aR "m DEP Pips AA Rua "n THE . ANNALS PHILOSOPHY. NEW SERIES. JULY TO DECEMBER, 1823. VOL. VI. AND TWENTY-SECOND FROM THE COMMENCEMENT. * = London: Printed by C. Baldwin, New Bridge-street ; FOR BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, PATERNOSTER-ROW. ee ie 1823. (TABLE OF CONTENTS. NUMBER I.—JULY. Observations:on Sir W. Congreve's Report on Gas Light Establishments. By M. Ricardo, Esq. ........ ee eee eene nennen nnn Essays on the Construction of Sea Marbouns. By Mr. ed ails nued) .,.. n va 694 C15 99A 6 90040 ED 10.0.0 99 09)0 00 6€ 999.605 6 T On the ; asco P Mines. By M. T Mole; Bst. Oer epa aep o rea On the Transition Formation,of. Sweden. By Dr. Forchhammer........ On the Presence of Muriatic Acid in the Air of the Atmosphere, From several papers by Hermstadt, Vogel, Pfaff, &c............... eee eL. Ae Ls An improved Method of making Coffee, By James Ginithadr Esq. FRS. : On Ultramarine, and the Methods by which its Purity may be ascertained. By R. Phillips, FRS. L. and E. FLS. *"*e€6€6**0»a»e8t9*?9029»249* even es PT On the Geology of Devon and Cornwall. By the Rev. J, J. Conybeare, . MGS. (continued) . AA MARE ce BEW URN So be Vie quecirisequecuosscunaná)oee On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts.. By H. J. Brooke, Esq. FRS. (continued) OCC OF OO OR WO 90900 8$ 9090209 ^re has QRUTAS QU QUASAM. EN V. Astronomical Observations. ` By Col. Beaufoy, WAGE: TT E aanp On the slow Combustion of Tallow, Fixed kinins and Wie. By Mr. C. J. B. Williams...... DEPT YIII TII cere eee rosótesoe Analytical Account of the Transactions-of the Royal Society of Cornwall, Mol. LI. 1899. (concluded)... sonnis 4d AH Leodii Que eq eepp uve ns ka op of Capt, Franklin’s Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822. (concluded) .. Proceedings of the. Royal Societys spi ci. IUe dL e deo ipee ae asas cece Astronomical foit, BSCS ESE ee eniuqeeceevoce oseeo Medico-Botanical Society of London. . 6... .... .... Letter from Mr. Faraday respecting his Historical Sketch of Eléciroinág- DeliSm . «eias eeo puo enos EEE A E ike dose she We twewnkeas ns Diurnal Variation of the Magnetic Needle. . EPE LOAM S Heed woes Frauds and Imperfections in Pisesungbiagus oo dandi diii d do ce ema eoe toco Boiling Spring of Milo. .................... (—— duces te Crystals formed in Solution of Cyanogen ............ ec eee emeret Preparation of Iodide of Poenum: eeeectueoo omae esos tstose sene o sens Butter ....... EN LL LL RL EEL — — À " Carbonate of Magnesia in the Urinary Calculi of Herbivorous Koimala, eee SN UDA ROM o TET TATTTLUEDT ET TET TE EI ET PIE EET CE ET TE TET On the Phosphates of Lead. .. .. "SEA Ure CRao Vréd dX 60s duAA do Foe eau» Page 1 iv CONTENTS, Page Maclureite ..........* Gad 29k i deauésdo»eas E NO indesaspeitaeslac(s 79 Combustion of a Stream of Hydrogen Gas under Waser, cane ae tbles ls 29 Fusion and Volatilization of Charcoal. .............ccecccccecccece dede 79 Alteration of the freezing Point of Thermometers by being long kept .... 74 Becrement of tha DUM. 06.555 oar roro qupbén caddie a eua da vau MM MA 6 Heliotrope sess RII de eee ep lebe pocopsoscegserotoesospesecsoececee 27D Carbonate of Magnesia and Iron............ eee ee eee Coke Absence of Carbonie Acid in the ‘Alssosphere over the Sea Shikuar ten VO Hydriodide of Carbot. . e.a ce 20-22 2 0oÀ ox oie eUxsV esse oves cink dens 96 New Scientific Books sisse pe eo oae vos ie Pu uo des ph duse essesi asa TU New Patents...2. 0.2202» 9v99990»* Vb esI ZERMRBLEU e ooo tuo» EPPP E y, Mr, Howard's Meteorological Journal, .,.,..,,..sscsesceerereveseseees 79 NUMBER IL—AUGUST. New Experiments on Sound, By Mr. C. Wheatstone iii 81 On Granite | Veins, (With a Plate). Lasa OS CUNEIE. PLURA 90 Heights. By Baden. Powell, MA.... es dotar e ev p eae. QD Register of Rain, kept at Bombay, By B. Noton; Esq. ............. ac m Account of some Experiments with the Prism. By S. L. Kent, Esq.... 415 On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. By H. J. Brooke, - FRS. and FLS. (continued)... ssis. PRETI 6200294 29, 093 2. 21 117 Constitution and Mode of Action of Volcanoes. . ja A. Von Humboldt 121 On Napthaline. By Mr. F. C. Chamberlain. 4a sis SEU V1 135 Astronomical Observations. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS.. ecev o és ib osos vo os USS Analytical Account of Dr. Henry’ s Elements of Chemistry.............. 138 - of Mr. Brooke’s Familiar Introduction of Cryo graphy... ee... — ——— —— Er e ESO Proceedings of ihe inama Genil 1a se isse urs queis es ior Rr esu ge. 151 Geological Society .. ... ... .. (o seus er TE Ve VER Dues E 256 Dr. Wollaston’s Method of detecting Magnesia on the ial leit Scale . i12 105 Phosphate of Uranium .......... essesassoeseceotessesoseceeceyesssses 156 On the Use of the Electrical Feet of the Torpedo AE TE E E A 1500 New Scientific Books . « Ve sd. d 95 c gems calli Quo. pons va Vd p YET RERENOR ON. 187 New Pahis. .. 0.20 54de bad ho SEA RR cp MN Me XXDITIIPTER 158 M? Howard's Moioslogéal Journal, AAE I e 159 NUMBER III.—SEPTEMBER. Instructions for tlié Application of the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. By Baden Powell, MA. (continued) «eco dri be KEI ER PTET 161 List of Substaricés arranged according to their Thermoelectric Relations. By the Rev. J. Cumming, MA. FRS. and Professor of Chemistry in the University of Cambridge. . ve V eee sies 302 uel acvevesseseseses 177 ; CONTENTS. v Page On the Classification of Poisons . ne isis eo oia ba dadia lem E CARE Analysis of James's Powder. By R. Phillips, FRS. L. add E. musi LOZ - List of the Plants found in the Neighbourhood of St. Petersburgh. By UCM eC FE B. LOURES daags ses A ERG signs n seeps 101 On the Existence of Chrome in thé Ore of Platina. ............ ees 198 Astronomical Observations. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS, .......... esee. . 199 Essays on the Construction of Sea Harbours. By Mr. J.B. Umen (concluded) ©... eee enhn tht heh hhhh nne nn 199 On the Velocity of Sound at Madras. By J. Goldingham; Esq. FRS. ... 201 On newly discovered Animal Acids. By M. Chevreul ................ . 209 On the Obstruction of the Blood in the Lungs. By David Williams, MD. 211 Memoir illustrative of a general Geological Map of the principal Mountain Chains of Europe. By the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, FRS. (continued) 214 - Analytical Account of the Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part I. .. 219 Proceedings of the Geological Society...... seica safes (etna ot esé soos, 228 Composition of Morphia. .......... ip sio pe eee e ipeo co esee eoo ids e. 229 Corrections for Moisture in Gases ............. 00008 BE UE ATIC s 229 Crystallized Steatite .......... e. eee eese rre TOPPED Earthquake and Volcanic — gesimo ecd Pt aA 231 Glassy Actynolite,........e eec eene cascveme eO 231 Discovery of Mineral Caoutchouc in New England, United States...... 231 „On an Improvement in the Apparatus for procuring Potassium . coe 232 Dr. Boué on the Newer Deposits of the Alps ................. a ge ees an 234 New Scientific Books......... esee ORCI ANT SETS ZR] aA same YDER MOON TOM PEINE e. iosep Aaaa atre rr aoa PER CAT Sho d gehen Viv Seles ANT LT Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal for January. .................. .. 939 ; ——R—— $ NUMBER IV.—OCTOBER. Some Account of a scarce and curious Alchemical Work, by M. Maier. By the Revi J. J Conybeure, MGR LEER u eh ea cans 241 On the Changes in the Declinations of some of the principal fixed Stars. By J. Pond, Esq. Astronomer Royal, FRS........... do VLA Vane vee 247 Appendix to the preceding Paper, By J. Pond, Esq. Astron. Royal .... 250 Discovery of Chloride of Potassiuni in the Earth. By J. Smithson, Esq. 258 Astronomical Observations. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS................. 4. 259 Instructions for the Application of the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights.. By Baden Powell, MA. (continued) .... .. ....... ke eire ése, 259 On the Voleanic Island of Milo. By Sir F. S. Darwin. (With a Plate.) 274 An Examination of the Blood. By Dr. Prevost and M. Dumas ........ 276 On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. By H. J. Brooke, Esq. FRS. (continued) ....... eoe vie cedi dtaqesdo ooosonepesAh E, 284 . Description of the Galvanoscope. By the Rev. J. Cumming, MA. FRS. (obi Nu EITT IVE Aakash «dédiée er d. QVO 4a da V dia t p RN 288 Remarks on M. Longchamp's Memoir on the Uncertainty of Chemical Analysis. ‘By R. Pbillips, FRS. L.and.E. 1/525. Si aaa save 289 Analytical Account of the Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV. Part I...... 292 vi CONTENTS. Page Analytical Account of the Philosophical ‘Transactions, for 1823, Part I. (concluded) ....... eee deeem tte tmn dnes slasi e OOF Medical and Scientific Instruction at Guy's and St. Thomas’s Hospitals. ; 309 Change in-the Freezing Point of Fheith. oc eux ons anc ami hod ond . 309 On the Temperature ei^ Ro dns a dia cR ia a apne STATS ^». 340 ‘On the Fusion of Charcoal, Graphite, Anthracite, and the Diamond. ,.... 311 Calculus:of Cystic Oxide from a Dog.. ........... eee eese. enne. 916 Inflammation of Gunpowder by the Heat of decking Lime. . wee 216 Cleayage of Metallic Titanium. ......... $21 ur ddi A pA N athesbace, GAT Formation of a. PATE DS pnm] ieee Sane vitii aana speak 247 New Scientific Books.. E di New Pusntéc. 5/5201: 270 ae Pe nee cde vi o th QR V Kae axon wet an RN Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal .... ........ iena tese sese coóoeses 319 ER On some Anomalous Appearances occurring in the Thermoelectric: Series. By the Rev. J. Cumming, MA. FRS,........ Pp pP bl irr ae 'On the Identity of certain general Laws which regulate the natural Distri- bution of Insects and Fungi. By W.S. Macleay, Esq. MA: FLS.... 394 On the Composition and Equivalent Numbers of certain crystallized Mu- - rates. By R. Phillips, FRS. L. and E.. POSADE PU S 20117077. OOO On tlie Deluge. By Prof. Henslow. .. ... — — CP e ^ On the Generation of the Opossum. By Prof: Titino NAVES S8 Astronomical Observations. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS.......... TEPPA weve 354 Appendix to the Abstract of M. Ramond’s fastra for Baromefrical Measurements. By Baden Powell, MA.. DIU pyet erap Sexes ene 855 On Titanium. y By M..Rose..;... 2. Lee ede eere en cemeaccess DUO On the Crystalline Forms of. nem Salts. By H. J. Brooke, Esq. FRS. | (continued). ........ Pm RPE PIUMIED eese oo esta eo epo . 374 On the Combination of Elastic F laid By MM. Dulong and Thenard. 376 On some newly discovered Islands in the Arctic Sea. By Capt. Duncan. 379 Analytical Account of the Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV. Part 1. (con- cluded) Foo os es sc cure AERE quulugu S PR RM. quiiE de ee ose. ane po 381 Proceedings of the Masouilagied Society of. Laid 6531 d eesreeooce — Medico- Botanical Society of London. ........ ..... 394 Return of the North-west Esgedition: Voci do v PAPE lores vetopo s... 394 Solar Light and Heat ,.... bito des 1 o 3*5 e 4i. Abell erir rerea 394 ‘On Cleavelaudite .. .. .. .. p exile EEN diis AAT, c1 COP PEPPER 394 Zharge of Musket Balls in Shrapnell Shells .. .. «84 1355 dee 0 "Pepe Py 395 Action of Gunpowder on Lead. ............. 44 da eos ENIriae soe in ase 296 Purple Tint of Plate Glass affected by Light. ...... PY TOO dee peut 396 "Test OF Platina. , «o rares ole cibi db GV dd ed ET epa ida scar sree ne 007 Westbury Altitude and Azimuth Iüsthusnonk (02,4. 52... cess cos tees, ADT Correctuess of Greenwich Observations. ...... HTS Bec dd d y inei PA «s. JE CONTENTS. yit Page New Scientific Books. ........ ... Lee. abs esae ies «ee Oe Kiesler V . 398 Nes Peenob 2511s Seo eva Fes eu els eco PEU WU qe petet e sene iare n 398 Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal ..........00s200ee ees NEC 399 — 2 — .. NUMBER VI.—DECEMBER. On Gas Illumination. By T. Dewey, Bsq.............. eere 401: History of the Use of Brass and Iron. By the Rev. J. Hodgson........ 407 Method of fixing Particles on the Sappare. By James Smithson, Esq. | OOERBS.....2.-- UNA exo co sun Gav de V) qe NN (qua Tunt ONO 8 eh rH RAN aee 412 On the Ratio of Expansion of Gases. By Mr. M. THRE 6.5. sone nian sa 1 E- On Mr. Macleay’s Doctrine of Affinity and Analogy. By ‘ih Rev. W. Kirby, MA. FRS. and LS. ...... .. AES EARS. Qd ws dopo E RA 417 Some Account of a scarce and curious Alchemical. Work, by M. Maier. By the Rev. J. J. Conybeare, MGS. (concluded) . .. ... diea ad A es 426: Astronomical Observations. By Col. Beaufoy, ERS. ............. dey. 435° Ou Thermomagnetic Rotation.. By Prof. Cumming, MA.:....... KA oo 436- On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. By H. J. Brooke, Esq. FRS. (continued) v0 (60 osc acs ded se pad nme Sarana vidue vie dass Ey Analysis ef Sulphate of Nickel. By R. Phillips, FRS; L. and E. Bee . 430 On the Temperature of Mines. . in soli “ah oi Sie n o opie +» 446 Occurrence of Cleavelandite in fric rita Bothe By W. don DES QE D A E SS cile ves Cone + Coral sinis vidt ON AEN ETE S E A 41% On some Thermomagnetic iirin By Dr. T.S; Traill; bos. NA . gag Analytical Account of Mr. Daniell's Meteorological Eme «64» sia i 3 452 of Mr. Gray's Elements of Pharmacy. . sedii 450p On the Ignition of Platina, &c. by Hydrogen Ga issues adel idees dU uae . 468 On the Ignition of Platina by Hydrogen Gas. By Mr. Garden.......... 466: On the Fusion of Charcoal, Graphite, Anthraeite, and the Diamond (con- ONDE A bes «cbr dnd Rai oi ve éd eni sess €6ovec so 4OB- New Scientific Books NM ia D E XI E397 AA. DISK UV EPA 3o tls 472" New Patents....... Ask «sien the QUA KDE SVO RW REIS S a Cour culla dioe MR. Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal. . vis Ku Ee MAREM eque, MTM SUL BEC odo avideo i eM TIA Vr wae ; : li Sd a MU Vau S c TA awe ee 425: E PLATES IN VOL. VI. (New Series.) im Plates. Page XXL —Granite Veins. ...... aS HOS ate aes yh. IN $9240 3412 321 614 se 91 AXIL S Volcanic Island of Milo ............. eere er eros 274 XXILI.—Description of the Galvanoscope .. .........Leiuuuue ERES 288: ERRATA. —RÓÁÀ is 82, line 22, for sibósis; read VN 84, 4, for parallelopedal, read parallopiped. ` 85, 29, for quantity, read quality, ` 88, . 5,for parallelium, read parallelism. — 27, for harp-unisons, read harp, unisons. 89, T, for repulsing, read repelling. — - 90, 24, for place, read plane. - 95, 6, for Baden Bowell, MA. read Baden Powell, MA. 215, . 14, from bottom, for 100 feet, read 1000 feet, 918, - 14, for Dex, read Dax. | 932, . 15, for New England, read Connecticut. 299, 10, for alternatis, read alternis. 311, 6, for mean of result, read mean of his result. — . . 94, for potash, read alkali, ae The notice respecting the Correctness of the Greenwich Observa- tions inserted in p. 397, and. signed X. should have had the signa- ture of ** James South, Blackman-street.” ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY. — JULY, 1823. ARTICLE I. Observations on Sir W. orig the Report on Gas Light Esta- blishments. By M. Ricardo, Esq. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, | Brighton, May 18, 1823. I nave been favoured with a copy of the Report of the Royal Society, and two additional Reports of Sir W. Congreve to the Secretary of State of the Home Department, which were laid before the House of Commons, and ordered to be printed, and on which I beg to offer some few observations through the medium of your journal. The first Report, which was signed by some of the leading members of the Society, was made nine years ago (1814), in consequence of an inquiry being instituted to ascer- tain the probable danger of gas light establishments; the second and third Reports by Sir W. Congreve were delivered in Jan. 1822 and 1823. This gentleman has not confined himself to noticing the dangers which are likely to arise from the diffusion of this mode of lighting, and pointing out what he thinks are the best methods of avoiding them; but he has also entered somewhat fully into the nature and management of the various . companies, and has thrown out some hints for legislative enact- ments to regulate their future conduct, of which I shall take some notice hereafter. Sir W. Congreve has enriched the Report with some tables of the proceedings of the three principal Companies :—the three stations of the Chartered Company, the City of London Coma New Series, vor, vy. B je Y | | 2 Mr. Ricardo on Sir W. Congreve's Report [Juty, any, and the South London Company. When I first saw these, expected to derive some valuable information from them, which would enable me to come to more correct conclusions in my inquiries relative to the comparison between oil and coal gas, but I have been sadly disappointed. A slight examination soon ao to me that the statements which they contain could not e at all depended on, and I was, therefore, led to enter into a more minute analysis of them. I endeavoured, if possible, to account for the very different results which bra in the dif- ferent Companies, int with very little satisfaction, as I cannot come to any conclusions that can be relied on. . Although this is a subject which I fear will not afford much entertainment to your readers, nor-do I think that the private transactions of Companies are fit subjects for public investigation, yet I am induced to send you the result of my inquiries in as concise a form as we bra and chiefly: so,.as Sir W. Congreve has founded his y ns on these statements, and no doubt relying on their correctness, has thought it necessary to recommend legislative enactments upon them. In imitation of Sir W. Congreve's plan, I have also annexed a table of the proceedings. of the different Companies, part of which is borrowed from his, and the remainder, the results of my own calculations.. In the progress of my examination, the » observations so accumulated upon me, that I was anxious to devise some mode for putting themin a concise but yetintelligible form, and.I saw no better method by which it could be effected than the one I have adopted. Here the whole management of the different works, together with the very different results, . may be seen at one view, and any of your readers who, like myself, may be interested in the subject, will be able to form their own judgment as to the probable correctness of the state- ments. | ! "The information which I was chiefly desirous of obtaining, was the quantity of gas that was consumed by a given number of lights, the quantity that was wasted or lost, the capital that is employed, the cost in labour, wear and tear, and management, the profit, &c. but these will be found. to vary so much that it will bi impossible to come to any correct conclusion, - With regard. to the ipa of gas consumed. by the dif- ferent Companies, the mode by which that is estimated in the tables in the Report is so obviously incorrect, that I have adopted another method in order to ascertain it, which, though liable to error, is certainly a nearer approximation than. the other. - The lights in the Report are divided into two sorts, pri- vate lights pail public lights; the private lights are stated to burn upon an average throughout the year; thatis, for 313 days, excluding Sundays, one with another, four hours per night, con- suming, by one Company, 4} cubic feet; another 64, and an- other 6 feet per hour: the public lights are stated to burn nine hours per night for 365 nights, consuming the same quantity of 1823.T ^on Gas Light Establishments. =.. 3 gas per hour: now among the public lights are estimated what I have termed occasional lights, such as are used at the theatres, public bodies, churches, meeting houses, &c. which, upon an average, consume a much smaller quantity of gas than the pri- vate lights, instead of equalling the public. In the Westminster station, the number of these occasional lights is stated, the pri- vate lights being 10,660, the public or street ditto 2,248, and the occasional 3,894.: in the other stations, the number of public bodies is given without stating the number of lights. I have, therefore, assumed they are only one half; the whole number, therefore, in the Chartered Company is 21,886 private, 3,452 publie, and 5,097 occasional lights, for which a rental is paid of 125,9777. According to the rate of charges, a gas light burn- ing from sunset till nine o'clock; pays 4/. per annum. I have estimated in a former paper that this upon an average burns for 20 hours per week, the estimate in the report is four hours per night, or 24 hours per week. This extra allowance will account for those lights which extend beyond nine o'clock, and for which an extra charge is made. The nearest approximation then to an - average charge would be for each private light, 4/. 4s. The average consumption of each burner where experiments have been tried has always been stated to be 5 feet per hour, and it - is upon this quantity and price I have founded my calculation. A private light burning four hours, 5 feet per hour, consumes 20 feet per night, which, multiplied by 313, the number of days, amount to 6,260, which again multiplied by 21,886, the number of lights, will give the whole quantity consumed by the private at 137,006,360 feet, and at 4/. 4s. per light, the rental of these will amount to 91,921.. or about 13s. 6d. per 1000 feet. | The publie or street lights are I understand usually charged at 5l. 5s. each ; they are estimated to burn the same quantity as the private lights, and the average time of burning per night throughout the year is nearer ten than nine hours, the nightly consumption of each light then will average 50 feet for 365 nights, . and the annual 18,250, which, multiplied by 3,552, the number of street lights, give 64,824,000. At 5/. 5s. per light, the rental ofthe publie lights will amount to 17,981, or about 5s. 9d. per 1000 feet. asian The rental then for the private and public lights will amount to 109,902/. which, deducted from the whole rental 125,9771. leaves for occasional lights 16,075/. We may consider that the charge for these lights will be at the same rate as the private lights, or 13s. 6d. per 1000 feet, which would give a consump- tion for the above-named sum, of 23,814,000 feet. By this mode of caleulating, the whole consumption of gas will amount to 225,644,560, leaving a deficiency for waste of 22,499,640, or nearly 10 per cent. Ihave by the same method estimated the consumption ‘of the City of London Company, and the South London Company. | B2 [Jurv, "suonvqnopeo uuo Aut wozy atv s1oto am f wodey ayy ur se[qv» ar wozy pardos are *(,) sutp paxareux suumpoo soq, Mr. Ricardo on Sir W, Congreve's Report *sa1uQs uo ummueig,.| - — — — “quad 19d gg *yuoo aad og ued 13d gg ; *uo1p[eqo qoea uo 3go1q — — — PIL SS g7} “PE 8S IF|- T9 '56l IX *o0g 5192) pue 192A *juotraSeuvur “Inoqey — -— — ‘PIL ‘SL e3| ‘PG “SLT OZ| "P6 “Sal OF +9400 Jo ates Suyonpep ‘SLO Jo uo1ppeqo v Jo 180.) — -— — "PO '$001 13| ‘PO ‘SOT 1| "PO “SOL IF *uoip[peqp qova uo [e3ue3] — — -— ‘POL ‘SI 9F| — “PO “SOL EF) PE FF "yoiq _— — — 00f ors ore O1F ooz LF ‘29 uw Seueur £129; pue IWIM ‘MOQLI e — — 090f6t 3 688 LF c0S'65* "9x09 Jo oes Surjonpop *s[00 Jo 4809, — — -— Li0 182 096/615 ogr sF Teu. — -— — LL6'G615 688'0€3* £96'F135* *s[@oo Jo uoip[eup qovo uo pendeg — — — 863 SOL PIF) “SL OF ‘Tendes uo puopiauT. — — imi "quad red g ‘quad rod j, 3u29 aod $) “popuedxa onde. — — om 000*0865* CE ESTEE À 000'963* *se8 jo Ajmuenb snurpy| 906'819*€ = oe A eee — Xm. *sv JO 3458 M y = 060°F6'SS ooress’L \obo‘66r‘as 06* 668‘ LF 066'LFT/CI *sjugrp peuorsvooo 107 se2 jo Á3nuvn()| 001*68c*6 006"*C£9*9 0cS*ego'G |000'f18'6G 000*€81'e QUON *syu$i orqnd 104 poumsuoo sv2 yo Ajuen()| 000*920' 1 Q€e'6F0*gt OcL'spl'€ looo'Fos'r9 0€1'001*66 000'cz*6 ‘syr avand 104 poumsuos sed jo Auen) | 00916269 091/11 1^9p 009g901*& 1l09$*900(181 |091'996'6€ 088‘L10‘6L aput aod sui qeuorseao Jo 12qumN|| Ep9 g fal OF te " P ‘spu sad sjqzi orqud jo 3oQunN| Lg ca $a $16 ré Ft sopat sad sjygzi o3eAnid jo 3oqunN| BLI PSI FGI ZLI 801 los *ureur JO SIU jo i2qumN[&| 69 OF Có Cel oS cg *sSjqfi peuorsvooo jo i2qunN|4| 68E 686 GIS L609 elu 00G " e oyqnd jo 12 qumN «| 8566 686 giS secs aIFl 00€ ‘48:1 eaud jo 39qumN «| 099'0I 998 0988 988'16 ESPO 8EGE *1:5Á aq} ur apeut $v3jo Aypuend! 000'$8& ITE | 000'081'96 o00fotofo& looofePi spe - looo*toso'oot 1000'089'6F *Áep ouo ut poonpoad seĝ jo Ájnuvub ysaywoin,| EPL ZEP 000 LET 000*091 &10*8&0*I 81'09€ ZZS“ LI "4334 UT $1232010892 pre jo Ájwdv)) a| C8E60E IEL LBO ZILOL. S£9'1c9 283181 lcuovert "aun JUO ye ISN urioquinuj$939231) &| 166 Hs c 08 81€ - 13 88 *osn ur 840731 JO ioquinu 929€124Y,| EGI SEI cg IPS 011 09 *posn s[v09 jo SUOIPTEYI jo IIQUMN 4| 6866 0908 _ 9£$8 919*06 0F88 0f98 ‘UOS *uonejg 'uonejg à insumunsaA, | ouwgp pug | prog ummo | qub | sued "£uvduo;) ‘hued -Aued *Áuvd wor) pera} uopuor jo Áno | uopuoT qynog *U107) papey *Ul07) papey 7U107) parye > 1823] ©» on Gas Light Establishments. : 5 My first observations will be directed to the quantity of gas produced and consumed, and here we not only observe a very considerable variation in each Company, but also a very marked difference in the different stations of the same Company. At the Westminster station, it will be found the whole consumption of gas for all lights by my mode of calculating leaves a minus quantity of 5,612,900, which would be considerably more if esti- mated, as they have done all, as public lights. At the Brick Lane station, the overplus or waste is above 21 per cent. ; and in the Curtain Road, nearly 20 per cent. At the City of London Road Works, the waste will be found to be nearly 46 per cent. and at the South London 38 per cent. It will be impossible to account for the extraordinary difference which exists in these statements, but by supposing there must be some error: but the most surprising discrepancy is in the Westminster. The pro- portion is so different from either of the others, I should be very strongly inclined to think that the quantity of gas produced from a given quantity of coal varied. very materially, although it is stated that at each station one chaldron of coals produces 12,000 feet of gas. Unless they have an accurate gas-meter through which all their gas enters as it is made, previous to its passing into the gasometers, I know not by what means they can possi- bly ascertain what quantity of gas is made, as at times, particu- larly in the long nights, they must be producing and delivering at the same time; to assume that, because a chaldron of coals has upon one or two trials produced 12,000 feet of gas, it must always produce the same quantity, is certainly a very imperfect datum to calculate upon. At the City of London Works, where it is stated the greatest waste takes place, there are strong grounds for presuming that they over-calculate the quan- tity of gas produced. By the tables in the Report, a chal- dron of coals is stated in all the Companies to yield the same quantity of gas and the same quantity of coke. The Chartered and South London give in addition 10 gallons of tar and 11 gal- lons of ammoniacal liquor, as it is there termed, while the City of London Works produce 16 gallons of the former, and 18 gal- lons of the latter. Now it is not very probable that a chaldron of coals in their hands should obtain an excess of 13 gallons of two products without any diminution of the others. The more likely supposition is, that if there be this excess in these, there must be a corresponding deficiency in the other; it is on this ac- count that I have made my calculations upon the quantity of coals used, and not upon the quantity of gas produced. In the one caseitis most probable they are correct; while, in theother, their accuracy is more than doubtful. In examining the tables, we are struck with the very great advantages which the Chartered Com- Pray porsonses over the other two. As weare oftentimes puzzled y the exhibition of a large number of figures, and do not readily see the exact proportions, I have reduced the scale to one 6 Mr, Ricardo on Sir W. Cohgreve's Report — (JUtv, chaldron; so that your readers may be better able to form a judgment of the differences. In the Chartered Company, the whole rental is 125,977/.; the number of chaldrons of coals car- bonised 20,678, giving a rental upon each chaldron of 6/. 1s. 10d. In the City of London Company, the whole rental is 30,8397. the number of chaldrons of coals used 8,840, yielding a rental upon each chaldron of 37. 10s, | ‘ In the South London, the rental is 14,9637. ; the quantity of coals 3,640 chaldrons, producing a rental on each of 4/. 2s. 3d. The cost of each chaldron of coal after deducting the profit on the coke, I reckon to be about 30s. The tar and ammonia ma be considered an equivalent for the expence of lime. This wi be the same with each Company. | | — The profit I calculate by the dividend which is paid on the capital advanced ; in the Chartered Company the capital expended is 580,000/. ; 8 per cent. on that, which is the amount of divi- dend, is 46,4004.: this is their profit. In the City of London Company, the dividend is 7 per cent. which, on a capital of 131,250/. gives for profit 10,2404 DLEE ^ In the South London Company, a dividend of 74} per cent. on 96,000/. gives 7,2007. | The cost of coals and the profit being deducted from the whole rental leave the remainder for expences of management, wear and tear, labour, and contingencies, In the Chartered Company, the rental upon each chaldron of coals which is 67. 1s. 10d. will be thus divided : cost of coals, 17. 10s. ; labour, manage- ment, &c. 2/. 7s. 11d. ; profit, 2/. 3s. 11d. | In the City of London Company, the rental upon each chal- dron of coals, which is 3/. 10s. will be thus divided: cost of coals, 1/. 10s.; labour, management, &c. 17s. 9d.; profit, 1. 25. 3d. ? In the South London Company, the rental upon each chaldron of coals, which is 4/. 2s. 3d. will be thus divided: coals, 17. 10s.; labour, &c. 12s. 9d. ; profit, 17. 19s. 6d. | In the Chartered Company, the proportion of capital employed on each chaldron is 287. | In the City of London Company only 14/. 16s. ; and in the South London, 26/. 7s. "in | | It must excite very considerable surprise to those at all con- versant with Gas Companies, that such a very great disparity should exist in the statements given by these dues Companies ; first, in the great difference in the quantities of gas produced, and the equally great difference in the waste ; next, in the vast disproportion of expence in management, that of the Chartered Company, with all the great advantages it possesses, being more than three times as much in proportion to the City of London Company, and nearly four times that of the South London. Again, though it has such a much larger proportion of lights upon the length of main ; though it employs a much less number 1893] — ^on Gas Light Establishments... - 7 of retorts for the number of lights, which may be seen by a refer ence to the table, yet it is stated to employ nearly double the capital to the quantity.of coals decomposed in comparison with the City of London Company, and only a very little more than the South London; and notwithstanding all which the amount of dividend varies but very little; and the ‘premiums on the shares are neatly the same in all. °° PA RAM Without any design, the managers of a Company may often times be mistaken in estimating their profits, more particularly when their funds exceed the capital employed, as many expences are charged to sunk capital which more particularly belong to wear and tear, &c. ; for it is difficult to conceive that a gas esta- blishment, like that of the City of London, with the wear and tear of 170 retorts, the average number in ise—with the labour necessary . for’ working them—with the other expences. in management—of clerks—superintendants—inspectors—collec- tors—directors, for, I believe, there are no gratuitous services— law expences, &c. &c. should not expend above 7,839/.; and it is still more difficult to believe that the South London could effect all this for 2,302/.; while the Chartered Company is expending 49,060/. Yet it is upon such documents as these that Sir W. Congreve proposes to found his restrictive enact- ments ; to regulate the price at which gas ought to be charged; ‘and to do away with competition. For some years past, the most enlightened part of our legislature have been using their strenuous endeavours to do away with the evils that have arisen from ‘over legislation ; and here Sir W. C; wishes to submit the Gas Companies to an infliction of all those evils ; but, we trust, that Parliament at this present day is too well informed to attend to such suggestions.’ He proposes that no competition should be allowed, and that the mains of each Company should be restricted to particular districts, that one may not interfere with the other; and to prevent any evil resulting from such a proce- dure, he further suggests that the price of gas furnished by the "Companies should be fixed independent of their controul; that liable to all contingencies of increased expenditure, they of course are not to be allowed to make an increased charge ; that is to be left to some other direction. And how would the pub- lic be benefitted by this? They may be secured against an increase of price by legislative enactment instead of. competi- tion, but what security have they against a deteriorated article ? against a scanty supply? a diminished time of burning? or à slovenly and careless mode of supplying it? for gas may be adulterated, and its illuminating powers diminished by various methods ; the pressure on the gasometer may be diminished, the mains may be supplied for aless number of hours, and less care may be taken in the purification of the coal gas. The Company is secure from competition, and it may remunerate itself by such means for the restriction it lies under. The reason which Sir W, 8 Mr. Ricardo on Sir W.Congreve’s Report — (Jurv, Congreve assigns for doing away with competition is, because in certain districts, the mains of different Companies now cross each other, and when there is a leakage, the parties are unwil- ling to be the first to open the ground, each being desirous of throwing the trouble and expence upon the other; but is this likely to be the ease? Would the manager of a Company whose business it is to watch over its interests, knowing that a valuable article was escaping which might be at the expence of his Com- pany, hesitate a single moment ascertaining the fact, and that merely because it might be the loss of some rival establishment ? I can only say if the manager of a Company over which I had any controul acted thus, he would not continue to fill that situation long. It is the interest of every Company that there should be no waste, and that interest will make them careful that there is no annoyance from leakage. Sir W. Congreve ~ throws out a hint whether it may not be advisable to place Gas Companies under some licence, but would this measure be attended with any good result? Let the public be secured by such legislative enactments as Parliament may think fit against any possible danger that may arise, but do not let the Companies be fettered by licences, visitations, and other vexa- lious restrictions, which can answer no good end whatever, and will only tend to drive from the superintendence men of talent and respectability. If it be deemed advisable that an inspector be appointed to ascertain that the public are incurring no risks, let his powers be strictly defined ; let him have no controul over the management, or any thing in which the safety of the public is not concerned ; if he observes that they are risking that, let him remonstrate, and if not attended to, let him report to the higher powers, who will compel attention; that is all which the public ave a right to expect from Gas Companies more than from any other institution, Sir W. Congreve has given the result of some very interesting Lai cg on the explosive force of coal gas mixed with atmo- spheric air compared with gunpowder ; surely he will not draw a comparison between the danger arising from the two. It is not enough to consider because 39,000 cubic feet of carburetted hydrogen mixed with four times its quantity of common air will explode with the same force as 135 barrels of gunpowder, that, therefore, the vicinity of one is as dangerous as the other : we are also to consider by what means their danger is called -into action. Gunpowder is already in its explosive state, and a spark dropped among a few loose grains scattered about where there are several barrels filled with it, would most probably explode the whole ; but what a combination of circumstances must exist to produce the same effect with a gasometer filled with carbu- retted hydrogen. In that state it is perfectly harmless ; a candle may be taken into a gasometer-house with impunity, and no . one would dream of any danger arising from it. If there should 1893] =..." on.Gas Light Establishments, =r ^9 be an escape, and a candle allowed to approach it, the gas would ignite, and burn like a gas light, and would be as readily extinguished, Long before an escape of gas would become of such magnitude as to be dangerous from its admixture with atmospheric air, the smell would have giyen such ample warn- ing, that some method would be adopted for preventing its con- .tinuance. Ifa gasometer were to turn on one side, there would be but a partial escape, aud even if it took place in a building in the vicinity of the Retort House, from the levaty of the gas, it would have a tendency to make its way through the upper part „ofthe building, and would be hardly disengaged in such quanti- ties as to form an explosive mixture that could reach the retorts. If a gasometer were to burst, still the escape would be gradual, and there must be a combination of extraordinary circumstances in this as in the former instance, before explosion could take place: neither would lightning have any effect on a full gasome- ter.- L can conceive that if a gasometer filled with a certain portion of carburetted hydrogen and air so as to form an explo- sive mixture, were suddenly to burst in the vicinity of fire, that explosion would take place; but I find it very difficult indeed to conceive, how even a very large escape. of unmixed carburetted hydrogen should become of such magnitude, and remain so con- fined, as to render all the. air in the gasometer-house, in the retort-house, &c. buildings of no very limited extent, explosive, to me it appears almost impossible. Sir W. Congreve also con- templates an escape in an unfrequented building, such as a church, or meeting-house, &c. which may become dangerous. ‘This has been so ably and so amply considered by Mr. Brande, some few years ago, that it is quite unnecessary for me to say any thing open that subject: he expresses too some apprehen- sions from the breaking of the chain of the gasometer, which, by enlarging the flame of each lamp, might occasion fire. I should be inclined to think that the sudden increase of pressure would rather tend to extinguish the lights: at all events, the increase of flame would sufficiently inform persons of their danger, which might be readily removed by the turning of a cock. lt is a matter of surprise to me, and no doubt is so to many others, that a gentleman who is identified with explosions, whose name, as the inventor of one of the most powerful explosive engines, is known all over the world ; who is more familiarised with that subject, and who has had more to do with it than any other person, should express what to me appears so many ground- less fears on the present occasion. It would be wrong for the encouragement of any improvement in science, however great, to shut our eyes to the dangers of it; but it is, I think, still more impolitic to excite useless alarm, and apprehend evils that . donot exist. Excepting the accident at Woolwich, with the par- tieulars of which 1 am wholly unacquainted, all the accidents which I have ever heard of have been trivial, and. have arisen 10 Mr. Ricardo on Sir W. Congreve's Report Jury, froni gas escaping in close confined places, under shop counters, in vaults, dry wells, and places of that description, where the explosion has been but trifling, and little mischief done. Indeed if the danger be at all adequate to what Sir W. Congreve has deéseribed, it is a matter of inconceivable surprise that so very few accidents should have occurred. It appears to me that more mischief is to bé apprehended from the bursting of those tanks which stand out of the ground, and indeed when they were filled with coal tar, the most dreadful consequences would have ensued from their givin way: the latter risk is, however, ‘happily removed. Sir W. Congreve’s recommendations con- ‘cerning the size of the gasometers, the limiting the number in à particular space, the constructing them in the open air, may be the very acme of prudence, but I should very much doubt their necessity, and I am very sure of the very great inconvenience and additional useless expence which their adoption would occa- sion. It might bea i s prudent and effectual precaution for a erson never to go on the water to secure himself from drown- ing ; but there aré few, I believe, who would not laugh at him for v À it: | | ; Sir W. Congreve gives a short account of the Oil Gas Works at Oldford, and speaks favourably of the adoption of oil for the bee of gas lights. I was not aware that Sir W. Congreve ad paid an official visit to those Works. Had I continued in the neighbourhood; [ should have been most happy to have ^tténded him on the occasion, and have afforded him every information he might have required. I think it necessary to make one or two corrections of the statement given in the Report. The capital advanced is 8000/7. instead of 6000/. This ‘of course includes every expenditure, law expences for obtaining the Act, meters, &c. &c. The charge for gas is stated to be 50s. per 1000 feet: from that, however, 5 per cent. has been deducted on account of the price of oil, so that the real charge is only 47s. 6d. instead of 50s. In drawing a comparison between the illuminating powers of oil and coal gas, he says it is about as one to three; that is, that one oil gas lamp will give as much light as three of coal gas. The difference between oil and coal gas is not estimated in that way, because it must be a very large lamp indeed that will consume añ equal quantity of the former as the latter. The holes through which the oil gas passes are only the 60th part of an inch in diameter; while those of the coal gas are, I believe, the 30th part, being four times the area. Oil gas passing through a coal gas burner "under the same pressure emits a great deal of smoke; and I have * observed a very remarkable circumstance, which corroborates a former observation of Mr. P. Taylor, that in burning oil gas or ‘coal gas through the large hole barnia more than double the quantity of the latter is consumed than the former. In the course of my experiments, I applied one of the common street 1823] |. ^on Gas Light Establishments. - 1i burners, fancifully termed a bat's-wing, to the gasometer of oil eas, with 7-8ths of an inch pressure. There was a very intense light, accompanied by a great deal of smoke, and the quantity consumed, which was accurately measured, scarcely exceeds two feet per hour; while in coal gas it burns at least five feet. ‘The way in which the difference between oil and coal gas is esti- mated is, that in lamps giving equal light, the one will consume one and one-third foot per hour; while the other will burn five feet in the same time. | It is impossible from the statement given in the Report, to draw any correct ipn veniet between the advantages of oil and coal eas; yet if we take the most favourable part of each Com- pany, and compare it with oil gas, we shall find the superiority of the latter to be quite as great, if not greater, than I have before mentioned. The average quantity of gas consumed by each burner of the Chartered Company, allowing for waste, can- not beless than 51 feet per hour. By an accurate account kept of the quantity of gas consumed each hour during the night for several niglits at the Oldford Works, and taking the hours between two and four, the time when only the public lamps were alight, and the number could be correctly ascertained, the ave- rage quantity of gas for each lamp was from 13 to 14 foot per hour, making it rather less than 1 to 4. This quantity is a pretty near average for the private lights. Comparing this with the other two Companies, it would be nearly as 1 to 51: my experiments were always as l to 4; but I calculated only as 1 to 315 in both I have been within the mark. ges ^^ In the amount of capital. I will draw a comparison with the City of London Company. This’ is very little more than half the Chartered, supposing their statement to be quite correct—that they are quite clear of debts—and that their whole expenditure has not exceeded the sum stated in the Report. To produce the same number of lights with oil gas, à sum of 15,0007. for all necessary erections, apparatus, &c. law charges, and other con- tingencies, exclusive of mains, would be ample for every expence. "The cost of 50 miles of main would not exceed 35,0007. so that a capital of 50,0007. would be sufficient. This is somewhat more than one-third compared with the above-mentioned Com- pany, but with the Chartered, and their statement carries the greatest appearance of correctness, the difference would be con- siderably more. From the comparative small capital which is required for an oil gas establishment, it is clear if the same profit be derived from every light, the amount of dividend upon the money advanced must be, taking the average, three or four times as much in the one instance as in the other. There is also another great advantage attendant on oil gas establishments which I have not sufficiently dwelt upon, and that relates to the current expences. Inthe Chartered Company, the 12 M. Ricardo on Gas Light: Estublishments. — [Jurv, cost for producing 12,000 feet of gas, supposing that oiin to be procured from a chaldron of coals, is 37. 17s. 5d. of which the cost of materials is 1/, 10s.; and the remaining 2/. 7s. 5d. is for labour, wear and tear, management, &c. To produce 3000 feet of oil gas, the cost of materials will be, oil being 25/. per ton (the Oldford Company have never yet paid more than 22/. including casks); 37. for oil, and 5/. for coals; while the cost for labour, wear and tear, &c. would not exceed, taking the average of full and slack work, 4s. per 1000, or 12s. for the 3000 feet. The profit upon that quantity by the tables in the Report will be 27. 3s. 11d. ; and in the Oil Gas Company, allow- ing one-third of the quantity consumed to be for public apata which pays about one-half, would produce the sum of 2/. 3s. Now whether there be a large or small demand for gas, the cur- rent expences do not vary much. The establishment must be kept up, and where there are many occasional lights, they must be always in readiness to supply them, if they should be wanted. The interest on the capital too always remains the same. Inthe Oil Gas Establishment, both the one and the other are compa- ratively very small, and the greater expence, the cost of mate- rials, ceases when no gas is required ; while in the other, the smaller expenditure, namely, the cost of materials, ceases ; but the greater ones, the current expences, and the interest on capi- tal, continue, whether a small or large quantity of gas is required. Thus in every way the advantages of oil gas are most clearly manifested. | I am aware that the foregoing observations will not afford any more satisfaction to the advocates for coal gas than my for- mer statements have done. Whether that dissatisfaction has been expressed in any of the monthly journals, I have but few opportunities of knowing, as I seldom see them, though I under- stand it has been inserted in some of the provincial newspapers, accompanied by insinuations which it is not worth m d to notice. I state what appears to me to be facts. If 1 am incor- rect, let me be proved so by direct argument, and the public, or that part of it who are interested in the subject, will judge between us. Yours truly, 1. RICARDO, 1823.] On the Construction of Sea Harbours. 13 AnTICLE II. Essays on the Consiruction of Sea Harbours. By Mr. J. B. Longmire. P (Continued from vol, v. p. 182.) (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) - SIR, Troutbeck, May 20, 1823. On the following phenomena of fluids, m direct and reflected motions, depend the disposition of the. piers ; which is perfect, when the water in the harbour is still, or nearly still; the surf, as little increased as possible by the piers ; and when they inter- fere not with the lines of approach. : a. Straight waves, driven by the wind, directly through an opening into the still water of an harbour, assume .curved figures; which, as they advance, become nearly semicircular, increase in length, and decrease in depth, till they are quiescent. Waves obliquely driven through a given opening do not agitate. the interior water so much as direct waves; for the length of the waves that can pass through decreases as the angles of obli- quity increases. iy ' The waves, in moving over the surface, give the water under them impulses that create an agitation, extending much beyond them. This, which is here designated lateral agitation, to dis- tinguish it from the surf, acts in and near harbours through the whole depth of the water, and appears on the surface in flat and slow undulations. . Ifa part of the harbour be separated by an inner pier, which only leaves a small entrance, not far from the principal one; then small parts of the waves pass into this bason ; but being . previously much decreased in height and velocity, and the lateral agitation considerably weakened, they very little disturb the water in it. i Pod The surf, driven by a strong gale, through an entrance facing: the sea, and sixty yards wide, provided the pier heads be oppo- site and parallel, requires a space equal to 1,200 square yards, to be quieted so much, that the rest of the bason have not undula- tions larger than one foot high. . When a gale commences, the waves but slightly disturb the interior water; yet by. reiteration, the agitation greatly increases. Now the art of stilling the water in a harbour that admits the surf is to allow space for it to dissipate, and so to proportion an entrance to the area of an inner bason, that when the agitation is at its utmost, the undulations at the surface, where vessels lie, shall never exceed 15 inches, ner be repeated oftener than five 14 On the Construction of Sea Harbours. [Jurv, times in a minute. Any increase to this rate would injure ves- sels in the ebb tide, when they strike the ground. . b. The surf is raised, and driven vim by the wind, and of course takes its direction. Ifa part of the surf be stopped by the outside of the pier, the adjoining part continues to move forward, leaving the water on the innerside undisturbed, except by lateral agitation, for a given distance forward. Let fig. 3, represent this posi- tion. 1,2, are parts of the piers of a harbour, rejecting the surf. Let b, 1, be- the direction of the wind, and a b d a line of waves moving in this direction. The part a 5, is stopped by the pier; but the part 6 d continues to move forward, say to Å; beyond this point, the waves lengthen out towards the pier 2; and xm are limited on this side by-the curved | | line 4 /. Thus while the exterior sea 3 is covered with a high surf, the part 4 has only the lateral agitation ; and the harbour 5, being acted on by the same force only through the entrance h 1, is nearly quiescent. | The passing surf affects the harbour 5 least in the direction a d; as the sea within this line, in the parts 3 and 4, is compa- ratively smooth: and most when coming in the line 0,2; as theu the part 4 exterior to the line 2,0 is equally. covered with the part 3, by the surf; and of course a stronger lateral agita- tion is forced through the entrance. The surf indeed almost enters the harbour when driven in the line c h, and would dis- quiet it more than in either of the former courses; but that a gale in this line, making only a small angle with the lee shore, never raises a high surf at the harbour, and the surf is least in a gale directly into the entrance A 2; for as it faces the calmest quarter, or, in other words, as the lee shore, at no great dist- ance, projects into the sea, and covers the entrance, this gale comes over too small a range of sea, to force an injurious surf into the harbour. This description developes the mode of forming a harbour that rejects the surf. ! c. When a wave strikes a pier at right angles, it rebounds directly back; but if it strike obliquely, the angle of rebound is equal to that of percussion. In oblique percussion, the reflected surf is greater at the leeward than at the windward end of the pier, by the amount of such surf collected through the whole, or a part, of the length, according to the strength or frequency of the impinging waves. The surf that strikes the pier at an angle of about 25°, sends the greatest quantity of reverberated water to the leeward end; and that impinging under an angle of 45°, disturbs the sea in front, to the greatest distance forwards. The terms leeward and windward ends are used relative to the 1823. Mr. Moyle on the Temperature of Mines. 15 direction of the wind, and change at the same end ds the wind passes from one into the other of the two quarters in front of the pier. This alternation in the direction of the surf makes it diffi cult to adjust the direction of the enclosing piers: so. as to: pre- vent the strong surf in any gale from passing along such piers to, and accumulating at, the entrances. vieil I am, Sir, your very humble servant, . TN | Jonn B. LONGMIRE; ( To be continued.) " -—- iiti — Jia otn fe n 5 WS SU S sce | ArticreE III. On the Temperature cf Mines. By M. P. Moyle, Esq. (To the Editor ofthe Annals of Philosophy.) | DEAR SIR, - Helston, May 11, 183. Near Ly twelve months have now elapsed since the tempera- ture of many parts of Huel. Abraham, Crenver, and Oatfield Copper Mines, in this county, were taken, an account of which you did me the favour to publish in the Anna/s for January last. Many of the experiments were a few days since repeated in. pre- cisely the same spot, and under similar circumstances, as, before, and nearly with the same results, excepting the temperature of the water accumulated at the bottom of Oatfield engine shaft below the depth of 182 fathoms from the surface, in consequence of the pumps being drawn up from below that level. The coldest part of this water, ten months ago, at the depth of 1,164 feet from the surface, and in 12 fathoms of water, was 66°. Last week, at precisely the same depth, it was only 59°; while the water at the surface of this shaft was 77?. This increase of temperature at the surface is to be attributed to the immense quantity of warm water sent from distant parts of the other mines to this shaft to be drawn out ; and although it falls several feet into this shaft, which keeps the water in a constant and great agitation, yet it does not effect the temperature at the above-mentioned depth so much as might be expected. I regret much that the registering thermometer could not be sunk to a much greater depth, and quite out of the influence of the falling waters, as I am inclined to think that it must ere this have arrived, or nearly so, to the mean annual temperature, or 53°. I have before shown that by admitting the gradual increase of temperature (according to our descent) after a certain ratio, the temperature of this depth ought to be, at the lowest calculation, 709... How comes it then to be less by 11? and 18? minus since this place was in the full course of working ? 16 “Dr. Forchhammer on thes (Joxvy; I have also found that the temperature of a working spot in Huel Abraham, at the 180 fathom level, where the difference of atmospheric pressure was 0:964, or nearly one inch, when other circumstances, such as number of men, current, blasting of rocks, &c. Xe. were similar, that the difference of temperature was only from 14° to 2°; it being 78? when the thermometer was lowest, and 794° to 80° when highest. If these remarks appear to contain any further necessary infor- mation respecting the temperature of our mines, in continuation with what has already appeared, your inserting them in the Annals, will much oblige your usable servant, | M. P. Moye. ARTICLE IV. On the Transition Formation of Sweden. By Dr. Forchhammer. - (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, - THE curious facts respecting the transition formation of Norway, which were discovered — at the same time by two German geologists, MM. Von Buch and Hausmann, have excited a great degree of interest, and although much which was at first supposed to be peculiar to the mountains of Scandi- navia, has been found in other countries; and much which was imagined to be an exception, — now to lie within the rule; yet enough remains to distinguish this formation from all others, and to show that the chemical power, which acted so strongly in the formation of the primitive rocks of the north, exerted its influence equally on the transition formation. It ought not to be forgotten, that a long time before the geologists now men- tioned made their discoveries, Hissinger had made known a number of facts on this formation, with regard to Sweden, and several writers of minor note in respect to Norway; but the most interesting had not been observed, and the rest had not been tobasetel in such a way, asto give any precise idea about the relative age of these formations, so as to compare them with those of other countries. The German geologists found, that porphyry, syenite, granite, in the neighbourhood of Christiania, rested on limestone and slate, and, while the first- rocks con- tained zircon, feldspar, hornblende, paranthine, epidote, beryl, molybden, the others contained the fossils of marine animals. With respect to Sweden, M. Hausmann has given some very in- teresting notices, principally about the transition trap of West- gothland, and the transition porphyry of Dalerne, A few years 1823.] Transition Formation of Sweden. 17 ago, Dr. Wahlenberg, of the University of Upsala,’ celebrated for his travels in Lapland, his discoveries —— to the geography of plants, &c. gave an account of the extent of these formations in B aaa which, though it mostly concerns their geographical connexion with the primitive formations, and the fossils imbedded in, them, affords, nevertheless, a great deal of information. Two papers have appeared; the first on the geological formation of Sweden, printed. in the first volume of a periodical work, called Svea; the second is a paper on some petrifactions, which has been communicated to the Society at Upsala, and though printed several years since, has not been published, and a few copies are only in the hands of the friends of the author.* It is much to be regretted that the author has not imitated the above mentioned travellers, in stating what he owes to the labours of. his. predecessors ; so that it is often difficult in , his works to distinguish his own discoveries, and even his own obser- vations from those of others. _We are going to notice such of M. Wahlenberg's observations as appear new to us, and we shall add. such facts from preceding observations as will be necessary for illustration. It is to be regretted that we are not able to do the.same with regard to Norway; but except the transition. formation round Christiania, very little is known. We may, however, expect much from the zeal and information of several travellers, who have been some years occupied in a thorough investigation of the geological nature of this extensive country. id Every thing in the transition formation of Scandinavia, the nature of its rocks, its position with respect to. the primitive mountains, its geographical situation, bears a peculiar character. Rocks of every description are found in it, mostly distinguished by their crystalline structure. It was in Scandinavia that gra- nite was first discovered to be a member of the transition forma- tion. Syenite occurs likewise frequently, and of the numerous varieties of the trap family, the two extremes, crystalline green- stone on the one side, and basalt and amygdaloid on the other, have both been observed. Sandstone and quartzrock, granular and compact limestone, clayslate, siliceous slate, alumslate, and even beds of whetslate occur. The slate itself is frequently bitu- minous, so much so that it burns; and even thin beds of coal occur at Billingen, in Westeothland. The shale which contains much bitumen is free or mostly free from lime; it is then an excellent alumslate, and a number of alumworks are supplied with it. . It is distinguished from the alumslate of other coun- tries, and the bituminous shale which is used in the alum manu- factories in Scotland, by. containing, besides sulphur and alumina, a sufficient. quantity of potash, so that nothing is ' * Om Svenska Jordens Bildning af G. Wahlenberg i Svea. Tidskrift sor Vetenskap och Konst Foresta Hæftet. Upsala, 1818. f Petrificata Telluris Svevanæ examinata a G, Wallenberg. New Series, vou. vi. (€ 8 ` Dr, Forchhammer on the [Juny, I n but to burn the slate, and to allow it afterwards to re- main sufficient time exposed to the atmospheric air, that the sul- phate of peroxide of iron thus formed may be decomposed by the alumina and potash, and at last to dissolve the alum. This slate, when so bituminous as to burn, is used as fuel in the alum manufactories. Large round masses, ofa pretty pure black limestone, highly impregnated with bitamen (swinestone, anthra- colite, Werner) occur every where in this alumslate. Round balls of sulphuret of iron and sulphate of barytes are likewise not rare. | | oft "The sandstone of this transition formation is distinguished from that of most other countries by its composition which is similar to that of granite; felspar, and even mica, are necessary to its composition ; quartz being always in the greatest quan- tity. Thealmostabsolute want of all useful metals in the whole formation distinguishes it likewise from the transition formation of most countries, and when compared with the primitive moun- tains of Scandinavia, which almost every where contain rich iron ores, which have copper in abundance in some places, rich mines of cobalt and silver, and where even gold has been found on dif- ferent places, such a deficiency of metals must certainly‘excite sur- prise. For in other countries the rocks, and principally the slate and limestone of the transition formation are as rich as the pri- mitive rocks. In two places of the transition rocks in Seandi- navia, attempts have been made to work mines of galena; one in Scaane, near Cimbrisham, and another in Norway, not far from Stroemsoe, but both have failed. | The primitive mountains when compared to those of the Alps, exhibit a very material difference, both in external appearance and composition. The mountain chain which separates Norway from Sweden does not, at its highest point, attain 8000 feet, but it surpasses on the other hand the primitive chain of the Alps both in length and breadth. Its rocks are mostly such as it would be difficult to say whether they are gneiss or granite. From the main ridge, numerous parallel ridges of the same rock extend to the Gulf of Bothnia and Baltic Sea, thus forming a number of valleys and plains, which begin at the coast, and termis nate at the neighbourhood of the boundaries between Norway and Sweden, in these plains, most of which likewise consist of primitive rocks, the richest beds of magnetic iron ore are found, such as at Daunemora, Haesselkulla, &c.; but it is also in these valleys and plains, that the transition formation has had room to expand, with, however, this great difference from most others, that it contains many crystalline rocks. "These rocks of the transition formation are confined comparatively to the lower places, with some remarkable exceptions however, and it is a very interesting fact, which we owe to the observations of Dr. Wahlenberg, that each of the greaterlakes of Sweden has its transition formation, which extends in regular beds on the 1823.] Transition Formation of Sweden. 19 shores, Theregularity of the beds, together with the small angle . of inclination in general, occasioned the slaty and calcareous rocks of this formation, which contain frequently a great number of fossils, to be considered as belonging altogether to the secon- dary rocks ; while the crystalline sandstones orquartz rocks, the porphyries, the syenites, and granites, are, without hesitation, placed among those of the primitive class. The fossils, how- ever, show sufficiently that these rocks have been formed early after the existence of organic life on the earth. ‘ They are,” says Dr. Wahlenberg, * mostly entomostracites (entomolithes Lin.) and orthoceratites, which both, more than any other petri- faction, differ from animals now existing, and prove their great age. Both are of considerable size, and thin, which rene roves the: perfect quietness of the medium in which they lived. pre remarkable are, inthis respect, the entomostracites, fre- quently a foot or more long, and the cylindrical orthoceratites, amounting to two yards in length, which latter lie perfectly entire in the limestone. If we consider further, that a great number of the entomostracites had eyes, and that both they and the orthoceratites exist in very great number, we must be surprised at the powerful organisation with which nature began at once in the north.” ‘The ridges of primitive moun- tains, which spread. out. from the main ridge, separate of course all the different parts where the transition formation is found, and gives them the characterso peculiar to Scandinavia, which is, that the transition formation forms a number of different systems, originally limited. on all sides by primitive mountains, having, therefore, no immediate connexion with each other, and generally containing the same kinds of rocks, though often ın a different order of superposition. One great exception of this law exists, however, in respect to three chains of mountains, that seem to spread from one point, and thus to be connected with each other. This point seems to lie in the main ridge itself. Helagsfjaellet, Svukkujaellet, are mountains composed of sandstone, situated in this main ridge - to the east of Roraas, in Norway. From these one branch passes to the south of Norway ; the great lake Mjoesen, which terminates on the west side of the Firth of Christiania, is partly bordered by transition rocks of this system. Another ranch passes into Jemteland in Sweden ; it seems to termi- nate at the Storsjoe (large lake) in this province. A third branch passes into the province of Dalerne, and terminates at the lake Siljan. It is extremely remarkable that all these branches have their beds of fossils only at that end which is furthest from the main ridge, when they reach the neighbour- hood of the large lakes; and it is evident that the closest con- nexion exists between the fossils of the transition formation and these lakes... c2 20 Dr. Forchhammer on the [Jurv, Sandstone is the rock which is of all transition rocks most abundant in the main ridge. The mountain Svuddu, which, according to the measurement of Tillas, is 4422 feet high, and, according to the measurement of Hissinger, 4693 feet, is a conglomerate, which consists of the same materials as the rest of the Scandinavian transition sandstone; and Hausmann has identified it with those of other parts of the Scandinavian transition formation. The same author mentions an impression on the surface of a piece of sandstone which he found in the inn at Idre, where this sandstone is very frequent in the.countr around. It seemed to belong to the stem of a fernlike plant, auch as are frequently found in the shale of the first coal formation. This is the only instance where fossils are mentioned to occur in in this sandstone; some doubt may, therefore, be entertained, whether it is not merely a lusus nature. Ifit really was an im- pression of a plant, it would be a direct proof that this sandstone or quartz rock belongs to the transition formation ; while some geologists are nevertheless of opinion, that itis a member of the primitive class, principally because its position is frequently uncon- formable with the gneiss upon which it rests. ‘This, however, does not prove mucb, because slate and limestone are, with few exceptions, conformable with the sandstone, and they contain numerous fossils. Besides, in some places not far from Christi- ania, in Norway, sandstone occurs even upon slate and limestone. Upon this sandstone and conglomerate:of the mountain Svuddu, and a part of the main ridge in the neighbourhood, in the Swe- dish province of Dalerne an extensive porphyry formation rests, which furnishes the materials for the excellent works of art that are made at Elfdale, now the private property of the King of Sweden. The porphyry extends from the main ridge as far east as Mora; it is mostly of a red colour, the compact mass being either siliceous slate or hornstone, or compact feldspar. -+ The sandstone passes distinctly into this porphyry. Breccia of bits of porphyry cemented together by conipact feldspar and syenite likewise occur. . The syenite is remarkable, as it furnishes a new analogy between the formations of Dalerne and the country round Christiania ; it occurs near Aasbye, and contains zircon, which is so characteristic of the transition syenite of Norway. The beds of sandstone, porphyry, and syenite, where a distinct stratification may be observed are in general almost horizontal, the angles never exceeding 20°. On the north side of the Lake Siljan, a number of beds of limestone alternate with beds of granite, both in a nearly vertical position, and in a direction nearly north and south ; their elevation above the lake amounts from 150 to 200 feet. Onthe south-east end of the lake, from Ickaan to the church of Rattwick, much granite is found with few and thin beds of limestone; near the church of Rattwick, a bed of limestone occurs, with grains of sand, and destitute of 1823.] © Transition Formation of Sweden. DE fossils. Such beds exist only where no clayslate separates the sandstone from the limestone. Near Buda Chapel, a bed of sandstone is found between a bed of limestone and of granite ; and on Osmundsberg (Osmundsmountain), a bed of clayslate joins them, containing graptolithes (a small kind of orthocera- tites). It is curious that this mountain, where at least three beds of different rocks occur, is the richest in fossils of the whole province; and the uppermost bed contains, besides the common entomostracites, a great number of anomites, turbinites, and madrepora stellaris, with several remains resembling corals. Entomostracites, crassicauda, * and laticauda,+ are peculiar to this mountain. The limestone is commonly red, like that from Gothland : now and then it becomes white: it then has no fossils, and sometimes contains galena. It is curious that no alumslate or swinestone (atithinatolite; Werner), is found in this rovince accompanying the limestone, which, in other places, is generally the case. | The island of Gothland agrees with respect to the limestone and its fossils so completely with the Osmundsberg, that it must follow next. Gothland is by far the largest of all beds in Swe- den, which contain petrifactions, so that it has almost as large a surface as all the rest together; which seems to be again in direct proportion to the greater basin in which it was formed, which is the Baltic. The transition formation is perfectly isolated, the nearest rocks of granite being ata distance of about fifty miles. Itis, however, probable, that it rests on a flat plain of granite, partly covered by this formation, and partly by the sea, which is no where round the island of any considera- ble depth. The beds of limestone are perfectly horizontal, except at Thorsborg. Upon what kind ot rock the limestone immediately rests is not known, except in one place in the west put of the island, where below it a calcareous sandstone has een observed, containing the same mytilites, as the Osmunds- berg; and this proves still more the similarity between these two parts of the transition formation, so far distant from each other. No clayslate has been found in Gothland. The lime- stone is light grey, compact, and does not contain any fossils, except on the faces where two beds join; they are a kind of imperfect fossil, which resembles a phacites; and which is pe- culiar to Gothland. Onthe faces of the upper beds occur a quantity of unusually large encrinites, anomites, and millepora ; and upon the uppermost face, a great number of corals, turbi- * Entomostracites crassicauda Wahlenb. ** oculis ad angulos superiores capitis con- vexi, cauda subtriangulari; marginibus involutis crassissimis," It is very rare to find complete specimens ; but different parts, principally the tail, have been found frequently. . + Entomostracites laticauda Wahlenb, : oculis ad latus capitis convexissimis, cauda suborbiculari; limbo latissimo planissimo radiato integerrimo. It is always twice as large as the former; and it is, therefore, not improbable, that it is a fossil of an older animal of the same kind. It has not yet been found entire, but only head and tail, and never in any other rock than greyish-white limestone, 99 Dr. Forchhammer on the [Juty, nites, &c. which might only be expected in the la system of SETA transition. rocks, that had been formed in the sea itself. | | | The island of Oeland consists likewise only of transition rocks, no granite or gneiss having been formed there. The limestone is at the utmost 140 feet thick ; it covers the whole island, T a few places on the west side, where other rocks are seen, that lie under the limestone, viz. lowermost near Aleklinta, a sandstone very compact and free from lime; then follows a bituminous shale with subordinate beds of swine- stone without fossils. "These beds of shale are, when compared with those of the other systems, very imperfect, except in one place, where they increase in thickness, change into alumslate with the usual small entomostracite* in the beds of swinestone, and with small anomites lenticularis.+ The limestone is usually red, and contains many orthoceratites, and the common ento- mostracites expansus; T with these exceptions it is quite free from the remains of marine animals. ! The system of Westgothland is one of the most interesting on account of the nature of the rocks which compose it, and the external Anim of the country which it forms. The large plain of Westgothland is formed of common gneiss, which, in many places, rises into small hills, never high above the level of the lake Wineren, and disappearing near the hills of transition rocks ; so that it seems as if hess had been deposited upon a perfect plain. The gneiss likewise near the rocks of the transition for- mation is somewhat different, principally on the east part of the plain ; it contains green earth, instead of mica, and its feldspar weathers very readily ; such is the rock at Lugnaes. The rocks belonging to this system are, (beginning at the lowermost), sand- stone, which rests upon the gneiss, and which in the east part of this district is first met with at a height of 318 feet above the level of the sea ; its thickness amounts to 77 feet, and it con- tains no fossils. Upon this follows the alumslate, the lower- most beds being the purest; the upper ones are often only a bituminous slate; together about 78 feet thick. "The next layer is limestone, 202 feet thick ; it does not contain beds of other rocks ; but the limestone itself varies in colour, hardness, and the fossils which it contains : the lower part is white, semicrystal- * Entomostracites gibbosus.— Cocus, capite antice truncato planiusculo fronte oblonga, — dorsali gibboso, cauda triangulari utrinque bidentata, Wahlenb. Entomol. oxus £ cantharidum Linn, Syst. Nat. Entomostracites scarabaoides,—Cocus, capite hemispherico antice rotundato, fronte subovato antrorsum angustiore, cauda utrinque sinuato-tridentato. Wahlenb. Entomostracites pisiformis.—Cocus hemisphericus marginatus ; fronte teretiuscula. Wahlenb. Entomolithus paradoxus y pisiformis Linn, Syst. Nature. + Anomites lenticularis.—Clausus (nullo foramine nec hiatu) suborbicularis utrinque convexicus oculus radiatim undulatus. f Entomostracites expansus : oculis frontalibus, capitali testa antrorsum semiorbicu- lari plana laevi; caudali magnitudinem capitis, &c, Wahlenb. Entomolith, xus et expansus, Linn, Syst, Nat, Trilobites dilitatus, Bruunich ; T. novus, eim. 1823.) Transition Formation of Sweden. 23 line, and ¢ontdins only echinosphaerites pomum. The nextis grey ; it contains large entomostracites and few orthoceratites ; the uppermost is mostly red, and contains a great number of large orthoceratites. Upon the limestone follows a bed of clayslate, 122 feet. thick, of which the lowermost. partis like the bitu- minous slate of the bed below the limestone; so that it. is. free quently necessary to distinguish them by their fossils, of which a small kind of orthoceratites is peculiar to the: bituminous slate above the limestone. Next follows a chertlik& liver-coloured kind of stone which now and then forms beds of the thickness of a foot, and contains echinosphaerites aurantium ; uppermost lies a whitish stone resembling sandstone. Upon these beds of slate rests a large bed of greenstone ; it weathers readily, and and falls to sandy grains; on this account the people call it sand- stone. It is often divided into four-sided columns perpendicular to the stratum upon which it rests. | These rocks, of which the transition formation of Westgoth- land is formed, occur in.three places completely separated from each other; and it is highly probable that no connexion ever existed between them, because the relative thickness of these strata is different, and not a trace of transition rocks 1s seen between them, while it rises on these three hills to a very consi- derable height. . The first and largest mass of transition rocks occurs near Falkjoping, where alarge plain of sandstone extends from the sources of the river Lidaa to the mouth of the river Tidaa over nearly 30 miles. Upon this plain rest three similar plains of limestone, separated from each other by narrow valleys, and each of them containing two or three summits of trap. The first of these limestone plains called Storfalan (the large common), is remarkable for its fertility ; it has two summits of trap, the Mosseberg and Aalleberg; the second limestone plain is Taare- dalsberg ; and the shir, Bülingen, almost entirely covered by the bed oftrap. The alternation of hard and soft stone in these moun- tains, occasions the formation of terraces in all of them, and the whole trap family has received its name from the stair-like appearance of these hills ; trapp in Swedish signifying stair. - Kinnekulle, a hill on the south side of the lake Weneren, con- sists of the same rocks, but the limestone is only 150 feet thick, and the summit of clayslate and trap rises 470 feet above the limestone; but it is impossible to ascertain how thick each of these two strata is. The whole thickness of the horizontal beds at the Kinnekulle is 730 feet. Halle and Kenneberg are two | other hills of transition rocks at the mouth of the Gothaelf, near Wenersberg. -The clayslate and alumslate are each only about 50 feet thick ; the limestone seems to be altogether wanting, and the trap on the Hunneberg is 128 feet; on the Hal eberg 166 feet thick. Peculiar to Westgothland are: entomostracites paradoxissimus, the largest of the whole tribe, which, according to some detached parts, must sometimes have been about a foot 24 On the Transition. Formation of Swéden. [Jttv, in length, entire specimens of that size have, however, never been found ; Entomostracites bucephalus, of which the head only has been found, but which seems hardly to have been infe- rior in size to the preceding. These occur in the alumslate, which, in this system, is more perfect than in any other; but besides these and the common small entomostracite and ano- mites lenticularis, no fossils have been found in this slate. The limestone contains the large orthoceratites, the common entomo- stracite, and echinosphaerites pomum ; all coralline petrifications, and all anomie, are wanting, but these again occur in the sand- stone-like slate immediately below the greenstone, at a height of about 800 feet above the sea. It is extremely remarkable that these fossils are only found in the uppermost beds; in West- gothland in this clayslate, in the island of Gothland in the upper- most bed of limestone. | PAT" The transition formation in Oestergothland is low, mostly covered with gravel and earth, and no interesting fact has been observed respecting it; the sameis the case with that of Nerike ; and in Upland, only a number of loose blocks have been found, but no transition rock Zn situ. In Scaane, the southernmost province of Sweden, and on two sides bordered by the sea, this formation is of great extent, but 80 scattered and so much covered by beds of gravel and sand, that the connexion of its different parts is not readily discover- able. In the south part, a long ridge of hills appears ; the rock is white, and consists of granular quartz; it is in fact a quartz rock; mica, however, is rather rare in it.. At Gladson, near Cimbrisham, it contains veins of fluor and galena, the fluor being frequently crystallized in regular octahedrons, a form which is rather rare. Limestone, alumslate, bituminous slate, and clay- slate, occur in many places; even greywacke and perpendicular veins of greenstone, often several miles in length, and not sel- dom. twenty or thirty fathoms in width, occur frequently. When the slate is weathered, there remain ridges of steep barren hills, which rise to 50 or 60 feet above the surrounding fertile country. No fossils are peculiar to this system of the transition formation, except entomostracites spinulosus,* of which entire specimens have been found only in Scaane, though in Westgothland fragments of the same animal occur. The alum- slate has been worked at Andrarum for more than a century to. supply an alum manufactory, and at a depth of 400 feet, they had not yet passed through it. | * Entomostracites spinulosus.—Czcus, capite late semilunari, angulis posticis spinu- losis, fronte oblonga convexissima, cauda rotundata spinulis trunci postremis breviore. 1823.] On the Müriatié Avid in the Ai» of the Atmosphere. 95 ARTICLE V. On the Presence of Muriatic Acid in the Air of the Atmosphere. From several papers by Hermstadt, Vogel, Pfaff, &c. l Tue Dutch chemists appear to have satisfactorily ascertained the presence of muriatic acid in atmospheric air under certain circumstances, and the same fact seems to have been discovered a second time within the last two or three years. M. Hermstadt, of Berlin, in a treatise on the sea-baths of Doberan on the coast of Mecklenburgh, first adverted to some properties which seemed peculiar to the air collected over the sea, or in its neighbourhood ; the most remarkable circumstance was, that water shaken with it, precipitated nitrate of silver ; he did not state his opinion that this was occasioned by muriatic - acid, but left it undecided. Upon the suggestion of M. Vogel, of Munich, while on a visit to M. Kruger, of Doberan, the latter made some experiments which proved that water distilled from solutions of most earthy and even metallic muriates, contains some muriatic acid. The experiments were the fol- lowing : An ounce of muriate of potash was put into a distilling appa- ratus with 30 ounces of distilled water; the solution was kept ` slowly boiling, and 10 ounces of water were condensed ; three drops of a concentrated solution of nitromuriate of platina were added to three ounces of this water, and the solution was evapo- rated in a glass vessel until only about five drops remained. On cooling, a reddish yellow sediment was deposited, which was difficultly soluble in water. j Solution of nitrate of lead, when mixed with the water, instantly produced turbidness. Solution of nitrate of silver produced a similar effect, but more readily. ) i Litmus paper was not changed by the water. This experiment was repeated, excepting that muriate of magnesia was used instead of muriate of potash. When the distilled water was heated in a silver vessel, and a few drops of solution of carbonate of soda added to it, every drop produced turbidness, which instantly disappeared. When eight ounces of the distilled water were evaporated with some carbonate of soda until half an ounce remained, a small quantity of a white precipitate appeared, which, when sufficiently washed, dissolved in sulphuric acid with effervescence. Solution of nitrate of silver rendered the distilled water turbid, and nitrate of lead much more so. Litmus paper remained unchanged. When the experiment was repeated with muriate of soda, the SP s On the Presence of Müriatió Atid =--> [Jotv, same tests showed that a much smaller quantity of muriatic acid was carried over than in the former experiments. When water was distilléd in. a similar way over muriate of lime, the distilled water became considerably turbid with nitrate of lead; in the. common température of the atmosphere, neither oxalate of ammonia, ¢arbonate of ammonia, carbonate of soda, nor nitrate of silver, produced turbidness ; but when the water was boiling hot, both oxalate of ammonia and nitrate of silver occasioned turbidness. When five grains of carbonate of soda were dissolved in five ounces of the distilled water and evapo- rated to half an ounce, no precipitate was observed. Litmus twas not at all affected fy the distilled water. i ater distilled over muriate of barytes was rendered vety turbid by a solution of nitrate of lead ; a solution of nitrate of silver produced only a turbidness when added to the boiling-hot water. Neither carbonate nor sulphate of soda rendered. the water turbid, but when it was boiled with sulphate of soda, tur- bidness appeared on cooling. Litmus paper was not affected by the water. | T In water distilled over muriate of ammonia, both nitrate of lead and of silver immediately occasioned turbidness and pre- cipitation. The same effect took place after the distilled water had again been subjected to distillation. Three ounces of the distilled water when mixed with three drops of a concentrated solution of nitromuriate of platina, and evaporated until only five drops remained, left a reddish yellow precipitate, which was difficultly solublein water. Litmus paper was not affected. - Although nitrate of lead might not in all these experiments be atest of muriatic acid, for which it seems M. Kruger had -used it, yet nitrate of silver was, with few exceptions, acted upon as if muriatic acid had been present. Any doubts which might remain as to the accuracy of the result have been removed by M. Vogel,* who boiled an ounce of completely neutral muriate of magnesia in 12 ounces of distilled water with suffi- cient precautions to prevent any of the salt from being carried over mechanically. The vapours were made to pass through a very dilute solution of nitrate of silver, and rendered it turbid in a quarter of an hour. One part of the solution was kept in a cet covered with black paper, and did not assume any colour ; e other was exposed to the rays of the sun, and became red in a few minutes, In another experiment, the vapours passed through tincture of litmus, which they did not redden, but made the colour rather darker. The same result was obtained when a solution of pure muriate of soda was distilled, and sea-water from the Mediterranean which had been kept ina laboratory for nine years, produced similar effects. The precipitate, which in these different expe« œ Gilberts Annalen, 1822, No. 11, 1823.] "dh the Air of the Atmospheres > 27 riments ‘was obtained, had all the properties of muriate of silver. | | 61 An opinion had been entertained that the property of precipitat- ing nitrate of silver might depend upon the presence of sulphu- retted or phosphuretted hydrogen. To refute this opinion, M. Vogel boiled down eight óunces of sea-water to two ounces ; then added.six ounces of distilled water, and evaporated until only two ounces were left; added again six ounces of distilled water, dis- tilled again ; and repeated in this way the experiment four times constantly with the same effect upon a solution of nitrate of silver. "According to the experiments of M. Vogel, every kind of water he could get in the kingdom of Bavaria, either procured from rivers, springs, or brooks, contained so much of a muriate that it gave a precipitate with a solution of nitrate of silver... M. Vogel draws from these experiments the conclusion, thatthe muriates to a certain degree are volatilized by steam, and that they exist in the state of neutral salts in the distilled water. The same experiments were afterwards repeated by M. Bertram, who found that water when distilled with sufficient care over muriate oflime, did not carry over any of the component parts of that salt, for neither oxalate of potash, nor nitrate of silver, produced any turbidness in the distilled water. But when a solution of muriate of magnesia was distilled in a similar way, a considera- ble quantity of free acid passed over, and principally towards the end of the distillation when the solution became more con- centrated. Prof. Pfaff* also repeated the experiments on boiling sea-water with sufficient care, and allowed the vapour to pass through a solution of nitrate of silver. He discovered a double action, the partial formation of muriate of silver, and the deoxi- dation of a part of the oxide of'silver by means of pure steam. The result of his interesting experiments is this: when the vapour of pure distilled water is made to pass through a solution of nitrate of silver, this solution assumes all the different shades between yellow and dark-brown, according to the concentration of the solution, and the length of time in which the steam has passed through it. The colour is not very observable before the solution of the nitrate of silver has acquired the temperature of boiling water; but when it has reached it, the colour increases rapidly. If several glasses are connected by tubes, and all suc- cessively raised by the steam passing through them to the boiling temperature, all assume the colour. Nitric acid destroys the colour of this solution of nitrate of silver; and while the steam is producing this effect upon the solution, oxygen is disengaged. When steam, in a similar way, is passed through a solution of gold, a beautiful blue liquid is produced like that which is obtained by adding oxalic acid to a solution of gold. | It seems thus to be proved pretty clearly that the steam acts = Schweigger’s Journal, 1822, ixi 28 On the Presence of Muriatic Acid [Jurv, in these cases by deoxidizing the salts of silver and gold. Nei- ther muriate of platina, nor protonitrate or pernitrate of mercury; were acted upon by steam in a similar manner. The observations of the Dutch chemists, which are scattered in à number of different dissertations, have been. collected and again published by Dr. Driessen,* and they possess. great inte- rest. Prof. Driessen, of Groningen, made the first experiments in July, 1800, at Amsterdam, where he poured several ounces of ure water 500 times through a glass funnel from one vessel into the other. The water sometimes exhibited a slight trace of sul- phuretted hydrogen, but it constantly threw down nitrate of silver, of a white colour. These experiments were made at dif- ferent hours of the day, and in different heights. above the ound, but constantly with the same result, if it had not rained or a considerable time. When, however, M. Craanen, who had been present at these first experiments, tried them again after rainy weather, he did not obtain any precipitate at all. In Gro- sagon he did not find anymuriàtic acid in the air, except once in 1802, when, after a long dry season, a thick fog came on; water which had been poured in the way above-mentioned, occasioned a precipitate in nitrate of silver, and reddened even. tincture of litmus. Dr. Von Rossem could not afterwards detect any trace of muriatic acid. he fact that the air near the sea-shore contained free muria- tic acid was applied to explain the frequency of that dreadful disease the colica saturnina, at Amsterdam, where it had been observed oftener than in any other town. It was conceived that the free muriatic acid dissolved the lead from the roofs of houses, and communicated it to the rain water. A new series of experiments was, therefore, performed by Dr. Veehof in order to ascertain whether the muriatic acid was really in an uncombined state in the atmosphere; and the results were, that water poured from vessel to vessel at Groningen in the manner already mentioned, and rain-water from the same place, contained no free acid ; that water similarly treated near salt springs showed a slight trace of free acid ; andlastly, that water at Amsterdam, under the same circumstances, contained a con- siderable quantity of uncombined acid. These experiments were twice repeated, and constantly with the same result. They all showed muriatic acid by nitrate of silver, but that from Amsterdam most ofit. Besides the water from Amsterdam produced a precipitate when tried with muriate of barytes, and caustic alcali occasioned a more copious preci- itate in it than in water, treated in the same way at Groningen. Prof. Driessen repeated his experiments in 1809 at the Zuider Zee, where, after having poured the water more than 1000 times from one vessel to another; while the direction * Schweigger's New Journal, b, 6, 2. © 1822. 1823.] in the Air of the Atmosphere. 29 of the wind was such as to carry the breath and perspiration of the surrounding persons away from the water, he found unques- tionable traces ot free acid ;'they repeated the experiment again on one of the high dykes near Harlingen with the same result. It, was observed that the colour of the litmus paper was patticu- larly affected, when in a dry season the sea was violently agitated. In order to ascertain the cause of this phenomenon, Dr. Von Rossem tried an experiment by exposing a vessel full of fresh sea-water to the rays of the sun, and poured, during that time, water over it; he found in the water distinct traces of muriatic acid. | ' The experiments of M. Vogel and M. Kruger, which ócca- sioned the experiments about the volatilisation of muriates‘men- tioned before, were the following : In a balloon with two aper- tures, one above and one below, to make draught, a small vessel containing a solution of nitrate ofsilver wasintroduced, and the balloon placed. in a covered bathing car, of which one window was open, while the wind generally blew from the land. When, after 21 days, the small vessel was taken out, some bluish-black flakes, and a white powder, were formed.’ The precipitate, after having been washed, was digested with nitric acid, which dissolved the black flakes, and left à white precipitate, which was muriate of silver. — | © M. Meisner tried the:air at Halle not far from the brine springs, but did not find any muriatic acid. T From all these observations and experiments, the following are the results: that the air near the sea-shore (the Baltic, the Ger- man Ocean, and the Channel, the latter according to some observations of M. Vogel), contains generally muriatic acid ; its quantity is increased by dry seasons, and ceases to exist in rainy weather. | | | ' Muriatic acid may be found in the atmosphere at a certain distance from the sea-shore, and it there depends upon similar circumstances as on the coast. It exists mostly combined in form of neutral muriates, and it is highly probable that by the action of air and atmospheric heat, the earthy and alkaline muriates are not decomposed. In most of the experiments, they passed over at the boiling temperature in the state of neutral salts. Where muriatic acid was most decidedly found in a free state at Amsterdam, it is evident that this at least was partly owing to the sulphuric acid formed by the combustion of coal and peat. 30 o Mr, Smithson onan < [Jorv; he Anricix VI. uon An improved Method of making Coffee. By J. Smithson, Esq. nov igor No Medlin dt ch | oy (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) — SIR, June, 1893, From the highly fugacious’ nature of that part of coffee on which its fine flavour. depends, a practice has become very ge- nerally adopted of late years of preparing the liquor by mere percolation. | ! ! This method has not only the great defect of being excessively wasteful, but the coffee is likewise apt to be cold. Coction and the preservation of the fragrant matter are, how- ever, not inconsistent. The union of these advantages is attain- able by performing the operation in a close vessel. To obviate the production of vapour, by which the vessel would be ruptured,. - the elus temperature must be obtained in a water-bath. In my experiments I made use of a glass phial closed with a cork, at first left loose to allow the exit of the air, - Cold water was put to the coffee. | This process is equally applicable to tea, Perhaps it may also be employed advantageously in the boil- ing of hops, during which, I understand, that a material portion, of their aroma is dissipated ; as likewise possibly for making certain medical decoctions. This way of preparing coffee and tea presents various advan- tages. It is een mme of à very considerable economy, since by allowing of any continuance of the coction without the least injury to the goodness, all the soluble matter may be extracted, . and consequently a proportionate less quantity of them becomes required. By allowing the coffee to cool in the closed vessel, it may be filtered through paper, then returned into the closed vessel, and heated again, and thus had of the most perfect clearness without any foreign addition to it; by which coffee is impaired. The liquors may be kept for any length of time at a boiling heat, in private families, coffee-houses, &c. so as to be ready at the very instant called for. j It will likewise prove of no small conveniency to travellers who have neither kettle, nor coffee-pot, nor tea-pot, in places where these articles are not to be procured, as a bottle will supply them. ~ In all cases means of economy tend to augment and diffuse ` comforts and happiness. They bring within the reach of the - many what wasteful proceedings confine to the few, By 1823.] improved Method of making Coffee. 31 diminishing expenditure on one article, they allow of some other enjoyment. which was before unattainable. -A reduction on quantity permits indulgence in: superior quality. . In the present instance, the importance of economy is particularly great,’ since it is applied) to matters of high price, which constitute one of the daily meals of a large portion of the population of the earth. That in cookery also, the power of subjecting for an indefinite duration to a boiling heat, without the slightest dependition of volatile matter, will admit of beneficial application, is unques- tionable. | | iu ee oe cee ss ARTICLE VII. On Ultramarine, and the Methods by which its Purity may be X ascertained. By R. Phillips, FRS. L. and EO” — Brront the time of Margraff, whose analysis of lapis lazuli was published in 1768, the colouring matter of this mineral was supposed to be copper ; according to the chemist just mentioned, as quoted in Klaproth's nnalysen, vol. i. p. 163, lapis lazuli con- sists of oxide of iron, silica, lime, and its sulphate, omitting any notice of the alumina which it contains in very considerable quantity, and without stating the proportions of the ingredients enumerated as its constituents. . Rinmann and Cronstadt have also mentioned the composition of this mineral, but their statements are so inaccurate as to require no further notice. According to Klaproth, lapis lazuli consists of M í | Silica Oe ee ee ee oo oeoa eooo 46:0 Aluma sesanan cillulodsaasd.seul 1468 Carbonate of limes ss... es cee ee eee s Q8*0 Sulphate of.lime «sil 4425125 613384 7] 68 A Oxide of iranlilswdeaskis qvi VA iawo 3:0 Water «bodésus cesis duos dado 62.8320 t T | 100-0 With respecttothe colour of this substance, Klaproth observes, that “though the researches of Margraff have refuted the opinion formerly received, that the blue colour of the lapis lazuli originated from an admixture of copper: and though it has been demonstrated that the colour of this fossil is owing only to iron, yet its other constituent parts have not yet been deter- mined with due accuracy." Now as neither the protoxide nor peroxide of iron could be suspected of imparting a blue colour, it is singular that Klaproth 33 Mr. R. Phillips on Ultramarine. [Jury; should not have alluded to this circumstance, and have sug- gested the nature of the combination by which iron or its oxides might, with the.other constituents, produce the blue colour in question. | | | | The analysis of MM. Clement and Desormes, (Annales de Chimie, t. 57, p. 317), shows, that although lapis lazuli may yield oxide of iron on account of the pyrites it contains, yet ultrama- rine prepared from it is perfectly free from any ; and before I was aware that they had determined this point, had arrived at the same conclusion, and have repeated many of their experiments ; and, as far as I have gone, my results and theirs agree. According to the ter ust quoted, the colouring matter of ultramarine is not destroyed by a moderately strong red heat, remains unchanged by ammonia, and when heated in solutions of potash and soda. Acids, however, destroy the colour in a few minutes, and this effect is produced. even by ceo acid, as well as by the nitric, muriatic, and sulphuric. ey also state, and correctly, that solution of sulphuretted hydrogen has no effect upon the colour. According to their analysis, ultramarine con- sists of | r ' Silica $40 LG SREP RT 41958 Alumina: TEXEERURE E 94-8 Soda POOP 2925-0292029599 23:2 Salphurs901401 .9 0050. 490894 - Carbonate of lime .......... SL 100-0 It is remarkable that MM. Clement and Desormes have offered no conjecture as to the nature of the colouring matter ; and it was the wish to ascertain this that first induced me to turn my attention to it. . .. M qu e^ Although I have. been. totally. unsuccessful in attaining the object of my pursuit, yet I have thought it might not be useless to state the experiments which I have made, more especially as the colour is extremely dear, therefore likely to be adulterated ; and I am enabled to point out ready. methods of determining its purity, and detecting the nature of any fraudulent admixture. am inclined to believe from the results of the experiments of MM. Clement and Desormes, as well as my own, that the colouring matter of ultramarine is a peculiar substance. I must, however, repeat, that I have obtained no direct proof. of it. M. Thenard, Avni to the analysis of MM. Clement and Desormes, observes (Traité de Chimie, t. ii. p. 205), “ Comme ils ont eu, dans cette analyse, une perte de 0*8, il faut en con- clure que quelques principes leur ont nécessairement échappés. Ces principes ne joueraient-ils pas un rôle remarquable dans la coloration du lazulite ? Cette opinion paraitra probable, si 1823:] Mr. R. Phillips on Ultramarine. 33 Von considère que toutes les autres pierres doivent leür couleur à une matière colorante. On. pourrait soutenir,: à la vérité, ue la silice, l'alumine, la chaux, la soude, quoiqu’ incolores, sont susceptibles de former un composé coloré; mais il faut orafpn adit y serait fort extraordinaire qu'il n'y eût qu'un composé de ce genre parmi ces pierres; et cependant c'est à cette consé- quence qu'on serait conduit en admettant qu'il n'existe point de. Mna colorant particulier dans le lazulite : aussi M. Vauquelin croit-il que cette pierre contient de l'oxide de fer." Although in the 34th vol. of the Annales de Chimie, Guyton also attributes the colour of ultramarine to iron, I need hardly again state, that ultramarine contains no oxide of iron, and, therefore, the opinion of the last-mentioned chemists, although meriting the highest attention, cannot be considered as well founded. Indeed the lapis lazuli examined by Klaproth contained werd ercent. of oxide of iron, and this, supposing it capable of a dine a blue colour, could hardly be admitted to yield the intense blue of the lapis lazuli. ME | When any coloured earthy substance occurs, the first and most natural supposition is, that the colour is owing to the pre- sence of a metallic oxide, There is however great difficulty in admitting this colouring matter to be a metallic oxide; for. when itis destroyed by an acid, we may suppose one of several cases to happen, first, that the loss of colour is the result of the mere act of solution, as when we obtain a colourless solution by dissolving peroxide of mercury in nitric or muriatic acid: this, however, can hardly be the case with the colouring matter of ultramarine ; for we do not by the addition of potash repro- duce a blue substance; whereas from pernitrate of mercury, the oxide is precipitated possessing its original colour. It may be supposed that the solution of ultramarine in acid is . attended with the evolution of oxygen, and consequent loss of colour; but in this case one of three things would happen; first, that oxygen would be evolved in the state of gas; as when peroxide of manganese is heated in sulphuric acid; secondly, that carbonic acid would be formed and evolved with efferves- cence, as when peroxide of manganese is decomposed and dis- solved by binoxalate of potash; or, thirdly, that when put into muriatic acid, chlorine would be evolved ; the fact, however, is, that no one of these circumstances occurs. -` [ho k On the other hand, it is possible that the peculiar colouring matter of the ultramarine may acquire oxygen during solution, and thus lose its usual appearance; to this, however, there is one experiment in direct opposition ; viz. that sulphurous acid which readily absorbs oxygen, but does not impart it, destroys the colour of ultramarine as completely as nitric acid, which might be supposed to oxidize it. Aip” When nitric acid is added to ultramatine, the colour is quickly destroyed, and a slight smell of sulphuretted hydrogen is New Series, voL. VI. D 94 Mr. R. Phillips on Ultramarine. Hury, ptible; it might, therefore, be supposed that the colouring matter is the sulphuret of some peculiar metal. To try whether the colour could, upon this supposition, be reproduced, I added sulphuretted hydrogen both to the solution and the colourless resi- duum, but no restoration of colour was effected by this orany other mode which I could devise. "The only remaining supposition with utm to the metallic nature of this colour to which i shallallude, is the possibility that it may be in the metallic state. "This, however, can hardly be the case, for if the colour be lost by oxidation, then when acetic acid produces the effect, hydrogen must be evolved from the decomposition of water ; but this does not occur. . Although it is possible, as M. Thenard has stated, that colour- less bodies may, by combining, form a coloured compound, I confess I rather incline to the opinion, that lapis lazuli owes its colour to a peculiar non-metallic substance; and I recommend the subject as worthy of the attention of chemists. ! I shall now briefly state the methods of detecting various sub- stances, which may possibly be employed for adulterating ultra- marine. Although we may almost venture to pronounce ultramarine to be genuine, which, in a few minutes, Iun its colour when put into an acid, leaving insoluble matter ofa dirty-white colour, and affording a colourless solution, I shall apasi pi AO mention certain bodies which it is probable may be mixed. with ultramarine, and the methods by which they may be detected. Blue Verditer.—If this carbonate of copper be mixed with ultramarine, it may be ascertained by heating the suspected colour on a piece of silver or platina foil in a spirit lamp. If there be any verditer present, the mixture will become almost immediately greenish, and eventually black. The degree of alteration of colour will of course depend upon that of the adul- teration. : | | Genuine ultramarine loses its colour totally by being put into an acid, no effervescence is excited, a deposit remains of dirty- white colour, and a colourless solution is obtained which gives only a slight and colourless precipitate with ammonia; so that verditer, or any other cupreous compound, may also be detected by putting the colour into an acid. Ifa blue or green solution be obtained, and if ammonia added to it in excess gives a deep- blue solution, or if a drop of the acid solution leave a deposit of copper upon iron, it follows that some preparation of copper was present; and if the admixture of verditer be considerable, the evolution of carbonic acid will be evident. Prussian Blue.—Genuine ultramarine suffers no change of colour by being heated, but if it contain prussian blue, its colour will be much darkened by heat; if also the genuine colour be boiled in a solution of potash, its intensity and brilliancy is rather increased than diminished ; but if it contàin any admix- ture. of prussian blue, the colour will become browner, and the 1823.]: On the Geology of. Devon and Cornwall. 35. solution, if not too strongly alkaline, will afford a blue precipi- tate when added to a solution of iron. TH $ is _ Indigo.—This: substance when heated in a spirit lamp readily rises. in-the state of purple vapour. Sulphuric acid, even in its concentrated state, does not. destroy its colour, and, therefore, the presence ofindigo is very readily ascertained. age Smalts.—The colour of smalts resembles that of ultramarine im resisting the action of heat; but as it is not destroyed by any acid, and as the colouring matter of ultramarine is, any admix- ture of smalts will be easily discovered. | Colour prepared from Oxide of Cobalt and Alumina.—This compound, which greatly resembles ultramarine in appearance, although its colour. 1s not quite so bright and intense, may be distinguished. from it, by remaining unacted upon by acids pre- cisely like smalts. Heat does not readily change its colour, but if a. drop of solution of carbonate of potash, be added to it on platina foil in the flame of a. spirit-lamp, it is réadily blackened; an effect which is not produced upon ultramarine. "uet AnricLE VIII. On the Geology of Devon and Cornwall. By the Rev. J. J. Conybeare, MGS. (Continued from vol, v. p- 184.) Inferior Slate.—At and near its immediate contact with the granite appears as a somewhat indistinct and ill characterized gneiss, in some beds of which the felspar so predominates that they have been termed slaty felspar. Judging, however, from their less ready fusibility, from the large proportion of metallic oxides (iron and manganese) which they contain, and from the examination of many specimens from various quarters, we shall, I think, approach nearer to strict accuracy by regarding these as compact felspar intimately mixed with mica (or rather with chlorite) and quartz. To the geologist, who seeks the aid of mineralogy and of chemistry, bs ofthis intimate penetra- tion, of.one simple mineral by another (so, as in many cases, _to alter very, considerably the external and empirical charac- ters of that which yet predominates) must be familiar. Many subordinate beds of the earlier greenstone formation exhibit ‚every. stage of a similar phenomenon, and an accurate examina- tion would probably show, that most of the substances named petrosilex, corneenne, saussurite, jade, and even flinty slate, are in fact only admixtures of this nature, in which felspar varying from its more compact and semitransparent to its earthy and granular form, is uniformly and intimately penetrated by some D 36 Rev. J. J. Conybeare on the (Jury, variety or other of hornblende, of diallage, and occasionally per- haps of other minerals, which (as hypersthene) enter more spa- ringly into the composition of rock masses. Such admixtures can be properly studied only in those endless suites of specimens which nature herself preserves, and presents in situ. e sub- ject is an interesting one, and well deserves closer attention and investigation than it has yet met with. "The general character of the gueiss in question, the brownish purple colour by which it is almost every where distinguishable, its very limited extent, and its gradual passage into the common killas, have been sufficiently noticed by most recent observers. I do not recollect ever to have seen any mineral substances imbedded in its mass. It is of course traversed, like the adjacent rocks, by metallic and other veins. This passes, as is well known, by a rapid transition into the common killas or clayslate. Before entering on the consi- deration of this, by far the predominant form of stratified rock throughout the whole of the west, it may be well to notice two of its subordinate beds, or, perhaps, varieties, which, though much inferior in point of extent, yet present appearances much more clearly indicative of their mineral composition, and capa- ble, perhaps, of throwing some light on that of the common killas with which they are so closely associated. 1. Common chlorite slate. "This needs no further description, and I am not aware that it has ever been found to contain any other imbedded mineral than the garnet, specks of iron, and perhaps of copper pyrites. 2. A laminated rock, of a silvery grey colour, and micaceous aspect, exhibiting throughout its mass small patches of a darker tint, having the appearance of some imbedded mine- ral obscurely crystallized, and much intermixed with the slate containing it. These patches have been regarded as allied to grenatite, to hornblende, and to some other mineral species, but closer examination shows them (unless I be mistaken) to consist of a dark-grey chlorite minutely and confusedly crystallized. This variety of killas contains in the neighbourhood. of Camel- ford, where it may perhaps be most advantageously studied, small contemporaneous veins of crystalline felspar; and in one or two instances alternates with thin beds of compact felspar tinged by the admixture probably of chlorite ; a circumstance observable also in the killas of Wheal Maudlin ; and in that which succeeds the granite near Ivy Bridge; though, in these atter cases, it is possible that the penetrating matter may be hornblende.* But these varieties are, as I havestated, but of partial occur- rence and limited extent. The stratified rock of the mining district is almost universally the common killas. This rock, after much question (which your readers would scarcely wish to * I may here observe that the neighbourhood of Ivy Bridge offered by far. the most beautiful and characteristic specimens of compact felspar unaltered apparently by any mixture, which I ever met with in the west, Bog: / 1823.] Geology of Devon and Cornwall. 37 be recapitulated), as to its being a variety of greywacke, which, if that term has any definite meaning, it unquestionably is not, has been at last admitted on all: hands to. be genuine clayslate. But this appellation perhaps, after all, does not convey a much clearer notion of the real nature and constitution of the rocks included under it than the repudiated greywacke. An opinion on this subject (nearly identical, with that which has for many years been my own) is to be found in the very interesting Cata- logue Mineralogique of the Comte de Bournon: “ Les parties composantes qui entrent dans la substance du killas sont, le mica vert tres attenué nommée chlorite, le quartz, et le feldspath ; et les varietes qu'il presente dependent de la maniére dont ces trois parties se réunissent entr'elles." | (Bournon Cat. Min. 463.) . Mr. Hawkins, in a paper written evidently without the knowledge of C. Bournon's work (probably indeed from materials collected before its publication), appears to hold nearly the same view. ‘‘ There is much reason (he writes) to consider it (killas) as an intimate mixture of quartz with mica, talc, chlorite, and perhaps, in some instances, with felspar. We may trace the last in those varieties. of the slate which, in this country, are contiguous to the granite.* On the other hand, the talcose ingredient of this mixture is more conspicuous in the varieties which occur at a distance from that rock." If that, which I cannot but suspect to obtain as a general law (see Annals, vol. v. p. 189); namely, that stratified rocks are in their mineralogical composition only varieties of the crystalline masses with which they are most largely and closely associated, be admitted, we shall have difficulty in recognising in the numerous elvans by which it is traversed, the crystalline analogue. of the killas. . The substance occasionally termed clay- stcne,} might perhaps afford a link in the series connecting the two extremes. At all events, that term, as well as clayslate, has been very vaguely applied, and is in itself ambiguous. A ready means of detecting the mineralogical constituents of these and the like obscure aggregates (if we admit them to be such), would be among the most valuable services which chemistry could render to geology. | | It may be added that the inferior slate occasionally exhibits very remarkable instances of curvature and contortion. The coast of St. Agnes, a spot highly interesting both for the mine- ralogist and geologist, will afford more than one example. * This restriction is not universally borne out by facts: it should rather have been stated, that ** we may trace the last more abundantly.” The passages connected with, and following those which I have adduced, well deserve the attention of the geologist. “There are some statements in the preceding half of the same paper which Mr. Hawkins himself, on recurring to the advances made in geological science since the period at which his materials appear chiefly to have been collected, would probably be the first to cancel or to modify. See especially p. 6. + A rock of this character is found associated with the chloritic, though it seems more common in the amphibolic series. ! 38 | Mr. Brooke on the. [Jurv, These, however, are by no means so numerous or striking as those afforded by the greywacke of North Devon, a circum- stance apparently adverse to the theory which would attribute these singular configurations to the agency of heat ; for we might certainly expect that the killas, which is easily affected by that ent, near as it is to the central granite, and traversed in all directions by various dykes and veins, would have exhibited more frequent traces of this nature than the refractory and unbending sandstones. But this is a question of mere hypo- thesis. This portion of the inferior slate does not (so far as my knowledge extends) contain any imbedded minerals; near Camelford, and at some other spots, 1 have observed in it small contemporaneous veins or nests (vugs, as they are provincially termed) of crystallized felspar and chlorite. Most of its varieties are readily fusible. 4 l (To be continued.) ARTICLE IX, | On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. By H. J. Brooke, Esq. FRS. (Continued from vol, v. p. 452.) Ix. my last communication I noticed the irregularity that frequently occurs in the forms of crystals, whether. natural or produced by art, occasioned by an enlargement of some of the lanes, and a consequent comparative diminution of others. This irregular character may be said to be almost general, and .very frequently might lead to an erroneous determination of the true forms of crystals, if we do not attend sufficiently to the positions of their planes, to their cleavages, and to the measure- ments of their angles. Another circumstance will also tend to mislead us with regard to the forms of crystals, when compared with the drawings by which they are represented : this is the manner of their attachment to the mass to which they are united; sometimes they are attached by a lateral edge or plane of the figure exhibited in the drawing, and sometimes by the upper summit ; in which latter case, the crystal would appear to be inverted, and the order of the lateral planes of several of the classes of prisms, when observed from left to right, would be reversed. | The measurement of corresponding planes on different crys- tals will frequently differ more than half a degree, and may occa- ` sion a difficulty in determining particular planes by measurement, when they meet at nearly the same angle. The angles given here aregenerally the mean of a considerable number of measurements. 1823.] Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. 39 | | Acetate of Soda. | The primary form deduced from cleavage is an oblique rhom- bic prism, the cleavages being parallel to the íi planes P, M, and M^, of the annexed figure. Some or all of the secondary planes on that : figure occur on many of the crystals. On some crystals only the planes k, or k and f, accompany. the primary planes, and on others only the planes a and g, with the addition sometimes of the planes A. All the planes except f have been mea- sured by the reflective goniometer. | P on M or M’. ...,,... 104° 257. P on f. sivas da Me ens 136 nearly Pon detec boe- rainira 109/335 M on M’ isit. solussa 8A 30 M on bodeseces esos vid9d::48 M on A od .* @eeeres eee 132 15 MON ginseng as o onc moO poe M on gi videa 12a vd» 195 vibo . Acetate of Zine. The crystals are very thin, flexible, and soft, and fissile parallel to P, but do not af- st ford any other measurable cleavage planes. . The primary form indicated by the natural planes of the crystals is an oblique rhombic prism, measuring as follows : ABEE., AIREAREN rin 67 24 P ouh, ij. ahatea RA PO EP OERLE A F; 00.00 E OnE Loss apad ain Meo OR P on gy OF g' «52... 75.90 at Binacetate of Copper. The primary form developed by cleavage is an oblique rhombic prism, the cleavages being parallel to the planes P, M, and M’, of the subjoined figure; the secondary planes c and g are the only ones I have observed on the crystals, which are some- times produced in pairs, and united by the planes c, in such a manner as to exhibit a- second entire plane P, joined by an acute angle to the lower acute angle of that which - 40 Mr. Brooke on the [Juny, is exhibited in front of the figure, but inverted in its position so as to be terminated at its lower extremity by the planes g and c. P on M, or M'/,....... 105° 30’ M on M^ Liucodisg ss 5-00 Ion c0, . di uS, oss 319004 Pong,org'.......... 131 45 The planes M and M' are generally curved, and the cleavage planes parallel to these partake also of the same character. Sulphate of Magnesia. The primary form of this substance has been given by the Abbé Haüy as a right prism with a square base... But from the measurement of several crystals, and from | the character of the secondary forms. of some of those, the primary may-be regarded as a right prism with a rhombic base, whose angles are 90° 30’ and 89° 30’. D have found only one cleavage, which is parallel to the short diagonal of the prism, ` and consequently to the plane% of the accom- panying figures. ig. l represents a crystal of a form which frequently occurs, and of which the following are the measurements : | M on MW’... ee 909. 30 Mon bu. ue. .. 134 45 M oné fose... +4 WRO «0p @ona’. ........ 120 nearly Fig. 2 represents a form under which the crystals also frequently appear. (n this form, only two of the four planes e are seen : on each summit, and alternating in position as shown in the figure. On some of the crystals, however, which resemble this figure, the two other planes e may be perceived, but they are very minute. ! Tartrate of. Potash and Antimony— Emetic Tartar. The general character of the crystals of this compound is that of an octahedron with a rhombic base. I cannot discover more than one distinct cleavage, which is parallel to the plane a of the accompanying figure. The fol wide are the nearest to coinciding measurements taken on several crystals: 1823.] . . Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. 41 Pon P^, 2. sce uiii 108716" P over the edge on . the left. spesse. ce 104. 15 PORA ova ves died 166 40 P ong ............ 165 40 nearly aon P, or P. .,,550:192.;700 GAONY ....ocooovvooo 90 00 The planes x and y are generally striated, and afford imperfect reflections; and the crystals are frequently elongated in the direction of one of the edges of the base, so that the plane P terminates in an edge instead of a point, an irregularity of figure common to all the classes of octahedrons. Sulphate of Potash and Magnesia. I have not found any cleavage of these . crystals, but the predominating form, and which may be regarded as the pri- mary, is an oblique rhombic prism, modi- fied by the planes c, e, and h, and measur- ing as follows : L on M, or M/ ...... 102° 207 DEOR AT I an an TOS A POM es) ose cess TEC, 45 .... 154 30 (ren LUO: LD Ferroprussiate of Potash. The crystals are soft, flexible, and very fissile parallel to the plane P of the an- nexed figure, and there is not any distinct cleavage that I have been able to perceive in any other direction. There are, how- ever, in some crystals, apparent natural joints parallel to the planes P of this figure ; these would give an octahedron for the primary form, which, from the angles of the secondary planes, is found to have a square base. The most distinct measurements are the Pome vias) aiii, of 1329790: P orditonae. i04 oo PRE SO d om. airis i. hk 3519/9 90: j miona. SUL ev. ess. 90 0 FOR Cee Sk QUUD! 90 0 42 On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. — (Jury; - Bicarbonate of Potash. The primary form of this substance is a right oblique-angled prism, which is not readily traced in the secondary erystals, but may be derived from cleavage, and is shown. ...... - in fig. 1. There is also a cleavage parallel. . .. gigi to a plane passing through the diagonals. . M marked on the terminal planes. eno FEES ——= P'on M, or T 5 ote Gi 90° 00’ : M onthe diagonal plane’ 53 15 ` |m T i| MuorT,......421.n., 209::95 - The planes which appear on the crystals are od sem ot in fig 2 but the planes e ue i are sometimes very disproportionately ex- WW tended, so as nearly to efface T and 7 iv- Fig ing to the crystals the character of another primary form. g . The planes T do not commonly occur on the crystals, and without these they nearly resemble a secondary form of the right ^. rhombic prism; they may, however, be dis- tinguished by the unequal inclination of M on the two adjacent planes. On cleaving or Otherwise bfeakihg the crystal, water may be observed between the lamine, which probably: occa- sions the measurements on the cleavage planes not accurately to agree. This is also the case with many other of the factitious salts. M on plane parallel to f ........ 127° 35’ M on e ..425:65$ anean vases? 120 465 Tne... esaea) Kr OLEI ote 156 |. 50 T 00 f. scc n Rex R docs e [4M DIE feo qoe QA ARAME NERA? ober 105. 40 Eon d. oon EOY T o rol. | HO d ond. fa} 00.5.0 sono Me ME A Cyanuret of Mercury. TA: I have received for examination from Mr. Cooper, of Lambeth, some crystals obtained from oil of bitter almonds by digesting it with red oxide of mercury. Mr. C. has also supplied me with some crystals of cyanuret of mercury, procured in the ordinary way by boiling the red oxide with prussian blue. The crystals derived from both of these sources correspond perfectly 1n their crystalline forms. I have not succeeded in cleaving them, but from their measurements and modifications, a right square prism may be regarded as the primary form. 1893.] — . Col. Beaufoy's Astronomical Observations. 43 Fig. 1 represents the prism with the mo- difying planes which I have observed on two or three crystals, and on these only, out of a considerable number that I have examined. Their general form is that shown in fig. 2, in which two of the planes a alternately efface all the other terminal planes at the two extremities of the prism. “There are also many crystals which nearly resemble fig. 2, but in which the planes a and a” are . visible, although very minute. "This irregu- larity of form is: of the same character as has been already noticed as belonging to sul- phate of magnesia. The measured angles are as follows : dum res l \ een ee, Se ee Oe comet @eeenveeeaed. 132. 45 -anM | dens Aci o e aeui d age i dr of MORI Fen 95002, do crise] wert onl a, SeS o nocapipaopy ibis ARTICLE X. Astronomical Observations, 1823. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS. Bushey Heath, near Stanmore. Latitude 51° 37’ 44:3” North, Longitude West in time 1’ 90-93", May 18. Emersionof B1 Leonis from the moon. ;....... 138/41’ 18” Siderial Time. 44 — On the Combustion of Tallow, Fixed Oils, &. — [Jvrv, ARTICLE XI. On the slow Combustion of Tallow, Fixed Oils, and Waz. By Mr. C. J. B. Williams. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR, ; Edinburgh, May 1, 1823. Permit me to draw the attention of your chemical readers to a phenomenon (hitherto, I believe, unnoticed), illustrating the slow combustion of the inflammable gas or vapour, produced by the decomposition of oleaginous matter by heat. It may be manifested in the following manner: Extinguish the flame of a candle or lamp by blowing on it, having previously supplied the wick freely witli tallow to increase the size of the flame, and to prevent any portion of the wick from remaining in a state of open combustion, If this experiment be made in a room secluded from every other source of light, a distinct phospho- rescence on the surface of the wick. will be perceived during several seconds, brighter in proportion to the size of the flame . before being extinguished ; hence itis most obvious with a long wick, provided no spark be left on it. This combustion, which I consider analogous to that of the vapour of ether, by the aid of a platinum wire, is likewise attended with the production of a pungent acid vapour. Ofthe nature of this, I have had neither time nor opportunity to ascer- tain any thing. It is probably, as in the case just alluded to, merely a modification of the acetic acid ; but since the odour differs considerably from that of the lampic acid, it might be of sufficient importance to merit an investigation. I have ascertained that a similar phenomenon occurs when fixed oils or wax are projected in small quantities on a plate of metal heated jac n below redness ; and from some expe- riments I am inclined to believe that this modification of coin- bustion takes place in most cases where these substances are heated to ebullition in free contact with the air. - I have submitted the result of my observations on this subject in this imperfect state; as a long time might elapse before I could be enabled to extend them further, and in the expectation of seeing them prosecuted in abler hands. I am, Sir, with respect, yours, &c. | CHARLES J. B. WILLIAMS. 1823.] Analyses of Books. 45 ARrTICLE XII. ANALYSES oF Books. Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, pr. Vol. LI. 1892. mA ! (Concluded from. vol. v. p. 300.) The third order of veins described by Mr. Carne is that of true veins, which consist of the following classes, enumerated in the order of their relative ages, as determined by the principle of intersection: ` ` | UL (J'eogdermri 1. The oldest tin lodes; 2. The more recent tin lodes; 3. The oldest east and west copper lodés ; 4. The contra copper lodes ; 5. Cross courses; 6. The more recent copper lodes; 7. The cross flukans; 8. The slides. ` i fog if T * [n describing the contemporaneous veins,” he: observes, *€some were mentioned as occurring in the veinstones of other veins. There are also metallic veins which may be denominated ‘veins within veins." | These comprise black and grey silver ore, _ with native silver, in the copper lode of Huel Ann; wood-like and common tinstone in quartz and tinstone, the latter crossing the veinstones of the lodes ; various ores of copper, in the quartz veinstones of Huel Carpenter, Huel Neptune, Huel Damsel, &c.; woodlike oxide of iron, in brown ironstone, at Botallack and Boscagel Downs; fibrous oxide of iron, in quartz, and veins of carbonate of iron at Huel Jubilee ; and minute veins of native bismuth, in coarse red jasper, at Botallack. ) Some remarks on the geological constitution of that part of Cornwall in which most of the veins described are found, and on the number and variety of the veins themselves, terminate the paper. After saying, “ the claim of the granite which forms the chain extending from the Land’s End to Brown-willy, has rarely, if ever, been seriously disputed;" and adverting to the supposi- tion that St. Michael's Mount is transition granite, Mr. Carne continues : l 33 * The claims of the clayslate, however, have of late: been dis- uted, and it has been called transition slate, and greywacke slate, by geologists whose authority certainly carries considera- ble weight: but by what rules are we to distinguish primitive from transition slate ? In its structure, the clayslate of Cornwall appears, in general, perfectly homogeneous. It contains no impressions of any kind. Some of the oldest metals have been found in it, viz. oxide of tin, wolfram, and mispickel; these have been discovered iv the slate; and they have also been found, together with sulphuret of tin, native bismuth, and oxide of uranium, in the veins which intersect it. Some of the oldest 46 Analyses of Books. [Jurv; minerals have also been found in it; viz. axinite, garnet, topaz, &c. Are not these some of the strongest marks of a primitive rock? Some specimens.of it were sent by a member of our Society to Werner, who recognized in them the clayslate of Saxony. aa Des That greywacke exists, and abounds in some parts of Corn- wall, will not be denied; but 1 apprehend it is not to be found, mee in small and scattered portions, in that part in which nearly all the tin and copper mines are wrought. It appears to commence near Grampound, and to’ extend westward about three miles from Truro: how far southward, I have not been able to ascertain. Its extent northward in mass is probably not from Truro; but it is found in bunches as far as ems and Tintagel Castle. Near the former place, it is highly characte- rized; and at Tintagel impressions have been found.in it, The lead veins of. the Garres, and. those. of Pentire. Glaze, and the vein of antimony at Huel Boys, are probably in greywacke ; but I have never seen either copper or tin in greywacke, nor am I aware of any tin veins which intersect it." VI. Observations. on the Submersion of Part of the Mounts , and on the -Inundation of Marine Sand on the north Coast of Cornwall, . By Henry Boase, Esq. Treasurer GSC. In this paper, Mr. Boase first examines and refutes the tradi- tion handed down by the historians of Cornwall, respecting the submersion of the country called Lionnesse: he then discusses that which relates to an irruption of the sea over a tract of low woodland, now forming the northern part of the Mount's Bay, showing that it is strongly corroborated by the geological ade cations of the. district; and he concludes with an account of the overwhelming at an unknown period, by an immense inundation of sea-sand, of a considerable tract of cultivated land on the northern coast of the county. hieu VH. On the Nomenclature of the Cornish Rocks. By John Hawkins, Esq. FRS. &c. Hon. MGSC. . 4a ts: iv This communication commences. with some remarks on the benefits conferred by Werner on the sciences of geology and mineralogy, which are sueceeded by observations on the use of the term greywacke, in which the author suggests that the sub- stance so denominated: should be: considered only as a subordi- nate formation to clayslate. The characteristic stp given by Werner to some of the specimens in a collection of the principal Cornish rocks, transmitted to him by Mr. Hawkins, form the next subjects of the paper, and it terminates with some reflections arising from the cousideration of them. à | | VIH. On the Temperature of Mines. . By John Forbes, MD. Hon. Mem. and.late Sec. GSC.. . ' | | IX. Observations on the Hornblende Formation in the Parish of St. Clere. By the Rev. John Rogers, MGSC. | 1823.] | Geological Teüieniétiànscof Gakuvall, Vol. II. 47 . The local details of which this paper consists are not suscep- tible of abridgment; but it contains the following analysis of the serpentine of Clickertor, by the late Mr. Gregor, which, we believe, has not hitherto been given to the public: | A j Silex. BENOS ERR COSME A RAP Vic HN Dy < NEC Le due SALUS is dap lise tune A. 3 Alumina, LLENO M* 24** yn HoH AI eeeee P4 | MBs did udo Mida viia ARO £d 0 “X. On the: Phenomena of: Intersected Lodes, and the. legitimate Inferences which may be drawn from them; and lon palo: “XL. On the Intersection.of: Lodes in the Direction of their. Dip or Underlie. By John Hawkins, Esq. FRS. &c. Hon. MGSC.. These interesting papers cannot usefully be epitomized... XII. On the Geology of the Land’s End District... By John Forbes, MD. Hon. Mem. and late Sec. GSC. vies We have only room for a brief general sketch of the subject of this memoir, —the physical structure of that portion of Cornwall situated to the westward of a.lme drawn: from the seins of Hayle, on the north coast, to: Cuddan Point on the south, which Dr.: Forbes calls, for the sake of distinction, the Land’s End district. “The geological structure of this. district," he observes, *may be said to be very simple, inasmuch as it includes but a small number of rocks, and as the various rela- tions of these to each other are very similar and readily disco- verable. The main body ofthe districtis granite, —a rock which indeed constitutes nine-tenths of the whole. On the edges of the granite, in different points of the coast, reposes a certain assemblage of rocks, which, from their intimate relations, ob- viously constitute one formation. These rocks I shall take. the liberty of naming in this paper the slate formation ; a term which answers exactly to the killas country of the miners and farmers in this part of the county. .Generally speaking then, this dis- trict consists of two, and only two formations ; the granite form- ation, and the slate formation; very dissimilar in appearance, and indeed very distinct in all their characters ; although, as will hereafter be more particularly noticed, in. all probability of con- temporaneous origin.” ad 7 “ The granite, generally speaking, is: /arge-grained, and very frequently possesses that particular arrangement of the crystals of felspar that entitles it to the epithet porphyritic...This cha- racter may indeed be said to be almost universal, and is exem- plified in the pillars of almost every field gate...,.:..Almost the ` only foreign ingredient (with the exception of the metallic ores in the neighbourhood: of some veins and floors of tinstone), con- 48 Analyses of Books. ^^ ` [Jurv, tained in the pans of this district is shorl. This occurs in great plenty. one spot, on the coast near Cape Cornwall, of several hundred yards in extent, this mineral forms so consider- able a proportion of the rock, as to give it quite a new aspect, and has indeed procured it from geologists icis pellation, viz. shorl-rock . . . . . The locality now mentioned, aud the cele- brated Roach Rock, in the neighbourhood of Bodmin, are the only places in Cornwall where I have heard of this modification of granite being found in mass. In the form of veins, indeed, traversing both the granite and slate at their junction, it is very common." ! The slate formation, “is much more complicated than the last, and affords much ier scope for geological research. It comprehends, as far as I have been able to ascertain, five distinct rocks. These are clayslate, hornblende rock, greenstone, com- pact felspar, and slaty felspar.......By felspar rock, I mean a rock of small granular structure, consisting, apparently, princi- pally, or almost wholly, of felspar. By slaty felspar, I mean a rock apparently of the same composition, or only with the addi- tion of a very small portion of mica, with a. distinct slaty frac- ture. These five rocks, constituting the assemblage to which I have given the name of the slate formation, occur in beds of various magnitude, alternating with each other; but with one very small exception, I have uniformly found the slaty felspar rock in immediate contact with the granite ; and I think it not improbable that in proportion as we recede from this central rock, we shall find the slaty felspar become less frequent, and be finally superseded by some of the varieties of Eyiik jr eue « The rock which I have named compact felspar, which consists rincipally, I believe, of compact felspar with a little quartz, I - | gm so named in deference to my excellent and learned friend Prof. Jameson : it may, however, be considered as a variety of enstone. The only difference between it and common green- stone, is its containing a more minute portion of hornblende, and being, consequently, ofa lighter colour than that roek generally is." .. .. . -The author has presented to the Society specimens of every rock which he has described. XIII. An Account of the Alluvial Depositions at Sandrycock. By the late Philip Rashleigh, Esq.* The alluvial beds described in this communication are very similar to those at the stream-work of Poth, of which an account was long since given by Mr. Rashleigh, at the end of his work entitled ‘f Specimens of British Minerals." XIV. Observations on the Alluvial Strata at Poth, Sandrycock, eser pan By John Hawkins, Esq. FRS. &c. Kon. Midin. GSC. These observations will not admit of profitable abridgment. * Prawn up in 1797, and communicated by John Hawkins, Esq. Sept. 1819. 1893.] Geological Transactions of. Cornwall, Vol. IT. . 49 XV. On the Mineral Productions, and the. Geology uf the: Parish of St. Just. ‘By Joseph Carne, Esq. FRS. &c. MGSC. The space to which our analysis must be confined obliges us to pass over Mr. Carne’s enumeration of the minerals which have been discevered in this district, together. with the greater part of his description of the peculiar geological facts observed in it : the only sections of the latter for which we have room are the following : NI | ' fo. oli « Floors, or Horizontai Beds.—St. Just abounds in floors of tin, more than any other part of Cornwall. _ In that part of the tenement of Trewellard which is in a slate country, some tin floors have been wrought near the sur- face ; the deepest is only seven fathoms below it: they were from one to two feet in thickness, and perhaps twenty feet in diameter ;* they occurred at the junction of several tinlodes. | In Huel St. Just, a mass of tin ore, of a very singular nature; was discovered some years ago, which appears to belong to the floor formation, It first appeared at the depth of 17 fathoms under the sea, and has been followed downwards about 10 fathoms. It was seven or eight feet in diameter.. At the top, it was on the south-western side of the tin lode; but it inclined. in a very small degree, until it was almost wholly on the north- eastern side of the lode. . The cavity in which xt was found, had. the appearance (after the tin was taken away) of a large under-. lying shaft, closed at the top. The most remarkable circums stance, however, relates to the state in which the tin ore was found ; instead of being in a solid body, as is usual in floors, it . appeared (as the miners termed it, from whom I received the account) like a heap of atte, or rubbish ; just as if it had been ` thrown in that. state into the cavity. The fragments were not rounded, but had all the appearance of the broken tinstone, which is generally seen on the surface of tin mines. The top of this mass of ore was about three feet below .the granite top of the cavity, as if it had sunk by contraction or pressure. One ofthe. miners told me.that he found sufficient space between the gra- nite covering and the ore, to sit upright on the latter. In its posent deepest part, it is not so wide as it was at a higher level ; ut itis more compact. The tin ore, as raised from this cavity, contained, according to the miners’ mode of calculation, from 700 to 1000 of tin to every 100 sacks. This floor, although of far greater thickness than any other which has yet been disco- vered, does not appear to be the result of the union of several lodes, for no such union takes place near it. Only one lode has been found connected with it, which, although perfectly distinct in the granite, both south-east and north-west of the floor, appears to lose its individual-character, and to form one * “Tt must not be supposed from this description that the floors are round: ‘on the „Contrary, they are frequently very irregular, but their surface is about as large as would be comprised in a circle of 20 feet diameter.” - ew Series, VOL, vi. E - 50 ! Analyses of Books. wie DEM, body with it at the meeting. The floor, therefore, probably belongs to the same formation as the lode," . | * Botallack is, however, the principal locality of the floors. Here they have been discovered, first, in slate. There is only one floor wholly in slate, which is 36 fathoms under the sea. It is about a foot thick, and occupies the space between a side lode and a oc gane master lode, which is from 12 to 18 feet. No junction of lodes takes place at this spot. They occur, secondly, between the slate and the granite. Here, in a part of the mine called the Bunny, the principal floors have been found. The highest floor was so shallow as to be level with the surface, and tradition reports it to have been discovered by some of the tinstone having been kicked up by horses going over it: to this succeeded a floor of the country from one to three feet thiek : then followed a second floor of tin, under which was found another floor of the country ; and in this manner no less than seven floors of tin succeeded each other: the thickness of each was from six to twelve feet ; some of them were full forty feet in diameter, but in general they were not so large. The country between the floors was generally slate, although they occurred just at the junction of the slate and the granite. At this spot there is a union of several lodes. It is singular that one of the marks by which the miners knew they were approaching a floor of tin, was their meeting with a floor of tourmaline, to use their own expression, * the cockle rode on the tin.’ Wherever they discovered the tourmaline, they were confident of finding a floor of tin under it. The tourmaline was accompanied by chalcedony, and I have seen veins of. chalcedony running through it. Thirdly, in granite. In another part of Botallack, there are no less than 10 floors of tin, each as large as a space of about 30 feet square, succeeding each other in the same way as those which have been already described. The first was-very little below the surface: the last is about 36 fathoms deep : they are from six to twelve feet thick. The agents of Botallack have assured me, that although these floors appear to be connected with one.of the tin lodes, there is no junction of lodes in the space where they occur. In other parts of this mine, solitary oors have been found at different depths, on one of which, at 22 fathoms under the surface, the miners are now at work. 1t is about nine feet in diameter, and nearly round. "They have seen its extent, and have found the country both above and below it (for it is quite horizontal) to consist of a very hard gra- nite rock.” RI cu adi * These floors have generally been regarded as the result of the union of several lodes. This, however, is cutting a knot which is.not easy to untie. As some floors have been discovered where no union of lodes has taken place, such a union does not dppear absolutely necessary to their formation. In the case of a single floor of tin, not larger than. those which have been 1823.] Geological Transactions of Cornwall, Vol. II. Mo described, its formation may, perhaps, be accounted for on the same principles as the formation of all true veins ; but where there is a succession of floors, if junctions of lodes could be satisfactorily shown at every point where they occur, it would give us little assistance in forming a theory of their formation; We have been accustomed. to consider. the contents of the tin lodes as of posterior formation to the rocks which contain them ; but here is a succession of beds, all of them connected with tin lodes: (for they are always found on one or both sides of tin lodes, to which, when they are not quite close, ra À are united by a small branch), and yet alternating with the rocks of the country, which are supposed to be older than the tin lodes. It is not sur- prising that the practical miner troubles himself little respecting the theory of the formation of the metalliferous bodies which he may discover; but it is indeed extraordinary (as Mr. Hawkins has observed in his paper on tin floors), that in à district where so large a quantity of tin has been found in floors, there is not more diligence and perseverance evinced in searching for those deposits.” | Formation of Sandstone.—In Pendeen Cove, which forms the northern boundary of this parish, the sand consists princi- pally of comminuted shells, mixed with particles of slate, and of thé constituent parts of granite. The cliff which bounds the cove is rather precipitous, and in one part consists of large frag- ‘ments of granite imbedded in clay.and earth. The interstices of this cliff are filled with sand (probably blown there from the beach by high winds); which is exposed to the percolation of water holding in ‘solution the oxide of iron, whose cementing property is. well known. The sand is thus gradually becoming stone, and in some parts of the cliff it has already acquired con- siderable hardness."* : * In the Cliff near Little Bounds Mine, the same operation . a going forward, but the sand is more granitic than at Penden ove.” XVI. On the Knowledge and Commerce of Tin among ancient Nations. By the Rev. Samuel Greatheed. (Communicated by John Dennis, Esq. MGSC.) | This paper is entirely archeological. XVII. On the Geology: of St. Michael's Mount. By John Forbes, MD. &c. We can only quote some concluding passages of this commu nication : * Much has been said respecting the relative age of different anitic rocks in different countries, and among others, respect- ing that of St. Michael's Mount, which has by some late writers _.* ** As this sand appears in some cases to extend further than the face or the inter- stices of the cliff, some have supposed a body of it to have covered the ancient surface, ——— the means of high winds, or other causes, before the superincumbent mass of elay ar ES ! pon £A E? 52 7 Analyses of Books, (Jur, been stated to be of that class of rocks denominated transitiow by the Wernerian School. .Of the existence any where of a lass of rocks entitled to this name, I have great doubt ; of the peni a of considering the granite of St. Michael's Mount. as of a different age and formation from that of the rest of Corn- wall, I have no doubt whatever; and the appearances adduced by some writers as indicating posterior formation, are either imaginary or fallacious, or are common in other parts of the eountry, which are considered by these very geologists as primi- tive. Although the existence of strata of slate dipping under ite, and of beds or strata of granite resting on, and alternat- ing with, slate, would not be a decisive ees in my estimation, that one of those rocks was formed before the other; it is but justice to state that the accounts which describe such alterna- tions as occurring at St. Michael's Mount, are totally erroneous; and I have no hesitation in saying, that there is no instance to be: found in the whole of the Land's End district, where any thing like a bed of granite is found resting on slate. I may here notice a circumstance that may tend to throw some light on the veined structure of St. Michael's Mount, that it shares this character with several other spots on these shores, where the main body of the granite is in contact with the slaty rocks.: This is more especially remarkable at. Polmear, in Zen- nor ; and in the neighbourhood of the Logan Rock. Indeed, I consider these quartz veins, and the true shorl rock veins men-: tioned in a former paper, as mere varieties of the same sub- stance." i XVIII. On some Instances of the alternate Disposition of the primitive Strata which have been observed in Cornwall. By John Hawkins, Esq. FRS. &c. This article relates to an apparent alternation of granite and clayslate observed in several mines near the line of junction of those rocks, which has already been described in Mr. Thomas’s Survey of the Mining District of the County ; as well, we believe; as in other publications. | XIX. On the Tin Ore of Botallack and Levant. By Henry 8. Boase, MD. Sec. GSC. | The processes of dressing and smelting the mixed tin and copper ores of Botallack and Levant, as described by Dr. Boase, present nothing remarkable, nor are his explanation and sugges- tions for the improvement of them possessed of greater interest, though calculated to be highly useful to those persons, practically engaged in such concerns, who are unacquainted with chemistry. The paper contains, however, the following interesting account of a specimen of tin pyrites, from a new locality: | f Here I would / neos for a moment to notice a ver interesting. discovery, accidentally made, of tin pyrites, which has been no where found, I tele except at Huel Rock, in St. Agnes ; Slenna-gwyn, in St. Stephens; and. Huel Scorier, 1823.]. Geological Transactions of Cornwall, Vol. II. 53 in Gwennap. I had desired a workman employed at the stamp- ing-mill inta burning-house at Botherris, to send me three speci- mens of tin ore containing copper, one of which I found to be an aggregation of yellow copper ore and tinstone ; another of grey copper ore and tinstone; but the third, to my great sur- rise, had a compact uniform structure, perfectly homogeneous in appearance, resembling tin pyrites in allits external characters ; and on comparing it with the specimens in our cabinet, it agreed in every respect, except that its colour was a little lighter, with rather more of metallic lustre. To determine its nature with greater certainty, this substance was submitted to the following experiments : When exposed to a red heat in a covered crucible, it lost weight, and sulphur was sublimed: calcined with free admission of air, sulphurous acid gas was evolved ; it increased in bulk ; changed to a dark-brown colour, and lost 15 per cent. in weight. In nitromuriatic acid it readily dissolved without the application of heat, and during solution, nitric oxide gas was dis- engaged. Intending subsequently a more accurate analysis, a rough one was performed after the method proposed by Klaproth. The result was, in 100 parts : | Copper itt diia gebe. 049.55 Sinead. glo TUK Daci de VAT due Dod duo . GORAU 28 bon; diraun baie FRY io. yiga X» DO fBülphuboiiio songs. odd with b » dodi 25 Silica, with a little alumina....:....... 7 hoss. gdu Basil; ob. 2 kpati dl, . . 3 100 The loss was probably occasioned. by some of the sulphur (during the solution of the mineral in the acid) escaping in the form of sulphuric acid gas. This analysis proves beyond doubt that the mineral was tin pyrites.” | Dr. Boase was unable to procure even another specimen of this mineral from Botallack ; but it appears that the one just described came from that part of the mine which is called Huel: Hazard. ! XX. On the Temperature of the Cornish Mines. ‘By M. P. Moyle, Esq. MGSC. XI. On the Serpentine District of Cornwall. By the Rev. John Rogers, MGSC. | a! This paper, like the former one by the same author, consists of local details unsusceptible of abbreviation: they are chiefly confined to some circumstances of the interesting district in question, which, Mr. Rogers states, have escaped the notice of b Majendie and of Prof, Sedgwick, in their respective surveys of it. : . A series of tables of the quantities of tin and copper raised in Cornwall in different years, those of the former metal com- 54 Analyses of Books. . [Jviv, mencing in the year 1750, and ending in 1821, and those of the latter beginning in 1771, and terminating in 1822, with several others of the quantities - of copper produced by the various mining districts of the kingdom from 1818 to 1892 ; a list of donations to the Society; and another of the minerals wanted to complete its cabinet, close the volume. B. —~— e Narrative of a Journey to the Shores o the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822. By John Franklin, Capt. RN. FRS. and Commander of the Expedition. With an "Appendix on various Subjects relating to Science and Natural History. Illustrated by numerous Plates and Maps. Pub- . lished by Authority of the Right Honourable the Earl Bathurst. (Concluded from vol. v. p. 387.) We intended, in the present article, to have given a minute analysis of the Appendix to Capt. Franklin’s Narrative ; omitting any notice of that narrative itself, on account of the numerous channels of general information through which the public either are or will be made acquainted with its con- tents. Such, however, is the variety and importance of the scientific information comprised in the Appendix, occupying two hundred and seventy closely printed quarto pages, that it would be impossible, within the space allotted to this depart- ment of the Annals, to give even the semblance of a detailed account of it.. The utmost we can do, therefore, is to present our readers with an enlarged table ofthe contents of this Appen- dix; and as we ihiserted two papers from it on the Aurora .. Borealis, in the commencement of the article, we will subjoin a few observations selected from several others ; in order that the reader may possess some satisfactory knowledge, of at least one of the subjects principally treated of, by the indefatigable tra- veller and his no less indefetigsM coadjutors. At some future opportunity, perhaps, we may transfer to our pages some further portions of their labours : b | The following are the contents of the Appendix in question : No. 1.—Geognostical Observations; by John Richardson, MD. and Surgeon to the Expedition. 41 pages. | No. 2,— Aurora Borealis. 9 pages ; including Capt. Franklin's General Remarks, and Lieut. Hood's Observations, given in the Annals for May ;—with An Account of the Aurora Borealis seen at Cumberland House between Oct. 23, 1819, and June 13, 1820, by the latter officer ;—and Observations on the Magnetic Needle at Cumberland House, from the beginning of Feb. to the end of May, 1820, by the same. No. 3.—Observations on‘the Aurora at Fort Entreprise; and Notices of the Appearances of the Aurora, at the same place ; both by Capt, Franklin :—Table of Observations on the Devia- 1823.] Capt. Franklin's Narrative of a Journey, Sc. 55 tions of the, Magnetic Needle, made at. Fort Entreprise, from Jan. 12 to April, 9, 1821 :—Ün the Aurora Borealis at Fort Entreprise; Appearances of the Aurora at the same place; and a Table of the Diurnal Variation of the Needle there; all by Lieut. Hood :—Remarks on the Aurora Borealis, by Dr. Richard- son. Inall79.pages. . No. 4.—Remarks and Tables connected, with Astronomical Observations; 17 pages: including, Three Tables of the Diurnal Variation ;—General Remarks on the Variation of Kater's Com- _ passes, observed during the Journey in North America, and along the Arctic Sea ;—Results of the Observations for Latitude, Longitude, and. Variation ;—Table of Observations on the Dip of the Magnetic Needle, between York Factory and Point Turn- again ;—Table of Observations on the Magnetic Force ;—Tables of Temperatures ;—General Tabular View of the Winds and Weather for One Year, . 1820, .1821;—Various Observations on the Passage to Hudson’s Bay. > . | No. 5.—Zoological Appendix; by J. Sabine, Esq. | 56 pages: —Quadrupeds ;—Birds. | No. 6.—Notices of the Fishes; by Dr. Richardson. 24 pages. No. 7.— Botanical Appendix ; by Dr. Richardson. 40 pages; mg 663 species of plants :—Addenda, by Robert Brown, -.We proceed to select some observations on the Aurora Borealis: the following are by Capt. Franklin; made at Fort . Entreprise, ia lat. 64° 28’ 24” N.; long. 113? 6 0" W.. |. .»** The. arches of the Aurora most commonly traverse the sky, nearly at right angles to the magnetic meridian, but the devia- tions from this direction were not rare; and 1 am inclined to consider, that these different positions of the Aurora have con- siderable influence upon the direction of the needle. When an arch was nearly at right angles to the magnetic meridian, the motion of the needle was towards the west; this westward motion was still greater when one extremity of an arch bore 301°, (or about 59° to the west of the magnetic north), that is, when the extremity of the arch approached from the west towards the magnetic north. A westerly motion also took place when the extremity of an arch was in the true north, or about 36° to the west of the magnetic north, but not in so great a degree as when its bearing was about 301°. A contrary effect was produced when the same end of an arch. originated to the southward of the magnetic west, viz. when it bore from about 245? to 234?; and, of course, when its opposite extremity approached nearer to the magnetic north. Inthese cases, I say, the motion of the needle was towards the east." | »“ In one instance -only, a complete arch was formed in the 56 Analyses of Books. — [Jvrv, magnetie meridian ; in another, the beam shot up from the m netic north to the zenith; and in both these cases, the need moved towards the west." . “ The needle was most disturbed on February 13 [1821], p. m. at a time when the Aurora was distinetly seen passing between a stratum of clouds and the earth, or at least illuminating the face of the clouds, opposed to the observer. "This and several other appearances, recorded in the accompanying notes, induced me to infer that the distance of the Aurora from the earth varied . on different nights, and produced a proportionate effect on the needle. When the light shone through a dense hazy atmosphere, when there was a halo round the moon, or when a small snow was falling, the disturbance was generally considerable; and on certain hazy cloudy nights, the needle frequently deviated in a considerable degree, although the Aurora was not visible at the time. Our observations do not enable us to decide whether this ought to be attributed to an Aurora concealed by a cloud or haze, or entirely to the state of the atmosphere. Similar devia- tions have been observed in the br ibm: both in a clear and cloudy state of the sky, but more frequently in the latter case. Upon one occasion, the Aurora was seen immediately after sun- set, while bright day-light was remaining." * A circumstance to which I attach some importance must not be omitted. Clouds have been sometimes observed during the day to assume the forms of the Aurora, and I am inclined to connect with the appearance of these elouds the deviations of the needle, which was occasionally remarked at sueh times.” * An. Aurora sometimes approached the zenith, without pro- ducing any change in the position of the needle, as was more generally the case, while at other times a considerable alteration took place, although the beams or arches did not come near the zenith. "The Aurora was frequently seen without producing any perceptible effect on the needle. At such times its appearance was that of an arch or an horizontal stream of dense yellowish light, with little or no internal motion.” | * The disturbance in the needle was not always proportionate to the agitation of the Aurora, but it was always greater when the quick motion and vivid light were observed to take place in a hazy atmosphere.” | « [n a few instances, the motion of the needle was observed to commence at the instant a beam darted upwards from the horizon. And its former position was more quickly or slowly regained according to circumstances. If an arch was formed immediately afterwards, having its extremities placed on op- posite sides of the magnetic north and south to the former one, the return of the needle was more speedy, and it generally went beyond the point from whence it first started." i * When the disturbance of the needle was considerable, it 1823] Capt. Franklin's Narrative of a Journey, &c. By seldom regained its usual position before three or four p.m. on the following day." ! | : ^ * On February 13, at 11^ 50" p. m., the needle had a quick vibratory motion between 343? 50’ and 344° 40’.. This is the only occasion on which a vibratory motion was observed." * The disturbances produced by the Aurora were so great, that no accurate deductions could be made respecting the diur-. nal variation." : «* I have not heard the noise ascribed to the Aurora, but the uniform testimony of the natives and of the residents in this country, induces me to believe that it is occasionally audi- ble. -The circumstance, however, must be of rare occurrence, as is evidenced by our having witnessed the Aurora upwards of. two hundred times without being able to attest the fact. I was almost inclined, last year, to suppose that unusual agita- tions of the Aurora were followed by storms of wind; but the more extended opportunities I enjoyed of observing it in 1821, at Fort Entreprise, have convinced me that no such inference ought to have been drawn.” -“ The Pith Ball Electrometer, which was placed in an ele- vated situation in the air, never indicated an atmosphere charged with electricity." P. 551—553. | The succeeding remarks and experiments ón this curious subject were made at Fort Entreprise, by the ill-fated Lieut. . Hood, and are extracted from his Journal. * On the 27th of April, 1821, at 10^ 30" p.m., a single co- lumn of Aurora rose in the north, and traversed the zenith towards the south; another column appearing, NE by E and taking a parallel direction. The frost was slightly agitated, and the beams momentarily visible. It passed to the western horizon in ten minutes, and was followed by the other, which became brighter as it approached the zenith. I am now con- ' vinced they were borne away by the wind, because the columns preserved exactly their distance from each other during their evolution; and some detached wreaths, projected from them, retained the same relative situations of all their parts; which never happens when the Aurora is carried through the air by its own direct motion. The wind was E by N, a strong gale, and the temperature of the air 9°.” * It must be admitted that the influence of the wind upon the Aurora was never suspected until the 27th of April. However, there are several particulars connected with the subject, which may have prevented such an influence from manifesting itself on former occasions. Ist. When the coruscations were rapid and brilliant, they forced themselves against the wind, or in the contrary direction, without any perceptible difference of speed; from which circumstance, I was led to suppose that they were not in any degree affected by the wind, and did not afterwards pay sufficient attention to discover my error. 58 b Analyses of Books. . . sot) [fukn 2d. The prevailing winds were from the eastward and west- ward; and the arches usually extending from NW to SE; the influence of the wind might. have. béen mistaken for their lateral motion. . 3d. The northerly winds, acting from the same. uarter as the direct motion, were confounded with. it. Toe. the southerly winds, which were not common, always filled the atmosphere with clouds, so that the Aurora, was not, . visible. Perhaps, after all, the Aurora of the 27th of April was. nearer to the earth than any other which we saw.” 5 * On the llth of March, at 10" p,m., a body of Aurora rose NNW, and after a mass of it had. passed. to E by S the remainder broke away, in portions consisting each of several beams, which HORA y about 40? of the sky with great rapidity. We repeatedly heard a hissing noise, like that of a musket- ` bullet passing through the air, and which seemed to proceed from the Aurora; but Mr. Wentzel assures us, that this noise was occasioned by severe cold, succeeding mild weather, and. acting upon the surface of the snow, previously melted in the sun'srays. The temperature of the air was then 35^, and on the two preceding days, it had been above zero. The next morning it was — 42°, and we frequently heard a similar noise. Mr. Hearne's description of the noise of the Aurora agrees exactly with Mr. Wentzel's, and with that of every other per- son who has heard it. It would be an absurd degree of scep- ticism to doubt the fact any longer; for our observations have rater increased than diminished the probability of it.” P. 584, 585. | | * The common cork-ball electrometer not having on any oc- casion given signs of a charge, I tried the following experi- ment, in order to attain further evidence on the subject. A brass needle was attached to a compass card, and balanced on a copper pivot in a wooden box. 1t was about four inches in radius, and a. copper arch of 60° to that radius, was fixed at one end of the box, which was closed by a wooden slide, and paper pasted over every crevice to exclude the air. | To give it the same advantages for capducting electricity as the compass boxes (which are made of brass), 1 introduced an iron wire, eight inches in length, perpendicularly through the lid, in such a manner, that its lower extremity was in a horizontal plang with the needle; and a pane of glass at that end of the id, enabled me to see into the interior of the box. Having previously ascertained that it contained no magnetism, the in- strument was placed, on the 2d of May [1821], on a covered shelf, atthe outside of the house, in a position nearly east and west ; the brass needle being 25’ from the conductor, and a small glass bubble adjusted on the box, in order to prevent its otherwise unperceived movement. At, 12^ p.m. I examined the needle, and found its position unaltered. No Aurora was then visible, but one was afterwards seen by Mi. Franklin; 1823,] Capt. Franklin's Narrative of a'Journey, &c. 59 and at 8" a. m., May 3d, the needle and conductor were in con- tact. I moved the needle 40’ from the conductor, and it was similarly affected at some period on the nights of May 3d, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. The thermometer, during this period, ranged in the day between + 26? and + 56? ; and in the night, between + 10? and + 33°. I did not see the Aurora, except on the nights specified above; and did not perceive any altera- tion in the needle till the succeeding mornings." - | * The night of the 12th furnished a more satisfactory proof of the agency of the Aurora. At 10^ p. m. the needle was not affected, and no. Aurora was visible. At 0^ 30'a. m. May the 13th, several arches appeared across the sky from NW to SE, and the needle was attracted to the conductor from the distance of 1°. The temperature of the air was + 122. Inow determined to convert the instrument into à kind of electro- meter, by insulating the needle and conductor. The pivot which supported the former was fixed upon sealing wax, and the point of the latter, which passed through the lid, was co- vered with the same substance." ' ee * Paper was pasted on the box as before, and it was re-placed | at 2" p. m. on the 14th, the temperature of thé air being 54°. A heavy gale of wind from NNW, with snow, immediately followed, and the temperature of the air, at midnight, was re- duced to 19°.. At 9^ a. m. May 15th, the needle was removed 30? from the conductor, and both were still charged, so that I could not bring them together till the conductor was acci- dentally oe I believe this change to have been received from an Aurora; because the same weather, preceding and fol- lowing it, did not affect the needle in the day, when the in- creaged warmth of the air was more favourable to the produc- tion of electricity in other quarters, and also to its passage. On the 24th of May, between 10" and 12^ p. m. the needle was attracted to the conductor, and repelled 25°.* The next morn- ` ing, Mr. Franklin found the needle of the transit instrument (which was then in the meridian) affected 20/. The brightness of the twilight prevented us from seeing the Aurora, and I therefore discontinued my observations." T * That electricity was the cause of the motions which I have described does not admit of a doubt. But whether the elec- tricity was received from, or summoned into action by, the Aurora, my readers will determine for themselves, being in pos- session of the facts upon which I have myself founded my opinion.” P. 586, 587. - . Dr. Richardson is of opinion, that, independently of all theory, his notes ‘ will at least serve to prove that the Aurora is occa- sionally seated in a region of the air, below a species of cloud which is known to possess no great altitude. I allude to (O9 © The theriometer was then 209, and at 3^ p. m. it had been 58°.” 60. o “Analyses of Books; A. [Jvrv, that modification of eirro-stratus, which, descending low in the atmosphere, produces a hazy continuity of cloud over-head, or a fi bank in the horizon. Faded: I am inclined to infer, that the Aurora Borealis is constantly accompanied by, or imme- diately precedes, the formation of one or other of the various forms ob-cimoidtréddn: On the 18th of November, and 18th of December [1820], its connexion with a cloud intermediate be- tween cirrus and cirro-stratus is mentioned ; but the most vivid. coruscations of the Aurora were observed when there were only a few attenuated shoots of cirro-stratus floating in the air, "or when that cloud was so rare that its existence was only known by the production of a halo round the moon. The bright moonlight of December was peculiarly favourable for observations of this kind. Had the nights been dark, many of the attenuated streaks of cloud hereafter mentioned would have een totally invisible.” P. 597. | j “I think I have on some occasions discerned,” Dr. Rich- ardson continues, “ a polarity in the masses of cloud belong- ing to a certain kind of cirro-stratus, which approaches to cirrus, by which their long diameters, having all the same di- rection, were made to cross the magnetie meridian nearly at right angles. The apparent convergence of such masses of cloud towards opposite points of the horizon, which has been frequently noticed by meteorologists, is of course an optical deception, produced when they lie in a plane parallel to that on whieh the observer stands. "These circumstances are here noticed, because if it should be hereafter proved that the Aurora depends upon the existence of certain clouds, its appa- rent polarity may, perhaps, with more propriety, be ascribed to the clouds themselves which emit the hght; or, in other words, the clouds may assume their peculiar arrangement through the operation of one cause (magnetism for instance), while the emission of light may be produced by another, a change in their internal constitution perhaps, connected with a motion of the electrical fluid. .... Generally y Sie the Aurora ml ree in small detached masses for some time before it assumed that convergency towards the opposite parts of the horizon, whieh produced the arched form. An observation that I would connect with the previous remarks, by saying that it was necessary for the electric fluid (or the Aurora, if are the same) to operate for some time before the polarity of the thin clouds, in which it has its seat, is produced." * An electrometer, constructed upon Saussure’s plan, placed in an elevated situation out of doors, exhibited no signs of a charge from the atmosphere at any time during the winter, The electricity of our bodies, however, at times was so great, that the pith balls instantly separated totheir full extent upon approaching the hand to the instrument; and our skins were in the middle of winter so dry, that rubbing the hands-together 1823.] | Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. 61 considerably increased their electricity, and. at the same time produced a smell similar to that which is often perceived. when the cushion of an electrifying machine rubs against the cylin- der.” P. 598, 599. | (da i — The Aurora did not often appear immediately: after sun-set. It seemed that the absence of that luminary, for some hours, was in general required for the production ofa state of atmo- spere, favourable to the generation of the Aurora. On one occasion only (March 8th, 1821), did I observe it distinctly, previous to the disappearance of day-light.” :P. 599. i3 * I have never heard any sound that could be. unequivocally considered as originating in the Aurora; but the uniform tes- timony of the natives, both Crees, Copper Indians, and Esqui- maux, and of all the older residents in the country, induces me to believe that its motions are sometimes audible. "These in- stances are, however, rare; as will appear, when I state that I —. have now had an opportunity of observing that meteor for up. wards of two hundred different nights.” bid. |. B. . Artic XIII. — Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. : . ROYAL SOCIETY. We May 29.—At this meeting, the reading of Mr. W. S. Harris’s Account of a Magnetic Balance, and of some recent Experi- ments on Magnetic Attraction, was resumed and concluded.’ The construction of the magnetic balance is analogous to that ofthe electrical balance, described by Mr. Harris in his Obser- vations on the Effects of Lightning on Floating Bodies, lately published: the experiments made with it were on the laws which govern the force of attraction in magnetized bodies, under dif ferent circumstances of distance, &c. | : At this meeting, also, the reading of the following paper was commenced: A Case of Pneumato Thorax, with experiments on the absorption of different kinds of air introduced into the pleura; by John Davy, MD. FRS. | ~ June 5.—The reading of Dr. Davy’s paper was resumed and concluded. M Pi LR: elih The case described by Dr. Davy was one of Phthisis Pulmo- nalis, which proved rapidly fatal, owing to the supervention of Pneumató Thorax. A few hours after death, the chest was perfo- rated under water, and nearly 226 cubic inches of air were col- lected from the right pleura, into which it had passed by means of an ulcerated opening communicating indirectly through a vomica with the bronchia. This air was found to consist of 62 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. — [Juxv, finte and carbonic acid ; about 94 of the former, ànd 6 of the atter. | 2 For the purpose of elucidation, Dr. Davy described the results of a number of experiments which he had made ori dogs, prov- ing that different gases introduced into the pleura are absorbed with different degrees of rapidity. Nitrous gas, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and hydrogen, soon disappearing, carbonic acid gas more slowly, and azote slowest of all. : Some of the experiments gave rise to the idea that azote was effused into the rine by the secernent arteries. This subject is discussed by br. Davy in connexion with the consideration of the air occasionally found by anatomists in different parts of the body. This air, for reasons which he assigns, he thinks is azote. He does not believe that it is carbonic acid gas, because he has been able to detect the slightest traces of this acid in blood either by means ofa high temperature, or the vacuum of an air- pump, and because blood contains alkali not saturated with this acid, and is able, in consequence, to combine with an additional portion of it. At this meeting a paper was also read, on Fossil Shells; by L. W. Dillwyn, es FRS. in a letter to the President. This paper principally related to the geological distribution of turbinated univalves. | At this meeting likewise, the reading of the following paper was begun: Observations and Experiments on the Daily Varia- tion of the Horizontal and Dipping Needles, under a reduced directive Force; by Peter Barlow, Esq. of the Royal Military Academy, FRS. elect. (Communicated by Davies Gilbert, Esq. Treas. RS.) June 12.—The reading of Prof. Barlow's paper was resumed and concluded. | A century has now elapsed, Prof. Barlow observed, in the commencement of this paper, since Mr. Graham discovered the diurnal variation of the needle, and, during this period, a number of observations upon it have been made by others, but none of them have led to any decided results respecting the general nature and laws of the phenomenon. Two years ago, the Royal Academy of Copenhagen proposed a prize question on the sub- ject, which has not yet been claimed. It occurred to the author, that if he could reduce the action of the terrestrial magnetism upon the needle, as mineralogists and others had long been in the habit of doing, for the purpose of detecting very small quantities of magnetism, the diurnal varia- tion would then become more considerable. By pursuing this idea, the most convenient method of executing which he found to be the presenting of one pole of a magnet to the similar pole of the needle, and the opposite pole of another magnet to the’ opposite pole of the needle, he was enabled successively to. increase the diurnal variation from a few minutes to 3°40’, then 1823.] x ^ Royal Society. =< 63 to 7? 0’, and so on to almost any quantity at pleasure. By approaching his opposing magnets nearer to each other and to the needle, the latter might, moreover, be deflected to any point, and by this means the daily variation observed with the needle in all possible positions. In this way the author found the daily variation, with the north end to the south, to the east, west, &c. &c. and it appeared that the daily change was always greatest with the tibedle east or west, and least (indeed imperceptible) when the needle pointed any where near NNW and SSE. From the NNW to south, the principal daily motion was shown by the north end approaching the north, and between the SSE and N, the north end still approached the north and NNW, and, there- fore, the motion in the two cases was made in a reverse order. Similar experiments were made on the dipping needle; but the results were not so well marked. From a comparison of these experiments, Mr. Barlow is inclined to attribute the cause of the daily variation to a change of magnetic intensity in the earth produced by the action of the solar rays, and depending for its amount upon the declination of that body ; and consequently on its situation with reference to the plane of no attraction as described in his Essay on Magnetic Attractions, where he has stated his reasons for assuming that the cause, whatever it may be, that gives direction to the needle, is resident on its surface only. ' A singular anomaly in the diurnal variation under a reduced directive force, was dusenbed in the latter part of the paper: a compass-needle which varied; in Mr. Barlow’s house (with the north end of the needle to the east or west), to north, varied, in tbe garden, from east or west to south. Only three suppositions could be made as to the cause of this anomaly; first, that it might arise from the circumstance that the needle was not exactly in the same relative position with respect to the magnets, &c. in the house as in the garden ; secondly, the window of the room where the compass was placed being on the north side, the ' light might thence affect the needle ; or, lastly, was it possible that a stove in the room could experience a diurnal increase and diminution of magnetic power? In order to examine the first of these suppositions, Mr. Barlow carefully measured and deter- mined the position of the needle, &c. in the one situation, and gavethem precisely the same in the other, but the discrepancy still remained: he then completely darkened the room for two days, and merely examined the compass with a wax taper, but the former effect was only diminished by this means ; the author is of opinion, however, from the result of this experiment, that the light, and notthe heat of the sun, will be found the exciting cause - of the diurnal variation: in order to examine the third supposi- tion, Mr. Barlow placed a howitzer shell in the garden in the same position with respect to the needle as the stove was in the 64 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. [Juxy, house; this changed the period of the maximum effect. from. eleven o’clock in the morning till four in the afternoon ; but the discrepancy continued, and consequently remains unaccounted for. The same difference of variation in the two situations was also found by Mr. Christie, whose house is at some distance from Mr. Barlow's, and who, at the suggestion and request of Mr. B. carried. on a similar but totally distinct series of observa- tions, and was led to the same results without being aware that they had occurred to Mr. Barlow. The Erag paper was also read : On Bitumen in Stones ; by the Right Hon. George Knox, FRS. | The results of Mr. Knox's experiments on the pitchstones of Newry and Meissen, already before the Society (Phil. Trans. 1822, p. 313 ; Annals, N. S. iv. p. 460), had induced him to submit a great number of other minerals to similar trials. Among these, the following yielded various proportions of bitumen and water: Pitchstone, from the Isle of Arran lost 4:705 per cent. by distillation, about 3 of which were bitumen, and the residuum, as in many other cases, was pumice; pearístone from Tokay, in Hungary; obsidian yielded much. bitumen, as did the basaltic eenstone, which forms a vein in the granite of Newry, parallel to that of pitchstone ; basalt from Disko Island, and from the Giant's Causeway ; wacke from Disko Island yielded 11 per cent. of bitumen ; ¿ron clay from Howth ; bole from Disko Island; me- nilite from Menil-montant; adhesive slate from the same place ; common serpentine from Zoeblitz in Saxony ; mica slate yielded a small quantity of bituminous water ; liue from Bangor ; fetid quartz from Nantes gave 2 per cent. of bituminous water ; elspar from Aberdeen, a little. ' he following substances sustained no loss of weight by distil- lation: pumice from Lipari fused; rock crystal underwent no alteration ; a colourless crystal of adularia. | Mr. Knox states, as the general result of his researches, that nearly all the minerals belonging to Werner's floetz-trap forma- tion, contain bitumen ; and that 1t likewise exists, but in smaller quantity, and more difficultly separable, in some of the substances which constitute the older rocks. . The paper concluded with some remarks on the new precau- tions in the analysis of stones, which the author's experiments just noticed seem to indicate the necessity of ; since it would. appear that the loss of weight by ignition, generally estimated as water, may, in reality, be partly owing to the expulsion of bitumen. June 19.—As this was the last meeting of the Society for the present session, little more than the titles of the following papers could be read : On Astronomical Refraction; by J. Ivory, Esq. FRS. Tables of certain Deviations which appear to have taken 1823,] D Royal Society. ..... 65 lace in the North Polar Distances of some of the principal fixed Stars ; by J. Pond, Esq. FRS. Astronomer Royal. hpi ..On a Case of Pneumato Thorax, in which the operation: of tapping the chest was performed, with additional observations on air found within the body, and on the absorption of air by: mucous membranes; by J. Davy, MD; FRS. | On the Length of the Invariable Pendulum in New South Wales; by Sir Thomas Brisbane, KCB. FRS.: communicated by Capt. Kater, FRS.: in a letter to the President. Astronomical Observations made at Paramatta ; by Mr. Rum- ker: communicated by Sir T. Brisbane, in a letter to the Presi- dent. | Of the Motions of the Eye, in Illustration of the Uses of the Muscles of the Orbit; by Charles Bell, Esq. Part I.: commu- nicatéd by the President. | ~ On Algebraic Transformation, as deducible from first Princi- ples, and connected with continuous Approximation, and the Theory of Finite and Fluxional Differences, &c. ; by W. G. Hor- ner, Esq, : communicated by Davies Gilbert, Esq. Treas, RS. On the Apparent Magnetism of Metallic Titanium; by W, H, Wollaston, MD. VPRS. | In Dr. Wollaston's former paper on the minute cubes of metal- lic titanium contained in the slag of the iron works of Merthyr Tydvil (see Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part I.; or Annals of Philosophy for January last, p. 68), he had stated that they were slightly magnetic; for although they were not taken up by a magnet, yet if one of them was suspended by a thread, the action of the magnet would draw the thread upwards about 20°, indicating an attractive force equal to about one-third of the weight of the erystal. By a comparative experiment, he found that 1-250th part of iron would impart equivalent magnetic power to metallic substances, and by repeated solution and eva- poration, succeeded in removing so much of the titanium as to discover, in the edges of the precipitate by tincture of galls, the black colour of gallate of iron. It remains a question, therefore, whether these cubes of titanium are properly magnetic them- selves, or whether they derive their magnetism from the minute portion of iron which they contain. An Account of the Effect of Mercurial Vapours on the Crew of H. M. S. Triumph, in the year 1810; by William Burnett, MD.: communicated by Matthew Baillie, MD. FRS. Contributions towards a Natural and OEconomical History of the Cocoa-nut Tree; by H. Marshall, Esq. : communicated by Sir James Macgregor, Bart. FRS, On the Diurnal Variation of the Horizontal Needle, when under the Influence of Magnets; by 8. H. Christie, Esq. MA. Mem. Cam. Phil. Soc. and of the Royal Military Academy: communicated by the President. The President announced some alterations in the statutes of New Series, vou. Vi. Fo 66 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. — . [Jurv, the Society that have been made by the Council in their recent revision of them; by one of which, the meetings of the Society will commence, in future, for each Session, on the first of the two Thursdays preceding the Anniversary, and terminate on the third Thursday in June. | The Society then adjourned accordingly, to Thursday the 20th of November next. A paper on the Compressibility of Water, Air, and other Fluids; and on the Crystallization of Liquids, and the Lique- faction of Aériform Fluids, by simple pressure, was prepared by Mr. Perkins, for the purpose off submitting it to the Royal Society; but it was accidentally misplaced, pre- : viously to the last meeting, and therefore could not be an- nounced to the Society with the other papers. It contained, we are informed, a minute description, accompanied with figures, of his See dini apparatus; a diagram, showing the ratio of the compressibility of water, beeinning at the pres- sure of 10 atmospheres, and proceeding regularly to that of 2000; and some experiments on the compression of atmospheric air, which appears by them to follow a law varying from that generally assigned to it by philosophers. Mr. Perkins intended 'to announce, also, in this paper, that he had effected the lique- faction of atmospheric air, and other gaseous substances, by a ressure equal to that of about 1100 atmospheres ; and that he had succeeded in crystallizing several liquids, by simple pres- sure. ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. May 9.—At this meeting, a paper on the Mercurial Compen- sation Pendulum, by Francis Baily, ‘Esq. FRS. was read, but owing to its length, 1t could not be completed. June 13.—The reading of Mr. Baily's paper on the Mercurial Compensation Pendulum was resumed and concluded. It con- tains an account of many experiments made to determine the rates of expansion of the various substances used in the construc- tion of such pendulums, the results of which are given in a tabular form; The expansions of mercury, as given by different ` authors, are collected, and it is shown that none of them can be safely applied to the purposes of the pendulum without certain modifications whichare pointed out in this paper. The princi- ples of the Compénsation Pendulum are then investigated, and a formula deduced for determining the height of the quicksilver in the cylinder, the result of which is different from those given ' by preceding writers on this subject. Mr. Baily then points out some improvements in the usual mode of constructing and regu- lating pendulums, which appear very simple and efficacious ; and concludes his paper by the description of a compensation pendu- 1823.] Scientific Intelligence. 67 lum, of great cheapness, being formed of wood and lead alone, but which, he states, may be made available for many useful PRR ae n. | | - The Society then adjourned to Friday the 14th of November next. : . We have heard with pleasure that the Council has awarded several gold and silver medals to be presented by the Society at one of its future meetings to some of the continental astrono- mers, for their discoveries ; and a gold medal to Mr. Babbage, as a token of their high estimation of his invaluable invention of applying machinery to the computation of astronomical and . mathematical tables. As soon as we receive correct information, we shall lay the particulars of these honorary tokens before our readers. MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. . April 25.—A paper, on the Essential Oil of Bitter Almonds, was read, by Mr. Frost, and Experiments were made (before the Society) on Animals with the Oil. . At this meeting a paper was also read, on Atropa Belladonna. May 9.—Mr. Frost delivered a lecture on Stalagmitis Cambo- gioides, and Acorus Calamus. | A paper was also read from P. J. Brown, Esq. Corresponding Member of the Society, on several Medicinal Plants used by Swiss Practitioners. ARTICLE XIV. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. I. Letter from Mr. Faraday, respecting the ‘Historical Sketch of Elec- tromagnetism published in the Annals. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, j You did me the favour to insert in the second and third volume of the Annals of Philosophy, a paper which I had written, entitled, “ A . Historical Sketch of Electromagnetism.” To that paper, the initial of my Christian name only was affixed. Wishing now, for reasons which will shortly be made public, to acknowledge myself as the author of it, I will thank you to insert. this letter in the Annals as an assent on your part to the correctness of the statement which it contains. I remain, dear Sir, yours, very truly, M, FARADAY. F 2 68 RUN Scientific Intelligence. [Juny, II. Diurnal Variation of the Magnetic Needle. We understand that Mr. Christie has continued to pursue his inqui- ries on this subject, as noticed in our report of Mr. Barlow’s paper, and that he has been led to conclude from them, that it is the calorific and not the colorific rays that produce the change in question... He has found that a change of temperature in his opposing magnets, to the amount of one degree only, will produce. a change of nearly a degree in the direction of the needle. He showed by the most satisfactory experiments, before Professors Oersted and Barlow, that the mere change of heat produced by applying his hand to the magnet, when the needle was thus nicely adjusted, caused a deviation to the amount of between two and three degrees. | ' d | Mr. Christie has communicated the first part of his experiments to the Royal Society, as announced in our report of the final proceedings of that body for the present Session. Ill. Frauds and Imperfections in Paper-making. In order to increase the weight of printing papers, some manufactu- rers are in the habit of mixing sulphate of lime or gypsum with the rags to a great extent. I have been informed by authority, upon which I place great reliance, that some paper contains more than one-fourth of. its weight of gypsum ; and I lately examined a sample which had the appearance of a good paper that contained about 12 per cent.. The mode of detecting this fraud is extremely simple: Burn 100 grains, or any given weight ofthe paper in a platina, or earthern cruci- ble, and continue the heat until the residuum becomes white, which it will readily do if the paper is mixed with gypsum. It is certainly true that all paper contains a small quantity of incombustible matter derived from accidental impurities, but it does not amount to more than about one per cent. ; the weight then will indicate the extent of the fraud. With respect to the imperfection of paper, I allude to the slovenly mode in which the bleaching by means of chlorine or oxymuriatic acid is effected. This, after its operation; is frequently left in such quan- tity in the paper that it may be readily detected by the smell. Some- time since, a button-maker in Birmingham, who had manufactured the buttons in the usual way, was surprised to find that after being a short time kept, they were so tarnishedas to beunsaleable; on searching for the cause, he found that it was derived from the action of the chlorine which had been left in the paper to such an extent as to act upon the metallic buttons.— Edit. © IV. Boiling Spring of. Milo. The 14th volume of the Annals, p. 27, contains an analysis of the water of the boiling springs of Milo; but this island is there incorrectly called Milto. For this correction I am indebted to the Rev. Mr. Holme, of Cambridge, by whom the water was supplied for analysis. — Edit, : V. Crystals formed in Solution of Cyanogen. M. Vauquelin observed that a strong solution of cyanogen which he kept in his laboratory during the winter, became in about four months of 1823.1 Scientific Intelligence. | 69 a light amber colour, and deposited crystals of an orange-yellow colour, the quantity of which increased for some time.. The solution in which. they were formed was examined ; it had a strong sniell of hydrocyanic acid, and was alkaline; it gave a bluish-green precipitate with sulphate of iron, which a drop. of sulphuric acid: immediately rendered blue. From these effects, M. Vauquelin concludes, that the solution of cya- nogen was converted into hydrocyanate of ammonia. HENA The crystals obtained were dendritical, and had no particular smell or taste; they were nearly insoluble in water; solution of potash did’ not disehgage any thing ; it did not dissolve them; hor did the mixture: give any blue precipitate with sulphate of iron." Wlién heated in a tübe into which à piece of paper was introduced nioistened with sul- phate of iron, the paper became blue, and there was a strong smell of liydrocyanate of ammonia. M. Vauquelin thinks it probable, that in this case; tlie carboii which is usually deposited from cyanogen during déconiposition, had combined with a portion of the undecomposed' cyühogen, afid thus become insolüble, and precipitating slowly, it had time to combine with a small quantity of water, and assume tlie crystalline form. M. Vauquelin proposes to call this substance sub- cyanogen ot protocyanogen.— (Annales de Chimie et de Physique.) VI. Preparation of Iodide of Potassium. M. Caillot suggests the following method of preparing this com- pound :—Hydriodate of iron is first formed, and then decomposed by carbonate of potash; for this purpose he takes four parts. ef iodine,, two of bright iron filings, and about twenty of water. These three substances are to be put in a glass or porcelain capsule. The mixture is to be stirred until the liquor which soon becomes of a deep-brown colour, is rendered colourless; the liquor is then made to boil, and a solution of subcarbonate of potash is to be added until. precipitation ceases; or a small excess of the alkali may be used, and saturated with hydriodic acid after filtration. The residuum is to be. washed till it ceases to amord a precipitate on the addition of permuriate of mercury: tlie filtered liquors being then mixed, the whole is to be evaporated till a pellicle appears. Lagi The same process may be employed for preparing the iodides of sò- dium, magnesium, calcium, &e, The iodides of mercury may also be prepared by decomposing the protonitrate and permuriate of mercury by means of hydriodate of iron; which; as just shown; may be formed. extemporaneously.—( Annales de Chimie et de Physique.) VIE Butter. M. Chevreul has lately subjected the butter of cows? milk to exami: nation, He finds that 100 parts of fresh butter consist of Pure butter......... ee ea ti 83°75 Dultermlik iedeen ci ifi ws oo.) Lego From numerous experiments, M. Chevreul concludes that there exist in the oil of butter at least two fluid substances, one of which is soluble in all proportions in cold alcohol, does not possess acid properties, and gives by saponification some sweet principle, butiric, caproic, capric, 70 Scientific Intelligence. [Juny, margaric, and oleic acids. M. Chevreul has given this oil the name of buterin, because it contains the butiric acid (or its elements), to which butter owes its odour, The other fluid substance has the properties of olein.-—( Ann. de Chimie et de Physique.) VIII. Carbonate of Magnesia in the Urinary Calculi of Herbivorous Animals. M. Lassaigne remarks, that but few of those chemists who have examined the urinary calculi of herbivorous animals have mentioned carbonate of magnesia as one of their constituents; but MM. Wurser, John, and Stromeyer, have discovered its existence ; the two first in the urinary calculus of the horse, and the last on a calculus taken from a cow, | The results of M. Chevreul's analysis ofthe urine of the horse, which he found to contain carbonate of magnesia, induced M. Lassaigne to examine the urinary concretions of the same animal; in which he rea- , dily discovered it, as well as in those of the ox and the cow. By tfeat-. ing these calculi with sulphuric acid, sulphate of lime was principally formed, but by subsequent operations magnesia was procured. The quantity of carbonate of magnesia is small, forming only the 150th to the 200th of the weight of the calculus.—( Ann. de Chimie et de Phys.) ` IX. Safety of Steam Engines. M. Dupin lately read to the Academy of Sciences, the conclusion of the report which he drew up in the name of a commission, to consi- der the employment of low and high pressure steam-engines, princi- pay with regard to the safety of the public. The commissioners were MM. Laplace, Prony, Ampere, Girard, and Dupin. M. Gay-Lussac, whose opinions differed in many A an from those adopted in the Report, requested permission to withdraw from the commission. e recommendations adopted by the majority of the Academy were : 1. To have two safety valves adapted to the boiler; one of these valves being so placed as not to be altered by the workman who has the direction of the steam-engine. The other valve to be under his: controul, since he may have occasion to diminish the pressure, whereas he would attempt in vain to increase it, because the valve which he could not alter would suffer the vapour to escape. 2. It is proposed to prove the strength of all the boilers by means of the hydraulic press, by causing them to withstand a pressure four or five times greater than they would be required for the usual working of the: machine, as well as that this pressure should be limited to four atmo- spheres, And also that the proof pressure should as many times exceed that of the usual working pressure of the machine, as the latter does that of the atmosphere. 3. Every manufacturer of steam-engines should be’ compelled to declare his method of proof, and every circumstance which would tend to gna ns the solidity and safety of the machine, v. pae of the boiler and its appurtenances. "The manufacturer ought also to acquaint those in authority as well as the public, with the pressure under which these machines ought to work. MUR 4. The boilers of those steam-engines which are near any house, to be surrounded with a wall, provided the engines are sufficiently power- 1823.] .. Scientific. Intelligence. 71 fulin case of accident to destroy the partition wall between the house and the establishment which contains the steam-engine. The commission also proposes that an exact account should be kept by authority of all the accidents which happen to steam-engines of every construction, and to publish this statement, mentioning the causes and effects of such events, the name of the manufacturer ofthe steam-engine, and this (they observe) is the most efficacious of all methods to prevent the misfortunes which result from the use of steam- engines, whether of low, middling, or high pressure.—(Ann. de Chim.) X. On the Phosphates of Lead. By N. J. Winch, Esq. Hon. MGS. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) | SIR, d Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Jan. 23, 1823. From an itinerant dealer, who collects minerals at the. lead hills in Scotland, I lately procured a variety of the phosphate of lead, which I suspect is not described in any of our mineralogical arrangements, or scientific journals. | The ore in question is of as bright and deep an orange-red colour as the chromate of lead, and consists of groups of simple six-sided prismatic crystals, from an eighth to a quarter of an inch in length, filling cavities in pale-yellow crystalline phosphate of lead. ‘The crystals are brittle, possess an adamantine lustre, and are accompanied by grey, white, and lemon-coloured carbonates of lead, together with galena. Placed on charcoal before the reducing flame of the blowpipe, it decrepitates, and immediately becomes nearly black ; then easily fuses into a pale-grey enamel. On borax being added, it melts with effervescence, and the glass formed is of a yellow- ish milky hue while cooling, but transparent and colourless when quite cold, with air bubbles and globules of lead dispersed through it. Here it may not be amiss to mention the results obtained by means of the blowpipe by some of the most able writers on mineralogy, on testing this ore. Brongniart, at p. 201, vol. ii. says, ** Le plomb phosphaté ne fait aucune effervescence dans les acides, et se fond au chalumeau sur le charbon en un globule qui prend un surface polyédrique en si figeant. Il m'est point reductible en plomb sans l'addition d'un peu potasse et de charbon." Berzelius on. the Blowpipe, at p. 158, observes, ** Phosphate of lead alone on charcoal fuses in the exterior flame ; the globule crystallizes; and, after cooling, has a dark colour. In the interior flame, it exhales the vapour of lead, the flame assumes a bluish colour, and the globule on cooling forms crystals with broad facets inclining to pearly whiteness. At the moment it crystallizes, a gleam of ignition may be perceived in the globule. With borax, it behaves like oxide of lead. Phillips’s account of this process, at p. 256, is as follows: ** Before the blowpipe on charcoal, phosphate of lead usually decrepitates; then melts, and on cooling forms a polye- dral globule, the Vd of which present concentric polygons. If this globule be pulverized and mixed with borax, and again heated, a milk- white enamel is the first result. On the continuance of the heat, the globule effervesces, and at length becomes perfectly transparent, the lower part of it being studded with metallic lead.” In the third edi- tion of Jameson’s Mineralogy, vol. ii. p. 372, the same. account is RIVERS but in the second edition, vol. ii. p. 368, that author observes, * Defore the blowpipe, phosphate of lead does not fly into pieces, but 42 Scientifte Intelligence. (Jury, becomes white, and melts very easily into a greyish plobule, but with: out being reduced even with charcoal. From my own experiments, I have found, 1. That isa phosphate of lead behaves in some respects differently from all the varieties tested by these eminent wri- ters, 2. That minüte green crystals from Suvside lead mine in Nither- dale, Yorkshire, gave the same results as detailed by Berzelius and Brongniart, but more particularly by Phillips. 3. That opaque pea- he botryoidal phosphate from Gertnany, and pale-yellow from the ead hill mines, in the reducing flame first became white, and on a stronger heat being applied, melted into a grey opaque globule. With the addition of borax, it effervesced, burned, and was at length reduced into a glass, milky while cooling, but transparent when cold, and con- taining small globules of lead. Thus it appears, that the crystallized arid botryoidal, the orange-red, pale-yellow, and green phosphates of lead, are variously affected by the action of fire, which leads to the conclusion that different ingredients, as well as ingredients in very different proportions, must enter into the composition of the several varieties of this ore; and in its description, it is not sufficient to men- tion how any single variety behaves under the influence of the blow- pipe. I remain; Sir, your obedient servarit, | N. J. Winer. XI. Maclureite, or Fluo-silicate of Magnesia; à new Mineral Species from New Jersey: i This mineral was discovered, several years ago, near Sparta, in Sussex County, New Jersey, by the late Dr. Bruce. It was at first supposed to be sphene; but subsequent investigations led to its being ranked with Vieh. ct bg a mineral discovered in Sweden; and analyzed by. M. d'Ohsson, whose results, confirmed by Berzelius, were. as follows : | | i Silica Serre ee ee ee eee EERE 38:00 Magnesia. x ssis 66. eased anwes OEO Oxide ofiron,,. éditer ois So Bid w lend we 5:1 Aduminas. «uaeles 445 éltan ees 4e 1:5 Patons o4. nb. abdieedalid eo «à nest ies Manganese. 2 «i osea dun à stays 4: Trace 2088 , 53e ad neesan OBS 100:00 The new mineral, however, though it resembles condrodite in exter- nal charücters, differs essentially from it in chemical composition, às was proved from an analysis, which appears to have béen made with care and skill, by Mr. Henry Seybert, of Philadelphia. Though the pulverized mineral gives no indication of fluoric acid, when acted upon by an excess of lieated sulphuric acid, and though other processes failed to detect it, yet fluoric acid was distinctly traced in the silica, remaining after the calcined mineral had been first boiled with nitromuriatic acid (which converted it into a jelly), and then heated with water acidulated with muriatic acid. The silica, thus obtained, effervesced violently with sulphuric acid, and gave fluosilicic dcid in abundance, disengaged, it should appear, from the insoluble compound of potassa, silica, and fluoric acid, described by Gay-Lussac 1823. Scientific Intelligence. = 73 and Thenard. The constituents of the mineral were detérihinéd to be as follows: 7 j " Watetiiose (veia 9o osi Pi.svoo 1000 Eluoricacil;; i. iz £o vise, ^ 4086 | Silici 5,6115 eda de TERT $4.56 32°666 Peroxide of iron ;....::.::.... 2:999 Mágnesiavs 293 dirir de. peewee 64000. Potassn; i5. . ies yi Vii viu d 00008 M6565 35) HER ADI TEES. OS 3°807 J 100*000 (Silliman's American Journal, vol. v. p. 2.) XII. Combustion of a Stream of Hydrogen Gas under Water. Mr. Thomas Skidmore, of New York, has discovered that if the flame produced by the combustion of hydrogen gas; issuing in combi- nation with oxygen from the compound blowpipe of Dr. Hare, be plunged below the surface of water, it continues notwithstanding its submersion in, and actual contact with, that fluid, 7o burn, apparently with the same splendour as it does in the common air. The only dis- coverable difference is, that when the flame bürns into water, it seems, if the expression may be allowed, to conglobate its figure ; whereas in the air, it assumes the shape of a long slender conical pencil. Care is required that the flame be introduced slowly and gently into the water, in order to avoid the recession of the fame into the interior of the tube, at its first entrance, which is apt to take place if suddenly immersed. To obviate this evil more effectually, tubes of a fine capillary bore are best adapted. . | ; tie When a piece of cork or pine wood was applied to the submersed gaseous flame, it gave out à brilliant light, and this appearance conti- nued till the recession took place, which, in sotue instances, might be fora minute or two. Small pieces of copper wire, 1-40th of an inch diameter, became red-hot when exposed to the flame under water in full day-light. The discoverer of this property of the flame of the compound blowpipe suggests its application to the purpose of a sub- marine instrument of naval warfare, and thinks there are no difficulties in the way of its being so employed that may not be easily overcome. —(American Journal.) XIU. Fusion and Volatilization of Charcoal. The fusion and evaporation of charcoal has béen effected in America with the assistance of Dr. Hare's galvanic deflagrator. Prof. Griscom, of New York, describes the experiment in the following terms: ** With a deflagrator, of considerable size and in good order, these experi- ments are, in fact, extremely easy ; and with well prepared charcoal will never fail in a single instance. The surface of the fused charcoal is brilliant, with a metallic and frequently iridescent lustre. Upon the charcoal on the copper side, there is no appearance of fusion, but a crater-shaped cavity extremely well defined, with the proper fibrous and porous appearance of charcoal; every thing indicating that the charcoal is wasted from this pole, and transferred to the other. It seems to pass in the state of vapour, to be accumulated or condensed 74 Scientific Intelligence. [Jvrv, on the positive pole, and then to undergo fusion by intense heat. . In about three seconds, a decisive result is obtained. . Charcoal, which has been thus fused, is found to have acquired a . great increase of Qu pm It sinks readily in strong sulphuric acid, though common charcoal floats readily in water with at least half its volume out, | It is rendered also very difficult of combustion, but may be burned away, leaving no residuum if heated by a powerful lens in a vessel over mercury filled with oxygen gas. The gas produced was ascertained to be pure carbonic acid. Strong sulphuric acid may be boiled without effect on charcoal which has been fused. Even the strongest nitric acid in the cold does not act upon it, and at a boiling temperature, the action is very slight, and ceases the moment the heat is withdrawn.—(American Journal.) XIV. Alteration of the freezing is of Thermometers by being long ept. It is asserted. (Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Nov. 1822, p. 330), that a thermometer on which the freezing point has been exactly marked, becomes incorrect in process of time, at the end of a year for example, and indicates, when plunged into melting ice, a temperature a little above freezing, as if the bulb had become smaller. This fact, originally observed by Bellani, of Monza, in the Milanese, was confirmed by Pictet's experiments in six different thermometers. In one of these, made 40 years ago, the freezing point had risen to + 0'1 centigrade. M. Flaugergues, the astronomer, after satisfying himself of the fact, has endeavoured to assign a reason for it in the dimi- nishing elasticity of the glass of the thermometric ball, which, like all other springs, loses its force by being kept long in a state of tension.” . A correspondent of the Editor of this journal has been induced, by the foregoing notice, to examine several thermometers which he has had for many years; but has not been able to discover the deviation above remarked. Two of these, made by Crichton, of Glasgow, having very small cylindroidal bulbs, have been in his possession nearly twenty years, In these, the freezing point is marked by a file on the stem, and when pampos into thawing snow, not the smallest change is observable in the eight at which the mercury now stands. In one or two others, out of ten which were examined, there did appear a little deviation from the freezing point marked upon them; but they had not been constructed by makers of any eminence, and had probably been inaccurate from the first. The change, therefore, though scarcely to be questioned on such testimony, appears not to be universal, XV. Excrement of the Boa. Prof. Psaff found that the fresh solid excrement of the boa is insolu- ble in cold water, but dissolved by about 800 times its weight of boil- ing water. The greater part of what is dissolved is deposited as the water cools, and this deposit is partly pulverulent, and partly on fine shining scales, circumstances which characterise uric acid. With nitric acid, the general phenomena exhibited by uric acid were also produced, but the Professor observed, that when evaporated with nitric acid to a certain point, and before purpuric acid is formed, the solution deposits a considerable quantity of crystallized nitrate of ammonia ; after the first portion of crystals were separated by evaporat- 1823;]- Scientific Intelligence. 75 ing the solution, a further quantity was obtained; when after this, the solution was evaporated to dryness, no purpuric acid was obtained ; but, on the contrary, if the solution in nitric acid be immediately eva- porated to dryness, purpuric acid is formed. The excrement of the boa contains ammonia, and in so great excess that it may be considered as a suburate of ammonia; when distilled © with a weak solution of potash, water containing ammonia is condensed in the receiver; when the experiment was repeated with uric acid, no ammonia was obtained. When the excrement is burnt, the ashes are’ ` found to contain oxide ofiron and carbonate of lime, but no phosphate of lime.—(Schweigger's Journal.) vida d -~ XVI. Heliotrope. According to Dt. Brandes and Firnhaber, the heliotrope is com- posed of GOR, Sin bak Verr Ule Wede cuts. DD OO Protoxide of irino axe > adnan cabo. WS PU 14 ea Vie wl las vicc MOD WALL: S d 5a ab REIR e Siete aa (s EN 99'41 It, therefore, resembles chalcedony on silica being slightly mixed- with other bodies.— (Ibid.) iol ; XVI. Carbonate of Magnesia and Iron, &c. Prof. Walmstadt, of Upsal, has analysed carbonate of magnesia from Hartz centaining the carbonates of iron and manganese. The texture of this mineral is foliated, and its primary form is a rhomboid of 108° 15’, differing of course still more from calcareous spar than rhomb spar. The results of the analysis were :. Carbonate of magnesia....... oe. 8436 “Carbonate of FON ec coc ce 10°02 Carbonate of manganese ........ 3°19 ECKE SL e k baa hoo t er hie A 0:50 WEERT Sik oa ue ae italia a tet were 0'51 Loss, and a substance destructible Diea, £3. us Logs es 4$ v 521362: 100:00 | (Ibid.) XVII. On the Absence of Carbonic Acid in the Atmosphere over the Sea M. Vogel found that atmospheric air taken over the sea half a mile from the sea-shore off Doberan, contained so little carbonic acid, that a solution of pure barytes was hardly made turbid by it; while the same bulk of air taken on shore produced a considerable quantity of carbonate of barytes. M. Vogel repeated these experiments in 1822 in the Channel, two leagues from Dieppe, where he emptied a large bottle with distilled water, and tried the air afterwards with a solution of pure barytes, which became so little turbid that it hardly could be perceived ; when the ex- periment was repeated on shore, thesolution ofbarytes became extremely 76 New Sclentifié Books. —— pers turbid. M. Vogel adds, this may easily be conceived às the animal substances ; although they easily ptit and form carbonic acid, can- not communicate it to the air, becatise the sea-water absorbs it. XVIII. Hydriodide of Carbon. =" According to M. Serrulas, hydriodide of carbon may be plentifully obtained by merely treating a solution of iodine in alcohol, with one of caustic d or potash in the same fluid. —(Ann. de Chimie.) E" TTL PETON -——— — AntictE XV, NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. Mr. W. West, of Leeds, i$ about to publish in a separate form, with additions, his Analysis of the New Sulphur Spring at Harrogate. Sabeean iplf al in a Series of Essays addressed to distinguished Antiquaries, and including the Substance of a Course of Lectures deli- vered at the Royal Institution, on the Engraved Hieroglyphics of Chaldea, Egypt, and Canaan. By John Landseer, FSA: &e: lus trated by Engravings of Babylonian Cylinders, and other inedited Monuments of Antiquity. m Lh | Sir John Malcolm is preparing for the press, a Memoir of Central India, with the History, and copious Illustrations of the past and pre- sent State, of that Country, and an original Map. : A Practical Treatise on the various Methods of Heating Buildings by Steam, Hot Air, Stoves, and open Fires; with explanatory En- gravings. : | Elements of a new Arithmetical Notation, in some respect analogous to that of Decimals, by which Expressions producing a great Variety of Infinite Series may be obtained. JUST PUBLISHED. The Encyclopedia Metropolitana, Part IX. containing, under the class of the mixed and applied Sciences, the completion of the article on Physical Astronomy. $ Part I. of the 16th volume of The Edinburgh Encyclopædia, con- ducted by Dr. Brewster, in which, among other articles, are, Orkney Islands, Ornithology, Paper-making, Parallax, Parallel Roads, Partial Differences, Patents, Pearl Fishery, and Pendulum. With 14 Engrav- ings from original Drawings. 11, 5s. Sylva Florifera, the Shrubbery ; contaitiing an Historical arid Bota- nical Account of the Flowering, Shrubs, and Trees, which now orna- ment the Shrubbery, the Park, and Rural Scenes in general; with Observations on the Formation of ornamental Plantations, and pictu- resque Scenéry, 2 Vols, 8vo. 1/. 1s. Boards, 1823.]: New. Patents, 77 ARTICLE XVI. NEW PATENTS. «50. G. E. Harpur and B. Baylis, of Weedon, Northamptonshire, engi- neers; for a method of impelling machinery.—March 18. ^ , ^ ' R. Badwell, the younger, of Leek, Staffordshire, silk-manufacturer, for certain improvements in the throwing, twisting, or spinning of sewing-silk, Organzine, Bergam, and such other descriptions of silk as the said improvements may be applicable to.—March 18. ae H. H. Price, of Neath Abbey, Glamorganshire, engineer, being one of the people called Quakers, for an apparatus for giving increased effect to paddles used in steam vessels, applicable to rotary movements, by which they are generally worked —March 18. ay W. Crighton and J. Crighton, both of Manchester, Lancashire, machine-makers ; for an improvement in the construction of the cylin- ders used in carding-engines, and other machines employed in the pre- paration for the spinning of cotton, flax, wool, silk, and mixtures of the said materials or substances.—March 18. yi W. Bailey, of High Holborn, Middlesex, ironmonger, and T. Horne, the younger, of Belmont-row, Birmingham, Warwickshire, brass-founder, for improvements in the manufacture of metallic window frames, and other metallic mouldings, applicable to the ornamenting of furniture.— March 18. ke | T. Rogers, of Buckingham-street, Strand, Middlesex, Esq. for an improvement on stays and bodices which improvement is also applica- ble to boots.—March 18. | W. Hope, of Jedburgh, Roxburgh, North Britain, ironfounder, for certain improvements in the construction of. printing-presses.— March 18. T. Hancock, of Goswell Mews, Saint Luke, Old-street, Middlesex, patent eork manufacturer, for an improvement in the preparation, for various useful purposes, of pitch and of tar.—March 22. ' dm de T. Wickham, of Nottingham, lace-manufacturer, for a compound paste and liquid, for improving and colouring lace and net, and all other manufactured articles made of flax, cotton, wool, silk, or any other animal.or vegetable substance.—March 24. : W. Jessop, of Butterley Hall, Derbyshire, ironmaster, for an elastic metallic piston, or packing of pistons, to be applied either externally or internally to cylinders.— March 27. gi W. Warcup, of Dartford, Kent, engineer, for an improvement in the construction of a machine called a mangle.— April 3. J. Frost, of Finchley, Middlesex, builder, for improvements in the process of calcining, and preparing calcareous and other substances, for the purpose of forming cements.—A pril 3. C. Pope, of Bristol, spelter-maker and metal-merchant, for a compo- sition of certain metals to be used for the purpose of sheathing the bot- toms of ships and vessels, and of roofing the tops of houses, or for any other purpose to which such composition may be applicable.— A pril 8. D. W. Acraman, of Bristol, iron-manufacturer, and W. Piper, of the Cookley Ironworks, Worcestershire, iron-manufacturer, for certain improvements ih the preparation of iron, for the better manufacture of chains and chain-cables.—4A pril 12, : 78 New Patents. (Jury, J. M. Hanchett, of Crescent-place, Blackfriars, for improvements in Papeles boats and vessels.—A pril 12. . Francis, Norwich, shawl and bombasin-manufacturer, for an im- provement in the process of manufacturing a certain article, composed of silk and worsted, for useful purposes.— April 12. G. Graulhie, of Castle-street, Holborn, gent. for a machine upon a new and portable construction, capable of being inclined in different degrees, adapted to the conveyance of persons and goods over water or ravines, for military or other objects, and also to purposes of recreation and exercise.— A pril 16. J. Johnson, of Waterloo Bridge Wharf, Middlesex, for certain im- provements on drags to be used for earriages.— April 16. S. Hall, of Basford, Nottinghamshire, cotton-spinner, for a certain method of improving lace, net, muslin, and calico.— A pril 18. W. Southworth, of Sharples, Lancashire, bleacher, for certain ma- chinery or apparatus adapted to facilitate the operation of drying calicoes, muslins, linens, or other similar fabrics.—April 19. R. Winter, of Fen-court, Esq. for an improved method of conducting the process of distillation.—A pril 22. R. J. 'Tyers, of Piccadilly, Middlesex, fruiterer, for a machine to be attached to boots, shoes, or other covering of the feet, for the purposes of travelling or pleasure.—April 22. ` W. Palmer, of Lothbury, paper-hanger, for certain improvements in machinery, for the purpose of painting or staining paper for paper hangings.—April 22, — . Hos F. G. Spilsbury, of Walsall, Staffordshire, for certain improvements - in tanning.—April 22. F. Deakin, of Birmingham, Warwickshire, wire-drawer, for an im- proved method of manufacturing furniture, and for an improvement to the mounting of umbrellas and parasols—April 22. `. J. Rawlins, of Penton-place, Pentonville, Middlesex, gent. for a bedstead, machine, or apparatus, for the relief of invalids.—April 22. J. Hall, the younger, of Dartford, Kent, engineer, for an improve- ment in the machinery to be employed for effecting or producing the pressure on linseed, rapeseed, or any other oleaginous seeds or sub- stances from which oil can be expressed, for the purpose of expressing oil from the aforesaid seeds or substances.— April 22. J. Taylor, of Manchester, for certain improved machinery to facili- tate the operation of spinning, doubling, and throwing silk, cotton, wool, or flax, or mixtures of the said substances.—A pril 29, J. Bourdieu, of Lime-street, for a discovery and preparation ofa mucilage, or slackening matter, to be used in painting or colouring linen, woollen, and cotton cloths, and silks, in cases in which gums, mucilages, and other thickening matters, are now employed.— April 29. : W. Caslon, the younger, of Burton-crescent, Middlesex, Proprietor of Gas Works, for certain improvements in the construction of gasome- ters.— May 10. E. Eyre, of Sheffield, Yorkshire, fender-manufacturer, for an im- Moret in the manufacture of fenders, of brass, iron, or steel.— ay 15. J. Perkins, of Fleet-street, engineer, for certain improvements in the mode of heating, boiling, or evaporating, by steam, of fluids, in pans, boilers, or other vessels. —May 17. À i 1823] Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal, 79 ARTICLE XVII. METEOROLOGICAL TABLE. orem nem o : Ea BAROMETER,| THERMOMETER, Daniell’s hyg. ` 1893. Wind. | Max.| Min.| Max. | Min. | Evap. |Rain.| . at noon. 5th Mon. ; May 1| Var. |30493045) 72 35 — 2N E/30:453039 74 38 = 3| E |30°49'30°39| 70 37 — 4 E ]|3050/,3027| 55 33 — 5, S |80°27\50°07| 71 38 — 6 E j30072991| 76 48 *89 TS W129'92129'91] 78 | 50 — SS W!|2991/|29:80| :65. | - 43 — 0$ 9S "W)9'91/?9:91| 61 51 — 10S Wi!?9:91/|99:829| 65 51 — 27 11S. Wj]?)9822973 66 59 — |— 12S Wi|?975/9973| 63 48 *83 | 02 138 Wi|99:8499:75| 65 40 — 14 W 34301012984 63 44 -— 02 15N W/\30:19'30-10| 67. |. 49 — 16S Wi301929:98|. 63 43 — 02 17 W 130262998) 64 34 — 10 18S . W|30:2699:97, 67 | 41 *98 19, E 129:979979, 67 50 = 200, S 129792977) 70 59 — 12 21) W 129:802977| 67 52 — 02 99S Wj?9:86:200| 62 | 50 — 07 23S. W!99:9929:86| 64 44 bet 07 7 24S W/99:9999:84| 67 51 — — 25| E- |99:8429:82,. 68 46 | — 02 26). S |30°04'29°82| 72 40 ‘$9 | 22 27N E30113004 71 44. — 28N X Ej302930:11| 77 42 — 29 N — 1302233026) 72 41 — 30'S Ej30:29330:260| 78 43 — 31; E 1302913025] 77 51 82 50:5099:73| 78 33 4°41 | *98 The observations in each line of the table apply to a period of twenty-four hours, beginning at 9 A. M. on the day indicated in the first columi. A dash denotes that the result is included in the next following observation. 80 Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal, [Jury 1823. REMARKS, Fifth Month.—1, 9, 3. Fine. 4. Fine: very cold wind. 5, 6. Fine. 7. Fine, with occasional clouds. 8. Cloudy morning: cold wind. 9. Cloudy. 10. Cloudy: - rainy evening. 1l. Cloudy: wind boisterous, 12, Cloudy. 13—15. Fine. 16, Cloudy : some rain at nine, a, m. 17, Showery, 18—21. Fine, 22—26. Showery. 21—31, Fine. | | RESULTS. LEA (Dots é a Winds: N,1; NE,3; E, 6; SE, 1; 8,3; SW, 12; W,3; NW, L; Var. 1, Barometer: Mean height | l iie lr For the Woptb. y s Qiessy es 30 odii Bee VS - 40-034 inches. For the luriar period, ending the 3 , +., sses ss ea. -a +, 30:040 For 15 days, ending the 6th (moon south) . ,.....-. - 30-219 For 12 days, ‘ending the 18th (moon north) . m. 29:945 Thermometer: Mean height i oP nel maid. |., 0 A eec ROUE 56:419? For the lunar period, ending the 3d ,,,.. «eee, eee eee 45:650 For 31 days, the sun in Taurus ...... eese eee 02338 Evaporation. .. CHOTA HHH ESE sH Bese sree GeesestenseeTereeeese® AAI in. Rain. eC RCC CCPC ET errr er err err er ry rer HABITI og... 0:98 Laboratory, Stratford, Sixth Month, 28, 1893. _ | R, HOWARD. | OF PHILOSOPHY. AUGUST, 1823. ` ARTICLE I. New Experiments on Sound. By Mr. C. Wheatstone. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) On the Phonic Molecular Vibrations. SIR, . Brerore I enter on the immediate subject of this article, it may be necessary to exhibit a general view of those bodies, which, being properly excited, make those sensible oscillations, which have been thought to be the proximate causes of all thé phenomena of sound. These bodies, to avoid many circumlocu- . tions otherwise inevitable, I have termed Phonics. Linear Phonics. Transversal, Longitudinal, Making their oscillations at | Making their oscillations inthe ` right angles to their axis. direction of their axis. 1. Capable of tension, or varia- | 1. Columns of aeriform fluids ble rigidity: chords, or or liquids: cylindric and wires. prismatic rods. 2. Permanently rigid: rods, forks, rings, &c. . Superficial Phonics. 1. Capable of tension: extended membranes. 2. Permanently rigid ; lamine, bells, vases, &c. Solid Phonics. 1. Volumes of aeriform fluids, New Series, vor. v1. G 82 Mr. Wheatstone on Sound. ‘Ave. The sensation of sound can be excited by any of these bodies when they oscillate sufficiently rapidly, either entire, or divided into any number of parts. in equihbrium with each other. . The laws of these subdivisions differ in the various phonics according to their form and mode of connection or insulation; and the velocities of the oscillations, or degrees of tune, depend on the form, dimensions, mode of connection, mode of division, and elasticity of the body employed. The points of division in linear phonics are called nodes, and the boundaries «of, the vibrating parts of elastic surfaces are termed nodal lines. The parts at which the oscillatory portions have their greatest excursions are named centres of vibration; these are always at the greatest mean distances from the nodal points or lines. These mechanical oscillations are not, however, themselves the immediate causes of sound; they are but the agents in pro- ducing in the bodies themselves, and in other contiguous sub- stances, isochronous vibrations of certain particles varying in magnitude according to the degree of tune. I convinced myself. of this important fact by, the following simple experiments : I took a plate of glass capable of vibrating im several different modes, and covered it with a layer of water; on causing it to vibrate by the action of a bow, a beautiful reticulated surface of vibrating particles commenced at the. centres of the vibrating porta, and increased in dimensions as the excursions were made arger. When a more acute sound was produced, the centres consequently became more numerous, and the number of coex- isting vibratiug particles likewise increased, but their magnitudes proportionably diminished. The sounds of elastic lamine are generally supposed to be beg to the entire oscillations of the simple parts as shown by Chladni, when, by strewing sand over the sonorous plates, he observed the particles repulsed by the vibrating parts, accumulate on the nodal lines, and indicate the bounds of the sensible oscillations. Did no other motions exist in the plate but these entire oscillations, the water laid on its surface, would, on account of its cohesion to the glass, show no peculiar phenomena, but the appearances above described clearly demonstrate that the oscillating parts consist of a number of vibrating particles of equal magnitudes, the excursions of which are greatest at the centres of vibration, and gradually become less as they recede further from it, until they become almost null at the nodal lines. | via*] To multiply these surfaces, and to observe whether the, mag- nitudes of these particles vary in different media, in a glass vessel of a cylindric form, I superposed three immiscible fluids of different densities; namely, mercury, water, and oil. On roducing the sounds corresponding with each mode of division, i observed a number of vibrating parts, agreeing with the sound, and showing similar appearances to the plate, formed on the surfaces of each of the fluids ; not the least agitation appeared 1823.] Mr: Wheatstone:on Sound: 83 in the uniform. parts: I afterwards inserted this glass in another vessel of water in order to obsetve the vibrations of the external surface, and found the same results as in the interior, though the levels of the surfaces: were different. . inidry orf SAUNIA "The most accurate method to observe these phenomena is by employing a metallic plate of small dimensions; which must be fixed: horizontally in a vice at one end, and covered on its upper side with a surface of) water ;/on causing it to oscillate entirely by means of'a bow, a regular succession of these vibrating: cors puscles will appear arranged parallelto the two directions of the plate, and if the action of the bow. be*rendered continuous, their absolute number might be counted: with the aid of a micrometer. Diminishing the oscillating part of the plate to one half of its length, the double octave tothe preceding was heard, agreeably to the established rule, that the velocities of the oscillations are inversely as the squares of the lengths’; four vibrating corpuscles then occupied the space before occupied by one; and the: abso- lute number was double to that in the former instance ; but the absolute numberof these corpuscles‘have no influence whatever on the degree of tune, which entirely depends on their relative magnitude in the same substance ; theory shows us that in plates of this description alteration of breadth does not affect the degree of tune ; let us, therefore, reduce this half of the plate to half its breadth, and we shall find the note remain the same, but the absolute nuniber of the corpuscles will in this case be equal to that in the entire plate. ^ Let us now take two plates of equal lengths and breadths; but one double in thickness to the other; the rule is, that the velocities of the oscillations are as’ the thick- nesses of the plates ; we shall, therefore, in the thicker plate see a double number of particles to that ofthe other, occupying the same extent of surface. "The last circumstance in which two plates may differ is their specific rigidity, and in this respect it will be found that two plates of exactly equal dimensions, and covered with the same number of vibrating corpuscles of equal magnitudes, but of different substances, differ in sound ; there- fore, the absolute magnitudes of the particles cannot be assumed as à standard of tune, unless regulated by the specific rigidity. Unassisted by any means of actual admeasurement, the above are but the proximate results sensible to the eye; more extended and accurate experiments are necessary to confirm the results with mathematical certainty. As the absolute magnitudes of these particles will, I imagine, be hereafter a most useful element - for calculation, I will here indicate the most effectual way I am acquainted with to arrive at this knowledge. A thick metallic slip of considerable length and breadth, bent similarly to a tun- ing fork, and fixed at its. curved part in a vice, is very easily excited by friction, and a more considerable surface of regularly arranged vibrating particles is seen than in most other superfi- cies; any description of common exciter may be employed, G2 84 Mr. Wheatstone on Sound, _ [Avei When this bent plate is excited by percussion, the particles, before their disappearance, will assume an apparent rotatory motion, on account of the force exerted, and its susceptibility of continuing the vibrations. Employing a parallelopedal rod, the appearances of the higher modes of subdivisions are particularly neat; the.entire vibrating parts between the nodes form ellipses, and the semi-part at the free end, a regular half of the same figure. It is important to remark, that the crispations of the water only appear on the sides in the plane of oscillation ; the other two sides, on one of which the exciter must be applied, do, not show similar appearances. | | . [have also rendered the phonic molecular vibrations visible, when produced by the longitudinal oscillations of a column of air; the following were the means employed: I placed the open end of the head of a flute or flagiolet on the surface of a vessel of water, and on blowing to produce the sound, I observed similar crispations to those described above, forming a circle round the end of the tube, and afterwards appearing to radiate in right lines; on the harmonies of the tube being sounded, the crispations were correspondently diminished in magnitude. These phenomena will be more evident if the tube be raised a little from the surface of the liquid and a thin connecting film be left surrounding it; the vibrating particles will then occupy a greater space, and be more sensible. he existence of the molecular vibrations being. now com- pletely established, it becomes a critical question, in. what manner the sensible oscillations induce these vibrating particles. I do not know whether what I am now going to adduce will be admitted as the right explanation, but it is certainly analogous, so far as the superficial and transversal linear oscillations are concerned. A flexible surface, covered with a coat of resinous varnish, being made to assume any curve, the cohesion of the varnish will be destroyed in certain parts, and a number of cracks will be observed more regularly disposed as the force inducin the curve has been more regularly applied ; when the vene gyre of the surface is restored, the cracks will be impercepti- le, but will again appear at every subsequent motion. — Be this: as it may, these particles are invariable concomitants of the sen- sible oscillations, and there is no reason to suppose otherwise than that their vibrations are isochronous with them. To avoid confusion, I have restricted the word vibrations to the motions of the more minute parts, and the term oscillations to those of the sensible divisions. We may reasonably suppose that the molecular vibrations pervade the entire substance of a phonic; their excursions, however, are not the same in all parts, and they can only be rendered visible, when these excursions are large ; they may be so few in number as to be entirely inaudible, as in their transmission through linear conductors ; but however few, when they are properly directed, they induce the mechani- 1822] — Mr. Wheatstone on Sound. 85 cal divisions of sonorous bodies, each of which will give birth to numerous vibrating corpuscles.whose excursions are greater, and the sound will be rendered audible. Dr. Savart has well investigated. the modes of division in surfaces put in motion by communicated vibrations. . All those phonics whose. limited superficies preclude them from exciting in themselves a sufficient number of vibrating corpuscles, when insolated, produce scarcely any perceptible sound, as extended chords, tuning forks, &c. but those whose superficies or solidities are more extended, as bells, elastic laminge, columns of air, &c. produce suflicient volume of sound without accessory means. ' Loudness of sound is dependent on the excursions of the vibrations ; volume, or fulness of sound, on the number of co-existing particles put in motion. Thus the tones of the JEolian harp, on account. of the number of subdivisions of the strings, are remarkably beautiful and rich, without possessing much power; and the sounds of an Harmonica glass, in which a greater number of particles are excited than by any other means, are extraordinarily so united, according to the method of excitation, with considerable intensity ; their pervading nature is one of the greatest peculiarities of these sounds. The following is a recapitulation of the various properties of sound, which are attributable to modifications -of the vibrating corpuscles : The tune ^| y fi velocities of the vibrations. The time $ | continuance of the vibrations. The intensity 2 | excursions of the vibrations. The richness, or volume f o } number ofco-existing vibrations. The quantity (timbre) © | magnitudes of the vibrating | J " (' corpuscles. It has often been thought necessary to admit the existence of more minute motions than the sensible oscillations, in order to account for many phenomena in the production of sound. Per- rault in his “Essai du Bruit," insisted on their necessity more than any other author I have read : he imagined, that the vibra- tions have a much greater velocity than the oscillations which cause them, but the experiment he adduced to prove this is far from conclusive ; he mistook for these vibrations the oscillations of the subdivisions of the long string he employed. Other dis- tinguished philosophers have had ideas of a similar nature, and Chladni thinks their existence necessary to account for the varieties of quality. I, however, conceived I was the first who had indicated these phenomena by experiment, until a few days ago repeating them, together with the others which form the subject of this paper, in the preseuce of Prof. Oersted, of Copenhagen, he acquainted me with some similar experiments of his own. Substituting a very fine powder, Lycopodion, instead of the sand used by Chladni, for showing the oscillations. of 86 Mr. Wheaistone on Sound. [Ave. elastic plates, this eminent philosopher found the particles not only repulsed to the nodal lines, but at the same time accumu- lated in small parcels, on and near the centres of vibration; these appearances he presumed to indicate more minute vibra- tions, which were the causes of the quality of the sound: sub- sequently he confirmed his opinion, by observing the crispations of water, or alcohol, on similar. plates, and ‘showed that the same minute vibrations must take place in the transmitting medium, ‘as they were equally produced in a surface of water, when the sounding plate was dipped into a mass of this fluid. These experiments were inserted in Lieber’s History of Natural Philosophy, 1813. » aba» ao Qiu | Rectilineal Transmission of. Sound. | ^ As the laws of the communication of the phonic vibrations are more evident in’ linear conduetors, I shall confine the present article to a summary of their principal phenomena. : In my first experiments on this subject, I placed a tuning fork, or a chord extended on a bow, on the extremity of a glass, or metallic rod, five feet in length, communicating with a sound- ing board ; the sound was heard as instantaneously as when the fork was in immediate contact, and it immediately ceased when the rod was removed from the sounding board, or the fork from the rod. From this it is evident that the vibrations, inaudible in their transmission, being multiplied by meeting with a sono- rous body, become very sensibly heard. Pursuing my investiga- tions on this subject, I have discovered means for transmitting, through rods of much greater lengths and of very Pesci ia A thicknesses, the sounds of all musical instruments dependant on the vibrations of solid bodies, and of many descriptions of wind instruments. It is astonishing how all the varieties of tune, quum audibility, and all the combinations of harmony; are thus transmitted unimpaired, and again rendered audible by communication with àn appropriate receiver. One of the prac- tical applieations of this discovery has been exhibited in London for about two years under the appellation of * The Enchanted Lyre.” ‘So perfect was the illusion in this instance from the intense vibratory state of the reciprocating instrument, and from the interception of the sounds of the distant exciting one, that it was universally imagined to be one of the highest efforts of ingenuity in musical mechanism. The details of the extensive modifications of which this invention is susceptible, I shall reserve for a future communication ; the external appearance and effects of the individual application above-mentioned have been described in the principal periodical journals. The transmission of the vibrations through any communicat- ing medium as well as through linear conductors is attended by peculiar phenomena; pulses are formed similar to those in lon- gitudinal phonics, and consequently the centres of vibration and 1823.] Mr. Wheatstoné on Sound. 87 the nodes: are reproduced periodically at equal distances ; in this we observe an analogous disposition with regard to light. I had intended to include in this paper all the analogical facts I: have observed illustratory of the identity of the causes of these two principal objects of sensation, but want of time, and the danger of delay, now the subject is oceupying so much the attention of the scientific world, has induced me hastily to col- lect the present experiments, and to defer the others for a future opportunity. hon inr 'The thicknesses of conductors materially influence the power of transmission, and there is a limit of thickness, differing for the different degrees of tune, beyond which the vibrations will not be transmitted. The vibrations of acute sounds can be transmitted through smaller wires than those of grave sounds: a proof of this is easy ; attach a tuning fork to one end of a very small wire; and apply the other end to the ear, or a sounding board ; on striking the fork rather hard, two co-existing sounds will be produced, that which is more acute will be distinctly heard, but the other will not be transmitted. Ifthe vibrations of a tuning fork be conducted through a piece of brass wire of the size and thickness of a large needle, the sound, imperfectly transmitted, will become more audible by the pressure of the fingers on the conducting wire; but if a steel wire of the same length and thickness be employed, the sound will be unaltered by any pressure, because steel has a greater specific elasticity than brass. ~ | Polarization of Sound. Hitherto I have only considered the vibrations in their recti- lineal transmission; I shall now demonstrate, that they are pecu- liarly affected, when they pass through conductors bent in different angles. I connected a tuning fork with one extremity ofa straight conducting rod, the other end of which communicated with a sounding board; on causing the tuning fork to sound, the vibrations were powerfully transmitted, as might be expected from what has already been explained ; but on gradually bend- ing the rod, the sound progressively decreased, and was scarcely perceptible when the angle became a right one; as the angle was made more acute, the phenomena were produced in an inverted order ;'the intensity gradually increased as it had before diminished, and when the two parts were nearly parallel, it became as powerful as in the rectilineal transmission. By mul- tiplying the right angles in a rod, the transmission of the vibra- tions may be completely stopped. . To produce these- phenomena, however, it is necessary that the axis of the oscillations of the tuning fork should be perpen- dicular to the plane of the moveable angele, for if they be parallel with it, they will be still considerably transmitted: The follow- ing experiment will prove this: I placed a tuning fork perpendi- 88 Mr. Wheatstone on Sound. | [Ave. ame on the side ofa rectilinear rod; the vibrations were, therefore, communicated at right angles ; when the axis of the oscillations of the fork coincided r the rod, the intensity of the transmitted vibrations was at its maximum ; in proportion as the axis deviated from parallelium, the intensity of the trans- mitted vibrations diminished ; and, lastly, when it became per- pendicular, the intensity was at its minimum. In the second uadrant, the order of the phenomena was inverted as in the ormer experiment, and a second maximum of intensity touk place when the axis of the oscillations had described a semi- circumference, and had again become parallel, but in an oppo- site direction. When the revolution was continued, the inten- sity of the transmitted vibrations was varied in a similar manner, it progressively diminished as the axis ofthe oscillations deviated from being parallel with the rod, became the least possible when it arrived at the perpendicular, and again augmented until it emen at its first maximum, which completed its entire revo- ution, The phenomena of polarization may be observed in many corded instruments: the cords of the harp are attached at one extremity to a conductor which has the same direction as the sounding board ; if any cord be altered from its quiescent posi- tion, so that its axis of oscillation shall be parallel with the bridge, or conductor, its tone will be full ; but if the oscillations be excited so that their axis shall be at right angles with the conductor, its tone will be feeble. By tuning two adjacent strings of the harp-unisons with each other, the differences of force will be sensible to the eye in the oscillations of the reci- procating string according to the direction in which the other is excited. | hi It now remains to explain the nature of the vibrations which p the phenomena, the existence of which has been proved y the preceding experiments. The vibrations generally assume the same direction as the oscillations which induce them; in a longitudinal phonic the vibrations are parallel to its axis ; in a , transversal ^ «nba they are perpendicular to this direction ; a circular or an elliptic form can be also given to the vibrations by causing the oedilistibua to assume the same forms... Any vibrat- ing corpuscle can induce isochronous vibrations of similar conti- guous corpuscles n the same plane either parallel with, or perpendicular to, the direction of the original vibrations, and the polarization of the vibrations consists in the similarity of their directions, by which they propagate themselves equally in the same plane; therefore the vibrations being transmitted through linear conductors, it is the plane in which the vibrations are made that determines their transmission, or non-transmission, when the direction is.altered. A longitudinal or a transversal vibration may be transmitted two ways to a conductor bent at right angles; their axis may be in that direction, as to be in the 1823.] -Mri Wheatstone on Sound. 89 same plane with the right angle, in which case the former will be transversally, or the latter longitudinally transmitted in the ‘new direction; or their axis may be perpendicular to the plane of this new direction, under which circumstances neither can be communicated.* In explaining the polarization of light, there is no necessity to suppose that the reflecting surfaces act on the luminous vibrations by any actual attracting or repulsing force, causing them to change their axes of vibrations; the directions of the vibrations in different. planes, as I have proved exist in the communication of sound, is sufficient to explain every phe- nomenon relative to the polarization of light. Let us suppose a nc iu of tuning forks oscillating in differ- ent planes, and communicating with one conducting rod ; if the rod be rectilinear, all the vibrations will be transmitted, but if it be bent at right angles, they will undergo only a partial trans- mission; those vibrations whose planes are perpendicular, or nearly so, to the plane of the new direction, will be destroyed. The vibrations are thus completely polarized in one direction, while passing through the new path, and on meeting with a new right angle, they will be transmitted or not, accordingly as the plane of the angle is parallel with, or perpendicular to, the axes of the vibrations. In this point of view, the circumstances attending the phenomena are precisely the same as in the elementary experiment of Malus on the polarization of light. Double refraction is a consequence of the laws of polarization, by which a combination of vibrations having their axes in differ- ent planes, after travelling in the same direction, are separated into two other directions, each polarized in one plane only. That this well-known property of light has'a correspondent in the communication of phonic vibrations, I shall now demonstrate. When two tuning forks, sounding different notes by a constant exciter, and making their oscillations perpendicularly to each other, have their vibrations transmitted at the same time through. one rod, at the opposite extremity of which.two other conduc- tors are attached at right angles, and when each of these con- ductors is parallel with one of the axes of the oscillations of the forks, on connecting a sounding board with either conductor, those vibrations only will be transmitted. through it which are polarized in the same plane with the angle made by the two rods through which the vibrations pass; either sound may be thus * Ihave just seen a paper by M. Fresnel, entitled ** Considerations Mécaniques sur la Polarization de la Lumiere,” in which this eminent philosopher had previously arrived at the same conclusions with respect to light, as I have proved in this communication respecting sound. ‘The important discoveries of Dr. Thomas Young, followed' by those of M. Fresnel, have recently re-established the vibratory theory of light, and new facts are every day augmenting its probability. "The new views in acoustical science, which I have opened in this paper, will, I presume, give additional confirmation to the opinions of these eminent philosophers ; and I hope, when I resume the subject, to be enabled to account for the principal phenomena of coloration, with regard to their acoustic analoe gies, in a way calculated to establish the permanent validity of the theory. r 90 Mr. Moyle on Granite Veins. [Aue, separately heard, or they may both be heard in combination by connecting both the conductors with sounding boards. The phenomena of diffraction regarding only the form of the surfaces, or the superficies over which the vibrations extend, are by the conformation of the organs of hearing, not of any conse- quence to the perception of sound, though the same phenomena when the chromatic vibrations are concerned, are very evident to the eye. They, however, undoubtedly take place equally in both instances, and may be well explained by the theory already laid down. Each separate vibration propagating itself in the plane of its vibrating aXis, a number of vibrations in different planes, after passing through an aperture, naturally expand themselves transversely as well as rectilineally, and thereby occupy a greater age than they would, were they only longitu- dinally transmitted. I have still to indicate a new property of the phonic vibra- tions, but whether it is analogous to any of the observed pheno- mena of light, Í am yet ignorant. When the source of the vibrations 1s in progressive motion, the vibrations emanating from it are transmitted, when the conductor is rectilineal and parallel with the original direction, and they are destroyed when the conductor is perpendicular to the:direction, though the axis of vibration and the conductor, being in both instances in the same place, would transmit the vibrations were the phonic sta- tionary. These circumstances are proved by the following expe- riments; When a tuning fork placed perpendicularly to a rod, communicating at one or both extremities with sounding boards, atid caused to oscillate with its vibrating axis parallel with the rod, moves along the rod, preserving at the same time its perpen- dicularity and parallelism, the vibrations will not be transmitted while the movement continues, but the transmission will take place immediately after it has remained motionless. When the tuning fork moves on the upper edge of a plane perpendicular to a sounding board, the vibrations rectilineally transmitted will not be influenced by the progressive motion. + ~The ens —— ARTICLE Il. On Granite Veins. By M. P. Moyle, Esq. (To the Editor of the Anñals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, Helston, May 7, 1893, , VARIOUS statements and representations, have from time to time been given, of the gigantic granite veins which are so very conspicuous in the slate cliffs about a quarter of a mile east of (s/f, 7777) E Yj : j = ie -y W / LU Gf 7 277 7 a yy MMM í Yi 7 / YUH YY c» * n Iien Sod | | S | ! DEM Enn o Wt, AAA Ves MEAS US no sls A 1823.] Mr. Moyle on Granite Veins. 91 Trewavas Head, in the parish of Breage, in Cornwall, few of which, in my opinion, can be clearly understood by those who have never visited the spot, consequently less likely are they to be able to decide on their disputed. nature, whether the granite composing the veins is of the primitive or secondary formation. Having very recently visited the spot, and taken Mr.Sedgwick’s description of these veins with me, I find the account given by him nearly correct; at the same time I discover that he has omitted to notice some circumstances which might tend to elucidate, in a more correct manner, the nature of their forma- tion. In endeavouring to supply this deficiency, I have thought it advisable to give a section of the cliff, or an outline of its appearance from the beach at low water (Pl. XXI), fig. 1, and add a few observations which I conceive necessary as we pro- ceed in his description. - | * About a. quarter ofa mile east of Trewavas Point (and about 100 yards east of this sketch), where the cliffs are in an unusu- ally ruinous state, a small brook has excavated a passage to the water's edge. The killas rocks on the beach appear to be inter- sected by numerous contemporaneous veins of quartz. Near this spot several thin beds of granite seem to alternate with the slate; one in particular, which preserves its thickness and conformity to the lamina of the schist for upwards of 100 feet, when it is lost in the waters.” The slate lying both above and below this granitic vein as it traverses the beach, is washed from its surfaces, so as to leave it projecting in many — several feet, so that its dip is very visible, and is found to eas in the cliff at about an angle of 28°.“ However, a further examination," says Mr. Sedgwick, “ discovered its real nature ; for upon observing it in an opposite direction, a number of smaller veins were seen emanating from it. It then cut obliquely through the lamina of slate, starting off from its first direction, and became finally lost in a waving line among the cliffs. The greatest width of this vein is about two feet, and its extent from the edge of the water to its termination inthe cliff is about 400 feet. “Farther west, the granite veins are crossed by two others of a different character; one of them ranges nearly in the magnetic meridian, and underlies east two feet in a fathom; the other underlies in an opposite direction. They are about a foot and half in width, and contain quartz, oxide of iron, and a little clay slate." This quartz vein ranging nearly in the magnetic meridian, produces upon the granite vein, the same effect that cross courses often have upon metalliferous veins in most of our mines, that of heaving it out of its direct course. Here, fig. 2, the granite vein is heaved-up about three feet by being intersected by the quartz vein ; while another quartz vein, a few feet distant, is seen pursuing its regular course, being interrupted only by the granite vein. ‘This circumstance I shall have occa- -sion to remark more fully hereafter. iu 92 Mr. Moyle on Granite Veins. — ^ [Ave. * Fora considerable extent beyond this point, the whole base of the cliffs is covered with vast fragments of the veins which have been denuded by the surrounded killas becoming decom- osed; one of these is 10 feet thick. In general they are of a rilliant white colour, and of a fine granular texture, sometimes containing within themselves parallel veins composed. of large crystals of quartz and felspar, and proved to be of contempora- neous origin by the long spicule of schorl which pass without interruption, through both the quartz and felspar." | These coarse granitic veins within the granite are best seen in many of the huge blocks on the beach; one block in parti- cular, i observed, that has one of its sides nine feet long, and seven broad, covered with these immense crystals of quartz and felspar, and which most ey had separated from its fellow, by the fall from the cliff. One crystal. of felspar. 1 separated which measured 41 inches in diameter . These coarse veins, generally speaking, are not more than from four to eight inches thick ; but much of the granite apparently forming the matrix of the beach, in this place, seem to. be wholly composed of these large crystals, in which is found some schorl, and scarcely any mica; while. other parts of the granite have merely the large felspar crystals imbedded in it, as to render it completely porphy- - ritic. One block of considerable magnitude has a vein of deep coloured amethyst passing through it, several small crystals of which I collected. * Beyond the ruin of these veins, there is a bed of granite one foot thick, and about 40 feet in length and breadth,’ This is ' the coarse-grained granite just alluded to, but it varies in thick- ness from one to five feet. This “ passes under the cliff, and to all appearance alternating with the slate, but which, as in the former instance, turns out to be a granitic vein. | Advancin further to the west, the rocks are beautifully intersected with veins of the like nature, the lower part being cut through by a well defined vein of about a foot thick, while the higher parts are traversed by innumerable ramifications ; the lower branch after keeping the direction of the slate beds, for a dist- ance of 60 feet, suddenly rises in a perpendicular direction to the top of the cliff. The whole of this system of veins after- wards unite in one trunk, which after traversing a projecting ledge of rocks, descends in an oblique direction into a great mass of granite, which form a part of a natural cavern. Near this spot appears a very large mass of granite, which seem to be the root of the gigantic veins, which proceed from this point, and rise in broad white lines towards that part of the cliff which reposes immediately on the central granite. Splinters of clay slate are here seen imbedded in the middle of the granitic veins. * From this point two large veins separated by a lancet- shaped mass of slate, rise towards the west at an angle of about 1823.7 Mr. Moyle on Granite Veins. 93 15°. Within a few feet of these two, a third vein starts out at nearly the same angle, and proceeds in. the-same direction. These three veins are throughout nearly of the same thickness; viz. each about five feet.” à b Whether the recent fall from the cliff during the last winter has altered the features of the veins, or exposed a new one, E cannot state with certainty ; but there is distinctly to be seen at present four separate veins as represented in the section; the lowest is not more than three feet thick, until 1t arrives at the point (a), when it suddenly widens to more than six feet, at which thickness it continues on to the west. The vein imme- diately above this (6) commences about five feet in thickness, and continues on at the same width as far as immediately over the widened part of the vein below, where it decreases to about 21 feet, and so continues on to the recess. These two are at about an angle of 15°. The next vein (c) is about seven feet thick throughout, and rises at about an angle of 30°, and it is in this vein’ principally where the fragments of slate are so very conspicuous : some of these fragments measured from three to four feet in length, and from four to six inches thick : they show themselves in the veins in the manner represented in fig. 3. At other places the slate may be seen apparently shooting into the veins of granite in a tortuous manner, fig. 4: a fourth vein (d), about eight feet thick, is found rising at an angle of about 45? till it is lost in the alluvial soil above. This vein does not appear to be noticed by Mr. Sedgwick. P vna On examining some of the rocks lately fallen, many fragments of slate are to be found imbedded in the granite, and several masses of slate may be seen with granite adhering to one or more of its sides, and so firmly iini to it, that the granitic vein itself has split in preference-to separating from the slate. “The two lowest veins preserve their course without being much deflected for some hundred feet, and from the place we first remarked them, disappear behind a projecting part of the cliff. On turning this projecting ledge, we suddenly reached a recess, the lower part of which was filled. with the ruins from the higher of the overhanging rocks. The western side of this recess is composed of killas, intersected by some small granitic veins?’ About half of the western side only is composed of killas ; close to the alluvial soil is granite 15 feet thick ; then comes a thin layer of slate about three feet thick, which is again followed by a granitic vein (g), about 15 feet in thickness. The remaining part of the cliff below is all slate, which entirely disappears about 200 feet further west than this recess. In this last described slate are to be seen blocks of rounded granite, or whit in other situations would be called bowlders of small dimensions imbedded in the centre of the slate as seen at (e). This granite has a different aspect from any other in the imme- diate neighbourhood, being of a darker and firmer texture, and 91 Mr. Moyle on Granite Veins. fAue, containing its usual quantity of mica ; whereas what composes the veins has always a slaty fracture, contains little or no mica, and has a white chalky appearance. /^59101 gasi] * A protruding mass of granite from the base of the: eastern side of this recess to the height of 25 or 30 feet (f^). It is of a very singular outline; yet does not appear to'have shown the slaty lamine reposing on it out of their usual direction.” This I should also denominate a granitic vein, which soon becomes hid and lost on the beach from the ruins of the cliff above. It has in every respect the same characters as the granite of the other veins ; by careful examination the slate may bé observed ` beneath tlie vein, making it about 18 feet thick. Its other end: soon becomes lost behind the mound of rubbish in the recess; and from its inclination, I should think the vein (g); on the west- ern side its continuation. `“ The mound of rubbish in thé recess enabled us to ascend more than half way up the cliff, and trace the two large veins before mentioned into an enornious bunch of granite, which here reposes on the top of the cliff; and is supported by undisturbed beds of slate; the line of demarca- tion being nearly horizontal; and at an elevation of 60 or 70 feet above the level of the beach. The denuded face of this bunch of granite is 30 or 40 feet thick. Two or three veins appear to take their origin from this anomalous overlying mass. One spreads out in minute ramifications towards the part of the cliffs which abuts towards Trewavas Point, at the termination of the killas in that direction. ‘Two others descend obliquely, and are lost behind the large mound of rubbish before mentioned.” The whole of the slate has an evident inclination to the éast at an angle of about 15°; and in no part of it traversed by the granitic veins, are its lamine, &c. interrupted. There are evident symptoms of these veins being formed subsequently to the slate; forin one part of the vein (c), there is a slight fissure running perpendicular through the slate until it meets the vein, which fissure may be again seen on the opposite side of the vein holding its direct course. Several small quartz veins traverse the slate in all directions, but observe the same law as regards the granitic vein; and im no part whatever could I find either fissure or quartz vein of the slate to penetrate the granite (except the one before mentioned, where the mte vein is heaved pi it) ; but in every instance to present themselves as in fig. 5. The slate does not make its appearance more than 200 feet west of this recess. I am, dear Sir, your humble servant, 4 M. P. Moyzes. 1823] ^ Measurement of Heights by the Barometer. ui 98 AnrICLE III. | An Abridged Translation of M. Ramond’s Instructions or the Application of the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights, with a Selection from his Tables for facilitating those Opera- tions, reduced (where necessary) to English Mu. By. Baden Bowell, MA. of Oriel College, Oxford, : (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR, | | Tus dissertations and tables of M. Ramond are of such acknowledged excellence for the purposes of the barometrical observer, that I trust the following abstract ofthem brought into a form more convenient to the English student will not be unac- ceptable. Ona careful perusal of his publication, it appeared to me that the valuable information contained in it was very suscep- tible of being reduced into a smaller compass; and that among the various tables he has given, those of more essential use might be selected, and, as far as requisite, reduced to English measures. In this way I conceive the most valuable materials of the author may be very usefully collected; and within the compass of three, or at most four papers of such length as is proportionate to the size of a number of the Annals, I trust I shall be able to present the scientific inquirer with a compen- dium of much information highly requisite to be attended to in the measurement of heights by the barometer, and with a set of tables which seem to unite facility of operation with correctness of result, in a greater degree than any extant. B. P. OR n General Principles of Barometrical Measurement. It is well known that in the barometer the mercury sinks as we are elevated above the level of the sea; this indeed must be the case, for the barometer may be considered as a balance in which the column of mercury keeps in equilibrio with the corres- ponding column of air. At the level ofthe sea, it balances the whole weight of the atmosphere: at a greater elevation, only a part of it. The quantity by which it has sunk expresses the weight of the stratum of air intercepted between the levels of the two stations. Considered in relation to the measure of height, it expresses the difference of level in a ratio depending on that of the densities of mercury and air. What then is the thickness of the stratum of air whose weight is equal to that of an inch of mercury? To such a question may the problem of the mensura- tion of heights by the barometer be ultimately reduced. This question, however, apparently so simple, has nevertheless occa- sioned much difficulty to philosophers. 96 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Avo If the air were, like mercury, an incompressible fluid and of uniform density, the solution of the problem» would not have resented any difficulty. ]t would then have sufficed to esta- blish once for all the ratio of the densities in order to infer that of the volumes, and to determine the thickness of the stratum of air whose weight was in equilibrio with a given column of mer- id of the same diameter. (s ` But air is elastic ; it dilates or condenses in proportion to the pressure it undergoes ; and in proportion as we rise in the atmo- sphere, we perceive its density diminish along with the weight by which it is compressed. lfthen we suppose a column of air divided into strata of equal thickness, these strata beginning from below will diminish gradually in weight, and will correspond respectively to. portions of the mercurial column erinely smaller: in such a manner that equal differences of elevation will be marked in the barometer by successive depressions of the mercury so much the smaller as we rise higher. | We perceive then that in a column of air supposed at a uniform temperature, the density of the strata decreases in proportion as the compressing weight diminishes, which is represented by the height of the column of mercury. Setting out from this first datum, and imagining the column of air divided into strata bounded by planes indefinitely near each other, we are led to perceive that the differential variation of the density is propor- tional to the product of this density multiplied into the variation in vertical height. And if we make this nds vary by quanti- ties constantly equal, the ratio of the differential of the density to the density itself will be constant, which is the characteristic property of a decreasing geometrical progression whose terms approach indefinitely near to each other.* Hence it follows, that if the heights of the strata increase in arithmetical progres- sion, their density, and consequently their weight, and conse- quently also the heights of the barometer will decrease in geometrical progression. This law is the fundamental principle m he application of the barometer to the measurement of eights. Long before philosophers were aware of it, there existed a book which seemed made expressly for facilitating the applica- tion of this principle. The logarithmic tables, the admirable artifice of which had already so much abridged the long calcula- tions of astronomy, offered a double series of corresponding numbers, one of which proceeded in arithmetical, the other in geometrical progression ; numbers, which even the most courage- ous patience would doubtless never have had resolution enough to calculate solely for the sake of the measurement of heights, even if, in other respects, this art, as yet in its infancy, had been capable of suggesting the idea. It required some genius even to * Exposit. du Syst. du Monde, ‘Third Edit. tom. j. p. 155, 1823.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. . 97 conceive this: new application of tables hitherto signalized by. so many services ofa totally different kind. The name of Mariotte remains coupled with a happy approximation, which seemed as if it ought to have been made at once by every one, but which he himself did not turn to any advantage. We know, however; that the heights of the barometer at the two stations being expressed whether in inches or any other measure, the difference of level is represented by the difference of the logarithms of these heights. - ' | But this representation is only an abstract one; it indicates a ratio, and not absolute measures, because the system of the tables is not framed in the particular system belonging to the measures of heights. In order that the difference of the logarithms may be trans- formed into feet, we must apply to it in a particular manner the value corresponding to these measures,* combined with the ratio of the densities of mercury and air. These conditions are more easy to fulfil than it might appear. The whole operation consists in finding once for all the number of feet, fathoms, &oc. which, multiplied by the difference of the logarithms, will reduce the abstract expression to one, giving absolute measures regulated by the ratio of the densities. Nothing is more simple provided we know this latter ratio. Let us suppose that at the pressure - of 29°921 inches of mercury, and at the temperature of melting ice, the weights of air and mercury were as unity to 10477-9. The heights of the two columns being inversely as their densities, it is clear that we must ascend 1-100th of 10477-9, or 104-779, in order that the barometer may sink 1-100th of the same denomination as that in which our ascent is expressed, or nearly 877 feet, that it may sink 1-100th inch. Now the pressure being suppcsed equal to 29-921 inches, we shall find the number sought by dividing 104-779 by the difference of the tabular loga- rithms of the barometrical heights, 29-921 and 29:911. The exact ratio of the densities being on the contrary supposed unknown, the operation will not be at all more difficult if we have measured geometrically and with great exactness a differ- ence of elevation: for then, taking the barometer to the two extremities of the measured height, and dividing the difference of the logarithms by the difference of elevation, we shall equally obtain the number we seek; it will, however, correspond only to the particular temperature and pressure under the influence of which we have been operating. If, from hence, we wished to deduce the absolute ratio of the densities of mercury and air, we may arrive at it very easily by means of a formula, which is extremely simple, given in the “ Astronomie Physique," of M. Biot. My first memoir contains the application of the methods of proceeding which I have here alluded to. , * “Le Type de ces Mesures.” ‘+ Tom. i. p. 142, New Series, vou, Vi. H 98 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Ave. This number, in fact, once determined either by observation or experiment, serves for all subsequent operations ; by making the modifications which the difference of circumstances in each case requires : this is what we call the constant coefficient of the formula. j Thus, in order to measure the height of a mountain, the fun- damental operation consists in observing the barometer both at the foot and the summit : yagi out of the ordinary tables the logarithms corresponding to the barometric heights expressed in units of the same denomination and decimal parts of those units: subtracting the smaller from the greater logarithm, and multi- plying the difference by the constant coefficient. The product will give the height required in measures of the same denomina- tion as those which entered into the determination of the coefli- cient: and this height will be correct if we operate under the same circumstances which were supposed in determining the coefficient. : These circumstances are, as has been observed, a certain atmospheric pressure and a certain temperature, from whence results a certain ratio between the densities of air and mercury. The coefficient supposes them constant: they are in reality very variable ; it must, therefore, undergo certain modifications analo- gous to the changes with which these circumstances may be affected. p - In the formula of M. de Laplace, for example, the coefficient is determined for the level of the sea, the temperature of melting ice, and the latitude 45°. It is then only accurate for this single case, and the formula would be incomplete and inapplicable to other cases, ifitdid not comprise corrections suited to the varia- tions of these first dota. ' The most important of these corrections relates to the variations of temperature ; it is easy to conceive the principle of this, and to feel its necessity. Heat dilates air: it augments its volume, and diminishes its density. With equal weight, it occu- pies more space; with equal volume, it aa a weight. If we. suppose a stratum of air of 1000 feet in thickness intercepted between the levels of the base and summit of a mountain, this stratum will weigh less at a temperature of 10? centigrade than at zero. The difference of the heights of the barometer observed at the two stations will be less in the former than in the latter case; and if we apply the same coefficient to the two logarith- mic differences, we shall have two very different measures of one and the same height; the mountain will seem to diminish in height in proportion as the temperature increases. Now the coefficient being calculated for the temperature of melting ice, we must, in consequence, increase or diminish its value, accord- ity, Pus the temperature rises above, or sinks below, that point. xperiment has taught us that the variation of air in volume is nearly 1-167th for. a variation of 1° centigrade ; supposing the 1823] "the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. 99 air to be in a state of absolute dryness; for the introduction of moisture sensibly changes this ratio. In fact aqueous vapour at the same temperature weighs less than air: and the stratum (which we took as an example) will again have its weight dimi- nished without changing its temperature in proportion as it is mixed with a larger dose of moisture. Now as the atmosphere is never perfectly dry, we must add a correction for humidity to that which we employ for the temperature ; and the hygrometer will serve to regulate this correction if we have for that purpose a sufficient number of observations which can be relied on ; but considering that this correction will be in itself but very small, and that if we suppose the quantity of vapour constant, its varia- tions will influence but little the exactness of the measurements, we may be satisfied to take the air at its usual state of a mean humidity, and to combine the two corrections by raising that for the temperature to 1-250th for each degree centigrade. But in order to apply this correction, we must further consider what it is that we understand by the temperature of a column of air. We find that the heat decreases from the level of the sea to the highest regions we have been able to reach.. A column of air is, therefore, more cold at its summit than at its base, and its mean temperature will be found between these extremes, at a. distance regulated by the law which the decrease of tempera- ture follows : 1f this decrease be uniform, that 1s, in arithmetical progression, we shall have the mean temperature by taking the mean of the thermometers at the two stations. This is the sup- - position most generally adopted. However some great philoso- hers think that the decrease is accelerated in proportion to the elevation. This may be true; but it is not less so, that it is extremely irregular; and whatever may be the. general laws to which it is subject, these laws are altogether counteracted by the nature and form of the earth ; by the reflection of the sun's rays, the variation of winds, and the action of ascending and descend- ing currents; so that we may consider the hypothesis of an uniform decrease as a mean term from which we have, for the present, no reason to depart. Another correction, of a more limited description, but, not less important, is founded on the variation of gravity. It is well known that this force diminishes as we recede from the centre of the earth as the square of the distance. Now the earth is a spheroid flattened at the poles, and protuberant at the equator ; the radii at the equator are longer than those at the pole; the polar, therefore, are nearer the centre than the equatorial regions ; and gravity diminishes in proportion as we leave the former and approach the latter, for the double reason of the elongation of the radius, and the increase of the centrifugal force. It diminishes also, and even more rapidly when we rise above the mean level of the surface of the globe ; and from these causes of the diminution of gravity, it follows as a necessary 'h 2 | 100 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Avi consequence, that the established ratio between the densities of air and mercury must be altered. We easily conceive that two strata of air of equal weight, taken one at the equator, and the other at the pole, or the one at the level of the sea, and the other several thousand feet above it, will occupy more space in the latter situation thau in the former, abstracting from all other causes of variation in the density. The same coefficient then cannot serve equally for these different cases, unless it be accompanied by a correction which increases or diminishes it in proportion to the variation of gravity. This correction naturally divides itself into two portions : for the diminution of gravity in the vertical line, it is founded directly on the general law, and extends equally to the weight of mercury and that of air. For the diminution upon the meridian, we find the measure of the correction in the length of the second's pendulum which requires to be shortened in proportion as it is less solicited by gravity. The two corrections have each a separate term allotted to them in the formula of M. de Laplace; and his coefficient being determined for lat. 45? at the level of the sea, the correction is plus in going towards the equator, and minus towards the pole ; while in the vertical it remains always plus; only becoming subtractive when we descend below the level of the sea into the bowels of the earth, a case which never occurs, except in the bottom of deep mines. One correction more completes the number of those which in the present state of our knowledge are essential to the accuracy of barometrical measurements ; and this, though here treated of after the others, is nevertheless, in the order of the operations, the first to be effected. | Tt is evident that we shall but very imperfectly compare the heights at which two barometers are sustained, 1f we have not carefully observed the temperature of each. The point at which the mercury stands is determined not merely by the pressure of the atmosphere, but by the density also of the liquid which forms the counterpoise to it. Now heat dilates mercury, and diminishes its density. In that instrument then, of the two which is the warmest, the column of mercury rises in the tübe to compensaté by an augmentation of volume the portion of weight which it has lost. If we try the experiment of placing two baro- meters, of perfectly similar construction, and which agree per- fectly gratki one in a hot apartment, the other in the cold air without, but exactly on the same level, we shall see the same atmospheric aie expressed by very different heights of the mercury. If we take them one to the foot, the other to the summit of a mountain, we shall readily see that before we can form a correct estimate of the difference of pressure, we must - necessarily take into account the difference of temperature; the correction which this circumstance requires is of the most easy description. It results from very exact experiments that a 1823.) the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. 101 column of mercury expands s in passing from the temperature of melting ice to that of the ebullition of water, which is equiva- T TINI lent to -īp for each degree centigrade. The outline which we have now. given contains in an abridged form all that we at present know concerning barometrical measurements, their fundamental principles, and the auxiliary operations which they require. Until of late years regard was only paid to'a part of the conditions of the problem ; the others, although understood, and even pointed out by distinguished — remained without practical application. ‘They ave been all united for the first time in the excellent formula of M. de Laplace, a formula entirely founded on the general laws of the equilibrium of fluids, and which is not less remarkable for its exactness than for its generality. Geometers will find in all the works recently published on the subject the demonstrations and analytic developements of the propositions which I have done no more than enunciate; but it is in the “ Mécanique Celeste," that minds familiarized with the most abstruse specu- lations of science will be gratified in finding the theory of the barometer connected with the immense series of physical laws, which together constitute the system of the world. : i Method of Calculation, The formula of M. de Laplace reduced to the most convenient form for calculation may be thus given : j Let — the difference of elevation of the two stations. h = the height of the barometer, T its temperature, and ¢ that of the air at the lower station. h’, T, t’, the same at the upper station. We have then the following equation : z = log. (4) . 60158-39 feet. (1 +-0028371 , cos. 2 4) h z His è 5 a (log. a) T ned : (1 T 9 (t + 2) 1 + 1000 Re j " joya e In this equation H = h’ + h (as) y represents the la- titude: a, the radius of the earth, = 20881129-44 feet: and we may put in the place of z, in the second member, its approximate value, namely, the second member itself without the last factor. I have reason to believe that it is not easy to find another mode of proceeding, or to represent the algebraical quantities by a smaller apparatus of figures. Now though the calculation may neither be very intricate nor very long, it will still try the patience of those who have a great number of heights to calcu- late at one time ; and barometrical operations are themselves of 102 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Avc.. so expeditious a nature, that quickness may be regarded as a suitable condition in the calculation. I have determined, therefore, to make a slight sacrifice of rigorous exactness in order to afford philosophers the advantage of knowing the result of àn observation in less time than would otherwise have been required. My mode of proceeding consists in regarding as constant the fourth factor of the above formula, by giving it the value which it would have at an elevation of bout 9842 feet, at lat. 45°, and at a mean temperature of 15? centigrade, For this purpose it will only be necessary to replace the factor in question by an augmentation in the coefficient cal- culated according to the supposition just made. The formula will then become, z = log. (a) 603454 feet . (1 -+ -0028371-. cos. 24) ese) ~ This formula without doubt is not rigorously exact; it exag- gerates a little lesser heights, and diminishes a little those which exceed 9842 feet. We have only to inquire into the extent of this inaccuracy. For most elevations it will be much under 3 feet; and we must go to the equator, and ascend Chimborazo to find 8 feet difference between the results of the approximate and exact calculation; and 8 feet are, relatively to the height of Chimborazo what about half a foot is to most ordinary elevations ; a quaptity too small to be. indicated by the instruments, and covered in the uncertainty of observation,» I, therefore, see no reason for abandoning a mode of proceeding so convenient, and I have never employed any. other to arrive at results whose exactness has been proved w the test of geometrical measure- ment; but what above all recommends it is, that M. de Laplace himself has not disdained adopting it in the third edition of his “ Système du Monde," and that M. Biot has made it the basis. of his barometrical tables, by deducing my coefficient 60345:4 from his own 60135, by a mode of analysis peculiar to himself. When, however, we possess a formula of such an order as that which we owe to the author of the “ Mécanique Céleste,” we always regret the want of being able to represent in calculation the lesser quantities. M. Oltmanns has been unwilling to neg- lect those which.I have, and he has improved my suggestion by taking into account the variations of - but neglecting as I do the small products which refer to the variation of the latitude, and that of the temperature. His method is as follows: we have allowed that in the last factor of the formula, the value of z might be represented by the second member of the equation without this factor. In this expression, the constant coefficient being reduced into toises, and a mean value being given to the: 1823.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. — 103 other terms, it will be reduced to log. (8); 10000 toises very nearly, and the last factor of the formula will be: ius 4H (log. (8) + iun | log. (=) js log. (a) pof Pey. iNi ( ) + *868589) dur (a) =) Go ie H - a a toises 10000 Under this form the last factor has only a single variable (ts. à + 1868589 ) - bobine element; namely, log. (a): It becomes then very easy to cal- culate, and to reduce into an auxiliary table. This M. Oltmann's has done in the barometrical measurements of M. Humboldt, SAN : But it was possible to go still further, and I have attempted in my turn to improve upon the method of M. Oltmann's by the same means of which he has taught us the use. In examining his supposition, I observe that it is only rigo- rously exact for the mean temperature of 15? at the equator, and 15:7° at lat, 45°. Elevations are often to be measured at a tem- perature very different from this, and I have thought it necessary 9 (£ + 0) p T will suffice for this purpose to suppose the coefficient 60158 suc- cessively diminished and increased by quantities correspondin to different temperatures, and to transform the table of M. Olt- mann's to one of double entry, having for its arguments (à ) and 2 (£ + t’); that is to say, the difference of the loga- to take into account in this factor the variations o H rithms, and the double sum of the thermometers. | In this way there is nothing neglected in the correction for the diminution of gravity, except the part belonging to the lati- tude, or 1 + 0028371 . cos.2 4}. But taking it from the mean latitude to the equator, it only affects the factor as if there were a variation of 0-7? in the temperature, which is altogether insen- sible, since a variation of 2-5? only affects it by a unit in the fifth decimal place of the logarithm of the correction. 3 Use of the Tables. The whole operation of using the tables will be sufficiently obvious to those who have had the least practice in matters of this kind ; but some explanation is necessary for the sake of those who are less versed in such operations. The operation is simply this: we suppose the barometers to have been well compared together, and the thermometers divided 104 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of (Avo. with the centigrade scale. It is indifferent by what scale the barometers are divided, so long as the two instruments have similar scales, and the units of s aiar ieii are again subdivided into decimal parts. The observed readings off of the instruments are to bé first written down. The logarithm of the height of the lower barometer is then to be taken from the ordinary tables. It is at this point of the operation that itis convenient to proceed to the correction for the temperature of the instrument. The table (No.1) gives the logarithms of these corrections for degrees and tenths of the centigrade thermometer. The difference is positive when the lower barometer is the warmer, which is the most common case; and negative when the upper. This table gives the logarithm to be added to that of the lower barometer to reduce the instruments to the same temperature. We then roceed to take the logarithm of the upper barometer, and the ifference of these is the number proportional to the difference of elevation, which we have now to reduce into absolute measures. — This conversion is effected by multiplying this difference by the coefficient, accompanied by the corrections belonging to the mean temperature of the column of air, the latitude of the place, and the diminution of gravity in the vertical direction. | We begin by taking the locscittits of the difference of loga- rithms ; to this is then added, TN ` 1. The logarithm of the constant coefficient for lat. 45? reduced to that sort of measure in which we wish to have the result. By keeping this primitive coefficient separate from the modifications introduced by the latitude, we have a facility of calculating heights in any measures, or of altering the coefficient if it should be found necessary. 2. The correction for the latitude. This need only be calcu- lated for intervals of 1°: a greater degree of exactness would be superfluous. (Table 2.) 3. The correction for the vertical diminution of gravity. (Table 3.) - (For the details of these operations, see the remarks and examples accompanying the tables.) : In the table of this correction, the first two decimals of the difference of logarithms in the vertical, and intervals of 10° of the thermometer in the horizontal column, are sufficient. The mean differences belonging to each column afford the means of calculating to the third decimal, or to intermediate degrees of the thermometer if we wish. This is generally unnecessary, but these differences have another use, which we shall see as we proceed. The correction for the diminution of gravity supposes the lower barometer to be at the level of the sea. So long as the inferior station is much elevated, the correction regulated from this point of departure becomes insufficient to apply to the other 1823.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. 105 station; and geometrical exactness requires that we should augment the correction in proportion to the height of the sta- tion; but it must be allowed that cases where this is necessary are very rare, and its effect on the exactness of measurements is very inconsiderable. If the lower station be much elevated, we ‘shall rarely have a great height to measure above it: if but little, we shall have only a very small correction to make; so that the small quantities which it introduces into the calculation will generally be covered by the uncertainty from which no observation is exempt. : However, the learned coadjutor of M. de Humboldt has been unwilling to neglect this correction ; and we find in the hypso- metrical tables which he has just published, a small table of quantities to be added to the measured heights according to the absolute elevation at which the lower barometer is placed ; àn elevation sufficiently indicated by that of the column of mercury, I have borrowed from him this table, merely transforming it into logarithms to agree with the system of calculation which I have adopted (Table 6). The divisions of the barometer in the first column are sufficiently near for the degree of accuracy required: if greater exactness be desired, it may be sufficiently attained by means ofthe column of differences. p - It only remains to take into account the mean temperature of the column of air. The mode of effecting this correction according to the formula is extremely simple. The double suni of the thermometers will be positive or negative as it is aboye or below zero; the operation is obvious from the following example: : Let 2 (t + t) = 4 40; we have O° = 1-040 960 Ser If it be = — 40, it becomes igg = 0:960 For the logarithms of these numbers, the observer will at once refer to the common tables. To have given a table of them would have been merely a superfluous transcription. - The sum of the five logarithms thus obtained, and which it is convenient to write in a column for addition, is the logarithm of the elevation required, expressed in measures of the same kind as those to uh the constant coefficient has been reduced. It is obvious then that this slight operation is much easier to perform than to explain: it is reduced to transcribing numbers previously prepared. No auxiliary calculations—no taking of proportional parts—no interpolations are requisite. My tables are constructed in such a form as to furnish at once all the frac- tions which are worth taking into account, They cannot possess this advantage without some want of brevity ; but it is a matter of great indifference for the tables to be somewhat long, while it is by no means so that the calculation should be short, clear, and easy to verify in allits parts. In the method which I recommend, 106 M: Ramiond’s Instructions for the Application of [Ave. the observations being prepared, as in all possible methods they must be, there are literally only two operations to perform; à subtraction and an addition; for surely no one will consider worthy the name of an operation the slight trouble of searching in the tables for numbers already calculated. It remains for me to point out the resources which these tables present in those cases, assuredly very rare, where an Observation may be made in circumstances not included within the limits of the tables. We should not be surprised, for instance, if the prodigious height to which M. Gay-Lussac was elevated in his aérial voyage, should not be comprehended in the table for the vertical diminution ree but it is easy to provide for such a case by means of the differences placed at the bottom of the column. I obtain the logarithm belonging to the logarithmic difference 0:36 in the column 4- 40, by adding ten times the mean differ- ence 129°7, or 1297, to the logarithm 0:0014658, which belongs to the difference 0:26 in the table. | In the same way, when we measure very small heights, the double sum of the thermometers may sometimes exceed the limits of the table. Thus, for example, if the double sum be 107, and the logarithmic difference 0:005, I extend the series corresponding to that difference to the column of 110° which is wanting in the table, by adding the mean difference 108°9 to the logarithm 0:0012003 in the column of 100°. This difference must be subtracted if we wanted a number in the column of — 20; but this excess of precision in small heights will readily appear useless. We may confine ourselves to the logarithm in e nearest column to that which is wanting. . The observation of Gay-Lussac makes the first table for the temperature of the instrument equally insufficient. But with what tables, if we except the logarithmic, will not this, in such cases, happen. The difference of the thermometers was 4073? ; the table only extends to 30?, We may supply the deficiency without sensible error by adding to the lowerithe answering to 30° that which answers to 10°3°. But it would be both as expe- ditious and more convenient to correct directly the height of the colder barometer by means of table No. 4, which gives the aug- mentation corresponding to a difference of teniperature from 1? to 10?: in many cases this may probably be the preferable method. It has also another advantage. M. Daubuisson has recently proposed to add to the correction for the temperature of mercury a second correction for the dilatation of brass, when we employ barometers whose mounting is made of this metal. This correc- tion is very small, for the dilatation of brass is only about the tenth part of that of mercury ; namely, nearly — for 1°. But for the sake of exactness nothing should be neglected, and the 1823.] the Barometer to thé Measurement of Heights: — 107 roposition of M. Daubuisson deserves to be received. Table; No. 4, renders this correction extremely easy : the whole opera- tion is reduced to diminishing by a tenth the number which the table gives for mercury. The correction for the dilatation of brass always diminishes the correction for the dilatation of mercury, and even in the case where we reduce the temperature of the warmer to that of the colder barometer. In- fact, the pyrometric variation of the scale roceeds in an opposite direction to that of mercury. If heat Iuigtuen the scale, the column of mercury is measured by a less number of divisions: 1f cold contract it, by a greater. In the first case, the quantity to be subtracted from the height of the mercury is diminished by the quantity to be added to the length of the scale. In the second case, the quantity to be added to the height of the mercury is diminished by that which is to be subtracted from the length of the scale. This rule must not be forgotten, if we adopt the plan of reducing all observations to a constant temperature, as, for example, to 12°5°. vet In respect to using these tables, it may be observed, that it is altogether indifferent by what scale the barometer is divided, provided its lesser divisions be always expressed in decimal parts of the integers. It is of consequence to the accuracy of barometrical measure- ments, to have barometers in. which the mercury stands at its real and absolute elevation. In instruments of the cistern con- struction, this is never the case. The column is depressed owing to the force of capillarity, which is the more considerable in proportion as the diameter of the tube is less: it exceeds -039 inch in tubes whose interior diameter is from *19 to +20 inch. .M. de Laplace has calculated a table of these depressions: which is here given. In order to use it, we must measure accu- rately the interior diameter of the tubes we employ, and add to the height of the mercury, the quantity in the table, answering to the number nearest the given diameter. | The method of calculation just explained, although very expe- ditious, may be, perhaps, somewhat less so than methods founded on tables specially adapted: for giving the result at once, and particularly if such tables are carried to such an extent as to dispense with all interpolation ; but it will always retain the advantage ofa greater generality, and it appears to me to recom- mend itself not only by the exactness and facility with which it is performed, but above all by the convenience which it possesses of being equally suited to calculators of all countries ; and of admitting any alteration. which it may be judged necessary to make in the constant coefficient. These considerations, however, diminish nothing of the merit of many very ingenious methods which have been substituted for the logarithmic; but of these the most remarkable for brevity have necessarily the fault of leaving to the charge of the 108 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Av6. observer the lesser calculations incident to them, which I. have made it my business to supersede ; and all these methods have the inconvenience of requiring the exclusive use of certain mea- sures, or obliging the calculator to go through reductions which greatly lengthen the operations, and multiply the causes of error. The logarithmic method is perfectly independent. of. dif- ferent systems of measures. The observer must, it is true, burden himself with a set of logarithmic tables, but it is very easy to separate that part of them which contains the series of numbers wanted, and this joined with the tables here given can never be considered a great incumbrance to a traveller who takes the trouble of carrying a barometer to the summits of mountains, Isolated Observations. .. With respect to the decrease of temperature as we ascend in the atmosphere, nothing seems certain. Near the surface of the earth, the decrease of temperature is commonly very slow; some- times however very rapid. The rate of decrease is commonly accelerated at a certain height, and the maximum of accelera- tion is found in a stratum of air whose absolute elevation seems to vary with the climate. Near the equator, M. de Humboldt has found it between 8,200 and 11,480 feet. In the Pyrenees, I have found it between 6000 and 9000 feet : above this, it pro- ceeds again more slowly; and this general disposition of circums stances is again modified and disturbed in a thousand ways by the influence of seasons, of situations, of winds, of ascending and descending currents, of the sun, clouds, rain, &c.; so that when we form an opinion of the rate of decrease from observations at two or three points of a measured scale of elevation, we com- monly find the law defective. for all intermediate points. The supposition of an uniform decrease adopted in all our formule is a mean value which accords with the greater number of cases, and holds, as it were, an even balance between -a multitude of opposite results. This supposition is in all respects sufficient to answer the purpose for which it is chiefly wanted, the measure- ment of mountains ; about which the air subjected to the reac- tion of the earth, exhibits effects very different from those pro- duced in its state of absolute mesh dry and as far as obser- vation has yet gone, this mode of proceeding is justified by the accuracy of our measurements, as well as recommended by its simplicity, he extreme irregularity which affects the decrease of tem- perature in the stratum of air next the earth, is one of those obstacles which must always present themselves in any attempt to determine elevations exactly, without corresponding and simultaneous observations of the barometer and thermometer. It may not be useless to make a few remarks on observations of this kind, as more confidence has been reposed in them by some philosophers than they appear to me to deserve. 1823.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. 109 I have collected a number of observations running through a scale of nearly 21,000 feet of elevation, and at temperatures varying from — 1?to + 28°. Now whatever law of decrease we may haye deduced from theory, from the abstract constitu- tion of the atmosphere, &c. it will be impossible to make it agree with these results. Slow and rapid diminutions of temperature accompany indifferently both ‘great and small elevations; we find them taking place eae bach in the higher, middle, and lower regions of the atmosphere; and at all degrees of heat and cold. Yet these are good observations, and have furnished in general very exact measurements, and many of them con- firmed by geometrical determination. And they are moreover the same sort of observations which we commonly make, and for which our barometric formule are constructed. The measure- ments are found accurate, because the thermometer consulted at the lower station has eliminated an unknown quantity to which no theoretical considerations could have assigned a deter- minate value. A corresponding observation at the base of the column is a fixed point of departure; the extremes of the temper- ature being once known, correct the calculation; and although the decrease of temperature generally undergoes, in the same column of air, irregularities occasioned by a multitude of acci- dental causes, which by turns retard and accelerate it, and is sometimes inverted; yet an arithmetical mean taken between the extreme temperatures so well covers these irregularities, that the exactness ofthe measurements is not at all affected. | It may sometimes happen that we have not corresponding Observations ; and when we carry a barometer, we are desirous of deducing at once from it nearly the absolute elevation of the peer. The expedient hitherto most commonly adopted has een to compare the observed height of the barometer with its mean height at the level of the sea ; but in this method there is always an inherent fault: we compare an insulated observation with the mean of a great number of observations, The compa- rison will only be just in the single case when the barometer happens accidentally to be precisely at its mean height; in general, it may be considerably above or below it; there is then only one chance in favour of the accuracy of the measurement ; that is, by allowing for the diminution of temperature according to the approximate elevation, and the error in this correction happening to compensate the former: if, however, the two errors instead of compensating each other, accumulate, the appa- rent amelioration of the calculation will have no other effect than to increase the inaccuracy. We may, however, proceed thus: idea the meán height of the barometer at the level of the sea to be 30°03437 inches at a temperature of 12:5?, a supposition adopted by most philosophers from the observations of Sir G. Shuckburgh. I commence by reducing my- observation to the 110 Measurement of Heights by the Barometer: >- [Ave same temperature by means of Table 4; I then take the differ- ence of the logarithms: this gives a basis for finding the proba- ble temperature at the lower station according to the most ordi- nary law of decrease. For this purpose it will suffice to reduce the difference to these decimals, and multiply it by the constant number 122. The product expresses in tene and decimals, the quantity by which we must augment the temperature indi- cated by the higher thermometer to get approximately that at which the lower ought to stand. By this means the correction for the temperature of the air is applied. The factor 122 expresses the mean rate of decrease as deduced from the collection of observations before-mentioned, and agrees - with the law of decrease adopted by some philosophers from theory; but though this may inspire some confidence in the observations upon which the value of that factor depends, yet it inspires none for this mode of measuring heights. I find that this method does not sufficiently correct the deviations of the simple method ; and moreover the errors instead of compensat- ing each other, are almost always on the same side, and tend generally to diminish the real height. "This tendency is remark- able; it has little to do with the decrease of temperature assigned ; for we perceive it equally in the uncorrected method, It rather concurs with other circumstances to make me suspect what has been most generally considered the mean height of the barometer at the level of the sea, IfI can sufficiently confide in my own observations, this mean is taken foo low, If it be raised to 30:089 inches, for the hour of noon, and temperature 12-5?, there will be rather more equality between the chances of error in the different modes of d lculstion in which this mean is employed, | ut whatever may be the corrections which we may apply to the approximate methods which have caused this. digression, they will be always very faulty methods. We shall never have recourse to them but with distrust, and only in order to estimate within about 30 feet, the elevation of a place when we have no means of obtaining a more precise determination. The baro. meter after all does no more towards the measurement of heights without corresponding observations than the repeating circle without an exact determination of distances. Mode of conducting the Observations. To understand the theory of barometrical measurements is by no means difficult; itis even still easier to learn to calculate the observations well, but the most difficult thing is to perform them well. Very skilful persons have often given extremely deficient observations, as well from want_of good instruments, as of good methods; and always from having considered as more easy than it really is, what appears to be a very simple physical experi- 1823.] Mr. Noton’s Register of Rain kept at Bombay, 111 ment; which is, however, in itself of an extremely delicate nature, and which frequently does not answer in the way in which we put the question ; for this reason, that it is the nature of all experience. not to give a satisfactory answer, except to questions very well instituted. However, we are commonly in haste to draw conclusions ; and men had not even thought of improving the instruments, and much less the methods of observing, when already the lesser as well as the greater questions of meteorology, had been investi- gated, if not considered as resolved, on the sole ground of obser- vations, either insufficient, or suspicious, or which did not really say a word of what they were made to say. (To be continued.) ARTICLE IV. Register of the Rain at Bombay in the East Indies, measured with Howard’s Pluviometer daily at 7 a.m. By Benjamin Noton, Esq. of Bombay. _ : 1811. dnch.| 1817. |Inch.| 1817. |Inch.| 1817. |Inch.| 1817. (Inch. June 1| — | July 1| 0-09) Aug. 1| 0-30| Sept. 1| 0°04) Oct. 1| 0-19 ' 9| 0:32 9| 0-49 2 008.5 2 — j 3 — s| 0°05 3| 0:24 3| 0:09 4| 1°23 4| 0:18 4| 0:52 4| 0:18 5| 6°46 4 0:91 5| 0°08 5| 0°07 6 — 6 6| 0°06 6| 0:02 1| 0°03 1| 0'15 y — "| 1°33). 8| 0:11 8| 2°09 8| — 8} 0:33 - 9| 0-80 9| 0:55 9 — 9| 2:68 10) 1°20 10} 2°06 10 — 10| 0:32 1! 1°57 11} O17 i E T DA At 11| 0:87 12| 0'20 12| 3:80 12; — 12| 1°50 13| 2°30 13| 0-99 13} — 13| 4-08 14 1°03 14| 1:34 14| — 14| 0*91 15) — 15| 29:51 15} — 15| 1°25 16 0-16) — 16| 3°00 16| 6:07 16| 2°40 17) 1:38 17| 0:40 Ml — 17| 0:42] 18 5:12 18| 0:35|^ 18]. — 18| 0:40 19 1:85 ' 19} 1°95 |. 19 — 19 — 20| 0:54 . 20} 0°20 20) 0:19 20| 1:09 21) — '4* 91] 0:95 21| 0:10 21| 1°75 22) 1°38 22| 0-08) - 22! 0:06 22) 1°58 23) 9:03 23) 0°35 23] — 23| 1°25 24) 7°23 #4) 0°43 24| 0-14 24) 0°05 95 0-15 25| 0°54 e5| — q5| — 26 0°73 26) 0-61 96| 9-39 265 — «s CE ERR 91| — 91| 2:66 21| 0°21 28) 039] ' 28| 0-42 98| 2°06 28| 0:55 29) 1°43). 29) 0-05 29| 0°13) 29) — 30) 1:15 30} 0-13 30| 0:10 30| 1:51 31| 0:15 31| 0-18 45°72 [93:67 9:34 94-81 112 Mr. Noton's Register of Rain kept at Bombay. [Ave. 1818. |Inch. . 0-24] Sept. ] Oct. 1| 207 1818, July ob ek e $69,2z2$325 or > > or 1819, |Inch.| 1819, |Inch. July Aug. 1| 1-02 0*14 0-0 2°53 0-07 1-46 1819, |Inch. Oct, 1| — < 9| O14 : e =] © LJ 2 . t © 8| 1:43 1-03 9| 1°85 10| 0:17 11| 1-20 12| 2°68 13] 0°24 O O6 -3 C» S SOW - c — w Oo a C» Ot & OO © 0°53 0*8 0:31 18| 0°72 ‘0°87 1:44 21| 0:18 22| 0:48 23| 0:32 24| 0:43 25| 0:24 26| 0-01 nq — 28| 0°50 29| 0-12 80} 0:01 31| 0-05 E — AA 182817" Mr. Noton’s Register of Rain kept at Bombay: 113 3890. -|Imen.| ‘1890. |nen.| 1890, -Inch.| 1890, Inch.|. 1890, Inch. May 11} 0-24] ‘June 11/016] July. 11:043 Aug,’ 1| | Sept. 1| — FO I0 [ia — [eo^ 2| 0-16} $3 —|' " oot iR a ysl o94| ^^ © 31.031] $ = f *8| 0-08 — jj ^M] osf 7 > 4| 3:94 4 0-25 baj é 15] 62] ^" = 5| 0°63 5| 0-16 b| 0-03 16| 0-68] — ° 6| 3-35) 6| 1-46 8l — 11| 0*1 .7| 0:36| ^ |" 7| 0-39 1| 0-06 48| o38| ^. ^8| 153)" 8| 9:41 8| 0-28 19] r40| ^ 9} Bat) 9| 0-81 9| 0-06 90 383| ' "l0 9:14 10| 1°31 10| 0:31 21} 2°81 Jij 0°35) 1| 0-25 Hn — 9| 3°67 . 12| 0-10 12) 0:23 12} — 3| rs0| 3| O-7| " 8| 047 $3) — 4| 0-60 14| 0:06 14| 0:44 14| 0:21 : 95] 0-16 15| 0:63 i — 15| 0°76 26] 0-09 16| 0-41 '16| 5°83 16| e'12 97] 0-11 17| 0:22 n... 17| 2°86 28| O-13| ^ | 18| 0-34 18| 0:46 18| 1-71 | 99| 0-40 19| 0:07 19 04| ^ 19 1-98. 30| 0-52 "9o — 20 1-18 20| 0:35 Nite 91| 0-34 21) 0-79 21| 131 i 18:58 22| 0-73 99 0-51 22! 0:31 23| 0-66 23| 1-06 23| 0-04 94| 9:44 94| 0*1 $4| — 25| 0-34 25 0-31 25| 0-06 26| 0:15 26) 0°10 26, — d| 0:33 27 0-01 9 — 28| 0-11 98 — 38| — 99 0-09] ^ 9] — 99 — 30| 0-01 30 — 30 — NE 31| 0-03 28°37) 19:49} 10:66 - 1821, |Inch.| 1821. |Ineh.| 1891. |Inch.| 1891. |Inch.| 1821. |Inch. June 17] 0-26} July 1| 0-21} Aug. 1| 0-45| Sept. 1| 0-13] Oct. 3| 0:40 1$ 0-9] 9[|Oo9?1| ^ 90-96 ea oe ee | 19 — 3 0:29 3| 0-07 3 ids 90| 0°97 4| 0-06 4| 0°50 4| 0°06} | . 9]| 0°32 5| 0:91 5| 4-18] - Nest : 99| 3:56| 6} 0-21 6| 9-08 6| 0:14 : 23| 0:31 1| 0°08 1| 3.68 1| 0:05 21| 0:33 8| 1°19 8| 1-52 8| — 25| 0:26 9| 0:92 9| 3:80 "RM . 96| 3°27 10| 0°05 10| 1-96 10 — 91| 0:94 1| 0:93 11| 0:49 n| ror. 28) 1°85 19} 0-15 12} 1.00 19| 0:51 29| 0-89 13| 0°58 13| 0-26 13| 4-68 30| 2-02 14} 0-08 14 a 14| 0:26 : RAS 15| 0°48 15| 0:35 15| T-15 15:18 16| 2°23 16| 0°16 16| 0:55 17| 1-02 11| 0:13 17| 0-62 18| 0:41 18| 0-18 18| 0-78 | 19| 0*64 mM 19| 0-84] 1899. 90| 3:50 20| 0-05 20| 0-46| May 980-19 21] 214 21| 031 eif r-4S| —' 99| 9:09. 221 0*61 22| 0-05 29| 0-13 30| 0-13 93| 1:03]. ^ 93| 0-08 23| 0:30 VIP on, 94| 0-95| |“ 94| 0-03 aene cUm 25| 0:06 $5| — 25| 9-00 26| 0:06 26| 0-05] ` ` 26| 0-02 27} 0 21} —. iiam -L————3. 28| 0:17 98| 0-12 28| '— 29| 0-21 29| 0-16 29] 2:98 80} 1-00 30| 0-29 30 — .- gi] 0-16 31| 0-10 20°60 98:59 18-29 New Series. voL. vi. I 114 Mr. Natpni s Register " Rain kept at. Bombay tAv: SoMa owt 1811. JU 122. ec du p» ooh July. eeeeeereeer ee eteeee August. eeaeseteteeeene September October 1818, June, *""***2492*9792*597*9 I ""*9*94959429^4»9*9* Sepa QO 68a 999 6h Oectobd. 2o. v eso» asks 1819. SURE shins cone had cou July eee ee ee ere eteeane August... ooo o abep eoe. OE hee 1820. June. """9*^7"9*4^"*9**922429** July. "o0 20979279795*9* ey Meri September My. chines A poa A 0:24 18:58 28:31 19:49 10*66 | 1821. June. sicorerscsrecies DULY»; borse cose ephe AUgUS Loo eo iness. sisse Beptember ———" October. . .... ee o eee ee 1822, May... ba raia oto» June..,.... July... desee hoa August. sesesbaccceces September sss «eee. October ... qT1:3A n 15718 20-60 28°52 18-29 0-40 82°99 0:43 28°78 26°59 33°83 22°16 0:82 112-61 elei | 1823.] + — Mr.-Kent's Experiments with the Prism, T5 Statement showing the Fall of Rain at Bombay in the last Six Years, measured with Howard's Pluviometer. Ae Year. June. July. | August. (Septemb. | October. | Total. Inches, | Inches. | Inches. | Inches. | Inches. | Inches, 1811 45742 | 23°67 9:34 24:87 | 0-19 103°79 1818 22°54 | 11:69 | 28°45 | 10:39 | : 2-07 81-14 1819 15-95 | 30°66 | 20°24 10°11 | 0:14 11:10 1820 18:82 28°37 | 19°49 10°66 — 11:34 1821 15:18 20-60 28:59 18°29 0:40 . 82-99 1822 20-21 26:59 33:83 22-16 0-89 112-61 ARTICLE V. An Account of some Experiments with the Prism. By 8. L. Kent, Esq. MGS. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, |. - Carpenter's Hall, July 16, 1823. In offering to you the following details of a few simple expe- riments with the prism, I am not impelled by the beliefthat they may prove of any practical utility, or serve to throw any new light on the doctrines relating to colours, to which I have given little or no attention myself; they will, however, evince that this instrument affords the means of passing a few hours very agree- ably. Leaving to others more conversant with such pursuits to look into them for any instruction they may possibly afford, I cannot however refrain from noticing the following experiment made by Dr. Wollaston, Phil. Trans. 1802, vol. 92, p. 2:— ` “Ifa beam of daylight be admitted into a dark room by a crevice 1-20th of an inch broad, and received by the eye at the distance of 10 or 12 feet, through a prism of flint glass, free from veins, held near the eye, the beam is seen to be separated into the four following colours only: red, yellowish-green, blue, and violet." My seventh experiment, however, tends to the reduction of the prismatic colours into three primary ones, wanting the blue one observed by Dr. Wollaston. I beg to add that 1 am not aware that any one of these seven experiments have hitherto been made, or described by any other person, and am, Sir, Your humble servant, S. L. KENT. P. S. I should add that the prism used in these experiments is five inches long, and the side planes one inch broad ; the lens I 116 Mr. Kent’s Experiments with the Prism. + [Avc. is six inches in diameter, having a focus of two feet three inches ; and I may mention, that I found it requisite that the diameter of the lens should exceed the length of the prism in order to insure a good spectrum, ate Exper. 1.—I threw the colours of the prism on a screen, eleven feet distant, and having placed the lens between them, and only two inches from the prism, 1 found the prismatic colours magnified, and in the same order, to the dimension two feet six inches in width, and one foot three inches in depth. In this case the sun's rays were admitted through a Venetian blind ; but when admitted through a hole in a shutter of five inches by four, the dimension was only two feet by nine inches. j Exper. 2.—Having placed the lens at the distance of two feet six inches from the prism, the figure of the prism was clearly defined, but without exhibiting any prismatic colours whatever on the screen, ji Exper. 3.—I placed the lens three feet from the prism, which produced only the figure of the prism having the violet ray at the bottom, and the yellow above. | Exper. 4.—When the lens was five feet from the prism, the figure of it was distinctly seen with the prismatic colours reversed, Exper. 5.—I placed the lens behind the prism, and threw the sun’s rays on it at its focal distance two feet three inches, when the prismatic colours were increased, both in brilliancy and mag- nitude, considerably more than in Exper. 1. Hr Exper. 6,—1 put the lens within the focal distance of. the screen, when a small figure of the prism was seen very bright, but without any prismatic colour. ... | Exper.7.—Having placed the lens as in Exper. 2, when no prismatic rays were produced, but a perfect spectrum of the prism. in a strong white light; I then placed another prism in the focus of the lens, and to my surprise it produced three colours only, viz, yellow of a greenish tint, red, and deep, violet. Wishing to ascertain if those three colours were neutral, I tried them with a third prism, and found not the slightest alteration; and having placed a card so as to receive them, I found, on giv- ing ita whirling motion, that the colours were entirely, lost, 1823.) On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. 117 ARTICLE VI. On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. By H.J. Brooke, Esq. FRS, (Continued from p. 43.) Tue crystallographical characters of natural and artificial pro- ductions appear to have received less general attention than the other E of science connected with mineralogy. I have already alluded to the inadequate descriptions of crystalline forms contained in Dr. Henry’s excellent work on Chemistry ; and I may refer to another recent and valuable publication which happens to lie before me, Dr. Ure's Dictionary, for abun- dant evidence of the neglect which the crystallographical cha- racter has experienced among chemists of the first rank. Crystalline forms which are incompatible with each other are frequently quoted in these works as belonging to the same. sub- stance; and sometimes those forms are described in terms to which no very definite meaning can be attached; as where Anda- lusite is said, in Dr. Ure's work, to crystallize occasionally in rectangular four-sided prisms verging on rhomboids. The crystalline form of morphia is given in Dr. Henry’s work, on the authority of three different chemists, as a rectangular prism with a rhomboidal base; as a regular parallelopiped with oblique faces; and as a four-sided rectangular prism; and Dr. Ure quotes the form given by Choulant, as a double four-sided pyramid with square or rectangular bases. The first of these forms is impossible, unless we suppose the base oblique to the axis ofthe prism, and then it is incompatible with the third and fourth. The second is not very intelligibly described. The last two are not incompatible with that which is given below. ‘If we inquire into the causes which have occasioned this neg- lect of a science, not really difficult in itself, we shall perhaps find that it is owing chiefly to the very profound manner in which it has been treated by the late Abbé Haüy, in whose hands the subject first assumed a strictly scientific form. His complicated analytical operations were probably repulsive to most readers, and so much so, that even in France there are scarcely, as I have been very recently informed by one of his friends, a dozen persons who have followed him in his re- searches. ayy | | Another cause of the little acquaintance which appears gene- rally to exist with even the forms of crystals, may, perhaps, be traced to the nomenclature which the late Abbé established to designate them ; by this they were presented to the reader as * 118 | Mr, Brooke on thè [Áve. independent rather than as related forms, and the mind was thus led away from the consideration of their relations to each other, rather than assisted in comprehending them. It is probable that the study of crystals will be much assisted by a general series of forms, serving as a type, with which all the crystals of different substances might be readily com- ared. This series I have attempted to supply in the volume already alluded to, which contains tables of all the modifica- tions of which the simple crystalline forms are susceptible. The letters placed on the figures which accompany these remarks correspond with those used in the tables eia refer- red to; and by means of these, the reader may trace the relations of all the planes on these figures, to the simple prima form from which they are supposed theoretically to be derived. I have, therefore, omitted, in most instances, to give a figure of the primary form of the substances described. 7 Morphia. These crystals are very minute, and have only one cleavage that I can perceive, paral- lel to the plane 4. The primary form is a ree rhombic prism, only the lateral planes of which appear on the crystals. For these I am indebted to Mr. R. Howard, of Stratford. Bo M, APO PLC 20’ M ORM sien co Ranansex y l 2 Monge. eísnesanton LOS) JU "dos Es ee e s 4 95 20 Tartaric Acid. The crystals from which this form has been determined, were also given to me by Mr. R. Howard. I have not suc- ceeded in cleaving them, but the primary form is an oblique rhombic prism. Fig. | exhibits the . crystal as usually modified, with the planes symmetrically placed. Fig. 2 exhibits the same modified form, with the planes irregularly disposed as they appear in most of the crystals, the ~ e — —. corresponding planes in both being marked / with the same letters. This affords an- W^ other instance of irregularity, which ren- ders it not easy immediately to perceive te relations of the several planes to each other, 1823.] Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. ug "Pug M; of MI. ee TOY M on eh te 88790 Poon ejór ef Os es 198 ORG P ona. P PS VI PE CREE CS 134 50 Ponk. eco280002292225* 100 47 i: POR C. »rabdsakbdsnon 122 45 Gallic Acid. ` These crystals, which were prepared by Mr. R. Phillips, and are very minute, have one distinct cleavage parallel to the plane P, and apparently another parallel to M. — — The primary form is a doubly oblique prism, and the measurements are as follows: __ Pol M ra ee) 90 00 Pon T; gedode ie eter 125. 20 2M On bo: pent M vrbs DA CU T OD Be tics a: sasaa aap 300, UU kon My sa soana iesea, 110, 00 Ponbabout. ........ 116 00 b on M’about........ 150 00 (b is a very dull plane.) : Oxalic Acid. ». The primary form is an oblique rhombic prism. There are distinct cleavages parallel to the planes M and M", but I have not observed wy / any other. The crystals are usually attached by one of the lateral ends of the figure, in consequence of which the planes P, a, and c, appear like lateral planes of a prism, and M, M", as its dihedral termination. Fig. 1 exhibits the common form of the crystals; and fig. 2 a modified form which sometimes occurs, and not unfrequently with only one of the planes e apparent at the late- ral extremity, the other not being visible. PonM,or M! ,... 98° 30’ M on MSs os anes 60^ 5 P OWA, 005 bbb be Ole 20 oh I IL SNAPE i. Pune re. r.ae 107 Q Citric Acid. Cleaves readily parallel to the planes M, M’, and A, of the annexed figure, but I can observe no cleavage in any other direction. i . From the character of the secondary planes, the primary form is a right rhombic prism, and the measurements taken chiefly on a erystal I received from M. Teschemacher, are nearly those 130 vs vidt Brooke onte oine [Atel which follow. `The erystals, however, so speedily lose their brilliant surfaces when exposed to the air, or even when inclosed in a bottle, that the measured angles of the secondary faces are less to be relied upon than those afforded by. the cleavage planes. M on M’. 54. Vd es... 101° 30’ XM MonA. e***06.et9 etes lí 129 . .15 à. M on . PPT UAR Do 23 Foa JA E poten ASEN ED BONE od Us S PERN. 09 aeons ee ee ee e yes On €1. eecvedsivsos 9 5 h on cs 4 iesse eS d 121 15 CL. OES di ooo» sete 201 D C% on ce e*220825299292»à 6 117 30 Sulphate of Iron.—Sulphate of Cobalt.* - The crystalline form assigned by the Abbé Haiiy to sulphate of iron is a rhomboid ; but it was, I believé, first observed by Dr. Wollaston, that its true form was an oblique rhombic prism. I do not find any published account of the ordinary figure of the crystals, or of the measurements of the planes; and as its form approaches very nearly to that of sul- phate of cobalt, I am induced to give the measurements of both substances in refer- ence to the annexed figure. In sulphate of cobalt another plane some- times vagi as es, which measures about 124? with P. And in both these sulphates _. there are also other planes a and e, which occur on some of the erystals. Sulphate of iron, Sulphate of cobalt. P on M, or M*. e*t ot 999 S0 q.d Poux 999 45 Mon Mi e dhi 82 20 E E 82 20 P onei. *o*12525998996 153 00 TOT 152 45 P ones. "s*cc à À | n 123: 56 ebeevees 122 55 © P onai. eeeoeereeseres 159. 00 IIT -0 0 BON He sb bis voted ey IQQ IQ i A TO Pone. So veoddad 2UC B RM 15 e*t 2429 118 53 Chromate of Potash. The primary form has been determined from some very perfect and brilliant crystals which I have received from M. Teschema- cher, and the measurements given below have very nearly coin- cided on several of these. | There is a distinct cleavage parallel to the plane A, but appa- - rently in no other direction. The primary focis inferred from that of the crystals, as shown in fig. 1, is a right rhombic prism. * For this salt I am indebted to Mr, Cooper. 1823.] Crystalliné Forms of Artificial Salis. 121 Fig Kg o Pigi P. T Fig. 2 represents one of the varieties of intersected crystals which occur very frequently among the single ones, the nature of which will be nee understood from the similar letters placed on the corresponding planes, j : DL UW o dr ieran ose AUN AO. NU pt Heg ipu wir 1885082 ML OM horsosnocttoente i WOW Coasezepeeccri peni. de CORES beds» aba AM dE c on the lateral plane — aig Pie ani ipa E YA Ms d E 43 Awetretx VII. On the Constitution and Mode of Action of Volcanoes, in differ- ent Parts of the Earth. By Alexander Von Humboldt.* WHEN we consider the influence which scientific travels into distant regions, anda more extended geographical knowledge, have for some centuries past exerted upon the study of nature, we soon discover how this influence has varied according to the objects of inquiry, which have been, on the one hand, the forms of the organic world, and, on the other, the inanimate formation of the earth ;— the knowledge of rocks, their relative ages, and origin. Differ- ent forms of plants and animals enliven the earth in every zone, as well in the plains, where the heat of the atmosphere is deter- mined by the geographical latitude and the different inflexions of the isothermal lines, as where it changes suddenly on the steep declivities of the mountains. Organic nature gives a peculiar physiognomical character to every zone, which is not the case with the inorganic world where the solid crust of the earth is divested of its vegetable covering. The same rocks approaching ~ * Read before the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, Jam 24, 1893, 129 M. Humboldt on Volcanoes. (Ave. to and receding from each other in groups occur in both hemi- spheres, from the equator to the poles. On a distant island, surrounded by strange plants, under a sky where the well- known stars do not shine, the sailor recognises, often with glad surprise, the clayslate which is the common rock of his native country. This independence of the geognostical relations of places on the present constitution of their climate, does not diminish, but only gives a particular direction to the favourable effect upon the pore of geology and physical geognosy, which is produced y numerous observations made in foreign countries. Every expedition enriches natural history with new plants, and new genera of animals; at one time they are organic forms ranging themselves with well-known types, and representing to us, in its original perfection, a regularly woven, though often apparently interrupted texture of animated creatures; at another, they are forms which appear to be isolated, as vestiges of genera which have been destroyed, or as surprising members of groups still to be discovered. Such a variety is.not presented by the examina- tion of the solid crust of the earth ; it rather reveals to us an agreement, which excites the admiration of the geognost, between the parts of which it is composed, in the superposition of masses of different natures, and in their periodical repetition. In the chain of the Andes, as well as in the central mountains of Europe, one formation seems, as it were, to occasion the existence of another; masses of the same character assume similar forms: - mountains are formed by basalt and dolerite; steep declivities by dolomite, porphyry, and quader- sandstein; bell-shaped eminences and high-vaulted domes by vitreous trachyte rich in felspar. In the most distant zones, larger crystals, as it were by inter- nal evolution out of the more compact texture of the greater mass, aggregate into subordinate beds, and thus frequently announce the vicinity of a new and independent formation. Thus is the whole inorganic world reflected, more or less clearly, in every mountain of considerable extent ; but in order to ascer- tain completely the most important phenomena respecting the composition, the relative age, and the origin of the different species of rocks, observations from the most distant parts of the earth must be compared together. Problems which had appeared enigmatical to the geognost in his mother country are solved near the equator. If distant zones do not furnish new species of rocks, that is to say, unknown arrangements of simple sub- stances, as has already been remarked, they yet teach us how to discover the great laws which are every where the same, and according to which, the different strata of the earth support each . * In an imperfect translation of this paper, which has been forwarded to the Editor from the Continent, a word here occurs which cannot be decyphered ; and on account of other inaccuracies which it has been necessary to correct, unaided by the original, the translation, as now given, is not to be regarded as exact in every particular. 1823.] M. Humboldt on Volcanoes. 123 other, appear in the form of veins, or are elevated by elastic powers. i | ' We need not be surprised, that, notwithstanding the great assistance which our geological information derives from inqui- ries, having whole countries for their object, an extensive class of phenomena (with which I venture to entertain this assembly), has been treated, during so long a period, in a confined manner; the points of comparison being more difficult, and, I might say, more troublesome to find. Whatever we believed we knew, until the end of the last century, respecting the form of volca- noes, and the action of their subterraneous forces, had been derived from two mountains of the south of Italy,—from Ætna, and from Vesuvius. The first being more accessible, and hav- ing, like all low volcanoes, more frequent eruptions, has served for a type, according to which a whole distant world,—the owerful volcanoes of Mexico, South America, and the Asiatic Flanda hos been considered. Such a method recalls to our remembrance the shepherd of Virgil, who expected his narrow cottage to contain the ideal of the eternal city, imperial Rome. A. careful examination ofthe whole Mediterranean, and princi- pally of its insi islands and shores, where mankind first awakened to mental culture, and to noble feelings, might cer- tainly have dispelled such a narrow idea of nature. Out of the deep bed of the sea, among the Sporades, rocks of trachyte have arisen, like the Azoric island, which has thrice reappeared dur- ing three centuries, the intervening periods being almost equal. Between Epidaurus and Troezene, near Methone, the Pelopon- nesus has a Monte Nuovo which has been described by Strabo, and seen by Dodwell, higher than the Monte Nuovo of the Campi Phlegrei, near Baia ; perhaps higher than the new vol- cano of Xorullo in the plains of Mexico, which I have found among a thousand basaltic cones, raised out of the earth, and still smoking. In the bason of the Mediterranean Sea also, the volcanic fire bursts forth, and not only from permanent craters, from isolated mountains which preserve a lasting communication with the interior of the earth, like Stromboli, Vesuvius, and Atna; —on Ischia, near the Epomeeus, and also, as it would appear from the reports of theancients, near Chalcis in the Lelantic plains, has lava flowed out of fissures which have suddenly opened. Besides these pheenomena, which have taken place in the period of history within the narrow limits of certain traditions, and which Ritter will collect and explain in his masterly Geography, the shores of the: Mediterranean contain abundant remains of more ancient igneous effects. The south of France shows, in Auvergne, a range of hills, in which bells of trachyte occur alternately with cones of eruption, from which currents of lava have descended. The Lombardic plain, which forms the innermost bay of the Adriatic Sea, surrounds the trachyte of the Euganean Hills, where domes of granular trachyte, of obsidian, and of pearlstone, rise, which, passing into eic other, break through the Jura 124 M. Humboldt on Volcanoes. [Aves limestone, but never occur in narrow streams which have flowed. Similar evidences of former revolutions may be found in many parts of the Grecian continent, and in Asia Minor, countries which will afford the geognost copious subjects for examination when the light once returns to the land hance it first beamed over the western world—when tormented mankind ceases to sink under the savage lethargy of the Ottoman. . ^ I mention the geographical neighbourhood of so many pheno- mena, in order to prove, that the bed of the Mediterranean, with all its chains of islands, might have afforded to the atten- tive observer, every thing that has been discovered, in latter eriods, under the most varied forms, in South America, on eneri e, or on the Aleutian islands, near the polar regions. 'There were accumulated objects for observation, but tours into distant regions, and the comparison. of large tracts of country within and beyond Europe, were necessary, in order to discover what was common to all.these phenomena, and to learn, clearly, their dependence on each other. By the usage of language, which often gives stability and respect to the first erroneous views of things, but often, as it were, by instinct, distinguishes the truth, we apply the term volcanic to all eruptions of subterranean and melted matter; to columns of smoke and steam, which rise sporadically out of rocks, as at Colares after the great earthquake at Lisbon; to Salse, or conical hills of clay which emit mud, asphaltum, and hydrogen, as those near Girgenti, in Sicily, and near Turbaco, in South America; to hot Geyser springs which rise by the pressure of elastic vapours ; and, in general, to all violent powers of nature which have their seat deep in the interior of our planet. In the Spanish main of America, and in the Philippine islands, the inhabitants make a distinction between igneous and aqueous volcanoes, vulcanes de agua y de fuego: they apply the first name to mountains, which, during violent earthquakes, from time to time, eject subterraneous water, and with a dull noise. Without denying the connexion between the different pheno- mena just mentioned, it seems advisable to give a distinct language to the physical as well as to the oryctognostic branch of geognosy ; and not to apply the term volcano in one instance to a mountain that terminates in a permanent crater; and in another, to every subterranean cause of volcanic phenomena. In the present state of the earth, the most common form of volcanic eminences is that ofisolated cones ; such are Vesuvius, Ætna, the Peak of Teneriffe, Tunguragna, and Cotopaxi. I have seen them of every magnitude, from the lowest hills to mountains rising to the height of 17,700 feet above the level of the sea. Besides these conical mountains, there are other cra- ters, Ae gpa | communicating with the interior of the earth, situated upon lengthened craggy ranges of mountains, not always in the middle of their wall-like summits, but towards the end, and near their declivities. Such is Pichincha which rises 1823.] M. Humboldt on Volcanoes. 195 between the Pacific Ocean and the town of Quito, and which has become celebrated by Bouguer's earliest formula for the barometer; such also are the voleanoes that rise in the plain de los Pastos, at the elevation of 10,000 feet. ARE no All these differently formed summits consist of trachyte, or trap-porphyry, a granular rock, full of cracks and fissures, and composed of glassy felspar and hornblende, but often containing in addition, augite, mica, laminar felspar, and quartz. Where the evidence of the first eruption, and where the first scaffolding, I might say, has been entirely preserved, the isolated conical hills are surrounded by a high wall of rocks forming a circus, consisting of superposed strata ; such walls, or annular surrounding masses, are called craters of elevation ; of these very important phenomena, Leopold von Buch, the first geognost of our times, from whose works I have taken several views con- tained in this paper, read a remarkable account, five years ago. The volcanoes which communicate with the atmosphere b means of craters, and the conical hills of basalt and bell-shaped trachytic hills without craters, the latter either low like Sarcouy, or high like Chimborazo, form different groups. A geographical comparison shows, in one place, small Archipelagi, or, as it were, classed systems of mountains, either with craters and currents of lava, as in the Canaries and Azores, or devoid of craters and real currents of lava in the Euganeans, and the Siebengebirge near Bonn; or it shows, in other places, single and double chains of volcanoes, connected with each other, and forming tracts of many hundred miles in length, which are either parallel to the direction of the mountains, as in Guatimala, Peru, and Java, or in directions perpendicular to their axis, as in the land of the Aztekes, where none but volcanic trachyte- mountains attain the limits of eternal snow, and those, probably, have been thrust out of a fissure nearly 500 miles in length, which divides the whole continent, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. ; This aggregation of volcanoes either in single round groups, or in double ranges, affords the most determinate proof that voléanie effects do not depend upon slight causes existing near the surface of the earth, but that they are great and deeply founded phenomena. The whole eastern part of the American continent, which is poor in metals, is at present without craters, without trachyte, probably even without basalt. All the volea- noes are situated in the part opposite to Asia, in the meridian line of the Andes chain, 1800 geographical miles long; the whole of the elevated district of Quito is nothing but a single volcanic hearth, the summits of which are Pichincha, Cotopaxi, and Tunguragua. The voleanic fire now bursts forth from one, and then from another of these apertures, which we are accus- tomed to consider as separate volcanoes. The progressive motion of the fire here, in the space of three centuries, turned from north to south. The earthquakes with 126 M. Humboldt on Volcanoes. [Avc. which this part of the world is so terribly visited, furnish remark- able evidences ofthe existence of subterraneous communication, not only between. countries without volcanoes, as was known long ago, but even between craters which are far distant from eme other. Thus the volcano of Pasto, situated to the east of the river Guaytara, uninterruptedly vomited a high column of smoke, during three months of the year 1797 ; and this column disappeared at the very moment, when, at the distance of nearly 300 miles, the great earthquake of Riobamba and the mud eruption of the Moya, killed from 30,000 to 40,000 Indians. The sudden appearance of the Azoric island Sabrina, on the 30th of January, 1811, was the forerunner of those dread- ful shocks, which, further to the west, shook, almost uninterrupt- edly, from the month of May, 1811, to that of June, 1813, first the Antilles, afterwards the plains.of the Ohio and the Missis- sippi, and at last the opposite coast of Venezuela. Thirty days after the complete destruction of the town of Caraccas, the erup- tion of the volcano of St. Vincent in the neighbouring Antilles took place; at the same moment when this explosion happened, on the 30th of April, 1811, a subterranean noise was heard throughout a country of 2200 geographical square miles, or 47,900 English square miles, in extent. The inhabitants near the Apure, where it is joined by the Rio Nula, as well as those of the most distant part of the coast, compared this noise to that of artillery. From where the Rio Nula falls into the Apure, through which river I came into the Orinoco, to the volcano of St. Vincent, the distance, in a direct line, is 731 English miles... The noise just alluded to, which certainly was not communicated through the air, must, there- fore, have had a deep internal cause. its intensity on the coast of the Antillic sea was scarcely greater than in the interior of the country. It would be useless to augment the number of examples, but for the purpose of recalling to memory a phenomenon which has become historically interesting to Barone, I will mention the earthquake at Lisbon.. At the same time with this, on the lst of November, 1755, not only were the Swiss Jakes, and the sea on the Swedish shores violently agitated, but even in the easterly Antilles, around Martinique, Pda and Barbadoes, where the tide never exceeds 28 inches, it suddenly rose to 20 feet. All these pheenomena prove, that the subterranean powers act either dynamically, by producing tension and vibration, as in. earth- quakes ; or chemically, by producing or altering substances, as in voleanoes. They prove, likewise, that these powers do not act from superficial causes, from the exterior crust of the earth ; but from deeply-seated causes, from the interior of our planet ; extending their simultaneous effects to the most distant parts of the earth, through fissures and empty veins. The more different the structure of volcanoes ; that is to say, of those raised masses which surround the canal through which 1823.] M. Humboldt on Volcanoes. 127 the melted substances proceed from the interior of the earth to its surface, the more. important is it to become thoroughly acquainted with that structure, by exact measurement. The interest attached to this measurement, which has been a parti- cular object of my examination in another part’ of the world, is heightened: by the consideration, that that which is to be mea- sured isa variable magnitude. The physiognomy of nature con- . sists in the change of phenomena tending to connect the present with the past. In order to ascertain. a periodical return, or the laws. of progressive ‘natural changes in general, certain fixed points are necessary; and observations carefully made at stated periods, may serve for numerical comparison. Had the mean temperature of the atmosphere in different latitudes been observed for a few thousand years, and the mean height of the barometer at the level of the sea, we might now know in what proportion the heat of different climates has increased, or dimi- nished, and whether the height of the atmosphere has undergone any changes. Similar points for comparison are required, for the variation and the declination of the magnetic needle, and for the intensity of the electromagnetic power, upon which two excellent: philosophers of this Academy have thrown so much light. Ifit be a praiseworthy undertaking of learned societies to inquire assiduously into the changes of temperatureundergone by the globe, into those which take place in the pressure of the atmo- sphere, and in the magnetic variation,—itis the duty ofa travelling | geoenost, in ascertaining the inequality of the earth's surface, to consider, principally, the variable height of the volcanoes. What I formerly attempted on the mountains of Mexico, on the Toluca Nauhiampatepetl. and Xorullo, and in the Andes of Quito, on the Pichincha, I have found opportunity, since my return to Europe, to repeat at different periods on Vesuvius. Saussure measured this mountain in 1773, at the time when both sides of the crater, the south-eastern and north-western, appeared to be of equal altitude; he found their height to be 609 toises (3894 feet) above the level of the sea. The eruption of 1794 occa- sioned.a fall on the seuth side, which even the unaccustomed eye discovers at a great distance. In 1805, I measured Vesu- vius three times, in conjunction with M. von Buch, and M. Gay- Lussac ; we found the elevation of the northern edge, opposite to Monte Somma, la Rocca del Palo, to be exactly the same as Saussure had before determined it; the southern edge we found 71 toises (454 feet) lower than it was in 1773 ; the total height of the..voleano on the side opposite Torre del Greco (towards which side the fire seems to have acted the most powerfully, during the last 30 years), had diminished: one-ninth part. ~The cone of ashes on Vesuvius bears the. proportion of one- third to the height of the whole mountain, that on Pichincha is as 1 to. 10, and that on the Peak of Teneriffe as 1 to 22; Vesu- vius. has, therefore, the largest cone of ashes in proportion, 198 M. Humboldt on Volednoe’. [Ave - because, probably, as a low volcano, it has acted principally through its summit, A few months ago, I succeeded not only in repeating my former measurements on Vesuvius, but also in ascertaining the elevation of all the edges of the crater.» This work, perhaps, deserves some consideration, for the periods at which it was executed include those of the great eruptions from] 805 to 1822, and it is, perhaps, the only admeasurement yet published of any voleano which may be S — in all its parts. It proves that the edges ofthe craters, not on y where they evidently consist of trachyte, as in the voleanoes of the Andes, but likewise every- where else, are much more constant phenomena: than has hitherto been believed. Simple angles of elevation ascertained from the same points are more proper for these examinations than barometrical and trigonometrical measurements. According to my last determination, the north-western edge of the crater of Vesuvius has not changed its form in the least since Saussure's time, a period of 49 years. The south-eastern edge towards Bosche tre Case, which became about 450 feet lower in 1794, has sunk very little since that time. ` | Nein v. If in the description of great eruptions, in the public papers, the completely changed form of Vesuvius has frequently own mentioned, if this opinion often seems to be corroborated by the picturesque views of the mountain made at Naples, the cause of this mistake may be found in the circumstance, that the outlines of the edges of the crater have been confounded with those of the cone of eruption which is accidentally formed in the middle of the crater, upon a bottom that has been raised by vapours. Such a cone of eruption, consisting of rapilli and slags loosely heaped together, has become visible over the south-eastern edge of the crater, since 1816 and 1818. The eruption of February, 1822, had so much increased it that it had become from 70 to 80 feet higher than the north-eastern edge of the crater, Rocca del Palo. This remarkable cone, which, at Naples, they were accustomed to consider as the true summit of Vesuvius, fell in with. a tremendous noise, during the eruption of the 22d of October, so that the bottom of the crater, which had. been unin- terruptedly accessible from the year 1811, now lies 850 English feet beneath the northern edge, and about 213: feet deeper than the southern edge of the volcano. The variable form and relative situation of the crater of eruption, the opening of which must not be taken for the real crater of the volcano, as frequently has been done, gives, at different times, a peculiar physiognomy to Vesuvius ; and the historiographer of that volcano, from the mere outline of the summit, and the relative height of the northern or southern side of the mountain, as it is drawn in Hackert's Views in the palace of Portici, would guess the year in which the artist made the sketch of his picture. | In the night between the 23d and 24th of October, one da after the fall of the cone of slags 400 feet in height, when sm 1823.] „M. Humboldt on Volcanoes. 129 but numerous currents of lava had already. flowed, the fiery eruption of ashes and rapilli began. It continued uninterrupt- edly for twelve days, but was most violent during the first four. During this time the detonations in the interior of the volcano were so violent, that the mere concussion of the air (no earth- uake had been observed) caused the roofs to burst in the palace of Portici: In the surrounding villages of Resina, Torre del Greco, Torre del Annonciata, and Bosche tre Case, an interest- ing pheenomenon was observed ; the atmosphere was so thickly filled with ashes, that the most intense darkness overspread the whole country for several hours in the middle of the day. The people walked in the streets with lanterns, as is often done at Quito when Pichincha is in eruption. The flight of the inhabi- tants was never more general; currents of lava were less feared than a fall of ashes, a phenomenon which was unknown there with such violence, and in consequence of the relations respect- ing the destruction of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabie, filled the minds of the people with frightful images. The hot steam which rose from the crater during the eruption and passed into the atmosphere, formed on cooling a thick mass of clouds, around the column of ashes and fire, 9000 feet in height. This sudden condensation of steam, and, as Gay- Lussac has shown, the very formation of the clouds, increases the electric tension. Lightnings burst forth in all directions from the column of ashes, and the rolling thunder might clearly be distinguished from the interior noise of the volcano. At no former eruption had the play of electric charges heen so sur- prising. On the morning of the 26th of October, a singular account was circulated, that a current of boiling water had issued from the crater, and rushed down from the/cone of ashes. Monticelli, the zealous and learned observer of the volcano, soon discerned that the rumour had been occasioned by an optical deception. The supposed current of water was nothing but a dry mass.of ashes, which flowed down, like quicksand, from a fissure in the superior edge of the crater... A drought, which had completely desolated the fields, preceded the eruption, but the volcanic thunderstorm occasioned, towards its termination, a very heavy and continued rain. Such a, phenomenon characterizes the conclusion of an eruption in every zone. On account ofthe cone of ashes being generally covered with clouds during this time, and likewise because the torrents of rain are heaviest in its neighbourhood, currents of mud flow down on all sides. The affrighted peasant considers it to be water which has risen from the interior of the crater, and the deceived geognost conceives that he recognizes in it either. sea-water, or mud-like volcanic roductions, which are called eruptions boueuses, or, as the old rench systematic writers termed them, products of a fiery- aqueous liquefaction. JU New Series, vox. v1, K 130 M. Humboldt on Votcanoes. [Ave. When the summits of volcanoes (as is generally the case in the chain of the Andes), extend into the region of eternal snow; or even to double the height of /Etna, the melted snow renders the inundations amazingly frequent and destructive. They are phenomena meteorologically connected with volcanic eruptions, and are multifariously modified by the altitude of the mountains, the extent of their summits covered with eternal snow, and the calefaction of the sides of the cone of ashes ; but they should never be considered as real volcanic phenomena. Subterranean lakes, in connexion with alpine rivers, are formed both on the slopes and at the feet of the mountains. When the earthquakes which precede every eruption in the chain of the Andes, shake with mighty force the entire mass of the volcano, the subterra- nean vaulta are opened, and emit, at the same time, water, fishes; and tufa-mud. This is the singular. phenomenon that fur- nishes the fish pimelodes cyclopum, which the inhabitants of the high lands of Quito call pretadilla, and which was described by me soon after my return. When the summit of the mountain - Carguairazo, to the north of Chimborazo, and 18,000 feet high, fell, in the night between the 19th and 20th of June; 1698, the surrounding fields, to the extent of about 43 Eng- lish square miles, were covered with mud and fishes. The fever which raged in the town of Ibarra, seven years before, had been ascribed to a similar eruption of fishes from the volcano Imbaburu. I recur to these facts, because they throw some light on the difference between the eruption of ashes, and that of mud-like masses of tufa and trass, which contain wood, coal, and shells. The quantity of ashes ejected by Vesuvius in the late erup- tions, like all other things which are connected with great and appalling phenomena, has been enormously exaggerated in the public papers ; and two Neapolitan chemists, Vincenzo Pepe, and Giuseppe di Nobili, have affirmed, that they contain gold and silver, notwithstanding the contradiction of Monticelli and Covelli.* According to my examination, the stratum of ashes which had fallen in twelve days, towards Bosche tre Case, on the slope of the cone, where rapilli were mixed with it, was only three feet in thickness, and in the plain, it did not exceed from 15 to 18 inches. Measurements of this kind must not be made in places where the ashes have been drifted by wind, like snow, or sand, nor in those where they have been accumulated by water. ‘The times are past in which we sought only for the marvellous in volcanic pheenomena, and, like Ctesias, made the ashes of /Etpa fly to the Indian peninsula. Some of the Mexican gold and silver mines are certainly in trachytic porphyry, but in the ashes of Vesuvius which I collected, and which, at my desire, have been analyzed by Henry Rose, of * See Annals, v. 236, ` 1823.] M. Humboldt on Voleanoes, 131 Berlin, an excellent chemist, no traces of either metal, could be discovered. However great may be the discrepancy between the results that I have here given, but which agree with Monticelli's more exact observations, and those which have been circulated during several months past, yet the eruption of ashes from Vesuvius, from the 24th to the 28th of October, still remains the most re- markable of which we have any certain account since the death of the elder Pliny. Its quantity, perhaps, was three times as great as that of all the ashes, collectively, which have been observed to fall, during the time in which volcanic phenomena have been attentively considered. A stratum of from 15 to 18 inches in thickness, seems at first view unimportant, if compared to the mass with which we find Pompeii to be covered; but without speaking of the torrents and inundations which certainly may have increased this mass for centuries, without renewing the violent dispute concerning. the cause of the destruction of the Campanian towns, which has been carried on with so much | scepticism on the other side of the Alps, it may be affirmed that the eruptions of one and the same volcano at distant periods can by no means be compared with respect to their intensity, All conclusions founded on analogy are insufficient, when the ques- tion is about quantitative proportions,—the quantity of ashes and lava, the height of the column of smoke, or the violence of the detonation. From the geographical description of Strabo, and from an opinion of Vitruvius concerning the volcanic origin of pumice, we see that until the year in which Vespasian died, that is to say, until the eruption which overwhelmed Pompeii, Vesuvius was more like an extinguished voleano.than a solfatara. When after long rest the subterranean powers suddenl open new passages, and again break through beds of pii- mitive rocks and of trachyte, effects must necessarily take place, for which all the phenomena subsequently observed do not afford any standard of comparison. It may. be clearly seen from the well-known letter in which the younger Pliny announces the death of his uncle to Tacitus, that the recommencement of the eruptions, | might say, the awakening of the dormant vol- ‘ano, began with an eruption of ashes, The same circumstance was observed at Xorullo, in Sept. 1759, when the new volcano, breaking through beds of syenite and trachyte, suddenly arose in the plain. ‘The peasants fled, because they found in their huts, ashes that had been ejected from the fissures of the earth, which was burst in every place. Every partial eruption, in the periodical general eruptions of volcanoes terminates with a shower of ashes. There is a passage in Pliny’s letter, which shows, that the dry ashes which had fallen from the air had already attained a height of from four to five feet, in the meum of the eruption, | K 132 M: Humboldt on Volcanoes. [Avc. and without the effect of accumulation by water. >“ The court which led to his [uncle's] apartment," he says, * being now almost filled with ashes and pumice, it would have been impos- sible for him, if he had continued there any longer, to have made his way out.” In the narrow space of a court, the wind could not have had any great effect in accumulating the ashes. | I.have ventured to interrupt my comparative view of volca- noes by observations solely on Vesuvius, partly on account of the great interest which the last eruption has excited, and partly because every great fall of ashes almost involuntarily reminds us of the classic ground of Pompeii and Herculaneum.* | We have hitherto considered the form and the effects of those volcanoes which are in permanent communication with the interior of the - earth, by means of a crater. Their summits are raised masses of trachyte and lava, intersected by numerous veins ; the dura- tion of their effects causes us to believe that they have a very stable and undisturbed structure. They possess, I may say, a more individual character, which remains the same during idtm periods. Neighbouring mountains often furnish completel different products, leucite-lava, and felspar-lava ; obsidian, wit pumice, and basaltic’ masses containing olivine. They belon to the newer phenomena of the earth, pass generally through all the strata of secondary rocks, and their eruptions and currents of lava are of later origin than our valleys. Their life, if I may use that expression, depends upon the manner and duration of their connexion with the interior of the earth. They often rest for centuries, suddenly take fire again, and terminate as solfa- taras, which emit steam, gases, and acids. Sometimes, as on the Peak of Teneriffe, their summit has already become such a depository of reproduced sulphur, while mighty currents of lava flow from the sides of the mountain, like basalt below, and above, where the pressure is less, like obsidian with pumice. Independently ‘of these with permanent craters, volcanic phenomena of another kind exist, which have been observed less frequently, but are principally interesting in geognosy, and remind us of the primitive world; that is to say, of the earliest revolutions of our earth. Mountains of trachyte suddenly open, eject lava and ashes, and close again, perhaps, for ever: thus was it with the mighty Antisana; and thus with the Epomeus, in Ischia, in 1302. Such an eruption sometimes takes place even in the plain, as in the high lands of Quito ; in Iceland, far from Hecla; and in Euboea, in the Lelantic fields. Many ofthe islands which have been raised up are owing to these temporary phenomena. In these cases the communication with the interior of the earth 1s not permanent, and the effect ceases as soon as the fissure, which is the communicating channel, is * The author here mentions a paper on the data of his measurements at Vesuvius, which was unsuitable for reading ; and then proceeds to notice a collection of minerals that he brought with him, and which will be added to the Royal Museum at Berlin. . 1893] M.«Hümnboldt on Volcanoes. 133 closed again. The veins of basalt, dolerite, and porphyry, which, in different parts of the world, pass through every. forma- tion; and those of syenite, augite-porphyry, and amygdaloid, which are characteristic of the newest strata of the transition formation, and of the oldest rocks of the secondary strata, have probably been formed in a similar manner. In the first age of our planet, the yet liquid substances penetrated through the crust of the earth, which, was every where intersected. by fissures, and assumed the form of granular rocks, either in veins, or spreading over and expanding themselves in strata. The rocks strictly volcanic which the primitive ages have afforded us, have not flowed in currents like the lava of our insulated conical hills ; the same mixture of augite, titaniferous iron, glassy felspar, and hornblende, may have existed at different periods, but at one time it may have approached nearer to basalt, and at others to trachyte; the chemical substances may have combined in a crystalline form, in distinct proportions, as we are taught by M. Mitscherlich’s new and important labours, and by the .ana- logy of artificial products of fire: we find that substances similarly formed have arrived at the surface of the earth in very different ways; they have either been merely raised, or protruded by temporary fissures. pagn the older strata ;. that is to say, through the already oxidized surface of the earth; or they have flowed, as currents of lava, from conical hills witha permanent crater. By confounding such different phenomena together, the geognosy of volcanoes is carried back to that dark- ness. from which a great number of comparative observations are beginning to extricate it. The question has often been asked, What is it that burns in volcanoes? What was it that excited the heat by which earths and metals were melted? Modern chemistry . answers, that the substances which melt are the metals of the earths and alkalies. The solid crust of the earth, already oxidized, se- parated the surrounding air with its oxygen, from the com- bustible unoxidized substances of the interior of our planet. The observations which have been made in mines and caves in every zone, and which, in conjunction with M. Arago, I have collected in a particular paper, demonstrate that the heat of the mass of the earth is yet much greater than the mean temperature of the atmosphere at the same place. Such a remarkable and almost. generally proved fact, is closely connected with those which are proved by volcanic phenomena. Laplace has even gone so far as to endeavour to calculate the depth at which the body. of the earth may be considered to be a, melted mass. Whatever doubts may be entertained, notwithstanding the vene- ration due to so great a name, with respect to the numerical certainty of such a calculation, thus much remains probable ; that all volcanic phenomena originate in a very simple cause, in 154 Mi Besos Volum, — — qon. a permanent or in a variable communication between the interior and the exterior of our planet. The pressure of elastic vapour forces the melted substances upwards through deep fissures while they are undergoing oxida- tion; volcanoes, if I may so speak, are intermitting springs of the earth ; the liquid mixtures of metals, alkalies, and earths, which on cooling become currents of lava, flow quietly when they are raised, and find a vent. The ancients imagined, according to Plato's Phedon, that all volcanic currents of fire flowed, in a similar way, from the Periphlegeton. It may be permitted me, perhaps, to add to these considerations one which is still more hazardous. In this interior heat of the earth, indicated by experiments with the thermometer, and by observations on volcanoes, the cause, perhaps, may be found, of one ofthe most wonderful phenomena which the examination of fossils presents to us. Tropical forms of animals, arboriform ferns, Mus, and bamboo-like plants, lie interred in the cold north. e primitive world every where shows a distribution of organic forms at variance with the then existing nature of the cli- mate. In order to solve this important problem, several hypo- theses have been invented ; as the neighbourhood of a comet, the altered inclination of the ecliptic, the increased intensity of the solar light. Neither of these has been sufficient to satisfy at once the astronomer, the natural philosopher, and the geognost. For my part, I leave the axis of the earth un- altered, as well as the light of the solar disc, by the spots on which, a celebrated astronomer has explained both the ferti lity and the unfruitfulness of the fields ; but I believe, that in every planet, independently of its relation to a central body, and ofits astronomical situation, various causes exist of the produc- tion of heat; oxidation, precipitation, and a change in the capacity of bodies; by increase of electromagnetie charge, by the opening of a communication between the interior and the exterior part of the earth. Where the deeply cleft crust of the earth in the primitive world radiated heat from its fissures, whole countries, perhaps, could produce for centuries, palms and arborescent ferns, and sus- tain all the animals of the torrid zone. According to this view, to which I have already alluded in a work just published, “ Essai Géognostique sur le Gissement des Roches dans les deux Hemispheres,” the temperature of volcanoes would be that of the interior of the earth itself, and the same cause which now occa- sions such dreadful destruction, would once have occasioned, on the newly oxidated crust of the earth, upon the deeply cleft strata of rocks, the most luxuriant growth of plants in every zone. : Even if any one should be inclined to suppose, in order to explain. the marvellous distribution of tropical forms in their 1823.] Mr. Chamberlain on Napthaline. 135 ancient graves, that shaggy animals of the elephant tribe now imbedded in icebergs, were once peculiar to a northern chmate, and that similar forms belonging to the same primary types, like lions and lynxes, could live in very different climates, such an explanation could not, however, be extended to the produets of vegetation. For reasons which the physiology of plants explains, palms, and arboriform monocotyledones cannot sustain the northern cold, and in the geological problem we here speak of, it seems difficult to me to separate plants and animals. The same explanation must be applied to both. | Towards the end of this paper, I have combined uncertain dia ey suppositions with facts collected from the most different parts of the world The philosophical knowledge of nature rises above a mere description of nature. It does not consist in a sterile aggregation of isolated observations. It may sometimes be allowed, therefore, to the curious and ever-active mind of man, to look back upon the past, to imagine what cannot . be clearly known, and to amuse himself with the ancient, and, under many forms, returning mysteries of geogony. AnricLE VIII. Observations on Napthaline, with an Account of the Process by which it is obtained, and of the Mode of crystallizing it. By Mr. F. C. Chamberlain, Agent to the Chartered Gas Com- pany. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR, For the purpose of procuring napthaline, the coal tar formed . during the preparation of carburetted hydrogen gas is to be sub- mitted to distillation. When a fourth part of the product intended to be obtained has been distilled, it is found to con- sist of a volatile spirit, ammonia, and water, holding a portion. of napthaline in solution; this can only be separated either by very long standing, or by another and very different kind of distillation, By continuing the operation, a dense oil is obtained, at the bottom of which napthaline may be observed; after this it increases gradually in quantity until about half the product is distilled ; 1f the remaining half be received as it comes over in three separate vessels, it 1s found that the first portion does not contain a great quantity of napthaline ; from the second, little or none is obtained, even by very long standing; but the third . ` i o portion contains. so much napthaline that the last few gallons 136 Mr. Chamberlain on Napthaline. [Ave. sometimes become actually solid, when it has been a few hours distilled. The quantity of napthaline usually obtained is proba- bly about five pounds from 100 gallons of the coal tar ; but if the distillation be hurried towards the middle or latter end. of the operation, the quantity of napthaline is much increased : may not this happen from the conversion of the oil into naptha- line by the increase of temperature? The last portion of naptbaline obtained is mixed with a very large quantity of sulphur. i {f sulphure acid be added to coal tar, little or no napthaline is procured ; the acid probably decomposes the napthaline, for it holds but a very small quantity of it in solution. . When spirit or oil of tar obtained in making pitch, is set aside, much napthaline separates from itin a few weeks ; and this effect may be more quickly produced by artificial cold ; but agitation or m of temperature readily dissolves the portion so depo- sited. _ The napthaline is deposited from the oil in the vessels which contain it, in a semi-crystalline state, and much resembling coral in appearance, excepting that it is greyish instead of being perfectly white; by keeping, it becomes of so very dark a brown colour as to be nearly black ; when large masses of it are broken the structure is frequently crystalline at the centre. The smell of napthaline is extremely. powerful and peculiar ; when melted and allowed to cool gradually, it presents cells which are intersected in every direction by beautifully white and shining plates. The rapthaline separated from oil which has been twice dis- tilled, requires a much greater heat to sublime it than that found originally in the oil; the latter melts at about 120°, and begins immediately to sublime; but if sulphuric acid be tritu- rated with it, it requires a greater heat even than the first men- tioned for sublimation ; and by this process, there is obtained a mass resembling a honeycomb in appearance, owing to the pecu- liar arrangement of the crystalline napthaline. During the sublimation of napthaline, a fluid is obtained which is worthy of careful examination. At first its taste is sweet, and highly aromatic ; itis afterwards pungent ; and occa- sionally hydrocyanic. acid may be obtained from it, and in pretty considerable quantity. When napthaline is mixed with water, it rises in vapour with the water; in this way it is obtained in a state of greater purity than by sublimation, but the quantity procured is small... Nap- thaline is soluble in spirit of wine, and by evaporation crystals are obtained, but they are neither large nor perfect ; nor when dissolved in oil of tar, can any distinct crystals be obtained ; after trying various fluids for the purpose of procuring perfect crystals, 1 succeeded but with oil of turpentine. 1823.) , Mr. Chamberlain on Napthaline, - 137 When napthaline is added to the last mentioned fluid, its temperature sunk from 65? to 574°, and the best, method of causing the solution to crystallize is the following: Dissolve as much napthaline in a quart of oil of turpentine as it is capable of taking up by agitation; then add about two ounces more naptha- line, and dissolve it in the oil with the assistance of heat. Set the solution in a very cool place to crystallize ; in this way long prismatic crystals terminated by pyramids will be procured. If the fluid poured off after the formation of these prismatic crystals remain in a cool place, large hexagonal plates may be obtained. To obtain a honeycomb mass, differing from that formed by sublimation only in the greater thickness of the partitions, pour off the fluid from the plates obtained as above, after they have been forming for at least 48 hours; set it aside to crystallize, and in a few days, the honeycomb mass will be procured. It is very entertaining to watch the fluid when crystallization is commencing. Minute particles are seen passing from one part of the vessel to another; sometimes a crystal will be per- ceived to increase suddenly in size; it will then circulate through the whole of the fluid with great rapidity, and afterwards approaching another similar crystal, they will for some time mutually attract each other; but as soon as they come in con- tact, both are violently repelled to a considerable distance ; after a time attraction recommences ; they again approach each other, and are again repelled ; the repulsive power lessening after every contact, they eventually unite. In this way several prismatic crystals may be observed under- going alternate and mutual attraction and repulsion, and event- ually forming the radii of a hexagon, which is by degrees com- pleted, and becomes a regular hexagonal plate. - The action of nitric acid upon napthaline is peculiar ; when they are triturated together, a butyraceous compound is formed, — which smells exactly like new hay. Ifthe acid be used in con- siderable quantity, a great number of small spiculze, which have the appearance of a salt, are seen floating in it. It might be supposed that they are crystals of nitrate of ammonia, but this is not the case, for they are nearly tasteless, and difficultly soluble; but their true nature I have not yet determined. : 188 Col. Beaufoy’s Astronomical Observations. [Avei ARTICLE IX. Astronomical Observations, 1899, — By Col. Beaufoy, FRS, Bushey Heath, near Stanmore. | Latitude 51° 31' 44:9" North, Longitude West in time 1’ 20°93”, - — : Beginning not observed. |. July T. Solar eclipse ee eee ee eererseseesens Sie eh Ad! 38” Mean Time. Clouds prevented the observation of the commencement ; but the ending was made under Tio very favourable circumstances, ne M er ene e a ee AnTICLE X. ANALYsES or Books. l. The Elements of Experimental Chemistry. By William Henry, MD. FRS. &c. &c. The Ninth Edition, comprehend- : ing all the recent Discoveries; and illustrated with 10 Plates by Lowry, and several Engravings on Wood. In Two Vo- lumes. 1823. AS. | _ Iw noticing the present edition of Dr. Henry’s Elements of Chemistry, itis not my intention to enter minutely into a discus- sion of its merits: it is a work which has been so long and justly appreciated as to bid defiance to criticism, and render particular commendation superfluous. It would, however, I think, beunjust to the author and the public, not to depart a little from the usual course in thus announcing a new edition of an established work, on account of the improvements and numerous important addi- tions with which it has been enriched. With true philosophical caution, Dr. Henry has nct been hast in admitting more modern doctrines to displace those whic were not only by him, but by the chemical world in general, received as true, until within a few years. In making this remark, I allude to Sir H. Davy’s views of the nature of chlorine ; and if the late edition of Dr. Henry’s work was in any respect i ye ps it appeared to me to be in the uncertainty which per- vaded it with respect to the nature of chlorine, and the conse- quent difficulty hid must have attended the learner in acquir- ing settled opinions, when the teacher appeared undecided. n the present edition this indecision is removed, and although the former opinion of the compound nature of chlorine may be 1823.] | Analyses of Books. | 139 € learned from it, yet it is now treated of as an elementary body, and every part of the work is in unison with this doctrine. Another great improvement has been adopted; m his views of the atomic constitution of bodies, Dr. H.has followed Dr. Prout's opinion with respect to the relative weights of the atoms of hydro- gen and oxygen, viz. as 1 to 8; andin doing this, he has also ad- mitted the consequence which results from it, that the weights of all other bodies are multiples of hydrogen by a whole number; at least his table of the weights of atoms is in agreement with this opinion, nor do these weights differ in many instances, or very materially, from those given by Dr. Thomson. There are several parts of the present edition which, as required by the present state of chemistry, have been entirely rewritten ; in- ‘deed one discovery has been made, and has constituted a highly curious and important branch of science since the publication of the former edition; I allude of course to the subject of electro- magnetism: Dr. Henry has treated of it with brevity; but he has stated the leading facts of the subject as much in detail as the nature of the case would permit. : In addition to Electromagnetism, those parts of the work which are either entirely new, or remodelled, are numerous ; among others- I may enumerate, Corrections for Moisture in ‘Gases, vol. i. p. 25; Deutoxide of Hydrogen, p. 262; Com- poa of Carbon and Chlorine, p. 348; Hyposulphurous and yposulphuric Acids, &c. &c. A new arrangement of the metals has likewise been adopted. | l In the second volume, the additions have also been important, particularly on the subject of the Vegetable Alkalies, Vegetable Analysis, and the Analysis of Mixed Gases. There are several: parts of the work which I should like to present to the notice of the reader, and I do not know that I can select a subject which -has of late excited more attention, both as a matter of science and ofeconomy, than the nature of the combustible gases produced from the decomposition of coal and oil. With this extract I shall . close the notice of a work eminently calculated to inform not only the student, but containing the newer discoveries, which those who have been long acquainted with the science are frequently prevented from acquiring in a more extended form: “ On the Mixed Combustible Gases from moist Charcoal, Alcohol, Ether, Coal, Oil, Tallow, and Wax.” “ The two gases, which have been just described under the names of carburetted and bicarburetted hydrogen, appear to me to be the only compounds of those elements, that have as yet been proved to be distinct and well-characterized species ; though itis extremely probable, as I have shown in the Philos. Trans. for 1820, that another gas exists, which was first observed by Mr. Dalton; is heavier and more combustible than olefiant "gas; and contains a larger proportion of carbon. It is of mix- tures of two or more of those three gases, with occasionally a 140 Analyses of Books. [Ave. proportion ôf catbénic oxide, that the almost infinite variety of aeriform products are constituted, which are obtainable by the exposure of moistened charcoal, of alcohol or ether, of oil, tal- low, wax, or coal, to a heat alittle above ignition. This view of the subject, at least, teas to me much more probable, than that they are so many distinct compounds of carbon and hydro- gen, which, on this theory, would be capable of uniting in all possible proportions with each other. ! * Of these aeriform compounds, the gases from coal and from oil are of most importance, from their widely extended use in artificial illumination. Fini * Coal Gas.—By submitting coal to distillation in an iron retort, besides a portion of tar and solution of carbonate of ‘ammonia, which condense in a liquid form, a large quantity of ermanent gas is evolved. This gas I have shown (Phil. Trans. s08 and 1820) is extremely variable in composition and proper- ties, not only when prepared from different coals, but from the same kind of coal under different circumstances. Within cer- tain limits, the more quickly the heat is applied, the greater is the quantity, and the better the quality, of the gas obtained from coal; for too slow a heat expels the inflammable matter in the form of tar. The early products of gas are, also, the heaviest and most combustible, and there is a gradual decline in quality towards the close of the distillation, insomuch that the last pro- ducts are inferior, by more than one half, to the first. The ge- neral name of coal gas is, therefore, quite indefinite. It is, in fact, a mixture of the two varieties of carburetted hydrogen, with a third which remains to be more fully investigated, as well as with hydrogen gas, carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, nitrogen, and sulphuretted hydrogen gases, in ever-varying proportions. To describe the methods of separating these gases from each other, would lead into minute details not suited to an elementary work, and I refer, therefore, to the papers which I have published in the Phil. Trans. for 1808 and 1820, and in the third volume, Second Series, of the Manchester Society's Memoirs, or Annals of Philosophy, vol. xv. ; | “Coal gas, as generally procured, has a very disagreeable odour, arising from sulphuretted hydrogen, and, perhaps, a little sulphuret of carbon ; but both these may be washed out of it b cream of lime, with (as [ have shown) very little loss of illumi- nating power, and with an entire removal of all unpleasant smell either before or during burning. The best gas has the specific gravity *650 or upwards ;. and each volume consumes about 24 volumes of oxygen, and gives 1} volume of carbonic acid ; the last portions have a specific gravity as low as *340, and each volume consumes about 8-lOths of a volume of oxygen, and gives about 3-10ths of a volume of carbonic acid. In the best - gas, chlorine, applied as directed, p.416, detects from 13 to 20 2 cent. of olefiant gas, and the remainder is almost pure car- "buretted hydrogen : but the last products ‘contain little or:no 1823.] Dr. Henry's Chemistry. 141 olefiant gas, much less carburetted hydrogen, and instead of these, a large proportion of hydrogen and carbonic oxide, both of which afford very little light by their combustion. * It is scarcely possible to assign the quantity of gas, which ought to be obtained from a given weight of coal, but it may be considered as an approach to a general average to state, that 112 Ibs. of good coal are capable of giving from 450 to 500 cubic feet of gas of such quality, that half a cubic foot per hour is equivalent to a mould candle of six to the pound, burning during the same space of time. | | $ Dil Gas.—In Nicholson's Journal for 1805, I have given an account of some experiments on the gas obtained by the destruc- tive distillation of spermaceti oil, which showed that of all the artificial gases, this, next to olefiant gas, consumes most oxygen, and is the best adapted to afford light. Since that time, an appa- ratus has been invented by Messrs. Taylor, of London, which has greatly facilitated the preparation of oil gas on a large scale; and this gas is now much used as a source of artificial light. The process consists in letting whale oil (the purity of Wbieh is not essential, since very inferior oil answers the purpose) fall by drops into an iron cylinder placed horizontally in a furnace, anc ignited to a cherry redness. From each wine gallon of oil, about 100 cubic feet of gas may with care be obtained, of the specific gravity of more than ‘900, containing upwards of 40 per cent. of gas condensible by chlorine, and of which 100 volumes consume 260 volumes of oxygen, and yield 158 of carbonic acid. But of gas from Wigan cannel, when the whole product is min- gled together, 100 measures do not saturate more than 155 of oxygen, and give 88 measures of carbonic acid. Oil gas, there- fore, from this document, may be inferred to contain, in a given volume, twice the quantity of combustible matter that is present in the average of gas from cannel coal; and its illuminating power will be as 2 to 1. The experiments of Mr. Brande led him to conclude, that to produce the light of ten wax candles for one hour, there will be required : 2600 cubical inches of olefiant gas. SUID io Wi oa alba be pis .. Oil gas. tcs t Vs WORSE D e FD LP coal gas. * But it seems probable that the coal gas, employed in these experiments, was below the general standard, and that it is a fair average to consider 1 volume of oil gas as equivalent to 2 or at most 21 volumes of gas from coal of good quality. This estimate agrees with the experience. of the late Mr. Creighton, of Glasgow, author of the excellent article * Gas Lights," in the Supplement now publishing to the Encyclep. Britan. Oil gas he considers as superior, in an equal volume, to good average coal gas, in the proportion of only 2 to 1 ; and he has given the 142 ~ Analyses of Books. [Ave, following table of the comparative éxpence of lighting with these two gases, and with oil and tallow. | s. d. Valuing the quantity of light which 1 lb. of tallow gives ii édündlés atiis DES E ES FPO INN VEA 1 0 An equal quantity of light from sperm. oil consumed in an rgand's lam ; will COBB. d$ EI Ae Ve 0 64 Ditto from whale oil gas i sssissess esi iioi osida OO 44 Ditto from coal gas Sd OG Soe Ob ee PEL ee ili ses 0 24. * Twenty cubic feet of coal gas, or ten of oil gas, he considers as equivalent to a pound of tallow, and 5000 grains of good sperm. oil to 7000 of tallow, or 1 lb. avoirdupois. | “ The advantages of oil gas over gas from coal are, that smaller distilling vessels are required; that gasometers and conduit pipes of half the capacity are sufficient ; that no washing apparatus is necessary; that the trouble and expence of endo i waste materials is avoided ; and that the gas affords a much brighter light, and with a smaller production of heat, and also of water. hen only a moderate quantity of light is required ; when it is an object to save room or labour; and in countries where coal is dear, oil gas is entitled to a decided preference ; but it cannot be brought into competition with coal gas, where coal is cheap, or where the establishments to be lighted are of very considerable magnitude, and of such a nature as to allow oftheir being freely ventilated. — . “Of the comparative value of different compounds of hydro- gen and charcoal for the purpose of illumination, it still appeats to me that the only aceurate test is the one which I proposed in Nicholson's Journal for 1805, viz. the quantities of oxygen gas required to saturate equal volumes. If 100 measures, for instance, of one gas, require for perfect combustion 100 measures of oxygen, and 100 measures of another gas take 200 of oxygen, the value of the second will be double that of the first. Specific gravity, though a guide to a certain extent, is not a sufficient one, for the weight of a gas may be owing to a large proportion of carbonic oxide, which is capable of giving out only a very small quantity of light. Photometrical experiments also appear to me to require greater perfection in the instruments that have been invented for that purpose, before we can implicitly trust to _ results obtained by their means; but there can be no fallacy in the combustion of these gases by oxygen, if conducted with ordi- nary care, and especially if, in each instance, an average be taken of two or three trials, which need not occupy more than a few minutes. Nor can it admit of a doubt that, other circum- stances being equal, the brilliancy of light evolved by the com- bustion of gases which are constituted of purely inflammable matter, will bear a proportion to their densities, perhaps even a 1893.] Mr. Brooke’s Inttoduction to Crystallography. 143 greater proportion than one strictly arithmetical ; because, while .by the combustion of denser gases a higher temperature is pro- duced, the cooling agencies remain the same, It is prebible, _ therefore, that of two gases, composed of the same ingredients, that which has a double density will afford somewhat more than a double quantity of light." — Edit. ET m NT 2. A Familiar Introduction to Crystallography; including an Explanation of the Principle and Use of the. Goniometer. With an Appendix, containing the Mathematical Relations of Crystals, Rules for drawing their Figures; and an Alphabetical Arrangement of Minerals, their Synonymes, and Primary Forms. Illustrated by nearly 400 Engravings on Wood. By Henry James Brooke, FRS. FLS. &é. London, 1823. Nearly a quarter of a century has now elapsed, since the late Abbé Haiiy first presented science, in a complete and systematic form, in his Traité de Minéralogie, with the results of the beau- tiful investigations of the geometric characters and structure of mineral substances, in which he had then for some years been engaged; and many of which he had published before in detached memoirs, inserted in the Journal des Mines, and other periodical works. Attempts had been made by various writers on — early in-the last century, to confer a scientific form on the-knowledge of crystallized bodies, but it is to Romé de L'isle that we are 1ndebted for the first definite rudiments of crystallography, and likewise for the first useful application of the science to the determination of mineral species, The struc- ture of crystals, however, appears to- have been first noticed by Bergman, and Gahn, and also, about the same time, by our inge-- nious countryman, Mr, Keir, of Birmingham. All the subjects which had attracted the attention of these observers were pur- sued with astonishing industry and success by Haüy; who, by a precise determination of the different crystalline forms belonging to a considerable number of minerals, and by various philoso- phic general views founded upon that determination, completed the establishment of mineralogy upon a truly scientific basis ; to which the great improvements and discoveries in the chemical analysis of minerals on the one hand, and the minute examina- -tion of their external characters instituted by Werner on the other, had already very efficiently contributed. Since the first publication of Haüy's treatise, however, little progress has been made in crystallographic science, particularly in this country, while almost every other branch of natural phi- losophy has received the most important accessions during that period. Even at the present time, this science, comparatively speaking, has but few votaries among us, and inany persons to whose pursuits à thorough acquaintance with it would seem to be 144 Analyses of Books. [Avc. almost indispensably necessary,—chemists, writers on mineral- ogy, and even professors of that science (we speak not at random, or from doubtful authority), appear to have altogether neglected crystallography, pepara so called. There is a variety of cir- cumstances which tend to allay the surprise that might other- wise be excited by these facts, though they cannot diminish our regret that so beautiful, and ut the same time so important a branch of study, should have been thus treated. Among these, the in some measure abstruse mathematical aspect in which crystallography was presented by Haiiy, contrasted with the easy empirical determination and nomenclature of crystals taught in the Wernerian school, which is probably the most defective part of the system followed by its professors ; and the apparently confined applicability of this science eo preces pur- oses in the arts oflife, appear to have had great effect in limiting its cultivation. It must be admitted likewise, that certain incon- venient and even unphilosophical views embraced by the method of Haüy, have also contributed to this effect. | Such then being the case, we cannot but congratulate the scientific public on the appearance of Mr. Brooke's ** Familiar Introduction to Crystallography," a work, we conceive, which is calculated to be of much utility in remedying the evil to which we have just adverted. We proceed to a brief review of its contents. It commences with a series of definitions, some of which are of a very elementary nature, so as to accommodate those who are even unacquainted with the first rudiments of geo- metry. These are succeeded by a particular and explanatory account of the principle and method of using both the common and the reflective goniometer. To this follows Sect. I, contain- ing a brief general and historical view of the science of crystal- lography. In Sect. II, Mr. Brooke first describes the Abbé Haiiy’s system of molecules, and then details, nearly in the following terms, a new theory on this subject. We must omit the diagrams with which this theory is illustrated, but it is so clearly detailed, that the reader may, we think, acquire a correct kriowdndire of it without them. . | * The very complicated system of molecules which the Abbé Haüy has, by this view of the structure of the octahedron and dodecahedron, introduced into his otherwise beautiful theory of crystals, and the apparent improbability that the molecules of the cube, the regular octahedron, tetrahedron, and dodecahedron, among whose primary and secondary forms so perfect an identity subsists, should really differ from each other, have induced me to propose a new theory of molecules in reference to all the classes of octahedrons, to the tetrahedrons, and the rhombic dodecahe- drons, which I shall now state. | * Fluate of lime, as we have seen, has for its primary form a regular octahedron, under which it sometimes occurs in nature ; 1823.] Mr. Brooke's Introduction to Crystallography. 148 but itis generally found in the form of a cube, and sometimes as a rhombic dodecahedron, and it has a’ cleavage in the direction of its primary planes. : | yo .* Galena, whose primary form is a cube, is also found under the forms of an octahedron, and rhombic dodecahedron, with a cleavage parallel to its cubic planes. — * Grey copper, whose primary form is a tetrahedron, occurs under the forms of the cube, octahedron, and rhombic dodecahe- drons — UCM i2 ^ ONE 1 * Blende is found sometimes, though rarely, crystallized in cubes, sometimes in octahedrons, tetrahedrons, and rhombic dode- cahedrons. | [5 ! * Having-thus observed that the cube, the regular tetrahedron and octahedron, and the rhombic dodecahedron, are common as primary or secondary forms to different crystallized substances, we may reasonably infer that they are produced in each instance by molecules of a form which is common to all; and let us suppose this common molecule to be a cube.” | »*2 Mr. Brooke here gives four diagrams, showing the arrange- ment of the cubic molecules in each of these forms: their arrangement in the cube may readily be conceived, without explanation; in the tetrahedron they are so arranged that the true mathematical edges of the solid are described by the diago- nals. of the cubic molecules which form the rude edges in sucha merely Mprogimetve representation of the subject as can be presented by a diagram ; the axes of the octahedron consist of the prismatic axes of its cubic molecules; the arrangement in the rhombic dodecahedron is precisely that which is commonly represented in figures showing the formation of that solid, by decrement, from a primary cube. | ! ! * These arrangements of cubic molecules," continues Mr. B. * cannot be objected to on account of any supposed imperfection of surface which would be occasioned by the faces of all the pri- mary forms, except the cube, being constituted of the edges, or solid angles, of the molecules. For as we observe that the octahe- dral and dodecahedral planes of some of the secondary crystals of galena, which areobviously composed ofthe solid angles, or edges, of the cubic molecules, are capable of reflecting objects with great distinctness, it is evident that the size of the molecules of galena is less than the smallest perceptible inequality of the splendent surface of those planes, and hence we infer generally, that there will be no observable difference in brilliancy between the surfaces of dn uon obtained by cleavage parallel to the sides of molecules, and of those which would expose their edges or solid angles. “ This theory may be reconciled with the cleavages which are found to take place parallel to the primary planes of the tetrahe- dron, the uctufiadiost and the rhombic dodecahedron, as well as to those of the cube, if we suppose the cubic molecules capable of being New Series, vou, vr. L | 146 Analyses of Books. “ali [An held together with different degrees of attractive force in different cente I shall Jo this jade A bois ih A | fe ** When this attraction is least between the planes of the mole- cules, they will be more easily separated by cleavage én the direc- tion of their planes, than in any other direction, and a cubic solid will be obtained. iur VEM _“ When the attraction is least in the direction of the axis of the molecules, they will be the most easily separated in that direc- tion, and the octahedron or tetrahedron will be the result of cleavage. * And ifthe attraction be least in the direction of its diagonal planes, the edges will be most easily separated, and a rhombic dodecahedron will be the solid produced by cleavage. “ This supposition of greater or less degree of molecular attrac- tion in one direction of the molecule than in another, is consist- ent with many well-known facts in crystallography. o The primary form both of corundum, and of carbonate of lime, is a rhomboid; and the crystals of these substances may be cleaved parallel to their primary planes, the carbonate of lime cleaving much more readily than the corundum, But. the corundum may also be cleaved in a direction perpendicular to its axis, which carbonate of lime cannot be.: | “This cleavage would either divide the rhombic molecules in half, or, the cleavage planes would expose the terminal solid angles of the contiguous molecules, o * But it is contrary to the nature of molecules that they should be thus divided, and we may therefore infer from this transverse cleavage that the molecular attraction is comparatively less in the direction of the perpendicular axis of the molecules of corundum, than it is in the same direction of those of carbonate of lime. And from the greater adhesion of the planes of corun- dum, than of those of carbonate of lime, we.infer that the attrac- tion 1s comparatively. greater between the planes of the molecules of the corundum, than between those of carbonate of lime. . “ This supposition of the existence of a greater or less degree * ** Tt is possible to conceive that the nature, the number, and the particular forms, of the elementary particles which enter, respectively, into the composition of these three species of cubic molecules, may vary so much as to produce the variety of character which I have supposed to exist." . + “Iam aware of an objection that may be made to this view of the subject, by sup- posing all the cleayages which are not parallel to the primary planes of a erystal, to be parallel to some secondary plane, and to be occasioned by the slight degree of adhesion which frequently subsists between the secondary planes of crystals and the plates of molecules which successively cover them during the increase of the crystal in size; but although the second set of cleayages may sometimes be connected with the previous ros of a secondary plane, it may also be explained according to the theory I have assumed." | & Those cleavage planes which would not expose the planes, edges, or solid angles of the molecules, must be considered to always to the class of planes of composition, a term which Mr. W. Phillips has applied to those cleavage planes which result from cleavages parallel to secondary planes only.” 2 1823.], Mr. Brooke’s Introduction to Crystallography. — 147 of molecular attraction in one direction of the molecule than in another, appears to explain the nature of the two sets of cleav- ages which occur in tungstate of lime : one of these sets is parallel, to the planes of an acute octahedron with a square base, which we. will call the primary erystal ; the other set would produce tangent, planes upon the terminal edges of that crystal... If we suppose the molecules to consist of square prisms whose molecular attrac- tion is greatest in the direction of their prismatic axis, and nearly. equal in the direction of their diagonal planes, and of their, oblique axes, the first set of cleavages may be conceived to expose the edges of the molecules, and the second set to expose their solid angles. ~; | | D This theory may, by analogy, be extended to the form. of molecules of every class of octahedron. | For we may conceive the molecules of all the irregular octa-: hedrons to be parallelopipeds, whose least molecular attraction, ts in the direction of their donet planes. * "Thus the molecules of octahedrons with a square, a rectangular, and a rhombic base, would be square, rectangular, and rhombic prisms respectively ; the dimensions of such molecules being propor- tional respectively to the edges of the base, and to the axis of each particular octahedron. | | * According to the view here taken, the following table will exhibit the form of the molecules belonging to each of the. classes of primary forms." | TEE Re page CUL e. regular tetrahedron . .. octahedron .... rhombie dodecahedron. All quadrangular prisms .... molecules, similar prisms. i] pla ) Proportional in octahedron with a^ molecule, a square lee ‘to emolecule, a cube, square base .... prism . ........ | the edges of the with a) molecule, a rectan- | base, and to the rectungular base gular prism. ..,. faxis of each par- — with a molecule, a rhom- | ticular octahe- rhombic base. . Ji . bic prism ,..... | dron, respect- | ai ively. - rhomboid...,.... molecule, a similar thomboid: ) . molecule, an equilateral triangular hexagonal prism , 2 "peii. ! - .* Having thus advanced a new theory of molecules in opposi- . tion to one that had been long established, and possibly without _ a much better claim to general reception than the former theory possessed, I cannot avoid observing that the whole theory of molecules and decrements is to be regarded as little else than a series of symbolic characters, by whose assistance we are ena- bled to investigate and to demonstrate with greater facility the : L2 148 A+ | Analyses of Books, — -— [Avc. relations between the primary and secondary forms of crystals. And under this view of the subject, we ought to divest our notions of molecules and decrements, of that absolute reality, which the manner in which it is necessary to’ speak of them in order to render our illustrations intelligible, seems generally to’ imply." (P. 43—62.) sna dod ect. IH. relates to the Structure of Crystals ; and Sect. IV, to Cleavage: in the latter, the author thus explains the relation of the tetrahedron to the octahedron, in reference to the theory of cubic molecules. | y 5t “The Abbé Hauy's theory, it will be recollected, supposes that if the sme ua obtained by cleavage from the octahe- dron, were to be successively reduced to an octahedron, and four still smaller tetrahedrons, we should at length arrive at a tetra- hedron consisting of four single tetrahedral molecules enclosing only an octahedral space, instead of an octahedral solid. | * But according to the structure assigned to the octahedron by the theory of cubic molecules, that figure is an entire solid ; and the smallest tetrahedron that can be imagined to exist, will contain an octahedral solid, and would be reduced to an octahe- dron by the removal of four cubic molecules from its four solid angles, and not of four tetrahedrons. i - * Thus the necessity of adopting the tetrahedron as the mole- cule of the octahedron is removed, and in consequence a more simple theory of the structure of the octahedron, may be substi- tuted for that which has been established upon the adoption of tetrahedral molecules. i bris * By a similar mode of reasoning, the compatibility of the cubic molecule with the solids obtained by cleavage from the rhombic dodecahedron, might be shown; and by adopting the cubic molecule, a more simple theory of decrement, in relation to.the rhombic dodecahedron, may be substituted for that which has been established upon the assumption of the irregular tetra- hedron as the integrant molecule, and the obtuse rhomboid as the subtractive molecule." (P. 65, 66.) Sect. V. is allotted to the explanation of Decrements ; Sect. VI. to Symmetry ; and Sect. VII. to Primary Forms. | “ The derivative or parent form," observes the author, “from which the secondary forms of any crystallized mineral may be conceived to be derived by the operation of certain laws of decrement, has been denominated the primary form of such mineral. | | * [t may be added that the primary form of a mineral should not. be inconsistent with its known cleavages, and it should gene- rally be such also as would produce the secondary forms of those - ori to which it belongs by the fewest and simplest. laws of ecrement .* | * “The term primary, so defined, is merely relative, being used in contradistinction to secondary. It appears therefore preferable to the term primitive, which has been — 1893;] Mr. Brooke’s Introduction to. Crystallography. — :149 ^o ff Tt is for the sake of rendering our notions of a primary form more precise, that we give this limiting, and in some degree arbi- trary, definition of the term. Our purpose throughout this trea- tise is, to find the shortest and most direct road from the secondary crystal to the mineral species to which it belongs. `o * But as we must travel first from the secondary to the primary form, it is essential that our ideas of that figure which we agree to call the primary form, should be as precise as possible.’’(P. 79.) In Sect, VILL. Secondary Forms are briefly considered, in a general manner ; in Sect. 1X. Hemitrope and Intersected Crys- tals are described ; and Sect. X. defines Epigene and Pseudo- morphous Crystals. | | In Sect. XI. are described the nature and use of the tables of modifications of the primary form which succeed it. / 3o * In these tables," the author says, * «ot merely the observed modifications of crystals, but all the numerous modifications of which each class of primary form is susceptible, while influenced by the law of symmetry, are reduced into classes, and arranged in an orderly series ; and I have added some of the observed instances of departure from this law, in the production of peculiar and anomalous secondary forms." - (P. 98.) . tt; . | “ The figures of the primary and secondary forms given in the following tables, are not to be regarded as representations of crys- talline forms of any particular minerals, but as exhibiting a type, or general character, of each of the classes of primary forms, and of the modifications belonging to each of those classes." (P. 101.) These tables exhibit 150 j apoia of the modifications of the following 15 primary forms : the cube, regulartetrahedron, regular octahedron, rhombic dodecahedron, octahedron with a square _-base,octahedron with a rectangular base,octahedron with a rhombic „base, right square prism, right rectangular prism, rhombic prism, oblique-angled prism, oblique rhombie prism, doubly oblique prism, hexagonal prism, rhomboid. They are followed by a , table. exhibiting the relations to the primary forms, of those secondary forms of crystals which are similar to some of the classes of the primary, and also of those which, when complete, are different from all the primary forms. Sect. XII. treats of the Application of the Tables of Modifica- tions. In Sect. XIII. (numbered XIV. by mistake), the Use of Symbols for describing the secondary forms of crystals is explained. To this section succeeds a series of tables, which terminate this part of the work, showing the Relation of the . Laws of Decrement to the different Classes of Modifications. A large portion of the Appendix consists of an outline of the method of applying the theory of decrements to determine the relations between the secondary and primary forms of crystals. Abbé Haüy has used plane trigonometry in his calculation of the generally used to designate this original or parent form, and which seems to imply some- thing ine intrinsic, and absolute, than is required by the science into which it is intro- uced,’ : es SM. AW FAN 1 150 “ouy Analyses of Books: ^^^ [At6. laws of decrement, but Mr. Brooke, at the recommendation of Mr. Levy, has substituted spherical trigonometry for it in this section. H tO o: To this outline succeeds a section on the direct determination of the laws of decrement from the parallelism of the secondary edges of crystals, according to the methods pointed out by Haüy; Monteiro, and Levy. A section follows, on the Methods of Drawing the Figures of Crystals, some of the examples in which are particularly elegant ; and a short essay on Mineralo- -gical Arrangement, with an Alphabetical Arrangement of Mine- rals, their Synonymes and Primary Forms, terminate the volume. We intended to discuss in this place certain arguments employed by Mr. Brooke, respecting the difficulties of mineralogicalarrange- ment, which we conceive to be somewhat fallacious, as well as to examine in what respect his abecedarium of mineralogy is really | panua to such arrangements as havea more natural character. e also intended to offer a few remarks on certain subjects of mineralogical chemistry adverted to in the list of minerals; but as we have now neither space nor time for the necessary exten- sion of this article, we must leave all these subjects to the discern- ment of Mr. Brooke's readers ; at the same time strongly recom- mending the work in general to their careful study, as the only comprehensive treatise on Crystallography which has yet ap- peared, in this country at least. We will conclude with the im- ortant statement given in the section on Arrangement, respect- ing Dr. Brewster's preference of the optical characters of minerals, as the surest means of determining their species. * Dr, Brewster has, with that attachment which we usually evince towards a favourite pursuit, given à preference to the optical characters of minerals, as the surest means of determin- ing their species. See a memoir by Dr. Brewster in the Edinb. Phil. Journ. vol. vii. p. 12. n “This memoir relates to a difference in the optical characters of the Apophyllites from different localities, upon which Dr. Brewster proposes to erect a particular variety into a new species under the name of Tesselite. Berzelius, as it appears from a paper, preceding that by Dr. Brewster, in the same volume of the Journal, has, at Dr. Brewster's desire, analysed the Tesselite, and found it agreeing perfectly in its chemical composition with the Apua llites from other places. Chemically, therefore, the Tesselite does not appear a distinct species. * A few days before Dr. Brewster's paper was published, it _ happened that I had been measuring the angles ofthe Apophyl- lites from most ofthe localities in which they occur, all of which I found to agree with each other more nearly than different minerals of the same species frequently do. The Tesselite is not therefore, crystallographically, a separate species.* But when * “T have found several crystals of this substance corresponding in a remarkable manner in their general form of flattened four-sided prisms, terminated by four-sided pyramids with truncated summits, but with their corresponding planes dissimilar, The 1823.) Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. 152 chemistry ind crystallography corieur so perfectly a$ they do in this instance, in determining the species, to which a mineral belongs, it will be difficult to admit a variation of optical charac- ter, as a sufficient ground to alter that determination. | ! * A paragraph published by Dr. Brewster in the sixth volume of the same Journal, p. 183, relative to the crystalline form of the sulphato-tri-carbonate of lead, furnishes an additional motive to believe that the connexion between thé optical characters of prim and their crystalline forms is not yet sufficiently under- stood. Pn : * Dr. Brewster admits what I believe is not liable to question, that * the crystals of this substance are acute rhomboids.' ` But he adds, * Upon examining their optical structure, I find that ta have two axes of double refraction, the principal one of whic is coincident with the axis of the rhomb. The sulphato-tri-car- bonate, therefore, cannot. have the acute rhomboid for its primitive form, but must belong to the prismatic system of Mohs,’ * But it appears from the * Outline of Prof. Moh's new Sys- tem of Crystallography,’ published in the third volume of the same Journal, that a rhomboid cannot belong to his prismatic system. For it is stated in p. 173, that * The rhomboid, and the . four-sided oblique-based pyramid,’ (the fundamental form of the prismatic system) ‘dre forms which cannot by any means be derived from each other s the (two) groups of simple forms, as weld as their combinations, must each be always distinct from (the) other? Tf therefore in the hands of Dr. Brewster," Mr. Brooke justly concludes, * the use of optical characters cannot at pre- sent be relied upon for the determination of à mineral species, it may be doubted whether they can be successfully employed by less accurate and less intelligent observers.”—B, ARTICLE XI, Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. LINNEAN SOCIETY. May 24.—This being. the anniversary of the Society, the election of the Council and Officers for the ensuing year took place ; when the following gentlemen were chosen. Council—James Ebenezer Bicheno, Esq.; Edward Rudge, Esq.; Joseph Sabine, Esq.; Robert Brown, Esq. ; John George planes which appear as the summits of some of these prisms, being only the lateral planes of very short and otherwise disproportioned crystals; so that a line passing through these, in the direction of their greatest length, would in fact be perpendicular to the axis of the primary form. ‘Sections perpendicular to the axes of these apparently similar prisms would certainly present very different optical phenomena. But it is not probable that the practised eye of Dr. Brewster should have been misled by their appa- rent similarity ; and the differences he has observed will still remain to be explained.” 152 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. — [Avo. Children, Esq. ; Adrian Hardy Haworth, Esq. ; William Sharp Mac Leay, Esq.; Joseph Smith, Esq. au Présidinsioc Sit James Edward Smith. | | Vice Presidents.—Samuel, Lord Bishop of Carlisle; Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq.; Edward, Lord Stanley; illiam George Maton, MD. l io Treasurer.—Edward Forster, Esq. Secretary.— Alexander Mac Leay, Esq. Under Secretary.—Mr. Richard j^ lor. The following rare plants were exhibited in flower: Pancra- tium Amancaes, from the garden of the Horticultural Society ; Hyacinthus amethystinus, Polygala amara, Ranunculus Parnas- sifolius, and Braya alpina, from the Botanic Garden at Chelsea. © June 3.— At this meeting, the following papers were read : Description of a new Species of Erythrina called E. poianthes. By Felix de Avellar Brotero, Professor of Botany at Coimbra, For, Mem. LS. ! vU - E. foliis ternatis ; foliolis lateralibus ovatis, intermedio rhom- beo-ovato; omnibus ‘subtus pubescentibus, rachi petioloque communi, aculeatis, caule arboreo aculeato, calyce obliqué trun- cato: latere superiori vel fisso vel integro, staminibus diadelphis. vexillo vix brevioribus. Cultivated in the Royal Botanic. Garden near Lisbon, and elsewhere in Portugal. Native country unknown; probably America. j A Letter from the Rev. Mr. Whitear of Harleston, in Norfolk, stating, that the Little Bustard (Otis tetrax), a native of warm climates, stated by Temminck never to be found in the north, had been killed at Butley, near Orford, in Suffolk, in January y iy specimen is now in the possession of Mr. Seaman, of swich. p Extract of a Letter from the Rev. S. L. Jacob to W. G. Maton, VPLS. stating that a Flying Fish ( Exocetus volans) had been caught in July last, in’ the Bristol Channel, ten. miles from Bridgewater. | A Letter from Mr. Robert Anstis relative to a bird shot in the neighbourhood of Bridgewater, varying but little from the Crested Cormorant, and distinguished by having 16 feathers in its tail. Col. Montagu had invariably found, it was remarked, that the tail of the Shag consisted of 12 feathers, and that of the Cormorant of 14. i June 17.—The following communications were read : Description of Antilope Quadricornis, the Chikara of Bengal. By Major-Gen. T. Hardwicke, FLS. | This animal is not scarce in India, Gen. Hardwicke observed, et it does not appear to have been hitherto particularly de- scribed. It inhabits the forests and hilly tracts of the western. arts of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. In size, it resembles the batnessed antelope, A. Scripta; height about 20 inches ; length, 1823.) coo Linnean Society. | 163 exclusive of the tail, 33 inches; length of the tail, 5 inches; greatest circumference of the body, 29 inches. The superior or common horns are placed on the forehead, and are four or five inches in length, slightly diverging, subulate, conical, and a little directed forwards ; the spurious horns are placed between the eyes, are less than the superior, and slightly diverging. The upper parts of the body are of a bright bay colour; the under parts dusky white, with a few yellow hairs. Such were the cha- racters of the male specimen described: the female has no horns, and is‘less bright in colour; this distinction in colour appears to be permanent, for it continued, during four years, in a pair possessed by the author: they bred during this period, two at a birth, and the young were similarly distinguished in colour. The male was very fierce in the rutting season, and though partly domesticated, continued to be so; at this time the feeder could only approach the verge of.the circle which the rope securing the animal permitted him to describe. | i Description of Buceros.—Hornbill without the helmet or rostral appendage, with a pendant gular sac, or pouch. By the same. . : : | © The length of this bird was 361 inches, of which the tail measured 12 inches, and the bill 7 inches; the distance between the extremities of its wings, when spread, was 53 inches ; the re- gular appendage, marked with yellow vertical lines, and with 2 bright blue mark, was 34 inches long, and 3 inches wide: weight of the bird, when living, five pounds and a quarter. The eyes large, surrounded with a naked circle, and with some bristly feathers, the pupil large and black; the irides marked with four concentric circles, of different widths, and of the follow- ing colours respectively, reckoning from the innermost, white, brown, orange, and black. The auditory apertures behind the _ eyes, circular, concealed when the. feathers are in their natural position, but plainly visible when they are turned up. ; Plumage of the body black, with shades of olive-green when viewed in a strong light. This bird is a native of the woods about Chittagong and Sylhet ; and resembles the Calao Javan of Le Vaillant, as described by Shaw: the specimen described in this paper lived two years caged, and died while moulting. ' The reading of Dr. Hamilton's Commentary on the second part of the Hortus Malabaricus, was: continued. - In this elaborate commentary, Dr. Hamilton traces the plants described by Rheede, in the second part of the Hortus Malaba- ricus, through the works of succeeding writers, down to Linnzeus and later botanists ; giving their various synonyma, and compar- ing their characters as described by the different authors ; occa- sionally suggesting new appropriations of the names in the H. M. and showing, that in some instances several species described in that work have been erroneously sunfapideod together as one; while) in others one real species has been divided into 154 Proceedings of. Philosophical Societies. [Avc. several; Dr. Hamilton's.Commentary on the first part of Rheede's great work, has already appeared in the Transactions of the Linnean goat, vol. xiii, part. ii. p. 474. T The Society then adjourned to the 4th of November next. . GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. May 16.—A letter was read, from Henry Heuland, Esq. For. Sec. Geol. Soc. addressed to the President, * On the Matrix of the Diamond," | | In this letter Mr. Heuland describes two specimens. which he laid upon the table of the Society. The first of these, from Abbaete in Brazil, was a conglomerate of oxide of iron, with sinall waterworn quartz pebbles, irpo a diamond. This, which is called Cascalhao, Mr. Heuland believes to be of allu- vial origin. The other specimen from Pereira, in Brazil, which Mr. Heuland received from Baron d'Eschwege, was a very small brilliant dodecahedral diamond, surrounded by skorodite or eupreous arseniate ofiron in a gaugue or matrix of massive oxide of iron (Werner's brown ironstone.) This oxide of iron, accord- ing to Baron d'Eschwege and Alexander Caldcleugh, Esq. forms veis or beds 25 feet deep resting on chlorite schist in the mountains near Pereira. That it is the true matrix, of at least the Brazilian diamond, appears confirmed by the locality where diamonds have not before been discovered, by its being accom- panied by the arseniate of copper, and by the difference of this oxide of iron from that in the Cascalhao, which is either earthy, granular, or in water-worh particles. l June 6.—A paper was read containing remarks on Sections presented by the Rivers Isla, Melgum, Proson, and 8. Esk, in the County of Forfar, with some general Observations on the Geology of that County, accompanied with specimens. By Charles Lyell, Esq. Sec. GS. The country which formed the principal subject of this com- munication is situated on the southern flank of the Grampians ; it is occupied by old red sandstone, greywacke, and argillaceous schist, with their associated porphyries. The strata are clearly exposed by the rivers that cut through them. They are very highly inclined, and dip for the most part towards the south. he old red sandstone may be described as consisting of two formations of sandstone, with a formation of conglomerate of great thickness interposed between them. An extensive forma- tion of felspar porphyry occurs in the lower part of the conglo- merate, and it is from the broken and rolled fragments of this orphyry that the conglomerate is for the most part composed. tween the porphyry and the conglomerate, a rock prevails of a mixed character, which seems intermediate between the two, and which it is difficult to describe or account for, The lower red sandstone, which is beneath the conglomerate, is in many parts seen to be traversed by a mass or dyke of greenstone, 1823.] Scientifie Intelligence. — ... 155 which passes into serpentine, in which form it continues through a great part of its course ; it lies parallel with the strata. The lower red sandstone, which is for the most part schistose, and not of great thickness, alternates with greywacke at its juncture, and the greywacke with argillaceous schist. A large mass of porphyry resembling that of the elvans of Cornwall, intersects in one part of the district the superior beds of the greywacke form- ation. The paper concludes with some observations on the primary rocks of the Grampians in the county of Forfar, | June 20.—The following papers were read : A Notice on some Fossil Bones of an Icthyosaurus from the Lias near Bristol ; also on two new Species of Fossil Teeth. By George Cumberland, Esq. Hon. Mem. GS. A Letter accompanying some Specimens from Stonehenge. By God, PIRED sq. y SOAS AN An Extract of a Letter from, Lieut, J. Short; RE. addressed to, and communicated by, Dr. Babington, Pres, GS. containing some remarks on the Isle of Bourbon. |... YOUR The Isle of Bourbon, which is situated about 120 miles from the Mauritius, and is 150 miles in circumference, appears to be chiefly of volcanic composition. An active volcano still exists. Although beneath the tropics, perpetual snow and ice cover the summits of some of the mountains which rise to an elevation of 10,000 feet. Lieut. Short observed basaltic columns of gteat height exposed in some parts of the island, and found olivine, lava, zeolite, and puzzolana, abounding throughout the rocks. A Notice respecting the Pebbles in the Bed of Clay which covers the new red Sandstone in the SW of Lancashire. By John Bostock, MD. VPGS. : | Le A É - AnricLE XII. SCIENTIFIC. INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. I. Dr. Wollaston’s Method of detecting Magnesia, on the smallest Scale. Dissouve in a watch-glass, at a gentle heat, a minute fragment of the mineral suspected to contain magnesia, dolomite for example, in a few drops of dilute muriatic acid; to this solution, add oxalic acid, to render the lime that may be present insoluble; then pour in a few drops of a solution of phosphate of ammonia or soda. Allow the pre- cipitate to settle for a few seconds, and decant a drop or two of the supernatant clear liquid on a slip of window-glass; on mixing with this liquid two or three drops of a solution of the scentless carbonate of ammonia, an effervescence takes place; draw off to one side with a glass rod, a little of the clear solution, and trace across it, with the pressure of a point of glass or platina, any lines or letters on the glass plane; on exposing this to the gentlest possible heat (as making a little 156 Scientific. Intelligence. [Ave. warm water flow over it), white traces will be perceived wherever the point was applied. These consist of the triple phosphate of ammonia and magnesia. In the application of this process on the larger scale, the carbonate of ammonia should be added first, which. prevents the chance of any simple phosphate of the earth being formed.—Journal of Science, &c. xv. 336. II. Phosphate of Uranium. I am indebted to. the Rev. J. J. Conybeare for the information that the existence of phosphoric acid in uranite which I supposed I had first discovered was ascertained several years since. ‘The fact, he informs me, is mentioned in a work entitled, * Elemens de Mineralo- gie et de Geologie," &c. Par E. M, J. Patrin. . Paris, 1803. . Having never seen this work, Mr, Conybeare has been so good as to favour me with the following extract from it: * Ekebert [Ekeberg] . fait sur l'uranite une observation qui serait tres curieuse si elle etait confirmée ; c'est que l'acide phosphorique se trouve joint à l'oxide d'ura- nite. ll dit dans une note de son Memoire sur la Phosphate de Chaux (Annales de Chimie, No. 96, p. 233), que si dans une dissolution d'uranite par l'acide nitrique on verse de l'acetite de plomb ; il se fait un precipité qui est un phosphate de plomb qui fondu au chalumeau donne un polyédre de couleur laiteuse."— Patrin, t. iv. p. 48. Mr. Conybeare justly observes. to me, that ‘the circumstance of Ekeberg's discovery being mentioned ina paper not on uranite, but on phosphate of lime, will account for its escaping the notice of Berzelius, of yourself, and even of so many professed compilers of mineralogical systems,” — Edit. : III. Qn the Use of the Electrical Faculty ofthe Torpedo. By Mr. Jona- than Couch. : The following suggestion on this subject has been made by Mr. Jonathan Couch in a paper on the Natural History of Fishes found in Cornwall, printed in the newly-published part of the Transactions of the Linnean Society; vol. xiv. p. 89:— ** Torpedo or Cramp Ray. Raia Torpedo.—This fish is extremely rare. The numbing power of the torpedo bes been much illustrated by the discoveries which have been made in galvanism ; but the cause of this phenomenon appears to me not to have been explained. I would, therefore, suggest the following observations on this subject. It has been supposed, that by this faculty the torpedo is enabled the more readily to secure its prey; and when Pennant took a surmullet from the stomach of a torpedo, he concluded that it must have been first disa- bled by the shock before it could have been swallowed by its enemy. But I em known a lobster, whose agility is much superior to.that of a surmullet, taken from the stomach of a skate; which fish possesses no such formidable means of disabling its prey. "Without denying that the torpedo may devour that which it disables by the shock, I conceive that the principal use of this power has a reference to the functions of digestion, It is well known that an effect of lightning, or the electric shock, is to deprive animated bodies very suddenly of their irritability ; and that thereby they are rendered more readily disposed to pass into a state of dissolution than they would otherwise be; in which condi- tion the digestive powers of the stomach can be much more speedily q 1820F. New Scientific Books. 157A and effectually exerted on them. If any creature may seem to require such a preparation of its food more than another, it is the torpedo, the whole intestinal canal of which is not more than half as long as the stomach,” ArricLe XIII. » NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 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In a Letter to Dr. John Macculloch. By H. R. Oswald. 8vo. 1s. 6d. 158: New Patents, [Juny, Articte XIV. _NEW PATENTS. Edward Ollerenshaw, Manchester, hat-manufacturer, for a method of dressing and furnishing hats, by means of certain machinery and €— to be used and applied thereto.—May 27.. . Peel, Esq. Manchester, for a rotatory-engine, for communicating motion by means of steam or other gaseous media, —May 27. S. Wilson, Esq. of Streatham, Surrey, for certain improvements in machinery for weaving and winding.-—May 31. - J. Mills, St. Clement Danes, Middlesex, and Silver-street, London, and Herman William Fairman, Silver-street, London, merchants, for certain improvements in rendering leather, linen, flax, sail-cloth, and certain other articles, water-proof.—May 31, | R. Badnall, Leek, Staffordshire, silkemanufacturer, for certain im- provements in dyeing.—June 8. | T. Attwood, Birmingham, banker, for certain improvements in the making of cylinders for the printing of cottons, calicos, and other articles.—June 3. T. Mills, Dudbridge, Gloucestershire, cloth-dresser, for certain im- — on machines for shearing or cropping woollen cloths.— une 3, : J. Perkins, Fleet-street, engineer, for certain improvements in steam-engines.— June 5. à E. Cowper, Kennington, mechanist, for certain improvements in machines and apparatus for printing calico, linen, silk, wool, paper, and other substances capable of receiving printed impressions.— June 10. .— i | R. Mushet, Royal Mint, Tower-hill, Gent. for improving the qualit of copper and alloyed copper, applicable to the sheathing of ships, and other a i une 14. | R. Pew, Esq. Sherborne, Dorsetshire, for a new composition for covering houses and other buildings.—June 17. i C. MacKintosh, Esq. Crossbasket, Lanark, for a process and manu- facture whereby the texture of hemp, flax, wool, cotton, and silk, and also leather, paper, and other substances, may be rendered impervious to water and air.— June 17. J. Smith, Droitwich, Worcestershire, civil-engineer, for an appara- tus for applying steam to the boiling and concentration of solutions in general, crystallising the muriate of soda from brines containing that salt, melting and refining of tallow and oils, boiling of sugar, distilling, and other similar purposes.— July 19. | J. M. Willoughby, Fair-street, Horsleydown, Surrey, Gent. for cer- tain improvements in the construction of vessels, so as to enable them to sail with greater velocity.— June 26. J. Green, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, whitesmith, for certain ma- chines used for roving, spinning, and twisting cotton, flax, silk, wool, or other fibrous substances.— June 26. W. Vere, Crown-row, Mild-end Old-town, engineer, and H. S. Crane, Stratford, manufacturing chemist, for their improvements in the manufacture of inflammable gas.— June 30. 1828.] -^| Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal, 159 ARTICLE XV. METEOROLOGICAL TABLE. —À M — - |BAROMETER.| THERMOMETER, © 319, | 1893. | Wind. | Max.| Min.| Max. | Min. | Evap. | Rain. gr m a 6th Mon. June 11IN Ej30:25/50:02|] 78 55 — ; 9S Wi|30:022973, 77 46 — 35| 3N Wi!2973|299:55| 65 43 — 01 AS W|29:6329:55| 61 43 — 17 5S Wij?9:92:129:63| 66 38 — 13 6 N |30°19\29:92) 70 41 '85 7| W |30:1930'04| . 69 50 -— 01 8 W 130043002) 68 50 — i 9N Wi30065001| 66 | 43 | — 10IN | Wj30°12/30°06| 64 49 — 11N Ei3017]30129| 70 39 *67 12IN Ej3012/30:00 73 42 — 13, N 1800012994) 79 53 — 14| N 1300712998) 76 59 = 15N Ej|30:36/30:07|.. 72 38 -— 16N Ej30393036| 71 41 71 7|N Wij30:36,30:31| 74 44 edi 18| N |30°31|30°25| 60 43 ME 19N Ej30:25,30'14| 71 48 —— 20iN E|30:17]30'13| 72 50 — 21|) N 30:24,3017| 62 46 E 2|, N 18024|3017| 55 Al — 293N W130°17/30°:07| 67 40 '87 24N W/30°07|29°88} 70 43 — 2558 . W|2?9'88/29"80| 72 46 — 08 26| Var. |29802945] 70 | 52 | — 15 27| Var. |29°45|29°39| 71 50 — 64 2818 W|29:8229"44| 67 50 — 05 29S Wi|30:0729'82, 71 46 — 29 301 W |30'07j30'01| 72 44 *90 $0:39129:39|. 79 38 4°00 | 1:88 The observations in each line of the table apply to a period of twenty-four hours, beginning at 9 A. M. on the day indicated in the first column. A dash denotes that the result is included in the next following observation. 160 Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal. [Avc. 1823. REMARKS. Sixth Month.—1l, Fine. 2. Cloudy: rain in the evening. 3. Cloudy: a shower of hail in the afternoon. 4. Showery. 5. Showery: a heavy storm of thunder about three, p. m. with large hail, and very vivid lightning. 6—13. Fine. 14. Cloudy, and fine at intervals. 15—17. Fine. 18. Fine: overcast. 19, 20. Fine. 21, 22. Over- cast. 23. Fine. 24. Overcast. 25. Cloudy: some showers in the night. 26, Cloudy. 27. Showery, till about five o'clock, p. m, when there was a very heavy storm of thunder, and rain and hail of considerable size: the lightning vivid, and thun- der near and frequent, the wind going round to the W, 28. Cloudy and fine. 29. Showery : a violent storm of hail about three, p. m. with thunder, followed by rain: the hail as large as peas. 30, Calm: overcast. RESULTS. Winds: N,5; NE,7; SW,6; W,3; NW, 6; Var. 2, Barometer: Mean height For the month. |. à.» de »gee Aa QU Oba soc 30-002 inches. For the lunar period, ending the 2d . ................ 29:993 For 15 days, ending the 2d (moon south). . ........ . 99-994 For 12 days, ending the 14th (moon north) . ..... ess 99-961 For 15 days, ending the 29th (moon south) .. ... ..... 30-033 Thermometer: Mean height . For the month """* HIR UI Pag eU OUR PAPA ETT RR 513009 For the lunar period . bu do ovede (ap Ub des obs o DUdoU ace 51-300 For 31 days, the sun in Gemini .......225 eee 01:133 Evaporation. 98 4«009940d0006000|/bóqQv060 b conan dissel daba eap oA ce 4-00 in. Rain. *5990909990099904040524€909509*900€09090»59224990990»9999000909999909*9 1-88 Laboratory, Stratford, Seventh Month, 10, 1823. R. HOWARD. ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY. SEPTEMBER, 1823. ARTICLE I. An Abridged Translation of M. Ramond's Instructions for. the Application of the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights, with a Selection from his Tables for facilitating. those Opera- tions, reduced (where necessary) to. English: Measures... By Baden Powell, MA. of Oriel College, Oxford. (Continued from p. 111.) Ir is from the publication of the excellent work of M. De Luc on the Modifications of the Atmosphere, that we are to date the commencement of those observations which have really contri- buted to the advancement of our knowledge. With these sub- sequent additions, a work on the mode of using meteorological instruments would assuredly be highly useful, for the experi- mental part of the science has been far from keeping pace with the mathematical; and the art of making good observations is as yet far from being carried to the same perfection as that of employing them when made. t is, therefore, not useless to apprize those to whom these - instructions are addressed, that if exactness is the first requisite in a good observation considered in itself, there are also other conditions to be fulfilled, in order to appropriate that observation to the particular purpose in view: that both meteorology aud barometrical measurements require the choice of opportune con- junctures : that the laws of general physies lay down the prin- ciples, but do not always point out their applications : that these are not within the province of dogmatical instruction ; that in order to effect happy applications, there must be much skill, New Series, vou. vi. M 162 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of (SEPT. discrimination, and experience employed; that we do not learn all this as we learn to read, to calculate, or to translate the terms ofa formula. Let us read then, and reflect upon the works of De Luc, Saussure, the memoirs of Pictet, the books of philoso- phers who have devoted themselves to the scientific employ- ment of meteorological instruments ; and above all, let us con- tinue our own observations for a long time before we trust to them, and a still longer time before we yield to the temptation of drawing inferences from them ; for the goodness of observa- tions depends on a multitude of minute precautions which habit alone renders constantly present to the memory ;.and the vali- dity of the inferences rests on considerations too numerous to be at the disposal of a mind not rendered familiar to them by time and practice. i Sedentary Observations * for determining the Mean Pressure at a particular Place. ` I commence with considering the method of conducting observations of the stationary kind for determining the mean pressure of the atmosphere at any place ; for these us one of the principal foundations jon which the science of meteorology rests, and above all because they are the means of affording marked periods for the operations of levelling...) | Sedentary observations have a very limited. utility if they are not comparable ; that is to say, if equal pressures are not. con- stantly expressed by equal heights ofthe: mercurial column. We may readily conceive that this fundamental condition is but ill fulfilled by the rude instruments with which the generality of observers content themselves, and often not even by the more costly ones with which the cabinets of the curious are adorned. It must be presumed then that the observer has a barometer arefully constructed: the mercury perfectly. pure and. well boiled ; the tube as free from air and moisture as it can be ren- dered: the scale leaving nothing to be desired on the score of accuracy ; he believes himself to possess a very good barometer. It is doubtless so far good; but this is not enough; and the chief condition is not fulfilled unless we are assured that it is comparable. What is the interior diameter of its tube? What means have been taken to correct the effects of capillarity ? ds it of the siphon or cistern construction ^ What precautions have been taken to secure a constant level, and an invariable point of rture ? Such are some few of the questions which must be satisfactorily answered before the instrument can be allowed to ànspire confidence. - : us, however, suppose all these conditions fulfilled, still at must be further asked, if the barometer be comparable, are the observations equally so ? At what hours and under what circum- * “Observations Sédentaires,'* _ 1893.] the Barometer tothe Measurement of Heights. 108 stances are they made ? Is the temperature of the mercury taken into account ? How are the thermometers and hygrometers con- structed, and. how placed? And what is the system adopted for the reduction of observations to a mean? Such questions are in- dispensable, yet. it is to be feared many observers could not answer them in a satisfactory manner, We have a great num- ber of barometric means collected from numerous observations, and yet no one can say precisely whatthese means are. It is thus that many long series of observations are in reality lost to science, and only furnish illusory documents to the phi- losopher who wishes to draw inferences-from the experiments of his. predecessors. Let it be our endeavour that these: losses shall be the last science has to sustain, and let us furnish our successors with points of comparison less equivocal. vol | | Choice of Instruments. o 4W The siphon barometer is preferable for stationary observations, as it possesses the peculiar property of annulling by compensa- tion the effects of capillarity. | E With cistern barometers the correction for capillarity must be applied as given in the table. But besides this, these barome- ters require the application of some means: for reducing the level of the mercury inthe cistern to the zero of the scale, a point from which it is continually deviating, as well by the ascent and descent of the mercury, as by the less apparent, though not less real, effect of changes of temperature. This is provided for hy giving the cistern such a diameter that the variations: of level become-nearly insensible. This, however, is not sufficient for very exact observations: | ue) i lt is almost superfluous to remark the necessity of rigid accu- ` racy in the division of the scale. In barometers mounted in wood, the scale is generally marked on a plate of metal attached to the mounting. This will not satisfy those who are desirous of great accuracy. < Heat, cold, moisture, dryness, affect wood in every direction, sometimes increasing and sometimes diminish- ing the distance of the scale from the point where its divisions are supposed to commence. ‘The’ scale, therefore, should: be entire from zero up to the point of the greatest elevation of the mercury, though it may be divided only in that part through which the range of variation extends. - Copper is the best mate- rial as being the metal with whose pyrometrical dilatation we are best acquainted. With a scale thus constructed, we know exactly to what the variations in dimension which result from variations in temperature are reducible. "They are regular and - very small, and may generally be neglected ; but we thus know their amount, and can supply the correction. =“ 1 The vernier should indicate the 1-1000th of an inch; and this is nearly the utmost which the barometer is capable of express- ing without ambiguity ; the — ray must of course be perpens M : 164. M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of. [Sz et. . dicular to the axis of the column. Some observers have added a microscope to discern more exactly the point of contact. ‘This appears unnecessary, as we can judge without a microscope very well to the 1-1000th of an inch ; and the adherence of the mer- cury to the sides of the tube is sufficient to destroy the exactness of even this observation ; and in the most calm weather, the column is never perfectly at rest, but shows small though sensi- ble oscillations. The approach of the observer, and the handling of the instrument, communicate to some of its parts a heat which has not time to distribute itself equally to the other parts, and the error resulting is generally something, if not equal to the 1-1000th of an inch: in fact, attempts at excessive accuracy in the observation have in general only the effect of making a dis- play of figures in the result, which the real capability of the instrument will not warrant, We ought surely to take the different means of ameliorating observations in the order of their importance ; and no one who has ever employed the barometer with attention is ignorant that of all the errors imputable to the instrument, the most frequent and the most considerable are those which arise from a false indication of the temperature of the ayaa Now we do not . here discuss minute fractions of the smallest divisions ; one degree of the centierade thermometer corresponds, on the baro- metric scale, with more than 3-100ths of an inch ; and in eleva- - tion, with a difference of more than 3 feet. . While we are at one end of the mercurial column attempting to estimate microscopic intervals, we must not forget that at the other, a slight and often inevitable mistake may make the observation lose in exactness ten times what it gains by the accuracy of the vernier. The greatest improvement which could be introduced, and which would confer the greatest honour on artists, would consist in finding a method of uniting the correctional thermometer to the column of mercury in so close and immediate a manner, that its indications should, at all times, and under all circumstances, be the exact measure of the temperature of the column. The precautions have hitherto been confined to inclosing the bulb of the thermometer in the mounting of the instrument, so that the variations of external temperature may be considered as affecting it only through the intervention of the mounting. This does not dispense with the observer's having an eye upon all that may disturb the accordance of the two instruments. Rapid changes of temperature are above all to be suspected, for the correctional thermometer always marks them before the entire mass ofthe instrument nartakes in them ; and we can do no- thing better than to shelter the barometer as far as we can from the influence of these changes. The barometer then must be furnished with a good thermo- meter well joined to its mounting, and we must never fail to combine its indications with those of the barometer. The extent - ~ 1823.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. 165 of the corrections which the heights of the mercury must undergo ‘on account of the changes in the temperature of the instrument, sufficiently remind us that we must employ none but the best thermometers. The same remark will apply to the thermometers employed for the temperature of the air; but thermometers perfectly to be depended upon gi niy s, of all the apparatus, the most difficult to procure. en the observer does not construct them hiis he cannot be too careful in employing none but the best artists; and even then it is not prudent. to take their instruments without examination. Often the fixed points have been inaccurately determined ; if these are exact, the calibre of the tube is often unequal, and equal degrees do .not correspond with equal dilatations. In some instruments, this defect in the tube is to a certain extent corrected by an inequality in the divisions. These compensations, however, are not to be relied on, as being obtained generally from a very. de- fective method ; namely, the comparison of a small portable thermometer with a large standard de: but it is very difficult to be certain that the temperature communicated 1s, at the same time, ‘exactly the same, in two thermometers, of very different volumes, and which gain and lose the same degree of heat in very different times. The artist desirous of making a really good instrument will never fail to verify the calibre of his tubes by the known methods, and absolutely to reject all those which do not stand test. But those comparisons just alluded to, which ought not to be employed for the construction of thermometers, may be employed to try them, at least approximately in the case of instruments where the mass is equal, and the structure similar. My mode of proceeding is this: I unite two or three together, the thermometers most similar in figure and dimensions, and subject them together to the heat of boiling water in a vessel placed on a chafing dish. This point, as is well known, is only fixed in respect to a certain pressure of the atmosphere ; and in order to avoid having to make a reduction, it is convenient to make the trial under the standard pressure ; that is to say, when the barometer is at 20:921 inches. This first test will infallibly detect the presence of small air bubbles otherwise imperceptible, and which interrupt in whole or.in part the continuity of the thread of mercury. The heat dilates them, and we are at once warned of their existence by the rapidity with which the mer- cury rises above the boiling point. These bubbles altogether imperceptible ordinarily conceal themselves about the neck of the bulb, and this is a common fault in thermometers whose tubes are contracted in that part. Such must be rejected as the evil is irremediable. The point of ebullition being verified, I leave the apparatus to a well-regulated cooling process, and follow with my eye the progress of the thermometers. This trial would be very defective 1f the bulbs were of very different capacities, or if the heat diminished with too great rapidity ; but 166 M: Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Sg. it possesses sufficient exactness with the precautions which I adopt. I artive at length at the point of congelation, which, of thë two fixed points; is that which has tlie greatest influence on that part of the scale which concerns meteorological observa- tions. It will be readily supposed that two thermometets may be considered as being perfect in their calibres, if they go through this trial without disagreeiiig. | It can scarcely be necessary to mention that mercurial ther- inometers alone ought to be employed; arid that in those tised for taking the temperature of the air, the bulb ought to be entirely separate from the mounting. Small ones are preferable to large; as being more sensible and easier to use. It will suffice thát the scale be large enough to stbdivide the centigrade degtees by estimation into tenths, A greater precision would be superfluous, for the temperature of the air is rarely sufficiently constaht for the uncertainty of the observation not to exceed a tenth of a degree. Situation of the Instruments, and Method of observing. The barometer ought to be in à perfectly vertical position ; if it be not constrücted ih such a way as to take this position of itself, means tiust be used to place, and keep it so. It is proper to keep it in a close place, the température of Which varies but little, or changes very slowly. We shall thus be the more sure that the decit] thermometer expresses faithfully the temperature of the instrument. In ordér to profit by this accordance, the correctional thermometer should be observed before the batometer. Since the approach of the observer may modify the superficial temperature, and act on the tliermometer before the variation has had time to be propagated to tlie tube of the barometer, which resists the communication as well by its mounting as by its volume. In general, à northern or easterly aspect is preferable to that ofthe west or south. The impetuous winds which blow froti these latter quarters occasion, by itipinging on the walls, com- pressions of the air, which the mercury indicates by oscillations often very considerable, and always very inconvenient; the same thing will also happen if the walls of roofs opposite to the place of the barometer reflect, or disturb in different directions the cur- fents of air which strike against them; and I have seen in such positions the columi of mercury not only oscillating 80 as to render observation impossible, but sustained for whole hours above or below the point at which it stodd in tnoments of calm. We must be guided by the local cireumstances ; we have only to choose for the barometer the situation where these causes will affect it least. As to the thermometer, it ought to be freely exposed to the air, but should never be inthe sun. In this last respect a forth: ern exposure is the only one which is suited to it, But we must 1893.] | the Baromete? to the Measurement of Heights. 167: also take care that it be beyond the reach of heat reflected by the ground, by walls, and roofs opposite. In our houses, we cannot place it too high: it does not do well except in the upper, stories; and we may very well fix it om the sash frame, the shutter, or side of a window. : The air ought to circulate freely. round it. I usually suspend it by a hook, the arm of which is about six inches long. A ring fixed at the end of another arm of the same length embraces the instrument at its lower end, and secures it from being moved by the wind. I fix this small appa- ratus on the outside of a window upon the sash frame, in such a manner that the thermometer may be easily. observed. without opening the window. a But in thus exposing the thermometer to a free circulation of air, we must at the same time take care to defend it from the immediate contact of snow, hail, or rain; as often as it is touched by any of these, it is no longer the temperature of the air, but that of the meteor in question which it indicates. This object is attained if the roof have a sufficient projection. I prefer, however, a small moveable pent-house, placed at a convenient height; and which we may let down only when requisite ; except in these cases, a shelter is rather pernicious than useful. In those winter nights, for example, when the calm of the atmo- sphere, the serenity of the sky, and the twinkling of the stars, announce a sharp frost, the thermometer will not indicate the whole intensity of the cold if a shelter be intetposed between it and the particles of air, which, after being condensed in the middle regions, fall vertically upon the earth in au invisible shower. It ought in this case to be uncovered for the same reason that we cover an espalier which we wish to preserve from the frost. When once the thermometer is well placed, the observation of it does not present any difficulty. The only attention which it requites is that of holding the eye exactly on the level of the point observed ; for if we raise or depress it, if the visual ray deviate from the perpendicular to the axis of the tube, the sur- face of the mercury will successively correspond to different divisions of the scale. It will appear lower if we look at it from a higher situation; and higher if from a lower; and the error will be proportional to the angle which the visual ray forms with the perpendicular: this angle is what is termed the parallax. In A geo the barometer, this source of error is annulled by means of the index or ring which fixes the line of sight. -This method cannot be applied to the thermometer, which must be observed at a distance, and never handled. Attention will supply the want of it, and gradually become a habit. It is useless to take greater precautions than these. The temperature of the air is often so inconstant, and undergoes so many alterations in the places in which we are often obliged to © make our observations, that it would be in vain to seek in the 168 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [SEPT. instrument for an exactness of which the observation itself is not susceptible. The uncertainty is in the thing itself, not in the indi- cation of it. You have perhaps just observed the thermometer, and noted its indication: observe it again; it has varied: observe it again, it rises; it falls; and however small the range of these variations may be, that which was at first considered certain has become in a great measure problematical; you know not what to think for certain of the temperature of the air. There are some cases, however, where the choice is pointed out, whether by the nature of the place where we observe, or by that of the circumstances which manifestly act upon the ther- mometer. If it rise during short intervals of sunshine, we may lay this to the charge of reverberation. If it sink during gusts of mist, it is the temperature of the meteor which produces the change ; but frequently also the change is owing to causes of a more general nature ; as to the encounter of two currents of air of different temperature. To attain the greatest exactness we can, we should prolong the observation for some minutes in order to judge of the changes to which the instrument may be exposed ; to inquire into the cause of its apparently capricious movements ; and in a case of uncertainty, to take the mean between its extreme variations. System of Observations. ` To find the real mean barometric pressure is a matter of more difficulty than is commonly imagined. The mercury has in fact two species of oscillations, essentially different, although frequently confounded, from the effects of the agitations of the atmosphere. One sort is periodical and regular, the other, accidental and irregular. The idea of a barometrical mean necessarily imports that of a complete compensation between the one and the other. If there were none but periodic variations, the mode of pro- ceeding would be equally expeditious and simple. "We should in this case soon settle the length of the periods, and the epochs of their recurrence. We should merely have to observe the barometer for some days at the particular hour of these periods, and to take a mean between the different heights of the mer- cury. This is actually the case within the tropics. There the accidental variations are almost reduced to nothing, and the periodical are very evident and regular. The barometer is at its maximum at 9, a. m. and 11, p. m.: at its minimum at 4, p. m. ; and at 41, a. m. this variation is constant: it is uniformly repeated every day: the succession of the seasons produces no alteration: the elements on which the mean is founded are, therefore, simple, distinct, and free from all mixture of interfer- ing causes ; and M. de Humboldt, who has founded the system of his observations on the phenomenon of the daily variation, has given us a barometric mean completely unequivocal. 1823.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. 169 “In the temperate regions, the case is widely different —the frequency and extent of the accidental variations,. disturb and disguise the effects of the diurnal. It nevertheless does exist, and attentive observation may soon detect it. We must, there- fore, take it into account, and when it becomes a question to determine the mean pressure of the atmosphere, we must no more neglect the horary variations in the compensation between ' the eid ato than the accidental in the compensation between the horary. This certainly makes the problem a little more complicated. ‘The difficulties increase, the task becomes longer; but the method of proceeding is not altered in its nature. Itis necessary, therefore, that in each series the observations should belong to the same hour; for every hour having its par- ticular variation, a series composed of observations made at different times contains the. diurnal variation as an indetermi- nate quantity, and under an irreducible form. In the next place, the hour of each series must coincide with one of epochs of the diurnal variation; for the comparison of series which belong to intermediate hours does but imperfectly compensate the deviations of the diurnal oscillation. I have determined for our climates the progress of these horary variations. In summer the maximum is at 8, a. m. and 10 p. m.: the minimum at4, a.m. and 4, p. m. In winter there is an hour's retardation in one of the four epochs, and an hour's advance in the others ; they are respectively 3 and 9, a. m. and 3 and 9, p. m. In the spring and autumn, 34 and 81, a. m. ; 34 and 921, p.m. We have then only to make four observations in the day at these four epochs ; and to continue the series for a suffi- cient length of time to compensate accidental variations, and then to take the mean of ei series, from which again we may take the mean for the day. But it may be asked, what must be the length of time necessary to obtain a compensation of the effects of accidental variations? To judge from the general practice we might suppose that the series must be continued for a period altogether indefinite ; but in fact, however capricious the phenomena of accidental variations may seem, they -yet recognize certain laws. Each epoch has its peculiar share of these variations, the result of which, after every compensation has been made, constitutes its character. "This 1s the case with each different season. The system of observation must proceed by yeats ; because the result of the year compensates the cha- racteristic accidental variations of the different seasons; and a barometric mean ought not to include fractions of years, because it will then incline to the side of that season which is doubly represented. Equal probability can only be attained in periods of the same nature and extent. The mean of a complete year is only to be.corrected by the mean of another year; and each enters into the common result for the half of the difference ; a third year, for a third, &c. and as the differences are small in 170 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [SEPPI respect to the extent and mature of the period, we shall soon attain the epoch where the correction is almost nothing, and tlie mean does not sensibly differ from being stationary. val In general the result of à year may be regarded as quite a suf- ficient approximation, and when à barometric mean 1s founded on two or three years’ observations, we shall not risk much im regarding it as decisive; but if it be intended to serve for deters mining the relative or absolute elevation of the place, it is fur- ther necessary that it should be accompanied by a thermometric mean dedtised according to the same method by observations in conjunction with those of the barometer. The methods most commonly pursued in conducting a series of meteorological obsérvations are very far from tending to the attainment of the objects just specified. "The observation of the maximum and minimum temperature of the day is of little use, and forms:a part of a series altogether differing from that of the pressure. _ We shall greatly simplify our labour if we can determine tlie instant when the height of the barometer is exactly the mean of its heights which correspond to the four epochs: Now this is not very difficult; it will readily be seen that this period will be found at a distance from the maximum and minimum determined by the ratio which exists between the oscillations of the day and shos of the night. I find that in our temperate climates the hour of noon satisfies very well these conditions, and the coin- cidence is the more fortunate as the same hour is convenient for several other objects. If there be any error in the barometric mean of noon, it will probably be in excess, but extremely small in regard to the nature of the operation. I do not believe that it exceeds *003 of an inch, a quantity which we may assuredly neglect on this occasion ; with deference to the more rigorous determination and introduction of it into calculation, if ever the exaciness of observations and observers should be carried so far that a barometric mean should correspond with the atmospheric pressure to the *003 of an inch. | I make-then no difficulty in regarding the mean of noon as a sufficient expression for the mean atmospheric pressure corrected for the diurnal variation; and for many years my system of observation has been founded on this basis: Observations made at the critical periods of the diurnal variation furnish the most certain presages which can be drawn from observation, of the rogress of the barometer. It is by the derangement of the oraty oscillations that the smallest changes imasolbowed into the constitution of the atmosphere announce themselves. Lastly, the extent of the variation established in different places con- jointly with the mean height of the mercury will establish points of comparison, by the help of which we shall form a more solid judgment on the ratio of the pressure of the air to its weight; a ratio which offers one of the newest questions in meteorology, and one which is the most fruitful in important consequences, 1823.] the Barometér to the Measurement of Heights” ì7i An attention to the foregoing considerations in conducting a series of meteorological observations will be accompanied by the following advantages. | | T: The fiean height of the barometer at noon; at the same time that it has the property of expressing the mean pressure of thé attiosphere, disengaged from the diurnal variation, possesses also exclusively among all other means, tlie qualities required for the détermination of differences of elevation. The coefficietit of a barometric formula can never be exact but in reference to å fixed hour.’ Now the coefficient of M. de Laplace’s formula is — appropriated precisely to the hour of noon: it isa truly fortunate coincidence that we thus are enabled to determine the elevation of places, by the use of the same barometric means which have served to determine the respective pressures. 2. The morning, afternoon, and evening observations made at. the critical hours of the daily variation, after having been of daily utility for foreseeing changes of weather, have besides the advantage of fixing, for each climate, the extent and cireum- stances of the variation: and each series séparately reduced to its mean expression, being employed in the calculation of differ- ences of level, instead of the mean of noon, will give the measure of the error arising from the hour; and consequently tlie correc- tion which thé coefficient requires in order to bécome applicable to that hour. | ' I will conclude with one consideration of which we must never lose sight. Barometric means cannot be employed to deter- miné the elevation of distant places above one another; except so far as their respective climates coritinue the same. The cli- mate has a powerful influence on the variable ratio which sub- sists between the weight and the pressure of the colunin of air. These two quantities, perhaps, attain equality at the mean parallel where all meteorological influences are in a state of equilibrium ; and in this case it will be true for us, that the mean height of the mercury expresses exactly the mean weight of the atmosphere; but at the same time that we find the temperate regions enjoying this advantage, it also follows that no others partake of it. The pressure diminishes in proportion as we approach the equator; and on the shores of the south sea, the barometer stands lower than on our Westerii coasts. This same pressure increases as we approach the pole, and the barometer, ceterts paribus, would stand higher on the shores of the arctic séa thanin our latitudes: even between the northern and south- ern parts of France, the differences may become sensible ; and though Geneva is not far from thé Mediterranean, the difference of climate is such that the absolute elevation of its lake would be but ill established if it rested only on thé comparison with observations made at Marseilles. "172 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Serr. Observations * for the Measurement of Heights. In addition to what has been before said. of the instruments, and of the manner of using them in general, the following remarks apply to the observations on mountains. The mountain barometer should be of such a construction as to be neither liable to be easily broken, nor to the introduction of air bubbles. | It should be easy to try whether the instrument takes the vertical position well, and continues in it; and I regard as a peculiar merit, such a construction that it rapidly acquires the temperature of the place. The resistance of the mounting to variations of temperature exposes the observation to inaccuracies, causes loss of time, and occasions many errors. Observations for the measurement of heights necessarily suy pose corresponding observations if any exactness be Mh. y and the two barometers ought to be perfectly comparable, or the precaution will be in vain, In this case, the mere presumption that they agree is not sufficient; we must carefully compare the instruments, and. if the operation. be delicate, and we wish for reat precision, it is not enough to have made. the comparison forehand alone, but it is prudent to do so after the operation also; for the portable barometer may have undergone some derangement in carrying. When the two instruments do not sustain the mercury exactly at the same point, if the difference is not great, and especially if it is such as may be owing to the difference of the diameters of the tubes, there is no reason for suspecting either of them ; and we may be content to allow for the difference in the calculation. In the case where either of the two instruments does not sustain the mercury at its absolute height (which cannot fail to happen if they are both of the cistern construction), it will be proper to correct them for the effect of capillarity : for the depression resulting from this cause is sometimes suflicient to introduce a sensible error into the measurements. | One great difficulty consists in finding a suitable place for the portable barometer: it is necessary to preserve it from rapid changes of temperature; yet it is almost always exposed to the Íree air where the temperature is continually varying. The instrument ought to be kept in the shade; yet it is very often exposed to the sun, which acts very unequally on its different parts, whether by direct or reflected rays. The consequences of such a position are more easy to conceive than to avoid : in the sun, on the one hand, the tube becomes heated; the cistern again is further heated by the reverberation of the ground: the correctional thermometer indicates a temperature more or less elevated according to the direction in which we turn it: then * € Observations Ambulantes.” 1823.] | the Barometér to the Measurement of Heights. -— 173. perhaps come currents of air which modify the causes of error ; an interval of calm restores to them their energy ; the interven- tioa of clouds instantly suspends their action: in the midst of such a complication of effects nothing seems clear except motives for doubt; and tlie observer is neither unsuccessful nor unskilful if he knows, within one or two degrees, the mean temperature of his instrument. — V | I mention these inconveniences, because it is necessary to have a just idea of them in order to be in a situation to obviate them according to the exigency of the case, and the means which the situation or chance place at our disposal, when fore- sight has not been able to provide against them. A rock or. a tree frequently afford a convenient shelter. "We may supply the want of them, jat least in part by a man placed between thie sun and the instrument : by a piece of linen fastened round the tripod which supports the barometer ; or for want of any other resource, by making the shadow of one of the legs fall along the tube, and especially over the cistern. The thermometer ought always to be turned away from the sun. : When the ‘alternations of wind and calm cause variations too sudden and too great, I cover the. bulb in such a way as to defend it to a certain extent from these passing and capricious sources of variation. The action which they exert on the thermometer will induce an error upon the temperature of the instrument, because these very ‘transient. variations may have time to make an impression on the surface of the mounting, but not to be communicated to the entire mass . of mercury. With respect to the thermometer employed to mark the tem- perature of the air, it is always in the most elevated, the most exposed, the most airy situation, that its place ought to be- chosen. This condition is much more easily fulfilled in an open country, and on the summit of a mountain exposed to all winds, than in buildings where we commonly make ‘meteorological | observations. There our stationary thermometers have commu- nication only with half the surrounding atmosphere: the other: half is kept from them by the wall against which they are placed; but this disadvantage is compensated by the facility of plaemg- them at an elevation where they are secure from the effects of reverberation from the earth: this resource is wanting in moun- tain observations. We cannot place the thermometer higher. than the point where we can observe it without parallax ; and at this elevation, which does not exceed that of the human body; the instrument is far from being out of the reach of the earth's influence ; this inconvenience is unavoidable: we ought, there- fore, to lose none of the advantages which accompany it. 1t is not without reason that Saussure condemns the practice of sus- pending the thermometer from a body of any magnitude. He attaches it to a simple staff, the shadow of which, directed upon - the bulb, is sufficient to shade it from the sun, and the diameter H4 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of (Sg. of which is too small either to communicate its heat to it, or to create an obstacle to the free circulation of the air, when the thermometer is fixed at a due distance from it.: I have always followed. the same plan. A staff of about six feet in length answers the. purpose ; it has an iron point to fix itin the ground. At the other end are two holes to receive two small arms of iron or brass, about five inches long ; one terminated by a hook, the other by a ring, the end of each which is to fit into the hole is formed into a. screw. The arm. with the hook is fixed in the upper hole, and serves to suspend the thermometer; that with the ring in the lower, and. retains it in'a position parallel with that of the staff, The staff serves. for myself or my guide, and the arms are carried in the bag which holds the thermometers: I do not believe it possible to.attain the requisite precision in the indications with less apparatus) 000500000 The observation of the thermometers.is the most delicate and the most difficult part of the operations; and niost of the faults which we commit in the measurement of heights may be traced to.a false valuation.of the temperature of the air, or of that of mercury. |I have mentioned this-before, but there is no harm in repeating it, and we cannot be too careful in pointing out the sources of error, especially when they are of such a nature as easily to disguise themselves to.inattentive eyes. The inexpe- rienced. observer, when he meets with unsatisfactory results; will .be less tempted to lay the blame on his instruments, or on his formula ; and this may often spare: men of speculative minds the trouble of imagining new theories to correct in the formula, irregularities, »hidh exist onlyin the observations... ^ All philosophers : who have been engaged in barometrical measurements must doubtless have made the same remark which Lhaye, They cannot haye carried the thermometer to summits of mountains, exposed to all winds, without often experiencing the same embarrassment which I have... The thermometer has yaried, with them as well as with me, every instant in proportion to the degree of wind, of calm, the presence of the sun, or the interposition of clouds. "These variations they have not neg- lected, because they could not misinterpret them. Like me they haye often Ween in uncertainty as to the real and intrinsic tem- perature of the air, and that of their instruments ; and have not assuredly confined. themselves to noting down at all hazard merely the temperature which any accident may cause to prevail at the exact moment of observation, But if they are generally silent on a point which cannot escape any sitter Nene person, it is that they suppose the logic of the observations familiar to all those who employ. meteorological instruments with any discern- ment. I conceive I ought not to imitate them in addressing myself to beginners, Such readers require advice and exam- ples. I will give one or two, and I do not select the most rare cases. l 18934] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. ^ 7b | Ang. 30, 1805.—On the summit of the Pic de Midi, between 10, a.m. and 1, p.m. the. thermometer varied from, 14? to 199. This was owing to an irregular wind. In moments of calm, it stood at 16? or 17°, this being partly caused by heat of the sur- face : it. fell when the, wind brought against it masses of colder air; and.rose to. 18? or 19° when the current continued... In this became stationary, which. was certainly the true. temperature of the air under the prevailing modification, the higher tempera- dures were transient and accidental. . 4... si) dl Aug. 10, 1802.—-On the: summit of Mont Perdu, a thermome- ter, placed. on the snow, sunk to — 2:59, owing to the rapid evaporation. Another suspended at the height of about. 44 feet partook of the same influence, and never rose above 4° or 5°. Another at the same time suspended above a rock free from snow stood at 12:5?, and one placed on the rock.at 22:9°... The icon- tinuance of. a. wind, (which at first brought hot: air from | the plains, gradually reduced them all to about. 7:5?, nearly the mean; this was the true temperature of the air. " | lt is superfluous to mention a multitude of other cases differ- ing but little from these; such as a passing shower which causes a-variation in the thermometer the momentit touches it : a local fog, which occasions, in the particular atmosphere of the instru- ments, a cooling, in which the rest of the stratum of air does not partake; the influence of the sun which raises.the thermome- ters; the intervention of clouds which makes them sink ;- all the variations, which originate in reverberations or absorptions of heat, or in currents of air which are accidental,and of limited influence ; every thing which conspires to alterthe general tem- perature of unfavourable situations, such as deep valleys, and even eminences above which greater heights immediately rise. I have said enough to awaken and direct the attention of those who wish, and know how, to be exact. fie] Such are the considerations which must guide us in reference to the thermometer for the air. We have just seen that the thermometer for the barometer is the object of considerations very different; for it, the temperature of the air is only a matter 176 Measurement of Heights by the Barometer.. (SEP. of secondary importance. It is always well placed wherever the barometer is placed. Its variations are of no consequence, pro- vided the temperature. of the barometer undergoes the same changes ; but this accordance is the thing of which we must be careful to assure ourselves, and this is the difficult point. It is very seldom that the two instruments, joined together as they usually are, will preserve this accordance when the temperature undergoes great and frequent variations.: We may diminish the sensibility. of the thermometer ; but in thus preventing its indi- cations from outstripping the rapidity of the changes which the temperature of the barometer undergoes, we must take care not to approach the point where, on the other hand, it may expe- rience a retardation; and in all cases there is a wide field open to doubt and conjecture. | Lie BI © We should commence our operations by disposing the instru- ments in a convenient manner, and should then allow them time — to lose the heat which they have contracted in carrying, and to acquire, each in its proper manner, the local temperature. This time is considerable for barometers cased in wood, which become unequally heated in the hands, or on the backs, of those: who carry them. The heat thus acquired never distributes itself uni- formly, and is dissipated with extreme slowness. Often an hour does not suffice to bring the barometer to an agreement with the thermometer, and with itself. More than a quarter of an hour is not necessary for barometers mounted in copper, and this is one reason for giving them the preference. The time thus occupied, however, is not lost: we can make trial of the position: it may not always be suitable for the baro- meter: if it- be too much exposed to wind, we can seek for a shelter. At the summit of a mountain, a strong wind has other inconveniences besides that of agitating tlie instrument : it rises on the acclivity against which it directs itself, and forms an ascending current, which bears up the column of air, and depresses that of the mercury. In such a situation the thermo- meter should be left; but the barometer should be removed from this part of the acclivity, and if the summit has not suffi- cient extent, we should leave it, and seek for a calm under the shelter of the opposite side, only being careful to allow for the quantity of our descent: then we shall await the moment of Observation in considering the changes of the thermometers. We shall remark attentively how the one is affected in the free air, and the other in the mounting in which it is inclosed ; whe- ther they undergo considerable and frequent. variations, or whether they reduce themselves by slow degrees to a stationary point. Inthislast case, we shall haveno occasion to doubt the success of the operation: in the former, we shall examine the causes of the variations: we shall take an exact account of the nature and influence of every. accidental. circumstance. We shall repeat this examination after the observation in order to 1893] Prof. Cumming on Thermoelectric Relations, &c. — 177 state every thing which we have been able to ascertain with the greatest certainty durin the short period of time of which it occupies the middle, The rule for the measurement of heights supposes that we know with great precision the temperature of the air, and that of the instrument : both these then we must discover, and when they disguise themselves, must divest them of their disguises. There are times when this is altogether impossible; but it is at least something to perceive this, and to know that we have to doubt an observation, well performed in itself, but of which we cannot be sure that we have entirely satisfied some of the fundamental conditions. ea ‘Under some circumstances, and those very common, the local temperature is so predominant, that in spite of all our care, it will enter all our estimates ; it is in vain to guard against it. Measurements made in a hot season, and under a burning sun, always tend to err in excess ; especially if the station be of such a nature as to multiply the reverberations of heat. On the other hand, they will err in defect in foggy orrainy weather, aeperially if the place is so circumstanced as to concentrate the cold, The error proceeds from the thermometers. To point out.its origin is to warn the observer to avoid, if he can, the circumstances which produce it; and if he has not the choice, to allow for their influence in the opinion. he forms of his measurements. à (To be continued.) eee . AnrICLE II. A List of Substances arranged according to their Thermoelectric Relations, with a Description of; Instruments for exhibiting Rotation by Thermoelectricity. By the Rev. J. Cumming, MA. FRS. and Professor of Chemistry in the University of Cambridge. — | (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, Cambridge, July 93, 1823. Tue following tables will, I hope, be interesting to those who have read my communication to you in April last. „The first contains the thermoelectric relations of different substances, with copper wires; the second, their relations to each other taken two and two together, each substance being positive to all below, and negative to all above. The voltaic series, and the order of conductors of electricity and heat, are added, merely to show that the thermoelectric series has no accordance with either of them. | New Series, Vou, vt. N 178 Prof. Cumming on Thermoelectric Relations,&c. [SEPT Electromagnetic Relations of ` Wires; the Magnitude of the than that of the Copper Wire, pa of which exceeded half a Grain in Postive Series. nau ercury, N ickel,. Platina, Palladium, Cobalt, Silver, Tin, rin opper, BU Solder (common), . Pewter, *] nickel + 1 iron, 4 tin + 1 antimony, Galena. x ond Substances with Copper eater , none ubstance examined bein those marke eight. Negative Series, *Iridium and osmium, Rhodium, . Gold, Zinc, Arsenic, Iron, ataia g 1 bismuth -+ 1 tin, 1 zinc + | tin, l zinc + 1 lead, 4 zinc + l antimony, Printer’s type, Fusible metal, 1 ditto + 1 arsenic, *] nickel + 1 palladium, *1 nickel + 2 platina, +I bismuth + 1 zinc, Sulphuret of antimony, Charcoal (box wood), . Plumbago. Thermo- Voltaic Conductors of electrics. series Electricity. Heat. Bismuth / Nia! % |. Charcoal Silver Silver Platina Platina Co Gold Palladium Gold De Tin Cobalt Silver Gold Copper Silver Cop Zinc Platina in ak Tin Iron Lead Tin Platina Lead Rhodium Tron Palladium Brass Zinc Tron God Zinc Chascoal Plumbago Iron Arsenic Antimony + The compound of bismuth and zinc, itis well known, is not an alloy, yet it acted negatively whether the heated part appeared to be zinc or bismuth, The compound ore of iridium and osmium was from Dr. Wollaston: the alloys of nickel from Dr, Clarke, formed by the gas blowpipe, 1823.]: Prof. Cumming on Thermoelectric Relations, $c. — 179 + The combination of platina and iron is very powerful, and has the advantage of permitting the application of great heat. . That of platina and silver is readily applied to exhibit the inverse experiment, i. e. the motion of the thermoelectrics on the approach of a magnet. A silver wire bent into the form A is connected with a platina wire B into the form C E D F, either by soldering or by fine platina. wire ; the whole is suspended from a point D. On heating one extremity E, and applying the pole of a magnet to F, the apparatus revolves from left to right, or vice versá, according as the pole of the magnet is N or 8. The apparatus I have used for the purpose weighs nine grains : indeed Í know no limit to its minuteness. AC Sit Ghi E ia a C The annexed figure represents an arrangement for producing a perpetual rotation, by means of platina and silver wires poised upon a magnet, and heated by a "nien. A B D C platina wire; A b c de f C, silver wire; c N, support of the wires; N S, magnet; L, spirit-lamp. d á D 180 On the Classification of Poisons. ` [Septi The platina wire being considerably thicker than the silver, the part A B will balance the projecting part of the silver wire def C. A wire is attached to d e at right angles with a small Meu to counterbalance B D C. .— uie" e P. S. The electromagnetic multiplier mentioned in your num- ber for June, is, I perceive, a similar instrument to that which I used and described as a Galvanoscope two years and a half since, in à parer published in our Cambridge Transactions, and with which all my present experiments were made. Very sincerely yours, | J, CUMMING, weren meg ARTICLE III. On the Classification of Poisons. [Twas article is taken from a work lately published on Medical Jurisprudence, by J. A. Paris, MD. FRS. &c. and J. S. M. Fon- blanque, Esq. Barrister at Law. It would not be consistent with our plan to enter minutely into an account of a work of this nature. h contains, however, so much curious matter con- nected with chemical science, on the subject of nuisances and poisons, that we intend, in a future number, to give from it, and other sources, a general and comprehensive view of the methods of examining substances suspected to contain poison, with observations and additional experiments on the subject. Inthe mean time, we present the reader with the classification of poisons adopted by the above-mentioned authors.— Edit.] Poisonous substances have been very differently arranged by different authors, each appearing to have adopted a cadificdtión best suited to promote the particular views and objects of his own pursuit; thus, the botanist and chemist, engaged in the examination of the physical characters by which poisons may be individually distinguished and identified, have very judiciously erected their system upon the basis of natural history. The pathologist, whose leading object is the investigation of the morbid effects which follow the administration of these agents, with equal propriety and justice, prefers a classification deduced from a generalization-of the symptoms they are found to occa- . sion; while the physiologist, who seeks to ascertain through what organs, and by what mechanism, they destroy life, may be _reasonably expected to arrange the different poisons under divi- sions corresponding with the results of so interesting an inquiry. To meet the comprehensive views of the forensic toxicologist, an arrangement would seem to be required, that should at once embrace the several objects which we have just enumerated ; 1822] On the Classification of Poisons. 181 for the data from which the proof of poisoning is to be inferred, are, as we have often stated, highly complicated in their rela- tions. No such classification, however, can be accomplished, and we are therefore compelled to select one which may approach the nearest to our imaginary fabric. That which was proposed by Fodéré, and adopted, with some trivial alteration in the order of succession of the classes, by Orfila, in his celebrated system of toxicology, although it has many defects and some errors, nevertheless merits the preference of the forensic physi- cian; its basis is strictly pathological, and yet it distributes the different poisons, with some few and unimportant exceptions, in an order corresponding with that of their natural history. | The first two classes; for instance, present us with substances of a mineral origin; the third and fourth, with those which are principally of a vegetable nature; and the sixth, with objects chiefly belonging to the animal kingdom. The importance of acknowledging à division, which has a reference to the three great kingdoms of Nature, is perhaps greater than the reader may anticipáte; for in enumerating the various experiments to be instituted for the detection of poisons, we are; by such an arrangement, enabled to bring together a connected series of processes, nearly allied to, intimately connected with, and in some respects, mutually dependant upon each other. The following is the arrangement of Fodére as modified by Orfilà ; viz. Cl. L Corrosive, or Escharotic poisons. Cl. II. As- iringent poisons. Cl. IIl. Acrid or Rubefacient poisons, Cl. IV. Narcotic or Stupefying poisons. Cl. V. Narotico-Acrid poisons. And Cl. VI. Septic or Putrefying poisons. . Class I. Corrosive or Escharotic. Poisons.-—Such as corrode and burn the textures to which they are applied. When inter- nally administered, they give origin to the following symptoms ; violent pain, accompanied with a sense of heat and burning in the stomach, and throughout the whole extent of the alimentary canal; frequent vomitings, often sanguineous, and alternating with bloody diarrhea, with or without tenesmus; the pulse hard, small, frequent, and at length imperceptible ; an icy cold- ness of the body ; cold sweats; a great anxiety and oppression at the precordia; and hiccup. Sometimes the heat of the skin is intense, the thirst inextinguishable, and the unhappy patient is tormented with Dysuria and Ischuria, violent cramps in the extremities, and horrid convulsions, which are relieved only by death. Such are the general symptoms by which this species of poisoning is characterised ; the rapidity with which the symp- toms terminate their course will depend upon the violence of the dose, and the particular species of poison which has pro- duced them: there are, moreover, other symptoms which will be more conveniently described, when we come to speak of the effects of corrosive poisons individually. In this class are 182 On the Classification of Poisons. [SzrT. ranked the following substances :—Meraus. I. Arsenic. 1. Ar- senious Acid, or White Oxide of Arsenic. 2; Arsenites, or Combinations of that Acid with salifiable Bases. 3. Arsenic Acid. 4. Arseniates, or Combinations of the preceding Acid with the Bases. 5. Sulphurets of Arsenic, or Orpiment and Realgar.—II, Mercury. 1. Corrosive Sublimate of Mercury, or Oxymuriate of Mercury. 2. Red Oxide of Mercury. 3. Red Precipitate, or Nitric Oxide of Mercury. 4. Other preparations of Mercury.—III. Antimony. 1. Tartarized Antimony, or Tartar Emetic. 2. Oxide of Antimony. 3. Antimonial Wine. 4. Muriate of Antimony, or Butter of Antimony.—IV. Copper. 1. Blue Vitriol, or Sulphate of Copper. 2. Verdegris. 3. Oxide of Copper. 4. Other preparations of Copper.—V. Tin. 1. Mu- riate of Tin. —VI. Zinc. 1. Sulphate of Zinc, or White Vitriol. 2. Oxide of Zinc.—VII. Silver. -1. Nitrate of Silver, or Lunar Caustic.— The Concentrated Acids. 1, Sulphuric. 2. Muriatic. 3. Nitric. 4. Phosphoric, &c.— Hot Liquids. 1. Boiling Water. 2. Melted Lead.—The Caustic Alkalies. 1. Potass. 2. Soda. 3. Ammonia.—The Caustic Alkaline Earths. 1. Lime. 2. Ba- ta. 3. Muriate and Carbonate of Baryta. ^ Cantharides. hosphorus. Class. II. Astringent Poisons.—They occasion a remarkable and unrelenting constriction of the great intestines, especially the colon, so as to resist the operation of the most powerful cathartic remedies. Violent cholics ensue, and partial paralysis; in the end if the dose be sufficiently large, or if small doses have been frequently repeated, they will excite inflammation of the alimentary canal, but it is not succeeded by that disorganization which generally characterises the operation of poisons belong- ing to the preceding division. We rank under the present class only the preparations of lead, viz. 1: Acetate of Lead, or Sugar of fends 2. Oxides of Lead, Red Lead, Litharge ; 3. Various saturnine impregnations. Class III. Acrid or Rubefacient Poisons,—These poisons are known by their producing an acrid taste, more or less pungent and bitter; a burning heat, and considerable dryness in the mouth and fauces ; and a constriction, more or less painful, in the throat. Acute pains are, after a short interval, experienced in the stomach and bowels, which are quickly followed by copious vomiting and purging, and which continue, with the most painful efforts, long after the alimentary canal has been completely evacuated. A few hours after, phenomena are ob- served, which indicate a lesion of the nervous system, such as vertigo, dilated pupils, dejection, insensibility, laborious respira- tion, and death. The lesions of texture, occasioned by the action of acrid poisons, have the greatest analogy to those pro- duced by corrosive poisons; in fact, says M. Orfila, we do not hesitate to declare, that there exists a perfect identity between 1823.] On the Classification of Poisons. 183 the alterations of the digestive canal produced by the poisons of- these two classes, when introduced into the stomach.” The substances included under this class belong, for the most part, to the vegetable kingdom, such as scammony, camboge, black and white hellebore, bryony, euphorbium, seeds of the ricinus, iatropa curcas (Indian nut), croton tiglium, squill, aconite, Ser Xe. ^" Class IV. Narcotic or Stupefying Poisons.—Such as occasion stupor, drowsiness, paralysis, or apoplexy, and convulsions. ‘They do not produce any change in the structure of parts to which they are applied. M. Orfila has satisfactorily ascertained that no alteration can be discovered on dissection m the digest- ive canal of persons who have swallowed any one of the poison- ous substances of this class. | Class V. Narcotico- Acrid Poisons.—This division, as its name implies, is intended to receive such substances as produce the united effects of those belonging to the two preceding classes, acting for instance at the same time, as narcotics and rubefa- cients. Amongst the articles of this class, the following may be enumerated, Belladonna, stramonium, tobacco, foxglove, hem- lock, nux vomica, camphor, cocculus indicus, certain mush- rooms, alcohol, &c. &c. Class VI. Septic and Putrefying Poisons.—By this term are included those poisons which, according to Orfila, “ occasion a general debility, dissolution of the humours, and syncope, but which do not, in general, alter the intellectual faculties.” The articles of this class belong almost entirely to the animal king- dom, with the exception perhaps of a few gaseous compounds, and the spurred rye, or ergot, viz. venomous animals ; animals whose fluids have been depraved by antecedent disease; the poison of fishes; substances in a state of putridity; spurred rye, or ergot. Such is the classification which, for reasons already stated, it is our intention to adopt on the present occasion. We shall, however, in an additional chapter, under the title of “ Aerial Poisons,” treat of those substances which are exclusively capa- ble of acting upon the body through the medium of the atmo- sphere, or which require to be in a state of vapour, or gas, to ensure their operation. | | With regard to the classification of Fodére and Orfila, we must here observe, that we follow it only conventionally, and that while we acknowledge it as being very convenient for the consideration of poisons, in reference to their forensic relations, yet we must not be considered as insensible to its many defects and fallacies. Inthe first place, it has little or no reference to the enlarged views of the modern physiologist, respecting the * modus operandi? of poisons; nor indeed is its construction susceptible of such modifications and improvements, as can 184 On the Classification of Poisons. [SEPT ever render its degree of perfection progressive with the ad- vancement of science. In the next place, the classes are in many particulars ill-defined, and indistinctly, if not erroneously, divided. How questionable, for instance, are the boundaries which separate corrosive from acrid poisons? even the respect- ive species of each class are, in many instances, less allied to each other than the great divisions to which they are subordi- nate. As an exemplifieation of this fact we have only to com- pare the physiological actions of arsenic and corrosive sublimate ; the former of these substances occasions death by being absorbed, and thus acting as a vital agent, the latter, by its local action as a caustic on the textures with which it comes in contact.. In the same manner, if we examine the individual actions of the different species composing the class of “ Acrid” poisons, we shall find the same want of uniformity; thus the spurge-flax, and the jatropa curcas, act by occasioning a local inflammation, while the hellebore, being rapidly absorbed, exerts a fatal action on the nervous system, and produces only a very slight inflammation. The class of narcotic poisons is, more absolute in its definition, and more uniform in its physiological affinities, and therefore less objectionable, than the mper to which we have just alluded; but the propriety of the term * Narcotico-Acrid " may be very reasonably questioned; even Orfila expresses his doubts upon the subject, * because the narcotic or sedative effects only follow the previous excitement." Some of the poisons, under this last mentioned class, are rapidly absorbed, and act, through the medium of the circulation, on the nervous system, without producing any local inflamma- tion; whilst others, again, merely act upoh the extremities of the nerves, with which they come in contact, and without being absorbed, occasion death by a species of sympathetic action. These few objections, and many more might be adduced, are sufficient to demonstrate the imperfection of the classification under consideration, and which would render it wholly unavail- able to the pathologist who must adopt his treatment according to the physiological action of each poison. The author has accordingly, in his * Pharmacologia," ventured to propose an arrangement, in conformity with such views ; and the following sketch of it may perhaps form a useful introduction to the gene- ral observations which it will be hereafter necessary to offer upon the * modus operandi" of poisons, | 1823.] On thé Classification of Poisons, 185 A CLASSIFICATION OF THE DIFFERENT MODES BY WHICH | Poisons PRODUCE THEIR EFFECTS, 1. By acting through the Medium of the Nerves, without being absorbed, and without exciting any local Inflammation.’ a. By which the functions of the nervous system are. . | destroyed, | n Acrid. Narcotico-Acrid. Narcotic. Rote Aconite, € Alcohol. Essential Oil of Almonds.+ Jatropa Curcas. Oil of Tobacco. Camphor.+ | | Opium 1 ? b. By rendering the heart insensible to the stimulus of the blood. oov = Infusion of Tobacco. | Üpas Antíar. ` | Il. By entering the Circulation, and acting through that Medium with different Degrees of Force, onthe Heart, Brain, and Ali- mentary Canal. T | | jè Corrosive, ; T ! Acrid, Arsenic, . Hellebores . . - Emetic Tartar. j ^; Savine. ES Muriate of Baryta. Meadow Saffron. Squill. Narcotic, . ^ Nercotico-Acrid. —— Opium. — Deadly Nightshade.f Lettuce. | | Hemlock. | " Henbane. CARPE . Prussic Acid. Cocculus Indicus. III. By a local Action on the Mucous Membrane of the Stomach, j exciting a high Degree of Inflammation. (s X 7h | Acrid, Corrosive Sublimate.+ . Bryony. Verdegris. . . Elaterium.+ Muriate and. ! Colocynth.+ Oxide of Tin. Camboge. Sulphate of Zinc. -. Euphorbium. Nitrate of Silver, — Hedge Hyssop. Acids. | . Croton Tiglium. Alkalies. . Ranunculi. Cantharides.+ | + This mark denotes that the substance against which it is placed, may also act by being absorbed. t Signifies that the article has also a local action, 186 On the Classification of Poisons. [SEPT. The preceding classification of poisons will not only furnish the practitioner with a general theorem for the administration of antidotes, but it will suggest the different modes and forms of administration of which each particular substance is susceptible; it will show that certain poisons may occasion death without coming into contact with any part of the alimentary canal, and that others will p little or no effect, however extensively they may be applied to an external surface. The first class com- prehends such poisons as operate, through the medium of the nerves, upon the organs immediately subservient to life; in the application of such agents it is obvious that they cannot require to be introduced into the stomach, they may convey their destructive influence by an application to any part duly supplied with nerves, and whose extremities are exposed to their action; although at the same time, it may be observed that, in general, poisons ofthis kind act most powerfully when internally adminis- tered, owing to the extensive sympathetic relations of this central organ over every function of the living body. The second class consists of poisons that are incapable of producing any effect, except through the medium of the circulation ; whence we shall be enabled to explain and appreciate the various circum- stances which may accelerate or retard their operation. Poisons of this class may be applied externally to abraded parts, or even to surfaces covered with cuticle, provided their absorption be | enti by friction; and it may be here observed, that the unction of absorption is not performed with the same force in every tissue ; as a general proposition, it may be said to be ener- getic in proportion to the number of lymphatics and veins, although the late experiments of M. Majendie have shown how greatly it is influenced by the state of the circulation. If these poisons be administered internally, they find their way into the circulating current either through the branches of the thoracic duct, or those of the veng portarum; when, as if by a species of election, each substance very frequently expends its venom upon some one particular system of organs. Many of the substances - arranged under this second division have moreover a local effect upon the structure with which they first come in contact ; it is thus with colocynth, and some other bodies ; while, on the contrary, several of those poisons which are distinguished for their local action, are subsequently absorbed, and are thus, as it were, enabled to ensure their work of destruction by a double mode of operation. We shall receive ample evidence of this truth, as we proceed in the history of particular poisons. The third class comprises such agents as inflict their vengeance upon the mucous membrane of the stomach, by actual contact, and destroy, by exciting local inflammation. | 1823.) Mr. R. Phillips on J ames's: Powder, 187 | ARTICLE IV. : Analysis of James's Powder. By Richard Phillips, FRS, L, & E. In the Annals for October, 1822 (New Series), I gave an analysis of the pulvis antimonialis of the London Pharmacopcoeia, by which it appeared that this medicine, procured from two respectable sources, differed very little m composition. The mean of the two results showed this preparation to be com- posed of | merase o Peroxide of antimony. .....s.seseccees S00 Phosphate of lime... ...seccseceecees O3°5 | .100:0 Several medical friends have since inquired of me, ‘whether I had made any experiments upon James’s powder, which has been shown by. Dr. Pearson to consist of oxide of antimony and phosphate of lime. .In answer to these inquiries, it might have appeared sufficient to. refer to Dr. Pearson's ana- lysis, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1791. n the course of 30 years, however, chemical research has been so actively pursued, that it would be very remarkable if the nature of the oxides of antimony was not better understood than when Dr. Pearson performed. his analysis. Without, how- ever, entertaining any suspicions that the results of his investi- gation were incorrect, it appeared to me to be a subject worthy of further inquiry, whether the antimony in this powder is in the same state as. I found it to be in the antimonial powder. The nature of the oxide formed no part of Dr. Pearson's inquiry, nor was the difference of power between the protoxide and peroxide of antimony so well understood as at present. | Having procured some James's powder,* I first directed my attention to the effect produced by boiling it in distilled water; my reason for this was to ascertain whether it contained any tartarized antimony, a suspicion of which was entertained by the late Dr. George Fordyce. : The water in which the powder had been.long boiled was extremely turbid, and remained so for a long time ; nor could | render it perfectly clear even by filtering it through several folds of paper. | Ds adding some. solution of sulphuretted hydrogen to the fil- tered but slightly turbid water, perceptible traces of the presence of oxide of antimony were indicated by the appearance of the well-known orange-coloured precipitate; the effect was, how-. . * From Messrs, Newberry’s, St, Paul's Church-yard. 188 Mr. Ri Phillips on James's Powder, (Sert ever, so very trifling, that I am induced to attribute it entirely to the oxide of antimony suspended in the water, and not to any which it held in solution. , To another portion of the solution, 1 added nitrate of lead ; it was rendered rather more turbid by this addition, but not in a greater degree, than might be ex- pected to arise from the presence of phosphate of lime, which is sufficiently soluble -in water to be detected by reagents. Had tartarized antimony been present in such quantity as to influence the nature of the prspstosian, a copious: preci- ` pitation of tartrate of lead must. have occurred, instead of the slight turbidness described.. Judging from the effects which I have now detailed, I am certainly of opinion that. James's powder does not contain any tartarized antimony, or any combi- nation of it which is soluble in water. Fifty grains of James’s powder were now boiled in an ounce of muriatic acid diluted with an equal bulk of water, and the ebullition was continued long after any of the powder appeared to be dissolved by the acid. It was evident that a very large | A pea of the powder subjected to experiment remained undissolved; This circumstance perfectly. satisfied me, that although James's powder might possibly contain some protoxide ` of antimony, à very large portion was evidently peroxide. I may here remark, that the degree of insolubility of this or any powder contaming oxide of antimony, furnishes a ready mode of esti- mating its power; the less which is left undissolved, the more . active the remedy ; for, excepting under peculiar circumstances, | xide of antimony is seal insoluble in muriatic acid; and when it has been once subjected to a red heat, a very small quantity escapes such a degree of cohesion as to remain soluble in an acid. | MOOG nin | ae suffered the muriatic solution to become clear by sub- sidence, I poured some of it into a large quantity of water; not the slightest precipitation occurred : it was, therefore, evident that but little, if any, oxide of antimony had been taken up by the muriatic acid. rot As the excess of muriatic acid employed was considerable, I thought it might possibly retain the oxide in solution even after dilution with water. To discover whether this was the case, I added carbonate of soda to the muriatic solution until precipita- tion commenced. I then poured it into a solution of potash, taking care to have such an excess of the alkali as would imme- diately redissolve any oxide of antimony which might be at first precipitated. | In order to be certain that any oxide of antimony which the muriatic acid had dissolved should be taken up by the potash, the alkaline solution, contaming the precipitated phosphate of lime, was boiled for a considerable time ; the clear solution was poured off, and saturated with acetic acid, by which a very small quantity of precipitate was obtained. When, this had been 18931 Mr. R? Phillips on James's Powder, 189 washed, solution of sulphuretted hydrogen was added to it, and ave slight traces of the presence of oxide of antiniony : it was, Power, so evidently mixed with some impurity that the colour was reddish-brown instead of bright-orange: the quantity «was - also so extremely small that it would have been nearly impossible v to have ascertained its weight; | | 58 I may here observe, that it is scarcely requisite to add the acetic acid in such proportion only as shall perfeetly saturáte the alkali holding the oxide of antimony in ‘solution, for acetic acid appears to possess very little solvent power with respect to this oxide ; for when muriate of antimony is dropped into stron acetic acid precipitation occurs exactly as it does in mere water. The white residuum insoluble in muriatic acid was now washed; after being dried by the heat of a spirit-lamp, it weighed 28 grains = to 56 per cent, It was then mixed with carbonaceous matter, and heated slightly to redness; muriatic acid added to it readily gave a solution without the assistance of heat, which was decomposed by water. It is, therefore, evident, that the insoluble residuum was peroxide of antimony, which, by treatment with carbonaceous matter, was reduced to the state of protoxide, and rendered soluble in muriatic acid, D The phosphate of lime precipitated from the muriatie acid by the potash, washed and dried, weighed 21:1 grs. = 42-2 per cent. ` | | " is qa From the experiments now detailed, it appears that James's powder is a mixture of vo Rp Peroxide of antimony. $a97à690202809058* 56:0 . Phosphate of lime, |..... «44.5.2 ewe 42:2 Oxide of antimony, impurity, andloss.. 1:8. |... 1000 Upon referring to Dr. Pearson's analysis, it will be observed, that when he heated 50'grains of James's powder with muriatic acid, only 14 grains remained undissolved by the acid, which is precisely half what resulted in my experiment. This difference 1s the more.remarkable, because my statement of the composi- tion of this powder agrees almost precisely with that given by Dr. Pearson, viz. "dd Dade of ANtIMONY, s on «ecco nnt enhn DE Phosphate of lime... , €$ 98994966 43 100 The greater solubility of the oxide of antimony stated’ by Dr. Pearson, would seem to render it probable that the medicine in question was originally prepared in a different mode from that now adopted, and it is certainly possible that it may have for- merly contained protoxide of antimony, of which it is now desti- tute, As now prepared, it differs from the pulvis antimonialis of 190 Mr. R. Phillips on James's: Powder. [SEPT; ' the Pharmacopoeia in containing about one half more peroxide of antimony; but as it is questionable whether phosphate of lime is not as active as this peroxide, the difference of composi- tion, though great in figures, can be but little in fact. When I allude to the composition of the pulvis antimonialis, it is of course to be understood that I speak of the result of my own analysis ; but I shall presently adduce authority to show, that instead of being merely an inert preparation, it possesses the greater inconvenience of extreme uncertainty. .l cannot close this account of James’s powder without allud- ing to some remarks which Dr, Paris has made in the last edition of his Pharmacologia (vol. ii. p. 357), upon my analysis of the pulvis antimonialis ; and I hope the reader will excuse my quot- ing the observations at length. ‘While correcting the present sheet for the press, a paper has appeared in the Annals of Philosophy for October, 1822, by Mr. Richard Phillips, of too important a character to be passed over without notice, as not only raising a question with respect to the chemical composition of this powder, but with regard to its medicinal efficacy. * [n consequence of the antimonial powder having proved inert in the hands of Dr. Elliotson, although exhibited to the amount of 100 grains for a dose, Mr. Phillips was induced to examine more particularly into the nature of the oxide which enters into its composition. ‘ After the well established fact,’ says he, ‘ that peroxide of antimony is nearly or totally inert, it appears to me, that if proof could be obtained, that the oxide of antimony is in this state, the deficiency of power in the pulvis antimonialis would. be accounted for.’ He then proceeds to detail his experiments, from which he deduces the composition of this preparation to be as follows : Peroxide of antimony ...... 244.4 30. Phosphate of lime . .... ecce eee 65 100 which exist together in a simple state of mixture. Until the — subject be elucidated by further experiments, it will be difficult for the chemist to persuade the physician, that he can never e derived any benefit from the exhibition of antimonial wder." p additional evidence as to the nature of this preparation, I beg to refer Dr. Paris to a statement respecting it, which has been made by Mr. Brande, and which, if I had remembered, would have saved methe trouble of an analysis. “ In examining,” says Mr. Brande, “ the antimonial powder from various sources prepares according to the direction of the Pharmacopoeia, I ave found it of very variable composition: sometimes it con- tains peroxide of antimony only ; sometimes there is a propor- tion of protoxide, and, in some few cases, the powder has con- 1823.] Mr. .R. Phillips on James's Powder. 191 sisted chiefly of bone earth. These differences are: referable to ` the mode of preparing it ;- but in almost every case, a very large proportion of the protoxide is lost during the process, and 1 have found it a matter of great difficulty so to conduct it as to obtain upon the large.scale an uniform product, For medical use, I should consider emetic tartar as the only certain and necessary pogrom of antimony.”—( Manual, vol. ii. p. 180.) zx t will be observed that without recollecting Mr. Brande's recommendation of emetic tartar to the exclusion of all other antimonials, I ventured to give similar advice; and I; would conclude with remarking, that if it be possible to urge satisfactory reasons against a preparation, such reasons are contained in the passage I have quoted from Mr. Brande. It shows that pulvis antimonialis may consist almost entirely of phosphate of lime, or that it may be a mixture of. phosphate of lime, and peroxide or protoxide of antimony ; and it is a perfectly well-established fact, that fifty times as much. peroxide of antimony may be given as of the protoxide; that the large dose is inert, the smaller one may be dangerous, and yet to this uncertainty is the physician . exposed, although he may not be persuaded that “ he can never have derived any. benefit from the exhibition of antimonial . powder." ARTICLE V. A List of the Plants found in the Neighbourhood of St. Peters- burgh ; taken from the Works of the Petropolitan Botanists. By Mr. J. B. Longmire. ma Cr. L—Ordo Monogynia. Hippuris vulgaris. Ordo Digynia. Callitriche verna - gestivalis autumnalis intermedia. Cu. H.—Ordo Monogynia. Veronica. officinalis ———— — serpillifolia verna spuria Beccabunga scuttellata — ——— Anagallis ' —— Chameedrys alpina Pinguicula vulgaris Lycopus europzeus. "Ordo Digyna.~ — Anthoxanthum ordoratum. Cr. 3. Ordo Monogynia. Valeriana officinalis. Iris Pseud-acorus Scirpus lacustrus palustris sylvestris Nardus stricta Eriophorum polystaochon angustifolium vaginatum -— alpinum. ' 199 A List of the Plants found in thé. (Serr, Ordo Digynia. Galium spurium Phleum pratense — —— Aparine : arenarium alustre | Alopecurus pratensis — —-— Mollugo ead) geniculatus boreale Lg T Aira ewspitosa ^ ' Plantago major >= + Agrostis a — is: pape ti edia l SE iaria" T Alchemilla vulgaris. Aira alpina | | "a" Melich nutans C .. Ordo Digynia, i. egrulea. uscuta europea, cage yere Ordo Tetragynia. — ——— maritima. ds erecta Xo Wr otamogeton eramineum Ordo Digynia, . Lal B borfullàeuss; Poa annua —— pratensis —— trivialis compressa aquatica Briza media Dactylis glomerata Cynosurus cristatus Festuca duriuscula — fluitans ovina Secalinus ——— molis .- —— arvensis ————— squarrosus sterilis Squarrosus var. Arundo epigejos stricta Calamagrostis Lolium temulentum Avena sativa Triticum repens var. aristatum. | Ordo Trigynia. Montia fontana var. humilis. C1, 4. Ordo Monogynia. Scabiosa arvensis - succisa Cr. 5. Ordo Monogynia, Myosotis scorpioides . —— — — arvensis var. precox | Lythospermum arvense Pulmonaria officinalis Echium vulgare Androsace septentrionalis Convolvulus arvensis Primula farinosa — veris oy Menyanthes trifoliata Lysimachia vulgaris |. thyrsiflora. Hyoscamus niger Polemonium ceruleum Rhamnus Frangula Campanula glomerata. . - rotundifolia —— patula ersicifolia rachelium rapunculoides Solanum Dulcamara nigrum Lonicera Xylosteum Ribes nigrum —— Grossularia alpinum Viola palustris —— ordorata 1823.] Neighbourhood of St. Petersburgh. Viola officinarum ' Juncus bulbosus - pallida conglomeratus- -— mirabilis effusus canina filiformis var. mont, pilosus tricolor campestris. var. bicolor arvensis Ordo Trigynia. Impatiens Noli me tangere. Ordo Digynia. Chenopodium album glaucum rubrum hybridum urbicum viride Ulmus campestris Gentiana campestris . Centaureum Amarella - Pneumonanthe Conium maculatum Heracleum Sphondylium Selinum palustre i sylvestre Cicuta virosa Angelica sylvestris Cherophyllum sylvestre Æthusa cynapiam Carum carus Pimpinella saxifraga . Aegopodium podagraria. Ordo Trigynia. . Alsine media . Viburnum opulus. Ordo Tetrandria. Parnassia palustris . pentagynia Linum catharticum. Ordo Polygnia. Myosurus minimus. Cr. 6. Ordo Monogynia. Juncus articulatus - bufoninus New Series, VOL. VI. Rumex Acetosella Acetosa crispus maritimus acutus Triglochin palustre. Ordo Polygnia. . Alisma Plantago. 193 Cx. 7. Ordo Monogynia. Trientalis europzea. Cr. 8. Ordo Monogynia. Epilobium montanum var. rubens palustre | angustifolium Vaccinium Vitis idæa Oxycoccos uliginosum Myrtillus Erica vulgaris var. alba. . Ordo Trigynia. Polygonum viviparum amphibium Convolvulus aviculare persicaria — Hydropiper. Ordo Tetragynia. Adoxa Moschatellina Paris quadrifolia Elatine Hydropiper. CL. 10. Ordo Monogynia. Monotropa Hypopithys Arbutus Uva ursi o 194 A List of the Plants found in the Ledum palustre Andromeda polyfolia caliculata Pyrola secuuda rotundifolia minor. Ordo Digynia. Chrysosplenium alternifolium Gypsophylla muralis Dianthus deltoides Scleranthus annuus Cucubalus Behen. Ordo Trigynia. Stellaria graminea illeniana crassifolia nemorum — holostea Arenaria peploides rubra trinervis. Ordo Pentagynia. Sedum acre Oxalis Acetosella Agrostema Gythago pd n diua ý viscaria vespertina Flos Cuculi Cerastium vulgatum Spergula nodosa arvensis. Cr. 11. Ordo Monogynia. Azarum evropeum Lythrum Salicaria. Ordo Digynia. Agrimonia Eupatroria. Ordo Trigynia. Euphorbia escula helioscopia. CL. 12. Ordo Monogynia. Prunus Padus, [SEPT Ordo Pentagynia. Spiræa Ulmaria. Ordo Polygnia. Rosa canina Rubus Chamemorus arcticus — — saxatilis Fragaria vesca Potentilla anserina norvegica argentea ——— opaca Tormentilla erecta Camarum palustre , Geum urbanum rivale. Cr. 13. Ordo Monogynia. Actea spicata Chelidonium majus Tilia europea. - Ordo Trigynia. | Delphinium Consolida. Ordo Polygnia. Anemone nemorosa ranunculoides hepatica Thalictrum aquilegifolium flavum , angustifolium . Ranunculus reptans Flammula Ficaria repens sceleratus auricomus acris | polyanthemos Caltha palustris Trollius europeus. Cr. 14. Ordo Gymnospermia. Mentha arvensis Nepeta cataria Glechoma hederacea Lamium perfoliatum 1823,] - Lamium purpureum ebd Galeopsis Tetrahit — — Ladanum ' Clinopodium vulgare Thymus Acinos Serpyllum ` Prunella vulgaris Scutellaria galericulata Origanum vulgare Stachys sylvatica (arvensis) palustris Leonurus Cardiaca. Ordo Angiospermia. Euphrasia Odontides —— ——— officinalis Rhinanthus Crista galli Antirrhinum Linaria Pedicularis palustris Limosella aquatica - Melampyrum nemorosum sylvaticum Scrophularia nodosa Linnea borealis. Cr. 15. Ordo Siliculosa. Myagrum sativum Bunias orientalis Subularia aquatica Draba muralis — verna Thlaspi Bursa pastoris arvense Lepidium ruderale - Alyssum incanum. Ordo Siliquosa. Cardamine pratensis —————— amara Sisymbrium Sophia amphibium Erysimum Barbarea cheiranthoides var. preecox officinale Arabis thaliana Turritis glabra Raphanus Raphanistrum Neighbourhood of St. Petersburgh. Oo 495 Brassica campestris. . Cr.16. Ordo Pentandria. Erodium cicutarium. Ordo Decandria. Geranium pratense. Ordo Polyandria. Malva rotundifolia. — Cx. 17. Ordo Hexandria. Corydalis bulbosa Fumaria officinalis. Ordo Octandria. Polygala amara | . deflor. : vulgaris. . Ordo Decandria. Orobus vernus Lathyrus pratensis palustris sylvestris Vicia sepium Cracca -— monantha sativa —— sylvatica Ervum hirsutum Trifolium rubens — repens hybridum arvense spadiceum agrarium Melilotus albus, Cr. 18. Ordo Polyandria. Hypericum quadrangulare perforatum. a MÀ Á— ÀÀ RÀ M M te c MÀ Cr.19. Or. Polygamia /Equalis. Scorzonera humilis Sonchus oleraceus — sibericus Leontodon taraxicum — — —— hispidum Hieracium aurantiacum 2 196 Hieracium Auricula — — dubium MEIUILU, cows SONO UP MUN pilosella ———— paludosum cymosum Crepis tectorum Lapsana communis Hypocheeris rudicata Serratula arvensis Cnicus lanceolatus Carlina vulgaris Bidens tripartita cernua. Ordo Polygamia Superflua. Artemisia vulgaris campestris Gnaphalium uliginosum montanum dioicum mas fcemina Tanacetum vulgare Erigeron acre Tussilago Farfara © Senecio vulgaris paludosus Solidago Virga-aurea Inula dysenterica ChrysanthemumLeucanthemum Matricaria Chamomilla Anthemis arvensis tinctoria Achillea Millefolium - Ptarmica. Ordo Polygamia Frustranea. Centaurea Jacea Cyanea phrygia Filago arvensis. Cr, 20. Ordo Monandria. Orchis maculata bifolia conopsea Ophrys ovata monorchys. -— ———— A List of the Plants found in the Ordo Monogynia. Serapias rubra . Satyrium viride. CL. 21. Lemna polyrrhyza minor trisulca. Ordo Triandria. Carex filiformis ——-— riparia bits -—— globularis ——- levis muricata -—— elongata ——- vulpina arenaria panicea —-—— flava limosa ceespitosa. Ordo Tetrandria. Alnus incana Urtica dioica —- urens. Ordo Polyandria. Corylus Avellana Betula alba. Ordo Monadelphia. Pinus sylvestris. Cr. 92. Ordo Diandria. Salix aurita amy dalina ' incubacea purpurea arenaria entandria iia ——— triandra fusca — alba Empetrum nigrum Myrica Gale. [Sz»T. Ordo Diandria. 1823.] -. Neighbourhood of St. Petersburgh, Ordo Octandria. Humulus lupulus Populus tremula. Ordo Enneandria. Hydrocharis Morsus rane Mercurialis perennis. Cx. 23. Ordo Monoecia. Holcus odoratus Atriplex hortensis. Cr. 24. Ordo Filicis. . Equisetum arvense jew imosum - hyemale . sylvaticum Polypodium Phegopteris Dryopteris rigidum Filix foemina Pteris aquilina Osmunda Lunaria. Ordo Musct. Sphagnum palustre var. rubens Polytrichum juniperinum —— commune Mnium scoparium hygrometricum heteromallum pellucidum cuspidatum Bryum viridulum Hypnum serpens — filifolium filicinum — dendroides cupressi-forme - complanatum — proliferum sericeum repens Orthotrichum commune. Ordo Hepatice. Marchantia polymorpha Riccia crystallina Conferva reticularis rivularis Jungermannia ciliata. Ordo Lichenis. Pulveraria chlorina Lepraria incana „Opegrapha atra obscura. . Lichen islandicus tenuissimus physodes parietinus — —— deformis caninus farinaceus caperatus hirtus apthosus atratus cornutus digitatus paschalis cocciferus pyxidatus rangiferinus olivaceus. Ordo Fungi. Boletus versicolor cinnamomaus fumosus erennis Telephora hirsuta terrestris Merisma foetidum Clavaria abietina Peziza abietina ZEcidium cornutum Ranunculi —— Tubesium Convallarize Uredo Salicis > — —-. Alchemille Xyloma salicinum Spheria argillacea Tubercularia vulgaris Rhizomorpha subcorticalis. ee 198 Existence of Chrome in the Ore of Platina. [Srpr. ARTICLE VI. On the Existence of Chrome in the Ore of Platina, (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR, | Tur chemical history of platina must be considered to be as yet by no means complete. The last statement, with respect tó the composition of its oxide, with which I am acquainted, is that of Mr. Cooper in No. 5, of the Royal Institution Journal, which differs widely from the statement of Berzelius. This has again been controverted, in a paper inserted in the Annals for ovember, 1821,the writer of which asserts, that the black pow-. der, called oxide by Mr. Cooper, is in fact in the metallic state. This is a subject deserving of further investigation ; * I am, there- fore, desirous of learning (and, perhaps, some of your corres- ondents would inform me), whether the experiments of Berze- ie are detailed in any English work? But the point to which I now wish to call your attention, is the existence of chrome in the ore of platina, a fact originally pointed out by Vauquelin, but upon which Tennant, by stating that he was unable to discover any, has thrown some doubt. An experiment which I have lately made completely verifies Vauquelin’s statement, and at. the same time seems to point out the reason why Tennant obtained no chrome, viz. that he operated only on the picked metallic grains of platina ; while Vauquelin probably employed the crude ore, containing a quantity of black irony sand, in which the chrome is found. ‘ | In order to detect the presence of chrome, it is sufficient to separate the black sand by means of the magnet, and to expose it to a strong heat with carbonate of potash : chromate of potash is found in the crucible. To prove its nature, it was dissolved, neutralized, and tested with acetate of lead, when a yellow pre- cipitate fell down: this precipitate being treated with muriatic acid, was resolved into a white salt and an orange liquid, which, after some boiling, turned green. - Another portion of the preci- pitate, being properly fluxed, and exposed to a dull red heat, ielded the peculiar orange-enamel characteristic of chromate of lad: no doubt, therefore, could remain as to the nature of the substance. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, ^" C. C. * ] have repeated Mr. Cooper’s process, which is to precipitate platina by nitrate of mercury, and to expel the calomel by heat ; but as oxide of platina is decomposable at a heat below redness, I consider it impossible to stop the heat at the exact point, when all the mercurial salt is expelled, and all the oxygen of the platina retained, and, therefore, that the method can afford no satisfactory results. . Rey 1893.] Col. Beaufoy’s Astronomical Observations. 199 ArticLe VII. Astronomical Observations, 1823. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS, Bushey Heath, near Stanmore. Latitude 519 37' 44:3" North. Longitude West in time 1’ 20:93", . Aug. 6. Immersion of Jupiter's second ¢ 15^ 25' 31" Mean Time at Bushey. éatellite, as ues ao poo hav . 15 26 52 Mean Time at Greenwich. Articie VIII. Essays on the Construction of Sea Harbours. By Mr. J. B. Longmire. (Concluded from p. 15.) SIR, July 18, 1823. Wiıru regard to the right direction of the piers, so as to throw the most of the surf to the shore, and as little as possible towards the mouth of a harbour; it is necessary first to ascertain the direction of all gales, that raise heavy surves at that place.. Land gales at a harbour are harmless in this respect; and so in general: are all gales making less angles with the main shore than 15? ; so that all dangerous gales as to surf, lie in about - 150? directly in front of the harbour. But some situations have not more than 130? of strong surf, and the most leeward of such surf, at the mouth of a harbour facing the calmest quarter, makes an angle of 45? with the main shore. Certain considerations have almost universally prevailed in forming har- bours. A sheltered situation has been selected, either in a creek, or near a part of the main shore that projects into the sea. The mouth faces that side which is the least disturbed by sea gales. The same plan, or at least the same principle, has been adopted as to the piers; if in a creek, the main pier, a, fig. 4, begins at the abrupt side, and extends either in a line parallel to the main shore, or inclines a little inwards. This pier has the best direction for quieting the interior water, and preventing the surf from disturbing the entrance, both being taken equally into consideration. But one pier alone placed iu 200 On the Construction of Sea Harbours. [SEPT. any direction can neither sufficiently still the interior water, nor prevent the surf from accumulating at the entrance. For the completion of the former purpose, a secondary pier, b, is built, nearly at right angles to the main pier, extending to the shore from such a distance within the head of the main pier, and leav- ing an opening for the entrance of such a length, that the line h a b of the most leeward heavy surf, points to the outside ofthe secondary pier's head. These are the inclosing piers, and others for mooring vessels, &c. may be built in the basin thus rendered smooth. ' To relieve the main pier from as much of the surf as possible, when the abrupt side extends further into the sea, a small cover- ing pier, e, juts out from the extreme point of the land so far that a line, e d, drawn from its sea-end to the head of the main ier, makes an angle of 45? with the direction of the last pier. ore than this, the main pier cannot be covered, without inter- fering too much with the lines of approach ; but it keeps back the surves striking under angles of 15? to 45?, which, when strong, are the most dangerous surves. Every surf acting against the secondary pier rebounds to the shore, so that a covering pier is not wanted to protect the entrance from its reverberated water. But heavy surves on a long range of lee-shore force a strong lateral agitation into the harbour. This can be considerably weakened by a very small pier, c, placed at such a distance from the secondary pier, that its sea-end shall not reach the line e d, when continued to the shore.. This pier also lessens the quantity of surf in the space between it and the secondary pier, b, and so secures a safer retreat than the exposed shore, to vessels failing to enter the harbour. But a greater length of smooth shore is very desira- ble, as in particular gales vessels are sometimes driven past the pier, c. Hence also harbours gradually extended have obtained additional works, which make the inclosed lee-shore and entrance more or less similar to those represented by fig. 4, when the dotted pier, g, is added. In this state, vessels can take shelter within either head; but if driven too far in, they can reach the moorings on the innerside of the piers, or retire to the shore, which is much smoother than the exterior shore. In situations where the main pier begins at the extreme point of the abrupt side of a creek, or extends further into the sea; or where it commences from a straight part. of the main shore, stretches directly into the sea, and then turns to be parallel to the shore ; a covering pier would be too expensive ; and to prevent the reflected surf from accuiaulat- ing too much at the sea end, the main pier, as in fig. 5, is built in parts not exceeding 100 ' yards each, having angles of 25? to 30°, with 1823.) | Mr. Goldingham on the Velocity of Sound, ^. 201 one another; and turning round bow-wise, sometimes. with. a head under a less angle.. Much of the surf rebounding from one part, does not pass along the others ; and what reaches the head is considerably less than would pass to it, if the pier was built in a straight line. | | But one long main pier to form a Fig. 6. i harbour of the first kind, is not so : complete as two main piers having an entrance between them, as in fig.6. This certainly may be consi- dered as two harbours facing each other, and rejecting the surf, but per- : mitting it to pass into the space between them. It has.a perfect entrance, as i8 shown in the first essay ; but the other has not, having an oper side to the lee-shore, and its entrance is less disturbed by the surf than the head of the long main pier. ARTICLE IX. Experiments for ascertaining the Velocity of Sound, at Madras in the East Indies. By John Goldingham, Esq. FRS.* BETWEEN the years 1793 and 1796 a considerable. number of observations were taken by myself, and under my superinten- dence, at the Observatory at Madras, with the view ofascertain- ing the velocity of sound. Not having the exact distances of the guns from the station when I returned to England, I wrote for further information upon the subject—which I had not obtained when I quitted Eurcpe again. I therefore did not bring these experiments forward at the time; and having a more elevated station to observe from, by the erection of a new building, and the advantage of corroborating distances, by the trigonometrical survey carrying on under the superintendence of Col. Lambton, I entered upon the course of experiments about to be detailed. The former experiments (those of 1793 and 1796) were made with Arnold's chronometers, as were these now eiven. In examining works obtained from libraries here, since I closed these experiments, for information relative to the results of like experiments by other observers, I found a letter from . Col. Beaufoy, in the Annals of Philosophy, addressed a few years ago to Dr. Thomson; and recommending to be done in England, what, in all the essential points, has been performed here, as will appear by the following extract : * [t has frequently excited my surprise, as well as regret, and in which I am no wise singular, that use has not been made of * Abstracted from the Phil. Trans, for 1823, Part I. 209 Mr. Goldingham on the Velocity of Sound. — [Sxr. the admirable Trigonometrical Survey, begun by the late Gen. ‘Roy, and continued with so much ability and attention by Col. Mudge and Prof. Dalby, to make experiments on the velocity of wm ; and however experiments of this kind may have been neglected, it is hoped that the present Master General of the Ordnance, a near relation of the late scientific Capt. Phipps (afterwards Lord Mulgrave) will, for the purpose of perfecting a branch of science, no less curious than useful, order a series of experiments of this nature to be undertaken, not only in the inland parts of the kingdom, but also on different parts of the Coast." He then mentions that the experiments should be made under different circumstances of the wind and wea- ther, and at different times of the 24 hours, and proceeds to enumerate the stations where the experiments should be made. He recommends that pocket chronometers should be used, * which, generally, making five beats in two seconds, the velo- city of sound could be determined to the fraction of a second ;’ and concludes by saying, * he has no doubt scientifie foreigners would assist our countrymen in finding the time sound is travel- ling across that part of the Channel, where the shores are visible from each other."* At Fort St. George (Madras) a morning and an evening gun are fired from the ramparts, as is customary in fortified places, the former at day light, and the latter at eight o'clock in the evening. At St. Thomas's Mount, the artillery cantonment, morning and evening guns are also fired, one at day light, and the other at sun set. The Madras Observatory, in latitude 13? 4^ 8" north, is situated between these; the distance of it from the. Fort, about half its distance from the Mount, the Fort being to the NE of the Observatory, and the Mount to the SW. In former years, as I have mentioned before, experiments were made by me for ascertaining the velocity of sound, but were not brought forward. And a new building,} elevated so as to E a commanding view of the country, particularly of the ount{ and Fort,§ having been erected, I commenced a new series with the morning and evening guns of both places. The experiments with the Mount gun, it will be seen, comprise an interval, which embraces all the varieties ofthe wind and weather during the revolution of the sun; the interval with the Fort gun is less, in consequence of the morning and evening guns having been fired from different parts of the ramparts, after the date at which the Fort experiments close. All the experiments were made with chronometers, which had 100 beats in 40 seconds, sometimes by three observers, myself and two of the Observa- tory Bramin assistants, but generally by two: the observers * Annals, O. S. iv. 233. i + The station on this building is about 55 feet above the level of the sea, distant in a direct line 4500 yards, ' t The Mount gun is about 120 feet above the level of the sea, § The Fort gun is about 30 feet above the level of the sea. 1823.] Mr. Goldingham on the Velocity of Sound. 208 having repaired to the station at the top of the Observatory building, a little before the expected time, and each holding his chronometer so that he could distinctly hear the beats, began to count the instant he saw the flash, and continued counting until he heard the report ; the number of beats between the flash and report was then- immediately put down upon a slip of paper, by each observer, without communication with the others, and the apers delivered to me for their contents to be registered ; the height of the thermometer, barometer, and hygrometer, with the direction of the wind and state of the weather, were also observed at the time, and registered; and in this manner the whole of the experiments were made. The situations of the guns with respect to the station from which the observations were taken, was ve favourable, being in the direction, one of NE, and the other of the SW monsoons—with the southerly wind and sea breeze (both which prevail at certain seasons of the year), blowing between the two. The guns used were 24 pounders, charged with 8 lbs. of powder, and both pointed, not exactly towards the station, but in a direction not far from it. The distances were ascertained with great care; first, by a survey made for the purpose, a base having been measured, and the angles taken with a grand circular instrument, similar to that used on the trigonometrical surveys.* Secondly, by using two or three of Col. Lambton's distances and bearings found by the trigonometrical survey. | E, he results were thus deduced, and verified in different ways; and I have reason to think that the distances`of the guns from the Observatory station are very accurately given. The mean of twelve results made the distance of the Mount gun from the station 20547 feet ; and the mean of six results gave the distance ofthe Fort gun from the station 189323 feet. We see, as I before remarked, that the distance of one gun from the station is nearly double that of the other, and this will be found an advantage, 1n showing whether sound travels equally during its progress. | The experiments are given in eleven tables. Table 1. Contains the experiments of each day with the Mount gun, together with the state of the atmosphere and the direction of the wind at the time of observation : the titles at the heads of the columns render a particular explanation unne- cessary—the number of observers is stated in the third column, and the mean of their observations in the ninth. Table II. Contains the mean of observations of each day, when the air was calm. * Ihave not given the details of the survey, as that would swell the paper to an inconvenient size: the base, however, was measured with great care twice, and generally six observations were taken for finding each angle, each observation differing very little from the other. T These Tables are necessarily omitted in this abstract, 204 . Mr. Goldingham on the Velocity of Sound. — [Supr. Table III. The mean of observations of three days, when the wind was in the SE quarter. | Table IV. The mean of observations of three days, when the wind was in the NE quarter. | Table V. The mean of observations of three days, when the wind was SW by W, or NW. i Table VI. The experiments with the Fort gun, arranged as those in Table I., with the Mount gun. TR yit Tables VII, VIII, IX, and X. The experiments with the Fort un arranged according to the state of the wind, as in the former ables of experiments with the Mount gun. Table XI. Shows the mean motion of sound for each month at the Madras Observatory, as found by the experiments, at the mean height of the thermometer, barometer, and hygrometer, given in the table. | Upon a cursory inspection of Tables I. and IV. it will be seen " that the. motion of sound varies under different states of the atmosphere and weather: that, according to the first table, sound at one time has been as long as 27:6 seconds in travel- ling from the Mount to the Observatory station ; and at another time only 24-8 seconds ; the distance being 29547 feet. Inthe first case, therefore, the velocity of sound was only about 1078 feet in a second ; while, in the other, its velocity was nearly 11914 feet. The extremes in Table VI. show a still greater difference. This proves the necessity for making experiments during a long interval, in order to obtain an accurate general result. | In Tables II. and VII. we find, as the thermometer rose, the atmospherse at the same time decreasing in density and increasing in its elasticity, that the sound moved with greater rapidity. i That with the wind in the SE quarter the velocity was consi- derably increased, both from the Mount and Fort; more, how- ever, in proportion, as might be expected, from the former than the latter. That with the wind at NE. the sound from the Fort gun tra- velled with a greater, and from the Mount gun with a less velo- city than when the wind was in any other direction; that wind being favourable for increasing the velocity from the Fort, and unfavourable from the Mount: the full effect of the wind, how- ever, is not to be ascertained by this table alone, as the thermo- meter during the time the NE wind prevails is comparatively low, and the barometer high ; both which, as will have been. seen by inspection of the tables, occasion the sound to travel slower than ordinary. The wind SW. W. and NW. the velocity from the Mount was accelerated, and that from the Fort retarded ; but not in the degree that would have taken place had the thermometer, baro- / 1393]? Mr. Goldingham on the Velocity of Sound. 205 meter, and hygrometer, remained the same as in the NE mon- soon; but having been different, the velocity was accelerated ` from both guns on this account, in like manner as it was retarded in the NE monsoon. | Sis ‘The following are the results deduced from the experiments in the different tables. I shall first give the general results from Table T. and VI. | fies TABLE I. Mean height of ^ Velocity in a diera: | Thermometer. | Hygrometer. | Seconds. | Distance. Seated.) st Inches, Feet. Feet. 29°992 84119 | 199 ` 95:869 29547 1142-18 Or almost precisely the same as the velocity by the theory. ` TaAnLE VI. Barometer. | Thermometer. | Hygrometer. | Seconds. | Distance. | ee e : : Inches. Dry. Feet. Feet. . 80:065 80°47 11:4 |. 12:306 13932°3 1132°14 - Here we find a difference from the former. general result b the observations with the Mount gun; the reason of which appears to be, that I could not, as I have before stated, carry on the observations during at least a complete revolution of the changes in the atmosphere ; and that this is the reason I shall now endeavour to show. The interval wanting is between the 28th of March and the 16th of July. Had this interval been wanting in the experiments with the Mount gun, there would have been a difference of 0-237 seconds in the mean result ; for the mean of the experiments in this interval is 25:632", and the mean of the whole 25:869", making the difference just men- tioned. Now 25:869" + 0:237" = 26:106", which would have been the mean number of seconds had the observations with the Mount gun been continued during the same interval only as the experiments with the Fort gun. Then 26:106" : 0:237" :: 12:306" (the mean of the Fort observations) : 0:112". Now 12:306" — 0-112" = 12:194", which would have been the gene- ral mean of the experiments with the Fort gun, had the same been continued as long as the experiments with the Mount gun. Then the distance 13932:3 feet, divided by 12:194, will give 1142:5 for the motion of sound by the experiments with the Fort gun thus brought on; and this also agrees, within a fraction of a foot, with the velocity according to Sir Isaac Newton; and with the results by the two other celebrated philosophers before named (Halley and Flamsteed). 206 Mr, Goldingham on the Velocity of Sound, Feet. We then have by the Mount gun 1142-18 for the velocity. And by the Fort gun ,......... 11425. (Sept, the velocity above The mean is 1142:34, or very near alluded to, Nothing could be more tan diss than this gene- ral result ;* and it may be presumed, that the other results in different states of the atmosphere are equally to be depended upon. ` "The velocity also by the Fort gun, which, it will be recollected, is little more than half the distance of the Mount gun from the station, shows that sound travels equally during its progress. In the NE monsoon, the sound was very indistinct at times : this however does not appear to have sensibly affected its motion. The French academicians indeed proved, that this made no difference in the velocity. . I shall now proceed to the conclusions from the other Tables; and first, those of the experiments with the Mount gun. Tables,| Barom. | Therm. | Hygrom. Wind. Seconds.| Dist. ap Inches. f Feet, | Feet. II, | 29:990 | 83:959 | 20:319 Calm —— |e57119"| 29547 | 1149-2 III. | 99-979 | 85:5. | 19:96 SE 95:154 1141-9 IV.| 30-113 | $1. | 109 NE 26:819 1102-0 V. | 29:934 |$51 | 260 ]|SW.W.&NW. 95.374 11644 Secondly, the experiments with the Fort gun. VIL | 30-111 4,793. | 11-85 Calm 19:313 ,13932:3, 1131:5 VIII, | 30023 | 823 | 146 SE 19-931 11391 IX. | 30131 | 786 | 7:33 NE 19:340 1199-0 X. | 29:919 1141 ISW, W. & NW.119-46 1118-1 81:9 a The results in these Tables, like the separate observations, show the necessity of making a series of experiments long conti- nued, in order to obtain the correct general rate at which sound travels ; and this may afford a clue, as I observed in the first part of this paper, for discovering the cause of the differences in the results by the authorities there named: it is difficult, undoubtedly, to ascertain the distance of two stations, one far from the other, to the nearest foot ; but errors of many feet in this respect, would make but a small difference in the velocity in a second found by experiment, when the gun and station were even at a moderate distance ;+ we must, therefore, be led to conclude, that these differences have chiefly arisen from the * The results by the Mount gun may however be taken as the standard. * For example, a difference of about 26 feet in the distance, between the Observatory station and the Mount gun, would make only about a foot difference in the velocity in a second, 1893.] Mr. Goldingham on the Velocity of Sound. 207 experiments having been made during a limited period only, and at unfavourable times for obtaining a mean result, instead of the interval which appears by these id; Sin to be necessary. A particular examination of the ‘Tables and results will show the difficulty of ascertaining what proportion of the differences should be allowed to each of the instruments used for finding the state of atmosphere, exclusive of the effects of the wind. During the calms, we might expect that the proportional parts to be allowed for the difference in the thermometer, barometer, and hygrometer, might be found with some degree of accuracy ; the disctepancies, however, are very considerable. . Comparin the results of Tabies II. and VII. we find the barometer 0:12 lower, the thermometer 4:6? higher, and the air about 84 more dry by the former Table than by the latter, while the velocity in a second is only 17:7 feet greater by one Table than the other. We give, however, in addition the following results taken from the Tables of calms, and arranged according to the differ- ent heights of the thermometer and barometer. These results may assist us in coming to some conclusion upon this part of the subject. ` | | | Experiments with the Mount gun.* Barometer, |Thermometer.|Hygrometer| Seconds. Distance. ‘ae Inches. FE Feet. Feet. 30:109 88:139 96:40 25:91 99541 113771 29-889 88-0 28:4 25:45 1160:9 30-140 77°16 11:5 26'3 1123°4 30:089 81:3 11°3 26:40 - 1119-2 29:915 84:96 20-3 25°81 1144-7 ' 99:93 89:12 16:0 25°91 i 1140:3 30-046 82:9 18:9 25"15 1146:5 With the Fort gun. 30-163 86'3 23:8 — 12°27 13932:3 1135:5 30*135 T41 13:8 12:19 1095:3 30-063 80°76 8:8 12:11 1150:5 30°147 11:5 10°S 12:31 1126:3 99-943 82:25 150° 12:15 ' 1146-7 30:078 82:4 10:4 12:35 1128:1 Where the changes are so numerous and so frequent as in the atmosphere of the earth, we cannot expect that our imperfect instruments will be of a construction sufficiently delicate to show accurately every alteration that may affect the motion of the pulses of the air; but by various comparisons and combinations of the results, we may hope to arrive at general conclusions, somewhat approaching the truth. * These are deduced from 100 observations. 208 Mr. Goldingham on the Velocity of Sound. [Supr. "Now, by numerous combinations of the observations just given, when the air was calm, we are led to conclude: first, - that for each degree of the thermometer 1:2 feet may be allowed in the velocity of sound for a second; for each degree of the hygrometer 1:4; and for one tenth of an inch ofthe barometer* 9:2 feet. Then taking these numbers as the basis of the compa- rison, we find the mean difference of the velocity between a calm, and in a moderate breeze of wind, to be nearly 10 feet in asecond. And by comparing other results together, a difference of about 21} feet in a second, or 1275 in a minute is found between, the.wind being in the direction of the motion of sound, or opposed to it. * Before I conclude these introductory observations, and expla- nations of the experiments, it may be proper to refer more parti- cularly to Table XI. containing the mean motion of sound for each month of the year, by the experiments with the Mount n, according to the state of the atmosphere indicated by the ifferent instruments ; and to the prevailing monsoons, which may be considered to be the same, during the same months, every year; full information respecting which is given in the former Tables. On examining this Table, it is rather curious to observe how regularly the mean velocity proceeds to a maximum about the middle of the year, and afterwards retraces its steps ; giving us a velocity in one case 1164 feet in a second, and in the other of only 1099 feet. This regularity would, no doubt, be still greater with the mean of the observations of several years. TaBLe XI. Mean Motion of Sound for each Month, according to the Expe- riments with the Mount Gun. — Months. Mean height of Velocity in Barometer. | Thermom. | Hygrom. | a second, Inches. Dry. Feet. January....| 30:124 19:059 6:2 1101 February ..] 30-126 78°84 14°70 1117 March. .... 30-072 82-30 15:29 1134 April. ... 80:031 85°19 17°23 1145 May ...... 99-899 88-11 19-99 1151 June...... . 99:901 81:10 24°77 1157 July. ...... 299-914 86°65 27°85 1164 August ....| 29-931 85:09 21°54 1163 September .| 29:963 84*19 18:91 1159 October....|. 30-058 84-33 18°23 1128 November..| 30'125 81°35 818 | HOI December..| 30-087 79°37 "143 1099 * "The rise and fall of the barometer is very limited in this country, as will be seen by an examination of the Tables, A sudden fall of 0:3 inch indicates a gale of wind, 1823.] On newly discovered Animal Acids, 209 coco Articte X. wel On newly discovered Animal Acids. By M. Chevreul.* M. Chevreul has described five new animal acids, to which he has given the names of butirie acid, capric acid, caproic acid, hircic acid, and phocenic acid. | yd ! i _ The butiric acid is the odorous principle to which soap, made with the butter of cows’ milk, and the butter itself, more particu- larly owe their smell, but not entirely, for these bodies contain the capric and caproic acid, which also impart some odour to them. Butirie acid has, however, by much the, strongest odour, resembling, when concentrated, the smell of strong butter and acetic acid ; but when the acid is dilute, it smells like butter. The taste of this acid is at first hot, and afterwards sweetish, resembling that of nitric and muriatic ether, The butiric acid is colourless and fluid, and does not solidify at 15? of Fahr. and at 77? its specific gravity is 0:9675. In the state of hydrate it requires a higher temperature to boil it than water, and distils unchanged. It unites in all proportions with water, and when diluted with half its bulk of water, its specific gravity is greater than that of water. Alcohol combines with it in all proportions. When mixed with hogs’-lard, the butiric acid gives it the smell and taste of butter; the lard soon loses its smell by exposure to the air. In volume it is composed of Oxygen. . e*000e5099»90s9c0*»066098* ED ,9 Carbon *€*9€6992606$092829206099*9299906059298*59»9 Hydrogen e**ctitoshocosobhbboescev»ttto 11 - One hundred parts of this acid saturate 97:58 of barytes. An atom of hydrogen — 1, and of barytes 78; the weight of the atom of butiric acid must be nearly 80. : If the analysis had yielded 12 instead of 11 volumes of hydrogen, the composition of this acid would be 3 atoms of oxy- gen = 24, 8 of carbon = 48, and 6 of water = 6; the weight of its atom would consequently be 78, instead of nearly 80, as deduced from the composition of butirate of barytes. Butirate of lime resembles its base in being more soluble in cold water than in hot; the butirate of barytes crystallizes in long prisms ; 100 parts of water dissolve 36 of this salt. Capric acid 18 obtained from the same sources as the butiric acid, and resembles it in being colourless, but it has a smell like that of a goat. In taste itis similar to that of the butiric acid. At 5° of Fahr. it exists in the form of small crystals ; in the state of hydrate it requires a higher temperature to boil it than water does; it distils unaltered. The specific gravity of capric acid at 65° of Fahr. is 0:910; 100 parts of water dissolve only 0:12 of it, but with alcohol, it combines in all proportions. * From the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tom. xxiii, p. 16, New Series, voL, v1. P 210 On newly discovered Animal Acids. (Seri. One hundred parts of it saturate 56:45 of barytes; the weight of its atom is, therefore, 138. The caprate of barytes forms small globular crystals ; 100 parts of water dissolve 0:5 part of this salt. Caproic acid is procured from the same substances that yield thé butiric and capric acid. It is colourless, its smell is not so strong as that of the capric acid, but it is similar in taste ; it remains liquid at 15? Fahr. and at 77?, its specific gravity is 0:923... One hundred parts of water dissolve 1:5 of it, and its hydrate distils unchanged. at a higher temperature than water: with alcohol, it unites in all proportions. It is composed of Oxy en 6 OTRO a ais CU086592, 22 UENIRE ew 12 Hydrogen 225,29 40252 020.1 ,724 19 One hundred parts saturate 72:41 of barytes; its atom must, therefore, be represented by about 108. Supposing the hydrogen to be 20 instead of 19 volumes, the composition of this acid would be 3 atoms of oxygen — 24, 12 atoms of carbon — 72, and 10 of hydrogen — 10, and the weight of its atom 106. Va prone of barytes, when the solution evaporates sponta- neously, crystallizes in needles, but if evaporated, it crystallizes at a lower temperature in hexagonal plates. The Aircic acid is the odorous principle of soap made of mut- ton suet ; it exists in so very small a quantity, that fewer expe- riments have been made upon it than upon the preceding acids. It forms an hydrate, which is but little soluble in water, and does not solidify at 32° Fahr. Its smell resembles that of the goat. With barytes, it forms a salt of difficult solubility, while with potash it produces a deliquescent compound. It is this principle which gives mutton broth its peculiar odour. Phocenic acid is the odorous principle of fish oil soap (savon des huiles de dauphin). It is colourless; remains fluid at 24° Fahr. It has a much stronger smell than either the capric or caproic acids. Its hydrate boils at a temperature above that of water, and distils unchanged. Its taste resembles that of those already described. At 77° its specific gravity is 0-932 ; 100 parts of water dissolve 5°5 of phocenic acid. It consists of Oxygen. vvevsvvevesecvcaccccce 9 VO. Carboni tai 24045 VUL e uus 4d; 10 Hydrogen ssi ods ees 04444014 One hundred parts of this acid saturate 82°77 of barytes. Its atom must, therefore, weigh about 94. Phocenate of barytes is soluble in equal weight of water at 68? Fahr.: the crystals are large, and appear to be octahedrons. rom the analysis, this acid appears to bé a compound of 3 atoms of oxygen = 24, 10 of carbon = 60, and 7 of hydro- gen = 7, and the weight of its atom will consequently be 91. 1893:] On the Obstructionof the Blood inthe Lungs. — 2n AnrICLE XI. On the Cause and the Effects of an Obstruction of the Blood in the Lungs. By David Wiiiiams, MD. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) Liverpool, Aug. 5, 1823. WHILE investigating the effects of the pressure of the atmo- sphere upon the lungs, on its admission into the cavities of the chest, I remarked several appearances that militated against every hypothesis advanced, as to the cause of the unequal distri- bution of the blood after death. Reflecting on what I had wit- nessed, and thinking I had observed a phenomenon that had escaped the attention of all the physiologists whose writings I had perused, it encouraged me to a further inquiry. | The result of my inquiry has been favourable, as it will, in my opinion, unveil the mystery that envelopes the cause of the comparative vacuity of the system circulating arterial blood post mortem. Before entering into the detail of my research, it will be better to premise the nature of the appearances alluded to. In one of my examinations, after' the animal had been suffocated, by making a ligature on the trachea, during the acme of inspi- ration, previous to removing the sternum, I noticed after the action of the heart had ceased, that the blood still flowed into the right auricle and ventricle, and consequently into the pulmonary artery; and that the propelling agent was so power- ful as to distend the right auricle and ventricle so forcibly after the pericardium was slit open, as to make it doubtful whether they would not burst, yet at the same time the pulmonary veins were comparatively empty. In this instance it was apparent, that the blood was obstructed in its course through the lungs, and that this obstruction was one of the principal causes of the vacuity of the circulating system of the arterial blood. From the distention of the cavities of the right side of the heart, and the gorged state of the cave, it was evident that no obstacle impeded the return of the blood through the capillaries, from the system at large. In amechanical point of view, the blood ought to have met with equal impediment in passing through the capillaries, as in passing through the final terminations of the pulmonary artery into the pulmonary veins. Impressed with the compara- tive emptiness of the pulmonary veins, and as no visible subsi- dence of the lungs had taken place, I was at a loss how to assign a cause for the obstruction on a mechanical prinaiple: It occurred to me that it was probable that the blood (from its ` vital principle being exhausted in its route through the system, | P2 , 212 Dr. Williams on the Cause and Effects of. (SEPT. and from its supply from the thoracic duct being unassimilated), could not pass from the pulmonary artery into the pulmonary veins, without first being acted upon by pure wich air. As such a cause seemed likely to offer a solution for every phe- nomenon connected with the subject, the idea was cherished, and for further satisfaction, the following investigations were insti- tuted on the canine species. Ananimal was destroyed by securing the trachea at the acme of inspiration, afterwards the sternum and cartilaginous ends of the ribs were removed. The blood appeared florid in the pulmonary veins, and in the coronary arteries through the pericardium. When the contractions of the left ventricle began to flag, the pulmonary yeins became less and less distended, the blood changing from the florid to a darker and darker colour as the currend diminished. At the last con- traction the veins flattened, and. the left ventricle felt contracted. At this instant, an irregular or fluttering contraction of the mus- cular fibres of the right ventricle commenced, and continued for a short time, excited seemingly by the stimulus of distention, from the accumulation of blood in its eavity.. After the irregu- lar muscular action had ceased, the right ventricle felt soft and distended, the left was still contracted, but not so rigid as imme- diately after the last systole. The pulmonary veins appeared empty ; one of them was opened, when only a temporary oozing of blood followed. The pericardium was then slit open, and the right ventricle soon became enormously distended, yet no blood flowed out ofthe punctured vein. Another pulmonary vein was opened, followed by a similar oozing of blood. The pulmonary artery was now punctured, and instantaneously the blood gushed out, and deluged the shell of the chest. An animal was exa- mined in the presence of Dr. Traill, after being destroyed in the same manner as the above, and the pulmonary veins were found in the same empty condition after the last systole. From the investigation, the following corollaries are drawn: 1. That the blood is obstructed in its passage through the lungs, on suspension of respiration, while its circulation through the other parts of the body continues. 2, That the obstruction of the blood in the lungs, on suspen- sion of respiration, is not the effect of a mechanical cause. 3. That the obstruction of the blood in the lungs, on suspen- — of respiration, arises from a deprivation of pure atmospheri- . cal air. 4. That the blood which is found post mortem in the left auricle and ventricle, is the remnant after the last systole, and the sub- sequent draining of the pulmonary veins. 5. That the obstruction of the blood in the lungs, on suspen- sion of respiration, is one of the principal causes of the vacuity of the system circulating arterial blood post mortem. 6. That the immediate cause of the cessation of the action of 1823.] the Obstruction of the Blood in the Lungs. 213 the heart, is a privation of its natural stimulus, arising from the obstruction of the blood in the Dung $ Among numerous phenomena observed in health and disease, which I conceive to arise from an obstruction of the blood in the lungs from a deficiency of pure atmospherical air, are the follow- ing. Hemoptysis, in my opinion, is generally the effect of an accumulation of blood in the pulmonary artery, arising from a deficiency of pure atmospherical air in the a to decarbonate the blood, immediately on its being conveyed into that viscus. The deficiency may arise from an interruption of the action of the respiratory muscles, as from the immoderate use of the vocal organs, or from inspiring rarified and impure air, or from the over distension of the stomach, limiting the action of the dia- hragm. Public speakers, singers, and performers on wind instruments, are well-known to be the frequent victims of hemoptysis. The enthusiastic orator, stimulated by the interest of his subject, and proud of the approbation of his audience, endeavours, by évery exertion, to make the greatest impression upon his hearers; by so doing he interrupts his respiration, and occasions a partial accumulation of blood in the pulmonary artery. If this interruption is often repeated, the minute branches of the pulmonary artery must become more and more dilated, as well as debilitated, and at last hemoptysis will suc- ceed; or, from. habitual irritation, the foundation of a more insidious disease wili be laid, I mean tubercular consumption. If the last conclusion be correct, we can account for the frequency of tubercular consumption in countries subject to sudden vicissi- tudes of the atmosphere. The consequence of sudden and frequent changes of temperature, must be sudden and frequent floods of blood, as it were, rushing into the lungs, especially into the lungs of those who have a delicate and a highly sensible constitution. The pulmonary arteries of open-chested persons easily accommodate those frequent torrents, as the blood from the capacity of their lungs is immediately exposed to the influence of the atmosphere, and undergoes the necessary changé to admit it to proceed onwards without any delay. The pulmo- nary arteries of narrow-chested persons, on the contrary, soon feel the effects of a sudden increase in the circulating medium, for their lungs are unable to supply the increase of blood imme- diately with pure air, so as to enable it to proceed onwards with- out delay ; therefore a temporary accumulation takes place in the pulmonary artery, which must irritate its extreme termi- nations. | : Now I flatter myself, that the cause of the phenomenon that reserved the discovery of the circulation of the blood to modern times, and to the honour of our country, has been disclosed, and that no one for the future, however sceptical, will be able to 214 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on a Geological Mapof [SEPT urgé the vacuity of the arteries after death as an objection to the doctrine of our immortal Harvey. | How far temporary accumulations of blood in: the pulmonary d are a source of disease, I leave to the decision of time. Yet I must say, that Dr. Traill's coinciding with my views on the subject, has made me not a little sanguine, that my pathological: speculations are founded upon a substantial basis ; and I cannot refrain acknowledging that I am gratefully sensible of my obli- gations to Dr. Traill, for his kindness during the above inquiry, as well as at all other times. n e er rtr n re RS ARTICLE XII. Memoir illustrative of a general Geological Map of the principal Mountain Chains of Europe. By the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, FRS. &c. (Continued from vol. v. p. 359.) CHALK FORMATION. This formation appears to stretch through an area of great extent, occupying the interior of the ene European basin, reaching probably from the banks of the Thames to those of the Dniestr ; or if we attach credit to the observations of Dr. Clarke, even to those of the Don. It is not, however, to be understood, that its beds can be traced continuously throughout the borders of this area, so as to present an uninterrupted basset edge ; for this holds true of its western limits in England and France alone. In the central portions of Europe, it is greatly concealed partly by the overlying of the more recent tertiary deposits, and partly by the vast accumulations of diluvial debris, which veil from observation the native rocks throughout so large a portion of the north of Germany. | (A.) Shores of the Baltic. The northern limit of this area may be traced in the line of the Baltic on the island of Rugen, where chalky cliffs present themselves on its northern coast, being found also on the neigh- bouring continent, in Pomerania and Mecklenburg. Hence the line appears to pass to the south of Sweden, where a small chalk tract occurs near Malmo, crossing to the opposite coast of Zealand, and including the small isle of Mona on the south. Some account of these localities may be found in De Luc's travels, From Mona, the line of. the chalk has not been traced: it probably traverses Holstein (where it is said to occur, probably 1898.]. the principal Mountain Chains of Europe... — 2M. near the.gypsum of Kiel) to the mouth of the Elbe, and thence: crosses the German Ocean. ft Agi (B.) England. -This formation first exhibits those white cliffs which have been supposed to have bestowed on our island one of its ancient appellations at Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire ; and thence stretching to the. south-west, traverses England diagonally, till it reaches the British Channel, in Dorsetshire, being broken through, however, in its course by the estuaries of the Humber and the Wash. The greatest breadth of this formation is in Wiltshire and Hampshire, where it expands into those vast lains which Pennant has appropriately termed the great central atria of the English chalk. Hence it detaches two branches to the south-east, viz. the North Downs through Surrey and Kent, to the Dover and Folkestone cliffs, and the South Downs through Sussex, to those of Beachy Head. The interval between the North and South Downs is occupied by the formation of sand, &c. inferior to the chalk, constituting what has been called the denudation of the Weald, and extending into the Boulonais on the opposite side of the channel. The areas lying between these branches and the main diago- nal chain are occupied by basins of the more recent tertiary deposits, viz. the basin of London, between the main chain and the North Downs, and the basin of the Isle of Wight, between the main chain and the South Downs. The south side of this . latter basin is skirted by a curvature of the main chain towards the east, deflecting it so as to cause it to run through the penin- sula of Purbeck and the Isle of Wight. This deflected portion of the chain is remarkable from the circumstance, that its strata are throughout greatly elevated, and generally nearly vertical ; while in other places the angle of the beds of this formation with the horizon rarely exceeds 2? or 3°. The height ofthe chalky Downs in one instance (Inkpen, in Hampshire), exceeds 100 feet, and is often between 800 and 900 feet above the level of the sea. ; (C.) France, and the Netherlands. This formation occupies on the northern coasts of France, an extent exactly corresponding to its line on the southern coast of England. At the mouth of the Seine, its outer edge (which reposes on green sand, having oolite and lias in the neighbour- hood) turns south, and so continues to Blois, where the forma- tions above the chalk overlie and conceal its southern extremity : it reappears at eager Ad: and turning again north (for the whole chalk district of France forms a sort of Cape protruding to the south of its general line), runs east of Troyes, Rheims, and Valenciennes, having the green sand, oolites, and lias, on its east, till it approaches the latter town, where most of these 916 Rev. W. D. Conybeare on à. Geological Map of [Srrt. formations are wanting (an instance of want of conformity in their direction), and the chalk, with a few beds of green sand, there called Turtia, rest horizontally on the truncated edges of the coal formation, which extends thence along the banks of the Meuse to Liege and Aix: the coal is here even worked beneath the chalk. North of Valenciennes, the edge of the chalk appears to trend to the east, but it is generally overlaid by the sandy superstrata through the Netherlands; it may, however, be seen on the south of Maestricht, and at Henri Chapelle near Aix.* (D.) Germany. As in the Netherlands we have traced the chalk skirting the north border of the coal fields which repose against the transi- tion chains, so we find on crossing the Rhine the lower beds of the chalk formation (craie chloritée verdatre) similarly placed in the prolongation of these lines in Westphalia, i. e. to the north of the coal fields of the Rahn extending from Unna by Soist to Geseke and Lichtenau.. Thence, after an interruption caused by the alluvia of the Lippe, it reappears near Domhagen and Pader- born, aud forms at the foot of the muschelkalk a series of little escarpments, which extend by Schlangen, &c. beyond Hilter, in Osnaburg.+ | To the north of the secondary hills of Westphalia, the whole district is well known to present the appearance of an uniform and vastsandy heath, covered with a deep accumulation of dilu- vial gravel, in the midst of which occur enormous rounded blocks of granite, for which a source cannot be found nearer than the opposite shores of the Baltic—thus exhibiting one of the most striking problems submitted to the investigation of geology. The great mass of this gravel, however, consists of chalk flints, well marked, and bearing traces of all the character- istic fossils : at least nine-tenths of the whole consist of these ; a sign that the parent formation can be at no great distance. In such a tract, a rock in situ is like an oasis in the desert; at Luneberg, however, the fortifications are partly constructed on a rock of gypsum, and about a quarter of a mile hence, on the left of the road to Hamburg, the writer of this article was grati- fied by detecting a chalk-pit which had escaped the attention of former observers : it contains the usual alternation of flints, and affords good specimens of the inoceramus, echinites, and most of the Mensa il fossils. à Dr. Boué also notices a similar patch of chalk at Mount * There are other chalky districts in the south-west of France connected with the - basin of the Garonne, but these being apparently unconnected with the great chalky area, occupying the interior of the principal European basin, will be mentioned in the close of this article. T I copy these localities from an excellent article of Boué’s on the Geology of Ger» many, which ap in the Journal de Physique for May, 1822. I have to regret that I was not earlier aware of the existence of this article. 1823.] — the principal Mountain Chains of Europe. 217- Lindon, néar Hanover, and several others between that town and Goslar, especially in the hills called Elbergebirge between Gras- dorf and Unter Elbe. My friend, Prof. Buckland, informs me, that in this tract the chalk forms highly included ridges, like that called the hog’s back, near Guildford. There are also seve- ral detached patches of the lower beds of this formation between Goslar, Halberstadt, and Enedlinburg (see Boué). From their po- sition these localities should seem to be occupied by outlying masses on the south of the general boundary of this formation ; but Dr. Boué mentions another point, Prenzlow on the Ucker See, in the north of Brandenburg, where it probably appears by denudation in the midst of the tertiary formations. = nne s I do not here mention the chalk said to occur near Ratisbon which must be referred to a distinct basin, (that, namely, extend- ing from the north foot of the Alps to the Dohemer Wald), nor, . for similar reasons, the traces of this formation, which, accord- ing to Boué, exist throughout the basin of Bohemia, and even in thevalley of the Elbe, near Dresden, placing these as supple- mentary articles at the end of this sketch, of the course of the chalk through the principal European basin. | | In pursuing then the southern boundary of this basin, it does not appear to have been noticed between those points north of the Hartz to which we have already traced it, and the district on the north ofthe Riesengebirge, whereitreappearsin Lusace and. Silesia, e. g. on the west of Lawnberg and Lauben, &c. (E.) Poland. This formation here constitutes a line of hills running parallel to the Carpathians ; it is finely exhibited at Cracow : it contains abundant flints, affords the usual organic remains, and rests on green sand : it was here examined by Prof. Buckland. Hence, passing by Lemberg, it appears to extend into Russia. (F.) Russia. + The chalk is here exhibited according to the map of M. Beu- dant, in several detached points, on the north of the Dneistr to the north-east of Zaleszyky, between the 25th and 28th parallels of long. from London. Hills of chalk were noticed by Dr. Clarke at Kasankaiya on the Don, and the town of Bielogorod, signifying the white city, is said to take its name from white hills of the same substance in its neighbourhood. Engelhardt observed chalk, containing its usual flints and fossils, even in the Crimea. : Mr. Strangways is, however, of opinion, from more recent examination, that the supposed chalk of the Crimea is really a tertiary formation, and that the localities on the Dniestr are the ‘only ones which are well ascertained in Russia. No particulars can be gathered of the eastern or north-eastern boundaries of this formation. We may conjecture, however, 218 Rev. W.D. Conybeare ona Geological.Map.of (Serr. j that they pass by the Valday hills to the mouths of the Vistula ; thence, the northern border must run eastward through the. Baltic to the island of Rugen. CHALK Deposits: NOT IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED WITH. THE Great CENTRAL Basin or EUROPE. ! " (A..) Ireland. In Ireland, a remarkable deposit of chalk forms the basis of the great basaltic area in the north-east angle of that island ; it contains flints ; the organic remains agree with those of England; the thickness of the whole deposit does not exceed between 200 and 300 feet ; it rests on green sand. (B.) South-west of France. Chalk is said to occur on the borders of the tertiary basin of the Garonne, near Dex, on the south-west, and along its north- ern border.—(See the preceding article on green sand.) (C.) Spain. In Spain, chalk is said to occur near Cervera, on the road from Barcelona to Lerida; gypsum abounds in the same neigh- bourhood, and at Pleacente, two miles from Valencia, but the descriptions are too vague to be relied on ; the gypsum men- tioned seems to be rather that of the red sandstone, than of the formation above the chalk, and possibly a cretaceous marl may: have been mistaken for the latter rock. (D.) Italy. In Italy, the Scaglia, which covers the extreme secondary chains ofthe Alps in the Veronese, may perhaps be a variety of chalk; it is described as a calcareous bed, containing nodules and beds of variously coloured flints, resting on the oolites and white limestones, and dipping under the tertiary hills (1. e. those consisting of the formations more recent than the chalk); it re- appears against the volcanic group of the Euganean, hills near the mouth of the Po, which appeer to have forced it upwards. (E.) Basin of Bohemia, and the Valley of the Elbe. Dr. Boué announces that the formation in this district, long known under the name of planer kalk, is really chalk. In the Valley of the Elbe, he has seen scattered patches of it in the bottom of a sinuosity in the granite near Mahles, on the east of Meissen ; between Plauen and Strehlad, west of Dresden; at Colditz, and near Zchist, south of Pirna. | In Bohemia, between Toplitz and Bileu, and along the Laun to Lobositz and Grabern, sometimes supporting basaltic cones. More to the south, this deposit appears to have formerly covered the coal and red sandstone formations over an area bounded by two lines, one passing from Hohenmouth to Prague, 1823.] the principal Mountain Chains of. Europe. 219 Beraun, and Duckau; and the other from Eypel to: Laun and Saatz, small patches being scattered over this district. . On the confines of Bohemia and Moravia, especially between Hohen- mouth and Tribau, it is still more abundant; it forms hills man hundred feet high on the north of Tribau. | It also occurs near Brisau and Lissitz. | (F.) Basin of Swabia and Bavaria. This basin appears to exhibit cretaceous marls and chloritose chalk, like that of Bohemia on its southern border at the foot of the Alps, e. g. south of Munich, at Berg, and near Gastein. i $94 -© (To be continued.) ARTICLE XIII. ANALYSES or Books. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for | l 1823. Part I. ! Upon perusing this part of the Philosophical Transactions, we find, with respect to several of the papers it contains, having already given such full reports of them as they were read before the Society, that we have little more to do in the present analy- sis than to refer the reader to those reports; correcting, how- ever, as we proceed, a few slight inaccuracies in them, and supplying a few unavoidable omissions. dd ^l. The Croonian Lecture.— Microscopical Observations on the Suspension of the Muscular Motions of the. Vibrio Tritici. By Francis Bauer, Esq. FRS. FLS. and HS.—(See Annals, N.S. v. 66.) prige “ This minute animal, the vibrio tritici," Mr. Bauer informs us, “is the immediate cause of that destructive disease in wheat, known under the name of ear cockle, or purples, by farmers. * On opening some of the diseased grains, I found their cavi- ties filled with a mass ofa white fibrous substance, apparently cemented together by a glutinous substance, and formed into balls, which could easily be extracted entire from the cavities of the grains, and which, when immersed in water, instantly dis- solved, and displayed in the field of the microscope, hundreds of perfectly organized extremely minute worms, all which, in less than a quarter of an hour, were in lively motion.” ; In order to ascertain how these animals are propagated, and how they are introduced into the cavities of the young germens, the author * selected some sound grains of wheat, and placed some portions of the mass of wormg in the grooves on the poste- rior sides of the grains, and planted them ın the ground in the 290) Analyses of Books. [Sx»t, month of October, 1807. . Nearly all the seeds came soon up, and I took from time to time," he continues, * some of the young plants for examination, but could not perceive any effect of the inoculation, till the month of March, 1808, when, in cares fully slitting open the short stalk ofa young plant, I found three or four worms within it; they were in every respect the banie, but they were now about two-thirds larger, as well in length as in diameter, j * On the 5th of June, I found, for the first time, some of the worms, of different sizes, within the cavities of the young ger- mens; and having, in the beginning of March, found some of them in an enlarged state in the stalk, I concluded that some of the original worms, with which I had inoculated the grains of seed, had got, during the germination of the grains, into the stalk, where they became mature, and laid their numerous eggs, some of which must be carried by the circulating sap into the cavities of the then forming young germens, in which the young worms extricate themselves. from these eggs; and finding their proper nourishment within the cavities of the germens, these young worms become of mature age, and lay their aes within the cavities of these germens, which, at that period, nearly approach towards maturity ; and these newly laid eggs, I consi- der to be the beginning of the third generation of the worms with which I had inoculated the grains planted in the ground in October, 1807. | “ Towards the end of June, the germens assumed various dis- torted forms, and began to be filled with eggs. 1 extracted carefully the whole contents of one of the largest grains, and putting it into water in a watch-glass, I found, on examination under the microscope, seven large worms, all alive, bending and twisting in the water like so many small serpents.” . The Face worms are more of a yellowish-white colour than the young ones, and are not so transparent; from the head, which is somewhat roundish, and furaialied with a proboscis, as mentioned in our report of this lecture, they taper gradually off towards the tail, which is scarcely half the diameter of the mid- dle of their body, and ends in an obtuse claw-like point. “The movements of these large worms are very faint and slow; they are very seldom observed to unroll themselves entirely; they move their heads and tails faintly, but their pro- boscis they move constantly, extending an pital it uickly ; and when in the act of discharging their eggs, they bend the tail-piece upwards with a very quick jerk, at the pass- ing of every egg; after having discharged all their eggs, the parent worms soon die, and in a few days they decay; and fall to pieces almost at every joint. * 'The eggs come out. from the orifice in strings of five or six, adhering to one another at their ends, which then appear trun- cated ; but, in water, they soon separate, and assume an oval 1823,] Philosophical. Transactions for 1823, Part I. 221 form,which, in its middle, is slightly contracted. These eggs con- sist of an extremely thin and transparent membrane, through which the young worm can be distinctly seen; and, if atten- tively observed, it may be seen moving within this envelope." - The eggs, after the worms have quitted them, soon shrivel and decay, and it appears that they ultimately dissolve. * The young worms are somewhat &maller and more trans- arent than those which are found in the more mature grains, but in a very short time after they have mixed with the others, they cannot be distinguished from them. | Those which are found in the cavities of the mature grains, are nearly all of the same size; they are from 4, to yẹ part of an inch in length, and ti part of an inch in diameter.- They are milk white, semi-transparent ; and if viewed with the strongest magnifying power, appear annular, like the large worms, though no exter- nal indentations are observable; they appear like fine glass tubes filled. with water, and containing many air bubbles in close succession, and of the same number as the rings or joints in the old worms. At both extremities (one of which is more sharply pointed than the other), there are no such divi- sions or joints perceptible. These extremities are each about one-eighth of the whole length of the worm ; they are perfectly transparent, and appear like solid glass. | * The latter end of July, the diseased grains had almost all attained their full size, and assumed a brownish tint; and about the fifth of August they were all of a dark brown colour, variously distorted, and as hard as wood. The cavities of these grains were now completely filled with young worms, and these worms were, in every respect, the same as those with which I had inoculated my first seed grains; and those specimens were now more than twelve months old, and, conse- quently, the grains and the worms within them were completely dry; but after soaking them in water about an hour, the worms recovered their powers of moving, and were again as lively as those which were taken from the living plants. | “ The large worms, after they become dry, die, and never revive; neither can the young worms within the eggs be re- vived, if the eggs have been but for a moment dry before the worms have extricated themselves.” Mr. Bauer found. that such worms as had been kept the shortest time in water, reco- vered their motions soonest; ‘ so that those,” he says, “ which had been examined in the plain object-glass, where only a very small quantity of water can be applied, which very soon eva- porates, almost every individual worm recovered in less than a quarter of an hour; and if the water is a second time suffered soon to evaporate, the experiment may be repeated many times successfully with the same worms; but after the second or third repetition, if there is a suspension of a week or ten days at each interval, several worms do not revive, and the number of these increases at every succeeding repetition, If this ex- 292 ^ Analyses of Books; (Skea, periment be not repeated too soon or too frequently, the worms retain their reviviscent quality much longer; the longest period of recovery, after a second suspension, | have hitherto ascer- tained, was eight months. | y * [f the worms are kept alive in water for a week or ten days, the experiment cannot be repeated so often, but the intervals of suspension may be prolonged considerably. |I made the ex- periment very recently with grains which were three years and ten days old, and dry. After extracting the worms from the grains, I kept them in water 35 days, and after they had again been 15 days perfectly dry, I supplied them with water, and in less than twelve hours’ soaking they were again, almost every indi- vidual, in as lively motion as if they had just: been taken from fresh grains of the growing plant. I had the pleasure of showing these worms, in that state, to several Members of the Society, on the 29th of September last; after that day, I pre- served the same specimens 18 days, perfectly dry ; when, sup- plying them with water, I found, in less than three hours, at east one-third of them in lively motion; but the next morn- ing, after they had just been 16 hours in water, they were all dead. If these worms are kept in a large glass, where the water cannot evaporate, they remain alive more than three months, but then they gradually die, and become as straight as needles.” The glutinous substance in. which the worms are preserved must be secreted by them, “ since in grains in which the worms and the fungi or smutballs exist, that portion of the cellular tissue of the young germens, where a worm has formed its nest and laid its eggs, is entirely preserved ; whilst in those portions of the grains which are immediately in con- tact with the fungi, the cellular tissue entirely disappears, and the fungi are only enveloped by the external tunic of the young germen." | 7 " . This lecture is illustrated with two engravings from microsco- pical drawings by the author; one representing the diseased wheat, and the other the worms themselves. Il. On Metallic Titanium, By W. H. Wollaston, MD. . VPRS.—(See Annals, v. 67.) po * My attention," Dr. Wollaston remarks, ** has been directed, by various friends, Vd arta by Professor Buckland, who gave me the subject of my experiments, to certain very small cubes, having the lustre of burnished copper, that Pow esp] are found in the slag of the great iron-works at Merthyr Tydvil, in Wales, which, from their hue, have, by some persons, been imagined to be pyritical. Their colour, however, is not € that of any sulphuret of iron that I have seen; and though. the form be cubic, it is not the striated cube of. common iron- pyrites, which so often passes into the pentagonal dodecahe- dron, but similar to that of common salt; for any marks, that are to be discerned on their surfaces, appear as indented squares instead of striz. | 1893.] Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part I. — 993 « Their hardness also is totally different from that of pyrites, and is such as, when combined with the preceding characters, marks a substance wholly unknown to mineralogists. By se- lecting a sharp angle of one of these cubes, I found that I could. not only write upon the hardest steel, or upon crown glass, but could even visibly scratch a polished surface of agate on rock-crystal. - Having broken out some of these crystals for experiment, I found them all apparently attracted by a magnet; but observ- ing that they had still small portions of slag adherent to them, they were next digested in muriatic acid, which, by dissolving the iron from their surfaces, soon freed them from their decep- tive appearance of magnetism. $ * Before the blow-pipe they are utterly infusible. A con- tinued heat oxidates them, and they become purple or red at the surface, according to the degree of oxidation, or depth to which it penetrates." en We must here add to Dr. Wollaston's statement respecting the purity of these cubes of titanium, as given in our report of this paper, that they contain no sulphur. r In considering the properties which evince that they are in a metallic state, Dr. W. observes, that when the action of nitre upon them is rapid, “ heat is evidently generated, as by the combustion of other metals; but as I acted upon them in their solid state, and did not pulverise them, 1 did not witness what could properly be called detonation, as described by Lampadius." To the several metals with which Dr. Wollaston was unsuc- cessful in his endeavours to unite one of these cubes, as al- ready mentioned by. us, we must now add lead. ‘The following particulars form an appendix to this interesting paper. | * Since the date of this communication, the liberality of Mr. Anthony Hill, of Merthyr Tydvil, has supplied me with a larger quantity of the slag which formed the subject of my first experiments, and has enabled me to determine the specific gravity of metallic titanium to be 5:3. For this purpose, the vitreous part was fused with a mixture of borax and sub-carbo- nate of soda in about equal quantities, and was then dis- solved in muriatic acid, which also removed a quantity of me- tallic iron, and left the titanium freed from extraneous matter. Though great part of what was thus obtained from the interior of the slag was in a pulverulent state, the quantity, which amounted to 32 grains, and displaced 6:04 of water, was sufli- cient to preclude any considerable error. * [ have moreover learned that metallic cubes, similar to those which I have above described and examined, were, more than 20 years since, observed in a slag at the Clyde Iron Works in Scotland; that a small quantity has also been met with at the Low Moor Iron Works, near Bradford, in York- shire ;' and at the Pidding Iron Works, near Alfreton, in Dei- byshire; and that some good specimens have been obtained 224 wi _ Analyses of Books. sat [Serr from Ponty-pool, in. Monmouthshire ; but it does not appear that any one bas ascertained, or even suspected, the real na- ture of this singular product." | | II, On the Difference of Structure between the Human Mem- brana Tympani and that of the Elephant, . By Sir Everard Home, Bart, VPRS.—(See Annals, v. 69.) | The full sound of the French horn, we find, produced the same effect upon the elephant at Exeter 'Change, with the low notes of the piano-forte, as described in our report of this communication. We have already explained the difference of structure between the human membrana tympani and that of the elephant, as here described by Sir E. Home: his observations on that membrane in other quadrupeds are as follows; they are illustrated, toge- ther with the immediate subjects of the paper, by engravings from drawings by Mr. Clift. | * 'The nearest approach I have met with among quadrupeds tothis peculiarity in the elephant, is in neat cattle: in them the membrane is more oval proportionably than in the ele- phant; it is 29 of an inch long, -$ broad. The handle of the malleus lies in the direction of the transverse diameter of the oval, and extends two-thirds of its length; it is not, however, situated in the middle line of the oval, but so much nearer to the anterior side, that the fibres on that side are two-thirds Shorter than those on the opposite. * [n the deer, the wer dite is of an oval form, whose transverse diameter is 44. of an inch, the conjugate 4: the malleus has its handle nearer the middle line than in neat cat- tle, the anterior fibres are 43; of an inch, the posterior 43; of an inch long. : * In the horse, and hare, the handle of the malleus lies in the middle line, so that the fibres on the two sides are equal. In the hare the handle is more curved. | * [n the cat, the fibres are nearly the same as in the horse. I mention this circumstance, since it leads to the conclusion, that the whole of the feline kind have a similarly constructed . organ. © The effect of the high notes of the piano-forte upon the great lion in Exeter Change, only called his attention, which was very great. He remained silent and motionless; but no sooner were the flat notes sounded, than he sprung up, endea- voured to break loose, lashed his tail, and appeared to be enraged and furious, so much so as to alarm the female spec- tators. This was accompanied with the deepest yells, which . ceased with the music." IV. Corrections applied to the Great Meridional Arc, extend- ing from latitude 8° Y 38", 39, to latitude 18° 3’ 23", 64, to re- duce it to the Parliamentary Standard. By Lieut. Col. W. Lambton, FRS., &c. ; This short paper, it is probable, forms the last communica- 1823] Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part I. 995 tion respecting the measurement of an are of the meridian in India, ever prepared for the scientific world by its lamented author; his decease took place, as we are informed by the Indian papers, on the 20th of January last, only eleven days after the present communication had been read before the Royal So- ciety, "We shall, on this account, be more particular in our analysis of these ** Corrections,” than, under circumstances of less interest, we probably should haye been, - Col.. Lambton first expresses his satisfaction at the results of Capt. Kater's experiments in examining and comparing the dif ferent standard scales ; and his pleasure on finding “ that the Commissioners for considering the subject of weights and mea- sures have adopted Mr. Bird’s scale of 1760, as by that means . there is now a universal standard of comparison, which applies to the French metre, and to all the measures used on the Con . tinent, **From Capt. Kater’s results it appears," the Col. continues “that with respect to a measurement on the meridian the degree depending on my brass scale must be multiplied by . ,000018,. and the product subtracted from the measure given by the scale, to reduce it to what it would have been, had it been measured by what is now the Parliamentary standard ; and the degree depending on Ramsden's bar, by ,00007, and the product added to the measure given by the bar, to reduce it to the standard measure." The arc which Col. Lambton measured, he next shows, de- pends on both these standards ; and he then gives in succession its different sections, correcting them by the above factors as he proceeds, From these corrections we have the degrees as follows : i ; Fathoms, * The degree for latitude 9° 34’ 44” = 60477:09 for latitude 13 2 55 oigo | Indian. for latitude 16. 34 42 60511:65 3 for latitude 47 30 46 for latitude 52 2 20 60824-26 English, for latitude 66 20 12 6095500 Swedish. * Then computing from Eq. 3, page 4¢8, in the Phil. Trans. for 1818, Part II., we shall have the ellipticity of the earth as follows: by the Indian and French, 4431457; 35344; 315,55; Mean 44145; 6077900 French. © p Wd dd Indian and English, 43554 3 soyar) 1373) SETS) LE 1 . *. 1 . Indian and Swedish, 4:25; so 97,53) 903,33) 373.33? General Mean 445, ; It is next shown, by means of a table computed from certain data given in the paper, “ that the first degree in latitude 9? 34’ 44" by the measurement is 0°67 fathoms in defect ; and that the degree in latitude 16? 34^ 42” (which may be taken for 16? 34’ 44”) by the measurement is 3:21 fathoms in excess." New Series, vou. V1. Q 996 ' Analyses of Books. [Sepr. With respect to the dimensions of the earth, and the length of the quadrantal are of the elliptic meridian, the author then deduces, that 60850°17 fathoms 1s the measure of the degree on’ the equatorial circle; and that “ 5467756 fathoms is the length of the quadrantal arc, which, reduced to inches, and multiplied [divided] by 10,000000, we get 39°3677 inches for the metre at the temperature of 62°, which falls short of the French metre by *0032 inches, when reduced to the same temperature.” r * This conclusion is very satisfactory, and I hope that equa success will attend my operations to the northward. I have already measured another section, which extends to latitude 21° 6’, having just returned from finishing it ; and when all the necessary calculations and corrections are made, I shall draw out an account of the whole, and forward it to the Royal Society at a future period. The celestial arc has been determined by seven stars, but there are many now eut of my reach which I observed in the beginning. * [t may be satisfactory to the mathematicians in Europe to know, that I am now advancing through Hindoostan ; and from: what I can learn from the different public authorities, I do not apprehend any difficulty. They are all inviting in their letters, and all seem desirous that I should go through their respective districts. If my present arc be continued Giese it will pass through Bopaul, and near Seronje, where I shall have again to observe the stars, and measure a base ; and if Scindiah’s country be in a quiet state, my meridian will pass through Gualior, his capital ; and my sixth section will terminate near Agra, on the Jumna. Ihave made up my mind to execute all this if I live, and continue to have that flow of health and spirits which have hitherto attended me. The result of such an extensive measure-, ment must be interesting to scientific men; and I shall exert my endeavours in doing justice to the work, and in giving a faithful account of the operations.” | In concluding our notice of this paper, we cannot but express onr,earnest hope that some fully qualified person may speedily be appointed to continue Col. Lambton's operations, as well in the measurement of the arc, as in the extension from it of a general survey of the country ; the latter undertaking we believe, had already been commenced by Col. Lambton, and the present state of our knowledge respecting the geography of Hindostan impetiously requires its. prosecution. | - On the Changes which have taken Place in the Declination of some of the principal fixed Stars ; VI. Appendix to the preceding Paper on the Changes which appear to have taken place in the Dectination of some of the fixed tars; and | VII. On the Parallax of a Lyre. By John Pond, Esq. Astronomer Royal, FRS. To give a satisfactory account of these important papers .1823.] | Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part I. 927 would occupy a far greater.space than we could at present devote to the subject: we must, therefore, confine our extracts, in this place, to the conclusion. of the-paper on the parallax of a Lyre; the difference between which and that of y Draconis, Mr. Pond finds, is absolutely a quantity too: small to be mea- sured, or it is zero; and his observations indicate, in the most decided manner, that the actual parallax of the former star can- not exceed a very small fraction of a second. ` ! -“ Notwithstanding the importance of these investigations to the history of astronomy, and to our forming a correct notion of the system of the universe, yet our decision ultimately turns upon so very small a quantity, that our having reduced the inquiry to these narrow limits, rather tends to show the perfec- tion of each instrument [of Greenwich, and of Dublin], than the defect of either." * On former occasions, I considered the question of parallax in the particular case of æ Lyre as undecided, and as perfectly open to future investigation ; but the observations of the present year have produced, on my mind, a conviction approaching to - moral certainty. The history of annual parallax appears to me to be this: in proportion as instruments have been imperfect iu their construction, they have misled observers into the belief of the existence of sensible parallax. This has happened in Italy to astronomers of the very first reputation. ‘The ‘Dublin instru- ment is superior to any of a similar construction on the Conti- nent; and, accordingly, it shows a much less parallax than the Italian astronomers imagined they had detected. Conceiving that I have established, beyond a doubt, that the Greenwich instrument approaches still nearer to perfection, I can come to no other conclusion than that this is the reason why it discovers . no parallax at all." | VIII. Observations on the Heights of Places in the Trigonome- trical Survey of Great Britain, and upon the Latitude "i Arbury Hill. By b. Bevan, Esq.: Communicated by Sir H. Davy, Bart. PRS. | | | By means of levelling to the canals, &c. Mr. Bevan found the country to the north of Arbury Hill suddenly to fall about 400 feet, and continue at this depressed state for nine or ten. miles. This “ defect of matter," he observes, * was a strong ground for . supposing a deflection of the plumb-line to the southward ;” and: by calculating the latitude of Arbury station, from the latitude of Blenheim, as determined by previous observation, independent. - of any astronomical observation made at Arbury, he found it to be 52? 13’ 23”, or five seconds /ess than was shown by the zenith sector. For the calculation by which this discrepancy was de- duced, and for the other subjects of the paper, we must refer the ` reader to the original. B. ih (To be continued.) Q 2 998 Proceedings of Philosophical Societies, (Serr, AnricLE XIV. Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. June 20.—A paper was read, containing a Description of a Section of the ers Strata at Bramerton, near Norwich. By eom Taylor, Esq.: communicated by John Taylor, Esq. reas. ue, This paper was accompanied by a sketch of the crag beds at Bramerton, resting upon the upper chalk, and a table was sub- joined containing the respective thicknesses of the series of Dos with a list of such organic substances as belong to each. A paper was also read, on the Geology of Rio de Janeiro. By Alexander Caldcleugh, Esq. MGS, The mountains in the neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro are for the most part composed of gneiss intersected by granite veins. A siliceous stalactite was observed by the author to form in this district from the overhanging masses of gneiss, specimens of which were presented to the Society. As the absence of hot springs makes the occurrence of these stalactites of very considerable interest, Mr. Caldcleugh offers the following hypothesis to explain their formation; the water which in Brazil constantly trickles down the bare sides of the hills, often reaches a temperature as high as 140° or 150° of Fahr. This warm water descending on decomposing strata of gneiss, such as is the case with that from which these specimens are taken, seizes the potash of the felspar, and then acts upon the quartz, and forms a siliceous stalactite. Some of the hot springs or geysers of Iceland do not reach the boiling point, and perhaps the quantity of silex dissolved, the inverse of what is shown to be the case with carbonate of lime, may, in a great measure, depend on the temperature of the alkaline solvent. June 27 .—A. paper was read, entitled, ** Observations on the uartz Rock Mountains of the West of Scotland and North of Ireland, more particularly those of Jura, with an Account of the ancient Beaches and Trap Dykes of that Island, accompanied by a Plan and Sections." i The quartz rock is traced in a succession of districts from Lerwick, in Shetland, to the county of Donegal, in Ireland ; and in Jura the thickness of the mass is estimated at 10,960 feet. The similarity and singularity of form assumed by quartz rock mountains in districts remote from each other is deduced from the peculiar construction and material of the mountain mass acted upon by powerful aqueous currents. Quartz rock is of great extent in the county of Donegal, where, in one instance, EC Scientific Intelligence. 999 it rests immediately on pronto, and at the Muckish mountaiü contains a bed of pure siliceous sand of tonsidérable thickness. The author proceeds to. notice thé ancient beaches of Jura which appear hitherto to have escaped observation : these oceür on both hore of Loch Tarbert, and are disposed in six or seven- terraces rising regularly from the present shoré, above which the highest is elevated about 40 feet; the breadth o¢cupiéd by these beaches, in some instances, amounts to three-fourths of a mile, and their line or extent has been traced eight or teñ miles, - The author concludes with a description of, and remarks on, the trap dykes of Jura; these are extremely numerous, and remarkable for preserving courses nearly parallel to each other, and nearly in the line of dip of the quartz rock which they traverse, which gives occasion for offering some reasons to account for that particular disposition. ArTICLE XV. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE, I. Composition of Morphia. From the experiments of M. Bussy, it appears that morphia is com- posed of bus Lar Carbon. i... eee siibesoniosrooa DUO Azote..... vdd d 64506170390 4 A5 Fydrogeh sa iea vis bss IREE AAIR DO Oxygen. ,.... 9i esce Ea iod ud 20-0 100*0 (Journal de Pharmacie; viii. 590.) . II. Corrections for Moisture in Gases: Lia Vo eats) The following observations and formule are taken from the last edition of Dr. Henry's Elements of Chemistry, vol. i. p. 25 :— Another correction, which it is often necessary to make in taking the weight of gases, is for the quantity of aqueous vapour diffused through them. It is obvious that all gases; which are specifieally lieavier than aqueous vapour, must have their specifie gravity dimi- nished by admixture with steam; and, on the contrary, all gases that are specifically lighter than steam must have their specific C increased by that admixture. For the following formule, I am in ebted to Mr. Dalton, who has obligingly stated them at my request. * At ordinary temperatures, thé tension or elasticity of aqueous vapour varies froni 1-100th to 1-50th of the whole atmospheric pres- sure; in the present ease it is supposed to be a given quantity. The specific gravity of pure steam compared with that of cotimon air, under like circumstances of temperature and pressure, is, according to Gay- Lussac;as0°620 tol. — | ris 5 * Let a = weight of 100 cubic inches of dry common air; at the pressure 30 inches and temperature 60° Fahr. ; p = any variable press 230 Scientific, Intelligence. [SEPT sure of atmoenhers air; and f= pressure or tension of vapour in any moist gas. en the following formul will be found useful in calcu- lating the volumes, weights, and specific gravities, of dry and moist gases; putting M for the volume of moist gas; D for that of dry gas; and V for that of vapour, all of the same pressure and temperature. 1.M=D+4+V. 9, 4M e p, 3 TM. a P pv id. Miam Toe, = ^i din “If we wish to infer the specific gravity of any dry gas from the observed specific gravity or weight of the same mixed with vapour, it will be convenient to expound p by that particular value which corre- sponds with a, namely 30 inches of mercury; and let s = the specific gravity of the dry gas, and w = the observed weight of 100 cubic inches of the moist gas. Then we shall have the following, viz. acr d T. ota ls 5. 30 .$ Q igs 620 a= w. 6. s= m (w= É x 620 a) 30 — fa p Exemplifications. | ^]. 98 vol. dry air + 2 vol. vapour — 100 vol. of moist air. 2. Given p = 30, f = :5, and M = 100. Then *—/ . M = D, the dry air, = 984. 3. And * M = V, the vapour, =. 14, 4. Given D = 100, p = 30, f = “4. Then “2 = 101°35, the moist air. Given V* = 2, p = 30,f = °3. 0 x2 > . Then £ = = 200, the moist air. 5. Let f ='5, s = 1'111, a = 30°5, p = 295, Then =~ L111 x 905 + gy X62 x 305= 38°64 = w, which gives the specific gravity 1:103. 6. Let f, a, and p as above, and w = 2'5, corresponding to specific gravity 08197. 30 ' Thens = gs; go (25 — gg x '62 x 30:5) = "07966. “The above formule apply equally well if V be a permanent gas, or any other vapour beside that of water, the specific gravity ofthe gas or- vapour being substituted instead of ‘620 that of steam." * It is easy to see that V, in this and the other cases, mostly will denote a virtual vo- lume only ; or such as would result, if the vapour were condensible like a gas, without being eonyertible int.a liquid, PS 1823.] Scientific. Intelligence. 331 ing . ML. Crystallized Steatite = According to the analysis of Prof. Dewey, this mineral contains "bdisi s Qe AUS DUI iba du a 50°60 Magnesia’... se..c.cseeeceses 28:89 Oxide of iron.......... Vh bs eni BBO Oxide of manganese............ 1:10 Ahmes es sy Abo sehes: OAM Wolter. eo cs ss EV viele venti BOO TORE seh de ke loaw ene vU ^ R2 100-00 ** In heating the mineral, there was sometimes more and sometimes less than 15 per cent. of water liberated; but the water is taken at 15 er cent." The above proportions, it appears, are between those ob- tained by Klaproth in his analyses of steatite from two localities ; ** there can be no doubt, therefore," Prof. Dewey remarks, ** that these crystals are real steatite.” * The form of some of these crystals, is that of a six-sided prism terminated by six-sided pyramids, often variously truncated. Some of them appear to be four-sided prisms terminated by a four-sided pyramid. They are unquestionably the crystals intended by Jameson, as they are found in a similar situation to those mentioned by him, though they seem not to be pseudomorphous. The locality is described, vol. v. p. 249, of this Journal. They are sometimes covered with a very fine grained and close brownishsteatite, in which, as in the asbestus, the crystals leave their form. The specific gravity of the crystals is less than that given to steatite. In the various specimens I have tried, it has been found very nearly 2, sometimes a little more or a little less, Their specific gravity may be taken at 2, water being unity.”—(Silli- man's Journal, vi, 334.) IV. Earthquake and Volcanic Eruption in Java. On the 27th of December, a shock of an earthquake was felt at Java, and it was repeated 18 times in 20 hours. At the same time, a subter- ranean noise was heard in the mountain of Merapic, which began to eject stones. On the 29th, at one o'clock in the morning, an eruption . took place, during which half of the mountain was surrounded with tor- rents of lava and columns of fire, while a heavy shower of sand and small stones covered the environs.. The village was destroyed, and 15 persons perished. At the mountain of Bruno, a very strong subterra- nean noise was heard, and it began to eject small black ashes which were perceptible at a considerable distance.—(Journal de Physique, tom. 96, p. 80.) V. Glassy Actynolite. The characters and constituents of glassy actynolite from Concord Township, Delaware County, Pensylvania, as determined by Mr. H. Seybert, are as follows : Colour, in the mass, emerald-green; powder greenish-white. Lustre vitreous. Translucent. Fracture in one direction fibrous; in the opposite irregular, Very frangible. Scratches glass, Structure. 233. Scientific Intelligence. [Sept fibrous and fasciculated. Specific gravity 2:987. Fusible before the blowpipe into an opaque greenish enamel; It contains Silica eee 69 Ain UP Bale e*eeeee LAM M 56:338 Magnesia. sssi iier es 24000 Dos ARES eee tere etary 10°666 Protoxide of iron. .......... ia 4300 Alaini ciseisavicis CUYO 1:666 WEEE Quiniciái T1717 $9 1*088 Protoxide of chrome,,,.,..... A trace 97:998 DORDE Te Lae 2-002 100°000 The loss of weight by ignition is estimated as water in this statement. —(Silliman’s Journal, vol. vi. p. 331.) , VI. Discovery of Mineral Caoutchouc in New England, United States. The following is Prof. Silliman’s account of this discovery, as given’ in his journal, vi, 370 :— jur: dar edet hg This reist küble mineral, hitherto nearly or quite confined to the Odin mine at Castleton, in Derbyshire, has been recently found at Southbury, 20 miles north-west of New-Haven. This region is a be- condary trap basin, and although only six or eight milés in diameter, it presents all the characteristics of the great trap region of Connecti- cut and Massachusetts described by. Mr. Hitcheock. Among other things, it contains slaty rocks with bituminous minerals; these have induced a search for coal which is now going on, We understand that they find bituminous slate or shale with small veins of coal. Specimens confirming this statement are now on the table, and they exhibit fibrous limestone, forming very distinct veins, or rather layers, running parallel with, and lying between, -those of the slate. The fibres of the satin spar or fibrous limestone are one inch or more in length; they are often cracked in the direction of the fibres, and between them there até veins occupied by the mineral caoutcliouc. It has but little elasti- city, it is soft, easily impressible by the nail; and compressible between " the fingers like potassium, and can be formed into & perfect ball; its colour is jet black ; some varieties of it are a little liarder, and have a resitious and splendent lustre, and a flat cótichoidal fracture ; it burns with extreme brilliancy, with much black sthoke, and an odour between that of a bitumen and that of an aromatic; during the combustion, drops of liquid fire fall in a stream, or.in quick succession, and with a whizzing noise, exactly like the ve étable caoutchouc, and it melts precisely as that substance does. Rubbed on paper, it leaves a black streak, and acquires a high polish; it does not remove pencil marks from paper. ‘The veins containing this mineral are about one-quarter ef an inch wide, and several inches long." VII. On an Improvement in thé Apparatus for procuring Potassium. By W. Mandell, BD. Fellow of Queen’s College; Cambridge. * On repeating the late Prof. Tennant’s experiment for procurin potassium (which differs from the similar one first made by the Fretich chemists, Gay-Lussac, and Thenard, principally in being more simple 1823]: Scientific Intelligence. | 248 and commodious for practice), it occurred to. me, that one part of the apparatus made tse of, might, with advantage, be still further simpli- fied; and as every circumstance, however apparently obvious, or tri- vial in itself, which, in any dégree, tends to facilitate the productioi; in greater quantity, of so powerful a chemical agent as potassium, is ôf importance, I have thought tliat the mode of operating which I pursued might not be wholly unworthy the notice of this Society." | * It is well known that the grand difficulty in successfully perform- ing the experiment in question, consists in protecting the gun-báfrel from the effects of that extreme and long-continued heat, which is necessary to decompose tlie alkali; and to volatilize its base. The usual practice hitherto has been to surround with a lute that portion of tlie gun-barrel which is introduced into the fire: This operation, however, 1$ always tedious; and although it be conducted even with the greatest care, it is found extremely difficult to prevent fissures in the coating, particularly when the heat is much incteased in the course of the expe- riment. Hence, if eventually the fire have direct access to the barrel, through any crevice which may be formed, the fusion of the denuded part is generally the consequence, atid the whole labour of the éxpéri« ^ went is lost." « This then being the common cause of failure; it occurred to iie that, if there were substituted for the luting, a thin but sound aiid well-burnt twbe or hollow cylinder of Stourbridge clay, of such dimén- sions as just to cover that portion of the barrel which is subjected to the fire, the unfortunate result, which I have alluded tö; might possibly bë avoided.” i | * A tube of this description was accordingly procured ; and in órder to guard against the hazard of its cracking, by reason of exposuré to à sudden increase of temperature, it was, in the first place, gradually and with caution, heated to redness.” * The remaining part of the ar S a was then performed with entire success; and a very considerable quantity of potassium ob- tained." - & It may be proper to remark that the hollow cylinder, and that por- tion of the gun-barrel which it incloses, should bé of such rélative diameters that; when cool, their corresponding stitfaces are nöt quite in close contact; otherwise the cylinder will be in danger of bürstifig; not only on account of its own contraction, Büt also on account of the simultaneous expansion of the gun-barrel, froth the effects of that very high temperature; to which, in this state of combination, they are sub- mitted."' « Moreover, the whole apparatus should be süpported accurately in the same position throughout the experiment (by means of rests made of Stourbridge clay), and should be so situate in the firé, that the ma- terials operated upon fiiay, during the whole process, be submitted to its greatest intensity.” « With due attention to these precautions, and to some minor cir- cünistances in the manipulation of thé experiment, which I shall not take up the Sóciety's time in detailing, it is believed that the decompo- sition of potash, by means of iron, might, in evéry instance; be effected with almost entire bene and potassium be obtained in great abun- dance? (Cambridge Phil. Traits. 1822. Part II.) 234 Scientific Intelligence. (Serr. VIII. Dr. Bou? on the Newer Deposits of the Alps. In the first volume of the Annals, N. S. we published Prof. Buck- land's ** Notice on the Structure of the Alps, &c.;" and we now insert some descriptive remarks on a part of the same subject, by another eminent geologist, Dr. Boué, whose opinion respecting it has already been adverted to by the Rev. W. D. Conybeare, in his ** Memoir on the Mountain Chains of Europe," Annals, v. 282, N.S. They are de- rived from Dr. Bouè’s ** Outlines of a Geological Comparative View of the South-west and North of France, and the South of Germany ;" read before the Wernerian Society on the 15th of April last, and pub- lished in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for July, p. 128. « We shall now trace the shell limestone, and show, that by some observers it has been confounded with the zechstein. It may afford matter of surprise that I should contradict the opinion ofso many cele- brated men, but the fact is clear, and the confusion has arisen merely from mistake regarding the geognostical position of the Jura limestone. In Swabia, geologists not finding the zechstein, and yet being anxious to recognize a deposit so well known in the north, had naturally, from their not being acquainted with the shell limestone (muschelkalk), taken this deposit for the zechstein, because it lies above what they rightly consider as the todliegende. This base admitted, they naturally be- lieved that the salt deposit was placed between their zechstein and todliegende, and this salt they rendered subordinate to the zechstein or alpine limestone of Friesleben. Further, they then naturally called the Jui limestone the shell limestone (muschelkalk), and the quader- sandstein the red marl, But when it is once acknowledged, what it is impossible to deny, that their shell limestone (muschelkalk) is not the zechstein, but in reality the second floetz limestone ; it then naturally follows that, as every where else, the salt deposit lies under the great mass of that formation, and alternates with every part of it." 1 ** The shell limestone (muschelkalk) of Wirtemberg, or of Wurzberg,. is in every respect the same as that of the north of Germany, and above it comes the quadersaxdstein, or third floetz sandstone, which sur- rounds the Jura chain, and, lies under it. The most interesting parts, of this deposit are the environs of Amberg, where it contains short beds of marly rock, with vegetable impressions (lycopodites), or siliciferous beds, and a kind of coarse tripoli with carpolites.. The dias lies above it, and alternates with argillaceous and sandy beds; it is a compact marly rock, of a greyish colour, or slaty, with gryphites arcuata, pla- giostomata, ammonites, belemnites, mytiloides, reptiles, &c. in short, with all the fossils common to the lias and alumslate of England ; so that 1 would recommend this part of Germany to the study of those. English geologists who are inclined to confound the shell limestone (muschelkalk) of Germany with the lias, because the first deposit does not appear to exist, or but very sparingly, in their own country. This formation is alao very interesting, from its clay containing masses of brown iron-ore, or hydrate of iron, which are wrought with advantage, and which rarely contain small veins of wavellite, and of oxide of man- ganese, and are here and there changed by the quantity of marine exuvie into granular or compact, or even into beautiful crystallized phosphate of iron (Amberg). The well-known nests of compact and 1823.] Scientific Intelligence. 235 reniform phosphorite are also found in a clay subordinate to the lias of Amberg. H The structure of the secondary formations of the Alps has puzzled many geologists; yet.the means of cutting the Gordian knot have been given by Escher, De Buch, Mohs, Lupin, Uttinger, Pantz, Keferstein, &c. The writings of these excellent geologists, together with the judi- ciously managed travels of Mr. Buckland, have enabled us at last to acquire a distinct view of this part of the alpine regions. It would be quite useless for me to relate my own observations in this place, were I not of an opinion different from that of Prof. Buckland upon the newer deposits of the Alps." ** Upon the old red sandstone rests the great alpine calcareous tract, which belongs to the zechstein or magnesian limestone; it is in great part a magnesian limestone, which presents some varieties of rocks, one of which is rather compact, another somewhat granular, while an- other is fetid, and some, particularly those in the upper part of the formation, are porous, or present the structure of the rauchwacke (Eisenertz), In its lower parts there are vast deposits of lead and zinc, in the form of small veins; bitumen is found here and there in it; in some places mercury has been collected, which could only come from some bituminous part of this formation, and here and there are found columns of porphyry. (Hiedeberg, Geisalp.) This grey, or yellowish, or whitish limestone, forms very high hills of at least 7000 or 9000 feet, and its masses very rarely show any traces of stratification. Petrifac- tions are exceedingly rare in it. It is the hochgebirgeskalk of Escher and Uttinger, and a part of the alpine limestone of Humboldt, Freisle- ‘ben, De Buch; &c. -It is impossible to confound it with any other limestone deposit, for it has not the slaty structure of the transition limestone, nor the petrifactions of the shell limestone (muschelkalk), and, besides, it lies everywhere under the variegated sandstone and salt-formation. This last formation presents, in the Alps, as elsewhere, two masses, an arenaceous and a marly. The first is composed of alternations of greywacke-like micaceous sandstone, seldom vy coarse, with marls which are of a greyish, brownish, or yellowis colour; in short, not red like the variegated sandstone of Germany, because in the northern part of the Alps there have been no porphy- ries, to give them the necessary supply of hydrated oxide of iron. These rocks are placed above, and sometimes also below the marly masses, which consist of alternations of various marls, raore or less in- durated, and of a brown, reddish-brown, blackish, greyish, or greenish colour: they contain gypsum and rock-salt. Petrifactions are not - ‘seen in this formation, but there are many vegetable remains, often of marine plants (Kahlenberg). This formation, which is distinctly strati- fied in thin layers, lies between the magnesian limestone and the shell limestone (muschelkalk) ; and, as elsewhere, the upper part of it often alternates with indurated marl or limestone, or even with limestone identical with the shell limestone (muschelkalk), and with flinty con- cretions. Thus, at Ischel, the marly mass lies between the shell lime- stone (muschelkalk) and a series of marly and calcareous beds; between Klosternenberg, near Vienna, and Nussdorf, the undulated beds ofthe deposit contain many limestones, which are here and there traversed by minute ferruginous veins, like the reniform marble of Florence. After this short description, I imagine no one can any longer doubt 936 Scientific Intelligence. (Serr, the identity of this deposit with the red marl. This formation fills up the valleys of the Alps, and forms only in the eastern part, and in the Cafpathiatis, thost extensive ranges of hills, like the Spessart. It is the grès houillet of Beudatit, and of my former memoir.” (Meitioirs of Wernerian Society, vol. iv. Part I.) * As this deposit lies upon a very Wr own surface, it forms, as elsewhere, many ttidulations, and affords the first origin of the undu- lated stratification of the hills of shell limestone (muschelkalk), which overlié this formation. The alpine shell limestone (muschelkalk) is à compact lifiestone, of a whitish, greyish; yellowish; brownish, and rarely blackish or reddish colour. It contains imbedded flinty concre- tions, and is traversed by many small veins of calcareóus spar, which are generally totally different from those of the transition limestone, and the thin numerous veins of the magnesian limestone, in short, aré analogous to those of the shell limestone (muschelkalk). These rocks, which are in some few instances of a particular granular or oolitic structure (roggenstein), afford marbles intermediate between the mar- bles of the transition limestone, and those of the lias or Jura limestone. They contait many of the same fossils, as the shell limestone (muschel- kalk) of the north of Germany, ammonites, modiola socialis, náu- tili, strombites, türbinites; fragments of ecliini, madrepores, tubipores; alcyons, &e. They form very high hills, coniposed of thin beds always stratified, which affords a good test to distinguish this liniestone from the thagnesian, upon which it often lies in patches or hills. Tt abounds around the salt district, iti Austria, Switzerland, Dauphiné; iti short, it is a part of the alpine limestone of authors. | ** After this description; I need only add, that I see nothing in it of the character of the lias or Jura limestone, as Mr. Buckland calls this deposit. Its intimate connexion with the salt formation, its situation; its petrifactions, its nature, all show that it is tlie shell-limestone form- ation (muschelkalk), so long neglected; and which now seems to occupy so conspicuous à place in nature. It is probable, that even a great part of the limestone lying upon the Macigno, or variegated sandstone of the Middle Appennines; belongs to the shell limestone (muschelkalk), and not to the Jura limestone. Yet, in contradicting in this manner so intelligent an observer as Buckland, I dó not, by any méans, consider it impossible that some patches of the Jura formation may be situated near, or upon the Alps, in some parts ; but in Germany I do not know of any facts which show the probability of this state- ment, and so lohg as Mr. Buckland is without a cleat idea of the shell limestone (thuschelkalk), and of its difference from the lias, at least in Germany and France, he will probably hesitate as to the accuracy of my observations, His chief arguments are derived from the petrifac- tions; but is it not very natural that the same terebratulé, or some other similar petrifactions, may exist both in the shell-limestone (mus- chelkalk), and lias? and until he show me in the alpine shell-limestone (muschelkalk), the gryphites, the icthyosauri, the plagiostomiata, and show that it is unconnected with the salt deposit, I cannot adopt his ideas, which seem to me inconsistent with nature.” 1823.] New Scientific Books. 237 Articte XVI. NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. i A new Edition of Berthollet on Dyeing, with Notes and Illustra. tions. By Dr. A. Ure. -2 Vols. 8vo. 3 Lectures on the. General Structure of the Human Body, and on the Anatomy and Functions of the Skin. 8vo. ^ A. B. Lambert, Esq. FRS. &c. is preparing a Supplement to his splendid work on the Natural History of Pines. With Engravings. olio. JUST PUBLISHED. | On the Stratification of Alluvial Deposits, and the Crystallization of calcareous Stalactites. In a Letter to Dr. John Macculloch. By H. R. Oswald. 8vo. Is. 6d. A. Treatise on the Medicinal Leach, including its Medical Natural History, with a full Account ofits very singular Anatomical Structure, &c. By J. R.Johnson, MD. FRS. FLS. $vo. 8s. ' A Guide to the Giant's Causeway and North-east Coast of the County of Antrim, containing an Account of the Geological Structure of Basaltic Stratification. By the Rev. G. N. Wright. With Map and Plates. Royal 18mo. 6s. : ' Mr. G. B. Sowerby’s Genera of Recent and Fossils Shells : Nos. 16, 17, and 18; containing the following Genera :— Unio, 2 Plates; Conus, 2 Plates; Hyria; Calceola; Cyproea, 2 Plates; Anodon, 2 Plates; ts Nucula; Anomia; Ricinula; Corbula; Pyrgoma; Creusia; rigonia. i Mémoires de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris, Tome Pre- mier. łre Partie. Paris, Boudoin Frères, 1823. 4to, 15s. O E EY 29 A Ere <> pepe iy ArTIcLE XVII. NEW PATENTS. : T. W. Stansfield, Leeds, worsted manufacturer; H. Briggs, Ludden- denfoot, Halifax, worsted manufacturer ; W. Richard, Leeds, engineer ; and W. Barraclaugh, Burley, Leeds, worsted manufacturer; for their improvements in the construction of looms for weaving fabrics com- posed wholly, or in part, of woollen, worsted, cotton, linen, silk, or other materials, and in the machinery and implements for, and methods of working the same.—July 5. | | G. Clymer, Finsbury-street, Finsbury-square, mechanic, for certain improvements in agricultural ploughs.—July 5. J. Fisher, of Great Bridge, Westbromwich, Staffordshire, iron- founder, and J. Horton, the younger, of the same place, manufacturers of steam boilers, for improvements in the construction of boilers for steam engines, and other purposes where steam is required.—July 8. S. Fairbanks, of the United States of America, but now residing in 238 ^o New Patents. - [SEP Norfolk-street, Strand, merchant, for certain improvements in the con- struction of locks and other fastenings.— July 10. J. L. Bradbury, Manchester, calico-printer, for improvements in the art of printing, painting, or staining silk cottons, woollen, and other cloths, and p er, parchment, vellum, leather, and other substances, by means of blocks or surface painting.—July 15. B. Gill, Birmingham, merchant, for certain improvements in the construction of saws, cleavers, straw-knives, and all kinds of implements that require or admit of metallic backs.—July 15. Sir I. Coffin, Bart. Pall-mall, Middlesex, for a certain method or methods of catching or taking mackarel and other fish.—July 15. — W. Palmer, Lothbury, paper-hanger, for his improvements in ma- chinery applicable to printing on calico, or other woven fabrics com- posed wholly or in part of cotton, linen, wool, or silk. —July 5. W. H. Horocks, Portwood within Brimington, Cheshire, cotton manufacturer, for certain methods applicable to preparing, cleaning, dressing, and beaming silk warps, and also applicable to beaming other warps.—July 24. ! R. Gill, Barrowdown, Rutlandshire, fellmonger and parchment manufacturer, for his method of preparing, dressing, and dyeing sheep- skins and lambskins with the wool on for rugs, carriages, rooms, and other purposes.—July 24. ! W. Jeaks, Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury, for his apparatus for regulating the supply of water in steam-boilers, and other vessels for containing water or other liquids.—July 24. W. Davis, Bourne, Gloucestershire, and Leeds, Yorkshire, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery for shearing and dressing woollen and other cloths.—July 24. reis | H. Smart, Berner's-street, piano-forte manufacturer, for certain im- provements in the construction of piano-fortes.—July 24. k . M. Turner, and L. Angell, both of Whitehaven, soap-boilers, for their process to be used in the bleaching of linen, or cotton yarn, or cloth.— July 24. J. Jackson, Nottingham, gun-maker, for certain improvements in the locks used for the discharge of guns and other fire-arms upon the deto- nating principle.—July 29. J. Bower, Hunslet, Leeds, oil of vitriol manufacturer, and J. Bland, Hunslet, Leeds, steam-engine manufacturer, for their improvements in such steam-engines as condense out of the cylinder, by which im- provement the air- pump is rendered unnecessary.—July 31. J. Bainbridge, Bread-street, Cheapside, merchant, for certain im- provements upon machines for cutting, cropping, or shearing wool, or fur from skins ; also for cropping or shearing woollen, silk, cotton, or other cloths and velvets, and also for the purpose of shaving pelts or skins.—July 31. L. J. Pouchee, King-street, Covent-garden, type-founder, for cer- tain apparatus to be employed in the casting of metal types.—Aug. 5. R. Dickinson, Park-street, Southwark, for his improvement in addi- tion to the shoeing or stopping and treatment of horses’ feet.—Aug. 5. J. Barron, Wells-street, St. Mary-le-bone, venetian-blind manufac- turer, and J. Wilson, Welbeck-street, Mary-le-bone, upholsterer, for. certain improvements in the construction and manufacturing of window blinds. —A ug. 11. 1893.] Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal. . 239 AnricLE XVIII. METEOROLOGICAL "TABLE. —— T BAROMETER,} THERMOMETER, Daniell’s hyg. 1823. Wind. | Max. | Min. | Max. Min. Evap. | Rain at noon. 7th Mon. July 1| Var. |30*10/30-01| 74 52 -= 25 9N Wi|30'14)3010| 75 47 —— KE 3| N |30173012) 78 49 UE VN: 4 E 130123004) 65 49 — 10 5| W 30:04229:85| 74 60 — 6 W 129852984 71 50 — 7| W 129°84/29°82| 68 49 — 20 SIN: Wi30003:29:82| 66 44 *85 20 9N Wi3015,3003| 74 47 — 10S Wij30:1529'85| 74 49 — 11S W!29°85'29°82| 74 56 — 19/5 W129'8529:82| . 70 58 75 13| 8 209:8299*78, 73 54 — 14S W99:89929':82|. 72 50 — 16 15S Wj29:822975| 70 50 — 20 168 W299529:73| 66 48 — 23 SN W429959991| 66 56 = 05 18} SE (2999/2991; 66 54 — 06 19S Wj30'0729:99| 71 60 76 04 90 W 1300712980} 78 57 — c 21S Wj9:91:29:80| 71 49 — 04 22N Wj29:7829:57| 71 54 w-— | n 93S W129:76.29°62| 71 53 — 21 24,N W]|29:99129:76| 68 46 e CI LS 95S Wi29:9299'75| 68 50 '84 15 26IN W329:9229:76| 65 50 — 40 297IN W]j29-96:29:99| 68 53 — 08 98S W]?99:96:29:91| 68 53 — 04 99S Wi)99:91/199:$8| 69 47 wn 30 W 29'9929:91; 70 54 c 02 31 W [301812999 74 50 *62 30°18}29°57} 78 44 3°82 | 2°43 The observations in each line of the table apply to a period of twenty-four hours, A dash denotes that beginning at 9 A. M. on the day indicated in the first column. the result is included in the next following observation. 940 — Mr, Howard's Meteorological Journal. [Sert 1893, REMARKS. Seventh Month.—1. Showery. 2. Cloudy, and fine. 3, Fine. 4, Showery. 5. Cloudy. 6. Fine: occasional clouds, 7. Showery. 8. A very heavy shower of rain about half-past three, p. m. attended with thunder. 9, 10. Fine. 11. Fine: cloudy atintervals. 12. Cloudy and fine, 13, Rainy. 14. Cloudy: slight showers. 15. Fine morning: showery afternoon. 16, Rainy. 17. Fine. 18, 19. Showery, 20. Fine. 21. Showers. 22. Cloudy. 23. Showery day: heavy rain with thunder about six, p. m.: ‘some thunder showers afterwards, with lightning. 24. Cloudy. 95. Showery. 26, Rainy. 27. Cloudy and fine, 28, Cloudy, 29, Overcast. 30, 31, Fine. , RESULTS. Winds: N,1; E, l; SE, 1; S, 1; SW, 12; W,6; NW, 8; Var. 1. Barometer : Mean height For the month... «ea eese sees secos ooo sas, 29:015 inches, For the lunar period, ending the lst, ....«. «ee... 30:004 For the lunar period, ending the 30th. assess cesses. 89:910 For 13 days, ending the 12th (moon north) . ........ 29:980 For 14 days, ending the 26th (moon south) , « ....««,» 29-847 Thermometer: Mean height For the wiguth..j . dip «o do ead gus chi sa SUR E 62-6119 For the lunar period, ending the Ist ,,,.« «ee eese ees 01:034 For the lunar period, ending the 30th, .......... e. 62:666 For 30 days, the sun in Cancer ..... ee eeee eee eee 997983 Evaporation. .. POH R RESET SE SETHE EH ESE H HEH HEFT ERSA ET ELE HE EES 3-82 in. Rain. *4999099999*545290849895924889992949€0989959222229292528*8^90952n2a89*2a4499* 9443. Laboratory, Stratford, Eighth Month, 22, 1823, R. HOWARD. > ANNALS PHILOSOPHY. OCTOBER, 1823. CENMCGUMM el 1T E. AmmcLE I.a nèit k Some Account of d scarce and curious. Alchemical Work, by 5 Michael Maier. By the Rev, J, J. Conybeare, MGS, (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, —— ! ! As you did not think the account of Biringuccio’s Pirotechnia - unworthy of admission into your journal, you may, perhaps, be - disposed, on the same principle, to spare, a.few pages to the analysis of another early beni oa inits own line not less curious and interesting. : For there is always, unless I am much mis- $ taken, an interest, and that a strong one, in tracing the history of arts and. science even where it exhibits most strikingly the |! aberration and misuse of human intellect and industry. | Believe me, dear Sir, most sincerely yours, J. J. CONYBEARE. k "A AE ~ tee ee Symbola Auree Mense Duodetim Nationum. Authore Michaele . Maiero Com. Imp. Cons, Nob, MD, &c, Francofurti, 1617, Small 4to. pp. 621. ind _ , Mater is termed by Beckman (unless my recollection be incorrect), the most learned alchemist of his age; and of all the | alehemieal works into which I have been occasionally led to search, this appears the best calculated to afford the curious : reader an insight into the history of that art, and of the argu- ments by which it was usually attacked and defended. It has | New Series, vou. v1. R 242 Symbola Auree Mense, 5c. [Ocr. the additional merit of being more intelligible and more enter- taining than most books of the same class. According to the taste of his day, Maier has thrown his defence of alchemy into the form of an allegorical narrative. The virgin Chemia having been grossly and falsely slandered by some adversary whom he names Pyrgopolynices, summons to her defence twelve worthies, of as many countries, who assemble in solemn council round the Golden or Philosophic Table. In agreement with the number of these sages, the work is divided into twelve books or parts, each constructed pretty much upon the same plan. In each, an account is first given of the hero who acts as its Corypheus; this is followed by brief notices of such among his countrymen as have been eminent in the same mysterious art ; and usually by some desultory remarks as to the natural and other peculiarities of the country which produced them. Lastly, Pyrgopolynices is introduced making a syllogistic attack upon some one or more leading points of alche- dl doctrine, which is: readily answered by the aforesaid Corypheus with all due etiquette of major, minor, &c. The first character thus brought upon the stage is Hermes Trismegistus, whose pretensions to this eminence can hardly be unknown to any of. your chemical readers. Maier determines seriously that Hermes lived 2000 years before the Christian era, — to acquiesce in the spuriousness' of such decidedly chemical works as passed under his name, and rests his claim to the title of Prorex Chemie on a forced interpretation of some assages in the Pimander and Asclepius, theosophical tracts athered upon Hermes by the forgers of the Alexandrian school, and in two short tracts, the Smaragdine Table, and the Tracta- tus 7 Capitulorum, of more dubious origin and signification. Under this view, he of course regards the mythology and hiero- lyphics of Egypt as concealing the arcana of the Hermetic art. his opinion, however, is reasonable in comparison with one which he states to have been entertained by some of his con- temporaries, “ that the whole Scripture, both of the Old and New Testament, is nothing more than a body of chemical alle- gories.” This Maier, who does not appear to have been deficient in piety, deservedly reprobates. The earliest authority which, with all his research and erudition, he can produce for the che- mical learning of the Egyptians, is the assertion of Paulus Dia- conus (a writer of the eighth century), that Diocletian burnt the library of Alexandria in order to prevent the Egyptians from becoming learned in the art of producing at will those precious metals which might be employed as the sinews of war against himself. He misquotes Orosius as an evidence to the same purpose. Itis needless to say, that as far as chemistry is con- cerned, the story is evidently a fiction. He attempts to press Tacitus into the same service, on the presumption that the. 1823.] Symbola Auree Mensa, &¢. 243 Phenix mentioned Ann. |. 6; is an allegorical représentation. of the Philosopher’s Stone. T To Hermes, Maier gives for assessors nearly all the early Egyptian kings, Adfar, the Alexandrian, and Calid, the Saracen. Of these, he affirms that the immensity of their works, and the hieroglyphic.remains of Egypt, prove more plainly than the sun at mid-day that they were great alchemists. Among those who received immediately from Egypt the doctrine of the adepts, were the Phenicians (Cadmus was an alchemist, and the Hydra the dragon of his art), the Colchians (witness the golden fleece), the Phrygians (he seems to insinuate that the war of Troy is a chemical allegory), and the Eumolpide of. Eleusis. . But, he proceeds, it is asked, “If chemistry be of such antiquity, and if its secrets have been in the possession of so many persons from the earliest ages, whence is it that they yet remain secrets.” For this natural question, he has no. better answer than that of all his brethren, * that they who had the gift were under a moral obligation to perpetuate their knowledge only under the veil of tjuod and allegories, penetrable by those alone whom heaven should see worthy of such a privilege." In the train of the Egyptians follow the Gymnosophists of /Ethiophia, the Magi of Persia, and the Bramins of India. He quotes from the life of Apollonius, a passage, which renders it not altogether improbable that in the age of Philostratus, somewhat of alchemical quacke had already begun to mix itself with the speculations of the mystic and Theurgic philosophy. Jarchas, the Bramin, con- versed, he says, with Apollonius, among other things, concern- ing the water of gold. Pyrgopolynices now begins his attack. “No species," he asserts, * is changeable into another species. But gold, copper, lead, &c. are species per se, ergo, they are not commutable inter se. The answer which one would anticipate at the present day is, that the determination of the species must be matter of Ve HC HP and that if copper, e. g. be an impure or adulterated gold, it is not a species perse. The answer of Hermes, however, is, that one species does actually pass into another, e. g. a | egg into a specific chicken, a seed into a plant, &c. ut his strong proof (or battering ram, as he terms it), is the evidence of all persons concerned in metallurgy in favour of the natural transmutation of metallic species. i Chap. II. Hebrews.—This class is led by Miriam, or Maria, whom Maier believes to have been the same with the sister of Moses, chiefly because Moses himself was skilled in the arts of the Egyptians, and because operations requiring a certain degree of chemical knowledge are mentioned in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. The writings ascribed to this Miriam are next quoted as alluding to the Vas Hermetis (the same, according to Maier, with the fiery cup of the Bramins mentioned by Phi- lostratus.) ** Vas," says Miriam, * quod Stoici. occultaverunt.” | R% 244 Symbola Auree Mense, &c. [Ocr. 1 have not the means of referring to the original tract, but from this mention of the Stoics, should apprehend it to'be; if not — the earliest alchemical forgeries, subsequent to the revival of literature.* To what particular notion of the Stoics the author refers, I am not aware ; the passage, however, if the tract be of any antiquity, is a curious one. Other Hebrews are enumerated as eminent in the art, among whom Solomon, as might be supposed, is not overlooked ; somewhat less plausible is the insertion (on the authority of Avicenna, Vincent of Beau- vais, and the Pere Ecclesiastice) of St. John the Evangelist. The notion seems to have had its rise in the misconception of a legend which represents St. John as having converted stones into gems, and wood into gold, for some eleemosynary purpose. This section is, for the most part, very dull and uninteresting. I will add nothing more, therefore, than a specimen of the argu- ments with which it concludes. ** To that which is perfect (says the adversary), nothing can be added ; bul the inferior metals, as lead, &c. are perfect, gius, Ant nothing can be added to them.” It is answered that that which is naituráliy perfect in its kind may be yet further perfected by art, as corn which is perfect in se is yet further perfected by being made into bread, &c. Book IIl. Greeks——These are headed by Democritus the Abderite, for whose existence, philosophy, and merriment, suffi- cient authority is given; for his alehemy, that of Psellus and Picus Mirandule. Maier hints that the atomic theory might still have its supporters, if the Aristotelians did not ery 1t down, but objects strongly to the notion of a plurality of worlds. The catalogue of Greek a/chemists includes Orpheus, Homer, the authors of the mysteries, and even of the Olympic and other games, Pythagoras, and nearly all the Greek tige ira among the rest, Euclid, and Seneca, Hamech, and Abugazal, the master of Plato. Apollonius of Tyana is made, with somewhat Amore of plausibility, to occupy a prominent station among these gentry. Into the probable sources of the extraordinary halluci- nation which would convert nearly the whole learning of Gre- cian antiquity into a mere vehicle for the dreams of alchemy, I . Shall endeavour to inquire shortly. Here then I will add only a further specimen of alchemical dialectics. P. “From two elementary substances (entibus per se) one ens per se cannot be made. But the alchemist who affirms that go/d (an ens per se), may be made by the union of lead, and the tincture assumes this. This assertion is, therefore, false." Answer. ‘We constantly see * unum quid " made * ex duobus entibus," as bread of * [tis probably an early Greek forgery. G., Syncellus (A. D. 780), mentions one aria, a Hebrew, as contemporary with Democritus of Abdera, and having written in language purposely obscure on subjects of the same kind, namely, gold, sitver, stones, and purple. ** Miriam and the Jewish writings," are also referred to in a Greek MS. entitled ** The Sacred Art," in the Royal Library of France."—(Fabricii Cod, Apo» cryph, Vet. Test. vol. i, p. 869.) . 1823.] Symbola Auree Ménse, &e. 245 flour and leaven, cheese of milk and rennet, &c. and oné whole house of its several parts." : Nothing (he concludes), save incre- dulity or ignorance, can see a difficulty here. rem ~ Book IV. Romans.—The earliest alchemical authority ‘our author is able to find among the Romans is one Morienus, whom he states to have lived,about A. D. 800. He argues, however, that the Romans must have been acquainted with the Hermetic art from their knowledge of the mythology and philosophy of the Greeks, and from the extent of their public revenues. He employs much erudition to little purpose, and quotes as alchemi- cal the well-known enigmatic epitaph Alia, Laelia, Crispis, said to have been found with a perpetual lamp, and a second in which occur the following lines : ` Hic elementa brevi clausit digesta labore, Vase sub hoc modico Maximus Olybius. . Both are probably forgeries of the 15th century. Virgil wrote alchemy. ‘The golden bough of the sibyl, and indeed the whole descent of /Eneas to the shades, is an allegory of this kind: he wisely omits all notice of the bard's “ porta emittet eburnd.” We notices the tradition that Virgil was a necro- mancer, a fancy at least as old as the 12th century. This section concludes like the former with a logical disputation. The argu- ments, as we have seen, are either mere verbal equivoques, or barefaced assertions, that the metals have been decomposed and recomposed by sundry alchemical worthies. Thus Maier concludes his review of the supposed Chrysopoetic science of the earlier and classical ages. It is unnecessary to add, that the whole can be considered at the present day only as a tissue of fiction, or at best of gratuitous assumption and gross misconception. ' Among all that his Tabour and erudition have brought together, there is not a single real authority (if we except the very obscure passage in Philostratus) on which we can ground even a suspicion that alchemy was studied or heard of at any time previous to the utter declension of art and literature in the eighth and ninth centuries. Yet that Maier and many others did sincerely believe much at least of what they affirmed concerning the history, as well as the reality of their art, can scarcely be doubted, nor is it, per- haps, difficult to trace the causes which tended to produce and to confirm these hallucinations. The 16th century was no more the age of critical than of phi- losophical accuracy, and forgeries of all kiuds were, therefore, received with less of question and examination. Add to this, that the mind of the adept already habituated to a symbolical language, chiefly borrowed from the heathen mythology, was the more easily led to assume, that the whole of that mythology was little more than the involucrum of chemical science. It will be 246 Symbola Auree Mense, &. [Ocr. remembered too that the learned of Maier's age almost univer- sally agreed in attributing to the varied and absurd fables of classical superstition an allegorical meaning of one kind or other; much of it had long since been regarded as shadowing out the phenomena and constitution of the material universe. Fictions which were, or were held to be, thus symbolical of the great and universal operations of nature, might easily, either by transfer or misconstruction, be applied to the more restricted but yet analogous processes of the laboratory. Generation, mixture, separation, dissolution, and reproduction, formed equally the ey and were equally inthe mouth, of the philoso- pher who speculated on generals, and of the artist whose labours were confined to the detail of experiment. Nor does it appear altogether an absurd or untenable hypo- thesis, that the whole fabric of alchemical delusion had its origin in the misinterpretation of those cosmological works which were popular in the declining age of classical literature. The Alexandrian and other schools which mingled much of oriental philosophy with the systems, real or pletbnded, of Pytha- poa and Plato, seem to have abounded in this lore, and to ave expressed it not unfrequently in a figurative or symbolical manner. They produced also many forgeries attributed usuall to authors of a high antiquity, and occasionally designed, perhaps, to prop the failing cause of heathenism. These, in rocess of time, would become unintelligible, and a new set of 1mpostors or fanatics} would intentionally or credulously distort their enigmatical contents, to the illustration of theories equally visionary, but better calculated to attract and dazzle an ignorant and barbarous age. We know atleast that the Sealed or Herme- tic Vase was of old considered as the symbol of the material universe, ever full, but never overflowing. The Mundane Egg was the same; and the serpent with the tail in his mouth figured the eternity of that universe (a well-known dogma of the pseudo- Pythagorean school) while fire was the type of the vivifying principle which pervades and preserves the whole. These are all common to the schools both of cosmogony and of alchemy,t * Thus in the well-known lines of Virgil .— Quum Pater omnipotens facundis imbribus æther, Conjugis in lætæ gremium descendit. There are traces of this mode of interpretation in the remains of a much earlier poet, the philosophic Empedocles ; the Stoics and the Platonists (at least the later Platonists) ‘were also much given to it. + There is in truth little to choose between such writers as Philostratus or Jambli- chus, and R, Lully or Ripley. i For the former, I would refer the scholar to the learned though sometimes fanci- ful Á— of Creuzer, entitled, ** Dionysius, &c." (Heidelberg, 1809); for the latter, to the alchemical hieroglyphics engraved in Barchusen's Chemia (Leyden, 1718), It may be added that Beckman and Bergman both quote from Origen against Celsus, an account of a Persian temple, in which the different planetary spheres were represented by different metals. It seems probable that the metals were employed in talismans, &c. 2: ic of the planets, long before the names of the planets were used to designate p > ‘ i F E * 1893.] On the Declination of the principal fixed Stars. — 247 and more resemblances might, I suspect, be traced by any one who had the inclination and Vicini to examine the earlier forgeries termed alchemical, those especially which are extant, or were originally written, in the Greek language. iig (To be continued.) ARTICLE II. On the Changes which have taken place in the Declination of some of the principal fixed Stars. By John Pond, Esq. Astro- nomer Royal, FRS. Read April 18, 1822.* Tug. mural circle having in September last been put into complete repair, and declared by Mr. Troughton to be in as per- fect a state as when first erected, I resumed my examination of the. principal fixed stars which form the Greenwich Catalogue. In the course of a very short time, I found that several anoma- lies, which had previously given me much perplexity, still sub- sisted: some of these were of such a nature as to lead to a sus- picion that a change might possibly have taken place in the figure of the instrument ; on the other hand, there were circum- stances, that strongly militated against such a supposition. _ Several of the. stars in which the supposed discordance appeared the greatest, passed over almost the same divisions with others, in which no such discordance could be perceived. Moreover, in examining these discordances in different points of view (that. is, both with respect to their right ascensions and poler distances) I fancied I perceived something like a general aw, that was quite incompatible with any. possible hypothesis of error in the instrument. On a point of this importance, I clearly saw the necessity of devising some new method of observation which might decide with certainty, that which otherwise would become an endless subject of doubt and conjecture. l had often attempted to observe the altitudes of stars by means of an artificial horizon of quicksilver, or other fluid, but had abandoned the attempt from the difficulty of protecting it from the wind, and from the number of observations I lost in fruitless experiments. To this method I had again recourse ; and by means of wooden boxes of different sizes and figures, . according to the different altitudes of the stars, I have sufficiently accomplished my purpose.. A very few observations were suffi- cient to convince me that the instrument was in every respect * From the Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part T. 948 Mr. Pond on the Changes in the Declinutions of [Oor. pétfect, and that I might repose the greatest confidence inevery - woe vd | | | ont. odi bsd-odw : Several stars, and particularly those most discordant, I have observed by this ew method, and find their places, without any exception, to agree within a fraction) of a second, with those determined by direct measurement from the pole. Presuming that. the observations* which accompany this paper will remove every shadow of a doubt as to the accuracy of the instrument, I shall now proceed to state, in as few words as possible, the nature of the changes which appear to me to have taken place since the year 1812. D If Bradley's catalogue of stars for the year 1756, be comè pared with the Greenwich catalogue for 1813, it will be possible to deduce the annual variation for each star for the mean period, or for the year 1784, on the supposition of uniformity in the proper hé 68 of each star; theh allowing for the chaüge of precession for each star, a catalogue may be computed for any distant period ; as for example, the present year 1822. Suppose such a catalogue computed, which I have named à ‘predicted catalogue; then, if this be compared with the observed cata- logue for the same year, the following differences will be found to subsist between them. P08, Nada The general tendency of all the stars will be to appear tothe south of their age places, and this tendency seems to be greater in southern than 1n northern stars ; if any star be found north of its predicted place, it will always be a star north of the zenith, and the quantity of its motion extremely small. ‘There may be observed à much ‘greater tendency to southern motion in some parts of the heavens than in opposite or distant parts as to right ascension, and in much the greater portion of the heavens the southern motion seems to prevail. A southern star, as Sirius, situated in that part of the heavens most favourable for southern motion, will be found more to the south of its pre- dicted place than Antares, situated in the part least favourable for southern motion, though it is itself more southward. Several stars have moved more from their predicted places than other neighbouring stars ; when this happens, the motion is always southward ; 1 have yet met with no exception to this rule; not a single star can be found having an ertra tendeney to northern motion; and indeed the sothetn motion i any star is so very small, that it would never have excited attention. A very i cada tana will be found in three very bright stars, Capella, Procyon, and Sirius: the proper motion of ‘each of these is ‘southward; it therefore follows that these proper ‘motions are accelerated. The proper motion of Arcturus 1s very great, and likewise southward. It is situated in that part of the * These observations are given, in the Transactions, in a copious appendix of tables to this and the two succeeding papers, which, on account of its length, we are compelled to omit, — Edit, 1899]. some of the principal fixed Stars. 249 heavens where the southern tendency is least discernible, and is nearly quiescent; its proper motion in polar distance may, therefore, be considered à$ uniform, + There is a circumstance that deserves notice, though it may be merely accidental: the stars in. the. Greenwich catalogue, whose proper motions.ate south, nearly equal in number those that are north, yet.the quantity óf. southern proper motion exceeds the northern in the proportion of four to one. ^4 shall at present offer no conjecture on the cause of these deviations, but endeavour, by continued observations, more accurately to ascertain the law which they follow. Should the weather prove favourable for observation, I: hope before the Society separate for the summer, to be able to give greater actu- raéy-to the numbers here subjoined. Indeed | should not have made so early a communication on the subject, but as the Greenwich observations of 1820 are about to be published, they might without this explanation have appeared erroneous; for 1 find that during that year the instrument was rather defective from ‘general unsteadiness, than from any perceptible deviation of the telescope. It was not till after the month of Feb. 1821, that the instrument got completely out of repair. It must however be admitted, that the observations of that year ought not to be employed in the determination of such small quantities as form the subject of the present communication. Horizontal Point of the : Circle as found by. different. Stars observed by direct Vision and Reflection from llth to 28d March, 1822. . A Ue, DMA) ore sep rites vais HOO (SO ARS a A P TIPPS HQ EUR QNSE: Oe ilo Neth E heh od Oe rence abr e OKO ————— P — 29°45 Heres ** 9 *** cas 99999 0 099999999 29-50 00 weer o» ooa ooa b es e 0 9 099 ^ 9 overs 29°05 Leib . ladda oe sich edoxi sirmoeaens»A/RMIDO Capella &« «4o» hh hh rhe 29100 Soul, cal harean eeke eiiis hos AC B AMIR. «4» va ve o erie tm o d ee 00 SO Mean of 10. a2 T MeL dd war aga 3h 254. AANER DIM we hacia. Vixeiuweleczes Ls ze 29-47 There being no perceptible difference in the results obtained near the zenith and near the horizon, it may be concluded that the instrument has no deviation, either from flexion of the tele- scope or change of figure. 250 Mr. Pond on the Changes in the [Ocr, ARTICLE III. | Appendix to the preceding Paper on the Changes which appear to ve taken place in the Declination Y some of the fixed Stars. By J. Pond, Esq. Astron. Royal, FRS. Read Nov. 14, 1822.* Tue observations which have been made during the last summer, confirm in a very decided manner the results which formed the subject of my last communication ; in which I laid before the Society the nature of the differences that exist between the computed places of the principal Stars of the Greenwich Catalogue, and those deduced from actual observa- tion. It is not my present intention to offer any explanation of the cause of these phenomena, although many obvious conjec- tures present themselves, the value of which it will require per- haps many years to determine. It is now my principal object to consider the force of that explanation of the differences in question, which will most readily occur to every astronomer, namely, that the whole may arise either from error committed by the observer, or from defect in the instruments of observation : this objection being the more weighty from the circumstance, that the observations of three distant periods are employed, and that an errorin those of either period (but particularly of the two latter) would materially affect the result now modi i ration. I believe that every person, in proportion to his experience in the use of astronomical instruments (even of the most unexcep- tionable construction), will be cautious in admitting the accu- racy of any results, with whatever care the observations may have been made, which appear to militate against any received theory of astronomy ; and | shall have occasion myself to show, from the great discordances between instruments of the highest reputation, that this distrust is but too well founded. More particularly ought our suspicion to be excited, when such ano- malies are found to exist, as bear some direct proportion to the zenith distances of the stars observed. In all such cases we should never hesitate, I think, to ascribe the anomalies to defec- tive observation. If therefore in the present instance, any part of the discordances in question can be shown to depend on polar or zenith distances, I -shall willingly admit, as to such part of them at least, that they are no otherwise of importance, than as affording data for leading to the detection of some hitherto undiscovered errors. The anomalies, however, that have led me on to this inquiry, and to which alone I attach any importance, are found to depend rather on the right ascensions, than on the * From the Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part I. 1823.] Declination of some of the fixed Stars. 95] declinations of the stars. Accordingly I found, while collect. ing observations to form a catalogue for the present period, that I could more nearly predict the deviation of a star from its com- uted place, by knowing its right ascension, than its declination. ow it is not easy to conceive in what way the error of an instrument for measuring declination, fixed in the meridian, can be occasioned by any circumstance depending on the right ascension of a star to be observed. The general nature of the deviation of the stars from their computed places will be best understood from the annexed tables ;* in one of which the principal Stars of the Greenwich Catalogue are arranged according to north polar distance, and in the other, in the order of their right ascensions. - - From these tables, it will appear, according to my statement in the former part ofthis paper, that the general tendency of the deviation is towards the south: that in about one-third part of the heavens in right ascension this southern tendency is very inconsiderable, and would hardly have excited attention : for in this part, stars between the zenith and the pole, appear a very erba quantity to the northward ; whereas in the remaining, and most considerable portion of the heavens, every star appears to be a considerable quantity to the south of its computed place ; and with few exceptions, the more southward stars have a greater tendency to deviation than the northern ones. If we select from the preceding tables those stars which were least frequently observed, at one or all of the three periods, we shall find that they all tend to confirm the foregoing general results ; though they must be regarded as doing so, rather by their united effect, than by their weight of evidence when consi- dered singly. Stars that have been but seldom observed, give results considerably affected by accidental error of observation ; which error is quite of a different nature from that produced by permanent defect in the instrument, and which repetition of observation has no tendency to remove. ! If the deviations of those stars that have been imperfectly observed, were attributable either to error of observation, or defect in the instruments, the deviation would either follow no law at all, or some law depending upon zenith distance: but the facts we have seen to be at variance with either of these hypo- theses. Not however to rest satisfied with these considerations drawn from the general tendency of all the stars without excep- tion, let us select some striking examples of deviation, in parti- cular groups ofstars, on which we might be satisfied to rest the issue of this question. Of these groups I have marked five, in the table of stars arranged according to north-polar distance, -each of which we will take the pains to sie ik more atten- tively. | 1. hise are six stars in my Catalogue north of y Draconis, * These are necessarily omitted in this work: see note to p. 248. 959. Mr. Pond on the Changes in the [Ocr. of which three are found to the north, and three to the south of their computed places. These inequalities may appear at first sight to be wholly accidental; but if we pay attention to the right ascension, we shall find that the three which appear to the northward, are situated in that of the heavens as to right ascension where the southern deviation is the least per- ceptible, and that the three which appear to the southward, are in that part as to right ascension where the southern deviation is the greatest. But of these six stars there are two, « Cassio- iv, and ¥ Urse Majoris, which deserve further consideration. hese two stars are within less than one degree of each other in polar distance, and consequently pass over the meridian at nearly the same altitude. ‘The observations of Bradley on the stars north of the zenith are not so numerous as could be wished ; but each of the two stars in question was observed by him about five times towards the year 1753 ; that is 60 years from the date of my catalogue of 1813. I have carefully recomputed the predicted places of these stars, and I find « Cassiopeiz not less than 1-5" to the south of its predicted place, and y Ursæ Majoris half à second to the north. Now I am quite at aloss to conceive how this difference in so small an arc can arise from error of observation, and I can only attribute it to that cause, whatever it may be, which seems so generally to depend not on the polar distance, buton the right ascension of the star. | 2. The second group which I shall consider, contains the stars « Arietis, Arcturus, and Aldebaran, comprehended within an arc of about six degrees and a half. Of these three, Arc- turus alone has yet been observed by reflection ; but from the present very perfect state of the Greenwich circle, which the method of reflection has enabled me to ascertain, it cannot be doubted that the places of the two other stars are well deter- mined.* In Arcturus the southern deviation is nearly insensi- ble, but in the two other stars it is very considerable, being in each not less than 1:5".. Now these three stars, but particularly the two latter, are among those that have been most assiduously observed by Bradley and myself, at each of the three periods. Let us suppose then, if it be possible, that the whole of these deviations arise from error of observation; or, in other words, that no systematic deviation has really taken place in the stars, but that their proper motions are uniform. Then we must admit that the mural quadrant and the mural circle have at each period given the polar distance of Arcturus correct, or at least subject to the same constant error; and as this star has been observed at each period, at all times of the day, and at all seasons of the year, the observations may be considered as perfectly exempt from accidental error. It will I believe be readily conceded that both instruments are so far perfect, that if the error be either ' nothing, or a given quantity at one point of the arc, the errors ® This has been confirmed by subsequent observation. 1893] ^ Declination of some of the fixed Stars. 253 must be very nearly indeed the same within a moderate distance, as within 15 degrees, for instance, of that point. Upon this supposition, how can we possibly reconcile the great errors that must have been committed in stars, adjacent as to polar dist- ance;: but of opposite right ascensions? I do not wish to press these remarks, in order to obtain greater confidence than they deserve, for observations which can never be regarded with too much suspicion; but the arguments I have used appear to me to follow logically from the data before us, and strongly to indicate the probability that some cause purely astronomical has, at least, some share in producing these unexpected deviations. 3. The third group, æ Herculis, « Pegasi, and Regulus, is still more remarkable, being comprehended within two Mic wn of declination, and two of the stars, 2 Herculis and a Pegasi,” being within half a degree of each other. In this group a Pegasi is at least 3” south of its predicted place, whereas the other two stars have not deviated much. more than 0*5" to the south. | 4. « Orionis, æ Serpentis, and Procyon, furnish an example equally striking, they being within less than 2° of declination from each other; « Serpentis is exactly in its predicted place, while æ Orionis and Procyon are each of them at least 2" to the south. 5. Rigel, Spica Virginis, and Sirius, are not contained within so short an arc as the former groups, nor are their deep so well determined, on account of their proximity to the horizon ; but they afford another instance of the inequality of southern devia- tion, in stars having nearly the same polar distance, but opposite right ascensions. But leaving the considerations suggested by these groups of stars, let us examine more minutely the different hypotheses that may be formed on the supposition, that the whole of these devia- tions depends on error of observation caused by some defect in the instruments employed : this investigation becomes the more necessary, as it does not appear that Dr. Brinkley, with his instrument at Dublin, has met with similar -discordances. Admitting the accuracy of the observations of Bradley to form the ground-work of this inquiry, there are then two distinct hypotheses, that may be formed by those, who are'inclined to maintain, that the proper motions of the stars are.uniform ; and that the discordances in question have their source, not in any astronomical cause, but in some erroneous system of observa- tion. Of the observations from which the catalogues of 1813 and of the present year have been computed, we may suppose the one or the other to be erroneous. - Let us consider the con- t eie of each hypothesis. MAU | et us first suppose the error to be in the observations of 1813. * The lunar nutation of « Pegasi was nearly a minimum at each period. 254 Mr. Pond on the Changes in the [Oct. Then the observations of 1756 and 1822 being supposed perfect, a catalogue for the vear 1813 may be computed by interpola- tion ; such a catalogue is annexed, and this (assumed to be cor- rect), compared with the observed catalogue of 1813, will show the errors of observations at that period. On this assumption the Greenwich circle must, in 1813, have been in a very defect- ive state ; and admitting the instrument to be now perfect, this can be only attributed to the insufficiency of the braces which then connected the telescope to the circle; for this is the only difference between the instrument in its former and in its present state. The natural tendency of any such defect would be, I think, continually to increase, and to give results every year more and more distant from the truth: but this is contrary to the known history of the Greenwich observations, which I have found gradually for some time past approaching to those results which are obtained at the present day, and which, according to our present hypothesis, are supposed to be nearly perfect. If the catalogue of 1813 were really so erroneous, as our present hypothesis would compel us to regard it, then it would appear that Dr. Brinkley's catalogue for the same period must have been still more erroneous, as may be seen by inspection of the annexed tables. Now admitting for a moment that there were at that time certain imperfections in the Greenwich and Dublin instruments, no person will believe them to have been so imper- fect as our present hypothesis would tend to represent them. Let us now examine the second hypothesis, which presumes the catalogue of 1813 to have been perfect, and consider what confidence is due to the Greenwich observations of the present day. This investigation is to be regarded as important, not merely with a view to the discussion of the nature of the discord- ances in question, but also from the circumstance, that instru- ments of well-known celebrity are represented as giving very different results ; for which reason I shall be excused for enter- ing into considerable details on this particular question. As the rncipal reliance I place on the accuracy of the present cata- ogue, and on the superiority of the Greenwich circle over all other instruments, with the history of which I am acquainted, is derived from the coincidence of the results obtained by the two independent methods ; the one of direct measurement of polar distance, the other of observing the angular distance of the direct and reflected image of the stars, it becomes of some importance to consider in what way this coincidence is a proof ofthe accuracy of either. The source of error the most to be dreaded in every instrument whatever, quadrant or circle, is that which will be caused by the flexure of the materials of which the instrument is made. It is impossible in theory that any instrument can be wholly free from this defect. In the Green- wich circle the number of microscopes placed round its circum- ference bave an obvious tendency to diminish this error, though 1823.] : Declination of some of the fixed Stars. 255 they cannot annihilate it ; but they have no tendency whatever to diminish the error arising from the flexure of the telescope attached to the circle. _. The effect of flexure in any circle will be, in the first instance, to give an erroneous distance from the pole to the zenith: in instruments that turn in azimuth, of the usual construction, the error thus occasioned will be applied to every star under the form of co-latitude, and a star south ofthe zenith, will be more- over affected by the probably opposite flexure due to that point of the instrument on which the star is observed. This in stars near the equator, or a little to the northward of it, will in our latitude give an error in polar distance, amounting to about double the error committed in determining the co-latitude. On the contrary, the polar distances of stars north of the zenith, being affected only by the difference of two flexures, will be more accurately, determizcd as.they approach nearer to the pole, where the errors will wholly vanish. Now, though in the usual mode of employing the Greenwich circle, viz. in measuring directly polar distance, the co-latitude does not become an object of enquiry, yet any flexure of the circle will produce a system of errors of the same nature as; those above pointed out. In instru- ments, like that of Dublin, which turn in azimuth, and with which the observer has to find the place ofall the stars by mea- suring the double of their zenith distances, if he does not find the same zenith point with different stars (provided the instru- ment be well divided) he may. be sure that flexure takes place ; but he cannot infer the converse, that flexure does not take place, from his obtaining with all the stars the same error in the line of collimation. Forifthe flexure be the same on both sides of the zenith, a supposition by no means improbable, + the observer will then have no indication of flexure by the usual method of determining the error of collimation by stars of differ- entaltitudes. Let us suppose that, with an instrument liable to flexure, it is required to measure by both methods the meridional distance of any two stars. The angular distance of the direct images will (as we have already seen) be affected by the differ- ence, or by the sum of two flexures, according as the stars are placed on the same, or on opposite sides of the zenith. In . viewing the reflected images, the instrument receiving two new positions, will be subject to two new flexures, by the sum or difference of which (as it may happen) the angular distance of the reflected images will be siota The most probable supposition to be made concerning the flexures is, that at. equal inclinations with the horizon, above and below it, they will be the same nearly both in direction and degree, and therefore that the two images below the horizon will approach by nearly the same quantity that the direct images receded, or vice versá. With an instrument therefore having such a system of flexures, the double altitude of each star will be correctly ascertained; but stars of different altitudes will 256 - Mr. Pond on the Changes in the © [Ocr, give different determinations of the horizontal point... From observations thus obtained, a near approximation to the true angular distance might be inferred, by taking. a mean between the distances of the direct and of the reflected images... The least probable supposition concerning the flexures is, that at equal inelinations above and below the horizon, they will be equal, but in opposite directions ; the consequence of which would be, that the direct and reflected images would approach to or recede from one another by the same quantity : the double altitudes of each star would be incorrectly given, but every star would give the same determination of the horizontal point. To suppose however the existence of such a system. of flexures, would be to suppose that gravity produced the same change of form in the instrument, as if its direction were inverted ; and since the horizontal line is that, at which according to the supa posed system a contrary flexure will take place, the flexure at or near the horizon should be zero, where, however, according to the known laws of mechanics it ought to be the greatest. Such a system therefore must be considered as mechanically next to impossible. 7 f then an instrument give the angular distances both by reflection and by direct vision the same, and the same determi nation of the horizontal line from stars of whatever altitude, there are then only two hypotheses that can be formed respecting such an instrument; either that the flexures are insensible, or that they are such as are absolutely inconsistent with the laws of - mechanics. Hence I conclude that the coincidence of the results by direct vision and by reflection, and the uniform deter mination of the horizontal point, will be the strongest proof of the non-flexure of the instrument, and of the accuracy of both . results.* . | do - In illustration of the whole of the preceding observations, let us examine two catalogues, those of Dr. Brinkley, and Mr. Bes- sel, which have lately much excited the attention of astrono- mers. Itis obvious, by merely inspecting these catalogues, a comparison of which with the Greenwich catalogue I here sub- join, that one, or both, of the instruments used by these astro nomers must be erroneous; and it seems to me, that the source of error is the very flexure, the nature and effects of which we have been considering. For if we attend to the differences between these two:catalogues, we shall find that the six stars near the equator differ 5” from one another, whereas the stars near the zenith do not differ above 2:6”. In which direction flexure will affect the zenith distances, is a matter quite acci- dental, "a een on the unequal elevation or depression of the object-end or eye-end of the telescope, in consequence of the * I must also notice that the method by reflection possesses, in common with instrua ben turning in azimuth, the advantage of measuring the double of the required angie, 4 1823.] n Declination’ of some of the fixed Stars... 952 unequal strength of the materials. If we suppose error to exist im each of the catalogues, this cause must have had an opposite influence in the two cases : if we compare the Greenwich obser- vations with those of Dr. Brinkley, we shall arrive at the same conclusion; namely, that the differences must be caused by flexure in one or both of the instruments ; since here also we find that the stars in the neighbourhood ofthe zenith are affected. by only half the difference in polar distance, that is observed in the stars near the equator; and the same conclusions may be drawn from comparing the Greenwich observations with those of Mr. Bessel. The polar distances of all the stars in Mr. Bes- sel’s catalogue exceed the polar distances given in the Green- wich catalogue ; while those of all the stars in Dr. Brinkley's catalogue as regularly fall short of my determinations. Itis not from the casual circumstance of my results being nearly a mean between the results. of those two. astronomers, that I 1ntend to claim a superior weight of authority for my own; for were this the only ground for preference, I should regard the question as yet undetermined, and should think it my duty to récommend the providing of new and more powerful instruments for, ascer- taining the truth.. But it appears to me that from the observa- tions by reflection, which I have lately made, and from their agreement with my observations by direct vision, that I am entitled to determine the share of error to which each of these two catalogues is liable ; not only from the general superiority of the Greenwich circle, which I consider to have been thus proved, but from this peculiar cireumstance, that whereas in the two catalogues of Mr. Bessel and Dr. Brinkley, the errors can- not fail to be the greatest in stars near the horizon; by my method of reflection those stars, which are nearest the horizon, must be determined the most correctly, from their double alti- ‘tudes being measured on the smallest arc. In stars near the equator; the catalogue of Mr. Bessel differs from that of Dr. Brinkley five seconds ; and from the preceding considerations, I think we may venture to conclude that Mr. Bessel's polar distances are too great by about three seconds, and Dr. Brinkley's too small by about two : and since my cata- logue differs from the two former from the zenith to the equator in very nearly the same proportion, there can be no reason to doubt that their errors throughout are divided in nearly the same ratio. With regard to the catalogue for the present period, which accompanies this paper, I beg to state that I consider it only as a very near approximation to the truth, and requiring at least another year's observations, to render it of equal value with that ‘of 1813, which is the result of two years’ observations with six microscopes, and in four positions of the telescope. . lam persuaded that the more this subject is considered, the more distinctly it will appear, that if any doubt can be enter- New Series, vor. vi. S 258 Discovery of Chloride of Potassium inthe Earth. — [Oc. tained, founded on any circumstance arising out of the Dublin observations, that doubt must relate, not to the accuracy of former catalogues, but to the present position of the stars ; since it is with respect to their present position that the two instru- ments are really at variance. This circumstance is very fortu- nate, as time may confirm the present, or suggest some. more satisfactory. method of investigation, if what I have now advanced be not thought sufficient for the purpose. AnrICLE IV. A Discovery Y Chloride of Potassium 1n the Earth. By James Smithson, Esq. FRS. . (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR, A RED ferruginous mass, containing veins of a white crystal- line matter, part of a block which was said to have been thrown out of Vesuvius during a late eruption, was brought to me, with a request that I would tell what it was. This red ferruginous rock was a spongy lava, in the substance of which was here and there lodged a crystal of augite or pyrox- ene of Haüy, or of hornblende. i . The white matter filled most of the larger cavities, and- was more or less disseminated through nearly the whole of the mass. It had a saline appearance ; a tabular fracture could be seen “in it with a lens, and in some few places regular cubical crystals were discernible. | | I supposed it to be chloride of sodium, or muriate of ammonia. Heated in a matrass, it decrepitated slightly, and melted, but little or nothing sublimed. i "This white matter dissolved entirely in water. Laid on silver with sulphate of copper, it produced an intense black stain. Chloride of barium added to the solution caused only a very slight turbidness, due probably to some sulphate of lime which is present. artaric acid occasioned an abundant formation of crystals of tartar. Chloride of platinum immediately threw down a preci- pitate, and distinct octahedral crystals of the same nature after- wards appeared. On decomposition by nitric acid, only prismatic crystals of nitrate of potash could be perceived. On a second crystalliza- tion, a few rhombic crystals were discovered ; but nitrate of potash sometimes presents this form. . \ ~ 1823.] Col. Bedufoy’s Astronomical Observations. ‘259 It appears from these experiments, that this: white’ saline matter is pure, or nearly pure, chloride of potassium. I am inclined to attribute its introduction into. the lava to sublimation. | As chloride of potassium is a new species in. mineralogy, I shall send the specimen to the British Museum. ARTICLE V. i Astronomical Observations, 1823. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS. Bushey Heath, near Stanmore. Latitude 519 37’ 44°3” North. Longitude West in time 1^ 20°93”, Sept. 2. Immersion of Jupiter’s first (15^ 24’ 58-7’Mean Time at Bushey. satellite ..... dain arala vanis à j 15 26 19:6 Mean Time at Greenwich. Sept. 7. Immersion of Jupiter's second ( 15 05 21 Mean Time at Bushey. satellite. ................:. 019. 06 42 Mean Time at Greenwich. Sept. 19. Immersion of. Jupiter's first (15 40 Ol. Mean Time at Bushey. satellite | 42.2... ; 15. 41 22 Mean Time at Greenwich, r ÅRTICLE VI. An Abridged Translation of M. Ramond’s Insiructions for the Application of the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights, with a Selection from his Tables for facilitating those Opera- : tions, reduced (where necessary) to English Measures. By Baden Powell, MA. of Oriel College, Oxford. (Continued from p. 117.) _ Tue configuration of the place where the barometer is situated is far from being a matter of indifference to the accuracy of the measurements. We have just seen what influence it has on the , temperature; it appears not to have less on the pressure of the atmosphere. A dry and strongly heated plain gives greater velocity to the ascending currents, which is not done by a ver- dant hill ; upon all sides of which the sun does not shine at the same time. Here the barometer will be proportionally higher ; in the other case lower. On an insulated peak all currents have an ascending motion given them from. passing along its acclivi- ties: they all acquire a compressing power in a narrow and deep valley where they engulph themselves: and the mercury sustains itself constantly above the point at which it would stand in an open plain at the same absolute elevation. I have measured several hundred times the height. of Baréges above Tarbes. The town of Tarbes is situated on an extensive plain. The valley of Baréges is a very narrow gorge, surrounded on all | s2 200 M: Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Oct. sides by very high mountains. I have always found the result too little. 1 have since tried to measure the height of the Pic de Midi above Baréges : I am now at the thirty-second trial, and the measurement is always found too great. These two observations, one of which is, as it were, the complement of the other, have concurred most conclusively to persuade me that there really exists in deep valleys a constant compression of the atmosphere, the effect of whichis to augment the height of the mercurial column. I recommend it as highly desirable to repeat observations with care, and on a large scale, in order to examine more closely the decrease of heat and moisture, and the action of ascending and descending currents. "Three or four barometers disposed at different intervals of height, might teach us much, and give an unexpected turn to some inquiries ; but the diee eleva- tion must be great; and above all, the stations must be very favourable. To dispose the instruments in this way on the side of a high mountain would, perhaps, be the first expedient we . should be led to think of, but assuredly the last to which I would have recourse. Nothing is certain on long acclivities, where the heat of the ground and the inclination of the currents modify in a thousand ways the pressure of the atmosphere and its temperature. We cannot be too careful in discarding from delicate observations even the most distant suspicion of those local perturbations, of which we cannot exactly estimate the amount. ‘The stations to be preferred are eminences well gapai to the air; summits near others, but to a certain point independent; plains of some extent ; but no narrow gorges ; no m greatly above others; and after my experiments at aréges, I would not place my barometer in a narrow valley, - even if I should be reduced to the necessity of seeking a more convenient station at some distance; for the distance has a much less influence on the accuracy of the measurements than the favourable or unfavourable configuration of the places where the instruments are situated. 1 Barometrical measurements would inspire less distrust if thé observations had been always made with the precautions which the nature of the operation indicates ; and there would not be so much dispute on the value of the coefficients and the princi- ples of our formule, if the disagreements were not in a great measure produced by the confidence which is too often reposed in observations in themselves very défective. In the present state of the science, it would be much better to endeavour to bring to perfection the very difficult art of observing: to study the circumstances which are favourable, to examine and point out the sources of error; to multiply trials with that patience which the minutest precautions will not tire; with that honesty which will not evade difficulties ; with that discermment which directs a depth of study proportioned to the difficulties attach- \ 1893.] “the Barometer tothe Measurement of Heights. 261 ing to this sort of observation ; to replace in short whatever observations we possess of a doubtful character, by such as are certain, and the circumstances of which have been judiciously appreciated. It will be time enough to dispute, if there be occasion for dispute, when the propositions in question shall be clear, and the facts free from ambiguity. | Thus far I have spoken of the influence which the configura- tion of the surface of the earth exercises on the variations of the instruments. The irregular modifications of the atmosphere are another source of errors against which we ought to be on our guard. The theory of barometrical measurements supposes the air in a state of perfect equilibrium ; its strata superposed in the order of their density ; and the decrease of temperature uniform and regular. It is ordinarily so on fine days and in calm wea- ther; but if the air be agitated and divided between opposing winds, this order is disturbed; strata of different densities are intermixed,* and succeed each other in a different order from that of their respective densities; the thermometric mean no longer expresses the mean temperature of the intercepted column of air; the difference of the heights of the barometer ceases tó maintain its relation to the difference of elevation; and no for- mula can satisfy the exactness of mensuration, in a state of things thus opposed to the fundamental supposition. When this deviation from regularity is manifest, no one needs to be told that this is not the time to obtain exact measure+ ments ; and every one will distrust observations made during a storm, in the midst of tempests, and while violent winds are raging in the atmosphere. But this state of disorder may in some cases be perfectly real without being so apparent; and the intermixture t: of winds of different densities is a very usual phenomenon, which, however, frequently escapes the attention, and is the origin of à great number of errors from which the most experienced observer does not easily preserve himself. If we have not been able to avoid them, we must endeavour to beware of their existence, in order that we may not repose in an » operation a degree of confidence which it does not deserve. ' I have treated elsewhere of the influence of the wind on barometrical measurements ; and I invite beginners to profit by my experience, and more advanced observers to correct or extend my first outlines. Whatever judgment they may pass, they will probably agree with me in thinking that there are few subjects of research more interesting, and that we cannot have any just idea of the value of an observation if we neglect, in examining it, considerations of such importance. I have hiskewto always found that northern winds tend to raise the mercury, and southern to depress it. | | * * S'intercalent, ^ + “ E'ntercalation.? 262 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Ocr. In the former case barometrical measurements tend to err in excess ; in the latter, in defect. | If the winds which prevail at the two stations be different, the measurement is too great when the more dense wind occu- pies the lower stratum, and too small when the upper. ! Lastly, the errors augment or diminish, ceteris paribus, with the horizontal distance of the two stations, and with the height to be measured. | | Among the modifications of the atmosphere there is one of the most hidden description, but nevertheless most regular, which has been investigated with difficulty, but which once known can occasion no errors which we have it not perfectly in our power to prevent. It is long since horary oscillations have been perceived in the barometer. It is long since Deluc observed that the different hours of the day are not equally proper for the measurement of heights. I have observed that any formula can only be really applicable at the precise hour at which we may have made the experiments necessary for the determination of our coefficient; and that, because the coefficient is always affected by a quantity which represents the mean ratio of the weight of the air and its pres- sure, a ratio essentially variable, and different at every instant of the day. The coefficient of the formula of M. de Laplace is adapted to the hour of noon. We must, therefore, make observations for the measurements of heights at the hour of noon only. This precept is important, for the errors which result from the appli- cation of a coefficient to hours for which it was not calculated, are among the most considerable that we can make. Yet this consideration will by no means prevent us from prolonging a little the time devoted to the operations. The interval between eleven and one o'clock does not exceed the limits which it is reasonable to prescribe to ourselves ; but then if we would be exact, we must operate in such a manner as to effect a compen- sation between the opposite errors which may arise from this source. Before noon the measurements err in defect; after noon, in excess. My practice is, therefore, to make, besides the observation at noon, one or two others before, and as many after, at intervals respectively equal. This method possesses many peculiar advantages: we have time to examine the pro- gress of the instruments ; each observation serves as a point of comparison to judge of the others; and the mean term taken between them is in a manner the observation of noon itself, free from those errors which might be introduced by that accidental state of the atmosphere which should predominate at the real moment of that observation. git] Lastly, in order to gain from this combination all the advan- tages of which it is susceptible, it will be advisable that corres- 1823.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. | 268 ponding observations should be made at the same times, and in the same number. The observers will thus see whether their instruments have proceeded in concert; whether their changes have been correspondent ; whether their variations have taken p in the same directions. If they should be of opposite inds, we shall suspect that the local influences have taken the place of the variations of the atmosphere, and we shall suppress the observations which reciprocally condemn each other. Such are. my methods of. proceeding. They have often brought my measurements to a degree of precision which leaves nothing further to wish. I recommend the same care, the same precautions, to those who wish to try the merits of the formula, and especially to those who may wish to correct it. i All this is, I allow, minute and difficult, and this is not, per- haps, the. idea we usually form. of the nature of barometric measurements. We probably wish that there should be nothing but what is easy in the use of instruments which we employ so commonly; yet what method of measurement is there which has not its uncertainties, its unfavourable times, and even greater difficulties? On the side of the barometer there is always the advantage of simplicity of apparatus, quickness of operation, facility of calculation, the most varied and extensive applications, and a much less dependance on circumstances which put obstacles in the way of using other instruments. I will now, reduce into a brief summary the requisite conditions for the measurement of heights. ) 1. To employ instruments which correspond; are well con- structed ; verified with care; and rigorously compared. 2. To choose stations as good as the nature of the places will admit. ) 39. To allow as little horizontal distance between the two observers as possible; but subordinately to the suitableness of the stations. It may be several leagues without being too great, if the difference of level be considerable, and if there be not between the two stations any eminence which rises above both. The proximity of the stations, on the contrary, will cause more inconvenience than advantage, if the lower barometer is badly situated. 4. To make observations always simultaneous, and exclu- sively at noon, or between the hours of eleven and one. 5. To choose in general a time when the air is calm rather than when agitated ; but not to fear wind when it is gentle and regular. It then renovates-the local mass of air, and reduces the thermometers to the temperature of the atmosphere. 6. Not to fear a cloudy sky, except when it threatens stormy weather. The suppression of the solar radiation is favourable to the observations, especially if they are made in places freely exposed to the air, and if the instruments have no shelter. — 7. To. avoid rain, storms, and violent winds; and to be dis- trustful in uncertain weatlier, when approaching changes are 166 M.: Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Oct. indicated by the frequent variations of the barometer and ther- mometer. 8. To prefer times when the barometer is near its mean height, rather than its extremes. 9. To give continual attention to the variations of the ther- mometers. "The mistakes made in estimating the real tempera- ture of the mercury and the air are the origin of the most consi- derable and the most common errors: 10. To pay not less constant attention, both to the disposi- tions of the atmosphere, and to local influences which may affect the accuracy of the measurements. To take exact notice of the direction of the winds, the movements of the clouds, the pre- sence or absence of the sun, and to observe the variations of the instruments in relation to these cireumstances. 11. To be doubtful of operations made in very changeable weather, and especially if the air is not uniformly modified at the two stations, as happens when different winds prevail at each; when one enjoys the sun, while the other is clouded, or encompassed with mists ; when the decrease of temperature is nothing, or inverted, &c. | If the constitution of the day is such as to be remarkable by any thing excessive, either in the temperature, or in the eleva- tion or depression of the barometér, to repeat the operation in ordinary weather in order to verify the former result; or, in cir- cumstances directly opposite, to correct by compensation contrary errors. 12. 1f the horizontal distance be very great, to repeat the operation several times. If it be excessive, to rely only on means deduced from a great number of observations always simultaneous. Less than a year will not be sufficient to deter- mine small differences of elevation between places very distant ; and if the distance be such that the climates of the respective places should be sensibly different, no barometric mean will determine exactly their relative elevation. 13. To conform to these rules: and in so doing, to use in the observations precision and dexterity; in the examination of all circumstances, to take a just view, and use sound discrimi- nation ; and then J can venture to answer that the observer will not be deceived either by the instrument, or the formula. If circumstances should positively require the sacrifice of any of the prescribed conditions, we shall judge of the merits of the operation by the value of the condition sacrificed. But it may be asked, shall we content ourselves with mere o Sree measurements? Then only, we may reply when we observe as well as circumstances permit. Approximate measure- ments are not to be distegarded when we only take them as such ; and when we have not the means of procuring better. It is still a great instance of utility in the barometer to teach usin an in- stant, and without difficulty, that which with much apparatus and loss of time, other instruments will not often teach us equally well, 1893:] the Barometer to the Measurement of HeigMs; 265 In continuation of this brief summary of what M. Ramond considers the most necessary rules for conducting the observa- tions, 1 will here, for the sake of those who may be less versed in the use of tables and formula, reduce into rules the method to be observed in performing the calculations. 1. From the common tables of logarithms take the log. of the height ofthe lower barometer, .. | Hm. 2. Apply the correction according to its sign from Table I. 3. From this result subtract the logarithm of the upper baro- meter. ; 4. Take the logarithm of this difference supposing it a natural number. | | 5. Add the logarithm of the constant coefficient. 6. correction, Table II. y Table ITI. 8 correction for temperáture de- scribed in the second section. — | The natural number corresponding to the resulting logarithm 3s the true elevation in feet. ' T I subjoin an example. i If the shorter formula is used, the seventh step will be dis- pensed with. | Example. Centigrade. Bar, ininch. ` Bar. in metres. "Ther. ofbar. Air therm. Lat. Lowirgiaioh.... MORES Lus 99 Lus E L a NU Upperstation.... 94409 .... "620 ..... 10 .... 6 Diff. 5 Sum 20 Double 40 N 3 i Log. of lower barom. in inches,... 114754097 Log. of metres 1:8802418) i + correction, 'Table l. ""97e€99509 9:9995990 : 90995990 14150081. 1879840; — lóg. upper barom., ininches.... 1-3875500 --Log. of metres [7923823 00814581 = 09814585 j Log. of difference of logs. ........ 2°9417995 Log. of constant coefficient........ 4-7 792962 Correction for latitude. Table TI. 9°9993835 Correction, Table IIT. Diff. of logs. :08, Double sum ofẹ 00012323 the thermometers 40 .......... 1000 + 40 Corr. for temp. nO" ^ 1:040 00170333 its log. = gs eoecs909090200999*9999 3:8916448 log, of 1191-9 ft. —height required. ^ The same result would obviously be obtained, by whatever scale the barometers were divided, i ' | 966 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Oc. - | — On the Tables. It may be useful here to subjoin a brief account of the con- struction of the tables. In order to reduce the upper barometer to the same tempera- ture as the lower, the formula, transformed into logarithms, is, log. H = log. À' + log. [1 + (sae) ]. Table, No. I. expresses the values of this last term, which becomes = log. [A - 2 | = log. (5412 +(r— 7^) s 5412 log. 5412. n the formula, this correction is applied to the upper barome- ter, and it is obvious that, according as the first log. is greater or less than the second, (that is, according as T is greater or less than T^, the correction will be + or —. By attending to these circumstances, it may be applied to the lower barometer, and will in this case be — or +, according as the difference of the thermometers is + or —. M. Ramond adopts the method of ecu the lower baro- meter, and to facilitate this, he has given Table I. a double form, according as the difference of the thermometers is + or —; the one series of numbers being the arithmetical complements of the others, by which means the operation is always addition. Table No. 2 is constructed from the part of the formula log. $1 + N (log. :0028371 + log. cos. 2 4), N being the number answering to the logarithm included in the parenthesis. The last factor in the formula when altered according to the . suggestion of M. Oltmans, becomes, c at 0-868589 ) . 60158. 39 (in feet), 1 + 2088112944 Then according to M. Ramond's improvement, introducing the correction for temperature, and transforming it into loga- rithms, it becomes, (adopting the former notation), log. [1 + N (log. $log. 5 + 0:868589? + log. 60158 + log. (1 + 225") — log. 20881129.) ] From this part of the formula, Table No. III. is constructed. Table No. V. is taken from one given by Laplace in the * Connaisance des Temps,” for 1812. ` It supposes the interior diameter of the tube to be accurately known. Table No. VI. is described p. 105. Logarithms of the constant Cocfficients. Log. 60158:39 = 47792962 - Log. 60345:40 = 4:7806442 The last value is to be used in cases where the less exact method is thought sufficient; and in this case Table III. is dis- pensed with. 1823.] ` the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. 267 TABLE’ I. For the Reduction of the Barometers to the same Temperature: Diff. of Difference Positive, when lower Barometer is the warmer. therm. j Degrees. | Dec. 0 E 2 3 4 5 6 1 | 8 | 9 09 10:0000000 | 9920 | 9840 | 9159 | 9679 || 9599 | 9519 943819358 9218 ] 9-9999198. | 9117: | 9031 | 8957 | 8877 | 8191 | 8116 (8636185568476 9 8395 | 8315 | 8935 | 8155 | 8015 || 7994 | 1914 |783417754|T674 3 1593 1513 1433 | 1353 | 7273 || 71192 | 7112 1032/6952 6872 4 6791 | 6711 | 6631 | 6551 | 6471 || 6391 ! 6310 /6230161501/6010 5 - 5990 | 5909 | 5829 | 5749 | 5669 | 5589 5509. 5498|5348/5268 6 5188 | 5108.| 5028 | 4948 | A861 || 4787 | 4707 4621145414461 7 4386 | 4306 | 4226 | 4146 | 4066 || 2986 | 3906 (38261374513665 B 3585 | 3505 | 3425 | 3345 | 3265 || 3185 | 3104 |3024|294419864 9 2784 | 2704 | 2624 | 9544 | 2463 || 9383 | $303 (2223 2143/9063 10. 1983 1903 . 1523 | 1143 | 1662 || 1582 | 1502 |149211342/12962 11 1182 | 1102 | 1022 | 0942 | 08629 | 0182 | 0701 /0621/|0541/]0461 12- 0381 | 0301 | 0221 | 0141 | 0061 || 9981 | 9901 /9821/|9741|9661 13 99989581 | 9501 | 9490 | 9340 | 9260 || 9180 | 9100 (9020 8940/8860 14 8180 | 8700 | 8620 | 8540 | 8460 || 8380 | 8300 (8220 8140/8060: 15 1980 | 1900 | 7820 | 7740 | 7660 || 7580 | 7500 /1490|1340!1260 16 1180 | 7100. | 7020 | 6940 | 6860 || 6180 | 6100 66206540 6460 17 6380 | 6300 | 6220 | 6140 | 6060 || 5980 | 5900 /5820|5140|5660 18 5580 | 5500 | 5420 | 5340 | 5260 || 5180 | 5100 |5020/4940/4860 19 4180 | 4700 | 4620 | 4540 | 4460 || 4380 | 4300 |4220|4140|4060 -20 3980 | 3900 | 3820 | 3741 | 3661 38581 | 3501 |3421 3341/3261 21 3181 | 3101 | 3021 | 2941 | 2861 || 2781 | 2701 (26211254212462 92 2382 | 2302 | 2292 | 2142 | 2062 1982 | 1902 |1822)1742/1662 93 1583 | 1503 | 1423 | 1343 | 1263 1183 | 1103 11023|0943/08638 24 0784 | 0704 | 0624 | 0544 | 0464 || 0384 | 0304 02241014410065 25 99979985 | 9905 | 9825 | 9145 | 9665 || 9585 | 9505 9426/9346/9266 26 9186 |/ 9106 | 9026 | 8946 | 8867 || 8787 | 8707 86278547 8467 27 8381 | 8308 | 8228 | 8148 | 8068 || 1988 7908 7829/774917 669 98 1589 | 1509 | 7429 | 1350 | 7270 || 1190 | 7910 7030 6950/6811 29 6191 | 6711 | 6631 | 6551 | 6471 6392 | 6312 (62321615216072 30 5993 | 5913 | 5833 | 5153 | 5673 || 5594 | 5514 1543415354/5274 968 M, Ramond’s Instructions for the Application of [Oc Taste L Dif. of . B. dun Difference Negative. E Degrees. | Dec. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 T8 | 9 o. |00000000 | 0080 | 0160 | 0241 | 0321 || 0401 | 0481 1056206420722 " 0809 | 0883 | 0962 | 1043 | 1193 || 1203 | 1284 |1364 1444 1594 2 1605 | 1685 | 1765 | 1845 | 1995 || 2006 | 2086 |9166/2246 3 2407 | 2487 | 2567 | 9641 | 2797 || 9808 | 2888 |2968/3048 3198 4 3209 | 3289 | 3369 | 3449 | 3529 || 3609 | 3690 |3770\3850'3930 ry 4010 | 4091 | 4171 | 4251 | 4331 || 4411 | 4491 4519465914732 6 4812 | 4892 | 4972 | 5052 | 5133 || 5213 | 5993 531354535533 T . 5614 | 5694 | 5114 | 5854 | 5934 || 6014 | 6094 (617462556335 8 6415 | 6195 | 6515 | 6655 | 6135 || 6815 | 6896 69761705617136 9 1916 | 7296 | 1816. | 1456 | 7587 || 6117 | 1691 117711185111931 10 8011 | 8097 | 8177 | 8251 | 8338 || 8418 | 8498 851886589138 aes 8818 | 8898 | 8978 | 9058 | 9138 || 9218 9299 9379|9459|9539 12 9619 | 9699 | 9779 | 9859 | 9939 || 0019 | 0099 |0179|0259|0339 13 |0:0010419 | 0499 | 0580 | 0660 | 0140 | 0820 | 0900 10980/1060|1140 ET! 1990 | 1300 | 1380 | 1460 | 1540 || 1690 | 1700 |1180/1860/1940 TE 2020 | 2100 | 2180 | 2260 | 9340 || 9490 | 2500 2580/2660 9740 16 2220 | 2900 | 2980 | 3060 | 3140 || 3290 | 3300 1338034603540 1T 3620 | 3700 | 3180 | 3860 | 3940 || 4020 | 4100 |4180/4260/4340 18 4490 | 4500 | 4580 | 4660 | 4740 || 4820 | 4900 |4980/5060/5140 19 5220 | 5300 | 5380 | 5460 | 5540 || 5620 | 5100 |5180/5860/5940 20 6020 | 6100 | 6180 | 6259 | 6339 || 6419 | 6499 65196659 6739 £1 6819 | 6899 | 6919 | 1059 | 1189 || 7219 | 7999 /1379/1418/1538 22 7618 | 1698 | 7778 | 7858 | 7938 || 8018 | 8098 817889588338 23 8411 | 8491 | 8577 | 8651 | 8737 || 8817 | $897 |8977/9057/9137 24 9216 | 9296 | 9376 | 9456 | 9536 || 9616 | 9696 (9116/9856 9935 - 25 (00020015 | 0095 | 0175 | 0255 | 0335 || 0415 | 0495 (0514106540734 96 0814 | 0894 | 0974 | 1054 | 1188 || 1913 | 1293 |1373/1453/1533 21 1613 | 1692 | 1772 | 1859 | 1932 || 2012 | 2099 |2171/9951 9331 28 2411 | 9401 | 2571 | 2650 | 9130 || 9810 | 2890 9970/3050,3199 29 3209 | 3289 | 3369 | 3449 | 3599 | 3608 | 3688 1376838483928 30 4001 | 4087 | 4167 | 4941 | 4391 || 4406 | 4486 pedum 4196 Se cupiam UR 1823.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heighis. — 969 TaznLE IL—.Latitudinal Diminution of Gravity. Latitude.| Logarithms. | Latitude.| Logarithms. |Latitude.| Logarithms. 0: 0:0012304 26 0:0007579 5L 9-9997438 i 12296 9T 1936 59 49 H9 S. 1292914 ^ 98 6884 53 ^ 6603 -8 12237 29 : 6524 54 ; 6191 - 4 12184 30 - 6156 55 5184 5 19111 - i peice - | 81 | 5181 . 56 A . 58883 6 19085 . 32 5398 — 57 . 4986 as ‘11939 33 5009 58 4596 ~ §- 11828 34 4613 E59 ——]1--- .4919- 9 11102 35 4212 || 60 | 8885 10 li563 - : ———— —— 36- i 3806 .. 6l 3466 hh 11409 t-87 3395 LZ ` 8104 19 11242 38 l 2980 63 9159 43 11060 39 2564 MEE Deas E 2408 - 14 10866 : 40 2139 -65 2073 15 10658 - - — — a A. i714 | 66 1148 16 10437 42 - 1288 61 1432 17 10203 A3 0859 68 - 1128 13 0-0009951 44 0430 69 - s 0834- 19 9699 ) 45 i 0000 61:360 . 0551 90 9429 - : - - 46 > 9:9999510 «T1 j 0280 21 9147 AT 9140 72 - 0001 . 99 8854 - 48 . 8112 13 99989774 23 8521 49 8285 14 -^9539- 94 -. 8231 i 50 1860 15 9316 95 4913 i iY, Tannz V.—Capillary Depression of Mercury. Diam. of Tube, Depression. Inches, Inches. 0:08 0:119 0-12 = 0114 i 0:16 0:080 ' 0:20 | 0-058 0:24 0:045 0:98 - 0-034 0:39 0 026 0:36 0:090 0*40 0:016 0:44 : 0:013 0:48 0:009 y 0:52 0:008 0:56 0:006 0:60 0:004 0°64 0:003 " 0:68 0:003 0:12 0-009 0:76 0:002 0:80 0:001 270 M. Ramond's Instructions for the Application of [Oc'. Taste IIL— Vertical Diminution of Gravity. "Difference of the Loga- Double Sum of the Thermometers. rithms, —10° 0 4-109? 909 309 409 ..0*005 0:0010805 10914 11023 11132 19941 11350 0-01 0-0010867 10977 11085 11196 11305 11415 á 0:09 .. 10990 11102 11212 11393 | 11433 11545 0:03 11114 11226 11338 11450 11562 11674 0-04 11231 11351 11464 11518 11690 11804 0-05 11361 11416 11590 11105 11819 11934 0-06 ` 11484 11601 11716 11832 11947 12064 O07... 11608 11725 11842 11959 12076 12193 0-08 11731 11850 11968 12086 12204 12323 0-09 11865 11975 12094 12214 12333 12453 0°10 . 1918 12099 12220 12341 12461 12582 0*11 121029 12224 12346 12468 12590 12712 0:12 12225 12349 12472 12595 12718 12842 0-13 12349 12473 12598 12722 12847 12971 0-14 12472 12598 12724 12850 12975 13101 0-15 12596 12723 12850 | . 12977 13104 13231 0-16 12719 .12848 12976 13104 13232 13361 0:11 12842 |. 12972 13101 13231 13360 13490 0-18 12966 13097 13227 13358 13489 13620 0:19 13089 13222 13353 13486 13617 13750 0:920 -> 13213 13346 13419 13613 13746 13819 . 0-21 13336 13471 13605 13740 13874 14009 0-22 13460 13596 13731 13867 14003 14139. t 0:23 13583 13720 | 13851 13994 14131 14268 0:94 13107 13845 13983 14122 14260 14398 0:25 | 13830 13910 14109 14249 14388 14528 0°26 13954 14095 14235 14316 14517 14658 0°27 14077 14219 14361 14503 14645 14181 0°28 14201 ° 14344 14487 14630 14174 14917 029 ` 14324 14469 14613 14758 14902 15047 0°30 14448 14593 14739 14885 15031 15176 Mean differ- ence of the 123°5 1247 126-0 121:9 198:5 129*1 terms. ; 1823] the Barometer to the Méasurement of Heights. 271 TaBLE III.—Continued. Difference of Double Sum of the Thermometers. Mean dif- the - t ^ .jference of rithms, 50? "609 709 809 909 1009 ` |theTerms. 0:005 11458 | . 11561 11616 11185 11894 12003 108-9 ` 0:01 11594 |. 11634 11143 11853 | . 11962. 12072 |: 1095 - 0-02 11655 11766 11876 11988 12098 12209 110:8 0:03 11186 11898 12010 12199 19934 12346 112:0 0'04 11917 12031 12143 12257 12370 12484 113:4 0:05 12048 12163 12277 12392 12506 12621 il 4°5 0-06 12179.| 12295 | 19401,| 129596 | 19649 | 19758 | 115-8 0-01 12310 12427 12544 12661 12778 12895 147:0 0-08 12441 12559 12677 12796 12914 13032 118:3 0:09 12511 12691 12810 | 12930 13049 13169 119-5 - 0-10 19102 | 19894 | 19945 | 13065 | 13185 |. 13306 | 190-7 0:11 12833 12956 13011 13200 13321 13444 | 192-0 - 18. - 19964 '| 13088 13211 13334 13451 13581 193:3 . 0:13 13095 13990 13344 | 13469. 13593 13718 194:5 0:14 13996 13352 13478 13604 13729 13855 125°% |: O15 13357 13484 13611 13738 13865 13992 126:9 0:16 13488 13611 13144 13873 14001 14130 128°3 0°17 13619 13749 13878 14008 14137 14267 129-5 0:18 13150 13881 14011 14142 14213 14404 1301 0:19 . 13881 14013 14145 14271 14409 14541 132:0 0:90 14012 14145 14278 14412 14545 14678 133:2 0:21 14143 14277 14412 14546 14681 14816 1345 0:92 14914 14410 14545 14681 14817 14953 1351 0°23 14405 | 14542 | 14679 | 14816 | 14953 | 15090 | 137-0 0-91 14535 | 14614 | 14812 | 14950 | 15088 | 15997 | 1382 095 . |- 14606 | 14806 | 14945 | 15085 | 15994 |. 15364 | 139-5 0:26 14191 14938 15079 15220 15360 15501 |. 140°6 0:21 14928 15010 15919 15354 15496 15638 141-9 0:28 15059 15203 15346 15489 15632 15776 143-2 0-99 15196 | 15335 | 15479 | 15694 | 15768 | 15919 | 144-4 0:30 15321 15461 15619 15158 15904 16050 145:6 Mean differ- | ence of the|> 130:9 132°2 133:4 134*1 135:9 137:9 terms. — TanLE VlI.—Correction for Elevation of Lower Barometer. - Lower : Balón. Number. Diff. 99:5 130 91:5 955 825 95:5 1824 869 93-6 2135 911 21:6 3733 998 19:6 4818 1085 177 6033 1215 15°7 7420 1387 372. M. Ramond’s Instructions for the Application'of [Qt "TABLE IV.— Thermometrical Variation of the Barometer. De Danii ) Differences of Temperature, p AEE 2 39:,. 4% , 59 | 69 19 go 9o 109 Inches, 31*0 | 605 | 011 | *OIT | -022 | -028 | *034 | -040 | -045 | *051 | *057 305 | ; “O17 | -022 | -O27 | *033 | -089 | -044 | *050 | +056 30:0- OIT | 022 | *091 | -033 | *039 | -044 | *049- | *055— 99-5 *016 | 021 | -026 | -032 | 038 | -043 | -048 | +054 290 O16 | -021 | -026 |032 | -037 | 042 | -047 |053 995 | —— 016 | -021 | 025 | -031 | -ost | 042 | -047 | +052 28-0 | *010 | *015 | -020 | *095 | *031 | -036 | 041 | *046 | *051 275 1 *015 | -020 | *024 | *030 | -035 | -040 | *045. | 050. 9T 0 1-004 ] - *015 | -090 | -024 | -030 | -035 | -040 | *045 | -049 96:5 *015 | -019 | -023 | -029 | -034 | 039 | -044 | *048 96:0 *014 | -019 | -023 | -029 | *034 | 038 | *044 | -047 95:5 009 | *014 | -019 | -023 | -028 | *033 | -038 | -043 | -046 25:0 014 | *018 | *092 | *028 | 032 | -037 | *042 | -045- 24:5 *013 | -018 | -022 | -027 | -032 | -036 | *041 | *044 940 *013 | *017 | 021 | -0o27 | -031 | 036 | -040 | -044 93:5 | :013 | -O17 | -021 | *026 | *030 | *035 | -040 | -043 93-0 *008 | *012 | -it | -020 | *026 | -029 | -034 | -039 1 *042 22:5 | *003 “012 | *016 | *090 | *025 | -029 | *034 | -038 | *041 - 220 012 | *016 | -019 | -025 | -098 | *083 | -031 | -C41 21:5 *011 | -016 | *019 | *024 | -028 | 033 | -036 | *040 21-0 *011 | -015 | *019 | *023 | -027 | -032 | -035 | -089 20-5 007 | *011 | *015 | -018 | -022 | -026 | *031 | *034 | *038 20-0 *011 | 015 | *018 | *022 | -026 | -030 | -033 | +037 19:5 | 010 | -014 | -017 | -021 | -025 | *099 | -032 | -036 19-0 *010 | -014 | *017 | *021 | -024 | 028 | -031 | -035 18:5 “006 | *010 | *0I3 | *016 | *090 | -024 | *027 | -030 | -034 18*0 *010 | *013 | -016 | -020 | -023 | -026 | -029 | -033 11:5 009 | 019 | *015 | -019 | -022 | *025 | -028 | :032. 17-0 009 | *019 | *015 | *019 | +021 | *024 | -098 | *031 16:5 *005 | 009 | -012 | -014 | *018 | -021 | *023 | 027 |030 16-0 | 008 | -011 | -014 | -018 | -020 | -022 | -026 | 029 15:5 9 *008 | *011 | 013 | O17 | 019 | *022 | -025 | -028 15-0 *008-.|-014--|-7013-1--017- 1-019 | -021 | 025 | -097 14:5 007 | :010 | -012 | *016 | *018 | -021 | -024 |026 14-0 007 | *010 | *019 | -016 | -018 | *020 | *093 | 095 13:5 *004 | *007 | 010 | -012 | *015 |017 | *019 | -022 | -025 13-0 006 | *009 | *011 | *015 | -017 | -019 | -021 | -094 12-5 *006 | *009 | -O11 | -014 | -016 | -018 | -020 | -023 12-0 *006 | *009 | *010 | -013 | -016 | -017 | -019 | -022 "VM SPI 1828.] the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights. — 278 » One great excellence of M. Ramond's tables consists in their being (with a very slight exception) applicable to any system of measures. They are, however, adapted to the centigrade ther- mometric scale. In this respect I have not altered oid being convinced that the simplicity and convenience of that scale must sufficiently recommend it in all scientific applications ; and having little doubt that the example of its adoption by philoso- phers will ultimately be followed by the world at large. The adoption of a system of measures founded on a philosophical basis, will probably always be hindered by the close and widely ramified connexion which the old system maintains with all parts of the common business of life, and with the lowest mechanical arts. It will probably be long before our carpenters, bricklayers, and blacksmiths, will learn to compute by deci- metres and centimetres ; but with respect to the introduction of the centigrade thermometer, the same objections by no means apply. The thermometer is an instrument which has no appli- cation in these common arts. The most ordinary use of it implies a. certain degree of education and scientific information ; and to those not habituated to scientific studies, but who are yet desirous of understanding the principle of their instrument, the centigrade scale is surely far the best for facility of explanation. In barometric observations, however, its application is now becoming so general that I conceive no explanation is necessary for continuing the adoption of this scale in these tables. Most mountain barometers, as at present constructed, are furnished with a thermometer graduated both ways. For the convenience, however, of those who continue to use the Fahrenheit scale, 1 here insert a table of the simplest and most compendious form, by which either scale may be reduced to the other with the greatest ease and sufficient accuracy. Reduction of Cent.|Reduction of Fahr, to Fahr. to Cent. Cent. | Fahr, | Fahr. Cent. Degrees | Degrees | Degrees | Degrees or Dec. | or Dec. | or Dec. | or Dec. 00 00 0 000 05 “09 1 055 10 18 2 111 15 27 3 166 20 36 EET 929 25 45 E 271 30 54 6 399 35 | 63 | v | 388 40 72 8 444 45 81 9 500 oar New Series, You, vi. T 274 Sir Francis $. Darwin on the Oeri. The mode of using it will be obvious from the’ subjoined examples : Example 1.—279 Cent. = 25 "^ 45:0 Fahr. i + Jf E 36 SW 48:6 + 32:0. 80:6 Example 2.—33:25 Cent. = 30:00 .... (54:0 Fahr. ue TIR] 54 + 025) .... L045 59:85 + 32:0 91:85 66? Fahr. — 32 | | 34.301 ..f 16:6 Cent. 44 vL B2 18:8 4&75 Fahr. . — 32 E 16 edt 10:0 4 ..( 5:5 Cent. 60 E .,j0°0 07 (..)0388 0°05) .. 0:027 9:215 Having thus brought to a conclusion an attempt to. condense into a brief abstract the most useful parts of M. Ramond's Instructions, I propose, in a future communication, to subjoin an outline of the demonstration of the formula ; together with a few remarks on one or two other points. connected with the subject. Bikan (To be continued.) ARTICLE VII. Notice upon the -Volcanic Island o Darwin, MD. &c. Milo. By Sir Francis S. (With Plate XXII.) (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR, Buxton, Aug. 20, 1893. OxsERVING your analysis of the water from what you call | the boiling spring of Milo, in the July number, 1819, of the - Annals of P I presume that the following description — of that 1sland, ta en from my manuscript journal, may be inte- - resting; I beg to offer it; and shall be happy if it affords any — information to your readers. I remain, Sir, your obedient humble servant, Francis S, Darwin, * O.5. xiv. 27: see also p. 68 of the present volume. NS PLE & Engraved ror theArnals of Fhilosophy:tor Baldwin, Gadock & Jay, Oct^11823. SMALL BASALTIC ISLANDS NEAR MILO. xw ul ugs we | + 1823.1: Volcanic Island of Milo. 275. In the month of June, 1810, we landed at Milo, and proceeded to the Old Town, which is quite ruinous, although a few inha- bitants still occupy some of the houses. The ancient walls bear the marks of great waste and decay. Four miles from this is the New Town, situated upon one of the most elevated parts of the island. The incursions of the Algerines, and the plague, induced these few hundred people to neglect their former low situation (the old city) for this elevated one. On the foot, and at the side next the sea, ofthe hill upon which the present town stands, are many very interesting remains of a most remote period. We could distinctly trace the extent of a large amphi- theatre, and many beautiful marble columns are seenamongst the. ruins. Walls ofimmense thickness ;—and the cement by which. these stones are held together, appears to brave the waste of time. better than the hard stone itself The highest point of Milo, or Mount St. Elias, is about 800 feet above the sea, and it is ofa conical shape ; this summit was formerly a place of observation. for pilots, but now for pirates, who infest the Archipelago. On the north side of the island, and half a mile from it, are some curious basaltic rocks, which do not appear to contain zeolite; but there are no columns on Milo itself. Upon ascending from the harbour to the town, we pass over hills and rocks of lava, in which opal is found, with pumice stone, and sulphur, and beds of limestone which have been burnt, and still retain many per- fect shells, which soon absorb moisture, and fall to pieces in the hand. In one part of a rock of red sandstone, at about the middle of the entrance into the port, are some singular Catacombs in the perpendicular rock, some of them capable of containing four, six, or eight bodies, and they are seen in the side of the cliff ten or twenty feet below the level of the water. This is a strong proof that the harbour was the crater of a volcano, as here there is.no tide, and these tombs must have been formed before the grand eruption which gave access to the sea. The . situation of these sepulchres is marked upon the chart. It occurred to me on seeing in the map (which was partly copied from an Admiralty book), that 40 fathoms was the greatest depth in this large basin, that there might bea part infinitely deeper which had been the real furnace of the volcano. I was at great pains in sounding, but could no where find it 10 be deeper, except atthe entrance. On the west and south sides ofthe harbour are innumerable hot sulphureous springs, some of them being 125? of Fahr. but most of them rise out of the sand, in the sea a few ards from the shore; they are so numerous that every wave, although it blows fresh, is very warm to the hand. Along with the water, a great quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen gas is emitted.. The ruins of ancient baths still exist here, and near them a part of an inscription, with the name Diagoras. Now if the eruption had taken place since the time of that philosopher T 2 276 Dr, Prevost and M. Dumas on . [Oer (about 400 years before Christ), we should probably have had some records of it; therefore it is fair to presume that the Catas combs are of more ancient date, I obtained an ancient Greek vase taken from one of these sepulchres, which has all the cha- racters of the very earliest period of the arts. | The island is still subject to frequent earthquakes; and proba- bly it was an exertion of this volcano, or of that at, Santorini, which destroyed one of the principal towns of Candia or Crete, with its inhabitants, in the year 1809. | About four miles to the north-east of Milo is Polino (or Burnt Island), which consists entirely of one immense cinder, with a central hill composed of a smooth-fractured, compact, baked clay, of à dusky white colour, appearing like a heap of pottery, the highest point being about 500 feet above the sea, Ta ascend this hill, it is necessary to pass along a ridge, of which there are eight, that support the central mass. The interyals of these ridges form ravines of pumice stone. The island is uninhabited, ànd entirely without fresh water, which is not the ease with Milo, where there are springs of good water, Upon ascending the hill of Polino, I observed some modern excava- tions, like mines, but there is notany apparent metallic substance that could have been followed, and they extend about 20 yards into the hill, showing the invariable volcanic formation of the island. There are here no remains of ancient ruins, and there is scarcely any vegetation. 1 Articte VIII. An Examination of the Blood. By J. L. Prevost, MD. and à J. A. Dumas.* Tue authors commence their memoir with observing, that the revious microscopic examination of the blood had proved that his fluid during life is merely serum, holding small regular inso- luble corpuscules in suspension. "These corpuscules are always composed of a central colourless spheroid, inelosed in a red coloured membrane, from which it readily separates after death. This white central spheroid is transparent and spherical in those animals which have circular particles, and oval when the parti- eles are elliptieal ^ In the first case its diameter is constant; in the second, various. ‘The colouring matter is readily divisible, but insoluble in water, and always separates from it by standing, The three substances which are examined in the chemical * Abstracted from the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tome xxiii. p. 50, ~ 1823.) än Esümination of thé Blood. 977 investigation of the blood, aré the albumen; the seruni, the white globule, and the colouring Matters White of egg is. albumen rr d pure, but the serum of ox ör sheep's blood is purer, as the white of egg always contaiüs light membranous flocculi, which . &re not albumen. do bs "Thé coagulation of albumen by heat being so characteristic à property, and the cause of it difficult to discover, experiments Were made to determine the circumstances which accompany it. By heating white of egg in tubes placed in water over a lanip, the following results were obtained : Pu 3 At 140? Fahr. the white of egg remained thin and clear. 145? an opalescent tint appeared at the lower part of the _ tube. | 149° the opalescent portion became solid, while the upper portion remained fluid. ! 158? the opalescent appearance occurred in the upper part of the tube. : | _ 165? the solidification was complete. . | The authors conclude that 158? is about the coagulating point; coagulated albumen, when examined by the microscope, presents the same white globules which have been already tnen- tioned. None of the circumstances which aecompany thé eoa- gulation of albumen lead to a discovery of its cause. The authors then refer merely to the opinions of Foureroy and Scheele as being erroneous. M. Thenard’s opinion, that it is: derived merely Tölt the cohesion of the molécules of the albu- men, they consider.it difficult to substantiate by experiment; and they also think it possible, but not easily demonstrable, that the caustic soda necessary to thé solution of the albumen may becoine carbonate by the decomposition of a small portion o animal matter, and so become incapable of retaining the albu- men in solution. The authors then remark, that the aétion of voltaic electricity elucidates the state of combination which exists between the albumen and the soda; many other well- known experiments, they observe, show that this substance is also capable of combining with metallic oxides. When a metal- lic salt is precipitated by albumen, a portion of the acid is retained by the oxide, and all the oxide is not in combination with the animal matter, for the soda of the albumen decomposes a part of the salt, independently ofit. When the decomposition of albumen is effected by the pile, with a copper wire, a com- pound is obtained, which consists of water, albumen, and oxide of copper: when moist, it is slightly green, and when dried, of -à turquoise colour. . If an iron wire be employed, then a coni- pound of albumen and oxide of iron is obtained. The eoagula- tion of albumen by alcohol is owing to the affinity of this fluid for soda ; and it is stated to be the best mode of procuring albu- men in a state of purity. When examined by reagents, it does 278 Dr, Prevost and: M. Dumas on {Ocr. not appear to differ at all from fibrin. The action of acids upon albumen leads to the same conclusion, although there are two dif- ferent operations to be distinguished ; first, the saturation of the - soda; secondly, the action of the acid upon the albumen. The first explains the precipitation of albumen by the greater number of acids, the action of the acids depending upon their nature ; thus acetic and phosphoric acids redissolve, or at least reduce, even fibrin itself to a gelatinous state, and consequently they do not precipitate it from its alkaline solutions. | | M. Prevost and Dumas observe, that the history of tlie colouring matter of the blood would have been long since set- » tled; if it had not been for an error caused by a very simple cir- cumstance: the colouring matter of the blood, owing to its extreme divisibility when putinto water, and toits passing through filters, has been supposed to be soluble in water. By the aid of a microscope, however, the particles are perceptible, and by standing, they separate in the state of a dense red substance. On this account the authors conceive that the action of reagents nob the colouring matter of the blood. has never been satis- actory. | ; a rage matter of the blood appears to be formed of an animal substance in combination with peroxide of iron. Expe- riments hitherto made would lead to the conclusion that it. is albumen; but as chemists have always operated upon a mixture of red matter, white globules, and the albumen of the serum, the question is undecided, and the authors expressly state their belief, that the processes proposed by MM. Berzelius, Brande, ` and Vauquelin, to isolate the colouring matter, are all fallacious, MM. Prevost and Dumas observe, that it is much more easy than it has been supposed, to determine the proportions of the different animal matters’ which the blood contains, and the fol- lowing are the results of their experiments :— - Mammifere. . Green monkey (Callitriche). Blood drawn from the basilica. Serum. Blood. eor ES S qo v a 908 Watir . vacccessabe (4 DO Albumen and salts.. .. 92 Particles. .. ........ 1461 —— Albumen and salts. .. 779 1000 10000 Man in a healthy state: venous blood: mean of many analyses. Serum, Blood. Water, /2.)5 5295 «««« 900 Water |... eee sos 7829 Albumen and salts .... 100 Particles . usses ias ua 1292 —— Albumen and salts. .. 869 1000 10000 1823.] | an Examination of the Blood. 279 Man in a healthy. state: execution. Serum. Water eoeeraeeet ever 905. Albumen and salts .... 95 i ——9À 1000 Guinea pig: blood from the jugular. . Serum. Water ee gaot ere Mi 900 Albumen and salts .... 100 | 1000 . Dog: blood from the jugular. . Serum, WAT AGED es ds ev | cna 5 Albumen and salts.... 74 1000 Cat. Serum Water 9099€989252€90699229299 904 Albumen and salts.... 96 ~ ee «1000 blood from the vena porte after Blood, Wither e ieescesecto AS Particles e .67 $5 e 9. 6 ce 1142 Albumen and salts. .. 844 . 10000 i Blood. Wer. i ain ban eno 28D Particles. sisa 1600.5,:1280 Albumen and salts. .. 872 10000 Blood, WOOD. esasa ssa nat IU Particles. ...... NES UA Albumen and salts...... 655 . 10000 Blood, . Water. CEE E EE SE SEE S e r 7953 Particles’. ........ ee 1204 Albumen and salts... $843 .10000 Goat: blood taken from one of the TR The blood of this animal is light coloured, and the venous blood nearly as red as the arterial. Serum. Water (Er EE SE EE EE EE ee . . 907 ` Albumen and. salta. NATL € o—9 1000 Calf: mixture of arterial and venous blood obtained at a slaughter-house. Serum. NEM iiiiiea o rcoo HAE Albumen and salts . ^. 99 m 1000 Wentér ... 0.2.2.2»: GIAO Partiches,. i2» sso oe RID Albumen and salts. .. 834 10008 Blood Wratet ssi ess odes es Bee Particles . si ‘ss x PORRER: i y Albumen and salts 828 ' 980 D», Prevost and M. Dumas on Hare: the blood taken from one of the jugulars. Serum, Water eeeeeseeae evened 891 ' Albumen and salts ..,. 109 1000 Horse: venous blood. Serum. Water. @eeeveeeeeeeoue 901 Albumen and salts e+; 99 1000 - Birds. Pigeon: blood from the jugular. Serum, Water iA PERI 945 Albumen and salts .... 55 1000 Duck : blood from the jugular. . Serum, Water *"*95»399995292970* 901 Albumen and salts.... 99 1000 Hen : blood from the jugular. Serum, Water $*29928292992497992959* 925 Albumen and salts ..4. 75 nae 1000 Raven: a very young bird. Serum, Water LE E E E 934 Albumen and salts s... 66 1000 (064. Blood. Water . "rcc ]] |i ]| n | | | 8379 Particles . suas Gens asin 9a. 383 Albumen and salts. .. 10000 Blood, Water. TITTEN 8183 Particles . III 920 Albumen and salts... 897 ——À 10000 T Blood. Wee Oar TDE Patticles. .......... 1557 Albumen and salts. .. 469 — 10000 Blood, Water . (E E E EE 7652 Particles ioiii 5.08 1501 Albumen and salts, .. 847 10000 Blood. Water. e9»999229*9»€9*5 7799 a io ACH ccc ances eee Albumen and salts. .. 630 10000 Blood. Water. is cccécccec. 7970 Pistieles . TAASI u a 1466 Albüien and salts. .. 564 10000 i ee 27 7 it, s 1893.) . àn Examination of the Blood. — jet Héron: this bird had been wounded, and had refused food for sonié days. Only one analysis was made. Water $*99?9299259*992990€99 932 Albumen and salts ;,.. 68 Particles. .....::... 1896 3 —— Albümen andsalts, .. 592 1000 10000 Cold-bloóded Animals. | Water DIXERINT 923 Water . HP EXT 8637. Albumen and salts .... 77 Particlés re bà dios 638 | = ^ Albumen and salts. <. 795 -Burbot (Gadus Lota). in : Simi, bat Water MEE ITY 931 Water . Lite ebes hese 8862 Albumen and salts.... 69 Particles .......s006 481 j — Albumen and salts... 657 wa, 1000 OP TA ann ~ 10000 . Fróg: mixed blood obtained towards the end of winter, Serum. Blood. WEN Svs Guns ees s. 950 Water. .....ccvesss 8846 Albumen and salts .... 50 ° Particles. .......... 690 | j —— Albunien and salts... 464 1000 ———— 10000 Serum. Blood. Water ; e$6082092699890€ 8082 Land Tortoise: the animal was bled to death from the jugular towards the end of winter. The blood did not differ in appear: ance from that of a bird, the clot being bulky. The animal had neither eaten nor drank for five months. Its temperature was exactly that of the air; it breathed only three times in a minute. Serum, cece 904. Water esevsetbotos : Albumen and salts .... 96 1000 REC Blood. A a OEE EC 7688 Parüeles .........,. 1500 Albumen and salts... 806 10000: 282 Dr. Prevost and .M. Dumas on [Ocr. -. Common Eel. Mr. Hewson has stated the globules of the eel to be circular, but they were found to be elliptical... The blood was obtained from the aorta. Serum. Blood, b. AUR PM DEW Water . .... 2*2. 8460 Albumen and salts ,... 100 Particles. «5». d nies. ini o 00D —-—- Albumen and salts. .. 940 1000 10000 MM. Prevost and Dumas observe, that the inspection of these results will prove that it is impossible to draw any general con- clusions from them respecting the composition of the. serum : this fluid varies in the same animal, and still more in different animals, without the possibility of connecting this character with the physiological condition of the individual... With the particles, the case is different, and, in the greater number of cases, their quantity bears a certain relation to that of the heat developed by vital action, as will appear by the annexed table : it shows the number of particles in 10000 parts of the blood, the usual temperature of the rectum, the number of beats of the heart, and.the inspirations in a minute. To complete our knowledge on this subject, we want the relative weights of the animal and the blood in circulation. - With this difficult subject the authors are now engaged. j ` Weight of particles Pulsations in a irations „Animal. f in 10000 f. riche ean or maagi minute, me minute. Pigeon,. .. «eo» * 13557. - 101:6 Fahr. /MIB fc 34 Hen. .... ay 1571 106-7 140 : 80 Bwhaeoeeeseo 1501 198:5 110 QI Raven. eeeree of 1466 ome" ‘i — —— Heron ITIITITTIT 1326 i 105:8 900 99 : Ape DIDIT 1461 95:9 90 30 Man eee eee ITI 1292 102°2 72 18 Guinea Pig .... 1280 100-2 140 36 Bila Vos} ek 1238 99-3 90 28 Sea 1204 101°3 100 24 Se ee dd 1090 102:6 84 24 Cul nb ncine v%- 912 — EA Ai Hare ..ce..s00- 938 , 100:2 120 36 Horse. .'.. J... -. 920 96-2 , 96 16 Sheep. ......... 900 100:9 di Fe Trout. eeeereee i 638 a zd — — Burbot....+++.- 481 That of the place, — 36 Frog seat eewe ee 690 48-2 in water of 45°5 ras! 20 Tortoise. sss... 1506 That of the air. = 8 Eel “ee ee eer eevee 600 a» — — ‘In attempting a comparative examination of arterial and venous blood, unexpected difficulties and irregular results occurred. It was at length discovered that when a small animal is bled to a considerable extent, the veins rapidly absorb, at the expense of the rest of tbe system, a meld y or perhaps an equal quantity of fluid to that in circulation: from which it 1823.] an Examination of the Blood. 283 follows that the quantity of particles appears to diminish in a given quantity of blood. This was proved by the following experiments :—A cat which had been peony bled for another purpose, had venous blood again taken from it ; it con- tained 862.parts of particles in 10000 of the blood ;' when bled the next day, the particles amounted to 856 parts. A strong healthy cat was much bled from the carotid ; the blood con- tained 1184 of particles in 10000 parts ; two minutes afterwards, blood taken from the external jugular gave 1163 of particles ; it was then suffered to bleed five minutes, and. blood then taken from the jugular gave only 935 of particles. -These two experiments, the authors observe, leave. no. doubt as to the rapidity of the | absorption, ànd they indicate at the same time the plan to be adopted for avoiding the error which it occasions. -It appeared probable that by slightly bleeding a strong ‘animal, no: sensible effect would be produced; a sheep being bled for this purpose, from the carotid, 10000 parts gave 935 of particles, and: venous blood from the jugular gave 861 ; the blood of the dog and cat present similar pS, Ten thousand parts of arterial blood usually contain 100 parts more globules than venous: blood. Sometimes. the serums are similar, sometimes slight uncertain differences are perceptible. Care was taken in the experiments related to obtain the venous before the arterial blood, in order that the venous absorption, if it occurred, should not be in favour - of the circumstances related. piel - In recapitulating the results of their labours, MM. Prevost and Dumas remark, b à First, that arterial blood contains more particles than venous lood ; : Secondly, that the blood of birds is the most abundant in particles ; i | Thirdly, that the mammifere succeed birds in this. respect, and that it would appear that the blood of the carnivorous tribes contains more particles than that of the herbivoræ ;- And, fourthly, that cold-blooded animals possess the smallest _ number of particles. Finally, they observe, we acquire a direct proof of absorp- tion by the veins after bleeding. We may even make. use of this principle for the purpose of explaining the anomaly in the heron. It had lost much blood; it had not taken any food for some: days ; and. it seems fair to conclude from these two circumstances, that the volume of particles having dimi- nished, on the one hand, and not having been replaced, on the other, necessarily remained below the mean. _The apparent anomaly in the tortoise may be explained with equal facility. The life of this animal is almost suspended dur- ing winter, so that many fewer particles of its blood are destroyed, It must, however, lose water, partly in respiration ; partly by transpiration ; and partly by urine, the excretion of which in abundance reguldily continues. DT a SMA Brooke onthe ^ [Oen .. AmricLe IX. On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts, ^. By H.J. Brooke, Esq. FRS: (Continued from p. 121.) ; | IN order to apply successfully the tables of modifications referred to in my last communication, or indeed to compare ofystals with any of the engraved figures by which they are represented, it is necessary to acquire a habit of what may be termed reading crystals. This is not difficult of attainment when they are regularly formed, but when they are distorted in their shape, and some of the planes which are represented in the drawings as equal and symmetrically placed, are disproportion- ately enlarged at the expense of others, it requires a little more consideration to trace the character of the true form in the imperfect crystal. It is convenient to attach the crystal we are examining to the end of a bit of wax taper two or three inches long, by means of which we may hold it in any position. Our first object should be to discover some synimetrical lateral or terminal planes, and when we have discovered these, the erys- tal should be placed on the wax so as to enable its being con- veniently held with its lateral planes vertical. ^ = The cube, tetrahedron, and all the octahedrons, may be easily recognised. The right square prism may be ree m shed from the cube by not having its lateral and its terminal edges similarly modified. In the right rectangular prism, the lateral p iücline to each other at an angle of 90°, but in the right oblique- angled prism those planes incline alternately at a greater and less angle than 90°; the terminal plane in both is perpendicu- lar to the lateral planes, and the planes which replace the solid angles incline unequally on the three adjacent primary planes. The right rhombic prism is distinguishable from the oblique by the inclination of the terminal or the lateral planes being 90? in the right prism, aud being greater and less alternately in the oblique. The planes matted à in the right prism incline equally on the two adjacent lateral planes, while those marked e in the oblique incline unequally on the adjacent planes. The rhomboid may be distinguished from the oblique rhombic prism, to which it bears a great analogy in its general form, by the symmetry of its modifying planes when held with its axis vertical ; and by the equal inclination on the three adjacent lateral planes, of a plane | replacing its terminal solid angle ; whereas an apparently corres- ponding plane on the oblique rhombic enin will measure unequally ou the adjacent lateral planes. But it will. be well to procure regularly formed crystals of some of the substances deseribed, and by holding these in the positions in which they — are represented in the drawings; the relations of the several 1823] Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. 288 figures to each other will be readily perceived, and the less regu- larly formed ones will, after a little practice in examining them, be more easily understood. "1 iran Chloride of Mercury.— Calomel. I have received from Mr. Cooper some good crystals of this substance, which have afforded the measurements given below; I have not found any distinct cleavage among these, but there are indications of cleavages parallel to all the planes of a square prism, which may be regarded as the primary form. The primary form of the mineral, which has ‘been called - 5 die muriaie of mercury, is also a square prism, and the secondary planes which replace the terminal edges and angles ofa crystal I have . . measured, incline at the same angles onthe . lateral planes, as these do. | | P on M, or. M^. ......,.. 90". 00/ P oni. o osos sitat 110 ^ P onc n2aa595 47924,1129... 0Q DI LORM La heitege siete 8930... 00 M ORC ss cic age aa. Ae a on edge. G. .......4. 447: 55 ~~ Bichloride of Mercury,—Corrosive Sublimate. P T am obliged to Mr. R. Howard. for the crystals from which this form has been determined. The cleavages are parallel to the lateral and to the terminal planes of i l a right rhombic prism of 93° 44'. lhave... not observed any modifications of the. ter- minal planes from which the dimensions of the primary form may be inferred. T P on M, or M/'..,.... 909 00° ei Mon Mia vee ag ands 93 44 Monk. ee ereeeseree 133 8 Phosphate of Ammonia,* | The primary form is an oblique rhombic prism, and there are indistinct cleavages parallel to the planes M and M’. The crys- tals are usually lengthened in the direction of the horizontal diagonal of the figure.’ ^. P on M, or M’: ....,, 105° 50’ © a RE vii WI Se. Ponci. eerceeseevene 109 32 M on M’. 9094090429299 84 15 * For the crystals of this and the five following substaricés, T ai obliged to Mr. Cooper, who informs me that he proposes to make collections of crystals of the artificial salts for sale; and he contemplates that he shall.be enabled to supply them at a yery moderate price, — iv verias Apt Y 286: -— Ms. Brookeon the [Ocr. Phosphate of Soda. | This salt effloresces so readily, that if it be attempted to be measured in a warm and dry day, the planes will become obscure before they can all be adjusted on the goniometer.* The primary form is an oblique rhombic prism, with indistinct cleavages parallel to the planes M and M’. The crystals are frequently deposited singly and very sym- metrically formed. : P on M, or M’. ...... 106° 44’ Pone . cecccanpvsee 199. 19 P on * e€$50*990909299299 112 27 P on es boson bicbewes Lee 14 BE On DE nw ccccdiustec’ ue QU M on h. seccseseseee 123 45 M on ky ,........... 146 15 Succinate of Ammonia. Cleaves readily parallel to the planes P, M, and T, of a doubly oblique prism. The attachment of the crystals is commonly by one of the summits of the figure. PO TL Veco eeeskeucs. MI AME P on E5555.» 719-939 25 P on. Kid pine o» «es ct obi eke 145 Pong . eto @e eee 6 68 151 57 P onf *eeeoeao@a@e#eteaeeeoee ee 151 7 BOR. T. sas. srai DE AD Mong. eis o.com vio, 139. O0 Ew o o2 o s locuta PEN ME TonÁ.. cc nxcss»vo tee Succinate of Soda. | | The primary form is a doubly oblique prism, of which either the plane marked P, or that marked b, might be the terminal one. There is not any distinct cleavage that I can perceive parallel to either of these, or to the lateral planes, although there is some trace of it parallel to 6. Some of the crystals have both their terminations complete. Pon. M. sjeni carona IET UP En A N E CE . 140 50 Duro v E E y 99 30 E T POT TE 169 55 BONE a sooo eS TES E us n BERI CUNG. 183. 20 CUM TE A EOE to du POON ie tae Aiserce ine li e in D RR - * Tt need’ scarcely be remarked that efflorescent ealts.should be measured when the. air is moist, and deliquescent ones when it is warm and dry. : : 1823.] Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. 287- | Chromate of Ammonia. j The primary form is an oblique rhombic prism. This may be cleavedin the direction of its two diagonals, but there is not any distinct cleavage parallel to the meron d planes. The planes P are frequently rounded, and the crystals are very thin. P on M, or M’. ,,.... 114° 00’ Pong... ee ores 410 10 Panci., swis d» mame MORIR Ponk. e€09990€0090252799909 199 3l L PO a case M M M GB Ru eurer» 199... 4 Mong. oeeoeoeovoven0e08 135 47 Chromate of Soda. I have not perceived any distinct cleavage in these crystals, which effloresce so rapidly that the. surfaces cease: to reflect the images of objects almost before the planes can be. measured. The primary form is an. oblique rhombic ! prism, the crystals being sometimes consi- derably lengthened in the direction of the horizontal diagonal. P on M, or M’. ececoee 101° 16’ Pang. aeua era 1000 20 diaptbée ON AT PE BB 20 BAAL ds rerin O 43. M ORM cocgiccsccns OO Lm M on Rs cescvvcccsss 100 B . Subcarbonate of Soda. The primary form-of this salt was given by Rome De L'Isle as an octahedron with a rhombic base, which form has been adopted by Haiiy, and other writers, evidently without examining the crystals; for even with the common goniometer, the difference of more than 3° between the inclinations of pid gp ni M. ou M’, and e one’, of the annexed fig. 1, Ms might have been readily detected.. On examining some large and bright -crystals received from Mr. R. Howard, I observed that two of the four edges of the supposed base. of the octahedron were ^ mira by narrow planes ; and on looking through the crystals, I perceived. indica- ` tions of cleavages parallel to the edges that: were not replaced. In this direction, they may be very easily cleaved, but I do not find that they yield: to cleavage parallel to the replaced edge, or to any of the other 988 Prof. Cumming on the Galvanoscope. planes. On dissolving and recrystallising this salt, E obtained crystals resembling fig. 2, and others much more reduced in = - height; some of these are so thin as to leave scarcely a vestige of the planes M and h, and several are hemitropes, the plane of imaginary section being parallel to P, I have, therefore, been induced to consi- der the primary form an oblique rhombic ` prism. Fig. l represents the ordinary shape of the crystals. P on M, or M^. ,.. eoo roses 108° 48? P on Noo3 avs urs oo ce 129 52 20 POU A PPT TOT TOOTE AREE M on M’ e" * OU Cus vp 76 12 Man ogirisb.2osvev yee boy 198 6 Mombo2sséteoie Aie SR et 141 54 ee aule aie sd Jeguue eda 79 44 € 0n Ecco BETH ee FH) OPO e 99 Sle P 140 8 —— M aa MÀ — —— ARTICLE X. Description of the Galvanosc e. By the Rev. E Cumming, MA. FRS. and Professor of Chemistry in the University of Cambridge. | (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) ~ MY DEAR SIR, Cambridge, Sept. Yi, 1823. I nave found the galvanoscope, mentioned in the note of m last communication, so useful in. detecting minute electromag- netie action, that I wish it to be more generally known than it seems to be at present; you will, therefore, oblige me by insert- ing an account of it in the next number of your Annals. "The drawing and description (Plate XXIII), are taken from the first volume of our Cambridge Transactions, with the addi- tion of the mode of neutralizing the needle, which I find prefer- able to what I then proposed, | Its delicacy is such as to show a deviation of from 20? to 30? by the galvanic action of zinc and copper surfaces not exceedin 1-1600th of an inch. Disks of one inch diameter moistene: with spring water, alcohol, or sulphuric ether, give nearly the same MU ion. Two wires of silver and platina, each 1-100th inch diameter, and 3 inches long, twistid. together at one end, and heated by a spirit lamp, gave a deviation of 90°, | — — — me CES a TEES UR — M EAERI a PR imam rm LU oS n t ee <- NSPLXXIIL A Pa D e S i UM i _ Engraved for the Annals of Plb/ophy for Baldwin, Gadag Joy Patern Tom tznas 1823.] ^ Prof. Cumming on the Galvanoscope. 289 ‘Fig. 1, the galvanoscope.. |: harru qund oid 838; A K, tubes filled with mercury, to be connected with the gal- vanic plates. | i ABCDEFGHK, a wire placed in a spiral form, round the compass needle n s. DEL 3 a b c, d e f, brass wires inserted in the galvanoscope, and car- rying the sliding wires 0 g and eh. Y ik, | m, the neutralizing magnets attached to the wires b g and e h. | op qr, à brass wire inserted in the galvanoscope at o, and carrying a small magnet moveable round q r. | The galvanoscope is placed east and west; the compass needle is then brought nearly into the plane of the spiral by the large magnets i k, / m, and the adjustment is completed by the small magnet ¢ v. It is desirable that the spiral wire should not be less than 1-25th of an inch, and that there should be as little space as possible between the spiral parallelogram and the compass needle. There should be at least four or five revolutions in the spiral, of which the vertical form, fig. 2, seems preferable to the hori- zontal, fig. 3, as permitting a better view of the needle. ARTICLE XI. Remarks on M. Longchamp's Memoir on the Uncertainty of Chemical Analysis.. By Richard Phillips, FRS. L. and E. &c. IN this paper* M. Longchamp has detailed a great number of experiments performed with the intention of ascertaining the cause of the uncertain results which he obtained in analysing sulphuric acid and sulphates, by means of barytic salts. The subject is one of unquestionable importance, and if the experi- ments detailed by M. Longchamp are accurate, his inferences are just, and chemical analysis is at an end. As, however, all statements which tend to envelope the sciences in uncertainty are productive of mischief, by discouraging their cultivation, f shall endeavour to show that the evils to be apprehended from M. Longchamp's experiments are merely imaginary ; and without. minutely examining all the details into which M. Longchamp - has entered, I think it will appear from his statements respect- ing the action of the barytic salts upon sulphuric acid, that but little confidence can be placed in his results. . One hundred parts of sulphuric acid of specific gravity 1:812 N * Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tom, xxiii, p. 155. New Series, vor. vi. U 290 Mr. Phillips's Remarks on M. Longchamp's Memoir (Oct. are stated to have given the following quantities of sulphate of barytes, when decomposed by means ot the nitrate and muriate of barytes : By the Nitrate. Exper. l ....... eee eere o6 221090 -d'uNoV UE VRITCX(U Y NLIS 217-660 S. oqoonfense ti C TER erates 213-109 PF IER E 209-667 Giving a mean of. .... eee ees 215:3665 By the Muriate. Exper. 1 *"^853925428*9529248496$9*29^^»2229**9^2829* 211:277 2 *"-"82957829282*9*98505950€59*^?»94^$429 211:912 —— M ——— Giving a mean of. ,...... esses. 2115945 * Thus,” says M. Longchamp, * 100 parts of the same sul- phuric acid gave “ By the nitrate of barytes. ...... 215°3665 By the niuriate of barytes ...... 211:5945," and the inference which he deduces from these experiments is, that it is evidently impossible to determine the quantity of real acid which dilute THE acid contains, by means of the salts of barytes. : A few observations will be sufficient to prove that this infer- ence is unwarranted by the experiments which are A eia to prove its truth, and it will, I think, readily appear, that M. Long- champ's method of performing experiments 1s radically defective. The difference of the mean results, it will be observed, amounts to only 3:7720 parts, whereas the difference of two experiments with the nitrate of barytes, is 11:363 parts; it is, therefore, evident, that one or both ofthese experiments must be extremely erroneous. Again, if M. Longchamp had made only two expe- riments with the nitrate, as he has with the muriate, and those two had accidentally been the third and fourth stated, the mean would have been 211, :388 sufficiently approximating 21 1:5945, the mean of the two experiments with the muriate, to have enti- tled the author to have arrived at conclusions diametrically oppo- site to those which he has advanced. | In order, however, to put the subject to the test of experiment, I diluted some sulphuric acid with a considerable proportion of water, and divided the solution into eight parts. To four of these, solution of nitrate of barytes was added, slightly in excess, and the remaining four were similarly treated with muriate of barytes. The precipitates were washed with distilled water until sulphuric acid produced no effect in it: they were then all slowly: dried at the same temperature until they ceased to Jose weight. 1823.) on the Uncertainty of Chemical Analysis. 29Y The results were as follows, and I trust they will be considered as offering satisfactory evidence that similar results are obtainable by using either of the salts in question, and that they may be indifferently employed for the purpose of ascertaining the quan- tity of sulphuric acid. | Sulphate of Barytes by Nitrate. Exper. l ,..... ee eee nee 12877 org, 2 **0€€9999900€000009*9922979»9920820 128-0 a 3 @G@Qeete@erwenmenpeoveewenaegeaee 1283 4 PUPP aH reese senesanoees 128°6 519:6 Mean. PP PTT NS. 128:4 . By Muriate of Barytes. Dn. 153417215. 20:3 02112 90A. ae: f Am 128.7 " OPT Pe ae STATT 128-0 : XM YMCRTLIED TUNE turtur à. co 5138 er ee Mean. E A E S E yeaah did 128:325 EY ARTICLE XII. | ANALYSES or Dooks. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. Vol. XIV. | Part I. 1823. Tuis part of the Linnean Transactions consists of eleven papon, of which the following are abstracts or analyses :— - On the Malayan Species of Melastoma. By William Jack, MD. Communicated by Robert Brown, Esq. FRS. and LS. — * The East Indian species of Me/astoma,” Dr. Jack observes, * have been little investigated in their native soil; and the few that are mentioned in botanical works have for the most part been so imperfectly described as to occasion much confusion. This splendid genus has now become so extensive as to require being subdivided ; but to do this with due regard to the natural series, and to the relative importance of the characters, : would demand a critical examination of the whole, and ampler means of reference than are accessible in India. I shall, therefore, confine myself to such observations as have been suggested by the Malayan species which I have had an opportunity óf exa- v 2 202: Analyses of Books. (Ocr. mining. ‘The whole of these have baccate fruit, and are there- fore true Melastome, as that genus is at present constituted. They vary much in the number of their stamina, but that number is-constant in each species. They all agree in having the ovula attached to placente, which project from the inner angle of the cells ; in the number of the ed corresponding with the divisions ofthe flower; in the peculiar inflexion of the anthers before expansion; and in having polyspermous berries. The points of difference to be principally attended to are the following: the similarity or dissimilarity of the alternate anthers ; the number of the stamina; the anthers being with or without beaks; straight or arcuate ; the calyces being hispid or nearly smooth, ‘and having deciduous or persistent segments ; the ovary being partially or completely adnate to the calyx. Ofthese characters, the only one which appears to me to point to a natural division of the species, is that of the equality orinequality of the stamina, occasioned by the anthers being alternately pedicellate and sessile on tlie filaments, as in Melastoma Malabathrica, or being all sessile, as in M. exigua and others here described. Those of the first division, with unequal stamina, have generally large and beautiful flowers, hispid calyces, with frequent deciduous segments, stamina always double the number of petals, which are either five-or four, and arcuate rostrate anthers which, before the expansion of the flower, have their beaks lodged in cells betwixt the calyx and ovary. Those of the second division, with equal stamina, have seldom such conspicuous flowers, have smoother calyces, with segments generally persistent, eight stamina, rarely or never ten, and occasionally only four; anthers sometimes neither arcuate nor rostrate, and their points in that case do not reach before expansion below the summit of the ovary, which is then completely adnate to the calyx. The genus Maieta of Ventenat has been founded upon this latter character alone ; but it is obviously insufficient for a generic distinction, as it can only be considered secondary to that of the relative length of the anthers, on which depends the complete or partial adhesion of the calyx and ovary ; and a little attention to the relations of the different species to each other will show, that a division founded on this latter character could not be established without great violence to their natural affinities. The following species are arranged according to the division now suggested :” We now present the specific characters, synonymes, and localities, of the various species of Melastoma described by Dr. Jack, necessarily omitting, as we must likewise do in similar cases throughout this article, his particular descriptions of the plants ; but retaining a few important observations. * Antheris alternis dissimilibus (MELASsTOMA). | l. Melastoma Obvoluta. W. J. -M. decandra, foliis. ovatis quinquenerviis appresso-pilosis, 1823.] Linnean Transactions,: Vol. XIV. Part I. 293 floribus 3—5 terminalibus, bracteis magnis, calycibus, squamo- sis, laciniis ovatis deciduis. -~ At Tappanooly on the west coast of Sumatra. 2. Melastoma Malabathrica. Lin. M. decandra, foliis elliptico-lanceolatis quinquenerviis scabris, pilis brevibus appressis, floribus 7—11 opposite corymbosis, bracteis ovatis deciduis calyce minoribus, calycibus squamosis, laciniis deciduis. Kadali. Rheed Ma/lab. iv. p. 87, t. 42. Fragarius niger. Rumph. Amb. iv. p. 137, t. 72. — Sikadudu. Malay. Abundant throughout Sumatra and the Malay islands, and chiefly occupying open waste lands or coppices. . * [n giving the above character of this well-known species,” says Dr. Jack, “I have been obliged to add to the usual specific phrase, in order to distinguish it from the preceding, to which it has so much resemblance that they might easily be confounded together. The leaves of this are longer and less hairy, and the scales of the calyx are much shorter and more appressed than in M. obvoluta. The principal distinction, how- ever, is in the inflorescence, the flowers in this being numerous, generally from seven to eleven, in a kind of corymbose panicle, and the bracts small; while in the preceding, the number of the flowers seldom exceeds three, and each is invested by two large bracts, which entirely inclose the calyx, and do not fall off till the petals are fallen. The two following species have also consider- able resemblance to the present, but are readily distinguished on inspection by having their calyces covered with erect bristles in place of flat scales. This species (as well as all the rest) jd the ovula attached to placente projecting from the inner angle of the cells: as the fruit ripens, the cells become filled with pulp, and the placente consequently.less distinct: this robably occasioned Gertner to fallinto an error in ascribing to Mo siaa nidulant seeds, and establishing on this a distinction between it and Osbeckia.” 8. Melastoma Erecta. W. Jy M. decandra, foliis quinquenerviis ovatis utrinque acutis villosis, floribus 5—7 terminalibus corymbosis, calycibus scabris pilis longis erectis, laciniis linearibus deciduis. Found at Tap- ~ panooly, in Sumatra. ! «4. Melastoma Decemfida. Roxb. M. decandra, floribus subsolitariis terminalibus, foliis quinque- nervis, calyce decemfido setis mollibus porrectis echinato. Roxb. Cat. Hort. Beng. p. 90. Native of Pulo Penang. 5. Melastoma Stellulata... W.J. M. octandra, pedunculis axillaribus 1—5 floris, calycibus setosis, setis erectis spinescentibus apice: stellato—multifidis, 294 - Analyses of Books. [Oor. foliis na trinerviis subtus tormentosis. Daduruh Akkar. Malay. West coast of Sumatra. * The peculiarity of the bristles of the calyx having stellate points, at once distinguishes this species from all the rest. esides these bristles the calyx is covered with a short ferrugi- nous wool, and the segments appear to be persistent, It was sent to me from Saloomah, and is by no means a common species.” 6. Melastoma Nemorosa. W.J. M. octandra, pedunculis axillaribus 1—3 floris, foliis ovato- lanceolatis quinquenerviis subtus cum calycibus, ramis, pedun- culisque ferrugineo-villosis. Banga utan. Malay. Native of the Malay islands. | 7. Melastoma Bracteata. W. J. M. octandra, floribus paniculatis terminalibus, bracteis mag nis ovatis, foliis cordato-ovatis quinquenerviis, calyce stellulato - piloso, limbo subintegro. Oosa. Malay. Native of Pulo Penang. ** Antheris omnibus consimilibus, (Stomandra.) 8. Melastoma Ezigua, W. J. M. octandra, paniculis terminalibus, foliis longe petiolatis ovatis acuminatis glabris quinquenerviis, calyce quadridentato. Native of Pulo Penang. * The fruit of this species might perhaps properly be consi- dered a capsule, as it appears to be destitute of pulp. "The gra- dations from a berry to a capsule in this family are such, that it is difficult to draw the line of distinction ; and it seems ques- tionable, whether this difference, when unsupported by other characters, can be considered of generic value." 9. Melastoma Rotundifolia. W.J. M. octandra, foliis maximis subrotundis septemnerviis, flori- bus capitatis involucratis. Segoonil. Malay. Found in the Musi country, in the interior of Sumatra. “This is a very singular and well-marked species, distin- pornog from all the others of the genus by its large subrotund eaves, and by the peculiarity of having the flowers in a crowded head surrounded by a large involucre. In this particular, it deviates widely from. the usual habit of the Melastomæ. It is rarely met aah, and has only been observed by me from Musi, a district lying immediately inland of Bencoolen.” 10. Melastoma Pallida. W.J. M. octandra, floribus paniculatis axillaribus et terminalibus, foliis ovatis quinquenerviis glabriusculis, antheris supra basin affixis. Native of the Malay islands. 1823.] Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV. Part I. 295 | 11. Melastoma Fallax. W.J. > M; tetranda, paniculis terminalibus, foliis ovatis quinquener- viis subtus tormentosis, antheris erectis infra medium affixis. Native of Sumatra. 19. Melastoma Gracilis. W.J. M. octandra, staminibus alternis nanis, paniculis terminalibüs gracilibus, foliis ovatis acuminatis glabris trinerviis, ramis com- pressis. Sedudu akar. Malay. Sumatra. 13. Melastoma Glauca. W. J. .. M. tetranda, paniculis terminalibus glaucis, foliis quinquener- viis acuminatis bast-cordatis glabriusculis. | Osbeckia tetranda. Roxb. Cat. Hort. Beng. p. 88. Tuniong utan. Malay. Abundant at Pulo Penang. T 14. Melastoma Viminalis. M. octandra, foliis oblongis obtuso-acuminatis basi cordatis quinquenerviis, paniculis trichotomis, bracteis oppositis oblongis ciliatis, antheris quatuor alternis sterilibus, Native of Su- matra. 15. Melastoma Eximia. M. octandra, paniculis terminalibus, foliis maximis glaberrimis elliptico-ovatis quintuplinerviis. Found on the side of Gunong Bunko, commonly called the Sugar-loaf Mountain, in the inte- rior of Bencoolen. bs 16. Melastoma Rubicunda. W. J. M. octandra, floribus axillaribus dichotome cymosis rubes- centi-pellucidis, calycis mengne integro, foliis oblongo-ovatis triplinerviis glaberrimis. ative of the forests of Singapore. 17. Melastoma Pulverulenta. W. J. M. octandra, floribus terminalibus corymboso-paniculatis rubicundis pulverulentis, foliis ovatis basi bituberculatis glaber- rimis trinerviis. Sibiring. Malay. Found, along with the receding, at Singapore, and in many parts of Sumatra, and the islands which skirt its western coast. 18. Melastoma Alpestris. | M. decandra, paniculis terminalibus, foliis sessilibus glaberri- mis crenulatis quintuplinerviis. Found on the summit of the Sugar-loaf Mountain (Gunong Bunko), in Sumatra. “ This is the first decandrous species I have met with,” Dr. Jack observes, ** belonging to the second division of Melastome with similar anthers. In habit, and in the texture of the leaves, it has a close resemblance to M. pulverulenta, but its flowers have more resemblance to those of M. rubicunda ; it must be asso- ciated with these two. From the characters of this species, it 296 : `~ Analyses of Books. [Ocr. appears that neither the number of the stamina, nor of the nerves of the leaves, afford subdivisions consonant to the natural series. I met with this plant on the very summit of the Sugar- loaf, along with Rhododendra and Vaccinia.” A plate accompanies this communication, exhibiting the parts of fructification and the fruit of Melastoma Malabathrica, M. exigua, and M. alpestris. "S Il. On Cyrtandracee, a new Natural Order of Plants. By William Jack, MD. Communicated by Aylmer Bourke Lam- bert, Esq. FRS. VPLS. Dr. Jack's introductory remarks in this paper are as follows : * [n examining some of the numerous Jumatran species of Cyriandra, Y was lately led to observe the great inaccuracy of Forster's description and figure of the fruit, which has been the cause of deception in regard to its natural affinities. His error consists in representing the septum as complete, with adnate placente similar to what obtains in some genera belonging to Scrophularine; whereas, in reality, it is bipartite through the axis of the fruit, and the placentz are no other than the revolute lobes of the septa. This peculiar structure is more distinct in the nearly related genus of Didymocarpus (Mal. Misc. vol. i.), which has capsular fruit, and where the lobes of the contrary dissepiment so completely bipart the cells as to give it the appearance of being quadrilocular. It is obvious that this character is totally inconsistent with that of Scrophularine, and it does not accord exactly with any of the Jussizan orders. Didymocarpus is related to Bignoniacee through Incarvillea, but it is not admissible into that family as defined by Mr. Brown in his Prod. Fl. Nov. Holl. 1 am therefore inclined to think that Cyrtandra, Didymocarpus, and another genus, which I shall ‘here present under the name of Loronta, which agree remarka- bly in general habit as well as in carpological structure, may roperly form a small and distinct family near-to Bignoniacee. The two first genera are numerous in the Malay islands; and I may remark that, as far as my present observations extend, the Cyrtandre voy to prevail principally to the south of the equator, and the Didymocarpi on the north, where it has even been found, according to the observations of Dr. Wallich, to extend to the alpine regions of Nepal. I shall proceed to give the characters by which this family and its genera are distin- guished, and shall add descriptions of all the species that I have as yet had an opportunity of examining." CYRTANDRACEX. Calyr monophyllus, divisus. Corolla monopetala, hypo- gyna, sepius irregularis, 5 loba. Stamina. Filamenta 4, duo plerumque, nunc quatuor antherifera. Anthere biloculares, per paria connexe. Ovarium disco glanduloso cinctum, bilocu- are vel pseudo 4 loculare, polysporum. Stylus simplex. Stigma 1823] Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV. Part I. 297 bilamellosum v. bilobum. Capsula v. Bacca bilocularis, bivalvis, polysperma: Dissepimenta contraria, biloba, lobis revo- -]utis:seminiferis, loculos bipartientibus (inde pseudo 4 locularis). Semina nuda. ^ Herbae vel suffrutices. Folia simplicia, plerum- que opposita, altero sæpe abortivo aut nano, exstipulata. In- orescentia axillaris. “In this family the flowers nearly resemble those of the Bignoniacee, but have most frequently only two fertile stamina, and rarely exhibit any trace ofa fifth. In fruit they are abun- dantly distinct ; and the herbaceous stems, simple leaves, and axillary inflorescence, form important and striking differences of habit.” CvxRTANDARA, Forst. Calyx quinquepartitus, Coro//a infundibuliformis, ad faucem ampliatus, limbo . quinquelobo subirregulari, rarius bilabiato. . Stamina quatuor, quorum duo antherifera. Bacca oblonga, calyce longior; dissepimenti lobis per totam superficiem seminiferis. -Semina nuda, sepe foveolata v. punctata. Folia opposita, . altero. plerumque abortivo aut nano. Flores sepissime capitati 1nvolucrati. .* Herbaces corolla subirregulari. 1. Cyrtandra Macrophylla. C. foliis subrotundo-ovatis serratis glabris, involucro mon phyllo, pedunculis petiolo brevioribus. Selabang. Malay. Native of the interior of Sumatra. 2. Cyrtandra Maculata. .C. folis subrotundo-cordatis acutis serratis supra glabis, corollz lobis tribus inferioribus macula purpurea. ^ Sumatra. : 3. Cyrtandra Bicolor. | Mop mc C. folis elliptico-lanceolatis basi cordatis supra glabris, subtus villosis purpureis, pedunculis petiolo brevioribus. — Su- matra. | .4. Cyrtandra Hirsuta. | f | C. folis elliptico-ovatis basi cordatis crenatis utrinque pilosis, capitulis paucifloris hirsutis, involucro bipartito. u- matra. 5. Cyrtandra Glabra. _ C. foliis lato-ovatis serratis glabris, capitulis breve-peduncula- tis, involucro monophyllo. ^ Interior of Bencoolen. 6. Cyrtandra Incompta, C. hirsuta, folis elliptico-ovatis serratis, floribus pp pee hirsutis, involucro diphyllo. ^ Langkabang. Malay. ative of Sumatra. | $08 — Analyses of Books. [Oot. 7. Cyrtandra Aurea. C. foliis oppositis subrotundo-ovatis acuminatis serratis seri- eeo-pilosis, capitulis densis subsessilibus. ^ At the foot of Gunong Bunko, interior of Bencoolen. 8. Cyrtandra Peltata. C. foliis peltatis ovatis acuminatis, Sumatra. 9. Cyrtandra Carnosa. C. foliis lanceolato-oblongis basi obliquis carnosis oppositis, altero minimo subrotundo. ** Frutescentes, corollà bilabiatà. - 10. Cyrtandra Frutescens. C. erecta, foliis oppositis lanceolatis serratis glabris, peduncu- lis axillaribus trifloris. | “ This species and the following differ considerably in habit from the other Cyrtandre, and have more resemblance to Didy- mocarpus frutescens; from which, however, they are distinguished by their baccate fruit, and by the insertion of the seeds upon the whole surface of the lobes of the dissepiment ; while in Didymo- carpus they are attached only to the edge. These species might rt be separated from Cyrtandra on account of their bila- iate corolla and larger fruit.” 11. Cyrtandra Rubiginosa. C. erecta, foliis obovato-lanceolatis serratis, pedunculis axil- laribus fasciculatis unifloris, cum calycibus viscoso-pilosis. . .Dipymocarpus. Wallich. Calyx 5 fidus. Corolla infundibuliformis, limbo quinque- lobo, sub irregulari, rarius bilabiato. Stamina 4, rarissime 5, quorum duo nune quatuorantherifera, Capsula siliquee-formis, © pseudo-quadrilocularis, bivalvis, hinc dehiscens; dissepimenti contrarii lobis valvulis parallelis iis denique emulis (ideoque fructum bicapsularem mentientibus) margine involuto seminiferis. Semina nuda pendula. | Folia simplicia opposita, raro alterna, equalia, floribus axilla- ribus pedunculatis vel racemosis. 1. Didymocarpus Crinita. Malay Miscell. vol. i. D. erecta, foliis alternis longis spathulatis acutis serratis pilosis subtus rubris, pedunculis 2—5 axillaribus unifloris basi cum petiolis coeuntibus, - Timmu, Malay. In the forests of Pulo Penang. 2, Didymocarpus Racemosa. TT D. foliis oppositis lanceolatis utrinque attenuatis duplicato- 1823,] Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV, Part I. 299 serratis supra glabris, pedunculis axillaribus plerumque bifidis, floribus racemosis, pedicellis binatis. _ At Tappanooly, on the west coast of Sumatra. | 3. Didymocarpus Reptans. Mal. Misc. vol. i D. prostrata reptans, foliis petiolatis ellipticis crenulatis, pedunculis 1—3 axillaribus unifloris, staminibus duobus fertili- - bus. Timmu Kichil. Malay. Found in the.forests of Pulo Penang with the preceding. 4. Didymocarpus Corniculata. Mal. Misc. vol. i. D. erecta, foliis alternatis obovatis acuminatis serratis, floribus fastigiatis secundis, pedunculo axillari elongato, Found at Tappanooly, in Sumatra. : 5. Didymocarpus Elongata. D. herbacea erectiuscula didynama, foliis oppositis ovatis utrinque acutis serratis, spicis axillaribus secundis, pedicellis binatis remotis, corolla elongata. Found on Pulo Bintangot, an island lying off the west coast of Sumatra. : 6. Didymocarpus Barbata. D. fruticosa, foliis oppositis ovatis subinequilateralibus hirsu- tis, pedunculis gracilibus axillaribus fasciculatis 2— 96 floris, staminibus quatuor apicebarbatis: duobus ‘sterilibus, calyce infundibuliformi. ative of Sumatra. | 7. Didymocarpus Frutescens. Mal, Misc. vol. i. D. caule suffrutescente erecto, foliis oppositis longe petiolatis ovato-lanceolatis utrinque attenuatis supra glabris subtus canes- centibus, floribus axillaribus fasciculatis didynamis. ^ Native of Pulo Penang. eae LOXONIA. Calyx 5 partitus. Corolla infundibuliformis, limbo quin- qu bilabiato. Stamina quatuor fertilia, corolla breviora. tigma bilohum. Capsula ? ovata, calyce inclusa, bilocularis, polysperma ; dissepimenti contrarii lobis revolutis seminiferis. Semina nuda. Foliis oppositis altero nano, plerumque inequi- lateralibus, Jloribus racemosis. 1. .Loxonia Discolor. . L. foliis supra glabris, subtus retrorsum scabris purpurascen- tibus, racemis simplicibus elongatis. Found in the interior of Bencoolen. | 2, Loxonia Hirsuta. L. hirsuta, foliis semiovatis latis, pedunculis 2—4 fidis, flori- bus racemosis. Native of Sumatra, interior of Bencoolen. 300 e Analyses of Books. [Ocr. JESCHYNANTHUS. Calyx ventricoso-tubnlosus, 5 fidus. Corolla limbo subir- regulari, Stamina 4 antherifera, exserta, sepius rudimento Tu Capsula longissima, siliqueformis, bivalvis, pseudo -locularis, seminibus numerosis (aristatis). Suffrutices debiles, foliis carnosis, floribus coccineis. The capsules of this genus nearly resemble those of Didymo- carpus, and exhibit with great distinctness the peculiar character of this family. The seeds are attached to the whole of the inner surface ofthe lobes, and are singular in being awned. The exsert stamina and crimson flowers are further deviations from the usual habit of its congeners. 1. Aschynanthus Volubilis. A. caule volubili, calycibus glabris. ^ Found in the neigh- bourhood of Bencoolen. 2. Aischynanthus Radicans. A. caule radicante, calycibus villosis. Simbar burong. Malay. ^ Found in the forests of the interior of Sumatra growing on the trunks of old trees, with its root sometimes on the ground, sometimes on the tree. This paper is illustrated with an engraving, showing the parts of fructification and the fruit of Cyrtandra macrophylla, Didymo- carpus crinita, and ZEschynanthus volubilis. - M II. Remarks on the Identity of certain general Laws which have been lately observed to regulate the natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi. By W.S. Mac Leay, Esq. MA. FLS, This iugis CULA a and important paper will appear in the next number of the Annals. _ IV. Some Particulars of the Natural History of Fishes found in Cornwall. By Mr. Jonathan Couch. Communicated by Sir James Edward Smith, MD. FRS. Pres. LS. Mr. Couch, it appears, had intended to submit to the public attention, in a distinct work, the results of his icthyological reséarches in Cornwall, but that design having hitherto been frustrated, he has communicated the present sketch to the Lin- nean Society. We proceed to give the names of the fishes «. Which are mentioned in it, with some of the more curious observa- tions on certain species. ! ApropAL Fisnes: Murena Anguilla, Eel;—** The eel may be considered. as a migratory fish. The young ones as soon as m are produced (which in the sphere of my ob- servation is always within the reach of the tide) begin to advance up the river; and to accomplish this object, overcome difficulties of an extraordinary kind. I have seen them, at the fall of a river, dive below the moss, that hung from above into the water, and worm themselves upward through the fibres by the side of the stream, resting at intervals as if to recover strength ; 1823.) Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV. Part L. 301 and at last, when at the top, exert their utmost activity to stem the rapid current and reach a place ofsafety. In getting up the little cataract that pours over a sloping rock, they prefer those ege which are only moistened by the droppings from above ; ut those which quit the moisture altogether, as I have seen some do, are obliged to alter their course, and proceed to places more easy for them to travel in. The motive for this migration, which is general among young eels, I have not been able to. discover. Some among them I have noticed to be so diapha- nous that the vertebre may be counted; and taking advantage of an opportunity of this kind, I ascertained that when in a state of activity, and not alarmed, the pulsations of the heart were 40 in a minute."— Murena Conger, conger; Xiphias gladius, sword- fish ; Ammodytes tobianus, launce. | : JucuLAR Fisues: Callionymus Lyra, Dragon fish ; C. Dra- cunculus, Skulpin; Mr. Couch gives the common English name of this fish, because he in general prefers it to that which is arbitrarily. bestowed by naturalists :— Trachinus Draco, greater weever: “J have known such effects to arise from the puncture of the spine on the gill-covers of this fish,” Mr. Couch remarks, * as can only be accounted for on the sup- position of its conveying some venomous quality. In three men who were wounded by one fish, the pain and tension pro- ceeded from the hand to the shoulder in a few minutes." Gadus AEglefinus, haddock ; G. Morhua, cod; G.Luscus, bib; G. minutus, poor; G. Molva, ling; G. Mustela, rock-ling ; “ The variety of this fish which possesses five barbs, has been supposed to be a dis- tinct species; but from attentive consideration I am convinced that this is a mistake: " G. Merlangus, whiting ; G. Pollachius, whiting pollack ; G. Carbonarius, rauning (ravening) pollack, or coal-fish ; G. Merlucius, lake.— Blennius Pholis, shanny ; B. gale- rita, crested blenny ; B. Gunellus, butterfish ; B. Phycis, greater forked beard; * I would suggest that this fish might with pro- priety be placed in a genus, which might be denominated Phycis; and be distinguished by the barb at the throat : "— Lesser Forked Hake.—The insertion of this species is on the authority of Mr. Jago in Ray's Synopsis; as I have never had the good fortune to meet with a specimen.* Tuoracic Fisnes: Cepola rubescens, red snakefish. ‘ Two specimens of this fish have come into my possession; one of * “ Since this paper was read, I have met with the Lesser Forked Beard of Jago; length ten inches ; head wide and flat; eyes forward and prominent ; under-jaw short- est; teeth in the jaws and palate, sharp and incurved, and some in the throat ; small barb at the under jaw ; body compressed, smooth; first dorsal fin triangular and extremely small ; second dorsal fin and the anal fin long, ending in a point ; tail round ; ventral fins have several rays, of which the two outmost are much elongated, the longest measuring two inches; the fins all covered with the common skin; a furrow passes above the eye to the back ; stoinach firm, with longitudinal folds; no appendix to the intestines ; air-bladderlarge, and of unusual form. In the intestines were the remains ofan Echinus. "This fish has all the marks of a Gadus, to which genus it appears to me properly to belong.—J. C? — . iar 302 Analyses of Books, (Oer, them, about five or six inches in length, was taken with-a line; the other, from which my description was taken, was thrown on shore in a storm, It measured fifteen inches in length, an inch and a quarter in depth of the deepest part, including the dorsal and anal fins, and was very thin; but the smaller specimen above alluded to was nearly round. It tapered both in depth and thickness toward the tail. The angle of the mouth was much. depressed, which. caused the under jaw to appear the longest ; both were armed with long and sharp teeth, The eyes were large, and the head short before them. The dorsal fin was twelve inches in length, and had seventy rays ; the anal fin was eleven inches long, and had sixty rays ; the tail distinct, . spear-shaped, of twelve rays, the middle rays being two inches long, and ending in a point, and the rays at the sides not exceed- ing a fourth of that length, The ventral fins were pointed, and fastened to the body for about half their length by a fine mem- brane. Beside the lateral line there was a row of small bony rominences near the dorsal fin, The colour was a diluted ‘a rom the inspection of several specimens, I am inclined to think that this om 34 to be ranked as a Jugular Fish,” - Gymnetrus Hawkenii, Bloch, ceilconin; Gobius Aphya, spotted goby; G. niger, rockfish; Cottus gobio, bull-head ; eus Faber, doree : Pleuronectes Hippoglossus, holibut; P. rhom- boides, kite ; P. punctatus, whiff; p hombus, pearl; P. megas- toma? Don, carter, or lanterntish, Chetodon.—* Only one species of this genus has come within my notice. This was taken at Looe, swimming alive on the surface of the water, in August, 1821; and as I have not been able to refer it to any described species, I subjoin a description, * [t was about seventeen inches long, and, exclusive of the dorsal fin, five inches and a half deep; the snout was blunt, sloping suddenly above the eyes; the angle of the mouth depressed ; the teeth, numerous, sharp, incurved, four in front of the under jaw very long ; the body deep, thin ; two dorsal fins, the first having flexible rays, the second long and narrow; tail very deeply lunated ; the pectorals long; the ventrals double, or having a wing, by which means it seemed to have four ventral fins ; the anal fleshy, and somewhat expanded at the origin, obseure in its progress towards the tail; no lateral line ; a broad band from eye to eye; the colour blue, deeper on the back than on the belly ; covered with large scales, as well the body as the fins, so that the dorsals and anals seem like an extension of the body. Iwas unable to count the rays of the dorsal fins." Sparus Smaris, bream; S. Pagrus, becker; S. Vetula, C. oldwife :—* Although the English name here given to a species of Sparus is applied by naturalists to one of a different genus, yet | am obliged to use it to designate a fish presently to be described, as it is the only one which our fishermen make use of. The body is deep, compressed, and has a considerable 1823.] Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV. Part I. 303 resemblance to the S. Pagrus ; the lips are fleshy, and the jaws furnished with a pavement of teeth, of which those in front are the longest; the gill-membrane has five rays; the gill-covers and body are covered with large scales. The ten first rays of the dorsal fin are spinous ; the anal fin also has four spinous rays, after which it becomes more expanded; the tail is concave. This fish has a membranous septum acress the palate, as in the Wrasse genus. When in high season, the colour behind the head is a fine green ; towards the tail it is a reddish orange ; the belly has a lighter tinge of the same colour. When out of season, the whole is a dusky-lead colour. It weighs about three pounds.” : | Labrus Tinca, common wrasse; L. bimaculatus, bimaculated wrasse ; L. Coquus, cook :—** The habits of this species and of L. comber are similar. In the summer they are found near the shore; in winter they pass into deeper water; but are taken by fishermen through the year, and are.principally employed as bait for other fish. | © Besides these and L. cornubiensis, I have noticed another species, which is by fishermen confounded with the L. Tinca, and which I am unable to refer to any Linnean species. It differs from the common wrasse in the following particulars ; —The body is longer in proportion to its depth, and somewhat thicker ; the ventral fins, which in the L. Tinca reach just to the anus, in this reach but two-thirds of that distance; a light- coloured line runs from the eye to the tail; the anterior bone of the gill-cover has a smooth margin, but in the L. Tinca it is finely serrated ; the lateral line also forms an acute angle at its curve, pointing downwards in the Tinca ; in this species it has a gentle curvature ; it has twenty spinous rays in the dorsal fin. The colour of the back is a dark-brown, lighter at the sides, saffron-coloured on the belly. It is common.*” | Sciena Labrax, basse;—Stone Basse ; Gasterosteus Ductor, pilotfish ;—* two of this species, a few years since, accompanied a ship from the Mediterranean into Falmouth, and were taken in à net;" Scomber Scomber, mackerel; S. Trachurus, scad; S.glaucus,albacore ; Mullus Surmuletus, striped surmullet; Trigla Lyra, piper; T. Cuculus, Elleck ; T. Gurnardus, grey gurnard. ABDOMINAL FisneEs: Salmo Salar, salmon; S. Trutta, salmon trout; S. salmulus, palmer trout; S. Lario, common trout or. shote ; sor Belone, garpike ;—** the intestinal canal of this fish runs straight from the gullet to the anus, without any appen- dix or convolution, or distinction between the stomach and the bowels.” . ! E. Saurus, skipper.—‘ This species does not take a bait. A native of the same climate, this fish nearly resembles the flying- fish in its manners and its fate. - Frequently, when the weather: å i * This appears to be a variety of Labrus Julis” \ 304, Analyses of Books. | [Ocr.’ is fair, they are seen to spring from the bosom ofthe deep, pass over a space of thirty or forty feet, and plunge.into the water to: rise again in a moment, and flit over the same distance. Some-) times this may proceed from wantonness, and sometimes proba-: bly from an impulse to escape from the voracious inhabitants of the deep; but it seems surprising that a fish so scantily provided - with fins should be able to make such an extraordinary leap ; for the pectoral fins, instead of reaching nearly to the tail, as in the flying-fish, are very small ; and though well adapted by their figure to raise and.direct the head, cannot afford assistance in supporting the body in the air. The whole.motion is effected. by the action of the tail and finlets alone, and is more properly: a leap than a flight. This is a most excellent fish for the table." E. Sphyrena, sea pike; * Besides these I have met with a: species which I have never seen described, unless it be the Esox Brasiliensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. It was taken by me in the harbour at Polperro, in July, 1818, as it was swimming with: agility near the surface of the water. It was about an inch in. length, the head somewhat flattened at the top, the upper jaw short and pointed, the inferior much protruded, being: at least as long as from the extremity of the upper jaw to the back part of the gill-covers. The mouth e. laic obliquely downward ;: but that part of the under jaw which Proinde beyond the. extremity of the upper, . passed straight forward in a right line with the top of the head. The body was compressed, lengthened, and resembled that of the garpike, E. Belone : it had one dorsal and one anal fin placed far behind, and opposite to each other ; the tail was straight. The colour of the back was a bluish-. green, with a few spots; the belly silvery.” . à Mugil Cephalus, grey mullet; Clupea Harengus, herring ; C. pilchardus, pilchard; C. Alosa, shad, alewife of the west; C. Sprattus, sprat; Cyprinus Leuciscus, dace ;—it is doubtful whether this fish be an original native of Cornwall. . ) BnaNcurosTEGoUus Fisuzs : Cyclopterus Lumpus, lumpfish ; C. Cornubiensis, Jura Sucker ;—“ I have seen two varieties of this fish, if they were not distinct species: in one the snout is shaped like a spatula; in the other, it was shorter, and ended in. a point. The body and. head are wide and depressed, with the. eyes at the sides, and before each a double fleshy process, about the tenth of an inch long, in a. fish that measured two inches ; there is a fleshy tubercle close behind these processes. The lips membranous, the lower jaw a little the shortest, opening with a very wide gape. Behind the head are two dark spots, each with a bluish speck in the middle. The body tapers to the. tai; the dorsal and anal fins begin at a third of the whole length from the tail, and run back to that part; the pectorals are far behind; the tail round. The sucking apparatus is formed of two circles, one before the other, furnished with numerous very small tubercles. The colour is dusky, sometimes crimson; ) .1893;] Linnean Transactions, Vol: XIV. Part I. 305 - the belly flesh-eolouréd. "When thé colours faded áftér déath, 1 observed many spots on thé sides, which wére not visible before. It adheres with some degree of forcé; When the tide retires, this fish sometimes takes refuge under à stoné. = ' * Another species, which I do not recollect to have seeh noticed; is not uicommon about low-water mark, where it hides under stones. The head is broad and flat, sloping from behind the eyes to the mouth. ‘The body tapers from tlie pectoral fins to the tail; it is sinooth, a dusky-yellow on the back and sides, ‘the belly white; it has a row of white points along the lateral line; and also about the head and mouth, which secrete mucus. Thirteen tubercles form the sucking apparatus; but I could never get this fish to adhere to any substance. The tail is: round; the dorsal and anal fins long; the former beginning just above the pectoral fins, the latter at the abdominal tubercles, . and both run to the tail; which part; with the dorsal and anal finis, is crossed by dark bars. When this fish rests; it has a sin- gular custom of throwing its tail forwards towards the head. 1t rarely exceeds an inch in letigth."* Dio Wi Tetraodon truncatus, oblong sunfish ; Centriscus Scolopax, trunipetfish :—** A fish of this species was thrown on shore in St. Austel Bay, and came into the possession of William Rash- leigh, Esq. of Menabilly, a gentleman distinguished for his love of natural history; who possesses a fine drawing of it. It was five inches long, and-from the back to the belly one inch and two-eighths; in thickness three-eighths of an inch ; it weighed three drams. The proboscis, which to the eye measured an inch , and five-eighths, was formed of à bony substance, which was continued along the back, where it terminated in a sharp point, and spreading in the middle, where it makes an obtuse angle just above a small fin behind the gills.” 1 CnoNpnRoPTERYGIOUS FisHgs: Raia Torpedo, torpedo or cramp ray :— Mr: C.’s suggestion respecting the use of the electri- cal faculty of this animal has already been given in the Annals, at p. 156 of the present volume. MW Squalus Squatina, Monkfish :—“ Common; keeps near the bottom, and is most commonly taken in nets. The propriety of ratiking this fish with the Sguali seems to me to be doubtful : the terminal mouth and depressed body afford sufficient distinc- tions for a new genus, which might be denominated Squatina, and in which the following species might find a place. ..* Lewis.-—This fish; so named by fishermen, by whom it is not unfrequently taken with a line, bears some resemblance to the Monk, but is somewhat smaller; and as I have not been able to assign it a Linnean name, I subjoin a description :—The head is large, flat, the jaws of equal length, forming a wide mouth; the upper jaw falls in somewhat at the middle, so that * «€ This is probably a variety of C. liparis." New Series, vov. vi. X 306 | Analyses of Books, |... '[Ocr. at this part the lower jaw seems a little the longest; both are ‘armed with several rows of sharp teeth; the,tongue is small. "The head is joined to the body by something which resembles a neck; the body is flat so far back as the ventral fins, beyond these it is round ; the pectoral and ventral fins are very large; . the former are flat, Àj both have near their extremities a num- ber of spines. The two dorsal fins are placed far behind ; the lobes of the tail are equal and lunated. There are five spiracula ; the eyes are very small, and the nictitating membrane, which is of the colour of the common skin, contracts over the eye, leav- ing a linear pupil. The body is slightly rough, of a sandy- brown colour; the under parts white. It is about five feet long, and keeps near the bottom." Squalus galeus, tope; S. Mustelus, smooth hound; S. maxi- mus, basking shark ; S. cornubicus, porbeagle. * There are in the possession of William Rashleigh, Esq. of Menabilly, a drawing and memorandum of a fish of this genus, which I am not able to refer to any known species ; it was ‘twenty-nine feet four inches long, twenty-four feet round, the fork of the tail seven feet, and the weight four tons; in the drawing, the eye is in front, under a snout that projects and is turned upward; the mouth is two feet and a half wide. The head is deep; the first dorsal fin much elevated. ‘This fish seems to resemble the basking shark, but differs from it in the form of the head and situation of the eye.” Accipenser Sturio, common sturgeon. Ns A Description of some Insects which appear to exemplify Mr. William S. Mac Leay’s Doctrine of Affinity and Analogy. By the Rev. William Kirby, MA. FRS. and LS. Intending, as before mentioned, to give Mr. Mac Leay's paper in our next, we purpose appending to it an abstract of the „present communication. VI. Some Account of a new Species of Eulophus Geoffroy. By the Same. * Eulophus Damicornis. | Aureo-viridis : abdomine nigricanti, . basi macula pallida sub-pellucida. Long. corp. lin 14. -Habitat -in larva Bombycis cameling? Mus. nostr." “ This species," Mr. Kirby observes, “ is. very similar to E. ramicornis (of which, as well as of C. pectinicornis, I possess British specimens), the principal. distinction being the white spot in tne base of the abdomen." : B. (To be concluded in our next.) 1893.) ^ Philosophical Transactions for 1823, Part I. ^ 307 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for Pérou .. 1823. Part I. : (Concluded from p. 91.) _ IX. On some Fossil Bones discovered in Caverns in the Lime- stone Quarries of Oreston. By Joseph Whidbey, Esq. FRS. In a Letter addressed to John Barrow, Esq. FRS. To which is added, A Description of the Bones, by Mr. William Clift, Con- servator of the Museum of the College of Surgeons.—(See Annals, v. 233.) | When adverting to the rarity of appearances of disease or fracture in fossil bones, in reference to such appearances in some of those from Oreston, as described in our report of this paper, Mr. Clift remarks, ‘On mentioning this circumstance to Prof. Buckland, | he informed me, that he had lately seen in the collection of Prof. Sommerring, of Munich, the skull of a very old hyena from the caves of Gaylenreuth, in which the incisor and canine teeth, with the jaw containing them, had been enürely torn away, and the occipital and parietal crest dread- fully fractured and perforated, apparently in an affray with some more powerful animal; after which a healing and partial renova- tion of the parts had taken place, and the animal had lived on .to mature old age, from the state of its masticating organs." * Of the bovine genus," among the bones described by Mr. Clift, * there are specimens of the bony core of the horns belonging to three individuals of different size; all of them remarkably short, conical, and slightly curved, and standing in ‘a nearly horizontal direction from the head. They evidently do not belong to very young animals, and from the appearance of these alone, a very small species would be inferred ; but nume- .rous specimens of the teeth, of the os humeri, ulna and radius, os femoris, tibia, os calcis, metacarpus and metatarsus, and pha- anges, clearly prove that they belonged to individuals consider- ably larger than the average size of animals of that genus at the present day. ~ * The number of bones collected, afford sufficient grounds for supposing them to have belonged to more than a dozen indivi- . duals, varying considerably in their age." The bones and teeth of five or six hyenas which formed part of this remarkable collection, have already been mentioned in .the Annals. ** But there are likewise detached specimens of the , canine teeth, and molares of individuals of very large size; and _ the posterior part of a skull of uncommon magnitude, which corresponds most exactly in form with that of a hyena, and must undoubtedly have belonged to that animal, but measures twice as much from every determinate point to another, as a recent full grown hyzna’s skull." * Since the above was NOS Mr. Whidbey has transmitted X 308 - Analyses of Books, —— i (Oct, some additional specimens of the jaws and teeth of the hyena, ‘the wolf, and thé fox; which have beén subsequently discovered in one of the caverns, ftom which cavity all the bones of the wolf have been derived. Among these is half of the lower jaw of a hyena of very superior magnitude to any of those previously discovered; and probably has belonged to the large skull before mentioned. | | * The jaws of the wolf are of similar dimension with those before described; but one of them belonged to a very aged individual. * Of the fox, there have been found only a few vertebra, and two canine teeth from the lower jaw, which correspond perfectly in size and form with those of a recent animal; but are equally fragile and absorbent with those of the other animals." Two engraved sketches of the caverns are annexed to Mr. Whidbey's account of them ; and Mr. Clift’s description of the bones is illustrated with five engravings, from drawings by himself. ¢ | OT Bs X. On the Chinese Year. By J. F. Davis, Esq. FRS.—(See Annals, v. 149.) * The Chinese year, properly considered as such, is in fact a lunar year, consisting of twelve months of twenty-nine and thirty days alternately, with the triennial intercalation of a thir- teenth month, to make it correspond more nearly with the sun's course.* It has not been discovered (with any degree of cer- tainty), why they fix upon the 15th degree of Aquarius as a rule for regulating the commencement of their lunar year; but they have an annual festival about the recurrence of this period which béars a considerable resemblance to the deification of the bull Apis ; and this resemblance is increased by thë connexion of both ceremonies with the labours of agriculture, and with the hopes of an abundant season. This coincidence may serve to fortify the opinions of those who are fond of tracing the Chir ese to the Egyptians ; although the possibility of such a derivation has been fully disproved by M. de Pauw." XI. Experiments for ascertaining the Velocity of Sound at Madras, in the East Indies. By John Goldingham, Esq. FRS. Mr. Goldingham’s account of the manner in which these expe- riments were conducted, and of their general results, will be found in the last number of the Annals, p. 201. XII. On the double Organs of Generation of ihe Lamprey, the Conger Eel, the common Kel, the Barnacle, and Earth Worm, which impregnate themselves ; though the last from copulating, appear mutually to impregnate one another. By Sir Everard ome, Bart. VPRS.—(See Annals, v. 302.) * * T call this intercalation triennial," Mr. Davis remarks, * because that is the nearest approximation ; but in fact it is seven timés in nineteen years." 1823.] Scientific Intelligence. 309: "The mean results of the Meteorological Journal kept at the Society's apartments, for the year 1822, are as follows: height of the barometer 29:863 inches, of Six's thermometer 55°; rain 18:068 inches. D. AnricLE XIII. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE, I. Medical and Scientific Instruction at Guy's and St. Thomas’s Hospi- ` ia tals, Southwark. xx The Annual Course of Medical and Scientific Instruction at these - Hospitals will commence early in the ensuing month of October, when distinct Courses of Lectures will be delivered on the following subjects, viz. Practice of Medicine; Pathology ; Therapeutics and Materia Medica, by Drs. Cholmeley and Back, Physicians to Guy’s Hospital. pat | P and Practice of Chemistry, by William Allen, Esq. FRS. Dr. Bostock, FRS. and Arthur Aikin, Esq. FLS. | Experimental Philosophy, by William Allen, Esq. FRS, and John Millington, Esg. Prof. Mech. Phil. Roy. Inst. .. Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Children; and Physiology, by Dr. Blundell. MR Anatomy and the Practice of Surgery, by Sir Astley Cooper, Bart, and Mr. Green. | | "re Structure and Diseases of the Teeth, by Mr. Thomas Bell, FLS. . Medical and Practical Botany, by Dr. Bright. : jh A Course of Clinical Lectures will be delivered in the season. Particulars to be had of Mr. Stocker, Apothecary to Guy's Hospi- tal, who enters Pupils to all the above Lectures. II. Change in the Freezing Point of Thermometers. — _ The following observations on. this subject, a notice on which has already appeared in the Annals (for July, p. 74), are extracted from Mr, Daniell’s newly published Meteorological Essays, p. 368. * With respect to the change in the freezing point, which takes place in time in the best thermometers, I have lately had an unexcep- tionable opportunity of confirming the assertions of the French and Italian philosophers. Mr. Jones has obligingly. put into my hands two _ thermometers of the late Mr. Cavendish, which haye evidently been _ Constructed with much care. The mercury in the balls of both flows freely into the tubes when reversed ; and when suffered to fall sharply, strikes the ends with a metallic sound. The same click may be heard in the bulbs, when it is permitted to fall back, and the cavity closes without the slightest speck. "These indications of a well-boiled tube are rarely to be met with in the common thermometers of the present day. They are mounted upon common deal sticks, and the gradua- tion, which is only continued. for a few degrees about the freezing point, is engraved upon a small slip of brass. The degrees are very ' 310 Scientific Intelligence. | [Oer. large, and they are distinctly divided into tenths. Each degree of No. 1 occupies a space of :208 inch, and of No. 2 :130 inch. The scratch upon the glass for the freezing point is very visible in both. It is difficult to say for what purpose they were originally made, but evidently for some experiments upon the freezing point of water; and if they had been expressly constructed to verify the present point, they could not have been better contrived for the purpose. The bulbs of both were plunged into pounded ice, in which they were left for half an hour, and the height of the mercury was carefully taken by two observers with the aid of magnifying glasses. The result of the examination was, that in No. 1 the freezing point upon the scale was 0*4 degree too low, and in No. 2, 0:35 degree. "There can be little doubt, I think, that the right cause of the phenomenon has been assigned, viz. the change of form and capacity which the glass under- goes from the pressure of the atmosphere upon the vacuum of the tube." . III. Notice in regard to the Temperature of Mines. By Matthew Miller, Esq. MWS. The late experiments on the temperature of mines made in Corn- wall, and in other countries, having given rise to various speculations in regard to the distribution of heat in the crust of the earth, all of which appear to me to be unsatisfactory, I now beg leave to offer for consideration of the Society, an explanation, that does not seem liable to the objections that have been opposed to the others. In every mine, with the exception of a few, which are level-free, the ventilation is carried on by causing the air at the surface to de- scend, and traverse the works, and then ascend. Now it is evident, that if a portion of air from the surface be carried down to the bottom of the mine, it will be condensed in proportion to the depth of the mine; and, in consequence of this condensation, will become heated, and the degree of heat will of course be in proportion to the depth of the mine. The air thus heated, traverses the works, and imparts its heat to the strata; it then ascends, and is succeeded by a fresh por- tion of air from the surface, which in the same way becomes heated, and imparts its heat to the strata, and they, in turn, communicate it all around. ‘Thus in a long course of working in a deep mine, the air at the bottom is heated, and also the rocks to a considerable depth ; and when the working ceases, the mine takes a long time to lose its temperature; and this is found to be the case, particularly when the mine becomes full of water, the water being found at first of a high temperature, and gradually to lose its heat, which is in consequence of the strata imparting theirs to the water, and as soon as they have given out all their heat, the water indicates the mean temperature nearly of the place. | The reverse takes place in an old mine when re-worked ; in that case, the temperature rises gradually as the working continues; and in those mines which are not worked, but in which the ventilation still goes on, I believe it will be found that they do not lose more of their temperature than can be placed to the abstraction of the other causes of heat in working mines, such as that produced by the men and the lights. The exact quantity of heat given out by air in proportion to its con- 1823.] Scientific Intelligence. 3ll densation, it is difficult to ascertain, but every day's experience proves it to be very considerable; and, I believe, this, added to the other obvious sources of heat in mines in a state of working, will be found sufficient to account for their high temperature. (Trans. Wern. Soc. vol. iv. part II. p. 466.) IV.. On the Fusion of Charcoal, Graphite, Anthracite, and the Diamond. By Professor Silliman. In our fourth volume, N. S.at p. 121, we gave an account of Prof. Silliman's experiments on the fusion of charcoal; in vol. v. p. 314, some remarks ou the same subject by Mr. W. West, of Leeds, were inserted ; and more recently, at p. 73 of the present volume, we gave a notice respecting it by Prof. Griscom, of New York. Prof. Silliman having extended his experiments to the more difficultly combustible car- bonaceous substances, has published several articles concerning them in the last number of his Journal, or that for May, the substance of which we here present to the reader. The first article, p. 341, is a letter from Prof. S. to Dr. Hare, dated March 26, 1823, in which, after referring to his former papers, he proceeds to describe, in the following terms, the fusion of graphite by means of Dr. Hare's deflagrator. * From a piece of very fine and beautiful plumbago, from North Carolina, I sawed small parallelopipeds, about one eighth of an inch in diameter, and from three fourths of an inch to one inch and a quar- ter in length ; these were sharpened at one end, and one of them was employed to point one pole of the deflagrator, while the other was terminated by prepared charcoal. Plumbago being, in its natural state, a conductor, (although inferior to prepared charcoal,) a spark was readily obtained, but, in no instance, of half the energy which belongs to the instrument when in full activity, for the zinc coils were much corroded, and some of them had failed and dropped out ; still the influence was readily conveyed, through the remaining coils. As my hopes of success, in the actual state of the instrument, were not very sanguine, I was the more gratified to find a decided result in the very first trial. © To avoid repetitions I will generalise the results, The best were obtained, when the plumbago was connected with the cop- per, and prepared charccal with the zinc pole. The spark was vivid, and globules of melted plumbago could be discerned, even in the midst of the ignition, forming and formed upon the edges of the focus of heat. In this region also, there was a bright scintillation, evidently owing to combustion, which went on where air had free access, but was prevented by the vapour of carbon, which occupied the highly luminous region of the focus, between the poles, and of the direct route between them. Just on and beyond the confines of the ignited portion of the plumbago, there was formed a belt of a reddish brown colour, a quarter of'an inch or more in diameter, which appeared to be owing to the iron, remaining from the combustion of the carbon of that part of the piece, and which, being now oxi- dized to a maximum, assumed the usual colour of the peroxide of that metal. * * In various trials, the globules were formed very abundantly on the edge of the focus, and, in several instances, were studded around so thickly, as to resemble a string of beads, of which the largest were of 312 Scientific’ Intelligence. [Ocr. the size of the smallest shot ; others were merely visible to the naked eye, and others still were microscopic. No globule ever appeared on the point of the plumbago, which had been in the focus of heat, but this point presented a hemispherical excavation, and the plumbago there had the appearance of black scoriz or volcanic cinders. "These were the general appearances at the copper pole occupied by the plumbago. » ' | ** On the zinc pole, occupied by the prepared charcoal, there were very peculiar results. This pole was, in every instance, elongated towards the copper pole, and. thé black: matter accumulated there, resented every appearance of fusion, not into globules, but into a brous and striated form, like the half flowing slag, found on the upper currents of lava.- It was evidently transferred, in the state of vapour, from the plumbago of the other pie and had been formed by the carbon taken from the hemispherical cavity. It was so different from the melted charcoal, described in my former communications, that its origin from the plumbago could admit of no reasonable doubt. I am now to state other appearances which have excited in my mind a very deep interest. On the end of the prepared charcoal, and occu- pying frequently, an area of a quarter of an inch or more in diameter, were found numerous globules of perfectly melted matter, entirely spherical in their form, having a high vitreous lustre, and-a great de- gree of beauty. Some of them, and generally they were those most remote from the focus, were of a jet black, like the most perfect ob- sidian; others were brown, yellow, and topaz coloured; others still were greyish white, like pearl stones with the translucence and lustre of porcelain ; and others still limpid like flint glass, or, in some cases, like hyalite or precious opal, but without the iridescense of the latter. -Few of the globules upon the zinc pole were perfectly black, while very few of those on the copper pole were otherwise. In one instance, when I used some of the very pure English plumbago, (saw- ed from a cabinet specimen, and believed to be from Borrowdale,) white and transparent globules were formed on the copper side. ** When the points were held vertically, and the plumbago uppermost, no globules were formed on the latter, and they were unusually nu- merous, and almost all black on the opposite pole. When the points were exchanged, plumbago being on the zinc, and charcoal on the copper end, very few globules were formed on the plumbago, and not onè on the charcoal; this last was rapidly hollowed out into a hemi- spherical cavity, while the plumbago was as rapidly elongated by mat- ter accumulating at its point, and which, when examined by the mieroscope, proved to be a concretion in the shape of a cauliflower, of: volatilized and melted charcoal, having, in a high degree, all the characteristics which I formerly described as belonging to this sub- stance. Indeed, I found by repetitions of the experiment, that. this was the best mode of obtaining fine pieces of melted charcoal. ** In some instances, I used points of plumbago on both poles, and always obtained melted globules on both; the results were, however, not so distinct as when plumbago was on the copper and charcoal on the zinc pole; but the same elongation of the zine and hollowing of the copper pole took place as before. I detached some of the glo- bules, and partly bedding them in a handle of wood, tried their hard- ness and firnmess; they bore strong pressure without breaking, and 1823.] Scientific Intelligence. 318 easily scratched, not only flint glass, but window glass, and even the hard green variety, which forms the aqua fortis bottles. . The globules which had acquired this extraordinary hardness, were formed from plumbago which was so soft, that it was perfectly free from resistance when crushed between the thumb and finger, and covered their sur- faces with a shining metallic looking coat. "These globules sunk. very rapidly in strong sulphuric acid—much more so than the melted char- coal, but not with much more rapidity than the plumbago itself, from which they had been formed, | * 'The zinc of the deflagrator is now too far gone to enable me to prosecute this research any farther at present, | « April 12.—Having refitted the deflagrator with new zinc coils, I have repeated the experiments related above, and have the satisfaction of stating that the results are fully confirmed and even in some re- spects extended. The deflagrator now acts with great energy, and in consequence I have been enabled to obtain good results when using lumbago upon doth poles. Parallelopipeds of that substance, one- fifth of an inch in diameter and one inch or two inches long, being screwed into the vices connecting the poles, on being brought. into contact, transmitted the fluid, with intense. splendour, and became fully ignited for an inch on each side; on being withdrawn a little, the usual arch of flame was formed for half an inch or more. Indeed when the instrument is in an active state, the light emitted from the plumbago points, appears to be even more intense and rich than from charcoal; so that they may be used with advantage, in class experi- ments, where the principal object is to exhibit the brilliancy of the light. | B On examining the pieces in this, and in numerous other cases, I found them beautifully studded with numerous globules of melted plumbago.. They extended from within a quarter of an inch of the point, to the distance of one-quarter or one-third of an inch all around. They were larger than before and perfectly visible to the naked eye ; ‘they exhibited all the colours before described, from perfect black, to pure white, including brown, amber, and topaz colours; among the white globules, some were perfectly limpid, and could not be distin- guished by the eye from portions of diamond. In one instance only was there a globule formed oz the point; it would seem as if the melted spheres of plumbago as soon as formed, rolled out of the cur- rent of flame, and congealed on the contiguous parts. In every in- stance, the plumbago on the copper side, was hollowed out, into a spherical cavity, and the corresponding piece on the zinc side, re- ceived an accumulation more or less considerable. . In most instances, and in all when the deflagrator was. very. active, besides the globules of melted matter, a distinct tuft or projection was formed on the zinc pole, considerably resembling the melted charcoal, described in my former communications, but apparently denser and more compact; although resembling the melted charcoal, as one variety of volcanic slag resembles another, it could be easily distinguished by an eye familiarized to the appearances. In one experiment the cavity, and all the parts of the plumbago at the copper pole were completely melted on the surface, and covered with a black enamel. The ape pearances were somewhat varied when specimens of plumbago from different localities were used. In some instances it burnt, and even 314 Scientific Intelligence. [Ocr. deflagrated, being completely dissipated in brilliant scintillations; the substance was rapidly consumed and no fusion was obtained. This kind of effect occurred most distinctly when there was a plumbago iece on the copper side, and a piece of charcoal on the zinc side, i have already mentioned the curious result which is obtained when this arrangement is reversed, the charcoal on the copper, and the plumbago on the zinc side; this effect was now particularly distinct and remarkable, the charcoal on the copper side was rapidly volatilized, a deep cavity was formed, and the charcoal taken from it, was instantly accumulated upon the plumbago point, forming a most beautiful protuberance, completely distinguishable from the plumbago, and pre- senting when viewed by the microscope, a congeries of aggregated spheres, with every mark of perfect fusion, and with a perfect metallic lustre. I would again recommend this arrangement when the object is to attain fine pieces of melted charcoal. “ April 14.—In repeating the experiments to-day, I have obtained even finer results than before. The spheres of melted plumbago were in some instances so thickly arranged as to resemble shot lying side by side; in one case they completely covered the plumbago, in the part contiguous to the point on the zinc side, and were without exception white, like minute delicate concretions of mammillary chalcedony ; among a great number there was not one of a dark colour except that when detached by the knife they exhibited slight shades of brov n at the place where they were united with the general mass of plumbago. They appeared to me to be formed by the condensation of a white vapour which in all the experiments, where an active power was employed, I had observed to be exhaled between the poles and partly to pass from the waa to the zinc pole, aud partly to rise vertically in an abundant fume like that of the oxide proceeding from the combus- tion of various metals, 1 mentioned this circumstance in the report of my first experiments, but did not then make any trial to ascertain the nature of the substance. Although its abundance rendered the idea improbable, I thought it possible that it migbt contain alkali derived from the charcoal. It is easily condensed by inverting a glass over the . fume as it rises, when it soon renders the glass opaque with a white lining. Although there was a distinct and peculiar a in the fume, I found that the condensed matter was tasteless, and‘ that it did not effervesce with acids, or affect the test colours for alkalies. Besides, as it is produced apparently in greater quantity, when both. poles are ter- minated by plumbago, it seems possible that it is white volatilized car- bon. giving origin, by its condensation, in a state of greater or less purity, to the grey, white, and perhaps to the limpid globules. “ The deflagrator having been refitted only at the moment when a part of this paper had already gone to the press, and the remainder is called for, 1 am precluded by these circumstances from trying the decisive experiment of heating this white matter by means of the solar focus in a jar of pure oxygen gas, to ascertain whether it will produce carbonic acid gas. ** This trial I have this morning made upon the coloured globules obtained in former experiments ; they were easily detached from the plumbago by the slightest touch from the point of a knife, and when collected in a white porcelain dish, they rolled about like shot, when the vessel was turned one way and another. To detach any portions 1823.] Scientifie Intelligence. $15 of unmelted plumbago which might. adhere to them I carefully rubbed them between my thumb and finger in the palm of my hand. . I then placed them upon a fragment of wedgewood ware, floated in a dish of mercury, and slid over them a. small jar of very pure oxygen gas, whose entire freedom from carbonic acid had been fully secured by washing it with solution of caustic soda, and by subsequently testing it with recently prepared lime-water ; the globules were now exposed to the solar focus from the lens mentioned vol. v. p. 363. . It was near noon, and the sky but very slightly dimmed by vapour; although they were in the focus for nearly half an hour, they did not melt, disap- pear, or alter their form; it appeared however, on examining the gas, that they had given up part of their substance to the oxygen, for car- bonic acid was formed which gave adecided precipitate with lime-water. Indeed when we consider that these globules had been formed in a heat vastly more intense, than that of the solar focus, we could not reasonably expect to melt them in this manner, and they are of a cha- racter so highly vitreous, that they must necessarily waste away very slowly, even when assailed by oxygen gas. In along continued expe- riment, it is presumable, that they would be eventually dissipated, leav- ing only a residuum ofiron.. That they contain iron is manifest, from . their being attracted by the magnet, and their colour is evidently owing to this metal. _Plumbago, in its natural state, is not magnetic, but it readily becomes so by being strongly heated, although without fusion, and even the powder obtained from a black lead crucible after enduring a strong furnace heat, is magnetic. It would be interesting to know, whether the limpid globules are also magnetic, but this trial I have not yet made. Us AE: =I- have already stated, that the white fume mentioned above, appears when points of charcoal are used. I have found that this matter collects in: considerable quantities a little out of the focus of heat around the zinc pole, and occasionally exhibits the appearance of a frit of white enamel, or looks a little like pumice stone, only, it Has the whiteness of porcelain, graduating however into light grey, and other shades, as it recedes from the intense heat. In afew instances I obtained -upon the charcoal, when this substance. terminated -both poles, distinct, limpid spheres, and at other times they adhered to the frit like beads on a string. Had we not been encouraged by the remarkable facts already stated, it would appear very extravagant to — ask whether this white frit and these limpid spheres could arise from carbon, volatilized in a white state even from charcoal itself, and con- densed in a form analogous to the diamond. The rigorous and obvious experiments necessary to determine this question, it is not now practi- cable for me to make, and I must in the mean time admit the possibility that alkaline and earthy impurities may have contributed to the result. « In one instance contiguous to, but a little aside from the charcoal points, I obtained isolated dark-coloured globules of melted charcoal, analogous to those of plumbago. - ** The opinion which I formerly stated as to the passage of a cur- rent from the copper to the zinc pole of the deflagrator, is in my view fully confirmed. Indeed, with the protection of green glasses, my eyes are sufficiently strong to enable me to look steadily at the flame, during the whole of an experiment, and I can distinctly observe mat- ter in different forms passing to the zinc pole, and collecting there, just 316 Scientific Intelligence. [Ocr. as we sce dust, or other small bodies driven along by a common wind; there is also an obvious tremor produced in the copper pole, when the instrument is in vigorous action, and we can perceive an evident vibra- tion produced, as if by the impulse of an elastic fluid striking against the opposite pole. —. ** Tf, however, the opinion which you formerly suggested to me, and which is countenanced by many facts, that the poles of the deflagrator are reversed, the copper being positive and the zinc negative, be cor- rect, the phenomena, as it regards the course of the current, will accord, perfectly well, with the received electrical hypothesis." We must defer the succeeding articles until our next, for want of room. V. Calculus of Cystic Oxide from a Dog; Coxstituenis of that Suà- stance, &c. - The following are M. Lassaigne’s description and analysis of a cal- culus extracted from the bladder of a dog, which he found in the col- lection of calculi belonging to M. Girard, Director of the Royal Veterinary College of Alfort. ; It weighed about 38 grains troy; was of a yellowish colour, semi-transparent, of an irregular form, glossy (lisse) on the surface, and confusedly crystallized throughout its substance; specific gravity, 1:577.- It consisted of T, SiossR ds FPE EE PP ARE M Pie Phosphate and oxalate oflime..... 2:5 The oxalic acid could not be obtained in an uncombined state, but its existence was inferred from the property possessed by the residue of the calculus insoluble in potassa, of being partially converted into carbonate of lime by a slight calcination. M. Lassaigne has examined the combinations of cystic oxide with potassa, and ammonia, and with the muriatic, nitric, sulphuric, phos- paris, and oxalic acids, The muriate, which is crystallized in acicu- ar radii, consists of 5°3 acid and 94:7 oxide; the nitrate, crystallized in very slender needles, of 3:1 acid and 96:9 cystic oxide; the sul- phate, a viscid -uncrystallizable deliquescent substance, of 104 ned | and 89'6 oxide, but M. Lassaigne suspects, that this compound ha retained a portion of water; the oxalate, in efflorescent acicular erys- tals, contains 22 oxalic acid, and 78 cystic oxide. . By means. of ignition with peroxide of copper, M. Lassaigne has ascertained that t e composition of cystic oxide is as follows; ` CO vec UST pL Vy ty . 262 Nitrogen ..... eee enone cat atte "A SE DEPEAC eae chia choc tchi aren 17:0 E a o TOEO A CRT (uiii: TES 100*0 (Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. tom. xxiii. p. 328.) VI. Inflammation of Gunpowder by the Heat of slacking Lime. To determine whether the heat given out during the slacking of lime was sufficient to fire gunpowder, a small quantity of it was put into a glass tube closed at one end; the tube was then placed in slack- Sa ee i lee 1823,] New Scientifie Books. 317 ing lime and frequently removed, that it might acquire the exact temperature of the lime. Some minutes elapsed without any other effect being perceived than the volatilization of some of the sul- phur of the powder, and it seemed as if no combustion would take place, but a loud explosion soon followed, without, however, breaking the tube.—(Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. tom. xxiii. p. 217.) VII. Cleavage of Metallic Titanium. : . Mr. W: Phillips has ascertained that the cubes of metallic titanium found in the slag of the iron-works at Merthyr Tydvil (see Annals, _ N. S. v. 67, and vi. 222), yield to mechanical division parallel to the planes of the cube. uis ! | VIII. Formalion of a Meteorological. Society. We rejoice to state that. efforts are making to establish a uniform and combined system of meteorological observation, by means of form- ing a Society for the purpose; the scheme has been highly approved of by several scientific gentlemen attached to Meteorology ; and. a meeung will be held on the third Wednesday in October, at the London Coffee House, Ludgate-hill, at eight o'clock in the evening, in order to take the subject into consideration, ved, E ^ A mg, cm K Articie XIV. NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION, Mr. John Shaw; the author of the Manual of Anatomy, has in the “press, a work on the Distortions and Deformities to which, from: various Causes, the Human Body is subject. AM | . A concise Description of the English Lakes, and the Mountains in their Vicinity, with Remarks on the Mineralogy and Geology of the District, by Mr. Jonathan Otley. ipsis | Mr. Cottle, of Bristol, will shortly publish Observations on the Oreston Caves, and on the Animal Remains contained in them. JUST PUBLISHED, , Meteorological Essays and Observations; by J. F. Daniell; FRS. Description and Analysis of a New Sulphur Spring, at Harrogate ; by W. West. From the Quarterly Journal of Science ; with Additions by the Author. iim No. 19 of G. B. Sowerby’s Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells ; containing the following genera:—Sigaretus, including Cryptostoma of Blainville; Stomatia, united to Stomatella; Pileolus, à new fossil Univalve, related to Nerita; Eburna, as distinguished from Buccintin spiratum and its congeners, which are tswally united with it ; Ranella; and Pholadomya, a new Genus of Bivalve Shells, of which à single recent Species has been lately foutid, but of which many fossil Species have been hitherto. described as Cardite, Lutrafice; &c. 318 New Patents. [Ocr. ARTICLE XV. NEW PATENTS. W. Wigston, of Derby, engineer, for certain improvements on steam-engines.—Aug. 11. H. C. Jennings, Esq. of Devonshire-street, Marylebone, Middlesex, for an instrument or machine for preventing the improper escape of ‘gas, and the danger and nuisance consequent thereon.—A ug. 14. - R. Rogers, of New Hampshire, in the United States of America, but now of Liverpool, Lancashire, master-mariner and ship-owner, for his improved lanyard for the shrouds and other rigging of ships and other vessels, and an apparatus for setting up the same.— Aug. 18. Ae “J. Malam, of Wakefield, Yorkshire, engineer, for his mode of apply- ing certain materials hitherto unused for that purpose, to the construct- ing of retorts and improvements in other parts of gas apparatus.— —Aug. 18. T. Beach, of Friday-street, London, merchant, but now residing at Litchfield, Staffordshire, for his improvements in certain parts of the machinery for roving, spinning, and doubling wool, cotton, silk, flax, and all other fibrous substances.— Aug. 18. R. Higgins, of Norwich, shawl-manufacturer, for his improved method of consuming or destroying smuke.—Aug. 18. G. Diggles, of College-street, Westminster, for his improved bit for riding horses, and in single and double harness.—Aug. 19. E. Elwell, of Wednesbury Forge, Staffordshire, spade and edge tool maker, for certain improvements in the manufacture of spades and shovels.— Aug. 20. M.A. Robinson, of Red Lion-street, Middlesex, grocer, for certain improvements in the mode of preparing the vegetable matter com- monly called pearl barley, and grits or groats made from the corns of barley and oats, by which material when so prepared, a superior muci- laginous beverage may be produced in a few minutes.— Aug. 20. J. Goode, of Tottenham, Middlesex, engineer, for certain improve- ments in machinery, tools, or apparatus, for boring the earth for the purpose of obtaining.and raising water.— Aug. 20. | *- B. Rotch, Esq. of Furnival's Inn, London, b his improved lid for the upper masts of shipsand other vessels.— Aug. 21. J. Surrey, of Battersea, Surrey, miller, for his method of applying heat for producing steam and for various other purposes, whereby the expense of fuel will be lessened.—Sept. 4. | W. Woodman, of York Barracks, veterinary surgeon of the 2d Dra- goon Guards, for his improved horse's shoe, which he denominates the beveled heeled expanding shoe.— Sept. 11. B. Donkin, of Great Surrey-street, Surrey, engineer, for his disco- very or invention on the means or process of destroying or removing the fibres from the thread, whether of flax, cotton, silk, or any other fibrous substance composing the fabrics usually termed lace net, or any other denomination of fabric, where holes or interstices are formed by such thread in any of the aforesaid fabrics.—Sept. 11. 1823.] Mr, Howard's Meteorological Journal. 319 ARTICLE XVI. METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, aa Nn ET BAROMETER. | THERMOMETER, Daniell’s hyg. 1823. Wind. | Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. | Evap. | Rain at noon. 8th Mon. Aug. 1$. Wj30:18/30:10| | 68 55 — | 218 W{30°10/29°97| 73 61 — | 3S W/29:97/29°78| 68 54 — 38 4 W 31299099'78| 72 52 ~~ 5N 'Wi?9:9029 90} 68 52 — | — 6N Wmj]299529:59| 69 44 —j— 7| W 129:9529:929| 67 59 — 08 8 W 130012990) 72 A7 — 04 9N W;j30233001| 65 | 45 '04 | 02 10S Wj30:2230:3| 67 59 — 10 11N W30:133002 75 60 — | — 2/S :/Wi3002/99:81| 78 55 -—— 13:N W|2981/29:;72| 82 57 — | — 14| W 1299212972) 65 48 — |> 15; W 129922970; 68 46 — | — 16S W29:9729:92| 69 46 784 | 15 7| W -129 992997) 67 47 —— | — 18|S E29:99,29:93| 66. | 61 — |— ~ 198 W)]9979:93| 68 52 — 05 20S: W]29:97129:96| 72 47 — js 21IN Wjg996/29:99| 69 50 — 19 99| W |99:99)20:80, 69 49 — 10 23| W |29:9/129*:80| 69 59 — 02 94| S... |29:97)29:90|.. 71 56 v 11 25N W 300712997} 82 55 — 26N E30:2030)07| 68 57 — 55 27! N j90:27)30'20| 77 56 — 98| W 1302715012) 76 59 *85 29S .Wi30:17/30319| 76 55 — p 380|IN Wi30:30/3017| 72 46 — 30 31N Wj3032,30:30, 76 46 — s039,2972| 82 | 44 | 2-63 |209 The observations in each line of the table apply to a period of twenty-four hours, A. dash denotes that beginning at 9 A. M. on the day indicated in the first column. — the result is included in the next following observation, 320 My. Howard's Météorologicál Journal; [Ocri 1893. = i REMARKS. Eighth Month.—l. Overcast. 2. Cloudy, 3. Rainy. 4. Fine. 5. Showery. 6. Fine: slight showers. T. Showery. 8. Showery: fine, 9, Showéry, 10, Rainy. H. Cloüdy. 12.Fine, 13, Fine, 14,15. Cloudy. 16, Showery. 17, 18. Cloudy. 19, Showery. 90. Fine: a slight shower at noon. 21. Cloudy. 22. Rainy. 23. Cloudy. 24. Rainy morning. 25, Fine. 26. Rainy: some distant thunder at half-past nine, a; m. i heavy rain. "d "s 29, Finé, 30. 0: Finemorring : afternoon rainy. 31. Fine. ^ 3 .. RESULTS. Witids : N, L; NE, 15, SE, 15 S, l; Mom NW, 9. Barometer : Mesh height ! For the montli, .. ... . .... AN aby yat i e PRI « 29:999 inches. For the lunar period, eriding the 99th. issis isse. stite 29983 For 13 days, ending the 8th (moon north). . ........ 29°954 For 15 cay, paing the 23d (moon bM cedant . 9:044 fheitiomerée Ml beige : oc Bo intl. as sh eye aed rei 61-6939 For ihe bar pei... ees paeesesbadaiceecesososond 61-816 For 81 days, the ito th Diis 4. ariondat. 60-539 Evaporation. .. . Rain 20 o) n Sl go d heed hoo a) o eairnd Ropadudicd dd hohe 2°63 in. Ie ln 3 9-09 VILLLZILLLILIIIIEEEUIIPMPPTUOPPOLDIUJDL Laboratory, Stratford; Ninth Month, 99, 1898, — Rina ^ HOWARD. ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY. NOVEMBER, 1823. ARTICLE I. On some Anomalous Appearances occurring in the Thermoelectric Series. By the Rev. J. Cumming, MA. Professor of Chemis- try in the University of Cambridge. . (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) MY DEAR SIR, ) Cambridge, Oct. 13, 1823. IN forming the thermoelectric series, which you did me the favour to insert in your journal, the metallic wires were con- nected at one extremity, and then immersed in boiling mercury. On varying this experiment, I find some anomalous appearances which seem deserving of notice. If one of the wires be iron, and they be heated by a spirit lamp, the deviation, in some cases, gradually attains a maximum, then returns through zero, and at a red heat assumes an opposite direction; resembling in this respect the deviations made by the alloy of antimony and bismuth mentioned in my first com- munication to you on this subject. These effects, the detail of which I have subjoined, took place when iron was connected with silver, copper, gold, zinc, and brass, but not with platina or lead, and I have not observed it in other cases where neither of the wires was of iron. - Deviations. Mon wii edver oaea we Cow: 10° 8° at red heat ——— — copper..... s eei diua 13 7 ditto peed IDA Vito efie 7 4 ditto DON. 1 De eV wig 17 3 ditto ——— ZNC... ssssossssss oo 7 3 melting zinc Positive Negative New Series, vow, vt. Y 322 Prof. Cumming on some anomalous Appearances [Nov. If the experiment be made by dipping wires, not previously connected, 1n boiling mercury, the y keia h in the first instance depends, in some cases, upon the order in which they are immersed. I have obsétved this appearance more especially when one of the wires is copper, zinc, or brass. The results were : : Copper last; negative, then slightly Copper with gold. .... | positive. Gold last; positive; dive ^. 1 ee last ; negative. Silver last; positive, then negative. dida zi s last ; negative. *****\ Zine last; positive, then negative. Copper last; negative slightly, then brass .4.. 1 ' . positive. Brass last; positive. : Copper last; negative. lumbago -f Plumbago last; positive, then nega- tive. Copper with platina or tin was positive, with iron negative in both cases. : Zinc last; negative, then positive. - Silver last ; positive. Zinc last; negative, —— ON e inL f ion last; positive slightly, then ne- gative. ` Zinc last; negative: —— —— plumbago. . IL last; positive . strongly; then negative. .. its Zinc last; negative, then positive. Gold last; positive. Zinc last; negative slightly, then ee brass. «ss. 1 . positive. oni ! : Brass last; positive, Zinc with silver ...... gold. ...... Zinc ith platina or tin was positive in both cases. Brass last; negative. Brass with gold ..... 1 Gold last; positive slightly, then ne« gative. | Brass last ; negative. silver. sss. Silver last; positive slightly, then negative. {he last; negative very slightly, — inesse then positive. Tin last ; positive. Zine was positive with platina, and negative with iron, in both cases, | | 1825] occurring in the Thermoelectric Series. 323 It is obvious that the abovementioned thermoelectric pecu- liarity of iron will affect its place in the series, which at a red heat will be at least above brass, though at low temperatures it is decidedly below plumbago. Y In regard to the series itself, it is not, perhaps, very material, provided the order be correct, whether we consider bismuth as the most positive, and antimony as the most negative metal, or the contrary ; but analogy with the galvanic series seems to make the last the preferable arrangement. In this case, which I have now adopted, antimony; heat, and bismuth, form a circuit similar to silver, acid, and zinc; the silver and antimony being the positive, and zinc and bismuth the negative poles. The corresponding thermoelectric and galvanic series will, there- fore, be: ! | Thermoelectric Negative. Galvanic Negative. Galena, Zinc, Bismuth, Bismuth, Mercury, 1 Iron, Nickel, f Tin, Platina, . Lead, Palladium, | Copper, Cobalt, } Antimony, Manganese, f Silver, Tin, Gold, Lead, ; Platina, | Brass, | Charcoal. Rhodium, Gold, Copper, Ore of iridium and osmium, Silver, Zinc, Charcoal, Plumbago, Tron, Arsenic, Antimony. . Positive. Positive. In this thermoelectric series, I have corrected an error as to © _ the place of silver, arising from the wire formerly used, and which had been purchased as pure silver, being, as I have since found, alloyed with copper. The other changes are unimportant, excepting the insertion of galena, which in whatever way I have tried it, appears more strongly negative even than bismuth. Believe me, my dear Sir, most truly yours, | J. CUMMING, i y 2 924 Mr. Macleay on certain general Laws regulating [Nov. ARTICLE II. Remarks on the Identity of certain general Laws which have been lately observed to regulate the natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi. By W.S. Macleay, Esq. MA. FLS,* Tue naturalists of the present day have in one respect a peculiar claim to the a of disciples of Linneus ; inas- much as they direct their chief attention to what this great master declared to be the end of all his immortal labours in botany. His admirable maxim, that the natural system is the ** ultimus botanices finis," is now not only universally admitted, but on all sides acted upon. The natural system is in fact not only made the remote. consequence, but the immediate aim, of every modern observation in natural history ; the rule now being, to commence with supposing nothing known but what has actually been observed, and by comparing the affinities thus collected, to search after that knowledge of natural groups which in the old methods we started with supposing to be already acquired. They who formerly confined themselves to artificial systems, and neglected the above important maxim of Linneus, have at least thereby lost much gratification, since, if there be nothing within the whole range of human science more worthy of profound meditation than the plan by which the Deity regu- lated the creation ; so most assuredly no study is more calculated to administer pure and unmixed delight. Thus, for example, the satisfaction of the mere gazer at a collection of animals must eyidently be inferior to that experienced by the comparative anatomist, who understands their respective structures. And again, the anatomist himself, on viewing a museum, can scarcely be so much gratified by the sight, as that naturalist who, not content with a bare and in some degree insulated knowledge of articular organizations, endeavours to comprehend how these entese-an with the rest of the creation. It is in this last mode alone, if I may so express myself, that the human mind can take, as far as its imperfect nature will permit, a view of the universe as it was originally designed. Nor ought any person to be deterred from commencing so delightful a pursuit, either by the supposed difficulty of the investigation, or by the extent of preparatory information which it necessarily requires; for truly has it been said, that he who questions his abilities to ` arrange the dissimilar parts of an extensive plan, or fears to be lost in a complicated system, may yet hope to adjust a few pages without perpen Having such ideas both of the dignity of natural history and of the importance and feasibility of a more extended research * From the Linnean Transactions for 1823, Part I. 1823.] the natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi. 325 into the natural system than has yet been made, we can scarcely fail to be interested by a late work,* of which the perusal has induced me to address this learned body. Although this work is confined to a department of botany not very generally studied, its author has evidently not been satisfied with the specific dis- crimination of the imperfectly organized subjects of his research, but has earnestly sought to discover the relations which they bear to each other. Keeping this object steadily in view, M. Fries has been able to give so connected and symmetrical an outline of what he considers to be the natural distribution of Fungi, as, at least, in my opinion, to merit the careful attention of zoologists as well as botanists. It will readily be imagined that, in saying this much, I do not, in the presence of so many more able judges, presume to advance any positive opinion on his merits as an observer. I confine myself entirely to that theory or reasoning founded by M. Fries upon the general result of observations, which it would be impossible to suppose altogether incorrect, even if his reputation as a cryptogamist were less than it really is. On this head, however, | have to remark, that our author, although. undoubtedly an original observer, is neither the first who has advanced this theory, nor do Fungi compose the only part of organized matter in which this sort of arrangement has been conceived to exist. So that even with respect to his theory I may be a partial judge, and may probably be more inclined to admit the validity of his con- clusions, than will be deemed prudent by others who are altoge- ther unprejudiced. M. Fries justly remarks, that the notion of the celebrated Bonnet, as to the existence of a simple series or chain of natural affinities, has been long exploded. The truth however is, that the law of continuity has been quite misunderstood both by Bonnet, and his opponents, so far as organized matter is con- cerned: for Bonnet fancied that, if affinities were continuous, the series must therefore be simple : and some modern natural- ists finding by experience the series not to be simple, therefore supposed that affinities could not be continuous, but that nature presents to the view a mass of unconnected groups, in which it would be a waste of time and a loss of labour to search for any general plan. It does not however appear that either of these inferences has been very philosophically drawn ; for there is a certain rule in natural history which originates solely in obser- vation, and which, if properly followed up, will infallibly induce us to grant to Bonnet the truth of his proposition, that affinities are continuous, and yet to agree with his opponents, that the series of natural beings is not simple. This rule is, that Relations of Analogy must be carefully distinguished from Rela- * Systema Mycologicum sistens Fungorum Ordines, Genera, Species, &c. quos ad Normam Methodi Naturalis determinavit, disposuit atque descripsit Elias Fries, &c. vol. i, Gryphiswaldie, 1821. 326 Mr, Macleay on certain general Laws regulating (Nov. tions of Affinity ; for, as our author M, Fries truly says, * Quo magis in superficie acquieverunt nature scrutatores, eo magis analoga cum affinibus commutarunt,’ The ideas of affinity and analogy are so distinct from each other in the mind of. every person acquainted with. the first principles of logic, that even while this distinction was not laid down as an axiom in natural history, experienced naturalists perceived that every correspondence of character did not neces- sarily constitute an affinity. Thus the celebrated Pallas, in his Elenchus Zoophytorum, has well observed that Bonnet, in order to complete his linear scale of nature, was obliged to abandon the true vinculum of affinity, and to resort to such superficial or analogous characters as those which connect Vespertilio and Lxocetus with birds. But the nature of the difference which exists in natural history between affinity and analogy, was I believe first discovered in studying Lamellicorn Insects ; and in the year 1819, when I published that discovery, the fifth part of an acute rigen ele work, entitled Botanical Aphorisms,* appeared in Sweden, wherein the distinguished cryptogamist M. Ard proves by the following words, that he idee had a slight glimpse of the same truth: ‘ Analogia quedam et simi- litudo in diversis seriebus vegetabilium interdum.cernatur, quasi progressa esset natura ad perfectionem per eosdem gradus sed divers viĝâ. t? _ The next work in which the distinction appeared was the Mémoires du Muséum d' Histoire Naturelle; in à part of which, blished in the autumn of 1821, a paper was inserted by M. Decandolle on the natural family of Crucifere. Here this botanist states, that he finds it possible to express in a table all the affinities existing in this family of plants by what he terms a double entrée ; in other words, he supposes that there are trans- versal affinities as well as direct ones,—a notion of the reality however which appears to be much more confused than that previously entertained by M. Agardh, and explained as above in his Botanical Aphorisms. ; * Aphorismi Botanici, quos venià Ampliss. Ord, Philos, Lund, Preside Carolo Ad. Agardh, &c. pro Gradu Philosophico, p. p. N. Kuhlgren, &c. p. v. Lunde, 1819. + In the same little tract M. Agardh makes two other observations, which coincide with what I have noticed ia the Animal kingdom. The first is as follows: ** Inter in- feriores formas superiores szpe efflorescunt, sed rudes et veluti experimenta : sic antici- pationes forme perfectioris in plantis inferioribus non raro obveniant; ut etiam in plantis superioribus regressus ad formam imperfectiorem.”” Now in the Hore Ento- mologice, p. 223, I have attempted to show that Nature, in the imperfectly constructed Acrita, sketches out in a manner the five principal forms of the animal kingdom. So also the direct return of Annulose Vermes to Acrita is repeatedly asserted in the same work: this however scems to depend more properly on M. Agardh’s other observation, viz. ** Duplex est itaque affinitas plantarum, aut ea, que oritur e transitu ab unà formå normali ad alteram, aut ea, que versatur imprimis in anticipatione forme superioris aut regressu in formam inferiorem. Illam affinitatem transitus appellamus, hanc transulta- lionis." This affinity of transultation is evidently nothing else than the disposition ob- servable in opposite points of the same series or transitus of affinity to meet each other, and of which T have given various examples in the Hore Entomologice, p. 319. 1828.] -the natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi, — 827 In the same year (1821) likewise appeared the abovemen- tioned work of M. Fries on Fungi, which is explicit on the sub- ject, and wherein the very same Pxprpenjong of affinity and ana- logy are used to designate these different relations, which I had applied to them two years before in treating of Lamellieorn Inseets,* : | The theoretical difference between affinity and analogy may be thus explained:}+ Suppose the existence of two parallel series of animals, the corresponding points of which agree in some one or two remarkable particulars of structure. Suppose also, that the general conformation of the animals in each series passes so gradually from one species to the other, as to render any inter- ruption of this transition almost imperceptible. We shall thus have two very different relations, which must have required an infinite degree of design before they could haye been made exactly to harmonize with each other. When, therefore, two such parallel series can be shown in nature to have each their general change of form gradual, or, in other words, their rela- tions of affinity uninterrupted by any thing known ; when more- . over the corresponding points in these two series agree in some one or two remarkable cireumstances, there is every probability of our arrangement being correct. Itis quite inconceivable that the utmost human ingenuity could make these two kinds of relation to tally with each other, had they not been so designed at the creation. A relation of analogy consists in a correspon- dence between certain parts of the organization of two animals which differ in their general structure. In short, the test of such a relation is barely an evident similarity in some remarkable points of formation, which .at first sight give a character to the animals and distinguish them from others connected with them by affinity ; whereas, the test of a relation of affinity is its form- ing part of a transition continued from one structure to another by nearly equalintervals. As a relation of analogy must always depend on some marked property or peculiarity of structure, and as that of affinity, which connects two groups, becomes weaker and less visible as these groups are more general, it is not in the least surprising, that what is only an analogical correspondence in one or two important particulars, should often have been mistaken for a general affinity. _ M. Fries draws the distinction between them precisely in the * I owe my acquaintance with these several works, as well as much information on points of which I should etherwise haye been totally ignorant, to the friendship of the consummate botanist, in whose possession the Banksian Library has been so worthily deposited. The second part of the Hor@ Entomologice was published in April, 1821. On the 24th of the following month 1 first saw a copy of M. Decandolle's paper, which was not published till some weeks after; and in the course of last winter I first saw Agardh's paper and the work of M. Fries on Fungi. If M. Fries borrowed from his master Agardh the idea of distinguisbing affinity and analogy, which is not impro- mens we must at least allow him the merit of having greatly improyed this part of the theory. . i > See Hore Entomologice, p. 862 et seq. 328 Mr. Macleay on certain general Laws regulating [Nov. same way, and, making allowance for the difference of the ob- jects he was investigating, almost in the same words: “ Natura tamen, ubique varia, semper tamen eadem, hoc est, eandem ideam exponere tendit, mutatis modo, qua ex ulteriori ratione necessario pendent ; eadem sequitur principia, ita modo ut infe- riora (v. g. exterior forma, que in infimis adhuc vaga) superiori- bus cedant. Errant igitur qui distinctiones summas e formá exteriori tantum ducunt ; quis ex hac regnum animale et vegeta- bile definire potuit? Evidentissimé hoc demonstrant Lichenes et Fungi. Recentiores horum differentiam in characteribus ex- ternis tantum ponentes cum Fungis jungere voluerunt Leprarias, Opegraphas, Calicia, Verrucarias, $c. quod nullo modo probare possum. Altius illorum differentia deducenda. Sed cum na- tura e&ádem vid inter Lichenes et Fungos ubique progreditur, singulum genus Lichenum Fungis correspondet. At hee inde affinia non dicimus; sed analoga. * Affinia igitur sunt que in eadem serie sequuntur et in se in- vicem transire videntur. Heec in ulterioribus congruunt sed in citerioribus rationibus differunt. Analoga autem dicimus que in diversis seriebus locis parallelis* posita sunt et sibi invicem correspondent. Ultima cosmica momenta differunt, sed cite- riora congruunt, que in habitu externo et characteribus acci- dentalibus mutandis maxime valent. Ubicumque in Historià naturali oculos convertimus, singulum organismum multiplicia hujus offerunt exempla. Systema mycologicum infra explica- tum his omnino nititur. Clavaria et Peziza, Biatora et Beæo- myces affines sunt; sed Clavaria et Beomyces, Peziza et Biatora analoge, e. s. p. in infinitum. * Comparatio Linneana affinitatis plantarum cum mappa geo- phicá haud ignobilis visa fuit; ignoscatur igitur mihi hanc ita extendenti, ut affinitas in hac indicet longitudinem et analo- gia latitudinem. | | *. Neque hoc tantum in inferiores classes quadrat. Nature legis ubique harmonice. Si systema mycologicum et principia, uibus nititur, omnibus non displicerent, totius regni vegetabilis achat demonstrare conabor. Plurima jam elaboravi.” elations of affinity being thus separated from those of ana- logy, we immediately get the following facts from the observa- tion of what M. Agardh terms the affinity of Transitus, namely, that species form the only absolute division in nature, and that no group of species (whatever may be the rank of these groups) ought, to be considered as insulated, but only as series of affini- ties returning into themselves, and forming as it were circles * Asthere is some danger of being led astray by our imagination when we first at- , tempt to separate relations of analogy from those of affinity, it is fortunate that the na- ist cannot have a more admirable test of his accuracy, or a stronger rein on his fancy, than this parallelism of analogous groups in contiguous series of affinity. Thus, although a solitary resemblance may mislead, it is clear that when we find several of such resemblances to keep parallel to each other in contiguous series, we may reckon upon their having some more solid foundation than our own fancy. L4 1823.] the natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi. 329 which touch other circles. Such only are natural groups.. This was said of Insects ;* and our author, looking only at plants, and principally at Fungi, comes to the same conclusion, as ap- pears from the following words: ** Species unica in natura fixé circumscripta idea. Superiores nullas agnovimus sectiones strictissimé circumscriptas, tantum circulos plus minus clausos, affines vero ubique tangentes. Hos tribus, genera, sectiones, &c. simulque si nature vestigia sequuntur, naturales dicimus." - That the circle, indeed, is not always closed or complete has been observed likewise in the animal kingdom; and there are two ways of accounting for it. First, that the beings which would render the circle complete have not yet been discovered; a conclusion to which we readily arrive on considering how little is yet known of natural productions; and secondly, that there are hiatus or chasms which do really exist in nature, and which may be attributed to the extinction of species in consequence of revolutions undergone by the surface of this globe. Whether one only or both of these reasons be requisite to account for circles of affinity not always appearing complete, we shall not at present investigate; contenting ourselves with the undoubted fact, that hiatus or chasms are everywhere in nature presenting themselves to the view. But this truth by no means contradicts the Linnean maxim, that no saltus exists in nature, although such has been esteemed its effect by certain naturalists who have been in the habit of taking the words hiatus and saltus as synonymous terms. Thus the series of the Systema Nature and of the Règne Animal is not natural where the Cetacea inter- vene between Quadrupeds and Birds, but is perfectly consonant with nature where the Tortoises are made to follow these last. In the first case, there is a saltus or leap from Quadrupeds to Birds over a group totally dissimilar to the latter; there is, in short, an unnatural interruption of the law of continuity, which shocks not merely the naturalist but the ordinary observer. In . the other case there is only an hiatus or chasm, which the dis- coveries of a future day may fully occupy. Speaking therefore theoretically, it may be affirmed that a saltus never did exist in nature ; and it also may be argued, with great appearance of truth, that if the hiatus are real which so commonly occur in nature, they did not always exist; or, in short, as M. Fries expresses himself, “ Omnis sectio naturalis circulum per se clau- sum exhibet." Now this definition of a natural group could never have been given by any person who was not aware of the distinction to be made between affinity and analogy. But whenever two parallel * Hore Entomologice, p. 459, &c. : + It isto be regretted that Prof. Dugald Stewart should have been led into this com- mon error, and thus liave acquired a somewhat erroneous notion of the law of continuity, as it refers to natural-history. See the second part of his admirable Dissertation, as prefixed to vol. v. of the Supplement to the Encyclopedie Britannica. | 330 Mr, Macleay on certain general Laws regulating [Now. series of objects linked by affinity are drawn up in array, the connexion of their extremes, that is, the formation of the circle, becomes in that very moment, so far as I have observed, more or less conspicuous, | It follows, moreover, from admitting the existence of analo- gical relations, or, in other words, from laying down the paral- elism of groups in different series of affinity, that the number of groups in these series must be the same. For were it other- wise, as for instance, supposing three groups to exist in one complete series, and four in another, it is clear that the parallel- ism could not exist. But if this parallelism be real, which has been, as shown above, asserted independently of each other by several naturalists acting in different branches of natural his- tory, then the number of groupe of the next lower order com- posing a group of a given degree must be determinate. And if, moreover, we accord to our author the accuracy of the following rule, namely, * Nunquam negligendum, unumquodque regnum, ordinem, genus, &c. in systemate ut individuum esse sumen- dum;"—in other words, that class bears the same relation to class which order does to order, and genus to genus; then the number of groups composing any group of the next higher degree must be determinate ; and it only remains for the natu- ralist to discover from observation what this number is. That Nature has made use of determinate numbers in the con- struction of yegetables has long been known empirically ; as for instance, where botanists have found the typical number of parts of fructification in the acotyledonous plants of Jussieu to be two, that in monocotyledonous plants to be three, and that in dico- tyledonous plants to be five, or multiples of these numbers, onsequently the existence of a determinate number in the dis- tribution of the plants themselves might haye been argued à priori. And in this manner indeed M. Fries appears to Ln argued ; for it is tolerably clear that it was the consideration of the foregoing rule, adopted by Nature in the structure of acoty- ledonous plants, which induced him theoretically to assume four as a multiple of two to be the determinate number in which Fungi are grouped.* I say this, because he is obliged from ac- tual observation to admit that of these four groups, one is exces- sively capacious in comparison with the other three, and is always to be divided into two. So that we may either, with M. Fries, consider every group of Fungi as divisible into four, of which the largest is to be reckoned as two,—a supposition that would not only make two determinate numbers, but which, from the binary groups not being alway analogous, will moreover * It ought here to be observed, that Ocken had previously advanced the opinion that four was the determinate number in natural distribution.. This naturalist, however, haying in his Natérgeschichte für schulen, lately published, in a great measure aban- doned the number four for five, and that more especially in the animal kingdom, has thus got into all the difficulties which necessarily attend the supposition of two determi- nate numbers, 1823.] he natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi. 331 break the parallelism of corresponding groups,—or we may account every group as divisible into five, and thus not onl agree with M. Fries's observations, but besides keep the parallel- ism of analogies uninterrupted, If in this state of the matter it could now be shown, that in the animal kingdom the same law is followed by nature ; in short, to take an instance, if it could be proved that the Annulosa may either be divided into four groups, viz. Ametabola, Crustacea, Arachnida and Pitlota, where this last is remarkably capacious and divisible into two natural groups, viz. Mandibulata and JAHaustellata, or that annulose animals may be divided at once into five groups of the same degree, but of which two have a greater affinity to each other ‘than they have to the other three—if, I repeat, this could be proved, should we not be justified in affirming that the rule, so far as concerns Insects and Fungi, is one and the same? The possibility of thus distributing the annulose animals has, how- ever, been demonstrated already in the Hore Entomotogice ; and it is the way in which we ought to take the rule that only now remains to be investigated. In short, since only two methods * haye yet been found to coincide with facts as. pre- _ sented by nature, the question is, whether we ought to account Fungi as divisible into five groups, or into four, of which one forms two of equal degree. Now I think it may without diffi- culty be shown, from our author's own observations and rules, that there is only one determinate number which regulates the distribution of Fungi, and that five is this number. In the first place, M. Fries lays it down as. a rule, which is quoted above, that he admits no groups whatever to be natural uüless they form circles more or less complete, Let us then apply this rule to what he terms his ceutral group, and which he makes always to consist of two. Does this form a circle? If not, the group cannot be natural according to his own defi- nition. If, on the other hand, its two component groups are each circles, then these are natural. Thus the Ptilota will not form one circle, but two; consequently they form two natural groups, which is furthermore proved by their parallel relations of ana- logy. If we turn to Fungi also, the Hymenini, according to * 'The number seven might also perhaps, for obvious reasons, occur to the mind, were it allowable in natural history to ground any reasoning except upon facts of organ- ization. The idea of this number is however immediately laid aside, on endeavouring to discover seven primary divisions of equal degree in the animal kingdom. It is easy, indeed, to imagine the prevalence of a number; the difficulty is to prove it. The naturalist, therefore, requires something more than the statement of a number, before he allows either a preconceived opinion or any analogy not founded on organic struc- ture to have an influence on his favouritescience. He requires its application to nature - and its illustration by facts. As yet, however, no numbers have been showh to prevail in natural groups but five, or, which is the same thing, four of which one group is di- visible into two. Perhaps, indeed, the most clear method of expressing ourselves on this subject is to say that, laying aside osculant groups, every natural group is divisible into five, which always admit of a binary distribution, that is, into two and three, 332 Mr. Macleay on certain general Laws regulating [Nov. M. Fries, do not form one circle, but two ; one of Pileati, the other of Clavati ; so that instead of the Hymenomycetes formin four natural groups, viz. Sclerotiacei, Tremellini, Uterini, and Hymenini, they form, if our author be correct, five; viz. Scfero- tiacet, Tremellini,* Uterini, Pileati, and Clavati. — But to understand this still better, we had as well perhaps enter a little deeperinto our author's theory. Every group, he says, which expresses well the character of the superior group to which it belongs, is called the centrum ; by this, not meaning the centre of a circle, but the site of the normal form or perfec- tion of the particular structure common to the superior group, of which it forms a part. The word perfection, even as here used, requires explanation ; for it does not, as might be supposed, in this place signify affinity to any particular group. Our author, on the contrary, most properly says, that the idea of perfection in structure has nothing to do with affinity.+ — * Ipsa hec affini- tas imperfectionem potius indicat; perfectissima enim sunt in quavis sectione ab omnibus aliis remotissima. Sic perfectissima animalia et vegetabilia, que maxime a se invicem remota; infi- ma, quorum limites confluunt." Hence it follows, that the cen- trum, or perfection of a group, is in fact that part ofthe circum- ference of the circle of affinity which is farthest from the neigh- bouring group, and exactly the same thing with what in the Hore Entomologice has perhaps more happily been called Type. 4 ndeed the confusion arising from the use of the word centrum, as applied to a point in the circumference of a circle, is still in- creased by applying the word radii to those groups likewise in the circumference which lead from one centrum or type to another, and which I have termed annectent groups.{ The use of these terms centrum and radii is the more unfortunate, as our author never for a moment takes them in any other sense than that in which I have used the expressions type and annectent groups. When, therefore, he says that in every group, whether class, order, &c. there are a centrum and radii, we must under- * This appears to be one of those interesting groups which connect the least per- fectly organized beings with those which are the most perfectly organized. In the de- rtment of Hysterophyta it is to the Coniomycetes or lowest Fungi, what in the animal ingdom the Fermes are to the Acrita. + To the general observations on this subject, as connected with the animal kingdom, which I have given in Hora Entomologice, p. 205, I may add the botanical authority of Prof, Schweigger. ** Nec etiam genera et ordines plantarum in lincam a cryptoga- micis ad dicotyledoneas progredientem ita disponi possunt, ut familia quevis preeceden - tis structuram magis evolutam prebeat. Vix ullus de vegetabilium serie usitata, a. cotyledonum numero deducta, affirmat, plantas dicotyledoneas omni ratione monocotyle- doneis esse anteponendas." p. 6. De Plantarum classificatione naturali Disquisitioni- bus Anatomicis et Physiologicis stabilienda Commentatio, Auctore A. F. Schweigger, §c. Regiomonti 1820, t There are several other terms used by M. Fries todesignate his groups, and which differ from those employed by me to express the nature of similar groups. Thus, his intermediate genera are my osculant genera; his subordinate genera are my types of form or sub-genera, &c. 1823.) the natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi. 333 stand him as meaning, that there are in every circle first a type or normal form expressing the perfection of the superior group to which it belongs ; and secondly, annectent groups connecting this type with other groups. Or, to take his own words, “ In centrum quod species plurimas. continet, character optime qua- drat. Radii ad reliquas classes (scilicet ordines, genera, &c.) abeuntes, utriusque classis characterem conciliant, sed ad illam (viz. the typical group) cujus character maxime eminet refe- runtur." | If then the determinate number in which Fungi are naturally grouped be four, and if it thus appears that, according to . Fries, every natural group is a circle, having in its circum- ference a point of perfection or typical group called a centrum, and annectent groups called radu, it is evident that there must be one centrum and three radii for every group. But observe what immediately follows as the result of M. Fries's observation: * Centrum abit semper in duas series, inferiorem et superiorem, quarum illa ad antecedentem hec ad sequentem classem (l. ra- dium) evidentius accedit." | This rule being determined, M. Fries goes on moreover to say, that these two series which compose the centrum are always analogous at their corresponding points. Consequently, in every circle he admits the existence of two central groups and three radial; that is, in all, five natural groups. Now this truly is the case throughout the whole animal kingdom. Organized matter is the centrum of matter, and is composed of animals and vegetables. Articulata,* or animals possessing an articulated axis, form the centrum ofthe animal kingdom, and are composed of Vertebrata and Annulosa. The Ptilota of Aristotle, or winged insects, form the centrum of the Annulosa, and are divided into Mandibulata and Haustellata. And so on, we shall ever find a natural group to be a circle of five minor groups, and that two of these minor groups form what M. Fries would call a centrum, or, more correctly, have some character in common which dis- tinguishes them from the other three. That neither of these groups, viz. organized matter, Articulala or Ptilota, is a circle, must be obvious to every observer: and consequently they do not fall within the sphere of M. Fries's definition already given of a natural group, but each of them form two circles, which therefore, according to our author, are natural groups. We might turn even to the well-known great division of the vegeta- ble kingdom into phenogamous or cotyledonous and cryptoga- mous or acotyledonous plants, where the former are clearly the centrum, and divisible into two natural groups; but surely enough has been said to show, that the notion of M. Fries on this head is in every respect, but the mode of expressing it, the same identically with mine. When he states the determinate * This name has been applied to the Annulosa, as characterizing them alone, but improperly, inasmuch as the vertebrated animals are articulated, 894 Mr. Macleay on certain general Laws vegulating [Nov. | number to be four, and we investigate the signification attached by him to this proposition, we discover that it is in effect five. How M. Fries was led to thé number four, we have already endeavoured to éxplain; and it is truly worthy of observation, as an almost éonclusive argtiment for the determinate number being five, that M. Friés himself is at last ie je to adopt it. This oper abandonment of his theoretical number four, which we have seen that he had virtually abandoned before, takes place moreover in that part of his work which, relating to the more mintite groups, is therefure most independent of theory, and most subjected to the keenness of practical ‘observers. Here, in brief, he finds himself tied down to stubborn facts, and it is rather interesting to mark the result. The only genera of Hymenomycetes Pileati which he discovers to be divisible are, Agaricus, Cantharellus, Thelephora, Hydnum, Boletus, Polyporus, and Dedalea; some of which, as Agaricus, are, as he says, of the first dignity ; others, as Cantharellus, of the second.* Now every one of these genera, or at least their typical groups, are divided by M. Fries himself into five, with the single exception of Cantharellus ; and so truly natural or dependent upon rela- tions of ve N are these five subdivisions, that he proposes to make use of one set of names for all, and in fact does in gene- ral make use of the same name for analogous groups. Nay more: when he has divided the well-known genus Agaricus into Jive natural series, he observes, * Singula series a natura fixé determinata clausa est reliquis játállela. Tribus diversarum serierum analogas diu eodem nomine salutavi. So that Agari- cus is, according to the confession of M. Fries, formed of five natural series each closed up; in other words, each a circle, and corresponding at their parallel points to such a degree, that he declares it possible to assign the same names to the analogous roups. l : It ‘wate tedious to proceed much further on this subject ; and therefore, without entering into the speculations, often unintel- ligible and always vague, of Plutarch, Sir Thomas Brown, Dre- bel, Linneeus and others, as to the doctrine of quintessence gene- rally, we may at once set forth the last argument which shall now be produced for the existence of a quinary distribution in organized nature. It may be stated thus: In the year 1817 I detected a quinary arrangement f in considering a small portion of coleopterous insects ; and in the year 1821 I attempted to . show that it thin i generally throughout nature. In the same year (1821), and apparently without any view beyond the particular case then before him, M. Decandolle stated the natu- ral distribution of Cruciferous plants to be quinary. And again, * The groups here said to be of the second dignity, appear to be of the same degree with the general Phaneeus and Scarabeus of the Hore Entomologice. These five names are, Mesopus, Pleuropus, Merisma, Apus, and Resupinatus, f Published in 1819, 1893.] thé natural Disiribution of Insects and Fungi. 335 in the same year, à third naturalist, without the knowledge of either Decandolle’s Mémoire or the Hore Entomologice, and in & different part of Mg NY tia what he considers to be the natural arrangement of Fungi. Argwing à priori, this. third naturalist fancies that the determinate number into which these acotyledonous plants aré distributed ought to be four ; but finds it necessary, in order that it may coincide with observed facts, to make it virtüally five. Nay, at last, in spite of the prejudice of theory, he is unable to withstand the force of truth, throws himself into the arms of Nature, and declares that where he actually finds his natural group complete in all its parts, there the determinate number is five. Tus Now, on considering that his work was given to the world two years after the first part of the Hore FEntomologice, it is clear that, had M. Fries fixed at once on the number five, there might have beén room for supposing, that he had not altogether trusted to his own observation, but had borrowed the idea of a quinary distribution. As matters however at present stand, this suppo- sition cannot for a moment be harboured; and I cannot help rejoicing that the strength of this beautiful theory should be so completely brought home to the conviction of every mind, as it must be, by MAE the manner in. which different persons have respectively stumbled upon it in-totally distinct depart- ments of the creation. We may all possibly be wrong in part, or even in much of our respective details ; but however this may be, it is difficult not to believe that we are grasping at some great truth, which a short lapse of time will perhaps develop in all its beauty, and at length place in the possession of every observer of nature. 5 It may be well to note, that M. Fries draws in the clearest manner a distinction between his Hysterophyta or Fungi, and the Protophyta, which is a natural group consisting of the Lin- nean Alge and Lichenes. He proves that they form two dis- tinct series of vegetables having analogous exterior forms at their qoM points. Hence, according to what has pre« ceded, the Protophyta and Fungi form in the vegetable kingdom two primary groups of equal degree. In Protophyta fructifica- tion is secondary, and the thallus essential; whereas in Fungi it is quite the reversé. According to our author the first-born of Flora may all be accounted as essentially roots, and represent- ing the mode of nutrition; while every fungus is as truly and representatively connected with fructification and reproduction. Throwing aside other considerations, we may perceive the ana- logous groups of the animal kingdom to be likewise constructed on a similar plan. Each of the Acrita, for example, imbibing nourishment at every pore of their surface, internal or external, is essentially a stomach, while the situation of the singular ovaries of the Radiata cannot fail to remind us of the importance and position of the sporidia in Fungi. The umbellate Medusa, 336 | Mr. Macleay on certain general Laws regulating [Nov. the &Eohinus, the Asterias, and the Priapulus have all their representatives in mycology, of which the genera Lycoperdon and Phallus are noted instances; so that the analogy of the Radiated animals to Fungi is complete ; and we thus have in organized matter the following two series of groups connected by affinity and analogous at their corresponding points, ANIMALIA. VEGETABILIA. Acrita 44... cose lee sS Protophyta: Radiata. .........+..+e++ Hysterophyta. Annulosa 26.66 Hs tapeo races loieien Vertebrata. .............. Dicotyledonea. | Mollusca........... ess... Pseudo-cotyledonea? Agardh.* Consequently some general idea of the primary distribution of all organized beings may be obtained from the following figure. * This last department of the vegetable kingdom, Pseudo-cotyledonea, has been de~ fined by M. Agardh in the sixth part of his Aphorismi Botanici, which is dated Dec, 1821. According to him it embraces the Musci, Hepatice and Filices of Linnzus ; and in p. 16 of the same work we find a comparison made between these plants and Amphibia, which is nevertheless much stronger when applied to them and the Mol- lusca. ** Pseudo-cotyledoneez Amphibiis non dissimiles, humum perreptant vel rimas querunt, humiditateque gaudent ut illa, organis jam in superiore sectione deperditis iterum instructe.” In these last words he alludes to his own opinion, that Mosses dis~- play organs nearly related to the cotyledons of dicotyledonous plants, while the monoco- tyledonous plants conceal their cotyledon; and if botanists should adopt this opinion, we might assimilate it to the curious fact, tbat in the animal kingdom the imperfectly organized Mol/wsca display a heart, which is more analogous to that of the Vertebrata than the dorsal vessel of insects. With respect, indeed, to the analogies existing between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, they are too striking to have altogether escaped the notice of such an observer as Agardh, who truly observes, ** Memorabilis est analogia evolutionis seriei vegetabilis cum animali." When we find him, however, comparing the least perfect vegetables to some of the most perfect animals, the A/ge to Fishes, and the Lichenes to Insects, we must suspect that b is not sufficiently acquainted with the evolution of the animal series, and conclude that he has at least not sufficiently attended to the parallelism of analogy. Nevertheless, his comparison of Monocotyledonous, or, as he terms them, of Cryptocotyledonous Plants to Birds, appears to be a true relation of analogy, although an indirect one; and if he had paid that attention to Entomology which the science really merits, so acute a botanist, could not have failed to perceive, that the arguments he gives in support of this last analogy, only receive their full force when they are employed in the comparison of Monocotyledonous Plants with Insects. Thus, in the same page, he states aériferous cells to be peculiar to Birds in the animal kingdom, evidently not aware that many more animals than are in the whole department of Vertebraia would have no means of getting their fluids aérated did not the air enter their bodies and penetrate through every part of them. But on this head Desfontaines long since set the scientific world at rest, when he established the relation of Dicotyledo- nous Plants to Vertebrata, and of Monocotyledonous Plants to Annulosa, not on exter- nal appearance merely, but on such primary principles of their respective structures, that we may almost term the former tribe of plants Vertebrated, and the latter Annu- lose. It would scarcely be fair however towards M. Agardh, did we conceal the fact of his being perfectly aware of the analogies which reign both between the Dicotyledonous Plants and the typical group of Vertebrata, and between the Fungi and Radiata. With respect to this last analogy, indeed the following words are perhaps more explicit than those previously published, p. 211 of the Hore Entomologice —'* Fungi supe- riores animalia Radiata ob figuram radiantem, ob superficiem nudam, ob texturam laxam, ob colorem subsimilem non male revocant," 1898] the natural Distribution of Insects and Fungi. — 837 PSEUDOCOTY -~ : MOLLUSCA» LEDONEA. a a DICOTY LB- VERTE- DONEA. BRATA. .PROTOPHYTA, | ACRITA» VEGETABILIA ANIMALIA MONOCOTY- | LEDONEA. ANNULOSA« To conclude : If an arrangement be natural, it will stand any test; and to support the truth of this proposition, I shall now arrange Annulose Animals in. the same way that M. Fries has distributed his Fungi, when it will readily be seen as virtually nothing else than the arrangement I offered to the public in the Hore Biurbinoloitice: Thus it is only necessary that instead of subjecting Nature to arbitrary rules of our own invention, we should humbly receive her laws as she clearly proclaims them ; when she will indeed appear, as M. Fries has found her to be, * ubique varia, semper tamen eadem." ^ Classification of ANNULOSA on the same Principles as those adopted by M. Fries in his natural Distribution of Fungi. ANNULOSE ANIMALS, which are not hermaphrodite : or the AwNuLosA of Scaliger may all be divided into two groups founded on their larva or foetus state, viz. : „l. Apterous Insects, having either no metamorphosis in the usual sense of the word, or only that kind of it the ten- dency of which is confined to an increase in the number of feet. These are the APTERA of Linneus, and comprehends three classes, viz. Crustacea, Arachnida, and Ametabola, which would be termed Radii by, M. Fries. 2. True Insects, being all subject to that kind of metamorpho- sis which has a tendency to give wings to the perfect or imago state, but never more than six feet. These are the Pritora of Aristotle, and should, according to M. Fries, be termed. the. Céntrum of Annulose Animals. * Sed centrum abit semper in duas series,” and consequently we find that the | New Series, vor. v1. Z $98 XR - Mri Macleay oh éertáin géneral La, 6. (Nov. PTILOTA / E i either become by metatorpho- sis organized for mastication in their perfect state, and are the’ ` MANDIBULATA Of Clairville, which comprise the following orders, viz. A. Metamorphosis obtect. Larve eruciform. TRICHOPTERA? 2. Metamorphosis incomplete, or coarctate. Larve apod or vermiform. HYukkoPTERA. | Be ‘Metamorphosis incomplete. Larve of various types. .. COLEOPTERA. 4. Metamorphosis semicomplete. Larve resembling the perfect Insects. ORTHOPTERA. 5. Metamorphosis various. Larve hexapod. . NEUROPTERA. 4 RR or become by metamorphosis organized for suction in their perfect state, and are the HavsTELLATA of Clairville, which comprise -the following orders, viz. | ! l. Metamorphosis obtect. Larve eruciform. LEPiDOPTERA. - 4 Metamorphosis incomplete, or coarctate. | Larve apod or vermiform, . DIPTERA. 9. Metamorphosis incomplete. . Larve ee ECR SRN L5 ERN APTERAs The only larva of this order known is apod or vermiform, but of the coleopterous strueture, l 4. Metamorphosis semicomplete, Larve resembling the perfect Insects. HEMIPTERA. | 5. Metamorphosis various. Larvas hexapod. HoMOPTERA. N. B. A mark of doubt is annexed to the word Trichoptea, because entomologists have not yet determined whether the Linnean genus Phryganea forms part of an annectent order, or whether it forms a istinct osculant order. 1823.] On the Composition of certain Muriates. 339 Küritihk III. On the Composition and Equivalent Numbers of certuin crystallized x Muriätes. By R. Phillips, FRS. L. and E. &c. Whine correct views of the nature of chlorine and most ôf its compounds have been derived from the researches of Sir H. ‘Davy, it appears to me that the attention of chemists has not been sufficiently directed to the consideration of the nature of some compounds which may be considered éithér as muriates ‘or as chlorides containing water. In the first volüme of the Annals, N.S. I gave a statement of the different views which may be entertained of those salts, which must bé regarded either as chlorides of muriates. I now return to the subject, ‘from having lately had occasion to employ the salt usually calléd muriate of barytes in such proportions as contained a dértain quantity of the earth. ` , : In order to ascertain the equivalent number of this salt, I “consulted Dr. Thomson’s table of the weights of atoms, given in the last volume of his System of Chemistry ; in this we find the composition of chloride of barium, but not of muriate of barytes ; and tiider the head of muriate of barytes (vol. ii. p. 254), the reader is referred to chloride of barium for a description of it. “The easiest method of preparing it," says. Dr. Thomson, * would be to dissolve carbonate of barytes in muriatic acid, ‘atid crystallizing the solution.” “The primitive form of this chloride," he continues, “ is, according to Haüy, a four-sided prism, whose bases are squares. It crystallizes most commonly in tables.” (System, vol. 1. p. 357.) From this quotation it is, I think, evident, that Dr. Poison considers the crystallized muriate (for so at present I shall continue to call it) as a mere chloride, and he does not mention that it contains any combined water: he certainly observes, * that when heated, it decrepi- tates and dries,” but this seems merely to refer to accidental moisture. On Dr. Wollaston’s scale, dry muriate of barytes is mentioned, and this is of course the chloride of barium, for the number by which it is represented agrees as nearly with that assigned by Dr. Thomson to the chloride as 131 to 132:5 In the memoir in which the scale is described by its author, crystallized muriate of barytes is represented as consisting of muriate of barytes 131 + 2 water = 22:6; making the number for crystallized muriate of barytes 153:6 ; it is singular that Dr. Wollaston has . mot placed this upon thé scale, for as the salt usually occurs in thé crystallized state, it is that in which it is most used, and in which the knowledge of its equivalent is most desirable, Mr. Brande (Manual, vol. ii. p. 82), appears to agree with Dr, Thom- as 340 ^ Mr. R. Phillips on: | ; [Nov. son in considering the crystallized salt as mere chloride of barium. This, he observes, * may be obtained by heating baryta in chlorine, in which case oxygen is evolved ; or more easily by dissolving carbonate of baryta in diluted muriatic acid. By evaporation, tabular crystals are obtained, soluble in five arts of water at 60°; and consisting when dry of 65 barium + 3°5 chlorine = 98:5. Its taste is pungent and acrid; when exposed to heat, the water of crystallization separates, and the dry chloride enters into fusion.” It is to be observed, that while Mr. Brande admits the existence of water of crystallization in this salt, he neither states its quantity, nor makes any observa- tion as to the effect which it may produce in the theoretic views of the nature of the salt. On referring to the table of equiva- lents contained in the second volume of the Manual, p. 512, and to that which Mr. Brande has since published in the 14th volume of the Royal Institution Journal, I do not find an mention of muriate of barytes, or of the quantity of water whic the crystallized chloride, allowing it to be such, contains. Dr. Ure, in the second edition of his Dictionary, mentions the muriate of barytes as crystallized in tables; and although he calls it a muriate, he states its composition as a chloride, con- sisting of 4:5 chlorine + 8:75 barium. No mention of muriate of barytes is made by Dr. Henry, in his Elements of Chemistry, excepting under the head of chloride of barium ; and like the previously quoted authorities, he appears to consider the crystallized tabular salt as chloride ; but does not mention the existence of any water in it.» * The dry salt," he observes, “‘ Sir H. Davy considers as a compound of ] atom of barium = 70 + l atom of chlorine = 36; hence its representative number is 106, and it consists of Chlorine . eeeoeeeeeeeeseee ees eee een ee 34 Barium @eeeceoeeeeeeevee eves ee eeeeeeees 66 100 * Muriate of baryta, formed by the action of water on the chloride, must therefore be constituted of 1 atom of muriatic acid = 37, + 1 atom of baryta = 78, and its equivalent must be 115. Hence it should consist, when crystallized, of Bas US VR ^id 27:82 = 1 atom Baryte . io stha ag Cv uix 58:47 = 1 atom Water. ereeerer eae ete eoevee ete 13:71 = 2 atoms 100-00 “These numbers do not exactly agree with the experimental results of Aikin and Berzelius, which state its composition as follows ; | 1823.] . the Composition of certain Muriates. 341 pereat na vi ^ Add. Base. Water. According to Mr. Aikin. ...... 2293 .... 62°47 .... 14:6 — Berzelius s... es. 29-95 .,..'61:85 ,..... 14-8 ; “The analysis, therefore, requires to be attentively repeated." Now I would submit, with great deference, that the analyses which have been already performed are sufficient to clear up the difficulty, which, it appears to me, depends merely upon the mode of viewing the nature of the salt in question. : The various metallic chlorides, and the different salts which result from the union of muriatic acid with metallic oxides, may be regarded under. several different. theoretical points of view: these I shall endeavour to. illustrate by considering the barytic chloride and muriate.. According to Dr. Thomson's table of equivalents, oxygen being represented by 8, wateris 9, chlorine 36, muriatic acid 37, barium 70, and barytes 78; and if we admit for a moment, the existence of what was formerly called dry muriatic acid, its number will be 28. . Chloride of barium is then composed of One atom of chlorine. .......... WARN. Une atom of DANU seese orcos oho esas 70 106 Supposing, as appears to be the case with muriate of magne- sia, that a solution of barytes in muriatic acid could be evapo- rated to dryness without the formation of water occurring from the decomposition of the acid and oxide, and the union of their hydrogen and oxygen, we should then procure muriate of barytes composed of One atom of muriatic acid. ...sssssss.. OF One atom of barytes o isses esis aoao case 7B Tie io This compound would also result from the decomposition of one atom of water by an atom of chloride of barium. | Considering, according to the opinion formerly adopted by most chemists, and still entertained by Berzelius, that muriatic acid gas is a compound. of dry muriatic acid and water, dry muriate of barytes will consist-of | One atom of dry muriatic acid. ........ 98 ; Ghe atom of barytes ,«. «co voe ooo dukat 78 106 This number, it will be observed, is that which has already been noticed as representing the chloride, It is a question which, perhaps, scarcely admits of being decided, whether when an oxide, such as that of barium, cal- cium, or strontium, is dissolved in muriatic acid, and a crystal- line salt containing water obtained, such salt be actually a chlo- ride combined with water, or whether one atom of the water suffers decomposition and converts the chloride into a muriate. Supposing, for example, that 115 parts of crystallized muriate of barytes were to lose 9 of water by being heated, that salt before such loss might be regarded as hydrous chloride of barium consisting of te 1 atom of chlorine . Api NEA AEE aot 36 ] atom of barium riss «425 o eere eo 70 1 atom of water. **"«nos296000900099200€v 9 116 Or we may consider the 9 parts of water expelled by heat not as previously existing as such, but as arising fromthe decomposi- tion of the muriatic acid and oxide of barium; in which case the salt would be composed of. . ] atom of muriatic acid, **2*5*509920892290 37 l atom of barytes . esee eee 78 115 We find, however, by experiment, that crystallized muriate of barytes loses a larger quantity of water than that above supposed. According to Mr. Aikin (Nicholson's Journal, vol. xxii. p. 312), crystallized muriate of barytes loses from 14*5 to 14-6 per cent. of water, by being heated, a determination which agrees very nearly with Berzelius's statement of 14:8 per cent. If an atom of chloride of barium = 106 were combined in the crystallized salt with 2 atoms of water = 18, then the loss by heat would a little exceed 14°51 per cent. agreeing very nearly with Mr. Aikin’s statement, We may, ^ re ai consider crystallized muriate of barytes as consisting of 1 atom of chloride of barium. .....++- 106 2 atoms of water . "n were ee eee 1 Weight of its atom. . «ee eee ere nnn? 124 Or, Chlorine. eeeeeeveseeeeseeen ee eevee 29-03 Beri avoid d's y»sdavets»nve)As «Me 56°45 Water. Peer e rete rene eeseeeet ones 14°52 ES qe - 100-00 1823]: the Composition of certain Muriates. 343° Or if we consider the salt to exist in the state of muriate; th view of its composition will be : : ! | 1 atom of muriate of barytes,......, 4, 118 ^; 1 atom of water 0690609099029009292*929009 Muriatic acid. @eesseoevesoosee oe e280 99-84 Barytes . e0*02800000099909820a89600*09€ 62-90 "UE OTe MERERI AQ 08 eee os 7°26 —À— n ÁÀ 100-00 Or lastly, if we adopt the opinion formerly entertained of this salt, and consider it as composed of 1 atom of dry muriate of barytes......, 106 or 85:49 2 atoms Of water..-)crrbsbersecesseciee i18 2@98 | The weight of its atom will still be. .... 124 100-00 agreeing very nearly with Aikin, Berzelius, and Dr. Wollaston’s memoir. . | There are but few salts similarly circumstanced with the crys- tallized muriate of barytes; | shall add the equivalent num- bers for crystallized muriate of strontia and muriate of lime. According to Berzelius (Proportions Chimiques, p. 47), muriate of strontia contains 40°53 per cent. of water; the chlo- ride of strontium will therefore be 59-47. Now an atom of chlorine = 36, and of strontium = 44, will give 80 as the weight of the atom of chloride of strontium, and as 59:47 : 40°53 :: 80 : 54:52, so little exceeding 54, or 6 atoms of water, that we may consider crystallized muriate of strontia as composed of | 1 atom of chloride of strontium 36 + 44 = 80 or 59-7 6 atoms of water9 x 6..... ooo = OF 40:3 Weight of atom... eee eee nont 134 100-0 Or regarding it as a crystallized muriate of strontia, it will consist of l atom of muriate of strontia 37 + 52 = 89 or 66-4 5 atoms of water 9 X Do. ceeuvono sess = 40 33:6 134 100-0 Crystallized muriate of lime, according to Berzelius, contains 49:2 per cent. of water; the chloride of calcium remaining will, therefore, amount to 50-8. An atom of chlorine = 36, and of caleium — 20, the number representing chloride of calcium is 56 ; and as 50-8 : 49:2 :: 56 : 54:23, so slightly exceeding 54, that we may regard crystallized muriate of lime as constituted of 944 - Prof. Henslow on the Deluge. — [Nov 1 atom of chloride of calcium 36 + 20 = 56 or 50:9 ` 6 atoms of water9 x 6. ............ = 54 ° 491 Weight of atom... ... 2. ee eee een 110 100:0 oj | M RU 1 atom of muriate of lime 37 + 28... = 65 or 59°09 5 atoms of water 9 x 5.......... s = 45 40°91 110 (100-00 ARTICLE IY. On the Deluge. By J.S. Henslow, MA. MGS. FLS. Secretary to the Cambridge Philosophical Society, Professor of Mine- ralogy in the University of Cambridge. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR, Cambridge, Oct, 15, 1893, In a very able article in the 57th number of the Quarterly Review, the “ Reliquize Diluviane,” by Prof. Buckland, has been lately examined, and towards the end of that article some observations are made upon the various theories which have. been adopted to account for the phenomena of the Deluge. The reviewer is decidedly. of opinion that none of the hypotheses hitherto suggested are capable of solving the difficulty, and. seems to think that we ought to ascribe the whole to the mira- culous interposition of Providence, * excluding the operation of ordinary nature” from our consideration. That God brought the waters, and that God caused them to assuage, is doubtless the language of Scripture ; but, as in many other cases, so in the present, I see no reason for supposing that he did not employ the ordinary means ‘of nature as the instruments of his òpera- tions. The reviewer himself states his.belief that ** miraculous agency is often, nay generally, combined with natural means," though he seems at the same time anxious to dispense with them in the present case. The hypothesis which had hitherto appeared the most plausible was one stated by Mr. Greenough, in which it is supposed that the waters of the ocean were thrown into a state of excessive agitation by the near approach of a comet. This hypothesis however, is now clearly shown to be incompatible with the appearances observable in the diluvium of various parts of the earth; and it should also be recollected that the near approach of a comet could not have produced the effect ascribed to its influence by Mr, Greenough, without affording an anomaly in 1823:17 Prof. Henslow on the Deluge. 345 nature far greater even than that which it is brought to explain. The main difficulty which seems to strike all those who have hitherto considered the subject, appears to lie in the method of getting rid of the waters of the Deluge. Many will grant you that they came, if you can show how they departed. Amidst all the conjectures that have been offered on this point, sufficient stress does not appear to have beenlaid'upon the idea, that they may not have departed; but that the waters which ** were increased greatly upon the earth” are still with us. I shall offer a few remarks upon this subject, rather with a view to promote future inquiry, than with the wish to propose a new hypothesis. I shall assume that the flood which we are informed prevailed for 150 days, consisted of waters at that time added to the earth, and leave to the future consideration of geologists, whether the supposition of their having been partly absorbed by the solid — portion of the earth is not of itself a cause sufficient to explain the present state of the surface of our planet. rea ete Eis Suppose the original level of the surface of the ocean to have been the line A, and an increase of waters to have raised the surface from A to B, sufficient to cover the tops of the highest mountains; I would ask whether, if the increase were rather sudden as it is stated to have been, we may not imagine that a considerable depression below the highest level would afterwards take place, owing to those solid portions of the earth which were not originally covered, becoming saturated with moisture; and thus, after a certain lapse of time, the surface of the ocean might rest at C, leaving the higher summits of the old continents again exposed. ‘To decide whether or not such may have been the case will of course require that future observations should be made with this object in view. There are, however, certain facts already noticed in geology which tend to show that an increase of elevation above the original surface of the ocean has actually taken place ; such as peat land, containing vast num- bers of trees, which are found in some situations extending under the bed of the ocean, and whose destruction appears to have been coeval with the Deluge. Also the swampy condition of large tracts of fen country, which are now incapable of produc- ing timber, but in which immense quantities of the largest growth are found buried in a sound state. If it should be objected that the mass of waters brought upon the earth was far too gien to admit of the supposition of their having been absorbed to an \ 346 Prof. Henslow on the Deluge. (Nov. extent sufficient to allow for the present altitude of the highest mountains above the surface of the ocean, 1 reply that this must be a subject for future observation ; but I think this difficulty, which at first sight appears so wie will diminish consider- ably by. considering what would be the quantity of water suffi- cient to cover the tops of the highest mountains at this present. moment. The greatest altitude of any known mountain is about five miles, which is but trifling compared with the radius ofthe earth, which is above 4000 miles. Let a person take a three-inch globe in his hand, and consider how thin would be the film of water sufficient to cover the particles of fine dust which are attached to its surface. It should seem also that those portions of the earth which were partly saturated by moisture before the Deluge would absorb a still greater quantity upon the rise of the ocean, and thus a further diminution might be accounted for. Suppose a basin made of plaster of paris, chalk, or any other porous material, to be partly filled- with water, the sides will immediately imbibe a certain portion, and the surface will fall. When the water has reached its greatest depression, fill the basin, and you will find the sides still capa- ble of absorbing an additional quantity, and the surface will not long remain on a level with the rim. I need scarcely observe that the earth appears to be in every part more or less saturated with water. The most solid rocks contain it in great abundance, and the operations of the miner are too frequently impeded by its presence ; but I believe that few, if any, observations have hitherto been made with the view of obtaining an estimate of the sedi quantity at different depths, or in different descriptions of rock, | This view of the subject perfectly coincides with the account given in Genesis of the gradual manner in which the waters subsided, “And the waters returned from offthe earth continuall * And the waters decreased continually until the tenth mob This would hardly have been the case if we are to suppose with some, that there were large empty receptacles prepared for them towards the centre of the earth, into which they suddenly retired. 1 | I should scarcely venture to allude to the manner in which we may suppose that the waters were brought upon the earth, but that I wish to observe upon some other phenomena connected with the supposition of their having been added to the earth's surface, or, in the language of scripture, ** increased ` upon the face of the earth." Observation appears to have established that the rise of the ' diluvian waters was gradual, and that with respect to the present surface of the land they came in descending torrents, And this agrees distinctly with one part of revelation, which states, that * the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights," * and the waters prevailed, » . 39 . 1829.]: Prof. Henslow on the Deluge. 347 and were increased greatly upon the earth." . All which seems to imply an extraneous supply of water ; for although the atmo- sphere at all times contains a certain quantity of aqueous vapour, yet this would not be sufficient to answer the demand. We now that the weight of the whole atmosphere is equivalent only to.a depth of water of about 34 feet, and this is made up of atmospheric air, water, and different gaseous mixtures. We must, therefore, look for some other cause, which has ceased to operate ‘since the supply was furnished; and here of course nothing but-conjecture can be offered. With many of my pre- decessors in this department, I must have recourse to. one of those bodies which have so often been considered as the proba- - ble cause of the Deluge, though the mode iu which they have been supposed to operate in effecting that event has as often been refuted or ridiculed. But before we attempt to enlist so myste- rious an agent into our service, let us inquire what it is we actually know respecting the nature of comets. -Of this we can judge only from the astronomical and optical - phenomena which they present. It is certain that they. are material substances, and it appears universally conjectured by the most accurate observers, that they are in great part, if not wholly, composed of aqueous vapour. Some comets present a nucleus encircled by this vapour; others have no nucleus at all. As they approach the sun, they become brighter; the luminous train or tail, when it exists, becomes enlarged and more brilliant, and when the comets have arrived at their perihelion, their lustre is sometimes found to exceed that of the planets.’ In their retreat from the sun, these phenomena are reversed, till at length the light reflected from them is too trifling to be any longer visible. Although the cpinions which have been promulgated concern- ing the tails of comets differ materially with respect to what may be the nature of their substance, yet they are all compatible . with the idea of their nuclei being composed of aqueous parti- cles. One opinion is that these tails are the light of the sun refracted through the comet acting like a transparent lens; but this idea seems to have been satisfactorily refuted by subsequent observation. Others suppose them to be the vapour of the comet, either driven behind it by the impulse of the sun’s rays, or raised by the heat of the sun ; the latter opinion, which was held by Sir Isaac Newton, seems also compatible with the idea of the comet transmitting the rays of light, since the heat would be greatest, and consequently the vapours lightest, along the train of light reaching from the nucleus to the focus of this astronomical lens. However this may be, let it be granted as highly probable, that some comets are composed of aqueous particles, which at a distance from the sun will probably concrete into the form of a globe of ice, and on approaching him will either be wholly or in part converted into vapour. What will be the effect of such a comet approaching within the sphere of the earth’s attraction? 348 Prof. Henslow on the Deluge. [Nov. Before replying to this question, I will ask what has been the fate of the comet of 1770, whose periodic time was not greater than five years and a half, and which could never wander so far from the sun as to get beyond the orbit of Saturn? Yet this has not been since that. time, and no solution of the cause of its disappearance appears so probable as that offered by Dr. Brew- ster, * that it now exists under the form of those enormous atmospheres which accompany. Ceres and Pallas." . If it be too much to suppose that the nucleus ofsuch a comet, though composed of aqueous particles, would fall to the earth, we may, perhaps, conjecture that a partion of its nebulous train becoming entangled in our atmosphere would be attracted to the earth, and descend in the form of rain upon every portion of its surface successively, as the earth turned upon its axis. This conjecture as to the mode of supply is here mentioned, as I before stated, with the view of promoting another inquiry upon a point which seems to be pretty well established in geology, viz. that the mean temperature of the earth's surface, at least in these latitudes, has been very sensibly diminished ever since the Deluge. If the mean temperature of the earth's surface depend upon the distance of the centre of the earth from the surface of the ocean, then the increase of waters brought by the deluge would, by increasing the radius of the earth, produce the phenomenon which has been observed. | . lt may also be proposed as a subject of inquiry, what would be the effect produced upon the atmosphere by increasing the proportion of aqueous surface to that of the dry land. Would the atmosphere become more highly charged with aqueous "pu and cause a greater quantity of rain to fall annually? We know that some of the planets possess an atmo- sphere of extreme purity, and that others apparently have none. Among the former number is the moon. Now it is remarkable that the latest discoveries lead us to suppose that the moon pos- sesses no seas, though there are large indentations on her surface which would speedily become ab i were she inundated by a Deluge. . How far such investigations as these may tend to confirm the history of the rainbow having been first seen after the Deluge, or, in other words, the non-existence of rain previous to that event, I leave to the inquiry of meteorologists, requesting them to bear in mind that the only account.we have of the method by which the earth was refreshed before the Deluge is, that “there went up a mist from the earth and watered the ` whole face of the ground ;” ‘ For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth." | : I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, J. S. Henstow. 1828: ^ Onthe Generation of the Opossum ` 349 ARTICLE V. Facis, Observations, and Conjectures, relative to the Generation -of the Opossum of North America. In a Letter from Prof. Barton to Mons. Roume, of Paris. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, Penlerrgare, Sept. 3, 1823. { RECEIVED from its author, the late Prof. Barton of Phila- delphia, the enclosed printed copy of a letter which I have never elsewhere met with, and it relates some circumstances which have not been noticed by Sir Everard Home in his ‘valuable observations on the generation of the marsupialia in the Philo- sophical Transactions for 1808, 1810, and 1819. he fossil remains of a species of didelphis are said to be not unfrequently found in the Stonesfield slate, and I know of no other animal belonging to either of the secondary or any older for- mation which possesses the smallest claim to be called viviparous, nor does even this family in its mode of generation, appear to be more than one of those links which connect the higher order of viviparous with oviparous animals. In this point of view the Professor’s letter becomes interesting not only to the zoologist, but in some degree to the geologist n ; and I, Proin offer 1t n. ou for insertion m the Annals of Philosophy. am, dear Sir, yours truly, 4 AN : LW. Dirrnww.: d DEAR SIR, Philadelphia. In looking over my list of correspondents, I find that I am indebted tc you a letter. I cannot think of writing a mere formal letter of apology, for my long silence ; and, therefore, I shall contrive to send you something that may, at least, amuse ou. .. You and I have often talked together, and speculated, about the generation of the Opossum of North America (the Virginian Opossum of Pennant; my Didelphis Woapink).* I think I * There is not a little confusion concerning the nomenclature of the different species of Didelphis, in the writings of Linnzus, Gmelin, and other naturalists. See the arti- cles: ** Didelphis marsupialis,” and ** D. Opossum,” in the Systema Nature, as pub- lished by Linnzus himself, and by Gmelin. Ihave, therefore, thought it most advisa- ble to impose a new and more determinate name upon the animal, which has been the ' subject of my experiments. The specific name of marsupialis is not very happily applied to any particular species of Didelphis, since most of the species of this singular genus are furnished with the marsupium, or abdominal sack. I object to Dr. Shaw's specific name, Virginica (taken from Mr. Pennant), because it implies, that our Opos- sum is restricted to, or especially common in, Virginia; whereas this animal is nearly equally common in every part of the United States (east of the Missisippi), from the latitude of 40 to that of 25, and even much further south, The name W oapink, which 350 Facts, Observations, and Conjectures, [Nov. informed you, when I had the pleasure of seeing you in Phila- delphia, that I had, for several years, been engaged in an exten- sive series of experimehts and observations relative to this curious animal; this * prodigiosum animal," as Benzoe calls it.* The result of my inquiries will be communicated to the ;ublic in two memoirs, the second (and most difficult) of which is nearly finished. Ia the first of these memoirs, I shall detail, at length, the general natural history of the animal; examine its place in the system ; it$ food; its manners; its geographical range through e continent, &ö: . I shall also partisan notice the periods -of the intercourse of the sexes, and shall pursue the female through the whole progress of what I call the uterine gestation, which comprehends à period of between twenty-two and twenty- -six days. The other memoir will commence with the second term of gestation, which I call the marsupial gestation; This, which dates its beginning from the first reception of the embryons -from the uterus, into the marsupium, bourse, or pouch, is much longer than the uterine gestation, and comprehends, even in a ee vs point of view, by far the most interesting era in the history of the animal. I have been so fortunate as to ascertain the size and weight of several embryons immediately after their exclusion from the uterus. One of them weighed only one grain! The weight of each of the six other young ones was but little more than this, | The young opossums, unformed and perfectly sightless as they are at this period, find their way to the teats by the power of an invariable, a determinate instinct, which may, surely, be consi- dered as one of the most wonderful that is furtished to us by the science of natural history. In this new domicilium, they ‘continue for about fifty days; that is, until they attain the size of a common louse-mouse (Mus musculus), when they begin to leave the teats occasionally, but return to them again, until they are nearly of the size of rats (Mus rattus), at which time the seem to be no longer necessarily supported by the milk of the mother, but eat meat and vegetables of various kinds. The female Didelphis Woapink sometimes produces sixteen young ones ata birth. I have actually seen this number attached -I have chosen, signifies ‘‘ white face." I should, perhaps, havé preferred the Tusca- rora or Cheerake names, Chéera, or Seequa, but that I know not the precise meaning of these appellations. I may add, in this place, that the specific name of “ dorsigera,” which Linnzus has applied to another spécies of m aes (the Merian opossum of Pennant) is likewise exceptionable ; for I have discovered, that my Didelphis Woapink _ often catries ber young ones upon her back. s Lib, ii, P. 215. + It is not true, as has been often asserted, that the mother, with her paws, puts the young ones into the pouch. Fri miy first memioit, I shall show, to the satisfaction of every one, that the common opinions on this subject are altogether erroneous, 1893] relative to.the Generation of the Opossum. 851 to the teats; but never a greater number.* When théy aré first ‘excluded from the uterus, they are not only very small, but very obscurely shaped: The place of the future eyes is mérely marked by two pale-bluish specks: we see no ears; in short, the animal is a mere mishaped embryon. Its mouth, which is afterwards to become very large, is, at: first, a minute hole, nearly of a triangulat form; and just of a sufficient size to receive the teat, to whieh the little creature adheres so firmly, that it is scarcely matter of surprise, that Beverley: and other writers have asserted, that the young are originally produced in the marsupium, where they grow fast to the teats ; ai opinion very generally adopted in many parts of the United States. It is not true, that the young cannot. be detached from tlie mother, without the loss of blood. I can assert the contrary from many experiments, made upon embryons weighing nine grains, and upwards. I have fully satisfied myself as to all the various circumstances, both in the structure and ih tlie exertions Of the minute animal, which enable it, while yet à meré speck, asit were, of living matter, to cling so firmly to the fountain of its support. ' ; | ; - It is truly an interesting task to pursue the various steps in the progressive evolution of the parts of the yong opossum, while in the marsupium, and especially so long as it is necessaraly attached to the teat. It is natural to suppose that the all-care- ful hand of Nature first evolves those parts, which are the most iminediately important to the animal. In this supposition we ‘are not mistaken. It is a long time before the embryon has any occasion for the senses of sight and hearing: but a mouth and the powers of deglutition, as well as of breathing, are necessar to it, immediately after its exclusion from the üterüs, Accord- ingly, its mouth and nostrils are open; and, for a long time, all the air which it respires is received through, and passes out of, the latter channels. The stomach seems to perform its digestive office in the embryon immediately after its first attachment to the teat; { and the wonderful little didelphis is by no means the inanimate or the passive being some physiologists and natu- ralists have represented it.§ * I have been informed, that female oposstims have been seen with more than sixteen young ones, of the same birth. I cannot, however, place implicit dependence upon this information, especially as I have never seen at opossum with more than sixteen teats. t * The young ones (says this writer) are bred in this false belly, without ever being within the true one. They are formed at the teat, and there they grow for sevéral “weeks together into perfect shape, &e.—(The History of Virginia, &c. p. 136. London, 1722.. f In an opossum weighing only forty-one grains, I have seen the stomach very consi- derably distended with a white matter, or milk. But the milk that is afforded to the embtyons, for a few days after their first reception into the marsupiuni, is nearly pellu- _¢id, or transparent. t. Pennant says they adhere to the teats ** as if they were inanimate, till they 'arrive at a degree of perfection in shape, and attain sight, strength, and hair; after which they undergo a sort of second birth,”—(Arctic Zoology, vol, i. p. 84.) | 352 ^ Facts, Observations, and Conjectures; . {Nov. The toes of the fore-feet. of the. new-born embryon. opossum are furnished with sharp and hard nails, or claws; but this is not the case with the hind-feet. The latter are, for some weeks, of little use to the animal; but by means of the former it is enabled to cling most firmly to the teat; and especially to the hair in the marsupium immediately around the teat. I cannot suppose, with the respectable Mr. E. Home, of London, that the viscous fluid which surrounds the body of the embryon, when it is first excluded from the uterus, is of any service in facilitating its attachment to the teat.* There is one instance of the evolution of the parts. of the embryon-opossum, which has greatly surprised me, and seems, with many other facts, to show, that Nature will, for a long time at least, confound our endeavours to unravel her rete m?rabile of final causes. In an embryon-opossum, weighing only sixty or eighty grains, and entirely destitute of the senses of sight and hearing, you may observe, with the naked eye, the marsupium of the female distinctly formed, and even count the number of the teats. | Thehumane and ingenious conjecture of Buffon, concerning the preservation of human embryons, or at least fetus, far from being arrived at their last stage of growth, has received some confirm- ation from my experiments :: but I cannot at present detail these experiments. I shall only observe, that an opossum- embryon, or fetus, which weighed sixty-seven grains, lived upwards of thirty hours after I had detached it from the teat. Another, which weighed 116 grains, lived thirty-eight hours, at which time I killed it, by putting it into spirits. | At the end of about fifty or fifty-two days, from its first recep- tion into the pouch (the period varies somewhat, even among the different individuals of the same birth), the eyes of the young begin to open. At this period, and for a short time before, it is capable of retaking the teat, after having been separated from it by the hand, or otherwise. | The growth of the young opossum while in the marsupium, and under the immediate care of its mother, is pretty rapid. I have found that the same embryon has increased in weight 531 grains in sixty days ; that is, at the rate of almost nine grains * Speaking of the kanguroo, Mr. Home says, ‘‘ It would seem probable, that the moüth-of the fetus is originally attached to the nipple by means of the gelatinous substance contained in the uterus."—(Observations on the Mode of Generation of the kanguroo.) + ‘* Personne n'a observé la durée de la gestation de ces animaux, que nous présu- mons être beaucoup plus courte que dans les autres ; et comme c'est un exemple singu- - lier dans la Nature que cette exclusion précoce, nous exhortons ceux qui sont à portée de voir des sarigues vivans dans leur pays natal, de tacher de savoir combien les femelles portent de temps, et combien de temps encore aprés la naissance les petits restent attachés a la mamelle avant que de s'en séparer ; cette observation, curieuse par elle- méme, pourroit devenir utile, en nous indiquant peut-étre quelque moyen de conserver la vie aux enfans venus avant le termc."—(Histoire Naturelle, &c. tom. xxi. p. IT}, 172. A Paris, 1765, a 1823:] relative to the Generation of the Opossum, 353 daily, But, as you may readily imagine, its increment, in bulk and weight, is much greater one day than another. The animal attains to nearly its full growth in about five months ; but never, I believe (in our latitudes, I mean), procreates the first year of its existence. | hye’ . Possibly I have been relating nothing but what is familiarly known to you. The following fact, however, will, I flatter myself, be entirely new to you; and if the relation of it should give you half the pleasure that the discovery of it did me, I am persuaded, that this letter will not be altogether unacceptable to ou. On the 14th of May, I purchased a female opossum, with seven young ones. They were at this time about the size of rats, two-thirds grown ; and subsisted partly upon their mother's milk, and partly upon meats and vegetables. Of course, the period of their necessary connexion with the mother was at an end. On the 21st of the month, that is, at the expiration of seven complete days, upon looking into the box which contained the animal, I found that the mother had just excluded from her uterus seven embryons, the smallest of which scarcely weighed. one grain ; another barely two grains; and the. remaining five (taken together) exactly seven grains. —— : $i ou, my dear Sir, who are by no means a stranger to the enthusiasm that is inspired by the contemplation and study of Nature, will readily imagine what were my sensations on the discovery of this unexpected new family of didelphides. The fact, which I was so fortunate as to witness, is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting in the whole science of zoology ; and so far as I know, it has never been noticed by any naturalist but myself. id j de. You will, I doubt not, immediately attach to this fact its pro- per and full value. We are no longer, it appears to me, at a loss to comprehend the final intention of Nature in furnishing the opossum with a pouch for the reception of the tender embryons, excluded, as we have seen they are, from the uterus, in a very unformed state. Nature has determined that the female’ _ didelphis shall produce, at least, two litters of young ones, in the. course of the same year. Superfetation (T should, perhaps, in strict propriety, say uterine superfetation) is wholly incompatible: with the established laws of the economy of the didelphis. But Nature, always provident, wastes no time. While, therefore, the first litter of young opossums are fast approaching to their ‘adult or more independent state, the mother accepts the ardour. _ ofthe male; she is impregnated; and after a gestation which is . not, I think, remarkably short, if we consider the small size of the embryons when they are excluded from the uterus,* the. * Buffon, in the passage which I have quoted from his work, has very properly Observed, that the uterine gestation of his Sarigue is very short; short, indeed, when ew Series, VOL. VI. 2A 354 Col. Beaufoy's Astronomical Observations, — (Nov. marsupium is destined to perform the office of a second, I was oing to say a more important, uterus; just at tbe time when the first litter have attained such a size, that they are no longer (one or two of them at the utmost) capable of taking refuge in her pouch ; and when, being now provided with teeth, and the requisite strength, they are not necessarily dependant upon their mother. But even after the second litter has been received into the marsupium, the young of the first litter, if any of them be living, still continue with the mother, who does not yet withdraw from them her useful attentions and assistance. They are no longer. indeed permitted to take the milk secreted by her breasts ; but she sedulously watches them, and even conveys them, while they cling to her back and tail, for considerable distances through the woods, &c. L * * * * * * * * * But it is time to i an end to this long letter. Believe me, I shall be truly glad if it afford you any information or amuse- ment, With the genuine regard of a naturalist, I remain, my dear Sir, your friend, &c. BENJAMIN SMITH BARTON. - AnrICLE VI. | Astronomical Observations, 1823. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS. Bushey Heath, near Stanmore. Latitude 51° 37’ A4*3" North. Longitude West in time 1” 20°93”, Oct. 2. Immersion of Jupiter’s second $ 19h 11’ 7” Mean Time at Bushey. satellite. 1.7... . s. .«. .€ 19 19 28 Mean Time at Greenwich. Oct, 2, Immersion of Jupiter’s first j 17 26 57 Mean Time at Bushey. satellite . icai oe eoe eon roe 17 28 18 Mean Time at Greenwich, Oct. 9. Immersion of Jupiter’s second § 14 47 28 Mean Time at Bushey. satellite. .... ..... $6 d de 14 48 49 Mean Time at Greenwich. Oct. 11, Immersion of Jupiter's first ( 13 48 38 Mean Time at Bushey. satellite . ...... 13 49 59 Mean Time at Greenwich, Oct. 16. Immersion of Jupiter's first § 17 23 27 Mean Time at Bushey. - oo A PIRR NDS EE ARET P 17 94 48 Mean Time at Greenwich. we compare this first gestation with that of the marsupium. But I have shown, that the female didelphis carries her young in utero between twenty-two and twenty-six days, which is no inconsiderable period, if we reflect on the very small size (sometimes /ess than one gráin) of the embryons, when they are dislodged from the uterus: for the weight or our female opossum is often, at least, 18 Ibs, | | 1823.] Appendix to M. Ramond's Instructions, &c. 355 ARTICLE VII. An Appendix to the Abstract of M. Ramond's Instructions for . Barometrical Measurements. By Baden Powell, MA. of Oriel College, Oxford. ( (Concluded from p. 274.) IN order to render more complete the foregoing compendium, and as some readers may wish for an account of the principles on which the formula is constructed, it may not be improper here to add for their convenience a brief explanation of it, toge- ther with some remarks on other points connected with. the subject. I. Outline of the Demonstration of the Formula. M. Biot, in the small tract prefixed to his * Tables Barome- triques Portatives," has given at large the demonstration of a . formula which differs from the present only in some very slight modifications. I shall, therefore, do no more than present a sketch of his elegant investigation, the principles of ‘hich may, perhaps, be made sufficiently intelligible, without following him through all the detail of his analytical processes. The reader who is desirous of fully appreciating their beauty is referred to the original. As I here propose only to give a mere outline of the investiga- tion of the formula, it will be superfluous to go through the elementary proof of the general theorem, which establishes the relation between pressure and elevation. We may set out by assuming that the difference of elevation, x = - log. (3), M being the modulus of the common system of logarithms, and Ca coefficient involving the various corrections. (1.) Our object is to discover the coefficient C. This M. Biot proceeds to do in the following manner : *—If we represent by 3 the density of the air under the pressure A, that of mercury being unity, we have } = C h, and z — C. We may obtain, there- fore, the value of C, if we have, by very exact experiments, the ratio of the densities of air and mercury, under a given pressure of the atmosphere. This ratio is not the same in all countries ; forin all countries the weight of bodies has not the same intensity, as we learn from experiments on the pendulum, and the ratio > varies with the intensity of gravity. Indeed ĝis the density of the air under * Mesures Barometriques, p. 7. 242 356 Mr. Powell's Appendix to M. Ramond’s Instructions [Nov, a given pressure, for instance, 29:021 inches, but according as the intensity of gravity is greater or less, a column of mercury of the constant api, cj of 29-921 inches will weigh more or less ; consequently air subjected to this pressure will be more or less compressed. Now by experiments with the pendulum in differ- ent latitudes, we find that calling the force of gravity in lat. 45°, unity, in’ a latitude 4, it will be expressed by 1 — 0:0028371 . cos. 24.* The density ò being proportional to the weight will ey in the same ratio; that is to say, calling it ? in lat. 45°, and under the pressure /, it will become for any other latitude, and under a column of mercury of the same height, 2 [1—0:0028371 .cos. 2 y]. The coefficient C, which expresses the ratio of the density to the height of the barometric co umn, ought to vary in the same proportion, and consequently becomes C [1 —0-0028371 . cos. 2 J], which being substituted in the value of z, gives g = M C . [1—0-0098311 . cos. 2 $] . log. ($): in this way it will be suffi- M C. [1—0:0028311 . cos. 2 /] for a given latitude ; for thus, «V being known, we shall know cient to find the coefficient by experiment also LR and the formula becomes applicable to all possible latitudes. The formula may be rendered more convenient by causing the denominator to disappear, which is easily done; for the fraction 1 — sr ao i being developed in a series by division, becomes 1 + 0:002837 cos. 2 4 + 0:00000804857, cos. 2p + ..... . or simply 1 + 0:002837 cos. 2 4 by confin- ing ourselves to the first term, which is alone of sensible magni- ' tude, Thus we shall have z = T. [1 + 0:002837 cos. 2 i] log. (a) (2.) Thus far we have supposed that the value of the coefficient € or e is the same in all the strata of the column of air ; but it . h is not so in nature; and many causes tend to make this ratio vary. The principal cause is the inequality of the ra Woh of the strata ; for the elasticity of air is augmented by heat, so that with a less density, it can support an equal column of mer- — 4. cury, which makes the ratio 5, or C, vary. This ratio also varies according to the greater or less — | ifferent — of aqueous vapour which is found suspended in the strata ; for this vapour weighs less than dry air of equal elastic - 3 * This expression is deduced from one given by Laplace, Mec, Cel. b. 10.—(See M. — Ramond's First Memoir, Part II, p. 16.) 1825.) For Barometrical Measurements. 357 force, sô that its presence in the different strata renders them proportionally capable of sustaining with a less density an equal column of mercury. Lastly, the decrease of gravity as we recede further from the centre of the earth is another cause of the change; for by this decrease a column of mercury whose length is A; weighs so much the less, as we recede from the centre: if it weigh less, it com- presses less the strata of air into which it is carried: thus the ratio of their density to the length of the column of mercury, or E is no longer the same for these strata as for those which are below. fall other circumstances are alike, the densities of the Strata of air which these columns compress will be likewise pro- portional to them. The ratio A or C, therefore, ought to vary from one stratum to another proportionally to the force 9. — (3.) The aniount of each of these corrections may be calcu- lated on the following principles :— First, the action of temperature. From the influence of this cause, a mass of air whose volume is 1 at zero (centig.) becomes at ¢ degrees, 1+¢ . 0:00375, the barometrical pressure remaining the same. Under a constant pressure, the densities of this mass are reciprocally as the volumes, and, therefore, if the density at ize boos Under a constant pressure ; the ratio zs OF C, must, therefore, vary pro- zero be 1, the density at ¢ degrees will be portionally to this quantity. : > Secondly, the influence of aqueótds vapour. According to the experiments of De Saussure and Watt, the weight of this vapour is to that of air as 10 to 14, while their elastic forces and temperatures are the same; that is to say, while the air and the vapour beina at the same temperature, sustain equal columns of mercury. ‘The substitution, therefore, of this vapour in the strata of the air, renders them specifically lighter without dimi- nishing their elastic force. To obtain the value of this effect, let h be the barometrical pressure which supports a certain. ‘stratum of air: let us call F the elastic force of the aqueous vapour contained in it; that is to say, the part of the barometrical pressure which the vapour sustains. ‘The whole weight of the stratum may be considered as composed of two parts, viz. of a certain quantity of vapour whose elastic force is F; and of a certain quantity of atmospheric air perfectly dry, whose elastic "force is h — F. Let p be the whole weight of the stratum, if it were composed entirely of dry air under the pressure h. The weight of the same veluina of dry air under the pressure h — F 2D . The weight of the same volume under the pressure F will be ae, Lastly, if this volume remaining always . will be p 958 Mr. Powell's Appendix to M. Ramond's Instructions [Nov. under the pressure F,were composed entirely ofaqueous vapour, its weight would be - of the former; that is to say, ir ae. Now we know by very decisive experiments that in a mixture of vapour and air, which has attained a state of stable equilibrium, these two fluids are uniformly diffused throughout the whole space which they occupy. Thus the weight of the mixture in the preceding proportions will be equal to the sum of the weights of the air and vapour which occupy the given space under the pressures h — F and F; that is to say, that this weight will be 2 h-~F h—-F , 10 pF . € i E, or simply p .—; duction of the vapour, the weight of the same volume of dry air submitted to the same pressure h, would be represented by p. The densities being proportional to the weights, if ? represent the density of thé stratum in the dry state, the density in the. Now before the intro- oh ' i 2 F moist state will become è . ——-——, ord.}1 — = x | the pressure remaining the same. Thus we see that the introduc- tion of aqueous vapour in the strata of air makes the ratio ^ or C, vary proportionally to ( l— - i ) ; The tension F is always very small at those temperatures at which barometrical observations are commonly made. Its value in metres for the point of extreme saturation may be calculated from a formula, given by Laplace, from the experiments of Dalton; whence we find, At 0° centigrade F = 0:005122 metre; (= 0:20165 inch.) At 30° centigrade F = 0031690 metre: (= 1:24765 inch.) and within these limits, which are nearly those of barometrical ‘observations, the increase of F may be sufficiently well repre- sented by arithmetical progression, and will be F—0:005122 m. +0:0008649 m. t (—0:20165 in. +0°03304 ¢) in. t being the temperature centigrade. Although this formula is not rigidly accurate, it is sufficiently so in practice on account of the little effect which it has on the observed heights. But before it can be applied to the state of the atmosphere, it requires to be modified. tt relates to the point of extreme satu- ration at which the atmosphere is scarcely ever found; and consequently the value of F will almost always be rather greater than the truth. No general determination can be given of the quantity of vapour suspended in theatmosphere. This quantity is extremely variable on different days ; it varies even from one : stratum to another in a manner very irregular, and often abrupt, as we see on mountains where strata very little charged with ES 1A EER < for Barometrical Measurements. ir eM vapour succeed others which.are.at the maximum of humidity, However, setting aside these extraordinary circumstances, every thing leads us to believe that we shall follow nature most closely if we avoid these extreme cases ; and thus what seems most simple is to take forthe expression for F in the atmosphere the - half of the value which corresponds to the point of extreme humidity ; that is to say, - F = 0-002561 metre + £ . 0700043245 metre (= 0:10082 inch. + £ . 0:01652) inch. —" In substituting this value in the expression for the coefficient C, it must be multiplied by the variable factor T but on account of the minuteness of this correction, and also on account of the small difference in the values of A within the limits of ordinary measurements, it will suffice to put for A, the constant value 0:76 m. = 29:921 in. which is the mean pressure at the level of the sea. This substitution will possess also the advantage of giving a less correction for the humidity in the higher strata of the column, which agrees with nature; for the humidity of these strata generally diminishes in proportion as we ascend, and sometimes the most elevated are extremely dry. Adopting this simplification, we have 2F 2 ! l2 1 — amu [0.009561 m. +7. 0-00043245 in.] = 1 — :0009628 — :0001626 . t. Without sensible error this expression may be put under the following form, (1 — :0009628] [1 — :0001627 . t] which gives Cs A [1 — :0009628] . g [1 — -0001627 . 7] | m" 1 + £.00315 i The factor, depending on £, which is found in the numerator, may be combined with that which arises from the temperature. On account of the smallness of the coefficient 0001627, we may : ; i 1 without sensible error substitute ———p5p;g5777 | the place of 1 — :0001627 .t. Thus we have in the denominator the product [1 4-*0001627 . t] . [1 + £.0:00375]. In performing the multiplication we may neglect the product of 0001627 x :00375 :and thus it becomes [1 + :0039127 .¢]. The coefficient of t in this result differs so little from *004, or 25 that we may, without fear of error, sub- stitute for it this last value, which will simplify the calculation. We have, therefore, C — AL! — 0009628]. g : [I + ¢. 0:004] Thirdly, the variation of the force of gravity must affect both » the coeflicient or ratio of densities of air and mercury, and also the observed heights of the column of mercury at the two 360 Mr. Powell's Appendix to M. Ramond’s Instructions [Novi extremes of the elevation. If we call the force of gravity at the surface g, and that at the height z; giu, it is obvious that $ must be reduced in the ratio of Pu or we must take log. Gi) + log. (£). The last term, from considering the law of distance, may be converted into 2 log. ( l + =| : (a being the mean radius of the earth, which may be substituted as ve nearly the distance of the lower station from the centre; and » " ' (a » instead of ^" putting A.) PA This last expression may be made use of in applying the correction for gravity to the coefficient C. It will be sufheiently accurate to take the expression for the force of gravity at the mean elevation, which will be g, - Y And dividing by a’, 8 T — 9 J. and neglecting all powers above the first, this becomes nearly 1 girmir (1+3) | mean temperature of the air at the two stations, we shall have Q = ACL = 70009628) g, 2t +ü zo (! * 1000 ) é (1 + z) These expressions for the diminution of gravity are deduced by M. Biot tlirough a series of analytical forms, in which he traces the effects of the force in question from one stratum ofair to another, and then effects a summation. This is in accordance with the elegant method he has adopted throughout the whole investigation. In giving this outline, I have merely attempted to state in general terms the grounds upon which each correc- tional expression may be deduced ; but for the details of the analysis, the student1s referred to M. Biov's tract. Fourthly, the formula now stands thus, Taking also, instead of the indeterminate i, the M | | ng z= aou weg, (1 + 0028371 . cos. 2 4) (i+ 24% ) (log. (5) + 2log. (1+ £) ) (1 + £). Then developing 2 log. (1 E 2) and keeping to the first power (since z is very small in respect to a), it becomes WT Then multiplying the last two factors (keeping to first ' power), we get log. (8) + = (log. ü “+ Mr whence (since i 1893.] ^ ^ for Barometrical Measurements. ^— — 861 = 868589) thé last two factors becorae log. ü | c à 4 868589 ) (oe ` log. H formula, excepting that the constant coefficient remains to be determined. This, M. Biot now proceeds to investigate, by taking as at first 8 = density of dry air, that of mercury being J, under the pressure A, at temp. ¢, latitude 4, intensity of gravity g. Then we have* | z =) which gives exactly M. Ramond's _ A (1— 0028371 . cos. 9 Y) g h &e 1+ ¢, 000375 * The most simple means of finding A is to weigh with great exactness known volumes of air and mercury under a given pressure and temperature, in a place whose latitude and Seva lion are known. ‘This experiment M. Biot informs ts has been tried at Paris with the greatest care by Arago and himself. They found that at the temperature of melting ice, and under the pressure of 0°76 m. t= [046s ve (i — 0088811 - oo. By 0718 i being the latitude of Paris, Consequently representing by M the modulus of the logarithmic tables, or 2:30258509, the coefficient of the barometric formula, or x will become | M 3L = 10463 (10028871 . cos. 24) 0-76 m. M H _ If we reduce this value into numbers taking ~ = 48? 50 14”, l diego) Whence A = which is the latitude of the Observatory, we find ke cet i M — — *0009628) ~~ 18334-46 m. m Let r be the elevation of the inferior station t RA | 18316-82: m. "t and consequently. Xd ‘above the level of the sea, a + r will be its distance from the centre of the earth. The elevation of the place where they tried their experiments on the weight of air and mercury may be assumed at 60 metres above the level of the sea: its distance from the centre of the earth in metres will, therefore; be a + 60. Thus the ratio of the weights ; = ae an expression which I A reduces itself to (1 — 1 (1 + ="), developing the two * Mesures Barometriques, p. 23. 862 Mr. Powell's Appendix to M. Ramond's Instructions [Nov. squares, and confining ourselves to the first powers of 2 and. of =. | A The first factor 1 — = may be reduced into numbers taking a =.6366198 m. as we before assumed ; it diminishes the baro- metric coefficient by 0:35 m; which gives Az = 1889411 m. (a =r). | This coefficient differs very little from that adopted by M. Ra- mond, viz. 18336 m.: this he deduces in his first memoir; it = 60158:7 feet, but the variable multiplier (1 + =") does not appear in his formula. If in Biot’s we take a mean value of (7) at 400 m. since any value of r must be very small compared with a, and substituting for (a) its value, the fraction will continue very small, and we shall have 18334-11 x 1 + :00012. nearly, which gives 18336:3 for the constant coefficient. II. The publication of M. Ramond from which I have given the foregoing abstract, comprises in the first place four memoirs of the highest interest discussing various points connected with the subject of barometric observations. "These are followed by a second part, entitled, * Elementary and Practical Instructions for the Application of the Barometer to the Measurement of Heights." It is this part of the work which I have here abridged, and which may be considered as in some degree bringing together the results of experiments detailed in the preceding memoirs. Those relating to practical directions for observing appear to me sufficiently detailedin the ‘Instructions ;” but one or two points connected with the formula, and discussed in the first memoir, may, I conceive, be here properly introduced to the more particular attention of the reader. In his first Memoir, Part I. M. Ramond has given the results of barometrical measurements, which have shown him the necessity of augmenting the constant coefficient adopted by M. Laplace 17972-1 m. by rather less than 1-42d, so that it becomes 18393. m. or.in feet 60345. He gives the measured height of four mountains, which he compares with the height computed by the several formule of Laplace- (with the new coefficient), Trembley, Kirwan, Shuckburgh, and Roy (coeffi- cient 184:4), the first being constantly found the most preferable. *-As the ultimate result," he says (p. 11), “in eight observa- tions, made with peculiar care, the formula of M. Laplace, with | the new coefficient, has been correct five times, and that of Trembley only twice. Now in these eight observations the mean temperature varied from 8:375? to. 19°53°, and we are in 1823.] : for Barometrical Measurements. .. 363. consequence authorized to conclude, that the formula of M. Laplace keeps nearer the truth, and is less dependant on varia- tion of temperature than the others." He then proceeds to point out the divergence of the other formule from the truth according to variations of the temper- ature. The second part of this memoir is devoted to an examination of the correction for the diminution of gravity corresponding to the latitude. The accuracy of the expression for this purpose given in the formula is shown by a comparison of M. Hum- boldt's observations with geometrical determinations of the heights of several mountains in Mexico and Peru. he third part treats of the correction for the vertical diminu- tion of gravity. An extensive comparison is made of the results of observations, employing in the first instance the exact formula. comprising the correction in question, and in the second, dis- pensing with that correction by an augmentation of the constant coefficient from 18336 m. to.18393 m. Fourteen measurements are thus compared, and the results differ but little. At the end of the memoir an example is worked out by both methods. The difference is about nine feet in the height of Chimborazo. In the fourth part M. Ramond examines the results deducible from the formule which he had before compared together, in relation to the ratio which they respectively give between the weights of air and mercury ; comparing also this ratio with that given by experiment. i He commences by reducing each of the four formule of Laplace, Trembley, Kirwan, and Shuckborough, to a similar form, thus separating in each the corrections for the temperature both of air and mercury, and the constant coefficient, both when taken with the mean constant correction as examined in the preceding part, and when uncorrected. ! Laplace. Trembley. Kirwan. Shuckborough. Ord. coeff. ee T 18393 18322976 1828783 18425188 Coeff. re- duced tL 18266:193 18231°156 | 18368:088 level of sea Factor for : ; 1 tempera- 250 225625 932-2292 254-0625 ture of air Dilatation 1 * d 1 1 ofmercury $ 5412 5400 p 020: iai- 5400 From each of these the resulting ratios of the weights of air and mercury are as follows : 804 Mr. Powell's Appendix to M. Ramond's Éiutructions [Nov. Pressure, Temperature; Laplace. Trembley. 0:758 m. 12-5? 1: 1103085. -~ 1: 11045:379 17:6 1::11240:963 1:11277:30 Kirwan, Shuckborough. 1 : 11033:06 1:11053:25 1: 11268:08 1: 11248-84 _. Brisson has determined the specific gravity of mercury at 17:5? to be 13:5681; that of water being |. ND | | The same philosopher has also given from the best experi- ments the weight of atmospheric air at 12:5?, and that of water at different temperatures. | A cubic decimetre of air at the pressure of ~ 07258 m. and at the temperature 12:59, fw _ weighs, according to him........... sees, 12019020 OR The same volume of water at 12:5? weighs in air 998064125 Thence the weight of the water in vacuo = 9992980975 . On the other hand, a cubic decimetre of water at. 18-759 weighs in air of the same temperature 997:445669 gr. Suppos- ing the dilatation to be nearly uniform within the limits of tem- perature here considered, at 17:59, the volume of water will weigh in air 997:569444 gr. From these experiments it results on the one part that the pressure being 07758, and temperature 12:5?, the weight of air is to that of water in vacuo as. 1 : 811 . 1814, On the other hand, it results that mercury of the temperature 17:5? weighs 13535:12 gr. ' i ». Now these ratios being at 5°, difference in temperature cannot be compared without reference to what we know of the dilatations of mercury and air; namely, by reducing the mercury to 12:59, or the air to 17:5? ; but the authors of the four formule above analyzed. do not agree-in the law of these dilatations. The different results deduced from these experiments, according to the dilatations assumed by each author, are as follows : Pressure. Temperature. Laplace. Trembley. 0:758 m. 12:5? 1:11010:86 ] : 11010:883 17:0 1: 11214:128 1:11236:39 Kirwan, Shuckborough. 1 : 11009°85 1 : 11010:883 1:11239:88 1: 11210:765 He considers the results at 12-59 most deserving confidence, and that Kirwan's dilatations are too small. | 1823.] for Barometrical Measurements. 365, These results compared with the former set show the degree of correspondence between experiment and deduction from the barometric formula. The formula of Laplace agrees most nearly with experiment; the difference admits of a satisfactory expla- nation if we only consider the different quantities of moisture held in solution by the air, under the very different circumstances of a confined room, and the top of a mountain ; and this differ- EX part would only affect the accuracy of about 10 metres even in the height of Chimborazo ; and after all, the ratios which the formula gives, being so many means deduced from a great number of observations, and so many con- clusions deduced from operations on a large scale, and applied to those on a small, are more proper to give confirmation to the results of experiment than to receive it from them. In a note appended to the beginning of the second memoir, M. Ramond quotes an account of a more recent determination of the ratio of the weights of air and mercury ; which results 1 : 10463, the air being perfectly dry: in the ji of Paris, temperature 0°, pressure 0:76 m. This result was obtained by MM. Arago and Biot. From it they deduce the barometric coefficient, for lat. 45 in metres, 18316:6 for dry air, and 18351-8 for air saturated with moisture ; and for the mean state 18334:2, which is very nearly equal to that adopted by M. Ra- mond from observation confirmed by geometrical measurement, viz. 18336.. ` III. Under the head of “ Isolated Observations," M. Ramond discusses the question of the decrease of temperature as we ascend in the atmosphere. He has given in the original, a table exhibiting this decrease from a variety of observations, the result of which examination only I have preserved in the foregoing abstract. The reader will find the supposition of an uniform decrease (which M. Ramond took as a mean value convenient for practical purposes), confirmed by reasoning à priori in the valuable paper on Barometrical Measurements, by Prof. Play- fair, in the Edinb. Transactions, vol. i. 1788, and since repub- lished in his works, vol. ii. 1822. In this memoir, Part IFI. the author investigates the law of decrease in the heat of the differ- ent strata of air as we ascend. He gives a demonstration, proving, that abstracting from certain anomalies annual and diurnal, as well as from accidental irregularities, the decrease is uniform. This proof is deduced upon the principle, that the sun’s rays do not heat the air in their passage through it; a fact established by many concurrent experiments. IV. In adverting to the necessity of reducing the mercury in the cistern of the barometer to a constant level, M. Ramond has mentioned several contrivances of distinguished foreign artists for this purpose. The accuracy, however, of all such expedients, appears very questionable ; and as a constant point of departure ence being only about 366 Mr. Powell's Appendix to M. Ramond's Instructions (Nov. in the scale is a very important and fundamental condition when any thing like precision is attempted, it may be proper, for the sake of such readers as may not have had much experience in these operations, to state the mode of making this correction by calculation ; a method, which, it may safely be presumed, must be more correct than any mechanical contrivance. First, we must suppose that we have given the internal diameter of the cistern (supposing it to be truly cylindrical), which we will call (D) ; secondly, the external diameter of the tube (d); and thirdly, its internal diameter (d). It is obvious that the increment or decrement of the height of the mercury in the tube (h,) will be accompanied by a'corresponding decrement _ or increment in the cistern (A'); and this, in the inverse ratio of their areas, This ratio will be that of (D? — d?) to (d^); which we will call (= ) ; and consequently h' = h, (5): The quantity (4,) is here obviously supposed to be measured from some fixed point at which the scale of the instrument becomes accurately true, the mercury in the cistern being exactly. at the zero of the scale. Supposing this point to be 30 inches, and (h) the observed height of the mercury, the correct height (H) will be = 4 + ^, (5), A being + when above 30, and — when below. The ratio (5) is to be determined once for all for the particular instrument we employ, and the whole opera- tion at each observation is reduced to merely taking the differ- . ence of the observed height above or below 30 inches, or the standard point of the scale, multiplying that difference by the constant ratio, and adding to or subtracting from the observed height. ample.—Suppose from measurement we found d' = *14 inch. D = 1:21 d = *4 Then d^? = :0196 D? = 1:4641 d = +16 Hence D? — d? = 1:3041 and 5 == ar nearly. Suppose we observe h = 31:234 "s h, = And h, x g = 0-018 SSH = 31:252 The fraction thus obtained for each individyal instrument is marked with a diamond on the tube near the top by the maker. The measurements from which these fractions result may be depended upon to the 100th of an inch, as I have been informed by Mr. Cary. In his barometers, the point of no correction, if 1823]. | -. . for Barometrical Measurements. - 567 it be any other than 30 inches, is distinguished by a mark on the scale.* ! V. In forming the preceding compendium, one considerable source of abridgment was found in omitting altogether many details on the subject of the hygrometer. ‘This 1 have been . induced to do from two reasons ; first, the methods described by M. Ramond apply solely to the use of hygrometers on the old constructions, and are both long, arid probably inaccurate, when compared with the more improved methods now generally adopted on the principle of evaporation. Secondly, M. Ramond himself only treats of them as connected with the stationary meteorological observations. He conceives them of little use in the measurement of heights as the following quotations will clearly show :— | | (Second Memoir, § 3, p. 57.)J—Allowing all that can reasona- bly be done to the error of the instrument, it is still certain that I have made observations at extremely different degrees of humidity ; and that nevertheless the effect of this circumstance has been covered in extraordinary cases, by that of more prepon- derating circumstances by which they were accompanied ; and in ordinary cases by even the allowance due to the error of observation. The reason is evident: the factor for the temper- ature having been empirically determined contains the correction for the mean humidity ; and the quantities by which this mean humidity has to be augmented or diminished, are ordinarily too small to affect sensibly results, on which the least accidents pro- duce à greater effect than these quantities. | (Third Memoir, Part III. p. 99.)—It is well known that the mixture of vapour diminishes the weight of air; but we know also the limits within which this action is confined; and if we admit it into the number of causes which determine the varia- tions of the barometer, we are not ignorant that it is far from . completely accounting for them. Even when atmospheric air is susceptible of passing naturally to the state of dryness to which we can bring it artificially, the return from this state to that of saturation will only diminish the elevation of the column of mercury, by from a sixtieth to a fiftieth part, according to the temperature of the mixture ; but experience proves that the air never approaches to absolute dryness, and that it always retains a considerable dose of moisture, so that the usual variations in this respect will scarcely account for a variation of a 120th or a 100th part. Now the oscillations of the barometer in our cli- mate run through a space equal to at least 1-18th of the total height ; and the barometer rises and falls frequently in the oppo- * Should the preceding remarks, or any others in this appendix, appear of a more elementary nature than are usually the topics of discussion in scientific journals, the author begs to state, that the whole was originally drawn up with a view to separate publication; and he conceived he was consulting the convenience of many readers in giving the detail and reasons of every part of the operations, 368 Appendix to M. Ramond's Instructions, &c. [Nov site order to the augmentations and diminutions of humidity. We conclude, therefore, that the effects of this cause are coun- teracted by those of a cause so preponderating, that, after having compensated the action of humidity, the excess of its own influence extends yet further. (Instructions, p. 197.)—The pyerometer has not yet been of any utility in the mensuration of heights, and there is little pro- bability that it can be introduced, not only because the correctio will be very small, but further because it will be very uncertain, whether we consider the ignorance in which we are of the law which the decrease of humidity in the column of air follows ; or the extreme difficulty, if not impossibility, of eliminating this law in the result of experiments always made at the surface of the earth ; that is to say, at the very source of those influences which modify partially and irregularly the humidity of the atmo- sphere, Saussure thought thus, and we are of the same opinion, The mean value of the humidity comprised in the constant coefficient and the factor belonging to the temperature, will occasion less error than a theory ill supported by observa- tions will do ; and these errors after all are of such small conse- quence, that they are not worth the trouble of a calculation, which will only cause a variation in the chances, even if it do. not multiply them. Such are the opinions of M. Ramond on the subject of a correction for the different state of moisture in which the air may be at the two stations; and to his great practical experience we must doubtless pay the highest deference; at the same time it becomes necessary to recollect the great improvements which have taken place in the science of hygrometry subsequently to the date of the methods described and used by our distinguished. author. Hence several philosophers of the present day have not considered it undeserving attention to examine into the propriety of introducing the correction in question, Some observations seem to indicate an effect by no means inconsider-. ate due to the presence of vapour. We may cite the mstances of Mr. Greatorex's observations on Skiddaw (Phil. Trans. 1818, Part II.), in which a considerable discrepancy appears to have been counected with some changes in the hygrometric state of the air, The measurements of Messrs. Herschel and Babbage at Staubbach (Edinb. Phil. Journ. No. 12), seem also to have been affected by the same cause. I merely refer to these cases, however, in order to observe in general that should more extended observations show the necessity of an application of the hygrometer in barometrical operations, the formula above investigated will easily admit of the introduction of a variable factor for this correction, instead of the mean. value at present involved in the constant coefficient, and slightly id by the variation of temperature. An excellent method of ascertaining the elastic force of the 1823.] M, Rosé on Titanium. ` 369 vapour actually suspended in the atmosphere at the time of observation is given in the Edinburgh Encyclopedià, Art. Hygio- metry, attributed to Mr. Anderson.* The hygrometer éniployed may consist merely of two common thermometers; one is essentially necessary to the observer for taking the temperature of the air; and the other is to be compared with it, having its bulb covered with moistened linen; and will but little increase the apparatus. | The details are not of difficult investigation; but as experience has not yet decided. on the propriety. of introducing the correc- tion, I shall not at present proceed to any further particulars. Articte VIII. On Titanium. By M. H. Rose.t Tue oxide of titanium used in these experiments was procured from the rutile of Saint-Yrieix department de la Haute-Vienne. © When this oxide is fused with carbonate of potash, it forms a compound which sometimes becomes gelatinous when muriatic acid is added; but it is never as thick as that formed by silica. Oxide of titanium which has been heated to redness, when moistened and put upon litmus paper, becomes red without affecting the colour of the paper. The effect of this oxide upon litmus is more distinctly shown by putting a small quantity reduced to powder upon a drop of the tincture placed upon a white surface. ‘The oxide. becomes rêd as soon as it is touched by the tincture. |... . ids | | Oxide of titanium forms compounds with the alkalies in which itacts as an acid. It is true that it also combines with acids, forming insoluble compounds which do not possess the pro- erties of salts, but rather of double acids. For these reasons, . Rose considers the oxide of titanium as an acid, and distin- guishes it by the term titanic acid ; but states that, like columbic acid and silica (which is considered as an acid by M. Rose), its affinities at common temperatures are extremely weak, on which account itis difficult to ascertain its properties, and especially to determine its saturating power, and the quantity of oxygen . which it contains. The author then states that he used three modes to ascertain -. its saturating power; first, by examining its combinations with the alkalies ; secondly, those insoluble compounds it forms with some acids; and lastly, by combining it with sulphur; and the * See also the Edinb. Phil, Journ. No. 4, p. 369. _ + Extracted from the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, t, xxiii, p. 353, New Series, VOL. VI. 2 n 370 M. Rose on Titanium. [Nov. | analysis of the sulphuret of titanium was the only method which afforded satisfactory results. Acidulous titanate of soda appeared to be composed of Exper. 1. Titanic acid. ...... s.e... 83°15 FOUR: ooa dir webiep adv MEI —— ——————— ` 100-00 Exper. 2. Titanic acid. ............ 8314 Soda. ..... (VA. oe 423516186 100-00 When this acidulous titanate of soda is treated with muriatic acid, a part of the soda is taken from it, and a compound formed which gave : Exper. 1, Titanic acid. csecceds ens» 96:20 - Soda. LI P eeee . ee d "292822929 3°80 . 100-00 Exper. 2. Titanic acid. ............ 96:56 SoMa TPV PIT Ev eas 100-00 - The experiments performed upon the acidulous titanate of pon did not correspond with the results obtained with acidu- ous titanate of soda; this compound which had been heated to redness was composed of | Exper. 1. Titanic acid. ............ 81:99 Potashi; o's Ve oes kee oco 18:01 100:00 Exper. 2. Titanic acid. ............ 82°67 pilates acai ade ASE by 17°33 100-00 | Titanate of potash containing still more acid was composed of Titanic acid ........ PSC n rss LU he aee nane Sa eee) ERAN renti Tee 100-00 As these analyses did not lead to satisfactory results, M. Rose tried the method of determining the point of saturation by the quantity of carbonic acid, which the titanic acid was capable of Bs ie from carbonate of potash at a red heat. n order to ascertain whether this method might be relied 1823.] M. Rose on Titanium. 371 upon, substances containing à known quantity of oxygen were submitted to experiment. A mixture of silica and carbonate of potash was heated together in a small platina crucible; and it appeared by every trial, that the quantity of oxygen in the carbonic acid expelled was equal to that in the silica employed, as indicated by the experiments of Berzelius, the mean of result being 50:3 and the mean of M. Rose's 50:27. M. Rose states the results of five experiments, in which car- bonate of soda and titanic acid were heated together. He has not reduced them to centesimal parts, but by doing so it will appearthat he was less fortunate than with the experiments on silica. Supposing 100 parts of the titanic acid to have been used, the quantity of oxygen of the carbonic acid expelled by it, and consequently that of the titanic acid itself, would have amounted in Exper. Lesa eativa eee 937009. pericent. pk a PRU a perpa oae Od WA | Fs nice: SRG I AET Sa, Mabws iato e bese 9D'O2A Dieta E BOR dM It is evident that this method did not succeed ; the compound obtained by heating titanic acid with carbonate of soda, M. Rose considers as a neutral titanate, which is decomposed by water, it taking away part of the potash. a Compounds of Titanic Acid with Acids. All chemists who have made experiments upon titanium have admitted the existence of salts, in which the oxide of titanium: is considered as. a base. According to them the sulphates, nitrates, and muriate, crystallize after evaporation. M. Rose supposes, however, that what has been considered pure oxide of titanium, is a compound of titanic acid with the alkalies, and he imagines their titanic salts are combinations of the alkalies with the acids employed. In fact, when acidulous titanate of potash — is dissolved in muriatic acid, cubic crystals of chloride of potassium are obtained ; and the author is of opinion that no compounds of titanium exist, in which the titanium can be considered as the base. When indeed acidulous titanate of potash is dissolved in muriatic acid, some acids throw down precipitates which con- tain'no potash, and do not possess the properties of salts. These precipitates redden litmus, paper strongly, and they must be considered as insoluble double acids, analogous to the com- pounds of tartaric acid with some other acids, which have been described by Berzelius. ! - When acidulous titanate of potash is dissolved in muriatic :acid, and the solution is diluted with water, white precipitates are obtained by adding the sulphuric, arsenic, phosphoric, oxalic, -and tartaric acids, but no precipitate is formed by the addition 2 B2 379 M. Rose on Titanium, (Nov. of nitric, acetic, of succinic acids. All these precipitates are soluble, not only in an excess of the acid employed, but also in that of the titanic solution. The filtered solutions contain potash. T Compound of Titanic and Sulphuric Acids. When this compound is heated to redness, the sulphuric acid and water of crystallization are expelled, and the titanic acid remains pure. It is extremely deliquescent, which renders the ' attempts at analysis mere approximations. It reddens moistened litmus paper strongly. To analyze this compound, it was dis- solved in muriatic acid, the titanic acid was precipitated by ammonia, and the sulphuric by muriate of barytes. Two expe- riments gave the following results : Titanic acid ...... sett: 40:88, Sean 4D UU Sulphuric acid. ...... 7:78. ....... 7:06 Water (E E a r E a a E E E a Bhs be oe 1 15:94 | 10000 ` . 100-00 Combinations of Titanic o^ with the Arsenic and Phosphoric j cids. ! | These have the appearance of alumina; when dried, they have the lustre of gum arabic. Titanic and Oxalic Acid. - Two experiments gave the following as the composition of this double acid. ` | Titanic acid. .,...... 74:42... se. 79-77 Oxalic acid ***9*9»9»999* 10:25 (E E 975989 10:56 Water ERESHE RE ERE] 15:33 eeensee 15:67 100-00 100-00 Titanic and Tartaric Acids. This compound resembles the preceding; but no analysis of itis given. When heated in contact with air, it becomes with some difficulty white ; and when heated without the presence of air, a black powder resembling carburet of titanium is obtained, but its nature was not determined. f Titanic Acid and Silica. i When pure titanic acid and excess of silica are fased with car- bonate of potash, and the fused mass is treated with water, the excess of silica is dissolved by the potash, and an insoluble compound of titanic acid, silica, and potash, is obtained. This. compound may be arranged with the salts which are composed of one base and two acids, few of which are obtainable arti- .1893.] M. Rose.on Titanium. 373 ficially, but which are formed by nature, as in the datholite and botryolite. This compound is readily soluble at common tem- peratures in muriatic acid; it is analogous to sphéne, which is composed of titanic acid, silica, and lime. Experiments to reduce Titanic Acid, and to combine Titanium with Sulphur, MM. Hecht, Vauquelin, and Laugier, tried to reduce titanic acid by charcoal; they obtained principally carburet of tita- nium with a small quantity of metallic titanium ; which indeed was scarcely proved. Having found this product to be insoluble in acids, and even in aqua regia, they could not determine the quantity of oxygen contained in titanic acid. The carburet of titanium even if burnt in oxygen gas, would not bave given cor- rect results, this product being probably mixed with much titanic acid. : MM. Faraday and Stodart, in their experiments upon steel, have in vain attempted to alloy iron with titanium, and Vauque- lin and Hecht had previously failed. M. Rose could not succeed in alloying zine with titanium. Sulphuretted hydrogen did not at all act upon titanic acid; a black powder was formed, but no sulphuret of titanium, nor was a sulphuret produced by fusing sulphuret of potassium with the titanic acid. . Rose at last succeeded in forming the sulphuret by passing sulphuret of carbon over titanic acid strongly heated m a porce- lain tube. This sulphuret is of a deep green colour; when rubbed with a hard body, it assumes a very strong metallic lustre resembling brass. When heated in contact with atmo- spheric air, it burns with a sulphurous flame, and is converted into titanic acid. When heated in a small narrow-necked retort, a small quantity of sulphur is separated if the aperture be closed, but not otherwise. 1t becomes very hot when nitric acid. is poured upon it; nitrous vapours are emitted, the fluid becomes milky, and titanic acid is deposited in the state of a fine powder ; when the fluid is boiled, the sulphur melts, and aggregates into small masses. ! | This sulphuret of titanium was analysed by combustion upon platina by means of a spirit lamp; 1:017 of pure and solid sul- phuret of titanium gave 0:767 of pure titanic acid. Calculating upon the results of this experiment, M. Rose concludes that titanic acid 1s composed of SAU v. vs oue aieo qorsseose ODD s cos seh web TNNT CUR AC a 100-00 And the sulphuret of Mélosua CA cee eg OS MOLT MORO, Cas cer gaeegeeaeeuoee pie DO DO 100-00 374 Mr. Brooke on the © [Nov. ARTICLE IX. On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. | By H. J. Brooke, Esq. FRS. (Continued from p. 288.) Havine dissolved and recrystallised several of the salts described in these communications, I have observed differences in the figures of what may be termed different crops of crystals obtained from the same solution, Having dissolved some chro- mate of soda, the crystals first deposited, or first crop, as we may term them, were all lengthened in the direction of the great diagonal of their terminal planes, so as to be almost acicular. These crystals having been taken out of the solution, a second crop was soon deposited, many of which nearly agreed in form with the engraved figure already given, but most of them were much flattened or reduced in height, so as to become what has been termed tabular, and apparently bearing no relation to the slender crystals first produced. The same difference of character is found to obtain in many other salts. When these varieties of figure occur, the goniometer will afford sufficient evidence that their differences are only apparent, and that they are really analogous forms whose cha- racter has been varied by a disproportionate extension of some of the planes of the crystals in particular directions. i Acetate of Lead, I have received some brilliant crystals of this substance from Mr. R. Phillips, several of which have given measurements on the corresponding natural planes agreeing within 3’ or 4’, and affording an example of unusual regularity of form. The crystals may be cleaved parallel to the lateral and terminal planes, of a right oblique angled prism, which may be regarded as its primary form. -The only modification I have observed is exhibited in the annexed figure. rE T lera jn ERR ee don NETS os vllo s 116. 0 d on T", aietatik 98 . 30 MOOREIIILVAXMed dA 109 32 Oxalate of Ammonia. I have not observed any distinct cleavage of the crystals of this salt, but their forms are referable to a right rhombic prism as the primary. They are subject, however, to an irregularity of [4 1893.] ` Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. 375. . figure, analogous to some which have been before noticed; there being on some of the crystals pohy one of the planes b replacing each of the solid angles on which two are placed in the drawing, and these being the alternate lanes. Many of the crystals present, ce. the pairs of planes b, as shown in the figure. | P on M, or Wo. ve v 909 0 POM c, OL ros exe da eva 148 30 COME Rewacwesc cue ts 107 ^D con h b «bw aud & b € v "gio 9 p 126 30 NEBEUNTTTPUIS e d v ty 104 . 6 M OT erri rne ne ee 142 3 (Lg MNDUIPSn qr A "TOT SON BEEN IS. vers S IIT STO WON OL ic seve eu aut 97 21 Carbonate of Magnesia. The crystals from which this figure has been given, I have ‘received from M. Teschemacher. The primary form 1s an oblique rhombic prism, which may be cleaved, s but not distinctly in the small crystals I have attempted to operate upon, parallel to ` the planes M and M’. P.on M;or.M'. s..... 1099... 07 POR ey. Qr e vo exbisd 120 30 Mom M^ nies ew 86 30 TL iis va 3 0's T 133 15 M orders: ios eese oe 136 45 Sulphate of. Cinchonia. .. Mr. Pope, of Oxford-street, has favoured me with some minute -erystals of this salt: from which the primary form appears to be a doubly oblique prism, having cleavages parallel to all its planes. The cleavage, however, parallel to P is not very distinct. Some of the crystals are of the form I have given, but there are others whose figure does not appear to be imme- diately related to it. These are probably EX hemitrope, or rather quadruple crystals, Fo a united by secondary planes; but they are not sufficiently distinct in character to ena- ble me at present to trace their precise rela- M T tions to the primary form. PM lick nae ¢ 3 95° 50’ Xd E OS T. ae se ee ERR 44. 90. 0 TM 316 . MM. Dulong and Thenard on the [Nov. ARTICLE X. On the Property which some Metals possess of facilitating the Combination of Elastic Fluids. “By MM. Dulong and Thenard,* Pror. DÖBEREINER, of the University of Jena, has discovered one of the most curious phenomena which physical. science is susceptible of unfolding. We are unacquainted with his labours excepting by the announcement in the Journal des.Debats of the 24th of August last, and whieh does not give a very correct account of them, and from a letter of M. Kastner to Dr, Liebeg, which the latter, now at Paris, has communicated tous. In this it is stated, that platina} in a spongy mass occasions the combi- nation of oxygen and hydrogen at common temperatures, and that the extrication of heat which results from the action ren- ders the metal red-hot. We were anxious to verify so surprising a fact, and found it perfectly correct. As the experiment may be made with the greatest ease, we shall perform it before the Academy. : | : Not being acquainted with the researches which the author of this beautiful experiment has undoubtedly undertaken in order to develope the theory of it, we could not refrain from making some experiments with this view; and although we have not yet suc- ceeded, we think that the results of the observations which we have already made are not unworthy the attention of the Aca- demy.{ | I LI In the experiment which we have made, the. spongy platina became red-hot when placed where the hydrogen escaping from the reservoir became intimately mixed with the air. lt was evident from this, that detonation would oceur by immersing a ‘piece of the spongy platina in a mixture of two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen; and this was confirmed * Annales de Chimie et de Physique, tome xxiii. p. 440. l -+ Since the printing of this notice, the authors have observed first, that palladium in a spongy mass is capable of inflaming hydrogéa as platina does ; secondly, that iridium in the same forn became very hot, and produced water; thirdly, that cobalt and nickel in mass, at about 572° Fahr. effected the union of hydrogen and oxygen ; fourthly, that spongy platina at the common temperatures formed water and ammonia with nitrous gas and hydrogen, and acted upon a mixture of hydrogen and prctoxide of azote. f The hydrogen lamp invented by M. Gay-Lussac is extremely convenient for per- forming this experiment. -The electrophorus is to be removed, or the conductors are merely to be detached ; a piece of light spongy platina is to be placed at the distance of about two centimetres from the aperture at which the gas escapes; when the cock is turned, the jet of hydrogen gas comes mixed with atmospheric air to the surface of the spongy platina. It then soon became red-hot, and the hydrogen gas once inflamed continues to burn as it escapes, as if it had been lighted by the spark. In the absence of the lamp, the common apparatus used for, preparing hydrogen gas may be employed. It is however requisite to take care that the gas passes through a very small aperture, in order that it may more intimately mix with atmospheric air, 1823.7] | . Combination of Elastic Fluids, © 372 by experiment. Ifthe proportions of the gaseous mixture differ much from those: which form water, or if an incombustible gas; such as azote, be present, the combination goes on slowly, the temperature is but little increased, and water soon condenses in the receiver. it | If the spongy platina be strongly calcined, it loses. the pro- perty of becoming red hot ; but in this case, it effects the: com- bination of the two gases slowly, and without any very sensible increase of temperature. . Platina reduced toa very fine powder, by well-known chemical means, does not act upon the gases even slowly, at common temperatures, nor do platina wires or bars. The agreement of these observations may: give rise to the idea, that the porosity of the metal is an essential condition in the production of the phenomenon; but the following facts dis- prove this conjecture. | : - We reduced platina to leaves as thin as the malleability of the metal would allow of. In this state, the platina acts at common temperatures upon the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, and the action is more rapid when the foil is thinnest. We obtained some. which effected the detonation in a few seconds. But what renders this action still more extraordinary is the physical condition indispensable to its — — A very thin sheet of platina rolled on a glass cylinder, or freely suspended in a deto- nating mixture, produced no sensible effect after a lapse of seve- ral var y The same sheet of platina, if crumpled, acts instanta- neously, and eauses the mixture to detonate. | The leaves disposed as we have described, and which produce no effect at common temperatures, the wires, powder, and thick bars of platina, which are inefficient under the same circum- stances, act slowly, and without producing explosion at a tem- perature of 400? to 572? according to their thickness. - We have found that other metals possess the same property as platina. The very remarkable fact discovered by Sir H. Davy during his researches on the safety lamp, viz. that wires of platina and.palladium at a low temperature become bright-red when immersed in a detonating mixture, having appeared to us to be derived from the same cause as the phenomenon under discussion, - we were first induced to try palladium. -.-. The piece which we made use of was given to one of us by Dr. Wollaston, and consequently must be considered as free from alloy ; nevertheless we were unable to reduce it to very thin leaves, as it cracked under the hammer. We attribute to this circumstance its possessing no action at the temperature of the atmosphere; but it acted at least as well as platina of the same thickness ata high temperature. Rhodium being brittle couldnot be subjected to the same preparation ; but it occasioned the formation of water at a temperature of about. 464? of Fahr. Gold and silver in thin leaves act only at high temperatures, but always below that of boiling mercury. Silver is less power- 378 On the Combination of Elastic Fluids. [Nov ful than gold. : A bar of gold acts, but with greater difficulty than the leaves; a thick bar of silver acts so feebly as to be questionable whether it has any power. > We have examined whether other combinations could: be effected by the same method. Oxide of carbon and oxygen combine, and nitrous gas is decomposed by hydrogen at com- mon temperatures by spongy platina ; thin sheets of this metal require a temperature of above.572? of Fahr. to cause the two former gases to combine. : Gold leaves effect it also at a tem- perature approaching that of boiling mercury. Lastly, olefiant gas mixed with a proper quantity of oxygen is completely converted into water and carbonic acid by spong latina, but only at a temperature above 572? of Fahr. Ít vil e remembered on the subject of the preceding experiments, that one of us proved a long time since, that iron, copper, gold, silver, and platina, possess the property of decomposing ammo- nia at a certain temperature, without absorbing any of this ` alkali, and that this property appeared to be inexhaustible. Iron possesses it in a greater degree than copper, and copper more than silver, gold, or platina, the surfaces of all being equal. One hundred and fifty-four grains of iron wire were sufficient to decompose within a few hundredths a current of ammoniacal gas rather rapidly evolved, and continued during eight to ten hours, without the temperature exceeding the limit at which ammonia completely resists. Three times the quantity of platina wire of the same size scarcely produced an equal effect, even at a higher temperature. ; The remarkable results of this experiment depend perhaps upon the same causes as those which occasion gold and silver to effect the combination of hydrogen and oxygen at 572? Fahr. ; platina in mass at 518? Fahr.; and spongy platina at common tem- peratures. Ifthen we observe that iron, which so readily decom- ene ammonia, does not effect, or effects with difficulty, the com- ination of hydrogen with oxygen, and that platina, which is so powerful in the latter case, scarcely decomposes ammonia, we are induced to suppose that some gases have a tendency to com- bine under the mee of the metals, and others to separate ; this property varying on account of the nature of each. Those metals steki produce one of the effects most perfectly are inca- pable of producing the other, or ina less degree. We shall refrain from offering the conjectures which these singular phenomena have given rise to, until we have completed ` the experiments which we have undertaken to verify them.* * Prof, Dóbereiner's experiment has also been verified by Mr. Faraday, who has given the following notice of it in No. 31, of the Journal of Science. ** It consists in passing a stream of hydrogen against the finely divided platina, obtained by heating the muriate of ammonia and platina. In consequence of the contact, the hydrogen inflames, Even when the hydrogen does not inflame, it ignites the platina in places ; and I find that when the hydrogen is passed over the platinum in a tube, no air being admitted, still the platinum heats in the same manner.” | e$ 1823.] Notice of some newly discovered Islands, 379 ` ARTICLE XI. Notice of some newly discovered Islands in the Arctic Sea. By Capt. Duncan: communicated in a Letter from L. Edmon- ~ ston, Esq. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) - SIR, : | Zetland, Balta Sound, Sept. 12, 1823. Tue public attention has been recently so much directed to Arctic discoveries, that I flatter myself the following communi- cation may be acceptable to your journal. The Greenland ship Dundee, of London, arrived here on the 10th inst. ; and her very enterprising Commander, Capt. Duncan, obligingly furnished me with the following information which is contained almost verbatim in his diary. |‘ Sept.2, in lat. about 68? 40’; long. 24? 30’ W.; foggy weather and east winds (latter part of the day clearer) blowing very fresh. Ship running in north-west towards the land ; at 9, a. m. got within two miles of asmall island bearing north-west, which | named Sayers Island, after the master of the Harmony, of Hull, then in company ; the mainland running about NNE and SSW, distant about fourteen miles. . The nearest headland on it in right bearing north, I named Cape Despair, distance six leagues. Cape Barclay of Scoresby’s Chart, bore north-east and east, distance 50 silos ; and the most southern headland on the main bore west and by south, distance 60 miles: this I named Duncansby Head. All the mainland seen from the ship between this point and Cape Barclay, I named. Gales Land, in compliment to my owner. About 10 miles south-east from Duncansby Head, there is a low flat island. which I termed Robison's Island, after the ship's managing agent. . Here we lay to, hoping to see fish, but fell in with none; and the sea setting in heavy towards the land, and the wind blowing fresh, we stood off to the south. * At noon latitude observed 68? 41’; long. 24° 30’ W ; by the bearings ‘of Cape Barclay; sounded in 100 fathoms water; rocky bottom. Saw all this new land for twenty-four hours ; the Bisons, of Hull, in company all the time ; but the gale and sea prevented any attempts at landing. Had intended prosecut- ing investigation further southwards, but the lateness of the season, and the unfortunate accident of being beset nearly two months this summer, made all thoughts of such a view impru- dent." Gales Land, Capt. Duncan states, resembles in general appearance the south side of Scoresby's Sound. It is very high, and precipitous quite to the sea shore. The mountains running in ridges south-east and north-west, but their peaks are not so 880 Notice of some newly diseovered Islands, (Nov, prominent or conical as in Scoresby's Sound. The north sides of the mountains were snowy; the south, green. With the exception of a ve noop inlet south from Robison's Island, the coast was little indented, Capt. D. was at one time within six or seven miles of the mainland, about forty miles north from Robison's Island, which was considerably verdant, very flat, and apparently about, ten miles long, and five broad. i : Sayers Island is rocky and barren, about half a mile long, and one-quarter broad. There was little. fast and not much drift ice to be met with. A good deal of drift timber was observed floating, and several icebergs grounded along the shore. The current was setting without interruption during the twenty-four hours that the two vessels were in that quarter, south and west, at the rate of one and a half mile per hour. There was no inset or offset of the tides observed. No whales were seen, and few seals, or birds, except kittiwakes; these were abundant. No appearance of natives, The weather was very sleety. | - Gales Land, therefore, seems to form the imaginary line of coast laid down in Scoresby's Chart, published in his recent . * Journal of Discoveries in the Arctic Regions,” extending from Cape Barclay in the north to Ollumlongni Frith on the south; er the island laid down there north of this frith would seem to be what Capt. Duncan has termed Robison’s Island: it lies in about 67? lat.; 25° long. He was at one time of the day within five miles of it. In the years 1821 and 1822, he had coasted almost all the land described by Scoresby north of Cape Bar- clay ; and was as far as 40 miles up Scoresby's Sound, and he bears testimony to the accuracy of that intelligent navigator. Jameson's Land he believes to be an island. This voyage, which reflects so much credit on the enterprise and skill of Capt. Duncan, promises to be highly interesting to arctic geography s and may throw light on the fate of the lost colonies of Greenland ; for it is highly probable that in Gales Land rather than any where else, they may be sought for with some chance of success. From Capt. Dunain deseription, neither the climate nor the land seems to be inhospitable, or inaceessible if visited at a favourable period of the year. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, LAWRENCE EDMONSTON. 1893.] Analyses of Books, j 381 ARTICLE XII. ANALYSES OF Books. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London. Vol. XIV. | | Part I.. 1823. : (Concluded from p. 306.) VII. Account of the Lansium and some other Genera, of Malayan Plants. By William Jack, MD. Communicated by Henry Thomas Colebrooke, Esq. FRS. and LS. | This paper commences with the following observations :— * There are a variety of highly esteemed fruits, which may be considered as peculiar to the Malayan Archipelago, or what has been not unaptly denominated India aquosa, and are not to be found beyond its limits. Many of these are already well known; but there are others which have not yet fallen under the obser- vation of botanists, or are only to be found described in the Hortus Amboinensis of Rumphius, which, though a work of wonderful accuracy and research, stands in need of illustration with reference to the progress that has been made in botanical science. since the period at which it was written. Among these the Lanseh, the Tampooi, and the Choopa, hold no undistinguished place, and the following. account of these plants will therefore ` not be uninteresting. The first is already partially known from Rumphius, and Mr. Marsden’s History of Sumatra; but its true plage and family have hitherto remained doubtful. To these I ave subjoined descriptions of a few other genera from the same interesting quarter, which appear to be new and to. deserve notice," ! LANSIUM. Decandria Monogynia. N. O. Meliacee Juss. Calyx 5-partitus. Corolla 5-petala, petalis _ subrotundis. Tubus staminiferus globosus, ore subintegro, antheris decem in- clusis. | Ovarium 5-loculare, loculis 1—2-sporis. . Stylus brevis, columnaris. Stigma planum, 5-radiatum. Bacca corticata, 5-locularis, 5-sperma, uno alterove loculo tantum semen perfi- ciente, Semina integumento exteriore pulposo sapido. Albumen nullum ; cotyledonibus inequalibus peltatis. Arbores, foliis pinnatis, floribus racemosis. LANSIUM DOMESTICUM. Langsat or Lanséh. Malay. Lansium. Rumph: Amb. i. p.151. t. 54. Marsden's. History of Sumatra, pl. v. p. 101. Native of the Malay Islands. $82 Analyses of Books, [Nov, Var. 8. L. aqueum. Foliolis subtus villosis, racemis densis sepius solitariis, fruc- tibus globosis. Ayer Ayer. Malay. “ The Ayer Ayer so nearly resembles the Lanséh in most par- ticulars, that I hesitate to rank it as a distinct species, and con- tent myself with mentioning it as a permanent and well-marked variety. They are principally distinguished by the Malays by their fruit, that of the: Ayer Ayer being rounder, and the pulp more watery (whence the name), and dissolving more completely in the mouth than that of the Lanséh. Both are highly esteemed . by the Malays, and are equally agreeable to the European palate. The juicy envelope of the seeds 1s the part eaten, and the taste is cooliag and pleasant. qp “This genus has hitherto been known only from Rumphius's figure and description, and its place in the svstem has therefore continued uncertain. From an examination ofthe fruit, M. Cor- rea de Serra conjectured it to be intermediate between the fami- lies of Aurantie and Guttifere, but the stracture of the flower determines its true place to be among the Meliacee. - * [have further met in the forests Hitt Benboðlöi with atree which appears to agree very nearly with the Lansium montanum Rumph. mb. i. p. 154.1. 56. It differs in the number of the stamens, styles and seeds from the Lunsium described above, but agrees with it exactly in carpological structure, and in general habit. Its characters coincide very nearly with those of Roxburgh's Milnea. They are as follow: | m * Calyx five-parted. Corolla five-petalled. Stamineous tube subglobose, entire at the mouth ; anthers five, within the tube. Styles two. Stigmas two, simple. Berries globose, about the size of the domestic Lanseh, 1—2-celled, ]—2-seeded. Seeds enveloped in a thin subtransparent pulpy tunic or envelope; which has somewhat the flavour of the Lanseh, but with a bitterish and rather disagreeable smell." | | * Milnea is perhaps scarcely distinct from Lansium; but if admitted as a separate genus, the above will cónstitute a second species, differing from M. edulis Roxb. in being digynous, and may be denominated M. montana." ' HEDYCARPUS. Tetrandria Monogynia. Perianthium 4-partitum, inferum. Stamina 4. Ovarium 3-loculare, loculis disporis. Stigmata tria. Capsula baccata, 3-valvis, 3-locularis, seminibus arillo sapido tunicatis. Embryo inversus, albumine inclusus. Arbor foliis alternis simplicibus, floribus racemosis. . The stamens are occasionally five in number, with a five-parted perianth and four-celled ovary. | 1823.] Linnean Transactions, Vol XIV. Part I. 383 ‘Hepycarpus MALAYANUS. Bera Tampui. Malay. | Sumatra. PIERARDIA. Roxb. Perianthium 4-partitum, Stamina octo, brevia. Ovarium 3-loculare, loculis disporis. Stigma trifidum.. Bacca corticata, trilocularis, loculis 1—2-spermis. Semina arillo sapido tunicata. Embryo inversus albumine inclusus. Arbores, floribus racemosis, foliis alternis simplicibus, PIERARDIA DULCIS. Monoica, foliis obovatis. Bua Choopa. Malay. Sumatra. . * This species differs from that described by Roxburgh in being monoecious, in the form of the leaves, and in the colour of the fleshy aril. The Rambeh, of which Mr. Marsden has given a figure in his History of Sumatra, pl. vi. p. 101, so nearly resembles this, that I think it can only be a variety of the same. The Rambeh belongs to the peninsula of Malacca, and is unknown at Bencoolen ; while the Choopa, which is abundant at the latter place, is not found in the former. The racemes of the Rambeh are longer and the fruit smaller than in the Choopa ; but a com- parison and examination of the two would be necessary to ascer- tain whether there are any essential differences, and l have not had an opportunity of doing this." LEUCONOTIS, ! Tetrandria. Monogynia. N. O. Apocinec. Br. Calyx inferus, 4-partitus. Corolla tubulosa, superne angus- tior, limbo 4-lobo. Stamina 4, inclusa, laciniis corolla alterna. Ovarium simplex, biloculare, loculis disporis. Stylus 1, brevis. Stigma annulatum, apice conico. Bacca ]—3-sperma. Semina exalbuminosa, embryone inverso. | Frutex lactescens, fpe oppositis exstipularibus, floribus dicho- "tome corymbosis axillaribus. LEUCONOTIS .ANCEPS.. Akar Morai. Malay. ^ Sumatra. “This singular plant belongs without doubt to the family of the Apocynee, with which its. general appearance and habit entirely correspond. . It agrees with Cerbera in having exalbumi- nous seeds ; but its ovary is simple like that of Carissa; it will therefore hold an intermediate place between these two genera.” MYRMECODIA. Tetrandia: Monogynia. N.O. Rubiacee. Calyx subinteger. Corolla quadrifida tubo intus ad insertio- «nem staminum piloso, | Stamina quatuor, corollà breviora. 384 Analyses of Books. (Nov. Stylus staminibus longior, . Stigma simplex. Bacca ovata, quadrilocularis, tetrasperma. i | Parasitica basi tuberosa, flores basibus petiolorüm semitecti, ` MYRMECODIA TUBÉROSA. Nidus germinans formicarum rubrarum. Rumph. Amb. vi. p. 119. t. 55. fig.2. —— Found at Pulo Nias. | * This singular plant is found parasitic upon old trees, in the form of a large irregular tuber, from which arise a few thick, short, fleshy branches. ` The Leaves are crowded at the rounded extremities of these branches, and are opposite, petiolate, obo- vate-oblong, with a short acumen, attenuated to the petiole, entire, very sinooth, somewhat leathery. Petioles long, round- ish, inserted on a large persistent peltate knob, whose edges expand into a kind of stipule, ciliated along the margin with dense strigose fibres, and cleft above in the axil of the petiole. The flowers are sessile, closely disposed in the spaces between the stipular bases of the petioles and half concealed under their projecting edges. Calyx membranaceous, superior, nearly entire. Corolla white, tubular, quadrifid ; serments erect, rather acute; a villous ring within the tube immediately below the insertion of the stamens. Stamens four, shorter than the corolla, and alternate with its segments; anthers white, two-celled. Style longer than the stamens. Stigma simple, tomentose. Ovary four-celled, four-seeded. ^ Berry ovate, smooth, white with longitudinal lines, four-celled, four-seeded. Seeds furnished with albumen ; embryo in its axis. “There can be no doubt of this being the plant described by Rumphius, although the leaves are represented more acute in his figure than they are in my specimens." - | HYDNOPHYTUM. Tetrandria Monogynia. N. O. Rubiacee. Juss. Calyx integer. Corolla limbo 4-fido, fauce pilosà. Stamina 4, brevia, fauci inserta. Stigma bifidum. Bacca disperma. Super arbores parasitica, basi tuberosa, floribus axillaribus. HpnNoPHYTUM FORMICARUM. Nidus germinans formicarum nigrarum. Rumph. Amb. vi. p- 119. t. 55. fig. 1. Prio Hantu. Malay. On trees in the forests of Sumatra. ** This grows parasitic on trees in the form of a large irregular tuber, fastening itself to them by fibrous roots, and throwing out several branches above. The tuber is generally inhabited by ants, and hollowed by them into numerous winding passages, which frequently extend a good way along the ma Miye also, giving them the appearance of being fistular. Leaves opposite, 18231] Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV. Part I. 385 short-petioled, elliptic-obovate, nearly obtuse, acute at the base, very entire, véry smooth, thick, with the midrib flattened, and a Bini inconspicuous, nerves. Stipüles. interpetiolar, linear. Flowers axillary, sessile, generally aggregated on a double gem- maceoys knob. Cays superior, very short, entire. Corolla, white, tubular ; limb four-cleft ; faux villous. Stamens alternate with the segments of the corolla; filaments scarce any. Ovary crowned with a prominent umbilicate disk, disporous. Style longer than the tube. Stigma oftwo revolute linear thick lobes. Berry of a semipellucid reddish-yellow colour, ovate-oblong, two-seeded. Seeds oblong, contained in a, tough integument, with the embryo in the axis of the albumen? A “I am not aware that. these two plants have been described by any botanist since the time of Rumphius, or that any conjec- ture has been made regarding their place and. family from his figure or description.. From their common habit as parasites, I should have been much inclined to place them under one genus; but the different number of seeds'in each, supported by the differ- ence of a simple and bifid stigma, seems to oppose. this, while the distinction is further confirmed. by the diferent disposition and insertion of the leaves, which in Hydnophytum are arranged precisely as. usual im the Rubiaceae, but in, Myrmecodia are crowded round the thick fleshy branches in such a manner, that their being really opposite. is not immediately apparent, while their insertion on their broad peltate bases is further peculiar," LASIANTHUS. | Rubiacee. Juss. | Calyx 4-partitus, laciniis linearibus. Corolla infundibulifor- mis, pilosa. : Stamina 4. Stigmata 4, linearia, crassa. Bacca, tetrapyrena. | : „$i Suffrutices, floribus axillaribus, bracteis oppositis, baccis cyaneis. LASIANTHUS CYANOCARPUS. ; Villosus, bracteis magnis cordatis. . ^ Found at Tappauooly on the west coast of Sumatra. LASIANTHUS ATTENUATUS. . Villosus, foliis supra glabris, bracteis lanceolatis. Found in the interior of Bencoolen. | | : HELOSPORA. ^. Tetrandria Monogynia. Linn. Rubiacee. Juss. Calyx 4-dentatus. . Corolla tubulosa, limbo 4-partito. Sta- mina inclusa. Stylus 4-sulcus, apice 4-fidus. Stigmata quatuor. New Series, vou. Vi. 20 | 386 Analyses of. Books. [Noy. Bacca calyce. coronata, polysperma, seminibus duplici serie cruciatim dispositis, nidulantibus, linearibus, parum curvis. Arborescens, glabra, pedunculis axillaribus unifloris, estivatione valvata. HELOSPORA FLAYESCENS. Native of Sumatra. (ea * The disposition. of the seeds in this genus is very peculiar, and forms a good distinctive character." GLAPHYRIA. Icosandria Monogyn'a. N. O. Myrtacee. Calyx superus, quinque-fidus. Corolla pentapetala. Bacca quinque-locularis, polysperma; singuli loculi semina duplici ordine axi affixa. Arbuscule, foliis alternis, floribus axillaribus. Ao GLAPHYRIA NITIDA. Foliis obovatis obtusis. Found on the summit of Gunong Bunko, or the Sugarloaf Mountain, in the interior of Bencoolen. This is a very handsome shrub, having much the habit and foliage of the common Myrtle, but the leaves are smaller and firmer. Its character and appearance are alpine, and it is only . met with at high elevations; [ found it on the summit of the Sugarloaf, and [ am informed that it is almost the only shrub met with towards the top of the volcanic cone of Gunong No in Passumah, where it is called Kayo Umur panjang, or the Tree of long Life, probably from its maintaining itself at elevations where the other denizens of the forest have ceased to exist. -At Bencoolen an infusion of the leaves is drunk as a substitute for tea; and it is known to the natives by the name of the Tea Plant.” GLAPHYRIA SERICEA. Foliis lanceolatis acuminatis. Found on Pulo Penang, an island on the western coast of Sumatra. A plate accompanies this paper, showing the parts of fructifi- cation and the fruit, of Lansium domesticum, Leuconotis anceps, and Helospora flavescens. VIII. Description of the Cermatia longicornis and of three new Insects from Nepaul. By Major-General Thomas Hardwicke, FRS. and LS. &e. Cermatia longicornis. Scolopendra longicornis. Fab. Ent. Syst. ii. 390. Scuti- gera longicornis. Latr. Hist. Nat. des Crust. et Ins. vol. vii. p- rar Scutigera lineata? Latr. Dict. d' Hist. Nat. vol. xxx. p. 446. * Body, when viewed beneath, having sixteen segments, 1823.] Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV. Part I. 387 | which are united above by eight unequal scuta.. Antenne of a pale colour, as long as the body, finely setaceous with three prin- cipal joints, each of which is numerously articulated. External maxillary feet or mandibles strong, subulate, incurvate, four- jointed. Maxillary palpus four-jointed, hairy, or rather spinu- lose, longer than the mandibles. yes large, hemispherical. Feet very long, fifteen on each side, with the last pair twice as long as the others. The principal articulations of the VIZ. the two femoral joints and the tibi: are armed with stiff sete. The tzbie are flattened, angular, and of a pale colour, marked - with transverse bands of a blueish-black. The (arsi are filiform, numerously articulated, and ending with a. single subulate claw ; and, with the exception of the hinder pair, which are trans- versely banded like the tibize, are of a pale-yellow colour. “ The longest specimen hitherto examined was one inch and a quarter in length from the base of the antenne to the tail. Antenne one inch and a half; and posterior legs 2.8, inches. . * This insect is found in damp houses under floor mats in all parts of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, but mostly during the rainy season, as llliger has observed of his C. lineata. When living, the colours of the back and legs are bright, and varied between yellow, black, and brown ; and although the above description by no means corresponds with the Cermatia livida described by Dr. Leach in the third volume of the Zool. Miscellany, it appears to answer to that of the Scolopendra longicornis of Fabricius.” Ord. Neuroptera. B JPanorpide. Genus Panorpa. Linn. Panorpa furcata. P. rufa, antennis nigris, alis hyalinis: superioribus puncto marginali fascia furcatà apiceque nigris. > Ord. Hemiptera, Fam. Gerride. ^ Genus Gerris. Latr. w Cimex. Linn. d Gerris laticaudata. G. rufa, antennis tarsisque nigris, caudà utrinque bidentata supra unguiculatà infra penicillatà. Ord. Diptera. Fam. Tabanide. Genus Pangonia. Latr. Pangonia longirostris. P. villosa flava, thorace ferrugineo, abdomine nigro-brumeo : segmentorum marginibus flavis, alis immaculatis. * Length of the insect from the base of the rostrum to the apex of the abdomen ten lines; and of the rostrum two inches and a half.” The descriptions are illustrated by figures of each insect. 2c2 388 ‘ Analyses of Books. [Nov. “IX. The Natural er of Phasma cornutum, and the De- scription of a new Species scalaphus. By the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, BA. FLS. &o, by dani dodi Phasma cornuium. P. cinereo-rufescens, capite cornuto; pedibus inermibus, an- gulatis, subzequalibus. Mas. Filiformis, pedibus fusco-fas- ciatis. ^ Phasma filiforme. Lich. in Act. Soc. Linn. tom. vi. . 9, tab: 1, f. 1, pessima. Mantis filiformis. Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 2048, n. 15? Fab. Ent. Syst. tom. ii. p. 12? ` Mant. Jns.i. p. 227, n. 11. .Phasma filiformis. Fabr. Suppl. p. 186? Browne Hist. Jamaice, p. 433, t. 42, f. 5. Haec synonyma difficillima, quum nomen “ filiforme ” vix specificum, sed potius Phasmatum apterorum maribus subgenericum. Femina, Mare fere duplo major, fasciis femoralibus indistinctis. P. cornutum. Lich. in Act. Soc. Linn. tom. vi. p. 10, P. cornutum., Stolt. Mant. t. 13, f.51. - | | Descriptio. Corpus elongatum, granulatum. © Oculi patvi, prominuli, Capitis cornieula auriformia, Oviductus cymbifor- mis. Pedes equales, femoribus ad basin dilatatis, articulo tar- sorum longissimo triangulari. . Coloris varietates multe: sed d et 9 swpiüs cinereo-nigri. - Phasma cujus vita hic patet inter species confusas memorandum. Sexus copula vinctos iterum. iterumque observavi, quamobrem nomen * filiforme” foemine mature nullo modo accommodatum omnino neglexi. _Ascalaphus Macleayanus. A. alis vitreo-iridescentibus, iinmaculatis: oculis thoraceque cupreo-nigri: dorso maculato: ventre cinereo. This communication is likewise illustrated with engravings of the insects described. | X. On the Generic and Specific Characters of the Chrysanthe- mum Indicum of Linneus, and .of the Plants called Chinese Chrysanthemums. By Joseph Sabine, Esq. FRS. FLS. &c. ** [n a former communication* to the Linnean Society," Mr. Sabine observes, * I endeavoured to establish the correctness of my opinion, that. the plants now cultivated in our gardens under the name of Chinese Chrysanthemums, had been impro- perly referred to the Chrysanthemum Indicum of Linneus. Since the paper alluded to was written, F have had Ne pase of examining and comparing living specimens of what I consider the real Chrysanthemum | Indicum with those of the Chinese Chrysanthemum ; which latter 1 now design to characterise asa distinct species under the name of Chrysanthemum Sinense.” Chrysanthemum Indicum. C. folis flaccidis petiolatis pinnatifidis crebré dentatis ; *- Observations on the Chrysanthemum Indicum of Linneus, vol, xiii. p. 561. 1823.] Linnean Transactions, Vol, XIV. Part I. 889 supremis integerrimis, radio calyée paulo longiore, caule fruti- C080. Chrysanthemum Indicum. Linn, Sp. Pi. vol. ii. p. 889.—ed. 2, vol. ii. p. 1253. Persoon Syn. vol. ii. p. 461. Willd. Sp. Pl. vol. ii. p. 2147. Sabine in Trans. Hortic. Soc. ‘vol. iv. p. 326, cum figuris. —— Habitat in China. | Chrysanthemum Sinense. C. foliis coriaceis petiolatis sinuato-pinnatifidis dentatis glau- cescentibus, radio longissimo, caule fruticoso. > Chinese Chry- santhemum. Sabine in Trans. Hortic. Soc. vol. iv. p. 326.— vol. v. p. 149.—in Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 561. Habitat incultum in Japonia (Kempfer, Loureiro); cultum (multis varie- tatibus) in hortis Sinarum atque Japoniee. “Tam aware that an objection may be urged to the specific name I have applied to these plants, on the ground of their being natives of Japan, and only known in China in the'gardens. But in reply to it, I should observe, that they were originally obtained from China, and we know it is in that country that they have been brought to their present state of beauty and per- fection: that for these reasons they are now known .all over Europe as the Chinese Chrysanthemums; and that, as they have hitherto been confounded with the C. Indicum, it 1s very desi- . rable they should be distinguished by an appellation well opposed to that of the other species." : | XI. Descriptions of Seven new British Land and Fresh-water Shells, with Observations upon many other Species, including à List of such as have been found in the County of Suffolk. By the Rev. Revett Sheppard, FLS: | ' The following are Mr. Sheppard's introductory remarks in this paper :— ) : _ “In the Descriptive Catalogue of British Testacea, published by Dr. Maton and Mr. Rackett, in the eighth volume of the Linnean Transactions, the habitats of the Land and Fresh-water Shells having for the most part been confined to the midland and western counties, I have been induced to lay before the Society a description of seven new species, and a list, with . copious observations, of the Land ‘and Fresh-water Shells hitherto discovered in the county of Suffolk, and occasional notices of places in which they have been found in Essex ;* by which it will be seen, that the eastern parts also of this island are equally fertile in those elegant and interesting productions of Nature. The utility of such an undertaking seems to be gene- rally allowed ; and should’ this humble attempt meet with appro- bation from the lovers of conchology, I shall be amply gratitied. | * Although I have followed Linneus’s arrangement in prefer- ence to any other, from the opinion that the Land and Fresh-water * € My knowledge of Essex is confined to the hundred of Tendring, a peninsula formed by the German Ocean and the rivers Stour and Colne,” 390 Analyses of Books. | [Nov. Shells are all reducible to his genera ; I must nevertheless, in justice to M. Draparnaud, remark, that I esteem his work to be a most admirable one; and that his genera (at least those adopted by him), considering them as subdivisions of the Linnean genera, are, with few exceptions, secundum naturam." Arrangement of the Suffolk Land and Fresh-water Shells. TELLINA. l. cornea 3 2. stagnicola a Cvcras of Draparnaud and ‘ Lamarck, 3. amnica 4. Henslowana ] Mytitvs. 5. cygneus R D rid iie ANODONTA, Drap. and La- 7. Macula manei Buria. 2 lanai } Puysa, Drap. and Lamarck. Buccinum. 10. terrestre TuRBo. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Burrwvs, Drap. AcnRATINA, Lam. . Viviparus ha snim k Titas Lam. " tentaculatus f CYCLOSTOMA, Drap. . elegans . fontinalis CvcrosroMA, Dr.and Lam. . Leachii #% . laminatus CrAvsiL1A, Drap. and La- . nigricans marck, Jota . 4 | AunICULA, Drap. and La- . Carychium dowd HHH . tridens Pura, Lamarck. HN . perversus . muscorum . marginatus p Pupa, Drap. and Lamarck. . Offtonensis . Sexdentatus ` 1323] Linnean Transactions, Vol. XIV, Part I. 391 HELIX: _44. rufescens . 57. aspersa Sa IK PrANonnis, Drap. and La- 26. nautileus Sah KEKE KEE Varvara; Drap. and La- 97. cristatus alien Me 28. planorbis 7) 29. planata 30. complanata 31. vortex 32. cornea | Puanorsis, Drap. and La- 33. spirorbis | marck. 34. contorta 35. Draparnaudi 36. alba j 37.fontana ' J cx 38. Somershami- \ Hzgrix, Drap. ensis 39. lapicida CanocoLLA, Lamarck, | 40.paludosa 7] 41. ericetorum 42. virgata 43. caperata 45. Cantiana 46. nitens 47. nitidula pt Ar nap’ > Hexix, Drap. and Lamarck. 50. Kirbii 51. trochiformis | 52. crystallina 53. spinulosa 54. arbustorum 55. nemoralis 56. hortensis d cxx 58.Lackhamensis | 59. obscura Jess Drap. and Lam. 60. lubrica | axe * : 61. putris SvceiNza, Drap. and Lam, 302 A sutt Sp Analyses of Books: 500: FNov, ae 62. stagnalis 63. palustris pr ^ 64. fossaria , LIMNEvs, Drap. 65. limosa Lymnaa, Lamarck. 66. auricularia 67. lutea... VS FER 68. pellucida — ViTRINA, Drap. and Lam. f NxniTA, Drap. A NznITINA, Lamarck. ParTELLA. > 70. oblonga AxcvLvus, Drap. and Lam. Tellina stagnicola.—T. testa rhombea glabra, umbone exserto. Cyclas calyculata, var. 2. Lamarck; Anim, sans vert. v. 559. Habitat in stagnis. Testa 44 lin. longa, 5+ lin. lata, ‘glabra, Valvulee ^ NERITA. 69. fluviatilis | tenuis, pellucida, cornei coloris, epidermide nulla. versus marginem complanate. META b Tellina Henslowana.—T. testa oblique subovata transversim vix sulcata, projecturà a basi umbonis adornata. Habitat in rivis. Testa 2 lin. longa, 2} lin. lata, cornei coloris, glabra, striata, vix sulcata, anterius planiuscula. Turbo Leachii,.—T. testa. imperforata. subovata, anfractibus 5 rotundatis oblique decurrentibus, sutura conspicua, apertura suborbiculari, operculo membranaceo. Habitat in rivis. Testa 3 lin. longa, 12 lin. lata, ,cornea, diaphana, glabra. An- fractus 5, teretes, Spira elongata. | Apex acutus. Turbo Offtonensis.—T. testa fusca striata subpellucida, anfrac- tibus septem secundis sensim minoribus, apertura rotundatá ` edentulà nec marginatà, Habitat super gramina et arbusta in sylvis, super truncos arborum, atque inter folia putrescentia. Testa plusquam 14 lin. Angustior quam T. muscorum et T. mar- ginatus, et spiris sensim minoribus. Apertura edentula, margine nec reflexo, nec diverso colore. Helix Draparnaudi.—H..testa supra subconcava subtus con- cava subcarinata, anfractibus quatuor transversim striatis : ultimo, majore. Habitat in aquis dulcibus. ^ Testa diametro 3 lin. supra grisea, subtus albida, nitescens, anfractibus quatuor, ultimo, in medio juxta aperturam, subcarinato. Apertura dilatata. Helix Somershamiensis.—H. testa grisea umbilicata, anfracti- bus 2 vix 3 reticulatis. Habitat in sylvis, rarissima. Equal in magnitude to a middle-sized H. alba, which it resembles in shape ; is of a greyish colour, and curiously reticulated, particu- larly above. | elix Kirbii.—H. testa nunc subconica nunc subdepressa subpellucida striata, anfractibus quatuor, umbilico patulo. Habi- tat sub saxis et lignis. Testa diametro + lin. rufo-cornea ; anfractibus subtiliter striatus. Apertura subrotundo-lunata. Labium tenue. Umbilicus profundus. 1823] Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. 393 Articte XIII. Proceedings of Philosophical Societies. METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. On the 15th of October, a Meeting was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate-hill, to take into consideration the propriety of forming a Meteorological Society. Among the gentlemen present were Drs. T. Forster, Clütterbuck, Shearman, Mr. Luke Howard, &c.: at eight o'clock the Chair was taken by Dr. Birkbeck, when the following Resolutions were agreed to :— 1, Resolved, That the formation of a Society to promote the advancement of Meteorology, have the cordial approbation of this Meeting. | | 2. Resolved, That a Society be formed to be called * The Meteorological Society of London." | Bi Renehied: That the business of this Society shall be con- ducted by a President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, Secretary, and Council ; and that the number of Vice-Presidents and Mem- bers of the Council be determined at a subsequent Meeting. ^4. Resolved, That Mr. Thomas Wilford be requested. to officiate as Secretary to this Society (pro tempore), and that he be authorized to send à printed summons to attend the next Meeting to each person who shall become a Subscriber. .. 5. Resolved, That an Annual Subscription of Two Guineas be paid in advance by every Member of this Society. 6. Resolved, 'That those gentlemen present who are inclined to become Members ofthis utu do now send their names to the Secretary to be enrolled. _ 7. Resolved, Thata Committee of three Members be appointed, in conjunction with the Secretary, to draw up an account of the Society’s proceedings this evening. 8. Resolved, That scientific men throughout the United King- dom are solicited to co-operate with this Society, and to trans- mit communications to it; and that this Society will always be ready to receive meteorological observations from the cultivators of science throughout the various quarters of the globe.. 9. Resolved, That no other qualification be required to consti- tute eligibility to this Society, than a desire to promote the science of Meteorology. uj . 10. Resolved, That after the next Meeting the election be by ballot upon the proposition of three, and that a majority of Mem- bers decide. Led : | ll. Resolved, That this Meeting do adjourn to the 12th of November next, to meet at the same place and hour. — | 394 Scientific Intelligence. [Nov. MEDICO-BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. This Society held its first meeting this Session on Friday, Oct. 10. | An address was delivered to the members on the objects and utility of the Institution; after which the death of its late Hono- rary Menit Dr. Baillie, was notified to the Society, accompa- niéd by an appropriate eulogium on his character. The meeting then adjourned to Oct. 31, 1823. ARTICLE XIV. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. I. Return of the Expedition for the Discovery of a North-west Passage. Our readers have doubtless been apprised, through the public papers, of the safe return of the Expedition under Capt. F ek e primary object of the voyage, it appears, has not been attained ; the only channel through which a passage to the westward was to be expected, after it had been ascertained that the openings in Repulse Bay and its neighbourhood were mere inlets to the American continent, being blocked up by ice throughout the year. No particulars have as yet transpired respecting the scientific results of the Expedition, which we deem sufficiently authentic for their transfer to the pages of the Annals, t II. Solar Light and Heat. .. Mr. Powell has been for some time engaged in experiments on solar light and heat. He has examined the heating power of the prismatic rays, but MAT with respect to the effects said to be produced beyond the red end ofthe spectrum. He has found that such effects are really produced; but has accounted for their being observed in some cases, and not in others, from certain differences in the coatings of the ther- mometers employed. He has concluded from a number of experi- ments with different coatings, that this heating effect is similar in its relations to surfaces, to common radiant heat ; and differs essentially in this respect from the heating power within the spectrum. He has made other experiments from which the nature and origin of this effect may with great probability be inferred, The details will soon be made public. III. On Cleavelandite. From the examination Mr. Levy has recently made of the felspars contained in Mr, Turner's collection, it appears that half the speci- mens which have hitherto been ranked dE this name, belong to the species which had been called albite, and has recently received the name of cleavelandite from Mr. Brooke. It is rather curious that the crystallographical difference between this last substance and felspar, - should have been detected upon specimens laminated, but not regularly 1823.] Scientific Intelligence. $95 crystallised, and that the many crystals which it presents should not have been noticed. The varieties of forms of cleavelandite are, how- ever, at least as numerous as those of felspar; the crystals are very distinct, of various sizes, but rather large than small; they are very frequently marked parallel to one of the primitive planes, viz. that which is the least easy to obtain by cleavage. Several of the forms greatly resemble some of the varieties of felspar, being composed of the same number of planes disposed in the same manner, and it is only by using the goniometer that the difference can be perceived. Not- withstanding this great analogy, Mr. Levy believes that the forms of the two substances are incompatible. He considers the primitive of felspar to be an oblique rhombic prism, and not a doubly oblique prism, as it had been supposed by Hauy, and he takes for the primitive of cleavelandite a doubly oblique prism. The crystals of cleavelandite are generally white, sometimes yellowish and reddish; they are trans- arent, sometimes translucent and opaque, and have a certain bril- iancy which does not belong to felspar. Both substances are often found upon the same specimen, and sometimes both in large and well defined crystals. The localities of cleavelandite are very numerous, and this substance seems likely to become one of thé most important both in mineralogy and geology. All the rocks of which felspar is considered as a component part, must be re-examined to separate those which really contain felspar, from those which contain cleavelandite. The localities derived from Mr, Turner's collection are the following : Dauphiny, St. Gothard, Tyrol, Piedmont, Baveno, Elba, Vesuvius, Saxony, Sweden, Norway, Siberia, Greenland, United States, and Rio di Janiero.* 7 | The finest crystals come from the Tyrol and from St. Gothard. The largest from Siberia, where they are met upon the same specimen with large crystals of reddish felspar, and smoky quartz. The most trans- parent come from Dauphiny, where they are met in small transparent, brilliant, macled crystals, with chlorite, quartz, and occasionally felspar ditetraedre.: Specimens of this locality are very commonly met with in collections, and the crystals they contain were described by Hauy as felspar guadridécimal. At Baveno, it sometimes forms the guangue of the fine flesh-coloured crystals of felspar. From Greenland there is a lamellar, chatoyante variety which greatly resembles the moon stone. However, the moon stone from Ceylon does not belong to cleavelandite ; it gives easily two cleavages at right angles like felspar. The other cleavages Mr. Levy could not obtain, and what is very remarkable, the direction of the laminæ which give the beautiful cha- toyant reflection of light, corresponds to no cleavage of felspar, nor to any of the secondary planes observed in that substance. IV. Change of Musket Balls in Shrapnell Shells. Mr. Faraday states, that ** Mr. Marsh, of Woolwich, gave me some musket balls, which had been taken out of Shrapnell shells. The shells had laid in the bottom of ships, and probably had sea water among them. ‘When the bullets are put in, the aperture is merely closed by a common cork. These bullets were variously acted upon : some were affected only superficially, others more deeply, and some were entirely * Mr. Levy proposes soon to publish more minutely the result of his observations ; and the exact localities of each specimen will be given. 396 Scientific Intelligenee. [Nov. changed. Thesubstance produced is hard and brittle, it splits on the ball, and presents an appearance like some hard varieties of earthy haematite ; its colour is brown, becoming, when heated, red; it fuses, on platinum foil, into a yellow flaky substance like litharge. Powdered and boiled in water, no muriatic acid or lead was found in solution, It dissolved in nitric acid without leaving any residuum, and the solution gave very faint indications only of muriatic acid. 1t is a protoxide of lead, perhaps formed, in some way, by the galvanic action of the iron shell and the leaden ball, assisted, probably, by the sea water, It would be very interesting to know the state of the shells in which a change like this has taken place to any extent; it might have been expected, that as long as any iron remained, the lead would have been preserved in the metallic state."—(Institution Journal, for Oct. 1823.) V. Action of Gunpowder on Lead, `- Mr. Faraday says, that * Mr. Marsh gave me also some balls from cartridges about fifteen years old, and which had probably been in a damp magazine. "They were covered with white warty excrescences rising much above the surface of the bullet, and which, when removed, were found to have stood in small pits formed beneath them. These excrescences consist of carbonate of lead, and readily dissolve with effervescence in weak nitric acid, leaving the bullet in the corroded state which their formation has produced. It is evident there must have been a mutaal action among the elements of the gunpowder itself, at the same time that it acted on the lead ; and it would have been interesting, had the opportunity occurred, to have examined what changes the powder had suffered.”—(Ibid.) VI. Purple Tint of Plate Glass affected by Light. * It is well known," says Mr. Faraday, ** that certain pieces of plate glass acquire, by degrees, a purple tinge, and ultimately become of a comparatively deep colour. ‘The change is known to be gradual, but yet so rapid as easily to be observed in the course of two or three years. Much of the plate glass which was put a few years back into some of the houses in Bridge-street, Blackfriars, though at first colour- less, has now acquired a violet or purple colour. Wishing to ascertain whether the sun's rays had any influence in producing this change, the following experiment was made :— Three pieces of glass were selected, which were judged capable of exhibiting this change ; one of them was of a slight violet tint, the other two purple or pinkish, but the tint scarcely perceptible, except by looking at the edges. They were each broken into two pieces, three of the pieces were then wrapped up in paper, and set uL in a dark place, and the corresponding pieces were exposed to air and sunshine. "This was done in January last, and the middle of this month (September), they were examined. The pieces that were put away from light seemed to have undergone no change ; those that were exposed to the sunbeams had increased in | colour considerably ; the two paler ones the most, and that to such a degree, that it would hardly have been supposed they had once formed bon of the same pieces of glass as those which had been set aside. Thus it appears that the sun's rays can exert chemical powers even on such a compact body and permanent compound as glass." — (Ibid.) 1823.] Scientifie Intelligence. 997 VII. Testof Platinum. Prof. Silliman recommends the hydriodic acid, as the best test for platinum in solution. When dropped into a weak solution, it almost immediately produces a deep wine red, or reddish-brown colour, which by standing grows very intense. It resembles the effect of muriate of tin, but is more sensible. On remaining a day or two, films of platinum were deposited. The hydriodic acid had been prepared, by putting phosphorus to about an equal bulk of iodine, placed under water in a glass tube, so that it remained mixed with acids of phospho- rus, and perhaps phosphorus itself. No other metallic solution gave similar results.—(Silliman's Journal, vi. 276.) : : VII. Westbury Altitude and Azimuth Instrument. 'To most of our astronomical readers it is probably known, that on the return of the Westbury circle to London during the last winter, it was found in a state ** unfit for any nice astronomical purpose ;” it has, however, under the superintendance of Mr. Troughton, undergone a complete repair; to secure the telescope from flexure, its original object lass of 23 inches aperture, and 43 inches focus, has been replaced b one of the like diameter, but whose focal length is 38 inches only ; it separates many of the close double stars, shows distinctly the double ring and belts of Saturn, and was made by Mr. Tully. "The artist who has had the immediate management of the repairs is Mr. Simms, of Bowman's-buildings, Aldersgate-street, and we are glad to know that an instrument which has rendered such essential service to astronomical science is again fit for immediate use. We quote the inscription it now bears with pleasure. ** With this instrument, the work of Edward Troughton, Mr. Pond substantiated the errors of the Greenwich mural quadrant ; the observations were made at Westbury, and are recorded in the Philosophical Transactions. The instrument, having suffered from long exposure to the weather, was repaired and redivided for Mr. South, by William Simms, under the direction, and to the satisfac- tion, of its illustrious maker."—4Aug. 10, 1823. IX. Correctness of Greenwich Observations. For some time past we have seen with regret the various attempts which have been made by certain closet astronomers to withdraw the confidence of the public from observations made at the Royal Obser- vatory, and we have waited with much anxiety for the period, when their accusations, and still more dangerous insinuations, should be repelled. "That time, we rejoice to say, is arrived ; a communication has, we understand, been received from Mr. Bessel, acknowledging that his Catalogue of Principal Stars requires a Correction for Instru- mental Flexure; thereby admitting the superiority of the Greenwich. one. For this distinguished foreign astronomer we entertain the highest respect; but, when his observations differed so seriously with those made at our own great national establishment, we hesitated not which to confide in ; and we are glad our confidence has not been mis- placed. To such as have most distinguished themselves by their patriotic .endeavours to depreciate the labours of their countrymen, we would offer the following advice:—Use your pens less freely; your instru- 398 New Patents... [Nov. ments more frequently; give us results from your observatories, rather than surmises from your closets ; and, should fresh discordances arise between the observations made at home and abroad, you may, perhaps, in process of time, be called upon to settle the dispute. . ARTICLE XV. NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION, A Treatise on Organic Chemistry, containing the Analyses of Ani- mal and Vegetable Substances; founded on the Work of Prof. Gmelin on the same subject. By Mr. Dunglison, Member of several Learned Societies, Foreign and Domestic, and one of the Editors of the ** Me- dical Repository." : Dr. Henderson's History of Ancient and Modern Wines, in an ele- ant Quarto Volume, embellished with Vignettes, and other decorative ood-cuts from the Antique. A Treatise on Navigation and Nautical Astronomy; adapted to Practice, and to the Purposes of Elementary Instruction, By Mr. Riddle, Master of the Mathematical School, Royal Naval Asylum. Observations on the Functions of the Digestive Organs, especially those of the Stomach and Liver. By Dr. Prout. Naval Battles from 1744 to the Peace in 1814. Critically revised and illustrated. By Admiral Ekins. A Guide to Practical Farriery ; containing Hints on the Diseases of Horses and Neat Cattle, with many valuable and original Recipes from the Practice of an eminent Veterinary Surgeon. By Mr. Pursglove, sen, ArTICLE XVI. NEW PATENTS. J. Hughes, ey sen Essex, slopseller, for certain means of secur- ing the bodies of the dead in coffins.— Sept. 11. H. C. Jennings, Devonshire-street, Marylebone, for an instrument to be affixed to the saddle-trée, by the application and use of which, inconvenience and distress to the horse may be avoided.—Sept. 11. J. Sprigg, sen. Birmingham, fender-maker, for a certain im- provement in the manufacture of grates, fenders, and fire-iron rests. Sept. 11. | T. Wickham, Nottingham, lace-manufacturer, for his improved and prepared rice, rendered applicable for use in all cases in which starch is applied.—Sept. 11. W. Hase, Saxthorpe, Norfolk, iron-founder, for his method of con- structing mills or machines chiefly applicable to prison discipline.— Sept. 11. 13828.] |... Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal. 399 ARTICLE XVII. METEOROLOGICAL TABLE. SEES NN Baromerer,|THERMOMETER, Daniel's hyg. . 1893. | Wind. | Max. | Min. | Max. { Min. | Evap. |Rein| atnoon. 9th Mon. Sept. 1S... Wj30:32/,30:12| 74 50 — : QS Wi3016/3012| 75 46 — 3 W 13026/3016| 68 54 od 4 W 130263024) 77 50 tee 5IN W/\|30'24/30°22] 68 48 | — 6N Wi|30:2830:24| 72 40 '84 7IN . Ej30:38/:30'28|. 68 35 — 8N Ej30:38/3035| 68 33 — 9 N 13035|3033| 69 33 — 1001 N 190:38/3033| 71 Al — 11) E {30°33/30°26! 71 40 — 12; E 13026|3009| 76 51 — 13| S |30:02/129:92| 77 51 “75 14S. Wi29:9229:50| . 76 63 — 02 15 W 19994/199:50|] 68 48 oe — 168 Wi30:02)29-04| 71 52 — | — 17S ^ Wi30:423002| 64 36 — 07 18! N |30°43|30°40], 68 34 — 19N W/!30'4030:25| 71 50 — 20N W!|30:25/30*02| 61 40 — 91S Wi|30:02129:46|. 60 48 86 | 19}. aN 'Wi30:0729'46; 68 A | — 11 23N Wi30:07:29:07| 58 48 — 21 241N W|30:10,29'97| ..73 .| -52 — 25| W |30:10/99'98| 61 54 = 26- W 129:98129'91] 66 44 — 27:N Wi30*01/29:93| 66 29 — 28N Wi3011130:01| 62 30 — 29 N |30:11/29:58| 64 31 — 30| N 129:58/28'88| 55 44 *90 | 1:05 30:38/28:88| . 77 29 | 3:35 11°65 . "The observations in each line of the table apply to a period of twenty-four hours, beginning at 9 A. M. on the day indicated in the first column. A dash denotes that the result is included in the next following observation. 400 Mr. Howard's Meteorological Journal. [Nov. 1823, REMARKS. _ Ninth Month.—1—14. Fine, 15. A violent storm of hail and rain, accompanied by very vivid lightning, arid a few claps of thunder, between three and four, a. m. 16. Fine. 17, Overcast. 18, Fine, 19, Foggy morning. 20. Fine. 21, Rainy. 22. Showery. 23, Fine: night rainy. 24, 25, Cloudy. 26—29. Fine. 30. Very rainy day with strong wind: a vivid flash of lightning, with aloud clap of thundér, between five and six, p.m. a second flash, with "nem: about an hour afterwards. ar ee ee E GE E vA edad c howe - | EE! 85 Winds: ioc NS N 5281 SW, 6; bo E Barometer: Mean height For the month, ..issseserdsaeeesvodieesepwaneeees» 30015 inches For the lunar period, ending the 27th... ............. 30-109 i For 15 days, ending the 5th (moon north) + « ........ 30-170. For M days, chdig the 19th (moon south) i Lib. vii. 56. | & See Pignorius’ Mens, Isiace Expositio, fol. 11, &c, Ed, Venet, 1605, || IL xi. 639. 410 Era when Brass was used. [Dzc. people of Greece, Egypt, &c. did, at some period of their his- tory, make their edge-tools of bronze, is sufficiently plain from the use they made of them in religious matters, and from their being frequently found in the ruins of their most ancient cities: but they were fallen into disuse in the reign of Porsenna, 500 years before Christ.* And it is probable that the nations on the western side of Europe, long before the commencement of the Christian era, had begun to disuse brass in arms, because we know that in the time of Caius Marius, the Cimbrian cavalry wore steel cuirasses ; and that the people of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, were acquainted with the art of manufacturing iron in Cesar’s time. | T 6. The era in which edge-tools of bronze were in use in Bri- tain, cannot perhaps be ascertained with any degree of certainty. There can be no reason to suppose that iron was introduced here while bronze was used in Greece: or that the Germans should be acquainted with it before the Britons.. But when iron became plentiful amongst the Greeks, as it unquestionably was in the time of Lycurgus, 900 years before Christ, it would cer- tainly be cheaper amongst the Phoenicians than either copper or tin: 1f, hum is they traded to Britain at that time, it would be their interest to barter steel for the goods they.came for ; and that of the Britons to receive it for edge-tools, in preference to copper. The disuse of bronze tools, and the introduction of iron ones into this country, was probably gradual. But from the above reasons, I would conclude that bronze began to give way to iron here, nearly as soon as it did in Greece; and, con- sequently, that all the Celts, spear-heads, swords, &c. found in our island, belong to an era 500, or at least 400 years before the time of Christ, for iron then seems to have been general among all the people along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. 7. The circumstance of implements similar to our Celts hav- ing been found in Herculaneum, merely proves that the scite of that city was once tenanted by men ignorant of the use of iron ; and we know from Dionysius Halicarnassensis, that it was founded about thirty years before the Trojan war. Also the various culinary and kitchen implements of bronze that abound in its ruins, prove nothing more than that the ancients had dis- covered that in warm climates copper or bronze is better adapted * Since this paper was written, I have found a reference to bronze weapons in Pliny. Speaking of the medicinal qualities of iron, he says :—** Est et rubigo ipsa in remediis : et sic Telephum proditur sanasse Achilles, sive id area, sive ferrea cuspide fecit. Ita certe pingitur dicutiens eam gladio." He doubted whether this healing rust was scraped off a bronze or an iron sword, because he knew that in the heroic age, bronze was in use in weapons. He could have had no difficulty in concluding that it was not of bronze, from any use to which that metal was applied in arms in his time; for his own accounts of iron sufficiently refute such a notion; and in the chapter from which this extract is taken, he says:— ** Medecina è ferro est et alia, quam secandi," from which it is plain that surgical instruments were made of it in his time.—Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 15. Hygin. | Paus, Arc, lxv. 4, Ovid. Metam, xiii, 172, Trist, v, 2, 15. Remed. Am. 1, &c. j "ur a 1823.] in Purposes to which Iron is now applied. 411 forsuch purposes thaniron. Tapprehend too, thatnothing more can be inferred from the fact, that both Celts and undoubted Roman antiquities have been met with at Ladbrook, in the middle of the town of Old Flint, than that the Britons had occupied that situation either as a fortress or a town before the Romans settled in it. 8. That the Celts were not imported into Britain is plain, from moulds for casting them in, and pieces of crude bronze being found in places Witte: from the cinders that were with them, they appeared to have been cast. If the bronze of which they made them was imported, it is probable that the people who supplied them with it exchanged it for tin, one of the articles of which it was composed. But it cannot be supposed that a people, whose country abounded with copper, should be igno- rant of the art of working and smelting it, at a time when they were mining and manufacturing tin, d and iron. The es, which Cesar says they imported, and the xaXxvewara, which Strabo mentions, were probably nothing more than vessels of copper or bronze, whieh foreign merchants bartered among them for hides and metals. \ 9. It has been shown that the sceptre or rod of Moses, and many of the utensils of the tabernacle of the Hebrews, were of brass ; but none of them of iron. The Greeks and Romans bor- rowed a great part of their religious worship out of Egypt, where it is probable bronze, as the first metal which assisted in the arts of civilized life, was held in religious veneration ; and iron, as a more modern discovery, in religious abhorrence. We accordingly find in Hesiod, that iron was prohibited in certain religious rites ; and Accennius, on the word * ahenis” in the following lines from the /Eneid, db du ** Falcibus et messe ad lunam queruntur ahenis ** Pubentes herbae, nigri cum lacte veneni," says: “ Quia nefas id ferreis facere." Does not this custom justify the supposition that the ** aurea falx," with which Pliny says the Druids, at certain seasons, cut the misletoe, is an error for “rea falx ?" and, consequently, that bronze implements : were antiquated in his time in all common uses in Britain, and only employed in the religious rites of the Druids ? 10. The extracts, I have given out of Homer and Aristotle, prove that the Phoenicians were in the habit of bartering their toys and baubles for valuable commodities in Greece and Spain ; I would, therefore, infer, that they exchanged trifles of that sort amongst the Britons for tin ; and, consequently, that the articles of jewelry, found in our most ancient tombs, are of Phoenician manufacture. 412 _. Mr, Smithson on a Method of |. = [Deci ARTICLE IH. : i | A Method of fixing Particles on the Sappare. By James Smithson, Esq. FRS. (To.the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) SIR, | Oct, 24, 1823. W unen the species of minerals are ascertained by their physi- eal qualities, they mostly undergo no injury, or but a very slight one; as that attending the determination of their hardness, the colour of their powder, their taste, &c.. This is certainly a material advantage, and would highly recommend this method, was it constantly adequate to its purpose. That it is.not so, however, we have a proof in the great errors into which have fallen those best skilled in it. Mr. Werner, its principal and most distinguished professor, was unable by its means to disco- ver the identity of the jargon and the hyacinth ; of the corundum and the sapphire ; of his apatite and his spargelstein ; and while he thus parted beings, as it were, from themselves, he forced others together which had nothing in common, | The chemical method justly boasts its certainty ; but it carries destruction with it, and often bestows the knowledge of an object. only at the expense of its existence. The sole remedy which can be opposed to this defect is to reduce the scale of operat- ing ; and thus render the sacrifice which must be made as small as it is possible, M. de Saussure's* ingenious contrivance for subjecting the most minute portions of matters to fire, by fixing them on a splinter of sappare, appeared to fulfil the conditions of this pro- blem, and to have accomplished all that could be desired. It has, however, been scarcely at all employed, owing to the exces- sive difficulty in general of making the particles adhere ; and in consequence the almost unpossessed degree of patience required for, and time consumed by, nearly interminable failures. That such should be the case could not but be a subject of much regret, for besides economy of matter, of time, of labour, and the great beauty of deriving knowledge from so diminutive a - source, and attaining important results with such feeble agents ; reduction of volume became, in this instance, productive of increase of power, and thence, of an extension of the series of qualities by which substances are characterised, A slight alteration which I have made in M. de. Saussure's process has removed the objection to it. To water, saliva, gum water, which he employed, the last of which is not sensibly * Journal de Physique, par Rozier, tome 45. 1823.] so fiting Particles on the Sappares — 413 superior to the former, I have substituted à mixture of water and refractory clay. | ( Small triangles, orslender strips, of baked clay may be used in lieu of sappare, which is not at all times to be procured; or a little of the moist clay may be taken up on the end of a platina, or other wire, and the object to be tried touched with it. "This way may be applied to pieces of the ordinary size, and supersede the use of the platina tongs. i ^ But a proceeding which I have only recently adopted appears to deserve the preference. Almost the least quantity of clay and wateris put on the very end of a platina wire, filed flat there. With this, the particle of mineral lying on the table can be touched in any part chosen; for à moment or two it is dry, and may be taken up, and put into the flame, without the clay exploding, as not unoften happens when more of it is used. Particles of the least visible minuteness may be thus submitted to trial with the utmost facility. The contact of the particle with the wire may, in general, be so. managed as to be extremely slight, as the slenderest point is sufficient to support it. However, when the utmost heat possible is desired, a frag- ment ofa less conducting matter may, if deemed necessary, be interposed. i There may be cases in which the presence ofthe clay is objec- tionable. 1 conceived that some of the body itself to be tried, would, on these occasions, supply its place. Flint was the least promising of any in this respect. It was selected for the expe- riment. With a paste of its powder and water, pieces of flint were successfully cemented to flint, and some of this paste taken on the end of a wire, served, if not quite as well as clays et very sufficiently. After several times igniting and quench- ing in cold ‘water, the reduction of very hard matters to subtile powder is attended with no difficulty. Earth of alum would perhaps be preferable to pipe-clay for making the triangles on strips, and for agglutinating objects to them. It would even have the advantage over sappare of being a simple substance. Some from the Paris shops acquired only little solidity in the fire; but I afterwards learned that it had been obtained from alum by fire. in Since I have been in possession of this means of so effec- tually confining the subjects of examination as to be able to continue during pleasure to act on them, I have directed but little attention to the fusibility of matters. Quartz, whose fusion has been called in question by M. Berzelius,* has seemed to be quite refractory. On some few occasions when it has proved otherwise, the phenomena have neither corresponded with M. de Saussure’s account, nor been always the same, which * De l'emploi du Chalumeau, p. 108, 414 Method of fixing Particles on the Sappare — [D&c. certainly admits of the fusion being attributed to an accidental cause. But I have found with much surprise that flint can be melted without difficulty ; and even of a considerable bulk. Where the heat is most intense, a degree of frothing takes place; where it is less, there is a swelling of parts of the surface. The effects were the same with French and English flint, with black and with horn-coloured. Does flint, like pitchstone, contain bitu- men, which, at a certain heat, tends to tumefy it? This might explain the smell from its collision, and the oil which Neumann obtained by its distillation, and to which no credit has been ever given. No doubt can, I conceive, be entertained of flint being a volcanic production. On this point I may speak again at a future opportunity. In using mere water, diamond, anthracite, plumbago, were particularly difficult of trial, as any adhesion they had contracted with the sappare was quickly destroyed by the combustion of their surface, while, as the intention in their case is not to sub- ject to great heat, they may be so secured in the clay as at least very much to retard their escape. Here acting on ve minute particles is essential, as when large pieces are employed, the effect is too slow to be perceptible. A pleasing way of demonstrating the combustion of plum- bago, and of even exhibiting the iron in it, is to rub a little from the wetted point of a pencil on one of the clay plates mentioned in a former paper.* In trying diamond it was imagined that its glow continued an unusual time after removal from the fire. The present method afforded the means of making a comparison. A fragment of diamond, and another of quartz, chosen purposely of rather a larger size, were fixed near each other in the clay; and it was observed that the diamond was most luminous while under the action of the flame, and longer so after removal from it. Its being a very slow conductor of heat may occasion in part the latter quality. In the same way the unequal fusibility of two substances may probably, on some occasions, be ascertained ; and serve, from deficiency of a better, as a means of distinction between them. I am, Sir, yours, &c. . J. SMITHSON. * Annals for May. 1823] On the Ratio of Expansion of Gases. 415 AmricLE IV. On the Ratio of Expansion of Gases. By Mr. Matthew Biggs. ult (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) EB + 68, Great Russell-street, Nov. 3, 1893. Havtine had occasion lately to turn my attention to the nature of gaseous bodies generally, and particularly to their conduct under varying temperature, I referred to the works of Dr. Henry and Mr. Brande for information. We are told by both these gentlemen that all aeriform bodies possess the same mechanical properties ; that the rate of expansion and contraction under increased or diminished temperature is common to all, and that, according to the experiments of M. Gay-Lussac, which they consider as the most correct, the expansion on increase of tem- perature is 414. of the volume for every degree of Fahrenheit's scale, between 32? and 212°. I then proceeded to the rules which are given for reducing any volume at any temperature to such other temperature as may be required, and I found them: so defective that 1 doubt not I shall prove to you, that all calcu- lations made from the data there laid down, must have produced erroneous results. After having informed us as above that the increase is 4-1; of the volume for every degree of the thermometer, they proceed to say, that in order to reduce any given volume at any known temperature to any other that may be required, we must divide the whole volume by 480, multiply the quotient by the number of degrees between that at which the gas is, and that to which it is to be reduced, and then add this product to the volume, if the reduction be made from a lower to a higher temperature ; subtract it if froma higher to a lower ; the number now found will bethe volume at the temperature required. Thus I have 100 cubic inches of gas at 32°; and my object is to ascertain what space they would occupy at 60°, 100 ~ 480 = -208 ; ‘208 `x 28 = 5:824; 5:824--100—105:824 they will have become 105:824 C. I. by an elevation of 28? ; but suppose the reverse to be the state of the inquiry, having 105-824 C. I. at 60°, I wish to know their volume at 32°, 105:824--480 —:220; :220 x 2822 6:16 ; 105824 —6:16—99-664. This cannot be correct, because we know. that although bodies expand by the application of heat, they regain their former dimensions when reduced to their former temperature. If I find that 100 C. I. of any gaseous body become 105:824 by an addition of 28? to their temperature, I know that by abstract- ing the 28? they are again reduced to 100 ; but not lower, as this. mode of calculation would show. 416 On.she Ratiaigf Bupansiongf Gas. (DN To put the error in another light; it is proved that 480 C. I. at 32° become 508 if elevated to 60°. The volume I set out with increases one cubic inch for every additional degree. Now suppose the temperature raised to 61°, the volume will then be 509 C. I. or it will have increased one inch; but 1 is not the 44. of 508; therefore gas does not increase 42 of its volume for each degrée, at any n of the scale, except 32°, as the works Ihave referred to inform us: 100 volumes at 50° do not become 102*08 if raised to 60°, neither do 100 at 70° become reduced to 97:92 if lowered to 60°, as the examples there given seem to show. ‘Taking the fact that 480 volumes at 32° increase one volume for every additional degree as a foundation, we may easily form à rule by which to ascertain what space any volume at any tem- sn m will occupy at any other temperature between 32? and Add the number of degrees which the gas is above 82°, to 480; this will be the first number. Add the number of degrees which the required temperature is above 32°, to 480 for the second number. - The volume on which the calculation is made will be the third, and the fourth will be the volume required. For example, I have 100 ©. I. of gas at 70°, and I wish to know what their volume would be at 60, 480 + 38 = 518 first number, 480 + 28 = 508 second number; then 518 : 508 :: 100 : 98:069 o rsuppose the 100 C. 1. to be at 50?, what will they be at 60?? 480 + 18 = 498, © 480 + 28 = 508; then 498 : 508 :: 100.: 102-008 I will now give an extreme case, worked both ways, to show the great inaccuracy of the old method, and the correctness of mine. Raise 100 C. I. from 32° to 212°. 100 + 480 = -208333; -208333 x 180 = 37:4999 ; 37-4999 + |. 100 = 1374999 480 : 660 :: 100 : 137-5. Reduce 137:5 C. I. from 212? to 32°, 137-5 = 480 = :986458 x 180 = 51°5624; 137-5 — 51:5624 660 : 480 :: 137:5 : 100. Thus the error, by the old rule, amounts to more than 14 cubie inches. I am, Sir, yours, &e. » MATTrHew Bices, 1893.] On Mr. Macleay's Doctrine of Affinity and Analogy. 417 ARTICLE V. A Description of some Insects which appear to exemplify Mr. William S. Macleay’s Doctrine o Affinity and Analogy. By the Rev. William Kirby, MA. FRS. and LS.* No objects are more interesting to the scientifie naturalist ' than those which assume the external appearance of one tribe, while their more essential characters and their habits indicate that they belong to another. These objects a prima facie sur- vey would often induce us to refer to a very different set of beings from that to which a more intimate acquaintance with their peculiar diagnostics and economy would lead us. And we shall find, the further we extend our researches, the traces of that plan of Creative Wisdom by which a symbolical relation-. ship, if I may so call it, connects such of his creatures, as in other respects are placed in opposition to each other, as well as a natural affinity those that really approximate. Writers in. every department of natural history, when they. have . been, endeavouring to thread the labyrinth of affinities, have been extremely puzzled by this remarkable circumstance. They were, aware that those species which connect two proximate tribes, generally partake of the characters of both ; but they were not sufficiently aware of this resemblance between objects that are connected by little or no affinity. Hence it has happened not unfrequently, that objects have been referred not to the tribe to which they are really related, but to that which they resemble in some of their less essential characters. Mr. W. S. Macleay, in his acute and learned Hore Entomo- logice, has furnished the. naturalist with a clue which, if heed- fully followed, will enable him to guide himself through all the intricacies with which the circumstance here mentioned has perplexed his path. This gentleman has first stated with clear- ness and precision the distinctions, so often before confounded, between real affinity and those resemblances which are merely analogical; and has proved satisfactorily, that there exist between numerous objects in every department of nature striking coincidences as to external characters, which do not indicate that they are related to each other, or should be placed together in a natural arrangement. In confirmation of the doctrine here alluded to, I have the honour to present to the Linnean Society a description of three "new genera of insects which appear to wear the face of a tribe to which they do not belong. 1 _ * From the Linnean 'Pransactions for 1893, Part I. New Series, vou. v1. 2 E 418 00 Rev, W. Kirby on Mr. Macleay’s [Dec. COLEOPTERA PENTAMERA. (Harpalida.) Carascopus Kirby. - Character Essentialis.— Labium s. Ligula tripartitum: lobo intermedio abbreviato ; lateralibus apice latioribus... Labrum emarginatum. | Character Artificialis.— Labium tripartitum : lobo intermedio abbreviato. Labrum emarginatum: lobis rotundatis. Palpi " maxillares articulo secundo incrassato. Oculi magni, valde prominuli. Tibiæ antice intus medio emarginata. : Character Naturalis.—Corpus subdepressum, oblongum, gla- brum, alatum. Caput horizontale, subtriangulare: collo distincto. .Labrum subquadratum, apice emarginatum: lobis rotundatis. Mandibule subtriquetro-trigone, apice forcipate incurve acute, edentule. Maxille lobo interiori incurvo ungui- formi acutissimo, exteriori palpiformi biarticulato: articulis lon- gitudine equalibus. .Pa/pt maxillares quadriarticulati : articulo - primo minutissimo ; secundo reliquis longiori crassiori subar- cuato; tertio secundo breviori subclavato: extimo teretiusculo. Labium tripartitum : lobis coadunatis; lateralibus longioribus dilatatis semicordatis planis: intermedio lateralibus dimidio breviori convexo apice bisetigero. Palpi labiales triarticulati ? Mentum trilobum : lobo intermedio brevissimo rotundato. An- tenne undecim-articulate subfiliformes: articulo primo incras- sato; proximis tribus subclavatis sequentibus tenuioribus ; reliquis oblongis compressis; extimo acuto. Oculi laterales, magni, valde prominuli. Frons apud oculos longitudinaliter bistriatus. _ Nasus s. Clypeus transversus: apice segmento circuli dempto. : Truncus. Thorax quadrato-obcordatus, postice constrictus : angulis prominentibus, in medio canaliculatus, apud angulos posticos foveatus, antice et postice truncatus : lateribus mater natis. Prosternum lineare, apud basin pedum anticorum de- flexum, apice rotundatum. Mexstéymivs brevissimum, apice emarginatum. Metasternum antice et postice mucronatum. Scutellum minutum, triangulare. Elytra apice oblique preemorso- truncata. Epipleura * linearis, uod: basin elytri dilatata. Tibie calcaribus 2. 2. 2. antice intus ante medium emarginate. Tarsi articulo penultimo integro. Abdomen in specimine nostro mutilatum. At first sight the little insect exhibiting. these characters might be mistaken for a species of Notiophilus of Duméril, or at least be regarded as belonging to a cognate genus. Its large and very prominent eyes, the shape in some measure of its tho- * See this term explained Linn, Trans, xii. 311, 1823.] Doctrine of Affinity and Analogy. 419 . rax, the strie of the disk of its elytra less impressed with puncta than those of the limb, as likewise its frontal furrows, give it no . inconsiderable appearance of affinity to it. But a closer inspec- tion proves that this is merely an appearance, and that in fact it belongs to a different tribe connected with the Harpahde. Notiophilus and its genuine affinities are distinguished by a par- ticular character indicating some difference in their mode of taking or retaining their prey. The great majority of the Carabi of Linne are remarkable for a notch on the inner side of their anterior tibie, armed at its upper angle by a spur, which appears to be of use to them for the above purpose. In the Harpalide and many others this notch is nearly in the middle of the tibia ; but in Notiophilus and its affinities its situation is close to its apex. Catascopus, with respect to this part, falls into the former tribe. Again,in Notiophilus the labium consists only of a single lobe, or at least the lateral ones are much shorter than the central ; but in the Harpalide they are as long or longer.* In Catascopus also they are very conspicuous, being twice the length of the central lobe. In Elaphrus, Notiophilus, Blethisus, &c. the fore-breast (antepectus), or the part immediately under the thorax, is more or less covered with impressed puncta. In the Harpalide and Catascopus it is quite free from them. In the - former tribe likewise the legs, especially the thighs, are slenderer and less robust than in the latter. ` The head moreover in these : is narrower behind, so as to form a distinct neck ; whereas in those, if any thing, it is widest behind, and the neck is formed . by the convexity of that part, and not by any constriction of it. From all these circumstances, I think, it is sufficiently evident, that the relation of Catascopus tothe Harpalide is that of affinity, while that which it bears to the E/aphride, insects which at first sight it most resembles, is merely that of analogy. But there 1s . still another tribe of which it exhibits many characters, I mean those which constitute M. Latreille's first section of his Carabici, which have the head and. thorax much narrower than the abdo- men, and truncated or very obtuse elytra; for instance, Anthia, Brachinus, Lebia, Xc. ; and with these at one time 1 felt inclined to arrange the genus I am considering ; but the different cha- racters of the Labium convinced me that it ought rather to go with the Hurpalide. Should any master in Entomology here- after undertake a new arrangement of Carabus L., he may per- haps bring the Harpalide and the above section nearer to each other; and in this case Catascopus would very well connect the two tribes. The exact place of the genus I have not been able satisfactorily to ascertain. Of all the known genera of the Har- palide it seems to approach nearest to Pterostichus Bon., or Sphodrus Clairv., principally on account of the shape of the thorax; but there must be several intermediate links between them. | | | j * Clairville, Ent. Helvet. ii, t, x, xi, xii, &c. c. 22 420 Rev, W, Kirby on Mr. Macleay's [Dsc. Hardwickii.. 1. C, Long. corp. lin, 44, : pneter in India a D. Hardwicke lectus? Ex Mus, D. Mar- sham. Corpus nitidum nigrum, supra violaceo et viridi tinctum. La- brum infra apicem utrinque punctis duobus impressis setigeris, Frons antice in medio canaliculatum, Elytra sublacunosa striata; stris, precipue lateralibus, punctatis. Puneta insuper tria impressa inter striam a sutura secundam et tertiam. | Elytri latera viridi-enea. | The individual specimen here described being transfixed by the same peculiar pin which Major-General Hardwicke used for all the small insects that he collected in India (many of which he gave to the late Mr. Marsham, at whose sale I purchased it), I think I am warranted in my conjecture that this was one of them, I have therefore named it after this indefatigable collector and observer of iusects, who merits richly to be so distinguished. There are two or three species apparently belonging to this gen in the rich collection of insects brought by Dr. Horsfield rom Java. | : (Scolytide ?) PSEUDOMORPHA, Kirby. Character Essentialis —Labium apice tridentatum. Palpi - maxillares breves cylindrici. Character Artificialis.— Labium apice tridentatum : dentibus eequalibus, rotundatis. .Labrum transversum, integrum, apice rotundatum. Palpi labiales articulo extimo maximo, securi- formi. Palpi maaillares maxilla haud longiores, cylindrici. Antenne breves. Caput transversum sessile. | Character Naturalis.—Corpus depressum, oblongum, alatum. Caput transversum, subrhomboidale, leviter inclinatum, thoracis sinu receptum, sessile. Labrum transversum, apice rotundatum. Mandibule forcipate, breves, subtriquetro-trigone, apice eden- tule acute, basi intus in lobum rotundatum dilatate. — Mazille breves : lobo interiori incurvo unguiformi acutissimo, intus setis ciliato; exteriori palpiformi biarticulato lobo interiori arctissime incumbenti. Palpi maxillares maxilla vix longiores, incrassati, cylindrici, quadriarticulati : articulis brevibus; primo reliquis minori obconico, sequentibus duobus cylindricis æqualibus, extimo paulo longiori apice truncato. Labium minutum, bre- vissimum, apice tridentatum vel subtrilobum : lobis rotundatis ; intermedio setis duabus instructo. Palpi labiales securiformes triarticulati : articulo primo brevissimo ; secundo paulo majori subtriangulari; extimo maximo fere trapeziformi. Mentum tri- lobum : Tobis subæqualibus, acutis. Antenne capite longiores, undecim-articulatæ, filiformes : articulo primo incrassato arcuato ; secundo sequentibus breviori apice incrassato ; reliquis longitu- dine fere eequalibus, oblongiusculis, extimo acuto. Oculi late- 1823.] Doctrine of Affinity and Analogy. 421 rales; minus prominentes, subrotundi. Nasus declivis, apice transversus. 945 "IH | Trancus. Thorax transversus, antice angustior, sinu lato pro receptione capitis exciso; lateribus rotundatis marginatis : margine explanato recurvo j angulis anticis et posticis rotunda- tis. Prosternum et mesosternum linearia. Metasternum antice et postice mucronatum. Scutellum triangulare. Elytra oblonga latere exteriori marginatà: margine subrecurvo, apice obtusis- sima, vel oblique subtruncata: epipleura lineari apud basin elytri dilatata. Pedes breves: femoribus magnis compressis ; tenüioribüs; tibiis calcaribus 2. 2. 2.; anticis intus ante medium emarginatis : tarsis subsetaceis ; articulo penultimo integro: un- guiculis binis simplicibus. . Abdomen depressum : Ségmehtis ventralibus sex ; tertio reli- quis longiori ; anali obtusissimo. | Catascopus merely assumes the aspect of a section different from that to which it really belongs, while every one sees at first sight that it is one of the Carabi of Linné; but the insect I have now described, though it exhibits the characters, has not the aspect, of that tribe; and even a practical entomologist, if he chanced to examine a specimen that had lost its antenne, might at first regard it as a Netidula or Ips F., or as coming near that genus in the system. But when he came to study it in detail, he would discover, to his surprise, all the essential diagnostics of one of Latreille's Entomophagi, as six palpi,* and the trochanter forming a fulerum to the posterior thigh ; and further, those that distinguish the Carabici of that author, the same kind of labium, mentum, and mazille, and particularly the remarkable notch in the inside of the anterior tibia; before noticed; peculiar to them. ‘The characters that give it an air and general appear- ance unlike those of its tribe; are its sessile wide head received into the thorax, and its short antenne and legs. It is difficult to say to which of Latreille's sections of his Carabici it bears the greatest affinity. Its depressed body, its elytta very obtuse at the tip or subtruncate with an epipleura dilated at the base, and its blunt anus, seem to indicate an approximation to Lebia, Dromius; &c. and the labial palpi are not unlike those of one sex in Tarus Clairv. (Cymindis Latr.) belonging to the same section; but its sessile head brings it nearer to Scolytus Fab. the labium of which is not very dissimi- lar, and to the aquatic Entomophagi. Its thorax is shaped very much like that of Hydrophilus caraboides. Its maxillary palpi are unlike those of any other entomophagous genus yet known. Many links, however, remain to be discovered before we can connect this remarkable and puzzling genus with any one at * What has been accounted by Fabricius and others as an additional or inner maxil- lary palpus is, strictly speaking, the outer or upper lobe of the maxilla become palpi- form. In Staphylinus, &c. this lobe is also biarticulate but not palpiform. 422 Rev. W. Kirby on Mr. Macleay's (Dec. resent known. In going over most of the cabinets in London, could discover nothing that came at all near this insect, which I purchased at the sale of the late Mr. Francillon’s collection. From the mode in which it is transfixed, and the pin used, I - suspect that it was taken by Mr. Abbott in Georgia. excrucians.. 1. P.. Long. corp. lin. 5. Habitat in Georgi: forsan aquaticis ? Ex Mus. D. Francillon. Corpus leve, nitidum, subpilosum, rufum. Labrum antice punctis quatuor excavatis setigeris. | Oculi in medio pilosi. Coleoptra seriatim subpunctata, picea: margine externo rufo. (Melolonthide.) MIMELA, Kirby. Character Essentialis—Mandibule dorso rotundate, apice compresse bidentate: dente inferiori truncato. Antenne novem-articulate. Character Artificialis.— Labium urceolatum, emarginatum. Maxille apice sex-dentate, nempe 3.2.1. Mandibule dorso rotundate, apice compresse bidentate: dente inferiori truncato. Labrum brevissimum, transversum, medio depresso-excava- tum, vel emarginatum. Antenne novem-articulate. Podex tectus. Character Naturalis.—Corpus ex oblongo obovatum, con- vexum, glabrum, alatum. Caput ex triangulari subrotundum, declive. Labrum transversum, brevissimum, medio depressum, utrinque antice barbatum, verticale. Mandibule basi subtrique- tro-trigone, intus orbiculate transversim sulcate, apice com- presse incurve bidentate: dente superiori obtuso, inferiori truncato subemarginato, dorso rotundato. Maxille valide mandibuleformes, apice incurve sex-dentate, dentibus nempe .9. 2. 1. Palpi maxillares in nostris speciminibus desunt. Labium infra apicem et apud basin constrictum unde quasi urceolatum, apice emarginatum. Palpi labiales triarticulati : articulo primo minutissimo, intermedio subarcuato crassiori ; extimo ovato acuto. Mentum subquadratum. Antenne no- vem-articulatz : articulo primo magno apice incrassato, quasi dolabriformi ; secundo brevi subturbinato; proximis tribus sub- cylindricis; sexto brevissimo fere patereformi; tribus ultimis elongatis pilosis, clavam elongatam linearilanceolatam formanti- bus. Oculi subhemispherici prominuli, Septum irregulare a naso per tertiam fere. partem oculi transcurrit. Nasus s. clypeus transversus, distinctus, antice rotundatus, marginatus : margine reflexo. hinarium verticale, brevissimum.* . Truncus. Thorax transversus s. longitudine latior, tenuissime * I call the part often conspicuous in this tribe, intervening between the nasus and the labrum, Rhinarium, 1823.) Doctrine of Affinity and Analogy. 493 marginatus, antice angustior; sinu magno ad recipiendum caput exciso, postice obsolete trilobus: lobo intermedio rotundato, supra ad latera puncto ordinario impressus. : Prosternum inter pedes anticos elevatum, compressum, apice dilatatum, oblique truncatum. Mesosternum lineare, inter pedes intermedios lati- tans. Metasternum basi et apice mucronatum : mucrone postico bifido. Scutellum triangulare. Coleopira oblonga, striata: striis duplicatis, podicem, excepto summo vertice, obtegentia. Pedes robusti: femoribus posticis incrassatis; tibiis anticis apice bidentatis: dente exteriori longiori obtuso ; interiori brevi acuto; calcaribus 1. 2. 2. posticis obtusis; tarsorum unguiculis simplicibus inflexis. Abdomen convexum: segmentis ventralibus sex ; primo bre- vissimo ; ultimo depresso obtuso. The insect from which I have taken the characters of this genus I originally met with at a dealer's; and though it was transfixed with a needle, which seemed to indicate that it was from China; yet as his insects were almost all of them Brazi- lian, and its general habit and aspect were that of a tropical American type, I concluded that it came from that country, and placed it in my cabinet along with my species of Areoda of Macleay. Afterwards, being shown by a young lady a collec- tion of undoubted Chinese insects, I found amongst them several specimens of Mimela, one of which she kindly gave me. Upon receiving this, on my return to Barham I set about a closer examination ; and upon dissection I found, though many of its external characters seemed borrowed from South American types, yet that in those which were most essential, it came nearest to an Asiatic one, a well known species of which was abundant in China; and others have since been discovered in Java, and perhaps in Ceylon. I allude to Mr. W. S. Macleay's enus Euchlora. r The Brazil genus, of which Mimela assumes the external appearance, is Areoda of the same learned author, who has observed with regard to Euchlora, “ En genus Asiaticum Areode proximum ! "* But that which I am describing still more nearly resembles it, wearing, as it were, its very habit ; so much so, that at first sight it might almost be mistaken for a small specimen of Areoda .Leachii. The general colour of the animal ; the sculpture of the head, thorax and elytra ; its distinct nasus or clypeus ; its labium, labrum, maxille and legs, are all very similar. But in Mimela, as in Euchlora, the mandibule are . concealed under the nasus; whereas in Areoda they are very visible, nor have they the dorsal process or tooth observable in the Rutelide. In the two fotmer, the antenne consist of nine joints, in the latter of ten. In them the posterior lobe of the thorax is more obsolete than in this. In Areoda the last dorsal * Hore Entomolog. 148. f 42 Rev. W. Kirby on Mr. Macleay's [Dzc s 4 pr dni of the abdomen is not covered by the elytra; but in imela (a circumstance in which it agrees with Pelidnota Mac- - leay, another South American type), only the tip is uncovered. The latter, Mimela, has an elevated prosternum, and. a meta- sternum with a very short anterior mucro, so as to leave the mesosternum visible ; whereas in the former, Areoda, the proster- num is not visible without dissection, and the anterior mucro of the metasternum is elongated so as entirely to cover and conceal the mesosternum. The abdomen also in .Areoda is covered underneath with an infinity of very minute punctula, which give it a silky appearance; whereas in Mimela, and likewise Pelid- nota, it is levigated. i Though Mimela agrees in most of its essential characters with Euchlora, it differs sufficiently to form at least a subgenus in a modern system. In the former the mandibule have only two teeth at their apex; in the latter they have three. In this also the body is covered with innumerable impressed puncta of the same size ; whereas in that the puncta are of two sizes, the larger scattered, the smaller almost invisible and quite covering the surface. In Euchlora the last dorsal segment of the abdomen and part of the last but one are uncovered, the very reverse of Boring as we have seen, takes place in Mimela. hether the inner claw of the four anterior legs is bifid at the apex in the latter as it is in the former I cannot say, these tarsi being muti- lated in my specimens. | I shall here mention one very remarkable circumstance, no- ticed by no writer that I have met with, which distinguishes the mandibulz of the tribes of Melolontha F., though less conspicu- ous in Melolontha itself than in the Euclora, Rutelide, Anoplog- nathide, Chalepus, xc. The molary part, or that which appears . destined to comminute the food, is an orbicular or subquadrate flat plate at the inner base of the mandibles, scored out into numerous alternate transverse ridges and furrows. When the mandibles are open, the food, after it has been divided by their apex, must pass between these plates, which, supposing that the ridges of one mandible are received by the furrows of the other, as is most probably the case, must have vast force in comminut- ing the food, not so much by the friction of the plates, since that could scarcely take place in consequence of the above structure, but from their pressure and the action of the sharp ridges. The mandibula indeed is dues: fitted for this double office, the upper p being thin and adapted to cutting, and the base vastly thick and strong, as if its oflice was great ressure. At the base of the mandible in the genus before us, bat not in all, there are other short furrows forming an acute angle with the transverse ones, and opening into the gullet. In the Dynastide Macleay, the molary space is visible, but is smaller, and has fewer furrows. In Dynastes Enema it has only two obtuse ridges, and as many furrows, and appears evidently 1823.] Doctrine of Affinity and Analogy. 425 calculated to masticate, but more grossly, a harder substance than what is submitted to the action of the mandibles of Melo- lontha F. In a specimen of Areoda I found adhering to this molary plate, a substance resembling the pollen. of flowers, which may hence be conjectured to be the food of that genus.* From this account it seems I think evident, that a modifica- tion of the three kinds of teeth of vertebrate animals is to be found in these tribes as well as the Orthoptera, in which Mar- celle de Serres detected them; for we find the 2ncisores at the apex of the mandible, the mo/ares at its base, and the laniarii at the apex of the maxille ; though with respect to these last, I believe their primary use in very many insects is to hold the food for the action of the mandibule. MIMELA CHINENSIS. Long. corp. lin. 9. Habitat in China. Ex Mus. D™ | Crane. ! "Corpus glaberrimum, luteo-virens, colore sub luce mutabili, subtus cupreo tinctum. Caput supra antice punctis confluenti- bus rugulosum, posticé punctis sparsis conspersum, interque puncta creberrima minutissima, vix sine lente forti conspicua, subtus fulvum. Antenne fulve. Thorax punctis sparsis pünc- tulis minutissimis interjacentibus ut in capite. Elytra subru- gosa, puncto-striata: striis intermediis per paria ordinatis, inter- mites punctatis et punctulatissimis ut in thorace, &c. apice ibba. cvs a The insect I shall now describe is of a different order; and though it does not so strikingly assume the characters of another tribe or genus; yet, as it appears to partake of those of both Agrion and Lestes, exhibiting the general appearance and wings of the former, with some diagnosties of the latter, it seems not improperly introduced. AGRION BRIGHTW ELLI. Nigrum :. alis basi, in altero sexu apice macula, sanyin Long. corp. unc. 24. Expans. alar. unc. 23. Habitat in Brasilia. Ex. Mus. D. Brightwell. | Corpus nigrum, sub sole splendore obscure metallico subnitens. Caput subpilosum. |. Truncus brunneo-niger, supra lineis tribus longitudinalibus, intermedio elevato, nigris, sub alis primoribus strigis tribus obliquis, superiori obsoletiori, pallidis. Ale sub- hyaline, basi leete sanguinez, posticis apice macula subrotunda ejusdem coloris. Stigma nigrum oblongo-quadratum. Abdomen elongatum, tenue, transversim rugulosum, basi et apice subin- crassatum. Forceps analis rectus? inferiori subineurvo. * Since this paper was written, I met accidentally with a passage in Cuvier's Æna- tomie Comparée (iii. 321 —.), by which it appears that he had observed in the mandi- bles of the larve of the Lucani “ vers leur base, une surface molaire plane et striée ;” but he does not appear to have noticed this structure in any perfect insect. 426 Symbola Auree Mense, 5c. [Dxc. N. B. Inquibusdam speciminibus macula rotunda sanguinea alas primores item apice ornat. An sexíüs varietas ? Mun dedi in honorem D. Brightwell Norvicensis, insectorum collectoris indefessi, felicis; indagatoris acuti, docti. The upper anal forceps in the specimens of this insect that I have had an opportunity of examining were mutilated ; I cannot therefore be positive that it does not approach nearer to .Lestes of Dr. Leach, the stigma of which its wings exhibit, than to Agrion; but as these last are not suddenly narrower at their base, as in the former genus, I have considered it as belonging to the /atter. ARTICLE VI. Some Account of Maiers Symbola Auree Mense Duodecim Nationum. By the Rev. J.J. Conybeare, MGS. | (Concluded from yp. 247.) Book V. Arabian School, led by Avicenna.—Maier here arrives at.a period when the alchemical art did really flourish. Many of the writers whom he quotes were addicted to its study, and, in all probability, composed the works which pass under their names. One may fairly, however, except the first hero of this section, Mahomet, whom, after some questioning, he deter- mines to have been a philosophus per ignem, upon his favourite grounds, that the possession of those : extensive pecuniary resources always necessary for leaders or monarchs, is best accounted for by the supposition that they had the secret. It had been well or mankind if Mahomet, and some other of Maier's alchemical warriors, had possessed no better means than the Hermetic Gold of attaining to that bad eminence for which we usually suspect them to have been indebted rather to the Martial Steel. Of Avicenna nothing very remarkable is stated. He is followed by Geber, the obscurity of whose writings is acknow- ledged and defended at large, chiefly on the score of the enor- mities which would follow if the chrysopoetic art were plainly taught, and generally practised. It never seems to have occurred to Maier that if gold were thus multiplied it would become comparatively valueless. Artephius, the next associate of Avicenna, appears to have written on metaphysics and necro- mancy. Maier, however, contends, that it had all an alchemical meaning. Next follows Rhazes, from one of whose dicta it should appear, that the alchemist’s secret lay not so much in the materials with which he operated, as in their respective quanti- ties. ‘ Quicunque ignorat pondera, non laboret in, nostris libris ; nam philosophi nihil suarum rerum posuerunt, nec aliud occulta- 1823.] Symbola Aurea Mensa, &c. | 4127 verunt, nisi pondera." A great number of Arabian philosophers are mentioned, and a story quoted from the * Aurora Resurgens” of a Christian captive receiving from his Saracen master his freedom, and a portion of the stone. This was capable not only of transmuting metals, but of healing. “Give the powder (says the adept) to a leper; let him go to bed, and cover himself with a counterpane, or sudary (sudario), and he shall be cüred." It seems not improbable that some powerful mercurial, or rather antimonial remedy, was occasionally administered under this mysterious veil. Maier allows throughout this chapter that. many soi-disant speculators in the art were no better than imposters. He professes to give some account of the. points * an quibus omnes chemici conveniunt." . All metals they univer- sally believe to be generated beneath the earth from fumes (which are hot and dry), and vapours which are cold and moist. The rest of his argument seems to amount to this, that these four elements uniting in different proportions to form every known metallic substance, it is possible for art so to readjust those proportions as to convert the baser metals into the more perfect. * Ask (he continues) whether iron be not converted into copper at Goslar and elsewhere,* iron into steel, and /ead into mercury." Book VI. The German School, led by Albertus Magnus, the account of whose life contains but httle interesting. . Maier rejects the traditionary tales of gold found in a human scull, and the vine with golden tendrils, and the golden-toothed Silesian boy. It is singular that he does not contrive to find allegories in them. Albert is followed by Bernhard, of Treves, whose herme- tic philosophy is “in manibus omnium et admiratione," and Basil Valentine, whose works “ doctorum indoctorumque manibus quotidie terantur." ‘The fame of the latter has survived that of the former. Valentine is followed by Alanus de Insulis, better known to English antiquaries as the Expositor of the Prophecies attri- buted to Merlin. A “ Liber Chemie” is quoted as his produc- tion, and great merit is ascribed to him for applying to the pur- oses of chemical digestion and evaporation the heat of a dung- hill. It seems to have been an object with the artists to obtain, à continued and equable heat, lower than that of the furnace, and not supported by any visible fire. R. Lullius for this pur- Wes used a mixture of horse-dung and quicklime. Maier is oud in the praise of this philosophical bath, and even minute in his directions for the choice of its principal ingredient. He shortly after dwells much on the ignis philosophicus, which is * This transmutation obtained belief so late as a century after our author's day, even from the elder Geoffroy.—(See Le Pluche's History of the Heavens, vol. ii. p. 70.) + See the article Antimony in most of the larger Chemical Systems. His ‘* Currus Triumphalis Antimonii,” and * Last Will and Testament,” were translated into En- glish towards the end of the 17th century. É 428 Symbola Auree Mense, &c. : [Dec. not the sathe with common fire. It burns without flame, and “in summis montibus delitescens non extinguitur"... Elsewhere he states, that the philosophical gold, like the philosophi- cal fire, is not the same with vulgar gold; the truest position, I apprehend, in the whole course of his work. The two Hollandi, J. Pontanus, and others, succeed, the merits of each Aero being illustrated, as usual, by some reference to a quotation from their rincipal works. In two secrets ascribed to Greverus, he pro- | si to find the stone Pantaura, and the water of gold of Philo- stratus. The former he states to be capable of drawing other stones to itself, and to be ** re aut certe effectu," the same with the eagle stone.* Of the latter, he affirms that it can be held by a metallic vessel only, and that the more compact metals arë the fittest for the purpose. Maier gives a long but lame defetice of that singular quack Paracelsus, and a somewhat more enter- taining account of the Rosicrucians, who are formally invited to join the hermetic circle, Our author writes with the air of one extremely anxious to believe all that was reported of this myste- rious fraternity, and, perhaps, to earn by his obsequiousness (like the Jew in Kenilworth) the honour of participating in their secrets. He addresses to them sundry very indifferent speci- mens of Latin verse. Amid the intentional obscurity and meta- physical trifling of this chapter, it is difficult to find any thing practical, or even intelligible. He mentions the increase of weight which some metals gain in the fire, as a matter altogether unaccountable “ aliquid miraculi contingit." Book VII. The French School 1s led by Arnold de Villeneuve, of whose character our author enters into a long defence, rather declamatory than argumentative. Tlie reproaches of his enemies, however, seem (as they are here represented) tó have had no better foundation; they turn chiefly on his having attacked the authority of the Papal See. His claims to rank high as an alchymist must be conceded, for his contemporaries esteemed him a conjurer. So far Maier. Arnold was, however, in truth, for his age, no common man; and chemistry, as well as religion, was indebted to his researches. He is said to have discovered the spirits of wine, and of turpentine.+ Arnold is followed by Vincent of Beauvais, certainly one‘of the most laborious and generally informed writers of the Middle Ages. His Speculum Naturale (from which Maier quotes one short sentence appa- rently in favour of alchemy) is the largest and most interesting * The well-known geode containing in its hollow à moveable nodule. If this were the Pantaura, it might be among the symbols of the cosmological schools, from which we have seen that the alchemists so largely borrowed. ‘* The genuine Pantaura is (says Maier) tery scarce; but what, you will ask, has it to do with the work? Is not gold, I answer, generated in the hardest stones, as in pyrites, cadmia, garnet, and lapis lazuli ? " + See Arnaud de Villeneuve in the Dictionnaire Historique of L'Advocat, &c. ; Mosheim Eccl. H. vol. iii. p, 36, and Flacii Testes Veritatis (sub nomine). Bergman mentions him as one of the earliest writers who notice distilled vinous spirits. WATER Lr VEAN EN e s REN O - Kra 1823.] Symbola Aurea Mense, &c. ` 429 Eneyclopedia which I know of the philosophy and. natural history of that period. It seems to have been laid under contri- bution pretty largely, if not altogether copied, in a work better known to our own black letter students, ** Bartholomeus de pro- puetatibus rerum," I have now before me what a bibliographer would term a venerable and perfect copy of Vincent's S. N. (Cologne, 1494.) The sixth and seventh books contain much alchemical matter, chiefly extracted from Avicenna, and a work termed Alchemiste. From this latter, the passage quoted by Maier as Vincent's own is taken, and it occurs in the 31st chap- ter of the 6th book.* ; Vocatur (says the alchemist of the great secret) Elixir, et dicitur Lapis, non Lapis. Lapis quia teritur: Non Lapis quia funditur et currit in igne absque evaporatione sicut aurum. Nec ` est alia rescui proprietas illa conveniat. Can he mean that there . is but one substance which fulfils these two conditions of being levigable, and fusible without evaporation? Vincent himself is not, however, answerable for this bold assertion. He seems to have been here as elsewhere merely a transcriber and compiler of others. Nicolas Flamel, well known for his chemical hiero- — glyphies, follows ; and the catalogue is terminated by the notice of some authors living in. Maier's own day. One of these, Dio- nysius Zacharius, is vehemently defended against some nameless writer who had attacked him and his Alchemy. The defenceis accompanied by a singular concession, * that the alchemist did not succeed once in a thousand times ;" and that there was, there- fore, but too much ground for the arguments by which the unskilful endeavoured to deter their friends from the pursuit. of the art, and to depreciate its professors. The next character mentioned as an alchemist affords a sin- gular instance of Maier's blindness or deception. Ferrelius, the physician, does not appear to have. meddled with alchemy ; but in a treatise ‘ de abditis rerum causis," he states that having read in Hippocrates “esse aliquid divini (ro0sioy) in mor- bis),” he had applied himself to its discovery. Maier decides peremptorily, that the ** divini aliquid" must be the philoso- pher's stone, and the diseases those of metals (as he afterwards terms lead aurum leprosum). He abuses accordingly those who could not penetrate, or who blamed, the obscurity of Fernel’s work. He now proceeds to give a short statistical account of France (apparently from B. dela Vigenere), enlarging particu- larly on the revenues of the Gallican church as a proof of the riches and piety of their early kings. The book ends, as usual, with a syllogistic contest. Book VIII. Contains the Italian School, headed by the cer- tainly better known to the learned world asa theologian than an * Maier refers for it to the Ist book, where I cannot at the moment find it, 430 Symbola Auree Mense, 5c. [Dzc. alchemist, Thomas Aquinas. Maier, however, defends his claim to this title on the credit of some works circulated under his name. They are probably f Jem but a quotation from one of them may serve to show how curiously the lovers of the scholastic philosophy were misled by reasoning on the Aristotelic ualities of the supposed elements. * Inveni (says the writer escribing the result of his operations) quendam lapidem rubeum clarissimum, diaphanum et lucidum, et in eo conspexi omnes formas elementorum, et etiam eorum contrarietates in illa materia lapidis: Ex rubedine enim respexi formam ignis, ex diapha- nitate formam aeris et ex luciditetà formam aque.” Maier, under this head, speaks more gig than usual of antimon (terram nigram oculosam, Antim. Hispanicum, Stimmi Itali- cum) as the chief ingredient prescribed by T. Aquinas and others for the production of the wonderful stone. iors anti- mony one philosopher, he tells us, had produced mercury, lead, copper, tron, silver, gold, and hepar.* Others (who seem to have been somewhat more honest in their professions), Regulus, white, yellow and red flowers, oil, glass, and salt. It is needless to point out to your chemical readers the probability of the latter assertion, or the modern synonymes of the substances thus obtained. He proceeds to enumerate the various places where antimony has been found; but lest he should make his trea- sure too common, quickly relapses into the alchemist; “ Which, you will ask, of these antimonies are we to choose? I answer, the philosophical.” All varieties are not equally good for the work ; and if any one fail, it is because he has chosen a wrong one, or having (as Aquinas rightly advises) worked with the Spanish, has not understood its preparation (^ e vulgari nempe faciendum est physicam.)" | mong the followers of Aquinas, are enumerated the poets J. A. Augurellus and M. Palingenius. Their alchemical strains, if we may judge from the specimens adduced by Maier, are cer- tainly far more classical and attractive than those of our own ancestors, for the preservation of which we are indebted to the ill-placed zeal aa industry of Ashmole. Maier states that S gives wise and cautious directions for the behaviour and carriage which the adept should observe “ i» order to. avoid the suspicion of being an alchemist, a suspicion which might involve him in many difficulties with the malevolent and unworthy.” Some statistical information is added; and the arguments which follow descend more to particulars than is usual with our * Itis not impossible that a practised chemist even of those early days may, in ope- rating on large quantities of an impure grey antimonial ore, have found traces at least of lead, copper, iron, silver, and the sulphur at least of his hepar, The metallic anti- mony (fusible at.a very low heat) might itself be one variety of the philosophical mercury. 1828.] - Symbole Ayee Mense, &c. 431 author. He infers the possibility of fixing mercury into gold from the: certainty. of its being fixable, ‘“ fumo sulphuris ex plumbo,” or * fumo plumbi crudi," (does he mean of galena?) and again from the known fact, that gold by the action of a certain water may be resolved into a red tincture, or colouring matter and mercury. He evidently lays much stress on the extraction of this colouring principle. - Book IX. which is meagre, -and of little interest, professes to give an account of the Spanish School. This is led by Ray- mund Lully, concerning whom our author appears firmly to believe that he coined Rose nobles of alchemical gold for our Edward III. and prolonged his own life by the Elixir till the age of 140 years.: He relates also the tale of Lully's making seven statues of the philosophical gold and silver for the church of Catalonia, which he who prefers fiction clothed in metre may . see in Norton's Ordinall.* Lully was doubtless a man of various information for his day, and a most voluminous writer. He stood high in the estimation of our English alchemists. Sir E. . Kelly, who denounces most of his brother adepts in a tone of true magistery,} says of himself, ; < though I write not half so swete as Tully, Yet shall you find I trace the steps of Lully.” No other Spanish philosopher is mentioned at any length. The. chapter is eked out with some instances of Spanish cruelty, one resembling the story commonly told of Kirk. The argumenta-. tions which as usual close the book are even duller than usual ;. I hasten, therefore, to Book X. which treats of the English School, and may be of. some interest to antiquarian, if not to chemical inquirers. Roger Bacon, as might be expected, is their leader. Maier is chiefly engaged in proving him to have been no conjurer, and to have had no connexion with Friar Bungay and the brazen head. * Haec (says he) fabulosa et fictitia sunt, quamvis in publicis. comeediis populo ibi (¿n Anglia) proponantur." The seven years’ labour feigned to have been spent on this head must have been given to the search of the stone, which is further proved by the . existence of some alchemical tracts and letters passing under Bacon's name, one of which contains a valuable chemical axiom, applicable, according to Maier, to many other works besides .* Ashmole's Theatrum Chymicum, p. 21, + All you that faine philosophers would be, — And night and day in Geber’s kitchen broyle, . Wasting the chipps of ancient Hermes’ tree, Weening to turne them to a pretious oyle ; The more you worke, the more you lose and spoile. To you I say how learn’d so e’er you he, Goe burne your books, and come.and learne of me. 3 (Ashmole, T. C. B. p. 324.) 432 Symbola Aurea Mense, &c. [Dzc. Bacon’s. “Cum dico veritatem, mendacium puta; cum menda- cium, veritatem." To Bacon succeed Garlandus (so named from the title of his work), who flourished about the end of the llth century, and made his countrymen acquainted with much of Arabian science, which he had learned dira his residence in Spain. Dastin.* Ricardus Anglus (quere if the same with the Richard Carpenter of Ashmole), from whom several extracts are given chiefly to show that the sulphur philosophorum is not common brimstone. Jtipley,+ of whose knowledge he speaks highly ; the extracts given relate chiefly to the variety of men-. strua requisite for the adept ; but even here there is ambiguity ; for Lully, he tells us, held that there were two only “ unum resolvens, alterum resolvendum ; " while others held three. One of Ripley's axioms (if I do not misunderstand it) bespeaks con- siderable practical knowledge of chemical compounds. ‘ Omnis spiritus figitur cum calcibus sui generis;" or, as it would be expressed in the language of the present day, “ Every acid forms permanent compounds with certain bases for which it has a strong affinity.” Ripley is followed by Norton, whose Ordinall, Maier proposed to translate and publish. From this work (which may be seen in Ashmole's Theatrum Ch.) he extracts some curious narratives as to the folly of some pretenders to art, and the hard treatment of its real professors. He corrobo- rates Norton's assertion as to the number and proficiency of the philosophers residing in London towards the end of the 15th century by the authority of an Englishman named Knight, who assured him (Maier) that there was still extant in the library of Westminster Abbey, a manuscript account of the sums paid to the king by these artists. Cremer (abbot of Westminster), Ed- ward Kelly, a Scot named Willebius ME ?) (whose projections had but lately astonished all Italy, France, and Germany), Giles de Vadis, Duns Scotus, and the wizard Michael Seot, make up the list of English adepts. He mentions an anecdote of an ex-monk which confirms the belief that alchemy was much studied in the conventual establishments, and the knowledge of its secrets thought to be still possessed by many of their ancient inmates. d Maier subjoins to this account of English philosophers what he terms a Xenium or valedictory epistle of thanks for the hospitalities he had received in this country. It contains more, however, of complaint grounded on the low estimation in which the English held all foreigners, and the illiberal manner in which they derided and insulted them, especially in their stage plays. These he describes as acted daily in four orfive different * See Ashmole, T. €. p. 257, + See Ashmole, p. 314, &c. i Ibid, p. 466, 481. and elsewhere, especially the metrical narrative of Charnock, which affords a most characteristic and interesting picture of the delusions of the art, 1823.] Symbola Auree Mense, &c. 433 theatres, and as having a most pernicious effect on public morals. - Personally he complains that they never introduce a German character but as a stammering and barbarous drunkard ; and that they describe the Emperor as a petty king (Regulum). But his chief invectives are levelled against tire Gvvin,* who was censor of the Apothecaries' Company, but was oftener to be found in the tavern than the laboratory. Gvvin, among other obloquies, had affirmed that the Saxon nobles were impoverished by their pursuit of alchemy. Maier of course treats this as a villanous falsehood. He proceeds. to retort the. charge of national drunkenness, contending that the vice is more common, and its effects more publicly disgusting im England. . He next answers at some length to Camden’s assertion, .that the nobles of England were more dignified and independent than those of Germany; then defends the Lutheran church, and attacks what appear to him the incongruities of our reformed worship and ecclesiastical customs. He objects especially to the touching for the king’s evil, and maintains that the alledged cures were the work partly of imagination, and partly of the alchemical power of gold. He ends by reprobating a part of our criminal law, and our pronunciation of the Latin, .and even of our own language. ,Maier's account of his visit to England is corrobo- rated by Ashmole. ‘ He came (says that eminent mercurtophi- list) out of Germany to live in England purposely. that he might so understand, our English tongue as to translate Norton’s Ordi- nall into Latin verse, which most judiciously and learnedly he did; yet (to our shame be it spoken) his entertainment was too coarse for so deserving a scholar.” From the logical discussions which, as usual, close the book, we learn that it was agreed, both by the advocates and adversaries of the science ; 1. That nature did transform the imperfect metals into the perfect, taking for that operation more than. a thousand years. 2. That all metals are composed of volatile particles (Fumi). 3, That both parties admitted the influence of the stars, the alchemist only contending that they were never adverse to the making or using the tincture. Roger Bacon is made to affirm that each metal contains. its peculiar mercury mixed with a corruptible sulphur, which latter may be separated by the application of the fixed, tinged, and. penetrating mercury, i. e. the tincture. Gold itself (he proceeds), is mercury entirely freed from this sulphur, as may be concluded. from its weight, splendour, and other accidents. The learned. who have denied the existence of the philosopher’s stone are; briefly dismissed: with the: conclusive argument, that. “ whatso-. ever they may know of other arts, they know nothing of this." Books XI. and XII. relate to the Hungarian. and Sarmatian . Schools led by Melchior Cibinensis, and an anonymous writer} * President of Gresham College, and a learned physician.—(See Chalmer's Biograph. Dictionary.) T Anonymus Sarmata. New Series, vow. vi. 2F 434 Symbola. Aurea Mense, &c. [Dec. In the former, it is asserted, that there are for certain in Bohe- mia some nobles of Hungarian origin who derive great riches from the practice of alchemy. ‘The mines of Chemnitz are mentioned, and a tolerably accurate account given of the various substances with which the gold of that district is naturally inter- mixed, and of the method of extracting it. Maier notices the care. requisite in the roasting those ores which contain zinc, if united to arsenic, or other volatile matters, lest a portion should be lost in the operation. For his account of these matters, he is, l suspect, chiefly indebted to Ercker and Agricola. His philo- sophical rationale of the processes is sufficiently confused and incorrect. . He subjoins some account of the revenues of the Turkish Empire, which he allows to result more from the art of using steel than that of making gold. "The Sarmatian article is made up by an allegorical description of his travels (chiefly travels by the fireside) through the four quarters of the globe in search of his Phenix. His first reason for engaging in this pursuit appears to have been the wish of ascertaining the re- puted medical virtues of the Elixir. He ends with a prayer, some indifferent Latin poetry, and two of the hymns ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus. | The rank which Maier held in his own profession, the learn- ing which he unquestionably possessed, and the tenour of the religious and moral sentiments which are occasionally inter- spersed throughout his works, forbid us, I think, ‘to stigmatize him. at once as a mere imposter, like the Cagliostros and Dou- sterswivels of modern history or fiction. He makes no boast of his own alchemical qualifications, nor does he (any where in this work) assert himself to have made gold, or seen it made by others. He firmly believed (I think), that the cause of alchemy was defensible both by sound argument and direct evidence ; and it would be unfair to censure him too severely for not exacting, two centuries.ago, the species of proof which we are accustomed to demand in matters of criticism and of natural philosophy. It is well known that hundreds both in his own day, and for the whole at least of the 17th century, participated in the same delusion. That delusion doubtless arose out of the imperfect state of chemical knowledge, and was as doubtless occasionally fostered by the arts of interested pretenders ; but it is not difficult to perceive some at least of the causes which obtained for it the credence of persons destitute neither of talent nor good intentions. The powerful and singular effects of mer- curial and antimonial medicines were well calculated to suggest or countenance the: possible existence of a Panacea. The altered characters which metals assume in the state of alloys, | and the obscure forms in which they exist naturally, as ores, rendered their transmutation less incredible. The cause too which contributed largely to the deception may be collected from what has been more than once noticed in the present -— n en em. a a ——— H—————————————ÉJ MM 1823] — Col. Beaufoy’s Astronomical Observations. 435 abstract. We have seen that all the alchemical authorities agree jn the description of certain preliminary results as neces- sary to the completion of the great work, and as indisputable Prognostics of success. The philosopher, therefore, believed umself to be in the way, if he had obtained the means of keep- ing up and moderating the heat of his furnaces, if he had effected a seeming fixation of mercury or its calces, or extracted a tinc- ture, produced any thing, thatis, solid or liquid, approaching to the deep-red or orange colour, supposed to be characteristic of gold. Yet more if he had procured a ponderous result of a ruby-like tinge, or even if the materials on which he operated underwent certain changes of colour in the process, did he flatter himself that he was not far from the preat desideratum. However these signs of the work may have been in their day sufficient inducements to so unreasonable and unprofitable a waste of time and means, your readers will have no difficulty in understanding, that they might any, or all of them, manifest themselves repeatedly in the complicated and lengthened opera- tions of the experimentalist, without bringing dem one hair's breadth nearer to the fabrication or possession of Gold. l am, dear Sir, very truly yours, J. J. CONYBEARE, AnricLE VII. Astronomical Observations, 1823. By Col. Beaufoy, FRS, Bushey Heath, near Stanmore. Latitude 519 $7’ 44:3" North. Longitude West in time 1^ 20:93”, ` Oct. 25. Emersion of Jupiter’s third j 12, 31’ 13" Mean Time at Bushey, satellite AE P DIURNE S T .€ 12 32 34 Mean Time at Greenwich. Nov, 1. Immersion of Jupiter’s third $ 13 31 28 Mean Time at Bushey. satellite. ................ C 13. 32 49 Mean Time at Greenwich, Nov, 12. Immersion of Jupiter's first § 10 18 25 Mean Time at Bushey. sniellite, Jj 4. Led esoq eese i I0 19 46 Mean Time at Greenwich, 4*2 436 Prof. Cumming on Thermomagnetic Rotation. (Dc. ARTICLE VIII. On Thermomagnetic Rotation. By, the Rev. J. Cumming, MA. Professor of Chemistry in the University of Cambridge. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) MY DEAR SIR, Cambridge, Nov. 18, 1823. ! In the Annals of Philosophy for September, you did me the favour to insert a notice of two instruments for exhibiting the rotation of wires by thermoelectricity ; the magnet being applied externally in the one, and internally in the other.’ The parallelogram of silver and platina to which the magnet was applied externally, was attached to an agate cap, and the whole poised on the point of a long needle, in which case a counterpoise was' obviously necessary. I have since found it more convenient to bend the parallelogram into the form of a semicircle, having the agate cap nearer to the wire than the centre of the circle. A lamp and magnet being placed Ap to each other are sufficient to produce rotation ; but the effect is improved by adding another magnet at 90? from the first, having its poles in the contrary direction, and being connected. with it by a bar of soft iron placed beneath them. With this arrangement, the rotation will be from right to left, or from left to right, according to the position of the lamp. ° UNA A B, platina; -B.C F D A, silver; E, agate cap. | | The second magnetis placed near FG, [|B C having its N end upwards. If the lamp be applied beneath B, the rotation is in the direction BGA; but if © it be opposite to F G, the rotation is A B AGB. The annexed figure represents the T apparatus, which, exclusive of the agate cap weighs about four grains. S. If six parts of bismuth, and one of antimony in powder, mixed together, and inclosed in a glass tube, be touched i by a hot wire connected with the galva- WN noscope, the deviation is first positive, . and then negative, as I have before mentioned to be the case with the alloy of these metals melted together in the same pro- portions. I am, dear Sir, very truly yours, J. CUMMING. | | 18283.] | On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts, —.- 437 ARTICLE IX. ` On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. : By H. J. Brooke, Esq. FRS. .. Continued from p. 315.) , Sulphate of Zinc. "law indebted to.Mr. Teschemacher for some brilliant and remarkably perfect crystals of this salt, which may be cleaved parallel to the plane ^ of the annexed figure, but I have not observed distinct cleavages in any other direction. . The primary form is a right rhombic prism. ! Dion! 45d d de. 38d 919.024 hid Mionf o. iai. 135 33 Meet i mde, d ay Mion Bie quis ec oup 134 27 QN! IN oos A. BE OOS arka arasan 198 58 E WORT ITO E aeaa 120 0 hon suc poros tibiis 00149529 | Sulphate of Nickel. . Lreceived: some time since from Mr. R. Phillips some crystals of this salt, which were right rhombic prisms ; and. shortly. after- wards Mr. Cooper supplied. me with others which were square prisms. On noticing this difference of form, the first idea that suggested itself was, that there might be some difference in the proportion of water in the two salts, as both Mr. P. and Mr. C. were satisfied, from the manner of preparing them, that both must be free from impurity. The surfaces of the square prisms obtained by Mr. Cooper not being so brillant as might be desired, he dissolved some of these crystals in distilled water, on the evaporation of which he was surprised to find it deposit rhombic prisms similar to those I had received from Mr. Phillips, and without the intermixture of a single square prism. Ón learning this fact, Mr. Phillips examined the solution from which his first crystals had been obtained, and he found that it had since deposited together others of each of these forms, and the crystals of each were observed frequently. to inclose smaller ones belonging to the other class. . ; On these differences of form being discovered,. Mr. Cooper and Mr. Phillips analysed several quantities .of the crystals of each, and obtained nearly corresponding results, as will ap- ow from a paper by Mr. Phillips immediately following this. Previously, however, to their analysis, Mr. Cooper reduced to minute fragments, and exposed to the air for several days, each 488 On the Crystalline Forms of Artificial Salts. [DEc, of the quantities he was about to examine, and he found that the rhombic prisms had lost one atom of water, while the square a experienced no loss, | As the square prisms formed in Mr. hillips's solution were not deposited until that had been much reduced by evaporation, it appeared probable that an excess of acid might be necessary to their production. Mr. Cooper, therefore, dissolved some of the rhombic prisms in dilute sulphu- ric acid, and from this solution square prisms were obtained. Thus it was ascertained that either the square or the rhombic prisms might be produced at pleasure, by crystallizing the salt from a solution in dilute sulphuric acid, or in water. It appears from the analyses of the two sets of crystals, that between 14 and 2 per cent, of the water of the rhombic prisms has been replaced by sulphuric acid in the square ones, But as this difference does not constitute any atomic disparity of com- position in the two fórms, we may probably ascribe their differ- ence to some cause analogous to that which has impressed on arragonite a crystalline form distinct from. that of common car- bonate of lime. Sulphate of Nickel in Rhombic Prisms. The form and measurements of this salt approach so ve nearly to those of sulphate of xinc, that I am inclined to doubt of there being any real difference between them. If there be any, it will not exceed 2’ or 3’ in the inclination of M on M’, which, in many of the crystals of this salt approaches nearer to 91° 10’ than to 91° 7^. We may, therefore, refer to the measurements - iven above for the angles of these crystals. But there is a denos in the cleavages of the two salts, for this may be cleaved easily parallel to its lateral primary planes. Sulphate of. Nickel in Square Prisms. This is the form of the crystals of this salt alluded to by Dr. Wollaston in a paper which appeared in the Annals of Philoso- phy, vol. 11, p. 236, but without any mea- ' surements. The crystals may be cleaved parallel to the planes P, M, and M’, of the accompanying figure, which are its primary planes. | Pon M, or M, ...... 909? C Ulss...» e€*«9997292*2*989 126 24 "PARERE DENT IPUS ersi 110 40 BU gur Ya adpan escup Mi Mon Moisstcisirs» 90 Q Sulphate of Nickel and Potash. This salt was first given to me bya friend as sulphate of nickel, E « 1823.] MrR. Phillips's Analysis of Sulphate.of Nickel. 439 and L afterwards received some good crys- — tals of it from Mr. Cooper, as a double salt. The primary form is an oblique rhombic prism. P om Mion M. esaa » 1027.155 P ORS OE Cor nasurene. 154. 32. P ORG exis ce csccccces MO 17 M oM ba oe oceh ne as RUD. LU M on kinne kevin doa ahago 1:28 Sulphate of Nickel and Zinc. | Observing the: similarity of the forms of one of the sulphates of nickel and of the sulphate of zinc, Mr. Phillips dissolved equivalent proportions of the two salts in water, and obtained from the solution a new salt, having the same form and measure- ments as the crystals which had been dissolved. I have attempted to cleave several crystals of this double salt, but without discovering any decided cleavage planes in any di- rection. ARTICLE X. Analysis of the Sulphates of Nickel, deseribed in the preceding Tr aper. By R. Phillips, FRS. L. and E. &c. SULPHATE of nickel has been several times analysed; my intention, therefore, in subjecting this salt to examination was to attempt a discovery of the causes to which the different crystal- line forms it presents are referable. The composition of sulphate of nickel is stated as follows by j Dr. Thomson, M. Berzelius, Mr. Brande, Sulphuric acidi, e5 29:2 ..,,.. 2851. ,,..,. 28:25. .Oxide of nickel. ,, 24:8. ...... 26°72 ...... - 26:50 - Materi» soo 64 eve $;4G:0- Lieu a Ab Fada csd 45°00 100-0 100-00 99-75 One hundred grains of the crystals of this salt, in the form of rhombic prisms, were dissolved in water, and decomposed by nitrate of barytes; the sulphate of barytes obtained, taking the mean of two experiments, weighed 83:08 grains, equivalent to 28:16 of sulphuric acid. p Of the same salt 100 grains were decomposed by soda, and the precipitated oxide of nickel, after the requisite washing, was - dried and ignited. It weighed 26:3 grains. I repeated this experiment, and obtained rather more oxide, but I had afterwards reason to suppose that the sulphate of soda formed had not been 440 Mr. R. Phillips Analysis of Sulphate of Nickel. (Dec. thoroughly pp by washing. If we then consider the deficiency of the weight, as water of crystallization, the salt is composed of | | Sulphuric acids. .ssecseeeecseeeees 28:16 Oxide of nickel. ...,............... 26:30 Water. cc ee ee eode ER o eo oo o eo o S 40:04 — — .100*00 If we suppose an atom of oxide of nickel to be = 37, the composition of the salt will be: Sulphuric acid **9*25*979*5 9922**9»9*2292*209 28:57 Oxide'of nickel. 1.5. vies Nas v» ta 2049 Water. @seeoeveves eeee . (E E e E EEEE] 45:00 100-00 These proportions, it will be observed, do not differ much from those stated by M. Berzelius and Mr. Brande. One hundred grains of the square prisms of sulphate of nickel were treated as above described : the mean of the experiments gave 88°65 of sulphate of barytes, equivalent to 30 of sulphuric acid; the oxide of nickel amounted to 26:2 grains. This salt, therefore, consists of Sulphuric DOME. + Wk. bigic'the + a cedet l2 30:0 Oxide of nickel gis onc vi vac dy sat ecos a OE EE PARI ERI aM Oe diede das uh c MP 100-0 The excess of sulphuric acid contained in the square prisms, amounting to less than 2 per cent. cannot, I think, be consi- dered as existing in a state of combination, but merely of mixture; and as such, we should not expect that it would influence the crystalline form of the salt. | It will be proper to state, that the result of Mr. Cooper's analy- sis agreed very nearly with my own, and that I confirmed the ac- curacy of his observations with respect to the different effects produced: on these salts by exposure to the air; the rhombic prisms lost one atom of water, while 100 grains of the square prisms suffered a diminution of only one-tenth of a grain in neut r. Cooper informs me that he has analyzed the sulphate of nickel and potash, and finds that it is composed of Sulphuric Md paced bavions IPIS E 37:90 Oxide of nickel. .......... seve buh 17°54 Potesh 2x2? NU. ARE ead ERU 20°48 Waters 3470. v HEAT NS ae —————— — 100-0€ 1823.] On the Temperature of Mines. 441 ARTICLE XI. . Substance of certain’ Papers on the Temperature of Mines, pub- Aer - the Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of ornwall. WHEN reviewing the second volume of the Transactions of the Cornish Geological Society, Annals, N. S. v. 295, we men- tioned that a memoir would shortly appear in our journal, con- taining a full account of the facts detailed in four papers on the temperature of mines published in that volume. Various circum- stances have interfered to prevent the completion of the memoir, and as the period of its appearance is now uncertain, we purpose, in the present article, to give the substance of three of the papers alluded to, that of the fourth, by Mr. Moyle, having moa been detailed by its author in the Annals for January ast, p. 43. : I. 'The first paper (Trans. GSC. ii. 14—18) is by R. W. Fox, Esq. Member of the Society. My attention, he says, having been calledto this subjectin 1815, I instituted inquiries, and caused some experiments to be made in the mines of Huel Abraham, Dolcoath, Cook's Kitchen, Tincroft, and in the United Mines. The information I have thus acquired I have endeavoured to communicate in the accompanying scale, which exhibits at one view, the results which have been obtained in each of those mines. i The temperature in Cook's Kitchen and Tincroft, it may be remarked, was inferior to that in the other mines at correspond- ing depths ; owing, I presume, to the bottom levels of the two former having been for a considerable time filled with water, accumulated, without doubt,.partly from above; by which means, the temperature, not only of the water, but also of the air, in these mines, must have been affected. In the United Mines also, there was some water when the observations were made; but it remained too short a time, I apprehend, materially to affect the general temperature of the mine. Dolcoath and Huel Abraham were clear of water to the bottom ; and it will be observed that the temperature in the corresponding levels of these mines differed very little, and, with a few trifling excep- tions (which probably arose from local causes), the heat progres- sively increased, even to the greatest depths to which they have been hitherto explored. From Mr. Fox’s engraved scale, as mentioned aboye, the table on the following page has been drawn up, with a slight alteration in its arrangement to suit that mode of giving it :—a signifies the temperature of the air, w that of the water. 442 On the Temperature of Mines, (Dec. : TEMPERATURES. Y X x b- p ' n E A 4 [eee | E = bend P| aoa S " - iig E 2 H "de Ss C 3 a Ps EPI Lie | je E "» m ES ss Modi E E's E: 2 , [B5 cal Sok | BR EERTE à ; api gal | H8 Giles [ | 1 oe E a papi E sa” < 3 1. "a a aa 3i; i E 3 2233 ae] i tt E à UR EE. balli mmm NAUTARUM Iun ORARE 77 15 95| 64a. 56:5 a. Tub a n P 95 | 30 — — — 49°5 a, 525a — 35 45 = 60*5.a. — — ae — 45 ‘ 55 d m 62:5 a. “or 54°5 a. — — 50 ^60 — — «ic um 51:5 a. M. 55 65| 66°5 a. 63 a. sine — ede ms 6 TH — — 62 a. 56:5 a. ik ja 15 — 85 615a. | 639524. dg ma rp? as "m 95 105| 68 a. jt: ^ od ub di il 105 10 — AL ia. 61:5 a, 3 2 105 15 — ins vi 7» 2 un uy 10 1b =~ iid G Aki 61:5 a. ia 115 125| 685a. v r = — er: — 195 1 = — on 625a. |355.S & ad. 125 13. sni ve | a, — — — -—— 130 140 — Jas dix = 69*5 a. 71 a. 135 . 145| 69a » et : ois dr to i 145 150 — — — 63:5 a -— — 41495. 158 = 13:5 a. a E unt xi 155 160) — de a pi a 615 a. 155 165] 10a i a v: - He " * 12-5 a, 160 H0 = Eis Jak n vh 1354] 165 110: = ii uh 63:5 a 2, gh ri lis oen 10:5 a. | 10a. a sel T M5 185 125a "esl "lla e i ce i 68:5 a. 185 . 190] ip — w P «e pi os i 13:5 a. . 185 195 195a. rt ^ um d» i d i 18:5 a. 195: 9080 — | 329 « i phar be wi iL 995 3930 — ent ? d A = 1823.] On the Temperature of Mines. 443 II. The table which accompanies Mr, Fox's second. paper (Trans. GSC. ii. 19—28), contains a general view of the heat observed in, or near, the metallic veins, in different mines. I had madea second table, he remarks, containing the results of several experiments on the temperature of cross levels, and shafts, in some of the same mines, at a distance from any metallic veins ; but as its contents are too various, and extensive, to be com- prised in a printed sheet, I will merely mention a few of the particulars. | In Dolcoath, at the depth of 130 fathoms, where the temper- ature of the earth in the vein was 63°; its temperature in a. cross level, at the distance of 60 fathoms from the vein, was 62?.. In the United Mines, at the depth of 160 fathoms, the temper- ature of the earth in the vein, was 75°; but in a cross level, south of the vein, only 69°. | | In the same mines, the temperature of the water in the vein at 140 fathoms deep, was 67°; and that of the earth, 9 fathoms north of the vein, was exactly the same. In. Ting-tang, at 80 fathoms deep, the temperature of the earth in the vein was 64°; and at the depth of 110 fathoms, it was 68?; whilst in a cross level, 90 fathoms deep, and 30 fathoms distant from the vein, it was 64°. In Huel Squire, at the depth of 110 fathoms, the temperature of the air near the vein was 72°; but in a cross level, at some distance, it was 69°. : In Treskerby, at 120 fathoms deep, the temperature of the air near the vein was 72°; but at some distance, in a cross level, 66°. j In Chacewater, the temperature of the earth in the vein at 100 fathoms deep was 82?; and that of the air at some distance north of it, 79°. . These instances, which are selected from a great number, the result of which is very similar, will suffice to show, that the tem- perature, at a distance from the metallic veins, and at the same depths, is, on an average, nearly three degrees below that of the veins, as given in the printed table. In many of the observations referred to in the tables, the bulb of the thermometer was buried in the veins, or rock, to the depth of at least six or eight inches, and was filled round. with earth, &c. so as to prevent the free admission of air. If we take the mean temperature of the surface of the earth in this latitude at 53?, as given in Prof. Mayer's Tables ; the mean of the accompanying table shows an increase ofa little more than 6? of Fahr. for every 50 fathoms, or 300 feet in depth. As my second table gave a less ratio, perhaps we shall not much err, 1f we suppose an augmentation of one degree of heat for Tur 10 or 12 fathoms in depth, at least in this part of our island. It is however difficult to determine satisfactorily the true ratio of the increase of temperature, as it is evident that there exist many ^ 444 On the Temperature of Mines. [Dxc. local and accidental causes which operate in.our mines, and affect their temperature. The lighted candles, and the blasting of the rocks, have doubtless some influence in augmenting the heat ; and the presence of the workmen must also have the same tendency, although probably in a small degree at the bottom of deep mines, where the temperature so nearly approaches to that of the human body ; moreover, the warm vapour, and air, which always arise from the bottom of mines, must raise the tempera- ture of the upper levels in a greater or less degree, according to their relative situations. On the other hand, the currents of air which descend through some of the shafts, or are forced through the air-pipes for the supply of the miners, and likewise the water whieh finds its way through the strata and veins from more elevated situations, doubtless tend, in a considerable degree, to diminish the heat in the deeper levels. How far these opposite causes may counterbalance each other, it is not easy to ascertain; but if duly considered, they will greatly reconcile the want of complete accordance in the results noted in the tables ; and it is evident, that observations made on the temperature at the bottom of mines, are most to be con- fided in, not only for the foregoing reasons, but also because of the proximity of this part to the unbroken ground. There are some cases in which it cannot be supposed that the high temper- ature observed can be occasioned by any accidental. circum- stance. At the bottom of Dolcoath mine, for instance, there is a large stream of water issuing from one of the veins at 82° of Fahr. while the air near the same place is generally one or two degrees lower :—this is only one example amongst many of the same kind. The most striking one I have heard of, was reported to me by Capt. Hosken :—An accident having happened to a steam engine at the United Mines, the water increased so much as to fill the levels marked in the table 190.and 200 fathoms, under the surface ; and thus it continued for two days. - Imme- diately after it had been pumped out, and before the miners had begun to work in those levels, he ascertained the temperature of the ground in the upper one to be 874°, and in the lower one to be 88°. On renewing his observations some days after the men had resumed their work in these places, the heat had rather diminished than otherwise. It is worthy of notice, that the principal part of the work is not always carried.on in the deepest part of the mines: on the contrary, there are. often more workmen employed at twenty or thirty fathoms above the lowest part, than in the deepest level. If therefore the increase in the temperature were wholly the effect of adventitious causes, that increase would be greatest where those causes had their largest operation; but the facts which I have detailed in the table, prove that, however various may be the operation of aatto ata y circumstances in different pa of the mines, the temperature invariably increases with the epth. 1823.] - On the Temperature of Mines. 445 My friend and relative, Joseph T. Price, of Neath, Glamor- ganshire, has furnished me with the results of some observations made last spring, in three collieries in the neighbourhood of that place. The thermometer was buried for many hours from one to two feet under the ground, at the bottom of each of these collieries : in one of them, which was only 10 fathoms deep, the mercury stood at 50°; in another, 36 fathoms deep, it stood at — 58°; and in the third, which was 90 fathoms deep, it stood at 629, The difference between the first and last mentioned col- lieries was 12?, which ratio nearly corresponds with that obtained in our mines. r | It has been surmised that the heat. noticed in the mines may be attributed to the presence of metallic, and other inflammable substances ; but when all the facts are considered, no causes, merely local, can be imagined capable of producing such con- stant, extensive, and powerful effects. Ifthe water received its heat from the metallic veins, while passing through them, it would surely become strongly impregnated with mineral sub- stances ;—this is not, however, the case.’ I analyzed some from the deepest part of Dolcoath, taken at 82°, immediately from the copper vein, and obtained from a quarter of a pint of it only half a grain of residuum, consisting of sulphuric acid, some oxide of iron, and a little lime. I found a greater proportion of the same substances in some water from a cross level, ata distance from any vein, 200 fathoms deep, in the same mine. - Water from the bottom of the United Mines, of the tempera- ture of 82°, contained six grains of muriate of lime in a quarter of a pint. Some water taken from the deepest parts of Tres- kerby and Ting-tang, was, from the former mine, very slightly impregnated with sulphate of iron, and had a trace of muriatic acid; and that from the latter mine contained a very minute portion of the muriate of lime. » Since my last communication on the subject of the tempera- ture of mines, I have had a thermometer, four feet long, placed in a hole three feet deep, in a.copper vein, at the end of the deepest level, or gallery, in Dolcoath, which is 230 fathoms, or 1380 feet, under the surface ;:a spot where no workmen were employed, and where the current of air must have been small. The hole was filled with clay round the stem of the thermometer, so as to prevent the circulation of air near the bulb, and in this situation it remained more than eight months. It was often examined during that period, and was always found to indicate a temperature of 75°, or 751°, unless it had been recently over- flowed by water. This happened several times, in consequence of accidents to the machinery of the mine, and more than once, the water filled the level for some weeks. As soon as it had subsided, so as to permit access to the thermometer, the quick- silver was observed to have risen to 77°, but in two or three days it again fell to 752°. | : TURO 446 ^ 013 086 06 036 083 oI 01%. 008 008 061 060 OSI OSI OLI OLE 091 000 OSE | Ost OF Ori OSI OSI OI Oči Olt OIT oot 00t 06 06 08 08 . OL 0L 09 09 . 0c 09 OF OF — 0€ 06 06 05 or OL o1 Aw loq "pe jo juoxmo Suons v sua alo OH + *19j€A. IO YVI cire IY} JO FEY SI AING es won AAE corey THE, Arkydiog a sms S PHUL *4) ZIA. SSUDA aq osopur YAUM sxpor IY} ayouop szono[ pedea oq, “GN "à pun y a B874 | BL'9'5 | | 18 ?9'S]| $9»? D 98 '?'$ . L*A S cL'o'g OL '* *5) > e "V * LI Lj e . L Pia Dona 9 'A'D| 19'A'g . 044g 0L'v'5 =F 9L'*'D £9 2's 99 '^ g 0L'*'5 dps: S! eL'*'59 i po '4 'g OL‘? '5 89 '*'5 89 °° 'S SL F 1 0L '9 : 68 '9'q 01 '*'5 L'S 4 019D 8€ «'?'S £9 'A 'g 99 *e'S RL'?'S 69 '* '5 : 1 gg ** "5 OLD 99'*'9 | 089 °9'D $9 9'S | el9'v'g 099°? 'S 19 2 `D 79 “Ss olf 2'9 £98 S Ý 089 °? 'S oT9 "* 'S o29 '* '$ 2o99 °? °S I9 '^ 'S . e89 '^'g Zr mm Pa om eom i = POS o e , "3 ge | ge | TER AE | AE | Be REJ HENI oe » E = o — : sf | #9 Bi] HI ui i HEB HEN '$u124 IYF 4D9U 40 ut U2*/0 so sijdo(T 2u242 fip qm sowy hupuns fo soanjpaoduio y, oy? fo NWI, 1823.] ‘On the Temperature of Mines. 447 III. The third and last paper we have to abbreviate is by Dr. J. Forbes, late Secretary of the Society (Trans. ii. 159—217). 1. Huel Neptune.—Copper mine, situated in killas. Height above the level of the sea, about 200 feet. Depth, at the period the observations were made, 550 feet. (Depth in 1822, 750 feet.) Number of men employed under ground 120. Expenditure of candles per month 1200 Ibs. Expenditure of gunpowder ditto 250 lbs. - Quantity of water discharged per Jay 216,000 gallons. Temperature of this at the adit at the time the observations were made 60°. (in 1822, 62°.) Has been working 11 years (1822). 2. Botallack.—Tin and copper mine. Height above the level of the sea about 40 feet. Depth at the time the observations were made, 570 feet. (Depth in May, 1822, 672 feet). Number of men employed underground 150. Expenditure of candles per month 1200 bs. Expenditure of gunpowder ditto 600 E Quantity of water discharged by the pump daily 57,600 gallons. Temperature ofthis at the adit in 1819, 620, in 1822, 677. Has been worked 17 years (1822). | 3. Little Bounds.—Tin mine. In killas and granite. Height above the level of the sea 72 feet. Adit at the sea-level. Depth from the surface 504 feet. Number of men employed under ground 25. Expenditure of candles per month 48 lbs. Expen- diture of gunpowder ditto 60 lbs. Quantity of water discharged by the pumps daily 69,000 gallons. Temperature of this water 554°. This mine has been worked 30 years, but very little has been done in it of late years, and the water has consequently risen in it, to the 40 fathom level under the adit, that is, to the height of 192 feet from the bottom: it is kept under at this level by the partial action of the engine. 4. Ding Dong.—Tin. mine. In granite. Height above the sea level about 400 feet. Depth from the surface 606 feet. Number of men employed underground 120. Expenditure of candles per month 900 lbs. Expenditure of gunpowder ditto 300 Ibs. Quantity of water discharged by the pumps daily 50,000 gallons. Temperature of this at the adit, 61° Has been worked eight years. 5. Huel Vor—-Tin mine. In killas. Depth from the surface 948 feet. Number of men employed underground 548. Expen- diture of candles per month 3000 Ibs. Expenditure of gunpow- der ditto 3500 lbs. Quantity of water discharged per day 1,692,060 gallons. Temperature of this at the adit 67^. Has been worked 12 years. | 6. Dolcoath.—Copper mine. In killas. Height above the level of the sea about 300 feet. Depth from the surface in 1819, 1386 feet ; in 1822, 1428 feet. Number of men employed under- etae (1822) 800. Expenditure of candles per month 6000 Ibs, xpenditure of gunpowder ditto 2600 Ibs. Quantity of water discharged by the pumps daily 535,173 gallons. Temperature 448 Mr, W: Phillips on Cleavelandite. [D£c. of pump water at the adit (1822), in the eastern p^ ofthe mine, 72 ; in the western ditto (much shallower) 64?. Has been worked 20 years. | Mean Results of the Temperature of Six Mines. : Huel | Little | Ding Huel Depthiin: fest, Neptune. "tax p Bounds.| Dong. | Vor. Delecotin Mean. a. | w j a | t. | a. | s. | a. |. | a | w | a. | w | alw, 190to 150| 57 59 | 51 55 91 |5T 150 200| 56 60 | 58 | 54 | 54 51 |56 ` 200° 250, 56 61 51.| 55 60 | 57 | > 58 |56 250 300) 56 | 55 | 61 | 59 | 57 | 59 60 58 |58 300 350 58 | 54 55 | 55 57 |55 350 400 57 | 66 | 62 55 60 |59 400 450) 60 66 56 | 54 61 |54 450 500 60 |.59 60 |59 500 550) 67 | 67 | 67 | 68 61 | 60 | 64 65 |65 550 ` 600 63 | 63 63 |63 600 650 62 | 63 | 61 | 63 62 |63 650 — 700| ` _ | 64 | 64 65 | 64 | 65 |64 700.. 750 61 | 65 61 |65 150 — 800 68 | 68. 68 |68 800 ` 850 j 66 | 66 66 |66 850 - 900 "1.68. « |68 900 950 11 | 62 62 1 950 1150 10 | 66 | 70 |66 1150 . 1960 71| 71 | 11 M 1260 1350 16 | 14 | 76 [74 1350. _ 1460 83 | 19 |. 83 179 B. ARTICLE XII. On the Occurrence of Cleavelandite in certain British Rocks. By W. Phillips, FLS. MGS. &c. SoME specimens of the rock of Mount Sorrel, in Leicester- shire, lately brought from that place by my friend S. L. Kent, MGS. and myself, appear to be chiefly constituted of two varie- ties of felspar, common, and glassy. A third variety in other specimens is reddish or red, sometimes extremely red, and nearly opaque. ‘These appeared to us to be only varieties of the same mineral, and believing that mineral to be felspar, we should so have designated the whole in a communication which we purpose shortly to send for insertion in the Annals, on the rocks in question, and on those of Charnwood Forest, but for the remarks of M. Levy in the number for November, showing that DNA which had been considered as felspar is in fact cleave- andite. | | * Here there was a strong current of air, ot 1893.] Dr. Traill on some Thermomagnetic Experiments. 449 Felspar and cleavelandite, it is remarkable, agree in their earthy ingredients, which exist very nearly in the same propor- tions in both substances ; but they differ in this, that the 13 or 14 per cent. of potash in felspar is substituted by about 10 per cent. of soda in the cleavelandite, which, moreover, is not so hard as felspar. These minerals possess natural joints parallel to the planes of the doubly oblique prisms, which are considered to be the primary forms’ of the two minerals; but these forms differ so completely in the measurements of all their angles, that there is no hazard of mistaking the one for the other, after sub- mitting them to the reflective goniometer. This, in consequence of M. Levy’s paper, we have done, separately, and with care, and we find that in the Mount Sorrel rock, felspar and cleave- landite are intermixed ; but it is impossible for us even to guess their proportions as ingredients, since for the most part it is difficult, frequently impossible, to separate them by the eye. It may, however, be observed, that. the. felspar is frequently translucent or transparent, and often reddish ; the cleavelandite, white or yellowish-white, and nearly opaque, or various shades of red, and that the very red veins traversing the rock here and theré, are chiefly of this mineral. Abundance of coinciding measurements on fragments of both substances satisfy us of their aggregation in this rock. I have since sought for the cleavelandite in other rocks, and have found it, as well as felspar, in a beautiful porphyry from Glen Tilt ; the specimen was obliginely presented to me some years ago by Dr. Mac Culloch. In this specimen 1t is. both transparent and colourless, and red and opaque. I have also detected it in a porphyritic granite from Carnbrae in Cornwall : in this specimen it is translucent and colourless, and white and opaque, and felspar is more abundant in it. In the granite of Shap, in Westmorelond, there is an intermixture of a whitish or yellowish-white substance, of which some very minute and dull fragments have afforded measurements within one degree of those of the cleavelandite ; and I do not hesitate to believe that better specimens would prove it to be that mineral. ARTICLE XII. On some Thermomagnetic Experiments. By Dr. T. S. Traill. (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, Liverpool Royal Institution, Nov. 91, 1823. HaviNG been lately engaged in some thermomagnetic expe riments, I have met with results which none of the papers New Series, vor. v1. 26 450. Dr. Traill on some Thermomagnetic Experiments. [DEC on the subject that I have perused led me to expect. Should they appear to you sufficiently important, I transmit a short account of them for insertion in the Annals. The apparatus which I have found most convenient. consists of a bar of antimony 41 inches long, half an inch broad, and one-quarter of an inch thick. To this, a slip of copper equally broad, and bent as in the figure, is firmly attached by a few turns of copper wire.. This method of connecting them is better than by solder; because the joinings can then bear a, higher temperature. A spirit bun is the source of heat, and the devia- tions are observed with a delicate pocket compass, the needle of which is 14 inch long, and poised on an agate centre. - When the apparatus is placed in the magnetic meridian, with the slip of copper uppermost, as in the figure, and the lamp is applied to the N end of the bar, the needle placed within the rectangle, always deviates to the W ; while the compass placed in contact with any part of the outside of the rectangle. (whether copper or antimony) deviates to the E. | hese effects are reversed when the lamp is applied to the south end of the apparatus, other circumstances remaining the same. While the metallic surfaces in contact are bright, the deviation often amouuts to 75? within the rectangle, while without it, the deviation is usually 45°, or upwards; and the effect produced by the upright portions of the copper connecting piece, is less than of the horizontal parts of the same metallic slip. AA éclat contact of the compass with the metallic apparatus is not necessary. The effects were apparently as monet when the compass was placed ona PAN of glass about half an inch in thickness ; or even when held in the hand, without touching any part of the apparatus, especially when held within the paral- lelogram. Hence the magnetic power of such a combination extends to some distance font its surface, like the magnetism of a common magnet. Inclining the apparatus at different angles from 20? to 72°, produced no change in the deviations, provided the direction of the apparatus was in the plane of the magnetic meridian. - The inversion of the apparatus so as to place the antimony above the copper was then examined. When the N end of the bar was heated, and the compass on the upper, now outer surface of the antimony, and on all the outer surfaces of the rectangle, the deviation was still to the W, and all the interior surfaces of the rectangle showed deviation to the E. When the .893.] Dr. Traill on some Thermomagnetic Experiments. 461 south end was heated, the effects were reversed. When the apparatus was laid horizontally with the antimony on the mag- netic meridian, and the lamp applied to the N end, the compass placed on the upper surface of the antimony deviated to the W ; and when placed on the copper of the opposite limb to the E ; whether the copper was to the W or the E of the antimony. Heating the S end reversed the effects. From the care with which my friend Prof. Oersted appears to have placed one side of his compound apparatus in the magnetic meridian, and the notice of this arrangement by other philoso- phers, I was led to believe that it was essential to the success of these experiments that one of the bars should be in that line ; and my first experiments, with a.smaller apparatus, induced me to believe that there is no deviation of the needle when the appa- ratus is placed at right angles to the meridian ; but on repolish- ing the surfaces of the metals, where in contact, and applying the spirit lamp for a longer time, I found that idea to be erro- neous. The apparatus acts most powerfully when placed at right ee to the magnetic meridian. | hen so placed, and the copper connecting wire uppermost, I applied the lamp to the W end of the apparatus ; and though the needle within the rectangle appeared quite stationary, for considerably longer than in the former experiments, it soon began to deviate, and at length had its poles inverted ; making short oscillations, showing a strong magnetic intensity. When the lamp. was applied to the E end of the apparatus, the needle within the rectangle did not move; but when dis- turbed, it made short oscillations, indicating that it was acted on by magnetism independently of the influence of the earth. On inverting the apparatus, so as to have the antimony upper- most, and continuing the heat to the E end, the needle placed in the rectangle had its poles speedily inverted ; and it was after- | wards found, that when the apparatus remained in this inverted position, and the lamp was applied to the W end, no deviation was produced, though the needle vibrated more quickly than usual. That the apparatus was most powerful, when at right angles to the magnetic meridian, was well shown by another form of the apparatus. A. « (t M B A B C is a bar of antimony, with a right angle at B. To its extremities was soldered a slip of copper, a b c, as in the figure, | forming a parallelogram. When A B was in the magnetic meri- 262 . 452 | Analyses of Books. ^ ^— (Dec. dian, and the Y; applied at A, the compass placed on A B deviated to the W about 55°; when placed over the elbow B D it deviated 90? ; and when placed in the middle of B C, it was inverted, I am, dear Sir, yours truly, ` TuomAs STEWART TRAILL. AnricLE. XIV. ANALYSES OF Books, x Meteorological Essays and Observations. By J. F. Daniell, FRS. In declaring meteorology to be yet in its infancy, nothing is less intended than to convey a reproach against the cultivators of that promising and interesting field of science ; for it must be remembered, that the instruments by which it is explored, are either altogether of recent invention, or have only of late been rendered, by improved construction, and the establishment of formule for correcting their still unavoidable errors, susceptible of that degree of precision which is essential to accurate results. It is a field, indeed, from which there cannot be a doubt that, at some remote period, a rich harvest will accrue of knowledge most important to the interests of mankind, and exalting still higher the dignity of man, as the only being, to whom it is per- mitted to deistin the laws by which the universe is governed, and, out of seeming confusion, to educe a system of magnifi- cent extent and of perfect order. Every one, therefore, is enti- tled to share in the glory of this great achievement who either gives a distinct view of what is already known, and points out what remains to be explored; or who increases the delicacy and correctness of the instruments of investigation ; or, by patient and multiplied observations, supplies data for general principles. But to establish such principles, there will be required a most extensive co-operation among observers in almost every part of the habitable globe, and an ‘unceasing watchfulness over atmo- spherical phenomena for a long succession of years, if not of ages. Among the most important objects to which the constant attention of the meteorologist requires to be directed are the fluctuations of our atmosphere as.to weight, temperature, and moisture, at any particular spot, and at various elevations ; the changes that take place in the distribution of its gones mass giving rise to winds both regular and inconstant ; the precipita- tion of its aqueous contents by the commixture of masses of air of different temperatures; and the influence of various causes upon spontaneous evaporation. From the vapours that float on ` the surface of the earth, he raises his view to higher regions, 1823,] Mr. Daniell’s Meteorological Essays. 453 observes and classifies the forms of clouds, remarks their motion, their production and disappearance ; and from these indications he is often enabled to foretel changes of weather, which to the careless observer seem the wayward results of chance and acci- dent, Besides these more constant phenomena, it is his busi- ness to examine and record the occasional ones of thunder and lightning, the aurora boreali, and other luminous meteors, which, though seniingy casual, are no doubt parts of a regular €hain of events, which we may hope to see one day spread before us in unbroken continuity. In the study of atmospherical phenomena there is, therefore, a wide scope for the ingenious inventor of refined and delicate instruments ; for the careful and patient observer of facts; and for him also who is capable oftak- ing a wider range, and of connecting individual truths into an harmonious and durable system, In our own language there are but few works that have been exclusively devoted to the subject of atmospherical phenomena. In 1787, Mr. Kirwan published a small octavo volume entitled, * An Estimate of the Temperature of different Latitudes," which, among some errors, contains much valuable matter, collected with great pains from a variety of sources, In 1793 appeared a small volume by Mr, Dalton, entitled, * Meteorological Obser- vations and Essays," which does no discredit to the subsequent fame of that distinguished philosopher. This was followed, after an interval of several years, by Mr. Forster's ‘¢ Researches,” and Mr. Luke Howard’s valuable. work, “ On the Climate of London." To these, indeed, may be added several detached treatises in the different Encyclopedia, under the heads of Barometer, Climate, Cold, Hygrometry, Meteorology, Rain, &c. and in the Transactions of the Royal and other Societies, and the various periodical journals, a great mass of useful informa- tion is spread over a wide surface. It would be a most accept- able service, therefore, to the meteorological inquirer, if all this scattered knowledge were reviewed and methodized. He would then be placed on an eminence, from which, surveying what is known, he would be able to mark the bearings of unexplored regions. This kind of history is not the object of Mr. Daniel's work, which is rather to be considered as a train of original investigations ; and antecedent discoveries are related, chiefly as they bear upon the subjects of his inquiries. In these inquiries he has shown considerable ingenuity and great industry ; and if we should doubt of the soundness of some of his conclusions, or the value of a part of his labours, it is still with feelings of respect for the general merits of his performance, and with approbation of the fairness and candour with which he has treated those who have written before him on the same topics. The work consists of five separate essays: 1. ‘‘ On the Con- stitution of the Atmosphere.” 2. * On the Construction and Uses of a new Hygrometer.” 3, * On the Radiation of Heat in 454 | Analyses of Books. ‘[Dec. the Atmosphere.” 4. * On the Horary Oscillations of the Barometer.” 5. * On the Climate of London.” To these are added a collection of meteorological observations in tropical climates by Capt. Sabine and Mr. Caldcleugh ; some remarks on the barometer and thermometer; observations upon heights ; and a meteorological journal of three years kept by Mr. Daniell. The first essay, which treats of the constitution of the atmo- sphere, is divided into four parts. Under the first are considered the habitudes of an atmosphere, of a perfectly dry and perma- nently elastic fluid; in the second those of an atmosphere of pure aqueous vapour; in the third, the compound relations ofa mixture of the two; and in the fourth, the principles which have been derived from these inquiries are applied to the phenomena of the mixed atmosphere of the earth. After recapitulating those statical laws of elastic fluids which were first developed by Newton, Mr. Daniell proceeds to calcu- late the influence of temperature in modifying the density and elasticity of air at different elevations. The principle from which the necessary data are derived was pointed out originally by Mr. Dalton in his * New System of Chemical Philosophy,” Part I. p. 128. Itis there conjectured, that * the natural equi- librium of heat in an atmosphere is when each atom of air, in the same perpendicular column, is possessed of the same quantity of - heat; and consequently, owing to the increased capacity pro- duced by rarefaction, the natural equilibrium of heat is when the temperature gradually diminishes in ascending.” The formula, however, on which the calculations of Mr. Daniell are founded, was furnished by Prof. Leslie. But it may be reasonably doubted, whether the experimental process of which this for- mula expresses analytically the result, be susceptible of the necessary accuracy. | Hitherto the temperature of the sphere round which this imaginary atmosphere is diffused, has been supposed to be uniformly the same on every part of its surface. The hypothesis is now, however, to be changed ; and we are to contemplate a sphere the temperature of which being 0° Fahr. at the poles, increases by equal degrees till it becomes 80° at the equator. From this supposition, the conclusion immediately follows, that the atmospheric column over the polar regions will be shorter and denser than that over the equator; and consequently that an inferior current of cold air will flow uniformly from the poles to the equator. At a certain elevation, the greater density of the polar air will be exactly counterbalanced by the greater elasti- city of the equatorial; and of this equilibrium of forces, perfect rest must necessarily be the result. Above this quiescent point, a current in the opposite direction, viz. from the equator to the “sha will manifestly be established. This constant and regular ow, according to Mr. Daniell, modifies in no respect the height of the mercurial column. | | 1823.] Mr. Daniel's Meteorological Essays. 455 We are next to imagine a sphere increasing in heat unequally from the poles to the equator. In this case, the currents will set as before, and at nearly the same altitude, but with unequal velo- cities in different parts of their course. The height of the baro- metric column at the surface will still be invariable ; if as has been so far supposed, the heat be communicated to the atmo- sphere immediately from the sphere, and be slowly transmitted from the lower to the upper strata, But the influence of any partial and temporary source of heat, the agency of which is entirely confined to the higher regions of the atmosphere, will produce a different train of phenomena. This local increase of heat will augment disproportionately the elasticity of the supe- rior strata, and will, therefore, disturb the regular flow of the equatorial current. A fall of the barometer wherein this dis- turbance takes place will be a necessary consequence of the diminished density of the atmospheric column. The second part of Mr. Daniell’s first essay is devoted to the consideration of an atmosphere of pure unmixed aqueous vapour. If the temperature of the sphere be supposed to be 32° on every part of its surface, the experiments of Mr. Dalton have shown that the elastic force of a vaporous atmosphere would at the surface be equal to 0'2 of an inch of mercury. The density of such an atmosphere would, from statical principles, decrease in a geometrical progression for equal heights. But supposing the temperature of the sphere to increase as before from the poles to the equator, it is evident that on the principle of the cryopho- rus, the elasticity of the whole vaporous atmosphere would be determined by that at the lowest point. Mr. Daniell supposes, therefore, that the passage of the vapour from one point to another is mechanically retarded, so as to enable it to assume the gradations due to the temperature of the subjacent part of the sphere. The direction of the currents would, in this case, be the reverse of that of a permanently elastic fluid, and they would flow from the equator to the poles, instead of from the pons to the equator. For increase of temperature augments oth the density and elasticity of aqueous vapour, when in con- tact with water; whereas in a free atmosphere of a permanently elastic fluid, increased elasticity is always accompanied by dimi- nished density. At different elevations, the aqueous vapour would naturally assume the temperature due to its density. But if the heat of the higher strata be supposed to be diminished by any cause at a greater rate than is due to this natural gradation, a partial condensation must necessarily ensue. Under the third division of Essay 1. Mr. Daniell proceeds to inquire into the relations of a compound atmosphere, formed by the combination of aqueous vapour with a permanently elastic fluid. The basis of this investigation, as of the two former, is founded on the discoveries of Mr. Dalton. That philosopher (in his * New System,” p. 150) was the first to reject the com- 456 | Analyses of Books. [Dec, mon hypothesis of the chemical union of mixed gases, and to substitute in its room a theory better according with observed phenomena, and established by a series of new and important experiments. The leading principle of this theory is, ** that the particles of one gas are not elastic or repulsive in regard to those of another gas, but only to the particles of its own kind.” Hence it is inferred, that the gases which constitute our atmosphere exercise no further action upon each other than a mechanical opposition when in motion, The aqueous vapour will then be subjected to no additional pressure by commixture with a per- manently elastic fluid. It will, however, be greatly modified by < the temperature of the gaseous atmosphere. For example, at an elevation of 5000 feet, the density of an unmixed atmosphere (that at the surface being taken as unity), would be 0:897 of an inch, and its temperature consequently 76:5? Fahr. The tem- erature of an atmosphere of a permanently elastic fluid would . however, at the same elevation, be only 64:4?, A mixture of the two atmospheres must then be necessarily accompanied by a condensation; for vapour of ‘897 density could not subsist at a temperature cf 64:47. Supposing this condensation to have taken place, and each stratum of air to possess the exact quan- tity of moisture due to its temperature, the two atmospheres will still be in a state of intestine motion. For the elasticity of the vapour formed at the surface of the sphere not being counter- balanced by an equivalent pressure on above, that vapour must be continually ascending into the higher regions of the atmosphere, where. it will be condensed, and will give out its heat to the ambient air. A reference to our former example may serve to elucidate this general position, It appears from ' the calculations of Mr. Daniell, that the natural state of an atmosphere of pure aqueous vapour diffused around a sphere of the uniform temperature of 80°, would require, at the elevation of 5000 feet, vapour of the density ‘897, Under these circum- stances, the pressure of the superior strata would exactly balance the upward tendency of the lower, and perfect rest would neces- sarily result. But in a mixed atmosphere, it has been already shown, that the density of vapour, at an equal elevation, would be only :636, or what is due to the temperature of 64°, Hence the pressure of this vapour will not be adequate to counteract the expansive force of the lower strata. Therefore the vapour formed at the surface will ascend into the colder regions, will be there condensed, and will impart its constituent heat to the surround- ing medium. Here then is to be found the partial source of heat, to which a tacit reference has been made in the first part of the essay. The elasticity of the higher strata of the atmo- sphere will be augmented by this accession of temperature, and the velocity of the equatorial current will receive a dispropor- tionate increase. To the irregularities of pressure thus produced are attributed by Mr, Daniell the fluctuations of the barometer, 1823.] -` Mr. Daniell's Meteorological Essays. 457 We have thus endeavoured to give a concise view of a theory framed to account for the changes which are constantly taking place in the pressure of the atmosphere, It has certainly the merit of ingenuity, and, so far as we are aware, of novelty, but it rests upon the sandy foundation of assumed partial changes of temperature in the higher regions of the atmosphere,: of the ex- istence of which we have very insufficient evidence, and which, moreover, if they were by any train of reasoning rendered proba- ble, could scarcely be considered as adequate to explain the phenomena, For to evolve so much heat as would raise the temperature of a considerable mass of air, and cause it to diffuse itself rapidly into distant regions, would require the condensa- tion of a greater quantity of aqueous vapour than is likely to be present in any given space, and also that this condensation should not be gradual, but should take place suddenly to a very great amount. There can be no discredit, however, to any one who fails to unfold the causes of phenomena which have been acknowledged by one of the first philosophers of the present times * to Fate hitherto baffled all attempts to’ reduce them to fixed principles. The data for a sound and stable theory are, it appears to us, still wanting, and must be supplied chiefly by a very extensive series of simultaneous observations on the state of the barometer, in yarious and distant parts of the world. We may remark, hy the way, an error, as it seems to us, into which not only Mr. Daniell (p. 8), but Mr, Leslie, has fallen, viz. “ that the particles of air in passing over the surface of the globe do not for a moment cease to gravitate, and that no hori- zontal movement of them will produce the slightest derangement in a perpendicular direction." Now it is well known that any body, to which a projeetile motion of five miles per second has been imparted, would revolve around the earth like plánet, and would cease to exert any pressure on its surface. Any less velocity must produce a proportional decrease of weight in the particles of air, which is known to move at the rate of from 60 to 100 miles per hour. | | We venture also to suggest, with submission, that the third table in Part I. is founded on an erroneous principle. In calcu- lating the influence of a decreasing temperature on the weight of the atmosphere at different heights, Mr. Daniell has deducted £ of the length of the mercurial column for each degree of depression due to the elevation. Now it appears to us, that a mean ought to have been taken between the temperature at the base, and that at the summit of the atmospheric column, For example, the weight of a column of air of 5000 feet, supposed of an uniform temperature of 32°, and decreasing in density from the surface upwards, according to statical laws, is equal to * M. Biot. . 458 Analyses of Books. (Dee. 5:208 inches of mercury (see Table I, p. 13, of Mr. Daniell’s work). The barometer, therefore, which, at the surface of the sup osed sphere, stands at 30 inches, will, at this elevation, indicate 24'797. But if the temperature of this aerial column dually decrease from 32°, till, at the height of 5000 feet, it ecomes 14'8°, it is required to determine the change which this variation will produce in the height of the mercurial column at the above elevation. The question seems to us to reduce itself to a simple comparison between the weight of a column of air 5000 feet high, of the temperature 32? Fahr. and that of an equal column of the temperature 23:4?, which is the mean of the temperature at the base and that at the summit. Now air by being reduced 1? Fahr. contracts in bulk 150 of the volume which ` it would occupy at 32°; consequently a reduction of tempera- ture equal to 8:6 (32" — 23”4) will be accompanied by a decrease of volume equivalent to doo of its former bulk. "The vacuous space which would be left by such a contraction must be immediately filled up by air from above. Hence the mercu- rial column at 5000 feet must, by falling, indicate this transfer- ence of air from the superior to the lower strata, and this fall will be equal to 72 of 5-203 = -093. At the elevation of 5000 feet then, the height of the barometrical column will be equal to 30 — 5:208 + :093 = 24-704, instead of 23:949, the number given by Mr. Daniell. The same result will be obtained by. means of a formula derived algebraically from one originally given by Sir G. Shuckburgh.* Let H denote the height of the mercurial column at the surface of the earth, y that at a given elevation p (in the present instance 5000 feet), and b the number of feet of air of the given temperature (23/4), equal to 1-10th inch mercury. Then y = dor Ag X H. Substituting in this formula the values of 6 and p, the former of which is obtained from a table given by Sir G. Shuckburgh, wehave y = id - Sui n Mm. x 30 = 24:64. The small difference between this result and the former one may be attributed to Sir G. Shuckburgh's having estimated the expansion of air for each degree Fahr. at 5 instead of 15 of its original bulk. Our limits will not permit us to enter at any length into the account of Mr. Daniell's hygrometer, which is fully described in his work, and also in the Quarterly Journal, Nos. 11 and 25 We consider it as an elegant instrument, and are satisfied by * Dalton's Meteorological Essays, p. 82. 1823.] Mr. Gray's Elements of Pharmacy. 459 trial of it that it is adequate to its object, that of ascertaining quickly and correctly the temperature at which dew begins to be deposited. But we are not aware that in accomplishing this, it has any great advantage over the method of Le Koi, which is recommended by the extreme simplicity of the apparatus required. This consists of nothing more than a thermometer and a glass tumbler filled with water, the temperature of which is lowered by gradually adding ice (nitre or sal-ammoniae would ' answer the same end) till dew begins to appear on the outer surface of the vessel. Noting this point, whether obtained b Le Roi's or Mr. Daniel's method, we then find, from Mr. Dal- ton's table, the force of vapour at that temperature; and from the proportion which this force forms of the whole pressure of the atmosphere at the time, we at once arrive at the absolute quantity of vapour in a given space. We regard the indications of this simple process as much more satisfactory than those of Mr. Leslie's hygrometer, because, to deduce from the latter the real proportion of vapour in air, requires a much more complex calculation, of which some of the data, or of the steps, may pos- sibly be erroneous. | ! The remaining essays of Mr. Daniell we are obliged to pass over without any notice. Indeed being chiefly composed of details of facts, they are not from their nature susceptible of. abridgment. They are important, however, to those who are practically engaged in making or recording meteorological - observations, and to all such persons, as well as to those who are interested in the theory of atmospheric phenomena, we can safely recommend the work as containing an ample fund of valuable information. ee The Elements of Pharmacy, and the Chemical History of the Materia Medica, &c. By Samuel Frederick Gray, Bs iB te: on the Materia Medica, Botany, and Pharmaceutic Che- mistry. : : IT is impossible to deny that this work is calculated to con- vey a considerable portion of information; but it must at the same time be admitted, that much of it will be of little use to the student. The arrangement (if indeed arrangement it can be called) is peculiar, and while some subjects are treated of with extreme brevity, there are others which are extended much beyond the requisite limits; thus weights, measures, and balances, occupy about 20 pages, furnaces 33, and the theory of chemistry 34. The properties of atmospheric air and water are then detailed; lead, copper, tin, and some other metals, are next treated of in six pages; and we are then surprised with an account of the “ alchemy of the Greek clergy," ** the intro- duction of alchemy into the west," and the * original theory of transmutation ;” these disquisitions occupy about seyen pages. | 460 Analyses of Books. | [Dxc. It is a bad omen to stumble at the threshold, but we cannot help it; Mr, Gray thus defines chemistry :—** The alterations and appearances that take place in the admixture of bodies, and the action of heat and cold upon them, are the proper objects of chemistry; which also endeavours. to explain the production of similar phenomena when they arise from other causes." . Now unless cold be a positive power, which we suppose Mr. Gray will not contend that it 1s, the effects of cold are referrible to alterations of temperature, and consequently to the subject of heat itself; what the similar phenomena are which arise from other causes besides chemical action, we are quite at a loss to conjecture. fter. giving the theory of combustion, which we must pass over without remark, Mr. Gray proceeds (p. 189) to the consi- deration of the | | * Compound Combustibles.—The more simple substances bein thus gone through, it remains only to treat of those compoun combustibles, which are, generally speaking, produced in organic bodies, or from bodies having that origin. Some of them, indeed, are so loaded with water or other incombustible matter, as vinegar or oyster shells, that they appear, to a common observer, to be themselves incombustible ; but when the water or other extraneous matter is separated, this appearance vanishes, In point of chemical composition, they are, generally speaking,- compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, to which are sometimes added nitrogen nd other ingredients: hence they are distinguished from the combustibles of the former series, in always forming both carbonic acid and water by their union with more oxygen." Some further observations succeedthe above, and we then arrive at the “ Pharmaceutical Division of Combustibles; " and Mr. G, informs us, that the divisions which the “ pure chemists” have formed, are not followed in his work. “Spirit of wine and vinegar, being of continual use in chemistry, as agents in the preparation and examination of bodies, are first noticed; and the remainder of the combustible bodies are arranged according to their taste, as being the quality that is usually first attended to in examinin them, and which has also a considerable connexion with their medical yirtues. For the sake of elementary brevity, scarcely any other of these articles but those enumerated in the Materia Medica of the London College of Physicians are noticed, The arrangement of these combustible drugs is as follows ; l. Tanhy and absorbent bodies. 2. Farinaceous, mucilaginous, gelatinous, gummy, and emollient bodies, 3. Bitter bodies. 4. Austere and acerb bodies. 5. Acid bodies. 6, Aromatic bodies. 1823] Mr. Gray’s Elements of Pharmacy. — 461 7. Fat and oily bodies. E 8. Sweetbodies. . | 9. Acrid bodies. : à It will, perhaps, be scarcely creditéd when we state, that the first ** combustible drug," which its * taste " has assigned a place among the earthy and absorbent bodies, is incombusti- ble and tasteless. When treating of * the earthy and absorbent bodies," Mr. Gray says, * only one compound combustible substance of this kind 1s now quoted in the London Pharmaco- poeia, namely, teste. Mons “© Test@a.—Oyster shells consist of carbonate of lime deposited in a tissue of gelatinous matter, which latter is very small in quantity; hence they are used only as antacids. On calcina- tion, the gelatinous matter is burned, the carbonic is driven off, and a pure lime remains.” Now as chalk is quoted in the London Pharmacopeeia, as well as oyster shells, the reader will wonder with us how it happened not to be arranged with the earthy and absorbent bodies ; it is true that it has no taste, and is not combustible; but itis at least as sapid and as combustible as oyster shells ; the reason we suppose to be, that as shell contains a small quantity of gelatinous matter which is combustible, but to which it owes none of its absorbent powers, it is ranked among the compound combustibles. We think we need scarcely ask, whether any arrangement can be essentially good which separates two varieties of carbonate of lime, because one contains an ` admixture of gelatinous matter. : The substances brought together under the name of farinace- ous bodies, are as dissimilar as bodies can be. Among them are gum arabic, wax, horns, henbane leaves, and eggs. Arrangement, however, is a matter of secondary importance, provided the substances when met with are accurately described ; but there are many instances of inaccuracy in Mr. Gray's work, some of which, taken at random, we shall point out, premising, however, that we did not expect to find phosphorus and sulphur among the * Metallic Elements" (p. 84). | The first error which we shall notice occurs at p. 95: “ Thus oil of vitriol, being. composed of three charges of oxygen, united to one of sulphur and ten of water, which last is its if ee to be composed ofa single charge each of oxygen and ay rogen, the compound is expressed thus: S + OOO + 10 (H + 0); or more concisely, thus, S O? + 10 (H O); or still more con- cisely, thus, S? + 10 H'." This passage we have quoted somewhat at length, because it proves incontestably, that Mr. Gray is ignorant of the composition of sulphuric acid ; for he has once in words, ahd three times by symbols, misstated its nature. It may, perhaps, be requisite to observe, that by the word charge Mr. Gray means what other chemists term atom, proportional or prime ; but oil of vitriol instead of containing ten charges of water, contains only one, as may be seen in any 462 i Analyses of Books. [Dec. modern work of the “ pure chemists.” It might be supposed that the word £en, was accidentally substituted for one, of water; but the symbols agreeing with the former, we must admit what we find so often repeated, to express the state of the author's knowledge on the subject, and it is astonishing that it should be so erroneous. | In p. 177, Mr. Gray states, that from * the quantity of ammonia required for saturating acids, it may in consequence of this law be inferred that ammonia contains about 46 per cent. of oxygen; and its change into azotic gas and E. drogen gas, by being passed through a red-hot tube, shows that this is united with 36 of nitricum and 18 of hydrogen; so that the composition of ammonia is 6 H + N + 0? If there be any thing in chemical science which appears to be settled, it is, that ammonia contains no oxygen; and the view which Mr. Gray has given of its composition is calculated to puzzle much more than to inform. If the student after reading this passage were to look into the chemical works of Thomson, Henry, or Brande, he would find no mention either of oxygen or nitricum existing in ammonia. These speculations of Berzelius respecting the compound nature of azote, should have found no place in an elementary work. The statements of the nature and atomic constitution of the various salts are such as’ will give the pupil no idea of their composition ; thus in p. 204, we are told that “ acetic acid, boiled on about one-quarter of its weight of litharge to three- "quarters its bulk, then set by to settle and poured off clear, is the liquor plumbi acetatis of the Pharmacopoeia, a dram of which added to a pint of water, and a dram measure of proof spirit, forms the well-known Goulard's lotion. "These are solu- tions of a salt which may be crystallized in plates, and is a sub- tritacetate of lead, or acet. ac. + 3 ox. lead." The fact is, that this solution is a subbinacetate of lead, but if it were what Mr. Gray represents it to be, what idea of the pnm of its constituents can the pupil acquire, without nowing the weight of the atoms of acetic acid and oxide of lead? The composition of 100 parts ought to have been stated in the usual way ; added to this when treating of the nomencla- ture of salts in p. 81, no rules are given for describing those which contain an excess of base. On the same ground we object to the following statement: ‘ Moist iodine added to phosphorus yields a sour colourless gas, which is rapidly absorbed by water, and must be collected iu a quicksilver appa- ratus ; a gallon of this gas weighs about 311 grains. Here the changes are either I° + P into P + P', or I + P + H’ into’ IH + P'; and the new acid is called the iodic or hydroiodic." The pupil would naturally suppose, that Mr. Gray considers the iodic and hydroidic acids (properly hydriodic) as similar ; but he ought to have known, that iodic acid consists of oxygen and 1823.] Mr. Gray's Bleminté of Pharmacy. 463. iodine, and the hydriodic acid of hydrogen and iodine ; it is the latter only which is formed, excepting a quantity of phosphorous acid, of which no notice is taken, nor is the decomposition of he water even hinted at, although the formation of the hydriodic acid depends upon it (p. 166). The directions for detecting the presence of arsenious acid (p. 151) are thus given in eight lines :—** If a person is suspected to be poisoned with arsenic, the antidote that is most readil obtained is a solution of soap; and the contents of the sttitddch may, to obtain satisfaction, be dissolved in boiling distilled water, the solution strained, and then, if any white arsenic has been taken up, on the surface being touched with a stick of lunar caustic, a sulphur-yellow precipitate will fall down imme- diately from the place touched.” These directions are incor- rect, and totally inefficient ; for it is necessary to make use of solution of an alkali, either carbonate of potash as proposed by Mr. Hume, or ammonia as preferred by Dr. Marcet. Besides this omission, Mr. G. has not stated one word of the ambiguity which may arise from the presence of a phosphoric salt, nor does he give any directions for procuring the confirmatory evidence which may be obtained by the use of sulphuretted hydrogen, sulphate of copper, or from the alliaceous smell ; noris the direct evidence afforded by metallization in any way alluded to. We cannot help noticing the contemptuous and unwarrant- able language which Mr. Gray employs when speaking of La- voisier, a philosopher to whom every one, but Mr. Gray, knows that science is deeply indebted, and whose misfortunes entitle his memory:to respect. * Lavoisier reversed the analogy, and instead of continumg to identify the metallic oxides with the earths, compared the earths to the metallic oxides ; and, being a Frenchman, he of course claimed this mere shifting of the terms of the analogy, as a great discovery." | With one more quotation, we shall conclude our notice of the Elements of Pharmacy. In page 88, some of the properties of azote, chlorine, and iodine, are mentioned, and then come the following observations: * All of these are esteemed by Sir H. Davy, Brande, and the chemists of that school, as simple bodies in the present state of our knowledge, but Berzelius and the rationalists consider them as oxides ; the supposed bases of the two first being called by him nitricum, muriaticum, and that of the third may be distinguished by the name of iodium.” Thus we have an author who has four times misstated the composition of sulphuric acid, venturing to divide chemists into the two classes of the rationalists and irrationalists, and placing among the latter the inventor of the safety lamp.— Edit. 464 Sctentifie Intelligence, [D&o. ARTICLE XV. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE, AND NOTICES OF SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH SCIENCE. I. On the Ignition of Platina, $c. by Hydrogen Gas. I have, says Prof. Debereiner, already proved that the protoxide of platinum obtained by Edmund Davy's method, has the property of causing alcohol, placed in contact with it, to attract oxygen gas, and to become converted into acetic acid and water; and that this property is likewise possessed by the oxidized sulphuret of platinum, prepared by treating a solution of that metal with sulphureted hydro- gén, and exposing in à dry state the sulphuret formed by that means, to the action of atmospheric air for some weeks. In this very remark- able process, 1 atom (= 46) of alcohol combines with 4 atoms (= 4 x 8 = 32) of oxygen, and forms with it 1 atom (= 51) of acetic acid, and 9 atoms (= 3 x 9 = 27) of water; that is so say, equal volumes of the vapour of alcohol and oxygen gas, become equal volumes of acetic acid and aqueous vapour; for 1 atom of water is requisite to the isolated existence of acetic acid. The respective proportions in which acetic acid and water appear in this case, are exactly the same as those which they bear to each other in crystallized sugar of lead, and also in the subacetate of copper; the quantity of water in acetate of soda is exactly double that which is contained in each of the former acetates. | After having finished my experiments on this process of the forma- tion of acetic acid, I took the opportunity of ascertaining the rela- tions of the two above-named' preparations of platinum to different elastic fluids. The results of the experiments instituted for that pur- pose are interesting ; for I found, 1, That neither oxygen nor carbonic acid gas was absorbed by the protoxide, or by the oxidized sulphuret of platinum ; but that those substances absorbed every inflammable gas. 2. 'That 100 grains of protoxide of platinum absorb from 15 to 20 cubic inches of hydrogen gas, during which absorption so much ca- loric is evolved, that the protoxide becomes ignited, and the hydrogen . burns with detonation, if it had been previously mixed with oxygen or with atmospheric air. The preparation of platinum, charged with hydrogen, has the pro- perty of greedily attracting as much oxygen gas as is requisite for the saturation of the hydrogen it contains. If atmospheric air, there- fore, be suffered to enter the tube containing it, it instantly deprives it of its oxygen, and even forms ammonia with a portion of the resi- dual nitrogen, if there be not sufficient oxygen. present for its satura- tion, By this agency the oxide of platinum is reduced, and thereby loses its remarkable property of disposing alcohol to become acetic acid, and also that of condensing hydrogen gas; but, what is very remarkable, it retains the property of determining the latter substance tothe state in which it combines with oxygen gas, and becomes water; and so much heat is evolved during this combination, that if the hydrogen gas be mixed with pure oxygen, and the volume of the 1823.] - Scientific Intelligence. — 465 mixture be rather large, the platinum becomes red-hot. I could not but conclude, from this most remarkable phenomenon, that the finely-divided metallic platinum which is produced by the igneous- decomposition of the ammonia-muriate, would perhaps exhibit this singular effect upon the detonating mixture; and, to my great satis- faction, this supposition was confirmed by the experiment. Some platinum powder, prepared from the saline precipitate just named, was wrapped up ia white blotting-paper, and brought into contact with the hydrogen gas; and, as might be expected, no absorption took place, nor any other perceptible mutual action. Upon this I caused atmospheric air to have access to the platinum powder in con- tact with the hydrogen, and after the lapse of a few moments that remarkable reaction took place; viz. the gas diminished in volume ; and in ten minutes all the oxygen of the atmospheric air admitted had condensed with the hydrogen into water. > I afterwards mixed pure oxygen gas with the hydrogen in contact with the platinum ; a condensation of both immediately took place, and the platinum heated to such a degree, that the paper in which it was wrapped was sud- denly charred. | These experiments were repeated about thirty times ‘on the same day, July 27, 1823, on which I discovered this remark- able pheenomenon, and with the same success every time. ji What useful applications of this discovery may be made in oxyme- try, the synthesis of water, &c., I shall hereafter state more circum- stantially. - I shall at. present merely observe, in conclusion, that the entire phenomenon must be considered as an electric one, that the hydrogen and platinum form a voltaic combination, in which the former represents the zinc ;—the first established instance of an elec- tric alternation formed by an elastic fluid and a solid substance; the application of which will lead to further discoveries. I obtained another interesting result in an experiment on the rela- tion of the oxidized sulphuret of platinum to carbonic oxide. I found that this gas is always diminished to half its bulk when it comes into contact with the sulphuret, and that the remaining gas is not carbonic oxide, but carbonic acid. The carbonic oxide gas is therefore decar- bonized by the oxidized sulphuret of platinum, and thereby changed into carbonic acid, : SUPPLEMENT.* I send you a short supplement to the paper communicated to you some days ago, on the newly discovered properties of several prepa- rations of platinum. That the continuation of tlie experiments on this interesting subject would lead to new discoveries, was to be ex- pected. I merely mention to-day, that I have succeeded in making the observed dynamic relation of the platinum powder to the hydro- gen gas, appear in a very splendid manner by experiment. If hydro- gen gas be suffered to issue from a gasometer through a capillary tube bent downwards, upon the platinum contained in a smail glass funnel sealed at the bottom, so that the stream may mix with the atmo- spheric air before it comes in contact with the platinum, which is effected when the tube is from 1 to 14 or 2 inches distant from the platinum, the latter almost instantly becomes red- and white-hot, and * From ‘a letter of Professor Deebereiner to Professor Schweigger, dated Jena, Aüugust 3, 18923. ——— vi New Series, vou. vi. 2 H 466 Scientific Intelligence. [Dxc. remains so, as long as the hydrogen continues to flow upon it. If the stream of gas be strong, it becomes inflamed, particularly if it has already been mixed in the reservoir with some atmospheric air. This experiment is very surprising, and astonishes every beholder, when he is informed, that it is the result of the dynamic reaction of two species of matter, one of which is the lightest and the other the most ponderous of all known bodies. That 1 have already applied this new discovery to the formation of a new apparatus for. procuring fire, and:of a new lamp; and that I shall avail myself of it for much more important purposes, you may well suppose beforehand :—more of it in my next.—(Phil. Mag. vol. Ixii. p. 289, from Schweigger's Journal.) Um From the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, t. xxiv. p. 91, we extract the following additional experiments by M, Deebereiner :— | Ihave found that the combustible energy of hydrogen is so much increased by contact with the powder of platina, that it will combine in afew minutes with all the oxygen of a mixture which consisted of 99 parts of azote and 1 of oxygen; an effect which cannot be pro- : duced by the strongest electrical sparks, I mix, however, for these experiments, the powder of platina with potters’ clay, and I moisten this mixture to form it into small balls of the size of a pea; I suffer . these balls to dry in the air, and afterwards heat them to redness in an enameller’s lamp. A ball of platina of this kind, although weigh- ing only from 2 to 4 or 6 grains, is capable of converting any volume of the detonating gas into water, provided that after each operation it is carefully dried, and it may be employed for the same purpose more than a thousand times. | The compound gases containing hydrogen, such as ammonia, olefiant gas, carbureted hydrogen, muriatic acid gas, &c. do not combine with oxygen by the intervention of the powder of platina, When a jet of hydrogen was directed upon a mixture of powder of latina and nitrate of platina and ammonia, the mixture became red- fot with a crackling noise and the emission of sparks. The same effect occurred with the black powder of platina, which zinc separates from the solution of that metal, This powder is a mixture of oxide and reduced platina. "This powder possesses the property of gradu- ally converting alcohol, when oxygen is present, into acetic acid. Among tlie other metals which I have hitherto tried, nickel, pre- pared by decomposing the oxalate, is the only one which has the property of converting a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen into water, and this takes place very slowly. II. On the Ignition of Platina by Hydrogen Gas. By Mr. A. Garden, (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) DEAR SIR, | | Oxford-street, Nov. 20, 1828. The very curious phenomenon, recently observed by Deebereiner, that a jet of hydrogen gas when ape, ih into contact with metallic platina at common temperatures, produces a temperature equal to that of ignition, has already been noticed by other chemists, namely, by Messrs. Dulong and Thenard, in France; and by. Faraday and 1823.] Scientific Intelligence. : 467 Herapath, in England: but these philosophers do not’ mention that any other than substances actually in the metallic state are capable of exhibiting a similar appearance. After repeating several of the experiments already published, I was induced to submit' a number of other bodies to the action of the hydrogen jet. Some I found to have their temperature slightly in- 'ereased, and the greater number not at all: but the most remarkable -increase which I have observed has been with the ore of iridium ; * "this substance, when previously heated to redness and suffered to cool, becomes red-hot by a stream of cold hydrogen, in the manner of spongy platina, and appears to retain the property of so doing equally well. The circumstance of these bodies becoming heated to incandescence in our atmosphere of medium temperature, naturally suggests the idea of employing them for the instantaneous production of fire and light ;+ but, in order that this may be done with tolerable certainty, so as to be really useful, it becomes necessary that the effect shall take place "at pretty low temperatures. ‘To ascertain this point 1 made the fol- -lowing experiments :— j | A quart bottle filled with hydrogen gas was placed in an earthen- ware wine-cooler, and the space between the sides of the bottle and of the cooler was filled up with ice, broken into small fragments, a small piece of spongy platina was exposed upon a slip of foil of the same metal, and laid upon the surface of the ice; in this state the "whole was left in an apartment (at 52°) for about three quarters of the hour; at the end of this time the temperature of the platina foil was found to be 35°; which, with the spongy metal, was covered with a considerable film of moisture. | A jet of gas was now made to pass from the bottle through a capil- .lary tube upon the spongy platina, the moisture immediately began to evaporate, and the metal quickly became heated. to whiteness, kindling the hydrogen as it issued from the orifice of the tube. From the result of this experiment (which was made, not so much with a view to determine the minimum temperature at which the effect , could be produced, as to see whether it would take place at the usual degrees of atmospherie temperature in this climate,) it has appeared - that : very ready and elegant mode of obtaining light may be ob- tained. I have constructed several lamps for the purpose upon a very simple principle, and from the certainty which I have hitherto ob- served, I have reason to believe that they will answer most completely. . When I have satisfied myself as to the most convenient form, I shall probably trouble you with a sketch of it, and also with the results of a few more experiments upon the subject. I remain, dear Sir, your's truly, A, GARDEN. * I mean the black powder which remains after the action of nitro-muriatic acid . upon crude platinum, and which also contains osmium. ; + Debereiner says, that he has already applied his discovery to this purpose. - 2H2 468 Scientific Intelligence. — [Dzc. III. On the Fusion of Charcoal, Graphite, Anthracite, and the Diamond. By Professor Silliman. (Concluded from p. 316.) In a second letter immediately succeeding that already given, dated April 15, 1823, Dr. Silliman states :— Having last year caused to be constructed an aparatus, capable of containing fifty-two gallons of gas, for the supply of your com- ound, or oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe, and capable of receiving a strong impulse from pressure, I have been intending, as soon as practicable, to subject the diamond and the anthracite to its intense heat. Al- though their being non-conductors, would be no impediment to the action of the blow-pipe flame on them, still, obvious considerations have always made me consider the success of such experiments as very doubtful. I allude, of course, to the combustibility of these bo- dies, from which we might expect that they would be dissipated by a flame sustained by oxygen gas. | My first trials were made by placing small diamonds in a cavity in charcoal, but the support was, in every instance, so rapidly consum- ed, that the diamonds were speedily displaced by the current of gas. I next made a chink in a piece of solid quick lime, and crowded the diamond into it; this proved a very tb, support ; but the effulgence of light was so dazzling, that, although through green glasses I could steadily inspect the focus, it was impossible to distinguish the dia- mond in the perfect solar brightness. This mode of conducting the experiment, proved, however, perfectly manageable; and a large dish, placed beneath, secured the diamonds from being lost (an acci- dent which I had more than once met with), when suddenly displaced by the current of gas ; as, however, the support was not combustible, it remained permanent, except that it was melted in the whole region of the flame, and covered with a perfect white enamel of vitreous lime. The experiments were frequently suspended, to examine the effect on the diamonds. They were found to be rapidly consumed, wasting so fast, that it was necessary, in order to examine them, to remove them from the heat, at very short intervals. They exhibited, however, marks of incipient fusion. My experiments were performed upon small wrought «Bai A on which there were numerous po- lished facets, presenting extremely sharp and well-defined solid edges and angles. ‘These edges and angles were always rounded and gene- rally obliterated. The whole surface of the diamond lost its conti- nuity, and its lustre was much impaired ; it exhibited innumerable very . minute indentations, and intermediate and corresponding salient points ; the whole presenting the appearance of having been superficially softened, and indented by the current of gas, or perhaps of having had its surface unequally removed, by the combustion. In various places, near the edges, the diamond was consumed, with deep indendations, and occasionally where a fragment had snapped off, by decrepitation, it disclosed a conchoidal fracture and a vitreous lustre. These results were nearly uniform, in various trials ; and every thing seems to indi- cate that were the diamond a good conductor, it would be melted by the deflagrator; and were it incombustible, a globule would be ob- tained by the compound blow-pipe. In one experiment, in which I used a support of plumbago, there 1823.] | | Scientific Intelligence. , 469 were some interesting varieties in the phenomena. The plumbago being a conductor, the light did not accumulate as it did when the support was lime, but permitted me distinctly to see the diamond through the whole experiment. It was consumed with great rapi- dity ; a delicate halo of bluish light, clearly distinguishable from the blow-pipe flame, hovered over it; the surface appeared as if softened, numerous distinct but very minute scintillations were darted from it in every direction, and I could see the minute cavities and pro- jections which I have mentioned forming every instant. In this ex- periment I gave the diamond but one heat of about a minute ; but on examining it with a magnifier, I was much surprised to find that only a very thin layer of the gem, not much thicker than writing paper, remained, the rest having.been burnt.* | $ -I subjected the anthracite of Wilkesbarre, Penn, to similar trials, and by heating it very ‘gradually, its decrepitation was obviated. It was consumed with almost as much rapidity as the diamond; but exhibited, during the action of the heat, an evident appearance of being superficially softened; I could also distinctly see, in the midst of the intense glare of light, very minute globules forming upon the surface. These, when examined by a magnifier, proved to be per- fectly white and limpid ; and the whole surface of the anthracite ex- hibited, like the diamond, only with more distinctness, cavities and projections united by flowing lines, and covered with a black varnish, exactly like some of the volcanic slags and semi-vitrifications. "The remark already made, respecting the diamond, appears to be equally applicable to the anthracite, i. e. that its want of conducting power is the reason why it is not melted by the deflagrator, and its combusti- bility is the sole obstacle to its complete fusion by the compound blow- pipe. | ji next subjected a parallelopiped of plumbago to the compound flame.. It was consumed with considerable rapidity, but presented at the same time, numerous globules of melted matter, clearly distin guishable by the naked eye ; and when the piece was afterwards exa- mined, with a good glass, it was found richly adorned with numerous perfectly white and transparent spheres, connected also by white lines of the same matter, covering the greater part of the surface, for the space of half an inch at and around the point, and presenting a beautiful contrast with the plumbago beneath, like that of a white enamel upon a black ground. ( In subsequent trials, upon pieces from various localities, foreign and domestic (confined however to very pure specimens), I obtained still more decided results; the white transparent globules became very numerous, and as large as small shot ; they scratched window glass— were tasteless—harsh when crushed between the teeth, and they were * In Tilloch's Phil. Mag. for November 1821, vol. lviii. p. 386, I observe the fol- lowing notice by Mr. John Murray :—'* By repeatedly exposing a diamond to the action of the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe in a nidus of magnesia, it became as black as charcoal, and split into fragments which displayed the conchoidal fracture. ** It will be found, that this gem affixed in magnesia soon flies off in minute frag- ments, exhibiting the impress of the conchoidal form. ** In lately exposing the diamond fixed on a support of pipe-clay, to the ignited gas, I succeeded in completely indenting it:— examined it after the experiments, it exhi« bited proofs of having undergone fusion.” 470 Scientific. Intelligence. [Duce not magnetic, : They very much -resembled melted sileago, had not; be supposed to be derived from impurities in the plumbx, and might: their appearance been uniform. in the different varieties of that sub- stance, whose analysis has never, I believe, presented any combined silex ; and neither good magnifiers, nor friction of the powder between the fingers, could enm the slightest trace of any foreign substance in these specimens. Add to this, in different experiments, I obtained very numerous perfectly black globules on the same pieces which afforded the white ones. In one instance they covered an. inch in length, all around ; many of them were as large as common shot; and they had all the lustre and brilliancy of the most perfect black enamel. Among them were observed, here and there, globules of the lighter coloured varieties. In one instance the entire end of the parallelopiped of plumbago was occupied by a single black globule. The dark ones were uniformly attracted by the magnet, and 1 think were rather more : sensible to it shan the plumbago, which had been ignited, but not melt-: ed. We know how easily, in substances containing iron, the magnetic : susceptibility is changed by slight variations of temperature. I am aware, however, that the dark globules may contain more iron than the plumbago from which they were derived, as the combustion of pàrt of the carbon may. have somewhat diminished the proportion of that substance. I find that the fusion of the plumbago by the compound ` blow-pipe is by no means difficult: and the instrument being in good : order, good results may be anticipated with certainty. As the press is waiting while I write, itis not in my power to determine the nature of all of these various coloured globules, and particularly to ascertain whether the abundant white globules are owing to earths combined with the. plumbago, or whether they are a different form of carbon. If the former be true, it proves that no existing analysis of plumbago càn be correct, and would still leave the remarkable. white fume, so abundantly exhaled between the poles of the deflagrator, and so ra» pidly transferred from the copper to the zinc pole, entirely unaccount- ed for. I would add, that for the mere fusion of plumbago, the blow- ipe is much preferable. to the deflagrator ; but a variety of interest- - ing phenomena in relation to both plumbago and charcoal are exhi» bited by the latter, and not by the former. | A postscript to this communication, dated April 18, gives the fol- lowing statement :— The anthracite of Rhode-Island is thought to be very pure. Dr. William Meade (see Bruce’s Journal, p. 36), estimates its proportion of carbon at ninety-four per cent. ‘This anthracite I have just suc- ceeded in melting by the compound blow-pipe, It gives large bril- liant black globules, not attractable by the magnet, but in other re- spects not to be distinguished from the dark globules of melted plum- bago. The experiment was entirely successful in every trial ; and the great number of the globules, and their evident flow from, and con- nexion with, the entire mass, permitted no doubt as to their being really the melted anthracite. | The Kilkenny coal gave only white and transparent globules; but it-seems rather difficult to impute this to impurities, since this anthra- cite is stated to contain ninety-seven per cent. of carbon. I have exposed a diamond this afternoon to the solar focus in a jar of pure oxygen gas, but observed no signs of fusion, nor indeed did 1823.] ubt Scientifie Intelligence. 471 I expect it, but I wished to compare this old experiment with those related above. J . The diamond is now the only substance which has not been perfectly melted. os | | I inserted a piece of plumbago into a cavity in quick lime, and suc- ceeded in melting it down by the blow-pipe into two or three large globules, adhering into. one mass, and occupying the cavity in the lime; these globules were limpid ; and nothing remained of the origi- nal appearance of the plambago except a few black points. The subject is concluded at p. 378, of the Journal, by the addi- tional notice subjoined, dated April 23. ! “If melted charcoal, plumbago, and anthracite do really approximate towards the character of diamond, we ought to expect that, in conse- quence of fusion, there would be a diminution of conducting power, with respect both to heat and to electricity. This I find to be the fact. As soon as the point of charcoal is fused by the deflagrator, the power of the instrument is very much impeded by it; but as soon as the melted portion is removed, the remaining charcoal conducts as well as before; and so on, for any number of repetitions of the expe- riment, with the same pieces of charcoal. i `The globules of melted plumbago are absolute non-conductors, as strictly so as the diamond. This fact is very pleasingly exhibited, when.a point of prepared charcoal, connected with the zinc pole of the deflagrator, is made to touch a globule of melted plumbago, how- ever small, still adhering to a parallelopiped of plumbago, in its natu- ral state, screwed into the vice connected with the copper pole; not the minutest spark will pass ; but if the charcoal point be moved, ever so little aside, so as to touch the plumbago in its common state, or even that which has been ignited, without being fused, a vivid spark. will instantly pass. This fact is the more remarkable, because it is equally true of the intensely black globules which are sensibly mag- netic, and therefore contain iron, as of the light coloured and limpid onés, which are not attractable. ! dioe ‘The globules of melted anthracite are also perfect non-conductors. This may appear the less remarkable, because the anthracite itself is scarcely a conductor ; at least, this is the common opinion ; and it cer- tainly is strictly true of that of Wilkesbarre and of that of Kilkenny ; for when both poles are tipped with those substances, there is only a mihute spark, which is but little augmented when charcoal terminates one of the poles. But the fact is remarkably the reverse with the Rhode-Island anthracite ;- this conducts quite as well as plumbago, and I think even better, giving a very intense light, and bright scin- tillations. I have now no doubt that the deflagrator will melt it, but have not had time to complete the trial. i If it should bé said that the conducting power of the Rhode-Island anthracite may be owing to iron, we are only the more embarrassed to account for the fact, that its black melted globules are insensible to the magnet, and are perfect non-conductors, It will now probably not be deemed extravagant, if we conclude that our melted carbonaceous substances approximate very nearly to the condition of diamond. 472 | . New Patents. {[Dec. Articte XVI. NEW SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION, Capt. Parry’s Journal of a Second Voyage for tlie Discovery of the North-west Passage. 4to. i Economy ofthe Eyes, being Precepts for the Improvement and Pre- servation of the Sight. By W. Kitchener, MD. | Mr. John Curtis has in the press No. I. of his Illustrations of English Insects, We understand the intention of the Author is to publish highly finished figures of such species of insects (with the plants upon . which they are found) as constitute the British genera, with accurate representations of the parts on which the characters are founded, and descriptive letter-press to each plate, giving as far as possible the habits and economy of the subjects selected. The work will be published monthly, to commence the 1st of January, 1824. JUST PUBLISHED. No. XX. of Sowerby's Genera of Shells, containing Cardita, Cypri- cardia, Thecidium, Rostellaria, Strombus, and Pteroceras. Chemical Recreations, a Series of amusing and instructive Experi- ments, &c. with a Description of a cheap and simple Apparatus. 18mo.... ei yenn First Steps to Botany; intended as popular Illustrations of the Science, leading toits Study as a Branch of general Education. By James L. Drummond, MD. 12mo. 100 cuts, 9s. Lectures on the general Structure of the Human Body, and on the Anatomy and Functions of the Skin. By T. Chevalier, FRS. &c. 8vo. 12s. . | The Pupils Pharmacopeeia. 18mo. Observations and Commentaries on Medicine compared as a Science. with the other learned Professions. By Adam Dods, MD. 8vo. 2s. 62 ARTICLE XVII. | NEW PATENTS. J. Christie, of Mark-lane, London, merchant, and T. Harper, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, merchant, for their improved method of com- bining and using fuel in stoves, furnaces, boilers, and steam-engines.— Oct. 9. | J. R. Cottor, of Castle Magnor, near Mallow, in the county of Cork, for certain improverhents on wind musical instruments.—Oct. 9. J. Henfrey, of Little Henry-street, Waterloo-road, Surrey, engineer, and A. Applegath, of Duke-street, Stamford-street, Blackfriars, Surrey, printer, for certain machinery for casting types.—Oct. 9. E. S. Swaine, of Bucklersbury, for a method of producing and pre- serving artificial mineral waters, and for machinery to effect the same. —Oct. 9. 1823.] Mr, Howard's Meteorological Journal. 473 ArticLe XVIII. METEOROLOGICAL TABLE, — es — Banomeren,| THERMOMETER, Daniell’s hyg. 1823. Wind. | Max. | Min. |. Max. | Min. | Evap. |Rain.| | at noon. 10thMon. ; Oct. 1) Var. |29°49/28'84| 60 30 — 25 2IN Wi29:96:329:48| 60 28 — 3 W :30:0829:96| 60 40 — 08 AIN Wij30:2130:08| 59 34 — 51S E3022 2998| 65 52 — 6s Ej300429:95| 62 50 — |. 08 7S 'Wi3012:30:04, 62 36 — SS W/30°04 29:68, 61 46 -— 2] 9S Wi!29'6829'58| 56 34 — 10S W|29:5829'11| 55 38 — 23} - 11S W/)29°30.29'11) 55 36 == 10 19S W129'°33129'30| 54 43 ‘70 | 05 13| E 129:57,99:33| 55 32 — 04 14| W. |29:57,32956| 53 | 36 — 158 Wi29:7029:56| 55 937 — 16| W 1297329'70| 55 30 — IZIN E2973929:67| 55 38 — 18| N 1297712967) 53 38 -— 03 19| E 1730082977| 61 50 — 20. E |30°32,30°08] 62 52 — 21) E ]|30:32:30:28| 60 50 a 29S | E|30:28,5013| 55 36 — 23| E 130133012) 56 39 om 24| E |30373012) 56 37 = 25| N 130:5230:37| 50 37 — 26 N 130:5230:37| 49 44 — 27N W|30'27/30*00| 55 44 = 281S W/30°00|\29'°77| 58 40 — 26 29) W {2977/2942 48 4l — |— 30N E2942/29"18| 46 39 — |L24 31N X E!29:86/22918| 43 34 ‘70 | 43 $0°52|28'84| 65 28 | 1°40 | 3-00 The observations in each line of the table apply to a period of twenty-four hours, beginning at 9 A. M. on the day indicated in the first column. A dash denotes that the result is included in the next following observation. 474. Mr. Howard’s Meteorological Journal. ` [Dxc. 183; REMARKS. Tenth Month.—1, Rainy. 2. Very foggy morning: fine day. 3: White frost: day fine: evening rainy. 4. Oloudy. 5. Rainy. 6. Rainy. 7—10, Fine. 11, Cloudy. 12. Fine. 13. Rainy. 14—17. Fine. 18. Rainy. 19—20. Over. cast. 21—24. Fine. 25—27. Overcast, 98, Fine: rain at night, 99. Fine. 30. Rainy. 3l. Rainy: stormy. | RESULTS. Winds: N, 3; NE, 3; E, 6; SE,3; SW, 8; W, 4; NW, 3; Var. 1. Barometer: Mean height. For the month... Ute s eb oo ixo eere bho ep0 SAEs e ee i 20:898 inches. For the lunar period, ending the 26th... .. ........ ... .99-668 For 12 days, ending the 2d (moon north)... .i.ué... 99161 - For 14 days, ending the 16th (moon south) .. ......,. 29718 For 13 days, ending the 29th (moon north), ........ b 30-011 Thermometer: Mean height For the monih. .1 35. «12 dde E OEST ee 4T'6119 For the lunar period. ...... eos cdaaésosvorsesdeess ASSETS For aya, the. sug. d Libra. ... eese eo eee ess. 49:600 Evaporation. ee his a3 LC CLIENTS O'S CORO CEs COR T08 eus a EN Serer Soe 1-40 in. Rain. eee COCOONS CeO OEE HRS OOeFOdE De OOD Sep a00 ch nesoeoese dh pó aos o 3:00 Laboratory, Stratford, Eleventh Monthy 91, 1893. R. HOWARD. INDEX. «ume CID, butiric, account of, 209. ——— capric, account of, 209. . caproic, account of, 210. citric, crystalline form of, 119. = gallic, crystalline form of, 119. phocenic, account of, 210. Acetate of lead, crystalline form of, 374, —— — — soda, crystalline form of, 39. zinc, crystalline form of, 39. Actynolite, glassy, analysis of, 231. Air of the atmosphere, on the presence of muriatic acid in, 95. . Alps, on the newer deposits of, 234. Altitude and azimuth instrument, notice respecting the Westbury, 397. Ammonia, chromate of, crystalline form of, 981. emet oxalate of, crystalline form of, + phosphate of, crystalline form of, 285. 314. ———— guccinate of, crystalline form of, 286. Animal acids, newly discovered, account of, 209 Antimony, tartrate of potash and, crystal- line form of, 40. Astronomical observations, 43, 138, 149, - 259, 354,435, — Atmosphere over the sea, on the absence of carbonic acid in, 75. Aurora borealis, notice of Capt, Franklin’s - observations on, 55. 2: Barlow, Prof. notice of his paper on the variation of the horizontal and dipping needle, &¢. 62, — : Barometer, instructions for the application of, to the measurement of heights, 95, 162, 259. jm Barium, chloride, composition of, 340. Barton, Prof. on the generation of the opossum, 340. . Barytes, muriate, crystallized, composition of, 33V. - Bauer, Mr. notice of his paper on the Vibrio tritici, 219. Beaufoy, Col. astronomical observations, 43, 138, 149, 259, 354, 435, y Bevan, Mr. notice of his paper on the heights of places in the trigonomettical survey, 227. shits — of mercury, crystalline fori of, 285. f^ Mis Biggs, Mr. on the ratio of expansión of © gases, 415. ! — of copper, crystalline form of, Bléod in the lungs, on the cause aid effects of an obstruction in, 211. —— examination of, 116. Blue, Prussian, method of distinguishing ` ultramarine from, 34. Boa, excrement of, 74, Boase, Dr. notice of his paper on the tin’ ore of Botallack and Levant, 52—ana- lysis of tin pyrites, 53. ——-- Mr. on the submersion of part of Mount Bay, &c. 46. ` Ani Books, new scientific, 76, 157, 237, 311, . 398, 472. " Boué, Dr. on the newer deposits of the Alps, 234. F: Brooke, Mr. analysis of his Familiar fñ- troduction to Crystallography, 143. on the crystalline forms of artificial salts, 38, 117, 284, 374, 437. a "S: 929. Butiric acid, account of, 209, Butter, analysis of, 69. Bussy, M. on. the composition of morphia, C. i Caltiuin, chloride of, composition of, 343. Calomel, crystalline form of, 285. Caoutchouc, mineral, discovery of, in New England, 232. Carbon, hydriodide of, method of prepar- ing, 76. Carbonate of magnesia and iron, analysis, of, 75. crystalline form of, 315. Carbonic acid, on the absence of, in the atmosphere over the sea, 75, Carne, Mr. on the mineral productions, and the geology of St. Just, 49. Chamberlain, Mt. on napthaline, 135, Chatcoal, on the fusion and volatilization of, 73, 468. f diei 476 Chevreul, M. analysis of butter, 69— on newly discovered animal acids, 209. Chloride of barium, composition of, 340, — Of calcium, composition of, 343. of mercury, crystalline form of, of potassium, discovery of, in the earth, 258, ——— of strontium, composition of, 343. Christie, Mr. on the diurnal variation of the magnetic needle, 68. Chromate of ammonia, crystalline form of, : potash, crystalline form of, 120. soda, crystalline form of, 287. Chrome, existence of, in native platina, 198. ] Cinchonia, sulphate of, crystalline form of, 315 Citric acid, crystalline form of, 119, Cleavelandite, on, 394, 448. Cobalt, sulphate of, crystalline form of, 120. Coffee, on an improved method of making, | 780 Combustion, slow, of tallow, oils, and 285. wax, 44. Congreve, Sir W. observations on his re- port on gas light establishments, 1. Conybeare, Rev. J. J. on the geology of , Cornwall and Devon, 35—0n a scarce and curious alchemical work by M. Maier, 242, 426. Rev. W. D. memoir illustra- tive of the general geological map of the E mountain chains in Europe, 214, Cooper, Mr. analysis of sulphate of nickel and 440. Copper, binacetate of, crystalline form of, 39 Cornwall and Devon, on the geology of, 35. ; Cornish rocks, on the nomenclature of, 46. Corrosive sublimate, crystalline form of, 285 Couch, Mr. on the use of the electrical faculty of the torpedo, 156 .—on the na- tural history of fishes in Cornwall, 300. Crystalline forms of artificial salts, on the, 38, 117, 284, 314, 431. Cumming, Rev. J. list of substances ar- ranged according to their thermoelectric relations, and description of instruments for exhibiting rotation by thermoelec- tricity, 177—description of the galva- noscope, 288—on some anomalous ap- pearances on the thermoclectric series, 322—on thermomagnetic rotation, 436, Cystic oxide from a dog, description and analysis of, 316, : i Index. D. Dalton, Mr. on corrections for moisture in gases, 229. Daniell, Mr. on the change in the freezing point of thermometers, 309—analysis of his Meteorological Essays and Obser- vations, 452. Darwin, Sir F. on the volcanic island of Milo, 274, Davis, Mr. on the Chinese year, 308, Davy, Dr. on pneumato-thorax, 61, . Declination, on the change of, which has taken place in some of the princi . fixed - 241. Lisci um Deluge, on the, 344. - Dewey, Prof. analysis of crystallized stea- tite, 223. ——- Mr. on gas works, and the sub- stances from which gas is usually pre- pared, 401. Diamond, fusion of, 311, 468, (o—— —— matrix of, 154, Dobereiner, Prof. on the ignition of tina, &c. by hydrogen gas, 464, 466. Dulong and Thenard, MM. on the pro- perty which some metals possess of fa- ‘cilitating the combination of elastic fluids, 376. Duncan, Capt. notice of some newly dis- covered islands, 379. Tupin, M. on the safety of steam engines, 0. E. Ear, human, and of the elephant, differ- ence of construction between, 224. Electrical faculty of the torpedo, use of, 156. Emetic tartar, crystalline form of, 40, Expedition for the discovery of a north- = passage, notice of the return of, 394, F. Faraday, Mr. observations on the purple tint of plate glass as affected by light, - 396-—on the of musket balls in Shrapnell shells, 398— letter from, re- specting his historical sketch of electro- magnetism, 67, Ferroprussiate of potash, crystalline form of, AI. Forbes, Dr. on the geology of the Land's End district, 47—on the geology of St. Michael's Mount, 51. Forchhammer, Dr. on the transition for- mation of Sweden, 16. Franklin, Capt. notice of rye — aj to the shores of the Po ; mm | Index. G. Gallic acid, crystalline form of, 119. Galvanoscope, description of, 288. Garden, Mr. on the ignition of platina by hydrogen gas, 466. Gases, corrections for moisture, on, 929, —— - mixed, combustible, on the, 139. on the ratio of expansion of, 415. Gas, hydrogen, on the combustion of, . under water, 73. Gas-light establishments, observations on Sir W. Congreve’s report on, 1. Geological map of the principal mountain , chains in Europe, 214. Geology of Cornwall and Devon, on the, 35. Glass, plate, purple tint of, affected by light, 396, Goldingham, Mr. experiments for ascer- taining the velocity of sound, 201. Granite veins, on, 90, Gray, Mr. analysis of his Elements of Pharmacy, &c. 459. Greenwich observations, correctness of, 397. " 4 pisi Gregor, Rev. Mr. analysis of the serpen- tine of Clickertor, 41. Gunpowder, action of, on lead, 396. inflammation of, by the heat of slacking lime, 316. H. Hamilton, Dr. on the hortus malabaricus, 153. Harbours, sea, essays on the construction of, 13, 199, Hardwicke, Gen. on the antelope quadri- cornis, 152,—on the cermatia longicor- nis, 386. Hawkins, Mr. on the nomenclature of Cornish rocks, 46. Heat and light, solar, notice of Mr. Pow- . ell’s experiments on, 394, Heliotrope, analysis of, 75. Henry, Dr. analysis of his Elements of Chemistry, 138—on the mixed combus- tible gases from moist charcoal, alcohol, _ &c. 139. Henslow, Prof. on the deluge, 344. Heuland, Mr. on the matrix of the dia- mond, 154. Hodgson, Rev. J. inquiry into the era when brass was used in purposes to which iron is now applied, 407. Hospital, St. Thomas’s, notice of the lec- tures delivered there, 309. / Howard, Mr. R. meteorological tables, 79, 159, 239, 319, 399, 473. Humboldt, M. on the cunstitution and mode of action of volcanoes, 121. 477 Hume, Sir E. oh the difference between the human ear and that of the elephant, 924, 1 Hydriodide of carbon, method of prepar- ing, 16, L Indigo, method of distinguishing from ul- tramarine, 35, Insects and fungi, remarks on the identit of the laws which regulate their distri- bution, 324. Todide of potassium, preparation of, 69. Tron, sulphate of, crystalline form of, 120. Islands, newly discovered, notice of, 379, Jack, Dr: notice of his account of lansium, and some other genera of Malayan plants, 381—notice of his paper on the Malayan species of melástoma, 991. ~ James's powder, anlaysis of, 187. Java, earthquake and volcanic eruption in, 231. K. Kent, Mr. account of some experimerits with the prism, 115. : Kirby, Rev. his description of some pecu- liar insects, 417. ! Knox, Hon. Mr. on bitumen in stones, L. Lambton, Col. notice of his paper of cor- rections applied to the great meridional arc, &c. 226, Lassaigne, M. on carbonate of magnesia in herbivorous animals, 70— description and analysis of cystic oxide from a dog, 316. : Lead, acetate of, crystalline form of, 314, Levy, Mr. on cleavelandite, 394. Lime, muriate of, composition of, 344. Linnean Society, analysis of Transactions, . 381. Longchamp, M. remarks on his memoir on the uncertainty of chemical analyses, 289. : Longmire, Mr. essays on the construction of sea harbours, 13, 199—list of plants found in the neighbourhood of St. Pe- tersburgh, 191. ; M. Macleay, M. on the identity of certain general laws which regulate the. natural distribution of insects and fungi, 324. Maclurite, new mineral, analysis of, 12. Magnesia, carbonate of, in the urinary calculi of herbivorous.animals, 10. 478 40. Maier, M, account of a scarce and curious alchemical work of his, 949, 426. — - Mandell, Rev. B. D. apparatus for pro- curing ium, «s is ; Map, à ogical, of i moun- . tain chains in Europe, "i 2 MW ge bichloride of, crystalline form of, ————- chloride of, crystalline form of, 985. ^ ! Metals, property which some possess of | facilitatin the combination of elastic Meteorological. tables kept at Stratford, 79, 159, 239, 319, 899, 473, — Mr. on the temperature of mines, 310- Milo, MM springs of, correction re- 9 v9. * = island, its volcanic origin, 274. : Mines, temperature of, 310, 44}. Morphia, composition of, 999. —— ine form of, 118. Mount's Bay, on the submersion of part Moyle, Mr. on granite veins, 90. Muriatic acid, on the presence of, in the atmosphere, 25. -` Muriate of barytes, composition of, 339, — — of lime, composition of, 344. © - === of strontia, composition of, 343. N. | Napthaline, observations on the process of . obtaining, 135. Nickel,. and » sulphate of, crystal- line form of, 488—analysis of, 440. sulphate of, erystalline form. of, 431— analysis of, 439. à — —— and zinc, sulphate of, crystalline form of, 439, test. N mons Mr. register of the rain at Bombay, O. : Opossum, on the generation of, 340. Oxalate of ammonia, crystalline form of, 314. P. Er cw wem frauds and imperfections in i Paris, Dr. and Fonblanque, Mr. classifica. tion of poisons by, 180, Perkins, Mr. notice of his Patents, new, 77, 158, 237, 318, 398, 412. Pearson, Dr. his analysis of James’s pow- der, 187. (etit on the compressibility of water, air, &c. 66. Petersburgh, list of plants found in the . neighbourhood of, 191. ~ Phillips, Mr. R. analysis of’ James’s powder, 187—on ultramarine, and the methods by which its purity may be as- certained, '31—0n the composition and equivalent numbers of certain crystal. lized. muriates, 339—remarks on M. Longchamp's memoir on the uncertainty of analyses, 989— on frauds and imperfections of -making, 68 analysis of the sulphates of nickel, 439, Mr. W. on the cleavage of metal- lic titanium, 317—on the occurrence of cleavelandite in certain British rocks, 448. - Phocenic acid, account of, 910. Phosphate of ammonia, crystalline | ef, 985, - iI hosphates of lead, on the, 71. - - of soda, crys e form of, 286, of uranium, 156. ~ Poisons, classification of, 180. Plants, list of, found in the neighbour- hood of St, Petersburgh, 191. Platina, ignition of, by hydrogen gas, 464, 466. ` native, on the existence of chrome in, 198, Platinum, test of, 397. Pond, Mr. on the parallax of a lyre, 226 —on the changes which have taken place on the declination of some of the principal fixed stars, 24T. ` Potash, chromate of, crystalline form of, 190, TEN ——— ferroprussiate of, crystalline form of, 41. and magnesia, sulphate of, crys- talline form of, 41. Potassium, apparatus for procuring, 232. chloride'of, discovery of, in the earth, 258. iodide of, preparation of, 69. Powder, James's, analysis of, 187. Powell, Rey. B. appendix to the abstract of M. Ramond’s instructions for baro- metrical measurements, 355. translation of M. Ra- mond's instructions for the application of the barometer to the measurement of heights, 95, 162, 959, E Prevost and Dumas, MM. examination of the blood, 176. Prism, account of some experiments with, 115, Prussian blue, method of distinguishing ultramarine, from, 34. form - Index. Sound, experiments on, 81. .R. Rain at Bombay, register of, 111. Ramond, M. abridged translation of his instructions for the application of the ` barometer to the measurement of heights, 95, 162, 259, Relation by thermoelectricity, description ... ef instruments for exhibiting, 177. Register of rain at Bombay, 111. eado, Mr. observations on Sir W. | Congreve's report on gas-light esta- - blishments, 1. Rocks, Cornish, notice of a paper on the nomenclature of, 46, Rogers, Rev. J. notice of his paper on the hornblende formation of the parish of St. Clere, 46. -> Rose, M. on titanium, 369. - &. Sabine, Mr. notice of his paper on the ge- neric and specific characters of the chrysanthemum indicum, 388, Salts, artificial, on the crystalline forms of, 38, 111, 984, 314. Sea harbours, essays on the construction of, 13, 199. Serpentine, of Chichester, analysis of, 47. Seybert, Mr. analysis of glassy octynolite, 231. Silliman, Prof. on a test for platinum, 391 —on the fusion of charcoal, graphite, diamond, &c. 311, 468. Skidmore, "Mr. on the combustion of hy- drogen gas under water, 73. Smalts, method of distinguishing ultrama- rine from, 35. Smithson, Mr. discovery of chloride of potassium in the earth, 258—on an im- proved method of making coffee, 30— method of fixing particles on the sap- pare, 412, Society, astronomical, proceedings of, 66. geological, proceedings of, 154, 228, Linnean, proceedings of, 151— analysis of their "Transactions, 391. Medico-Botanical, proceedings of, 67, 394. meteorological, notice of the for- mation of, 311— proceedings of, 398, royal, analysis of their "'ransac- tions, 219, 307 — proceedings of, 61. Soda, acetate of, crystalline form of, 39. chromate of, crystalline. form of,. 281. P phosphate of, crystalline form of,. 286 ——— subcarbonate of, crystalline form of, E e—-— 479 — —- velocity of, experiments. ud eter mine, 201. St. Thomas’s Hospital, notice of kaji delivered there, 309. Steam engines, on the safety of, 70. Steatite, crystallized, analysis of, 223. Strontia, muriate of, composition of, 345. Strontium, chloride of, composition of, 343. Subcarbonate of soda, crystalline form of, 287. Succinate of ammonia, crystalline form of, 286. Sulphate of einchonia, crystalline form of, 375. ———— nickel, crystalline form. ef, 437—analysis of, 439. . = nickel and potash, crystálline form of, 438—analysis of, 440, — — — —- nickel and zinc, crystalline form of, 439. — zinc, crystalline form of, 437. == — cobalt, crystalline form of, 120. ons — iron, crystalline form of, 120. — - magnesia, crystalline form of, 40. — potash and magnesia stal- ~ line form of, 41. T Ht Sweden, on the transition formation of, 16, T. Tables, meteorological, kept at Stratford, 19, 159, 239,.319, 399, 413. Tallow, on the slow combustion of, 44. Tartrate of potash on antimony, crystalline form of, 40. Taylor, Mr. notice of his paper on the section of the crag strata at Bramerton, near Norwich, 228. Thermoelectricity, description of instru- ments for exhibiting rotation by, 17T. Thermoelectric relations, list of substances arranged according to, LIT. series, on some anomalous appearances in, 322, Thermometer, alteration of freezing point in, 54, 309. e pyrites new locality and analysis of, Titanium, metallic, cleavage of, 317. notice of Dr. Wollas- ton’s paper on, 222, on, 369. —— —— oxide of, composition of, 373. Torpedo, electrical faculty of, on the use of, 156. Traill, Dr. on some thermomagnetic ex- periments, 449, Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, analysis of, 291. 3 480 Transactions, Philosophical, of the R« Society of London, analysis of, 219, 301. Taal formation of, Sweden, on the, V. and U, e venga M. on some crystals found in of cyanogen, 68, E of sound, experiments to deter- Verdite;, blue, method guishing ter, blue, m of distin ^ ultramarine from, 34, Volcanoes, on the ‘constitution and mode of action, 191... _Ultramarine, -* the methods by which its ari may be ascertained, 31. ranium, phosphate of, 156. ven . tallic titanium, 05 Dis 1 en Indez. M W.: Wanani, Mr. experiments on c Whidbey, Mr, notice of. his on some fossil bones discovered at ton, 301. Williams, Dr. on the cause and effects of "T TW of the blood in the lungs, ‘3 ——-——- Mr. on the slow combustion of ` tallow, fixed oils, and wax, 44. ‘Winch, Mr. on the phos E gel of lead, 11. Wollaston, Dr. notice o on me- of de- tecting magnesia, 155. E Zinc, acetate, crystalline form of, 39. —— sulphate, crystalline form of, 437, END OF VOL. VI, n i is TR Ri. an ael lee c roe e Mrs * ! 3 X á vx HAAS > PR a Ek otn a " uae abt ee ms oa 4 " "e , [ fa ie gone + eS Ne. "mr