated, from Oviedo 1526, Bruchard 1554, Thevet 1558, Garcias ab Horto 1567, Christoval a Costa 1578, and De Lery 1578, by Charles L’Ecluse ( Clusius ) in his Exoticorum Libri Decem; folio, Lugd. Bat. 1605; p. 229, 230, 36 DIVI BOTANICI. lands where the plant is indigenous; and those botanists who enter- tain the curiosity or desire of making themselves conversant with the literature and glossography of their science, are furnished with an ample and fruitful sphere for research and experience in the polyglot denominations of this herb, and its history. As a generic head, the Musa confers its appellation on a group of exotic vegetables which have ever been regarded with a natural par- tiality, on account of the grateful and exhilarating sustenance afford- ed by their fruits, to the inhabitants of sunny regions. This group constitutes the Musaceous Family, comprising four genera, the first of which includes five species—Musa paradisiaca, M. sapientum, M. ensete, M. trogloditarum, and M. tectilis, all agreeing in the kind, but differing in the importance, of their uses and economy. The last is particularly valued for its delicate fibrous structure, from which some of the finest Indian muslins are fabricated. With the most erudite philologers, the Musa is that vegetable which figures prominently in the genuine picture of longing, as distinguished from coveting, so well delineated by the divine limner in his scene of the Mandrakes—a sketch quite graphically descriptive of the earliest patriarchal] and oriental customs. Here the distinctive epi- thet is significant of number and exuberance: it is Dudaim, a plu- ral term denoting the Plant of plants with its fruit enclustered, refreshing and nutritive. By scholiasts on the Inspired Scriptures, this most mystical word is variously rendered—Mandrakes, Citrons, Lilies, Jasmines, Violets, Figs, Mushrooms, odoriferous blossoms, flowers of loveliness, or “ amatorious philters ;” and, though the first of these versions enjoys a general acceptance, yet the know- ledge of this vegetable’s economy and qualities shews its inadequacy to represent the Dudaim, to the minds of intelligent naturalists. Instructed by observation and study during his extraordinary ad- ventures, the indefatigable Wieland* was among the first to advo- 252, 283: by Bauhin and Cherler in the Historia Plantarum Universalis ; folio, tribustomis, Ebroduni 1650; Tom. i, p. 148—141: and by Bodzeus a Stapel, in his edition of Z'heophrastus de Historia Plantarum, graecé et latiné ; folio, Amstelodami, 1644; p. 352—3. * Melchior Wieland, M.D., latinized Guilandinus, was a native of Konigs- berg, a respected physician, and an enthusiatic botanist. Having projected an excursion into Africa and Asia, for the purpose of exploring and studying the natural history of regions distinguished for the wonderful diversity, beauty and magnificence of their vegetable productions, he was captured by Algerine corsairs, and by them consigned to a tedious and detestable bondage. From this, at length he was redeemed by the divine benevolence of Gabriel eS DIVI BOTANICI. 37 cate the probability, that the Musa with its luscious clusters might be the proper Dudaim which tempted Rachel to indulge the fancy of a devious imagination. Allied to this, was the judgment expressed by Job Ludolph, whose immense learning exalted his philosophy, the fruit of foreign travel and contemplation. _His account of the Abys- sinian* vegetable productions comprises the remarks—that “ the In- dian-fig, which the Arabians call muz or mauz, grows plentifully here, and a most excellent fruit it is: you shall have fifty figs about the bigness and shape of a cucumber hanging upon one stalk, of a most delicious odour and taste. They are ripe in June: near Damascus they are rare, for they require a hotter climate. These circumstances make me believe that this same fruit may be the DupAIM mentioned in Genesis, which occasioned so much discontent between Jacob’s two wives. Soon after, I observed that many learned men had lighted upon the same conjecture, though they do not give their reasons. My opinion is, that it should be some rare and pleasant fruit that could have moved the boy to gather it; yet not so much a boy Fallopio, M. D. of Padua, whom the ransomed and grateful philophytist suc- ceeded in the professorship of Botany, in the university of that celebrated city. His writings attest his learning and his zeal for the advancement of that science to which his best energies were devoted. His observations on the most remarkable exotic plants and their nomenclature, are embodied in his Epistole de Stirpium aliquot Nominibus vetustis ac novis, que multis jam seculis aut ignorarunt Medici vel de iis dubitarunt : 4to, Basilee, 1557. * Job Ludolph stands high on the roll of eminent German philologers : he was born at Erfurt in 1624, and he died in 1704, in the enjoyment of well-merited distinction as a linguist, an antiquary, a traveller, a gramma- rian and an oriental scholar. He was the author of more than a dozen of curious and valuable works, among which were, an Amharic grammar, an Ethiopic grammar and dictionary, and the Historia A&thiopica, sive descriptio regni Habessinorum quod vulgo male Presbyteri Johannis vocatur; folio, Franco- furti ad Menum, 1681. This interesting volume was translated into English and published, folio, London, 1682: it is illustrated with engraved figures, and the best of these is a graphic representation of the Musa sapientum, the Banana, here denominated “the Herbe and Fruite called in Hebrew Du- parm, and in the Arabic language Mauz or Muza, the Indian figge:” and the plate exhibits “ the herbe itself growing like a tree; the ripe fruite, with forty or fifty figges upon one stalke: one figge in its full proportion; and the young shootes that spring from the root of the tree every yeare.” There is another tree which the traveller praises as “ most excellent against worms in the belly, a distemper frequent among the Habessines by reason of their feeding upon raw flesh, and for remedy whereof they purge themselves once a month with the fruit of this tree which causes them to void all their worms.” 38 DIVI BOYTANICI. neither, as to think it worth his while to carry home a stinking* man- drake. Besides, Rachel might have sent a servant to gather amiable flowers, that is to say Lilies, Violets, or the like: moreover, the He- brew word seems to confirm this opinion, as being in the dual num- ber, and thus implying a relation of more than one fruit to one and the same stalk.” —The same author mentions another plant belonging to the Musaceous family. But, he observes, “ the tree that goes by the name of Ensetet is not to be passed over without admiration ; being like that which bears the Indian fig, two fathoms in thickness. Being half cut down, it renews itself again by means of innumerable shoots that spring again from the remaining trunk, all which is fit to be eaten ; so that there is no need that the tree should bear any other fruit, it being all pot-herb of itself. Being sliced and boiled, it as- suages the thirst of the common sort of people, who bruise the leaves and boil them with meal, and then eat the composition instead of a hasty-pudding.” Another writer,{ remarking on the Mandrake and its virtues, confirms the historian’s opinion. He notes, that “ when the Male Mandrake is ripe in July, it contains a golden coloured fruit as big as a pear-maine, which yields a whitish flat seed that affects the nose with a narcotick stuffing odour. By its hogo and foetid scent, it must have a soporiferous nature: it is never used inwardly, * Dr. Hasselquist remarks, that the Arabs of Galilee call the Mandrake by a name which signifies the Devil’s Victuals, in their language.— Travels in the Levant; 8vo, London, 1767; p. 160. + This appears to be the plant which Bruce, the well-known Abyssinian traveller, proposed to introduce as a species into the Musaceous family. We learn from his observations, that its fruit is disagreeably bitter in its natural state; but that, when prepared according to the fashion of the country, it makes a most wholesome and nutritious aliment, yielding a savour like the taste of cheese. + This view of the question appears in a rare little Treatise, evincing a spirit of modest christian piety and bearing the title “ 'THEOLoBOTANOLOGIA sive Historia Vegetabilium Sacra; or, a Scripture Herbal, wherein all the trees, shrubs, herbs, flowers and fruits mentioned in the Holy Bible are ra- tionally discoursed of; by William Westmacott, of Newcastle-under-Line, physician; 12mo, London, 1694, p. 105—108.—Adrian Cocquius, in his learned and curious Contemplations on the Sacred Phytology, enters into a formal disquisition upon the same subject; and, by a systematic induction, he arrives at the conclusion—that the Dudaim positively does not signify Mandrakes, but is “ pomum et malum aureum,” a golden coloured apple, or apple-like fruit—a description not inappropriate to that of the Banana or Plantain-tree and its luxurious clusters. See his Historia ac Contemplatio Sa- cra plantarum, arborum et herbarum quarum fit mentio in Sacra Scriptura ; Ato, Viissinge, 1664, p. 190—200. DIV1 BOTANICI. 39 but passeth for one of the poisonous class of vegetables. Lemnius* tells us, how being seated in his study, a sudden drowsiness seized him, caused by a Mandrake-apple he had laid on a shelf”’” He next proceeds to shew that, in the flowers which Reuben brought home, there must have been “a delectable smell ;” and then he concludes that, ‘“‘ for any one positively to affirm these lovely flowers were Mandrakes, is too magisterial and singular an opinion : ’tis likely the * Lievin Lemmens, in latin Levinus Lemnius, relates this anecdote with due solemnity, in his remarks on the nature and properties of the Man- drakes which Rachel obtained by coaxing, “ eb/andita est,” from Leah her sister: it forms the second chapter of his singular but not uninstructive book, Similitudinum ac Parabolarum que in Bibliis ew Herbis atque Arboribus desu- mantur dilucida explicatio ; 12mo, Erphordie, 1581, with a good portrait of the author, in a wood-cut, on the title-page. There isan English version of this, intituled, 4n Herbal for the Bible ; containing a plaine and familiar exposi- tion of such similitudes, parables, and metaphors, as are borrowed and taken from Herbs, Plants, and Trees, by observation of their vertues and effects; by Thomas Newton; 8vo, London, 1587. LLemnius makes a cursory obser- vation on the efficacy of Reuben’s Mandrakes, in another production of his which is still more extraordinary. It is an elaborate treatise—De Occultis Nature Miraculis ; 12mo, Antverpie, 1559—with many subsequent editions and translations. That into English is anonymous—The Secret Miracles of Nature ; treating of Generation and the parts thereof; of the Soul and its immortality ; of Plants and living creatures; of Diseases, their symptoms and cure; and many other rarities not treated of by any author extant, by that famous physitian Leevinus Lemnius; folio, London, 1658. At p. 262, the proposition is affirmed “ that plants are of both sexes,” and this is accom- panied with the remarkable assertions, that ‘‘ amongst herbs of the same species there is a difference of the sex, for there is a conjunction between them and a kind of matrimonial society, and hence it is that some plants are called the male and others the female. The Arabians say that the females will not bear without the males, the flowers and down of them, and some- times the powder and dust, being strewed upon the females; wherefore plants that have a vegetative faculty, do send a generative force and vital spirit one into the other, and that by a secret consent of Nature and a hid- den inspiration derived from the heat of the air and the sun and the genera- tive spirit of the world.” Now, to Cesalpino, 1583, and after him to Zaluzi- ansky, 1592, is assigned the credit of being the first among the moderns to speak about vegetable sexuality: here, however, are the statements of a physician who, in 1559, discourses on the “ Sexes of Plants” as on a well- known and established doctrine. Dr. Lemmens practised as a physician at Ziriczee, in Holland ; but, under grief for the death of his wife, he went into the church, and died in 1568: his numerous writings are vigorous and ele- gant, and they enjoyed an extensive popularity. His translator, Dr. Thomas Newton was a native of Cheshire; and, in Biography, he is represented as having been a schoolmaster, poet, divine, and physician; he died in 1607: his English versions of foreign literature were numerous. 40 DIVI BOTANICI. young child would be more fond of the delicate and sweet flowers of the field than of ill-scented and immature apples ; therefore, it rather appeareth to me that he brought to his mother some other vegetable than Mandrake.” Ancient herbalists generally impute ungenial and narcotic proper- ties to the Mandrake, with a prompt tendency, through decomposi- tion, to become the source of ill-scented and deleterious emanations. With the Banana and Plantain-tree, it is altogether the reverse: their fruit is not less beautiful to the sight; its fragrance is more grateful to the smell, and its savour is more delicious to the taste, than that of the Mandrake. From such reasons, and others drawn from the comparative economy of these three vegetables, with the manifest inexistence of even one fact to shew that Rachel’s longing for her sister’s pleasant fruits was created by any other motive than admiration of their visible and sensible qualities, the conclusion is probable—that the translation which represents the Dudaim as a Banana or Plantain-tree, is the version which most faithfully pre- serves the word’s original signification. Were the Mandrakes of Reuben,* the Grapes of Eshcol, and the sweet-scented Mandrakes of the Prince’s daughter, to be considered as clusters of the Plantain-tree or the Banana, the records of these would then stand for the first authentic notices of the Musaceous family and their delicious fruits. When the Macedonian soldiers returned from Alexander’s Indian expedition, their tales of marvels concerning sights and deeds did not form an exception to the displays of pleasant fiction next to inseparable from the stories of romantic or chivalrous adventure. From this source of popular information, the Greek and Roman naturalists procured the elements of those sketches of theirs which originally introduced the Musacee to a place in European literature. Theophrastus had acquired an extraordinary consideration, as the successor to Aristotle and as an eloquent teacher of ethical science and phytology, at the time of Alexander’s enterprize against the people of the east ; and, having survived this magnanimous aggres- sor for thirty years, the physiologist had fair opportunities of pro- curing information from his travelled countrymen, regarding the Natural History of those kingdoms on which they had inflicted the miseries of a stern and romantic depredation. From communica- tions thus furnished, he evidently drew the sketches of Indian trees, * Genesis xxx, 14, 15, 16: Numbers xiii, 23, 24: Solomon’s Song vii, 13. DIVI BOTANICI. 4) preserved in that most ancient botanical scripture which elevates him as the Father of Phytography to the applause and veneration of all posterity. His descriptions certainly, though sketchily, repre- sent the first defined* and the most valued of the musaceous family ; and they were adopted with an enduring faithfulness and happily enlarged by the pencil of Pliny, whose philosophical concupiscence was exquisite and insatiable. Dr. Holland’s version of Pliny, Tome ii, p- 361, leads him to say, “a tree there is in India bearing a very fair, big, and sweet fruit, and thereof the sages and philosophers do ordinarily liue. The leafe resembleth birds’ wings, carrying three cubits in length and two in bredth. The fruit it pyts forth at the bark, hauing within it a wonderfull pleasant iuice ; insomuch as one of them is sufficient to giue four men a competent and full refection. The tree’s name is Pala” (stiil Palan in the Malabarian dialect) “and the fruit thereof is called ariena. Great plenty of them is in the country of the Sy- draci, the utmost limit of Alexander the Great his expedition and voiages. There is another tree like to this, and it beareth a fruit more delectable than this arena, howbeit the bowels in a man’s belly it wringeth and breeds the bloodie flux,” being taken to excess and with- out judgment. <“ As for the Macedonian souldiers, they talked much of many other trees, but in general tearmes only, and to the most they gaue no names at all.” Similar effects still continue to be ex- perienced by Europeans, when they indulge overfreely in using the pleasant fruitage that tempts them to intemperance, on their first visiting the climates where it is indigenous. Next came the Arabian doctors, expatiating on the properties of the Plantain-tree and the Banana, with little regard to discrimination. Inditing his experience, Avicennat affirms that their fruit yields * Theophrastus leaves them altogether without names: he says, “In In- dia, there is a fine large tree remarkable for the size and delicacy of its fruit; the native ascetics, who live naked, use it for their sustenance: there is another with leaves as long as the Ostrich-feathers worn on military hel- mets: and there is a third, having long inflected fruit which is delightful to the taste, but occasions flatulence and disorder of the bowels.”— Theophrasti Eresii Historia Plantarum, Grecé et Latiné, cura Johannis Boda@i a Stapel ; folio, Amstelodami, 1644 ; p. 347. + Abu Ali al Hossain Ebn Abdallah Ebn Sina, corrupted by the latinists to Avicenna, ranks as the highest authority with the Turkish, Arabian, and Persian physicians. He describes the Musa in the second book of his Canon Medicine, as translated into Latin from the original Arabic, by Gerard of Cremona ; folio, Papize, 1483. This Canon is a sort of medical encyclopedia, . VOL VIII., NO. XXITI. 7 42 DIVI BOTANICI. little nutriment; that it tends to generate an excess of bile and phlegm ; and that, although it disturbs the stomach, it does good in inflammation of the chest and lungs, and excites renewed activity of the kidneys when these have become inert: Rhazes* expresses the like sentiments, and adds that it moderates appetency, proves laxa- tive, and assuages irritation of the throat: and, by Serapion,+ it is -pronounced to be one of the best calefacient and diluent remedies in existence, while he maintains the importance of all the properties as- cribed to musaceous fruits, by his medical compatriots. These were followed by the latinists, arabists, herbalists, phytologists, and others, who essayed to make the advantages of foreign travel conducive to the «“ philosophy of plants.” Hence proceeded many descriptive and gra- phic representations of the chief Musacesx, and thus their alimentary and medicinal energies have been methodically discriminated. Regarding the magnificent plant, Musa paradisiaca, it grows na- turally and is cultivated extensively throughout the tropical regions of Asia, Africa and America, for the beauty of its umbrageous foliage and the abundance of its excellent fruit. From a fanciful notion, that the terrestrial Paradise was stocked with the Plantain-tree, its specific name, paradisiaca, was originally devised ; and, for the sake of its euphony, let no reason arise to require its discontinuance. From times untold by history, the gymnosophists or “ wise men of the east” have been accustomed to seek retirement in solemn groves, overshaded and scented by the banana, whose fruitage yielded full subsistence to these recluses, while they engaged unseen in their feats of self-inflicted severity or in the contemplation of artifices for secur- in which the simples are arranged in alphabetical order. After experiencing many vicissitudes of fortune, this celebrated person died in A.D. 1036, at Hamadan, where the ruins of his tomb are still pointed out to inquisitive strangers. * Mohammed Ebn Secharajah Abubeker Abrasi ( Rhazes ) acquired a high reputation at Bagdat, both as a teacher of the medical sciences and as a physician. His observations on the Musa are given in the twentieth chapter of the third book of his work, intituled Admansor ; hoc est, Ad Regem Corassani Mansorem Libri decem ; folio, Venetiis, 1510. He visited many foreign coun- tries, and died in the eightieth year of his age, about the beginning of the tenth century. + John Serapion was an eminent Arabian physician, who flourished during the last half of the tenth century. He treats of the medicinal properties of the Musa, in the eighty-fourth chapter of his collection, having the title, Practica sive breviarium ; folio, Venetiis, 1479. This is a composition from the Greek and Arabian physicians, upon the natural history and virtues of medicines. SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 43 ing the dominion of a spurious sanctity over the weakness of unen- lightened and superstitious veneration. When this tree, seeming every way “ good for food, and pleasant to the eyes,” and dispreading a delightsome shade for sages desirous of appearing wise—when this tree first presented itself to the observation of ancient naturalists, the pupils perhaps of Aristotle, they would readily designate it Asyvdgov Zoduv the wisemen’s tree, a specific appellation now in Musa saptentum hallowed into established usage by the sanction of the highest botani- cal authorities. By the priests who administered the primitive Egyp- tian mythology, the banana-leaf had an exact signification in the sym- bolical circle of foliage which denoted the eternity of God, and was intended by its mystery to eleviate the minds of His worshippers to meditation on His divine attributes as the uncreated Creator and pro- vidential Ruler of the universe. SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. GouLp’s “ Birps or Evrore.” Parts XIII. anp XIV. Parr XIII.—On opening the present part of Mr. Gould’s series, we are greeted by a pair of our old and familiar friends the Reed Buntings, Emberiza scheniculus,—Bruant de-roseau, Fr.—Zivolo di padule, J.—Rhorr Ammer, G.,—though, in truth, we scarcely think justice has been done them in the figures, which give the idea of much too bulky and heavy birds. The male is very fair, but at the same time his characters are so striking that the merest daub would suffice to render him recognisable. The male of this species, it is well known, only acquires his full beauty with the spring of the second year. The female and young, according to authors, are similar, but every practical ornithologist well knows how to distinguish them. Barred Ulule, Ulula nebulosa,—Chouette nébuleuse, Fr. A spirited figure, by Lear, representing an adult male rather less than the natural size. It is not one of Lear’s best. Rarely occurs fur- 44 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. ther south than Scandinavia, where it is very scarce. Distributed throughout the U. S. where, says Audubon, his cry may be heard in the evening, resounding from every part of the forest. ‘‘ Mr. Audubon further remarks, that its powers of vision during the day seem to be very equivocal, he having seen one alight on the back of a cow, which it left so suddenly, on the animal moving, as to leave no doubt on his mind that the Owl had mistaken the object upon which it had perched for something else.” Feeds on young Hares and Rabbits, Mice, small birds, Frogs, Lizards, &c.—Lays, in the holes of decayed trees, or the deserted nests of Crows and Hawks, from four to six pure white rounded eggs. The male is somewhat smaller than the female, and the intensity of the tints varies consi- derably. Hazel Gelinotte, Bonasia Europea,—Teétras gélinotte, Fr.— Francolino di monte, Jt.—Schwartzkehlige Waldhuhn, G. Lovely figures of a male and female, natural size. “ The half-plumed tarsi, the crested head, and the tuft of feathers on each side of the neck, are features peculiar to the genus Bonasia ; in the present species, this latter character is but slightly indicated, but is exhibited to a greater extent in a species from America. B. Europea is the only species yet discovered in the old world, but it has its representative in the new, in the well-known B. uwmbellus, &c. Although the Ha- zel Gelinotte does not equal the Ptarmigan in flight, its powers in this respect are far from being inconsiderable. They frequently perch on trees, and love to dwell in wooded plains skirting hilly and mountainous districts ; they feed on alpine fruits and berries, to which are added the tops of Heath, Fir, Juniper, and other tender shoots. They fly off in packs or companies, and are not so shy or distrustful as most other members of this family ; when disturbed they perch on trees, and are then easily approached and shot.—The Hazel Gelinotte is dispersed over the continent of Europe from north to south, inhabiting nearly all the elevated ridges and natural boundaries of the different countries. Dr. Latham states that they are so abundapt on a small island in the Gulf of Genoa, that the name of Gelinotte Island has been given to it. It also inhabits France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Russia, thus extending from the sultry regions of Italy to the limits of the arctic circle.” Is never met with in Britain, and appears to be exclusively confined to the European continent. The eggs are from ten to twelve, rusty red, spotted with a darker colour, and are laid on the ground, at the foot of a Fern or Hazel-stem. The female, besides being less bril- liant in tints than the other sex, wants the red naked skin behind SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 45 the eye.—This bird “ is held in high esteem for the table, for which purpose thousands are yearly captured.” Sedge Reedling, Salicaria phragmitis,—Becfin phragmite, Fr.— Schilfsanger, G. Although every one knows that there is no dif- ference of plumage in the sexes of these birds, we think our author would have displayed better taste had he given a companion to the solitary and cheerless individual at present figuring on a plate two feet in length; nor can we much admire the figure, although his drooping appearance on the present occasion is doubtless owing to his separation from his mate! The Sedge Reedling is common in all the moist parts of Britain, and its nocturnal song is almost as pleasing to the true ornithologist as the more luscious strains of Philomel ; and, were they poured forth more sparingly, might come in for a share of that applause so universally conceded to the latter, whose praises have been a theme of inexhaustible admiration with the poets, time immemorial. The next plate represents a pair of Common Quails, Coturnix dactylisonans, Meyer,—Caille, Fr.—Coturnice, Jt—Wahtel Feld- huhn, G. Any one unacquainted with these pretty little creatures in their natural state, would entertain an idea that the birds were larger than they actually are from an inspection of these figures. Few faults are commoner than this in drawings of animals of all classes, and it is a pity that artists do not guard against it more carefully. The quail is very widely dispersed in the old world. «« So vast and countless are the flocks which often pass over to the islands and European shores of the Mediterranean, that a mode of wholesale slaughter is usually put in practice against them, which no doubt tends to limit their inordinate increase. They are polyga- mous in their habits ; and in the migrations the males always pre- cede the females, and are easily decoyed into nets by an artificial imitation of the voice of the latter.”—In Britain, the Quail is spa- ringly but equally distributed, arriving in spring, and departing, with the fall of the year, for the south. Lays eight to twelve eggs, * pale yellow brown, blotched and dotted with darker brown and black,” and deposits them on the bare ground. The throat, black in the male, is white in the female and young. Riippell’s Fauvet, Ficedula Riipellii,—Becfin de Riipell, Fr.— The female in the plate is well deserving of commendation. Both the figures are drawn from specimens in the collection of Dr. Riip- pell, the eminent continental zoologist. Inhabits the north and east of Africa, passing occasionally into the adjacent confines of Europe. “ M. Temminck informs us that it gives preference to thickly 46 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. wooded districts; and from the general form and contour of the body, and particularly its subdued and sober tone of colouring, we may reasonably expect that its general economy is in unison with the birds of our own island belonging to the same restricted genus.” The white stripe under the eye, and the black on the throat, at once distinguish the male. Nothing is positively known of its ha- bits, &c. Great Bustard, Otis tarda,—Outarde barbue, Fr.—Starda com- mune, /t.—Grosse Trappe, G. The male and female are repre- sented, rather less than half the size of life. The former is finely executed, by Lear. The history of this splendid and now scarce bird in Britain, is familiar to even the general reader, and need not, therefore, be repeated here. Spotted Cuckoo, Cuculus glandarius,—Coucou tacheté, Fr. The figure, of an adult male, natural size, is good, but somewhat soft in expression. “ Its true habitat,’’ observes Mr. Gould, “ is the wooded districts skirting the sultry plains of North Africa; but the few that pass the Mediterranean find a congenial climate in Spain and Italy, further north than which they are rarely seen.” It is not known whether the habits of this bird, as regards propagation, agree with those of our Common Cuckoo or not. The feathers of the head are darker in the middle age than in the adult, and the whole plumage is still deeper in young birds. Of the sexes we are told nothing.—Of course we fully agree with our author that this species has no claim to rank either in Cuculus or Coccyzus, but it must remain in the former genus for the present. Northern Diver, Colymbus glacialis,—Plongeon imbrim, Fr.— Mergo maggiore, Jt.—Schwarzhalsiger Seetaucher, G. The figures, representing an adult male and a young bird of the year, two-thirds of the natural size, are highly characteristic. Equally distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, “ giving preference to the regions within the arctic circle during summer, and progressing southward as far as lat. 36° on the approach of autumn and winter, at which seasons they are by no means rare in our islands, although, in accordance with that general law of Nature which causes the young to wander further from their native habitat, we find a much greater proportion of immature birds than of those which bear the beautifully contrasted livery of the adult.” Subsists on fish, aquatic insects, &c., which it obtains by diving. Builds on the borders and islands of inland seas, lakes and rivers, the nest being placed quite close to the water. This bird lives almost entirely on the water, “ though it contrives to propel itself forward (on land) by means of SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 47 resting its breast upon the ground and striking backward with its feet somewhat like the action of swimming.” The sexes do not differ, but the young birds want the glossy green black on the head and neck of the adults. Doubtful Sparrow, Passer petronius,—Grosbec soulcie, Fr.— Grau Fink, G. We do not remember to have seen a specimen of the Doubtful Sparrow (the Foolish Sparrow of Latham and others), and cannot, therefore, say whether the figure, of a male, natural size, is characteristic. According to Dr. Shaw, “ this species is found over the greatest part of Europe, in the southern portions of which it is migratory, but is nowhere so common as in Germany. It is not found in this country: it affects woods, and builds in the holes of trees, laying four or five eggs, and feeds on seeds and insects. These birds are very delicate, as numbers are often found dead in trees in winter, during which time they assemble in flocks.” The sexes of this species are similar ; and this and other characters point out the propriety of removing it from the genus Passer. Rook Crow, Corrus nudirostris, Palmer,—Corbeau freux, Fr.— Saat Rabe, G. An excellent figure of an adult, rather under the size of life, is given. We conclude that our readers, one and all, are as well acquainted with the history of this venerable bird as we are, and we shall not affront our subscribers or the Rook by giving a detailed description of its mode of life. Common Sandpiper, Tolanus hypoleucos, Chevalier guignette, Fr. —Piovanello, J¢.—Trillender Strandlaiifer, G. The figures, repre- senting, of the natural size, an adult and a young bird in autumn, are both pretty and characteristic, though not altogether devoid of stiffness as regards attitude. Occurs in India, Africa, and Europe, including Britain, where it arrives at the end of April, and departs in September. Food, insects, Snails, Worms, crustacea, &c., “ in capturing which its motions are not Jess elegant than graceful, run- ning with agility over the oozy mud and sand-banks, often exhibit- ing a peculiar and singular jerking of the tail, and a nodding of the head not unlike that of the Common Gallinule and some of the ter- restrial Pigeons of the West Indies.” In Britain “ the task of in- cubation is commenced soon after its arrival, the female depositing her four delicate eggs, of a pale reddish white ground spotted with darker red, on the bank near the water’s edge, a mere hollow in the soil or depression in the shingle serving instead of a nest.” The male and female are similar, and the young birds only differ from adults in having the edges of the feathers fringed with a margin of greyish white. 48 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. Ivory Gull, Larus eburneus,—Mouette blanche, Fr. The plate, representing an adult male, rather more than three-fourths of the natural size, is to our liking. Inhabits the arctic circle, very rarely visits the temperate portions of Europe, and has only been taken two or three times in this country. Its first capture in this country was announced in the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, by L. Edmonston, Esq. Said to breed in rocks overhanging the sea. Eggs unknown. In the solitary wilds which it inhabits “ it is con- stantly accompanied by the Fulmar Petrel; and, like the generality of its tribe, which are constantly observed in the neighbourhood of shipping, it is always to be seen following the whalers and feeding upon the refuse thrown overboard, which, with blubber, small fish, and crustacea, forms the principal portion of its diet. Both sexes are distinguished for the snowy whiteness of their plumage, but the young are of a uniform dark grey the first autumn, “‘ which gradu- ally gives place to a mottled livery of black and white, the ends of the primaries and tail retaining the dark marking the longest, and until the end of the second year. It is also said that the immacu- late white plumage is that of summer, and that the head and neck are streaked with grey in winter.” Cretzchmar’s Bunting, Emberiza cesia,—Bruant cendrillard, Fr. A pair are figured, and the female is particularly well executed. This beautiful and rare Bunting was added to the European fauna by Dr. Cretzschmar, of Frankfort, as a straggler in the southern and eastern portions of that continent. Inhabits Syria and Egypt. As Temminck suggests that it may have been mistaken for a vari- ety of the well-known E. cia or E. horiulana, it may possibly be of more frequent occurrence in Europe than is at present supposed. The plumage of the female is less bright than that of the male. Of the habits, &c., little is ascertained. Great Auk, Alca impennis,—Pingouin brachiptere, Fr. An adult in summer dress, and two-thirds of the natural size, is re- markably happily figured, in the act of devouring a fish. ‘ The seas of the polar regions, agitated by storms and covered with im- mense ice-bergs, form the congenial] habitat of the Great Auk : here it may be said to pass the whole of its existence, braving the se- verest winters with the utmost impunity, so that it is only occa- sionally seen, and that at distant intervals, even so far south as the seas adjacent to the northernmost parts of the British Islands.” Extends throughout the arctic circle, is unable to fly, and progresses on land with difficulty, but, as might be anticipated, is extremely expert in the water. “ Here it is truly at ease, following its prey, SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 49 which consists exclusively of fish of various species, with the utmost facility.” Lays one egg on the bare rock, just above the reach of the highest tides. “Its colour is tinged with buff, marked with spots and crooked lines of brownish black. The young take to the water immediately after exclusion from the egg, and follow the adults with fearless confidence.” In winter, the jet black on the throat and neck give way to white. Chaff Finch, Fringilla celebs,—Grosbec pinson, F’r.—Fringillo comune, J//-—Gemeine Fink, G. We really think Mr. Gould might have given figures more worthy of his distinguished fame as an ornithological painter, though, unquestionably, they might have been much worse. Every field ornithologist of any experience well knows that the sexes of this bird separate at a certain season. None of our smaller native birds are more universally or plentifully distributed in Britain than the Chaff Finch. The tints of the male are far brighter in spring than in winter. Gargany Teal, Querquedula circia,—Sarcelle d’ été, Fr.—Anatra cercedula, Ji—Knak Ente, G. Our author has succeeded as well with this species as with most of his other Anatide, figuring an adult male and female of the natural size. Dispersed throughout North Africa, Asia, and Europe, passing into the British Islands in April and May, frequenting lakes and meres. It proceeds to more northern countries to breed, placing its nest amongst herbage near the water ; lays eight or ten white eggs. Feeds, like the other Ducks which are incapable of diving, on the tops of aquatic plants, insects, shelled Snails, and their larve. The beautiful tints of the adult male in summer at once distinguish the nuptial attire. The young males, and adult males in winter, closely resemble the fe- male. Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus,—Goéland a-manteau-noir, Fr.—Mantel Meve, G. A beautiful figure of an individual two- thirds of the natural size, and represented swimming. Inhabits Europe and America, and is common in Britain. It is three years coming to maturity, and this circumstance has, of course, caused much confusion, by multiplying synonyms. ‘ The British Islands afford several localities which are resorted to by this Gull for the purpose of breeding, among which, according to Selby, may be enu- merated the steep holmes and sandy islands in the British Channel, Souliskerry in the Orkneys, the Bass Island in the Firth of Forth, and one or two stations on the Scottish coast.” The nest, placed on the ground, consists of Reeds, Rushes, and Flag leaves. ‘‘ The eggs are three in number, like those of the Herring Gull in shape, but VOL. VIII., NO. XXIII. 8 50 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. larger; the ground colour of various shades of brown, always blotched and spotted with darker brown.” Feeds on half-decom- posed animal matters, refuse from ships, marine crustacea, &c. The female is somewhat smaller than the male. The white on the head and neck of adults becomes grey in winter. The young are mottled grey and white. Sand Swallow, Hirundo riparia,—Hirondelle de-rivage, Fr.— Rondine riparia, Jt—Ulfer Schwalbe, G. The birds are well fi- gured, and the species is common and well-known. We have seen a light-coloured variety. Corn Bunting, Emberiza miliaria,—Bruant proyer, Fr.—Grau Ammer, G. The plate represents, of the “ bigness of life,’ as ho- nest George Edwards would say, an adult male. It is too large and thick, but otherwise good. Some communications relative to the distribution of the Corn Bunting in England, published in The Na- turalist, No. XII., for Sept. 1837, prove that it is neither so gener- ally nor so abundantly distributed with us as commonly imagined. Parr XIV.—Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus,—Faucon pé- lerin, Fr.—Sparviere pellegrino, Jt—Wander Falke, G. Although we certainly can have little to find fault with in the figures, repre- senting an adult and a young bird of the natural size, we should not have guessed they were from the pencil of Mr. Lear, but for his name appearing on the plate. They are not hit off with his usual boldness, and the birds look too much like the dull inhabitants of a prison. Otherwise their form and colour are unexceptionable. Mr. Gould is inclined to consider the Peregrine Falcon of Europe and America distinct species, though the point is by no means settled. “In England this beautiful Falcon remains the whole year : it ap- pears to give preference to the bold rocky cliffs that border the sea, in the most inaccessible parts of which it builds its eyrie, generally laying four eggs, of a uniform dark red colour.” The young birds only acquire their adult plumage with the fourth or fifth year, and the remarkable changes they undergo have occasioned the synonyms attached to individuals in different stages. The elegance and rapi- dity of the Peregrine Falcon’s flight is well known, and it feeds on various birds, giving the preference to Ducks, Teal, &c. The male is smaller than the female, and more blue on the upper parts. The young of the year have the upper surface brown, each feather being tipped with a lighter hue. Common Goldwing, Carduelis elegans,—Grosbec chardonneret, Fr.—Distel Zeisig, G. We are certain either that Mr. Gould thinks he has failed in his representations—the figures, of an adult SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 51 and a young bird, being, in fact, misrepresentations—or that he has never studied this beautiful species in its native haunts. The Com- mon Goldwing (or “ Gold Finch”) is limited to Europe, preferring wild mountainous districts in winter. In England it is common about our orchards, gardens, fields, hedge-rows, &c., in spring and summer, but it is not often met with in these localities during the inclement seasons. Its general history is familiar to every bird- fancier. Manks Shearwater, Puffinus Anglorum, Ray,—Pétrel Manks, Fr. The adult male, size of life, is given, with good effect. Selby be- lieves that the diminution in the number of this species wherever man takes up his abode, is to be attributed to the greedy destruc- tion of the eggs and young, which are much sought after for the table. Our author believes that the species is still common on the coast of South Wales. The Manks Shearwater is a truly oceanic species. It breeds in deserted Rabbit-burrows, crevices of rocks, &c., laying one white egg. Food, crustacea, fish, molluses, &c. ‘* Giv- ing a decided preference to the western coasts of our islands, they are tolerably abundant in Ireland and the Western and Orkney Islands. After the breeding season, they retire southwards, even beyond the Mediterranean, where, in consequence of the increased temperature, they find a greater supply of food than they could in more rigorous climates during the winter.” The sexes and young are similar, or nearly so. Common Gallinule, Gallinula chloropus, Lath.,—Gallinule ordi- naire, Fr.—Grunfussiges Rohrhuhn, G. This plate, representing an adult male and a young bird, in their natural haunts, could hardly be surpassed. Few species are more universally distributed, or more abundant everywhere, than the present. It appears to oc- cur in every part of the globe. We may add to our author’s de- scription, that we have several times seen the nest six or seven feet from the ground, in Portugal Laurels and other bushes near the water, or overhanging it. When the young are hatched in these instances, they are probably conveyed to the water in their parents’ bills, a mode of conveyance which we have reason to believe is not uncommon with the species. When with a friend, we once started a large Pike in a shallow ditch. The fish had previously remained quiet several minutes, but the moment it darted off, a Gallinule swam from the same spot. It was a young bird of the year, and was easily caught. Whether or not the Pike had fixed his eyes on the Gallinule did not appear ; but probably neither the fish nor the bird were aware of each other’s presence. 52 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. Yellow-breasted Warbler, Sylvia hippolais,—Becfin a-poitrine- jaune, Fr.—Gelebaiichiger Sanger, G. This is not a British bird, although our common Darklegged Warbler (8. rufa) has often er- roneously received the name hippolais. “ Although we cannot with propriety separate the present bird from the true Willow-wrens, [ Warblers, Sylvia.—Ep. Analyst], still we cannot but be struck with the shorter and stouter contour of its body, and its more robust bill ; it also differs considerably in its habits and mode of nidification ; all those species that inhabit England constructing a singular domed nest, which is always placed on the ground, while the species here illustrated invariably builds on trees, sometimes in the shrubs of the garden, at others in the trees of the forest ; Jaying five eggs, of a reddish white blotted with spots of a darker red. Those who have not had an opportunity of listening to the song of this little tenant of the grove can scarcely form an idea of its power and melody, in which respects it is only equalled by those of the Blackcap and Nightingale.” Dispersed throughout the European continent. The sexes do not differ. Feeds on small insects, caterpillars, &c. The figure, of an adult male, is very good. Andalusian Turnix, Hemipodius tachydromus,—Turnix tachy- drome, Fr. A male and female of this somewhat singular-looking creature are given, of the size of life. ‘‘ Tolerably abundant at Gibraltar and that part of Spain which borders the Mediterranean, being more scarce in the central portions, and in the northern and all similar latitudes altogether absent.” Feeds on insects, seeds, &c. ‘ Temminck states that they are polygamous, and that they give a preference to sterile lands, sandy plains, and the confines of deserts, over which they run with surprising quickness ; also that the young and old do not associate in bevies like the Quail.” The sexes are similar. The members of the genus Hemipodius differ from the Quails in wanting the hind toe, in their much smaller size, and in their long slender bills. We have little practical knowledge of the present species, and will therefore suppose our author's figures to be characteristic until we are certain of the contrary, as reliance may almost invariably be placed both in the plates and letterpress of the Birds of Europe. Robin Redbreast, Rubecula_ familiaris,—Becfin rouge-gorge, Fr. —Rothbrustiger Sanger, G. We are-almost ashamed of saying any- thing respecting either the plumage or habits of Robin in a quar- terly journal of science, and shall therefore merely observe that the three figures—of an adult male and female, and a fully-fledged young bird—are the best we have seen of the species. SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 53 Cinereous Surn, Surnia cinerea,—Chouette Lapone, Fr. We do not, on the whole, particularly admire the plate, which repre- sents an adult male, three-fourths of the size of life. Occurs occa- sionally in Scandinavia, Lapland, and Russia, but is only common and indigenous in some parts of North America. According to Dr. Richardson, “ it keeps within the woods, and does not frequent barren grounds, like the Snowy Owl, nor is it so often met with in broad day-light as the Hawk Owl, but hunts principal- ly when the sun is low; indeed it is only at such times, when the recesses of the woods are deeply shadowed, that the American Hare and the marine animals, on which the present species chiefly preys, come forth to feed.” M. Paikul, a Swede, states that a specimen in his collection measures two feet eight inches, being larger than the female of Bubo maximus. Dr. Richardson discovered a nest ** on the top of a lofty Balsam Poplar, built of sticks and lined with feathers. It contained three young, which were covered with a whitish down.” The sexes differ considerably in size—the female, of course, being much larger than the male—but they are similar in plumage. Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa melanura,—Barge a-queue-noire, Fr.—Pantana pittima, J¢.—Schwarzschwanzige Sumpflaufer, G. The plate represents adults in summer and winter plumage, living size. Distributed throughout Europe, and occurring also in India and Africa. “ In its manners it is elegant and graceful. The flesh of the adult is rather coarse and rancid, but the young of the year are more delicate, and are therefore more in request for the table. A few pairs annually resort to the marshes in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, and to the fens of Lincolnshire; but they are rarely permitted to breed unmolested, their large size and peculiar actions being sure to attract the notice of the sportsman or the egg-gather- er. The eggs are four in number, of an olive green faintly blotched with black, and are deposited on the bare ground, among the herb- age, with little or no nest.”. Feeds on Worms, insects, larve, &c. It runs and flies with ease and rapidity. ‘< The female surpasses the male in size, and frequently in the brilliant colouring of the sum- mer plumage.” The rufous tints of summer wholly disappear in winter, and the young of the year may be known, amongst other distinctions, by the white streak between the bill and the eye. Blue Tit, Parus cwruleus,—Mésange bleue, F’r.—Cinciallegra picola, J4—Blau Meise, G. The plate is good, though perhaps the figure of the male is scarcely so excellent as that of Lewin. Mode of life well known, 54 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. Kittiwake Gull, Larus rissa,—Mouette tridactyle, Fr.—Gabbi- anco terragnala, Jt. An adult and a young bird of the year are represented, natural size. The latter is a fine figure. Occurs on the continent and in Britain, in the latter as a summer bird of pas- sage. The short hind toe, characteristic of this species, has induced Stephens to institute a new genus, under the title of Réssa, in which Mr. Gould is not inclined to follow him. The young birds have been described as L. tridactylus, a specific name which must now fall to the ground. Young birds have the bill black ; in adults it is of a dark olive-colour. The mature dress is acquired at the se- cond autumn. Breeds on the ledges of bold precipitous rocks over- hanging the sea, forming the nest of dried grass and Sea-weed ; its two eggs are olive-white, blotched with dark brown and purplish grey. “ The name Kittiwake is given to this bird from the pe- culiar call during the season of incubation, which the male reite- rates as he wheels round his mate upon the nest, or pursues his way on buoyant wing over the surface of the waves.” Red-breasted Flycatcher, Muscicapa parva,—Gobemouche rouge- Atre, Fr.—Kleiner Fliegenfanger, G. The young bird of the year, in its second plumage, in the plate is remarkably pretty, but we are not acquainted with this rare bird. The adult male bears no small resemblance to our Robin Redbreast, and Mr. Gould observes that « the first plumage of the young birds is spotted as in that species.” Its manner and action are strikingly peculiar, and appear to partake of those appertaining to the species of more than one genus; it re- sembles the Robin not only in the colour of its plumage but in several of its actions*, being sprightly and animated, constantly jerking its tail and depressing its head in the manner our Redbreast is observed to do; it also imitates the Whin Chat in the depressed oscillating movement of the tail: thus it appears to form an intermediate link between the Muscicapide on the one hand, and the Sazicoline on the other. In the comparative length and robust form of its legs, this intermediate station is also further evinced; for though the tarsi have not the strength which we see in the true Sazicoline, still they are more developed than in the genuine Flycatchers. It is a bird of migratory habits, and in Europe its habitat appears to be limited almost exclusively to the eastern portions of the conti- nent. It is tolerably abundant in the neighbourhood of Vienna, * We made the comparison between M. parva and the Robin Redbreast— at the beginning of the above description—previous to perusing Mr. Gould’s account.—Ep, An. ~ SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 55 and is known to breed annually in the woods of that district. From the circumstance of our having seen it in collections from the East Indies, particularly from that portion adjacent to Persia, it is doubt- less widely diffused over the neighbouring regions.” The nest is placed among the interwoven leaves of trees, or the forks of branches. Eggs unknown. Feeds on soft-winged insects, which it takes on the wing, and also, our author opines, on berries. The breast, red in adults, is light yellow in young birds. Spotted Eagle, Aquila nevius,—Aigle criard, Fr.—Schrey Ad- ler, G. A very creditable figure, by Lear, of a bird in the plumage of the second year, three-fourths of the natural size. “It is spar- ingly dispersed through Germany, the Pyrenees, and Russia; and, from the circumstance of individuals having been received from In- dia, we may conclude that those found in Europe are only a scat- tered few, dwelling in the extreme limits of their true habitat. According to Temminck it is common in Africa, ard especially in Egypt ; hence we may infer that its range is throughout the south- eastern portions of the Old World.” Builds in high trees, and lays two light-coloured eggs, thinly blotched with reddish-brown. Feeds on small quadrupeds, and, which is remarkable for an Eagle, on various large insects. In many of its habits it is said closely to resemble the Golden Eagle, but it is much smaller than that bird. The female, as in the other Falconide, is considerably larger than the male, but the sexes are similar in colouring. This species is four or five years acquiring the mature plumage. Young birds are much spotted, but the spots gradually decrease in number and dis. tinctness, and become nearly effaced in adults, whose whole plumage is of a rich glossy brown, the primaries being black. Siberian Corythus, Corythus longicauda,—Bouvreuil a-longue- queue, Fr, The plate contains figures of the male and female, size of life, both excellent, but the former truly admirable. Inhabits the high northern regions of the old continent, especially Siberia, where it is abundant. Migrates in winter to the more southern portions of Russia and Hungary. “In its general economy it resembles the Pine Grosbeak [or Thickbill], and its food is said to consist of wild berries, the buds of trees, &c.” Nidification unascer- tained. The lovely rosy tints of the male are clear olive-colour in the female. It seems probable that a partial change of hue takes place at the autumnal moult, the plumage becoming lighter, and the feathers being bordered with whitish. Daw Crow, Corvus monedula,—Corbeau choucas, Fr.—Cornac- 56 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. chia, Jt—Turm Rabe, G. An adult male and female are figured, natural size, and very beautiful. The female is peering out of the hole of a tree. This bird is distributed throughout Europe, and also in the contiguous portions of Asia and Africa. That the Daw Crow is omnivorous, that it breeds in hollow trees or rocks, and that the sexes are alike in plumage, it is almost unnecessary here to observe. Pine Bunting, Emberiza pithyornus,—Bruant a-couronne-lactée, Fr.